《Re: Evolution Online》


 Chapter 1 - Second Chance

    <h4>Chapter 1 - Second Chance</h4>


    Thwack!


    A big bulky legnded on a young man''s stomach who looked like he was just a bag of skin and bones.


    "Did I or did I not ask you to bring more lunch money today? Do you expect me to starve, bitch?" A short and healthy youngster wearing a school uniform spat out as hended another kick on the skinny figure.


    This made him buckle down and copse, coughing up more blood on the ground.


    "Aish¡­ Be careful, dude. Don''t kill him or something." Another student standing near chimed in.


    "Nah¡­ this bitch might be spineless but he is pretty durable. Isn''t that right, Liam? Aren''t you the best punching bag in the entire school?"


    The healthier student raised his leg tond another kick on the seemingly almost dead and curled-up boy lying on the ground, but luckily for him, the school bell loudly rang the very next second, grabbing everyone''s attention.


    "Alright. Let''s go. It''s that nasty old woman''s ss. I don''t want to spend my evening in detention staring at that ugly ass face again."


    The group of tall and sturdy high school students chatted amongst themselves and casually strolled out of the small alleyway, where the so-called punching bag was left behind without any care or concern.


    Liamid still,pletely silent and frozen, afraid to even take another breath, but it was not because he feared the bunch of high school bullies who had just thrashed him. Rather it was because of something entirely different¡­


    Just a few seconds ago, he had been battling for his life, fighting for an elixir that was one of the heavenly treasures.


    But how could hepare to the other monsters who were alsopeting with him for the same treasure? After all, he was just a small fry.


    So in the end, an attacknded and he was killed without any sweat but somehow instead of dying, he had instead returned to the past, to 3 years ago when everything began.


    As seconds slowly ticked by, Liam became more and more sure that everything that was happening was in fact real and not just a twisted wishful dream.


    There was no doubt! He had somehow miraculously returned back to the days when he was younger¡­ when he was still in high school¡­ when everything was yet to happen.


    It was as real as his loudly pounding heart and as real as his burning injuries, giving him stabs of pain everywhere on his body.


    Liam was not someone who was new to this sort of pain. In fact, he was quite used to this feeling. The thing that he was not used to was¡­ luck!


    That''s right! Somehow he ended up lucky enough to get such an unbelievable second chance!


    Liam''s lips curled upwards as he slowly picked himself up from the ground, his body unsteadily wobbling as if he would fall down again any second now.


    However, contrary to his trembling body, his eyes were sharp and cold. There was unfathomable darkness that swirled within them which would probably scare the kids who were just seconds ago pummeling him down.


    "I am back." Liam grinned, as he banged his bleeding hand made into a fist on the shabby vandalized wall near him. A loud thud echoed and the shock wave which as a result traveled through his body revitalized him.


    He slowly and steadily limped out of the alleyway and from there, he directly started walking back to his house, not even bothering to take a look at the school where he was currently supposed to be sitting.


    Liam dragged his bruised body all the way to his cramped apartment which was about ten blocks away from the school. Though it hurt like hell, his face only wore an obscene wide grin.


    As he neared his apartment, a familiar figure peeked her head out, instantly making the big smile disappear from Liam''s face.


    He had been far too focused on other things and he hadpletely forgotten about her!


    "Mei Mei!" His words came out in a whisper as his voice got stuck in his throat and he lunged forward to pull and hug his little sister.


    She is still alive! Liam trembled as he held her slender figure in his arms.


    "Brother¡­? What happened? Are you crying? Did they hurt you badly today as well?" The little girl lifted her head up and pitifully looked at Liam''s face that was swollen here and there, covered with cuts and scraps.


    Seeing his bad state, she immediately started tearing up and sobbing, rivers streaming out of her eyes.


    "Ah¡­! Ummm¡­!" Liam was immediately speechless. For as long as he could remember, he had always been bad at this, at consoling girls.


    Unsure of how to console the little girl who was almost four years younger than him, he ruffled her head and awkwardly. "Let''s go inside and talk."


    The two siblings then went inside and Liam closed the dull rusted door behind him. It was only the two of them living in the small cramped apartment.


    Their parents had died a couple of years ago from a construction ident, leaving these two siblings all alone with no one else.


    But Liam had a good head on his shoulder and he somehow managed everything and made sure that they got the settlement money that they deserved.


    He was like a scrappy dog that didn''t let go of his bone. Though he was ultimately cheated in the end, he still got something out of it, enough to get them through for a few years.


    With that money, he rented this cramped apartment in a building in the slum district that clearly needed renovating.


    But all that didn''t matter now. Nothing mattered now because, in just a couple of days, everything was going topletely change.


    Liam looked around to see the ce which was both familiar and unfamiliar to him. Anger and pain surfaced in his eyes as he remembered everything that had happened or rather was yet to happen.


    Clenching his fist, he copsed on the ground and let out a burst of loud maniacalughter.


    "Brother¡­ Are you really alright?" The little girl blinked and stared at her brother who had seemingly gonepletely bat-shit crazy!


    "Heh. I am fine, Mei Mei. Don''t worry, everything will be fine now." Liam stood up and heated up a pail of water first to clean all his injuries.


    His hands moved swiftly as if he was extremely familiar with what he was doing and he finished the first aid within minutes, properly bandaging everything that was bleeding and broken.


    He also popped in a couple of painkillers which reduced his pain a lot, helping him think better. First things first. He needed to go and purchase that item as soon as possible.


    Liam took another look to make sure his injuries were alright and he then threw on a pair of clean pants and a shirt.


    "Brother, are you heading out to school again? It won''t bete now?" Meilin worriedly asked.


    "No kiddo. I am going out somewhere else."


    Huh? Meilin was surprised. "Grocery shop? But it''s not Sunday today?" The two siblings had a routine that they followed so she was surprised about this new change.


    Liam ruffled her head again, making the little girl pout cutely. "I am heading out to the game store. I will be back soon. Be good."


    "Eh? Ehhhhh? Ehhhhhhhh?" Chang Meilin stood at the doorstep in a daze, watching her brother''s disappearing figure.


    "Game store? Since when does brother y games¡­?"

 Chapter 2 - Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 2 - Preparations</h4>


    With his hands in his pant pockets, Liam casually strolled into the Electronic shop at the corner of the street.


    "Brother, can you give me a Blood Battle game capsule?"


    "Huh?" The store clerk looked up, slightly startled as the customer talking to him didn''t look like someone who could afford the high-end gaming capsule.


    Such a thing cost a fortune!


    In thest decade alone, games and gaming software had developed a lot and gaming capsules were now all the rage.


    These allowed users to log in for hours together without ever having to step out except for maybe to eat or drain their bodily fluids.


    But to buy Blood Battle¡­?


    The store clerk could tell that the young man in front of him was not that well to do. In fact, he looked like he hadn''t eaten anything in a while.


    So he took pity on the seemingly naive youngster and advised. "Brother, are you sure that this is the one you want? Blood Battle game is actually not that popr."


    "Why don''t you go with Violet Garden or Eden''s Hold?"


    "I think you can earn more money with those games. I also have an ount in them and I am also ying part-time to earn more money." The clerk chuckled awkwardly.


    He was not that much older than Liam and he was also in the bottom middle ss. So he could empathize with him.


    Liam patiently listened to the man, but after hearing everything he only shook his head. "Thank you for your kindness. I think I am going to stick with the Blood battle gear for now."


    Seeing that he was already set in his decision, the clerk didn''t bother anymore. After all, he would also get a nicemission if someone bought that insanely expensive gear.


    "Alright. Give me your address. I will set up the delivery. Half the payment now and half the payment on delivery."


    Liam calmly smiled and nodded. He took out a card that looked like it had only been used once or twice and swiped it on the machine finishing the payment.


    Ding! The machine beeped eating away a big chunk of his settlement money that he had been meticulously saving and protecting.


    Gaming capsules were extremely expensive, especially the Blood Battle capsule which was one of the most high-end ones avable in the market currently.


    Their game might suck but their capsule was top-notch. Why did Liam still buy this one? That''s because he knew something that the others still had no idea about.


    In about two days, every single VR game would be inexplicably hacked and erased into nothingness. It didn''t matter whether it was Blood Battle or Violet Garden or Eden''s Hold.


    Everything will magically disappear, to be reced by the one and only game, ''Evolution Online'' which could somehow be yed with any gaming capsule irrespective of the gamingpany that had made the capsule.


    Severalputer experts, hackers from the dar across the world would try to rectify the situation and crack the mystery but in the end, they would all only fail.


    No one would be able to get even a hint about this mysterious new game, Evolution Online that will inevitably take the world by a storm.


    However, this was only the beginning. The scary part came after the first major patch when reality suddenly merged with virtual reality.


    People who were able to split a rock apart inside the game would surprisingly find themselves being able to do the same in real life as well.


    Abilities, superpowers, magic, darkness¡­ everything would spill over from the game to reality. However, despite what one might be inclined to think, this would not be a good thing.


    The world would delve intoplete and utter chaos and plunge into an apocalyptic blood bath.


    Governments would be reced by Guilds and Kingdoms and corporations would scramble behind them trying to salvage whatever value that their money still had.


    It would be the onset of apletely new era!


    Liam gripped his bank card tightly as memories of the terrifying future shed past his mind.


    He still had no idea why or how he was able to somehowe back to the past, but now that he had¡­ he was determined to grab every single advantage that he could get.


    This was why he had selected the best gear currently avable even though it cost him five times what the other capsules cost.


    After giving all the remaining details required and quickly finishing the transaction, Liam stepped out of the shop.


    He didn''t bother exining his actions to the store clerk. The man had indeed been kind to him, but he had lost faith in humanity a long time ago.


    After dealing with the matter of game capsule, Liam then walked over to the nearby consumer store and pre-paid a chunk of money for electricity and higher bandwidth inte.


    He then headed to the grocery store and purchased a huge bulk of supplies and dry food items that didn''t need refrigeration.


    After a few hours, he was finally done with all the preliminary preparations and started heading back home.


    Liam looked at his card that somehow felt lighter now and a small chuckle escaped his lips.


    He was betting everything he had on himself. Some might find it impulsive, but he knew that this was his only chance to survive and change his and his sister''s fate!

 Chapter 3 - Log In

    <h4>Chapter 3 - Log In</h4>


    "Brother¡­ Is this really alright?" Meilin peeked at Liam who was busily cooking a feast for the both of them using their one-top stove.


    "Of course, it is. Both of us are still growing and we need a lot of nutrients."


    It was only a small studio apartment so she could clearly see her brother humming and sweating while he cooked a variety of dishes with a smile on his face.


    The smell was so delicious that she was not even able to focus on her homework. Since when did her brother learn to cook like this?


    With almost a visible drool on her face, the little girl stood up and walked over to Liam. "Brother, what about school? You haven''t gone to school for thest two days?"


    "School ah? Ha Ha Ha."


    Liam wanted tough out loud and say how useless the educational institutions were about to be, but instead, he just ruffled his sister''s head with a smile.


    "Your brother is dumb. So I will count on Mei Mei to study well and help me in the future."


    "Ahh¡­ Ah¡­ Don''t say that brother." The little girl pouted, puffing her cheeks.


    The two siblings then joked around and chatted for a while before digging into the feast. It had been a while since Liam was able to enjoy meals like this.


    He lived like a mongrel in hisst life. He was weak to provide for his sister and in the end, he was also not able to save her when terrible things happened.


    He would never let all those things repeat this time around. A cold glint appeared and then disappeared, his lips curling into a smile again.


    The duo chatted andughed for a while, after which Meilin went back to her homework and Liam sat next to her staring outside the single window of their apartment.


    There were still 6 more hours to go. The patch and the override of the current video games with "Evolution Online" would happen this evening at 4 pm sharp!


    Liam gazed at the game capsule which now upied half of their living room space.


    Though the inevitable future still terrified him a little, he also couldn''t help but feel a vague excitement and anticipation coursing through his veins.


    He had already sort of formed a n as to how he would go about everything, so without much to do, he kept an rm for 3.30 pm and decided to take a small nap.


    But unfortunately, he was far too excited to fall asleep and the sun was beating down with a vengeance.


    Though they were on the ground floor, they still felt the burn of the summer heat. Liam clicked his tongue and he got up and took out a couple of ice cream sticks from the freezer.


    He gave one to Meilin and sucked on the other one for a bit. He saw his hard-working little sister immediately go back to her studies even when eating the ice cream.


    He couldn''t help but smile. "If you are working hard this much¡­ then I guess it is about time I begin as well¡­"


    Liam had initially wanted to start everything when the patch began, giving him a little breather but since his hard-working sister was putting him to shame, he decided to do some stretching at least.


    Removing all clothes from his body except for his boxer shorts, he began doing a unique series of exercises.


    His body was still a bag of skin and bones as he had only been eating well for the past couple of days, so all his stances ended up being very wobbly and awkward.


    However, in just a few minutes, he steadied even those wobbly postures and easily brought his body under his control.


    Sweat trickled down his thin body in rivers scaring the living daylights out of the little girl.


    "Brother! You are going to break something! Ahhh¡­" Meilin shouted out, seeing him twist his body into various shapes and forms like a pretzel.


    First of all, her brother looked like a skeleton doing exercises, and secondly, what the hell was with thesepletely random poses?


    And when he did the one pose that she could recognize, it still scared her because Liam was standing upside down supporting his entire body with just his index finger.


    Despite getting worried looks from his sister, Liam continued with his workout for another half an hour before finally melting into a child''s pose and rxing a bit.


    In the blink of an eye, it was already 3.50 pm and Liam knew that it was time. "Mei Meie here." He waved his hand and called his little sister.


    "The door is locked now. Don''t open it for anyone even if they knock. Don''t go out. Don''t go to school tomorrow."


    "There is food in the fridge in case you are hungry. If you are bored just watch tv. Do some jumping around or dancing once in a while. Don''t continuously just be sitting."


    "You should also not touch the game capsule. Be a good girl and sit here and wait for brother, alright?" Liam ruffled her hair and carefully instructed her.


    He knew that his sister worshiped him and never once failed to listen to him which was why he trusted the little girl and didn''t rent another apartment for the game capsule.


    After giving her a few more Dos and Don''ts, he then quickly popped into the capsule, opening it and closing it after him.


    Inside was pitch ck which was good because otherwise the yers would be overwhelmed with a feeling of ustrophobia.


    The capsule was designed in such a way that the yers felt as if they were floating in nothingness, at least until the game was logged into.


    Once they log in, their entire consciousness would be in the game and they wouldn''t feel anything rted to the capsule their body was lying in.


    There was still a couple of minutes for 4 pm and so Liam logged into the Blood Battle game. All he needed to do was say ''Log In'' and he was in.


    Almost immediately, a bloody sword, thick red blood dripping from the edges, appeared in front of him, his consciousness already pulled away into the virtual reality.


    "Wee to Blood Battle. This¡­"


    A robotic male voice started announcing but before it even finished the first line, the voice cracked, the image distorted and the bloody swordpletely disappeared.


    Instead, in the pitch-ck space, a small gift box appeared and Beethoven''s Fur Elise started loudly ying.


    "This is it." Liam clenched his fists, his breathing ragged and his heart racing by the second. As he hadn''t seen this opening part before, he curiously wondered what the gift box was.


    The small handle on the side of the gift box started slowly unwinding and in five seconds, the darkness surrounding him cracked and shattered, dropping like pieces of ck stained mirror around him.


    The gift box, the music, and the darknesspletely disappeared and Liam found himself standing or rather floating in the very familiar vast bluish-purple sky.


    He could even already feel the breeze that whooshed past him.

 Chapter 4 - Character Creation

    <h4>Chapter 4 - Character Creation</h4>


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air and shouted "I am back." Not startling him in the least, a voice suddenly sounded behind him and he immediately swung around to listen to the familiar words.


    "Wee, earthling. I am Eleana. I will be your guide for today." A little fairy with two shiny pink wings on her back buzzed up and down, naturally flying in the air.


    Liam, on the other hand, knew that he was currently flying atop the world only thanks to the fairy''s magic.


    "This is Evolution Online, a new and exciting game. Would you like to be an adventurer in our world?" Eleana pped her wings and asked with a cute smile that revealed her dimples.


    "I agree." Liam simply replied.


    Though this was a simple question, he knew that this was in fact a very formal consent that was asked from everyone who wanted to enter this game or rather this world.


    In his past life, there were even instances where some people said no and as a consequence, they were not allowed to enter the game for another month.


    By then the game had exploded exponentially, and those people who werete by a month could only swallow their bitter truth and be left in the dust, permanentlygging behind.


    Moreover, it was not possible to create separate avatars or change your appearance in this game.


    Everything from the real world was directly mirrored in-game and everyone only had one shot at ying the game.


    It was impossible to make multiple ounts or start fresh all over again. Such a thing was both a blessing and a curse.


    After finishing with the consent, the fairy then directly started with a brief introduction. "There are different sses¡­"


    "No need." Liam abruptly cut her short. His entire brain was already filled to the brim with information about the game and he didn''t want to waste his time.


    There were also no secret advantages or hidden prizes for people listening to the entire boring lecture, so he bluntly stopped the fairy.


    The pretty Eleana pped her wings with a small frown on her face. Nevertheless, she moved on to the next topic.


    "I will now be doing aplete scan of your body, yer Liam and your character will be finalized shortly after the scan."


    Liam nodded as he felt a wave of energy pass through his body. He suddenly felt naked, as if he couldn''t hide anything from the woman in front of him, as if she was peering through his very soul.


    Others might be impressed by this strength exhibited by the fairy, but he knew that this was simply just the usage of a high-level Inspection skill.


    After scanning him from top to bottom, the fairy then spun around and beamed in excitement. "Congrattions. You are now ready to enter our amazing and wonderful world, Xion. I wish you the best of luck, yer Liam."


    Before Liam could react to anything, the space around him distorted once again and he found himself standing in the middle of a crowded street.


    "Woah! What the hell is this game, dude?"


    "I was ying something else and I suddenly ended up here!"


    "This looks so real, right?"


    "I didn''t know a video game could be so realistic?!"


    "Why the fuck am I fat in the game too? Can''t I change my stupid avatar?? Ahhh! This is too frustrating!"


    "Heh. Are you disappointed that you couldn''t make yourself look good and catfish some pretty chick?"


    "What? What are you even talking about? Most of these yers are guys! Look around. I can''t see a single girl!"


    "I guess the gender, age, and appearance can''t be changed? Phew! It''s better this way! At least when I am with a girl, I know I am with a girl."


    "Alright. Let''s log out and find more information about the game. I have no idea where to even begin with."


    Liam waspletely surrounded by other yers in the novice vige and loud chaotic chatter rang out from all directions.


    Everyone was trying their best to figure out ''Evolution Online'' since it had suddenly been forceunched in their game capsule without any prior warning.


    The game was also very peculiar and weird in the sense that it was almost too real!


    One waspletely unable to change any part of their identity and was also able to move and feel things as if they were in the outside world.


    Such a realistic game was leaps and bounds away from the other video games that were currently in the market.


    Was this some sort of Guerri marketing strategy for the game?


    No one knew anything about it, not even thepany the game was produced by. This was very unusual as such details were heavily advertised at the beginning of every single game.


    But here, no such information was provided. No one knew where the game came from and how they were able to log into it.


    Some were even worried if this was simr to a popr anime where the yers are trapped in the game and a death in-game meant death in the real world as well. So they were a bit hesitant to explore the new game freely.


    Of course, more avid gamers and other courageous youngsters did not dilly dally around. They immediately started chatting with the local NPCs to start receiving quests as that was the obvious start to any game.


    Liam, as well, was among this group of yers.


    However, he didn''t bother aimlessly walking around and begging for quests. He directly walked out of the novice vige until the crowd thinned and there was no more ruckus.


    "All right.. Let me first check my status screen."

 Chapter 5 - Starting Stats

    <h4>Chapter 5 - Starting Stats</h4>


    Liam sat on a rock, right outside the novice vige, and opened his status screen. Next to him, a couple of people were already fighting the rabbits and squirrels which were beginner level beasts.


    However, Liam was not in a hurry. In fact, he didn''t n on gaining any experience points for now. He calmly willed his status screen and first took a look at things.


    ______________


    Name: Chang Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 1 [0/200]


    Title: N/A


    ss: N/A


    Health: 10/10


    Mana: 10/10


    ______________


    Stamina: 2


    Intellect: 2


    Strength: 2


    Defense: 2


    Vitality: 2


    Agility: 2


    ______________


    Ha Ha Ha! Liam chuckled at the sight of his familiar pathetic starting stats and quickly closed the screen.


    The beginner stats ranged from 0 to 20 depending on each individual''s prior condition.


    Liam being very malnourished and his current bodycking any physical training, it was no surprise that his starting attributes were all on the lower side.


    After all, he had started with the same statsst time as well, but the difference was that he now knew what to do.


    This small difference in abilities at the start might not seem much but ultimately it slowed you down and pushed you to the bottom, even before the game began.


    Liam shook his head sighing and then opened his inventory. There was a worn out pair of pants, a shabby looking mismatched pair of shoes, a sleeveless shirt, ripped here there, andstly a rusted long sword.


    These were the beginner items that were uniformly given to all yers on entering the game, all Level 1 and all pretty much useless.


    But since Liam was currently in his underpants, he still took these trash items and equipped everything. The three items of clothing each gave 1 defense point and his previous 2 defense immediately went up by 3 points.


    This boost wasn''t really that much but roaming around half-naked sometimes ticked off certain NPCs and Liam couldn''t possibly remember each and every single NPC''s characteristics. So to be on the safer side, he threw everything on.


    After the issue of clothing was resolved, Liam then opened the map feature to check where he was.


    Beginner yers typically spawned in novice viges that were on the outskirts of towns and cities and Liam had spawned in Coldwater vige.


    It was a small vige without many resources in the northern part of the Gresh Kingdom. "Hmmm¡­ So an hour walk to the next town¡­ Alright. Let me start."


    Of course, it was also possible to reach the next town in a much shorter time but Liam took the roundabout main route frequented by vigers and merchants.


    He did this because he didn''t want toe across any wild beasts and be forced to fight them. Not that he was too weak to fight these beasts. Rather he wanted to keep his te clean.


    And so, while others busily hunted for wild beasts and starter quests to increase their level, Liam alone leisurely walked over to the next town.


    It took him a little longer than an hour, but just like he had wanted, he reached his destination without any hitch.


    Thankfully, unlike cities, towns did not have any entry fees, so he was also able to smoothly walk past the town guards.


    "If I remember correctly¡­" Liam paused at the entrance of the bustling town and sucked in a deep breath before he scurried along the crowded streets.


    Compared to the novice vige, Ba town was a much bigger ce and had several stores and vendors and even an auction house.


    Liam directly headed towards one of the more shy buildings in the northern part of the town, the bank.


    But he didn''t enter inside the bank, as it required a certain reputation and fame to borrow money from the bank. Rather he entered a small building on the same street, just a couple of blocks away from the bank, with a sign that read ''LeeLani''s Pawn Shop''.


    Inside the shop, a fat salesperson was sitting who revealed a big suspicious grin as soon as he saw Liam walking in.


    "Hello. Hello. Good day to you, young man. What brings you to my small establishment this fine morning?"


    Liam rolled his eyes and bluntly replied, without bothering with the formalities and fake niceties. "I need a loan of 100 Gold coins."


    He knew that there was no point in trying to butter up this fatty as all the loan sharks in the game were extremely cruel and cutthroat.


    "Oooo¡­ What a big sum for a little fe like you. Good. Good. Youngsters have to be ambitious! I like your courage young man!"


    "But should I give it to you or not? Hmmm..." The shopkeeper rapped on the desk in front of him, looking at Liam up and down.


    "Alright. I have decided. This is your lucky day. Though you don''t look particrly reliable, I will still loan you this sum of money."


    What a scam! Liam sneered inwardly.


    The man was spouting a lot of big nice words, but at the end of the day, it was all lies because he would just about loan anything to anyone. The interest rate was just that outrageous!


    [Ding. Received a loan of 100 Gold coins]


    [Ding. Interest: 10 Gold coins a day]


    [Ding. If the full amount is not returned by the end of the week along with the interest, the yer will be stripped of everything and permanently imprisoned.]


    [Ding. You are the first person to receive a loan.]


    [Ding. You have obtained the title ''Rolling in Debt'']


    [Rolling in Debt: When the title is equipped, it gives a 5% bonus on auction house settlements]


    Liam stared at the notifications not knowing whether tough or cry. Even though the title hit a little too close to home, he was still happy with the small surprise bonus.. He chuckled wryly and left the pawnshop.

 Chapter 6 - Crafting Room

    <h4>Chapter 6 - Crafting Room</h4>


    Liam clutched the small pouch containing 100 gold coins and walked out of the pawnshop, the pouch weighing heavily on his hand.


    Currently, in the game, people were still haggling for copper coins, while he had already borrowed 100 gold coins!


    The currency denomination was not tooplicated and pretty straightforward. One hundred copper coins equaled a silver coin and one hundred silver coins equaled a gold coin.


    Gold was the highest currency and items and consumables of bigger values were often traded in gems rather than coins.


    The exact value of every gem differed and they typically ranged from several hundred to thousands or even higher number of gold coins.


    So considering everything, a sum like 100 hundred gold coins was an astronomical amount to a Level 1 character.


    However, Liam confidently hopped onto one street after another and ran across the town, only stopping when he reached the familiar Trade building.


    He walked inside and went to one of the open windows.


    "Hi, I would like to rent a crafting room," Liam asked the sales representative.


    The woman nodded and took out a medallion from under the desk. "That will be 10 silvers."


    Before paying her first, Liam grabbed a sheet of paper from a stack on the side and scribbled on it with the pen tied to the counter. "I would also like to buy these ingredients." He handed it over to her.


    Thedy looked at the paper, her eyes slightly widening in shock. Everything listed was extremely expensive and she now held the scrawny-looking youngd in front of her in much higher regard.


    "That would be 100 gold coins in total sir. If you give me a few minutes, I, Lana, can personally deliver all the items to your room." The woman batted her eyshes, even introducing herself, and gave a coy smile to Liam.


    He was amused, but he was not a noob and he didn''t have time to mess around with NPCs. "Alright. Thanks." He muttered bluntly and then walked over to room no.5 which was the number on his medallion.


    [Ding. You have entered a crafting room.]


    [Ding. Your chance of sess in crafting is now increased by 5%]


    A couple of system notifications popped up in front of him, which Liam swiped away. He then sat down at the center of the small room, leaving the door open.


    Soon, Lana arrived, shing a big smile on her face. She bowed and greeted him again, revealing her ample breasts, and then took out all the items one by one from her inventory.


    Within a minute, the small room waspletely filled with various things including a big cauldron, several packets of herbs, bones, vials of blood, andstly two big pails of clean water.


    Liam nodded in satisfaction. "That''ll be all. Thanks." The NPC shed another coy smile before closing the door and leaving the room.


    "Here we go." Liam calmed himself down and then first started by activating the rune on the cauldron which simply required him to ce his thumb imprint on it.


    This rune enabled a user to regte the heat produced by the cauldron but something like that required Liam to have a much higher level and huge amounts of mana at his disposal, not to mention more control on his mana usage.


    The current him simply pressed his thumb against the cauldron once and then removed his hand to activate the automatic heat regtion. Though it was not that great, it was still decent enough to serve his current needs.


    Liam then started unfolding the herb stalks, while waiting for the water in the cauldron to reach a rolling boil.


    "Ginseng. Maricharin. Linti root. Bonasitu." He took the herbs in his hand one by one, smelled them, remembering their texture and their properties which had already been deeply drilled into his brain.


    There was a time in the past when he had been a ve. He and several others were forced into doing dull manualbor from dawn to dusk collecting herbs from a mountain.


    But that was just the beginning and in fact, that was one of the more pleasant memories he had. He had experienced far worse things in his life.


    "Hai! Let me not dwell on the past." Liam smiled bitterly and started adding the herbs to the boiling water. He added them in a specific series ording to the recipe that he remembered.


    In ''Evolution Online'' there were many ways to obtain recipes for crafting but Liam''s method was a unique one as he was replicating everything from his mind.


    Once the herbs were added, the boiling water in the cauldron turned into a shade of light yellow.


    Liam then added the beast bones and drops of blood at the same time which turned the liquid into deep red in color.


    Almost immediately he backed away, just in time to avoid a powerful roaring aura that seeped out of the cauldron.


    [Ding: Body Cleansing Low Grade potion created]


    [Ding: Body Cleansing Low Grade potion recipe obtained]


    [Ding: You have acquired the trade skill Alchemy]


    [Ding: Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased to Beginner Level]


    The temperature in the small crafting room instantly shot up and Liam was drenched in sweat from top to bottom. The crafting room had suddenly be his personal sauna!


    "Looks good enough." He nodded in satisfaction and then started unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his bony weak body.


    He removed his pants, shoes, and his underwear as well and when he waspletely naked, he stepped into the sizzling boiling cauldron.


    [Ding: Health -1]


    [Ding: Health -1]


    Danger notifications immediately started popping up, but Liam leisurely made himselffortable in the cauldron.


    Though it was a huge vessel, it was still awkward for him to fit his entire body inside, submerging it under the boiling red liquid.

 Chapter 7 - Training Hall

    <h4>Chapter 7 - Training Hall</h4>


    Liam opened his status screen to see his health slowly dropping one point at a time and considering that he had only 10 health points currently, he held his breath and stared at the screen even though he was sure of the oue.


    His health in fact dropped all the way to 3/10, but then it stopped there. The boiling water now felt cool and refreshing to his body, the various essences thoroughly mixing together.


    As time ticked by, the deep dark red color of the liquid in the cauldron slowly started fading, all essences now little by little getting absorbed into Liam''s body.


    He closed his eyes enjoying the warm and nourishing sensation. Within an hour, the dark red liquid turned almostpletely transparent and colorless. However, the next instant, the color started changing again.


    The clear and clean water now started slowly bing muddier and muddier with ck oily filth floating on top of it.


    And surprisingly, Liam himself was the source of this filth, his pores leaking the greenish-ck sticky liquid.


    After absorbing the essences of various herbs and bones, his body started expelling the copious amount of impurities present within the flesh and bones.


    Soon the entire cauldron was pitch ck in color and the water had transformed into a thick oil.


    "Bleh! I stink!" Liam pinched his nose and stepped out of the cauldron, tracking the dirty filth on the floor of the crafting room.


    Each room had an attached bath and toilet, so he directly stepped into the shower, scrubbing himself until he felt clean and fresh.


    Though he still looked like a bag of bones, his body now had a healthy glow and his skin did not have a single blemish.


    The pimples and freckles on his face had also disappeared giving him a neat look.


    Liam then quickly threw his shabby beginner clothes back on. There was an automatic reset rune on the cauldron, which when activatedpletely cleaned the cauldron inside out.


    So he opened his inventory space, which only had 10 slots, and tossed the cauldron in one of those 10 slots.


    "Hi. I am done with the crafting room." He handed over the medallion of the room back to Lana, who now stared at Liam even more incredulously.


    She could see that he had somehow transformed a lot in such a short amount of time!


    She wouldn''t exactly describe him as good looking because he still had a very off putting body as if he was just skin covering a skeleton, but his features were sharper now.


    His pitch ck eyes looked unfathomably deep. Lana gulped without realizing that she was openly ogling at the young man.


    She wanted to ask him how he had done it, but unfortunately, he had already walked out, only his back visible at a distance now.


    Liam summoned his status screen to look at his basic stats again.


    ______________


    Name: Chang Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 1 [0/200]


    Title: Rolling in Debt


    ss: N/A


    Health: 50/50


    Mana: 70/70


    ______________


    Stamina: 10


    Intellect: 14


    Strength: 10


    Defense: 11


    Vitality: 13


    Agility: 12


    ______________


    "Hmm¡­ Not bad, but I can do better." Liam clicked his tongue and walked over to his next destination which was the main training hall of the town.


    Though this ce was far less crowded than the novice vige, the training hall still had a lot of peopleing in and going out.


    There were also several yers on the ground in front of the tall rectangr brick wall building, attacking scarecrows relentlessly using all sorts of weapons and even basic magic spells.


    This space was meant for learning and practicing basic skills from the instructors of the training hall, but some people stayed longer than necessary and repeated the same set of actions over and over again.


    This was admittedly one of the strategies to gain bonus stat points, but albeit a very time-consuming and boring one.


    For instance, if one swung a sword continuously a hundred times or a thousand times stretching out their stamina almost until it broke, it was possible to get 1 or 2 stat point boosts for stamina.


    However, to receive this benefit again, they would have to swing their sword a million times for the next stat boost reward.


    So ultimately, it was not an efficient way to spend one''s time, but some perfectionists still preferred fighting for every bit of advantage that they could grasp.


    Liam even spotted a couple of women in the group who were swinging their swords without taking a breather.


    At this point in the game, women were truly very rare so he couldn''t help but give them a nce before turning his attention back to the instructor who was sitting at the corner on a wooden chair, with a stick on hisp.


    As soon as Liam''s gaze fell on the middle-aged man, the man''s eyes also swept over to him, meeting his gaze. Instantly a domineering aura seeped from his body.


    Other yers might have been at least slightly intimidated by such a strong violent aura, but Liam simply nodded at the instructor and walked over to one of the empty spaces on the ground in front of the training hall building.


    He, of course, did not n on doing the mundane exercises which others were doing. There was no use chasing over every single stat point.


    He had a lot more important things to aplish before his time ran out!


    He ced the rusted sword he was carrying back into his inventory and then took a deep breath before slowly starting to perform a series of movements.

 Chapter 8 - Body Tempering

    <h4>Chapter 8 - Body Tempering</h4>


    "Hey! Who the hell is he?"


    "Is he trying to get some attention by doing these weird poses?"


    "Dude, yoga ss is 3 streets down. Go do your cat and cow poses there!"


    "How embarrassing? You should just uninstall the game already!"


    "What a sissy! Look at how clean his skin is! I bet he is the bottom for some dude."


    Liam, however, did not even hear the taunts which were aimed at him and what he was doing.


    Using medicinal herbs and beast essences to remove impurities from the body was just the basic starting step.


    In order to truly temper one''s body and make it a perfect vessel to use and absorb mana, there were still lot more steps left to be done.


    And among all the things, Liam had chosen to focus on this particr one first.


    Even though he had learned many lessons thest time around, all of them in the hardest way possible, one of the most important lessons was the significance of the body''s foundation.


    If the foundation was not perfect, then everything after that would forever hold ws and one would never be able to reach the pinnacle of power and strength.


    So Liam ignored the several eyes that looked at him mockingly and continued doing the series of body tempering movements, the purpose of which was to remove the secondyer of impurities in his flesh and muscles.


    In fact, these movements were not some ancient secret art and were nothing shy.


    They were just simple movements and just like someone hadmented, they were abination of strength training and flow yoga exercises.


    This would be soon revealed to other yers in a month or so but by then the game would have already exploded and several people would regret not having done these basics when they were just starting out as this was the most optimal time to condition one''s body.


    Of course, it was also possible to do itter on, but the effects were not as pronounced.


    And there was also one more reason why Liam had chosen to do this set of exercises in the training hall right in front of everyone and especially the instructor!


    This was the trigger for a unique quest!


    Liam worked hard, his body covered by ayer of sticky sweat as he continuously wrung himself into various shapes and sizes.


    Almost 3 hours had passed and the crowd around him waxed and waned, everyoneing in and out of the training hall watching him for a bit before they chuckled to themselves and left to continue their own quests.


    Only a few had stayed continuously and had been observing Liam from the beginning. These were the yers grinding with the scarecrows for extra stats.


    "How many hours do you guys think this fool is going to burn? I want to see what the idiot aplishes." A tall, lean and muscr guymented as he swung his sword, hitting the training dummy skillfully.


    Next to him, there were two young women who seemed to be in their early twenties and were also quite eye catching.


    They had a slender body with ample curves and also good facial features.


    The one on the right, with long red hair added to the man''sment. "You should stop worrying about others and look at your own progress."


    "Aye! Alex, stop being so mean to me!" The tall guy immediately sighed to which the woman named Alex simply scoffed in return.


    "This is taking long. I don''t think there is any more point in doing this. Let''s go." Mia added, the woman on the left with long curly blond hair.


    "Ahh¡­ But I really want to see what that guy is up to."


    "Shut up, Rey. If you want, you keep wasting your time. Alex and I will be leaving."


    "Alright. Alright. Sis, please. Don''t say such drastic things." The tall guy named Rey folded like a pack of cards and relented to his two headstrong sisters.


    However, he only did so because unlike his other girl friends, his two sisters were in fact monsters when it came to gaming.


    If they had wanted they could have easily made a career in esports, but they just yed for fun asionally with him.


    All three of them were from wealthy families and did not have the need or necessity to work for their money or food.


    The returns from their investments alone were enough to feed their next nine generations.


    They had only logged into ''Evolution Online'' because of the craze the game had created by hacking and crashing all the other games into oblivion.


    Since almost everyone and the news channel were talking about ''Evolution Online'', the three of them also entered the game to see what it was all about.


    And Rey did not want to miss this golden opportunity to be carried by the two goddesses. So he tagged along with them to explore this new and mysterious world.


    The three of them chatted and quickly gave up on rote grinding for bonus stats and went into the training hall to select their ss.


    yers were able to select a specific ss to y any time starting from Level 1, but once they select a ss it was not possible to undo their selection or pick a new one as selecting a ss was not as simple as tapping an option on the status screen.

 Chapter 9 - Unique Quest

    <h4>Chapter 9 - Unique Quest</h4>


    Just as the trio walked into the training hall, the instructor suddenly shot up from his seat, making the three yers stop in their tracks.


    They turned to observe the instructor''s behavior curiously as the middle-aged man hadn''t made any move all this time, except for sitting back on his chair and looking down on all the new yers.


    "What do you guys think is going on?" Rey asked as he watched the instructor walk towards the far corner of the training ground where the ''joker'' was performing his dance moves.


    "Perhaps this is some sort of trigger for a quest?" Mia suggested.


    "Or maybe the instructor couldn''t put up with the eyesore anymore and took action to personally toss him out," Alex added with a straight face.


    The three of them continued watching as the man walked up to Liam and stood in front of him with a revered expression on his face.


    "Young man, you are almost there. Keep doing it." He even encouraged him, bing his personal cheerleader.


    All the other yers in the training ground immediately became dumbfounded.


    The instructor who had been gruff and rude to them was going out of his way to act polite and nice to the skinny weirdo.


    Where was justice in this world?


    Some people even tried imitating Liam, however, the instructor''s attention was fully locked onto him and their actions only went unnoticed.


    So everyone could only helplessly watch as the instructor continued encouraging Liam more and more. Soon, just a few minutester, something weird started to happen.


    Instead of sweat, Liam''s body started to ooze something dark and ck, stinking up the entire training area.


    "What the heck???"


    "Did he just fart??"


    "This stinks."


    Everyone scrunched their noses in anger, but the instructor''s face beamed in surprise.


    "You have done welld." He patted Liam, who now stopped moving, and stood erect, slightly bowing to the instructor.


    "It has been such a long time since I have across apetent young man like you."


    "There is a sharpness in your eyes and I can see that your will and determination burns brightly."


    "You have the tenacity to achieve the impossible. Young man, do you wish to attain perfection? Do you seek absolute power?"


    The instructor''s words utterly shocked everyone around, making their jaw drop on the floor.


    All the surrounding yers could clearly see that Liam was currently receiving a quest and more importantly, it was not an ordinary quest for sure!


    It was definitely a special quest! Or perhaps a hidden quest! Or perhaps even a unique quest!


    While special quests typically offered more rewards than normal quests, in any game, hidden quests and unique quests were rarer and were coveted more.


    Particrly, unique quests were offered only once and the entire questline disappeared after the specific yer finishes the quest.


    Since ''Evolution Online'' was brand new, no one was able to guess what was going on but they could tell that this was something special.


    To make matters worse, they were only able to hear half the conversation, after which no one was able to hear what the two were talking about anymore.


    Only Liam was able to hear the instructor''s words and he had a big fat smile on his face.


    "A few years ago, when I was fighting a life and death battle in the middle of a terrifying hunting expedition, I came across this small vial." The instructor muttered and handed over a small ss vial to Liam with a solemn expression on his face.


    Liam as well epted that vial with a look of reverence on his face and one could tell that he was not really faking it for gaining the favor of the NPC.


    Whatever respect he was showing, he truly meant it. In fact, the vial he had received was nothing short of a life-saving elixir.


    "My friend analyzed a small portion of this liquid and found that the medicine inside this vial is priceless." The instructor continued his exnation.


    "It is capable of cleansing impurities from the very root of the body."


    "Unfortunately, my prime has already passed and my body is riddled with injuries that cannot be undone. So I am not able to use it for myself."


    "However, if you are willing to help me, I am more than happy to gift you this."


    "First, I want you to destroy the beast that wreaked havoc on me and caused me to be crippled like this."


    "Bring his head to me. I will only be satisfied if I spit in his severed head every day!"


    [Ding: Unique Chain Quest activated]


    [Ding: Quest cannot be refused]


    [Ding: Kill the bear king Barabara and bring its head to the training ground instructor]


    Liam smiled, happy that the information that he had was indeed urate.


    This was the main issue about unique quests. The person who managed to get it most often wouldn''t spread the details of the quest around unless he was a total fool.


    But Liam had been fairly confident about this particr quest because the person who managed to get it was none other than the bully who had been tormenting him his entire life.


    He had pulled up the quest screen repeatedly and boasted to Liam, every time thrashing him around, while thetter could only watch him helplessly as he rose in power because of a single quest!


    But now, Liam had sessfully taken his first step!


    He had managed to snatch someone else''s fate and make it his own!

 Chapter 10 - Explosive Transformation

    <h4>Chapter 10 - Explosive Transformation</h4>


    "It''s my honor to exact vengeance on your behalf, senior." Liam''s lips curved upwards into a big grin, immediately bowing and epting the quest.


    Without waiting any longer, he then opened the small vial and emptied its contents into his mouth, gulping down everyst bit.


    Sh!


    Instantly, a strong gust of wind picked up and loud whooshing sounds echoed almost startling everyone on the training ground. Some yers even started running out in fear.


    Liam''s entire body was covered with swirling winds from top to bottom, but if one had the ability they could see that these were in fact waves of mana enveloping him in a sort of cocoon.


    The few drops of liquid in the vial were breaking his body down from top to bottom, reconstructing his meridians, his blood vessels, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and every inch of his fleshly body.


    The inferior alchemy potion which Liam had brewed was nothing inparison to these few drops of liquid in the vial. One was trash while the other was a heavenly elixir, albeit a low-grade one.


    But more importantly, this quest in itself was the starting point for obtaining the highest-grade legendary blood elixir which was why Liam had chosen to start with this set of quests, giving them more priority above all others.


    One''s body was one''s foundation. It was the core, upon which everything else was built.


    Without a perfect vessel, mind, soul, mana core, and everything else would crumble. The importance of body tempering couldn''t be stressed enough.


    And when the mana cocoon finally broke, Liam stepped out, his body explosively transformed. He almost looked as if he was an entirely different person from top to bottom.


    His eyes were sharp and sword-like, the pitch-ck orbs within them seemingly containing the entire universe.


    He had long inky ck hair that swayed in the gentle wind. His skin was as white as snow, not a single scar or blemish visible.


    His body which was merely a bag of skin and bones before, now had defined muscles. His lean figure looked as if someone had sculpted it to perfection.


    Though his appearance was still simr, all the imperfections had been erased out, leaving behind a wless body.


    Liam who once looked like a cowardly stray dog, now had the charm and charisma of an immortal from the heavens.


    "Status window."


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 1 [0/200]


    Title: Rolling in Debt


    ss: N/A


    Health: 150/150


    Mana: 250/250


    ______________


    Stamina: 50


    Intellect: 50


    Strength: 50


    Defense: 50


    Vitality: 50


    Agility: 50


    ______________


    Liam clicked his tongue in satisfaction. "This is what I call a perfect opening."


    He grinned wildly, even though everyone else standing in the training ground looked at him, utterly shocked, unable to grasp what had just happened.


    The fool who had been doing random movements and weird poses had suddenly received a mysterious quest and had undergone some sort of magical transformation.


    They could even feel a domineering violent aura surging from him, an aura reeking of pure strength and power!


    But unfortunately, they were all only worthless bystanders. They could only watch on with their jaws on the floor as the mind-blowing scene continued to unfold in front of them.


    "Ah! You are indeed a genius!" The instructor pped his hands, his eyes shimmering with admiration.


    "Thank you, senior. Could you please also help me in choosing a ss?" Liam casually asked, picking back up his rusted sword from the ground.


    The two of them then chatted and walked into the training hall, leaving behind everyone dumbfounded. What the hell just happened? The game just started right?


    "Woooah! Sis, did you see that???" Rey banged his fist into his palm.


    "I have eyes, Rey and I am standing right next to you. What do you think?" Mia absent-mindedly muttered.


    "Ah. Alright. Come let''s follow him and see what ss he chooses. Maybe he will get offered a special hidden ss?"


    The three walked into the training hall just in time, as the instructor signaled something to the guards standing nearby and the doors of the training hall were tightly banged shut the next instant.


    "What the hell?"


    "Come on. Let us inside!"


    "What is with this special treatment?"


    A few voices slipped in from outside but they only fell on deaf ears as the guards expressionlessly bolted the doors without caring about the yers gathered outside.


    "Just miss!" Rey wiped the sweat off of his forehead as the three of them walked behind Liam and the instructor, who were heading towards the testing center in the training hall.


    Of course, there were already some yers loitering around the training hall who hade earlier for testing their aptitude and choosing a ss. So it was not aplete lockdown, albeit it helped in stopping more crowds from gathering.


    Liam, however, did not concern himself with these things.. With everything he had nned, it was almost impossible for him to keep a low profile and he didn''t have the time to worry about all these unnecessary details.

 Chapter 11 - Class Selection

    <h4>Chapter 11 - ss Selection</h4>


    "There are many paths suitable for a young man such as yourself, brave and extraordinary, and no matter which path you choose, you must work hard and persevere. First, there is the way of the warriors¡­"


    The instructor''s voice droned on as he exined the details of the game, but unlike how he had rudely interrupted the fairy at the beginning of the game, Liam didn''t act casually with the middle-aged man.


    He silently listened to the man''s words, as the both of them walked towards the aptitude testing room of the training hall.


    Even though all yers were freely able to choose whatever ss they preferred, the game system still gave out rmendations in the name of aptitude testing.


    Everyone had initially assumed that this was because of the extremely realisticponent of the game but this was in fact an actual test to determine the affinity of the yer for different kinds of magic and hidden attributes like perceptivity.


    Those who didn''t take their test results seriously and ignored the system''s rmendations could only cryter after realizing that they had missed the chance to pick something more optimal for them.


    For instance, if the system notified a yer that he or she has a very high affinity for mana, it would be a mistake to go for a purebat ss like the warrior ss.


    And inversely, if he or she had a very low, negligible affinity for mana, there was no point in picking a spell caster ss like the mage ss.


    So in the end, even if yers had the freedom to pick whatever ss they want, they were still inevitably restricted by their own body and its limitations.


    However, it was also not impossible to ovee these limitations. There were several methods one could use to fine-tune their body ording to the ss they dared to choose.


    But these were few and far between and it was prudent for an average yer to rely on these mysterious items.


    Nodding at the instructor''s exnation, Liam ced his hand on a smooth round crystal ball, simr to the one used by chatans for fortune-telling.


    Unlike others who treated this step far too casually, Liam''s face showed traces of anxiety and nervousness.


    The first time around, his body constitution was without a doubt pathetic. He had no mana affinity and so he had chosen to y the ss swordsman.


    But this time around, he had cleansed himself of impurities and tempered his body at least twice, that too once with a powerful elixir.


    yers who had done this in his previous life were all able to get high mana affinity in their test results which was what Liam was hoping for as well.


    But even if he did not get what he expected, he still knew enough things to achieve the results he ultimately aimed for.


    And Liam''s current aim was not the swordsman ss even though he was most familiar with that ss. Rather he aimed for the mage ss.


    This was because Liam knew something that the others did not yet know. In Evolution Online, sses were not set in stone. Some extraordinary yers were able to perceive other rted sses as well.


    This inevitably led to the rise of hybrid sses such asbat mages, magic hunters, spear druids, and so on. There were also yers who had unlocked hidden sses like dragon warriors.


    So even though Liam''s current n was to register himself as a mage, he was confident that he would be able to be a magic swordsman on his own.


    He had been a ve andckey for almost the entirety of his past life, but he had never once epted that fate. He had worked very hard, pouring his blood and sweat in order to break through that shackle.


    And even if he failed in the end, the swordy he practiced day and night, the closebat instincts he had honed through several life and death battles were still alive and raging within him.


    He did not need the system''s help in reviving those skills again. All he had to do was swing his sword and he was confident that he would be able to relearn everything on his own.


    Mulling over his ns mentally, Liam awaited the results of the aptitude test when suddenly the crystal started glowing and a multitude of colors shed on it.


    Hmmm? Liam knitted his brows together, observing the behavior of the crystal. His face showed that he was seeing something that even he had not expected.


    The middle-aged instructor standing next to him also had a look of shock on his face. Though the shock on the instructor''s face was several times more dramatic than the one Liam had.


    The crystal continued blinking with different colors for several seconds before it finally returned back to its nk white translucent resting state.


    "Ah? This?" The instructor scratched his head, not knowing what to say to Liam, who as well stared unblinkingly at the crystal ball.


    The both of them didn''t have to wait for too long, as a white screen immediately shed in front of them disying the test results.


    [Ding. Mana Affinity: S grade]


    [Ding. Perceptivity: SSS grade]


    [Ding. Nature Affinity: S grade]


    [Ding. Demonic Affinity: S grade]


    [Ding. Undead Affinity: SSS grade]


    [Ding. ss Rmendation: N/A]


    Liam''s eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out of the socket. He knew that he was going to get good results, but what the hell was this???


    Even the ss rmendation came out as not avable?


    "Did I just break the system¡­.?"

 Chapter 12 - No Class?

    <h4>Chapter 12 - No ss?</h4>


    "Ahhh! Hurry up and pick a ss already!" Rey wanted to bang his head on the wall, seeing all the dramatic expressions on the instructor''s face.


    "Which ss do you think he might pick?"


    "Is he going to get another unique quest for a hidden ss? Damn it, this is totally unfair!!!"


    "What dog shit luck is this?"


    "Do you think if we kill him, the quest might get transferred to us?"


    "Are you an idiot? Unless this game is drastically different, only pieces of equipment and skill books are usually dropped no?"


    The few people who had gathered around Liam were going crazy.


    Unfortunately, aptitude test results were not disyed publicly, and so the others were not able to see anything.


    They could only patiently wait for Liam to voice out his ss selection to the instructor to get more clues.


    More than these stragglers, the instructor was actually the most curious person who wanted to know which path Liam would choose.


    In all these years of working at the training hall, he had nevere across an evaluation like this. He was very happy that he had entrusted the young man in front of him and put his faith in him.


    "Which ss are you selecting,d?" He fidgeted with his hands excitedly and asked.


    Liam, on the other hand, was standing still,pletely expressionless. His brain, however, was making a million calctions.


    He tried to understand the analysis results as best as he could. He had expected the S grade mana affinity and the S nature affinity.


    This was the result of consuming the contents of the small vial which he had received as a part of the unique forced quest.


    However, what he didn''t expect was the demonic affinity and the undead affinity, not to mention the SSS grade perceptivity.


    Was this because his mind was something that had experienced a whole other life? But what about the undead affinity?


    Was this because he had already died once? But technically, he had traveled back in time, so does his life earlier even count?


    There were too manyplex exnations and each one crazier than the other. Liam shook his head and stopped himself from over-thinking unnecessarily.


    The results were right in front of him and that was what mattered in the end. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down first.


    With his attributes and affinity, he could probably start with any avable ss and he wouldn''t go wrong.


    He was already head and shoulders above the others and his growth will only exponentially soar in the future.


    But unlike other yers, Liam didn''t want to simply be strong. He wanted to dominate!


    He wanted to create and master the ultimate hybrid ss, which would eventually help him massacre and pave his way through the impending apocalypse!


    He would only be a fool if he didn''t aim and strive for something impossible even after getting a miraculous second chance at life like this.


    After thinking through things for a while, Liam shed his eyes open, looking calm andposed. The best path for him was in fact right in front of his eyes, even rmended by the system.


    He looked at the instructor calmly and answered him with a polite smile on his face. "I will not be selecting a ss at the moment, senior."


    "Ah... I see." The instructor nodded. "Are you sure,d? This decision might put you at a disadvantagepared to others who restrict themselves to a single path."


    "It is always better to excel in one, rather than be mediocre in many." He tried to convince Liam as best as he could, seeing that the young man had one of the best constitutions he had seen.


    However, Liam resolutely shook his head, standing firm in his decision. "Alright then. I wish you good luck in your journey, young man." The instructor patted him with a sigh.


    The two of them then walked out of the training hall ignoring all the other yers. There was pin-drop silence in the room as no one even knew what to say.


    The NPC who typically tested the aptitude for yers was the one to break this silence as his voice rang loudly in the room. "Who wants to take the test next? Make a line."


    However, no one was in the mood to step forward now. They nkly looked at each other, and a loudmotion immediately broke out.


    Some people who had already selected their ss even started to regret their decision now. ying as a ''no ss'' was certainly an option in many games, but most often it was not the best.


    But after looking at the actions of Liam, they were no longer sure about it¡­

 Chapter 13 - Want To Party Together?

    <h4>Chapter 13 - Want To Party Together?</h4>


    "Brother! Brother expert! Wait a minute!" As Liam walked out, a loud voice sounded behind him.


    Rey hurriedly ran after Liam, seeing that thetter had no intentions of stopping for him. Finally, he had to pick up the pace and run at his full speed just to catch up with the guy.


    "Huff. Huff. Man, you are fast! Listen, brother. Do you want to party together?" Rey panted, patting his chest to catch his breath.


    "Not interested." Liam stepped aside and walked around him, leaving the training hall building area. Considering the unexpected events that had happened, he was busily recalcting everything in his mind.


    "Ah. Wait. Wait. Wait. See, I am not alone. My two cousin sisters are with me also." Rey awkwardly chuckled, hoping that it would catch his attention.


    But unfortunately, Liam still continued walking as if he hadn''t heard anything at all. "Stop pimping out your sisters, dude."


    Cough. Cough. Rey almost stumbled from his merciless straightforward stab. "You do know that people are going to be following you right? Not everyone would be as friendly as I am."


    Liam finally stopped, turning around to look at Rey. "That is for sure. Not everyone would be as friendly as you."


    "In fact, I am counting on it." He shed a gentle and polite smile, which for some reason looked cold and sinister to Rey, raising the small strands of hair on his back.


    "Hai. Hai. Alright." Rey raised his hands and took a step back subconsciously. "Could you at least tell me what you were doing and what quest you received? I am willing to pay for that information." He paused and then added. "Generously."


    "500 gold coins." Liam named his price with the same deceptive smile and walked away, knowing full well that he was not going to go for it.


    With the current exchange rate, not many people trading the in-game currency, a sum like 500 gold coins was astronomically high and expensive.


    Even with several people worldwide ying the game, it would probably cost at least a few thousand dors. So unless the other party was insane, they wouldn''t agree to something like this.


    Liam just needed him to stop following him and pestering him. So he tossed out this insane number. He did not have time to spare for dealing with these things.


    However, unexpectedly, Rey immediately shouted back with a thumbs up! "Yess! Add me as a friend, I can send you the gold over ASAP!"


    "Are you serious?" Liam couldn''t help but let out augh. It looked like he had inadvertently run into one of the pay to y heavy duty money bags.


    He paused, deciding to deal with the matter quickly, and finished the transaction first.


    [Ding. You have received 500 gold coins from your friend]


    "Alright. Follow me and observe carefully. I will demonstrate for you three times. That''s it." At this point in the game, there was no recording option, so he wasn''t too worried about revealing his face.


    Rey nodded, immediately turning around and waving at the two women. The three of them half-jogged and half-ran, keeping up with Liam as they walked to the outskirts of the town.


    Though there were several prying eyes still lingering on the group, Liam was not bothered by it as they were well within the town''s protection limits.


    And also¡­


    He was almost 5 times stronger than a normal Level 1 yer!


    "Alright. This is the first stance." Liam bnced himself on his right leg and folded the left leg behind his back, bringing it all the way up to reach his head. "This strengthens your spine." He exined.


    The three nodded silently, observing him and taking mental notes as they did. Liam was swift in his transitions and his movements flowed smoothly. He repeated all the stances as if he had done those a hundred times before.


    Sweat trickled down his body, his muscles straining against the thin ragged shirt. It was almost a sphemy for such trash clothing covering his perfect chiseled figure.


    Both Mia and Alex gulped simultaneously, Liam''s movements only half-registering in their minds. They were more busy looking at the tensing up and rxing movements of his defined muscles.


    Rey had brought them over because he knew they were more talented than him, but weirdly enough, he was the person paying most attention right now.


    It took Liam all of 2 minutes to finish the entire set of movements and then he repeated it two more times, finishing the whole thing in around 5 minutes.


    "Alright then. I am done with the demonstration. As for the exnation¡­ You should have figured out by now how extremely realistic the game is."


    "So this set of exercises are just something I practice every day in real life and they coincidentally worked in-game as well."


    He didn''t care if they were convinced or not with his exnation and didn''t bother borating more. "I wish you luck." Liam pped his hands, removing the dirt on them as the three still continued to watch him in a daze.


    He then turned around to start walking away back to the town, when all three snapped out of their trance and called after him at the same time. "Hey. Wait."


    "Hmmm?" Liam stopped, already regretting his decision for entertaining the three heavy duty money bags.


    "This¡­ I am Alex. Add me also to your friends list."


    "And I am Mia." The two girls introduced themselves.


    "Brother,e on. Now that we have all been introduced, how about we party together? We are all good yers. We won''t bog you down."


    Liam sighed. "Not interested."


    He also didn''t send any friend requests to the two women and continued walking back to the moneylender. Now that, he had more money, it saved him a lot of time and effort and he intended to upgrade his gear before heading out.


    "Brother expert," Rey called after him, but Mia stopped him.


    "Leave him be. I don''t think someone like him will join any group. Let''s just work on things our own way.." She muttered, tucking away a few strands of her blond hair behind her ear.

 Chapter 14 - Rich Boy

    <h4>Chapter 14 - Rich Boy</h4>


    "What? You are already returning the gold?" The fat pawnshop owner shook his head at Liam in disapproval, his chubby chin and neck fat jiggling as he did.


    He was not able to get a single silver from the young man and it pained him terribly.


    As a loan shark, his survival depended on people returning back the money borrowed at thest minute, if at all, but now this young man had returned it back to him within a single day!


    "Alright. Don''t hesitate to ask for my help again if you need it." The shopkeeper muttered, recing the frown once again with a big smile. Liam nodded at him and then walked out towards his next destination.


    He had neither expected this influx of cash nor his unique body constitution. This made his path ahead a lot easier and at the same time also uncertain.


    After exiting the pawnshop, Liam made a quick trip to the weapons store and upgraded his rusted long sword to a bright and shiny silver sword.


    It gave him a simple boost of 10 attack power as opposed to the 1 attack power of the rusted sword while costing 10 silver.


    Unlike the pieces of equipment dropped by beasts and monsters, swords sold by the merchant stores were shy, extremely good-looking, expensive but had very bad stats. No one in their right mind would buy these.


    It was far more efficient to obtain pieces of equipment by clearing quests and grinding for monsters or even personally forging them.


    However, right now time was more valuable than gold for Liam. So he quickly purchased a full set of gear without hesitation, including light leather armor, leather pants, silver boots, and silver gauntlets, spending a little over 1 gold.


    There was also a thick silver breastte which Liam did not buy as he preferred keeping his body light and free, rather than being weighed down by clunky pieces of equipment.


    Combined with his tempered well-toned body, clear skin, sharp look, and fine, polished, and crisp leather clothing, he looked like an heir to one of the rich families. The gear also gave him a decent boost of course, albeit for an extravagant price.


    [Defense]: 50 -> 70


    [Agility]: 50 -> 60


    [Physical Attack power]: +10


    For a yer who has just started the game with not a single ounce of experience points, Liam''s stats were extremely terrifying, to say the least.


    "Alright. Time to head out." He had already spent enough time in the town, so Liam started walking out in long strides. This time he didn''t bother taking the busymoner''s road and directly headed into the wilderness.


    "This guy! What the hell? Just how much money does he have? And not to mention the good items and the unique quest!! What a lucky bastard!" Robert grimaced.


    He was one of the yers who had noticed Liam back in the training hall and had been following him ever since.


    Robert was not someone new to VRMMORPGs and had a dedicated group of friends ying along with him who were all together as a guild in thest game before they got forcibly pulled into ''Evolution Online''.


    They had only coincidentally noticed Liam, but after they saw him receiving the special quest from the instructor, they decided to follow him along.


    His actions were a bit too suspicious and they couldn''t help but doubt that he had prior knowledge about the game. Otherwise, how could he get this lucky this soon?


    Not to mention, Liam also looked unusually calm and steady among the sea of yers who were fumbling around.


    "No doubt. This guy is a beta-tester!" Robert eximed. He was a tall young man seemingly in his twenties and he had a wild unkempt scraggly beard on his chin.


    "Should we loot him, bro?" Ben asked, walking along with Robert. Their group currently had five people following Liam.


    Robert paused and replied after a while, shaking his head. "That would only be counterproductive. Let''s follow him and see what he does next. Maybe he can lead us to a good grinding spot which can give us an advantage."


    All the others agreed with him and nodded in response. Though it might seem like they were wasting time, in an exploration game with very little information avable, any amount of extra advantage would give them an edge.


    However, they were not the only group following Liam and not everyone had the same intentions.


    Jin Wei pped the guy standing near him on his back and loudly harrumphed. "Ahhh! I can''t wait to ughter that bitch! He is spending my money without any limit."


    "Heh. How stupid! Why would a level 1 loser even invest so much in equipments? Wasting money because he has lots!" Another one chimed in. This group of yers had oriental features and were also following Liam.


    "Must be some rich sucker who has a death wish. Bish money can''t save you in the game!"


    "Leader, we should teach him a good lesson while we are at it. Camp at the grave and wait for him to get more in-game gold and kill him again and again!"


    "Ke Ke Ke! How many times do you think he will end up recharging before finally giving up and uninstalling the game? Ke Ke Ke!"


    ¡­..


    Note: Physical Attack power is directly proportional to the Strength attribute and the boost from weapon is in addition to this. (in this case: +10)

 Chapter 15 - One Hit KO

    <h4>Chapter 15 - One Hit KO</h4>


    Once he was out of the town''s borders, Liam picked up his pace and dashed into the depth of the forests.


    And since his level was still technically 1, a bunch of rabid rabbits and horny goats picked up his scent, aggroed onto him, and started following him.


    He as well didn''t exactly bother evading them or going around the lower level beasts, so within a minute about a dozen beginner level beasts were following him.


    "What the hell? What is this idiot doing?" a few disgruntled voices sounded from a distance, as the yers who were following Liam had their own worries.


    They didn''t want him to die to some rabbits and goats and resurrect back in the graveyard.


    "Do you think he is doing this on purpose?" One of theckeys asked, making Jin Wei grit his teeth.


    "It looks like he has some brain after all. Call some of our friends and tell them to stand ready near the town graveyard."


    "I have a feeling that he might die just to try and lose us."


    "Oh!" Theckey nodded. "Boss, do you think he knows we are following him?"


    "Looks like it." Jin Wei nodded pensively. "Otherwise, why would he have pulled so many monsters?"


    There were currently about five groups following Liam, along with the horde of beginner-level beasts, and all five of them had simr thoughts.


    Liam, however, was on apletely different page.


    As soon as he headed into the forests, he started picking up his pace, and right in front of everyone''s eyes, men and beast alike, he soon started pulling away, the distance between him and his pursuers gradually increasing.


    Liam''s stats were not that of a Level 1 yer and he currently resembled a Level 4 or Level 5 yer more, so it took him only a few seconds to shake off the beginner level beasts and he was eventually out of their aggro range.


    And as for the other yers¡­ theysted slightly longer than the beasts¡­


    Munching on consumables like tough bread and wild mushrooms, the group of them replenished their stamina repeatedly and kept pursuing the elusive rich bastard without giving up.


    But after a few minutes, only those who had chosen agility sses like swordsman and thief were able to still keep going and the number of Liam''s followers drastically dwindled to a mere four.


    "Boss, this guy! Huff. Could he have bought some special potions? Why is his speed so high?" Guan Ye muttered, barely holding on.


    Jin Wei scrunched his nose and answered. "Hmmm¡­ He should have done something like that because he is too fast for a level 1 character even if he had high starting agility!"


    Both of them had already chosen Thief ss and were even Level 3 at the moment which was why they had left the novice vige and were wandering around in the town for more quests when they had noticed Liam.


    So it was quite shocking for them to see that even they were not able to keep up with his speed even with a 2 level difference.


    "Boss! I think we are going to lose him!!" Guan Ye angrily gritted his teeth and muttered, his stockpletely running out and his stamina bottoming out. This forced him toe to a stop.


    Next to him, Jin Wei wasn''t doing too well either and he as well came to a halt in the next second. Just when the duo was about to curse Liam, their eyes flew wide in surprise as they noticed him as welle to a halt.


    Liam was standing in front of a brook, a small stream of water, and thinking about something with a serious expression.


    "Fuck it! Finally! Our chance is here." Both Jin Wei and Guan Ye dashed forward together, gulping down thest bit of their tough bread.


    Since they had already chosen their ss beforehand, the two of them had a bunch of skills they could use and they immediately activated one of the basic skills for a thief, stealth.


    They closed the distance between Liam and themselves and approached him quickly yet carefully. They didn''t want to let the golden fish slip away from their fingers yet again.


    "I will stab him in the back. You stab him in the front." Jin Wei silently signaled to Guan Ye, with his hand and the two of them circled around Liam, but before they could take another step forward and carry out their coordinated n, suddenly a shout sounded near them.


    "DIE! Die! Die!" A lean figure yelled out loud as he jumped out of nowhere and repeatedly shed at Liam from the side, aiming for his neck.


    Jin Wei and Guan Ye were both taken aback as they hadn''t expected someone else to beat them to the punch. Moreover, the attacker also seemed extremely skilled as he directly aimed for Liam''s jugr.


    But they weren''t also too worried as the person had already revealed himself and there were two of them as opposed to just him alone.


    All they had to do was wait for him to finish off Liam and then they could jump in and finish him off. So thinking about this, the duo patiently waited for the blood to gush out of Liam''s throat and for him to drop dead.


    However¡­ the next second¡­ it was not Liam who dropped down dead. Rather it was the skinny figure lying on the floor.


    Their throats went dry as they watched Liam casually lean back and twist his body tond a punch on the thief''s throat. It was only a single attack, with Liam not even having unsheathed the sword hanging on his hip, and the other person dropped dead with just that single attack.


    As soon as he touched the ground, his body disintegrated into ashes and light and evaporated away, while Liam casually bent down to pick up the dagger that the assassin had left behind.

 Chapter 16 - Massacre

    <h4>Chapter 16 - Massacre</h4>


    [Ding. A new skill ''Throat Punch'' has been created due to your actions]


    [Throat Punch: Each hit will cause 120% damage; Cooldown: None]


    Liam chuckled as he kept the dagger in his inventory and gazed at the light red aura now hovering around his body.


    This red color aura implied that he had killed another yer recently. Other than that, it also attracted more aggro from beasts and widened the aggro range.


    This was the only penalty for PK (yer killing) in the game at least in the current stage.


    After he swiftly dealt with the single pest who had dared to show his face, Liam then went back to staring at the brook gurgling loudly near him.


    His starting point in hisst life was also Coldwater novice vige in the northern part of the Gresh Kingdom.


    However, he had unfortunately missed out on one of the juicy treasure spots of the Kingdom even though he had started quite close to it.


    Liam nned to first rectify this mistake this time around. He didn''t step into the waters of the brook though it looked quite cool and refreshing and continued to walk alongside it, heading further in the northern direction.


    Not long after, he heard a low growl behind him and turned around to see a dark blue-furred wolf snarling and snapping at him. Its eyes were fluorescent yellow in color and they were unmistakably locked onto Liam.


    As the animal slowly prowled towards him, a few more growls sounded, and within a minute Liam suddenly found himself surrounded in all directions by a pack of angry wolves.


    "Heh. Dire wolves? Should be Level 3 at least. Not bad. They should give me some decent experience points."


    Liam calmly smiled before finally unsheathing his sword that had been simply hanging around his waist all this time.


    The long silver sword glittered in the bright sunlight and it dazzled as Liam shed at one of the wolvesing at him.


    -100


    An unbelievable damage number floated on its head.


    Growl! Awoooo! The wolf yelped before its head was cleanly severed from its body and blood sttered in all directions.


    [Ding. 50 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 50 Bonus Experience points gained due to the level difference]


    [Ding. A new skill ''sh'' has been created due to your actions]


    [sh: Each sh of the sword deals 120% damage; A critical hit attack deals 150% damage; Cooldown: None]


    Liam flicked his sword and ignored the notifications that popped up vaguely at the back of his mind. His full concentration was on the fight in front of him.


    Someone else might have been intimidated if they were suddenly surrounded by an entire wolf pack, with at least a dozen wolves, barring their teeth at them, but Liam remained calm and unfazed.


    And it was because of a simple reason, the reason being he had seen much worse!


    The wolves were not gentlemanly enough toe at Liam one by one, giving him enough time and space to ughter everyone.


    Seeing their first brethren fall on the ground, they did not wait patiently and let out a loud howl before jumping at Liam all at once.


    "Perfect." Liam grinned and straightened up his stance. He neither attempted to evade them or flee from them, standing erect at the same spot.


    His tall and steady figure was like an unsheathed sword burning brightly with the souls of a thousand warriors. This was his sword spirit.


    To be more precise, this was the sword spirit he had gained enlightenment into after fighting countless battles in his previous life.


    Though most of them had been losing battles, he had still persevered as much as he could. And his sword spirit reflected that. It shone with a brilliance that mirrored his undying will.


    His life may have restarted but how could he possibly forget all the hard work drenched with his sweat, blood, and searing pain?


    When the first wave of the wolves neared him, Liam calmly took a single step forward and swung his sword.


    He sent a single sh towards the wolves pouncing at him and then spun around to send another sh towards the wolvesing from behind him.


    The attack sliced through the air like a beam of terrifying energy and it cut down everything in its path, ughtering one wolf after another.


    And when there were no more wolves, the sword beam howled as if it was alive and it hit the tree nearby, splitting it into two and finally quelling its hunger.


    It took him only a fraction of a second and two sword attacks, and instantly the dozen wolves crumbled down like melting butter.


    Every single one of them was cleanly severed into two halves right down the middle of their body. In fact, the cut had been so crisp and fast, that it took a few seconds for even the blood to seep out.


    And when blood finally started dripping, a horrendous pool of blood formed around Liam from where he was standing, his single person surrounded by the dozen corpses.


    [Ding. A new skill ''Spirit sh'' has been created due to your actions]


    [Spirit sh: Each sh of the sword deals 1000% damage; A critical hit attack deals 1500% damage; Cooldown: None]


    [Ding. Skill has been locked]


    [Ding. 50 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 50 Bonus Experience points gained due to the level difference]


    [Ding. 50 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 50 Bonus Experience points gained due to the level difference]


    [Ding. 50 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 50 Bonus Experience points gained due to the level difference]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 17 - Lucky Start

    <h4>Chapter 17 - Lucky Start</h4>


    Liam did not have any time to take a look at the drops or the several notifications as he stumbled on the ground, coughing up some blood.


    "What is this? Some sort of bacsh? I guess my body is still not strong enough to handle spirit attacks. Hmm¡­"


    Liam silently pondered, as he munched on some roasted quail meat to recover his stamina and health, both of which had considerably dropped after he used the Spirit sh skill.


    "Skill locked huh? Looks like I won''t be able to use this for a while. Alright. It should be fine. I am anyways close to that ce and I should be able to get some new skills soon."


    Liam paused and then as an afterthought he scooped up all the wolf pelts, teeth, and stacks of meat that had dropped. There were also some copper and silver coins, and a piece of equipment that had dropped.


    He did not even bother to take a look at it and stashed it all in his inventory as if they were trash. He then hurried along the brook, his pace faster than before.


    A few miles away from Liam, two figures slowly and steadily jogged forward.


    "Boss¡­ What the??? He is stepping into Level 4 dire wolf territory. Should we still follow him? Our stealth won''t hold up if a wolf ends up catching our scent!" Guan Ye stuttered as he reluctantly followed Jin Wei.


    The two of them had given up on attacking Liam after seeing how he had finished off the other assassin in a single hit.


    "Let''s just wait for the potion effects or whatever he is using to cool down." Jin Wei muttered, though he was no longer sure if Liam was even using a potion in the first ce.


    "If we just wait patiently and continue to follow him, there will surely be a chance."


    It was now easier for them to follow Liam as he had been only walking alongside the brook without making any other detours. So even though they weregging behind him, they still hadn''tpletely lost his trail.


    As the duo jogged forward, both Jin Wei and Guan Ye came to aplete halt suddenly. "Boss! I hear howling sounds!"


    "I am not deaf I can hear too. Let''s run now. This should be our chance. We should attack him while he is still weak from fighting from the wolves."


    The two of them quickly began to run forward but once again came to a halt. "Boss!! I think¡­ I think there are many wolves howling."


    "Damn it. Let''s turn back. There is no way a Level 1 could survive a Level 4 wolf pack." Both Jin Wei and Guan Ye spun around on their heels and started running away helter and skelter.


    After making sure that they had put sufficient distance between themselves and the battle scene, Jin Wei quickly contacted their friend who was standing guard near the graveyard.


    "Boss, how much longer do I need to stand there?" Gu Mu asked in annoyance. There had been big talks about harassing a noob and leeching a lot of gold off of him, but till now absolutely nothing had happened.


    Jin Wei was already in a bad mood and his underlings questioning his authority further irritated him. "Shut up and wait patiently. There should be someone resurrecting now. He should be dressed in costly gear. You know how he looks right."


    yer details and names were not openly visible for everyone to see so they could only rely on appearances to identify someone.


    "Alright boss. I will keep an eye out." Gu Mu could only swallow his grievances and reply. He was not happy with his current assignment, especially since this was a new game but he didn''t have the guts to refuse Jin Wei, so he ended up relenting.


    A few minutes passed by, however, Gu Mu still didn''te across anyone that could possibly be Liam. Helplessly, he quickly rang up Jin Wei again. "Boss, I don''t think he died."


    At the other end, Jin Wei had a constipated look on his face. All the howling sounds had suddenly stopped, so the duo daringly walked forward to see what happened, only to find the sight of blood bath in front of them.


    The drops were all mostly picked up but the bloody aftermath of the battle still remained fresh in front of them. "Boss¡­" Guan Ye weakly muttered. "I don''t think we should follow him anymore¡­"


    Jin Wei remained silent for a while, however, he didn''t seem quite as scared as Guan Ye. "Idiot. Tell me how can a Level 1 yer deal with so many wolves on his own?"


    "Ahh¡­"


    "Let me tell you. He purchased a good item. Maybe he purchased some sort of bombs. Did our group make a list of avable consumables yet?"


    "Umm¡­ Not sure, boss."


    "Hmm¡­ Alright. We are already here. Let''s just follow him and see what he is up to. If he is this rich to buy good items, maybe he also bought some insider information for the game."


    "Ah. that makes sense." Guan Ye nodded. "Boss, you are so smart."


    "Alright. Alright. You don''t have to kiss my ass. I prefer women. Shut up ande." Jin Wei grinned and walked forward. "He He He. What a lucky start!"


    He was now more than ever convinced that they had hooked onto a big money whale rather than a goldfish and he wasn''t nning to let him go. He was going to prepare a sweet trap for him, catch him and then peel him apart, selling every part from flesh to blubber.


    As Liam hadn''tpletely cleaned off all the drops from the wolf pack, the two scavenged some meat and fur which were leftover and then continued to follow the tracks along the brook.

 Chapter 18 - Dragons Lair

    <h4>Chapter 18 - Dragon''s Lair</h4>


    Liam paused at the junction where the brook joined a huge turbulent river and then started walking in the northeastern direction towards a cluster of mountains.


    He climbed the winding pathways and then paused at a particr cave near the base of one of the taller mountains. Surprisingly, there was also another cave besides the first cave.


    He stopped and stared at both the caves, his lips curling into a big smile. "I am d I found it." Liam chuckled, at the unbelievable sight in front of him.


    "Now let me see¡­ the cave on the right should be the dungeon entrance, and the cave on the left should be their."


    The person who first uncovers a dungeon entrance received bonus points and additional drops, but Liam was rather interested in the second cave.


    This cave was in fact their of one of the lesser dragons called Niria. Like all dragons, Niria also had the fetish of collecting gems and treasures. However, Liam knew that it also had an additional fetish.


    Thezy dragon loved to lure travelers into itsir by showing off its treasures and eat them when they least expect it.


    It particrly enjoyed the look of ecstasy and euphoria which appeared on the faces of its prey because of the treasures right before it changed toplete and utter terror on realizing the fate that awaited them.


    There was also a specific spell inside the cave which made everyone lose everything in their possession if they died inside the cave, thereby slowly growing the treasure mound of the dragon.


    However, it was only a lesser dragon and it was not too smart. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be this close to a starting area. The solution was also an extremely simple one that anyone can try.


    In his previous life, there was a yer who outsmarted the dragon by only taking half the treasures in itsir and escaped before Niria could lure him all the way to its nest which was at the back of the cave.


    The dragon hadn''t expected this because it knew all living beings were inherently greedy and it counted on this greed to lure its unsuspecting victims all the way to the back where itid in wait for them.


    So after the yer escaped with its treasures, the dragon was outraged and it came out of the cave, permanently settling in front of the dungeon to wreak havoc on anyone who passed by.


    It became the Elite monster that yers had to tackle before entering the dungeon behind it. However, itsir and the treasures in their were never essible once the event/ scenario was triggered.


    Though this became quite a popr topic of discussion, no one exactly knew theplete details of the treasures inside their.


    Some yers had hyped the whole thing spreading rumors that legendary items were avable but no one bought it considering that this was a beginner area elite.


    Liam''s purpose foring here, however, was entirely different. Of course, he was interested in the treasures but he was more interested in the various skill books which were said to be strewn across the cave.


    Since he was not selecting a ss at the moment, skill books were the things Liam needed the most.


    He was confident enough to be able to pick up some of the sword skills on his own but when it came to spells and magic, he was a beginner who had to start from scratch just like the others.


    He, of course, knew about some tips and tricks but unless and until he achieved a deeper understanding of the various elements and the mana itself, it would be impossible for him to achieve mastery.


    "Hello again, Niria." Liam sucked in a huge breath of air and entered the cave on the left.


    Instantly, he could feel a vague ominous aura in the air, his fully trained and honed senses screaming at him that terrifying dangerid ahead, but Liam behaved as if he was casually strolling.


    He looked around the cramped and moldy cave walls and cringed at the dusty webs in the corners. He then whistled and walked a bit forward, stopping abruptly at the sight of something glittering and sparkling.


    "Woah!!" Liam shouted, actingpletely surprised. He went over to the nearest pile of what looked like a mound of copper coins and quickly shoved everything inside his inventory.


    He then turned around and went deeper into the cave, once again actingpletely stunned and ted on seeing the second treasure pile, which was mostly silver coins, but it also had some equipments.


    Liam quickly tossed everything in his inventory without bothering to inspect it. However, he left behind a few silver coins, moving onto the next pile which was almost blinding to look at.


    This was a pile of gold coins. It also contained some old archaic-looking books and Liam did not have to look at them twice to know that these were the skill books that he was looking for.


    There were even several of them and Liam hurriedly pocketed everything, including the gold coins. He raised his head again, his face was now almost livid with happiness and excitement that he was grinning from ear to ear.


    Up aheadid a pile of gems dazzling in multiple colors. There were once again equipments, skill books and Liam even spotted a few scrolls which could only be recipe scrolls.


    He pped his hands loudly and then rubbed them together as if he was ready to snatch everything for himself. However, he suddenly turned around.


    "Ahhh. It looks like I have left behind some silver coins. I should pick them up also." He spoke out aloud and casually walked back to pick up the few silver coins that he had purposefully left behind.


    And as soon as he reached the small scattered bunch of coins, he tripped and fell, losing his bnce, some of the gold coins in his hand flying to the entrance of the cave.


    "Ah! Damn it.. My gold coins." Liam let out a surprised yelp and then chased after them, but as soon as he reached the entrance¡­

 Chapter 19 - Niria Is Angry

    <h4>Chapter 19 - Niria Is Angry</h4>


    "Where did he go?" Jin Wei looked around, standing at the junction of the brook and the river. They had followed Liam all the way up to here when they had suddenly lost track of him.


    Looking around carefully, Guan Ye poked him to show the set of footprints leading to the mountain. "Boss over there."


    "Oh! Look up there! Is that a cave?" Jin Wei gasped.


    "Boss there is another cave right next to it!!!" Guan Ye also eximed in excitement. "Oh shit, boss! This has to be some sort of treasure cave or dungeon right??? We have really hit it BIG!"


    "Alright. Alright. Calm down. Have you forgotten how strong that guy is? He might also bring back up." Jin Wei rubbed his chin and muttered pensively.


    "We have to be extra careful here. Finding a dungeon right now would be a very big deal. Not to mention the gold on that rich boy."


    "Let''s call for backup first. Get all our friends toe here."


    "Ke Ke Ke. Who knows even a guild tablet or something like that could drop from the dungeon and we can be the first guild in the game!"


    "What a fucking lucky day! This rich boy is my lucky star! Ba ha ha ha!!!"


    While Jin Wei stood arrogantly and looked around the area, Guan Ye quickly got to work and called everybody they knew who was in and around the area.


    Within a few minutes, a group of yers had gathered around the area, with some more stilling in.


    Inside the mountain, at the back of the winding tunnels of the cave, a ckish green skinned creaturezily raised its head.


    Niria had noticed the weak prey that had wandered into itsir, but it sighed, letting out smoky fumes, seeing that the meat wouldn''t be enough to even savor the taste, let alone fill its stomach.


    Without even opening its eyes, itzily rested its red spiky head back on the cold cave ground. It knew that the prey was sure to walk right into its mouth, so it made no effort of any kind.


    It patiently snoozed and waited, absentmindedly watching Liam through its soul sense. It watched him as he picked up the copper coins and then it watched him after he picked up the silver coins.


    It even watched him as he left behind the few silver coins and moved onto the mound of gold, only toe backter for it, stumbling and falling on his face.


    "Heh¡­ What a clumsy little human¡­ Good that stupidity is not contagious." It snorted in arrogance, once again smoke filling the small space.


    Itzily lifted its one eyelid, its fluorescent slit-like eye half open and half closed, and watched Liam as he ruffled his head and ran out to grab the few coins.


    Though there were mountains and mountains of treasure inside, the human being had still gone back for a couple of gold and silver coins. Such was the greed of living beings! It harrumphed condescendingly.


    However, the very next second, the enormous terrifying dragon instantly froze. It jerked its head up and shed its eyes open. "Growl?"


    It took a minute... the enormous beast blinked... and it finally understood what just happened!


    Niria swung its body around in a haste,shing its tail in anger, as it saw the human being st out of the cave and the mountain itself with immense speed.


    ROARRRRR! It let out a terrifying howl as it speeded outside as well without a second thought.


    Trickery! The damned human had outsmarted it! Taking only some of its treasures, the stupid and clumsy human being had run away!


    Niria trembled in anger, after having been made a fool by a stupid human being. It shot out of the cave following the prey''s trail, determined to chew him out today.


    ROARRRRR! It opened its mouth and sent out another terrifying howl but this time bright red mes shot out of its mouth, matching the color of its skin and scales.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam sucked in a huge breath of air and had started to run as soon as he neared the entrance of the cave.


    He was not sure if he was going to make it. After all, the beast that was about to chase him was a dragon, even if it was one of the lesser dragons.


    But he couldn''t let this opportunity pass by and mustered everyst bit of his strength to run as fast as he could.


    He shoddily climbed down the winding paths of the mountain, half sliding and half slipping, getting the hell out of the zone.


    However, as soon as hended on the t forest ground¡­ Liam came to a screeching halt.


    Standing in front of him were about twenty to thirty yers, each and every single one of them at least Level 2, while behind him up on the hill, a terrifying roar sounded, a st of fire ripping out of the cave entrance.

 Chapter 20 - Thanks For The Help

    <h4>Chapter 20 - Thanks For The Help</h4>


    "Are you ready to die bitch?" Jin Wei muttered with a grin on his face, happy to see Liam confused.


    "What? What are you looking at? Are you wondering how we all got here?"


    "I have been following you all along! Heh! I bet you didn''t even know that." He ced his hands on his waist andughed arrogantly sneering at the rich boy in front of him.


    Liam, on the other hand, was busy looking around. He had a frown on his face as he busily ran through the different scenarios in his mind.


    He had considered several things as he plotted to exploit this small treasure trove but never did he imagine such an oue.


    "Ptui! Why are you looking around like a monkey who ate ginger? Just die already!" Jin Wei stepped forward waving his dagger around.


    "After all, we don''t have all day to waste on you. We need to explore the dungeon you showed us. Ke Ke Ke. Am I right? That''s a dungeon, isn''t it?"


    However, as he neared Liam, he noticed something weird.


    The person in front of him did not look scared shitless as he had hoped. In fact, he did not look scared at all. Instead, he had a big grin on his face.


    "Thanks for the help." Liam muttered.


    "Eh? Have you lost it?" Jin Wei chuckled and waved his dagger.


    Behind him, another yer had already cast a healing spell on him, as a green mist enveloped him.


    Jin Wei had taken these precautions to make sure that he was not one shot killed like what happened to the other thief.


    He dashed forward towards Liam and poked his dagger at him, aiming for his stomach, when suddenly a huge boom resonated from within the cave, high on the mountain.


    Almost immediately, a gigantic red figure shot out of the cave like a bullet and directly jumped onto the ground with a huge deafening thud.


    ROARRRR!


    Niria raised his spiky dragon head and let out a burst of hot mes on the few yers on the right side.


    Everything happened in a few seconds and no one had expected this nor were ready for this.


    They were still watching the huge dragon with their mouth wide open when the mes scorched them, taking down a chunk of their health.


    A few of the yers who had gathered even died directly unable to withstand a single attack from the dragon.


    "Damn it. What the hell is that?" Jin Wei shouted in shock.


    He turned around to ask Liam what was happening when he noticed that the person whom he was in the midst of attacking had already disappeared somewhere.


    "FUUUCCCKKK! That little bitch set us up!" Jin Wei roared. "Get in formation. NOW!"


    As Niria raised its head and roared again, revving up for the next me burst, Jin Wei and the group of yers finally managed to gather their bearings, and a volley of attacks showered on the dragon.


    However, how could it be so easy to subdue a rare Elite monster.


    Just byshing out its tail here and there, the dragon created a circle of misery around it, not letting anyone near its body.


    Its physical defense was also on par with its physical attack power and every time it opened its mouth, huge damage numbers floated on the group of yers.


    And just like that, the bunch of people who had only gathered to bully a single yer and perhaps explore a dungeon, were now fighting a losing battle against a beast akin to a raid boss.


    Jin Wei was livid with rage. In front of him was a very good opportunity and yet they couldn''t grasp it properly thanks to the element of surprise.


    If they could have at least had 1 minute to prepare themselves, the result would have been much better and they could have even beaten the dragon by now, bing the first yers in the game to achieve such a feat.


    But now they were just barely holding on... struggling to even remain alive.


    "Fucking SLUT! If I get my hands on him again!!!" Jin Wei screamed as he once again attempted to stab the dragon from the back.


    Adding to his dismay, other yers had also started to filter in, noticing themotion in this area.


    Not to mention, the town and the forest were located very close to the novice vige, the starting point for several yers.


    Every time the dragon moved, it sent tremors across the ground, attracting everyone''s attention.


    Of course, everyone''s attention except for one person, who was busily scaling the mountain from which he had only jumped down a few seconds ago.


    Liam''s hands and legs scurried up the mountain, climbing up as fast as he could. As soon as he saw the group of yers in front of him, he had already decided to act.


    He was not sure if the treasures had already disappeared from the cave but as long as he could get to it before the dragon was in, he knew that there was a good chance for him to still grab it all.

 Chapter 21 - Hitting The Motherlode

    <h4>Chapter 21 - Hitting The Motherlode</h4>


    Liam panted as he reached the cave entrance. He had never expected this to happen.


    His long hair whipped in the wind and he quickly ran into the cave, his entire body drenched in sweat and his stamina far too low.


    But he didn''t care about this right now, as he could clearly see that the inside of the cave was still sparkling.


    Moreover, Niria was clearly in the middle of its tantrum, roaring loudly, so there was no one guarding the treasures this time around!!!


    "Jackpot!" Liam shouted, licking his lips.


    Even though he had faced enough in his life, giving him a calm and steady mentality, he still couldn''t help but be agitated a bit at the sight of the three or four remaining mounds inside the cave, all sparkling brightly.


    He hurriedly dashed forward and shoveled everything in sight into his inventory slots. He didn''t know when everything was going to disappear, so he didn''t bother looking at things and blindly popped everything in.


    Thankfully, all the gold, silver, and copper were automatically stored as currency and didn''t upy any space in the actual inventory space. Otherwise, he would have run out of slots a long time ago.


    Apart from more gold coins, there were a variety of gems, more skill books, and recipe scrolls, not to mention ores, herbs, and all sorts of equipments.


    About three-fourths of his 500 slot inventory waspletely filled, leaving Liam most probably the richest yer in all of the game.


    He had cleared out the entire cave from top to bottom in the span of a few seconds. He even took the time to double check the space, making sure every nook and corner was emptied out.


    And when he was finally done, Liam approached the farthest corner of the cave, their of the dragon, Niria''s resting ce.


    The spot looked empty enough, except for the straw and husk bedding on top of which the beastid. There were also a couple of bones, probably from the dragon''sst meal but other than that no particr treasure was present.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam hummed, turning around and about to leave when he suddenly paused for a while. He looked at the bedding again and squinted his eyes, and squatted down.


    He ran his hand through the inconspicuous bedding and started to patiently dismantle it. His hands were quick yet careful as he ripped apart the thick heap of bedding to shreds.


    Bingo!


    Liam''s lips curled upwards as he caught sight of three objects hidden cozily at the center of the bedding.


    The dragon probably never cared about the other treasures which it disyed casually, while it personally guarded these three items by hiding them under its body.


    This alone told Liam volumes about the potential value of these three items. He did not waste any further time and quickly grabbed all three, only inspecting it afterward.


    He sat back down and ced them on the ground, picking them up one by one. The first one was a white colored medium-sized oval object, quite heavy.


    "Is this an egg?" Liam muttered, carefully cing it in one of the inventory slots.


    He then took the second item which looked like a shard, violet in color, probably broken from a gem of some sort.


    Hmmm¡­ He carefully ced it in his inventory and then took the third item, which was an old and rusted key.


    "What the hell?"


    Again, Liam had no idea what this was even though this was the second time he was ying this game. The people who had looted this cave previously or rather died attempting to, never mentioned anything about these three items.


    He had heard lots about the heaps of gold, gems, recipe scrolls, and skill books, but nothing about an egg or a shard or a key.


    Firstly, he was not sure if someone had managed to loot the entire cave as he did, but even if they did and on the off chance that these items were extremely valuable, only fools would publicize that information.


    So either no one got it or at least the person who got it was not stupid.


    "Well whatever." Liam ruffled his head and then tossed the key as well into his inventory slot.


    Without lingering inside longer, he stood up from the dirty cave ground and dusted his clothes before walking back out.


    All these treasure spots were good and all, but that was not his main purpose in ying the game.


    In fact, when the inevitable apocalypse descends, these gold coins or even the real world currency would mean next to nothing.


    Only true strength and power mattered!


    As he superficially scrolled through the various items in his inventory, Liam walked out of the cave.


    His eyes scanned the forest grounds below where Niria was still kicking up a storm and roaring loudly. He, however, had no intention of dropping down and joining the fight.


    To defeat Niria a horde of at least 25 yers were required, all battling the dragon in perfect sync and coordination.


    The people in front of him were just recklessly fighting the dragon with their lives on the line.


    He knew that they were never going to beat the dragon this way or at least it was going to take a long time to do so.


    But Liam knew better than to join a losing fight.


    Unlike others who couldn''t care less about a couple of losses or deaths since it was still the beginning of the game, he knew the true cost of death.

 Chapter 22 - New Team

    <h4>Chapter 22 - New Team</h4>


    Every time a yer or rather a human being died inside the game, their soul became a little weaker. Each death chipped a person''s soul bit by bit.


    This was a fact revealed several weeks into the game when someone eventually died from sheer exhaustion.


    By then it was toote and almost the entire poption''s souls were corrupted in one way or the other. Not a single person possessed a whole and healthy soul.


    Though Liam had no ns to be a hero or the savior of this world, he was also not cold-hearted enough to keep this particr piece of vital information to himself.


    "Hmmm¡­ I should probably post thister tonight in a forum or something."


    Liam made a mental note and prepared to leave the mountain, heading to the next ce he had in mind.


    But as he stepped out, he noticed a couple of familiar figures standing in front of the other cave, right next to the dragon''sir.


    "Ooh! What a coincidence! We meet again, expert!" Rey quickly walked over to him and eagerly sparked up a conversation. "Aren''t you fighting the dragon, senior?"


    Liam shook his head before turning to leave.


    "Ahh. Wait. Wait a minute senior." Rey hurriedly shouted and ran over to him, seeing that the man was once again giving them the slip.


    "This¡­ We just found a dungeon here. Lair of the Ebon Raven. Our party got the discovery bonus and a big experience boost and drop rate bonus."


    "We are stillcking two people. Do you want to join us senior?" Rey exined and asked Liam confidently, almost sure that he wouldn''t be rejected.


    The team running the dungeon for the first time typically got a 100% experience boost which was not an insignificant number, but even so, it was not enough to tempt Liam.


    But, he didn''t reject Rey. Instead, he paused for a moment before nodding his head in eptance.


    There was a reason why he did this. Liam had a hunch that there might be some clues in the dungeon. After all, the dungeon was located right next to the cave where he had obtained the three mysterious items.


    If only the normal drops of the dungeon or the experience boost were taken into ount then probably he did not need any of it, but he was not sure if any additional drops would be triggered because he possessed the unique items.


    So Liam decided to run the dungeon at least once. He had to increase his level irrespectively and this was not a bad way.


    "Yess! Got it, senior. We won''t drag you down, I swear." Rey was ecstatic after seeing Liam nod.


    "Alright. That''s enough. What''s your partyposition?" Liam patted the excited young man and walked towards the dungeon.


    Ha Ha Ha! Rey immediately revealed a big grin. "Bro. Just like you, I am also ying ''No ss''!" He even gave a thumbs up and a wink.


    This idiot! Liam shook his head, smiling bitterly. "Add me to the party." He wanted to check their stats before starting the run.


    If their condition was too bad, then there was no point in teaming up with them. Instead of carrying dead weights and idiots, it would make his life a lot easier if he simply went in all by himself.


    Especially considering that this was only a beginner''s dungeon!


    He had already tempered his body, and he was also no longer Level 1. He leveled up twice from the fight with the wolves and was currently at Level 3.


    So, for him, even Solo clear was not impossible!


    Rey nodded and quickly added Liam to the team.


    [Ding. You have been invited to join a party]


    [Ding. Do you ept? YES/ NO]


    Liam clicked ''Yes'' and then silently inspected his three new teammates. Though he didn''t have many expectations, to begin with, he was pleasantly surprised after seeing their stats.


    All three of them were in fact at Level 4, a whole level higher than him or the bunch of yers fighting with Niria beside them.


    Also, among the three only Rey hadn''t chosen any particr ss.


    One of the two girls had chosen the path of pdin while the other had chosen the role of a healer, more specifically a priestess.


    While both a pdin and a priest relied on holy power, mana with the light elemental attribute infused within it, a pdin focused more on protection and preventing damage while a priest focused more on the healing aspect.


    "Hmmm¡­ Not bad. Not bad at all for a makeshift team." Liam muttered, without minding that he was actually speaking the words out loud.


    Rey didn''t care but he looked at his two sisters and nervously smiled, before turning back to Liam. "Bro, we are not really a makeshift team. We have yed other games together."


    "Mhm. Alright. Are we waiting for someone else or shall we start?" Liam ignored his remark and went directly to the point.


    This time, it was not Rey who responded to him, but one of the two women, the pdin.. "We will be rolling for equipment drops and skill book drops impartially. Got it?"

 Chapter 23 - Yin Body

    <h4>Chapter 23 - Yin Body</h4>


    Alex tied up her long red hair into a tight bun as she eyed Liam from top to bottom.


    Every time her gaze fell on him, it was clear to her that she was in a game. No real man could possibly look like that!


    Though she herself was quite appealing, with a slender body and soft curves, the person in front of her was in apletely different league.


    With his looks, he could be a top model in the real world earning six figures.


    But except for his appearance and perhaps that special quest he received, nothing else was really that special about him, not to mention the arrogant attitude he wore all the time as if he was better than everybody else.


    Alex highly doubted that the person deserved all this attention and the ass-kissing which Rey was shamelessly doing. For all she knew, this guy was probably just a fake wannabe.


    "So? Do you agree or not? We will be rolling for equipment drops and skill book drops impartially." She repeated her words again, stressing each of them.


    Liam chuckled wryly. Why would he care about the drops from a beginner''s dungeon?


    "That''s fine with me. I don''t need any pieces of equipment. We can roll for skill books. But I do have one single condition."


    "If there are any material drops or unique drops, I will be taking it."


    Hmmm¡­ Alex stared him down, raising her brow at him.


    Just because he said what he said, she couldn''t help but feel that there were going to be unique drops or some special quest items. Was this guy a beta tester? How does he know everything in advance?


    Nevertheless, she shrugged and agreed.


    She didn''t want to waste too much time talking out here because if they don''t clear the dungeon first, it was inevitable that someone else will take their cake.


    After Alex agreed, the group then quickly walked inside, entering the cave. As soon as they stepped in, it was as if they had been transported to apletely different ce.


    They were now standing in a forest of sorts again, an extremely windy one at that, and the clear blue sky was now an unsettling ominous dark purple in color.


    "What the hell is this dungeon?" Rey asked, looking around nervously. There were no beasts or monsters around them and the ce was a bit too creepy for a in empty forest.


    "Not down. Look up." Liam muttered.


    Rey and the two women heard his words and immediately looked up to see tiny red dots scattered in the dark purple cloudy sky and when they looked closer, they instantly gasped.


    The tiny red dots were eyes and the dark purple clouds were flocks of birds swirling around in endless loops.


    "Fuuk!" Rey cursed out loud in shock and the two women also looked apprehensive.


    Liam, on the other hand, calmly smiled and sat down on the forest ground opening his inventory screen.


    Just because the birds were there, it didn''t mean that they were going to attack them. Otherwise, they would have done so already.


    "Alright. I need 5 more minutes and then I will be good to go."


    Everyone was too distracted to care about him so they absentmindedly nodded. Liam chuckled. The game was indeed a bit too realistic and there was a reason for that.


    He sighed and shook his head, finally taking a look at the things he had swiped from the dragon''sir.


    [Currency]


    [Gold - 5000]


    [Silver - 5000]


    [Copper - 5000]


    "Not bad." Liam clicked his tongue. He then took a look at the first skill book.


    [Demonic summon]: Consumes 200 mana and summons a lesser demon. Spell active for 20 seconds. Level 1


    "Tch. Tch. What an expensive summoning spell¡­"


    Liam quickly learned the skill as there was no limit to the number of skills one could learn, but leveling up all of them and making sure that they are actually useful was an entirely different thing.


    One could learn a hundred skills but it was physically impossible to focus on all of them, level up all of them, and more importantly, gain enlightenment regarding all of them.


    But this particr skill was well worth the time and effort because Liam knew that when leveled up, it would enable the yer to permanently form a contract with a demon.


    Of course, there was also another prerequisite for this to happen. Only people with an extremely high demonic affinity were capable of achieving this stage.


    Liam did not have an SSS grade affinity which was technically the highest but she still had an S grade affinity which was good enough. So he didn''t hesitate and quickly learned the skill.


    Alex stood beside him, curiously watching Liam and wondering what he was up to. "Hey, Hofstadter. What do you think he is doing? Did he just learn a skill?" She muttered under her breath.


    Liam ignored their chatter and was about to open the next item when his hand suddenly paused.


    "Hofstadter?" His eyes quickly scanned the name of the third member of the party, the priestess with whom he had not interacted that much.


    [Rey Thornwood]


    [Alex Thornwood]


    [Mia Hofstadter]


    He hadn''t paid enough attention to their names earlier and now that he did, Liam was utterly dumbfounded. What was this? Fate? Or simply a coincidence?


    Liam cursed himself for not noticing this sooner. In his hurry, he would have almost sent away a god-sent gift package.


    "Mia Hofstadter..."


    In his previous life, she was a very famous named yer.


    She had consistently been one of the top healers on the leader board. Not to mention, her top-notch skills as a battle priest when she was not healing.


    In addition to that, the woman was extremely good looking, with a gorgeous figure, honey blond hair, and a pair of bright blue eyes.


    She also had a calm,posed, and cold temperament like a sword that was sheathed, which didn''t quite fit the image of a kind and benevolent priestess and yet she was adored by countless fans and was revered as a goddess.


    However, all of this was when the world still had a semnce of normalcy.


    After things started to turn bleak, for some reason, her name had disappeared altogether. She was not even registered with the association.


    Liam''s mind automatically rummaged through the several things he had heard about Mia and he paused, paying attention to the one particr thing, the only part he cared about.


    This woman in front of him possessed a pure Yin body!

 Chapter 24 - Dungeon Run

    <h4>Chapter 24 - Dungeon Run</h4>


    Human beings were not all the same and some had blessed constitutions even while living on an unawakened such as earth.


    Liam himself did not have any such special constitutions.


    In his previous life, he had envied those people who had because they were able to easily soar up and stand above when everyone else was struggling.


    The body was the vessel that absorbed, stored, and acted as a conduit for energy and magic. So when one had the upper hand in this aspect, their progress was smooth and steady.


    In his second time around, Liam had no ns of underestimating such an important factor especially when the said thing was knocking at his doorstep.


    "Do you have a divine affinity?" Liam gazed at Mia and asked, directlying to the point. "SSS grade?" He added.


    The girl in front of him was stunned. Her lips parted slightly and she asked. "What? How do you know that?"


    Both Alex and Rey were also shocked and looked at him with questioning eyes.


    Liam smiled. He did not have to wait for their answer. Judging just from their reactions, he could tell that his guess was indeed correct.


    "Ha Ha¡­ Nothing like that." He chuckled and raised his hands. "I was just wondering why you would select a ss like priest."


    "Senior, I told you right. We are a strong team." Rey chuckled. Apparently, only he had bought Liam''s answer as the other two women squinted their eyes and looked at him warily.


    "Alright. I am almost done."


    Liam did not dwell on the topic any longer as he knew that convincing the other party right now for the thing that he wanted from her was almost impossible.


    He picked another one of the skill books, the basic skill for a necromancer ss, and quickly learned it.


    "This should be enough for this dungeon."


    He flicked his inventory close and then stood up, unsheathing one of the swords that he had picked up from Niria''sir.


    [Sizzling Iron Sword]


    [Weapon type - One handed sword]


    [Durability - 20/40]


    [Attack damage - 15 ~ 20]


    [Agility - 5]


    "Let''s go. The first mob should be up ahead. Ignore the ones flying in the sky. They won''te down to attack us." Liam exined.


    The group walked forward with Liam and Alex at the front and Rey and Mia at the back.


    Mia couldn''t help but nce at the lean and muscr man in front of her. Why did he ask me that? She silently wondered.


    A few secondster the first beasts popped up. A group of wandering wolves stood in front of Liam and Alex.


    Before anyone could say anything, Liam dashed forward and took control of the situation.


    "Tank take the two on the left. I will attack the two on the right. Rey, provide support for the tank. Healer, keep an eye out for sudden damages."


    Alex frowned wondering who put this guy in charge of their team but she decided to just go along with the flow and once and for all, really see what the guy was worth.


    She used her basic pdin skill [Block] and jutted her shield forward. The two wolves immediately growled and attacked her but their ws and canines were blocked by the shield.


    She skillfully moved, blocking their every single attack, again and again, even anticipating their attack pattern.


    However, these were just wolves, so Alex was even able to catch a break and swung her sword forward.


    Rey supported her by shooting arrows from behind, the two of them quickly finishing off the wolves in under a minute.


    "Woo!" Alex shouted as the string of experience points flowed in. She was about to turn and see how Liam was doing but the next couple of experience points also flowed in.


    He single-handedly finished the two wolves in the same time it took for the both of us? She was dumbfounded.


    She wanted to open the system interface and check the damage numbers as they only received notification for experience points, but Liam''s voice bellowed again.


    "Get the wolf meat and ce them atop that giant rock." He muttered and casually picked up the few copper coins that had dropped.


    Alex''s eyes went wide. This shameless guy!


    But the other two didn''t seem to care and quickly did what Liam told. They sliced the bodies of the animal and prepared a heap of fresh meat.


    As neither of the women wanted to touch the ultra realistic chopped up meat and Liam had already walked over to the rock, Rey volunteered and brought the pile of meat sloppily over to the rock.


    "Now what?" Alex asked, crossing her hands in front of her ample chest.


    Liam remained silent, but soon distant ps of wings sounded.


    "Now it begins.." He smiled.

 Chapter 25 - Unexpected Changes

    <h4>Chapter 25 - Unexpected Changes</h4>


    "Do you guys have any potions handy? Keep it ready."


    Liam barely finished talking when the distant trees shook and the leaves rustled. About five ck ravens with big red eyes flew towards them like bullets.


    "Tank! Heads up! You take 2. I will deal with the other three. Rey. The same rule. Follow it. Provide support to the tank first. Come to me after dealing with the 2. Healer, look alive."


    Alex was furious. What the heck was with this fellow? Did they not have names? Only Rey had a name?


    She activated her skill [Deafening Roar] and attracted the attention of all five ravens, but Liam quickly shed at three of them.


    His damage numbers were double that of Alex, so he immediately pulled the three away from her, giving her a stern look. "Follow my instructions."


    The birds were a bit more agile than the wolves and their main attack pattern was with their beaks and ws, pecking furiously at their targets.


    Nevertheless, Liam dodged their attacks nimbly, his tempered body keeping up with his movements. Every single move he made was ounted for and had absolute precision.


    Beside him, Alex also blocked the birds and parried with them. Soon, the first wave of birds was brought down, again almost at the same time.


    A string of notifications rang in their ears giving out experience points.


    Alex immediately turned towards Liam and pointed her shield at him. "Do you have something against women?"


    "Umm¡­ What? Watch out. There are three more waves." Liam warned her and not long after, the trees once again rustled.


    This time a flock of 10 birds came down and Alex no longer had the luxury to be pissed at Liam. [Deafening Roar] She once again shouted loudly, drawing the attraction of the cluster of ck ravens.


    "Tank, can you handle 5?" Liam shouted and shed at the few birds in the back.


    Heavy damage numbers floated and feathers scattered left and right, but even Liam was not able to dodge all the peckers. A few bloody gashes appeared on his body.


    However, just as his health dropped, nourishing energy enveloped his body, quickly healing him. Mia''s spell casting was on point as she anticipated the damage and aided the team with great timing.


    Liam nodded in approval. This woman was indeed worthy of being one of the top battle priests. She was a natural.


    His own movements as well were extremely fluid and confident, but the difference between the both of them was that he had actually swung his sword a million times before he got to where he was today.


    It was something that was drilled into his very bones.


    But the other party was simply born with a godly talent. The world was truly unfair!


    The ravens did not have any special attacks so with just using his basic sword moves, Liam was able to deal with them in a matter of seconds.


    Alex and Rey, on the other hand, were still barely holding on. Alex grit her teeth in frustration as the experience points pooled from Liam''s kills.


    Unlike the earlier mob, this one showed the skill difference between the two, leaving nothing to the imagination.


    While they were struggling, Liam was already done and he now dashed forward to help with their half of the mob.


    He would have gotten to them faster but he did not want to use any of his new skills just yet.


    [Ding. 10 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 10 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 10 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 10 Bonus Experience points gained]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    One of the ravens dropped a skill book this time which Liam bent down and picked up.


    "What is it, bro?" Rey asked excitedly, but to his disappointment, it was only a holy heal spellbook.


    "You have this skill?" Liam asked Mia and she nodded silently. He then turned and tossed the book to Alex. "You should also learn it."


    "Why would a pdin need a heal skill?" Alex frowned. She was still sulking about the fact that he was much stronger and skilled than them.


    "Your choice." Liam did not engage her and wiped the blood off of his sword, preparing for the next attack which was about to hit them any time now.


    He took out a violet colored fruit from his inventory and munched on it. "Another wave iing. Recover your mana and stamina quickly."


    Alex gripped her shield tightly wanting to bash it on the back of his head. What a hateful guy!


    "10 again this time," Liam shouted as the trees began to rustle and another group of ravens flew towards them. "5 each. Same asst time."


    He swung his sword, prepared to jump into the battle, but suddenly, he froze. Liam almost couldn''t believe what he was seeing. Something that he did not expect to happen.


    Instead of the norm, the 10 birds mob, a mob of 20 ck ravens shot towards them like sharp arrows!


    Hmmm¡­ Liam''s eyes widened in realization. He knew that this had something to do with the special objects he had collected from the dragon''sir.


    He snapped out of his shock and immediately shouted again. "More than 10! Watch out!"


    "Yes, I can see that genius." Alex angrily retorted but the man was too busy to listen to her.


    [Awaken] Liam muttered under his breath, finally using another one of his skills.


    ck mist swirled around the many raven corpses littered on the mound, broken pieces of their skeleton slowlying together. They bonded and fused like there was some sort of invisible glue.


    Some even had pieces of flesh and feathers stuck to it, making it extremely gory and disgusting to watch. Not to mention the pungent smell.


    "What the hell?" Alex took a step back, feeling nauseous. Even Mia''s face was scrunched up.


    Only Rey watched the whole thing with a dazed look on his face that was full of admiration and worship. "Bro! How cool! You got the undead skill! Nice! This looks freaking amazing." He gave Liam a thumbs up.


    Everything happened quickly and from the mess of the several corpses, three raven skeletons rose up from the ground, pping their rotten bonny wings.

 Chapter 26 - God Of Death

    <h4>Chapter 26 - God Of Death</h4>


    Squawk. Squawk. Squawk. Squawk.


    The cluster of ravens cackled, filling the air with loud shrieking noises.


    It was barely on the borderline and even a decibel or so higher would have forced the team fighting against them to cover their ears first instead of fighting to prevent their eardrums from getting punctured.


    Alex immediately used her [Deafening Roar], coupled with her [Block], but the birds were far too many and their beaks were everywhere.


    The group''s health was dropping down too fast for even Mia to keep a steady hold on things. She frantically cast her heals, forcing herself to her limits to maintain absolute perfection in timing.


    Liam sighed. He took one look at how things were going and he immediately shouted. "Get down!"


    They were only a little over halfway through and he didn''t want the group to be wiped out.


    And since everyone had been listening to him since the beginning, no one thought twice about what he said and acted first, getting off of the mound.


    Only after jumping down, they noticed that none of the ravens had followed them back and all the birds were now circling only around Liam.


    "Healer. Keep up." Liam shouted, adding another instruction.


    He didn''t bother giving Mia more detailedmands because he was confident about her abilities. Also, he didn''t have the time to spare.


    Standing all by himself atop of the bloody mound, Liam''s body was spinning and twisting in all crazy angles, his agility a notch higher than the ravens.


    The three undead he had summoned were also busily fighting back, taking chunks of flesh and health from the cackling ravens, but it was clear that he was being pushed to his limits.


    It was clear that he wouldn''tst much longer butsting so far just by himself was itself a remarkable feat!


    Everyone was stunned silly. They watched Liam in a daze with dumb expressions on their faces, even forgetting that they could just climb back the mound and join the fight.


    They couldn''t take their eyes off of him as he contorted in various angles, dodging the trajectories of the birds and at the same time, shing at them with his sword.


    "How beautiful!" Alex muttered subconsciously.


    Mia as well had her eyes peeled open, not missing a single movement on the man in front of her.


    Rey, on the other hand, was watching on as if he was seeing a ghost.


    With every second that passed, his movements became sharper and sharper and his random moves slowly became coordinated and beautiful like a dance rather than an intense battle.


    All three gulped, watching him in awe. Sword slices rippled out in several directions, chunks of flesh and feathers flying everywhere.


    And before long, the entire flock of birds suddenly dropped down dead.


    [Ding. 10 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 10 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 10 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 10 Bonus Experience points gained]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Experience points rained down continuously, as the entire flock of birds was just like that taken care of by a single yer.


    [Ding. A new skill ''Sword Dance'' has been created due to your actions]


    [Sword Dance: Each sh of the sword deals 200% damage; A critical hit attack deals 250% damage; Cooldown: 3 minutes]


    Liam smiled at the new skill, feeling exhrated after having executed the familiar set of moves perfectly.


    He didn''t want to use this so soon, as revealing it might bring a lot of questions but he didn''t have any other options. So he just went for it.


    [Awaken] Liam muttered again, this time a group of five bony undead ravens slowly rising up from the pile of corpses. He was already preparing for the next fight.


    Unlike him, all the three spectators stood still. Even Alex was stunned speechless with nothing else to say. She inwardly felt embarrassed to havepared both of their gamey.


    One was like an aged wine while the other was like a cheap beer!


    Liam turned to look at them and saw the worshipping look in their eyes. Heh. He chuckled inwardly. He was not used to being looked at in this manner.


    He ruffled his head and muttered, returning back to dig through the pile of corpses. "You should stop daydreaming and get back up. The next group will soon be here."


    The haul this time was quite good and the birds had dropped two skill books and one crossbow with good stats.


    "Check this out." Liam threw the crossbow at Rey.


    "Hey. How do you know all of this?" Alex asked, ignoring the equipment that was tossed. She climbed back onto the mound, with her gaze fixated on Liam.


    "I don''t. I am only roughly guessing." He didn''t stop for answering her and continued to pocket all the copper and silver coins he found.


    Technically, what he said wasn''t wrong as hisst estimate had been terribly wrong and way off the mark. Even they knew it. But Alex was not ready to give up just yet.


    "What was that sword move thing you did? That was also a skill you learned from a skill book?" She asked again.


    It was impossible for one person to have acquired so many skill books when the game just literally started so she simply couldn''t let it go.


    She red at the guy as if he had stolen her lunch money from her.


    Liam shook his head and looked at her. This time instead of giving her a random bullshit answer, he paused slightly. "I will exin itter to you. The next mob should being soon."


    He turned around without leaving any space for the woman to ask him further questions.


    "You!" Alex clenched her fists and red at him.


    Five undead ravens pped their wings and circled around Liam. This coupled with the strong and powerful aura he was emitting, the man looked like a God of Death.


    Alex gulped and pursed her lips. She angrily kicked a couple of corpses next to her feet as if checking to search for other drops.


    Rey was busy looking at the crossbow in his hand and Mia looked around, also checking in between the corpses for drops.


    But just like Alex her gaze as well ever so often flickered over in the direction of Liam, looking at him in a daze.

 Chapter 27 - Secret Mode

    <h4>Chapter 27 - Secret Mode</h4>


    Liam pensively stared at the distance as the next set of pping sounds started to echo. This as well sounded louder than what he was expecting.


    Were there again more birds?


    Ebon Raven was a simple beginner''s dungeon. It should have never been this difficult.


    It didn''t even have the usual modes, like easy, difficult, and hell mode. It was just a single straight shot run without any hidden twists and turns.


    Originally, the dungeon should have had 10 birds in the previous mob and 10 more birds in the next mob, with some of the birds in this group having the ability to stun yers.


    This was also thest mob before the final boss, a monstrous raven bird.


    The boss monster looked like the other ravens except that it was several times bigger and had a third eye.


    The bird also had exceptional agility and was very skillful at stunning yers, keeping everyone on their toes.


    This was in short the summary of the beginner''s dungeon.


    But Liam had a nagging feeling that this was not how things were going to proceed.


    Was it because of the items he had taken from the dragon''sir? It also could be because they were the first team to enter and run the dungeon.


    He didn''t know for sure, but that was his best guess as of now. Either way, there was a high possibility that he might not get this opportunity again.


    Liam did not want to risk taking any chances so he decided to cast the other skill he had learned as well.


    He closed his eyes and muttered [Demonic summon]. His mana instantly bottomed out and thick ck fumes started materializing in front of him.


    These were somewhat simr to the aura exerted by the five undead ravens pping their rotten wings, but at the same time, there were also differences between the two.


    Both Alex and Mia could feel their skin tingle from such thick demonic andher energy swirling near them.


    "What the hell? You have one more skill?" Alex cried out in exasperation and the other two as well couldn''t remain silent.


    "You have a lot of skills." Mia calmly muttered, though her eyes betrayed her puzzlement.


    "Bro, is there some shop where we can buy skills?" Rey chuckled awkwardly.


    He didn''t want to intrude and make Liam feel ufortable, but this was too much and he couldn''t refrain from asking.


    While the three looked at him with bulged eyes, Liam''splete attention and focus were on the ck blob swirling in front of him.


    It typically took a couple of seconds for the demon to be fully summoned, so he watched it like a hawk.


    Just as thest mob of birds started flying towards them, a small red ball slowly revealed itself and suddenly two holes materialized on it, one turning into an evil-looking eye and the other turning into a row of teeth.


    Gahhhhh!!!!


    It made a weird sound, snapping Liam into action. "An unevolved beholder. Not bad." He grinned.


    These aberrations were one of the powerful lesser demons and were capable of dealing several types of damage depending on their type.


    It can be as powerful as a one-shot death ray shooting out from the single devious eyeball to a harmless slowing ray. Liam would only know its capabilities once it started attacking.


    And it was about time.


    More than thirty birds were shooting towards them like ck arrows with red eyes.


    "Healer. Watch out for the stuns. If you keep moving around it will be difficult for the birds to stun you." Liam muttered and clutched the sword in his hands tightly.


    The beholder demon and the undead ravens zoomed here and there in anticipation as if their only thought was to fight and kill and when the group of ravens descended, they instantly jumped into action.


    Each undead managed to grab the attention of at least two ravens and the beholder demon single-handedly grabbed the attention of five ravens.


    This in itself covered half of the mob and the rest became a lot easier for the team to handle.


    Alex skillfully bashed her shield against the birds, while Rey now waved a dagger at the birds.


    Liam couldn''t activate his sword dance just yet, so he shed at the weak points of the birds with precision.


    Mia was the busiest out of all of them as all three were closebat fighters and were taking quite a lot of damage.


    But thankfully, because of Liam''s warning, at least no one got stunned and managed to pull through.


    The first bird dropped dead within seconds, boosting everyone''s morale.


    The demon paralyzed a bird, shooting out a ck ray from its eyeball, which then dropped down lifelessly after getting caught in the volley of sword shes Liam was sending out.


    Following this, one by one, more birds started dropping dead, the group''s coordination being much better this time around.


    Both Alex and Rey even leveled up giving them instant health refills that additionally made the fight a lot easier.


    Before long, the big flock of birds waspletely demolished and corpses piled up on the mound.

 Chapter 28 - Eye Of The Tornado

    <h4>Chapter 28 - Eye Of The Tornado</h4>


    Huff¡­ Huff¡­ Huff¡­


    Alex and Rey couldn''t handle it anymore and sat down on the bloody mound to catch a breather.


    Thisst mob had taken everything out of them and they felt like their body had been squeezed dry.


    No matter how realistic games were, they had never experienced something like this before.


    It was as if they had physically battled just now, instead of just a mere projection of their mind.


    "Brother¡­ Aiooo¡­ please tell me that was thest mob." Rey panted and pieces of fruit sprayed from his mouth as he munched while talking.


    "That should be thest mob." Liam absent-mindedly muttered but his tone implied that he wasn''t satisfied with his answer.


    "Next should be a monstrous raven with the ability to cast a lot of stun skills. It likes to paralyze the healer and kill them first. So, Mia, you should watch out."


    Liam tried his best to exin while at the same time drinking a potion to restore his mana.


    All the ravens he had resurrected for thest bout were already useless, so he once more had to cast the undead spell [awaken].


    This time a total of 10 ravel ghouls pped their wings and arose from the cluster of bones and flesh thatid around like garbage.


    "Eh? Why''s the boss taking so long?" Rey asked, looking up at the sky.


    His action made Liam subconsciously look up as well and suddenly his eyes widened.


    "Get Down, Now!" Liam crazily shouted.


    "You have to get down immediately and leave the dungeon." He shouted.


    Everyone nced at each other wondering what was going on and looked up as well, their eyes trailing Liam''s to check out what could possibly be so damn terrifying.


    At first, they couldn''t see anything, but slowly things became clearer as the small movements became bigger and bigger.


    The insane number of birds swirling in the sky were unexpectedly showing some sort of activity.


    Liam had at first assured them that these birds wouldn''t be moving or attacking but now that didn''t seem to be the case.


    The rest of the sky slowly started to clear up and the sky above the mound alone was bing darker and darker.


    The others did not know what was happening but Liam could most definitely guess.


    "Move! Now!" He once again shouted.


    No one had to tell them thrice. Alex, Rey, and Mia scrambled on their feet and jumped out of the mound in a hurry.


    But to their surprise, Liam was still standing at the mound not showing any intention of jumping down and following them.


    And before anyone could even think about what he was doing, the ravens formed a tornado and started descending.


    The hundreds of ravens flying high in the sky started descending one by one.


    Alex stumbled and fell back staring up at the sky dumbfoundedly.


    Rey had shock and fear etched all over his face.


    Mia also stood with her mouth wide open.


    "Get down! Get down now!" She stuttered looking at the man who still stood without budging.


    "You!!! Why are you so stubborn??" Alex was speechless.


    "Brother. It''s not worth it. Jump down from the mound. Let''se back with a full party and make other prepa¡­ preparations." Rey gritted his teeth.


    In all honesty, he had no idea just what preparations he could do against such a monstrous phenomenon, but all he wanted was for them to get out safe and sound.


    Death itself was not a big deal. At most, they would lose a level or so, but being pecked to death when the game was so realistic was something no one should suffer through.


    Liam, however, hadn''t even heard any of Rey''s words. He simply shouted again. "Leave, Now!"


    He only warned them these many times because it was after all because of him that they were also facing this dungeon anomaly.


    They might not know it yet but he knew the cost of single death and he didn''t want to be responsible for theirs.


    At the same time, he also didn''t want to move.


    It was now more than clear to him that everything that was happening was quest-rted.


    If he left the dungeon now, quitting the run halfway he might never get another shot at this hidden quest and this unexpected turn of events.


    Normally, missing a single opportunity perhaps wouldn''t matter that much.


    But Liam was not ready to lose even a single opportunity this time around. Otherwise, what was the point of his miracle, his second chance?


    If he failed this time, he wouldn''t have anyone else to me. He needed to make this count.


    Otherwise the repercussions¡­


    He would rather die than live the life that was waiting for him...


    "No. I cannot give up now, I have to fight. I have to do it right here and right now. I cannot lose everything again, I will not."


    "I cannot falter with just this much. I have to fight through this, no matter the cost."


    He turned around to look at the three and shouted at them onest time. "Did you not hear me?! GET THE FUCK OUT NOWWW!"


    Mia, Alex, and Rey heard his thunderous roar and for some reason, they couldn''t ignore hismand.


    The pressure and the ominous auraing out from the deadly swirl of ravens in the sky were also putting them under a lot of stress.


    They couldn''t stand still frozen any longer and snapped out of their trance. They ran out of the dungeon at full speed and did exactly what Liam asked them to.


    [Ding. Alex Thornwood has left the dungeon]


    [Ding. Alex Thornwood has left the party]


    [Ding. Mia Hofstadter has left the dungeon]


    [Ding. Mia Hofstadter has left the party.]


    [Ding. Rey Thornwood has left the dungeon]


    [Ding. Rey Thornwood has left the party.]


    Continuous notifications rang as the others exited the dungeon and the party as well was automatically disbanded because they quit a dungeon abruptly.


    Liam was the only one remaining now.. He looked up to see the tornado of ravens swirling in the sky above him and the birds finally began their descent.

 Chapter 29 - Sometimes A Hero Runs

    <h4>Chapter 29 - Sometimes A Hero Runs</h4>


    "Fuck! What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Liam had sent everyone else out but now he had no idea what to do in this situation.


    It was not as if he was a cheat character reborn with maxed out stats. No, he was just a cheat character reborn with normal stats.


    So he was no closer to dealing with this insane fucking scenario than he was 2 seconds ago and he didn''t have very much time left. He would inevitably be pecked to death in about another 5 seconds.


    He gritted his teeth and watched as the ck ominous ravens with crimson red eyes started descending from the sky one after the other. The massive swirling tornado was going to swallow him whole.


    Liam looked around here and there and realized that there was only one thing he could do right now. "Damn it. I have no other choice. Let me just run for now and then figure out a solutionter."


    He waited for the ravens to get close enough to him and then before the first bird could touch him, he moved.


    His feet touched the ground lightly and the next second, he shot out of the mound with an explosive speed.


    Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!


    The ravens screeched with murderous intent and then unexpectedly began following him. "I knew it." Liam grinned.


    It was impossible for anyone to defeat these many ravens while standing atop the singr mound with nowhere to hide.


    So he had a feeling that no matter where he was in the entire dungeon, he would still hold the attention of the mob and not lose them.


    Of course, this was a big risk because if he had been wrong, he would have lost everything including this special scenario and the bonus things that were popping out of the dungeon.


    But still, it was better to take this risk and lose rather than to simply die or exit the dungeon.


    Liam maintained his steady breathing and ran down from the mound as fast as he could. He wasn''t really running in any particr direction. He was just randomly running from one end of the forest to the other.


    The sight of a lone man being chased by an entire swarm of ravens was simply tooical and irrational and yet he did just that.


    "OK. Think. Think. I should only have about 3 minutes. How can I deal with this?" Liam racked his brain. "Damn it, there isn''t enough time to think."


    If anyone else had heard him say this, they would have surely coughed up blood as the speed with which he was running right now was at least five times what his level yers were capable of.


    And to do this, Liam also wasn''t using any special skills.


    There were myriad mysterious movement skills avable and he even knew one of the bad ones and the location of some of the good ones, but he wasn''t capable of executing any of those at his current level.


    All he could do now was simply run as fast as he could and of course, Liam added in a little bit of extra to that. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to sessfully outrun the ravens while expending as little energy as possible.


    He circted the mana flowing freely through his body and then taking a deep breath he pushed all of it to his feet.


    Bang!


    Dust and wind swirled at the ces where his feet touched and he sprang forth, running around the nook and cranny of the forest.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed. There wasn''t a single thing in the wide-open forest that could possibly help him. There were only trees scattered around here and there.


    "No. it cannot be. There should be a way." He gritted his teeth and continued running, taking the flock of ravens along with him, zigging and zagging behind him.


    The bunch of them had almost covered the entirety of the dungeon''s forest when Liam suddenly stopped, a few birds catching up to him. However, he ignored their attacks now ran perpendicrly towards two big trees.


    There was nothing special about these two trees except that they were thick, sturdy, and tall, and the lower half of the trees were covered in thick brambles.


    Liam grinned and then the next second, he directly sprinted towards this pair of trees, jumping right in between them. "Come at me NOW!" He shouted, adrenaline coursing through his body.


    The raven birds were only an issue when they could all attack him at the same time, but now, they would at most be able toe at him four or five at a time.


    And that was a number he had no problem managing.


    Liam grinned wildly with a devilish madness on his face and swung his sword casually to his left and his right.


    sh! sh! sh!


    Blood spurted everywhere.. Chunks of flesh and feathers scattered all around and finally, the ck ravens started dropping dead one after the other.

 Chapter 30 - I Have Been Waiting For You~

    <h4>Chapter 30 - I Have Been Waiting For You~</h4>


    Having finally slowed down the insane gang of birds chasing after him, Liam felt exhrated and his blood was pumping. Even so, he did not rush.


    He took his time and slowly dealt with the mob of birds, one or two at a time. While he was doing this, he replenished his mana and stamina supplies, which were almost depleted.


    Moreover, because the birds were restricted by the giant trees, they could do nothing as well and were relegated to attacking at the speed that he permitted.


    Some of the birds even tried toe at him from the top but the branches of the trees were too numerous with dense clusters of leaves covering them. They couldn''t simply scoop down and peck at him.


    In the end, leaves and twigs were still leaves and twigs; the setup was never going tost. He only had barely enough time to get a grip on the situation.


    Liam improved his slow and rhythmic speed bit by bit and his sword danced faster and faster after every single move. Without the advantage of their numbers, the ck ravens werepletely overpowered and ughtered mercilessly.


    At the same time, as each bird died, the experience points that were pouring down on him were also quite significant.


    Now that he was the one and only member of the party, it was no different than him solo clearing the dungeon. He single-handedly reaped all the benefits, along with the first discovery bonus boosts and effects.


    [Ding. 30 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. 30 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Bonus Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 30 Bonus Experience points gained]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As the experience points continued adding up non-stop, the giant tornado which had now formed atop the two huge trees was hacked by Liam bit by bit.


    It only took him a few minutes to reduce the unending tide of birds to a few dozen.


    His entire body was drenched in sweat and his muscles were pulsing with exhaustion. However, he kept going, pushing his limits to the fullest.


    Luckily, he used the sword that he had picked up from Niria''sir. Otherwise, his weapon would have shattered by now. His current one wasn''t doing that great either.


    The durability was slowly dropping to single digits and the trees were also now almost destroyed.


    By the time, Liam got to the end of the flock, ripping into shreds thest few birds, his sword covered in blood cracked into two, and coincidentally, the giant trees he was lodged in between also cracked and split apart.


    "Ahhhh!" Liam clenched his fist and let out a loud howl, before jumping out of his hiding ce and copsing on the nearby green grass that wasn''t covered in blood and fresh corpses.


    He wasn''t sure what was going to happen next, but he calmly took out a fruit from his inventory andid on the grass munching it.


    Above him, the sky was now clear blue, no longer dark and ominous as it had been before. Liam looked up, plopping another fruit into his mouth.


    "Did I really just kill an entire mob? Ha ha ha!" A burst of loud lunaticughter echoed in the silent forest, only apanied by the whistling of the wind and the sound of leaves rustling in the breeze.


    A few more minutes passed and nothing really happened. No other mobs or beasts or birds showed up.


    "Alright. What next?" Liam jumped up, picking himself off of the ground, and looked around. At this point in the dungeon, all of this was new to him, so he had no idea what to do next.


    "I guess I should explore a bit." Liam frowned and walked back to the mound which was the stage for most of the fights. Luckily, he didn''t have to wait much longer.


    Even from the distance, he could see that the mound he had run away from was no longer empty. A giant ck raven with three heads and several pairs of crimson eyes was perched atop it.


    "Hmm. This raven is here. This should be the final boss monster fight and the dungeon clear condition." Liam quickly took out a sword from his inventory and rotated his shoulders, preparing himself to go all out.


    He dashed towards the mound and shed his sword at the raven, but unexpectedly, the bird remained calm. His sword sh paused mid-air and then magically disappeared.


    "What the hell? You are not attacking me?"


    Liam almost stumbled as he tried to stop abruptly in his tracks, and the raven in front of him casually open its huge ck peak and muttered.


    "Human! I have been waiting for you."

 Chapter 31 - You Bastard!

    <h4>Chapter 31 - You Bastard!</h4>


    Liam stared nkly wondering what the hell was happening. The most foolish mistake one can do was to unnecessarily provoke a friendly character, especially considering that the three-headed raven was the boss of this dungeon domain.


    So he immediately stopped his actions and changed his attitude.


    "I''m sorry it took me so long?" He ruffled his hair, while at the same time scrambling to recall if he heard anything simr in his previous life in rtion to the beginner''s dungeon.


    The huge raven looked amused at his behavior and the bird pped its wings while shrieking loudly, well from one of its three heads.


    Before Liam could try and figure out what was happening, the bird''s other head reacted and its corresponding beak started moving. "Shut up, Runara. I am talking aren''t I?"


    The first head of the bird that was loudly screeching immediately quieted down as if it was an obedient child. The second head then cleared its throat and continued talking.


    "Human, in thest hundred decades, you are the first person to sessfully challenge and pass this trial. It is a great honor to meet you, oh valiant warrior!"


    Liam nodded silently, allowing the bird to talk more. At the same time, he noticed something weird about this raven.


    Its first head was screeching like a bird but its second, middle head spoke to him with a seductive female voice. Even current top singers in the world would kill to have a pure yet alluring voice like this.


    As if the bird felt Liam''s invasive gaze on it, the second head hurriedly continued. "Here is your reward human. Take it and use it well."


    A map appeared in front of Liam and disappeared into his inventory when he grabbed it.


    "There are several riches, gems, and treasures waiting for you. Good luck!"


    "I am very grateful for the reward." Liam nodded. His face only had a curt polite expression, bordering on indifference.


    The several pairs of crimson eyes on the raven scanned him from top to bottom for a while and then the bird began pping its wings, its huge body lifting off from the mound.


    "Farewell human. I wish you good luck in your endeavors."


    "Ahem. Since you seem to be a very capable young man, let me give you another piece of advice. Make sure to visit the treasure trove as soon as you can."


    "Otherwise, there might be other hidden dangers."


    After leaving this cryptic message, the bird pped its wings and flew into the vast blue sky until it became a small ck dot and eventually fully disappearing.


    Liam stared at the distance where the bird had disappeared with a pensive look on his face. His eyes then returned to the mound and he noticed a shining object that the raven had left behind.


    It looked like a gem shard simr to the one he had obtained from the dragon''sir nearby. He out the other shard as well and examined both closely when the two shards unexpectedly started glowing.


    The two pieces simultaneously left his grasp and stuck to each other like a pair of strong mas. Liam tried to move them apart again but he wasn''t sessful.


    They were tightly stuck together or rather the two shards had nowbined into a single bigger shard. The gem still looked iplete. However, it now had a more brilliant violet sheen to it.


    "Hmm¡­ So there was a clue in this dungeon after all." Liam put the gem shard back into his inventory and took out the map to examine it more closely.


    "Huh? Isn''t this just the general map of the world?" He flipped it to see all the continents and then in the corner of a remote kingdom named Buizar, there was a small red cross mark.


    Liam stared at the red mark for a couple of seconds before putting the map as well back into the inventory. Perhaps he should be more excited by thispletely unexpected discovery, but he had an unsettling feeling at the back of his mind.


    Mainly because he had not even heard a single word about this entire quest chain along with the three unique drops from the dragon''sir.


    "If I remember it correctly, this Buizar Kingdom should be one of the elven kingdoms. It is a high level area and there is no way I can get there now. So I will worry about this map when I reach level 50."


    He let out a deep breath and then took one more look at the empty forest before heading out. He walked out of the portal, directly reaching the entrance of the dungeon.


    "Did they already kill Niria?" Liam wondered, as his level was now enough to defeat that field boss. Before he left this spot, why not finish everything in the area?


    However, before he could finish the thought, a fist came flying at him as soon as he stepped out of the portal. "You bastard!"

 Chapter 32 - Such A Nice Person! Part1

    <h4>Chapter 32 - Such A Nice Person! Part1</h4>


    Liam was someone who had already faced years of terrifying gruelingbat in his life. So how could he not respond instantaneously to this small soft fist?


    He only moved an inch to the right and dodged the attack like it was nothing which in turn made the attacker stumble and fall forward. Liam sighed and caught the person, lest he might make the situation worse.


    "Motherfucker! Greedy scoundrel! Did you seriously take us for fools?" Alex cursed loudly, strands of her long red hairing undone. She quickly steadied herself and huffed angrily, her chests heaving up and down.


    Woah! This girl really put a lot of power into that punch! Liam scratched his head. It was not too difficult for him to guess what was happening.


    Seeing his calm smile only made Alex even more furious. "You! How dare you?"


    "Sister, calm down, please." Rey tried his best to hold Alex back, but as always he failed miserably.


    "We called you to party together with us, but you ditched us at thest minute and took everything for yourself??? Are you serious?"


    "What do you mean?" Liam calmly replied. "Wouldn''t you have just died if you stayed back? You would not have gotten any rewards either way."


    "Oh! So now you are back to being Mister know it all? Don''t make meugh. What a jerk!"


    "You could have warned us back there also and we could have finished the dungeon together, but instead, you dragged us along for the ride and then left us hanging."


    "At worst we would have died? So what? You didn''t have to kick us out of the dungeon!"


    Liam saw that the woman was ready to murder him. He wanted to point out that they had left the dungeon out of their own ord, but he decided to swallow his words.


    He had a lot of things to do and standing here and bickering with two women was not on his list. And the woman in front of him didn''t look like she was going to stop any time soon.


    "And we" Liam stopped her and did not let her finish her sentence. "I willpensate you guys."


    "Aha. You don''t have to, senior." Rey awkwardly chuckled, but he obviously looked very excited.


    "Shut up, idiot." Alex scolded him. "Whatpensation are we talking about?"


    "How about I tell you guys the secret to getting more skills?" Liam chuckled.


    The three in front of him, even the silent Mia immediately became shocked.


    "So senior, you were really not buying them from some shop? Ha ha ha" Rey was the first to mutter something even though he was just bbering.


    Liam shook his head helplessly. "No. It''s not that easy. I only managed to find this by chance. Listen to me carefully and it is best you keep it to yourself."


    "If you repeat any action enough times, with a significant insight into what exactly you are doing, you can automatically learn that skill without needing the specific skill books."


    "For example, Miss tank, how about you use your shield and m into that tree there?"


    Alex narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously at the greedy scoundrel and then went to test out the theory he had mentioned. "If this is not true¡­ Hmph. I swear I will take care of you!"


    Liam chuckled. "Focus on the way you are hitting the tree. Think about its weak points and m it with all your strength and power."


    He knew that she would probably take some time so he decided to give some pointers to Rey. He didn''t bother saying anything to Mia as he didn''t want to disturb her natural growth.


    "Why are you ying a ''no ss'' character?" Liam dragged Rey to the side and asked.


    "Ah? Is that not the best?" Rey looked confused because Liam himself was ying the same style.


    "Do you have any special affinities like your cousin there?"


    Rey shook his head. "No?"


    "What did the system rmend for you?"


    "Ah¡­ that¡­ hunter ha ha ha."


    Liam sighed at the carefree guy. This was definitely a person who hadn''t worked hard even for a second in his life. "Then you should go with the hunter ss in my opinion."


    "Let me add you as a friend and I will bring you guys to another dungeonter topensate for this one."


    While these two were talking, a loud sound echoed from the direction Alex was training. Everyone turned to look at her and saw that the tree in front of her had split into two halves.


    Alex on the other hand was busy staring at the new notification that had popped up in front of her.


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill Shield m]


    "What the hell? You were not lying!"


    Liam smiled. "So that settles things? I will be leaving now."


    "Thank you," Alex muttered silently while looking away. She felt that she had been a bit hasty in judging this person''s character.


    The mechanic he had revealed to them wouldn''t probably have remained a secret forever. Nevertheless, this was a huge boost for them so early on in the game.


    So she stopped being difficult and swallowed her pride. Since she was the one who had used him unfairly, she decided to extend an olive branch.


    "Do you want to run the dungeon with us a few more times? We can grind our levels faster."


    "No, that''s alright." Liam was actually nning in his mind about his next few steps but of course, the three in front of him mistook his actions as him trying to be friendly.


    This made Alex feel even worse and she tried to lighten the mood. "Come on, expert. Give us some more pointers." She shed a weird smile which she had actually meant to be flirtatious but somehow came out as awkward.


    Liam, however, did not pay any attention to it. "More pointers? Hmmm. Make sure not to die. There are huge penalties for death." He nkly replied.


    Alex widened her eyes as she suddenly realized if this was why he had asked them to get out of the dungeon. Now she felt even worse for havingpletely misjudged him.


    "By the way, you helped both me and Rey, but you forgot to give Mia any pointers! Ha Ha Ha." She squeezed out another sentence just to keep making conversation.


    She didn''t actually expect the rigid guy to respond, but to her surprise, Liam who was preparing to leave loudly eximed. "Oh, you are right! I almost forgot!"


    Unexpectedly, he paused in front of Mia and whispered something in her ears.


    Huh? The other two were confused and looked at him, but he didn''t bother exining anything to them.. He jumped down from the cliff and bolted away.

 Chapter 33 - Such A Nice Person! Part2

    <h4>Chapter 33 - Such A Nice Person! Part2</h4>


    Both Alex and Rey watched as the perfect silhouette of the mysterious person disappeared into the forest.


    On their right, there was still a hugemotion because of the field boss, but Liam had avoided all of that and ran away in the other direction.


    "Hmm. I really misjudged that person." Alex muttered under her breath. "He is not that bad."


    "He He. You should trust people more sis." Rey chuckled but he shut up immediately after sensing the deathly re that came his way.


    The two of them squabbled about for a bit when they finally turned around and noticed Mia. She had an odd expression on her face even for her and her cheeks were bright red.


    In fact, her entire face and neck region waspletely flushed.


    "Huh? What happened?" Alex was confused. She then remembered that Liam had whispered something in her ear. But what could he have possibly said that could make Mia react like this?


    "What did he say?" She asked.


    Mia was usually a very calm andposed girl and seldom showed any emotions, unlike Alex whose emotions were always in her sleeves.


    In their high school, she was even revered as the ice goddess by everyone, but now she was showing an expression like this?


    "Hey, what happened?" Alex worriedly asked.


    "That guy just now said something weird." Mia answered her in a daze. "He said that if we¡­ inside the game..."


    Meanwhile, Rey was already trying to gather other party members so that they could run the dungeon a few more times.


    He was rather thick in these matters. So he didn''t even notice the two women talking about something in hushed voices and weird expressions.


    He randomly selected a couple of decent damage dealers and headed back, when the three of them stopped in their tracks.


    Bam! Bang! Bang!


    Loud explosive noises echoed at the entrance of the dungeon.


    "What the hell? Another field boss spawned?" One of the new recruits muttered in confusion.


    "Looks like it. Should we get more people? Woah! The beginning of this game is so sick!"


    Rey, on the other hand, gulped. Unlike the two new recruits, he was rather familiar with the silhouette of this so-called bear.


    "Shhh! You guys. That''s my sister. Don''t call her a bear if you love your life." He nervously muttered under his breath and dashed forward. "Sis, what happened?"


    He had only left for like a couple of minutes. What could have possibly happened in that short time to make his hot tempered sister burst out like a volcano?


    Rey approached the danger zone very cautiously as if there was indeed an actual bear near him. "What happened, sis? Can you calm down a bit?"


    "It''s fine, Alex. Leave it be." Even Mia muttered.


    However, Alex was clearly not in a mood to answer him or Mia. She just kept mming against all the trees that she could get her hands on. "I AM GOING TO KILL HIM! I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM!"


    "Huh? Who does she want to kill?" Rey looked at Mia, who looked away and didn''t answer him.


    After a while, Alex eventually calmed down and the group of them then went back into the dungeon to do a few more rounds.


    "Wait till I get my hands on that pervert again! Fucking loser! Hmph!" Several curse words flew from the fiery hot woman''s lips as she continued to ughter the ravens in the dungeon.


    She was so furious that her efficiency was off the charts and the two new recruits couldn''t help but feel as if they had just joined a top-notch team.


    Meanwhile, the person responsible for all of this¡­


    Liam casually sped through the forest as he was familiar with this entire territory like the back of his palm.


    Now that he had finished dealing with Niria and had obtained quite a bit of wealth, weapons, recipes, and skills, he wanted to consolidate everything and prepare the necessary items before heading to the next ce.


    He also needed to level up some of his skills and make sure that this overall build is bnced. Since he was ying a no ss, he was always at the risk of messing up this delicate equilibrium.


    As for the things that he had talked about with Mia, he didn''t really ce much importance on them. He had openly told her about the fastest way to be stronger.


    And if she agreed, it would indeed make things a lot easier, but Liam knew plenty of other alternatives. He didn''t care either way.


    Regardless of whether it was the easy route or the hard route, he knew he was going to seed in the end.

 Chapter 34 - Crouching Tigers And Hidden Dragons Part1

    <h4>Chapter 34 - Crouching Tigers And Hidden Dragons Part1</h4>


    After crossing the forest in between, Liam once again returned back to the town near the novice vige, Ba town. He casually strolled in and headed straight to the auction house.


    However, he didn''t go in just yet and sat down on an empty bench outside the auction house in a rtively quiet alleyway.


    "Time to take a look at all the skills." He hummed and summoned out his status screen.


    [Ding. Skill list]


    ______________


    [Throat Punch]: Each hit will cause 120% damage; Cool down: None


    [sh]: Each sh of the sword deals 120% damage; A critical hit attack deals 150% damage; Cool down: None


    [Spirit sh]: [Skill locked] Each sh of the sword deals 1000% damage; A critical hit attack deals 1500% damage; Cool down: None


    [Sword Dance]: Each sh of the sword deals 200% damage; A critical hit attack deal 250% damage; Cool down: 3 minutes


    [Demonic summon]: Consumes 200 mana and summons a lesser demon; Spell active for 20 seconds; Level 1


    [Awaken Undead]: Consumes 300 mana and awakens the slumbering dead, giving life to an amalgamation of flesh and bones; Spell active until the undead being perishes; Level 1


    ______________


    [Trade skills]


    [Alchemy]: Beginner Level


    ______________


    [Currency]


    [Gold - 5005]


    [Silver - 5011]


    [Copper - 5034]


    ______________


    "Not bad." Liam chuckled and he then opened his inventory to take out the rest of his skill books.


    [Holy heal], [Tame], [Ice shard], [Lightning bolt], [Fire ball], [Pickpocket], [Unlock], [Stealth]


    "Heh." Liam grinned. "That Niria really saved me a lot of trouble!"


    The game had only barely begun and he already had a plethora of skill books in his possession. If anyone else knew this they would probably cry into their pillows, but to Liam, this wasn''t anything big.


    He might have a huge collection of skill books right now but most of them are only basic skills.


    Their true power and abilities would only be revealed after a lot of effort and Liam was more focused on that part as his life and death depended on it. Those would lead him to true power and strength.


    He took a deep breath and started learning all the skills one by one.


    His body alternatingly shed with a bright light and then faded, this process repeating several times until he was done learning all the skills. Well, all except one.


    Liam wasn''t exactly able to learn [Holy Heal].


    This skill was absolutely useless for him as he had affinities to the demonic and the undead energy and thereforecked any sort of affinity to the divine energy.


    But that didn''t mean that there wasn''t any healing spell that Liam could learn.


    There were a few nature healing spells which he could learn, but he currently did not possess those skill books and hence he didn''t dwell on it too much.


    "Hmmm. Alright, time to get back to it." Liam cracked his neck left and right and then strolled into the auction house.


    "Please ce your items here, sir." A sweet voice rang out and a translucent screen simr to the status screen popped out in front of him as he entered the building.


    Liam quickly tossed in the skill book and then scrolled down the avable items.


    He had plenty of gold and silver with him, so he wasn''t nning on selling anything this time, rather he was nning on making certain bulk purchases.


    [Ding. Congrattions! Dire wolf pelts x 50 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Wind wolf pelts x 50 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Dire wolf pelts x 150 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Wind wolf pelts x 70 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Dire wolf pelts x 500 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Wind wolf pelts x 500 have been purchased!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. Congrattions! Stone flower stalks x 20 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Mellora stalks X 65 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Rig weed stalks x 40 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Spiky nine flower stalks X 15 have been purchased!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    While Liam hurriedly began purchasing every single herb he could find and also all kinds of wolf pelts, a hugemotion started in front of the auction house building.


    "Hey someone is buying everything even if it is at a ridiculous price!"


    "Woah! You are correct. I put mine at silver a piece and still got sold. Holy hell!"


    "Let''s sell off everything now. Some money bags has obviously decided to empty out the auction house."


    "Yes! Yes!"


    Some yers started rapidly putting everything in their inventory slots into the auction house. However, a veteran yer watched their actions and scoffed.


    "You guys are idiots.. If someone is buying something in bulk, it means that he is nning to sell them back at an even higher price and make a killing."

 Chapter 35 - Crouching Tigers And Hidden Dragons Part2

    <h4>Chapter 35 - Crouching Tigers And Hidden Dragons Part2</h4>


    "You guys are idiots. If someone is buying something in bulk, it means that he is nning to sell them back at an even higher price and make a killing."


    "The market will fluctuate and the price will increase further. There is no need to sell now when you can sellter and make even more gold."


    Hearing the veteran''s astute remarks, some yers immediately stopped selling their wares, but not everyone trusted his judgment.


    "Heh! That guy is just jealous and spouting nonsense. Maybe we will get more moneyter on but having a lot more copper and silver right now is more valuable." Someone else shouted and they continued unloading everything without caring too much.


    After all, these were still beginner area items and their values would probably never really increase that much.


    The veteran could only watch these noobs silently and move on. He didn''t n on wasting his time advising a bunch of sheep.


    As he walked past the herd, he saw one particr young man moving his hand quicker than the others and shook his head helplessly. Everyone these days is an idiot, he thought.


    The speed at which this guy was operating the system panel was extremely impressive and yet, he was also foolishly behaving just like the rest of them.


    Not to mention his looks that seemed to be a notch above everyone else who had gathered.


    Everyone by now knew that looks couldn''t be altered in the game and so Berat couldn''t help but feel a bit jealous and conscious.


    The person in front of him was lean and muscr and had the body of a personal trainer. His looks were also superb and he could really be one of the top magazine cover models.


    "Ah! That must be it." Berat banged his fist onto his palm. "He must be a rich actor or someone secretly blowing off some steam ying video games."


    "Have I seen him in a movie or something?"


    "Well, whatever. Doesn''t concern me." Berat shook his head and walked over to the town vendors who were handing out various quests.


    He had just now finished a bunch of them and was heading over to receive the next quests in the chain.


    "cksmith, merchant, town''s cook¡­ hmmm¡­ let''s see. Next should be the old hag from tailoring." A frown appeared on Berat''s face since he did not like the granny at all.


    She kept finding faults at everything and nagging every yer endlessly. Because of this not many people even epted quests from her in the first ce. It was just not worth the bleeding from the ears.


    Berat, however, was apletionist. So he picked every single quest that he could. He mumbled something under his breath and walked over to the old woman''s shop begrudgingly.


    "Grandma Bertha, I have brought your pelts." He knocked on the shop''s door and an elderly woman whose face was full of wrinkles immediately showed up.


    "Ah. Thanks, young man. You have helped me greatly."


    She took all the pelts from him and without the quest ending there, she sat down patiently and went through all the animal hides one by one checking out andining about even the smallest of holes.


    "Ughh." Berat started messing with his status panel in the meantime. He could already tell that this was going to take at least an hour and he was prepared to wait.


    As he absentmindedly leaned on the small shop''s door, suddenly another person walked in and Berat looked up to see which other yer had decided to bear with the nagging of the old man.


    And as soon as he did, a familiar figure came into his view and he was immediately surprised!


    "Ah! This person!" However, that expression quickly changed and a sneer appeared on his face.


    "Heh. I am impressed. This guy actually saved some wolf pelts and came here to turn in." He nodded slightly and went back to looking at his status panel.


    But the next second somethingpletely unexpected happened.


    The old woman who had been nagging him all this time suddenly dropped everything and attended to the person who walked in just now. His own quest wasn''t evenpleted yet.


    Moreover, the treatment the other party received was also very different.


    "Young hero! What brings you to my humble shop?"


    What the heck? Berat gawked wondering why he was being treated like royalty, while he was treated like an unscrupulous theif and it didn''t stop there.


    "I have brought some pelts for you, Grandma Bertha." He calmly muttered.


    "Oh! Thank you so much, young hero. This old woman is very grateful." She even bowed politely.


    He handed her a set of wolf pelts and like the other times, she did not bother to count or take a look and simply epted the bundle and threw it into the back of the shop.


    "Do you perhaps have more pelts for me, young hero?"


    He once again handed her a huge bundle of pelts and she of course again epted it without as much as once looking at the contents.


    To Berat''s surprise, this continued going on for a while and he could see the man''s body shing in pale white light which could only mean he actually leveled up by just turning in a bunch of pelts.


    "What the heck is happening?"


    A few more seconds passed and then he finally realized something that he hadpletely overlooked.


    This person probably bought everything that was being sold and not the other way around!

 Chapter 36 - Crouching Tigers And Hidden Dragons Part3

    <h4>Chapter 36 - Crouching Tigers And Hidden Dragons Part3</h4>


    Berat peeled his eyes open and observed the shady interaction that was continuing to unfold in front of him for several minutes now.


    He knew that he had been gravely mistaken. This person wasn''t a fool at all. Rather he seemed to be aware of a specific loophole and Berat wanted to know how he could also make use of it.


    He waited and watched and waited and watched and eventually the person stopped.


    Berat was about to step forward and strike up a conversation when unexpectedly he heard the old woman say something weird.


    "Thank you so much, young hero. Because of you, I will not be requiring wolf pelts for another decade."


    "What the heck?" Berat ended up shouting out loud. He didn''t know for sure but it looked like this particr beginner''s quest would no longer be avable.


    However, no one paid attention to his panic mode. Liam had already started walking away and the old granny hummed contently before tossing out the pelts in front of her, the one that he had brought over.


    [Ding. Quest failed. This quest is no longer avable. Your reputation in the town drops by 10]


    "What the fuck? Are you serious right now!!!" Berat was furious. He looked at the old woman humming happily and felt very frustrated. "Grandma, you¡­ you don''t want any more wolf pelts?"


    "No, I don''t need. Are you here to buy something? If not, don''t crowd around the shop. Shoo!"


    Ah shit! Berat knew that he was getting this treatment because of the reputation effects, but he couldn''t help it and asked the old woman again.


    "Granny, howe you didn''t check the wares from that young man? I heard a lot of people were selling bad pelts these days!" He swallowed the bitterness in his mouth and spat out the words, pointing to Liam''s disappearing figure.


    "Mmm. You are right. Young men these days are unscrupulous and always try to take advantage of an old woman like me, but no need to doubt that young hero."


    "He had the strong stench of wolves all over him. I knew right away that he had a lot of pelts to give me. May heavens bless that kind hero."


    Berat''s lips twitched hearing the granny even praise Liam and he then silently walked away. He didn''t ask her any more questions as he could roughly guess how the whole thing happened.


    The trick to trigger this quest was to probablye to the old woman''s shop already having several stacks of wolf pelts. These could even be purchased and not necessarily looted as he had personally witnessed the other party purchasing pelts in bulk.


    This was probably why the old woman sensed the stench of wolf on him and treated him differently. Either way, it was now useless for him as the quest itself was no longer avable, at least for the day.


    Berat, however, did not know if this was just a fluke or if it had been something that was nned and thought out in advance.


    He wanted to think that it was the former but such coincidences were too few and he would be crazy to believe that.


    This person was probably highly brilliant enough to figure out this loophole or he was a beta tester or someone with more information about the game.


    Considering the way that VIPs, actors, and socialites are treated these days, he wouldn''t be totally surprised if the other party knew a bit of inside information that wouldn''t affect the game on the whole.


    "I should definitely talk to this person at least!" Berat became curious and hurried out of the granny''s shop to look for Liam and follow him for a while.


    He was unable to use this particr loophole but he wondered if there were other fast leveling easter eggs hidden in the town.


    This could be aplete waste of time but his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to do it anyway.


    "Damn, what level is that guy at now?"


    "He at least leveled up four times with just that repeatable quest from the granny and even if he was Level 3 or Level 4 before that, he should be around 10 now."


    "Damn, if there are any leaderboards for this game, I bet his name would go upon them!"


    Liam''s speed was rtively high and so Berat found it difficult to keep up with him. But luckily for him, Liam did not walk for long and soon stopped again at the Trade building in the town.


    "What is this guy up to now?"


    Berat hadn''t yet explored this particr one so he quickly followed Liam in and he heard him talk to the woman at the counter.


    "I would like to book a crafting room for four hours."


    Several silver coins appeared on the counter and then the woman stood up to personally show Liam to one of the rooms inside.


    "Dafuq? Crafting rooms? Don''t tell me! He already has recipes?" Berat nkly stared at the guy, but he couldn''t follow him any longer.


    "Do you need something, adventurer?" Another woman at the counter asked him and Berat shook his head wryly.


    He walked out of the trade building empty-handed, but suddenly a small idea popped into his brain. "I should go to the town alchemist and talk to him and see if there is another loophole quest there."


    "If nothing works out, I can alwayse back here after four hours."

 Chapter 37 - Not Yet

    <h4>Chapter 37 - Not Yet</h4>


    Liamfortably settled inside the small but adequate space and took out all the herbs from his inventory.


    He now had enough gold and had also crossed Level 10 so while he was taking care of the misceneous things, he also upgraded his inventory to hold 5000 items which was the maximum limit for the system inventory.


    To store more items or rarer higher grade items other storage artifacts need to be specially crafted or looted and bound. So he pinned that task for another time.


    "Hmmm¡­ Let me see¡­ Basic Healing potion, Basic Mana potion, Basic Stamina potion, Basic Strength potion, Basic Agility potion¡­ It should be enough to start with these five for now."


    Liam stacked all the herbs neatly based on which herb was required for each potion recipe.


    Since these were all basic potions, simple enough to be concocted by a beginner alchemist, only herbs were involved in the recipes.


    Unlike his cleansing potion, they didn''t require beast blood or bones or any other items.


    Liam then took out the cauldron from his inventory and started the heating by activating the rune on the side.


    He pressed his thumb and removed it, once again just using the automatic regtion.


    This was more than sufficient for the basic potions and only had the w of producing potions with 60 to 70% efficacy.


    This number could obviously be improved if he regted the entire concoction process himself withplete focus and thorough control of mana.


    However, he didn''t have any shortage of herbs or gold for now so he ced more importance on speed rather than concoction efficiency.


    After the cauldron started heating up, Liam added a pail of clean water into it, and in a single batch, he tossed in the entire first stack of herbs. He had already arranged the stalks in an appropriate ratio, so he didn''t have to do much else.


    He just squatted near the cauldron and swirled the liquid inside using a hugedle at regr intervals.


    Before long, a series of notifications rang loudly.


    [Ding: Basic Health potion created]


    [Ding: Basic Health potion recipe obtained]


    [Ding: Basic Health potion created]


    [Ding: Basic Health potion created]


    [Ding: Basic Health potion created]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ...


    [Ding: Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased to Trainee Level]


    "Alright. Time to move on to the next one." Liam cracked his neck and stood up, to quickly empty the cauldron.


    He scooped out the huge amount of basic health potion within the cauldron into several smaller-sized ss bottles and stored them in his inventory.


    He then activated another rune on the cauldron which incinerated all the leftover dregs and everything was cleaned out for another fresh concoction batch.


    Liam once again heated another pail of clean water and this time as well he threw in a huge stack of prearranged herbs, without bothering to adjust anything.


    As he watched the things boiling silently, he couldn''t help butzily smile and lean against the wall. The things that seemed so easy and effortless now had once been a nightmare to him.


    As a ve and a weakling, he himself was never allowed to practice alchemy.


    However, he was forced to stand near the cauldron and act as a punching bag every time his ''owner'' couldn''t sessfully concoct a potion.


    He had been whipped, he had been starved, he had even been held under disgusting piping hot liquid, just as a means for someone else to vent their anger.


    The memories of the past flitted past his mind and his smile was no longerzy or amused. It was rather deeply disturbing. It was like the grin of a grim reaper as he was about to take a soul.


    "Not yet," Liam muttered and closed his eyes to calm himself down.


    [Ding: Basic Mana potion created]


    [Ding: Basic Mana potion recipe obtained]


    [Ding: Basic Mana potion created]


    [Ding: Basic Mana potion created]


    [Ding: Basic Mana potion created]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ...


    "Mmm¡­ Smells perfect. Next batch then."


    Liam ended up using the next three hours of his four-hour time slot and concocted huge portions of all the five basic potions.


    In the end, he even managed to bring his alchemy skill level to intermediate.


    Pushing it any higher using just basic potions was near impossible and just a waste of time and resources so he stopped.


    "I still have the recipes looted from the dragon''s nest. Let me take a look."


    [Ding: Chrysanthemum Lethal Poison recipe obtained]


    [Ding: Nine-Color Paralyzing Poison recipe obtained]


    [Ding: Low-Grade Stealth potion recipe obtained]


    [Ding: Low-Grade Water Breathing potion obtained]


    "Four special and unique alchemy potions!"


    "Oh! This is a great haul."


    "Too bad I don''t have the ingredients for these yet. Otherwise, I could have leveled the alchemy skill up all the way to master level today."


    "Well, whatever. No need to rush things.." He had finished everything that he could do here so he packed up the misceneous items and left the crafting room.

 Chapter 38 - Dinner And Dessert

    <h4>Chapter 38 - Dinner And Dessert</h4>


    "Heh. This guy is still here?" Liam smirked when he walked out of the Trade building. Of course, he had noticed Berat following him around, but he didn''t see any need to act on it.


    "Well, let me see if he still waits around." His grin widened and the next second his figure disappeared.


    "What the heck? Where did he go?" Berat looked around here and there. "His speed and agility are already so high that I cannot even track him anymore?"


    "No, wait. Did he learn some sort of stealth skill?" Berat was disappointed that he had lost his mark. "Now how should I find him again?"


    He racked his brain for a while before realizing something important. He then facepalmed himself for overlooking the obvious!


    "Fuck. He must have just logged out. Why am I getting so flustered?" He shook his head as if he was physically trying to make his brain stop overthinking.


    He let out a long sigh and sat down near a tree at the entrance of the Trade building. "I already wasted 3 hours. So what if I waste a few more? Fuck it."


    He had tried talking to the few alchemists in the town a hundred different ways but he was not able to find even a small clue about a possible loophole.


    At this point, he was so invested that he was obsessed with finding the loophole! It was either this or he was ready to quit the game altogether! err¡­ at least for the rest of the day...


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam felt a jolt surge through his body and his consciousness returned to the real world. He then opened the game capsule casually and stepped out of it.


    "Bro! Bro! Wahhh! You are finally back." Meilin immediately stood up and ran over to him, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar figure curiously.


    "Yes. Did you get hungry? Sorry, I am a bitte."


    "No. I am alright." The girl shed a big smile like always, batting her longshes. Though her small face and phoenix-like eyes looked a bit tired and droopy.


    Liam couldn''t help but smile. The girl was far too mature for her age. She had never once demanded anything from him even though they went to sleep hungry a lot of the time.


    He patted her and then quickly ordered some food for them from a nearby restaurant.


    He wanted to take her out to somece nice but tomorrow was going to be busy so he decided to finish the day with a quick meal.


    The food soon arrived and Liam served the bunch of dishes on tes and bowls for the both of them.


    It was only the brother and sister pair in the house so it was pretty quiet as the duo wolfed down the food.


    "Brother, is this really ok? We are spending a lot ah..?"


    "Mei Mei. Do you want to move to a bigger apartment tomorrow?" Liam smiled and shoved another piece of tenderly cooked pork.


    "Bigger apartment? Brother, did we win a lottery?" The girl giggled cutely.


    "He He. I guess we can call it that." Liam chucked. He added some more food to her bowl and also to his own.


    He was ravenous after expending so much energy. And also, there was the other thing¡­


    "Umm¡­ brother¡­ this¡­ something looks different about you?" Meilin couldn''t put a finger on it but her scrawny brother looked somewhat different today.


    Though he was still a skeleton, he seemed as if he was stronger for some reason. The pimples on his face had also disappeared and he had muscles?


    "Eh? Stop staring at me and eat your food. We are eating better so it''s natural to look and feel better. Don''t think too much about it."


    "And no school tomorrow alright?"


    "I am earning now ying this game. So we can afford to move to a better ce. I don''t want us to stay here any longer."


    "You should eat well and take a proper rest tonight so you help brother when we move tomorrow."


    "Wahhh! Brother, is this really true? We can earn money by just ying games?"


    Liam smiled and ruffled her head, which made the young girl pout. "Of course. Why will I lie to you?"


    "We will have a better life from now on. You can have your own room. New dresses. Whatever you want. You will see tomorrow." He nodded.


    "Ahh¡­" The girl waspletely speechless. "Brother then I should also start ying? I can help you?"


    "Mmm. All in due time. Let brother get stronger first. Then I will take you to the new world."


    "Ahh¡­ but!"


    "No buts! You should rest first. After you wake up, wait for me and don''t head out to school. Remember alright?"


    "Ok, brother. I will listen to you. Umm¡­ Don''t work too hard."


    "Ha Ha. I won''t." Liam threw the dishes into the small sink and didn''t bother to wash them.


    He then made sure that the door wastched properly, drank a jug full of water, and popped back into the capsule again.


    After he left, Chang Meilin looked at the capsule from a dozen different angles, but she was too afraid to mess up something and didn''te anywhere near it.


    She sat back in her corner, silently pulled out her textbook, and started reading.

 Chapter 39 - Ambushed Part1

    <h4>Chapter 39 - Ambushed Part1</h4>


    After logging in, Liam walked out of the town and headed straight for the surrounding forests. There was only one more thing left for him to do in Ba town and that was to finish the instructor''s quest.


    This was also his first priority as he wanted to strengthen his body as much as he could before he moved on to the next step.


    In his previous life, after this specific piece of information, or rather this rule was discovered, countless people could onlyment in regret as it was toote for them to start from scratch.


    Even the person who finished this quest couldn''t fully reap its benefits.


    He got only 50% of the results and just that much helped the guy shoot all the way to the top and he became one of the major powerhouses.


    Liam, however, would be getting 100% of the reward if everything went ording to this n. Just the mere thought of it made him lick his lips in anticipation.


    He took a look at the quest one more time and sped through the forest.


    [Unique Quest: Kill the bear king Barabara and bring its head to the training ground instructor]


    Kata Kata Kata. His feet nimbly moved through the lush tall trees and the thick brambles.


    Bear King Barabara resided in the forest zone near the biggest city in the Gresh Kingdom, Yleka city. This is the city where soon everyone would be spending the majority of their time in.


    Only second to the royal city where the royal pce was located, Yleka was the biggest junction of trade andmerce, and several advanced magic institutes and trade skill institutes were located there.


    Major guilds would be fighting with each other tooth and nail just to get a foothold in this city and the one who managed to get would inevitably be head and shoulders above the rest.


    And more importantly, yers would finallye in contact with and interact with other races of the world like elves, orcs, goblins, and beastkin.


    In the beginning, everyone would be overjoyed to be able to talk to and bed elven beauties and furry beast women, especially because of the unbelievable immersive nature of the game.


    However, the viciousness of some of the creatures would onlye to light when the game was no longer just a game.


    Thinking about the bleak future, Liam let out a long sigh and continued running through the empty forests.


    In reality, his current level was far too low to be running around freely like this. These forests were chalked full of bandits and dangerous beasts but there was no way he could afford to wait.


    For now, it was probably just him in these forests, of course, also the pest who was still sticking to him and maybe a few more yers.


    However, Barabara was the field boss of Yleka city and it was inevitable that these deserted ces wouldn''t remain so peaceful for too long.


    All the paths to and from the city would soon be brimming with yers. The bandits and the beasts who might be threatening now would simply end up being easy experience points.


    Also, since it was located near such a highly-popted area, it would be near impossible for any one person to monopolize the field boss.


    And for this particr quest, Liam definitely needed the bear king all to himself.


    So he didn''t dare spend even another minute doing something else and quickly hurried over to the dazzling city''s outskirts.


    Several feet behind him, another figure as well dashed forward, but this person''s plight waspletely different from Liam and he was sweating from top to bottom.


    His stamina was almost fully drained that his body was shaking and shivering.


    "Damn it. Huff. Huff. Damn it. How the hell is this guy running so fast? Shouldn''t he be tired by now?" Berat buckled over and fell down from tiredness while trying to keep up with the monster in front of him as best as he could.


    He had already sunk several hours into this stupid idea of his, so he didn''t hesitate and munched on a fruit, quickly scrambling back to his feet.


    "Please wait for me¡­" He muttered under his breath and continued running with a limp. "Why is this fucking game so damn realistic¡­"


    Just as he gasped for breath and jogged ahead with everything he could muster, he noticed something weird. The monster in front of him finally stopped moving!


    "Lucky!" Berat''s eyes curiously darted here and there to see where they were and what the person could possibly be up to now.


    However, he was instantly shocked. As his vision cleared and the blurriness reduced, he saw several men standing around.


    "What the heck? Who are these people? Some kind of thieves or bandits?" He took a step back, not wanting to unnecessarily lose his life.


    There were about 20 to 30 men dressed in ck clothes. Even if he helped that person, how could just the two of them survive against so many people?


    So it was obviously better to run away and meet the person back at the town''s graveyard. This would be the most logical thing to do and yet Berat found himself waiting for a miracle.


    He didn''t turn around and run and curiously observed the person in the midst of the bandits, who was standing straight and unyielding like a mountain.


    And then something even more unexpected happened¡­


    "Hand over everything in your possession. You should have never messed with our guild. Now it''s time for you to face the consequences bastard!"


    "Huh? Wait a second¡­ these¡­ are these yers and not bandit NPCs?" Berat waspletely dumbfounded.


    The game just started, so how on earth did this person manage to offend these many people?

 Chapter 40 - Ambushed Part2

    <h4>Chapter 40 - Ambushed Part2</h4>


    As opposed to the bewildered expression on Berat''s face, Liam only wore a calm expression on his face. This coupled with his good looks, he looked like a kind and angelic person.


    "Oh! It''s been a while. You guys sure recovered fast." He casually smiled.


    Jin Wei gnashed his teeth in anger and annoyance. They had already lost too much because of this guy and now he was even purposely mocking them about it.


    "Bitch you got awayst time because of that dragon, but now you have nowhere to run!"


    "You are fucking surrounded. I am going to kill you and then again kill you and then again kill you."


    "You are done with this game. Don''t even think about logging back in again"


    Liam''s sharp eyes flickered, ignoring the dog that was barking in front of him. Instead, he observed the group of yers standing around him.


    Clearly, they all belonged to the same group and probably would join the same guild when the guild tokens start showing up.


    And having enmity with a few people was different from being hunted by an entire guild.


    They will most likely have even more members in the future and it was inevitable that small insects and pests would keep bugging him from time to time.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam scratched his clean shaven chin. "This is indeed very troublesome."


    The first time he ignored them and didn''t punish them and like clockwork, they came back for him again.


    He wasn''t even surprised by this. Some people needed special attention and they would only keeping back until they got what they needed.


    It looked like this time he couldn''t just leave things be¡­ or rather they didn''t give him a choice.


    Others might have been intimidated and crumbled under this sort of pressure, but they had chosen the wrong person this time around.


    A snake with its tail injured needed to be fully killed and he knew exactly how to y this particr snake.


    Liam cocked his head to the side and looked at the yer standing on his right.


    Unlike the guy who was arrogantly running his mouth, this person was rather quiet and observant.


    Just from a single nce, Liam knew that this person was the leader. So he directly addressed him.


    "Are you sure you want to fight me? You and I are not enemies. We can part ways right here and everything is forgotten."


    Huh? Liam''s words surprised the leader and the calm expression on the man''s face visibly faltered.


    He had no idea how the person was able to pinpoint and figure out his identity. It looked like he was not as simple as he looked.


    His words also made him somewhat nervous.


    The game had after all just started. It was probably better for them to keep grinding and establishing a base first instead of picking on random yers for no reason.


    Moreover, in this case, he knew very well that everything which happened was Jin Wei''s fault. He had started this whole thing.


    So perhaps... He began to hesitate slightly.


    However, before he could respond to anything, Jin Wei''s sharp voice rang loudly. "Zemin! Don''t even think about it!"


    The group leader''s eyes shifted from Liam to Jin Wei and he remained silent for a moment. Just from the look on the impatient guy''s face, he knew that he had no choice.


    Jin Wei had already threatened to leave so many times in the past. He had a decent following in the group and this time he looked far more serious than before.


    If he didn''tply with his request, he could tell that he would really leave.


    The group leader Zemin sighed and shook his head helplessly. Though his instincts told him that he was making a wrong decision, he couldn''t help it.


    They were just fighting against a single guy after all. So it was also not too risky. In the worst case, the guy would probably suffer under them for a couple of days, and then there would be a new target.


    So in the end, he didn''t think too much about it and waved his hand. "What are we wasting time for? Let''s get this over with." Even as he said these words, an rm was constantly ringing at the back of his head.


    But it was already toote. Zemin clutched the staff in his hand and started casting a spell. He was a fire mage.


    The other yers standing around also followed his lead and started shouting aggressively and sending in all sorts of attacks.


    Jin Wei was leading the whole fight as he dashed forward even before Zemin could finish his sentence.


    In a matter of seconds, the calm forest without any warning suddenly turned into a raging battleground.


    Different attacks were flying around and all sorts of weapons shed brilliantly under the sunlight flickering in through the canopy of dense leaves and branches.


    Berat chewed his nails nervously. "That''s it. This guy is dead.." He silently lit a candle for Liam and prepared to watch the inevitable massacre.

 Chapter 41 - Kill Me Please! Can I Commit Suicide? Part1

    <h4>Chapter 41 - Kill Me Please! Can I Commit Suicide? Part1</h4>


    Liam smirked. A dozen closebat yers were rushing towards him from all directions holding all different types of weapons.


    "Well¡­ There is no going back now." He took a deep breath and side-stepped, nimbly bending his body at an angle that dodged five attacks at the same time.


    A couple of fireballs hit his body but they only graced his skin as he moved again and avoided the brunt of the attack.


    "What?"


    "Where is he?"


    Liam''s figure was aplete blur and no one could even see him move, let alone figure out his movement patterns.


    To make matters worse, because of the realistic nature of the game, the various attacks did not differentiate between friend and foe.


    The ice shards and fireballs which did notnd on Liamnded on the other group members standing nearby and hit them instead.


    Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.


    Three men suffered instant lethal hits and fell back, their bodies dead and lifeless. A bright glow enveloped them before theypletely turned into dust and dispersed into the wind.


    "What the fuck?"


    "Damn it. Aim properly, idiots! IDIOTS!" Jin Wei screamed in fury. Nothing was going his way and this damned game also wasn''t making things easy.


    "Heh. You should have really taken some time to understand the game first." Liam chuckled, only his voice ringing loudly in the sudden silence.


    It hadn''t been that long since the game started, so they hadn''t yet figured out this crucial detail and the sudden development took everyone by surprise.


    Moreover, the group wasn''t coordinated enough to recover from this instantly and their movements visibly slowed down.


    "Don''t get too cocky motherfucker. This fight is not over. You are celebrating too soon. You are not getting out of here alive today."


    "Only three of us died. There are still more than enough of us to deal with a loser like you. Ptui!" Jin Wei spat out.


    He had only barely finished talking when a figure appeared in front of him.


    "Mmm¡­ celebrating? On the contrary, I am not happy at all. I would have actually preferred that those three didn''t die so easily." Liam muttered.


    Huh? What the hell is he bbering about? Wondering about the meaning behind his words, Jin Wei snarled and jabbed at the hateful person.


    This time, surprisingly Liam did not move back and evade his attack. Instead, his body spun and his fist thrust forward.


    Bam!


    Jin Wei froze, his entire body trembling. He couldn''t move even if he wanted to. All of a sudden, he felt as if the strength in his body hadpletely disappeared.


    He looked down with a dumbfounded expression on his face as a pang of torturous pain spread from his lower abdomen.


    Liam''s hand was still holding him steadfastly. His hand held his intestines, twisting his insides within the grasp of his palm.


    Ahhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhhh!


    He screamed with unbearable pain. At this moment, he had no idea what was even going on. There was only one single thought in his head and that was¡­


    ''Why the fuck am I not dead yet?''


    His eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets as he continued screaming in pain. He desperately looked at his health bar but it was dropping rather slowly.


    Ahhh! Jin Wei cursed his bad luck. He even began wishing that his own teammates would kill him off with random attacks, but the damned jerks were targeting only the viin in front of him.


    ''Just how much health does he have?''


    Just as the thought entered his mind, Liam''s other hand moved and a shiny small ss bottle appeared in his hand.


    Glug Glug Glug


    To Jin Wei''s dismay, the person even casually lifted this ss bottle and gulped it all down, the empty bottle promptly tossed back into the inventory.


    ''That was a health potion? Wait, did he just save an empty ss bottle in the midst of a life and death battle?'' He didn''t know which to be more shocked about.


    He didn''t even know if he had gonepletely crazy from the pain that he was thinking about such useless things.


    In reality, though the moment felt like an eternity to Jin Wei, everything happened in a fraction of a second.


    This coupled with the effects of the health potion, Liam was easily able to maintain his condition, and taking a couple of attacks wasn''t an issue for him.


    As he calmly stood, Jin Wei''s face further paled and the next second, he heard a distinct crunch sounding from his body, and the pain he was suffering through increased one hundredfold.


    Arrghhh! Ahhh! Ahh!


    He screamed again and everyone else surrounding them including Berat subconsciously shuddered.


    Though they were not sure what was going on, they could all see that something was wrong here. Zemin immediately decided to intervene and aimed his next attack at Jin Wei instead.


    His reddened eyes noticed this and a faint ray of hope flickered in the midst of this misery. This was finally going to be over soon¡­


    ''I need to first find the damn pain settings for this game¡­''


    Jin Wei closed his eyes, gritting his teeth in pain, but before the fireball could hit him, another notification popped up in front of him.


    [Ding. Your mana meridians have been permanently damaged]


    [Ding. Your mana is now 0]


    ''What¡­?'' Jin Wei''s gaze, filled with utter dread and fear, shifted to look at Liam onest time before he as well dropped dead onto the ground.

 Chapter 42 - Kill Me Please! Can I Commit Suicide? Part2

    <h4>Chapter 42 - Kill Me Please! Can I Commit Suicide? Part2</h4>


    "Eh? What just happened?"


    "Why was leader Wei shouting so much?"


    No one was able to grasp the meaning behind what they saw. All they could understand was the fact that Liam had replenished his health with a potion.


    Even the leader of the group Zemin was in the same boat. "Regroup. Regroup. Attack with coordination. Don''t blindly rush. Pay attention to where you are sticking your weapon."


    Jin Wei''s death was like a wake-up call and the battle once again started with Zemin giving more active instructions.


    "He can''tst long on just one health potion. Pay attention and bring down his health."


    "Cast fewer spells and focus on uracy," Zemin shouted loudly. In his hand, a huge ball of fire materialized and he aimed it at the enemy.


    But Liam wasn''t nning to stand around like a target dummy for others to practice their skills on him. His figure once again blurred and this time he appeared in front of another person.


    And just like before, his fists flew out, one of them clutching the guy''s throat and the other reaching for his lower abdomen where he twisted the flesh and the man''s insides.


    Gahhh! Ahhh! Ahhhhhh!


    Gu Mu started shouting loudly in agony. His eyes bulged out in pain and his teeth bit down on his tongue unable to withstand the pain.


    Meanwhile, a volley of attacksnded on Liam''s body. Bang. Bang. Bang.


    With both his fists still firmly in ce, he leaned at various angles, dodging the attacks whilst his feet were rooted at the same spot.


    The movements he made were very minuscule and yet he efficiently dodged most of the attacks, that too with the target in his hands tightly held in ce.


    Gu Mu shrieked. ''Ahhhhh! What is happening? Someone kill him pleasssse! Someone kill me please!"


    He was being waved around in the air like a washcloth rag and the intense paining out of his abdomen hadn''t reduced in the slightest.


    He struggled and twitched, his entire body thrashing around violently, but Liam''s grip was unyielding.


    And before long, a loud crisp sound echoed.


    [Ding. Your mana meridians have been permanently damaged]


    [Ding. Your mana is now 0]


    Gu Mu stared at the notification which popped up in front of him, but he was in too much pain to make sense of anything. All he could do was scream and just scream.


    And the very next second, something hit his body and he finally fell down limp with his health drained out.


    His body as well became dust and was blown away by the wind.


    Everyone gawked at this scene with their mouths wide open, but Liam calmly took out another health potion and chugged it down, meticulously saving the empty bottle in the same manner.


    What the¡­?


    Jin Wei and Gu Mu are dead just like that?


    Just what the hell was going on?


    As they continued staring at this madness dumbfoundedly, Liam''s figure once again blurred.


    He now appeared in front of Zemin, the leader. "Too bad you didn''t listen to my warning. Heh." His words were like someone twisting the knife in a stab wound.


    Zemin shuddered. He gulped thinking about how the other two had screamed in pain. He couldn''t help but fear that the same fate awaited him as well.


    As he saw Liam''s thin red lips curl up into a vicious grin, and his hands reaching out, a loud rm rang in the back of his mind and he knew that something was about to happen.


    The next second, everything happened too fast and without being fully aware of what he was doing, he had already jammed his own throat with the sharp edge of the staff in his hands.


    Thud. His body dropped dead on the ground, bing dust, leaving Liam''s hand hanging mid-air.


    "Huh? Not bad. This one has some brains!" Liam chuckled. Shrugging his shoulders casually, he then moved on to the next target, a random person on his right.


    The yers of the group who were already out of their wits watched this scene in a haze. This was thest and final blow to their morale.


    Even their own group leadermitted suicide! What were they supposed to do?


    Earlier today everyone had assembled in high spirits as it was always very entertaining to gang up on a single dog and thrash him mercilessly but the dog turned out to be a demon and was now iming their lives one by one.


    But the worst part was the sight of their strongest member, their group leader directlymitting suicide before the fight even began. This made everyone frantic.


    Whateverposure they had left was long gone and once again they started attacking the demon in front of them in a frenzy. Because of this, the closebat yers started dropping down like flies one by one.


    In the midst of this chaos, Liam as well wreaked his own havoc by not stopping what he intended to do. He moved on to one target after another, crippling as many yers as he could.


    He managed to cripple two more guys before the private group chat of the yers blew up with notifications.


    "COMMIT SUICIDE!"


    "RUN!"


    "KILL EACH OTHER!"


    "Do whatever is necessary, GET OUT OF THERE!"


    Gu Mu and Jin Wei were still psychologically affected after experiencing the torturous pain, but Zemin had luckily escaped from that plight.


    So he was conscious enough to talk to the other two and what he feared came true!


    The bastard was using some sort of special technique to give them a weird status. Their mana dropped down to zero and their meridians had been damaged.


    What this actually meant was still unclear to him, but the words ''permanent damage'' filled him with fear and dread.


    If this status was indeed permanent, then their guild would essentially be crippled before even it was formed. That too, the bastard also targeted the key members one after the other.


    Nothing the person did was casual even though he appeared to be extremely nonchnt about the whole fight.


    At this rate, their group would bepletely decimated!

 Chapter 43 - Bear King Part1

    <h4>Chapter 43 - Bear King Part1</h4>


    Berat blinked, staring at the unbelievable scene in front of him. "What the hell?" He had indeed expected a massacre, but this seemed to be happening in the wrong order.


    Instead of many yers hunting and chasing one person, the single person was hunting and torturing the big group. That too the other party hadpletely given up and everyone scattered like marbles.


    Berat gulped nervously. Just hearing the screams of the men as a bystander was just too realistic for him.


    As he continued watching the chaos unfolding in awe, suddenly a couple of men ran in his direction towards him.


    Hmm¡­ Berat''s gaze shifted and he spontaneously made a decision.


    "Earth Bind"


    "Earth Bind"


    Immediately the ground where the two men ced their feet liquefied and their legs got caught in the marshy muddy mess. Before they could get out of this, the soggy mud quickly solidified back again, binding them both in ce.


    "Fuck! Who the hell are you bitch?"


    "Ah. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Stop the spell man. What did we do to you? Why are you even here?"


    Berat, however, ignored their pleas and waved his hand at Liam. "Boss, I have two here."


    At this point, he knew that there was no way his presence hadn''t already been noticed by Liam. So without hesitation, he simply called him over.


    "Hey! No. No. No! He is going to cripple us!"


    "Bastard! Who are you?" The two men screamed at the top of their lungs.


    Liam hadn''t expected this so he was amused. "Oh. Not bad." His voice sounded in the distance and the next moment he was standing near Berat.


    Both his fists shot forward simultaneously as he twisted the insides of both the men and within seconds, they as well ended up dead with a special status added to them.


    Watching this up close was definitely scarier than watching it from a distance. Berat couldn''t help but take a step back. What was this guy doing to them?


    He had heard the word ''cripple'' in the midst of their screams. So he wondered what was happening.


    However, he didn''t have the guts to ask Liam openly as it would only take him another second to do to him what he had done to the other men.


    "I think the others ran away." He awkwardly mumbled instead.


    Mhm. Liam hummed, dusting his hands, and taking a look around.


    Everyone had indeed run away but he managed to catch and wrangle at least a dozen which was more than enough to teach them the lesson that he wanted to.


    "Well. That''s that then. At least for a while, they shouldn''t be bothering me."


    He casually picked up all the pieces of equipment that were dropped here and there and then started walking away without sparing another nce at anything or anyone.


    Ah! Berat saw that and quickly ran to catch up to him. "Boss, do you need any help? I am a bit free right now. Ahem. And I am already here so¡­"


    Liam chuckled and continued walking. "You are free? Alright then. Follow me."


    His words were so shocking that Berat almost couldn''t believe them. He agreed so easily?


    At first, he was pleasantly surprised, but then he began to feel nervous. Was this guy nning something particrly devious for me?


    He remembered those miserable screams and shuddered subconsciously.


    The two of them walked in silence for a while covering a lot of distance. The more time passed, the more nervous Berat became. Now he simply wished that he had rather rejected him outright.


    "By the way, what ss do you y?"


    Liam''s voice broke his thoughts and he quickly blurted out. "Mage, boss."


    "Not bad." Liam nodded and then he suddenly paused in the middle of the forest. "Alright. Keep spamming your skills and try not to get in the way."


    "Huh? What?" Berat looked around in confusion. Being constantly worried about the person next to him, he hadn''t exactly paid much attention to the surroundings.


    He craned his neck from right to left in rm to see where they were and what they were going to fight. Was this guy testing me?


    But he didn''t have to wonder about this for long, as the very next instant, a loud roar sounded from behind them.


    Thud! A gigantic beast jumped out and galloped towards them from within a dense cluster of trees. It was a huge grizzly ck bear with blood-red eyes.


    "Fuck! It''s here!" Berat shouted.


    The bear was gigantic and its shadow fell like a dark nket around them. More surprisingly, the animal had a golden silver glow around it, indicating that it was at least an elite monster.


    Berat hadn''t even crossed Level 10, so when he tried to observe the health and status of this beast, it only came up as question marks.


    All yers were only able to observe the strength and details of a beast in their level ss and judging from everything, this bear''s level ss was at least one above his.


    The beast''s presence was so overwhelming that Berat could feel a significant mental pressure weighing him down. He was not able to react easily at all.


    However, unlike him, the person next to him had already moved.


    There was even a hint of a smile on Liam''s face. He was looking at the big ck bear lovingly?


    Ah¡­ Berat became dumbfounded. Just what level is he at?


    The two of them were not in a single party, so he couldn''t get any detail at all. He had been waiting for the guy to add him to his party but clearly, no such thing was going to happen.


    Berat wanted to cry quietly.


    He still suspected that Liam had strong connections which gave him extra information about the game but his skills and techniques were even more terrifying.


    And somehow, he had ended up working as an unpaid intern for this monstrous guy.

 Chapter 44 - Bear King Part2

    <h4>Chapter 44 - Bear King Part2</h4>


    "Hello, big boy." Liam grinned, eying the grizzly howling in rage.


    [Bear King Barabara] (Elite Boss)


    Level 15


    Health: 50000


    The bear''s health was almost twenty five times more than his own and Liam knew that its attacks would be of a simr scale as well. After all, this was a field boss which was not meant to be solo''ed by a single yer.


    However, he was not scared or intimidated in the least standing face to face with this gigantic mountain of a beast.


    In fact, he felt as if he was seeing a long-time childhood friend. It was a nostalgic bittersweet memory. Back then, he never got the chance to fight against this bear but now it was all his to y around with as much as he wanted.


    Liam''s figure blurred and a long sword appeared in his hand, shimmering with its cold metallic sheen. He did not waste any further time and dashed towards the rampaging bear meeting it halfway.


    SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.


    He nimbly moved, circling around the bear and the sword in his hand danced. The weapon trembled with each strike as it only barely managed to scratch the beast.


    -10


    -15


    -10


    Liam chuckled wryly looking at the pathetic damage numbers, but how could hein?


    This was a field boss!


    Its defense was just that high that it prevented him from disying the full potential of his basic damage, which was at least 400 to 500 if he went all out. Instead, all that registered was only a sorry 10 to 15 damage.


    The sword he held also wasn''t strong enough and it shivered as it struck the thick hide of the bear king, chopping off only small portions of its health.


    This was something Liam had already expected, so he was not too shocked by this oue. Moreover, he came fully prepared.


    As his elegant figure shed around the monster, taking advantage of his agility which the strong and powerful bearcked, Berat finally snapped out of his trance and moved.


    It took him a few seconds but the raging growls of the bear woke him up. He quickly moved back. He was a mage and there was no reason for him to stand so close to the ck bear.


    After that, he hesitated for a couple more seconds, waiting to see if Liam was going to give him any specific instructions but both the man and the beast had entirely ignored him.


    "Ah¡­ so¡­ this is what he meant by don''t get in my way¡­"


    Berat wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I will just do whatever I can."


    He wasn''t disheartened and decided to take this positively as an opportunity. Not that he was nning to kill steal or anything.


    At this point, he was merely curious to see how this single person was going to solo this boss.


    Though he couldn''t see the damage numbers floating atop the beast like Liam did, he could still see what damage his own attacks did.


    So he could somewhatprehend the effectiveness of Liam''s sword attacks. Moreover, the other party hadn''t even drawn the beast''s blood yet.


    So he was very eager to watch the show and see what was going to happen. What special and secret technique was he going to use?


    He peeled his eyes and patiently waited and watched. A couple of seconds passed and then an entire minute passed. However, nothing happened at all.


    Liam was only calmly shing and chopping down the huge bear from various angles, removing small chunks of its health each time. He was not really doing anything else.


    This in itself was very impressive, and he continued to evade all of the beast''s attacks with extreme precision. Even a single attack would probably put him out ofmission.


    So the pressure was that much more to urately move every single time. The beast as well was extremely enraged because of this. It was literally being toyed around by an ant.


    Its reddened eyes red at the pest angrily and the beast and the man continued to tango. Berat as well did his part and continued sending out fireballs, and arcane bolts.


    These were the two skills he managed to acquire.


    While fireball was a normal elemental magical attract, the arcane bolt was aparatively rare skill. It involved shooting out concentrated bullets of mana and it was far more powerful than normal fireballs.


    Before he met this monster dancing with a sword in front of him, he had actually thought that this was impressive and he had gotten a lucky start!


    But now his whole perception waspletely broken and he saw things in a new light. He knew that he needed to work much harder if he wanted to be anywhere near the top.


    Berat narrowed his eyes and tried his best to coordinate with Liam targeting the spots on the bear that were already injured. He paid more attention to the battle and did his absolute best.


    At least this way, he thought that he could amicably part ways with this person and perhaps add him as a friend.


    He carefully regted his mana and moved closer and barraged the bear with his attacks. He really wanted to impress Liam.


    As the fight progressed, he grew morefortable with it and was able to pay more attention. This helped him increase his rhythm as well and his attack damage improved a lot.


    However, the next instant just as he was about to target another flesh injury, Berat couldn''t help but notice something weird. There were charred marks on the flesh injury.


    Hmm? His eyes widened and he stopped attacking, now paying more attention to the man rather than the beast.


    Almost immediately, Berat became even more shocked.


    He could instantly tell that something was different. Other yers might not necessarily recognize this just yet but he was a mage so he could see this.


    All this time he had thought that Liam was simply grinding down the bear, but now only he realized that he was gravely mistaken.. This guy was once again up to something else.

 Chapter 45 - Sometimes There Is No Shortcut

    <h4>Chapter 45 - Sometimes There Is No Shortcut</h4>


    "Damn it. This is taking longer than I thought."


    Liam moved, shing down at the bear one more time. His other hand swiftly took out a piece of fruit and popped it into his mouth to recover his stamina.


    Though his health was not taking a hit, his stamina was dripping like water from a rusty bucket. So he quickly chewed on the fruit while the rest of his body continued moving with ease.


    However, he still didn''t show any signs of stopping or speeding up his attacks.


    He took his time and only used a certain type of attack which was a straightforward sword sh, at least that''s what it looked like to others.


    He had other stronger attacks in his arsenal but weirdly he continued to use only this single attack, despite the amount of time it took.


    It almost looked like he was stalling for something or simply passing his time wastefully. In reality, Liam was not either of those things. In fact, he was training.


    If he did this same training somewhere else, the target wouldn''tst this long. It would have died in his hands within a second, and the training wouldn''t be as effective.


    But thanks to the bear''s strong defense and it being an elite field boss, it became a perfect target for him.


    Liam did not intend to let this opportunity slip by and trained to the best of his abilities and as for what he trained¡­ it was nothing fancy.


    He had no knowledge of any advanced sword techniques. If he had, he wouldn''t have died such a pathetic death in the first ce. Rather what he had and what he knew were the basics.


    And in his previous life, because of his very low which might as well have been non-existent mana affinity, he wasn''t able to practice this particr skill.


    However, in this life, he was one of the blessed few. Though he was not born with a constitution that could make others envy him, he was surely going to get here very soon.


    And that meant, his mana absorption, mana maniption, and mana usage would be top-notch at worst. So how could he still not train in this special technique?


    After all, this was the basis for one of the strongest abilities everyone chased after and the foundation of one of the most powerful sses, the battle mage!


    Though Liam did not intend on bing one, he nevertheless wanted to perfect this technique as swordy was already drilled into his bones. It would only be a waste if he didn''t try andbine it with the other thing that could bring out the full potential of the sword.


    And that was mana!


    Just like his spirit sword techniques that relied on his inherent spirit and soul strength, there were also arcane sword techniques. These relied on mana.


    To be more specific one had tobine the power of mana with the strength of the sword.


    And Liam was currently practicing this exact same thing!


    Since he had personally not used this move before, he was also a novice just like the others, so he was struggling a bit, unable to execute it immediately.


    At the same time, he already knew the basics and also had seen these kinds of moves being used several times, so his progress wasn''t too slow either.


    With every sh of his sword, he was improving tremendously and gaining a lot more experience in this technique.


    He even managed to almost achieve sess a few times, leaving behind charred marks on the gigantic ck-furred beast.


    However, before he could get any further, the enormous ck bear couldn''t hold out any longer and charged towards him with everything it had.


    Its red eyes further darkened in rage and it shouted letting out an earth-shattering roar. Its speed and agility, not to mention strength, all of a sudden increased by leaps and bounds.


    Liam instantly pulled back. Every boss monster deteriorated into this enraged state when their health was reduced to thest 5%.


    So he treated this part of the fight more carefully and focused on evading. He also used some of his other long-range skills [Lightning bolt], and [Fire ball].


    The bear king was more susceptible to these two elements andbined with Berat''s attacks, almost the entirety of its thick ck lustrous fur was burnt down and its body riddled with several injuries gave out.


    The rest of Barabara''s health was also quickly brought down and the huge grizzly fell back with a loud thud.


    Experience points and notifications chimed in one after the other, but Liam clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch. Tch. It won''t respawn for another ten hours. So no point in staying here."


    He had to continue his training with another new target. He kicked the bear''s body into position and then brought down his sword to cleanly sever its head in one swift move.


    "Alright. This quest is taken care of. Time to head to the city." Liam tossed the bear''s head into his inventory.. There were a couple of equipment pieces that had also dropped which he casually tossed in as well.

 Chapter 46 - World Famous

    <h4>Chapter 46 - World Famous</h4>


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Bear King Barabara. You have gained 20000 Experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first yer to kill the Elite Bear King Barabara and save the city from its terror. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    Liam tossed the two notifications aside with a smirk on his face. It has begun now!


    The very next second a loud ding chimed and bright letters shed in front of him and also the several other yers currently engrossed in the same world.


    [DING. World Announcement: yer Chang Liam has sessfully killed the Elite Bear King Barabara. This achievement is etched in the walls of fame and his glory will be sung for all eternity!]


    Berat gasped. He was currently seeing the same thing as everyone else.


    Being announced on the server within 24 hours of the game starting was something unimaginable for someone like him.


    And considering that this was the first World Announcement¡­ he just dumbly looked at the person and then back at the shing bright words.


    So his name was Liam?


    Every yer currently in the game would have received this message. They would all know his name too. This was a good thing, even an envious achievement, but at the same time¡­


    Fame always came with jealousy and hatred. Even this single announcement was enough to put him under a spotlight, which would inevitably be apanied by harassment and ganking.


    Moreover, observing him so far, this person was definitely a solo yer without any sort of backing. So Berat wondered how he was going to handle everything by himself.


    He searched his face for the slightest trace of fear or concern. However, the other party seemed to be rather preupied, only barely paying attention to the world announcement.


    His observation was indeed spot on as Liam already knew this was going to happen.


    While this video game''s or rather the tutorial mode''s initial purpose seemed to be to prepare everybody for the uing changes in the real world, it was far from the truth.


    While giving a helping hand to the inhabitants of the, this simultaneously festered chaos andmotion as well. This was why there was no option to hide one''s identity or appearance in the game.


    The more one stood out, the more the game would be disadvantageous to that person. No one yer would be allowed to rise to the top.


    This was going to happen sooner orter and Liam had no ns of dying anything or changing his ns because of this.


    Otherwise, he would only miss out on a lot of things and in the end, he wouldn''t be able to achieve anything that he wanted. So he might as well get this over with right here and now.


    Liam sighed and he was already gazing at the next couple of notifications. The night was still young and he knew that thest of the notifications was not over just yet.


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have reached Level 15]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first person to be recorded on the world leaderboard. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    And just as he finished clearing this notification, another announcement rang loudly.


    [DING. World Announcement: The world leaderboard is now avable. Only the deserving, the truly strong and powerful will be recorded on the world leaderboard]


    Liam did not even bother opening this so called world leaderboard option in the game screen and checking. He already knew what it would look like.


    There were 50 spots in total and currently only his name would be present, upying the first of the fifty other empty slots, thereby putting another spotlight on him.


    As if this wasn''t enough, killing any of the yers on the world leaderboard would fetch special rewards, bonus drops, and generous experience points.


    Liam flicked all the notifications close as he subconsciously hurried his footsteps. Things were going to get very heated up a lot faster now, but his main goals still remained the same.


    He lifted his head to calmly gaze at the huge city sprawled in front of him and walked towards it steadily with an unwavering gaze. Bring it on!


    Ahh... Umm¡­ Berat saw that he was once again being forgotten and ran behind the guy. "Boss, wait for me."


    "Why? Do you have more free time?" Liam chuckled.


    "Bro! You are famous now. Don''t you think it''s better to have someone by your side to watch your back?" Berat tried to strike the iron when it''s hot.


    "Heh. Yup. You are absolutely correct, but I already havepanions. You don''t have to worry about that."


    "Boss,e on. Aren''t you nning to form a guild in the future? Also dungeons and raids¡­ I am sure this game also has something like that! Don''t you want more yers?"


    "You can call me whenever you need help. I have a couple of friends. We can help you out."


    Berat hadn''t expected it, but hearing his words, Liam actually paused in his footsteps. "Ok. Let''s do this.. Add me as a friend and I will call you if I need anything."

 Chapter 47 - Grinding Time

    <h4>Chapter 47 - Grinding Time</h4>


    Berat grinned wildly and quickly sent him a request before the person decided to change his mind. Liam as well fished out his request among the several others that came his way since the world announcements and epted it.


    The two of them then parted ways as Berat did not even have the necessary entrance fee for the city which was a whopping 50 silver.


    Liam looked at his figure walking away and turned to head for the city.


    He was still undecided about a lot of things, like forming a guild or trying to expand his influence, but it was impossible for him to take care of everything.


    Even if he had all the knowledge, he still needed some underlings to do some of the menialbor.


    While trusting another person was always risky, he had some special items already earmarked for this purpose, so epting a few underlings might not be entirely out of the question.


    But all of that can wait. First things came first and he quickly tossed the 50 silvers to the city guard and casually walked in through the huge iron gates.


    Liam opened his quest menu and verified that the bear king quest was marked asplete.


    To get the rewards, he had to meet with the instructor again, but he didn''t n on wasting time by traveling back and forth just for this.


    The instructor along with several other big shots would visit the city in a couple of days when the ck market would be open. This was a biweekly event and a treasure trove of easter eggs.


    And Liam''s next target was exactly this!


    He nned to use this downtime to do some preparations so that when the time came he would easily be able to crack all the eggs.


    Liam hummed lightly as he looked around at the familiar tall buildings and the stunning architecture which was heavily based on a conservative European style.


    He looked rxed enough but his speed was much faster than the city crowd which was almost entirely NPCs at this point.


    He swung into narrow allies, climbed on the walls, and reached his destination in a couple of seconds taking the shortcuts he knew.


    And when he turned around the next corner, he was in front of the city''s auction house which was several times bigger than the small town''s singr building.


    Very rare and special items were auctioned inside these walls, but it was not time for that just yet. Liam was still only hoarding all the lower-tier and mid-tier materials.


    He walked over to stand closer to the building, leaning on one of the stone walls. Almost immediately a menu popped up listing all the currently avable items.


    His gaze flickered, quickly looking over the several herbs that were avable and also for any recipes. It didn''t matter what recipe, as long as it was something that he didn''t know, he quickly purchased it.


    There were also a lot of ores and gemstones, but Liam did not bother giving these a nce. After making another bulk purchase of herbs, he stretched out his hands. His job here was done.


    "Next stop is the supply shop." Liam hummed and visited a shop across the street.


    "Good day, Sir!" The merchant immediately brightened up as if he could smell all the gold Liam had on him.


    "Greetings. I need to purchase some pieces of mining equipment. Make sure to include pickaxes, hammers, shovels, and sturdy gunny bags. I need about 50 sets of this."


    The merchant''s smile widened as his guess had been correct. "Right away sir. Please let me know if you need anything else." He then scurried away to fulfill the big order.


    After a few minutes, he returned with all the items which Liam tossed swiftly into his inventory.


    "That would be 1 gold after the discount, sir." Liam nodded and quickly paid him the amount. He received a small discount because of his title ''Rolling in Debt'' but it was nothing significant.


    He purchased a few more stamina refills, including smaller fruits that he could pop into his mouth at convenience, and left the shop.


    Liam then walked over to the mining association a couple of blocks away to purchase mining rights which all yers were required to do. This also bestowed the basic mining skill.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have learned the mining tradeskill]


    Swiping the notification away, he then proceeded to directly walk out of the city.


    There was also a cksmithing association right next to the mining association that gave out more basic quests and skills for the cksmithing trade, but hepletely ignored it.


    He continued to walk out of the city and into the surrounding forests. As he was one of the few yers in the city, the guard recognized him. "Didn''t he just enter the city?"


    The two guards suspiciously looked at Liam who was already gone.. He would only be returning back to the city in time for the ck market.

 Chapter 48 - A Little Too Late

    <h4>Chapter 48 - A Little Too Late</h4>


    While Liam waspletely engrossed in his own world, the two world announcements which chimed in one after the other created an uproar throughout the game and all the yers within it currently.


    Somewhere near the royal city¡­


    Three figures dashed around in a huge pit of considerable depth. If one looked closely, these three figures were only moving around using the rocks and tree roots protruding from the walls of this pit.


    They were particrly very careful not to step near the center of the pit and for good reason.


    At the depth of the pitid several chopped-up green snake corpses, and at the dead center was an enormous green boa eyeing the humans with its sinister slit-like yellow eyes.


    HISSSSS!


    The boa moved at an incredible speed aiming for the red-haired girl, but before it could strike her, a huge metallic shield was rammed against its head.


    Haa! Alex grunted taking the full brunt of the attack. "Rey, what the heck? Why are you so slow?"


    "Ahh¡­ Sorry, sis!" Rey stuttered and quickly shot two arrows one after the other. However, his aim wasn''t all that great as he had hastily made the attacks.


    The boa managed to recover and struck again, this time first spewing a cloud of deadly poisonous gas.


    Alex jutted out her shield again. Her movements were visibly slowed down because of the paralyzing effect of the poison.


    "Damn it, Rey! The damn thing is almost dead. Why are you screwing up NOW?!"


    "Fuck." Rey was more scared of the woman than the realistic anaconda-sized serpent.


    He quickly prepared to shoot the next arrow, this time activating the booster effect for extra strength and precision. The arrow zoomed across, slicing through the air.


    Fortunately for Rey, his aim this time was urate. However, unfortunately for him, the boa moved at thest second, dodging the attack with its superb agility.


    The beast raised its head again to attack the paralyzed tank. "Ah fuck. I am so screwed today." Rey cursed under his breath.


    The beast they were up against was actually a field boss with an irritating regeneration ability.


    If they don''t finish it within the next couple of seconds, then the fight was basically going to be reset and they would have to fight with it all over again.


    And of course, he was going to be med for it. "Alex is going to kill me!" Rey shivered.


    He watched the giant boa as a green light enveloped its body, slowly covering all its injuries and bruises. However, just as the light was spread another sh of light appeared and the boa''s head was cleanly severed.


    "Divine Retribution." Mia''s voice rang out calmly.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Giant Poisonous Boa. You have gained 13000 Experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have reached Level 15]


    [Ding. Congrattions. Your fame spreads far and wide. You are currently at the 15th position on the world leaderboard.]


    Alex smiled contentedly at the fruits of their hard work and copsed on the ground tiredly. "Huff huff¡­ Thanks, Mia. You timed it really well."


    She paused and threw a threatening nce at Rey before adding. "I would have killed someone if I had to restart this stupid fight from the beginning."


    Rey took a step back and dug around the corpse for loot, pretending as if he hadn''t heard her, though his shaky hands showed that he was very nervous.


    But Alex did not let him be. She threw her shield at him and muttered in annoyance. "Why were you so distracted?"


    Ah¡­ Rey was speechless. "Did you both not see the world announcements?" He looked at both his scary party members.


    Alex and Mia shook their heads. "Unlike you, we actually turned the notifications off during the fight like a sane person would do." Alex scoffed.


    Rey chose to ignore that remark and shamelessly replied with a smile. "He He. You will be shocked. Check it fast."


    "My big brother unlocked the leaderboard and killed a field boss! He got side-wide announcements for both!"


    "Blehh¡­ Useless. That guy won''t even talk to you properly and yet you are calling him big brother. You are such an idiot." Alex scolded him while gazing at the two back to back announcements.


    Though there could potentially be other people with the same name, they had no doubt that this was the same person with whom they had partied.


    "If only we had killed this thing sooner, we could have gotten that announcement. Damn it. I can''t believe that asshole beat us to it by just a few minutes."


    Alex gnashed her teeth in anger, mentally imagining pummeling the guy with the hateful smile on his face.


    Mia, however, remained silent as if it had nothing to do with her. She bent down and took the skill book which had dropped from their field boss kill. "Rey, here. This skill book is yours."


    "Oh, nice! Tame skill finally! Sweet." He kissed the skill book and gave out a fist pump. "Let''s go. Let''s go. I need a cool pet now!"


    "So you decided to be a beast hunter?" Alex frowned.


    "Yes. Of course. Liam advised me to stick to the training hall ss rmendations and I am going to do it." He proudly dered.


    "Idiot." Alex kicked his shin, making the guy yelp in pain. She then ignored him and started discussing with Mia. "Shall we log out? We need to at least get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day."


    On hearing her words, Mia''s usual calm andposed expression slightly faltered and she nodded.. The two of them then logged out while Rey decided to stay back and explore a bit by himself.

 Chapter 49 - No Matter What It Took

    <h4>Chapter 49 - No Matter What It Took</h4>


    In one of the tall high-rise buildings on the streets of New York, two women walked out of a board room into the elevator. One had long curly blonde hair while the other was a redhead.


    "Mia, are you alright?" Alex gently patted her. It hurt to see her best friend in so much pain.


    Mia lightly nodded with a bitter smile. "They are trying to take advantage of me because of my age, aren''t they?"


    Alex sighed. "Fucking selfish assholes. If uncle and aunt were alive¡­"


    "But they are not alive anymore, Alex." Mia cut her short.


    Alex didn''t say anything after that as the two of them walked in silence for a long time. When they reached the gates of the tall building, Mia silently waved her hand for a cab.


    "Mia, juste home with me. I don''t want you to stay alone." Alex caught her hand and insisted.


    "No. I need some time and space to think. I will call you tomorrow." Seeing the worried look on her friend''s face, she added with a sad smile. "Don''t worry. I won''t do anything rash."


    Her words didn''tfort Alex even one bit, but she forced a smile and waved her hand as the cab took away. She in fact did not n to leave her alone.


    "I will wait for a couple of hours and then go visit her with dinner." Alex took out her phone and scrolled through her emails as she gged for another cab.


    The past few weeks had unexpectedly changed all of their lives. Mia''s parents died in an ident, leaving her as the sole sessor for all of their properties and shares.


    In the beginning, no one noticed anything as they were ovee with grief, but the business partner and Mia''s parents'' close friend Walter backstabbed the young girl while she was at her lowest point.


    He made the shares crash further, which were already low because of the unexpected ident of the CEO, Mia''s father.


    And now in the name of a hostile takeover, he was trying to swallow the wholepany by joining hands with theirpetitor.


    Unless Mia somehow managed to gather a lot of financial support in a small time, it was extremely impossible for her to stop this.


    But how could a young girl gather that much support? That too she had barely stepped into her undergraduate college and knew very little about business.


    Irrespective of her intellectual capabilities, she was still far from managing this storm without any help.


    Alex knew that Mia was ready to do anything and sell everything that they owned. Thispany was her father''s big dream.


    He had worked hard to bring himself here, so she didn''t want to lose that as well in the same year she lost her father.


    Alex also didn''t want to see that happen, but unlike Mia, she wasn''t that rich. She had a healthy trust fund but the two of them were in different categories.


    If she gave her everything she owned, it wouldn''t even make a dent in the number that she needed. She was alsopletely helpless.


    But she didn''t want to desert her friend and her sister when she needed help the most.


    She wanted to do something. Alex sighed and got out of the cab, reaching back to her apartment. Several thoughts swirled in her mind as she walked in absentmindedly.


    "Alex! Alex! Did you see this? This game is totally blowing up! Do you know how many yers have already joined? And it has only been a day since the gameunched?!"


    "This is crazy insane! This is totally going to be the next big thing!" Rey shouted in excitement, his eyes still glued to the esports news channel.


    However, in contrast to his cheerful mood, the person slouching on the couch next to him said and did nothing as she nkly stared at the television.


    "Is this really growing so much?" She muttered in a daze.


    "Yes. Do you even know what is the gold to dor ratio now?" Alex shook her head, a few strands of her red hair falling on the side.


    "By the way, our names on the leaderboard are already gone. People are grinding day and night and the¡­"


    Rey continued excitedly chatting about the new developments both in-game and outside the game, but the woman was clearly no longer paying any attention to him.


    She had zoned outpletely with several thoughts running in her mind. Several popr video games hade and gone.


    They all typically had a high game currency to real world currency exchange rate but this inevitably dropped in a few months.


    So even though this new game was shrouded in mystery and no one knew what exactly was happening, this hype as well probably wouldn''tst long.


    But still¡­ if she was a gambler, she would surely bet on the hype at leaststing for a year¡­


    This gave Alex several ideas.


    If she perhaps could somehow be extremely powerful and strong in a short period of time, then maybe¡­ just maybe she could gather all the resources they need to keep thepany afloat and stop the hostile takeover.


    So while Mia was busy dealing with all thepany rted issues, she could potentially help her out by gaining resources in this manner.


    And by some chance, if the game somehow managed tost longer, then theirpany could even gain a lot by being an official sponsor of the in-game guild or esports team. The possibilities were truly limitless!


    All in all, this was a wonderful opportunity. Sure she could probably work hard on some other route and achieve this same result, but the fastest, high risk high reward route was this one.


    And call it intuition or gut feeling, for some reason, she knew that this was the way to go! Something told her that she needed to follow her instincts and invest more time and effort into this game.


    Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Now that she had made this decision, her brain already started calcting what she needed to do to achieve her goals.


    How could she possibly rise head and shoulders above the herd of professional gamers and skilled yers?


    She took a few deep breaths and thought about it from different angles, but no matter how hard she racked her brain, only a single person''s image shed in front of her again and again and the obvious shortcut stared right at her face.


    If she could somehow use him...


    Alex gritted her teeth. She was determined to take things as far as it was needed. She was going to put everything on the line, so how could she hesitate about something like this?


    After all, it was just a game right¡­ just how realistic could it be? Something like that couldn''t possibly matter as long as it didn''t happen in real life!


    She bit her lips and turned to look at her brother who was back to watching the news. "Do you still have that jerk on your friend list?"

 Chapter 50 - Meet Me At The Inn

    <h4>Chapter 50 - Meet Me At The Inn</h4>


    ng ng ng


    ng ng ng


    Loud sounds echoed from within an empty mine in the depths of the forests. A single man was standing amidst several scattered corpses of green-skinned goblins.


    However, he paid no heed to these corpses. He simply stepped on them and continued hitting the mining pick monotonously on the node of metallic ore in front of him.


    Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Hours passed. And yet the young man''s actions did not change at all.


    Targeting the three different nodes in front of him, he kept mining one after the other without taking a single break.


    And weirdly, the ores he was mining were nothing special. They were justmon iron ores.


    In between this, one or two goblins also attacked him every now and then, respawning directly at the spot where he was standing.


    But it took the young man merely seconds to cleanly finish them and then he was back to monotonously mining the nodes.


    [Ding. 50 Experience points gained]


    [Ding. 50 Experience points gained]


    Liam cleared the notifications, kicking aside thest two goblins.


    He didn''t bother to pick up this loot which was mainly loin cloth and rusty weapons so the bodies remained longer than usual on the ground.


    Just as he once again began mining, another notification popped up.


    [Ding. Iing call from Rey. Do you wish to answer? Y/N]


    "Hmmm." Liam didn''t pause his movements and continued working on the node. Nevertheless, he muttered "Yes."


    "Hi bro! Congrats on the server announcements! You are awesome!" Rey''s cheerful voice rang and Liam shook his head helplessly.


    "Thanks. Anything else?"


    "Ahh¡­ Alright. I will get to the point. Alex wants to meet with you. Can you tell me your location please?"


    "Huh? Why?" Liam was surprised. He was sure that the woman hated his guts considering the way she had treated him all throughout their dungeon run.


    "Ahh¡­ so this is weird but she won''t tell me. She says that she will only talk to you."


    "Hmm¡­" Liam paused for a moment, only the nging sounds resounding in the silence. "Fine. Ask her to call me then."


    "Alright. Thanks, bro. Tell me when you are free so we can party again! Bye."


    A beep sounded and Rey ended the call quickly as if he was afraid that he would be blocked if he continued disturbing him.


    A couple of secondster, Liam checked the friend requests and among the hundreds that he had received, he saw Alex''s name in the most recent request.


    "ept." He muttered and the next second the call arrived.


    "Hello. Is this Liam?" A hesitant voice came through.


    "Mhm. Who else would it be?"


    Alex ignored the condescending remark and pressed on. "Where are you? I want to meet you in person right now."


    "Not possible." The immediate blunt reply came out.


    "What? Why?"


    Considering the way men usually treated her, she half expected him to fawn over her as soon as he heard her voice and that she wanted to meet him, but this turn of events surprised her.


    "Because I am in the middle of something." Liam indifferently replied. The other side suddenly became silent, and he shrugged and continued his work.


    A few more seconds of silence ensued and he was about to end the call when Alex quickly asked again. "Then when will you be free? I will wait. This is urgent and I¡­ It will be worth your while. Can we meet?"


    "Hmmm?" There was a sense of urgency in her voice that piqued Liam''s interest. Besides, he was not going to lose much by talking to her for a few seconds.


    "Alright. We can meet tomorrow. I will be in Yleka city. We can meet up at the local inn around noon."


    "Ok thanks. You will not regret this." Alex felt relieved and quickly cut the call, but she only realized what had happened after everything was over.


    She had thanked him and she had also blurted out that he wouldn''t regret it. How humiliating! She was furious.


    "What happened Alex? Are you alright? What did Liam say? What did you ask him?" Rey walked over to her and asked as he was extremely curious.


    He also didn''t know why his sister had suddenly decided to be serious about this game.


    "Nothing. I have something to do. I will be backter." Alex turned around to hide her face and hurriedly threw out some vague words.


    She then quickly ran out of there, leaving behind the very confused guy.


    "Well, whatever the quest was we could have done it together? Why is she running away like this?" The guy scratched his head in confusion.


    Because of the leaderboard, there was a sudden hype about leveling faster so Rey quickly forgot about Alex and focused on what he was doing.


    Meanwhile¡­ Liam as well continued busily mining. His schedule was fully packed for the next 24 hours and he didn''t think about anything else.


    [Ding: Your Mining skill proficiency has increased to Intermediate Level]


    Normally, it was hard to increase mining skill proficiency just by miningmon ores like iron, not to mention inefficient.


    But Liam had already sunk more than 24 hours of game time into this and he wasn''t nning on stopping for the next 24 hours as well.


    After all, unlike others, his main concern was neither bringing his level up on the leaderboard nor amassing any sort of wealth.


    Those things were only going to be irrelevant in the future, while the thing that he was targeting would still apany him.


    Liam grinned in excitement. Tomorrow was extremely crucial and all his future ns heavily relied on it.


    And if he somehow managed to be sessful, then he would have taken the second step forward.

 Chapter 51 - Quest Completion And Next Quest?

    <h4>Chapter 51 - Quest Completion And Next Quest?</h4>


    As time ticked by, the next 24 hours passed just like that in the blink of an eye. Liam did not log out and continued slogging for the entire duration.


    In about 48 hours, he managed to personally mine 100 stacks of 100 iron ores, making the total count a whopping 10000 iron ores!


    However, because of this, he had fallen behind all the top yers and more and more yers were pouring into the game just because of the sheer mystery enshrouding it.


    As Liam paid the guards the entrance fees and walked through the gates of the city, it waspletely crowded with numerous Level 15 to Level 20 yers.


    These were still low as some of the names on the leaderboard had reached as high as Level 25. "I wonder if guilds are already up and running." Liam hummed and crossed the street stepping into one of the back alleys.


    Since there were no quest givers here, there weren''t too many yers, but there were still many NPCs roaming around.


    Liam knew that this would eventually change when the news about the ck market spreads but before that he wanted to reap all the rewards.


    He weaved through the crowd and went inside the bustling street with various vendors. Most of them had just a simple stall as if they were prepared to leave at any given moment.


    Exotic meat hawkers, rare herb sellers, ck witches selling potions, several unique sights filled this narrow alley.


    Liam nced at everything calmly before arriving in front of a specific old man. This person had his wares spread out on a nket sprawled on the ground and yet several big shots stood in front of him.


    "Ah! Young man! Good to see you again!" The training hall instructor who was also standing there, waved at Liam, surprising the few yers loitering near them.


    This was the first time they were seeing an NPC taking the initiative to talk to a yer, and that too like they were addressing each other as if they were close friends.


    "Greetings senior." Liam bowed and then took out the item from his inventory. The bear''s head was still dripping blood as he handed it over to the startled man.


    For a moment, the man stood speechless staring at the corpse of the beast that had ruined his future. He looked at the severed head and then at Liam in disbelief. "You! You killed him!"


    Liam simply nodded his head, saying nothing. However, his mannerisms were extremely respectful.


    "Thank you. Thank you so much, young man. I am forever indebted to you." The instructor wiped his tears away and then patted Liam with his face full ofplicated emotions.


    At the same time, Liam received a string of notifications as well.


    [Ding. Quest ''Kill the bear King Barabara and bring its head to the training ground instructor'' has beenpleted]


    [Ding. 10000 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    The reward for the unique quest was indeed generous. The experience points for the quest were almostparable to the experience points he had gained after solo killing the field boss.


    Leveling was not Liam''s top priority but to reach certain parts of the continent and especially certain Kingdoms required a high enough level. So he was quite happily surprised.


    But what he most looked forward to was the next part.


    Liam waited patiently, giving the instructor a chance to absorb everything and for his emotions to settle down. After a few seconds of silence, the man sighed and once again began talking.


    "If only I had had the strength to do this back then¡­ s... now¡­ it''s toote. It''s toote for everything." The instructor repeatedly sighed.


    Liam smiled inwardly as he could tell that this was his cue. "Is there anything I could do to help you, senior? Please tell me what happened. You can count on this younger brother."


    His usual cold indifferent temperament had disappeared altogether, leaving behind only a look of warm concern on his face.


    The instructor looked very touched and he patted Liam lovingly, shaking his head. "No, Liam. Please forget about this. I am only telling you to forget about this because I consider you to be my younger brother."


    Liam gave a bitter smile and continued ying his role. "Brother, don''t say that. Even if it costs me my life, I want to help you. Please let me share your burden."


    The man let out a long sigh and then looked down at the ground, opening his mouth reluctantly. "I¡­ I¡­ alright. Since you are insisting. I will tell you this, but I suggest that you stay as far away from this as possible."


    "This is extremely dangerous and beyond your capabilities. I know that you are a very capable young man so you shouldn''t ruin your future by listening to this fool''s words."


    Liam attentively nodded, not taking his eyes away from the man.


    "I actually... I haven''tpletely given up yet." The instructor clenched his fists.


    "Because my foundation was irreparably crushed, I have been staying at the training hall all these years as a mere instructor."


    "But I haven''t given up yet."

 Chapter 52 - Hands Covered In Calluses

    <h4>Chapter 52 - Hands Covered In Calluses</h4>


    The instructor looked at Liam resolutely and continued.


    "At the far south of the Gresh Kingdom, there is a small town and the Lord of the town is a disciple of an ancient medicine master."


    "I have heard rumors that this master knows how to cure one''s body and can even save someone crippled like me."


    "But this is all the information that I have managed to collect so far."


    "The journey to the southern part of the kingdom is extremely perilous as thends are mostly dense forests and those territories belong to savage beasts and also equally savage men."


    "My only wish is to one day visit this vige and find out if what I heard was indeed true. Maybe even someone as useless as me could again start over?"


    Liam''s eyes immediately twinkled. There it was!


    And the very next second, the notifications chimed in.


    [Ding: Unique Chain Quest Part-B activated]


    [Ding: Quest cannot be refused]


    [Ding: Visit the town Jeheriya and obtain the cure for crippled meridians]


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam read the quest thoroughly and scratched his chin. This was actually not the quest that he was expecting.


    The real quest that he was after was regarding an invaluable elixir recipe that would perfect someone''s body to 100%, bestowing an ideal constitution that even heavens would envy.


    However, it looked like Liam was not yet at that point. This was to be expected as he only barely knew the chain quest details.


    After all, he was a mere ve in hisst life so how could he possibly be privy to the specifics?


    But just judging from how things were going, he could tell that either the next quest in the chain or the quest after it should give him his desired results.


    So all he could do now was patiently keep digging at this chain quest.


    Even if the end result was not what he expected, unique quests were still head and shoulders above the rest of the quests and there would most definitely be one or the other pot of gold at the end.


    If it was not the elixir recipe then perhaps it would be something rted to soul cleansing or soul strengthening.


    Liam knew better than to doubt the usefulness of a unique quest so he quickly epted it with a smile. "This brother will put his life on the line and obtain the cure for you, senior." He bowed.


    "Sigh¡­ Alright. Be careful and always remember to take care of yourself first. My life is already over anyway." The instructor mumbled and walked away as if he was no longer in the mood for the ck market.


    And seeing his leave, Liam''s expression returned back to normal. "What a dramatic guy!" He chuckled and focused on the next task at hand.


    He walked back to the stall of the old man and bent down to talk to him. "Sir, how much is this? What about this?" He randomly started picking out items and asking for their price.


    The old man initially looked annoyed as no one dared to ask him any of the prices directly. All the wares in his shops were rare items that could not be obtained anywhere.


    So when Liam started touching things without any concern, he became angry. He was about to swat his hand away when the old man''s expression subtly changed.


    He stared at Liam''s hands that were covered in calluses. These were the hands of a hard working man. He no longer seemed to be annoyed and eyed Liam up and down.


    The young man in front of him was wearing simple clothes and was drenched in sweat from top to bottom. The distinct smell of raw mineral ores wafted from him.


    The old man''s expression immediately softened and rubbed his long thing beard. "Don''t dirty my wares kid."


    "Ah. Sorry, elder." Liam quickly backed away putting on a humble appearance.


    "Please forgive me. I didn''t mean to offend you. Can I give some iron ore aspensation to the elder? I have nothing else with me." Liam was reciting words from his memory as best as he could.


    In his previous life, these were mere coincidences that yers had discovered by ident, but now he was carefully orchestrating each and every single thing.


    And unlike before at the training hall, this time he wasn''t grabbing the fate of a person who had wronged him in the past.


    This was someone who waspletely unrted to him, but he didn''t care.


    If it meant that he had to step on and steal a hundred people''s fate, he would still do it!


    In the end, this was simply a cruel fight for survival and he had no other choice but to use the single weapon in his arsenal which was knowledge! Knowledge about the future and the chaos that was about to descend!

 Chapter 53 - Hidden Class Quest

    <h4>Chapter 53 - Hidden ss Quest</h4>


    "Please forgive me. I didn''t mean to offend you. Can I give some iron ore aspensation to the elder? I have nothing else with me." Liam humbly muttered.


    Hearing his earnest words, the old man''s face warmed up further. He truly had a soft spot for underdogs and people with the worst luck, whom even the heavens had given upon.


    "Hey,d." He looked at Liam with his piercing blue eyes. His old age and frailty had suddenly vanished, only the aura of an expert remained.


    "Do you wish to be stronger?"


    "Ah?" Liam revealed a surprised expression.


    "You look like someone who is not afraid of hard work and getting your hands dirty with the stink of metals." The old man smiled.


    "Do you want to pursue an ancient craft that can bestow a tremendous amount of power and strength upon you?"


    [Ding: Hidden ss Quest activated]


    [Ding: Quest- Learn to smith and achieve mastery in the craft of making weapons]


    [Ding: Reward- The unknown elder''s trust and respect]


    [Ding: Do you wish to ept the quest?]


    Heh. Liam chuckled inwardly. Though the reward lookedpletely useless, how could it be so simple? It was a hidden ss quest after all.


    What was not mentioned in the description was that this reward would be further augmented based on the speed with which it waspleted. The race was about to begin!


    "I ept." Liam quickly bowed and then ran away from the stall with urgency.


    "Ha Ha. What a hardworking young man!" The elderughed and went back to talking to some of the other customers.


    On the other end, Liam had already slowed down. He knew that he didn''t have to rush too much. He still had 72 hours to get this done.


    And more importantly, he had other things to aplish as the ck market closed in a couple of hours. Liam circled the ce and once again arrived at another stall.


    This one was slightly more crowded than the previous shop with several yers haggling with excitement. It was a sort of gambling den and a hunter''s pet shop.


    Surprisingly, a familiar face was also standing and she gasped as soon as she caught Liam''s silhouette.


    Alex was here trying to see if she could get Rey some good pets when she unexpectedly saw the person heavily weighing on her mind.


    "You! You told me that you would only be here at noon?" Alex hurriedly started blurting out words in a panic. She was still very nervous and apprehensive about the whole thing.


    "Hmmm¡­ What are you talking about? I only said I would meet you at noon. I didn''t say anything about being here before that, did I?"


    Liam did not spare her a nce and quickly walked over to the shopkeeper, a middle-aged woman with a big mole on her face.


    "Wee." She greeted Liam and then her face brightened up seeing Liam''s face up close. "Wee, Mr. Handsome. Do you want to make any purchases today?"


    "Look at all these eggs. They could have anything inside them! Even mighty dragons and powerful phoenixes! Want to try your luck?"


    Liam looked at all the eggs of various shapes and sizes orderly arranged next to each other. Every single one had different patterns and shapes on the shell which made them look very mysterious.


    The people who had gathered around were trying to guess what beast might be inside just based on these patterns and the shape and color of the eggs.


    Liam chuckled. Sure he had heard some people getting lucky by purchasing eggs in this shop but mostly it was a scam.


    And just like several other things, these in-game pets would also be irrelevant which was why he hadn''t even bothered to use the tame skill until now.


    That didn''t mean he wasn''t interested in pets as a whole. In fact, he was very much interested!


    To be more specific, he was interested in two particr rare pets, the likes of which would surely be unavable here.


    "Thank you, N" Before Liam could finish his statement, Alex quickly butted in and spoke before him, interrupting their conversation. "Hello. Hello. Wait a second. I will be buying ALL the eggs here!"


    Immediately the crowd surrounding them became chaotic as several other people had their eyes on some eggs and they were only hesitating because the price of each egg was 1 gold!


    However, to someone like Alex, this amount was nothing. So she didn''t even think twice before randomly buying all of these on a whim.


    As soon as she saw Liam here, the wheels in her brain had already begun to spin.


    He was clearly here to do something and she was sure that it was rted to the eggsid out in front of them. Perhaps one of these eggs had a powerful beastpanion!


    Yes! That was definitely the case! Why else would he be here? Alex''s eyes twinkled and she wanted to beat him to the punch!


    She quickly exchanged the gold before Liam could do any tricks and ced all the eggs carefully in her inventory slots.


    With her arms crossed in front of her chest, she then turned to look at Liam with confidence and a smug smile. "Hmph! I bet now you would have time to talk to me right?"


    Liam, on the other hand, was trying his best to control hisughter. "No? I am still busy." What a childish woman!


    He shook his head, ignoring her furious eyes and heaving chests, and continued talking with the shopkeeper.


    "Congrattions, madam. You have sold all your wares so fast today! Would you perhaps have some spare time to take a look at something for me?"


    Alex who was still standing beside him obviously heard this and she froze in shock.


    WHAT THE FUCK? This guy wasn''t here to buy anything?


    She felt as if she had been pped hard and looked at him with a ridiculous expression, her mouth wide open.

 Chapter 54 - I Will Decline

    <h4>Chapter 54 - I Will Decline</h4>


    Liam took out the egg from his inventory space and handed it to the shopkeeper who had a big smile stered on her face. "Anything for you, handsome!"


    However, her eyes that were still glued to Liam, and looking at him with twinkles suddenly shifted to the medium-sized egg on her hand.


    Her look as well turned serious as she began to examine the egg in detail. It was a white colored egg that was devoid of any specific patterns or marks and it was pristinely clean, almost giving a feeling that nothing could taint it.


    "This! Where did you get this?!"


    Alex who was rolling her eyes at the woman''s tant fawning over Liam also became silent and listened in on the conversation intently.


    She now understood that this was why he hade here and not to buy the eggs that had been on disy.


    Sure, it was embarrassing but she was not in a position to care about these small things. She quickly put that aside and focused on the thing that was happening right in front of her.


    "Ah. I just found it inside a cave." Liam answered politely with a smile.


    "Handsome! This egg, can you sell it to me? I will give you 50 gold." This was the same amount which Alex had just paid her for her big purchase and she opened her mouth in surprise.


    The egg which the hateful guy had was so valuable? She simply couldn''t believe it. Why the heck was he stumbling and falling on all the good things? This was ridiculous!


    Both Alex and the shopkeeper were looking at Liam as if they wanted to swallow him alive and Liam cleared his throat. "Ah, I must apologize. I am not nning to sell this egg."


    The shopkeeper''s expression once again changed but Liam was not yet done talking.


    "I was wondering if madam could help me inspect this egg. I heard that you are the best when ites to beast eggs aha ha ha ha. So please take a look at this for me?"


    He shed another smile which made him look all the more charming and the woman immediately started blushing. "Sure. Sure. I can do that for you handsome."


    She once again went back to flirting with him just like that. Liam sighed in relief and he waited patiently. After a couple of seconds, a screen shed in front of him with a string of details.


    [Ding. Beast Name: ??]


    [Ding. Beast Type: Spirit]


    [Ding. Beast Attribute: Fire]


    [Ding. Beast Quality: Rare]


    Liam gazed at the details and for a second waspletely shocked and speechless.


    Even with all of his knowledge about the game, he still had not expected a spirit type egg to fall into his hands this early.


    In his previous life, some yers managed to get their hands on this type and at first, they were not too outstanding as the growth of these pets was slow and they required a lot of resources.


    But when the trial stage ended, suddenly they all came out on top as it was revealed that only spirit type pets and soul type pets could be carried with one from this tutorial phase to the real apocalyptic world.


    Anything that was not a part of one''s spirit or soul was basically just a mirage, just like these NPCs. This was also why Liam hadn''t bothered to use the tame skill.


    He was sure that there was some sort of madness to the method just like with mana usage and control, but he didn''t want to spread himself too thin by focusing on everything at once.


    But since he had this egg, and he was already here, he decided to get this inspected and it turned out to be an unexpected windfall.


    It looked like everything was nudging him towards something and this time even fate was on his side. Liam grinned. His ns changed a little but not too much.


    "Young man, I must remind you. These types of eggs are very difficult to hatch. Even if you hatch them, they might still not amount to much."


    "I would still be honored to take it off your hands. How about I offer you 1000 gold for the egg? He He. I can even give you some information. I recently heard rumors about a legendary beast pet."


    [Ding. New Quest Avable: Visit the royal city and meet with the innkeeper]


    [Ding. Quest Difficulty: S-Grade]


    [Ding. Do you ept this quest? Y/N]


    "S grade quest huh? Ha Ha Ha. Sorry madam, I think I will decline. Our paths are different. I hope you can find someone else to help you." Liam politely bowed and took the egg back from the woman''s hands.


    "Ah¡­! That is such a pity!" The shopkeeper looked very disappointed, and quickly ignored him, tending to her other customers.


    And since Liam had already gotten what he wanted, he didn''t linger there any longer and started walking away.


    Alex looked at his figure disappearing in the crowd and she hurried behind him so as not to lose sight of him. "Hey. Hey. Wait a second."


    Liam walked out of the ck market zone to the cksmith''s association that he had previously ignored.


    Alex followed him there and watched him as he spoke with a person on the counter and learned the basic smithing skill.


    "So this guy is just learning a bunch of trade skills without leveling? But then why did he hunt that field boss down? I can''t understand his ns at all."


    Alex looked at the time and it was almost noon. So she stepped forward and reminded him. "So can we talk now? It''s noon."


    "Yup. Follow me." Liam walked to one of the small workspaces located in the courtyard of the building where a lot of yers, at least those who were interested in learning cksmithing, were practicing their skills.


    "Ummm¡­ Here?" Alex gulped as she looked around, but the other party had already started setting up his bench.

 Chapter 55 - Golden Opportunity Or?

    <h4>Chapter 55 - Golden Opportunity Or?</h4>


    Alex could tell that the hateful person was not going to make any special concessions for her. So she fidgeted with her fingers and began talking, her voice barely a whisper.


    "That thing you told Mia¡­ I am ready." This was the best that she could speak out despite steeling her nerves.


    Come on, at least now he should show more interest? She bit her lips in frustration and looked at the guy and for a moment just as she expected his expression did falter.


    "What are you talking about?" Liam was genuinely surprised and decided to confirm it.


    When this woman spoke to him over the phone, he had assumed that it was something about a field boss or a dungeon. He hadn''t expected this.


    He had an inkling that they were going to face a terrible fate in the future so he had mentioned a way out that would be beneficial to him as well, but he didn''t expect things to move so fast.


    In fact, he hadn''t expected them to even think about this until muchter when they became absolutely desperate without any other course of action.


    But she was already here¡­?


    "Are you serious? You know what I am talking about!" Alex chewed her lips out.


    She already knew how this was going to go happen, but she had no other choice except to put up with this hateful guy''s attitude.


    Hmm¡­ Liam scratched his head, engrossed in his thoughts. He had thought that everything started after the trial phase ended but could there be something going on now?


    Looking at him hesitate, Alex became impatient. "What? I also have an S grade affinity. Am I not good enough?"


    Liam sighed, silently lifting the anvil and cing it on the workspace. It was not that he didn''t pity the woman in front of him.


    As someone who had once been desperate for even the smallest of a chance to change his own fate, he empathized with her, but everything was just beginning.


    He didn''t have the luxury to help a random stranger. Besides, when things turned for the worse, the people that he helped today might turn on him.


    This was his second chance and his only chance. He couldn''t just risk it all for nothing.


    Liam remained silent for a while and then took out the other item he had purchased from the ck market.


    He handed it over to Alex. "This is a binding contract of sorts. You are right. I can indeed make you stronger, much stronger but before that, you would have to sign this."


    "Think about this ande back when you are ready."


    "Huh? What is this?" Alex sighed in relief as she scanned the parchment of paper which had some words inscribed on it.


    She didn''t really care much about the contract. She assumed that it was perhaps a gold or cash or property contract. If it was reasonable she had no problem agreeing to it.


    "Whatever this is¡­ I am fi¡­ wait a second." It took a minute for her to read and understand the words as they had been written in a weird calligraphy style.


    "Hey what is this?" Alex looked up in shock.


    "I am supposed to do everything you tell me? I am not supposed to harm you? Act against you or even have the intention of harming you? This is ridiculous!"


    "And how can this bloody game even implement these things? I mean this is just basically a ve contract. Are you kidding me?"


    "Are you purposefully trying to humiliate me? I only came here so that we can both get mutual benefits. You were the one who suggested this in the first ce, remember?"


    Liam heard her words but he continued to remain calm and took out some of the iron ores he had. He stacked them neatly on the table.


    Though it was not written clearly on the contract with dedicatedbels, Alex wasn''t wrong. He had indeed given her a ve contract.


    So he cooly exined it to her again, at least as much as he could.


    "My intention is not to humiliate you. It is the opposite. This is an opportunity that perhaps you wouldn''t get again. So take it with you and think about it."


    "You don''t have to ept it or reject it right now. Take as much time as you want. Your life might depend on it."


    Alex silently listened, not knowing what to respond.


    On one hand, this was extremely humiliating. On the other hand, the person in front of her was saying words with so much confidence that she couldn''t simply ignore them as random nonsense.


    She stood dazed for a second but then shook her head, letting out a deep breath. What opportunity? Why would her life depend on it? Wasn''t this all just random nonsense?


    The pervert just probably wanted to do some role ying as ve and master. Fuck this. Why did I even think he would help me in this first ce?


    She was hesitant about this from the beginning and now this settled things.


    She looked at the man in front of her, tossing the ores one after the other into the smelting fire. He was just doing his own thing,pletely ignoring her.


    Damn it! What was I thinking? I don''t need anyone''s help. Especially this person''s help! She let out a deep breath and turned around, leaving the contract parchment behind.


    She had almost walked out when Liam''s voice once again sounded.


    "I will be busy these next few days. Do not contact me again to do some sort of negotiation. This is it. These are my terms. I will not change my mind."


    "And if you still bother me, then you will only be forcing my hand to cut ties with the three of youpletely."


    The woman who was already bubbling with rage clenched her fists, wanting to throw something at the bastard, but she continued walking out.


    "Now is not the time. I need to think about Mia first.. Hmph. But one day or the other I will surely teach this guy a lesson!"

 Chapter 56 - Quick And Dirty

    <h4>Chapter 56 - Quick And Dirty</h4>


    As his hands worked furiously, Liam had already forgotten all about the unexpected visitor and focused on the mes beside him.


    He watched the stacks of iron ore melting and forming a sort of lump together and then melting altogether. He quickly removed this molten ore and poured it over a sand y mold of a simple sword.


    Giving the ore only a couple of seconds to take the shape of the mold, he quickly retrieved the raw unrefined sword and doused it in cold water.


    He then once again ced the sword in the furnace and reheated the metal, after which he ced it on the anvil.


    "Heh. I never thought that I would be doing this again." Liam chuckled. He almost lovingly looked at the piece of weapon and started hammering it.


    Though it was not immediately obvious, this step was the most crucial in crafting a weapon. The more a weapon was hammered, the more powerful it became.


    Though Liam had simply nned to forge a bunch of mediocre weapons to increase his skill proficiency rapidly, once he started the process hepletely forgot about everything.


    He hammered the simple iron sword again and again as if it was a priceless treasure. And when the metal had cooled down, he heated it again in the furnace and hammered it over and over.


    His entire body was drenched in sweat from top to bottom and the grains in the sword were bing finer and finer. However, Liam continued hammering away without showing any signs of stopping.


    He had been running constantly ever since he had received this miraculous second chance. But now that his mind was centered and steady, the familiar rhythm brought in all the memories of the past and flooded him.


    Dang. Liam grunted loudly without realizing and vented all his frustrations by using the hammer in his hand.


    Dang. Dang. Dang. Sparks flew everywhere and the hammering sounds echoed in the crowded smithing association workspace.


    A few yers already had their eyes on him as he had been talking to an extremely beautiful woman a while ago and there were very few women in the game, to begin with.


    Now, he was also making exaggerated loud noises as if he was performing a herculean task which was quite annoying.


    Liam, however, was in his own world and ignored the dirty looks that were being given to him. He struck the sword in front of him, his every hitnding with utmost care and precision.


    An entire hour passed by in this manner, followed by another couple of hours and then another when finally a system prompt appeared in front of him, snapping him out of his trance.


    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    [Ding. Overkill Iron Sword]


    [Ding. Rating: Umon]


    [Ding. Special Effect: When the target is at thest 5% of health, attack damage is doubled]


    [Ding. Your forging skill proficiency has increased to Trainee Level]


    [Ding. You have obtained the title ''Perfectionist'']


    [Perfectionist: When the title is equipped, crafting sess rates increase by 5%]


    Liam dropped the hammer in his hand and copsed on the floor tiredly. He had almost used up the entirety of his stamina and he hadn''t even realized it.


    Since it was justmon iron ore, he was able to finish the sword.


    If it had been any other type of ore or even a moreplex mixture of multiplemon ores, then he would have sure copsed before the weapon waspletely made.


    Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Ha¡­ He breathed slowly, closing his eyes. "There is still a long way to go."


    He only opened his eyes again after taking a couple of minutes to center himself again and checked out the notifications.


    "Huh? Overkill Iron Sword? What the heck is this?" Liam was perplexed. His gaze shifted to read the rest of the description of the equipment and he became even more shocked.


    The sword even had a special effect that was unheard of formon-grade weapons and onlymon-grade weapons could be manufactured from iron ores!


    "How the hell did I manage to forge amon ore into an umon sword?" He nced at the name again and his face darkened on seeing how apt the name was.


    "Damn it. I ended up wasting quite a bit of time on this, didn''t I?" Liam smiled wryly. He had indeed gotten carried away. "Oh! I even got a title? Not bad."


    The title did not mention ''forging'' trade skill specifically, so it mostly applied to all trade skills. He nodded in approval and then moved on.


    It was a good thing but once again, just like everything else this was also only temporary. When the trial phase ended, everyone would be stripped clean of their titles and in-game status.


    So at the end of the day, it was merely another tool to achieve his goals.


    Letting out a deep breath, Liam stood up and took the sword in his hand. "Well, time to get more serious."


    For getting the best rewards from the hidden quest, he needed to achieve a ''Master'' proficiency in smithing.


    He was quite confident in achieving ''Intermediate'' proficiency, which was the next step after his current ''Trainee'' proficiency, but when it came to the ''Master'' level, there were a few issues.


    However, these were nothing that couldn''t be solved by throwing money at them. So he wasn''t all that worried.


    Liam quickly began to work again, this time paying attention to his speed and efficiency rather than the quality of the forging. This was the fastest way to level, quick and dirty.


    He threw in another batch of iron ore and cleaned his station while the ore was being melted. He then used anothermon sword mold and poured it in like he was pouring water on the soil without any care.


    This time he restricted to simply hammering a couple of dozen times and once again repeated the process three times before sharpening the edges and finishing the weapon.


    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    [Ding. Crude Iron Sword]


    [Ding. Rating: Common]


    Liam nced at the sword once. It lookedckluster as if it was a piece of old equipment. "Heh. Now, this is what I expected. One done, a hundred more to go."


    He tossed it aside and indifferently started the next one.

 Chapter 57 - Why Are You In Such A Hurry?

    <h4>Chapter 57 - Why Are You In Such A Hurry?</h4>


    Yleka city was the trade hub of the Gresh Kingdom and as such, the ce was bustling with a huge crowd at every corner.


    Several yers were swarming the area for interesting quests and golden opportunities that could help them crack the game and take a step further than their counterparts.


    However, even in this busy crowd, the cksmith''s association definitely stood out. Weapons were integral to most games and it was a fair guess to give importance to them.


    When two yers were at simr levels and had simr skills with simr attributes, the one thing that could distinguish them both was a weapon. Especially, the custom-made ones which most games offer towards the end game or higher levels.


    This was why a majority of the yers had already learned cksmithing and were currently gathered at the cksmith association hunting for quests, recipes and trying to level up the skill.


    All the NPCs in the association were alsopletely drowned in this mob, everyonepeting with each other just to have a conversation with them.


    But amidst this chaos, in a dull and isted corner of the courtyard, a single person was monotonously crafting one sword after another.


    While others were dancing on thorns to get everything right and do every single step to absolute perfection so that the product doesn''t fail and the raw materials don''t get wasted, this person looked like he couldn''t care less.


    Liam did not stop at all. He was working like a machine.


    His experienced hands tossed one finished product after another in a pile and he simply kept going on without showing any signs of tiredness or mental exhaustion.


    Several people noticed him, but everyone was busy with their own progress to pay attention to the lunatic who was wasting iron ores.


    From the manner in which he was tossing the swords on the ground, they could only assume that all of his forgings had failed, giving ruined products.


    "Eh! Look there. Don''t be that guy. I think you should spend more time melting the ore thoroughly. I heard it improves the quality and can even give a boost to attack power."


    "Hmmm¡­ That guy''s products are probably failing because he is not hammering the raw weapon longer."


    "No, he is barely even doing tempering."


    Even though Liam wasn''t doing anything extraordinary, his sheer concentration, focus, and monotonous perseverance attracted a lot of attention.


    But luckily for him, after taking a look, no one paid him any further attention. His actions and forging technique were just that bad.


    It looked like he was only doing the bare minimum of what was necessary and sometimes not even that.


    Besides, everyone was engrossed in their own training, so no one bothered him and went back to doing their own thing.


    However, there was an exception to this.


    The cksmith''s association was a tower-shaped structure and on the twentieth floor, a pair of eyes continued keenly observing Liam.


    This pair of wrinkled eyes belonged to an old man. He was calmly sipping on his tea in silence, his face not betraying any emotions. However, he noticed even the smallest of Liam''s actions.


    No one knew what was going on in his mind. As to why he was amused by the young man whom others had ignored was also a mystery.


    "Shall I call him over, master?" A person standing next to him bowed respectfully and asked, for which the old man simply raised his hand, waving him away.


    But the next second, his figure disappeared and appeared near Liam.


    As the next batch of iron ores sizzled in the hot mes of the furnace, his voice sounded aloud. "May I take a look at this sword?"


    Liam almost dropped the y mold he was holding in his hand in surprise. He hadpletely failed to notice the presence of someone else near him! What happened?


    But, he let out a deep breath and quickly recovered. After all, he was paying his full attention to forging, so he probably did not notice.


    He didn''t think too much about it and looked at the NPC standing in front of him. The old man was clearly trying to strike up a conversation with him and he seemed like an NPC.


    Though NPCs and yers were almost indistinguishable, it was still easy to differentiate between both especially at the beginning.


    ''Hmmm¡­ This should be an NPC from the association?''


    "Yes, senior." Liam quickly passed on the sword that the old man was pointing to and then continued focusing on his forging.


    He already had the quest that he absolutely wanted so he didn''t bother fawning over the man for another quest.


    In fact, he hoped that the guy would leave soon so that he wouldn''t be disturbed by a horde of rowdy eager yers swarming at the ce where he was forging.


    The old man, however, did not share any of Liam''s concerns. He leisurely ran his fingers over the piece of weapon that was merelymon-grade.


    His eyes glinted as if he was analyzing every grain in the sword thatcked any sort of special properties and when he was done, his gaze surprisingly shifted to Liam himself.


    "Ho Ho!" Almost immediately, a subtle flicker of surprise appeared in his face which quickly faded away.


    "Lad, why are you in such a hurry?" The old man calmly asked.


    Huh? Liam was once again taken aback.


    If the person was criticizing his technique, he would have said something like why are you not doing this, and why are you not doing that.


    He could havemented about any of the forging steps as Liam was madly rushing through everything, but to ask why was he in a hurry¡­ as if he could tell exactly what he was capable of¡­


    ''No. I am overthinking this.'' Liam shook his head. He put his thoughts away and gave a generic reply, still continuing to hammer his next weapon.


    "Ah. Sorry elder. I am still a trainee. My techniques are not that good. Please forgive my ipetence.. I hope that I have not offended you."

 Chapter 58 - I Will Come Find You

    <h4>Chapter 58 - I Will Come Find You</h4>


    While talking to NPCs, it was always best to show humility and respect, so Liam as well followed this blindly.


    He might not need any quest from the guy but he didn''t want to randomly decrease his favorability, especially with someone from the cksmith association.


    So he ignored the actual question and gave a generic reply while not stopping what he was doing.


    The elder, however, did not seem to want to let him off that easily. "Not that good, huh? Then I wonder just how you managed to craft this one here. He He."


    Among the dozens of iron swords scattered around, he reached his hand and pulled out the very first sword which Liam had crafted to perfection.


    Liam was once again surprised. What was going on here?


    As far as he knew there were only five hidden quests and 2 unique quests in the entirety of the Gresh kingdom.


    So this person in front of him possibly couldn''t be someone important and yet, his instincts were telling him otherwise.


    Based on their conversation so far, Liam could already tell that the man was not as simple as he looked.


    "It is very kind of you to take a look at my sword and my crude forging technique." He bowed and immediately got to the point. "If possible, may I please repay this kindness in some manner?"


    "Ho. Ho. Ho. Of course, you can, but there is no rush for that right now. I can already see that the path you wish to take. I wille to find you when the time is right."


    Liam didn''t even get a chance to question the vague answer as the old man had already started walking away from him back to the cksmith association tower building.


    "What the heck?" Liam was confused.


    Even though he was a reincarnate, and had a lot of knowledge about the game, he was not exactly omnipotent. There were surely more tricks in the tutorial that he was probably not aware of.


    But if he ran behind every trick in the game and tried to aplish everything, then that would only end in failure. There wasn''t too much time left for the things that he wanted to aplish.


    He did not want to waste this precious little time on vague hints that might or might not amount to anything. Liam quickly put his thoughts away and continued grinding his forging skill.


    However, in the midst of these confusing thoughts, hepletely failed to notice something.


    Though the elder walked among the sea of yers crowding around the other smithing association NPCs, no one in particr seemed to approach him. It almost seemed as if no one realized that he was even present among them.


    Unaware of this, Liam continued forging the reminder of the swords for the next few hours, fully emptying out his supply of iron ore chunks.


    And just as he was done forging thest sword, the notification that he was expecting rang loudly.


    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    [Ding. Crude Iron Sword]


    [Ding. Rating: Common]


    [Ding. Your forging skill proficiency has increased to Intermediate Level]


    "Alright. Nowes the difficult part." Liam wiped the sweat off of his forehead and then proceeded to toss a couple of fruits in his mouth.


    Munching the berries, he walked out of the association towards the Yleka city auction house.


    Enough time had passed by now, so Liam was sure that more raw materials had been put up for auction, especially because of the high in-game gold versus real money trading ratio at the moment.


    Bigger groups of yers might still try to hoard the materials and not sell them, but the temptation was more than enough for individual yers.


    And just as he had expected, several stacks of tin ores, bronze ores, copper ores, and iron ores were avable. There was even a stack of striped iron ore avable.


    Liam did not hesitate and quickly purchased whatever was avable.


    Several yers had greedily put up sky high prices but he didn''t care about that and purchased a rough amount of what he thought he needed and then some more extra, just to be safe.


    [Ding. Congrattions! Tin Ore x 500 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Bronze Ore x 500 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Copper Ore x 500 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Iron Ore x 500 have been purchased!]


    [Ding. Congrattions! Striped Iron Ore x 20 have been purchased!]


    Thest one was the most expensive raw material as the seller had put it up for 1 gold a piece which was almost 10 times its worth even if calcted generously.


    But Liam quickly purchased this one as well as he ran through the several recipes in his mind. "This should be enough." He silently muttered and then walked back towards the cksmith association.


    This time he didn''t return to the courtyard and instead booked one of the expensive smithing rooms at the reception.


    He paid the 5 gold coins charge and booked the high grade smithing room for a surplus amount of time.


    There was nothing too special about the room, but there was a variety of molds avable, plus the hammer quality was rare.


    This was Liam''s target as forging umon grade equipment would be a lot easier and faster with a higher grade forging hammer.


    Also, after what happened, he decided to buy himself some privacy.


    Just iron ores might not attract attention but if he took out an entire array of ores and herbs, there would once again be unwanted people gathering around him.


    Liam did not particrly care about this but for the current period, he absolutely wanted to make sure that he wasn''t disturbed.


    This was crucial in order for him toplete the quest within the best possible duration as this time simply speed alone won''t be sufficient.


    He took a deep breath and once again started throwing stacks of ores into the burning furnace that slowly melted on touching the fire.

 Chapter 59 - Mana Forging

    <h4>Chapter 59 - Mana Forging</h4>


    2 Copper bars, 2 Tin bars, 1 Iron bar, andstly 1 bronze bar. Liam added all the required ores in the respective ratio and while they melted, he also added a few stalks of stone flower.


    Sparks flew as the herb quickly mixed in with the molten ore mixture and the crimson color of the flower and the leaves spread quickly, making the entire mixture blood red.


    Liam carefully took this molten mixture and poured it into the mold of a sword. He then doused it in cold water and once again heated it before beginning to rhythmically hammer.


    In spite of the fact that it was borrowed and only for forging, he was still excited to be holding a rare-grade hammer weapon in his hands.


    He could vividly hear his heart pounding in his chest. Just like his mind, his blood as well was coursing wildly through his veins.


    Dang. Dang. Dang.


    Crisp sounds echoed inside the private crafting room.


    As Liam continued to pummel down the ore into submission, his movements suddenly slowed down and he paused.


    In his previous life, when he had first started ying the game, he had selected cksmithing as his main upation.


    And the recipe he was currently working on was a fairlymon one. So he had already crafted this particr sword before.


    At that time, he had suffered a lot because of his pathetic starting attributes. Moreover, he only started ying the gameter when it was already a huge thing, so he was severelygging behind.


    This was one of the reasons why he fell so quickly when things took a turn for the worse and in the end, even became someone else''s ve.


    However, in this life, he had something that he previously did not have and that was the ability to use mana!


    Liam''s gaze flickered over the set up in front of him and the rare grade hammer in his hands. "It doesn''t matter if I fail, I will give it a try!"


    He took a deep breath and this time, he was more focused than before if that was even possible. His hands once again started to rhythmically pound the raw weapon on the anvil.


    But now, each stroke had a little more to it.


    Just like how he had tried to incorporate mana into his sword shes while he was fighting with the bear king, Liam tried incorporating mana into his hammer strikes as well.


    This was not something new.


    Only white grade,mon grade, and umon grade weapons could be crafted using normal methods. Anything higher than that required special raw materials and more importantly, special techniques.


    Even the rare grade hammer he was currently holding was probably crafted using such special techniques.


    And one of those techniques was to infuse mana when forging the weapon!


    Liammanded the few strands of mana swirling in his body to gather around his arms and it enveloped the hammer as well.


    Dang. Dang. Dang.


    The sounds this time were even louder as heavier strikesnded on the sword on the anvil.


    "Oh?" After trying it out a few more times, Liam''s eyes widened in surprise. This suddenly felt easier and more usible than he had previously assumed it to be.


    While fighting with the bear king, he had to focus on a million things and predict its attack trajectory so he was only able to practice so much.


    But now, he didn''t have a knife hanging over his neck. He could focus more concentratedly.


    He was able to control and regte the flow of mana more, at his own pace, hammering it into the weapon so that it bes a part of the grains of the metal.


    He knew that doing this would probably help him push the grade of his forging even to the next level, but that was only secondary to Liam.


    Learning how to control and manipte mana was his main goal.


    Even if he used every single shortcut he knew, he would never be able to attain the strength and power that was required to change his fate without this one thing.


    But if he could just achieve control over mana, then all his future steps would be a lot easier!


    Liam grinned as his muscles pulsed with every move he made. What he was doing was extremely taxing and not to mention mentally exhausting. However, he kept going.


    He had yearned for this very exact ability countless times and now it was a reality, so he was not nning on letting something like exhaustion stop him.


    This was the first shackle that had imprisoned him in hisst life and now that he knew how to, he wanted to shatter itpletely! Once and for all!


    Dang. Dang. Dang.


    The metal trembled but it held on as more and more mana was packed into it, tempering it from inside out.


    Slowly but steadily everything was falling into ce and almost after an hour, thepletion notification popped up.


    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    [Ding. Crimson Sword]


    [Ding. Rating: Umon]


    "Heh." Liam chuckled, picking up the sword and examining it. It had a bright silver appearance with a red sheen on it as if it had just now drawn blood.


    He swung it around and the metal had perfect bnce. It was like an extension of his hand.


    No doubt, this was definitely better than the sword he was currently using. Even if he sold it, it would fetch him at least 20 to 30 silver coins.


    "Not bad." He tossed the sword aside casually just like how he had tossed the previousmon grade weapons. This was good, but it was still not enough.


    If he had been truly sessful, then the grade would have increased further and this would have been a piece of rare grade equipment.


    It looked like he still had a long way to go, but he did not care about that.. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued repeating this same forging process again and again and again.

 Chapter 60 - Quest Complete

    <h4>Chapter 60 - Quest Complete</h4>


    As he was engrossed in the forging process, time quickly went by and soon Liam had forged more than a dozen swords and when he finished thest weapon, he finallypleted the quest requirements as well.


    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    [Ding. Crimson Sword]


    [Ding. Rating: Umon]


    [Ding. Your forging skill proficiency has increased to Master Level]


    Liam flicked away the notifications absentmindedly. This was good but he still wasn''t able to achieve the proficiency he desired in mana control.


    ng. He tossed the finished sword along with the piled up weapons that had a crimson sheen.


    He then put away all of them in his inventory and walked out of the crafting room and out of the cksmith association.


    He only had to reach the Master forging level within the first 72 hours. The time at which he submitted the actual quest did note into ount.


    Besides, even if he wanted to submit it now, he wouldn''t be able to submit the quest until the ck market event starts again.


    So without bothering to do anything else, Liam simply walked out onto the streets of the city and exchanged a portion of his gold coins for currency. He then swiftly logged out.


    He had ended up spending a lot more time than he originally intended to, and it was noon the next day.


    He knew that his sister was capable of taking care of herself but he did not want to be irresponsible and leave her alone for hours together.


    Luckily, 48 hours in the game equaled 24 hours in the real world, so he hadn''t screwed up too bad.


    Liam''s vision darkened before he once again regained his consciousness and opened the game capsule. As soon as he lifted the exit, two big anxious eyes greeted him.


    "Brother! You were gone for so long! Are you alright? Ah, did something happen?"


    He chuckled and patted the little girl who was probably the only one who cared about him in the entire world. "Sorry to make you worry, Mei Mei. I am alright. I just became a littlete."


    "Did you eat your meals properly? Did you do some exercise?"


    Nodding her head, the little girl gave him a quick hug and then ran away to heat up a te full of food for him. "Brother, you eat first. You skipped so many meals!"


    "Yes madam." Liam pinched her cheeks and obediently sat down to eat some food. "So what do you want to do today?" He yfully asked her.


    "Ah! I don''t want to do anything! Please sleep and take some rest." Mei Mei looked flustered and quickly rejected the generous offer.


    Was her brother suddenly not human? He had yed games all day and he looked so fresh and energetic instead of looking like a zombie!


    "What?! You don''t have anything that you want to do?" Liam chuckled. "I have something in mind though. Can you guess what?" He teased her lovingly.


    "Ah! I am so confused! Why are you messing with me?"


    "Ha Ha Ha. Alright. Alright. It looks like you forgot already. Did I not tell you? We are moving to a new ce today! Why don''t you change your clothes and then we can leave?"


    "Ah! For real? Brother, are you serious???" Mei Mei stood up in shock and surprise. She couldn''t believe his words at all.


    Of course, she remembered this, but she assumed that he was simply saying things to make her feel better. She didn''t want to bring it up and ruin the good mood.


    And now¡­


    A few minutester, the brother and sister pair got ready and walked out of their small cramped apartment.


    "Brother, this apartment is just fine. Do we really have to move?" Mei Mei turned to look at their small rented ce and then at her brother''s lonely back as she ran to catch up with him.


    She didn''t want him to overwork himself and ruin his health just for the sake of a little extrafort.


    "Ho Ho. So what you are saying is that you don''t want your own room? You will miss me too much? What a cry baby!" Liam chuckled.


    "Ah! No way! I am not a cry baby!" The little girl found herself tongue-tied. She nudged him with her elbow and continued to walk with a pouty face.


    "I am joking. I am joking. I know Mei Mei is a strong girl." The two siblings chatted and walked along enjoying the nice day outside.


    Liam bought her a few snacks on the way and then they took the public transport to reach another part of the city that waspletely different from the one they were living in.


    The streets were clean, the buildings were new and sparkling and only high-end shops were present on either side of the road.


    Just from looking at the scenery, one could tell that only the rich and elite could possibly live here.


    "Brother¡­ this¡­ why did we get down here?" Meilin got nervous just by walking on the streets.


    Everyone was looking at them and giving them weird judgemental nces. It was clear that they did not belong here.


    "Brother, let''s go back." The girl clung tightly to Liam''s arm as if she was afraid. Liam sighed and gently patted her. He never wanted to see her afraid again.


    "No need to be afraid. We are almost there."


    He had already looked up a ce for the both of them. It was a cozy apartment in a newly built apartmentplex and had many of the features that he was looking for.


    Not to mention, the high security that came along with living here. He wouldn''t have to worry about the safety of his sister when things started to get tricky.


    This would be their house for now andter on, it would be their base. Liam clenched his fists at the thought of their future.


    He was anxious about it but at the same time, he was also excited. After all, everything was going to be different this time around.


    As the brother and sister pair chatted with each other and turned around the corner, unexpectedly a few familiar faces came in front of them.


    "Eh? Isn''t this our missing punching bag?"

 Chapter 61 - We Are His Friends

    <h4>Chapter 61 - We Are His Friends</h4>


    Liam instantly grabbed his sister and moved back a few paces as fast as he could. He didn''t have to look up to see who was talking.


    He already knew who it was. He was neither a stranger to that voice nor to these friendly faces, but to run into them here?


    He quickly looked around and saw that there was a small alley to his right, just beside the apartmentplex they were about to enter to take a look.


    He grabbed Meilin''s hand and ran over there. Of course, there was a burst of loudughter and the group of young men followed him in excitement.


    "He He. If I see trash on the road as a responsible person I need to deal with it."


    The short and the fat one at the front dropped his empty soda can on the floor and kicked it, aiming for Liam''s head.


    However, it missed him and hit the wall behind him, or rather Liam dodged it.


    It banged on the wall and fell down on the ground making a loud nking noise, scaring Meilin, making the young girl shriek.


    "Ha Ha. Would you look at that? Punching bag has a girlfriend!"


    "Waaah! What a beauty!"


    "Yes, you are right. If you ignore the shabby clothes, then her figure is not bad and her face is not bad too."


    Meilin trembled on seeing the group of thug like people walk over and surround them. They were also talking weird things and behaving very rudely.


    "Brother¡­" She clutched Liam''s hands tightly in fear.


    "Oh? Brother?"


    "Now it makes sense! Ha ha ha. How could this trash have a girlfriend! Ha Ha ha"


    "Hello, little girl, why don''t youe here? I will buy for you whatever you want. In return, you just have to give me a kiss."


    "What do you think about this deal? Not bad right?"


    "Ha Ha Ha. Stop it, dude. She is too young."


    "Hey punching bag, do you have another sister by any chance? Preferably one with bigger boobs. This one seems too t for my taste. Ha ha ha."


    Meilin trembled even more as the men in front of her kept on saying weird things. "Brother¡­" She looked up to see Liam, unusually quiet.


    However, as soon as she did, she froze and let his hand go. For some reason, the man beside her terrified her more than the thugs standing in front of them.


    "Ha Ha ha. Did you look at that? His own sister thinks that this bitch is useless. Ha ha ha."


    "You have got a good head on kid. Why don''t you run along and wait for your brother at home? He is going to y with us for a bit and only thene back. He He."


    "Don''t worry. We are just going to help him with homework. He missed school these couple of days right?"


    "Hey! If you don''t want to go, then feel free to stay back. He He. We can teach you about some things."


    Meilin was not a frail young girl. Having somewhat recovered from her initial shock, she was able to look at everything more closely.


    Especially when the thugs talked about school, she instantly understood that these were the people who had been beating and bullying her elder brother all this time.


    All those countless times, she had helped him clean up his wounds!


    All her fear immediately disappeared and she gritted her teeth angrily, bending down to pick up a stone from the ground.


    However, before she could throw it, a hand grabbed hers and took the stone away from her, throwing it in her stead.


    And as for the target of the stone¡­ it was not one of the bullies.


    It was rather a car parked on the street by the alley.


    Crash!


    The force with which the stone was thrown was enough to trigger the loud rm and immediately the car started making an ungodly ring noise attracting everyone''s attention.


    And since it was the middle of the day, a few people quickly walked over to that side.


    "Fuck!"


    "Let''s just leave!"


    Meilin dumbfoundedly watched as the people who had cornered them disappeared just like that!


    "Brother¡­ you¡­" She looked up at her brother again and this time, the scary expression on his face was long gone.


    "Sorry. Are you alright?" Liam gently smiled. "They seem to have disappeared. Shall we check out our apartment?"


    Meilin dumbly nodded and the two of them stepped out of the small alley and went into the apartmentplex.


    She still turned around to see if those people were following them, but it looked like they were really gone.


    Only after the gate of the apartmentplex closed behind them, she sighed in relief.


    Things could have gotten really worse but her brother had acted in the nick of time and diffused it easily, but there was one thing that she still did not understand.


    If he had not taken them both into the alley, then this wouldn''t have happened?


    And also¡­ the look on his face!


    She had never seen her brother look so angry...


    "Why are you nking out? We are here." Liam''s voice snapped her out of her thoughts and the young girl looked ahead to see a nice spacious living room in front of her.


    "Wahhh! So big!" She gulped and walked in. Too many things were happening and the young girl found herself at a loss for words.


    Liam leaned against the door and patiently waited for his sister to take a tour. He also gave her some time to catch her breath.


    Meilin walked around and took a look, but she also peaked at her brother every once in a while. Unlike her, whose heart was still pounding crazily, he seemed very calm and rxed.


    In fact, he was just like that for the entire time, as if they had just not been nearly assaulted by the bunch of bullies who had been terrorizing him for the major part of his life.


    The young girl really could not make heads or tails of what was happening.

 Chapter 62 - Did You Sell Your Kidney?

    <h4>Chapter 62 - Did You Sell Your Kidney?</h4>


    An hourter, Meilin had already taken multiple tours of the apartment but when she looked over at her brother, he still seemed to be standing at the same spot, doing something with his phone.


    Hmmm? She did not understand what they were still doing here. "Brother, shall we leave? It''s getting dark outside."


    "Leave where?" Liam looked confused.


    The little girl was about to say something when loud footsteps echoed near the door and a group of three men stepped out of the elevator, carrying what looked like newly packaged boxes.


    "Chang Liam?"


    "Yes. That''s me."


    One of the men took out a bill of sorts and handed it over to Liam who took a step away from the door, allowing the three men to enter the apartment and keep the packages inside.


    "Come here, Mei Mei. Don''t stand in the way."


    "Ah¡­ umm¡­ ok but brother?"


    Liam pulled the girl aside and then the two of them stood outside the apartment in the hallway while the three men made several trips up and down and ced a bunch of boxes inside.


    Meilin stared at everything wide-eyed. She had absolutely no idea what was going on and she finally couldn''t stand the suspense anymore and blurted out.


    "Brother, what is all this? Whose things are these?"


    "Aha ha ha. Dufus, are you zoning out or what? It''s obviously our things. How can we live here without any furniture?"


    Liam flicked the girl''s face as her eyes widened further and she stared back at him anxiously. After a minute, her eyes even reddened and the little girl started sobbing.


    "Eh! What happened now? Are you crying about that thing earlier?" Liam asked worriedly.


    "No... Woo. Woo. Brother, can you please tell me the truth?"


    "Okay?" Liam patted her.


    The little girl looked up with tears clinging to hershes and asked sincerely. "Did you sell your kidney?"


    "Say what?" Liam did not know how to respond and ended upughing. "This is what you were worried about?" He clutched his stomach andughed hard.


    "You idiot. I didn''t sell anything. If you keep asking me things like this, I am going to sell you!" He pinched her cheeks and wiped her tears away. "Don''t cry okay?"


    "Un." Meilin nodded obediently in a daze and looking at her nk face, Liam exined a little with patience.


    "I am making good money ying the game. So you don''t have to worry about anything for now. In the future, things will be even better and we can live a peaceful life."


    "I will make sure of that, okay? Trust your brother."


    Though Meilin nodded her head, she still couldn''t help but worry about the person in front of her. Was he working himself to death just to give them both these unnecessaryforts?


    "Brother¡­ then¡­ can I also y the game? I will be able to help too?" She quickly eximed.


    "Ha Ha Ha. Yes, yes. That is the n. Give me one month and then we can both y the game together and make lots of money. Sounds good?"


    Meilin did not expect her brother to agree with her so readily so she was instantly overjoyed. She nodded her head hurriedly. "You already said it. You can''t change your mindter?!"


    "Ha Ha Ha. I won''t. Don''t worry."


    The two continued chatting while the men inside assembled everything and almost set up the entire apartment for use.


    Since all of this created quite a bit of ruckus, the neighboring apartment door opened and its upant stepped outside to take a look.


    "Are you both renting this ce?"


    Liam turned around to see a young woman, probably in her twenties, munching on a bag of chips and looking at them.


    She was wearing a pair of high-waisted shorts and a small shirt, which did not do a good job of covering any of her curves properly.


    Her long ck hair hung loosely in curls and she looked very beautiful like a model.


    But surprisingly, she also wore a pleasant smile on her face, revealing small dimples, which made her seem like a polite and friendly person.


    Liam did not want his sister to feel lonely, especially when he was going to be gaming full time the next few days, so he decided to put effort and make proper introductions.


    "Hello, I am Liam and this is my sister Meilin. Nice to meet you."


    Following his actions, the Mei Mei did the same thing. "Hi, big sis. We are your new neighbors. Please take care of us!"


    The woman also smiled and looked somewhat surprised. "I am Shen Yue. Nice to meet you too. You guys are so polite. Where are you from? Are your parents inside?"


    "Ah¡­ it''s just us. Ha Ha." Meilin replied.


    "Eh? You are living alone with your brother?"


    Liam had already moved away and started doing something with his phone, leaving the two girls to talk and be acquainted.


    He took care of all the necessities for the new ce, settled the bnce amount for their old apartment, andstly got the gaming capsule moved over.


    He had also ordered another gaming capsule for his sister that was delivered promptly.


    By the end of the day, almost all the work was done and food arrived as well. He invited their new neighbor over even though he was unsure if the person would be offended.


    However, Shen Yue was more than happy to join them. She even praised Liam, looking around the apartment. "Not bad. Your taste in interior decorating is not bad."


    He, on the other hand, simply nodded as he didn''t know what to say. He had just casually ordered whatever had the best review.


    The three sat down and ate dinner at the dining table making small conversations. Well, it was mostly the two girls chatting and Liam silently wolfing down his portion.


    He also did not linger longer than necessary.. He quickly finished eating and washed up.

 Chapter 63 - I Am Here To Issue A Job

    <h4>Chapter 63 - I Am Here To Issue A Job</h4>


    "Mei Mei. You both have fun. I will be inside. Lock the door properly before sleeping."


    "Un." The little girl nodded, while Shen Yue switched on the TV and was fiddling with the remote.


    "Alright. I will see you bothter then." Liam smiled and went inside his room, closing the door behind him.


    "Mei Mei, what is your brother doing?" Shen Yue asked curiously.


    "Ah. He is a professional gamer, sis." There was a proud smile on the girl''s little face.


    "Oh! Is he ying that new game everyone is talking about? I am also going to try it soon! Apparently, it is very realistic and we can have cute animals as pets."


    "Have you also yed the game? How is it? Do you like it?"


    Meilin shook her head. "Ha Ha. I don''t know. I might y it next month."


    The two continued chatting for a bit, after which Shen Yue left and Meilin locked the door just as her brother had instructed her.


    The apartment was a 3 bedroom apartment so she had her own space now and the young girl had a face full of smiles as she looked around her new room.


    Everything was brand new and shiny and there was a soft bed, dressing table, study table, and also a desktopputer.


    "Ahh¡­ brother bought all of these?" She gulped nervously.


    A couple of minutester, a determined look appeared on her face and she quickly switched on theputer to learn everything that she could about the new game.


    She didn''t know if she was going to be any good at it, but she wanted to do her best to help out her brother who was carrying all the burden by himself.


    Meanwhile¡­ Inside Liam''s room¡­


    The gentle and loving smile he had worn on his face all this while hadpletely disappeared, leaving behind only an unmasked look of anger and coldness.


    He silently opened the capsule and stepped into the game world once again, finding himself in the midst of a crowded street.


    Several yers had entered the city and it was now much livelier than before.


    This was only going to worsen in theing few days as Yleka city was one of the key ces in the Gresh Kingdom.


    Liam, however, did not care about the crowd. He in fact preferred it.


    His figure did not stand out in the crowd and he inconspicuously walked over to a bridge that connected the two halves of the city.


    But instead of walking over the bridge, he went under it and opened a door which led to somewhere dark.


    This was one of the entrances to the underground sewagework of the city and at least on the surface, it lookedpletely abandoned.


    There were a few rats that scurried over to Liam from some corner which he quickly finished off with a swing of his sword.


    He kept walking deeper and deeper until he reached a particr ce where there was another door. Liam did not hesitate and he opened this door as well.


    Surprisingly, this time there was no dark tunnel or a bleak atmosphere. Rather, bright disorienting lights shed like that of a nightclub''s and loud boisterous noises spilled outside.


    Liam calmly stepped in and closed the door behind him.


    This was the infamous notorious underbelly of the trade capital of the Kingdom, purely a den of thieves, mongrels, and criminals.


    Even the safety of the city which applied everywhere, preventing any yers from getting attacked or injured, did not exist here.


    There were a lot of hawkers selling suspicious items, women of the night, pickpockets, drunkards, and gamblers littered around everywhere.


    A couple of brawls were taking ce here and there. Even the air inside was nauseatingly intoxicating as if it was filled with drugs.


    Liam kept his head down and weaved through the crowded ce, making sure not to engage anyone. He only stopped when he reached a fat disgustingly dressed drag queen.


    "Hey handsome, do you want to go for a ride? Only 1 gold for an hour! He He He." The man yfully shed his plunging neckline, making a supposedly seductive pose.


    However, Liam''s face was still emotionless and indifferent, as if he was untouched by the depravity surrounding him. "I am here to issue a job."


    "OOOOOhhh¡­ Such a pity! I would have loved to ride a handsome guy like you! Right this way, darling." He lifted up a curtain on the left and Liam entered a small tent-like space.


    Weirdly, inside the tent, there was no one present. However, Liam fished out a couple of gold coins and ced them on the empty table, along with a piece of paper.


    "I need information on the whereabouts of these people."


    After which, without looking back, he exited the tent and walked out of the raging underbelly, back onto the sewerworks, and then out from under the bridge.


    He was back above the ground, in the main city again.


    Liam silently walked over to a shop, filled up on all of his essentials, and proceeded to walk out of the gates of the city.


    And just as he was about to leave, a prompt notification chimed in with a list of names and ces.


    "Hmmm¡­ Already? Not bad. As reliable as always." Liam''s lips finally curled into a smile. "Time to take out the trash."


    Originally, Liam had not nned to deal with this particr issue this soon, but even he didn''t have the discipline to remain calm after what happened earlier today.


    He would have taken care of them, right then and there, back in that small alley.


    It didn''t matter that they had the advantage in numbers. He could have still turned every single one of them into lifeless dolls, but he did not.


    It took him every ounce of control he had to not do that and unnecessarilyplicate his future and his sister''s future.


    But that was his limit. Now in the game¡­ there was no need for him to hold back anymore.. He really did not have that much patience or self-control.

 Chapter 64 - Settling Some Debts

    <h4>Chapter 64 - Settling Some Debts</h4>


    "Dude, this is an amazing quest! Oof! I can''t wait to get the rewards."


    "Ya, brother. Your luck in this game is simply amazing. I think we should be the first one tond a chain quest. I don''t think anyone else had triggered anything like this before."


    "Ahhhhh! I am psyched! I am getting goosebumps!"


    Five young men were standing in a group and fighting with gued wolves, beasts that were affected by some sort of disease.


    Their skills weren''t too bad and their group formation, as well, was good. Two of them tanked all the iing attacks, one person healed and the remaining two were damage dealers.


    Surprisingly, these five people were the same five bullies that always stuck together and had been making Liam''s life a living hell ever since middle school.


    In his previous time around, these people were also one of the main reasons why he was forced to live as a ve, and his sister suffered a miserable ending.


    Liam owed a lot of debt to a lot of people and he did not intend to pay it all back this early, but these people went out of their way to remind him about it.


    So who was he to refuse their wishes?


    Unbeknownst to the five guys who were stalking a huge gued ape, there was another predator stalking them at the moment.


    Liam waited patiently. He wanted to savor this.


    A couple of secondster, the tank provoked the giant ape using his [Majestic Roar] and the ape started running towards the group.


    OOOOO!!! AAAHHHH! OOOOOO!!! AHHHHH!


    A volley of attacks swiftlynded on the beast.


    Though the two tanks struggled a little to hold the animal''s enraged punches, heavy damage numbers floated on the ape''s head and before long, its health almost bottomed out.


    "OOOOO!!! AHHHHH!!!" One of them imitated the ape and grinned wildly, as he was about tond thest hit. This was the leader of the bullies, Liu Senlin.


    He dashed ahead and swung his hammer when unexpectedly a bolt of lightningnded and before he could attack, the ape already fell down on the ground, dead and lifeless.


    "What the fuck? Who attacked it?" Liu Senlin turned around and shouted like a lunatic.


    "Bro, none of us made any moves." One person answered.


    "Yes, bro. No one did anything. Also even if we did, we would have gotten the experience points because we are all in the same party." Another one pointed out the obvious.


    Liu Senlin''s eyes widened in realization. That was right! This couldn''t have been done by any of his underlings! Him getting thest hit in had always been merely a sign of respect.


    So who the heck stole their kill? Was there someone else here? Hiding in stealth perhaps?


    All of them turned around and looked here and there, but the ce was ominously quiet. Not even the leaves in the tree moved.


    Everyone was confused and remained silent, but their misfortune was not yet over. A smoke bombnded in the middle of the five yers and from it, thick white smoke started pouring out.


    "What the fuck is happening now?"


    "Gao, use wind des or something!"


    However, the person named Gao did not respond and the next instant, a party notification sounded.


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    "Hey! Heal me. Heal me." Someone else shouted and a secondter, another notification chimed in.


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    Liu Senlin wanted to tear out his hair. He looked around in a haze like an idiot, having absolutely no idea of what was happening.


    One by one all his group members were dropping like flies.


    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Wasn''t everything going smoothly? What is wrong? Just what the fuck is¡­"


    [Ding. You have died]


    Just as Liu Senlin''s body fell down, the smoke cleared as well, revealing 5 dead bodies on the forest ground and a bunch of scattered equipments.


    Of course, there was another person as well, the person who was responsible for everything.


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry.


    The smoke grenade''s effect was only for 10 seconds and within that time, all five had been easily attacked and killed.


    He did not even have to break a sweat in order to kill the group of people who had made his entire life miserable. How pathetic!


    Regret and anger filled his heart. If only he had stood up to them¡­ if only he had been a bit better, then probably everything wouldn''t have turned out the way it had?


    He let out a sigh and casually bent to pick up the drops. There was no point in thinking about the past anymore.


    His figure then blurred and he channeled his mana to his feet to increase his speed and then moved to the big cemetery nearby.


    This was the nearest grave and it was located near the neighboring vige. This was also where Liu Senlin and his gang had obtained their quest.


    And this was also going to be their permanent graveyard.


    As the dead bodies littered on the ground became dust and dispersed into the air, the five of them promptly spawned at the vige graveyard.


    And just as they spawned...


    "Guys, what exactly¡­ Ahhh..."


    "Fuckkkk!"


    "Again?"


    Liu Senlin did not even get a chance to look at the enemy''s face when the notifications poured in all over again.


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. You have died]


    Five dead bodies fell on the ground, one after the other, and a couple of secondster, they disappeared leaving behind only a couple of items.


    This time Liu Senlin was more aware that something suspicious was going on.. So he opened his status screen to log out as soon as his consciousness returned.

 Chapter 65 - Even Death Cannot Save You

    <h4>Chapter 65 - Even Death Cannot Save You</h4>


    In the ''Evolution Online'' game, graveyards did not have any immunity and yers could be killed just as they respawned.


    And they also could not log out until they summoned their status screen after they respawned and selected the logout option.


    So technically, if one managed to attack a person before they could log out, they can infinitely keep killing their target as long as they wanted or rather as long as the other person''s soul was still existent.


    This only came to be knownter in the game and by then graveyard massacres had be amon urrence.


    This single loophole made all kinds of stealth skills highly valuable as that was one of the ways yers could escape from the potential graveyard massacre.


    However, the current yers had no idea about these things, especially the five fumbling young men who were getting ughtered right now mercilessly.


    Liam had no intention of holding back. It was inevitable that the strong trampled on the weak. The difference was that this time he was the stronger one.


    So why would he hold back? The people whom he was killing over and over had never shown him that same kindness.


    The world was never fair to begin with and this game and the apocalypse that ensued only made this worse. The dice have already been rolled and this was just the beginning.


    Liu Senlin and the rest of the group wailed inwardly as they began to experience torture that they had never even dreamt of before in their wildest nightmares.


    The game''s realistic feature made this a hundred times worse.


    How painful was a small cut on a finger? And how painful would the same cut be if it was aimed at a person''s throat and ended their life?


    By now, Liam''s identity was no longer a mystery to them. Their dead lifeless eyes stared at the death god in front of them every single time they were killed and brought back to life.


    They hadn''t recognized him yet as his features were somewhat different in-gamepared to real life.


    But they could tell that they had seen him somewhere before even if they couldn''t exactly pinpoint him.


    Liam also did not put any effort into hiding his face. Today was theirst day. What was even the point of hiding anything?


    Only a small blissful smile hung on his face as he continued shing his sword without batting an eyelid.


    Every time the five bullies spawned, his hand moved with perfect coordination and cut them down.


    All their equipments fell down one after the other and after the first twenty times, their levels were also brought down to 0.


    Liu Senlin and the others were at the end of their wits.


    They had just started ying the game and hadn''t really offended anyone, so they didn''t have the slightest idea of why this was happening to them.


    By the time they saw that they had again be Level 0 characters, some of them were secretly overjoyed.


    At least now this insane torture was going to stop?


    However, unfortunately for them. Liam was not a kind person. His target was never their level. He also did not intend to simply cripple them. He altogether wanted to erase their existence.


    The five naked bodies hoped and prayed that the god of death had departed, but when they respawned again¡­


    sh


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. A member of your party has died]


    [Ding. You have died]


    "FUUUUCKKKK!" Liu Senlin writhed in misery. He hated that he was the party leader as he received all the extra notifications which made it even more painful.


    Weren''t they already bankrupt, naked, and at level 0? What more did this person want? Just who the heck did they offend to bring this inhumane torture onto themselves?


    Out of nowhere, for no reason, a familiar face crossed Liu Senlin''s mind, but he put that thought away as he knew that it couldn''t possibly be that loser.


    But now that he had considered it... a slight doubt arose in the depth of his heart... that too if he squinted his eyes, the person in front of him was somewhat simr...


    So maybe? But how could that loser possibly be so strong? He was just a fucking spineless worm.


    He did not have time to think about it anymore as once again another round of torture descended upon them.


    And to add to their already maxed out misery, another thing started to happen. After they reached level 0, losing all their experience points, skill proficiency, and stat points, something felt weird.


    Every time they died now, there was first a burst of terrible stinging pain that apanied the death, but after this, a dull pain echoed even in the fraction of a second where they were supposed to feel peace before they respawned and died all over again.


    And this only became worse¡­


    Little by little this dull pain became a throbbing head splitting ache that seemed to spread all over the body without having a particr point of origin.


    It hurt so badly that it felt like their brain was being squeezed and juiced. Every single sense or rational thought their minds possessed disappeared and they were about to lose itpletely.


    And eventually, the five people altogether disappeared.


    Meanwhile, Liam yawnedzily. He had already forgotten the total counts of death. It didn''t matter. There was no point keeping track of it.


    Everybody''s innate soul had a different strength and there was no set number of deaths for erasing someone out of existence.


    As he prepared to once again kill¡­ no one appeared this time. This could only mean that this goal was sessfully aplished!


    "Hmmm? Done already?" He coldly chuckled and stood up. "Did not evenst for 5 hours! How pathetic!"


    Liam closed his eyes for a moment, let out a deep breath, and walked away from there without looking back.


    Unexpectedly, a system notification popped up in front of him.

 Chapter 66 - Soul Devourer

    <h4>Chapter 66 - Soul Devourer</h4>


    [Ding. You are the first person to obliterate a soul.]


    [Ding. You have obtained the title ''Soul Devourer'']


    [Soul Devourer: When the title is equipped, undead affinity is increased by a grade]


    [Ding. You have obtained both the title ''Soul Devourer'' and possess SSS grade undead affinity. You are now able to enter theher realm at will]


    [Ding. Unique quest avable. Devour the souls of a 100!]


    [Ding. Quest Reward: Skill book]


    Liam paused in his footsteps and looked at the notifications that had popped up curiously. As his eyes gazed at the few words from top to bottom, he was more shocked.


    The title was a new title that was unheard of, probably because the person who got it did not want to advertise the fact that he killed someone. Irrespectively, it was useless to him.


    Next was the notification about theher realm. This was not entirely new to Liam.


    After the first month, there would be an event and at that time, everyone would be able to go to this ce.


    But now, it looked like he could go there already before the event started! Liam clenched his fists as he already started calcting in his mind all the things that he could do there.


    If everything worked out the way he wanted, he could really gain a lot of advantages there. This perk alone was extremely rewarding!


    But thest one¡­ the unique quest¡­


    It might have been worded normally, but without a doubt, this quest was asking him to do something unspeakable.


    "Devour 100 souls¡­ that means that I have to kill 100 people?" Liam''s expression only faltered for a second before returning back to its normal cold appearance.


    This waspletely unexpected and he had not heard of any such quest even before. However, it was a unique quest. So he was not nning to let it go.


    "Yes." He muttered without any hesitation.


    At the beginning of the game, every second and every minute was precious, but even then, he had wasted 5 hours dealing with a ghost of his past.


    He had to do this because he didn''t want what happened on the street to repeat again. He didn''t waste his time moving to a new apartment with his sister just to live alongside trash again.


    Trash needed to be taken out. Otherwise, it would only stink up everything. This had been his only goal. He had no idea that this would lead to something else, another unique quest at that!


    What were unique quests? They were quests that gave out unimaginable rewards! They were the quests that could single-handedly raise someone to the top!


    In his past life, there were even some rumors that there were only 10 such quests in the entire game.


    And yet currently, Liam alone possessed two of such quests!


    "A 100 people! Huuuuu!" Liam let out a deep breath and squatted on the ground, scribbling in the mid with a small twig.


    Spirit pet egg¡­ forging¡­ perfect foundation¡­ and now theher realm and the new quest! There were too many things that he needed to do and not enough time.


    Apart from this, there was also the prison key and the gem shard, he had obtained from Niria''sir. These were not his top priority at the moment as he was still not sure if this would amount to anything.


    He had to finish all of these and then a few other checks on his list before he could implement the next phase of his n and bring his sister into the game as well.


    Liam settled his mind a bit and then once again started moving. After thinking about the various options he had, he decisively chose his first step, the spirit pet egg!


    Spirit pets required a lot of attention, a long time to mature, and more importantly, a lot of resources!


    Since he was going to be traveling to quite a few high-leveled areas and ces with thick mana density, he decided to hatch the egg first to be more efficient.


    Besides, every spirit pet was different, so even though he knew a method to hatch it, he was not 100% sure that it was going to work.


    When it involved higher-tier items and pets, people generally tended to be tight-lipped and it would have been easier if he had been someone of importance.


    But Liam had only been a ve and when he broke free from that fate, he had been one of the people at the bottom, scraping for whatever he could find to be stronger.


    He had scoured every single piece of information that was avable at that time to see if he could somehow change his fate.


    Everything he now knew was also because of this. He had worked day and night to change his ce in society and now he was going to enjoy all the fruits of hisbor.


    Liam continued casually walking through the forests. He was still roaming around Yleka city and did not appear to be going anywhere secretive to hatch his spirit type pet egg.


    After walking for a few minutes, he stopped in front of a chain of mountains. This set of hills was neither tall nor extending extensive.


    There was simply a huge crater of barrennd and in the midst of this were four hills, standing erect. But surprisingly, there was smokeing out of the top.


    Liam quickly jumped into the barren crater and started walking ahead. A few yers were present here and there grindingva smanders that were crawling all over the area.


    These beasts had thick hardened scales that provided them tremendous physical defense and on top of that, they also used fire magic.


    Their level was also ten times higher than that of Liam''s current level which was Level 15. However, he casually walked around heading deeper and deeper into the crater towards the mountains.


    SSSHHIIISSS!


    Ava smander soon jumped in front of him, opening its mouth and throwing a fireball.

 Chapter 67 - Did You Call Me?

    <h4>Chapter 67 - Did You Call Me?</h4>


    "Healer! Can''t you cast holy protection beforehand? This fucking fire attack hurts like my dick is on fire. Damn you!"


    "Shut up! I am taking more damage than you. What the fuck are you crying for?"


    "You shut up!"


    Watching the tank and the damage dealer fight with each other, the healer was just about to lose her patience. "If you guys both don''t shut up and stop fighting, I am going to let you both die."


    The tank turned around and was about to say something when he noticed the presence of a new person. "Who the hell is that?"


    He used two of his fingers to whistle loudly and waved at the solo person moving a bit ahead of them. "Dude, we are farming here. Can''t you see? Get the hell out!"


    Liam smiled. He had also noticed them but they would have to wait. Another opponent had already appeared in front of him.


    "Hey look. The next one has spawned. He is fighting with the smander. Let''s go steal his." The bunch of yers chuckled and quickly ran over.


    "Idiot. Did he think that he could deal with a Level 25 smander all by himself?"


    "Even the leaderboard big shots are still hovering over Level 22 and this guy wants to take down a magical beast all by himself!"


    "Ke Ke Ke. He has the balls it seems."


    "Ke Ke Ke. Well, it''s about to be roasted balls."


    The five yers slowed down their speed, wanting Liam to get injured and die first before they started attacking the beast.


    Also, if they were lucky, the beast would have already been damaged a little, so it would be easier for them to finish it off.


    However, just as they were about to slow down, they saw a bright sh and a crimson sword appeared on the man''s hand.


    And before they could clearly see anything, Liam had already shed theva smander multiple times, his figure nimbly dodging the fire attacks.


    Significant damage numbers floated atop the smander and its two eyes were blinded!


    "Not bad." Liam grinned. After monotonously struggling with mana control for several hours, he was now able to fuse mana with his sword attacks more easily.


    It was still not quite there but he was slowly and surely getting there.


    Liam continued fighting with the smander just like how he had battled with the elite boss. He was using it as a training dummy and sparred with it while honing his own skills.


    Because of the level difference, he couldn''t finish it off easily and was slowly grinding it down bit by bit at the pace that he wasfortable with.


    And those who were watching him could also see that clearly.


    "The fuck?"


    "How the hell is he freaking soloing that thing?"


    "Did you see! He blinded it first! That must be the special strategy to fightva smanders!"


    The tank looked at the person who had spoken this wise statement and then spat on his face. "Idiot. Every beast has a pair of eyes or many! What special strategy are you talking about?"


    The mage quickly turned away, hiding his embarrassment. He had blurted out stupid words because he was too engrossed in the way the person was moving.


    Every single move he had was urate. He was not using any shy spells or powerful techniques. From what they could see, all he was doing was the basic sword shes.


    And apparently, that alone was enough to take down a beast that the five of them were struggling to handle!


    "Do you see his footwork? Ya, he is avoiding all the fireballs!"


    "Wait, is there an attack pattern? Maybe the smander throws a fireball every few seconds?"


    The group once again started discussing and studying Liam''s actions as if he was a walking battle guide.


    They even forgot about their original n of intimidating him and stealing the beast for themselves.


    The fight continued for a while as the group watched Liam with their eyes peeled open.


    Soon another smander spawned at the spot where they had been fighting one and they hurried back over to it to try and imitate him.


    "Mage! Aim for its eyes first!"


    "Theif. Attack the head!"


    "Dude, shut up. We were all watching the same thing. Just shut up and start the fight already!"


    The group quickly started sending out a volley of attacks towards theva smander and the fight this time was much simpler. They had reduced their time spent on the beast by more than a half.


    And just as they brought down the smander to thest of its health, a sharp voice sounded nearby. "Did you call me?"


    Liam had appeared right next to them silently like a ghost. The tank was so startled that he dropped his shield.


    Luckily they had already almost killed the beast, so they weren''t affected much and he quickly picked his shield back up to finish tanking the fight.


    And to their surprise, the person was still waiting for them!


    Ah... Ummm... The five looked at each other nkly before the tank finally spoke up. "Bro, are you nning to grind here?"


    "Sorry. Sorry. I am only asking because we would then go somewhere else. We don''t want to disturb you. He He."


    All the others looked at the tank who had done aplete 180, but there were noints. They only gave him a silent thumbs up.


    The person in front of them was obviously a strong yer! It was best to not make enemies out of people like that for no apparent reason.


    So one by one they all started to say ttering words to appease the expert.


    However... the so-called expert did not look pleased at all. Unexpectedly, he looked disappointed for some reason.


    "Did you guys really call me over just to talk about this?" Liam sighed. "Forget it. You guys carry on. Good luck.." He then turned around to leave without saying anything else.

 Chapter 68 - New Pet Part1

    <h4>Chapter 68 - New Pet Part1</h4>


    Liam hummed lightly and wandered deeper into the crater towards the few mountains. He was in a much better moodtely as a chore that upied a corner of his mind was taken care of.


    When he went closer to the mountain, he slowed down. He could feel the temperature bing hotter and hotter.


    Liam took a deep breath and then started circling the mountains once.


    The information he had about this ce was that there was no entry to these mountains like a cave of sorts except one at the very top.


    So he moved around searching for this cave and managed to find it after a few minutes without any issue. But the real challenge only began now.


    To reach a cave of that height, there was only one way! And that was to climb the whole damn thing!


    Liam rubbed his two hands and then ced his right hand in a small crevice. He then ced his left hand a bit higher in another crevice, pushing himself up.


    His body casually obeyed hismand, his muscles working the weight with ease. This was not really a surprise to him, but it still made him happy to do something like this casually.


    It even provided a kind of release. The more he climbed the more rxed he felt. Falling down from this height would surely mean his death, but it was still quite enjoyable.


    In a few minutes, he had already climbed halfway without any issue. Liam then quickly took out a berry and tossed it into his mouth to recover some energy.


    Things were about to get tricky. When he climbed up for another minute, suddenly loud screeching noises started to sound and a group of birds descended down.


    "Wind rippers!" Liam muttered as he looked up. These weremon aerial mobs that one had to deal with at an altitude.


    The bluish grey colored birds had medium-sized bodies like that of amon dog and their feathers were sharp and metallic which gave them the name, wind rippers.


    The four birds immediately started attacking Liam, surrounding him on all sides.


    They did not seem to possess any special attacks but their physical strength wasmendable and they drew blood quickly.


    Liam was already prepared for this so he as well immediately started attacking them back.


    And since he was dangling midair, he didn''t n on using this as a training opportunity. He quickly spammed some of his mage skills.


    [Ice shard]


    [Lightning bolt]


    [Fire ball]


    Damage numbers immediately began to float atop the birds and injuries on their bodies piled up. Their movements as well were disrupted, especially because of the slight freezing effect the ice shards possessed.


    However, Liam was also taking equal parts of the damage. He was after all clinging to the sides of a mountain and there was only so much he could evade from that position.


    But the birds were only Level 10 so the damage he was dealing was higher than the attacksing from the other side.


    Otherwise, he would have grinded a bit more and increased his level before starting this expedition.


    After casting the spells a couple of times, Liam noticed that [lightning bolt] had the highest damage numbers among the three spells he had, so he spammed it more.


    "Is this because I practiced it a lot more? Hmmm."


    The fight continued on for a few more seconds when the birds eventually dropped dead, unable to handle the attacks any longer.


    [Ding. 10 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 10 Experience points have been rewarded]


    ...


    ...


    Two of them fell down along with the loot while the other two fell nearbynding on the mountain itself.


    "Awaken." Liam quickly muttered and the dead birds once again looked alive. They pped their bleeding wings and flew next to him, waiting for hismand.


    Liam nodded contently and then began climbing once again. If more birdse, he at least had these two to deal some extra damage and lighten his load.


    As he once again resumed the climb and went higher, soon another issue began to crop up. The sturdy wall of the mountain became somewhat difficult to touch as the rocks were sizzling hot.


    "There it is." Liam chuckled.


    He grunted in pain as he took his next step but he kept pushing himself, climbing further up and faster than before.


    With this speed, even with his physique, now he was starting to be out of breath.


    But this couldn''t be helped since the slower he was the more the rocks burned his hands. At this point, just the act of climbing started nibbling away at his health.


    Adding to this, another wave of birds next appeared.


    Fwooosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!


    Their metallic wings sliced the air as they dived in to attack him. Liam paused with a bitter smile, once again beginning to spam his mage skills.


    The two undead birds fought on his behalf as well, but this time apart from the attack of the birds, the hot sizzling rocks were chipping away at his health as well.


    Liam knew that he couldn''t afford to let this continue. He looked around and saw a bigger crevice and quickly swung himself up to hold that.


    Since the holding was firm, he only needed one hand. He took out his sword from the inventory using his other hand and started slicing the birds with his crimson de.


    The tables suddenly turned and the birds were now quickly pushed back.


    He easily gained the upper hand again and soon, with a very dangerous bnce of losing health and dealing damage, he shed down all the birds that wereing at him.


    One by one all of them dropped dead and his 2 undead summons were still active, though one''s wing was badly shredded.


    [Ding. 10 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 10 Experience points have been rewarded]


    ...


    ...


    "Not bad. That was so close."


    Liam quickly took out a health potion from his inventory and recovered his health points as the next second another damage number showed up for him from holding the hot sizzling rock.


    His hand as well was stinging with the pain of holding the scorching hot object.


    "Fuck!" He switched his hands and used the other hand to hold onto the crevice and looked at the dead birds sprawled


    "Awaken." Four more undead birds were summoned but since his current limit was controlling only 5 undead, one fell back down.


    "Alright. Time to finish thest stretch of the climb. Huaaa" Liam sucked in a big mouthful of air and stretched his chest before sprinting upwards with a burst of energy.


    He was clearly pushing his limits and for someone looking at him from the ground, it would seem like he was running up the mountain, rather than climbing it.


    He focused all of his mana on his hands and his feet, moving up with the utmost strength and agility that he could muster.


    This would be difficult even for him to maintain throughout the entire climb but now he could almost see the cave opening so Liam sprinted up without holding back.


    By the time he reached the cave, he almost crashed into it.


    However, he was not done yet as a huge bird stared back at him from inside. It was guarding a bunch of eggs near it and a silver glow covered its body.


    [Twin-tailed Wind Ripper]


    (Elite Boss)


    Level 15


    Health: 50000


    This was the regr elite boss, twin-tailed wind ripper. As one of the elite bosses in this area, it was obviously a famous one and Liam was already aware of its attack patterns.


    "Huff¡­ Attack¡­ Huff" He readily sacrificed his undead birds to catch a breath.


    His vision was also blurry and his body was also feeling faint, both because of the altitude and exhaustion, not to mention the heat.


    Without hesitation, he downed another health potion and then joined the fight after a few seconds. Three of his undead were already dead.


    Since the undead summons was weaker than their original counterparts, it was already enough that two of them survived, probably because the elite boss was guarding its eggs while it was also trying to fight.


    Liam was still surprised to see the eggs near the elite because eggs were rare, to begin with, especially that of flying pets.


    Even if the pets did not transfer from the virtual game world to the real world, flying pets were still very valuable as they saved a lot of time if they were raised to be mounts.


    But the previous time around, there hadn''t been any news about anyone finding eggs in this cave.


    "Eh? So many people hid things I see. Firste first serve I guess."


    Liam grinned and then unsheathed his sword to deal with the huge bird in front of him. This time there was no other restraint and he was able to finally fight freely.


    sh! sh! sh!


    The crimson de shed as he danced around the bird, especially from an angle as if he was targeting the eggs.

 Chapter 69 - New Pet Part2

    <h4>Chapter 69 - New Pet Part2</h4>


    Kaaaaa! Kaaaaa!


    Liam''s attacks made the twin-tailed wind ripper''s speed slow down and he managed to get in a couple of decent attacks.


    He continued attacking the elite, switching between using his sword attacks and lightning bolts.


    Compared to the bear king, this one did notst long as the bird was trapped within the cave unable to exhibit its full agility which was its strong point. It was also guarding the eggs which made it restless and unfocused.


    "This has to be the easiest elite!" Liam grinned.


    It was perhaps designed as a reward for the yer who managed to climb atop the mountain first.


    But this was not his final target, so without wasting a lot of time, he quickly brought down the wind ripper to its final bits of health.


    As ast ditch attempt, the bird tried to use everything it had and sent out sts of sharp winds by pping both of its wings.


    Liam rooted his feet to the ground and stabbed his sword into a rock crevice, strongly holding on.


    He then swung forward tond behind the bird, swiftly bringing down his sword to sh the bird''s neck when he noticed that the eggs were about to be blown out of the cave.


    Liam missed the attack on purpose and instead managed to grab an egg, saving at least one of them. He then sent out a bolt of lightning to finish the bird that was already severely injured.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Twin-tailed Wind Ripper. You have gained 10000 Experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    The experience points this time were not as much as when he had killed the previous elite but the difficulty had also been less as there wasn''t much of a level difference.


    And this was just as an unexpected windfall, the main eventid ahead. Liam put the bird''s egg into his inventory and then walked to the end of the cave which surprisingly was also open.


    Liam walked all the way to the opening and peered inside as the hot scalding waves of warm air assaulted his face.


    In front of him, inside the mountain was a pool of gurglingva and in the midst of thisva was a huge rock. Liam sucked in a big mouthful of air and jumped from the cave onto the rock,nding steadily.


    He lost a bit of health as the rock just like everything else was scalding hot, but he quickly emptied a sk of health potion to recover back his full health.


    "Now let me see if this works." Liam sat down cross-legged and took out the egg he had gotten from Niria''sir out of his inventory space.


    He ced the egg on the scalding hot rock and then stepped back from it, observing it curiously. He had only read about this vaguely so he wanted to see how exactly this was going to work.


    Within seconds, wisps of burning red fire essences arose from theva and flew towards the big egg, one by one.


    They swirled around the egg and then disappeared as if they had entered the egg itself. "Interesting." Liam mused. He took out the other egg as well and ced it near this one.


    The second egg was the one he had obtained from the twin-tailed wind ripper. But as soon as he took this one out, cracks started forming on the egg.


    "Fuck!" Liam immediately put it back into his inventory. He had never dealt with pets or the even rarer pet eggs in his previous life.


    He assumed that the wind ripper''s egg might also benefit from theva as its nest was located on the same mountain but from the looks of it, it was probably not.


    "Well. I will check it outter if it is still salvageable." Liam scratched his chin and once again started observing the first egg.


    More and more fire essence had gathered around the egg and they were all slowly being absorbed by it. "So a spirit type beast is born from the essence of that element? Hmm."


    "Can I also absorb this essence?"


    Liam reached his hand forward to touch the red wisps of energy. He expected it to be scalding hot but these were rather warm, even rxing, and nice to touch.


    And as he was moving his hand around, a small bit of the fire essence went inside his finger as well. "What?" Liam quickly pulled his hand back.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have gained an affinity for the fire element. All you fire type attacks have 5% increased damage]


    Liam waspletely speechless.


    He had heard about this specific term called affinity and how certain mages had extremely high affinities, but he didn''t know anything about it, let alone expect to gain it at such an early stage of the game.


    This kind of information was highly regted and not avable for everyone to know. All he knew about spirit type pets was that they were likely to hatch in their element.


    And people who had contracted spirit type pets were strong enough to hold their own in the real world when the madness descended.


    But there was clearly more to this!


    Liam flopped down on the rock and threw his head back tough loudly. It seemed like he needed to keep his eyes and brain working all the time.


    Even the smallest detail could apparently hold tremendous significance. He let out a deep breath and once again started hovering his hand near the egg.


    From what he could see, it was the egg that was acting as a sort of ma pulling in all the wisps of fire essence. When he ced his hand directly over theva, this did not happen.


    And he did not dare test it out by cing it inside theva.. His hand would probably be burnt to a crisp in a fraction of a second and he did not possess any healing spell just yet.

 Chapter 70 - New Pet Part3

    <h4>Chapter 70 - New Pet Part3</h4>


    From what Liam could tell, it was clearly the egg that was kind of refining the fire essence from theva and he was stealing bits and pieces of it.


    This gave him an idea.


    Liam lifted the egg and sat down on the rock, then ced the egg on hisp. After which, he continued absorbing whatever essence that he could steal from it.


    He carried on with this for several minutes without any disturbance.


    However, as time passed, theva started bubbling and gurgling more and a hissing sound echoed in the pool of molten rocks and fire.


    Liam quickly ced the egg back on the rock and stood up. Surrounding him on four sides were fourva mambas.


    "Hmmm. Did you guys show up because we were stealing your essence?" He grinned and made his move.


    After absorbing a little of the fire essence, he was beginning to feel a bit morefortable in theva filled hellish ce but he was not a fool to think that this would be of any help.


    These snakes held the absolute advantage as they were standing in their domain. Moreover, they were also Level 25 just like theva smanders.


    Liam cautiously went all out from the very beginning and cast a [lightning bolt] before shing his sword at the red scaled reptile.


    -150


    A huge damage number popped out, blood spurted from the injury but the very next second the health drop was replenished and the blood dried up.


    The mamba''s health went back up leaving behind only 30 residual damage. Liam then watched this as well disappear as the mamba dipped its head in theva and hissed proudly once again.


    As if this wasn''t enough, the other three snakes all attacked at the same time and not him. They aimed for the egg that was silently collecting the fire essence.


    "Fuck!" Liam quickly backed up and stood in front of the egg. He suddenly found himself in the same position as that of the twin-tailed wind ripper, trying to protect his egg like a mother bird.


    He waved his sword, parrying the advances of the four mambas from the four sides, but he only sessfully blocked them. Dealing them damage seemed almost impossible at this rate.


    He didn''t even get a chance to think of a better strategy as the fourva mambas continued hissing anding at the egg relentlessly.


    Liam started sweating. Considering his skills and abilities, it looked like he had still acted overconfidently.


    He could have dealt with these snakes in a more rxed manner if he had leveled just a bit more, but then again Liam did not regret it.


    He had dealt with worse before. This sticky situation was nothing more than a golden training opportunity for him or rather he decided to look at it that way.


    "So I cannot deal any damage and I have to keep blocking their attacks at least until the egg hatches. Alright. Bring it on."


    Just like he tried tobine mana with his forging technique, he once again started practicing mana with his sword moves.


    The damage numbers instantly went up.


    -230


    -190


    -220


    -240


    However, the four mambas easily took care of it by taking another dip in theva pool.


    Hisssss! Hisssss! Hissssss! They came back at him with the same strength and vigor and the cycle once again started without any change.


    Liam smiled bitterly at this frustrating sight and continued fighting back patiently. Time ticked by slowly and every minute felt like an hour.


    His reserves of mana potions, health potions, and stamina berries were also slowly dwindling one at a time.


    In reality, it was harmful to use these supplements as every time anyone used these things unless it was of the highest grade quality, a certain amount of residual impurities remained behind.


    Liam only ignored this part as he was eventually going to fully cleanse his body. Otherwise, even this wouldn''t have been an option.


    But even so, it was slowly bing more and more difficult to keep up as there was also the mental fatigue that came into the picture.


    Liam could only hope that it would be the same for the four mambas but unfortunately, before he could find out if that was true or not, something else happened.


    All of a sudden, the amount of fire essence seeping out of theva increased and it looked like more and more wisps were swirling around the egg.


    The eggshell as well was glowing brightly and radiating some sort of strange energy. "Haaaa... is this finally over?" Liam tiredly exhaled as he swung his sword again.


    As if answering him, theva surrounding them gurgled again, and adding to his misery, another fourva mambas arose from the bed of magma.


    His face instantly darkened seeing all eight snakesing at him or rather the egg at the same time. "Motherfucker! I am screwed!"


    He shed his sword around in a frenzy trying to block and parry with all eight snakes but that quickly drained his reserves in the blink of an eye.


    All eight of them took a dip in theva pool, replenished their reserves, and came back hissing angrily.


    They looked determined to break open the egg and take out all the fire essences that had gone inside. Liam only needed a second to know that this was going to end badly.


    He was going to die and at the same time lose the egg as well. While the former was not absolutely irreversible, thetter would set him back quite a bit.


    "Huff. It looks like there is no other way. I will have to use that." Liam sighed and then calmed down andposed himself for a moment before closing his eyes.


    "This better work."


    He was no longer looking at the eight mambas or their movements. He looked like he had given uppletely.


    And as the eight snakes came hissing at the egg, just when they were about to shatter it open, Liam finally moved.

 Chapter 71 - Not One But Two

    <h4>Chapter 71 - Not One But Two</h4>


    Liam''s figure was a blur and the crimson de in his hand let out a shrill cry before breaking apart into several fragments.


    At the same time, a hundred swords appeared out of nowhere and pierced the snakes from top to bottom.


    -2000


    -2000


    -2000


    -2000


    -2000


    -2000


    -2000


    -2000


    One hit kill! All eight snakes dropped down dead, sprawled on the rock and Liam as well was lying amidst them unconsciously.


    An ominous silence prevailed on the inside of the volcanic mountain and a few minutester soft cracking sounds echoed.


    Kyyuuuu?


    ....


    ....


    ....


    With the sizzling heat waves constantly assaulting him, Liam was only unconscious for barely a minute. Besides, there was something wet and dripping on his face.


    He scrunched his face and stirred awake, feeling the wet sticky liquid all over his face and neck. And as soon as he was able to think clearly, he jolted to sit upright. "Damn it. The egg!"


    Liam''s eyes widened as he was about to hurriedly see what was happening around him and if he was in any immediate danger when unexpectedly he came face to face with something else.


    A small creature was standing on hisp, looking up at him with its big wide eyes.


    Kyuuuu.


    It purred and before he could react, it immediately jumped on him and started licking his face like a small puppy.


    "What the¡­" Liam was baffled. He plucked the baby beast by the scruff of its neck and took a look at it. It was a fox spirit beast and its fur was a ruby red color.


    He stared at the creature for a second, and then lightly chuckled, as everything fell into ce. "So you are the spirit beast huh?"


    Unexpectedly a soft voice answered him back. ''Papa''


    "Oh!" Liam was amazed once again. He had never dealt withpanion beasts before.


    Though he knew that apanion beast and its master shared a mental connection, this was the first time he was experiencing it personally.


    "Wait. Are you bound to me already or am I yet to tame you?"


    Liam knew that pets hatched from eggs were automatically tamed and belonged to the owner of the egg, but he still wanted to verify it with his own eyes.


    He hurriedly opened the status screen to check when a number of notifications bombarded him.


    [Ding. 300 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 300 Experience points have been rewarded]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "These must be the experience points from the eightva mambas." He swiped them away and looked at the next few notifications.


    [Ding. A new skill ''Spirit Wrath'' has been created due to your actions]


    [Spirit Wrath: Consumes 50% soul strength; Million swords arise from the earth, each dealing 1000% damage to the enemy that had incurred the wrath; Cooldown: None]


    [Ding. Your Soul Strength is too weak. The Skill has been locked]


    Liam tiredly smiled at this familiar skill. This was the second and most powerful attack he hadprehended by himself in his previous life.


    He was not fortunate enough to run into any of the famous Sword Heritages or Sword''s Will like the other yers.


    After he had broken free from his life of very, this was all that he could manage to pick up, [Spirit sh] and [Spirit Wrath].


    Perhaps if he hadprehended more about the way of the sword he would have had a chance to learn even stronger attacks, but he never had that opportunity.


    However, that was going to change this time around. This was why Liam did not hesitate and used this trump card in his possession.


    Now both the spirit sword skills he possessed were locked, but it wouldn''t be long before he unlocked them and finished hisprehension.


    Liam let out a long tired sigh and then looked at thest few remaining notifications. "I even used my trump card, so this better be worth it."


    [Ding. Egg is hatching]


    [Ding. You have obtained a new pet]


    [Ding. Egg is hatching]


    [Ding. You have obtained a new pet]


    "Huh?" Liam was confused seeing two notifications of egg hatching.


    "Both the eggs hatched?" He looked around again, this time lifting his head up, to finally see a small wind ripper chirping above his head.


    "Come here." He muttered waving his hand when the bird quickly flew down to him. It was only barely the size of his palm, the same as the red fox.


    "How are you able to fly already?" He chuckled.


    The bird shook its head but it didn''t speak back to him like the fox. Of course, this difference was to be expected.


    Even though he shared a mental link with both of them, one was a normal beast while the other was a spirit beast.


    So while the fox could freely converse with him, or at least speak something rudimentary, the bird could only understand hismands.


    He nced at the two tiny beasts circling him and looking at him with their big wide eyes and shook his head helplessly. "Looks like I need to spend some time leveling you guys up."


    Liam also didn''t want this incident to repeat itself once again. Though leveling up was not his top priority, it was something that needed to be done to progress further in the game.


    His gaze casually dragged over the corpses of theva mambas as he checked for any loot and a few copper coins and a couple of silver coins were scattered around.


    There was also a pair of ming red braces and a skill book.


    Liam first picked up the skill book to take a look.


    [Lava Rain] - Consumes 20% of base mana; 5 second cast time; Calls down a rain of fire andva, burning all enemies within the vicinity with 50% spell damage.


    "Hmmm. Not bad." Liam quickly learned the skill.


    Thisbined with the boost he had for fire magic as a result of collecting fire essence would together pull big numbers of damage on multiple targets.


    He prepared to leave but he suddenly paused thinking of something. "Can you still absorb fire essence from theva pool?"


    The tiny fox spirit beast stared at Liam and then at theva pool shaking its head. ''No papa''


    "Hmmm... Is there no more fire essence in theva pool or you are no longer able to do that?"


    The fox looked at him nkly and then again shook its head.


    ''Sorry, papa. Don''t know.'' The beast''s face immediately changed and it looked down sorrowfully. Such a sight was capable of melting anyone''s heart.


    Even Liam felt awkward. "Don''t worry. You will be able to do it when you grow up."


    He rubbed its head gently and only then the fox brightened up again, smiling back at him with its extremely adorable appearance.


    "Tsk. Tsk. If I had known this beforehand, I could have nned this better and absorbed some more fire essence before you hatched!"


    He flicked the fox''s head, but the beast seemed to like even this and purred happily. Liam sighed at this sight and smiled bitterly.


    At times, looking at the beauty and marvel around him, it was difficult not to enjoy this life, but in reality, this was like the calm that came before the storm.


    He simply didn''t have the time to entertain these two and show them the love and affection a baby beast required.


    "You guys will have lots of attention when I bring Mei Mei over. Until then just be good." Ha patted the fox and then the bird. "Let''s leave this ce."


    Getting out of theva pool was just as difficult as getting in here in the first ce.


    Liam hopped on the small rocks floating atop theva and then reached the sturdy rock wall of the mountain.


    These were even warmer than the ones outside and he was barely able to touch them without seeing a drop in his health.


    But thankfully, this climb was short as the cave jutted out at the top just a few hundred meters up.


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air before he started climbing up or rather running up the mountain.


    He ced his hands and feet in a mad rush in whatever crevices he could find, holding on to whatever rock that was near, and climbed up as fast as he could.


    Even if he reduced his speed a little, he would begin to lose huge amounts of health rapidly. So he didn''t hold back and only let out the next breath when he reached his destination.


    His pets on the other hand¡­


    One casually flew up while the other hopped and skipped andnded softly next to him.


    Liam walked out of the cave, reaching the other end, and then took out a tool from his bag. It was a sickle-like weapon that had a long rope tied to it.


    He hooked it to the inside of the cave, securing it properly, and then began climbing down the tall mountain using the rope to slowly lower himself down.

 Chapter 72 - Dont Try Anything Shady

    <h4>Chapter 72 - Don''t Try Anything Shady</h4>


    With the small fox clung to his neck, Liam climbed down, holding on to the rope and lowering himself bit by bit.


    The climb down was also much easier and fasterpared to the upward journey.


    He was already back on the ground, standing on the crater before any more mobs of wind ripper birds could assault him mid-air.


    "Time to head out." Liam started walking with two little things hovering around him, one in the air and one on the ground.


    Coincidentally, the five members party team who had been huntingva smanders when he had arrived here were still wandering around the area.


    They all noticed him and greeted him as soon as they saw him. Much to their surprise, Liam as well lightly nodded back. "Do you guys want to run a dungeon together?"


    Who wouldn''t want to be carried by a strong expert?


    Without thinking much at all, the tank immediately blurted out. "Yes sir!" He even readily kicked out his own teammate, the mage, who looked back at him dumbfounded.


    "Bro! My damage is better than this guy''s!" He immediately pointed his finger at the thief as he also wanted to shamelessly tag along and have fun.


    But s, it was toote and no one was paying any attention to him any longer. He could only silently protest and watch as the others continued discussing.


    "There is a dungeon nearby called the moonke. We can run it. You guys can keep all the equipment drops and the money. I will be taking the skill books and the materials."


    "Does that work?" Liam suggested. Heid out all the conditions upfront.


    The tank quickly nodded his head up and down and agreed. These terms might be disadvantageous in general but not in this case.


    In fact, they had also been grinding here for the past few hours so that they could enter that same dungeon.


    It was a level 20 dungeon and all of them were currently Level 19 or Level 20.


    However, a dungeon difficulty was always higher so they wanted to be at least Level 21 or 22 before attempting it which was why they had been grinding here.


    But now that Liam had asked them, they didn''t want to let this opportunity go and decided to team up with the experienced yer.


    Even if they fail, it didn''t matter much as it was quitemon to run a dungeon a few times and fail before finishing it sessfully. Running it once with a skilled yer would only help them a lot.


    Seeing that none of them had any issues and a readymade group was avable for him to insert himself into, Liam quickly finished the discussion.


    "Alright. Make a party and send me an invitation." He muttered and started walking out of the crater towards the ''Moon Lake'' dungeon located in the forests surrounding the Yleka city.


    The others as well hurried after him, even the rejected mage.


    Not long after Liam received the notification.


    [Ding. You have been invited to join a party]


    [Ding. Do you ept? Yes/ No]


    Liam selected ''Yes'' and then he immediately received another notification.


    [Ding. You have been marked as the leader of the party]


    [Ding. Do you ept? Yes/ No]


    Liam smiled a little and unexpectedly refused this one.


    "Umm. Do you not want to be the leader?" The tank asked in disbelief, but the other party simply waved his hand. "No, that is not necessary."


    The tank looked startled. He couldn''t help but feel touched by this kind gesture. What a nice and friendly person!


    Not only did he show them how to quickly grindva smanders, but he also invited them for a dungeon run and didn''t even want to be the party leader!


    How generous and lofty! This was how an expert should act!


    The group started walking out of the crater into the forests.


    Liam was walking at the front, along with the two tiny beasts near him and the rest followed him, all their eyes fixated on the two beasts rather than Liam.


    Now that they had some time to talk to him, they had already noticed the two new pets who were not with him before.


    Inside their private chat group:


    Kim Hyun (Theif): Guys, did you see those two pets? He didn''t have them before, right? Right?


    Shin Soo (Tank): Yes. I also didn''t see any pets with him before. He should have gotten those somewhere in this area only


    Kim Hyun (Theif): Fuck! I knew it! Aren''t flying pets supposed to be rare? How the heck does he have one already? And the fox also looks like it''s something special! They are so small like babies too. I bet he hatched an egg or something.


    Shin Soo (Tank): Yes. I also think so.


    Kang Mina (Healer): Hyun, I know what you are thinking! Stop. Don''t do anything shady. Don''t ruin this!


    Chung Hee (Mage 1): Ha Ha. Bang on! I am sure this guy is thinking about something like that. Kim Hyun (Theif): Sheesh. You guys. I was just saying. Sunho, at least you support me, bro!


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Fuck! Who the hell cares? Why did you kick me out bastard?


    Shin Soo (Tank): Guys settle down. Let''s not screw this up. His pets don''t seem that rare. It''s just a bird and a fox. We cane back here and search again for more eggster. I am sure it will respawn. We can even ask him how to get those. So I am warning again, don''t try anything shady.


    Kim Hyun (Theif): Alright. Alright. Whatever. Let''s first see what he is made of. We just saw him kill a smander. He might not be all that.


    Kang Mina (Healer): I bet he is still better than you!


    Kim Hyun (Theif): What the hell Mina? Why are you always against me?! I am only saying that if he is not that strong then we can easily steal his pets. Wait, pets drop right?


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Kick this guy out and invite me back!

 Chapter 73 - Heavenly Retribution

    <h4>Chapter 73 - Heavenly Retribution</h4>


    Liam could almost feel the burning gaze on his back as he walked ahead. Were things going to get interesting?


    Heh. He silently chuckled to himself. It would indeed be simpler to level elsewhere without attracting much attention, but dungeons were the fastest and most efficient method.


    Besides, he needed more souls to finish his quest. So he did not mind even if someone wanted to try something.


    The ''moonke'' was a dungeon located near the northern part of the forests surrounding Yleka city.


    The ce was supposed to be a flourishing city, an extension of Yleka city in fact, but instead, it was currently a desertednd, haunted by ghosts and ghouls and all sorts of undead creatures.


    This was also one of the reasons why Liam had wanted to run this dungeon several times.


    This video game was like a tutorial for everyone to gain the basic knowledge of the ss of their choosing.


    Thus far he had somewhat grasped using a sword and even a bit of mana control and regtion. However, this was still not even close to what he wanted to aplish.


    Perhaps he can be one of the stronger human beings and manage the chaotic world with just this much but it was not nearly enough to deal with the monsters that also were going to inevitably show up.


    When he had fallen, these sort of cunning and cruel creatures were just beginning to show up and even he did not know how much more awaited them.


    He would only be a fool to not use this opportunity to gain everything he could so that he would eventually be able to face no matter what came his way.


    Not to mention the mysteriously high affinity he had with the undead.


    His mana affinity was only S-grade, but his undead affinity was SSS-grade which ording to his knowledge was the highest.


    Liam wanted to understand more about the undead and the magic that was associated with their power.


    In his previous life, there had been a yer who had unlocked a hidden ss associated with the undead and had brought over with him an army of undead soldiers when the apocalypse started.


    Liam was not interested in this hidden ss but he wanted to understand everything behind it to gain the same benefits.


    In reality, this was even more difficult than if he simply wanted to switch to the particr hidden ss, but he was determined to take that risk.


    One reason was because he wanted a power that was above what a hidden ss could provide but the main reason was because of the affinity testing results that the system had given out when he entered the game.


    So he firmly believed that not choosing a specific ss and relying on his insight and knowledge to make use of all of his affinities was the best path ahead for him.


    And if he was not able to make any progress in the next couple of months, he could always fold and pick up one of the many powerful hidden sses scattered around this world.


    Many of these were only unlockedter in the game so he had time to take the risk first.


    While Liam was engrossed in his own thoughts, his other new friends were busily chatting about the dungeon. He was not paying attention to them until he heard a familiar name.


    "Heavenly Retribution guild is still holding the highest record time for the dungeon clear right?" Kim Hyun, the thief, excitedly rubbed his hands. "I wonder if we will be able to beat that?"


    "Can you ever open your mouth and say something not stupid?" Kang Minah hit the guy with the staff that she was holding.


    "I can''t deal with this stupid anymore Shin Soo.I am going to quit this shitty team and join Heavenly Retribution. That girl Alex looks so cool!"


    "As if they would take in a shitty healer like you!" Kim Hyun angrily retorted back.


    "Haaa. Sure. Always put the me on the freaking healer! If you literally stand at the mouth of the smander when it is throwing fire at you, even Jesus can''t save you stupid!"


    Just as Kim Hyun was about to say something back, Liam instead stopped in his tracks. "Guilds are already up?"


    The world announcements for the guilds would only start when there were fifty or more guilds, directly opening up to the hall of fame, so this information was not announced in-game just yet.


    Liam did not really care about this but he admittedly was a little startled to hear an unfamiliar guild name and a familiar person''s name linked together.


    "Ah... yes. There are a total of 31 guilds so far." The tank Shin Soo quickly replied. Liam had no doubt that this number was going to skyrocket soon.


    "And what were you saying about this heavenly retribution guild?"


    "Oh that¡­ They are one of the top guilds at the moment. Three of their core members are even on the leaderboard! They have also started setting records for the dungeons." Shin Soo borated.


    "Eh? Not just started. They hold records for the Level 10, Level 15, and Level 20 dungeons." Kang Minah corrected him.


    "Yes. Yes. Aha ha ha. I didn''t forget that. Bro, if you follow Alex or Mia Or Rey on Instagram or Twitter you can see all the details. They have been promoting their social presence heavily."


    "Their guild also has so many members already. I heard that they already filled their first 50 members quota and now everyone else was on a waitlist."


    The tank continued talking about things but Liam was no longer paying attention to him. Things were already starting to changepared to hisst timeline.


    And this particr change, he had no doubt that he was the sole reason behind it.


    After a while, the tank stopped talking and Liam nodded. "Alright. Thanks for the information." He then chuckled and muttered under his breath to himself.


    "Heavenly retribution huh? Interesting¡­"

 Chapter 74 - Free Loader?

    <h4>Chapter 74 - Free Loader?</h4>


    When the group arrived at the ''Moon Lake'' dungeon area of the forest, the entire ce was crowded with people. Various yers were shouting loudly as if they were selling their wares.


    "Open party for moonke. Looking for Level 20 yers and higher."


    "Healer Required! Level 18 minimum. Everyone else is Level 20"


    "Tank Required! Level 15 and above ok. Must have dragon roar skill!"


    Level 15 to Level 22 yers were everywhere and many were grouping together to form parties to enter the dungeon.


    While the Level 15 ones were looking to be carried, the Level 22 ones were discussing raptly,ing up with various ideas to break records.


    Even the group of Korean yers currently walking along with Liam were discussing about the same thing.


    However, Liam had no such intentions, at least until the Level 50 dungeons opened up.


    When a record was set in the higher level dungeons, there would be a sizeable reward that included precious raw materials.


    And this could be looted every time a record was broken and set. In the past, this was one of the favorite methods of the top guilds to farm precious materials.


    They used these to craft powerful weapons and in turn used the weapons to break the record again.


    But below Level 50, the dungeons were pretty much useless. At most, they were a tool of publicity for guilds to establish themselves.


    And Liam did not have any such ns at the moment.


    Establishing, managing and expanding a guild would take a considerable amount of his time, time that could be better spent on other things.


    Moreover, a certain amount of strength and power was required tomand a guild. He hadn''t obtained that just yet.


    "Bro, isn''t another mage better for the run?" Goo Sunho scratched his head awkwardly and tried his luck again.


    But Liam shook his head. "I am also a mage. So a thief is better."


    "Mage ah¡­ weren''t you using a sword?" Goo Sunho was left confused and all he could see was the dirty thief grinning back at him.


    Seeing that the two of them were about to go at it again, the tank intervened and gave the poor rejected mage a stare preventing him from saying anything any more.


    "Kim Hyun. Goo Sunho. That''s enough. Group is already settled. Let''s start now. Is everybody ready?" His words were like the final nail that sealed the coffin.


    The other guy could only sigh and watch everyone walk away disappearing into the crowd.


    Multiple groups could enter the dungeon at the same time, but they wouldn''t interfere with each other''s run.


    So after a couple of people walked in before them, this group as well entered the dungeon portal that was a mass of swirling ck energy.


    As soon as they touched it, they were instantly teleported to the inside of the dungeon and they found themselves standing on the deserted streets of a rickety abandoned vige.


    It was night time and a chilly wind swept past everyone further enhancing the ominous atmosphere that was prevalent.


    At first, everyone waited for Liam to give some sort of specific instructions but he was just silently standing as if he was waiting for the run to start.


    After hesitating, Shin Soo, the tank, quickly began talking. He was not sure if everyone, particrly Liam was aware of the mechanics of the dungeon.


    Just because he was a skilled yer, it didn''t mean that he had to have prior knowledge of this specific dungeon. So he gave him the benefit of doubt.


    "So in this dungeon¡­ there will be several mirages of the moonke. We need to go to each of these mirages and essentially find out where the real moonke is."


    Theplete dungeon guide wasn''t avable online yet, but there were still some forums and threads talking about the various mobs.


    Shin Soo borated on whatever was avable online adding on his own theories but all throughout it looked like the expert was not paying him any attention.


    This clearly defeated the whole purpose of his attempt as except for Liam they had all researched about the ce together so there was no point continuing with the exnations.


    Smiling helplessly the tank waved his hand, signaling that he was going to start and dashed ahead the next second.


    As soon as they took a step forward, a gust of wind blew and three wailing white specters immediately emerged out of thin air.


    [Provocate] Shin Soo was a bulky person and he was ying a warrior tank holding a shield in one hand and a hammer in the other hand.


    As soon as he attracted the attention of the three ghosts, the mage started casting fireballs and the thief rushed ahead with his dagger.


    Even the healer started chanting spells to cover the tank''s health, preventing it from plummeting unexpectedly.


    Damage numbers began floating atop the specters one after the other. Their shrill wailing was especially hard to hear, so everyone subconsciously tried to finish the fight as soon as possible.


    They had almost forgotten about the expert who hade along with them.


    Only when the fight was going somewhat slow for the first mob at the entrance of the dungeon, something felt awkward and out of ce and the tank realized that a member was missing!


    Huh? He turned around to look for Liam and saw that he was still standing at the entrance and doing something in the system interface without having taken a single step forward.


    [Block] He yelled out his next skill in anger and continued tanking the remaining two specters with his teeth grinding together indignantly.


    It was fine if this person did not do anything exceptional and defy their expectations but the least he could do wase forward and fight?


    Did he expect to be carried through the dungeon?! Did they look like fools and buffoons in his eyes?!


    The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and just when he was about topletely lose it and shout at the other person, irrespective of the consequences¡­ a notification popped up!

 Chapter 75 - I Am Ready Now

    <h4>Chapter 75 - I Am Ready Now</h4>


    [Ding. Your overflowing rage has increased your physical defense by 5%]


    Shin Soo was dumbfounded. There was something like this for the warrior ss?


    He stared at the stat boost dazedly for a second before realizing that he had forgotten the main reason why he had been furious in the first ce!


    Damn it!


    He turned around and pointed the hammer at Liam, shouting gruffly. "Hello! Are you nning to join the fight or not?"


    Especially with the backdrop of the two specters wailing loudly, his voice sounded very angry and vengeful.


    The other members of the team were also equally disgruntled, so everyone nodded, agreeing with him.


    But unfortunately¡­ it looked like the other party was still not paying any attention.


    Liam only casually raised his hand and showed him his palm, signaling him to be patient.


    Shin Soo''s eyes twitched. He turned around and first focused on the fight, throwing his shield at the two specters.


    The fight had already started so he needed to finish this one first before starting another with this so called expert.


    Others as well shot deathly res at the guy before showing all their anger on the two specters.


    And soon¡­ the two stopped wailing and dispersed into specks of light and a couple of copper coins.


    [Ding. 20 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 20 Experience points have been rewarded]


    Shin Soo bent down and picked up the copper coins. He wore a solemn expression and walked in long strides towards Liam.


    "Liam, we pulled a mob and you didn''t join. Isn''t that a bit careless? What if there were more specters?"


    "We would have been wiped out in the beginning itself without ever stepping into the dungeon! Were you serious or not? We only came here together because you requested us."


    "Ya. If you are not interested, then why ask us in the first ce?"


    One by one the usations andints started popping up and unfortunately, this was all that they could do.


    This was no longer a beginner''s dungeon. One cannot simply exit at will, otherwise, they could have just walked out the same way they had walked in.


    Now they either had to finish the run or die inside the dungeon in order to exit. This was what infuriated everybody even more.


    Since the person had been so skilled and powerful they did not expect him to troll them all like this.


    "What a waste!" Shin Soo grunted. They were going to probably lose a fraction of their level and if they were unlucky some pieces of equipment also.


    He red at the man who was still standing like a stone and spat out in anger. "Let''s just go continue. If we die, we die. Whatever."


    The others as well nodded and followed him. They walked on the deserted streets of the vige, amidst the worn out huts and the half demolished houses and soon another mob popped up.


    Aaaaeeeeee! Aaaaeeeeee!


    The specters wailed loudly and this time five of them showed up.


    Shin Soo quickly stepped forward, trying to hold them back, but five specters were a bit too much for him to handle. He started taking heavy damage and the healer''s mana quickly drained.


    The damage from the thief and the mage was simply not enough to bring them down fast and their movements were all over the ce.


    "Fuck it. Looks like this is going to be a fast party wipe." Shin Soo sighed and gave up. He could already see where this was going. What was the point in trying any longer?


    This was a difficult dungeon and that was why they had continued leveling without attempting it, so how could possibly handle it with just 4 members?


    What aplete and utter waste of time!


    His health was about to fully bottom out when unexpectedly, a scorching ball of mended on the specter that was going to scratch him.


    -200


    A huge and insane damage number floated atop the specter''s head.


    "Chung Hee, what skill is this? How is your fireball doing this much damage all of a sudden?" Shin Soo muttered in puzzlement.


    But instead of Chung Hee, another voice sounded. "I am ready now."


    Liam was calm andposed as he immediately diffused the bomb that was about to explode. He tossed a health potion to the tank and Shin Soo caught it with a surprised look on his face.


    Health potions were expensivemodities! Was it really okay to use one just like that?


    "Fuck! What am I thinking?" He quickly downed it as he was just a breath short of dying. "You know we wouldn''t even be in this mess if you hadn''t been simply standing like a rock."


    "Mmmm. Stop talking and focus on the fight." Liam''s words made the four of them want to stab him instead of the specters but they did not have time to be angry right now.


    The wailing specters continued waving their huge sharp ws or rather overgrown nails in a frenzy and the tank and the thief were having a hard time trying to dodge their attacks and fight back at the same time.


    The mage alone was not pulling enough damage to settle this situation, but all of it changed when Liam joined the fray.


    He did not take out his sword this time. He wanted to rely on mana more and fine-tune his mana control and understand more about casting spells.


    [Fire Ball] [Fire Ball] [Fire Ball] Liam cast the same spell over and over again, each time picturing a ball of energy gathering and shooting out forward.


    He tried to increase it and decrease it at his will without worrying about the actual damage numbers he was dealing.


    And standing right beside him were his two pets, who were yet to do anything.


    The three of them looked quite rxed and carefree whenpared to the rest of the team who were barely breathing, and struggling to get a grip on the fight.

 Chapter 76 - Werent You In A Hurry?

    <h4>Chapter 76 - Weren''t You In A Hurry?</h4>


    [Ding. 20 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 20 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 20 Experience points have been rewarded]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    After Liam started sending out fireballs one after the other, the fight did notst long and the five specters burst into specks of astral light one by one.


    Shin Soo and the rest of the team were too stunned to see this sight that they began to doubt if the specters were a mirage in the first ce.


    But the string of experience points that popped out was undeniable so they could only ept the harsh reality.


    This was the difference between their skills and the skill level of a person that was above and beyond their imagination.


    Instantly, all the prior grievances they had about the personpletely disappeared as if it had never existed before and they could only hope that Liam did not hold any grudges.


    "Ahem¡­ Sir¡­" Shin Shoo awkwardly scratched his head and was about to say something when Liam smiled calmly and all of a sudden, sent out another fireball, pulling in more specters that were roaming inside of the run down huts.


    He had already begun the attack on the next wave of specters!


    Usually, it was the tank who first approached the mob and pulled the aggro but Liam casually stepped forward and started bombarding the group of specters with fireballs ceaselessly.


    Shin Soo snapped out of his trance and scurried forward to salvage the situation and correct the aggro distribution. The others also panicked and quickly began attacking.


    "Ahhhh! Hyung! Wait!!!"


    Liam calmly chuckled. "Hmmm? Didn''t you guys tell me earlier that you were in a hurry?" He ignored their pitiful looks and continued to st the specters.


    This was something that would have typically earned instant hate from everyone as a tank was always supposed to initiate a fight for the purpose of stability except for special situations that needed some other strategy.


    But in this case¡­ no one dared think that way!


    After all, with the high damage numbers he was pulling the fights suddenly became easier and even if the tank hadn''t started the fight, there was no OT and messy mass damage.


    This was even more impressive especially considering the dungeon they were currently in. Moon Lake''s main difficultyid in the wailing sounds of the specters.


    If one were to hear this sort of wailing sound for a long period of time, then they would fall into confusion, their brainpletely muddled and unable to think clearly.


    Adding in the realistic feature of the game, the effect would even prevent the yers from doing anything else for the next hour. Such was the heavy impact of the wailing cries on the mind.


    So in this type of dungeon speed was the top priority and Liam was focusing on just that.


    He set the pace of their progress as he continued pulling in more and more specters towards the group, just as thest one died.


    "Brother¡­" Shi Soo wanted to say something but he swallowed the words. He didn''t even know if Liam was doing this on purpose or because the dungeon called for it.


    So what could he possibly tell? Slow down?


    [Shield Impact] [Block] He shook his head helplessly and quickly tried to bnce the fight. Only he looked busy, as the healer suddenly found herself with nothing else to do.


    The other two yers were also in a simr boat as the thief''s attacks were like tickling the specters and the other mage''s attack was like a mosquito bite.


    Liam alone was single-handedly pulling more damage than their dpsbined together. The specters were getting utterly ughtered by him.


    In the blink of an eye, they had gone fromining about a party wipeout to clearing the first haunted street of the moonke vige.


    "Look! There is theke!" Minah suddenly shouted and pointed her finger to the eastern side. Everyone immediately turned to look in that direction.


    Just as she had said, there was a hugeke in the distance and at the center of theke, there was an altar that was mysteriously floating and atop this was a bright shining ne.


    The ne triggered a quest that gave decent experience points.


    "Oh my gosh! We are totally going to break the record!" The thief and the healer eximed together and the group hurriedly ran toward theke, with Liam casually walking at the back in silence.


    He was calmly checking out his special quest progress. He had obliterated a lot of souls in the dungeon so far but it looked like these specter souls did not count toward the questpletion.


    "Well, it was worth a try." He shrugged and checked the experience bars of the two tiny beings stalking him.


    He had asked both of them not to interfere in any fights as they were too weak at the moment. This was because of Liam''s own conjecture.


    Dying in this tutorial game too often affected the souls of human beings so he couldn''t help bute to the conclusion that the same applied to thepanion beasts as well.


    So at least until they reached Level 5, he had forbidden the two to fight. Their infant status would disappear at this time only.


    Moreover, this was also when apanion beast''s unique skills would begin to get unlocked as right now, they were only able to scratch and w.


    Liam gazed at the status of both the pets and it looked like the bird was already close to leveling up once but the fox still had a lot left to fill.


    "Hmm.. so a spirit beast needs a lot more experience points to upgradepared to themon beast. I guess this is to be expected."


    Liam patted the two who looked up at him with their big eager eyes and then proceeded to follow the group.


    Shin Soo and the others had already reached theke, but as soon as they neared it, thekepletely disappeared and standing in front of them was a huge mob of wailing specters.

 Chapter 77 - We Shouldn’t Waste

    <h4>Chapter 77 - We Shouldn¡¯t Waste</h4>


    Seeing that everyone was standing around without starting the fight, Liam smiled and calmly muttered. "What happened?"


    "Liam! Theke disappeared!" The tank looked stunned.


    "Huh? Didn''t you read about the contents of the dungeon beforehand? There are several misleading mirages around."


    "Ah¡­ that¡­ yes but¡­" Shin Soo opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. They indeed knew of this before stepping in here, but no one had expected things to be so realistic.


    And besides, the sight of the huge mob of wailing specters was nothing short of terrifying. The only saving grace was that this mob could be avoided if one was careful enough.


    "Hyun, can you cast stealth on the whole group?" Shin Soo nervously mumbled. Though this was not necessary, he wanted to avoid a confrontation with this mob as much as possible.


    The thief as well nodded and quickly activated the skill [Stealth nket].


    He was lucky enough to pick up this rare skill that was able to extend his stealth to a whole bunch of yers. When the skill proficiency increased, this number would further increase.


    However, this was all for naught as a certain member of the team raised his hand and cast another fireball, pulling the huge mob.


    "Noooo!"


    All four shouted at the same time, but the train had already left the station.


    "Why bro why?" Shin Soo hurriedly stepped forward and tried to pull five of the dozen specters onto himself.


    "Why? We shouldn''t waste any mobs!" Liam replied as a matter of fact. He was calm and confident as usual.


    However, the situation this time seemedpletely out of hand, as there were still eight or so specters dashing towards them at a fast speed.


    "Bro this time you really shouldn''t have pulled so much! Please only attack after I¡­" Before the tank could finish his words, fire started raining from the sky.


    "Eh? What is this? The specters have magic attack?" Everyone was confused.


    Only when they saw massive damage numbers appearing on the whole group just as every drop of fiery rain pelted down on the specters, did they understand what was happening.


    The god that they had teamed with had an aoe skill to boot!


    "You guys know that even friendly fire can damage right? Make sure to watch your steps!" Liam reminded them. He was quite satisfied with this random group that he had run into.


    Even if their skill level wasn''t anything worth mentioning, they at least did not do anything stupid and drag the speed down. They followed his lead and coordinated decently.


    Ignoring their shocked faces, Liam focused on the effects on his body. From the beginning, though he was churning out fire magic attacks one after the other, he was never doing it blindly.


    He was always paying attention to the control and after effects of the skills. He could distinctly feel the mana in his body drain after using the [Lava Rain] skill.


    "Just a bit more. I feel like I am on the verge of grasping something." He clenched his fist and inhaled deeply, sucking in the mana from the air and replenishing his own reserves.


    He then once again started casting fire balls one after the other.


    The fire fox spirit beast was particrly happy to see this as it was raining fire everywhere, with Liam shooting out more fire balls.


    Kyuuu! Kyuuu!


    It jumped up and down, clearly very happy to see this sight.


    While the others were trying their hardest to not get damaged by their own teammate''s skill, the little fox was hopping and skipping and trying to catch the drops of fire in its small mouth as if they were water drops.


    This sight only added insult to their injury. They would have been more upset about pulling this unnecessary mob if not for the constant notifications of experience points raining down.


    Their bars were filling up so fast that they began attacking back even more fiercely. They had also gathered a lot of money, and a couple of equipments just from this mob.


    "We already cleared this much, shall we head over to this street and check if the realke is here?" Shin Soo suggested and everyone including Liam nodded in agreement.


    The group started moving down the street when unexpectedly just as they had guessed, theke really did appear in front of them, a few blocks away.


    "Let''s gooooo!" The tank shouted energetically. Everyone was full of joy as they ran towards theke as fast as they could. However¡­ just as they neared it¡­


    Theke and the moonlight dancing over it once againpletely disappeared and instead, there was another nasty mob of wailing specters.


    Hearing their cries over and over again and again made their heads hurt. They could simply turn around here and run¡­ but¡­ they already could tell that that was not going to happen.


    "Ahhh¡­" Shin Soo looked up, only to see the rain of fire greeting them again.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    One by one the specters turned around to look at their target and they began rushing to the group, a big chunk of their health already taken away by the fire drops.


    Without using any of his other attacks, Liam continued relying on only these couple of skills for this mob as well, smoothly finishing the fight from start to finish.


    And at the end of it, the tiny wind ripper finally received its first upgrade. Its body and its wings slightly grew bigger in size.


    Before it was smaller than palm size and now it was exactly the size of a palm, one that belonged to a huge burly man perhaps.


    It was not much, but the other party looked at it with a yearning wondering when it was going to grow up as well.


    "Soon. Soon." Liam shook his head and continued paying attention to the specters.. One was almost close to attacking the healer so he focused on that specter and finished it first.

 Chapter 78 - Move Aside

    <h4>Chapter 78 - Move Aside</h4>


    Each ''Moon Lake'' dungeon run typically took around 3 to 5 hours. This was including any unexpected scenarios one could potentially run into.


    However, Liam''s group was now already at hour 8. Except for him, every single member of the team was currently copsed on the ground and resting.


    Their clothes and armors were fully drenched in sweat and they were clutching their stomachs in pain as if they had just run a marathon.


    The worst part was that they still hadn''t tackled the final three mini-boss and thest boss of the dungeon.


    "Let''s go. Get up." Liam muttered. He had just now been breathing deeply and focusing on the mana reserves in his body automatically getting replenished.


    Everyone had a mana regeneration rate but it was far from enough. The key was to bring up this rate. Leveling blindly without concentrating on these factors was just a waste of time.


    "Boss¡­ ahhh just 2 more minutes please..." Shin Soo and Hyun whined at the same time.


    As gamers, they had been used to a certain level offort, and this ultra realistic model of the game was killing them.


    Why did they have to replicate even the pain and the tiredness?! Wasn''t stamina stat going down enough? Did they really have to hone in on the actual feeling?


    Everything from head to toe was tired. They had run into several of these so-called mirages so far and without fail, every single one of them had been a disappointment.


    Of course, things wouldn''t have been so bad if they had simply sneaked away without butting heads with each and every single mob, but unfortunately for them, Liam had other ns.


    "Heh. Come on. Get up. I don''t think that this one is a mirage. Your fatigue and tiredness should be relieved as soon as you take a sip of the moonke. You guys don''t want it?"


    Liam chuckled and started walking towards theke at the end of the street. The moon above shone with more brilliance and theke waters sparkled like diamonds.


    Behind him, rustling sounds echoed and without any other choice, the other members of the group dragged their tired bodies over.


    "Psst. Psst. He is not lying right?" The thief bitterly smiled and whispered to Shin Soo as thetter let out a long sigh. Even if he was what could they do?


    All they can do and have been doing is looking at the experience bar filling up at lightning speed and consoling themselves.


    After Level 20 it was extremely difficult to level up further. Even a single level required hours of hard grinding, but their experience bars were filling up quite easily.


    Liam''s fireballs or rather cannon balls coupled with the presence of so many mobs in close proximity with no otherpetition from yers nearby made their progress a lot faster.


    But was this enough to justify this hard and painful grind for hours together? Wasn''t it just a game? Why were they working so hard?!


    The four of them continued grumbling inwardly. However, their hands and feet kept moving, not wanting to miss the opportunity until the very end.


    And just like Liam mentioned, this time when they neared theke, it finally did not disappear!


    "Ahhhhhhhh!" Kim Hyun couldn''t bear it any longer and shouted at the top of his lungs as he drowned his body and his limbs in theke, jumping into it hurriedly.


    "Watch out for mobs, idiot!" Shin Soo panicked but nothing seemed to have been triggered so the others as well rushed in and dipped themselves in theke water.


    The cool waters of theke washed the tiredness from their bodies and was very refreshing. Liam also walked over and drank a few mouthfuls.


    As soon as theke water entered the stomach, a warm nourishing feeling swept past the body and all the physical fatigue and mental fatigue from hearing the non-stop wailing of the specters was fully erased.


    "Fuck bro! This is amazing! Howe we didn''t find this in the forum?!"


    "Ahhh¡­ so tasty! This is the tastiest thing that I have ever put in my mouth!"


    "Che. Shut up and go that side. You are stinking up my space!"


    The group immediately started ying like small kids and didn''t look like they were going to stop any time soon.


    Only when Liam cleared his throat threateningly, they reluctantly got out of theke, one after the other. "The altar is on the other side, let''s go."


    As soon as they arrived, loud nging noises resounded, and three pitch ck wraiths descended from the darkness of the night, their chains dragging on the ground.


    The three wraiths looked extremely grotesque and terrifying but after having defeated waves after waves of specters, no one felt any fear and the tank quickly rushed forward.


    "I will get the attention of all three!!! Only attack the one on the right! Let''s bring them down one after the other!" Shin Soo quickly yelled out the instructions and then strutted forward with his huge body.


    The three wraiths screamed loudly and the next second a ball of swirling energy appeared in front of them, seemingly made of white and ck gases.


    They tossed this at the tank and his health instantly dropped to one-third. "Fuck! How am I supposed to heal this?!" The healer immediately panicked.


    To make matters worse, the wraiths already started chanting something in a weird archaguage and the next set of balls appeared.


    "No No No No. Arghh!" Shin Soo activated all his skills preparing to block the attack, but he knew that it was still probably not enough to nullify this damage.


    If they couldn''t withstand just two of their attacks, what was going to happen to the rest of the fight?


    He clenched his weapon and stood firmly unwilling to be the reason they all failed when a sharp voice reminded him calmly.


    "A tank doesn''t always have to receive the attack. You can also dodge it. Move aside.. I will tank this fight."

 Chapter 79 - Dungeon Boss

    <h4>Chapter 79 - Dungeon Boss</h4>


    Shin Soo turned around and stared at Liam dumbfoundedly. In the spur of the moment, he didn''t have any time to make any decisions.


    The only thought that was running in his mind was that this was insane!


    A mage can use a sword sure, but how the hell was he going to tank? Did he even have the defense to absorb a singlebined attack from the three wraiths?


    This was simply foolishness!


    If it was anybody else, he would have just sent a kick their way, asking them to shut up. However, this was Liam. So he instinctively stepped aside and listened to him.


    Before the attacks from the wraiths couldnd on his, he dodged and did not provoke them after that, thereby losing their aggro.


    Almost immediately, the three pitch ck wraiths turned their attention to the man at the back with two tiny creatures beside him.


    Liam sent out three fireballs back to back, drawing the attention of all three wraiths. The mostmon tanking method might be using the various taunt skills, but this worked too.


    His damage numbers were almost double what others were dealing so it was very easy for him to make the wraiths target him instead.


    But this was just the beginning. The real skill of a tankid beyond this.


    Liam''s figure blurred and he immediately appeared in front of the three wraiths.


    The other mage took a step back and the thief and the ex-tank started attacking from the back while Liam dealt with them from the front.


    His movements were a lot less restricted and when the next attack of the wraithsnded, it barely grazed him.


    The healer sighed in relief quickly using this time to heal the ex-tank. The group then targeted the one on the right continuing to grind down its health bit by bit.


    And Liam as well contributed to this damage once in a while, but his main focus was on something else.


    His gaze was firmly fixed on the three wraiths.


    He was observing everything about them including their movements, attack patterns, and every detail that he could see.


    These were the only undead in the lower leveled zones closer to the cities. If he wanted to interact with more undead, he would have to go to higher leveled zones.


    So he tried his best to understand the three wraiths.


    As these wraiths and specters were a level higher than the mindless undead that arose from using the spell, his goal was to use them to gain some sort of insight.


    After ughtering several specters, he wasn''t any closer toprehending his undead affinity, so he could only hope that this would work.


    Liam nimbly moved dancing around the three wraiths as he continued maintaining their full attention.


    He casually evaded their attacks, but he also allowed some of them to hit him, taking the full brunt of the impact head on.


    Every time he did that, the healer panicked. The main difficulty in this particr fight seemed to be avoiding this attack from the wraiths as it was almost a one-hit kill sort of an attack.


    Liam''s health points were decent enough to at least eat three of their attacks, but still seeing the health drop so much was flustering.


    And moreover, he had no ns of making this easy for her. He was fully engrossed in his own world, leisurely ying around with the three wraiths.


    Completing the dungeon sessfully seemed to be thest thing on his mind.


    In this manner, the fight continued and with Liam skillfully maneuvering as the tank the three wraiths looked more like mobs rather than a mini boss and the fight was over in no time.


    [Ding. 1000 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 1000 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 1000 Experience points have been rewarded]


    Juicy experience notifications rang one after the other, and both Kim Hyun and the wind ripper leveled up.


    "Fuck yes! I am finally Level 20!" Kim Hyun jumped around and seeing him the bird also did the same.


    Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!


    "Ughhh. Don''t pick up any habits from this guy." Liam immediately reprimanded the bird and it quickly settled down.


    Kim Hyun could only smile bitterly and act as if he wasn''t justbeled as a bad role model for a freaking bird.


    "I suggest you all take one more drink from theke." Liam reminded them, he himself taking a sip as well.


    Not long after, thest and the final boss of the moonke arrived. The entirety of theke water started swirling around like a whirlpool and above it, a tornado started forming.


    Pitch ck wisps started descending into this chaos and a monstrous wraith slowly started forming. Unlike the other specters and wraiths, this one had a red glow surrounding it.


    [Demonic Wraith General]


    Level 20


    Health: 5000000


    The sheer health of this giant ck thing struck fear in everyone''s heart as they saw the massive 5 million health points.


    This had 100 times the health of the elite boss Barabara which Liam had ughtered. Around Level 20, this was the strongest dungeon boss!


    "Ahh¡­ Why is it so high? Wasn''t it supposed to be just 1 million?" Shin Soo cried in disbelief. He also received another notification which made him further stiffen.


    [Ding. The evil eyends on you. You have been targetted by the Wraith General]


    [Ding. All your stats are reduced by 5%]


    Everyone else as well received simr notifications.


    "I can''t breathe properly." Minah took a step back, her body shivering.


    She was a holy healer and the presence of the boss affected her the most. Instead of 5%, she received a 10% reduction in stats.


    Liam on the other hand felt invigorated in the presence of such a strong powerful undead. Not only that, but he also received a different notification.


    [Ding. The evil eyends on you. You have been targetted by the Wraith General]


    [Ding. All your stats are reduced by 5%]


    [Ding. You possess a SSS-grade undead affinity]


    [Ding. All your stats are increased by 20%]

 Chapter 80 - Hard Mode

    <h4>Chapter 80 - Hard Mode</h4>


    "Hmmm¡­ this is unexpected." Liam smiled, his lips curling upwards.


    "Why are you happy, bro?" Shin Soo looked at the debuffs and wanted to cry. Not only did the final boss of the dungeon have more health but also their debuffs were worse.


    This waspletely different from what everybody had mentioned in the forums.


    "Pay attention. Stop thinking about other things." Liam raised his hand almost at the same time as the wraith moved its arms.


    While a big fireball materialized in front of him, ck wisps of energy leaked from the wraith and spread all over theke and the neighboring ground.


    The next second the ground started to quake and sputter as if something was trying to break through to the surface.


    Crack. Crack. Crack. Bony hands started sticking out of the ground. Dozens of skeletons arose from within and started running towards the group of five.


    [Lava Rain] Liam immediately activated his aoe skill.


    "Form a circle and attack whatever is closest to the circle. Don''t worry about the ones in the back." Everyone nodded and quickly adjusted their formation.


    With their backs to theke, they sort of stood in a semi-circle with the healer and the other mage in the center.


    The tank, the thief, and Liam stood on the outside and bombarded their attacks on the iing skeletons, clearing the army of undead one after the other.


    "Bro only a few of the vigers buried around theke were supposed to resurrect! Why is our run extra difficult?"


    Shin Soo asked Liam for the nth time and just as he muttered those words out loud, he realized the answer to that question finally.


    Their run was extra difficult! What did that mean?


    They were running it on a different difficulty levelpared to the rest of the yers!


    While others were yet to unlock any hidden bosses or the various modes for the dungeons in the ''Evolution online'' game, they had undoubtedly stumbled into one.


    Or at least that''s what the tank thought.


    Liam, on the other hand, waspletely aware of what he was doing right from the beginning.


    Every dungeon except for the beginner''s dungeon had varying difficulty levels, but one cannot simply select a difficulty.


    It is automatically determined by the skill level of the yers training in the dungeon.


    In fact, this was only the second stage. If they had cleared it even faster, then the difficulty level would have risen some more.


    Everything in the game was basically designed to train human beings to unlock their hidden potential and prepare them for the life thatid ahead.


    The group continued with the painful clearing of the resurrected vigers one after the other as they dashed towards them endlessly.


    These provided experience points as well, so they were essentially farming for experience points right now.


    This was both a test and a reward for the dungeon. It was difficult but if somehow one managed to clear it, they would get a lot of experience points.


    After breaking apart a few of the undead, Liam took a second to cast his basic necromancy spell [Awaken].


    Immediately the broken bones that had fallen down at their feetbined together and started to once again be undead warriors.


    5 skeletons appeared next to Liam and started fighting against the iing horde of undead. They did notst long but they took down 3 to 5 enemies along with them.


    And it was also easier for Liam to cast fireballs and focus on the mana regtion when he was not paying attention to the closebat part.


    As they were in the middle of a chaotic situation, the tank and the thief standing beside him and fighting did not notice this but the healer and the mage noticed.


    Chung Hee, who had not opened his mouth so far had a frown on his face as he asked Liam. "Liam, are you really a mage? How are you able to control the undead?"


    His words startled everyone as they all stared at Liam with a look of bafflement on their faces. Sword, magic spells, pets, and now undead¡­?!


    Liam, however, simply smiled. "This is also a mage skill. There is nothing special about it." He didn''t exin anything further and continued culling down the undead herd.


    Chung Hee was unwilling to ept this answer and looked like he wanted to ask something, but Shin Soo interrupted him. "We can talk about these thingster. Let''s first clear the dungeon."


    The mage nodded and continued throwing spells at the undead. He just couldn''t understand how the other person with the same upation as him was doing so much better than him.


    It was one thing if it was just a matter of a few tens of damage plus or minus, but to have hundreds of differences in their damage output was simply shameful.


    Not to mention the wide variety of spells the other party possessed. He couldn''t help but feel very envious. Chung Hee sighed.


    However, he didn''t have a lot of time to feel down and depressed. The horde of undead was unrelenting so everyone had to give their best in order to not bepletely overrun.


    At the same time, experience points were also showering endlessly.


    After a while, the wraith shouted loudly, once again muttering something in an archaguage and a red aura appeared on the undead vigers who were still standing.


    These undead suddenly became much stronger and tougher and it was bing more difficult to deal with them.


    "They give more exp too!" Liam chuckled, reminding everyone about the bright silver line.


    This continued on for a few more minutes when finally none of the undead vigers were remaining. Only a pile of broken bones and dust was heaped around the group.


    RAAAAA! RAAAAA!


    The boss started loudly shouting as if it was enraged to see all of its summons being ughtered.


    "Is that going to summon more undeads?" Shin Soo wiped the sweat off his forehead and nervously muttered.

 Chapter 81 - Again!

    <h4>Chapter 81 - Again!</h4>


    "No." Liam shook his head. "Watch its health. It lost a lot of its health while summoning these dead vigers. We should start targeting the boss now."


    As he finished exining, he started bombarding the boss with more attacks, and everyone else quickly joined in as well.


    Fighting this boss was initially supposed to be extremelyplicated as it swarmed the yers with undead mobs while also attacking simultaneously.


    But now, because of the strategy and positioning they used, this became overly simplified and all they had to do was grind down the remaining health.


    When the big 5 million health bar was reduced to thest hundreds, the wraith general started casting something once again but Liam interrupted it by throwing a fireball right at its mouth.


    Spells could also be interrupted like this? Everyone was dumbfounded. This¡­ This brought a new meaning to the words ''eat my attack''.


    The wraith waspletely enraged and it screamed making everyone including Liam shudder as its shrill voice assaulted their eardrums.


    As ast ditch attempt, it hurriedly muttered something in archaguage and a red glow started appearing on Liam''s body.


    Since he was dealing the maximum damage, thest attack of the boss was to possess him.


    Everyone noticed this and started panicking. They were so close to finishing this damned dungeon and that they had insanely worked hard for, how could this happen now!


    "Minah!!!" Shin Soo shouted and the healer started casting a variety of spells to recover him or cleanse him, but the red glow continued to darken.


    "Bro, try running around or jumping?" Kim Hyun randomly suggested.


    However, Liam was still standing. This time they wanted him to be as calm as always but he had a slight frown on his face and was gritting his teeth.


    This made everyone even more uneasy.


    Shin Soo could tell that the situation was not looking good. "Just start attacking the boss with everything you have! It doesn''t have much health left! Move! Move! Move!" He shouted urgently.


    Everyone started pummeling the boss and it was easier because the wraith had its attention on Liam. Their attacks were heavily debuffed but it was enough to bring down thest parts of the boss.


    And before long¡­


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have sessfully defeated the Demonic Wraith General]


    [Ding. 10000 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. You are the first to clear ''Moon Lake'' dungeon on hard difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    Shin Soo, Minah, Kim Hyun and Chung Hee were utterly stunned. Though they doubted that the difficulty was weird for some reason, they never dared to imagine something like this!


    Their no-name team had actually obtained a first clear!


    They had all gone up by a whole level and the boss had dropped several glittering things on theke shores! This was absolutely ridiculous!


    They had known all along that Liam was a bit skilled, but this¡­ waspletely above and beyond.


    Even Chung Hee who was feeling jealous earlier, now only had a look of reverence on his face. In fact, everyone looked at each other with simr expressions on their faces.


    This golden thigh! They absolutely had to cling to it! NO MATTER WHAT!


    And just when they thought that the surprises were over¡­ another notification chimed in¡­


    [DING. World Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Just Chilling'' party for the first clear of the ''Moon Lake'' dungeon on hard difficulty. Party Members: Shin Soo, Kim Hyun, Kang Minah, Chung Hee, Chang Liam]


    "FUCCCCKKKK!" Shin Soo dropped his shield on the ground. They got a world announcement!!! No one could believe what they were seeing!


    Everyone cheered and celebrated as now their names would forever be on the walls of fame.


    And while they were celebrating, the person actually responsible for it had a frown on his face. Liam shook his head helplessly.


    He had wanted the wraith''s [Possess skill] tost for just a bit longer as he was trying out something, but these guys were too eager and ended up killing it!


    "Alright. It doesn''t matter I guess. I should be able to get it the next time." He clicked his tongue and paid attention to the fox that was jumping up and down.


    This time both the bird and the fox had leveled up. It had indeed been a good decision to grind in this dungeon! Now just a few more rounds!


    As all the members of the team turned to look at Liam with big adoring eyes, he also had a smile when he looked back at them.


    "Bro we¡­"


    "Shall we start another run?" Liam chuckled. He had spoken exactly what was on everyone''s mind. Shaking their heads vigorously, all of them quickly agreed and Liam was pleasantly surprised.


    He shrugged and started walking back to the portal when Shin Soo remembered the other important thing and quickly stopped him.


    "Bro... The drops!"


    "Oh. I forgot! You guys go ahead and see what we got." Liam stopped and turned around.


    "Ummm..." Shin Soo became nervous as he felt the spotlight on him. What if he picked up the loot and everything was worthless? "Ah.. Minah... you are the luckiest among us, so you pick it up..."


    Fuck? Since when? The healer wanted to curse loudly, but since Liam was watching she squeezed out a smile and stepped forward to do the deed.


    Otherwise, if they continued arguing back and forth, she was worried that Liam might desert them for bickering and pick another group to run with. After all, they were just ying together randomly.


    "2 Gold." The girl picked up the coins first and announced it as she did. Everyone gulped and waited for the next one, only to hear the girl shriek.


    "AAAAAHHH!"


    "Oh my god! Three rings! Two umon and one rare!"


    "Ahhhh! There is a skill book too!"


    "What are the stats? Quick! Quick!" Hyun gasped, but Minah shook her head, quickly walking over to Liam. She handed everything over to him without any hesitation.


    "Bro. This is all yours." She muttered with a shy smile.

 Chapter 82 - Unassigned Stat Points

    <h4>Chapter 82 - Unassigned Stat Points</h4>


    Liam chuckled and did not say anything to the girl. He calmly took the two rings and studied their attributes.


    [Specter Halo] (Umon Rank)


    Intellect +3, Agility +3


    [Undead Halo] (Umon Rank)


    Strength +3, Agility +3


    [Wraith Halo] (Rare Rank)


    Intellect +8, Agility +5


    Additional Skill: Mana Regeneration is increased by 2%


    "Great! It''s not just Umon Rank." After reading the items'' description, Liam was quite pleased.


    Rings were already good drops as there was no limit to how many rings one could wear. Most yers roamed around with all their fingers covered by three to four rings each.


    On top of that, these stats looked quite good, and especially the Rare Rank ring''s attributes were good enough that it could be easily used until one reached Level 50.


    The equipments in the ''Evolution Online'' game were categorized into several ranks starting from White, Common, Umon, Rare, Unique, Epic, and Legendary.


    Unique, Epic, and Legendary rank equipments could only be obtained from mobs in high level areas so getting Rare rank equipments was quite good at this stage.


    However, Liam did not go back on his words just because of this. He had already told them that the equipment drops and money would be theirs so he looked at the healer and muttered.


    "Show me your hand."


    Minah nodded and opened her palm, only to see him give all three rings back to her. "You guys should feel free to distribute this among yourselves as you all see fit."


    "I will be taking the skill book." It was a skill named [me burst] which was basically a stronger version of [Fire Ball] and consumed more mana.


    Liam also couldn''t help but wonder if this had dropped because he did the major damage and he relied mostly on fire magic.


    It was something that was worth testing and another reason for running this dungeon again. "I will give you guys 5 minutes, then we will start another run."


    Since the outside of the dungeon was extremely crowded, Liam sat down on the first street ahead of which the dungeon entrance portal was located.


    Now when they were ready, they could simply walk out and then walk in. He also used this opportunity to check his current status and attributes.


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 17


    Exp: 200/18300


    ss: N/A


    Titles: Rolling in Debt, Perfectionist, Soul Devourer


    ______________


    Health: 7500/7500


    Mana: 5000/5000


    Stamina: 60


    Strength: 60


    Defense: 60


    Vitality: 60


    Agility: 60


    Intellect: 60


    Unassigned points: 84


    ______________


    Skills: [Throat Punch], [sh], [Sword Dance], [Demonic Summon], [Awaken], [Stealth], [Pickpocket], [Unlock], [Tame], [Ice Shard], [Lightning Bolt], [Fire Ball], [Lava Rain], [Spirit sh] (Skill Locked), [Spirit Wrath] (Skill Locked)


    Trade Skills: [Alchemy] (Intermediate Level), [Forging] (Master Level)


    ______________


    Liam gazed at the status window with a pensive look on his face. He still had a lot of free unassigned points that he had not bothered to assign to anything just yet.


    In the ''Evolution Online'' game, all stat points were equally distributed until Level 10, but after that, the yer is given the opportunity to choose and distribute the points ording to their wish.


    Each level upgrade gave 2 stat point boost to each attribute and thus Liam had managed to collect 84 points in total.


    "Boosting agility and strength will help my swordy. Boosting intellect will help my mana control. Hmmm¡­"


    In reality, each and every single attribute can be independently developed and improved by doing specific things.


    So no matter what he chose, he could always correct the decision by working on the other attributes. But Liam had no ns of doing this as all of this was temporary.


    The strength that he was gaining right now was only so that he could ess the higher level areas. It wouldn''t trante to the real world.


    Only one''s soul strength, spirit strength, and what theyprehended in this tutorial could be carried over.


    Everything that one gained an understanding of inside the game would remain with them. No one can take that knowledge away.


    "Alright. No need to think so much. I will just add some points to all the attributes, giving intellect a bit more."


    Liam quickly distributed 13 stat points to all the other attributes and 19 stat points to Intellect.


    He decided to do this as he was nning to mainly rely on his mage skills and necromancy skills for the rest of the game to understand them better.


    Unless he came across a Sword Heritage, this was his best bet.


    There had been a few others who had managed to stumble across these sorts of heritages and wills, which was essentially an exnation of all the concepts.


    Since everyone''s main goal was to learn to use mana and such intuitively, these sort of heritages and wills were the real treasures as they were shortcuts that gave the yers instant spoilers.


    But the main problem was that no one revealed anything about these things. There was not one piece of information avable about them.


    That didn''t mean that Liam hadpletely given up on these. He after all knew all the yers who received these heritages and wills thanks to the walls of fame feature of the game.


    Some of them even belonged to famous guilds. So he could roughly estimate which region they could have possibly gotten the heritage.


    Liam chuckled wryly. If he knew he was going to get a second chance, he would have tried remembering more details.


    For now, the only one he had a solid lead on and doubted the most was the necromancy heritage. This had to be inside the Nether realm!


    That was the only logical possibility and the yer who had received this heritage also got it when theher realm event started.


    So putting two and two together, this was the one he had the highest chance of obtaining, and hence, Liam decided to invest more in the Intellect attribute.


    As he was deeply engrossed in his thoughts, the small fox that was jumping around him, trying to jump up and catch the bird, noticed the skill book lying near him.


    It got bored of ying with the bird and started ying with the book curiously.


    One thing led to another and the next second, a light glow enveloped the fox as it ended up learning the skill book.


    Kyuu?

 Chapter 83 - Check The World Announcement

    <h4>Chapter 83 - Check The World Announcement</h4>


    The small fox immediately panicked as it had done something wrong by ident. It had a constipated look on its otherwise adorable face, staring at Liam like a thief.


    "Hmmm? What happened now?"


    "Papa¡­"


    Liam cringed every time he heard that term. It made him feel very ufortable. "Ahem just call me, master."


    Kyuuu! The fox quickly nodded its head up and down. At this point, it was ready to do anything to make up for its mistake.


    "Ok. Tell me what happened now?"


    The beast looked here and there and seeing that there was no way to salvage the situation, it finally spat out the truth. "Mastar¡­ I ate the book."


    "Eh?" Liam immediately stiffened up. He picked up the fox and looked at it from all sides. It was only Level 1 and it could already learn skills?


    As soon as he picked it up, the small fox began panicking even more and started to cry. "What happened now?" Liam was speechless.


    "Ah. Don''t worry. It''s ok to eat books. I will give you more books to eatter." Seeing him interact with the fox with a warm expression, the others standing around were bbergasted.


    Was this the same guy who had grilled us all for the past few hours?!


    Among them, Minah, the healer had been eyeing the fox from the beginning. She was a girl who liked cute things and the fox was adorable as hell!


    So with a bright beaming smile, she decided to use this chance and talk to Liam, but before she could a private message popped up in their group.


    Inside the private chat:


    Shin Soo (Tank): Stop trying to flirt with him so tantly! You will drive him away!


    Kim Hyun (Thief): Ya. You will drive him away with your ugliness! He He


    Kang Mina (Healer): You both are idiots!


    Kang Mina (Healer): Kim Hyun, I won''t heal you bastard!


    Chung Hee (Mage 1): What are the stats on the two rings? Are they good? And what skill book dropped?


    Shin Soo (Tank): The rings are good. For now, Minah will equip two and I will equip one. Forget the skill book, it wouldn''t be polite to ask for more details.


    Chung Hee (Mage 1): Ai. I was just curious.


    Shin Soo (Tank): I am also nning to give the rare ring back to him when we finish all the runs. If anyone has any objections, speak up now.


    Chung Hee (Mage 1): I am fine with that


    Kang Mina (Healer): +1


    Kim Hyun (Thief): +1


    Shin Soo (Tank): Alright good. You all better behave during this run. Do better.


    Since these people were busy chatting, and several messages popped up in the group chat, the other rejected mage also chimed in.


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Don''t tell me¡­ Hu Hu Hu. You guys just finished the first run??


    Kim Hyun (Thief): Fuck. Why is this guy still in the group? Kick him out!


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Bitch, please. Who do you think has to carry yourzy ass in the next run? I only need a couple more hours by the way, I will be Level 20. Hmph.


    Kim Hyun (Thief): He He He


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Kek. All my equipments are umon. Now do you understand?


    Kim Hyun (Thief): He He He


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): What? Have you gone crazy from jealousy?


    Kim Hyun (Thief): He He He


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Your mother


    Shin Soo (Tank): Alright. Stop. Both of you. Just stop. Kim Hyun, stop spamming in this chat and get ready for the next run. Do I need to tell you more?


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): You guys are really going to go for another run? Are you serious?


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): Just the first run took so long. Isn''t this a waste of time?


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): ?


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): ??


    Goo Sunho (Mage 2): ???


    Kim Hyun (Thief): Look at the world announcement properly stupid. He He He


    The four of them no longer were chatting in the group, so Goo Sunho quickly opened up the wall of fame feature to take a look.


    He hadn''t seen it before, as he was also running a dungeon, but now he had some spare time to pay attention to it. Besides, he was also very curious about Kim Hyun''s cryptic words.


    The bastard had spoken as if the announcement had something to do with him. How absurd!


    His eyes hurriedly swept past the initial congrattory message and finallynded on the party name and the names of the members of the party.


    "Fuuckkkkk!" Goo Sunho felt his head spin and his eyes were full of shock and disbelief. How the hell is this possible?!!!


    He knew about the strength of their team better than anyone. So how the hell was something like this even remotely possible?!!


    Unless¡­ the person they had teamed up with was an insane monster!


    "Damn it. Why was I the one to be kicked out!! Ahhhh."


    His luck was absolute dogshit today! This was not fair!


    As he was standing still dumbfounded, the group he was running with currently called him and Goo Sunho could only cry inwardly as they again started the dungeon.


    But Goo Sunho was not the only person to see the world announcement.


    The ''Moon Lake'' dungeon had be even more crowded ever since the world announcement was made.


    Several elite teams from top guilds once again returned to the dungeon to redo their runs and figure out the secret of triggering hard mode.


    The hard mode dungeon record was not set yet and more importantly, there could be yet another level of difficulty that was worse than hard mode.


    So to obtain these clears, everyone hurriedly scrambled towards the ''Moon Lake'' dungeon.


    And among these people was a certain red head.


    "Damn it! How the heck is this possible?" Alex gnashed her teeth and swung the axe she was carrying onto the ground.. A loud thud resounded in the air.

 Chapter 84 - Again!!

    <h4>Chapter 84 - Again!!</h4>


    "Calm down, sis." Rey smiled awkwardly but he quickly looked away as soon as his sister gave him a death re.


    "We fucking ran that dungeon a dozen times and still did not unlock the hard mode and this bastard somehow did that!" Alex was furious.


    "Sis, we already have the first clear and the dungeon record for the normal mode. So why not just let this go?"


    "Are you serious? I already told you about our situation and why we are investing in this game and you still dare to be carefree?"


    Seeing that Alex was ready to grill Rey, Mia sighed and finally intervened. "Let him be, Alex. I don''t want you guys to be stressing out so much. My parents wouldn''t have wanted that either."


    "I already told you. If it means that we have to let go of thatpany, then we will. It will be fine."


    "Ah¡­ Sorry. I didn''t mean to¡­" Alex didn''t want to hurt her feelings. She knew that she was very upset and just not showing it outside.


    "It''s alright." Mia patted her with a sweet smile and then asked. "So what are we going to do now?" A golden glow surrounded the woman as she had advanced further in her healer ss.


    "What else?" Alex grinned. "We are going to the ''Moon Lake'' dungeon. Heh."


    "Alex¡­" Mia was speechless.


    "You wanted me to not stress right? What other better way is there to relieve my stress? He He."


    "Sis¡­" Rey had a bad feeling about this.


    "I am going to hunt that guy down and send him all the way back to zero. I might even camp next to his body and continue beating him to pulp some more."


    "Want me to sign a fucking ve contract? We will see who signs what! Hmph."


    Past Level 25, it was not possible to enter the ''Moon Lake'' Level 20 dungeon, so just like the other guilds, ''Heavenly Retribution'' led by Alex, Mia and Rey also hurried over to the dungeon.


    With several elite teams suddenly scattered all around Yleka city, the entire ce became chaotic.


    A lot of fights broke out and a lot of people also started selling wares outside the dungeon. They only sold consumables but they sold them for a higher price than what they were avable for in the city and raked in some fast profits.


    Meanwhile, near the dungeon portal, Liam and the rest of the members of his team appeared shortly and then disappeared back into the dungeon in the next instant.


    The fully cleared vige now once again was brimming with specters at every corner. Liam saw that everyone was staring at his face and waiting for him, so he chuckled.


    "You all know the drill right? Then what are you waiting for? Let''s start."


    Shin Soo gulped and double checked just to be sure. "So everything same as thest run brother? I mean everything including pulling all the mobs?"


    Liam nodded. "Yes. Just like that. Does anyone have a problem with that?"


    Everyone nodded their heads like dolls and the tank quickly stepped forward to pull the first mob. His movements were much more fluid, and confidentpared to before.


    Damage numbers started appearing and everyone could see the results of their previous run. Kim Hyun and Chung Hee had both leveled up and their damage output was not higher.


    The healer as well had gotten a good boost from the new ring and she was grinning wildly from ear to ear to see everyone''s health bar filling up with just the weakest healing spell.


    However, unfortunately for them, this was all temporary. When Liam stepped in casually and started casting his fireballs, each attack zoomed through the air like a cannonball.


    Chung Hee was especially dumbfounded as he gawked at the new damage numbers. It was already unbelievable and now it had increased even further???


    After distributing all the stat points, Liam''s damage numbers improved by a decent percentage as he had been umting them all this time.


    So the sudden change was very noticeable.


    And it did not end here!


    After Liam tossed a fireball, another huge ball of fire shot towards the specters.


    Fire st!


    And the caster was none other than the small fox jumping up and down near Liam''s feet. The bird did not make any move yet, but thest attack was undoubtedly from the fox.


    Kyuuuuu! Kyuuuuu! Kyuuuuu!


    The little thing looked very happy.


    Everyone looked at Liam and then at the tiny fox next to him. They didn''t know who was more monstrous.


    Not many people had pets at the moment and the formation avable was not much.


    So it was shocking for them to see a tiny little pet casting a magic spell, especially considering that Liam was a mage.


    Chung Hee wanted to cry. It was shameful for him to see that his own ss could be so much more powerful. Just like him, another person also wanted to cry, though it was for a different reason.


    Kang Mina wanted so badly to lift that tiny little fox and run away. Unfortunately, she was a bit too terrified of Liam to do that.


    The group continued grinding the specters in the same way they had done earlier and though they all assumed that things would be a lot easier this time, considering the numbers Liam was pulling, it ended up being just as taxing as before.


    They still chased after each and every mob in the dungeon and, surprisingly, Liam was also somewhat slower in attacking.


    It looked like he was engrossed in deep thought and took his sweet time sending out the fireballs.


    The others did not know what skill book had dropped so they waited for him to use the new skill. However, that never happened.


    He even used [Lava Rain] sparingly and only kept sending out fireballs. Of course, it would make their lives a lot easier if he did something more but who was going toin?


    The man was still doing the majority of the damage! At this point, the rest of the team''s sole constion was that their damage numbers were at least higher than the little fox''s.

 Chapter 85 - Again!!!

    <h4>Chapter 85 - Again!!!</h4>


    A few hours quickly passed and by this time, everyone had run the dungeon two more times, one after the other without any break.


    All the members of the group, including Liam, had leveled up one more time and the wind ripper also leveled up to 3. However, the fox was still at level 1.


    The total experience points required for a spirit beast to jump from one level to another was actually worse than that of a human being.


    Liam patted the tiny thing and then fed it a berry. It didn''t need it but it was staring at him while he was munching so he gave it one as well.


    Shin Soo watched this wholesome scene and decided to speak up his mind, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Liam spoke up before him.


    "Again? Let''s go."


    The tank smiled bitterly looking at his teammates. Everyone was draped from head to toe in lots of new gears and their pockets were also full.


    Liam had been very generous, and they had gained a lot, but still¡­


    They couldn''t bring themselves to repeat the same thing over and over again, especially considering how difficult the run was every single time.


    Even though their bodies were fully recovered and their minds as well had somewhat recovered by drinking theke water, it was still very stressful to undergo this sort of continuous strenuous training.


    This sort of thing was different from sitting in the same spot and grinding for hours together. They had to physically move and run and fight and perspire.


    This required discipline and a certain type of will to work hard. Not everyone had the ability to train like this non-stop.


    Shin Soo really wanted to pull his hair out. Just as much as he was tired, he also didn''t want to let go of Liam. Something told him that it wouldn''t be possible to meet with this person again.


    He cried inwardly at his plight and lightly nodded his head. Everyone behind him gasped in shock silently. They had wanted Shin Soo to say no, but he agreed just like that!


    Shin Soo: Guys, please cooperate. This should be thest time. I think even he will feel tired after this run.


    Kang Mina: ¡­


    Kim Hyun: ¡­


    Chung Hee: ¡­


    Seeing this another person, shamelessly popped in.


    Goo Sunho: If anyone wants to switch out, I am free to hop in.


    Shin Soo: ¡­


    Kang Mina: ¡­


    Kim Hyun: ¡­


    Chung Hee: ¡­


    Goo Sunho: Hyung you too? Fuck. You guys are all going a bit too far!


    Everyone might be tired but no one wanted to lose their ce and switch with the guy. They could only grit their teeth and continue with the run.


    And then another one.


    And then another one..


    And then another one¡­


    And finally, at the end of the next run, no one even had the will to stand up anymore. Luckily for them, Liam this time had a smile on his face as opposed to his usually stern face.


    "Alright. I reached Level 20. You all should be at least 22 or 23 right? It''s not efficient to grind here anymore. Shall we leave?"


    He even seemed very livelypared to the usual and very rxed as if he had just gotten some sort of massage. On the other hand, everyone else was in a different state.


    They could only silently nod again.


    In the end, only Shin Soo was able to muster his strength and talk back. "Bro, are we now going to another dungeon? What¡­ what is the n?" He hesitantly asked, afraid to know the answer.


    Hearing his words, the others were stunned silly. Another dungeon ahhhh?! Was this fellow trying to kill them all?!


    They had rmed looks on their faces and they wanted to protest right then and there!


    But it looked like their good luck or rather bad luck had finallye to an end¡­ Liam shook his head and muttered. "No, I have something else to do. Let''s part ways here."


    He did not even finish speaking when he heard a collective sigh. He couldn''t help but chuckle. "Good luck."


    He left the party right away and then walked out of the dungeon casually. The four who had just now sighed in relief suddenly had different expressions on their faces.


    Fuck!


    Kang Mina was the first one to shout. "Ah! Friend Request!" She didn''t wait for Shin Soo and directly sent Liam a request. The next second, she also got the notification!


    [Ding. Your friend request has been epted]


    "He epted it! He epted it!" She grinned and jumped up to stand in shock.


    "He epted it?" Shin Soo also hurriedly sent one.


    [Ding. Your friend request has been epted]


    "Oh! He epted mine!" He felt relieved only after seeing this message. Now if they wanted to call him again in the future, things would be a lot smoother.


    Seeing the two of them get positive results, the other two as well hurriedly sent in, but unfortunately, no return notification came in as their request was probably not viewed.


    They knew that because they had also received a lot of friend requests after the world announcement. So by the time Liam checked again, theirs would probably already be buried.


    "It''s fine. Why do you have long faces? We will be ying together anyways. I will just talk to him andter, you both can also send in requests again. Don''t spam him now."


    Shin Soo as well got up. He already had a n to contact Liamter as he wanted to give back all the rare drops from the dungeon.


    Since every single one of their runs had been on hard mode, their luck was quite good and they had actually gotten three rare drops in total.


    Liam did not care about it and simply asked them to keep but Shin Soo wanted to return it. At that time, they could once again team up and y.


    While he was thinking about this, Kang Mina continued proudly showing off. "He He.Ya. Don''t worry. I can also message him on your behalf. He He He."


    Kim Hyun couldn''t stand it any longer and scoffed at her. "What are you so happy about? Did you think you hooked on some rich whale?"


    "He looks like a mixed race person, and judging from his name ''Chang Liam'', he is probably from China and you are from Korea."


    "And more importantly, have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Even if he is some big shot, he won''t spare one look at you! Hmph."


    "KIM HYUN! I swear I will let you die in the next run!"

 Chapter 86 - I Think You Are In Love

    <h4>Chapter 86 - I Think You Are In Love</h4>


    After stepping out of the dungeon, Liam weaved through the crowd with his two pets clinging close to him.


    As he was walking suddenly the sea of crowd parted, allowing a group of people to walk through.


    Liam paused and moved aside to stand on the sidelines. He knew exactly who these people were and why they were getting this sort of treatment.


    The group of American yers in front of him belonged to the guild ''Mythril Dominance'' and it was one of the top 10 guilds not just in the game but also in the outside world.


    And the seven members walking towards the dungeon portal were the main powerhouses of the guild.


    He quickly flipped open the leaderboard and just as he had expected, he could already see their names on the chart.


    He could almost recognize every single name on the chart. These were the people whom he had yearned to be like and looked up to as a role model in his previous life.


    Back then, it was like a distant dream but now¡­


    Liam shook his head and began to walk out of the crowd heading away from the dungeon when he suddenly felt as if he was being watched.


    It was a distinct feeling and he immediately activated stealth, his figure blurring away from the ce where he was standing.


    Seconds after he had stepped away, a feisty redhead appeared at the same spot and she looked around with her eyes peeled.


    "I swear¡­ I just saw him here!" Alex sighed in exasperation.


    All the other yers standing around immediately stiffened up as all of a sudden a gorgeous creature had appeared near them


    "Sis¡­" Rey spoke seriously. "I want to tell you something."


    "What?" Alex growled back.


    "I think¡­ you are in love." He scratched his chin and continued speaking as if he had just now analyzed somethingplex.


    "What¡­ What did you say?" Alex turned around, no longer searching for Liam. Her focus was only on her younger brother standing in front of her!


    "Aha ha. I mean¡­ You are even seeing his face everywhere." Rey was already regretting his words.


    "No. I dare you to repeat. What did you just say?" Alex took a few steps towards her brother, making thetter want to run away.


    "Sis¡­ guild members are watching. Please have mercy."


    "Hmph. Do you think I care? Next time do not speak rubbish like this. Else forget the game, I will beat you up when you get out of the damn capsule!"


    Alex took a deep breath, after which she returned back to her group once again, more calm andposed and with none of the earlier anger on her face.


    Though every now and then she still looked around, still searching for the figure she had fleetingly seen in the crowd.


    Liam, on the other hand, was long gone.


    There were still a couple of days left for the ck market to open up again and he only wanted to leave Yleka city after submitting his smithing quest and receiving the next part of the chain quest.


    "Every single ce I need to visit after this is a high-level zone. So I should just focus on leveling up for the next couple of days until the market opens up again."


    "Hmmm¡­ I should also probably log out and make sure that everything is alright."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    When Liam logged out of the game and exited the game capsule, he could instantly hear loud music ring through the whole apartment. He also heard a few voices.


    "Huh? What is this girl up to?" He scratched his head and walked out of his room to the living room when the scene in front of him made him utterly speechless.


    A bunch of random girls were jumping or dancing or working out or whatever it was that they were doing. He also spotted the next door neighbor and his sister at the front.


    "Hope you don''t mind. My apartment''s power circuit tripped." Shen Yue muttered with her usual polite smile, slightly out of breath as she continued her movement.


    "Please brother! ss is almost over! Just 5 more minutes!" Mei Mei chimed in, mirroring whatever the other person was doing. She was also out of breath.


    Liam was speechless. Things around him were jiggling and shaking and moving too much. He took one look at this chaotic scene and did a u-turn returning back to his room.


    He could even hear some giggling behind him but he didn''t care and quickly shut the door. He had heard the words 5 minutes so he decided to take a shower first.


    He also ordered a bunch of food for dinner. By the time he was done showering, the food had already arrived and it looked like the crowd in their apartment had also cleared out.


    Only his sister and Shen Yue were copsed on the floor of the living room. "Oh my god, the food smells so good." Shen Yue immediately eximed.


    "Brother, sis is a big foodie. He He He." Mei Mei added.


    "You are wee to join us for dinner." Liam smiled politely. He didn''t mind the intrusion as he was pleased to see his sister finally happy and smiling like a normal teenager.


    "Waah! Thanks. Your brother is so nice, Mei Mei." Shen Yue chuckled and lifted her sweaty body from the floor.


    "It''s alright. I don''t want to impose on you guys too much. Thanks for letting me use your apartment."


    She waved goodbye when her stomach made a loud embarrassing grumbling sound. Mei Mei couldn''t hold it in and ended upughing loudly.


    "Sis Yue, don''t think too much. Just join us for dinner." She smiled brightly.


    "Aha ha. Okay." Shen Yue nodded and agreed with an awkward smile. "Then I won''t hold back. Let me wash up ande first."


    After she left, Mei Mei turned around to give Liam a big thumbs up. "Huh? What is that for?"

 Chapter 87 - They All Died!

    <h4>Chapter 87 - They All Died!</h4>


    "He He." The young girl giggled and winked at Liam. "I know everything, brother."


    "Eh? What do you know?"


    "He He. I am not that small you know." She winked at him when Liam finally understood what she meant. He gave her a bitter smile and pinched her cheeks.


    "Don''t talk rubbish."


    While the two of them arranged the dishes on the table, a surprised yelp came from within Liam''s room. "She went to my room?"


    Liam walked over to check what had happened when he saw Shen Yue admiring his game capsule with her mouth open. "Woah! This is so big!"


    "Ya, it''s an advanced full dive game so the capsule is quiteplicated. By the way, there is another washroom in the corridor." Liam pointed her to the one outside his room.


    "Sorry. Sorry. My bad. I saw this and just walked in." Shen Yue was really embarrassed this time as she had crossed a line and wandered into another person''s private room.


    "Don''t worry about it." Liam shook his head. "Join us when you are done." He left her and returned back to the living room. He was starving so he dug in without waiting for anyone.


    Shen Yue pped her face with her hands and shook her head. She then quickly ran out of his room and used the washroom outside.


    She sshed water on her face and looked up to see the mirror when she noticed that her shirt had been fully drenched in sweat and extremely transparent all this time.


    Even her breasts and her nipples were clearly visible. "Ahhh!" She yelped once again and before any of the two siblings could stop her she ran out of the apartment first.


    "I will change clothes first." Only her voice could be heard.


    "What happened now?" Liam asked his sister who shook her head and shrugged. She also did not know.


    When Shen Yue returned back, the TV was switched on and both Liam and Meilin were already sitting on the couch and munching their food.


    Did he see everything? Shen Yue gulped and took some dishes onto her te acting as normal as she could. She looked at Liam who seemed as expressionless as always.


    But this only made it worse and her face became bright red. She silently sat on the other end of the couch and continued eating.


    On the TV, once again news about thetest video game was being broadcast.


    No one was still able to find how everything was hacked and who was the game developer of this revolutionary game.


    "Well¡­ I guess¡­ this is all the same¡­ they are paying attention to the wrong things." Liam sighed, muttering to himself.


    "Brother, did you say something?" Meilin asked to which he shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing."


    "Brother, by the way, did you hear the news yet?" The young girl looked so excited to tell him that she put her te down and shouted with her mouth still full.


    "First swallow your food idiot." Liam chuckled.


    "Hmph. You wouldn''t be this calm if you heard the news!" She pouted. Shen Yue silently watched the two wondering what they were talking about.


    "The bullies that cornered us the other day? You remember?"


    "Mmm." Liam casually put another scoopful of food in his mouth. He already knew what she was going to tell.


    "Brother! They died! They actually died!"


    "Oh really?" He slowly chewed, enjoying the taste of the fried chicken. "What happened?"


    "Their gaming software apparently malfunctioned and they died within the capsule itself. Their parents only found out about it when they hadn''te out for a couple of days together."


    Mei Mei started recounting the whole incident as she had read in the news. It was being talked about a lot and the specific gaming capsule manufacturingpany was also being sued.


    There were also several talks and serious protests about how gaming was the cancer of society and etc.


    So they chalked this up to game capsule malfunction? Liam could only chuckle inwardly hearing all this nonsense.


    He knew very well that nothing was going to change even after all of these. Human greed was boundless so despite the situation being risky, ultimately no one was going to care.


    When the serious gamers started earning a lot, it was only inevitably going to grow more and more until the big balloon burst open and revealed the reality to everyone.


    Snapping him out of his thoughts, Mei Mei clutched his hand and asked worriedly. "Brother¡­ This¡­ maybe you should also y the game a little less?"


    Liam smiled and ruffled her head. "Don''t worry dummy. I am using a differentpany''s gear. He must have skimped on money. That''s why it malfunctioned."


    "Both of ours are pretty high-end so you don''t have to worry about that."


    Shen Yue finally mustered the courage to join the conversation and spoke up. "Oh! Which one do you think is good? I am also thinking of getting."


    Liam nodded and gave her some details before finishing his food and returning back to his room. He then switched on his desktop.


    He opened up the ''official website'' for the game which was basically the most popr game''s website now manually made into the ''Evolution Online'' website by some of the gamers and thepany.


    Since no otherpany came forward and imed awsuit for doing this uwfully, they continued posing as the ''official website''.


    Liam signed in as a guest and posted.


    "I died a few times in game today and I am feeling a bit sick when I logged out. Did anyone else experience this?"


    "I died a few times in game today and I am feeling a bit sick when I logged out. Did anyone else experience this?"


    "I died a few times in game today and I am feeling a bit sick when I logged out. Did anyone else experience this?"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    He made the same post on a few threads and then signed out. This was it. He could only hint at these things and just doing this was already risky enough.


    Otherwise, he would be subjected to the unnecessary spotlight that he didn''t yet have the strength to defend against.

 Chapter 88 - Its Raining Black

    <h4>Chapter 88 - It''s Raining ck</h4>


    "Mei Mei. Lock the doors properly before you go to sleep!" After reminding his sister again, Liam then stretched his arms and let out a big yawn before getting back into the game capsule.


    "Your brother is always this loving and caring?" Shen Yue asked enviously.


    She herself did not have any siblings and her parents also kind of stopped talking to her and were cold and distant from her when she did not listen to their orders and study medicine.


    She wanted to be a dancer instead and in the meantime worked as a personal trainer to make ends meet and support herself financially.


    "Yes, my big bro is nice to me all the time." Meilin replied but after that, she grinned widely and then winked. "He He? Why do you ask, sis Yue?"


    "Ah¡­ Nothing. Nothing. Was just curious." Shen Yue immediately became conscious again and turned her face back to the TV.


    Watching her actions, Mei Mei became more excited and continued teasing her. "He also doesn''t have a girlfriend, sis Yue. He He."


    Shen Yue did not say anything and quickly stuffed her mouth with a spoonful of food. However, her beautiful face was already red like a ripe tomato.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Back in the game, Liam looked at the two leeches staring at him and then patted them with a smile. "Time to get to work!"


    Kyuuuuuu!


    The trio started walking around Yleka city as Liam was trying to make up his mind. He had 48 hours plus another 48 hours before the ck market opened up again.


    This was a significant amount of time and he needed to spend it properly. The most important task now was to level up and he knew a lot of juicy spots to do this.


    However, he had a feeling that he could be spending this time better.


    He opened the world map in his system interface and gazed at the ckish dark red blinking icon near the right bottom corner.


    Theher realm!


    ording to the details of the reward he received for obliterating those worthless souls, he should be able to enter and exit this at will.


    In his previous life, Liam had only entered this well past the event, and by that time everything good was already gone.


    He also didn''t know much details about this ce as he had hardly paid any attention to it, but now that his undead affinity and demonic affinity were SSS-grade and S-grade, it would be foolish to ignore this part of the tutorial.


    If he was simply going to be leveling, he might as well do that here and explore theher realm at the same time to be more efficient.


    Without the details of the treasure spots and juicy easter eggs,bing through a ce like that was going to be a difficult job. So the earlier he started working on it, the better.


    He might be sacrificing his leveling speed a bit, but it didn''t matter as he would also be looking around the ce at the same time.


    Making up his mind, Liam pressed the blinking button. Immediately a reddish ck swirling mass of energy appeared in front of him. This was a portal.


    "Hmmm¡­ If I am not wrong. This should be a single use portal. It should disappear after I use it until I summon it again."


    Liam carefully observed it first and then extended his hand to reach the portal.


    At the same time, he was also prepared to react immediately as he had no idea what awaited him on the other end.


    It wouldn''t be anything that he couldn''t handle, but Liam doubted that the system would go easy on him. If anything, it would be the other way around.


    He looked at the bird and the fox and pointed to the portal once before directly touching it. The two as well did the same and the next second, all of them were pulled in.


    The lush green forests around them disappeared and they now stood on what looked like a vast desert, except the sands were brownish green in color.


    The sky above them was crimson, blotched with pitch ck clouds.


    [Ding. You have entered theher realm]


    [Ding. You are the first yer to discover theher realm]


    [Ding. 5000 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. You have obtained the title ''Pioneer'']


    [Pioneer: When the title is equipped, drop rates are higher and experience points gained are boosted by 5%]


    "Heh. This is a very useful title." Liam clicked his tongue and then opened the map on the system interface once again. It indicated that he was in the Zodal Empire in the eastern zone.


    "If I remember correctly, this should be a demon kingdom. The eastern zone should be mostly demon kingdoms while the south should be beastkinnds."


    He gazed at the map which was mostly nked out and tried to remember as much as he could.


    But his exact starting point didn''t matter too much as necromancers were typically scattered throughout theher realm.


    As he looked at the map trying to jog his memories, a loud thunder rumbled snapping him out of his thoughts. ck raindrops fell from the sky, wetting the barren desertnds and forming small ck puddles.


    "Hmmm." Liam collected a drop of the ck rain in his finger and flicked it casually. This was the trademark debuff of theher realm.


    yers avoided this rain like gue as it not only decreased their stats but also sizzled and burned as it touched the skin. However, Liam currently did not feel any pain.


    He was also not injured. The drops that fell on him momentarily drenched his clothes but wereter absorbed by his skin underneath, leaving his clothes once again clean and dry.


    The raindrops falling on his hands and his face were also readily absorbed and before he could wonder why this was happening, he received the answer.


    [Ding. You have been empowered by theher]


    [Ding. All your stats are increased by 10%]

 Chapter 89 - On Their Own

    <h4>Chapter 89 - On Their Own</h4>


    [Ding. You have been empowered by theher]


    [Ding. All your stats are increased by 10%]


    [Ding. Experience Points gained are increased by 10%]


    [Ding. Your pet1 is inflicted by theher]


    [Ding. Your pets stats are decreased by 10%]


    [Ding. Your pet2 is inflicted by theher]


    [Ding. Your pets stats are decreased by 10%]


    Liam waited for all the notifications to roll in one after the other. He had expected some of these but he hadn''t expected his pets to get affected by theher debuff.


    But now that he thought about it, everything made sense. One pet was themon type and the other pet was the spirit type. Both didn''t have an affinity to theher energy as he did.


    "Well. It doesn''t matter. My experience points should transfer over without any problems so you both can still level up."


    As he looked around, wondering which direction to head in first, suddenly small skittering noises sounded behind him. Liam instantly turned around and unsheathed his sword by habit.


    But when he looked at what was making the noise, he rxed a little. It was just a horde of demonrvae passing by.


    [Demon Larvae]


    Level 4


    Health: 400


    Liam nced at their stats and they were just ants in front of him. "You two want to try fighting them?" He looked at the fox and the bird. He wanted both to be more ustomed to fighting.


    And that was something that needed to be learned and trained the hard way. There were no shortcuts.


    Otherwise, they would simply just be ss cannons leeching his experience points and nothing more.


    Kyuuuu! The fox excitedly jumped up and down.


    The bird was even more excited eying the demonrvae that had the potential to be powerful demons as simply mere food. It liked that they looked like wiggling worms.


    Liam did not have to tell them twice and they quickly jumped into action. In the meantime, he continued to think about where to move next.


    But he also paid attention to what they were doing from the corner of his eyes. After all, there were about 50 or 60 demonrvae wiggling towards them.


    He didn''t n on intervening unless things became very bad. Nevertheless, he still kept an eye on the two.


    The fox did not approach the horde yet and started sending out fire sts one at a time, aiming for the horde.


    Kyuuu! Kyuuu! Kyuuu!


    It jumped up and down in joy as if it was ying an ''aim and shoot'' video game.


    Liam was actually having trouble focusing on his thoughts as the adorable thing was putting on a good show for him.


    It was like fireworks and the attacks wreaked havoc amidst the previously coordinated and orderly horde.


    The bird, on the other hand, used this chaos to pick up the pieces. It swooped in and pecked the injuredrvae that were trying to run helter skelter.


    "You guys even know how to work together!" Liam nodded in approval and for a change, he was getting experience points from their efforts.


    This was not much so when he spotted a nearby group of poisonous scorpions, he started tossing fireballs at them.


    He didn''t want to just simply stand while waiting for the two to learn fighting. He also had a lot to learn and figure out.


    Aiming for the scorpion at the front, Liam tried to focus on the mana flowing inside his body and cast a fireball, when he abruptly stopped in his actions without casting anything.


    He didn''t know why but the mana inside his body at the moment felt a bit different. It wasn''t anything bad but rather it felt more chaotic and restless.


    Liam used both his hands to better picture the image in his mind and then again conjured a fireball in front of him.


    Now he had no doubt. This was definitely different from the other times he had cast the same spell. Was it because he was in theher realm?


    Liam did not know if this was why he also had received notifications about his attack boost. "Since when did I be so sensitive to mana to spot such small changes?"


    Something was different and he pondered about it as he sent the fireball flying towards one of the scorpions.


    These were Level 15 beasts and considering that Liam''s stats were already enhanced because of his body cleansing and this coupled with theher realm boost¡­ the beast waspletely overpowered!


    The mes roared as they destroyed the scorpion''s shell in one clean hit, thereby killing the beast along with it.


    [Ding. 75 Experience points have been rewarded]


    The experience points were rather low as there was a significant level difference but Liam was excited nevertheless.


    He was ughtering beasts that were only 5 levels below him as if he was ughtering Level 1 demonrvae.


    He was also gaining a better and better sense of the mana coursing through the body. Perhaps he was influenced by the joyful look on the fox''s face, Liam also had a big smile on his face.


    It felt truly nice to not be weak and powerless, scrapping just to get hands on leftovers.


    [Ding. 75 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 75 Experience points have been rewarded]


    [Ding. 75 Experience points have been rewarded]


    ...


    ...


    After killing the five scorpions, Liam stopped for a moment. There were a few more ahead of him but he didn''t move to attack them just yet.


    [Awaken]


    He tried casting the only undead spell he had learned so far.


    If he could feel so much difference when casting a fire magic spell, then how would he feel when casting an undead spell?


    "No. I have to get it this time." He clenched his fists.


    Liam closed his eyes and carefully paid attention to the changes in his body, while he muttered the spell and then tried to sense everything to the fullest that he could.

 Chapter 90 - Just Out Of Reach!

    <h4>Chapter 90 - Just Out Of Reach!</h4>


    Zu Zu Zu Zu


    The roiling waves of mana crashed inside his body as they churned and circted everywhere. They were turbulent and unsteady.


    As Liam tried his very best and followed this trail of thought, he suddenly caught the feeling of an unfamiliar presence. It was as if a ck stream was intermingling with a vast blue river.


    The two did not mix with each other but there were sshes which made them both more turbulent.


    Liam gritted his teeth and tried to focus more and grab this insight but before he could everything shattered and scattered like a ss vase on the floor.


    "Damn it!" He stretched his limbs in frustration. He almost had it but it slipped out of his hand.? He took a few deep breaths and calmed down.


    "It''s fine. Everything is just beginning. Calm down. I should not be hasty."


    After settling his thoughts, Liam looked at the five undead scorpions in front of him, all waiting for hismand.


    The other two had also finished fighting with the demonrvae so he whistled and started walking, signaling everyone to follow closely.


    The group wandered around the red barren desert for a while. Everything was cracked and devoid of moisture and there wasn''t any vegetation as far as the eyes could see.


    Every now and then the group ran into some lower level beasts which either Liam took care of by himself or if they were weak enough, he let the other two pets handle the situation.


    He didn''t particrly use the undead as he was still training his spell casting, so they simply wandered near them like unused bodyguards.


    He only continued to use the fireballs one after the other. After a few minutes, Liam paused and realized something that he hadn''t observed before.


    The mana in theher realm was thinner!


    Mana was still there and an adequate amount at that but there definitely was a lower concentration of it in the air around.


    He wondered if he was only able to notice this because he had cleansed his body once. Other than removing impurities from his body, it had also made him more sensitive to mana.


    Even for a low grade potion, he was seeing this much effect! Just how effective was a high-grade or a rare elixir going to be?!


    Just the mere thought of it made Liam lick his lips in delight or perhaps because he was parched after walking around in the desert for so long.


    "Ok. This is not going to work. I need to find a viewing spot and get a grasp of things." He looked around and saw a small range of pointy hills in the distance.


    He walked over to it and then started climbing it. Thankfully, it wasn''t too steep so all his summons and his pets were able to follow him without any difficulty.


    They hiked for a while and then they finally arrived at the top of the tallest hill in the cluster. Liam looked around and sighed. The air here was much cooler.


    He also came prepared. So he took out a bottle of water from his inventory. The cool water felt refreshing and he drank several mouthfuls.


    As he did that, the small creature next to him jumped up in delight and ran towards something.


    Kyuuuu!


    Liam''s gaze shifted to see the fox running to a small thorny bush that had some berries on it.? "Stop. Don''t eat that." He immediately warned the furry ball of energy.


    He knew that nothing here was edible and even the beasts were poisonous beasts. So most probably those berries were poisonous too.


    The small fox stopped in its tracks and did not disobey him. It, however, drooped its head in sadness.


    Liam looked at the fox and then at the bird. One barely even showed its presence while the other behaved cutely every chance it got.


    He was amazed at this difference. He chuckled and took out some berries and meat from his inventory. "My bad. I should have fed you guys a while back."


    Both the pets instantly jumped onto the food while the undead continued to stand as if everything happening around them had nothing to do with them.


    After settling the matter of food, Liam walked back and forth, going to the various edges of the cliff and peering down and ahead to get an idea of the ce he was in.


    Unfortunately, this height was still not enough and he could only see the red sand desert spreading across the horizon, interspersed with some hills and rocky terrain here and there.


    "What the heck?" He scratched his head, deciding to try his luck by climbing onto another cluster of hills nearby.


    As he was about to give up and climb down, suddenly a slight whizzing noise sounded in the distance and Liam turned to catch a glimpse of a red re going up into the sky.


    "Oh! That should definitely be a demon settlement." Liam''s eyes brightened and he noted the direction before climbing down from the cliff.


    The fox and the bird looked reluctant toe down as the air above was nicer but seeing Liam walk away, they could only follow him.


    The group continued their journey once again and before long they ran into a group of rabid dogs that had longer tails and horns protruding from their heads.


    There were totally 10 of them, all seeming to belong to the same pack and they were baring their teeth at the big juicy prey in front of them.


    [Rabid Hound]


    Level 21


    Health: 20000


    "Get back. Don''t engage." Liam immediately warned both of his pets and he stepped forward, retrieving his sword.


    Rabid hounds were demon beasts that excelled in strength as well as agility. Besides, some of them were also capable of using demonic magic.


    So he didn''t dare to simply use fireballs in this situation and use these guys as sparring partners, especially considering that it was 1 vs 10. He had to go all out!

 Chapter 91 - Friend Or Foe?

    <h4>Chapter 91 - Friend Or Foe?</h4>


    The pack of rabid hounds scraped their feet on the ground and snarled at Liam before bounding towards him collectively.


    Their ferocious gnarling sounds were terrifying and the sight of an entire pack together was even more terrifying.


    Liam stood calmly, unfazed by the fact that he was outnumbered. Since he still had a couple of seconds before they reached him, he quickly activated his skill [Lava Rain].


    ck rain was still pouring endlessly around him but nowced with these droplets of corrupt water, there were beads ofva falling from the sky.


    The hounds hissed in pain as theva seared their skin and within a second, injuries started piling up and damage numbers were popping out.


    GROWL!


    The bunch of rabid hounds became extremely enraged as they leaped towards Liam, wanting to rip him apart, limb from limb.


    Liam smirked. He instantly unsheathed his sword and blocked the hound that came for his throat.


    ng!


    The paw nails of the hound scratched his sword, producing a screeching metallic noise as the beast was flung aside.


    Liam did not stop there.


    ng! ng! ng!


    He parried with three more hounds that were aiming for his vital spots. As for the rest of the rabid hounds that wereing at him¡­


    [Sword Dance]


    His lean muscr figure spun around shing unceasingly at every enemy that daringly bared its teeth at him.


    "Aim for the hounds that are bleeding and send out fire bursts."


    "Attack the two on my left."


    Hearing Liam''s instructions, both the fox and the five undead scorpions quickly got to work.


    If they had attacked right from the beginning then the beasts would have aggroed onto thempletely and the level 20 rabid hounds were a bit too strong for either to handle.


    The Level 4 fox would probably be a snack in a second for the Level 20 hound. This was why he had asked them to wait first.


    But now that he had the full attention of every single enemy, he wasfortable asking the fox and the undead to join the fight, leaving the pet bird in reserve.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The small fox had good eyes to pick out the targets with the most number of injuries and it aimed for them, shooting out fire bursts one after the other.


    The five undead scorpions stabbed the two fallen down hounds with their pincers and when they were struggling to get back up, they dealt the final blow by stinging them with their venomous tail.


    [Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]


    As the undead finished their target, the fox took down three as well since these hounds were already heavily injured by Liam.


    [Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam, meanwhile, also finished three hounds and the big pack of ferocious rabid hounds that could strike fear in many yers'' hearts, were suddenly reduced to a pair of stray dogs.


    Growl! Growl!


    Thest two came running at Liam and he shed down at one while gripping the other one''s throat with his left hand.


    He then materialized a ball of fire right where its head was directly sting the hound apart.


    [Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 165 experience points]


    As thest one also dropped dead, all the ten houndsid scattered around. Their heavy bodies lifelessly sunk inside the red desert sands.


    "Good job." Liam did not forget topliment the fox on a job well done and he then looked around to see if any skill books had dropped.


    "Hmm¡­ No luck huh. That''s fine." He ced the copper coins that were nearby into his pockets and then also ced all the rabid hounds into the inventory space.


    He then once again proceeded to walk towards the ce where he had seen the red re go up.


    Liam was still quite unsure of where exactly he was.


    Unlike the Gresh Kingdom map, he didn''t know this one all too well, but if he reached the city or town, he had the confidence to at least vaguely guess where he could be.


    There would also probably be NPCs whom he could talk to for information. So he just had to reach a settlement.


    After a few minutes, the group reached the ce without running into any other monsters, and Liam walked ahead to talk to the two guards standing at the entrance of the city.


    It seemed to be a small city juxtaposed in between rocky barren hills and the two guards standing were also quite peculiar.


    They looked very gruff and angry and they had scales covering their bodies. These were undoubtedly demon and beast hybrids.


    And as soon as Liamid his eyes on these two, he immediately remembered something important!


    The event! He hadpletely forgotten about the significance of the event that had opened up thisher realm to everyone!


    When theher realm was opened for everyone, it was because the divine army wanted to use the chaos in theher realm and massacre the beings of theher realm.


    But in the end, only some of the human factions joined the divine army. The rest ended up joining the demon army.


    Now that this hadn''t happened yet¡­


    There should be no other yers or even many humans here except for Liam. More importantly, humans would be considered as a hostile party.


    "Damn it. Should I not have tried to enter a settlement?" Liam silently pondered. He did not want to be captured and massacred, his death made into a spectacle.


    More importantly, he didn''t want to be imprisoned by some lusty demoness and used a sex ve which was a verymon urrence in theher realm.


    He keenly observed the two guards as they stared back at him, both observing each other''s reactions.


    After a while, Liam decided to back away as this was hisst chance.. He was about to activate [Stealth] when the demon-beast opened his mouth, pointing his spear at Liam.

 Chapter 92 - Reeks Of Death

    <h4>Chapter 92 - Reeks Of Death</h4>


    "Either shit or get off the pot, bitch. Which is it going to be? Hmm?" The demon beast hybrid muttered as he twirled his spear, still pointed at Liam


    Liam was shocked for a moment. He is asking me to go in? This guy really did not have a problem with me being human? What the heck?


    He was very confused. Even after two lifetimes, he was still not able to understand some aspects of this world!


    "What? Are you deaf?"


    The other demon half breed who had scales on his upper body and something spindly on his lower body, covered up by his clothes now started making gestures at Liam.


    He clicked his swollen thumb finger and index finger. "Money. Money. Money."


    "Do you have the copper coins? It will cost you 20 coppers to go in. Do you have it or not?" The first one took his spear away from Liam''s face and banged it on the ground.


    "Ah. Yes. I have." Liam snapped out of his thoughts. This was the second main point about theher realm. Everything here was cheap as hell.


    He fished out the copper coins and handed them over.


    "Hmph. You can go now." The demon half-breed stepped aside.


    Liam nodded and he was just about to walk in when the other guard propped his spear in front of him and spelled out his worst oue.


    "Wait a second. Mmm¡­" The guard started circling around Liam. "Doesn''t thisd look suspicious to you? He reminds me of those stinking uppity motherfucking¡­"


    "Naw¡­ what are you talking about? This guy reeks of death. Can''t you tell? Look behind him."


    Liam only heard that much of their conversation as the two demon half breeds started murmuring among themselves, every now and then ncing at the undead behind him.


    Initially, Liam had considered dismissing these undeads, but now it looked like these were his ticket inside the city.


    He waited for a few seconds, but the two guards continued chatting,pletely ignoring him. So he started heading into the city. He now felt more confident as he walked around.


    It looked like he would be able to get in and get out without any issues even though the her realm event'' hadn''t started.


    Liam took a few minutes to look around the city. There wasn''t that big of a difference between the human settlements and the demon kingdom settlements.


    The buildings and structures here were cruder and the crowd had a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.


    Liam was in fact the only human being in the vicinity.


    He was getting a lot of attention as he walked by but no one dared to look twice at him as soon as their gaze fell on the five undead scorpions closely following him behind.


    The lesser demons and demon half breeds scurried away, not wanting to butt heads with a necromancer.


    He was now also able to open the map and see his exact location, Thol city.


    However, that didn''t help much as he had never heard of this city before. "Ok. Time to get some quests and start grinding¡­"


    Liam muttered to himself and first walked over to a blue skinned demon who was busy repairing a pair of leather boots.


    Demons or beasts or humans, ttery worked the best. So he started from there. "Sir, do you perhaps need some rabid hound leather for your amazing craftsmanship?"


    The blue skinned demon lifted his head up scrutinizing Liam from top to bottom. His eyes thennded on the undead crawling near him and only then he opened his mouth.


    "Oh. I indeed need some. Do you happen to have a bundle of leather with you?"


    [Ding. New Quest Avable]


    [Ding. Bartha needs some leather]


    [Ding. Reward: 1 copper coin; 500 experience points]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Yes /No]


    ''Bingo! Just as I thought.'' The mary reward was abysmal but the experience points were generous.


    Liam grinned and immediately handed over the rabid hounds he had ced in his inventory earlier.


    [Ding. You have received 1 copper coin]


    [Ding. You have received 500 experience points]


    The blue skinned demon epted all the hounds but he had a frown on his face. "Hmmm¡­ These beasts are yet to be skinned and their leather is not usable as such."


    [Ding. New Quest Avable]


    [Ding. Assist Bartha in skinning the rabid hounds]


    [Ding. Reward: Skinning Skill]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Yes /No]


    Liam nodded. "I would be ..."


    Interrupting him, a loud siren red and another red re was shot into the sky. This was simr to the one he had seen from the distance.


    "What is that?" Liam asked the demon, ignoring the quest for the moment.


    "Eh? You don''t know what that is?" The demon looked surprised."We are at war,d. That''s the call to duty."


    "You must have heard about the recent decree our Lord has given. We are actively gathering more resources in preparation for the war.


    "So our warriors will be despatched using portal magic to various realms. We scour and scavenge those ces."


    "And if we can''t find any by ourselves, then we plunder from those who have it. Fu Fu Fu."


    The demon grinned suddenly and then continued talking as if he was recollecting a fond memory. "Thest time I joined the forces, it turned out to be a lot of fun. Fu Fu Fu."


    "We found a group of elven beauties in the spot where we were dispatched and we had a lot of fun with them."


    "Not only that, we even brought a few back with us and sold them off for lots of coppers! So if you are nning to participate, you will definitely be in for a treat. Fu Fu Fu."


    "But remember, it can also be very dangerous.. Do you see that demon over there?" He was pointing to a big-bellied burly demon thatid in a corner, seemingly wasted.

 Chapter 93 - First Mission

    <h4>Chapter 93 - First Mission</h4>


    "He was my good friend. He lost both his hands in the war. So beware, wealth or misery, it will all depend on your luck,d." The blue skinned demon muttered somberly.


    Liam patiently listened to him and when he was done talking, he nodded. "I appreciate the warning, sir. I will keep that in mind."


    Things were slowly bing more and more clearer to him.


    Though he hadn''t heard about such a quest in his previous life, he still had a vague idea of what this was about after hearing the exnation.


    He now knew what he had to do to explore this realm more.


    And as an added plus point, he might even be able to explore more realms through these invasion portals.


    "This is definitely worth trying." Liam clenched his fists in excitement and hurried.


    There was a tower building in the center of the city from where all the res were being shot and the siren was being sounded. So Liam walked over to that area.


    He saw the crowd thickening as he approached closer and groups were starting to assemble.


    There were all sorts of demons in various sizes and shapes, mostly grotesque looking, and they gathered around in dozens.


    Liam cautiously observed everything before walking up to a tall andnky demon who was dressed in leather and metallic gear from top to bottom.


    He even saw this onemanding a couple of other demons and it was clearly one of the many in charge.


    "Sir, I would like to report for duty!" Liam briskly dered.


    The tall horned demon immediately turned to pay attention to him and it looked at him, especially at the few undead trailing close to him.


    "You can do magic?" The demon curiously asked.


    "Yes, sir." Liam nodded. Only answering what he was asked and not giving away any other information.


    The demon continued to scan him for a while as if it was deep in thought. With every passing second, Liam began to grow more nervous.


    In the next moment, however, the demon burst into a fit of loudughter without warning.


    "Good. Good. You came to me at a perfect time. With you, I can rest at ease that our mission this time will be sessful!"


    [Ding. New Limited Quest avable]


    [Ding. Survive the mission and bring back adequate resources]


    [Ding. Reward: +50 contribution points; +50000 experience points]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Yes /No]


    Liam could feel his blood boiling as he looked at the quest. This was ridiculous!


    To gain the same amount of experience points, he had to take care of an entire dungeon that too to utterpletion which took several hours.


    And from the looks of it, the invasion mission should onlyst for a couple of hours at the maximum.


    Not just that, but Liam also observed something very crucial.


    The quest mentioned adequate resources so there was a high possibility of there being different grades of rewards.


    If he by chance managed to gather more than necessary, then there was a chance that he would be rewarded more!


    "Hmmm¡­ What are these contribution points?"


    Liam flicked open his status screen to see if there were more details when he saw a new term ''Soldier'' added below his name.


    [Rank: Soldier] (0/250)


    "Hmm. These should be the contribution points. So if one invasion mission gave me 50 points, I should be able to rank up when I finish doing 5 invasions."


    Liam stopped thinking about this as he heard the loud voice of their squad leader. "We will begin now!" The demon banged on his chest and jumped to stand at the front.


    "Let''s all fight! We need to show them our power! We, demons are below no one! Kill! Plunder! Devastate!"


    After the rousing speech, everyone quickly stood in order and the tall leader demon dragged its gaze over, taking out a parchment.


    He then dropped some blood onto the parchment and the next second, a red glowing circle immediately started spreading.


    "This is an inscription!" Liam''s eyes observed everything carefully.


    Inscriptions were spell papers that were usually crafted using mana, but this was the first time he was seeing one activated by blood.


    "This spell shouldn''t be too strong." He hypothesized. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be possible to casually activate a portal spell like this.


    This was probably why it was random!


    Liam doubted if the leader demon himself knew where the portal was about to rip open.


    Just as he was mulling over the potential dangers they could be soon facing, his vision turned dark and Liam found himself standing along with the demons in a vast grasnd.


    Behind them, there was a reddish ck colored swirling mass of energy. "This should be the return portal."


    Liam''s thoughts were interrupted by the leader demon as he began shouting loudly.


    "Go forth and wreak havoc! Whoever brings back the most spoils will get a special remuneration from me!"


    "Hooorah! Hooorah! Hooorah!"


    "Hooorah! Hooorah! Hooorah!"


    All the demons immediately began cheering. The group of 30 then dissolved into smaller units as the demons scurried hastily in different directions.


    "Won''t they do more damage if they stick together?" Liam shrugged. He observed his new surroundings and opened up the system interface to check where they were.


    However, he was instantly shocked to see almost no details on the map.


    World ???


    Kingdom ???


    Zone ???


    "Just where the hell are we? Which continent is this?"


    Liam did not linger around any longer and headed out to explore. No matter what this was a juicy experience reward quest, so at the least, he would gain that.


    He ran across the vast grasnds, the five undead and his two pets still following him. There was no ck rain here and the mana concentration also seemed normal.


    "What is even here to loot and plunder?" Liam nned to go in another direction as there was nothing ahead of him and he didn''t want to stray too far from the portal.


    But just as he turned, a loud hissing sound echoed.

 Chapter 94 - Hissssss!

    <h4>Chapter 94 - Hissssss!</h4>


    Liam unsheathed his sword, distancing himself several paces from the source of the sound, while simultaneously turning around to face the enemy.


    "What the¡­"


    Standing in front of him were threemia beasts with long coiled serpentine tails and voluptuous upper bodies, barely contained in the breasttes each were wearing.


    [Blue-tailed Naga]


    Level 30


    [Blue-tailed Naga]


    Level 21


    [Blue-tailed Naga]


    Level 25


    It took him a second but Liam snapped out of his trance.


    He would only be a fool if he was entranced by their beauty and not notice their level or long forked tongueced with venom, flickering in and out seductively.


    "So we are in the serpentine beast territory¡­" Liam muttered inwardly as he already began to cast [Lava Rain].


    "You both run back and hide for the moment." The two pets quickly scurried away, obediently listening to him.


    These three nagas were no doubt going to be tough opponents, probably the toughest he had faced!


    He was not even sure if he was going to be sessful as there were three of them and there was a 10 level gap between the two of them.


    While the three were momentarily distracted by the raining fire which sizzled their skin, he silently entered stealth mode and circled the three women.


    Liam contemted attacking the lower leveled naga first as his undead kept the other two busy.


    That seemed to be the only option even though sacrificing his undead would probably only give him a couple of seconds.


    However, that should be more than enough to deal with a single snake.


    Casting a [Fireball], he dashed towards the woman standing at the center, slithering away from theva droplets raining from up above.


    At the same time, his undead scorpions screeched and ran over to the two othermias. The women did not stand simply, waiting to be ughtered.


    They took out long spears from their spatial rings to counter. However, Liam did not allow his prey to do so.


    He shed her hand that had donned the ring and then aimed for her weak points. He repeatedly shed at themia who was hissing loudly in pain and frustration.


    The strength of her opponent made her too stunned to think properly. She became anxious and decided to use the best attack she had.


    [Venom Burst]


    She cocked her head back as if she was going to spit out something, and Liam used this chance to cleanly sever her head from the rest of her body.


    He had been targeting this exact same spot for the past few attacks as her scales had been considerably strong giving her a lot of defense.


    But as he repeatedly hacked her at the same spot, he was easily able tond that final blow, immediately ending one of the three.


    HIISSSS!


    HIISSSSS!


    The other two immediately became enraged. "Demon! How dare you kill my sister!"


    "These can speak?" Liam once again moved back several paces.


    He looked over to see that all his undead summons were already destroyed and scattered around as chunks of bones and decayed flesh.


    "We can understand a demon''s tongue you fool. You will pay for your sin." The twomias thrust their spears forward, aiming for his head.


    Liam grinned and easily evaded their attacks. He stepped forward to meet their attack with his own and shed at the weaker of the two.


    Two against one wasn''t too bad. The only attack he needed to watch out for was their venom!


    "Graaaa! You cannot defeat us!"


    One of the two snakes shot forward towards him with her extremely agile body twirling behind her, the long coil aiming to wrap around Liam''s figure.


    Liam quickly side-stepped to dodge the attack but two sets of heads and tails wereing for him.


    He could no longer dodge this attack and spun his body rapidly, shing his sword at every single weak point that he could reach.


    [Sword Dance]


    [Sword Dance]


    [Sword Dance]


    Liam could feel his stamina plummeting and he was taking a lot of hits as well, but those were nothingpared to the damage numbers that he was delivering to the opponent.


    Seeing that they were not going to be able to physically harm their enemy, the twomias slithered and hissed loudly, releasing a huge cloud of venous breath.


    Liam had already prepared for this and moved back several paces.


    He did not allow the two to heal themselves and started conjuring another round of fireballs, aiming for the previous injuries.


    The twomias skillfully avoided his attacks but they found it difficult to evade bothva rain and the fireballs.


    In the end, they had to move out of the venomous bubble as this was also the spotva poured from the sky.


    And as soon as they stepped out, Liam was waiting for them and he immediately shed at the two, finishing the fight topletion.


    [Ding. You have received 226 experience points]


    [Ding. You have received 845 experience points]


    "That took long enough!" Liam copsed on the grassy ground, stuffing several berries in his mouth to recover his stamina as his eyes spotted the drops scattered around.


    What luck! A skill book had dropped!


    He had only dealt with three snakes and he had already gotten a good reward. He crawled over to take a look at the book lying nearby. He hoped that it was what he wanted and it indeed was!


    [Vemon Burst]


    Liam did not even blink as he instantly learned the skill. Poison skills were one of the most valuable skills.


    He was probably not going to gain any insight about this particr one but it was extremely useful at least to level in the current game and deal with sticky situations.


    "Guys, you both cane back here." Liam did not forget to summon the two pets as they scurried out of a nearby bush.


    This was not really a decent hiding ce and only really worked if he was alive, but it was good enough. So heplimented the two. "Good job."


    Both the pets looked warily at the deadmias sprawled on the grassy ground. "They are dead. Don''t be scared." Liam chuckled and he quickly cast the spell to revive the three.


    [Awaken]


    However, as soon as he activated the spell, a stinging pain arose somewhere inside his body and made him twitch head to toe.

 Chapter 95 - A Trap?

    <h4>Chapter 95 - A Trap?</h4>


    [Ding. Spell failed to activate]


    Liam stared at the notification once his vision cleared and the pain subsided.


    It looked like he was not able to summon these undeads and even suffered some sort of bacsh from trying to do so.


    "Hmmm. Was it because their levels wereparable to mine?" He pondered for a few seconds and that seemed to be the most usible answer.


    "There are too many things I don''t know about this ss. Too bad these would have been useful in the fights."


    Liam clicked his tongue and unwillingly left the three snake corpses behind. He looked around and decided to head towards his right, where a group of demons had gone.


    Before long, he heard loud battle noises, and a few feet ahead of him a group of five demons was fighting against four nagas.


    There seemed to have been casualties on both ends with two nagas and three demon beast hybrids already down.


    Liam observed the scene in front of him and saw that it was a losing battle. Of course, things would be different if he joined the fray.


    "Well, why not." He grinned and walked over to silently stand at the back.


    From there, he again started casting fireballs one after the other, making sure he hit all the targets at least once.


    He was not sure how the experience distribution here was going to be, so he tagged all the snakes once and then began targeting the ones with the least health, with the intention of getting thest hit through.


    Standing beside him, the fox as well was sending out bursts of fire.


    This situation was perfect for them as they didn''t attract any aggro and didn''t have to deal with the problematic venom burst.


    Surprisingly, the demon beast hybrids standing at the front seemed to be immune to this poison so they continued thrashing at the nagas.


    With Liam''s damage numbers added in, the nagas were slowly forced to retreat. However, weirdly none of them had died yet.


    The demons hadn''t noticed this but Liam''s sharp eyes were already scrutinizing the nagas to learn their secret.


    He didn''t know a lot about these beasts but he knew that some of them were capable of casting magic. So perhaps they had a healer with them?


    Liam searched the group for any potential healers and did not find any. He then targeted one particr naga that had only a sliver of health left.


    Bang. A huge ball of fire sliced through the air and hit the snake''s head, finally, one dropping down dead.


    [Ding. You have received 75 experience points]


    The demons immediately shrieked in joy and started fighting with even more gusto.


    Joining in on the boisterous atmosphere, the fox as well was in a good mood and started jumping up and down while sending more attacks.


    Only Liam frowned. He was still unable to pinpoint the method thesemia beasts were using to heal themselves.


    More importantly, something else was also worrying him¡­


    Themias were slowly but surely leading them somewhere. Within a span of couple of minutes, they had already moved further away from where they were standing.


    Liam also observed that thesemias had different fighting stylespared to the three women whom he had fought before.


    Something was definitely fishy.


    Were they leading them all to some sort of a trap?


    The demon beasts didn''t seem to care and continued fighting and pushing them further back.


    Liam didn''t want to let things progress any further and be ambushed by a naga army of some sorts.


    His brain spun thinking about how to deal with this when he remembered his second pet. He eyed the wind ripper flying a bit further away from them and waved his hand.


    The bird immediately flew down to him, zooming through the air like a bullet. It was already at Level 9 so it was considerably biggerpared to when it had first hatched.


    "See if there are more nagas up ahead." Liam muttered to the bird. "Make sure you are not in harm''s way."


    His eyes trailed the little bird that flew around them, paying head to his warnings. Liam nodded in approval.


    He watched it as it disappeared from his vision and then a couple of secondster, it reappeared again.


    Kaa! Kaaa! Kaaa! The wind ripper shook its head, side to side.


    "You didn''t find anyone ahead?" Liam was once again surprised. If they were leading them towards something, then¡­ perhaps they were leading them away from something?


    Liam had a gut feeling that his hunch was right, so he decided to hang back and see what was behind them.


    He circled back to the area where he had confronted the threemias and before long, he came across a group of hooded figures running away.


    But Liam stopped in his tracks and did not confront them carelessly.


    There were a total of five figures and Liam was not sure if he would be able to take all five of them at the same time. If perhaps he had some help¡­


    His gaze shifted to see if there was anything that he could use when he noticed the couple of heavily injured demon beast hybrids.


    Liam hurried over to them and without hesitation quickly activated his new skill [Vemon Burst].


    "Sorry, buddy. Nothing personal. You are just more useful to me dead than alive." He moved away so that he was not affected by the toxic gas.


    Kuhak! Kuhak!


    In just a couple of seconds, the two injured demon beast hybrids choked on the venom and dropped dead.


    [Awaken] Liam immediately used his skill and this time it was sessful.


    Perhaps because he had failed thest time and be sessful this time around, he even grasped a certain fleeting sensation as he cast the spell.


    "Ok. This ought to do it."


    Liam then hurried after the hooded figures with the undead and the pets closely following him behind.

 Chapter 96 - Halt. Lets Not Fight.

    <h4>Chapter 96 - Halt. Let''s Not Fight.</h4>


    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    Liam focused his mana on his feet and sprinted across the grassynds, circling the group of hooded figures. He thennded directly in front of them and blocked their path.


    BANG!


    He greeted them with a fireball, simultaneously unsheathing his sword. The two demon undeads as well jumped on the group from behind, finally catching up.


    They started frantically attacking whatever they could get their hands on. Thisbined with Liam''s nimble and agile attacks, the group of hooded figures becamepletely flustered.


    However, to Liam''s surprise, they did not fight back. One of them removed the hood, revealing a very handsome face.


    He was a Level 22 Naga and he was decked out in shining jewelry and armor from top to bottom.


    There was something about him that was different from all the previous nagas Liam had faced.


    "Demon. Halt. Let''s not fight. What do you want? Who are you? I can give you treasures. Move and do not block our path!"


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. This was a dialogue and yet a quest was not initiated. He knew that he had to be very careful here.


    It looked like there wasn''t a particr set oue and what he says might probably determine what happens next.


    "I am sorry. I cannot do that. I am under very strict orders to gather resources. Mypanions are right behind me, heading over here as well."


    Liam even looked back as if he was hoping to spot them any second now.


    "Yes. Yes. Resources. I can give you. Here is a gold coin! This should be more than enough, right?!" The naga hurriedly tossed a coin at him as if he was throwing something at a beggar.


    Liam sneered inwardly, looking at the gold coin that disappeared amidst the tall grasses. One gold coin? Just one gold coin? Who are you trying to scam?


    After thinking about it for a second, he continued portraying a solemn face and shook his head without saying anything.


    At times like this, it was always better to let the other party decide what their worth was. Or rather he wanted to see what was the maximum he could obtain from them.


    He had no idea what this interaction was. So he was also genuinely curious.


    "What? What more do you want? Here. How about 2 gold coins? Shouldn''t this be more than enough? What more do you rats need?"


    The handsome naga started to be really agitated and this time he threw two gold coins at Liam, more forcefully and more angrily.


    He looked very upset but in reality, Liam was far more ticked off than him. This person was bargaining with him 1 gold coin at a time? Dream on!


    He shook his head again and the naga immediately hissed in anger.


    He was about to say something when another naga standing at the center of the group stepped forward instead, interrupting him.


    "Shut up, Razzrarox." A woman''s voice sounded. She removed her hood, revealing her stunning beautiful figure and an even more astounding face.


    The naga slithered forward, her eyes betraying her anxiety. "Stranger, we really need to leave now. The fate of our entire n depends on this."


    "I will personallypensate you. Generously. Please move aside."


    Liam calmly listened to the naga''s words but inwardly he was very shocked. Did she just say the fate of the entire n?


    He couldn''t believe her words as her level was only Level 20 even lower than the previous naga who had spoken.


    At the same time, she was also decked out from top to bottom in luxurious jewels and equipments. Something was weird about this whole situation.


    Perhaps these nagas were high-leveled monsters whose levels were temporarily reduced? This was the only exnation he coulde up with.


    Liam slightly nodded, still looking very much hesitant. Seeing that he was not convinced, the beautiful naga immediately fished out something from her robe.


    "Here. These are my personal pearls. With this, you can summon me twice. I cane to your aid in the middle of any kind of danger."


    The woman earnestly looked at him, extending her palm that had two white pearls.


    Are you serious? Liam couldn''t believe this nonsense. At least the first one was better. Why would he need the help of a level 20 Naga?


    Unless what he hypothesized was indeed correct¡­ but one way or the other he was determined to find out the truth.


    He shook his head and didn''t ept the two pearls. "I think maybe you should use these two to save yourself right now?" He seriously replied back with a straight face.


    The snake woman''s expression instantly changed and the man beside her became even angrier. Liam was obviously mocking them and he did not even bother hiding it.


    "You fool! You dare to reject her highness''s offer! Leave right now, your highness." The naga took out his spear and thrust it towards Liam, who only had to lean slightly to avoid it.


    "I don''t care if I die fighting this moronic demon. I would rather die than let your highness be humiliated like this!" The naga shouted.


    Finally! This was what Liam had been waiting for all along! At least now, he knew the identity of the nagas in front of him and this treasure also seemed to be somewhat valuable.


    But what lore was associated with the royal naga n? No matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn''t remember anything like this.


    Moreover, this could also be a part of a special quest.


    Now that he had gotten whatever details he could get from them, he quickly changed his tone and did a 180.


    "Ah! I am very touched by your loyalty. Such loyalty is very rare to see! You have my respect! I have decided to help you."


    "Please leave. I will dly ept these treasures.." Liam muttered with a grave tone.

 Chapter 97 - Daylight Robbery?

    <h4>Chapter 97 - Daylight Robbery?</h4>


    The nagas immediately became joyful and the beautiful woman slithered forward to personally hand Liam the two pearls.


    Unlike the others, she had a golden serpentine figure which was very eye catching.


    Liam looked at her from top to bottom, carefully observing all the details and as she extended her hand, with the two pearls on her palm¡­ he abruptly gripped her hand tightly.


    Having not expected this, the soft hand tried to pry out his hold but to no avail.


    "You! What are you doing? Didn''t we reach an agreement just now?" The naga anxiously hissed at him.


    "Yes. Yes. We still have an agreement. I merely stopped you because you are forgetting something important!" He let her hand go.


    "Huh? What?"


    "Please remove all your cloth, armor, and jewels and leave them here."


    "WHAT?"


    The five nagas looked utterly shocked and angry as they red back at Liam. "Pervert! Get away from her highness!"


    One of the naga guards standing on the right took out a spear and came at Liam.


    But his level was only 18 and Liam casually blocked it. He almost wanted tough at this pathetic disy of strength, but he didn''t take it too far.


    Even if their levels were suppressed, they might still possess some sort of life saving trump card. It was best not to underestimate them.


    "Wait and hear me out." He raised his hands in front of him and signaled them to stop. "If you leave everything behind, then I can convince my allies that I killed you all."


    "This way you can rest assured and no one else wille chasing after you." He exined with a calm smile.


    "Oh!" After hearing Liam''s words, the guard turned to look at hispanions as he was now confused.


    All the other nagas also had simr expressions.


    It looked like they weren''t able to figure out if the person in front of them was simply robbing them in daylight or sincerely intended to help them.


    After a couple of seconds, the astoundingly beautiful naga bit her lips and finally relented. "This¡­This seems to be a good idea. Just leave everything here. We need to get out of here right now."


    A cold glint shed in her eyes as she gazed at Liam one more time before removing several things that were donned on her slender seductive upper body.


    She now only had a piece of cloth wrapped around her chest, covering her big melons and even her spear was ced on the pile.


    All the other nagas did the same as well and everyone threw Liam a dirty look before hastily fleeing from the spot. Liam no longer held them back.


    He watched the group of nagas slither swiftly, disappearing somewhere in the distance. He wondered they were going.


    "Well. That doesn''t concern me I guess. I should put these back quickly."


    As his two pets and his undeads watched him curiously, he pocketed every single item that was left behind by the nagas.


    He didn''t bother looking at these right now and just hurriedly threw everything in his inventory before the other demons could spot this pile of loot.


    He had no intention of turning in any of these as a war contribution.


    Only after fully cleaning out everyst piece of loot, he fell back onto the grass,pletely rxed, and took a deep breath.


    This invasion quest was turning out to be extremely rewarding, giving him one surprise after another! Liam grinned.


    His conversation with the trigger happy male naga had already given him an idea.


    He now knew exactly how to finish this quest and reap the maximum rewards! In fact, he should have thought of this long ago!


    All he needed to do in these invasion quests was simply survive. As for gathering resources, he just had to take out a few gold coins and give them to the leader!


    It was as easy as that!


    Liam sprinted back to the group of demons and once again joined them in bashing down the few nagas. He stood at the back and tossed out one fire ball after another, paying attention to his training.


    [Ding. You have received 75 experience points]


    [Ding. You have received 60 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Small lumps of experience points started umting and the fight continued for some more time, proceeding smoothly as expected without any other surprises.


    Liam also continued to be a team yer and provided support from the backlines.


    A couple of hourster, suddenly, everything became dark and Liam''s vision nked out. He couldn''t see anything and he also felt a sort of pull on his body.


    The next second, he found himself back in theher realm, other demons as well standing beside him, all of them cheering loudly in unison.


    "Oh? That was it?" Liam looked around his surroundings when a series of notifications chimed in.


    [Ding. You have received 50000 experience points.]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Your pet 1 has reached level 15]


    [Ding. New evolution paths avable]


    [Ding. Your pet 2 has reached level 5]


    Liam nced at the notifications calmly, but he was interrupted by the leader of the squad. "You don''t have anything to contribute soldier?"


    "Oh!" Liam was surprised by the hostile tone and when he looked up, he saw all the other demons going up to the front to drop equipments and several things on the ground making a huge pile.


    "Yes. Yes. I do." Liam took out a single gold coin from the inventory and gave it to the leader. "Ummm¡­ I only managed to pick this one up." He hesitantly answered.


    He wanted to test the waters first by starting small.


    And just as he had expected, the leader''s eyes widened in surprise!


    "Oh! This is a gold coin! Bravo! You have done well! You have done really well! You have made our Lord proud by collecting so many resources."


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 100 contribution points]

 Chapter 98 - Fast Leveling!

    <h4>Chapter 98 - Fast Leveling!</h4>


    Hmmm¡­ 100 contribution points for 1 gold coin?


    Liam grinned and called after the leader who had started walking away. "Boss! I also found this one!" He gave another gold coin to the leader.


    The demon was perplexed. His huge nostrils red in excitement. "You have outdone yourself, soldier! You have shown true potential and excellence!"


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 100 contribution points]


    ''Another 100?'' Liam had in fact expected only 50 or so, considering that the reward probably capped after a certain limit, but clearly, if there was a limit at all, this wasn''t one!


    He had to try again!


    "Leader, wait a second. Ahh! I found another coin!" He shamelessly fished out another gold coin and handed it to the demon.


    "Lad! How did you get your hands on so many gold coins!!"


    "Aha ha ha¡­ these were gold coins? I just picked them up because they were shiny and I thought they might be useful somehow. Aha ha ha"


    "What a lucky fellow! You have such good luck and intuition! Your skills are also excellent! These are the traits of a good leader!"


    "I hope you will be able to sessfully lead your own squad soon!"


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 50 contribution points]


    [Ding. Your rank has been upgraded]


    [Rank: Senior Soldier] (0/1000)


    Liam saw that he was now a senior soldier. The points this time were lower and coincidentally they helped him level to the next rank as well.


    "This should be the limit. 250 contribution points for one invasion quest. I should join another invasion quickly and see what these upgrades are useful for."


    Liam looked around and saw another demon squad assembling nearby.


    Since it was wartime multiple squads were doing this day in and day out, in preparations for gathering more resources for the uing war. So there was nock of teams to join in.


    He quickly approached the leader and the quest notification chimed in. The leader was in fact more than happy to ept him as he was a senior soldier.


    [Ding. New Limited Quest avable]


    [Ding. Survive the mission and bring back adequate resources]


    [Ding. Reward: +50 contribution points; +50000 experience points]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Yes /No]


    "Yes." Liam muttered and joined the team. A few minutester, the portal was once again activated and this time they were transported to somewhere dark and dingy.


    The demons started scrambling, trying to look around and Liam as well materialized a fireball. If possible he wanted to start fighting before hispanions started dispersing by themselves.


    Luckily for him, the very next second a group of short skinny creatures ran towards them. Their heads resembled that of a rat and they had sharp protruding teeth.


    [Kobold]


    Level 18


    [Kobold]


    Level 14


    [Kobold]


    Level 19


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The creatures were not high leveled but their numbers were not small. They continued pouring out from everywhere.


    "Keee! Keee! Keee!"


    "Keee! Keee! Keeee!"


    "Intruders! Intruders!"


    The demons who had moved away from the group immediately ran back.


    "Attack! Kill everything!" The squad leader demon shouted loudly.


    And immediately, an intense battle erupted. This time it waspletely different from the grasnds where they hadnded for their previous mission.


    But Liam didn''t mind at all.


    This in fact worked out well for him.


    He casually moved from his spot at the back and settled in the center, in the midst of the demons.


    From here, he started once again casting fireballs, the fox as well repeating his actions. He specifically aimed for the Kobolds that had low health and were already severely injured.


    And bang!


    [Ding. You have received 10 experience points]


    Bang!


    [Ding. You have received 10 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "This is ridiculous! This has to be the easiest way to level in the entire game!" Liam grinned from ear to ear.


    He had a lot of good things meticulously nned but this was a pie that had fallen on hisp out of nowhere.


    It looked like those pigs whom he had ughtered were in reality pinatas.


    He had broken them and the candies were still dropping one after the other, long after their eternal death.


    Heh. Liam chuckled. "Can I reach Level 30 in the remaining 48 hours?" He began pumping out more firepower and sending the Kobolds to their deaths faster.


    Theher realm was really treating him too well!


    The second invasion mission ended faster than the first one or rather it simply seemed that way since right from the start until the very end, the group had continued ughtering Kobolds one after the other.


    They hadnded smack dab in the middle of their nest and there was nothing else that they could do.


    The gains this time were also not much as the Kobolds were just as poor as the demons. However, that was only for the rest of the squad.


    Liam, of course, handed over 3 gold coins and earned the maximum contribution point rewards and the experience points boost, also gaining another level!


    He was smashing through thisborious part of the game at an insane pace!


    Leveling in this manner was extremely efficient, quick, and not to mention addictive. As an added bonus, he was also able to train properly with so many demons tanking for him.


    Liam was fully pumped up and he did not n on stopping any time soon. Afterpleting the second invasion mission, he immediately dived into another one.


    This time they hadnded in an impoverished orc vige. There was really nothing in the vige except for mundanemon items. These orcs did not rush to fight them either.


    In fact, all the orcs that were remaining in the vige were either elderly or women or children. However, the demons still continued ughtering and pilfering and Liam as well did the same.


    If he hesitated here now, then he would be facing the same situationter on. Only the strong had the right to survive and only the truly powerful had the right to show kindness.


    Since he was neither, at least yet, he simply ughtered everything in sight, just like he had done before without skipping a beat.

 Chapter 99 - Slapping With Gold

    <h4>Chapter 99 - pping With Gold</h4>


    [Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have received 250 contribution points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have received 250 contribution points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have received 250 contribution points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    After the Kobolds and Orcs, it was the goblins'' and lizardmen''s turn to get wrecked, and in the blink of an eye, Liam was already at Level 26.


    Every single invasion mission he had joined in had ended sessfully.


    Even the four or five squads assembled in the central area had noticed this and everyone was extremely excited about it, both the leaders and soldier demons alike.


    Their sess rate had never been so high! And their coffers had never been so full!


    Thest squad leader held Liam by his shoulder as he praised him endlessly. "You are a true warrior! Your potential is limitless!"


    "As a reward for your meritorious deeds, you have now been promoted to a leader position! I wish you good luck! For the Lord! Huzzah!"


    "Huzzah!" Liam mimicked his actions while already beginning to look through this new development.


    He had filled up his contribution points by shelling out gold and running through invasion missions back to back, but he hadn''t at all expected this to happen!


    He could nowmand a squad? Did this mean that all the demons under him would listen to hismands? Was this going to be temporary or permanent?


    What about the experience points? Was he going to get more experience points now? After all, this time he would be leading the invasion mission and would no longer be just a soldier.


    What about the resources gathered? Could he possibly pilfer some before submitting the total resources to the higher ups?


    Just how high was he in the hierarchy?


    A million questions popped up in Liam''s brain as he had absolutely no prior knowledge of these things at all. No one had done such quests in his past life.


    "Alright. No need to rush too much. I should take it one step at a time. Let me start with the first invasion mission."


    He opened the system interface as he saw a new notification pop up.


    [Ding. Your rank has been upgraded]


    [Rank: Squad Leader] (0/1000,000)


    [Ding. You are now able to recruit up to 5 soldiers]


    "What only 5 soldiers?"


    He was quite shocked as every single invasion mission he had participated in had at least 30 or so demons which was why they were able to handle things easily.


    What was he going to do with just 5 soldiers?


    "I need to talk to someone first and gather more information." Liam walked out of the crowd and started observing the other squad leaders for a while.


    The procedure seemed to be easy enough. They purchased the inscription for the invasion portal from a big bulky demon at the counter, where they submitted the resources as well.


    It looked like one was a pre-requisite for the other, but Liam decided to worry about thatter. After purchasing the portal inscription, the leader walked up to the front of the square.


    All he then did was clear his throat loudly and a dozen demons quickly assembled before him. "Seems simple enough." Liam scratched his chin.


    He decided to do the same and imitate them. He went to the counter and tapped. "I need an invasion portal inscription."


    The big bulky demon snorted coldly and looked up at him, his gaze very stern and cold. "A newly appointed leader?"


    He looked at Liam from top to bottom and was clearly not pleased with what he saw. "Hmph. It looks like these days just about anyone is capable of bing a squad leader. Hmmm¡­"


    Ummm... What is with this attitude? Liam was amused.


    He waited for the demon to respond but the other party returned back to whatever he was doing after he was done passing judgment.


    "The invasion portal inscription?" Liam patiently asked him again.


    Heh. The bulky demon sneered and did not look up at him this time. "It will be 50 silvers. Can you afford 50 silvers?"


    "I don''t know how you got promoted to this position but don''t think that it is so easy to be a leader! You probably got lucky and received a windfall, thus collecting a lot of points."


    "Or maybe you managed to bribe someone¡­ Hmm¡­"


    "Indeed. We do have demons like you once in a while. Just give up and join more fights and gain more experience on the proper route."


    "Or perhaps you wish to die a fiery death¡­" The bulky demon started ranting and he didn''t look like he was nning on stopping any time soon.


    And Liam did not have the luxury of sitting here and listening to him all day. He silently took out a few gold coins and banged them on the counter.


    "That should buy me a few portals, right?"


    The demon who was still continuing to talk whatever came to his mind, absent-mindedly looked up to see what the lucky fellow was bbering about.


    "A few portals? Did you hit your head¡­ Ah...!" Taken aback by surprise, he jolted to stand straight from his desk.


    He had not seen these many gold coins at the same time!


    His eyes glistened with greed as he stared at the amount of wealth and a thick tongue stuck out, the demon licking his dry chapped lips.


    He gulped and looked at Liam nkly, wondering just what sort of luck this greenhorn demon had run into!


    His level was 50, almost twice as high as the tiny demon''s, and yet he had never seen such wealth. What a shame!


    His nk look turned sour and he seemed even more upset than before, but in the end, all he could do was gnash his teeth and take out 30 scrolls for the 15 gold coins.

 Chapter 100 - There Is Always A Way

    <h4>Chapter 100 - There Is Always A Way</h4>


    "Useless thing. So what if you have the money? Hmph. Did you really think invasion portals are child''s y?"


    Liam could hear the bulky demon ranting once again behind his back, but he did not dilly dally and quickly walked away, putting everything in his inventory.


    He knew that he could possibly be attracting some unwanted attention by purchasing so many scrolls at the same time. However, he had a few ns in his mind so he purchased in bulk.


    "Portal¡­ check. Now for my recruits¡­" Liam walked over to stand in the square beside the other leaders. "Recruiting for invasion!" He shouted at the top of his voice.


    He was even louder than the other leaders.


    However¡­ once again he waspletely ignored. None of the demons even turned towards him or threw a nce at him.


    "Are these guys avoiding me because I am a new leader?" Liam chuckled helplessly. He did have a backup n so he wasn''t too worried.


    He changed his tactics this time around and shouted again. "Recruiting for invasion quest! Need 5 soldiers! Paying 10 silver each!"


    "Huh?"


    "What the hell?"


    "Who is this new guy?"


    All the demons finally started paying attention to him. A few even gave him the stink eye as he was clearly bribing others into helping him.


    But Liam didn''t care as he got the result that he expected!


    Almost instantly, a group of demons rushed over and started lining up in front of him. "Oops. I only need 5!" Liam chuckled.


    He took a look at the group gathered and a sudden thought popped into his mind. He was not yet sure if he would be able to forge some sort of long-term contract with them.


    But if he could¡­


    "You. You. You. You and you!" Liam pointed at five young demons who looked considerably weak and inexperienced. "How many missions have you guys been on before?"


    "None, leader."


    "Same here. None leader."


    "Me too."


    "Me too."


    "I have also not joined any quest before."


    They looked worried thinking that Liam was going to reject them. 10 silver coins was a lot of money for them.


    But he instead gave them a thumbs up. "You guys are hired."


    "What? Why would you choose aplete beginner? Leader! I have alreadypleted several missions. You should take me."


    A few demons startedining, disgruntled with the situation. Liam, however, simply shrugged. "Next time!"


    He did not engage them further and quickly started activating the invasion portal inscription. As soon as he did, a notification popped up.


    [Ding. New Limited Quest avable]


    [Ding. Survive the mission and bring back adequate resources]


    [Ding. Reward: +500 contribution points; +50 contribution points for each surviving soldier; +100000 experience points; +10000 experience points for each surviving soldier]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Yes/ No]


    It looked like the rewards for being a leader were double that of being a mere soldier. Moreover, there were also sizable bonuses which made this whole thing extremely rewarding.


    "Yes!" Liam grinned, rubbing his hands together. He was feeling both nervous and excited at the same time.


    For the first time in this new life, he truly had no idea what was going to happen next and this pumped his body full of adrenaline!


    "1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­"


    A big mark of blood appeared around them, entrapping them in a circle and the next second, Liam and his group appeared on another vast grasnd.


    As soon as they were transported, the demons started to run in all directions. Even though they had no experience, they seemed to still act on instinct.


    "Stop. Don''t run." Liam immediatelymanded them. Unlike the other squad leaders, he decided to be more hands on.


    He only had 5 soldiers to begin with so he couldn''t afford to let them run wild. And even if he had 20 soldiers staying in the group formation or smaller groups was far more productive.


    After hearing his orders, the demons immediately stopped running and came back to stand next to him. Liam also still had the 2 undeads with him and his 2 pets.


    Including him, brought their ragtag team to a total of 10 members. "Not bad," Liam muttered, looking around the grasnds.


    They were already lucky not to havended in the middle of a sticky situation. So he didn''t have anyints.


    He first took a few seconds to observe everything around them and when nothing appeared out of the ordinary, he immediately gave the order. "Move. Follow me."


    He wanted to keep the pace of this expedition as the portal was only going tost for a couple of hours. They did not have much time.


    Liam started by systematically exploring the area on his right. "Fly ahead and tell me if there is any danger." He gave the wind ripper its usualmand.


    The bird would have been able to contribute much more if he were to visit the beast association. Both of his pets were ready to evolve.


    And all he needed to do was visit the beast association in any city and buy the required ingredients for their evolution.


    This would give them a significant boost in their stats. They would be a lot stronger and contribute more actively in battles.


    They would also be able to learn skills, or at least the wind ripper. The fox spirit beast was already able to learn skills after all.


    Liam, however, decided to take care of this when his 96 hours window ended.


    He was able to enter and exit theher realm at will, but he wanted to use this golden opportunity that fell on hisp to the maximum that he could.


    Things could change at any given moment, so he didn''t want to take any unnecessary chances and test his luck. Then,ter on, he could only regret this missed godly leveling opportunity.


    "Let''s go! Move!" Liammanded his small motley group of five repeatedly. The level 15 to level 18 demons could barely keep up with him, so he had to reduce his speed quite a bit.


    But Liam had his own ns.. Despite its disadvantages now, he had a feeling that in the long run, it would y to his advantage.

 Chapter 101 - Living The Slow Life?

    <h4>Chapter 101 - Living The Slow Life?</h4>


    A few minutes passed and Liam''s group was still unable to spot anything alive in the area.


    There were just acres and acres of in grasnds all around with a few small rocky heaps here and there.


    Who were they supposed to loot and plunder?


    "Well¡­ it doesn''t matter. As long as we survive for the next couple of hours, I should be able to get the experience points. Not to mention all the bonus experience points."


    Liam shrugged and led his team back to the portal where they idly sat down.


    The small fox and the bird tumbled on the green grass and yed around. The sun was gentle and the breeze wasforting. It was a nice day to enjoy nature.


    Some of the demons even started to lie down and look at the blue sky. Their ownnds were not this pleasant. It was always dark and dreary, with ck rain pouring from the sky endlessly.


    So this change in atmosphere was very nice. One even fell asleep, snoring soundly.


    They had all heard terrifying tales about invasion missions, but this didn''t seem bad at all. They were almost regretful that they hadn''t joined this type of mission sooner.


    While everyone else waspletely rxing or rolling around, Liam sat down on the grassy ground in a meditative position.


    Since he had nothing else to do at the moment, this seemed to be a perfect chance to test his proficiency in controlling fire magic.


    He had been grinding out fireballs one after the other for a while now, so he wanted to see just how much he had improved.


    Liam focused on the spot in front of him and summoned his mana there, picturing the image of a ball of fire. He then practiced making it bigger and smaller by regting the amount of mana.


    Making it smaller required more manapared to making it bigger as it was more difficult topress the ball of burning energy.


    The attack would also have a lot more impact and attack damage whenpressed to the maximum.


    Liam continued practicing this technique and just as he had expected, just spamming one skill over and over again and again had helped him a lot in theprehension of the spell.


    Watching him do various things and y with fire, the small fox that was jumping around, suddenly stopped andnded in front of him.


    It cocked its head to the side and observed his actions for a few seconds, before attempting to repeat them.


    Just like Liam, the fox as well produced a ball of fire and shot it out towards a distant rock.


    Bang! The impact on the rock was clearly visible.


    For the next attempt, just like him, the fox as well made the attack smaller andpressed.


    BANG! This time the impact was even better!


    As Liam watched this, his lips twitched. It had taken him so many hours of practice and two lifetimes to grasp this same concept, and the small spirit did it in a single try?


    This was innate talent. This was genius.


    Spirit beasts were supposedly born from a fragment of the element to which they had an affinity, so it was not that surprising that the fox was a lot more talented than him.


    But unlike the fox, he was not a born genius so he had to rely on this kind of rote grinding to really drill the concept into his brain.


    Liam chuckled wryly and continued his practice. He aimed for the same rock and sent out another attack.


    This time he triedpressing the ball of fire as much as he could and also fiddled with the sting speed of the attack to give the maximum impact.


    After doing this a few times, it was very clear to him that the stronger and morepressed an attack was, it was also that much faster.


    Liam then tried adjusting the shape of the attack and turning his miniature fireballs into fire bullets.


    This proved a lot more challenging than simply fiddling with the size of the attack. Reducing a fire ball to a fire bullet was basicallypressing it several times over and over.


    Liam began sweating profusely just after a few seconds of practice. His stamina was also plummeting steadily, for which he tossed a berry into his mouth and kept going on.


    He had two hours to spend and he was determined to train thoroughly with the time in his hands.


    Bang! He tossed an attack aiming at the same rock.


    And immediately after¡­ Bang! The fox as well sent out an attack. It was treating this as its ytime.


    In this manner, the two of them kept shooting at the rock one after the other.


    His attacks became a lot more refined and he now had more control over his mana, but Liam was still not satisfied as he hadn''t yet heard the notifications that he was waiting for.


    Sucking in a big breath, he was just about to cast another attack when suddenly, a loud rumbling noise echoed.


    The noise instantly woke everyone up, including the wind ripper and the demons who had nicely fallen asleep.


    Liam as well sprang to stand up alertly, ready to attack. He looked around to see what the hell was making this noise and what enemy they had to face.


    But nothing seemed to being for them. He looked in all directions and there was absolutely no beast or monster approaching them.


    "Hmmm¡­ What is happening?" Liam pondered and just as his eyes shifted, he finally noticed something moving.


    The big heaping pile of rocks that he and the little fox had been practicing on all this while actually moved!


    The rocks rumbled and tumbled until they rose up to form some sort of a giant rock being.


    The thing was like an iceberg with only the tip having been visible earlier and now that the whole body was revealed, it was nothing short of terrifying.


    "Fuck!" Liam cursed as he looked up, staring at the enormous rock giant.

 Chapter 102 - Lets Dance

    <h4>Chapter 102 - Let''s Dance</h4>


    [Rock Giant] (Elite Boss)


    Level 25


    Health: 999800/ 1000,000


    GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!


    The giant opened its mouth and yawned loudly. "Who dares to disturb my slumber?"


    All the demons immediately started running towards the gigantic monster, shouting equally loudly.


    All they knew was fighting, so each one of them gripped their spears and hatchets and started running towards it.


    Liam watched this and instantly ordered them to stop. "NO, don''t run towards it!"


    Approaching an elite 10 levels higher than them without knowing about any of its attacks or strengths was the same asmitting suicide.


    He didn''t care if these demons died but he didn''t want to lose his bonus points. Also, he was just starting to fatten them up. How could he afford to lose them so soon?


    "RUN AWAY and wait for mymand!"


    Liam as well distanced himself from the rock giant and then sent out a condensed fireball, the best attack that he could conjure after all the training.


    Bang!


    A chunk of dust flew from where the fireball hit the giant, and then the damage number popped up.


    -10


    What the hell? Liam''s eyes widened in shock. Some elite bosses had a high defense which reduced the efficiency of the attack but wasn''t this a little too much?


    Were they supposed to grind this thing by chopping off 10 health every attack? Wouldn''t they all be dead by then?


    He didn''t know what the damage output of the giant was but just judging from its size, he could tell that it was definitely well above 500 or even more.


    A single attack was probably going to take a huge percentage of their health.


    As Liam quietly pondered what to do, the demons ran back to him to regroup and waited for his orders anxiously.


    But he took his time to first observe the boss. This was a boss that he wasn''t familiar with. So he didn''t know its attack patterns beforehand or even have some sort of general idea.


    And as for the health that was already missing from the boss, it was probably from their ''practice session'' tossing fireballs at the still rocks.


    While Liam continued thinking about what could be the best approach for dealing with this, suddenly more rumbling sounds started to appear.


    Hmmm? A bad premonition popped up in his mind and the very next second it was confirmed. The few rocks that were scattered here and there¡­ they all started to move!


    Liam chuckled wryly as he watched this terrifying sight. Now, not just one but about a dozen rock giants all rose up to stand like tall moving mountains in front of him.


    GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!? GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!


    GUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!


    "Who is making all this noise?"


    "Who dares to step into our territory?"


    "What is the ruckus about?"


    In a matter of a second, rocks sprouted out of the previously calm grassy ground one after the other and 13 rock giants in total now stood in front of him!


    13 elite bosses!


    All of them with high defense and terrifying strength! Even the ground caved in not able to withstand the weight of their footsteps.


    The newbie demon soldiers had never seen anything like this before.


    They trembled in the presence of such strong monsters and they anxiously looked at their leader, hoping that at least he had some sort of solution to this sudden development.


    However, as soon as they saw Liam, their faces paled even further.


    "An absolute fucking disaster. Ha Ha Ha!" Liam wasughing loudly as if he was in his own world.


    He couldn''t see the giant rock monsters in front of him? Had their leader gone insane from fear? The five newbie demons gulped.


    The demons had no idea what they were going to do now and from the looks of it, their leader was also useless. How were they going to survive this cmity?


    No matter how they looked at it, they were justpletely fucked!


    They stood like stone statues simr to rock giants, trembling in fear. It was as if they were simply waiting for their death.


    At this moment, unexpectedly, Liam''s loud voice sounded. "MOVE!"


    His single word was like amand from hell, from the demon lord himself and the five newbie demons scurried in different directions running away from the giants.


    Liam also did the same as he began running away while also simultaneously shooting out one fireball after another at the several rock giants.


    He made sure to grab each and every one of their attention. The 13 rock giants all chased after him.


    Their speed was considerably less whenpared to their defense and attack power but not too bad either.


    To maintain a significant distance between the giants and himself, Liam had to use his mana speed boosting technique and expend some of his mana.


    He ran away from them until they were far apart and then started sending out fireballs to keep their attention.


    And when they came close enough, he ran once again, leading the group of 13 rock giants by their noses.


    It was as if he was ying with a bunch of overgrown giant toddlers, teasing them and making them run by showing candies.


    And as for the abysmal damage output, he didn''t care about it at all.


    Liam had indeed considered different strategies to fight these rock giants when there was only a single one in front of him.


    But when more giants showed up¡­ things suddenly became much simpler. All those other possibilities simply disappeared, leaving behind only one option!


    All they had to do was¡­ RUN!!!


    When surrounded by a dozen elite bosses, really that was the only option anyone had!


    And thus¡­ began the long game of running and seeking.


    Liam''s figure blurred as he continuously moved, taunted the giants by shooting fireballs at them, and then moved again.


    He was running around in circles, back and forth, so much so that the ground where they were ying had considerably gone down, changing thendscape itself.


    They had created a barren valley where there was previously lush green nd!

 Chapter 103 - Our Leader Is Too Kind?

    <h4>Chapter 103 - Our Leader Is Too Kind?</h4>


    -10


    -10


    -10


    Liam shook his head helplessly as he watched the poor damage numbers float up the rock giants.


    His only constion was that he wasn''t nning on actually dealing with these sturdy figures. He didn''t have to kill them. He was only running out the clock until the portal closed.


    Then they would naturally be pulled out of this insane ce as well, returning back to the city.


    It was indeed a pity to miss out on so many elite bosses. But at their current level, this was all that they could do.


    "Look over here! Is your head filled with sand? I am your enemy, you mud brain fat ass!" Liam shouted, casting another fireball.


    The rock giant grumbled something in return but he was not paying attention to it.


    He watched his attack keenly as it smashed against the rock giant''s sturdy body and disappeared into nothingness.


    Perhaps if he could increase the intensity more¡­


    Time ticked by and once again the situation became a training ground for Liam as he casually started evading the giants while focusing on his own attacks.


    The demons anxiously stood on the side and they watched Liam with awe. They had a newfound respect for their leader.


    They thought that they had been scammed for 15 silvers and that they were going to die, but now they could see their leader''s prowess. Liam''s every move was simply too perfect.


    He had taken all the risk onto himself protecting everyone else. The demons had only heard about leaders using their soldiers as meat shields.


    This was the first time they saw one risking his life for mere soldiers.


    This chivalrous action of Liam had touched them greatly. One demon even had tears running down his face. They all watched him, forgetting to even blink.


    This continued on for a while and before long, the portal shook and once again activated, pulling Liam and the rest of his squad into it.


    Everyone promptly returned back to the central square in the city.


    "Huzzzah! We are alive!"


    "Leader, you are amazing!"


    All the demons had wide happy faces as they sang praises of their fearless leader.


    They didn''t do anything during the mission and the team leader even took it upon himself to protect all of them and prevent their imminent death.


    They hade outpletely unscathed from an impossible situation!


    It took them a couple of seconds to even remember thepensation Liam had promised them. And as they did, their faces slightly changed.


    It was a big loss, but they didn''t expect Liam to pay them. They didn''t contribute anything and they also hadn''t managed to gather any resources.


    For every invasion mission undertaken, some amount of resources needed to be handed over to the Garrison''s head.


    Since they hadn''t obtained anything this time, the next time whichever squad the leadermanded, they would need to work extra hard.


    So would they still be offeredpensation? Impossible!


    All the demons looked at Liam anxiously with simr thoughts running in their heads when 15 silvers magically appeared on each of their hands.


    "Good job." Liam calmly muttered, even wearing a smile on his face.


    Ah¡­ The demons were once again speechless.


    This leader was just too good! He waspletely different from all the horror stories they had heard about ve driving leaders!


    Everyone opened and closed their mouths speechless. Before they could take in what just happened, Liam once again spoke.


    "Ready? You guys are not tired, right? Same deal 15 silvers for the run. Hmmm. How about it?" He smiled warmly.


    Of course, he was nice to them as he had a lot of ns for them...


    All the five demon soldiers readily agreed and nodded their heads, as if they were worried that Liam would change his mind.


    The five demons were simply mindedmoners so now that Liam had given them a second chance, they wanted to fight hard and prove their worth.


    Liam as well was pleased with their behavior and quickly activated the second portal.


    In reality, he would have been more upset about losing the dozen elite bosses, not being able to reap even a single award from such a good opportunity.


    But just as they were being kicked out of the invasion mission and pulled back into the portal, he had received the notifications that he had been anticipating for a while.


    [Ding. You have learned Basic Fire Maniption Skill]


    [Ding. Your Fire Maniption Skill is upgraded to intermediate]


    [Ding. Your fire element attacks are boosted by 5%]


    [Ding. You have learned Provoke Skill]


    In front of these notifications, not being able to get the drops from a few elites was not a big loss to Liam.


    He had been training this skill for a while now, day and night in the game, and finally, he managed to achieve it!


    Combined with the previous boost that came from absorbing some fire elemental essence, Liam now had a 10% magic attack boost which was a lot of fire power.


    In fact, when they were just getting kicked out, hisst attack had managed to get a -30 damage, which was more than simply a 10% added boost.


    His attack power on the whole had increased.


    Liam had a feeling that if he had just a few more minutes, he could have done considerably more damage, perhaps even taking down one of the elite rock giants.


    So he was itching to start another invasion mission and solidify the feeling he had and the concept he had managed to grasp.


    Liam used another scroll and the blood circle immediately activated again, getting the attention of a few demons standing nearby.


    "That squad is doing back to back missions?"


    "Hmm? Newbies these days are very courageous!"


    A few surprised looks came their way but everyone quickly went back to their own affair as other squads also moved out, all the demons working hard to curry favor with their leaders.


    Meanwhile, Liam and his group once againnded on a vast open grasnd.

 Chapter 104 - Attack!

    <h4>Chapter 104 - Attack!</h4>


    As soon as they saw the wide open grasnd, all the five demons instantly stiffened up and started looking around for rocks or giants.


    The trauma from facing the several rock giants was still too fresh for them.


    Even Liam was visibly shocked as he checked for the same thing. However, except for a few trees and ake, nothing else was visible.


    Just as they were looking around, a gentle breeze swept past them and some weird sounds came from the distantke.


    Amongst them, the small fox was the first to react, as it leaped towards theke and started running.


    "Hmmm?" Liam followed it as well and he immediately saw a group of water blobs jumping up and down near theke.


    [Water Slime]


    Level 26


    "Oh! Not bad!" He quickly prepared to attack. This time their luck had turned out to be quite good. These were monsters that they could easily ughter.


    More importantly, he observed a key fact. Though their destination seemed to bepletely random, no matter where theynded, the beasts and the monsters were around their level.


    They were only faced with things that they could handle. The elite rock giant farm andnding in the middle of a Kobold nest were extreme exceptions and tough challenges.


    Even then, only one skilled member was required to ensure survival. But besides that, the others were not that difficult.


    Considering all of this, Liam couldn''t help but wonder about the awesomeness of the portal inscription.


    These invasion missions were possible only because of the detailed magic engraved on the scrolls.


    At his level, he couldn''t even fathom the skill of the grandmaster who probably engraved this. There were so many intricate details that were required.


    Not to mention the fact that the safety of millions of demon soldiers relied on this portal inscription.


    A single mistake could produce catastrophic results and send squads to dangerous locations, resulting in their deaths.


    Liam gazed at the several blue water slimes in front of him,pletely different from the enormous rock giants. These looked like plushy dolls whenpared to those monsters.


    The way they sounded was also equally cute.


    Gu Gu! Gu Gu! Gu Gu! Gu Gu!


    The plump slimes bounced up and down on the ground, all running towards Liam. This time he didn''t ask his pets to hold back.


    These slimes were not really a threat. This kind of monster was in fact the best option avable for unskilled noob yers to grind and practice.


    They had a weak defense, weak attack, and also weak agility. All in all, they were simply bags of experience points.


    His two demon undeads, the fox, the bird, and the five squad demon soldiers all attacked together and ughtered the plump blobs.


    The sight of the grotesque shaped demons hunting the plump slimes was almost tooical to watch.


    They also seemed to be giving it their all and fighting with full gusto, making all sorts of exaggerated grunting noises.


    Even Liam was confused. "Did I do something to boost their morale?" He chuckled and started doing his part as well.


    He had intended his actions to harbor some goodwill but he didn''t expect the effects to be so exaggerated.


    Ptu Ptu Ptu. The water slimes sent out small water bullets as attacks which were pretty heavy whenbined together. They sliced through the air and did huge chunks of damage.


    Liam waved his sword, blocking the water bullets easily, and then decided to return the favor. "Time to try out my improved fireball."


    He was kicked out of the previous invasion before he could do this but now he had a lot more time left.


    [Fire ball]


    He first conjured a ball of fire in front of him and instead of sending it out at the nearest slime, he firstpressed it quickly.


    The big ball of fire went from the size of a football to that of a small bullet. Liam gritted his teeth as he could feel the mental stress from manipting the attack.


    But he persisted and sent it out towards the slime.


    Bang!


    The slime was hit on its right side and almost half of its right side got pulverized, water droplets drizzling on the grass nearby.


    -5000


    An insane damage number popped up.


    [Ding. A new skill ''Fire Bullet'' has been created due to your actions]


    Liam smirked. "Finally!" He sent in another couple of bullets aimed at the same slime and then used his sword to finish the rest of the health.


    All the other demons and the two pets couldn''t help but gasp at Liam''s attack. Everyone became even more motivated and started rampaging on the pitiful cluster of slimes.


    The frustration of not being able to fight back against the rock giants was taken out on the cute little blobs.


    Hack. sh. Bang.


    Within a matter of minutes, the situationpletely got reversed and the slimes started running away from the group of blood thirsty demons.


    They tried to bounce and scatter in misceneous directions but the demons roared loudly and chased after them with vengeance.


    They did not hesitate to even jump into theke and finish the fight.


    In the end, the group ended up cleaning the spotpletely, without leaving behind a single slime. They did a run around the entireke, taking care of each and every slime.


    One of the demons jumped into theke and swam around, even making sure that nothing was hiding.


    The whole fight took about an hour and a half and it was about time for their portal to get activated.


    "Gather everything and bring them back to me," Liammanded and copsed on the wet ground.


    He waspletely mentally exhausted after the continuous dodging in the previous invasion mission and now firing fire bullets nonstop.


    So he rested on the ground as the demons scurried over to bring whatever was left on the ground. Soon a small heap began to form.


    Liam had closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was pleasantly shocked!

 Chapter 105 - Up, Up And Up!!!

    <h4>Chapter 105 - Up, Up And Up!!!</h4>


    Liam hadn''t paid attention to the drops when he had been fighting the slimes and now that he did, he was more than happy with the harvest.


    Everything piled up in front of him was good stuff.


    Slimes had the habit of engulfing high-grade items and slowly digesting them while they were held within their bodies.


    So all sorts of good herbs and gems were present in the pile. There were even equipments like bracers, rings, and pendants.


    Liam looked through the pile and then spotted a few things that he couldn''t recognize. These were small blue-colored crystals.


    When he picked them up by his hand, they immediately dissolved and went into his body. "Huh?" Before he could think about what happened, another notification came in.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have absorbed water elemental essence.]


    [Ding. You have gained an affinity for the water element. All your water type attacks have 5% increased damage]


    Liam immediately understood what had happened. He had received simr updates when he had absorbed fire essence back in theva pool.


    And this time, he had absorbed water essence. They had farmed around 550 or so water slimes and apparently, a few among them had dropped these water essence chunks.


    He rummaged through the pile, segregating and tossing everything into his inventory. There were in total 5 chunks of water essence crystals.


    He took one of the chunks near the spirit fox and the beast quickly shook its head. Kyuuuu.


    [No master, bad.] The fox exined to Liam through their mental connection. "Why is it bad?" He tried asking, but the beast didn''t have an answer for him.


    It seemed like it simply instinctively knew that it was a bad thing and it shouldn''t absorb it.


    Liam nodded in understanding. Water essence being harmful to a spirit beast that relied on fire essence wasn''t all that difficult to understand.


    Unlike him, the fox could probably only absorb the essence of one element. So he didn''t hold back and readily absorbed all of them.


    He didn''t notice any specific change but after he finished absorbing all the crystals, Liam felt a transient prickling sensation in his body that surfaced and also disappeared quickly.


    "Hmmm¡­ I wonder if there are any negative side effects of absorbing multiple elemental essences¡­"


    "There are too many things I don''t know about these. I should make a trip to the mage tower." He looked at the small fox eyeing him in concern and smiled, patting its head. "I am alright."


    In his previous life, he had never heard about these elemental essences.


    Slimes were rathermon monsters found in different ces but the drop rate of these essences seemed to be abysmally low.


    Even they had to farm about 500 slimes of these just to get 5 essence crystals.


    It looked like it was also possible to refine elemental essences using the help of spirit beasts but they were even rarer and there wasn''t much information avable regarding them either.


    So it wasn''t surprising to him that many people hadn''t managed toe across these elemental essences. The significance of these was also not reported on any forums.


    Liam continued patting the fox as he rearranged some ns in his mind.


    There were many things like these essences and the invasion missions that he had to additionally factor in along with his original n.


    However, he didn''t mind these as every single one of them only made him that much stronger.


    A few more minutes passed in silence as everyone rxed by bathing in theke when the portal activated again and pulled the group back to the city square.


    "Huzzzah!"


    "Hazzzah!"


    "Huzzah!"


    The demons again started cheering for Liam and all the more so as he once again rewarded them with 15 silvers.


    And instead of dispersing they kept staring at him with big puppy dog eyes, wanting to go for one more invasion mission.


    Next to them, coincidentally another group as well arrived, returning back from their mission but those demons hadpletely different faces as if they had just now faced hell and had survived.


    Numerous scars and woundsced their bodies and some of them were even bleeding. They took one look at the boisterous group next to them and they felt aggrieved.


    Liam''s group, however, was all the more thankful for him. This would have been their condition also if he had not singlehandedly saved them from the rock giants.


    So they stuck to him like glue no matter which direction he walked. In case he ran another invasion, they wanted to be first in line.


    Liam chuckled. "It looks like my n is working¡­? Let''s see." He opened the mission notifications first.


    [Ding. Limited Quest Completed]


    [Ding. You have received 500 contribution points]


    [Ding. All 5 soldiers have survived. You have received an additional 250 contribution points]


    [Ding. You have received 100000 experience points]


    [Ding. All 5 soldiers have survived. You have received an additional 50000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have reached Level 30]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first person to reach Level 30. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    "Oh!" Liam eximed as he pulled up the leaderboard. Unexpectedly, he had shot up to Rank 1 in just a few hours. The next person behind him was still stuck at Level 27.


    He chuckled wryly and then closed all the notifications.


    What an insane leveling speed! He still couldn''t believe that no one had stumbled into this amazing honey pot.


    Regarding the rank on the leaderboard, he didn''t care too much about this as he knew that he would once again fall back.


    He had certain important things that he needed to take care of and these could absolutely not be dyed.


    "Time to log out. There are only a couple of hours left before the ck market opens up."


    Liam looked at the demons who were all staring at him wide-eyed. "I will be backter guys.. Make sure to rest well and be prepared in the meantime."

 Chapter 106 - I Dont Stand In Queues

    <h4>Chapter 106 - I Don''t Stand In Queues</h4>


    Liam had too many things on his mind. He returned to his room in less than an hour after finishing his dinner and ensuring that everything at home was working properly.


    Mei Mei could only stare at the shut door as she had been taking a bath and missed him altogether. "Brother must be working very hard."


    She wiped her hair and started reading more about the game and the different sses while eating her share of the food.


    A couple of secondster, she almost inhaled the food by mistake into the wrong pipe and coughed uncontrobly. "Liam?"


    Mei Mei even rubbed her eyes not able to believe what she was reading. The current leaderboard''s number 1 rank holder''s name was ''Chang Liam''?


    This was her brother''s name!


    Was it perhaps her brother who was currently the top-ranked yer in the entire world?


    "Should I ask him?"


    "No. Not possible. Probably someone else." She shook her head. "I shouldn''t ask such stupid things. He might feel bad that someone else with the same name as him is currently the first."


    She put the te down and sighed. "If only things were different¡­"


    For people like them, who never had a single chance in their lives, how were such achievements possible?


    "I should read more¡­" She quickly went back to reading about other things, scouring everything in the forums from top to bottom.


    Back in the game, Liam received a surprise as soon as he logged in.


    [Ding. Do you wish to enter theher realm? Yes/ No]


    He had originally assumed that he had to use theher portal again, but it looked like this was also an option.


    Liam quickly selected ''No'' and found himself back in Yleka city. The city was nowpletely different from how it had been earlier and was jam-packed with yers.


    It looked like everyone who had started in the Gresh Kingdom was gathered in this city.


    Liam knew that this was not an exaggeration as many important quests started in the royal city and Yleka city. These were the two main star locations in the Kingdom.


    Land slots, stall slots, and not to mention guild slots, every single avable acre ofnd in these two cities cost astronomical amounts.


    Moreover, just money alone was not enough to buy these slots. There were also other requirements.


    Liam casually strolled through the streets and since he had some time before the ck market opened up, he decided to first pay a visit to the beast association.


    Both his pets were ready to evolve. So this was also on his ''to do'' list.


    Liam walked into the gigantic beast hall which was in the shape of an octahedron.


    This ce was the bread and butter of hunter ss yers as they loitered here day and night for special quests.


    All beastpanions and even just pet beasts that yers did not intend to use forbat cannot evolve and grow without the help of the beast hall.


    This was because beasts required certain other things apart from simply experience points for their evolution.


    Without these special materials, their growth would stagnate and they wouldn''t be able to even gain experience points after a threshold.


    Of course, if one already hadprehensive knowledge about their beasts, then there would be no need for that person to visit the beast hall.


    They could even hunt and acquire the necessary items by themselves and evolve the beasts on their own.


    Liam, however, unfortunately,cked that knowledge.


    Sure, he could possibly roam around the entirety of this realm and the other realms with his two beasts. He would then eventually stumble across some clues regarding their evolution paths.


    Buting to the beast hall and directly talking to one of the trainers here was the simplest solution and Liam hoped that this worked.


    He weaved through the crowd and stood in one of the many queues to meet up with the trainers.


    "Hmmm¡­ this looks like it is going to take a while¡­" Liam clicked his tongue and leaned towards his right and left to check out all the trainers.


    His gaze thennded on a young woman who was blessed with good looks but not enough height. "This has to do." He then nced at the foxzily yawning next to him.


    "Listen. Go to her and make your sad face. Actually, just go to her and y around, okay? Don''t hurt her. She also won''t hurt you. Do you understand?"


    The small fox stared back at him, confused by his suddenmand but Liam''s words were its religion, so it quickly ran towards the trainer Liam had pointed to.


    Kyuuuu


    Kyuuuuu


    Kyuuuuuu


    The fox did a bunch of poses and within 2 seconds, a loud shriek sounded.


    "KYAAAAAA! OH MY GOSH! You are so CUTE!" The short young woman ran out of her booth toe and pick up the small fox personally.


    "Where did youe from?"


    "Ahhhh~~ So soft~~"


    "Will you be my cutie~~~ Ah~~~ Ah~~~"


    She began nuzzling and rubbing the beast against her cheeks and the little fox became extremely terrified. Since its birth, no one had ever treated it like this... affectionately?


    So it didn''t know what was happening. It even became scared and looked at Liam anxiously. Masterrr¡­


    Liam, however, casually stood on the side. It looked like he had no intention of helping it out.


    In the end, the trainer''s assistant was the one who finally came to its rescue. He spoke up, not able to bear it any longer. "Elder, that¡­ everyone is watching." He reminded her.


    The trainer immediately snapped out of her trance and shed her eyes open. "Ahem. Ahem. Is this fox yours?" She looked at Liam and asked.


    "Yes. I was fortunate enough to obtain it." Liam smiled politely and nodded. His n worked and he was happy.


    "I am Instructor Seraphina." The trainer muttered, still rubbing the fox to her cheek.


    "If you want, I can help you examine this beast and see how you can nurture it and take care of it the right way."


    Bingo!


    "Yes, I would be very grateful for your help, ma''am." Liam smiled again.


    Ignoring all the grumbling noises from those who had been standing in the queue for almost an hour now, the two of them walked into the booth.

 Chapter 107 - I Only Know Hard Work

    <h4>Chapter 107 - I Only Know Hard Work</h4>


    As they entered the booth, Seraphina noticed that Liam had not one but two beast pets. "You also tamed a wind ripper? Not bad at all!"


    "Two pets¡­ your soul strength should be amazing."


    She looked at the bird with her scrutinizing eyes and muttered. "Oh. This one is also ready to evolve. How marvelous!"


    Kyuuuu!


    The fox tried to struggle free from her gasp using this as a chance but unfortunately was not sessful.


    "What an energetic little fellow!"


    "Ah! I didn''t notice it before. This little guy is a spirit beast?"


    "Oh, my heavens¡­ how long has it been since I have seen one¡­ and that too a youngling at that¡­"


    The trainer quickly forgot about Liam as she started talking to herself and examining the two beasts more closely.


    After several minutes, she finally looked up at him but it was only to give him a long list of items. "You need green spotted brittle thorn. Some firewood flowers. Crimson firestone¡­"


    Liam nodded, carefully jotted down everything he heard. All of these were familiar items, but the more he listened to her rant, the more his expression changed.


    And by the time she was done, his right eye twitched. He had indeed been correct in his assumption. Spirit beasts were tough to bring up and his small fox was a glutton!


    The wind ripper only needed three items for evolution but the small fox seemed to require a whole boatload.


    Liam could already see the stockpile that he had collected so farpletely disappearing. To make matters worse, soon there was going to be yet another mouth that he needed to feed.


    "Heh. Looks like I need some more gold." He looked outside at the bustling city absent-mindedly and the next instant, his lips curled upwards.


    He knew exactly what to do and where to get the gold.


    Liam patiently listened to the instructor and after obtaining all the details that he required, he paid her the 2 gold coins fees and left the beast hall.


    He then started walking towards the auction house to make the required purchases.


    Probably because this was still the first evolution, all the items required were somewhatmonly avable.


    There wasn''t any unimaginably high grade precious treasure requirement even for the rare spirit beast.


    In the future perhaps this was going to change but there was no need to worry about it right now.


    So Liam pulled up the auction house interface and directly started buying all the materials one by one.


    And just as he settled in front of the auction house, unbeknownst to him, another figure also stopped at the same time, hovering near him but not too close.


    In reality, this person had been following him ever since he entered the city.


    However, Liam waspletely unaware of it. Or rather no yer in the city was aware of his presence.


    Seated outside the crowded auction hall, Liam selected all the items on his list irrespective of their prices and quickly finished the transactions.


    Just as he had expected, he managed to obtain every single item on the list, though as he also expected his gold reserves plummeted fast.


    Since the game''s poprity was exponentially increasing with every passing day, all the raw materials were being sold for exaggerated prices, and the in game economy was in shambles.


    Liam did not care about this as he valued his time far more. He had several ways to obtain fast gold but time was something he didn''t have enough of.


    He chuckled wryly and stood up to walk to his next destination which was the ck market street.


    This ce as well was booming with yers but not as much since the market was just opening and different vendors were only starting to assemble.


    Liam squeezed through the crowd and saw that the old man he hade looking for was already here.


    He was surrounded by a bunch of yers who were swarming him like mosquitoes.


    After meeting him for the first time, he hadn''t seen him for the past several days, yet he knew that the old man would remember him very well.


    "Greetings, senior." Liam stood at the back of the crowd and muttered.


    And as soon as his voice sounded, the old man who had been ignoring yers all this while suddenly broke into a warm smile.


    Since Liam was unable to reach him, he personally stood up and walked over to him.


    "Lad! You are back already! I was expecting you toe to me muchter? Ho Ho!" His wrinkled eyes gazed at Liam and before long, his grin widened.


    "You have once again impressed me! You are fully deserving of my respect. You did not let me down."


    [Ding. Quest Completed]


    Liam already knew that there wasn''t any reward to this quest, so he wasn''t surprised. He rather paid attention to what the old man was talking about.


    "I can see that you have the patience and determination to be an excellent forger but do you have the talent?"


    "Anyone can work hard,d¡­ but sometimes the heavens don''t favor everybody. It is a pity. Hmmm?"


    Liam smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I do not have the talent elder. I only know hard work." He spoke everything that was needed to appease the old man and get the next chain quest.


    However, strangely everything he said was from his heart. This was one of the reasons why this quest was strongly imprinted in his memory.


    The person who hadpleted this questst time around was the ultimate underdog. He came from nothing and became a top expert.


    That yer was an inspiration to millions of people all over the world who were still struggling at the bottom.


    But unfortunately, this part of history was not going to repeat itself.


    This time around Liam was neither an underdog nor inck of innate talent, but he was still going to im this and rise higher!


    The old man smiled warmly and patted him. "That''s quite alright. Don''t let yourself get disheartened. Talent is nothing in front of hard work. Hmph!"


    "Do you have the strength and willpower to ovee your fate?"


    "Yes, senior," Liam muttered.

 Chapter 108 - Path Ahead

    <h4>Chapter 108 - Path Ahead</h4>


    [Ding. New quest avable - Conquer your fate.]


    [Obtain the First Kill of 20 Elite Bosses. Challenge the beasts that no one has managed to defeat and prove your determination.]


    [Requirements: Unknown elder''s trust and respect]


    [Reward: Elder''s true identity]


    [Ding: Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    "First kill for 20 Elite Bosses?" Liam was somewhat taken aback as he read the details of the quest.


    The difficulty was quite high and it looked like the next part of the chain quest would be even more difficult but he knew that the rewards were equally lucrative. So, in the end, it would all be worth it.


    Liam instantly epted the quest.


    "Senior¡­?" He saw that the old man was already mentally checked out. He looked somewhere else in the distance, no longer responding to him.


    So Liam shrugged and started walking out of the crowded market without lingering there.


    Other yers had been unable to listen in on their conversation, so they continued trying to talk to the old man using all sorts of tactics.


    "Ha¡­ I wonder if I can again go back to visit those rock giants. I could have finished this quest with a single invasion mission. What a waste!"


    Liam began formting a n in his mind about which Elites he could tackle. His movements were fast as he went in and out of the crowd, disappearing quickly.


    A couple of seconds after he walked away, the figure who had been following him all this time crossed the old man''s stall as well.


    Once again, the other yers could not sense the presence of this person. However, the old man instantly recognized him.


    "Eh? What is this old monster up to now?"


    Before the figure hurried after Liam, the two parties nced at each other and did not exchange any words.


    Meanwhile, Liam had already reached the city outskirts. He was engrossed in deep thought.


    All the elites that were yet to be spotted and brought down by other yers were located in the higher level areas. So the quest would be a lot easier if he reached Level 50.


    However, the minute he reaches level 50¡­ things might start changing...


    Liam was still unsure if this was the trigger or it was simply a coincidence but thest time the second patch was introduced in the game, it was when a yer reached Level 50.


    This event had happened approximately one and a half months after the beginning of the game.


    Now Liam was capable of reaching Level 50 a lot sooner. However, did that mean his actions would possibly elerate the other things?


    Though this was not necessarily bad for him, he didn''t want to lose whatever little time he had. This was his only advantage, after all.


    "Hmmm¡­ The level 30 to 35 elites¡­ I should try to get them." Liam squatted down and picked a vacant spot to start feeding his two pets.


    The evolution process was quite simple. After acquiring all the items required, he only needed to feed them to his pets, and they would grow and be stronger.


    He patiently took out one ingredient after another and fed it to the two.


    However, all of a sudden, a twig snapped behind him.


    Liam immediately jolted up to stand in a defensive position, his sword drawn. Someone had actually managed to sneak up on him?


    Who was there? He looked around and his expression froze when his gaze finally fell on the unweed intruder.


    Liam stared agape at the old man whom he had previously met in the cksmith association a while ago.


    He clearly remembered him as he had said something very creepy, something abouting to find him when the time was right.


    And now the same person was once again standing in front of him?


    Ah! Realization instantly dawned on him! Was this perhaps a forced quest?


    "Heh. What are you thinking about so seriouslyd?" The old man muttered.


    Fine, I will just take a look at what this quest is. Liam quickly recovered and sheathed his sword back.


    "Please forgive my rudeness, senior. Were you perhaps looking for me?"


    "Of course, I am. I already told you that, didn''t I? He He."


    The old man locked his hands behind his back and casually strolled closer to Liam. "By the way, why do you seem to be more interested in that chatan than me?"


    "Huh? I am sorry, senior. I do not follow." Liam was genuinely confused. Why was this guy here and what was he talking about?


    He already knew everything about Yleka city. It was not like theher realm,rgely unexplored. Everything about Yleka city was detailed from top to bottom in several forums.


    So he knew that this person couldn''t possibly be anyone important and yet he was here in front of him once again, talking in riddles.


    "I am talking about the weaponsmith from whom you recently epted a quest. Forget about him and forget about whatever he has to offer you."


    "I can see the path ahead of you. Your life is destined to be free and unfettered. Don''t let your brain be muddled."


    Okay¡­ Liam nodded dazedly. The chain smithing quest did end in a hidden ss reward but that was not why he was doing it.


    His sole purpose in pursuing that quest was something else altogether¡­


    Irrespectively, he couldn''t understand what this person had to do with anything and why was he advising him?


    Moreover, he was also from the cksmith association...


    Had he perhaps exploited too many loopholes that the system was conjuring something to reign him back?


    Liam''s brain was spinning with random thoughts as he tried to make sense of this scenario.


    Looking at him, the old man chuckled with a snort. "Don''t think too muchd. Our meeting might be fate, but it also could be a mere coincidence."


    "For now, I am going to simply leave you with a¡­ hmmm¡­ let''s call it a path¡­ but I am not sure if you are fit enough to walk it."


    [Ding. New Quest Avable]

 Chapter 109 - Evolution

    <h4>Chapter 109 - Evolution</h4>


    [Ding. New Quest Avable]


    [Ding. Find the ancient ruins in the Elven Kingdom]


    [Ding. Reward: Unknown old man''s recognition]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    Liam''s lips twitched as he gawked at the quest. Now he was not just working towards recognition from one old man, but rather two?


    He already knew that the first one was going to make him strong beyond his dreams but what about this second one?


    ''Hmmm¡­ I also have that prisoner key in the elven kingdom. I might as well pay a visit to both and check out what this is. At the most, it would simply be an iplete quest in my log¡­"


    ''But if I was lucky¡­ then it could be another stepping stone¡­''


    "I ept senior." Liam quickly bowed and replied. When he looked up to meet the elder again, he had already disappeared.


    "Ah! This guy! I wanted to ask him for some more details!" He didn''t know why he was acting so mysteriously but he didn''t n on breaking his head over that.


    He went back to his pets and resumed his caretaker duties, still deeply in thought.


    However, no matter how much he racked his brain, he was just not able to think of anything rted to this new old guy from the cksmith association.


    A few secondster, the bird had finished eating all the nourishing ingredients and it was ready to evolve.


    Liam had never seen one up close in person, so he leaned forward and paid full attention to it.


    A warm glow surrounded the wind ripper and this glow gradually started to be brighter and brighter until it turned into a blinding sh of light.


    Liam could no longer see what was happening as the shape and size of the wind ripper began to increase proportionally.


    Its head grew bigger, its wings grewrger and its streamlined body elongated. Although this onlysted a few seconds, the size of the bird had already increased significantly.


    Before the evolution, it had been smaller, like that of a rabbit, but now it was the size of a panther.


    [Ding. Congrattions. Pet1 has evolved sessfully]


    Krrrrrrr! The glow faded and the adult wind ripper lovingly rubbed its head on Liam''s leg. He patted it with a smile. "Good job."


    This made the other party who was also staring at the bird very envious.


    The fox was nibbling its food previously, without any care in the world but now it started gulping everything down, wanting to also evolve sooner.


    In its hurry, the ball of fur choked on something and started to roll around the ground in pain. Finally, Liam picked it up by the scruff of its neck and helped it out.


    "Slow down!" He put the fox down and paid attention to the wind ripper again. Apart from its size, there were also other physical changes.


    The bird''s beak and feathers had be more metallic and sharp. They were brilliantly reflecting the forest around and the sky above.


    Its ws had be stronger. It was now Level 18 so its stats were also considerably higher. More importantly, it was able to learn new skills now without any restrictions.


    "Hmm¡­ It looks like we need to soon put effort into farming skill books."


    "Why don''t you go and take some time to get used to your new body?" Liam suggested. "Don''t go too far and don''t pick a fight that you can''t win."


    They were currently still on the outskirts of Yleka city, so there weren''t any dangerous beasts around that the bird couldn''t handle. However, there were still other yers everywhere.


    The bird nodded in understanding and then took off, shooting up into the sky like an arrow, disappearing from both their sight.


    After a couple of seconds, a few small experience points notifications popped up and Liam knew what it was up to.


    "Alright. Your turn. After you are done eating, try this one next." The fox nodded its head vigorously and gobbled away every ingredient ced in front of it.


    As the number of ingredients this time was a lot more, it took several minutes but soon the fox started to glow as well.


    However, this time everything was different. The small fox did not really grow that much in size.


    It only became a size bigger, its body now the size of a cat, but its fur underwent some changes.


    Its entire body was now covered in crimson-colored dark red furpared to its previously lighter red shade.


    Liam picked up the beast that fit snugly in his arms and examined its body from all sides, but this seemed to be the only noticeable change.


    The beast''s stats also hadn''t increased significantly after evolution. But he wasn''t too surprised as he was already aware that a spirit beast''s growth curve was slow.


    He ced it down and looked at the distance where he could hear a bunch of birds screeching and tree branches shaking.


    Liam could tell that it was probably his pet''s doing. Giving the bird some time, heid on the fresh grassy ground, settling some thoughts in his mind.


    The fox saw that he was not paying anymore attention to it and it immediately started jumping around anxiously.


    It could see that he was not particrly amazed by its evolution, but he hadn''t seen the most important part of its evolution!


    [Master! Master!]


    The fox called for Liam mentally and when he looked, it immediately sent out a burst of me at a nearby tree trunk.


    Boom!


    Hmm? Liam quickly got up to sit as he eyed the ckened damaged area. The part of the trunk where the attacknded waspletely burnt, leaving behind a conical dent.


    More importantly, the small fox''s mes just now¡­


    "Hey. Attack. Attack again." He muttered, now more carefully observing.


    [Yes, Master!] The fox was more than delighted and quickly sent out another burst of mes.. Now that he had seen again, Liam''s doubts were confirmed.

 Chapter 110 - A Flying Mount?

    <h4>Chapter 110 - A Flying Mount?</h4>


    The color of the mes conjured by the fox had changed and along with it the intensity of the attack.


    Liam''s own conjured me was not that dark in color. It was only a lighter shade of crimson.


    He looked at the little fox who now wore a contented blissful smile on its face as it had sessfully grasped his attention.


    "Good job, but how did you do this? Hmm¡­"


    The beast didn''t know how to answer him so it continued its silly smile.


    "Heh. I am guessing it must be your innate ability since you are a fire type spirit beast."


    Liam couldn''t help but feel that the deeper he delved into the game, the more he didn''t know. Perhaps in hisst time around, yers only barely scratched the surface of the tutorial.


    So when the truly monstrous things emerged into reality, there was instant chaos and mayhem everywhere and people were massacred left and right.


    "I need to do things faster. This is not enough." He stood up and the two of them then walked back into the city, to the beast association octagon.


    Liam had a thought that he wanted to confirm.


    When several things were unknown and unclear, it was best to return back to the basics and y the game just like everyone else.


    He searched for the same instructor and walked over to her. She seemed to be chatting with another yer, but as soon as she saw Liam, she waved him over.


    "Oh! Your spirit beast sessfully evolved. Congrattions." She beamed and once again picked up the fox.


    The little thing''s face paled and what it dreaded immediately happened as it was behind hugged to death.


    The other yer red at Liam as his own session had been interrupted, but Liam did not pay any attention to him.


    "Ma''am, if I may trouble you¡­ could you please tell me a bit more about my beast? I don''t seem to know enough about it and I want to make sure that I nurture it in the best way possible."


    Liam''s words made the young woman''s eyebrows shoot up and she looked visibly surprised.


    "It is very rare to see a young man concerning himself with his beast pet''s welfare. Good. Good."


    "Most often I am only asked about methods of how to improve battle strength, power, or health, but young trainers fail to understand that a beast is also a living and breathing soul."


    "If you treat your beast as a friend, it will fight for you with its life on the line. If you simply treat it as a resource, then your return will also be poor."


    Liam nodded, patiently listening to the woman. He was not sure if this was going to go anywhere but he decided to give it a shot before leaving Yleka city again.


    Seraphina continued her rant, talking about random things for a while before she finally reached the point which piqued Liam''s interest.


    "Hmmm¡­ the thing is¡­ your beast is a special type of beast. Spirit beasts are rare and very few actually manage to evolve beyond a certain level."


    "I can probably guess what the beast needs for the next evolution but it''s best if youe to visit me when it''s ready."


    "Then I will have a better idea."


    "And regarding nurturing it well¡­ if you really want to treat your beast well, I have heard rumors about a vige in the east¡­ Javi vige¡­"


    "Your current level is not enough to pay a visit here. It is on the border of the Kingdom and its terrain is rough."


    "Not to mention strong and powerful creatures havepletely taken over the vige."


    "But a long time back, I heard that the vigers who used to live there worshipped a me that kept them warm in endless terrifying blizzards."


    "If you want to find something that could properly nurture your spirit beast, that ce could be your only option to find some clues."


    Liam thanked the instructor and then walked out of the beast hall. His hunch had been correct.


    If there was something that he didn''t know, all he needed to do was follow the trail of bread crumbs, and sooner orter, he was bound to stumble upon the answer, well provided that the time permitted.


    And thanks to his two pets, he was now going to save a lot of time.


    As he stepped out of the city, Liam ced his thumb and index finger in his mouth to let out a low whistle.


    A couple of yers near him looked at him, wondering what he was up to.


    Nothing seemed to happen but after a second, loud whooshing sounds echoed and the next instant a big birdnded in front of them.


    It was the size of a dire wolf and had sharp metallic feathers that glinted in the sunlight.


    "What the heck is this?"


    "Ah! A field boss! This is a field boss right?"


    The couple of yers were not able to see any of its details, so they quickly jumped to the conclusion that it was some sort of mysterious elite monster.


    They didn''t dare approach it or start attacking it as they didn''t want to die tragically. Special elites needed at least a group of five yers to take down.


    So they quickly began sending out messages to their friends and guilds but abruptly stopped as they witnessed the unbelievable scene that happened next.


    While they were all hesitant to go near the bird, one person standing near them casually strolled towards it.


    Not just that¡­ but the person then nonchntly ced his hand over the bird, also jumping up andnding on the bird''s back in one swift move.


    "What the hell?"


    "Is that a friendly NPC?"


    Everyone was confused until someone finally pointed out the obvious. "That guy is riding the bird!"


    "So that''s a mount?"


    "Fuck! He already has a flying mount?"


    "He is using his beast pet as a flying mount!"


    "Hey! Wait a second. Can we try attacking that thing?"


    "Oh! You are right. If we attack the bird, then the person would simply drop dead, falling from that height!"


    "He He He. Let''s do it."


    "Idiots, look up. He already left!"


    The few yers realized that they were already toote as Liam''s figure along with the wind ripper''s silhouette had disappeared into the distance.

 Chapter 111 - Special Dungeon

    <h4>Chapter 111 - Special Dungeon</h4>


    Amidst the thick luscious forests, a wind ripper gracefully and elegantly glided in the air, as its metallic feathers sparkled in the sunlight, reflecting the different hues of the sky.


    Liam who was currently sitting on the back of this bird had a small smile on his face.


    Despite his gaze constantly scrutinizing everything that appeared below them, he couldn''t help but enjoy the cool breeze brushing past his face. It felt heavenly.


    After a while, his eyes widened and he quickly patted the bird on the side. "Let''s stop by that stream over there."


    The wind ripper chirped in response to him andnded next to the spot Liam had pointed to.


    This was thest patch ofnd that was rtively not dangerous, inhabited only by weaker monsters, more specifically slimes.


    Water slimes resided in this particr ce and their levels were around 15 to 20. "Do you guys see those things?" He looked at his two pets who were already locked onto the target.


    "I want you both to stay near this stream and keep taking down those things as and when they appear. Do you understand?"


    Kyuuuu!


    Chirp!


    "And don''t forget. Never pick a fight with an enemy above your level. If you sense even the smallest of danger, you should immediately run away."


    Liam particrly looked at the fox and enunciated his words again. "Jump onto your brother''s back and the two of you can fly away to safety. Don''t take any risks."


    "Can you both manage to stay safe until Ie back? Can I trust you guys with that?"


    The two beasts nodded their heads vigorously. The bird was a bit tired from flying all this time but the fox was very energetic and it was eager to do something like a small child.


    Liam patted their heads and he didn''t leave immediately. He hung back and watched them take down a few slimes.


    Only then did he leave the area, warning the two beasts to stay safe one more time.


    They were currently in the middle of a rare safe area within a bunch of high level monster zones. The presence of slimes in this area was just a small coincidence.


    Liam''s main purpose ining here was something else.


    He currently had his interface full of misceneous quests each taking him in a different direction, but Liam chose toe here first for an important reason.


    And this had to do with the quest he received from the old man in the ck market.


    The second part of the chain quest required him to get 20 first kills of Elites and this was the perfect ce to finish it in one go.


    Liam first hadn''t considered this because it was far too dangerous toe here, especially by himself when he had only touched 30 and that too without any sort of special skills.


    But then he remembered that he indeed had a special skill.


    So Liam did not hesitate and directly arrived here.


    The journey alone would have taken him a couple of days but thanks to the wind ripper he was able to fly over all the rough terrain and arrive here using a very direct path.


    This was the advantage of having a flying mount.


    Liam turned back to nce at his two pets who were busy taking down slimes in the distance and shed a smile before diving deeper into the forests.


    He was now entering a high-level zone and the monsters here were mostly 40 to 50. So he didn''t bring the two pets along with him.


    He as well activated his [Stealth] skill and cautiously advanced into the depths of the forest.


    He was somewhat aware of the safest route through this region so he didn''t by mistake run into anything.


    And before long, he arrived at his destination.


    Near a small hill on his right, there was a swirl of mana, crackling, and spinning. Liam grinned as he approached this anomaly.


    [Ding. You have entered the abode of Decarabia]


    [Ding. You are the first person to discover this dungeon]


    [Ding. Your experience points are increased by 10%]


    [Ding. You have a higher chance of obtaining rewards]


    Liam ignored all the notifications and carefully observed the dark and dingy ce in front of him. This ce was going to be the answer to three of his problems if everything goes well.


    First kills! Skill books! Gold!


    Everything that he urgently needed could be obtained right in this dungeon! But could he sessfully get it done?


    Liam grinned. His eyes had already spotted the first resident of the dungeon who had stepped forward to wee him.


    A huge green toad trotted forward, its two greenish blue eyes fully fixated on him.


    Croak.


    The frog opened its mouth and without warning, a thick red tongueshed out at the spot where Liam was standing.


    However, he was not there anymore. The second he stepped into the dungeon he was already prepared. His figure blurred as he pushed all of his mana towards his feet.


    Right when the thick tongue flew at him, he nimbly moved, avoiding it easily, but the trouble did not end there.


    Behind the big green toad, another big green toad showed up and then another, followed by yet another.


    Liam was currently standing across from four big green toads, all four of them simultaneously shooting their tongues at him.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!


    The rocks of the cave wall cracked and crumbled, falling down endlessly as the tongues continued to miss their target and hit the wall instead.


    This alone showed the strength and power packed behind each attack. And of course, not to mention, the identity of these toads¡­


    Each toad croaking in front of Liam right now had a silver glow enveloping its body. It was an unmistakable silver glow that could only belong to an Elite beast.


    So he was currently facing not one elite but rather four elites. In fact, this entire dungeon was not a normal dungeon.


    It was a Level 40 dungeon of terror, filled purely with elite monsters!


    And Liam''s n was to solo it!


    [Demonic Rib Tongue] (Elite Boss)


    Level 40


    [Demonic Rib Tongue] (Elite Boss)


    Level 35


    [Demonic Rib Tongue] (Elite Boss)


    Level 38


    [Demonic Rib Tongue] (Elite Boss)


    Level 40


    Liam''s gaze did not waver as he looked at the four toads croaking in front of him. They were strong Level 40 beasts that also had a demonic attribute.


    Even a group of skilled yers would find it difficult to not have doubts when facing these intimidating beasts, but Liam did not hesitate in the slightest.


    He already knew that these were powerful and there was a legion of even more powerful beasts thatid in wait behind them.


    Decarabia was a powerful demon and this dungeon was one of its many abodes, filled from top to bottom with demonic elite bosses. These guys belonged to the demon''s personal army.


    This dungeon would soon be the main grinding spot for all the yers in the level 35 to 45 range as it offered both generous experience points and rewards.


    However, this was also a trap as the difficulty level exponentially increased as one proceeded deeper and deeper into the dungeon.


    Not all Elite bosses were the same and these toads were in fact one of the weaker bosses. So only skilled yers were able to clear the dungeon.


    yers beyond level 45 were also not allowed to enter so if one did not clear it within the appropriate range, there weren''t any loopholes that could be used to m the bosses.


    But that didn''t mean that there weren''t any loopholes. There were some and Liam was counting on one of them.


    As the four toads continuedshing out their tongues at Liam, he was constantly moving as getting hit by the tongues even once would mean game over.


    The space was narrow and the toads had the advantage in numbers as well as stats, but Liam was able to move at the cost of his mana and evade the attacks.


    Seeing that their tongues were not doing anything, the toads started unleashing the next attack.


    The four of them almost simultaneously puffed up their cheeks and then in one swift motion released the poisonous gas trapped within.


    SPURT! SPURT! SPURT!


    The small cave immediately blurred as the viscous pungent poisonous gas sprayed everywhere. And Liam was exactly waiting for this moment!


    As soon as he saw the toad''s cheeks puffing up, he had already jumped up tond on one of the toad''s heads and bounced in the other direction.


    And as he moved away from the cloud of viscous poisonous gas, he also rotated his mana to conjure a single [Fire Bullet].


    BANG!


    The front part of the cave where the four toads were standing, filled with poison gas, immediately lit up like a bomb.


    Liam controlled his mana to move to his feet once again and he ran away as fast as he could.

 Chapter 112 - Dont Mind Me. I Am Just Passing Through.

    <h4>Chapter 112 - Don''t Mind Me. I Am Just Passing Through.</h4>


    As Liam ran as fast as he could, everything behind him was sted to smithereens. The walls of the cave crumbled andpletely blocked the path.


    The four toads were not yet dead. They were simply injured, several parts of their body bleeding and their health constantly dropping, but they were not dead yet.


    And unfortunately for them, they were still stuck behind the blocked debris and couldn''t attack Liam any longer.


    BAM BAM BAM


    Their tongues keptshing out at the debris trying to find a way through. Liam, however, did not wait for them to seed and kept moving ahead.


    He was not in the least upset that he hadn''t obtained the kills for the toads.


    He even had a big grin on his face because he had sessfullypleted the most difficult part of this dungeon!


    This was the only part of the dungeon that he had an issue with. And now that he had cleared it, the rest of the run was going to be within his grasp.


    Liam stopped as the next monsters of the dungeon appeared in front of him. Two ogres who were leaning against a corner looked up at him and ran towards him with their big clubs.


    These two as well had a silver aura around them. They growled at Liam and swung their clubs around aiming to smash his head.


    They had incredible agility so their swings were a blur, only barely visible but powerful blows that couldpletely shatter one''s skull.


    However, they were still unable to hit their target. Liam had already moved. He nimbly ducked down to dodge their attacks and he twisted his body to appear behind the two ogres.


    His speed was at par with their movements as he was pushing his mana to all of his extremities and using it for physical movement enhancement.


    sh. sh. sh.


    -20 -100 -20


    Liam bitterly smiled as he eyed these pathetic damage numbers. This was exactly why he hadn''t tried attacking the toads back.


    All the elite bosses had incredible defense so the maximum damage numbers could never be brought out.


    His crimson sword danced in between the ogres parrying their attacks.


    He managed to evade three and only met one attack head on but the impact of the single attack made his entire body vibrate.


    "I need to end this now." Liam ducked down again but this time, he also activated another skill at the same time.


    [Venom Burst]


    Instantly a puff of colorless venom filled the air and Liam jumped back stepping out of the poison cloud.


    The two ogres, however, were not quick to react as they weren''t aware of the toxicity of the venom.


    Liam made sure to keep them within that area and sparred with them, avoiding their attacks.


    Even though he only managed to marginally avoid their hits every time, he pushed his limits to the maximum.


    The two ogres growled again and continued to swing their clubs at Liam but soon they began to feel sluggish. Their movements became wobbly and their vision blurred.


    "Finally!" Liam''s lips curled upwards.


    The skill wasn''t upgraded yet, so the effect was a bit dyed and the toxicity of the venom seemed to be low, but this was enough to give him an advantage.


    Two strong elite ogres were tough opponents but two strong sluggish ogres were nothing. They might as well be stationary target practice dummies.


    As the ogre''s health trickled down, Liam started shing at them with his sword. While his mana was slowly being recovered, he lined the ogre''s muscr bodies with multiple sword injuries.


    He grinded them down, small chunks of health at a time and a few minutester, the two bulky ogres dropped to the ground with heavy thuds.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Stone Ogre Soldier. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Stone Ogre Soldier. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    Liam picked up the couple of gold coins that fell to the side and under one of the thick ogre legs, there was also a skill book.


    When he picked it up, he noticed also noticed a spiked metal chain.


    As expected, the drop rate of the dungeon was nothing short of amazing. He only needed to kill two elites to get a skill book and a neck piece.


    Liam quickly picked it up as well. He checked the skill book first and it looked like his luck was amazing.


    [Fire Shield: Shroud the body in a nket of mes for 15 seconds. All damages reduced by 50%. High probability to block a critical attack. Costs 40% of base mana.]


    Liam nodded and was about to learn it, but he stopped and instead ced it in his inventory.


    He wanted to see if he could himself manipte his conjured me in this fashion without the help of a skill book.


    "I will work on that next time." He then looked at the neck piece. It was quite tacky but it provided a boost in both agility and strength.


    So Liam quickly tossed it on before heading deeper into the dungeon.


    The narrow tunnel passage started bing wider and wider and Liam could see various bones and human skeletons scattered around.


    Now he was truly entering the depths of the demon''s abode.


    Liam slowed down as he knew that the enemy ahead was very formidable. This enemy was not like the ogres before, it was very different.


    He could already hear its movements, as its huge body strutted around.


    Liam paused. He sucked in a big breath of air and making sure that his condition was fully restored, he took the next step forward.


    He was already here and he had made up his mind to clear this dungeon. So there was no turning back.


    As the sound of the next opponent became louder and a figure emerged around the corner, Liam conjured a huge fire ball,pressing it as best as he could and he shot it forward.

 Chapter 113 - Mad Cow

    <h4>Chapter 113 - Mad Cow</h4>


    Boom! A loud explosion rattled but the figure that emerged after did not look one bit bothered by it.


    [Demonic Minotar] (Elite Boss)


    Level 42


    The monster''s head was like that of a grotesque cow with two huge hornsing out of its head. It snorted loudly and narrowed its bloodthirsty eyes, its gaze locked onto Liam.


    "Who dares to trespass in my master''s abode!"


    The monster roared and without any warning, the scythe that was swirling in its hand flew out.


    MoooOOO!


    Liam instantly took a couple of steps back and just as he did the scythe struck the spot where he was previously standing.


    "This is going to be difficult." A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as his mind once again focused on evading.


    However, his previous tactics were simply not going to be enough this time around. Unlike the ogres, this particr monster had extra thick skin or rather hide.


    If he activated [Venom Burst] right now, it wouldn''t affect the minotaur at all.


    He first needed to make the monstrous cow somehow bleed and only then would he be able to carry out the cheat strategy.


    But Liam was not worried about it. He had absolute confidence in his abilities. If he faltered here, then he might as well give up right now.


    He was going to make this dungeon of terror his personal stepping stone.


    "Shall we start?" Liam grinned.


    As his feet nimbly moved, dodging the mad bull dashing towards him, his hand started pulling away some of the mana that he was using to boost his agility.


    Because of this, his speed reduced a bit but at the same time, a ball of ice started materializing in front of him.


    At the early levels, manipting the fire element was not that much different from manipting the ice or the lightning element.


    And since Liam had already sessfully mastered the basics of mana maniption, this part came to him naturally.


    The ball of icy mana swirling in front of him suddenly dispersed like the wind and the next second, the floor of the cave where the minotaur was rushing towards him was covered with a sheet of thin slippery ice.


    THUD!


    The huge two-legged horned cow skidded on the floor, unable to bnce at thest second, and fell down t.


    -1000


    The damage number was also impressive as its own body weight was working against it.


    Liam on the other hand used the slippery floor to skate and dodge the huge body falling towards him. This helped him pick up the speed that he had lost because of the mana consumption.


    MOOOO! The minotaur roared in pain and sprang back up with anger spilling out of its red nostrils.


    It snorted and raised its hand to throw its scythe at Liam one more time, but the cow''s weapon was lodged firmly in the ground because of the impact of the fall.


    Liam used this chance when the monster was disoriented and sent another juicy fireball at it, aiming for its mouth, which was slightly starting to bleed.


    The minotaur moved to try to avoid this attack but it once again became disoriented and fell t on the thin ice on the cave floor.


    -1000


    Another huge chunk of its health dropped and this time some of its teeth shattered and dropped on the ground.


    Liam tried his best to not be amused by thisical sight and hurriedly cast another attack.


    This time he conjured a dense bolt of lightning andpressed it just like he did with the fireball attack.


    He wanted to see which element attacks were more effective against this boss.


    It might have slipped a couple of times because of his timely surprise attack, but Liam was not a fool to underestimate its skills.


    It was an Elite boss after all and it had the distinct silver glow on its body.


    BOOM! It roared again and a ripple of reddish ck waves emanated from the beast''s body.


    The thin ice on the floor instantly shattered and disappeared and along with it, Liam''s lightning bolt.


    "Waves of madness!" Liam eximed. He quickly stopped casting spells and focused his mana on physical enhancement once again.


    The minotaur rushed towards him like a crazed bull, rearing up again and again by scratching its hoofs on the ground.


    It mmed its short hilt scythe at the puny human in front of it every chance it got.


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    Liam''s body twisted and turned and every time he avoided the attack, it was a very narrow miss. Even one mistake would cost him his life.


    But fighting with such heavy stakes made him that much more better and alert. He pushed himself to train his limited skills again and again.


    He just needed one more chance. One small opening to sneak in an attack so that he could activate his [Venom Burst] and finish this fight.


    However, the minotaur was a highly intelligent monster and it rampaged with anger, all its moves perfectly aimed at decimating the human in front of it.


    Liam ducked, twisted, and jumped, doing everything he could to continue sparring with the cow but even after two minutes, he was unable to find that opening.


    His mana was dropping fast and so was his stamina.


    "This is not good. I need to do something fast." A cold glint shed past his eyes as his movements began to slow down.


    He was now only missing all the attacks by a hair and some of them even began to partiallynd, chipping away 5 to 10% of his health every time.


    Moooo! The minotaur snorted haughtily. "Die! Insect! You dare enter my master''s abode! Tremble before my might and die!"


    Seeing that Liam was panting, it raised its scythe and rushed forward to hack his body, but at this exact same time, Liam suddenly moved, bursting with tremendous energy.


    He as well dashed forward to meet the minotaur, the both of them attacking each other, but at thest minute, Liam leaned forward like an arrow and unsheathed his sword.

 Chapter 114 - First Come First Serve

    <h4>Chapter 114 - First Come First Serve</h4>


    [sh]


    A clean cut appeared on the minotaur''s calf muscle and blood spurted out.


    If it was only Liam who had been moving, this would have never happened but he used the beast''s own momentum and finally drew the first blood.


    -200


    What a low damage output! Liam sneered. He did not look disheartened. This much was in fact enough for him.


    [Venom Burst]


    He immediately activated the next phase of his n and downed a mana potion, before once again starting to focuspletely on evading.


    -50


    -50


    -50


    Small dot damages started appearing on the minotaur and before long¡­ the rampaging monster wobbled and lost most of its vigor.


    "You! Tainted¡­"? The beast''s words were cut short as Liam sted one fire bullet after another, filling the cow-headed monster''s body with a dozen bleeding bullet wounds.


    And finally, after thest bit of health vanished, the minotaur fell down lifeless on the ground.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Minotaur. You have gained 30000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have learned Basic Ice Maniption Skill]


    [Ding. You have learned Ice nket Skill]


    [Ding. Your Ice Maniption Skill is upgraded to intermediate]


    [Ding. Your Ice element attacks are boosted by 5%]


    Hovering over the list of notifications, Liam noticed that something was missing. "Eh? I didn''t get any notifications for the lightning attack that I tried?"


    "Did I not manipte it well?"


    He pondered about this for a bit as he needed this particr skill for crossing over to the next step.


    It was only possible to use [Venom Burst] in certain portions of the dungeon. If one wanted to use this single loophole for the entire dungeon, that would be a fool''s dream.


    "I guess then I will just have to practice some more." Liam did not even bother looking around for any drops as he copsed next to the minotaur''s dead body and closed his eyes.


    He had only finished 3 or rather 2 of the 10 battles that stood in his path, considering that the first fight was rather left unfinished and the four toads were still croaking in the distance.


    But he was alreadypletely exhausted. However, this was something Liam had expected.


    Though he had relied heavily on his rare [Venom Burst] skill, it was only possible to defeat the elites because of his own determination.


    He had constantly evaded critical lethal attacks and ground down the health of the bosses from millions to 0.


    The three fights had taken him seven hours altogether and maintaining one''s top mental focus for that much time was nothing to scoff at.


    So he was currently fully drained.


    Liam steadied his breathing and slowly recuperated inside the dark and dingy ce.


    After a while, he even ended up taking a nap inside the dungeon which helped with his mental exhaustion.


    "Ok. Time to start hunting again."


    Liam immediately did not leave the ce and started to look around the minotaur''s body for drops. He once again found a couple of gold coins and this time he also saw a scythe.


    "A rare grade equipment¡­ not bad."


    He picked up the scythe and as he examined it in his hand, he saw another thing sparkling from the corner of his eyes.


    A golden insignia.


    Liam quickly tossed the scythe into his inventory and then grabbed the insignia. "This should take care of some of my money problems. He He."


    He ced the insignia into his inventory as well and kicked the minotaur around to see if any more drops were left behind.


    Only then did he reluctantly leave.


    Unfortunately, he had to leave this minotaur corpse as well behind as it was above his level and he didn''t want to suffer more injuries by trying to revive dead monsters above his level.


    So just like the two ogres, the minotaur was also unusable.


    If he had been able to bring over a few undeads, the next fight would indeed be simpler, but because of the toads at the entrance and the strategy he had chosen to walk past them, this was next to impossible.


    So for now, he had to fight without the help of any summons.


    Liam walked past the wide passage which opened up into a vast forest. It was so big that one could easily get lost in it which was also one of the challenges of the dungeon.


    There were different traps at different corners of this dungeon, but for someone who already knew the path too well, this was not an issue.


    Liam gazed at thendscape in front of him and then turned to the northeast to start heading deeper when something on his side caught his eye.


    "Is this¡­??? What the hell!" He strayed away from the main path and dashed to his right instead where a small bed of violet-colored nts was growing.


    He bent down to pluck one of them and smelled.


    [Ding. You obtained a stalk of purple tendril]


    "I knew it!"


    The bed of violet nts was in fact herbs.


    In fact, everywhere he looked around, there were herbs. Common herbs, rare herbs, precious herbs. There was lots and lots of everything.


    They were spread out, growing in clusters, in patches, under trees, near bushes, across the vast forest.


    It had always puzzled him that a supposed ''demon''s abode'' included such a huge forest as a back garden but now it made sense.


    Was this whole ce just a field for various herbs? If that was the case then those who entered first would have had the privilege of taking away all the herbs!


    What a harvest!


    Sucking in a big breath of air, Liam got down to business. He tried to stick to his ''safe'' path while simultaneously collecting all the herbs that he could spot.


    With this haul, leveling up alchemy skills was going to be as easy as eating a cake but he first needed to clear the dungeon and get out.

 Chapter 115 - Zap! Zap! Zap!

    <h4>Chapter 115 - Zap! Zap! Zap!</h4>


    [Ding. You have obtained a stalk of Ripe Root]


    [Ding. You have obtained a stalk of Ripe Root]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam continued heading deeper into the demon''s private forest, looting every single herb that entered his field of vision.


    For the most part, he stuck to the ''safe'' route but after a while, he purposefully did a detour.


    "Time to start training." Liam stretched his hands and then picked up a stone to throw it into a nearby bush.


    Almost instantly, something sprang out of the bush and dashed towards him.


    Z Z Z


    It was a big green lizard that was almost invisible to the naked eye. Its green-colored skin merged with the grassy ground as its figure slithered amidst the tall grass.


    [Demonic Venomous Chameleon] (Elite Boss)


    Level 35


    "Oh! A level 35 elite! This should be perfect for me." Liam grinned and didn''t waste time as he enhanced his agility and movements by churning his mana.


    The elite in front of him was too fast. It zigged and zagged cutting through the grass, its tailshing at Liam. Not to mention it was highly poisonous.


    Its venom was also not weak like Liam''s [Venom Burst] skill.


    A single hit from it would make him lose this fight and perhaps even send him straight to death''s door.


    But the beast had its own weakness and Liam was nning on exploiting exactly this. He had provoked this beast for this specific purpose.


    [Lightning Bolt] Liam muttered as he jumped up and evaded the crawling lizard. More powerful magic spells required a certain amount of cast time, but this was a basic spell.


    So he was able to cast it even when evading the attack but he took the system''s help for it. If he had to cast it on his own, he was still not proficient enough to do it this casually while moving.


    Zap!


    The lizard that slithered on the tall grass yelped in pain as the attack hit its body. Liam meanwhile,nded on a small rock nearby and jumped once again.


    [Lightning Bolt]


    He spammed the skill one more time and again the lizard yelped in pain.


    Surprisingly, even with its cries of pain, its health was still as solid as the rock that Liam used to push down and jump.


    And every time it was the same.


    The attacknded on the beast, it cried in pain, but the damage number was pathetic.


    And yet Liam continued to do cast the attack.


    This was because this particr beast was most susceptible to lightning-type attacks.


    While the attack did not affect its health much, it soaked up its agility like a sponge.


    After casting the basic [Lightning Bolt] spell a few times, its speed had already reduced considerably.


    Now Liam no longer needed to run and jump around as if his life depended on it.


    He slowed down and made more of a conscious effort in casting the spell.


    [Lightning Bolt] He manipted his mana and conjured a ball of lightning but he did not send it out immediately.


    Instead, he again tried increasing it andpressing it just like he had done with the fireball. Only then he sent it out.


    However, this time also he wasn''t sessful.


    This attack''s damage was in fact worse than the previous attacks when he simply used the system''s help for the spell casting.


    Tsk. Tsk. Liam clicked his tongue in disappointment. He did not give up and tried this a few more times.


    Sure, by the time he was done practicing, the lizard was only barely moving and its tongue was pale and sticking out.


    Its health had also dropped considerably, but Liam was not satisfied.


    He knew that he was doing something wrong.


    He conjured another ball of lightning and looked at it, his eyes carefully observing the crackling mass of energy.


    The more he looked at it, the more he felt like he was missing something important.


    "Hmmm." He tossed the lightning ball absent-mindedly at the lizard and then conjured a ball of fire. "Why am I able to do this but not this?"


    He then started repeatedly tossing both balls of fire and lightning one after the other at the almost dead lizard which was now begging him with its eyes to just end the fight.


    He wanted to understand this better and suddenly an idea struck him.


    [Fire Ball] and [Lightning Bolt] were basically two different attacks that relied on two different elements.


    While he was able to manipte one, he was not sessful in the other. Why?


    This was precisely because these two were different!


    Liam''s eyes widened as he conjured another ball of lightning but this time, he didn''t try to manipte it by buffing it andpressing it.


    He instead tried to send it out as fast as he could, aiming for the lizard. He put his full focus and concentration on the speed aspect of the attack.


    ZAP!


    There was an improvement! The sound and impact this time was louder and also the apanying damage number.


    "Not enough!" Liam paused for a moment and conjured another ball of lightning again, but this time he tried to change its shape.


    He manipted the ball of energy into a sharp, pointed arrow and sent it out, even doing the action of pulling his hand back and then releasing it.


    ZOOM!


    Bingo! Just like he had expected, the arrow shot forward with tremendous speed, and it struck the lizard right in the middle of its head.


    Kuhak!


    This was the limit of the beast. The lizard spat out blood, its head rolling lifelessly on the ground and Liam got all the notifications that he wanted.


    He had finally managed to do the maximum damage.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Venomous Chameleon. You have gained 20000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have learned Basic Lightning Maniption Skill]


    [Ding. You have learned Lightning Arrow Skill]


    [Ding. Your Lightning Maniption Skill is upgraded to intermediate]


    [Ding. Your Lightning element attacks are boosted by 5%]

 Chapter 116 - Cleaning The Forest

    <h4>Chapter 116 - Cleaning The Forest</h4>


    Liam gazed at everything indifferently, but there was a subtle discontent in his face. He still seemed to be thinking about something deeply.


    He did not step forward to collect the loot that had ttered out of the elite. Instead, he conjured another ball of lightning again.


    This time he didn''t fashion it into an arrow, but he made it in the form of a z-shaped bolt or rather a snake.


    He then released the attack, putting all of his efforts into sending it out at the maximum speed that he could muster.


    ZAP!


    Liam''s indifferent face cracked as he watched the lightning snake he threw oute alive. It hit the dead corpse of the lizard and the impact was enough to mark a deep gash in the dead body.


    "YES!" Liam pounded his fist onto a nearby tree in excitement. He had a hunch that this might be the best form and it really worked!


    [Ding. You have learned Lightning Snake Skill]


    [Lightning Snake: Just like a serpent coils around its prey and paralyzes them, your attack also has a chance of paralysis; Deals damage equal to 50% of magic damage. Consumes 100 mana]


    "Perfect. This is too perfect. Now I need more lizards."


    Liam had been a bit nervous about this part of the dungeon as he hadn''t fully prepared and his lightning attacks weren''t anything to boast about.


    But now, he felt much more relieved.


    He now got the skill, something better than he expected and all that was left was to clear the nest of lizards.


    Liam did not forget to pick up the loot which was another golden insignia and a couple of gold coins.


    Since this elite was also technically higher than his level, he didn''t resurrect it and once again left the corpse behind.


    He then sprinted all over the forest purposefully avoiding the right path and grabbed each and every single herb that he could find.


    In between, he was assaulted by a couple more of the same lizards with the unmistakable silver glow.


    But Liam grinned at their sight as if he was spotting some big treasure chests and quickly sent them off one by one using his [Lightning Snakes].


    The paralysis effect got activated more than once and it made the fight a lot easier.


    A few seconds of immobility even made an elite helpless and Liam used these opportunities to deal as much damage as possible and finished the fights.


    To make his life easier, the entire forest was crawling with these invisible lizards.


    This was one of the main reasons why this dungeon was termed as a terror as a poisonous lizard could zoom towards you out of nowhere and attack you without any warning.


    But right now, this was giving Liam every single kill he required. Instead of heading to the nest, he circled the forest several times and kept hunting them one at a time.


    He didn''t have to clear all the lizards to go to the next stage of the dungeon but only a fool would miss this wonderful opportunity.


    Five more hours passed by just like that and Liam was only one elite away from obtaining his 20 first kills.


    "Hmmm¡­ Only one more to go." Liam plucked thest of the herbs from the bed beside him and then casually strolled over to the main nest of the lizards.


    The nest had five lizards in total and all along these were the only ones he had to kill in order to trespass and cross this territory.


    But he had cleared the whole forest, thoroughlybing every inch of it.


    Liam chuckled as the lizards in front of him hissed and crawled towards him at an insane speed.


    He was already prepared as he had only approached them while already casting his newest skill.


    [Lightning Snake]


    The one closest to him yelped and froze on the spot, unable to bear the lightning currents that crackled from the attack.


    Liam quickly shed at the second one as he drained his mana and moved, keeping pace with the agile green lizards.


    His body swung around, only narrowly missing the lizards each time. Fighting with four at the same time was still pushing it a bit, so he tried to conserve his mana as much as possible.


    "I need to slow them down first." Liam ignored his new skill and first spammed the basic lightning bolt skill with the aid of the system.


    [Lightning Bolt]


    [Lightning Bolt]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    This brought down his casting time and he was able to considerably slow down the four monsters who were moving as if they were chalked full of red bull.


    Liam guzzled another bottle of mana potion and spammed the same skill a few more times when eventually the lizards slowed down to a reasonable pace.


    He then used [LightningSnakes] andplimented the skill with his swordy to y the four beasts one after another.


    Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.


    The four elites finally dropped dead and a series of notifications rang out loudly.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Venomous Chameleon. You have gained 30000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Venomous Chameleon. You have gained 15000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Venomous Chameleon. You have gained 20000 experience points]


    "Fuck¡­" Liam flopped down, resting his head on one of the corpses.


    Tired! He was simply too tired!


    While the rewards, speed, and efficiency were insane, it was equally draining and exhausting. He even contemted logging out and taking a nap in his bed.


    But before he could take another breath, another unexpected notification popped up.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Rib Tongue. You have gained 5000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Demonic Rib Tongue. You have gained 4000 experience points]


    Liam''s exhaustion and the haze that had settled in his mind instantly disappeared like the morning fog. He jolted up and stood alertly.


    There was someone else here!

 Chapter 117 - Trial Of Valor

    <h4>Chapter 117 - Trial Of Valor</h4>


    Liam gripped the green spiked sword in his hands that he had obtained as a drop from one of the lizards. His sharp gaze flickered and he carefully observed everything in front of him.


    It was impossible for his attacks to have dealt lethal damage to the frogs even with the rare chance that bleeding effects or burn effects had activated.


    There was definitely someone else here besides him!


    This was a high-level zone and yers hadn''t yet explored this part of the continent.


    And even if they did, how could anyone enter a dungeon in the same instance when it was already upied?


    Wasn''t that impossible?


    The more he thought about this, the more restless he became as anyone who was capable of doing this was not an ordinary person.


    Just as Liam was running a million scenarios in his head, a familiar voice suddenly sounded next to him, startling himpletely.


    "Ah. No need to be so tensed,d. It''s just me."


    Liam spun around to see the old man from the ck market standing near him.


    At the same time, a notification also popped out.


    [Ding. Conquer your fate Questpleted]


    What the fuck? This guy was already here? He had never expected to see him so soon.


    In fact, he thought that he could only submit the quest after two weeks when the ck market reconvened once again.


    But here he was! Standing right in front of him! And the quest was alsoplete?


    Liam closed his mouth shut and quickly recovered from his shock.


    "Greetings, Senior. Just like you had instructed, I worked hard and tested my determination against strong opponents." He cupped his hands and bowed.


    "Yes. You have done well. You have done very well! You have in fact exceeded my expectations! Aha ha ha ha."


    A strange light shed in the old man''s dim eyes and he looked like he was delirious from drinking a lot of beer.


    "After so many years, I finally managed to find someone worthy!"


    "Lad, thanks to you, I think I will be able to finally rest in peace. The job that was given to me, I am now convinced that you have the ability to fulfill it!"


    [Ding. New quest avable - Tenth Overlord''s Legacy]


    [Visit the Overlord''s tomb and pass the trial to prove that you are worthy of his legacy]


    [Reward: Overlord''s Legacy and Overlord''s Sword]


    [Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/ N]


    "Yes, I will try my best, senior. I will not let you down." Liam clenched his fists, only barely keeping his excitement down.


    This was it! This was what he had been waiting for and aiming for!


    The Overlord''s legacy was probably the hidden quest which he wasn''t really interested in. His one and only reason for doing this quest was the second reward, the sword.


    "Mmm. I have faith in you,d. My master entrusted me with this responsibility and I have failed so far. I hope that at least you can seed."


    The old man flicked his hand and a ball of energy materialized right next to them, simr to a dungeon entrance portal.


    "Here, you can use this portal to reach the tomb. I will await the good news."


    Liam nodded and bowed once again before touching the portal.


    The space around him immediately distorted and when things cleared up, he seemed to be standing in an abandoned underground building.


    Liam looked around in awe. He opened his map and everything was nked out. He had no idea where he was.


    But he knew that he had done everything correctly so far. He was here and he had obtained the final segment of the quest.


    Now the only thing in front of him was thisst hurdle. He had to prove that he was worthy of the legacy and the sword.


    "How does this work?" Liam started walking around when a bright sh appeared out of nowhere and along with it several towering figures.


    All of a sudden he waspletely surrounded!


    Tall, huge, and fierce trolls encircled him, locking him in the center!


    And there were about a thousand of them? Or more?


    "Fuck!" Liam cursed as he saw the army of monsters rushing towards him, with their bulky bodies and muscr limbs.


    Was this the trial? What the hell was he supposed to do now?


    Since an unknown person without any skill or level managed to unlock this quest and evenplete the quest, he didn''t think that the difficulty level would be anything too great.


    But now that he was taking the test himself¡­ it stood like an insurmountable mountain in his path.


    Back at the Decabria''s abode dungeon¡­


    There was another mass of swirling energy right next to the portal that Liam had used. On this, all the events urring inside the tomb were clearly being disyed.


    However, there wasn''t just one person watching these events. There were now two old men both looking at Liam''s silhouette on the other side with utmost focus and interest.


    "Eh? Isn''t this trial a bit too hard for his level?" The old man from the cksmith association gaped in surprise.


    "Hmmm. I don''t think so. The trial will always be ording to the capability of the person undergoing the trial." The ck market elder who had given Liam this quest nodded solemnly.


    "Heh? So his capability is this high? It looks like I didn''t overestimate his abilities."


    "Why are you even here?" The ck market elder scoffed.


    "I have already warned him, you old goat. Don''t even think about tricking this child." The cksmith association elder immediately retorted back.


    "What the hell are you talking about? I am offering him strength and power. How is that a trick?"


    "Hmph. You dirty liar! You know what I am talking about. You know what is best for him, and yet


    ¡­"


    The old man raised his hand and stopped the elder from the cksmith association from speaking anymore.


    "I am not forcing anyone to do anything. It will be his choice. Let''s just wait and see what happens."


    "Che! So stubborn! Show the kid some mercy. Don''t force someone else''s fate onto him. It will not end up well."


    "Hmmm. We will see."


    The two of them did not talk anymore and silently stood next to each other, watching the person inside the tomb.

 Chapter 118 - 1 Vs 1000

    <h4>Chapter 118 - 1 Vs 1000</h4>


    [High mountain troll]


    Level 31


    [High mountain troll]


    Level 32


    [High mountain troll]


    Level 29


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam stared at the herd of trolls that were rushing towards him without any restraint. He instantly activated the first skill that could give him some time to think of something.


    [Stealth]


    Nothing happened.


    [Stealth]


    [Stealth]


    He repeatedly tried to activate the skill but there was no effect.


    "Nope. I guess that''s not an option."


    Liam did not have time to wonder why the skill was suddenly not working. It looked like he couldn''t run or hide from these trolls and that was that.


    Now, what to do?


    Magic spells? There was no time.


    Everything was happening too fast and he was not able to think clearly or rather he simply did not have the time.


    The endless horde of trolls were rampaging, all running towards him as if he had some unsettled enmity with them for several generations.


    In a haste, he returned to the thing that he was most used to. His hand reached out to unsheath the sword that hung on his waist.


    What else could he do? He was simply going to swing his sword and do the best that he could. If he was going to die, he was going to go down fighting!


    However¡­


    As Liam reached for his sword, that was also missing!


    Huh? His lips curled upwards in madness as he was now truly out of options.


    "Inventory?"


    And just as he suspected¡­ that as well did not open up.


    "So I can''t use health potions or mana potions? And no weapons?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! Perfect!"


    "Alright. Bring it on. I knew that this was going to be difficult. I have not given up just yet. My bare fist is enough to take you all down!"


    Liam shouted at the top of his lungs, strengthening his resolve.


    These trolls were just intimidating because of their numbers. Their individual level wasparable to his and their talent was definitely worse than his.


    He refused to be shaken by these weird handicaps and lose a battle that was not beyond him.


    As a hand swung at him from both the right and the left side, he sucked in a big breath of air and twisted his body.


    He narrowly missed both the hits and swung his arm upwards, tond a punch to the troll''s throat.


    He then instantly moved again and met two more attacks that wereing at him from the back. The trolls didn''t seem to have any weapons also.


    Was it to make the fight fairer? Liamughed at that thought.


    He did not have a single second of respite as he continued to exchange blows and evade, but the number he was up against was simply too many.


    Within a fraction of a second, he had already been hit several times, taking huge blows to different parts of his body.


    Liam''s entire body shuddered and vibrated. He was being pummeled from head to toe. His body was red and bruised, his limbs and muscles aching terribly.


    Bang!


    The next attack that came for him directlynded on his head, sending him flying to the ground.


    Blood dripped from his mouth and a couple of his teeth fell out, ttering on the ground.


    Cough. Cough. Liam could barely get up, but he could see the trolls once again surrounding him. How am I supposed to fight like this?


    His eyes darkened and his head spun. He felt a troll''s sturdy footnd right in the middle of his spinal cord.


    Liam wheezed unable to breathe. He bit his tongue, trying to withstand the pain and remain conscious. At least as long as he was, the fight wasn''t over.


    He could somehow¡­


    CRACK!


    Another footnded on his back and if his bones were not broken before, they were surely broken now.


    In this almost unconscious state, the inhumane thrashing he was receiving coincidentally brought out a distant memory.


    Getting beaten up was nothing new to him.


    This was not the first time he had suffered something like this¡­ He had lost back then, was he also going to lose now? Was this much pain enough to hold him back?


    Liam shed his eyes open and flipped on his side, narrowly avoiding the troll that was about to kick him on the same spot again.


    He ignored the torturous pain that was guing his body and used his foot to sweep the floor, taking down with him three of the four trolls that surrounded him.


    And thest one as fell staggered and fell because of the other three losing their bnce and scrambling.


    The other trolls surrounding them quickly rushed forward but Liam took this second to catch and pull back his sanity that was slowly slipping away.


    "Ahhhhhhhh!" He shouted at the top of his lungs and just like how the trolls had kicked him, he aimed for the one on his right andnded on it, kicking it with his shin right at its throat.


    The troll''s eyes bulged out in pain as it was not able to bear the attack, directly aimed at its most vulnerable non-muscr part.


    Liam used this chance and swung his fist repeatedly, finishing off the troll andpletely choking it, and bashing it to death.


    Blood sttered everywhere and Liam felt a wave of energy sweep past his body as the troll fell down lifeless.


    "I need to focus." He quickly stood up and moved to evade the other trolls swinging their thick muscr fists at him.


    The other trolls were already back on their feet and they once again started trying to punch him and thrash him. Their cries of anger and rage filled the air around.


    However, for some reason, it was now more difficult for them tond a hit on him. His body twisted and turned like it was made of rubber.


    Liam''s head was now more clear. He no longer thought about anything. Past, present, or future, they were all not his problem.


    Right now, the only thing that mattered were these trolls!

 Chapter 119 - To Truly Change

    <h4>Chapter 119 - To Truly Change</h4>


    Liam gazed at the tall bulky creatures surrounding him. He finally noticed something that he did not see until now.


    The trolls'' bodies were bulky and huge.


    It was exactly because of this that they posed a huge threat to him, but at the same time, because of this same thing, they were only able to attack him five at a time.


    Unless he moved from the dead center of the circle he was standing in, the others couldn''t touch him.


    Fighting against thousands of trolls was impossible but fighting against just five at a time?


    Liam smirked. The blood dripping from his head made him look like a lunatic.


    He was finally able to breathe amidst the fists raining down on him, each possessing thunderous strength.


    Now that he had ovee the initial shock and fear of the enemy in front of him, his body began to move more freely.


    Hit. Hit. Dodge. Hit. Hit.


    Dodge. Dodge. Hit. Hit. Dodge.


    Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Hit.


    Slowly, slowly, he was beginning to evade more attacks and receiving only very few, and before long, he was also able to send one or more attacks back.


    The trolls continued attacking him relentlessly, but Liam was beginning to force his own pace onto the fight.


    Their attacks might be random, but he was able to respond back with a pattern which in turn forced them to follow the pattern.


    The trolls had strong explosive power and their speed when punching was also scary but Liam''s mind waspletely focused.


    His stats were above theirs and when he was not overwhelmed by their numbers, he was able to sense their attack and react ordingly.


    Their movements, direction, their next step, he could clearly anticipate and evade.


    He did not try to block them like an iron wall but instead, he made his body limber and fluid. Every single attack only narrowly missed but it was a miss nevertheless.


    And as seconds trickled by, this became even better.


    Liam spun, his fists were more powerful than the trolls. He answered their thunderous attacks back with his own quaking punches.


    He used every bit of strength, spirit, willpower, determination, and anything else he had and fought back.


    His hands ached, his body was tired and his brain was close to exhaustion, but he made the trollspletely submit to his flow.


    Soon one by one their numbers began to reduce as more fell down lifeless. Not just that, but each death gave him a boost of something.


    Mana? Stamina?


    Liam had no idea what exactly he was gaining but he was getting stronger! This drove his fervor even more and he began attacking back with more ferocity.


    He was nowpletely in control of the so-called trial and the number of the trolls started dwindling more and more.


    His body was riddled with injuries, his mana had bottomed out, his stamina had bottomed out, but he no longer concerned himself with any of that and continued fighting.


    He was going to fight it out until he dropped dead!


    He wanted to truly change. He wanted to be stronger not just because he had knowledge about some things, but he wanted to truly be stronger.


    He swung his fists and every time he did, he vented out all his frustration and regret of not having seeded in his previous life.


    He had struggled and struggled so much. He had tried, again and again, grasping whatever he could, but to no avail.


    In the end, he had still failed. He had only repeatedly failed to change himself and his fate.


    Yes, he received this miraculous second chance but his failure that first time around would always linger inside him.


    Until the very end, he was never able to use his own strength to ovee anything.


    That was still a heavyweight that pressed him down, forcing him to carry the guilt and shame, holding him back.


    Whatever he had achieved until now in this new life was all charity. This rebirth was a pity gift that he had received from the heavens.


    He was not able to protect his sister, he was not able to protect his friend, and even when others sacrificed themselves to let him escape, he had still fallen down.


    And these were things that he would never be able to remove from his heart.


    Behind his calm andposed facade, there was only a wild animal that was prepared to devour everything.


    Liam grunted, grasping the throat of a troll and smashing it on the cold hard ground of the abandoned building.


    He never wanted to fail again. It was a horrible feeling.


    He was going to do whatever it was needed to change himself from the inside out.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    On the other side¡­


    The two elders had grave expressions on their faces.


    "This child, I won''t allow you to corrupt his fate." The elder from the cksmith association clenched his fist and muttered.


    "If I have to fight you, then may it be so."


    The other person did not reply but there was a subtle understanding in his silence.


    The two of them silently continued watching Liam tearing apart the trolls one by one. This in fact no longer looked like a trial.


    Instead, it was a horror show of one demon massacring everything around him, punching the life out of them with his own fists and bleeding knuckles.


    Huff. Huff. Huff.


    Liam wiped his mouth as blood trickled out of the corner of his lips. He stood in the midst of a mountain of dead trolls.


    It had taken him several hours or was it days? He had no idea, but he was finally done. He had bashed and crushed every single one of his opponents.


    "ANYONE ELSE WANT TO COME AT ME?" He gasped for breath and yelled. His eyes looked like those of a bloodthirsty predator, scanning the big hall for any signs of movement.


    However, the next instant, he wheezed and copsed on the cold hard ground, in the middle of piles of corpses.

 Chapter 120 - Battle Smith

    <h4>Chapter 120 - Battle Smith</h4>


    After almost an hourter, when Liam regained his consciousness, the first thing that he heard was the questpletion notification.


    [Ding. Congrattions. Quest ispleted]


    [Ding. You are now able to select the hidden ss BATTLE SMITH]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept? Y/ N]


    Liam stared dazedly at the string of words for a couple of minutes.


    He was still recovering from what had just happened and was lost somewhere in the past and the more recent past.


    He couldn''t immediatelye back to the present. He had even almost forgotten where he was and what he was doing.


    But the numerous dead trolls surrounding him were more than enough to jog his memories.


    On the other side, the two elders'' eyes were glued onto him, seeing what he was going to decide.


    Was he going to choose the ss or not?


    They didn''t realize it but they were even holding their breath, waiting patiently for his response.


    And Liam was not making it easy for them.


    He remained still and silent for a long time before breaking into a smile. He then slowly raised his hand and waved. "I decline."


    "Battle smith¡­"


    "Maybe in myst lifetime, this would have been enough, but this time¡­"


    "No this is not enough."


    Seeing Liam''s resolute eyes, the ck market elder''s face instantly changed and his expression darkened. However, the other elder had a big smile stered on his face.


    "Ho. Ho. Ho. Now that''s what I am talking about! This boy has some brains after all!"


    The ck market elder scoffed.


    "Hmph. It is a great privilege to inherit my master''s legacy." He paused and looked at Liam with his scrutinizing him from top to bottom.


    This person had dared to decline his master''s legacy.


    The old man remained silent for a few seconds and after that, he finally nodded. "I see now. Perhaps he was truly not meant to inherit my master''s legacy."


    "But¡­" He sighed and continued. "He is still the best hope for resurrecting my master''s legacy."


    After Liam declined the hidden ss advancement, he got the other subsequent notifications.


    [Ding. Quest ispleted]


    [Ding. You have obtained 1000000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. You have obtained the rare item Overlord''s Sword]


    Along with this, a rusty cracked long sword also fell onto hisp.


    Huh? Liam was shocked for a second.


    He blinked and looked at the sword in disbelief. This was it! This was what he had struggled so much for!


    This was now going to eat away a lot of his resources, and a lot of his time, but this was also going to make him unbelievably strong.


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air before picking up the sword and looking at it closely.


    [ck Dragon] (Soul Weapon, One-handed sword)


    [This is a sword made from forging the souls of a thousand dragons; It is currently broken and sealed]


    Current Grade: Umon


    Current Atrributes:


    Stamina: +5


    Strength: +5


    Defense: +5


    Vitality: +5


    Agility: +5


    Intellect: +5


    [Attacks have a 10% chance to ignore the defense of the opponent]


    [1st Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade weapons]


    [2nd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade herbs]


    [3rd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher ores]


    [4th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher gems]


    [5th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand elemental essences]


    [6th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand bloodlines]


    [7th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand souls]


    [8th Seal: N/A]


    [9th Seal: N/A]


    When Liam had first received this miraculous second chance, he decided that he needed to obtain three main things no matter what the cost.


    The first was his foundation, the second was a ss suitable for him and the third was this weapon!


    He was yet to tackle the first one, and the second one was also rather iplete but now he finally managed to obtain a foothold with his third goal!


    A soul weapon''s strength and power were extraordinary.


    Even if he did not manage to bring the sword back to its full glory before the apocalypse ensued, it would still be enough to put him above everyone else.


    More importantly, he could take it out with him. It would forever be a part of him.


    After the apocalypse began, when others would be scrambling with kitchen knives and wooden sticks, he would already possess a godly weapon, that was capable of cutting down anything and everything that stood in his path.


    This was why he had wanted to obtain it at all costs! With this, he knew that he had the strength to contend with even the most powerful experts!


    While Liam was staring at the sword on hisp like a child with his favorite toy, the elder materialized next to him in the tomb.


    It looked like he had used the portal as well.


    "I know that you have decided not to follow my master''s path but I have one more request from you if you are still interested."


    Liam looked up at the elder, once again shocked.


    He thought that his reputation with the elder would havepletely dropped by now as he had basically scammed him to just get the item without epting the hidden ss.


    But he had one more quest for him? This was ridiculous!


    He quickly cleared his throat and went back to the same ttering tone. "I would be honored, senior."


    [Ding. New Quest: A disciple''s request]


    [Ding. Forge andplete the Overlord''s sword and return it back to the elder in its peak glory]


    [Ding. Reward: The elder''s gratitude and the secret behind the Overlord''s demise]


    "Hmmm?" Liam gazed at the quest numerous times. He wants me to return the sword? That too afterpleting it and unsealing it?


    Dream on!

 Chapter 121 - Double Edged Sword

    <h4>Chapter 121 - Double Edged Sword</h4>


    No matter how much Liam tried to justify doing this, the reward was simply just not worth the time and effort he was going to spend.


    He was of course going topletely forge the Overlord''s sword but there was no way he was returning it just to learn some archaic secret.


    Liam didn''t underestimate the significance of the quest.


    He knew very well that perhaps the secret was something earthshattering or perhaps might even be something bigger such as linked to what was going on with this game and the apocalypse.


    But these sorts of things were simply beyond his current ns.


    He needed strength and power right now. His only concern was survival, survival, and survival. The rest can wait tillter.


    Though he was thinking about this a lot in his mind, Liam''s response was rather spontaneous.


    For the old man''s quest, he simply nodded and muttered. "I ept."


    Just because he epted the quest, it didn''t mean that he had toplete it. He had no intention of doing so.


    The elder''s face immediately rxed after hearing Liam''s words and he smiled kindly. "Ah. Thank you. Thank you."


    "If you can somehow aplish this, this old man will forever be in your debt." At this point, he was even fighting back tears threatening to fall out of his eyes.


    Liam rolled his eyes. Wasn''t this a bit too much overreaction?


    He patiently watched the old man without any remorse and seeing him so sentimental, another idea popped up in his mind.


    "Ummm¡­ senior, I do have one humble request. This¡­" Liam acted as if he was hesitating.


    "Anything you want! Tell me!" The elder eximed with gusto.


    "Ummm¡­ I will try my best, senior. I really will but I am worried that this might be beyond my abilities and I might fail¡­ If possible, could I bother the senior for helping me?"


    "Could you please give me some pointers on how to bring this great treasure back to its former glory?"


    "Oh! So this is what you wanted to ask!" The old man hummed. Liam''s face and words were so sincere that the other party was genuinely touched.


    He remained silent for a while and pondered about something deeply.


    After a couple of seconds, when Liam began to doubt if this was going to yield anything at all, the old man finally waved his hand and a couple of notifications popped up in front of Liam.


    [Ding. You have obtained a new forging technique]


    [Ding. You have learned the iplete recipe for Soul forging]


    "Here. This iplete recipe is also something that was left behind by my master. This should help you a little bit in your quest."


    "Ah! Thank you so much, senior." Liam hurriedly tried to ess and examine the new technique.


    [Soul Forging: N/A (Skill Locked)]


    ''Huh? I can''t even read what it is?''


    Liam once again tried to get more information from the old man. This seemed to be a good chance to get everything out of him.


    "Senior¡­ it looks like Ick the ability to¡­"


    "Lad, let me stop you right there. Your soul strength and level are not yet proficient enough to ess the technique."


    "So forget about it for now and focus on unlocking the seals on the sword."


    "But Senior¡­" Liam did not give up. He tried to persuade the old man. "Umm¡­ is it possible for senior to teach me some more things about forging?"


    "I am afraid my skills are a bit¡­"


    Unfortunately, the other party did not budge at all. "I already gave you everything that you need. I have nothing more to offer you."


    "And even if I did, it would only hamper your future growth. Trust my words and have more faith in your own abilities."


    The old man smiled bitterly with an expression that said ''I know what you are doing''. He might as well have pulled out his pant pockets to show him that they were empty.


    Liam''s lips twitched. Without any other option, he gave up.


    "Thank you for all your guidance, senior. I will put my blood and soul into this quest. I will make sure that the sword is returned back to its full glory." He earnestly replied.


    He really wasn''t lying about this part.


    The old man chuckled and gave Liam a stern look.


    "Lad, even though you have refused to follow my master''s path, your unyielding spirit has greatly impressed me and I am trusting you with my Master''s sword."


    "This recipe that I gave you is also something that my Master left behind."


    "These are my Master''s two most prized possessions and they are capable of lending unimaginable strength and power to you."


    "But at the same time, they also have the ability to bring down heaven''s envy and heaven''s wrath."


    "The things that you possess right now are something that countless races and kingdoms covet."


    "They are both a blessing and a curse. So tread cautiously."


    "I am cing all of my hope and faith in you. Farewell. This old man will look forward to your return and positive news."


    He patted Liam and then waved his hand to create another portal.


    "This should take you back to the dungeon."


    His words weighed heavily on Liam''s mind, not because of any ethical dilemma or worry about the possible threats, but because he was trying his best to think if this would unlock more quests.


    He did not linger and quickly bowed and paid respect to the old man onest time, before entering the portal.


    The old man was very genuine with his words and his concern, but Liam knew that this was probably thest time he was going to meet with him.


    The sword was a treasure. Why would he return it? He didn''t in the least feel bad about lying to him straight to his face.


    He didn''t care what he had to do.. He would beg, borrow and steal if it meant that he was going to get stronger and survive.

 Chapter 122 - Everything Is Fate

    <h4>Chapter 122 - Everything Is Fate</h4>


    When Liam stepped out of the portal, he found himself in a forest again.


    He was expecting to return to the dungeon at the location where hest stopped but surprisingly he was at the entrance of the dungeon.


    "I guess I don''t have to go inside this again?" He turned to leave when he noticed that there was also someone else waiting for him there.


    "Fuck." Liam did a double-take, surprised by this guy again. His stalker was back.


    ''Now what does he want from me?''


    There was no doubt that the soul sword was an insanely powerful weapon but ever since he epted that quest he had been haunted by these two old men.


    At this rate, Liam was not sure if he would be once again visited by these guys when hepletely reforged the sword.


    Would it then be stolen from him forcibly?


    Perhaps he needed to notplete it and always leave it just a step shy ofpletion?


    Several thoughts circled in his brain and Liam sighed, greeting this guy. This person was the cksmith association elder.


    "Eh? I see you didn''t ept the heritage!" The old man eximed, his words brimming with joy. "That''s good. That''s good."


    "Aha ha ha ha! That goat''s face must be unsightly right about now. He must have tried to pressure you, right? It''s good that you didn''t still ept it."


    Liam silently listened as he continued ranting on in happiness for a couple of minutes. Did these two elders hate each other or something? What the hell is happening here?


    "May I know why you rejected the heritage?"


    Liam understood that he was talking about the hidden ss, so he tactfully replied. "I think I am not fated to learn it, senior."


    "Fated huh? Ba ha ha ha! Good. Good." The old man''s eyes fell on the sword that was hanging around Liam''s waist in a tattered sheath.


    And as he did, he suddenly stoppedughing. This time he was genuinely shocked. "That guy actually gave you the sword even though you rejected him?!"


    "Quick. Quick. Let me take a look at the sword."


    Liam silently nodded and gave him the weapon.


    The weapon had a ''bound to yer'' tag on it, so it was probably impossible to be stolen or dropped. So he handed it to him.


    Besides, the other person was exponentially stronger than him, so even if he wanted to refuse, could he really refuse?


    He watched the old man eyeing the sword up and down in awe.


    This was the third time he was meeting with this guy and all three times, they had


    Thest time around he was running around like a dog trying to catch the attention of any and every NPC that he could, but now they wereing behind him on their own!


    This was how the game created chaos. It made the strong stronger and the weak weaker.


    "Kid, do you know what this sword is made of?" The old man asked, still holding it in his hand, unwilling to let go.


    "ck dragon souls?" Liam muttered. He had already read the description of the weapon.


    "Hmmm. That''s right. ck dragon souls, but do you know what are they also called as?" He asked again with a twinkle in his eyes.


    Liam shook his head.


    "Heh. They are also known asher dragons."


    Hmm? Liam stared questioningly at the old man. He was more and more piqued by him and wondered where he was going with this.


    "Do you see now,d? Everything is as it should be."


    "I am failing to grasp the meaning behind your words, senior. Please exin it to me."


    "What more should I exin? Didn''t you say it yourself? You are not fated to get that legacy. You are fated to follow a different path."


    "But this sword was all along destined to be yours."


    Liam shook his head apologetically. He was still confused.


    "Heh? Still acting like you don''t know anything? Don''t think that I can''t see through you, kid. Your body has the unmistakeable stink of the deviousher energy."


    "You possess the same magic as theseher dragons do. Only you can bring this weapon back to its full glory without suffering any consequences."


    He was talking about this! Liam knitted his brows together, finally understanding what the hell this conversation was about.


    Perhaps another hidden ss quest awaited him?


    "Hmm? You don''t look convinced? You don''t believe me, huh?"


    "No, senior. I trust your words. I will do my best to nurture this weapon." Liam quickly responded.


    "It''s alright, kid. Fate magic is very mysterious. Not everyone has an aptitude for it. In fact, those without the ability to understand it will never understand it at all."


    "Yes, senior. Perhaps I don''t understand it, but I will give it my all regardless." Liam answered back vaguely. He wanted to bait the old man into spilling out more clues.


    But¡­


    "Ha Ha Ha. Alright. I will let you go now."


    "Lad, you have wisdom beyond your age. I like you. I really like you. Visit the elven settlement as soon as you can. Or rather you have to. You have no other choice."


    "You will hit a wall and when that timees, you can only find the answer there. Maybe then you will be finally ready to talk to me."


    The old man did not wait for Liam to answer him and disappeared once again, leaving behind the very perplexed guy.


    Liam stared nkly for a while, unable to make heads or tails out of his words, after which he shook his head as if he was physically tossing out everything that confused him.


    "Alright. No need to think too much. I should first focus on what I can and what I am able to."


    He steadied his thoughts and then activated stealth before walking back to the stream where his two pets were waiting for him.


    He once again took the safe path, noting into contact with any of the level 50 creatures.


    And when he finally arrived at the ce and spotted the two, Liam''s eyebrows shot up in surprise!

 Chapter 123 - Back To The City

    <h4>Chapter 123 - Back To The City</h4>


    Liam had been getting several notifications every now and then for the past several hours, receiving a small percentage of experience points from his two pets.


    But he didn''t pay attention to that and take notice of just how much they had farmed.


    And now that he did¡­ the sight in front of him was truly unbelievable!


    The two were busy fighting with a couple of slimes and beside them, there were several big piles of loot stacked up on the shore.


    They were fighting so diligently that they hadn''t even noticed him and it looked like they had been doing that and clearing these slimes one after the other ever since he had left them both here.


    "You guys¡­" Liam was speechless.


    He was very much touched by their loyalty and their dedication to what he had only casually mentioned.


    He raised his hand and cast a couple of fire balls, finishing off both the slimes instantly. The two pets looked surprised and turned around to see Liam.


    They immediately came running over to him, the bird chirping tiredly and the fox still energetically pouncing on him.


    Liam smiled and fell back on the fresh grass, rxing a little. He was also extremely fatigued.


    The previous battle was the most difficult battle in both his livesbined and it had taken a lot out of him.


    But now, everything was done and he was right on track to achieving his goal!


    He let out a long sigh and patiently paid attention to the two pets, patting them and feeding them.


    Another slime spawned near them and the two immediately jumped into action, but Liam quickly dealt with it before they could.


    "You both rest for a bit." He rubbed their heads and stood up, looking at the piles of misceneous things heaped up around them.


    "Good job. You both have worked a lot! Thank you for your help!"


    Since they had painstakingly arranged all the loot, he praised them some more and then began to look at everything, sorting out all the items.


    Most of it was useless and lower-level items. These were simply auction house material, that could at most him a few gold coins.


    But among these, there were 4 recipe scrolls and two skill books.


    And there were even a couple of elemental essence crystals!


    "Not bad. Your luck is quite good." Praising the two again, Liam chuckled, putting everything into his inventory.


    It was time to leave this ce and then make some gold.


    "Let''s go." With the cracked rusted sword still hanging on his waist, Liam leaped onto the wind ripper''s back, and then the three of them flew back to Yleka city.


    The bird had leveled up twice again so it was slightly faster than before and they ended up reaching the city sooner.


    "Land in a quiet ce," Liam muttered.


    There were yers everywhere swarming around the trade capital of the Kingdom. So it was difficult to find apletely isted ce.


    The big wind ripper pped its wings, circling the forest for a few seconds, and then dove into the canopy of leaves,ing to a halt in a less crowded spot right outside the city.


    "Good boy. You carried us both even though you were tired. Thank you." Liam hopped down and rubbed the bird''s metallic wings.


    He also gave it some stamina recovery berries.


    "Oh, that reminds me. I have some other stuff for both of you to eat." Liam opened his inventory and took out five skill books.


    He had added some of his own loot, along with what the two had farmed together. He gave three books to the fox and two to the wind ripper.


    Only these were suitable for the two of them.


    [Fire Shield: Shroud the body in a nket of mes for 15 seconds. All damages are reduced by 50%. High probability to block a critical attack. Costs 40% of base mana. Cool down period 2 minutes]


    [Fire Ball: Gather a ball of fire andunch it at the enemy. Deals damage equal to 100% of magic attack power. Costs 5% base mana. Cool down period 2 seconds]


    [Fire Circle: Surround the self with a circle of fire. Attack power and defense increased by 10%. Spellcasting time is halved. Costs 20% base mana. Cool down period 2 minutes]


    [Crow''s Call: The call of a crow is powerful. It increases all allies'' speed by 10% and decreases the opponent''s movement by 10%. This effectsts for 1 minute and is active within a 50 meter radius. Cool down period 30 minutes]


    [Cyclone: Create a strong whirlwind and deal damage to opponents. The effectsts for 10 seconds and deals 30% physical damage to everyone within 15 meter radius. Cool down period 10 minutes]


    Liam handed over the first three skill books to the fox and then the next two to the bird.


    The pets were also overjoyed to receive gifts from him and quickly learned the few skills. The two then started trying out the skills eagerly.


    The couple of beginner animals that were roaming around the city, like boars and rabbits got massacred and roasted.


    Since they were hungry, they also ended up eating their kills.


    Liam leisurely sat on the side and watched the duo with a smile on his face.


    He also simultaneously arranged some thoughts in his mind and made ns for the next couple of days.


    Getting the sword was only the first step. There was still a long way to go and he needed a lot of gold and other resources.


    Liam gazed at the two pets absentmindedly for a while, beforeing to a decision.


    "That item should be the best choice."


    He then patted his back and stood up to walk over to the wind ripper.


    "I will be in the city for at least the next few hours. So rest well and be safe. There will be yers around, so be careful.." The bird nodded and then flew away.

 Chapter 124 - VIP Customer

    <h4>Chapter 124 - VIP Customer</h4>


    Liam was in a good mood, so he hummed and casually strolled on the streets of the city. He didn''t know why but it felt like a knot in his heart hade undone.


    Kyuuu


    The fox clung tightly to him and also looked around everywhere energetically.


    It was difficult to bring in the big wind ripper bird inside the crowded city without attracting a lot of attention but the fox did not stand out.


    It silently jumped back and forth between his two shoulders, checking out the sights on both sides.


    "Alright. Time to do some work."


    Before doing anything else, Liam first walked over to the Alchemy Association.


    He already had a set of equipment on his person but the association training rooms had better grade items, so he decided to just rent one for a couple of hours.


    The alchemy association building was a spread out rectangr building with numerous huge courtyard spaces, filled with many different herbs.


    These were new experimental herbs being bred to show multiple medicinal properties at the same time by the Masters and Trainees at the association.


    Potions concocted using them typically had high chances of bing several fold potent but at the same time, they also had chances of bing useless, not even as effective as the ones concocted using normal herbs.


    Some of these herbs also did not exist naturally and could only be obtained if one had a favorable reputation with the association.


    Liam nced over these herbs and walked past them to the counter. He did not n on messing with these risky things right now.


    They were definitely something that could be used when concocting rare potions but for what he was going to do this was probably not required at the moment.


    He first needed to start with more basic preparations.


    Liam did not linger in the crowd of lifestyle yers from various guilds and directly went to the counter that was almostpletely deserted.


    This was the space for booking superior grade training rooms and it cost 2 gold coins per hour. "I need a training room for 2 hours." Liam casually muttered.


    He had only spoken a few words but the space around him immediately quieted down with everyone''s eyes firmly fixed on his silhouette.


    This was a VIP customer!


    Most of the yers standing around had never seen so much gold.


    Alchemy, forging, and inscription were the three most expensive upations in the game.


    Even for their own use, they were being funded by their guilds for herbs, recipe scrolls, and training room slots.


    Otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to afford to level this expensive skill on their own at least in the beginning stages of the game.


    But this yer whom they had never seen here before, had dared to directly book a superior training room.


    "Hey which guild are you from?" Someone asked.


    "Oh! He definitely must be from one of the top guilds. I heard that they were not freely recruiting lifestyle gamers like the other guilds."


    "Ya. I also heard that. One of my friends got rejected even though he applied on his own."


    "He He. Are you both acting cute? Was it a friend or did you get rejected?"


    All the yers began to casually chat and discuss, making the environment very friendly, but still, they hadn''t gotten a single reply from the person whom they were most interested in.


    "Hey buddy, aren''t we talking to you? Do you not hear us?" One of the yers walked forward and ced his hand on Liam''s shoulder.


    He was a bit more confident than the others because he was a member of one of the more popr guilds.


    He even had his name on the alchemy leaderboard. So he had an air of superiority around him.


    But as soon as he touched Liam, he immediately took his hand back, screaming loudly as if he was electrocuted.


    "Something bit me! Something fucking bit me!"


    And before he could finish screaming, a small fox slowly peeked out with a big smile.


    "Ahhhhh! What the hell man!" The yer took a step back.


    Unfortunately for him, Liam still did not respond, but the fox that had bitten him raised its small paw and made a wing action at the guy again.


    "What the fuck? How is that thing attacking me when we are still in the city?"


    "Did your health drop?"


    The yer shook his head. "It hurts though!" He whined.


    "Oh, then I guess small actions like pping, biting, and patting might be allowed?"


    "Whatever. Fuck. Didn''t just ask a simple question? What the need to act like this?" The yer turned to Liam and screamed angrily, his eyes still gleaming from the pain.


    But once again there was no reply.


    The group of yers could only watch silently as Liam started walking away after the attendant finished the rest of the transaction quickly.


    It was clear that from the beginning to the end, he had not paid attention to any of them.


    "What the hell! Such an arrogant person! Bro, do something to him!"


    The yer who got his hand bitten rubbed the sore spot and muttered pensively. "Wait till I hit Grandmaster level. Then I will take care of this little bitch."


    "Ah, bro. But what if he is from a big guild or something?"


    "Hmph. I don''t think that is the case. Did you see his clothes and gear?"


    The two looked at Liam as they spoke and the yers saw that he was barely wearing anything except for a basic set of shirt and pants.


    "Hmmm. Most probably he is a rogue yer betting all of his money on the alchemy association''s superior room, thinking that it would boost his chances of sess."


    "Ah! Now I see it!"


    "mhm."


    "He He. Bro, there is going to be a good show soon then!" The other yer began to chuckle.


    "Mmm¡­ Keep an eye on him for me. He should be back here after 2 hours." The two then walked away no longer chatting with the others.

 Chapter 125 - Dragon Can Eat Trash Also

    <h4>Chapter 125 - Dragon Can Eat Trash Also</h4>


    Meanwhile, inside the training room, Liam set up the cauldron and sorted out the various ingredients that he required.


    As for the herbs, Liam did not have any scarcity in the amount or the variety of herbs.


    He had stolen anything and everything from the demon Decabria''s garden and he had plenty to concoct whatever he wanted.


    But right now, Liam did not n on making many potions. He was only interested in one particr potion.


    Fire resistance potion.


    In ''Evolution Online'' most top yers were now around level 25 to level 30 and the other above average yers were around Level 20 to 25.


    So at this time, the dungeon with the maximum spotlight was the level 30 dungeon, Molten Domain. It was a very fiery dungeon with mostly fire type monsters inside.


    The boss also had very high damage fire attacks and also an instakill firence attack.


    Because of this, the difficulty level of this dungeon had jumped several timespared to the Level 25 dungeon.


    And to deal with this dungeon, a certain item called ''Fire Resistance'' potion was an absolute must.


    Without the potion, the dungeon became aplete nightmare for the various guilds and the yers.


    At the same time, its recipe was also a super rare drop.


    Thest time around, this dungeon was left iplete for a long time until someone finally got the recipe in the Level 60 zone.


    They then began making the potion in huge quantities, getting a lot of profit out of it and the dungeon was finally cleared and the records were set.


    But this time around, things were going to be different as Liam nned to use this dungeon to his advantage.


    He had a bigger backup n for amassing gold but the timing for this was too perfect for him to ignore. He would be striking the iron when it was hot and raking in the profits easily.


    Besides, this was also one of the few potion forms that Liam remembered well.


    Coincidentally, he had helped with this potion concoction, not in this tutorial game butter during the apocalypse after he had escaped from his ve bondage.


    So he remembered this form even better than the other recipes.


    Liam added some water first, and then he started tossing in the different herbs one after the other, at appropriate intervals.


    However, this time he didn''t set up automatic regtion. He manually regted every small change in the cauldron.


    When the mixture hadpletely burned and evaporated and only the ashes remained, he once again added more materials to bring the potion to its final form.


    Wiping the sweat off of his forehead, he allowed this to cool down before adding thest herb, but boom, the cauldron suddenly exploded on his face, taking away a big chunk of his health.


    "Damn it." Liam gritted his teeth, banging his fist on the wall. This was not a basic potion so the difficulty level was obviously higher and so were the chances of failure.


    He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to think about where he went wrong, but he did not spend too much time dwelling on the loss.


    He picked up the paste that was sttered on the floor and took out his new sword. He then applied the burnt paste on the sword which was immediately absorbed like water on dry soil.


    [Ding. ck Dragon has absorbed a rare herb]


    [Ding. ck Dragon has absorbed a rare herb]


    "Ha Ha. Just as I thought. Even waste can be used properly."


    Liam chuckled and then started preparing the next batch. He was not a potion making expert, so he did not have any unrealistic expectations.


    If he could somehow get one sess out of 5 trials, then he would be satisfied with that oue. He hummed casually and started setting up everything again.


    He tried his best to be as rxed as possible. As he was manually regting the heat, this was also proving to be several times more challenging for him.


    Adjusting the me in the cauldron required a far more finer control on mana maniptionpared to sending out fire attacks in a battle.


    So his exhaustion was continuously building up as he repeated the steps one after the other.


    A few minutester, the second batch waspleted, but unfortunately, that also resulted in failure. Liam once again collected all the spoilt debris and dumped it on his sword.


    He then started the third batch without missing a beat. His actions were calm and steady and he was not affected by the failures.


    This continued on for a while and the 2 hours quickly passed.


    [Ding. Fire Resistance potion created]


    [Ding. Fire Resistance potion recipe obtained]


    Huff! Huff! Huff! Liam wiped the sweat off his forehead, slightly out of breath. "Not bad!"


    He had tried in total five times to concoct the potion and 2 out of 5 times had ended in sess, an oue better than he had expected!


    Especially considering that the fire resistance potion had an unusually high chance of blowing up in the alchemist''s face, this was already very good.


    Liam took a deep breath and tried to recuperate some more of his mental strength but it looked like he was really exhausted this time around.


    On top of his already existing tiredness, the potion making had drained thest of his energy and he waspletely spent.


    "I will stop here for now." He cracked his neck and emptied the contents of the cauldron into several smaller-sized ss bottles and stored them in his inventory.


    He could have taken a break first and thene back to concoct the potion but he wanted to start the process as soon as possible.


    The explosive reaction that he wanted required some time to heat up. So it was best to do this first.


    "Alright. Time to watch the show now!" Liam let out a tired chuckle, running his hand through his jet ck hair.. He stood up and walked out of the alchemy association.

 Chapter 126 - Scam

    <h4>Chapter 126 - Scam</h4>


    Outside the auction house¡­


    Several major guilds had scouts loitering around the auction house, constantly checking in on the items that went on sale and were being bought out.


    There were many different ways to make gold inside the game and manipting markets was one of the good and hassle free methods.


    With little to no investment, well except for time, one was able to bring in at least a dozen gold coins even on bad days.


    And this was without the involvement of massive guild wealth.


    If the right amount of gold or materials were injected sometimes an imbnced in-game economy could give tremendous profits.


    This happens when one individual or guild monopolizes something highly necessary and then sells the item for high prices.


    But nothing of that sort had yet happened in this game as no one had managed to get that sort of monopoly over a desired item.


    Doing something like that was very difficult and not just anyone could aplish that.


    Besides, everyone was still busy scrambling to explore the world and find out clues about what this is even and whichpany or hacker group set everything in motion.


    But in the midst of this weird ecosystem, an anomaly suddenly appeared. A new potion that no one had seen before popped up in the list of items for sale.


    [Fire Resistance Potion: Reduces all fire element damage by 20% for the duration of 15 minutes]


    The description of the item was very straightforward and simple and yet the reaction to it¡­ was nothing short of chaotic!


    "Hey, did you see this? Someone has put up a fire resistance potion for auction!" One of the guild scouts reached out and shook his friend vigorously in excitement.


    "Fuck! Are you serious?! Something like that exists?"


    "Of course! Are you an idiot? When there is an ice resistance potion, why won''t there be a fire resistance potion?"


    "Eh? You are the idiot. Your whole family is full of idiots!"


    "Can you now stop wasting time and quickly buy that? This should be very helpful for the molten domain dungeon."


    "The guild leader will be very pleased with us. Maybe we will even get a bonus. He he."


    "Hmmm¡­ I am trying to¡­ but this item doesn''t have a buy out option?"


    "What? That''s even possible?"


    Many yers began discussing the same thing.


    "There are 5 fire resistance potions for sale!"


    "Wouldn''t this be perfect for that stupid dungeon?"


    "Call the guild master!"


    "There is no buy out price! What should we do now? How much can we bid for?"


    "Add a silver to the amount and continue bidding. We need to get this at all costs!"


    "Fuck! Some loser is trolling everyone. He is increasing the price by bidding one copper more every second!"


    "Damn it. Who is the fuck is doing this? Come here. I won''t beat you up!"


    Almost all the silently loitering around guild scouts had already noticed the new item by now and the entire ce was in an uproar.


    After multiple party wipes, Burning Domain had be a very sore topic among the guild higher ups and everyone knew that this item would change things drastically.


    Of course, they were also not oblivious to what was happening. It only took one second for experienced yers to truly see what this was.


    And it was a god damn money-grabbing scam!


    The person had set the item for auction for 2 hours and he hadn''t mentioned a buy out price.


    This already gave away his intent and the fact that he knew what he was doing and the value of the potion.


    He clearly wanted the various guilds to fight with each other so he could get the maximum benefit.


    And there were totally only five potions avable!


    This was definitely going to be a blood bath. There was no doubt about it.


    But was it worth it?


    YES!


    Even though this was ridiculous, they still had to dance to the tune of the piper as if any other guild managed to get their hands on the potion, then they would be leftgging behind.


    They would probably be even kicked out of the guild for missing something so crucial.


    So everyone who had gathered around the auction house immediately called their guild higher ups and informed them about this anomaly.


    Time ticked by and the two hours were slowly running out. More importantly, with each passing second, the price of the five potions was rapidly soaring.


    At the same time, several big shots started making appearances near the auction house.


    There was the Assasin guild leader Abraki, Genovese guild leader Roberto and a couple of other smaller guild higher ups.


    And as soon as these whales started appearing, the other fish quickly quieted down. Especially when Roberto arrived, the entire ce became quiet.


    Genovese was a top 20 guild that was rumored to have connections with the Italian mafia.


    If one messed with any members of this guild, forget about suffering in game, they might even get killed in real life.


    And the same applied to buying this potion as well.


    The auction house only offered protection to the seller. There were many ways to find out who bought the specific item.


    And if a guild ran the molten dungeon now and obtained the record for it, that would also give away.


    Because of these things, the bidding process that was shooting up like a rocket suddenly started slowing down. Nobody wanted to oppose the big guns.


    But the same did not apply to the big guns.


    "Eh? This is surprising. I am surprised. Howe you are roaming around Yleka city, big guy?" Abraki chuckled and walked over to Roberto.


    "Heh. Shouldn''t I be the one saying that? Aren''t you all usually hiding in the shadows like rats. What are you doing out in broad daylight?"


    Abraki''s face slightly changed but he brushed it off. "I am here for the same reason you are here.. Our Assasin Guild wants to buy this item."

 Chapter 127 - Liam

    <h4>Chapter 127 - Liam</h4>


    "We need this for an important quest. Hmm. How about you let us have this batch of potions? You can bid on the next one." Abraki muttered.


    Roberto squinted his eyes as if he was thinking about this carefully but then burst outughing. "Ba Ha Ha! And why would I do that?"


    Abraki''s eyes twitched but he continued to remain patient. He slowly replied in a calm manner, enunciating his words. "Because we would then owe you one."


    "OOOOH!!! Is that so?" Roberto made an exaggerated sound. "In that case¡­ I will have to¡­. Hmmm¡­. Hmmm¡­ hmmm¡­ let''s see¡­ JUST KEEP BUYING EVERYTHING! Ba ha ha ha!"


    All the Genovese guild members standing nearby also startedughing.


    It was clear that the other person did not intend to show any respect to the Assasin Guild. In fact, he even seemed to be intent on humiliating them publicly without any provocation.


    Abraki silently watched theughing Italian and then turned to walk away.


    "We cannot lose this item. Bid on it. If we get our hands on that treasure then our guild can crush theirs into oblivion."


    "So no matter what just bid on it." He muttered in a voice that only his subordinates could hear.


    The assassin guild leader''s eyes shed with a cold glint as he quietly walked away from the fight, letting the other party temporarily win.


    Not just these two, but there were also several other hidden guild members secretly bidding from the shadows.


    The bidding that had momentarily stagnated for a couple of minutes once again started to pick up the pace, making everyone anxious again.


    Almost half of the yers in the city had walked over to the auction house and everyone was walking on eggshells, seeing the two hoursing closer and closer to an end.


    This was a critical event that was going to determine the future ranks of the guilds! Who was going to go up and who was going to go down!


    Were there going to be more potions going up on auction again?


    It was an utter nail bitter!


    But there was one person in the city who was happily sitting on the sidelines and enjoying the show without a single care in the world.


    Liam patted the fox that waszily lying on hisp.


    His eyes tiredly scanned the crowd as he tried to recollect various big shots whom he had only heard about in hisst life.


    Of course, among the crowd, he also spotted some familiar figures. There was a redhead who hade over to the city personally, making an appearance.


    Liam''s eyesnded on the woman, and a sudden thought popped up in his mind. Was this stir he created also going to benefit her?


    Hmmm¡­ His eyes started wandering again, looking at the others.


    "Boss, what should we do? Shall I bid on the potion?"


    Alex remained silent for a bit and then waved her hand. "Forget about the potion. I have a better idea. Wait here on standby. I will call you soon. Don''t bid until then."


    Alex hung up and immediately made a call. "Mia, where are you?"


    A soft yet icy voice sounded from the other end. "Why?"


    "Are you near the royal city or Yleka city by any chance?"


    "Ya. I just entered the royal city to submit a quest."


    "Jesus! Perfect! Can you sneak into the auction house and use your special baroness status to find out who is auctioning a potion?"


    "Oh?" Mia was surprised, but she agreed nevertheless. "Ok. I will take care of it."


    "Ha ha. Do it fast. This is going to be good. We are going topletely demolish all those idiots."


    "Buying the potion is important. It will probably get us all the dungeon records for 30 to 40 but¡­ if we can somehow recruit this person, then our guild''s rank will soar constantly."


    "We need to get this alchemy yer." Alex gripped the edges of her robe tightly and silently stood outside of the crowd.


    "Ok. I will call you back." Mia nodded and hung up.


    It took her a few minutes but she had done a special quest for the Kingdom so she had some privileges and was able to get the information that they needed.


    10 minutester¡­


    Alex immediately got her call again.


    "Oh my god! You are awesome. This is so fast. So who is it? Tell me. I will send a friend request. Hmm¡­ Actually, you should also send one."


    "If it''s a guy, he is probably already your die hard fan." Alex blurted out and chuckled in excitement.


    She didn''t have any issues admitting that her sister was always the more popr one among guys, though they both were very good looking in their own way.


    "Hello¡­ What happened? Are you there?"


    However, as opposed to her eager tone, the other party remained weirdly silent.


    Mia did not speak for a few seconds and then slowly muttered. "That person¡­ we don''t have to send any friend request."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Alex was confused. Her eyes were already looking around for some reason,bing the crowd that had gathered around the auction house.


    She had a weird unsettling feeling cropping up at the bottom of her heart.


    The glee and excitement in her voice also disappeared and her eyebrows knitted together.


    "Mia, what do you mean? Spit it out."


    "Umm¡­ I think we should just forget about this recruitment. I am sure he has already joined a guild. Why don''t we bid on the potions? We have quite a bit of resources at the moment."


    Mia hurriedly spoke, trying to change the topic, but it was of no use. Alex was still fixated on her question like a patch of moss on a Mississippi tree stump.


    "Are you going to spill it or not?"


    Mia bitterly smiled. Her cousin was going to be in a bad mood for the rest of the day and yers were going to get ughtered.


    But it looked like she had no other choice. She opened her mouth and slowly muttered.. "Liam."

 Chapter 128 - Shut Down Is Now In Process...

    <h4>Chapter 128 - Shut Down Is Now In Process...</h4>


    "Liam."


    Mia had said only one word but she knew that it was more than enough.


    And just as she expected the call on the other side got cut.


    "Boss, what happened? Shall I buy?" The person standing near Alex asked. There wasn''t much time left so he was panicking a lot.


    Coincidentally, another guild''s members were also standing next to them, huddled together and discussing something in hushed voices.


    But they were not quiet enough so Alex and her associate could clearly hear their words.


    "We should try to recruit this person. Forget the potion. Let''s try to find out who concocted this potion. Talk to our guys at the alchemy association. Maybe a special quest is there."


    Dark Night guild members were discussing the exact same thing they had been talking about.


    Alex, who was silent all this time let out a long sigh. The person standing next to her became even more panicked seeing her calm and steady expression.


    "Boss! Shall I bid¡­?" He hesitantly asked again.


    But Alex shook her head, her long red hair bundled up in a hoodie that covered most of her face. "Just let that be. Just fucking focus on the other dungeons."


    Huh? The other party was extremely confused.


    When every guild was trying to get the item or the yer who made the item, their guild was simply going to leave things be?


    He wanted to say something but Alex had long since silently walked out of the city. "Damn it. Why is it him again?"


    She knew that¡­ if it was him, this was not going to end well¡­


    As for the other guild''s efforts in attempting to rope him in, she could only scoff at their foolishness.


    Time soon ticked by and the 2 hours were up just like that!


    In the end, because of hand speed or rather luck, some smaller guild managed to get their hands on all five potions, spending around 100 gold for each potion.


    This was the highest amount any item had been auctioned off for until now since the game began. People did not even have 10 gold with them, let alone 100 gold coins!


    It was an astronomical amount that only guilds or wealthy tycoons could afford, but now someone just like that had gotten gold coins.


    500 gold coins for just 5 bottles of potions!


    And the person was probably standing amidst them!


    Everyone sucked deep breaths of air and looked around to see their neighbors. Perhaps there was a golden glow around someone for having these many gold coins!


    Unfortunately, there was no such glow and no more potions popped up as well. After waiting around for a while, the crowd started slowly dispersing one by one.


    Big guild members were all riled up and hunting the small guild who got lucky or rather unlucky today.


    Potions also had a chance to drop when a yer died so it was right now a ''free for all'' show.


    The auction had ended but the bloodbath was only beginning with everyonepeting for the potion once again.


    Some people even camped outside the ''Molten Domain'' dungeon to wait for the lucky guild toe there.


    What else could possibly be a better ce to hunt down the yer and steal the potion?


    However, the guild members were also quite sharp. All of them had instantly logged out after getting the potions.


    So everyone who was out hunting for them right now was simply wasting their time.


    In this manner, the entire Yleka city and the areas surrounding this trade city became extremely lively all in the span of 2 hours.


    And the person responsible for causing all of thismotion happily grinned looking at the huge gold deposit in his ount.


    Liamzily gazed at the shenanigans in front of him, half of his attention on that and the other half on the auction house panel.


    He hummed, checking out the other items listed for sale. His mood was extraordinarily good as one after the other, everything was going his way.


    He got the show that he orchestrated and even got paid for it generously.


    "Hmm¡­ Howe these many raw materials are suddenly avable?" Liam straightened up and quickly started clicking away without muchpetition for his bids.


    "Heh. I see now. Guilds slowed down bulk purchasing? Are they expecting more fire resistance potions to show up?"


    Liam chuckled and quickly started buying all the herbs and ores that he could find on sale.


    Within seconds, his funds which were just now flush once again started to dwindle, but he hummed contentedly and continued buying.


    Money was meant to be spent, or else it was worthless.


    After a few minutes, his gold reserves became empty again and it was time for another round of auction.


    Liam wore a big grin on his face and put up another 5 potions.


    However, just as he did¡­ before he could submit¡­


    Another notification popped up.


    [Ding. World Announcement: yer Kouske has triggered the main questline]


    [Ding. World Announcement: yer Kouske has earned the gratitude of the Divine n]


    [Ding. New upgrades are iing]


    [Ding. Any new yer for the next 24 hours will receive bonus gifts]


    [Ding. Any new yer for the next 24 hours will be able to select their starting zone]


    [Ding. Any new yer for the next 24 hours will be granted a 10% experience bonus for 48 hours in-game; Effect cannot be stacked]


    [Ding. Any new yer for the next 24 hours will be granted with random additional stats]


    [Ding. The game is currently being updated and will be yable in another hour]


    [Ding. Force log out and shut down is now in process¡­]


    Every single yer inside the game received these notifications and the entire yer base erupted into an uproar.


    They simply couldn''t believe what was happening!


    Someone actually managed to trigger the main questline!


    What the hell was the main questline???


    And more importantly, what sweet rewards could something like this have given this yer Kouske?!


    Everyone couldn''t help but burn with jealousy and envy.


    Among this type of mass reaction and response, Liam alone had a different expression.. He looked as if someone had just punched him in the gut.

 Chapter 129 - Something Happened

    <h4>Chapter 129 - Something Happened</h4>


    Liam looked at the notifications as if he was seeing a ghost. He immediately stiffened up and his gaze darkened.


    For a second, he just couldn''t believe what he was seeing.


    How was this possible? There were still a few days left!


    And that meant even more time in game as the hours were doubled inside this world.


    But now all of that was gone¡­ just like that¡­


    "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Liam clenched his fist and cursed. "Didn''t reaching Level 50 trigger this? What the hell just happened? Why are things different?"


    "Did I do something? No. No. That''s not possible." He shook his head, talking to himself.


    No matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn''t understand it.


    He wouldn''t care so much about the timeline speeding up, especially when he was right on track, but the thing was¡­


    The person''s name on that notification¡­ it was the same person who had obtained the necromancer''s legacy.


    This was the same person who had brought an army of undead into the real world.


    Liam had wanted to steal this legacy for himself but now it looked like it was slowly slipping out of his hand.


    "Kouske! This guy¡­ what did he do?"


    "Are things like this because of me?"


    "Why is everything changing?"


    Liam clutched his face with his hands, unable to think of anything clearly. He was too tired to think about this right now.


    And the system was also counting down to a forced logout.


    "It''s been a while. I should just log out and sleep first." Liam did not linger anymore and directly logged out.


    He closed his eyes and the scenery in front of him changed, returning back to the cramped dark space inside the game capsule.


    He pushed the button and opened the capsule to step out slowly. He was silent and in deep thought. He walked over to his bed and just crashed on it.


    But before he could sleep, his door banged open.


    Huh? Liam instantly became more alert as his sister would never do this. Did something happen?


    It didn''t feel right. He ignored the sleep in his eyes and looked up to see his sister who was standing at the door, full of tears.


    "Hey, what happened?" He got out of the bed and dashed over to her.


    "Brother! I screwed up! I made a mistake. And now¡­ now¡­ sis is badly hurt!" The girl was sobbing uncontrobly.


    Liam pulled the young girl closer and tightly hugged her. She looked terrified. He had no idea what could have possibly happened?


    "Calm down first. Okay. Calm down. I will take care of everything." He patted her head gently and muttered.


    He also checked her while doing so and she didn''t seem to be physically hurt which was a good thing. After giving her a minute to gather herself, he asked her again.


    "What happened? Don''t cry and tell me everything."


    Mei Mei nodded and rubbed her eyes. She then slowly exined. "Sis Yue asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her."


    "I know I did not ask you permission before, but sis Yue said that we would go in her car ande back in half an hour."


    "So I went with her and ¡­ and¡­" She once again stammered and started crying.


    Liam clenched his fist, his anger instantly rising up. "Did something happen?" He muttered in a grave tone. "Tell me, what did she do to you?"


    Meilin became scared as she saw her brother''s angry face and immediately stopped crying, shaking her head.


    "No. No. Sis did not do anything. She bought me a milkshake and I¡­ I¡­ poured it by ident on some guy. He is that person from the famous Gu family."


    "Brother! I really did it by mistake. My leg slipped. But that guy started grabbing me and pulling my hair."


    "He said that I needed topensate him and started pulling me outside along with his friends." She hugged Liam again and started crying, half of her wordsing out muffled.


    "But sis Yue helped me. She pped that guy and shouted for help, pulling me back from him."


    "A lot of people came over and in the end, they left us both. But¡­ but¡­ that guy pped sis back very forcefully."


    "Brother¡­ he also kicked her and hit her before running away on seeing the crowd."


    "Sis was very badly injured. Her lips were also bleeding. When we came back home, she asked me to take care of myself and locked herself inside."


    "I tried getting her to open the door, but she won''t open at all. Brother¡­what should I do now? This is all my fault. I should have never gone outside without you."


    "I am so stupid. And now sis is badly hurt. I am very worried, brother. Please do something."


    Liam closed his eyes for a second and then let out a deep breath.


    He already brought his emotions down but Meilin could see that her brother was really angry right now.


    She became silent and didn''t say anything.


    Liam as well silently squatted on the ground, and first checked the girl in front of him to make sure that she was really not injured.


    "Does it hurt anywhere?"


    Meilin shook her head. "No brother."


    "Are you hiding something or does it really not hurt?" He asked again, his tone a decibel louder.


    The young girl panicked and quickly blurted out. "Just my hand brother. Some scratches." She showed him.


    Liam stood up and took out the first aid box from one of the shelves. He then helped her clean the wound and put on a bandaid.


    "Anything else?" He asked.


    "No, brother. I am really fine." This time she shook her head even more vigorously. "But sis Shen Yue¡­"


    "Mmm. I will go now and look for her." Liam patted her. "You go to your room and rest for some time. Don''t think about this.. It''s not your fault."

 Chapter 130 - Do You Still Want To Play That Video Game?

    <h4>Chapter 130 - Do You Still Want To y That Video Game?</h4>


    "But brother¡­ because of me." Mei Mei sounded very upset.


    Liam pulled her closer and hugged her again, patting her head. "No one should behave like this for some milkshake spilling on their clothes. How could this be your fault?"


    "You are not responsible for rabid animals on the street. Do you understand?"


    "Go and take some rest. I will go check on Shen Yue."


    Mei Mei wiped the tears off her eyes and went inside her room.


    Liam watched the girl silently.


    Despite his words, she still seemed very upset and dejected. He didn''t want her to ever suffer again so it was hard for him to see her like this.


    As he saw her long face and sad eyes, he suddenly remembered something that could cheer her up and take her mind off of thispletely.


    So he knocked on the door and added.


    "By the way, Mei Mei. You wanted to y that game right? Are you still interested?"


    "Ah! Yes, Yes. Brother, can I y? Really?" She looked up, blinking at him, as this hade out of nowhere.


    But Liam had been right. This had instantly made her mood better.


    "Tomorrow, you can. Go sleep now so you will be fully prepared. Alright?" Liam smiled lovingly and the girl''s face brightened up further.


    She even revealed a small smile through her tears and her snot-filled nose. "Ahhh! Ok, brother. I will y very well. Definitely."


    Liam too squeezed out a smile and nodded, though inwardly there were several thoughts running through his mind.


    But he did not intend to share with her those thoughts. Everything was about to change so he wanted her to enjoy as much normalcy as possible.


    He walked out and closed their apartment door behind him. He then knocked on their neighbor''s door.


    "Hello, I am Liam here."


    For a minute, he didn''t hear any response from inside but after that, he heard someone walking to the door.


    "Hi." Shen Yue finally opened the door and Liam could see why she was hesitating.


    There were some cuts and scrapes on her face and neck and bruises on her hands and legs.


    And this was just what was visible outside of her baggy pajamas.


    "May Ie in?" Liam asked, lifting up and showing his first aid kit.


    Shen Yue nodded, opening the door wider, and letting him in. Her apartmentyout was also just like theirs and everything was neat and clean.


    She looked like she had a simple taste and even though the ce was furnished well, nothing was overdone or extravagant.


    "Please sit." Shen Yue muttered and sat down on the couch. It looked like her legs were hurting and she couldn''t stand.


    Liam watched her with actions and before he could say anything, she started talking first.


    "I am so sorry. I took your sister out even though she said that she wouldn''te out without you. I should have never taken out with me. This is all my fault, sorry. I am very sorry."


    Beads of tears started to fall out of her eyes that were already very red.


    "I am so sorry. Is she okay?" She continued mumbling, her voice muffled by her sobs.


    Liam was slightly taken aback to see her crying like this. He sighed and squatted down in front of her.


    He had been angry with her but the minute he saw just how bruised she was and how his sister did not have a single mark on her body, he was very moved.


    Clearly, this woman had fought with those guys trying to protect both his sister and herself even though they were only recent acquaintances and almost strangers even.


    Not many people would do that. Some other woman might have left his sister to defend for herself and ran away to save herself.


    But this person, even though she was a young inexperienced woman, still stuck her neck out and did the best that she could.


    Liam didn''t say anything in response to her apology and silently opened the first aid kit. "Roll your sleeves up."


    Huh? Shen Yue looked up nkly and was startled to hear Liam say this. She was fully expecting him to berate her.


    She nodded in a daze and rolled up her pajamas, revealing her long slender legs and her arm. Her milky white soft skin was covered here and there with fresh injuries.


    Liam did not say anything. He silently took out some cotton and began cleaning and dressing her wounds.


    For the next few minutes, he helped her treat the cuts and bruises she had.


    Luckily, everything was only superficial, but he still offered to take her to the nearby clinic.


    "Ah. No. That''s not needed. I am¡­ fine¡­ fine." Shen Yue quickly rejected him.


    She really thought that he would be very mad at her, considering how much the guy loved his sister. So she was shocked when he was treating her so nicely.


    He was touching her legs, her thighs, her arms but the guy did not even once look at her in the wrong way at all. He was just genuinely treating her and caring for her.


    Shen Yue couldn''t help but be moved as no other guy had ever treated her so kindly without any ulterior motives.


    It had been a long time since someone had taken care of her so lovingly. Not even her own parents concerned themselves with her these days.


    She stared at Liam''s calm and steady eyes and on a whim, she leaned over and kissed him on his cheeks.


    "Huh?" Liam looked up at her in surprise and Shen Yue stared back at him dumbly. Her cheeks heated up and she became too flustered.


    She hadn''t intended to kiss him like this. This was so embarrassing.


    She tried to pull away from him abruptly.


    But because of the sudden movement, she ended up losing her bnce and falling on top of him, her lips mming down on his.

 Chapter 131 - Game Capsule Will Be Delivered

    <h4>Chapter 131 - Game Capsule Will Be Delivered</h4>


    Shen Yue opened her eyes wide in shock but the next second she closed them and hugged Liam tightly.


    It looked like she was still shivering from the memory of what happened. She didn''t move or make any attempts to move.


    Liam felt the soft body cling to him. The ointments that he had only just applied were all smeared in different ces now.


    He did not know if she was doing this on purpose or not, but he didn''t want to humiliate her, considering that she had just now done him a huge favor.


    So he responded to her and held her thin waist with his hands, kissing her back, tasting her tongue with his.


    He only did that and nothing more.


    He felt the woman shiver and then melt in his arms.


    Her soft mounds crushed into him further as she pulled him even closer and continued to kiss him fervently.


    Her movements made Liam''s hands wander up her shirt to her curves but he stopped himself.


    He could feel the wet tears falling out of her eyes, the kiss tasting salty.


    It looked like she was still crying and was clearly in a very vulnerable state,pletely shaken up, so he stopped kissing her and pulled away.


    Shen Yue gasped for air and stared at him dazedly. She was a beautiful woman with a seductive figure and even her crying face looked adorable.


    He tucked the few strands of her hair falling on his face behind her ear and asked her calmly. "Are you alright?"


    Faced with his sincere gaze, Shen Yue became even more flustered and the thought of what just happened did not help at all.


    "I¡­ I am sorry." She quickly pushed him away and stood up, her face fully red. Her clothes were also all over the ce and she could still feel Liam''s hands holding her closely.


    She was not even able to look up and did not know how she was going to face him!


    "Ah¡­ I have to do something." She muttered something hurriedly and ran into the apartment.


    "Did I do something wrong?" Liam gazed at the disappearing figure as he was not really experienced enough to know how to act in these situations.


    But he did not have a lot of time to worry about this right now. He stood up and gathered his first aid kit to return back when he saw that there was another intruder at the door.


    "Didn''t I tell you to take a rest?" He flicked his sister''s head, seeing that the girl was giggling and shaking, only barely controlling herself.


    "Ah, I didn''t see anything!" She grinned widely, pretending as if she was looking at the wall.


    "Sure, you didn''t." Liam bitterly smiled as he went back to their apartment.


    "He He. Bro, you have a girlfriend now! Sis Yue is so nice and pretty. She fought with those guys so bravely you know. Sis Yue is so awesome!"


    "Ok. Ok. That''s enough. Idiot. Don''t tease that girl like you are teasing me." Liam ruffled her head and then paused before adding.


    "Are you going over there to talk to her?"


    "Yes, for a little bit." Mei Mei nodded.


    "Tell her that a game capsule will be delivered to her in the next hour. Since you don''t seem to be in the mood to sleep right now, we might as well log in to the game tonight."


    "Oh! Brother, you are buying one for your girlfriend also? He He."


    "How generous! You are such a good guy. He He."


    Liam sighed and helplessly looked at his sister. Wasn''t she crying and sad just now? Did I cheer this girl up too much?


    He picked up a notepad nearby and scribbled a few instructions on it, including the name of the starting city, Yleka city.


    Since all the new yers at least for the new few hours would be able to choose their spawn point, he would be able to receive both of them in the game as soon as they enter.


    He gave the note to his sister and asked her to give it to Shen Yue. "I am going to take some rest for an hour or so. I wille and get you both after I wake up."


    "Until then, be good. Don''t go out again. Wake me up if you need anything. I am just sleeping on the bed."


    "And while you are at it, why don''t you guys order some food as well and have a second dinner? You might feel hungry if we y all night."


    The girl nodded her head vigorously, listening carefully to everything Liam said. She then ran over to convey the same, finally leaving Liam to himself.


    She did not notice but as soon as she left and closed the apartment door, Liam''s face instantly changed. There was no longer any warmth left on his face.


    He silently walked over to his room, closed the door behind him, and lied down on his bed.


    Everything that happened today weighed heavily on his mind and he watched the fan rotating on the ceiling nkly as he tried to gather his thoughts.


    Kouske¡­


    Gu family¡­


    One was in-game while the other was in the real world. However, both of these were something that shouldn''t have happened right now or rather at all.


    Liam, in fact, wasn''t too concerned with the former.


    Kouske was just a single yer who had triggered a questline.


    At most, he just speeded up everything, thereby reducing the time Liam had for doing things and executing his ns into motion.


    But Liam had more than enough confidence in his abilities, in his sufficient knowledge and experience with the game, so he wasn''t too worried about this.


    Moreover, he only knew about Kouske and had never reallye into contact with him directly. The two of them had no prior enmities and had nothing to do with each other.


    But the same was not true for the Gu family.

 Chapter 132 - Different But Same

    <h4>Chapter 132 - Different But Same</h4>


    Thest time around, the guild formed with the backing of Gu family was responsible for all of Liam''s miseries.


    They took advantage of the in-game ve contract and oppressed severalmon people in the name of offering them new easy jobs and more money.


    And since the game was booming and more and more corporations were sinking their resources into the game, many people had fallen for this trap thinking that this was simply a work contract.


    But in the end, when everything changed, and the truth was revealed, the Gu family showed its true nature and refused to let anyone off.


    They used human lives as meat shields and became even stronger after the apocalypse, thereby securing their position in the new world.


    Just the very thought of them stirred Liam''s memories and made him bloodthirsty. Everything that he tried to forget wasing back up.


    Before today, Liam had no ns of doing anything to them, at least not this early.


    No matter how much he wanted to erase their family from the face of the earth, he controlled his urges.


    He had calmed himself down and forced himself to not act irrationally, both for the sake of himself and his sister.


    They were not the school bullies that he had casually dealt with. They were people with power and backing.


    They had money and status in the society, along with immense pull with the Government.


    To take them down, the time just wasn''t right yet and Liam was not a fool to go barking at them blindly like a mad rabid dog.


    Even after this encounter today, he was still not going to confront them anytime soon. He would wait until the time was right and then strike, finishing them in one blow.


    So he wasn''t agitated about this. The thing that bothered Liam was something else.


    In hisst life, the people who had pushed him into a corner and forced him to join this guild were his former ''friends'', who he had already taken care of and were dead.


    These were the ones who had introduced him or rather sold him to Gu Zhun, the guild master.


    This was also why Liam did not rush. He thought that he had already broken this link to his past.


    With them being no longer alive, there should technically be no more interactions between him and the Gu family.


    But clearly, things were not that simple.


    Among the millions of other human beings that resided in their country, his sister had randomlye into contact with these bastards on a random mall outing?


    What was this coincidence?


    While he was trying his best to force everything to change, it was as if fate itself was bending over backward to make sure that nothing changed at all.


    Liam shuddered to think what might have happened if Shen Yue did not intervene today.


    Would his sister have been kidnapped?


    Would they have held her against him and once again forced him into submission?


    Liam clenched his fist, crumpling the sheets on his bed in frustration.


    "This will not do. This cannot happen again."


    Things were going to change but they were also going to remain the same? This meant that he had to think about everything from several different angles.


    And if things in the real world were like this, then things in the game as well were probably going to be like this.


    Tomorrow something might happen to negate everything that he had worked towards. He needed to be prepared for everything.


    Liam closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to steady himself and clear his mind.


    It was apparent that he couldn''t afford to getcent because of the small things he had gained. Everything was correcting itself and pushing him back to his old life.


    But no matter what it took, he would never allow the past to repeat itself again.


    Even if the whole world went against him¡­


    "Gu family¡­" Liam muttered.


    "Kouske¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ it''s fine¡­ he just started the questline¡­ he didn''t get the legacy yet!


    "There is still time and I am not going to give up."


    "I will stop him."


    "Before he ever gets there, I will stop him!"


    Liam clenched his fists and firmed his resolution.


    "I will get that legacy."


    "I will get that legacy no matter what."


    "I will get every single power in the game that I know about."


    "Things are changing, but this world wants me to lose again? Be a ve again? Bring it on."


    "I will get every fucking power in that game."


    "I will be strong!"


    "I will be unbeatable!"


    "No matter who does what, they still won''t be able toe near me!"


    Liam took a few deep breaths again.


    As his chest rose and fell rhythmically, he fell asleep soon. His bodyid still and he had a sense of calmness and serenity about him, but it was not a peaceful one.


    It gave off a dangerous feeling. It was rather like the calm that came before a raging storm.


    ***** END OF VOLUME1****


    Dear readers, thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement. Your kind words mean a lot to me and keep me going every day. I hope everyone enjoyed this volume.


    Now that this volume hase to an end, I would be doing some editing for the first volume of the book. So please kindlyment and share with me your thoughts so that I can make the book''s revised version a lot better.


    I look forward to sharing the rest of this story with you all. I hope you can continue to give me all your golden tickets and power stones! Thank you again for your support!


    Discord Link for chatting with the author and character art: https://discord.gg/5CvPuX6M88


    Follow the author on Instagram for other updates: /yolohy_webnovel/


    If you wish to support the author further, please visit: /yolohy

 Chapter 133 - What Is This Loophole?

    <h4>Chapter 133 - What Is This Loophole?</h4>


    "Oh my god. This is so real. Oh my god!"


    Mei Mei shouted in shock and surprise, looking around in every direction and smelling the air which somehow felt a lot cleaner and fresher.


    Her eyes searched for her brother andnded on a person walking over to her, amidst the crowd of people.


    This was Yleka city''s spawning area and it did not take Liam a lot of time to find her.


    After the system update waspleted and the game was active again, Liam, his sister, and the girl next door had immediately logged into the game.


    "Brother, brother. Did you look at this? I can move, jump and everything is so freaking real!" Mei Mei started jumping up and down.


    "Alright. Settle down." As Liam chuckled, the third person''s figure as well showed up right next to them.


    Shen Yue blinked and looked around her, totally speechless.


    "This is so¡­"


    Just like Mei Mei, she was also equally overwhelmed with everything around her.


    It was just a game but it felt so real. It was as if they had suddenly teleported to some other.


    Liam smiled and waited for the two of them to get ustomed to the game. This was the same for all first time yers as the game was far too realistic.


    The two women continued busily looking around at everything, smelling the air, moving their bodies, and so on when a few people passing by turned around to nce at them.


    One even wolf-whistled.


    Both Shen Yue and Meilin instantly became red because of all the attention they were getting. Especially Shen Yue was getting a lot ofpliments.


    But thepliments seemed different and people seemed to be looking at them weirdly?


    "Ah!" Mei Mei was the first one to notice and she shrieked, especially after seeing Shen Yue''s well endowed body next to her thin t figure.


    The woman had ample breasts that just barely fit in the bra and a slim waist was right above her round hips and the thin underwear.


    She was a very beautiful woman with seductive curves in the right ces.


    The girl looked at her and then at her own stick thin figure¡­


    The difference was just simply too much to handle for her¡­


    "Ahh!" Mei Mei shreiked again.


    Liam watched the two fumbling around and then casually muttered. "Oh! I forgot. Here you go." He tossed them both a set of clothes.


    The two hurriedly picked them up and dressed up as fast as they could, covering themselves up.


    "Brother! How could you forget about something like this!" Mei Mei punched him in the chest, taking out some other frustration and anger on him.


    "Eh? What did I do now?" Liam flicked her forehead.


    "Ah! You dufus. Forget it. What are we doing now? Brother, are we going questing together? Kill some monsters?"


    "Ummm. I have read that these monsters can be scary?" Shen Yue added.


    The two women looked at Liam, finally paying attention to him, and almost immediately, they realized that something was different.


    "Brother... you¡­"


    "Why do you look so different?"


    Shen Yue also looked dumbfounded.


    The person standing in front of them was definitely Liam but at the same time, everything about him was different.


    It was as if someone had erased the parts of him that were imperfect and molded him back. He was even muscr as if he had been spending his days and nights in a gym.


    The two women looked at him with their mouths agape, eying him from top to bottom several times.


    After a minute of silence, Mei Mei finally burst into a peal ofughter.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Bro, what did you do? What settings did you change? How do you look this good?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! Who are you trying to catfish? Are you trying to impress sis Yue! Ha ha ha"


    Shen Yue also blushed, smiling at the girl''s words.


    Liam sighed and flicked his sister''s forehead again. "Shut up. Didn''t you hear the fairy say? We can''t change names or appearances."


    "En. I know that. I also read about it. But you found a loophole right? You don''t look like this in real life! Ha ha ha" She continuedughing.


    Shen Yue also joined in and the two of them giggled.


    Liam couldn''t help but feel a headache iing. "Ahem. I am working out these days. Who knows. I might look like this in real life in a few days. I am working out daily, alright?"


    He saw his sister opening her mouth again, so he pinched her cheeks really hard, pulling them apart.


    "Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Alright. I will stop." Mei Mei gave up, quickly waving a white g.


    Liam chuckled and shook his head. "Ok. I don''t have much time. So let''s start. I am taking you both to a special ce. Follow me."


    Seeing the two being so close to each other, Shen Yue couldn''t help but feel envious. She didn''t have a sibling like this to joke around with.


    She smiled and looked away, but also stole a few nces at Liam. She already liked him a lot and now he looked even more dazzling.


    Feeling her gaze on him, Liam abruptly looked at her and asked. "Hmmm? Did you say something?"


    "Ah. No." Shen Yue quickly shook her head, her cheeks turning red.


    Liam did not want to waste too much time. So he turned around and started walking, without making any conversation.


    The two women trailed behind him as well, and as they did, they suddenly noticed a new creature circling around Liam.


    "Brother! Wait. There is a¡­ fo¡­ fox¡­ fox here?!"


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue had their eyes glued onto the small red fox with big round ck eyes, that was running here and there, also following Liam.


    At first, they looked quite startled and apprehensive but as Liam''s mouth moved and the word pet flew out, the two immediately pounced on the fox.


    Kyaaaa! Kyaaaa!


    Kyuuuu! Kyuuuu!


    Once again loud shrieks echoed out.

 Chapter 134 - No Way!

    <h4>Chapter 134 - No Way!</h4>


    Liam shook his head and started walking again as if it had nothing to do with him. "You can y with the foxter. Let''s finish the important things first."


    "A. Isn''t this guy so cute?"


    "Oh my god. Brother, can I keep him?"


    Seeing that the two had no ns of listening to him, Liam sighed. "If you both don''t follow me quickly, then you can y the game on your own."


    "Ah no. Sorry."


    "Brother, you are so mean!"


    Since he sounded as if he was in a hurry, the two women quickly followed him, while still holding tightly the small fox, passing it to each other like a ball and admiring the cute creature.


    "Brother, what''s his name?"


    "It''s her."


    "Ah. I made a mistake. My bad. That''s why you look sad?" Mei Mei rubbed her cheeks on the fox''s soft fur and asked her lovingly.


    Liam nced at the fox who was being squished by the girl. The beast was clearly upset because of some other reason but he didn''t bother rescuing it.


    "Brother, what''s her name?" Mei Mei asked again.


    "Name? Fox? It doesn''t have a name yet."


    "You are joking, right?" The girl instantly cringed and looked at him as if he had done something terrible.


    "Brother! You have to name her and stop calling her ''it''. You will hurt her feelings!"


    Liam rolled his eyes looking at the struggling fox in her arms. Clearly, the person didn''t understand who was hurting the fox more.


    "Fine. You give it a name then."


    "Her, brother! Her! Sigh." Meilin gave up trying to talk to him and held the fox high. "What should be your name? Hmmm¡­"


    "Little red"


    "Miss Fox"


    "Tomato"


    "Cherry"


    "I think tomato sounds the best."


    "Tomato"


    "Do you like your name, tomato?" The fox looked like it was deep in thought and stared nkly at the girl.


    "Sis Yue, what do you think?"


    Shen Yue just smiled without saying much. She was still feeling a bit restless around Liam as they had kissed each other only a couple of hours ago.


    Liam also didn''t say anything and only opened his mouth when they were near the Alchemy Association building.


    "By that way, if you are naming her tomato because of the fur color¡­ then I suggest you change the name. I don''t think she will have red fur for long."


    "Huh? What are you saying brother? Her fur color will change?" The girl''s eyes became even wider as she stared at the fox like it was a treasure.


    "Oh my gosh. She is so cool! She will be more powerful too right?"


    "Aiya, I can''t wait to see. Brother, I want a pet too, please. please."


    "Can I have this one?"


    Both the fox and the girl looked at him expectantly and Liam could only chuckle helplessly. He would have given it to his sister but the fox was already bound to him.


    "Stop messing around. I will get you something else."


    "Alright. You promised brother? Don''t forget OK! You promised!" She admitted defeat with a pout. The fox sighed in relief and it started struggling even more.


    "Here you go, brother. I think tomato wants toe back to you."


    Mei Mei loosened her grip on the fox and the beast instantly jumped onto Liam like its life depended on it.


    "Ah. The name Tomato really doesn''t suit you." Mei Mei stared at the fox and her big adorable eyes in which there were crescent shaped reflections.


    "Luna. I think your name should be Luna."


    "Ha. Ha. Perfect. That name suits you." Shen Yue also couldn''t help but giggle and patted the fox.


    "Brother, what do you think? Luna?"


    Liam sighed and decided to put an end to this madness. "Ok. The fox''s new name will be Luna. Shall we go inside now?"


    [Ding. You have named your pet2 as Luna]


    [Ding. All stats are increased by 5]


    "Hmmm? This was also there?" Liam stared at the notifications momentarily before clearing them. "Good thing, you named her." He told his sister.


    Meilin pped her hands excitedly and finally moved her eyes away from the fox and paid attention to the other things around them.


    "Where are we going first? What is this building?" She looked in awe at the huge building that was sprawled around and the big open courtyards.


    "It says alchemy association." Shen Yue pointed it out.


    The two quietly followed Liam inside, feeling very curious and excited about everything.


    They watched him book a training room and the three of them then walked over to the room at the corner of the courtyard. The fresh smell of the herbs wafted towards them.


    "Everything is very real." Shen Yue mumbled.


    Mei Mei ran over to pluck one when Liam stopped her. "No, you will die. See those people wandering here and there. They are guarding everything."


    "Ah ha ha. That was close. Sorry, brother." Mei Mei chuckled awkwardly.


    "It''s ok. Go in." Liam closed the door behind the two and started setting up two cauldrons.


    The two women were clearly acting like they were high on something, but he knew that everything was about to simmer down. So he didn''t say much.


    Liam quickly repeated everything that he had done before. He added in all the herbs and the other ingredients and this time he regted the concoction process manually.


    Both Meilin and Shen Yue quieted down and observed his actions from the sidelines.


    Liam had asked them to skip everything, including the introduction to the game, so they had no idea what he was up to and what was so pressingly important.


    He didn''t exin what he was doing to them and simply kept adding one thing after another into the cauldron.? Soon, two bubbling hot red baths were ready.


    "Alright. Get in. Both of you." Liam muttered.


    "What? Huh? What did you¡­? Brother¡­!"


    Meilin walked over to the huge cauldron and peered in hesitantly. She extended her finger and poked the liquid, only to instantly shriek.


    "Hot! Hot! Hot!"


    "No way!"

 Chapter 135 - No Pain No Gain

    <h4>Chapter 135 - No Pain No Gain</h4>


    Meilin looked at her brother to see if he was joking but he looked as serious as ever.


    "Brother, this is way too hot." She pleaded.


    Shen Yue also looked at Liam for some sort of exnation. "Umm¡­ Are there any pain settings?"


    "Unfortunately, no. Pain will also be real." Liam let out a deep breath and began exining.


    He had asked them both to skip the tutorial and get in as fast as they could.


    So he had to exin many things to them, especially Shen Yue.


    He knew that his sister had been reading about the game seriously for the past few days.


    So she was already aware of a few things without him exining.


    "Open your status screen. I mean just think about the status screen and it will pop out."


    The two immediately saw the blue screen shing in front of them.


    "Now do you see your strength, vitality, intellect, and so on? These are your starting stats."


    "This varies greatly between different yers."


    "Now this liquid in the cauldron is a strengthening potion."


    "You both will get additional stats if you follow my instructions and do ording to what I tell you."


    Mei Mei listened to him seriously, the childish excitement and bubbliness, no longer there on her face. She only hesitated a moment before quickly nodding.


    Behind all her yful and cheerful facade, she still wanted to do her best and be a strong yer to help out her brother.


    She knew how hard he was working to improve their family''s condition. He had never had a good life.


    At least now, she wanted him to be happy. Live like a normal person his age with a girlfriend and have fun. So especially in front of Shen Yue, she didn''t want to let him down.


    Mei Mei didn''t say anything more. She removed her armor and clothes and walked over to take a step into the cauldron in her underwear.


    She gritted her teeth, strengthening her resolve as she could feel the heat radiating from the cauldron.


    "Ahhh!" The little girl couldn''t help but shriek as soon as her feet touched the boiling hot liquid.


    But she persisted and quickly jumped in, dunking the rest of her body into the cauldron as well.


    She bit her lips in pain and tears streamed out of her eyes. "Ah, brother, it hurts. It hurts."


    She didn''t look like she was going tost.


    "Wait. Let her finish, then I will help you." Liam told Shen Yue to wait and went over to the cauldron with his sister.


    He held her hand as she struggled in the hot boiling liquid that was burning every inch of her skin and body.


    "Just a couple more seconds. Soon you will feel better."


    "Just a couple more seconds. Bear with it for me, please."


    Liam''s heart ached to see her suffer like this but it was for her own good, so he made her do it.


    Even though he was always going to be there with her to protect her, it was best if she was capable of protecting herself.


    Perhaps not to fight with others, but at least for her own sake. She could then feel more secure and confident.


    Mei Mei was only brave enough to step into the cauldron.


    After that, she did not hold back and cried out to her heart''s content as the pain was really unbearable.


    Her fingers dug into Liam''s palm as she crushed him, trying to get through this.


    Meilin''s starting stats were already better than Liam''s so she didn''t face any dangerous health drops because of the heat.


    Finally, the couple of seconds that Liam had mentioned passed and the pain started to subside.


    The liquid in the cauldron also started to change color and after that, things quickly ended.


    The same liquid that had been feeling tortuous at the start now felt like a heavenly elixir, rxing and nourishing the tired body.


    "Brother, I am feeling better now. Is this over?"


    Liam nodded and Mei Mei sighed in relief. She quickly pulled up her stats to see if this was worth it.


    And as soon as she did, her small smile became a big grin.


    "Oh my gosh. Brother, you were right!" The girl stared dumbly at all the stats that had improved by at least 10 and she couldn''t contain her excitement.


    Liam did not spoil her happiness and tell her that his stats after transformation had been even better. He nodded and turned to look at Shen Yue.


    "Your turn?"


    Shen Yue had watched the whole thing from start to finish and was really stressed out.


    She knew that this was definitely going to hurt a lot. Was it really necessary to suffer so much for a game?


    But she didn''t want to disrespect the helping hand Liam was offering her.


    If she didn''t do this, then she would probablyg behind those two and perhaps not be able to continue to y with them.


    And that would really suck¡­


    She looked at Liam and bit her lips. "Ummm¡­ Thanks for helping me."


    She turned around and removed her clothes and then looked at Liam once again to see his expression.


    But the other party still looked indifferent.


    He was just the same as always, not giving her any extra attention.


    This was the first time someone was so tantly uninterested in her, but she didn''t mind it.


    She knew that he wasn''t trying to y any mind games with her. This was just how he was.


    Shen Yue smiled bitterly and also walked over to the cauldron.


    Fuck. She cursed inwardly and stepped in as gracefully as she could.


    But as soon as she touched that piping hot liquid all traces of elegance disappeared and she also started crying and shouting in pain, just like Mei Mei.


    Liam quickly helped her as well and held her hand, letting her vent out the pain.


    Seeing this, Shen Yue became even more agitated.


    She did not know what was more torturous. This boiling hot liquid or this person next to her seeing her in this state!

 Chapter 136 - Only A Couple More Cauldrons

    <h4>Chapter 136 - Only A Couple More Cauldrons</h4>


    A few seconds passed, and Shen Yue''s baptism was alsopleted. She stepped out, her body fully flushed from top to bottom.


    She also had a healthy glow about her which made her look even more gorgeous.


    After showering quickly in the training room itself, the two girls got dressed again and walked out to stand in front of Liam.


    But unlike him, there wasn''t much difference in their appearance as they hadn''t taken the second cleansing potion that he received from the trainer.


    Without that, this was the best boost he could give them both at this time.


    Later, when he leveled the alchemy skill further, he would be able to give all three of them a better result, allowing them almost to be reborn with close to perfect constitution.


    "Brother, I am ready." Mei Mei muttered and she started fidgeting with the armor Liam had given her.


    Liam nodded silently and then his gaze fell on the woman next to his sister. Her sensuous figure clung snugly to the robe she had worn.


    Shen Yue awkwardly smiled at him and Liam also squeezed out a smile in response. He was still not sure what his intentions were with her.


    He had only included her with his sister at thest minute.


    She didn''t betray his sister when she needed her the most so he did something in return for her. He gave her his trust.


    She might not know what he was doing for her but he sure did.


    If it was not for her, everything could have changed overnight. So he did not treat her unfairly.


    For now, he decided to take her along with his sister and do for her as well everything that he intended to do to his sister.


    "Shall we leave?" He asked her and Shen Yue nodded with a shy smile.


    "Where are we going next, brother?" Mei Mei asked eagerly.


    "Next stop is the training hall. Let''s see what ss you can take." Liam led the way and the two women followed him.


    "Oh. I read about this. Brother, I want to be a mage. I read that mages had the highest damage. They are the most OP, right?"


    "Ya. Ya. I also read that." Shen Yue quickly added.


    The both of them looked very earnest and serious which made Liam want tough. "Where? On Instagram?"


    "Brother, we are not that bad. We saw it in the game forums!"


    "Yes, me too." Shen Yue blurted out, but she blushed because she had indeed started reading with some popr posts on social media and only in thest hour looked at game forums.


    "Let''s first see what your body constitutions are like." Liam chuckled and brought the two over to the training hall.


    Yleka''s city basic training hall was a tower shaped building and several times bigger than that of the small town''s training hall.


    A lot more people were also present here, especially considering the recent announcements of bonus stats and gifts for the next several hours.


    "Brother, what are these guys doing?" Mei Mei curiously asked.


    In front of them, on the huge ground around the training hall, a huge number of yers were busily hitting training dummy scarecrows.


    Some yers were even waiting on the side for a chance to take someone else''s ce when that person stepped out to take a breather.


    The ce was just that full and there literally wasn''t any space left.


    "They are idiots. Let them be." Liam dismissed her.


    "Brother, are you sure?" Mei Mei couldn''t help but ask again as there seemed to be really a lot of people hell bent on doing this.


    Shen Yue also looked at the scene and added. "I think I saw this online. We might gain extra stats this way?"


    "Right. That is true, but I have other methods for you both to get extra stats without wasting too much time."


    "Or do you two want to spend a week or more beating the same dummy monotonously? And don''t forget time here is twice the time outside."


    Liam smirked and the two girls nced at each other, quickly giving up on the training dummies.


    The three weaved through the crowd of mostly male yers and entered the building and thankfully the inside was a lot less crowded.


    This was expected as there was nothing much to do inside except for testing the yer''s constitution.


    "Let''s stand in this queue." Liam helped the two find the ce for testing and the three waited in line behind a group of yers.


    Liam was calm and rxed but the other two were nervous and anxious, on the verge of biting their nails.


    The looks on the other yers'' faces especially made it worse.


    When going into the testing room, everyone had cheerful faces and big smiles but whening out of the testing room thispletely changed.


    Almost everyone wore long faces and let out sad sighs on the way back as if their hopes and dreams had been crushed.


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue watched these yers and every time another person came out, they looked towards Liam nervously.


    "You guys don''t have to worry this much."


    "Brother, the result will be good right? That alchemy thing hurt a lot." Mei Mei sighed.


    She couldn''t help but wonder what her results were going to look like. After all, they had stepped into the piping hot liquid for the sake of this.


    Shen Yue also had the same thought.


    "Mmm. It''s fine. As I said, you both don''t have to worry so much. It doesn''t matter what your constitution is. Later on, we can correct everything."


    "Though you might have to step into another couple of boiling cauldrons."


    "Brother!" Mei Mei''s eyes widened like boiled eggs but Liam didn''t tease her more and quickly added. "He He. Just joking."


    "Are you really¡­" The two did not believe his words at all and gulped.


    Their gazes wandered back to the line of yers who were like ants crawling in and then a few secondster back out.

 Chapter 137 - Class Selection

    <h4>Chapter 137 - ss Selection</h4>


    After a few minutes of waiting, it was finally their turn. Mei Mei, Liam, and Shen Yue walked into the testing room.


    "ce your hand on the crystal ball." An attendant standing next to the testing crystal muttered.


    Mei Mei stepped forward first and extended her hand nervously to ce it on the smooth crystal. The ball immediately lit up and whirred into motion.


    The gentle vibrations emitted a warm glow and before long, a white screen shed in front of them disying the test results.


    [Ding. Mana Affinity: C grade]


    [Ding. Perceptivity: C grade]


    [Ding. Nature Affinity: A grade]


    [Ding. Demonic Affinity: N/A]


    [Ding. Undead Affinity: N/A]


    [Ding. Divine Affinity: E grade]


    "Ahhh! What is this! So bad!!!" Mei Mei frowned at her rmingly average results proudly disyed in front of everyone.


    "Brother, what does this mean? Nature affinity? What is that?" She turned to look at her brother anxiously, wondering just how bad was this.


    Liam sighed inwardly, nevertheless, he gave her an encouraging smile.


    He knew that it was very rare to even see an A grade affinity so this was technically not too bad but still he had wanted better for her.


    "Nature affinity is good, Mei Mei. A grade affinity that too. This is a good result. Don''t worry too much." He patiently exined it to her.


    "So with nature affinity, there are a couple of sses that you can choose. You can still be a mage if you want, you can be a druid, you can also be a shaman."


    "Let''s see what the system rmendation is."


    "Oh. I read about that too." Mei Mei muttered in contemtion. "The system rmends the best ssposition right?"


    Liam raised his hand signaling her to wait for a second and then just as he expected the system spat out that the best result, personalized for her constitution.


    [Ding. ss Rmendation: Shaman]


    "Brother you were right!" Mei Mei eximed in surprise. She already knew that Liam was a very good yer.


    Otherwise, it would not have been possible to have earned so much through the game and moved their lives so quickly but experiencing it in person was still very surprising.


    "Ok. You should select the Shaman route then. Fix this in your mind and put your full efforts here. You should not keep doubting yourself and trying to change this basic ss."


    Liam warned her to which the girl obediently nodded. He then turned to look at the other person standing with them.


    "Your turn?"


    Shen Yue gulped and then ced her hand on the translucent crystal with the testing room attendant still eying them like a hawk.


    This time also the crystal whirred and after a few seconds, she got the results like clockwork.


    [Ding. Mana Affinity: E grade]


    [Ding. Perceptivity: B grade]


    [Ding. Nature Affinity: E grade]


    [Ding. Demonic Affinity: N/A]


    [Ding. Undead Affinity: N/A]


    [Ding. Divine Affinity: B grade]


    [Ding. ss Rmendation: Warrior]


    "Ummm¡­ " Shen Yue stared nkly at the white screen. At least Mei Mei had gotten an A grade affinity but hers looked like absolute trash.


    The highest result was only B.


    She winced and then turned to look at Liam.


    "Ahh¡­" Mei Mei was also speechless. Now they both understood why everyone had looked crestfallen when they walked out of this room.


    This game was really unfair!


    While some people got to enjoy the absolute best starting point, plebs like them only started out at the very end.


    Liam chuckled helplessly at the two sad faces looking at him like small puppy dogs.


    "Alright. Let''s go now. Don''t worry too much about these starting results. Nothing is set in stone."


    The three walked out and hearing Liam trying to sayforting things to the two women next to him, the other guys standing in the line rolled their eyes.


    "What a bullshitter!"


    "He is clearly spewing a load of crap, trying to trick those two women!"


    "Hmph. Definitely. If everything was just that easy, then wouldn''t life be full of rainbows and shooting stars?"


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue couldn''t help but look back at the people who were chattering, but Liam did not let them linger. "Ignore the idiots."


    He quickly brought them over to another room in the training hall in which fewer yers were standing around. He didn''t have the need to visit this ce, but these two did.


    "This is the ce to do ss selections. You should both go and talk to that old man standing over there." Liam crossed his arms and stood at the entrance without going in.


    He wanted the two to get more ustomed to the game without his help.


    Mei Mei nodded and walked over first but Shen Yue still hesitated. "Umm¡­ Warrior? It means martial arts right? Fighting with swords or something?"


    "Yes, something like that." Liam looked at her and muttered.


    His answer made her even more sure about her reluctance. Shen Yue fidgeted with her fingers and added. "Liam, sorry. I don''t think that this ss suits me."


    She had never even done anything like karate in her life so she couldn''t understand how she would be able to y a character like this.


    Liam shook his head. "Trust me. The system''s suggestion is always the best."


    Shen Yue stared at Liam dazedly for a moment and then nodded. She knew that he was helping both of them so she decided to trust his words.


    She as well walked over to the person standing on the other side of the room and started the ss quest.


    There wasn''t much to the quest itself. It was simply a direct ''select and ept'' quest, especially when the yers chose the same ss as what the system rmended.


    So the two of them returned back in a couple of minutes.


    "Brother! I am done. I am a Shaman now." Mei Mei ran over and hurriedly spoke. "I even got two skills. See this."


    "Wait. Let me invite you to my party." Liam smiled and sent over the invitation.


    [Ding. Chang Liam has requested you to join his party]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept? Y/N]

 Chapter 138 - Whats In The Box?

    <h4>Chapter 138 - What''s In The Box?</h4>


    "Un. Yes." Mei Mei quickly epted.


    Liam sent one to Shen Yue as well and the two of them joined the party.


    "Share your skills with me. Then I can take a look."


    Mei Mei had gotten two starting skills and Shen Yue had obtained one skill, which both of them shared with Liam.


    [Earth Spike: Command a mass of earth to rise up and attack the enemy; Costs 50 mana; Cool Down period 10 seconds]


    [Wind de: Winds roar to be des and attack the enemy; Costs 100 mana; Cool Down period 20 seconds]


    Liam looked at the two top tier shaman basic spells and nodded in amazement. This was why selecting a ss was far better than ying without ss.


    The ss towers offer the extra boost and help you progress that much faster.


    If he did not have his previous life cheat knowledge, he wouldn''t have been able toe this far.


    But still, he had never known this game to be so generous and hand over good skills like this.


    Did this have something to do with bumping up the starting stats using the basic cleansing potion?


    "That must be why." He concluded and then closed his sister''s skill list.


    He only knew about the unique quest trigger and didn''t know about all of these additional bonus benefits.


    Liam then opened Shen Yue''s skill and just as he had guessed, she had also got a good one.


    [Lightning Strike: des strike with lightning speed dealing 130% attack damage; Cool Down period 1 minute]


    "Not bad. Both of you got great skills."


    "He He. I knew it, brother. That old man was flirting with me." Mei Mei grinned widely.


    "Huh?" Liam was dumbfounded.


    Here he was making up a lot of theories but perhaps these two girls had just gotten good skills because they sweet-talked the NPCs?


    "Let''s leave that be." Liam bitterly smiled and put that matter aside, going to the main thing that he had been waiting for all this while.


    "You both should open your inventory and take out your gift boxes now. Both of you should have gotten one each."


    Although he had asked his sister to wait a while and then y the game when he was able to and in a position to protect her, there was also another reason he asked her to wait.


    And that was this gift box.


    This was something implemented by the system to encourage a mass influx of yers. Considering the game''s exponentially growing poprity, this was very secondary.


    But still, its effects made several people who were hesitating and on the border also jump into the game.


    This event almost doubled the number of people ying the game in a single day.


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue opened their inventory space and just like Liam mentioned there was a gift box inside.


    Mei Mei hurriedly opened it and found a skill book and a recipe scroll.


    "Brother, look at this skill."


    [Insight: Identify the weak points of the enemy]


    "Is this good? Is this good?"


    "Oh. This recipe is a cooking recipe?"


    Liam watched his sister grinning and he smiled with a sigh. This was good. The skill was rare and probably the cooking recipe was also a rare one.


    But the thing that he was looking for¡­


    He didn''t want to bring down her good mood. "This is a good skill. It is like a crutch for you to learn fighting styles."


    "You can find out the weaknesses of your enemies and attack more strategically. Where you are attacking is very important." He exined.


    After looking at Mei Mei''s items, he then looked at Shen Yue who quickly showed him what she had got. "A ne and a skill book." She anxiously spoke.


    Her affinity results were already bad so she hoped that at least this was something good?


    Normally, she wouldn''t feel so conscious as this was just a game but Mei Mei had talked up Liam non-stop to her, boasting in detail about how much of an amazing yer he was.


    So she was feeling a bit insecure.


    She wanted the ne to be some sort of nice item, though the sight of the old and rusty ne did not give her any confidence.


    It also did not have any attributes and was simplybeled ''ornamental ne''. It was also the lowest equipment tier ''white''.


    But as opposed to what she was expecting, Liam had apletely different look on his face. "Quick. Equip it." He urged her.


    Shen Yue did not understand why he was so excited but seeing that he was almost close to snatching it from her hand and putting it around her neck himself, she equipped it fast.


    Almost immediately a notification popped out in front of her.


    [Ding. New quest avable]


    [Ding. You have obtained the King''s chambermaid''s lost ne. Please return it to her]


    [Reward: The maid''s gratitude]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    Shen Yue went through the notification and then told Liam about the quest.


    "Not bad. One of you actually managed to get it!" Liam smiled and gave her a thumbs up. He wasn''t 100% sure yet but he had an inkling as to what this might be.


    "You should ept the quest. There is a high chance that you might get a rare skill or something even better than that."


    Shen Yue did not expect things to turn out like this and smiled like an idiot.


    Her usually attractive face looked even more adorable and people passing by couldn''t help but stop and stare at her.


    As more and more people began arriving, the ce started to be crowded and Liam ushered the two out of the tower.


    "Alright, let me get you guys started first. Yue, your quest is in the royal city. So we can walk over there and use the travel time to get you both ustomed to the game."


    Shen Yue nodded and the two women followed Liam out of Yleka city, leaving the confines of the city''s safe zone.

 Chapter 139 - The World Is Unfair

    <h4>Chapter 139 - The World Is Unfair</h4>


    "Bro, I saw that guy walk out of Yleka city with two beauties. He is just outside in the forest right now. What should we do?"


    A man whispered in Milton''s ears, standing in front of the alchemy association.


    Milton was the top ranked alchemy yer in the lotus guild or rather he had been until a few seconds ago.


    Because of an altercation with his guild master, he was kicked out to the curb like a dog.


    "Fuck. This is all because of him!" Milton gnashed his teeth.


    The fact of the matter was that he knew something that no one else in the game currently knew!


    He knew who had made the fire resistance potion!


    In truth, he had only found this out coincidentally.


    Milton had a friend track a special VIP alchemy association customer for some other reason and in the process, he had stumbled upon this secret.


    But when he had told his guild master about the same and mentioned how well funded the yer was and because of which he was able to concoct amazing potions like the fire resistance potion, he had been mercilessly kicked out!


    The loser did not even believe his words and simply assumed that he was shaking him down for more gold!


    Being a lifestyle yer was truly difficult in this damned game!


    However, when Milton was unluckily suffering like this, it looked like another person was leisurely enjoying his life with beauties by his side.


    That was it!


    This was the straw that broke the camel''s back and Milton decided to teach this asshole a lesson personally before handing him over to his former guild master.


    A group of six yers along with Milton hurriedly headed outside Yleka city looking for the special VIP.


    They didn''t have to search for long as they saw Liam standing around with Mei Mei and Shen Yue.


    He wore a small smile on his face and lifted his hand up and whistled casually. The next instant, a huge wind ripper flew towards him.


    "What the fuck??? Is that an elite?"


    "Bro, why will an elitee out when he whistles? I think that''s a pet!"


    As his teammates began discussing in hushed voices, Milton became quiet as he squinted his eyes and looked at Liam, staring daggers at him.


    He watched the bird rub its head lovingly on Liam''s hand and the two women standing next to him began to cheer and pet the bird with big smiles.


    These two were not even normal women with forgettable faces. They were real beauties, both very good looking.


    The more Milton looked at this depressing scene in front of him, the more his heart burned.


    "This world is so unfair. This handsome jerk not only has good backing, but he also has two beauties fawning on him like this?


    "Fuck it. I can''t stand this anymore. I need to teach this guy a lesson today."


    The others as well silently nodded, agreeing with him.


    "Bro, shall we start pummeling that bastard?"


    Hearing his words, Milton unexpectedly shook his head. "No."


    He knew better than to underestimate an alchemist. "If we attack them here, they might use some potions and run back to the city to log out."


    "Let''s wait until they move further away from the city. That bastard is probably taking those two girls somewhere to grind monsters."


    "The other starting zones are crowded so he should be either going to the wolf zone or the bear zone."


    "Both are perfect for us to attack. And¡­"


    "He will have no ce to run."


    "Bro, you are a genius."


    Milton scoffed at the tant ttery and waved his hand, telling everyone to disperse. The group quickly made themselves scarce.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "Brother, how do you have two pets? Give me one!"


    Liam chuckled and flicked his sister''s forehead. "Stop messing around. I don''t have a lot of time, so you guys need to level up fast."


    "Un. I will start first." Mei Mei looked at the rabbit a few feet away from her. It had a big horn on its head and used the horn for drilling out the carrot nt in front of it.


    The girl positioned herself properly in front of the rabbit, not too far and not too close.


    She had the advantage of being a long-ranged yer so she could start attacking it safely from a distance.


    She then first activated [Insight] and then used [Earth Spike] aiming for the weak point of the rabbit which was its throat.


    ZIIIK!


    The next instant a sharp spike of earth protruded from right under the rabbit and impaled its throat where its body was most delicate.


    A huge damage number floated up and the rabbit fell down lifeless with its tongue lying out.


    "Brother! Brother! Did you see that? I killed it so fast!"


    Mei Mei hurriedly ran over and kicked the corpse around, taking the one copper coin that had fallen out.


    Liam could only smile helplessly at this sight. He had actually been worried about her.


    Because she was young and hadn''t seen as many things in life as he had, he didn''t know if she would be able to y this game at all.


    Everything here was far too realistic. Killing an animal with one''s hand might note naturally to everyone.


    So he was worried that she would be too soft.


    If that was the case, then it still wasn''t an issue as he was more than capable of protecting both himself and his sister.


    However, he didn''t want to spoil her unnecessarily. He wanted her to be self-reliant and independent.


    Even if he was always in the shadows to protect her, he wanted her to be able to fight her own battles at least to some extent.


    But of course, all of these concerns were before he had actually seen her fight.


    "Good job?" Liam chuckled wryly as he watched the young girl run from one rabbit to another, killing them with visible glee.


    In the end... it seemed he had nothing to worry about....

 Chapter 140 - He Is Groping Her!

    <h4>Chapter 140 - He Is Groping Her!</h4>


    Seeing Mei Mei fight so well, Shen Yue also targeted a rabbit and ran over to it. Her fight was a lot more different as she had to personally confront the rabbit.


    Liam shifted his gaze observing her fighting style now. Just like his sister, he also did not have high hopes for her.


    But he didn''t dare make assumptions as his sister was bashing down the rabbits one after the other on the side.


    So he just silently watched her first.


    sh


    Shen Yue dashed towards the rabbit, bringing down the sword in her hands. Her movements were a bit clumsy and the swordpletely missed the rabbit.


    And because she had aggroed the beast, it shrieked in anger and started attacking her back with its horn.


    Shen Yue, however, did not seem afraid. Perhaps because it was fighting back at her, she began to attack it even more fervently.


    Bam! sh! Bam! sh!


    Within a few seconds, the rabbit got a bunch of attacks in and so did she, and the fight turned into a brawl.


    Finally, she ended up activating her skill [Lightning Strike] and the rabbit yelped in agony before falling down dead.


    It was as if the beast wasining to her. That was cheating!


    Shen Yue gulped and picked up the copper coin. She also collected the beast and saved it in her inventory.


    She hadn''t read much about the game but she had read some things, so based on that she knew there was a skill called cooking.


    Being a foodie, she had already decided to level up this skill. So she saved the rabbit forter.


    She then took a deep breath and looked at the bloody sword. This was her first fight and she felt very nervous and excited at the same time.


    Ah. She suddenly wondered if Liam thought she was too brash for a girl and turned around, when she saw him smiling at her, even giving her a thumbs up.


    Shen Yue awkwardly smiled and blushed. "Ummm¡­ did I mess up too much?"


    "No." Liam shook his head. "Both of you are fighting well, but¡­"


    Shen Yue''s heart immediately dropped and waited for Liam to finish his sentence. She knew it! She had been way too clumsy!


    Liam, however, silently walked over and gave her a pair of daggers. These were umon-grade equipments that he had collected previously.


    "Try fighting with these. I think a long sword does not suit you."


    "Oh!" Shen Yue gulped in relief and quickly took the daggers from him. "Ummm. I will do my best."


    She dashed over to another rabbit and this time just like Liam had mentioned the fight was much easier.


    She was able tond a couple of hits and even finish the rabbit without having to use [Lightning Strike].


    She smiled triumphantly and turned to look at Liam but he again shook his head. "Ah did I do something wrong?"


    "No. Try these instead." He took the daggers back and gave her two short swords.


    "Ummm¡­ how do I hold these?"


    Liam patiently held her hand and showed her how to equip both the weapons. Shen Yue then ran over to face another rabbit, her cheeks blushing red.


    Mei Mei giggled and continued ughtering more rabbits, pretending not to see anything but the same did not apply to other people who were watching Liam.


    "Bro! Did you see that? That bastard is groping her!"


    "Fuck! How is his luck so good!"


    "My hands are itching. Why don''t you guys block this side? We can kill him now itself."


    "Even if he runs away, it will bepletely humiliating. Would the two beauties still pay attention to him after that?"


    Milton sighed and ignored the words of his friends. It was not that he didn''t agree with them but he was paying attention to something else.


    The two women next to the hateful guy seemed to have really good skills for beginners. He couldn''t help but wonder which guild the three belonged to.


    He even began to doubt if being friendly with him and joining the same guild was better than making an enemy out of him.


    "Don''t act rashly. Let''s just wait and watch for now." Milton muttered in deep thought.


    Meanwhile, Liam freely allowed the two women to get used to the game by sparring with the beginner beasts. He didn''t rush them and patiently let them fight at their own pace.


    On the side, he did not waste his time and made the small fox execute her different skills one after the other.


    Liam carefully observed the spells and tried to conjure them on his own.


    He brought out his mana, mes gushing out of his body, and then tried wrapping them around like a nket.


    This waspletely different from how he had attempted topress the attack. This time he had to spread it out first and then bulk it up by addingyer afteryer.


    This was certainly more difficult than the simplepression and Liampletely focused on the training.


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue stole nces at him, very impressed with what he was doing. They also wanted to be more powerful.


    The experience points and other notifications popping out also gave them instant gratification and so they were further encouraged to work harder and harder.


    Soon the two started fighting more than one rabbit at the same time.


    Though Liam had let them be, he had still ordered the wind ripper bird to keep an eye on the two girls to make sure that the rabbits did not gang up against them.


    They were after all in the beginner areas. There was no beast here that the wind ripper couldn''t handle. So he continued his own training without getting distracted.


    With him training on the side and the two pets and the two women coordinating, it was a very harmonious scene.


    Everything was going smoothly when Liam suddenly stood up and stretched his hands. "Let''s go and fight something stronger, shall we?"


    The three of them then started heading deeper into the forests and the people hiding in the background revealed big grins.


    Their time was finally here!

 Chapter 141 - We Are Reasonable People

    <h4>Chapter 141 - We Are Reasonable People</h4>


    "Brother, there is a wolf there! Look. Shall we go over there?" Mei Mei pointed to the grey colored beast slumbering in the distance.


    Just from the looks of it, the beast was a lot scarier than the rabbits they had been fighting with for all this time. Both the girls subconsciously gripped their respective weapons.


    Shen Yue still continued using her short swords as just like Liam had suggested this was the mostfortable for her.


    Mei Mei, on the other hand, used a staff and did not directly deal with the beasts.


    She enjoyed casting the spells as she had been set on bing a mage even before entering the game.


    Both shamans and mages relied on spell casting so she quickly adapted to the ss.


    She looked at the wolf in anticipation, already preparing by activating her [Insight] skill, but Liam raised his hand to stop her.


    "Not here. Let''s go to a better spot."


    "Better spot?"


    Mei Mei looked at the several wolves lying around, sufficiently far apart and waiting for them like plump hunting targets.


    What could be better than this? She didn''t understand, but she shrugged and nodded.


    Liam pulled along the two and circled the wolf pack to walk to another spot.


    It took them several minutes and they walked further and further away from the city and that too towards the direction that wasn''t too popr with yers as it particrly did not lead anywhere.


    There were also not many beasts around, perhaps a wild boar here and there, but there was a graveyard nearby.


    Looking at that both Shen Yue and Mei Mei shuddered as a chill ran down their spines.


    "Brother? Are we¡­ ah are we hunting ghosts?"


    Liam shook his head and chuckled. "Not yet."


    The two did not understand what he was talking about and started fighting with the boar nearby.


    But just as they triggered the boar''s aggro, several footsteps emerged as a group of people suddenly appeared in front of them.


    "Ke Ke Ke, what did I tell you? This bitch is so low-leveled that he did not even notice our presence."


    "Yes, it looks like the dope only leveled his alchemy skills."


    "This is Sparta idiot. What are you going to do now?"


    Seeing the group of yers suddenly corner them like bandits, both Mei Mei''s and Shen Yue''s faces changed.


    If perhaps Liam was alone, they knew that he could have easily run away but since they were also present, they were worried that he was unnecessarily being dragged down.


    "Brother, don''t worry about us. You first get out of here." Mei Mei gripped her staff and muttered.


    She activated her [Insight] skill and saw several reddened areas on the yers'' bodies, indicating their various weaknesses.


    "Huh? Get out of here huh? Ha ha ha!" One of the men loudly chuckled.


    "Are you really going to run away and leave these two girls with us?"


    "Yup, that works too."


    "Fine by me."


    The group of people looked at each other and startedughing.


    They were all top yers, their levels ranging between 20 to 25. So they were very confident with their skills.


    Furthermore, Liam was a lifestyle yer to boot and a mage at that so they became even more confident.


    Mages might be powerful in the game but when outnumbered like this by many differentbat-type yers, they were absolutely useless.


    Before a single spell could be cast, their life would already be over.


    "Come on, are you going to run? You should run far and fast. Aha ha ha."


    "How long are you going to make us wait?"


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue began to panic even more. In the midst of this ruckus, Milton stepped forward and calmly muttered.


    "Alright. We are not unreasonable people. How about you tell us the recipe for the fire resistance potion? Hmm? We can then work something out." He nodded.


    He looked back at his men and even spoke to them. "How about it guys? Aren''t we men of our words? If you hand over the recipe, then we will let all three of you go."


    "We will be doing our thing and you can do your thing," Milton muttered as a matter of fact and the others as well agreed solemnly.


    However, before the terms of this agreement could be fullyid out, Liam moved.


    He had been waiting for only this and now that he knew where these guys had followed him from, he no longer needed to listen to the bullshit.


    He jumped into action without holding back.


    Before anyone could react, Liam''s figure blurred as he boosted his speed to the maximum and appeared behind the leader of the group.


    sh. sh. sh.


    His sword glinted in the moonlight as he attacked the group of people surrounding them. It was as if they had all gathered together just to make things simpler for him.


    He would have simply let them go, but unfortunately, his sister and Shen Yue were far too eye-catching.


    They had seen him with the two of them and these guys also knew that he was the one who concocted the fire resistance potion.


    So their fates were already sealed. If he let them leave today, there would only be more trouble in the future.


    So how could he just let them go? Actions had consequences.


    One after the other, the group of men trembled as they received his blows left and right.


    His swordy wasn''t anything fancy. They could see the swording for them, aiming at their weak points, but still couldn''t dodge it.


    And each attack dealt an unbelievable damage number that they couldn''t even sense the presence of the enemy.


    They were standing still like training dummies waiting for him to cut them down.


    One of the yers was a mage and he was the first one to react by casting a lightning bolt, but then again he was too slow.


    Not only was Liam''s stats way higher than his as his level was in apletely different rangepared to them but he had also pushed all of his mana towards his physical enhancement.


    So no one could even touch him.

 Chapter 142 - You Might Be Reasonable But I Am Not

    <h4>Chapter 142 - You Might Be Reasonable But I Am Not</h4>


    "What the fuck? How is he so strong? How is he even a lifestyle yer!"


    Thest person shouted before his health bottomed out as well and his body dropped down dead.


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue were both standing still, absolutely dumbstruck. They did not even dare to breathe.


    Their eyes dumbly followed along with Liam''s movements and at times they weren''t even able to do that.


    His figure disappeared and then appeared somewhere else at a moment''s notice. He was here, there, and everywhere.


    He was simply too fast and too strong.


    All they could see were the bandits around them being helplessly cut down one after the other.


    They had spoken several things and acted confidently, but in the end, they couldn''t even survive for an entire minute that too against a single person!


    "Your Brother is too strong¡­" Shen Yue dazedly muttered.


    Mei Mei also gulped in agreement. She remembered seeing the top-ranking yer''s name a while back and it was the same name as her brother.


    Perhaps¡­ really¡­?


    Liam, on the other hand, was already done with this and moved on to the next things that needed to be taken care of.


    He kicked aside the corpse, wiped the blood off of his sword, and walked over to the silent graveyard, leaving behind the two women standing still and looking at him in awe.


    "Luna, go pick up the drops and bring it all to me," Liam ordered the fox.


    Kyuuu!


    The fox jumped up and down in delight and quickly dashed around. Within a few seconds, she brought everything that the group of yers had dropped.


    "Brother, these are all the items those yers were wearing?" Mei Mei also walked over and curiously asked.


    "Yes." Liam absentmindedly answered.


    "Can anyone use these now?" Shen Yue saw that there was a couple of strength-boosting rings.


    "Mmmhm."


    Without her asking further, Liam picked up rings and gave them to her.


    "Ah. This¡­ this is too much. I was just curious. I didn''t mean to¡­ ask¡­ umm,"


    Shen Yue did not expect him to just casually give it to her and her cheeks heated up.


    She didn''t want him to think bad about her, so she tried to exin, but Liam was clearly distracted.


    His eyes were fixated on something else.


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei silently shifted their gaze to see what he was looking at, when suddenly without any warning, the five guys appeared again.


    "Brother!" Mei Mei shouted in panic. She thought that the danger was over but these guys were here once again?


    She hurriedly turned to look at Liam. However, he was no longer sitting there.


    Liam had already moved. The two women could only nkly stare at the scene in front of them, as his silhouette shed here and there, along with his sword.


    And just like before¡­ a couple of secondster¡­


    The six guys were dead again¡­


    "Brother¡­ this¡­" Mei Mei opened and closed her mouth speechlessly.


    Shen Yue as well unblinkingly looked at him.


    But Liam simply smiled. "I am going to be busy for a bit. You both should use this time to grind some more boars."


    The two gulped and nodded. They didn''t linger around him any longer and quickly got down to business.


    They had just been assaulted today in real life by some assholes and then immediately confronted by some thugs in-game.


    If it was not for Liam, they would have once again suffered and been helpless.


    The way that he had yed with everyone, despite facing them all alone, was inspiring to say the least.


    This was the difference between someone who had strength and power and someone who did not.


    So with blood pumping wildly and adrenaline coursing through their bodies, the two fought with even more vigorpared to before and put more effort into their training.


    Any boar that showed up around that area was instantly ughtered by the two women.


    While Shen Yue dealt damage in close range, Mei Mei finished the fight with her long-range attacks. Their coordination was bing better and better.


    But their ranks were not rising up quickly as they were still in a party with Liam and sharing their experience points with him, a higher leveled yer.


    So they were barely getting any experience points. Only their skills were steadily improving.


    Liam as well gave out pointers to the two while waiting for the bunch of guys to respawn.


    "Mei Mei, pay close attention to your mana level and spirit level. Try to grasp the feeling of what it means to have full mana and full spirit."


    "Shen Yue, pay attention to your movements and your opponent''s movements. Try to see if there is a pattern. You should be able to predict the next attack."


    "Me Mei, even though it''s the same boar beast, activate your [Insight] skill every single time."


    "Sometimes, after throwing in the first attack, the weakness of the beast changes. So keep activating the skill again and again."


    "You should be able to do it smoothly like you are breathing out."


    He paid attention to their movements and kept himself upied, but it was still quite boring.


    He would probably have to do this for another hour or more depending on how much they had already died.


    Liam yawned. He knew that this was only going to get worse.


    As the levels of the yers increase further and further, this was inevitably going to be even more taxing in the future.


    He couldn''t help but wonder if there was a better way to farm souls.


    As Liam quietly pondered, the few yers respawned again in front of him. They came back again in the same order that they had fallen.


    "Brother¡­ can we talk this out please¡­"


    Bam. Dead.


    "Brother¡­ we were fools¡­"


    Bam. Dead.


    "Great grandfather¡­ please forgive us¡­"


    Bam. Dead.


    "This guy is just showing off in front of his girlfriends! BASTARD!"


    Bam. Dead.


    "We only nned to bully you. Isn''t this a bit too much? Aren''t you going too far?"


    Bam. Dead.


    "Why are you going this far, damn it?"


    "Hmmm¡­ Well¡­ for your strength that was bullying... for my strength this is bullying¡­ How am I being unfair?"


    Liam shrugged before sending this one as well back to the realm of the dead.

 Chapter 143 - You Have A Mean Streak

    <h4>Chapter 143 - You Have A Mean Streak</h4>


    The group of yers could only silently wail in misery. They had only themselves to me for their bad luck.


    They all looked at Liam, hoping he would show some sort of kindness but he did not seem to care at all.


    He just kept continuously killing them again and again.


    The little fox also joined in on this and the two of them even seemed to be doing some sort of training with fire magic?


    What the heck was he doing?


    All he needed to do to activate the spell was will themand? So they did not understand what the two were upto.


    But they did not have the mental capacity to think about this.


    Death was not simply a drop in their health. It fucking hurt like hell!


    And to keep dying repeatedly¡­


    This was torture!


    A never ending torture as they were not able to log out.


    They had never noticed this before, but they couldn''t log out unless they respawned. Once they did, the hateful guy in front of them killed them immediately afterward.


    Which fucking game had a loophole like this? Why was this not mentioned in any forums?


    The more they thought about it the more they felt that something was wrong.


    If they had died and spawned somewhere else, this wouldn''t have happened. Their main problem was that they had died right next to a graveyard.


    How could a graveyard coincidentally be near the ce where they attacked them?


    Unless¡­


    This person knew about this loophole all along and purposefully brought them here? Who was trapping whom? Was everything nned from the beginning?


    But it was toote to think about all that.


    Liam did not even flinch once as he repeatedly massacred the group of yers without giving them any chance to recover or escape.


    He needed more kills to finish his special quest and these scapegoats came to him all on their own.


    As for whether they deserved this or not? He couldn''t care less about it, especially after the recent developments.


    Liam looked over at the two women who were busily hunting down boars.


    He needed to go to theher realm as soon as possible but he didn''t want to leave these two on their own.


    This was a big problem. However, he had a solution.


    And now that these guys interrupted them, he began to rethink this solution and decided to add another safety backup solution as well.


    While grinding the bunch of guys to death, he opened the map to track a path. He stared at the map for a few minutes, before nodding in content.


    A few more minutes passed when unexpectedly Liam got the notifications that he was waiting for.


    [Ding. You have obliterated a soul.]


    [Ding. You have obliterated a soul.]


    [Ding. You have obliterated a soul.]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Seven notifications promptly appeared and the five guys no longer showed up at the graveyard. "What? That was fast?" Liam knitted his eyebrows together.


    He had been prepared for another hour of grind but it looked like these fools had already died a lot before.


    Considering their nature of jumping the gun without doing proper research and looking for fighting constantly, this did not surprise him too much.


    Liam looked again to see if he had collected all the loot and then got up. "I am done."


    "Ha ha ha. I am sure they logged out and are crying right now." Mei Mei giggled. "They deserved it, hmph!"


    Shen Yue, on the other hand, was slightly silent. This didn''t seem to make sense to her.


    If they could log out, then wouldn''t they have logged out before? Why did they wait so long?


    "What are you thinking about?" Liam asked her, a subtle smile on his face.


    "Ah. Nothing. Thanks for the rings." Shen Yue shook her head. "Are we going to some other ce now?"


    "Yup." Liam called the wind ripper over and the three started walking. "If you guys are tired, then one of you can hitch a ride with Talon."


    "Ah, brother! You named your bird! I wanted to name him!" Mei Mei pouted.


    "Ha Ha. That''s ok. You can have your own pet very soon and then you can name that."


    While still talking, Liam suddenly lifted her up without any warning and then dumped her on the wind ripper.


    "Take a ride." He winked and then jumped down.


    The girl''s eyes widened as she only now realized what had just happened.


    "Ah¡­ Ahhh¡­. Ahhhhh¡­ Wait a second¡­ Ahhhhh¡­." Mei Mei screamed but it was toote. The bird shook his head and had already started pping his wings.


    She could only watch him helplessly and wail loudly as they began ascending higher and higher. "Follow us, Talon." Liam chuckled. He was very satisfied with this result.


    He knew that she would eventually love it and that was why he had surprised her, but this look on her face was too silly and he couldn''t help himself fromughing.


    Shen Yue watched the duo from the side and smiled. "You have a mean streak." She muttered to Liam, making him grin wider.


    "You bet!"


    The two of them then continued walking side by side in the dense lush forest, with their clothes fluttering in the wind.


    It felt oddly calm and peaceful.


    "This game is really nice. I never thought a video game could be so enjoyable." Shen Yue muttered.


    She turned to look at Liam but was startled as she caught him staring at her, eying her from top to bottom. His gaze dragged on her as if he wanted to gobble her up.


    "Cough. Cough. Is there something on my face?" Shen Yue blushed furiously.


    Liam did not reply to her and instead took out a few items from his inventory. "Try switching out to this gear."


    "Ah¡­" Now she understood.


    She silently epted the things that he gave her without standing on ceremony.. From the looks of it, this person seemed to have an entire shop in his inventory.

 Chapter 144 - Women Are Expensive!

    <h4>Chapter 144 - Women Are Expensive!</h4>


    "Brother? What the hell? Are we close to the royal city or what?" Mei Mei looked around at the swarm of yers crowding them.


    They had not even entered the city and were still on the outskirts but the crowd was already drowning them.


    "Ah! I really thought we were going on another adventure to some dark cave or maybe to fight some huge monster!" The girl pouted.


    "What are we doing in a city again?"


    "Sure. Your level is 2 but you want to fight some huge monster? You know dying hurts like hell right? Want me to show you a sample?"


    Liam ran the sharp edge of his rusted sword on his hand, drawing a drop of blood.


    "Hey, why did you hurt yourself?" Shen Yue hurriedly grabbed his hand aside.


    "Brother, what the hell?!" Mei Mei also started panicking. Did her brother secretly have some cutting fetish?


    "It''s alright. I am fine." Liam smiled. The wound stopped bleeding in an instant. Nevertheless, it looked very painful.


    Like I said, the pain is real. So you have to be very careful."


    Just as they were talking, the three arrived in front of the royal city. The huge city gates were carved like exquisite sculptures and shone in brilliant golden color.


    The guards standing were also huge and bulky guardian knights.


    "Brother, what level are these guys?" Mei Mei whispered.


    Liam smiled and normall replied back. "Probably 100 or more. There is no need to whisper but don''t mess with them."


    Liam paid the 30 silver entry fee for all three of them and then entered the city.


    This ce had apletely different charm whenpared to the trade city Yleka, but the thing that was most prominent was the presence of the royal guards.


    They littered every inch of the city, dressed in bright shining gear from top to bottom. There were also no peddlers, no beggars, no random street vendors.


    There were only structured shops and all the NPCs around looked like wealthy fat cats. Everything around them was posh, luxurious, and intimidating.


    One could tell the difference just by looking. Clearly, these people enjoyed a different status in society.


    "Ughhh¡­ this ce¡­ it''s a little on the nose." Mei Mei frowned. She turned around to see that Liam was not walking with the both of them.


    "Brother?" She asked in confusion.


    "Hmmm?"


    "You are noting in?"


    "No. You both should log out here and sleep for the rest of the night."


    "Ah. So soon?" Shen Yue and Mei Mei nced at each other and both seemed reluctant to leave the game.


    They had just gotten the taste of this amazing life and they didn''t want to leave so soon.


    "Eh? Wasit, why do we have to sleep? I read that brain waves are smoothed or something and that ying this game gave the same effect as sleeping?" Mei Mei quickly retorted.


    "Yes. I also read something about that!" Shen Yue also added.


    Liam looked at the two eager humans and couldn''t help butugh. "Alright. You can continue ying if you want, but don''t step out of the city for any reason. Understood?"


    "Un. Understood brother. We will only stay in the city. Now we can y right?" The two vigorously nodded their heads up and down.


    Liam saw the two idiots acting like small kids and smiled helplessly.


    "You can y. Since you guys have a ''lot'' of knowledge about the game, you should also know that there are many quests in the royal city that you canplete within the city itself."


    "If you don''t know, then log out and check the forums and do only those quests. They will just be a simple collection or misceneous type quests."


    "You both can also learn cooking or other lifestyle skills or you can go to the training hall and practice yourbat style with the training dummy."


    Hearing Liam''sst suggestion, both the women''s faces immediately changed as neither wanted to spend their time hitting a dummy.


    "Ugh. So boring. I won''t do that, brother." Mei Mei stuck out her tongue.


    Liam smiled and shrugged. "I am only giving you both some suggestions. Just keep yourselves busy for the next few hours and I will be back soon."


    He gave both Mei Mei and Shen Yue 10 gold coins each. "You both can also go visit the different restaurants and try the cuisine."


    "Just don''t step out of the city, alright?" Liam warned the two one more time before preparing to leave.


    "Wait¡­ what? These are gold coins?" Mei Mei was speechless. She looked up at Liam but he had already started walking away, waving them goodbye.


    Shen Yue also looked bbergasted. She could understand the guy giving some pocket money to his sister, but for her also?


    Wasn''t he treating her too good? Which guy was so generous?


    "Ummm¡­ Mei Mei, you should keep this." Shen Yue handed over the coins to the young girl.


    "What why?" Mei Mei asked.


    "I mean your brother probably wants you to have a good time and he gave us this pocket change. So you should use it. I don''t want anything." Shen Yue shook her head.


    "Sis Yue, you are joking, right? These are freaking gold coins. These are not pocket change." Mei Mei grinned as the other person was even more clueless than her.


    "Just keep them. Brother gave them to you, didn''t he?"


    "But¡­"


    "No butts¡­ Let''s go get some quests." Mei Mei grinned. The look on her face told that she was not ready to take no for an answer.


    Shen Yue sighed and gave up. "Alright. Let''s go."


    The young girl pped her hands excitedly and the two of them started looking around.


    Meanwhile, Liam walked over to the auction house. It was time to put up another batch of fire resistance potions for sale.


    The buzz was not going tost for long and he intended to use this opportunity properly to rake in a lot of gold, especially now that he had to take care of not one but two women.

 Chapter 145 - More Potions For Sale

    <h4>Chapter 145 - More Potions For Sale</h4>


    As soon as Liam put up the next batch of fire resistance potions, another uproar erupted in front of all the auction houses in the Gresh Kingdom.


    The various guilds went into a frenzy once again and yers scrambled to purchase these potions.


    Everyone had been eagerly waiting for this to happen ever since the shutdown and restart of the game but the seller of the potion did not reappear.


    Some had even concluded that this was a drop that was being sold. But now finally the potions were back on sale and once again by the anonymous alchemist!


    All the guilds that wanted to find out the person''s identity and recruit him or make some sort of direct dealings with him were disappointed because of this.


    Did this guy not want to earn money or join the big guilds? What was his motive here?


    Unfortunately, they could only wait and see.


    While everyone else was thrown into disarray, Liam alone casually walked over to a shop and made some purchases, refilling some of his staples.


    This time he did not hang back to watch the show in front of the auction house.


    Time was something he was short on and he had far too many important things to aplish rather than spend time on these silly things.


    After finishing his purchases, he directly started walking out of the royal city.


    He didn''t mind patiently mentoring his sister and Shen Yue but when it came to paying attention to the auction house shenanigans, it was just a waste of time.


    As he neared the gates of the city, Liam whistled.


    Fwoosh.


    Talon immediately dove out of the sky like an arrow slicing through the air andnded in front of him.


    The bird was slowly bing bigger in size with every level it gained. It could now easily support even two fully grown human beings.


    Liam hopped on the back of the bird along with the fox and the three of them disappeared into the forests again, sting forward with tremendous speed.


    This was the advantage of having a flying mount.


    Liam casually flew above the swarm of yers outside of the royal city and covered acres and acres of forests with ease without having to deal with all the beasts that crawled below him.


    He also didn''t have to worry about the rough terrain, the bandits, and also the speed of the bird was boosted with a skill that overall almost doubled his travel speed across the kingdomnds.


    As the bird flew rtively high up in the sky, Liam carefully paid attention to the scenery below.


    This time he ventured towards the eastern parts of the Gresh Kingdom, almost near its boundaries.


    This was also the area where the Javi vige was located, the vige the beast trainer had told him about that worshipped the eternal me.


    However, Liam did note here for this reason today.


    Instead of traveling all the way to the eastern borders of the Kingdom, he leaned forward and patted Talon as soon as they approached a mountain.


    When the bird circled around, lowering further down, he could see more clearly.


    "There. Go to that swamp."


    Besides the mountains, there was a vast swamp area filled with brownish green fungus, moss, stagnant water, densely packed trees, and their unruly wild vines which entwined everything in sight.


    The whole ce was a mess, but that was not the issue here.


    As soon as they entered the vicinity of the swamp, almost instantly a suffocating nauseous smell hit everyone''s noses.


    The bird screeched in agony and, the fox puffed its cheeks, not wanting to breathe the disgusting air anymore.


    However, Liam did not care about the smell.


    He patted the fox and gave the two pets a few instructions.


    "In a second, I will be bringing monsters over. Be ready to attack. Luna, stay on Talon''s back and attack from the air. Do not get down. I am counting on you both for this fight."


    He whispered and then quietly jumped down onto a tree that sprawled around in the swamp waters.


    Promptly, he received a couple of notifications.


    [Ding. You have been poisoned by the swamp air]


    [Ding. Your level is temporarily reduced by half]


    [Ding. Your vision is blurred]


    [Ding. You feel weak]


    [Ding. Your stats are reduced by half]


    Liam wryly chuckled and ignored these notifications.


    He already knew about these debuffs so there weren''t any surprises. This was also why he had asked Luna and Talon to stay in the air.


    His stats were reduced but theirs would still be the same. So they could potentially do a lot more damage than he could.


    However, this trick alone was nowhere enough to clear this ce.


    Liam cautiously looked around, his sharp eyes searching for the creatures that ruled this swamp.


    But before he could spot one, it looked like the enemy beat him to it.


    Meeerrrrrr! Meeeerrrrrr!!!!


    A screeching voice suddenly sounded from behind him and as Liam turned around, a long spear hurled towards him, just narrowly missing his head.


    "Fuck! It already started!" He cursed as he gazed at the creature behind him.


    [Merfin] (Level 38)


    It was not intimidating per se as the creature was nothing other than a walking fish.


    But the body of the fish was bigger, its fins sharper and more elongated and its teeth protruding out.


    More importantly, it had a pair of legs, using which it scurried behind him making loud screeching noises.


    Liam instantly moved from the spot he was squatting on and dodged another spear that shortly came afterward.


    The tree branch trembled and his body sprang forward, jumping from one branch to another, running across the swamp like a lithe monkey.


    However, the thing that had screeched behind him was not too far away.


    To make matters worse, the creature that was standing alone had now multiplied somehow and suddenly an entire horde of walking fishes was chasing the intruder in the swamp.

 Chapter 146 - Chased By Fishes

    <h4>Chapter 146 - Chased By Fishes</h4>


    Liam grinned. He did not look back anymore. He knew what he was being chased by and what was about to happen.


    He also knew that his chances of sess were not that great.


    In a way, this was even more challenging than when he had faced the numerous trolls.


    Nevertheless, he dared toe here as he desperately needed the item that dropped out of these creatures.


    So even with the risks involved, he still willingly walked into this trap zone.


    As Liam churned his mana to boost his physical state, he narrowly missed the several attacks that were being hurled at him.


    Bang. Bang. Bang.


    Sparks flew and more attacksnded with every step he took.


    By now the entire swamp was filled with screeching noises and hordes and hordes of merfins were slowly starting to gather together.


    The loud screeching noises attracted all the colonies of merfins residing in the swamp area and hundreds of fishes started chasing the single human being.


    Moreover, they were not chasing him simply.


    They constantly hurled various attacks at Liam. Several spears came for him. Numerous tridents were aimed at him.


    But the worst part was the spells.


    Merfins had a very unique fighting pattern. They had a weak defenseless body and all their attributes were also piss poor.


    However, the advantage they had was their numbers and this swamp they resided in. Here, they were the rulers and others were intruders.


    While everyone else was affected by the swamp debuff, these walking fishes did not suffer from the same.


    Along with these two strong points, there was also one more final nail to the coffin, which was the spell casting merfins.


    Some of the merfins were naturally gifted and they were able to cast a variety of trapping spells.


    [Mana Nets]


    [Freezing Lattice]


    [Tar Pit]


    [Drunken Earth]


    The merfin''s specialty resided in movement control spells and attack after attacknded on Liam.


    This was their approach towards all their prey.


    They attacked as a horde and used their control mechanisms to trap and prevent their targets from escaping their grasp.


    This coupled with the poisonous nature of the swamp, any intruder would slowly be squeezed out of their health.


    And when they finally fell, the end result could only be one, death!


    The merfins would swarm over to them like ants and not even bones would be left behind.


    But Liam was not working alone.


    He had alreadye here prepared for this.


    As he held his life in the palm of his hands and jumped swiftly from one branch to another, suddenly fire started raining from above.


    It came just in the nick of time, helping Liam gain some sort of momentum.


    "Good job, Luna! Keep going!" He shouted in his hoarse voice, panting in between.


    The merfins who had been energetically chasing him so far started slowing down.


    They screeched loudly and looked up to see why it was raining fire, but s, they couldn''t see anything past the dense canopy of leaves and vines and the drab smog.


    Liam used this confusion to put more distance between him and the walking fishes.


    This was it. This was his n. He took the time and trained the two pets and now it was time for the results to show.


    As Liam skillfully kited the fish gang, jumping around the groove of trees, Luna bombarded them from above with fireballs.


    In this way, they slowly brought the enemy''s health down and killed the merfins one by one.


    But this was easier said than done. There were hundreds and hundreds of them.


    While Liam ran around the swamp and Luna took down a few merfins, more and more colonies started joining in.


    Within a few minutes, the entire swamp full of merfins were running behind him, all sending out several attacks aimed at him.


    Liam dodged a few but inevitably severalnded on him.


    He took some of the spear attacks and physical attacks head-on but he made sure to avoid all the control type attacks.


    They were the most dangerous, as even being hit by one would lead to his sure death.


    But because of this, his health was dropping every second. He dunked one health potion after another and kept going on.


    "Don''t stop. Attack. Attack!" Liam shouted and continued moving.


    Every time he got a second lead, he used it to put more distance between him and the horde.


    This continued on for a while and Luna who was attacking from above became a total nervous wreck.


    The fox did not want to disappoint Liam and she could see that his life depended on her efforts.


    So she did her best and even targeted those fishes specifically whose health was about to bottom out.


    Because the spirit beasts had naturally high mana regeneration speed, she was easily able to keep up with this for several minutes and by then the number of fishes started dwindling.


    Seeing this, Liam once again shouted. "Luna, attack the ones with the red fins first."


    These were the spell casters and the ones that needed to be filled first.


    Luna understood hismand and quickly did the same. Now that the numbers were starting to be lesser and lesser, it was easier to target.


    And the merfin spell casters began to drop dead.


    [Ding. You have gained experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As time passed, the number of fishes chasing behind Liam was steadily decreasing and no more new colonies came out to join the fight.


    However, there was now another issue that had cropped up. Because of all the fireballs, the tree cover was bing more and more negligent.


    The fishes were finally able to catch sight of the culprits who were responsible for all of this chaos.


    There were still a few spell casters left, so the merfins began targeting the huge bird circling in the sky.


    They wanted to bring the fight down to the swamps where they were unbeatable.

 Chapter 147 - Unexpected Bounty

    <h4>Chapter 147 - Unexpected Bounty</h4>


    Liam saw this and immediately knew what was going to happen.


    "Talon, use your whirlwind attack."


    He pushed his mana reserves and jumped forward, putting more distance between him and the fishes.


    The wind ripper bird screeched, its cry louder than the merfins and it pped its huge wings, sending out several forceful gusts of wind thatbined together to form a huge whirlpool.


    Liam jumped ahead right on time and half of the fishes that were chasing behind him got caught in this whirlwind.


    They couldn''t handle the slicing winds and were tossed around mercilessly.


    Meeeerrrr. Meeerrrr.


    The fishes screeched and tried to fight back but one after another they down into the swamp waters.


    Plop. Plop. Plop.


    Everything was in shambles and the fishes were scattered everywhere.


    Liam stopped running away and before the whirlwindpletely subsided, he used a branch to jump towards the fishes that had been hit by the attack.


    He had kited enough and the number in front of him was nothing that he couldn''t handle, especially when they were waddling around helplessly.


    Before they could regain their bnce, he shed at them with his sword and chopped down one fish at a time.


    Liam hunted for every spot of red that he could find and finished off all the merfin spellcasters first.


    Watching his actions, Luna and Talon as well used this chance to pick away the floundering fishes one by one.


    Theirbined efforts halved the remaining number of merfins within seconds.


    Unfortunately, all of them received the debuff now but it didn''t matter because the messy fight was almost over.


    They pushed more and more and as thest fish dropped down dead, Liam and his two pets were only barely standing.


    All three of them rested on the shores of the swamp looking at the massive destruction in front of them. Just like that, the entire colony of fishes was dead and belly up.


    Liam let out a long sigh and then picked himself up off the ground. He bent down and picked up a small blue crystal ball that was near him.


    "1" He smiled and looked around to see several of these blue crystal balls lying nearby. He chewed on the recovery berries, and slowly moved here and there to pick up all the drops.


    Luna and Talon as well helped him.


    All of them together covered the vast swamp and collected the loot that was scattered and submerged in the dirty waters.


    It was quite a chore and a few merfins were still alive, caught here and there in between brambles.


    Liam finished these leftover remainders and collected all the crystal balls not leaving even a single one behind.


    These were special crystal cores that formed only in these walking fishes. They were not worth anything, save for a single purpose.


    And that was the reason for Liam''s visit to this swamp.


    As hebed through every inch of this swamp carefully looking for these special blue balls, Liam also noticed a few treasure chests around.


    "Damn. What a good haul!" He whistled and quickly hurried over to these chests.


    Normally, in other games, treasure chests respawned but in ''Evolution Online'' once a treasure chest was used, it would disappear forever.


    It was ''firste first serve'' and avable only once.


    However, it didn''t contain anything groundbreaking, or rather the chance of that happening was very low.


    These mainly had gold coins, gemstones, precious herbs or minerals, skill books, and recipes.


    Basically, anything that could be obtained from hunting down monsters could be found in a treasure chest butpared to the low drop rates from a monster, these were sure-shot loaded.


    And typically there was more than one treasure chest lying around grouped together, so if a yer chanced upon these, there would be several good things waiting for them inside.


    Liam knew about the merfins but he had no idea that this was a treasure chest spot.


    Luckily, he had already obtained the [Unlock] skill at the beginning of the game itself, so he now had no problems opening these treasure chests.


    He hopped over to the floating puddle of treasure chests and started hurriedly popping them open one by one.


    [Ding. You have obtained 10 gold coins and 200 blue crystal balls]


    [Ding. You have obtained [Swamp Vines] skill book and 200 blue crystal balls]


    [Ding. You have obtained [Mana Net] skill book and 200 blue crystal balls]


    "Heh. This is getting good." Liam''s eyes gleamed in happiness as he had never expected to find so many blue crystals within these treasure chests.


    From the entire colony of merfins, he had only managed to obtain around 200 blue crystal balls but every treasure chest ended up giving him the same amount.


    And these were 10 treasure chests to boot!


    He quickly unlocked more and more chests and found 200 blue crystal balls in each. By the time he finished opening them all, he had obtained a whopping 2200 balls!


    Liam took it all and quickly left the swamp even though it was a good grinding spot for experience points.


    If he stayed here for some more time after the merfins respawned he could repeat the same set of moves to grind them all down again.


    But that was not his first priority at the moment. Besides, he had better ways to farm experience points.


    He quickly hopped onto Talon''s back and they rose up, flying out of the disgusting and suffocating swamp air.


    Only now were they able to breathe freely and the debuffs as well disappeared.


    "Let''s gooo!" Liam grinned and patted the wind ripper. "I will get you guys something good to eat when we return to the royal city."


    His mood was very good as this mission had been a resounding sess.


    The bird chirped in delight and they flew onwards reaching a small patch ofnd that was away from the pungent swamps.


    "Get down here," Liam muttered.


    The wind ripper nodded and the fox smiled. However, it didn''tst long.


    As they descended down, the air became thick and heavy and this patch ofnd was even foulerpared to the swamps.

 Chapter 148 - I Have More Nasty Things

    <h4>Chapter 148 - I Have More Nasty Things</h4>


    Eeeek!


    The small fox buried her head into Liam''s back and her big round eyes were filled with tears to the brim, a few drops even leaking out.


    She was able to bear the stink of the swamp but this¡­


    Especially because of the beast''s heightened sense of smell, this was pure torture!


    She looked at Liam pitifully, but he only smiled back. "Just for a few minutes. Bear with it."


    He then patted the wind ripper, pointing to the small isted hut that was the only thing present in the vicinity.


    "Land near that hut."


    The bird chirped quietly and circled once to check if there was any danger around. It then gracefully glided down andnded in front of the hut.


    On the ground, the foul smell became several folds thicker and now even the bird''s eyes were dripping with tears.


    Liam also choked a little, before mentally strengthening his resolve. He hopped out and walked to the broken rusted wooden door with a calm expression.


    Knock. Knock. Knock.


    He lifted his hand and politely announced his presence.


    For a few seconds, there was no response, but soon a set of footsteps echoed.


    The door banged open suddenly and in front of Liam stood a short skinny old woman with a hunched back.


    Her nose was crooked as if it was broken and rejoined and her entire face was covered with pustules.


    The woman eyed Liam from top to bottom and cackled obscenely. "What a good piece of meat? Ke Ke Ke. You dared toe here?"


    "You are not afraid that I would chop you up and throw you into my cauldron? Ke Ke Ke"


    The woman revealed an extremely ugly grin and licked her lips. The aura that she had been suppressing earlier was now fully out in the open.


    It was a terrible eerie ominous aura that could make anyone shiver subconsciously.


    Liam, however, did not flinch on seeing her. He did not show any fear and tapped his inventory calmly, starting to take out the items. "I have something that you want."


    He held a bunch of small blue crystal balls in his palms that shone brilliantly.


    "I have more of these and I want to make an exchange. Are you interested?"


    The old hag who had been eyeing Liam all this time as if he was a sacrificialmb that had knocked on her door, suddenly looked dumbfounded.


    Her eyes widened and now her gaze was only fixated on the small blue balls in Liam''s hands and not on his body.


    "Merfin crystals? Ke Ke Ke Ke!"


    "Good. Good. This is too good. How many do you have with you?"


    "Give me everything. Ke Ke Ke."


    "What do you want in return? I have several nasty things on hand."


    "Ke Ke Ke. What do you want?"


    The old hag became too excited and she began cackling, licking her lips. It was an extremely unsightly scene that would have made anyone want to puke.


    Liam, on the other hand, grinned. This was what he was waiting for. "I want the cursed rings." He muttered immediately.


    "Oh. You know about my famous rings? Ke Ke Ke."


    "Good choice. Ke Ke Ke."


    "When a girl wears my ring, she will never be too far from you. She can never run away from you. In the blink of an eye, you can always reach her. Ke Ke Ke."


    "Use it wisely and enjoy! Ke Ke Ke."


    The witch patted her chest and proudly spoke.


    She then acted as if she remembered something and added. "As of yesterday, I also buy young girls. Don''t forget."


    "If you are done ying with the girls, you can always bring them to me. K e Ke Ke." She winked at him and licked her lips.


    "Sure." Liam shrugged.


    Nothing that came out of the old hag''s mouth was a surprise to him. This ce was as such.


    It was a special ce meant for perverts and degenerates. The items here were all degenerate items that could be used for both good and bad.


    So he didn''t bother arguing with her and simply agreed with everything. After all, it was just a shop exchange and he was not epting any quests.


    The old hag grinned contently watching him nod and then reached out under her skirt.


    Watching this, though Liam already knew this was going to happen, he still couldn''t keep a straight face.


    He cringed as he saw the old woman''s hand move under her skirt and after swimming around there, she pulled out something from in between her legs.


    It was a disgusting wet slimy pouch that was still dripping.


    And the stench became worse.


    Liam couldn''t help but take a step back.


    Eying Liam lecherously, the old witch cackled and she then opened the stinky pouch to take out some rings.


    "How many do you want?"


    Huh? Liam''s eyes brightened up. He could buy more than one?


    Thest time around everyone was allowed only one purchase with her. This was why he was nning on auctioning the other blue ball that he had collected.


    But now that things were different¡­ he was definitely not going to let this opportunity slip by.


    "Give me 20?" Liam tossed out a big number.


    "Ho Ho Ho! Have your eye on more than one girl? Good Good! I like you. I like you a lot!" She licked her lips.


    "But each ring costs a hundred balls! Do you have that many merfin crystals with you?"


    "Yes." Liam nodded. He handed her the set of blue balls in his hand and tapped his inventory to take out another set of blue balls.


    The old woman''s eyes sparkled as she greedily epted everything that came her way.


    "Do you have more? Do you have more? Just how many do you have?!" The witch gasped, clutching her hair and screeching like a maniac.


    "Give me everything!!!"


    "I have more nasty things. Want to take a look?"


    "As long as you give me enough crystals you can buy everything!"


    Liam was once again shocked.. As far as he knew, this woman should only have two items, but it seemed like things were not that simple.

 Chapter 149 - Pervert Paradise

    <h4>Chapter 149 - Pervert Paradise</h4>


    As the witch finished speaking, a prompt appeared in front of Liam, listing a bunch of items.


    [Love Candy]


    My love is a powerful drug!


    On consumption, the target is unable to move for a short period. The effect time varies depending upon the soul strength of the target.


    [Cursed Ring]


    I aming to get you, my darling!


    On consumption, a permanent ring is bound to the target. The target can then be reached instantaneously at will. Cooldown period. 5 hours.


    [Toad Spray]


    Who are you? You are just a toad!


    On consumption, the target bes a toad for a short period. The effect time varies depending upon the soul strength of the target.


    [Stink Ball]


    Why so stinky?


    On consumption, the target is covered by the unimaginable stink, making others unable to breathe and die of suffocation.


    [Girl Juice]


    Pure power!


    On consumption, the target is invigorated and all stats are increased by 100% for 5 seconds. Cooldown period. 5 hours.


    Liam''s eyes twitched on seeing the various nasty questionable items and their ludicrous descriptions.


    No doubt every single item was perverted but at the same time, they were also overpowered.


    They could be used for lecherous purposes and they could also be used for defeating overlord bosses.


    Especially the item girl juice that could increase his stats by 100%. This waspletely broken!


    Liam was not one to judge. He also did not want to think about what these items were actually made of.


    From what he could see, the inside of the witch''s hut was nothing short of terrifying. There were rotting dead bodies, petrified creatures, bones, bloodstains, and hair.


    There was no doubt in his mind that some or all of these items were probably used to prepare, but he couldn''t care less.


    This was a really good opportunity that he did not dare to miss.


    At first, he thought that he had a lot of merfin crystals, but now that he saw the full avable item list, the crystals he had were not nearly enough.


    Even if he farmed those fishes again, it would still never be enough.


    Liam narrowed his eyes and gazed at the list carefully from top to bottom. He couldn''t make up his mind on what to buy.


    Each was more powerful than the previous one and he could think of several uses for every single item.


    After a few seconds, he could no longer think clearly because of the smell and he hurriedly made a decision.


    Except for the Love Candy, he ended up buying 10 of each item. That was all he could afford now.


    Not that the Love Candy was not a powerful item, but the method of application wasplicated and the effect was variable.


    "If I have more time, I should pay this hag a visit again." Liam quickly handed over all the merfin crystals in his possession and finished the transaction.


    He carefully ced everything that he purchased in his inventory, nced at the old witch one more time, and stepped out of the hut.


    Even if it was him, there was only so much one could stand the foul smell. It was extremely corrosive to not just the body but also the mind.


    So Liam did not linger and got out.


    The old witch watched him leave as she stood outside the hut and cackled loudly.


    However, he did not bother waving her goodbye and hopped onto the wind ripper, who was more than happy to fly away from the damned ce as soon as possible.


    Its speed was in fact much faster this time as it sted away from the danger zone.


    Only when they werepletely out, all three of them let out their breaths that they were holding for so long and took fresh deep breaths.


    Liam saw that his two pets were close to tears. "Sorry, I will make this up to you guys." He smiled and patted the two, gazing at the vastnds ahead of them.


    Now he just had one more stop before he returned back to the royal city.


    "Go there." Liam instructed the bird, pointing to the north.


    Their next destination resided in the north and they were traveling from the eastern part of the Kingdom to the far north.


    These areas werergely unexplored and were home to several dangerous beasts.


    Only the central part of the Kingdom was mostly safe. Both Yleka city and Royal city were in the center of the Gresh kingdom.


    The farther one ventured away from the center of the Kingdom, the more dangerous it was.


    This particr stretch of the continent where Liam was headed was mostly mountainous and barren, with very little greenery.


    The wind ripper pped its huge wings and the three sliced through the air for a few hours before arriving close to their destination.


    Liam circled the mountainous region making sure that he was in the southern part of the northern ranges.


    In the very far north, there were strong gales and terrifying monsters. He did not know what they were as no one had explored them.


    But he knew that he wouldn''t be able to handle these enemies at his current level.


    In fact, most parts of the continent couldn''t be explored as everyone was kicked out of the tutorial when the strongest yer''s level was still in the early 70s.


    If Liam could somehow touch 100, he knew that he would be able to plunder every single inch of this tutorial world, including the dangerous mountains thatid ahead.


    But this was only a distant dream and was not on his priority list. He was not naive or stupid to try and be apletionist.


    This was war. His sole aim was to get as much as he could before he was kicked out. As for taking everything that thesends offered, that was aughable notion.


    However, just as he thought about these things, a small sprout of ambition couldn''t help but rear its head at the bottom of his heart.


    Level 100.... what if he could reach that?

 Chapter 150 - All Fall Down

    <h4>Chapter 150 - All Fall Down</h4>


    Liam''s eyes gazed at the huge tall mountains, lying one beside the other, calmly and indifferently as if what was happening in the rest of the world had very little to do with them.


    He sucked in a huge breath and then patted Talon, asking it to keep going.


    He was not exactly sure where in these mountains the spot he was looking for was located.


    The mountain range itself was quite spread out, their vast structures weaving up and down sinuously across thendscape.


    The bird circled the area for a few hours, ever so often Liam asking it to take a detour as he could see the outline of several monster nests lining the area.


    These were high levelled monsters clustered together and he didn''t want to provoke them and die unnecessarily.


    Even as such, he was clearly pushing his luck, but Liam decided to do it anyway.


    If he could somehow aplish this, then he could be at ease and continue doing his own things without having to apany his sister everywhere.


    Not that he minded doing it.


    Perhaps when everything was taken care of he could afford to live such a life of leisure but now there were too many things that he still needed to take care of.


    He wouldn''t be able to do those if he was constantly worrying about his sister.


    This was why he had taken the time to get the ''Cursed Rings''.


    Both Shen Yue and his sister would be able to equip these rings and with this he could instantly teleport next to them in the event of an unexpected dangerous situation.


    But the rings had a cool down period. There would also be some inevitable time dy for him to teleport next to them.


    It would just be a second at the most but a lot can happen in a second. For a powerful expert it would just take a second to destroy a hundred souls.


    Moreover, there were several mysterious ces in ''Evolution Online'' and beasts with strange abilities.


    And some of these were more than capable of negating the item effects of yers.


    So Liam didn''t want to take any chances and decided to get another backup bodyguard.


    This way he could focus on his task at hand without any other thoughts at the back of his mind.


    As they continued flying around for a couple more hours, Liam''s eyes finally widened and he patted the bird to slow down.


    There in the distance was a small ck dot moving.


    As the bird glided down and flew more closer, several ck dots slowly became visible.


    "That''s enough! Talon! Don''t go any closer." Liam immediately warned and the bird came to a screeching halt.


    But it was still toote.


    Just as Liam finished talking, a barrage of bullets and bazookas came for them, shooting straight from the base of the mountain.


    The ck dots were all already aware of their presence. The entire mountain base was abuzz with activity with the ck dots clustering together.


    Liam took one look at the situation and saw that things were going to undoubtedly take a turn for the worse.


    If it was him, he could have reacted fast and somehow gotten out of this situation, but unfortunately, Talon''s reaction speed was not that great.


    It was after all just amon grade flying beast. It was not realistic for him to expect too much from the bird.


    However, their situation was perilous and they were right now staring at the god of death riding towards them. He had to do something soon.


    Otherwise¡­ they would simply plummet to death.


    Liam''s brain spun and he quickly acted. He didn''t know whether this was going to work but it was worth a try.


    If they were going to plummet anyways why not do it a little sooner?


    His hands moved nimbly and he grasped the bird''s left wing with the maximum strength and power that he was capable of.


    SCREEEEE!


    This time, the bird''s reaction was instantaneous. The wind ripper screamed in pain and misery.


    Its bnce was disrupted and it began to fall abruptly from the sky, along with Liam still holding onto it tightly and the fox holding on to Liam for its dear life.


    The three of them came crashing down at immense speed, only narrowly missing the bullets and bazookas.


    However, they were not yet out of the danger zone. They were still continuing to plummet, death dropping all the way to the hilly coarse terrain that awaited them.


    "Talon!"


    "Talon!"


    "Get it together" Liam screamed. His voice was only barely audible as the air screamed loudly in their ears.


    The bird understood what he meant and also understood why he had done what he did on seeing the bombs raining down on either side of them.


    But the problem was that it could only understand and not do much.


    It tried to twist its body and struggled hard, fighting its very best to regain its bnce but unfortunately, it was all a bit too much.


    Perhaps if it was alone. With Liam''s and the small fox''s extra weight added on, it was too much for the bird and it just couldn''t recover.


    Not helping the matter, the bullets and the arrows now raining down after they had obviously missed their target were also freaking the bird out.


    The trajectory of those items was luckily different as they had started falling sooner and the weight distribution was different.


    So at least nothing was piercing anyone, as the various weapons fell around them. But that didn''t change the fact that they were still falling.


    SCREEEE! KYUUUU! SCREEEE! KYUUUU!


    The two pets screamed at the top of their lungs. They slowly neared closer and closer to their inevitable death.


    The two looked at their master anxiously, holding on to very little hope, to see if he had something up his sleeve


    But Liam seemed to be too calm. He even had his eyes closed.


    The two pets gulped in fear. It looked like their master had already made peace with his death.


    Maybe it was time for them to do the same?

 Chapter 151 - Bumpy Landing?!

    <h4>Chapter 151 - Bumpy Landing?!</h4>


    As both the fox and the bird stared at Liam and his calm face, the two became stupified and screeched even more loudly.


    However, the next instant theypletely quieted down as they saw something unbelievable.


    A huge fireball appeared in front of Liam and was falling down along with the rest of them.


    And as it was falling down, the fireball started gaining more momentum and began to grow bigger.


    What the hell?


    However, no one had any time to think as the ground beneath them was approaching.


    Screee! Kyuuuu!


    The two once again screamed in madness. This slow descent because of the cutting winds and the wait for their impending death was excruciatingly painful.


    But¡­ their time was finally here!


    And just as they were about tond with their faces down on the dry barren rocky slope of a mountain¡­ unexpectedly something else happened.


    BOOM!


    Their brains shook and the fox and the bird couldn''t see anything except for the chunks of rocks flying at them and the loud sound of an explosion.


    They also felt a massive albeit burning force pushing them from the other direction, in effect reducing their plummeting speed.


    In the span of a second, their sure deaths somehow got flipped and they simply scattered and fell on the mountain slope with just grave injuries instead.


    Liam shed his eyes open and immediately emptied a bottle of health potion. He had taken the brunt of the explosion and only had a pathetic 50 health points left!


    He then sprang up and dashed over to the fox first. She was also not doing well and barely had any health left.


    He took another health potion and helped the beast recover as well, followed by the bird.


    Only then did he sit down on the rough ground and catch his breath.


    "FUCK!" Liam gritted his teeth and punched the rock next to him to shatter it into several tiny bits that fell alongside the other debris.


    "Too close. I should have been more careful."


    He took several breaths calming himself down, though his heart was still beating out of his chest.


    He did not have a n when they had first begun falling and only attempted this dangerous option because there was no other choice.


    He knew of this method because it was one of the less popr ones to break a fall. There were other better ones but they all needed special times.


    Even if he had any wind magic skills, things wouldn''t have gone this far. Since he only had control over the fire element he had to try this self-destructive strategy.


    Thankfully, somehow the force was enough and they had managed to scrape by with just a few injuries.


    Liam let out a deep breath and stood up. He didn''t dare to rx for long. After all, they hadn''t even started the main course of the meal!


    He activated [Stealth] and circled the spot to make sure that there weren''t any other creatures around.


    Liam then bent down and patted the wind ripper. "I am sorry for shocking you both like that. You should stay here for now. I will be back in a few hours."


    "If somethinges your way, fly away to that side and not this side. Even if by mistake you fly into that zone again, they would once again attack you both. Understood?"


    The two pets dazedly nodded, looking at Liam with reverence. They had still not recovered from what had just urred.


    Everything had happened too fast!


    One second, they were flying. The next they were being attacked and then they were falling to the ground, but now they were sitting leisurely as if nothing had taken ce?


    Their master was too good!


    Liam did not forget to take out some food and give the two something to eat. This was not a low level zone. It would be impossible for them to hunt and eat anything on their own.


    Since he had no idea when he would be able to return from this particr mission, he made sure to give them both adequate food beforehand.


    Liam then activated his [Stealth] skill one more time and slowly maneuvered down the slope reaching the foot of the hill they hadnded on.


    He then paused for a moment to check his surroundings and once again began to move. Every step he took, he made sure to do it cautiously.


    Even a single slip-up could cost him his life.


    He slowly walked around, hiding his figure behind the tall rocks, and headed towards the small campsite that they had spotted from high up in the air.


    There weren''t any creatures in the vicinity so he didn''t run into anything unexpectedly.


    After several minutes, he finally arrived near the ce, but he stopped himself and did not enter the valley.


    He hid behind a rock first and carefully observed everything.


    In front of him, there were several small things busily buzzing about, being very lively and active.


    These were the ck dots that they had seen from up above, now bigger in size. They were all constantly moving with purpose and urgency.


    However, weirdly all of themcked any sort of life.


    They were simply metallic beings in the shape of rectangles and cylinders.


    They had some humanoid features like limbs and faces, but they were full and full made of metal.


    These robotic gnomes all glowed and buzzed as they wandered around the valley.


    Liam took a look at the camp and immediately double-checked that his [Stealth] was still active. Otherwise, it would be instant death.


    Even beasts could be tricked once aggroed but it was extremely difficult to trick these little buggers.


    Every single one of them had automatic high technology sensors, not just simply sensing motion but also the presence of mana to some extent.


    It was almost impossible to escape their detection.


    Liam clenched his fist and mumbled to himself.


    "Time to start."


    "This is going to get ugly."

 Chapter 152 - To Press The Button Or Not?

    <h4>Chapter 152 - To Press The Button Or Not?</h4>


    Liam slowly stepped out of the spot he was hiding with his [Stealth] skill activated. He did not directly barge into the valley and only tip-toed on the outskirts.


    He continued doing this for several minutes and then came to a stop at the opposite mountain.


    "Hmmm. As long as I manage to stay away from the gnomes and maintain my stealth, I should be ok."


    Liam wanted to first confirm this assumption before proceeding with the rest of his n. This venture was already risky but more importantly, there was another issue.


    He was not sure how legitimate the information he obtained about this spot was.


    In his previous life, one of the mid-sized guilds had stumbled into this area and had obtained the item that he was pursuing now.


    In addition, they had used this lucky discovery to improve their strength and boasted about it everywhere, publicizing it on all the forums.


    It was a very hot topic.


    They had talked about everything including location, the difficulties, and the clever strategy they had used, without any reservations.


    They gave out all the details left and right. Of course, this was partially because they had already looted and plundered the ce without leaving behind any scraps.


    But Liam doubted if it was that simple. Perhaps there was something that they did not share openly, like for example any losses they had run into and so on.


    So he decided to keep an eye open for any sudden unexpected surprises.


    Liam did a few rounds, walking around the area while being careful not to step into the range.


    He observed the settlement and everything seemed to match the details of what he had read about.


    There were two caves one at each mountain base and the gnomes were walking about between these two ces, actively carrying what looked like mineral ores.


    They were also carrying other tools, what looked like machine parts, and some other rock debris. The more Liam looked at it, the more he felt as if they were building something.


    But he didn''t quite care about that. The item that he wanted should be inside the cave on the north.


    However, before getting there he needed to cross this humongous obstacle in front of him, the hundreds and hundreds of small mechanical gnomes loitering about tirelessly.


    Liam already had a strategy to deal with them but he did not act yet.


    He waited and observed the gnomes for some more time.


    Time slowly ticked by and the behaviour of the gnomes did not change much.


    "Should I just give up and try it out?" Even Liam began to lose his patience and contemted simply trusting the information put out by the guild.


    But he immediately shook his head, rejecting that idea. "It''s fine if it takes longer. I should not rush here."


    He continued keeping up his [Stealth] skill and leaned on the rock to watch the action of the robotic gnomes.


    They were made of metal so they didn''t seem to need any breaks or rest and simply kept robotically doing the same thing over and over again.


    However, every other hour a bigger gnome robot showed up, making sure that everything was running smoothly. This was the Gnome Overseer.


    Other than the normal gnomes, and the Gnome Overseer, there was also one other gnome which was the Sentinel Gnome.


    This looked taller and had a red light on its head. Whenever this robot came out, Liam acted on instinct and took a few steps back.


    Just judging from the name, he had a strong feeling that perhaps this gnome''s zone of detection was bigger.


    Liam had now almost spent a total of 12 hours in this endeavour and this seemed to be the only gnomes wandering around.


    "So there is no pattern whatsoever. Maybe there is really no other choice but to face everything?" He prepared to act, but decided to wait for one more hour.


    Coincidentally, in the 13th hour, the number of gnomes in the valley suddenly reduced to just 5.


    The robots that were walking around like ants in a queue had all disappeared or rather gone into their respective caves and only 5 small gnomes came out holding some sort of boxes.


    Liam instantly became alert and jumped into action. He did not hesitate any longer as this could be the best chance to try out the strategy.


    He lifted his hand and aimed for the gnome closest to him. He then activated [Lightning Bolt].


    Liam did not mess around and directly used the system''s help in activating this spell.


    This was because even though the gnomes were small, and they were lifeless brainless bots, they were quite difficult to deal with.


    Why?


    Exactly because they were lifeless and brainless.


    The gnomes attacked using inbuilt gun machinations which had extremely high firepower, precision and speed.


    But more importantly, they had a self-destruction mechanism.


    Even if Liam somehow dodged their extremely high powered precision bullets, he still had to deal with the huge explosion that could ur at any instant as the gnome propelled itself to him.


    And this was just a single gnome.


    If Liam by mistake got caught in the cluster of gnomes, five or more might immediately propel themselves to him andmit suicide, thereby taking his life also along with theirs.


    These gnomes did not know the concept of ''Overkill'', they were simply designed to do whatever it took to protect the base.


    At least this was the information Liam had in his possession and he did not doubt this part as there had even been videos of this fight.


    So how to ovee this impossible situation?


    The answer was in the red button on their stomach.


    It was a small bead like button and one wouldn''t be able to see it if they did not know something like that existed beforehand.


    Liam as well was currently eying this button. "This should be it."


    If he could target this button with his lightning bolt then the mechanical gnome would go into a dazed condition for 15 minutes!


    This was the strategy that the guild had publicized, but would it really work?

 Chapter 153 - Explosive Gnomes

    <h4>Chapter 153 - Explosive Gnomes</h4>


    Liam aimed for the small red spot on the gnome and activated the [Lightning Bolt] skill.


    "Come on. Come on. Come on." He mumbled, watching the attack shoot towards the small thing.


    At worst, he had to deal with the 5 gnomes attacking him together but that was still¡­


    Bzzt!


    The lightning bolt crackled and without any surprise, it hit its target!


    "This should work right?"


    The aim was fine since he activated with the system''s help but he had a feeling that the intensity was a bit¡­


    If his attack had indeed been effective, the gnome should now get dizzy and spin around in ce beforeing to aplete halt in its dazed state.


    Liam held his breath, watching and waiting for this to happen.


    And just as he wanted the gnome also began to spin¡­


    However¡­


    The very next second the gnome unexpectedly came to aplete stop and its dull lifeless eyes locked onto Liam.


    "Fuck!" Liam did not have to wait around to know what this meant.


    Instead of the gnome, he spun around and started running away with the maximum speed that he could.


    But he was still not fast enough.


    Behind him were the five gnomes, hot on his trail and not willing to let the intruder escape.


    He ran around the mountain ranges without catching his breath.


    However, it was not easy to shake off the gnomes and they continued chasing him, their speed slowly catching up to his.


    Liam did not know if this was good luck or bad luck. The method did not work but the good thing was that only five gnomes were behind him.


    He was so d that he decided to wait and attack instead of barging in when the bigger group was around.


    But he couldn''t feel too relieved as the five gnomes had already caught up to him.


    BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.


    They all simultaneously started a round of firing and Liam gritted his teeth, diving behind a huge rock as fast as he could to take cover.


    A couple of bullets grazed him and a couple more directly hit him, taking out chunks of his health.


    Moreover, a bleed status was also activated and Liam was constantly losing blood along with his health.


    He immediately took a health potion but something told him that the worst was yet to happen.


    Just as the thought crossed his mind, a small figure flew over to him,nding directly in front of him.


    "INTRUDER ALERT. BEGIN SELF-DESTRUCT"


    Liam was face to face staring at the dull lifeless gnome''s eyes. "Fuck. I am dead."


    He gulped down the health potion and dashed out of that spot, not before the explosion cleaved half of his health, tossing him like dirt onto another nearby rock.


    Before Liam could catch a breath and regain his bnce, another small thing flew by andnded in front of him.


    "INTRUDER ALERT. BEGIN SELF-DESTRUCT"


    "FUCK!" Liam''s hands moved at lightning-fast speed, as he sprang out of there, while also dunking in another health potion.


    Bam. One more explosion rang out and this one was even bigger than the previous one as the other gnomes joined the self-destructing gnome.


    One by one everything started the self-destruction together, triggering a series of explosions. The ground shook and the surrounding rocks trembled.


    Dust and debris flew everywhere and the bullets stored within the gnomes started firing in random directions. It was a total shit fest.


    Liam waspletely caught in the attack. It was impossible for him to outrun it and even if he used five health potions he wouldn''t be able to recover his health.


    This was a sure-death scenario.


    As ast-ditch attempt, he used the only other thing that was avable to him.


    "Ice nket!" He shouted, activating the skill.


    He churned out every ounce of his mana, draining his body dry in a desperate attempt to freeze at least a part of the explosion.


    He did not even bother controlling anything and just let it go.


    Layers afteryers of frost started forming, appearing out of thin air. However, Liam did not watch it.


    His hands hastily scurried, squeezing out all his agility to take more health potions out of inventory, and he gulped them down one after the other.


    Meanwhile, his frost nket spread out starting from his body and expanding outward. This was the first time Liam had tried to use this spell as a shield and it worked.


    It temporarily held back the impact of the explosion covering him in a thick shell of ice.


    Liam sucked in the cold breath of air, looking around him to see white walls, but it did not hold for long.


    Cracks started appearing.


    The next second, the shellpletely exploded and the raging fire was once again at Liam''s doorstep.


    However, this was already enough to protect him from the main explosion impact and brought him some time to think.


    Watching the ice shield, Liam had another idea and decided to erect the fire shield instead.


    Unlike the ice element, this did not sh with the waves of the explosion and held together better.


    Liam had already used up all of his mana, so he quickly picked himself up and started moving away with the fire shield still switched on.


    He used a couple of mana potions to keep this going and hurried to a safer location, leaving behind the fire that was shooting at him.


    "Just how many ammunition do these fuckers have hidden in their small bodies?"


    He gasped for breath and ran. Despite the mana refill, he couldn''t maintain focus, and the fire shield as well soon copsed.


    So he dived behind another huge rock and rested there.


    Now that he had nothing more to run from and he was also away from the main site of the explosion, he could finally breathe.


    "What a fail!" Liam turned back to look at the carnage with his lips curled upwards into a wide grin.. He might have failed but he now knew exactly what he had to do.

 Chapter 154 - Priorities...

    <h4>Chapter 154 - Priorities...</h4>


    After the dust settled down, Liam got up from his spot and dusted himself, but he did not head back to the gnome campsite.


    Instead, he walked over to sit in front of another huge rock, cing sufficient distance between himself and the rock.


    He sat down in a cross-legged position and exhaled and inhaled a few times, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.


    He then began practicing.


    Bzzzt


    Bzzzt


    Bzzzt


    Small sparks, one after another materialized in front of him and shot forward, all aimed at a single spot on the huge rock.


    This time Liam did not activate the spell using the system''s help and manipted the spell on his own.


    When he had tried to mess with the gnome earlier, he clearly saw the sparks sttering, not fully contained within the small red button.


    So he couldn''t help but wonder if that was why the gnome had been aggroed instead of just simply malfunctioning.


    This was just his conjecture and he still needed to confirm it.


    But in the off chance that he was right¡­ then he would be able to settle his gnome problem really soon.


    A few more minutes passed and Liam continued quietly practicing. The number of ckened spots on the rock was also steadily increasing.


    Some were on target and some were off target, but this was also slowly improving.


    Soon an hour passed by and then a couple of hours.


    Bzzt


    Bzzt


    Bzzt


    The sound of intermittent zapping still rang loudly.


    However, Liam had a frown on his face.


    "Sigh. Why is using a small amount of mana so much more difficult than churning out big quantities¡­"


    He cursed his poor ability to control mana. Nevertheless, he continued practicing without giving up.


    Though it was difficult, he had no doubt in his mind if he would aplish this or not.


    It, in fact, was very simple.


    It needed to be done so he would do it.


    Lacking the talent or natural ability for it? Such a thing did not exist for him.


    He was able to manipte it before so it was inevitable that he would seed in manipting it this time as well.


    With this unwavering confidence, he continued repeating the same thing over and over again and again.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­


    Back in the royal city of the Gresh Kingdom¡­


    "Sis Yue, I think we are already at thest stop of the restaurant tour!"


    A young teenage girl chomped down on a piece of juicy roasted leg meat and continued speaking while still chewing the food.


    Mei Mei was usually a well-mannered, elegant, and graceful girl, but the thing she was eating was simply too good and too tasty.


    She even licked her fingers thoroughly after wolfing down the meat.


    Sitting opposite her, Shen Yue was no better.


    Her lips as well were smeared with grease and crumbs of all the items they had devoured in the past few minutes.


    At first, she felt guilty and weird about spending Liam''s money. It was not like they were boyfriend and girlfriend. They had just shared one awkward kiss.


    But the food helped and funnily enough it made the guilt quickly disappear. Not to mention she was already an avid foodie.


    So she gave in and jumped into the same boat as Mei Mei.


    Both of them wolfed down the dishes they had ordered.


    They had been touring the royal city these past few hours, epting a bunch of quests, but also paying special attention to the restaurants in the city.


    At least it started this way.


    Slowly the trip ended up bing more about the restaurants¡­


    "Sis Yue, where to next?"


    "Ughh... huh¡­ Mei Mei, we should really start doing some quests now." Shen Yue blushed and then continued. "I mean¡­ when your brother returns¡­ we should have at least some progress to show him?"


    Cough. Cough. Mei Mei also started sweating. "You are right."


    "But it is not our fault. The food here is too tasty. What the heck!"


    Shen Yue nodded. She also now understood why this game had be so popr. Just as the pain was real, the pleasure was real as well!


    "Ya, this is a pretty great game. Why don''t we do a few quests, bring our levels up? Then we can rx some more. My stomach is full now anyway."


    "Ah! You are right. My stomach is also full." Mei Mei nodded. "Let''s go do some quests."


    "Which ones should we start with? Gerald''s farm?" Shen Yue opened her interface and looked at all the quests.


    Mei Mei shook her head resolutely and then gave her suggestion. "We should level up our cooking skills first."


    "Cooking skill?" Shen Yue was caught off guard because of her serious tone so it took her a second to catch the drift.


    "You little glutton. You just want to eat more!" She couldn''t help butugh at the girl who was sticking her tongue out.


    She couldn''t even tell if she was serious or joking.


    Shen Yue then thought about it for a moment and then decided. "Do you want to just split up for a bit? I will get my special questpleted. You can learn cooking in the meantime."


    "We can meet back here after we are done?"


    "Sis, there is also the call function." Mei Mei reminded her.


    "Ah! You are right. I almost forgot about that. We will stay in the same party and we can contact each other. Okay?"


    Both the girls agreed and Shen Yue made a move first. She went to the royal pce to look for the chambermaid that her quest mentioned.


    [Quest: You have obtained the King''s chambermaid''s lost ne. Please return it to her]


    [Reward: The maid''s gratitude]


    Taking another look at the quest, she pulled her long ck locks into a high ponytail and started looking around.


    "She should be here, right?" Shen Yue walked over to the northern part of the royal city where the majestic pce was sprawled about.

 Chapter 155 - Cursed Maid

    <h4>Chapter 155 - Cursed Maid</h4>


    The towering structures of the royal pce made of gold, marble and other precious materials were enormous and upied a huge portion of the cityndscape.


    "How am I supposed to search for that single maid in this huge area?"


    Shen Yue looked around and saw a group of patrolling knights in shining armor. "Oh I can ask them."


    She shed a smile and walked over to the group of royal knights. "Sirs, could you please let me know where I can find the pce maids?"


    What she did not know was that the royal knights were always tight-lipped. They did not answer to any yers and give out information or quests.


    However, on seeing Shen Yue¡­


    "Good day, mydy. You look very lovely today."


    "May I know what purpose you are visiting the maid quarters? Ha Ha. Don''t mistake me. I am just asking so that I can assist you better."


    "Why just the maid quarters, please allow me to give you a tour of the entire pce."


    Seeing the group of guards all offering her different things, Shen Yue was speechless. She didn''t know whose offer to ept.


    "The bunch of you, stop behaving so unsightly." One of the knights from the back stepped forward and said, his voice booming amidst the chatter..


    "Crap! It''s the General!" As soon as the man spoke, the otherspletely quieted down.


    His gear was also slightly different from the rest. Everyone''s armor was silver in color with sshes of gold, but his armor waspletely golden in color.


    Luckily for Shen Yue, he resolved her dilemma and politely extended his arm pointing towards the small passageway near the side of the pce.


    "Let me personally escort you to the maid quarters, mydy."


    "Thank you kind sir." Shen Yue nodded and followed the royal knight. He looked reliable so she hoped that she couldplete the quest fast.


    The two of them walked through the winding pathways for a bit, running through the gardens and thening up behind the pce.


    Shen Yue couldn''t help but admire everything around her. Wherever she looked, the ce was adorned in either beautiful flowers or exquisite sculptures.


    "Whoever made this game has amazing creativity." She muttered in awe.


    Not long after, the two of them reached the servant quarters and the royal guard then once again bowed to her and politely excused himself.


    This part of the pce was less intimidating and was just a brick and mortar construction like the ordinary buildings.


    So Shen Yue boldly went inside and started asking around. She still needed to find the maid who worked the King''s chambers.


    Just like the guards, the servants also treated her quite nicely and within seconds, she received the information that she was looking for.


    "Ummm¡­ As per the Queen consort''s orders, only male servants work in his highness chambers. If you are looking for a maid, then it is probably old Ruthy." One of the other maids informed her.


    "Thank you so much madam." Shen Yue smiled. "Please tell me where I can find Madam Ruthy?"


    "Ha Ha Ha. Just call her grandma, she will like it more!" The middle-aged womanughed and pointed her to a small cramped room at the edge of the building.


    The other servants'' rooms were better than hers, so even at a first nce Shen Yue could feel that something was wrong.


    "Thank you, madam." She bowed politely to the servant, mimicking the knight''s behavior as it was fun to continue this sort of role ying.


    But inadvertently her actions caused the maid to be very touched. She was just a servant and it has been a while since anyone treated her kindly and with respect.


    "Ah. You are a very nice girl. What is your name, dear?" The maid asked.


    "Shen Yue."


    "Let me give you a piece of advice, child. Don''t spend too much time with old Ruthy. Some say that she is cursed."


    "Cursed?" Shen Yue was surprised.


    "This is just an old wife''s tale but some say that Ruthy was actually a very young beautiful woman."


    "Many nobles in the Kingdom lusted after her and even the King himself was bewitched by her charms."


    "Shhh. This is just a rumor, but it is still a secret. So just listen and don''t tell anyone. I have heard that old Ruthy was even set to be the next Queen of the Kingdom."


    "However, one fine morning she woke up to find herself old, all her youth and vitality drained away. Ever since then she has be mad and doesn''t speak to anyone."


    "oh she cannot talk?" Shen Yue wondered if the woman became dumb as well. Then how was she supposed to finish her quest?


    "No, no. Some of the kids bully her and mess with her. Once she got hurt and wailed in pain. This, I have personally seen. So she can definitely talk."


    "But she is batshit crazy. So be very careful with her and best not to talk to her for long. Here, even the walls have eyes." The maid shrugged and walked away, continuing with her day.


    "Hmmm?" Shen Yue was now more confused than before. "What is this storyline?" She took a second and tried to put together everything she had heard so far.


    She wanted to try guessing the game''s storyline to see if she could figure out some clues about her quest.


    "If these rumors are true, then maybe someone in the pce is out to get her and they are probably still keeping a close eye on her."


    Shen Yue hesitated for a bit and looked around to see if someone was stalking her as well, but she couldn''t see anyone.


    There were only other maids and servants around her, bustling about here and there, just going on with their day.


    "Hmmm. Maybe I am overthinking this. I am just returning a ne. It should be fine?" She let out a deep breath and started walking to the cramped room at the end of the corridor.

 Chapter 156 - Poof!

    <h4>Chapter 156 - Poof!</h4>


    Shen Yue knocked on the rusted door of the small room at the back of the servant''s quarters.


    She did not hear any response for a while but she still continued knocking patiently.


    After some time, she couldn''t help but wonder if perhaps the person had gone out somewhere.


    However, the other maid had told her about this woman''s nature and that she barely left the room.


    So she ruled that option out.


    Most probably, the person was inside the room and was not interested in seeing anyone and being ridiculed.


    This should be why she was not opening the door.


    "Hello. Madam, Ruth? Are you there?" Shen Yue softly enquired. "I have something of yours." She tried to pique the woman''s interest.


    However, there was still no response from the other side of the door.


    It looked like the person really did not care about what Shen Yue might have in her possession.


    She thought about this for some more time and then tried again, this time using money.


    "Hmm¡­ I was hoping to give Madam Ruth some allowance, now whom should I give this to?"


    "Did you see Madam Ruth? I have some gold coins to give her?"


    "Did you see the old maid? I have something that might interest her."


    Shen Yue did not want to give up and tried all sorts of things, hoping to tempt the old woman into opening the door.


    In the end, she even contemted asking someone''s help to bang the door open and barge in.


    But she didn''t immediately want to try such a forceful tactic. After all, this was the royal pce where the King and the other members of the royal family resided.


    She might even be arrested and sent to prison if she did not behave properly.


    Hesitating for some more time, Shen Yue took out the item to look at it again to see if there were more clues.


    "What am I supposed to do now?" Her eyes dragged on the dpidated ne.


    It looked so flimsy and fragile as if it was about to break apart and disappear any second.


    However, as soon as she took out the ne, something in front of her moved and the door that was banged tightly shut until now was suddenly wide open.


    Shen Yue looked up to see an old woman standing in front of her.


    For a second, she was too shocked and even gasped out loud. The woman wasn''t just aged but it was something more.


    Her entire body looked disfigured for some reason.


    Her back was hunched, her skin was heavily wrinkled from top to bottom with huge ps hanging and she was also covered by open wounds and sores all over her body.


    A few insects even crawled on her and flies buzzed around her like she was a corpse.


    Shen Yue''s heart ached to see someone in such a plight.


    Though it was aplete stranger and she was also in a video game, she couldn''t help but feel sorry for her.


    No one deserved to be treated like this. Just what happened to this girl?


    "Madam¡­ this is yours?" Shen Yue extended her palm on top of which the ne rested.


    The old woman in front of her seemed to be in more shock than her and kept staring at the ne speechlessly.


    Her eyes that were only slits trailed along as the ne moved and followed it as if it was an extremely precious item to her.


    She opened and closed her mouth and continued to look at the piece of jewelry dumbfoundedly.


    "How?"


    "How is it here?"


    "Who are you?"


    She looked at Shen Yue and then suddenly her hands moved at lightning speed. She was no longer slow and sluggish.


    Her eyes widened, visible gleam shining from within them and she quickly snatched the ne from Shen Yue''s palm.


    She held it carefully, running her index finger over the edges, tracing the design, and then brought it to her chest, holding it as if her life depended on it.


    "Ahhhh! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I don''t know who you are, but I am forever indebted to you. Thank you so much."


    Big teardrops started falling out of her eyes and she cupped her hands, looking at Shen Yue pitifully.


    But the next second, she again abruptly moved, wiping away her tears.


    Her old scaly fingers clutched Shen Yue''s hand and for a second she looked dazed, longingly looking at her soft moist skin.


    "Ah. You have done me a great favor. I can''t thank you enough. I don''t even have the power to thank you enough. For now, I can only give you this small reward."


    The old woman clenched her fist tightly, crushing down on the ne. The next instant an intangible silver glow surrounded her body.


    She then looked at Shen Yue, her eyes fixated on her.


    [Ding. You have received the additional attribute ''Charm'']


    The old woman was about to mutter something when she couldn''t hold it together any longer and started coughing violently.


    She even spat out a few mouthfuls of dark ck blood. "Sorry. It looks like I can only do this much right now. Cough. Cough."


    "Only after my strengthes back, I can truly reward you."


    Shen Yue nodded. She had no idea if the reward was good or not, but she felt happy helping out such a nice old woman.


    "I am fine. Please don''t worry about that. Take care of your health first."


    "Ah. You are a kind person. Cough. Cough." The old woman coughed up some more blood. "This world is truly not for the kind."


    "I can''t stay here any longer. I have to leave now. Come find me in the western part of the Kingdom."


    "For a short while, I will be staying in the Redmoon town''s outskirts and recovering my strength."


    "Come find me there and I will give you the reward that you deserve."


    Shen Yue was about to open her mouth and respond when the woman in front of her was once again enveloped in a glow, silver in color and far richer and denser than before.


    Before she could understand what was happening, the old woman suddenly caught fire out of nowhere and disappeared, leaving behind only some ashes.


    She waspletely gone. Poof! Just like that!


    "What happened?" Shen Yue gasped. "Wait, why did she run away like this? Was she some sort of criminal?"


    But it looked like the show wasn''t over yet. Sparks from her magic act flew and caught on to the things in her room, starting another big fire inside the room.


    It was extremely unusual. Just a few sparks made everything else inside burn. mes raged wildly. There was no fuel or anything else that could exin this.


    "Fire! Fire! What happened?"


    "Someone bring over some water!"


    "Please move, Miss."


    A hugemotion erupted in the servant''s quarters and all the maids and servants started scrambling to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading more.


    Shen Yue saw this chaotic scene and decided to leave the ce using this as a chance before she got into any trouble for associating herself with the old woman.

 Chapter 157 - This Is War

    <h4>Chapter 157 - This Is War</h4>


    [Ding. New quest avable]


    [Ding. You have obtained the royal maid Ruth''s gratitude. She wishes to meet you again.]


    [Reward: Unique Mage ss - Enchantress]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    Shen Yue stared at the quest a couple more times and epted it as she walked out of the pce.


    "I have never heard about this ss before. I did not see this name in the list of sses discovered also. So it should be pretty special? Hmm."


    She thought about waiting for Liam and making a decision but she didn''t know if the quest would be avable till then.


    What if the option suddenly disappeared?


    "I should not depend on him for everything. It will look too clingy. No. No." Shen Yue shook her head. She did not turn back and continued rushing out of the pce.


    For some reason, she had a weird feeling as if someone was watching her.


    She was used to things like this but this time it felt too real and creepy, so she decided to get the hell out of the pce.


    They had epted plenty of quests within the city itself so she still had a lot to do.


    Moreover, there was a wall of difference between their levels and Liam''s level. If they didn''t improve fast, they would only be dragging him down.


    Shen Yue exited the royal pcepound and mingled in the crowd outside to make herself disappear.


    She then started walking towards the main bazaar district of the royal city where all the trade skill beginner trainers were located.


    Luckily, she hadn''t taken much time toplete her quest so she hoped that she could join Mei Mei and catch up soon.


    She also had not received any experience points for the quest. So they would both probably be at the same level and could continue to grind and finish quests together.


    As she was thinking about that, she remembered about the reward that she had received, the new attribute.


    Shen Yue opened her status interface and eyed the newly popped out words.


    [Charm: 30]


    "What is the use of this charm attribute?"


    "Hmm¡­ It shouldn''t bepletely useless¡­" Shen Yue clearly remembered just how excited Liam had been on seeing that ne and the fact that it started a quest.


    But she was also not sure what would something like charm help her in this virtual world filled with monsters?


    It was not like she could charm the monstersing at her to bite her and kill her into bing her admirers?!


    "Ah. Wait, maybe I can?"


    Shen Yue imagined a group of ferocious wolves wagging their tails in front of her like tamed adorable puppies and she couldn''t help but giggle.


    Just the thought of it was ridiculous!


    "Nah. It cannot be that overpowered¡­" She shook her head and continued walking. The streets were suddenly far too crowded for some reason and it felt very ustrophobic.


    What she did not realize was that it was not the streets that were too crowded¡­


    But the people who passed her by were all stopping and standing on the spot to turn around to at least take a look at her.


    Luckily there were too many people around and Shen Yue also moved quite fast so there weren''t any consequences.


    Many of them did not even realize what had made them stop and stare.


    Shen Yue soon arrived at the bazaar sector of the city and even if it was the royal city, this ce did not look any different whenpared to the trade city.


    Compared to the luxurious stores and decorated shops in other areas, this ce was a bit down to earth.


    "Oh, is this a ce where people from other towns and cities sell their wares?"


    Shen Yue looked around curiously and then walked over to the red fort at the end of the street. There were royal guards located here too.


    She walked over to one of the guards to ask for directions and casually said. "Sir, where is the cooking hall?"


    "Ah¡­ Ahh¡­ Ummm¡­"


    Unexpectedly, the royal guard stood stunned silly, just simply staring at her. He couldn''t bring out any words and seemed to be incapable of speaking.


    "Oh, this person cannot speak perhaps?" Shen Yue saw the man appeared too flustered and did not want to make him ufortable.


    "Don''t worry. I will ask someone else." She shed a small smile and started walking over to another guard standing a few feet away.


    But this harmless remark of hers made the guard visibly panic and he quickly called after her. "Ah, mydy. Please forgive me. Stop. Stop. Don''t leave me."


    "Huh?" Shen Yue was startled. She halted her footsteps and turned to see the person standing right behind her. "Guards were allowed to leave their posts?" She was confused.


    "Ah. Mydy, please forgive me. I was¡­ I was slightly distracted. Ha ha. I can answer your question. Wait. No. I can apany you personally to the cooking hall." The guard hurriedly bbered.


    "Umm. That''s very kind of you, sir. Thank you." Shen Yue smiled awkwardly and the two of them then started walking away, leaving everyone else around thempletely perplexed.


    "Since when were the royal guards so helpful?"


    "Fuck. What are you talking about? The other day I thought one of them was going to kill me. And all I did was try to ask what material his armor was!"


    "Yes! I greeted this friendly looking guard but his smile disappeared as soon as he saw me! Why the hell is that woman getting special treatment?! This is so unfair."


    Seeing the group of yersin loudly another person standing nearby and drinking a cup of hot beverage walked over to them.


    "You guys¡­ are you blind?"


    "Hey! Watch it!"


    "Heh! You didn''t watch it! That''s why you are running your mouth here pointlessly!"


    "What the hell are you saying?"


    "Did none of you see that woman properly?"


    "Huh? Why?"


    "That''s why. That woman was¡­" A look of infatuation appeared on the yer''s face as he remembered that person and he stopped talking.


    "What about that woman? She is a NPC?"


    The yer who was about to describe Shen Yue in detail suddenly stopped. "Oh. You are right! She should be an NPC! Only 2 D characters can be so beautiful. She was like a fairy."


    "Oh? She was really that good looking?"


    "Huh? I am inclined to not believe you but if what you are saying is true, then we should go look for her. Maybe she has some special quests?"


    The group of yers all started following the royal guard and Shen Yue.


    It didn''t take long for Shen Yue to feel the several pairs of eyes trailing behind her and she started feeling ufortable. Noticing this, the royal guard frowned.


    He didn''t even bother waiting for Shen Yue to say something and directly turned around to unsheathe his sword. "What is happening here?" His voice loudly bellowed.


    All the yers looked utterly shocked.


    Weren''t they just simply walking around? How did they anger this NPC?


    And moreover, the man was not just angry, he was actually radiating killing intent and his eyes red at them like a prowling tiger eyeing its prey.


    Just what the heck was happening here?


    Even Shen Yue became rmed. She also did not know if the guard had suddenly gone crazy. Earlier as well he had acted abnormally.


    So she inched back slowly and stepped away, not wanting to involve herself with this situation any longer.


    They were also almost at the cooking hall and she could see a lot of people sitting beside pots and bonfires and struggling to make something without the modern appliances avable in the kitchen.


    The entire ce was filled with smoke and different smells permeated the air.


    Shen Yue coughed slightly and caught Mei Mei''s silhouette in the back of the hall. "Oh, there she is."


    She turned to see that the guard was still busy, yelling at the group of yers and ran away quietly. Whatever happened to them, it had nothing to do with her.


    "Hey Mei Mei." She called out and walked closer to the young girl.


    "Ah. Sis Yue, you are already back?" She did not turn around and was busily stirring a pot.


    "Wow. You are so busy. No wonder you didn''t have any time to answer my call." Shen Yue chuckled and stood beside her.


    As she was now closer and observed everything in detail, she couldn''t help but be shocked.


    This ce did not look like a kitchen from any angle. Instead, it looked like a battlefield.


    Besides her station, there were several pots and pans, each with an appearance more terrifying than the other.


    They were broken, charred, had holes within them and some were even cracked in half, with a line running at the exact dead center.


    Shen Yue was baffled. "Just how on earth did you manage to do so much damage?"

 Chapter 158 - I Will Give You Everything

    <h4>Chapter 158 - I Will Give You Everything</h4>


    "Ah¡­ Ahhh? Sis Yueee!"


    Startled by the sudden appearance of someone near her, Mei Mei dropped thedle that she was using, and along with that toppled the whole pot.


    Something that looked like a broth spilled from within.


    However, it did not smell like a broth or even something edible. It even had burnt stuff inside it.


    Shen Yue blinked in surprise. She knitted her brows together and stared at the mystery item.


    "How did you manage to burn something when cooking a broth and especially when there is so much liquid left?"


    "Ah! Sis Yue! This is all your fault! You distracted me!" Mei Mei clutched her head, looking at her nth failure.


    Her heart ached. So many wasted ingredients. She really did not want to ept it but it looked like¡­ the cooking skill¡­ she had to give up.


    "Hmmm. You should give up on cooking."


    What the heck? Mei Mei looked up to see an old man standing in front of them, and voicing out her thoughts loudly.


    She understood her limitations but to be pointed out like this¡­ Her cheeks heated up in shame.


    That too for some reason the entire hall seemed to be staring at her?


    Only then did she realize that the person standing in front of her was actually the cooking trainer of the hall.


    She had seen a lot of yers trying to talk to the same old man, begging for quests or pointers.


    Not giving them any face, the man hadpletely ignored all of them. Only his apprentices interacted with everyone, imparting the cooking skill for a fee.


    The trainer himself did not bother, but to criticize her apparently the man made a personal visit. He hade over all on his own to talk to them.


    However¡­ s¡­ it was only to ask her to quit.


    "I have never seen anyone this bad. You should just go ahead and give up."


    He said it again! Mei Mei waspletely speechless and became even more flustered.


    Shen Yue couldn''t simply watch it anymore and decided to intervene. "Cough. Cough. Maybe we can try some other skill?"


    She felt bad to see her looking so glum.


    She had clearly failed again and again, but the truth was that she also did not give up and continued working hard which was an admirable quality.


    Otherwise, with her brother''s backing alone, there was no need for her to work so hard.


    "Don''t worry about it. Shall we try learning other skills?"


    "Not so fast, pretty young miss. I only said that your friend here doesn''t have any talent. You, on the other hand, are incredibly talented."


    "I can just tell how gorgeous¡­ ahem¡­ I mean how amazingly talented you are."


    "Haa? What now?" Shen Yue blurted out.


    She did not know if it was her imagination but the old man for some reason had the same expression as the knight she had met with outside.


    "Sis Yue, that''s great." Mei Mei also said in encouragement, though her voice was clearly muffled.


    "Ahh¡­ that¡­" Shen Yue had no idea what was going on.


    She looked at the old man and cautiously asked. "Then can I learn the cooking skill? I also want to try making something?"


    "Sure. Sure. This old man will personally teach you, dear."


    "Dear¡­?" Shen Yue''s eyes widened and before she could understand what just happened, a series of notifications flooded her system interface.


    [Ding: You have acquired the trade skill Cooking]


    [Ding: Your Cooking skill proficiency has increased to Beginner Level]


    [Ding: Your Cooking skill proficiency has increased to Trainee Level]


    [Ding. Your Cooking skill proficiency has increased to Intermediate Level]


    [Ding. You have obtained the recipe for Mashed Potatoes]


    [Ding. You have obtained the recipe for Charred Chicken Leg]


    [Ding. You have obtained the recipe for Grilled Devil Boar]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As Shen Yue nced at the list of about 30 recipes that she had somehow obtained, the old revealed a big grin and groomed his beard.


    "Are you satisfied with the recipes dear? Stick with me and you will have no regrets. I will make you a great cooking master in no time."


    "Ahh¡­"


    Shen Yue did not know what was happening. Were NPCs always this friendly?


    Moreover, she had clearly read that it took a lot of ingredients and attempts to level up lifestyle skills like cooking, smithing, and stitching.


    But she leveled up just like that?


    She stared at the old man smiling at her somewhat creepily and then at Mei Mei who was smiling at her even more creepily?


    "Sis! What happened? What recipes did you get?"


    Shen Yue did not know what she was dealing with but she could tell that something was definitely out of sorts.


    "Umm¡­ Mei Mei¡­ I think we should leave this ce." She hurriedly typed in their private party chat.


    "What happened?" Mei Mei was surprised.


    "This person just gave me a lot of recipes and also upgraded my cooking skill directly to intermediate level?"


    "What! Are you serious?"


    Shen Yue nodded.


    Mei Mei opened her mouth wide and was about to ask something, but then she covered her mouth with her palm and asked in the private chat instead.


    "This is impossible, sis Yue. I have never heard of anything like this on the forums." She then remembered the one person who could answer their doubts and tried asking him.


    "Brother? Do you know anything about this?"


    "Hello brother?"


    However, she didn''t get any reply. She looked at Shen Yue helplessly as she was also clueless about what was happening.


    The two could clearly see that the old man was still grinning widely, making them more uneasy.


    What the hell was going on?


    But suddenly, Mei Mei''s expression changed and she hurriedly typed in the chat.


    "Sis Yue, wait. This is not a bad thing. If that person is handing out everything to you, why not ask for more? He He He"


    "Ah¡­ but¡­"


    "No buts¡­ let''s get as much free stuff as possible. Maybe this trainer is willing to give you things for free, others maybe too?"


    Shen Yue gulped. She was not totally clueless. She had a small inkling that this special treatment had something to do with the charm attribute.


    What made her hesitate was¡­ were there only good side effects to this charm attribute?


    If they really used this ''special treatment'' to the full extent that they could, would they be going overboard and face some sort of bad side effects?


    She remembered Liam specifically telling them again and again to keep a low profile, just do small quests and not step outside as this game was very dangerous.


    She had a feeling that doing this was probably going against his advice. This was why she hesitated.


    At the same time, she also couldn''t resist the allure of fast leveling everything¡­


    With Mei Mei standing by her side and further egging her on with big grinning eyes, she gulped and ended up caving in. "Alright, let''s do it."


    "Yay! We are going to earn lots of money! Sis Yue, do you know how much these items sell for in the auction house?!"


    "I am guessing a lot of people buy these extra items?


    "He He. You have no idea. Currently, there is an item called ''Fire Resistance Potion'' that is being sold in the auction house."


    "Forget yers, big guilds are fighting with each other to get their hands on that potion. It is aplete riot."


    "Ah? Is that so?"


    "Yes. Yes. I even heard that someone leaked the name of the person who made that potion and now all the top guilds are lining up to recruit that person."


    "We can also be very famous and get a lot of money if we make that potion. Quick. Quick. Let''s go and talk to the alchemy trainer."


    "Un. Let''s try our best."


    Meanwhile¡­ in the northern parts of the kingdom¡­


    Wind whooshed past the mecha gnome valley which was rather unusually quiet, despite the huge number of gnomes present there.


    Hiding in a corner of this valley, Liam saw that a few messages had popped up from his sister and Shen Yue but he currently ignored them as he had no other option.


    Also because they were in the city, he knew that they were safe so he focused on the situation in front of him.


    The impossible situation that he was in¡­

 Chapter 159 - Who Let The Gnomes Out?

    <h4>Chapter 159 - Who Let The Gnomes Out?</h4>


    After spending a few hours repeating the same skill over and over again, Liam had somewhat managed to achieve the control that he wanted.


    In fact, the rock that he had been practicing on now had huge holes in it. He had zapped the same spot enough times to directly drill a hole through.


    However, that was not his aim.


    His aim was to produce whispers of lightning, just a few sparks.


    This initially proved more difficult than he had thought, but Liam found a way to practice. He first drained his manapletely and then tried the skill when he was simply running on fumes.


    In this way, he forcefully, squeezed out only a few strands of mana, thus grasping the control of just using a little at a time.


    He did this over and over until he had thoroughlyprehended the technique and he was finally able to replicate it even when he was stuffed full of mana.


    "Hmm¡­" Liam frowned. He had solved this issue but now he was facing a huge problem.


    He either had to try his new skill, directly aiming at the bigger group of gnomes or he had to wait for another seven hours for the smaller batch to rotate in.


    Thetter would be the saner and safer option, but it cost him time.


    Thanks to everything being moved up the timeline, Liam no longer had the luxury to wait around idly for the perfect moment.


    He was confident in his skill and he could feel that he had grasped another level of control. So he did not see any point in hesitating or seeking a more opportune moment.


    "I can''t just wait around."


    Liam ced himself at a hidden spot and started neutralizing one gnome at a time.


    Unlike before, his spell was not a strong showy bolt of lightning, rather a few invisible sparks flew forward, urately tickling the red button on the mecha gnome.


    Zing.


    The gnome immediately started spinning around and entered a dazed state where its hard-wired system tried to reboot itself.


    This time his attempt was a resounding sess!


    Liam however, did not dare to take it lightly.


    He had gotten the skill down but this was only the beginning.


    The gnome''s dazed statested only for about 15 minutes, at least from what he knew.


    This means that he only had about 15 minutes of time to render all the gnomes in the vicinity in a dazed state and then toss a bomb to clear out the entire pack.


    Even if he became a secondte, then all the gnomes would be alert again and would also be automatically aggroed onto him.


    It had almost cost him his life just getting away from five gnomes!


    He did not even want to think about the scenario where dozens of these things chased after him!


    "I need to be patient," Liam murmured to himself and tried not to think about the consequences.


    Clearing his mindpletely, he focussed on the task at hand and started rapidly neutralizing the gnomes one at a time.


    Zing.


    He aimed for one gnome, attacked it, and then moved on to the next one, smoothly dmissioning the gnomes in a methodological fashion.


    Zing. Zing. Zing. Zing.


    One after the other, all the gnomes were spinning around helplessly.


    If any other yer saw this right now, they would bepletely dumbfounded.


    It was impossible to attain this level of speed and uracy even with the system''s help and cast spells continuously one after the other, all aimed perfectly.


    Liam had practiced and achieved this technique so soon only because he had been training his mana maniption and control ever since he logged into the game.


    Thisbined with this naturally high perceptivity because of his mental strength made it possible for him to learn something so finicky so quickly.


    If someone else tried the same thing, they would perhaps need several days or even weeks toe close to his level of control.


    Zing. Zing. Zing.


    Fickle sparks from his fingertip flew forward and touched only that small red space.


    It took his full focus and put quite a bit of strain on his mind, irrespectively he kept it going, enduring the effect.


    "Only a few more minutes." Liam let out a long breath and continued.


    A couple more minutes passed.


    Everything was progressing well, but the next second, a new problem cropped up.


    The more Liam cleared the gnomes, the more walked out of the two caves.


    The gnomes had a rhythmic work pattern. They walked in and they walked out, only certain numbers remaining outside.


    However, those that were attacked by Liam sneakily were no longer returning back to the caves. They altogether stopped moving.


    This in turn made the valley messy.


    A crowd of gnomes began to slowly pool outside the cave, so much so that gnomes were now smashing against each other.


    Liam paused his actions, frowning.


    He still had some more minutes left before the 15 minute deadline but it looked like he couldn''t afford to gather more gnomes.


    If they by mistake get triggered and in turn aggroed all of his hard work so far would go waste and it would cost him his life, along with it his pureplete soul.


    On the other hand, if he tossed over the bomb right now and ran, then he would have to face the elite gnomes along with some of these small mechas.


    This would definitely make that already difficult task even worse.


    "Fuck." Liam cursed the idiots who had boasted about clearing this area thest time around.


    They would have surely party wiped many times before seeding and yet they dared to call this easy and a loophole!


    His entire body was sweating from top to bottom as he wondered what could be the ideal approach now.


    He did not have a lot of time to make this decision and he had to think fast on his feet while continuing to take care of the remaining gnomes.


    As Liam raised his hand to neutralize another gnome that was dangerously close to him¡­ suddenly¡­


    BANG!


    "What the heck?" Liam froze.


    He did not have the time to see where that sound came from or what that explosion was, he instantly activated his [Stealth] skill and started running away.


    Thanks to the frightening situation he was inst time, his body acted on instinct and made the decision for him.


    He was already running before he even began to think about what just happened.


    Even if he could obtain a single second headstart with those tireless bots, it could mean the difference between his life and death.


    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." Liam cursed inwardly and pushed out his all of mana to his lower limbs and started running.


    Behind him, he could hear the clear crisp ringing of a series of explosions, one after the other, all the mecha gnomes that he had painstakingly disarmed were exploding serially.


    This was an oue that Liam wanted.


    However, along with this, there was also another ring noise that rang loudly despite the explosion sounds.


    In fact, this sound was even more audible than the explosion sounds.


    "BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"


    "BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    "BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The whole ce went up in smoke and sirens sted in the area!


    If there was any other beast in the vicinity then it would have surely been attracted to this noise but even though this was a high-leveled zone no such thing happened.


    This in itself was a testament to the might of these mecha gnomes.


    Though they were small and insignificant, they had cleared this entire zone and they were the only beings in the area.


    Liam was aware of this fact and hence was running wildly, as fast as he could, throwing all caution to the wind.


    Not long after, a group of gnomes started chasing him, tooting their sirens as loud as they could.


    Liam''s heart sank. So many had exploded and he had even activated [Stealth] and yet he was caught!


    Humanoid monsters and beasts might err but mechas never made a mistake!


    However, he was also not ready to fold and die quietly. Though this situation meant a sure shot death, he was going to put as much fight as he could.


    "My only chance of escape¡­" Liam panted and looked ahead at the distant mountains.


    Strange and powerful creatures resided there, those that could kill him in the snap of a finger. But at this moment, they were the only ones who could rescue him.


    If he wanted to have even the smallest chance of escaping, he needed to run into one of those terrifying beings.


    And not just that, he also had to skillfully ce the aggro of the mecha gnomes onto that terrifying beast and run once again.


    Though theoretically, this seemed feasible¡­ how could something like that practically work?


    Liam wryly chuckled. "I am fucking going to die."


    The sound of the sirens was slowly increasing and that meant that the gnomes were gaining speed on him.


    He could not even know how many were running behind him at the moment.


    If he took the second to turn around and check, that would already mean his death.


    For now, he just needed to run as fast as he could without worrying about any other details.


    Even if he knew those details and the exact number of gnomes behind him, what good could it possibly do?


    Everything was already over.


    Liam let out a long sigh. "It''s fine. One death shouldn''t matter a lot. Next time I will make sure that this doesn''t happen."


    However, right at this moment¡­ a bird swooped down.

 Chapter 160 - Croak Croak Ribbit Ribbit

    <h4>Chapter 160 - Croak Croak Ribbit Ribbit</h4>


    "Talon?" Liam''s eyebrows shot up in shock to look at the bird descending from the sky. It was like a sight for his sore eyes,ing to rescue him at the nick of time.


    But even with Talon, it would be difficult to get away from the gnomes as they could shoot both of them down.


    They had to be fast enough. Otherwise, they had to disappear somehow. Maybe, I can ask him to do that attack and¡­


    Liam''s brain spun quickly and started making calctions. However, he had gravely mistaken. It was not Talon. It was just a random small bird. It wasn''t even level 10.


    "Fuck." Liam realized that he had inadvertently slowed down because of this and hurriedly picked his speed back up again.


    But the next second, he immediately halted. "Wait, how is this guy alive? How is it flying around in the gnome territory? Shouldn''t they have shot and killed it?"


    As he thought about this anomaly, a small idea popped up into his mind and his lips curled into a big grin.


    It looked like luck was still on his side!


    Liam instantly reached out to his inventory and retrieved a small bottle that looked like perfume. He then sprayed it on himself, putting it back safely into his inventory.


    1 second went by. 2 seconds went by.


    The gnomes were almost on his tail. They ran towards him without stopping and chased him relentlessly.


    In a couple more seconds he would be right in their vicinity.


    Just like the ones he had faced before, these guys also had bombs, preinstalled machine guns, and lots of bullets to spare.


    As if killing Liam was the only thing they were meant to do in their lifetime, they chased after him. However, when they arrived at the spot, there was no one there.


    The trail was suddenly cold.


    "BEEP INTRUDER ALERT"


    "BEEP INTRUDER ALERT"


    "BEEP INTRUDER ALERT"


    They kept repeatedly chanting like broken tape recorders and looked around, but there was absolutely no trace of Liam anywhere to be found.


    They waited around. They searched for him in all nooks and corners of all rocks. They looked as if they were not ready to give up at all.


    They lingered around and searched their entire zone with a fine-toothb and yet they were unable to find their intruder.


    They finally gave up after several minutes and thorough checking and retraced their steps, probably returning back to their base. Their incessant rm also quieted down.


    One after the other all the mecha gnomes had left the spot like trained soldiers in perfect order.


    Complete silence resounded in the mountainous terrain without any living being in sight, even the mechanical one.


    Of course, none except for one.


    A few more minutes passed when a single frog sitting innocently in the midst of this vast nothingness croaked and moved, its figure instantly shifting to a human form.


    "He He." Liam chuckled and ruffled his hair. His heart was beating wildly and he felt exhrated to escape death like this.


    He had been sitting like a stone or rather a stone frog right under the noses of his enemy.


    In fact, he had watched everything from the start to the finish, right out in the open, but the gnomes did not care at all, because he was just a harmless weak little frog.


    How did he be this?


    It was all thanks to the [Toad Spray].


    Naturally, the effect onlysted this long because he did not breathe, let alone move when the gnomes were present.


    Also at this stage of the game, everyone''s soul was extremely weak. Soul strengthening potions were only introducedter in the game.


    So thanks to his weak soul, he was stuck in the form of a weak helplessmon toad for several minutes.


    The spell had worn off as soon as he moved and tried to break free. What a simple and efficient item! It could be used on enemies but it could also be used on oneself.


    Liam sighed in relief and stretched his body, letting loose a few cracks.


    "Now! Just what the hell triggered my god damn chain reaction set up?" The smile on his face disappeared, reced with a grave cold look.


    Everything that happened in the mecha gnome valley was methodic and predetermined. There was simply no chance for an anomaly to ur.


    But still, something like this happened and it could only mean one thing!


    There was someone else here!


    It could be a beast. Sure.


    But no beast would wait for such an urate opportune moment to strike, especially at one that does the maximum damage to Liam.


    "Nope. It is definitely someone I know." Liam replenished his stamina, mana and once again activated his [Stealth] skill.


    Now that he was safe, he did not walk away from the campsite. Rather he walked towards it. This matter was far from over.


    Someone wanted to steal from him? Dream on!


    They dared to y him like this and use him, then they also had to pay the price for it!


    As Liam walked back over to the narrow valley with the two caves lining it on opposite sides, he could clearly hear more sirens ring and explosions resounding.


    The mecha gnomes were once again at it and were shouting their loud ear-piercing rms.


    "BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"


    "BEEP! INTRUDER ALERT!"


    "These bitches clearly don''t know what they are doing." Liam chuckled and moved closer, once again hiding in a corner and carefully observing the area.


    Bingo!


    Just like he had guessed they were other yers in the valley!


    But they definitely did note here with the same preparations as him. How could they?


    This might be both of their first timeing here.


    However, while Liam knew at least half of what he was up against, they simply had no idea.


    Just judging from the number of dead yers lying on the ground like a lizard run over by a truck, one could clearly see that they had never faced a mecha gnome before.


    They were about 40 yers in the valley and currently more than ten of them were dead.


    Not just that, but the remaining yers were also in very bad condition. Along with aggroing the mecha gnomes, they had also aggroed the overseers and the sentinels.


    They seemed to have literally gathered every single gnome in the two campsitesbined.


    "Kek. Enjoy the fireworks." Liam chuckled and a cold glint shed across his eyes as he happily stayed on the sidelines and watched the show.


    He had no ns of interfering any time soon.


    And as for how these yers had sniffed this ce out or rather him, he did not bother thinking about that.


    In ''Evolution Online'', there were several methods to find out about a yer and also to reach their specific location within seconds.


    Since these people had absolutely zero chance of stumbling across this area this soon in the game, they probably came here by tracking him.


    Liam himself had used one such service previously to identify his ''close friends''.


    And apart from the shadywork in the underbelly, there were several different methods to do this and though most of them were extremely hard toe by, they were still possible.


    Unless he catches one of the yers and tortures him again and again, it would probably not be possible to find out what exact method they used.


    Liam did not n to waste his time by thinking about this.


    He had better things to n¡­


    Just when he had thought that he had bitten off more than he could chew, some willing helpers came to his aid all on their own.


    How could he let this precious opportunity slip by?

 Chapter 161 - The Worst Kind Of Trash Player

    <h4>Chapter 161 - The Worst Kind Of Trash yer</h4>


    "Damn, I never thought that following this little scammer would bring such a stroke of amazing luck."


    Two men were standing at the back of the group and overseeing the painful fight that was currently taking ce in the mecha goblin valley.


    This was the guild leader and the guild vice-leader of the Assasin guild.


    Despite their unexpected windfall, there was still a frown on their faces as the little gnomes turned out to be extremely problematic.


    When their health dropped low, the few gnomes clustered together and self-destructed, sting into oblivion and taking a couple of their guild members along with them.


    "Tsk. Tsk. If things continue like this¡­ we are not going tost long. How are the preparationsing along? Is the support party ready?" Abraki sighed.


    Hearing his words, the man standing next to him, Elias, immediately responded back. "I already sent a word and confirmed it twice."


    "We are bringing along 30 more yers this time. In total, all 60 of our Assasin guild''s elite members will be assembled here in the next hour."


    "Hmph. After that, we will see how these gnomes are still putting up a fight!"


    "No matter what this ce has, we can raid it from start to finish and amass all the treasures within."


    "Yes, we will." Abraki nodded in agreement.


    As the guild leader, he had absolute faith in his guild. He knew that no matter what the obstacle was, they would shatter it ande out on top!


    "Our guild has consistently been one of the top guilds in the server for the past decade."


    "Every year there is a new video game released and it topples the old one, but our guild has still continued to persist."


    "Evolution Online¡­ This game as well we will be the onesing out on the top."


    Elias smiled. "We have managed to already ovee the biggest hurdle. These things are nothing, Abraki."


    The guild''s vice-leader chuckled as he thought back to their plight at the beginning of the game.


    Unlike the other games, ''Evolution Online'' had a 100% image and character sync with real life. Of course, this aspect of the new and mysterious game affected a lot of things.


    But being a NEET and pro-gamers only guild, their team took a big blow.


    Almost 75% of their heavy hitters were also heavy in the real life.


    So their Assasin guild which typically had sleek and slender ninja like characters in every other game, suddenly ended up being filled with fat potatoes in this game.


    How could they still continue ying as assassins?


    Some of the newer members were more flexible and readily converted their ying style to another ss.


    But the oldest members of their guild all had their own pride. They did not want to give up and change their identity so quickly.


    So every single one of them trained their bodies from day to dusk.


    In just a month, they became lean and muscr in the real world, thereby forcefully retaining their former character structure in this game also.


    This was precisely why their top-tier guild had been keeping a low profile for so long.


    While others grinded in the game non-stop, their guild members were busy exercising and runningps around ygrounds.


    And with this update to the game, everyone was able to enter again, instantly rising their guild''s power and strength exponentially.


    Moreover, some of their guild members who logged in for the first time after the update also received unexpected gift boxes which had contained several surprises.


    All in all, they were bulldozing forward with huge momentum, and this mecha gnome area was going to be their next stepping stone!


    Abraki stared ahead at his team of elite yers struggling with the gnomes.


    The more difficult a task was, the more the reward would be!


    He pensively stared at the marvelous engineering that went into making each of these gnomes and mumbled.


    "Do you think that there are manufacturing designs of the gnomes inside?"


    "Something like that would be insane¡­" Elias licked his lips in anticipation.


    These sort of bots were undoubtedly invaluable when raiding tricky dungeons or even tackling elite bosses and overlord bosses.


    Especially when they had thatst bit of health in them and decide to go berserk, these tiny things could bemanded to rush forward and finish the fight with some bombing.


    They can be used as guild base guards or scouts or to fight in rough unfriendly terrain. Their applications were endless.


    "Heh. Then, we should really thank that informant." Abraki chuckled.


    "Guild leader, that woman was from the ''Heavenly Retribution'' guild. That guild is getting a lot of attention these days and its members are also boasted to be extraordinary."


    "Even this informant''s skills should be exceptional considering how they managed to find out such key information."


    "Should I try to rope her in?" Elias seriously asked. He did not know why he didn''t think of this idea sooner.


    "This person clearly works for money or is in desperate need of money. So it will be very easy to pull." He added.


    But Abraki simply chuckled and shook his head. "Forget about it. No matter how talented this yer is, we don''t need her."


    "She could have sold this same information to her own guild but instead she betrayed them and sold it to us for more money."


    "Doesn''t this show that person''s character?"


    "These kinds of people are nothing but worms. They will slowly chew and damage our guild from the inside out."


    "It is even okay for us to ept dull duds but not this sort of backstabbers."


    "Ah. I didn''t think about that. You are absolutely right." Elias did not argue further and quickly agreed.


    The two of them cringed as they silently continued watching the carnage in front of them and a minuteter, thest couple of their guild members as well folded, falling down lifeless.


    "Ok. It looks like this is a wrap. Let''s silently revive the yers who are on the edges and then wait for the backup team."


    Elias nodded and took out a scroll from his inventory.


    As he chanted the words in the scroll, it lit up and bright dots of light dispersed from the scroll to some of the fallen yers, those that were close to them, instantly reviving them.


    And more importantly, their figures materialized next to the guild leader and the guild vice-leader who were standing farther away, thereby avoiding the detection of the gnomes and triggering another disastrous chain reaction.


    The group then silently hid in the exterior of the valley, behind the rocks, not daring to enter the war zone again.


    "Leader, what the hell is this ce?"


    Everyone who had fought just now looked utterly dazed even after dying once and reviving.


    "Hmmm." Abraki sighed. "It looks like this is some sort of a secret ce. Don''t worry about the party wipe. We can deal with this easily when the backup team arrives."


    "We are bringing in more people?" The person who had asked previously gulped.


    "Yes." Abraki replied.


    However, this did not make the person feel relieved at all. Instead, it made him all the more nervous. Coming here or rather teleporting here was not cheap.


    They had used a huge chunk of their guild''s wealth to get here and now they are using some more?


    This meant that they would literally be betting their guild''s development in this game in this single zone. Would it really be worth it?


    Moreover, they had also irrevocably cut ties with their main target by attacking him sneakily!


    Thinking about that person, the yer quickly asked, "Boss, would he have revived by now?"


    "Who knows?" Abraki wryly chuckled. Their main intention was to use negotiations and if not brute force to make this person join their guild.


    But aftering here, they obviously went for the better reward.


    Elias looked around as if he was checking thendscape for Liam and then muttered. "It is better if he revives."


    "He did something to those gnomes that made them docile. We need his trick."


    "Then maybe we can even recruit him and also include him in this group. If he has any misgivings about our earlier interference, we can alwayspensate him."


    "Ah. Yes. I am sure if he knows who we are, he would be more than happy to join us." Some of the others agreed.


    Most of them had first been at odds with each other in one way or the other before joining the guild. So they could rte.


    But there were a few yers who did not think the same


    "Ha... If we didn''t intervene, that person would have died anyway. No need to recruit random people just to get our hands on one potion."


    "He couldn''t even sense the presence of an entire guild nearby. Just how good could his skills be? He absolutely has no sense of perception whatsoever."


    "That person is probably the worst kind of trash yer who stepped on one pile of luck after another."


    "Kek. The look on his face when shit started exploding was simply priceless!"


    "What did he think? He could solo all of this? Idiot!"


    The bunch of yers began tough and even the usuallyposed Abraki let out a chuckle. "Very naive indeed. Sometimes people do stupid things out of greed."


    Once again another round ofughter echoed.


    However¡­ unfortunately¡­ none of them noticed a person standing just a few feet away, listening to every single word of their conversations from start to finish.

 Chapter 162 - The List Is Growing Bigger?

    <h4>Chapter 162 - The List Is Growing Bigger?</h4>


    Liam patiently waited and watched the big guild group as they nned their attack strategy. He looked like he was not in a hurry to intervene any time soon.


    "Hmm¡­ These guys are really strong."


    During the time they waited for their backup, the Assasin guild members did not remain idle. They attempted to deal with the gnomes, again and again, sending a few yers at a time.


    After just a couple of tries, they already noticed the special attack pattern of the gnomes.


    "No matter what¡­ a big guild''s base yer strength and coordination arepletely different from a smaller team''s haphazard structure." Liam clicked his tongue in admiration.


    Since he started ying the game this was the second time he was up against an entire guild. Funnily enough, both times, it was not him who had taken the initiative but the other party.


    However, he was not a fool.


    While he casually dealt with the former guild, crippling a dozen of its members, he did not act rashly when it came to the Assasin guild.


    This was considering the fact that they had even gone as far as ruining his carefully nned and executed gnome deactivation, almost costing him his life.


    Despite this Liam did not make a move yet.


    Not that he was nning to let his opponent leave without paying the appropriate price, but because a top-tier guild had to be treated differently than a no-name random group of yers.


    The Assasin guild themselves might not be aware but Liam knew that in the future, they would inevitably be one of the strongest powers with a stable foothold on the new earth.


    Of course, Liam had no qualms about this happening.


    However, it would all depend on their actions today.


    Friend or foe? The die was already cast and only the results were yet to be determined.


    If they were willing to negotiate with him within reason, then he would cooperate with them.


    If not¡­ then even though it was a big headache, he would have no other choice but to add them to his ''to do'' list.


    But Liam was still not sure about one thing.


    Who was it that went out of their way to add them to his list?


    "Could it be her?" Liam pondered.


    He had heard the guild name ''Heavenly Retribution'' in their discussion and this was too much of a coincidence.


    "Well. Maybe it is time to tie up a few loose ends." Liam nodded and continued observing the guild.


    He could deal with the other issue at ater time, but for now, the people in front of him demanded his attention.


    A couple of minutester, another group of yers arrived, making the previously deserted mountain range a very lively ce.


    Coincidentally, these people arrived at a spot that was extremely close to Liam who was in [Stealth] mode rather than their own guild group.


    He instantly became alert and held his breath as he was only an inch away from the several yers.


    Thankfully, before anyone could detect him, the other guild members waved at them, pulling everyone''s attention towards them.


    "You guys sure took your sweet time. Do you know how much we are suffering here!"


    "What? You are kidding, right? We had to scrap for thest few gold coins just to afford the fucking scroll. It was so damn expensive!"


    While the group of yers started chatting and exchanging words of greetings, Abraki alone remained unusually silent.


    Elias saw this and walked over to stand next to him. "What are you thinking about?"


    Hearing him, everyone else suddenly quieted down, all intently listening to their guild leader.


    All of them have been ying together for several years so they had immense respect for their team captain.


    They were all well aware of his outstanding abilities, both physical and mental.


    They also wanted to know what this ce was and why they had all assembled here after spending so much.


    But surprisingly, Abraki did not talk about the mecha gnomes, rather he asked about something else.


    "Answer me. Who activated the scroll?"


    "Huh? You are asking about the special teleport scroll?" Elias immediately replied to rify.


    Hiding in the shadows, Liam as well heard this and he finally understood how this bunch of people had tracked him.


    In the game, there were special inscription scrolls just like his cursed ring that could teleport someone or a group of people to their target.


    These were officially called [Target Lock] scrolls and unofficially called ''Stalker'' scrolls.


    And the only requirement for using this inscription scroll was the name of the target and some sort of interaction.


    The first condition was typically the most difficult one as the second condition could be easily fulfilled by sending him a friend request.


    Even if he did not ept the friend request, the condition would irrespectively be fulfilled as this in itself was considered an interaction.


    Liam quickly opened his friend''s list and vo, just like he suspected, thetest friend requests he had received were all from the members of the Assasin Guild.


    Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly realized something big, something very critical.


    The second time around, this batch of yers had assembled right in front of him, the him who was in [Stealth] mode.


    Liam''s heart raced as he looked over at Abraki, wondering if he had realized the same thing.


    He did not want to underestimate his enemy and take any chances so he quickly moved away from the spot he was previously standing.


    And right when he acted, Abraki''s hand moved and a shower of hailstones assaulted the spot where Liam had been standing just a second ago.


    What a close save!


    This would havepletely given away his location!


    "Heh. These people are going to be a pain to deal with." Liam''s lips curled upwards.


    Meanwhile, the other guild members did not understand what had just happened. Even Elias had no idea why Abraki had activated a spell scroll.


    These scrolls were very useful as they could be instantly activated, did not require any mana and the area they covered was wide.


    At the same time, they were also hard toe by and were very expensive.


    One of their guild members had done a rare quest because of which they currently had a small supply of scrolls and also managed to obtain certain special scrolls like the [Target Lock] scrolls.


    But to waste it like this?


    Seeing all their confused faces, Abraki sighed. "No one has answered me yet. Did you guys lock on to me or to Liam? Which target did you select when activating the scroll?"


    His voice thundered in the silence that prevailed among the 60 or so guild members who stared back at him nkly, the weight of his words slowly sinking in.


    What the guild leader was actually asking was¡­ is there any chance that the person was right now near them?


    Is that why their teleportation scroll hadnded them all close to him?


    Or had they all simply teleported right next to their guild leader and their guild group?


    While thetter was more logical and usible, what if the former was true?


    Everyone turned to look in the direction where the hailstones had rained¡­


    Even though the ce was eerily empty, they could all sense that something was off.


    Gulping nervously, the yer who had activated the scroll finally spoke. "Leader, I am actually not sure. I was messaging you so I might have selected you?"


    "Are you sure?" Abraki asked again. The way this guy was speaking looked like he himself did not have any faith in his words.


    "I am sorry, leader. I was in a hurry. I really did not pay much attention to it."


    Abraki narrowed his eyes looking at the person sternly for a few seconds. He then sighed and shook his head in disappointment.


    "These kinds of mistakes are rookie mistakes. Next time be more careful."


    "Sorry leader."


    "Alright, we have other matters to deal with. Now about this area¡­"


    Abraki did not dwell on that topic anymore and started exining about the mecha gnomes.


    Not too far away from them, Liam smiled bitterly.


    This enemy was truly formidable¡­


    Whatever he nned, everything needed to go perfectly, otherwise, the consequences might be worrisome.

 Chapter 163 - Crash. Bang. Kaboom.

    <h4>Chapter 163 - Crash. Bang. Kaboom.</h4>


    After a few minutes¡­


    With all the elite members of their guild present, the Assasin''s guild discussed a few things for a while and then directly began taking action.


    And Liam who was not too close and not too far from them quietly slipped away. While they were discussing strategy, he had also restructured his basic n.


    He also decided to keep a backup escape strategy just in case. It would be foolish of him not to n one even after looking at the capability of the people in front of him.


    Since he was quite confident that nothing was going to happen right from the get-go, he took the time and slipped away.


    He dashed over, retracing his very first path, cutting between the twists, turns, and gaps of the rocks and finally reaching the ce where Luna and Talon were obediently seated.


    The two instantly cheered up at the sight of Liam as they hadn''t seen him in a while.


    "Sorry guys, it took so long. But we are still not done. Just a couple more hours and then we can leave this ce." Liam smiled and patted the two.


    He then replenished their stock of food and also took another item.


    "Come here, Luna."


    Kyuu?


    The fox padded forward, hopping and skipping. Liam caught the soft furry creature in his hand and lifted her up.


    He then raised her tail, making the fox instantly be very self-conscious.


    Kyuuuuu! Luna whined ufortably but she soon stopped, as Liam let her go.


    Huh? The fox blinked a couple of times. She could tell that her tail felt different.


    She repeatedly spun her body around and twisted her head trying to see if there was something new on her tail.


    Liam chuckled at herical actions and patted her head. "It''s just a ring. I gave you a present. Alright?"


    Ah¡­ Understanding his words, the fox immediately opened her mouth wide in surprise, which soon turned into a big smile and visible joy.


    Master gave her a present!


    "Ok. Time to get going. I will be back again, actually very soon. Luna, stay put and Talon, be ready to start flying as soon as I get back and climb onto you. Understand?"


    "And in the meantime, keep your heads low and stay safe just like you have been doing."


    The two pets obediently nodded, watching Liam''s figure once again disappear into the mountainous terrain.


    His movements were even faster than before as he was now more familiar with the ce, running around back and forth multiple times.


    Liam also used mana to boost himself and did not waste too much time. He only stopped when he neared the mecha gnome valley.


    He stood behind a rock to see that the guild had not yet started getting serious. They were still testing the waters by sending one or two to tango with the gnomes.


    Liam also saw several friend requests popping up in his interface.


    It seemed like these people were determined to contact him. They were trying very hard to get the trick he had used to tame the gnomes.


    With that shortcut, their life would be much easier and they were failing, again and again, to decipher it on their own.


    Liam chuckled. Of course, how could something like that be so easy?


    Thest time around, to obtain the treasure inside, the guild had undergone a painstaking amount of trouble.


    Only after sending dozens and dozens of their members and having several of them die, they somehow managed to clean out all the gnomes in the valley, obtaining what was inside.


    So if this guild wanted to replicate that sess, they would have to pay an equal if not bigger price as they hadn''t done sufficient preparations for it.


    Liam as well did not possess the ability to straightforwardly attack these gnomes and clear the ce out. That was a suicide mission.


    His n was never based on achieving such an impossible feat.


    However, he had other methods up his sleeve. The first phase of the triggered chain gnome explosion was a mere distraction.


    But right now he did not need to go through all that trouble. Someone else was generously helping him, carrying out this distraction phase.


    All he had to do was wait patiently¡­


    Liam silently continued standing behind the rock and observing. A few more minutes passed and just as he expected, the group was no closer to mapping out a strategy.


    "Any time now¡­" He grinned and readied himself.


    And the very next minute, Abraki''s loud voice thundered. "That''s enough. Attack. Move forward with full force."


    Immediately, the 60 or so yers hiding behind the area of detection of the gnomes, jumped forward into the battle zone.


    BANG. CRASH. KABOOM.


    Fire balls, Frost bolts, Dark swirls, Steel arrows, a variety of attacks flew across, targeting the several gnomes.


    The ranged yers did the majority of the damage, with the closebat yers temporarily holding back.


    The healers were equally busy, ready to insta cast, bless or revive the health of the yers unlucky enough to be struck by the self-destructing suicide attack of the gnomes.


    But the gnomes were not pushed back so easily.


    Against the might of the big guild, they held their own.


    "BEEP! INTRUDERS ALERT"


    "BEEP! INTRUDERS ALERT!"


    "BEEP! INTRUDERS ALERT!"


    Deafening and disorienting sirens rang loudly in the air as more and more mecha gnomes started pouring out.


    They threw all caution to the wind and rotated their loaded barrels shooting out bullets, bombs, and bazookas.


    When this did not work or if their health was about to bottom out, they threw themselves at the enemy randomly and exploded. Not just the front lines but anywhere in the formation.


    Complete and utter chaos descended. It was an absolute trainwreck.


    But none of the guild members looked hesitant or showed any signs of fear. They bravely continued pressing on, taking all of the hits and damages with wide open arms.


    Abraki''s leadership also shone through and his voice thundered amidst the disaster.


    "Mages! Freeze the gnomes that are of low health!"


    "Assasins! Try sneaking up and dismantling them into two halves!"


    "Hunters! Get your pets to draw away the low health gnomes! Get them away to the far end! Let them explode onto themselves!"


    Though they were clearly being overpowered, the top elite yers of the guild were nothing to scoff at and were putting a decent fight against the unrelenting gnomes.


    Just the sight of the bloody battle made Liam''s blood boil. This was a small scale war! Such powerful techniques and such skillful teamwork! This was a first rate guild!


    He did not yet have the power to deal with such a guild.


    But Liam was not here just to watch the show.


    He waited patiently and before long, along with the constant swarm of mech gnomes that were spilling out, several bigger humanoid bots also started crawling out.


    The overseers!


    The instant these came out, every single member of the Assasin guild became speechless.


    They were already struggling to deal with the small level 35 gnomes, how were they going to deal with these big Level 50 bots?


    "Fuck!" Several people simultaneously cursed loudly. This was definitely going to be a team wipe!


    Seeing that his team''s spirit was wavering, Abraki immediatelymanded. "There are just 10 of them! We are 60 in number! We can take them down! DON''T STOP!"


    At this critical moment, he finally jumped into action, no longer holding anything back. "Use the gnomes explosive burst to take down the bigger bots. Use their own attack against them."


    "MOVE AND EVADE"


    "MOVE AND EVADE"


    "KEEP MOVING"


    His voice thundered loudly. At this time, he was no longer wielding his daggers.


    Instead, he took out a big shiny shield and jumped in the midst of the chaos, directly taking the hit that was aimed at one of their healers.


    BANG!


    Abraki was pushed back and a quarter of his health disappeared. However, the very next second another spellnded on him, topping up his health.


    He nodded in approval, silently praising their healers. It was a good idea to diversify their guild and not just stick to one profession.


    Just as he was about to jump into another messy node where a guild member looked like he was about to die, suddenly he saw a person appear and disappear in the corner of his eyes.


    "Impossible!" Abraki''s entire body shuddered in disbelief.

 Chapter 164 - Mission Complete?

    <h4>Chapter 164 - Mission Complete?</h4>


    After catching the man''s nce briefly, Liam grinned and waved his hand before reactivating his [Stealth] and disappearing into the southern cave.


    Now that some of the Overseers were out and most of the Sentinels were also out, the time was ripe for him to take action.


    He could have done this a while back but this turned out for the better as now he was able to move around and explore the ce better and with more ease.


    Once he was in, Liam''s eyes wandered around speedily, taking in everything around him. He was standing in a huge hall almostpletely lined with some sort of metal.


    The inside of the cave was a stark contrast to the outside which was just a rudimentary rocky cave structure.


    Inplete contrast to that, there were huge metallic structures and weird machines all around.


    Even though Liam had already seen this beforehand, he couldn''t help but gape at the expanse of the machinery.


    It looked like some sort of high-tech manufacturing unit.


    "Is this where they made those things?" Liam tried to see if anything was relevant, but his feet continued moving carefully.


    He was not alone in the huge cave.


    Apart from the mecha gnomes, overseers and sentinels, it looked like there were also some worker bots that were still continuing to tinker with things on the inside even with the raging battle outside.


    Liam carefully tip-toed around these and went to the end of the hall that lead to a narrow tunnel.


    If the information that he had was correct, then the item that he coveted despite all the risks and the dangers involved, should be at the end of the tunnel in a treasure chest.


    "This better not be a lie." Liam shook his head not wanting to think about that possibility. "Damn it, if for some reason this is all a big lie, those guys better be prepared for a world of torture."


    He panted as he beelined to the end of the tunnel and was finally able to see a small room, inside which there was a bunch of treasure chests, all of different odd shapes and sizes.


    "Oh? There were more than one?" Liam knitted his brows together and slid into the room.


    However, just as he neared it, three sirens started ring, and blinding shing lights popped up.


    The very next second, the still and lifeless metallic walls suddenly groaned and caved as a dozen new type of mecha gnomes started pouring out of the walls.


    These were shooting outsers, the light boring hole at any point it touched.


    Liam stiffened up. As soon as he heard themotion he had ducked behind the room''s door, but now he was unable to take a step forward.


    Though individually these probably would not be able to do much damage to him, if the dozen of them targeted him together, then they would definitely instant kill him!


    He did not dare take this chance!


    But thankfully, not all hope was lost just yet. This was why he had purposefully spent those 2 seconds at the entrance taunting Abraki.


    Even though the outside of this cave was a nightmarish battle zone, Liam knew that the guild leader woulde for him.


    Not letting him down, at this exact same moment, a group of yers barged in.


    BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEP


    All the remaining gnomes inside the cave immediately reacted to their presence and flew after them with vengeance.


    "FUCK! I KNEW THIS WAS A FUCKING TRAP!" Abraki roared in anger.


    The issue was that even though he had an inkling that Liam was purposefully drawing them in, he couldn''t help but go after him and check it out nevertheless.


    What else was he supposed to do? Stand and fight outside like an idiot when another person was robbing the inside of the cave from top to bottom?


    He did not want to bend over for the guy to screw him but ended up doing it anyway.


    The dozen bots with blindingsers started attacking the Assasin guild members leaving the other person all alone in the room to plunder to his heart''s content.


    Liam did not waste a single breath and started hurriedly opening up one treasure chest after another.


    However, there was one more surprise waiting for him.


    Now there were no more new bots, but the room itself started shing red, giving Liam a bad feeling.


    [Unlock]


    [Unlock]


    [Unlock]


    Liam clicked a few of the treasure chests and then hurriedly emptied everything out of the chests into his inventory without even properly looking at what they were.


    If he was correct, then he only had a fraction of a second to get the hell out of here.


    As he emptied the contents of the fourth treasure chest, Liam saw that he had finally gotten what he wanted, so he did not linger any longer and quickly activated his backup n.


    The cursed ring!


    He had given one to Luna beforehand and as soon as he activated the spell, his body disappeared from the inner chamber of the cave and directly appeared right next to the red fox.


    And almost at the same time, a huge damage number floated above his head.


    -1000


    And along with it¡­ BOOM!


    A deafening explosion rang in the distance.


    Liam froze as his heart was still beating out of his chest. What he had assumed turned out to be really correct.


    Thest time around, the guild who obtained the items in the cave only boasted about one item and there was no talk about anything else.


    But Liam had now seen plenty of treasure chests in that small room. So how could this be possible?


    And there were also those shing red lights¡­


    It did not take him long to connect the dots and guess what might have happened.


    Just like the self-destruction program of the gnomes, the cave also maybe had one?


    This was why he had not even bothered opening all the treasure chests and stopped his actions as soon as he had gotten the item that he wanted and immediately teleported.


    Liam let out a deep breath and stood up to see the smoke in the distance and the explosions still going off like fireworks.


    As for the other treasure chests in the room?


    He He. Liam chuckled.


    The chance that the Assasin guild obtained those was next to nothing.


    They were probably destroyed and the impact of the explosion should have been enough to take out the remaining members.


    And if they still managed to take away some scraps even after all that, then it was well earned and well deserved.


    He had no qualms about it.


    Liam let out a huge breath of relief and quickly hopped back onto the bird. This had taken a while but he was finally done.


    "Let''s go, Talon. Fly back to the royal city."


    The wind ripper chirped and instantly soared high up in the sky. As they were leaving, Liam could spot a dozen people spawning in a barrennd nearby.


    However, just as they did, something galloped towards them and started massacring them left and right.


    He could only make out the outlines from his height but he could tell that their state was not that good.


    This was a high-level area, after all, so the graveyard wasn''t simple.


    It was probably in the territory of a high-level beast and getting out of here should be a pain after death.


    In his previous life, the guild that discovered this ce only did so when they were in their 50s. So they did not face this issue.


    However, everyone right now was lower leveled. So they wouldn''t be able to handle the mob in this zone and worse, the zones beyond this.


    Seeing their pathetic state, Liam clicked his tongue and then copsed on the bird''s back to rx a little.


    He was tired as every minute of thest several hours had been extremely mentally taxing, but he did not close his eyes.


    Instead, he opened his friend requests and went through the several names. His gazended on a name at the bottom and he clicked it.


    Immediately, a notification popped out.


    [Ding. You have epted Abraki''s friend request]

 Chapter 165 - Missing Persons

    <h4>Chapter 165 - Missing Persons</h4>


    Liam did not expect an immediate response from the Assasin guild''s leader as he knew that they were currently busy dying and reviving.


    So he swiped it close and opened the bunch of message notifications that had popped in.


    They were a couple of messages from the people whom he had teamed up with a while back, but he directly ignored those and only opened the ones from his sister.


    "Oh? There are quite a few?"


    Liam yawned and went through them one by one even though he was pretty sure that there was probably nothing urgent among them.


    Because the cities were iron-d safe zones and that was why he had left those two alone in the first ce.


    "Learning cooking skills from the trainer?"


    "Even intermediate skill?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "What are these two up to?"


    "Even I haven''t heard of anything like this happening?"


    Liam''s interest was piqued and he sat up straight to look at everything again.


    However, there weren''t any more details, except for a couple of messages asking when he was going to return back.


    [I aming back right now. What are you both doing?] Liam replied. He closed his eyes for a bit and rxed.


    A few minutes passed by and then some more. However, there was no reply from the other end.


    "Hmm?" Liam frowned. He again messaged both Shen Yue and his sister but there was no reply from either of them.


    It was understandable if one of them was busy but both not replying did not feel right.


    In fact, the group chat that had been blowing up for several hours straight was suddenly silent and both the girls were not even talking to each other.


    "Did they log out?" Liam pondered.


    "No, if they logged out, then they would have at least shot me a message about it."


    "Something is definitely off¡­"


    As more and more time ticked by without any reply from the other side, an unsettling feeling cropped up in his mind.


    Liam patted the wind ripper and absentmindedly muttered. "Talon, can you move a little faster."


    Scree! The bird understood his words and reared its head, after which it started pping its wings more vigorously.


    It pushed its body to the limits to zoom forward like an arrow. Both Liam and the fox held on tightly as the wind rippled across their faces.


    "Thanks, Talon."


    Scree! The bird chirped and pushed itself more, flying as fast as it could.


    Aside from its speed, their return journey was also short since the distance between the north and the center where the royal city was located was not as great as the distance between the east and the center.


    They quickly arrived in a few hours and reached the outskirts of the city. Liam once again tried calling the two but there was still no response.


    "Where did they go?" Liam shook his head and patted the bird.


    Talon chirped and swooped down, as usual dropping both Liam and the fox near the entrance of the city, and flying away afterward to hide in the canopy of the trees.


    Kyuuu?


    The little fox cocked her head to the side, watching her master. He seemed to be troubled. She jumped onto his neck and gave a few licks, but Liam was not paying attention to her.


    He walked ahead in deep thought. The fact they were not replying to his messages was worrying.


    It didn''t matter if they were there in the city or outside, they should be able to talk to him andmunicate with him.


    As he thought about this, a small idea popped into his head. "Are they doing some sort of special quest?"


    "Halt. Pay the entrance fees." Interrupting his thoughts, the royal guard decked in shining armor blocked Liam''s path and extended his hand.


    Liam silently nodded and took out the silver coins to pay him. He also pulled his cloak further up to hide his face and stepped inside the city.


    Just like Abraki had hypothesized, Liam also felt that his identity was probably sold to more than one guild.


    While the others might not have had the means to stalk him when he was in a remote ce, now that he was in the royal city, it was apletely different scenario.


    So he covered his face for now.


    "Alright. You may enter." The guard removed his weapon that was blocking Liam''s path.


    As his gaze wandered from the weapon to the guard who now looked ahead, ignoring him, Liam remembered Shen Yue''s ne and her quest.


    "It said the King''s chambermaid. Hmmm¡­" Liam mumbled under his breath and stepped into the city.


    He had not forgotten about Shen Yue''s ne that she received from the gift box and the quest that came along with it.


    That was a special unique quest, specifically tailored for her. In his previous life, a lot of people had received special quests like this when the update was firstunched.


    Though these quests were not powerful enough to unlock hidden sses or special inheritances, many yers learned special skills, obtained powerful pieces of equipment, and had gotten other misceneous unusual rewards.


    This was why he had asked both of them to log in immediately to get a better chance of obtaining a good gift box.


    So the ne in Shen Yue''s possession was probably not ordinary and the quest it invoked as well might not be.


    But still¡­ to not even respond back to him¡­


    Liam decided to first log off and make sure that the two were not offline.


    And just as he thought, their apartment was empty and Mei Mei''s game capsule was glowing inside her room.


    "So she is still ying¡­"


    "If she is not offline and still in the game but can''t talk to me, then those two are definitely in a special quest." Liam nodded and decided to wait a while.


    He leisurely drank some water and ordered some food. He then took a shower and switched on the news, rxing his mind and body a bit.


    Fighting and running around non-stop had their own toll on the human body especially when it was a sudden change in lifestyle.


    If Liam had been practicing martial arts or some other form of sports right from his childhood, it would have been much easier to get ustomed to the new future that awaited them.


    A few minutester, the food arrived and he absentmindedly chewed on his food while continuing to watch the tv.


    But he was not able to rx at all as he was still feeling very restless about this whole situation. "Damn it. I should just log back into the game and start talking to the guards in the pce."


    He threw the dirty dishes into the sink, not bothering to wash them, and stepped into the game capsule once again.


    And as soon as he did, a single unopened message blinked in front of him.

 Chapter 166 - Who Revealed My Identity?

    <h4>Chapter 166 - Who Revealed My Identity?</h4>


    Liam''s eyes widened and he hurriedly opened the message to see that it was not from his sister, but from the Assasin guild leader, Abraki.


    He closed it and did not respond to him immediately.


    Instead, he first walked over to the Big Mug tavern that was near the city''s center.


    This was one of the most crowded eateries in the entire city where the rich and the poor, yers and NPCs, everyone alike preferred to drink and eat as both the food and drinks were amazing.


    There were even a couple of NPCs here that gave out high experience points rewarding eating contest quests which needed a couple of tricks in order to bepleted.


    However, Liam''s purpose ining here was something else altogether.


    Apart from the delicious food and intoxicating drinks, this tavern was also the number one spot for getting to know thetest gossip.


    All sorts of hot news about the city''s events or other cities'' events or even other kingdoms'' events could be found here.


    While his sister and Shen Yue were probably just stuck doing some sort of special quest, Liam still decided toe here and wait for the next couple of hours.


    If in case, something else was going on with them that he was not aware of then this tavern would be his best bet to find out.


    "I am taking this chair here." Liam waved at a big-breasted woman who was busy serving drinks.


    "I will be right with you, sir." She shed him a coy smile, flitting about the various tables.


    She was a very alluring good looking woman with a curvaceous full figure.


    Several yers in the tavern were trying to hit on her and she also freely allowed them to feel her up for a good tip.


    However, Liam''s eyes were squarely fixed on the table in front of him.


    His gaze was on a small dark spot as he intently tried to listen in on the many conversations happening around him.


    Most of the buzz was about the top guilds and the dungeon records.


    There were also several discussions about rare pets, particrly about the yer who managed to capture a dragon as a pet.


    The little fox lifted her nose upon hearing this specific remark and snorted in contempt.


    She jutted her furry chest forward as if she was saying she was the best pet and how could a stupid dragonpare to her.


    If Mei Mei was around, she would have gone crazy at the adorable expression of the fox but Liam only let out a sigh.


    "How difficult is it to just stay put in the city?" He shook his head and took a sip of the brown ale that he had gotten.


    Continuing to patiently wait for his two troublemakers, he opened his message list again and contacted Abraki.


    [Now that we have exchanged our greetings, would you be interested in doing some business?] Liam sent him a message.


    As if the other party was eagerly waiting for him to contact like a love-struck teenager, a return message instantly beeped back.


    [What did you get from inside the cave?]


    Liam scoffed at his reply andpletely ignored it.


    [I can provide you with 10 fire resistance potions in return for the name of the person who revealed my identity]


    This time the reply did note back immediately.


    Liam continued sipping his drink, still listening in on the conversations.


    It would be best if they could do some other trades but as for what he obtained from inside the cave, they were already reserved for his two troublemakers.


    After a few minutes, Abraki finally replied. [We don''t have that information. We can trade gold or dors for the potions?]


    This reply was something that Liam had expected so he shrugged and epted it.


    After all, how could the person who was capable enough to find out his identity be foolish enough to reveal theirs?


    When he was about to send out another message, yers seated on one of the tables near him started talking about something quite interesting.


    "Did you hear? The royal guards arrested two women from the training hall today."


    "Ya. I heard about that too. I also heard that one of those two was a total knockout."


    "Fuck. I missed the chance. If I was there, I would have done something to save them and be the hero."


    "Ya, I am sure a pretty girl like that would instantly be your die-hard fan and start giving you blow jobs in return."


    "Stupid stop daydreaming."


    "Did you think the royal guards are NPCs that you can mess around with? Those two will probably remain in jail for all of next week."


    "Maybe I can bribe the prison guards?"


    "Heh. Then you will only find yourself in a prison cell right next to theirs. Did you not read the forums at all?"


    "The jail system here is insane. It is not easy to get out once you get in."


    "Hmmm¡­ I wonder what those two did to get themselves in this predicament. He He. Were they perhaps offering some special services?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! Even if they did, they would have probably rejected you! Have you seen yourself in the mirror?"


    The bunch of yers loudlyughed and continued chatting boisterously, when the table in front of them suddenly rattled, the wood thudding on the floor.


    The person sitting at the table was also no longer there.


    "What the heck? Who is in such a hurry to leave?" They nced over but then returned back to their merry evening.


    Meanwhile, outside the shop, Liam''s figure disappeared into the crowd, quickly weaving in and out. "Fuck. I should have thought about this before. They are in jail!"


    When a yer was in jail also, they were unable to log out ormunicate, but he hadn''t thought about this because it was not an easy feat tond in jail.


    Even if it was murder or rape, as long as one did it outside the city, the royal guards would only turn a blind eye.


    And he didn''t think that his sister or Shen Yue was the type to start a fight.


    At most, they would retaliate back if some other yer provoked them in which case they wouldn''t be the ones to be punished.


    Liam waspletely dumbfounded. "What the hell happened?"


    As far as he knew, the only other sure shot method tond in jail was to assault an NPC with a social status and the royal city was full of them.


    But what could these two have possibly done to assault an NPC?


    Considering that it was not easy at all to strike a conversation with an NPC, let alone take it long enough for the encounter to end like this¡­ just what did they do?


    He was speechless. These two had a special talent to attract trouble!

 Chapter 167 - VIP?

    <h4>Chapter 167 - VIP?</h4>


    After finally getting the information that he wanted, Liam did not linger any longer and hurried over to the royal adventurer''s tower.


    He did not go to the prison block directly and instead came here for a reason.


    This was the ce where special missions issued by the Kingdom could be found and these could bepleted for earning experience points and reputation with the Kingdom.


    Though it was one of few ces where one could farm for reputation, it was a slow and torturous grind that took several weeks to months to make any sort of headway.


    Nevertheless, yers still continued to struggle with this as gaining reputation with the Kingdom was a very hard and tiring process. They were not handed out easily.


    And reputation with the Kingdom was extremely essential.


    Apart from conquering dungeon records and leveling, this was the thing that most guilds were busy with.


    This was because right now there were huge vacant plots twinkling like shining stars in various parts of the royal city and Yleka city.


    These were prime acres ofnd in crowded streets which could potentially be purchased for setting up a guild base and guild trade shops.


    Such a thing would bring both tremendous economical profit and growth and development to the guild, at the same time attracting several new iing capable yers.


    The number of yers entering the mysterious game ''Evolution Online'' was only growing with each day.


    Bigpanies and corporations had started investing and several people even started ditching their main jobs to y the game and earn a quick buck.


    Especially after the second update, the yer base had doubled the first day and then tripled the next.


    It was prime time for the various guilds to establish themselves and start pulling huge portions of the iing crowd.


    After all, elite yers might be the creme de creme of the guild but themon members constituted the meat and potatoes.


    Without the major chunk of the poption flocking to their guild, even a superior guild would slowly die out.


    Especially considering that very little information was avable about the game, to begin with, no guild wanted to lose out on their numbers.


    Of course, there were some who were going for only quality but when so manymon people who hadn''t yed any game before were joining, it would be foolish to think about only quality.


    So most guilds were looking at both quality and quantity and were trying their best to get their guild members to dominate the rankings.


    Team after team assaulted the dungeons constantly trying to make and break the records.


    But among all of these, the surest way to climb to the top was to establish their guild in a prime spot in the two main cities in the Kingdom.


    Every single guild leader was aware of this.


    However, no one was able to touch these low hanging fruits as no one had enough reputation points just yet.


    The first guild to make this happen would no doubt soar high, standing out among everyone.


    And everyone wanted to clinch this first ce.


    So several different guild members were littered around the tower at all times in case a special mission popped up. They didn''t want to miss out on it under any circumstance.


    Amidst this huge gathered crowd, a single hooded figure silently moved through and started casually walking to the first floor of the tower.


    Seeing this, everyone else who was gathered at the ground floor hall erupted into a loud uproar.


    "What the heck?"


    "How is that person able to go up?"


    "Heh. Don''t worry. It is just a stupid noob trying to act smart. Now, wait and watch the show."


    Just like the yer mentioned, as soon as the hooded figure stepped onto the stairs, a guard nearby rushed over and blocked his path.


    "Halt. You cannot enter the above floors. Only the hall is currently essible for your status." He concisely made the rules clear.


    The murmuring crowd all nced at each other giving knowing smiles.


    This was exactly why they were suffering so much! But this person wanted to go up so easily? Dream on!


    They watched in amusement, waiting for the familiar attempts to tter the guard and negotiate. Hadn''t they all tried to do this themselves?


    But no matter what¡­ the final results would only be one!


    They would be mercilessly kicked back to the main hall.


    As several yers sneered inwardly and waited for the hooded figure to be pped and sent down, the man''s hands moved and he took out something shining from his inventory.


    "What is happening?"


    "What is that in his hands?"


    Everyone started discussing in hushed voices. They had seen begging and bawling before but this was new.


    Just like them, the guard also showed a shocked expression. He immediately stiffened up and stepped back.


    "I am sorry, Sir. Pardon my intrusion. Please go ahead. Please let me know if you need any information."


    Not only was the royal guard polite but he even apologized to the hooded yer. Everyone was shocked to see such a twist.


    And right in front of their eyes, the yer with his face covered climbed the stairs and casually walked up.


    Unable to believe this, two more yers quickly ran up the stairs to try their luck but they were immediately kicked back down by the stern-looking guard.


    Guessing that what the person had taken out was a bunch of gold coins, some more yers tried to go up and bribe the guard, shing a sly smile, but they were also mercilessly kicked out.


    One particr adamant yer was even sent to prison for the attempt to bribe.


    After witnessing this, no one dared to imitate the hooded yer and silently ground their teeth, waiting for him toe back down.


    Only then they might be able to obtain some information about this mysterious urrence.


    Meanwhile, after reaching the first floor, Liam no longer bothered to hide his face.


    There were no other yers around him, so he removed the cloak covering his face and looked at the woman sitting in front of the counter.


    The woman immediately noticed him and shed a polite smile. "Respected Sir, how may I help you today?" She greeted him with regard.


    Liam, however, was not in a mood to exchange pleasantries with the good-looking tower assistant.


    He directly dumped the thing that he was holding in his hand onto the counter space and got to the point. "I would like to submit these to the Council."


    The woman''s eyes immediately widened in surprise and she couldn''t help but let out a gasp.


    "Ah¡­ This is¡­"

 Chapter 168 - Jumping In Ranks

    <h4>Chapter 168 - Jumping In Ranks</h4>


    "Ah¡­ just a moment, sir. I will go bring my supervisor." The attendant sprinted away after staring at Liam like a deer caught in the headlights.


    "Ok." Liam nodded and seeing that the woman had already disappeared, he started looking around.


    He first started with the mission board which was almost empty except for a single mission that rewarded a chunk of 100 reputation points for hunting down a rogue demoness.


    "Hmmm¡­ this is a lot of experience points, if I had the time I would probably do this, but for now¡­ no need."


    Liam then walked over to take a look at the few pieces of equipment on disy. There were bows, swords, sabers, spears, and all sorts of weapons.


    They all had a magnificent ck luster to them and their marked weight recordings read as several tons. Otherwise, theypletely looked normal.


    But Liam felt his pulse quicken as he walked close to them. How much had he yearned to wield one of these in hisst life!


    These might look normal but they were absolutely not normal or even anything remotely close to normal.


    They were top-tier weapons that every single yer would undoubtedly drool over.


    They singlehandedly set apart their wielders an entire 5 or 10 levels higher than their counterparts!


    These were Epic grade weapons!


    And each of them cost a staggering 1 million gold!


    But even so in the future, every decent guild leader would invest in purchasing one as this alone showed the strength of a guild.


    They were the absolute best weapons that were actually essible and were rtively easy to obtain.


    It would be the dream of countless yers to fight with one of these.


    However, even with enough gold coins, not anyone could buy these types of equipment.


    In Liam''s past life there was a guild that was made of tycoons.


    One of the guild''s upper echelons went full in on this bet and purchased a full set of epic-grade items from the tower, thereby bankrupting himself and the guild.


    Several people criticized him for being foolish and several people also praised him for thinking big and dreaming big.


    However, in the end, his life was tragically over because of the very same investment. It was absolutely impossible for a yer to rely on equips alone.


    Instead of overpowering every single one of his opponents like he wanted to, he instead became aughing stock.


    He was relentlessly hunted down by numerous mid-sized guilds, all of them eyeing his dazzling gear and within a day, he waspletely stripped down to his underwear.


    Every single piece of equipment on his person was stolen from him!


    "Poor bastard." Liam chuckled. It was a grave mistake to underestimate the viciousness of this game. He only knew it too well.


    As he started walking away from the weapons showcase, the supervisor, a slightly taller more mature woman came running downstairs from the upper floor, followed by the previous attendant.


    "Sir, please pardon me. If I knew that you would be arriving today, I would have personally waited to greet you." She panted with her twin mounds jiggling in ce.


    "Please let me know, how I can help you, Sir."


    Liam did respond to her immediately and calmly returned to the previous counter space. On top of that, he ced not one but 10 items from his inventory.


    They were bright golden in color and shone with a blinding brilliance.


    The supervisor gulped nervously at this sight and muttered in a low voice. "Ah¡­ do you wish to submit this, sir?"


    "Yes," Liam replied, pushing the items towards the two women casually.


    These were the same golden insignias he had collected from the dungeon run, Decabria''sir, the dungeon full of elite demons.


    Both the women sucked in a huge breath of air and started picking up the items with respect and reverence.


    But this was not the respect towards these insignias, rather it was the respect they were giving to Liam.


    Their eyes were zed with admiration towards the mysterious expert standing in front of them. To obtain so many insignias was proof of his strength and valor.


    Their hearts palpitated to meet such a dazzling figure.


    shing shy nces at the expert, the two women collected all the insignias on the counter, and as soon as they took all ten of them, Liam promptly received a series of chimes.


    [Ding. You have received 500 reputation points]


    [Ding. You have received 500 reputation points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. You have been awarded the title ''Knight'']


    [Ding. You have been awarded the title ''Lord'']


    [Ding. You have been awarded the title ''Baron'']


    [Ding. You have sufficient reputation points and you have also mastered a profession. You have been awarded the title ''Viscount'']


    A golden glow appeared on Liam, as he was continuously showered with the various notifications.


    Even though his clothes were badly ripped, and his items were worn out and close to disintegrating as dandelion spores, right now, the two women looked at him with visible yearning in their eyes.


    They could already tell that the person was nobility and he was not someone they could easily talk to. This was probably their only chance to interact with him.


    The supervisor hurriedly pushed out her chest forward wanting to impress Liam with her deep ravine, but he was already on his way out.


    He pulled the cloak back to cover his face and calmly walked down the stairs.


    His main purpose ining here was aplished and though he had other things to do in this ce, the timing was not right just yet.


    As Liam walked down, instantly the numerous yers crowded around in the lower hall prepared to jump on him.


    However, before they could even take a step towards him, four knights stepped forward from the shadows and stood next to him, boxing him in like tall mountains.


    "Make way for the Lord!"


    "Make way for the Lord!"


    They harrumphed and coldly gazed at the surrounding crowd, instantly shutting everyone up.


    From their mere looks, it was clear that they meant business so no one dared to approach Liam any longer.


    And just like that, in the presence of everyone''s astonished gaze, the person calmly walked out with the protection of the knights.


    No one was even able to react in time. They had several ns to track him and extract information out of him as soon as he came down from the stairs.


    But now he hade and gone like the wind and everyone just nkly stared at each other like sheep.


    "What the hell is happening?"


    "Did that knight call him a Lord?"


    "An actual yer bing a Lord? That''s impossible!"


    "Ya, it''s impossible. Aren''t we all struggling right now to be even a knight? How could he be a Lord so soon?"


    "Yes. That person is probably an NPC!"


    "Heh. You guys are only realizing now? Didn''t I say that long back? Bunch of fools. You all don''t even know how to differentiate a yer from an NPC."


    "Shut the fuck up."


    Not paying attention to the crowd behind him, Liam continued walking out.


    And once outside, he muttered to the knights in a low voice to stop following him.. A couple of secondster, his figure casually vanished into the crowded streets.

 Chapter 169 - Sold To A Lord!

    <h4>Chapter 169 - Sold To A Lord!</h4>


    Inside the underground prisonwork¡­


    A thin young girl in her teens rested her head tiredly on the cold bleak prison wall. Although this game had been fun till now, she right now hated it so much.


    Which game puts someone in a literal prison, making them unable to get out, or even contact anyone?


    If they couldn''t contact anyone, then how would one able be to ask for help? How were they supposed to get out of this hell hole?


    There was no end in sight and it was making her very nervous. Moreover, it was also very cold and eerie for some reason.


    Mei Mei shuddered and shook her body, trying to shake off the creepy feeling that was clinging to her.


    This ce was making her very uneasy and they had already spent so many hours in here.


    "Sis Yue, what is happening? It''s been so long. I didn''t get any messages from my brother. I am not able to send any out also. How much longer do we have to stay here?"


    "He won''t even know that we are here! We could be anywhere! How will brother find us?"


    "He will be looking for us everywhere and we are probably going to have to stay here for several more hours! Oh my god, don''t they have some sort of options to get out?"


    "We can''t even log out! What the hell is this game!"


    Shemented with a tired voice as they hadn''t even been given anything to eat. The conditions of the prison were truly bad.


    Shen Yue who was in the neighboring cell heard the poor girl''s cries but she did not have the mood to chat. She was right now very worried about Liam''s reactions.


    This was the second time she had directly or indirectlynded his sister in trouble!


    More than getting out of this prison, she was concerned about that. So she absentmindedly said a few words tofort the girl.


    "Ahhhh! This is so unfair, sis. We didn''t do anything. I agree we got carried away but this is too much. Those old guys are very bad."


    Mei Mei''s voice continued ringing loudly in the otherwise silent prison cell.


    Shen Yue as well answered her every now and then, but she was deeply engrossed in her own thoughts, fretting the inevitable.


    In the midst of this, every now and then someone would walk in and the two would look up with hope but only to see patrolling guards.


    Somehow several hours passed by just like that and it did not look like they were going to get out any time soon.


    After a while, Mei Mei became even more anxious as she started facing a new dilemma.


    "Ah! Sis Yue, I have to badly pee. Ah. What should I do?" She looked with disgust at the iron bucket in the corner of the prison cell.


    "No. No. No. I won''t use that. Ahh."


    Maybe because she touched this topic, now Shen Yue also felt an urge to relieve herself. "Mei Mei, stop talking about this." She smiled bitterly.


    At first, neither of them was so miserable, but as time went by their mood started going down and now the two had hit rock bottom and were extremely gloomy.


    Mei Mei was so close to crying out loud when suddenly a set of footsteps echoed, making the two instantly brighten up.


    But that happiness quickly wilted away as in the next second, they saw the familiar patrolling guards. "We are never going to get out of here." Mei Mei sighed.


    Surprisingly, the guards this time did not leave quickly and instead one stood in front of Shen Yue''s cell. Even the jingling of a big bunch of keys could be heard.


    "Get up." The guard''s gruff voice sounded and Shen Yue quickly stood up. "Mei Mei, they are releasing us." She muttered hurriedly, letting out a big breath of relief.


    Unfortunately¡­ it looked like she had spoken too soon. The guard in front of her sneered after hearing her words.


    Shen Yue did not like the look on the guy''s face. "Did you think you both are free to go? Heh. You are dreaming. Why would we sully our streets with criminals like you roaming free?"


    Both Mei Mei''s and Shen Yue''s hearts dropped on hearing the guard''s malicious remarks.


    Just as they started to wonder what was happening, the guard promptly answered the question for them.


    "You both bitches dared to swindle the elders of our city! Now face the consequences! An esteemed Lord is buying you two scoundrels."


    "Hmph. Don''t be too happy. He He He. Do you know the customs in a Lord''s household? You both will be whipped and disciplined into submission!"


    "Maybe then you will finally learn to live as goodw-abiding citizens."


    Hearing his words, it took a minute for realization to dawn on the two women.


    Mei Mei opened and closed her mouth speechlessly while Shen Yue took a step back.


    What the hell was that guard talking about and what the fuck was going on with this stupid game?


    At least she was a bit older and if something happens, she could dust it off. The other girl was only fourteen years old. Wouldn''t things like this scar her?


    The two guards chuckled at the horrified expressions on their faces and they did not give them any chance to speak.


    They quickly cuffed both of them and dragged them out.


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei once again opened their system interface and frantically tried to log out, but nothing was happening.


    They could only watch helplessly as the two guards dragged them all the way up to a side entrance where a hooded figure was standing.


    The two shook their heads vigorously, suddenly wanting to go back to the bleak dingy prison rather than enjoying the fresh air outside.


    "Stop MOVING." The guard warned and then pushed the two ahead, making them stumble and fall.


    However, immediately his attitude changed and he politely bowed before the hooded figure as if he was his personal servant.


    "My Lord, these are the two prisoners you asked for. Please let me know if I can assist you in any other way."


    The hooded person waved his hand without saying anything much and five gold coins flew out of his hand to the guard.


    Shen Yue saw this and bit her lips in frustration. These corrupt bastards were calling them scoundrels! How was this fair?


    She looked up in despair to see who they had been bought by. On the side, her system interface was also open, ready to log out.


    But to her dismay, the worst was clearly not over yet.


    "Thank you, my Lord. Thank you." The guard bowed and thanked the hooded figure profusely.


    Then suddenly out of nowhere, he added. "My Lord, I also have some ve contracts with me if you wish to use one on them."


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue became even more rmed. ve contracts? They both looked at each other with fear etched on their faces.


    But the next second, the two jumped up in delight as a familiar voice sounded.. "No, that won''t be necessary."

 Chapter 170 - I Asked And They Gave It To Me

    <h4>Chapter 170 - I Asked And They Gave It To Me</h4>


    After the two guards unlocked the cuffs, and silently retreated back to the prison, Mei Mei jumped onto Liam like a small monkey.


    "Brother! You scared me! Why were you covering your face! Ahhh! These people arrested us. How did you find us here?"


    Without taking a breather, she hugged Liam tightly and started blurting out whatever was there in her mind.


    But before Liam could say anything, another pressing matter forced her to calm down and step back. "Cough Cough. Ah, can we first go to a restaurant please?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam was surprised to see this sudden change in behavior, but he directly rejected her. "No. Let''s first talk about some things. I need to know more details. What did you both do?"


    He looked sternly at Shen Yue first and then at Mei Mei.


    But both of them did not seem to take his words seriously and twitched and danced on the spot. Seeing this Liam frowned.


    He absolutely did not want to ruin thesest few days of happiness for them, but at the same time, he couldn''t have them taking this game lightly.


    "Why are you both dancing like this?"


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei looked extremely miserable. They couldn''t even feel the relief of escaping from prison because of this.


    Finally, Mei Mei could not hold it in any longer and mumbled in a low voice, with her face fully red from embarrassment.


    "Brother, we have to use the restroom first. We can talkter¡­ Ahh. I promise I will tell you everything."


    "Huh?" Liam did not expect this and only remembered the pathetic conditions of the prison when his sister spoke.


    He sighed and turned around. "Alright. No one is there here. So why don''t you guys first finish your business and then start talking?"


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue immediately panicked and shook their heads resolutely.


    "What? Here! No way! Let''s go to a restaurant!"


    "There is no time. I first need to hear what happened. You can either pee here or out in the forests. We are not stopping anywhere else."


    Liam was firm and did not budge from his position.


    He had a bad feeling and depending on what happened, perhaps staying in the city might not even be an option anymore for these two.


    So he first wanted to get out of here and hear what happened in detail.


    Shen Yue still continued to hesitate but Mei Mei knew about her brother''s stubborn nature and that he was probably not going to change his mind.


    Also, it was not possible to control certain things for too long.


    So quickly giving up, she bit her lips and ran over to squat near a tree.


    Seeing this, Shen Yue was speechless. The other party was quite young and could easily do this, but she was a grown woman?


    She opened her mouth to say something and then remembered how they had gotten into this whole mess because of her.


    So in the end, she also pushed down her embarrassment and found another tree.


    After a couple of minutes, the two once again obediently stood in front of Liam with their heads hung low. "Now tell me what did you both do? Keep walking and talking."


    His usual calm demeanor and smile were not there and just from his tone, the two of them could see that he was upset with this situation.


    So they both looked at each other nervously, neither wanting to take the fall. Mei Mei nudged Shen Yue on her elbow and she shook her head, still looking at the ground.


    Liam''s eyes twitched watching these two talking to each other in signals and continuing to mess around. "Stop it. Mei Mei, you better start talking now."


    "Ah¡­ Brother¡­ Ummm¡­ That¡­"


    "Liam, can I fill you in?" Shen Yue spoke up.


    Now that they were a little more at peace, she was able to think properly and wanted to talk to Liam about her new attribute and everything that had happened after she opened that.


    She quickly filled him in on the quest details from the ne and the charm attribute.


    Liam''s eyes furrowed and his frown deepened. He had heard about this attribute before but knew little to nothing about it.


    Apart from ''charm'', there were also other special attributes that some people unlocked.


    However, the information about these things was very limited as these were rare cases and the people who managed to unlock them did not openly publicize these secrets.


    Liam heard everything patiently and did not rush to any conclusions. He might not know much about this but he was still knowledgeable enough to make some educated guesses.


    "Alright. So after that how did you both get arrested?"


    After hearing his words, Mei Mei who had been standing silently up until now became even more flustered.


    Everything that had happened after this could unfortunately be entirely chalked up to her impatience and greed.


    She wanted to run away and bury her head somewhere.


    Shen Yue also felt extremely embarrassed to talk about this next part.


    She was not this kind of person. She had never done anything like this before. She had just gotten carried away with her partner in crime constantly encouraging her.


    But now that she thought about it, she didn''t know why she listened to a fourteen year old''s wise words.


    She looked up at Liam''s face and saw that he was not going to let them off without hearing the full story so she bit her lips and continued. "Ahem¡­ so¡­"


    "Because of this new attribute¡­ the NPCs¡­ I mean the elders in the training hall¡­ ahem¡­ they seemed to be very friendly with me¡­ so¡­"


    "Hmmm?" Liam''s brows shot up in surprise.


    Looking at the two blushing and abashed, he could pretty much already guess what might have happened.


    "Did you guys go around learning all the trade skills by sweet-talking to the NPCs?"


    "A little bit¡­" Shen Yue looked away in embarrassment.


    "What do you mean by a little bit? How many trade skills?"


    "Cough. Cough. All of them."


    This time Liam was no longer able to keep calm and asked her hurriedly. "All of them? You mean you just learned the beginner tier skill for all trade skills?"


    "No." Shen Yue shook her head. "Up until the intermediate tier."


    She didn''t want Liam to misunderstand and quickly added. "Umm¡­ I really didn''t do anything. I only asked and they gave everything away."


    "We just¡­ I mean I just¡­ I am sorry."


    "This is all my fault. I somehow again got us both in trouble." Shen Yue nervously fidgeted. She grew even more anxious because Liam was not saying anything back.


    But what could he say?


    Liam waspletely speechless.


    He felt his throat dry up thinking about how others in the game right now were probably selling their blood and kidneys and were leveling up the various professions with extreme difficulty.


    Not only was the sess rate super low, but it was also very difficult to get recipe drops and material drops as these two drop rates were extremely low.


    And this girl just like that managed to get everything?


    She asked and they gave it to her?


    What sort of an exnation was that?


    "Just the skills¡­ or¡­"


    "Un. I got a bunch of recipes also." Shen Yue quickly answered him. She told it very casually like it was a discount offer of ''Two for the price of One''.


    And seeing that Liam had visibly calmed down, Mei Mei also grinned and added. "Brother, sis Yue got a lot of recipes!"


    Liam looked at the two waiting for his approval and acknowledgment and smiled bitterly. He decided to think about thister and came to the main point.


    "If things went this smoothly, then how did you both end up in jail?"

 Chapter 171 - A Proposal?

    <h4>Chapter 171 - A Proposal?</h4>


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue looked at each other and then Shen Yue exined, "How we ended up in jail¡­ Hmmm¡­ This¡­ We also don''t know what exactly happened."


    "One second, the trainers were standing around, chatting with us and were very friendly but the next second things escted quickly and they started calling us swindlers and cheaters."


    "Without any sort of exnation, they immediately called for the guards and asked for us to be taken away."


    "They were also very angry. Seemed genuinely angry."


    "Hmmm¡­ " Liam was speechless again.


    What Shen Yue described seemed very unlikely to happen. Why would anyone go to the extent of imprisoning them without any sort of trigger? Especially, the training hall elders?


    These people in the city had a different behavior than the trainers in town and only rarely interacted with yers, but to get angered and punish them for no reason?


    This did not sound believable at all.


    "Was this really what happened?" Liam asked again, this time looking at his sister.


    Mei Mei quickly nodded her head up and down. This was indeed what happened and they had not left out any details.


    "Ok. It looks like we have nothing to worry about then." Liam rxed a little. He had a small idea of what this might have possibly stemmed from.


    Shen Yue''s ''Charm'' was a unique attribute. It probably had several advantages that would give her a lot of benefitspared to other yers.


    This was also perhaps why she was able to learn all the trade skills so easily. The NPCs were literally charmed by her presence.


    But at the same time, something like this would have its own set of disadvantages as well.


    So when the charm wore off, things changed. What these people experienced was probably some sort of bacsh for seducing the trainers unknowingly, or well knowingly.


    Liam did not want to give them a concrete exnation without first confirming this, so he didn''t say anything for the time being.


    "Let''s first get out of the city and then have a detailed chat." He reached out into his inventory and took two long ck cloaks, handing one each to the two girls.


    "Henceforth, I think it''s best if you both cover your faces when walking around."


    "Ah¡­ do we have to?" Mei Mei checked the weight of the cloak on her hand and did not look pleased.


    "Yup. It''s better this way. I recently made some enemies and you guys also seem to have some special ability to attract trouble. So this should at least give oneyer of protection."


    The two nodded their heads and wore the new longer cloaks.


    In the beginning, they were not too happy with it but when they saw that the cloaks were rare items that gave a good boost to their attributes, their eyes lit up and they happily donned them on.


    Their carefree attitude made Liam sigh and he chuckled helplessly. He did not want to linger around the prison any longer and started walking away.


    "Ok. Let''s get out of here. I have some gifts for you both."


    "Huh? Gifts? What did you bring brother?" Mei Mei''s face beamed. It only took her a second to forget the past several hours of misery.


    Liam smiled and patted her head. "Not here. When we are outside, I will show it to you." Mei Mei nodded with a smile and the two of them walked side by side.


    Shen Yue as well walked behind them, her gaze fixed on the man''s sturdy back, eying him curiously.


    His clothes seemed extremely worn out and there were smudges of blood and soot littered on them as if he had participated in several tough battles and struggled hard.


    Just what had he been up to? She wondered while a small shy smile surfaced on her lips. For some reason, the person in front of her felt extremely attractive right now.


    He gave the feeling that he was a sturdy mountain that she could depend on no matter what.


    Shen Yue immediately became embarrassed. She put aside these kinds of thoughts in her mind and caught up to the two of them.


    The group did not stop anywhere else in the city and directly headed outside to the forest area. However, the outskirts of the city were still pretty crowded.


    So Liam continued walking until they reached the closest high-level area, the verdant ins.


    There were several ferocious beasts that roamed in this territory and all of them were in the level 30 to 40 zone.


    So not many people dared toe here even though this area was quite close to the royal city. Liam as well chose this area for this exact same purpose.


    Also because of the hills scattered around amidst the lush greenery, he thought that this ce was very ideal for his demonstration.


    "Ok. This should do it." Liam hummed contently.


    "Why did we have toe so far, brother? This ce is seriously making me nervous. I feel like I am being watched by something in the bushes."


    Mei Mei nervously looked around, using her both arms to hug herself.


    But her big brother did not look too concerned about that. In fact, Liam casually ruffled the girl''s head and smiled. "He He. It''s good. You should hone these senses. They will be very helpful."


    "Eh! How are you joking in this situation? What if a bunch of Level 40 beasts surrounds us right now? We will all be dead in a second."


    Mei Mei looked around anxiously.


    Because of Liam''s repeated warnings about dying, a subconscious fear had been instilled deep in her heart and she absolutely did not want to die.


    "Brother, how about we go back a few miles? I saw a bunch of crocodiles. They are only Level 20 beasts." She tried to plead with him.


    In reality, both of their Levels were still under 10, but Level 20 crocodiles were better than Level 40 panthers. So she suggested this.


    "Hmmm¡­ I didn''t know that you were such a scaredy cat. You don''t even trust your brother? You don''t seem to be interested in your gifts also?"


    Liam continued messing with her. This was a normal feeling every low-leveled yer had when standing in a higher-level zone, so he didn''t worry too much about it.


    "Ah. I want the gifts." Mei Mei hurriedly tried to take back her words, but Liam was faster. "In that case, I guess I will just give Shen Yue the gifts."


    He took out one of the cursed rings from his inventory and casually passed it on to Shen Yue who was standing silently by their side.


    She curiously opened her palm and saw what Liam had given her, only to be immediately shocked.


    A ring? Shen Yue''s breath hitched in her throat.


    On her palm was a small metal ring. It was just a simple ring without any gems or engravings or any special luster to it.


    However, to her, it looked very special.


    She gulped and looked up to see Liam''s expression but he was calm and rxed as usual, continuing to mess around with Mei Mei.


    Was he proposing to me? Her mind became restless and she stood still, nkly staring at the ring.


    Seeing her like this, Mei Mei hurriedly asked. "What is the gift, sis Yue?" She tip-toed and walked over to her to take a look as well.


    And as soon as she did, just like Shen Yue she also became shocked.


    Both of them were in simr wavelengths and had jumped to the same conclusion. They stared at the ring as if they were seeing a ghost.


    "Huh? Why are these two reacting like this?"


    He hadn''t even exined anything or taken out the main item and their reactions were already like this?


    Liam wrinkled his nose and snapped his fingers in front of the duo.

 Chapter 172 - You Have A Ring? I Also Have One!

    <h4>Chapter 172 - You Have A Ring? I Also Have One!</h4>


    Seeing that the two of them were back to reality, Liam took out another cursed ring from his inventory and passed it to his sister. "Here. I have one for you also."


    "Huh? For me too?" Mei Mei blushed, bing bright red. Nevertheless, she epted the ring and held it carefully as if it was a priceless treasure.


    "Yes, for you too." Liam looked at Mei Mei and Shen Yue and both their faces were ripe like tomatoes. What were these two thinking about?


    He was suspicious of the dazed look on their faces and quickly exined. "Did you two read the description of the ring yet?"


    "If you guys are wearing this, then I can teleport to your location in case there is any danger."


    "This way, you don''t have to be confined within the city and can go out and do your own thing freely without any restrictions."


    Ah... The two nodded, absentmindedly opening the description of the item. Only now did they understand what had just happened.


    As they were still reeling from this unexpected turn of events, the small fox, Luna jumped in front of them suddenly and turned around, showing them her butt.


    At her tail end, very obviously another simr ring was present. The fox jiggled her butt repeatedly as if she was showing off to both of them.


    You have a ring? I also have a ring!


    The two girls'' eyes immediately widened as they stared at this familiar ring in disbelief. The fox also got one?


    Cough. Cough. They swallowed their embarrassment as now without a doubt, they knew that the ring was simply gifted to them for safety purposes.


    "Ahem. Brother, is this the gift you were talking about?" Mei Mei hurriedly changed the subject and tossed the ring on her finger.


    "Yes, but I have one more also," Liam answered. He waited for both of them to equip the item first.


    Shen Yue also followed Mei Mei''s example and wore the ring, acting as if nothing had happened.


    After all, nothing had happened between them and now that she thought about it, it seemed utterly foolish to guess such a thing.


    Although inwardly, she was a little more disappointed than the young girl.


    She looked at the ring and softly sighed.


    It might not be what she had expected it to be, nevertheless, she was thankful as she really did not prefer to remain in the city for long.


    It was far too crowded and there were far too many eyes on her.


    Being in the wild, in a scenic natural ce like this was far more pleasant.


    However, weirdly enough, here also she felt as if a few eyes were watching them. Shen Yue wondered if it was perhaps her imagination that she was feeling so uneasy.


    "Brother, what is the other gift? Take it out." Mei Mei also urged. "Sorry, I don''t like this ce at all." She pursed her lips anxiously.


    Liam was pleasantly surprised at both their difort, but he didn''t say much.


    He smiled and gave them a mysterious reply. "Don''t worry. Things will be resolved soon. Just a few more minutes."


    After that, he asked the two to wait a bit and started changing his clothes and gear. Every single piece was shiny and had amazing attributes and moreover, was rare-grade to boot.


    "How on earth did you manage to get such awesome stuff brother?" Mei Mei excitedly circled around him, checking everything out.


    "A friend helped me out." Liam chuckled as he thought about the loot he had collected from the several dead assassins.


    Top-tier guilds had top-tier equips, and this was just an added bonus to the gear he already had in his possession.


    The two of them continued chatting randomly and Shen Yue did not want to continue openly staring at the person changing his clothes.


    It would be far too embarrassing if she got caught.


    So she took out some materials from her inventory as she had been wanting to try her cooking skills and recipes for a while now.


    There was not much time so she didn''t set up any kind of borate cooking area.


    She simply took out some sliced meat, applied some herbs and spices to it, and ced it on skewers before calling the small fox over.


    "Luna, can you fry this?" She chuckled.


    The small fox cocked her head and then nodded, opening her mouth to spit out some fire.


    But the next second, she unexpectedly dived in topletely gobble up the meat from the skewers directly, while disying a very human-like naughty smile.


    Shen Yue''s lips parted into an O shape at the adorable expression.


    She was about to remove the cloak that covered her face and nuzzle the small fox when Liam interrupted her. "No, leave it on."


    Shen Yue looked up at him questioningly, but Liam was already busy with other things fiddling with his system interface.


    She could only look at Mei Mei in puzzlement who simply shrugged.


    She also did not understand why her brother said so.


    Weren''t they in the middle of nowhere? Was it really important to keep their hoodies on when they were standing in a deserted ce like this?


    As the two silently waited for Liam, with only the sound of the wind whooshing past the tall green grasses, all of a sudden an arrow appeared.


    Before anyone could react a barrage of attacks flew towards the three of them.


    There were all sorts of thingsing at them, ice spheres, fireballs, lightning spears, a few undeads, spears, ming arrows, purple steel arrows, the list was endless.


    It was as if a sea of yers had surrounded them from all sides and were attacking them.


    Not as if¡­ it turned out they really were!


    Just as the attacks wereing for them, several yers stepped out of nowhere,pletely surrounding and encircling them.


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei were stunned speechless! What the hell? How could this happen?


    They hade all this way and no one had followed them, but suddenly they were cornered like this out of nowhere?


    Just who were all these yers and why were they attacking them?


    They both couldn''t react at all and could only dumbly stare as the various attacks bombarded them.

 Chapter 173 - The Second Gift

    <h4>Chapter 173 - The Second Gift</h4>


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei shut their eyes tightly waiting for the inevitable death.


    Liam might be powerful but even inexperienced yers like them understood that it was far toote to react now.


    Also, the people surrounding them were numerous.


    "Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch." Mei Mei cringed, biting her lips, preparing herself for the pain. Shen Yue also had the same expression as both dreaded the next second.


    However¡­ weirdly¡­ the next second did not seem to arrive at all.


    Mei Mei still had her eyes closed but Shen Yue opened one of her eyes to take a sneak peek to see just what the hell was going on?


    Had they already died?


    She was half-relieved at that thought as she hadn''t felt any pain.


    If it was painless like this, then she didn''t mind dying.


    After all, they just started ying the game. How would it be possible for them to not die even a few times? It was just a part and parcel of the game.


    However, as she saw the blurry image in front of her, she became shocked to find that they were still standing in the same spot as before.


    She opened her eyespletely and just like before, they were surrounded by several yers, but this time¡­ for some reason¡­ their faces looked unsightly?


    Shen Yue dazedly turned to look at Liam who had a big grin on his face. It was not his usual warm smile but the kind¡­ a viin would disy¡­ malicious and evil.


    And before she could understand what was happening, another huge thing caught her eyes. Standing right in front of them were two gigantic figures.


    Made of stone? Made of metal?


    She had no idea, but it looked inhumane and there were two of them!


    Shen Yue slowly stood up, gasping in utter awe. She looked around her inplete puzzlement.


    Though an array of attacks were plummeting down on them, not even one managed to touch them.


    They touched some sort of invisible barrier and dispersed into nothingness.


    She gulped and her gaze returned to the giant monsters standing in front of her. They were like towering mountains that popped out of nowhere.


    "Are they¡­ blocking?"


    "Yup." Liam grinned, answering her rhetorical question. "How do you guys like your second gift?"


    "Ah... gift?" Shen Yue opened and closed her mouth without any wordsing out.


    Hearing the two of them talk, Mei Mei also shed her eyes open wide. "We are not dead yet?"


    "Nope. This is the second item I prepared for both of you." Liamzily ran his fingers through his messy hair.


    "With this, you can run wild and create whatever trouble you want, but make sure to do it outside the cities and towns and only in areas under Level 60."


    The two women nodded, still in a daze. They continued staring at the giants, unable to digest the fact that something like this existed in the game.


    They had never heard of or read about anything like this before. Moreover, such an item would have been an instant hit and top news and would have been all over the tv and inte.


    But now, nobodies like them were in possession of such monstrous things?


    "Brother, what is¡­ what is this?" Mei Mei asked, her throat feeling parched.


    "These are called golems. They are engineered from rare mineral ores and manabined together."


    "These past few days, I was out getting these two dummies for you both dummies. Do you understand now?"


    He opened the stats to disy it for both of them.


    [Ding. High-grade Defense Titan golem]


    Health: 100,000,000


    Mana: 100,000,000


    Skills: Erect a mana barrier


    Status: Cannot be upgraded


    [Ding. High-grade Attack Titan golem]


    Health: 100,000,000


    Mana: 100,000,000


    Skills: Punch, Kick, Crunch


    Status: Cannot be upgraded


    The two golems were not tooplicated. They only had a few skills and a few properties, well except for the insane amount of health and mana that is.


    "Brother, what the hell are these? They have the stats of some boss monsters! How did you even manage to get these?"


    Mei Mei''s words sparked a thought in Shen Yue and she could now guess why Liam''s clothes had been tattered, burned, and splotched with drops of blood.


    He was just casually handing these two insane things to them but he had clearly suffered a lot to get them.


    She clenched her fists and immediately spoke up. "Liam, I think you should just keep two golems. These will be more helpful to you."


    "If you are worried about us, then we don''t really have to y the game or we can just stay inside towns and cities likest time and focus on upgrading professions."


    "This time we will be more careful and not deal with NPCs so carelessly. Please keep these with you. To just give them to us like this, is too wasteful."


    After hearing her words, Mei Mei also realized this point and what she was about to say got stuck in her throat and swallowed it back.


    Now she could no longer deny the obvious.


    When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.


    "Brother, are you the rank 1 yer?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised his brows. "You mean the level leaderboard? I guess that should be me." He said it in a very casual manner but the little girl stared at him in disbelief.


    It took a second for his words topletely register in her brain.


    "Oh my god! You are too awesome! You are too amazing!"


    Not waiting for his reply, Mei Mei jumped on Liam and hugged him tightly. She genuinely felt extremely happy and excited for him.


    Others might not know, but she knew just how much Liam had suffered all this time.


    When their parents had died, their condition only became worse and he alone had born the brunt of it.


    And even now¡­ he was continuing to do the same.


    Tears appeared in her eyes and she didn''t mind the metallic and leather gear on Liam''s body as she hugged him tightly and continued crying.


    "Idiot. Why are you crying?" Liam smiled helplessly. "If someone gives you a gift, you should be happy. Not react like this, dufus."


    "No brother." Mei Mei looked up at him with her tear-filled eyes and snot leaking nose, "You should keep these two with you. You can be even more amazing."


    "I don''t want to be a burden to you. Not like this." She resolutely shook her head.


    "You!" Liam was speechless. It looked like these two were not going to ept unless he properly exined.


    "By the way¡­ who said I only had two of them? I am only gifting two to you both, I have others you know."


    "But can we continue this discussionter?"


    "We shouldn''t keep our friends waiting."


    Liam smiled and turned to pay attention to the flustered yers who were struggling, their teeth grinding in exasperation.


    How could a bunch of Level 20 yers possibly attack a Level 60 boss equivalent?


    Wanting to take down a titan golem with just this much?


    Impossible!

 Chapter 174 - A Losing Battle

    <h4>Chapter 174 - A Losing Battle</h4>


    Watching their three targets stand inside some sort of barrier and cooly watch all the attacks raining down on them, the yers standing around were further enraged.


    "Boss, look at that. While we are struggling like this here, they are having some sort of happy family reunion." One of the yers chewed his nails and spat out in anger.


    "Are those two girls hugging that bastard? So hateful!" Another one shouted and his bitterness seemed to stem from something else.


    "What the fuck is this? What is happening?"


    "What are those huge things? They look like golems but how could something so powerful pop up out of nowhere?"


    "There are absolutely no discussion or any mention of this thing even. Do you guys know what is happening?"


    "Leader, do our guild''s high council members know something about this?"


    The group of yers started getting frustrated and they directed all of it towards their party leader who had invited them here to recruit the person in front of them.


    Many of them had suggested a more peaceful form of recruitment, but it was the party leader who had insisted on fighting and killing the person a few times first.


    And now¡­ that seemed to be a distant dream.


    The leader of the group looked at his team members nkly, not knowing what to say.


    He did not even see what the three standing inside the mana barrier were up to, let alone hear what his teammates wereining about.


    His eyes were solely fixed on the two giant monstrous golems.


    "What are those things? This is the first time I am seeing something like this." He as well dumbfoundedly muttered.


    At first, they had all assumed that they were fighting against some sort of summoned monster and their confidence did not waver.


    Just because something was huge, it did not mean that it was equally powerful.


    And the yers as well were not normal yers.


    They were elite yers from a mid-tier guild.


    While they might notpare to the experts of the top-tier guilds, they were better than the vast majority of yers currently in the game.


    They also had their own pride, so how could they back down so easily?


    Without minding the two huge golems standing beside their target, they continued attacking with a frenzy.


    Apparently, the golems they were fighting against had erected some sort of barrier so their attacks were unable to get through.


    However, no barrier could hold on forever. This was probably the other party''s trump card.


    So they continued tirelessly activating one skill after another, even supplying their almost emptied out mana pool with potions and edible items.


    But this continued on without any end in sight and with every passing second, their frustration was only increasing.


    "Leader, why is the barrier still not deactivated?"


    "Damn it, I am down to myst mana potion. How much longer do we have to keep hitting this thing?"


    The leader himself was speechless. "Just¡­ ughh¡­ Keep attacking." He muttered in a daze, his brain working overtime to think what the hell was happening.


    He had a bad feeling that he had approached this problem in an unnecessarily hostile manner and made an enemy out of someone that he should not have.


    "Fuck. Why did I listen to that stupid woman?" He cursed inwardly, but it was toote now. He could only me himself for this misfortune.


    "Keep¡­ attacking¡­" He weakly muttered again, though he already had a feeling that this was probably not going to end well for them.


    On the other end, Liam silently grinned.


    What a strong barrier! Even if a hundred yers together continue throwing stones at this, it was still difficult to weaken the barrier.


    Because this was an entirely different tier magic whenpared to the attacks that they were using.


    So no matter how much they struggled, at this point in the game, it was near impossible to break this open. It was only a losing battle.


    This was exactly why he was not willing to give up on the gnome base and went through so much to get the items from the treasure chest, even risking death.


    Even though he would never be able to take these titan golems out of the game and their effects would also considerably diminish at theter stages of the game, it would still give him a lot of leeway at his current level.


    With this, he can peacefully do his own thing and not worry about these or constantly spend time being their personal bodyguards.


    "Alright. Time to show off your strength. Go attack." Liammanded the attack-type titan golem. He did not have all day to y with these friends.


    While these people were not even at Level 30, Liam was just a bit shy of reaching Level 40.


    A difference of ten levels coupled with his already extraordinary physique was something these people could not easily ovee with just numbers.


    Especially with the presence of the two golems, these yers were nothing but ants trying to eat an elephant.


    When the elephant moved, the tiny insignificant things could only wait to be ughtered.


    Liam calmly stood back and watched as the attack golem finally moved.


    Its movements were neither slow nor fast. It moved at a steady pace and its every step sent out quakes and tremors in all directions.


    Watching the golem step out of the barrier ande towards them, everyone instantly tensed up but as soon as they saw its speed, they rxed a little.


    So what if it was too strong? As long as it was slow, they could easily escape all the attacks!


    The yer closest to the golem sneered as he swung his saber at the giant. Without the barrier, he was confident that he would be able to do significant damage.


    However, just as he moved, unexpectedly, the golem''s hand also elerated and its speed suddenly increased several times.


    Before the saber swing couldnd on the golem, the golem''s fist hadnded on the yer and ttened him into a thin pizza crust.

 Chapter 175 - Trapped

    <h4>Chapter 175 - Trapped</h4>


    Watching one of their elite team members being crumbled like a piece of paper right in front of their eyes, everyone''s hearts stopped for a moment.


    Every single one of them had looked at the golem''s movements and assumed the same thing. However, the reality seemed to differ.


    To say it slow and underestimate it would result in instant death!


    No one had any doubts about this, but the issue was¡­ if it was equally strong and fast, then what the hell was its weakness?


    Just how were they supposed to fight back against this monstrosity?


    Everyone''s faces fell.


    All the confidence they had at the beginningpletely disappeared and now they did not even care about recruiting this person.


    Enough was enough. This was a fight, they were clearly not going to win. So what was the point in standing around and getting killed?!


    The only option was to run.


    Everyone gulped. They knew that they had to wait for further instruction but the party leader still remained silent.


    Was he even alive? They did not know, but they no longer could afford to wait around.


    After killing the first member of the group, the golem mechanically moved its marble eyes to look at its next target, the yer standing on its right, who had alsoe up to attack it.


    Gruu. The solid earth cracked and groaned as the golem''s body once again moved.


    The yer who had daringlye up to fight back saw this and his legs turned to jelly.


    He didn''t want to feel the same pain his teammate felt, so immediately made a move and started to run away at top speed.


    Watching him, the others also started sweating. It was undoubtedly going to be their turn soon.


    Without waiting for any sort ofmand from their party leader, all the elite members instantly scattered and ran for their lives.


    Whoever was alive simply ran in whichever direction was closest to them, not bothering to even check which zone they were in. High-level or low-level, it didn''t matter.


    They just wanted to get the hell away from this ce.


    But how could the golem let everyone escape so easily? Its speed also increased and the ground trembled as it chased the runaways one by one.


    The aggro zone of these golems was several times bigger than the aggro zones of themon beasts. It could bepared to a rare elite or even a boss elite.


    So one after the other, yers eventually got caught and were pummeled into meat paste.


    Calmly watching the show, Liam chuckled.


    "Tsk. Tsk. Too bad¡­ This golem can only execute physical attacks. Otherwise, it could have usedrge-scale magic spells to insta clear these pests."


    "Well¡­ I guess¡­ This way isn''t too shabby either."


    He smiled, watching the horrified expressions on everyone''s faces just before a giant leg or a handnded on them and crushed them into a pattie.


    This was always how the world worked.


    A few minutes earlier, this same group of people had ganged up on 3 random persons they had never met in their lives, all for the sake of their own benefit.


    They did not care about who they were hurting or care about the pain they would suffer because of how the game was designed.


    All they wanted was power and money. They did not even bother negotiating with him first. They wanted to let their fists speak before their words spoke.


    And now that the tables were turned, they were screaming and begging for mercy.


    But unfortunately, they were asking him for something that he did not have.


    Casually admiring the structure and the mechanism of the two golems, Liam continued standing on the sidelines, while the scene in front of him was slowly but surely unfolding.


    The elite group of yers ran around like mice being chased by a big cat. To make matters worse, this area was smack dab in the middle of a high-level zone.


    So those who ran from the golem were running towards the beasts that reigned this region. They were caught between a rock and a hard ce.


    People who ran right ran back to the left, and those who ran left, ran right, all circling around the golem at the center.


    But it looked like there was no escape.


    Did they want to die in the hands of a beast or be instantly killed by the golem? The choice was theirs but on all sides, only death awaited them.


    At certain times, the golem reached a yer tangled with a beast, crushing both of them into patties at the same time.


    As things continued in this manner, within just a few minutes, the golem hadid devastation on the dozens of yers who had surrounded them.


    Half of them were already dead.


    Leaving the two girls with the defense-type golem, Liam as well moved out, stepping out of the barrier. He wanted to personally hunt some of the fleeing rabid dogs.


    And with him joining in, the already chaotic ce became fell into further disarray.


    Only one swing of his sword was required to finish his opponents as they were all already at the end of their wits and were not in the least protecting any of their vital spots.


    In fact, they did not even realize that he was the enemy as they were busy running around trying to find a way out of this ce.


    They only had the monstrous golem in their mind and unfortunately, theypletely failed to notice that their original intended target was also equally monstrous.


    "Easy pickings." Liam chuckled and picked up the equipment that had dropped onto the ground.


    He only intended to dip his toes and get his feet slightly wet without intervening too much. After all, he had suffered a lot to get these two golems.


    So he let them y and leisurely looked around.


    As he eyed the group of people who were still alive, surprisingly, there was a specific familiar face that caught his interest.

 Chapter 176 - The Tank Who Was Left Behind

    <h4>Chapter 176 - The Tank Who Was Left Behind</h4>


    One group of fleeing yers had mistakenly run into a Level 41 spotted panther.


    Though they would have weed this panther any day whenpared to the monstrous golems that were crushing them mercilessly, right at this moment, they were not too delighted.


    They were currently running for their lives, so the timing was a bit ufortable¡­


    "Everyone, I will hold this back. You guys escape first." One guy in the group loudly shouted. He was wearing te armors from head to toe and was using a shield.


    It looked like he was the main tank of the group.


    However, weirdly, after hearing his selfless gesture, the leader of the group did not look pleased with it at all. Instead, he chastised the yer.


    "Are you going to be ipetent as usual or are you going to at least do it this time?"


    Even in the hurry in which he was running away, the party leader made time to give him this scolding and then ran away.


    Liam chuckled in amusement.


    He saw the yer''s shield shudder a little at this remark, and yet the person continued to staunchly stand his ground and hold back the panther.


    This person was clearly no match for the panther.


    There was a significant difference in their abilities and one''s attributes far outweighed the other''s but the yer''s movements were very skillful.


    As he moved in haste, he did not make a single mistake and dodged the beast''s attacks, despite its speed being tremendously higher than his own speed.


    One would only be able to do this when they can foresee the attack pattern of the beast and move ordingly.


    However, this was easier said than done. The beast could always change its decision at thest minute and change the attack pattern as well.


    So prediction did not always work and it was an extremely tricky thing to aplish.


    Even more so during a time like this when you are left to defend alone, with all your other teammates running away, leaving you to take the fall and die.


    But the tank was extremely skillful. He was a melee yer through and through as he got down with the beast and tangled with it in a bloody messy painful brawl.


    Liam stood back and watched this expert yer without disturbing him.


    Only when his health had dropped to thest few points and he was at the death''s door, Liam finally intervened.


    "Move aside." He shouted as he sent a massive fireball towards the beast, followed by hacking and shing at it violently, all the attacks aimed urately for its vital points.


    It took less than a minute for the panther to let out itsst breath as ity lifeless on the ground.


    [Ding. You have gained 1000 experience points]


    Liam had obtained the majority of the experience points as he had gotten thest kill shot.


    He also stepped in to shamelessly take the loot which was a few bs of panther meat and a couple of silver coins.


    The other party, the tank, watched this in a daze as he had never seenbat techniques this clean and urate.


    Of course, his eyes twitched when he realized that it was the enemy whom he was admiring. The panther hadn''t killed him but this guy was going to kill him for sure.


    As he thought this and smiled bitterly, suddenly he froze. Something did not add up. If this person wanted to kill him, why did he warn him to move aside?


    He could have first let the panther kill him and then easily killed the beast, thereby reaping in more benefits. This way he wouldn''t even have had to share the experience points.


    While he continued to stare at Liam in confusion, thetter smiled and squatted in front of him. "Do you have any health potion with you?"


    "Huh? Health potion?"


    Liam tossed him a bottle of potion. "Drink this. You can still die from bleeding effects."


    "Ahh¡­ Thank you?" The tank scratched his head in confusion. The enemy was helping him?


    Nevertheless, he took the health potion and downed it hurriedly as his health was continuing to drip.


    Wiping his mouth, he returned the cleaned out bottle back to Liam, not even wasting that which brought a smile to Liam''s face.


    "May I have your yer ID, please? I don''t have any money at the moment, but I will pay you back as soon as I can. Ah. My name is Derek by the way."


    "Derek huh. Alright." Liam smiled.


    If anyone else had asked him the same thing, he would haveughed in his face, but he knew about this guy, so he directly answered him back.


    "I am Liam Chang. You can send me a friend request. And don''t worry about the money, you can return it when you can."


    "Oh, thank you." Derek hadn''t expected this at all. This person was so easy and nice to talk to, then why did his team leader directly attack?


    Couldn''t they have first invited him to their guild in a friendly manner?


    He quickly realized that he now had that chance. They might have dropped the ball but this person was unusually friendly to him, so why not try?


    "So Liam... I think we got off to a bad start here. We really did not mean-"


    "I am going to stop you right there." Liam interrupted him.


    "I don''t have any intention of joining any guild. So there is no point in this discussion."


    "Oh?"


    "I am of course willing to set up a mutually beneficial business deal. Do you have the authority to talk to me about it?" Liam smiled.


    There was a subtle teasing smirk hidden in that smile.


    And just like he expected, Derek only shook his head. "Sorry, I don''t have the authority. I will discuss this with my team leader and let you know immediately.


    "Oh, is that so?" Liam''s grin widened. "I would have assumed that a skilled tank like you would at least have this much authority. Guess not, huh?"


    Derek''s face changed on hearing Liam''s words.. It was as if he was putting a knife in his scarred wound and twisting.

 Chapter 177 - Want It Or Not?

    <h4>Chapter 177 - Want It Or Not?</h4>


    "Alright, then. Why don''t you shoot a message to your leader? I don''t have anything to do right this second. I can wait with you for their reply."


    "Ah. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Liam. I am grateful that you gave us this second chance." Derek did not continue to wallow on the sore topic and quickly sent a message to their group leader.


    If they could somehow form an alliance with this powerful person, it would be tremendously helpful for the growth of their guild.


    He immediately sent the message but as for the reply¡­


    A couple of minutes passed as the two men sat in silence and enjoyed the gentle breeze of the verdant ins.


    "Still no reply?" Liam smiled.


    "Ah. I think they might be busy." Derek tried to exin. Though inwardly, he was panicking. He wasn''t even sure whether this message was seen yet or not.


    Even normally, the party leader had a habit of ignoring him, and now that they were running for their lives, the chance of him getting an immediate reply was unfortunately a big fat zero.


    "Umm. I think things might be a bit tricky right now. Can I get in touch with youter?" Derek winced and muttered, afraid to meet Liam''s eyes.


    He very badly hoped that Liam would agree and not take it as a sign of disrespect.


    Becauseter on, if things did not turn out well, he would be the person everyone would me once again.


    He had already tried his best but it wouldn''t matter. They would me it all on him and make him pay some sort of fine irrespectively.


    Derek sighed. He had been in this situation so many times that he was now used to this treatment.


    Seeing his strained expressions, Liam smiled and did not beat around the bush anymore. He got straight to his point. "You can leave, you know."


    "Huh?" Derek was shocked. Weren''t they talking about business deals right now? What is this about?


    "I am saying you can leave that guild," Liam repeated his words.


    What Derek himself did not know and his teammates did not know was that he was one of the top yers in the game.


    He also,ter on, became the main General for the Guardians guild, one of the top guilds after his current guild was disbanded.


    While the other Generals were all long-term guild members who had been there with the Guardians guild from the beginning, Derek was a neer and yet rose to that position unanimously without any opposition.


    He was just that skilled. However, what Liam admired about him and was more interested in was his honesty.


    This person was treated like a doormat by his guild because he urgently needed fees for his mother''s treatment.


    They made him a dog and tortured him, all because the other tank in the guild was jealous of him.


    They did not want to let him leave as even they knew he was a top-tier yer but since he had a calm and submissive personality, they made use of it and treated him like trash until the end.


    Liam did not know what changed in the future that made his character drastically change from whom he was right now.


    But the person in front of him was still that calm, patient, and submissive person.


    So if he did not use this opportunity and try and obtain him as an ally, he would be aplete fool.


    However, there was a major problem when dealing with people like this.


    Liam valued him for his loyalty and honesty but these would be the very same qualities that would prevent him from breaking away from his current team.


    Unless¡­


    "How do you not have any money with you, even a few silver coins to exchange for a health potion? Are you in need of some money?" Liam lightly treaded.


    Derek, who was already reeling from shock from Liam''s previous words, now was even more bbergasted.


    This person was some sort of mind reader? How does he know everything? He stared at Liam dumbly, unable to answer any of his questions or respond to him.


    "Why are you looking at me like that? I am just asking as a friend and as a future business coborator. If you need some money, I can loan it to you." Liam paused.


    Then as if he could read the other person''s thoughts, he further added. "It doesn''t matter how much."


    "No. That¡­" Derek hesitated.


    "How much do you need? 100,000? 500,000? 1 million?" Liam continued, not giving him a chance to refuse.


    With each word he said, the other person became even more speechless.


    "Look here. I already know that you are in need of some money. And your so-called friends are probably not going to help you."


    "They might have promised you but I doubt that it is going to happen anytime soon."


    Liam looked at the person and with an unwavering gaze, he continued. "I am ready to help you now." He slowly spoke, enunciating his every word.


    "How¡­ How do you know?" Derek stuttered. He had never met this person before in his life and yet he was able to obtain everyst detail about him.


    "Does it really matter how I know? How did you guys find out about my identity? See, there are many secrets in this game and many ways to know about many things."


    "Let''s not confuse ourselves with those inconsequential details." Liam purposefully diverted the topic and brought it back on track.


    "The only question that matters is¡­ do you want my help or not? Within three days I can guarantee to give you that amount that you need."


    "So do you want it or not?"


    Derek gulped. He had no idea what to say and only dumbly stared at Liam. His earnest sincere expression made Liam shake his head helplessly.


    "I am not going to lie to you."


    "I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for me.. Just like those guys, I also n to exploit you."

 Chapter 178 - Ball Is In Your Court

    <h4>Chapter 178 - Ball Is In Your Court</h4>


    "I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for me. Just like those guys, I also n to exploit you."


    "I want you to be my right hand. I want you to work for me and ve for me just like how you are working for them and ving for them."


    "But the difference is¡­ I know what you are worth and I would never let your family''s situation get worse."


    Liam sighed and stood up. "Alright. I have said everything that I wanted to say. Now the ball is in your court and the decision is up to you."


    "Call me whenever you make a choice. There is no need to rush but the sooner you make a choice, the better it would be for the both of us."


    "I don''t have to remind you how the game is growing beyond its limits every single day. So even an hour counts."


    "If you join me soon enough, then I won''t have to loan you that money at all. You can make it yourself, but if you jointer¡­ I will still be able to help you but everything will be different."


    "Think carefully and decide soon."


    After saying what he intended, Liam gave the dumbfounded guy a look and nodded his head, before starting to leave.


    He didn''t believe that he would be able to sway this person so quickly. But there was no harm in trying.


    After all, he only knew bits and pieces about this person''s life because in the future he would be a very famous personality.


    He still had no idea about his current life and current circumstances.


    From the way his teammates treated him and the little information he already had, he just vaguely guessed things and made a move.


    Now, he could only patiently wait for the results. Although it would be nice to have an ally like that, he wasn''t too concerned if it didn''t pan out.


    Liam silently walked back to his sister and Shen Yue who were both standing near the defense golem.


    He had now settled everything, well almost everything as there was still one another thing that bugged him.


    "Both the guilds wanted to recruit me, but they both directly went for the stick and tried to strongarm me instead of trying the carrot approach?"


    "Heh¡­ This is interesting¡­ Hmmm¡­"


    "It is almost as if they were already informed that I am not an easy person to deal with." Liam rubbed his temples with his hand and chuckled.


    Earlier he only had a hunch but now he was almost sure of it. A mosquito was buzzing around incessantly, trying to suck his blood.


    A certain someone was purposely making things difficult for him in the background.


    "I will deal with youter." Liam deactivated the defense golem as there was no longer anyone else in the surroundings.


    Most of the people who came for them either died or fled far away from the spot.


    "Brother, what were you talking about with that person for so long? Do you know that guy? He looks like a foreigner." Mei Mei tip-toed, trying to see if Derek was still sitting in the same ce.


    "Brother, he is still looking at us." She added.


    Liam caught the little head with both his hands and turned it towards him. "Leave that guy alone. Focus your curiosity here. We have other things to talk about."


    He flicked the girl''s forehead and opened the map in front of the two women.


    He then started pointing out a few remote locations in the Gresh kingdom that gave a lot of experience points, skill books, and rare material drops.


    "I want you both to pay a visit to these spots and train by fighting with the elite beasts there," Liam exined.


    As far as he could think, the best way to keep these two out of trouble was to give them a bunch of chores.


    In fact, it was only a short while ago that he got this idea while he was talking to Derek.


    This way, these two will have some goals that they need to aplish and not simply run wild wherever it pleased them.


    It could help them keep out of trouble and at the same time earn some money and gain experience while they were at it.


    So he gave the duo detailed exnations and important things that they needed to keep in mind and basically gave them a full leveling map away from where most people would choose to grind.


    "Remember, focus on your training andbat first. That is more important than leveling up other professions and practicing recipes."


    "And don''t try to fight something that is several levels above you by relying on the golems. That tactic would help you get things faster but your skills will not develop properly."


    "You both need to know how to fight properly. Don''t unnecessarily use the golems. Use them only if you are in danger."


    "You can dismiss them and summon them when you want."


    He patiently gave a bunch of instructions to the duo and then activated theher portal to start his main business.


    "Ah, what is this?"


    Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue gasped in surprise to see a ck swirl of energy materializing in front of them, but Liam was too tired to exin everything to them.


    "Just remember what I said and here, keep Talon with you. This should make your travel a lot faster. I will check in on you both every now and then."


    "Behave alright and inform me in chat about each and every small thing?" He felt like a mother sending out her kids to study in kindergarten.


    Unfortunately, this ce was just that dangerous so he could only be overprotective like this.


    Liam, then along with Luna disappeared into the portal, which also closed instantly after they left.


    Shen Yue and Mei Mei were the only humans left standing in the spot amidst a bunch of corpses.


    They watched the two giant golems standing in front of them, waiting for theirmand, and gulped nervously. This was far too much power.


    The bloody scene around them was proof of this power.


    "Sis Yue, I think we need to work harder." Mei Mei slowly mumbled. She still couldn''t believe that Liam actually left the giant golems with them.


    Shen Yue nodded,pletely agreeing with her.


    She now understood how this person had earned so much money to live in the apartment that they were currently living in.


    This was just a pastime for her but for Liam, she could tell that this was his livelihood. So she did not dare to be careless any longer.


    She wanted to help him grow bigger and not be a hindrance. "Ok, we should leave then."


    "See this ce should be close to our level and Liam mentioned that the beasts here were weak at night. We can try fighting with these guys first?"


    "Mmm. I think that is a good idea too, Sis Yue." Mei Mei replied.


    She then dismissed the two golems who rapidly shrunk to two small heavy ck balls, that she ced carefully in her inventory.


    The duo then hopped onto Talon''s back.


    While Mei Mei was petite all over, Shen Yue was also quite thin with only flesh in her curves, so the bird was able to support both of them.


    After they settledfortably, it rose up into the skies and disappeared.

 Chapter 179 - Leader! We Are Here!

    <h4>Chapter 179: Leader! We Are Here!</h4>


    [Ding. You have entered theher realm]


    Liam inhaled the thick air of thend and gazed at the grim sky and the barren sands. He was definitely back in theher realm.


    And as soon as he stepped inside, he also immediately received his set of buffs.


    [Ding. You have been empowered by theher]


    [Ding. All your stats are increased by 10%]


    [Ding. Experience Points gained are increased by 10%]


    [Ding. Your pet Luna is inflicted by theher]


    [Ding. Your pet''s stats are decreased by 10%]


    Kyuu¡­


    Luna ufortably shook her tail feeling a prickling sensation spread across her body.


    "Mmm. Don''t worry. You will get used to it in a bit. Let''s first see where we are."


    Liam opened the system interface map and saw that they had once again been teleported to the outskirts of the same Thol city.


    "Phew. This is good. At least, we don''t have to find our way all over again."


    He then started walking towards the city along with the fox, but on the way, they stopped and hunted a few of the roaming rabid hounds.


    [Awaken] Liam activated the skill, raised 5 undead hounds, and then finally headed to the city with the big group.


    These undeads were his ticket to the demon city and he didn''t want to be caught without them.


    Though he was not particrly sure of the consequences yet, one could guess that it wouldn''t be anything pleasant.


    When Liam reached the gates, this time the guards treated him with much more respect.


    They did not even ask him for the entry fees and directly stepped aside for him to enter.


    "Greetings, Squad Leader."


    "Greetings, Squad Leader."


    ''Must be because of my new rank.'' Liam inwardly pondered and nodded to the two big demon guards who were letting him in.


    Thest time he was in theher realm, he had collected contribution points by participating in various invasion missions as a soldier, and using those he had upgraded his rank from soldier to senior soldier and finally to a squad leader.


    Now his position within the city was definitely better than an ordinary demon, perhaps equivalent to that of a Knight or a Lord whenpared to the hierarchy and ss system in the human kingdoms.


    "I wonder if those guys are still around¡­" Liam thought about the demon soldiers he had recruited to his teamst time around.


    "Ha¡­ probably not. They must have joined some other squad by now for sure." He shook his head with a sigh.


    Originally, he had a few ns for those guys but unfortunately, it took him longer than expected to take care of his personal business.


    Now he could only start from scratch and groom another bunch of soldiers.


    Liam pondered over different strategies that he could potentially use tomand his soldiers and make them loyal to him.


    Engrossed in his thoughts, he walked over to the city center where the various squads were usually gathered.


    As he crossed the different streets of the city, he couldn''t help but notice that there were a lot more demons around than usual and the ce was very crowded.


    There were more soldiers walking around, more people selling their wares, and fully upied bars and eateries.


    Everywhere he looked, the ce was crawling to the brim with various shapely demons.


    "Wow. The city is much more livelypared to before. Is this because the event is going to be triggered soon?"


    Liam did not stop anywhere else to check out the local news and directly headed for the city center. He had already lost a lot of time and did not want to get sidetracked.


    After all, the person he waspeting with, Kouske, had fate on his side.


    If he did not hurry, then the other person was going to seed and grab this inheritance just like he did thest time around.


    Liam soon reached the square and instantly he was pushed back by a wave of demonsing out of an invasion portal.


    If other ces were crowded, then this ce was jammed full with demons!


    There wasn''t even much space to move.


    "Heh." Liam chuckled and side-stepped, weaving through the crowd to enter the ce. The vibrant atmosphere all around him affected his mood as well.


    This was war! These were the preparations for war!


    Liam couldn''t care less about which side he was fighting for, but just participating in this made his blood boil and excitement rise.


    The air had that kind of strange energy about it.


    It took a few seconds, but soon he was inside and there were already several groups assembled. Moreover, a group of vendors also swarmed the ce.


    "Recruiting for invasion!"


    "Repairs avable!"


    "Food supply for invasion!"


    "Return scrolls!"


    Liam''s gaze wandered and in this messy ce, he finally located the spot where the other squad leaders were present.


    He quickly walked over there and started shouting as well, using the same tactic he used previously.


    "Recruiting for invasion quest! Need 5 soldiers! Paying 10 silver each!"


    His voice rang loudly, only slightly audible in the sea of noise but since the other demons were paying more attention to the different squad leaders, at least his message got through.


    And of course, just like before, within seconds the response came through as well.


    A bunch of demons instantly scrambled to him, all willing to join his team.


    Liam''s gaze dragged over them, proceeding to select a few when he noticed a familiar gruff voice.


    "Leader! Leader!" From his right, another group of five demons came running towards him.


    Surprisingly, these were the same demon beast hybrids whom he had recruitedst time around.


    "Leader, leader, we are here. Please select us. We have been waiting for you all this time!" The five bowed and hurriedly muttered.


    For some reason, they looked so relieved and happy to see him again as if he was their longst rtive.


    "Alright. Come and join." Liam chuckled. He was also happy that his previous efforts were not wasted. It was a win-win situation.


    Immediately, all the other demons standing in the queue started murmuring andining but they couldn''t exactly go against the squad leader''s words.


    So in the end, they could only leave with disappointment.


    They did not have to wait for long as another squad leader popped up next to Liam and started recruiting and once again the group of demons queued up.


    "A lot more squads are heading out this time! I wonder where we will end up." Liam smiled and looked at the five demons standing excitedly in front of him.


    "Shall we start?"


    He rubbed his hands and took out the invasion portal scroll from his inventory.


    But as soon as he did, the squad leader standing next to him shouted loudly. "Eh? Did you just get promoted? These scrolls will not work now.. Go switch out for the new scrolls."

 Chapter 180 - New And Upgraded Invasions

    "Will not work? Why?" Liam was surprised. The magic inscribed was intact and it hadn''t been tampered with so technically it had to work.


    "Raaaa! Are you stupid? Of course, it will work but you are not supposed to use these. Did you not hear anything about the warmand? Go switch out for the new ones." The demon snorted in annoyance.


    It looked like he was not interested in exining things to Liam anymore and continued minding his own business.


    "Hmm¡­" Liam shrugged and looked at his underlings. "What is this all about? Can someone fill me in on the details?" He fished out a silver coin from his inventory.


    Instantly, all five demons brightened up and became happy. This was their leader, a generous and kind soul, always showering silver coins on them!


    Immediately, one of the demons stepped forward and exined. "Leader, because of the war preparations, all invasion missions are currently ordered to be directed only to the Xion realm."


    "The old scrolls can be exchanged for the new scrolls at no extra cost."


    "Good job." Liam tossed the silver coin to the demon who was very proud to have satisfactorily answered him, while the other four in the group looked at the lucky guy enviously.


    After that, Liam went to the war office to exchange the scrolls. He met the same condescending snarky demon who was stationed therest time as well.


    "Ke Ke. Howe I didn''t see you for the past few days? Did you get injured? Ke Ke. No, wait, did you get S.C.A.R.E.D?" The demon chortled viciously.


    Liam shook his head ignored the idiot. He was about to take out the scrolls to exchange but at thest minute, he decided to save these forter.


    Instead, he simply took out some gold coins and ced them on the counter. "Can I buy some new invasion scrolls?"


    The demon''s eyes widened in shock and envy as it saw the greenhorn bring out more gold coins. Just where the hell was this bastard getting such wealth?


    The demonnds were allpletely riddled with poverty. Even one silver coin was scarce and could supply food and rations for an entire family for a few months.


    But this young inexperienced demon was taking out gold coins like candy. In all its years of service, it had never seen a squad leader treat invasion missions this casually.


    A soldier had to struggle for months together to earn enough copper coins, convert them into silver coins and also obtain contribution points.


    They had to risk their lives numerous times, get hardened by the woes of multiple battles to finally reach the point where they are able to personally lead a squad andmand their own invasion.


    However, this greenhorn without a single scar on his face had so much wealth.


    He spat out the bosco weed he was chewing in his mouth and begrudgingly took out about 10 of the new invasion scrolls.


    "Here you go. Hmph." The demon mmed the scrolls on the counter. "One of these days your luck is going to run out, pretty boy."


    "We will see." Liam smiled and walked away, securing the scrolls in his inventory space.


    The event could be triggered any day now so he did not have the time to argue with a random demon. Moreover, the beginning stage of the event was already here.


    Their invasion portals which were previously designed to open up in myriad realms in random ces were now only directed to one world, their main world.


    If this was not a hint that the event was going to be triggered soon, then what else was?


    Besides, the chances of things getting moreplicated than necessary was also high right now.


    Since he will be doing these missions in the same world where everyone was there were high chances of running into other yers.


    Liam walked over to his squad and quickly activated the new scroll to start the invasion. The activation process was a bit different, with a blinding sh of light now covering them.


    A secondter, this light disappeared and the squad then found themselves in a dark forest with heavy winds blowing past them.


    It looked like they were in the middle of some sort of vige.


    Before Liam and the five demons could figure out where exactly they were, the few cloaked figures walking past them realized the presence of strangers in their midst.


    They all stopped to turn and look at the group of demons. "AAAHHHHHH!" One of the women loudly screeched. "DEMONSSSS! ALERT EVERYONE!"


    "This is bad. Attack." Liam shouted as well and the group dashed towards the cloaked figures at full speed. They needed to clear at least a few before the reinforcement arrived.


    Liam started with a big fireball and tossed it to the figure at his right, before bringing down his sword at the target.


    Next to him, the five undead hounds also targeted the same person and started attacking.


    In the midst of this rumble, Liam was able to see the person under the cloak. It was in fact another human being but there were dark ck circles around the person''s eyes.


    And his entire body was covered with borate tattoos.


    [Level 25, Dark Mage]


    "Oh!" Liam nodded in understanding as he swung around and shed at his target a few more times.


    The man cried in agony as he was not able to retaliate to Liam''s nimble and savage attacks, every single one of them targeting his vital points.


    "Why? Why are you attacking me along with these demons? Aren''t you a human too?" The dark mage cried out in agony as he saw thest of his health bottom out.


    "No, I am a demon." Liam muttered, answering the dying man''sst question.


    "Please. Stop this. Stop helping the demons. Show some mercy. Join us and¡­ together¡­ we can." The person was not able to finish his words and dropped dead lifelessly.


    The dead eyes were still staring at Liam when his body dispersed into nothingness.


    [Ding. You have gained 10 experience points]


    However, Liam only chuckled.


    Perhaps an inexperienced yer might be fooled by these words, but this was Liam''s second time around.


    Show some mercy? Dark Mages were humans who went astray from the path of a mage and cultivated by strengthening themselves with chaos and madness.


    Now, these guys were teaching him right and wrong? How ridiculous!


    Liam sneered and moved to his next target, ughtering everyone in sight. At first, he was worried about a certain issue.


    This was the level difference between himself and his underlings. Just because his level was almost double theirs, he was worried that they would find themselves in a high-leveled zone.


    Thankfully, it looked like the scroll worked the opposite way and most of the dark mages around them were only around 20 to 25.


    So it probably took into ount some sort of average.


    Liam did not dwell on it for long and quickly started clearing the human vige. The entire settlement was full of dark mages.


    "Luna stay with me. You all should go to the demons and help them."


    Hemanded the undeads to assist the others as they were fighting on the same level or sometimes slightly higher level and probably did not have it as easy as him.


    But when Liam stopped and observed their progress, the other demons also seemed to be doing quite well.


    The trick to defeating the dark mages was attacking them when they were fighting alone and dealing with them in closebat, thereby preventing them from casting anything.


    This came naturally to the demons as they split themselves into two groups, one of two and the other of three, and started ganging up against the dark mages.


    Within just a few minutes, the several human beings in the vige werepletely eliminated, not leaving a single one out.


    "This is it?" Liam kicked aside thest few corpses, collecting the loot.

 Chapter 181 - Black Pearls

    For a vige, there seemed to be a lot fewer people living here so Liam looked around to see if there was anyone else.


    But the ce seemed to bepletely deserted except for the corpses littered around.


    "Ok, why don''t you guys start gathering the loot?" Liam hummed and in the meantime took a stroll through the vige.


    He eyed all the empty houses and walked to the end where there seemed to be a cave at the distance. His gaze paused on the cave that looked dimly lit as if there were torches within.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam stopped there and did not continue to walk. He made a quick calction based on the number of houses and thatched huts and the dark mages they had killed so far.


    "The numbers don''t add up. There should definitely be more mages in the cave." He waited for some time, letting the others finish their task.


    The demons one by one gathered the loot scattered around, even robbing the houses and piled up everything that they found.


    After a few minutes, they finished running around and assembled together.


    Because this was a human settlement, they had collected a decent amount of loot including several copper coins and silver coins.


    There were also a bunch of staffs and nes and other mage-rted pieces of equipment with high intelligence attribute values that are useful for casters.


    Eying the items warily, Liam did not put the entire pile into his inventory space as some of the items were just worthless trash.


    "You guys can take these." He distributed some cheap low-tier stuff that only amounted to a few copper coins at most.


    But to the demons, these were already high-end things that they could sell or scrap for parts. So they thanked him profusely and epted them.


    Liam also asked them to switch out their gear, giving a few better ones that further buffed their raw strength and vitality attributes.


    The demons had nevere across this kind of gear as only the squad leaders and toon leaders donned on umon or rare pieces of equipment.


    They would never waste such equipments on expendables like them.


    So they were even more touched and their eyes were glistening as they obediently epted everything Liam gave them.


    Liam noticed this but he didn''t pay attention.


    He sorted out the rest of the loot and saw a few ck pearl nes. These were more uniquepared to the other simple essories.


    "What are these?" He wasn''t able to identify them and the system prompt also did not give him the information. "Well, I guess I can look at theseter."


    He stored them separately and then proceeded to clear out everything else.


    All the demons were already stretching their muscles and rxing, thinking that the invasion was already over.


    They knew that Liam would probably run many invasions back to back likest time so they were readying themselves for the next attack.


    But Liam surprised them and pointed to the cave at the distance. "Let''s go. There should be more mages there. We can finish off them as well."


    "Yes, leader."


    "Yes, Lord."


    The demons hurriedly obeyed and followed behind Liam, along with Luna and the undead hounds.


    However, as they neared the cave, Liam stopped moving carelessly and signaled the others as well to stop.


    "You. Go to the cave entrance and stand there." Hemanded one of the hounds first. "If someonees out, lure them out to the back here."


    The undead hound lifelessly nodded and then walked over to the cave entrance.


    "Why leader?" One of the demons asked Liam, scratching his head.


    "Mmm. We should not underestimate these mages just because they are easy to kill. We were only able to finish them off quickly because they were scattered and not together."


    "We also stopped them from casting any spells. Do you understand?"


    He wanted to groom these five demons so he patiently exined, answering even the stupid questions.


    While they were discussing, the hound already reached the entrance of the cave.


    Because it was only a single hound, that too something which looked like it was gued by death, just a couple of mages shouted and ran out of the cave.


    The entire group did not rush out. Watching this curiously, the demons nodded in understanding. They finally understood Liam''s strategy.


    But their reaction did not help at all as Liam seriously wondered just how effective grooming these idiots was going to be.


    "Ah, fuck it. I am already invested. Can''t back out now."


    As soon as the mages stepped out, the hound immediately started running towards the back near a few trees where the group was located.


    The mages as well followed the hound, not thinking too much. They just did not want a silly hound to desecrate their cave.


    But unfortunately, it was not just a silly hound and the demons instantly pounced on the two mages once they were within reach.


    [Ding. You have gained 2 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 2 experience points]


    Both the humans died in the blink of an eye, and their bodies were looted.


    Liam nodded in approval and then turned to look at the fox. "Alright, Luna. It is your turn now."


    The small fox quickly became ted on hearing hismand and ran over.


    It looked like it wanted to prove it was not just another dumb undead, so the fox threw a big ball of fire in as soon as it reached the cave entrance.


    This of course attracted more attention and a lot more mages spilled out like ants from a colony. The naughty fox did not wait around and skillfully turned its tail and ran back.


    This time the mages did not just run behind it but also sent out a few spells. Dark spirals of corrosive energy shot out aimed at the little red fox.


    However, before anything could touch the furry beast, Liam acted and sent out a dozenpressed high-density fire bullets targeting the dead center of their foreheads.


    [Ding. You have gained 2 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 2 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    All the mages dropped dead immediately and Luna returned back to the group with a smirk. Liam lifted the beast by its tail and asked. "Did you see how many were there inside?"


    [About a dozen, master]


    "Ok. Be good." He put it back on the ground and signaled everyone to move forward. "No need to wait any longer. Let''s go."


    Raaaaa! Grrraaaa!


    All the demons shouted excitedly and dashed into the cave at their full speed.


    The mages werepletely caught off guard and only managed to put up an insignificant fight before the undead and the demons pounced on them and killed them.


    The cave wasn''t that deep and there wasn''t anyone else present.


    "I guess this really is it?"


    Liam noticed a few more strings of ck pearls which he collected and shoved inside his inventory along with the other loot.


    From the looks of it, the group of dark mages had been sitting around a bonfire and chanting something.


    "What were these guys up to?" He tried to think if this was anything important, but he couldn''te up with any answers.


    "Maybe this is just an easy invasion¡­ No need to overthink."


    Liam shrugged his shoulders and started walking out along with everybody.


    After struggling so much with the gnomes, he was more than happy to knock out a few easy invasions.


    Nevertheless, he had to analyze everything that he came in contact with because the inheritance and the secret to improving his currently weak necromancy craft could be in anything.


    Unlike the guild who had boasted about the mecha gnomes and the golems parading them everywhere, Kouske had rather been a tight-lipped person.


    He did not breathe a single word about how he obtained the army of strong undead soldiers which heter on even managed to bring into the real world.


    Liam clenched his fists tightly. The mere thought of such strength was empowering. He wanted to obtain it all costs.


    "Let''s look around for some more time." Hemanded his party.


    He sent the five demons together to the left of the cave and he and Luna along with the undead hounds went towards the right.


    Their efforts were not in waste as not long after, Liam ran into another small vige, located only a short distance away from the vige they had just raided.

 Chapter 182 - Ready Set Go!

    This time Liam was not teleported smackdab in the middle of the vige, so he carefully circled the perimeter first to make sure that there weren''t any high-level enemies around.


    He was not able to observe each and every single person in the vige but he managed to observe enough to see that the inhabitants were mostly around level 20.


    "Another low-level dark mage vige? Hmmm¡­ What is going on? This doesn''t seem very natural. Shouldn''t there be some higher-level mages at least in this group?"


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, Liam sighed and got down to business. Either way, he was not going to learn anything by staring at the vige.


    They also had limited time here. So he might as well start his work. All he could do was search for clues and look around.


    He then realized something and quickly opened his map.


    This was in their world, a human settlement that too, so he could at least find out where he was and maybe try to find out about this area from an NPC back in the city.


    "Yup, this should be the best option." Having decided on what to do, he quickly entered a hut at the end of the vige after activating his [Stealth].


    sh sh sh


    Three dark mages sitting inside lost their lives in an instant.


    Liam collected the loot that fell out and quietly entered [Stealth] mode again.


    He did not need his underlings to clear this group and quickly moved from one house to another, massacring silently in the silence of the night.


    Coincidentally, he also found several ck pearls in this settlement as well.


    After a while, he did not even bother with the [Stealth] and simply moved around, clearing out all the mobs.


    Since he acted personally, it only took him a few minutes and the entire vige was cleaned out. "Are there more sitting in a circle somewhere?"


    Liam did not leave immediately and continued to look around.


    Just like he expected, there seemed to be some sort of chanting noiseing from an area.


    He walked over to the huge well in the distance from which the noises emerged and near the well, there was a tombstone.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam squatted down. "The sound ising from under the ground?" He then noticed that the tombstone was slightly moved from its position.


    "Oh, there is a passage here?"


    He pulled the tombstone revealing a set of stairs underneath.


    Liam immediately activated [Stealth] again and walked down the set of stairs.


    Underneath, there was another circle of humans wearing dark ck cloaks that were pulled up to cover their faces.


    And this time, they had all joined their hands together and were chanting something.


    Liam stopped in his tracks and tried to make sense of what they were saying. Unfortunately, he could neither recognize any words nor understand the meaning.


    He waited some more time and tried in vain, but there was no improvement.


    "Well, whatever." He sighed, targeted the burning fire at the center of the circle, and sent out a humongous ball of fire of his own.


    FWOOOSHHH


    The fire at the center started raging wildly out of nowhere. It danced like giant serpents and shocked every mage sitting around to jump up in fright.


    Liam quickly moved.


    Using this chaos to his favor, he started cutting down one mage after another, all of them falling down like dolls to his over-powered strength.


    He also used all his newly acquired crowd control skills, throwing out [Mana], and [Swamp Vines] around.


    The mages suffered terribly under his assault. They did not have any juice to put up a fight against him and all of them went down in just a couple of minutes.


    "Ok, then." Liam wiped the blood off of his crimson de and sheathed it back.


    He collected the loot that was visible and was about to head out when he noticed a bunch of small children in the side.


    They were all locked in a cage and there was a string of pearls on top of the cage.


    Weirdly enough this set of pearls was rather white in colorpared to the other ones that were pitch ck.


    "Were there guys doing some sort of live sacrifice? What the hell magic is this?" He took these pearls and stored them in his inventory as well.


    His gaze then fell on the kids who were all unconscious. They looked like they were all elves and not humans.


    They were not his concern so Liam was about to leave. Nevertheless, he stopped and unsheathed the sword to break open the lock first.


    As he did that, one of the elven kids woke up and blinked her eyes looking at him. She was extremely adorable like a doll and stared at him with her big eyes.


    Liam sighed and shook his head. "Bye. Runaway." He then left without turning back as he truly couldn''t help those kids.


    The portal would probably be activated again any time now and bringing these kids back to theher realm was worse than leaving them here.


    Also, now that he had somewhat understood what these dark mages were up to, he no longer felt the need to linger.


    He hurried out of the tombstone, leaving it open just in case, and then once again started exploring the surroundings.


    As he had personally visited all the poorly constructed houses in the past couple of viges and seen everything around, he now understood one thing.


    This was just a temporary camp for these people. So there were surely plenty of camps around.


    Liam started searching the ce and he ended up finding three more viges like this. Without leaving a single one behind, he massacred all the dark mages.


    Even for someone heartless like him, their method was sickening and abhorring so he ughtered his way through without any reservations.


    As he was just about to finish with thest vige, the five demonckeys ran towards him. "Boss, we managed to clear two more viges."


    They took out the loot and handed everything over to Liam. The group continued searching but there wasn''t anything else in the neighborhood.


    A few minutester, the invasion portal time also ran out and everyone was teleported back to the Thol city square without any surprisesing their way.


    An easy and quick invasion!


    "Huzzah! Huzzah!" All the demonckeys cheered.


    "Leader is awesome. It was worth waiting for our leader!" They all celebrated loudly, not minding the other tired and injured faces standing around them.


    Liam, on the other hand, felt a little dejected.


    He didn''t know why but perhaps because he was dealing with dark mages who also pursued the dark element which was simr to theher, he thought that he might stumble upon some clues rted to his necromancy inheritance.


    But in the end, he didn''t find anything and was not able to get any clues even after clearing out all the groups in sight.


    "It''s fine. If not this, then the next." Liam clenched his fist and recovered his mood. He looked at his underlings who were still busy boasting and snapped his finger.


    "You guys seem energetic. Let''s go for another one."


    "Y¡­ yes boss."


    "Yes, sir, leader."


    All of them awkwardly quieted down and prepared themselves to enter the next invasion. Not a single demon looked troubled. Instead, they seemed to be even happier.


    Liam chuckled at the group and then activated another portal immediately.


    He did not care how many invasions he had to get through, he was determined to grab the inheritance for himself no matter what.


    He was now more than sure that the inheritance was either in their world or in thisher realm.


    Either way, building his rank and getting more soldiers under him seemed to be the fastest and most efficient way tob through these hugendmasses.


    In the end, this was a race and he would not be the one losing!


    Meanwhile¡­ back in the dark forests¡­


    A couple of hours after Liam and his group left the spot, a group of ck-cloaked figures arrived.


    However, these were not low-leveled dark mages.


    A very sinister and ck aura emerged from these figures, something that the living could never withstand, something that could only be found in theher realm, strands of thickher.

 Chapter 183 - Marlow Kingdom

    Chapter 183: Marlow Kingdom


    After activating the next invasion portal, Liam, Luna, the five undead hounds, and the five demons were all once again teleported to a region on the Xion realm.


    This time they found themselves in the vicinity of a huge cave, filled with poisonous spiders.


    This was the hundred-legged spider king''s nest, one of the hidden dungeons in the Marlow Kingdom, another human kingdom.


    However, unlike the Gresh Kingdom, this one was full of high-level zones, and yers who start here typically migrate to the nearest Kingdom to progress faster in the game.


    Of course, some choose to stay here and struggle as well.


    But what they be would only be determined by their own abilities.


    While some metals exhibit their most magnificent luster under the fiercest of hammering, others simply break apart, unable to withstand the same.


    So it was a gamble to stay in this Kingdom and not many yers chose to do it. Because of this, not many yers were present around these regions.


    Liam also had personally never visited this Kingdom and was excited to raid the spider''s nest with his group of motley demons.


    "Be careful. These beasts have venom in their fangs." He warned his team, but the fighting abilities of his demon underlings were not that refined.


    They mmed the smaller mobs of spiders left and right, but in the process ended up taking several ticks of poison damage.


    "At this rate, I am going to spend a fortune just supplying these guys with health potions. Nope." Liam shook his head. "Let''s stop here and take a break."


    He took out some herbs and started setting up a cauldron right in the middle of the spider''s nest. He then took out a couple of recipe scrolls.


    [Ding. You have learned the basic Anti-Venom potion recipe]


    [Ding. You have learned the low-grade Anti-Venom potion recipe]


    Liam had obtained these two from the auction house and even had to outbid by dropping a decent sum of gold coins, but anti-venoms were always useful so he invested in these recipes.


    There was also another intermediate-grade Anti-venom recipe present but it was marked for a thousand gold coins.


    The person who auctioned this was obviously not aware of the value of the recipe as he had simply put it up at the wrong time.


    While thousand gold coins were a lot of money at this early stage of the game, when everyone''s average level was around 50, these many gold coins were not too extravagant.


    At that time, this pricing could even be considered cheap.


    But right now, even Liam did not bother buying it because of one simple reason. It was just a waste of gold.


    He neither had the need for this strong dose nor the materials required for concocting this higher grade anti-venom.


    Liam calmly took out the required herbs for these two recipes and started preparing the concoction. All the demons standing around him were stupified.


    Their leader could even concoct potions using a cauldron?!


    Their respect for Liam once again grew by leaps and bounds.


    They silently watched him handling everything with ease.


    A few critters wandered towards them every now and then but the demons took care of that without ever letting them bother him.


    After a few minutes and two batches of failed potionster¡­


    Liam handed over five bottles of anti-venom to his five demon soldiers.


    Though a single sip of anti-venom was enough for taking care of these spider bites, drinking a full bottle gives an additional boost, so he asked them to gulp everything down.


    All the five demons obediently listened to him and drank everything down to thest drop. The potion tasted absolutely horrible but they were not disappointed after seeing the end result.


    [Ding. You have gained an immune status]


    [Ding. You will not be affected by low-grade venom for the next 2 hours]


    "Leader, we all got the immunity buff." Hiruyu, one of the demons informed Liam.


    "Okay. Now, you guys can continue attacking. Luna, you also support them." Liam wanted to train theirbat abilities as best as he could so he did not intervene.


    Instead, he observed the huge cave carefully, making sure not to miss anything in the darkness. Thanks to this, he managed to find a few patches of the rare herb, purple cave moss.


    Liam scraped all the herb stalks from the cave''s wall and carefully stored them in a ss bottle, cing them in his inventory.


    He circled the cave and the different tunnels several times, collecting all the herbs. Along with these, there were a few veins of ores and these were also cleanly harvested by Liam.


    Meanwhile, the demons ughtered through the cave, clearing out all the spider mobs and collecting the loot.


    Since they were empowered by the anti-venom buff, they were able to fight with more confidence and overpowered the dozens of spiders crawling in several ces in the cave.


    Luna did notg behind these guys and did her fair share of st damage.


    She used her newly acquired skills and demonstrated all her abilities,peting with the demons for the damage numbers.


    Within a few minutes, all the mobs were easily taken care of and they entered the end of the cave where a sharp tunnel led everyone to a huge clearing.


    In the center of the clearing, there was a gigantic green spider and its entire body was covered with sharp dark green spikes.


    There were also numerous eggs lying around everywhere. All the demons including Luna gaped at the sight of this humongous slumbering monster.


    Faced with such a beast, their confidence waned a little. They had dealt with several elites together before this but now, they couldn''t casually rush ahead.


    Kyuuu. Luna shook her tail and sent a quick message to Liam. [Master, we are at the mainir.]


    "I will be there. Don''t approach it." Liam chuckled. He knew that Luna had bettermon sense but he was pleasantly surprised that the demons were also thinking better.


    He stopped mining the ores and hurried over to the end of the cave where the mainir was located.


    Liam was not modest and directly jumped,nding right in front of the sleeping beast.

 Chapter 184 - Reward And Punishment At The Same Time

    [Level 28; Green Spear Spider; Elite Boss]


    The spider''s twenty eyes shed open as soon as it sensed the new intruders. Its numerous eyeballs moved at the same time to fixate on Liam.


    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    The spider moved, the spears on its body acting as legs.


    Liam grinned and his body as well blurred with a speed equivalent to that of the spider. The two of them darted back and forth in the huge cave clearing, neither losing their edge.


    However, the spectators could clearly see that it was Liam who was setting the pace and orchestrating the whole dance.


    "I have the aggro. Start attacking." Liam shouted. "Oh and make sure to first take care of the hatchlings as and when they arrive."


    "Yes, leader." The demons collectively shouted and started attacking the huge spider.


    They wanted to finish the fight quickly before their anti-venom buff wore off but for some reason, their leader advised otherwise.


    Unnecessarily worrying about the small insignificant hatchlings would only prolong the time and was an inefficient way to deal with this fight.


    Even the brutish demons understood this but no one went against Liam''s orders and attacked the spider with their axes and spears, stopping abruptly when the eggs hatched.


    Numerous small spiderlings came out of these eggs and the demons focused on clearing these, only returning back to the boss afterward as per their orders.


    "Good job. Continue this." Liam smiled and skillfully evaded the toxic venomous goops the spider was now tossing at him.


    Fighting this way took a couple of seconds extra, but there was a reason he asked everyone to do this.


    There was a special trick to this particr dungeon because of which he took the initiative to tank this spider while the others slowly whittled down the beast''s health.


    And when all the eggs werepletely broken, the hatchlings taken care of, and the main boss almost down to itsst drop of health, everyone else as well understood his actions.


    Before the huge boss even went downpletely, the ground shook and cracks started appearing.


    "Move back. Now." Liam shouted and all the demons hurriedly ran back to the wall of the clearing.


    The floor of the cave cracked open at the center and from underneath something grotesque and ugly surfaced.


    "HOW DARE YOU KILL ALL MY BABIES?"


    An evil sinister voice rang loudly echoing from all corners of the cave as the full-body emerged from within the ground.


    The monster skittering or rather rolling in front of them could hardly be called a spider. It looked as if three or four giant spider bodies were stuck together.


    There were several spots on its silver body that emitted a putrid aura and if one looked closely, they would be able to tell that these spots were rather its eyes.


    The demons couldn''t help but shudder at this presence. Even Luna trembled, subconsciously moving closer to Liam.


    But Liam had a big grin stered on his face as this was the beast he had exactly been patiently waiting for.


    "You are finally here."


    [Level 30; Kalima; Super Boss]


    This was the hidden boss of this dungeon and a terror to the yers as its attributes, skills, everything was far greater than the level of the dungeon overall.


    This was a Level 25 dungeon and yers above Level 25 were not able to enter inside.


    So aside from the fact that it was a boss monster with an exaggerated attack, defense, and regeneration, its base stats themselves were far greater than the yers could handle.


    Even a raid team of 40 yers couldn''t tackle this gigantic beast. Everyone was wiped out in seconds because of its long-range AoE attacks and unblockable skitter crush attacks.


    In fact, in Liam''s previous life, this hidden dungeon boss had forever remained untouched, with no yer or guild being able to defeat it.


    But now, Liam had the wonderful opportunity to tackle this monstrosity and teach it a lesson it won''t forget.


    Why? Because of some super-secret strategy?


    No!


    Because of the one and only simple reason that Liam''s level and abilities far-outweighed the beast''s level and abilities.


    Normally, he wouldn''t have been able to enter the dungeon at his level but due to the invasion portal loophole, they got directly teleported to the dungeon itself, crossing the barrier.


    So, he was now in a position to bully this hidden dungeon''s super boss who enjoyed terrorizing and bullying others.


    Liam did not prolong the battle any longer as it was not necessary. He directly started attacking the monstrosity''s weakness which was fire-type attacks.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    He sent out volleys of fireballs as he pushed the rest of his mana to increase his speed, taking the fight away from the others.


    -2000


    -2500


    -2000


    Giant damage numbers floated atop the beast and the stunned beast groaned in pain.


    GRAAAAAA!!! HISSSSS!!!


    Its eyes bulged even wider and it dashed towards Liam at top speed, wanting to directly smash against him and end his insignificant presence.


    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    The monster rolled over like a racing avnche but Liam already expected this move and used the cave wall and the monster''s body to leap up.


    He directly dived down, plunging his sword onto one of the monster''s many bodies, and shed across while dragging the sword in the depth of the body.


    Greenish-ck blood spurted out everywhere and without letting the beast react, he instantly swung around and materialized a huge ball of mes blinding itpletely.


    GRAAAA! GRAAAA! GRAAAAA!


    The beast roared in pain and as it was preparing to unleash its most terrifying and disastrous attack, toxic lunch, Liam tossed all the fire mana he had gathered right into the injured part of the beast, triggering a hypercritical attack.


    A loud explosive noise rang out and one of its bodies was sted from inside out, damaging the other two adjacent bodies as well.


    Liam had already exhausted his mana with this attack so he hurriedly shed away at the remaining two-fifths of the health.


    Each of his sword shes was powerful and they cut through the hard exterior and meat of the grotesque spider monster with ease.


    More blood spurted and the monster started deting like a punctured balloon. Its bnce and rhythm werepletely disrupted and it keeled in submission.


    Just like that, without the beast ever being able to get a single attack through, the fight ended in under three minutes.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Elite Boss Green Spear Spider. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have killed the Super Boss Kalima. You have gained 20000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have cleared the Murderous Eyes Dungeon. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have cleared the Hidden Murderous Eyes Dungeon. You have gained 20000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have obtained the first clear of the Murderous Eyes Dungeon; Reputation in the Marlow Kingdom increased by 500]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have obtained the first clear of the Hidden Murderous Eyes Dungeon; Reputation in the Marlow Kingdom increased by 1000]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are now a Knight in the Marlow Kingdom]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first yer to reach Level 40. Your achievement is marked in history. Reputation in all regions is increased by 100]


    [Ding. Congrattions. Your pet Luna has leveled up]


    [Ding. Congrattions. Your pet Luna has reached Level 25 and is ready to evolve]


    Continuous luminescent glows shed all around the group, including Liam. Everyone leveled up once, twice, and some even up to five times.


    Even Liam was impressed by these insanely generous rewards.


    He did not expect the dungeon clear bonus rewards because they had technically not entered the dungeon through the normal route.


    The five demons also looked ecstatic. They never knew that upgrading their levels could be so simple and easy.


    They all drooled at their improved attributes and exchanged gleeful looks with each other.


    Liam as well tidied up his status menu and distributed all of his bonus stat points that he obtained from this level-up and the previous level-ups.


    As if these bountiful rewards were not enough, several pieces of loot glittered on the ground, including a skill book and a recipe scroll.


    Just as Liam was about to pick up and look at the haul unexpectedly, another couple of announcements rang out


    [DING. World Announcement: Congrattions to yer Chang Liam for the first clear of the Hidden ''Murderous Eyes'' dungeon. Party Members: Chang Liam]


    Liam''s movements paused, his gazending on the smallst part of the announcement.


    There it was announced in bold letters to the whole wide world that he had single-handedly cleared a Level 25 dungeon.


    Moreover, his current level as well was visible to everyone.


    How was it possible for a Level 40 yer to enter a Level 25 dungeon? This was an obvious discrepancy.


    Such a tant w would arouse a lot of hatred from the other yers, especially the major guilds.


    Liam could only imagine the different sorts of trouble this would inevitably bring. He closed his eyes and sighed.


    Unfortunately, everything that he was going to do from now on would bring even more attention to himself.


    This was the system''s way of retaliating, preventing him from obtaining everything that was good and putting a big fat target on him.


    However, he had no other choice but to bear all of the consequences.


    Just for this, if he slowed down now, then the future would only be even more miserable.

 Chapter 185 - Farming For Gold

    Now that the dungeon run waspleted, Liam cleaned up the loot and ced everything into his inventory space along with the previously obtained items.


    He also did not forget to collect the bloodlines of the two elites by drenching the old rusty ck Dragon sword in their respective blood one after the other.


    The sword trembled as it greedily sucked in these elite monsters'' fluids. However, after obtaining the required amount, it again went back to its silent and still state.


    It was almost as if the sword itself was alive.


    Liam''s eyes dragged on the mysterious object, but he then hurriedly tossed it back into the inventory space as well.


    He would one day thoroughly analyze everything that this sword was when he had more time. Today was most definitely not that day.


    He was already punished for exploiting this particr loophole he alone had and for running this dungeon, so he decided that he might as well fully exploit it!


    He wanted to see if there was anything significant in the Marlow kingdom near this dungeon. Herbs, bosses, treasure chests¡­


    He dashed out of the dungeon, exiting through the gate at the entrance and he hurriedly searched the vicinity,bing through every inch of thend.


    Since this was a high-level region, he asked the others to stay back within the dungeon and run it again to improve themselves, onlying out by himself to search the area.


    Not to mention the fact that the system had just publicly announced his location. This alone was enough to make this area famous and there could soon be several yers lurking around.


    Thinking about this, Liam paused and activated his stealth. He also took out a ck mask covering his face with it.


    It was just a simple and in pitch-ck mask without any engravings but it made it look all the more creepy.


    "This should be enough." Liam did not have any intention of putting more effort than this to hide his appearance. There was no point.


    He then started looking around the areas surrounding the dungeon. This was definitely risky but he had to still go through with it.


    The necromancy inheritance quest or item could be anywhere. He couldn''t afford to be careless and miss out on even a single opportunity.


    These invasion missions were all random and they were designed to be so. This helped the demons invade the opponents using the element of surprise.


    However, this made his task several times more difficult. Because of the randomness, he had to search all the ces, not leaving anything out.


    It was the same as searching for a needle in a haystack, but the nature of the task was as such. After all, treasured invaluable inheritances were not wildflowers that could be found growing in all ces.


    They were unique items or quests that could be scattered anywhere throughout this world or even other worlds.


    For obtaining one, luck was a must, and for those whom seldom luck favored, brute forcing it was the only other option. This was also what Liam was doing.


    He spent the next few hours searching everywhere. However, except for a couple of elite bosses that he came across, there wasn''t anything else in the vicinity.


    And these were not elite bosses that he could touch.


    One was Level 50 and the other was Level 55, so he quietly circled back to the dungeon.


    Making things more interesting, this time the dungeon and the areas around the dungeon were not quite as deserted as before¡­


    Several yers were littered around the dungeon and a couple of groups were preparing to go in and try their hand at the dungeon.


    "Stay inside and don''te out." Liam sent a warning to Luna. Along with her, the group was still tackling the mobs in the dungeon so that didn''t seem to be an issue.


    Liam then pondered for a bit before circling the area again and settling next to a graveyard nearby, still remaining in stealth mode.


    He was wondering what he was going to do to kill time for the next several minutes and the answer was obvious and right in front of him.


    Not long after Liam arrived, a couple of yers resurrected in the graveyard spot.


    "Fuck. I hate this stupid dungeon. This is why I didn''t want toe here in the first ce." The first yer sighed tiredly.


    "Why is this Level 25 dungeon located in a Level 50 area? The creators of this game were definitely dropped on their heads when they were children. Fucking idiots and morons."


    The second yer also looked equally miserable.


    However, neither of them noticed the presence of a third person in the same graveyard.


    "Do you guys even know who you are cursing right now?"


    A cold voice suddenly sounded behind them and when the two turned to look, Liam had already arrived in front of them, shing at them mercilessly with his forged crimson de.


    He, in fact, had another sword with better stats but since he forged this personally, he was more attuned to it and he preferred to use this.


    Besides, he had a difference of almost 20 levels with the two yers in front of him. So he did not exactly need to rely on his weapon or on any fancy technique for that matter.


    Liam''s moves were clean and crisp as he rapidly shed, his sword dancing in the air. The two were unable to even take a step back to avoid his range and fell down dead.


    All they saw was only his pitch-ck expressionless mask before losing their consciousness and resurrecting.


    However, just as they resurfaced, the ck-faced demon was once again waiting for them.


    sh. sh. sh.


    In the span of just a few minutes, they had already died several times and more importantly lost all the hard-earned equipment pieces they had donned on.


    Just when they were about topletely lose their minds from this horrendous bad luck of running into the ck-masked expert, luckily a couple of other scapegoats resurrected along with them.


    The newly arrived yers looked at this duo with odd expressions that very quickly turned into looks of mockery. They did not bother to hide their amusement and loudlyughed.


    "Eh? Why are you two naked? Are you both streaking here to get some attention?" One of the yers said. "He He He. Why is your little brother so-"


    But before he could finish his sentence, someone had shed him from behind. Not stopping there, a series of hits continuouslynded on him and his health bar was plummeting.


    "What the hell?" His words only barely came out as he dropped dead.


    The other two naked yers did not dare stick around even if it was to witness the misery of this person and hurriedly logged out, running for their lives.


    They just wanted to escape this hell at all costs. At this point, they did not even care about their loss of equipments, they just wanted to stop dying again and again.


    Liam as well did not bother hunting them down any longer as he was only after their equipments from the beginning.


    Because of the shy world announcements, a lot of shy yers with shy gears had arrived in the area so how could he let go of such fat sheep so easily?


    He had also promised to take care of the money problems of Derek. He still had not heard back from him but if and when he did, he would need the required funds.


    So not wasting time, he decided to invest in some old school daylight robbery.


    There should only be a few minutes left before they were teleported back to theher realm, and in the meantime, he did not have anything else to do.


    The newly arrived fat sheep quickly fell as well, dropping all their equipments one after the other.


    However, he couldn''t continue ying with them as after a few kills, a huge group of yers resurrected, probably from being wiped out in the dungeon.


    This effectively ended Liam''s hunt and he had to retreat for the time being.


    He silently stayed in the backdrop and observed the group of yers to see if there was any interesting gossip.


    After that, he once again wandered around aimlessly, with the time finally running out.


    The invasion portal ended and Liam, Luna, and the other demons were pulled back into theher realm.


    The five undeads were unfortunately lost in the dungeon run, so they were not present any longer.


    "Do I need to log out?" Liam looked around the city''s central square as these undeads were his identity in this world, but the demons seemed to not care.


    "Hmmm. I guess with my rank, I no longer need the undeads."


    "Alright. Shall we head out again?" Liam grinned.


    His gaze settled on his party to make sure no one was injured, but they all seemed to be whole and healthy, energetically answering back in unison.. "Yes, leader."

 Chapter 186 - Did Not Go As Planned

    While Liam leisurely continued running through the invasion missions, back in the Xion realm¡­ all the yers currently online were in an uproar.


    Many people were already dissatisfied with how a single yer managed to upy the top spot without letting any other guild or yer close to him, so this was just the icing on that cake.


    Almost everyone wanted to lodge aint against this yer and call him out for cheating. It was so painfully tant and obvious that he was exploiting a loophole.


    So they wanted toin against him and make him pay the price for cheating.


    But the only problem was¡­ who were they going toin to?


    They wanted the gamepany to kick him out and ban him from ying but whichpany made this game?


    Unable to vent out anywhere, people could only bash the cheater in the forums and take out their anger on there.


    Some of the wealthier yers were so ticked off that they used their own gold tomission his assassination through variousworks.


    Of course, this was only those who did not know Liam personally.


    And the selected few who did know him personally¡­


    Abraki bitterly smiled and sent a message. "Congrattions. How do you want to do the fire resistance potions exchange?" He paused and then sent another message after a sigh.


    "I can also buy other things from you. So if you have any leveling shortcuts please let our guild know first."


    He knew that he was probably not going to get a reply for this one but it was worth a try.


    Apart from Abraki, several other yers who had cooperated with Liam one way or the other, all of them sent in their congrattions.


    The Korean team whom Liam had partied with longingly looked at the announcement.


    "Bro, if we had stayed with him, our name would have been there on this world announcement as well." Kim Hyunmented over the missed opportunity.


    Hearing his remark, Kang Minah as usual quickly shot him down. "Why would he carry a dead weight like you?"


    Andst but not least, a certain duo also took note of this recent development, but they were already upied with other things and did not have the mental space to worry about this.


    "Alex, I warned you about this exact issue. I knew this would happen. When we were able to find out Liam''s identity, why won''t those guilds be able to find out your identity?"


    "This game is not simple. No one can stay anonymous here."


    "And now the cat is out of the bag and everything has backfired. What are we going to do?"


    The usually calm andposed Mia looked a bit restless and flustered as she paced back and forth in their room at the local inn.


    They had shared the information about Liam being the seller of the alchemy potion with five guilds, that too not weak or third-rate guilds, but top-tier guilds.


    They had expected these guilds to act and teach him a lesson and tame him, but now the tables werepletely turned.


    Apparently, two of the five guilds had already shed with him head-on, and the party who suffered the loss was not Liam but the guilds instead.


    Something this ridiculous waspletely unheard of. How could a single person wipe out an entire guild?


    Just the level difference alone was not sufficient to exin such a feat because a group of skilled yers had different tricks that a single yer could never match.


    For example, they can continuously stun a yer and render them unable to fight back from start to finish while chipping off their health at the same time.


    It was not as simple as fighting 1 vs 1.


    With every single extra opponent, the battle bes that much moreplicated.


    "Just how did he manage to fend off an entire guild?" Alex chewed out her nails. "I am telling you, Mia, that jerk is not that skilled. He definitely did some underhanded things."


    Sigh. Mia let out a deep breath, tired of arguing with her sister. "I am not going to say anything anymore. When ites to that guy, you just don''t think clearly."


    Mia tried her best to talk sense into the woman. "Just stop hating him so much. He is no longer our concern. We have nothing to do with him. Must you continue to carry this enmity?"


    Alex, however, firmly rejected her words. "What the hell are you talking about? That bastard is topping all the rankings. He doesn''t have a fucking guild and yet he is setting dungeon records."


    "Not to mention he is an entire 10 levels above us. How is this not any of our business? We are one of the top guilds. Of course, this is our business."


    Alex stomped her foot loudly on the floor.


    Seeing her stubbornness, Mia shook her head helplessly. "It''s exactly because of our guild that we should let this go. He is not our headache. And you are the guild leader for god''s sake!"


    "Now all five guilds whom you contacted and provided information are demandingpensation."


    Alex was shocked. She hadn''t heard about this. "Why? Why should wepensate them? Hell no. Didn''t they get the information that they wanted? How did I cheat them in any way?"


    "Hmph. If they are stupid enough to lose out to him, that''s not my responsibility."


    Seeing that the conversation was not going anywhere, Mia sighed and left the room, only her voice sounding behind her.


    "Because of this one move of yours, we have made five powerful enemies. Do you even care?"


    Alex wanted to say something but in the end, simply kept her mouth shut. She also regretted her actions but it was toote to change anything now.


    She had nned everything carefully. She had selected five top-tier guilds and made sure that they hadplete information about that person.


    And yet¡­ somehow everything had gone horribly...


    Apparently, some of their guild members were starting to get targeted by these five guilds and killed on spot because of this.


    The feud between the top yer and their guild was also starting to spread and they even had some people resign from the guild.


    "Bastard. I will pay you back for all of this. I promise."


    Alex sat inside the inn silently and mulled over things. She did not move for a long time. She knew that she had acted a bit hastily.


    She had lost a lot of face and for a guild leader to be embroiled in something like this was very embarrassing.


    After a few minutes, she put all the thoughts of this failure aside and calmly stood up.


    "I will show everyone who I am and I will get our lost name back. I will get everything back."


    "After this, no one will ever question our standing as a top guild."


    She then walked out of the inn, heading to the new tower that had magically popped up in the middle of Yleka city after the update.


    This was the PVP tower. Every yer was able to climb this tower by participating in duels.


    A set number of wins was required to advance to each floor and moreover, wagers can be ced on the different fights.


    At the same time, one can''t climb very fast and then not participate in further duels. Even to maintain one''s current standing, constant participation was required.


    Most importantly, in this tower, there were no loopholes and no shortcuts avable. One''s standing and rank relied on one''s own strength.


    The participants'' levels would be equalized so one would not even be able to use the level difference to their advantage.


    Everything would boil down to their fighting skills.


    Alex lowered her cloak, covering her appearance to some extent, and weaved through the crowded city to reach this tower.


    "I will climb to the top and show everyone what true strength is! Hmph!"


    Gritting her teeth, she also messaged Mia, temporarily handing over all of her duties in the guild, and informed her that she would be focusing on this for a while.


    "Tell everyone that you are punishing me for the setback. This should appease some people. If needed, strike my name off as the guild leader." She resolutely dered.


    However, after hearing her words, the first thing Mia asked was¡­


    "Are you again trying to pick a fight with him?"


    "I slipped up once alright. Give me some credit. Please!" Alex almost shouted out loud. The very mention of that name made her blood boil.


    It took her a minute to calm down and she then exined.


    "If what I am thinking is correct, then the rewards in these towers should be amazing. From the news of the forum, every kingdom and Empire apparently has these towers."


    "When we reach level 50, we will be able to ess teleportation gates and go to these different ces."


    "So before that, I want to practice here and improve my skills or at least gauge the level of our future opponents."


    "If we can reach the topmost floor somehow¡­ " Alex tilted her head up to see the top of the tower that was sky-high, higher than the skyscrapers on earth.


    "I think we can get amazing rewards. I just know it."


    "Ok, do as you please." Mia curtly answered and hung up the call.


    Alex did not feel bad because her sister was always like this.


    Mia would never be upset with her for such a small screw-up, nevertheless, she was determined to make up for it.


    She clenched her fist and walked into the tower.


    "Sorry, Mia. I lied a little.. I am not doing this for that bastard, but if he happens to cross paths with me, I will not let him off so easily."

 Chapter 187 - Rank 50357

    Meanwhile¡­pletely not bothered about the chaos he had created¡­


    Liam and his minions once again arrived at Thol city.


    They had run another couple more invasions back to back, and the five demons were finally tired and exhausted. They were not even standing straight and copsed on the ground.


    Nevertheless, they all had content expressions on their faces and a happy smile as the team had amassed a lot of loot.


    They had obtained a lot of experience points, contribution points and leveled up several times.


    But this was their limit. They were fully exhausted. Even if they badly desired, they wouldn''t be able to fight for another second.


    The past two invasions had not at all been easy.


    They had assaulted a band of goblins and a settlement of beast men who were well versed in battle prowess. Both fights took a lot of effort on their part.


    And as they leveled up from these battles, their opponents were also simrly stronger, so they couldn''t take any breaks in between.


    It was a constant struggle every minute of the past several hours.


    Sure they dunked in many bottles of health potion but their spirit and mental exhaustion were at an all time low.


    They were now unable to move even a single limb, all the juicespletely squeezed out.


    But if their leadermanded them again¡­


    They all gulped looking at Liam as he loudly cleared his throat.


    Fortunately for them, looking at their pitiful plight, Liam chuckled and decided to give them a break.


    "You guys should rest for the day and assemble again tomorrow morning. Hmmm?"


    "Yes, leader."


    "Thank you, leader."


    Everyone rxed their tensed bodies and profusely thanked Liam. They then limped and crawled out of the square to take a break.


    Though they looked fully worn out like an old t tire, other demons could only look at them enviously as all the gear they were wearing was top-notch.


    Not to mention, there wasn''t a single injury on their body. Clearly, no one had lost a team member or even a limb. They were only tired with everything else remaining intact.


    The others would kill for an oue like this.


    These invasion missions were extremely difficult ones that everyone had to aplish with their lives on the line. They had to fight for their Lord. That was their duty and purpose.


    But from the looks of it, this was just a training exercise for this particr group, albeit one that provided a lot of remuneration.


    Just what the hell was happening?


    Several demons also rushed behind them to talk to them and enquire what was happening.


    At the other end, Liam, unfortunately, did not have the luxury of taking a break like the rest of his group so he looked at the crowd of gathered demons.


    "If I upgrade my rank again, I should be able to take out more troops. So it is better to train a few more teams personally when I have the chance."


    Liam looked around and walked over to stand near the squad leaders again. "Recruiting for invasion quest! Need 5 soldiers! Paying 10 silver each!"


    If something works then why bother changing it?


    Liam used the same strategy as before and shouted, inviting disdainful looks from the other demon squad leaders standing nearby.


    However, a group of demons instantly assembled in front of him, obviously enticed by silver coins. One even boldly asked him if he was going to pay upfront.


    Liam smiled and did not bother answering. He took his time and handpicked a few based on their features and levels.


    This time he couldn''t afford to selectplete newbies as their levels were too low and that would send him to beginner areas once again.


    Though the inheritance could be anywhere, the chances of it being in high-level areas were considerably higher.


    So based on a few calctions, he selected a group of demons. He then took out a portal scroll but instantly an unexpected notification popped out.


    [Ding. Your war contributions are insufficient. You are unable to open a portal currently]


    "Oh. That''s right. I almost forgot. I need to submit something back at the counter." Liam walked back to the demon to pay the required contributions.


    He was using these invasions for his own benefit but the core purpose of this was to prepare for the uing battle which was also theher realm opening event.


    "Eh? You are back here already? Ke Ke Ke. Did you hide somewhere and then show up? How many soldiers did you lose? Do you know that your rank can also be stripped in an instant?"


    Liam took out a gold coin and ced it on the counter, instantly shutting up the gloating demon.


    The annoyed guy gritted his teeth and muttered as if he was harboring a lifetime grudge. "What is this for?"


    "How much war contribution do I owe?" Liam calmly asked.


    "Eh? What sort of question is that? Are you trying to swindle some money on the side?! I will report you to the demon lord personally. I will-"


    "How about this?" Liam took out another gold coin, once again pping the demon''s face.


    This time, however, the demon did not go on a rant and looked up something. "You have run so far more than 10 invasion missions. You have not submitted any war contributions."


    "So the amount you owe is 10 gold coins. T.E.N. Got it?" The demon raised his hand, showing the number 10 with his thick stubby fingers.


    He taunted Liam, somehow very assured that he wouldn''t be able to afford it. His eyes were already filled with anticipation.


    If this happened, then he could immediately strip away the arrogant greenhorn''s rank and put him in his ce. So the demon rubbed his hands eagerly.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not even both reacting to this.


    These demons were really not that bright. He had been taking out gold coins one after the other so far. So why would he run out now?


    "Alright, here are 10 gold coins." He didn''t have to wait for the response from the demon as another notification popped up.


    [Ding. Your war contributions are sufficient. You are now able to continue with the war effort. Your current rank is 50356]


    "Oh, there are currently these many squads raiding the realm?" Liam was curious about this new stat and opened the list to randomly check his position and those who were near it.


    He only did it out of sheer curiosity because right now everyone in the rank along with him was probably just demons who belonged to theher realm.


    However, as soon as he did Liam froze in his tracks.


    There it was¡­ right under his name¡­ written in clear bold letters¡­


    Rank 50357: Kouske Kasiwagi

 Chapter 188 - OOO! OOO! AHHH! AHHH!

    Rank 50357: Kouske Kasiwagi


    "Fuck." Liam''s heart did a flip flop as he stared at the name in disbelief.


    This guy was like a ghost that kept sneaking up on him, popping out every now and then, without any prior warning and giving him heart attacks!


    In reality, the incident was not that shocking and was alsopletely a self-inflicted one.


    He was the one who was stalking or trying to stalk the poor guy to steal his inheritance and his fate.


    Though Liam understood this, the whole thing made him very uneasy.


    It was as if a car was closely following, right on his tail. He could be overtaken at any given time or worse could be hit and run over to the side.


    It was not a pleasant feeling.


    Affected by this, Liam hurriedly walked over and took out the portal scroll to tear it open. There was an urgency in his movements that was not there before, but he stopped quickly.


    "I should not rush." He reminded himself.


    He did not know why but despite all signs pointing towards the right direction, he felt that something was off. Was this really the right way for obtaining the inheritance?


    Kouseke was here and everything was falling in ce, but still...


    He took a few deep breaths and then slowed down his actions. "Hmmm. I should take a look at things in the city after this mission."


    He also took a second to check if there was any urgent call or message from his sister or Shen Yue.


    Only then, after he had calmed down sufficiently, he looked up to see his new group and waved his hand. "Here we go. Prepare yourself."


    He also took out his ck mask and first wore it before activating the portal.


    Thest time was a bit too close for hisfort and he did not want to get caught in the middle of a prime yer zone with someone identally recognizing him.


    A bright glow immediately surrounded the group and when the blinding light disappeared they found themselves in the midst of a tall gigantic waterfall.


    The loud gushing sound of the waters falling from the astronomically high cliff and hitting the stream of water rang in their ears.


    And all the demons, Luna and Liam fell down into the water one after the other with plopping sounds.


    For the previous missions, they had alwaysnded on dry ground but now that they were in the water, it took them a second to stabilize.


    However, before they got a chance to do that, a set of thundering noises echoed and loud angry shouts resounded.


    OOO! AAAAH! OOOO! AAAH!


    A horde of purple-bodied apes emerged from the tall trees surrounding the waterfalls, quickly encircling Liam and the five demons.


    They snarled angrily looking at Liam and the other demons with pure hatred in their gaze.


    They were so angry that their eyes that were originally white in color looked dark crimson, because of the number of veins that had popped out.


    OOO! AAAAH! OOOO! AAAH!


    OOO! AAAAH! OOOO! AAAH!


    They also did not stop their loud racket. Because of the horrendous noise, they were making, all the birds in the vicinity flew out, fearful of themotion.


    As if this was not enough, more and more purple apes also slowly starteding out. The number of beasts encircling them quicklypounded.


    Even Liam couldn''t remain calm in this situation. He had never seen beasts that had this much viciousness in their eyes.


    They all stared at them as if they were their mortal enemy. This did not look like simple aggro at all.


    [Level 26; Rainbow Purple Ape]


    [Level 24; Rainbow Purple Ape]


    "Luckily, their level is still not too high."


    Liam started mentally thinking about the various strategies he could use. He felt that he sorely needed more AoE attacks.


    He also hadn''tprehended the technique behind such attacks.


    When using the system''s help many attacks consumed simr levels of mana.


    But in reality, AoE attacks were higher-end attacks and couldn''t be executed that easily without assistance.


    The principles behind them were also totally different.


    Liam''s reaction was quick.


    While other demons were still staring wide at the apes, he hurriedly stepped out of the turbulent water onto a huge rock to gain more bnce.


    As if responding to him, the next second, a dozen apesnded with heavy thuds on the other rocks scattered on the stream.


    And every time an ape came down from the trees, the five demons shuddered.


    They were all somewhat experienced, but they were only used to raiding in a huge group.


    Even before, they had faced a huge number of enemies at the same time, but their own group had also been big in numbers.


    This was the first time they were in a smaller group, having been enticed by the silver coin, which from the looks of it, had essentially sealed their fate.


    No one had any hopes that they were going to survive this and stoodpletely frozen just like the rocks on the river.


    The anger and the viciousness in the beasts'' eyes also did not make things easier.


    Liam saw this. However, he didn''t care. He was never reliant on these demons for finishing the missions. Training them was only a side perk.


    He unsheathed the crimson de hanging around his waist and grinned. "Tch. This is going to be a bloody one."


    He was about to step out of the river onto drynd, but he stopped himself. Instead, his figure changed direction and dashed towards another rock on which an ape was standing.


    The apes did not remain idle and shouted and screamed loudly, wanting to tear apart the intruders.


    However, when they started jumping towards Liam''s current location, they quickly realized that something was amiss.


    Only three or four apes were able to stand on the rock and that too when they did, it became a crowd and their bnce waspromised.


    Otherwise, only two apes were properly able to stand.


    "He He. Only now you are noticing? Toote!" Liam smiled as he waved his sword casually.


    Sure, facing hundreds of these apes at the same time would have been a challenge but two or three at the same time, was a piece of cake, especially when his attributes were so much higher than these apes.


    Not able to withstand the humiliation, some apes did not give up and tried to jump directly on top of Liam or grab him and toss him onto drynd to pummel him to death.


    But Liam''s body was like a strand of grass.


    His flexible body swayed, bent, and jumped, nimbly dodging all the attacksing for him, while simultaneously bncing himself on that single rock.


    And when things went out of control, he simply moved onto another rock, evading everything together.


    The apes werepletely enraged.


    From the beginning to the end, they were not able tond a single attack on him. They also only had the physical attack and physical defense andcked any sort of magical attacks.


    So they werepletely helpless against him and were being ughtered without having a chance to fight back.


    Watching Liam fight, the other demons started feeling more confident. They as well mimicked his strategy and jumped onto a rock, exchanging blows with the apes.


    However, watching it and doing it personally were two different things.


    After moving around on the small surface while continuing to block and attack, they realized that they were just as much disadvantaged as the apes.


    Unlike Liam, who was slicing and dicing the apes left and right, clearing out two to three beasts at a time, they were only able to fight one or two and it was a long fight.


    It only took them a few seconds and their admiration for their leader shot up.


    Usually, the other squad leaders stayed at the back safely andmanded, but this leader was fighting at the front and leading them by example.


    So strong!


    Now, they understood why the previous group had not taken any other missions and waited for this specific squad leader to return.


    They also wanted to stick to Liam and stared at him with worshipping eyes. They fought with a lot of gusto and energy, doing their best to impress him.


    Fighting together, they were putting away many of the purple apes at the same time, collecting a lot of experience points.


    Everybody''s movements also became more fluid and they were improving steadily.


    Liam danced around without any restraint, his sword dripping with blood, forming puddles of crimson in the stream that were quickly washed along as more water gushed down.


    His bnce had always been good because he had trained his body to an extreme in his previous life.


    Without having the capability of wielding mana, his body was his only tool at disposal and he had trained day and night like a lunatic.


    How could all of that hard work disappear?


    Everything was ingrained in his bones. Even if he died again and was reborn, he would still remember it all!


    His hard work and efforts showed in his movements and the wobbly rocks on the stream were only a hurdle to the apes.


    Liam twisted and turned his body, dodging and shing at the apes with rtive ease as if he was simply standing on drynd.


    There was simply no difference for him.


    With every move of his sword, aimed perfectly at the ape''s vital points, one critical hit after another popped up and the lifeless bodies dropped into the stream, carried by the currents.


    The apes werepletely overpowered and were being massacred mercilessly.


    But surprisingly, they were still fighting back.


    Liam also noticed this peculiar behavior and silently wondered if there was something else going on here.


    Level 20 and higher beasts were very intelligent. In fact, their moves right now could bepared to a professional boxer fighting at the ring.


    However, they still persistently kepting and fighting against an enemy who was far higher than their level.


    Why didn''t they simply turn tail and run? Why were they fighting against him with such ferocity and hostility?

 Chapter 189 - Behind The Waterfalls

    Liam frowned looked at the dozens of apes still crowding around, watching the massacre from the height.


    They relentlessly continued to throw themselves at him and tried to drown him in the currents. No matter how many apes fell, they kepting at him again and again.


    In this manner, the fightsted for quite a while.


    After almost an hour, thest ape was cut in half by Liam and their numbers finally died down.


    Both Liam and the demons had killed so many apes that their hand was numb from fighting, banging their weapons against the apes'' sturdy bodies.


    Even with the waterfalls continuously roaring behind them, the entire stream was blood red, with several corpses piled up like mountains.


    These corpses formed a sort of rock themselves and water sloshed around these piles, winding and weaving down sluggish.


    Nauseated by the carnage around him, Liam tiredly copsed on the rock he was standing on. He took out a whole bunch of recovery berries and popped in several.


    Thankfully, this game did not have cooldowns on these extra items like the other normal games. Else there was no way he would have been able to fight for so long.


    Though the apes were weaker, they would have surely killed him with just their numbers.


    Liam also gave some berries to the demons who looked at them curiously. They nevertheless ate the berries as Liam was also eating the same thing.


    "When you have rested for a couple of minutes, start collecting the loot."


    The demons nodded obediently. Whatever doubts they had before were nowpletely gone, only reverence and respect left behind.


    After eating the berries, they already started feeling energetic so they quickly got down to business and started collecting all the loot in sight.


    Liam meanwhile began to look for the other member of the party whom he hadn''t seen in a while.


    "Where are you? Did you get scared?" Liam tried to mentally probe the little fox.


    However, there was no immediate response to his question. Only radio silence.


    Liam tossed a few more berries into his mouth and stood up. He wasn''t too worried because he knew that the fox was definitely alive.


    He was able to see her health bar in the party chat.


    She seemed to be whole and healthy, but she still did not reply to him?


    "This is unlike that dufus. Where is she?" Liam muttered and looked around here and there, lifting up some of the dead apes to see if she was squished down somewhere.


    But even if she was, she should have still been able to answer his mental call. Something felt weird¡­


    After a couple of seconds, when Liam had lifted a dozen corpses and tossed around, searching for the fox, a small voice sounded in his mind.


    "Master. Sorry, I am in here."


    "Here means?" Liam dropped the purple ape''s body that he was holding, the beast''s corpse making a plopping sound as it fell into the water.


    "Kyuuuu... Inside the waterfalls, Master."


    The reply came out immediately and from her tone, Liam even sensed a little distress.


    So he quickly rushed in, bearing the tremendous crushing pressure from the water falling down on his body, and entered what looked like a small hidden cave behind the falls.


    Standing there near the edge, almost stered on the wall was the small red fox, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.


    Liam followed its crystal eyes to look inside the cave but it was too dark and he couldn''t see anything clearly.


    However, despite the darkness, there was something shining brightly in the depth of the cave.


    This also seemed to be the object that the small fox had her big eyes glued onto.


    Liam could even see the little thing drooling and gulping down at the sight of this shiny thing.


    "You want that?" He asked mentally.


    "Yes, master." The fox hurriedly bobbed her head up and down.


    Liam knitted his brows wondering what this was about. Were the apes guarding this item? Perhaps this was why they were also fighting him to death?


    He materialized a ball of mes in his hand to look more closely.


    And the moment the small cave lit up from the mes, something came bounding towards Liam, knocking him back out with rabid ferocity.


    Liam waspletely caught off guard and his body was flung away like a piece of rock, tossed into the stream, amidst the piles of purple corpses.


    Hended face down on an ape''s ass and his face twisted because of the pungent smell.


    "Fuck." He quickly sprang up and moved a few feet away, first stabilizing himself. He then looked up to see an enormous figureing out of the gushing waterfalls.


    It was a giant purple ape!


    RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Its huge feet and arms sshed in the water as the beast threateningly walked over to Liam, the deep river nothing but a shallow pool for its size.


    [Level 30, Golden Purple Ape] (Super Elite)


    "Level 30?" Liam couldn''t believe his eyes. "A super Elite here? Out in the open? How is that possible?"


    Moreover, its speed and strength were enough to fling him away like dirt even though his level was ten times higher.


    Liam felt that something was off. The elite might just be Level 30 but he had a feeling that this fight was not going to be so simple.


    It was much much stronger than its level.


    He did not want to take any chances and quicklymanded the group of demons standing on the side. They were gawking at the giant ape with their jaws dropped on the floor.


    "WAIT for mymand and attack the ape only when I tell you to."


    "Luna, same for you also."


    The small fox skipped out of the cave, constantly trying to not stand out. Its actions were veryical, Liam did not have the time right now to admire its antics.


    Before the ape could make a move, he instantly activated [Mana Net].


    He used the system''s help in doing so but he also simultaneously churned the mana in his body, trying to make this as strong and sturdy as possible.


    Immediately, thick strands of mana materialized out of thin air, weaving together in a zig-zag fashion.


    Everything happened lightning-fast and the ape''s giant body was entirely ensnared in a thick made of mana like a fisherman''s.


    ROARRRR!


    The ape was enraged!


    How could this puny demon cage a king like this?


    It thrashed around, waving its huge limbs, trying to tear apart the.


    However, Liam did not intend to let it get away this easily. He also activated the other entrapping skill he had.


    [Swamp Vines]


    Instantly, another set of restrictions fell upon the apepletely immobilizing it.


    "ATTACK! NOW!"


    Liam shouted and he started sending out huge balls of fire one after the other. He then rushed forward, shing at the ape, repeatedly taking out big chunks of its health.


    Luna and the other demons as well attacked from the side.


    But the ape''s health was like a mountain. It did not drop easily and it seemed that the best also had high regenerative abilities.


    Whatever damage Liam managed to do, it was being immediately nullified.


    Moreover, the mana and swamp vines were also tearing apart. It was clear that they wouldn''t be able to hold the rampaging beast much longer.


    "MOVE AWAY. NOW!" Liam shouted and he himself as well went back several steps.


    He then activated his backup skill [Venom Burst], a cloud of purple gas that matched the beast''s fur forming around it.


    A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead as Liam watched the beast, while simultaneously gathering a huge ball of fire in his hands.


    Did it work?


    And bingo!


    Cough. Cough. Cough.


    Just like he hoped, the ape coughed violently affected by the poison. Its health was also dropping now without anyone attacking it.


    "This tick damage should be enough." Liam smiled.


    Just as the ape was about to tear open the different strings keeping it down, and burst out to pummel him, he sent the huge fireball to the ape. "Eat this monkey."


    The ape was struck by the immense force of the attack and its skin sizzled from the intensity of the fire. It was pushed back onto the waterfall, its body crashing on the rock behind.


    Though the water calmed and cooled down its burnt skin, it had already lost a significant chunk of its health. Not to mention that it was currently under the poisoned status.


    "This fight is over." Liam unsheathed his sword and dashed towards the beast, using the little mana he had left to enhance his physical abilities.


    The ape bellowed in anger and came at him with its bright red maddened eyes. It wanted to grab Liam and tear him apart limb to limb.


    But he was like a fly, evading all of its punches. The beast was not able toy its giant paws on his body even once.


    His feet constantly moved, his sword chopping down on the vital points of the ape, every chance he got.


    Liam was inplete control of the battle. Every single one of his moves was bold, confident, and powerful. He went all out, tackling the giant beast, fighting with it using all his strength.


    He did not know why this ape was unusually powerful but it was stillcking whenpared to him. Luckily, it was a few levels lower than him.


    Otherwise, even without magic, its sheer strength would have been sufficient to tten him.


    Liam did not want to prolong the fight as he was unsure about the beast''s special frenzy skill that most elites had when their health dropped low.


    So while simultaneously shing it down from various angles, he also started gathering his mana again, to finish off the battle with one final powerful skill.


    And just as the ape lost its vigor, and its health neared the bottom, Liam materialized a huge ball ofpressed fire.


    However, when he was about to ram the attack onto the ape, suddenly something clicked in his leg and he stumbled forward unexpectedly.


    Dark shackles? A sneak attack?

 Chapter 190 - Kill Stealing The Kill Stealers

    [Dark Shackles]


    It only took Liam a second to recognize the familiar skill of summoners.


    There were other yers here!


    And they clearly did not have any friendly intentions!


    As he was stumbling forward, he instantly steadied his body enough to fall into the stream, rather than on the rock.


    The [Dark Shackles] spellpletely binds a person with dark chains and this was already the best he could do in this situation.


    "The active time for this spell is only 10 seconds. If I can hold on for 10 seconds¡­" Liam closed his mouth, holding his breath as his body sank lower into the water.


    Thankfully, because of all the blood and the ape corpses, he was able to get some sort of cover.


    The water was extremely dirty and muddy so once he was inside it, he was no longer visible.


    Also, the rampaging ape in its frenzied state was doing its part in distracting this newly arrived intruder who had sessfully managed to attack him on the sly.


    "Hmm¡­ I doubt that there is only one. If they areing here all this way, then they should have made some preparations."


    Liam had onlye to this spot by ident but he did not think that the same applied for the others as well.


    This was probably a distance location mentioned by some rare quest


    He tried to see what was happening above him but nothing was visible. The water had be too muddy and stagnant.


    He could only feel the vibrationsing from the ape as it repeatedly moved its legs, stomping angrily and from the looks of it attacking someone.


    However, the next second, this set of vibrations started bing bigger and bigger.


    "Shit." Liam did not have to think about the reason for that. He already knew what this was. The ape wasing!


    It was probably bounding towards its new targets and since he was on the way, he could feel the waves created in the turbulent stream because of the ape''s movements.


    But even though he knew it, he still couldn''t move because the shackles were active. 3 more seconds.


    "There is so much space around, it won''t step on me, right?"


    "Fuck."


    "Fuckkkkk."


    Just as thest second of the [Dark Shackles] was about to tick off, the ape''s giant legs thundered and simultaneously both its hind legs stepped right onto Liam''s body, producing a loud breaking noise.


    CRACK


    About half of Liam''s health dropped as the beast inadvertently managed tond the most perfect kick without intending to.


    The ape had used him as a spring and bounced away towards the other people surrounding it.


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry. The attack at least bought him enough time to recover and get back on his feet.


    He activated [Stealth] and quickly swam back to the surface hiding behind a pile of corpses. He then saw Luna as well hiding in the same spot.


    "You did well. Hide here." Liam smiled and sent her a mental message.


    The fox turned around anxiously but it was not able to see him. The beast looked very confused when it went back to watching the ape.


    Liam as well watched the giant ape thrashing away the dozen yers on the front line.


    With its eyes an even deeper shade of red, it looked around and locked on to all the yers who had newly arrived.


    Since Liam was no longer attacking it, its aggro had shifted and it now was furious at the other people standing in front of it.


    "What the hell? How is its health already back up?"


    "Come on. Come on. Keep attacking. Move it."


    "It just took out all the tanks. How is this thing so strong?"


    Several shouts sounded, amidst the terrorizing roars of the ape.


    There were about twenty yers, some of them already on the red, attacking the ape with everything they had.


    And yet they seemed to be struggling.


    Liam calmly watched this from the back. Or rather he was calm until his gaze fell on a yer standing at the back and shouting instructions.


    He might not recognize the others but this one he was very very familiar with.


    This was the headckey of his so-called ''Master''.


    And this entire team was probably from members of the Gu family guild, Jade Mountain, the people whom he harbored the most hatred for.


    And today, these people have somehow walked over to him all on their own in this isted ce and even took the initiative to pick a fight with him by kill stealing his boss?


    "Heh." Liam grinned. "So I have no other choice huh. Fine by me."


    "Sometimes, you have got to love fate."


    Liam did not idly stay back and watch anymore. He moved. It was time to return the favor.


    They attacked when he was right about to kill the ape, so why couldn''t he do the same.


    In fact, it was much easier to wreak havoc in a bigger group and he was going to show them how.


    With his [Stealth] still active he circled around the fight moving to the backline where the casters were located.


    Liam tactically hid behind a pile of corpses and then started his work.


    He topped off his health and mana, gulping down potions and rotated the energy in his body, conjuring a big ball of me.


    This effectively canceled his [Stealth] but he was already well hidden so it didn''t announce his presence.


    The small ball of me in his hand grew bigger and bigger and Liampressed it as much as he could before sending it forward towards one of the healers.


    Just when he was in the middle of it, because he was extremely focused wanting to one-shot the healer, he suddenly noticed the sound of the gushing waterfalls.


    The water falling into the stream resounded loudly, as a dull roar in the background and he unexpectedly got an idea.


    He tried to visualize the fireball like a stream and split it into multiple streams just like the strands of water pouring down onto the stream.


    Obeying hismand, his originally single huge-sized fireball split apart into several sts, some weaker and some strangers and some just wisps of fire.


    This was his first try and he was already in the middle of casting the spell, so there was only so much he could control.


    But still, Liam grinned in excitement.


    He watched curiously as these individual sts of fire shot towards the group of casters and healers standing at the back.


    BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM.


    Different damage numbers floated on different yers'' heads and the group was dumbfounded. Who was throwing fire at them?


    As far as they could see, the ape was only capable of doing physical-type attacks. Moreover, the fire attack seemed toe from a different spot.


    What the hell was happening?


    Since the attack waspletely unexpected, it threw them off of their rhythm, resulting in the offset of heal and attack spells.


    So this in turn ended up affecting the whole raid group that was fighting with the ape.


    Moreover, this elite ape was also an intelligent beast. How could it let go of this distraction?


    Using this as a chance, the ape roared loudly and swung its arm, wiping out the melee yers who were already only hanging on by a thread.


    The ape''s strength was formidable and these yers didn''t have the advantage which Liam had when he was fighting with the beast.


    They were in fact in a much more unfavorable position as their levels were lower than the ape.


    So it was inevitable that they are fighting an uphill battle even though the ape''s health was close to bottoming out.


    While these bunch of yers continued suffering, Liam on the other hand, was in his own world. "Damn. Not bad." He muttered, eying the trajectory of the attack.


    He was surprised that he thought of something like this, despite the situation he was in.


    He had been thinking about this concept for a while and now in the midst of all of thismotion, it just suddenly struck him.


    Liam had always been a self-taught person, so he quickly grasped hold of this feeling and tried to imitate it again.


    He sent out another two consecutive simr attacks to memorize it.


    It was inconvenient to do this in the middle of this chaos but he couldn''t let this precious opportunity pass by.


    Besides, it seemed to be doing its job very well.


    With the added bonus for his fire magic spells, and with Liam refining the attack every single time, almostpressing them into bullets, he was raining down terror on the casters.


    The healers couldn''t keep up with both refreshing their own health and the ape''s assault and soon, the entire group fell apart.


    Liam watched in amusement as his previous life friends were ughtered without any exception.


    He did not even have to lift his finger. The ape took care of everything.


    And when thest one fell down, he quickly started barraging the ape with a volley of attacks, finally bringing down its health to 0.


    [Ding. Congrattions.. You have killed the Super Elite Golden Purple Ape. You have gained 20000 experience points]

 Chapter 191 - Quest Failed

    The giant ape fell down with a thud and several sparkly items fell out of the beast.


    Liam ignored all the item drops, quickly tossing them into his inventory in a hurry.


    He did not have very much time right now because the people who died will most definitely be back soon.


    An elite close to its death door was not something anyone would ignore.


    Moreover, it was not hard for them to guess his handiwork. So they would surely be back for revenge.


    However, as Liam grabbed everything in sight, there was one item that stood out, something that he couldn''t just ignore despite the urgency.


    A small deformed blue-colored stone.


    It looked like a pebble that was punched in.


    Yet, Liam treated it so cautiously. He bent up to carefully pick it up in his hand.


    "A partial mana core?" He let out a gasp as he eyed the item with shock and disbelief.


    "How did this Level 30 elite form a mana core?"


    Even though it was a partial one, forming a mana core was something only the higher grade beasts could aplish.


    Such a feat required a lot of intelligence and more importantly bloodline strength.


    It was impossible for a mere ape, whocked even theprehension to learn a single magic spell, to form such a thing.


    "How did this happen?"


    "Is this because of that item at the back of the cave?


    Now everything made sense and Liam turned to look at that very normal inconspicuous cave.


    From the looks of it, there was a treasure inside!


    "It has to be something that benefited beasts. That little guy also wanted it badly."


    Liam did not think about it anymore and decided to analyze everythingter.


    He hurriedly dashed into the cave, but beating him to the punch, Luna was already inside.


    She had her tail wrapped around the fist-sized gemstone that dazzled brilliantly with colors of the rainbow and was trying to lift it up awkwardly.


    However, it was too big for her to lift the stone and she could only hug it with love and yearning.


    "You little¡­ " Liam chuckled. "Alright. Alright. This is yours. I will give it to youter, Luna. Not right now, okay?"


    He tossed the gem into his inventory and the small fox onto his back and quickly headed into the forests.


    The demons had all scattered into different directions a while back and Liam did not bother searching for them.


    If they were not capable enough to keep themselves alive until the portal pulled them back in, then there was no point in him training them in the first ce.


    Besides, there was something else he absolutely had to right now¡­


    With his [Stealth] still on, Liam moved cautiously through the forest.


    The small fox also trailed behind him maintaining a safe distance and hiding thoroughly using the backdrop of the ce they were in.


    By now, he had the chance to finally take a look at the map, and it looked like, they were in the borders of the Oolong Kingdom, one of the neighbors of the Gresh Kingdom.


    This was surprising because, in hisst life, the Gu family had their base established in the Moonlight Kingdom, not the Oolong Kingdom.


    So the chances of these people being here randomly were quite low.


    They were definitely here on some quest and Liam had a feeling that this quest was probably rted to the gemstone he had looted.


    "He He. That''s just perfect." Liam grinned like a big bad wolf, continuing to move through the forests searching for a familiar ce that was usually in all regions, the graveyard.


    After he left the area where the waterfalls was located, the wind as well started picking up, and he no longer needed to watch his steps carefully.


    Hidden in the rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs, he covered a lot of distance and not long after arrived at the spot that he was looking for.


    Liam immediately slowed down his footsteps and made sure that he was properly hidden.


    He then positioned himself behind a tree and observed the graveyard from a distance.


    Almost all of the dead yers had already resurrected and they seemed to be grouped together having some sort of discussion.


    Since no one else was present in the area, these people did not bother lowering their voices and Liam could clearly hear everything that they were saying.


    "How is this possible?" The leader of the party, the person Liam had recognized, spat out.


    This was Gu Zui, the person who had made it his life''s mission to torture Liam in his previous time around.


    He was one of theckeys of Liam''s master and purposefully harassed him several times just to please the others and make himself look cooler.


    Just the mere sight of him made Liam''s blood boil and he clenched his fists. It took everything out of him to control himself.


    He had the means to utterly destroy and erase everyone in front of him right this second, but he was not alone to do such a thing. He had to think about the consequences.


    It was still not the right time yet to return his debt but that didn''t mean he couldn''t y around a little.


    Even if he couldn''t kill thempletely right now, destroying and devouring their souls, he could always kill them enough times to make them sick and tired.


    These were all young men in their prime but once he was done with them, they would be no longer the same.


    In certain ways, this was a punishment worse than death.


    It wouldn''t be bad to let them experience this punishment for a little while before he came back to im their souls once and for all.


    Liam raised his hand to properly fix the ck mask on his face and prepared to move, but he stopped as the rest of their conversation caught his interest.


    "How the heck is this possible? The quest is suddenly showing something different.. It says here that the quest is failed!" Gu Zui raged.

 Chapter 192 - Unique Quest

    "Quest failed? What?"


    "Ummm¡­ Are you sure, leader? Like did you look properly?"


    Gu Zui breathed in and out like a dragon and looked at the person who had just spoken. "What do you mean by that? What FUCKING other way is there to look at something?"


    He directly threw a punch at the guy''s face in exasperation.


    "We came all this way, spent so many resources, and even killed off an insect who had somehow managed to arrive there before us, so how could we have still failed?"


    "Boss, someone sabotaged us." One of the healers hesitantly muttered.


    "Oh, so now you are giving an excuse for being a colossal failure? Who is even here to sabotage us?"


    "You guys couldn''t fucking handle an almost dead ape and now you are bringing up ame excuse!"


    "If you had done your job properly and healed everyone, we wouldn''t be in this mess in the first ce!"


    "Leader, we were healing like always. Ughhh. If there was an actions history I would have pulled it up and shown you! You have to trust me! Someone attacked us from the side."


    The healer did not know how to make this guy believe him and cried inwardly. Luckily, the others voiced their opinions to help him.


    "I also saw that."


    "Yes, there was a couple of fire sts from the side."


    "Hmmm¡­" Gu Zui finally became silent contemting a few things.


    Listening to everything silently, Liam smirked from the sidelines.


    "I guess that''s my cue?"


    He wanted to wait and see if they would discuss more details about the quest, but it looked like that wasn''t going to happen.


    He also did not have much time. The portal could revoke all of them back to theher realm at any given moment. So he decided to go in before it was toote.


    If he didn''t kill them a few times at least, he really wouldn''t be able to sleep peacefully tonight.


    Liam took a few deep breaths and then moved. Just as he did, he took out something from his inventory and tossed it first, right in the middle of the group.


    BOOOM!


    The next second a huge explosion rang loudly. Dust, shrapnel, and rocks flew everywhere and a cloud of fire and smoke rose up into the air.


    Everything in the vicinity was blown apart, including the tombstones on the graveyard.


    And the people who had been obliviously discussing something just moments ago, also found themselves sted away, huge chunks of their health removed.


    A few weaker ones directly died on the spot, but most were just gravely injured.


    And before they could even begin to recover, a figure blurred past the ones who were only barely alive and shed at them with an incredible speed.


    Thud. Thud. Thud.


    The entire raid team was inplete disarray and they dropped dead one after the other as Liam made his rounds.


    Within a minute every single member of that party found themselves dead once again.


    Before the sound, dust and the reverberations of the explosion settled down, Liam had taken care of all of them.


    Not even a single member of the group remained, with only Liam standing amidst the dust and debris. His mask was still on and a smile danced on his lips.


    "Not bad."


    He looked at the ball-shaped item in his hand which was the same one he had just now used to cause the explosion.


    This was also the second item he had looted from the treasure chest in the mecha gnome valley.


    [Grade C Grenade]


    He had been wanting to try out the power of this item and it was not in the least disappointing.


    "If the Grade C ones are so powerful, then what about the Grade B and Grade A ones?" Liam''s smile widened.


    He gazed at the three mecha gnome items in excitement. Each one was more powerful than the other.


    His hands were itching to try those out too, but he didn''t want to waste those precious items on this bunch of trash.


    He had only managed to get 20 grenades of each grade. So they couldn''t be carelessly wasted.


    "Alright. It should be about time." Liam''s figure blurred once again.


    Since the explosion, several seconds had passed and it was time for the group to start resurrecting one by one.


    And as soon as they did¡­


    "What was that explosion? Did you guys see-"


    Bam. sh. Bam. Dead.


    "Is everyone fine-"


    Bam. sh. Bam. Dead.


    "Wait, you guys died again?"


    Bam. sh. Bam. Dead.


    "Someone is here."


    Bam. sh. Bam. Dead.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    No one seemed to understand what was happening around them.


    Liam used this chaos and confusion to once again round up all the members who resurrected one or two at a time and culled them all down again.


    This waspletely different from the time he had only dealt with a few yers like a group of five or six.


    This time he was dealing with a whole raid group of 30 yers to be precise.


    So he did not rely on any spell casting and pushed all of his mana towards physical enhancement.


    He boosted his speed, agility, and strength to the maximum and spun like a top, leaving bloodshed and chaos in his trail.


    Before the group of yers could connect the dots, they once again found themselves dead for the third time in a row.


    Repeatedly taking in this much pain was agonizing, but at the same time, the equipment loss and the level loss hurt more.


    Especially because they had pre-nned and over-geared, just to raid this specific boss for the questpletion, there were several good items on their person.


    As Liamzily collected all of them from the group one after the other, he even hummed contently.


    "This time the Gu family has invested in these idiots quite a bit. I didn''t think that they would make my gold farming so easy."


    "I should be able to sell all of these for a huge sum of money. If Derek contacts me, this should be more than sufficient."


    Liam happily looted everything in sight and the fox stayed a distance, still hidden but observing everything curiously.


    For some reason, she felt as if her master was happier when killing other human beings whenpared to fighting with ghosts or beasts.


    She made a mental note about this and continued watching, keeping an eye on Liam''s back. Not that he needed it.


    Everything was going unexpectedly smooth.


    After finishing the second round, he took a breather for a few seconds and thenmenced the third round and after that the fourth round.


    Gu Zui was maddened with anger and frustration. "Damn it! Who is doing this? This is my unique quest, you bastard! Stop it or I will find you and-"


    Bam. sh. Bam. Dead.


    "Oh? Unique quest? Interesting. Thanks for the information." Liam finished him off.


    After killing these idiots multiple times now, their levels had already fallen down to below 20. At this point, he no longer bothered to even personally make a move.


    He silently squatted on the floor in an impolite fashion and then used the system spell to activate [Lava Rain].


    Hebined this with the spell he was practicing currently.


    So as soon as the yers resurrected, he started targeting them with multiple sts of fire along with theva rain that was pouring on them from the top.


    With both the dot damagesbined, the effect rapidly reduced everyone''s health and the group was massacred yet another time without any survivors left behind.


    They could only silently curse and cry inwardly without being able to do anything at all. However, these yers were from a big guild.


    So it was not like they weren''t aware of what was happening to them. Someone was purposefully targeting them and ughtering them.


    It was just that even if they knew it, they couldn''t do anything about it. They were not able to log out. They were not able to contact their friends.


    They were justpletely helpless.


    The only way that they could be saved from this inhumane and unbearable torture was if someone from their guild noticed their levels dropping crazily and sent back up here to help them out.


    However, why would the guild put so much effort into helping out nobodies like them?


    Unfortunately, even Gu Zui''s standing in the guild wasn''t all that important. This was why he had selected this particr group for the raid.


    This was a unique quest, so he wanted to hog all the rewards by himself and then,ter on, reveal it when he increased his power level.


    Otherwise, the upper echelons from the guild would immediately grab the quest from his hand and keep it for their own benefit, further solidifying their position in the guild.


    For a bottom-feeder like Gu Zui, this quest was like a one in million chance.


    He hade here with high hopes and big dreams, but in the end, they had met this ck-masked demon here.


    And his precious quest was taken away from him just like that¡­ like taking candy from a baby. All the pieces of equipment too¡­


    Gu Zui felt miserable. This single endeavor had bankrupted himpletely. He was done for. How could he now catch up to the others?


    His level was dropping lower and lower every minute. Was this the same person they had tried to sneak attack? Was this revenge for the sneak attack?


    If he had known this beforehand, he would have silently waited on the side for the fucking ape to spawn once again!


    Mommy¡­ Gu Zui wanted to cry out loud.


    However, just as he respawned he was once again sent back to the realm of the dead.

 Chapter 193 - Everyone Called In Sick

    In one of the restaurants in Yleka city¡­


    "Are we ready to raid the ''Stone Mountain'' dungeon in 3 days?" A short and chubby-looking young man in his twenties took a sip of his beverage, speaking absentmindedly.


    Though he was in the middle of the conversation, his eyes were glued onto the waitress who had a plump bosom and was cleaning the adjacent table revealing her bouncy mounds.


    His hand was itching to reach forward and grab the melons but unfortunately, he had already suffered the consequences of such a thing and did not intend to make the same mistake again.


    After all, he belonged to the prestigious Gu family. So he couldn''t let himself be humiliated like this, especially now that their family hierarchy was up for grabs.


    If he wanted topete with his other talented and outstanding siblings, he needed to control himself for now.


    In the end, when the family was in his hand, then he could do as he pleased.


    Countless women would throw themselves at him and he could sleep with whomever he wanted whenever he wanted.


    But now. He needed to exercise caution for now. All his ns depended on this game and everything had to go perfectly.


    With a long sigh, he reluctantly withdrew his eyes away from the bouncy temptations and looked at his underling. "What? Why are you silent?"


    "Umm¡­ That¡­ Actually¡­"


    "WHAT?" Gu Donghai suddenly felt that something was not right.


    "A few of our raid members are¡­ they need some more time to level up."


    "What the FUCK are you saying? Are you telling me that we cannot enter ''Stone Mountain'' in 3 days? We can''t get the first clear?"


    "Where is everyone? Tell me everything right now!"


    The underling wiped the sweat off his forehead and tried to exin what had happened as best as he could. However, he also did not know too many details.


    "Sir, I heard that they ran into some unexpected elite and got wiped out. Gulp. Several times."


    "How could that be possible? Why were they brainless enough to keep attacking it again and again? If it was not possible then they could have retreated and called for backup!"


    "Umm¡­ that''s true¡­"


    "What you are saying doesn''t make any sense! What level are they right now?"


    "Sir¡­ that¡­"


    "Are you going to make me ask again?"


    "Between 2 and 5." Theckey blurted out. He was just the messenger but he doubted if their group leader would consider that right now.


    He looked up at Gu Donghai''s face like a scared little mouse and the other party was seemingly in some sort of confusion.


    "You mean 25?" He asked again.


    "N¡­ No. Sir. Level 2."


    "Did.. you... say¡­ 2?" He slowly asked, his entire body shaking.


    "Umm¡­ Yes, sir. They were wiped out quite a few times. So¡­ some of them are 2 and some are 5."


    Gu Donghai''s blood pressure instantly rose sky high as he abruptly stood up from the chair, banging the cup on the table.


    "Bring me Gu ZUI! NOW!"


    Theckey squirmed in ce. He did not know how to respond to this as he was caught between a rock and a hard ce.


    "Sir¡­ that¡­ some of our members are not feeling too well. So¡­"


    "So?" Gu Donghai growled like a lion. "SO?"


    "So¡­ they haven''t logged back into the game. They called in sick. They are¡­ ummm¡­ resting."


    "Resting? Huh? RESTING? FUCK!" In his anger, he tossed the table on theckey who was sent flying backward.


    "What the fuck do you mean they are resting? Get them to log back in right this second! Useless piece of trash! Bunch of pussies! Get them all here right now. NOW! Do you hear me?"


    However, before the underling could respond, another voice sounded from behind them.


    "Ahem. Ahem. You are both creating quite a ruckus here. Take this outside. Both of you are no longer wee in this restaurant. Get out."


    A big burly man stood, his figure towering over them like a mountain.


    Gu Donghai''s face became bright red from the utter humiliation but he knew that he couldn''t talk back to this person. So he silently gnashed his teeth and stepped out.


    Behind him, his underling as well trembled and followed him.


    "Get everyone here fast. If not¡­ you know what will happen. I will be at the brothel." Gu Donghai gritted his teeth and left the ce.


    His underling could finally take a breather and the poor guy sighed in relief.


    Since no one was online, he could only log out and try contacting them on phone or make a personal trip to each of their houses.


    "Sigh. This is going to be a long day." He as well left the city by logging off.


    Meanwhile, the person who was responsible for all of this¡­ just now arrived at the city.


    Liam happily hummed a tune as he mingled in the crowded city, hiding in in sight.


    Though his inventory was astonishingly full right now, everything he wore was in and cheap and could even be called scrap.


    Not one person gave him a second look, not at his gear and not at the big smile he was disying.


    He had neither expected nor nned to deal with the Gu familyckeyspletely.


    What went down was more or less the ideal situation for him. Before the portal activated, he had killed them enough times, bringing their levels to single digits.


    This was kind of perfect. So he was slightly more upbeatpared to his usual serious self.


    He also did not stay behind in theher realm and decided to take a break as per his previous n.


    Four of the five demons had survived the mission. So, he paid them their remuneration and promptly returned back to Yleka city.


    "Haaa¡­ The air here really does taste better."


    Liam first went inside one of the many restaurants lining the street and ordered for himself one of the high-end delicacies.


    "Now, let me see what to do next."


    He opened hismunication interface and was instantly flooded with several messages.


    Liam chuckled, his eye speedily ncing over all of them.


    He only made this extra effort because he was expecting to hear back from the person he was most interested in right now, Derek.


    However, there was nothing from the other party. Absolutely, nomunication at all from his side, neither yes nor no.


    Liam sighed and then closed everything. He already knew that this was going to be difficult and might even take time so he was not in a hurry.


    "Ok, maybe I will start with some potion concoctions then." He muttered in silent contemtion, thinking about the several messages he had received from Abraki.


    Of course, forming such an alliance between him and the Assassin''s guild would be helpful in one way or the other, but that was not his main purpose in doing so.


    Someone had messed with him. How could he let it go just like that? There needed to be suitable consequences for actions.


    He could sell these potions in the auction house and make some gold or he could sell these potions to the Assassin''s alliance and along with gold, he could also¡­

 Chapter 194 - Dealing With The Devil Is Bothersome

    After finishing his meal, Liam first paid a visit to the alchemy association and booked a high-end production room which cost him an arm and a leg.


    He was rather short on time, so investments like these were an absolute must.


    Also, with an increased sess rate and high-tier equipment, he could make so much more of the product and earn back this initial excess expenditure.


    Liam spent the next few hours inside this high-end room, leisurely concocting the Fire-Resistance potion in bulk.


    He also made another batch of health potions, and mana potions as he was using these like there was no tomorrow.


    Using potions like these left a mark on the body and the impurities would slowly umte and corrode the body from inside out.


    Others were oblivious to this fact, so they carelessly kept over-using these items, considering there was no cooldown option.


    However, Liam also did the same even when he knew the side effects because when he ultimately purifies his body again, all of these could be removed.


    Only after that, he would need to be more careful and couldn''t gulp these down like water.


    This was also why he hadn''t bothered to progress in the quest he had obtained at the very beginning.


    The reward for that quest was either a recipe or a vial with an invaluable treasure that could perfectly rebuild his body. This would also increase his strength and foundation tremendously.


    However, that came at a price. Once something was extremely clean, it was very easy to dirty it. So there would be a lot of limitations on what he could put into his body after that treatment.


    With this in mind, he decided to put it off for now.


    When he reached Level 50, it would be an entirely different ball game with several things in the mix. For instance, yers would be able to form mana core.


    Just like recipes and skill scrolls, the methods of forming mana cores would also drop from elites and dungeon bosses.


    So at that time, it would be best to take care of this foundation cleansing and start fresh so that he could form the best mana core possible.


    Liam roughly thought about these numerous objectives in his mind as he mechanically concocted the potion that he was familiar with.


    His mana control had also increased tremendously sincest time so doing this was a breeze for him and might as well be a form of rxation after hours and hours of continuousbat.


    As he whistled contently and poured the sparkly orange liquid in one ss bottle after another, he couldn''t help but look at the other person present in the room along with him.


    Liam smiled helplessly andforted the poor thing who had been sulking for quite a while now.


    "I know you want to start immediately, but you need to wait and be more patient. We should find out more details about that gemstone first, Luna."


    Kyuuuu. The fox whined in ce, without looking up.


    "It''s yours. I promise. Just wait a while."


    Kyuuuu.


    Liam smiled with a soft sigh and continued doing his work. Unlike her, he had many responsibilities so he had to think through each and every small detail.


    He first needed to get that gemstone inspected. It seemed to be part of a unique quest, at least from the little information that he had managed to gather from Gu Zui.


    So there could be many things associated with it. He might even find a clue to another special quest.


    Though he had a lot of knowledge about the nice things in the game, his knowledge was far from being exhaustive. It was always best to approach new things with caution.


    And the fact that the ape managed to form a partial mana core with this gemstone was also a huge hint.


    Even after this, if he ignored the gemstone, he could only be called an idiot.


    Moreover, items such as that were also typically gold sinks, so grinding for more money came first. How could he possibly exin these things to the little fox?


    So he gave up and decided to coax herter with some good food.


    Liam spent a few more hours in the high-end alchemy room before finally finishing everything that he had on his to-do list.


    His inventory space was already filled to the brim so he had to take thest few items in an actual bag.


    Lugging everything along with him and also taking the sulking fox under his arms, he then made his way to the auction house.


    Combined with his clothes and the way he was hauling a huge ass bag around, he stood out like a sore thumb.


    Among the yers who were covered with sparkly equipment and dazzling ornaments, studded with gemstones, he looked like a beggar who couldn''t even afford inventory space purchases.


    Several people gave him disdainful looks as he neared the posh huge building.


    It was one of the most crowded areas in the city so people did not appreciate yers who came that way just to take a look.


    And from the way he acted, everyone could tell with one nce that he belonged to that category. Moreover, he had his face covered. Who was he trying to fool?


    They sneered at him in contempt and then went back to minding their own business.


    After all, they could only look down upon the poor and the naive, they couldn''t really ban these idiots from mingling in the game.


    Liam as well was too busy to notice anyone around him. He leisurely sat down at an empty spot.


    It was fine to even sit right next to someone else. They won''t be able to see another yer''s interface and the transactions would remain a secret, only visible to self.


    "Ok. Let''s start then." Liam first took out 5 Fire-Resistance potions from his inventory space and put them up for auction.


    This one single act instantly created a stir amidst the gathered crowd as if suddenly someone had dropped a few hundred dor notes on a crowded dance floor.


    Everyone started contacting their guild and messaging the higher-ups, trying to gather as much funds as possible.


    "This person is such a viin! He has once again put the fucking potions on a 2 hours bid without a buyout option! Just how greedy can he be!"


    "Fucking bitch. He can only enjoy this spotlight as long as this stupid dungeon is relevant. Let''s see what he is doing after that!"


    "Ya. you are right. What an idiot! He has a golden goose but he doesn''t know how to use it properly."


    "If it was me, I would have used this chance to make friendly rtions with a lot of top guilds, instead of antagonizing everyone like this."


    The entire area fell into an uproar and several people startedining and cursing loudly at the mysterious anonymous person.


    Even the yer sitting next to Liam let out a long sigh.


    "You should be grateful that you don''t have any money and suck at this game. Top yers like us are suffering right now." Hemented out loud.


    But from the corner of his eyes, he could see that the noob dressed in scraps was not paying attention to his words at all.


    "You know¡­ I am in a good mood today. What item do you want? I can help you buy it!"


    He smiled while sneering inwardly, anticipating how the noob''s attitude was going to take a 180 now. Not paying attention to me, now we will see!


    However, a couple of seconds passed and his neighbor was still unresponsive.


    "Fuck. Even this little bitch is ignoring me. Just what I needed today. Why am I even talking to idiots." The yer angrily grumbled and he also went back to his work.


    Meanwhile, Liam''s hands were very busy. They were moving non-stop plotting his next step.


    After putting up the potions for sale in the auction house, he sent a message to Abraki. "Is any of you guild members near Yleka city auction house?"


    Almost instantly, he received a reply. "I will be right there!"


    "Alright. Open a trade window when you are here."


    "Thank you." Abraki curtly replied.


    For two yers to trade their goods, they only needed to be in the vicinity. It was not required for them to be face to face.


    This added a level of protection against any sneak attacks, especially in a crowded ce like this.


    "Whatever he does, he does it perfectly without any loopholes." Abraki sighed. Dealing with Liam was a pain in his ass. In this aspect, the informant hadn''t been wrong.


    Every single interaction he had with him made him feel like he was being yed around by a cunning mastermind.


    However, unfortunately, he still had to continue dealing with him. In the case of people like this, it was better to be friends than enemies.


    Not that he expected any help from. He would probably never get something like that out of him. But it was still good to be not on the bad side.


    Abraki soon arrived and opened his trade window, simultaneously contacting Liam.


    Promptly, a stack of 20 Fire-Resistance potions appeared in his window without any other reply from him.


    "20 potions?" Abraki''s eyes went wide. "Damn it. This confirms it."


    "This guy can concoct the Fire-Resistance potion. He would not have been able to obtain these many potions otherwise." Hemented to his guild member.


    "How much is he charging you?" His friend asked.


    And suddenly Abraki realized something¡­


    "He did not mention a price." He smiled bitterly. This meant that he had to suggest a price and the other party will either ept it or reject it.


    If he suggested something too high, then he will lose out. If he suggested something too low, then this bridge he was trying to create was as good as burnt.


    Moreover, there was another set of potions being auctioned right now.


    Why would he sell these to him, instead of auctioning everything for the same high price?


    Abraki''s head hurt. He had a feeling that he was once again being yed with.. This person was very troublesome.

 Chapter 195 - A Special Deal

    Seeing the constipated look on Abraki''s face, his friend quickly interjected.


    "Guild leader, don''t think too much. I remember the price the potions got soldst time, about 100 gold coins. Let''s just use the same amount."


    "If we run the dungeon and get the first clear, the price should be worth it. 20 potions is a lot. With this, we can do several trials and finish it for sure."


    Abraki froze. "This is a good idea. Ahem. Thank you." He was very nervous and he had ended up unnecessarily overthinking things.


    He immediately entered the price and much to his surprise and relief, Liam also quickly epted it. The next second, he received the stack of 20 fire-resistance potions in his inventory.


    "Got it!" Abraki excitedly eximed.


    Just as he was about to ask Liam if he had more potions for sale or any other special items, another message popped up.


    "That''s all I have for now."


    "Oh?" Abraki couldn''t help but feel disappointed. However, almost immediately another message popped up.


    "But for every member of the guild Divine Retribution taken down from the leaderboard, I will give you the chance of buying 20 more potions."


    "Of course, I also have other useful potions that are not avable anywhere else right now."


    Abraki almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    This deal¡­ was too good!


    This meant that as long as he needed potions, all he had to do was find one of the top yers in the Divine Retribution guild and kill them once.


    This might be too much to handle for the smaller guilds for a guild like Assassin''s guild, this was nothing.


    They were all still assassins in their core and this was what they did anyway.


    "Thank you. I will contact you again." Abraki sent his reply quickly.


    "What happened, guild leader?" His friend asked and Abraki smiled. "Someone else''s misery is going to be our luck. He He."


    Abraki truly felt sorry for the guild. If Liam was going to offer this chance only for their guild, then it was a different story but he had a feeling that it was not going to be so simple.


    "That guy is probably going to make this offer to a whole bunch of guilds, reversing everything. Heh. I really wouldn''t want to be that guild leader right now." He muttered, chuckling to himself.


    "Huh? What is going on?" The other person was confused to see the guild leader talking to himself andughing about something.


    "Nothing. Nothing. Forget about other things and quickly, find out the whereabouts of all top yers of the Divine Retribution guild."


    "Divine retribution guild?"


    "Yep, divine retribution guild. They are going to be our new rare elites. Ha Ha." The two of them then hurriedly left the city on Abraki''s insistence.


    He did not want to be left behind in the dust by the numerous other guilds that were all soon going to be hunting down the damned guild''s members.


    At the other end, Liam casually closed the message interface.


    He stretched his handszily, feeling bored from all the tedious business transactions.


    "I guess this is better than farming for stuff personally." He hummed and then pulled up the auction house interface again.


    He hadn''t yet collected the money from the previous time when he sold another batch of fire-resistance potions. So that was sitting there in the deposit and waiting for him.


    Liam quickly epted it.


    Right now when everyone else around him was scrambling to make gold and get ahead in the game, he was probably the only one who did not even bother to collect the sales from the auction house.


    He also had a huge chunk of wealth in his hands that could fetch him a few hundred thousand dors. However, he had no intention of exchanging this gold.


    Be it gold coins or money, they were both going to be worthless really soon. There was no point in umting either.


    Instead, he once again speedily went through the different items for sale in the auction house and he bought out all the herbs and other raw materials that he couldy his hands on.


    Unlike other games where certain raw materials from the beginner areas would be obsolete and cheap, the materials here were valuable even at theter stages of the game.


    This was because every single precious her or ore had an abysmal spawn rate and irrespective of the level of the yer, they had to deal with this spawn rate.


    Sitting for hours together just to pluck a few stalks of herbs?


    Liam did not want to do that. So he hoarded all the raw materials like there was no tomorrow.


    He spent quite a bit of time on this as he was recently flush with cash and finally stood up with a low grunt after an entire hour.


    He once again stretched his hands and legs, still lugging the huge bag along with him as he started walking away.


    The person sitting next to him gave him the stink eye, frowning at his disappearing figure. "Useless trash. I can''t believe idiots like him waste time like this. Well whatever, not my problem."


    Liam smiled as he could faintly hear that guy''s words, but he continued walking away. He had too many things that he needed to go. He did not have time to entertain random people.


    He directly went to an old square building next to the auction house, which kind of looked austere and empty as opposed to the crowd in the auction house.


    This was the warehouse of Yleka city. Not many people used this facility as the inventory space itself was quite huge and if not there was always the guild vault.


    This warehouse was mostly meant for the use of individual yers. However, currently, there was no individual yer who had a need for this.


    Raw materials were selling like hotcakes, thanks to Liam. So everyone was selling everything on hand if they were not using it.


    And Liam who was the person buying everything was the first real customer of the warehouse.


    Everyone who hade here before him had just bought a spatial storeroom to quench their curiosity.


    yers were doing everything that they can to trigger secret quests and special quests so there were quite a few who rented space here and made conversation with the ountant with the hopes of getting something in return.


    But Liam already knew that there was no such thing. So he did not bother doing any of that and directly purchased a slot. It cost 1000 gold and it was a one-time purchase.


    So he paid the amount and dumped all of his items inside the gigantic inventory interface. The plus point was that this was huge with the capacity to hold millions of items.


    The drawback was that he could only ess it within the Yleka city. So he kept all the consumables on hand and dumped all the excess raw materials and gear.


    He did not auction off the gear just yet and wanted to wait a bit more. The time wasn''t ideal just yet.


    In a few days, the mainher realm event will start and that was the most fortuitous time to ce all these items for sale.


    He took a few minutes, transferred everything, and when he walked out, for some reason he felt light and free.


    In hisst life, he could only look at this warehouse andment about how it was a waste of gold. But in this life, he was actually using it!


    Liam smiled and walked out.


    And as for his next destination¡­


    He stared at the giant tower at the heart of the city, the PVP tower. This was also one of the major changes post the update.


    If hepletely ignored this and just focussed on theher realm event, he had a feeling that he might be making a mistake.


    So as long as he was here in the city, he decided to take a look first.


    Just as he was about to head in, suddenly he got a new message from someone on his friend list. So he paused and opened the message to see that it was actually from Derek!


    Liam looked shocked for a moment but after reading the contents of the message, his lips revealed a big fat shit-eating grin.

 Chapter 196 - Welcome To The Dark Side

    "Sir, I have left the guild."


    Derek''s message was short and simple.


    He hadn''t contacted him for this long and now all of a sudden he replied? What could have possibly changed?


    Liam silently pondered for a bit and then a thought entered his mind. He had just now contacted several guilds to make his trade arrangements.


    But he hadn''t contacted two for obvious reasons.


    One was his old friends'' guild, Divine Retribution and the other was Derek''s guild.


    He wondered if this for some reason affected the flow of things and ended up being in his favor.


    Knowing how his guildmates treated him, they most probably would have med him for everything and once again harassed him.


    But this was the usual urrence? What could have been the breaking point?


    Maybe there was some huge altercation resulting in Derek getting kicked out or him leaving voluntarily?


    "Well, whatever."


    In reality, Liam couldn''t care less about what exactly happened. The most important thing was that he now had this person beside him as one of his strengths.


    Except for his sister, he probably would never trust another person in this world but if there was an exception it would be this guy.


    "Your timing is good. Where are you right now? Can you get over to Yleka city?"


    Liam knew that he was probably desperate at the moment. So even though he didn''t say any details or exin anything, Liam also did not dig into the dirt.


    He just sent the short message to which he instantly received the reply.


    Coincidentally, Derek as well, was in the city right now, so he promptly replied back. "I am here, sir. Where should I meet you?"


    "Oh, you are here. That''s perfect then. Come to the entrance of the PVP tower."


    Shortly, in just a few seconds, a tall and muscr guy jogged towards the PVP tower entrance. Even without all the gear his figure was fearsome and very obviously suited to be a tank.


    Waving his hand at this iing person, Liam grinned ear to ear. He did nothing to hide his happiness.


    "Hello. Wee to the dark side?" Liam chuckled.


    Derek also squeezed out a smile though clearly he was currently very down and bothered about something.


    Noticing this, Liam neither asked for any exnations nor bothered tofort him with empty words.


    He directly hit the nail on the head. "How urgently do you need the money? Is it okay if it takes a couple of hours or do you need it right now? ASAP?"


    Huh? Derek stood frozen.


    For the nth time, he was shocked by the person in front of him. Until now in his life, he had begged for money several times from different people.


    Their family was below the poverty line and yet they carried a burden ofplicated illnesses that even middle-ss families would struggle to deal with.


    Both his mother and his brother were right now suffering from this cruel fate. Their disease was not fatal and something incurable.


    At least if it was like that, then everything wouldn''t be this bad. They could have epted their fate and made peace with things.


    But the thing was their disease waspletely curable. They just needed money and lots of it. However, in their family''s condition, this was no less than a death sentence.


    Their father was a useless asshole who took off a while back when things went to shit. Their rtives had all turned their backs to them in fear that they would ask for help.


    In the end, everything fell on his shoulders and his elder sister''s shoulders.


    How could two people who didn''t even have the opportunity to go to college bear such a big burden?


    Derek could only find odd construction jobs to make whatever money he could and his sister worked in a maid service.


    In this situation, one of the other guys from the construction business had introduced Derek to this new game.


    One of his former friends was also in-game and when they randomly met each other on the street, he had told Derek about his guild that paid a hefty sry, almost equal to a blue-cor job.


    Hearing this, Derek immediately bought a cheap helmet and tried his luck to earn money in the game.


    Without any education or backing, he knew that this was the best chance he was going to get to earn decent money and he readily jumped on the opportunity.


    However, everything after that did not go so smoothly. He was humiliated, demeaned, and treated like a ve day in and day out.


    He did not know why or what exactly happened, but somehow their team''s star yer had it out for him and he belittled him every chance he got.


    Derek bore all of those insults, but this they went too far. They did not give him his sry ming him for whatever happened in the recent past.


    And when he told them about the business deal, Liam offered, theyughed in his face saying that he was trying to rob them and steal from them.


    And finally today, the person had gone too far.


    His exact words were¡­


    "Dude, is your sister also big like you? I have a fetish for big girls. You should bring her in-game and we can pay you double of what we are paying right now."


    This was thest straw that broke his patience and Derek instantly quit the guild without turning back.


    After that, he contacted Liam and came over to him directly.


    Previously, Liam had mentioned to him many big things, had spoken big words, and had made big promises. Derek did not know how much of that was true.


    There was no free lunch in this world. He was not that naive teenager anymore. He knew how people were. They might speak flowery words but the cold truth was always fucking ugly.


    From the beginning, he did not have any expectations from Liam.


    However, he also couldn''t shake off the feeling that he had gotten from theirst conversation. So he hade here despite his better judgment.


    But¡­ this person did not even ask him for anything.


    They did not speak of any terms or discuss how much he had to work or what work he had to do. He didn''t even ask him the reason for taking this long to respond to him.


    He just directly offered him help¡­


    Derek was truly dumbstruck. This person was either naive or ¡­


    "Sir." Derek gulped.


    Since the other party was offering him a hand, he did not intend to refuse it. He already decided to walk in this path, so he also went all in.


    "Sir, even a few days is good. But it is for my family''s emergency so the sooner we-"


    "Got it," Liam interjected. He then paused as if he was thinking about something and then once again asked Derek.


    "By the way, did you tell your ex-guild mates about me? I mean the fact that you are nning to leave them in order to join me?"


    "No, sir. Absolutely not. I would never do that." Derek resolutely replied.


    Liam shed a smile, patting the big guy.


    Since he replied so quickly, anyone else might doubt him but Liam knew that he was saying the truth.


    Unfortunately, this was not a world for the good and that is why he was in his current state.


    "Ok. That''s good then." Liam responded. "If everything goes well, you can earn more than enough by the end of the day."


    "And as a special wee gift, I will also make sure that most of this moneyes from your beloved ex-guildmates."


    "Sir?" Derek''s eyes widened.


    "What? Stop looking so surprised every time. You should have more confidence in yourself. Come let''s go and get this started. You can earn the money you want on your own.. You will see."

 Chapter 197 - PVP Tower

    <h4>Chapter 197 - PVP Tower</h4>


    Without wasting any time, Liam dragged Derek into the tall sky-high tower. "Do you know what this is?"


    "No, sir. I didn''t have the time to check it yet."


    "Ha." Liam chuckled. "You can just call me Liam. No need to be so formal. And this is the PVP tower. Instead of me exining everything to you, why don''t we just dive in?"


    "You can then find out for yourself just what sort of a ce this is."


    "Ok, si- Liam." Derek nodded. As opposed to his body''s build and broad structure, the guy looked like he was a very reserved and silent type.


    Liam almost couldn''t believe that this was the same person who would one day be a dragon-like war god.


    As he thought about this, another small doubt sprouted in him.


    He had changed the timeline and influenced something major, so would this person still develop as much as his previous self?


    Or this time, he wouldn''t be that exceptional warrior and instead just remain an ordinary soldier?


    There were clear consequences for every one of his actions, so he wouldn''t be surprised if this time also things changedpletely because of his intervention.


    "Well, I guess he would still be a soldier who is loyal to me. So it doesn''t matter." Liam muttered in silent contemtion.


    He did his part to bring him to his side. The rest was not in his hands, so he let it be for now.


    However, despite his words, he couldn''t help but hope for the best. He wanted that strong and powerful awe-inspiring General on his side.


    It would be a shame if that person never existed.


    Liam sighed silently and as he was musing about this, Derek took a look around the ce.


    The entrance of the tower opened up to a huge hall without any other rooms or corridors.


    In the center of this huge hall, there was a big fighting ring, an arena, and surrounding this arena were numerous seats enough to house hundreds of people.


    It was almost like an indoor stadium except that there were several of these stadiums one above the other in the structure of a tower!


    And in total, there were 1000 floors to this tower!


    Derek gulped, looking nervously at the lift near the entrance. It really had a thousand buttons, the entire wall adorned by these buttons, dazzling brightly like multi-colored gems.


    It was disorienting to look at it, probably because of the magnitude of the building rather than the shing lights.


    This was probably the gateway to going up and down these floors, but it looked like not everyone could ess the lift?


    When Derek tried pressing one of the buttons, nothing happened.


    Seeing this, Liam pointed to the referee who was sitting at the corner of the arena.


    "No. You need to first participate in a match to determine if you are worthy or not of going to the upper floors."


    "Go and register yourself with him."


    Derek nodded, clenching his fist. This was his first test. He wanted to do his best to show Liam that he was worth his salt.


    He did not want to disappoint the first person who had shown kindness to him.


    As the two of them walked in, one seemingly rxed and casual and the other anxious and nervous as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, several people turned to look at them.


    There were already many yers gathered around, sitting on the seats surrounding the arena.


    "New blood!" Someone from the crowd shouted.


    "Fuck! Finally, my chance has arrived!" Someone else shouted.


    "You are joking, right? Look at that guy''s size. He will crush you in a single hit." A third person snickered.


    "Hey! I was not talking about him. Look at the second person. He looks like a noob. Doesn''t even have a single piece of gear on him."


    "I think that guy probably paid this guy to carry him. If we y against him, it will be an easy win. He He."


    "Oh, you are right. I am going to go sign up now before I miss this chance."


    "Fuck! It was my idea. I will sign up first."


    A smallmotion arose in the arena as different yers hurried over to the referee.


    Liam still had his face covered so no onemented much about him. Derek on the other hand quickly became a topic of discussion.


    While they all wanted to fight with the former, no one wanted to fight with Derek. He was a big intimidating guy but he wasn''t overweight and bby.


    He was muscr with a tight figure. So even at a mere nce, no one dared to underestimate him.


    They openly eyed Liam like he was the harmless cat sitting on the tiger. They hurried and queued up, hoping to fight with him instead of the bulldozer next to him.


    And seeing all these theatrics, the harmless cat shook his head helplessly.


    "Tsk. Tsk. What a hassle! The ground floor is always messy. Don''t worry, once we go to the upper floors, it will be much more peaceful." Liam grumbled, to which Derek nodded silently.


    The two of them also joined the long queue and eventually signed up with the referee.


    "Liam, is there any ce where I can¡­ maybe practice?" Derek asked nervously. There were so many people gathered in the arena and he did not have any confidence.


    He hoped that he could maybe train somewhere for a little bit since there were several yers queued up to fight.


    It would definitely take a while for his chance to arrive so he wanted to calm down in the meantime.


    But, Liam did not respond to him and only gave him a mysterious smile.


    "Huh?"


    Before Derek could make sense of this weird smile, the next second, the referee stood up and called out his number loudly.


    As opposed to what he was thinking, it looked like they didn''t have to wait for long at all.


    It was his turn already!

 Chapter 198 - First Fight

    Seeing the big guy sweat nervously, Liam patted him and pushed him forward. "This floor is just a gateway. As long as we win one fight here, we can go up. So no need to be so nervous."


    What he didn''t tell Derek was that the fights were not called on a firste first serve basis.


    Rather, the highest level yer was called out first and since they had registered together as a group, Derek being weaker among the two had the first chance to fight.


    In other words, apart from Liam, he was the strongest yer right now on this floor.


    Of course, if Liam had mentioned this, the poor guy might have had more confidence when stepping into the ring, but he did not n to make his life easy.


    Since Liam had effectively altered the fate and relieved a lot of stress from this person''s life, it unfortunately now fell upon his shoulders to sharpen this de.


    He didn''t know yet just how much effort he had to put in, but he hoped that it wouldn''t be too much. He also personally witnessed his fighting style so he wasn''t worried too much.


    Pressure might shape a person. However, in the end, whatever was inside was only going toe out. If nothing was inside then nothing would havee out.


    So awaiting the future General''s performance, Liam rubbed his hands in excitement and sat down in one of the seats to watch the show.


    Meanwhile, Derek slowly walked over to the fighting ring at the center. He raised his hand and notified the referee that he was here.


    The referee checked his details quickly by inspecting him and then he in turn responded by asking Derek to get in.


    On the other side, another yer also got in. Whenpared to Derek, this guy was actually a hundred times more nervous.


    Every single yer on the floor wanted to fight with Liam, so he could only curse his bad luck for drawing the short straw.


    Just as he was thinking about giving up, the referee stood up and shouted a few instructions loudly.


    "Rules of the PVP arena:"


    "Once the yer is inside the ring, they are not able to withdraw from the fight."


    "The fight ends when one of the two yers'' health reaches 1. The winner is the yer with higher health."


    "Both the yers'' levels and attributes are equalized, but skill proficiency is preserved."


    "Both the yers are allowed to equip ording to their choice. However, usage of consumables is banned."


    "The fight has nowmenced and the two yers can begin fighting! GO!"


    Before Derek or his opponent could properly prepare themselves, a loud gong sounded.


    Derek was still somewhat calm even after hearing the bell, but the other party became too nervous and rushed towards him with a big saber.


    It looked like both Derek and his opponent were melee yers. So the yer whonded the first hit had the initial advantage.


    Also, certain attacks could trigger additional effects like ''bleed'' or ''faint'' and if that happens then the fight was almost as good as over.


    Considering this everyone thought that the fight was almost over.


    "Hey. Look at that. I think we overestimated the big guy. He doesn''t have any decent gear and he is also slow and sluggish."


    "Easy win! Easy win!" The other party''s friends started cheering loudly.


    On the contrary, Derek hade in with only one person who showed no such intentions. Liam casually leaned on the seat, a twinkle appearing in his eye.


    Derek hadn''t moved yet but he knew why. So he silently watched the fight. "This is going to end quickly."


    And just as he muttered, Derek side-stepped at thest minute, letting the other party hit the air.


    Because of this, he stumbled for a second, and before he could regain his bnce, Derek used his in fists tond a crushing blow to the party''s upper back and then a second one on his neck.


    WACK. WACK.


    The guy who was already stumbling forward couldn''t react at all and both the hitsnded perfectly, taking out huge chunks of his health, sending him directly to the ground.


    Even without the proper gear or the weapon, Derek had smoothly managed to use his strength and his opponent''s movements against him.


    Adding to this momentum, he then executed a final m, right on top of his neck, targeting the same area as before.


    HYAP!


    The opponent yelped in pain and then his head flopped down. It turns out Derek directly knocked out the guy!


    And the fight was over?


    It only took him three moves to finish the fight?!


    Everything happened too fast and the spectators'' mouths hung open awkwardly as they did not even have the time to finish the cheering.


    DANG. DANG. DANG. The gong once again sounded loud and then a deafening silence spilled and spread across the room.


    Every single yer present in the arena closed their mouths tightly shut. Even if their own abilities werecking miserably, they could tell that this was not just another yer.


    This was an expert. A strong and powerful fighter who would probably soar through the ranks in the tower.


    Before him, they did not even have the right to make a sound. They stood dumbfounded, their minds automatically reying the fight again and again.


    Derek, on the other hand, looked confused. That was it? He looked up at Liam instinctively to see his reaction, who only gave him a silent thumbs-up.


    This was just the first entry-level fight. From Liam''s point of view, there was nothing surprising about this result.


    The referee then finally spoke, breaking the silence in the arena.


    "The fight has ended. Winner - Number 1895"


    "Next up. Number 1964 and Number 1378, pleasee to the arena."


    "Ah, shall I leave?" Derek asked, to which the NPC gave a simple nod. "Your team is now eligible to go to the next level."


    He hurriedly stepped out of the arena, his movements extremely awkward. He even fumbled a bit before getting down.


    However, this time, no one standing there dared to judge him based on these actions.


    The person he was right now waspletely different from the person who had fought the actual battle.


    The confidence level between the two was miles apart.


    They could only silently mull over this thought as they watched him casually leave with the other person.


    Since they already had a win, their team did not have to y again, at least on this floor. That was this floor''s rule.


    So when one person did the actualbor, the other got carried easily.


    "Lucky freeloader!" Someonemented, making sure that it wasn''t too loud. "I wonder if it would be possible for me also to hug a thigh like that!"


    "Shut up. They haven''t left yet.." The person standing near reminded him.

 Chapter 199 - Cruising Through~

    "That match was a bit¡­" Derek pressed button 2 on the elevator as he eyed the wall curiously.


    "This is just the opener. Don''t underestimate the other yers because of this single fight." Liam warned him. "On this floor, you just have to win one fight against anyone to go up."


    "Almost everyone is capable of doing this except for some lifestyle yers and of course, some ridiculously stupid yers."


    "The real fight starts on the upper floors."


    "Ok, sir. I will keep that in mind."


    Liam only smiled seeing that the guy had gone back to his formal tone. He didn''t bother correcting him this time.


    "By the way, what ss are you? Why are you fighting like a brawler?"


    "Ah¡­" Derek hesitated. Before he could give an answer, Liam could already guess what might have happened.


    "Did you say that you didn''t want anything from them and leave behind everything in your inventory?"


    "Yes, Sir."


    Liamughed again and patted his shoulder. This guy was simply too straightforward for his own good!


    "Ok. Let''s not worry about that. For now, I will give you a set of equipment. It might not be the best but it should be good enough? At least for now."


    "So what is your ss?"


    "Thank you, Liam. Sorry, I am being a burde-"


    "Nope. We are a team now. You don''t have to thank me. You don''t have to apologize to me."


    Derek nodded, letting out a deep breath. "I am ying as a shield warrior." He answered the other question.


    "Shield warrior?" Liam was surprised. Didn''t this guy use magic spells before?


    "Is this what the system rmended?" He asked again, digging deeper.


    "Oh that. No, sir. I actually got the rmendation for both a mage and a warrior."


    "So that means you can use mana?"


    "Yes, sir."


    "Why did you still choose to y this ss then?"


    "Ah, that." Derek smiled awkwardly as if he was embarrassed to speak about this.


    "One of my previous guild members went with us to the training hall as soon as we logged in and he suggested that I y this ss."


    "I see," Liam smirked. "And this kind person said mage was a bad ss?"


    "Yes, he mentioned that for my body style, ying tank would suit me the most. I also felt like that so I picked this ss."


    "Ok." Liam nodded, but he was not done asking questions. "So what was your affinity to mana, nature, divine power, and so on. May I know?"


    Derek suddenly became nervous and looked at Liam nkly. "Ah. I don''t remember, sir. A, maybe B. I really don''t know." He scratched his head.


    "Heh. Ok. No worries. We can check it again."


    Liam doubted if his affinity was that simple.


    If the other person had asked him topletely ignore the mage skill tree and choose warrior, then he was definitely not saying the right thing.


    But was it because of ignorance or was it because he was jealous?


    It was toote now and it didn''t matter. Liam sighed inwardly and wondered if he hade across anything rted to magic warriors.


    What was this guy''s guild name again? Soul reapers?


    Where was their base? Liam silently pondered, racking his brain for any clues regarding this. However, he couldn''t remember anything relevant.


    "Yes. We should definitely pay a visit to the training hall." He repeated his words again. Sometimes when nothing was working out, it was best to start from scratch.


    In front of them, the elevator buzzed making a low noise.


    One might expect the elevator to take forever considering that there were about a thousand floors but it was a magically inscribed construction.


    So it didn''t take too long and the elevator appeared promptly. The door opened and the two silently walked in, each engrossed in their own thoughts.


    And the next instant, they arrived at the second floor.


    Just like Liam had mentioned before, the second floor was a lot calmer than the first floor.


    There wasn''t too much crowd, though there were still a good amount of yers seated around the fighting ring and gossiping amongst themselves.


    There was also an ongoing fight, from the looks of it between a mage and a summoner. Liam and Derek silently walked over to the side, where the referee was sitting.


    Unlike the other yers who were curiously watching the fight and exchanging pointers orments about it, the referee did not even bother looking up.


    He was just sitting there with his eyes closed, clearly bored from watching the low-level fights every day.


    "Sir, I want to register our team." Derek took the initiative and gave both their names to the man, who indifferently nodded. Nevertheless, he jotted down their details in the system.


    Coincidentally, the match in the arena as well came to an end at the same time, with the mage cleaning winning the fight.


    The crowd cheered a little and just like before, the referee stood up to announce the results, quickly calling the next yers to the arena.


    And once again, Derek''s number was called immediately.


    Ah! The big guy was surprised, but pleasantly this time.


    After having experienced the battlest time, he subconsciously felt less nervous and more excited.


    He clumsily climbed into the ring, wearing a set of basic armor and carrying a worn out shield and sword in his two hands.


    Liam purposefully gave him this set to begin with and Derek also did not question him.


    He silently gazed at his opponent this time and it was a mage. As opposed to him, the mage was decked in some colorful gear.


    The crowd obviously took note of this and different people started cheering loudly.


    "Pummel him down, bro!"


    "Jump on top of him like undertaker!"


    "m him down fatty!"


    Liam found it funny that most of the crowd was cheering for Derek. Did they think that he was an underdog and were supporting him?


    He curled his lips to reveal a big smug smile on his face as if he was a child happily showing off his new toy.


    Not wasting any time, a gong sounded loud and the fight soon started and shockingly, it was Derek who made the first move.


    All his previous nervousness and awkwardness hadpletely disappeared and he charged forward towards the mage as soon as the gong chimed.


    Without giving the other person even a single opportunity to cast any kind of spell, he directly mmed the shield on the person''s thin body and then thrust his sword into his throat.


    He then removed the sword and thrust it a few more times, when finally enough blood spilled, his health bottomed out and the gong sounded again.


    "Winner! Number 467"


    The referee stood up and announced and the entire crowd broke into apuse. What a fight! Wait, this was not a fight. It was simply a one-sided massacre!


    Everyone gaped at Derek in amazement while the mage ran down from the stage like a scared kitten.


    When Derek was also about to get out, the referee stood up and asked him. "You need one more fight to move to the next level. Are you able to continue?"


    "Um. Yes, Sir." Derek quickly nodded.


    His mannerisms and behavior were so meek that no one could believe that this was the same person who had just now ughtered someone.


    Once again, the crowd began cheering for him loudly, though this time, they did it because they were simply too amazed by his skill.


    Some people were even lining up near the exit already to strike up a conversation with him and see if he already belonged to a guild.


    From what they had seen, the second fight wouldn''t probablyst that long anyway.


    And they were not wrong...


    Derek''s second opponent was the summoner who had fought the mage and even before the match began, he was quaking in his boots.


    As soon as the gong sounded, he quickly threw a trap that locked Derek in ce, but Derek did not n on taking this without retaliating back.


    He threw his shield and his sword at the guy which almost flew as fast as an arrow.


    Because of this the summoner couldn''t focus on his summoning spell and had to move to avoid the attacks so he lost the precious second that the trap bought him.


    He tried to cast after but the timing was already off. It was toote to rectify the mistake.


    Before he could fully summon, Derek charged at him once again and sent him two punches with his fist.


    He then bent down to pick up his sword and swung his body tond the final attack, taking away the rest of the health.


    DANG. DANG. DANG.


    The sound of the gongs again rang loudly in the silent hall as the summoner fell down unconscious.


    "Winner! Number 467"


    In just under 5 minutes, the two fights were over already!


    Derek nodded with a nk face and then indifferently stepped out.


    He was like a blue-cor worker clocking out at the end of the day, his face only revealing the light satisfaction of having done the work that he needed to do.


    "Good job," Liam muttered. "The next floor is 3 fights, so you got the drift right? The first 100 floors are pretty straightforward. This is the easy part of the tower." He exined.


    A few others near the two of them heard this and wanted to bury their faces somewhere. This was easy? Then why the hell were they all stuck here for so long?

 Chapter 200 - Trouble Again?

    After the first two floors, Derek got the drift of everything and he continued to cruise through the rest of the hundred floors one after the other.


    Liam did not even have to participate in a single battle.


    Seeing that he had everything under control, and there was some time, Liam decided to contact his sister to see what those two were up to. He hadn''t heard from them in a while.


    He didn''t think that it was good to leave those two up to their own means for so long. It was always better to check in once in a while.


    Besides, after watching all these noobs get ughtered at the hands of the war god, he wanted his sister and Shen Yue to train here too.


    Liam personally hadn''t spent any time here. However, after observing things here, he thought that this wasn''t too bad a ce for learning.


    Considering both Shen Yue and Mei Mei severelyckedbat experience, this grind would definitely help them.


    "Let me see what they are doing now." Liam stretched his hands, leisurely opening the message interface.


    Thest time he checked, the two were off somewhere farming rare elites in the west.


    Liam''s eyes perused all the small messages and updates and it looked like thest message was an hour earlier.


    And to his surprise, once again their names were greyed out in their group chat.


    "Hmmm?" He immediately stood up in rm.


    He refused to believe that even with the two golems, the duo had somehow managed tond in some sort of trouble.


    But considering what happenedst time when their names were greyed out, he did not wait and directly activated the cursed ring that connected him to his sister.


    Immediately Liam felt a pull and his figure disappeared from the PVP tower, arriving at a dark and deste ce.


    "What the hell? Where is this?" He was shocked because he neither saw his sister nor Shen Yue near him. This basically went against the function of the cursed rings.


    And as his eyes quickly searched the surroundings to make sense of this situation, he soon spotted the two broken rings on the ground.


    Liam''s eyes widened and a grave look appeared on his face. These two hade in contact with someone who was powerful enough to break the cursed rings?


    He quickly opened the map and saw that he was currently in the western part of the Gresh kingdom, to be precise near the Redmoon town.


    "Wasn''t this the location of her chain quest?" Liam''s expression became even worse. "I specifically asked them to wait before starting that quest."


    Chain quests were never simple. There was no easy chain quest. Perhaps the one that led the yer around by the nose and made them waste hours and hours gathering herbs or ores.


    But even for those scenarios, the subsequent quests were always of high difficulty.


    This was exactly why he had warned them.


    However, it looked like his sister was entering a rebellious age where she was no longer listening to him?


    Or did they have no choice in this matter, to begin with?


    There were all sorts of quests in the game and some of them could even have an automatic trigger. If this quest was one such thing, then they could have been teleported here without their consent.


    And that would exin why they hadn''t contacted him abouting here as well.


    However, thinking about these things did not do much good right now. He needed to figure out what to do next.


    Liam started hurriedly searching the surroundings. He remembered the quest description and it said that Shen Yue needed to find that old maid somewhere near the Redmoon town.


    The exact location was not given but this area was not too big. He only needed to search a bit. However, as he started looking around, something felt off.


    The ce he was currently standing could not be called a town at all.


    There were only empty houses and deserted streets everywhere, that too everything looking like it was burnt to the ground, leaving only the framework behind.


    There weren''t any people or NPCs around, not even trees, nts, or any vegetation in sight.


    How could this be called a town? It was like someone had sucked every ounce of life from within this ce.


    "Was this ce always like this?" Liam had a doubt. Redmoon town was just another human settlement and he did not remember anything remarkable about that ce.


    He left the town area and started searching the surroundings. "This would have been much faster if I had Talon with me."


    He then suddenly had an idea and looked up at the sky.


    Since the entire ce looked like scorched earth, other beasts and birds would at least temporarily stay away from here.


    So chances were that nothing would be in the vicinity.


    However, if his sister and Shen Yue were here, then Talon couldn''t be too far.


    And he hadn''t received any notifications about Talon getting injured. That meant that he still had time to act!


    Taking this into ount, Liam also started searching the skies as he searched the ground.


    Because of the high and lownds, it was easier to search the skies and bingo, before long, he spotted a bird pping its wings at a distance.


    "There you are." He quickly hurried over there and saw that even the ces near the town werepletely destroyed without any vegetation in sight.


    Now, Liam was more than sure that something was happening here as he couldn''t remember the western part of the kingdom having any ces like this.


    If there were, then there would have at least been some beasts or monsters specific to this ce living here.


    The ecosystem in ''Evolution Online'' was verypetitive and such huge acres ofnd wouldn''t have gone uninhabited.


    The only exnation was that thisndscape had only recently changed so nothing had migrated over just yet.


    Liam used his top speed to arrive at the spot and just as he thought, it was Talon who was flying up in the sky.


    And in front of him, hidden amidst several thorny brambles, was a huge dpidated temple. "They must be inside this ce."


    Liam whistled and the bird instantly scooped down to greet him in joy and exhration. "Stay away but not too far. I will go in and take a look. I might call you if needed."


    The bird nodded and quickly made itself scarce.


    Liam also activated [Stealth] and entered the temple through a broken wall at the side. However, as soon as he stepped in, another shock awaited him.


    The dimly lit corridor had two cloaked figures guarding the area and each of them was Level 50.


    Even though Liam''s current level was heads above the others, these would still be a challenge for him to handle. "Just what is this ce? Some sort of cult practitioners?"


    And moreover, if these guards were already at Level 50, the ones inside might be at an even higher level!


    Liam had a bad feeling. This time it looked like things wouldn''t go so smoothly and he might even be killed if he stepped inside.


    But what other choice did he have?

 Chapter 201 - Kingdom Quest

    [Level 50; Dark Mage]


    [Level 48; Dark Mage]


    Liam gripped his sword tightly and dashed forward to first test the waters. In truth, it was not the level difference he was most concerned about, rather it was their skills and abilities.


    Although he had just now faced numerous dark mages as a part of the invasion, he was not confident at all when fighting against these two in front of him.


    This was because those mages were lower-level cannon fodder, incapable of casting any powerful spells. That was why they had been massacred by him.


    However, these ones were different.


    Because they were level 50, they should be capable of executing some special skills that tapped into the dark element.


    Theher realm event that was going to start soon involved all sorts of dark practitioners andher realm beings, so everyone had at least once or twice fought against this type.


    Liam as well had personal experience of fighting against this type of monster and he knew very well some of the special skills that they had at their disposal.


    These types of dark practitioners liked to fight dirty.


    Their usual method of attack was to throw a slew of curses at the target, making them as helpless as a baby, and then ughter them without mercy.


    Of course, they also had their weaknesses. Any divine or nature-type yer could easily overpower these guys.


    But the problem was¡­ this was not really Liam''s forte.


    So the only option he had was to barrage these guys with several attacks and kill them off before they could weaken himpletely.


    And if worsees to worst, he always had the grenades as a backup.


    [Mana Net]


    [Swamp Vines]


    Liam activated both trapping skills, as he lunged at the two cloaked figures.


    He then shed the crimson de in a frenzy, wanting to deal the maximum damage that he could while they were stuck immobile.


    Luna as well stood at the back and bombarded the two figures with fireballs.


    But the damage numbers that came out werepletely different for both types of attacks.


    While Liam''s physical attack was taking out huge chunks of health, Luna''s magic damage was only barely scratching.


    "I knew it." Liam gritted his teeth. "These guys also have high magic resistance. I need to finish this fast. Otherwise¡­"


    He pushed his swordy and agility as much as he could and squandered one-fourth of their total health.


    But how could it be possible to finish off two Level 50 monsters in just a few seconds?


    It was inevitable that the two trapping skills would eventually wear off as their effectsted only for a couple of seconds.


    And as soon as they were able to move, the two dark mages glided on the floor as if they were flying and instantly moved several feet away from Liam.


    "No, you don''t." Liam immediately rushed after them to close the distance between them again, but the two mages already started casting.


    [Ding. You have been affected by the ''Weaken'' curse. Your attributes are reduced by half]


    "Fuck!" Liam''s heart sank. This kind of curse might as well be a lethal killing blow to his head.


    Even after everything, it looks like he had still underestimated the strength of a Level 50 opponent.


    However, the next instant, another unexpected notification popped out.


    [Ding. You have absorbed the dark element. The curse is ineffective]


    Seeing this, Liam''s jaw almost dropped to the ground. "What the fuck?" However, putting aside his confusion, he continued moving towards the dark mages.


    He did not know why exactly this happened but he grinned in excitement.


    Just like Liam was shocked, the two dark mages also revealed unsightly expressions and they began casting more curses furiously.


    [Ding. You have been affected by the ''gue'' Curse. Your health is reduced by half]


    [Ding. You have absorbed the dark element. The curse is ineffective]


    [Ding. You have been affected by the ''Bleed'' Curse. Your health reduces by 200 every second]


    [Ding. You have absorbed the dark element. The curse is ineffective]


    Hearing each curse that chimed in, Liam started sweating profusely. What if these spells had actually been effective?


    His condition would have then been miserable. He would have suffered an absolute and total loss.


    This was a painful reminder for him to not get carried away by the little bit of knowledge he possessed. In the future, he needed to make more preparations.


    What he had right now was not nearly enough.


    While he was wasting time hunting down the necromancy inheritance, the dangers around him would only keep on piling up.


    Suddenly, Liam understood what had just happened. When he thought about it, it was obvious. His SSS-undead affinity!


    Liam had a perfect affinity for theher. The dark element and theher were simr in many aspects, though they were not one and the same.


    Perhaps because of his perfect affinity to theher, he was impervious to dark element attacks.


    Just like he could absorbher into his body, he was also absorbing the dark element from the attacks.


    This was unbelievable. Liam never knew such a thing existed. He was amazed at being able to absorb elemental essences for having an S-grade mana affinity.


    But it looked like SSS-grade went a step above this, allowing him to absorb even attacks aimed at him!


    "Bring it on." Liam grinned at this realization and shed at the two dark mages. They waved their staffs, trying to thwart his attacks but it waspletely useless.


    Under a skilled martial expert, a staff can very well match a sword in attack power and technique, but these mages were skilled in dark magic, not martial arts.


    So unable to fight back, they suffered under Liam''s relentless attacks.


    However, this advantage he hadsted only for a few seconds. It didn''t take long for them to realize that the curses were ineffective against this enemy.


    The two dark mages instantly switched to other attacks, sending out their own fireballs that were darker in color and wind des with darkened edges.


    "These guys can alsobine two elements?" Liam smiled bitterly and did his best to move around, dodging as much as he could.


    At the same time, he also used all of his mana to boost his physical attributes as he was only relying on that right now and his sword danced continuously iming chunks of health.


    Both parties suffered almost equal damages by exchanging blows. In the end, it seemed that the winner would be the one who couldst the longest.


    But, Liam already managed toe on top using the small advantage he had at the beginning when the two mages were caught off guard by their ineffective curses.


    He made sure not to let them close this gap and after two whole minutes, the fight was finally over!


    [Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    Just like the difficulty of the fight, the experience points as well were equally good, considering that these were only unnamed enemies. Also, the ten-level difference gave this bump.


    Liam, however, copsed on the ground immediately after the fight, not interested in the experience points.


    He took a small break to catch his breath and adjust his condition. He also ate a recovery berry and dunked in a mana potion.


    But he did not look happy at all. "Damn it. Only 2 guards and I am already at my limit? Just how many are going to be there inside the temple?"


    Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly a quest notification popped up.


    [Ding. Kingdom Quest: Kill the enchantress]


    [You must kill the enchantress before she returns to the peak of her power]


    [Time Limit: 1 hour]


    [Quest Reward: 1000 Gold; Promotion to Duke status]


    Liam''s eyes almost popped out in surprise on reading this description. "A kingdom quest and the reward is so high?"


    Since quests did not have clear ssifications, it was the reward for a quest that disyed its monstrosity and its difficulty level.


    And from what he saw, this quest was an insanely difficult one, almost impossible to finish!


    Direct promotion to Dukeship was not a simple reward at all. It looked like the kingdom was offering so much to just kill one enemy and she was an enchantress.


    This coupled with the fact that Shen Yue was gifted a Charm attribute for the first part of the quest, Liam could vaguely make sense of the whole thing.


    This was probably an inheritance quest of sorts. Maybe Shen Yue could have unlocked a hidden ss simr to enchantress from it?


    Since they took too long and did not even attempt the quest, it probably triggered something else, and instant of being rewarded by the witch, they were being punished by her.


    Also, he doubted that the punishment would stop with a simple death.


    Maybe his sister who was unrted to the quest would only suffer one death, but Shen Yue might lose some attributes, perhaps even a bigger chunk of her soul.


    "I did a mistake. I didn''t think they would be directly giving out inheritances in the gift box." Liam sighed.


    He had so many things to keep track of and it was inevitable that one or two would slip on the side. However, this was too much of a loss.


    Having a special ss on their side would have tremendously boosted their strength. She could have been a powerful ally.


    "What am I thinking? I am already giving up?" Liam closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.


    Perhaps the quest was not entirely lost yet?

 Chapter 202 - Dangerous Beauties

    <h4>Chapter 202 - Dangerous Beauties</h4>


    Liam''s mind spun. Time was tight and he needed to figure out the best way possible to act. But before deciding anything, he first needed to take a look at the condition inside the temple.


    There was a huge hole in the wall a few feet ahead of him, so he walked over to that spot and peered inside while preparing to act if something unexpected happened.


    Luckily, there weren''t any guards on the other side to sense his presence and he was able to take a look inside.


    The inside of the temple looked equally broken down and the walls were adorned with multiple torches.


    At the center of the temple, there was a circle of dark mages chanting something under their breath.


    And in the middle of this, Liam finally caught sight of his sister and Shen Yue!


    "There you are." He muttered, observing everything carefully.


    The two of them were tied to a structure like an altar and next to this altar was an extremely beautiful woman.


    Liam had never seen anyone as mesmerizing as this person in front of him. It was as if every single one of her features was sculpted to perfection.


    She had long ck hair cascading down like waterfalls, a slender waist, and voluptuous curves that could entice any man.


    Her facial features as well were extraordinary, her eyes capable of evoking passionate emotions.


    Compared to her, Shen Yue, Mia, and Alex were nothing. They couldn''t hold a candle to this person''s mature and seductive aura.


    As his gaze dragged on her, Liam couldn''t help himself and continued to look at her, almost forgetting the reason he was here.


    A certain part of him was rock hard as well.


    Only when she muttered something in anguage he didn''t understand and sprinkled some blood on his sister''s and Shen Yue''s unconscious faces, he snapped out of his trance.


    "Damn it. Is this the effect of charm?"


    "Even at such a distance, I was swayed, and that too from her mere appearance. I need to be more careful."


    He peeled his eyes away from the enticing woman, not daring to look at her anymore, and observed the other areas inside.


    There were only two floors to the temple, a ground floor and the first floor with a staircase at the end of the hall, leading up to the first floor.


    In total, there seemed to be about 30 to 40 Dark Mages, all of them around Level 50.


    As if this was not difficult enough, he also had to deal with the enchantress herself, who was Level¡­


    Liam had no idea. He was so mesmerized by her beauty that he didn''t get a chance to look at her level.


    As for checking her out for a second time, that was out of the question.


    This was the first time Liam felt as if he had no control over anything in front of him. He was as helpless as experiencing everything for the first time.


    Moreover, these charm-type skills seem to have an impact on him.


    Just how the hell was he supposed to fight this enemy?


    If all the Dark Mages were around Level 50, she would also be either around that Level or higher.


    Originally, Liam thought he would summon the two golems, create a distraction, attack her, but now¡­ he no longer had the confidence to fight against her.


    These were the special mental attack type bosses.


    He doubted that she would permanently have a hold on him but she was definitely likely to trap him at least for a few seconds.


    And for a higher level being like her, these seconds were more than enough to take him for a ride and leave his corpse behind.


    So how the hell was he supposed to fight her?


    Just as he was racking his brain about this, Liam suddenly remembered another woman whom he hade across, almost equally beautiful but not a human being.


    The naga royal princess!


    He had almost forgotten about that item which he had acquired a while back. He didn''t think he would have any use for it.


    He also didn''t think they were genuine because the naga''s level was so low.


    But now was a good time to test it. If it worked, then it would be of great help to him in this endeavor.


    If it didn''t then, he would only have to use the golems and grenades and st everything inside.


    In that way, Shen Yue and his sister would only suffer one death and that was not too bad, considering the situation they were in.


    Because the more he looked at everything that was happening, he had a feeling that they might lose more than just their lives.


    Liam narrowed his eyes and took out the small white pearls. He had two of them. He only needed one right now so he ced the other one back into the inventory.


    "Will this witch''s charm work on other girls too? Well, whatever. I should try it."


    He then looked at the item description for the pearl which was rather vague.


    [Naga Pearl] ¨C Summons the naga who produced this pearl


    "Ok. Here it goes." He let out a deep breath and activated the summon spell attached to the pearl.


    Almost immediately, the space in front of him distorted and a silver mist started spreading. Liam became alert and quickly took a couple of steps back.


    The silver mist slowly became thicker and thicker and the next instant all the wisps suddenly condensed together forming a figure shaped like amia.


    However, the mist didn''t clear and continued to linger. Nothing was happening.


    "Hello?" Liam mumbled, looking at everything curiously.


    Almost instantly, a long-forked tongueshed out, Liam instinctively taking a few more steps back.


    A loud angry hissing sound reverberated in the empty corridor, the mist finally clearing away, revealing another ethereal beauty, albeit an angry-looking beauty.


    Her eyes stared daggers at Liam, eyeing him top to bottom.


    Just her gaze was powerful enough to make him nervous, so much so that Liam couldn''t help but wonder if he had made a mistake.


    "Did I just summon another enemy?"

 Chapter 203 - Dealing Fire With Fire

    <h4>Chapter 203 - Dealing Fire With Fire</h4>


    Hisssss! The serpentine princess leaned closer to him.


    "Here I was wondering who dared to possess my pearl and even use it! So it was you! The person who was foolish enough to rob me!"


    I guess she remembers everything. Liam tried his best to remain calm.


    Thest time he had seen thismia she was only around Level 20 and now somehow she was Level 80!


    Her level was actually not that high as even the royal guards were Level 100 and above, but it was still high enough for her to thrash him around without working a sweat.


    She wasn''t someone whom he couldmand, or exploit.


    At the same time, she was also a powerful weapon that he could use to get out of this current predicament.


    Without her, the situation would most probably get extremely sticky and even include a couple of deaths, but her unexpected strength could help him out a lot.


    If she wished, she could take care of the entire group with the snap of her finger. But would she be willing to help him?


    Liam''s brain whirred to think of something and he decided not to ask for the naga''s help directly. He had an inkling that she might do the opposite just because he requested her.


    There were all sorts of NPCs in the game and from the way she was ring at him, anyone could tell that she hated him.


    This was a precarious position and he needed to move his pieces carefully.


    "Please, your highness. I need your help to kill the evil enchantress. She has destroyed my entire vige and killed all my family."


    "Please, I am begging you. Please help me avenge their death." Liam muttered with sincerity and sadness in his voice.


    "I have indeed wronged your highness thest time, but please forgive my ignorance and show mercy on me. Please don''t take your anger toward me out on my brethren."


    "I am willing to do anything to repent for my actions. Please seek vengeance for my friends and my family."


    He was very careful not to mention his sister or Shen Yue and willingly admitted his wrongdoings, being as humble as he could.


    There was also a hint of a teardrop threatening to fall out of his eyes. He looked like someone who was in unbearable pain after having suffered a terribly tragic loss.


    Even after saying his piece, he did not look up at her face to see if she had bought his acting or not. He just patiently waited.


    Did it work?


    Hisssss¡­


    Liam once again heard the loud hissing of themia princess.


    Her tongue danced around and her fiery gaze was locked onto Liam''s face. She wanted to see some sort of fear on the thief''s face.


    However, the other party''s unexpected emotions left her feeling conflicted. Since when did demons and dark practitioners have a right and a wrong?


    She had already given her word by giving him two of her pearls, so she was going to help him.


    But that didn''t mean she wasn''t nning to kill him at least once before leaving.


    And now after seeing how righteous and selfless he was behaving, mourning the loss of his fellow brethren, she couldn''t help but rethink her opinion of this person.


    She also knew that it was not a lie as she could smell the stench of death everywhere in the area.


    "Alright. Your actions as a being of theher realm surprise me." Themia hissed.


    "Even though you took advantage of my people thest time, I see some goodness in you. I will help you out just this once."


    Hook. Line and Sinker. Liam grinned inwardly while continuing to look very sad and depressed on the outside.


    "I don''t have much time as I can only stay in this realm for a few seconds. So I will go ahead and take care of the sinners sullying this temple."


    Liam solemnly nodded. He was very obedient and humble as if he was just a step away from worshipping her.


    This satisfied the princess a lot, appeasing her earlier grievances. She hissed with a content look before turning away and slithering into the temple.


    Instantly several shrieks sounded from inside and the low dull murmur in the background because of the continuous chanting came to an abrupt halt.


    "Someone is attacking us!"


    "There is a naga in the temple!"


    "A naga!"


    "Priestess! Please save us!"


    The dark mages hurriedly started hurtling out some attacks at the intruding naga but she smoothly eructed a mana barrier preventing anything from touching her.


    The next second, her lips parted slightly and from within inside, purple vapors emerged. Seeing this all the dark mages started panicking even more.


    Hissss. Themia grinned. With a twinkle in her eyes, she opened her mouth a bit more and started spewing out big mouthfuls of purple gas!


    The dark mages tried fighting back but the venom was so toxic that it only took a couple of seconds before its effect showed.


    Totally helpless and choked by this poison, one by one, they started dropping dead like flies.


    The others who watched this struggled to fight back while simultaneously trying their best to avoid the poison swirling around them.


    But the naga''s moves were so swift and potent.


    Almost the entire ce was filled with dreadful venomous air as soon as she entered the temple. There was chaos everywhere.


    Because of all of this ruckus, the enchantress was forcefully broken out of her stupor and she stopped her spell casting.


    The iparably beautiful woman snapped her eyes and a frown appeared on her face as she saw that everything around her was going to shit.


    And just as her gaze fell on the intruder who caused all of this, a spear came flying at her.


    She quickly moved to avoid the attack. However, it was toote and the spear grazed her shoulder, drawing blood.


    The enchantress gritted her teeth in anger, staring back at the naga. "Naga, this is not your fight. I have done nothing to offend you or your people! So why are you here?"


    She had waited a long long time to take revenge on this kingdom and now when everything wasing together, she was not willing to lose!


    "Fine. That doesn''t matter. Name anything that you want. I will pay you whateverpensation you require!" She tried her best to plead her case.


    However, themia princess had an indifferent look on her face as she slithered closer to the altar. She took out a long trident and thrusted it forward.


    "You are going too far!" The enchantress jumped back and took out a pitch-ck staff.


    The sound of a thousand wailing souls echoed from the staff which made everyone in the temple shiver in fright.


    These were all clearly human souls as the agonized ghosts with human faces fleetingly appeared and disappeared.


    Just the mere sight of it was terrifying. Seeing this, the naga princess finally opened her mouth. "Hissss! How many people did you sacrifice to make this weapon?"


    A huge swirling mass of energy started forming at the tip of the trident. This energy was like a lone twinkling star in the dark sky, a single candle in a dark room.


    It was a divine-type attack!


    Liam was shocked. Divine-type attacks were usually only very thin and spread out. It was an impossible task to gather so much divine power.


    This was the first time he was personally witnessing such a condensed thick divine-type attack.


    [Ding. You have been afflicted with the divine. All your attributes are reduced by half.]


    "It''s powerful enough to give me a debuff?" Liam was once again shocked. But he did not have the time right now to stand here and admire this high-level fight.


    Seeing everything that was going down in front of him, he had another small idea. He was not sure if it was going to work but it was definitely worth a try.


    While the naga was unleashing hell on the enchantress and her cult group of dark mages, he activated stealth and hurriedly tip-toed into the temple, approaching the altar from the other side.


    Liam then started wreaking the altar and all the items, incenses, and formations ced on it.


    He destroyed everything that he could and finally when he broke the blood-outlined formation, both Shen Yue and Mei Mei started stirring awake.


    "I guess that did the trick?"


    Luckily, they hadn''t died, but both their stamina and health were very close to bottoming out. So he gave them both some recovery berries and healing potions.


    "Brother? What happened?" Mei Mei sleepily asked. Shen Yue also looked groggy and faint.


    "Let''s first get out of here and then I will exin." Liam smiled.


    The two of them readily agreed to this as near them loud earth-shattering sounds reverberated.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    It looked like the entire temple wasing down and by now the whole ce was filled with purple venomous gas.


    "Yep. Let''s get out of here, first." Liam quickly lifted both the girls, throwing one on each shoulder, and dashed out.


    It would be really tragic if, after summoning a high-level naga and somehow surviving a mysterious inheritance quest and a kingdom quest, they still died in the end due to the poison effect or the building crumbling on their heads.


    So Liam hurried and got the hell out of there.


    On his way, he also heard a shrill sound which was definitely from the enchantress, and another arrogantughter which was probably from the naga princess.


    Surprisingly, he did not hear any quest notifications.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam silently pondered as he continued running out of the temple.


    There were some dark mages still remaining, but theirplete attention was on the naga so he also did not bother with them.


    He only stopped when he was outside in the open air.


    And it looked like he had just gotten out in the nick of time as the ruined temple buildingpletely gave out and copsed right after he left the premises.


    RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Only the arrogant and proud naga princess slithered out of there, not a speck of dust or injury on her enticing figure.


    However, her figure was once again starting to look like it was made of silver wisps, indicating the end of the summon.


    She gazed at Liam with a lofty expression in her eyes and her full lips parted. "I have taken care of the enchantress, it is time for me to-"


    However, her words abruptly stopped as her gazended on the two girls next to Liam. She instantly understood everything.


    "You only wanted to rescue these two from the beginning. You lied to me! You dared to y a trick on me for the second time!?"


    HISSSSS!


    Themia princess seethed with anger, but she and her hissing noise disappearedpletely the next second.

 Chapter 204 - Dagger The Competition

    "Huh? Huh?" Mei Mei looked around in confusion. Both she and Shen Yue had no idea what was happening around them.


    "Brother, what the hell is happening? Who is this angry snakedy? Did you do something weird to her?" She then realized that Shen Yue was near them and quickly changed her question.


    "I meant did you take some item from her. Ha Ha."


    Liam chuckled awkwardly, his gaze still fixed on the spot where the naga had been standing just a second ago.


    He made a mental note not to use the other pearl he had in his possession using which he could summon her one more time.


    "That''s a long story. Leave it be. How did you both get here?"


    "Ah. No idea, brother. We were-"


    Liam abruptly interrupted her, thinking of something even more important. "Shen Yue, can you check if your quest is failed?"


    Shen Yue could guess what quest he was talking about and quickly opened her system interface to take a look. "Umm. No," she replied, checking it a couple of times.


    "Hmmm." Liam checked his own quest as well and didn''t see any progress there. He immediately became more alert and stood up.


    "This can''t be right. The snake said she took care of the enchantress, didn''t she?"


    Puzzled by this development, he turned to look at the debris of the temple that hadpletely copsed. "Was she still alive somehow?"


    As if answering his question, some of the bigger chunks of walls started moving slightly and then more violently. From within two dark mages stood up, wobbling unsteadily.


    They also looked heavily injured.


    Liam instantly unsheathed his sword and dashed forward. "Send me a party invite now." Shen Yue was the leader of their party so she hurriedly sent him one.


    Liam did not know what was happening but if by chance that witch was alive, he needed to kill her ASAP!


    The two Level 50 dark mages crumbled under his attack as they already had very less health left. After that, Liam started haphazardly looking around for more survivors.


    And before long, he came into contact with the feeble body of the enchantress. She was buried under a mountain of rocks, only barely alive.


    Looking at her in that state, Liam felt a pang of sympathy in his heart.


    He bent down and gently picked her up in his arms. Even that small action, made her wince. She looked like a flower wilted because of the rough winds.


    Anyone''s heart would ache at such a pitiful sight. It was moving to see someone so beautiful look so sad. Liam wanted to kiss her frowning lips and make all her worries go away.


    He leaned closer to the mesmerizing woman in his arms and was only a breath away from closing her mouth with his when suddenly a dagger came flying, directly aimed at the beauty''s throat.


    Spurt.


    Blood gushed out of the wound and Liam as well snapped out of his trance. He instantly dropped the witch in his arms down to the ground.


    [Ding. Kingdom Quest Completed]


    [Ding. You have received 100000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have received 1000 gold coins]


    [Ding. Your reputation in the Gresh Kingdom has increased.]


    [Ding. Visit the King to obtain the rest of the rewards]


    "Oh. It looks like she is finally dead." Liam looked up after observing all the details of the quest reward.


    However, as soon as he did, he met a pair of angry simmering eyes that made him clear his throat awkwardly. Am I in trouble?


    "Yes, she is dead." Shen Yue curtly replied, her dagger flying back to her.


    "It has a return effect. Should be a good dagger?" Liampletely forgot about the angry gaze, now looking at the shiny new dagger.


    "Yes, it is an Epic ranked dagger." Shen Yue again curtly answered.


    "Wait. What? Did you just say epic-ranked?" Unable to believe her words, Liam once again looked at her, only to be faced with a pair of angry eyes again.


    He cleared his throat awkwardly and did another attempt at changing the subject. "Your quest is nowpleted?"


    Before Shen Yue could answer, Mei Mei, unfortunately, spoiled his ns. "Brother! Stop trying to change the topic!"


    She also looked wronged for some reason. "What the hell, brother? What were you doing?!" Now Liam was facing two pairs of angry eyes threateningly staring at him.


    "It''s a mental attack. It''s a mental attack." He tried to exin, but sighed and gave up. It looked like his image had beenpletely ruined.


    These kinds of unique-type of attacks were too indeed powerful!


    "Let''s not talk about that. I have other things to do. Your quest also should bepleted right? Let''s get out of here."


    He quickly looked away and whistled, as if he was searching for something in the sky.


    A couple of secondster, Talon came flying down and Luna as well came running out of some bush nearby.


    The little fox saw that the two women had returned and she quickly jumped onto Liam, hiding behind him.


    "Ok. Looks like everyone is here. So we can leave now. Technically, the two of you can first go to Yleka using Talon. I will join youter. Okay?"


    "NO!" Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei replied in unison.


    "Then how about I go first since I have a lot of things to do. Ha ha." This time the two did not even answer and only gave Liam a narrow look.


    "Alright. Alright. We can walk and go. It''s not too far." Liam gave up in the end.


    He looked around to see if there was any loot but it didn''t look like the witch had dropped anything.


    Feeling the two eyes on him, he even kicked around her corpse a little rough.


    "Nothing." He then smiled back at the duo to gauge the results.


    Thankfully, it looked like his efforts were not wasted as both of their expressions had softened up quite a bit.


    The three of them then quietly walked side by side for a while.


    But the invisible tension did notst long as Mei Mei started happily chatting about everything they had been doing these past couple of days.


    It seemed that both of them had managed to collect an impressive amount of recipe scrolls, skill books, and raw materials.


    Not to mention, Mei Mei was now at Level 25 and Shen Yue as well was at Level 25. They had caught up very fast to the current average level of the yers.


    As they chatted and walked along, they soon arrived at another nearby town, something that was not scorched down to earth.


    "Let''s take a carriage here." Liam walked over to one of the carriage rides and hired them for 1 gold.


    Since the distance was considerably long, the carriage ride was also equally expensive.


    But on the plus side, it would save them a lot of time and allow them to rest, so he did not hesitate and splurged.


    The three of them boarded the ride and were on their way to Yleka city.


    Almost immediately, as soon as the carriage started moving, Mei Mei flopped onto the wooden surface, falling asleep in tiredness.


    With her already tired condition, the rhythmic movement of the carriage put her right to sleep.


    "Were you guys continuously ying all this time?" Liam asked Shen Yue, to which she slightly nodded.


    "Okay." This looked like it was his mistake once again. He forgot to tell them to log out and take proper breaks every now and then.


    He decided to let her sleep for a while and silently started doing other things. He took out an old rusted sword from his inventory and started feeding it different herbs, one after the other.


    As their carriage moved, if he spotted any herb on the way, he immediately asked Luna to grab it and fed that to the sword as well.


    In this way, the journey continued very silently with one person doing his own work, the other one sleeping peacefully, and the third person sulking on the side.


    After a while, looking at all the different beautiful scenic ces they passed through and at the fox running around here and there, Shen Yuepletely forgot why she was angry in the first ce.


    "I also have some herbs with me." She took out some herbs from her inventory and handed everything over to Liam, helping him feed his sword.


    "Thanks." Liam replied. He needed a thousand high-grade herbs to remove the first seal and what he had was not nearly enough. So he genuinely appreciated the help.


    This helped lessen the burden he had.


    And as he inspected the herbs, one by one, this gratitude only increased.


    "How many high-grade herbs did you manage to harvest? This is quite a bit. You must have been very busy?"


    Shen Yue blushed at this suddenpliment and shyly replied. "Not too much. All the ces you marked gave out good rewards. That''s why we were able to get so much."


    Actually, before everything went to shit and somehow they got kidnapped, the two of them had managed to obtain quite a big harvest.


    They had grinded different mobs and rare elites with a fervor, wanting to make up to Liam for ending up in jail and wasting his time.


    But somehow they had once again ended up needing his help.


    Shen Yue also took out the recipes, skill books, and other materials she had and gave them all to Liam. Everything formed a huge heap of dazzling things.


    Even the carriage driver noticed this from the corner of his eyes and gulped enviously. As a small-town person, he had never seen so much wealth in his eyes.


    Even for Liam, this was a lot. These two women had managed to hoard more items than the lesser dragon Niria. Seeing all of this, Liam felt a little guilty.


    "Sorry. I should have paid more attention to your special quest. Can you tell me what happened with it?" He tested the waters, hoping he wouldn''t bring up the shameful incident again.


    Thankfully, Shen Yue seemed to have forgotten about that and looked like she was in a different mood. She nodded and quickly shared the quest and the rewards in the party chat.


    "I also want to ask your opinion about this."


    [Ding. Congrattions. Quest ispleted]


    [Ding. You have received 50000 experience points]


    [Ding. Ruthenia Alzaeria''s dying wish is to pass on her heritage to you. Do you wish to ept it? Y/ N]


    Liam''s eyes widened as soon as he saw the word ''heritage''. He was indeed correct in guessing about this quest!


    While he was grinding for days together just to get a glimpse of the necromancy heritage, this girl got lucky and obtained a gift item that resulted in a new heritage quest?

 Chapter 205 - What If Its Not A Game?

    Watching Liam''s surprised expression, Shen Yue bit her lips slightly. She then hesitantly spoke. "So this is the next quest I got after that woman died, but I am not sure if I should ept it or not."


    "Oh? Why?"


    Shen Yue bit her lips some more as this was going to make her look like an idiot. "Ummm. Sorry, this is really silly, because this is just a game. I understand that."


    "But knowing how that person killed so many people to obtain power, I don''t want to inherit whatever she left behind."


    "It feels wrong. Like I am bing an evil person or something."


    Shen Yue exined her thoughts as best as she could but when she looked at Liam he was still staring at her as if there was spinach stuck in her teeth.


    She felt very embarrassed.


    Especially after speaking out her thoughts, even she felt as if they were stupid.


    "Ah. I know. I am being too prissy. This is just a game, right? This is a good thing and will help me be more powerful. I should ept it?"


    "But what if it''s not a game?" Liam suddenly smiled.


    "Huh?" Shen Yue was shocked and did not know how to respond.


    "I mean. You have to y this game as if it is not a game. Think of it as your second life or something. Then only you will be able to make proper decisions."


    "Oh." Shen Yue nodded with a vague look on her face.


    Liam smiled and exined more. "At the end of the day, I cannot tell you what decision to make. This is your life, so it is up to you to make a decision."


    "But I can tell you this. epting this will definitely make you more powerful. That witch Ruth whom you killed." He chuckled, shaking his head, and then continued. "She was probably doing something extreme to take revenge on the kingdom."


    "You probably don''t have to y your cards in the same way."


    "Besides, if there is a ss that made me more powerful with every kill I made, I would ept it in a heartbeat."


    "That''s just me. Ha Ha. You should do whatever you want. Don''t think too much."


    "You guys did seem to be having a lot of fun tricking everyone with your charm attribute, so don''t tell me that you don''t enjoy using your power. Heh."


    Shen Yue instantly became bright red. She couldn''t believe that this person would outright just point out the obvious. It was as if he saw through everything.


    Just as she was struggling to figure out what to say next, suddenly a group of people jumped in front of the carriage, forcing the vehicle toe to aplete stop.


    Bandits!


    "Lord! Please run! These guys are cruel and merciless", the driver shouted loudly. It looked like he had personally faced them before or at least heard of them before.


    So he immediately warned Liam about their savage nature.


    However, Liam showed no intention of heading his advice. He simply smiled and hopped out of the carriage.


    Shen Yue was at the back with Mei Mei so she did not see what exactly was happening at the front. All she heard were cries of pain and blood-curdling screams.


    She let out a long sigh and then opened her system interface to quickly ept the inheritance. She did not want to think about this anymore. This was just a game after all.


    [Ding. Ruthenia Alzaeria''s dying wish is to pass on her heritage to you. Do you wish to ept it? Y/ N]


    "Yes"


    [Ding. You are now able to select the hidden ss ENCHANTRESS]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept? Y/ N]


    "Yes"


    Instantly, a warm glow surrounded her body, and something tickled her. Before she realized it, Shen Yue received another set of notifications.


    [Ding. Congrattions. Your ss has now sessfully upgraded]


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill]


    [Beguile - Charm an enemy to fight for you for 10 seconds; Cooldown 5 seconds; Limited to one target at a time]


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill]


    [Mesmerize - Charm an enemy to a stunned state for 5 seconds; Cooldown 1 minute; The target bes vulnerable after 5 casts]


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill]


    [Distract - Charm an enemy to warp his time by 1 second; The slowing effectsts for 30 seconds; Cooldown 3 minutes]


    With her lips parted, Shen Yue gasped lightly, looking at the several new skills that she obtained. These were indeed powerful!


    More importantly, nothing she had learned so far had changed and it looked like she could still use all of her warriorbat skills.


    As she was looking at everything, she also noticed something different about her system interface.


    The charm attribute which was previously greyed out was now looking just like every other attribute. "Does this mean I can add stat points to this one also?"


    Shen Yue tried allocating her extra stat points from her recent level up and it indeed worked. "So maybe these skills can be more powerful if I increase my charm attribute more."


    "You should make sure you bnce your other stats also." Shen Yue jumped as she was caught surprised by Liam''s sudden presence near her.


    "Did you ept the ss?" Liam chuckled and asked.


    "Ah. Yes. I did." Shen Yue nodded like a thief caught in the act. "It''s called enchantress."


    "Oh! Sounds powerful. Can you show me your skills?"


    She quickly shared her skills with him in the party chat.


    This was the first time Liam saw special skills like these.


    In his previous time around, he did not have any memory of such a ss existing.


    He wondered why Shen Yue received this ss now? Did she not y this game before? What exactly changed? Nevertheless, it was good to have her as an ally.


    "Ummm¡­ Thanks." Shen Yue mumbled. "Just like you said, the ss was not anything evil."


    Liam smiled. He wanted to tell her that these were just starting skills, but he decided to leave it for her to find out eventually.


    There was also the other thing. This was a very bold ss and from what he knew, Shen Yue''s nature was different. So he didn''t know how well she would adapt.


    But these were things that did not require his immediate attention, so Liam put it aside forter, asking her the only thing that might matter now.


    "Is there any other chain quest after this? Or it''s all done?"


    "No. That was it." Shen Yue replied. "And the bandits?"


    "Already taken care of."


    Shen Yue had originally wanted to help him out but now it looked like that was no longer necessary.


    Liam got back in and the carriage once again started moving. They now only had a couple more hours before arriving back at the center of the kingdom.


    "You should also sleep like this one," Liam mumbled, closing his own eyes to adjust his state.


    Inwardly, he made a note to do some research about mental attacks and special skills and how to prepare for these.


    For instance, if he was to fight against Shen Yue, even he would be highly disadvantaged. Putting aside [Beguile], [Mesmerize] and [Distract] were also equally over-powered.


    Especially with [Distract], all of his sword moves and spell attacks would look like they were moving in slow motion and Shen Yue would only need to casually move to avoid them.


    In return, her own attacks would be that much more difficult to evade and block. Just thinking about this and trying a mental shadow fight was very tiring.


    Liam had a lot of experience from hisst life, but for high-level skills and specialized sses, he was as clueless as anyone else. "I need to increase my pace." He reminded himself.


    The next few hours went by without any incident and the carriage smoothly arrived at Yleka city. Liam woke up the two women who had fallen asleep.


    "You both should log out and take a rest. Get some sleep and eat, okay?" Mei Mei yawned and nodded, drool leaking from the edge of her mouth, while Shen Yue also reluctantly agreed.


    She was excited to try her new ss and skills but as Liam pointed out, she was indeed tired. So the two of them readily epted his suggestion and did the same.


    Liam, on the other hand, sent a quick message to Derek. He had some more errands to run, like submitting the Kingdom quest but he first wanted to check on the guy''s progress.


    And as soon as he sent the message, he received an immediate reply. Liam was surprised by this. "I guess it''s been a while now. He must also be tired."


    He was about to ask Derek as well to log out and rest when his eyes fell on the actual reply he had sent. "I am on the 90th floor right now, Sir."


    Liam almost did a double-take on seeing this ridiculous number. 90th floor?!

 Chapter 206 - Tower Privileges

    The PVP tower in Yleka city was a mysterious ce filled with treasures. The tower master of the building is even rumored to be a legendary figure.


    One could gain profound insights and improve by leaps and bounds if they ever got a chance to spar with this tower master.


    The yer did not have to win. Just the experience of fighting with him and learning from him was reward enough.


    Not to mention, if someone actually managed to win that fight, the reward wouldn''t be anything less than a legendary grade item or an over-powered skill or perhaps even an inheritance.


    This was why everyone at the beginning had gone crazy about this tower. But slowly, something became apparent.


    The tower might be filled with treasures, but the thing was¡­ it was near impossible to obtain those treasures!


    This was why after a while, another rumor had surfaced about the tower master. He was a legendary figure but he was also very entric.


    Everyone who managed to climb to the top and face him failed miserably before even getting a chance to exchange a single move.


    He never sparred with them, never giving them any insights or any rewards.


    This entric master only liked to tease and y around with the rankers, showing off his prized possessions and how he was head and shoulders above all of them.


    So after spending weeks and weeks grinding the levels in the tower, the final hurdle was literally impossible to ovee.


    This was why no one had bothered to struggle with this tower in Liam''sst lifetime, and he as well never took it into his ns.


    He simply intended to use it as a training tool for his sister and Shen Yue to learn somebat, and for Derek as a means to earn some quick money.


    But now¡­ Derek had managed to climb so far in such a short time!


    Not that Liam doubted his battle prowess.


    However, even after taking that into consideration, the sheer time required for the grind was colossal.


    The first floor required a single victory to clear, the second floor required two, the third floor required three, and until the first hundred floors, it increased incrementally in the same pattern.


    This meant that Derek had obtained 89 victories to clear the 89th floor and was currently on the 90th floor.


    And since they had registered together as a team, Liam would now be able to directly go to the 90th floor!


    He did not have to waste a single second fighting with the lower-level small fries. Derek had saved him a tremendous amount of time and effort.


    The decision to recruit him was already paying off, and Liam knew that this would only keep exponentially increasing in the future.


    He hastily opened the interface and sent Derek another message. "Don''t participate in fights anymore. On the 90th floor, there will be a few rooms for yers."


    "Book one of the rooms on the floor and take a break. I will be there soon. I will tell you the next n when I get there."


    Derek did not question him and quickly replied with a simple ''yes.''


    Liam as well grinned and hurried over to the PVP tower. "Perfect. Now all that is left is for trouble to start brewing."


    After reaching the tower, he quickly arrived at the 90th floor and booked a room. However, he didn''t book a standard recuperating room but a special forging room.


    This was also one of the advantages of the tower.


    After the 50th floor, some of the floors had unique shops that sold rare items, and these floors also had various exceptional amenities.


    The recuperating rooms had mana arrays that had denser mana than the other surroundings.


    The forging and alchemy rooms also had this array and other excellent benefits that could rival a top-tier room in the association.


    The important part was that this room was cheaper than the association facilities. So one was able to use them for more extended periods.


    Usually, these were fully booked, but it was not as busy since everyone was currently focused on the grind.


    Liam went into the forging room and let Luna down on the ground. "I promise. The next stop is the beast hall, okay?" He patted her head and smiled.


    The small fox nodded obediently and returned his smile with an even sweeter heart-melting smile. Liam couldn''t help but be amused by this newfound maturity.


    "Why don''t you keep this with you until I am done with my work?" He gave the fox the rainbow-colored gem to reward her patience.


    He was not worried that she would break it as the little thing valued it more than he did.


    Her eyes instantly lit up on seeing the gem, and she quietly sat in a corner, hugging the treasure with her tail and looking at it lovingly.


    Liam chuckled and finally got to the work he had postponed for a while now.


    He stood in front of the anvil and took out all the required materials from his inventory space. One by one, each item he took out was more dazzling than the previous one.


    So much so that the fox had to peel her eyes away from her prized gemstone and pay attention to what Liam was doing.


    Thanks to the harvest he had obtained from Shen Yue and Mei Mei, who were running around and grinding rare elites, he now had a lot of precious materials in his possession.


    This couldn''t havee at a better time as most of his gear was outdated, and it was time to rectify it.


    Liam had also achieved more than he had imagined in terms of mana control and spell casting these past several days.


    He was itching to apply these to his forging techniques and see how much he had improved. This way, he could also hone in on all the weak points and adequately focus on the training.


    Taking a look at all the materials, he separated them into the appropriate ratios and fired up the furnace in the corner of the room.


    It was not arge furnace, but the mes inside were roaring aloud as if they were alive. The intensity of the fire was also higher.


    "I wonder what sort of mana array can bring out such an effect!" Liam felt amazed. He cautiously melted all the ores first and then started the work.


    Soon the rhythmic chimes of the hammer hitting the metal started ringing loudly in the huge spacious room. But this time, his movements werepletely different.


    His hands danced smoothly and everything that had been raw and unrefined earlier now looked like an actual forging mastermanding the ore into submission.


    The dense wafts of mana in the room circled around the hammer and the first forged item thrummed with energy as it slowly came to life.

 Chapter 207 - Daybreak Shield

    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    Liam stared at the huge shield lying inconspicuously on the anvil. After spending several hours in the forging room, the first item was finally ready.


    [Ding. Dazzling Daybreak Shield]


    [Ding. Rating: Rare]


    Defense: 250


    Block Rate: 10%


    Strength: 30


    Agility: 30


    Intelligence: 30


    Passive Skill:? For every attack blocked, there is a chance to deflect the damage back to the attacker


    Only a handful of Master forgers were capable of producing rare-grade equipment. On top of that, this rare-grade equipment could be considered a piece of top-tier equipment.


    True to its name, the shield''s appearance was dazzling with a brilliant luster and its attributes were higher than typical rare-grade equipment. Not to mention it also had an additional skill attached.


    Liam had selected this particr forging design for exactly this specific reason, it''s extremely useful passive skill that enabled a tank to sometimes redirect the damage taken.


    Under Level 50 and even above that, this was already the best equipment average yers would be able to get their hands on.


    However, looking at this exceptional piece of shield, Liam only had a frown on his face. Though he might be staring at the shield, his thoughts were entirely elsewhere.


    He did not even bother to take a look at the stats of the shield and just quietly eyed it, while running through the various steps of the forging process in his mind once again.


    "Something was not right. What did I do?"


    Thest time Liam had forged, the set of metals he had used waspletely different from the ones that he was using right now.


    Whenpared to those iron and copper ores, the brilliantly shining shield in front of him contained ores that were at an entirely different level.


    Mellinium and Etharium were rare high-grade ores that were impossible to mine in this world.


    They could only be obtained as drops from the various elites scattered around thends, that too at an abysmal drop rate.


    More importantly, even if a yer managed to somehow obtain these precious ores, refining them and forging them was an entirely different beast altogether.


    The difficulty was nothing short of astounding.


    However, only these precious metals could be used in forging equipment and weapons higher than the umon grade.


    If one were to add iron and copper to this mixture, to bring down the difficulty level, then it would also bring down the grade of the final forged item along with it.


    Using such unforgiving starting materials, not only did Liam manage to craft the item but he was also not satisfied with it.


    If another forger from the cksmith associationes to learn about this situation, he would personally hunt down Liam and give him a piece of his mind.


    Achieving such a feat required talent in forging and more importantly an excellent control of mana. Without it, it was impossible to handle the high-grade mineral ores.


    In reality, Liam had dared to start forging with these difficult precious materials without even as much as a warm-up because of all the time he had spent training his mana control.


    This was the only thing he had been consistently doing ever since he logged into the game. So it was only natural that such dedicated training showed results.


    He was able to handle the unruly high-grade ores and bring them under his control, resulting in the forging of this fine weapon.


    However, Liam was truly not satisfied with the item. He looked at the shield, knitting his brows together, and murmured to himself.


    "The ratio is off."


    "Something is missing."


    "There needs to be more equilibrium between the metal and the energy flow."


    Making Luna jump up in a scare, he tossed the rare-grade Shield in a corner of the room as if it was no different than trash.


    He then took out another set of ores to start the forging process all over again.


    This time he also took out something else to add as an additive modifying the form for the shield on his own.


    "This should do it."


    For the second time, Liam started repeating all the steps right from the scratch.


    Thanks to the higher mana density in the room, he was able to recuperate his condition much faster and he was almost immediately able to start again.


    He first used the furnace to melt all the metals to form the primary mixture, but before adding this to the cast of the shield, he added a few stalks of herbs to this amalgam.


    Just like when he was forging the crimson de, he also tweaked the ratio by throwing in these extra ingredients this time as well.


    Among all the knowledge he had about the game, his knowledge about herbs was something that could be called his own.


    He had spent most of his previous life doing menial tasks like herb picking, taking care and tending to the guild herb farms, and basic tier ingredients preparation for the guild in huge batches.


    These were the lowest menial chores that no one would be happy with doing as they yielded no benefit.


    However, Liam still managed to get some benefit from doing these chores by studying every little detail about every herb that he came into contact with.


    This had been one of his futile attempts to break free from his miserable plight and now finally it wasing to use.


    Using this knowledge he had, he somewhat had an idea of what could further help harmonize and what could disintegrate this particr amalgam of metals.


    So even if it might result in a couple of failures, Liam still decided to waste that amount of ingredients and follow his intuition.


    While he was spending the time for forging, he wanted to give it his all and not do a half-assed job.


    He continued to keep his attention on the task, and carefully performed all the tasks one after the other, paying attention to every single detail.


    This time his forging speed had increased and he only took a couple of hours to bring the metal topletion but the end product was unexpected¡­ a failure.


    "Ok. This needs something more." Liam began to patiently try another set of modifications. He had enough materials for seven attempts so he did not stop just yet.


    A couple more hours passed and one more item was finished topletion. However, it was once again a failure.


    Liam continued tweaking theponents little by little and every time he tried his mana forging technique improved by leaps and bounds.


    On his fifth attempt, he finally got the notification for another sess.


    [Ding. Forging sessfullypleted]


    [Ding. Dazzling Daybreak Shield]


    [Ding. Rating: Calcting¡­]


    "Hmmm?" Liam was confused, but the next second he received another notification that cleared all of his doubts.

 Chapter 208 - Let The Betting Begin

    As it had already been several hours since they hadst spoken, Liam did not want to make Derek wait any longer and immediately messaged him to arrive on the arena grounds.


    Derek as well did not question him and promptly arrived at the battleground. He stood in the short line and registered with the referee and not long after his name was called.


    However, as soon as Derek moved to the center, he couldn''t help but notice something strange going on this time around.


    Groups of people started gathering around together and were huddled up here and there. The entire atmosphere around the arena had changed.


    Derek searched for Liam''s face in the crowd and looked at him with confusion but thetter did not exin anything. He simply waved his hand, asking him to fight.


    Derek blinked in confusion but then shrugged and went back to his business. He jumped into the ring, his feetnding with a loud thud that reverberated inside the stadium.


    Almost at the same time, his opponent as well arrived and the fight soon started.


    Derek instantly zoned out everything that was happening around him and his entire focus was only on the fight and his opponent.


    His brown eyes that contained a raw vigor and ferocity tracked each and every move of his opponent and his muscles responded ordingly.


    This time, both of them were tanks shing against each other so it was a special sight for all the spectators.


    "Pound him down, bro!"


    "Show him who is the boss!"


    "DEREK! DEREK! DEREK!"


    "RYKER! RYKER! RYKER!"


    The crowd started chanting loudly in unison. One of the yers who had arrived at the floor just now did not understand what was going on and asked his friend.


    "Hey, how do we know the yers'' names? Isn''t it supposed to be anonymous? Are they famous or something?


    "What? You don''t know! What a lucky bastard! You just arrived on time."


    "Quick quick. Open your system interface. There will be a prompt for betting. Someone has ced a 1000 gold coins bet on the yer named Derek."


    "You only need 1 silver to participate, then you can also get a piece of that pie. Fast. ce your bets."


    "Wait, I only need to ce 1 silver bet?"


    "Yup, think about it. Even if a thousand yers ce the bet, we will each get 1 gold coin at least."


    "And there definitely aren''t a thousand yers here. So we will get more than 1 gold coin for sure."


    The yer instantly felt his heart rate quicken after hearing the word gold coin and hurriedly ced something as a bet.


    Most yers gathered on the floor did the same as well, even if they were there simply for spectating or nned to participate.


    Chances like this to earn money without breaking a sweat were really hard toe by.


    Some rich idiot was willing to throw away so much money. How could they miss this precious opportunity?


    So all the yers hurriedly ced their bets with whatever money they had on their hands.


    If they lost, then they would only lose a penny but if they won, they would be raking in gold coins.


    This news quickly spread like wildfire.


    But unfortunately, the fight between Derek and Ryker ended in a heartbeat and the result was a shock to everyone who had ced their bets.


    Both the tanks were bulky men and both of them were somewhat skilled and yet the one who won the fight was the tank with the shoddy equipment, Derek.


    This went againstmon sense but the yers only had their bad luck to curse.


    To lose even when the opponent was wearing only a pathetic set of equipment that looked like it was going to break and fall apart at any given instant, everyone spat on Ryker andmented their loss of the golden opportunity.


    They had one chance to win an easy gold coin and now that chance will nevere back again.


    Maybe once the tycoon was whimsical enough to bet 1000 gold coins but will he be betting such an insane amount of wealth every single time?


    As everyone looked longingly at the two fighters getting out of the ring, one in pain and the other with a nk expression, the referee stood up to call the next pair of fighters.


    With this everyone''s heart sank as their gold ship officially sailed.


    No one even paid attention to the next couple of fights. Some people tried betting on these fights but without the enticing 1000 gold coins to sweeten the pot, no one was interested.


    They were still busy discussing the earlier fight between Derek and Ryker and how they would have done things differently.


    Suddenly everyone became an expert and cursed the poor guy for losing badly. If only they had another chance¡­


    And unexpectedly, their wish soon came true¡­


    Since everyone was quite distracted by the whole betting situation, not many yers were currently grinding the fights on the 90th floor.


    Because of this, Derek''s turn arrived sooner than expected and his name was once again called on the stage.


    Almost instantly, one of the female yers in the arena shouted at the top of her voice.


    "Look! Look! The betting is on again! Someone again ced a 1k gold coin bet on this guy! OH MY GOD!"


    The other yers who were also in the middle of checking their system interface noticed the same thing and immediately became excited again, hurriedly cing their bets.


    But after this initial shock from the goddess of wealth knocking on their door a second time wore off, another obviously ring fact surfaced.


    Sure, the 1000 gold coins were avable but was this opponent capable of winning?


    As everyone looked at the fighting ring with great expectation, once again it was Derek who won the fight and not their horse.


    Another opportunity missed!


    "Damn it, will this tycoon again ce a bet or what? Just one more chance. Fuck it, I will personally get in the ring and fight!" Someone shouted.


    But no one believed that such a thing could happen¡­


    After all, 1000 gold coins was not aughing matter. It was an astronomical amount that only guilds could afford, that too probably only rated guilds.


    However¡­ against all odds and logic¡­ when Derek''s number was once more called onto the stage for the third time¡­ the pot was again instantly filled with 1000 gold coins!


    In fact, making everyone''s heart do flip-flops, every single time Derek stepped into the fighting ring, the same person kept wagering 1000 gold coins!

 Chapter 209 - Up The Ante!

    "Hey, don''t you know what''s happening right now? Why are you still standing here?"


    "I am on my way. I am on my way."


    Currently, in Yleka city, a hugemotion was spreading on all corners.


    The crowd that was usually hovering around the auction house seemed to be now concentrated in the PVP tower.


    Even everyone who earlier dreaded the horrendous grind of the PVP tower was suddenly energized to try and climb the tower as best as they could.


    However, this was mostly rted to individual yers and some lower level members of the various guilds.


    The higher-ups and the actual powerhouses still went about their own business. This was, of course, with the exception of a single guild, Stormtroopers.


    Unexpectedly, many members of that guild were littered all over the PVP tower of Gresh Kingdom.


    When the other guilds didn''t seem to care too much about this 1000 gold coins betting fever, this guild alone paid extra attention to the whole affair.


    They quickly rose in ranking by taking advantage of the fact that one was able to register in huge groups and climbed the tower more quickly.


    Some of their guild members were also already on higher levels.


    So while the others were still arriving, these people gathered on the 90th floor to actually check if the rumors that were spreading were true or false.


    And on this same floor, sitting quietly in a corner of the arena was the perpetrator of this entire chaos.


    "Oh! Finally, the bait has arrived!" Liam grinned, sitting back and rxing. After forging for several hours continuously, he was very tired.


    So all of this ruckus gave him a lot of entertainment. Though it was not the same as sleeping and taking a good night''s rest, it came pretty close to it.


    "Heh¡­ time to up the ante."


    A couple of secondster, it was Derek''s turn to once again fight and this time, he ced a bet of 5000 gold coins instead of 1000 gold coins, instantly causing a wave of gasps and shrieks in the arena.


    The Stormtroopers guild members as well started discussing amongst themselves in hushed voices but they did not make any move yet. It was almost as if they were waiting for someone.


    And soon this someone or rather a full team arrived.


    This team instantly caught the attention of everyone present on the 90th floor as they clearly stood up among the sea of average yers.


    They were decked from top to bottom in dazzling gear, some of them even having gemstones studded on them and their guild emblem shone brightly and proudly at front and center.


    Derek, who was beginning his fight on the ring, did not pay attention to any of this. He was in his own world only focussing on the fight in front of him.


    Liam, on the other hand, observed everything and his grin widened. "Now everyone is here. Time to start the party." He pulled his cloak further down as he saw several familiar faces.


    Liam knew them because he had ughtered a lot of them, not personally rather indirectly using the golems.


    This guild was none other than Derek''s ex-guild and these yers were none other than his teammates.


    These were also the people Liam was patiently waiting for. And now that they were here, it was time for a good show.


    On the other end of the arena¡­


    The entire section sparkled as the elite team of a guild was very eye-catching. All the Stormtroopers guild members were sitting together.


    "Ke Ke Ke. So this bitch actually ran over here." Victor, the main tank of the Stormtroopers guild spat on the ground.


    "Not bad. Not bad at all. I thought that the idiot was a dumb doormat but he seems to have a bit of brain."


    "Creating all of thismotion just by himself and managing toe this far is really not bad."


    Hearing Victor''s words that sounded like praise but was not really, another member of the guild pointed out something important.


    "Victor, how do you think he got that much money? Wasn''t that idiot begging us for money for his mother or sister or someone?"


    "Ya, 1000 gold coins is a lot. I mean we can gather that much money in the snap of a finger, but where did that idiot get that much?"


    "Maybe he found a rich backer?"


    "Haaa¡­ That might really be true. He is actually not that bad a yer. Maybe he joined some other big guild and got a bonus or something?"


    Hearing this, Victor who was silent all this time, immediately snorted in contempt. "What nonsense are you talking about?"


    "That guy only knows how to screw up! How could hepare to the elite teams of big guilds? Why would they recruit a nobody like him? Did you leave your brain before signing in?"


    "Ah. Sorry. Sorry."


    The person immediately shut his mouth and looked down, though he seemed to be rolling his eyes. He wanted to say something but he decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut.


    Victor removed his angry gaze from the so-called ''idiot'' and paid his attention to the fight in the arena. Everyone standing around was cheering and shouting at the top of their lungs.


    1000 gold coins in itself was a huge amount and now that the prize pool became 5000 gold coins, everyone acted as if they had dunked in barrels of Redbull.


    And the person who was the center of all of this fame and fervor was none other than DEREK!


    Victor clenched his fist as he looked at the towering figure of the person whom he loathed and hated deeply.


    He was a professionally trained fighter until his knees gave out. So when this game appeared out of nowhere, he thought that his chance to shine brightly had finally arrived.


    This was hiseback and the opportunity that he had been waiting so long for. His stupid knees would no longer be able to hold him back.


    However, smashing all of these expectations he had, right from the day this person had signed in, he had casually beaten him at everything.


    Heck! He even had a mana affinity that Victor was not lucky enough to have.


    But unfortunately, he had joined the game toote, and that too when Victor had already made a name for himself.


    Grabbing hold of this single advantage, Victor had managed to keep the guy under his foot all these days and now, he had slipped away!


    Even though he had personally made the effort to bad mouth the guy to all the major guilds, he still somehow managed to get somebody''s backing ande this far.


    Just this thought made Victor feel angry.


    "I should have never let him go!" He ground his teeth silently.


    All of this spotlight and this fame should have belonged to him and not to this spineless idiot who was only fit to be his punching bag!


    "Ok. We have let this go on for too long. It''s time to take action! Go submit my name for the next round. I will teach this bitch a good lesson."


    One of the lower-rung guild members quickly hurried to submit his name. Not long after, Victor''s number was promptly called.


    Victor sneered, his lips twisting in contempt. "Don''t forget to ce the bet. Match that rich retard''s 5k with another 5k from our guild. I will exin itter to the guild leader."


    The healer who was the next inmand, slightly hesitated but he didn''t have the authority to question Victor''s actions so he quickly obliged.


    With both sides adding 5k each, the prize pool instantly shot up again, now totaling a whopping 10000 gold coins.


    The crowd instantly became even crazier!


    This was no longer just 1000 gold coins! These were 10000 gold coins! This was an amount that even the big guilds would stop and take a look at!


    This immediately made everyone fervently bet.


    Also, this time many of the long-time gamblers who had been witnessing Derek''s abilities for a while now, started betting on him rather than the opposition.


    But Stormtroopers was a decently famous guild with a considerable amount of achievements so half of the crowd still bet on the person participating from the guild.


    And of course, there was also a portion of the crowd who announced loudly that they were supporting Stormtroopers but they secretly were betting on Derek.


    In this way, the entire arena was almost split half-half and everyone chewed on their nails, eagerly waiting for the uing fight.


    In this festive atmosphere, one that could rival a coked-up rock concert crowd, Victor smiled, calmly and casually walking over to the fighting ring at the center.


    He had the air of the expert who was seemingly untouched by all these endless praises and cheers showering down on him.


    On the other end, Derek as usual walked over with a nk and indifferent face. He obviously noticed Victor and yet there was no expression on his face.


    But suddenly this indifferent facade of his cracked. Derek halted his footsteps and looked at his system interface in confusion.


    Of course, everyone else as well noticed this small change on his face and they held their heart in their hands wondering just what the hell was this fighting machine thinking.


    He was obviously looking at some message or notification and it was driving everyone crazy to not be able to know just what he was looking at.


    Perhaps he was throwing this game? Some backroom deal to intentionally lose?


    Or was he going to use some secret move or technique specifically prepared for this fight?


    Did he get some new gear?


    In general, these things were nothing earth-shattering but something like this could make or break this fight, so the crowd was on the edge of their seats.


    They badly wanted to know this top-secret information.


    As opposed to their nervous plight, not knowing what was going to happen, Derek had only looked confused for a second.


    His expression then turned to his normal calm andposed look as he continued walking to ring.

 Chapter 210 - A Lucky Win

    Seeing all the attention Derek was getting, Victor couldn''t help but scoff.


    He looked at him casually getting into the ring and sneered. "So you are a bigshot now?"


    Derek did not say anything and quietly waited for the referee tomence the fight.


    He had received special instructions for this fight, so he was even more focused than usual.


    "Heh. Acting all meek and humble but behind the scenes, you seem to be very talented at finding rich masters?"


    "Or did you find someone else richer than me to pimp your fat sister?"


    Along with Victor, the crowd as well jeered hearing these loaded ridicules.


    These words didn''t seem like ordinary insults meant for psyching out an opponent before the fight?


    Did the two already know each other?


    No one knew who started this gossip, but soon everyone came to know that Derek was someone who was kicked out of the stormtroopers guild.


    This was big news and many started looking down on Derek. The people who were cheering for him instantly quieted down, all of them now more anxious about the coins they had gambled.


    This sudden change in the tide made Victor happy and satisfied. He decided to keep pressing on this wave and push the guy even further.


    "What? Nothing to say? He He. I know all your skills and weaknesses, Derek. Your gear is also trash and you still expect to win against me?"


    "You should just give up now. How about it? If you give up and walk away, I will forgive your little outburst and take you back into the guild?"


    "Think about it. Your sister''s knees must be hurting from giving out so many blowjobs. This way, she can take some rest. He He."


    With everyone now cheering loudly for him, his own guildmates drowning the noise of others in the arena, Victor grinned ear to ear.


    Perhaps it was because of the mood, he felt that this victory was already in the bag. However, it still irritated him that the dumb ape was not responding to his taunts.


    He wanted to see him squirm and beg. But from the beginning, Derek did not give in to any of his taunts and kept standing like a statue.


    Finally, the multiple rounds of betting ended and the final call for the battle arrived. The referee stood up and loudly announced the rules for the fight and the gongs as well thundered.


    Almost instantly, Victor reacted and activated his [War Call] skill which reduced Derek''s movement speed by 20% and gave him another 20% boost.


    He started with this skill instead of [Charge] because while [Charge] was easy to avoid and block, [War Call] could not be escaped.


    And in a closebat fight like this, movement speed was everything.


    A debuff like this might as well be aplete stun as Derek''s maneuvering looked extremely sluggish.


    On the other hand, Victor did not n to waste this chance and lunged at the big dude.


    [Mortal sh], [Punish], [Cleave]


    He started hitting Derek as if he was a training dummy incapable of responding.


    He unleashed a barrage of skills on the man so that the fight would already be over before the debuff ran out.


    Derek as well seemed to be really struggling to respond.


    As opposed to his usual skillful evasive movements, this time he was very sluggish and received a lot of hits.


    Everyone watching this fight gasped in shock. Both were warrior tanks but clearly one was superior to the other.


    Be it skills, talent, technique, one person held the upper hand from the start and the match as well looked like it was about to finish in no time.


    "Fuck! What a waste of money!"


    "Screw this! I am out!"


    So many people had ced their bets on Derek after witnessing his undefeated streak but they were all extremely disappointed at the moment.


    Victor also had a big grin on his face beneath the metallic head guard. He could almost feel the sweet taste of victory in his mouth.


    However, just as he was about to activate his [Charge] to finish this fight once and for all, Derek no longer looked sluggish.


    "Fuck! The 20% debuff wore off already?" Victor was confused but he did not have any time to think.


    He just needed a couple more hits to secure his victory so he preserved and parried with the opponent.


    But unfortunately, the sluggish and slow person who seemed as if he was an extremely easy target until thest second, was suddenly as slippery as an eel.


    Not only did Victor have the initial advantage in pummeling down the attacks, he also clearly had the better gear.


    As if this wasn''t enough, the air was practically thrumming with his name with everyone cheering for him. It was deafening.


    In this kind of atmosphere, anyone would get demoralized and motivated.


    Coupled with the fact that there was only a fraction of health left in Derek''s bar, Victor roared loudly and kept lunging forward without retreating.


    He madly swung his war de in a frenzy. His speed also seemed unusually faster. But still, every single one of his moves was skillfully parried or blocked.


    He was slowly but surely being pushed back. In the midst of all this, he was also taking some attacks that were chipping away at his health bit by bit.


    "FUCK!" Victor shouted in anger. He could see that the fight was slowly slipping out of his hands, but he couldn''t do anything to prevent it.


    Even the moves that he considered as Derek''s weaknesses were perfectly countered without a single error.


    And just like that, right in front of his eyes, the rest of his health also dropped and before long, the gong once again sounded.


    The entire arena became deathly silent. What just happened? Wasn''t the other person winning?


    Everyone looked dumbfounded, trying to understand the heads or tails of it. There were no special skills used. There was no cheating or some secret shortcut.


    They were just exchanging blows which was how typical warrior fights progressed but how did the losing party manage to somehow gain an upper hand and suddenly win?


    Victor was as equally shocked as the crowd as he dumbly stared at the person in front of him. It took him a second to even realize that the fight was already over.


    What happened?


    And adding to his dismay, the other party, Derek calmly and casually stepped out of the ring as if it was just another warm sunny day.


    Victor''s eyes trailed his figure, still standing dumbly at the same spot. Finally, the referee had to warn him. "The fight is over. Step out of the ring."


    Victor looked up and saw the referee''s stern gaze on him. He didn''t know why but there was a hint of ridicule contained within them.


    He could feel the hundreds of eyes on him, all of them either cursing him orughing at his loss. Without any other choice, he gritted his teeth and silently stepped out of the ring.


    He walked over to his teammates and then finally erupted. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Sounds of heavy equipment nging on the ground resounded throughout the arena.


    Victor bashed his hand on the floor and shouted in anger. "What happened? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" He was so close and yet he had somehow lost!


    "He did something! He did something for sure. You guys saw right? He was almost dead! I had this fight! I just needed one more second. FUCK! I could have won this easily!"


    His other guildmates nkly looked at each other, not knowing how to respond. In reality, they as well felt the same.


    Victor''s fighting techniques had been superior from the start to finish. The other party looked like he was scrambling just to get a grip. But somehow the result was different!


    "It must be a fluke! This is definitely a fluke!" Victor repeated like a maniac.


    "I agree. I think he triggered some sort of low probability critical attack." Another person spoke up, agreeing with him.


    "Ya, I also thought something changed mid-fight. Otherwise, this would have been your win."


    "I know! I know! FUCK! Don''t I know it!" Victor was furious.


    "This is not over. I won''t let him leave with this dumb fluke. One more match! Sign me up for one more match with that fucker!"


    "But leader¡­ that¡­" The person hesitated.


    If someone wanted to challenge a particr opponent, it required a gamble to be ced upfront, and¡­ they had just now lost 5000 gold coins¡­


    When everything was said and done, this was not a small amount for their guild. Even first-rate guilds would feel this pinch.


    How could they once again ce a bet?


    But seeing his actions only made Victor more furious. He was the main tank and the VIP yer of their guild and here thisckey was questioning his moves?


    "WHAT the fuck are you looking at? Go and register for the fight. ce the same amount again. 5000 gold coins. No make it double."


    "I want that retard to lose everything he has earned so far. He wants to make some quick cash? I will see how he wins against me one more time! Hmph!"


    "He might have gotten lucky that once, but even he can''t get lucky every single time!"


    "Leader¡­ that¡­"


    "What the heck are you still standing here for! Go and ce the bet! Wait till I win. I will fuck his fat sister right in front of him!"

 Chapter 211 - Could It Be?

    A couple of minutester¡­


    "Next fight!" The referee called out aloud and everyone''s eyes bulged in surprise as they once again watched the same pair of fighters who had rocked their world just now.


    They did not get much profit from the gambling as the mysterious rich tycoon had ced the biggest bet so he would have reaped the most rewards but even one or two silvers was still good pocket change.


    Moreover, the fight itself was extremely exciting with lots of unpredictable twists and turns.


    This made everyone''s blood boil and the crowd erupted into a huge uproar as the two yers once again jumped into the fighting ring.


    The betting also started and the pot quickly rose to 20000 gold coins! Double the previous amount!


    "Crap! The tycoon is betting again!"


    "The stormtroopers guild is also matching his bet!"


    "What is happening here? Is this a guild enmity or something? How is an individual yer standing against a big guild like this?"


    Only just now someone had lost 5000 gold coins but without missing a beat, they were betting the same amount again!


    This made everyone unsure of which side to support. While one was a reputed guild, the other was a stable yer with a strong win streak.


    However, they did not have too long to decide and quickly ced the bets.


    As opposed to thest battle, this was far more exciting and nerve-wracking, even for the spectators.


    Victor also looked very serious. Thest time he was happily bad-mouthing the opponent, but this time, right from the get-go, he was like a fierce tiger locked onto his enemy.


    Everyone could tell that he was serious while Derek was still the same as usual. He just simply stood there without any emotions.


    The referee soon stood up and started reading the rules and the gongs loudly sounded!


    DANG! DANG! DANG!


    Victor roared instantly rushing forward like a crazed bull. Just likest time, he activated [War Call] but now he no longer underestimated Derek.


    Trash with luck could still win and he had learned that rather painfully. So he did not want to look like a fool and lose all over again.


    This time he was determined to end the fight before the debuff even wore off!


    Victor waved his war de and swung it furiously, aiming for all the weak points of the person most familiar to him.


    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. This was exactly what he had done.


    Victor had kept this person under his thumb for so long.


    He had been constantly watching his fights, his moves so he knew everything about this person and where to attack to get the most damage across.


    So targeting these sites, and using the attacks that Derek struggled the most to counter, he mmed his de repeatedly on the simple-looking metallic guard Derek wore.


    He could even feel the metal creaking and groaning under his assaults. He wouldn''t be surprised if it actually broke!


    This fight was definitely in his hands!


    He was not alone in thinking this. The crowd was no longer cheering loudly. Everyone was watching the fight chewing their nails. The only thing that was missing was popcorn.


    Half the crowd silently hoped for aeback, but that did not seem like it was going to happen this time around.


    Victor kept thrashing the guy without any chance for leeway or a mistake, continuously grinding him down, not leaving a single opportunity to take advantage of.


    He was beating him like he was beating a dead snake. Derek waspletely pushed back. This result was definitely a no-brainer!


    However¡­ in the midst of this flurry of attacks, a loud nging noise resounded. Victor''s war de hung mid-air as he was not able tond the next attack.


    He roared in anger and moved back, again lunging forward with full force to fight back. However, all of a sudden all his moves started to get countered.


    What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck? Victor screamed inwardly, unable to digest what was happening to him.


    One second he was in control and the next second, he was no longer in control! What happened thest time was repeating all over again.


    A small bud of fear sprouted inside his mind and his gaze wandered over to Derek''s health bar in shock and astonishment.


    "This¡­ this¡­" Victor could no longer remain calm and started stuttering in the middle of the fight. The guy''s health was the same asst match.


    How was it possible for him to have dealt the exact same amount of damage both times? Just what was his secret? How was he winning like this?


    Something felt off and before Victor could recover from this shock, the gong loudly resounded, indicating the end of the match.


    And just like that, he had lost again!


    Just like before he started with an intimidating bang but the next second, this bang fizzled and he waspletely demolished.


    Without even waiting for the referee to announce the results, he silently started walking away, the pride and his arrogance on his facepletely reced with confusion.


    The crowd was equally confused and everyone began murmuring and whispering among themselves.


    Only Derek had the same nk face as he calmly stepped out and sat in his seat, patiently waiting for the call of the next match.


    A couple of yers tried talking to him but he did not respond to anyone and sat like a statue.


    Coincidentally, Victor was also sitting like a statue at the moment. He also couldn''t respond to anything his guildmates were saying.


    Once was a fluke, but twice? And the health bar that looked extremely simr?


    A frightening possibility arose in his mind but he didn''t want to think about that, because if it was true¡­ then¡­


    At this time, his system interface chimed loudly and a familiar name appeared on the screen. "Guild master?" Victor gulped nervously.


    Suddenly, the weight of all the gold coins he had lost weighed heavily on him.

 Chapter 212 - Win Back Everything!

    "Shut up. Don''t say anything. In a second, someone will trade with you for an item."


    "ept it and then fight one more round. If you can''t win even this time, then don''t bother sticking around in the guild."


    "Your 5% guild shares will be dissolved to settle your debt and pay for all the gold that you lost by so foolishly acting, without even thinking for a minute."


    "Just how useless are you?"


    "You have dragged our name in the mud enough. Stop making a fool out of yourself and finish this fight fast."


    Victor''s face paled as he sat and silently heard all the shit that was raining down on him. "Guild leader¡­ I¡­"


    He truly had no words to exin himself and unfortunately for him, the other party was not done talking yet. "Did I allow you to speak?"


    "Don''t think I don''t know all the background nonsense that you have been up to."


    "Purposefully oppressing talented people, kicking skilled yers out of the party, all just to make yourself look good."


    "You are a fucking idiot and I am a fucking idiot to think that you could run this branch of our guild. After this match is over, Derek better be back in our guild."


    "I need you to finish everything that I said within the next hour. Otherwise, do not show your face in the guild again. AM I FUCKING CLEAR?"


    Leaving Victorpletely speechless, the other party hung up the call. He did not even get a chance to exin himself, not that he could.


    Somehow everything that he did was suddenly out in the open. Luckily, the call was personal so others probably did not hear about it?


    He turned to look hopefully but that was clearly not the case.


    His teammates, who just minutes ago had treated him with respect and reverence, were now looking down on him, eying him with contempt and disdain.


    Victor felt as if his entire world wasing crashing down. He couldn''t give a fuck about these backstabbers, but this was his future and this was his lifeline.


    He did not have any other backups. Without his 5% shares of the guild, his financial condition in real life would be in jeopardy. He had loans and mortgages too.


    Just as he was beginning to fret, the second message popped up. This was the equipment trade.


    Victor had no idea who was trading with him currently as the name was hidden.


    This in itself was shocking because he had currently not heard of any methods to hide one''s name or even camouge it during directmunications like this.


    So who was this person trading with him? The dealing did not sit well with them.


    Especially when he had already screwed up so much, he was genuinely afraid of making another wrong move.


    But the next second¡­ as his gaze shifted down to the actual items being traded¡­ all of his doubts immediately disappeared.


    "These are¡­" Victor gasped, his voice very hoarse. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing.


    In front of him, on the trade panel were three items and all three of them were¡­ Unique grade items¡­


    There was a huge saber, a chest guard, and a pair of boots.


    And three of them were unique grade items!


    What were unique grade items?


    They were special items that were a cut above the elusive rare grade items that were currently the most coveted pieces of equipment in-game.


    While rare grade items had high attributes attached to them that could give the yers a bonus boost, unique grade items had special effects and skills attached to them that couldpletely change the game.


    And this saber¡­ Victor licked his lips in anticipation!


    He couldn''t wait to get his hands on the three items that shone in front of him like twinkling stars.


    As long as he could get his hands on these three items, it did not even matter if this dealing was shady. He would dly be willing to ept any and all punishments.


    With these items, he definitely had the confidence to win back everything that he had just lost.


    Victor lifted his shaking hands to quickly ept the trade.


    He did not dare dy, afraid that this offer would disappear before he ever got a chance to ept it.


    Only when the trade went through and the items safely chimed in his inventory, he breathed out a sigh of relief.


    With this, the pride and the arrogance that had disappeared from his face also returned back. He cracked his neck and turned to look at the person sitting next to him.


    "Go and register for another fight."


    "Victor, the guild leader has strictly-"


    "I know what the guild leader said and did not say. Those things are none of your business."


    "Listen, don''t be-" The person tried again, but Victor shot him down again.


    "How about you just listen to what I am saying or else you can get the fuck out of the guild right now? Hmm? What do you want to do?"


    "Fine, it''s your funeral bitch." The teammate did not dare to say this out loud, but he silently stood up and walked over to register for the match.


    Only when he returned back to the group, he noticed that something was different.


    All their guild members were looking at Victor in awe and not just that, most of the crowd sitting in that section of the arena, had their eyes glued onto the MVP of their team.


    "What the hell is happening?" The person quickly walked over and when he arrived at his seat, he was finally able to see it, the silver sheen on the equipment!


    Only rare-grade pieces of equipment and above were capable of producing such a glimmer and he was sure that these were not simply rare-grade.


    The intimidating chestguard, the bloodthirsty saber, and the sparkling boots, all three of thempletely stood out from the other rare-grade gear Victor had equipped.


    The person''s jaw almost dropped on the floor after seeing this. Since when did their guild have such items?


    Seeing his dazed expression, Victor was very satisfied. "Are you done registering?" He arrogantly snorted.


    Theckey as well obediently nodded his head, not daring to look down on him anymore.


    "Heh. That''s how it should be." Victor sneered, as he walked past the several faces, all turned to look at him. He was not even hiding the fact that he had upgraded his equipment.


    So what if he did?


    Would that beggar be able to afford somest minute gear change?


    Even if he had the backing of some rich sugar mommy, would he be able to get top-tier equipment like his?


    Unique-grade weapons were not cabbages that could be simply purchased in the market!


    They were the rarest of rare weapons that only had a small chance to drop from hidden bosses in the dungeons.


    Who would sell such an item? How could one be able to buy such an item?


    He had no idea how their guild leader managed to get their hands on items like this, but now there was nothing that could stop him.


    He would win back all the money he had lost and he also had a n to make that miserable ape join back their team again.


    Victor did not even care anymore if his position in the guild got affected because of him.


    With these pieces of equipment, he would make sure to put a sufficient gap between the dumb ape and him, one that he would never be able to ovee.


    So what if he had the talent, and the skills.. Shit like that did not matter in this world. In the end, only the person who had the ability would win!

 Chapter 213 - Last Chance

    Victor walked over to stand beside the arena in a threatening fashion well before even the referee could call out his name.


    His mere presence erupted a wave of uproar andmotion in the arena.


    Obviously, he was showing off, and their guild members also did a good job of spreading the news to get some positive publicity for a change.


    On the other hand, Derek only joined himter when their turn actually started.


    Victor had an arrogant and lofty expression on his face as if he had not just lost two consecutive fights while Derek was as nk as a sheet of white paper.


    Neither of them looked visibly excited.


    Meanwhile, the crowd around them was going crazy.


    Seeing that these two were again going to sh, everyone fervently opened the system interface, and almost instantly, a series of gasps echoed in the arena.


    This time the betting pool unexpectedly exploded!


    BING! BANG! BOOM!


    The betting pool was now 50000 gold coins!


    Their match had actually garnered an all-time high amount of 50000 gold coins. Since the update happened and the PVP tower opened up, this was the biggest bet amount.


    And that too, with the current exchange rate of 1 silver equalling 1 dor, these many gold coins amounted to a whopping 5 million dors!


    Such an astronomical amount could make or break a low-tier guild.


    Even for a guild like stormtroopers, this amount was most likely their entire guild''s liquid wealth, and such a ridiculous amount was actually being used as a bet?!


    Everyone knew that they could never get a piece of this pie as the major share of the winnings will go to the major contributor of the betting pool on the winning side.


    But still, it was good... just to look at it¡­


    It made everyone''s blood boil and some even stood up to leave the tower and actually start ying the game seriously.


    If they could also win a million dors just like that¡­ their lives would probablypletely change overnight.


    However, in the midst of this rowdy crowd, almost everyone drooling and daydreaming over the betting pool, there were still two people who absolutely did not care about any of this.


    One was Liam, as he knew that all cash was about to bepletely obsolete, while the other was Derek, who was still only focused on his match.


    He was not even aware that this betting was happening.


    Liam had asked him to participate in the fights, so he trusted him and did it, not worrying about where the money woulde from.


    And the yer himself was prohibited from betting on his own fight, at least in these lower levels, so he waspletely unaware of this huge event that was happening around him.


    Derek, as usual, walked over and was about to hop into the ring when suddenly a message appeared. Seeing that it was from Liam, he immediately stopped and opened it.


    When he had stopped abruptly like this thest time, almost everyone noticed him and were terribly nervous as to what surprise he was going to bring.


    But this time, no one showed any such emotions.


    Not only Victor, but every person in the crowd knew full well that the oue of this match was already decided.


    There was nothing that the other person could do to change that. It was a pity, but the truth was that talent and skill could onlyst for so long.


    The two fighters were already almost evenly matched to begin with, but now three unique-grade equipment were also added to the mix, so what other oue could this fight have?


    Except for Liam and a few other people who liked to always bet against the odds, almost every single wager ced was on Derek losing.


    At this moment, Derek stopped getting into the ring and suddenly started taking out something from this inventory.


    "Huh? What is this guy doing now?" Victor cocked his eyebrows and stared at him with disdain.


    He watched the guy take out his old rusted chest guard, revealing the big and bulky muscles underneath.


    Some of the yers in the crowd shouted at this disy, making Victor''s face grow a shade darker.


    Unlike Derek, the only thing he had was a potbelly which made him feel very self-conscious.


    "What are you doing? Are you also changing your equipment?" Victor sneered at the man''sme attempt to copy him.


    "Do it. Do it. Take out whatever you want. You will never be able to beat me. You won against me by a fluke two times, but now it''s game over. There is nothing more to be done."


    Victor continued talking while at the same time keeping an eye on the item the other party was taking out.


    Since a lot was riding on this, he panicked a little inside, feeling that something was off. Why can''t this bastard simply get into the ring? He had to stop and also change gear?


    "Hey, Derek. You can stop with all this nonsense. It doesn''t matter what you do. This fight is already over."


    "Instead, I will give you another way out. Give up right now and turn back. I will make sure that your family is taken care of and you get the money that you need."


    "Though we have suffered a huge loss because of you this time, I can talk to the guild and make everybody take you back."


    "I am only saying this because I know your condition. Just give up now and go back to our guild rendezvous point. We can talk about things there."


    Victor made sure that he was not too loud as he continued persuading.


    He had full confidence in winning the fight, but the thing was, he also had the responsibility to recruit this bastard back. So he decided that it was best to take certain steps.


    However, unfortunately for him, the other person was not even giving him the least bit of face.


    "Hmmm? Still pretending as if you can''t hear me?"


    "Whatever your decision is, you need to make it now. If we fight this time and you lose, the consequences will be unimaginable."


    "You will never be able to step out of this city. I will personally make sure of this. Aren''t your mother and your sister dependent on you? You need to think about them also."


    Victor tried all sorts of approaches, but the other party was deeply engrossed in his own thoughts and still checking the item he took out of the inventory.


    "What the fuck is he looking at?" He tried to look, only to see another chestguard in his hand. Derek was dazedly staring at this chestguard for the past few seconds.


    But weirdly, it didn''t look like it was anything special.


    The chestguard looked a bit dull,cking any glow or shine. It was pale ck in color with a small tinge of purple added to it, and it did not even have any engravings on it.


    Typically higher-end weapons had several engravings on them, which helped upgrade the weapon''s rank.


    So the fact that this chest guard did not have any and looked like a in and simple sheet of metal bent into shape was only more proof that Victor did not have anything to worry about.


    If this garbage gives you so much arrogance, then shouldn''t I be a lot more arrogant for actually having a unique-grade weapon and a unique-grade defensive guard and also a unique-grade pair of boots?


    He snorted coldly and watched Derek equip his new item, stepping into the ring finally.


    "Think about it. If you fight against me now and lose¡­ the consequences¡­ This is really yourst chance. Make a wise decision."


    However, his warning was drowned in a sea of apuse and the referee''s voice indicating the start of the battle.


    "Fine. As you wish, bastard. I will teach you a good lesson today. Some people only learn things the hard way."


    [Warcall]


    Hyuup! As soon as the gong sounded, Victor pounced like a tiger. His speed and his movements were clearly differentpared to thest fight.


    Every single action he did was a notch or two better. This was the advantage of having one''s attributes boosted.


    And of course¡­ his weapon''s special effect¡­


    Serrate - Has a small chance to ignore the defense of the target


    Victor was itching to use this as he rushed forward to swing down the saber in his hand. However, before he could take another step, Derek was already in front of him.


    Huh? Huh? Victor did not even have the time to blink when the rusted ax shed down, aiming at this throat.


    He tried to evade, but the move was already executed, and now Derek was behind him, the weapon in his hand once again striking down at him.


    Did [Warcall] not work? What the hell is happening?


    He tried to rally and find an opportunity to strike back but how could that be possible? The opponent''s movements were barely visible to him.


    Everything was a blur. It was almost as if the person he was fighting against was ten whole levels higher than him.


    And before he even had a chance to find one opening, DONG!


    The fight came to an end abruptly!

 Chapter 214 - No Way Out

    DANG! DANG! DANG!


    The gong sounded loudly indicating that the match waspleted. However, no one else could believe that they were actually hearing this.


    There was pin-drop silence in the huge stadium except for the loud ringing of these gongs.


    "The match is over. The winner of this match is contestant Derek." The referee also stood up and announced amidst this deafening silence.


    The crowd which had just seconds ago been chanting Victor''s name and the stormtroopers guild name at the top of their lungs suddenly forgot to even breathe and gasped in shock.


    The ringing gongs and the referee''s voice snapped them back to reality. This no-name person who did not belong to any guild had actually done it!


    He had won against someone who had the better equipment by a huge margin.


    And he did not just win, he destroyed the opponent with overwhelming power and might.


    That was the shortest fight they had witnessed on this floor.


    Since this was the 90th floor, the fights here typicallysted for at least a few seconds, both sides exchanging some moves, showing off their battle prowess.


    But this time it was simply a one-sided massacre. There was no chance to block. There was no chance to counter. This was simply no longer being skilled and not skilled.


    It was like a pro-boxer fighting against a couch potato. Aplete and utter smackdown.


    And everyone who had bet against this impossible scenario had lost their money!


    "Fuck. I bet 5 silver coins man. What a waste!"


    "How the hell did this sure-shot win go to shit?"


    "Useless stormtroopers guild full of trash yers. Even with legendary equipment, these losers will probably lose."


    "Heh. Serves them right. At least all we lost was a few silvers. That guild¡­ must have lost millions of dors right?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! They deserve it!"


    "I heard they even kicked this guy out of their guild so this is technically a fight between ex-guildmates. This alone should tell you what that trash guild limit is!"


    "Fuck, why did I even bet on these idiots!"


    "Ha aha ha! Because you are also idiots. I just got 20 silver coins and all I bet was a single coin. Easy money. Easy money!"


    "Damn it. I really hope they y more games. This time I won''t let the opportunity go and bet a huge amount."


    Everyone became busy and started gathering more funds.


    Both who won their wager and lost their wager looked equally ecstatic as if they had found a loophole in the game.


    Now that they had personally witnessed the fighting capability of this person, they wanted to tap this easy gold mine.


    However¡­ how could things be so simple?


    After the fight, Derek casually stepped out of the ring.


    He didn''t register his name with the referee again as Liam had already sent him a message to duck out for the time being.


    So he started walking away from the fighting ring and out of the arena to meet with him.


    However, after seeing this, the other person in the fight ring instantly paled. His brain that was frozen solid now began to melt and reality slowly dawned on him.


    "Wa¡­ Wait. You can''t leave." Victor screamed like a teenage girl running behind the guy.


    He still did not pay any attention to him, so Victor had no other choice but to run for his life and catch up to him. He directly stood in front of Derek, blocking his path.


    "Derek! Why are you being so difficult? Did you not hear me calling your name?"


    "Hmmm?" Derek looked genuinely confused. "Why did you call me?"


    Seeing his calm and nonchnt expression, Victor wanted to grab him and bang his big empty head on the wall nearby.


    However, he did not have the ability to do so. So he could only swallow his anger and continue. He really was very desperate.


    This was hisst chance. If this conversation did not go well, then his life was effectively over.


    "Ha Ha Ha. Do I need a reason to call you? Aren''t we old friends?" Victor awkwardly spoke.


    Derek knitted his brows together and quickly shot him down. "I am a bit busy right now."


    He side-stepped around him and tried to leave, but Victor quickly once again blocked his path.


    "No worries. No worries. I just need some small information from you. You see, I am very curious about the chest guard you have on right now."


    Victor extended his hand to touch the dark violet metal, making Derek frown deeper.


    "Aha ha ha. Sorry I couldn''t help but touch it. This is also a unique-grade chest guard, am I right?"


    Derek stood silently not answering any of his questions.


    "Perhaps even higher than unique-grade?" Victor did not give up and tried to probe him, trying to gather some intel from the small expressions on his face.


    "Can you maybe share the stats with me? I am very curious. I mean we just had an awesome fight. So I want to see why exactly I lost. That''s all."


    "Come on. As a winner, you won''t be stingy, right? I am not asking you for your skill list or anything, just the stats on the equipment. It''s not a big deal right?"


    Derek, however, did not show any reaction at all. From the beginning till the end, he only had a look of indifference. "You are blocking my way and I said that I was busy."


    "Heh? I see? So you are a big shot now huh? Ha Ha." Victor tried his best to sound as calm and casual as he possibly could.


    "You don''t even have time to talk to an old friend. It''s alright. Do you want to meet sometimeter when you are free?"


    "Oh, we are nning to raid the clock tower dungeon. It has good loot for te sses. Why don''t you join us?"


    "You are already familiar with our party''s strength so it should be an easy run. We can also pay you for the run. Don''t worry."


    By this time, a small group gathered around the two, many people wanting to talk to Derek in order to recruit him.


    When they saw the guy acting so shamelessly,pletely different from how he had been before the bouts, they silently sneered with disdain.


    How could they all not know what he was doing?


    Half of the crowd might be full of noobs who did not have a clear understanding, but the other half were experienced yers.


    And every single one of them was already aware of what was happening in front of them.


    Someone had purposely tricked and baited the stormtroopers guild into shelling out millions and millions of dors.


    And now this guy who had been dumb enough to take the bait was doing somest-ditch effort to at least get something in return.


    Calling him alone to run a dungeon with their group? That was like a hooligan calling a girl alone to get raped willingly!


    Everyone could see that the deceptively simple chest guard on Derek''s body was not as simple as it looked. It was definitely unique-grade equipment or higher.


    Otherwise, just the skill difference alone could never exin the oue of that third fight!


    With three unique-grade items equipped, it was impossible for a yer to lose that badly, in apletely one-sided fashion.


    So almost everyone including Victor had their eyes glued onto the new chestguard that Derek had switched out for the third battle.


    Some wanted to know where he got it, some wanted to know if he would sell it to them and some wanted to recruit him.


    However, the shameless guy in front of them was right now trying to bait the poor guy into losing this high-grade item.


    If he by chance epts the offer, it was extremely obvious that their guild members would gang up on him and try to rob him blind.


    Even a small child could see through this plot, but the idiot was still trying.


    Did he not know that a person, who had orchestrated the whole thing and swindled millions of dors from their guild, would have the brains to see through his actions?


    How pathetic! Some people in the back even loudly started cursing the stormtroopers guild. They still did not dare to do so openly but they vented their anger by shouting from the back.


    However, unbeknownst to these things, Derek''s only thought was something else. Liam had called him, so he wanted to rush back.


    Clearly, talking to this person was useless. So he simply started shoving people to his left and right and moving forward.


    With his strength, it only took a second to get out of the crowd, and Victor was unceremoniously tossed aside like trash.


    But he still did not give up. He opened his chat and started furiously typing.


    He knew what Derek''s bottom line was so he gave up everything else and hit the nail right on the head.


    "I will pay for everything. I will personally pay for all the medical expenses of your family. I know you have a rich backer and because of him you managed to get some high-tier gear."


    "But do you know that person earned millions just now by betting on you? He used you! And do you still think he would need you after this?"


    "He is probably already long gone. You won''t get a single cent."


    "Come with me right now and I will get all the money you need from our guild bank and you can immediately take care of your mother and sister."


    Victor was barely even paying attention to what he was typing. Derek had already walked away from him so this was all that he could do.


    So he typed everything that came to his mind without holding back. "This should get your attention, right?" He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked up to see the reaction.


    And bingo!


    Just like he had expected, it looked like his words had indeed caught the attention of the person. Derek''s figure paused momentarily.


    "I knew it. I knew it. This bitch is desperate for money. I can still make this right. He will do anything for money."


    "Come on. Come on. Reply. Reply." Victor could barely hold his breath. His face which had darkened like a ck pit was also showing signs of joy.


    Yes, he had lost a lot of money. Yes, he had failed miserably. But all was not lost yet.


    He was very sure that Derek had an epic ranked item on his body. If he could somehow get that item for their guild, then all of his mistakes would be forgiven immediately!


    Even this loss wouldn''t be that big of a deal if their guild could get that item!


    Everything would be back to the way it was¡­


    "Come on. Come on. Come on."


    Victor waited and waited and the next second the message that he was eagerly awaiting shed on his system interface. However, it was not what he expected.


    [Ding. You have been removed from the friend list. You can no longer send messages to this person.]


    Victor''s heart sank. He could feel his future slipping away. Hisst chance to redeem everything was now gone¡­


    And before he could digest this terrible reality, another message also popped up. It was from their guild leader, a very short and simple message.


    "Trade the three unique-grade items back."


    There were no harsh words. There were no unkindments. It was only a straightforwardmand. However, this made Victor all the more nervous.


    He felt like this was the calm before the storm. He gulped and quickly sent the three items to another member of the guild.


    And as soon as he did¡­


    [Ding. You have been removed from the Guild Stormtroopers]


    [Ding. Your reputation with the guild is now zero]


    "Wait. No. No. Wait." He once again began to furiously type in the chat, exining everything to the guild leader.


    "That guy Derek has an Epic ranked item. I am sure of it. That''s why I lost. That''s why everything I did ended up backfiring."


    "You have to trust me. He has that item. If we n well, we can take that item from him. We can also rob all the gold back from him."


    "Please. Just please give me this one more chance."


    However¡­ He only received another familiar message¡­


    [Ding. You have been removed from the friend list. You can no longer send messages to this person.]


    Victor suddenly felt all the strength in his body drain and he copsed on the arena floor, staring nkly in front of him.

 Chapter 215 - He Is Our Teammate

    After the match, Derek waspletely swarmed by numerous yers, all surrounding him with different intentions.


    He was not able to get away from this crowd no matter how much he tried. In the middle of all this, he received another message.


    After seeing the message, he immediately hurried over to the other part of the tower which had the shops and facilities.


    He then quickly entered one of the private recuperation rooms. Here the crowd was no longer able to follow him so he was finally free.


    Well, notpletely. There was one other person inside.


    "Heh. Are you enjoying the fame?" Liam chuckled.


    "Sir." Derek awkwardly ruffled his hair.


    "Ok. I won''t take too much of your time because you are going to be very busy for the next few days." Liam smiled and patted him.


    "Oh?" Derek immediately became serious.


    He was already thinking about the different dungeons that were currently beingpeted over, some of the well-known difficult quests, and whatnot.


    "What preparations should I make sir? What are we doing?" He asked.


    Liam chuckled again and shook his head. "Not ''we''. Only you."


    Oh. Derek nodded. He assumed that Liam probably wanted him to keep climbing the tower. However, before he could finish that thought a trade window opened up in front of him.


    And unlike before, inside this window, there wasn''t any equipment or item. Instead, there was just one thing, 50000 gold coins.


    Even someone as mature andposed as Derek couldn''t remain calm after seeing this huge amount and he gasped in shock.


    His mouth was wide open and he stared at Liam dumbfoundedly, who only smiled at him. "Quickly ept it. Don''t you have many things to take care of back at home?"


    "But¡­ this is¡­" Derek was leftpletely speechless.


    By now, he somewhat knew about the betting event and such.


    However, that was not his concern. All he did was fight. Everything else was orchestrated by Liam, all nned by him.


    He also put in the initial amount of gold coins to start up all this fuss and buzz. So rightfully, he deserved every bit of gold that was earned from the event.


    He could have understood if he had given a part of it to him, but to give him the entire 50000 gold coins?


    "Are you going to ept it or do I have to physically withdraw 50000 gold coins from the bank and shove it in your hand?" Liam patted him.


    "Yes¡­ Yes, sir." Derek hoarsely shouted. Without even realizing it, his eyes reddened. This person in front of him¡­ in his entire life, no one had even been so kind to him.


    "You should take some time off and take care of things at home first."


    "Take as much time as you need. After you settle everything, you can log back in and message me. Alright?"


    "Yes¡­ sir¡­"


    "Good luck. I hope that everything goes well." Liam smiled.


    "But sir¡­ if I don''t keep ying¡­ my level willg behind and then I won''t be able to repay your¡­ kindness."


    "Aha ha ha. Don''t worry about that. I will make sure that you pay me back." Liam winked.


    He was a serious person but the guy in front of him was even more serious forcing him to take the responsibility of keeping things light.


    But Liam doubted that his message was conveyed so he once again stressed. "You know I was joking right? You earned this money. It belongs to you. No need to pay me back anything."


    "You don''t owe anyone anything. If that is also ufortable, think of it as a signing bonus. Ha ha."


    "And don''t worry about your level, I have a lot of methods to take care of that. Focus on your family first. If you have some time, log in and keep grinding the PVP tower."


    "That should be the most efficient course of action for now."


    "Alright. Take care." Liam wanted to say more words offort but time was a bit tight so he quickly bid farewell.


    Both of them had a lot of things to do so there was no point in simply standing around talking.


    Derek also immediately logged out after Liam left.


    As his systemmunications interface was open, Liam saw this and silently wished him good luck again in his heart.


    He also noticed that Shen Yue and Mei Mei were back online. He checked the messages and saw that the two of them were also in fact in the same PVP tower.


    Liam already knew why these two were here so chuckled wryly and decided to pay them a visit before leaving.


    He messaged the two and promptly a reply came back.


    "Oh! So you both are on the 20th floor already?"


    Liam entered the elevator and then reached the 10th floor.


    As soon as he walked in, he only needed a second to recognize the two as they were surrounded by a bunch of yers, all fawning over them.


    From the looks of it, they were even more popr than Derek.


    The situation was annoying and it looked very troublesome to meet with them so Liam simply continued conversing in messages.


    He sent the duo some gold and asked them what their ns were. Almost immediately a reply came from both of them saying that they wanted to continue climbing up the tower.


    Mei Mei was particrly very excited and she started singing praises of the mysterious warrior who was winning all the matches and earning lots of gold coins.


    "Brother, we should participate in this. You are the top yer. We can earn a lot of gold coins here. I think the yers are not allowed to bet. So you fight and we can ce the bets."


    "We can even do some tricks like, purposely throwing a match and acting like you are weak, and in the end, you finish them off when we increase the bet really high. What do you think?"


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry. Like brother like sister.


    "That mysterious person''s name is Derek. In the future, he will be ying with us." He exined.


    "And it''s fine. You both can y here in the tower but focus on the fighting technique, not the betting. We can always earn gold in lots of ways, it is more important to learn to fight."


    However, both of them were too shocked by this sudden surprise to properly pay attention to his advice.


    A string of excited messages flooded back and even from the distance, Liam could see the smile on his sister''s face light up like fireworks.


    "What brother! Are you serious? That person Derek is going to y with us? He is on our team? Are we going to make a guild?"


    "Oh my god! Were you the one who was betting like crazy? Are you the rich tycoon?"


    "Brother, this is so good. We should recruit more strong yers and make an unbeatable super strong team." Mei Mei was almost jumping up and down, her face full of smiles.


    Liam shook his head, chuckling.


    Thanks to the miracle that gave him a second chance, he was able to see these things. In theirst life, the little girl hardly ever smiled.


    But now, she was able to live happily and carefree just like any other kid. He knew that he needed to work harder to make sure that this smilested.


    "Shall we also look for other talented people?" Shen Yue asked.


    Liam, however, immediately declined it. "Sometimes it''s best not to involve too many people."


    "Oh, then there won''t be any more yers joining our team, brother?"


    "He He¡­ About that¡­ I think there should be three more people joining our team really soon." Liam replied and then added, muttering only to himself. "Willingly or unwillingly."


    He might look like a hero to some but Liam had no ns of bing one.. He was always going to be a viin through and through.

 Chapter 216 - Epic Ranked Item!

    After Derek logged out and Liam exited the tower, the uproar andmotion in the PVP tower quickly died out, and once again peace prevailed like the warm sunshine after a bout of heavy rain.


    There was no crazy gambling. There was also no rowdy cheering.


    Everything quickly went back to normal and yers focused on their own grind as the 100th floor, the main floor wasn''t too far away.


    However, there were still two yers on the 90th floor of the tower who were yet to move from their position. One was a middle-aged man while the other was a tall and lean young man.


    If the stormtroopers guild members hadn''t scattered away to hide their shame and embarrassment, they would have instantly recognized this middle-aged man as he was none other than the guild leader, Sterling.


    As a guild leader of a decent guild that had managed to get a foothold, this man held a lofty position with several yers trying to curry his favor.


    However, weirdly, this person looked very nervous and humble right now. As he looked at the lean young man sitting next to him, there was absolutely no sign of arrogance on his face.


    "Here are the items. I am very grateful for the loan." Sterling muttered with a bitter smile.


    Originally, with these kinds of equipment, their guild should havee out with flying colors, smashing all expectations.


    This was their chance to be a second-tier or even first-tier guild, but unfortunately, because of an imbecile, the precious opportunity was lost.


    Even though they had the ability and the spotlight they couldn''t bring it to the finish line.


    He was extremely disappointed, frustrated, and angry about this, but he knew that now was not the time to express these emotions.


    In fact, if he could somehow forge a rtionship with this person near him, then probably everything would still be worth it.


    "Aha ha ha. Even with these, that idiot still managed to screw up." Sterling tried his best to make light of the situation.


    He wanted to put the me on the idiot who singlehandedly managed to tarnish their guild reputation, hoping that the person next to him will still make an alliance with their guild and not deem them unworthy.


    However, even after talking for quite a bit, he was only greeted by silence and this made him more and more nervous.


    As Sterling patiently continued waiting, his in-game character developing an ulcer, the ufortable silence kept prolonging.


    Clearly, the other party was in deep thinking so now he did not even have the confidence to make small talk and lighten the mood.


    He could only bite the bullet and patiently wait.


    Time slowly ticked by and finally, after another ten more minutes which might as well have been an eternity, the other person turned to look at him.


    He revealed a polite albeit curt smile, and his gaze had an unfathomable depth that made it difficult for anyone to gauge the true emotions behind the decent facade.


    "Ha Ha Ha. You are worrying too much. It''s just 50000 gold coins and this was just a small betting event, so don''t think too much about it."


    He then casually raised his hand to cancel the trade window that had been open for a while now.


    "No need to return these back to me. Keep these with you and try to get some dungeon achievements. I am sure your guild reputation will be back in no time."


    Sterling couldn''t help but gasp in surprise. He had not expected this at all. This meant that the person in front of him had notpletely given up on their guild.


    Although, he did not seem to trust them either. This was probably another test and thest chance to prove themselves.


    If they couldn''t bring back their reputation even after this, then he had a feeling that he would not be seeing this person again.


    "Thank you. I will definitely return this favor." Sterling seriously nodded and then stood up to leave. He didn''t want to linger and unnecessarily make small talk with the other party.


    He had a feeling that such actions would only bring about a negative impression and not a positive one. He was a tactful person who knew how to act, so he readily left the area.


    And as soon as he left, almost immediately, another person walked over. This person was slightly chubby. "Sorry to make you wait, boss. I had an emergency at home. So I had to log out."


    "It''s fine. I hadpany." The lean and tall person smiled, once again revealing the same calm and imperceptible smile. "So were you able to get a good look at the tank?"


    "Yes, boss. I managed to catch the end of the fight and only then logged out. Here are his equipment details."


    A system interface prompt opened up and as soon as he saw it, the man''s eyes instantly widened, for the first time showing actual emotion.


    [Dark Daybreak Shield]


    [Rating: Semi-Epic]


    Defense: 500


    Block Rate: 40%


    Strength: 50


    Agility: 50


    Intelligence: 50


    Passive Skill: For every attack blocked, there is a small chance to deflect the damage back to the attacker


    Active Skill: Speed Burst - Temporarily increases agility by 5%; Cooldown: 1 minute


    The chubby guy noticed his boss''s shock and smiled. "I used my skill boss. These are the exact stats."


    "Hmmm¡­ Ok. Anything else?"


    "No boss, this was the only equipment worth mentioning."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    The chubby guy noticed that his boss was deeply thinking about something, so he asked again. "Why? Did anything else catch your eye?"


    "No. Not that." The ''boss'' paused and then added. "Have you noticed how the elite drops look? They all have inscriptions on them. This makes the item more powerful."


    "However¡­."


    The chubby guy immediately gasped. He might be a bit slowpared to his boss but this hint was more than enough for him to see the obvious.


    "So someone can actually forge an Epic ranked item?!"


    "Yes, nothing else makes sense."


    "This¡­ Do you think that the tank forged it personally?"


    The boss shook his head. "No. I doubt that. There is a small possibility but I doubt that."


    "Then do you think it''s that person who kept cing bets on him?"


    "Hmmm. Maybe."


    "Then should I try to contact the tank and try to recruit him or get some more information?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "I tried sending a friend request but he did not ept it. I also tried searching for him, but couldn''t find him."


    "It''s fine. Leave it be."


    "Huh?"


    The boss chuckled and then stood up to leave. "I have a feeling that this tank is not that simple. We will probably meet him again if we keep climbing the tower."


    "We might also get a few more surprises from him in the future."


    "Oh. Okay, boss."


    "Did Kouske return yet?"


    "Not yet, boss."


    "Alright, keep me informed.." The two of them then walked out of the PVP tower disappearing into the crowd.

 Chapter 217 - Meeting The King

    <h4>Chapter 217 - Meeting The King</h4>


    After Liam left the PVP tower, a certain someone bounced back and forth and up and down trying very hard to get his attention.


    Kyuuuuu. Kyuuuu. Kyuuuu.


    The small fox was simply too cute.


    Liam knew that he had made her wait a bit too long than he intended to, but that was because of Derek''s unexpected joining and Shen Yue''s quest auto-trigger.


    With everything out of the way, this was now thest business he had to take care of before returning back to theher realm and doing another massive grind.


    This time he also nned to use the golems to reap the maximum advantage and contribution points and temporarily took it back from the girls.


    Since they were going to be ying in the PVP tower for now, they did not need it at the moment.


    However, Liam did not tell this to the small cutiepie and let her continue being anxious.


    She was simply too adorable and he couldn''t help it and acted as if he was totally oblivious and did not pay her any attention.


    Only when they arrived at the beast hall, the small fox realized that she had been tricked. But she was far too happy now to sulk over that.


    She hurriedly ran in searching for the loli master they had previously spoken to. Liam also searched for her. Surprisingly, she was nowhere to be found.


    He saw one of the beast hall attendants walking past and decided to ask him about her. Since he already had built a rtionship with her, it was best to keep talking to the same person.


    "Instructor Seraphina? She is in the royal city now." The attendant promptly replied.


    Liam immediately thought of something and asked him another question. "Oh, are a lot of masters and quasi-masters moving back to the royal city?"


    He only barely finished speaking but immediately the attendant looked shocked. "Ah, how do you know this?"


    "Ha ha ha. So it''s true? I just heard some rumors in the market." Liamughed it off as if he was just casually asking.


    The attendant also looked relieved. "Yes, a lot of the masters have relocated to the royal city because some preparations are underway."


    He exined and he also added something else after that. "But don''t say this to anyone else alright. The guards might not be so pleased with your actions."


    With a loaded nod, he then returned back to his work.


    Liam also smiled and left the city. He had to anyways visit the royal city so he might as well find Seraphina there to talk about the gemstone.


    And regarding the preparations, he was not worried because he already knew what they were about.


    Just like the demon army was making preparations by doing these invasions, the kingdoms of this realm were also making their move.


    However, it was not that simple to enter theher realm. So they were taking their time and making sure that the other preparations werepleted in the meantime.


    "Luna, let''s go." He called the fox and the two of them then directly walked out of the city without taking any other detours.


    Once outside, he called for Talon and the bird swooped down happily, picking the two of them up and the group departed to the royal city.


    As the bird glided high above in the sky, Liam couldn''t help but feel light and energized. The bright sunlight and the warm breeze lifted his mood and fresh air filled his lungs.


    This was probably the best thing that was going to happen in the future.


    Even earth would be a ce like this after the apocalypse descends, all the pollution and the irreversible damage done to thepletely reversed.


    "What am I thinking about?" Liam chuckled.


    The earth might be a beautiful ce but they were going to be rats struggling to hide and survive in the new world.


    Nevertheless, he allowed himself to enjoy the bright day and the nice atmosphere.


    Soon, they reached the royal city and Liam as usual asked Talon to stay back.


    He tossed the small fox on his back, her figure partially hidden in his cloak and he walked into the city after paying the entrance fees.


    He only needed one look to confirm his hypothesis.


    "Heh. Just like I thought." Liam grinned.


    Because of the PVP tower Yleka city was now overflowing with yers, but on the other hand the royal city was full of NPCs.


    Liam kept his eyes wide open as he walked in because he didn''t want to miss out in case there was someone special loitering around in the royal city.


    As the levels increased higher and higher, his knowledge about the game was also bing more and more limited, so he had to be extra attentive and cautious.


    The two walked around the city for a bit when they came to a fork in the path. "Where should we go first? The king''s castle or the beast hall?"


    Kyuuuu!


    The small fox pitifully sounded, but Liam chuckled and rubbed her head. "Let''s go to the King''s castle first."


    He had a feeling that the gemstone was not so simple and they might have to do some quests for it so it was better to first get the rewards from the King.


    Not to mention, the quest actually promised him a ''Duke'' title which was not something that was given out freely.


    A Duke is someone with power. Above the Duke, there was only the royal family and sometimes the military Generals.


    As a Duke, Liam would now be able to buynd, recruit NPCs, set up shops and even create a small estate. Of course, all of this were gold mines if one were to be a guild leader.


    However, even though Liam wasn''t one and the perks were still generous.


    For instance, if he visited Seraphina right now and if he visited her after obtaining the title, the treatment would bepletely different.


    He might be able to get more information and other kingdom secrets about special items and treasures that were only privy to the royal family.


    He might evene to know beforehand about the invasions and the details of the various gathered armies.


    Considering these things, Liam directly walked over to the royal castle that was at the heart of the royal city.


    Though the royal city itself was quite majestic, this ce was even more dazzling and enchanting. The entire ce was cordoned off by huge walls and several patrol guards.


    Liam saw a few yers grouping up around the guards, trying to talk their way into the castle borders, but he only chuckled at their attempts as he already knew that these tricks would never work.


    As for him, he had the quest and that was identity enough. All he had to do was walk upto the main gate and the guard swiftly cleared the crowd, weing him into the castle.


    Liam nodded and then casually walked into the castle area amidst the several shocked faces.


    As soon as he entered, it was like he was in apletely different ce.


    There was nothing but pristine and dazzling beauty everywhere. Beautiful gardens dotted thend and exquisite statues adorned it.


    Especially with the crowd that littered the streetspletely absent, the ce looked very regal and peaceful.


    Otherwise, with the number of yers currently in the game, this would have also looked like a random bazaar.


    Liam did not bother looking around and directly walked into the castle following the main path that led through the gardens.


    A few guards walked past him and patrolled near him but no one bothered to stop him. Instead, they bowed at him in respect as they crossed each other.


    Only Luna looked at everything in awe with her big curious eyes.


    Soon the two of them arrived at the grand wee hall of the castle and from there, a knight led them to meet with the King who was in his working chambers.


    Liam calmly waited and after a few minutes, the chamber doors opened.


    However, inside of this grand luxurious room, the person who greeted him was not the King. instead, it was a young effeminate looking young man with extremely delicate facial features.


    "This is the King?" Liam almost blurted out in surprise.


    The other party''s expression immediately turned cold but it was fleeting, quickly reced with a smile.. "Come in."

 Chapter 218 - Scamming The Trap King...

    <h4>Chapter 218 - Scamming The Trap King...</h4>


    Liam recovered from his shock and then quietly followed the deceptively young and feminine King.


    No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn''t remember seeing such a person in hisst life. Not that he had met the King in person.


    But he had seen the pictures and the victory parades that happened after sessfully defending the invasions.


    He was sure that the King was supposed to look like Dumbledore and not like a trap.


    How could something major like this change? He had no idea. He also had no other choice except to roll with the punches.


    "Your highness." Liam bowed and humbly greeted, while still standing. In front of him, the young King sat down on the huge couch in the chambers.


    He had one leg crossed over the other and the man''s soulful eyes stared at him silently for a couple of minutes.


    Then, as if it was an afterthought, he waved his hand, gesturing Liam to sit down.


    If someone else had done the same, such an action would have looked very royal and overbearing.


    But unfortunately, because of his petite stature, the effect was just not the same.


    From all his mannerisms and actions, it was only painfully clear that this King was trying too hard to look intimidating.


    Liam was amused at this new storyline that had suddenly unfolded in front of him, but he kept his straight face and tried to look as serious as possible.


    "You may sit."


    "Thanks, your highness."


    "So it was you who took care of that embarrassing problem¡­ Hmmm¡­"


    Liam once again felt the pair of sharp beautiful eyes try to discern everything about him.


    "You don''t seem that strong. Just how did you manage something impossible like that?"


    "I did have some luck on my side, your highness." Liam cautiously answered. He did not want to downy anything as that could possibly reduce his rewards.


    But at the same time, he also did not want to look extremely powerful, thereby invoking unnecessary suspicions.


    "I found an opportune moment when the witch was in the middle of her sacrifice and disrupted her ritual."


    "From what I could see, this created some sort of bacsh for her and injured her. I used this chance to take her downpletely."


    Liampletely left out the meat and potatoes and just served the sd to the young king. At this age, he doubted that this person had the wisdom to find the ws in his words.


    So he took a chance and made up something.


    The other party''s expressions also changed dramatically as he heard his words, from shock to astonishment to approval.


    It was amusing that this King was more expressive than his little fox! What a naive person!


    Observing each and every move, Liam couldn''t remain idle, and his brain started thinking about various angles.


    Meanwhile, the young Kind nodded in approval and whispered something to the guard standing next to him.


    It looked like this was the King''s personal guard as he seemed to be working closely with the King.


    And just from a single nce, Liam already knew that this guard was not someone to be messed around with.


    Unlike the young King, he seemed far more experienced and mature. His eyes were like unsheathed swords, ready to kill everyone in sight.


    Liam''s gaze did not linger on the guard and returned back to the King. After conversing with the guard, the King as well turned to pay attention to him.


    "You did well. You have served this Kingdom beyond your abilities. I bestow upon you the title of Duke."


    The King smiled lightly but that small smile already revealed two dimples making him look even more beautiful.


    If this person was born as a woman, she would probably look even more beautiful than the enchantress.


    Just how did such a guy be a King? Didn''t the previous old King have 4 sons and 1 daughter? Was there some sort of royal sh?


    Liam awkwardly cleared his throat, thinking about these various things. He had to consider all possibilities if he wanted to take advantage of this naive person.


    However, he did not seem to have a lot of time to fish around.


    He was already given the ''Duke'' title and once the personal guard returned, he was probably going to get kicked out.


    ''No, I should not miss this chance. I should dig deeper.''


    "Your highness, I will dly ept it. It would be my great honor." He stood up and knelt down, obediently bowing.


    The system notification also chimed in.


    [Ding. You have been awarded the title ''Duke'']


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept it? Y/N]


    Liam quickly muttered ''yes'' and then stood up to bow in a humble manner, slowly and cautiously starting a new topic.


    "Your highness, please forgive my impoliteness... I heard that recently there have been a few sightings of demons on ournds?"


    Liam probed by lightly dipping his feet in the water. However, these few words were enough to rm the king. He immediately stood up and asked. "How do you know about this?"


    "Your highness¡­ that¡­ I came across a few demons harassing a small vige in the east. I happened to be in that area at that time so I lent a hand and helped them out."


    "Oh, is that so?" The King sat back, looking relieved.


    "Then, it was indeed a good decision to improve your status and position in the Kingdom. As a Duke of this Kingdom, I hope you can continue to keep serving our people."


    "Yes, your highness. It will be my honor." Liam quickly nodded, but he was not done talking yet.


    "But your highness, that was not the only time I came across the demons. I also fought with them three more times in three different ces."


    "I saw a dark crimson portal tearing open in the earth and the demons poured out of the portal,ying waste to our people andnd."

 Chapter 219: Everyone Has Secrets

    <h4>Chapter 219: Everyone Has Secrets</h4>


    "Your highness, I am afraid this might not be a simple one-time urrence," Liam exined. He spoke as if it really pained him to see all the people getting hurt.


    The King as well heard him out patiently and did not interrupt or shut him up. This was how he knew that he was going on the right track.


    And after listening to everything he had to say, the King finally spoke up. "You are right. This is indeed not a one-time urrence, but rest assured."


    "Our Kingdom along with the divine temple''s help is dealing with these horrendous demons. You have nothing to worry about."


    "Thank you, your highness. We are all very grateful for your assistance." Liam quickly revealed a happy expression, but he still looked a bit reluctant.


    "Your highness¡­ that¡­"


    "What? Speak up."


    "As a Duke serving under your highness, I really wish to help with this issue as well. Is there anything I can personally do to mitigate this problem?" Liam sincerely asked.


    But the other party did not look convinced. "I am impressed with your dedication. However, there is no need for you to worry about that."


    Damn it. This guy is really stubborn for someone who looks naive.


    It was abundantly clear to Liam that no matter how much he buttered the King up, he was not going to give up the goods.


    He now had no other choice but to greet him again and leave. However, Liam had another idea. Where ttery did not work¡­ perhaps the reverse worked?


    "Please forgive me, your highness. I did not mean to pry for the royal secrets. If your highness says that you have this matter handled, I haveplete and utter faith in your words. But¡­"


    "What but?"


    "Your highness¡­ how should I say this?" Liam purposefully beat around the bush.


    "What? Speak up!" A small frown appeared on the delicate King''s face.


    "Your highness¡­ I heard some noblemen discussing how¡­"


    "How? Just spit it out!"


    "Your highness¡­ please forgive me. This is just what I heard. Some noblemen in the tavern I visited yesterday were questioning the moves of his highness."


    "This is also how I came to know about the demon attacks."


    The trap was nowid and Liam hesitantly looked up to see if the mouse took the bait or not.


    And just like he thought¡­ the King was visibly angry!


    He gritted his teeth, somehow looking even more beautiful when angry and mumbled. "What else did you hear?"


    "Ummm¡­ Please forgive me, your highness. I actually did not hear anything after that. I was not able to rest idly when those people were bad-mouthing and questioning your capabilities."


    "So I strictly warned them and left the establishment in anger. Please forgive me. In hindsight, perhaps I should have stayed back and gathered more information about their whereabouts."


    Liam shamelessly spun a whole web of lies and luckily for him, the other party was very gullible.


    "Hmmm. It''s fine. It looks like I need to remind everyone about some things."


    Seeing that the King was absent-mindedly looking somewhere else no longer talking to him, Liam slowly turned around and pretended to leave.


    However, just as he was about to leave the chamber, the call that he expected arrived.


    "Wait a second."


    "Your highness?"


    "You said that you wanted to help, right?"


    "Yes, your highness. It would be an honor to serve you."


    "Mmm. Since you are a Duke of our Kingdom and you also seem capable, perhaps there would be no harm in assigning you to the task as well."


    "In this way, if one of you failed, the other person will at least seed."


    "Yes, your highness. I will try my best to not let you down."


    "Alright. Enough talking. Let me exin what you need to do briefly. Just like the enchantress, the recent activity of dark mages in our midst has increased."


    "I want you to locate one of the camps and bring me back some hints so that we can find out what they are up to."


    [Ding. New Quest avable]


    [Ding. Kingdom Quest - Retrieve the remains of dark mages]


    [Ding. Reward - Trust of the King]


    ''Oh, so this bastard still doesn''t trust me?'' Liam smirked but he quickly epted the quest. He once again turned to leave but instead, he stopped.


    Dark mages?


    Remains?


    Don''t I already have it?


    He quickly stuck his hand into the inventory and took out one single ck pearl. This was the same ck pearl he had gotten after raiding the few dark mage conves.


    He had a few more of these inside his inventory but he didn''t take out all the pearls and only picked out one.


    After all, he still hadn''t gotten them inspected and he did not want to lose something valuable.


    But this single pearl was enough to baffle the young King.


    "You already have this? How! Exin yourself!"


    "Yes, your highness. In one of my many adventures, I came across a group of people who were sacrificing small children."


    "Of course, as soon as I saw that, I barged in and rescued those children. This pearl is something I obtained from the people in ck cloaks who had fought with me."


    CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!


    "Bravo! Bravo! Don''t keep my earlier words in mind. You are indeed someone who has done tremendous service to this Kingdom."


    "You are more than capable of assisting me in this holy mission and perhaps with your help, our Kingdom might just bepletely saved."


    [Ding. Questpleted]


    [Ding. You have gained 50,000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have earned the trust of the King]


    Liam looked at all the notifications and chuckled inwardly. This had to be his fastest questpletion rate. He was d that everything was working in his favor.


    But the next part was the most crucial one. Was it possible for him to get the same questline Kouske got?


    If he was not wrong, that should be the main questline that led right to the necromancy inheritance.


    However, it was impossible for two people to get the same inheritance quest. At least something like that had never happened in his previous timeline.


    But perhaps there was a first time for everything?


    This was exactly why he was also standing here and trying to curry this girlish King''s favor using all sorts of tactics and everything was working in his favor so far.


    Liam nervously waited for the final verdict and the King as well opened his mouth. "Hmmm. Let me think about this. We have to strategically move in order to cover all possibilities."


    "I sent the other hero to face the Necromancer''s hideout in the borders of our Kingdom and the Thunderbolt Kingdom."


    "But¡­tely¡­ there are also movements in the west. Perhaps you should investigate the vige in the far south where several people have been inexplicably falling sicktely."


    Bingo! Liam clenched his fists in excitement. Here it was finally!


    [Ding. New Quest avable]


    [Ding. Kingdom Quest - Investigate the vige Jekuja and find out why the inhabitants are falling sick.]


    [Ding. Reward - Permission from the King to set up your estate]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    Liam quickly epted the quest and then bowed and walked out of the King''s chambers. He looked like an extremely excited servant who couldn''t wait to fulfill his master''s orders.


    But in reality, Liam couldn''t care less about the quest that he had actually received. Instead, he was more interested in the other quest the King had mentioned.


    "Hmmm¡­ Borders of Gresh and Thunderbolt is it¡­ that clue is more than enough for me¡­"


    His only concern was whether Kouske got to it or not. If he had already gotten to it, then there would be nothing he could do about it.


    But if he had still not gotten to it¡­ then perhaps¡­


    Liam grinned. The chances for this to happen was quite high. Borders of the Kingdoms were usually 50 to 60 zones.


    And too inheritance quests were difficult.


    So if it was someone who liked to y it safe, they would only attempt it at 55 or 60.


    Considering all this, maybe Kouske was grinding in theher realm invasion missions just to level up fast?


    Now that Liam had that small hint about the quest Kouske received, he was easily able to connect many dots and get an overall understanding.


    There was an extremely high possibility that he had not gotten to the quest yet.


    This was now officially a race. Whoever reaches 50 first would grab the inheritance!


    Liam quickly opened the leaderboard and saw that Kouske was only at 34 while Liam was already at 40.


    However, he couldn''t be careless just because he had this small head start because every level above 40 required a lot of experience points.


    So there was quite a bit of work left to be done.


    "I should thank Shen Yue. This is all because of her luck and her unique quest." He chuckled and then left the royal castle.


    It was time to head back to theher realm and grind there until he hit Level 50.


    Meanwhile¡­ not long after he left the castle grounds¡­


    The young King stood up. He looked around and made sure that no one was present, not even the personal royal guard.


    The King then removed the crown that looked unnecessarily big and heavy and tossed it aside like it was a trinket.


    Immediately long cascading auburn hair fell down to the waist, dancing and twirling around. He or rather she then flopped onto the couch unceremoniously.


    She took a cloth nearby and rubbed her face, removing all the makeup that was smeared on.


    When all theyers werepletely removed, underneath everything, there was a face that could topple nations and drive men crazy.


    And if Liam was there to see this person, he would have definitely been surprised because the woman bore a striking resemnce to the enchantress whom he had just killed.


    In fact, the woman in front of him was several times even more seductive than the enchantress.. However, instead of the raw sexual allure, there was yful innocence and kindness.

 Chapter 220: Nine colored Divinity

    <h4>Chapter 220: Nine colored Divinity</h4>


    After walking out of the royal castle, Liam directly headed over to the beast hall in the royal city. "Alright we are finally here, are you happy?"


    Kyuuuu. The small fox jumped up and down in response.


    Liam was in a good mood so he patted the little girl and headed inside, looking for Seraphina.


    The beast hall in the royal city waspletely different from the beast hall in the trade city. It was much bigger in capacity and the trainers here were also more experienced.


    Moreover, this facility was very selective and only allowed yers inside who were at least Level 25. So the crowd was naturally not there.


    It only took a few seconds for Liam to find the trainer as one of the guards personally escorted him to the beast breeding grounds.


    Many trainers were here and it looked like they were busy tending to all the beasts in the facility.


    Typically only servants and other attendants took care of these odd jobs, but now the trainers themselves were doing it as they hoped to groom the beasts better forbat.


    Seraphina was tending to a three-headed lion when Liam and Luna arrived next to her.


    "Oh! It''s you both again!" She calmly remarked, but suddenly her expression changed. "Lord Duke, please forgive me. I was busy just now and did not realize it was you."


    You mean you just now noticed my title? Liam shrugged and nodded as he did not care about these things.


    It was clear from the way she was looking at him that she couldn''t believe what she was seeing.


    Considering his low level, financial status, and young age, it should have been impossible for him to be a Duke of the Kingdom and yet he still had the title.


    "I have a few things to consult with you, I wonder if Master Seraphina could spare me some time?"


    "Yes, of course. Lord Duke. Pleasee this way." She led Liam and Luna to a private room and once they were inside, she quickly picked up the little fox.


    The cat-like furry and cuddly creature was just as adorable as always so as soon as sheid her eyes on the beast, she couldn''t help herself.


    But she again remembered that she was in the presence of a Duke and tried to quickly recover herposure.


    "Cough. Cough. Congrattions, my Lord."


    "It looks like your spirit beast pet is ready to evolve again. Although raising a spirit beast is very difficult, my Lord, you make it appear very simple. Aha ha ha."


    The trainer revealed a big sweet smile, her behaviorpletely different from thest time they had met.


    "Thank you." Liam nodded, but he side-stepped the ttery and took out the gemstone from his inventory space.


    "Master Seraphina¡­ While I was traveling, I happened toe across this particr item. I wonder if you can tell me something about this."


    "Ah¡­ this!" The loli instantly looked shocked. She reached out her hand and took the gemstone from Liam. Her entire body was trembling and her hand was visibly shaking.


    "Is this¡­?" She looked up to see Liam in shock and awe. "How did you manage to obtain such an item? With this, we can¡­ ah¡­! Wait for a second!"


    She stood up and rushed out and started shouting loudly. "Master Erasmus. Master Rein. Come here fast."


    Liam''s brows knitted together, slightly frowning. He wondered what this loli was up to. But more than him, the fox looked aggrieved and red at the young trainer with animosity.


    Immediately two middle-aged men hurried over to their room. They were about to talk to Seraphina when they noticed Liam''s presence and first greeted him.


    "Quick, quick. Take a look at this first." Seraphina impatiently spoke to the two of them.


    "What happened Master-" Before Rein couldplete his sentence, he also gasped in shock, and abruptly stopped talking.


    He picked up the gemstone from her, his hands trembling as well. "With this¡­ with this, we can¡­"


    Seraphina nodded her head solemnly as she understood exactly what the person wanted to say. She then turned towards Liam and bowed her head deeply.


    At the rate she was going, her forehead might as well touch the ground. "Lord Duke. Please forgive me, but if possible¡­ could you please sell us this gemstone?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam cocked his head. Based on all of their reactions so far, he could roughly guess that this was where things were leaning towards.


    "Please, my Lord. We are desperately in need of this. We willpensate you appropriately for this item." She hurriedly added.


    "Leave all that aside. Can you first tell me what this is?"


    "Ah. Yes, my Lord. Please forgive me. In my anxiousness, I forgot to exin things to you. This gemstone is an extremely precious item called the Nine-colored Divinity."


    "This is something that is particrly helpful for beasts and once they absorb the essence of this gemstone, they are able to break through the shackles of their bloodline and be higher-order beasts."


    "But please worry not. Several beasts can use this gemstone as long as the essence inside the stone is not exhausted."


    "So we would only be purchasing this gemstone from you after little Luna makes her breakthrough."


    "In the future, if you want any other beastpanion to evolve as well, you can directly bring it to us and we will help the beast."


    "There would be no extra fees for you. This is in addition to thepensation that we will provide for you now."


    Without taking a breather, Seraphina tried her hardest to exin things to Liam hoping he would be generous and he as well listened patiently.


    However, on the side, the small fox was about to lose it. There were literally raging mes in the fox''s eyes.


    Liam as well had noticed it and that was why he was letting the loli trainer speak as she wished. Sometimes when things were handed, their value wouldn''t be appreciated enough.


    So if the fox knew that the item was going to leave her hands, she might try harder and maximize the use of it.


    Liam did not know much about beast training but he knew about greed and maniption. There was a person from whom he had learned all of this in hisst life.


    Many people were born with above-average IQ but there was only a handful among billions who were truly dark and devious, born with a brain that could rival supeputers.


    This was also one of the reasons why he was not dealing with the Gu family just yet. Currently, this person should be in the Gu family.


    However, he wouldn''t be there for long and that would be the best time to wipe out that entire family from the face of the.


    And as for that person, Liam did not n to cross paths with him at all, at least until his strength was head and shoulders above everyone else.


    Snapping out of his thoughts of the past, he returned his attention back to the present. "Alright." Liam calmly replied with a smile.


    "I will consider everything that you said, but first I want to see the effect of this gemstone personally."


    "If you help me with Luna''s growth and evolution, then I can consider trading this gemstone with you."


    Liam was very careful with his words. He only said that he would consider and never actually epted the deal. Irrespectively, the other party was instantly ted.


    "Yes, Lord Duke. I absolutely won''t disappoint you. With my help, I can guarantee that Luna will be thrice, no five times more powerful than she is right now!"


    "Okay. I appreciate your help. I don''t have much time, so let''s start? What do we need to do?"


    "Yes, my Lord." Seraphina quickly sent away the other two beast trainers as it was usually rude to discuss someone else''s pet in front of many people.


    These things were confidential and many people wouldn''t prefer it.


    And considering that Liam was a Duke and also someone who held an item that she coveted badly, she absolutely did not want to lose his favor.


    So only after sending them both out, Seraphina took the small fox angrily ring at her, and ced the beast on herp.


    Immediately a warm glow enveloped her hand and she used this glow to examine the fox from top to bottom.


    Hmmm? Is this a type of nature magic or divine magic? Liam silently pondered as he observed everything carefully, without missing a single move.


    The treatment he received now was definitely different than the treatment he had received earlier when he had visited her for Luna''s first evolution.


    When someone wanted something from you, their actions were truly different. Liam chuckled inwardly in amusement.


    A few seconds passed by quietly and the little loli still continued examining Luna. The fox as well calmly sat on herp as if she realized what was going on.


    As a spirit beast, even though she was very young, her intelligence was extremely high. So despite being angry, she sat down obediently and allowed the trainer to examine her.


    A couple more minutes passed and finally, Seraphina opened her eyes. She was sweating slightly and her breathing was a bit ragged.


    She also looked very tired as if she had expended a lot of energy.


    "My Lord¡­ I am done¡­"

 Chapter 221: Fragmented Flame

    <h4>Chapter 221: Fragmented me</h4>


    "Thest time we met, I had mentioned a few ingredients that could boost her growth and help her breakthrough to the next stage."


    "However, from her current growth rate, development and perceptivity, I think she will greatly benefit if we add in another factor," Seraphina exined.


    Liam''s interest was immediately peeked and he rubbed his clean-shaven chin. "Oh, what is this new ingredient?"


    Seraphina''s look immediately turned serious as she replied. "There is a vige in the east named Javi. It is unusually cold and often times the weather is unbearable."


    "My Lord''s strength should be barely sufficient to deal with the strong and powerful creatures there."


    "So if you manage to reach that ce, the vige chief there should be able to give you clues about an ancient spirit beast''s me fragment."


    "I have been meaning to visit the ce myself but I am tied down to the capital city with too many duties. I hope that my Lord can visit this ce and acquire the me fragment."


    "Here is my token." Seraphina handed over a small silver ember. "My Lord, the chief will trust you easily if you show him my insignia."


    "I wish you good luck. If you can acquire this me, then Luna''s potential can truly explode using both the me fragment and the nine-colored divinity stone."


    [Ding. New Quest avable]


    [Ding. Obtain the ancient eternal me from Javi vige]


    [Ding. Reward - Beast Master Seraphina''s recognition and assistance; Reputation with Beast Master Seraphina]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    "Yes." Liam quickly epted it.


    It was truly surprising for him to see that even though he was a Duke and he had an item in his possession that the loli badly wanted, she still did not recognize him!


    But it did not matter, once Luna''s evolution waspleted, with her and the two golems he could power level by grinding invasions back to back.


    So he needed to finish this as soon as possible and head to theher realm.


    "Shall we?" Liam looked at the little fox who was curiously listening to everything with big round eyes. It looked like she had a strong desire to be powerful.


    Liam scruffed the fox and then walked out of the beast hall.


    The duo headed out of the city and getting Talon, they started their journey to the east of the kingdom without any further dy.


    The vige was located slightly towards the south in the eastern part of the Kingdom and because of the Seraphina''s quest, the exact location was marked on the map.


    So Liam did not have any difficulty in getting near the ce.


    However, before he could reach the actual vige, they came across mountainous terrain with strong cold winds. The entire ce was covered with snow and it was freezing cold.


    Talon couldn''t bear to fly in that kind of atmosphere and his stamina rapidly dropped.


    "Alright. Stop here. It looks like we have to go by foot after this."


    Liam left the bird here, remembering the location on the map, and then proceeded to hike up the snowy mountain with Luna on his back.


    The spirit beast as well was not doing that great in the weather so she huddled up close to him, nuzzling inside his shirt, only her little red head peaking out.


    Liam took out another cloak and wrapped himself with it. The duo then braved the terrible freezing cold and walked up the hill to search for the vige settlement.


    "Hmm¡­ Luna¡­ This vige is located in such a remote ce even though these conditions are terrible, so¡­ will the vige chief really give us this me fragment?"


    Kyuuuuu¡­ The fox blinked.


    "Maybe we have to take it by force¡­" Liam muttered, answering his own rhetorical question. "In any case, let''s first find the vige and then have a chat."


    The two of them hiked all the way up, bearing the biting cold, and finally reached the small settlement in a couple of hours.


    The journey would have taken a lot longer but thanks to Liam''s current level and high stamina, he was able to keep up with the cold and reach the ce.


    In front of them was a small and isted settlement that could only be barely called a vige.


    There were literally just a dozen or so yurts and a couple of kids dressed in thick furry robes running around here and there.


    In such a small ce, Liam''s presence was immediately noticed. Not long after an old man walked out of an yurt and approached him.


    "Young adventurer, have you lost your way?"


    Liam smiled politely and shook his head. "Greetings Chief Daka, I am a Duke of the Gresh Kingdom. Beast Master Seraphina has sent me to help in your endeavor."


    "Oh, that youngdy?" The old man looked up at him and nodded, but he still looked a bit hesitant as if he did not believe him.


    Liam then took out Seraphina''s insignia and handed it over to the old man, whose eyes instantly widened in surprise.


    "This is indeed her token. Lord Duke himself has arrived at our small vige to help us. We are truly blessed! We are truly blessed!"


    The chief now started grabbing Liam''s hand and crying. It was aplete 180 change in attitude. Liam chuckled inwardly and waited for the man to speak up.


    "Lord Duke, our vige is suffering. We desperately need your help."


    "A few miles away from our vige, there is a huge cier cave and inside that cave, our ancestral heritage is being held captive by a bunch of strong and powerful monsters."


    "They are treating our prized treasure as a mere firece and using it to warm their bodies in this cold weather."


    "Not only that they are also continuing to attack and plunder our vige as they please."


    "Because of their terrorization, we are being forced to flee and hide in these mountains moving our vige ever so often."


    "This all started only this year and already the number of people in our vige has dwindled to this extent. We have lost several of our capable men and women to those monsters."


    Liam heard the old man exin his plight. "Why don''t you move to another vige, Chief Daka?" He then asked.


    "There are several more convenient ces past these mountains, more habitable and less cold. Why must you all stay here and suffer in these horrendous conditions?"


    "Ah¡­ that¡­" The chief hesitated to answer.


    Liam smiled and did not force him. Also, he could easily guess the reason.


    These guys most probably did not leave this region because they were trying to fight back and get the me fragment.


    If it belonged to an ancient beast, then it was a truly powerful treasure. How could they simply leave it in the hands of the enemy?


    But the real question was¡­ would the old man be willing to part with the me once he retrieved it back?


    Liam had to think about this.


    The people in front of him were struggling in cold harsh weather just to have a chance to fight back, perhaps raid the cave when the monsters were no longer inside or something like that.


    Would such people really just hand it over to him? No way!


    Irrespectively, he decided to worry about this partter and first find out the whereabouts of this cave. He also needed to find out just what sort of inhabitants were present inside.


    Luckily, the old man was able to help him out in both aspects.


    Liam chatted with him for a bit more and then hurried over to the spot where the cave was located.


    About an hourter, they arrived in front of a huge towering cave, one that was not made of stones, rather out of sparkling crystalline ice.


    Stctites and stgmites were littered around the cave and the entire ce looked breathtaking as if someone had purposefully chiseled a beautiful ice sculpture.


    Surprisingly, the weather here was also somewhat bearable whenpared to the nearby areas.


    "This me fragment has such a big impact?" Liam was amazed.


    Now that he was in the vicinity of the cave, he quickly activated [Stealth] and only then proceeded towards the cave opening.


    But he suddenly stopped, noticing another problem. Luna''s small figure was stood out like a sore thumb. She had nowhere to hide in this icy mess.


    "This is not good. Hmm¡­ Wait, this ce is not too cold. Can you try hiding in between these ice spears?"


    Both Luna and Liam looked inside the cave and saw that the cave had a lot more stgmites near the wall than in the middle pathway.


    There were also huge footprints in the middle pathway. Clearly, the ice formations were not there here because of the constant usage of the path.


    However, walls were barely used so that part was rather cluttered.


    Luna quickly hopped over and dove in between the stgmites hiding her small figure easily.


    Liam nodded and then walked in slowly and cautiously in the middle passageway with this [Stealth] activated, while Luna twisted and turned her body slipping in between the ice spheres.


    The two had only barely entered the cave when their first opponents promptly showed up.

 Chapter 222: Famous Four

    <h4>Chapter 222: Famous Four</h4>


    A group of three creatures walked leisurely cackling amongst themselves. They looked like goblins with green-colored skin but were slightly taller and sturdier.


    They also had certain beast characteristics like fur on their body and horns on their head.


    [Level 38 Goblin Beast]


    [Level 41 Goblin Beast]


    [Level 31 Goblin Beast]


    "So these guys are the ones causing all the troubles¡­"


    Liam first carefully observed these creatures and tried to gauge their strong points and weak points.


    He then moved after a couple of seconds.


    "Alright, let''s start."


    Just as he was gathering mana to materialize a huge ball of fire to start the fight with a bang, suddenly something strange happened.


    Three feral arctic wolves barged into the cave and started attacking the goblin beasts in a frenzy.


    Liam immediately stopped moving. He felt that something was off. "Where did thesee from?" He quickly backed away so as to not expose his presence.


    The three wolves continued to attack the goblin beasts and following them a group of four yers barged in.


    "cky 1, watch your back! Three more areing!" The fat chubby guy at the back roared.


    He had a bow in his hand that gave off a golden luster and he was apparently controlling the wolves because one of the three wolves responded to his shout.


    This guy was calling a snow-white arctic wolf cky?


    Liam, however, did not have any time to be amused. Rather he was busy watching the group in awe.


    At first, he did not understand why this group seemed extremely familiar but when he looked at them closely, all of four them bore a remarkable resemnce to four of the very popr experts.


    The chubby Indian beast tamer¡­


    The t-chested Russian blonde with clear emerald eyes who relied on nature magic to heal¡­


    The American thug berserker who liked to shave his head¡­


    Andst but not least¡­


    The thin average height Japanese who was the only normal-looking person in the group¡­ and the one wielding undead monsters.


    "Kouske¡­" Liam muttered in a daze.


    For a second, he waspletely stunned, his brain heating up. Just how the heck was this possible?


    Four different people from four different countries and all four of them¡­ top experts!


    He knew for a fact that these guys were not friends or acquaintances in hisst life, at least not yet in this stage of the game.


    So how the hell was all four of them together, working as a team right now?


    And moreover, they were here trying to snatch the item that he was aiming for?


    Was this just a coincidence or was this pre-nned?


    Liam already knew the answer to this question.


    There was no such thing as a coincidence, this was definitely going ording to someone''s n.


    Someone among the four of them or perhaps another person had purposefully assembled this small group of whos who of ''Evolution Online''.


    Just like how he was trying to collect the gems that he came across, this person as well was clearly collecting.


    The question was¡­ how was that person doing it?


    Did he/ she know that these four were going to be powerful experts? Did he/ she also have knowledge about the future like him?


    It was a ridiculous thought, but it was not a possibility that Liam was ready to rule out just yet. After all, he himself hade back in time.


    So really anything was possible¡­


    He didn''t for a second dare to think that he was special or extraordinary. If he coulde back, then maybe someone else also coulde back.


    This might just be a video game for now but their future was one filled with myriad magical abilities, distorted creatures, and ancient beasts.


    In this kind of future¡­ really anything was possible¡­


    Liam stood absolutely still,pletely shocked from top to bottom. His mind was reeling. The consequences of what he just saw were game-changing.


    Now¡­ he was not just racing against time and the people to who the fate originally belonged, but he was also essentiallypeting against this group of experts.


    Sure, he had others on his side as well.


    Derek had a solid foundation and Shen Yue had a very special, unique, and powerful ss but they alsocked several things.


    Derek might have a solid foundation but he did not have a special ss just yet.


    And to make things worse, Liam had no idea how to obtain one for him.


    He was only a ve and a bottom feeder in hisst life. So he was heavily limited by the knowledge that he was privy to.


    So he was not very confident that he would be able to get one for him.


    Derek''s strength and progress would have to depend on his own efforts. Not to mention, he had already considerably altered the man''s life.


    Would he still have the same drive and hunger for power?


    And as for Shen Yue, she had a special ss, something that could be powerful in a skilled yer''s hands, but shepletelycked the foundation.


    She needed lots and lots ofbat experience and then some more to actually be of any help.


    Considering all of this, it was instantly apparent to Liam that he was at a significant disadvantage.


    While they might be strangers for now, if there was ever a confrontation, he had no doubt that he would lose.


    "Fuck." Liam clenched his fist, his heart thumping loudly in his chest.


    Everything was against him.


    His gaze lingered on the excellent coordination and teamwork the four experts disyed in front of him.


    The group ughtered all the goblin beasts as they casually cruised through with terrifying ease.


    With just one look anyone would be able to tell that they were no ordinary yers. Every skill, every move was properly executed.


    And if they also managed toprehend the true talent behind all these skills and magic¡­ then it was once and for all game over.


    Liam dug his nails further into his palm and calmed himself down.


    "This is not the time to worry about this. I should focus on what''s important now."


    The more important and pressing question right now was¡­ whether these guys joined forces and came together to this spot hunting for him or hunting for the me fragment?


    Based on the way things were unfolding, Liam could tell that it was probably thetter.


    So he saved the rest of his theories, conjectures, and concerns for the future and focussed on the present.


    If he knew anything, it was that nothing was set in stone. They might have the upper hand right now but he was also not that helpless.


    Besides, he had an additional advantage that they did not have yet.


    He knew that they existed when they probably had no clue about his existence.


    Liam grinned. He suddenly knew what he had to do.


    He had to make use of this exact same advantage right now to steal the me right under their noses.


    Rumbling sounds continued to echo from the depths of the cave as Liam started to move once again.


    "Luna, stay back.." He ordered the small fox, made sure that his [Stealth] was still active, and slowly followed the trail of blood and goblin beast corpses.

 Chapter 223: Party Wipe

    <h4>Chapter 223: Party Wipe</h4>


    Liam patiently hid in the background and waited. He did not act just yet.


    Though he overall had an idea of what he had to do, he still had to observe the surroundings and then formte an exact n.


    The interior of the cier cave was very simple.


    The icy walls and the projections jutting out did not change at all as the group and its silent stalker headed deeper and deeper.


    Except for the herds of goblin beasts that came out every once in a while, there was nothing else out of ce.


    This was good for the group of four but for Liam not so much.


    If things continued going so smoothly, then he would only be able to stand in the background and watch while the team also took the me fragment just as easily and left the cave.


    "This won''t do." Liam shook his head and his chance to meddle soon arrived.


    At the next turn, the group came across two mobs of goblin beasts, each standing a few feet away from the other.


    It looked like the hunter had special eyesight so he was able to discern the details properly and informed the group which was also how Liam came to know about it.


    Normally, when two mobs were this close, it was almost impossible to trigger just one without aggroing the other.


    However, this group of four easily did it as the hunter took out a slingshot from his inventory space and aimed for the goblin beast that was the closest to them.


    He then sent a small rock flying towards it and skillfully managed to aggro only the first group without grabbing the attention of the second group at the far end of the passageway.


    On top of this, the berserker also kited the goblin beasts back a few feet and then only started the fight when they were at a safe distance.


    But how could Liam allow things to go so smoothly?


    Hiding in the background, with a subtle smirk on his face, he lifted his finger.


    The next instant a small spark of lightning flew forward towards one of the arctic wolves.


    The spark was so tiny and weak that no one had noticed it but the attack perfectlynded on the wolf''s eye so it started howling in pain.


    Liam did not stop there and sent out several more sparks particrly targeting the three wolves. Soon all three wolves began to howl and dance in pain.


    The team coordination that was pitch-perfect until now was also inexplicably in chaos.


    Because their levels were a lot lower than the goblin beasts, every single fight was on the edge. Even the four experts had to expend all of their energy to deal damage and fight with the mobs.


    So even a small mishap was enough to toss this delicate bnce. But what Liam did wasn''t a small mishap by far.


    Because he attacked the wolves, they were momentarily unable to see properly and deal damage.


    This reduced the overall damage output and not just that, but the healer also had to spend some time to heal the beasts.


    Moreover, when the three pets couldn''t see properly, they swung their paws wildly in pain attacking their own group members.


    So the others had to dodge this attack as well along with the attacks of the goblin beasts.


    The goblin beasts were also far more superior than their normal counterparts as both their speed and strength were enhanced.


    So the mob fight that was going smoothly until now suddenly became a bloody mess. But Liam was not done yet.


    As if themotion he had created was not enough, he also sent some sparks flying to the other group of goblin beasts that had not been pulled yet.


    And bingo!


    They only needed that small nudge.


    Because of all the ruckus the three wolves created, and the screeching and roaring noises from the fight, even if it was Liam who pulled their aggro, the goblin beasts only ended up noticing the other group first and ran towards them.


    "Fuck!" The berserker shouted in panic.


    How could four Level 30 yers handle a couple dozen goblin beasts that were at least seven levels higher than them?


    The next second, the group of four waspletely overwhelmed and their health plummeted down crazily.


    "Crazy bastard, this is all because of your stupid wolves! I fucking hate ying with hunters! Always pulling the aggro. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it."


    The berserker''s agonized shout was thest to be heard when all four dropped dead without being able to handle the fight.


    And Liam who watched this from the sidelines once again looked shocked.


    This was in fact what he had nned for and aimed for right from the start. However, he was only doing this to exhaust all their supplies and cache.


    He did not think that he would actually be able to kill them off so easily.


    But more importantly, they died just like that?


    They didn''t struggle hard. They didn''t try to salvage the situation. The moment things went south, they epted the oue and died as if they decided to simply start over.


    Of course, this was what normally anyone would do in a game, but this was not a game!


    Liam did not know what to think of this.


    On one hand, the four of them were unlikely experts joined together as if they knew what was going to happen in the future.


    But on the other hand, they did not seem to know the penalty behind death and did not seem to mind dying at all?


    How was this possible?


    Did they know about some secret alchemy recipe that could cure damaged souls?


    Or did they not know about anything in the first ce?


    Just as Liam was pondering this, the group of four returned back to the cier cave once again.


    By now, he had already gone back into his [Stealth] mode and the goblin beasts as well returned to their original positions.


    So nothing was off and the group walked in to try their luck again.

 Chapter 224: Goblin Beast Nest

    <h4>Chapter 224: Goblin Beast Nest</h4>


    "Pay attention, at least this time." The blonde healer, Anya started casting earth''s protection on the group while Kouske brought over five undead wolves with him.


    As soon as he saw more pets entering the fray, the berserker Barret facepalmed in annoyance. "Just what we need. More pets! Great! Just great!"


    The fat chubby guy, Madan, who had been gritting his teeth all this time and bearing the insults couldn''t hold it in any longer and angrily retorted back.


    "Shut up. I am telling you, you idiotic numbskull. That wipe was not my fault. My wolves did not pull the aggro. Why the fuck are you always ming me?"


    "Just because I am a hunter you can''t keep fucking ming me for every single thing that goes wrong! This is BS!"


    "BS? Fine, then you tell me what happened?"


    "If you stupid mutts did not drag in more goblins we would have finished the fight by now and moved on!"


    Seeing the two bicker, Kouske tried to speak up but his soft voice was drowned in the background.


    He turned to look at Anya for help but she looked the other way ying casually with her blonde curls as if she couldn''t care less what happened here.


    Without any other choice, Kouske could only hope that the two would stop fighting. However, even after a few minutes, they still continued pointlessly arguing back and forth.


    Seeing that this was not going anywhere, Kouske sighed and opened his system interface. He then made a call.


    Instantly, the two who were bickering on the side turned stiff.


    "FUCK. Cut the call. Cut the call, damn it."


    "Not fighting. Not fighting. Let''s start the run again."


    "Damn it. Kouske, do you have to be such a tattletale? Always running to big brother for this and that."


    "If you had just asked us to stop, we would have stopped. We were only discussing a bit loudly."


    Hearing these two shamelessly trying to justify their actions, Kouske closed his system interface and chuckled wryly in silence.


    But Anya did not remain silent. "You two brutes. Always fighting stupidly. Let''s start." She scoffed, rolling her eyes.


    Both Madam and Barret red at her but they did not argue back. Instead, they even looked at each other and exchanged meaningful nces, also rolling their eyes.


    When they had first been introduced to the Russian blonde, they were both trying to woo her because she was very tall and very sexy.


    However, as soon as a few days passed, this illusionpletely wore off. Her personality was the absolute worst and she was also extremely prideful.


    So they no longer bothered to treat her with reverence and instead avoided her like the gue.


    She was also unfortunately the favorite of their big brother. So the two did not behave like they usually behaved and cursed each other.


    Kouske did not want another fight to break out so he quickly eased the tension and asked Madan to once again aggro the goblin beast pack.


    Their small group might be always at odds when they were not fighting but once everything started that was when they coordinated perfectly and understood each other as if they were the best of friends.


    So once again Madan took his slingshot out and tickled one of the goblin beasts attracting its aggro, thereby the aggro of the first group.


    The first started again and they hacked and shed at the goblin beasts with vengeance.


    And Liam who watched all of this from the sidelines, stood silently, without intervening this time.


    The opponent he was up against right now waspletely different from all the other people he had faced so far. These people in front of him were not foolish by any means.


    If he intervened again, they would surely know that there was someone else present here along with them.


    And Liam had no ns of letting that happen.


    He continued silently observing them from the darkness of the cave as the group proceeded to once again smoothly clear everything in sight.


    He in fact kept on watching everything all the way until they reached the very end of the cave.


    And then his moment finally arrived¡­


    As the group reached the end of the passageway, suddenly the number of goblin beasts tripled. This looked like their nest and they all rushed together at the four intruders at the same time.


    Not just that but there was also a huge Elite goblin beast seated on a throne-like ice formation. This boss goblin beast was Level 55!


    And each of the mob goblin beasts was Level 40!


    No one including Liam had expected these kinds of numbers so they instantly unleashed all of their strongest attacks and tried to buy some time to salvage this situation.


    But Liam who was able to see everything from a bystander''s perspective needed only one second to gauge the situation.


    Although these four were experts, there was no way that they were going to survive this onught.


    This high-level horde would have been difficult to manage even for him, but he had several backup ns for such situations.


    This was why he had also temporarily borrowed the golems from his sister.


    If not the golems, he would have bombed this whole ce with explosives and then taken the me fragment.


    However, from the looks of things, these peoplecked such preparations.


    This was all the more surprising for Liam because someone who knew enough to gather these four monster yers did not prepare adequate supplement items?


    Was this just a coincidence or was this as well nned to ensure that they wouldn''t end up bing too powerful for their ''big brother'' to handle?


    Liam still had no idea which single individual was behind all these four people. He had only heard of the term ''big brother.''


    So it might be just a single person, but it could be a corporation or one of the big families. Moreover, they could be from any part of this world.


    He might or might not be connected to them.


    Considering all these, he definitely needed more information about this newly cropped-up issue, but now was not the time.


    As Liam casually observed the carnage around him, he noticed that what he wanted was right there in the cave¡­ near the throne of the huge boss goblin beast.


    It was just a few feet away from him, and the only thing that was standing in his way was the group of four humans and the goblin beasts rumbling and tumbling with each other.


    Liam quickly made a n and sprang into action.


    These four people clearly did not have the ability to handle thisst mob and the boss that came along with the mob.


    It was just a matter of seconds before they died and the party wiped once again.


    In fact, they would probably need a couple more tries to even clear out the mob fully and fight with the boss one on one.


    And that fight was also probably going to take a couple of tries.


    Now, Liam was not sure if these people were aware of the quest with the vige chief or they simply came here from some other quest crumb.


    Taking everything into consideration, if he dived in for the me fragment right now and escaped the cave along with it, these goblin beasts would be able to buy him the time he needed.


    He could then get the hell out of here and also meet with the vige chief for submitting the quest without any issues.


    These people might not even have the time to notice the disappearance of the me until after he left the area.


    And by the time they notice he would be long gone.


    He wouldn''t be caught by them and his presence wouldn''t be revealed.


    Liam doubted that they even noticed the me in all the chaos that was running amok in the cave. There was a chance that might simply assume that the me was never here to begin with.


    So no matter from which angle he thought about it, it was a win-win situation.


    However, he didn''t have much time. If the party wiped and came back a second time, then they might notice it.


    So now was his only chance. He needed to grab the me asap and run!


    Liam moved and his figure instantly materialized,ing out of stealth. It was impossible for him to stay out of sight with these many attacks flying back and forth.


    He was bound to be hit by one or two and there was nothing that could be done about it.


    Nevertheless, stealth or not, he was still invisible with all themotion and uproar. No one paid any attention to him.


    So he used this chance to quietly walk over to the me fragment that was sealed in a chunk of ice and then tossed it into his inventory without a care in the world.

 Chapter 225: Empty Cave?

    <h4>Chapter 225: Empty Cave?</h4>


    As soon as Liam pocketed the me crystal, the temperature inside the cier cave instantly crashed and dipped.


    All three parties including the goblin beasts, the four humans, and also the fifth human felt this change.


    However, the former two were too busy to care about this at the moment and thetter only saw it as a sign of his time to leave.


    Only the goblin beast boss angrily roared as it realized that someone had stolen its precious treasure.


    It started attacking the group of four with even more vigor and frenzy and before long four corpses fell down and once again the party was wiped.


    The goblin beast boss then impatiently turned around to search for the me fragment. But why would Liam linger around?


    He and the me fragment were both long gone.


    He used all of his mana to push his physical limits to the extreme and then ran out of there as fast as he could.


    Liam dashed out all the way out of the cier cave and ran down the mountains.


    He also scooped up Luna who was nearby and ran continuously, only stopping near the small vige.


    As there was a light blizzard everyone seemed to be inside their yurt. Even Liam could feel the biting cold seeping through to his body core.


    He did not bother knocking on the different yurts to find the old chief. Instead, he smiled and took out the frozen me from his inventory space.


    Instantly, the small fox''s face lit up, greedily licking her lips.


    Before she could even make a noise, one of the yurts burst open and the vige chief ran over, panting and heaving, his big eyes bulging in surprise.


    He looked at the me crystal the same way Luna was looking at the crystal.


    Liam chuckled inwardly and handed the item over to the chief, who took it from him as if his life depended on it. He was trembling and shaking from top to bottom.


    And of course, the blizzard and everything else suddenly did not matter.


    Partially because their treasure had been returned to them, but also because the effect of the me was once again visible.


    It provided a warmth that instilled a kind of uniquefort and ease.


    The old man looked at the me fragment longingly and then started crying. "Thank you, my Lord. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."


    "You have saved my people and done us all a great kindness and favor, something that we cannot repay in this lifetime."


    The old man muttered whilst sobbing in between.


    Hearing this, Liam''s face twitched.


    Was he really not going to give it to him? This greedy bastard! What a time waste!


    But Liam wasn''t all that worried. The chief was barely Level 25 and all the vigers were also only Level 18.


    If they were any stronger then they could have taken care of their problem by themselves. Most probably the stronger members of their tribe were killed by the goblin beasts.


    Liam patiently listened to the old man''s rant and sobbing. He also mentally prepared himself to deal with him as he did not have too much time to waste.


    The group of four could return here at any time now. So he needed to act fast.


    Just as he was about to snatch the me crystal back from the trembling hands of the chief, the other members of the vige starteding out and gathering around.


    However, unlike the chief they all did not look too pleased to see that the me fragment was restored.


    In fact, they looked extremely angry and agitated.


    Before the chief could say anything, an old woman stepped forward and shouted.


    "We don''t want that ursed item here. My son died because he was trying to protect that."


    "My husband was killed because he tried to fight with those monsters and bring this back."


    "This is not our blessing. This is our curse. We don''t want it."


    The several vigers who had gathered started to make a hugemotion, crying and shouting in frustration.


    At first, the chief looked shocked and surprised, but slowly he as well sighed in tiredness. Perhaps it was time to move on.


    He shook his head helplessly and looked at Liam. "My Lord. We are all extremely indebted to you. This kindness you have shown us, please allow me to repay you."


    "Please take this crystal."


    "Knowing that our ancestral treasure is with someone kind and noble like you and not those filthy bloodthirsty beasts, we will all be able to rest easy tonight."


    To Liam''s surprise, the old man extended his trembling hands and returned the me crystal back to him.


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry. Thankfully, he had been a bit patient so there was time for all of this to y out.


    Otherwise, he would have massacred everyone here and taken the crystal by force.


    But now there was no need for it, so he happily epted the crystal and then waved goodbye to the group of people.


    He was short on time so he did not ept their hospitality feast and invitation to stay back to talk to them.


    From what he could see, they were also starting to gather their things and move out of the cold mountains.


    The me crystal was already saved from the goblin beasts so there was no longer any need for these people to stay in these adverse conditions.


    Liam silently wished the vigers good luck and then rushed over to the coordinates where Talon was waiting for him.


    Only when he and Luna got onto the bird''s back and they rose up in the sky, did he let out a breath of relief. Somehow this mission was aplished.


    He had a feeling that every single mission after this was only going to be more and more troublesome.


    Meanwhile¡­ a few party wipes and couple more deathster¡­ four people stared at the big empty cier cave.


    "Where the fuck is that me?"

 Chapter 226: Bursting Potential

    <h4>Chapter 226: Bursting Potential</h4>


    Madan and Kouske refrained from jumping to conclusions and patiently searched the whole cier cave from top to bottom, again and again.


    They searched every inch of the cave without giving up. They even dug up the icy walls and the hard frozen ground to search for the me.


    However, even after spending such a long time inside the cave, they were unable to find the me or even any clue about it.


    Finally, Anya spoke up. "You guys continue searching. Let me have a chat with the vige chief first. Maybe something changed?"


    The other three also nodded in agreement. She left the cave to search for the small settlement. However, weirdly, she was once again lost.


    No matter how much shebed the mountains, she was not able to find those small yurts, the old vige chief, and the handful of people.


    After a while, she did find some other small clues, sets of footprints here and there, leftover wood from most probably a cooking fire, and signs that some people had lived here recently but they were no longer there.


    She sighed and went back to report this. The other three as well became rmed after hearing this and searched the mountains again.


    However, no matter how much time they spent, they simply could not find out any clues about the small vige. It was as if everyone had disappeared.


    A couple more hours passed and they could only reluctantly give up.


    "Let''s leave," Kouske muttered and the group left the freezing mountains.


    Not long after, Madan slowly asked, "Do you think someone else got that me fragment?"


    "What? Impossible!" Barret gritted his teeth. They had worked so hard for it, even losing a few levels. How could someone else have obtained it?


    "Ya. It''s not possible." Anya added. "No one else could have handled those mobs. Very few yers are at Level 30 right now."


    "Hmmm. What you are saying makes sense." Madam nodded.


    However, he was very paranoid by nature so he couldn''t help but think about the only person who could have possibly taken the me before them.


    "Then what about the yer who is at the top of the leaderboard right now?" Madam slowly asked.


    "If it is him, then it possible for him to have cleared the cave before us and taken the me fragment."


    Hearing everyone suddenly fell silent. Though what Madan suggested sounded extremely impossible, they couldn''t just rule it out.


    But after a while, Kouske shook his head. "No, I don''t think so. The chances of something like that happening are very low. Did you forget big brother suggested us this ce?"


    "There is no chance for a normal yer to know about it. Also, that person Liam should be in theher world at the moment."


    "I saw him in the leaderboard." Kouske tried to reason. However, he himself did not sound convinced by his own words.


    "Let''s just tell what happened to brother. He will take care of the rest." He nodded and the team silently hopped onto their flying mounts and left the area.


    Meanwhile¡­ the person whom they were talking about had already arrived close to the center part of the Gresh Kingdom.


    Liam as usual let Talon wander outside, and entered the royal city along with Luna. The two of them straightaway went to the beast hall to meet with Seraphina.


    The beast trainer revealed a big smile as soon as she saw Liam as if she wanted to eat him whole and Liam cleared his throat awkwardly.


    "We have the me fragment."


    "Lord Duke, that is amazing news! Congrattions! My Lord is so capable." The loli smiled ear to ear. However, Liam was not fooled.


    He knew that this person was only being so nice because she wanted the gemstone. So he simply nodded, not reacting to several words of ttery.


    Seeing that her charms were not working, Seraphina cleared her throat. "Cough. Cough. Now we have all the required items. We can help little Luna level up, my Lord."


    Kyuuuu!


    The little fox jumped up and down as soon as she heard her name. Liam smiled and took her in his hand, rubbing her little head.


    "Let''s start."


    Seraphina tied her brown hair up into a bundle and started taking out the different herbs and essences that were required.


    Some of them were a little difficult to obtain and yet she willingly parted with the items because ultimately the gemstone was the most precious thing at the moment.


    So she did not hold back and took out all the top-tier ingredients.


    Liam saw that she was even taking out fire essence crystals. These were extremely rare drops and the loli master was generously taking out several of them.


    The little fox as well eyed all the items with a twinkle in her eyes and then started obediently eating up one after the other, listening to everything Seraphina told.


    Slowly by slowly the fox first ate all the herbs and then some tonics and then the essence crystal. By the time she was done her stomach was bulging.


    She also had an intoxicated content look on her face, burping in satisfaction.


    The next second, her fur color slowly started to change. The bright red of her fur turned into a shade of orange.


    But at this point, Seraphina quickly intervened. "Wait, Luna. Don''t break through just yet."


    She took out the me crystal that Liam had obtained and then muttered a few words under her breath.


    The solid ice around the me instantly melted and from within it, a small wisp of yellow essence emerged.


    "Quick. Quick. Absorb it." Seraphina instructed.


    The essence was so strong that both she and Liam began sweating profusely. However, the small fox found it very pleasant and hurriedly inhaled it.


    Almost immediately, her body started heating up and her fur color once again began changing, turning from into a shade of yellow and then yellow with a tinge of green.


    "This girl''s evolution is so colorful?" Liam carefully observed everything.


    He saw that Luna was in a lot of pain so he rubbed her head gently.


    The little fox wrapped her tail around his hand and had her eyes tightly closed as if she was trying really hard to bear everything even though it was painful.


    Seeing this Seraphina lightly gasped in awe. "You have here an amazing pet, my Lord. Her intelligence level is off the charts."


    "What do you mean?" Liam asked.


    "This me fragment is actually too much for her to handle at the moment. Using it right, we could actually call it a waste."


    "Even I wouldn''t have suggested it if not for the fact that we had a nine-colored divinity gemstone with us."


    "So basically, the essence from the me should be too much for her. She would only be able to absorb it partly and waste the rest."


    "But your spirit beast is trying her best to take in everything."


    "Oh?" Liam was surprised.


    "Yes, my Lord. If it was any other beast, by now it would have released the essence that it could not handle. Aha ha ha¡­ but your beast is really amazing."


    "May I know from where Lord Duke managed to obtain such a powerful spirit beast?"


    Liam, however, did not bother answering her and continued to gently rub the little fox''s head, trying tofort it as much as possible.


    Seeing that she wasn''t getting anything, Seraphina could only sulk in silence and she also carefully observed the fox.


    A littleter, her fur color once again started to change¡­


    "Impossible!" Seraphina blurted out. "Lord Duke, your beast is evolving again. At this rate¡­ her potential¡­ there is a possibility for her to be an extremely terrifying existence!"


    "Quick, let''s give her the gemstone."


    Liam nodded and took out the gemstone from the inventory. He gave it to Seraphina and she ced it near the fox.


    Instantly, Luna''s face softened and she looked a little relieved.


    "The gemstone should give her a cooling nourishing feeling. So she should be able to ease up now." Seraphina exined.


    Liam as well nodded. All of this was new to him so he carefully observed everything and tried to make sense of the details.


    However, just as the loli finished talking, the little fox''s face that had only just now rxed, suddenly became tensed up again.


    "What is happening now?" Liam became worried.

 Chapter 227: Please Listen To Me

    <h4>Chapter 227: Please Listen To Me</h4>


    Luna''s face had an extremely pained expression and her body turned bright green. A few drops of blood as well started leaking out of her eyes.


    Liam''s expression became grim and he looked up to see Seraphina. Unexpectedly, she also had a nk stare. She was looking at the fox as if she had no idea what was going on.


    This only made Liam more worried. "What is happening? Say something. Is she ok?"


    "My Lord." Seraphina snapped out of her trance and quickly started tending to the fox.


    A bright glow covered her hands but as she tried to touch the beast, an invisible barrier repelled her. "My Lord¡­ I don''t think there is anything we can do now."


    She looked helplessly at the barrier which was now bing brighter and brighter with a green glow, same as the fox''s fur.


    It did not stop there and the barrier even started to solidify. The next second, Lunapletely disappeared, and now a hard green shell covered her small body.


    This looked round and oval in shape and resembled an egg. The green color as well became a dark purple with a single white spot on the egg.


    "My Lord¡­ this¡­" Seraphina carefully took the egg in her hands and observed it from all angles. She had never seen an evolution like this before.


    More importantly, the nine-colored divinity gemstone was still inside this egg!


    This was the first time she was seeing one beingpletely gobbled up by a beast.


    When the egg eventually breaks¡­ she had no idea if any part of that gemstone will remain.


    Watching her stare at the egg dumbfoundedly, Liam worriedly asked. "Is she alright?"


    "Ah." Seraphina shook her head.


    While she was only thinking about the gemstone, Liam was obviously more concerned about the little fox.


    "My Lord, typically a small amount of essence from either of the two items should have been enough for Luna to evolve and unlock its potential."


    "Though I don''t really know what exactly is happening here¡­ My guess is that your fox wants to absorb all the essence from both the gemstone and the me fragment."


    "This is the first time I am seeing a beast behave like this. Even for an intelligent spirit beast, she seems to be very peculiar."


    "Especially for her age."


    "Only battle experienced beasts will have the thirst to evolve themselves and make themselves more powerful than they are."


    "They will try their hardest to be the best that they possibly could."


    "So for a young beast like her, this kind of pride and desire is very unusual," Seraphina muttered, exining whatever she could to Liam.


    In the end, she also understood only so much.


    "So this is a good thing, right?" Liam did not understand.


    "No, my Lord. Not necessarily." Seraphina shook her head. "It is, unfortunately, the worst case possible."


    "Since Luna is trying to overreach beyond her capability, there is a high chance that she might suffer some terrible injuries."


    "She is also evolving too fast. It is not good at all. She will not have a good foundation. Only beasts with very special bloodlines have the ability to grow exponentially like this."


    "But Luna''s bloodline is a normal one. She is just an ordinary spirit beast. So this type of speedy growth is not good for her."


    "I wish I could have stopped it or helped her slow down but everything happened too suddenly."


    "Is there any way I can help her now?" Liam asked, taking the egg back from her.


    "No, my Lord," Seraphina replied. "Perhaps taking her to fire essence rich ces might help, though I am not sure how much."


    "Ok." Liam nodded. He mentally began to think about all fire-type locations in the Gresh Kingdom and other neighboring kingdoms.


    Breaking his thought, Seraphina further added. "Ummm¡­ My Lord, if you don''t mind, please visit the beast in two months. Grand Master Herald will be visiting the royal city at that time."


    "He will definitely be able to help you better. He has a lot more experience dealing with unique beasts like Luna."


    "Oh." Liam nodded and then thanked her. He carefully ced the egg in his inventory and then bid farewell to the beast trainer.


    Seraphina could only bite her tongue and bow humbly in response.


    She had originally wanted to obtain the nine-colored divinity gemstone, but now not only had she lost the gemstone but she had also lost a lot of precious items that she used to help the fox evolve.


    She couldn''t help but feel as if this new Duke and his mysterious fox had scammed her through and through.


    The only constion was that if that egg ever cracked, she would perhapse to witness something extraordinary, perhaps even the birth of a terrifying beast.


    Knowing that she also yed a part in this might be enough to push her status to the grandmaster level.


    However, the chances of that happening were extremely slim.


    She looked at Liam''s disappearing figure and let out a long sigh. What a wasted opportunity!


    Liam, on the other hand, silently walked out of the royal city engrossed in his thoughts.


    While he was worried about Luna, and the little fox''s hasty greedy actions, he also had a feeling that she was very special.


    Not to mention that he had pried her egg away from a dragon!


    So he had a small hope that her bloodline was perhaps not that ordinary. Maybe she knew what she was doing?


    Irrespectively, his knowledge was useless when it came to the little fox. He did not know anything about spirit beasts to help her.


    He could now only rely on Seraphina and the Grandmaster she had mentioned to help the little fox.


    In the meantime, he could visit fire essence rich ces whenever possible and help her as much as he could.


    Other than that, this matter was really out of his hands.


    Liam clenched his fists tightly as he still remembered the vivid painful expression on the fox''s face. He took out the egg and rubbed it gently.


    "Hang in there. You can do it."


    With a tired and lonely sigh, he kept the egg back into the inventory space and continued walking out.


    A short distance away from him, three figures stopped moving so as to put sufficient distance between themselves and the target who was other than Liam.


    "Even that bastard can show such an expression?" Alex muttered, watching Liam talking so lovingly to an egg.


    "I am also surprised," Mia replied.


    "Fucking asshole. Treats an egg better than he treats other human beings!" Alex spat out.


    Just for him, they had left a scout outside the royal city to keep an eye out for the wind ripper mount.


    So as soon as the information arrived, the three of them prepared themselves and started following Liam.


    This time not even Mia was against settling their scores. They had touched a snake and now he had to be killed.


    Just when they thought that their troubles were over, all of a sudden their guild members were being hunted down left and right by other guild members.


    When finally got a chance to find the reason for this, they came to know that Liam was behind everything. He did not even lift his finger and yet they were suffering insane losses.


    If this went on, they might not even y the game and just quit it.


    So Mia as well came to the conclusion that they had to fight an all-out battle and finish this issue once and for all. They simply could not afford to suffer any more losses.


    In between their argument, a small voice sounded. "Great supreme goddesses, the two of you¡­ please listen to me¡­"


    Rey pped his hands, bowed his head, and muttered in exasperation. "It is not toote. we can stop here. I will talk to big brother and smooth things over."


    His voice cracked and he sounded like he was very close to crying.


    "The fuck? You are still calling him big brother? Aren''t you angry at him? That bastard literally put out a hit order on us and our fucking guild almost disbanded."


    "Did you forget how they chased you and killed you repeatedly?"


    "Didn''t you die like 20 times?"


    Earlier it was just Alex but now that both Mia and Alex were against him, Rey could only helplessly back off.


    "How could I forget! How could I forget! You both fight and I am the one paying the price!" Rey wryly replied.


    The unfortunate thing was that both his sisters were extremely skilled. Alex and Mia were both very talented and had a wide set of skills.


    They had the ability to singlehandedly fight back and wreak havoc on any group that pursued them and wanted to hunt them down.


    However, Rey was not like that.


    In the end, he was the one who was constantly losing levels and suffering.


    Because of his rtion to these two and his high position in the guild, he had inadvertently be everyone''s favorite target.


    So the guilds kept on repeatedly killing him so that they could buy potions from Liam.


    At one point, someone camped on the graveyard and brought his level down all the way to 0.


    Because of this, he was always feeling down these days, very sad and depressed. He did not even like ying this stupid game anymore.


    Who would want to if any time they step out of the city, they are hunted down and killed like a rare elite!


    Rey cursed his miserable plight. This was all because of this unnecessary fight that was going on.


    He hoped that his sisters would apologize to Liam and end this insanity, but¡­


    It looked like things were only going to be worse¡­ just how were these two going to defeat a monster like him?


    Did they really think this through?


    Should I just message big brother and smooth things over without telling these two? Maybe I should log off ande back next week?


    Rey sighed and followed his two sisters as they followed Liam out of the royal city.

 Chapter 228: Surprise Motherfcker!

    <h4>Chapter 228: Surprise Motherfcker!</h4>


    Liam silently walked out of the royal city. He was a bit distracted because of all the recent things that were happening.


    Kouske¡­ The Gu family¡­ The four experts he hadpeted with¡­ and now Luna¡­


    He had also not improved his strength in a while.


    There were too many things that he needed to do.


    He couldn''t help but feel as if everything was slowly slipping away from his hands and he was also slowly losing the advantage he had.


    It was as if he was just another minute away from losing everything he had and returning back to that helpless nobody he was in his past life.


    Liam clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles turned white and looked ahead with determination.


    He would never be that weak helpless person again. No matter what happened he was never going to let history repeat itself.


    It was time to power up!


    Just as he was stepping out of the gates, he whistled and Talon immediately flew down to him.


    However, instead of stepping forward and hopping onto the bird''s back, Liam paused.


    He was not alone!


    From the corner of his eyes, he saw a couple of familiar faces.


    And this time Liam was not amused!


    He also did not want to waste his time dealing with these pests so he stopped and moved a couple of feet back into the royal city.


    Screee! Screee!


    Talon as wellnded on the ground and walked over to stand next to him. The two of them did a U-turn and started walking back into the city.


    The guards did not seem to care about it and respectfully bowed and greeted Liam again.


    Seeing this, Alex wanted to punch someone in the face.


    Just how much reputation did this bastard have? Why are the guards treating him like he was the fucking King?!


    They both watched him as he walked over to a nearby inn.


    "I think that bastard realized that we are following him." Alex spat out.


    "I think so too." Mia coldly replied.


    "Heh. He thinks that he is safe just because he is the city? Dream on!" Alex smirked and then added.


    "Mia, I don''t mind spending a couple of days in prison. Can you activate your divine prison? I will take care of him before the skill ends."


    "Ok." Mia nodded. This is a skill they had specifically prepared for Liam, so she also had the confidence to deal with him.


    "Let him first go to his room."


    The two of them and the reluctant third person followed Liam and watched him talk to the innkeeper in length.


    The innkeeper was a very beautiful mature-looking woman with an eye-catching endowed chest. Though she was older, she still retained charm and elegance.


    Her age in fact only added to this kind of mature sensuality.


    Seeing this Alex rolled her eyes. "What a perverted jerk! I bet he is trying to hook up with that woman."


    Mia did not say anything and simply kept her eye on the target. Rey on the other hand grinned sheepishly.


    "You both don''t know how to admire beauties. This right here is a first-ss MILF. No wonder big bro is chatting her up." Rey yawned. He was feeling sleepy again.


    Alex turned to re at him angrily but as soon as she saw him, she only looked worried. "Aren''t you sleeping a bit too much these days?"


    "No. No, sis. Nothing like that." Rey replied, once again yawning.


    "Maybe we should go to a doctor tomorrow? We haven''t done the yearly check-up for this year. Maybe you are anemic or something?"


    "Ok. Then I will log out and take a nap. You guys do something. Good luck." Rey smiled helplessly and logged out.


    The two women then turned to pay attention to Liam who finally finished speaking to the innkeeper and headed upstairs.


    "Ok. Let''s go. I think this inn should have a backdoor." Alex muttered.


    Mia, however, stopped her. "Let''s first wait a bit. Maybe he didn''t notice us and is nning to log out for some time and take a break?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "I just think it''s risky to kick up trouble inside. So let''s keep it as ast resort."


    "Fine." Alex simmered down and the two of them waited.


    They knew that they were wasting time but even otherwise, they would be wasting time because of the endless groups of yers always chasing them and hunting them down.


    It had be impossible for them to make any progress unless they did something about Liam.


    While the two continued waiting outside, Liam had already opened aher portal inside the inn''s room and slipped away to theher realm along with Talon a long time ago.


    But not before he left the two girls a surprise.


    Alex and Mia waited for a couple of hours and then another couple of hours but Liam did not look like he was returning any time soon.


    Finally, Alex lost her patience.


    "I think he is back and he is purposefully toying with us. Maybe he is already inside the inn and making some sort of counterattack n. I will and check it out first."


    "And if an opportunity presents itself, I will kill that asshole personally."


    "It''s just fucking prison. I will handle it. I will kill that guy and then when he resurrects in the graveyard, get all our guild members to camp there and kill him again and again."


    "It''s fine. We will all go to jail for a couple of days, so what?"


    "At least this will permanently nuke that guy''s growth and bring him back down to earth. After that why would the other guilds make an enemy out of us for that bastard?"


    "Things will go back to the way they were and we will be able to y again freely."


    After hearing Alex, Mia nodded in agreement and she did not stop her. "You will be able to handle him right?"


    Alex scoffed. "Yes. Yes. Sure, he was more experienced than us in the beginning, but how could I possibly lose even now?"


    "I have been waiting for this day far too long now." She punched her fist onto her palm, the one end of her lips pulling upward.


    Both Alex and Mia nced at each other and then Alex took the first step. She activated [Stealth] and walked over to the inn''s back door.


    However, as soon as she touched the door, almost instantly a group of royal guards surrounded her. "You are under arrest."


    One of the guards stepped forward and cuffed her hands with special shackles and started dragging her away.


    Alex did not even have the time to think about what the hell just happened. "I did not do anything wrong. Let me go." She pleaded.


    But the guards paid no attention to her. Mia as well watched this but she was also helpless. The royal guards did not listen to anyone.


    After the guards took her, she went to the innkeeper and enquired.


    "Ma''am, what happened?"


    "Oh. That youngdy tried to enter the inn in stealth."


    "But that is not a serious offense, right? She didn''t do anything wrong?"


    "That''s right. However, she was definitely up to no good! Even the Duke warned me about her!"


    The woman gracefully smiled, a hint of shyness appearing on her face recalling the young Duke and answered her.


    "Duke?" Mia gasped. Liam was already a duke? While they were bing weaker every day, he was bing that much stronger!


    "Can a Duke give orders to arrest anyone in the city?" Mia asked, already dreading hearing the answer.


    And just like she thought¡­ the innkeeper revealed another sweet smile and replied.


    "Yes, of course, he can!"


    So now¡­ instead of following him and finding an opportune moment to attack him, they had to run and hide from him?


    They were no longer safe both inside and outside the cities and towns!


    "Damn it." Mia bit her lips, making them redder.


    She did not know why but every time they shed with this person, she felt as if they were digging their own graves.


    Not only did they suffer a loss each and every single time but their losses were also insanely punishing. If they did something, then he returned that favor ten times stronger!


    Mia did not even know if they could afford to oppose him anymore. They were truly at their lowest point.


    She was also very tired. They had some real-life issues to deal with as well and nothing was going their way.


    It was as if they were being cornered from all directions with no way out.


    Mia sighed, and then returned to her calm andposed expression before walking out of the city.


    With Alex and Rey both unavable, she decided to gather some reliable members of their guild and keep raiding dungeons to improve their overall strength.


    Her slender and elegant figure looked very lonely as she alone walked out of the royal city.

 Chapter 229: Let The Grind Begin!

    <h4>Chapter 229: Let The Grind Begin!</h4>


    With Talon as his ride, it only took Liam 10 seconds to reach the town and he immediately dived right in.


    He had already taken a lot of detours and he couldn''t afford to waste any more time.


    He hurried to the central square and saw the bunch of familiar faces who were almost as eager as him.


    Liam waved his hand and called forth all of them. The number of demons waiting for him had now doubled.


    It looked like everybody had survived thest invasion, so there were now ten of them waiting in front of him.


    All of them had big smiles on their faces, clearly very happy to see Liam.


    However, when they rushed over to Liam, they saw him smiling as well and for some unknown reason, they started subconsciously sweating.


    "Let''s start an invasion first."


    Liam continued smiling and tore open the first portal scroll without exining much.


    And thus began the never-ending grind¡­


    Liam wore the ck mask on his face and he and his team of demons started invading Xion without any break.


    Since these were the special war missions, every single one of themnded the group in ces filled with at least a few yers.


    And this time, Liam did not hold back.


    He used Talon, his golems, the grenades, every single thing in his disposition, and massacred all the living breathing beings in his sight.


    It did not matter if they were yers, beasts, monsters, or other races, everyone was killed without any prejudice.


    All the demon beasts in his team as well gained a new type of respect for him.


    Liam recruited the two groups of demons alternatingly and continued doing the invasion missions without any rest.


    So while his demonckeys at least got some downtime, he continued tirelessly cutting down the enemies and engaging in battles.


    Everyone couldn''t help but appreciate his battle prowess and mental strength. To fight continuously like this also required a certain type of willpower.


    And their squad leader definitely had that talent. Inspired by his actions, they also fought to the best of their capabilities.


    They continued grinding out one mission after another and slowly but steadily, loots, gold, experience points, and contribution points began piling up.


    Soon, their squad began to slowly rise to the top.


    Their ranking continuously kept on increasing as they cleared missions back to back with resounding sess.


    And to the dismay of the envious demon beast at the token counter, Liam as well donated the maximum loot to the war chest every single time.


    He was nevercking gold to begin with and now that he had all the gold he had earned from the PVP arena betting, the progress was very smooth.


    In just a couple of days, the entire Thol city came to know about this new terrifying squad.


    And Liam as well sessfully managed to fill out his required million contribution points for the next upgrade, finally stepping out of the squad leader rank.


    [Ding. Your rank has been upgraded]


    [Rank: toon Leader] (0/100,000,000)


    [Ding. You are now able to recruit up to 30 soldiers]


    "100 million contribution points?" Liam coldly gazed at the notifications.


    They had to run about twenty invasion missions just to gather 1 million contribution points. So a 100 million contribution points was an astronomically high number.


    But this was to be expected since a toon leader canmand a huge group of 30 demon soldiers.


    The next rank might have an even more terrifying amount of power and a lot of demon soldiers'' lives would inevitably depend on themander.


    So a promotion from the toon leader rank would not be easy.


    But Liam wasn''t all the concerned about these ranks. His main goal was to power level using these missions.


    Every single level after 30 required a lot of experience points. Not to mention that Liam was at Level 40. So the experience points required for leveling up were even higher.


    After grinding for 96 hours straight, he only managed to bring his current level to 42.


    "Hmmm¡­ So each level is taking about 48 hours¡­" Liam silently pondered.


    "48 hours is one day, and considering that higher levels should be taking a bit more time¡­ so to reach Level 50, I will need about 2 to 3 weeks."


    Liam closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. That amount of time was not eptable. That was not something he could afford right now.


    "I can''t waste 3 weeks in just running these invasions back to back." Liam shook his head. "Also, I don''t think I will have the chance to do that."


    "The main assault should be starting soon. What should I do now?" He then facepalmed, realizing that he hadpletely overlooked something very obvious.


    "I almost missed this. Maybe I should take a break soon."


    It took him 48 hours to level up once when he was a squad leader, so now that he was a toon leader, shouldn''t they be getting more experience points and also higher contribution points?


    Liam closed his eyes, meditating silently to clear his mind a bit, and then made a decision.


    "Ok. I should first activate another invasion mission as a toon leader and then evaluate everything again after getting a full detailed idea about the rewards."


    He went to his anti-fan who was still manning the counter and asked for the toon invasion missions.


    Since they involved teleporting more soldiers, these scrolls were different than the ones that squad leaders typically used.


    "What? Why do you need these?" The demon gruffly blurted out and the next second, he abruptly stood up, almost falling down from his wooden stool.


    "You already became a toon leader?" He muttered inplete shock.


    "You?" Liam cocked his head to the side.


    The demon immediately stiffened up and cleared his throat. "Forgive me for myck of manners, Sire." He muttered, his wordsced with a hint of sarcasm.


    He then took out some scrolls from under the desk and handed them over to Liam. "These are the toon invasion mission scrolls."


    "And each of them cost 100 gold." The demon replied with a visible glint in his eyes as if he was challenging Liam to buy dozens of these as he did before.


    But Liam neither paid attention to his taunts nor his behavior. He grabbed a couple of scrolls and paid the required amount of gold.


    He then returned back to the corner of the square where his 10 squad members were standing obediently.


    And behind these 10 squad members, there were 20 other demons also lined up. Their team alone seemed to upy this entire section of the central square.


    When Liam walked over to them, all the demons roared together, greeting him in unison. Their voice and their faces looked like they had a lot of spirit and energy.


    Liam was definitely impressed and he asked his personal team. "Did you guys recruit them?"


    Hiruyu, the demon who had voluntarily taken up the task of acting like a leader stepped forward and reported to Liam.


    "Yes, leader. We recruited these soldiers and I can personally vouch for their capabilities."


    "Ok." Liam nodded and patted him.


    He only needed more headcounts for the toon.


    It was impossible for him to pick and choose when there were these many demons so he didn''t exactly mind who was selected and who wasn''t.


    In fact, the demon had just saved him some time and made his life easier so he gave him a silver coin and rewarded him.


    "Alright. We will prepare to attack now. But before that¡­" Liam shouted. "Stand in groups ording to what equipment you arefortable using."


    After doing multiple rounds of invasions, his bag was brimming fully with all sorts of equipment. So he wanted to distribute some to improve his team''s overall strength.


    While this might be an excessive expenditure, Liam did not n on underestimating the difficulty of a toon invasion.


    As the size of his demon army increased, he was sure that the danger and difficulty would also increase ordingly.


    So he did not hold back and generously distributed the several items that he had managed to collect. Many among these were rare-grade and some even unique-grade.


    But Liam still did not hold back and distributed it all.


    If the stormtroopers guild leader came to know about this, he would definitely want to murder Liam even if he did not know that he was the one who swindled him out of thousands of gold coins.


    The equipment he considered so precious was simply being tossed over to random underlings.


    The demons also were equally surprised. Most of them were close friends and acquaintances of Liam''s personal team so they all exchanged knowing nces.


    They had heard a lot about this new young toon leader and it looked like everything that they heard was true.


    After these preparations werepleted and the weapons were distributed to different groups, Liam also noticed that this time they had managed to recruit some casters.

 Chapter 230: My Luck Is Turning

    <h4>Chapter 230: My Luck Is Turning</h4>


    Liam did not want to miss this chance and he immediately walked over to the group of six demons.


    He knew that these guys usedher to channel their magic like he used mana. So he wanted to learn more from them.


    The six caster demons became rmed seeing the leader walking towards them and they quickly greeted him.


    They also answered the best they could after listening to every single question Liam had.


    However, after several minutes of discussion, Liam was still at the same point as before. He couldn''t grasp anything at all.


    Not because he was not able to understand but because the demons did not know how to exin.


    To them, everything was fairly intuitive. They have been usingher from birth. It was as easy as sensing mana. However, to Liam that was not the case.


    And this dumbfounded him because he had an SSS-grade affinity toher and only an S-grade affinity to mana.


    This meant that he should be able to senseher better than he was sensing mana. But no matter how much he tried, he wasn''t seeding.


    Liam continued chatting with them a bit more, before eventually giving up and returning back to his position.


    There were too many things that he had to do and he decided to focus on the important ones first, the ones that could boost his power above and beyond.


    And for that, he needed to get to Level 50 first.


    p. p. Liam pped his hands and gazed coldly at the thirty demons standing in front of him. "It is time. Fight. Kill and Survive."


    He then tore open the portal scroll, a blinding red light enveloping the whole group.


    The next second the group of demons, Liam and Talon got teleported from theher realm to Xion.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Boss, will this really work out?"


    "Wait. Shut up." Victor hurriedly shushed hisckey. Approaching the two of them was the stormtroopers guild leader, Sterling.


    "What Victor? What are you both talking about?" He asked casually, but from his tone and mannerisms, one could say that he was not really being that casual.


    "Nothing. Nothing, guild leader." Victor awkwardly ruffled his hair. He did not dare to say anything.


    Just a couple of days back, his life was almost over. He had no life, no future, nothing, and on top of that he had mountains and mountains of debts.


    But then miraculously his bad luck took a turn for the better.


    Just when he thought that his life was over, out of nowhere, he somehownded a rare quest.


    Victor had immediately rushed over to the tavern that his ex-guild members liked to hang out and begged and pleaded.


    Finally, after he mentioned the rare quest, Sterling agreed to hear him out.


    And once he did, just like he expected, he was given a second chance.


    This rare quest was definitely game-changing.


    If they could sessfully finish this quest, then they might even be able to get their hands on a Kingdom quest or even more unique questline.


    Having brought his guild such a good thing, how could he not be epted?


    However, Victor still did not dare to act arrogant. After all, he had lost too much face. He had to now pay the price for it and earn back all of it slowly and steadily.


    "So is it time?" Sterling asked him.


    "Yes. Yes. It should be, guild master. Any second now, I think." Victor quickly replied.


    He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and turned to look around, searching for any signs of disturbance.


    Including Victor, about 50 of their guild members were currently standing in a huge football field sized crater with holes like a sieve.


    From within these holes,va, smoke, and fumes burst out from time to time spilling on the nearby yers and taking away chunks of their health.


    However, despite the hazardous conditions, the guild group still continued to stand in this location and wait.


    And this was all because of Victor''s rare quest.


    Since the conditions were so bad, and considering his earlier fiasco, obviously many people were not pleased with him.


    But Sterling had personally taken a look at the quest and since he vouched for him, all the elites of the guild also had no other choice but to trust him and wait.


    Time slowly passed and with each second, Victor grew more and more nervous.


    He couldn''t help but pray to all the gods in his heart to somehow help him get past this quest and obtain the reward.


    All he needed was this one chance and he would be immediately back on top.


    He could then chase that damned truck Derek to the ends of the earth and get his revenge by repeatedly killing him again and again.


    Recently, his guild had learned of a grave spawn camping technique that could grind a yer to dust and literally strip them naked.


    He couldn''t wait to do that to that damned guy and pay him back for all the humiliation he felt.


    "Please. Please. Please. Let this go smoothly." He let out a long sigh.


    And suddenly, at this exact same moment, the air crackled.


    A big ck spot appeared out of nowhere, the size of the spot growing rapidly like an ink blot.


    "It''s here! HERE!" Victor shouted at the top of his lungs.


    Sterling and all the other stormtrooper guild members immediately turned to pay attention to the direction, Victor was looking at and pointing to.


    They also saw the big ck swirling mass of energy.


    And the next second¡­ a leg and an arm appeared from within it.


    "ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!" Victor started shouting. He also started running towards the hole with his shield jutting out.


    Seeing this, Sterling frowned because he was supposed to be the leader of the party and shout instructions but there was no time to argue about that now.


    He let it slide just this once and repeated, giving out more detailed instructions.


    "Attack. Tanks! front and center! Healers! Move to the back! Melee take a step back! Mages and Archers burst damage!"


    The gathered guild members quickly started sending a volley of attacks. They wanted to defeat this enemy before they even appeared and had a chance to fight back.


    And a couple of attacks alsonded making them delighted.


    However, the next second their attacks inexplicably started getting deflected, and out of nowhere, a huge golem appeared.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "That golem has a mana shield out! Attack it! The shield will go down automatically!"


    The group did not lose their confidence on seeing the golem and everyone frantically started attacking it with vigor and ferocity.


    However, during this time, the portal roared alive and several big and sturdy demon hybrids started stepping out one after the other.


    Each demon looked very strong and powerful and just from looking at them, one could tell that they were not ordinary mobs.


    All the gathered elite yers gulped on seeing this terrifying sight.


    This was it! The quest was finally alive!


    They all knew about the difficulty of a rare quest and this quest was even special among such rare quests.


    They scoured the forums and no one had ever gotten such a quest before.


    The thing was that the quest itself wasn''t all that difficult. All they had to do was defend against a horde of invading demons.


    So they weren''t too nervous about it. After all, they had cleared several dungeons and raids and this should not have been all that different.


    But unexpectedly, these demons had a golem?


    This took them by surprise but the stormtroopers was a decent guild with a solid framework. So they held their ground and focussed without losing hope.


    Even though they were up and against strong and bloodthirsty demons, they continued attacking with gusto.


    And then¡­ thest person stepped out of the portal.


    Everyone''s face instantly fell!


    The yers who had been confident up until now suddenly faltered.


    Because, unlike the demons, thisst creature resembled a human being and his clothing and armor also pointed to the same.


    And, more importantly, on his face, there was a ck mask!

 Chapter 231: Black masked Oni

    <h4>Chapter 231: ck masked Oni</h4>


    "Sterling! This guy is that person nicknamed oni! This is his signature ck mask! Call for backup. Now!" One of the frontline fighters shouted out loud, alerting everyone.


    Of course, other people had also seen this as currently, every single member of their team had their eyes fixed on the portal opening.


    However, they were too shocked and the tank''s loud warning helped many people snap back. Sterling also responded by immediately calling for backup.


    He originally thought that 50 yers were overkill but now that the ck-masked oni was involved, he had a feeling that even this number might not be enough.


    Everyone quickly doubled back on their efforts and started giving out 200% of what they were capable of.


    This quest was not going to be easy, to begin with, but now with this ''oni'' involved, everything was up in the air!


    Meanwhile¡­ at the other end of the same battle¡­


    "Oh? I am famous?" Liam smiled. He did not act rashly and first took a second to calmly observe the surroundings.


    And as soon as he did, he instantly heard a familiar name.


    "Victor, nk the right side. Don''t let them spread out." Someone shouted.


    Not to mention, the guild insignia that automatically appeared on the chest guard.


    Liam couldn''t help but be surprised at this random coincidence. Of all the yers that he could be facing, he was up against this guild again.


    Was it his fortune or their misfortune? He didn''t care.


    He only knew that this was a good opportunity to rob these guys again.


    And also¡­ His gaze fell on the fire plumes of the crater. They were finally able to teleport to a location with a fire-type environment!


    "This should definitely have some fire essence."


    Liam took another look and then quickly began their onught. Unlike the opposition, they did not have to strategize much.


    Because their team was not the traditional tank - healer - dpsbo, they really only had one form of attack!


    Overwhelm the opponent with sheer strength and power and take what they want!


    Liam took out the other attack golem as well and summoned it right in the middle of the enemy camp, near their healers.


    Instantly, the ordered group of yers fell into chaos.


    The golem emotionlessly started attacking the yers nearby as soon as it materialized. It only had physical attacks but every single hit from the golem was a death blow.


    Both the yers and the gear on them were ttened without any distinction.


    "What the fuck is this?" The group of healers screamed and tried to regroup.


    The dps also hammered their attacks on the new golem, immediately disregarding the old one.


    However, even theirbined effects did not seem to stop these two monsters.


    After all, they wereparable to Level 50 bosses. So how could it be so easy for Level 30 yers to deal with these metal giants?


    But Liam wasn''t done yet.


    He did not care who his opponent was. This was the same exact strategy he had applied every single time on all of his previous missions.


    He was a squad leader then. He was a toon leader now. The enemies were greater in number and the allies were also higher.


    But nothing else had changed. He used the same approach again.


    He first tossed the two golems and while everyone was still struggling to deal with the two golems, he and the demon toon started to attack.


    They did not even allow the poor guys to take a breather.


    Liam''s figure blurred and he appeared next to the yers who were low on health and were riddled with injuries and started to pick them off one by one.


    Having been personally trained by him, his ten main demon soldiers also did the same.


    The demons acted however they pleased and in general randomly attacked the group of humans.


    And so, in less than a second, the guild group that had been properly organized fell into utter chaos and confusion.


    "Don''t PANIC! Used all your crowd control skills as soon as your cool down wears off!" Sterling shouted.


    The mages and the shamans started casting various spells one after the other.


    But just when they were about to cast the spell,va rained from above them and fire bullets hit their face and eyes specifically, distracting them and forcing them to move.


    After training for two days continuously, Liam was now much more experienced in casting multi-target spells and was even able to aim urately to some extent.


    Every single one of his attacks was almost as powerful as the golem''s and each hit took at least a quarter of their health.


    Moreover, they also had the numbers to match the stormtroopers guild.


    The guild group had 50 on their side and the demon army had 30 on their side and of course, the two golems and Liam.


    So they were more than evenly matched with the demon army, or rather the side with the 3 monsters had the absolute advantage.


    However, it did not look like the stormtroopers guild was nning to take this loss by bending over backward.


    Some members of the guild who were more thoroughly geared than the rest slowly started to shine.


    They used a plethora of skills and items and bombarded the demons surrounding them. They also managed to deal significant damage to the two golems.


    Liam noticed this and immediately took action.


    The fatal w in their team was that theycked healers. So they absolutely had to win by doing this kind of burst damage.


    If the fight prolonged, they wouldn''t have the upper hand any longer.


    Liam''s strategy to ovee this hurdle was to cycle the demons.


    If someone''s health fell below the halfway point, they were instructed to quietly retreat, someone else taking their ce.


    This would give them the time to use health potions and recuperate.


    But this was not a long-term solution.


    So Liam dashed forward to deal with these heavy hitters of the team.

 Chapter 232: First Round Over

    <h4>Chapter 232: First Round Over</h4>


    The stormtroopers mainly gained their reputation and power and rose as a strong guild because of twelve key yers.


    And these twelve yers were also the ones currently doing maximum damage to the demon army.


    So before they could render the demons and the golems heavily injured, Liam rushed forward to deal with these key yers.


    They were not easy to identify as they were hidden amidst the chaotic mess of average yers but Liam could easily spot these guys like gemstones in the trash.


    He pushed his stats by using mana and appeared behind the guys one after the other.


    Of course, he started with the guild leader first.


    Sterling wasn''t just a leader for namesake. He did have actual talents and he yed as a ranged marksman whomanded beasts.


    His beasts were also extraordinary and together their dps was one of the highest.


    Liam did not bother dealing with the individual beasts and aimed straight for their master.


    He dashed through the mess of different attacks flying around and arrived next to the long-range yers where Sterling was located.


    [Wind st] [Fire Storm] [Ice Burst]


    He immediately unleashed three of his strongest AOE attacks disrupting the rhythm of the long-range yers and forcing them to move.


    "What the heck? What is this now?!" Sterling shouted in anger and frustration.


    He was one of the yers aiming to take down the golems and he was startled when someonended smackdab in the middle of their newly formed back offense line.


    He quickly retreated back several steps evading all the attacks, but not before he took some amount of damage.


    However, the other ranged yers were not as skilled and ended up taking a lot more damage than he did.


    Gritting his teeth, he swung around to attack this new enemy instead of the golems.


    He aimed for the opponent and in a hurry sent out several arrows activating the skill [Arrow Barrage] and only then took a proper look at who it was.


    And the next instant, he stiffened up.


    He had assumed that a demon had randomly jumped into their fray but it was not any ordinary demon. Rather it was the ck-masked person.


    Before Sterling could recover from this shock, he noticed another thing, something far more unexpected and startling.


    In his hand, the ''ck-masked oni'' held a dark purple sword. It was a in and simple sword, looking exceedingly ordinary.


    However, the sight of that weapon struck fear in his heart.


    "What is that weapon?" He muttered in a daze.


    Just recently, he had heard a lot and searched a lot about this kind of dark purple weapon, but now one such thing was right in front of him.


    And what was even more shocking was that this weapon was in the hands of the person nick-named ''oni''.


    The yer had only recently started to be famous as he appeared in several spots in the different kingdoms randomly and assaulted the yers along with a small demon army.


    No one knew who this person was and what their background was. Everything about him was mysterious. Some people did not even believe that this person was a yer.


    There was a theory that he was a special NPC rted to a special event.


    But now that Sterling stood right in front of him, he knew for a fact that he was a yer and if he was not wrong, he was also in possession of a terrifying weapon.


    The sword in his hands, dark and purple was very simr to the chest guard Derek had used a few days ago in the PVP arena.


    They almost looked like they could belong to a set.


    Of course, this could merely be a coincidence and the sword might not be anything that special.


    Sterling needed more information before he made any sort of conclusion.


    And this could be obtained if he sparred with this mysterious opponent.


    Perhaps then he might be able to glean about the weapon in his hands and also figure out a few details about this yer.


    As a guild leader with such a special yer standing in front of him, he couldn''t help but want to recruit him.


    Even in the midst of such a chaotic atmosphere, he couldn''t resist thinking about this.


    Hemanded two of his five beasts toe to his aide to overpower him.


    Not only that, but he also shouted, ordering other yers near him to stop targeting the golem and attack the ck-masked yer.


    With these two beasts, the other yers, and his full efforts, he firmly believed that he could push back the single opponent that he was facing.


    Unfortunately¡­ that did not seem to be the case¡­


    Sterling only barely had the time to give out orders and send his next attack when the purple sword shed next to him and his health instantly halved.


    "No." He took out a health potion to recover and quickly dunked it in.


    But the next second, the health that was just now replenished once again plummeted down without a reprieve.


    Sterling was utterly dumbfounded. "Hercules! Charge and stun!" He shouted at the three-headed lion that he had tamed.


    However, it was all toote.


    Liam already arrived behind him, once again striking at him, aiming for his vital points.


    SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.


    Sterling''s health dropped like a deted balloon until itpletely beeped and tlined. He could only stare at the indifferent emotionless ck mask before dropping down dead.


    Liam took this chance to also finish off a couple of other yers who were standing around at the spot and bombarding their attacks on him.


    "One done. Who is next?"


    Liam quickly spotted the other talented yers in the group and aimed for them one after the other.


    With him taking down the heavy hitters, the golems inducing mass havoc, and the demons dealing melee damage, the guild group couldn''t take it for much longer and before long, they copsedpletely.


    A huge group of 50 elite yers was just like that wiped out.


    Suddenly, the entire crater was filled with ominous silence, only interrupted by the panting and snarling sounds of the demons.


    Liam also looked around, taking this sight in slowly. He had fought with his small squad before but fighting with a toon was definitely different.


    It almost felt as if he had justmanded a whole army. Their group also suffered some casualties. A few demons were heavily injured and a couple of demons were killed.


    However, Liam''s personal team did not suffer even a single injury. The ten demons still were alert and vicious, on the lookout for the presence of new enemies.


    And this was to be expected. Since he had mass recruited a lot of new demon beasts, some of them would be weak and some of them would be terrible,pletely not suited for battle.


    It was better to weed out such candidates.


    Considering everything, the crop of demons he had now, were actually very strong because they were able to stand their ground and fight.


    Satisfied with everything he saw, Liam let out a long breath and dismissed the golems.


    He then turned to look at the demons and loudlymanded. "Alright. Quickly use the items I distributed and recover your health and stamina. This fight is not yet over."


    "Hiriyu, collect all the loot and bring it to me. You know the drill." Liam gave out clear and concise instructions to all the different groups.


    He then went deeper into the crater where the ground was very shaky and unsteady. There were constantly fissures appearing and disappearing, dense fumes of fire bursting out.


    He knew that the fight with the stormtroopers guild was far from over. They were probably going to return to the crater along with their backup with their numbers doubled or more.


    Liam could easily deal with this by camping on the closest graveyard or attacking them right away as they were respawning.


    But he did not do this as he wanted more numbers toe in first.


    Liam had a feeling that these guys came here prepared beforehand. Their encounter just now did not look coincidental.


    Previously, every time they used the invasion portal, they always had the upper hand and the element of surprise, but this time, they were not the ones who had attacked first.


    Rather it was the opponent who had attacked first.


    Now that Liam thought about it, he wondered if there were any specific missions rted to these invasion portals.


    This world was not unbnced so when he got the chance to participate in these missions, he knew that there could potentially be missions from the other side to tackle these invasions.


    In fact, he was quite lucky to havee across this bunch of people first.


    If he had run across other strong yers and been ambushed by them, things might not have gone so smoothly.


    He might have suffered severe consequences and could have even lost all the reputation and his personal army that he had painstakingly built so far.


    Thinking about this Liam sighed in relief. It looked like these toon missions were not that simple. He needed to make more preparations next time.


    "Hmmm¡­ I wonder if that item will work. Better to think about thatter."


    Liam was notpletely helpless and he had a few ideas about how to deal with this situation.


    However, he was still in the middle of the current invasion, so he couldn''t afford to think about the next one now.


    He silently walked over to the depths of the crater and then took out the egg in his inventory, holding it carefully in his hands.

 Chapter 233: Too Late To The Party

    <h4>Chapter 233: Too Late To The Party</h4>


    Liam wasn''t sure how the egg was going to react but as soon as he took it out of the inventory, the air around him visibly changed.


    Everything became blurry with several fumes of vaporsing out and amidst this blur, wisps of fire essence started separating out and flying towards the egg.


    They swirled around the egg almost forming anotheryer, sort of shell, on top of the existing one.


    "Hmmm¡­ So she is not able to absorb the essence?" All the wisps were collecting and coalescing outside. However, they were not going in.


    "What is happening?" Liam did not have too much time to think about it as the ground under him started shaking.


    Since the crater was extremely unsteady, he needed to move to another spot. This was essentially a test of his bnce and reaction speed.


    However, such a thing was challenging probably only to the lower-level yers. By the time, the cracks started appearing, he had already moved to another spot casually.


    But when he looked down at the egg again, Liam was pleasantly surprised. The yellowish orange colored fire essence shell that had formed hadpletely disappeared.


    And more importantly, the small spot of white on the dark purple colored egg had grown a bit bigger.


    "So that''s how it is¡­" Liam smiled. He then watched as this same process repeated itself for a few more times.


    He also needed to keep moving to gather the fire essence as Luna was very efficient at sucking out all the essence from a spot within just a few seconds.


    In this way, Liam almost covered half of the entire crater when the next batch of yers finally showed up.


    Liam grinned. A volley of arrows and spells flew towards him as he instantly summoned the defensive golem.


    He then leisurely ced the egg inside his inventory and began the round two of the assault.


    "He already knows we are here. Don''t hold back. Attack. Attack." Someone shouted and this time a group of about 100 yers emerged from the shadows, surrounding Liam and the army of demons.


    Instantly, all sorts of attacksnded on the group and the golem''s health was reduced by a chunk. However, this situationpletely changed the next second.


    Under Liam''smand, the demon hybrids roared with ferocity and dashed forward to attack the yers. It was once again aplete chaotic bloody brawl.


    Liam used both the golems and started casting [Lava Rain], [Blizzard], and [Sandstorm].


    He had picked up a few more skill books after running the previous invasions so he now had a lot more skills in his arsenal.


    Thisbined with his Level 42 stats, every single attack he tossed out was like a grenade, and several huge damage numbers floated up.


    His formidable strength and the demon hybrids'' raw brute strength easily overpowered the increased numbers of yers now surrounding them.


    However, Liam highly doubted that this was all that was waiting for them. Unless Sterling was aplete and utter idiot, he wouldn''t havee back without adequate preparations.


    And this was exactly what Liam was also anticipating.


    He wanted to see just what sort of preparations the stormtroopers are capable of.


    He had heard about this guild in his previous life and it was nothing special. Derek was the only shining star in their guild.


    And now that he had already recruited him, there probably should not be any other surprises. This was why in the first ce, he gave them time to reorganize and strike back.


    This was quite risky, but he needed the loot from the guild. He had a whole toon to equip now. The better their gear, the better would be their output.


    It was not feasible to obtain unique and epic items for these demons, but it was still within Liam''s capacity to obtain rare-grade weapons.


    He could either grind dungeons or elites for several hours. Or he could raid a guild like stormtroopers and just take everything that they had.


    So Liam sincerely hoped that Sterling had made adequate preparations for this second round.


    And just like he had expected the number of guild members had definitely doubled. Most probably this was the entirety of their strength.


    There were more than 100 yers on the battlefield and all of them were equipped with high-grade items.


    Liam licked his lips as he started moving around.


    Each of his demon soldiers was trying to deal with two or more opponents and this time he did not bother targeting anybody specifically.


    He simply unleashed every bit of mana he had and rampaged about on the battlefield, striking left and right and taking down whoever he could.


    This quickly freed up a lot of the demon soldiers and sequentially they were then able to double back and fight better without being overwhelmed.


    Also, since they had already killed some of them once and reaped a lot of better gear, they were able to fight on equal footing, matching the huge number.


    As seconds slowly dragged on, the demons started gaining the upper hand and the fight was once again taking the familiar course of events just like it had before.


    But until the end, Liam did not dare to rx.


    Especially after seeing the special group of four experts, he knew that he would be a fool to underestimate even these kinds of opponents.


    So he squeezed everyst bit of power he had and cleared the enemy as fast as he could without giving them any chance of aeback.


    Even at the end when only a few yers were remaining, he still took care of them with the same ruthlessness.


    And just like that, a couple more minutester, the second round also ended smoothly without any surprises.


    Liam looked at the carnage around him and let out a long sigh of relief. "I really thought they might have some trump cards. I guess I gave them too much credit."


    He took one more look around to make sure that no one else was present and he then ordered the demons to collect the loot.


    Their invasion time was almost up so he also busied himself and took Luna''s egg to gather whatever fire essence he could in the remaining time.


    A few minutester, the group once again returned back to theher realm, teleporting safely to the city square.


    Meanwhile¡­ on the spot where Liam had just left, a group of yers arrived.


    These yers were geared from top to bottom in at least rare-grade items, some of them even having multiple unique items.


    Behind this smaller team, another huge team of yers arrived. Compared to the other team, this group was very miserably equipped.


    Some of them evencked basic items like chest guards and bracers.


    And on top of this, these yers all looked absolutely frustrated.


    Why wouldn''t they be? They had just now lost a battle in the most ridiculous way possible.


    To make matters worse¡­ right when they had managed to gather sufficient strength and back up, enough to topple the opponent, the target had already disappeared!


    There was no third chance!


    There were no demons in the crater and the ck-masked yer had also mysteriously disappeared!


    Sterling sighed at this depressing sight and he turned to look at Victor with his eyebrows drooped down. However, as soon as he did, he already regretted his actions.


    If there was one person more miserable than him in the current crowd, then it was Victor. The man was dumbly staring at the system interface in front of him.


    "The quest?" Sterling reluctantly asked.


    "Guild leader¡­ that¡­" Victor gulped.


    "Just spit it out."


    Though he sounded tired, Victor could clearly see that the person was extremely furious. He gulped and obidiently answered. "The quest is failed."


    And befor he could say anything else¡­


    [Ding. You have been kicked out of the guild]


    "FUCK!" Victor screamed. The person was right there in front of him, so he rushed over there trying to seek justice.


    "Sterling, you can''t do this. I brought this quest to you. I know we failed, but we can try again and that time we can win. Why did you kick me out?"


    "I am the one responsible for this. You can''t just leave me like this."


    However, hearing all his ranting, Sterling only sneered. "Useless piece of shit. Do you know how much our guild lost today because of this?"


    "Did you even talk to the NPC properly?"


    "You could have obtained more information! You could have gotten more details about the strength of the army. But no, you just came running to me and dumped this quest on top of us!"


    "Get the fuck out of here and don''te back."


    Victor gnashed his teeth at this unfair usation, but he was helpless to keep talking back. If he did, he knew very well that Sterling would probably not hesitate to kill him on the spot.


    The only option he had now was to simply leave quietly.


    And as he was about to do that, a loud booming voice sounded with a thick Indian ent. "Hindsight is always 20-20, Sterling. Don''t take out your anger on him."


    One of the yers from the smaller but remarkably geared support team walked over to Sterling and this was the same hunter who had crossed paths with Liam previously.


    Madam simply smiled in a rxed manner as if he was just out for a walk. He did not seem to care that the quest had failed and that the demon army had disappeared.


    "Take him back to the guild. Though I would have preferred if you had called me over sooner, we still managed to get some information.. So this trip wasn''t entirely useless."

 Chapter 234: Rewards

    <h4>Chapter 234: Rewards</h4>


    [Ding. You have sessfullypleted a toon invasion mission]


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 50,000,000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 5000 contribution points]


    [Ding. 20 Soldiers have survived the invasion. You have received an additional 20,000,000 experience points]


    [Ding. 20 Soldiers have survived the invasion. You have received an additional 2000 contribution points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    "Hmmmm¡­ So a single mission is enough to level up?" Liam read through the several notifications and the generous experience points rewards.


    The contribution points were not as good as the experience points but Liam''s main goal at the moment was to reach Level 50.


    So the contribution points and the fact that he needed to run countless of these missions to reach the next rank did not quite matter, at least for now.


    However, he still did not look very happy about it, because this only confirmed what he already feared.


    Squad invasion missions might be a time consuming grind, but they were almost always within his capability and easier to aplish.


    On the other hand, the same couldn''t be said for these toon invasion missions¡­


    Liam had a feeling that he would mostly be facing other yers or high-level NPCs for these missions.


    In fact, it was only a matter of time before the Stormtroopers guild members put 2 and 2 together.


    He had used the two golems against them once before when they had met for the first time and he had also used the golems now.


    Unless and otherwise, they decide to assume that these were two different sets of golems, they should have connected the dots that he had single-handedly caused them massive loss more than once.


    Even if they didn''t know that he was also the one responsible for their loss in PVP tower, they should still be extremely furious at him.


    So it was inevitable that his identity as the ck-masked demon and the fact that he was doing these special invasion missions would get leaked.


    Calcting extremely liberally, he probably had one more chance at this type of mission.


    Otherwise, if the news spread, whichever guild manages to obtain this quest, would easily form alliances with others.


    Then the two golems would no longer be enough to deal with theirbined elite yers. After all, there was a limit to how much a single yer can aplish.


    30 of the mediocre demon soldiers could not possiblypare to a hundred or two hundred yers.


    So even though, these toon missions gave ridiculously generous experience points, Liam could realistically only run one more at best.


    "It is a pity but better to be safe¡­ I wonder if the grave camping news had spread yet¡­ too many variables. I need to log out and look at things first. But before that¡­"


    Liam gazed at the several demons still standing in front of him and waiting for his next order. Except for the 10 demons on his personal army and a few more, the others looked quite tired.


    Nevertheless, he looked at them andmanded. "We need to run another mission right now. Immediately. Prepare yourself."


    Everyone was surprised but only the few at the back nced at each other with unwilling looks. Seeing this, Liam added with a stern tone. "Those who don''t want to participate can step out."


    He did not have to say anything more. The demon hybrid Hiriyu took care of the rest.


    He quickly ran around to recruit a group of new demons to their small army and also took care of the other needful things like switching out some of their party members who were too tired to continue.


    It only took 10 mins and the group was once again ready to depart.


    Liam activated another invasion scroll without dying further and the group was promptly teleported.


    DANG. DANG.


    As soon as he regained his consciousness, Liam immediately tossed out the golem cores and summoned the two golems.


    He did not underestimate the opponents right from the get-go. They might be facing anyone at the moment so he did not let his guard down.


    He unsheathed his purple sword and looked around to see that they were surrounded by a small group of soldiers dressed in the royal attire of the Horendal Kingdom, one of the other human kingdoms.


    "So it is NPCs this time¡­" Liam let out a breath of relief and then energetically shouted. "Charge! Don''t leave anyone alive!"


    The demons also roared as furiously as he and the group charged forward, beginning their rigorous onught.


    Liam did not hold anything back and used the grenades, golems, and everyst one of his skills and took down the NPC soldiers left and right.


    These soldiers were slightly worse than the yers they had faced and fought in a more straightforward way, so they were easier to deal with.


    Even the demon army outperformed themselves whenpared to thest fight.


    Within just a few minutes, they had ruthlesslyid waste to the entire royal force. Liam was pleasantly surprised.


    They had switched out a lot of equipment with the high-grade items they had looted from the stormtroopers guild and the result was clearly visible.


    Within a span of a few minutes, the entire battle was over and they hadn''t suffered a single casualty!


    The NPCs also did not respawn and attack them one more time so the fight was essentially already over.


    The difficulty of the two invasions was definitely on two different levels. Not to mention, the NPCs also dropped a generous amount of loot.


    They were not high-grade items like the ones they had obtained from yers. Rather they directly dropped silver coins and gold coins.


    Liam shook his head helplessly as they were once again teleported back to the central square of Thol city.


    A string of generous rewards and contribution points rang loudly in his ears. The demons also rejoiced as several of them leveled up.


    Compared to the previous battle, this was simply a cakewalk.


    "Leader, are we running another one?" Hiriyu excitedly asked. Liam saw that now everyone had eager expectant faces as opposed to the tired looks they hadst time.


    However, he simply smiled and shook his head. "No. You guys go back and take a rest. That''s it for now."


    It was important to know when to stop. Liam was already Level 44 now, jumping from 42 to 44 in just a few hours.


    Since this was visible for everyone on the leaderboard, he knew that there was probably a huge uproar right about now.


    If the stormtroopers guild did not spread the news about the mission before, they would have definitely done it now.


    So he did not intend to push his luck and take the risk.


    His original n was to attempt to obtain the inheritance at Level 50 but trying at Level 44 wasn''t that bad either.


    "Yup, doing that is less risky than doing this again." Liam quietly pondered and walked over to the counter to settle some war contributions.


    After that, he decided to log out and check the forums before starting to search for the inheritance quest and attempt it.


    However, as soon as he reached the counter and dumped the required amount of gold in front of the grumpy demon, the other party surprised him.


    "Sir toon leader, you seem to be extremely capable. You have aplished something impossible! Back to back sessful invasions!"


    "And you are also the fastest leader to get promoted from squad leader to toon leader!"


    "Do you perhaps aim to challenge our garrison leader and take his position?"


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam stopped in his tracks hearing the demon''s snarkyment.


    He could tell that the man was simply taunting him. Irrespectively, this matter caught his interest.


    "Would you care to borate?" Liam turned around and asked the same guy.


    "Oh, ke ke ke. Sir toon leader is not even aware of this? It''s alright. I will exin things to you. I have been here a long time." The demon sneered.


    "Every toon leader has the ability to challenge our garrison leader. Ke Ke. Some young bold heroes think that they are capable of ousting our leader and brainlessly challenge him."


    "You see the young demons these days are very greedy and impatient and don''t know what''s what."


    "They think that they are all that and challenge our mighty leader, but in the end, their fate is just¡­ ha ha ha."


    "Of course, this is only for others. I wouldn''t dare to disrespect you, Sir. If it is you, then you should definitely be worthy of challenging our garrison leader. Ke Ke Ke."


    Liam smiled,pletely ignoring the vicious words of the guy. "And where do I issue this challenge?"


    "Ah!" The demon abruptly stood up from his chair and quickly pointed to the tower at the far end of the city. "That is the location of our garrison leader. You can challenge him there."


    His body was shaking and he was only barely able to control his glee.


    And as soon as Liam left, he immediately burst intoughter.


    Another demon standing next to him worriedly asked him. "Beluga, aren''t you going to too far? That demon is a toon leader after all and we are only soldiers here."


    Beluga coldly snorted. "So what? I am tired of this bullshit hierarchy. These greenhornse in yesterday and think that they can rule over me?"


    "Do you know how many years I have been working here!"


    "Do you know how many wars I have participated in!"


    "Hmph! Challenge our garrison leader? Bah ha ha ha! Wait till hees back with his tail in between his legs!"


    "That stupid demon deserves a good lesson!"


    "Cough. Cough. Don''t you dare tell about this to anyone else! You know that I am doing our leader a service, right?"


    "If that greenhorn''s arrogance is not taken down a notch, then he might blindly go in for another invasion and incur heavy losses."


    "He might cause the death of our brethren. So I am only doing a service for our city. Shut up and sit down.. Don''t say anything about this to anyone else and mind your business."

 Chapter 235: Walking Into The Trap

    <h4>Chapter 235: Walking Into The Trap</h4>


    Liam silently walked away from the two demons who were chatting in hushed voices.


    It was very apparent that the demon was looking forward to him challenging the garrison leader and suffering a terrible loss.


    He did not even bother hiding his intentions. So his ploy was as clear as day. Nevertheless, Liam was thankful to that person.


    He had given him some valuable information. He stood silently and looked at the garrison tower for a minute. However, he did not walk over there directly.


    Instead, he walked over to Hiriyu who was still waiting at the square for him. "You didn''t leave yet?" Liam asked.


    "No leader." The demon shook his head.


    "Were you waiting for me to leave first?" Liam smiled.


    He was impressed by the demon''s loyalty to him. Would there be a way to possibly take these guys back with him?


    "What do you know about the Garrison leader?" Liam asked him,ing straight to the point.


    Hiriyu''s face suddenly changed. "The¡­ the Garrison leader?" He stuttered.


    He saw that Liam was still continuing to look at him unblinkingly, so he gulped and proceeded to exin.


    "Leader, our Garrison leader is a very ancient and powerful demon. He is even rumored to be someone from the great abyss."


    "If you are thinking about challenging him¡­ then¡­ I would sincerely request you to forget this thought. Leader, he is very strong."


    "Our Garrison leader hasn''t lost a fight in several decades." Hiriyu hesitantly exined.


    Though their leader was definitely not ordinary which he knew better than anyone, he still couldn''t imagine a possibility where this would end well.


    He was sure without any iota of doubt that Liam would lose the fight.


    More importantly, their Garrison leader had a nasty temper. He hated challenges the most so every challenge was in reality a battle to the death.


    Since their leader clearly had a bright future ahead of him, he really hoped that Liam wouldn''t take the wrong decision here.


    He looked up at him anxiously, only to see that Liam still had the same smile.


    "Do you know what is his current level?" Liam asked calmly as if he had not just heard everything.


    "Leader, his level is 150." Hiriyu quickly replied.


    "Well, I guess that settles it then?" Liam chuckled wryly. It was not as if he could challenge a Level 150 monster!


    Hiriyu dazedly nodded, but he looked like he was confused slightly. After a second, he then hurriedly corrected Liam.


    "Leader, any demon of any level can challenge the garrison leader. In the fight, the two opponents will be on equal footing. It is just that the Garrison leader is still extremely fearsome."


    "Oh!" Liam''s eyebrows shot up. He was not expecting this. It looked like the challenge was simr to the fights in the PVP arenas.


    Now he was more interested. "Get me all the information you can about the garrison leader. Can you do it?"


    Hiriyu grunted and scratched his head. Seeing that Liam was pretty set on this, he quickly scurried about and started talking to his connections.


    A few minutester, the demon returned back panting and heaving. Liam spoke with him in length, learning whatever he could.


    He then proceeded to walk to the garrison tower. This was one of the more sturdy constructed structures in the city and many demon guards were stationed around the tower.


    Liam walked into the red brick building and the guards did not seem to mind him. A few even greeted him because of his status as the toon leader.


    He walked through the narrow stairs of the tower and then crossed the many halls finally reaching the huge hall at the top of the tower.


    Inside the hall, at the back, on a big chair, a huge demon was sitting.


    And as soon as Liam walked in, he lifted his gaze to stare at him with his green reddened eyes. Liam paused and calmly muttered. "Greetings, Garrison Leader."


    "Ke Ke Ke. So you are the toon leader I am hearing all about!" The demon chortled, eying Liam up and down as if he was a piece of meat.


    Liam also frowned slightly seeing this behavior. It almost looked as if this person was expecting him and waiting for him.


    "Maybe the guy at the counter had something to do with this?"


    Liam shook his head and continued to walk forward. These things did not matter so much. He was here to issue a challenge so he was probably going to antagonize him anyways.


    "Leader." Liam opened his mouth and the other party instantly cut him off. "I already know that you are here to challenge me."


    The demon stood up and a sort of darkness that had wrapped around him faded away. Liam could now see him more clearly.


    The demon was a tall and muscr creature with a human-like frame, except that he had horns on his head and hoofs simr to a goat.


    His hands and thighs were muscr and his stomach was ribbed like he had been doing pushups since the day he was born.


    Suddenly, his tall intimidating figure jumped down from the height andnded right in front of Liam without any warning.


    "You don''t look like a demon. Who are you?"


    Liam tried to remain calm and unfazed, but his heart rate still sped up being in such close proximity to the monstrosity.


    The creature''s ferocious red eyes were staring down at him with such hatred and animosity.


    Liam clenched his fist, steadied himself, and answered. "I am a being of theher realm, leader. I practice necromancy."


    He had calmed down as much as he could, but his body was still shaking a bit. He was face to face with a Level 150 demon so this was already impressive.


    He could feel the weight of the demon''s gaze beating down on him. It was a crushing pressure testing the integrity of his very physique.


    Even if he was a bit careless, he felt as if his brain would be squished and his mind would be erased.


    Was this may be a bad idea? Liam shuddered.

 Chapter 236: The Mighty Garrison Leader

    <h4>Chapter 236: The Mighty Garrison Leader</h4>


    The demon sneered and continued to stare at Liam, without batting his eyelids.


    Did he even have eyelids? Liam gritted his teeth and tried his best to withstand the pressure. It was as if he couldn''t even breathe without the other party''s permission.


    And it looked like the demon had no ns of making his life easier. He did not show any intention of moving and simply kept standing there.


    The ugly grin on his thick lips widened and after a couple of seconds, the demon somehow increased the pressure he was exuding.


    This made Liam buckle down and kneel on the ground. A mountain of weight was pressing down on him.


    He now understood what the demon was trying to do. He was forcibly trying to make Liam prostrate himself on the ground.


    And the pressure weighing him down was constantly increasing bit by bit.


    Seeing this Liam did not know whether tough or cry. For a Level 150 being, this demon was actually quite weak?


    The naga he met was probably several times stronger than this demon because at her level she was still able to have a stronger effect on his soul and body.


    Liam did not give up and continued to bear the pressure.


    In reality, he couldn''t care less if he prostrated himself before this monstrosity.


    But he still tried his best because this could potentially have a huge psychological effect on the demon even before their match.


    And he definitely needed every advantage that he could get.


    Now that he had given this a bit of thinking, Liam already regretted his actions.


    If he had instead buckled down and prostrated immediately, he could have tricked the demon into underestimating him.


    But since things have progressed to this level, he could now only aim to agitate the creature as much as possible.


    ''Wait. Why am I able to think suddenly?'' Liam was surprised.


    Just seconds earlier, a splitting headache was corroding his brain but now he was able to think and decide how to act?


    With great difficulty, Liam moved and looked at the demon, only to see a ck auraing out of him.


    ''Oh, so that''s how it is¡­''


    Liam grinned inwardly, suddenly realizing the huge importance this battle would have on his growth and development.


    He indeed needed to thank the gruff demon who had set up this trap for him!


    Even though Liam was no longer pained, he continued to disy an unsightly expression on his face, twisting his lips and biting his teeth.


    He even shivered ever so often to look like he was struggling a lot.


    Seeing this, the demon chortled and revealed a satisfied expression, but he was not done yet.


    He wanted to torture the small fry some more. If he did not do it sufficiently, then every other good for nothing fledgling will suddenly have the guts to challenge him.


    Hmph. The demon loudly harrumphed and doubled back on his efforts to make the insect kneel down and tten him.


    And the next second¡­ bang!


    Liam as well instantly ttened out, allowing his body to react how the demon wanted.


    However, inwardly, he was already calcting, how he was going to reap the maximum harvest this time.


    This was because the more the demon pressured him, the more stronger his resistance became!


    At first, the demon did not use aher infused attack to pressure him but he wanted to torture Liam as best as he could so he ended up usingher half-way.


    However, this in turn became his fatal mistake as from then on anything the demon did, backfired on him.


    Liam could now sense clearly the thick heavy strands ofher swirling around the demon.


    Not only that, but he was also able to tap into thather andmand it to enter his own body.


    He was not yetpletely able toprehend how to useher like he was using mana, but this single incident alone pushed his understanding a lot further.


    In fact, as long as the demon relied on pureher to attack him, Liam had the confidence of sessfully winning this challenge!


    He roughly formed a n in his mind and now only the execution was left!


    Liam continued to groan and moan as if his soul was leaving his body and writhed on the ground, seemingly in pain.


    The demon as well proceeded to amuse himself for a few more seconds when he eventually got tired of torturing Liam.


    "Ke Ke Ke. Do you still wish to challenge me, toon leader?" He loudly chortled. A few other demons standing inside the hall joined in andughed at Liam''s pathetic plight.


    "toon leaders these days are this weak?"


    "Where did this arrogant greenhorne from?"


    "Ke Ke Ke. I think this guy must be a divine temple spy! Otherwise why would he be so weak?"


    Several ridicules and mockery immediately flew out, all demons trying their best to suck up to the garrison leader.


    The leader as well sneered and kicked Liam''s body in disdain before walking back to his chair. "I need to go to the abyss to attend to some matters."


    "We should-" Completely ignoring Liam, he started to casually discuss other things, but interrupting him, a weak and feeble voice sounded.


    "We are not done yet, leader. I officially challenge you to a duel. Hail the great Lord!" Liam shouted, and stood up.


    He looked weak and shaky as he bnced himself by leaning on the red brick wall.


    Immediately, all the demons inside the hall quieted down in shock and surprise. Even after all of this¡­ the idiot wanted to challenge their leader?


    Had hepletely lost his mind from the earlier thrashing?


    Every single demon in the city knew about their garrison leader''s might. It was not just their city, but the entireher realm in fact knew about their leader''s strength.


    While Thol city itself was only one of the smaller settlements, their garrison leader, one of the greater demons, was a member of the abyss!


    But this idiot still challenged him?


    All the demons in the hall werepletely astonished by this newbie''s stupidity. A mere Level 44 demon was challenging their great leader!


    Sitting at the far end of the hall, the garrison leader as well snorted in disdain. He was just as shocked as the others but he was more annoyed.


    He did not have time to waste with this insect.


    War preparations were underway in full swing so how could he sit here and entertain this insignificant prawn?


    However, he was helpless. The rules of the Great Lord had to be followed under all circumstances! Without any exceptions!


    And a challenge was a challenge¡­ even if it was given out by a mere insect.


    The demon grunted loudly and stood up. "You dared to disturb me today. You will pay the consequences. For wasting my time, you will pay with your life and the lives of your family."


    "You there, gather this insect''s details and kill every single soldier in his toon!"


    "Hmph! Come forward. Today I will teach you a lesson that you will not forget in your lifetime!"

 Chapter 237: Liam Vs Hongumbra

    <h4>Chapter 237: Liam Vs Hongumbra</h4>


    "What is the rush? Can''t that wait until the challenge is over?" Liam muttered in a low voice, his head still hanging low.


    The demon stopped in his tracks, surprised to see the person shivering in front of him talking back.


    He looked back at Liam with his glowering eyes. However, this time he didn''t bother putting him in ce.


    He simply grunted and continued to walk.


    Liam followed him and the two of them walked to a huge arena at the center of the garrison tower.


    "Do you need a weapon insect? That thing you are holding looks worse than my nose pick."


    "Oh? Thank you, leader." Liam chuckled inwardly and replied.


    "Kek. If you don''t even have a decent weapon then this fight would be over before it even begins. Ke Ke ke." The demons startedughing in amusement.


    Liam did not react and continued to remain silent. He didn''t want to shatter his illusion.


    He had already inquired Hiriyu about this garrison leader''s weapon. This was the first thing he checked before deciding to go through with the challenge.


    If the other party had a weapon more powerful than his to begin with, there was no point in starting this fight.


    As the two of them walked forward, a big group gathered around the arena and they started chanting praises of the garrison leader.


    The demon as well chuckled and stepped into the ring, stretching his limbs.


    And when he sneered to look at his opponent, suddenly the insect that was drooping his shoulders and bleeding from the edge of his lips was standing firmly.


    "Hmmm?"


    The demon raised his brows, but he didn''t care about it too much.


    A secondter, the arena shone brilliantly and a dome-likeyer appeared on the top, slowly covering the whole area.


    [Ding. You have issued a challenge to the Garrison Leader of Thol city]


    [Ding. The challenge battle now begins]


    [Ding. Demonic Satyr, Level 151, Hongumbra vs Human Being, Level 44, Liam Chang]


    A wave of glimmer swept across the two of them and then a loud gong resounded.


    Liam could now feel that the demon''s level was reduced to his own level. The overwhelming aura that exuded from him was no longer as pronounced.


    However, it was partly still there. The rage and the killing intent in the demon''s eyes were also as clear as day.


    This was someone who had probably killed several hundred or even thousands with his own hands. Liam could neverpare to him in this aspect, but he was able to bear with it.


    "This is it."


    As the demon grunted looking at him, Liam prepared himself by churning the mana reserves he had in his body.


    This was not originally in his n and he was only participating in this battle on a whim, so he wasn''t 100% sure of how this was going to go.


    But he absolutely had to take this risk. Liam trusted his gut feelings and clenched the sword in his hand tighter.


    As soon as the gong sounded, the demon grunted and moved immediately. He showed no hesitation, no fear, and directly swung his war ax towards Liam.


    "Hmph. This should be enough to finish off an insect like you."


    However, Liam easily moved, dodging that attack in an instant, but he did not hit back just yet. He side-stepped the demon andnded at the other end of the area.


    Hongumbra snorted and once again chased after him.


    For others, it would look like all he was doing was running back and forth in the arena, fleeing his strong opponent.


    However, Liam was gauging the physical strength of his opponent. He also attacked once with a simple sh to see how much damage he could do.


    And just like thought, the physical defense of the demon was extremely high.


    But¡­ that was only for a normal weapon.


    The weapon in Liam''s hand shed with a dull luster and it was dark purple in color. This was the same nose pick that the demon had ridiculed him about.


    And the damage it did was twice that of a normal weapon.


    However, Hongumbra still did not look too concerned about it because Liam only executed a light sh.


    The demon crowd as well gasped in shock to see the ''insect'' actuallynd an attack on their leader but since that attack did not even register a scratch, they breathed out in relief.


    This was because Liam did not even put his weight into the attack as he did not want to rm anyone just yet.


    As long as the opponent underestimated him, he had the advantage. He did not want to lose this advantage just yet.


    If he dared underestimate a Level 150 opponent, the oue could only be disastrous. Liam was well aware of this.


    He had a very short window and he needed to do maximum damage to take out this ridiculously strong opponent in this single burst attack, preferably before he started casting high-level spells.


    He continued exchanging a few blows with the demon, narrowly missing or blocking every single time, and the crowd watching them also gasped and shouted ordingly.


    Both the crowd and the actual opponent Hongumbra looked extremely irritated.


    From the start to now, the fight had only been going on for a couple of seconds, but this in itself was an insult to the demon.


    He felt like a fool chasing an insect back and forth in the arena. He wanted topletely overpower and dominate Liam in a single attack and show off its strength.


    And this didn''t look like it was going to happen by just swinging his war ax. So the demon finally stopped chasing Liam, rearing its hoofs into the ground.


    He looked at him and then grunted loudly, raising his hands to the sky.


    Instantly three huge ck balls thrumming with strange energy appeared above his head and the demon started muttering some incantation.


    Seeing his behavior, Liam could guess that this was going to be a powerful attack. This was his cue. He had no intention of letting this demon finish his casting.


    "Now." Liam immediately dashed forward, and finally swung his dark purple sword at the demon, pushing forth with full momentum.


    He used every ounce of mana he had and boosted his agility as best as he could.


    He then continued shing at the demon, his figure almost appearing and disappearing around the demon from multiple sides.


    SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH


    Huge damage numbers floated above and in a second, the huge demon was covered from top to bottom in numerous sword gashes.


    Each and every injury had drawn blood, along with a chunk of its health. In just a single attack, the demon''s health had somehow fallen to a critical level.


    Hongumbra stared dumbly not knowing what just happened. He looked at Liam who was already back at the other end of the arena.


    What just happened? This insect was so strong? How could this be possible?


    He continued staring at him dumbly as if someone had caught him with his pants down taking a shit.


    The spell he was casting to show off his strength to everyone was also stopped midway, the ck balls of energy quietly dissipating.


    And it was not just Hongumbra, the crowd of demons gathered around also looked at the fight inplete and utter shock.


    Meanwhile, Liam did not waste this opportunity. A huge ball of fire was already materializing in his hands.


    And he dashed across the demon again, smacking this ball right in his face.


    GRAHHHHH!


    Hongumbra finally roared in agony. His eyes were deep dark red and his body shuddered in anger and fear.


    "You INSECT! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"


    He threw his war ax at Liam in fury, not caring whether it hits him or not.. He then started chanting something in an ancientnguage.

 Chapter 238: Who Is Being Toyed With By Whom?

    <h4>Chapter 238: Who Is Being Toyed With By Whom?</h4>


    Hongumbra''s red eyes glowed even more viciously and several swirling ck fumes of energy started gathering around him.


    Whatever spell he was casting did not look simple at all. His health as well was on itsst straw and he was only barely holding on.


    This was most probably hisst hail mary attempt.


    Even the demons standing around looked amazed and were watching the leader in awe as if they were seeing something mystical and magical.


    There was a look of deep respect and worship in their eyes. One could tell that they all were devotedly loyal to the garrison leader.


    Seeing all this, Liam needed only a fraction of a second to gauge the situation.


    He did not dare wait and watch the oue of this spell and started immediately barraging the demon with a volley of attacks.


    This was why he had waited and spent the time to do some initial intel gathering.


    From what he knew this satyr excelled at summoning lesser demons and devilish nt-type monsters.


    He was a druid nature spirit gone astray from the path of nature.


    So he was also capable of casting dark element spells that evoked strong demonic tentacles from the earth.


    Liam was most wary of these two attacks since he wouldn''t be able to absorb theher from this type of attack.


    Besides, just because the demon himself was nerfed and brought down to Liam''s level, it did not necessarily mean that his summons would also be nerfed proportionately.


    So it was definitely in his best interest to finish this fight before the spell casting is sessful.


    His fire-type attacks did the maximum damage so Liam hurriedly started lobbing massive fireballs at the demon.


    However, Hongumbra simply snorted and flicked his thick finger. The next second the ck fumes coalesced and started forming a barrier around the demon.


    Liam knitted his brows and tried to get in a couple of attacks but the barrier was strong enough to block whatever he sent.


    "Fine, then I will juste there and personally break it down."


    Kata Kata Kata. Liam''s figure appeared near the demon and the purple sword danced around as he shed at the barrier relentlessly.


    He was not aware as he had never trained specifically but the purple sword was covered at the moment with a thinyer of sword aura.


    The semi-epic weapon shed against the barrier repeatedly, producing horrendous screeching noises.


    And every time they shed, the barrier was the one to whimper and shudder.


    The insect was able to weaken even this barrier? The demon finally realized that something was amiss.


    The person who originally appeared weak was no longer going down so easily. The weapon in his hand also did not look ordinary.


    However, the fight was not over yet. He was, after all, a higher demon from the abyss. How could he possibly be defeated by a puny toon leader who was as weak as a skeleton?


    With a loud grunt, he used the remaining energy he possessed and hurriedly finished his casting.


    The next second, the arena ground started cracking under their feet. Huge, ck, thorny tentacles started growing from the crevices that formed.


    These tentacles looked extremely sturdy and were fully covered in spikes that were dripping with a dark slimy substance.


    Liam instantly dashed away, moving several paces from the demon. He didn''t have to experience it personally to learn that these spines and needles were poisonous.


    Just a single hit from them was probably enough topletely overturn this fight.


    If he tried to check if indeed they were, then while knowing the result, his soul would at the same time be waving goodbye, leaving his body.


    All his hard work up until now would go to waste and more importantly, he would die.


    He immediately stopped focusing on the offense and shifted to defense.


    He pushed the remaining mana he had to his feet and hurriedly evaded the swaying traps of death.


    The tentacles danced around as if they were alive and covered the entire surface of the arena. Liam had to push himself to the extreme to escape their grasp.


    This was not an easy task and he couldn''t focus on the demon while these were dangling around.


    He hoped that these wouldst for a couple of seconds because he didn''t know how long he could keep up with this, but unfortunately¡­


    Liam continued moving and evading, dancing to the tune of the tentacles while Hongumbra and the other demons standing aroundughed loudly in amusement as if they were watching a show.


    Just a couple of seconds ago, they all were pale and ashen, but now that the tables had turned, it had once again turned into a boisterous asion.


    All the demons heartily booed and jeered, ridiculing how Liam was struggling in front of their almighty garrison leader.


    Hongumbra as well silently panted. The others did not know that he had almost dropped dead just now, losing all of his health.


    So he maintained the haughty posture and quietly recovered his health, watching Liam keenly. His glowing red eyes finally looked a bit pacified.


    However, for some reason, he still had a bad feeling. So he started another summoning not waiting for this one to fully take effect.


    Liam, of course, observed this from the corner of his eyes and started sweating slightly. "Fuck. Are these permanent summons or what?"


    Things were starting to worsen and the chance that he was waiting for hadn''t yet arrived. He also did not know just how long he could hold on.


    Liam as well possessed a demon summoning skill but his onlysted for a couple of seconds but this one was still giving him a headache?


    Were both summoning rituals of different grade and quality? What were they doing differently?


    His original n was to simply evade these and reach the demon. However, that no longer seemed to be a good idea.


    He clenched his sword tightly and shed down at the tentacles.


    He did not want to do this because the things looked sulent. He had a feeling that they might spray poisonous gunk on him but now he had no other choice.


    Liam rapidly shed his sword, the tentacles falling around as he pushed past them. His body shot forward like an arrow, avoiding the aftermath of this massacre.


    However, the few drops of poison still fell on him. It was impossible for him topletely dodge everything.


    Liam took this as well into consideration.


    Hongumbra was only starting to recover so he decided to risk this exposure to poison and finish the battle without prolonging it any longer.


    But even though he had expected it, he had heavily underestimated the extent of the spraying effect.


    In a fraction of a second, before he could realize it, he was covered with poison from top to bottom!


    It seemed as if he had hit a node in one of the tentacles that caused this massive ejaction.


    The gunk was ck in color so he now looked pitch-ck with slime dripping off of him. Even his eyes, nose, and ears were covered with this poisonous gunk.


    All the demons startedughing at this. They hadn''t witnessed a fight like this in years.


    Most demons know that they had to avoid the spiny tentacles like the gue.


    Only a fool would dare to cut down a tentacle because it contained copious amounts of poisonous liquid.


    And this fool had done exactly that!


    He was thoroughly being toyed around by their leader and it was very satisfactory to watch.


    In reality, Liam did not have any experience of fighting against such high-level beings.


    So there was only so much he could do relying solely on hismon sense and gut feeling.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed.


    Even his immacte semi-epic ranked weapon was covered in gunk. With this much poison, there was no way that he was going to survive.


    This was a sure shot death but he didn''t regret it. Considering the number of ways he could have died before, this was well worth it.


    With thisbat experience, if he faced Hongumbra again, he would have a higher chance of victory.


    Just as Liam mentally prepared himself, waiting for his inevitable health drop and then his first death, suddenly something felt off.


    His health was not dropping?

 Chapter 239: Black Demon

    <h4>Chapter 239: ck Demon</h4>


    "I am still not dead?" Liam did not expect this.


    In fact, after he was covered by the gunk, the small bit of health he had lost earlier when exchanging blows with the demon was also starting to fill back up.


    Could it be? He grinned.


    No, he knew it for sure. This was probably some sort ofher poison!


    And because of his perfect affinity to theher, not only did the poison not work but it was also healing him right back up.


    Liam''s pitch-ck figure revealed a big smile that looked unsightly as his white teeth shone against the ck background.


    All the demons including Hongumbra looked dumbfounded as the ck poisonous slime-covered person continued to dash forward, now not even bothering to evade the spiny tentacles.


    How could this be? Hongumbra grunted in anger and irritation. The demon desperately rushed to finish his current summoning, hoping that it would change the oue.


    Small red snakes started to appear but Liam arrived next to him just in time to hack and sh away whatever health he had remaining.


    The demon''s body that was already riddled with injuries from top to bottom gave out like rotten meat, no longer possessing the high inherent defense.


    In the end, Hongumbra could only vainly try to erect another barrier to block these fatal attacks.


    But Liam coldly gazed at him and did not give him any opportunity.


    He gathered a massive condensed fireball and smashed it right onto the partly formed barrier, breaking it apart into a million wisps.


    Funnily enough, these wisps also flew to him like flies attracted to a trap and joined his already ck appearance, making him look like a ck ming pit demon.


    "You¡­ what are you¡­" Hongumbra gasped in shock. However, he did not have any time left to understand what had happened.


    Staring at Liam dumbfoundedly, thest bit of his health left his body and he crumbled and fell down on the ck slimy cracked arena ground.


    "NO! I will not ept¡­ I am a demon from the abyss¡­" His voice boomed, filled with regret and indignation as the vicious light in his eyes dispersed and disappeared.


    The almost invisible dome covering the two of them also disappeared along with him, the battle officiallying to an end.


    [Ding. The challenge battle has ended]


    [Ding. You have seeded in challenging the Garrison Leader of Thol city]


    [Ding. Garrison Leader Hongumbra has been defeated]


    [Ding. You are now the new Garrison Leader of Thol city]


    [Ding. WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: The Garrison Leader of Thol city, Hongumbra has been defeated]


    [Ding. WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: toon Leader Liam Chang is now the new Garrison Leader of Thol city]


    Liam as well copsed on the ck slime-covered arena ground,pletely tired out, both mentally and physically.


    He really had not expected to win this time. If the demon had summoned the red snakes first instead of the tentacles, the oue might have been different.


    So he only won this time by the skin of his teeth. Nevertheless, he excitedly gazed at the notifications, looking for any and all experience points rewards.


    This was what he needed the most right now. However, unfortunately, there were no such announcements.


    He could only see the results of the fight and his promotion to the Garrison Leader position. And there were also world announcements of the same.


    Liam couldn''t help but feel slightly disappointed.


    "Hmmm¡­ It''s fine. Being a Garrison Leader will have its own perks. There should be some ways to gain experience points. I should find out more about this."


    He groaned and stood up, wiping some gunk off of his body and downing a vial of health potion.


    He looked around to see all the demons still standing in the same position as if they were frozen in time and ce. No one dared to utter even a single word.


    The corpse of their leader was still fresh in front of their eyes. Their leader who was a demon of the abyss had been defeated just like that.


    Such an impossible thing had actually happened right in front of their eyes! What were they supposed to do now?


    To make matters worse, they had also ridiculed the other party very badly thinking that such a thing happening was akin to the sky falling on their heads.


    But now¡­ they had to face the new Garrison Leader.


    Liam, however, did not care about these things and did not n to hold any grudges.


    At the same time, these demons would probably never receive the same treatment his own toon would receive.


    While one group would be a favored personal army, the other group would simply be cannon fodder.


    So he simply ignored them and turned to pay attention to the corpse of the dead demon.


    He wanted to see if he could get any clues about the demons and the abyss from Hongumbra''s corpse. Maybe he also dropped some equipment?


    However, as soon as Liam took a step forward, a ck pentagram appeared in the air above the corpse and reddish ck wisps starteding out of this mysterious symbol.


    These wisps started gathering around the demon and the next instant, the symbol along with the corpse suddenly disappeared without leaving any trace behind.


    Liam dashed ahead to examine the spot but he couldn''t find any clue, but judging from everything that he had heard he could vaguely guess about things.


    "Abyss¡­ huh¡­" He silently pondered looking at the ce where the corpse hadid. In his previous life, he knew nothing about these things.


    Now, the more he learned, the more puzzled he became.


    A couple of secondster, surprisingly another notification sounded, snapping him out of his thoughts.


    [Ding. Squad 104 has sessfullypleted a mission.]


    [Ding. You have received 10000 experience points]


    Liam dazedly read the notification and re-read it again several times, but no matter how many times he saw it, he still couldn''t believe his eyes.


    Because.... if this notification is real¡­ then that means¡­

 Chapter 240: AFK Leveling?

    <h4>Chapter 240: AFK Leveling?</h4>


    AFK leveling?


    Liam did not want to assume anything just yet. He stood still on the same spot, waiting for the inevitable proof.


    Seeing his expression turn various shades, and the serious look on his face, the demons became even more nervous, and started sweating.


    They had really gone too far and said too many things. They wouldn''t be surprised even if their new leader executed them directly.


    So they were very scared, some literally shaking.


    A few seconds passed just like that in silence and Liam still did not move an inch from the spot.


    Not able to withstand this mental pressure, all the demons standing around the arena collectively knelt on the ground to beg the new leader and grovel for their lives.


    And as soon as they kneeled down, their Garrison leader was smiling?


    No, he was grinning like a devil who had just now feasted on blood from a thousand humans!


    What happened? Were they all going to be killed to appease the new leader?


    But to their surprise, the leader simply walked away¡­?


    The demons slowly and hesitantly walked behind Liam who was busy staring at the system interface, grinning from ear to ear.


    There were four more notifications disyed on the screen.


    [Ding. Squad 364 has sessfullypleted a mission.]


    [Ding. You have received 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. Squad 543 has sessfullypleted a mission.]


    [Ding. You have received 10000 experience points]


    And by the time realization hit him, another couple more notifications popped up and correspondingly his own experience bar also filled up.


    There was no longer any need to doubt things. What was happening was as clear as day.


    For every invasion mission run by the demons in the city, he was passively gaining experience points!


    This was simply too ridiculous and that was why Liam did not dare assume things.


    But now he could no longer deny it!


    The proof was right there in front of his eyes. His experience bar was continuously rising!


    Since the beginning, he had always gained a lot of experience points by doing these invasion missions and this amount increased as he grew in the ranks.


    So he had expected some kind of bump after bing the Garrison leader.


    But this¡­??!


    Liam was speechless.


    With this, so many of his problems would get solved.


    Right now, he was extremely tight on time but he also had two allies who had the potential to shine tremendously with his help.


    Before, he couldn''t groom them whilst ignoring his own growth and development. So he was unable to do justice to neither, but now everything was different!


    All he had to do was a bit of managing and he could actually automatically farm experience points!


    Liam had wanted to gain several things in this mysteriousher realm, but he definitely did not expect this windfall.


    More importantly, the consequences of this discovery were astronomical. This was because the Nether realm was not the only world with garrisons and armies!


    Throughout the Xion realm, both in human and other race kingdoms and empires, there were several border cities and unimed territories with small armies and garrisons.


    In these areas, the soldiers were basically camped out to defend and extend their territory.


    And as various guilds start hitting Level 50 and Level 60, this phase in the game would begin, where everyone tries to gain territories and expand their influence.


    Liam knew about this but he never knew that such a goldly exp boost cheat method would be attached to these garrisons.


    As he was only a lowly member of society in his previous life, he was not privy to such information.


    But now that he had actually managed to grasp hold of one such garrison, that too relying only on himself, he was able to learn all these special details.


    As he walked back to the main hall of the garrison tower, another couple of notifications sounded, filling up his experience bar some more.


    Liam clenched his fists tightly and closed his eyes to take a few breaths.


    The feeling of reaping rewards when not doing anything was truly heavenly!


    He was someone who was only used to working like a dog for everything he needed, so these free exp bumps felt amazing!


    More importantly, now that he had received such a huge bonus, he needed to carefully n and execute everything.


    Not to mention that, if he was able to get here, then¡­ Kouske could also get here.


    Especially because of the world announcements that had popped up.


    They were probably only limited to this realm, so he didn''t have to worry about his secret getting exposed to the other yers so soon.


    However, Kouske still had ess to this realm. It was best to assume that he was going to figure this out and probably even seed not long after.


    He might even be just seconds away from reaching the same level.


    Liam knew that underestimating one''s opponent could only bring about a swift downfall. So he did not dare rx and calmed himself down.


    "I need to figure out what to do with the garrison arrangements." He closed the system interface and walked over to the huge throne-like chair at the back of the hall.


    He then looked at the demons standing in front of him and shivering. He pointed to one among them who had run his mouth the most earlier.


    Using his index finger, he made a hooking sort of action, calling that demon forward. "Bring me up to date with the affairs of this garrison."


    Fuck. The demon trembled, cursing his bad luck. Of all the people he had been picked. He was sweating profusely, but the question was surprisingly simple.


    So he did not leave out any details and started blurting out everything he knew from top to bottom.


    Liam as well patiently heard him speak, all while continuing to receive experience point notifications on the side.


    "So basically, everything is already set up and I don''t have to do much?" Liam muttered in contemtion after hearing the day to day affairs of the garrison.


    As a garrison leader it looked like all he had to do was make sure that his army had sufficient strength, both in numbers and in individual abilities.


    He also needed to pay as revenue to the kingdom part of the war spoils. The rest of the spoils could be used to arm the garrison main fighting force.


    The previous leader already had a system in ce for this with appropriate rewards and contribution points.


    That seemed to be working fine as it was so Liam did not make any adjustments just yet.


    And as he listened to the demon bber, he also realized something else.


    Apart from the free experience points, he could also potentially get a lot of valuable intel through this position.


    He had a unique advantage to thoroughly understand this realm and tease out the easter eggs hidden here.


    Especially considering that he had a perfect SSS-grade affinity toher, this would help him a lot morepared to others.


    "I need to first get a hang of things." He muttered, gazing at the huge detailed map of the city.


    As a part of the Thol city''s garrison, there were about 1000 squads and 100 toons.


    This meant that while there were thousand squad leaders in this city, there were only about hundred toon leaders.


    Liam now understood why he had be instantly famous.


    And if all of these 1000 squads and 100 toons sessfully run invasion missions every other day, then the experience points he would be raking in¡­


    Liam felt his blood boiling in excitement. He had no doubt that this garrison would y a major role in his growth.


    With this he no longer had to worry about his level growth and grinding.


    He could peacefully focus on honing his skills, techniques and thoroughly investigate this world and Xion realm for treasures and other artifacts.


    He just might be able to reach Level 100 also¡­


    Pondering for a moment, Liam decided to make a slight adjustment first before he moved onto other pressing matters.


    His cold gazended on the demon who was still shivering in fear and anxiety. The demon became more afraid wondering what this new leader was now going to do.


    However, he did not expect what came next.

 Chapter 241: Spendthrift Leader

    <h4>Chapter 241: Spendthrift Leader</h4>


    "Announce this to everyone." Liam confidently dered.


    "Every squad leader will get a gold coin and every toon leader will get 10 gold coins as an additional reward for every single sessful invasion mission."


    "Along with that, every demon soldier participating in the invasion missions will also get a silver coin each." His voice rang crisply in the huge hall.


    The dozen demons standing in the hall were instantly stupified. They couldn''t believe what they were hearing.


    1 silver coin for each demon soldier?


    1 gold coin for each squad leader?


    Many gold coins for toon leaders?


    Such an announcement was unprecedented. Completely unheard of!


    Did their new leader perhaps misspeak?


    Did he mean to say silver coins and not gold coins?


    The demon opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, waiting for the new leader to correct himself, but that never happened.


    Liam still confidently stared back at the demon. "You have something to say?"


    The demon hurriedly shook his big blue head and then scurried away. He was already on thin ice so he did not dare push his luck.


    The other demons as well ran away to make the necessary arrangements. This announcement might be small but the repercussions were explosive!


    Let alone gold coins, even silver coins were precious in theirnds and the new garrison leader was giving them away for free like baked buns.


    They were certain that this single announcement was going to cause a massive uproar. Demons were now going to line up for participating in invasions.


    Not only that, but other city''s demons were going to migrate here and be a part of their city, just to participate in these missions.


    Their markets and their growth were going to soar. Their city might even be one of the top cities in theirnd, their fame and fortune bringing in all sorts of opportunities.


    But this was all¡­ only if their garrison leader actually fulfills his promises.


    Was he going to?


    The demons were too nervous and stressed to think about that right now. They all simply ran for their lives as soon as Liam gave the order.


    They swiftly reached all the important nodes in the city and set everything in motion.


    Soon, the entire city was in a hugemotion which slowly turned into a chaotic mess and then resolved into a mass surge of demons crowding near the central square.


    Suddenly, all squad leaders, toon leaders appeared from their rest, and the demon soldiers were littered everywhere.


    The entire city was overwhelmed.


    And Beluga, the demon sitting behind the counter looked as if he had gone crazy.


    "What did you say? Our Garrison leader is now him!!!!"


    However, the crowd in front of the counter did not give him any time to process this information.


    "Beluga, hand me the damned invasion scrolls!"


    "Beluga, do you want me to jump across and beat it out of you?! You are costing me gold coins!"


    The demon couldn''t even move a muscle. He was so shocked.


    How could this be possible?


    He had just said some things for teaching the greenhorn a lesson¡­ but now he was suddenly their garrison leader?


    The demon pped himself roughly. He really had to see if this was a nightmare or his new reality.


    And the stinging pain he felt told him the answer.


    Beluga gulped and then slowly started handing out invasion scrolls listlessly, but his expression soon recovered after noticing the other new orders.


    After that once again he started humming in amusement.


    "Our new leader seems very generous huh?" He chuckled, not voicing out his thoughts.


    For a moment he was worried but that was all for nothing.


    He now knew that it was only a matter of time before this greenhorn thoroughly embarrassed himself in front of all the garrison leaders.


    How could anyone have so many gold coins? He was going to be aughingstock of the entire realm! Ba ha ha ha!


    The demon grinned and started handing out invasion scrolls more hurriedly. He really wanted to watch this show.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam was already back in the Gresh Kingdom. He was still receiving all the passive experience point bumps without having to stay back in theher realm.


    This made his life easier as he now had to spend some time amidst the humans to fill his coffers, to fund all the chaos he had caused.


    The experience points he would have received if he had done nothing would have probably been enough but just in case he decided to further rev up his power leveling.


    He had the means to make it happen, so why not?


    More importantly, he didn''t have to lift a finger to make this happen.


    Liam covered himself from top to bottom in ck attire and walked over to the auction house in Yleka city. He then began emptying his inventory space that was filled to the brim.


    Of course, he only sold very basic low-grade weapons, saving everything that was even remotely valuable. He now had an entire city to equip after all.


    However, this in itself was more than enough because of the sheer number of looted items. Even if each sold for some copper coins, he was still making a lot of profit.


    Selling these trash weapons in theher realm wouldn''t fetch him anything. They were already poverty ridden.


    But on the human side, in the Xion realm, since a lot of new yers were entering the game at the moment, weapons and other equipment sold like hotcakes.


    Even if they didn''t have copper or silver to start with, there was constant currency exchange with the real world which brought in the influx of coins.


    So he could essentially bring in these items from theher realm and sell them here, making a ton of profit.


    Though the idea was pretty simple and straightforward, this would have originally been a tedious task.


    Individually dumping so many items in the market would have consumed a lot of time, but there were several mass dumping options avable.


    "At least this part is not convoluted." Liam chuckled and quickly finished his business transaction.


    This time he directly gave out buyout options for all the items and didn''t put any open-ended bidding.


    He then left the auction house, checking his messages to see what the others were up to.


    Surprisingly, Derek was already online, and not only that, but he had also reached the 96th floor of the PVP tower!


    "How long has he been online? Did he log back in immediately?" Liam shook his head helplessly.


    This person was even more hardworking than him. "He is probably going to work himself to death if I don''t say something."


    Liam smiled and sent a quick message to Derek, asking him to take proper rest, particrly stressing the importance of mental health.


    He knew that the person was working so hard to repay everything he had done for him. His determination was impressive and more importantly, his loyalty was remarkable.


    Though he seldom showed kindness to others, even he couldn''t be moved by such a character.


    And now because of the garrison, he would finally be able to give him the necessary guidance, time, and resources.


    Liam let out a long breath and then hurriedly checked on the other two, his personal troublemakers. He opened the system interface and checked the messages.


    Luckily, this time they hadn''t managed to get themselves into any sort of troublesome situation.


    They were still busy fighting in the PVP tower. They had also climbed all the way to the 70th floor.


    And just as he was seeing their details, the two of them logged out of the game.


    Liam was also tired from the continuous grinding. So he decided to log out as well and take a nap.


    With many things sorted out, he was now free to finally search for the legacy that could instantly give him the power that he had been working so hard for.


    It would definitely not be a simple task, but he had a good feeling about it.

 Chapter 242: World Famous

    <h4>Chapter 242: World Famous</h4>


    "Brother! You also logged out! We did just now too!" Mei Mei beamed as soon as she saw Liam walking out of his room.


    Standing next to her, Shen Yue who was fiddling with her phone, almost dropped it in nervousness.


    Liam luckily was close enough so he somehow managed to catch it with his hand before it dropped on the floor and broke apart.


    "Oops. I got it. Here you go." He returned it to her.


    Shen Yue immediately became bright red. She bit her lips feeling frustrated that every single time she was always getting embarrassed in front of this guy.


    Mei Mei, on the other hand, giggled in amusement. "Brother, what is this! Aha ha ha. Just like inside the game, here also you have super fast reflexes! Ha ha ha."


    She justmented innocently but Liam''s face slightly changed as soon as he heard it. Was he actually faster than usual?


    A thought popped up in his mind. However, he was quickly distracted by the crying sounds from his stomach.


    He was also very tired so he flopped down on their couch and closed his eyes. "Mei Mei, can you order some food for the three of us?"


    "Ah. Okay. Sis Yue was doing that right now. I will add your favorite too."


    The food soon arrived and the three of them ate their meal watching the news on TV.


    These days most of the news was about the game so all three of them watched it with great interest. However, their priorities were different.


    While Mei Mei and Shen Yue were admiring the various footage, interesting snippets, and yer interviews, Liam was keeping an eye on the general growth of the various yers.


    The three were watching and eating in silence,pletely engrossed in the news when suddenly the anchor started talking about the five most famous characters in the game right now.


    "Let''s hear from our fifth most famous yer! Arya, the dragon tamer!"


    "He has managed to tame five dragons and is currently rising in the rankings very fast." The beautiful woman announced loudly.


    "Dragon tamer? Wow! This person must be awesome!" Mei Mei eximed in awe.


    The next second, unexpectedly, a young face appeared on the TV. He was definitely a teenager, no maybe not even that. The kid looked even younger than Mei Mei.


    "Ehhhhh! He is the dragon tamer?"


    Mei Mei couldn''t believe her eyes. She had expected someone taller and cooler looking, perhaps like her brother.


    But this kid was the fifth famous yer?? Where was justice in this world?


    Not to mention that the kid seemed very arrogant and proud, making several bold statements about how talented he was.


    This specifically ticked off Mei Mei as among the three of them, she was the only one who was weak and did not have anything special, not even a skill or a pet or a weapon.


    Her ss was also one of themon sses.


    So watching Shen Yue cakewalk through all the fights in the PVP tower when she had to struggle and win each and everyone, that too losing every two out of three, she was already filled with a lot of grievances.


    And now seeing this brat talk about talent. It made her very frustrated. "He definitely just got lucky and is now showing off by talking out of his ass."


    She chewed angrily, taking it out on the chicken drumstick


    She spent the next minutementing about it but Liam only smiled in silence without responding.


    He didn''t want to say anything because unfortunately, he already knew what was going to happen to this kid.


    In this tutorial phase, this kid was one of the top yers, thanks to his powerful dragon pets. Because of this, he acted very arrogantly, making enemies out of everyone.


    His personality was also very crappy and selfish so he didn''t have any friends in the game. He also did not join any guild.


    He roamed around, proudly looking down on everyone, and PKing people left and right. Everyone had to bear with him because fighting with a brat like that was just a time waste.


    He also knew how to run away when the situation got tricky as one of his dragon pets had the space attribute. So no one was able to touch him.


    But¡­ when the inevitable apocalypse ensued¡­ he was suddenly weak and helpless.


    He did not have his dragons with him and he had made far too many enemies. Liam did not know who but one of them squished him and killed him like swatting a mosquito.


    Maybe someone else would have felt pity for him but Liam neither cared for him nor made any ns to change his shitty ending. That was none of his business.


    The news anchor then announced the next famous yer, the fourth person. Coincidentally, this was none other than Mia.


    A tall elegant blonde appeared on the TV, her long locks cascading down to her hips. However, unlike the brat who had previously appeared, Mia''s temperament was calm andposed.


    She had a celestial aura about her as if she was an angel stepped down from the heavens, albeit a cold and distant angel whose eyes were as sharp as swords.


    Mei Mei immediately became silent as she was one of Mia''s ardent fans and she and Shen Yue watched her interview with their eyes glued to the screen.


    Liam as well was once again silent as he already knew that Mia was someone who would be extremely popr.


    Even in his previous life, her skills not to mention her looks brought her a lot of attention. So this was nothing surprising.


    And since Mia was a very silent and quiet person, the interview did notst long and quickly got over.


    Unlike the brat, she answered all the questions with yes or no, not using any other words. But still, the fans of this ice goddess cheered loudly with thunderous ps.


    Even his own sister was pping! Liam smiled helplessly and continued eating.


    As he shoved the next spoonful of food into his mouth, the news anchorwoman announced the third famous yer.


    "Our third famous yer is actually a mystery yer. This person excels in PVP and is¡­ aha ha ha¡­ fondly nicknamed the ck-masked oni!"


    Liam almost spat out the food in his mouth. Were they actually talking about him?


    Before he could digest this piece of news, the next shock soon followed.


    "Unfortunately, we still don''t have the identity of this yer so we don''t have an interview for him at the moment." The beautiful anchorwoman pouted.


    She then giggled yfully and continued. "In fact, all our top three famous yers are very mysterious and very unknown. We don''t have the identity of all three yers."


    "Anyone who knows anything about them cane forward and give us more information. There is a huge reward waiting for you!"


    "We will alsopensate the yers for exclusive interviews!" The anchorwoman shed a V sign making a cute pose.


    The TV then disyed three ck-cloaked figures.


    Under one, the nickname ''ck-masked oni'' was written.


    Under the next, the name Derek was written and under thest, the name Liam Chang was written, along with the snippet that he was at the top of the leaderboard in level rankings.


    Liam stared at this dumbfoundedly. Why was he alone upying two of the top five famous slots? What happened to the other shy yers?


    And Derek!


    He did not know whether tough or cry and silently continued eating.


    In reality, he couldn''t care less about these things.


    He did not have any social presence and he was a nobody. His name as well was a verymon name. So it was near impossible to find him unless he exposed himself.


    But the two sitting next to him, Mei Mei and Shen Yue, both looked at him with their eyes wide in admiration.


    "Brother! You are so famous!" Mei Mei abruptly stood up, pointing to the TV. "You don''t want to call the newsdy? Then, you can also give an interview on TV!"


    "Everyone across the world will know how awesome you are!" She beamed excitedly.


    Shen Yue smiled lightly and continued eating. She looked very happy, but she didn''t want to say anything and make things awkward for Liam.


    She was also older and knew fame was not always a positive thing.


    But the other partycked maturity and was brimming with happiness and pride. Liam caught the little girl and flicked her forehead.


    "Stop shouting and eat your food. I know what to do when. You should finish your meal and sleep properly."


    "I am also going to sleep for a bit. Remember, don''t go out. Lock the door and sleep well."


    Ignoring the girl''s protests, he dumped the tes into the sink and jumped onto the bed to rest for a while.


    The news anchorwoman as well had now moved onto other top yers in the game, re-running some of the interviews fromst week.


    Their rankings were very arbitrary and often changed every day so the news continued running on and on and moved onto other real world affairs after a few minutes.


    ***


    Author''s Note: Hi guys, thank you so much for supporting me and the book. We are right now at a very juicy part of the story. I hope you are all enjoying it. I have another good news.


    Since a lot of readers requested me, starting from March I am nning to release more chapters as bonus chapters for specific goals.


    Every 1000 power stones - 1 bonus chapter


    Every 500 golden tickets - 1 bonus chapter


    Every super gift - 3 bonus chapters


    Let the March Madness begin! I hope this month we can reach the top 10 rankings!

 Chapter 243: Your Friends Are Barely Online

    <h4>Chapter 243: Your Friends Are Barely Online</h4>


    After a long sleep, Liam woke uppletely refreshed. He got out of the bed, stretched his limbs, and then walked out to take a shower.


    The apartment looked empty now, with his sister''s room wide open and her game capsule light on.


    "Those two must have logged back into the game." He chuckled and quickly finished his shower. When he came back, he surprisingly saw Shen Yue still in the living room.


    She was sleeping on the couch and hence he hadn''t noticed her before. "Why is she sleeping here and not in her own apartment?"


    He walked over to her to wake her up, but when he reached near her, he dazedly stopped. Her beautiful face looked even more alluring while she was asleep.


    Her red lips had slight moisture, her eyelids lightly moved perhaps because she was dreaming about something and her plump chest was pushed up revealing a lot of her cleavage because of the way her hands hugged herself.


    The woman was sleepingpletely defenseless as if she was in her own house. Even her shirt was slightly pulled up revealing her naked slender waist.


    Liam''s gaze silently traveled up and down the woman''s body, dragging on as he took in the various delicious details.


    Even when she was sleeping without any makeup or adjustments, she was extremely seductive and beautiful.


    Of course, this wasn''t a surprise for him, but for some reason, she looked more beautiful and alluring than normal today.


    Surprised by his own actions, he stood there staring at her like a horny teenager. He could only barely control his hands that were itching to reach forward and touch her naked skin.


    His eyes moved down from her waist to her long legs that were exposedpletely for anyone to see.


    She was only wearing a pair of short shorts that might as well have been panties. They covered nothing. Half of her round supple ass was hanging out.


    Was this woman hell-bent on seducing him?


    Liam bent down, his hands traveling on their own ord to touch the softness but at thest minute, he stopped himself and snapped out of the trance.


    Retrieving his hand back, he instead picked up the nket that had fallen on the ground and ced it on the damned girl.


    "No wonder she managed to unlock the charm attribute." Chuckling wryly, he shook his head and moved away.


    She was not a bad girl but he couldn''t afford to get distracted by her. There was too much at stake and there were too many hidden forces and unknown factors.


    He walked back to his room quickly, logging into the game without further dy. His figure appeared in Yleka city''s inn and as soon as he regained consciousness...


    Ding Ding Ding Ding¡­


    Liam waspletely caught off guard that he stumbled and fell back onto the inn''s small cot, even breaking it in the process.


    However, he did not look troubled at all. Instead, he was smiling like a maniac as he dusted his clothes and stood back up.


    So many notifications! So many updates!


    And every single one of them was either an experience points boost or a notification that he had leveled up.


    Liam sat in the wooden chair in the corner of the room and quickly scanned through everything. He had actually managed to gain an entire level and another half while he had logged out!


    Even for him, this was ridiculous! This waspletely insane!


    Especially considering that every level after 30 needed more and more experience points to fill up, this speed was astounding.


    Not to mention, how he had gained this level by doing literally nothing. He managed to rest his mindpletely while also simultaneously making progress inside the game.


    Liam couldn''t resist pulling up the leaderboard level rankings and taking a look.


    He was sitting at the top with a high 45 and the next position was held by an anonymous yer who was Level 34.


    Seeing this, Liam slightly frowned. "I didn''t know that this game was kind enough to allow a yer to remain anonymous¡­"


    His gaze then traveled to the rest of the list, seeing several familiar names. Just like him, they were alsopletely exposed without any choice in the matter.


    However, the second rank person alone was somehow able to remain anonymous.


    Liam stood still for a moment but he did not think too much about it. He shrugged and started heading out of the inn.


    After all, even he only knew so much about this game world. He would only be conceited to think that his knowledge was exhaustive.


    So instead of worrying about this, he moved on to the next main step of his n.


    Though hiding a name was temporarily advantageous, in the end, everything would eventually be out in the open for the world to see.


    At that time, only true power mattered!


    Before leaving the city, Liam first made a quick trip to the auction house. Once again a series of notifications rang loudly, but this time he was prepared for them.


    With a subtle smile on his face, he checked the total amount he had amassed. "20 gold coins. Not bad, but I need more. Maybe this time, I will also auction a batch of potions."


    He opened his inventory and dumped another load of low-grade gear that he had collected doing misceneous things, mostly from the invasion missions.


    He then checked the messages from his business partners but weirdly not many were there. "I guess the craze for theva dungeon is already gone?"


    He opened the dungeon records rankings and checked the list, but surprisingly it looked like theva dungeon was still not yet conquered.


    There were absolutely no records avable for it.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam then checked thest message that Assassin guild leader Abraki had sent him.


    [Your friends are barely online these days. Is there any other way to buy more potions from you? Also, do you have any anti-venom potions or invisibility potions for sale?]


    "This exins it." Liam did not bother replying to the guy and closed the system interface. He then started finally heading out of the city.


    "I wonder who it is that got the short end of the stick." He chuckled. "It couldn''t have been her. I just saw her giving an interview and she looked¡­ fine¡­"


    "Hmmm¡­ it should probably be the annoying redhead or that annoying guy. Seeing that I haven''t gotten any retaliation from those threetely, maybe it''s the redhead who is down."


    In all honesty, it didn''t matter to him who among them fell sick. He only needed one of the three to go down.


    Then the other two would probably have no other choice but toe to him begging for help.


    Fortunately or unfortunately they had met him.


    Perhaps things would have turned out different for them if they had never crossed paths, but since they did¡­ they only had their own bad luck to me for everything.


    As Liam weaved in and out of the crowded streets, bing invisible amidst the masses, no one turned to give another nce at him.


    No one would ever guess that this person was the number one yer right now in the entire realm.


    He quietly reached the outskirts and then jogged for a bit before whistling to call for Talon. The huge bird swooped down, having grown another size in the meantime.


    He could nowfortably sit on its back, with a lot of space left, even enough for two other people to climb on.


    Liam thought about calling the other three.


    But he quickly gave up on the idea as Derek was probably logging in and out based on what time he had and Shen Yue and Mei Mei stillcked the appropriatebat experience.


    So the two women would probably be of not much help. If he was just hunting down an elite, then perhaps he could have carried them.


    However, he was right now on his way to deal with an inheritance or at worst a hidden ss.


    How could such a thing be easy?


    Even Shen Yue''s inheritance was a sure shot death trap if he did not possess the naga''s pearl. The difficulty was simply off the charts.


    As for calling the snakedy once again to help him out this time, it was best to forget it.


    Instead of the enemy that wanted to kill him, the snake would probably kill him herself.


    Other than these options, the only one who could have helped him significantly was Luna, but she was also MIA at the moment.


    "You chose the wrong time to evolve, little fox." Liam smiled. "I should maybe pay theva dungeon a visit soon to help you more."


    As the huge wind ripper bird rose up into the sky, the city bing a distant sight, Liam started looking ahead to the east where the thing that would probably decide his fate resided.


    Even without it, he knew that he would be more strong this time aroundpared to his previous life.


    But that was now no longer enough for him. The future was uncertain and he wanted to be as prepared as he possibly could.


    Liam pulled up the realm''s map and his gazended on the Gresh kingdom borders. He needed to go to the eastern border between Gresh and Thunderbolt.


    He ran his hand along the back of the bird''s neck, patting the sharp metallic feathers covering its body.. "Keep going east."

 Chapter 244: Searching For Nothing?

    <h4>Chapter 244: Searching For Nothing?</h4>


    After a few hours of journey, Liam and Talon finally arrived at the easternmost parts of the kingdom.


    Soon, they would bending in the border regions, the rough location that the King had talked about.


    "He couldn''t have lied to me right?"


    The image of the beautiful trap king of the Gresh kingdom floated across Liam''s mind, as he pondered over this possibility.


    His problem was that all the areas in this zone were filled with high-level beasts and dangerous entities. Not to mention everything roamed around in groups.


    If he identally aggroed one beast, then all the others would respond as well.


    So Liam really hoped that the trap King had told him the correct information and not led him astray.


    Otherwise, he would have to waste a considerable amount of time here, fighting beasts and monsters above his level.


    Not that he couldn''t win somehow and preserve his life, but it would simply take a lot of time to do so.


    Normally, quests would be straightforward at least in terms of location. However, he was in this predicament only because this was actually not the location of his own kingdom quest.


    Rather he hade here following the clues he had obtained about Kouske''s kingdom quest.


    During their conversation, because of Liam beating around the bush purposefully, the King had let slip this small nugget of information.


    Somewhere on this vast stretch of bordends between the Gresh Kingdom and the Thunderbolt Kingdomy a cave, a hut, or a burrow that contained the necromancy inheritance or at least clues to it.


    It wasn''t much but it was enough to go on.


    Liam whistled, signaling Talon to drop him off here and hide in the nearby area. Flying from here onwards was a bit dangerous. They would be shot down if they were sighted.


    Just like the Gresh Kingdom, the Thunderbolt kingdom was also a human kingdom.


    However, unlike the Gresh kingdom, there were orcs that lived here along with humans. The humans living in thesends were also bigger, stronger, and barbaric.


    People in other kingdoms, human NPCs, typically referred to them as barbarians and they ostracized and looked down upon the natives of thisnd.


    The rumor was that the people living here originated from terrible brutality. In the past, when the orcs invaded thesends, they raped and plundered to their heart''s content.


    So the men and women living in this kingdom were considered as mixed-race and descendants of the orcs.


    They also had stronger, taller, and thicker figures with several orcish features.


    As the war continued on, slowly, the mixed-racemunity called barbarians started bing more and the number of human beings reduced.


    Eventually, some parts of thesends were upied by the orcs and some by barbarians, and some sort of peace was established.


    Afterward, a barbarian also managed to unify the different settlements, establishing the Thunderbolt kingdom. These people were powerful warriors and also nature brawlers.


    They used nature magic like shamans toplement their physical strength and fighting methods. They were able to cast spells like mages and fight like warriors.


    Their reproductive rate was also significantly higher just like orcs and demons so they had the numbers to boost their strength as well.


    So using this upper hand, they managed to defend their kingdom all these years and held their own against several types of enemies.


    And now Liam was near their territory.


    Apart from vicious beasts in the bordends between the two kingdoms, Liam also had to watch out for these barbarians. They were ruthless savages.


    Because of his human-like appearance, if he ever got caught in their hands, he would be mercilessly raped and killed.


    To make matters worse, they watched their borders like hawks manning both thend and the sky. They would never let anyone fly above theirnd and immediately shoot them down.


    This was why Liam already dismounted Talon at a good distance and then started covering the rest of thend on foot.


    He used the semi-epic ranked sword in his hand to cut through the thorns and brambles and traversed across the rough unruly terrain, searching blindly for any clues that could get him closer to the necromancy inheritance.


    Liam had to admit. It was far easier to steal the fate of those who had stumbled upon lucky urrences rather than others who had worked their way towards it.


    Particrly this guy Kouske¡­ He was like a leech, not letting go of what rightfully belonged to him.


    Kouske had somehow managed to trigger the event, unlock theher realm, and finally even got the kingdom quest.


    The only thing that hecked right now was overall strength and power which he would also inevitably obtain in a few days, sooner if he manages to capture a garrison as well.


    He would then attempt this quest, probably with his team of super experts, and easily get the inheritance using which he will be able tomand an army of undead.


    He would once again stand at the top as he was destined to be.


    Liam, however, had no ns to let him sail smoothly into the sunset to his destiny, bing one of the great experts of their world.


    He was determined to snatch away whatever belonged to Kouske. He had a perfect affinity to theher, so if anyone was suited for this inheritance, it was him, not Kouske.


    "I wonder what that guy''s affinity is¡­" Liam quietly mumbled while his feet continued moving forward and his eyes searched the surroundings.


    He had started at the far south of the bordends and systemically moved towards the north.


    Once he reached the other end of the border, then he would again be moving to the south, searching the entire border between the two countries systematically in a grid-like fashion.


    This grid started away from the Thunderbolt kingdom, first searching the zones within the Gresh kingdom, and then he would have to slowly encroach and search thends of the barbarians as well.


    As far as he knew, the inheritance could lie on either side, so he couldn''t take any chances.


    Thus, Liam continued the slow painful grind, searching the border area between the two kingdoms.


    At times, he felt as if he was searching for a needle in a haystack but there was nothing that could be done about it.


    Powerful inheritances and priceless treasures were as rare as virgins after a frat party.


    Thankfully, the frequent notifications continuously chiming in, announcing the steady increase of his experience bar helped him not lose his mind searching in this vast wilderness.

 Chapter 245: Follow The Rabbit Into The Hole

    <h4>Chapter 245: Follow The Rabbit Into The Hole</h4>


    A dark purple long sword thatcked any luster whatsoever currently shed in the sunlight shining brightly here and there.


    Its movements were obscure just like the movements of the person wielding it.


    However, every time the sword shed, blood was spilled and bloodcurdling howls resounded in the empty dense jungle.


    "That''s thest of the wolves." Liam bent down to pick up the coins scattered around and a couple of wolf pelts.


    These wolves were not themon dire wolves but level 50 green spiked wolves. However, Liam was still able to easily see through their attack patterns and cleanly finish them.


    He could have dealt with them more quickly using the golems but the two giants were a bit too attention-grabbing.


    So he saved them both for emergency and dealt with this small pack by himself. This was the fifth pack of wolves that he hade across.


    But Liam did not n to take a detour. It was better to search the grid by moving around in the wolf territory rather than something else''s.


    And he was almost done searching the area.


    After a while, he moved onto the next zone, searching around everywhere and turning over every rock.


    He continued doing this for a long time but it looked like it was going nowhere.


    "Tsk. Tsk. Do I have to go to the other side?"


    Liam sheathed his sword back and then let out a small sigh before heading deeper into the jungle towards the other side of the border.


    And just as he did, suddenly a small cry sounded from a distance.


    Liam hurriedly dashed towards the source of the sound and from a distance saw a few rabbits hanging around the bushes.


    "Hmmm¡­ just rabbits." As he was in a hurry, he turned around to leave when he stopped in his tracks. "How are these things here in this zone?"


    Only now, he paid more attention to the actual state of the rabbits. "These are undead rabbits?"


    He moved closer, but the rabbits noticed him and starteding right at him without any fear.


    Even though there was so much level difference, they did not hesitate at all and came straight for him without holding back. These were themon characteristics of the undead.


    It only took Liam a second to deal with this bunch of rabbits, but he did not leave the spot just yet.


    He had originally wanted to observe them and see where they go about but now that they were dead he had to find out things for himself.


    He lingered around thoroughly examining the ground, trees, and everything around him.


    This was the first undeads he had seen in this area and since he was looking for a necromancy inheritance, he almost camped out in the area.


    He spent the next couple of hoursbing this ce upside down, even pulling out all the grass around and uprooting trees.


    And finally¡­ when he stepped foot on a particr spot, his feet sunk and he felt the ground loose underneath.


    Hiyuup! Liam grunted and started hastily shing the ground, removing all the dirt and the rocks, clearing the path underneath him.


    Soon, a huge hollow underground tunnel was revealed and Liam immediately activated [Stealth], jumping into the tunnel.


    However, his stealth was immediately canceled as something prickled his skin. It didn''t affect his health or cause any other injury so Liam continued moving ahead.


    He no longer bothered keeping the stealth as he couldn''t see properly and had to conjure a small wisp of me.


    It was more difficult than usual for some reason but Liam did not mind it and continued heading deeper inside.


    The anticipation coursing through his blood was palpable. He was so close to it. This had to be it, right?


    Liam continued walking when suddenly a groaning sound came from the side. He instantly increased the size of the me in his hand, illuminating everything around him.


    Whatever was around him, the groaning sound probably alerted them already, so he did not hold back.


    Immediately the entire underground tunnel lit up and Liam couldn''t help but gasp as he took a look around.


    Skeletons! Bony Skeletons!


    Numerous white dusty skeletons were present all around him without even a chunk of flesh left behind on their bodies.


    Liam hurriedly unsheathed his sword, preparing himself to fight. However, the next second he sheathed it back because that was clearly not necessary at least for now.


    The several dozens of skeletons lining the walls of the tunnel were actually chained to the wall and were unable to move, even though they tried.


    "These are so weak. It''s as if they have decayed or something." Liam squatted on the floor to observe one of the skeletons.


    It could barely even move its arm towards him, only producing dull grating sounds of bones rubbing against each other.


    "First the rabbits and now these skeletons¡­ " Liam grinned as he stood back up and started walking further deeper into the tunnels.


    There seemed to be an boratework of tunnels under the ground, each steeper than the previous one, inclined downward.


    He was walking deeper and deeper into the earth as he moved ahead.


    A thick moist smell of the earth along with the putrid smell of decaying skeletons together assaulted his nose.


    But Liam scrunched his nose and kept walking as he knew that he was definitely in the right ce. He might not even need a clue that led him to some other tomb or cave.


    From the looks of how things were unfolding this was probably it!


    He had a feeling that he almost had the necromancy inheritance in his grasp!


    He just needed to walk down and take it!


    The only thing that was a bit worrisome was thepleteck of traps or any other sort of beast or undead creature.


    Was obtaining an inheritance really that simple? Was he just going to walk all the way down and get what he wanted?


    Before even Liam could finish his thought, a loud rumbling sound echoed.


    ***


    Author''s Note: 2 daily chapters plus 1 bonus chapter out


    Please thank DerEcho for sponsoring the bonus chapter!

 Chapter 246: Someone Is Already Here?

    <h4>Chapter 246: Someone Is Already Here?</h4>


    Gradually, the rumbling sounds started to get louder and louder.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam subconsciously reached his hand out to touch the wall, hoping that it was not the tunnel that was about to crumble and crash down.


    He would then be buried in this mess and die a miserable death. Though it was a shameful way to die, it was probably worth the risk.


    Liam chuckled wryly and looked around as the sound started to amplify exponentially.


    "What the hell?"


    It sounded as if several buffaloes were galloping towards Liam.


    However, he didn''t have to wonder for too long. The next second, loud cackling and roaring noises echoed and a horde of skeletons appeared in front of him.


    They were only around Level 30 to 40 but their sheer numbers were rming.


    "That''s more like it." Liam grinned and dashed forward.


    Weirdly enough, this actually made him feel a little more at ease. Instead of some convoluted twisted mechanisms, he would rather take these guys and fight them head-on.


    He lobbed the ball of fire onto the iing skeletons and directly jumped into the middle of the fray. He swung his sword around, the sharp metal nging with the dense bones.


    Huge damage numbers started floating up, but weirdly the fireball he had thrown earlier did not do much damage.


    "Hmmm¡­ So you guys have some mana resistance¡­ I see¡­ but that''s fine by me."


    Liam grinned and continued swinging his sword around, blocking and parrying the attacks but also sending some attacks in when he had the chance.


    He did not look overwhelmed at all, rather he looked like he was having a lot of fun. With every move he made, dust and pieces of bones flew scattered, falling out left and right.


    The dead and decaying skeletons were no match for the sharp sturdy metal of the semi-epic ranked weapon.


    Liam did not even have to use its special effect. He waspletely overpowered. In addition to this, another level-up notification promptly appeared pushing him all the way to Level 46.


    "Were the undeads always this weak?" He grinned and continued cutting down everything around him.


    As thest wisp of the fireball died down, a nket of darkness enshrouded him and more and more skeletons rushed forward, roaring energetically.


    These were visibly different from the skeletons Liam had seen near the entrance of the tunnel.


    They had more fighting power and energy within them as if they were still alive. Some of them also had weapons.


    Their levels, as well, were not that low and consequently, their stats were higher.


    So it was a considerable task for Liam to evade their attacks. Though he had a powerful weapon for offense, he stillcked good techniques for defense.


    But this only helped him hone his movement skill and dodging skill even further.


    In between the fight, he also had to cast a fast fireball to light up the ce ever so often.


    While the skeletons werepletely fine with fighting in the dark, he was unable to see anything in the dark.


    Trying to fight inplete darkness would only prolong things so Liam still cast fireballs and barraged fire bullets everywhere to see clearly.


    In this way, Liam continuously dealt with the onught of skeletons for the next few minutes when finally thest of the skeleton was smashed into bits and pieces.


    "Was that thest one?" Liam shook his head, white bone dust flying everywhere. The tunnel no longer had the moist earthy smell. Instead, it now smelled like chalk powder.


    Even the air was suffocating. Liam dusted himself and his clothes and then started walking further into the tunnel, heading deeper into the ground.


    The tunnel was quite narrow and Liam thought about the number of skeletons that had poured out. "Tsk. Tsk. This is going to take too long."


    He increased his pace to cover the long tunnel faster. He once again materialized a ball of me to light up the dark ramshackle ce covered with cobwebs and nests of small critters.


    The next several twists and turns of the tunnel did not contain anything specifically and he continued moving downwards.


    The only difference he noticed was that the air here was strangely thicker and heavier as if he was inhaling something else along with it.


    He also had a small prickling sensation here and there that appeared fleetingly and disappeared the next second.


    Other than that, nothing else seemed to be out of ce and Liam continued walking in the never-ending underground tunnel that ran zig-zag down the ground.


    "Am I going to the center of the world or what?"


    After a few minutes, he was still walking endlessly, so Liam sighed and bumped up his speed further, now running.


    He then churned his mana, moving the energy to his feet, and gave himself an additional speed boost to cover more distance.


    However, as he tried to do this¡­ the mana that he used wasn''t getting replenished all that well. Liam quickly stopped conserving whatever mana he had left.


    Only then did he notice that the mana in the air right now was actually very thin. It was almost not present.


    But Liam did not stop. With a subtle smile on his face, he gripped his sword tighter and continued walking downwards.


    Meanwhile¡­ at the exact same time¡­ several feet directly above him¡­ a group of four yersnded on the ground.


    Unlike Liam, they hade here on a flying mount so it hadn''t taken them that long to find the ce.


    "This should be your quest spot?" Madan walked around taking a look, only toe to an abrupt halt when he saw the huge gaping hole on the ground.


    "DON''T TELL ME! Someone is already FUCKING here!"


    He turned around, gasping,pletely and utterly shocked. His big tummy jiggled as he stared at Kouske, wanting to see his reaction.


    However, that guy was still rather calm.. He did not panic and simply walked over to take a look at the hole.

 Chapter 247: Nether Infested

    <h4>Chapter 247: Nether Infested</h4>


    "Bro, what is this? Are we already toote? Damn it." Madam chewed his nails in nervousness. "I knew something was up when we got orders to finish this quest first despite our level."


    "We could have easily taken care of this Kingdom quest if we were at least 40 or 45 like that damn monster Liam."


    "Is that guy using viagra to level or what? How is he alone 10 levels above us?"


    "And now not only are we weak in this zone, we also have somepetition! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!"


    "Why the fuck is nothing going well these days!"


    "First the me fragment and now this!" Madan continued incessantly chatting in his nervousness.


    He did not look like he was going to stop anytime soon, so Anya scoffed at him in irritation. "Can you stop talking?" She directly said, her tone cutting especially because of her unique ent.


    Madan rolled his eyes at the t-chested beauty. "I swear she thinks she is a supermodel or something. Why do I have to listen to her? Who made her the boss?"


    Despite the cold beauty''s warning, he continued to run his mouth in a low voice to Barret, the berserker with the mohawk.


    But the other guy moved away quietly not wanting to involve himself in these two''s bickering.


    Luckily, Kouske spoke up grabbing everyone''s attention. "Just like Madan said, someone else is definitely here. There are several footprints and this ce is newly hollowed out."


    "Let''s hurry and take a look. Does anyone need more potions or stamina water?"


    The team quickly ceased their shenanigans and became more serious, everyone preparing themselves for whatever came their way.


    They jumped into the hole, with Barret taking the lead, Kouske, Madan, and Anya then following him.


    "Look there are footprints here also," Madan mumbled, pointing his hand to the ground. He currently had a wolf pet whose tail was on fire.


    So everyone was able to look around clearly.


    However, just as they stared at the ground, something else happened. Their health bars started dropping and three out of four of them got debuff notifications.


    [Ding. You are poisoned by theher.]


    [Ding. All your stats are reduced by 50%]


    Three out of four of them got this same set of notifications and only Kouske was the exception. He wasn''t affected by the presence ofher.


    "I can''t keep up with this." Anya gritted her teeth, struggling to refill all three health bars as they continuously dropped.


    Especially with all of their stats reduced by half, this seemed like an arduous task.


    After a couple of seconds, she knew that there was no way that they could move along the tunnel and quickly climbed back up to stand again on solid ground.


    As fresh air assaulted her nose and the stale dingy smell disappeared, theher debuff also disappeared ordingly.


    She was still in the vicinity of her teammates so she quickly invoked an earth elemental spirit and healed everyone back up.


    "Not possible guys. The tunnel runs deep. I cannot continue healing you two from up here."


    She might be able to heal them now, but they couldn''t possibly keep this up for much longer. So she curtly voiced out the obvious.


    Nodding their heads, Madan and Barret as well climbed back up, and taking onest look, Kouske also followed suit.


    After that, everyone started discussing what to do next and the best solution seemed to be Kouske taking a look at things all by himself.


    After all, this was his quest originally and he was also the mostpatible one with it. The rest weren''t even able to get in without being affected by the debuffs.


    They tried entering the tunnel a couple more times to confirm this and every single time, they got the same debuff.


    On the other hand, sending Kouske in alone also seemed to be a bad idea because this was a high-level zone and they hade here without sufficient preparations.


    They received orders that they absolutely had to be here today and attempt the quest. So they didn''t have much choice in the matter.


    While Barret, Anya, and Kouske were busy brainstorming and trying different things, somehow trying to figure out a solution for this problem before they ran out of time, Madan alone had a big smug grin on his face.


    "Guys, are you ready?" He spoke in a mysterious way.


    "Hmmm¡­" Anya narrowed her eyes, looking at the fat ball with a mixture of anger and irritation. "Ready for what?" She asked him in her trademark sharp tone.


    Madan gulped and smiled awkwardly. He was genuinely afraid of this woman even though he will never admit it. So he did not dare build any more suspense and quickly blurted out.


    "My big surprise!"


    The next second, a ck dot appeared in front of the four of them and the dot quickly became bigger, morphing into a small pitch-ck bird.


    The chirped happily on seeing the fatty and flew towards him to perch on his shoulder.


    "He He He. Guys, meet ''Tweety''. My newest acquisition." Madan giggled as the bird lovingly rubbed against his cheek. "She is a darling softie and more importantly¡­"


    Seeing him taking his sweet time, Anya growled, "Spit it out already."


    "Ok. Okay." Madan gnashed his teeth. "I was just getting there."


    "She is a dark element spirit beast! Alright? So she can enter the tunnel along with Kouske and scout for him."


    "This way¡­ even if our VICE-LEADER Kouske," Madan enunciated so that the Russian woman would know her ce, "went in alone, he would still have time to react and be better prepared."


    "At worst, he could always make a break for it and run back up, where we would be waiting."


    "Even if someone else was present inside, once Kouske sessfully lures that person out, we can take them down."


    "Not that bro needs our help. He already has his undead minions. He He."


    "Fine. Fine. Stop talking and try it already.." Anya scoffed.

 Chapter 248: Stomach Problems

    <h4>Chapter 248: Stomach Problems</h4>


    Anya eyed the small bird with visible jealousy.


    A dark element spirit beast! It might as well be called a priceless treasure!


    She was a druid and even she didn''t have a powerful spirit beast like it. So she couldn''t help but feel envious.


    Madan happily basked in the spotlight and rubbed the little bird again. "Show them what you can do tweety."


    After hearing hismand, the little bird nodded her head and then flew into the tunnel as fast as a dart, chirping happily.


    The four of them could not see her after that as she became one with the darkness in the tunnel. However, Madan could still feel her presence and he could also track her status.


    "See. See only has a 5% stats debuff. Her health is also not dropping." He proudly disyed the results for everyone to see.


    Now even Anya was visibly impressed and the four of them nodded in agreement.


    "This definitely looks like the best option right now," Kouske said.


    "I think so too." Barret also added.


    The group attempted to explore the tunnel again and this time only Kouske and the five undead bears trailing behind him jumped into the tunnel.


    In front of him, Tweety pped her wings, hiding in the darkness.


    "Ok, let''s start." Kouske looked around.


    He took out a re stick from his inventory and lit it up for visibility. He then moved ahead slowly taking in everything and observing the surroundings carefully.


    Not long after, he came across the skeletons chained to the wall and he also saw the clear footprint on the ground.


    A strange look appeared on Kouske''s face.


    This ce was suffocatingly filled up to the brim withher and there was a high chance that someone had found this ce and entered the tunnel before him.


    Could it be that person?


    He pondered over it amidst the pin-drop silence and darkness that surrounded him.


    He then again started walking heading deeper into the tunnel, with the spirit beast bird scouting the spot ahead of him.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Completely unaware of what was happening above him¡­


    The other person in the tunnel was also going in deeper and deeper.


    Liam frowned looking at the sight in front of him. At this depth, the walls of the tunnel were suddenly covered with some sort of grass or dense moss.


    That too gave off a strange intoxicating smell but it didn''t affect Liam in a good way.


    His hands and legs were now terribly itching and he was pretty sure that these nts were responsible for it.


    "Are they some sort of precious herbs?" Liam wondered. "Anyways, I wille back and take a look at it."


    There was plenty of moss covering the whole ce and he did not want to waste time scraping them off, at least until he managed to get his hands on the inheritance.


    Letting out a long sigh, Liam tried not to be bothered by the itching and continued moving forward. Since he was conserving mana, his pace was rather slow.


    But he didn''t mind it.


    Since he did not know anything about this ce and did not have a quest, he needed to pay close attention to every single detail.


    Liam silently walked and a few minutester, he finally arrived at what seemed to be the next checkpoint.


    In front of him, the tunnel slightly widened and before he could take another step forward, a gust of wind blew on his face and body, blowing out the mes engulfing his hand.


    It was dense white mist and it prevented him from seeing his surroundings clearly. Everything happened too fast and too suddenly.


    Before he could react, damage numbers started appearing and his health started dropping.


    Liam instinctively raised his sword up and sent out several shes in the space next to him even if he couldn''t see anything.


    However, this time even his sword couldn''t help him. He was simply swinging it around and it met nothing. He might as well be simply shing the air.


    His attacks were not working and his health was still dropping!


    "If my sword doesn''t work, then¡­" Liam did not hesitate and used the mana that he had preserved so far.


    He materialized a huge ball of fire again and sent it out around him aspressed bullets.


    And this time, he finally saw the effect!


    Because of his fire bullet attack, the thickness of the white mist weakened and he was able to somewhat see.


    Surrounding him on all sides and slowly corroding his physical body were a bunch of specters. "So this is why¡­"


    It looked like the person to whom this tunnel belonged, purposefully made several arrangements.


    First, they managed to thin out the mana in the air, and then they set traps that required mana usage.


    Did they not know about mana potions?


    Liam sneered and did not hold back as he sent out fireballs left and right without even bothering to aim. He was fully surrounded so what was the point.


    And that too, these specters seemed to be of a different type. They were dense and spread out without any specific features.


    So he simply attacked in a random fashion and every time a streak of fire passed through the space, the white mist in the region cleared, transiently leaving behind the clean earthy air.


    However, this new cleaned spot was quickly covered by other specters.


    It seemed as if there was an endless supply of these spectersing in and taking the spot of the old ones that were damaged or destroyed.


    Very clearly, the aim here was to tire out the intruder but Liam dunked in one of his several mana potions and leisurely cleared the sea of specters.


    But there was one thing that was weird and out of ce. Every time he drank a mana potion, he felt the itching sensation worsen.


    He was also feeling nauseous as if he was drinking something stale or ruined. Did mana potions have expiry dates?

 Chapter 249: Clearing The Tunnel

    <h4>Chapter 249: Clearing The Tunnel</h4>


    Liam shook his head, putting the weird thought out of his mind and focusing on the specters surrounding him. The mana potion was still working so he had no problem.


    He downed one bottle after another withstanding the itching sensation and the pain and slowly cleared the specters ganking him.


    A few minutester, the mist finally cleared and he also managed to gain a significant chunk of experience points.


    Along with the already steady flow of experience points he was receiving, he was once again close to reaching the next level, his experience bar almost half full.


    Liam drank yet another mana potion bottle and also popped in a few stamina recovery berries and once again continued down the tunnel.


    "If I find the person who made this, I am going to beat him."


    He expected another portion of the never-ending long and winding tunnel, but thankfully, that was not the case.


    As soon as he turned around the next corner, three huge caves appeared in front of him. And standing guard in front of these rooms was an entire squad of death knights.


    Liam instantly had a bad feeling. "If I am correct, then these guys should have both high physical resistance and magic resistance."


    He dashed forward bringing his sword down on the first knight standing and instantly a pathetic damage number floated atop the undead guy.


    -50


    He then lobbed a fireball onto the same undead with his other hand and once again another pathetic damage number floated.


    -30


    Liam hadn''t seen bad numbers like this in a while and it made him cringe. "Tsk. This is going to be a long grind."


    But he had no time to think about it. Now that his presence was known, the undead came crawling towards him.


    Well, in this case, the knights sitting on their horses who were merely statues until a while back suddenly roared and neighed and sprang into action,ing to attack him with full force.


    And Liam as well skillfully moved, twisting and turning his body, evading all of their attacks.


    [Wind Burst] [Fire st] [Fire Bullet] [Lightning Snake] [Lava Rain] [Sword Dance]...


    He activated every single powerful skill in his possession and tackled the knights with everything he had.


    Unlike the skeletons and the specters, these guys were rather strong and more resilient.


    They did a lot of damage and not to mention they were Level 55, almost full ten levels above Liam.


    So the fight was extremely difficult.


    If he did not have an endless supply of health potion, mana potion, and stamina berries, he would have died after a few seconds.


    Mainly, he also couldn''t use any of his cheat items like the golems and grenades. These would have made his life exponentially easier, but he didn''t want to risk dying.


    More importantly, he did not want to risk this entire ce copsing onto itself and the inheritance perhaps lost because of it. So he did not dare use it.


    But Liam did notin.


    He took the abysmal damage numbers with a chill pill and was happy that at least these guys were not Rare Elites or Boss Elites.


    Then he would have truly struggled a lot and would have probably failed at this task.


    So the current situation was already the best he could hope for.


    This kind of rote grind had seeped deep into his bones and doing tiring hard work was nothing new to him.


    His body almost moved on its own automatically evading the few attacks based on muscle memory.


    His own footwork and swordy had also tremendously progressed.


    Ever since he had faced the multitude of trolls in the old man''s trial, he had gotten better at fighting against hordes of enemies single-handedly.


    His rhythm, techniques, usage of both sword and mana in synchrony had also improved by leaps and bounds.


    Though he liked getting the free passive experience points, it was this kind of training that Liam valued a lot.


    But these were not the only weapons he had in his arsenal. The sword he was holding now and the sword he used then were twopletely different weapons.


    The purple sword currently dancing in his hand was a semi-epic ranked weapon.


    In situations like this, where he was really pushed up against the wall, the extra attributes on the weapon truly helped him out.


    And also because Liam had imitated the same method he had used to forge Derek''s shield and forcefully forged this sword, it also carried with it the same skills.


    Passive Skill: For every attack blocked, there is a small chance to deflect the damage back to the attacker


    Active Skill: Speed Burst - Temporarily increases agility by 5%; Cooldown: 1 minute


    He couldn''t exactly control the output of the passive skill as it triggered ording to its own will. Also, Liam had never been one to get lucky and thest thing he would do was count on luck.


    So he ignored the first skill and only relied on the second skill.


    5% agility boost could not be underestimated. It was huge!


    While moving around and dealing with several knights at the same time, it was inevitable that he be cornered once or twice or even more than that.


    In these sticky situations, he instantly activated this additional speed boost and managed to get out of the tough spot.


    In this manner, the slow and tiresome fight continued on and on and almost two entire hours passed.


    At this time, even though Liam had potions and berries, he still felt the mental fatigue resulting from the prolonged fight and exhaustion crept in.


    The weird painful, pricking, itching sensation was also bing harder and harder to deal with.


    What the hell kind of debuff is this? In his frustration, he punched the knight in front of him with extra strength.


    His only constion was that these knights only fought with their weapons and were incapable of wielding magic.


    If they had, this would have long since been over.

 Chapter 250: A True Monster!

    <h4>Chapter 250: A True Monster!</h4>


    Another couple of hourster¡­


    Liam panted, after having managed to finally take down about half of the death knights.


    However, the other half was still staring down at him, all of them looking angry and furious, blue mes seeping out of their soulless eyes.


    Not only from their eyes but from their bodies also, thick mes fumes seeped out. "Is thisher?"


    He was not able to sense it well as he was not yet adept at usingher like he used mana. However, the presence ofher was so thick that he was roughly able to feel it.


    Looking at this Liam couldn''t help but worry a bit about his poor perceptivity of theher. Even though he had a perfect affinity, he was not able to perceive it well.


    This was fine at the moment. Perhaps after obtaining the inheritance, he might be able to sense the energy better?


    So he didn''t worry too much about it.


    But as he mindlessly continued shing and blocking the chunky knights, his brain wandered to the things that he wascking on its own.


    His concentration was beginning to waver.


    Liam heaved a huge sigh and then went back to the grind, pulling his mind back and tethering tightly the focus and concentration that was beginning to wander away from him.


    And this also seemed to be thest set of guardians standing between him and the three rooms. So perhaps this was thest hurdle?


    This thought helped him persevere and he continued shing with the bunch of strong sturdy death knights, all wearing a full suit of gear and armor that still had a lot of integrity left in them.


    CLANG CLANG DANG DANG


    Horrendously loud screeching metallic sounds continued to echo in the narrow space.


    However, at this time, neither Liam nor the undeads noticed the presence of a third party, the dark elemental spirit beast.


    Right now all four experts, three standing out, and one who was in the tunnel, a safe distance away from Liam, were all dumbfoundedly staring at the party chat.


    Madan: What the fuck is happening? Why is he here?


    Barret: Ya, shouldn''t he be in theher world or whatever? Kouske, what is happening?


    Anya: ¡­


    Kouske: I also don''t know. Thest time I checked he was in theher realm. I haven''t checked recently, so I am not sure.


    Anya: The problem right now is not that he is here. The problem is his level.


    Madan: Kouske bro, at least outside, the four of us could have together taken care of him. Maybe.


    Madan: But what are you going to do alone? Does he have a lot of undead minions?


    Madan: Or just five like you? Did he notice you already?


    Anya: Stop talking.


    Kouske: No, he hasn''t seen me yet. I think I might have a n. Madan can you ask your bird to see if he is busy fighting right now?


    Madan: Okay.


    Madan: Yes, he is busy fighting. He is outnumbered and he is using only a sword. He also doesn''t have any minions on his side. I think what you are nning might work.


    Anya: He hasn''t told the n yet.


    Madan: Oh, I forgot that you are a blonde.


    Suddenly, everyone stopped typing and Kouske as well moved forward, inching closer to Liam while making sure that he is not seen by him.


    He did not want to underestimate the opponent especially when the said opponent is the number one yer on the ranking leaderboard.


    It''s not that he did not know the method that Liam was using to level up this monstrously. He was well aware of this method and in fact, he had the same opportunity avable to him.


    But that was precisely why he did not dare underestimate him.


    As Kouske carefully moved forward, paying utmost attention to every little thing, he soon arrived at the junction in front of the three rooms.


    And the next instant, hepletely froze, standing on the spot. His eyes were wide open, bulging like a boiled egg and his mouth was also simrly open.


    If there was a fly nearby, it could have easily gone in ande out. Kouske was that shocked to see the scene ying out in front of him.


    He saw Liam''s figure almost flying constantly, bouncing between the various Level 50 and higher death knights.


    Just by looking at this, he could tell exactly how difficult the fight was. Otherwise, the person wouldn''t be struggling so much.


    This alone maybe he could have digested but the truly frightening thing was the number of death knights already killed and littered on the ground.


    Not to mention the white powder dust he saw which could only be bone dust and maybe even other mobs that he could have potentially faced in this long winding tunnel.


    And even after fighting with all those, he was still soloing this impossible mob? Just what sort of a monster was he?!


    Kouske gulped subconsciously and dazedly stared at the brilliant swordy being demonstrated in front of him.


    His eyes also lingered on the purple sword that was dancing splendidly.


    He was also a necromancer just like Liam but his ownbat strength?


    Both werepletely unmatched!


    If he were topare his own fighting abilities with Liam, then he would only be deluding himself!


    More importantly, there was something that was weird.


    The person was not just using swordy. He was also using fire magic spells and at times even lightning spells.


    Be it his casting speed, the proficiency with which he was coordinating his swordy, and his magic spells, every single move he made was top-notch.


    It was as if he was seeing a high-level NPC showing off his skills to a bunch of noobs.


    Even the really powerful mages he knew were not this skilled.


    On top of all of these things, just what the hell was he? A mage? A swordsman? A necromancer?


    It took him a minute to fully grasp the gravity of everything that was going on and then he hurriedly typed in the chat.


    Kouske: We are going to have to use a different approach.

 Chapter 251: New Plan

    <h4>Chapter 251: New n</h4>


    Madan: What do you mean? What is happening?


    Kouske: We cannot fight him. Big Brother was correct. There are three rooms here. My quest item is definitely inside one of these rooms.


    Kouske: When he clears the mobs or when the time is right, I will throw a disorienting bomb on him. I will also give you guys the signal.


    Madan: And then what?


    Kouske: And then prepare to run the hell away from here. What else?


    Kouske: If possible, you three need to create a disturbance and lure a lot of monsters to this area. Otherwise, this time this mission will be a failure.


    The three standing outside immediately turned silent and serious. Not because they did not understand the n, but because they understood it too well.


    Kouske was trying to avoid a one-on-one, head-on fight with a guy who had been fighting non-stop for a while now.


    He might surely be very tired right now and not at his best ability. But still, he was avoiding confrontation and conflict.


    And this was Kouske no less! The guy was a cheat character!


    Especially after listening to all of the big brother''s advice and instructions, he was the one who had reaped maximum rewards.


    So no one dared to oppose this n of action and silently agreed to it.


    The three standing on the top did not waste time and quickly scurried away, cing themselves in appropriate positions, ready to take action.


    Meanwhile, Kouske saw another death knight drop down dead. He knew that he did not have enough time. He took a step back and retrieved an item from his inventory.


    It was a small bottle of yellow liquid,beled¡­ [Invisibility Potion]


    Kouske hurriedly dunked it down and then stepped out of the corner. He had another potion ready to go in his hand.


    "Is it possible for me to cross them?"


    He stopped and moved, patiently observing the situation around him and reacting ordingly. His actions were hurried but at the same time, there was a kind of stability to them.


    He took his time, carefully maneuvering thebat area as even a single attack that spilled his way would immediately give away his presence.


    Then without a doubt, he would be dead the next instant.


    So he proceeded with the utmost caution and finally managed to reach the room on the right. Thankfully, it was not locked, but he still needed to open the door.


    This alone was enough to attract Liam''s attention and give away his position. He would still be invisible as the invisibility potion worked slightly different from stealth.


    Nevertheless, it was too risky. It was probably the only chance he might get. He needed to be extra careful in this step.


    He needed to make sure that he got the quest item in this one try. He waited patiently and watched until an opportune moment presented itself.


    And soon it did.


    Liam''s speed had suddenly increased and he was using this chance to do high-intensity burst damage to the death knights.


    His concentration waspletely on the knights in front of him as their attack patterns wereplicated.


    Kouske knew that he wouldn''t get another opportunity better than this. He quickly hurried over to the door and then opened it.


    However, things did not go smoothly. The door was tightly jammed and it made a loud creaking noise as it opened.


    It was a strong sturdy heavy iron door. So he had to use a lot of force, and the effect of his invisibility potionpletely disappeared.


    He was now fully visible. Kouske''s heart almost leaped out of his chest and he started sweating buckets.


    Without paying attention to anything else, throwing all caution to the wind, he directly barged into the room and then closed the door quickly behind him.


    His head was spinning, his brain was overheated and he stood frozen right at the back of the huge iron door, waiting for something to happen.


    Did he fail already?


    Luckily, no such thing happened and there was only silence everywhere around him. The noise from outside did not reach inside at all.


    Finally, Kouske calmed down enough to take a look at the room in front of him. Rather than a room, it was more appropriate to call it a cave.


    It was dark and dingy and the smell was unbearable, but he didn''t act immediately. He tried to remain still and listen to the silent darkness around him.


    Kouske very well knew the risk he was taking right now. He was in a new unknown ce. There was a monster behind the door but there could be more on this side.


    To make matters worse, he was also in a very vulnerable state at the moment. He did not have his undead with him. He only had his bow and spear to rely on.


    Taking another moment to see if anything had already sensed his presence, he finally took out a re stick from his inventory and used it to observe the room in brightness.


    Kouske was once again utterly astonished. For a second, he wondered just where exactly was he. His quest did not prepare him enough for this sight.


    In front of him, the huge cave space sprawled about, covered in cobwebs and untouched for decades?


    And in this huge room, there were only three tables. The tables were made of solid ground and had a ck-colored sticky substance atop them.


    Otherwise, the tables were empty.


    But more shockingly, the walls of the cave covered by the thick denseyer of moss had numerous skeletons hanging on them.


    These skeletons were chained to the walls, adorning the space everywhere like grotesque sculptures. These skeletons were very simr to the ones at the entrance.


    They were still alive, but very barely. They obviously noticed Kouske and their hollow heads all turned to look at him creaking and groaning. Otherwise, they were unable to move.


    Based on this and the way everything was arranged, it was very clear that these people had been tortured in these caves, probably while they were still alive?

 Chapter 252: On The Sidelines

    <h4>Chapter 252: On The Sidelines</h4>


    Kouske stared at the huge cave in silent contemtion. Normally, he liked to explore a ce, understand the lore behind it and examine each tiny thing in detail.


    But now was not the time for it. He shook his head and forced himself to scan through everything in this cave hurriedly.


    Except for the greenish ck moss that covered the walls and the numerous skeletons chained to the same, nothing else of value seemed to be there.


    No matter how much he looked, this was all that he could find.


    "Okay. I should go to the next one." He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and then letting out a long sigh, he opened the huge iron door again.


    This time he was truly pushing his luck. From this side of the door, he couldn''t exactly see where Liam''s concentrationy. He also couldn''t hear anything.


    The best he could do was push open the door slightly, creating a small slit of space through which he could peer outside and see what was happening.


    Luckily for him, Liam seemed to be still engrossed in fighting the death knights. He also did not look like he had figured out anything yet, and his full attention was on the fight.


    But the number of enemies surrounding him had once again gone down. He was slowly but steadily overpowering them and defeating them.


    At this rate, he might only have a few more minutes left. After that, the number of death knights would definitely be too little to keep this monsterpletely upied.


    He hurriedly dunked in another invisibility potion and then stepped out of the door. There were only two more caves in the vicinity, and the tunnel seemed to end here.


    There was simply no other option.


    "The quest item has to be in one of these two ces," Kouske mumbled to himself.


    The fight was currently focused near the central cave, so Kouske walked around the group and arrived at the leftmost cave.


    He once again had to apply a lot of force to push open this door, and the rusted door finally gave away.


    He quietly slipped in and closed the door behind him, this time leaving a small opening and not fully shutting down the door.


    He then observed the vast space in front of him. It was old, dusty, and covered with cobwebs, but just like the other room, this room also was unique.


    But this one did not have creepy skeletons and weird sacrificial mud tables. Instead, there were numerous cauldrons, inscription desks, forging stations, and even an old furnace structure.


    Though at first nce, these looked like ordinary items, albeit covered in dust and sand, Kouske knew that they possibly couldn''t be so simple.


    He started anxiously looking around in a hurry as any minute now, Liam could bang open the door and barge inside.


    Just the mere thought of it made him nervous. He quickened his pace and started pocketing everything he could get his hands on.


    Some of the cauldrons even had leftover substances within them, to his surprise. These could potentially be rare treasures or high-grade medicinal pills.


    Kouske did not have the time to see what was useful and what was not useful and tossed every single item in the cave into his inventory.


    It was good that they had recently emptied all the contents in the warehouse.


    So he now had plenty of space to amodate all the random things, even items that could potentially only be trash.


    Soon he was done rummaging through this cave as well, and the only leftover was the moss covering the walls.


    "Could this be a rare herb too?"


    Just in case, Kouske scraped some moss off of the wall and tossed it into his inventory as well.


    He didn''t have the time necessary to harvest all the moss, but seeing that this tunnel was full of it, he didn''t bother with it.


    At least for now, the quest item had the maximum priority. It was a Kingdom quest and these were extremely rare and the rewards equally generous


    He couldn''t possibly squat on the ground and leisurely scrape off all the moss in this ce with the monster outside the cave and his quest iplete.


    No, he had to act quickly and stealthily and leave this ce before the other party realized his presence.


    So far, everything had gone his way, so Kouske was now a lot more confident and less nervous.


    In the beginning, when they had been ordered toe here immediately, even though their levels were too low, he had been extremely skeptical.


    But in hindsight, seeing how things were turning out now, this had been the best possible decision.


    He did not even have to deal with anything personally.


    Liam by himself had already taken care of all the mobs in this ce, and other possible hurdles, thereby leaving him free to take the actual treasure.


    Kouske was usually a calm person, but even he couldn''t contain his excitement this time. Leeching off of someone else''s hard work was an exhrating feeling.


    Chuckling nervously, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead and peered outside to see if the coast was clear.


    Liam was still busy fighting, so he dunked in the invisibility potion and stepped out.


    But before leaving, he again turned to check if he had indeed cleaned out everything from the room without missing anything.


    He was doing things in a rush, so he did not want to make careless mistakes and leave the important treasure to the enemy while only pocketing useless trinkets.


    "Alright, it looks good." He nodded in contentment after taking one to three looks. Anyway, this did not seem to be the room he was seeking.


    The item that his quest needed forpletion was probably in the central cave room.


    He closed the huge door as quietly as possible and then walked out to tip-toe towards thest and final cave room.

 Chapter 253: Who Dares?

    <h4>Chapter 253: Who Dares?</h4>


    As he cautiously moved around, Kouske couldn''t reach thest room as easily as he could for the other two rooms.


    Liam was too close to the door. Even if his invisibility disappears for a fraction of a second, he might get noticed.


    Also, the previous two rooms did not have any guardians or undeads roaming about inside them. The same probably wouldn''t be true for this one.


    If this was the main room where the quest item was located, there was most definitely something guarding it.


    Kouske paused for a second without moving, running through the various possible scenarios in his mind. He then looked at the man who was still fighting with the death knights.


    No matter how much he thought about it, there were two scenarios that could y out and both had high chances of being in his favor.


    Now all he had to do was open the door and see if there was a mob inside or not. If there was, he knew what to do and if there wasn''t, he also knew what to do.


    Kouske took another look at Liam and then banged open thest room''s door as well.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "Hu Hu Hu." Liam panted as he shed his sword vertically, taking care of yet another death knight.


    Now only thest four were remaining and this fight looked like it was finallying to an end. He was at the end of the tunnel as well and so close to getting his hands on the inheritance.


    Perhaps this was thest time he needed to fight like this.


    Not that he minded fighting like a dog until he exhausted hisst ounce of strength¡­ but it was definitely better to have some minions to do the dirty job for you.


    "Alright. Now that only we five are left¡­ shall we kick this fight into high gear?" Liam grinned and dashed towards the four indifferent death knights.


    There was no fear or emotion in their eyes and they continued to do their master''s bidding which was to protect the ce from any intruders.


    So not giving a damn about who they were attacking, the death knights swung their sharp serrated weapons.


    "Nope. Maybe if you guys had better weapons¡­ good luck next time."


    Liam twisted his body and backflipped to evade the attack and he then dashed forward to return back what he received.


    He had already grasped the rhythm of the fight thoroughly so it didn''t matter that he was so damn tired.


    He easily blocked and tackled the attacks and took away the opponent''s health in bits and pieces by steadily sending out his.


    Everything was progressing smoothly without any hitch and he was almost done with thest hurdle that stood in his path.


    However, right at this time, Liam felt something strange and out of ce. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed that something was off¡­


    Something was moving in the background? But was it something or someone?


    Maybe he had caught sight of someone moving?


    But¡­ how could that be possible?


    He was all alone in this tunnel. He had to be alone, because if there was someone else¡­


    The tunnel was also pretty narrow. He had to search this zone for hours and uproot trees to find this spot. How could there be someone else?


    But if there was someone else¡­ It was impossible that another yer stumbled onto this location before him!


    But what about after? Could it be Kouske and his group?


    No, Liam shook his head. He was not yet Level 50. Kouske and the other were also not yet Level 50. In fact, none of the yers were Level 50 yet.


    So it was not possible that they decided toe to this ce so soon. That would just be a foolish move, literally asking for death.


    Also, why would they choose today of all days toe to this quest''s location? It just seemed too improbable.


    Could it be some other yer who was passing by this ce and coincidentally noticed the huge gaping hole he had dug in the ground?


    No, that was also not possible. Why would any low-level yere to this remote location? The chances of that happening were too less.


    "Am I just imagining things?" Liam was too tired and maybe for a second, his vision was blurry. He tried to rationalize the nagging thought in his brain.


    If he had gotten a better look, he wouldn''t be in this dilemma, but whatever he saw, it was just momentary and fleeting. So he was unable to put a finger on it and exin it.


    And as he was mulling over this issue and continuing to fight the remaining four death knights, suddenly the entire tunnel trembled.


    Without any warning, the huge door of the middle cave banged open and someone came out flying from inside.


    Liam instantly froze, and then spun around, moving out of the way of the debris.


    Fuck! He was indeed correct! There had been someone here all along! How the hell had he missed this!


    However, right now, he did not have any time to pay attention to this person who came flying out like a flea.


    Because in front of him, a humongous death knight stood, his eyes ming blue in color and thick vapors ofher seeping out of him.


    And on top of that, a string of unbelievable words lingered.


    [Ding. Level 80 Rare Elite Bastion]


    "Level 80?" Liam''s face changed, a grave look appearing. The consequence of something like this appearing out of nowhere had not escaped him.


    Also, there was the other person¡­


    His brain whirred, trying to desperately find a solution to this disaster but before he could think about anything, a loud dark voice boomed, echoing in the closed tunnel.


    "Who dares to desecrate my Master''sb?"


    Liam was shocked. This one can even speak?


    As if the fight was already not tough enough just based on the level difference, the undead in front of him seemed to possess actual intelligence.


    More importantly, its soulless terrifying eyes were fixated specifically on him.

 Chapter 254: Do I Want Him Dead Or Not?

    <h4>Chapter 254: Do I Want Him Dead Or Not?</h4>


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Liam cursed out loud.


    There were two of them there and yet this humongous monster was staring down at him and not the other guy?


    The other four death knights as well were still alive, buzzing around him and sinking their teeth into him like mosquitoes.


    How the heck was he supposed to face both these guys and this monster?


    And what about the random guy who rolled out? Why is there no fucking aggro on him? Where the hell was he even?


    Liam did not have any time to look around as the huge death knight lifted his axe, aimed ready to split him in half.


    "Fuck." He moved,ing to stand behind the big guy, and swung his sword at the thick metallic armor on his back.


    -5


    An even more abysmal damage number appeared.


    "Don''t think that I don''t see you insect!" The thunderous voice roared.


    Immediately, a multitude of ck spheres materialized around him, and all of them shot forward towards Liam about to hit him one after the other.


    At this exact same moment, the other figure in the tunnel finally made a move. He dashed past Liam, trying to once again get into the central cave.


    However, since Liam and the boss death knight were standing right next to the entrance, he did not escape the attention of this duo.


    And finally, Liam also managed to get a glimpse of this intruder!


    It was someone whom he already knew and it was someone whom he did not expect!


    Kouske!


    This fucking guy again! Are you serious? How is he possibly here today!


    More importantly, how long had he been here!


    Liam only needed a second and suddenly everything was clear to him. This bitch tried to sneak in when he was busy fighting the horde of lesser death knights.


    Sure, he had done the same to the other group, but that doesn''t mean he would allow him to do the same to him!


    He grunted in frustration and changed his course, now dashing towards Kouske instead of the huge death knight.


    And all the ck spheres that were about to hit him and carve out his health alsonded on the solid wall behind. Dodging that attack looked like child''s y to him.


    "You want to get into that room so badly?" Liam sneered, reaching him in seconds. "Why is there a treasure inside? Did you get a good look?"


    He sent a sword sh at the petty thief without caring about the monster behind him.


    Kouske flinched. From Liam''s words, it was clear that he had been found out.


    He had wanted to sneak in taking advantage of the chaos all around but he didn''t expect Liam to pay attention to him and not the Level 80 undead that was behind his ass.


    However, now that he was found out, he no longer feared him or showed any nervousness.


    He lifted his hand and sent out a ball of ck mes simr to the one the death knight had thrown.


    And speaking of the devil, the death knight as well, sent in the next attack with an annoyed grunt.


    It looked irritated at being unable to deal with the two mosquitoes, so it sent out a barrage of ck arrows and lifted his axe again, swinging down at Liam.


    Liam was essentially jammed right in the middle of it.


    With Kouske on one side, the Level 80 monstrous undead on the other side, the four pests behind him, and the wall in front of him, he was essentially cornered and screwed.


    How will you get out of this one? Kouske''s eyes coldly gazed at his biggestpetition.


    However, as opposed to what he expected, Liam did not even look worried. In fact, he seemed as if he was leisurely fighting with some low-level bunnies.


    He twisted his body, moving slightly avoiding two of the attacks while the rest casually bombarded him.


    "NO!" Kouske screamed. Even though they were both on the opposite sides, right now he was rather rooting for him.


    The thing was¡­ he was counting on Liam to keep the giant upied.


    If Liam died then the next target would be him and he would have to face this Level 80 opponent.


    In reality, for a Level 80 rare, this death knight was quite weak.


    Sure it had high attributes, imposing size, and the ability to use magic, but whenpared to some of the other high-level monsters he had seen, this one was weak.


    Perhaps because it was an undead its abilities and potential were lower.


    For instance, itcked the ability to pressure the two significantly weaker beings running around in front of it.


    Justst week, Kouske experienced fighting against another elite that had been at a higher level than him, a Level 65 tree nymph.


    But unlike this death knight, that woman had made him freeze, unable to even breathe and move an inch.


    And here, the two of them were freely moving, dodging attacks, and even fighting back.


    Nevertheless, he did not for once think that he had a chance to defeat this guy. The moment he had barged into the cave, opening the door, he was flung out like an insect.


    He couldn''t react.


    And unlike Liam, he wouldn''t be able to avoid even a single attack.


    So his only option out of this impossible situation was if Liam actually managed to grasp the attention of the big guy for at least a couple of seconds.


    However, that now seemed like a distant dream.


    Big ck spheres of energy barraged Liam''s back, making him fall down, and copse on the floor.


    Kouske''s heart sank as he saw this sight.


    The four lesser death knights as well used this chance to stab him with their weapons. This was it. It was game over for the both of them!


    He knew it.


    Liam was going to die and he was going to die.


    After that, he would be free from the death knight but he had a feeling that the other monster in the room was going to hunt him down relentlessly.


    If kill stealing was hated, then sneakily looting a treasure chest was¡­ he is going to kill me. Kouske sighed.


    But the next instant, the guy who was down on the ground, suddenly sprang back up, standing without a drop of blood on his body.


    Not only that, the ax that he had managed to dodge by falling t on the ground now was aimed at Kouske.


    "Fuck!" Kouske moved, running for his life.


    He couldn''t make up his mind if he wanted Liam dead or alive. This guy seemed to be capable ofpletely turning the tables in the smallest possible gap.


    It was infuriating and scary at the same time!


    He needed to settle this soon. Otherwise, it would be toote and he would only wake up as the graveyard.


    He took out the item that he had been saving so far and tossed it towards Liam.


    The very next second... everything changed...


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Shocked Corgi for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 255: In A Second

    <h4>Chapter 255: In A Second</h4>


    After sessfully evading the attacks and connecting the rest to Kouske who stood behind him, Liam did not dare stay any longer in the deathtrap.


    He had taken a gamble that the attacks Kouske sent and the attack the rare death knight sent were bothher attacks or at least dark elemental attacks.


    If so then the corresponding damage he would receive would be negligible or not existent and it might even heal him up.


    In fact, it was not even a gamble. He had to do it. He simply had no other choice.


    But luckily just like he guessed, both the attacks simply dissipated and did no damage to him. The health he had lost so far was also replenished.


    He smirked in delight but the next second, his painful reality came crashing down. He was not yet done. How was he supposed to defeat a Level 80 death knight?


    The only constion was that¡­ if he was struggling then the other guy wouldn''t be faring at better!


    Just as he swung around his body to see Kouske''s movements and more importantly the death knight''s next moves, suddenly his vision blurred.


    Out of nowhere, a horrendous ringing sound inexplicably echoed in his head, rendering himpletely stiff and useless.


    He couldn''t see. He couldn''t think. He couldn''t do anything. His whole body felt faint and he was swaying without even a modicum of bnce.


    He tried to swing his sword forward, forcing himself to stabilize but he was toote, the death knight was already in front of him.


    In his blurry vision, he could only vaguely see and he saw the huge axe that came swinging down at him.


    Itnded right in the middle of his head.


    The next second¡­


    THUD! SPLAT!


    Liam''s body was casually split apart. The death knight had sliced him as if he was simply a b of meat. The single attack instantly killed him.


    There was nothing he could do. There was no way he could block. He was simply defenseless like a block of butter.


    The two halves of his body fell on the ground and then they quickly dispersed into ash and dust, leaving no traces of him behind as if he had never been there in the first ce.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. You have died]


    When Liam regained his consciousness, his mind spun. "I am dead?" He stared at the notification dazedly.


    Everything had happened too fast and he died before he could do anything about it or even see iting. One second he was fighting and the next second he was dead.


    He looked down to see that he was now a ghost, waiting for the seconds to count down before he could be reborn in a graveyard.


    And the soul integrity that he had been guarding safely, almost obsessively since the beginning of the game until now was also gone.


    He was essentially broken and no longer whole. He could probably never be whole again.


    Liam sighed. He had worked so hard to prevent this from happening, but somehow he still ended up dying.


    In all honesty, he was not naive enough to think that he could keep this up for the entire time.


    After all, he had to take risks to grow stronger and that would mean ying with death ever so often.


    Otherwise, if he did not take any risk at all, he would never be truly strong. So though he was disappointed that this happened, this was not what bothered him.


    He didn''t care that he died, but to die like this¡­


    In a split second, everything had changed and he had died because of that guy!


    Not only had he managed to use him to clear the dungeon, but he also sessfully got rid of him by using the guardian.


    If he had not interfered¡­ maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ Liam could have at least gotten out of the tunnel alive and tried again after sufficient preparations.


    But now¡­ everything was probably already gone.


    Liam was sure that the guy acted with some tricks up his sleeve.


    While he was here,pletely dead and as a ghost, the other person was probably clearing out everything from the tunnel.


    He might have even figured out some sort of way to take care of the guardian and¡­


    Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly he remembered the other important thing!


    FUCK! The inheritance! He would have also obtained the inheritance just like before!


    That damned guy would have also gotten his hands on the inheritance that he had struggled so hard for!


    As his mind became clearer and clearer, Liam was furious.


    He had lost everything and he was now even dead, but the other guy gained everything at his expense.


    Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! He was going to make that guy pay. He didn''t know how but he was definitely going to make that guy pay.


    He had definitely lost the inheritance? What else did he lose? One or two pieces of equipment? A level? He would only know after he was resurrected.


    Because of that guy, he had paid a terrible price!


    But Liam was not nning to let him off just like this. He was going to pay back for everything with interestpounded.


    And not everything was lost!


    So what if he managed to get his hands on the inheritance piece by giving him the boot?


    It would take him a single minute to find out his current location and then PK him into oblivion. Maybe he could even drop the inheritance piece then.


    Liam still had the level advantage over him and was a lot stronger than him.


    No matter what inheritance, it could never make him instantly powerful. As long as he could take him down while he was still in the developing stage, there was hope for him.


    He would definitely be able to defeat him.


    This was probably why that guy had waited for him and trapped him purposefully.


    Otherwise, he would have fought with him head-on from minute one and snatched the inheritance out of his hands by force and not trickery.


    Liam was raging. This was the first time after he received his second chance that he had suffered such a crushing defeat.


    He waspletely enraged. He was boiling. He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs. His anger surged within him like a seething volcano ready to erupt.


    Liam did not realize it but right at this time, the graveyard in which his soul was waiting to be called upon again, thrummed withher.


    Thick swirling coils ofher gathered around his soul and his soul alone.

 Chapter 256: A Heavy Price

    <h4>Chapter 256: A Heavy Price</h4>


    A couple of secondster¡­


    Liam''s figure materialized in the graveyard. He looked slightly confused because he thought that he had 5 more seconds until respawning but he was already here?


    "Fuck it. That''s not important. What did I lose?"


    He did not seem to be in the presence of any mob or any other random beast.


    The graveyard was deserted and empty so he hurriedly opened his status screen to take a look at everything and gauge his losses.


    However, the next instant¡­ suddenly something hovered in front of him, before starting to fall to the ground.


    Gudang! Liam''s heart thumped loudly as he realized what it was and hurriedly reached forward to catch it in a hurry.


    Luna''s egg had appeared out of the inventory all on its own. It was about to fall down but luckily he reached forward and caught it before it was toote.


    But that did not make him happy at all. Instead, he had a very bad feeling.


    He watched the dark purple egg with a single white spot on it as it suddenly started to be paler. The white spot was growing and growing in size, very rapidly.


    The egg was visibly thrumming, twitching in his hands.


    Liam started panicking. He wanted to think that his death had perhaps done something, maybe act as a catalyst and speed up Luna''s evolution process.


    He wanted to hope that this was possibly a good thing that came out of his death. He held his breath, waiting for his hope to be true.


    But, the next second, the egg that was rapidly bing white suddenly stopped vibrating.


    Its shell that had almost turned pure crystalline white now started bing ck, pitch-ck in color.


    If her shell was white in color, it meant that she was healthy and her evolution was progressing in the correct direction.


    At least this is the rough understanding he had. Then what about the ck color?


    Liam still did not know what was happening, but he had a feeling that something was off. He felt a tinge of restlessness and uncertainty at the bottom of his heart.


    He stared at the egg that was now almost half-ck. It was no longer showing any signs of movement, with only the ck color steadily spreading.


    The egg that was previously full of life now looked lifeless and dead.


    Just looking at it made his heartache. He couldn''t even tell if the fox was still alive or not? What if something happened to her?


    The tiny fox''s cute smiling face appeared again and again in his mind. Was he never going to see her again?


    He had just now died and probably lost his chance at the inheritance, but it did not hit him as hard as this.


    Those were merely tools that he wanted in his arsenal to be more powerful. If he lost one, he could always get another.


    But without realizing it, he had already be very attached to the fox. The ruthlessness in his eyes was now reced with hurt and pain.


    Liam felt terrible. He felt as if he had failed her. He had failed that innocent thing that kept circling him lovingly.


    He never thought that dying once would cost him so much. It wasn''t enough that he had already lost the perfect integrity of his soul, he had lost his spirit beast also¡­


    "No. No. Not yet." Liam desperately held the egg, and tried to inject some mana into it, but it was useless. Nothing was going in.


    He opened the map and looked at where he was, only to see that he was still in that damned border zone, nowhere near Yleka city or the royal city.


    If he wanted to go back right now, he would surely be toote. He would be toote to help her and she would be dead.


    But what else could he do?


    Liam stared nkly at the egg in front of him. He didn''t know what to do to help her. However, time and tide waited for no one.


    The ck color was still spreading quickly and it did not stop there. Suddenly, a small popping sound came out.


    And confirming his worst fears, the egg in front of him rapidly started cracking. Through these cracks, a red-colored liquid seeped out.


    "Bl¡­ Blood?" He stammered, collecting the liquid as it pooled in his other hand.


    He had lost her? Even after being born again, he was once again helpless and desperate?


    He couldn''t even protect a small thing that loved him unconditionally? Was he just destined to lose everyone he loved?


    Then what the hell was everything for? Just what strength had he managed to gain so far?


    He had nothing. He was no one. He could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything to help her. Failure was not a feeling that he was unfamiliar with, but this time it hurt so much more.


    "Luna¡­" He mumbled, his voice hoarse. "I am sorry."


    He rubbed the egg lovingly and closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath.


    He was afraid to find out what he would see if the egg shellpletely broke. Would the small fox inside be dead?


    "Please be ok. Please be ok." Liam mumbled. The anger and fury that was surging within him just seconds ago hadpletely disappeared.


    "If you are still alive, please hold on. I will somehow make this all fine. Just please hold on." He repeated in a pleading voice, hoping that the fox could hear him.


    This was the plight of the weak. He could only uselessly hope like this and nothing more. He hadn''t been strong enough to help her so now all he could do was simply wait.


    Liam gritted his teeth as more blood spilled out of the egg. He did not even know where he had gone wrong and how he could have prevented this from happening.


    How did everything turn out like this? Was this because he had underestimated the enemy? Who was this enemy?


    How could Kouske possibly know that he was visiting this ce today? Why was he here?


    Liam did not know the answers to any of these questions but he knew one thing. It was because of this unknown enemy that he had lost today.


    And he would keep losing more and more if he did not soon find out anything and everything about this person.


    Thinking about this, he silently stood like a statue, holding the egg in his hand that was bleeding and breaking apart.


    "No. Not yet." He resolutely clenched his fist, the blood collected in his hand dripping down onto the ground.


    He then started haphazardly taking out all sorts of herbs from his inventory.

 Chapter 257: Time To Hunt

    <h4>Chapter 257: Time To Hunt</h4>


    After emptying his inventory space, Liam still always carried with him a lot of herbs, not just the essential ones.


    Since he did not know when he might need what, he usually kept a stock of different items. Right now, he started taking out these things one after the other.


    But he did not feed the herb to the egg because that would be impossible. The eggshell won''t magically absorb the different herbs and such.


    Luna would still need to consume the herbs on her own if these herbs were useful at all. Otherwise, the effect would not be there.


    But that was not the only method. Liam knew another method.


    In his ve days, the thing that he had spent most of his time on was plucking herbs in different ces, maintaining the guild herb farms, watering them, and taking care of them.


    In one of those times, he had observed an NPC execute a weird technique and it was not just any NPC. It was a grandmaster alchemist who was searching for a particr rare herb.


    This was one of the alchemy guild quests. yers would invite this grandmaster to their guild after nting this specific herbal farm.


    And the grandmaster would alsoe by and take a look at the farm.


    If he was sufficiently satisfied, he would reward an inscription that would make all herbs in the guild farms grow faster.


    So when their guild attempted this quest, from a corner of their guild residence, Liam had observed this technique.


    He had only observed this once and that too he didn''t know any specific details. He only knew the general idea because he had overheard his master talking about it.


    That fatso also couldn''t do it and Liam as well did not have any mana so he could never personally try it.


    But now he had the ability. Although it was very improbable he decided to give it a shot as he truly had no other option.


    Liam took out one fire-attribute herb after another from the bunch he had taken out and ced a few stalks on his palm.


    He then hurriedly circted all the mana he could sense in his body to this palm.


    In the beginning, it was not enough. However, as he forcefully shoved all the mana from his palm to the leaves and the stems, slowly the herb started glowing.


    But the next instant, the glow turned brighter and before Liam could control it, the leaves got burnt to a crisp.


    "Fuck." Liam dumped the waste on his hand and tried again. This time he used less mana.


    The few stalks of herbs once again glowed and now Liam hurriedly brought the egg near his palm filled with these glowing herbs.


    The glow once again started getting brighter just like before and it looked like the herbs were about to get burned.


    But before that could happen, small dots of light flew out of the herbs in Liam''s palmnding on the egg.


    This was the herbal essence. Every herb had this essence. And this was what Liam was also trying to extract, though he never actually expected to seed.


    This was a high-level technique that required careful maniption of mana. A grandmaster had demonstrated this move.


    How could he possibly get it on his first try? His own mana control wasn''t nearly that good!


    So the chances of this being sessful were next to zero.


    However, Liam had never counted on this from the start. Rather than his own talent, what he counted on was Luna''s ability to absorb essences.


    In fact, if the egg wasn''t ced near the herb, then once again the extraction might have failed.


    The essence being extracted right now is 100% Luna''s doing.


    Liam knew that this would work because even back when she was just an egg, before ever hatching, she had refined fire essence and absorbed it.


    So if he helped her a bit by circting his mana, she should be able to absorb the herbal essence as well.


    This was one of the spirit beast''s natural qualities. This way was not that efficient because Luna as well was a rtively young spirit beast, so her skill was quite unpolished.


    But Liam did not care.


    This was hisst-ditch attempt. He desperately needed this to work and did not think of efficiency and such.


    He watched the herbs and the egg with anticipation and the next second, just like he hoped for, the egg started absorbing these small dots of lights.


    "Ok. Ok. Ok. Calm down. This might work." He told himself and dumped the set of herbs, recing it with another bunch of fresh herbs.


    This was just the first step. There was still a lot more to go. Luna might be absorbing the essences now, but would it actually help her?


    He didn''t know. He repeated the process again and again, every time circting mana hurriedly.


    At first, he was very careful but down the line, all he needed to do was pump the mana and the egg took care of the rest.


    "Are you really okay?" He sighed.


    After a while, something happened and the spreading of the ck color slightly slowed down. The bleeding stopped and the egg did not crack any longer.


    Whatever was happening somewhat settled down.


    Seeing this, Liam felt like he could finally breathe!


    He threw a hail mary pass and he somehow managed to score a goal!


    Liam then blindly took out all the fire-attribute herbs in his possession.


    One after the other, he circted mana in these herbs and continuously fed it to the egg, and Luna as well gulped it all down with voracity.


    She was like a ck hole absorbing everything that he threw at her.


    Soon after a couple of minutes, he ran out of the first batch of fire-type herbs.


    Since he had no other choice, Liam then tried a normal herb and weirdly, the essence from that herb as well was eaten by the egg.


    "So anything is okay huh?" Liam sighed softly. He only now rxed seeing that the ck color had almost stopped spreadingpletely.


    He still had no idea what he was doing. He was just instinctively feeding the young fox some nutritious essence.


    This was the only thing that he could try right now and that seemed to be working?


    He continued feeding Luna herb after herb, slowly and steadily running through his stock supplies, and the egg as well continued gobbling up everything.


    Liam did not mind. As long as he could somehow make this all alright, just like before, it would be worth it.


    He patiently stood at the same spot without moving an inch, feeding everything he had to the egg. The ck color also stopped spreading, but the problem was¡­


    The minute he stopped feeding the egg with herbs, the ck color once again started spreading.


    Liam sighed. It looked like they were not out of the woods just yet. He continued feeding the herbs and started thinking about what to do next.


    He definitely did not have enough herbs with him for this tost.


    He also couldn''t possibly continue doing this while flying on Talon to reach all the way back to Yleka city or even any other small town nearby.


    There was no time and he simply did not have enough herbs to evenst that trip. Not to mention, he first had to go to the spot where Talon was.


    Right now he was quite far away.


    But Liam was not giving up just yet. He hade all this way and he had somehow managed to bring her back from the brink of death.


    This was a precious chance that he had obtained to save the little thing. So he was determined not to let her down again.


    Just as he was pondering about how to solve this problem, Liam suddenly remembered the other nt that he had in his possession.


    He had slightly scooped up the moss from the tunnel walls, but he was not able to identify it. For all he knew, it could be a herb or not be a herb.


    But Liam did not have to know everything about the nt to try this out. He hurriedly took out some in his hands and then started circting mana, just like he was doing to the other herbs.


    And bingo!


    Luna ate it up as well just like she had eaten all the other herbs.


    Here it was!


    This was the solution to his problem!


    This was it!


    The entire underground tunnel was filled with this herb and the tunnel ran for miles and miles. With these herbs, he could feed Luna until she had eaten her fill. There was more than enough.


    The only problem was that¡­ he did not know if the herbs were still present¡­ or if even those had already been stolen?


    Liam''s face immediately changed. His gaze turned ice cold and his fist gripped the herb on his palm tighter, his anger surging back up again.


    It was time to return to that ce and hunt everyone down! Whatever they took from him, he would take it right back.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Shocked Corgi for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 258: Welcome Back Gift

    <h4>Chapter 258: Wee Back Gift</h4>


    With the half-cracked and half-ckened egg in one hand and herbs in the other hand, mana constantly circting in his palm, Liam dashed towards the location where the underground tunnel was present.


    Unlike before, he knew exactly where it was.


    He had searched this region grid by grid for hours. So he knew the direction to the underground tunnel from the graveyard like the back of his hand.


    His speed this time was much faster and he reached the zone in under an hour.


    However, when he arrived near the ce, he came to aplete halt.


    ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!


    A cacophony of different beast howls echoed throughout the forest.


    He had not even stepped in the vicinity of the tunnel, and the entire area was already teeming with all sorts of high-level beasts and monsters.


    Each and every single one of these guys was Level 50 at the least.


    Liam''s gaze darkened as he watched this scene. His already seething anger rose even further. "So you left me another present¡­ Good. Good."


    "But trying to kill me with just this much? DREAM ON!"


    He took out two metal orbs from his inventory and tossed them onto the ground in front of him.


    He then continued walking forward without a single hesitation or fear right into the thicket of the chaos, heading to the area full of crazed dangerous beasts.


    And behind him, two giant figures materialized standing erect and ready for action. He had summoned the two golems!


    Liam no longer cared that he was going to attract the attention of barbarians. The four who probably set up this trap for him in case he returned, actually did him a favor.


    Because of these many beasts, the barbarians were probably not going to set foot in this ce any time soon.


    And also¡­ the thing about closely gathered beasts was that¡­ the danger was exponentially high, but also the experience points gain was equally sweet.


    [Ding. You have gained 500 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 1000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 700 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Within a few minutes, he already gained back the level that he had lost because of his unexpected death!


    Liam sneered. Even if he had asked someone else to gather monsters for grinding, they wouldn''t have been this efficient.


    Elites were indeed elites!


    Walking leisurely under the protection of the defense golem, Liam did not even have to lift a finger.


    He could but he didn''t want to. He didn''t want to do anything that would risk Luna''s recovery.


    So he simply walked with one golem protecting him and the other golem clearing the wild beasts that were crazily rushing at him.


    These beasts were typically very intelligent, unlike the lower-level beasts. However, right now they wereing at him with so much ferocity that their performance was very bad.


    The attack golem was able to easily aim and smash its targets every time it swung its giant arms. Every move of the huge thing killed a beast.


    "Hmmm¡­ These guys seem to be more rabid than usual¡­" Liam calmly mumbled. He then sniffed the air, his lips curling upwards to reveal a cruel smile.


    "This is incense potion''s work." He was sure of it.


    Incense potion was a liquid that had a unique scent. It was typically concocted using some special herbs, that had an addictive brain-altering effect.


    When a beast smells this scent, it bes hyper-energetic and enraged. Its aggrosts longer and it lingers in the same area for a long time.


    Not just that but its attributes also received a boost, equivalent to berserk strength. So using this potion to attract beasts in order to level up faster was a double-edged sword.


    More often than not, it was used for sabotage instead.


    As Liam moved closer and closer to the spot, the number of beasts in the vicinity also started increasing.


    Their attacks were more intense and even the golem did not look like it was going to hold out much longer.


    But Liam still did not use his mana to attack them. He needed that for maintaining Luna''s state. So he strictly did not make a move.


    In fact, he did not do anything special at all.


    After recalling the attack golem, he simply took out the grenades he had saved.


    He tossed four grenades in four different directions like he was throwing rocks, while he himself stood in the barrier of the protection golem.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Instantly four loud explosions rang out. Beast blood, bones, flesh, and skin sttered on all sides and a huge area was cleared with this single move.


    This also temporarily created a smokescreen for Liam who recalled the second golem as well and jumped into the tunnel''s gaping hole. Not that he needed it.


    After he jumped inside, he looked around, noticing that something was out of ce.


    At first, he had expected some beasts to be here as well. So he was alert and ready to act. However, surprisingly, there was none here.


    "Hmmm?" Liam was confused.


    Strictly speaking, this was the ce where the beasts could have harmed him the most as he wouldn''t be able to use his golem or grenades.


    This was also the ce where the incense potion smell was the strongest. Yet there really were no beasts here?


    Why did they just not jump into the hole?


    Clearly, Kouske and the team had taken no efforts to hide the presence of the hole.


    So technically at least some should have jumped in, if not because of the effect of incense, at least because of sheer curiosity or even randomness.


    Thinking about this, Liam frowned a bit but then he shrugged and continued to walk carefully inside. These beasts were just a mere distraction after all. The main show was yet toe.


    Or maybe not.


    As of right now, it looked like the people who he came here looking for, had already long gone, ran away from this spot.


    Well, either that or they had set up all this so that he would assume such a thing ande in unprepared for all the traps waiting for him inside the tunnel.


    The chances of that happening were too less, but afterst time, Liam did not ignore any possibility. Even if there was nothing and no one, it was best to be prepared at all times.


    He pondered about it for a bit but did not linger on it and quickly started walking back into the long winding tunnel.


    His revenge and hunting those four until they were erased from the face of this was indeed something that he wanted.


    But for now¡­ Luna''s recovery had the first priority.


    So keeping an eye on the surroundings, he started walking further.


    However¡­ just after taking a few steps¡­ he suddenly came to a halt. He shuddered slightly and his eyes widened in surprise.


    "This thing¡­ this feeling¡­" He raised his hand dumbly, still clutching Luna''s egg tightly.


    And as soon as he did, ck wisps of energy coiled around his hand.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Shocked Corgi for sponsoring this bonus chapter!


    Also, thank you everyone for supporting me with power stones, golden tickets, and gifts. I am so grateful for all your kind words and encouragement!

 Chapter 259: Nether Everywhere

    <h4>Chapter 259: Nether Everywhere</h4>


    Utterly shocked, Liam looked at his left hand in which ck wisps of energy coiled around, both his arm and the egg that he was holding.


    He then stared at his right hand in which mana was surging, wrapping the herbs that he clutched tightly.


    He could distinctly feel the two types of energies. They were different like hot and cold, sweet and sour, or night and day.


    No, that was not it. They were not exactly opposing, but they were definitely different.


    As Liam suddenly lost his concentration mulling over this, mana surged and burnt the herbs that he was holding in his palm to a crisp.


    "Shit." He dropped the debris to the ground and quickly took out another bunch of herbs to keep feeding the egg.


    After a few moments, small spots of light flew from the herbs to the egg again, and he breathed a sigh of relief.


    "What is happening? Why now suddenly?" Liam leaned on the tunnel wall in exhaustion.


    He closed his eyes and tried to feel the energy swirling around him again, this time more slowly, without losing focus of the mana concentration and frying the herbs.


    And to his surprise, once more he could clearly sense the ck wisps of energy. In fact, the air around him seemed to be brimming with this energy.


    Liam silently contemted about this for a while and there seemed to be only one usible exnation.


    "This is definitelyher." He muttered under his breath.


    This ce was filled withher!


    He remembered the feeling every time he felt whenever they teleported to theher realm. It was something that was there but there was a veil around it preventing him from sensing it properly.


    And now somehow that veil was broken¡­


    He could finally grasp it.


    He could feel the thick heavyher swirling aimlessly inside the tunnel. Perhaps it had been this way for several weeks or months or years now.


    It even felt as if theher here was much thicker than theher in theher realm as if someone had artificially increased its concentration.


    "That''s it." Liam''s eyes widened in realization. "This should be why the beasts are still outside, without entering the tunnel."


    "Hmmm¡­ Perhaps¡­ then this entire underground tunnel was designed in such a way that onlyher wielders would be able to survive here."


    This made sense because the ability to senseher and affinity for the same was not thatmon in Xion.


    In theher realm, almost every demon inhabiting the ce was able to do it to some extent but here it was a much rarer ability.


    "Is this also why that guy came in alone without the other three?" Liam was slowly understanding everything.


    Thest time he had seen Kouske, he was raiding the cier cave along with three other experts, but this time, only he was there, alone in this tunnel.


    Either the other three did note with him or they hade here but were not able to enter the tunnel, perhaps receiving some strong debuffs because of the thick concentration ofher.


    However, the important question was not that. How did they even know toe here in the first ce? That too¡­ today of all the days?


    And for that, he still did not have an answer.


    Liam was now more than sure that the four were no longer in the vicinity.


    Only because the other three were unable to enter, Kouske had resorted to a sneak attack, rather than facing him head-on.


    And even if all of them were somehow able to get into the tunnel, he was still a whole ten levels above them.


    So chances were that they probably stole what they wanted and ran for their lives, also setting up the incense potion trap for him.


    He doubted that they would linger around here, risking the loss of whatever they had obtained in thest cave.


    Liam''s gaze silently simmered. He decided to leave this part forter as there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.


    His focus and priority right now was the fox and only the fox.


    He started to walk into the tunnel once again, towards the spot where the moss started explosively overtaking everything, growing rampantly everywhere.


    In the long empty dark tunnel, only Liam''s steady footsteps could be heard.


    He walked a few feet and then paused. "So the concentration of theher thickens as I go in and the mana thins out¡­"


    Earlier he was only able to sense the mana that was bing weaker and weaker but now he was also able to sense theher that was bing stronger and stronger.


    "Does the corresponding debuff also increase?" Liam pondered.


    He was worried that Luna would be even weaker because of this. He observed the egg carefully to see if the condition is worsening but luckily nothing like that happened.


    However, was it really luck?


    There were several questions lingering in Liam''s mind. Why was he able to senseher now and not before? Why did Luna''s egg suddenly start cracking?


    Also, was the inheritance still inside?


    He wanted to barge in take a look but he couldn''t rush things.


    Luna''s life was more important so once he arrived at the spot he patiently started scraping the moss from the wall and fed it to Luna little by little.


    He looked ahead and saw the entire ce crawling with this moss everywhere, up, down, right, and left. This should be enough?


    He looked at the copious amounts of the stuff smeared all around and he couldn''t possibly scrape everything efficiently.


    So for the next batch, Liam ced his palm directly on the wall and circted mana onto the thin or rather the thickyer of moss.


    He also held the egg close by and soon small dots of herbal essence started floating from the wall to the egg, the useless debris after the transfer falling down on the ground.


    "Alright. Now you can eat as much as you want.." Liam sighed, looking worriedly at the egg in his hand.

 Chapter 260: Nether Is My Bitch?

    <h4>Chapter 260: Nether Is My Bitch?</h4>


    Hu¡­. Liam let out a long breath in exhaustion.


    Several minutes had passed now and Liam was still continuing to harvest all the moss covering the walls and feeding it to the egg.


    The continuous slow maniption of mana was exhausting, especially in a ce where the mana concentration had already thinned down.


    He didn''t know how long he would be able to keep this up.


    "Are you feeling better now, Luna? How much more are you nning to eat?"


    Liam chuckled wryly and looked behind to see the bald tunnel walls that looked weird without theyer of moss that was covering them previously.


    He had fed all of that to the egg and she still needed more apparently. However, he did not mind.


    "This tunnel has loads of this crap. Eat to your heart''s content but please be okay." Letting out another long sigh, Liam took another step and repeated the whole process again.


    This continued for a few more minutes when the first signs of the problem arrived. The mana concentration became so thin that Liam could no longer replenish his reserves.


    He drank a bottle of mana potion, but he was running low on those as well. Previously, he had used a lot of potions while fighting against the death knights.


    He had done all the hard work only for someone else to steal away the final prize and in this process, he had also exhausted a lot of his reserves.


    Without enough mana potions and no mana in the air, he would definitely not be able to keep this up for long. He would soon run dry.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed his bad luck. Earlier he had mana, but he didn''t have enough herbs. Now he had the herbs, but he did not have mana.


    He truly did not think that Luna would still need more herbal essence after feeding her this much. Not that he knew what he was doing.


    He only roughly hypothesized that this herbal essence was healing her bit and bit and helping her regain her strength back.


    But this was just his theory. In reality, she might still die in the end after all of this. This thought terrified Liam.


    "Let''s not think about that now. I will first try everything that I can." Liam calmly looked around, sensing the thick wisps ofher swirling around.


    On the contrary, the mana present around him was practically non-existent.


    So how to get more mana in this situation?


    "Hmmm¡­ " Liam''s gaze wandered around aimlessly. In reality, the solution to this problem was right in front of him.


    The only issue was that he did not have the confidence to try it. He would be risking a lot because the time he used to attempt this method could cause the egg to crack further.


    On the other hand, if he did not try this, then he wouldn''t be able to extract anything in a few minutes when thest 10 mana potions also ran out.


    He needed to do something. He simply did not have any choice. He had to try this.


    Liam nervously held the egg in his one hand and as soon as the patch of herb dried out, all the essence contained within itpletely absorbed, he immediately acted.


    Sucking in a deep breath of air, he tried to pull in theher swirling around him.


    He didn''t have to worry about controlling both mana andher at the same time.


    There was no mana present around him right now and his mown reserves were alsopletely exhausted.


    So he did not worry about this aspect and simply focussed on pulling in theher and absorbing it into himself.


    He hoped that this would be simpler than trying to bnce two different types of energy at the same time.


    Liam gritted his teeth and gave it his best shot.


    Because he was only able to senseher after so long, he did not have any confidence in being able to absorb it or manipte it.


    But¡­ as soon as he willed it¡­ the energy casually rolled into him like oxygen filling his lungs.


    Liam was shocked. He had expected it to be at least a bit more difficult than this?


    How could it be¡­ so easy? Was he doing it wrong?


    However, now was not the time to dwell on this.


    He hurriedly circted theher through his body just like mana and the energy as well moved ording to his will and wish.


    He wanted it to go right and it went right. He wanted it to go left and it did that as well. It was almost as if it was ready to bend over backward for him.


    Liam held his breath and then willed the energy to pool in his palms.


    And just like hemanded, the next second thick wisps ofher swirled around his palm.


    This as well was easily aplished¡­


    Everything exceeded his expectations and went smoothly but the important part was still left.


    Even though both mana andher were types of energy, they were inherently different. So when mana could be used to extract herbal essence, couldher be used as well?


    Or would it bring about some other effect? Perhaps it would simply destroy the herb itself like fire?


    Anything could possibly happen but Liam was still hopeful because of one main reason. This moss reeked ofher. It was as if it was filled to the brim withher.


    He had no idea what the herb was before or even if it was a herb but now that he could senseher, he was able to see things more clearly.


    It was probably something the master of this tunnel used every day, a herb with aher attribute. This was the only reason he was positive that this might work.


    He calmed himself down and slowly willed the energy coiled in his hand to circte around the moss stuck on the wall.


    But once he did so, the process seemed convoluted. It was as if he had the ess to the entire sea and he was using only one cup of water.


    A sudden thought popped up in Liam''s mind.


    He abruptly stopped moving his hand and stopped channeling theher through his body.


    Instead, he directly willed theher swirling around.


    "No. This is ridiculous. This can''t possibly work. Without a mana core or what aher core? How could Imand such a huge quantity ofher?"


    Though he spoke these words, Liam still ignored the obvious w and tried to feel andmand theher swirling around.


    He did not try to take it in and simply willed it to gather around the moss.


    Almost instantly something unimaginable happened. Liam staggered, taking a step back in shock. He even almost dropped the egg on his hands.


    "What the hell is this?"


    "Why is it behaving like this?"


    He stared at the scene in front of him with his jaw on the ground. Not just him but no matter whom... they would have reacted in the same way.


    It was because... as soon as he had called... almost every single wisp ofher in the vicinity ran over to Liam as if they were his...


    In fact, so much had gathered that a small tornado was beginning to form, one that was made purely ofher.


    Seeing this, Liam snapped out of it and quickly tried to focus all of thisher on the wall in front of him.


    Now all he had to do was to use this energy to draw out the herbal essence that was within the moss.


    "Extract it. Bring it out. Slowly. Steadily." He was so focused and tensed that he did not even realize that he was mouthing out the words loud.


    But the next second... something even more sphemous happened.


    It looked like... this time also... he did not even have to try.


    He didn''t have to lift a finger or bat an eyelid.


    As soon as he simply thought about it... just willed it... the entire wall in front of him glowed and sparkled!


    It was dazzling as if they contained millions and millions of diamonds!


    Countless specks of light started slowly appearing on the moist muddy wall of the tunnel and flew in towards the egg.


    The egg as well sucked in everything like an insatiably hungry vortex.

 Chapter 261: All Gone

    <h4>Chapter 261: All Gone</h4>


    Liam did not even know what to think anymore. He just silently stood there and watched as all the specks of light happily rushed to the egg.


    Since the processsted for a few good seconds, it gave him a break as well.


    But Liam was far too stunned to rx.


    With a nk expression on his face, he raised his hand again and tried tomand the swirlingher one more time, targeting the opposite wall now.


    And once again, the same process repeated, creating a blinding light in the dark deste tunnel. Since when was extracting herbal essence so easily achieved?


    However, it made little difference to the egg.


    Even though now the concentration of the essence had almost doubled, bing frighteningly high, it still greedily sucked in this batch of herbal essence also.


    From the looks of it, it had no problems in taking in essences from the moss on both the walls.


    "So the distance doesn''t matter?" Liam observed.


    He had a hunch that he wanted to verify so he did not stop there and started thering the tunnel in front of him withher, top, bottom, and on the sides.


    Theher that was swirling around aimlessly was all of a sudden pulled to the walls as if being attracted to a ma.


    He was able to easily control and manipte theher in that entire section with unsettling ease.


    This was the first thing that hade to him so easily!


    Was this the result of his SSS affinity?


    But before he was not able to do this. So what changed between now and before?


    Was it something rted to this tunnel?


    That couldn''t be possible since he was not the one who reaped the rewards here.


    Ruling everything out, there was only one other thing that Liam could possibly think of. His death!


    Did he have to die once to feelher?


    He was not sure. This time when he had died all he felt was anger.


    Liam continued to think about this as he waved his hand and casually extracted the herbal essence from the moss on the walls in front of him, the light specks from this as well floating to the egg.


    When he was using mana, he couldn''t even control it properly to not burn the herbs but when it came toher, he was actually able to do the whole extraction process without a hitch.


    What the hell was happening? Was this SSS-affinity this terrifying?


    Liam did not think too much and tried to focus on the egg for now. Everything else could be slowly unraveled and decipheredter.


    With the stress on his mind and body greatly reduced, Liam continued to walk down the tunnel, clearing section after section of the moss on the walls.


    Dust and debris fell down as he moved forward and the walls becamepletely bald and empty. The egg was also sucking in everything relentlessly.


    In this manner, he slowly traversed the twists and turns of the tunnel, finally arriving at the first stage where he had fought the horde of skeletons.


    The white bone dust still covered the ground in this part of the tunnel. Liam gazed coldly at this and continued to walk forward.


    They next arrived at the spot where he had faced the numerous specters.


    And after a while, he was once again at the beginning of thest turn of the tunnel that led to the three caves.


    This was the ce where everything had changed. He was just a second away from finding out what happened after he had died.


    Liam patiently waited for Luna to eat everything and then took a step forward.


    Were the death knights still there?


    He ced the egg down on the ground while it was still absorbing the herbal essence and then cautiously moved forward, with his stealth activated.


    And just like he thought¡­ the entire ce waspletely deserted.


    Not even a fly was there in the vicinity. The lesser death knight, the level 80 elite death knight, skeletons, specters, nothing was there.


    The only thing that was present was the moss on the walls.


    Looking at this scene, Liam chuckled wryly and shook his head. "So theypleted looted everything huh?"


    A vicious glint shed past his eyes as he canceled his stealth and returned back to the egg.


    He no longer bothered to remain cautious as clearly whatever was there in the tunnel and the three caves had been thoroughly looted from top to bottom.


    Someone else would have balled their eyes out to see all their hard work stolen away just like that but Liam remained calm and indifferent, at least on the surface.


    He patiently continued to feed Luna, the duo effectively clearing out the only other thing remaining in the tunnel.


    And finally, in thisst section of the tunnel, the light specks, or rather the herbal essence that was being absorbed by the egg finally slowed down a bit.


    It was still inhaling everything without even wasting a single dot of the essence but the rate had considerably slowed down.


    Liam observed this and revealed a small smile. He had lost a lot on this trip but at least he didn''t lose her.


    He lifted the egg up and looked at it more closely. The cracks were still there but the pitch-ck color stopped spreading and the red liquid had also stopped leaking.


    He did not know if this meant anything but at least it was a good sign, perhaps a sign that she was healing?


    Continuing to look at the egg more closely, Liam lifted his hand to send waves ofher to extract thest bit of moss that was sticking to the tunnel.


    With this, the tunnel waspletely emptied out. Only the three caves were left out.


    Liam waited for all the herbal essence dots to get absorbed into the egg and then proceeded to the three caves.


    He ignored the two on the sides and directly headed to the central cave as this was the one from which the Level 80 death knight had stepped out.


    So whatever it was guarding would have probably been here. He walked over to the cave and pushed the door open.


    1 second passed. 2 seconds passed.


    But after opening the door, Liam simply stood there at the entrance, staring at the huge space.


    Whatever doubts he had before were nowpletely settled.


    Right in front of him was a small treasure chest that had clearly already been opened and tossed aside like garbage.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 262: You Too Luna?

    <h4>Chapter 262: You Too Luna?</h4>


    Liam calmly bent down to pick up the small treasure chest from the ground. It was tiny so whatever was present inside was probably small too.


    "Hmmm¡­ What could have been inside this? Skill book? Item? Or maybe something else?" he was curious but really there was no way for him to know.


    He observed it for a moment trying to find some clues, but the metal crate did not contain anything else. It was simply useless now.


    Nevertheless, he tossed it into his inventory space. He then calmly looked around the rest of the cave.


    The inside of the cave was huge and once again covered with the same moss everywhere. There was a huge table and a throne-like chair, all made of earth.


    Other than that there was nothing else in the ce. There were no cobwebs. There was no skeleton debris. There was nothing at all.


    In fact, if it was not for the moss, this would have been pristine, neat, and clean. Whenpared to the rest of the tunnel, this cave alone was well-maintained.


    "So that death knight was basically taking care of this room¡­" Liam pondered out loud and then raised his hand to harvest all the moss in this room as well, sending everything to the egg.


    The cave was now truly empty.


    Liam took onest look and then walked out. He was pretty sure that there was nothing more in this cave or in this tunnel for that matter.


    Kouske would have already emptied out everything else too. There was no point in him sticking around here anymore.


    Also, Luna''s condition had now somewhat stabilized so he wanted to return back to the royal city as soon as possible.


    Whatever treatment he did might just beplete and utter nonsense. He needed to take her to Seraphina to get her properly treated.


    And after that¡­


    Liam clenched his fist and was about to walk out when he noticed the other two caves as well from the corner of his eyes. They were also covered with moss.


    "Hmmmm..." He paused. He had cleaned out this entire long ass tunnel of this moss, using everyst bit of it. So why leave these two caves behind?


    It would only take him 2 more minutes. So he stopped and went to the one on the right, noticing the creepy skeletons mounted on the walls.


    He observed everything carefully, searching here and there, but just like he expected, he didn''t find anything valuable. Not even a randommon-grade item.


    "Bastard." Liam gritted his teeth and thenmanded theher in the air to do his bidding.


    Soon herbal essence leaked out and Luna''s egg hungrily absorbed everything, not in the least showing signs of being fully satisfied.


    "It''s fine. Eat as much as you want." Liam mumbled. After the egg was done absorbing, he walked over to the other cave.


    This ce also looked like it waspletely ransacked from top to bottom.


    He did not know what was there but just judging based on a couple of broken cauldrons in the corner and the big furnace, this looked like a workstation.


    "Hmmm¡­ he took even the cauldrons? Very thorough." Liam chuckled and then waved his hand to gather theher, clearing the moss in the room.


    Countless light specks flew out and the dried debris fell down onto the floor. The egg as well greedily absorbed everything.


    "Alright. Shall we leave then?"


    Liam was busily observing the egg, his gaze fixated on that.


    When he finally looked up to walk out, he gasped in shock, because he hadn''t noticed anything until then.


    He did not take another step and stood still frozen.


    "What is this?"


    Liam''s mouth was wide agape as he looked around the huge cave without blinking his eyes.


    It turns out¡­ underneath the moss, the bald empty wall was actually not that bald!


    The entire wall was made of solid rock, in contrast to the rest of the tunnel and the other caves which were made of mud instead.


    More importantly, on these rocky walls, there were numerous strange and weird symbols carved all over.


    No, they were in fact written in a very orderly and concise fashion as if they were important forms or recipes that the person inhabiting this cave did not want to forget.


    Taking a minute to observe everything, suddenly a thought popped into Liam''s mind. Did Kouske see this?


    He couldn''t possibly have! The rampant moss was covering the whole thing!


    Even he was able to find out about this only because he cleared every inch of moss from the ce. So, how would someone who was frantically running away have noticed it?


    Impossible!


    Liam did not know what these meant but maybe he could decipher it and from that, he could also obtain the same information about the inheritance that Kouske had taken?


    Perhaps he might even be able to learn something that the other person did not know?


    Liam was not able to shake off this idea but he forced himself to snap out of it. After all, it never boded well to be too optimistic.


    What were the chances that this was actually something useful? Maybe 50-50.


    Liam stopped thinking about it and started carefully slicing up the rocky wall into separate chunks with his semi-epic sword.


    The sword that would have been worshipped by countless yers right now was actually being used for rock cutting.


    However, Liam did not care about it.


    He carefully sliced each and every segment and stored it in his inventory slots.


    He also marked numbers on the edge to make sure that they did not go out of order and stored everything properly.


    He took his time to do this so he only finished after a few minutes. Now the room was truly empty, well except for the furnace that was shoved in a corner.


    Liam nodded satisfactorily and turned to leave. However, he once again stopped. He turned to look at the furnace again. Why just leave this behind?


    On a whim, he decided to dismantle it and make sure that he absolutely did not miss anything at all.


    He was also curious as to why a necromancer experimenting with skeletons and herbs would use a furnace. This person was also interested in forging?


    He unsheathed the purple sword and swung it around a couple of times.


    SLASH SLASH SLASH


    The rusted furnace broke and the broken parts fell down on the ground one after the other. Liam picked up this as well and quickly tossed them into his inventory.


    There was no hurry to dismantle it and inspect it right here and now. He could do itter after taking care of Luna first.


    "Alright. That should do it." He dusted his hands and sheathed his sword back. Now it was truly empty?


    Well, there was one more patch of moss left. This was hiding behind the furnace and now that the furnace was broken down, this was revealed.


    "Hmmm¡­" He narrowed his eyes and looked at this small patch. It was not like there was going to be a treasure here, right?


    Nevertheless, Liam ruffled his head and weaved theher in the air to absorb herbal essence from thesest bits of the nt.


    He had taken everything else after all. He was not going to leave this behind.


    The next second, the corresponding light specks also started flying towards the egg, Luna absorbing it.


    However, right at this moment, suddenly something unexpected happened.


    As the moss cleared out and the small specks of light dispersed from the wall, something else was gradually revealed.


    In the space where the furnace was present, particrly at the spot which usually contained the fire source, there was a small blue stone or rather a crystal.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam leaned over and inspected it closer.


    He then leaned back and unsheathed his sword, cleanly slicing off the crystal that was seemingly jammed into the wall.


    Thud.


    A small piece of rock with the crystal embedded at the center fell out. Liam picked it up and looked at it more closely to see what it was.


    "Fuck!" Almost instantly, his eyes widened in shock and his eyebrows shot up!


    This was neither a stone nor a crystal!


    The thing that he was holding in his hand was actually a small wisp of a flickering blue me embedded inside the rock!


    Liam only recognized it because this was very simr to the one he had obtained from the cier cave.


    That me was reddish-orange in color, bigger, and embedded in ice while this was much tinier blue in color and embedded in rock.


    He knew that this was probably a precious me just like the other one, but why would a necromancer have this?


    He was using it to power up the furnace? But for what?


    Just as he was pondering about this, the egg in his hand started twitching, a bit violently.


    "Huh?" Liam panicked and looked at the egg in worry. It took him a second, but he immediately understood what was about to happen or at least had a feeling about it.


    "NO LUNA! NO! STOP!" He quickly shouted but he was still toote!


    The partially cracked egg thrummed in his hand and the blue me from the crystal magically disappeared!


    And just like that¡­ the thing that he had gotten was gone in a second.


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry. Was today just a very unlucky day for him? Everything that he wanted was getting stolen away right from under his nose!


    First the inheritance and now this me. He barely had a chance to even look at it properly before the greedy fox gulped it down.


    "You too Luna?"

 Chapter 263: She Is Too Healthy!

    <h4>Chapter 263: She Is Too Healthy!</h4>


    Even as the evening skies of Xion illuminated with mysterious patterns of colors, a huge wind ripper gracefully pped its metallic wings, reflecting the beauty of the colors.


    Sitting atop this bird, Liam was dazedly staring at the egg in his hand that was twice the size of his palm.


    This egg had a peculiar pattern on its shell. Half the shell was pitch ck in color and half the shell was pure crystalline white.


    On top of this, there were light blue runes all over the egg on both the ck and the white half, making it look even more mysterious.


    "I wanted to power up but instead you powered up. Wait till you get out, I will make you work day and night." Liam sighed in exhaustion.


    Perhaps because he was not in the presence ofher anymore, the mental exhaustion from fighting so long was finally hitting him.


    He felt tired and drained and wanted to close his eyes to take a rest.


    Luna''s condition was also much better now. The cracks had healed. The bleeding had stopped and some weird patterns had appeared. So he didn''t have anything to worry about.


    Yet, Liam was unable to rest. He had a n but now it looked like things had changed and he would have to rethink everything.


    And this new enemy who was working from the shadows¡­ he needed to know more about him.


    His biggest concern was... how the hell did he know precisely when he would be arriving at the necromancer''s hideout?


    If it was someone like him who had travelled back to the past, then he might be aware of the location, who the experts were, who was weak, who was strong, where the treasures were and so on.


    But how could he possibly be aware of the exact time and ce of his action? Was it just a coincidence?


    Liam silently mulled over this as the wind ripper chirped loudly, finally arriving near the royal city.


    "Right here, Talon." Liam pointed to a location with a dense cluster of trees, a bit farther away from the city.


    He then hopped off the bird and traveled the rest of the distance by foot reaching the gates of the city.


    "Greetings, Lord Duke."


    "Greetings, Lord Duke."


    The two guards at the entrance immediately bowed and greeted Liam, but he was in a hurry so he barely acknowledged them and rushed past them.


    As a Duke, he no longer needed to worry about entrance fees and such. In fact, he could have entered the city atop Talon.


    However, that would cause too much attention and Luna''s condition had stabilized so he didn''t feel the need to do that.


    Nevertheless, he was in a hurry so he directly rushed over to the beast hall in the royal city. He needed to know what happened and what was going on.


    Liam ran as quickly as possible, so he reached the destination in under 2 minutes. Inside, Seraphina was surprised to see him return this soon.


    There was still time for the grandmaster to arrive so she wondered why he was here.


    "Lord Duke, may I assist you with something?" She humbly asked. Liam nodded and took out the egg from his inventory.


    "You can assist me with this." He showed it to her.


    "Ah¡­" Seraphina was immediately shocked as soon as she saw the egg. She revealed an expression very simr to the one Liam had and this made him nervous.


    "You don''t know?" He asked.


    Seraphina turned her head to look at him with a helpless expression. "This¡­ please forgive me, Lord Duke. I have really never seen anything like this before."


    "Can you at least see if she is healthy and needs anything?"


    Seraphina hurriedly nodded and then sat down on a nearby chair, with the egg on herp. She then circted her mana to the egg to check its condition.


    But unexpectedly, the moment her mana touched the egg, she felt a bolt of energy strike back at her. "Ahhh!" The loli beast master screamed in pain from the bacsh.


    "What? Did something happen?" Liam frowned.


    "Lord Duke, your egg¡­ how should I say this¡­ she is too healthy!" Seraphina smiled bitterly and then added with a sigh. "And also she hates me."


    "Huh?" Liam took the egg back from her and observed it once again. This small spirit beast was truly mysterious, always giving him shocks.


    "She should be ready to hatch soon, my Lord," Seraphina exined.


    "Are you sure that she is alright?" Liam was not convinced. Only he knew how much he had struggled these past several hours, trying to help this little fox.


    He sat down and started recounting everything that happened to Seraphina hoping that she could provide him some sort of assistance.


    Though it was risky to reveal some key details to her, he couldn''t help it. After all, the little fox''s health was more important.


    Still, Liam modified some things to make sure that he didn''t expose his own secrets and fabricated it enough so that it was simr to what actually happened but was also different enough.


    However, even hearing this toned-down version, Seraphina was floored.


    "What! This really happened? The egg cracked and then started healing by itself?! Lord Duke, I have never heard of such a thing! Never before in my life!"


    "I can tell you why she started to turn ck."


    "Something triggered her and I think she attempted to evolve too soon in a hurry. She probably needed more time, therefore failing to do so."


    "This is always the risk when a beast evolves and usually happens when a beast tries to evolve beyond her abilities."


    "The failure penalty for such a mistake is terrible. Most often the beast won''t survive this failure. So the same thing happened with Luna also."


    "This was why the egg was cracking and turning ck, all her life force slipping away." Seraphina murmured as she expressed her thoughts.


    "But how is it possible for her to heal back like this? Not even a precious herb is capable of doing such a thing¡­ Unless¡­"


    "Lord Duke, perhaps you managed to obtain some rare elixirs?" She looked up at Liam with a weird glint in her eyes.


    "Hmmm¡­ I am not sure." Liam replied vaguely.


    He in fact had a sample of that moss he had fed Luna but looking at the strange expression on the loli''s face, he decided to individually get it inspected and analyzedter on.


    As if she didn''t believe him, Seraphina asked again. "My Lord, did the egg really crack and bleed?"


    Liam shrugged. He already told her several things. What more could he say?


    "This beast¡­ then this beast is probably¡­"


    The loli sat in silence as if she was thinking about something deeply. She then abruptly stood up making her chest jiggle and her hair braids swing back.


    "Lord Duke, I think you should definitely pay a visit to the grandmaster. He will be here soon in a few days."


    "I think Luna might have evolved to a very powerful beast. Such a beast could help our Kingdom greatly, especially at times like this."


    Help the Kingdom? Liam rolled his eyes but didn''t say anything. "Alright. I will definitely pay a visit. Then in the meantime, is there anything that I can do for her?"


    "Perhaps keep feeding her more herbal essence?"


    "Hmmm¡­ ok." Liam replied but he thought of something, so he quickly added. "What about another me fragment?"


    "My Lord!" Seraphina was taken aback. Did this guy think that finding me fragments was like picking up cabbages from the garden?


    "They are difficult to obtain, my Lord." She bitterly smiled.


    "But yes, if you manage to find one, then it might help her. After that, she would perhaps only need a few more days to regain her strength back and hatch."


    Liam nodded. He refrained from telling her that the little fox had already eaten another possible me fragment. It seemed that he had to be very careful with NPCs.


    The look on her face whenever she saw the egg wasn''t anything good.


    It was as if all she needed was a wink from Liam and she would grab the egg and run away. Liam warily took Luna''s egg back from her hands.


    She was reluctant to let go so he had to pry it away from her, with a polite smile.


    Seeing that there wasn''t much more help he could get from her, Liam quickly thanked her and left the beast hall.


    After talking to her, he became very curious about the moss that the egg had inhaled in huge quantities.


    Maybe if Luna was a dark orher attribute pet but she was a fire attribute pet.


    So he wanted to know what was the grade of the herb if it was a herb at all and just how much it could have possibly helped her.


    Liam headed straight to the alchemy association to get the moss inspected.


    He paid the fees at the counter and headed upstairs to the inspection ce when suddenly he heard a few voices in front of him.


    "You are stupid.. Why did you not bring more of this herb, Kouske!" A woman''s judgmental voice sounded.

 Chapter 264: Enemies Are Bound To Meet On A Narrow Road

    <h4>Chapter 264: Enemies Are Bound To Meet On A Narrow Road</h4>


    "Kouske?" Liam was taken aback. In that narrow corridor, they were just seconds away from running into each other.


    And clearly, they had alsoe here for the same reason that he hade here, to inspect the moss that was on the walls of the tunnel.


    But they did not sound too happy?


    There was still only one second before they turned around the corner but at thest minute, Liam suddenly had a hunch and he decided to set some things in motion.


    Instead of letting them arrive in front of him, he quickly took a step, turned around the corner to stand in front of them.


    "What? Why the long faces? Did your quest fail?" He smirked, his gaze as cold as ice.


    Instantly, the group of four came to a screeching halt, and their eyes went wide.


    The enemy that they had been running from for the past several hours was suddenly standing right in front of them.


    "Holy shit! FUCK!" Madan was the first one to blurt out, as he looked at Liam clutching his heart. He stared at him as if he was the god of death himself.


    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"


    "Why are you here!!!"


    "How did you know that we failed the quest?"


    "You can''t touch us here! There are guards ok! There is nothing that you can do to us."


    "Madan!" Kouske shouted, immediately stopping him from speaking any further.


    Only then did Madan notice that he had gone too far and said something that he shouldn''t have. Since he was caught off guard, he foolishly let slip something.


    He quickly stopped talking and zipped his mouth close. Kouske stepped forward instead. "Think carefully before acting, Liam." He said in a warning tone.


    "It''s nothing personal. We just happened to cross paths, and it is best that we go our separate ways."


    "There is no enmity here and we don''t need to harbor any grudges. Good luck with the game." Kouske said a matter of fact and started walking.


    He did not wait for Liam to respond and casually walked past him. However, the next second, before he could take another step, he instantly stopped.


    There was a dark purple sword blocking his path. Actually, it would have sliced him into two if it was not for the fact that he reacted quickly.


    "LIAM!" Kouske eximed in anger and shock.


    The others looked at him in confusion because they were a secondte to realize what had happened.


    "This is not a ce you can mess around even if you are a D.U.K.E." Kouske said, particrly stressing thest word.


    Liam sneered. "Oh, but I think I can. Do you want to ce a bet?"


    Madan. "Sure. What do you want to bet? You are only one person. There are four of us. Do you really want to try this? Especially here in royal city? Do you know-"


    "MADAN!" Kouske once again shouted, preventing the bbermouth from spilling all the beans.


    Liam did not know Kouske well but even he could tell that the person was truly furious now. Too bad, he wanted to learn more things, but Kouske stopped it from happening.


    "Don''t say another word. Shut up. Let''s go. NOW! No need to talk to anyone. He will not attack us. Not here."


    "But¡­"


    "LET''S GO!" Kouske did not seem to want to hear anything more. He gave Liam a stern look before stepping over the sword and continuing to walk away.


    The others also did the same and Madan was thest to leave, as he awkwardly heaved his fat body up and stepped over the sword, almost stumbling and falling.


    "Can''t he put it back in already?" He grumbled in a low murmur as the group disappeared.


    And just like Kouske had said, Liam also did not act. He simply gazed at the group from the back, amusement swirling in his eyes.


    He had learned many things from this small interaction but mainly one thing was clear. They were upset. All of them had a frown on their faces as if they were dissatisfied with something.


    Did they really fail the quest? Or was this all just an act?


    As theypletely disappeared from his point of view, Liam''s lips curled up.


    He had purposefully startled them and baited them and had also gotten the result that he wanted.


    In case what the fatty blurted out was true¡­ then that could only mean¡­


    It was not Kouske, but him who had gotten everything!


    His problem was¡­ there was no way for him to confirm this. Or was there? Liam mulled over this issue as he walked forward to the inspection room to get the herb analyzed.


    Inside the room, there was only one person seated, so he walked forward and handed over the specimen to him.


    "Oh, this herb again?" The old man groomed his beard and eximed in surprise. He was visibly shocked to look at the same moss once again.


    The group that had visited him just now also gave him something simr for inspection. In fact, not simr but it looked like it was the same.


    How could such a precious item be popping up again and again?


    The old man looked at Liam, knitting his brows together. He wanted to know where these younguns were finding such good things!


    But as soon as he saw Liam, he was once again shocked. "Lord Duke. Please forgive me. I didn''t greet you properly."


    His eyes were only on the herb earlier so he hadn''t paid any attention to Liam so far. Liam as well was surprised to find his Duke identity still working here.


    This man was probably only a master then. Liam concluded. Because when it came to professionals above master ss, even the king had to treat them with respect.


    "Ha Ha Ha. Must be a coincidence." Liam awkwardly smiled, ruffling his hair. "Could you please tell me what this is? I am in a hurry." He urged him.


    Without questioning him any further, the old man nodded respectfully and then closed his eyes, muttering something while holding a handful of the moss close to his chest.


    A small glow covered the moss and a couple of secondster, the old man shed his eyes open.


    He had actually just now inspected this item but this matter concerned the Lord Duke so he did not take any chances and without beindzy, inspected the item all over again.


    "My Lord, this is the [ck Nether Moss]. This herb is actually a very precious item and has soul-strengthening properties."


    "In our realm, there aren''t many soul-strengthening items, so this is an extremely rare and precious herb." The old man repeated his words to stress his point.


    However, even after he repeatedly exined the same thing again and again, the Duke seemed to be in a strange trance?


    "Lord Duke?" The old man nervously called out.


    Liam still did not respond and finally, the fourth time he called out, he snapped out of his thoughts. "Alright. Thanks a lot for the help, senior."


    Patting his chest, the old man sighed in relief. He did not want to offend the Duke.


    He ce the moss back carefully and returned it back to Liam, who looked at the tiny quantity and shook his head helplessly.


    There was a bitter smile on his face which the old man could not understand. Nevertheless, he bowed and respectfully greeted Liam as he left.


    Only Liam knew why he was smiling. This damned Luna!


    How precious were soul-strengthening herbs?! Extremely powerful potions could be made from this. Even the effects of his death could be reversed!


    And he had fed all of it to the little fox!


    But in the end, perhaps only because of it, she was able to survive.


    "Well, there is no point in thinking about that now." He shrugged and walked out of the alchemy association.


    The important thing was that Luna was safe and the inheritance was probably notpletely lost.


    As he was thinking about this, he remembered the other group''s discussion that he had overheard and chuckled in amusement.


    More than him, those guys were probably beating themselves up over this right about now. At least he had utilized the herbs in one way or the other.


    But they had generously left it all for him to use as he pleased!


    Heh. Liam pulled his interface to see his messages and check on his sister and Shen Yue when he saw the words PVP tower and suddenly remembered something crucial.


    "100th floor of the PVP!" Liam clenched his fist. Now he knew what exactly to do to find out just what Kouske had gained in this trip.


    "Perfect. Now everything will be revealed."


    Liam nodded confidently and then walked out of the royal city. He hopped over Talon and headed straight to the trade city where the PVP tower was located.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "Kouske, I have a bad feeling." Barret who was silent all this time spoke up as they mingled in the crowds of the royal city.


    Their work here was actually done but they were still here to make sure that they were not followed.


    After all, they had stolen from ''that person.''


    Others might not know this but their group was aware of a key piece of information.


    The ck-masked oni who was known for his PVP skills and the golems and Liam were both one and the same person.


    Even with four of them together, they doubted that they could stand up against this person''s PVP skills, and especially the golems.


    So they needed to make the required precautions. Things would bepletely different in a couple of days as they had gained a lot in this trip, but for now they needed to be careful.


    Especially because of what they had gained in the necromancer''s hideout, they couldn''t afford to face him right now.


    With their quest iplete and the moss not collected, if they managed to lose the item as well, then their entire trip would have been wasted.


    And they would have made an enemy out of this monster for no reason!


    "Kouske, do you think we should do something? How much longer can we stay within the city?" Barret said.


    Kouske sighed without responding. He remained silent for a few seconds and then voiced his thoughts.


    "I agree. Since we can''t consult brother right now, we have to decide something. Otherwise, we might lose a lot."


    "He is not that strong. Just has a jump on us with respect to levels." Anya scoffed.


    "But level is everything, right?" Madan rolled his eyes at the blonde. Seeing her re back at him, he quickly cleared his throat and ignored her.


    He then came to the point and looked at Kouske with barely contained glee as if he had a brilliant idea. "What about that other news? Shall we leak it?" He grinned.


    "Oh? That news?" Kouske muttered absent-mindedly. He silently stood still for a minute and then, surprising everyone, he unexpectedly nodded in agreement.


    "Hmmm. I also think that is the right answer. Desperate times call for desperate measures. This will definitely keep him busy."


    "And the me won''t fall on us!" Madan grinned smugly. The four of them then discussed for a bit and set their n into motion.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 265: Liam Vs Fake Kouske

    <h4>Chapter 265: Liam Vs Fake Kouske</h4>


    After arriving at Yleka city, Liam directly headed over to the PVP tower. Derek wasn''t online at the moment so he checked his progress with the system.


    Their team was currently on the 98th floor with 5 more fights left. The guy had actually managed to climbed all the way up to 98 floors!


    "Alright, one more floor then." Liam took the elevator all the way to the 98th floor of the tower and registered his name at the arena.


    Thest time around he hated this grind, but this time¡­


    He barely even lifted a finger and just like that the 103 fights were finished in under 2 hours.


    "Damn it. That guy cheated by using some secret weapon."


    "I don''t think that guy''s stats were reduced properly."


    "This arena is rigged!"


    Severalints echoed in the huge stadium with the entire crowd in an uproar. However, Liam came in and went away without paying attention to anything.


    He was very short on time at the moment to even bother scamming more gold from this crowd. So from the start to finish, he simply went all out and settled all the battles in one hit knock out.


    After clearing the 98th floor and 99th floor, he was now finally able to enter the 100th floor and this was also what Liam was aiming for.


    Unlike the others lower floors in the tower, the 100th floor was like sort of a threshold. Here is where the majority of the yers typically hang out or rather were stuck at.


    Every fight above this was incredibly difficult and was not so straightforward. The yers that they would be facing would also be top experts and cream of the crop.


    But Liam''s purpose ining here was something else.


    For now, he didn''t register for any more arena fights. He headed over to the various facilities on the floor, crossing the huge market area selling an assortment of high-grade items.


    Among these different facilities, the one he was looking for was a particr training room. Liam walked along the long corridors and finally arrived at this specific room.


    However, using these training rooms wasn''t that simple. There was a fee for it.


    Especially for this room, the fees were almost ten times higher than the fees for the surrounding training rooms, a whopping 200 gold coins!


    But Liam did not even bat an eye and readily paid this exorbitant price.


    Click. The door also became unlocked, allowing him the entry inside.


    Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Liam pushed open the door and stepped in. Now he would know everything.


    And just like he expected and wanted, the room was not empty.


    In front of him, there was a ck ball of swirling mass, and the moment he stepped in, suddenly this ck ball exploded.


    Now instead of the ck ball, there was a human being standing and this was none other than Kouske, or rather a copy or clone of him that was a better version of the current him.


    Liam immediately unsheathed his sword and dashed towards him. The fake Kouske as well did not simply stand there and used a scythe to block his charge.


    A group of five undeads appeared behind Kouske and they, in turn, charged at Liam. These were all strong and powerful bear undeads and five of them surrounded him on all sides.


    Liam, on the other hand, simply stood with a big grin on his face. Just in this one exchange, the answer that he wanted was now crystal clear.


    His grin widened as he swung his sword and defeated the fake undeads, while also simultaneously aiming for Kouske.


    sh. sh. sh.


    His semi-epic weapon ughtered him in a few moves and soon he waspletely defeated. The Kouske standing in front of Liam right now was weak and useless.


    Without his undead army, it looked like the guy did not amount to anything. His closebat skills sucked and he also did not have any spells in his repertoire.


    The fight was over sooner than expected, in fact in less than a minute, making it seem like the 200 gold coins were just a waste.


    However, Liam copsed on the ground and grinned from ear to ear without thinking about that one bit.


    "YES! YES! YES!" He clenched his fist and pounded on the ground. Now he was more than sure that Kouske did not get the inheritance!


    Or rather no one had gotten it yet.


    The inheritance most probably was the engravings on the wall that he had retrieved. That was the only possible exnation.


    Because this training room Liam had rented was a special training of the PVP tower. It allowed one topete with a clone of an opponent they had recently faced.


    And for Liam, this was Kouske.


    This clone would, to a certain extent mimic the powers and abilities of the real yer, helping in training. Of course, there were also some drawbacks.


    The items the yer had on at the moment won''t be reflected. Skills and bonuses attached to the items also won''t be revealed.


    But something like an inheritance or a hidden ss would definitely be revealed, that too a stronger version or fully trained version of what the yer possessed.


    If Kouske had indeed gotten the inheritance, then Liam would have right now faced an army of undead, strong and powerful undead, not the weak ones like he had just fought.


    This was precisely why this training room was special and was more expensive. But considering its invaluable potential for training against specific unique enemies, this cost was nothing.


    When more yers reached the upper floors of the tower, this room would then be always upied on every floor as more often than not, the yers would be training for their fight against a specific opponent, the floor masters, the real monsters of the PVP tower.


    Liam had also selected this particr room to see just what exactly Kouske had gained. But it turns out that he had gained nothing!


    "Hmmmm¡­ that is probably not true¡­ he must have gained something." Liam pondered while walking out.


    Then he remembered the huge Level 80 elite death knight that was guarding the hall.


    Kouske couldn''t have possibly defeated that monster and yet when he visited the hideout again, the big guy was missing.


    So perhaps Kouske had gained some way to control that undead¡­


    That could possibly mean that he now had a powerful Level 80 undeadckey under hismand just like Liam had his golems.


    In fact, that was even better than the golems because the golems were not as strong as the death knight.


    However, even if this was true, Liam did not care about it as much since this much gain was nothing whenpared to what Kouske had gained in his previous life.


    He had an army of strong powerful undeads! And now, he did not have them anymore.


    Liam hurriedly walked out of the room and then started walking out of the tower.


    He had a feeling that the engravings had something to do with the inheritance, especially because the blue me fragment was also hidden along with these engravings.


    As he was wondering about this, he suddenly thought of a usible exnation for everything that happened.


    From what he knew, Kouske was a calm and steady person.


    Perhaps in hisst life, he took his time to deal with the Level 80 elite death knight and then explored the cave and the tunnel taking his own sweet time.


    So he must have also reaped the full rewards, including the me fragment and the engravings.


    But in this life, he had run away in the fear that Liam woulde back to hunt him down and take revenge for ambushing him.


    So in a hurry, he probably left everything that was actually important.


    Sure, controlling the elite death knight would give him a huge power boost and speed boost.


    But Liam was the one who possessed the true inheritance!


    This was also probably why their quest was iplete and they had also missed out on theher moss.


    "Ok. I should not get ahead of myself." Liam clenched his fist, barely controlling his excitement. "All these are just guesses and spections."


    "I need to get to the garrison to see how I can trante these symbols and learn what is inscribed in the walls."


    "This should tell me everything."


    And if things still did not work out, he could always spend the time, hunt down the four, and forcefully take the truth out of them.


    Liam stretched his neck and limbs and walked out of the PVP tower, deciding to take a nap first before heading over to theher realm.


    He also opened his system interface to check his messages when abruptly a bunch of messages popped up.


    "Hmmmm? All these are from Shen Yue and Mei Mei?" He also saw a couple of messages from Abraki.


    "Did something happen while I was inside the PVP tower?"

 Chapter 266 - Can We Talk...

    <h4>Chapter 266 - Can We Talk...</h4>


    Mei Mei: [Brother, you are being ndered. Log out of the game for now. Everybody wants to hunt you and kill you.]


    Shen Yue: [Liam, someone is spreading false rumors. Please watch your back. Many people are discussing targeting you.]


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam saw the cryptic messages from the duo. He then opened Abraki''s message.


    Abraki: [Liam, what happened? Heavenly Retribution guild is using you of forcing very on other yers. This matter is blowing up. You should do something about this soon.]


    "Oh?" Liam knitted his brows together in puzzlement. He now understood what was going on, but there was something unsettling about it.


    "If it is about ve contracts, then¡­"


    "Shouldn''t those three be kind of busy right now? Why would they target me now of all the times?"


    He pondered as he walked out of the PVP tower onto the busy streets of the city.


    His opponents were extremely popr at the moment so he had no doubt that this news also spread like wildfire.


    As he walked by, he could already feel a few eyes looking at him. Were his face and identity also leaked?


    "This will make things a bit difficult," Liam murmured. He slightly increased his speed and soon disappeared into the crowd.


    This definitely made everything very cumbersome for him. For the people of the current world, something like very was unimaginable and unforgivable.


    But when the world inevitably changes, such a thing would once again be mainstream.


    In fact, many would willingly be ves so that they could gain the protection and favor of a powerful Master.


    However, the world hadn''t changed yet. So it was only normal that people were after him with knives and pitchforks.


    The interviewers who were praising him yesterday were probably cursing him right about now. His fame would have already turned into infamy.


    But right at this moment, Liam didn''t have the time to deal with this.


    He also didn''t have the necessity to, because he was going to be in theher realm for the next few days and by that time, this news would have probably died out too.


    After all, several shocking things were about to begin happening, starting with the spreading of the grave camping and the possibility of true death.


    When that newses out, then the world would truly begin to change and everybody would suddenly start bing afraid of the game and the implications it potentially had.


    At that time, his news would be a piece of old news that no one would care about. This setback was just temporary.


    This was also what bothered him. Why would those two risk a lot in shing with him again, especially for something temporary like this?


    It felt like a losing strategy to him and Mia he knew wasn''t this stupid. Maybe this is that redhead''s work. Liam sighed, shaking his head.


    This didn''t affect him too much. Nevertheless, he was still not amused about this. He did not know if those three were responsible for this, but if they were then¡­


    Mingling in the crowd, Liam inconspicuously walked over to an inn to log out and take a break. Just as he was about to enter the inn, a familiar voice sounded behind him.


    "Liam, can we talk."


    The voice was sharp and cold, neither submissive nor oppressive.


    Talk about the devils... Liam sneered and did not look back to see who exactly it was. He did not need to.


    But he was still surprised by their unexpected visit. Shouldn''t they be running away from him right now? That too after what they had done¡­


    "Come in. We can talk." Liam said. He silently walked over to the innkeeper, booked a VIP room.


    VIP rooms had a silent mode function which meant that whatever was spoken inside couldn''t be overheard. Also, other people wouldn''t be able to disturb them.


    Considering the way everyone else in the inn was looking at them right now, he thought that this was necessary.


    So he booked one and then started heading upstairs, still not giving the two even a nce.


    With Liam in the front, the two followed him without saying anything else. Finally, when all three of them reached the room and entered inside, Liam turned around to look at the two.


    Standing in front of him, two tall and beautiful women waited and watched his every move.


    Liam''s eyes as well, traveled up and down, looking at everything they had gained in these past several days they hadn''t met each other.


    As he did, his gaze inevitably met the hot re from the redhead.


    Almost instantly, the woman who had been controlling herself all this time, with great difficulty, pounced forward. She was like a tigress and she clearly wanted to w his face off.


    "YOU! Why did you do this?" Alex bellowed, dashing forward with her fists clenched.


    However, before she could touch Liam, his figure blurred and the next second, her body was lifted up and mmed on the wall.


    "I suggest you try this again because I don''t have a lot of time to waste." Gripping her throat, he rammed her on the wall another time to get his point through.


    Under his iron grasp, she could only choke and suffocate, gasping for air. She tried hitting the man''s chest with her fists but it was useless.


    "Liam, please." Finally, the other person in the room, Mia spoke up.


    Only then he loosen his grasp on the redhead making her slide down and copse on the floor weakly.


    "You have something different to say?" He asked her again with a cold indifferent face, not showing one ounce of regret for what he had just done.


    And Alex dumbly stared at him, clutching her throat,pletely speechless. Just a second ago, when he had choked her, she knew that the man really intended to kill her.


    There was no doubt about it.


    No one has ever treated her this way.. Countless men in the game looked up to her and revered her as a goddess, but in front of this person, she only felt invisible and worthless.

 Chapter 267 - Please Help My Brother

    <h4>Chapter 267 - Please Help My Brother</h4>


    Seeing that things were beginning to get out of hand, Mia stepped forward,ing in between the two. "Liam, please. We are not here to fight with you. We are here to apologize."


    Her steady calm gaze had an unmistakable sadness and loneliness with them. "After we met thest time, several things have happened and somehow¡­ we are here."


    She let out a soft sigh, looking very tired.


    "And? Am I to me for that?" Liam sat down on the bed in the room casually. "I did make you three an offer but I also did not force you to ept it."


    "No. You did not." Mia smiled bitterly. What she didn''t say was that he didn''t do it before but he had done it now.


    She didn''t want to talk about that right now, so she started with the other thing that they came here for.


    "We have made several mistakes, I admit. But please, you have to trust us, we did not spread the rumor about the ve contract. We had nothing to do with that."


    "Hmmm?" Liam''s gaze shifted to Alex. He knew that Mia couldn''t have done it but what about this one?


    Instantly, Alex stiffened up and angrily retorted. "Bastard, even if we had. It''s the truth, isn''t it?" She coughed roughly since her throat was coarse after being almost choked to death.


    "Oh, so you still haven''t learned your lesson?" Liam took a step forward but Mia quickly intervened.


    "Alex stop this. You are going to kill Rey! Why did wee here? Do you even remember? Or do you just not care anymore!"


    Alex immediately stopped talking. Tears dripped from her eyes and she buried her head in her knees, not even caring how vulnerable it made her look.


    Liam also finally understood why the two were really here, risking their lives just to meet with him, especially knowing that he was not a forgiving type of character.


    So the person who took the most beating was Rey? He was not really that surprised by the oue.


    While these two or at least Mia was a born genius, the other party was a normal person like him. So how could he possibly take it when multiple people fucked him up again and again?


    This was simply bound to happen, sooner orter.


    "How is he doing now?" Liam asked nonchntly, looking at the two women. He really did not have an ounce of sympathy for their plight.


    He also didn''t seem to care that he had caused everything to happen.


    Utterly bewildered by how someone could be like this, Alex looked up at the monster in front of her, her eyes filled with tears and regret.


    She regretted that they ever met him in the first ce. This single person was responsible for everything that went wrong with their lives.


    If she could kill him, she would... thousand times over.


    Mia as well clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "He is not doing great. He is barely even talking or eating. He just sleeps all the time."


    "Oh." Liam nodded. He then paused for a second and added. "Alright. I will believe you both then. THIS TIME. You had nothing to do with this event. So are we done?"


    "Huh?" Mia was shocked. No, this was not what they wanted to talk about with him. They hade here for¡­


    "I am busy. I really have a lot to do." Liam shrugged and then got up, stretching his limbs as if he was preparing to log out.


    If these two wanted to beat around the bush all day without telling him why exactly they were here¡­ then they had another thinging.


    They were already here, so why not just get to the point?


    Mia sighed looking at the person and his acting. She was able to see right through him. He really was hateful.


    But they also did not have any other choice. This guy was their only hope right now. So she did what she should have done from the beginning.


    She did not bother with any further pleasantries and directly kneeled in front of Liam. "Can you help my brother, please?"


    For a second, Liam was utterly shocked. Was this the same proud Mia now begging him? Literally? On her knees?


    Even Alex who was also on the ground sniffing and sobbing looked at her cousin in a daze. More tears streamed down her eyes.


    No matter how she acted on the outside, she felt a pang of enormous guilt weighing her down on the inside. She was the reason for all of this mess. She knew that.


    If she had just left him alone¡­ then perhaps things wouldn''t havee to this and Rey wouldn''t be the one paying the price for all of it.


    "Me? Help your brother? Heh. Impossible." Liam chuckled wryly. "It''s toote. You should havee to me sooner."


    "Liam please¡­" Mia''s lips trembled. "I am ready to¡­"


    But before she could finish her sentence, Alex stood up in anger and once again pounced on Liam.


    This time, however, she did something before pouncing on him that made even Liam stagger and lose bnce, with the two of them falling onto the bed.


    Liam blinked, staring at the unbelievable sight in front of him!


    The woman had actually removed her armor and tore away the blouse that was covering the upper half of her body and was now straddling him,pletely naked from the waist up.


    Not stopping there, she took his hand and rammed it on her chest, squishing her two well-endowed mounds.


    "This is what you wanted, right? Take it. Take everything, but please help my brother." Her long red locks hung loosely, as more tears dripped from her eyes falling on Liam''s chest.


    Liam sighed. He didn''t do anything this time. The woman on top of him looked so pathetic right now that he did not feel like kicking her again.


    "I don''t know how many times I have to tell you this. Get it through your head. I am not interested in you or your sister in this way."


    He wiggled his hand, freeing himself from the boob prison, and then using the same hand, he pushed aside the naked figure sitting atop him.


    "Long back, I did suggest something on these lines, but that was just a shortcut. There are plenty of other methods to be stronger."


    Taking one more look at the naked woman on the bed, he repeated his words. "Again¡­ they don''t feel bad, but I am really not interested."


    Alex waspletely dumbfounded. She had acted out of haste and desperation and now that she had be slightly clear-headed, she felt very embarrassed.


    She quickly pulled the nket over herself and asked again. "Then¡­ then¡­ why won''t you help my brother? I am sorry. I am really sorry for everything I did."


    "I was just¡­" She trembled.


    Liam saw where this was going and quickly stopped her. "I am not done talking. I am not interested in your body, but I still need something else from you."


    "The same offer I gave you back then, still stands.. If you want my help, I need all three of you to sign the contract."

 Chapter 268 - What Do You Think Of This Game?

    <h4>Chapter 268 - What Do You Think Of This Game?</h4>


    For a second, Liam sounded as if he was going to be generous, but hearing him repeat the same dreadful words again, the two women looked dumbfounded.


    "Why! Why are you being so unreasonable!" Alex crumpled the sheets and stared at him wide-eyed.


    "Is this because you can''t trust us?" Mia asked. She also failed to understand why he was being so stubborn about this.


    "I know we got off on the wrong foot. Please, this concerns my brother''s life. If you just help us this once, we will be eternally grateful."


    "We will not go up against you. We can be your allies. I promise this. I give you my word." Mia pleaded.


    Alex as well did not continue to remain arrogant and quickly added. "Please Liam. I know I foolishly did a lot of things, I will apologize for everything. But you have to help my brother."


    "Please we can be on the same side. I will never again do anything stupid. Please just this once." The two begged and pleaded with Liam.


    However, Liam only shook his head, smiling helplessly. "I really cannot help unless you sign the contract. My hands are tied."


    "Don''t think of it as a ve contract. Think of it as a subordinate contract or even as a friendship contract. I will not treat you both unfairly."


    "Why? Why are you being so stubborn like this! Why can''t you just trust us? Why do you need a contract like this?" Alex shouted.


    She hated that this guy was being so stubborn, not budging at all even though the two of them were groveling at his feet.


    Did he like seeing them so miserable begging him like this for help?


    "I could say the same thing." Liam shrugged. "Why don''t you both trust me? I already told you the contract is just for namesake. I am not sure what more you need from me."


    "If you need my help, this is the only way. And¡­"


    "Trust me, you need my help. Your brother''s condition just like this game is not so simple. You should have realized at least this much right?"


    Mia nodded silently. Even Alex closed her mouth, not saying anything else.


    They also had this nagging doubt for a while now which was why they had strictly asked Rey to not log in anymore.


    The doctors in the top hospitals also couldn''t exin his condition. They did all sorts of tests on him but it only left him more weak and vulnerable.


    So the two women looked at Liam, wanting more exnation but his mouth was tightly shut. He was not saying anything else.


    As if he could read their thoughts, he lightly chuckled and added. "I can tell you more after the contract."


    Alex bit her lips and started once again, but Liam interrupted her. "Are you two really trying to bargain here? With your brother''s life on the line? Hmmm?"


    "Well, be that as it may. You might have all day on your hands, but I am not that free. I really have to take care of some things."


    Liam once again prepared to log out, but Mia quickly panicked and stopped him. "Ok. Ok. we will do it."


    "But Mia¡­ you¡­" Alex was shocked. Who was Mia and why did she have to be this person''s ve? "Let her go. I will sign the contract with you."


    "Nope." Liam was still adamant. "It doesn''t work that way. It has to be all three of you."


    "Why are you-" Mia raised her hand and stopped her. "All of us will sign, but can you guarantee that my brother will be fine?"


    "No. I cannot. I can try. I am not sure I will be sessful though." Liam honestly answered.


    "What? Then they the fuck are we signing this thing? Are you serious right now?" Alex was furious.


    She forgot that she was half-naked and stood up from the bed angrily, making her two melons bounce from the action and her hardened nipples revealed.


    Liam took a good long look at her and then smirked. "Your wish. You can choose to sign or not, just like you can choose to wear clothes or not."


    "YOU!"


    "Alex, stop it." Mia sighed. She didn''t know much about business but she knew that this was a losing deal and yet this was the best or rather the only option they had at the moment.


    Rey''s condition was truly bad and they had seen some cases where yers had inexplicably died from ying this game.


    So they were extremely worried.


    "Yes, we will still sign it." She clenched her fists and muttered resolutely.


    If this game was just a game, then this contract had no meaning. However, if this game was not just a game¡­ then something very wrong was happening.


    And this would be their only chance to find out about everything and get ahead of things, starting with Rey''s recovery.


    In the end, it was just a blind leap of faith and Mia decided to take it.


    "You won''t regret this." Liam nodded. "I don''t have the scrolls with me right now. Why don''t we meet back in this same spot in a few minutes?"


    "You can take this time to help Rey log in."


    "Even he has to sign?" Alex gnashed her teeth, to which Liam sighed. No matter how many times he exined things, it would only be useless.


    After all, signing a ve contract was equal to signing one''s life away.


    Though these two were notpletely aware of what they were doing, and probably assumed that this was simply within the game, it was natural to have this kind of apprehension.


    He sympathized with their plight, but he also couldn''t afford to take any chances. Especially when the redhead was a ticking time bomb.


    "I know there is a lot of resentment and hatred between us at the moment. But I hope with time all of this can change and we can coordinate together as a team."


    He did not say anything else and left the room. Alex and Mia as well silently logged out, exchanging looks with each other.


    And after a few minutes, just like they had already decided, everyone arrived one after the other.


    "Bro, I can''t believe that we are finally on the same side again." Rey immediately gave Liam a thumbs up as soon as he walked in.


    He ran over to him excitedly, wanting to give a hug but Liam stopped him. "Stay back."


    He was already assaulted by a member of their family today and he didn''t want it to repeat again.


    "So you are all fine with signing the contracts?" Liam asked again, taking out the three scrolls from his inventory space.


    "Bro, is this the guild contract?" Rey asked.


    "Yes, something like that. Basically, we would be on the same team." Liam smiled and patted him. The two women couldn''t help but gawk at him.


    Just minutes earlier he was so rude and arrogant with them, but when it came to Rey, they were talking as if they were best buds. What the hell?


    And Rey as well did not question Liam any further and was more than happy to sign his contract.


    Why are you so happy to bend over backward for him? Alex rolled her eyes staring at this ridiculous scene!


    She as well begrudgingly took the contract and signed it. After that, Mia did her part and signed as well.


    The two then looked at Liam hoping for more exnations at least now, but he silently pointed to Rey who had already fainted on the bed.


    "Let''s talk after you both help him," Liam said. He took the three contracts and carefully ced them back into his inventory.


    Alex gritted her teeth but didn''t say anything. Looking at Rey like this, she couldn''t be angry like before. She woke him up gently and then helped him log out.


    She then looked at Liam angrily and spoke. "Now can we talk?"


    Liam smiled at her and not in the sarcastic way that he always did. "See, you can still freely be angry with me. Signing the contract doesn''t change much at all." He chuckled.


    "Um. That''s alright. Can you tell us how to help Rey please?" Mia asked.


    "First sit down. Trust me. You are going to want to sit down for this." Liam said and he took a seat as well.


    Seeing him, Mia quietly sat down and Alex as well begrudgingly sat down.


    "So what I am about to say is notmon knowledge yet. It is something I personally discovered but before I reveal this, let me ask you a question first."


    "What do you think of this game?"


    "Only what everyone knows." Mia curtly answered.


    Liam saw that they were in a hurry to know things so he did not dilly dally and came straight to the point. "I think¡­ again this is just my theory¡­"


    He took a deep breath and then said. "The things that happen within this game are reflected in the real world too."


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


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    ***** END OF VOLUME2****


    Dear readers, thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement. Your kind words mean a lot to me and keep me going every day. I hope everyone enjoyed this volume.


    I look forward to sharing the rest of this story with you all. I hope you can continue to give me all your golden tickets and power stones! Thank you again for your support!

 Chapter 269 - Old Enemies New Friends

    <h4>Chapter 269 - Old Enemies New Friends</h4>


    Liam looked at the two women in front of him and they both stared back at him dumbfoundedly. In fact, he was half-confident that they were going to think of him as some sort of idiot.


    How could a game affect real life? Such a thing was inconceivable! It was the stuff of fiction and fantasies, every weeb''s dreame true.


    But unexpectedly, they looked like they believed him? At least their reactions were as such.


    "So¡­ that means Rey can be cured by something right? This world has magic, herbs, elixirs, dragons, something should be able to cure my brother right?" Alex anxiously asked.


    In reality, they both also had a feeling that the game was not so simple, but until Liam actually said it out loud, they did not dare to think about this.


    Because if what happens inside the game could be brought out¡­ then¡­ the consequences were truly unimaginable!


    "I also think so." Liam nodded. "There should exist some sort of cure. If not now thenter."


    "And also, being a priest, if Mia''s level is high enough or perhaps with a special skill book, she should be able to heal your brother."


    "I know I said I don''t have a way right now, but I will do my best to find one. I don''t want there to be any hard feelings between us."


    "We were enemies before, so I retaliated for what you did, but now that we are on the same team, I will sincerely try my best to heal your brother."


    "Let me tell you the information I currently have."


    "I think when a yer dies inside the game, that person''s soul is corroded a bit. So the more they die, the more they be weaker. This is the exnation I came up with."


    "So if when you both are out exploring, doing quests or dungeons, keep an eye out for anything rted to the soul."


    "Alright. In a minute, there are a few more peopleing here to this inn. So I request you both to not reveal this information to them just yet."


    "I willter think of a suitable situation and slowly break it all to them."


    "Ok." Both Mia and Alex nodded. They themselves hadn''t digested this information yet. So they did not have any issues in agreeing with Liam.


    They were also surprised that his attitude towards them had changed so suddenly. He was being unusually generous by revealing such a huge discovery.


    Just as they finished talking, the door cracked open and two people walked in.


    One was a young teenager and the other was a young woman who looked like she was the same age as Mia and Alex.


    However, both the girls were very pretty. Especially the woman was very gorgeous and had an enticing body that could even seduce other women.


    "Look at this guy. Do you think he tricked these two too?" Alex whispered in Mia''s ears. The contract was still weighing heavily in her mind.


    Mia red at her, silently signaling her to keep quiet.


    Meanwhile, Mei Mei barged into the room and ran directly to Liam, hugging him tightly. "Brother, are you alright? Did something happen? We saw your level go down. We became very worried."


    Shen Yue also walked in to stand beside the two.


    She looked very concerned but did not ask any prying questions. Her eyes rather fell on the other two astoundingly beautiful women in the room.


    She instantly became surprised, especially since she recognized these two in a second. They were very famous personalities interviewed a lot on television.


    And their guild was also the one who had publicized that news about Liam and ndered him, left and right!


    Shen Yue frowned. It was their guild, so these two definitely had something to do with it.


    They had defamed Liam so horribly and now they were sitting here? As if they had nothing to do with it!


    This was thest ce she had expected to find them!


    "Liam, it was them. Did you check the forums and news yet? These two ndered you and caused this whole big mess. What are you both doing here?"


    Shen Yue took out her dagger and stepped forward, but Liam quickly pulled her back. "Wait. Wait. They are not our enemies. They are our new friends."


    He intimately held her hand and her waist as he pulled her back, so Shen Yue blushed and quieted down without a single sound.


    Seeing this Alex rolled her eyes. Does this rude heartless jerk have a girlfriend? She was speechless.


    "Oh." Mei Mei also noticed the two because of all themotion and she reacted worse than Shen Yue by shrieking.


    But while the former was angry, thetter was simply shouting in shock and awe.


    "Goddess Mia! Oh my god! I can''t believe you are going to be ying with us."


    "I knew you had nothing to do with that stupid rumor. How could my goddess spread false things about my brother?" She happily beamed.


    Alex was about to say something when Mia quickly pulled her back, making her fall back on the bed. "Ah! Goddess Alex! I am your fan too!"


    Liam watched as the little girl had already forgotten about him and started fangirling those two.


    He was still holding Shen Yue''s hand, so he let her go and shifted his gaze to the door as if he was expecting someone else.


    Mia observed this as her eyes had never once left him. "Are you expecting someone else?"


    Liam did not answer her, instead, he smiled mysteriously.


    The thing was¡­ he didn''t know how to exin this.


    The two women in front of him had begged, pleaded, struggled, and fought with him because they did not want to sign a contract.


    But the people whom he was expecting at the moment¡­ were doing the same things in order to sign the same contract.


    Even though he had repeatedly rejected them, they begged him and pleaded with him to let them sign it!

 Chapter 270 - New Team

    <h4>Chapter 270 - New Team</h4>


    A couple of secondster, the neers all arrived one after the other and Liam waved at the group to invite them in.


    The others hadn''t really seen them before, but he was already familiar with the bunch.


    The first one was Berat whom he had briefly met and the other four were the Korean yers, Shin Soo, Kim Hyun, Kang Mina, and Chung Hee whom he had teamed up with for running dungeons.


    "Hello, brother."


    "Hello, boss."


    One by one everyone greeted Liam as they walked in and Liam as well casually handed them the contracts.


    The five did not even bother reading the contracts first. They just directly started signing it by letting a drop of blood.


    Moreover, they seemed very happy to receive it like they are getting some sort of precious treasures.


    Alex rubbed her eyes not able to believe this. "You guys know this is a ve¡­ I mean follower''s contract right?" She was beginning to doubt if these people were just in stupid.


    Her voice startled the group as other than Liam, they hadn''t really seen anyone else.


    They were extremely nervous and anxious if he would allow them to join his group, so they did not register anything else, and just wanted to sign the contracts as fast as possible.


    But now¡­ they suddenly turned around, and the group was instantly dumbfounded.


    One! Two! Three! And Four!


    There were not one but four beauties standing in the room, all four of them looking at them. Two of them were even extremely popr inte celebrities and¡­


    Didn''t the whole ve issue start with these two?


    "Goddess¡­ ah¡­"


    "Bro, they are..." The four guys opened their mouths wide and their jaws dropped to the ground.


    "They are all on our team too." Liam smiled and nodded, answering the question on their minds. The four simultaneously gulped, losing their voice.


    No one could bring out words in front of these goddesses. The only other woman in the team, Mina, the healer, rolled her eyes at this sight.


    She also did not say anything and stood on the side.


    "Alright then. I will leave you all to get ustomed to each other. I have some things to do so I will be on my way." Liam stood up to leave.


    "Liam, one second." Mia stopped him. "Can I speak with you privately?"


    Instantly, every single eye in the room looked at Liam and then at the ice goddess in shock. Only Shen Yue and Mei Mei had a different kind of look on their faces.


    "Alright. Let''s head out." The two of them then walked out of the room in front of everyone else and sat down at a table in the inn.


    "Is this fine?" Liam asked.


    "Yes." Mia nodded. "So what should we do now?"


    "You wanted to ask me this? We can discuss this in front of the team. Each and every single one of them is trustworthy." Liam smiled.


    "Oh?" Mia looked surprised, but then she remembered the contracts and nodded.


    "Just talk to them. Get to know them and then make the decisions on your own. I trust you." Liam casually delegated some responsibilities to her.


    "I suggest you disband your old guild and start a new one. You will be the sole guild leader and put Berat as management. He is good at that stuff."


    "Also, if you trust some people from your old guild, you can bring them over. I mean your guild was targeted a lot right?"


    "So if some yers still stuck it out with you, then I think they are pretty trustworthy. But remember they will be at the outer circle."


    "Only the people you saw here today and one more person will be on the inner circle. This concerns our life and death inside the game and also in the real world."


    "Keep that in mind while making decisions. Be careful about whom you trust. Sometimes people change when faced with adversities."


    "Also, it is a bit inconvenient for me to be in the Xion realm at the moment. So take care of the new guild set up and other things."


    "This is my insignia. As you know, I am a Duke in the Kingdom so use it to your advantage." Liam passed over his token and gave Mia a bunch of instructions.


    She also took a mental note of everything and only asked very few questions in response. She was a born leader so he knew that she would handle it well.


    They continued discussing a bunch of things and a few minutester, Mia hesitantly brought up a topic.


    "Liam, one more thing¡­ I want to be stronger¡­ faster¡­ do you still want to¡­"


    "Huh?" Liam was confused for a second as he had forgotten about this part.


    "I don''t want you to force yourself. I don''t want you to do anything that you are ufortable with. For now, I have some other suggestions that can bring up your strength."


    "Why don''t we discuss this specific thingter? I mean if you still want to do this?" He exined.


    "Ummm. ok." Mia nodded with a dazed look on her face. She honestly did not know what to expect after the ''special'' contract.


    A part of her was even scared that she might be forced to do some things in-game, but she definitely did not expect this.


    The same guy who was so ruthless and heartless earlier was now treating her with respect and care. So from the beginning, everything was about trust?


    She couldn''t help but wonder just what might have happened in his life that he had such big trust issues.


    Seeing how well he was treating her, the resentment she harbored for him, considerably lessened.


    When all was said and done, in the bottom of her heart, she felt a sort of relief that this person was no longer against her but he was now standing with her.


    She followed him in a daze as the two of them walked back to the room where the others were present.

 Chapter 271 - Will Be Eaten Alive?

    <h4>Chapter 271 - Will Be Eaten Alive?</h4>


    As soon as they entered the room, everyone immediately looked at the two with a million questions in their eyes, especially Mei Mei and Shen Yue.


    But Liam did not make any efforts to clear the misconceptions.


    He instead directly started listing the bunch of the dungeons that they needed to target and the strategy for all of them.


    Liam decided to give the group some time before he started with the really important things.


    As for Mia, Alex, Shen Yue, and Derek, he still needed to sort some things out and see what could bring out their potential the most.


    And also¡­ he needed to sort out this own mess.


    "Liam, where are you headed to now?" Mia asked.


    "I am going to theher realm. It''s a different world that will open up soon to everyone. I will go ahead and do some preparations for you guys beforehand."


    Alex quickly perked up after listening to this. "Is that how you are leveling so fast?" She looked like a hungry wolf waiting to devour the guy and know all of his deep dark secrets.


    Now that he was their ''Master'', he should reveal everything right?


    Liam, unfortunately, only smiled. "I will exinter."


    He then paused and after some thought, he took out a couple of the rock bs that he had cut out from the necromancer''s hideout.


    "Do any of you recognize the words etched on these rocks?" His gaze specificallynded on Mia as he asked.


    Everyone took a look including Shen Yue and Mei Mei, but no one had seen anything like this before so they couldn''t help.


    At this time, everyone turned to pay attention to Mia who was still staring intensely at the bs. "Do you recognize something Mia?" Alex asked.


    "Hmmm¡­ Yes¡­" Mia unexpectedly nodded.


    She then looked at Liam with a strange glint in her eyes. "I think this is an old demon tongue. I did a quest rted to a ce called abyss."


    "So I recognize maybe one word from this, but I could be wrong."


    "Oh? Which word?" Liam became curious.


    He had only casually taken out the rock bs on the off chance that someone knew something but he did not actually expect it to happen.


    "This one." Mia pointed to a particr word that kind of looked like an infinity symbol. "This one should be ''Soul''."


    "Are you sure?" Liam asked.


    "Yes. Kind of. I did this quest with a high priestess of the divine temple. She told me that this word meant ''Soul''."


    "High priestess? What quest is this?" It was now Liam''s turn to be curious.


    But Mia shook her head, "I actually haven''t made much progress in this quest. I was asked to fight some elites in the north and retrieve a couple of artifacts."


    "In one of these artifacts, this symbol was carved and she told me that this meant soul."


    "So why didn''t you continue this quest?" Liam wondered if perhaps the elite was a high-level monster. In that case, he could help her.


    However, Mia simply smiled without answering. Instead, Alex helped her answer. "Didn''t you put a bounty on our head to keep us busy? How are we supposed to do quests then?"


    "Oh." Liam heard her and thenpletely ignored her.


    "Alright, you should then focus on this quest. Since your divine affinity is excellent, quests from the divine temple will have a lot of benefits."


    Especially considering how amazing his SSSher affinity was, Liam did not dare to underestimate the SSS-divine affinity.


    Meanwhile¡­ at the other side of the room¡­


    Seeing the three standing close and discussing, Mei Mei shifted to Shen Yue and nudged her lightly. "Sis, do you see that? Those three seem very close. Hmm¡­"


    "Ya." Shen Yue absentmindedly replied. She was also at a loss for words. However, the person standing next to her loudly mouthed her thoughts.


    "I don''t like it." Mei Mei dered.


    Hearing this Shen Yue couldn''t help but chuckle. "Huh? Weren''t you their hardcore fans?" She smiled as she didn''t expect the girl to change teams so soon.


    "Ummm¡­ Yes, but¡­ I still don''t like this." Mei Mei clicked her tongue. "Do you think that they are scheming something, sis? Do you think that they are trying to manipte him?"


    "Huh? Why do you say that?"


    "I don''t know, sis. I hope those girls don''t take advantage of my brother. He is a very nice and kind person."


    "Mmm¡­"


    "He worked very hard to get where he is today and these people just want to take advantage of him now."


    "Maybe¡­"


    "Girls like that¡­ will eat him alive¡­"


    "Mmm¡­ You are right."


    "We need to protect him."


    "Absolutely."


    The two then continued to look at Liam, Alex, and Mia with a strange glint flickering in their eyes.


    The other five, however, simply stood on a side as everyone around them was a bigshot.


    They were far too nervous to contribute anything and just tried to hear what the three were intensely discussing.


    "Did I or did I not tell you this was a good idea?" Shin Soo whispered to his group. His teammates silently nodded in unison as if they were dolls, all agreeing with him.


    Liam was already enough for them to hitch their wagon to his cart. After all, they had personally experienced just how amazing he was.


    But now these two goddesses alsobined, they couldn''t even imagine the full potential of their group! They were surely going to explode!


    They swallowed hard in anticipation of what was toe.


    Especially considering that all the guild contracts were no better than ve contracts, they did not regret their decision one bit. Who wouldn''t want to team up with these experts?


    They had gotten in on the ground floor of something that is sure to be huge. So they happily waited for their orders with their pulse racing and blood thumping.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Embeth for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 272 - The Garrison Leader Returns

    <h4>Chapter 272 - The Garrison Leader Returns</h4>


    After discussing a couple more things, mainly with Mia, Liam then left the small inn room which was pretty crowded now.


    But even in the hurry, he did not forget to mumble a few warnings to his sister about being careful and not dying.


    He also gave her the two golems as additional support even though he didn''t feel that they were necessary because this time Mia and Alex as well were in their group.


    Seeing this Alex grimaced. She could never get used to seeing this side of his. The guy was either too kind or too cruel.


    "Don''t forget to tell your friends to stop hunting us down." She reminded Liam with a sarcastic tone, to which she did not get any reply.


    Watching his figure disappear into the crowded street from the window of the inn, she whispered to Mia. "Should we kill his sister a few times to teach him a lesson?"


    "Alex, stop it. I am also upset about what happened to Rey. Do you think that I don''t care about brother?"


    "No¡­ I mean¡­"


    "We cannot me this on him, Alex. You know it. I know it. This is your fault and mine. He did not do anything until we leaked out his information."


    "Just tell it''s my fault. Why beat around the bush?" Alex sighed.


    "No, it is my fault also. I should have stopped you, but we did not know things would turn out like this." Mia shook her head.


    "For god''s sake, this was supposed to be just a game by a mysteriouspany. And now¡­ So please don''t me yourself and more importantly, not him."


    "I really want to give this a chance. Be allies. Did we not sign the contract by taking a leap of faith? Don''t ruin it now." Mia patted her.


    "Fine. I won''t. I wasn''t nning to. Sorry. I just got a little ticked off seeing him being so affectionate to his sister when our brother''s condition is like that."


    Alex smiled sadly, her gaze once again falling on the bubbly girl in the room. She reminded her of her brother so much.


    "If Rey was here, he would have been jumping up and down to team up with this guy." She muttered.


    "Don''t worry. He will soon be here with us. I will continue that quest."


    "As Liam said, if I can be a good enough priest, I should be able to heal soul damage also." Mia held her hand gently,forting her.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam walked out of Yleka city with high spirits. He reached the outskirts of the city and whistled to summon Talon who was hiding amidst the tree cover.


    "Shall we leave?" He patted the bird and then opened the portal to theher realm. This time, however, the portal was different, or rather it felt different to him.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam took a deep breath and pensively entered it along with Talon.


    Almost instantly, the thick intense surgingher hit him in the face. Liam was shocked. It was an indescribable feeling.


    It was as if he was in air one second and underwater the next, well except that he could breathe freely under the water and the waves of the water nourished him, every time it touched him.


    "This is interesting." Liam sucked in another deep breath as if he was inhaling everything around him. He had expected to feel different in this trip to theher realm but he did not expect this.


    More importantly, he noticed something unusual. "Theher here is not that dense."


    Liam summoned a ball ofher and lobbed it up and down as if he was ying with a basketball. "Shouldn''t theher be thicker in theher realm, hmmm?"


    Since he had just now visited the necromancer''s hideout back in the Gresh kingdom''s borders, the feeling he had at that time was still fresh in his memory.


    Theher in this realm was actually weaker than theher back at that hideout. So he couldn''t help but wonder if this was really the her'' realm?


    Seeing that his thoughts were wandering, Liam lightly chuckled and shook his head. "I should first focus on tranting the scribblings on the wall."


    He patted Talon and then climbed on top of the bird. With the wind ripper to fly him around, it only took him a few minutes to reach Thol city.


    Of course, the respect he got now waspletely different from the respect he had gotten the previous times.


    Moreover, he did not even bother to stop at the entrance.


    The bird flew low, giving the guards a chance to look at him, and then directlynded at the garrison tower in the heart of the city.


    "Ok, Talon. It will take a while. So feel free to roam around." Liam hopped off the bird. The two of them were right now standing on the terrace of the tall garrison tower.


    Their arrival as well was very shy and almost everyone in the city noticed it.


    Of course, this was because everyone in the city was waiting for Liam, the new garrison leader with bursting anticipation.


    Noter than a second after hended, a group of demons ran over to him, all huffing and panting.


    These were the demons who were posted previously to work at the garrison tower, taking care of the management and such.


    Since Liam did not change anyone or anything, they all still continued doing their jobs like usual. But the thing was¡­ he did change one thing.


    To be more specific, he had introduced an outrageous reward system and then disappearedpletely for the next couple of days.


    So these demons were the ones who faced the brunt of that effect.


    Earlier, they were all extremely happy and satisfied with their jobs because they enjoyed power and authority and not to mention a good ie without doing much work.


    But ever since the new garrison leader took charge, their lives had be a living hell.


    Not only did they earn less than the other toon leaders and squad leaders and sometimes even soldiers, but their garrison coffers were starting to empty out fast.


    This was technically not their fault. The garrison leader was the one who issued themand but the pressure and the stress fell on them.


    And if by chance, the garrison leader did not like the result that he was inevitably about to witness, they would also be the ones to receive his wrath.


    So their cushy easy jobs had suddenly turned into aplete and utter nightmare. The group of demons all shivered, waiting for Liam to arrive and now he was finally here!

 Chapter 273 - Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend

    <h4>Chapter 273 - Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend</h4>


    Liam looked at the bunch of demons, clearly all sweating and shaking in nervousness. "Hmmm? Did something happen?" He asked as he started to walk over to the garrison hall.


    "That¡­ that¡­" The demons stuttered, exchanging looks with each other. They did not know why but the current Liam was so much more powerful than the person they had seen before.


    "Did something happen?" Liam frowned, repeating his question again.


    Now the demons no longer dared to not answer him and one stepped forward to quickly blurt out.


    "Leader, we have handed out all the rewards for the different group leaders and soldiers and we are about to run out of resources."


    "We also need to pay tribute to the King in a few days." The demon directly brought out the main issue without hiding anything.


    One way or the other, Liam was anyways going to know about it, so he couldn''t hide it and make things worse. He bit the bullet and became the bearer of the bad news.


    And as soon as he finished talking, a deafening silence flooded the space and everyone gulped, waiting for Liam''s verdict.


    There was a huge mountain of pressure weighing on them. Each and every demon looked like their city was about to copse and crumble in the next couple of days.


    But unexpectedly, their new garrison leader did not seem to care? Or at least his facial expression was as such, cold and indifferent.


    Oh no! What is going to happen to this city! Are we all doomed!


    The next second, Liam casually opened his interface, selected the garrison option, and transferred the gold coins from his ount to the garrison management ount.


    All the demons gaped in shock and surprise as their own interface popped up in front of them showing the iing cash flow. Their garrison coffers were once again flush!


    They silently followed Liam into the main hall, all repeatedly checking if what they had seen was indeed true.


    Meanwhile, Liam started busily rummaging through the hall, especially checking the bunch of scrolls and drawings on the big table.


    "Is there a map of the region?"


    His voice thundered in the big hall and the demons quickly got to work. Half of them scurried away to take care of the rewards and the other half stayed back to help Liam.


    "Leader, we only have a rough map of the Kingdom." One of them fished out a bigger scroll from the jumbled mess and gave it to Liam.


    "What is your name?"


    "Bika, leader."


    "Bika, how long have you been working here?" Liam asked.


    The demon became nervous and answered. "For a couple of decades now, leader."


    "Ok. Do you happen to know if there are any libraries in the city or in another city near us?"


    "Ah¡­ library¡­" Bika scratched his head in confusion. "Nothinges to mind, leader."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam stopped searching and pensively stared at the ogre demon''s face, making the guy even more nervous.


    He didn''t know that though he was staring at him, he was thinking about something else.


    Liam pondered where he could possiblye across the resources that could help him decipher what is written on the walls.


    It did not look like it wasmon knowledge so maybe an older rarely used dialect?


    Just to make sure, he took out a b and showed it to the demons surrounding him, and those standing around in the hall.


    But as he had guessed, none of them were able to help him trante the words etched on the surface.


    Liam then gazed at the huge roughly drawn out map of the kingdom and saw the main red city marked by a skull.


    "Something helpful should be there in the main city perhaps?" His finger traced the skull mark on the map.


    The issue was that this realm was very different from the Xion realm. Every area here was mostly a high-level zone, excluding the outskirts of the small settlements scattered around.


    And moreover, the beasts here were more fierce than the beasts in the Xiong realm as more often than not they were demonic beasts that have lost their mindspletely.


    Liam was notpletely helpless. He had the confidence to deal with some of these demonic beasts.


    The problem was that the journey to the city was far too long and he did not even know if it would help him at all or just waste more of his time.


    As he was thinking about this, he suddenly had an idea. "Bika,e here. For the invasion missions¡­ where do we get the scrolls from?"


    The demon blinked as if he was confused but he quickly answered. "From Itaka city, leader. All our scrollse from the lord''s castle there."


    "Oh!" Liam grinned. Sess!


    "Show me on the map. Where is this ce? And can you tell me a bit about this Lord?"


    Bika nodded enthusiastically and pointed his chubby finger to show the location on the map. Thankfully it was not too far away.


    Rather it was far but it was still closer than the red city, the main settlement where the demon king and his personal army resided.


    Liam took a note of the location and roughly checked which was the best route to reach the same.


    "Leader, about the Lord¡­ I think the Lord should already be quite fond of you."


    "Our garrison leader Hongumbra, Cough. Cough. Previous garrison leader Hongumbra and the Lord did not get along."


    Though the demon did not exin things openly, Liam got a gist of the issue and chuckled lightly. "Alright then, at least this part should be easier."


    Liam nodded and started making the preparations for the trip. He decided to travel by foot and take his special squad along with him.


    There was still too much he didn''t understand about this realm so while he was traveling around, he also wanted to explore as much as he could.


    And there was yet another thing¡­ he could now wieldher! So he wanted to train and start casting spells usingher!

 Chapter 274 - The City Lord Wishes To Meet With You

    <h4>Chapter 274 - The City Lord Wishes To Meet With You</h4>


    As per Liam''s instructions, his personal team of ten demons promptly arrived at the garrison tower and this time, they had an even pronounced look of respect and reverence for him.


    In fact, they were just a step away from worshipping him.


    They already believed that their leader was capable of great things and now just like they wished for he had aplished the impossible and be the garrison leader!


    That too this soon and so young!


    Not only that but their garrison had recently almost doubled its war chest and war activity.


    If their progress continues this way, then it was only a matter of time before their city bes a greater demon city.


    "What happened? Why are you all staring at me this way?" Liam chuckled, patting Talon.


    The ten demons silently shook their heads in response, as they were too terrified to talk to him.


    "Alright then." Liam smiled. "Are you guys ready? Let''s go."


    The group quickly prepared themselves and left the garrison and the city boundaries, walking on the outskirts with Liam.


    This was not an invasion mission but they still were very thrilled to travel with their leader as if something exciting might happen at any given instant.


    Liam on the other hand, walked with a nk look on his face the entire time. Inwardly, he was trying to cast some spells usingher.


    Buther and mana were basically two different energies, and he was not able to mimic the same control he had for mana in case ofher.


    He was able to easily manipte it but he was not able to mix it with any elemental attributes to give it a more specific purpose.


    However, simply weilding it as well had it owns perks.


    When the group came across a pack of Level 40 desert vultures, Liam was able strangle two of the birds by just suffocating it with concentratedher.


    Unlike mana this energy was very nefarious.


    So when concentrated, it had its own effects and properties just like how the tentacles were using a slightly venomous version of theher to do their damage.


    Liam silently tried to grasp these concepts as the group slowly moved from Thol city to Itaka city, ughtering whatever mobs that came their way.


    Since he was not that concerned about gaining experience points anymore, he only focussed on his technique and honing his skills.


    Unfortunately, most of the drops were just coins and random items, he did not get a single skill book from the mobs so far.


    This was disappointing as Liam had hoped that he could get aher based skill book from this realm, but it looked like skill book drops were even rarer here.


    "Talon,e here." He waved at the bird wreaking havoc on a hound. "Can you fly around and see if there are more mobs?"


    The other demons grunted in excitement on seeing this. With Liam around, this was a golden opportunity for them to fight against stronger beasts and improve themselves.


    And now with Talon gathering more and more mobs, even those that were not on their path, they had plenty of beasts to train with.


    If anyone at any point became overwhelmed with an opponent, almost receiving severe injuries, Liam promptly intervened and helped them out.


    In this way, they continued training each in their own method and the group slowly moved towards their destination.


    By nightfall, they doubled back on their speed and finally arrived at the city. However, Liam did not immediately enter the premises.


    Instead, he set up a small camp outside with his demons. He asked them to cook and feast on some of the meat they had gathered so far.


    So if any outsider were to look, it would simply seem as if they were celebrating.


    And all the demons were in fact celebrating, except for Liam who quietly sat at the back and took out a rock b from his collection.


    He also took out a scroll from his inventory space and started copying the contents of the b onto the scroll.


    He did it slowly and carefully, making sure that the signs and symbols were copied properly onto the scrolls, not leaving any details out, even the smallest of the details.


    After this, he did not stop here and took out another scroll, in this he copied the contents of the first scroll once again but in a modified manner, things slightly jumbled up.


    He did not copy all the words and whatever he copied was in the wrong order with certain symbols differently etched.


    He made a couple of copies of this and when he was finally satisfied, he everything in separate inventory spaces, properly making note of what is what.


    "Now we are ready to go to the city." Liam smiled. He walked over to the group and grabbed a roasted vulture leg, chomping down on it with ferocity.


    The group then marched into the city boundaries. "Halt." The guard at the entrance bellowed.


    But Hiruyu quickly stepped forward and exined. "This is the Thol city''s garrison leader. We are here on official business. Move aside."


    "Oh." The demon grunted and hesitantly stepped aside.


    At the same time, he also whispered something in hisrade''s ears who walked away from the guard post into the city in big strides as if he was in a hurry to convey the message that he had just received.


    Liam did not mind these things as he assumed that one leader going to another city was something that the higher-ups needed to be informed about.


    Instead, he paid attention to the huge city that was sprawled in front of them.


    Though both Thol and Itaka were cities, from what was in front of him right now, they were clearly not on the same level.


    Whenpared to this city, Thol could only be called a town at best. The ce was enormous with all sorts of demons and beast kin wandering around the streets.


    It was so much more crowded than even Yleka city back at Xiong realm.


    Liam wanted to explore it a bit, but he decided to first take care of the important business that was weighing heavily on his mind.


    "Hiruyu,e here. Get someone to escort us to the Lord''s castle. It won''t be good if we roam around without meeting with him first."


    The demon nodded and quickly ran away to do his bidding. Not long after a group of huge bulky demons arrived on their own,ing to a stop in front of Liam.


    "The city Lord wishes to meet with you."

 Chapter 275 - Someone Is Touching Me

    <h4>Chapter 275 - Someone Is Touching Me</h4>


    Liam knew that this was bound to happen sooner orter. This was also the reason why he was here in the first ce.


    So he silently nodded. "Alright, let''s go."


    He waved his hand, calling back Hiruyu and he and the ten demons followed the group all the way to the big castle in the city.


    Just like the city, this castle was also on apletely different level whenpared to the garrison tower back at Thol city.


    In fact, this one was almost as grand as the royal pce of the Gresh Kingdom!


    "Hmmm? Must be all the cashing in from the inscription scrolls." Liam chuckled lightly in amusement and observed everything around them.


    No matter where he looked, there were pristinely clean marble structures, well-maintained gardens, and wait a second¡­


    Liam''s eyes almost squeezed out of his sockets when he saw that the gardens were actually herb gardens with a lot of precious herbs!


    This demon was definitely different from the rest of the demons who did not care about any appearances or beauty.


    Must be a demon with high intelligence! Liam made a mental note and kept moving, not showing that he was visibly shocked.


    A few minutester, the group arrived at the main hall, where another group of demons was just leaving the castle.


    "So we are here." Liam prepared himself mentally. Though he knew that this demon was not particrly hostile with him or his city, he still did not dare to underestimate the opponent.


    He walked in keeping an eye on all the surroundings and noticed the three figures sitting at the end of the hall.


    "OH! HA HA HA HA! The famous new garrison leader of the Thol city is here! Nyaka wees you!" The demon immediately stood up and walked over to wee Liam.


    And to Liam''s surprise, this demon, Nyaka, was actually very human-like or rather elf-like. He was a tall and lean demon with dark skin and bright red eyes.


    His ears were long and pointed. His teeth slightly protruded out. Otherwise, the rest of his features were just like a normal human being.


    "Wee. Wee. Wee. I have been meaning to personally make a trip just to visit you! Do you know why?"


    "Because I hated that stinky Hongumbra! HA! HA! HA!" The demon loudly chortled.


    Liam as well smiled in response, but he did not make any efforts to fawn over him or tter him.


    He had a feeling that this might impress the demon and just like he assumed, his technique also worked.


    "You seem to be a man of few words huh?" The demon grinned in amusement.


    He patted Liam and with a hand over his shoulder, ushered him over to the throne area as if they were best buds.


    "Come. Come. Let''s have a feast."


    The two of them then walked over to another room beside the hall which was also equally bigger.


    It had a huge table at the center and the demon sat at the head of the table.


    Liam sat beside him on the side, deciding to broach the main topic after everyone was filled with meat and booze.


    Surprisingly, not long after they settled down, another two figures waltzed in.


    "Hmmm?" Liam turned to look, only to be instantly floored. Walking over towards them were two extremely alluring demons.


    Their beauty was shockingly superior evenpared to the enchantress whom he had faced a while back!


    Though he was currently in the presence of many tempting women like this, these two still stood out because of their exaggerated assets.


    Their curves were¡­


    "Cough. Cough." Liam quickly turned around as he felt a pair of eyes scrutinizing him closely.


    He kept a straight and indifferent face as if what he had seen just now did not affect him one bit.


    Inwardly, he sighed in relief since he managed to salvage the situation quite fast.


    He had almost forgotten why this demon had hated Hongumbra so much. It was probably because he couldn''t control himself and openly lusted after these two?


    Not that the two did anything to help with the situation.


    They were dressed very provocatively in revealing attire, jutting out their assents both on the front and the back.


    They gracefully carried themselves and sat down at the table at the other side beside Nyaka with a slight smile on their lips.


    However, Liam kept his head down, only looking at the food on his te.


    "Garrison Leader Liam, this is my only wife Yuki and my daughter Misa." Nyaka grinned with pride.


    Oh? So they were mother and daughter?


    Liam couldn''t believe it as both of them looked extremely voluptuous and young, but he simply smiled and replied with a few casual words.


    "You are very lucky to have such a beautiful family, Lord Nyaka."


    In fact, now more than ever, he avoided the two like a gue, refraining from even taking a single nce.


    He knew that demons were usually not monogamous and were very free and unrestrained when it came to matters like this.


    So if Nyaka specifically introduced the two as his family, Liam immediately knew what to do and what to avoid.


    The guy was probably very possessive and considered the two women to be his treasures or perhaps even loved them dearly.


    And maybe Hongumbra attempted something stupid, and that''s why he had it out for him. Liam was not about to repeat the same mistake. After all, he hade here with a purpose.


    He behaved like aplete saint during the entire dinner and only focussed on his conversation with Nyaka as if the other two were not even present at the table.


    The demon as well looked pleased with his behavior.


    The two of them chatted about a few things here and there and Liam learned a lot about the war preparations.


    Of course, the topic of what he had recently done and how he increased the rewards also came up. Unexpectedly, Nyaka praised him for having this foresight.


    He talked to Liam about the various rewards he had set up for managing this city''s garrison.


    In reality, their rewards were a lot more exaggerated, but that was because this demon was one of the inscription masters, preparing all the war invasion scrolls.


    So he naturally had a lot more resources to spend and so the rewards he could give out were also simrly higher.


    In this manner, the rest of the dinner continued very smoothly, and Liam as well enjoyed himself by savoring the various delicacies served on the table.


    There was some sort of wine served called the blood wine and Nyaka drank several huge mouthfuls of the wine, his mood bing better with every gulp.


    Finally, it felt as if the time was ripe and Liam slowly opened his mouth to talk about the main agenda of the evening, the main reason why he was here.


    He wanted to know if this demon recognized thenguage that was scribbled on the rocks or perhaps had some scrolls or books pertaining to the same.


    He was just about to take the modified scroll and show it to Nyaka when suddenly Liam froze.


    Something just touched his legs!


    Correction, someone kept touching his legs!


    Someone was actually running their bare leg up and down his leg!

 Chapter 276 - Wife Or Daughter?

    <h4>Chapter 276 - Wife Or Daughter?</h4>


    Damn it. Liam became nervous. What is this new development? Or am I just overthinking things?


    He paused hoping that it would stop or maybe he had mistaken things but the other person didn''t seem to take his hint.


    There was a foot still rubbing him up and down his leg, going even higher as if they were trying to dare him, wanting to be exposed or at least enjoying the thrill of it.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. What the hell was this new development? Who among the three was doing this nonsense?


    Was it the bored wife?


    Was it the daughter who was being wild?


    Or perhaps¡­ a frightening thought entered Liam''s mind. Was it the Lord himself?


    He dropped the piece of meat in his hand as his fingers trembled slightly and his eyes twitched at the thought.


    No. No. The angle was wrong. He quickly calmed down. It was either the wife or the daughter!


    To confirm his suspicions, he slightly looked up, only to find the wife grinning at him mischievously with a seductive twinkle in her eyes.


    So it was her¡­


    Liam quickly adjusted his position and moved away, shoving a piece of meat into his mouth and acting as if he was coughing.


    And he felt the leg leave him as well.


    Thank god. He sighed inwardly in relief as if he had avoided a great catastrophe and was about to broach the topic again, when suddenly¡­


    Fuck! Once again there was a warm leg rubbing him intimately, the little toes twirling around and making circles.


    This time, Liam knew that it couldn''t be the wife as he was a bit too far away from her. However¡­ as for the daughter¡­ it couldn''t be, right?


    He again looked up¡­ his mouth wide open¡­ only to find the daughter this time grinning with the same mischievous smile.


    Damn it. What the hell is happening? Liam felt a headache iing.


    He did not bother shifting his chair anymore as it would make his plight very obvious and just silently continued eating.


    Finally, after a few more minutes, the city Lord ended up breaking the awkward silence that prevailed.


    "So garrison leader, what is the reason for your visit this time? Don''t tell me you came here just to greet me and dine with me?"


    Nyaka raised his wine ss, chuckling, and then added with a wink, "Or perhaps to take a look at my beautiful wife and daughter?"


    Liam coughed, almost choking on his food. The two in front of him also grinned mischievously.


    I am screwed, aren''t I? He smiled bitterly and shook his head. "No Lord, ha ha ha."


    Now he knew that it was probably not Hongumbra who had gotten into trouble but one of these troublesome dangerous beauties had dragged him into it, kicking and screaming.


    Irrespectively, this was a good chance to bring the subject.


    So he pushed aside the weird mother and daughter pair and the leg that was still rubbing him and took out the scroll.


    "Ha Ha, the city Lord is so observant." Liam shamelessly ttered him. "I dide here to consult the Lord on a matter."


    He passed on the scroll to the intoxicated demon and asked him.


    "I came across this when I was doing a specific invasion mission, grabbed it from some dark mages."


    "Does Lord recognize any of these words?"


    "They seem to be some sort of strange symbols, perhaps an oldnguage?"


    Liam cautiously asked, while being very humble and respectful, of course, also ignoring the leg that was continuing to stroke him.


    "Oh. I see." Nyaka nodded. He narrowed his eyes as he focused on the scroll in his hands.


    "Hmmm¡­ I don''t recognize them together¡­ but I might have seen them here and there. Hic."


    "My apologies, garrison leader. I am afraid I won''t be able to help you out right now. Our war preparations are in full swing. Hic."


    "These days I am in my inscription room from daybreak untilte night. Hic."


    "But since I owe you one for trashing that Hongumbra, let me think of something. Hmmm¡­"


    "How about you visit my collection of books and scrolls in the library and search for yourself. Perhaps you might get some hints?"


    "Then I will do that, city Lord." Liam quickly epted his suggestion before anyone had a chance to change their mind.


    The rest of the dinner then went smoothly as the demonpletely sloshed himself.


    Liam did not dare look at the other two and he quickly excused himself after a while.


    He did not look back and left the castle at his top speed as if he was running away.


    "Boss, did something happen?" Hiriyu hesitantly asked him. He did not want to pry but the way Liam was acting he was a bit worried.


    They almost couldn''t keep up with his speed.


    Hearing this Liam finally slowed down. He also saw that he was far enough from the castle so he rxed a little.


    "Nothing. Nothing. You guys find an inn to stay in and take some rest tonight. I still have some work to do."


    He sent the demons away and continued to walk towards the exit of the city.


    Somehow things had gone smoothly today and tomorrow he would know whether he would be able to find the answer to his question within this castle or not.


    But in the meantime, he had an entire night to kill and he wanted to train his control and maniption ofher.


    Especially during the night, the beasts and monsters that roamed thends were much higher.


    Most of them were also demonic beasts, so it was an ideal time to train.


    Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Liam, one mother and one daughter watched his figure leave the city from atop the castle, standing on different sides.


    Both of them simultaneously sighed in disappointment and then returned back to their chambers, as if they couldn''t wait for the next day toe.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Embeth for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 277 - New Tutor

    <h4>Chapter 277 - New Tutor</h4>


    Liam hunted on the outskirts of Itaka city and returned back to the castle in just a couple of hours.


    He did not bother waiting all the way until daybreak as he did not have that much spare time in his hands.


    Now more than anything he was hungry to obtain the inheritance. His perfect affinity withher was something that he couldn''t overlook.


    Especially with the way he was easily able to extract herbal essence from all those herbs and how he was able to manipteher more smoothly than mana, he had a feeling that this was the shortest and quickest path to be powerful.


    He would then be able to obtain more powerful items and treasures and unravel more secrets about this world within this game before the harsh reality inevitably descends.


    Engrossed in his thoughts, Liam casually entered the castle grounds and then proceeded to walk towards the library in the castle that Nyaka had told him about.


    It looked like he had also informed his guards about Liam because in his entire trip no one blocked him and questioned him.


    The coast was clear as well with no dangerous beauties blocking his path. So he sighed in relief and simply entered and went around the ce as he pleased.


    He was already wanted in the Xion realm.


    Therefore, he was being extra careful not to get on the wrong side of a powerful demon such as Nyaka who had a lot of pull in the Kingdom.


    Unlike the several kingdoms and empires in the Xion realm, this realm only had four great kingdoms, who were all sort of united for the time being because of the war preparations.


    If he screwed up something here, he would have no ce to hide and no other realms to run to.


    So Liam was extra careful in this trip to Itaka city, making sure to only get what he came here for.


    He cautiously walked around and the castle itself was also not tooplicated so he pretty quickly located the library without going somewhere else unnecessarily.


    "This way, leader." A demon ushered him into the room.


    "Alright." Liam nodded and entered the medium-sized halls with a dozen shelves containing scrolls and misceneous items and books.


    The ce was unexpectedly quite small, nothing whenpared to some of the huge libraries that were avable on earth.


    So Liam could only hope that quality was not proportional to quantity. He quickly got down to business, picking up a scroll and opening it to read.


    However, as soon as he opened it, he noticed the obvious w. He was not familiar with what was written on this scroll as well!


    He hurriedly opened a couple more books and scrolls and simrly, he couldn''t decipher anything written on those also.


    Hmmm¡­ just as he was pondering what to do about this situation, suddenly something tickled his ears!


    Liam''s eyes widened instantly and it only took him a fraction of a second to respond.


    "Fuck." He backed away from the spot he was sitting, not even bothering to confirm what or who just licked his ears.


    Only after he was at a safe distance, he looked up in rm, not that it helped much.


    Standing in front of him was the tall sinful looking demoness that he had just hours ago met during the dinner, Yuki, the wife of the city Lord.


    And now that there was no one to breathe fire down his neck, he finally got a good look at the woman.


    She was fair-skinned and also had human-like features just like the city Lord.


    In fact, it would have been very easy to mistake her for a human being if not for her dark red eyeballs that gave off an evil seductive charm, two small horns that were protruding out of her long cascading purple hair, and long sharp nails.


    "What are you looking at? Haven''t you seen a demonic nymph before?" She pursed her lips teasingly, crossing her arms in front of her chest, making her two melons jut out even more.


    "No, my apologies." Liam bitterly smiled.


    He looked around to see if there were any demon guards that coulde to his rescue but unfortunately, they were alone.


    The damn woman had managed to corner him and was also blocking his path to the exit. Now he had nowhere to run.


    At least was there any chance this woman came here with good intentions?


    Absolute NONE!


    Liam couldn''t help but notice that she had lost the robe that she was wearing earlier during dinner and now wore an outfit that could only be categorized as an undergarment.


    Even that was not proper, as the thread-like material barely hid anything and things were wideout in the open for him to notice.


    Content with the way the man was admiring her, the demon giggle flirtatiously and moved closer to him, "So do you need help in tranting these things?"


    She pushed her bountiful chest up against him and picked up the scroll that was nearby. She then used her long nail to point to a symbol and whispered. "This one is called¡­ darkness."


    Liam couldn''t help but shudder as the woman''s slightest touch sent chills down his spine. Here he was trying his best to avoid falling into the obvious trap, but that did not seem possible.


    Especially when the said danger was willingly helping him.


    Not to mention her level was so much higher than him that he was unable to see it.


    Liam took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm himself down, but even that wasn''t of much help since a fragrant enticing scent assaulted his nose.


    The nymph giggled and continued to point to the next word, whispering it softly in his ears.


    However¡­ the next second¡­ unexpectedly, Liam shed his eyes open and paid attention to her words and the symbols on the scrolls without getting distracted.


    His eyes that were clouded and unfocussed earlier became sharp and cold again. The demoness might be a fatal seductive nymph, but his mental fortitude wasn''t that low either.


    He ignored the soft things that were pressed up against him, the tongue that teased him, and the long legs that asionally wrapped themselves around him and only paid attention to the trantion.


    No matter how much the other party seemed to beg him, he simply did not let his self-control waver.


    And finally, after five hours of enduring this torture, he got the first reward for his patience.


    [Ding. You have learned a newnguage - Alibari]


    Huff¡­ Liam let out a long sigh and pushed the notification aside.. He had a feeling that this night was going to be a long one.

 Chapter 278 - Studying Hard Day And Night

    <h4>Chapter 278 - Studying Hard Day And Night</h4>


    After finishing the first scroll, Liam hurriedly took out another scroll from the shelves and opened it in front of him.


    "Can you help me trante this as well?" He smiled with a calm and polite demeanor.


    Perhaps because she did not get the reaction that she wanted, the demoness pouted as if she had been wronged.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam thought about it for a second, looked around, and saw that nothing changed. He was already halfway across theke, now what was the point in going back?


    He might as well cross the wholeke and get to the other shore.


    Pulling her closer to him and holding her hand intimately, he pointed to the symbol on the scroll. "This one." He once again smiled.


    This time it was the nymph''s turn to look surprised. Her expression changed and she giggled flirtatiously again, before leaning close and cing a kiss on his cheeks.


    "Tomorrow." She whispered and ran away.


    Shepletely disappeared in a second, leaving no trace behind.


    "Hmmm¡­ Did I make a mistake?" Liam pondered. "Maybe she just enjoyed the chase?"


    As if answering him, the bright rays of the morning sun peeked in from the windows and now he understood. "So she ran away because it is morning?"


    "Does that mean I have to wait untilter tonight again? Maybe I can ask some other demon here to help me out?"


    Just as Liam was about to get up and seek help for understanding the next scroll, suddenly another voice whispered in his ears.


    "FUCK!" This was the second time he was caught off guard and when he turned around to look, it was the daughter standing in front of him.


    She was by no means young and was as tall and alluring as the seductive mother. She also had a pair of simr dark red eyeballs, purple hair, and a pair of protruding horns.


    However, weirdly enough, she looked nothing like the mother except for these features.


    Both of them were beautiful in different ways and the only thing that wasmon was the big pronounced curves.


    This made Liam wonder if they were really mother and daughter and just what sort of a screwed-up family this was.


    But then he shook his head to stop his thoughts from wandering.


    Why these two were trying so hard to seduce him and what sort of a game they were trying to y with him was really none of his concern.


    Liam really just wanted to learn a few more dialects andnguages of the demon kingdom and get the hell out of here before he got into any more trouble than he already had.


    He sighed and looked tiredly at the daughter again. At least she was wearing a robe? Maybe she was better than the ''mother''?


    "Do you know how to read thisnguage, Misa?" Liam asked,ing straight to the point.


    "Of course, I do, garrison leader."


    The demoness winked and the next second abruptly, jumped into hisp, straddling him with her both legs wrapped around him and her face close to his face.


    Only then did Liam notice that the damned woman was wearing nothing underneath her robe and her naked skin waspletely exposed, revealing all her bumps and curves.


    Who said that she was better than the mother! This woman was definitely worse! She was directly dry humping him!


    Here we go again¡­ Cracking his neck, Liam closed his eyes and took in another deep breath of air, trying to condition his mind.


    He then again responded to the evil demoness with a polite smile. "Go on. Tell me what it says."


    Misa giggled coyly, tracing her long nails on his chest, and luckily she also helped him just like the mother.


    Without any other choice, Liam endured another few hours of torture, and this time he managed to get two notifications, one that he expected and one that he did not expect.


    [Ding. You have learned a newnguage - Zaraki]


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill - Nether Fire Storm]


    [Nether Fire Storm]: Rain hellfire on your enemy; Deals damage twice of your magic damage; Consumes 1000her; Cool Down: None


    Liam knew that new skills could be learned in several different methods inside ''Evolution Online'' but this was the first time he was experiencing learning a skill by simply reading some descriptions in a scroll.


    At least all the torture and suffering he was undergoing was worth it. Since getting a skill book here is unusually difficult, he was determined to make full use of this method.


    He extended his hands to tightly hold the waist of the demoness sitting atop him. "Continue." He was leading her on just enough to gain the things that he wanted.


    He was not sure if the woman was aware of it or not because he was very tantly using her. Nevertheless, she continued to oblige with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.


    It was as if she was taunting him¡­ why are you trying to dy the inevitable¡­


    A few more hours passed and no matter how much soft things rubbed up against him, tempting him, Liam continued to painfully endure everything and persisted.


    They alsopleted going through a couple more scrolls.


    In between the cruel demoness purposefully slowed down the pace to almost a halt, simply teasing him and not teaching him anything, but Liam somehow managed to make it through.


    If it was not for the passive experience points constantly rolling in, he would have surely cursed the horny mother and daughter pair for wasting his time.


    But since something was being aplished and he needed this badly, he took deep breaths and persevered. The day slowly passed and the night then arrived.


    And the daughter finally left him alone.


    However, Liam did not show any signs of packing up his stuff and running away. Instead, he mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen.


    And just like he expected, the mother appeared once again.


    He did not know whether tough or cry as the mother licked her lips and picked up where the daughter left off.

 Chapter 279 - You Want To Eat?

    <h4>Chapter 279 - You Want To Eat?</h4>


    In an inn inside Itaka city¡­ a group of demons was sitting around, eating and drinking to their fill.


    "It''s almost an entire day now since we arrived here. Hiriyu, where is the leader?"


    Hiriyu shook his head. "The order is to wait. So we wait. Our leader is maybe very busy at the moment. We just follow orders."


    The demon chugged the beer and smashed the wooden mug on the table, almost breaking it. "Rawwr. Our leader is too hardworking for his own good."


    And meanwhile¡­ the leader in question¡­ was indeed working very hard.


    Liam wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he tried to keep his face away from the cleavage of the demoness sitting atop him.


    Just a few more hours¡­ he reminded himself as he looked at the shelves that he had mostly covered and the clothes scattered on the ground.


    He still did not falter but the mother and the daughter pair kicked things into high gear and thoroughly enjoyed themselves teasing him and savoring his plight.


    Since that seemed to work best, he also made sure to give them what they wanted.


    However, the more he acted as if he was struggling with the temptation, the more things escted and finally, they were here.


    But Liam bore everything and continued with the act as only a few more hours were needed¡­


    He had already gained a lot in this endeavor, more than he had expected.


    He now had learned about 5 new skills and 20 differentnguages and could even decipher many words etched on the rock or at least guess what they might mean.


    Just a few more hours and then he would be able to understand everything and finally get his hands on the thing that he had been struggling so hard for.


    All the things that he had to do for this inheritance¡­ including handling this mother and daughter pair¡­ Liam chuckled to himself and patiently continued with the charade.


    He did not even need all the words tranted to get the information. Only a few more keywords¡­ he was almost there¡­


    His gaze shifted to the naked demoness who was seated on top of him and teasingly reading the scroll as if she was reading him a bedtime story.


    And Liam as well smiled and stroked her hair.


    At times, a look of frustration shed past the demoness but she did not want to admit defeat and continued trying her best.


    The man was close to breaking! She was sure of it!


    However, the day once again came to an end without any result and it was only a few seconds before night time arrived and the mother took her shift.


    Liam ruffled his hair, wondering how things turned out like this. If he by chance gets caught by the city lord, he was absolutely done for.


    He did not cross ''the'' line but the evidence was still very incriminating. He had touched them everywhere and groped them everywhere, teasing them and leading them on.


    The good news was that he only needed some more time.


    He sighed and waited and soon a set of footsteps echoed behind him. The wife with the huge tits had arrived? Here we go again¡­ Liam turned around, but he instantly gulped.


    Walking towards him was the city Lord himself. "How is it going garrison leader?"


    Liam wryly chuckled and nodded. "Quite good, Lord Nyaka. I have learned quite a bit from your collection."


    "Unfortunately, I was not able to decipher all the words but I did manage to find out the meaning of a couple of words and keep myself entertained while I was at it."


    "Oh, did the scroll make any sense?"


    "No." Liam shook his head. "Looks like a mad man''s rambling. Ha ha. I might have bothered you for no reason at all."


    "No trouble at all." Nyaka chuckled. At this time, another set of footsteps sounded, something soft and light.


    Liam instantly recognized who it was and maybe the other person did as well? The lord turned to look with a cryptic expression on his face.


    Liam knew that it was bad news and he took out the scroll with only 3 symbols scribbled on it.


    "These are thest three symbols I am having trouble with. Do you happen to recognize this, Lord Nyaka?"


    "Huh? Let me take a look." The demon shifted his attention back to Liam and looked at the scroll pensively. The footsteps as well stopped and there was onlyplete silence now.


    Too close! Liam sighed inwardly!


    Luckily for him, the demon next to him still seemed oblivious. "These symbols¡­ it should mean hammer or something rted to that. Perhaps a weapon?"


    "Oh." Liam was surprised.


    Lucky! He had just asked him to distract him, but he even got the answer.


    This was it. This was thest bit that he needed so he did not dare to stay there any longer. This was already far enough.


    He had stretched the rubber band to the maximum, if he stretched it any more, it was bound to break and everything would be revealed.


    "Then I will take my leave, Lord Nyaka. I don''t wish to bother you any longer. Your work is too important!" Liam smiled, shing a genuine expression of gratitude.


    "So soon? At least stay till the night and leave next morning?" Nyaka chuckled. He seemed happy to hear the small praises that Liam was subtly throwing his way.


    "No, no, no. I don''t want to impose. I also left the garrison unattended for far too long."


    "That demon Hongumbra had made a mess of everything, so I have to keep a close eye on the administration. Aha Ha Ha."


    "If I need something more, then I will make another trip to visit you." The two of them exchanged a few words and Liam was as slippery as an eel, getting out of all the invitations.


    Nyaka then finally gave up and bade farewell to the shy new garrison leader who was too polite to ept his hospitality.


    He went back to inscribing while Liam on the other hand busied himself running the hell away from the castle and the weird family.


    He did not turn back and started walking away fast. He had a feeling that it was better for his health to be as far away from this ce as possible.


    However, before he could leave¡­ just as he was crossing the herb gardens, a familiar egg sprang out of his inventory space, all on its own.


    "Luna? What is happening now?"


    The egg had popped out suddenly just like before so Liam couldn''t help but be worried. However, this time, it did not crack or bleed.


    It silentlynded near a shrub with peculiar flowers.


    Hmmm?


    Liam pondered for a moment and then asked, "You want to eat this?" Weirdly enough the egg vibrated in response. He looked around to see that there were no guards nearby.


    And this was just a single shrub¡­ so it should be fine?


    He was already in it now so what''s a couple more small offenses here and there?

 Chapter 280 - Wait For Me...

    <h4>Chapter 280 - Wait For Me...</h4>


    Seeing that no one was around them, Liam tried to gather theher in the air and removed the essence from the shrub, just like how he had done it before.


    The egg as well greedily absorbed everything, vibrating up and down as if she was excited. Was she close to hatching? Liam''s pulse quickened as he gathered more essence.


    But at this time, suddenly a bundle of softness hugged him from the back. Liam instantly knew who it was and dispersed theher he had summoned.


    He first had to deal with this unexpected guest. He couldn''t risk her seeing Luna.


    "Where are you fleeing in the middle of the night?" The milf teased him, pushing her huge tits up against him.


    Though she was wearing a normal robe, she still looked too sinful as if she was up to no good.


    "Ummm¡­" Liam adjusted his position to make sure that the demoness was facing him and her back was facing Luna.


    He did not know how this pair of crazy mother and daughter might react to seeing the mysterious egg so he was trying his best to hide Luna from her eyes.


    They might be yful when ites to sleeping around but what if on discovering they suddenly went back to being loyal to Nyaka and cause some trouble.


    The demon might thene to know about Luna and want the egg for himself? Too many things could go wrong.


    Especially, considering how all of them were at a higher levelpared to him, Liam absolutely did not want to take any risk.


    He knew that he needed to recover from the situation and started saying some random words to manipte the demoness.


    "I was looking for you. We were interrupted tonight¡­" He stroked her purple hair while at the same time keeping an eye on the egg.


    However, unfortunately, while he was busy¡­ Luna had a mind of her own¡­


    It started with only one herb but slowly the egg kept eating the essence¡­ from the next one and then the next one and then the next one?


    She seemingly no longer needed Liam''s help to refine the essence¡­


    Moreover, her speed was also quite fast and efficient!


    One thing led to another and soon¡­ the whole herb garden was beingpletely eaten away¡­ right in front of Liam''s eyes.


    It was toote to do anything. Liam could only watch it happen as his hands were literally full.


    Were all females, fox or demon, trying to kill him today? His heart flip-flopped, seeing every patch of herbs being dried away just like that.


    LUNA! This girl waspletely out of control!


    In reality, Liam knew that Luna might need more herbal essence.


    He had also tried to buy some more herbs and feed them to her, but she did not take those essences. It was as if she was suddenly full.


    But now she was hungry again? Or was there something special about these herbs?


    Liam did not know. The only thing he knew was that he was definitely going to be burnt at the stakes for this. How could he possibly get out of something this big?


    And if the two women revealed what they had done¡­ that was it¡­ Nyaka would probably burn his garrison to the ground.


    My free afk experience points¡­ Liam''s heart was aching.


    And this small change in his expression did not escape the demoness as she also noticed that something was amiss.


    She quickly turned to look but Liam was faster. Nope! No, you don''t!


    He did not let her do what she wanted. Instead, he grabbed her ass, nting a forceful kiss on her lips, his tongue pushing into her mouth.


    The demoness looked surprised as Liam felt her body tremble but the next second, she hugged him harder and kissed him back.


    Liam could distinctly feel her excitement. Perhaps she was happy because he had finally fallen into her trap and did what she was begging him for?


    But what was even the trap?


    If Nyaka was possessive, wouldn''t they both get punished?


    Liam felt as if he was going crazy. What game were they ying? Or were they just genuinely attracted to him?


    He was already breaking his head to figure out the symbols on the rock and get the inheritance and now with this crazy mother and daughter pair added, there was simply too much on his te.


    Not to mention Luna¡­


    He saw the egg happily eating everything to her heart''s content.


    She rolled ahead magically as if it had a pair of legs and started absorbing the herbal essence from every single herb in the garden, not even leaving one behind.


    How long are you going to take?


    He originally thought that she would stop after absorbing the herbs from this area but he was once again shocked.


    She kept rolling around as if she would only be satisfied if she sucked the entire ce dry¡­


    And talking about sucking¡­


    The demoness was in her full form. She wanted it badly.


    From the frying pan into the fire!


    Liam was no longer sure what he was supposed to do. Here he was¡­ groping the man''s wife and his egg was busy stealing all of his herbs.


    But now he was too far in it to back out. Since things had progressed to this extent, he had to buy more time for the egg to feed herselfpletely.


    And considering everything, he was happy that Luna''s condition had significantly improved.


    If he had to take this small risk to help her with her evolution, then everything would be worth it.


    And not just that¡­ the inheritance¡­ he now had a vague idea in his mind.


    The more he gave in to his desire and ravaged the enticing demoness in his hands, his head cleared and he had could vaguely connect the dots.


    He had a feeling that he just needed to see the scribblings on the rock one more time for everything to make sense.


    Liam pulled apart the thin robe covering the alluring figure of the nymph to reveal her naked body and kneaded the soft mounds, kissing her fervently and rubbing her sensitive areas.


    He plopped her hardened nipples into his mouth and sucked on them, making the demoness shiver and moan in ecstasy.


    Liam bit her nipples and kissed her again. Wanting to test something, he then whispered in her ears, "Go back to your room and wait for me. I wille to you."


    The demoness stopped and gazed at him lustfully. She bit her lips, looking reluctant to part.


    Nevertheless, she obeyed him and grabbed the robe that had fallen on the ground, running back to the castle.


    Watching her figure disappear, Liam sighed in relief, but he was once again perplexed by the behavior.


    He couldn''t tell if this was a mischievous thrilling act or she genuinely just did as she pleased. Irrespectively, he needed to get moving and leave this ce.


    He only took a few paces, searching for Luna in the garden, when suddenly another softness hugged him. At this point, Liam was not even surprised.


    "I was searching for you." He lied and pulled the daughter to the side. Before she could say anything, he immediately kissed her, more forcefully than he had kissed the mother.


    Kneading her breasts, he then repeated the same words. "Go wait in your room for me. I will be there."


    The daughter opened her mouth as if she was shocked but the next second she broke into a content smile that could make many men crazy and winked before she also left.


    So gullible? Liam couldn''t understand this duo.


    "That can wait." He already spotted Luna, so he quickly grabbed her and made a run for it, not that there was any herb left in the garden.


    Luna had eaten every single thing that was avable!


    "Now we have done it¡­" Liam wryly chuckled as he ran away, not looking back.


    He did not want to think about the two aroused women who were waiting for him back at the castle or about the city Lord who was bound to notice all this?

 Chapter 281 - LEGACY UNLOCKED!

    <h4>Chapter 281 - LEGACY UNLOCKED!</h4>


    After grabbing Luna, Liam did not stop as he ran away from the castle and quickly arrived at the inn where the demons were staying.


    Without taking a breather, he ordered Hiriyu to pack everything up and leave immediately.


    It helped that his stamina was better in theher realm. He still had a lot of energy left after dealing with the mother and the daughter.


    Nevertheless, there was a slight panic in his voice and urgency in his words.


    "Leader?" The demon looked confused.


    "If somebody asks, I was with you guys the whole time." Liam hurriedly spoke, not bothering to exin any further. He then ran out of the inn as well, directly leaving the enormous city.


    This time he did not care about training and making the journey back on foot and instead summoned Talon, the two of them flying to their garrison at Thol city at top speed.


    The demonic beasts howled loudly in the dark ominous night and several birds flew alongside them a couple of times. However, Liam did not stop for anything and urged Talon to keep flying.


    A few hourster¡­ they were finally back in the small city.


    Liam only sighed in relief when he reached the familiar red brick tower and leaned back on the huge throne-like chair.


    He lifted his finger and signaled for one of the demons toe forward. "Send an immediate message to the Itaka city lord that we have arrived safely and thank him for the hospitality."


    He hoped that this might take the suspicion off of him, but¡­ who was he kidding¡­


    Brrrrr¡­ Liam shook his head and his shoulders, trying to put away the weird events of the night out of his mind, and paid attention to the main issue at hand.


    "Tell no one to disturb me."


    He went to one of the rooms in the tower andtched the door behind him. He now took out all the scrolls in which he had copied the symbols and the signs letter for letter.


    Taking a deep breath, he sat down and plunged himself into these scrolls.


    Ultimately, this was more important!


    And despite everything that sent chills down his spine, he did manage to make considerable progress in this aspect!


    Liam spread out everything in front of him and started ying with the permutations andbinations.


    Like Nyaka had said, the signs and symbols etched on the rocks were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.


    Of course, this was after he took the crash course in learning the 20 different demon tongues. Liam still couldn''t exactly understand the meaning.


    But he was now able to make a rough guess of the different meanings a particr symbol or a string of symbols could have.


    Liam pushed up his sleeves and got down to business.


    He patiently wrote down all the possiblebinations and the potential meanings and then systemically began analyzing the whole thing.


    It was like solving a puzzle but the only catch was that his life depended on it.


    Perhaps it was because he had relieved some stress by ying with those two women or perhaps because he felt better in theher realm, his head and his thoughts were more clear.


    He was able to view everything from a bird''s eye perspective, and slowly more and more dots started connecting.


    "Hammer¡­ weapon¡­ forging?"


    "Soul forging?"


    "And this must then be soul me?"


    "Eternal warriors of the trueher"


    "Forged with mana,her, and demonic madness?"


    Liam distilled out the things that made the most sense and started jotting everything down in a new scroll.


    His pulse quickened as he slowly deciphered every little symbol, one at a time.


    The more he gleaned about the words, the more he understood the true significance of what he had obtained.


    It was far more powerful than he had imagined.


    He locked himself in the room spending the entire day and finally, after a few hours buried in the same entangled mess, a vague rity struck him.


    And simultaneously, a strange notification appeared in front of him also.


    [Ding. You have obtained 10% of a mythical legacy]


    [Ding. You have sufficient mana affinity; You have sufficienther affinity; You have sufficient nature affinity; You have sufficient demonic affinity; You meet the criteria for the legacy]


    [Ding. Unique ss Unlocked - Soul Mancer]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept it? Y/N]


    Liam was shocked. He fell back in both tiredness and exhration. He had finally obtained it¡­ the legacy? He couldn''t believe his eyes¡­


    It was only 10% but still¡­ this was a first step in the right direction!


    "Soul Mancer¡­" He muttered under his breath in contemtion. "Did this mean using souls or affecting souls? Or perhaps forging souls to be stronger?"


    There were several possibilities and as he thought about each one of them, Liam couldn''t help but feel the excitement coursing through his veins.


    More importantly, the ss required all mana, nature, demonic andher affinity, so it wouldn''t restrict his development, and he would be able to develop himself in multiple paths.


    It was almost as if it was tailor-made for him!


    Was it really the same legacy Kouske unlocked in his previous life? From what Liam had observed, Kouske did not really use mana and magic spells.


    He only had the basic undead spell and a couple ofher-specific spells. He also knew that he had goodher affinity because he was able to reach the necromancer''s hideout.


    But other than that¡­ he did not seem to possess all the tools that Liam possessed.


    So no matter how he thought about this, it was impossible for Kouske to have gotten this same option?


    Or maybe this option showed up only for him since he possessed this unique body constitution and because of his specific circumstance?


    Several questions still remained in Liam''s mind. Nevertheless, he decided to ept it. Perhaps when he unlocked theplete 100% of the legacy, things will be clearer.


    He paused, took a deep breath, and selected ''Yes''.


    [Ding. Your ss is now changed to Soul Mancer]


    [Ding. Warning. Your ss will be removed and reset if the legacy is notpleted 100%]


    [Ding. You have unlocked a new skill - Soul Forging]


    [Ding. Soul Sensing skill not acquired.]


    [Ding. Soul Forging skill has been locked.]


    Liam''s eyes almost popped out of his socket as he looked at the generous reward that was taken back from him before he could even look at its description.


    Nevertheless, his lips curled up into a grin.


    The feeling that he had at this moment was indescribable. He had struggled so hard for this exact moment and finally, he had received the result!


    "Mythical legacy huh¡­ " Liam chuckled lightly, thinking about the other group who had nearly snatched this away from him.


    But it appears he was the winner after all...


    He fell back onto the floor and let out a loud maniacalugh that resounded amidst the entire garrison tower, scarring the bejesus out of all the demons.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Embeth for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 282 - Nether And Soul

    <h4>Chapter 282 - Nether And Soul</h4>


    Liam stared at the ceiling and emptied his mind for a bit without thinking about anything in particr.


    He then drew a deep breath and stood up, clearing all the scrolls strewn about on the floor.


    He had somehow wed his way in and obtained the legacy but a lot of preparations are required to fully understand this new ss and bring out its maximum potential.


    He also had only 10% of the legacy.


    Nevertheless¡­ with high spirits, he left the garrison tower to try out some things and unlock the new skill he had obtained.


    A soul mancer¡­ just what does this ss entail? Liam pondered as he walked out of the garrison tower and then out of the small city.


    "So to unlock this [Soul Forging] skill, I need to first sense the presence of a soul? How am I supposed to do this?"


    He nodded at the guards, walking past them to the outskirts of the city. He spotted a few demonic hounds prowling nearby.


    "Let me start with these guys."


    The demonic hounds were only Level 34 so Liam finished them off in a couple of fireballs and a wave of fire bullets.


    He then walked over to the corpses to examine them. He stared at the dead doggos for a minute, but no matter how much he tried he couldn''t sense a soul or whatever.


    They were alive and now they were dead.


    That was the difference.


    He then spotted another pack and went over to them to once again continue with his experiment. This time he did not kill them right away.


    He simply blocked and parried their attacks, while trying to see if he could sense something different. However, once again, his efforts did not result in anything fruitful.


    All he sensed was their killing intent when they struggled violently, trying to sink their teeth into his flesh and w him to death.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam silently observed things before finishing them off as well.


    He tried this type of approach for a while when he finally decided that this was not going to get him the results.


    "Ok. Time to try the next thing." Liam used the only necromancer spell he had in his possession and cast [Awaken Undead].


    He had used this spell several times in the past. However, this time when he cast the same familiar spell, he felt something very unique.


    Or rather, it was as if he was blind before and now suddenly he was able to see.


    Swirls of thick ckher energy coiled around the dead hounds and slowly by slowly they became richer and turbulent as if theher itself was alive.


    The energy then suddenly flooded inside the corpse and disappeared in a sh, the dead hound, springing back up alive the next instant.


    Liam was absolutely bbergasted. This was the mystery of life and death in front of him.


    For a second, he even forgot about why he was trying to be stronger and became interested in what just happened in front of him, one of the greater truths of life and death.


    Liam unsheathed his sword, cutting down the hounds he had only just now summoned and trying to sense if there was something inside.


    He once again cast the spell [Awaken Undead] and did the same thing again.


    The thick swirls ofher gathered once again and gushed into the corpses for a second time as if it couldn''t care less if the being possessed a soul or not or if it was alive or not.


    Just as Liam thought about this, he wondered ifher could have the same effect on a living being. Could he perhaps manipte something that was already alive withher?


    Or did it specifically have to die first?


    Seeing that his mind was beginning to wander in a different direction, he pulled his thoughts and focus back to the main topic.


    Soul! He wanted to sense a soul!


    Liam tried casting [Awaken Undead] repeatedly but he had a feeling that this spell did not require the presence of a soul. So after trying for a while he gave up this approach as well.


    "Hmmm¡­ do I have to die again?" Liam chuckled as he sat down beneath a boulder and pondered the other options he had left.


    The first time he died, he was finally attuned withher and was able to sense it as if he had forever breathed it in and out.


    So perhaps for sensing soul as well he needed to do something simr?


    Liam nkly stared into the distance for a while but then shook his head, rejecting that thought. "Why should I die when I can simply kill someone else?"


    He was also curious about the graveyards and the presence ofher in the graveyards.


    "Alright. Let''s do it. I can camp someone at the graveyard and kill them enough number of times to see if I can sense a soul or not." He nodded and stood up.


    "Yes, this is what I will try next." He liked the idea and decided to stick with it. He also had an iplete quest that he hadn''t touched in a while.


    He needed to still collect several more souls for the quest. So while he was trying to sense it, he might as well finish that quest.


    Liam''s mind quickly began to recalcte and re-evaluate everything that he had to do and the priority with which they should be done.


    After all, he also had a long list of people whom he owed a debt to, the newest members being Kouske and the group.


    Thanks to him he had gained so much. Perhaps he too would have missed the things beneath the moss if he was not trying to scavenge everything for Luna.


    So in the end, he only helped him out¡­ but still¡­ he couldn''t just let that incident slip. He was neither that forgiving nor that kind.


    Just as Liam mulled over everything that was yet to be done, suddenly a thought popped into his mind.


    Excluding the soul devourer quest, he already had two more quests rted to the soul in one way or the other.


    One was the Kingdom quest in the south about the spreading of sickness and the other was the sword that was made of dragon souls!


    Perhaps he could obtain more knowledge about the inheritance or gain some other breadcrumbs after finishing these ones!


    "Wait. Didn''t that guy also give me a soul forging technique?"


    Liam quickly opened that skill description and saw that the portion which was locked was now unlocked?


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 283 - Did It Work?

    <h4>Chapter 283 - Did It Work?</h4>


    [Inferior Soul Forging] (Partial technique)


    [Combines a weapon with a soul imbibing the strength of the soul into the weapon and vice versa, imbibing the strength of the weapon into the soul]


    [Both the weapon and the soul can be fused only if appropriate conditions are met. The strength of the weapon and the strength of the soul has to be in harmony]


    [The forger has to wield superior mana to hammer both the weapon and the soul into submission]


    "Oh. So this was just an inferior version of the skill?" Liam read the description of the technique which vaguely talked about the various ins and outs.


    This was the skill he had obtained from the old man and this also should be the skill using which the ck dragon sword was forged by that unknown master.


    At first, he was excited thinking that he could easily obtain the missing bits and pieces from this skill, but now it looked like they both were a bit different.


    One could even be called a subset of the other.


    Liam tried to understand what was written in the description, but most of it was just general guidelines to something vague.


    "There is nothing about what I exactly need to do huh¡­" He frowned. Nevertheless, he went through it a couple of times.


    After the third time, he paused, "Hammer the weapon and soul using mana? They couldn''t mean it literally right?"


    Liam suddenly had an idea and he decided to try it out first before heading back to Xion realm to hunt down yers in his list one after the other.


    He located one more pack of demonic hounds and killed all the beasts except for one.


    He then ughtered thest one as well but immediately summoned theher around topletely drown the beast.


    He kept adding an excessive amount ofher, making the beast''s corpse now pitch ck in color, wrapping it in a cocoon ofher.


    He then did not stop and continued adding more and moreher to the same, as if he was suffocating the small corpse.


    "Is it really not possible?" Liam looked at the ck bundle in front of him and still felt nothing. He felt the bones, skin, flesh, blood, organs of the hound, and nothing more.


    There was no soul or anything else inside or at least he couldn''t sense it.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam tried doing the same a couple more times before taking a break to think about everything. He then sighed and stood up to try again.


    "Luckily I am still getting experience points." He chuckled and spent another hour trying to do the same thing.


    After a while, he realized that he had missed something obvious. On the next try, he tried to summon both mana andher at the same time.


    Liam then freshly killed a demonic wolf and now flushed its body with both mana andher at the same time.


    Controlling both at the same time felt a bit different as if he was showering in both cold water and hot water at the same time, but he slowly and gradually tried to get used to it.


    Since he did not need to finely adjust or control anything, it was a lot easier.


    Liam sent as much mana andher as he could possibly summon and wrapped the corpse with the two different energies.


    After a couple of hours, he was able to do it, the problem was that the process was very mentally taxing. It tired him and drained him out.


    But he took a breather here and there and continued going through with it.


    Finally, almost at the end of the day, he was able to get the intensity that he wanted to reach.


    The freshly killed wolf''s corpse was nowpletely flushed withher and mana, though the intensity ofher was a lot more than that of mana.


    "This shouldn''t matter¡­ maybe¡­" Liam tiredly yawned and tried to stuff in more energy when he finally felt something small and solid?


    No, it was not solid. It was something in between liquid and solids? Perhaps a jelly?


    "No. That''s not important right now." Liam shook his head and then tried to grasp the feeling of the small tangible and yet intangible thing.


    He was finally able to sense it after hours and hours and he did not want to lose it.


    "What are you?" He gazed at the thing in perplexion.


    He could feel the weight and intensity of the small thing. There was an unimaginable amount of energy present within it. He could feel it.


    But at this point, Liam could not hold it anymore and he let everything go.


    Almost at the same time, a series of notifications loudly rang out.


    [Ding. You have learned the skill - Soul Sensing]


    [Ding. You have unlocked the skill - Soul Forging]


    [Ding. You have now acquired 20% of the Legacy]


    Liam fell back onto the dry sands, huffing and panting. "That actually worked? That was the soul?" He did not expect it. "At least I didn''t have to die again for it."


    He tiredly opened the system interface and checked the description of this new skill acquired.


    And this time¡­ there was no tag on it deeming it be inferior or superior.


    [Soul Forging] - Active skill; Forge the soul into an eternal warrior; Chance of sess increased by 10%;


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam read it and then looked at the other skill description, the skill that he had learned.


    [Soul Sensing] - Passive skill; Able to sense the soul of a being, living or dead.


    "Both the active skill and passive skill doesn''t have an energy consumption? This is not possible."


    Just the small attempt he did in order to sense the presence of a soul hadpletely tired him out. How could this skill possibly cost zero of anything?


    "Ok. Let me try activating this skill with the system''s help." Liam sucked in a big breath of air and tried to recover as much as possible.


    He then dashed towards a group of scorpions in the distance. He unsheathed his sword, killing several at the same time and he quickly activated the skill.


    [Soul Forging] Liam mumbled.


    His eyes widened in surprise as he could now feel seven small white balls like that of mist rising up from the dead scorpion corpses.


    They seemed like a cluster of cotton dust, ready to disperse at any given moment.


    [Soul Forging]


    [Soul Forging]


    [Soul Forging]


    Liam muttered again and again and again.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 284 - Husband, Where Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 284 - Husband, Where Are You?</h4>


    Liam waited and watched, hoping that something would happen. His eyes were fixated on the seven small soul orbs.


    He had to use hisplete mental focus and attention to keep perceiving them. If he let his focus slip even for a second, he would instantly lose track of them.


    So he keenly observed the small orbs without letting his mind wander.


    1 second passed¡­ 2 seconds passed¡­


    Still, nothing happened but the next second, before Liam could do anything about it, the balls of mistpletely disintegrated and dispersed.


    They vanished entirely without leaving any trace behind.


    "So the skill didn''t work?" Liam silently pondered.


    He walked around at the spots where the soul orbs were previously present and then waved his hand to check those spots.


    "They are really just gone and the skill did not work."


    He stood silently for a minute, not knowing how to proceed with this. "If I can''t automatically use the skill, then¡­"


    Liam smiled bitterly and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He could see that the road ahead was not going to be easy.


    Perhaps because he had managed to obtain a better legacy than Kouske, his path was also that much more difficult.


    He once again spotted another mob and cut down the group of scorpions. This time he did not focus on soul orbs from all the scorpions.


    Instead, he only focussed on the orb from one scorpion. He then hurriedly used mana andher to wrap this soul orb.


    Poof!


    His control wasn''t that good so the soul orb disintegrated before he could do anything.


    He again targeted a mob and focussed on a single soul orb, quickly using mana andher to wrap around this one too.


    However¡­ Poof!


    Once more the soul orb disintegrated and disappeared. This time he wasn''t fast enough.


    "Alright. Again." Liam took several deep breaths and tried one more time. "This is going to take a while."


    Just like he expected, he ended up spending the entire day training and at the end of the day, he managed to improve his control of mana andher by leaps and bounds.


    But his progress when it came to taming the soul orb was still hugelycking. He wasn''t able to make heads or tails of the whole thing.


    Liam also waspletely exhausted. No matter how much he tried, he couldn''t focus properly, so he decided to take a break here.


    Besides, he needed to supply more gold to the garrison and work on the other quests to get a better understanding of this ss and legacy.


    Perhaps then things would be clearer and more straightforward.


    Liam stood up and walked back to the city. He didn''t wander too far away so he reached the ce in a few minutes and then arrived at the garrison tower.


    He immediately called over one of the demons standing around to check for the status update on the ticking time bomb which was counting down to a whole shitload of mess.


    "No leader, there hasn''t been any messages from the Itaka city Lord. There also hasn''t been any unusual movements."


    The demon sounded confused. Nevertheless, he answered all the queries Liam had to the best of his abilities.


    "What the hell is happening? Maybe the demon did not care too much about his herb garden? Was there nothing precious or even noteworthy growing there?"


    Liam as well was confused.


    And as for the other factor¡­ he had no idea what the unique mother and daughter duo were doing at the moment.


    Perhaps they had already moved on from him and fixed their crazy eyes on another sap?


    Brrrrr¡­ Liam shook his head feeling a chill run down his spine just at the thought of the two beautiful horny oddballs.


    "Well¡­ since there is nothing to worry about right now, I guess I don''t have to think about them?"


    Liam shrugged and then asked the demon to bring out all the loot gathered in the recent invasion missions.


    To this, the demon revealed a big huge grin and waved his hand at his underlings.


    The next second, several sacs full of all sorts of equipment, weapons, essories, gems, herbs, ores and what not were piled up in front of Liam.


    They had somehow managed to gather not one but a dozen piles of such dazzling loot. Even Liam was surprised to see so much harvest.


    He stood up and walked around, inspecting everything in the room.


    "Segregate the raw materials from the weapons and items and arrange those ording to their grade." He ordered the demon.


    The demon enthusiastically nodded and got down to do the busy work.


    The raw materials were quite decent. Some of them were even items that Liam had not yet acquired in the game.


    "I should feed these to the swordter." He made a mental note.


    The weapons and equipment were also above average with several rare-grade items and some unique-grade items as well.


    "Good. Good." Liam nodded in satisfaction. "Bring the best performing teams and reward these rare-grade and unique-grade items to the soldiers and leaders."


    "As for the other items¡­"


    Liam did not leave behind a single thing. He stored the two sets of items separately.


    After keeping the raw materials in his inventory, he no longer had any space left for the weapons and equipment so he asked the demon to bring out some sacks and filled these to the brim with items.


    After that, he did not linger around in the garrison tower any longer as there was quite a lot of work to be done and he directly switched out to Yleka city.


    However¡­ unbeknownst to him¡­ a few minutes after he left the garrison tower¡­


    Two cloaked figures entered the small city. They were tall and dressed in shabby clothing and there wasn''t anything special about them in first nce.


    But if one looked closer at them, one could see that even the baggy shabby cloaks couldn''t hide their seductive figures that was underneath.


    "Mother, we are here."


    "Yes, we are."


    The two figures then suddenly removed the cloaks covering their faces. Instantly, their stunning seductive beauty was revealed for everyone to see.


    Every single demon who walked past them turned to look at the two and almost banged their heads on the wall.


    No one in their city, no, probably the entire kingdom was as alluring as these two.


    The demons were so shocked that they did not even have the courage to approach the two women for a good time.


    They simply gulped and stood on the spot, staring at the two.


    The two women as well did not look ufortable because of all the attention they were receiving. Rather they looked quite content with the show and the effect they had on people.


    They clearly enjoyed the attention.


    "Te Hee~~~ Husband¡­ where are you? We are still waiting for you¡­" The two muttered in unison with a crazy look in their mesmerizing eyes.

 Chapter 285 - Gathering The Group

    <h4>Chapter 285 - Gathering The Group</h4>


    After arriving at Yleka city, Liam walked over to the auction house where Berat was already waiting for him.


    He wore a pair of khaki cloth pants and a loose casual shirt. His appearance was also very normal as if he was in the real world and not ying a VR game.


    This was because as per Liam''s advice, he was currently working on improving his merchant skills.


    "Hey! Boss! I am here." Berat waved his hand on seeing a ck cloaked figure moving about in the crowded street.


    Of course, there were several yers dressed like this to cover their identity but since Liam and he were friends and at the moment in the same party, he could clearly see his position on the map.


    Also, there was only one cloaked figure who was casually dragging severalrge sacks all tied together as if it was no big deal to him.


    So even among the sea of yers, it only took one second to recognize him.


    "Boss, shall I open the trade window?" Berat rubbed his hands in excitement and asked.


    "Trade window?" Liam chuckled and shook his head. "Let''s go to an inn."


    "Hmmm¡­ Moving around like this is not so convenient. I will finish that quest first and then everything should be simple."


    "Which quest, boss?" Berat was curious, so he asked even though the other person was clearly talking to himself.


    "Nothing. Nothing. You will soon know when I am done."


    Liam walked to the inn while checking the other messages in the interface and saw that the group had been busy in his absence.


    "I am here." He also sent a message. "Cancel your current run and assemble near Yleka city as soon as possible."


    The two of them then arrived at the inn and Liam booked one of the rooms avable. "Give me a bigger one." He asked specifically.


    The mature woman at the reception gave both of them weird looks, but she handed over the key.


    Liam did not seem to care but Berat mumbled with an awkward smile. "We are friends. We are friends." He then ran away behind the boss, following him to the room.


    But as soon as he entered the room, he was immediately frozen solid and became a statue. The sight in front of them was simply too frightening.


    "Boss¡­" Berat stuttered as he gulped and then realizing that the door was open, he quickly turned around to close the door behind him.


    If someone else saw this, they would probably turn green from jealousy and chase after them without stopping.


    Because inside the big inn room were several piles of glittering loot. He had never seen so many items at a single time in his entire life.


    Berat gulped, licking his lips that had turned dry. He was excited earlier thinking that he would show off his skills and get amazing profits to impress the boss.


    But now¡­ that excitement waspletely reced with nervousness.


    What profit? He was staring at a sea of items that could make or break even a first rate guild.


    At this point, he would already be happy if he did not screw up and get his ass kicked out of the group.


    To add to his dismay, Liam was still busy emptying out the sacks one after the other, increasing the piled up loot.


    "Did I see these many sacks before or they just magically doubled?" Berat rubbed his eyes and stared at the mountain of loot again. It was freaking almost going to touch the ceiling!


    "Boss¡­ just what did you do to gather so many items in such a short time?" He mumbled, his voice noting out.


    Liam, on the other hand, was still busy emptying things out. Only after tossing the contents of thest sack onto the staggering pile, he turned to look at the guy.


    He was literally shaking.


    "This should keep you busy for a while, right?" He chuckled, seeing his pitiful expression. "What happened?"


    "Boss¡­ is it really okay to trust me with this?" Berat asked.


    "Huh? Weren''t you the one who asked me the other day to give this job to you? Did you not want to gold farm in the auction house and take care of guild transactions?"


    Liam narrowed his eyes to look at him. He was not fond of people wasting his time and going back on their words, so unknowingly his gaze turned cold.


    This scared Berat even more and he took a step back in fear. "No. No. I wanted to¡­ but¡­"


    "But?" Liam tossed the empty bag in his hand to a side.


    To do or not? It looked like he was doomed either way. So Berat hurriedly shook his head side to side. "No, boss. Nothing. Nothing. I will get it done." He resolutely dered.


    He came here because he wanted to be someone and Liam also epted him into his group, now he couldn''t back out at the first sign of trouble. That would just be too shameful.


    However, he also did not want to give Liam the wrong impression. "Boss, I might not be able to get a lot of profit for these."


    He thought that it was better, to tell the truth outright, even though it might make the guy further angry.


    But to his surprise, Liam''s cold gaze disappeared and he walked forward to pat him on the back. "This was what you were worried about? Ha Ha Ha."


    "Don''t think too much. Your job is to literally put them on the auction house and sell them for a decent price. I really do not expect anything else."


    "The only condition I have is the time. Get them sold by the end of the day."


    Liam chuckled once again and left the room, leaving the guy to deal with everything else.


    "Boss¡­" Berat waspletely speechless. He was trusting him this much? He even made sure that he didn''t feel too pressured? The boss was simply too good hearted!


    He almost had tears in his eyes. He clenched his fist, determined to repay this trust.


    He was not a weak person in general. He also thought that he was pretty confident. But in front of this much loot, anyone would sweat!


    But now that he had recovered, he grunted and started forming a n. It was his job to convert these piled up loot into gold and fill their guild coffers.


    Berat did not dare waste any more time and began to work on the mountain of items. He took a deep breath and dived in.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam walked out of the inn onto the crowded streets. He decided to go after the Kingdom quest first and hence, he had called everyone over.


    This was in fact, the third kingdom quest he would be attempting, the first one being the quest he had leeched off from Shen Yue, and the second one being the quest he had leeched off from Kouske.


    This time, however, it was his own quest. Nevertheless, he called everyone over because both the previous times, the difficulty of the two quests was simply too high to handle.


    He had only ended up sessfully finishing the two of them because of special circumstances. So this time he wanted to be fully prepared.


    Even if he got any unexpected surprises, he still wanted to be able to deal with them. That too, when he had the means, why not?


    As Liam walked over to the outskirts of the Yleka city casually looking at the numerous stalls around him, and the crowded streets, he suddenly stopped walking.


    He stood in front of a fast food vendor and was staring at the couple of rabbits and chickens that were caged in crates, ready to be freshly ughtered and deep fried.


    Not that he was feeling some kind of pity for them, he was rather thinking about something else.


    These animals in front of him were the weakest, most basic beginner beasts in this entire realm. At his level, if he pats them, they would probably die.


    But Liam continued to look at them and as he did, he couldn''t help but think of the obvious. "How did I not factor this?"


    Murmuring something to himself, he stepped forward and spoke to the stall vendor. "Sir, can I buy these 4 animals from you?"

 Chapter 286 - Bak Bak Baka

    <h4>Chapter 286 - Bak Bak Baka</h4>


    "You want these uncooked?"


    The shopkeeper was surprised, but seeing Liam take out a silver coin, he did not ask any further questions and quickly took out the two cages and handed them to him.


    "Thanks." Liam received them. His speed then increased rapidly as he rushed out of the city at top speed.


    He found an isted spot in the forest, well out of the way of the often traveled path. It was also hidden among a group of tall trees.


    "This is good." He settled there, cing the cage on the moist forest ground.


    He then bent down and took out one chicken from the cage, grabbing it by its neck and locking the door back afterward.


    BA BAK BAK BAK


    Immediately, the chicken started wing at him, trying to escape his grasp.


    "Wait. Wait. If everything goes well, you and I will be fighting together for a long time." Liam patted the bird.


    BAKA BAK BAK BAK


    The chicken once again started struggling. It did not like the creepy look on Liam''s face or his creepy smile one bit.


    And the next second, what it feared happened.


    Liam twisted its neck effortlessly and the chicken was dead with its tongue sticking out and its eyes unbelievably wide.


    He immediately dropped the corpse down and sat down in a mediative posture, staring at the dead chicken in front of him.


    Its small bead-like soul slowly started seeping out of the corpse.


    And Liam was exactly waiting for this!


    His gaze locked on to this small bead-like soul and then summoned all the mana that he could from the air around him.


    Since he was back in the Xion realm, he could only use this. There was noher present around him.


    Liam actually forgot to think about this factor so he cursed himself, realizing it only now. Nevertheless, he continued with the process and decided to see where it went.


    He gathered all the mana that he was capable ofmanding and then choked the bead-like soul with this surplus mana.


    "Hmmm¡­ this is a lot simpler." He was now dealing with only mana and nother and mana, so Liam was able to control everything better and it was also a lot easier.


    It was as if he had been trying to lift 100 kgs and now suddenly that had halved.


    He was even easily able to move the soul bead from the corpse to his palm, carefully enveloping it in mana on all sides.


    Liam focussed and controlled the mana, feeling the bead-like soul with patience. This was the farthest he had progressed in his training.


    In his previous attempts, by now the soul would have disintegrated and disappeared, resulting in a failure.


    But this time, he was still able to hold on, and for this long!


    "So what I guess is¡­"


    Liam was suddenly too nervous.


    He thing that he had in his hand was a live soul of another being and if he was correct¡­ then this would be¡­


    "I have already seen life and death¡­ why am I nervous about this¡­" He chuckled and then the next second he finally began the process.


    The whirlpool of mana gathered around the bead-like soul suddenly transformed into two giant hammers that banged the soul orb from both top and bottom.


    "No. This still won''t do." Liam gritted his teeth and gathered even more mana, making the two giant hammers into four big hammers.


    Now the soul orb was getting beaten up from all sides.


    DING. DING. DING. DING.


    He started rhythmically swinging the hammers at the soul orb as if he was forging a weapon.


    So far, Liam had tried several methods to do this step. But somehow this was the method he was mostfortable with. Perhaps because he enjoyed forging the most.


    And the vague description he read about the inferior soul forging technique and the name of the skill name itself kind of got stuck in his head.


    So now he was literally forging the soul bead with mana hammers until something happened.


    This was it. This was his limit. This was all he was able toprehend from the bits and pieces of knowledge he had obtained so far.


    It is said that half knowledge of anything is dangerous, but he did not have any other option at the moment.


    He really needed this to work.


    Especially, now that he could feel the soul being alive once again in his palm, he really wanted this to work.


    He was so close that he could feel it in his blood.


    "Come on. Come on." Liam whispered, sweat trickling down his forehead because of the exhaustion that was slowly umting.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Near the Yleka city gates, two cloaked figures arrived, followed by a group of others. All of them were covered in ck cloaks as if it was their uniform.


    They seem to be gathered together, silently standing, waiting for someone.


    A few passersby nced at them as they went in and out of the city, but other than that there was nothing special about them and no one gave them a second look.


    So just like that, the group continued waiting for a few more minutes when suddenly one person stomped her feet on the ground.


    "Why is he making everyone wait like this? Aren''t we on the same side now? Shouldn''t he respect our time more? What? Does he think only his time is valuable?"


    "That guy has an ego the size of this world¡­ I am telling you¡­ grrrr¡­" Alex whispered to Mia, making sure that she was not overheard by the others standing beside them.


    The thing was that¡­ only when they ran some dungeons together, she realized that there were two other yers in their group who had actually signed no contracts or anything of that sort.


    Apparently, they were trustworthy while she was not. This slightly ticked her off so Alex was grumbling, chewing her sister''s ears off.


    Mia, however, was calmer. "Keep quiet, Alex." She simply said, absent-mindedly staring at the crowd of yers bustling about within the city and crossing them ever so often.


    Within that crowd, her sharp beautiful eyes were keenly searching for a certain someone.


    She did not even hear what Alex said as she was deeply engrossed in her thoughts. She wanted to know why Liam had called them over.


    Were they going to run a dungeon together again? After so long?


    She couldn''t help but anticipate such a thing.. She wanted to know just how strong he was and how they fared whenpared to him.

 Chapter 287 - A Magnificent Beast

    <h4>Chapter 287 - A Magnificent Beast</h4>


    "It''s two hours now! What the hell? Where is he?" Alex twisted her lips, tapping her feet on the ground impatiently.


    "It''s a matter of life and death and this guy¡­ offff!"


    "What-"


    Before she could finish her words, a small voice interrupted her. "Hello, sorry I amter."


    Just as everyone turned around to look at the owner of the voice, they were immediately shocked.


    Liam was stumbling about, looking like he was going to faint and fall any time now.


    "What the hell happened to you?!" Alex asked, forgetting to hide the big smile that was stered on her face to see Liam in this condition.


    Even if she wasn''t pleased to see her own teammate in this condition, she still was d that someone managed to put this guy in ce.


    Perhaps this defeat could even give him some humility and make him pleasant to work with. However, it was just wishful thinking¡­


    No matter how much she looked at him, the guy did not look like someone who was just defeated or even narrowly escaped death.


    He only had a big grin on his face even though he seemed dead tired.


    While Alex was mentally scrutinizing the person from top to bottom¡­ three people, Mei Mei, Mia, and Shen Yue, rushed forward at the same time to help Liam and support him so that he could bnce himself.


    However, three was a bit of a crowd, so their hands shed and the trio lifted up their heads and locked their eyes onto each other, giving each other silent res.


    "Mia!" Alex eximed as if she was just betrayed. The other onlookers were also equally surprised.


    In the end, Mei Mei stepped forward and tugged at Mia, signaling her to leave Liam. "Sis Yue is enough to help brother. We don''t need you."


    Mia looked reluctant to let go. Nevertheless, she did not refuse and silently stepped away, leaving the two to support Liam.


    Watching this, Alex rolled her eyes and the others turned to look at the trees and bushes as if they had not just witnessed what happened.


    All the three women were scary, so they did not dare get on the wrong side of any of them. They could only silently wish they would be lucky enough to be in a situation like this one day.


    Liam meanwhile, coughed a little and steadied himself. "I am fine. I am fine."


    Shen Yue still did not let him go and held him tightly. She also checked him here and there for injuries. "Nothing happened. I just exhausted myself a bit too much."


    "Oh? What were you doing? Is it something good?"


    "You should have rested a little."


    Alex blurted out and Mia as well spoke out at the same time, the two talking aboutpletely different things.


    Liam chuckled and then shook his head. "It''s all good. Let''s move. I can rest while we are traveling."


    His fingers tapped the air in front of him, and soon a party request appeared in front of Mia. She quickly epted it and then Liam sent her the location of the quest.


    "We are going there." He mumbled and then copsed on Shen Yue''s shoulder, leaning on her.


    She wobbled a bit as it was too sudden and unexpected but she adjusted quickly, supporting him in afortable way.


    "Are you okay, sis?" Mei Mei asked.


    "Yes." Shen Yue nodded with a shy smile.


    "Tsk. Tsk. Enough with this drama. Shall we start moving or not?" Alex shook her head and turned to start walking.


    "Damn. Too bad I couldn''t get my hands on that guy. I would have liked to drag his ass on the ground all the way from here to Timbuktu." She chewed her lips and muttered in disgruntlement.


    "Ignore her." Mia frowned. "Ok. You guys heard the boss, let''s start moving. We need to reach the destination soon."


    Everyone silently agreed and started walking, with Mia and Alex leading the way.


    Shin Soo, Kang Minah, and the group of Korean yers covered the back and Shen Yue and Mei Mei were in the center with Shen Yue still supporting Liam very carefully and gently.


    Apart from this, there were also ten other yers who Mia had brought over from their previous guild. These ten yers were part of their main guild group and were very trustworthy.


    They had run all dungeons together and stuck together from the beginning up until now. So when Mia disbanded their guild, they had adamantly stayed back with her.


    However, this respect they had was only limited to her, not even to Alex and much less to Liam. In fact, the majority of them were upset about their leader calling someone else boss.


    Having personally witnessed Mia''s performance as a battle priest, they doubted if this person who was being unconsciously dragged along by a woman would match her skills or even amount to half of it.


    And also¡­


    Judging how their cold indifferent goddess was showing a bit of emotion when it came to the guy, they couldn''t help but wonder about the rumor that was going around right now.


    Did the two sisters really sign a ve contract?


    But they knew that this couldn''t be true as Alex was still being Alex. So probably there was no mind control or anything of that sort?


    Just as they were thinking about this, Mia suddenly stopped and turned around. She gazed at Liam''s unconscious figure and then touched a small tattoo on her hand.


    Shen Yue was immediately rmed. Were they going to do something now?


    "What are you-" She opened her mouth and the next second, wind whooshed in front of her and a huge white tiger materialized out of nowhere.


    It was a magnificent beast with golden and silver stripes covering its body. Just the mere presence of the animal was breathtaking.


    It struck awe in the hearts of those who were already familiar with it and it struck fear in the minds of those who were seeing it for the first time.


    Shin Soo, Kim Hyun, Kang Miah, and Cheng Hee stood frozen, utterly shocked to their core. They did not how to act or what to think now.


    This was their first time seeing such a powerful beast with an aura like that of an unrivaled emperor. So they simply stood staring at it.


    But Shen Yue and Mei Mei were faster to react.


    They had dealt with more powerful elites because they had the two golems fighting for them. They in fact camped and killed the same elites again and again.


    So they were able to act immediately.


    In a fraction of a second, Shen Yue dropped Liam behind her and stood protectively in front of him.


    Her daggers were drawn out and she was about to activate her most powerful skills [Distract] and [Mesmerize].


    These were less effective on the same gender, but even then they were powerful and Mia was the strongest opponent here, so she did not hesitate and directly went to those.


    However, before she could activate, Mia raised her hand and signaled her to stop. "WAIT. WAIT. SLOW DOWN."


    Alex also chuckled sarcastically. "Heh. No one is going to hurt your precious boyfriend, darling. It''s just a mount, a ride. She is trying to help you."


    Shen Yue looked shifted her gaze from Mia to Alex and then to the tiger who was now purring and smiling like a small cat, getting head pats from the ice goddess.


    She immediately became embarrassed. "Sorry, I just¡­"


    "It''s fine, sis Yue. No need to apologize." Mei Mei snorted coldly, still looking at the two with her big eyes full of suspicions.


    Mia did not say anything and simply walked forward to help Liam from the ground, but Shen Yue stopped her again.


    "Trust me. This is for the best. If we meet some unexpectedpany on the way, we need all hands on deck, including a strong fighter like you."


    "Besides, he trusts me¡­ now¡­ so you should as well."


    Shen Yue remained silent for a second and then nodded. She saw no reason not to ept Mia''s words.


    So she personally lifted Liam to ce him on the tiger in a very gentle manner.


    However, she was still wary of the beast and only let him go when she was sure that it was not violent and it wouldn''t harm him.


    "Shall we now leave?" Alex snorted in disdain at all of these lovey-dovey acts.


    Each and everyone was behaving as if the damned jerk was some benevolent magnanimous hero who saved an entire world. Why all this fuss?


    She wanted to see if she could give a couple of kicks to the unconscious guy but the two women were watching him like hawks so she did not get any chance to get close to him.


    "Well, whatever.." She gave up and continued keeping an eye on their surroundings as the group together moved to the location of the quest.

 Chapter 288 - The Future Is Bleak

    <h4>Chapter 288 - The Future Is Bleak</h4>


    Inside the Gresh kingdom¡­ in a remote city that was not as popr as the royal city or the Yleka city¡­


    A huge building stood inconspicuously amidst the several other huge buildings in the central part of the city.


    Inside this building, on the 10th floor, there was a lean and tall figure sitting. He wore a pair of thin-rimmed sses even though such a thing was not necessary.


    As one leveled up, deficiencies such as this were cured at least inside the game.


    Nevertheless, this person still wore sses. He also kept moving them up and pressing them closer, despite them not being loose or sliding down.


    Such a unique behavior was odd but the four people standing in front of him did not question this.


    They already were familiar with him and they also knew that this was his small quirk when he was deeply thinking about something.


    He also did not wear sses in front of everyone. Only when they were alone or he was alone.


    Besides, the four people who were standing in front of the person were currently too nervous to notice all these small things.


    They had other big things to worry about¡­ really big things.


    "So¡­ you went and did something on your own Kouske¡­"


    The four people silently stood, no one daring to reply. They knew that they hadpletely screwed up, even though everything was out of their hands.


    From the minute they had shown up and to the time, they had left, things had indeed gone their way but still, somehow everything had gone wrong.


    "Kurt, it''s not exactly our mistake." Anya was the first to speak up. It was not her nature to be subservient to someone else, even if it was the person in front of her.


    "We did everything you asked for. It had a hugeher debuff. What are we supposed to do? Kouske entered the tunnel alone and he was up against that monster."


    "Even then he managed to steal things right under his nose. He even killed him once and made him lose a level. Isn''t that in itself praiseworthy?"


    "I am not sure why you are upset. We should have lost everything. That guy arrived there before us. He was almost sessful also."


    "If not for Kouske''s interference, we would have lost everything. So, I really don''t think we did anything wrong here."


    "You know that if we stayed back¡­ then that guy would have erased us altogether. Do you still think we should have tried more? Hmmm?"


    All the others immediately turned to look at Anya. She was going a bit too far! Don''t say anything more!


    They silently willed for the woman to stop talking, but Anya did not get the hint. She raised her brows and looked at the guy silently listening to her words.


    "Perhaps you don''t care about us at all and simply think of us as tools at your disposal?"


    There! She had done it!


    The room was instantly enveloped in pin-drop silence. Everyone ufortably twitched and wiggled. No one knew how the person was going to react.


    But¡­ unexpectedly¡­ Kurt¡­ or rather the big brother only revealed a small smile.


    "We are not on the same page. I am not talking about that at all." Everyone saw that he side-stepped the main usation but no one including Anya wanted to bring it up again.


    She was also slightly regretting running her mouth. She only did it because things needed to be said andtely, she had the nagging doubt.


    Nevertheless, she was nervous. After all, the person in front of her was extremely powerful, someone with the ability to¡­


    Kurt cleared his throat and continued, his gaze solely fixated on Anya. "I am not talking about that event. I am talking about what you did after that."


    "Tell me Kouske, what did you do? Or do you also think that I am simply bossing you around?"


    "No brother, no." Kouske immediately shook his head. "After that trip, I¡­" He slightly hesitated as so many things had happened after that.


    Since big brother was busy, they were only able to meet him today. So he was not exactly sure what he was talking about.


    Seeing him struggle, Kurt spoke again. "Did you do anything significant after that? Think. Think properly. Did any of you do anything after that?"


    His gaze then shifted from Kouske and fell on the others one by one. All of them looked confused. Kurt then again looked at Anya.


    "Since you guys are starting to question me these days, let me show you something." He took out four orbs, small crystalline balls, except that these were pitch-ck in color.


    He did not bother exining anything. Nevertheless, the four of them had shocked expressions on their faces.


    They looked up at Kurt with their eyes filled with dread. Even the sharp-tongued Anya was now speechless.


    "How¡­ how could this be possible?" Kouske stammered.


    "That''s also what I want to know. What did you do to trigger this change? This dark color could only mean one thing and I don''t have to remind you what that is¡­"


    "So what did you do?" Kurt asked.


    "I¡­ really¡­" Kouske paused, remembering the other small thing he had done. He had only done it because the demon was staring right in their faces.


    "Brother¡­ I spread a rumor¡­ but¡­ it''s not possible¡­ no¡­ how could that alone have affected things so badly?" He dazedly answered.


    Kurt sighed. "Is it rted to that person again?"


    "Yes and no." Seeing that Kouske was still in shock, Anya stepped forward to answer in his stead. "We just spread the rumor that he was forcing people to sign ve contracts."


    "We received a piece of information from one of our spies. So we used it to our advantage. This brought us time to get out of the city."


    "As you can see, we were able to safely retain the precious item so far and also avoid shing with that person again."


    "I really don''t think that was a mistake. If all those guilds are not behind him right now, what do you think he would be doing? Hunting us down left and right."


    "We really don''t stand a chance against him. He is a monster, Kurt."


    "Before leaving the cave, we set a big trap for him, and yet he easily managed to tackle that and return back to the city so soon."


    "Tell me, do you think what we did was wrong? I know we did not ask your permission but this had to be done."


    "And it''s just a small thing.."


    Anya exined, justifying their actions.


    "No, Anya." Kurt pushed his sses up one more time and bitterly smiled. "That''s where you are wrong. It was not a small thing."


    "That single action has now changed the trajectory of all our fates."


    "What you did might be a small thing but the ramifications of that small thing¡­ were catastrophic¡­ at least for us."


    "If we don''t do anything soon to change this, then all our fates are already sealed¡­ even taking into ount the precious item you recovered from the cave¡­"


    Kurt took the small ring that was on the table in front of them. He tapped it and the next second, a huge death knight materialized in front of him.


    This was the same death knight that was guarding the middle cave and its level was also still 80, not even a spot of damage on its body.


    It was awe-inspiring and majestic. Yet at this moment, no one seemed impressed by it. Kurt sighed, andid back on the chair, repeating his words once again.


    "Even with this... Only death awaits us... What exactly happened?"


    This is the second time his calctions had gone amiss....

 Chapter 289 - Group Dynamics

    <h4>Chapter 289 - Group Dynamics</h4>


    "This is the south huh? I haven''t been here much." Alex whistled as she walked. "Have any of you guys quested in this zone?"


    No one answered her. They were currently traveling in the middle of a high-level zone with the monsters around them being at least Level 40.


    Each and every single battle was a struggle and they were only just getting by.


    While a level 40 beast in itself was not that difficult to handle, most of the mobs in the area roamed around as groups and this made things difficult.


    The fights were hectic and they had to give it their all, repeatedly focussing withplete mental attention and their physical capabilities.


    So it was quite draining as well. Well, at least for most members of the group.


    Alex and Mia, whose abilities were head and shoulders above everyone else were simply breezing through the fights.


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue triedpeting with the two but they severelyckedbat experience which put them slightly behind those two.


    Of course, with emergencies, they could always rely on the two golems. However, Mia strictly forbade using them unless the situation absolutely called for it.


    So almost everyone in the group was dead tired and no one had the energy to enjoy the walk like Alex did.


    But¡­ there was one other person in the group who waspletely rxed and this was Liam, sleepily lying on the white tiger which apanied the group, not participating in any fight.


    Liam as well was enjoying the scenery like Alex.


    He had a subtle smile on his face for undisclosed reasons and with his eyes closed, he enjoyed the breeze brushing past his face.


    Actually, he had been awake for a while now but he was still acting as if he was asleep.


    With so many new people added to the group, he wanted to observe everyone''sbat abilities.


    They had been ying together with Alex and Mia so he did not doubt their standards but he still wanted to observe their condition personally, gauge their strong points and weak points.


    And this was a perfect opportunity to do so. Their path was full of wild beasts and big poisonous insects.


    They had to stop ever so often to deal with the mobs, fighting and clearing the path ahead.


    Just as the group was slowly chatting and walking, loud snorts sounded from the opposite direction, and a herd of two-headed rhinoceros surrounded them.


    The beasts were tall and thick and all of them had big ferocious blood-thirsty eyes.


    They were at least level 42 this time around, even stronger than the mobs they had previously faced.


    However, without any hesitation, Mia immediately jumped into action. She was the first one to take charge, despite Alex being the tank.


    And thetter as well was notgging by that much. She took charge of the other half that spilled over Mia and also grabbed the overall momentum.


    For a priest to do the job of a tank waspletely unheard of. However, Mia was special.


    Since Alex was the only tank in their group at the moment, she proactively took this job and filled the gap, ying three different roles at the same time.


    Even Liam who was observing everything with his one eye open couldn''t help but be amazed at this.


    She was like a dazzling star, shining brightly. Not one beast was able to touch her or even graze her. She waspletely invulnerable.


    [Divine Radiance]


    [Divine Domination]


    [Divine Retribution]


    [Divine Protection]


    She tossed one powerful skill after another,pletely utilizing her SSS-divine affinity. She also had a huge repertoire of skills at her disposal.


    She used them in perfect sync, rotating the weak ones and the strong ones, economically managing her mana.


    Mia had always been exceptional buttely, it was as if her talent had suddenly exploded.


    Alex herself noticed this and chalked this to either Rey being sick or the fact that this game was not as simple. It could potentially affect their very lives.


    In fact, not potentially. Their future depended on this random strange game that had appeared out of nowhere.


    Knowing all this, how could anyone not take things seriously. The Mia before was different and the Mia now waspletely different.


    Not wanting to be left behind and be helpless any longer, Alex also tried her best.


    She dealt with the beasts, the best she could, keeping them at bay with her numerous skills.


    [Shield Bash]


    [Block]


    [Divine Brilliance]


    [Divine Radiance]


    [Divine Wrath]


    The rhinos were extremely violent and rammed against her with full force.


    They wereing at her from all directions, but she skillfully dealt with the group without getting overwhelmed and run over.


    She bashed her shield against one beast, making it lose bnce and stumble, falling on the side of the other beast, making it unstable as well.


    Before the two recovered again, she turned to face the other two ramming at her from her back.


    In this manner, she kept the beasts at bay and brawled with them with an equally fierce vigor, roaring even louder than the rhinos.


    The others were also not standing simply. Seeing the two MVPs at it like usual, the three mages in the team started casting a multitude of spells.


    Mei Mei summoned her totems and dealt a chunk of damage.


    Shen Yue silently appeared next to the beasts and targeted the weak wounded spots to deal critical damage.


    The other melee and long-range attackers were also above average and could easily be elites in top guilds.


    They had also been ying with Alex and Mia since the beginning and their respect towards the ice goddess was just short of worship.


    More importantly, every single one of these yers was a heavy hitter. While Alex and Mia handled the tanking part, these guys thrashed the rhinos around, hardly breaking a sweat.


    The only group that was actually struggling to keep up was the group of Korean yers. They also knew that their skills were subpar.


    Nevertheless, they had a good learning attitude and simply tried their best without being in anyone''s way.


    Overall, the group had already yed together in a few dungeons and dealt with a bunch of mobs so they had some sort of coordination and proceeded to deal with rhinos swiftly.


    Apart from their raw strength, these beasts also possessed a wind attribute and ever so often unleashed some wind des which because of the sheer number of the beasts dealt massive AoE damage.


    Mia and the two other healers including Kang Mina took care of this burst damage quickly healed everyone back up.


    Because of their quick reaction speed and fast actions, most of the team''s health was hovering around the halfway point.


    At the same time, the rhinos'' health was slowly and steadily decreasing. Soon one after the other started dropping dead and this mob as well was easily taken care of.


    However, just as thest beast hit the ground, and everyone excitedly rushed forward to check the drops that were littered all around, Alex alone turned to the back and angrily harrumphed.


    "How long are you nning to simply lie there and watch the show?"

 Chapter 290 - Chicken Ghost?

    <h4>Chapter 290 - Chicken Ghost?</h4>


    Everyone was surprised and turned to see who Alex was shouting at now, only to see the figure atop the white tiger stir.


    Liam chuckled, sitting up straight on the tiger.


    He then jumped off the beast which was his n all along. He now had had enough time to judge everyone''s performance.


    "Not bad." He said, with a small grin on his face.


    "What? What is not bad?" Alex grimaced.


    While they were all out there fighting with their lives on the line, dealing with beasts above their level, this bastard was nicely taking a nap.


    It pissed her off.


    However, Liampletely ignored her and stretched his limbszily, also letting out a yawn. He didn''t seem to care at all about what he just heard.


    "Sorry about that. I identally exhausted myself and had to take a small break. Now we can continue."


    "No problem." Mia nodded.


    "Are you feeling better now, brother?" Mei Mei asked with worry.


    "Do you want to log out and take some more rest?" Shen Yue added.


    No one else said anything since they did not want to overstep their bounds and only Alex clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes at the attention everyone was giving the guy.


    "No. No. I am fine. Not necessary. Let''s continue." Liam simply smiled and replied.


    Everyone started moving again, no longer just standing around like statues.


    Almost all the members of the group except for a few were unaware of how to behave in Liam''s presence, so they were a bit awkward around him.


    They quickly hurried away and started picking up the loot that had fallen around.


    Mia also dismissed the tiger that returned back to the tattoo on her hand, after giving her a couple of licks.


    "That''s pretty convenient. How did you do that?" Liam wanted to get one for his bird so that he could summon him at will.


    "Mmm¡­ that''s priest ss-"


    Before she could finish her words, Alex intervened and asked him, "So what have you been up to?"


    "How about some give and take? You just can''t keep asking us questions without giving out answers!"


    "So it''s a priest ss mount? That''s interesting."


    Liam once again ignored the woman and continued to talk to Mia, while the group also restarted the journey.


    Alex crossed her arms in frustration and kicked a rock on the ground, walking behind them in silence.


    It was not like she had any other option. The bastard was just downright ignoring her!


    The group moved in silence for a while when Mei Mei shifted close to Liam and whispered to him.


    "Brother, I don''t like her very much. Why is she talking to you as if she is the queen of Ennd?"


    "Ha Ha Ha. Aren''t you a diehard fan of her?" Liam smirked.


    "Are you kidding? Maybe before. Not now. Her attitude makes me want to punch her in the face."


    Mei Mei threw a disdainful look at the woman who was walking next to Mia, who was also whispering something in her ear.


    Mei Mei was sure that she was talking something about them. "She hates us, brother. I don''t think it''s a good idea to have her in our team."


    "Oh alright. If little Mei Mei says so¡­ then I really have to think everything through." Liam chuckled and ruffled the girl''s head.


    The teenager instantly became red and turned her head away. "Stop teasing me, brother¡­" She bit her lips.


    Here she was genuinely worried and Liam was making fun of her. She was saying something serious for god''s sake!


    Liam ruffled the girl''s head again, making it all messy one more time.


    "Don''t worry too much. I have everything under control. There is a reason for my actions."


    "You will know it when the timees. For now, just focus on your own skills. I saw earlier how you were fighting."


    "Are you trying at all to execute the skills without the help of the system activation? Or did that advice just get in through one ear and get out?"


    "Ah¡­" The young girl became even redder, shame covering her face. She indeed tried to do that but¡­


    Trying was one thing and bing sessful in that was an entirely different thing.


    "Aha ha ha. I am working on it, brother. I am working on it."


    She mumbled something and quickly slipped away, hiding at a safe distance, now standing beside Shen Yue.


    Liam shook his head helplessly and did not push her anymore. Some people needed more time so he did not want to stress her out.


    Instead, he looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh. It was time to test it out. Did it work or not? He would soon know the answer.


    He craned his neck, looking from right to left. The coast seemed to be clear for now. There was no beast or any other monster in their vicinity.


    "Perfect time. Alright, time to see what I ended up forging." He murmured to himself and then took a deep breath, before calling it out.


    "Come out."


    A few paces on the side, Alex knitted her brows and narrowed her eyes, looking at the guy with her lips twisted.


    "What is he doing now, Mia?" She muttered rhetorically. Mia did not answer her and instead, she also nced at Liam, though not so openly.


    In fact, every single member of the group was stealing nces at Liam.


    They either knew him and were curious as to what he was up to or they did not know him and were looking at him warily.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not care about anything and focussed on one and only one thing and that was¡­


    "Come out," Liam repeated his words, a slight hint of nervousness appearing on his face and the next instant¡­


    Baka bak bak bak bak


    A small wild chicken appeared out of nowhere as if it was materializing out of thin air.


    But if one looked closely this chicken had actuallye out from Liam''s body.


    Not only that¡­ its body¡­ no correction¡­ it did not have a body. It was a purely spectral existence.


    It was a small wild chicken that was simply white mist and had no substance. And yet¡­


    It could walk, it left footprints on the forest grounds and it also looked around with curiosity, its beady little eyes darting left and right.


    It even spotted a small worm wiggling in front of it and immediately dived to peck the damn bugger with its beak, killing the worm.


    However, surprisingly, the chicken seemed to have no interest in eating the dead worm.


    Instead, it twisted its neck to look at Liam and then swung around with its body as well to face him. It then simply stared at him with deadpan eyes.


    It was as if¡­ the chicken was waiting for his instructions¡­ just simply standing and doing nothing else.


    Watching this scene, everyone gaped in shock, even Alex.. "What the fuck? A chicken ghost?" Her full lips parted open in shock.

 Chapter 291 - Chicken Vs. Chicken!

    <h4>Chapter 291 - Chicken Vs. Chicken!</h4>


    Ignoring other people''s shocked expressions, Liam squatted down on the ground, his eyes curiously looking at the chicken as well.


    After receiving the notification that the soul forging was sessful, he hadpletely copsed so he was also seeing this one for the first time.


    "Come here." Liam waved his hand. "You do seem like a ghost."


    He tried touching the chicken but he quickly took his hand back as he felt a stinging burning pain. It was like touching fire.


    "Hmmm? Is this pure soul?" He tried touching again, this time he did not flinch or withdraw his hand back.


    He wanted to feel the burning pain a little to see if it could increase hisprehension of the technique, but nothing of that sort happened.


    He also did not get any progress in the legacy by just forging this single chicken. Maybe this was just a fluke sess?


    Heh. Liam chuckled lightly. "So what if it is just a fluke¡­ I will do it again and again until it bes a part of me."


    He stared at the chicken for some more time and then stood up. "Is there a town or city nearby?"


    He opened his map to check, but Mia answered him faster. "There is one just a few minutes away from here."


    "Alright. Let''s stop there just for a few minutes."


    Liam started walking and the rest of the group as well did the same, but every single person was still eyeing the chicken warily from the corner of their eyes.


    What was this? A pet? A summon? No one had any idea. Liam also did not exin anything. So they could only silently look.


    Only Mei Mei came closer and circled the chicken a few times, looking at the weird bird from all angles.


    She knew that her brother had an undead skill, but this did not look like a mindless undead. The chicken red at her as if it had a personality of its own.


    She even tried touching it but the bird allowed Liam to touch it and when Mei Mei did the same thing, it pecked at her with an angry look.


    So the girl quickly took back her hand fearing for her finger.


    "Brother¡­ this chicken¡­"


    She was about to ask him the question that was on everyone''s minds but she stopped talking realizing that all the eyes were on them.


    Especially, Alex who was watching them like a hawk. She did not like that woman one bit!


    She was like a jealous step-sister waiting to steal cindere''s items. Mei Mei gave the woman a cold icy re and then silently walked.


    She would ask her brother in secretter about this bad chicken. Unlike them, they lived in the same house and he was her brother!


    So she had plenty of time to talk to him about it.


    The group of humans and one chicken continued to walk in silence and soon they all arrived at the next town.


    "Since everyone has been fighting continuously, you guys should disperse and rest awhile, clear your mental fatigue."


    "I also need a couple of hours here." Liam smiled politely.


    The others quickly nodded and hurried away but not everyone did so. Alex, Mia, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei did not budge from their position.


    Everybody saw this but they continued walking away as if they hadn''t. In fact, some even walked faster without daring to turn back again.


    "You all are not leaving?" Liam chuckled, looking at the four women.


    Both Shen Yue and Mia immediately took the hint and nodded. It looked like he needed some privacy, so they also started walking away.


    But Alex and Mei Mei still stood firmly.


    Liam walked over and flicked Mei Mei''s head. "I have some work to do. Go y with your friends."


    "Brother, where is Luna?" Mei Mei asked.


    Liam''s expression changed a little but it quickly returned back to his normally cheerful face, at least the one he had when talking to her.


    "She is fine. She is evolving, so she needs to rest for a bit."


    "And Talon?"


    "Ah. I left him in theher realm."


    Liam did not want someone to target his bird since he had be somewhat famous now so he did not bring the wind ripper with him this time.


    "Ok. I will also leave then." The little girl reluctantly left, but not before giving Alex another stink eye.


    Now only Alex and Liam were left. "What? Do I have to give you a special invitation to get out? Or are you staying back to offer yourself yet again?"


    "Hey!" Alex growled, her eyes twitching in anger. "What is that chicken? Tell me everything."


    Looking at the entitled arrogant redhead, Liam silently stared at her. He did not say anything and he also did not look away.


    A predatory glint shed past his eyes.


    Alex couldn''t help but feel ufortable. This silence was a bit scary and she did not know why.


    Her usual arrogance quickly disappeared, reced by a look of nervousness. The guy was still smiling but she felt very uneasy.


    "I¡­ I was¡­ just asking because I got a tingling sensation¡­ like it happens when an undead is present."


    She swallowed and spoke, this time more gently. "So I wanted to know if that chicken is an undead."


    Liam was not an unreasonable person so when she asked nicely he also answered her. "Yes, it is a type of undead."


    It was not surprising that she noticed this because she also had an S-ranked divine affinity, which was quite powerful against undeads and demons.


    Alex waited for Liam to say something else but seeing that he was still standing in the same creepy pose with a creepy smile, she decided not to press him.


    It was a gut feeling. "Ah. Mia is calling me. I will leave." Alex looked away and quickly ran off.


    Liam let out a sigh and shook his head. He then headed to the outskirts of the town.


    There were a few newbie yers here and there, hunting chickens, rabbits, and baby bears.


    "Time to try this again."


    He casually walked over to the bunch of fresh blood who were all at Level 1 or 2 and when the next animal spawned, he grabbed a chicken and a rabbit.


    One was for testing while the other was for¡­


    "Hey!" Someone shouted but watching the beasts being carried by him as if he was going to a butcher shop, they did not stop and fight with him.


    They could only watch stupidly as Liam stole the animals right in front of them.


    They even respectfully gave way for him and continued with their grind after he was gone.


    Liam did not linger and after he got the animals he wanted, he quickly retreated back to an isted location.


    There he took out the chicken first. "Come out." He said and the other chicken also came out, once again materializing out of thin air.


    Unlike Luna and Talon, he was able to summon and dismiss the chicken at will. So it was extremely convenient.


    However¡­ as for the strength of the chicken¡­


    "1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­ go!"


    Liam mumbled absent-mindedly and then squatted nearby to take a look. He did not have much expectation as the pping bird did not look that strong, but...


    Bak Bak Baka!

 Chapter 292 - Your Follower Has Leveled Up

    <h4>Chapter 292 - Your Follower Has Leveled Up</h4>


    As soon as the bird heard Liam''smand, it loudly screeched and dashed forward.


    Bak Bak Baka


    "What the..." Liam couldn''t believe it.


    Both the chickens were at Level 1 but onepletely overpowered the other.


    The bird screeched like it was crazy and scratched the other bird with its ws until nothing remained.


    And before Liam could bat an eye... the other chicken waspletely torn apart. There was only flesh, blood, and feathers everywhere.


    [Ding. Your follower has leveled up]


    Now that it had sessfully finished the task assigned to it, the chicken twisted its head to look at Liam as if it was waiting for the nextmand.


    There was no tiredness or fatigue in its face.


    But Liam fell back in shock. "It actually leveled up? It can level up too?" He said in disbelief staring at the bird.


    From the beginning up until now, there was one thing that bothered him. He wanted to know just how powerful this ''Soulmancer'' ss was.


    Was it the same ss that Kouske previously had? Was it also equally astonishing?


    The main weakness of the necromancer ss was that even if he managed to create an army of undead it would be weak and useless against someone truly powerful.


    They would probably need only a single spell to take care of everything, breaking apart the corpses into bone and dust.


    But in his previous life, Kouske had somehow ovee this problem.


    His undead soldiers were not weak. They were powerful and could even hold ground against other humans.


    But what about his ss, ''Soulmancer''?


    Liam had hoped that the ss would be a necromancer ss with perhaps an additional ability to strengthen his minions using some soul spells and whatnot.


    However, never did he expect that the undead he raised would now be able to level up just like him! They would actually possess souls?


    If they had souls, were they still undead? They could perhaps learn and grow as well.


    This means that if he created an army of undead, they would not be weak and destructible any longer. He could make them strong and powerful?


    And moreover, they were souls. They were all made of souls. He could take them out into the real world along with him?


    The possibilities were endless. Liam sat down gazing at the small chicken like it was a precious treasure.


    "I did it?" He almost couldn''t believe it.


    In the beginning, he did not think that he would be able to do this. He felt like a blind man searching for water in the desert.


    But he kept working towards it because he had seen Kouske in hisst life and yearned for strength and power like that.


    However, he knew nothing about the inheritance and he had no knowledge about any events.


    Even for the small bits and pieces that he managed to scourge, he had to fight tooth and nail with the guy who was fated for it.


    And he had almost lost everything.


    But in the end¡­ somehow¡­ here he was¡­ with this dead chicken staring at him!


    "You did well," Liam muttered, staring at the bird. It really had no fear and showed no tiredness.


    "Dismiss." He said and the chicken disappeared, small dust floating back to him.


    "Come out." He repeated again, the chicken appearing in front of him once again. Liam fell back and chuckled loudly.


    He finally had the strength and the means to stand his ground. He did not have to hide and flee.


    He could be strong enough to tackle anything that the future tossed his way.


    Moreover, he had only just scratched the surface of this mysterious ss. Perhaps it contained something far more powerful.


    Liam licked his lips in anticipation and let out a long breath of relief. It seemed as if he had been holding this breath in for a very long time.


    He looked at the chicken and pointed to the group of baby bears spawning at a distance away from him. "Go, run around and hunt those guys."


    The chicken''s dazed eyes that were simply looking around suddenly looked like they were alive and... zwing!


    It strutted its wings and ran off in the direction of the bear cubs as if its tail was on fire.


    Bak Bak Baka!


    Bak Bak Baka!


    The chicken started pecking away at the group of animals. It was just a single chicken and it was up against four bear cubs.


    Yet, it fearlessly attacked everything in sight!


    Liam was amazed. He was observing the thing from a distance and noticed every small detail.


    The bear cubs wed at the chicken but the bird gave more than what it received. More importantly, the cubs'' movements weakened with injuries.


    The more beating they got the weaker they became, but that was not the case for chicken.


    It didn''t care how many hits it received, it fought back with the same ferocity. Also, the bird''s defense seemed quite good.


    The bear cubs attacks did not seem very effective against it. Was it because the chickencked a corporeal body?


    Liam grinned and looked at the undead animal in awe. He wanted to see everything that the beast was capable of.


    Also, he had only forged this chicken with his starting skills. What would happen if he actually managed to forge a powerful beast?


    Just how much strength would it be able to disy?


    What if he used mana,her, and demonic energy to forge a soul? Would that boost the stats and skills?


    And what if he forges a human soul?


    How many of these soul undeads would he be able to summon andmand?


    Would his own soul be able to withstand the pressure?


    Liam gazed at the bird with a lot of unanswered questions in his mind. He needed to thoroughly investigate this.


    He now had the ability to be someone strong. So he needed to master it to perfection and be someone unbeatable.


    "Huu... Step by step. One thing at a time."


    Liam grinned as his gaze shifted from the chicken to the rabbit in the cage.

 Chapter 293 - Tricks Up His Sleeve

    <h4>Chapter 293 - Tricks Up His Sleeve</h4>


    Inside the small town¡­


    Alex and Mia were sipping a drink in a local tavern inside a private booth. They were only able to sit freely because of this.


    Otherwise, their mere presence would have caused a huge stir andmotion in the small town.


    "Have you calmed down now?" Mia asked.


    "Yes. Yes. I am fine. I am just a bit restless because¡­ you know its already been 6 hours or 8 hours?"


    "I don''t know what we are doing in this shit ass town when we could be bing stronger and searching for hints to help Rey."


    Mia patted her. "Don''t worry. We know this guy more than anyone else. He is not someone to waste our time."


    Ding. Ding. Ding.


    "Talk about the devil." Alex''s lips twitched.


    A message from Liam shed in front of all the members of the group, calling for them to assemble again.


    Everyone had had enough time to rest by now so as soon as the message shed, no one wasted time and assembled in front of the small town.


    But surprisingly, the person who had asked them to rest once again looked exhausted and pale as if he was about to copse.


    "Fuck! Again?" Alex gritted her teeth.


    "Brother, what did you do?"


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue ran forward to help him up, but when the two girls reached closer, they suddenly stopped, yelping in shock.


    Standing next to Liam were two ghosts?


    One was a chicken and the other was a rabbit and they both did not look cute or cuddly like normal pets.


    Instead, they looked vicious and deadly, ready to attack.


    "Huh?" Mei Mei immediately took a step back. These were nothing like Luna and petting them was thest thought in her mind.


    Shen Yue, on the other hand, still continued to walk up to Liam to support him.


    Liam did not refuse her help and leaned on her with a big happy smile on his face. Only he knew the reason for this smile.


    With the second soul also forged to life, he now received another 5% boost in the inheritancepletion, bringing it up to 25%.


    He had almost finished one-quarter of the entire inheritance within days of getting it!


    Though these were just small beginner beasts and probably did not possess a lot of potential for growth and development, this in itself was a huge feat.


    Metal forging was nothing whenpared to soul forging.


    The difficulty was exponentially higher. Nevertheless, he had managed to take the first step and get a foothold. This was enough for him.


    With this, no matter what, he was determined to forge his way to the top!


    "Shall we start? No more breaks. And Mia, can I trouble you to take out the tiger again. I wish to take a small nap."


    Mia nodded and quickly assisted Liam. Standing next to her, Alex''s jaw fell to the ground.


    Why did her sister get so much respect when she was treated so badly! Wasn''t this just in partiality? This person definitely had it out for her!


    She eyed him and the two ghosts warily but kept quiet.


    The group continued moving once again, clearing the few mobs in their path. This time also Liam did not participate and was resting like a King.


    However, his two pets did not remain idle.


    When they spotted an enemy they could handle the pets dashed forward like starving hungry beasts and voraciously defeated the opponents.


    Bak Bak Baka


    Piu Piu Piuuu


    The entire forest was filled with the screeching sounds of these two, attracting even more mobs than usual.


    But no oneined. More the mobs, more the experience points received, and more the items dropped.


    And since they did not have to put extra effort into searching for them, it saved them some time as well.


    "Mia, what the hell are these two? Do you see? They are bing stronger slowly!" Alex eximed.


    "Yes. I can see that. They should be some sort of pets. Maybe soul pets or special undead pets."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    The two were discussing, when Alex casually opened the leaderboard to check her status as she had leveled up once, only to find Liam''s level once again bumped up.


    "What the hell?" She went ahead and rubbed her eyes to take a look at the guy sleeping on the tiger.


    They were all in the same party and the experience points were evenly shared but as the levels progressed higher, the experience points required to reach the next level exponentially increased.


    Going from Level 40 to 41 was a lot more difficult and time-consuming than going from Level 20 to 21.


    And yet this person had leveled up once while they also leveled up once? How could this be possible?


    Alex was dumbfounded. She couldn''t help but feel as if no matter what she thought about the person, she was always ending up underestimating him.


    This hateful person definitely had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.


    She snorted coldly and then continued to move forward along with the rest of the group.


    And the chicken and the rabbit as well were slowly and steadily leveling up.


    They would have leveled up faster but they were currently in a high-leveled zone so it was taking a while.


    A couple of hours passed by and the group arrived at the location Liam had shown them previously, a small vige on the southern part of the Gresh Kingdom.


    And the moment they stepped inside the forest, a horrid and pungent stench assaulted everyone.


    Ah. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck." Mei Mei rubbed her nose with some flower she had previously picked up, hoping it would help the situation, but it was useless.


    It was as if the air itself was heavier here, drenchedpletely in this horrendous scent.


    Every single member of the group twisted their faces in disgust. Even the indifferent Mia had uneasy creased eyebrows.


    However, the person happily taking a nap on the tiger alone, woke up with a smile on his face, stretching his limbs and yawning as if he was invigorated by the air around.


    ***


    Bonus chapter~~~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for this bonus chapter

 Chapter 294 - Black Mist

    Chapter 294 - ck Mist


    Thick wafts ofher assaulted Liam''s nose and he felt as if he had just drunk a cup full of good coffee. He felt invigorated.


    Just like the others, he also smelled the pungent scent in the air but the warm feeling of theher nullified that effect.


    "We are here?" Liam grinned looking around. The presence ofher was a good sign. This means that the quest was already in his favor.


    There were not many ces in Xion with richher energy so he could only have this advantage in selective areas.


    He quickly opened his status screen to take a look at the quest.


    [Kingdom Quest - Investigate the vige Jekuja and find out why the inhabitants are falling sick.]


    [Reward - Permission from the King to set up your estate]


    "So this is the vige?" Liam opened the map and saw that they were actually a few viges away from the Jekuja vige.


    They had not actually reached their exact location.


    However, whatever sickness or spell was affecting the Jekuja vige, it was clearly also affecting this vige and spread until here.


    "Is this the quest spot?" Mia asked.


    "Yes. It looks like it." Liam replied while simultaneously tapping his fingers on the air in front of him.


    He took out a bunch of potions and other consumables and handed them over to everyone.


    The others as well prepared themselves as Liam had already warned them about the difficulty of the quest.


    A kingdom quest was not to be taken lightly! This was a lesson he had learned the hard way!


    Taking a couple of minutes, the group cautiously moved into the small vige.


    It was probably once full of life, with people living in it but now it just reeked of death and sickness.


    "E! What is this?" Mei Mei was very close to jumping on Liam''s back and getting a piggyback ride.


    The entire ce was crawling with cockroaches and worms!


    "Chicken, Rabbit, Come out. Take care of the critters."


    Liam let the two small undeads handle these tiny nuisances and he continued looking around.


    Almost immediately, the two spectral beasts got down to business. They were silent this time as Liam asked them not to make noise.


    Yet, they were extremely energetic running around everywhere as if they were high on smack.


    "Are they stronger in the presence ofher?" Liam observed the two, before reaching one of the small houses and checking inside.


    Others as well followed his lead and paired up with their neighbor to check the group of houses clustered on the small mud street.


    But surprisingly when everyone looked around, all the houses werepletely empty with not even corpses of the vigers left behind.


    "What happened? Wasn''t the quest talking about sickness? Why is everyone here missing?" Mia asked Liam. Something did not feel right.


    The group started rummaging through the contents of the houses looking for some clue when Liam remembered something simr that he had seen in the recent past.


    This vige looked very simr to the vige where he hade across the Dark Mages.


    Besides, the first part of this quest also involved the small ck beads that he had found in that ce.


    Perhaps here also some cult just like that was involved? Were they once again sacrificing humans or doing something of that sort for gaining power?


    Liam pondered as his eyes now specifically searched for the presence of any ck bead when suddenly something crept up under his feet.


    He immediately moved several paces back in rm.


    For a second, he thought that he was mistakenly freaked out by his own shadow but he was wrong.


    At the spot where he was standing just a moment ago, a circr symbol appeared. It looked like it was made in ck ink and the pattern was unrecognizable.


    Even with the newnguages, he had picked up in theher realm, he still couldn''t understand this one, but he could sense strange energy seeping out from within it.


    "What is this?" While Liam was still looking, suddenly the symbol started glowing. ck wisps ofher slowly coiled around the symbol.


    Observing this, Liam curiouslymanded them toe to him.


    They also responded to him, quickly dispersed and flew towards him rather than the symbol.


    But that did not stop the urrence for long. The next second, ck wisps ofher once again started coiling around the symbol.


    Liam was about to summon them again when he realized that there were numerous houses around him and what if the same thing was happening everywhere.


    He quickly rushed out and ran into the adjacent house where Shin Soo was exploring and saw that he hadn''t even noticed the pattern on the ground.


    He was standing right on top of it without being aware of it. He couldn''t see it?


    Liam still did not know what this symbol was but he did not have a good feeling about it.


    "Get out of the houses." He quickly stepped out and loudly shouted in the empty street, attracting everyone''s attention.


    Liam did not have to say twice.


    Hearing his voice thundering outside, everyone understood that there was probably some sort of danger inside the houses and rushed out.


    But unexpectedly, as soon as they stepped out, they noticed that the previously empty and deserted street was now covered by a thick ck mist obscuring their view.


    It had happened too fast and even Liam also noticed it only aftering out. "This isher..? No¡­ this is something else."


    Mia and Alex as well cast a couple of dispels to see if they can remove this mist but it was spreading too fast covering everybody.


    And before anyone could make sense of what was happening, suddenly a rain of arrows started pouring,ing out of nowhere.


    Under the cover of this thick ck mist, endless arrows aimed for the group zoomed from all directions.


    They were also not weak and dealt a huge chunk of damage when they hit someone.


    "Who is attacking us? I can''t see."


    "What the hell?"

 Chapter 295 - Dark Elves

    <h4>Chapter 295 - Dark Elves</h4>


    Seeing that the entire group was about to descend into utter chaos and everybody''s health was just seconds away from plummeting down, Liam sprang into action.


    "MOVE! DODGE!" He shouted.


    He drew his sword out, blocking the arrowsing towards him. He did not have to see clearly for this.


    He only blocked the ones that were about to hit him and were neared closer, the arrows split apart the mist all on their own.


    One needed to have strong reaction speed and agility to aplish this and Liam was able to manage it.


    However, he did not stop there. While blocking the arrows, he also simultaneouslymanded theher in the air to form a nket of sorts.


    And the mist or at least part of it bent ording to his will.


    Instantly, the intensity of the ck mist reduced and the visibility improved. A thick pitch-ck dome as well appeared over the group''s heads.


    It was basically a massive spread-outher barrier simr to a mana barrier and he just did it casually with all but a thought.


    How much mana was required to aplish something like this? How much experience was required? Was this even a skill?


    However, no one had the time to admire this feat. After the arrows, without giving anyone a break, other attacks started flying towards them.


    Fireballs, ice spears, metal spears¡­ there were also ck arrowsing at them from all sides.


    "Liam, we are going to bepletely surrounded!" Mia shouted.


    "Yes, I see that," Liam replied, but there was no nervousness in his voice. He already recognized the enemies standing ahead of them.


    As soon as the visibility improved, their lean and tall figures stood out amidst the ck mist that enshrouded the area.


    They had muscr defined bodies and long ears with eyes that clearly reflected the cruelty and bloodthirstiness in their hearts.


    "Dark elves!" Alex eximed.


    "They are all Level 50! Quick! Attack! We can''t let them surround us."


    Her voice rang loudly in the ominous environment and a clear bright day suddenly turned into a dark night.


    The light ck fog and stench thickened and it looked as if it was the night at the moment.


    "Attack! Tanks! Upfront!" Alex directly jumped into the fray.


    She could see the situation they were in very clearly and it took her only one second to assess the same.


    Unlike the mobs they faced on the way here, this was going to be a tough battle!


    Since she was standing closest to the elves followed by Mia, and Shin Soo, the three of them started fighting first, trying to hold back the few elves running towards the group.


    The rest of the group also immediately started retaliating back.


    Everyone quickly got into the position that they werefortable fighting from and started returning back the attacks of the elves.


    The elves sneered coldly looking at the humans gathered in their hunting spot.


    They were just now finished with this vige and more prey had willingly arrived!


    Seeing how they were being pushed back, the elves also understood that the strength of these humans was not at the same tier as the strength of the vigers they had easily ughtered and harvested.


    A loud war call sounded and suddenly more dark elves started pouring out. The entire ce was full of them.


    Where did there many evene from? No one was able to understand anything. For now, all they could do was fight and push on.


    BOOM! BOOM! RATTLE! RATTLE!


    The fight started abruptly and became intense from the get-go. Liam''s group was clearly outnumbered and from the looks of it also out-skilled.


    The dark elves barraged a wide variety of attacks and every single one of them was a huge damage dealer.


    Even if they managed to evade the eye of the attack, they still suffered from the spillovers. Such powerful elemental magic!


    As if this was not enough, a group of elven warriors jumped forward to deal with the three tanks blocking the majority of the attack.


    Alex and Mia, both gritted their teeth and held the bunch of them back.


    The dark element racial affinity of the elves and the two women''s divine affinity worked against each other.


    Alex and Mia sent out attacks that dealt severe damage to the dark elves but at the same time, they also received huge damages.


    Each was vulnerable to the other person''s attack.


    The entire ce became chaotic very quickly. From the looks of it, they were definitely getting pushed back.


    When two elves in front fell, four more cropped up from behind. The ck fog became thicker and thicker and no one was able to see clearly.


    "How did this happen? How are there so many of them? How are elves even here in this Kingdom? Was this an all-out war?"


    At this rate, Mia was not sure even she would be able to handle the situation.


    She flung divine arrows left and right, and banged the ground with her staff, sending a wave of divine energy to slow down the mob.


    The dark elves momentarily slowed down but another wave ofher swept across the deserted vige and the group quickly recovered.


    Seven dark elves surrounded Mia and a simr group surrounded Alex and Shin Soo as well.


    More then began crossing the frontline, easily breaking apart the defense of the tank and then flooding over to the center and vanguard of the team.


    Until now, the group had only faced mobs they could handle.


    Even if they were high leveled, their fighting abilities were not as superior as these elves.


    But these elves were different. They were high-level skilled fighters.


    So they werepletely overwhelmed and struggling to fight back. The difference in the stats and thebat experience was staggering.


    As each second passed, the situation grew worse and the conditions turned against them. Everyone''s health was also dropping.


    "This can''t go on! We won''t be able to hold on much longer!"


    As the person acting as the healer, tank, and dps of the team, Mia had the best overall viewpoint.


    She knew that they needed to do something or it was only going to be aplete wipeout.


    They needed to do something and they needed to do something right now, right this second!


    Or rather¡­ he needed to do something!


    Mia let out another burst of [Divine Bnce] reducing the agility and movement speed of everyone surrounding her and bought herself a couple of seconds to see what was happening with Liam.


    And as soon as she did, she instantly wished that she hadn''t done that!


    The guy was simply standing at the back as if he was a school sports coach watching and analyzing the performance of the team.


    Was this really the time to do that?!


    Half the people here might not know the consequence of dying but Liam surely did and yet he was risking everyone''s lives like this.


    This time even Mia was angry and reflecting her anger, her powers also surged as if she had just now drunk a berserk potion.


    But even if she was angry, there was nothing she could do. She could only struggle with the elves surrounding her.


    There was no oneing to help, definitely not him. She could only rely on her own strength.


    "Aaaaarrrgggghhhh!" She growled and without realizing her spell casting became much smoother and sharper.


    Every other spell, she actually started casting it out of her will and not by activating the system''smand.


    The same thing happened with Alex as well. Her ownbat abilities also tremendously improved.


    Even Mei Mei, Shen Yue, Shin Soo, Kang Mina everyone experienced great improvements in their abilities.


    The dark elves surrounding thempletely overpowered them.


    It felt as if they were struggling endlessly to fight a losing battle and yet¡­ they never did actually lose!


    At critical moments, somehow there will be a chance and they were able to continue and press on.


    Only after fighting a while, Mia and Alex realized that this was no coincidence.


    They once again nced at the back to see the person who was seemingly simply standing, but was he really just standing?

 Chapter 296 - Scythe Of Slaughter

    <h4>Chapter 296 - Scythe Of ughter</h4>


    Alex and Mia gaped in awe as they watched Liam stand in the back like a conductor and orchestrate the entire fight.


    If someone was being pushed back he lent them a little hand and they immediately recovered.


    If someone''s mana had bottomed out, stamina had bottomed out, or if they were surrounded by too many enemies, every single time Liam silently stepped in.


    As a battle healer, this was what Mia wanted to do, but her level was not there yet. However, this person¡­ was already there¡­


    Both Alex and Mia gritted their teeth and turned around to fight back even harder.


    They did not have much time to think and they did not want their own skills tog behind this much. They needed to improve faster.


    The two women once again focused on the enemy in front of them and continued plowing their way through the mess.


    Slowly and steadily the group was gaining traction and they were taking back their upper hand. The number of dark elves also started to waver.


    But at this critical juncture¡­ all of a sudden¡­ another loud warhorn resounded.


    Somehow an even more number of dark elves started pouring out! Where were they alling from?


    This time even Liam did not dare to take things lightly. "Alright. It looks like the training session is now over."


    Hiyup. He pushed the mana coiling in his body down to his legs and bent down pressing his knees to push himself.


    He then leaped forward to directlynd in front of Mia and Alex. It only took him one move to reach the front lines.


    The next instant, the purple sword in his hand shed and heads started rolling down one after the other.


    Liam specifically targeted every dark elf that was already injured to an extent by struggling with Mia, Alex, and Shin Soo and he began finishing these guys off quickly.


    At this time, their numbers were the biggest threat so he wanted to tackle that first.


    They also seemed to have some healers on their side who were quickly healing the injured if they were not dealt with as soon as possible.


    His sword shed in the darkness of the ck mist as he exchanged blows with these elves on the frontlines, sometimes using them as a cover when other attacks targeted him.


    He also kept moving his position so that targeting him was not an easy task. However, his speed was still slow.


    After all, these elves were not rabbits and chickens that he could ughter at will. They were strong warriors, from the looks of it, seasoned as well.


    So Liam inadvertently ended up spending quite a few seconds dealing with them before he found himself overwhelmed with their numbers as well.


    [Mana Net] [Frozen Earth] [Trapping vines]


    He used all of his control skills but when fighting against a huge number of enemies these were not as effective.


    He needed a stronger spell! He needed to deal with multiple elves at the same time.


    [Lava Rain] [Fire bullets]


    Liam cast these two spells but they were not as strong and effective. They only did dot damage and the effect did notst long.


    A couple of secondster, it was almost as if he had never cast any spell in the first ce.


    "No, this won''t do. I need something with far more impact." Liam looked around and then grinned.


    He did not have to think long for a solution as it was all around him, the ck mist.


    The ck mist was notpletelyher but he was able to control parts of it that wereher.


    With just a thought in his mind, silently willing the air around him, theher in the area started coalescing and Liam''s grin widened.


    The mist thinned out further and a few elves stared at this dumbly, when suddenly theher that was coalescing shrunk into a big ball and then expanded explosively to form a shape.


    A huge scythe appeared in the sky above everyone''s heads!


    It looked ominous and the very sight of it was terrifying as ck wisps danced around the edges of the scythe as if it was on fire and ck mes engulfed the weapon.


    Everyone instantly trembled. Mia, Alex, Shen Yue, all looked up in shock.


    They were already up to their neck just fighting against these weaker dark elves. So who was the one conjuring this massive scythe?


    Had a new powerful enemy arrived? How were they going to deal with this massive attack?


    It was going to be an instant wipe-out!


    Even Mia would be helpless to heal the necks this scythe cleaved!


    At this time, everyone only had regrets in their heart. They were far too weak!


    On the other end, the dark elves started rejoicing.


    They also did not know who conjured this massive scythe but they knew it had to be someone on their side.


    No human could possibly possess such a great affinity to the dark element!


    So they started attacking even more ferociously invigorated by the massive scythe hanging in the air, waiting to strike down and sweep everyone in its path.


    They could already taste the victory in this battle.


    However¡­ the next moment¡­ the scythe finally swung down¡­ but unexpectedly, it did not swing down on the side of the humans.


    Instead, it came down on the dark elves.


    KRASHHHH KLASSSHHH KRASHHHH KLASSSHHH


    A dozen elves died in an instant, cut down into halves by the single overwhelming attack. Many were severely maimed and injured.


    They couldn''t react at all. No one saw iting.


    But even if they did see iting, what could they have done against this massive scythe?


    The dark elves could only dumbly stare at the massive weapon that swung down and sliced everyone in its path, finally dispersing into nothingness.


    How is this possible? Who could possibly summon something like this?


    Their dead lifeless eyes still stared at the sky wondering what just happened.

 Chapter 297 - Elven Generals

    <h4>Chapter 297 - Elven Generals</h4>


    On the other side, Alex, Mia, and everyone else was equally trembling in fear and shock.


    They thought that their lives had ended but they were still alive? So the scythe was conjured by someone in their team?


    Who could have done it?


    Even though this thought heavily upied everyone''s minds, they did not dare stop fighting. This was their chance!


    Using this moment of surprise to her advantage, Mia sted the dark elves surrounding her with waves of divine energy.


    Alex also spun her shield, slicing the four elves on her right.


    Only then, the two of them could clearly see the pile of corpses littered in front of them.


    A river of blood was flowing right down the battlefield and flesh and bones were strewn about everywhere.


    These bodies eventually became dust and dispersed, but even for the few seconds they lingered, it was a terrible horrifying sight, the sight of an actual battle.


    And the person who was causing all of this, culling the army of elvesing for them was¡­ of course, the same person who had brought all of them here.


    "He¡­ he conjured that scythe¡­"


    Alex took a step back, a strange expression shing past her face. Strangely, it was one of admiration and awe.


    "Just how much strength does he possess?"


    Liam''s movements were absolutely dazzling.


    For someone who had just now cast a brilliant powerful spell, he did not seem to be tired or out of breath at all.


    It was as if he could go on like this all night long.


    His lean figure danced amidst the sea of dark elves, blood and flesh sttering where ever he went.


    In between, he also switched to casting, sending a flurry of attacks on the enemy''s frontline, pushing them back by quite a bit.


    It was brilliant. His techniques and his perceptivity were outstanding.


    Even in situations where a single w could cause the loss of momentum, he was performing outstandingly.


    Something like this could not be obtained just because someone was lucky. It had to be earned through battles, countless battles.


    Just strong was this person? She couldn''t gauge his strength at all. Even when she tried not to underestimate him, she had still done it apparently.


    Ah! Alex became bright red, suddenly realizing that she was standing simply in the middle of a battleground, staring at someone else like a lovesick teenager.


    She saw the few elves approaching Liam''s back and quickly dashed forward to relieve some of his load.


    The burden on everybody else also considerably lessened.


    With Liam, Alex, and Shin Soo now holding the frontlines, the pressure on everybody else lessened and they were able to make aeback.


    Mia as well took a step back from tanking and damage dealing and focussed solely on healing to bring everyone''s health back up slowly, bit by bit.


    By now, everyone''s potions had probably run out and she didn''t want to take risks, allowing things to take a turn for the worse.


    So seeing that the situation called for it, Mia quickly jumped into healing without anyone else''s say-so.


    And just like that, the condition of the entire team also stabilized in an instant.


    Liam observed this and smiled.


    This was precisely why he decided to change his original ns and take time to bring this woman to his team no matter what he had to do.


    She was a gem among diamonds.


    While Liam was assessing everyone''s abilities, the other new members were simultaneously assessing his abilities as well.


    Half the team was already very familiar with Liam, so they were not surprised by this.


    In fact, even when things became sticky, they never doubted for a second that they were going to lose this fight.


    They just knew that Liam would do something and they would somehow recover. It was their blind faith in Liam''s capabilities.


    But the other half, the ones that came along with Mia and Alex were left stupified.


    This was the first time they were seeing Liam fight and this was enough to clear all their doubts.


    Every single person who was concerned about Liam''s abilities was now inspired by his strength.


    Now they understood why Mia and Alex were showing him respect and listening to his words.


    Heck, they could not even recognize the spells he was casting.


    Were they even ying the same game? How could someone be so powerful? Just the difference in 10 levels can exin something like this?


    What the hell was this ss even? Not to mention the weird chicken and rabbit who were nowhere to be found now.


    Liam had already dismissed them because this fight was way above their level.


    Besides, things were back under control, so he did not have to go all out.


    They had smoothly cleared the few elves who had managed to get to their rear to attack the long-ranged fighters and healers and the front line was under control.


    Experience points were piling up and the number of elves was also considerably reduced.


    However, just when things were beginning to clear up, suddenly another war horn sounded and this time, Liam had a bad premonition.


    Do they still have more backup?


    Now he did not hesitate and took out two metal balls from his inventory, tossing them out on the ground in front of him.


    The next second, two huge golems suddenly appeared in the midst of the chaotic battleground.


    Everyone gasped in surprise. This person still had more things left! They had almost forgotten about these two giants!


    Liam''s two golems were not exactly unknown. Rather they were widely popr and heavily criticized.


    Every single guild wanted to obtain knowledge about this cheat method but unfortunately, no information was avable about them, except that they asionally popped up and rained down devastation.


    And now everyone got to witness these two giants ughter everything around them in person!


    But¡­ before the golems could act¡­ Almost exactly at the same time they were summoned, five dark elves also appeared.


    Each of these thicker, bulkier, and regent-looking elf was riding a dark tiger. The tiger was huge, several times the size of Mia''s white tiger.


    These were full-grown ruthless prowlers, but those were not the maxim threat at the moment. It was the dark elves riding these beasts.


    Level 55 Elite Dark General


    Level 53 Elite Dark General


    Level 51 Elite Dark General


    Level 55 Elite Dark General


    Level 60 Elite Dark General


    "Not good." Liam tightened his grasp on the sword hilt.


    "Mia, I will handle the 60 and another 55. Alex, deal with the 55. Shen Yue can you try to charm one general?"


    Liam''s figure blurred as his voice rang loudly amidst the confusion and chaos.


    In this entire fight, this was the first time he was giving out instructions, but his movements never stopped.


    They were as precise and as decisive as always.


    "The REST OF YOU! Form groups of three and fight against the Generals. Try and see if you can lure the General to the attack golem."


    "If your health falls down, run quickly and take cover under the defense golem."


    "DO NOT underestimate these enemies. I repeat DO NOT underestimate them.. Anyone past Level 50 is not somebody that can be handled easily."

 Chapter 298 - Forced Retreat

    <h4>Chapter 298 - Forced Retreat</h4>


    Liam''s words loudly rang out as he moved through the dozen of dark elves, evading their attacks, and directly appeared behind one of the dark elf Generals.


    His sword instantly sliced forward tond on the back of the elf, but at thest minute, the elf jumped up from the tiger andnded on the ground, smoothly dodging his sword shes.


    "Ho. Ho. Ho. Narishta Karishta. Someone interesting is here."


    Immediately, a dozen elves swarmed around the two of them, trying to sneak attack Liam from the side and the back.


    And the dark elf General as well did nothing to control this situation. A prey had willingly walked into their encirclement.


    He simply sneered observing the enemy standing in front of him, showing no intention of fighting him. His gaze only casually dragged on Liam as if he was analyzing everything about him.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not dare let his guard down because of this. He could tell that his opponent this time was not so simple.


    There was a strong feeling of oppression and killing intenting from the dark elf''s cruel and sinister eyes.


    Liam brandished his purple semi-epic sword shing down at the other dark elves waiting to stab him from the back.


    He sent out a burst of wind to one side and a burst of fire to the other side, doing a backflip to deal with the elves behind him personally.


    But even under these dire circumstances, he couldn''t possibly turn his back against the main enemy threatening his very life.


    He always kept an eye on him while dealing with the other dark elves, which was not easy because each and every single one of them was high-leveled and had above-averagebat abilities.


    They blocked and parried his attacks,ing back, again and again, to encircle and trap him.


    To make matters worse, another dark elf General also arrived, riding the huge tiger to stand near them and watch the show.


    But Liam couldn''t deal with either of them because he was being swarmed by their underlings from all sides.


    If things continued this way¡­ then he didn''t even have to guess the oue. This fight would be over before it even began.


    He thought he could do some burst damage and keep the two upied, kiting for a while but he had vastly underestimated the strength of the elves.


    To answer these guys, he needed pure strength!


    Liam gripped his sword tightly as he decided on the best course of action, at least for now.


    The two Generals staring down at him were ticking time bombs that could go off whenever they pleased and take him down easily.


    So before they went off...


    "GET OUT!"


    Liam stopped haphazardly dealing with the weaker pests and stomped his feet on the ground, sending out a dozenher spikes in all directions.


    All the dark elf underlings immediately scattered away with injuries littered on their bodies.


    The two Generals, as well, received some of the spikes but they did not budge from their ce.


    But this at least temporarily gave him a circle of clearance. Liam finally found a chance and dashed forward to test the duo''s strength.


    Both held big spears in their hand and jumped off of their rides tond in front of Liam. "You want to fight? Ke Ke Ke."


    [Fireball] Liam conjured a ball of fire, letting it grow bigger this time, and then without stopping his movement, he tossed it on the dark elf on the right and shed down at the dark elf on the left.


    The two Generals, however, easily evaded the attacks. They looked at each other and grunted, before striking forward with their spears.


    Liam quickly moved a few paces back to avoid this attack, but unexpectedly, something still struck him before tossing him backward.


    Only after he felt the intensity of the attack, he realized what had happened.


    From the tips of the spears, a ck fire had swirled forward and the impact of it sent him flying with a few burnt marks on his skin.


    Liam stabilized himself and looked up to see the two dark elves sneering at him in disdain.


    They walked closer to him with expressions on their faces like they wereing forward to squish a bug.


    Liam knew at that instant. He was correct. This was not an enemy he could win against. Perhaps with their whole groupbined together.


    These Generals and each of these dark elves might as well be dungeon bosses. Without everyone acting in sync, it was not possible to even scratch their skin, at least for now.


    Even then it was difficult. Especially with the dozens of dark elf underlings still remaining on the battlefield. They needed to do a tactical retreat!


    They were too far spread out. They needed to regroup and fight back. Otherwise, this will be a losing battle.


    However, the issue with this was... they were the ones currently on the losing side, and if the losing side retreats... then everyone would only get ughtered.


    It was the winning side who needed to retreat but why would they do it, unless...


    Liam knew that he had to force them to retreat somehow making them think that they were the ones who were going to lose.


    Liam hurriedly looked in the front and then looked behind him.


    A good part of the terrain was still covered in ck mist so he was only able to see so much, but he knew that behind him there were no members of their group.


    He was right now standing amidst the enemy so he was surrounded on all sides by the enemy.


    This was the most disadvantageous situation he could be in. At the same time, there was also another advantage.


    Liam quickly turned tails and retreated back but not before tossing a couple of grenades behind the enemy lines, not just any grenade but he tossed the highest grade grenade he had in his possession.


    BOOM! BOOM!


    Two loud explosions resounded, throwing everyone off their rhythm. This was Liam''sst backup and now he used that.


    Loud ear-piercing shrieks echoed as a couple of elves were killed in just a single second because of the impact of the explosions. Many were heavily injured and disoriented.


    The look on the two Generals'' faces finally changed, distorting in hate and anger. "You dare kill our brethren?"


    They rushed forward and this time they were definitely not going to hold back.


    They did note at him with an intention of testing his strength, but Liam was also not nning to stay back.


    "RETREAT!" He shouted.


    BOOM!


    He threw out another bomb and thenmanded theher around him once again to form a giant fist and punched the elves chasing after him.


    The problem was that though he was able to easily send out giant attacks bymandingher, because of the racial dark element affinity of the elves hisher attacks were only 60% effective.


    And to start with even the underlings were at higher levels, so he did not just rely on theher fist.


    He used theher fist to create some space and pull back, before tossing out another bomb to do some actual damage.


    BOOOM! BOOM! BOOOM!


    Continuous explosions rang out. Liam did this to get some breathing room for himself and the team but he also did this for another reason.


    While the entire vige and the neighboring areas trembled in the aftermath of the explosions, the elves grew nervous for the first time.


    They were worried about these explosives that wereing at them endlessly. The blood and carnage were simply too much for them to recover and they couldn''t fight back at all.


    And just like Liam expected, a different horn sounded this time.


    ROOOOOOOO! The elves started slowly retreating back without pushing on further. The elven generals as well started begrudgingly retreating back.


    Seeing the destructive power of the grenades, they did not want to underestimate their enemy and take chances.


    BOOM! Liam tossed out another bomb and they gritted their teeth in anger, leaving the ce hurriedly.


    Because of the ck mist, it was unclear where they ran away to but they were definitely retreating, at least for the time being.


    Alex, Mia, Shin Soo, everyone at the front line saw this and heaved a breath of relief. They were also tired to their bones and were fighting with their all.


    However, right at this moment, when things were about to clear up, suddenly a shadow emerged from Liam''s back.


    Everything happened in a second.


    A hand grabbed Liam from the back and a dagger shed past him, but Liam sensed it in time perhaps because of the abundance ofher around him.


    He twisted his body tond a kick and evade, while also simultaneously attacking with his purple sword.


    SHEEEK!


    Red blood sttered, but before Liam could get a handle on things, the figure vanished again.


    An assassin?


    Amidst the dust and debris from the series of explosions, it was very easy to disappear but Liam had a feeling that the person who attacked him still hadn''t left.


    "BE CAREFUL!" He did not even finish speaking when the dark-skinned elf appeared once again.


    However, this time he appeared behind Alex who was a few feet away from Liam.


    Alex hurriedly spun around, her red hair dancing in the ck mist and her shield up against the person''s chest, pushing him back. But...


    BANG. THUD.


    The elf''s hands moved at a lightning-fast pace and he knocked out the woman in one hit before her attack couldnd.


    The next second, unexpectedly, grabbed her before disappearing again. Everything happened too fast before anyone could make sense of it.


    Liam was the only one to react and he dashed forward, shing his sword and sending out a dozen fire bullets in the dark elf''s direction, but unfortunately, they all only bit the dust.


    It looked like the dark elf had really vanished this time around and did not appear again. He had also taken Alex along with him.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Shocked Corgi for this bonus chapter

 Chapter 299: It is not so simple

    Chapter 299: It is not so simple


    ¡°What¡­ what just happened? Alex!¡± Mia screamed in shock. This was the first time, she had shown emotions on her face.


    She was standing on the back so she hadn¡¯t seen the whole thing until it actually happened.


    Not only she but also everyone else could only gaze nkly at the spot where Alex was standing.


    She was just there a second ago and now she was no longer there. It had all happened so fast!


    ¡°What happened sis?¡± Mei Mei asked Shen Yue. She still did not understand what all the ruckus was about.


    ¡°One of the elves kidnapped Alex.¡± Shen Yue indifferently replied. Hearing her words, Mei Mei also did not look that panicked.


    In fact, no one except for one person showed any reaction at all. Only Mia was clearly grief-stricken.


    ¡°Liam! I am not able to contact her.¡±


    ¡°I am not able to send any messages to her.¡±


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°Why did he take her? Is he nning to kill her?¡±


    ¡°If so¡­ Why is she not dead already and resurrected? I will go and check the nearby graveyard!¡±


    Mia started to leave when finally Liam spoke up. ¡°Stop. She won¡¯t be there.¡±


    ¡°Even if you go there, you would just be wasting time.¡±


    ¡°If she was already dead and ressurected, she would have been able to receive your messages.¡±


    ¡°First calm down and think things properly.¡±


    Hearing his words, Mia also stopped moving. Her eyes widened and she started back at Liam angrily.


    Everything he said made sense, but it was the way he had said it that made her feel agitated. It was as if he did not care at all.


    Whether she lived or died or what happened to her, it seemed like he couldn¡¯t care less.


    ¡°Ok. She is not dead. So how do we bring her back? Liam, I cannot lose her and Rey.¡± Mia trembled.


    Her gaze was on the ground, but her entire body was shaking from top to bottom. ¡°Please. Can we follow them and rescue her?¡±


    There was no arrogance or anger in her tone. Rather her voice cracked and she spoke as if she was begging him.


    However, contrary to her actions, Liam still looked cold and indifferent.


    He remained silent staring into the distance, throught the ck mist that was slowly clearing now.


    Even Mei Mei, Shen Yue and several others now looked worried, their feelings changing after seeing how despondent Mia sounded.


    But Liam remained unmoved. He stood simply deeply engrossed in his thoughts.


    ¡°Say something, Liam. Please.¡± Mia begged, her voice barely audible. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to risk, then I¡­¡±


    ¡°Stop.¡± Liam sighed. ¡°This is not so simple. This matter won¡¯t be settled easily.¡±


    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Mia clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging in her palm.


    ¡°Think about it.¡±


    ¡°You too saw the number of dark elves right?¡±


    ¡°How could so many of them suddenly enter our Kingdom without the knowledge of the royal family?


    ¡°What are you saying?¡± Mia¡¯s eyes widened in shock. She already understood the implications but she wanted to know what Liam thought.


    ¡°I think one of our neighbouring kingdoms is trying to take advantage of the demon raids.¡±


    ¡°While the demon forces are invading ournds and all our concentration is on them, someone is sneaking by these dark elves, probably their allies into our Kingdom, thereby weakening us from inside out.¡±


    ¡°Do you see the number of viges affected? This is like a spreading rot. After affecting the boundaries, it will slowly starting towards the center.¡±


    ¡°Do you understand now?¡± Liam asked and Mia nkly nodded.


    ¡°So you do also understand how difficult it is to rescue Alex right now? Chasing after them and trying to get her out is simply a futile action.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ ¡± Mia shook her head. Tears formed in her eyes.


    She knew that if Alex couldn¡¯t be contacted through messages, if she can¡¯t die, then she also wouldn¡¯t be able to log out.


    This was the same thing they had experienced in prison as well. Except that, now she would probably be tortured or more.


    Just the very thought of it made her feel terrified. She shook her head as if she did not want to think about these things any longer.


    ¡°Liam, please. I know all that. I know all that. I understand the position we are in. But we need to do something, please. She is all I have.¡± Mia pleaded.


    At this time, the others were a little confused. This was just a quest, right?


    Sure, the pain and death were a bit too realistic and that was the biggest drawback of the game, but by now, many people were used to it.


    When you already know what to expect, it became a little less scary though it was still quite painful.


    So even with this quest, either Alex would be killed or perhaps die of starvation or something.


    She could also try andmit suicide and escape the predicament she was in. Compared to how Mia was reacting, the situation did not look serious at all.


    But they did not know that Mia knew something which they were unaware of.


    They didn¡¯t know that she could be tortured and her soul could be permanently erased.


    They also did not know that every time they are entering the game, they are risking their very lives.


    So everyone continued to stare at Mia as if she was an emotional woman on her PMS, making a big deal out of nothing.


    No wonder Liam was always being harsh on these two!


    But unexpectedly, the next second, Liam as well nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will get her back safely.¡± He replied.


    ¡°I tried my best not to underestimate this Kingdom quest but it looks like I have still done it anyway.¡±


    ¡°But don¡¯t worry, I know exactly what to do and how to get her back.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t be easy, but I know what to do.¡±


    Liam gazed at the ck mist which had now almostpletely disappeared, along with the group of dark elves who had attacked them.

 Chapter 300: Preparations

    Chapter 300: Preparations


    Letting everyone first rest a bit, Liam then stood up, preparing to leave. ¡°You guys should retreat even further. Better to be safe. Go to the firefly town we crossed a while back.¡±


    ¡°Liam, where are you leaving? What is the n?¡± Mia hurriedly asked.


    ¡°I think I will first return back to the Kingdom and report it to that bastard. I think I can make him lend the royal army or at least part of it to deal with these guys.¡±


    ¡°After that, I will let you know based on how things go on my end,¡± Liam exined.


    ¡°Wait.¡± Mia stopped him again.


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam turned to look at her.


    ¡°How are you nning to return back to the city?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Oh. Yes. About that. Can I borrow your tiger again?¡± Liam scratched his head. Now he regretted not bringing Talon along.


    He was worried that yers would recognize him because of the bird and it would make his life difficult if they decided to ambush him, but without the bird also many things were inconvenient.


    But Mia shook her head.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to give me your tiger?¡± Liam knitted his brows. He watched her reach into her inventory space and take out a crystal instead.


    ¡°This is a return inscription crystal?¡± Liam was surprised. Each of these cost around 50 gold and they were also rare to obtain.


    Even if he wanted to buy them, he wouldn¡¯t know where to get them, but clearly, this group did.


    ¡°Ok. I will use this then.¡± Liam did not hesitate and epted the crystal.


    ¡°You guys should also start moving. They should not attack again so soon but just in case¡­¡±


    He crushed the crystal and a portal appeared just like theher realm portal, albeit white in color and then he disappeared into it.


    The next second, Liam then directly reappeared outside the royal city. He quickly walked over to the inner square and to the royal castle.


    But just as he was about to enter the castle, a group of royal guards blocked his path.


    ¡°The King is busy at the moment. He is unable to meet with you, my Lord.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam did not move and firmly stood his ground.


    ¡°No. This is a matter of utmost importance. This concerns the safety of the Kingdom. I need to see him right now.¡±


    He showed his insignia as a Duke of the Kingdom. The guards now looked hesitant, no longer tantly chasing him away.


    Seeing this Liam once again requested them, ¡°Please show this insignia to his majesty and convey my message to him.¡±


    ¡°I need to talk to him about the viges in the south. If you tell him this, he will understand the seriousness of the issue.¡±


    The guards nodded and then quickly scurried away.


    They had their instructions but this sounded like an emergency so one of them went inside the resting chamber of the King.


    Even the guard did not go in and simply knocked on the door from outside when another servant appeared and irately asked.


    ¡°Why are you knocking at this time? Don¡¯t you know that the King doesn¡¯t see anyone after dusk?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ this is an emergency.¡± The guard awkwardly mumbled and conveyed the message.


    Liam watched all of this from a distance and couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. ¡°This person doesn¡¯t see anyone after dusk? That¡¯s unusual.¡±


    But right now he had bigger fishes to fry. So he ignored that and looked at the guard who appeared once again a few minutester.


    ¡°The King wishes to see you now, my Lord.¡±


    Liam nodded and followed him. He was inwardly thinking about how to make this work.


    He needed more manpower for this quest. He needed to somehow talk this guy into agreeing for that.


    Mulling over this issue, he walked into the room, only to find the guy casually leaning back and restingfortably on a huge chair.


    ¡°You wanted to see me?¡±


    This bitch¡­ Liam let out a long breath and quickly exined what they hade across.


    At least the other party patiently listened to him from beginning to end. So he was happy about that.


    And surprisngly, at the end of the exntion, he also received another notification.


    [Ding. Quest Completed]


    [Ding. You are now eligible to set up your estate within the Kingdom]


    ¡°The quest is alreadyplete?¡± Liam did not expect it. Nevertheless, he kept going.


    ¡°This is the gist of it, your highness. I am now awaiting your orders.¡± Liam humbly bowed and waited for the man to speak.


    The King looked as delicate and as beautiful as Shen Yue. He batted his long eyeshes and looked at Liam as if he was confused about something.


    Liam also noticed this and then suddenly realized. Do I have to exin everything to this guy? Just how naive and inexperienced is he?


    ¡°Your highness, I urgently need some troops to get rid of these dark elves terrorizing our viges. Otherwise, things could be very bad.¡± Liam urged him.


    ¡°Your highness-¡± He started again when the man finally opened his mouth, interrupting him. ¡°Do not patronize me. Of course, I know that you need troops.¡±


    His star like eyes twinkled as he looked at Liam unflinchingly and replied. ¡°I am just not sure if I could spare some at the moment.¡±


    ¡°But your highness, with the demon invasions-¡± Liam was furious.


    He had clearly spelled out the seriousness of the situation and yet the person in front of him was twirling his hair strands and gazing into the distance.


    The man¡¯s mind was on something else. ¡°Yes, yes, the demon invasions. That¡¯s precisely why I am not able to lend you sufficient help.¡±


    ¡°I cannot look weak in front of the other Kingdoms. At all costs, we need to show our strength in these invasions.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to understand. You are talking about a few viges while I am talking about the entire Kingdom.¡±


    ¡°I can only lend you one squad and that is final. You have to make do with just that.¡± The King spoke non-chntly and then stood up to walk away.


    ¡°Nowadays adventurers are absolutely useless it seems¡­ no one is able to take care of things¡­¡±


    ¡°Damn it.¡± Liam rolled his eyes at the bastard, but did not say anything.


    This time around the treatment he received was different and the King did not even give him a quest.


    He looked like he was pre-upied with a lot of other things and couldn¡¯t give two shits about a few viges getting destroyed.


    But fortunately, Liam had already nned for this. He knew that something like this might happen, so he had a backup prepared beforehand.


    The only issue was¡­ would this backup n work?


    Not to mention, he had to go back to theher realm for this¡­ and thest time he had left the ce¡­


    The image of two voluptuous seductive demons shed across his mind.


    ¡°No¡­ Impossible¡­¡± Liam shook his head. ¡°They should have by now moved on to someone else.¡±

 Chapter 301: They are here?

    Chapter 301: They are here?


    Liam opened theher realm portal and then stepped in.


    This time he teleported right outside the Thol city so he quickly walked over to the Garrison.


    ¡°Why is this ce looking so peaceful?¡± Liam raised his brows. He had ruined an entire herb garden and also¡­ the other thing.


    Even if the other thing did note to light, at least there had to be some sort of repercussions for destroying the herb garden?


    But the city he was currently walking in seemed deceptively normal.


    There were more demons than before walking around on the streets and the ce looked very lively and busy, yet it was peaceful.


    Liam observed this and then hurriedly continued walking. He did not intend to let his guard down because of this.


    Perhaps the real bomb was waiting for him back at the garrison.


    Maybe someone else issued him a challenge? Maybe their revenue quota was increased? Or perhaps even that city had openly dered war on their city?


    Though the chances of thetter urring was too less, Liam still did not want to rule it out.


    Most probably there would be some issues in getting invasion crystals or scrolls?


    He had already considered this specific matter when Luna destroyed the herb garden.


    He only allowed her to do so was because this was war season and his small crime would mostly get overlooked.


    As Liam was mulling over the various issues and repercussions of his actions, he reached the garrison tower.


    ¡°Alright¡­ I guess I will now know the truth¡­?¡±


    He took one step inside the red brick tower when suddenly something came at him, too fast for him to react and Liam found himself toppled onto the ground.


    ¡°Fuck! Assasins inside the tower?¡±


    That was the first thought that entered his mind but when he opened his eyes and had a chance to take a better look, he waspletely speechless.


    Two pairs of fleshy bouncy balls were hanging in front of his face and when he looked up, theynded on his face, squishing on him and smothering him.


    They felt warm, soft, and heavenly but Liam was profusely sweating underneath. He did not need to take a proper look to identify these big melons.


    ¡°They are here? Together?¡± Realization hit him like a thunderp.


    Earlier¡­ at least there was some hope but now¡­ he was really in it¡­ very deeply.


    Why the hell were these two here? Liam had no idea what was happening.


    There were too many unknown factors and moreover, these two were higher levels demons.


    He couldn¡¯t simply just fling them away like a pest and he couldn¡¯t carelessly deal with them.


    He did not know what they were thinking and when their moods might change.


    They had stalked him all the way from Itaka city to Thol city. These two women meant business.


    And apparently, they did not mind that both mother and daughter were hitting on the same guy.


    They were not really humans and they did not think like humans. Just what was he supposed to do in this situation. Was this a boon or bane?


    Irrespectively, there wasn¡¯t much time¡­


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air and used his hands to grab whatever he could reach. Everything felt soft and wonderful.


    Taking in the pleasant sensation in his hand, he gripped a waist tightly and tried to lift the woman up or away.


    Since their bodies were pressed tightly together, this action caused some things to rub against each other and the two demonic nymphs moaned in pleasure.


    This made them cling to him even tighter and they refused to budge. He tried to throw them off but no use.


    The duo was firmly nted on top of him, hugging him tightly. Do they really want to go at this right here and now?


    They were holding him as if they were not going to let him escape this time, no matter what.


    ¡°Cough. Cough. What are you both doing here? Did I not ask you both to wait for me?¡±


    Liam gave up trying to pry them off of him and instead tried talking to them.


    His voice came out muffled as he was buried in cleavage at the moment, but at least, it finally made the two loosen their grasp on him.


    Liam did not let this chance slip and he quickly got out from under them, finally stabilizing himself on solid ground.


    Huff¡­ He took a breath and gazed at the two non-repentant nymphs standing in front of him, smiling coyly and looking at him as if they couldn¡¯t wait to devour him.


    ¡°Tee Hee~~¡± One giggled.


    ¡°We got tired of waiting for you~~ husband~~¡± The other one pouted as if Liam had wronged her terribly.


    However, Liam did not see her reaction. He was rather stuck at the earlier moment where he had heard a strange word.


    ¡®Husband? What the heck is this new development?¡¯ Liam stared at the mother and the daughter incredulously.


    He had no idea what was happening and the timing was¡­


    ¡°What about your other husband? The city Lord?¡± Liam asked with a bitter smile. ¡°I am sure he must be searching for you? Or rather me¡­¡±


    ¡°Mmm¡­ Don¡¯t worry, husband. We will protect you.¡± The mother puckered her lips and took a step closer.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t even know that we are gone.¡± The daughter giggled. Not wanting to lose out, she also took a step forward.


    Seeing their actions, Liam had a vague premonition that the earlier scene was going to repeat itself and he quickly backed away more than a step, just to be safe.


    He stared nkly at the two, his brain as well drawing a nk. What was he even supposed to do now? Fuck them both?


    He then shook his head and decided to go with the flow.


    ¡°Ok. It¡¯s good that you both are here. I would have missed you two otherwise.¡± He shamelessly lied. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside and talk.¡±


    ¡°But first, can you two please arrange your clothes a bit¡­¡±


    In their short encounter, various things were revealed and their fair-skinned rosy flesh would no doubt attract attention.


    And as it is, things were already twisted into aplex knot. So Liam did not want anything to be worse.


    Thankfully, the two crazy stalkers at least listened to him and behaved themselves.


    After a minute, the three of them walked inside the tower, acting normal as if nothing had just happened.


    The two covered themselves in huge robes, and their faces were hidden so no one would be able to recognize them.


    Liam was not sure how long these two had been here and if they bothered to cover themselves all the time, but at least for now they behaved.


    He also did not have the time to think about this right now. He needed to return back as soon as possible.


    Liam clenched his fist tightly thinking about the Kingdom quest that was yet to be finished and the powerful dark elf generals.


    Unlike the people whom he had faced before, these guys were actual powerhouses.


    Against them, simply having the potential to be powerful in the future was not enough.


    There were too many people with such potential, but not everyone would get the chance to see their fate through.


    Also, he was a little tired of losing. This was his second chance after all.


    If he still allowed others to beat him up and run over him as they pleased, then there was nothing more embarrassing than that.


    If he failed and faltered now, then there was no hope in the future where surely things were bound to be more troublesome.


    And not to mention¡­ Alex¡­


    He might not care for her as he cared for his sister but that didn¡¯t mean he would let her suffer unfairly.


    ¡°Why did the dark elf take her?¡± Liam pondered again. That behavior was very unusual.


    Was it a means to obtain more information? Was it a ploy to bait them into attacking? Or perhaps¡­


    Liam clenched his fists tightly. He did not have to guess what she was going through right now. He needed to act fast.


    He came here for something specific and he still did not know if everything would work out. He also didn¡¯t receive much help from that damned King.


    So this was really hisst resort, but will it work? If it does then¡­


    He climbed the stairs of the red brick garrison tower, fully engrossed in thoughts when suddenly a softness hugged him from behind and another one hugged him from the side.


    The next second numerous kisses rained on him from all sides.


    ¡°Husband is looking a little anxious ah~~~¡±


    Liam smiled bitterly, not even bothering to push them away this time.


    Seriously, just why the hell did these two follow him all the way from one city to another?


    What was so special about him to get not one but both of them hooked?

 Chapter 302: That’s more than enough

    Chapter 302: That¡¯s more than enough


    After climbing the stairs, Liam reached the main hall, with of course the two women still clinging onto him on either side.


    But surprisingly, no demon seemed to care about this and just simply greeted him as if this was the norm.


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam also didn¡¯t care and walked over to sit on his chair. The two nymphs walked alongside him and stood by him on either side.


    Liam gave them a sideways nce and then rubbed his temples. They stood there as if they were extremelyfortable and felt right at home.


    He let out a small sigh and without bothering about the crazies any longer, he directly got to the point.


    ¡°Who can tell me more about the invasion scrolls and invasion crystals?¡±


    Murmur Murmur Whisper Whisper


    The demons inside the hall immediately started discussing amongst themselves.


    It looked like they were confused and did not understand his question.


    Liam narrowed his eyes and decided to borate or rather ask more specifically, ¡°I mean, what are the different types of these invasion scrolls?¡±


    ¡°Is there any way we can target a specific ce?¡±


    The demons once again began murmuring and discussing amongst themselves. No one had a good answer for Liam.


    But at this moment, suddenly the two women standing near him grinned mischievously.


    ¡°Tee Hee~~ Husband! Why are you asking those idiots this easy question? I can tell you the answer right now.¡± The mother, Yuki, paused and then added. ¡°For a price¡­¡±


    All the demons looked at this scene with their faces twitching.


    The woman just called them stupid but they couldn¡¯t do anything as she also called their leader husband.


    And just as this one finished talking, the other one also leaned over whispering something in Liam¡¯s ear.


    Wait, was she licking? No one could see clearly as the two had covered their faces.


    But Liam¡¯s eyes visibly widened after that interaction.


    ¡°Cough. Cough. I am now transferring more funds to the garrison. So start giving out the next batch of rewards.¡±


    ¡°Just likest time, segregate the loot and arrange it in big sacks. You may all leave to do your work now. Dismiss.¡±


    The next second, he cleared his throat, kicking out everyone from the hall.


    Some of the demons exchanged knowing nces but no one said anything and quickly walked out.


    Almost instantly, the two women jumped on Liam as if they were desperately waiting for this and before he had a chance to deal with this¡­ another problem surfaced.


    The mother and daughter duo who were inplete harmony up until now suddenly started staring daggers at each other.


    ¡°I will help him, mother. You can take a walk.¡± Misa gritted her teeth.


    ¡°I am more experienced. Husband doesn¡¯t need a slut like you.¡± Yuki¡¯s lips twisted.


    The two nced at each other as if they were long time bitter rivals, lightning crackling in their gazes.


    At this point, Liam was not even surprised. These two were downright vtile. It was as if no one could guess what could happen the next instant.


    But still¡­ they said they could help with that?


    Liam looked at the two who were about to burst into mes and battle with each other and he sighed and cleared his throat.


    ¡°Yuki, how about you help me with this?¡±


    ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± The mother instantly looked ecstatic shing a grin of victory to the loser. Misa bit her lips in frustration.


    However, before things could explode, Liam quickly turned to her as well.


    ¡°I am not done. Misa, how about you prepare something for me to eat. I am famished.¡±


    He hoped that this could work and luckily it did.


    Both of them looked very happy to serve him and Misa darted away from the hall at lightning speed to do his bidding.


    Now only Yuki and Liam were left in the hall and the mother immediately used this chance to jump on Liam.


    Liam as well did not bother resisting her and allowed her to sit on hisp and rub up and down on him.


    ¡°Mmm¡­ so tell me¡­ how do I target these invasion scrolls? All the scrolls I used so far only seem to take me to random ces?¡±


    ¡°Mwahhh¡­ that¡¯s no big deal husband¡­ you just have to have a strong will¡­¡± The nymph licked Liam¡¯s chest removing his armor and pushing away his clothes.


    ¡°Will? So I just think about the ce?¡±


    ¡°Mmm¡­¡± The nymph continued running her hands all over him. ¡°But for you, it might be difficult. Your level is a bit too low husband. Tee Hee~~¡±


    ¡°But no worries, Yuki will do it for you. I will also take care of your enemies for you. I will kill all of them for you. I will~~¡±


    The nymph went on a rant but suddenly stopped speaking.


    ¡°Ah! Oh no! I forgot! With these invasion scrolls, powerful demons like me can¡¯t cross the realm borders!¡±


    ¡°Oh. Then what about Misa?¡± Liam stroked the woman¡¯s head and asked.


    Yuki¡¯s face changed and she bit her lips angrily. However, she still answered him.


    ¡°That slut¡¯s level is also high, husband. She is weakpared to me but not weak enough for the invasion scroll.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm. In that case, will you still be able to activate the invasion scroll even if you are not participating in it?¡±


    Yuki quickly brightened up and nodded hurriedly. ¡°Yes, Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­ that¡¯s enough. That¡¯s more than enough.¡±


    Liam gazed at the wall in front of him, roughly formting a n, while the woman in hisp,y contently, her head resting on his shoulder and her body pressed up against him.


    Now he knew what to do¡­ in fact, if things worked out¡­ he could do so much more!


    Liam grinned. This time, the Kingdom quest was immensely difficult, but the thing was¡­ the harder something was¡­ the greater the reward.


    The next few days were going to be busy and he was going to make the most of it no matter what.

 Chapter 303: Stop all the invasion missions

    Chapter 303: Stop all the invasion missions


    It was going to take a few hours for the various preparations to bepleted.


    He wanted to hurry if not for the sake of Alex, then at least for the sake of Mia. However, he really couldn¡¯t rush this part.


    If he did, then it might only turn out to be counterproductive.


    Rather Liam decided to use this chance to step out of the city to work on the other problem at hand.


    And right beside him, three different beings walked casually.


    One was Talon while the other two were a unique ghost chicken and a ghost rabbit.


    The three followers looked around curiously, taking in the sights of the demon city, and followed after Liam obediently.


    Of course, behind Liam and this small group of three, there was also another duo following him not so obediently.


    The mother and daughter pair stared daggers at each other asionally and exchanged a few non-pleasant words, all the while never losing sight of Liam.


    And they seemed to have some sort of superior stalking talents, so Liam as well did not sense their presence.


    He had asked them both to wait for him once again and gave them the slip, but this time it did not work so well.


    They nodded obediently in front of him and then started stalking him after he left the garrison tower.


    Liam had actually expected this but right now he couldn¡¯t give too much attention to these two crazies so he let them be.


    He walked straight out of Thol city without turning back with another crate in his hand. It had a few more chickens and rabbits.


    Liam carried this to a distant small hill and then settled at the foot of the hill where it was rtively isted from the surroundings.


    He took a few breaths preparing his mind first. ¡°Nether does feel much better than mana.¡±


    He stretched his limbs, picked up a chicken by its neck, and then wrung it dead the next second.


    ¡°The same technique I used for hammering the soul with mana should work forher also right?¡±


    Liam cracked his joints and then visualized a giant hammer made ofher. ¡°No. This won¡¯t do.¡±


    He stopped it and quickly turned to his left to send out five giant massive fireballs onto a huge rock, the second of which sted the rock apart into smithereens.


    And the fifth of which emptied out his mana reserves.


    ¡°Now, I am ready.¡± Liam then sucked in a big breath of air and this time tried materializing five hammers all at once.


    The next second, instantly five hammers appeared, and maniptingher was as easy as always.


    He could also manipte mana decently, the issues only cropping up when he needed to manipte bothher and mana together.


    But this was something he decided to address a littleter. Right now, he wanted some power to begin with¡­


    Liam stared pensively at the small soul-bead in front of him and the fiveher hammers he had summoned banging it away wildly.


    ¡°No. This is not enough.¡± He was not satisfied.


    He narrowed his eyes and looked at the bead, the veins on his forehead, and the rest of his body, popping as if he was straining himself.


    The next second unexpectedly the five giant hammers disappeared and a hundred small tinyher hammers materialized instead.


    And each one of the hammers thrummed alive, banging down on the soul-bead, that too not randomly but with a definite rhythm.


    Blood trickled out of Liam¡¯s nose and sweat drenched his body from top to bottom.


    However, he continued to persist, somehow withstanding the enormous mental pressure and strain this process had on him.


    DANG¡­ DANG¡­ DANG


    A cluster of muffled sounds echoed.


    He was hammering a soul not a piece of metal and yet these sounds echoed as if he was really forging an ore amalgam.


    Such a thing was extremely unusual and the two nymphs who were still gazing at him from a distance observed this key point and licked their lips.


    A mixture of lust and admiration could be seen on their faces.


    ¡°Husband is too great.¡± Unable to control herself, Yuki trembled, her body feeling hot and restless.


    ¡°Who are you calling, husband, you old shrew.¡± Misa as well was in a simr state.


    The two demons were clearly in heat and this was torture to them and yet they continued to observe Liam.


    They did not let their eyes off of him even for a moment. A short whileter, the two started pleasuring themselves and moaning loudly.


    Luckily for them, there was no one around except for Talon and the ghost chicken and ghost rabbit who were busy running around and hunting the small beasts.


    Liam had given Talon the responsibility to power level these guys and supervise them and the bird was doing an excellent job of it.


    It brought the two undeads only to ces with weaker mobs and helped them out whenever things became too difficult to handle.


    In this way, the three of them were leveling up bit by bit, but they also did not wander away too far from Liam.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside Thol city, something entirely unbelievable was happening.


    Distribution of invasion scrolls and crystals was temporarily ceased because of the new garrison leader¡¯s orders!


    Especially now that it was wartime, such an action waspletely unexpected.


    All the squad leaders and toon leaders were dumbfounded by this peculiar self-destructive decision.


    First, it was the generousvish gold coin rewards and now, it was this. However, this time around, they were so quick to judge him and his actions.


    Since he had delivered on the promise of rewards, they had a bit more trust in him or at least just for the heck of it, they wanted to wait and watch what this big fuss was about.


    Because even without a single day¡¯s revenue of running invasion missions constantly, everything would fall behind and their city would be in trouble.


    So this decision of the new garrison leader was really not a simple one and could have an exponential impact on everything and everyone in the city.


    So why did he do such a thing?


    Why did he suddenly stop everyone¡¯s missions and order the troops to take rest and assemble for further orders?


    No one knew the answer to these questions.


    All they knew was that the new garrison leader really had a knack for kicking up a shit storm and getting himself into trouble.


    Just what the hell was happening with the invasion missions today?

 Chapter 304: Signs of trouble

    Chapter 304: Signs of trouble


    Back in the Xion realm¡­


    A pair of sharp eyes looked up to see the sky darkening.


    A million stars were twinkling in this vast endless night sky making everything look even more beautiful.


    However, this did not bring anyfort to the person who was currently sitting on the forest grounds and looking up to this vast wide sky.


    Mia let out a soft sigh and then turned to look at Shen Yue who was sitting a few feet away,casually leaning against the trunk of a tree, and roasting some sort of meat.


    Before Mia could ask her something, she absent-mindedly replied on her own. ¡°No, still no messages.¡±


    And right after she did, the other person, who was sitting beside her also turned to Mia and shook her head.


    ¡°Nope. None.¡± Mei Mei replied, while continuing to munch on the roasted pieces that Shen Yue finished cooking.


    Hearing her words, Mia trembled ever so slightly but she quickly put her head down, as if she did not want anyone else to see her reaction.


    It was almost the end of the day and still, there was no word from Liam.


    She knew that she was supposed to trust him but¡­ these many hours had already passed¡­


    She could only imagine what Alex was going through in enemy¡¯s hands or rather she did not want to think about that.


    She just wanted to save her and bring her back as soon as possible.


    ¡°How much longer are you going to take Liam?¡±


    She mumbled to herself, clenching her elbows with her fingers and craddling her head in between her knees.


    Though Mia did not want anyone else to see her weakness, unfortunately, at the moment, it was only painfully obvious.


    The whole group was currently waiting outside the small inconspicuous town that no other yer would probably give a second nce at.


    Liam had asked them to stay here at a safe distance from the affected area, but he had not given them sufficient warning about how long.


    At this rate, they were going to be stuck here all day.


    At a time when everyone else was busy grinding 24-7, conquering dungeons and rare elites, establishing guilds, and trying to buynds and properties, they were sitting here idly and doing nothing.


    The people who were already acquainted with Liam did not have anyints about this and thoroughly rested themselves.


    They knew about him too well and they also knew that this was a rare chance. Only the other neers were slightly restless.


    ¡°Sis Mia, what is happening?¡± One of the healers approached her. ¡°We have been sitting here for a while now, shouldn¡¯t we be doing something?¡±


    Another hunter as well loudly expressed his disgruntlement.


    ¡°We are just wasting time when others are working hard. At this rate, everyone will cross us by.¡±


    Mia was too preupied at the moment and she couldn¡¯t care about these other things. So she remained silent and this made the situation worse.


    ¡°Sis Yue, should we say something? These people are being too impatient.¡± Mei Mei frowned.


    But Shen Yue unexpectedly shook her head. ¡°No need. We don¡¯t want to make things worse.¡±


    However, just as she finished talking, someone else loudly spoke. ¡°Please don¡¯t misunderstand us.¡±


    ¡°No one here ismenting anything about leader Liam¡¯s strength. He is an amazing expert but the thing is not all experts are good leaders.¡±


    ¡°We need rest but at times like this, rest can be pushed back a little. We should maybe do some scouting, monitor what our enemies are up to.¡±


    ¡°There are several things that we can do¡­¡±


    ¡°All I am saying is¡­ just sitting simply like this is a waste of time.¡±


    Hearing this, Mei Mei no longer remained quiet. ¡°Just because you are wasting time, don¡¯t include everyone in this list.¡±


    ¡°See, Sis Yue already increased her cooking skill by 2 levels.¡± She retorted back.


    ¡°And what did you do, little miss?¡± The archer rolled his eyes.


    ¡°You!¡± Mei Mei¡¯s nostrils instantly red up.


    Everyone had watched her snooze, snoring loudly, and afterward gobble up several pieces of fragrant roasted meat one after another.


    So they all knew what the person was talking about and this made the young girl very embarrassed.


    The archer also did not hold back. Even a little girl was bossing him around these days and it did not sit well with him, so he talked back.


    The two silently red at each other, sending invisible daggers but Shen Yue silenced her and stopped her from continuing the argument further.


    Nevertheless, an ufortable silence prevailed in the group.


    A few more minutes passed by just like this when suddenly someone shouted out loud. ¡°Look. There are signs of battle in the distance.¡±


    ¡°Can you guys hear the sounds?¡±


    Mia instantly stood up as if a bolt of lightning hit her. Just like the person had said, there were indeed signs of battle.


    Grey smoke plumes rose up into the air and the distant dark sky lit up like fireworks. They also hear some faint distant noises.


    The noises could be anything but coupled with the visual show, without a doubt, this was a sign of a disturbance.


    Seeing this, immediately, before anyone could stop her, Mia dashed towards the source of this disturbance.


    This was the same ce where they had fled from hours ago and now she was returning back to the spot.


    Her level was still the same, her strength was the same, and nothing had changed. The chances of Alex being there were also slim.


    However, she did not hesitate as she ran towards their enemies at full speed. She also did not ask anyone¡¯s permission or ask for anyone¡¯s help.


    A few others also stood up to follow her, but Shen Yue quickly stopped them. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to leave without Liam giving the green signal.¡±


    Half the team immediately stopped but the other half seemed reluctant, considering that they thought of Mia as the group leader rather than Liam.


    But luckily the next instant, everyone¡¯s problems were resolved. A big message shed on everyone¡¯s status screen.


    ¡°Now. Attack.¡±<i></i>


    It was just two words but the meaning couldn¡¯t be clearer.


    Shen Yue no longer held anyone back and she along with the rest of the group also started hurriedly moving in the direction of the loud horrendous sounds of the battle.


    But even as they were en route, everyone could feel that something was off. Something was different.


    Compared to thest time when they had fought with the dark elves, this time¡­ the sounds¡­ the lights¡­ the thundering battle waves¡­ everything was different.


    It was almost as if two countries were shing against each other with their full strength, using all of their battle forces.


    Just what the hell was happening? Was it even safe to go near this area right now? Wouldn¡¯t they also be caught in this battle?


    Everyone had this small doubt, nagging in the back of their minds, but Liam¡¯s orders were clear. So they did not hesitate and continued moving.


    However, after getting closer to the spot, the whole group came to a sudden unexpected halt.


    Just a few feet ahead of them¡­ Mia was standing dumbfounded, rooted at the same spot.


    ¡°Ummm¡­ What happened, Miss?¡± As a tank, Shin Soo stepped forward to take a closer look.


    He was afraid to talk to Mia but nevertheless, he steeled his nerves and asked her.


    However, Mia unnaturally did not answer him. Instead, she only raised her hand to point forward, slightly towards the right.


    Shin Soo as well followed her hand and tried to look but only saw the thick ck mist again.


    ¡°What-¡± He began to speak when Mia interrupted him, lifting her index finger, cing it on her lips, and making a ¡®remain silent¡¯ signal.


    ¡°Observe carefully.¡± She said.


    A few others including Mei Mei and Shen Yue also walked forward and tried to see what Mia was pointing.


    The ck mist hovering around was dense and thick. No one also knew what they were looking at.


    So it took everyone a few good seconds and when suddenly, perhaps because of the strong waves produced by someone¡¯s attack, the mist shifted a little and they were finally able to see¡­


    In front of them was a real actual battle!


    It was nothing like the one they had fought. It was several times more violent and bigger in magnitude.


    Hundreds of dark elves were littered everywhere and fighting against them were unexpectedly hundreds of demons!


    Tall, short, thin, fat, blue, green, horned, no horns, several demons in various shapes and sizes were sprawled in front of them.


    No one could understand from where these beings had poured in from.


    Why were they all here and why were they fighting against the dark elves all of a sudden?


    Everyone stared at this sight in disbelief, not able to register what was happening and what they were supposed to do in this amalgam of utter chaos and bloodshed?

 Chapter 305: Who were on whose side?

    Chapter 305: Who were on whose side?


    ¡°Miss¡­ Madam¡­ Ah¡­ leader Mia¡­ where did these demonse from? What should we do now?¡± Shin Soo asked.


    ¡°If we stay here any longer, then chances are that the demons might sense us and start attacking us as well?¡±


    ¡°Should we leave?¡± Someone else suggested.


    ¡°Maybe we should wait a while and then circle around the two groups to pick off the weaker ones?¡± Shen Yue suggested.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s a good n. We can get a lot of experience points this way.¡± Mei Mei pped her hands.


    A few others also agreed with them.


    Everyone was about to reach a decision when Mia raised her hand and stopped the group.


    ¡°It won¡¯t be that simple. Just look at the number of demons. These few dark elves won¡¯t be able to manage them.¡±


    ¡°They will definitelye after us after dealing with them. In fact, all the neighboring viges are in danger.¡±


    Mia¡¯s words made everyone stiffen up as they couldn¡¯t ignore the sheer number of these demons.


    They also couldn¡¯t get a good grasp of the situation because of the ck mist that was obstructing their view.


    So if they end up underestimating the enemy, they would get themselves in big trouble, dying at least once or twice or perhaps more times.


    This could even be a special event that gives out massive rewards.


    Such events would naturally be sought after by all the yers and the various guilds as they had the chance to be extremely lucrative.


    But the difficulty would be equally high. Their small group was not even able to handle the dark elves.


    Then how could they possibly handle the demons who took care of the dark elves?


    While everyone was stewing in this dilemma, suddenly another message shed in their group chat.


    ¡°Are you guys still not attacking? Target the dark elves and finish the battle soon before more reinforcementse their way.¡±


    Liam had sent a second message!


    Now they did not have any more reasons to wait and quickly jumped into the fray.


    Or rather they stood at the sides and started to pick off one dark elf after another, by ganking the unsuspecting dark elves that even slightly wandered away from the main group.


    At first, they tried to be as careful as possible, but it was impossible to bepletely invisible on such a massive battlefield.


    Eventually, a few demons spotted these new intruders.


    But the weird part was that¡­ not one of these demons even gave them a second look. They might as well be on the same team!


    Seeing this, Mia narrowed her eyes and the next second did something bold.


    She cast a protection spell on one of the demons that was about to die from a dark elf attack.


    But thanks to her timely healing, this situation changed at thest moment.


    The demon suddenly recovered and swung its mace with gusto on the charging dark elf, evennding the other party a killing blow.


    GRUUUU! The demon then loudly grunted, nodding at Mia, and strangely went off to fight another dark elf, once again ignoring her.


    ¡°This¡­ this is¡­¡± Mia looked dazed with her lips parted. She was visibly shocked at this urrence.


    Shouldn¡¯t the demon have attacked them just now?


    What she did was crazy and could have pulled a lot of aggro and brought about everyone¡¯s death in an instant.


    She would have normall never done such a thing, but something told her that the demons were purposefully ignoring them as if they had been ordered to.


    This was impossible and yet, this was happening right in front of them¡­


    But how? Why?


    As she was absent-mindedly continuing to cast her spells, suddenly a frightening thought popped into her mind.


    These many demons¡­ what if these many demons were all somehow controlled by that one person¡­


    ¡°No. That¡¯s impossible.¡± Mia muttered to herself, shaking her head resolutely. ¡°It is impossible for anyone to possess that much power.¡±


    It looked like a few others also had simr thoughts as they stared at the demons in front of them just like Mia, unable to make up their minds.


    So except for Shen Yue and Mei Mei and the Korean yers who had almost an unshakeable faith in Liam, the others were not giving the fight their all.


    They looked confused and dazed as if their minds were on something else. Their full concentration was definitely not on the fight.


    And in the midst of this chaos and confusion, adding fuel to the fire, another figure came into everyone¡¯s view.


    Actually, not one but many.


    However, everyone present was very familiar with these figures¡­ because they were all ghosts and that too of chickens and rabbits.


    WHAT THE HELL???


    These chickens and rabbits¡­ it couldn¡¯t be, right?


    They were ghost-like. They were fighting their asses off and they were fighting alongside the demons!


    But how could this be possible?


    A few hours earlier, Liam had only a couple of these ghosts. And now they somehow multiplied?


    More importantly, what were they doing fighting alongside the demons?


    These ghost chickens and rabbits were clearly not as strong as the rest of the demons. However, they were like ants, irritating the dark elves left and right.


    They only targeted the elves who were busily handling a few demons at once and pecked their feet relentlessly.


    Because of this, the dark elf fighting with the demons got distracted, and using this chance the demons quickly finished the fight off.


    There was also one particr chicken and one specific rabbit that was bigger than others and had a blue hue to their spectral body.


    This duo even dealt a lot more damage and couldn¡¯t simply be considered a nuisance any longer. Their chip damage took care of at least two dark elves.


    In this manner, the few ghost chickens and rabbits worked in harmony with the demons and were overpowering the dark elves from one side.


    On the other side, there were even more demons, three or four jumping onto a dark elf at the same time.


    Their levels were not as high as the dark elves but they had an insurmountable advantage in numbers that they were using very well.


    They did not target the strong ones first and rather targeted the weak ones first and overpowered them quickly before moving on to the strong ones.


    Though everything looked haphazard and chaotic, there was also an order to this chaos.


    At first nce, everything might seem random, but if one looked closely then one could see that someone capable was orchestrating the whole thing.


    The proof was undeniable. But who wasmanding and leading these demons? What about the ghost chickens and ghost rabbits?


    Surely, Liam had something to do with that but he also couldn¡¯t possibly be responsible for leading this massive army?


    Others couldn¡¯t understand and they did not dare believe what was happening and what they were seeing but this was proof enough for Mia.


    She knew it! She somehow knew it!


    There was only one person behind everything and it was most definitely Liam!


    Liam was controlling these demons! He was somehowmanding an entire massive army of demons!


    Now she understood why he had asked everyone to wait and why he had not acted immediately. It was because he had this n in mind.


    With such an army at hismand, it would be far safer to rescue Alex and take care of the dark elves without running around by themselves and getting caught by unexpected traps and surprises.


    Mia clenched her fists, not able to contain her excitement.


    She thought that the person did not care or respect them enough to take drastic actions but it turns out that she waspletely wrong.


    Even though he took his time, this single move was enough to guarantee their victory!


    It was not that he did not care, it was just that every single thing he did had a deep thought behind it!


    Every move he made was already after considering several steps ahead, that others would never even think of in their wildest dreams!


    ¡°STOP DAYDREAMING AND ATTACK!¡± Mia shouted and started leading by example with a renewed vigor on her face.


    Her orders were like a wake-up call for others and everyone started fighting with their full power.


    They still did not understand everythingpletely but for now, they fought with e everything they had.


    They no longer dared to think of anything else and started taking down more and more dark elves.


    Arrows, fireballs, frost bombs, everythingnded on the already bleeding and injured elves and especially targetting and taking down the ones who were standing on theirst leg.


    The demons who already had an upper hand, now suddenly seemed to be even more overpowering than before, with the dark elves being pushed back constantly.


    At this time, right in front of everyone else, another figure jumped into the center of the battlefield.


    He had a lean muscr stature and was wearing a pitch-ck mask that covered his face.

 Chapter 306: Demons Vs Dark Elves

    Chapter 306: Demons Vs Dark Elves


    Seeing the famous ck mask and the person wearing it, everyone became shocked.


    Before this point, everything was simply a conjecture but this ck mask was something that was both famous and infamous at the same time.


    Others might not know who this was but Mia¡¯s guild knew very well and Shen Yue and Mei Mei as well knew about this.


    ¡°Hey! Isn¡¯t that brother?¡± Mei Mei was the first one to shout, breaking the silence. ¡°Oh my gosh, brother brought all of these demons over?¡±


    ¡°Sis Yue, look! Brother is too awesome!¡± Her eyes were twinkling brightly like the stars in the sky.


    Shen Yue saw this and smiled in amusement.


    But Mei Mei did not stop there, she quickly turned to look around in the group. ¡°Where is that person? Who said my brother is not a good leader?¡±


    ¡°Step out! Step out!¡±


    ¡°Who said that my brother is not capable?¡±


    ¡°Can you see now?¡±


    Shen Yue quickly stoppedughing and pulled the rowdy girl aside. ¡°Stop, Mei Mei. We should not tease our own teammates like this.¡±


    ¡°And we are in the middle of fighting!¡±


    She pinched her cheeks and flicked her forehead just like Liam usually did and the two giggled, looking at each other.


    The rest of the group did not dare say anything else and silently looked away, everyone busying themselves with the task at hand.


    Now that they were fully aware of what was happening, at least to some extent, everyone was very confident in their moves.


    They ignored the demonspletely and started hacking away at the dark elves.


    The melee yers and the tanks focussed on those elves at the boundaries.


    And the long-range attackers and mages focussed on those at the back and in the center, reducing thest bits of health.


    This way they one-sidedly coordinated with the demons to some extent, but more importantly, they focused on reducing the numbers or kill stealing to be more specific.


    While three to four demons struggled and brought down the health of a dark elf, one member of the group quickly took the chance and sent thest hit in.


    Thus, ending the fight and also taking the corresponding experience points.


    Moreover, chances like this were not few and far between, only at a few spots. Rather they were everywhere!


    Everywhere they looked there were three or four demons taking down a dark elf and the elf was also in itsst leg as if it was waiting for them like a gift.


    Doom! Doom! Doom! Doom!


    Spells and arrows and spears were tossed left and right, kill stealing from the demons without holding back.


    They thought that they had wasted so much time resting their minds and bodies, but now with this insane leveling speed, they were steadily catching up.


    And since everyone had rested, they were also able to think clearly and act in the best possible way, snatching all the ripe gifts in front of them.


    Everyone at least leveled up once or twice, just in this short period of time.


    And soon the dark elves sounded the first horn.


    Thest time they had only managed to barely make a dent in the forces when the first horn sounded but this time things were different.


    It looked like the battle just started, but in the blink of an eye, almost half the forces of the dark elves had surprisingly dwindled.


    The carnage this time and the carnagest time were onpletely different levels.


    The entire elven army wasid waste being attacked from various angles.


    The losses on the demon side were also so few whenpared to the losses on the dark elf side.


    Of course, Liam was working very hard to make sure that this stayed this way.


    After all, these demons were his free experience points, and he did not want to lose them all in one battle with the dark elves.


    So immediately after the first horn sounded, Liam immediately gave out new orders to regroup his troops.


    He brought the weaker and injured demons to the back of the line and put only the stronger ones at front and center.


    At this point, he also called over Mia and the other two healers and they were healing the demons instead of their group.


    The two group gradually merged and now the bunch of yers were fighting alongside the demons.


    With the new reinforcements arriving after the horn, the yers also moved to the front to tackle the fresh wave of dark elves.


    However, the next instant something strange happened.


    Instead of just more dark elves as reinforcement, a group of dark elves and humans arrived!


    These humans were all dressed in golden armor and helmet and had dazzling brilliant shields and weapons.


    They also carried the royal family¡¯s insignia but not the one of the Gresh Kingdom. Rather they carried the insignia of the Kerrol Kingdom.


    Liam observed this and grinned. Now he knew how the elves hade here all the way from the distantnds of the Xion realm.


    If he returned back to the royal pce and reported this information to that peculiar King, he knew that he would definitely get massive rewards and perhaps even another part of this chain quest.


    But all that had to wait. He first needed to take care of these neers.


    ¡°Liam, what should we do now?¡± Mia asked. She had also observed their new opponents.


    ¡°These NPCs are not simple. Each and every single one of them are heavy hitters. They are a ss above the demons.¡±


    ¡°Even if four or five of the demons join together and attack it won¡¯t be easy to take out these NPCs. What should we do now?¡±


    Just as Mia was talking to Liam, suddenly another horn sounded and this time ten ck tigers majestically strolled forward, stepping out of the ck mist.


    And on top of each of these huge ck tigers, there was a dark elf seated!


    The dark elf Generals had arrived!

 Chapter 307: Using the opponent“s advantage against them

    Chapter 307: Using the opponent¡°s advantage against them


    Mia was just about to ask Liam how to deal with the NPC knights when she saw that their troubles were only just beginning.


    ¡°How¡­ How are these elves already here?¡±


    She stammered, looking at the strong and powerful dark elf generals with a violent blood-thirsty aura surging around them.


    As if the problems they already had weren¡¯t enough, more reinforcements had arrived promptly and these Generals arrived far sooner than they had expected.


    It looked like this time the elves were better prepared and took actions more decisively, rather than rolling everything out slowly and one by one.


    Mia was already aware of the strength of these elven generals and to have to deal with the NPCs on top of these dark elven generals?


    Even after Liam pulled a miracle out of his ass, bringing over an army of demons out of nowhere¡­ it was still not enough?


    Just how difficult was this kingdom quest?


    ¡°Alex¡­ please wait a bit more¡­¡± She muttered, while looking at the scary sight in front of her.


    She had absolutely no idea how they were going to cross this hurdle in front of them.


    She couldn¡¯t help but look towards Liam, but even if it was him¡­ she doubted that he had a solution for this¡­


    This was an impossible situation. There was no way out.


    The only solution was¡­


    She saw that Liam was still staring at the ck tigers and the elven generals sitting atop them.


    He seemed as calm andposed as always, but she doubted that was how he was feeling on the inside as well.


    This demon army was probably a huge investment on his side. Even for him, the losses would be too much to handle?


    But all that can wait because even in this disaster, there was still something left to be gained.


    Mia clenched her fists, looking at the chaos in front of her with determination in her eyes.


    She then hurriedly spoke out her mind, ¡°Liam, everyone is here. They are going all out. We cannot get out of this situation victoriously.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just impossible. But also¡­ from the looks of things, there is no way that there are more dark elves back at their base.¡±


    ¡°They are fighting us here with their full force.¡±


    ¡°So while they are busy here, we can rescue Alex from wherever they are holding her.¡± Mia hurriedly urged him.


    This was the only silver lining they had. They absolutely had to take it.


    However, even after hearing her words, Liam did not seem like he had any ns of acting any time soon.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± He simply stood still, observing everything in front of him.


    But Mia couldn¡¯t be as calm as him.


    ¡°Liam, I am sorry for being selfish here. You have to do something. Otherwise, I would have to do something on my own.¡± She said firmly.


    ¡°Tsk. Tsk. I think your sister¡¯s impatience has rubbed off on you as well.¡± Liam finally turned to look at the frustrated woman and smiled.


    ¡°First of all, why do you think that this is a losing situation? Let me correct you. It¡¯s not. We still haven¡¯t revealed all the cards in our hand.¡±


    ¡°Wait for a few more seconds. And in the meantime, fight.¡±


    Liam gave her anotherpassionate smile as if he was buddha¡¯s incarnate and then dashed forward to hack and sh at the dark elves.


    He did not engage the generals just yet but after ughtering a couple of elves who were on the verge of dying, he stopped advancing through the crowd and stood rooted to a spot.


    He then waved his hand,manding casually a portion of the ck mist.


    This might not be effective against the dark elves but against these human guards¡­


    Liam grinned. He was not nervous in the least pushed up against these extra numbers.


    He fashioned dozens ofher bullets out of the ck mist and sent it towards the fast approaching human soldiers and their steeds.


    Seeing this, shocked expressions appeared on their faces.


    However, no bullet actually managed to do any damage.<i></i>


    Almost instantly, a translucent barrier made of mana went up around each soldier, protecting them from these bullets.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Liam gazed silently at this unbelievable sight and then without stopping or hesitating, he lobbed over another set ofher bullets.


    ¡°It is impossible for these many soldiers to be mages. If such high-tier NPC¡¯s moved out of the Kingdom, they wouldn¡¯t go unnoticed.¡±


    ¡°These should only be low-tier NPCs, albeit very well-equipped. But still how on earth did they manage to pull this off?¡±


    ¡°Or why now suddenly? Is there going to be some sort of power struggle?¡±


    Various thoughts passed through Liam¡¯s mind as he calmly sent out waves ofher bullets one after the other at the approaching army.


    Sure, the first few were blocked by the mana barrier set up from probably the item effect, but the next few definitely went through.


    BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.


    Heavy damage numbers floated atop the group of soldiers even before they could properly arrive at the battleground and take their stand.


    But Liam was not nning to give them this time to settle conveniently and start counterattacking.


    He used the same weapon the dark elves used to strengthen themselves and kept repeatedly attacking the soldier with theher from the ck mist.


    Watching this Mia could only smile bitterly. Is this what he was talking about when he said that they hadn¡¯t revealed all their cards yet?


    How could she have forgotten!


    Even when facing an army like this, this man himself was enough to deal damage equivalent to the entire lot of them!


    The NPC guards at least held on for a bit but the steeds they were traveling on were not as strong as them.


    Unable to withstand Liam¡¯s barrages, they buckled and keeled in just a couple of attacks, making their entrance aplete mess.


    Using this as a chance, several others lobbed long-range attacks at this disorganized army and tried to gain an advantage before they recovered from this small setback.

 Chapter 308: My poisons will break you!

    Chapter 308: My poisons will break you!


    A couple of towns past where the battle was raging¡­ there was a small deste vige.


    This was probably once a prosperous vige but now it waspletely wiped out, all the life and greenery fully sucked out of it.


    There were now only burnt remains of former living settlements, ashes of trees and nts, and a dark dreary smoke lingering in the air.


    But in the midst of this bleak and abandoned vige, there was one small building that somewhat stood out.


    It had a little more structure than the other buildings that looked as if they were about to copse, but also from within this small building, there were some strange noisesing out.


    For an outsider, these might sound like loud shrieks of someone random beast but these were actually none other than human beings shouting in utter agony and terror.


    Inside the small cramped space, there were about 10 human beings, all chained to the walls.


    Their bodies were riddled with countless injuries and blood and puss were leaking out from their orifices.


    Not to mention, most of them had a distinct look in their eyes as if they no longer possessed any will to live and might as well be dead already.


    It was hard to imagine that people like these would show any emotions at all, yet at this moment, all ten of them trembled slightly.


    Why?


    Because they could hear the familiar dull thudding of a pair of feet outside the building.


    The personing towards them was definitely capable of entering the building without making any sort of noise but he still did this for additional entertainment.


    He liked seeing the people around him tremble in fear.


    ¡°Hello, my darlings. How are we doing today?¡±


    The dark elf cackled as he stepped inside, banging open the door as if it was a climax to the dull tune of his distant footsteps.


    His vicious dark purple lips curled up into a sneer that eventually became a wide grin seeing everyone quiver and quake in fear.


    His mere presence invoked such a strong response and he loved every second of it.


    He licked his lips and opened his mouth, cackling loudly again. ¡°Surely, you must be wondering what fun activities are awaiting us today?¡±


    He took out a dagger from the sheath and licked the dagger just as he licked his lips.


    He then tip-toed swirling and dancing on the spot as he ced this dagger on each and every head of the humans who were shivering with their faces hung low.


    He yed around with them by streaking the dagger on their heads zig-zagged.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see red, blue, yellow, green, red, ck, yellow, silver¡­ hmmm¡­ hmmm¡­ what color should I choose today?¡±


    The dark elf sang in amusement as he did his daily routine but unexpectedly today he noticed that something was off.


    Histest acquisition was disappointing to look at. She still seemed as if there was a little bit of fire and life left within her soul.


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± The dark elf raised his brows irately and squatted down in front of this person.


    He then reached forward and grabbed the red-headed human woman by her chin. ¡°Did Igalf subconsciously go easy on you because you are tasty to look at?¡±


    The dark elf sneered, talking about himself in the third person.


    His vicious eyes dragged on the woman in front of him, looking at her from top to bottom, assessing everything that she possessed.


    Long red hair that cascaded down to her butt, sharp fierce eyes that were full of pride, and a curvy and seductive body that made even someone like him drool.


    ¡°Tch. Tch. What a waste. What a waste. If only you did not possess such a unique divine affinity¡­¡±


    ¡°Mmm¡­ I would have definitely made you my concubine and you could have had the time of your life, but s¡­¡±


    ¡°We are not fated to be lovers.¡± He sighed and dropped the chin in his hands abruptly, sending the person crashing back on the wall.


    Alex flinched as the impact sent shivers down her spine.


    She gritted her teeth and bore the pain, trying to keep whatever sanity that she had left but because of that, the elf in front of her tortured her even more.


    Seeing that she was not convulsing in pain like the others, Igalf grinned again and licked his dagger, a vicious glint shing across his eyes.


    The next second he bent down and picked up Alex, scruffing her unceremoniously by clutching her long red hair.


    He then dragged her all the way from the wall to a chair that was ced at the center of the room.


    ¡°Oops. It looks like I have made everyone wait too long. Shall we start today¡¯s fun activities?¡±


    Talking to himself, Igalf grinned and cuffed her hands and legs to the chair.


    This finally made Alex wince in pain and a satisfied expression appeared on his face. ¡°Make it loud, darling. I love it when a woman shouts.¡±


    He then took out a dark violet potion bottle of sorts and washed his dagger inside this bottle.


    Without any warning, he then suddenly removed the dagger from the bottle and plunged it into Alex¡¯s thigh in one swift motion.


    Dark violet liquid seeped out from the dagger mixing with Alex¡¯s body and blood through the injury.


    From the looks of it, this same spot had been injured several times previously and also from the same weapon.


    There was now a deep garish scar in the otherwise clean and soft long legs.


    And from this scar, thick violet veins sprouted out, spreading the contaminated blood and poison to other parts of the body as well.


    ¡°Hmmm? Still no sound?¡± Igalf looked displeased.


    He grabbed her chin again and looked at the beautiful woman and to his surprise, she still stared back at him with the same untamed ferocity.


    Her fists were tightly clenched, blood dripping from her nails piercing her palm, her body was shaking and trembling, her teeth were tightly gritted, tears streamed from her eyes, but¡­


    She did not make even one sound. She did not want to give the person the satisfaction of breaking her.


    Alex simply stared back at the elf, without even the smallest flicker of fear in her eyes.


    She did not know what was happening, what was going to happen, and what was she going to be, but she did not care.


    No one was probably even going toe and rescue her.


    Mia? These dark elves were far too powerful for that one person to handle. And why would anyone else help her?


    She was probably not worth their pity or attention. Why would anyone risk their life just for her?


    And knowing how cruel this game was, she was probably either going to struggle here for all eternity or simply die after a while and revive somewhere.


    Maybe then she can escape¡­


    But until then¡­ Alex had little to no doubt that this was her only fate. She was all alone here and her brother was all alone there¡­


    More tears streamed out of her eyes.


    Several depressing thoughts entered her mind, endlessly taunting her for the mistakes she hadmitted in the past.


    If only she had acted with more patience; if only she did not get so obsessed and infuriated; if only¡­


    But there was no point in thinking about those things now and yet, this was the only thing that she could do at the moment.


    Every time, pain coursed through her veins, bones, and every cell of her body, her life shed in front of her eyes and she allowed herself to drown in the past so that the present was bearable.


    This was how she maintained her sanity but this was also how she tortured herself by ming herself endlessly.


    Even though she was strong, she was on the verge of breaking and she did not know how much longer she could go on.


    She could feel the various poisons, a sort of ck aura that mixed into her bones, body, and still lingered within herself.


    Even after the cruel painful torture sessions, the poison never fully went away from her body.


    Residues of it stuck to her and gave her a mind-numbing pain that assaulted her from inside out. It was as if someone was scooping out and mixing her insides.


    ¡°Cough. Cough.¡± Unable to bear the pain any longer, something welled up inside her and Alex vomited several mouthfuls of dark putrid blood.


    She then felt a small pang of relief but the dark elf who observed this cackled and started twisting the dagger in the same wound, not even giving her that small reprieve.


    ¡°Good. Good. You did not disappoint me! You did not disappoint me at all! Your flesh is truly interesting!¡±


    The depravity in the elf¡¯s eyes temporarily disappeared, now reced with a look of scientific curiosity.


    ¡°So when your body is flushed full of toxins, it is automatically pushed out? No wonder divinity is one of the greater affinities.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ Bah ha ha ha! Be that as it may, I still refuse to believe that nothing will harm you! My poisons will break you!¡±


    Igalf resolutely mumbled gazing at the woman in front of him and, licking his lips with a cruel vicious look in his eyes.

 Chapter 309: Not enough

    Chapter 309: Not enough


    Meanwhile back at the battlefield¡­


    BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.


    Liam sent waves after waves ofher bullets at the iing NPC soldiers.


    The bullets sliced through the air traveling several times the speed of sound leaving behind loud whirring noises as if they were alive.


    The NPCs as well were unable to block them properly and took several hits, particrly their mounts that werepletely helpless.


    Everyone who was just a second ago panicked about these strong and sturdy NPCs, saw this, and immediately rejoiced.


    Whom they thought were unbeatable opponents now did not look very scary.


    ¡°Boss, shall I jump in?¡± Shin Shoo waved his huge ax and asked in anticipation.


    ¡°Liam, I am going to go after one of the Generals.¡± Shen Yue eximed.


    ¡°Thest time I was able to charm one, so I should be able to charm one this time as well. I am positive.¡±


    ¡°Brother, shall I go in from the sides?¡± Mei Mei asked.


    They were itching to now jump into the action. Everyone started excitedly discussing the next strategies and weirdly Liam remained silent.


    The others might not know but he knew very well that the NPCs could never be defeated so easily.


    Theher bullets were an unexpected surprise to the NPC soldiers and because of this, they fumbled quite a bit.


    But soon, in a just few seconds, they quickly stabilized their conditions and got back into their battle formation.


    Liam had at most only chipped away a quarter of their health and stopped their momentum by attacking their mounts.


    But this was not enough to make a dent in their actual numbers.


    They simply jumped off of the horses and started marching forward with thundering steps, ready to attack anyone who stood opposite to them.


    Their synchronized steps together sounded like monsters rampaging and struck fear among everyone.


    And it had only taken them a few seconds to recover!


    Seeing this, all the excitement immediately died down and everyone gripped their weapons nervously.


    But Liam still did not stop.


    He kept sending theher bullets towards the NPCs.


    Theher bullets were definitely carving out the health of these soldiers so he kept attacking them.


    He repeatedly sent in waves after waves of differenther attacks by manipting the ck mist that was sprawled around.


    It was astounding to see one person single-handedly doing so much damage and he did not look tired in the least.


    Of course, the dark elves as well noticed this and their eyes glowered in anger. This person was using their own weapon against them!


    It was clear that if things continued this way, they would suffer a huge loss! They might even lose every single fighter on their side!


    No, this cannot go on!


    All the ten dark elf Generals immediately eyed Liam, their faces twisted with anger and hatred.


    They exchanged silent nces with each other and three of them started walking towards Liam together.


    ¡°Fuck, boss! They areing towards you!¡± Shin Soo dashed fast as he could, reaching the area next to Liam.


    Now that Alex was not there to assist, the pressure on him as a tank-type yer had exponentially increased.


    So naturally, he rushed forward to assist Liam.


    Not one. Not two. But three dark elf generals were walking over to him.


    Even if it was Liam, it was impossible to handle three of them at the same time.


    So Shin Soo did not dare dy and rushed ahead, though he also had no idea how he was going to tank these huge powerhouses.


    Not only that but they also had to deal with the newly arrived NPC soldiers.


    Their only saving grace was that the number of dark elves was considerably less this time around as most of them had been dealt with by the demon army.


    However, right at this moment, that did not matter much. Every single one of these powerhouses was equivalent to an army by themselves.


    It was as if they were dealing with Level 60 dungeon bosses. One or two yers couldn¡¯t possibly defeat these guys.


    They needed a raid team for this and more importantly capable tanks!


    If only Alex was there at the moment!


    Even though she was brash and acted without thinking when it came to tanking her skills were undeniable.


    So everyone couldn¡¯t help but feel her absence at the moment.


    And when they did, they also remembered that she was probably in her own personal hell right now and they fought back with the dark elves fiercely.


    The more people yed this game, the more they realized that everything around them was not as it seemed.


    But more importantly, how were they going to get out of their current predicament! Nothing had really changed betweenst time and this time!


    They were still out of their league and werepletely unprepared to face the dark elves or for that matter this battle!


    They should have never engaged the dark elves again!


    If they had simply attacked from the sides, farmed the experience points, and searched for Alex in the nearby surroundings, that would have been a far more viable n.


    What they were doing now was simply over-reaching! Is this was what apetent leader¡¯s decision looked like?


    At this moment, even Shin Shoo and the others couldn¡¯t help but doubt Liam¡¯s actions. Why was he leading them to a situation of sure-shot death?


    The issue was that if everyone was at his level, they could have probably handled this but they were not the same.


    They could not fight like him. So this time maybe he had really made a grave calction error? He had over-reached just a tad bit?


    But even so¡­ it was just a matter of a single death so no one cared too much, except for Mia.


    Her beautiful snow white face was covered with blood, soil, and a million worry lines.


    ¡°Liam. Huff. Huff. We¡­ made a mistake. This is not enough. We are going to lose.¡±


    ***


    Thank you so much for all of your encouragement and support this month. We got top 10 Golden Ticket Ranking! Here is the much-deserved mass release for golden tickets! I hope you all enjoy today¡¯s chapters.


    Golden Ticket Bonus chapter 1~~

 Chapter 310: They are here

    Chapter 310: They are here


    ¡°Liam. Huff. Huff. We¡­ made a mistake. This is not enough. We are going to lose.¡±


    Mia hurried over to Liam to help him deal with the three dark elf generals.


    ¡°We can take care of these three but what about the other seven? Liam, we need to move out and find Alex.¡± She urged him.


    ¡°These demons will be enough to distract them for a while. Otherwise, we will not get another chance. I am begging you, please.¡±


    However, it was painfully clear that her words were falling on deaf ears as Mia saw that the person was only continuing to lobher bullets one wave after another.


    He did not respond to her and simply continued attacking without taking a break or even stopping for a second.


    Liam looked determined to deal the maximum damage that he possibly could.


    Seeing himpletely unperturbed by her fervent appeals and unsightly begging only made Mia even more frustrated.


    She immediately dashed towards the dark elves nearby and took out all her anger on them. She sliced and diced them with her staff¡¯s pointed end.


    But this was far from enough to appease her. She wanted to vent out and decided to use the skill that she had been saving for a while now.


    [Divine Punishment] She shouted out loud and a hundred brilliant dazzling tridents suddenly appeared above the battlefield without any warning.


    The tridents seem to clear away the ck mist around them or rather ck mist could not approach the trident.


    They gave out a pure unearthly divine aura that was both terrifying and calming at the same time.


    These divine tridents lingered in the air for a second but the next moment, they abruptly descended down without any warning.


    They plunged into the bodies of all the people standing on the battlefield both friend and foe alike.


    Aggrrrhhh! Aggghrr! Roooaaar!


    Several shrieks instantly echoed loudly in the vicinity as both the demons and the dark elves were highly susceptible to divine attacks.


    In her haste and frustration, Mia had forgotten about this important aspect and only realized it after unleashing the attack.


    She immediately regretted her actions as she had brought damages to her own team and this was the worst thing that she could have done.


    However, when she looked around to see if she could heal anyone, weirdly enough the demons did not seem to have suffered too badly.


    Only the dark elves¡¯ side had suffered terrible consequences.


    She turned to look at Liam instinctively, not knowing how to exin but Liam was still calmly smiling. ¡°I blocked it. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    At thest minute, he had used theher enveloping the other areas and created a barrier that extended only above the heads of the demons.


    And since most of the demons were still standing on the same side and hadn¡¯t mingled with the dark elves, stepping into their territory, this was easily aplished.


    Mia was grateful for this. Her attack did not cause any mishap but it was the way he answered her¡­ it made her furious!


    This guy! Now she understood Alex even more! This person was truly infuriating!


    Even someone calm andposed like her was this close to losing her marbles!


    Liam noticed Mia again staring at him with a twisted face about to pop a vein on her forehead.


    ¡°Why are you staring at me like this? Look around first!¡± Liam chuckled.


    Of course, he could read her mind like an open book and also knew the reason why she was staring at him dumbly.


    Mia nodded in a daze and looked around. ¡°Did he want me to see the damage I caused with my own eyes?¡±


    She was nervous as she tried to gauge the situation again.


    She also prepared herself to heal a few demons if she could help it, though her mana right now waspletely depleted after the Trident attack and she also felt drained.


    She gulped in a bottle of mana potion and looked around.


    Especially with the dark elves¡¯ numbers now abysmally down, there were only demons and demons everywhere.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Prepare yourself. They are here!¡± Liam looked at the expression the ice goddess was making at the moment and chuckled.


    Though she was still confused and angry, Mia immediately downed another mana potion and prepared herself.


    Now that she had killed a lot of dark elves at the same time, she had essentially cleared the path for the dark elf Generals to reach them faster and they were here already!


    At this crucial time, even one second of preparation could make the difference between life and death but because of her attack, they lost that.


    She had made a huge blunder this time around.


    She was not someone to act like this but perhaps because she was continuously fighting for a while now and at the same time healing, while also stressing about Alex, she had reached her mental limit.


    She was also human after all and she had a breaking point.


    ¡°I am sorry, Liam. I¡­ I will-¡±


    However, unexpectedly Liam interrupted her. ¡°I am not talking about these guys, I am talking about our reinforcements. Look over there.¡±


    ¡°Reinforcements?¡± Mia was sure that she heard him wrong.


    She saw the huge demon army who were still ughtering the remaining few dark elves on the battleground and then looked back at Liam in disbelief.


    ¡°More reinforcements?¡± She asked him again.


    But Liam had already moved forward to tackle the three dark elf generals who were now almost in front of them.


    She took a deep breath to regain herposure somewhat and then followed him to fight with the three.


    She might have made a big blunder just now but if she allowed herself to dwell on it and wallow in regret, she would be making an even bigger blunder.


    She needed to get back ASAP to her peak battle capability.


    So she hurriedly put away all the swirling thoughts and cleared her mind to assist Liam.


    She did not even think about his weird mention of more reinforcements and raised her hand to cast a [Divine protection] on Liam.


    But weirdly, Liam shook his head as if she had made a blunder again. ¡°Stop! Not on me! On our tank!¡± He shouted, charging forward.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Mia looked around again and saw that somehow there were suddenly more human soldiers than before.


    And they now seemed to be fighting against each other?


    This confused her and also the other members of the team when everyone finally saw the insignia on the newly arrived soldiers.


    It was the Gresh Kingdom¡¯s insignia, a pair of swords on a shield.


    ¡°You got more reinforcements from the King?¡±


    ***


    Golden Ticket Bonus chapter 2~~

 Chapter 311: The last member of the group has arrived

    Chapter 311: Thest member of the group has arrived


    ¡°Not just reinforcements¡­¡± Liam grinned.


    ¡°Oh. What else?¡± Mia turned to pay attention to Liam when she finally noticed the other newly arrived reinforcement, their ¡®tank¡¯!


    Standing next to Liam was a tall, thick and muscr man.


    She could tell that his body proportions itself were as such and the look was not simply because of the items he had currently equipped.


    And about the items he had currently equipped, the person was wearing a unique dark ckish purple chest guard, gauntlets, head helmet and on top of that his shield and axe was also the same rich purple color.


    It was almost as if he was wearing a set equipment that dropped from a dungeon after running the same dungeon several times over.


    But the only issue was that, she was already overly familiar with this set of equipments!


    Because they looked extremely simr to the sword Liam was using and she knew for a fact that the sword was at least an Unique-item if not more.


    Alex¡¯s theory was that the sword was a personally forged Epic item.


    Her exact words were, ¡°This hateful fellow knows how to forge an Epic item. I am sure of it, but he still won¡¯t make us one. Did we sign the contract or not? Where is my joining bonus?¡±


    Mia smiled loving thinking about the idiot. At that time, she had stopped her train of thoughts and asked her not to get paranoid and greedy.


    But now she couldn¡¯t ignore her theory, especially since the proof was right in front of her.


    These equipment the two of them were not simple at all! And when Liam only had a sword, the other person had an entire set!


    Just how effective were these and who was this new person?


    Mia did not let her thoughts wander too much and focussed on the battle in front of her.


    Now was not the time to think about these things. Everything could be discussedter. Now she had to fight.


    She needed to fight and take down these monstrosities in front of her. Alex had to be here somewhere so she had to bring her back.


    Just as she was about to cast another protection on the newly arrived tank, a series of messages rang out in their group chat.


    Like Mia, others had also noticed the newly arrived group.


    ¡°Brother! The King is helping us! More troops are here!¡± Mei Mei sent a message.


    ¡°He He. The King is not that kind. I got them to help us.¡± Liam replied back. ¡°And also, thest member of our group is here.¡±


    ¡°Everyone wee Derek!¡±


    Liam did not introduce him any further and it was also not needed. For a short while, Derek¡¯s name was even more popr than Liam.


    Or rather while Liam was infamous for doing all sorts of nasty and underhanded things like the ve contract, Derek was famous for his strength andd battle prowess that he disyed for everyone to see.


    He was like a sun shining brightly and moreover, his former teammates spread his backstory and even the Stormtroopers guild couldn¡¯t keep that from leaking out.


    His humble beginnings, the way he was treated back at the Stormtroopers guild and how he was bullied and humiliated constantly, all these stories had made him aplete hero, a knight in shining armor.


    His poprity would have shot up even further but unexpectedly he had disappeared from the public eye a while back.


    No one knew what happened to him or where he event. He had just silently disappeared.


    Reports of him reappearing in the PVP tower every now and then surfaced but not many people personally saw those as the crowd started thinning down the higher one climbed the tower.


    So even those reports were simply deemed as false and he hadpletely remained away from the public eye for a few days.


    But now, this person had suddenly appeared in their group???


    Only Mei Mei and Shen Yue knew about this beforehand, so everyone else except them, even Mia was utterly shocked.


    They had not personally witnessed Derek¡¯s fighting abilities but just his tales alone were enough to give them more hope.


    With him here and the newly arrived NPC soldiers fighting on the side, everyone could once again be relieved.


    Now the task in front of them seemed somewhat doable. The demon army was taking care of the dark elf soliders.


    Their Kingdom NPC soldiers were dealing with the other Kingdom¡¯s NPC soldiers and the only thing they really had to take care of was the ten dark elf Generals.


    Huuuu¡­ Everyone let out a long breath as they made this mental calction.


    There now only ten dark elf Generals left but each of these guys were equivalent to a damned dungeon boss!


    They had really only crossed half theke!


    And promptly, Liam¡¯s instructions arrived as well. ¡°Form three groups and split. Each group will be responsible for 3 dark elf Generals.¡±


    After reading this, everyone broke into a cold sweat and went silent. Especially Shin Soo who was sweating buckets.


    If Liam tanked for one group and Derek tanked another, then he was expected to tank thest group of 3 Generals?


    This was¡­ this was not going to end well!


    While everyone tried to digest these instructions, Mei Mei suddenly asked the obvious question that others did not want to think about.


    ¡°Brother, what about thest tenth dark elf General?¡±


    Everyone silently admired this girl¡¯s courage to ask this question at a time like this. However, the next instant, the reply chimed in immediately.


    ¡°Shen Yue, I am counting on you to take care of thest General. Charm him and use him to tank for thest group. Can you do it?¡±


    Liam did not stop with just giving the instruction.


    He hurriedly kited the three dark elf Generals whose eyes were only on him and brought them over to Shen Yue¡¯s side.


    ¡°Do it now.¡± He shouted loudly, now that he was in her close proximity.


    Shen Yue clenched her fists, both excitement and nervousness coursing through her at the moment.


    She had never fought standing side by side alongside Liam and she did not want to let him down or appear weak in front of him.


    She executed her self-learnt skill [Enchanting Steps] and appeared next to one of the three dark elf Generals the next moment.


    At this time, the charm Shen Yue exuded waspletely different from her normal self.


    Her aura visibly changed as even Liam couldn¡¯t avert his eyes from the woman.


    She had been honing this particr skill all throught her battles from the PVP tower and as a dancer, she was able to master it easily.


    Just like Liam, for an instant, the three dark elf Generals near them let their guards down and were staring at Shen Yue, not even able to blink.


    Her light robe fluttered and her delicate and enchanting figure swayed amidst the darkness of the night and the ck mist that was sprawled over everything.


    She looked like the alluring moon in this dark bleak night, mesmerizing everyone around her and before any of the dark elf Generals could realize, they had already fallen into her trap.


    ***


    Golden Ticket Bonus chapter 3~~

 Chapter 312: Taking down the bigshots

    Chapter 312: Taking down the bigshots


    Liam saw the powerful terror-inducing dark elf general looking at Shen Yue as if he was a puppy dog panting at her with his tongue falling out.


    In fact, not just one but all three who were near them were momentarily distracted by her movements and were ogling at her.


    They were staring at her unblinkingly with big round eyes as if they were her ves and she was their puppet master.


    A chill ran down Liam¡¯s spine.


    This scene was just a bit too difficult to digest even though he knew that it would probablyst only for a fraction of a second.


    This skill was indeed truly frightening!


    How on earth was one supposed to develop a resistance towards these types of attacks?!


    Liam let out a small sigh and then proceeded to attack some of the NPC soldiers while Shen Yue fully took control of one of the dark elf Generals.


    She might be able to charm all three of them momentarily with her movements but it was impossible for her to continue having a hold on all of them.


    So she quickly cast the next spell [Beguile].


    [Beguile ¨C Charm an enemy to fight for you for 10 seconds; Cooldown 5 seconds; Limited to one target at a time]


    However, apart from this, there was also another invisible rule that Shen Yue had learned after using this particr skill several times repeatedly.


    The same skill cannot be used too many times on the same target. The target eventually became immune to the effects of the charm.


    Especially when the said targets were high-leveled strong opponents, she could tell that she probably had only a couple chances left or at the most three chances before the effects wear off.


    It held the maximum effects against new opponents.


    So Shen Yue knew that she had to y this out properly.


    The moment she cast this spell, it was as if she had toppled an invisible hourss and their time was running out.


    ¡°LIAM NOW!¡± She shouted.


    Liam was also ready.


    He watched the two remaining dark elf generals recover from their stupor and he quickly sent the next wave ofher bullets at them instead.


    Since the moment they had caught up to Liam they were in a stupor so they did not have the chance to attack.


    But now that they were finally free, they did not hold back. They were even more furious than before and started fighting back with a frenzy.


    They could not believe that they would fall under the charm of a lowly human of such low level.


    The two Generals jumped out of their ck tigers while simultaneously chanting something.


    Liam had already experienced this move so he instantly reacted by deciding to face the attacks head-on.


    The two Generals thrusted their spears forward producing a huge vortex of dark energy with a fire attribute, resulting in roaring ck mes.


    The mes immediately raised the temperature of the atmosphere by several degrees and the menacing dark energy looked like it was ready to devour all life.


    For a minute, it looked as if Liam was wholly enveloped by these ck mes, but if one observed closely, one could see that the person standing in the middle of these mes waspletely untouched.


    The roaring ck vortex seemed to be unable to touch him.


    While theher in the air might not be able to do much damage to his enemies, Liam still had other uses for it.


    Hemanded theher in the ck mist around him and it encased him, forming a strong imprable shield.


    The ck mes crashed against this shield and both the shield and the mes dissipated.


    Meanwhile, the other dark elf General who was under Shen Yue¡¯s control jammed his spear forward breaking the spell casting of the duo.


    Liam also joined him and shed his sword down at the two dark elves.


    The three dark elf generals were absolutely furious at this mosquito who for some reason was able to use their ck mist against them and suddenly became a formidable opponent.


    As long as the dark elves were using the ck mist, their magic spells werepletely useless and it had no effect on Liam.


    So essentially the fight boiled down to brute strength and sword moves. Moreover, Liam could still useher to defend against the physical attacks as well.


    And on top of that, he was not alone!


    Mei Mei, Kim Hyun, and another member of Mia¡¯s team together started doing burst damage, aiming at one of the two generals.


    Liam did not have to spell it out for them. Since they had coordinated with Shen Yue for a while they already knew the drill.


    Their aim right now was to blitz attack on one of the two dark elf Generals and bring down his health to as low as possible before the charm skill wore off.


    So all three groups, Liam, the dark elf under Shen Yue¡¯s control, and the DPS team all focused their attacks on the elf on the right.


    And when the skill eventually did wear off¡­ they immediately switched!


    It was easy to bring a weaker dark elf under her charm so Shen Yue next cast the spell [Beguile] on the dark elf general whom they had been attacking furiously just now.


    The next general instantly went into a stupor falling under her control and started attacking his neighbor.


    ¡°You vile humans!¡±


    The other dark elf general shouted in anger and the one that had only now recovered from the intoxicated state looked around in confusion.


    They werepletely unaware of their actions during the charm effect.


    It took the elf a second to get a hold of reality.


    But without giving him a chance to fully grasp everything around him, Liam hurriedly sent in two massive fireballs his way and shed down at the elf¡¯s vital points.


    The other dark elf general saw this and quickly blocked Liam¡¯s attack.


    His moves were faster and his body was agile like a cheetah. The dark elf wanted to show how inferior were Liam¡¯s attacks.


    True to his higher stats and probably also higherbat experience, the dark elf¡¯s body spun around and he blocked all three of Liam¡¯s attacks in time.


    ¡°Is this all you have?¡± The elf sneered, looking down on Liam when unexpectedly a spear impaled him from the back.


    KUHAK! The dark elf spat out a big mouthful of blood and looked down to see the familiar spear piercing him in his chest.


    He recognized this spear. This was the weapon of hisrade. Only now did he realize the mistake he had made!


    ***


    Golden Ticket Bonus chapter 4~~

 Chapter 313: Inferior techniques

    Chapter 313: Inferior techniques


    In his hurry to block all of Liam¡¯s attacks, for a moment the dark elf hadpletely forgotten about the other dark elf who was now under the enemy¡¯s control.


    And Shen Yue noticed this.


    She did not let this chance slip by and immediatelymanded the elf to stab him from behind.


    Since it was a well-ced move that was executed with strength, power, and vigor, targeting a vital part of the body, this single attack was enough to make the dark elf falter.


    Blood dripped out of his wound and he lost half of his health in a second with the single spear attack.


    And not just that¡­ hisrade did not stop there with just one stabbing of the spear.


    Without giving him a chance to retaliate, he continued stabbing the dark elf with the spear again and again.


    How could Liam and the others let go of this rare situation?


    They as well joined in on this thrashing and continued doing as much damage as they could, finally reducing the first of the ten dark elf general¡¯s health down to 0!


    A big notification popped up and experience points showered on everyone.


    This was not much as Liam alone took half the experience points and his own points were shared with his demon army.


    So when the rest was split among the group, in the end, it did not amount to much but that did not matter at the moment.


    They had finally taken down the first dark elf general and everyone was in extremely high spirits!


    ROAR!


    Everyone shouted together, further increasing their battle resolve!


    And not long after the first dark elf general fell to the ground, the second one also fell.


    This was the elf whom Shen Yue had controlled the second time and whose health was already teetering on the border.


    So when the first one died, everyone immediately targeted their burst damage on this second one and killed this dark elf as well.


    Now only one among the group of three remained standing and loud thunderous celebratory shouts echoed in the battleground.


    As it was¡­ the demons tended to shout for no good reason so when they joined in on this, the whole ce fell into chaos.


    ¡°This atmosphere is not too bad.¡± Liam grinned, giving Shen Yue an encouraging smile.


    He then dashed forward to face thest dark elf who was struggling like a fish out of water.


    It looked like Liam did not have to waste much time with this guy.


    He quickly took out the two metal balls from his inventory and summoned the giant golems.


    The continuous barrage of hits by the golems and the DPS teams on the guy seemed as if it was enough to take care of this dark elf General.


    So he quickly left the spot along with Shen Yue to take care of the next three or rather four generals.


    The dark elf who was being left behind to be toyed with by the golems was furious at this sight. They did not even spare him another nce?


    He threw a massive st of dark mes on Liam¡¯s back but once again just before the attacknded, he usedher as a shield and casually blocked the attack.


    ¡°You need to try better.¡± Liam grinned and jumped onto the female General who was making Shin Shoo¡¯s life a living hell.


    The poor guy looked as if he was out of all options with his stamina as well running low.


    In reality, the first fight with the three dark elf generals had taken only about a minute and maybe a half but this in itself was too much time when facing monstrous powerhouses like these.


    Shin Shoo was about to fall down and crumble and was only barely holding on. In fact, without Mia, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold on even for this long.


    So Liam first dashed towards him to relieve some burden away from him. ¡°Shen Yue! Do it! AGAIN!¡± He shouted.


    Shen Yue instantly executed her steps and charmed the one on the right, making the dark elf general fall into a stupor and then under her control.


    Liam simultaneously cast [Mana Net] and [Trapping Veins] on the other one and shed down at the two remaining dark elves in the group.


    By now the General elves were aware of the losing circumstances they were in and they snarled in anger.


    The two growled at Liam and dashed towards him, these two wielding swords just like Liam.


    Among the two, one of the dark elf generals was a woman and she was dealing the maximum damage on the demon army and the human team.


    So Liam focused on this high DPS elf general first. Catching this hint, the others also started focusing their attacks on this woman.


    The dark elf grunted on seeing this and she spun, her ck sword dancing as if it was invisible in the darkness of the night.


    The spinning attack with the sword was mesmerizing and in a moment the ck sword shone brightly like a moonlight.


    Bursts of sword beams shot out in all directions and each one did heavy damage.


    Not just that, these sword beams also had the dark element attribute woven within them.


    The beams were so many in number and were very strong, making it difficult to block, parry, or evade.


    Liam observed this change and a strange glint appeared in his eyes.


    ¡°Impressive.¡± He muttered but without giving the elf a chance to finish the attack, he sent out a series of massive fireballs at her.


    The dark elf under Shen Yue¡¯s control wielded a saber and the elf also hacked and shed at the woman.


    ¡°HOW DARE YOU!¡±


    The woman snarled and struck her sword directly at Shen Yue as she was the one controlling herrade who in turn was doing the max damage.


    Shen Yue clenched her daggers and prepared to face the attack head-on, bringing one of her arms to the front to block.


    But before the attack couldnd on her, another purple sword shed in between. ¡°Your opponent is still me.¡±


    Liam shed at the woman a dozen times rapidly, sending out several attacks.


    Looking at this, Shen Yue¡¯s face became bright red. She was touched by how much Liam was paying attention to her, despite this being a battlefield.


    However¡­ in reality, Liam just wanted this opponent for himself.


    The dark elf general in front of him was skilled in swordy and he felt as if he could learn a great deal by fighting against this woman.


    How did she manage to mix an elemental attribute in her sword attack? Liam shed repeatedly against the dark elf.


    But the woman sneered in contempt. ¡°You dare to fight with me using your inferior techniques?¡±


    ***


    Golden Ticket Bonus chapter 5~~

 Chapter 314: Battle finally over?

    Chapter 314: Battle finally over?


    The dark elf General snorted and for the next attack, she stepped towards her right, twisted her body, and sent out a huge enormous sword beam.


    Liam instantly knew that he couldn¡¯t block this.


    So hemanded theher to shield him and take the brunt of the attack and simultaneously, Shen Yue as well ced the dark elf that was under her control on the path of the attacks.


    The female dark elf was able to see herradee in between but she had already released the sword attack and could not pull it back or reduce its impact.


    BANG! The dark elf under the charm effect was flung aside like dirt from the impact and the woman realized what had happened.


    The female General shouted furiously in anguage that no one understood and started sending out several sword beams madly left and right without stopping.


    She was crazed and maddened because everything she was doing was somehow miserably going wrong and she couldn¡¯t understand the reason.


    ¡°GET OUT OF THE WAY!¡± Liam immediately shouted. These violent sword beams were not something that they could handle.


    Shen Yue and Shin Soo quickly moved away. However, Liam stood firm at the nexus of all of the attacks.


    Not because he had the ability to defend against these many attacks at the same time but because¡­


    A person in the back had the ability to use all of these attacks!


    ¡°DIVINE MIRROR!¡± Mia shouted.


    Unlike Liam, most of her spells were still activated with the help of the system, so she had a lot more tricks up her sleeve.


    And this particr spell cost a huge amount of mana and also had a big cooldown. Nevertheless, it was invaluable in this particr instance as it fit perfectly.


    A huge mirror appeared out of thin air, standing out in the darkness that enveloped the ce.


    It appeared right in front of Liam at the critical juncture and reflected all of the attacks back at the owner.


    SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!


    The noise of sword beams slicing through the air filled the air and Liam grinned.


    ¡°Not bad.¡± No words were exchanged between them but their coordination was near perfect.


    And by this time, the previous dark elf general from the first attack was already dead.


    So the DPS team promptly shifted to the female dark elf general Liam was fighting against and everyone barraged their attacks on the same dark elf.


    The other two dark elf generals tried to assist her by breaking out of their entrapments but it was useless.


    Within a single minute, blinding shes surrounded the two injured dark elves and both of them were mercilessly ughtered.


    Now that they were not overwhelmed by the insane numbers, the full strength of the team was slowly showing.


    They were also able to demonstrate the full extent of their abilities.


    The other two dark elves saw that the situation was turning worse by the second. However, there was nothing more that they could do.


    They were in the thick of it. They couldn¡¯t exactly retreat at the moment.


    The numbers of their brethren had dwindled to such an extent that the number of dark elves around could be counted easily.


    But the demons were still raging wildly as if they did not take any big hits.


    Even the human soldiers they had allied with were being pushed back by them.


    Everything was going terribly. There were also only three other elven generals left apart from the two of them.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can afford to lose focus now.¡±


    Liam sent one attack after another at the two generals and the others as well bombarded them with everything in their arsenal.


    One of the dark elves spun his sword trying to block and reflect the attacks back but it was useless.


    Even though they had the advantage of a huge level difference, they werepletely helpless against the ten yers and a dozen demons surrounding them.


    Slowly but steadily their health was going down every second and Liam finished the fight by sending out two more massive fireballs.


    [Ding. You have received 10 experience points]


    [Ding. You have received 10 experience points]


    The experience points gained were pathetic because they were shared by a lot of demons, in fact, the whole army he had summoned.


    Liam ignored the two insignificant notifications and gazed at the three remaining dark elves.


    Derek was doing a great job handling these guys. His movements and blocks were perfect, along with the usage of skills.


    There was absolutely no w whatsoever and he seemed as dependable as always.


    Both their gazes met each other momentarily and they both gave a knowing nod towards each other before returning back to the fight.


    Liam then looked at Mia and Shen Yue. ¡°I need to go and search for Alex. I trust that you guys can handle the rest?¡±


    ¡°Brother, take the golems with you.¡± Mei Mei reminded.


    ¡°Ok.¡± Liam did not refuse and dismissed both the golems. He then ced the metal orbs back into the inventory, taking them with him.


    Even he was notpletely confident in this uing fight because the assassin gave him a bad feeling.


    When Liam had exchanged blows with him previously, he was not able to sense him at all.


    Moreover, the feeling he got from that single dark elf waspletely different from even the dark elf generals.


    There was a possibility that this dark elf could be stronger than the other dark elves and even the dark elf generals.


    He was only going to scout and did not n to engage without the backup of his group.


    There might also be other enemies lying in wait so he did not discount any possibility. The Kingdom quest was almost over. This was thest leg.


    Liam clenched his fists and slipped out of the battleground while simultaneously also sending out waves after waves ofher bullets, helping the NPCs on their sides.


    That fight was alsoing to an end. This was also why he wanted to hurry and scout the neighboring areas.


    If possible, he would have liked to wait for the battle to actually finish up and leave along with the group but if he did that, then there might be too many eyes on them.


    If he made any bigger move now, there was a chance that someone might notice.


    While everyone, hidden or out in the open, was still distracted by the events on the battleground, he wanted to search the surrounding ces thoroughly, so he left alone.


    As soon as he was outside of the range of the misceneous attacks, Liam silently activated [Stealth] and then stepped out.


    ***


    Golden Ticket Bonus chapter 6~~


    Last chapter of the mass release! Thanks again for the support and encouragement. Please continue to give me all of your golden tickets and power stones ??

 Chapter 315: Search Party Mobilizes

    Chapter 315: Search Party Mobilizes


    After slipping away from the site of the battle, Liam circled around, entering the enemy¡¯s premises.


    Thesends were actually still within the borders of the Gresh Kingdom. However, at the moment they might as well be the dark elf territory.


    For all he knew, there could be more dark elves here, perhaps waiting for an opportune moment to attack or perhaps not even nning to engage in battle because they had other reasons to be there.


    Liam intended to scout about these things as well to make his ns ordingly.


    Irrespective of whatid ahead of him the fact that they had sessfully managed to deal with a significant portion of the dark elf camp would not change.


    Liam steadied himself and slowly looked around.


    There were still a couple dozens of dark elves in between the human NPC soldiers from the other Kingdom, fighting fiercely on the battleground.


    Now that Liam was on the other side of the war, he was able to get a better look at the overall status.


    He took a moment to observe everything from this side and then his lips curled up into a small grin.


    Yup! They were definitely winning this battle!


    He sighed slightly and then continued to move further out, now away from the scene of the intense struggle and fight.


    The ck mist also thinned out and slowly by slowly, the smoke, the dirt, the shouts, and the shrieks from the battle also died down.


    He had finally managed to leave the area of destruction.


    The battle had utterly devastated thendscape and made it unrecognizable.


    Trees, forests, all the greenery, and even small hills had been sted into nothingness and now only a barrennd was present instead.


    Not that this side was any better.


    Since the dark elves already had time to do whatever they want in this territory, thesends also resembled the site of the battleground.


    They were barren, dull, and dreary as if life had been sucked out of them. Liam paused for a moment and stopped his advance.


    Instead, he started looking around a bit more in the same area.


    This was because other than the site of the battle, there were surprisingly no more dark elves.


    He moved around with as much speed as possible andbed through the entire area but he couldn¡¯t find any dark elves or even other human beings for that matter.


    Whoever was here was already participating in the battle.


    There wasn¡¯t even a single soul apart from that anywhere around him and definitely not any more dark elves.


    ¡°That¡¯s it. This confirms it.¡± Liam came to a conclusion from the facts he observed.


    There were no big units of dark elves or NPC soldiers or other yers for that matter lying in wait to ambush them right after the battle was over and their team was exhausted.


    When the dark elves had brought out the main Generals and the NPC soldiers that was thest of their backup.


    This felt a bit unusual to Liam. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t there be at least more yers in the vicinity?¡± He pensively looked around.


    A battle of this scale was bound to draw the attention of the other yers no matter what.


    But surprisingly, no one was there. Not one wandering pest.


    ¡°Maybe the other yers did not notice because this is in the middle of a high-level zone?¡± Liam concurred.


    ¡°Or maybe some other event is happening in the city?¡±


    Irrespectively, he did not think too much about this.


    He sent a message to Berat who was still back at Yleka city taking care of the gold farming and the market maniption.


    They were short on men right now so he had to act as an intel gatherer as well, but the person had been reliable until now.


    So Liam sent him a message asking him if there was something unusual or significant happening at the moment.


    ¡°Check in the taverns and the inns.¡± He added as they were the best ces to get random information and gossip.


    After that, he did not linger on this thought any further and quickly moved on to the next target.


    Alex! He needed to find her!


    Liam circled the area for a few more minutes and then began systematicallybing the nearby forests, towns, and viges.


    Unfortunately, the dark elves had alreadyid waste to more than a dozen ces so the area he had to search through was considerable.


    Moreover, Alex could be held hostage anywhere, even somece like the underground tunnel back at the necromancer¡¯s hideout.


    Thinking about all of this, Liam stopped moving again.


    The task in front of him was definitely not simple and it was going to take him more than a few minutes to aplish all this if he had to do it by himself.


    Also, he might not have that much time.


    If the dark elf assassin or thief came to know that the battle wasing to an end and their side was losing, he might take drastic actions.


    If he kills her, then that¡¯s good because it would simply result in a graveyard spawn saving everyone the trouble.


    But seeing that he hadn¡¯t killed her for so long, Liam knew that the chances of this happening were slim. That and probably the person was deaf?


    Otherwise, he was sure that the hot-headed woman would have chewed his ear off and made him want to kill her.


    Liam shook his head helplessly and chuckled. He only had half a mind to search for her. The woman was more trouble than she was worth it.


    He had only been tolerating her actions for the sake of the other person close to her.


    After having delved into theher realm, at least to the extent that he had, he knew one thing for sure.


    It was that SSS-affinity to any element was not a joke! It could mean the difference between a powerhouse and a mediocre yer!


    With that being the case, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to let go of a precious ally like Mia, especially when she had the affinity to the element he was probably weakest against.


    This was the one and the only reason why he had been patient all this while.


    Not to mention, when the woman stopped talking, she could also be a big asset. Alex¡¯sbat skills were not a joke.


    Perhaps if he actually managed to rescue her this time around, like a typical damsel in distress rescued by the heroic prince¡­ she might soften up? Just a tad it?


    Liam chuckled helplessly, shaking his head at this thought. ¡°I must be tired. I am thinking of impossible things!¡±


    He let out a deep breath and the look of seriousness returned to his face.


    He already decided to rescue this hot-headed damsel.


    So even if he did not feel any pity for her, he was going to do the task properly and not half-ass it and the best way to go about it was¡­


    ¡°Come out,¡± Liam muttered.


    And the next second, his small personal army of chickens and rabbits appeared in front of him.


    He had lost about 10 of them in the battle and there were still 20 remaining, 13 chickens and 7 rabbits to be more precise.


    Apparently, these weaker soul-forged pets were only able tost for a while especially when they took a lot of damage.


    In this aspect, they were very much simr to a live pet. They also had a specific ¡®health¡¯ and an ability to withstand damage.


    After that their soul strength shrunk into the soul bead from which they were originally forged.


    When this soul bead rested for a while and gathered mana again, the soul pet was able to materialize again but¡­ not always.


    After a couple of deaths, the soul bead was simply not able to handle the process and everything disintegratedpletely, thus permanently losing the follower.


    Liam already thought about this problem and he also thought up a dozen ways to stabilize this soul bead more and forge stronger followers, but all that had to wait.


    For now, he wanted to quickly finish this Kingdom quest and im the rewards before deciphering the next n of action.


    He coldly gazed at his small troop of ghosts, all of them emotionless and nk, andmanded.


    ¡°Attention everyone! Team C and Team R, you guys are all on search duty! Go forth and search thesends without leaving any stone unturned.¡±


    Even though the wordsing out of his mouth sounded cool, Liam knew that the truth was far from it.


    He smiled wryly looking at the undead fauna and gave more specific directions to his small not so cute followers.


    ¡°Team C go left.¡±


    ¡°Team R go right.¡±


    ¡°I will take the center.¡±


    ¡°Always remain within 50 feet radius from me and keep a low profile. Don¡¯t start any fights with other beasts or monsters.¡±


    Liam spelled things out as best as he could and then the search began.


    He watched the bunnies and the chickens scrambling about and the sight was¡­


    ¡°I really need to create some stronger undead followers.¡±

 Chapter 316: Found you!

    Chapter 316: Found you!


    A few minutester, after Liam covered about half of the distance, one of his chicken minions dashed toward him at full speed.


    BAK BAK BAKA!


    Unlike his pets, these soul undeads did not have the ability tomunicate with him directly.


    They had the ability to understand hismands but it did not work the other way around.


    So the chicken furiously made a pecking noise and pointed its head towards the eastern side.


    ¡°You found something there?¡± The chicken nodded.


    Liam ignored the bird¡¯sical wing pping and head butting and shifted his gaze to look at the vige in the distance.


    He then dismissed all of his soul undeads and hurried in the direction. Not long after he entered the small and deste town.


    Here as well, the streets and the surroundings were empty just like the other areas and the houses and the various establishments were broken down.


    Liam quickly peeked into a few ces when he suddenly caught the distinct stench of blood and death in the air.


    It was the smell of rotting corpses.


    He knitted his brows together and hurriedly dashed over to the run-down building from which the smell wasing.


    However, after reaching the door, he stopped abruptly. The sight in front of him was a bit too¡­ gory.


    There were several bodies piled on the ground and there were flesh, blood and guts sprayed everywhere inside the small room.


    Just the stench was unbearable.


    Cough. Cough. Liam covered his nose, not able to stand the horrendous smell of the rotting bodies.


    ¡°These are NPCs?¡± He kicked around one to see if there was anything underneath, but there was only something squishy and unrecognizable.


    ¡°Tch.¡± He rubbed his boots on the ground again to get rid of the things stuck on his shoe and then backed out of the room.


    There was no point in looking around there any longer. The room waspletely and utterly destroyed.


    And considering that everything was still smeared around without disappearing into light particles, these corpses probably belonged to NPCs.


    Liam stepped out of the small building.


    He was about to summon his soul pets again to continue the search once more when suddenly his eyes fell on a bloodstain outside the building.


    When he looked closer, surprisingly, he also saw a light footprint or rather marks as if someone had dragged a bunch of bodies across the ground.


    Liam looked around in the nearby areas and found the weird set of muddled marks leading away from the broken-down house.


    ¡°Did the dark elf perhaps drag his multiple captives from this hideout to another hideout?¡± He did not know what to think of it.


    He continued following this trail and a few secondster unexpectedly the vague scuffle marks on the ground started to be clear footprints.


    Some of them still looked as if they were dragging their feet but at least some of the footprints were clearer.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Liam stopped and squatted on the ground.


    He extended his hand to touch the ck spots and red sploshes that were dotted around these footprints.


    ¡°Whoever went this way was probably heavily injured. Maybe Alex escaped on her own?¡±


    He doubted it but that was still a possibility. He dusted his hands, stood up, and continued following the trail.


    Everything was progressing quite well so far as he had even managed to find a good clue possibly about the whereabouts of Alex, but something seemed off.


    It was unusual that the dark elf casually let his captives escape easily like this, that too after holding them for so long.


    ¡°Well, I guess I will go and find out.¡± Liam maintained his [Stealth] mode just in case and continued following the trail.


    For a while, he did not see anything ore across any further clues but a couple of minutester¡­


    The footprints became even clearer and the blood drops on the ground started pooling more and bigger splotches were seen on the ground.


    ¡°I am getting closer.¡± Liam frowned and quickened his pace.


    A few feetter, he again stopped and this time, he paused slightly and narrowed his eyes to look at the trail closely.


    At first nce, this seemed just like the other spots but there was something off about this particr area.


    Or rather one particr blood drop. There was a small imprint of a different set of feet on this dried drop of blood.


    It looked like this was made after some time, thereby allowing the blood to dry up.


    Liam gazed at this and suddenly had a thought. Was perhaps someone else also following the same trail?


    It could even be the dark elf assassin himself!


    He did not have to wonder for long as after he moved a few more feet, he heard a small disturbance ahead of him.


    ¡°I cannot walk anymore.¡± Someone said.


    ¡°No, we cannot take a break here. We need to keep moving.¡± This was unmistakably Alex¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Only a few more steps! We have to press on.¡± She was urging someone else but her own voice sounded very weak and feeble.


    Liam hurried over and arrived at the site in a jiffy.


    And just like he expected, he also saw Alex standing there. She was leaning on the remains of a dry dead tree trunk.


    ¡°There you are. Bingo. Found you.¡± Liam stopped. He did not immediately approach her and decided to observe the situation first.


    There were about eight other people around her. yers? NPCs?


    It did not look like this mattered because all of them seemed to be very gravely injured.


    They did not have any armor or weapon or any other belongings for that matter. Their clothes were in tatters.


    There were covered in injuries from top to bottom. Not just ordinary cuts or bruises but these injuries seemed a little strange.


    They were deep and still bleeding and the flesh and the scar had turned ckish purple as if they had been poisoned?


    Liam waited for a couple more minutes and observed the group and the surroundings carefully to see if there was someone else hiding in the vicinity just like him.


    But nothing seemed out of ce.


    The group wheezed and panted and all of them were on the verge of copsing and buckling down on the ground.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t just dying be simpler? Why struggle so much? Hmmm.¡±


    Liam did not understand their behavior. Nevertheless, nothing seemed to be happening. So he decided to take action.


    He was just about to rush forward and grab the damned woman who had caused him so much headache when suddenly¡­


    SLASH.


    THUD.

 Chapter 317: Dead?

    Chapter 317: Dead?


    SLASH


    THUD


    Before anyone could realize what happened, a ck figure suddenly appeared and then disappeared right in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.


    And the next instant, the person whom Alex was just now talking to, suddenly fell down to the ground, limp and still.


    ¡°Hey! Hey!¡± Alex stared at the person incredulously, her eyes widened like a deer in the headlights.


    ¡°What happened? Are you okay?¡±


    Other people in the group as well looked confused, but they were all utterly exhausted so they did not act in a hurry to see what happened.


    They themselves were only barely holding on so they tiredly moved and did not seem to be in any sort of panic.


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Observing all this from the distance, Liam stopped moving and also did not cancel his stealth.


    The others including Alex had clearly not realized what just happened. Perhaps they were too tired. Perhaps they thought that the person had only fainted.


    But Liam knew that was not the case. He had seen the whole thing go down. He knew that the person on the ground was in fact dead.


    And also¡­


    He knew that the dark elf was here!


    His actions were so fast and agile but they were not enough to escape Liam¡¯s gaze.


    But the thing Liam was confused about was¡­ just what the hell was he doing? Was he purposefully toying with them?


    This was a strong enemy and perhaps even stronger than the other dark elf generals, so Liam did not act hastily.


    He could see that the elf was enjoying, giving himself pleasure by toying with these people.


    If that was the case¡­ then perhaps he would target someone like Alex at the end.


    Well even if not, this was a chance he was willing to take. He did not n to risk his life just because hers was in danger.


    Liam silently watched as the group fumbled and groaned and finally realized that something was wrong with the person who had fallen down.


    It was Alex in fact who noticed it first when she repeatedly tried talking to the person and there was no response.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡± She bent down and then suddenly shrieked, falling back on her ass. ¡°Blood. Blood. He is dead.¡±


    ¡°What? How could that be possible?¡±


    ¡°No way¡­¡±


    Everyone else looked equally shocked. One person stepped forward and hesitantly pushed aside the corpse.


    That too they did not move the body but kicked the body unceremoniously.


    This particr behavior waspletely different from the rest of their reactions.


    It was almost as if they were avoiding touching the person or his blood maybe.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Liam shook his head. He had a feeling that he was missing something obvious. It took him a second, but he finally saw it.


    ¡°He is just dead, right? Why are they all acting like this?¡± Instantly, his face darkened as he realized something else too.


    The person on the ground who had fallen down dead was still not disappearing! That means he had also not resurrected!


    ¡°What the hell? Wait, perhaps he is an NPC?¡± Liam pondered.


    That seemed to be the most logical exnation but he had a nagging feeling at the back of his head that things were not so simple.


    It was because of the reactions of the people in front of him, including Alex.


    They all looked as if they were currently being hunted down by a serial killer, which was actually not that far from the truth.


    Liam steadied his posture making sure to not give away his presence and continued observing.


    However, there was no more appearance of the dark elf and only the remaining members of the group were discussing amongst themselves.


    ¡°How did this happen?¡±<i>[]</i>


    ¡°How did he die suddenly?¡±


    ¡°We were right here weren¡¯t we? How the hell did he die?¡±


    ¡°He must have been too exhausted.¡± Someone suggested and everyone seemed to agree, at least until Alex pointed out the obvious.


    After remaining silent for all this time, she opened her mouth and said. ¡°No, he did not die from exhaustion. See, his throat is slit open.¡±


    Hearing her words, the others looked dumbfounded. The full reality dawned on them and the entire group looked crestfallen.


    ¡°That means¡­ that means¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, he is still here,¡± Alex confirmed the group¡¯s worst nightmare.


    They had struggled ande all this way, but the cruel reality was that¡­ they were still within the grasp of that person!


    ¡°Why? Why are you torturing us like this? Why don¡¯t you just kill me and get over with it!¡± Someone shouted in agony.


    ¡°No, La. No!¡± Alex hurriedly tried to stop her from saying anything but it was toote.


    The ck figure appeared once again and also disappeared just like before.


    And the next instant, the girl whom Alex had called out¡­ fell down limp and lifeless.


    1 second passed. 2 seconds passed.


    But everyone stood absolutely still and frozen. They were afraid to even take another reath.


    Another person had died just like that!


    And no one was able to do anything. They could all only stand by and watch like goats who were next in line to be ughtered.


    Why? How? Were they all just going to die? Just like this?


    This was the question in everyone¡¯s mind and every single person who was still alive was afraid to know the answer.


    Liam as well had an equally shocked reaction. Something was definitely wrong here. He could feel it.


    Why would everyone react in this manner? Why did Alex look so miserable? What if the two who had died were actually not NPCs?


    What if they were yers? They had died but their bodies had still not disappeared or resurrected. What did that mean?


    And why was everyone so tense and scared?


    They were all acting as if their very lives depended on the next few seconds.


    Taking all of this into ount, there was one and only one possibility that Liam could think of.


    This obvious possibility was ring at his face but it was too frightening to think about.


    The dark elf¡­ could somehow¡­ permanently kill his target?

 Chapter 318: Stalking and baiting the assassin

    Chapter 318: Stalking and baiting the assassin


    ¡°The dark elf can permanently kill? In a single hit?¡± Liam clenched his fist, both in nervousness and excitement.


    Wasn¡¯t this a bit too unfair? Over-powered? Ridiculous?


    He did not think that such a method existed. He wouldn¡¯t have even believed that such a method existed, but now he was seeing this with his very own eyes.


    ¡°I need to be very careful.¡± Liam doubled back on his efforts to remain unseen and in stealth.


    This enemy in front of him was probably the most powerful he had seen so far. The ability to permanently kill was nothing short of terrifying.


    He had half a mind to just return back without engaging with this person. However¡­ something like this was also an opportunity that he couldn¡¯t miss.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Liam was conflicted.


    He was not a betting person and even if he was, he would never go all-in on any single y, at least not until he was sure of the results and 100% confident.


    And against this elf¡­ he would definitely be risking things¡­


    He had the level advantage, he was stronger than him, and not to mention he had a mysterious ability that could end his life once and for all.


    Neither Alex nor Mia was worth taking this risk.


    He should be running in the other direction right about now, not wanting to face this game-breaking elite and die a horrible death.


    It was their misfortune that they had managed to cross paths with a monster like this. Maybe it was even fate¡¯s way of correcting things.


    It did not matter. Liam knew that he absolutely should not engage with this monster, not for the women, not for obtaining the technique.


    It was not worth it.


    However, he still stood rooted to the spot, watching the scene, waiting and observing everything.


    This was because¡­


    The dark elf was an assassin!


    If he was a hunter or a mage or a warlock, Liam would have left by now but the overpowered opponent in front of him was an assassin.


    And thanks to his recent utter and humiliating defeat against another person using invisibility potions, he already had a counter prepared for this particr situation.


    This was something he had done to take care of Kouske or the other three in case they tried something simr again, but it would help him perfectly right now.


    And this was the only reason why he was still hanging around, waiting and watching for a chance to appear.


    Liam continued to observe the group as they all slowly and silently recovered from their shock.


    A couple of them cried but most seemed to be simply frozen, not having the energy or the brain capacity to react further. Only a sad silence hung on their lips.


    Finally, after a couple of minutes, it was Alex who spoke up. ¡°We need to keep moving. There is no point in just standing here.¡±


    She let out a small sigh and then started walking again, her feet dragging and limping on the ground.


    The others looked at her as if she was crazy. What was even the point in doing so? Wasn¡¯t that guy just going to kill them all?


    At first, no one followed her but a couple of minutester, one by one slowly peeled away from the ground and also started walking.


    Mostly because they did not know what else to do. They were utterly despondent at the moment.


    Liam saw this and couldn¡¯t help but smile. With just a few words, Alex had made the others move and follow her.


    Even with all her other ws, this woman had a relentless spirit. She still hadn¡¯t given up!


    He had to admit that such a quality was impressive. Now he was more than sure that the assassin was probably going to target Alexst.


    But the question was who was he going to target next?


    Liam already had a n in mind and he only needed one more chance to act but before that¡­


    Seeing the group move out of his sight, he could tell that the dark elf also probably followed them.


    The man wanted to enjoy their misery so he wouldn¡¯t have let them out of his sight. That meant that he was free to examine the corpse in front of him.


    Was he really a yer who was permanently killed and unable to be resurrected? Or perhaps he was overthinking things?


    Considering that the assassin had plenty of time to deal with these guys and torture them, chances were that they could have also been fed with a rare herb or a pill or some other curse or spell.


    The guy could have even killed these people several times and then allowed them to escape, only dealing the final blow now. There were truly several possibilities.


    It also did not necessarily have to be a skill that he is activating with the dagger. Or maybe it was poison smeared on the dagger?


    Liam squatted down on the ground, touching the blood that had seeped out of the person¡¯s neck.


    He was careful not to touch the corpse itself as that would break his [Stealth] and just touched the blood that had leaked out.


    He scooped the clotted mass in his hand and rubbed it with his fingers. ¡°It¡¯s very coarse. It definitely feels like a pill residue or some sort of powder.¡±


    ¡°I have never heard of a pill with this effect before? Just how is he killing these people? Should I do this or not?¡±


    ¡°The chances of a one-hit kill is very less. I think I should be fine.¡±


    He stood up, made sure that his [Stealth] was still holding, and continued following the group. He already made his decision.


    If he got his chance then he was going to take it.


    As he continued following the group, he started slowly moving closer and closer to them. To be more specific, he moved closer to a particr person.


    A slightly mature-looking man who was probably in his thirties or forties.


    After observing every member of the group, Liam hypothesized that this man had to be the dark elf¡¯s next target.


    He was the next weakest and he looked the most anxious and nervous.


    The sadistic dark elf would probably kill this person to get the maximum enjoyment and thrill out of it.


    At least this was his theory.


    And if he was correct, then his best chance would also be when this event happened.


    Sweat trickled down Liam¡¯s forehead and his pulse raced like a batmobile. He was taking an insane amount of risk. He needed this to pay off.


    Seconds dragged on like hours as everyone continued in silence, including those in stealth and those not in stealth and soon the moment arrived.


    Just like Liam predicted, the ck figure of the dark elf appeared once again and he appeared right behind the same guy Liam had guessed!


    SLASH


    THUD


    A dagger shed under the moonlight and the person clutched his neck as blood spurted everywhere.


    His anxious eyes turned lifeless the next second and he dropped dead on the ground, still staring with dread and unwillingness.


    The dark elf sneered enjoying this response. This time he had particrly slowed down a bit more to savor the taste.


    And at the exact same moment¡­


    BOOM!


    Something exploded in the air, covering everyone present in that area with a ck and sticky liquid.


    Alex, her group, and also the dark elf assassin!


    Every single member of the team was covered in the thick wet sticky liquid.


    And before the dark elf could figure out just what the hell this was and what was happening, something else shed in the moonlight and a dozen attacks bombarded him.


    ¡°How do you like my tar bomb?¡± Liam grinned as he used every bit of mana he had to deal the maximum burst damage that he could.

 Chapter 319: Leave! Run away!

    Chapter 319: Leave! Run away!


    Everyone, including the dark elf, was utterly shocked when Liam appeared out of nowhere.


    In this remote area, no one had expected another person to be present along with them. This was too much of a coincidence.


    Not just that. This person also had timed everything perfectly and executed an impossible task.


    This meant that he was actually following the assassin for quite a while to know the elf¡¯s moves and skills.


    If the dark elf, who was toying around with everyone, was cunning and maniptive, then this person had somehow managed to manipte the maniptor, hunt the hunter.


    Just who was this person, and how did he suddenly appear here? No one knew except for one single woman.


    Alex dumbfoundedly stared at Liam.


    Sure, she had dreamt about this exact moment for the past several hours which might as well have been several years.


    She had hoped that someone woulde, her sister woulde, and even hoped that her arch-enemy, her nemesis, this hateful person woulde.


    But unfortunately, all of that had changed when she saw how the dark elf was using some strange means to kill yers permanently.


    At first, he was simply torturing them by testing some weird purple-colored poisons on them.


    However, all of this changed when a loud horn sounded.


    The dark elf started shouting something in anger and annoyance, breaking the things in the room.


    He then started killing randomly, only to stop and storm out of the building banging the door shut.


    Alex knew instantly that this was their only chance to escape. In his hurry, he had not bothered to chain them back correctly.


    A couple of them were left freely, even though these two were twitching in pain, lying on the ground.


    Alex did not know why the dark elf had overlooked this. Perhaps he thought that the two on the floor were already dead?


    Nevertheless, this was the only chance they had.


    She slowly coaxed these two to bear with the pain and release everyone by breaking the shackles.


    This took a while, not to mention they soon ran into another roadblock.


    The yers whom the dark elf killed were not resurrecting. They simplyid in a pool of their own blood, forever to rot.


    Realizing this, everyone stood frozen in shock. This sight was simply too terrifying!


    Real people were being killed inside the game and the thought that a simr fate probably awaited her and even Rey terrified her even more.


    She did not even fully understand how she got herself entangled with someone powerful like this in the first ce.


    She was hoping that Mia woulde and rescue her before but now she no longer wished for that to happen.


    If she came here, then perhaps not just her but the two of them would perish together in the cruelest of fashion.


    In reality, Alex was at least able to maintain her sanity somewhat because she already knew some secrets about this game.


    But the others were simply too shocked. This was the first time they were encountering something like this.


    Apparently, the dark elf had plucked them randomly from the outer towns and viges while they were doing quests or picking herbs and brought them here one by one.


    However, these people¡¯s treatment waspletely different from the one Alex received.


    She did not know who was lucky and who was unlucky.


    The dark elf was killing these guys left and right without holding back while he treated her like a treasured specimen and took his time to torture her more.


    At least for this, she did not have to wonder why because he openly dered that it was because of her S-rank divine affinity.


    But she had no doubts that the same future waited for her also. All of them needed to escape now. Otherwise, they were all going to end up dead.


    She again summoned her burnt-out willpower and tried to make everyone listen to her.


    She snapped them out of their trance and made sure they understood the reality. They needed to leave now!


    The dark elf had underestimated them, and this was their only chance!


    Without wasting another second, the group started to run and flee from the building where they had been held captive for so long.


    But unfortunately, things were not as they seemed. In the end, it turned out that the dark elf had never overlooked them.


    Everything he did was on purpose, and before they realized two more people had died¡­


    At this point, there was nothing that anyone could do. It was obvious whaty ahead of them and the fact was that no one could change this.


    But now suddenly Liam was standing in front of her?


    She couldn¡¯t believe her eyes. This was thest person she thought woulde to her rescue.


    What was he doing here? Did he already know the risks? Or perhaps he did not?


    If he knew that he could possibly die from this, why would he still remain standing here?


    In that case, should she warn him? Alex stared at the man and at his steady back in disbelief.


    ¡°I should warn him¡­¡± She mumbled with her bleeding lips parted.


    Despite how much she hated him and wanted to punch his face out, she knew that he was here right now for her sake, to help her.


    Even if Mia was the one who made hime here, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he listened to her request and was here.


    She did not want to make her suffer. She was going to die here. At least Mia needed someone by her side.


    ¡°LIAM! LEAVE! RUN away! He can kill you! PERMANENTLY!¡± She shouted at the top of her lungs. This was the best that she could do.


    More than this, even she did not have any exnation and she also did not have any strength to assist him in the battle.


    She could not even open her interface for some reason or activate any of her skills for that matter.


    ¡°LEAVE LIAM! He is using some sort of poison! Watch out for his dagger.¡±


    She looked at him and shouted onest time as her voice cracked on seeing the dark elf throwing a furious nce at her.


    He looked extremely serious, his mere gaze making her shiver.


    However, the man she was trying to warn looked very casual. Liam grinned and tossed a bunch of health potions at her without saying anything else.


    He then continued shing at the dark elf, his movements smooth and flowing, without any interruption.


    Alex had already seen him fight several times, but he somehow seemed to have improved even further every time she looked at him again.


    Or perhaps she had never seen him properly. With her mouth open, she unblinkingly stared at the fight in front of her.


    This was not a fight on her level. She didn¡¯t think that Liam could be this monster¡¯s opponent, yet he was bursting forth with strength and power.


    Would this fight just end like this? Would Liam really manage to kill this monster without ever giving him a chance to fight back?


    She gulped, watching the man¡¯s movements in a trance.

 Chapter 320: So what?

    Chapter 320: So what?


    ¡°Graaa!¡±


    The dark elf struggled, the veins on his forehead popping in anger.


    In reality, he wasn¡¯t all that much bothered about the ck slimy pungent tar sludge sticking on his body.


    But to think that someone had nned, strategized, and toyed with him like how he had toyed with his prey made him livid.


    Such a thing was extremely humiliating to anyone, not to mention someone like him.


    However, unfortunately, it was just the beginning.


    The dark elf soon found that the tar dripping on his body was equally irritating.


    The sludge prevented him from entering stealth again and vanishing from the vision of the opponent.


    This was the dark elf¡¯s favorite method of attacking.


    He liked to terrorize his enemy and give them the maximum mental pressure before swooping in to enjoy the kill.


    But now, he was not able to do that.


    ¡°Graaa! Seniko drettty!¡±


    The dark elf shouted furiously and dashed towards Liam who had already put considerable distance between himself and the elf.


    Only a fool would fight in closebat with an assassin, that too of a higher level.


    But from the way the dark elf was acting, it looked like no matter how much distance Liam ced in between them, it would never be enough.


    He rushed towards him as if he meant to slice and dice him into a million pieces.


    However, after taking a few steps, the dark elf¡¯s face once again changed, bing several shades darker and twisted.


    He finally realized that his stealth wasn¡¯t the only thing affected. His speed was not as fast as it should be either!


    For an assassin especially, the ability to vanish from eyesight and his speed, agility and reflexes were like his two legs.


    But with one trick, Liam had cut down both of his legs and made him stumble and fall.


    Now how would he be able to fight with his full abilities?


    The dark elf howled in a maddened frenzy.


    Liam also did not miss this chance and continued to barrage the dark elf with one fireball after another, sending in power-packed hits.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!


    The first two hitsnded on the dark elf but he was not weak to take all of them lying down.


    He snorted in contempt and started cleaving all the fireballs into two with just his dagger.


    He sliced the mana attacks casually as if he was just slicing the air. His reddened eyes red at Liam with visible hatred.


    He was like a slumbering feral wolf woken up from his rest. He snarled at Liam and came for him with everything he had.


    You took away my stealth and speed? So what?


    He was not deterred by these handicaps and lunged at Liam, shing his daggers.


    His gaze challenged Liam to do the best that he could, and he did not do it without the adequate backing of talent.


    Even with this speed nerfed, the dark elf still remained a force to be reckoned with!


    He exuded a cruel and sinister killing intent and dashed towards him. The superiority of his footwork and stats showed their power at this moment.


    Liam tried to kite him while simultaneously sending in a few attacks every now and then.


    The dark elf also did not remain idle and shooted out several darts at Liam as he chased him, slowly closing the distance between the two of them.


    ¡°I cannot let these darts hit me.¡± Liam slowed himself down further in order to evade the attacks.


    The opponent he was facing this time was someone who dabbled in poison or possibly someone who could take away the soul in one hit.


    So even taking a single hit head-on was ruled out. His only option was to sacrifice his speed to make sure he evaded everything.


    Seeing this the dark elf snorted and sent in several more attacks.


    At a certain point, Liam was no longer sure if he was just seeing things or if there were indeed these many darts.


    Maybe some of them were just images or illusions?


    Liam tossed another tar bomb and also simultaneously sent in a few frost balls.


    The dark elf¡¯s eyes glinted on seeing the familiar bomb so he quickly avoided it. However, he failed to avoid all of the frost balls.


    He ended up taking hits from two of them after evading two and slicing one with his dagger.


    And bingo!


    Liam grinned.


    The frost ball burst open on the assassin¡¯s lean body taking away a chunk of his health while also reducing his speed some more.


    And he did not stop there. He knew that this was the only chance he was going to get.


    He was not that familiar with an assassin¡¯s high-leveled skills, and that too this guy seemed to have several mysterious tricks up his sleeve.


    Liam knew he had to do something if he wished even to have a chance of winning. He had to do it now!


    This tar bomb and this frost ball debuff were the maximum advantages he would get.


    He needed to use it correctly and at least takeaway half or more than half of the man¡¯s health.


    However, the dark elf was not giving him a chance.


    And Liam as well was not ready to duck out just yet. He threw at the guy everything he had left.


    Seeing this, everyone else was at the edge of their seats.


    Their life and death depended on this stranger, and they were dumbly staring at the show.


    No one had the strength left to help Liam. Alex tried to do something but she only failed again.


    Moreover, everything in front of her was happening at lightning speed.


    She could only dumbly stare and see the series of bright lights shining brightly in the darkness.


    Letting out a long sigh, she weakly extended her hand forward to take the fallen health potion bottle and gulped it down.


    ¡°Come on.¡±


    ¡°Come on.¡± She muttered in a barely audible voice, willing her body to move or even to be able to do anything.


    However, she was still unable to do anything.


    She feltpletely drained and her condition was only worsening by the second.


    Meanwhile, Liam continued to overpower the assassin, utilizing the full extent of his abilities.


    Even with that, the assassin was like a cockroach, and he did not go down quickly.


    Because of the level difference, Liam¡¯s attacks were not 100% efficient.


    He also had high physical resistance, the elf¡¯s body covered in numerous scars.


    Liam knew that this fight was not going to be easy. He was fighting against an experienced veteran.


    Nevertheless, he was already here and had initiated the fight.


    So he continued grinding away the dark elf¡¯s health while simultaneously avoiding all of his attacks.


    He was only able to do this because of the small window of opportunity, and he wanted to make use of the entire time of debuff.


    But halfway through, the dark elf assassin growled, ¡°ENOUGH!¡±

 Chapter 321: Soloing the boss?!

    <h4>Chapter 321: Soloing the boss?!</h4>


    The dark elf assassin snarled and took something out.


    He popped it into his mouth and then once again took out something else from his person.


    The next instant, before Liam could react or do anything, suddenly a thick ck mist enveloped the area.


    With the thick ck mist unleashed, the others felt their bodies shiver. Even Alex trembled visibly.


    Amidst this vicious, sinister ck mist, the dark elf alone had a strange smile on his face.


    Everyone saw this, and the little hope they had left after seeing Liam was also now gone.


    They could tell that the dark elf had activated some sort of secret spell. With this¡­ what was going to be of them?


    Seeing the fear in everyone''s face, the elf''s grin widened as he confidently began his counterattack.


    But there was still something odd about this situation that bothered him. Everyone else seemed to be affected.


    However, weirdly, Liam alone still seemed calm and steady.


    The ck mist seemed to have no effect on him at all, and the elf had a bad premonition.


    He watched his opponent''s face turn several shades from tensed to shock and then to joy?


    "COME OUT!" Liam loudly shouted, almost as soon as the ck mist spread out and a strange glint appeared on the dark elf''s face.


    The next instant, everyone was utterly shocked as they watched a small group of chickens and rabbits appear from somewhere.


    Before they could diggest this aspect, two giant golems as well appeared out of nowhere.


    Liam decided to truly go all out. This battle was worth it.


    The golems only had some health left because they hadn''t yet fully recovered from the previous battle.


    But this was surely more than enough. After all, Liam was only up against a single opponent at the moment.


    Aftermanding the defense golem to erect its mana barrier and guard Alex and the group of other injured yers, Liam did not waste this precious opportunity.


    He started unleashing all hell on the dark elf.


    The gap that he was struggling against earlier had suddenly disappeared because ofher''s presence.


    Now he was no longercking. It was his turn to dominate and finish this fight once and for all!


    HAAAAA! Liam roared and sted forth. Theher gave him renewed energy and filled his drained and tired body.


    Fighting with this elf for a few seconds was far more tiring than any fight he had ever faced so far.


    This opponent was testing his abilities to the extreme!


    Liam did not hesitate and immediately started with the strongest skill in his arsenal, especially because ofher''s presence.


    [Nether firestorm]


    Hemanded theher in the air around him, thanks to the elf''s special device, and then the next instant wreaked havoc on the assassin''s lean and dark body.


    Without giving him a chance to use theher for his own spells, he used all of it to cast the huge spell.


    Massive mes roared as if they were alive and lit up the whole forest, even the nearby vegetation catching fire because of this.


    And Liam did not stop there¡­


    [Wind des], [Fireball], [Ice burst], [Lightning Snake], [Earth Spike]


    He used every single spell he had and barraged the dark elf from all sides. He imprisoned the elf with just his spells and did not let him recover.


    At the same time, he also maintained a distance from the dark elf, making sure not to let his dagger strike him even once.


    This was his biggest or rather his only constraint, so he fought like a mage rather than a closebat fighter.


    He let his other minions do the grunt work instead.


    On one hand, the golem was standing tall like a metal and stone statue and trying its best to pummel the elf and tten him down to the earth.


    On the other hand, bunnies and chickens were bombarding the elf one after the other.


    They were not doing any significant damage but they were irritating the shit out of the guy, not letting him think or move properly.


    Liam grinned seeing the dark elf struggle. His health as well was starting to take huge hits.


    Seeing the monstrous health bar that was in millions finally starting to crash like the stock market, Liam doubled his efforts and kept the attacks running.


    One after the other, strong power-packed punches rained on the assassin.


    Seeing this the others as well were starting to rejoice.


    At first, it seemed impossible for a single person to take down the dark elf who was as strong as a dungeon boss. They did not have any hope.


    But now seeing everything happen, they finally felt their breath quicken and their heart palpitate.


    Alex also sucked in a big breath of air. Everything was going in their favor. Will Liam truly solo this monster? Were they all going to be saved?


    With her heart pounding loudly, she watched as the dark elf''s health continued to drop.


    80%


    70%


    60%


    50% and it was still continuing to drop¡­


    He was really going to do it! Wasn''t he? Alex licked injured her dry lips in excitement.


    It tasted bitter and it hurt but she didn''t care. She was finally going to get out of this hell!


    She shifted her gaze from the dark elf who was being pummeled on all sides to Liam to cheer him and support him.


    However, his expression was strange. It was almost as if he was pensively thinking about something.


    It did not look like the face of someone who was en route to an absolute dominating victory. He did not look happy at all.


    Just when she wondered if something was wrong, Liam''s face suddenly darkened.


    Alex heard loud gasps around her and she quickly looked at the dark elf to see himugh?


    The dark elf assassin was actuallyughing like a lunatic?


    His voice was not audible because of all the attacks being barraged on him at the moment.


    But if one looked at him, it was clear that the man was smiling.


    He was grinning from ear to ear, looking at Liam with a mysterious glint in his eyes.


    Just what the hell was happening?


    The next instant, suddenly everything came to an abrupt stop. The dark elf''s health stopped falling!


    He moved, easily breaking out of Liam''s spells, and dodged the numerous ghosts bumping him and crowding him.


    He also easily gave the slip to the golem and appeared next to Liam without any warning.


    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    Bing rmed, Liam quickly moved back several paces. He tried to remain calm and observed everything carefully.


    What changed suddenly?


    "KE KE KE KE! KE KE KE KE! LOOK AT YOUR FACE!" The dark elf loudly snickered, and then his smile instantly twisted into something sinister.


    "Did you really think that I was going to lose?"


    ***


    Bonus chapter 1~~


    Please thank Aquadiver for this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 322: Did you really think that I was going to lose?

    <h4>Chapter 322: Did you really think that I was going to lose?</h4>


    "Did you really think I would lose to a puny human like you?!" The dark elf sneered.


    "KE KE KE. My bad, did you think you were winning?"


    "NO! YOU ARE NOT!" He slithered his tongue out, slowly licking the de of his knife, and startedughing maniacally.


    Liam ignored the dark elf''s taunts and only focused on his movements, his hands, and legs, raising his concentration to the maximum level.


    He did not want to be led away by any misdirection or trickery and caught off guard by the elf''s actual attack that could be something else entirely.


    However, the dark elf continued snickering and looked like he did not intend to take any action.


    "What-" Liam''s thoughts were interrupted as the elf''s hands finally moved, and he reached his person, taking out something.


    It was nothing fancy. It was just a tiny ck ball that Liam was already familiar with.


    This was the same ck ball that he had recovered from the dark mages and it was the same ck ball that he had handed over to the king toplete the kingdom''s quest.


    He tried to understand what was happening.


    And the elf also did not do much. He simply ced the ball between his thumb and index finger and then¡­ without warning¡­


    CRACK!


    He snapped it.


    The ck ball cracked open and various streaks of light erupted out of it and immediately enveloped Liam.


    "ENJOY!" The dark elf snickered.


    The next second, before Liam could react, a whole lot of things flooded into his senses, or rather his brain.


    He did not even have the chance to make sense of anything and was assaulted by a blinding headache.


    Everything was aching as if everything was about to burst open. The mental assault was so intense that Liam''s mouth involuntarily opened and was gasping for air.


    Anger, pain, agony, misery, regret, sadness, every single negative emotion that he could think of assaulted him from top to bottom, taking hold of every nerve in his being.


    Liam couldn''t see it, but right now, his body was enveloped by something white and shimmering.


    In fact, this shimmering white thing was not visible to anyone, not Alex, not the other people near her, not even to the dark elf who had caused this in the first ce.


    But if one could have looked closer in this white swirling mass, they could have seen hundreds or more wailing faces that kept appearing and disappearing on the white mass.


    These ghosts, or rather souls, all clung to Liam at the same time, and he couldn''t withstand it.


    Liam tried to resist, but he buckled and keeled under such immense mental pressure.


    Especially because of his ability to sense these souls, their effect on him was that much worse.


    The hundreds of wailing ghosts swirled around him in the darkness,pletely drowning him in pain and agony.


    It was almost like he was able to hear what the souls were in agony about.


    Liam clutched his head and fell to the ground, twisting and writhing in pain.


    And the dark elf who was watching this started abruptly jumping up and down in utter joy!


    "KE KE KE KE! KE KE KE KE!"


    "I knew it! I knew it!"


    "I got another interesting doll!"


    "You can useher! And you can use divinity! KE KE KE KE!"


    With a vicious look in his eyes, the dark elf pointed to Liam, who was still writhing on the ground and then at Alex, who waspletely as white as a sheet.


    She watched everything go down numbly. She wanted to reach forward and help the man, but she couldn''t move.


    Her muscles wouldn''t listen to her. Tears streamed out of her eyes as her only hope of living was twitching on the ground.


    Fear and shock paralyzed her to the core.


    They were done! They were truly done for now!


    She was going to die. Liam was going to die. Mia and Rey were also probably going to die now!


    Her world was crumbling right in front of her. Weren''t they simply justing here to do a quest?


    That''s right! Everything started with the damned kingdom quest! If only they had never bothered with it!


    If it was not for that¡­ if it was not for him¡­ but she couldn''t bring herself to me him this time around¡­


    She had witnessed it right in front of her eyes. Liam had tried his very best. He had fought with his life on the line.


    And it was normal to go for a Kingdom quest!


    They were very highly sought after quests not just by them but by everyone ying this game.


    Even if it was her, she would have decided the same thing and probably done things the same way.


    So she really had no one to me. It was just random bad luck, a random curse that had doomed them all!


    Breaking Alex''s thoughts, the dark elf was still continuing to rant something loudly.


    "This is my lucky day! KE KE KE! This is my lucky day!"


    The dark elf kicked the body lying on the ground left and right and jumped over the body like a child jumping over a ledge.


    It took Alex a second but her eyes immediately widened as she realized that the elf was kicking around none other than Liam''s body!


    Liam was dead? Just like the others? He was dead and he was also not resurrecting? Seeing this, her heart sank.


    However, the dark elf squatted in front of her and loudlyughed. "He is still not dead."


    The elf snickered and then hummed, turning to look at Liam. "But you are right¡­ he looks too healthy¡­ I need to take care of him."


    "Now that I think about it¡­ KE KE KE¡­ I need to take care of all of you!"


    "You vermins dared to run away from me, isn''t that right?"


    ***


    Bonus chapter 2~~


    Please thank Aquadiver for this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 323: My precious?!

    <h4>Chapter 323: My precious?!</h4>


    "Now that I think about it¡­ KE KE KE¡­ I need to take care of all of you!"


    "You vermins dared to run away from me, isn''t that right?"


    "So, who should I take care of first?"


    "Hmmmm¡­ Hmmm¡­ Hmm¡­"


    The elf snickered viciously, licking his dagger.


    He then started walking around all of them, eyeing and picking out the lucky person who would be his next prey.


    He dragged all the bodies and ced them in a line up facing him.


    Among the 7 remaining members of the group, there was a young man, seemingly around the same age as Liam and also scrawny like his previous self.


    He was the one who was shaking the most.


    The dark elf grabbed him by his neck, with the person kicking and screaming weakly.


    He took his dagger and in one swift move, he sliced¡­ no he was about to slice him but he stopped.


    The de nicked the skin dripping the blood, but the elf left the person intact.


    "KE KE KE. I will save you forter. I will first deal with this human who dared to hurt me."


    The dark elf wiped the blood trickling down his forehead and licked it, turning his attention back to LIAM!


    Alex''s heart sank again.


    No. No. No. She screamed inwardly, but she did not show any reactions outwardly.


    This was because that would only encourage the elf to do more and target Liam more specifically.


    However, her silence as well did not change anything.


    The dark elf sneered and walked over to Liam, holding the dagger close to his throat.


    He then lifted it up intending to plunge it down onto Liam''s back just like how he had done several times for Alex.


    But at thest moment, he stared at Alex, and then he again stopped. "NO. This is a big boy. He needs something more powerful to be put down."


    The dark elf sheathed the dagger back and tapped the ring on his finger.


    Alex looked at him lifelessly. At this point, even her spirit was exhausted. They were just waiting to die or to be endlessly tortured.


    So he just nkly looked at the cruel being, seeing what he had in store for Liam.


    His ring looked ancient and archaic and the elf as well had a proud look on his face as he tapped the ring.


    "Come out, my precious."


    And the next second, from within this ring, emerged a small strand of a brilliant purple me.


    Just the mere presence of it somehow made the air around them more sinister.


    Alex choked, not able to breathe any longer. What was happening? What the hell was this me?


    A strange ache spread across her body as if the toxins coursing through her blood were acting up.


    The dull pain suddenly increased by several manifolds.


    "KE KE KE!" The elf snickered looking at Alex. "It will hurt a bit. BEAR WITH IT! KE KE KE!"


    "This is my precious poison me. Since you are going to be my ything I might as well tell you."


    "Look at it."


    "Look at this beautiful, spectacr me."


    "This me is the dream of every single venomancer."


    "Mere insects like you won''t understand the profoundness of this me!"


    "And if I let you experience the profoundness of this me¡­ KE KE KE¡­ your soul won''t live to tell the tale!"


    "MY BABY is so powerful that it will eat right through your soul! KE KE KE!"


    The tar bomb''s effect had also worn out by now so the dark elf was going in and out of stealth and ying around to his heart''s content, singing praises of his me.


    He kept appearing and disappearing between the 7 individuals as if he was ying a game.


    However, he stopped after a few seconds, clearly very pleased from showing off his me to everyone.


    He also enjoyed the fear and terror that was visible on everyone''s face, except, of course, the guy who was still fainted and lying on the ground face down.


    "Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. Time to turn this boy into my toy!" The dark elf snickered again and then proceeded to skip over to Liam.


    He leaned down and took his dagger out again.


    He then looked up proudly and made a gesture as if he was attempting to show the dagger onto the me on his other palm.


    However, something felt different.


    rmed, the dark elf quickly looked down, only to find out that the brightly dancing me was suddenly missing.


    Almost instantly, real terror and panic flooded his face.


    He started searching around the ground, the charred rocks, the sted trees from the battle, everything around him.


    He searched everywhere frantically but weirdly, the dazzling brilliant me was nowhere to be found?


    How was this possible?


    "NO! NO! NO!"


    It was the dark elf''s turn to clutch his long white hair and scream. How could such a treasured me disappear? Just like that?


    He kept turning around in circles like a lunatic, his eyes darting everywhere.


    Seeing that the me was nowhere to be found, he became even more crazed.


    In his anger, he shed one of the survivors, and in one single move, the dead body flopping down lifelessly. Everyone trembled in fear.


    The elf was clearly a nutjob even before but now he was something different. He was livid as if he had lost all rationality.


    He looked like he had no idea what to do now. How could something that was on his hand magically disappear?


    Who could have taken it?


    Who else was there here besides these worthless insects?


    "GRAAAAA!" The dark elf shouted in rage!


    His voice was like a furious volcano bursting out. Even the birds and the beasts in the vicinity fled away in fear.


    And when he looked down, he suddenly saw an egg in front of him. It was big, and it was vibrating violently!


    ***


    Bonus chapter 3~~


    Please thank Aquadiver for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 324: Bad Girl Luna!

    <h4>Chapter 324: Bad Girl Luna!</h4>


    "Huh¡­" The dark elf stared at the egg in perplexion. What was something like this doing here?


    He looked at it for a second, and after the initial shock wore off, his eyes widened as he became even more shocked.


    Because right at the center of the multicolored weirdly patterned egg was a dark purple hue that very much resembled his treasured me.


    "This couldn''t possibly be?" He stared dumbly, not able to digest this information. The egg had absorbed his me?


    No! That could never be possible!


    How could a random egg absorb a treasured rare me fragment? Wouldn''t it burst just from the impact?


    Wouldn''t the me roast the egg alive and make it into a hard-boiled appetizer?


    But then his gaze lingered on the purple pattern. The evidence was right there on his face and he couldn''t deny it.


    What the hell was happening?


    But as if this was not enough, all of a sudden, a loud sound echoed amidst the silence.


    CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!


    Right in front of everyone''s eyes, the egg was cracking!


    "No!" The dark elf leaped forward. His heart almost stopped beating because of this scare.


    This egg had somehow taken his treasured me, and now it was breaking? Would the me fragment inside still be intact?


    Or would the me be destroyed if the pet did not hatch properly? Where did this egg evene from?


    Or perhaps the egg was really cooked? Then where was the me?


    He was so confused and frustrated that he wanted to bang his own head somewhere.


    But it did not matter. The dark elf tried to quickly regain hisposure as he reached forward to grab the egg in his hand.


    If something was withstanding the pressure of his most treasured possession, it definitely could not be ordinary!


    Perhaps he did not lose anything after all!


    Perhaps he had only gained something!


    Something even more extraordinarypared to his me?


    He quickly took a step forward and then bent to touch the egg. However, before he could, something hit him hard from the back.


    Splurt. Blood was spilled.


    Under the luminous moonlight, a purple sword danced around, and before the dark elf could respond, a considerable chunk of his health was gone.


    "GRAAAA!" The dark elf roared in anger and tried to dodge the attacks, while simultaneously turning around to see who had dared to attack him.


    And as soon as he did, he was once again dumbfounded.


    "You! How are you standing?" The dark elf quickly moved several paces away on seeing the familiar figure in front of him.


    This was the same insect he had thought he had taken care of but it turned out that he was wrong.


    Liam was still alive and well and standing in front of him, even shing at him with the same formidable purple weapon.


    "How did you recover from the fog of souls? This is impossible? Just how high is your mental strength?"


    "A mere human cannot handle that much¡­ it is impossible¡­"


    Liam, however, only silently grinned.


    He had no ns of enlightening the dark elf about his life and the fact that this much pain and agony was nothing in front of his own.


    Not that this did not affect him but it only affected him for about a couple of minutes.


    After that, he had been conscious and simply acting, lying in wait for a suitable chance to once againunch his attack.


    What he did not expect was the dark elf to take out another me fragment and his greedy girl once again popping out.


    This Luna was bing wilder by the second!


    But he did not dislike it at all!


    In fact, she had easily aplished what he could not.


    Liam had used tar bombs to cripple the guy''s speed and agility and the ability to vanish but the little fox had directly eaten his treasure to cripple his very reason and source of power!


    Her action was far more savage and ruthless!


    And also, because of this whole incident, now Liam somewhat had an idea about how the dark elf had aplished the permanent killing of souls.


    More importantly, he could also see that without the purple me fragment, the elf could no longer do this feat.


    And as an added bonus, the elf was close to losing his mind!


    After losing the me, he looked like he was utterly shattered and not focused on his surroundings at all.


    Perhaps it was his overconfidence and perhaps the me mattered to him that much, Liam did not care.


    He would never get a better chance than this and he did not have any time to waste.


    Luna''s egg was also once again cracking, but there was no blood or any other signs of distress this time.


    Even so, Liam could not be at ease. Was she really hatching at this crucial juncture? Why did she always have such rotten timing?


    With everything revving up to a crescendo and the conditions drastically different, Liam did not hold back and started once again hacking away at the dark elf''s health.


    There was a big grin on his face and this time he did bother putting a distance between himself and the elf.


    He swung the sword around without any reservation while also bombarding the elf with big and meaty fireballs.


    However, while things were different, some things were still the same. The dark elf''s strength and power were still absolute.


    Liam lobbed one more tar bomb that the dark elf swiftly evaded and he also fought back in a frenzy.


    Luckily the dark elf hadn''t bothered to fully recover his health. But even with only half of the health remaining the battle was still uphill.


    Some of the chickens and rabbits were already destroyed and only some were left.


    The golems were also fully damaged and they couldn''t be summoned so soon. They needed time to recover.


    So this was going to be a long battle of attrition, one in which Liam did not have an advantage because of the opponent''s strength and experience.


    Though the enemy was an assassin because of their level difference, he might as well be a mountain that could not be mowed down.


    And also, without the tar bomb, he could now vanish in and out.


    Liam rammed the attacks onto the dark elf but the elf as well struck back.


    He repeatedly vanished and reappeared in Liam''s blind spots and dealt back the blows he received. He gave as good as he got.


    "Only a couple more minutes¡­ I need to hang on." Liam gritted his teeth and continued fighting.


    He hade so far so he was also not ready to give up.


    And he was not alone!


    When he saw the purple me, he had already messaged Mia and the others to send a team over to him along with the coordinates.


    So the backup should be here anytime now, and he only needed to hang on until then.


    Liam might not be able to solo kill the guy but he was confident enough to hold him off until the group arrived.


    The two of them were fully engrossed in the battle and in the midst of this, they hadpletely failed to see the egg that was silently continuing to crack.


    The small cracks widened and soon, the entire egg was full of cracks.

 Chapter 325: Welcome Back

    <h4>Chapter 325: Wee Back</h4>


    In the silent moonlit night, amidst the hazy darkness, the loud crackling noises, and the sound of metal shing with metal, a pair of dove-shaped adorable eyes shed open.


    Unaware of this¡­


    Liam locked and parried with the assassin, only taking damage when the other party attacked him from within stealth.


    This was his biggest issue. He could not predict the dark elf¡¯s bizarre movements.


    He was using some sort of exceptional footwork to reduce his presence.


    Liam used everything he had and was trying to deal with the dark elf as best as possible. The other person was also fighting with a vindictive rage.


    ¡°Huff. Huff. Huff.¡± Liam panted. His entire body was drenched from top to bottom in trying to deal with this opponent in front of him.


    Everything the assassin did was unpredictable.


    He was not able to block and parry efficiently. His reaction speed couldn¡¯t match the veteran assassin.


    ¡°YOU DIE NOW!¡± The assassin mumbled.


    He suddenly took out seven small des from inside his leather shirt and in the next instant he vanished from the vision.


    Liam as well prepared himself to block the attack and downed a health potion.


    He vigntly looked around trying to determine where the dark elf was going to attack him from.


    The dark elf sneered, watching the vain attempts of the insect.


    The two of them were locked onto each other mentally but before either side could take action¡­


    ROAR!


    A dark brilliant purple me enveloped the entire area.


    ¡°LIAM!¡± Alex shouted in rm, gaping with her mouth wide open at the horrifying sight in front of her.


    Did the dark elf not lose his me?


    She had been happy that things were looking up for them but looking at the roaring mes that were spreading fast, she knew that they had lost.


    These purple mes were the same ones the dark elf tossed up and down in his palm.


    But this time the power and the size of the mes were muchrger. They were alive. They were everywhere.


    Did the elf actually not exert all his power when torturing us?


    How could Liam still put up a fight against something like this?


    Brilliant purple mes were roaring loudly, engulfing everything in their path.


    Initially, this part of the forest was not affected like the rest of the area and there was still some vegetation left here and there.


    But as soon as these purple mes touched this vegetation, everything was instantly erased.


    The leaves, the stems, the branches, and even the trunks were corroded within seconds. The me consumed everything in its path.


    Luckily they were a few feet away from the site of the battle. So Alex was still able to see everything without being burned alive.


    However, that was not the case for Liam. Just a second ago, he was standing right there in the center of the raging purple fire.


    By now¡­ he would have probably¡­ he would have probably¡­


    Alex¡¯s brain stopped functioning. She couldn¡¯t think anymore. She did not want to.


    She simply lifelesslyid back, waiting for the fire to engulf her as well. There was just nothing more-


    Snapping out of her trance, Alex dumbfoundedly watched as a man ran out of the fire, screaming in agony.


    ¡°Liam¡­ no¡­¡± Alex muttered¡­ in disbelief.


    ¡°Liam¡­ no¡­ no¡­ no¡­ you can¡¯t¡­ please you can¡¯t¡­ I am so sorry. This is all my fault.¡± She sobbed.


    ¡°I could have¡­ I should have fought harder. I am sorry. I let you down. I let everyone down.¡±


    Her eyes were full of dread and horror as she watched the person burn to a crisp right in front of her.


    But what could she do? She couldn¡¯t even move!


    She covered her mouth with her palm and watched the full-grown person turn to ashes in a mere second.


    It made her shiver and tremble from top to bottom.


    But before she could process any of that¡­ the next second¡­ Liam walked out?


    ¡°Huh?¡± Alex blinked in a daze.


    She watched the familiar figure walk out of the fire, the mes moving away, making a path for him as if they were submitting to him.


    He waved his hand and the purple fire disappeared.


    Wait, or was he simply waving his hand at her? She couldn¡¯t understand anything.


    This guy was alive!


    This guy was actually alive!


    Liam was alive and that could only mean¡­ the dark elf was the one who was burned to death?


    Alex gulped as she tried summoning her system interface.


    The familiar screen popped open in front of her and she was able to ess her inventory space and her items.


    Tears streamed out of her eyes as she hurriedly took out a few health potions and gulped down.


    She looked at her health bar with her fingers crossed and it was also going up again!


    Everything was over!


    The dark elf was really dead!


    Tears continued to stream out of her eyes endlessly as Alex looked up through her moistshes at the man now standing in front of her.


    She did not have any strength left in her and ended up literally falling at his feet. ¡°I am sorry. Please forgive me.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Liam was shocked. He did not hear her muffled words properly but just the act of falling at his feet was simply unbelievable!


    This hot-headed redhead turned over a new leaf?


    His gaze lingered on the woman in amusement, only to see that she had fainted in exhaustion.


    He then looked at the other members of the small team who all hurriedly logged out one after the other, not daring to stay inside this game any longer.


    Liam doubted if they would ever y this game again, but they were not his concern.


    Right now he was only concerned with one person.


    His lips curled up to reveal a small smile as he lovingly looked down at that person who was the only other being present along with him and Alex.


    And was currentlyzily purring in his arms¡­


    Kyuuu¡­


    The little fox adjusted her pose to get the maximum embrace from her master, and Liam smiled, patting her gently on her head.


    ¡°Wee back, Luna. Thank you for being a good girl and thank you for having my back.¡±


    Kyuuu¡­

 Chapter 326: The softest!

    <h4>Chapter 326: The softest!</h4>


    Chapter 326: The softest!


    Liam gazed at the small fox sleeping peacefully on hisp. She looked very tired.


    ¡°Using the me must have taken a toll on her.¡±


    ¡°Did she even grow bigger?¡± He mused, observing the little thing carefully from top to bottom.


    She was as small as ever. But other than her size everything else had changed.


    Compared to before she lookedpletely different now. She had a pure snow white body with her fur extremely soft and glossy.


    Even the finest of silks or any other material for that matter couldn¡¯t possiblye close to this softness.


    Liam was not surprised by this. Of course, the little rascal was soft. This time she had gobbled up way too many precious items.


    Countless herbs and three rare me fragments that others considered as precious treasures!


    The beast master Seraphina had mentioned that the beasts only needed to use a little bit of the nine divinities crystal for evolution.


    However, this girl hadpletely swallowed that as well, not leaving even a tiny sliver left.


    How could she still not be soft and cuddly?


    Liam could already see his sister going crazy on this little thing. ¡°You only have yourself to me.¡±


    Admittedly, he as well couldn¡¯t keep his hands off the small fox.


    He smiled bitterly and looked at the rest of her, while continuing to pet her.


    And the little things purred contently from all the attention she was receiving.


    Liam chuckled and then shifted his gaze from the small body to the most curious thing, the three tails of the fox.


    They were also snow white in color now but during the battle when the little fox jumped in front of him out of nowhere and set everything on fire, he distinctly remembered one tail being dark purple in color.


    Did the three tails mirror the three me fragments she had eaten?


    Perhaps the color of her tail changed ording to the me she was using?


    Does that mean she was now able to use all the mes as she pleased?


    He sighed as he looked at the mysterious little thing. He could only slowly figure out these things.


    He lifted up the little fox and looked carefully on all sides to see if there was anything else peculiar about the beast but she seemedpletely ordinary.


    Only her soulful blue eyes peeked at him ever so often when shezily opened her eye lids as if she was making sure that he was right next to her without going anywhere.


    Liam chuckled at this and plopped her back on hisp. ¡°Status.¡± He willed and Luna¡¯s details popped open.


    [Ding. Status]


    [Name: Pet1, Luna]


    [Level: 10]


    [Type: Spirit beast (Evolution possible)]


    [Grade: Celestial]


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam had to read and re-read the term for a few times before he fully grasped the significance of it.


    ¡°This little fox is a celestial grade beast?¡±


    He couldn¡¯t believe it but after eating so many things at least there was something to show for it.


    He did not know what exactly brought about this change. Was it the me fragments or was it the herbs or the nine divinities crystal?


    But the more he thought about it, the more he leaned towards the crystal.


    This was because when he had obtained the crystal, he had to fight a bunch of apes and they were all fighting with him to the death as if their life depended on it.


    Or rather, it was clear that they considered this crystal to be more valuable than even their life!


    Now he understood everything.


    If this crystal indeed had the ability to make a beast tier upgrade this explosively, no wonder they were dying for this.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ Exactly how powerful will a celestial beast be?¡± Liam pondered. He had never heard of this term ¡®Celestial¡¯ until now.


    With weapons or herbs or ores or even beasts for that matter, ¡®Legendary¡¯ was the highest tier that he knew of, at least based on his limited knowledge.


    ¡°I need to find out more.¡± Liam mumbled to himself, but he wasn¡¯t too worried about it.


    He had a feeling that a ¡®Celestial¡¯ beast was something that was at least equal to if not more powerful than a legendary beast.


    Especially, after personally witnessing her one-shot the dark elf assassin whom he had been pitifully struggling against, he absolutely had no doubts about her power.


    Liam sighed tiredly. This time the fight with the dark elf assassin was eye opening. He realised many things after the fight.


    The most important thing being¡­ he needed a powerful move, a finishing move.


    Something that contained absolute strength and dominance. This was the thing that hecked the most right now.


    If he had that he wouldn¡¯t have struggled so much against the dark elf and talking about the dark elf¡­


    Liam tiredly gazed at the spot on the ground where some of the charred remains of the dark elf assassin was lying.


    Was that powerful monster really dead? A single me was enough to kill him?


    He silently stared ahead, thinking about this when his thoughts were interrupted by several sets of loud footsteps.


    Mia and a few others were rushing over towards them, huffing and puffing.


    They were also clearly exhausted but they were still running over as fast as they possibly could.


    Liam was sitting under the tree with Alex still fainted by his side and Luna purring on hisp like a cat.


    All three of them looked tired and lifeless so it was easy for anyone to misunderstand.


    Mia saw this sight and her heart almost stopped. ¡°Alex!¡± She shouted and flew towards the woman lying with her face down on the ground.


    She was in a weird pose as if she was prostrating to someone. To be more specific, as if she was prostrating to Liam.


    However, her chest was rising up and down calmly and she seemed to be fine?


    ¡°She is fine.¡± Liam could see her thoughts on her face and reassured her.

 Chapter 327: Back to the nether realm

    <h4>Chapter 327: Back to theher realm</h4>


    Chapter 327: Back to theher realm


    ¡°What¡­ what happened here?¡±


    Mia saw the decay and destruction around them and she couldn¡¯t fathom what could have possibly happened here.


    ¡°I took care of thest dark elf. Your sister should be fine now.¡± Liam stood up, still holding the small fox in his hands.


    Mia was too frazzled to pay attention to the fox, but the few others who came with her noticed the new creature.


    They stole a few peeks and nced at the mysterious looking beast. From its appearance, they could see that the fox was not so simple.


    But no one had the guts to ask Liam about it. They silently stood there as Mia checked Alex for signs of injuries and wounds.


    Meanwhile, Liam did not linger there any longer and walked away from the group. There was still a lot to be done.


    Shin Soo was the only one he recognized amidst the bunch standing there, so he waved at him, signaling him to follow.


    ¡°What is the progress there?¡±


    ¡°Boss, only the NPCs, and the demons are fighting now. There are no more dark elves and the NPC numbers are also almost down.¡±


    Liam nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    Shin Shoo then scratched his head and hesitantly added. ¡°Boss, I think the NPCs might fight demons after the battle is over.¡± I


    ¡°t might be better if the demons retreat now.¡±


    ¡°I agree.¡± Liam patted him with a smile. Even without Shin Soo reminding him, he knew the nature of the human kingdom NPCs.


    The demons and the humans absolutely did not get along.


    ¡°Alright then, I will go back to the battlefield and take care of things. You stay here ande back with Mia.¡±


    Liam did not want to hurry the group, especially Mia unnecessarily. He did not want to break up the happy reunion.


    It was best to give everyone that time to catch a breather.


    Leaving Shin Soo behind, he started to walk back to the battleground when suddenly he felt something warm and stopped abruptly.


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam looked at the hands hugging him from behind.


    He raised his eyebrows in shock, wondering if Alex had regained consciousness already, but the few honey blond strands of hair flying in the wind gave away the identity.


    ¡°Thank you, Liam. Thank you so much.¡± Mia sobbed silently.


    Her hands locked tighter around Liam, and he could even feel her rapid troubled breathing and muffled sobbing.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It was nothing much.¡± He was genuinely shocked to see the ice goddess in such an emotional state.


    ¡°No, you risked your life to save Alex. It means something.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the contract or whatever we signed earlier, but please know this. I am swearing my loyalty to you now.¡±


    ¡°I am forever indebted to you. I will never betray you and I will never leave you.¡± She continued mumbling the few words in a soft voice.


    He could feel her face resting on his back as she spoke, her arms still wrapped around his waist.


    She also sounded as if she was sobbing. She was clearly very emotional and vulnerable at the moment.


    Liam scratched his head, not knowing what to do, and turned around to look at the woman and hug her back.


    He held her slender body that was trembling and stroked her hair gently.


    The golden strands were soft to touch, and so was the woman hugging him tightly.


    But the next second, Mia snapped out of her thoughts and became very conscious.


    She did not realize that she ended up hugging this person.


    She cleared her throat and took a step back, bing very conscious and embarrassed.


    Liam also did not know what else to do and how tofort her. He saw the tears in her eyes and raised his hand to wipe her eyes.


    However, as soon as his hand brushed against her cheeks, instantly, there was a spark of electricity.


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam was amused but he continued wiping her tears and then wiped the other cheek as well.


    Mia was utterly speechless. She did not expect this sort of intimate response from the person in front of her.


    It made her blush even more, and she fidgeted with her fingers awkwardly.


    ¡°Ummm¡­¡± Liam ruffled his hair.


    What either of them did not notice was that the small fox in Liam¡¯s hand was wide awake, with her eyes locked onto Mia with a strange expression.


    In the midst of this awkward silent meeting between the two humans and one fox, a swirl of ck mass suddenly formed behind Liam.


    It was the portal to theher realm.


    Because he came here along with the other demons, and it had been a while since they arrived, it was time for them to be summoned back.


    In fact, this was Liam¡¯sst backup. He had never really risked everything when fighting against the dark elf.


    In the worst case scenario, he would have used this chance to escape back to theher realm.


    This was also why he felt awkward because the woman in front of him was praising him a bit too much.


    He was never really going to risk his life for someone else whom he had only just met.


    There were a lot of other people dependent on him after all. How could he ce importance on this redhead above them all?


    But he did not bother breaking Mia¡¯s bubble.


    If she wants to remain loyal and faithful to him and if this makes everything between them smoother, then there was nothing wrong with letting her think what she wants.


    He did not n on correcting her. It was mutually beneficial for them this way and the best possible scenario.


    ¡°Alright then, I have a few things to take care of. I will meet everyone back at the royal city?¡±


    Liam coughed awkwardly and stroked her head.


    However, there wasn¡¯t much time and he was pulled back into the portal, along with the fox.


    Mia watched the man disappear speechlessly. ¡°Did he just run away from me?¡±


    She covered her face with her palm and looked around. Luckily there was no one else to see this embarrassment.


    She had actually made someone run away¡­ this¡­


    She shook her head, not wanting to think about this anymore, and ran back to Alex.


    She cast a few more healing spells on her, helping her regain consciousness. She then helped her quickly log out.


    The battle was still not over. So they couldn¡¯t afford to be sitting around and talking now.


    After packing up Alex, everyone else returned and started helping the NPCs clear out the other kingdom¡¯s NPCs.


    Meanwhile, the other demons on the battlefield were also summoned back, everyone returning back to theher realm.


    The rest of the fight onlysted for a few more minutes and all the NPCs shouted loudly after obtaining victory.


    Some of them even lifted up Derek, cheering the person¡¯s strong leadership andmand.


    Derek, however, was more concerned about other things and did not enjoy the attention.


    He quickly bowed and thanked everyone, after that urging them to return back to the royal city as that was Liam¡¯s nextmand.


    They had done the job, and now it was time to collect the rewards!


    Back at theher realm¡­


    Everyone was in even higher spiritspared to the human NPCs. This was because, in this battle, the humans only gained a lot of experience points.


    But the demon participants had gained a lot more.


    Everyone got a lot of experience points and along with it, they also got a lot of high-quality loot.


    The dark elves were unlike orcs or goblins. They were a rich race with sufficient resources and means.


    So their drops were very lucrative.


    All the demons had gained a lot and thanks to Liam¡¯s strategic cements, there were very few casualties.


    The whole city was in a celebratory mood. Liam was also looking forward to the haul.


    He too rxed a little, letting the celebratory mood wash over. Moreover, his two fans currently seemed to be missing in action.


    When he returned to the garrison, one of the demons informed him that they exhausted themselves in the process of getting almost the entire garrison summoned to the same spot.


    ¡°Should I wake them up, leader?¡± The demon asked.


    And Liam hurriedly raised his hands to stop the guy. ¡°No. No. Not needed at all.¡±


    He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and gave out a few instructions, mainly in terms of collecting and sorting the loot.


    After that, he was also about to return to the royal city to go back and talk to the King when suddenly another demon rushed over to him from a distance.


    ¡°Leader, leader. Big news!¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Liam stopped abruptly. He turned to see a big demoning at him with panic and anxiety written all over his face.


    ¡°Leader!¡± The demon huffed and panted.


    ¡°What is it? Say patiently.¡± Liam narrowed his eyes and looked at the guy.

 Chapter 328: Between rock and a hard place

    <h4>Chapter 328: Between rock and a hard ce</h4>


    Liam was surprised because though the demon looked anxious and nervous he did not look worried. Instead, he seemed very thrilled.


    "Garrison leader!" The demon stopped, clenched his fists in excitement, and spoke slowly. "We have received 20 war scrolls this time!"


    "Huh? War scrolls?" Liam did not immediately understand what the demon was bbering about.


    "Yes, leader. Not 2 like the other small towns and cities! We have received 20! A total of 20!" The demon exined with big round eyes.


    All the other demons standing around Liam also looked shocked and gasped loudly, exchanging looks with each other.


    They all looked visibly excited and stared at the dozen scrolls in the demon''s hands as if they were seeing a great treasure.


    Liam, on the other hand, was on a different page. Now he finally understood what was going on!


    This was why Nyaka hadn''t retaliated just yet.


    This was also why all the guilds and yers were busy and did not notice the huge war and the disturbance in the southern zone of the Gresh Kingdom.


    It looked like theher event had officially begun!


    But unlike the demons, he was not really visibly excited.


    This was because thest time around, he had been on the other side of this event, the side of the humans while this time, he was on the side of the demons.


    And the 20 war scrolls the demon was currently holding in his hand might as well be a death sentence!


    Liam frowned and asked the demon. "Has any of you participated in these wars before?" He pointed at the scrolls.


    The demon scratched his head, wondering what the leader was asking him, but then he remembered that their leader was actually very young and inexperienced.


    So he cleared his throat and quickly exined.


    "Yes, leader. I have participated in one a few years ago when we were at war with the Giga realm."


    "Ok." Liam nodded. "Tell me about your experience."


    "Yes, leader."


    "These war scrolls can be activated only by the garrison leader of a city and when a scroll is activated, the entire garrison is teleported to a new terrain."


    "These terrains are called war zones. Here we can find humans!" The demon pumped his fist up into the air in excitement.


    Immediately, all the demons standing around roared together in excitement.


    "We can fight with them and we can kill them!


    ROAR!


    "We can loot and plunder!"


    ROAR!


    "We can take their women and make them ves!"


    ROAR!


    "All hail the Demon King!"


    ROAR!


    "All hail the Demon Lords!"


    ROAR!


    "All hail the Garrison Leader!"


    ROAR!


    Even forgetting about Liam''s presence momentarily, the demons started shouting and chanting in a craze.


    It was clear that they were very happy with this development and were in a highly festive mood.


    However, Liam silently walked out with a sigh.


    He stood on the balcony of the red tower and looked outside at the small city that was sprawled in front of him.


    The war scrolls were indeed good news.


    The more minor invasions where they had fought against a few groups of humans had now escted to these war zones.


    This was the start of theher realm event where the humans and the demons shed.


    Both the humans and the demons would be teleported to spacial rifts where they would sh with each other for resources and treasures in the rift.


    This was an experience point treasure trove and not to mention the fastest and most efficient way to obtain loot and valuable resources.


    It was indeed a good thing for humans and the various guilds, but when it came to demons¡­


    At least thest time around, in Liam''s previous life, the demons had suffered a crushing defeat.


    And his garrison has not been handed 1 or 2 of these war scrolls. They had been given a total of 20!


    If this was not a death sentence, then what was.


    Especially considering the size, the poption, and the resources in their city, they should have also only been allocated two of these war scrolls just like the other towns.


    So why was it increased to 20?


    Was it because of the recent buzz he had created by awarding high rewards to the invasion missions?


    Or perhaps was it because someone else was pulling some strings in the background?


    Considering that the Itaka city lord hadn''t yet retaliated for losing his treasured herbs and also his treasured wife and daughter, Liam doubted him the most.


    If their small city and garrison participated in these war zones in the spatial rifts, they would inevitably lose a few men in each fight.


    Unlike the yers, the NPCs don''t resurrect. He had also lost quite a few demons in the battle against the dark elves.


    So in this state, if they pushed themselves and participated in all the war zones one after the other, they would only be weaker and weaker.


    Then in the end, not only will their garrison be reduced to nothing, but they would also bepletely annihted.


    Now, Liam could always avoid this situation by returning the rest of the war scrolls but there might be some other troublesome issues if he did that.


    Perhaps he would be branded as a traitor or a coward for not serving the Demon King adequately.


    This might also be the actual trap that was intended for him to walk into. The minute he disappointed the King, anything could happen to him.


    Just like his two ''wives'' and the city Lord Nyaka, all the other demons at the top, even several squad leaders and toon leaders in his own garrison, all had very high levels, at least nearing 100.


    And he hadn''t even touched 50 yet.


    His level might be high and he was still at the top of the leaderboard but he was still far too low whenpared to the other demons.


    It was too risky for him to do something like this and step into an unknown trap.


    So no matter what he decided, both his choices were dead ends that could give him severe losses.


    Mulling over this, Liam rubbed his temples as he was still slightly affected by the dark elf''s unexpected attack when he released all the souls.


    It was as if the aftereffect was continuing to ring loudly in his ears, along with the pain and the cry of the numerous souls that had been trapped in the bead.


    Liam let out a deep breath and decided to think about these war scrolls and war zones issues after taking some rest.


    He was not able to think clearly now.


    Irrespective of this huge problem looming over his head, the beginning of theher realm event was still a big deal!


    He could gain a lot, and he could also lose a lot. Everything had to be carefully nned and thought out.


    "I need to make some preparations quickly."


    He turned to look at the demons who were still celebrating wildly without any care in the world.


    Ignorance was bliss. Liam smiled bitterly, shaking his head, and then returned back to the Xion realm.

 Chapter 329: Should I change my Class?

    <h4>Chapter 329: Should I change my ss?</h4>


    "Where are you guys at the moment?" Liam was very exhausted but he wanted to have a small meeting with everyone before logging out.


    Since theher realm event had suddenly started, they had no time to rest or ck off.


    At the end of the day, even if the others were not aware of it, Liam knew very well that they were essentially racing against time itself.


    They needed to be as strong as possible, and theher realm event was extremely crucial for them to take that next step.


    Also, it was a godly chance to gain a lot of high-tier resources that they would soon be needing when they cross the Level 50 threshold.


    As that was when the game would truly start!


    Liam patted the small fox who was still lying peacefully in his arms and continuing to doze.


    "Should I show her to the beast hall¡­" He pondered, as he was worried that the fox was still asleep.


    However, he had seen her open her eyes a few times, and also, she was visibly fine with no wounds or cuts.


    More importantly, there wasn''t anything unusual about her status. So Liam was particrly not in a hurry to do this.


    After all, Luna was a celestial-grade beast.


    He did not want to allow others to examine her and give this secret away, attracting even more unnecessary trouble.


    Especially, when he remembered the loli beast master Seraphina''s twinkling eyes, he was sure that the woman would covet the fox.


    She looked harmless enough but one could never be too sure.


    As Liam walked down the streets of the royal city, he promptly got Mia''s response.


    It looked like the rest of the group was currently eating in one of the restaurants.


    Liam as well decided to join them as some of the administrative work was still left and theher realm event was far too important, so a personal meeting was a must.


    Soon he arrived at the restaurant and a bell at the entrance jingled as he entered the room.


    The inside was quite crowded. Nevertheless, a few people turned their heads toward him to take a look.


    Liam, however, was fully covered in his ck attire and the snow white fox as well was hidden thoroughly. So no one was able to recognize him.


    Seeing that they couldn''t glean anything about this person, the few bystanders went back to their discussions and gossip.


    And Liam casually walked over to the booth where his group was sitting. They had booked one of the bigger booths on the restaurant''s top floor.


    Everyone was exhausted after the battle, so Mia was a bit generous this time.


    The group was enjoying avish feast and a big barrel of fine wine and beer with the pretty waitresses in the inn lingering around to serve everyone.


    But when Liam pushed open the door and walked inside, this mood immediately changed.


    Everyone was somewhat wary of him, slightly out of fear but primarily out of respect.


    As soon as he walked in, every single person inside quieted down. Liam couldn''t help but chuckle helplessly. "Don''t mind me. Don''t mind me."


    Am I really that scary?


    He looked around the room to spot the familiar person whom he hadn''t paid attention to in a while.


    Liam knew very well what sort of trouble the girl was capable of brewing, so he looked for her first.


    However, his expression changed when he saw the girl in a corner with her head down and ultimately out of it.


    Sitting next to her, Shen Yue nervously looked at Liam.


    She was afraid to speak up but then she saw the frown on Liam''s face and did not want him to mistake the situation.


    "She drank my drink by mistake. She is just resting." She quickly exined.


    Liam narrowed his eyes and looked at Shen Yue, "By mistake huh?"


    Shen Yue gulped and looked down, fidgeting with her fingers. It was really not her fault.


    The little imp had drunk an entire ss full of beer before she could do anything about it.


    She was fully expecting Liam to go ballistic on her, but he simply sighed and sat down next to her.


    "It''s alright. I know she is a handful. Thanks for keeping an eye on her."


    It was funny to see her still mashing her palms together in nervousness so he smiled and reached forward to hold her hand.


    Shen Yue immediately became bright red.


    Liam did not care but she was distinctly aware that everyone in the room was looking at her right now.


    And Liam''s hand was also holding hers firmly under the table. Others can''t see, right?


    She looked up like a petty thief to see if she was caught, only to see Mia staring right back at her.


    Shen Yue quickly looked away.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not pay attention to anything. He held her hand for a while and then let go, grabbing a teful of meat instead.


    One of the waitresses served him a mug of beer, and he took a big sip from it, turning to pay attention to Derek.


    Thest time he had called him for an emergency, so he wanted to check if he had truly finished taking care of all the essential things back at home.


    The ns for theher realm event would heavily depend on Derek''s presence or absence, so they needed to have a talk.


    And also, he was the only one who was sitting like a statue amidst the festive environment.


    He was in a corner silently eating a teful of skewered meat without any drink or boisterous chatter.


    This guy is worse than me in all aspects! Liammented.


    "Derek, are you training to be a monk?" Liamughed.


    "Mr. Liam, do you want me to change my ss?" Derek immediately stiffened up and asked in a very business like and serious tone.


    There was immediately a minute of silence, after which everyone broke into a fit ofughter.

 Chapter 330: Big or small?

    <h4>Chapter 330: Big or small?</h4>


    After a few minutes ofughter, banter, and joking around, mostly at the expense of Derek, everyone once again became more rxed andfortable.


    No one felt awkward around Liam any longer, and they could converse more casually.


    However, unfortunately, this festive atmosphere did notst long.


    Though Liam wanted everyone to rx a bit before starting the main topic, not everyone had the same thought.


    All of a sudden their booth door banged open and Berat arrived in a hurry.


    He could have messaged this to everyone in the group but since all the members had assembled here in the royal city which was very close to the trade city, he couldn''t stop himself from joining the group.


    Also, the news he had to share was that huge. It demanded personal notice!


    "Guys! Guys! Big News!" Berat barged in, giving a very dramatic entrance.


    Liam chuckled as he felt a deja vu. He already knew what he was going to tell. The guy was almost bursting to reveal his important finding.


    "Should I steal his moment?" Liam grinned wickedly and then decided to let him be.


    After all, his work in farming for gold was pretty efficient, and it made his life a lot easier.


    Liam silently took another swig from the beer mug while Berat panted and continued.


    Looking at him everyone else as well quieted down and allowed him to speak.


    "Where have you guys been? Something big has happened! There is a new event! There are now demons in our kingdom!"


    Hearing him say demons, immediately everyone looked at Liam. They all gulped and wondered what now happened?


    Their big boss was capable of doing something to affect the whole game?


    However, Liam shook his head and chuckled lightly. "No. No. This is not me. You guys are overthinking. Berat, you continue."


    Berat did not understand because he did not get a chance to talk to others yet and he was stuck in the Auction House all day.


    So he squiggled his nose and continued talking, a slight confusion lingering in his voice.


    "Lately, a lot of demons are popping up in the towns and cities. When these guys are killed, they drop some sort of crystals called rift crystals."


    "These crystals can teleport a person or even a huge raid group to a different kind of ce."


    "Map doesn''t work there, so we don''t know where exactly we are."


    "But apparently there are a lot more demons and there are different kinds of terrains."


    "Sometimes, there are deserts. Sometimes there are icends. And sometimes, there is water everywhere."


    "And there is a time limit before this rift closes."


    "Currently, no one has managed to win over the hordes of demons but I heard that this event gives a lot of experience points."


    "The current leaderboard rankers are all starting to change. The major guilds are starting to take action."


    "More importantly, several guilds are using this event as a tactic for recruiting."


    "Because participating with a good guild group is more advantageous, a lot of individual yers are beginning to flock over to guilds."


    Berat exined everything that he had learned without leaving out any details. He then looked at Liam specifically and added thest part.


    "Boss, I don''t know if we have any ns to expand, but this is a perfect time."


    "Ok. I got it." Liam nodded.


    He had to admit that he was very impressed with the man''s scouting. Berat had gathered a lot more information that he expected.


    But this was not all. There was a lot more to this.


    No one had seeded yet so they were not aware but Liam knew it beforehand. The true reward in this event was not the experience points.


    The real reward was¡­


    "Alright. You heard the man. Take a break for another half an hour and then we start." Liam smiled.


    "Yes! Boss!"


    "We will get the first clear!"


    "Yeeeeeee!"


    Loud cheering sounds echoed, filling the entire booth.


    Liam smiled and then waved at Derek and Mia, calling the two to meet him outside. There was work to be done, starting with¡­


    "How is the guild setuping?" Liam enquired. "You registered it yet?"


    "Yes, but the final registration is still left." Mia answered.


    The registered members have to be together for a certain period to count as a single guild, so Liam already knew that this wouldn''t have beenpleted just yet.


    But there was also something else on his mind.


    "I wanted to ask you both your opinions on a matter, an important matter." He came to the main point, talking to both Derek and Mia.


    "What type of guild, do you both think that we should have?" Liam asked.


    Derek remained silent while Mia asked him her doubt. "What does type mean? Lifestyle or some other kind of specialized guild?"


    "No, I mean a big one or a small one?" Liam smiled.


    "Let''s start from the basics. What do you think should be the size of our guild? I want your honest opinion."


    "Hmmm?"


    "A small guild can be easy to manage. We can make sure that everyone is trustworthy and everyone is powerful."


    He paused and then continued. "But a big guild can also be equally good."


    "With the strength in numbers, there are many more things that we can aplish. We can be thoroughly prepared for any kind of future."


    "Hmmm¡­ so what do you think?"


    "Liam, what you said is correct. However, the bigger the guild, there will be that many problems also."


    "If we don''t set everything up properly, we can crumble from inside," Mia answered first.


    She was talking from experience as it was only recently that their guild had copsed in the same way.


    "Ok." Liam nodded and then he asked the other person specifically as he was being quiet. "Derek?"


    Derek nodded and stopped walking. He then looked at Liam solemnly and answered. "Mr. Liam, I think a bigger guild is better."


    "In my opinion, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages."


    Derek as well was speaking from his experience as he had personally watched the Stormtroopers guild bully others with their numbers.


    Liam looked at the two of them and then smiled. "Ok, thanks for letting me know. I also agree with Derek."


    "Though what you are saying is not wrong Mia, there are ways in which we can make sure that our guild is not a house of cards."


    "Even if we be bigger, we can still ensure some sort of integrity." Liam knew this because some guilds did something of this sort in his previous life.


    They had an excellent hierarchy established within the guild. They had outer members, inner members, core members, and high-council.


    Of course, above everyone was the guild vice-leader and guild leader. This was the rough outline.


    For most parts of the game, guilds with this sort of structure were very stable, some even existing after the world copsed.


    Liam did not think about this before because he was not fullymitted to forming a guild, but now with a team slowlying together, he wanted to try it out.


    He exined to Mia and Derek that he wanted to establish a simr setup.


    "We can be extremely selective when promoting guild members to the core or the high-council position. They will be our main strength."


    "These will also be the only members we trustpletely." Mia and Derek as well agreed with Liam.


    Though Mia was initially apprehensive about forming a big guild again, she couldn''t refute the fact that some situations needed numbers.


    There was simply no going around it.


    And, this was nothing revolutionary. Many guilds had this sort of setup.


    They had an overall more extensive structure with a smaller, morepact core structure.


    However, Liam, Mia, and Derek still talked about things in great detail, even the most minor factor, because a lot was riding on this single decision.


    Their very lives could depend on this single decision so it was best to talk about it rather than regret itter on.


    While continuing to discuss, the three of them reached the main administrative building.


    ***


    What do you guys think the new guild name will be? ;)

 Chapter 331: Greedy Duke?

    <h4>Chapter 331: Greedy Duke?</h4>


    The guards standing outside immediately recognized Liam and rushed over to him.


    He was a Duke of the kingdom, so they hurried over to personally wee him.


    "My Lord, please let us know how we may assist you today?" The representative at the counter also rushed over, being equally courteous.


    The few yers standing around the building all nced at Liam, Mia, and Derek enviously.


    However, no matter how they tried they couldn''t see any of their identities, and the trio was also ushered in quickly to a VIP area.


    So everyone could only stare in awe, wondering what the yers'' reputation was to receive such treatment.


    "They might be NPCs." Someone said.


    "Did they clear a demon rift maybe?" Someone elsemented.


    More yers were gathered here than usual because many new guilds were now being formed.


    Everyone was gearing up to raid the demon rifts and reap the advantages of the special event.


    So the crowd in the administrative building was more considerablepared to before. However, forming a guild was not an easy matter.


    Or rather forming a guild with a solid foundation was not an easy matter.


    For a guild to be top-tier or at least first-rate, a very strong sturdy foundation needed to be built.


    Several factors contributed to this base strength, but the guild residence was the main one.


    A guild residence was not a frat house.


    It could be, of course, treated as one and was often done so as well, at least at this stage of the game, but there were so many other hidden details.


    A guild with a residence would be able to recruit and employ NPCs, lease mines, establish shops and even conduct auctions.


    All of the guild''s perks typically exponentially increased, specifically the guild quests.


    These quests can be cleared to get more quests of a better grade.


    Doing these would give more reputation points which in turn would beget more B-ranked and above quests.


    When the reputation of a guild reaches above a certain point, even the King had to respect the guild and treat them as a formidable ally.


    This was also one of the reasons why Liam decided to create a guild.


    He was already a Duke of this Kingdom and now if he managed to also create a guild with a huge reputation, he wondered just what sort of doors this would open for him.


    Could he perhaps bring an entire Kingdom under his control?


    This was just a fleeting thought at the moment. Nevertheless, Liam decided to explore it.


    The events in hisst timeline were already drastically different from those happening right now.


    So the more power he managed to amass, the better his chances would be for survival and protecting those that mattered to him.


    Other people also had simr ideas though they were not as greedy as him and did not dare to aim so extravagantly.


    The crowd loitering around the administrative building was after something else. There were unexpected pop-up auctions ofnds inside towns and cities every now and then.


    So people were constantly on the lookout for these auctions.


    If someone managed to grab this chance and set up a guild residence, even if it was a remote spot, it was one of the sure-shot ways to sess.


    Mia turned around to look at this crowd and whispered to Liam. "Should we also start working on a way to secure some sort of guild residence?"


    Even though their guild was just starting and did not have the required amount of yers, Mia knew the importance of nning ahead.


    It was all a vicious circle. One first needed a reputed guild for attracting more members, and most yers would not join a no-name guild.


    Luckily for them, they already had a solid seed group of yers.


    With a little work and some time, this would slowly and gradually change into a full-fledged guild group.


    Keeping this in mind, Mia made the necessary mental calctions and enquired. However, Liam smiled mysteriously.


    "No need. I already have that covered."


    "Oh?" Mia nodded in confusion. She already knew that Liam was a Duke so she was too surprised either.


    She curiously followed him, wondering how things were going to go down. The representative brought all of them over to the Chancellor''s office.


    Inside, a middle-aged nobleman was sitting who stood upon seeing Liam. "Greetings, Lord Duke. What a pleasant surprise! How may I assist you today?"


    The man was neither haughty nor submissive and spoke in a polite manner. As a Court Chancellor, his position was alsoparable to Liam''s.


    "Good day, Chancellor. Ha Ha. Sorry for disturbing your busy day. We just came here for a small job."


    Mia''s eyes widened on hearing the words ''small job'' but she quietly stood to the side, following Derek''s example.


    Both of them did not intervene in the conversation as if they just wanted to observe the master at work.


    However, to their surprise, Liam did not do anything special. He simply chatted with the Chancellor about the recent demon attacks.


    But this was just the beginning.


    As the conversation slowly got heated up, discussing the evil demons and eradicating the demons from theirnds, Liam then suddenly brought out the main point.


    "This is why Chancellor, I want to set up my estate as soon as possible and convert the entire estate into a strong guild that can be a support for our Kingdom."


    "Yes, yes! That is a wonderful idea! You are very wise, Lord Duke! If you are willing, I can help you with that today itself."


    "Yes, that is great news, Chancellor! Let''s get started."


    The two of them then started discussing the various plots avable for use as if it was the next natural step.


    That too they were not discussing random remotends in no-name towns or cities.


    They were discussing primend near the royal capital and the trade city! The estate size was also extensive!


    Mia looked incredulously, unable to believe what was happening.


    At this point, she was already immune to Liam and the shocks he was capable of giving, but this was¡­ a little too terrifying!


    And before she could digest this shock, the next surprise also came.


    After only a ten minute or so conversation, the Chancellor took out a lease for a 20-acre piece ofnd outside Yleka city as if it was nothing.


    Derek still had the same emotionless face as always but Mia was thoroughly stunned. She now understood the true power of titles.


    What slow progress? What gradual development?


    This was explosive growth!


    If they manage to get this piece ofnd then they could be a famous guild overnight!


    yers would flock to join their guild, and they could once again trend everywhere, bing one of the top contenders in the Kingdom.


    No other guild had managed to obtain something like this since the beginning of the game. They would be the first!


    This would also help them recruit NPCs easily, the close proximity to the two main cities will help them get more quests, easy ess to markets, and whatnot.


    Even an elegant, calm andposed person like her known as the ice goddess couldn''t help but drool at these prospects.


    For everything that they had suffered recently, this was their much deserved payback!


    With this, they could¡­


    "No, Chancellor. That is not what I had in mind." Liam abruptly spoke, breaking all of Mia''s thoughts, and already formted ns.


    She once again became dumbfounded.


    Who in their right mind would reject something like this?! Liam just what are you thinking? She wanted to scream loudly, unable to bear the suspense.


    Mia let out a deep breath and calmed herself down the next instant.


    She was indeed surprised, but after seeing everything, her faith in Liam was near absolute.


    She knew that he wouldn''t do something without any reason and patiently waited.


    She even silently thanked her lucky stars that Alex wasn''t around at the moment.


    Otherwise, who knew what she would have done when Liam rejected such a good offer!


    Just as she was thinking about this, suddenly a loud chime sounded in her interface. Alex was online again!


    Talk about the devil!


    Mia wanted to message her, but she did not want to seem rude, so she simply waited at the back, waiting for this conversation toe to an end first.


    Also, she was very curious to see where Liam was going to take things. He already refused the best offer so what was he going to demand now?


    Just like her, the Chancellor also looked at Liam with a frown on his face, narrowing his eyes.


    He made a very generous offer, and this Duke was refusing it. Was he getting greedy?


    "Do you have some othernd in mind, Lord Duke?" The Chancellor asked, his tone rather solemn.


    The favorability that Liam had built with him was clearly decreasing, but Liam was still smiling and remained silent.


    "Perhaps something in the capital city itself?" The man raised his brows.


    And Mia immediately gasped after hearing this.


    This was not good! This was a trap! If Liam answered yes to this question, he would probably suffer some sort of consequences!


    At this point, she did not care even if she was being rude, she had to step forward and warn Liam!


    But the next second, Liam himself answered. "No, Sir Chancellor. You jest. Nothing like that. Thosends are a bit too high-profile for me."


    "Thend that I am interested in is actually the guednds of the south."

 Chapter 332: You again?

    <h4>Chapter 332: You again?</h4>


    "I am talking about the infectednds in the south, Chancellor, the one where a lot of demons have been spottedtely."


    Liam smiled politely, his face brimming with innocence.


    "I want to clear these demons personally and then little by little recover thends from the dreaded gue, slowly bringing them back to the former glory."


    "This is a service that I wish to do for our King and our Kingdom. So¡­ what do you think, Sir Chancellor? Is this doable?"


    He shed another big warm smile. There was absolutely no malice or greed in his face.


    Now, the Chancellor also had a simr expression like Mia. He too was bbergasted, not knowing what to do anymore.


    "That¡­ that¡­ ahem¡­ right. That should be possible."


    The Chancellor quickly dug out some stacks of parchments from behind him and then spread it on the table.


    "There is indeed no civilians living in thesends. The towns and viges arepletely destroyed."


    "Dangerous beasts have invaded thends instead. A lot of treacherous creatures have been sighted including demons and elves."


    "Thesends arepletely uninhabitable and something does need to be done about them." The Chancellor slowly read the reports.


    Liam as well silently nodded, not saying anything else. Inwardly, he was amazed at the efficiency of the officials.


    They had already gathered a lot of information in this short amount of time.


    But yet¡­ the King hadn''t taken any other measures. Liam was now more and more sure that he was on the right track.


    He could see that it was possible to achieve everything that he wanted if he just pressed the right buttons.


    However¡­


    The Chancellor still looked reluctant and cleared his throat awkwardly. "What you are saying is not wrong¡­ but thesends¡­ I need to consult with the King first."


    Liam nodded. He was already expecting this answer so it didn''te as a surprise to him.


    The man had offered him 20 acres but he had rejected this and instead asked for 2000 acres. How else was he going to respond?


    He was already prepared for it and even had a counter ready. "Sir Chancellor, you read my mind."


    "Huh?" The man looked confused.


    "Today, I am also required to meet with the King. Why don''t we head over to the royal pce together and get everything organized?"


    He then paused and added. "That is¡­ if it is not too much trouble. I hope I am not disturbing Sir Chancellor''s busy day."


    "These days the deadly assault of the demons is worsening so it would be for the best if we could take some quick action regarding this matter."


    Hearing this, the man immediately knew that he had once again lost to Liam.


    Now if he did not agree with the request, he would only look like a treacherous person who doesn''t care about his own Kingdom and the people.


    "Ah¡­ that is indeed very true. We need to make haste. Alright, Lord Duke. I will do as you suggest. We can visit the King together and sort everything out."


    Liam smiled and then stood up politely, shaking hands with the man. He then turned around to walk and noticed that Mia was staring at him oddly.


    "Hmmm?" He smiled at her as if he had no idea why the woman was staring at him in disbelief.


    The next second, the Chancellor joined him after picking up a few things, and the two of them walked out.


    Mia and Derek followed behind the two, along with a few personal guards of the Chancellor.


    Outside the building, the crowd still lingered and watched in amazement as the three yers left the building.


    They had no idea about the Chancellor in the building and had never seen him or heard of him so not many people knew the gravity of what they were witnessing.


    Liam as well once again hid his appearance, covering himselfpletely. So no one was able to find out his identity.


    That day not even a tiny news appeared on the forums about this game changing move.


    Not long after that, the Chancellor and Liam arrived at the royal pce.


    All the guards greeted them respectfully and promptly stepped aside to let them pass through.


    Not one but two important officials had made a sudden appearance, so they did not question anything and quickly let them enter.


    However, this was only at the entrance. The King''s personal guards still blocked the two and asked them the purpose of the visit.


    Liam immediately showed his insignia, and the Chancellor as well showed his token.


    The guards then proceeded to consult with the King, asking the two to wait outside and everyone waited calmly.


    Only Mia was sweating through her blouse. She was meeting with the King?


    Liam had actually strongarmed a member of the court to get a direct meeting with the King? Just what was this going to lead to?


    She nced sideways at Derek, who was still standing stoically.


    Feeling her heart beating in and out of her chest, she suddenly couldn''t help but wish that she was also like him!


    She let out a soft sigh and mentally prepared herself for what was about toe. Liam wasn''t nning to bully the King himself right?


    Soon two guards arrived and bowed respectfully. "Please follow us."


    They surprisingly brought the group over to a huge garden, and the person of interest was currently sitting on one of the tables and calmly sipping a drink.


    "You again?" The King rolled his eyes as soon as he saw Liam.


    But Liam did not respond to his rude behavior. He looked calm andposed with a warm smile on his face.


    A chill ran down Mia''s spine on seeing this exchange. Who knows what is going to happen now? Why was the King already hostile?


    They hadn''t even begun to poke the bear yet! Were they all going to be thrown in jail?


    Surprisingly, Liam was the first person to break the awkward silence.


    He actually responded to the King as if he was answering a normal question.


    "Yes, your highness. It''s me again. I have sessfully finished the task that you had assigned me."


    SPURT!


    The King almost choked on his drink and sprayed everything out. "What the hell task did I assign you? Just what are you talking about?"


    At this point, even the Chancellor became nervous. What was happening here?


    However, Liam''s following words surprised everyone.


    "As per your orders, my guild members and I fought bravely against the horde of demons and dark elves and chased them out of our Kingdom!" He confidently dered.

 Chapter 333: Another Kingdom quest?

    <h4>Chapter 333: Another Kingdom quest?</h4>


    "Hmmm?" The King blinked, batting his thick eyshes. He had refused to give this fellow any sort of help as far as he could remember.


    But he was standing in front of him now and dering that he had sessfully chased out not only the dark elves but also the demons who had invaded theirnds?


    Wait, since when did so many demons step foot inside the Gresh Kingdom? Why did he not know anything about this?


    The young King frowned, making the two dimples on his cheeks more prominent.


    He gazed at Liam, eyeing him from top to bottom, trying to discern everything about him.


    However, Liam silently stood with a polite smile, waiting for the King to do whatever he wanted and respond whichever way he wanted.


    Only Mia was breaking into a cold sweat because Liam was not just taking credit for the dark elves, he was also taking credit for the demons!


    Wasn''t he the one who brought the demons here in the first ce? What would happen if that secret was revealed?


    Mia was not dumb, and she knew that the King of a big Kingdom like Gresh also couldn''t be dumb.


    Liam was basically ying a double agent, reaping both the rewards from the side of the humans and the side of the demons.


    What would happen if this was found out?


    Knowing the tough penalties in this game, he would probably be captured and imprisoned or swiftly sentenced to death!


    Yet the guy was cooly lying through his teeth!


    With her hands crossed behind her back, she crossed her fingers, silently hoping that everything would work out.


    Meanwhile, Liam and the young King were still locked in a staring contest with each other.


    They kept looking at each other silently, neither side saying anything more.


    Liam did not bother talking because he wanted to make the fat sheep sweat.


    The King did not bother talking because he couldn''t say what he really wanted to say as the Chancellor was also present at the moment.


    As he had newly ascended to the throne, he couldn''t jeopardize his position like that, which was also why he couldn''t give more units to support Liam in the matter of the dark elves.


    In the end, somehow, everything had been settled smoothly.


    However¡­ there was still something unsettling about the whole matter that made the King suspicious and uneasy.


    How could a newly appointed Duke aplish something so significant without adequate backing?


    He rapped his fingers on the chair, having a million questions in his mind.


    If the man in front of him was indeed so powerful, then that was all the more reason he had to be wary of him!


    Gritting his teeth and swallowing what he originally intended to say, the King finally replied back.


    "Good. Good. You have contributed greatly to our Kingdom. As a reward, I-"


    However, Liam interrupted the man promptly. "Please, your highness. No reward is necessary."


    He humbly shook his head and bowed once before shing a polite smile again.


    Though his action of interrupting the King was rude, no one could question him after these gestures.


    "Then? What is it that you are here for? Speak?" The King gnashed his teeth.


    "Yes, your highness, I am here for that same purpose." Liam shamelessly continued.


    "Though we have somehow eradicated the intruders from our territory, thends and forests have been destroyed."


    "They are no longer inhabitable. Only poison rots in the ground."


    "Hmmm¡­" The King listened to him, his gaze coldly lingering on Liam, wondering where he was going with this.


    "Thosends are within the borders of the Kingdom. They can be dealt with after the threat of the demons is neutralized."


    "Your highness-" Liam started speaking, but the King shook his head and cut him off.


    "It would be for the best if everyone only focussed on that for now."


    Liam''s eyes twitched, but he did not give up. "Ipletely agree with you, your highness."


    "Thesends are not our priority!"


    "Yes." The King nodded.


    "Thesends are probably ruined beyond help. They are worthless and our Kingdom''s efforts would be wasted on trying to recover those."


    "Yes, indeed."


    "Thesends don''t have any value anymore. They are just an eyesore, a pimple, a ck mark on our Kingdom''s beautiful terrain."


    "Mmm. Yes."


    "So, why don''t I take thesends myself and hide them?"


    "Yes." The King answered casually, only blinking afterward in confusion. What just happened?


    He made a mistake and answered too fast without thinking!


    "What? Hide? What are you trying to say?"


    Liam sneered inwardly, seeing the young guy fumbling. He knew that he almost had this in the bag.


    "I mean your highness, I desperately need a piece ofnd to set up our base. It would help our guild operations if we had a residence."


    "We would be able to fight with the demons better and contribute to the Kingdom''s welfare to the best of our abilities."


    "If you would kindly allow me to set up my estate on thesends, then I can put these wastnds to good use."


    "They would no longer be an eyesore. I could also slowly try to recover them in time."


    "So please allow this humble servant to take this burden off the esteemed Chancellor."


    "Say what?" The Chancellor, who had been listening quietly all this time suddenly stiffened up on hearing his name.


    He had a strange expression on his face as he opened and closed his mouth speechlessly.


    However, Liam did not give him an opportunity to speak. He just kept continuing onward.


    "Please permit me to serve your highness and the Kingdom. Long live the King! Long live the Kingdom!"


    Liam bent down on one knee and bowed in front of the man.


    Taking his action as the cue, Derek also did the same, and Mia soon followed.


    All three of them were bowing to the King with the utmost respect with a wildly burning fighting spirit in their eyes.


    Such a sight even made the King speechless for a second. Moreover, the Chancellor and the guards were also around.


    But just for this, how could he possibly give away such a vast extent ofnd. He cleared his throat loudly and waved his hand.


    "Rise! I understand that your intentions are good, but I am afraid I can''t release thesends to you." The man resolutely shook his head.


    "In recognition of your contribution, I will award you 1000 gold coins, as well as another 20 acres of your choice."


    "ording to your status, I am afraid this is the limit."


    "Your intentions might be good, but there will be other administrative issues so it''s best to focus on important matters for now."


    It was King''s turn to smile. He now understood why this man had run over to him, boasting about his achievement.


    He had tactfully grabbed this troublesome issue and nipped it in the bud. He felt quite satisfied with this oue.


    But the thing that was bugging him was¡­ the newly appointed Duke did not look dispirited at all even though he was just now tantly rejected.


    "Thank you, your highness. I am extremely grateful for this reward. I will dly ept it."


    Liam smiled and bowed, and the respective notification also appeared in front of him. He did not hesitate and quickly epted it by clicking ''Yes''.


    This did note as a surprise to the King and he sneered, waving his hand. "You all may leave now."


    "Your highness, please forgive me. There is one other matter that I need to discuss with you in private."


    Mia looked at Liam, wondering what he was talking about now. Their haul was already quite good, maybe they shouldn''t push their luck too much?


    The King also looked equally surprised.


    Coincidentally, the expression he had on his face was almost the same one Mia had, both of them looking incredibly beautiful and elegant in their way.


    "Hmmm? Speak?" The King said.


    "Your highness¡­" Liam hesitantly looked at the Chancellor, who was still standing beside them.


    "That is quite alright. You may speak!"


    "I understand, your highness." Liam bowed and continued. "I am afraid that I have some bad news."


    "My men had apprehended a few people recently iming that your highness had purposefully let the viges in the south rot."


    "I was en route bringing those culprits to you when a group of demons apprehended us."


    "We managed to sessfully take care of the demons. However, we lost the men in the process."


    "I am afraid, these people are still atrge, spreading gossip and rumors about our Kingdom''s weakness."


    "They somehow knew about the dark elves too. They are iming that the Kingdom is crumbling slowly."


    "If we let things continue like this¡­" Liam sighed. Everyone else looked as if they were in deep thought. Where was he going with this new story?


    And the next second¡­


    "I am afraid this was the main reason why I brought the topic of the wastnds."


    If your highness would allow me to control them temporarily, I can make sure that thend is well taken care of, and these rumors would be squashed before they spread." Liam spoke solemnly.


    Hearing this, everyone else standing around was utterly stunned.


    This guy was still talking about thosends! He really did not n on letting those go today!


    A simr thought was running in the King''s mind also as he rubbed his temples.


    Already he had too much on his te with the demons, and now this newly appointed Duke was starting another headache.


    And if one read between the lines, there was also a finely veiled threat in his words.


    The King was now angry. This guy was like a pest who just wouldn''t stop bothering him.


    "It seems like Lord Duke is really insistent on helping me with this matter." He snorted coldly.


    "Ok, I will agree to your request. You may temporarily control thosends and set up your base of operations in the area."


    "However, I need you to do two things in return for that."


    [Ding. New Kingdom Quest avable]


    [Ding. Sessfully capture a space rift and clear the demons inside the rift]


    [Ding. Quest Rewards: Lease of the southern wastnds]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept? Y/N]


    [Ding. New Kingdom Quest avable]


    [Ding. Recover the southern wastnds and make them habitable again]


    [Ding. Quest Rewards: The King''s gratitude and trust]


    [Ding. Quest Failure Penalty: Confistication of the rights to lease the southern wastnds]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept? Y/N]


    JACKPOT! Liam grinned, quickly epting both the quests.


    He then did not continue lingering in front of the King any longer. He knew that he was already on thin ice.


    He readily bowed and paid his respects, taking leave without saying even a single extra word.


    Mia and Derek as well followed him obediently. Mia especially had a lot of questions for him but now was not the time for that.


    The three of them were almost literally running away from the royal pce.


    The King rubbed his temples watching this ridiculous sight, and the Chancellor dumbly stared.


    From the beginning to the end, the Chancellor did not even get a chance to open his mouth.


    He had just been standing there simply. He couldn''t help but wonder why was he even invited in the first ce?

 Chapter 334: That person is not to be trusted

    <h4>Chapter 334: That person is not to be trusted</h4>


    When Liam, Derek, and Mia left the pce, the Chancellor and his guards followed them out as well leaving behind the King alone and in peace.


    The young King had a strange expression as he stood up and walked back to his chamber from the garden.


    But suddenly, as soon as he entered the room, a grey cloaked figure materialized in front of him as if he was appearing out of thin air.


    The King, however, was not surprised on seeing this.


    "What is it, Rava?" He asked, his voice strangely sweet like nectar instead of the normal hoarse tone.


    Responding to him, the grey cloaked figure bowed politely and then answered. "Your highness, that person is not to be trusted."


    "Hmmm? Why do you say that?" The King removed his crown, letting loose long cascading soft strands of purple hair.


    He also removed ayer of skin from his face, which looked like a mask, revealing a peerlessly beautiful appearance.


    Now, instead of the young King, an elegant beautiful woman was standing in the room.


    "He¡­" The grey cloaked figure stammered as if he couldn''t keep a straight face any longer. He looked down and only then continued.


    "I can smell greed and bloodlust on him. I can also smell something else, different energy. Something sinister surrounds him. I can sense it."


    "Hmmmm¡­" The woman tousled her hair and flopped down onto the bed.


    The man talking to her was her personal guard, who had stood by her side since her childhood.


    Therefore, she trusted him and heeded his counsel. But even if he had not pointed it out, she could intuitively tell that the new Duke was up to no good.


    Just like every other man around her, this man also wanted something from her.


    "They are all the same." The King or rather the young woman muttered and hugged her pillow tightly.


    "They are all watching me and waiting for me to fail. They want to take everything away from me, Rava."


    The grey cloaked figure clenched his fists, but he remained silent. He then watched as the woman fell asleep, too tired and worn out.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Mia looked at Derek, who was silently walking beside Liam or rather a step behind him like a faithful bodyguard.


    He was calm andposed, as if what just happened had nothing to do with him.


    He only reacted when Liam asked him something, and he also only spoke when spoken to.


    Mia sighed softly. She couldn''t be like this.


    Though she was not as bad as Alex who thirsted for knowing all of Liam''s deep dark secrets, she did want to know some things to n better.


    Sometimes working with Liam was like walking around with one''s eyes blindfolded. She had no idea what was going to happen when.


    Just when she was mulling over inwardly whether to ask the guy, she unknowingly bumped into something.


    She looked up to see that Liam had stopped walking, and she had mistakenly bumped into him.


    "Sorry," Mia said, trying to remain as calm andposed as possible.


    "What? Are you thinking about something deeply?" Liam chuckled. "How is Alex doing? Is she fine?"


    He guessed that she was probably worried about this so he asked her.


    "Oh! I forgot!" Mia blurted out. "Alex just logged back in a few minutes ago. Give me a second. I want to give her a quick call."


    "Already?" Liam was surprised. "Ok, take your time. Also, tell her to rest properly. It is important to keep mental health."


    "Especially her mental health," Liam added not so loudly, chuckling to himself.


    Mia nodded and then stepped aside. Meanwhile, Liam had a conversation with Derek that he had been meaning to.


    "How are your mother and sisters doing now? Was the surgery sessful?"


    "Yes, Mr. Liam. Everything went smoothly. I am extremely grateful for your help. I will-"


    Liam chuckled and stopped him then and there. He already knew what the guy was going to say.


    "Alright. That''s enough. I have many times asked you to stop thanking me. You won''t listen to me?"


    Hearing this, Derek immediately became stiff and his expression turned serious. Liam quickly again interrupted him.


    "Rx. I was just joking. By the way, are you able to y the game now? Or do you need more time?"


    "No, Mr. Liam. I can y now. I have finished doing all the necessary duties."


    "Ok, in that case, from now onwards, we will be working very hard. Actually, there is something else that I need to tell you."


    "Derek, what do you think about this game?" Liam asked.


    This was not something he should be breaking to anyone in the middle of the road but he had no other choice.


    After seeing Alex and everything that happened recently, many should already be apprehensive about continuing to y.


    So he did not n on hiding things from everyone for much longer. It was about time everyone knew the truth.


    "Derek, listen to me carefully. What I am about to say is something that might sound crazy but you have to try and believe me."


    "This world is going to change soon¡­"


    Liam then patiently exined things as much as he could while at the same time trying his best not to overwhelm the guy.


    Even if it was Derek, he knew that this would be a little too much to digest.


    But surprisingly, he reacted slightly better than expected. "Are you worried?" Liam asked.


    Derek shook his head. "I trust you." He gave a short and curt reply, which however, said volumes.


    Liam was stunned for a moment, before breaking into a smile.


    "Ok. That''s good. You should prepare your family''s passport and other government necessities as soon as possible."


    "It is best if you move soon to my location. Obtaining documents might give a little bit of issue but there is nothing money can''t solve."


    "Also, you need to get gaming capsules for your other family members. Let them log in and y the game."


    "Do you have a problem with any of this?"


    "No, Sir." Derek nodded.

 Chapter 335: Crimson Abyss

    <h4>Chapter 335: Crimson Abyss</h4>


    When Mia finished her conversation with Alex, she returned to find Liam and Derek standing in silence. However, the two seem to be deeply engrossed in their thoughts.


    "Did something happen?" Mia asked.


    And Liam shook his head. "Nothing. I have some work."


    "How about you finish the guild registration process, and Derek, you can buy some consumables for everyone. We can meet up with the rest of the team outside the city in 5 hours."


    "Be sure to rest well." Liam quickly spoke and then started to walk, but Mia hesitantly called after him.


    "Liam, wait. Alex wants to talk to you."


    "Hmmm? Aren''t we meeting in 5 hours? We can talk then." He did not turn to face her and simply answered with his back facing her.


    "Ok." Mia did not look disappointed. "And, what about the guild name?"


    Liam again paused for a moment.


    He then opened his mouth and slowly mumbled, "Crimson Abyss." He said the two words that were at the top of his mind for some reason.


    "Wouldn''t it be better just to keep the name ''Heavenly Retribution''?" Mia asked.


    Someone else might have mistaken her words, but Liam knew the thought behind her question so he did not mind it.


    "You want to keep my identity hidden?" He asked her.


    "Yes, it can be a trump card in crisis."


    "It is not possible. When we do what we are about to do, the whole world will look at us anyway. There is no point in keeping a low profile." Liam chuckled.


    What he didn''t say was that this game would never allow anyone to develop that peacefully.


    When a person took a step forward, a dozen others would be waiting right there to push him back. That was how this game was designed.


    Or rather, that was how life typically was¡­


    "Let''s just use the publicity to recruit more numbers."


    Mia nodded in agreement, while Derek as usual looked like he did not care. Afterward, the three of them walked away.


    The other two went toplete their allotted tasks, and Liam directly walked over to an inn to log out for a bit.


    He stepped out of the game capsule in his room and stretched his limbs. "Damn. I need some sleep."


    He dragged himself over to the bed and fell asleep like a log.


    Meanwhile¡­ in the tavern where everyone was resting¡­


    "Sis Yue!" One little girl chewed the meat in her mouth fiercely.


    She was not little, but whenpared to the two women seated adjacent to her, she seemed far too young and undeveloped in certain areas.


    Mei Mei nudged Shen Yue again, "Sis Yue, did you see that? Brother, logged out! Quick! Quick! This is your chance!"


    "Chance for?" Shen Yue was confused.


    "Don''t act like you don''t understand, sis Yue! You are right now toocking! You are far toogging behind! Do you understand?"


    Mei Mei pointed her finger and spoke passionately.


    "I don''t want those two vixens to eat my brother alive! I would rather have a vixen like you eat him up!" She blurted out, slurring her words.


    Shen Yue instantly became red. She knew that the girl was probably talking without thinking about the meaning of her words, but nevertheless¡­


    An image floated in her mind, and she became very embarrassed.


    "What is the use of being shy here, sis Yue? Just log out! Listen to me, just log out!"


    "Ummm¡­" Shen Yue was speechless. She couldn''t bring herself to be this shameless and stoop to that level.


    "He must be sleeping. Let''s not disturb him." She silently sipped her drink and looked at the woman with the red hair sitting opposite them.


    Alex had already logged back into the game, and she had been reticent ever since she walked into the tavern.


    Shen Yue wanted to ask if she was okay but decided against it, giving the person some space.


    Soon Mia messaged everyone the n and that they were to meet in 5 hours.


    Half the group logged out while the other half scattered to do random things. Some of them even headed over to the PVP tower to grind there.


    Shen Yue and Mei Mei also busied themselves, the former honing her cooking skills while thetter honing her eating skills.


    Soon a couple of hours passed, and Liam logged back in.


    He did not want to sleep through the entire 5 hours as he had a few things to do before the meet-up.


    He walked down the city''s streets and stopped by a food vendor. Once again, he purchased a bunch of chickens and rabbits.


    Liam then walked out of the city and settled in afortable spot cracking his knuckles. "Time to begin."


    He took out the small fox from his cloak, ced her on the side, and finally began his grind.


    He grabbed a chicken and twisted its neck, starting the forging process from scratch.


    Though he was currently in the Xion realm, he decided to do this because using mana this way also helped him train his mana control and maniption.


    Unlike hisher maniption skills, his mana maniption was somewhatcking.


    Doing this took care of several aspects of his training, so Liam wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued barraging the small soul bead with a dozen tiny mana hammers.


    While Liam was busy practicing and increasing the size of his chicken ghost army, the small fox on the side yawnedzily.


    She opened her little mouth, revealing her sharp silver fangs. Surprisingly, in front of her, there was a cage of rabbits.


    Kyuuuu! Luna grinned. She was hungry, and this was her favorite meat. She did not wait for anything and immediately pounced.


    How could the small rattling metal cage contain the might of a celestial beast? It immediately gave away, and all the rabbits shrieked and shattered.


    As Luna sprang forward to y the chase, catch, and eat game, she finally noticed Liam being busy and working hard.


    She immediately screeched to a halt, looking around guiltily. The thought that maybe the rabbits weren''t meant for her dawned on her slowly.


    But she had already eaten 3 of them! Oh no!


    Her big round blue eyes bulged in panic, and the next instant, her small figure blurred.


    Swish! Swish! Swish!


    Only a white blur could be seen as she ran around and caught all the rabbits who escaped.


    But instead of tossing them into her gullet, she shoved them back into the broken cage.


    No use. The cage was utterly destroyed.


    Kyuuu! Hisss! She threatened the bunnies not to escape, and they silently shivered. However, the main problem still remained¡­


    She had already eaten 3, and Liam would surely notice it!


    She looked around and sniffed, suddenly an inspiration striking her.


    She ran a few yards to their right, where a group of dire wolves snarled and walked around proudly, iming their territory.


    Kyuuu! This will do! Luna grinned.

 Chapter 336: You need some spanking

    <h4>Chapter 336: You need some spanking</h4>


    After a few minutes, Liam took a deep breath and looked at the finished forged soul bead.


    This soul bead looked more polished than the original one, and it shone like a diamond.


    He injected a jolt of mana into it, and the chicken sprang alive as if it was never dead.


    It pped its spectral wings and screeched, ready to dive into battle.


    Luna hopped over, her three tails swaying in the air, and looked at the chicken with her big eyes.


    Kyuuu?


    She cocked her head to the side, wondering what this strange bird was.


    The chicken as well repeated the same set of motions, cocking its head to the other side and staring at the fox.


    The two lookedical, and Liam chuckled at the sight.


    However, the next second, Luna unexpectedly raised her paw.


    Liam saw this, and he instantly knew what was going to happen.


    Luna was about to smack the chicken hard!


    "Damn it. No. I just forged this undead." Liam broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly grabbed her. "No, Luna. Stop."


    He pulled her by her scruff and held the fox, dangling her mid-air.


    "I think you need some spanking. Do you know just how much trouble you have caused metely?"


    Kyuuuu¡­


    [Master, sorry]


    Liam was surprised. Luna only very rarely used their mental connection to speak.


    He checked the fox from top to bottom to see if she was okay.


    "Are you alright?" He asked her again.


    [Yes, Master]


    The fox squiggled her nose and stared at Liam with a sheepish grin.


    "Hmmm?"


    Liam was confused as to why the little thing was putting on such an expression when he casually turned to the side and saw the mangled cage.


    There were a few drops of blood here and there and the number of rabbits had reduced.


    More importantly, instead of the rabbits, three dire wolves were squeezed into the same cage, all looking beaten up and worn out.


    This was probably the only time when rabbits and wolves sat next to each other as if they were best friends.


    "So this is why¡­" Liam shook his head helplessly and chuckled. He ced the naughty fox down, his gaze on the dire wolves.


    He suddenly had the impulse to try forging the soul bead of a higher beast.


    By now, he had already practiced a lot with chickens and rabbits. Perhaps it was time to try bigger beasts?


    Liam walked over and grabbed one of the dire wolves, swiftly ending its life with a throat grasp.


    Though it wasn''t a chicken or rabbit, this dire wolf was just a Level 5 beast so it did not put up any fight.


    And as soon as he killed it, the familiar aura emerged.


    Liam dropped the corpse and stared at the small bluish white soul bead that popped out of the dire wolf.


    He immediately willed the mana circting in his body and the air, to surround this small bead.


    "Start," Liam mumbled to himself and manipted the mana to form big hammers. He then started slowly forging¡­


    A few minutes passed, and soon, almost an hour flew by.


    Meanwhile, standing on the side, Luna kicked a rock while sulking.


    Kyuuu¡­


    She waspletely ignored and it was all the wolf''s fault!


    She stared at the remaining two wolves with animosity but seeing that her Master was busy she silently ran around and kept herself busy.


    A few more minutester, a loud howl resounded, and she instantly ran back, worrying that Liam was in danger.


    She saw a strange spectral dire wolf standing in front of Liam very much resembling the chicken.


    At first, she was wary of it, but then she looked at the chicken and then the dire wolf, and she cautiously walked over to Liam.


    "Huff. Huff. Huff. What were you up to all this time?" Liam panted and grabbed her again, worrying about the dire wolf''s health.


    This was the first time he managed to aplish this, and he did not want the final forged beast to be cannon fodder.


    Huff¡­ Liam flopped back onto the fresh green grass of the forest in tiredness, still holding the fox close to his chest.


    "YESSS!" He shouted with a big, content grin on his face. The forging this time had been challenging but in the end, it was a big sess.


    This would be the beginning of forging a solid undead army that would always travel with him and be a part of his strength.


    More work was needed, but he could already see the path ahead of him. He was no longer walking in darkness.


    "Again!" Liam did a fist pump in the air, ced the fox on the side, and then grabbed another dire wolf from the cage.


    YELP!


    This beast as well let out itsst breath as he executed another throat grasp.


    Luna blinked in amazement. She slowly understood what was going on, and she was thoroughly amazed.


    This time she did not run around and sat near Liam, watching him work from beginning to end.


    Her big blue worshipping eyes did not move anywhere from him. She was very careful not to disturb him and sat very quietly.


    Ding! Another hourter, yet another dire wolf popped up!


    Liam was nowpletely exhausted, but he still had a big smile on his face. Seeing the two wolves side by side was very satisfying.


    This was the result of his hard work.


    Just as he was admiring the spectral beasts, another notification as well popped out.


    [Ding. You have now acquired 30% of the legacy]


    "Alright. Next one." Liam suddenly felt refreshed.


    He closed his eyes and adjusted his mental condition for a few minutes before once again starting to forge the third dire wolf.


    Luna took this as her cue and turned to look at the remaining innocent dire wolves roaming around in the prairie.


    Kyuuuu! She instantly looked very serious as if she meant business and pounced towards the wolves, baring her fangs.


    In front of her, the pack of wolves might as well have been sheep that needed protection.

 Chapter 337: l received a new quest

    <h4>Chapter 337: l received a new quest</h4>


    "Sis Yue, does something look off today?" Mei Mei rubbed her nose and asked.


    "What do you mean? Your brother beingte?" Shen Yue replied, her eyes searching for the familiar figure in the distance.


    "Nah.. he is alwayste. I am not talking about that. I am talking about¡­"


    She clicked her tongue and looked to her right at a certain redhead who was silently standing.


    "Shouldn''t she be throwing a fit by now? Look at how she is silently standing." Mei Mei covered her mouth and whispered.


    "Shhhh." Shen Yue quickly silenced her. "I think she is still hurt, maybe. Who knows what she went through¡­ don''t poke her today."


    "Ah¡­ ah¡­ Sis Yue, I am not that bad. I know. I won''t be rude to her. All I am saying is¡­ she seems to have changed."


    "Mmm." Shen Yue silently nodded.


    "Trauma often changes people, but only time can tell if it is for good or not." She murmured under her breath.


    Everyone had already assembled near the entrance of the royal city and was waiting for thest person to arrive.


    Liam was almost an hourte this time, but no oneined. After thest battle, no one dared to doubt him any longer.


    Rather they were waiting in anticipation and preparing themselves mentally for what was about toe.


    If what they were going to do was anything like the first mission¡­ just the thought of it made their blood boil.


    Minutes ticked by, and soon another hour passed when Liam finally arrived. He walked in with a shameless smile on his face.


    "Sorry to keep you all waiting."


    Everyone instinctively turned to give Alex a nce, but surprisingly, she remained silent and calm.


    She was not gnashing her teeth and raising her eyebrows, ready to start a fight. It was almost kind of unsettling.


    Please don''t poke the bear! Even Mia was worried about Alex''s silence so she quickly cleared her throat and spoke first. "Liam, what is the n now?"


    "Mmmm¡­ What else? We created our guild and now we have to make it popr. Pretty simple." He shed another smile.


    For some reason, this sent chills down everyone''s spines. What was going to happen now? Everyone was curious and nervous at the same time.


    "Why are you all looking at me like this? You guys¡­ We are just going to run a few dungeons¡­" Liam chuckled.


    "Oh." Everyone collectively nodded in understanding with a small sigh of relief, but the next second Liam added.


    "Let''s run all the dungeons between Level 30 and Level 40."


    "..."


    Derek was the first one to react as he silently nodded and walked over to stand next to Liam.


    Mia as well helplessly smiled. It looked like nothing they would do here onwards would be simple. However, that was for the best.


    She also walked over to stand next to Liam in silence.


    But the others couldn''t digest this lofty goal so easily.


    Level 30 to Level 40 dungeons¡­ something that every guild in the game right now was fighting tooth and nail for.


    They were going to attempt those?


    Not that there weren''t many powerful yers in their group, but running dungeons and defeating field elites were very different.


    It would be like fighting the dark elf generals all over again, except now they wouldn''t have the support of the demon army to focus st dps and melt them down like butter.


    The number of members in their fledging guild was also too pathetic. This was really not going to be easy. Might even involve several team wipes.


    However, seeing that the three most powerful members of their groups had already made their decision, the rest could only gulp nervously and follow.


    Only Mei Mei was humming and skipping as she walked as if she was going on a tour to see some beautiful scenery and eat good food, not caring about a single thing.


    Perhaps because of that¡­ she was the first one to notice the reappearance of a certain someone.


    "Brother!" Mei Mei quickly ran over to Liam as soon as she saw the white fluffy tail popping out of his cloak.


    "Brother, is this Luna? She is alright now?"


    She was jumping in ce, unable to control herself. It had been far too since she hugged the cute little fox.


    Liam chuckled. He knew he couldn''t hide her for too long. He grabbed the little fox and mercilessly handed the beast over to her.


    Mei Mei''s eyes became twice their size when she saw the new evolved appearance of the fox and the three tails.


    "Kyaaaa! So soft~~" She hugged the thing, squeezing it tightly, while Luna looked pitifully back at Liam.


    "Sorry, you are on your own." Liam shrugged and turned to look at Mia. "We will start with the ''Twilight'' dungeon. That should be the closest right?"


    "Have you guys run that dungeon before, or is this the first time?"


    "We tried it once before but we were not sessful. That dungeon is one of the few that hasn''t been conquered yet." Mia replied.


    The group started chatting and moving to the first dungeon when suddenly Alex opened her mouth and called out, "Liam, I need to talk with you."


    Everyone immediately quieted down, obviously paying attention to the two, but Alex soon added. "Privately."


    "If it''s to thank me, you don''t have to." Liam curled his lips upwards. This side of the tyrannical redhead was very amusing.


    "No, it''s not that," Alex answered, her temper still in check.


    Seeing this, Liam was curious. "Ok, let''s go then." Liam increased his speed and stopped at some distance away from the group.


    Alex followed him to the same spot, though her speed was visibly less than his.


    "So, what do you want to talk about?" Liam asked. He was not smiling any longer.


    Alex also did not waste time exchanging any unnecessary words. She directly got to the point.


    "I received a new quest."

 Chapter 338: vow of Tenacity

    <h4>Chapter 338: vow of Tenacity</h4>


    "New quest?" This surprised Liam. He was almost 100% sure that she just wanted to say thanks or something simr, wasting his time.


    He did not expect her to receive a quest, but then again, they had just finished a Kingdom quest so it was natural to receive a lot of benefits.


    "I am not sure why this suddenly popped up." Alex continued. "Here, I will share the quest details with you."


    Alex tapped her fingers in the air quickly but the next second she frowned. "Hmmm. Sorry. I am not able to share."


    "Oh?" Now Liam was even more intrigued.


    Alex met his questioning gaze and quickly looked away. "So basically¡­ they first asked me to visit the divine temple to take some sort of vow."


    "The exact words were ''Vow of Tenacity,''" She exined.


    "The quest was something like¡­ ''Your unyielding tenacity has moved Priestess Xuraksa. Divine Temple beckons you to take the Vow of Tenacity."


    "Unyielding tenacity?" Liam pondered quietly, his gaze drilling into the redhead.


    Alex again looked away quickly, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. "The quest diffi¡­ difficulty is S grade." She stammered.


    "I know that we are nning to run dungeons now, but would it be okay if I first finish this quest and join? I have a feeling that this might help me a lot."


    Liam smiled as he finally understood what was going on. Alex was asking his permission!


    For this hot and fiery redhead to actually consult him and ask for his permission¡­ did the sunrise from the west today?


    He chuckled, but then unexpectedly shook his head. "No." He firmly replied.


    "Huh?" Alex stared back at him wide-eyed and with her mouth open. She had not expected this response.


    She quickly scrambled, trying to exin. "I know that for you Kingdom quests are like pennies on the road. However, they are extremely rare quests in general."


    "And I got this quest because of a Kingdom quest, so I really think that this can boost my strength and should make the next fights easier."


    "This quest will definitely be a special quest with at least above average reward. I just know it. You have to trust me, please."


    She did not look angry at all and instead only tried her best to exin things to Liam who nodded slowly.


    He was amused that this girl was trying to exin the significance of Kingdom quests to him.


    If he did not know what these quests meant, then who would?


    "I understand all that, but no." Liam once again firmly denied her request.


    He then quickly prepared to exin. Even if she was calm and dormant before, he knew that this was surely going to make the redheaded volcano erupt.


    But surprisingly, Alex had a different expression on her face. "Ok, then. I will do as you say." She simply agreed without even a single retort.


    She did not challenge him at all. There was no outburst. There were no calling names, and there was no fighting.


    "Alex, do you think I am saying this because I don''t want you to get stronger? Maybe keep you down so that you will always be under my control?"


    "No. Nothing like that." Alex shook her head.


    "You are not going to ask me for any reason as to why I said no? You are just like that going to agree?" Liam asked again.


    Alex tucked the few strands of red hair that were dancing in the wind behind her ear and mumbled in response. "Yes. I am sure you have a good reason."


    Seeing this, Liam couldn''t help himself and chuckled lightly, "You have really changed a lot."


    Alex shuddered slightly and opened her mouth to say something, but quickly decided not to.


    "I do have a reason, and actually that is the same as what you just told me." Liam continued. This time he did not mind exining things to her in detail.


    "This is indeed a Kingdom quest''s subquest."


    "Ipletely agree with you. This quest has the potential to give out amazing rewards, even great rare rewards that might push your power levels."


    "But trust me, now is not the time to attempt it."


    "Just think about it. ''Vow of tenacity'', I have a feeling that the quest might involve some sort of challenge to test your tenacity."


    Alex nodded. She had also thought of this.


    "And you have barely had any rest since whatever happened."


    "If you think you can attempt this quest now, with your current condition, then I am afraid you will only be acting with overconfidence."


    "You will be underestimating the difficulty of the quest. You might even lose the rewards."


    Hearing his words, Alex looked surprised. She had not considered this at all and now that Liam pointed it out, it sounded obvious.


    As if reading her thoughts, Liam chuckled.


    "I know you are eager to get strong, but this is a cruel, unforgiving game. We have to think steadily every step of the way."


    "So I think it''s best to take 24 hours at least and then attempt the quest. Do you understand?"


    "Ok. I get it. I will listen to you. Thanks." She nodded.


    Liam then started walking back to the group, adding a few more words like an afterthought.


    "You don''t have topletely rest. You can just do rxing things. For example, the dungeons that we will be running and then attempt the quest."


    Alex, who was quietly walking, looked up in shock after hearing this, but she did not say anything in response.


    "Running a dungeon to rx¡­" She muttered under her breath silently as the two of them returned back to the group.


    Everyone else quickly looked at the two wondering what happened but seeing both Liam and Alex having nk expressions, they couldn''t find out anything.


    Only Mia let out a small sigh of relief. As long as there wasn''t a fight between the two, she was already satisfied.


    The group then continued with their journey silently, everyone thinking about different things and one girl nustling a small fox to her heart''s content.


    Soon afterward they reached the parts of thend that were nicknamed ''Twilight forests.''


    "Amazing."


    "Wow."


    "So beautiful."


    All the women on the team were the first to react as they started gasping one by one. The forest around them was incredibly beautiful.


    The name ''Twilight forests'' was very apt.


    Though right now, it was the middle of the day, and the sun was shining brightly, inside this forest there was only a hazy evening atmosphere.


    It was neither dark nor lit up, only the soft glow of the sun lingering in the background. This effect was because of the unique trees that grew in this area.


    "There! That is the dungeon gate." Shin Shoo was the first to notice, and he quickly pointed it out.


    Unlike the ridiculously strong women in their group, he did not have any thoughts about the ambiance around them and was focused on the task thaty ahead.


    In fact, half the team was nervous.


    They knew that they couldn''t afford to enjoy the scenery around them because the dungeon that awaited them was a total nightmare.


    In spite of being a level 30 dungeon, there was a reason that this ce still remained unconquered.


    Even the yers crowding around this dungeon was rtively lesser whenpared to the other dungeons.


    Almost everyone had officially given up on this dungeon. In the online forums, this ce was even dered as bugged.


    So how were they supposed to clear this dungeon in order to gain poprity for their guild?


    This was in fact the absolute worst starting point that they could choose, and their leader had selected this!


    What was going to happen now? Multiple team wipes?

 Chapter 339: Still impossible!

    <h4>Chapter 339: Still impossible!</h4>


    Under the watchful eyes of the several yers gathered around the dungeon, a group of ck-cloaked figures suddenly entered the vicinity.


    The Twilight dungeon was aplete disaster for the yers who entered, always resulting in party wipes and multiple deaths.


    So, the average level yers, the below-average yers, and the ordinary everyday yers had already entirely given up on the dungeon.


    Only some dreamers and yers from established guilds asionally visited this hellish ce to see if they finally had what it takes to clear the impossible dungeon.


    So the yers who were currently lingering around the spot were all from the top guilds of the Gresh Kingdom.


    They watched the group of ck-cloaked figures cross them and walk into the dungeon and sneered in contempt and disdain.


    "Hiding their identities! Ha Ha Ha! Must think that they are all some sort of big shots!" One personughed out loudly.


    "There are a lot of arrogant assholes running around these days." Another one spat out.


    "Ke Ke. Leave it. Weren''t we also young and naive like that once upon a time?"


    "Who wants to bet how fast they wille out? I am calling 5 mins."


    "5 mins? Too long! I am calling 1 minute! Noobs like that won''t even get past the first mob! Ba ha ha ha ha!"


    The group of yers continued to loudly chat and gossip as they rested outside the dungeon portal on the grassy ground.


    It might be an impossible task to clear this dungeon, but several guilds'' higher-ups had offered generous rewards for anyone who managed toe up with a strategy.


    So even though they were joking on the outside, several groups were still anxious on the inside.


    Some of them even stopped resting and entered the dungeon one more time to try their luck.


    What if the mysterious group of ck-cloaked yers really did manage to solve this dungeon?


    Then their rewards and their chance at fame and sess will wave goodbye and disappear. That too, after having already tried so hard, no one wanted to lose or give up.


    Of course, some yers still continued to sit around and chat idly.


    They were waiting for the losers to return one after the other, and they knew that it would probably be with the same speed they had gone in.


    "Naive idiots." Someone shouted out aloud, and the groupughed.


    Amidst this group of enlightened yers, one person was particrly standing out.


    This was none other than the Gu family''s one of the most promising up anding young talent, Gu Donghai.


    After the fiasco that happened in the ape mountain where a mysterious stranger had stolen their treasure, and their teammates fell into some sort of sickness, he had now somewhat recovered.


    He worked hard, created or rather bullied a bunch of people into forming a new team ofckeys, and was now at Level 30, working hard to conquer this dungeon and get a name for himself.


    He received the least respect in their family and was always tagged as the loser. So he was very determined to prove his worth using this chance.


    At the same time, hard work was challenging but lording around was easy.


    So while still keeping in mind the mysterious ck-cloaked figures who entered the dungeon, he continued to boisterouslyugh and chat, enjoying the attention he was receiving.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the dungeon¡­


    Liam stood with Mia and Derek by his side, staring into the depths of the strange ce. In fact, the inside of the dungeon was almost the same as the outside.


    There was a twilight atmosphere with a lush and thriving jungle sprawled in front of them. However, there was something else also.


    "Boss, any pointers?" Shin Shoo, finally couldn''t stand it any longer and stepped forward to ask Liam.


    Everyone standing behind silently admired his courage. They were all wondering the same thing but did not dare to ask the big boss so demandingly.


    But unlike their imagination, Liam did not seem to react in a bad way?


    He simply smiled and said, "Tanks will tank, healers will heal and dps will do dps. What pointers do you need?"


    "Boss! Why are you making fun of me?" Shin Shoo smiled bitterly.


    "Heh. I am not. I will give you pointers if needed, but I think for this dungeon, everyone just needs to be alert and do their part."


    "It is really not that difficult," Liam replied as a matter of fact.


    After this, who could ask another question? He had cleanly cut off all of them, saying only these vague words.


    So everyone could only nervously prepare themselves and somewhat calm down and condition their mind.


    They assembled in the most basic formation with their three dedicated tanks, Derek, Alex, and Shin Soo upfront, melee fighters behind them, the two healers Mia and Kang Minah next, andstly, long-rage yers at the tail end.


    To everyone''s surprise, this time, Liam was also standing at the back. He stood beside Mei Mei along with the other long-rage yers.


    The big boss was not going to tank like before?


    Somehow this made everyone even more nervous.


    And to make matters worse, just as the team settled down and got into the formation, a cold wind blew past them.


    Instantly, everyone got a feeling as if they were being watched.


    It seemed as if the entire forest was watching them with eyes everywhere.


    And in this eerie, cold, and silent eternal twilight, a loud distant howl suddenly resounded.


    AWOOOOOOOOOOO!


    "It''s starting," Liam shouted immediately. "Derek!"


    Soon afterward, a group of big ck boulders dashed towards the group.


    They did not even have to take one step inside the forest, and the enemy was already here to wee them.


    Everyone gripped their weapons tightly and saw the ck boulders bounding towards them.


    As they neared, the appearance of their ck blurs became more clear, and that did not help.


    "No need to be so afraid guys. They are just cute werewolves."


    "1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­ let''s go." Liam grinned and shouted as the first werewolf leaped high into the air andnded directly on top of Derek.


    However, the next instant¡­


    BAM!


    Its body flew back, hitting a tree. It was flung aside like a piece of dirt without any respect whatsoever.


    -500


    A huge damage number floated up from its head.


    And on the other end, Derek stood steadily with his shield forward and his ax gripped tightly in his hand.


    A single punch from him was enough to take care of the werewolf and he was not done yet.


    The first mob consisted of 10 werewolves and Derek alone toyed with five of them.


    Alex saw this, and her eyes lit up with fighting spirit. She did not want to lose out to him.


    [War Cry]


    Amanding shout echoed, and the other five remaining werewolves growled and leaped towards her.


    Alex grunted and shed down her heavy one-handed sword at the iing beasts.


    -700


    Another huge damage number floated up.


    Everyone''s jaw dropped to the floor.


    Previously when they were fighting with the dark elves everything was chaotic and no one was able to observe anything, but now that they could see all the finer details¡­


    It was utterly ridiculous!


    At least they were already familiar with Alex''s strength but the newly arrived tank was equally monstrous.


    At this rate, the two tanks looked as if they were going to solo the first mob of werewolves.


    As if this was not enough, Mia tossed out several [Divine Rays] one after the other. Each one of them dealt damage of 200 to 300.


    The others saw this and quickly snapped out of their trance. Everyone started barraging their attacks on the ten werewolves.


    It would be shameful to do less DPS than their team''s tanks and healer.


    Moreover, Liam was here with them today. Everyone wanted to do their absolute best!


    They were all aware of the inner circle in their small guild and they all wanted to get in.


    So all the 20 DPS except for Liam fired one attack after another.


    In the midst of this, suddenly and unexpectedly, a huge firest appeared somewhere from behind, scorching one of the werewolves wholly.


    -2000


    An unbelievably huge number popped out.


    Who the hell was this now?


    Everyone naturally nced at Liam to see if this was him but he was still standing casually not bothering to even start attacking.


    So who was it?


    They looked at Mei Mei standing beside Liam, who in turn was staring dumbfoundedly at the cute little fox licking her mouth contently.


    Could it be¡­


    Just as everyone was wondering, the inconspicuous little fox who might as well be a cuddly plushy opened her mouth again.


    Kyuuuu!


    A soft sound came out, but along with it another st of fire emerged, scorching another huge werewolf wholly.


    The poor werewolf beast was roasted thoroughly from top to bottom and slumped down onto the ground limp and lifeless.


    And the small cute creature who was responsible for this jumped up and down in joy.


    Kyuuu! Kyuuu!


    She was bouncing around Liam as if she wanted recognition and praises from him.


    And Liam as well smiled and obliged as if it was just a normal urrence, "Good girl. Good girl."


    Everyone, especially Mei Mei started sweating at this scene. How could such a cute thing be so deadly?


    Everyone who previously had ideas of petting the little fox took a step back away from the beast.


    Especially Mei Mei felt her scalp go numb as she thought back to how much she had tortured that fox, pinching its cheeks and rubbing its soft fur to her heart''s content.


    She gulped nervously when she thought about it. Never again. Forgive me for my sins! She also took a step back.


    Now everyone had topete, not only with the tanks and healers but also with this ridiculous pet and of course, Liam.


    Being a DPS in this team of monsters was really hard!


    How was it fair that someone who was already explosively strong obtain such an insane pet as well?


    It was no wonder that he alone hogged the top rank in the leaderboard, not once losing the spot from the start of the game until now.


    Their only constion was that luckily they were all at least on the same team! Otherwise¡­


    Focusing their attention back on the fight everyone targeted the remaining werewolves, no longer having any intention of topping the DPS chart and showing off.


    If they waited any longer there wouldn''t even be anything left to fight.


    And just like that, within seconds, the bunch of strong ferocious beasts of twilight were reduced to mere rabid street dogs and put down one after the other.


    A string of experience points also promptly chimed in.


    Everyone exchanged awkward smiles as Derek and Alex started moving forward, heading deeper into the forest to get at the next mob.


    At this rate, it was clear that they were going to st through this dungeon!


    One of the hunters whispered to the mage at the back, "Dude, we are going to get the first clear for sure! How awesome is this!"


    But the mage shook his head firmly. "Our team was always strong. That was never the issue. However, first clear for this dungeon will still be impossible."


    "Do I need to spell it out for you? Did you not read on the forums why this dungeon was impossible?"


    The hunter rubbed his stubble. "I did read, but¡­ maybe the big boss Liam"


    "Mmm¡­ even if it is the big boss, it is still impossible."


    "No amount of talent is good enough. Against that thing, no one can do anything."


    "Unless someone figures out the secret of this dungeon or dies andes back to the past with the knowledge of the future, it is just impossible to hack this dungeon." He joked with a sigh.

 Chapter 340: Two down, three more to go!

    <h4>Chapter 340: Two down, three more to go!</h4>


    After the first mob, the group cleared the second, the third, and the fourth mob with overwhelming ease.


    Since everyone''s level was above 30, this was simply a breeze. One of the hurdles in the Twilight dungeon was the difficulty in splitting apart these mobs.


    When the werewolves appeared, they attacked together in big groups.


    However, this was not a hurdle for the group as they cruised through the packs of the werewolves, finally arriving at the first boss.


    It was a huge monstrous werewolf slumbering in the middle of the forest. There were a few wisps of wind mysteriously twirling around this wolf.


    Everyone immediately looked at Liam to see if he had any special instructions for this one, but he still did not show any reaction.


    So Derek went ahead and tossed his shield at the werewolf, waking it up with a quick attack.


    AWOOOOOO!


    The werewolf instantly sprang up on all fours, its speed and agility very impressive.


    It snarled its teeth, saliva dripping from its mouth, and its red eyes locked onto the few humans in front of it.


    GROWL!


    The werewolf pounced forward without wasting another second, ripping and slicing the air with its paw.


    Surprisingly, this sent out bursts of winds forward, cutting down everything in its path. This was an evolved version of wind des attack.


    But everyone in the group was already familiar with this attack as they had read about this boss on the forums.


    Derek promptly stepped forward and blocked these cutting winds while Alex charged at the boss to take the main aggro.


    Both of them were very talented tanks, so they tacitly decided on who was doing what based on their position and their coordination was impable.


    ng!


    Alex''s shield shed with the werewolf''s sturdy paw, and the mere impact was enough to push her back a few steps.


    -1500


    A huge damage number floated atop her head as well.


    The werewolf raised another paw to strike down again, and this time Derek took the initiative and blocked the attack head-on.


    Because there were two tanks in their group, it was easy to rotate in this manner and take turns bearing the brunt of the attack.


    However, since Derek''s equipment was on apletely different grade whenpared to Alex''s, he did not receive much damage.


    He even managed to chip away at the monster''s health a little.


    And while these two kept the huge werewolf engaged, the others barraged the beast with a variety of attacks, slowly bringing down its health.


    With the exception of its strength, speed, power, and agility, this first boss didn''t have much to offer.


    It was utterly helpless, and the big boy was quickly brought down to his knees.


    But when it was at thest 25% of its health, suddenly the werewolf let an enraged roar.


    The werewolf was incensed, its blood-red eyes gleaming with anger.


    It swiped its paws and sent out massive rippling winds, almost creating a tornado.


    The wind was cutting, and grass and the ground itself were being torn apart, everything rising up into the air.


    Everyone''s health began dropping drastically at the same time. If this continued, the situation would quickly be dire.


    So the group had to absolutely grind down the boss before the tornado took away their health.


    Suddenly, the fight became apetition for speed and power. Whoever does the maximum damage in the fastest time wins.


    This was the second hurdle of the dungeon, the berserk state of the first boss.


    Unless the attacking group had a decent damage output, they could not cross this hurdle. They needed to have an overall damage output above the required threshold.


    However, this was not really an issue for the group.


    Mia casually topped up everyone''s health, buying extra seconds, while the others just continued with their attacks.


    Even without the little fox and Liam added into the picture, everyone was able to bring out the required damage numbers to put down the boss.


    And a few secondster, the huge monster let out itsst howl as it slumped onto the ground lifelessly.


    Just like that, the first boss was down!


    ng. ng.


    Immediately, two pieces of equipment dropped from the beast, and a few coins scattered around.


    Since these were just drops from a Level 30 boss, no one was really interested in them. Nevertheless, some parties were curious to see what dropped.


    But the small fox who lingered at the back did not give anyone this chance.


    Before anyone could react, she pounced at the sparkly things on the ground with her eyes twinkling and brought all of them over to Liam.


    Liam covered his mouth at this sight and chuckled helplessly. What was this new behavior?


    "There is one cloth piece and one pair of braces." He announced.


    "One looks like a silver unique item and the other looks like a gold unique item. Both are Level 30 items."


    "Whoever wants to roll for it can do so."


    He shared the details of the items on the group chat and then nodded at Derek, asking him to continue forward.


    Other groups might sit down and take some rest at this point to recover everything before proceeding forward but clearly, there was no need for them to do so.


    A couple of seconds passed, and another mob wave appeared.


    This pack of werewolves had a red lustrous coat. They were different from the grey dull fur coat of the previous mob packs.


    Irrespectively, they were also quickly cleared and soon the group arrived at the second boss of the dungeon.


    This time, a huge werewolf was slumbering atop a small hill-like projection. Its thick fur was bright red, and the beast emitted a violent, oppressive aura.


    CLANG!<i>[]</i>


    Derek was again the first to initiate the battle as he tossed his shield at the wolf, but this time the DPS in the group quickly started attacking the boss, just a second after Derek''s attacknded.


    This was because the second boss had the ability to go berserk ording to its will. It could attack in a frenzy whenever it wanted, even with full health.


    In the forums, this werewolf was nicknamed as ''rabid dog''. No one would be able to foresee when its speed and power would shoot up.


    After Derek attracted the attention of the beast, the werewolf lunged at him and swiped its massive paws at the tank.


    Derek skillfully moved and blocked the beast''s two attacks but when he tried to predict the next attack, and move ordingly, the beast suddenly disappeared.


    Its speed increased a dozen fold as it now stood at the back, swiping at the damage dealers and the healers at the back.


    This was the next hurdle in the dungeon where it was impossible for the tank to hold a steady aggro. Anyone could be attacked at any instant.


    However, among the damage dealers and the two healers, there was also a third tank at the back. It was finally Shin Soo''s turn to shine!


    The poor guy did not have any chance to fight since the beginning of the dungeon run as the two monstrous tanks hogged all the beasts by themselves, not giving him even a single opportunity.


    But now, they were too far and this was all him.


    Shin Soo gripped his shield, jutting it forward to block the attack. However, unfortunately for him, the beast chose to go berserk at this exact moment.


    Its speed and power increased by another level and just as Shin Shoo prepared to block the second attack, he was casually flung aside like dirt.


    "AHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he flew in the air tond a few feet away.


    More importantly, now the group was fully exposed. Most long-rage damager dealers were ss cannons and the healers were equally helpless.


    So if the next attacknded on someone in this group, they would instantly lose half of their health, and especially because the beast was in berserk mode, this was simply a death sentence.


    They would not even be able to react and just get swiped to death.


    However, before the werewolf could lock on to these ss cannons, another strike pierced the beast from the back and Alex had already arrived at the location.


    She looked just as fierce as the beast and was in her own berserk mode as she swung her sword and her shield alternatingly.


    A divine aura shone on her body as her attacks also began to give out a radiance. The red werewolf boss was not able topete with her at all.


    It looked dumbfounded and the others looked equally stunned.


    Just when they thought that they had grasped this person''s potential, Alex had once again surprised them.


    She had definitely activated a special skill something simr to berserk but in reality, even with the special skill, herbat technique was impressive.


    She did not miss a single attack and blocked the frenzied swipe perfectly, matching the speed and the strength.


    The werewolf snarled in anger and she growled in return. If Luna was cute and vicious, this woman was just outrightly brutal.


    While others stared in shock, Liam alone had a small smile on his face as he observed everything from the side, still not participating in any of the fights.


    Seeing Alex so submissive and dull earlier, he had to admit that he was worried about her overall abilities.


    Though the woman was annoying as she constantly opposed him and was bullheaded. These were also the qualities that made her an excellent fighter.


    So with her calmed down and docile, he did not know if she had lost her innate fighting abilities as well.


    But it looks like that was not the case. She was still roaring and fighting with vigor and energy.


    "Good." Liam nodded in approval and then continued to watch just as he was doing before, not lifting a single finger.


    However, no oneined about this as Liam''s pet, the little fox who was running around and jumping around, sting red hot fire ever so often, was doing damage equivalent to two damage dealers.


    So even though he was not personally participating, Liam was pulling his weight in one way or the other.


    The fight continued for another few seconds and soon the second boss was also brought down.


    "Two down, three more to go!" Liam muttered under his breath as he looked ahead into the seemingly endless dark forest.

 Chapter 341: werewolf King

    <h4>Chapter 341 - werewolf King</h4>


    After the grey werewolf boss and the red werewolf boss, the next boss was a huge werewolf with pitch ck colored fur.


    However, the appearance of this wolf was visibly different from the other two bosses.


    It had a very strong and muscr physique and was even bigger than the previous two wolves.


    GROWL!


    The werewolf bounded forward towards the group and Alex prepared herself to take the attack, but surprisingly, Derek cut her off for the first time.


    "I will handle this."


    Alex immediately obliged and did not fight with him on this.


    Everyone was familiar with all the bosses of this dungeon, and Alex as well knew the specialty of this boss.


    This boss was mainly a test of the main tank''s abilities.


    And between the two of them¡­


    Alex did not intend topare her techniques with Derek''s. They were both strong in their own ways and had their advantages and drawbacks.


    However, she still conceded quickly to him, letting him take the lead on this one.


    This was because of an entirely different reason, the equipment he was wearing!


    She did not know the details, but from observing the battles thus far, she was sure that whatever he was wearing was definitely on another level whenpared to her own items.


    And moreover, every single item she had was a gold rank and above unique item!


    So if he took the lead in this battle, everything would proceed much more smoothly. She was a bit arrogant, but she had always been a team yer.


    So she quietly stepped back, letting Derek handle this boss single-handedly while she assisted the melee damage dealers and shed her sword at the wolf left and right.


    The muscr ck werewolf not only had ridiculous strength but also had a high defense and magic resistance.


    So everyone''s attacks were only 30% efficient whenpared to their usual output.


    Derek as well did not have it too easy. With every move he blocked, his body and his shield and chest guard shuddered and trembled.


    He was only barely holding on. The werewolf''s power was trulymendable and its attack pattern was also bizarre making the next swing hard to predict.


    However, this was before Mia stepped in.


    After she cast a few protection spells on Derek, his ability to block the blows tremendously increased, and he was even able to push back the muscr giant at times.


    To add to this, Luna''s mes were surprisingly still deadly.


    They managed to somewhat ignore the defense of the werewolf and strike the beast, so the damage started piling up every time she opened her mouth and attacked.


    This continued on for a minute before eventually its health bottomed out and the third boss was also taken down.


    Kyuuuu! Kyuuuu! Kyuuu!


    Luna jumped around and collected the loot, which was a couple of cloth pieces once again. All the pieces were also made of wolf fur and were soft to touch.


    Mei Mei wanted to gobble the drops for herself as not many people in their group used cloth items.


    However, the healer Kang Minah was not as well equipped as Mia. She genuinely needed the items, and hence she got all of them.


    No onepeted with her or had any issues and the group quickly traversed through the forest to get to the next mobs.


    Only two more bosses were left, thest and final boss and the grand final boss.


    The moment of truth was also very close.


    Would they really be able to cruise through this dungeon termed impossible by everyone else?


    Every single person in the group was curious to see this happen.


    Of course, everyone except for the one person who hadn''t done anything so far, not as much as cast a fireball.


    Liam was not a hypocrite. He seriously practiced what he preached.


    After continuously forging for so long, he was tired so he used this time to rx a bit. This also gave him a chance to observe everyone.


    Soon, the second phase of his n will be initialized and for this, he needed a good grasp of everyone''s talents.


    And this was just as good a time as any to analyze everyone''s abilities and shorings.


    As Liam casually whistled and walked at the back enjoying the cool evening breeze, the rest of the group cleared a few more mobs before arriving at the fourth boss werewolf.


    This one had white fur and more importantly, held two daggers in its forelimbs. Unlike the other werewolf bosses, this one looked a bit different as well.


    Not in its appearance but in the way, it was staring down at the bunch of humans standing in front of it.


    The werewolf snorted coldly and then leaped towards the center of the group, brandishing its two daggers.


    Its speed and agility were off the charts and the beast swung its daggers around, shing down at Mei Mei and a couple of other mages.


    The group of yers scattered like ants, running away from the huge monster but their speed was not enough.


    Mei Mei and the mage next to her were struck down almost losing all of their health and dying but Mia''s reaction speed was fast.


    She quickly topped off their health reaching half and then moved onto Derek as he had already reached the boss, parrying the next attack with his ax.


    The rest of the group adjusted ordingly and did not stop dealing damage.


    This fight was a bit more difficult than the previous fight as the two daggers in the beast''s hands were quite troublesome.


    Every time they struck they did a fuck ton of damage and because of this Mia was fully upied. Healing the rest of the team fell into Kang Minah''s hands.


    She was not as fluent as Mia and just the repercussions of the fight between the tank and the boss were enough to give her a headache.


    If not for the upgraded items she just received, she might have suffered even more.


    Observing everything from the side, Liam could see that their group still had 3 different types of yers. Outstanding, above average, and average.


    But luckily, the coordination was good as everyone worked smoothly without any ego. So this made the group a lot more cohesive and the fight easier.


    The fight with the fourth white werewolf boss was more difficult than the rest and the fight dragged on for a bit but eventually, this enemy as well fell without any other surprises.


    And before anyone had a chance to take a look at the drops, a thundering roar filled the entire forest.


    The earth shook and the clouds clumped together resembling a stormy night sky.


    The next instant, a huge figurended in front of everyone with a resounding thud.


    Wind rippled through the air and dust and sand kicked up, slowly revealing the huge and sinister monster within, a huge werewolf with a dazzling silver body and a pair of cruel blood-red eyes.


    [Werewolf King] (Super Boss)


    Level 30


    Health: 5000000


    And Liam who wasn''t doing anything up until now finally arrived in the front of the group, standing in between Derek and Alex.

 Chapter 342 - Big Boss vs Big Boss

    <h4>Chapter 342 - Big Boss vs Big Boss</h4>


    Seeing the big boss werewolf king, everyone grew nervous. This was thest and final hurdle in this dungeon.


    But this single monster was also the cause of every yer''s nightmare and the reason why this dungeon was still unconquered.


    Considering this¡­ would they be able to defeat this one as well, just like the others?


    Would they be the first to conquer this dungeon and get the achievement?


    On paper, this was a very good n as this would instantly make every single big shot guild and yer currently in the game turn and look at them.


    This was an easy and quick ticket to fame.


    But on the other hand, the difficulty was also¡­ that much worse.


    Information about this specific boss was not scarce. In fact, everyone was well aware of its moves and what made it deadly and impossible.


    And yet no one had managed to defeat it, even once. This was because they simply did not know how to.


    Everyone nervously stared at the humongous werewolf king that was looking down upon them as if they were mere ants when suddenly Liam jumped to stand in the front.


    What? The big boss was finally going to fight?


    But was this still enough?


    Even after seeing Liam, no one felt any better. Mei Mei and Shen Yue looked at Liam worriedly.


    Mia and Alex curiously watched Liam wondering how he was going to deal with this.


    The others, including Shin Soo also looked curious, but they were also nervous at the same time.


    Only two beings in that ce had absolute faith in Liam, Luna, and Derek.


    While Derek prepared himself mentally to assist Liam as and when needed, Luna was already staring at the werewolf King as if it was a mountain of sparkly treasure waiting for her to take.


    In the midst of this group, the werewolf king suddenly raised his head and let out another thunderous howl.


    Instantly, four silver wisps of energy gathered around the beast, forming into small white balls, and these white balls sunk into the beast.


    The previous silver sheen of the werewolf''s fur now turned bright golden as the monster dazzled even more brilliantly.


    Not just that but its entire body was covered in some sort of reddish-ck aura.


    And a pair of daggers appeared in its hand.


    AWWWOOOOO!


    The beast then cocked its head and the next instant its figure blurred and the earth started quaking.


    Explosive speed!


    Explosive strength!


    Explosive power!


    The huge beast was only barely visible as it bounded towards the group arriving near everyone in just a fraction of a second.


    It was thrice the size of a human being and even Derek looked tiny when facing the monstrosity.


    It seemed as if a single swipe from the beast was enough to instantly kill three to four yers, even tanks.


    But Derek did not flinch and stood firm, holding his ground and steadily blocking the first swing that came down upon him.


    SHING! CLANG! SCREECH!


    The sound of the dagger screeching against the metal pierced everyone''s ears.


    Derek''s entire body trembled. Even the semi-epic grade gear that he had on his person looked like it was about to shatter.


    The werewolf king''s power was just that outstanding, but the real issue was not this.


    If one observes closely, by now they would already be aware that this beast somehow had the abilities of all four werewolf bosses they had faced up until now.


    If they were all alphas and pack leaders, this was the alpha of the alpha, the King of this dungeon.


    It possessed every single alpha''s power andbined everything together and this was what made it absolutely deadly.


    The violent aura seeping out of it seemed as if it held the ability to ughter an entire kingdom.


    In fact, many people ignored this dungeon because they had already made up their minds that this was a bug in the system.


    Such a ferocious overpowered boss did not belong in the early Level 30 dungeon, the monster belonged in a Level 100 or perhaps even Level 200 dungeon.


    However, that was not true because this guy had one significant weakness. The werewolf king was highly susceptible to lightning-type attacks.


    The other yers were not aware of this key information just yet, but Liam knew it. He already knew very well the method to defeat this beast.


    In fact, he had also selected this dungeon for this exact same reason.


    Not because he wanted the guild to be famous with just one run. That was just an added benefit.


    The real reason was that he wanted to use this dungeon to teach everyone a lesson, something that they needed to keep in their minds constantly from now on.


    After striking Derek, the huge werewolf grinned wickedly and licked the dagger in its right hand.


    It then growled and leaped up tond in the back, near the healers and the long-range damage dealers.


    The werewolf king had the four bosses'' abilities, which meant the tanks could not hold the aggro of this dungeon boss.


    It could randomly attack anyone, and it did just that. However, Liam knew that this was not random at all.


    The beast was extremely intelligent and from the beginning to the end, its eye was always on the prize, the mages in the team.


    As long as it takes care of this, it can peacefully ughter the rest of the group.


    This was the hidden attack pattern of thisst big boss, which everyone had yet to figure out.


    It was so difficult to even know the weakness let alone this attack pattern because every time the long-range yers would be killed at the beginning.


    So there was simply no way of knowing.


    This information would onlye outter when more substantial equipment could be forged, and mages would not get insta killed.


    But the catch was that¡­ even after knowing this secret, there wasn''t really anything that anyone could do.


    This was because of the explosive speed of the werewolf king. It only took one-fourth of a second for the beast to get to the mages.


    So even after knowing the attack pattern, the weakness, and the specific target, it was still impossible to beat this boss.


    This was because all mages and even shamans for that matter had a casting time, at least for the system-activated spells.


    So before they could cast any lightning attacks to weaken the beast, they would already be dead.


    This was true for any yer below Level 50 because of the limitation of their health and a few other factors.


    And Level 49 was the threshold for entering this dungeon. Anyone above Level 49 would simply not be able to enter the dungeon at all.


    So the yers would still bepletely useless even with all the knowledge avable.


    However, this was not the case for Liam. He had an answer to this beast''s every single move.


    And unlike others, he was not entirely relying on the system to activate his spells. He can instantly cast!


    Just as the werewolf kingnded near the mages and hunters and raised its paw to swat away everyone in sight to make a meat paste of them, suddenly a huge bolt of lightning struck the beast.


    GROWL! GROWL! GROWL!


    The werewolf king roared in pain, and it stopped its paw mid-way to pay attention to the person who had managed to draw its true aggro!


    Zing!


    It swung its body around and bounded towards Liam.


    But before it could reach him, ZAP!


    Another thick and blinding lightning boltnded on its huge muscr body, zapping it in ce.


    The huge werewolf that was just now rampaging like it was Godzi suddenly found itself twitching in ce like a house fly caught in an electric bat.


    Watching this unfold, everyone gaped at this unbelievable sight, their mouths wide open.


    Even the calm andposed Mia revealed a shocked expression.


    The impossible to beat big boss of this nightmare dungeon was no more than a dire wolf in front of Liam. Just what was happening?


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Shocked Corgi for this bonus chapter.

 Chapter 343 - Dungeon cleared!

    <h4>Chapter 343 - Dungeon cleared!</h4>


    "Don''t just watch guys. The boss is now in a weakened state. So start attacking!" Liam chuckled.


    He did not n on exining anything just yet. He wanted first to see if someone else could figure it out independently.


    They might even get inspiration that way, and he did not want to prevent that.


    So he silently continued attacking along with the rest of the group though he only hurled lightning-type attacks every now and then and did not actively participate in the damage dealing.


    However, that much seemed to be more than enough.


    With the lightning-type attacks, everything about the majestic fear-inducing werewolf king was reduced to nothing and the boss was in a severely weakened state.


    So the rest of the fight was notplicated at all and ended in a few seconds.


    The werewolf king''s lifeless corpse hit the ground, and a bountiful amount of loot dropped on the ground.


    Unlike the previous bosses, this guy was highly generous, dropping three pieces of equipment, two precious gems, andstly two skill books.


    Luna''s eyes glittered as she swished around and picked up everything, dropping it all on Liam''s feet.


    Everything belongs to master! Kyuuu!


    She jumped up on Liam, curling around his neck proudly with a shameless smile.


    However, at this moment, no one was paying attention to her. Instead, everyone was dumbfoundedly staring at their system interface.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have sessfully defeated the Werewolf King]


    [Ding. You are the first to clear ''Twilight dungeon'' on normal difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Twilight dungeon'' on normal difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Twilight dungeon'' on normal difficulty.]


    In the end, they really did end up clearing the impossible dungeon!


    And their guild name was also announced on all channels!


    They did not struggle. They did not party wipe. They did not have to work hard and everything was very easily aplished.


    Everyone silently stared at the huge werewolf corpse on the ground, and then shifted their gaze to look at Liam. This guy was the true monster!


    What even happened and how did everything go down?


    Just as the group was wondering about this, Mia was the first one to break the silence.


    Liam looked at her as if there wasn''t anything surprising about this. If anyone were to figure out things, it would probably be her. He long since knew this.


    "So the boss had a weakness to lightning-type attacks?" Mia asked.


    "Yes." Liam answered her.


    Mia did not ask him the next question again and looked like she was silently contemting something.


    Everyone else looked at her wondering what she was going to say, because if it was just this one loophole, then some guild should have figured this out by now.


    Then they realized the main issue. The werewolf king was ughtering the mages first.


    "So the mages need to be protected?" Mia asked.


    "Maybe a healing blessing or scatter them around the fighting zone or position them near tanks? Key point is to make sure that the mages are not one-shotted?"


    "Yes. Those are all valid points." Liam smiled and then shook his head. "Though even if you do all this, it would still be difficult to clear the dungeon."


    "Can anyone tell me why?"


    Seeing him talking to them like a teacher, Mei Mei almost couldn''t control herself and giggled. Shen Yue was also silently smiling.


    Others were simply curious but only Mia, Alex, and Derek were truly serious and tried to carefully listen to what Liam was saying.


    But Derek and Alex were mainly closebat fighters, so Mia was the person who answered once again. "Is it the casting time?"


    "It would be impossible to cast a big spell before the werewolf went berserk and attacked the casters in the party?


    Liam pped, making the other party blush slightly. "Have you guys ever tried to reduce your casting time?"


    Everyone again became silent. Mages and other casting sses having this sort of time drawback was just a given.


    None of them had ever thought about how to reduce this casting time.


    Even when a skill was upgraded, only its damage would usually increase, and the casting time in most cases would remain unchanged.


    Seeing everyone in deep contemtion, Liam did not immediately give them the answer. "Think about it. Let''s go to the next dungeon."


    "Liam, are we not doing the hard level?" Alex asked.


    "No." Liam shook his head. "You guys cane back and run the hard and nightmare modes when you have some free time."


    "Right now, we have more important things to take care of."


    The group then arranged their clothing, covered their identities, and walked out of the dungeon.


    But it was useless. At least to the people who were already outside the dungeon, their identities were only just now exposed.


    The names of everyone participating in the dungeon run were usually added in the world announcement, and especially this particr world announcement had created a huge stir.


    Every big guild and yer who were online at the moment looked at the announcement in shock and surprise.


    Finally, someone had managed to crack this dungeon!


    Several messages and friend requests flooded everyone, but this was just the beginning.


    When the guilds looked at the name list of the party more carefully, then there was another big shock waiting for them.


    Mia and Alex, the two famous sisters were present on the list. They were members of this no-name guild?


    Not just that, but there was also one other famous personality''s name on the list. The number one person on the ranking leaderboard! Liam!


    He actually joined a guild?


    That too with the two famous sisters?


    Also, weren''t these two against each other ording to the rumors about the ve contract?


    Every single piece of information was a shock to everyone, sending ripples almost throughout the whole world, as everyone''s eye was on this game currently.


    So it was impossible not to pay attention to such a big and sudden development.


    The new guild had popped up out of nowhere and had already taken down one of the big achievements in the game right now.


    How did they manage this?


    The forums exploded with this huge news, and all the guilds immediately asked their underlings to investigate this matter thoroughly.


    However, they knew that this matter wasn''t so simple. So most of the first-rate and the second-rate guilds did not take any rash actions.


    But the same could not be said for the other random guilds. The new guild Crimson Abyss was now under everyone''s watchful eyes.

 Chapter 344 - The forgotten raven

    <h4>Chapter 344 - The forgotten raven</h4>


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the game world¡­


    Everyone dumbfoundedly stared at the ck-cloaked figures exiting the dungeon portal.


    They had just now been making fun of and cing bets, but now they could only dumbly stare.


    Not only did they see the worldwide system notifications but they have also personally seen the group going in anding back out as victors.


    Everything was happening in front of them and yet it was unbelievable.


    While everyone was simply looking at the group of mysterious yers and wondering how they managed to take down thest boss, one group alone was very busy.


    Gu Donghai and his personal raid team were currently making themselves scarce in the vicinity of the ''Twilight dungeon'', inside the Twilight forests.


    As the lighting inside this forest was always low, it was easier for them to conceal themselves.


    At the other end, Liam was casually talking about their next dungeon. It was the fire-type dungeon ''Molten Domain''.


    This was also a dungeon in the Gresh Kingdom. However, the normal and hard modes were already cleared for this particr dungeon.


    Only the nightmare mode was left.


    This was partly because Liam was no longer supplying the various guilds and yers with the fire-resistance potion.


    He was the sole manufacturer, so without him, the entire product line came to a halt.


    Perhaps normal mode and hard mode were doable even without the potion with some over-powered equipment.


    But it was absolutely impossible to tackle the nightmare mode without any potion.


    Also, the boss as well was quiteplicated so even the first-tier guilds would require one or two runs to figure things out.


    Not to mention, each run would probably consume several fire-resistance potions.


    After all, every member in the group required this to prevent the dot damage inside the dungeon.


    In reality, Liam simply chose this dungeon because it was convenient. He actually did not expect this to remain unsolved for so long.


    It was probably only a matter of days before someone eventually gets the drop and ends up with the recipe.


    But since that did not happen, he might as well use this chance.


    This was a perfect opportunity to show that their guild was brimming with resources and was capable of aplishing difficult runs that others did not dare attempt.


    Liam told his n and everyone was overjoyed. Who did not like to be famous overnight?


    Everyone was happily chatting and walking over to their next destination. The only issue was that there was quite a bit of travel.


    "Does anyone have any ideas about obtaining flying mounts?" Liam asked the group, just in case.


    He did not want to assume that he was the only person who knew a boatload of information.


    However, unfortunately, he did not get any response.


    The others as well sighed and clicked their tongues, badly wishing that they all had flying mounts.


    Of course, it would save a lot of time. But the main point was it would look insanely cool!


    Just the thought of the entire guild riding griffins or eagles or even giant crows or any sort of flying mounts was very satisfying.


    "Brother, you promised me a pet!" Mei Mei took this opportunity to remind Liam once again.


    "Oh, you are demanding things from me now?"


    He pulled the girl and squished her head yfully with his fist while Luna smugly saw the scene go down.


    "Ah! That hurts!" Mei Mei shrieked and the group continued walking toward the next dungeon.


    At the other end, one of the numerous spies noted their direction and informed Gu Donghai about it.


    "He He He! This is good. This is too good. Let''s go. We need to attack immediately."


    "They only now cleared the dungeon and are already out. They should be very tired right now."


    "Mostly, they cleared the dungeon by fluke. Even if they had talents, they are only 20 or so in number."


    "What can they possibly do when we surround them with an army of 100! Hmph! Today, I will ughter that new guild and take everything."


    "Ha Ha Ha. They even updated their equipment for us. How perfect! All the loot they just got from the dungeon will be ours!"


    "There is actually one other thing that I really want to try, but it is not wise to count your chickens before they hatch."


    "So I will tell you guyster about it."


    Everyone nodded as they listened intently and their eyes gleamed with excitement.


    For many of them, this was the first PVP match so they were quite excited about it.


    Who wants to waste time raiding dungeons and elites?


    These were the things that losers did!


    The only way for winners like them was to directly get the loot from the losers!


    "LET''S GO!"


    "Let''s kill those bitches and take everything from them!"


    "Hear! Hear!"<i> </i>


    Gu Donghai shouted and the others loudly cheered in response. He was very satisfied with this reaction and the group quickly set out for the battle.


    However, he hadn''t told them everything. There is a key piece of information that he kept for himself.


    Just thinking about this, he shook in anticipation.


    "Ha Ha Ha. If everything goes well, I will be the next Gu family leader. Maybe I can even get those two women to serve me as ves."


    "Just how wonderful it would be!"


    Even thinking about the two beauties made him drool. Having both the blonde and the brte at the same time should be heavenly.


    He licked his lips and fantasized about Mia and Alex as he walked, grinning wildly ear to ear.


    He was unable to control himself and rubbed his hands together.


    In just a few minutes, he was going to use his little secret and soar to the top in this single move!


    They might have defeated the unbeatable boss but who was the real genius here!


    Meanwhile¡­ as the two groups left the Twilight forests, neither of them noticed a huge ck raven flying out of that area.


    This raven flew high into the sky and then magically disappeared.


    The bird then reappeared the next second in a small town, one of the newbie areas, outside of a beginner dungeon.


    "Hey! Look! Where did that birde from?"


    A few newbies noticed it, but the bird disappeared into the beginner dungeon before anyone could take a good look.


    This was the same raven dungeon that Liam had first run at the beginning of the game. This was where everything had begun.


    However, hepletely forgot about this in the midst of several other to-dos on his huge task list.


    The same could not be said for the other party.


    The small raven pped its wings andnded at the very end of the dungeon, near a cave.


    CAW! caw!


    It called out and after a couple of seconds, a pair of bird feet appeared and a huge pitch-ck raven walked out of the cave.


    This raven surprisingly had three heads.


    Caw! Caw!


    The small bird conveyed the message and the bigger monstrous raven looked at it angrily.


    A couple of secondster, the middle head opened its beak and spoke. "So¡­ he is still alive and well but has conveniently ignored me huh¡­ someone actually dared to ignore me..."


    The voice seemed cold and indifferent as if it did not care, but the next moment, ck wisps appeared near the small bird, the unfortunate messenger.


    In the blink of an eye, it was reduced to ashes and then nothingness.


    The monstrous three-headed raven then walked back into the cave, its eyes gleaming bright red.


    "Your bad luck. You ended up running another dungeon. Otherwise, you might have really gotten out of my hands."


    "But now that you did¡­ your fate is already sealed."

 Chapter 345 - This must be fate!

    <h4>Chapter 345 - This must be fate!</h4>


    After exiting the twilight forests, Liam and the group traveled back north for a while and then headed to the west where the terrain became dry and barren.


    Thend was dotted with several mountains and craters, some of them being in an active volcanic state.


    This was the location of the dungeon ''Molten Domain''.


    However, just as the group was about to enter the vicinity, suddenly several dozen yers starteding out of the adjacent forest.


    "Liam, what should we do now? There are about a hundred yers surrounding us. Should we run or fight?" Mia asked.


    Not that she was afraid, but theirs was a newly formed guild, and without knowing who this enemy was, it wouldn''t be wise to engage.


    Also, she was no longer the person at the top. When Liam was around, it was best to consult him before acting.


    So Mia clutched the staff in her hand and asked him while simultaneously gauging the strength of the people surrounding them.


    However, Liam unexpectedly remained silent instead of answering her immediately. His eyes were fixated on the small emblem on the nearest yer''s chest.


    Jade Mountain!


    The emblem of the Gu family guild!


    "Heh. You are right. There are indeed a lot of people here." Liam couldn''t help butugh as he looked around.


    About a hundred or more people were standing around them, blocking their path.


    From the looks of it, they should have prepared some sort of item to keep these many yers hidden and suddenly ambush in this way.


    "Guild Leader Mia!" A chubby young man sat atop a ck panther and shouted, slowly walking out. "Fancy meeting you here. This must be fate."


    Heughed loudly and walked with confidence in his strides. His two eyes arrogantly looked at the measly 25 yers in front of him.


    On the other side, Liam was also equally amused. It was definitely fate! He knew it!


    Gu family''s Jade Mountain was one of the top guilds in the Gresh Kingdom. So as soon as he created a guild of his own, this confrontation was something that Liam expected.


    But he did not think that it woulde this soon!


    Mia was about to answer the person when suddenly Liam stopped her by raising his hand.


    "Wee, young master. Good to meet you. I wonder what business Jade Mountain has with our guild?"


    His eyes at the same time tried to gauge the strength of the people surrounding them.


    Their levels and their stats might be hidden but if one observed closely, these things could always be determined by the worth of the equipment they were wearing.


    From what Liam could see, this was nothing much.


    They wanted to take them out with just this much? With these numbers and this equipment?


    Dream on!


    "Business? Who said I came to do business? I am here to give you my first and final warning!"


    "Surrender now and sign our guild contract. I will let you all live. If not¡­ your equipment might not be the only thing you lose today!"


    Hmph! He snorted haughtily giving a nce to either side.


    The hundred yers dressed in dazzling silver equipment all gave a collective cheer.


    They looked as if they were ready to march into battle and tear everything apart at the snap of his finger.


    The whole scene might have looked more fear-inducing if not for the fact that the panther under the fat boss currently had a pitiful look on its face.


    The guy''s weight was clearly too much for the beast to handle, yet the person had ck-heartedly forced it to carry him.


    "You! How can you be so heartless?" Not able to stand it any longer, Mei Mei stepped forward and shouted back.


    "He He. Unfortunately, this game is indeed heartless. You kill or be-"


    "What the hell are you talking about? Shut the hell up and get down at once!"


    "Huh? What are you talking about? What get down?" Gu Donghai was slightly confused.


    Here he was threatening them with death, and this woman was asking him to get down? Who the hell was this crazy woman?


    This was not goddess Mia''s voice!


    "Brother! This guy is too stupid! I don''t even want to waste time talking with him. Let''s just kill him and save the panther."


    Seeing this, Gu Donghai was now even more confused. What the hell was going on here! Why wasn''t anyone treating him seriously!


    And what was this about saving the panther? Which panther are they talking about?


    Especially hearing the word stupid, he waspletely triggered.


    Liam on the other side was rubbing his temples.


    "Slut! Pay attention when I am talking to you! You dare call someone from the Gu family stupid? I am going to end you today!"


    "Men Attack!"


    "When dealing with idiots, it''s better to talk with fists first and wordster!"


    "We will kill them a few times, and then we will-"


    "Your words. Not mine." Liam did not want to waste any more time with this bunch of idiots.


    Before Gu Donghai could even finish his sentence, the person who was standing in front of him and talking, was no longer there.


    Also, his head was already detached and falling to the ground.


    AEK!


    Gu Donghai screeched before the rest of his dead body also fell to the ground and disintegrated into light dust.


    "LEADER!"


    "KILL THEM ALL!"


    Only the ones at the front realized what happened and shouted. The ones at the back did not even understand what was going on.


    There were also some still in a trance, and some took a step back hesitantly.


    With the head cut off, the group of hundred suddenly looked extremely unsure of themselves.


    Liam smirked. Should he spare them all because they had nothing to do with him in the grand scheme of things?


    Unfortunately, that was not how the world worked. He did not stop there and swung his sword wildly.


    Jumping off of his back, the white fox dashed around and took care of her share of carnage.


    Something bright and shiny dropped with every person who died, so Luna absolutely did not hold back.


    Bright reddish-orange bursts of me popped up here and there amidst the crumbling army.


    There was chaos and uproar everywhere and no one knew what to do. "This is the perfect lesson for having numbers without any structure."


    Liam typed in the group chat while killing yet another opponent. The others also did not stand idly.


    Derek crushed whoever was in his path. Alex ughtered her way through. Mia dealt damage seeing that no one needed any sort of healing.


    In just a matter of a few minutes, all the hundred yers werepletely decimated.


    A few yers at the back tried to escape and run away, but Liam did not allow a single one to leave and took care of everyst person.


    Only some thieves and assassins probably escaped because of their [Stealth] skill and Liam did not bother chasing after them.


    Though even most of these yers were exposed to friendly fire because of theplete and utter disorder in the group.


    The only being that was still remaining, thest one standing was unexpectedly the pitiful ck panther.


    Mei Mei had saved the beast right from the get-go and protected it all throughout the fight.


    When Liam noticed her, she quickly and shamelessly brought out her adorable puppy dog eyes. "Please, brother."


    Standing next to her, the panther also had the same expression for some reason.


    Watching these two, what else could Liam do? He helplessly shook his head. "Do whatever you want."


    "He did not have the heart to break it to her. Beasts once tamed and bound to a yer cannot be tamed again by another yer.


    It was because the beast''s soul was typically branded when a contract was formed. If one tried to forcefully erase this contract, then the beast would only perish.


    But Liam knew that Mei Mei was probably not going to do anything extreme like that. After a few tries, he expected her to give up.


    Stretching his hands, he rxed his body and prepared to watch the show.


    However, unexpectedly, Mei Mei did not try to tame it?


    "Sis Yue, quick, give me something you cooked. Meatballs or something."


    "Huh?" Shen Yue was confused, but she hurriedly took some grub from her inventory and handed it to the young girl.


    She, Liam, and also the rest of the group, curiously watched as Mei Mei fed the meatballs to the panther.


    "Do you want to be my pet cutie?" she lovingly patted the panther.


    "Eh?" Liam was shocked. The others were also equally shocked.


    But the others quickly recovered as they did not expect anything less from the sister of their genius leader!


    Like brother like sister!


    Only Shen Yue and Liam who knew the truth watched the little girl in amazement.


    They both watched the girl coax the panther. Will this even work?


    Several yed had tried the same method and beasts typically did not submit to niceties like this. They usually eat the food and then still remain hostile.


    But¡­ surprisingly¡­ just after a couple of meatballs¡­


    The panther was licking Mei Mei like a dog?


    Just two meatballs were enough? It shifted its loyalty so soon? Even Mei Mei was surprised.


    [Ding. You have obtained a new pet. Do you wish to name this pet?]


    "Yayyyy! Yippee!" Mei Mei jumped up and down in excitement.


    She did not use any skill, did not hatch any egg or use any other contract, and just like that, she received a pet! This was simply too awesome!


    "Wait. what happened?" Liam asked.


    "Bro, I got my first pet!" Mei Mei stuck her tongue out.


    Liam opened and closed his mouth speechlessly. "Just what meatballs did you give? Give me some?" He asked Shen Yue.


    "Ah¡­ nothing special." She really did not feed the beast anything special.


    Shen Yue embarrassedly showed Liam the meatballs and only after he confirmed it with his own eyes he believed her words.


    The meatballs were not anything special.


    "Did you really manage to tame the beast?" He asked Mei Mei again.


    "Yes. Yes. See, I named him Plum!"

 Chapter 346 - Let’s aim higher

    <h4>Chapter 346 - Let''s aim higher</h4>


    "Plum?" Liam chuckled, throwing a nce at Luna, who was very close to being named Orange or Apple.


    "Can you check his status?"


    "Oh! I forgot about that." Mei Mei quickly opened her system interface.


    "What does it say?"


    Mei Mei scrunched her nose as if she did not know what to say. "Brother, it''s level 15 but¡­"


    "But?"


    Now Liam was curious. Just from how Mei Mei was able to tame it so quickly and easily, he could tell that the beast wasn''t so simple.


    There was also the possibility that the Gu family pig might have just not done the taming correctly the first time.


    But the chances of that happening were really less. Even that idiot couldn''t have screwed this up so badly.


    After all, it was just a single system keyword.


    He saw the girl continue tapping on the screen seriously and asked again, "Don''t worry too much. Just say whatever it shows."


    "Ah. There are only question marks. There is nothing written here. Both for type and grade."


    Liam''s grin widened. He was now even more amused.


    Though the question marks might not necessarily mean that the panther was a celestial-grade beast like Luna or even a legendary-grade beast, there was a high chance of it being more powerful thanmon pets or mounts.


    Did they just take another valuable thing from the Gu family without even meaning to?


    "Heh." Liam shook his head and then patted the girl, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "You did well. Good. Good."


    Subtly hidden behind this amused smile was very thinly veiled rage. A cold glint appeared in his eyes and disappeared.


    Liam already knew that what just happened wasn''t really that simple.


    In fact, by doing this, he had already triggered a set of events that he would now have to face.


    Soon, the entire Gu family would be behind him and his guild.


    No matter what they do they would never be satisfied until one or the other no longer existed.


    And this was also what Liam wanted. The timeline was changing quite a bit and he did not want to put off his old enmity for much longer.


    The moment he hit Level 50, he was going to unleash all hell.


    And what he was doing right now, would form the base for it. "Okay. Let''s go. Time to run the next dungeon."


    "We need to strike the iron while it''s hot and keep moving. By the end of the day, there will be dozens of yers lining up to join our guild."


    "Let''s do this and make it happen."


    It should have been weird to see the person who was always quiet and kept to himself speaking encouraging words like this.


    However, everyone felt goosebumps and the group looked fully energized.


    They did not linger around for much longer and left the area shortly after tidying up the loot.


    "The next terrain gives little to no chance of hiding. So everyone should be prepared to react fast."


    "We should also run this dungeon as fast as possible. Otherwise, we might be forced to waste time with more idiots."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    Everyone chanted unitedly, though Mei Mei and Shen Yue were holding back their giggles as they did.


    Soon they arrived at the entrance of the ''Molten Domain'' dungeon.


    Unlike the ''Twilight dungeon'' entrance, this one was truly deserted. Of course, this was no surprise to anyone.


    There were no fire-resistance potions avable on the market, and the only person who was selling them was right there with them.


    Liam did not hold back and readily distributed the goodies to everyone, bottoming out his stock.


    The group then entered the dungeon in the nightmarish difficulty mode, silently saying their prayers.


    The moment they entered, a wave of hot air swept over them.


    Everyone could feel the heat in the depth of their bodies. Some coughed and choked, unable to breathe.


    They could tell that this ce was hot enough to boil their skin, perhaps even melt their bones and eyeballs, but strangely, they seemed okay.


    This was the effect of the potion!


    But despite taking the potion, it took everyone a minute to adjust.


    Only Luna was running around as if she was in a valley of pleasant flowers.


    She was enjoying this ce very much, even jumping in and out of piping hotva like it was just water.


    This made Liam wonder just how much fire resistance she possessed.


    He wasn''t yet able to see all of her skills and attributes, so this was a mystery to him.


    Perhaps he needed a higher level or perhaps he needed a special skill?


    Either way, he decided not to think about that right now. "We don''t have much time. Let''s run through this." Liam pped his hands.


    His figure then blurred dashing forward, followed immediately by Derek and Alex. The others also quickly joined in.


    Except for Luna, everyone used the fire-resistance potion and sted through the dungeon.


    No one held back and contributed to the best of their abilities. This time Liam was also participating, so the pressure was on.


    He was single-handedly doing more damage than four or five of them put together and this was without Luna joining in.


    More importantly, he was only using magic. He was ying like a mage.


    The molten domain mobs were all fire-type, so they had a weakness toward ice-type magic.


    The four other mages in the group observed his attacks, and they couldn''t help but feel ashamed of their own.


    Whether it was speed, intensity, timing, or anything else, Liam was head and shoulders above the rest.


    They badly wanted to ask for pointers from him, but Liam only smiled and gave vague answers.


    "If you want it to go faster, then will it to go faster."


    "If you want it to be bigger, then wish for it to be bigger."


    "It''s all up to you. You don''t need another skill book to learn this."


    His words almost made sense, but they did not.


    Their leader who was evidently good at everything he does, could it be¡­ that he was a bad teacher?


    "..."


    Everyone silently continued thinking about it with a bitter smile on their faces as they bombarded the various monsters inside the dungeon with their attacks.


    And in the blink of an eye, the dungeon run was alsopleted.


    With the fire-resistance potion and with Liam''s massive dps counted in, the nightmare mode''s first clear was easily obtained as if it was just a walk in the park.


    "We can take a look at the lootter. Let''s leave for now."


    Before even the notifications started rolling in, Liam and the group were already on their way out.


    "Liam, what is the third dungeon we are attempting?" Mia asked.


    They were almost out of the barren hilly terrain back into the cluster of jungles.


    Everyone wondered what dungeon they were going to attempt now because, except for these two, most of the other dungeons were already taken care of, at least the Level 30 ones.


    Were they now going to attempt a Level 35 dungeon?


    In the Gresh Kingdom, all five Level 35 dungeons were still unconquered.


    The elite teams of the various guilds were currently focused on the demon invasions and the space rifts as this was a limited-time event.


    So not much progress has been made in these dungeons.


    However, individual yers and some guilds were still paying attention to the dungeons. Also, the overall average level of everyone was also steadily increasing.


    Most yers were now at Level 30. So it was only a matter of time before someone obtained the first clear.


    It would make sense if their group used this opportunity and speedily set the record for at least one dungeon, getting the first clear before the others could get there.


    This would also make their guild even more popr.


    However, Liam smiled and shook his head.


    "The impact is not enough. Let''s aim higher. Also, those ces might be a bit too crowded for my liking."


    After hearing his words, everyone started nervously sweating. Aim higher? He doesn''t mean¡­


    Thendscape of Xion had a specific pattern, or rather over years such patterns had started to emerge.


    In all the Empires, Kingdoms, and other unique territories in Xion, dotting thends, the central areas were typically the lower leveled regions.


    As one moved from the center toward the outer borders, they were always headed towards more dangerous territories.


    And currently, everyone noticed that Liam was also headed over to the outer regions of the Gresh Kingdom.


    Did that mean¡­


    Answering everyone''s question, Liam loudly spoke. "We will be attempting the Level 40 dungeon ''Rock Temple''".


    Hearing his words, immediately, everyone in the group came to a halt without meaning to.


    "Level 40 dungeon?" Alex blurted out. Did she mishear it?


    "Yes." Liam nodded.


    "What is the point of wasting time with the useless Level 35 dungeons? This one we are going to is so much more rewarding."


    "Also, this is the perfect dungeon to seal our guild''s name among the top guilds."


    "This will be our foundation and the spatial rift we will be running after this would be our pir."


    "If we begin recruiting after these two achievements, I am sure we will have enough publicity." He casually smiled and continued moving.


    If anyone else said these exact words, then the group might have bashed them up left and right for talking like a lunatic, but it was Liam who just spoke.


    Everyone could only dazedly nod in agreement and follow the leader.

 Chapter 347 - You are not coming?

    <h4>Chapter 347 - You are noting?</h4>


    After traveling for a few hours, the group cut through the forests and arrived at another hilly terrain.


    This was the mountainous region in the north, but this time Liam did not go as far as he went thest time.


    While the mecha gnome territory was located further up north, this dungeon was situated at the foot of the terrain itself.


    "The dungeon should be somewhere around here." Liam stopped and looked around. The others as well took a note of the surroundings.


    They had tackled several Level 35 to Level 40 beasts on their way here, so everyone was on high alert.


    "Should we split up and search?" Mia asked.


    "No need. Let''s keep moving." Liam shook his head. "We should be arriving soon."


    ''If I remember correctly, the ruins of the Rock Temple should be here somewhere.''


    He jumped around and soon arrived at a peculiar rock, behind which the dungeon portal was inconspicuously located.


    "There we go."


    Everyone gulped and prepared to enter the dungeon, but weirdly Liam hadn''t stepped in?


    "What? Why are you guys looking at me? I can''t always be baby sitting the bunch of you. Ha Ha."


    "I have some work to do. So good luck."


    "Huh?" Everyone looked at him and then at the dungeon portal. They were supposed to clear a level 40 dungeon by themselves?


    "Brother, what are you saying?!" Mei Mei scratched her head.


    "Mmm¡­ work hard. Our guild''s progress is now in your hands."


    He patted the girl and then looked at the person next to her, who just happened to be Shin Soo.


    "I am trusting you guys." Liam winked.


    "Boss!" Shin Soo felt as if heart stopped. This was too much pressure. He started sweating buckets. Most of the group was dumbfounded.


    Only Derek had the usual nk expression and simply prepared to obey the order and do what was expected of him.


    Mia calmly gazed at the dungeon portal and Alex had an expression as if someone had just given her a challenge.


    She clenched her fist, determined to aplish this task, no matter what.


    Liam took a look at everyone and nodded contently.


    "Oh and try not to die." He further added as he jumped off the bunch of rocks, down to the ground.


    Leaving behind the rest of the group stunned silly, he then casually retraced his steps and wandered back into the forest.


    Next to him, Luna was happily jumping around.


    He had brought everyone here but he never promised that he would run the dungeon with them.


    Liam might not have put together an all-star team like the other group with the four big shots but he had also brought together some decently skillful yers.


    Also Derek''s and Mia''s skills were at par with the top experts.


    So if he spoonfed everything at every step of the way, then that would be the worst thing he was doing for them. It would not be productive.


    Besides, he also had certain things that he wanted to do before entering the spatial rift.


    Liam wandered back into the forests and came all the way to the mountain bear territory that they had recently crossed.


    These bears had thick ck hide with sharp spikes on them and were Level 25 beasts.


    "Shall we start?" Liam grinned. He unsheathed his sword and the first bear was swiftly brought down.


    Before its body touched the ground, he already located the small soul bead.


    He quickly molded mana around the bead and then summoned the dozen mana hammers that he was used to.


    However, when he tried manipting the hammers to forge the soul bead, an intense repulsive force weed him.


    The hammers felt heavier than usual and no matter how much he tried he was not able to bring them down and hit the bead into shape.


    Liam frowned as he felt the weight of the maniption on his mind and body. Nevertheless, he grit his teeth and persevered.


    Luna worriedly looked at her Master. She also wanted to help.


    She rounded up a few more bears, roasting them all one after the other, silently piling more corpses near Liam.


    A few more minutes passed by in this manner when Liam finally was able to get the grasp of things at least to a certain extent.


    He was now able to withstand the pressure and he hammered the soul bead slowly and steadily.


    He continued this process for an entire hour before he finally received the notification that he was expecting.


    [Ding. Soul forging sessful]


    A big spectral spiked bear appeared in front of Liam, its eyes arrogantly looking around.


    Kyuuuu! Luna cheered loudly.


    Liam wiped the sweat of his forehead and turned to look at her. Seeing the mess piled up around him, his face twitched.


    But he was far too tired to spank the naughty fox and just grabbed some roasted meat to appease his hunger.


    Forging in this manner was even more exhausting than forging metals or even fighting.


    But unfortunately, he was short on time so he couldn''t afford to rest as much as he wanted.


    "Next." Liam spotted another bear and started his work all over again. Another hour passed and one more spectral bear appeared.


    It looked like he had really grasped the essence of the skill and was now able to forge the souls of higher beasts.


    The two bears standing in front of him were truly magnificent. They seemed to hold the same vigor and strength of a live mountain bear.


    "Just how strong are these?" Liam pondered. Before, he was only forging chickens and rabbits, so he was not able to test.


    But now he had some wolves and bears, it was a good time to test their ability and growth potential.


    "It should take them at least a few more hours to finish the dungeon. I can create some more soul-forged bears and then go for a hunt."


    Liam cracked his neck and grinned as he located the next mountain bear.

 Chapter 348 - The living vs the undead

    <h4>Chapter 348 - The living vs the undead</h4>


    A couple of hourster¡­


    Leaning against a tree, Liam panted as he tiredly gazed at the small group of spectral beasts in front of him.


    In total, there were 10 chickens, 5 rabbits, 5 dire wolves, and 5 spiked mountain bears.


    And every single one of them looked fierce and ready to fight.


    Liam stood up, dusted his back, and walked around the group observing all the beasts from top to bottom.


    Each had an individual level, and he was pretty sure that each of them also had different growth potentials.


    His skill level had steadily increased since he first began forging, so it was only logical that histest creations were more sturdy than his earlier ones.


    Liam took another twops, inspecting all the beasts in silence, and then stopped at the front.


    In hisst life, Kouske had a strong undefeatable army of humanoid undeads, but now he was starting with chickens, rabbits, wolves, and bears.


    Liam chuckled helplessly, shaking his head. "Well, whatever. This is not a bad start."


    Standing next to him, the small white fox was also imitating each and every one of his movements.


    She pointed her nose up and walked back and forth with her small paws, eyeing the small troop of ghosts.


    Kyuuuu! You are not as good as me, but you will do!


    Liam chuckled at her antics and picked up the little thing by her scruff, tossing her on his back. "Let''s go. Time to test some things."


    He dashed through the forest, closely followed by his ghosts, and soon they spotted another mountain bear.


    Luna was immediately about to take off and roast this bear as well, but Liam hurriedly grabbed the little white fur ball by one of her tails.


    "Wait. Not your turn."


    Kyuuuu!


    The little fox immediately sulked.


    Liam ignored her and turned his attention to the three bears. He wanted to see how their strengthpared to a live one.


    However, this wouldn''t be a hundred percent urateparison as the levels of three ghosts bears were 17, 15, and 20, while the live one was a Level 25 beast.


    But still, it was good enough. At least he would get some idea about their fighting capabilities and their potential weaknesses.


    ROAR!


    The big ck spiked mountain bear caught sight of the motley group in its territory and bounded towards the intruders in anger.


    "Go." Liam as well ordered his three undead bears.


    ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!


    Immediately, the three ghost beasts bellowed even louder and pounced on the iing live one.


    ROAR! CRASH! GROWL!


    The four of them rumbled and tumbled, blood and ck fur flying out.


    They punched, swiped each other with their paws, sunk their canines into the other, and raised a huge ruckus.


    After a couple of seconds, even Liam could no longer observe the fight properly as he saw only dust and sand kicking up and flying everywhere.


    But another couple of secondster, a notification promptly chimed in.


    [Ding. You have gained 10 experience points]


    The Level 25 spiked mountain bear was already dead!


    And the three ghost bears looked back at Liam, their jaws dripping with blood.


    Round1: The Living vs The Undead goes to the Undead!


    Liam pulled up and observed each of their statuses and saw that they had lost about three-fourths of their health in the fight.


    So though it looked like they has easily ganged up on the single bear and mauled it, in reality, they had also taken a lot of damage.


    "Ok, let''s keep going," Liam muttered in deep contemtion and began walking forward when he suddenly stopped, noticing something strange.


    The three bears weren''t following him, or rather they seemed to want to linger behind for a couple of seconds.


    They were still sniffing around the corpse.


    "Hmmm?"


    Liam walked back to them to check what was happening when he unexpectedly saw their health bars rise up slowly.


    "Your health recovery is so fast?" He was shocked, but the recovery stopped mid-way before he could finish his words.


    Huh?


    The bears as well then let out a low growl and moved closer to him as if they were now ready to leave.


    Liam knitted his brows together. What was going on?


    He looked at the three undead bears and the one dead bear on the ground that was recently killed.


    What was going on? Why were these guys sniffing that one?


    A thought then suddenly cropped up in his mind. Could it possibly be?


    His lips curled upwards, and he rubbed his hands in excitement. There was only one way to find out!


    He once againmanded his ghost followers to move and then dashed through the forest.


    Not longer, he came across three spiked mountain bears, and this time Liam unsheathed his sword, finishing all three of them in a quick session of sword moves.


    "There you go. Fill up on your health." Liam said and observed the three ghost bears carefully.


    He did not know whether his conjecture was true or not, but if it was¡­


    The next second Liam''s eyes widened as right in front of his eyes, the soul beads from the newly killed mountain bears disintegrated.


    This was not surprising.


    This was the usual but after disintegrating, the small bluish-white spots unexpectedly started moving towards the undead bears.


    And correspondingly¡­ their health bars as well once again rose up!


    Vo!


    Liam instantly knew that he was right!


    The process was not as efficient as he would like it to be, but it was there alright.


    The undead bears were clearly able to absorb the souls from their kills. No, it did not matter who killed the target.


    As long as it was just killed, they were able to tap into the soul of the dead and recuperate their own health and perhaps more?


    So with every kill, they were able to gain experience points and also replenish their health. This was simply unbelievable!


    Due to their undead status, they already had formidable stamina, so whenbined with the new traits, his army definitely had the potential to grow exponentially stronger with each fight!

 Chapter 349 - Breakthrough?

    <h4>Chapter 349 - Breakthrough?</h4>


    Liam clenched his fists in excitement. He knew what he needed to do next. It was time to grind.


    He grinned and leaned forward to grab the little fox who was silently nibbling the fresh bear meat.


    Now that he thought about it, he quickly connected the dots. The little glutton was eating all the time!


    "Didn''t you just eat? How are you hungry already?"


    Hearing his words, the little fox''s face instantly changed.


    It went from a loving, adorable smile to great shock and then realization, followed by a pouting, sulking, pitiful expression.


    Liam was speechless. He only stated the obvious, so why was this girl''s reaction so exaggerated!


    "Sorry. Sorry. I misspoke. I meant¡­ since you haven''t eaten much, you should be hungry now. Aha ha ha."


    Liam smiled and continued coaxing the little fox. "How about you take these guys and do some hunting?"


    "They are very dumb, and they don''t know heads from tails. How about you take them under your wing, protect them, and teach them to kill?"


    "Can you do that?"


    Seeing Liam''s gentle face, warm smile, and soft words, the little fox instantly flipped 180 degrees and nodded her head enthusiastically with a bright, bubbly smile on her face.


    Kyuuuuu!


    She even sent Liam a mental message.


    [Yes, master. Luna will make them strong.]


    "Good girl." Liam chuckled and dropped her down. "Don''t wander off too far, and if there is any danger, immediately talk to me ore back to me."


    The little fox nodded and then swung its body to face the small ghost army.


    Kyuuuuu!


    She growled,manding the spectral beasts to follow her, but the undead only responded to Liam, so he also had to wave at them from the back.


    The group then swiftly left for their hunt.


    Liam watched them go and let out a deep breath. He had a lot to do and a lot to finish before the others returned.


    He turned around, leaving in the opposite direction to find more bears.


    It looked like forging Level 25 beasts was currently his limit as this in itself ced a lot of stress on his mind and body.


    A few secondster, Liam spotted another couple of spiked mountain bears, and just as he was about to lunge toward them, another party beat him to it.


    A couple of fireballsnded on the spiked mountain bears from the other side.


    "Hmmm¡­ who is here?" Liam quickly activated [Stealth] and then cautiously moved forward.


    However, just after a few steps, he halted in ce. The scene in front of him was too surprising.


    Five wandering goblins were fighting with a pair of lesser dryads. From the looks of things, the dryads were on the winning side.


    But that was before they aggroed the two spiked mountain bears. Now both the goblins and the bears were charging at the lesser dryads.


    How could the Level 20 lesser dryads possibly handle this big group of monsters bearing their ws at them?


    But unexpectedly, at this exact moment, another new person entered the fray.


    At once, the goblins, the bears, and the lesser dryads all turned to look at Liam. Whose side was this enemy on?


    Liam grinned in amusement.


    He unsheathed his sword and made a quick work of the goblins and the mountain bears, just leaving the dryads alone unharmed.


    Lucky for the dryads, it looked like their savior arrived.


    The two lesser dryads gawked at the human being in puzzlement. What a lovely person!


    However¡­ the next second, the purple sword once again shed. Liam had not stopped with the goblins and the bears.


    In the end, his main targets were the two lesser dryads!


    SLASH. THUD.


    In a couple of carefully ced moves, the first one was critically injured and copsed on the ground with just a sliver of health left.


    And¡­


    SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.


    The next one was directly killed with no health remaining. It turned out they weren''t lucky after all.


    Liam quickly kept his sword back and then focussed on the soul-bead seeping out of the lesser dryad''s body.


    There it was!


    This was what he wanted all along. This was a beast that could cast magic spells. So would the resulting undead also be able to cast magic spells?


    He wanted to find out!


    He hurriedly stabilized the soul bead by infusing the small thing in dense mana and then started his refined process.


    He did not want to take any chances this time so he started with two huge mana hammers and proceeded from there.


    DANG. DANG. DANG.


    He slowly and patiently hammered the small bead.


    Sure enough, the difficulty in forging this soul bead was much higher than the spiked mountain bear.


    Even though the level of this lesser dryad was lower than the bear, its essence, the soul bead was probably moreplicated.


    Liam felt a crushing weight on his body and mind, as pain rippled all over. It felt as if his hands were holding something colossal.


    No, it felt as if his entire body was lifting something colossal. The pressure was simply unbearable.


    Every single time he tried to manipte the mana, his body twitched in pain.


    When he willed the mana hammers to descend on the soul bead and forge it, it felt as if a pair of giant hammers was beating him down as well.


    But Liam gritted his teeth and bore the pain.


    Even though everything was just one step away from copsing entirely and probably giving him a huge bacsh, he felt as if he was close to something.


    If he let this slip, he had a feeling that he would be missing out on something important.


    After getting a taste of what this power could be, Liam couldn''t bring himself to give up without putting up a fight.


    This dryad could push his undead followers to a new level. He needed the two magic damage dealers in his lineup.


    He needed stronger followers faster!


    His reddened eyes shone with resolution as his greed and pain warred inwardly with each other.


    However, this was not a process that Liam could do blindly. He needed to be very conscious and very aware of what he was doing.


    He did not think it would be this difficult.


    Otherwise, he wouldn''t have attempted it, and now he was far too deep to back out. He had to keep going. That was his only option.


    So he bore the painpletely and continued the forging with all of his mental acuities.


    But unfortunately, that was not enough.


    Liam felt the pain tear through his consciousness. This was his limit. There was simply no stretching it further.


    Just as everything was about to copse and backfire on his face, he remembered something crucial.


    The loot that they had picked up in thest dungeon! There were five fire essence crystals in the haul!


    Liam did not want to expose everything about Luna in front of everyone so he had stored them away forter use.


    And now he couldn''t help but think of those fire essence crystals.


    In the past, he had obtained these crystals from slimes and he had also absorbed them.


    They in fact improved his ability to manipte the fire element and gave him a damage buff.


    So if he absorbed these five crystals now, could that help him get through this?


    Was this forging so tricky because the soul was branded with fire magic or something like that?


    Several theories and conjectures popped up in his mind but Liam knew that he did not have time to think. He had to act NOW!


    He quickly summoned the inventory space and took out the fire essence crystal from within it.


    Another pang of horrendous pain tore through his brain.


    But Liam bore everything and crushed the crystal in his palm. "ABSORB!"


    He shouted out loud. He could no longer think clearly. He was on the verge of copse.


    However, his efforts were not in vain.

 Chapter 350 - Soul forging, easy or hard?

    <h4>Chapter 350 - Soul forging, easy or hard?</h4>


    The fire essence crystal dissolved in Liam''s palm, and a warm feeling started spreading across his body.


    This feeling did notst long. Nevertheless, it considerably lightened the load on his mind.


    It was almost as if he had just added a catalyst to a reaction, suddenly making everything faster and easier.


    He could also tell that his chances of sess now were significantly higher.


    Just using a single essence crystal was so effective, what would happen if he absorbed more? Would all of his forging be simpler?


    With this thought, Liam took another essence crystal in his hand, but the familiar notification popped out before he could do anything.


    [Ding. Soul forging sessful]


    Liam stopped and opened his eyes in surprise. He looked at the small bluish-white soul bead, which now had a tinge of red to it.


    The next second, this soul bead abruptly disappeared from his hand.


    Instead, there was now a short miniature tree ghost swaying on the ground in front of him, a level 10 spectral lesser dryad!


    And unexpectedly, just like the soul bead, the spectral dryad was also a tinge reddish-orange in color.


    Unlike all the other translucent white soul undeads, this one had the imprint of its attribute.


    Liam was thrilled. He was utterly exhausted from top to bottom, but he was ecstatic. He could not wait to see this dryad in action.


    "Well, looks like I can''t get up. So a simple demonstration has to suffice for now. Try tossing a fireball at that rock."


    Liammanded the undead lesser dryad.


    The small tree immediately swayed its branches, two of the short branches forming a hand-like protrusion, and from within that a ball of fire appeared.


    Sizzle Sizzle


    The small ball of fire then readily flew to the rock and hit the surface making a small impact. The spot where the fireballnded was ckened.


    It wasn''t anything all that impressive but so was a fireball attack from a Level 10 mage.


    When the undead further upgrades in its level, itsbat strength should improve ordingly.


    On the whole, Liam was very satisfied with the progress he had made. He grinned, and his gaze fell on the other dryad that was waiting for him.


    He popped a few recovery berries into his mouth and sat cross-legged to adjust his condition and bring his body back to its peak.


    An hour silently passed, and soon Liam was able to breathe freely again, and his mind was also rxed.


    "Alright. I should be able to try the second one now."


    He stretched his hands, cracked his neck, and then used his fist to take away thest sliver of health from the second dryad.


    "After using the essence crystal, everything was easy. So this one should go well too."


    As the lesser dryad dropped dead on the ground, a small bluish-white bead seeped out of its body.


    Liam noticed this and frowned. "Shouldn''t this be reddish-orange in color?"


    But he did not have too much time to think and assumed that the color perhaps changed after the forging.


    He quickly imbibed the small soul bead with mana and then started the familiar process again.


    However, the next second, as soon as he brought down the mana hammers on the bead, his body instantly shivered.


    His mind trembled and he once again felt like he was being crushed by a colossal mountain.


    FUCK!


    Liam shouted out loud in anger. Just what the hell was happening? Shouldn''t everything be easier this time around?


    So why did he still feel like he was once again on the verge of copse? Every single cell in his body was on fire. Pain exploded everywhere.


    He had taken an entire hour''s rest before starting forge again but it looked like that wasn''t enough at all.


    Whenpared to the previous forging session, this one was even more torturous.


    He had borne that pain with everything he had, and now for this second time, even if he tried his best, brought out 500% of his will or fighting spirit, he knew that he wouldn''t be able to withstand it.


    Liam did not care. He knew better than to once again undertake this task. He was ready to give up and let this soul bead go to waste.


    It wasn''t really a big deal. He could always hunt another dozen lesser dryads and create several soul undeads. It did not matter.


    But what bugged him was the fact that he was missing something here. This process should never be this difficult to start with.


    When he absorbed thest fire essence crystal, it had be easier. So shouldn''t it be easy now as well?


    Perhaps he needed to absorb a fire essence crystal every time he forged a lesser dryad?


    Perhaps he needed to absorb the respective essence crystal every time he forged a monster capable of using mana and casting spells?


    Liam''s mind spun and suddenly everything felt clear. Even in the midst of the mind-numbing pain, he got some sort of rity.


    He took the second fire essence crystal that he had already prepared and absorbed it.


    This time he paid more attention to the wisp of energy. He tracked it spreading across his body, simr to what had happenedst time.


    However, surprisingly it did not stop there.


    Liam''s body shuddered as he noticed something crucial. The fire essence from the crystal did not actually stay in his body.


    It entered his body, circted inside, and then along with his mana, the essence also exited his body to reach the soul bead.


    So all along it was the soul bead that had absorbed the fire essence from the essence crystal. It had never been him.


    And now that it did, just like before, suddenly everything became more manageable. He was able to swing the mana hammers easily.


    He pounded the soul bead smoothly into submission and within a few minutes, the notification also popped out.


    [Ding. Soul forging sessful]


    Liam could not believe his eyes.


    After adding the fire essence crystal into the mixture forging this guy was somehow even faster than forging a spiked mountain bear!


    How is this possible?


    He gazed at the two short swaying tree ghosts with only a few awkward spectral branches at the top.


    One was Level 10 and the other was Level 15.


    This showed that the second one was even a better forged product whenpared to the first one.


    What the hell was going on?


    Liam copsed on the rough forest ground and stared at the vast blue sky that sprawled above him in contemtion.


    This time he was not as tired after the forging, but his mind was restless.


    Although something was apparent to him, thest details were hazy and ambiguous. He wanted to know what it was.


    Liam continued staring at the sky, and soon he lost track of time. He only snapped out of it when a bubbly chirpy girl''s voice sounded.


    "Brother, why are you sleeping here in the middle of nowhere?"

 Chapter 351 - Time to open guild recruitment

    <h4>Chapter 351 - Time to open guild recruitment</h4>


    "Huh?" Liam blinked his eyes, waking up to the sound of his sister. "You all are back already?" A big yawn escaped his mouth.


    "Back already? Brother!" Mei Mei huffed, putting both her hands on her hips.


    "We struggled for like 10 hours to get this achievement! And you are asking back already? What are you talking about?"


    "10 hours huh¡­" Liam cleared his throat awkwardly as he saw the group of people crowded around him.


    He looked well-rested with a prominent grass head. Anyone who saw him needed only one nce to guess what he had been up to.


    While the rest of the group had been tirelessly working hard, fighting with their lives on the line, staring point-nk at death numerous times, and eventually ughtering their way through the dungeon to obtain the glorious first achievement, this guy was sleeping.


    Anyone else might have been conscious of this fact, but Liam only shamelessly grinned. "Not bad. You guys actually did it so soon? I expected you all to take at least a day."


    Liam wasughing, but everyone knew that he was not joking. The difficulty of ''Rock Temple'' dungeon was simply ridiculous.


    It had strong earth attribute mobs, solid elites, andstly, an insane boss that loved throwing tantrums, rock grabber Grull.


    He was the biggest headache in the dungeon. He had a signature attack called Rock Fall that rained big dense boulders from the sky.


    This attack required the yers to observe the shadows on the ground and move ordingly.


    In theory, it might sound simple but when actually doing it, the attack was hellish and unforgiving.


    Nevertheless, there wasn''t a single person regretting running this dungeon at the moment.


    This was because the dungeon was as equally rewarding as it was difficult.


    Though the dungeon mechanics tended to test the yers'' limits, most of the drops were precious raw materials, skill books, and recipe books.


    Particrly, an abundant amount of herbs and ores could be obtained from this dungeon.


    Below Level 50, this was the single most valuable treasure trove for raw materials.


    In hisst theory, there was a theory that if one ran this dungeon enough number of times, it was possible for them to obtain every single ore and herb in the game.


    Hence, this was the first dungeon Liam thought of as soon as he decided to create a guild.


    Soon it was inevitable that certain infamous guilds would try to upy dungeon territories and monopolize grinding areas.


    Other individual yers and smaller guilds would struggle a lot because of this, finding it difficult to improve themselves.


    Everyone would curse these guilds and call them greedy scoundrels, and heartless scumbags. However, Liam had nothing against these guilds.


    In fact, he was nning to use the same strategy as them, but the difference was¡­ he knew what he was doing.


    And this particr dungeon, Liam was not going to let any other yer ever enter.


    Their guild would be the only guild to monopolize it and reap the rewards from the beginning until the very bitter end!


    However, all that had to wait for another few hours.


    Liam grinned. He looked at the bursting faces in front of him and again asked. "So? How did it go? How was the haul?"


    EEEEEEE! Mei Mei was the first person to respond and she did it by shrieking, closing her eyes, and clenching her fists.


    "Brother, I got two amazing skill books in the dungeon! I learned both of them! One is a group buff and another is a group debuff!"


    Since Liam asked, she did not hold back and started chattering excitedly like a little monkey.


    "Brother, too bad you did not see! It was amazing! I was amazing! You can ask sis Yue!"


    "My buff increased everyone''s speed and debuff decreased the speed of those rock reptiles."


    "Imagine. Add 5% and then subtract 5%. In total, I alone gave 10% buff to everyone, brother!"


    She even turned to look at Shen Yue for corroborating her story, and poor Shen Yue could only helplessly smile.


    She was far too embarrassed to be associated with this kid in front of everyone, but she also understood her plight.


    Everyone around the poor girl was more talented and had morebat power. She must feel excited to finally do something significant.


    So even though she was embarrassed, she still nodded her head encouragingly and said a few kind words.


    "Mei Mei was amazing. We only finished the dungeon thanks to her."


    What? Shen Yue''s words made half the group smile bitterly.


    If this little girl was amazing, then how were Mia and Derek who basically carried everyone?


    However, no one had the guts to say this out loud.


    The thief Kim Hyun tip-toed closer to Kang Minah, "See, that''s how you should shamelessly flirt. Otherwise, you will not have a chance in this group of beauties."


    The healer immediately blushed and became flustered at this remark.


    "Shut the hell up! What if someone hears you! Do you want me to let your ass die in the next run?"


    Though she chided the idiot, she knew that he was stating the obvious. To get closer to the big boss, this brat was probably the only option.


    And clearly, Shen Yue''s words had a big effect.


    Hearing her, Mei Mei looked even happier. She brimmed with joy and looked at Liam who chuckled silently and patted her head.


    "Is that so? You did a good job then."


    Liam then looked at Derek, "Let me take a look at the raw materials."


    "Yes, Sir." Derek nodded and then emptied his inventory space to form a huge pile of raw materials.


    At this stage of the game, no one had probably seen these many ores and herbs dropping from a single dungeon run.


    Even they themselves had not realized it as they were fully focussed on other important things while running the dungeon.


    And now that they had a chance to see everything together, the glorious loot in its full entirety, they gaped in shock and awe.


    Liam was also grinning. "Just as I expected", he muttered under his breath.


    Of course, this time the drop was staggeringly exaggerated probably because it was the first run and first achievement.


    It was impossible for them to obtain such a huge haul every time they ran the dungeon, but it would still be significant enough to make a difference.


    "Sir, there are also these equipment drops and skill books."


    Liam shook his head. He was not interested in those and he also did not want to monopolize all the drops.


    "Feel free to distribute the equipment and skill books. You guys can roll for it."


    Derek nodded and started working on that.


    Alex, who was standing next to him, could not remain silent any longer. She looked at Liam and asked him the obvious question, albeit very hesitantly.


    "Ummm¡­ is this a special dungeon for raw materials?"


    She tried her best to be polite and careful with her words and it showed.


    Liam was amused. "What do you think?" He added with a wink that made the redhead quickly look away.


    "Alright. Let''s not waste any more time. We now got three top-tier achievements back to the back."


    "This is the perfect time to open guild recruitment."


    "Mia, you can proceed with the announcement."


    CLAP! CLAP! CHEER! CHEER!


    Immediately, there was a big round of apuse.


    This was big news. Everyone excitedly congratted themselves. They had worked hard to get these results. Very hard.


    Now it was going to be entertaining to watch the other yers scramble to join them and be a part of their group.


    They were now only one step away from bing a famous guild! They might even be a second-tier guild or a first-tier guild directly.


    At that time, their guild would be even more famous.


    While everyone was boisterously chatting with anticipation and excitement, Mia alone looked hesitant.


    "Liam, are we talking about the same settings? Are you sure?"


    She approached him and asked nervously because she knew something that the others did not know yet.

 Chapter 352 - A guild with a rule

    <h4>Chapter 352 - A guild with a rule</h4>


    Guild creation. One of the yet to be uncovered truths in ''Evolution Online'' was the fluidity and flexibility when it came to creating a guild.


    In fact, only after Liam mentioned, Mia came to know that they couldy down the foundation of their guild in a variety of different ways.


    And this basically answered the several questions she had.


    All of them very valid and reasonable, the most important one being¡­ how could someone who had trust issues bear to actually form and function in a guild?


    That too they were not forming a small elite guild of few trusted yers. Rather they were creating a big ass guild, weing anyone who came their way.


    Luckily for Mia, she did not have to think about this for too long. The next second, Liam answered her doubt.


    They were indeed going to form a huge guild weing every Tom, Dick, and Harry, but there was going to be just one condition.


    There was going to be one main distinction between guild members.


    And since Liam was a Duke, and already had settlement privileges, they were able to establish this sort of guild, a guild where one was able topletely set their own rules and regtion, no matter how crazy they were, an S-Rank guild.


    And their only rule was that¡­ every member who was pledging for the guild needed to pledge loyalty with their souls on the line!


    This did not mean that they couldn''t leave the guild.


    They could leave whenever they want, but even if they left, they would never be able to betray the guild. They always had to be loyal.


    Others might not know the significance of this rule, but Mia, unfortunately, understood it too well.


    When she had asked Liam about it if doing this was really okay, he had simply shrugged and replied.


    "I am not forcing anyone. They can join if they want to join."


    Those who agreed to this rule would be inner members of the guild while those who do not agree to this rule but still want to join the guild would be the outer members, in Liam''s words ''the cannon fodders''.


    It was just a discussion at that time, but now, they were really going to establish this guild and recruit members based on this rule!


    The usually calm andposed ice-cold priestess couldn''t help but sweat at this thought.


    Liam watched her expression and gave another nod. "Just do it." He said.


    Mia looked at the guy who was casually resting on the ground in a rxed manner and then took a deep breath before tapping on the system interface.


    This was it. This was thest step and their guild was now fully established and functioning.


    Almost a notification popped up on everyone''s face.


    [DING. World Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first S-ranked guild]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first S-ranked guild]


    They got a notification about their guild? Everyone hurriedly opened the guild details and checked it out. It was really their guild!


    Crimson Abyss


    Guild Rank: S


    Guild Leader: Mia Hofstadter


    Guild Vice-Leader: Derek Thompson


    The guild rank shone brilliantly and proudly, just like the names of the two top leaders.


    Until now even the top 10 popr guilds throughout the entire world were only A rank, but now they had established an S rank guild?


    This was simply unbelievable.


    As members of the guild even they did not know the criteria for this and how this happened.


    But just as they wondered about this, everyone suddenly received another shock. Another notification popped up.


    Since the guild was re-established in a more formal manner, everyone again had to sign up as a member and promptly received the ''new'' guild contract.


    Well everyone except a few selected individuals.


    Liam had already instructed Mia to include another minor rule in the guild formation that excluded him, his sister, Derek, and Shen Yue to sign any contract.


    And surprisingly as an afterthought, he also added Mia''s and Alex''s names to this list.


    However, there were no more exceptions to this list. Everyone else had to sign the contract or else be an outer member.


    Liam calmly gazed at each and every person currently standing around them to see if anyone had any issues.


    He might know some things about the future, but human reactions were a mystery to him as well. So he was curious how these people would react.


    Logically or ¡­


    The next second Liam''s lips curled upwards in a pleasant surprise.


    Without any exception, every single person currently in their group readily joined the guild and also signed the contract.


    Not one single person hesitated. Even though there was no annual sry, fixed remuneration, or anything of that sort mentioned, no one hesitated.


    "Good," Liam mumbled in satisfaction. He dusted his back, standing up. "Now that we got this out of our way, shall we start doing some real work?"


    Everyone excitedly nodded, feeling their pulse rising in anticipation.


    Partly because they now felt as if they were a part of something huge and partly because they already knew the next stop on their express train.


    They were going to raid a spatial rift!


    Unlike a dungeon, this was an entirely different challenge.


    Even though conquering a dungeon for the first time was a great achievement, this was a special event that everyone was experiencing for the first time.


    Currently, all the limelight was on this event and the general consensus was that the rewards would be unimaginable.


    So an achievement in a special event like this was far superior to an achievement in a typical dungeon run.


    They might even be able to upgrade their strengths several times and gain some unique treasures or items.


    More importantly, no one has yet conquered one of these spatial rifts, so the reward for the first victor was also probably waiting.


    Everyone couldn''t wait to step into a mysterious treasure-filled ce like this.

 Chapter 353 - Split and Run!

    <h4>Chapter 353 - Split and Run!</h4>


    An hourter, after the loot distribution from the dungeon waspleted and everyone finished taking a break, Liam gathered the group, preparing to enter the spatial rift.


    Luna had also returned, but before she arrived near the group, Liam quickly dismissed the soul undeads so that no one could see them.


    Not that he was nning to keep them a secret forever and hide them from his own guild members.


    These undeads were anyways too weak to participate in the current spatial rift battle. Also, he had a huge n for them after the spatial rift quest waspleted.


    So he decided to do the big unveiling, and show off his armyter when he was done with specific preliminary preparations.


    And with this everything was in order and everyone was ready, so Liam took out the small spatial rift crystal from his inventory space.


    It was a small translucent crystal that did not look different from any other random marble stone. However, that was only appearance.


    Rift crystals are extremely powerful stones. They are stones that constitute the very fabric of the universe and the millions of realms present in the universe.


    Liam also did not know too much about it. He only knew that rift crystals appear in a realm when its boundaries are being tested.


    For the full force of the demon army to step on Xion, the barrier preventing portal magic of such huge proportions need to be destroyed first.


    This, in turn, gave birth to these rift crystals that were themselves portals to spatial rifts.


    If these spatial rifts were not destroyed in time, then the barrier would be destroyed, and the demon army would be able to teleport in and out of Xion freely.


    So while one faction, theher realm demons, attempted to tear open these rifts, the other faction, Xion''s goal was to destroy and close them.


    And they were on the side that wanted them closed.


    Liam contemted exining this to the group but that would raise some unnecessary questions. So he simply stuck to the very basic instruction.


    "Once we enter, we first need to clear the demons. Kill as many demons as possible. Don''t touch anything else."


    "Yes, Sir!" Everyone answered in chorus, nodding their heads. Though they couldn''t help but be curious about what ''anything else'' could mean.


    What else other than demons could be present in these spatial rifts?


    The next second, Liam crushed the rift crystal, and immediately the space around him started cracking. Not the ground, not the trees but the dimensions themselves.


    Everyone''s vision darkened and when things cleared up, they were no longer standing in Xion. They were standing on something that looked violet in color.


    In fact, the entire world around them was a shade of light violet.


    They seemed to be standing in some type of a desert. There was ground, there was a sky and there were rocks around, but everything looked violet.


    It was a lot of information to process and understand and everyone gazed at the world around them in awe.


    Liam smiled and helped them out a little. "Look up." After all, this was not the first time he was stepping inside thisnd so he knew a thing or two.


    Immediately everyone looked up following Liam''s words and saw a strange moon hanging in the sky. It was a dark violet in color.


    Just looking at it made everyone feel weird. A mysterious sense of danger arouse in their hearts that sent chills down their spines.


    They instinctively did not want to stare at it for too long. They also did not have the time to do so.


    As soon as the group arrived, a few demons patrolling ahead of them in the desert caught sight of the intruders.


    And this quickly escted. They did not hesitate and immediately blew their horns rying the information to all the other demons.


    This was it. The fight was about to start. Everyone clenched their weapons tightly anticipating the demons to arrive when unexpectedly, Liam shouted.


    "We are not going to face them together. Everyone quick, use your stealth potions, and disperse. Scatter in groups of two."


    What? What was Liam talking about? The whole group heard his words and became utterly confused.


    Even though no one had yet sessfully closed a spatial rift, there were already many topics about it avable online.


    Many guilds discussed their experiences, and there were also strategies avable.


    When Liam mentioned that they were also going to attempt a spatial rift, everyone even Mei Mei had done a little bit of research on the topic.


    They were all different strategies, mainly battle formations or tips.


    Each of them had its advantages and disadvantages, and all of them were unique in their way. But the thing was¡­ not a single strategy talked about splitting apart?


    Was splitting apart really the strategy to use against a thundering horde of strong and bloodthirsty demons?


    What would happen if someone by mistake got caught? Sure shot death!


    Every death would make the team weaker and weaker until eventually, the whole team copsed. Splitting apart was undoubtedly a very bad idea!


    Everyone looked reluctant and their doubts were written on their faces, so Liam quickly exined it to them.


    "The number of demons is simply too many. Sure, together we are stronger but they are even stronger."


    "Our best chance is to split apart and hunt them down here and there as quickly as possible. Do you understand?"


    "In this fight, we all need to act as assassins. This is why we prepared all the stealth potions in advance. Don''t hesitate to use it."


    "And also, don''t forget to notify in the group chat when you kill a demon. This way we can keep track of the counts."


    "When the number is high enough, we can once again assemble together and fight as a team. This second part is also important."


    "We need to scatter and we need to regroup fast. SPEED is the key here. Remember that and do your best. Let''s go."


    "And don''t forget. Only engage the demons. Nothing else."


    Nothing else? Split apart and takedown demons as fast as you can?


    Liam''s cryptic words were not clear to everyone but it was clear enough for them to understand what needed to be done.


    Those with the [Stealth] skill activated it, and everyone else used the potion to scatter and disperse at lightning speed.


    They also used a buddy system no one was alone.


    The whole group ran away from the spot where they were standing as fast as possible and as far away as possible, running in different directions in the endless desert.


    They only managed to erase their presence just in time.


    Almost immediately, the dull roars in the distance started bing louder and the demon army galloped towards the spot where everyone had previously been.

 Chapter 354 - Derek was losing?

    <h4>Chapter 354 - Derek was losing?</h4>


    GRRRRAAAAA!


    Liam watched the motley group of demons rage towards the area where their group had been previously standing.


    "Just like I thought¡­ this is a ridiculous number." He grinned, observing the huge herd of demons pouring out like ants.


    They dumbly looked around, wondering where their prey went.


    With these many demons, a guild''s entire force was required to face their strength.


    Moreover, they did not have just numbers on their side.


    Most of the demon soldiers were very experienced fighters, high leveled, and they had an extreme penchant for murdering and ughtering.


    This gave them a berserk power.


    Liam was well aware of this both from his previous life and from this life, from fighting side by side with this same faction.


    This was why it was better to divide and conquer, at least for now, when their guild strength was not enough.


    This difference in numbers was not something that could be easily ovee.


    If someone underestimated their strength in numbers, they would only be making a grave mistake.


    This was what other guilds were doing, and Liam was not nning to make the same error.


    He cautiously moved away from the horde, ensuring that his [Stealth] was still active.


    A couple of secondster, the horde of demons as well dispersed and scattered, now only one bigger chunk hanging around the demon who looked like he was the leader.


    "This is my cue." Liam hurriedly started moving around the desert.


    Luckily, thendscape was not t, and apart from the huge rocks in between, there was also a thick hazy purple fog in some parts.


    Liam used this chance to spot the first group of stragglers.


    There were four demons patrolling the area. All of them were around Level 25, and about a mile or so away, there was another group patrolling.


    He observed the surroundings and silently unsheathed his purple sword. This was not a job for mana. This was a job for his sword.


    He needed to finish the first group without alerting the second group and then finish the second group as well.


    SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH


    Before the demons could wise up to his presence, he dashed forward and swung his sword.


    Every single one of his moves was aimed at the enemy''s vital points, and before anyone could even let out a cry of pain, the fight was already over.


    Crimson blood dyed the desert''s purple sands, and the lifeless bodies of the four demons dropped down.


    "4 down. Hundred to go?"


    Liam was calm and steady as he did not stop and rushed toward the next group.


    This time there was one demon who was Level 35 and he knew that he wouldn''t be able to finish this as quietly as before.


    "Luna, you are up." He let the little fox out, who sprang forward with glee.


    Kyuuuu!


    The three demons turned to look at the little fox who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    Where did this strange creaturee from? Was it a friend or a foe?


    While they were trying to figure this out, Liam used the element of surprise. He started bombarding the demons, particrly the Level 35 demon at the center, with a variety of attacks.


    Luna as well opened her mouth wide and sent out a huge fire burst at the same demon.


    While Liam''s attacks contained precision, control, and strategy, her attacks only contained pure unadulterated power.


    Liam was envious of the little thing, but unlike her, he did not eat any me fragments, so he used the other resources he had at hand.


    Without caring about his mana, he used three-fourths of it pretty quickly sending out shy attacks and then he bolted forward with his sword in hand.


    The three-horned demon grunted in pain and bashed Liam with the ax in his hand.


    However, when the attacknded, Liam had already evaded in and shed the big boy with his sword.


    Thisbined with Luna''s second fire st swiftly took care of the second demon group, and everyone''s health bottomed out.


    "That was fast." Liam activated [Stealth] once again and fed some Stealth potion to Luna.


    The duo then once again moved. There were still a huge number of demons that needed to be taken care of.


    Meanwhile, the other members of the group were equally busy.


    After the first few minutes of nervousness dissipated, everyone began to treat this trip like apetition and started hunting for demons very energetically.


    At the top, the team with the highest kill count was unexpectedly Shen Yue and Mei Mei.


    Shen Yue had easily charmed a demon and used him as her ve to locate the other demon patrols. So their efficiency skyrocketed.


    Standing next to her, Mei Mei also pulled her weight by doing decent damage.


    Next to them, in second ce was Mia.


    Mia had unexpectedly paired up with the Korean mage, Chung Hee, who frantically pulled all sorts of things out of his ass to impress the ice goddess.


    Just like her, Alex also teamed up with someone weak, the healer Kang Minah, who did not have much to do as the red-haired beauty took care of everything.


    She single-handedly bashed all the demons who came her way and upped their team kill count. They were currently in third ce.


    The other parties were also not that far away.


    As everyone killed more and more demons, they began to realize the awesomeness of this n.


    It was a unique method that was simple and elegant but also brilliant at the same time.


    With all the demons spread apart, they were extremely easy to pick on. They were not intimidating at all. Their numbers also did note into the picture.


    Also, these demons gave a lot of experience points.


    So the initially tense battle was now nothing more than a sweet grinding spot for fast leveling.


    Everything was proceeding very smoothly.


    At this rate, without a doubt, their guild was going to be the first one to conquer a rift crystal.


    Everyone couldn''t be more excited. The vigor and the energy with which they hunted for the demons clearly showed this.


    However, standing on one side of the desert, Liam alone had a grave expression on his face.


    His gaze flickered coldly as he watched Derek''s health starting to rise and plummet. He also had not typed in the group chat for a while.


    Clearly, something was wrong because not only was Derek talented but he was also a tank.


    So what could possibly make his health go up and down this casually?


    Others might not know this but Liam was already aware of what this might be.


    He calmly gazed, his figure already rushing in the direction where Derek was present.


    "And now it starts."

 Chapter 355 - lnvisible enemy

    <h4>Chapter 355 - lnvisible enemy</h4>


    Just like Liam had noticed this anomaly, others also saw how Derek was struggling and were shocked.


    His performance should have been right up there along with Mia and Alex, or even better than them both, so how was his health dropping?


    Maybe he came across stronger elite demons? Perhaps he got caught amidst a huge group of demons?


    Or maybe he even encountered the boss of this whole thing?!


    This odd urrence immediately gave rise to several questions and concerns, but before anyone could react, Liam quickly settled it.


    "Everyone, carry on with what you are doing. Stick to your task. I am heading over to Derek to take care of this."


    He sent the message to the group and then bolted to the part of the desert where Derek was currently fighting.


    In between, a couple of demons crossed his path, but surprisingly Liam did not stop to tango with them.


    Though it was a low-hanging fruit, he did not hesitate and side-stepped, continuing to dash towards Derek.


    This was because he knew the gravity of the situation. They needed to act fast.


    Otherwise, just like every other guild that was wiped out, they would also suffer the same fate.


    Liam used mana to enhance his speed and rush forward without holding back.


    When he arrived there, Derek was standing in an awkward form. There were a few demon corpses scattered around him.


    But there was nothing else. There was no one else present near him. However, he was still taking damage.


    There was only Derek, and yet he was struggling as if he was fighting against something invisible.


    More specifically, he looked as if he was being electrocuted, and he was receiving quite a lot of damage.


    "This is bad, but luckily I am not toote." Liam let out a small sigh and directly jumped intobat.


    As soon as he reached Derek''s vicinity, one of the attacks by chancended on him and broke his stealth.


    But Liam was not too concerned about this because no one else was there. Or rather, there were no demons around them.


    Derek watched Liam suddenly appear next to him, and he immediately tried to warn him. "Sir! It is too dangerous here. Something is here."


    "Yes, I know." Liam frowned.


    The crackling, sizzling electricity in the air now assaulted him as well, quickly chipping away his health.


    This was exactly what Derek was concerned about. Now not only was he affected by this strange phenomenon but Liam was trapped as well.


    "Did you try running away?" Liam asked.


    "Yes, but if I move my health is dropping faster. I don''t understand their attacks."


    Derek tried to use his shield and block something, but it was useless. He had tried everything by now, and there seemed to be no solution.


    "Sir, what should we do now?" Derek asked with a steady tone.


    Liam was amused. He was clearly struggling but there was still a stability and calmness in the man''s demeanor.


    Liam himself was also quite calm. "Mmm¡­ we need to find a way to defeat these guys." He replied as if he was talking to himself.


    "So there is something that is attacking us?"


    "Yes, and these some things are called voidlings. They are beings that appear in ces associated with void like these spatial rifts."


    Liam''s gaze carefully observed his surrounding while the purple sword in his hand tried to parry the crackling bolts of lightning.


    But how could a sword match the speed of such an attack? Or rather neither Liam''s nor Derek''s abilities were that advanced.


    Liam''s mind spun as he quickly tried to think of something. He was also almost in the same boat as Derek.


    Of course, he knew about voidlings, but that was where his knowledge stopped.


    There were a million different types of voidlings with million different attack patterns.


    They were truly strange, bizarre creatures with an unknown background.


    They did not bleed. They did not leave behind a corpse. They also did not give out any experience points.


    Due to this, some people even debated whether or not they were living beings.


    This was also why Liam did not bother warning the group beforehand. He did not know what type of voidling they might be encountering.


    It was impossible for anyone to know something like that, not just him.


    So much so that there was a theory that the voidlings were born instantly in spatial rifts. It was impossible to be prepared for them in advance.


    And it looked like, the ones they were facing were these invisible energy-type voidlings.


    BZZZT ZAP!<i>  [ f r e e w e b n o v e l. c o m ]</i>


    Even as Liam was trying to find a way out of this mess, the voidlings did not give him a break and kept zapping both him and Derek.


    "Damn it. What are these things?"


    No matter how much he tried, he could not think of anything to counter these things and fight them.


    "Well, since there is no other choice, I should just try attacking the air with everything I have?"


    Liam gritted his teeth and circted the mana in his body. He then started with fireballs, sending out six balls of fire in six different directions.


    Coincidentally one of them hit a node that was sizzling with energy. However, the result was nothing good.


    For some reason, the sparks produced by that node looked even more powerful.


    "Derek! Watch out!" Liam shouted.


    Thankfully, his warning was just in time.


    Derek swiftly blocked the huge blob of crackling lightning with his shield, very narrowly preventing the rest of his health from plummeting.


    However, Liam did not look relieved after seeing this. He still had a grave expression on his face.


    They might have avoided this disaster, but they were still sitting ducks. This time, the hurdle in front of them was truly big.


    Clearly, they had drawn the short end of the straw, having to face this kind of aplicated voidling.


    But Liam was not ready to give up just yet. Not even close. They were no longer in the beginning stages of the game.


    As their levels increased and they began to explore more and more of this world, leaving theforts of the cities and towns in their Kingdom, this type of unknown opponent was something that had to be expected.


    Even for someone like him, with adequate knowledge about the future, these kinds of situations were unavoidable.


    "So fire type is out, then lightning magic is also out. I cannot use my sword. This only leaves out¡­"


    Liam gazed at the empty purple desert around them that mysteriously crackled with energy, and suddenly an idea struck him.


    "Luna,e out. st this areapletely."

 Chapter 356 - lt’s lit!

    <h4>Chapter 356 - lt''s lit!</h4>


    Zing! Derek used his shield to block another attack and almost dropped it when he heard Liam''s words.


    However, he had absolute trust and faith in Liam, so he did not question him. Instead, he tried to see what he was missing.


    Earlier, when Liam used the same attack, the consequence was terrible. Now, they were nning to use a bigger version of the attack.


    How could this be good?


    But when Derek nced at Liam''s face, he seemed highly confident. There was no doubt or hesitation.


    Meanwhile, Luna revealed herself. Liam had dropped her off at a distance for emergencies, and now after hearing hismand, she dashed towards him.


    [Yes, master]


    Luna blinked and opened her tiny mouth.


    A big jet of fire appeared from that tiny mouth the next instant,pletely dousing the area in front of Liam and Derek in mes.


    ZING! ZING! ZING! ZING!


    Immediately, a dozen energy nodes lit up in the area, and all of them sparkled brilliantly. The very sight was breathtaking.


    However, each and every single one of them was deadly. They were ticking time bombs. They were fat and pregnant, ready to burst and zap the two of them alive!


    They were filled to the brim with energy.


    They vibrated, jumping up and down, floating in the middle of the air and asionally sending out bolts of lightning to do their damage.


    Judging from their tiny size, it was hard to believe that these were capable of so much damage, but when Liam looked closer, he saw a silver-like, thin, almost invisible structure connecting all of them.


    So these small nodes were part of a big formation, and the two of them were currently standing in the middle of that formation.


    Liam now understood why they began to lose health drastically when they tried moving.


    This was a very tricky voidling.


    From the looks of it, when the voidlings grouped together their power exponentially increased, thereby making sure that the target was helpless like a fly caught in a spider''s web.


    But Liam was not done yet.


    As soon as Luna opened her mouth, he was already ready with the next n of action.


    He took a quick look at the bulging nodes, and he closed his eyes tightly shut. He immediately churned every ounce of mana in his body.


    "This better work." Liam gritted his teeth and released all the energy at the same time.


    SWOSH!


    A cold chilly, icy aura spread from his body as the next second several icicles shot out from the man.


    And each and every single one of them hit their target perfectly. The icicles shed with the bulbous bodes, piercing them as if they were merely balloons.


    But instead of releasing all the pent-up energy from within, the entirety froze and started dropping one after another to the ground.


    They were now just oddly shaped frozen balls, cold and lifeless.


    "Phew." Liam let out a small breath, thankful that his gamble had paid off, and bent down to take a look at one. "So this is a voidling?"


    The entire thing was still frozen, and he could not observe anything. He also knew that this was not the time to think about this.


    The more time they spend inside this spatial crack, the more voidlings they would have to face. Each one would be stronger than the previous one.


    And if the first voidling is this strong¡­


    Liam quickly dropped the ice sphere to the ground. It was time to get moving.


    However, before he left, he quickly collected all the frozen droppings and tossed them into his inventory space as an afterthought.


    "Let''s go. We need to clear more demons."


    Derek nodded, and then the two of them began to search for more wandering demons once again.


    While they were searching, Liam also made sure to ry the information he had gathered so far in the group chat.


    He was now getting more and more used to working with this group of people so their coordination was bing better.


    Everyone worked tirelessly without cking and pulled their weight in the team. The number of demons in the rift was also steadily decreasing.


    More importantly, the demons themselves had not realized that several of theirrades had already been taken care of.


    They were only used to fighting together as a group, so this caught them off guard.


    Liam knew that they probably could not use this strategy for too long because it was inevitable that the demons wised up to what was happening.


    But he had given them far too much credit.


    After encountering the first cluster of voidlings, they did not have to face them again, and the demons only realized what was going on after about three-fourths of their force was ughtered.


    Once they realized this, the remaining demons became enraged and loud horns resounded throughout the desert.


    "Ok. Time to get back together." Liam as well gave the orders. This was the final push they had to fight for, and there was really no other way around it.


    However, everyone was now more than ready. They were invigorated by the scam they had managed to sessfully pull off


    The sight of the demon army now waspletely different from the fear-inducing huge horde from before with only a couple dozens or so of demons still standing.


    They had lost their numbers and along with it, also their upper hand.


    Whenpared to the bloody battle that they had recently fought with the dark elves, this was absolutely nothing inparison.


    The group organized themselves quickly, taking the most straightforward formation.


    Derek, Shin Soo, and Alex stood at the front. Liam stood back along with the healers and the long-range dps.


    Attacks flew left and right, and since the number of magic spell casters on the side of the demons were far and few between, there were no other surprises.


    The battle was over even before it began.


    Unable to withstand the assault of Liam''s giant fireballs, and Luna''s fire sts, a part of the army burnt in agony.


    Derek tackled the main leader of the demons who was a strong-armed barbarian. With Alex assisting him, the two of them together finished off the leader quickly.


    Shen Yue and the melee yers targeted the second group that probably functioned to assist the leader. The group kept them busy, led them away from the leader, and also finished them off.


    Mei Mei as well used all of her group buffs and debuffs, significantly increasing the efficiency of the group''s attacks.


    As each demon fell, the attacks snowballed, and soon there were no more demons left standing.

 Chapter 357 - What did she see?

    <h4>Chapter 357 - What did she see?</h4>


    [Ding. Congrattions. Demon Army has been defeated]


    [Ding. Congrattions. Spatial Rift has been cleared]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first to conquer a Spatial Rift. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions. ''Crimson Abyss'' guild has conquered a Spatial Rift.]


    [As the first guild to conquer a spatial rift and defeat the demons, 5000 gold coins have been rewarded, 5000 fame points have been awarded. This grand achievement will be etched in history.]


    [DING. WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: Congrattions. ''Crimson Abyss'' guild has conquered a Spatial Rift.]


    [As the first guild to conquer a spatial rift and defeat the demons, 5000 gold coins have been rewarded, 5000 fame points have been awarded. This grand achievement will be etched in history.]


    Everyone was utterly stupified on seeing the series of notifications ring one after the other.


    The fight with the Demon General was a bit difficult in that it had taken the team longer to bring him down, but that was about it.


    The rest of the fight was just casual, even easier than a dungeon run.


    If not for the notifications resounding loudly, everyone would have had difficulty in believing that the fight was actually over.


    While all the other guilds were struggling with this, their guild cruised through the mess smoothly to get an easy win.


    It was utterly unbelievable.


    Just as everyone was standing around in a daze, staring at the system notifications, a bright ray of light suddenly appeared in front of them.


    This light was dazzling. It shone brightly as if its mere presence even cleansed the violet world they were in.


    "Hmmm?"


    "What is this?"


    Everyone looked at this odd urrence in perplexion. Only Liam took a step back, narrowing his eyes.


    He knew what this was and yet he frowned because of the strange feeling his body was currently exhibiting.


    For some reason, he had an ufortable itching.


    "Is this perhaps because of¡­"


    His doubt was soon answered when the small ray of light became brighter and brighter.


    The single ray became a beam of light that shot from the sky, sending ripples across the violet world.


    And from the midst of this light, suddenly an ethereal figure stepped out, a woman dressed in golden robe.


    Everyone couldn''t help but gasp slightly as they did not expect this. This woman in front of them looked like a goddess descended from the sky.


    However, on closer look, she wasn''t real, she was just an image, a projection maybe.


    Even so, she looked very real. Her skin was pure white in color and her face and body were mesmerizing.


    She held a golden staff in her hand and was decked in mysterious jewels from top to bottom.


    [Divine Temple Priestess ?????]


    "I am priestess Goya. On behalf of the divine temple, I thank you all for your efforts in protecting our world and eradicating the demon army."


    The gaze of the goddess-like womannded on everyone, traveling from one end to the other.


    Everyone shuddered because it felt as if she was seeing right through them, scanning every inch of their being, without leaving any secret.


    The priestess''s gaze momentarily stopped when itnded on Mia, her face revealing a visible shocked expression.


    However, it appeared and disappeared quickly, unnoticed by most people. And surprisingly, that was not the only time.


    When the priestess once again looked at the remaining people in the group, she looked at Alex and revealed a simr shocked expression.


    Liam frowned. He was feeling even more ufortable now. Initially, this interaction shouldst only for a second, why was it dragging on like this?


    Just as he thought about it, the gaze of the priestess flickered once again as she looked at the remaining people, andstly, her gazended on him as well.


    For a second Liam felt as if he received an electric shock and the expression of the priestess changed.


    But unlike before, she did not look pleasantly surprised this time, rather she had a slight look of disdain and disgust.


    Liam''s frown deepened. He already knew the reason for this.


    This priestess was definitely checking everyone''s constitution, which he did not think was on her to do list.


    Perhaps they were getting this special attention because they were the first to clear a rift?


    If he had known this before, he would have never let this happen. What was going to happen? She must have surely seen hisher affinity?


    Did she also find out other things? Was something going to happen?


    However, unexpectedly the priestess looked calm andposed once again as if nothing was out of ce. She simply continued speaking.


    "Brave warriors, heroes, and saviors of the human kingdom, the divine temple acknowledges your contribution and opens its gates for your arrival."


    "After your return to our world, you may now visit the divine temple to pursue eradicating evil."


    "The gates of the temple are always open to you."


    And just as thest of her words echoed, the priestess along with the ray of light disappeared.


    In her ce, a huge portal opened up instead.


    Seeing this, Liam breathed a small sigh of relief.


    This priestess was supposed to show up, say thanks, and open the portal back to their world.


    It was unusual that she lingered around for so long.


    For a second, he felt as if something unexpected was about to happen but in the end, things seemed to have settled smoothly.


    "Liam, does this mean we will get more quests if we visit the divine temple after this?" Mia asked, breaking the silence.


    "Yes. That should be the case." Liam nodded. This was also why the priestess should have hung back and read the extra script.


    Either way, he did not want to mull over this at the moment.


    Unlike what everyone else was assuming at the moment, they were not done yet with this spatial rift.


    So before anyone touched the portal, Liam quickly spoke up. "Wait, don''t go near this portal. We still have work to do here."

 Chapter 358 - The second portal

    <h4>Chapter 358 - The second portal</h4>


    Hearing Liam''s words, everyone was surprised once again. They had already defeated the demons, and the fatdy also sang.


    Actually, in this case, it was a thin goddess. Nevertheless, she had also spoken, creating the portal.


    So what other job did they have here in this strange creepy violet world that seemed to be straight out of a mind-bending sci-fi movie?


    Liam grinned, reading their confused expressions. "What are you all looking at?"


    "We haven''t even touched the real reason we are here and doing this spatial rift event!"


    He couldn''t outright tell them what was what, so he modified his words and continued.


    "Based on the information I have gathered, there should be another set of portals in this ce."


    "We should split up and search for them. Also, be on the lookout for any herbs, ores, or other materials."


    "I heard through the grapevine that some of these spatial rifts are rich in crafting resources."


    "Another set of portals? To where?" Alex asked, unable to rein back her curiosity.


    "I don''t know for sure. But most probably to the ce where the demons came from," Liam smirked, not keeping them in darkpletely and giving them a little titbit.


    What!!! Everyone stared agape. They could actually go to another new territory? Was this like a new expansion pack?


    Now everything made sense!


    Everyone looked at Liam in amazement and marveled at his ability to gather information.


    This was the thing that made their guild stand out even among the first-tier and top-tier guilds.


    It looked like these spatial rifts somehow contained more secrets, and their boss knew about it!


    Everyone looked thrilled and excited, but Liam spoke again, strictly warning. "We don''t have much time to be standing here like this and talking."


    "Let''s split up and search. The person who finds the portal first will get an extra reward!"


    The group nodded and then scattered quickly, all of them trying their best to find the other set of portals.


    More than the extra reward, they simply wanted to find out where everything was leading to and what was the secret behind these spatial rifts.


    The group carefully and methodologicallybed through the vast purple desert that seemed never ending.


    Some people even came across some weird-looking rocks that could be valuable ores and harvested them.


    However, other than that, the search was very disappointing.


    Other than the portal opened by the priestess from the divine temple, there seemed to be nothing else in the desert.


    Even after searching for several minutes, they did not find anything.


    And from the looks of things, they were also roaming around in circles, trying to find out if there was more.


    Liam, meanwhile, did not focus on searching. Instead, he was busy with something else.


    As they started spending more time in the spatial rift, the number of voidlings the guild members encountered also increased.


    Moreover, not everyone had Derek''s ability to hold back an array of voidlings until help arrived.


    So Liam had ordered Derek, Mia, and Alex to keep a lookout and be ready at all times to face these strange creatures. He was also doing the same.


    Now that he had already figured out a method to deal with this type of voidlings, it wasn''t a big issue.


    Only that they needed to hold back until he or another mage arrived to take care of the problem.


    With this taken care of, the search should have proceeded smoothly but that was not the case.


    They still had not found even any clues about this second set of portals. However, everyone continued searching without giving up.


    They knew better than to doubt Liam''s words at this point.


    So the whole guild kept searching and eventually, their efforts paid off.


    Some of the group finally ran into a portal of sorts.


    This one was ck in color as opposed to the previous one which was white in color and it looked very small, like a dot.


    "Hmm?" Liam stood in front of the small dot and stared at it.


    Portals were created using strong and powerful magic. It was impossible for something like that to be this small.


    He asked everyone to wait for him and soon arrived at the portal location as well, everyone gathering in front of it.


    "Is this the one?" Mia asked. "Is this the portal to the demon world?"


    Liam nodded. "Yes. This is the one, but let me check one thing first."


    He gazed at the small dot suspiciously and looked at it up and down. He then added. "Luna, do your thing."


    Kyuuuu. The fox opened her mouth and immediately red hot fire sprayed everywhere,pletely drenching the small dot.


    Huh? Everyone was startled and confused as to why Liam was doing this. But the next second, their doubts were answered.


    Where the small and minute portal dot was previously present, there was now a huge humongouswork of voidlings that extended to several meters.


    The entire ce was rather a high voltage zone.


    If they had gone ahead without thinking, they would have definitely burnt to a crisp. Everyone''s scalp became numb just imagining it.


    This thing was much bigger than the other voidlings that they had faced up until now, and this one was blocking their way to the portal.


    "Everyone back up," Liam shouted, but it was already toote.


    As if the voidlings were now aware of their presence, all the energy nodes started thrumming alive and crackling and sizzling.


    The next second they started shooting out, sending bolts of lightning everywhere.


    Every hit was loaded and removed a big chunk of health when they struck someone.


    Zing. Zing. Zing. Zing.


    Everyone frantically ran, trying their best to evade the voidlingswork.


    Liam tried using icicles this time also to freeze the nodes. However, now it wasn''t that effective.


    When he tried to freeze a voidling, a surge of energy rippled to that node and prevented it from shutting down.


    The others were protecting it. The entire cluster was acting in unison. It looked like they had to take down all of them to take down one.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam then tried freezing three at the same time but once again it was useless.


    "Everyone move back. This is going to take a while."


    The other mages stayed behind to help him, and Mia and Kang Minah also stayed behind to heal the group.


    The group tried various possibilities freezing out a wider array of nodes or different nodes in different parts of thework.


    They tried multiple times to find some sort of weakness. However, nothing seemed to work.


    On the other hand, even with Mia and Kang Minah healing only five of them, they couldn''t keep up at all.


    Time was running out quickly.


    Liam frowned. This was an opportunity that he did not n to let slip by no matter what.


    The chance for their guild to enter theher realm was something they couldn''t afford to lose.


    They could always let this one go and escape back to the Xion realm using the other portal, but then they would have to clear another spatial rift all over again before getting ess to this portal.


    Who knew what difficulty they might face then. It was still better to somehow use this opportunity at hand.


    Liam took a deep breath and quickly made a decision.


    "In a second, I will try to lure this thing away from the portal. Everyone should use this chance to take the portal and enter the demon world."


    As his voice thundered, the group looked at Liam in shock because what he meant was he was going to sacrifice himself for them.


    This time even Mia and Alex were dumbfounded. The Liam they knew was different. Why would he sacrifice himself for others?


    Only Derek, as obedient as always nodded in agreement.


    "Brother!" Mei Mei shouted back unwillingly. "I am not leaving here without you."


    Others as well one by one came to the same conclusion. "Boss, we won''t leave without you."


    "Boss, you can''t die for us."


    One person was even so touched that he began to shed tears.


    Seeing this Liam''s face twitched. These guys!


    Time was of the essence here! If they did not do something quickly another one of these giants might show up.


    "You guys are overthinking things. If I say something, there is a reason for it. JUST DO AS I SAY!"


    He roared again as he sent several sts of ice spheres at the hugework of voidlings.


    Everyone gulped and they did not dare talk back any longer.


    One by one smoothly skipped out of the battle and entered stealth mode either using their skill or the potion.


    It took an entire minute but soon the giant amalgam''s full attention was on Liam and only Liam.


    He used his own attacks and bombs to interchange between hot and cold attacks and slowly lured the thing away.

 Chapter 359 - All fall down

    <h4>Chapter 359 - All fall down</h4>


    While Liam lured the giant voidlingwork away, everyone quietly moved about in their stealth and touched the small percentage of the portal that was revealed.


    They wanted to wait some more so that theplete portal would be revealed, but Liam''s health was rising up and down, and it was unclear how much longer he would be able to hold on.


    And the giant cluster also did not look like it was going to move freely anytime soon.


    The hundreds of nodes might as well be hundreds of eyes, and it gave a feeling that no one would be able to sneak by it.


    So the group decided to take the gamble, and Vincent, one of the hunters, tested the waters first. He was also the emotional one whose eyes were red.


    "Here goes nothing. Boss, I owe everything to you. Without you, I am nothing."


    He bbered something on the group chat and jumped up to touch the portal.


    The next instant his body was sucked into the ck swirling mass of energy. Everyone waited with anticipation and soon another notification arrived.


    "Guys! I reached! This is safe."


    The group collectively heaved a sigh of relief, and one by one started taking the portal, escaping the voidling cluster.


    Liam as well nodded in satisfaction and continued messing with it, now with a little purpose. Something Vincent said had actually given him an idea.


    He said that without Liam they were nothing.


    Hearing this, Liam couldn''t help but wonder if there was a node amidst this cluster of voidlings that was slightly more important than the others.


    Something that may be functioned as the glue holding the group together.


    "Probably worth a shot." Liam grinned and decided to give it a try.


    He was already at his limits, trying to evade the attacks from the dozens of voidlings. At this point, there was simply no more evading.


    He was now just running. Thankfully, the voidlings were not too intelligent.


    Otherwise, they could have simply bombarded the entire ce and burnt him to a crisp.


    Maybe there also had certain energy limitations, so they were specifically targeting Liam wherever he went, and he was also able to outrun their attacks by a hair every single time.


    If he stopped to take just a second break, it would be game over.


    But Liam persevered. He did not n to throw in the towel just yet.


    These voidlings were mysterious creatures. Though no one had managed to gain anything, he did not want to rule out that possibility altogether.


    Considering that he was already knee deep into this shit, he wanted to try and take this giant down, and if not, he could always run away.


    Liam saw thest member of the guild step into the portal and leave the spatial rift, and then he started his counterattack.


    His speed did not reduce, but he took a deep breath and started sending out icicles now, every other second.


    This made sure that he did not run out of mana.


    Taking into ount, his mana usage for enhancing his speed and the mana usage for icicles, this rhythm was bnced.


    However, Liam was not targeting one node or the other. He had to test the theory out by brute force method, throwing an icicle at every single node.


    Someone else would have already given up, but he couldn''t let it go without trying his luck.


    A few seconds passed¡­ a minute passed¡­ soon several minutes passed.


    Liam was nowpletely drenched in sweat from top to bottom, various injuries riddled his body and he was out of breath, wheezing his lungs out.


    However, he still had not progressed much.


    "Huff.. huff¡­ huff¡­ I should have run away a long time back." He smiled bitterly, but his feet were still busily moving, dodging the voidling cluster.


    His stubbornness was the only thing that was keeping him up. He had a feeling that he almost had this, so he refused to give up.


    But how could the rift remain the same?


    He might not have made any progress in identifying the central node but the rift had other changes.


    While Liam was busy evading the attacks, two other clusters of voidlings slowly began to make their way toward him.


    Since they were invisible, Liam did not notice them until they made their way to him.


    A big shock wave rippled all of a sudden and before Liam could understand what was happening, the three big clusters startedbining.


    "FUCK NO!"


    Liam, who was already only holding on by tooth and nail did not dare linger behind any longer.


    He also knew that what he was doing was an unrewarding job but now it just became suicidal. So he did not hesitate and turned around to run.


    He did not even need to fight these guys in the first ce.


    He could easily take the portal to the Xion realm and then use his personal portal to enter theher realm just like he always did.


    Maybe it was curiosity or maybe he wanted to solve the puzzle of how to beat this creature or maybe he was just addicted to training by pushing his abilities to the extreme, Liam had continued struggling with the voidling thus far.


    Now it was time to say goodbye.


    "RUNNNNN!" Liam shouted loudly and started bolting towards the Xion portal.


    Meanwhile, the three huge clusters of voidlings that were in the process ofbining with each other to be a giant voidling noticed this and started chasing him.


    Liam saw this and ran even faster.


    Maybe because the three clusters were not perfectly synchronized, the voidlingsgged behind a little, their speed slightly inferior to Liam.


    So he reached the portal before they could and was just about to escape when suddenly Liam noticed something weird.


    There was a big node at the center of the three clusters that was shining brightly.


    Liam saw this and he had a strong intuition that this was the node that he was looking for all along.


    He withdrew his hand that was about to touch the portal, and with thest second he had, he used every ounce of mana in his body and conjured an icicle.


    Actually, rather than an icicle, it looked more like an ice spear. He pulled his hand back and threw the spear right at the central node that was shining brightly.


    SWING!


    The spear rippled through the air and met its mark.


    As soon as it touched the huge bulging voidling, the dazzling node that was brimming with energy suddenly started quaking.


    Ayer of frost appeared on it and at the point where the spear touched the node, slight cracks began to form.


    "It worked?" Liam stopped running.


    Suddenly there was pin-drop silence, followed by a loud sound.


    THUD!


    He turned around to see the central voidlingpletely frozen, falling to the ground.


    The next second¡­


    THUD. THUD. THUD¡­.


    All the other nodes copsed, all falling onto the purple desert sands one after the other.

 Chapter 360 - Exploring the nether realm

    <h4>Chapter 360 - Exploring theher realm</h4>


    A warm breeze brushed past Liam''s face as he silently watched the calm after the storm.


    He walked over to the spot and gazed at the numerous voidings lying lifelessly on the purple desert sands.


    "Eh? No other drops? So stingy. Tch Tch. Well, whatever. I will just take these."


    Liam quickly gathered all the voidlings that had dropped on the ground. They had a weird metallic texture and were very porous.


    Other than that, he couldn''t figure out any more details. He simply tossed them into his inventory space and ran back to the ck-colored portal.


    This time there was nothing guarding it, revealing the entire portal.


    Liam took one more look at the purple desert and sighed in relief before touching the portal and entering theher world.


    The first part of what he wanted to aplish was now done, and the second part awaited him.


    He couldn''t help but anticipate just how much he would be able to achieve.


    Liam''s figure disappeared into the portal, and when he reappeared, the familiar warm nourishing breath of fresh air filled his lungs.


    Just as Liam opened his eyes and took a deep breath, two figures, a fox and a girlnded on top of him, one after the other.


    Kyuuuu!


    "Brother, what happened? Are you ok? Did you get hurt? Did you die?" Mei Mei panicked as she hurriedly checked the man.


    With a shove, she even pushed the fox aside who was now sulking and growling at her.


    Liam was speechless. "I am fine. No need to check all the ces." He chuckled, and he flicked the little girl''s forehead.


    The little girl immediately became bright red, and she stepped back with a huff. "Stupid brother! That thing should have shocked you some more!"


    "He He. It actually did. Anyways, how is everyone else doing?" Liam smiled and looked at the rest of the group.


    His gazended on Mia, who looked particrly pale and sickly as if she had viral fever.


    Even Alex looked a bit stiff, but the others seemed energetic enough. For instance, Shen Yue and Mei Mei seemed as jolly as ever.


    Shen Yue in fact looked even more charming than usual which forced Liam to quickly look away.


    "Sir, after arriving here, we received some minor debuffs. We came across a group of monsters, and we just managed to clear them." Derek briefly exined.


    Liam nodded. He already expected everyone to receive theher realm debuffs. "Good job." He patted Derek.


    "Brother, what happened to that thing, by the way? Did you kill it, or did you escape?"


    Mei Mei remembered that nightmare lightning shooting machine and asked anxiously.


    "Ya, I took care of that," Liam answered. The bitter taste of not getting any drops still lingered in his mouth.


    He did not want to lose face by revealing this as he knew what the next question was going to be so he quickly changed the subject.


    "Alright, so we are the first guild to step foot in theher realm. You guys should make yourself busy."


    "Explore the ce, get more achievements, the sky is the limit. No one has stepped foot here, so there will probably be a lot of treasures for the taking."


    "Ahem. Ahem. Work hard! Good luck! y as if your life depends on it." Liam awkwardly smiled.


    He knew that he was not good at giving motivational speeches. So he stopped after just these few words.


    However, unexpectedly everyone seemed super hyped even after hearing this nonsense.


    Since it was a new unexplored ce, it was not efficient to travel in a big group, so people split into smaller more convenient groups and started leaving one by one.


    Now that the guild recruitment was open and more people were about to pour in, no one wanted to lose their ce in this inner circle.


    Moreover, after having known Liam for these past several hours, everyone was clear about one thing.


    Unlike other guilds, there wasn''t going to be any partiality or bias here, but that also meant that they had to work that much harder.


    So everyone quickly departed in their own way to try their luck.


    "Remember if you encounter any dangerous situation, always ask for help in the guild chat."


    "Also, watch out for demon settlements. Here, this world is the home of demons and beast hybrids. For them, we are the intruders."


    "So watch out and don''t get caught in the middle of a demon settlement. There will be hundreds of demons there. Then no one can save you."


    Liam said thest few words of warning and then almost everyone left. Only Alex and Mia hung back to talk to him because they had something on their mind.


    "What? Are you feeling extremely ill? Got a huge debuff?" Liam smiled.


    Mia also smiled in response, albeit tiredly. "Yes, it looks like you are already aware of it. I doubt that I would be of much use here with a 90% debuff."


    "Wait. Did you say 90%?" Liam was startled.


    The high he meant was 50%, maybe even thinking that was a stretch, but now Mia mentioned 90%! This was simply unbelievable!


    "What did you get?" Liam then turned to ask Alex.


    "50%" Alex helplessly shrugged.


    "So the divine affinity is this severely punished in theher realm." Liam mused.


    He now had no doubt that he would be in the same situation if the situation was reversed.


    This was good to know before he stepped into a territory like that. At least now he could make some sort of preparations beforehand.


    "Liam, the two of us are nning to return back to the Xion realm. I don''t think we would be of much help here."


    "Also, both of us have quests at the divine temple. What do you think? Shall we leave or do you need us here for something?"


    Liam nodded. He also agreed with this. "I think that is a good decision. Good luck with your quests."


    "Ok. Thanks. I will also keep an eye on the guild activities."


    Mia and Alex bid farewell and then tapped the air in front of them to select the return portal on their interface.


    It was a one-use portal so after they used it they would not be able to return to this world without doing another spatial rift.


    Seeing the two of them disappear, Liam also prepared to leave. "Let''s go, Luna. We have a lot to do."


    The little fox who was sulking on the side quickly perked up after hearing his voice and hopped onto his back readily.


    Kyuuuu¡­


    It nuzzled its head onto Liam''s warm andfortable back.


    "Say, are you not getting debuffs any longer?" Liam picked up the fox by her scruff and dangled her in front of him.


    Luna smiled happily and shook her head. She was no longer being affected because of the presence ofher.


    "It must be because of all those herbs you swallowed!"


    Liam smiled bitterly, but the next instant his expression changed as he remembered something significant that he should have probably thought about sooner.


    "Hey! You also ate something else from that necromancer''s cave! You ate that blue-colored frame fragment!"


    "Luna! Tell me quickly. Can you use that me? What happened to that?"


    ***

 Chapter 361 - Guild popularity shoots up!

    <h4>Chapter 361 - Guild poprity shoots up!</h4>


    Kyuuuu!


    The small fox stared at Liam for a minute as if she was thinking very hard. She then shook her head, making all three of her tails sway.


    [No, Master. Luna is not strong.]


    Her voice sounded sad, but she really did not look like it.


    Liam chuckled at the little fox and then asked her the second question that had been nagging him for a while now, "So is firest the only attack you can use?"


    Kyuuuu


    [Yes, Master.]


    Liam had only asked casually, but it looked like his words had made the little thing very sad. Her face became crumpled and sad, and she looked heart-breaking.


    "This¡­" Her reactions made Liam speechless. "I am sure you can do all those things when you grow bigger. Ahem. Just eat more and grow bigger?"


    He somehow knew exactly what to do to cheer up the little thing and took out some food that he had gotten from Shen Yue.


    And vo¡­


    The sad drooping eyes immediately perked up and twinkled in joy as the white fox greedily gulped down the few meatballs, roasted meat, and boiled meat.


    "I knew it." Liam smiled, shaking his head. This fox was shameless to the core.


    Seeing the hungry vortex im everything, Liam also felt hungry and sat down next to the fox to rx a little and eat some food.


    He opened his map and saw that the two of them were really far from the base. It would waste a lot of time to reach there by walking or even running at the top of his speed.


    "I should have brought Talon along¡­ maybe I will just take the portal out and once again return back using my personal portal."


    "That should get me closer to the Thol city." Liam munched on another piece of meat while thinking out loud, nning his next steps.


    But unexpectedly, the fox next to him once again perked up after hearing his words.


    [Master! Luna can take you!]


    She tossed thest piece of meat into her mouth, swung her body to face him, and the next instant¡­


    POOF!


    The small white fox suddenly became several sizes bigger.


    Bigger than him, bigger than Talon, and definitely big enough for him to ride her!


    Liam was startled by this sudden development but after observing her for a few seconds it didn''t surprise him all that much.


    She was a celestial grade beast after all. So increasing her size or even modifying her size as needed could be one of her skills.


    Liam watched the fox proudly grin and scratch her face with her paw, while her three huge white fluffy tails fluttered in the wind.


    He suddenly had a thought and asked her. "Can you also fly, Luna?"


    Kyuuuuuu!


    [Yes, Master]


    Liam''s eyes grew wide, and he burst intoughter. "Of course, you can. You are a very good girl." He lovingly rubbed the fox''s head with his hand.


    He then stood up, dusted his back, and stretched his hands and legs. "So what else can you do?"


    Kyuuuuu!


    The fox once again nkly stared at him, her face slowly changing. It looked like this was all she could do for now.


    Liam smiled and before she became sad again, he quickly rubbed her head. "Never mind. This is good enough. Good girl. Good girl. Now can you fly us both to Thol city?"


    Kyuuuuuuu!


    Liam smiled and carefully climbed onto the big white fox. He watched her expression to see if this was hurting her, but she looked quitefortable and happy.


    In fact, happy would be an understatement. The white fox grinned wide as she kicked her heels, and her body began to float mid-air the next second.


    She then made a small motion as if she was just running on the ground, and the two of them started flying in the sky.


    "Amazing." Liam patted her glossy white soft fluffy fur.


    Whenpared to riding the metallic feathered wind ripper, riding this little fox was like lying down on a luxurious bed.


    "He He. If Mei Mei sees you now, she is never going to let you go."


    Liam was also very tired after struggling with the massive voidling, so this was simply too perfect. "Alright. Head north and wake me up in some time."


    He yawned and closed his eyes to take a break.


    The fox as well happily nodded. She was ecstatic to ept this mission and carefully carried Liam on her back as if he was a priceless treasure.


    Kyuuuu


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­<i> </i>


    Meanwhile¡­


    In the outside world, a huge storm was picking up weight.


    All the online forums, the TV channel that was now entirely dedicated to ''Evolution Online,'' even in-game guild channels, basically every single ce that was a hot spot for gossip about ''Evolution Online'' now only talked about a single thing, the newly formed guild ''Crimson Abyss.''


    In the beginning, it was just one difficult dungeon achievement. It caught the public''s attention, but it was just transient big news, soon to be reced with something else.


    So people did not think too much about it and moved on after a couple of rants about unfair it was. Some even demanded the secret method to take down the boss.


    But after that, it was just old news. No one bothered to give the new guild another nce. The gossip just died down when unexpectedly, another achievement came out.


    And this time, it was Level 30 Molten Domain dungeon achievement, that too at the nightmarish difficulty mode!


    This once again made the forums and news abuzz with gossip about the new ''Crimson Abyss'' guild.


    Everyone was forced to take note of the new guild and especially the two superstar sisters in the guild who were already very famous.


    Along with the two girls, Derek''s and Liam''s names popped up as well, and along with that the whole scandal about ve contracts.


    After that, it did not take too long for things to take a negative turn and spiral in the wrong direction.


    It was almost as if someone was pulling the strings from the background. No one was praising or admiring Crimson Abyss any longer. Instead¡­


    "So ruthless! These guys are hoarding all the fire-resistance potions."


    "What a cheap guild! They are forcing others to be ves."


    "They found some loophole for the dungeon and are not sharing the information with others."


    "Crimson Abyss is the worst. I heard from my friend that they are charging 100 gold coins just to take recruitment interviews for the guild."


    "I heard that one of the guild higher-ups harassed a woman and forced her to sign a ve contract in-game."


    "This guild is so shady!"


    "If you want to prove that you are innocent,e out and show us the secret to the final boss of ''Twilight Forest''"


    "It''s impossible to kill because the werewolf boss insta kills everyone. These people are using some bug but not sharing it with others!"


    "Boycott the guild!"


    "Ban the guild!"


    "Who is the GM?"


    "Kick this guild out!"


    And just as the whole world was raging against the guild, the third achievement also came out, shortly followed by the guild establishment notice.


    Crimson Abyss became the first S-rank guild in the game for the whole world to see!


    Everyone waspletely speechless and when the shock finally wore off, it was the haters who became even louder!


    They absolutely targeted the new guild andpletely smeared its name with all sorts of allegations about cheating and malpractice, even calling on the government and police to take action.


    But little did they know that the achievements did not end here.


    Just as someone else pointed out that the guild was only performing so well because others were currently focused on the demon invasions and the spatial rifts, thest and final gift that Liam had prepared also came through.


    Guild Crimson Abyss was also the first one to conquer a spatial rift!

 Chapter 362 - Bad Reputation

    <h4>Chapter 362 - Bad Reputation</h4>


    Inside the Gu family mansion, young master Gu Donghai was resting on his bed under the sheets with his 70-inch TV switched on.


    "Damn it. Damn it. Those bastards! This fame should have all been mine! We could have annexed that guild and those sisters."


    "If they only did not upgrade their gear from the dungeon, we could have won. Damn it."


    "And that annoying pretty faced bastard! Fuck! If he did not cheat and kill me when I was distracted, everything could have been different!"


    Gu Donghai tossed everything he could find left and right, throwing it on the floor and making loud noises.


    "Boss, boss. Please check the forums. Something is happening." A servant ran into the bedroom and shouted anxiously.


    "Hmmm?" Gu Donghai quickly picked up his phone and logged in to check thetest developments.


    Thest time he checked everyone was singing praises of Crimson Abyss, but when he checked this time¡­


    "Ban the guild?"


    "Kick out the cheaters?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! This is awesome! Ba ha ha ha! Serves them right!"


    "You know what. Let me add some oil to this fire. Put a bounty on all those guys. I will show them what happens when they oppose the Gu family!"


    "Yes, boss."


    "Ba ha ha ha! Come let''s post some more shittyments. Get all our keyboard warriors."


    "Those bitches are daring to show off? I will end them today."


    "With this god damn flu, I was having a horrible day, ba ha ha ha! This is too good. Too good!"


    Gu Donghai chuckled, his entire body trembling in excitement.


    In other parts of the world¡­ another person was right now enjoying this same news.


    Victor from the stormtroopers guild was burning in jealousy after seeing thetest development and especially after knowing that Derek was the vice guild leader.


    However, seeing that the guild was suddenly being crucified, he couldn''t help but disy a big satisfied smug smile.


    "That''s right. You will always fail no matter what you do, you brainless dumb idiot. What is the big difference?"


    He He He.


    "Trash. Trash. Trash. Trash. The trash guild should be disbanded." Victor continued typing relentlessly.


    Hiding behind the anonymous facade, he did not hold back at all.


    Meanwhile, inside the game, sitting around a tavern''s table, the members of the Assassin guild were holding a meeting.


    "Abraki, what do you think? Should we also join?"


    "A lot of the guilds are openly showing their opposition to the Crimson Abyss guild."


    "I know that you have some sort of rtionship with that person, but if we don''t join the others now and say something, someone might start to paint us also in a bad light."


    "Everything is utterly chaotic right now. It was just started, but that guild is already doomed."


    "Hmmmm"


    "What I am saying is we need to make a move one way or the other right now."


    "We could bring in those guys as a part of our guild, but I think that would put us at too much risk."


    "It is just a matter of hours, the whole world is going to be against that guild. Some people are saying that the government might even take action."


    "So it''s best for us to choose option number 2. Let''s just do what everyone else is doing and dere that we also condemn their actions."


    "We all think that it is for the best, Abraki."


    "Hmmm? What do you think, Abraki? You have been silent for a long time now. What are you thinking about?"


    Hearing his words, the middle-aged man sighed. Everything he heard was indeed logical. The reasoning was perfect without w¡­ but¡­


    "What are you thinking about, Abraki? That guy is done for."


    "He has already lost his chance. If he had any experience, he would have gotten out in front of this issue."


    "Now that it has snowballed this much already. It is useless. No matter what he does, that guild is done for."


    Abraki nodded. He finished his drink and ced his mug on the table.


    The man then opened his mouth finally and mumbled, "All this is fine. I am not saying you are wrong, but I still think¡­"


    "Hmmm?"


    "I am sorry, we should sit tight."


    "What Abraki! You can''t be serious!" Elijah stood up. "You are simply giving that guy too much credit. Sure, he is able to make some potions, so what?"


    "Huh?" Abraki also stood up, but rather calmly. "Just make some potions huh? Ha ha. What are you talking about? Are you drunk or are you blind?"


    "Didn''t you see all the achievements?"


    "What about the dungeonpletion? What about the spatial rift? Everything is just luck?"


    "You do still remember how there was a guild named heavenly retribution and it disbanded because of one single reason, him!"


    "And you say all he can do is make potions? Do you really think that?"


    Abrakiughed loudly and stood up to walk away. "As long as I am the guild leader, I will not be forced into taking any foolish decisions."


    "And if you really want to force my hand, please feel free to kick me out of the guild."


    "At least then I won''t be dragged down along with you guys. Ha ha ha."


    Hisughter echoed loudly as he walked out of the tavern and all the other members of the guild stared at him speechlessly.


    After a while, another person stood up and walked over to Elijah. "Vice-leader, what should we do now? Are we really not going to show our stance?"


    "No." Elijah shook his head. "Let''s do it. If Abraki asks, then I will exin it to him. We cannot afford to have any more fuck ups."


    "We cannot take any more chances and more importantly, we cannot allow that guild to grow any further than they already have."


    "If we need to establish our roots in the Gresh Kingdom, we need to do this no matter what."

 Chapter 363 - When in trouble...

    <h4>Chapter 363 - When in trouble...</h4>


    Yawn. With one eye open and one eye closed, Liamzily looked at the scenery underneath as Luna continued flying or rather running all the way to Thol city.


    This was why he had specifically chosen to do this rather than getting back to Xion and using his own portal toe back to theher realm.


    He was already familiar with Xion, but that was not the case when it came to theher realm. There was still so much left to explore. In fact, the entire world was primarily untouched.


    Unlike Xion, where Kingdoms and Empires dotted thends everywhere, upying 50% of the world, in theher realm, only 10% was upied.


    So there was a much bigger chance of discovering a priceless treasure or other valuable items in theher realm.


    Even if these were scarce just the abundant raw materials alone should be reward enough for exploring these uncharted territories.


    While Liam continued observing thend underneath their flight path and rxing his mind and body at the same time, unexpectedly a message chimed in.


    It was from Abraki, the guild leader of the Assassin guild.


    "Hmmm? This guy? It''s been a while." Liam opened the message because he knew that the other person usually would not contact him without a reason.


    And just like he thought¡­ he did contact him for a reason.


    It looked like their guild''s fame and poprity had instantly shot up in the wrong direction.


    They wanted their guild to be banned for getting a few achievements?


    They have to disclose their methods so that the public can confirm whether they are cheating or not?


    If not the local government will take action?


    Liam had already expected this much but wasn''t this a bit too far?


    It''s not like theymitted any crime. Well, actually he did, but nevertheless, he chuckled lightly.


    The world was always like this. They only wanted the rich to be richer. If anyone else tried anything, they would inevitably be shot down.


    However, he wasn''t all that concerned. He leisurely read Abraki''s message again.


    The guy had apologized to him for the conduct of his guild and had asked him to overlook this matter if possible. He was even willing to paypensation apparently.


    "Am I really that scary? Or that petty?"


    Liam silently gazed at the distance for a second and then nodded. "Actually, I am."


    He then replied to Abraki with a smile. "Don''t worry about it."


    He only sent a short message but the assassin started sweating profusely as soon as he saw the reply. He was not at all convinced.


    "Can I do anything to help?" He replied back quickly.


    "Huh?" Liam chuckled. "You want to help? Sure."


    Liam started typing out a small list of precious raw materials that were difficult to obtain. He only asked for 5 stacks of each without being too unreasonable.


    This was because he appreciated the man giving him a warning out of respect for their past interactions.


    After that, he also added. "Everything will be handled soon. I have a n."


    He then closed the interface and went back to observing the expanse of theher realm.


    Meanwhile, at the other end, Abraki was chewing on his nails waiting for Liam''s response and when he saw the message, he almost choked on his own saliva.


    "What is this? A list of raw materials?" His eyes bulged in surprise and then he burst outughing. This guy was simply too much!


    He was only asking for the sake of it and he really got taken for a ride.


    Well, he couldn''t ce the mepletely on him as he had personally asked for this.


    Shaking his head helplessly, Abraki, closed the first message and then looked at the second one.


    "So he does have a n¡­ but what could it be?"


    He stared absent-mindedly wondering how Liam was going to take care of everything this time around.


    These types of issues were sometimes even more challenging to deal with than an impossible uncrackable dungeon.


    While one could just be forced to submit with brute force and power, the other needed to be tackled with tact.


    Public opinion was very vtile. It was easy to rile them up but challenging to bring them down. Only an equal but opposing force can aplish such a task.


    But did Liam have any such trick up his sleeve?


    Abraki racked his brain but couldn''t think of anything. How was he going to settle this matter?


    He silently pondered what he would do if he were in Liam''s ce, and the next second he started rubbing his temples.


    Just thinking about it was giving him a headache!


    What could he possibly do to get out of such a huge predicament?


    If it was him, he would have definitely given up on the guild and silently started another one maybe.


    But even then he would have to be under the radar to avoid attracting unwanted attention once again. In short, this person''s gaming career was simply over.


    And he was the first ranker on the leaderboard!


    "What a pity." Abraki sighed. He could not understand how Liam could be so calm and rxed even at a time like this.


    He decided to log out and follow the news for a bit while also getting some shut-eye.


    Just as he stepped out of the gaming capsule and switched on the TV in his room, the Sports Channel''s spokesperson''s voice red loudly.


    The Crimson Guild¡­ h h h


    "Hmmm?" The first two words caught Abraki''s attention, and he immediately turned around. It looked like there was an interview scheduled for two guests from the Crimson guild.


    "Oh, who are these two guests?" Abraki quickly sat down on the nearby chair.


    The interview was scheduled for prime time on a famous channel and the auditorium was brimming with a crowd.


    So he had no doubt that this was the move Liam was talking about.


    But how could a mere interview and a public appearance change the world''s views? The situation had definitely gone past that point.


    Even the audience on screen was not sitting simply. There were loud and angryments.


    It looked like the ce was mainly filled with haters with all sorts of acidic remarks flying by. Some people even began repeatedly chanting.


    "We won''t be fooled by these theatrics! Ban the cheaters! Ban the guild!"


    In short, the whole ce was ready to explode. In fact, the person appearing for this interview might not even be safe.


    They were definitely going to be harassed with eggs and rotten tomatoes like what happened in one of the previous interviews.


    Maybe this time they could even be beaten up since the situation is that much worse?


    Abraki and everyone else nervously watched as the time for the interview soon arrived and the interviewer stood up to wee the two guests.


    "Hello! Our two guests are finally-"


    Not even letting the woman finish her words, everyone immediately stood up to shout loudly and hurl insults and the entire ce went into a wide uproar.


    The mob mentality had crescendoed and they were ready to tear a new one to whoever entered the stage.


    The organizers also did not bother to control this becausemotion and chaos led to more viewership.


    But just as the mes were raging high, the awaited guests arrived.


    Two people entered the stage and suddenly there was pin-drop silence¡­


    Everyone including thedy who was doing the interviews could only dumbfoundedly stare, as no one, not a single person was prepared for this surprise.


    Walking onto the stage with elegance and ss were the two guests of the day¡­ Mia and Alex¡­ and more importantly¡­ they were not dressed in their regr clothes.


    Instead, they were dressed as¡­ a priestess and a pdin.


    ***

 Chapter 364 - cosplay to the rescue!

    <h4>Chapter 364 - cosy to the rescue!</h4>


    Abraki almost dropped the ss of water in his hands as he stared dazedly at the TV screen. Just like him, the audience present in person was also utterly shocked.


    No one had expected the two famous idols to make an appearance like this.


    In all the talks and the controversies, they had forgotten about this point, the guild leader of the ursed guild was actually Mia.


    Not only her, but the famous yer Alex was also present in the same guild. These two sisters had a cult-like following even before.


    And now unexpectedly¡­ they came here like this.


    There was pin-drop silence in the big auditorium and everyone could even feel the tension from their tv screens.


    Only the clicking of the metallic boots of the two goddesses could be heard as they casually walked over and sat down next to the interviewer.


    That noise deafeningly resounded everywhere, with each of their steps matching the heartbeat of the millions of viewers.


    In all honesty, the interviewer as well looked quite pleasing, but next to these two women, she paled inparison.


    She could not hold even a candle to them and just looked in and ordinary.


    Mia and Alex on the other hand¡­ the two women looked absolutely ravishing as if they had stepped out of some sort of fantasy world.


    The first one had a wild untamed beauty with long red hair while the second one had honey blonde hair and a pure angelic appearance.


    Alex had donned on a two-piece metallic suit with a red and gold theme, matching her hair and a pair of thigh-high leather boots.


    She also wore a simr set of leather wrist guards and all pieces of clothing had mysterious, beautiful engravings on them that made them seem real and legitimate.


    And she did not stop there, she also wore a cloak and had a sword in her hands. Her entire attire was wild, unbridling and it made the sharpness in her eyes look fiery.


    Those who looked at her couldn''t help but want to submit to her beauty.


    However, they couldn''t do so because sitting next to her was the goddess reincarnate herself.


    Unlike Alex, Mia did not wear anything revealing or provocative. In fact, the robe she had worn covered her from neck to toe.


    It was a thin golden silver robe that outlined the elegant curves of her body and shimmered along with her honey blonde hair.


    If Alex was fire, Mia was ice. She looked pure and divine like an angel.


    The men and even women in the audience and the other countless men who watched her from the big screen, every single one of them wanted to worship her.


    At the same time, they were also drooling at the beautiful goddess wanting to catch even a glimpse of her in person.


    It was as if everyone was under a spell for a moment and this spell was finally broken when the interviewer awkwardly cleared her throat.


    Everyone in the audience went into a wild uproar and everyone around the world who was watching the interview also had simr reactions.


    Only now did they realize the weight of their actions and the err of their ways. How could they besmirch something that this elegant goddess started?


    It was sphemy!


    However, things did not end here. After all, they hade here for an interview.


    "Aha ha ha. Wee to our show and thank you for going out of your way to entertain our viewers! Everyone, please give a big hand to our two guests Mia and Alex!"


    The interviewingdy only barely finished her words when a loud thunderous apuse resounded in the auditorium.


    Abraki gulped as he found himself slow capping as well. Everyone was anxious and was dying to see what was going to happen next.


    "So Mia, let me first-" The interviewer only opened her mouth when Mia unexpectedly interrupted her. "Sorry, I would like to say something first."


    Everyone knew that Mia was a woman of few words so they instantly fell quiet wanting to hear her speak.


    The elegant and aloof goddess stood up and first bowed humbly.


    "Hello, everybody, especially all our fans and supporters out there. I agreed to give this interview today because I am very sad."


    Mia''s icy facade broke for the first time, revealing a tinge of vulnerability.


    There was not a lot of emotion but whatever was there was enough to make everyone else feel sad and guilty as well.


    "There are a lot of nasty rumors going around bad-mouthing our guild. So I wanted to reach out and talk to my fans and supporters."


    "Don''t get discouraged because of these rumors. False news and fake rumors do not live long. In the end, only truth will triumph."


    "And no matter what¡­ I and our guild will always wee the people who have supported us all this while and stood by me through thick and thin."


    "Even if the whole world tries to make our guild look bad, as long as we are all together ying the game and having fun, that''s all that matters to me."


    "Thank you so much for your support and kindness. I hope that everyone will continue to stand by me and our guild until the end. We are all in this together." Mia bowed again.


    As thest of her words echoed, aplete silence filled the auditorium. No one said anything or made anyment.


    Mia calmly sat back down in her seat. Alex, who was sitting next to her, turned to her and patted her gently. It looked as if she wasforting her.


    The world might not react if an ugly person gets hit by a truck but the same did not apply to a beautiful angel who gets a paper cut.


    The sight of the two sisters supporting each other was extremely heartwarming. Some people in the audience even teared up. They had truly troubled and badmouthed such nice people!


    Everyone began regretting their actions and then a secondter, the crowd went into a huge uproar! Thunderous pping and loud cheering echoed in the auditorium!


    The rest of the interview did not seem to matter at all. The interviewer tried asking some difficult questions but at one point the crowd started booing at the poordy.


    And this effect was not just limited to this single interview.


    All the online forums, websites, socialworking sites, basically the entire inte blew up!


    "Bitch! Who said Crimson Abyss cheated? Come out. Come out."


    "Just because you are under an anonymous tag, you think you can type and get away with anything?"


    "If someone is more talented than yourzy ass then that directly meant they were cheating? What are you high on? Even this lord is better than you! Does that mean I am cheating?"


    "Who dares to talk against my goddess? Come out!"


    "Haters be hating! These idiots will never change! They just don''t want to see a woman seed!"


    "The person above. Who are you trying to fool? You are just a brainless fan."


    "Who are you calling a brainless fan!"


    "Brother, calm down. I am a brainless fan too! Let''s be brainless and support our goddess together!"


    "Eh? Is that person scolding or praising? I can''t understand!"


    "What is the point in talking to these idiots? Goddess just announced that the guild recruitment was open! I am going to go join before all the spots disappear!"


    "Yes, yes. These losers only know to whine. If they win, it''s by effort, and if we win, then we are cheating? How is this fair?"


    "You guys can keep whining like little bitches, I am going to join our goddess guild and bring home some more achievements!"


    "Me too!"


    "+1"


    "+2"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­

 Chapter 365 - Adding to the army

    <h4>Chapter 365 - Adding to the army</h4>


    In the vastnds of theher realm, a white fox casually flew in the sky, its pure cream white fur a bright contrast to the valley of ck rocks that they were passing by right now.


    The fox was in a particrly happy mood, and so was the person lying peacefully on its back.


    "Hmmm? What did those two do? Did they perhaps overdo it?" Liam grinned in amusement as he looked at thest message from Abraki.


    [Bro, you are God! Congrattions! The whole world wants to join your guild!]


    He chuckled lightly and then closed the interface.


    In reality, as soon as he started the guild, he already knew that these sorts of problems would begin to crop up from the woodwork.


    Until they established themselves as a legitimate guild with a strong base, these issues would not be easy to root out and continue to emerge.


    Liam knew about these things as he had already seen several guilds rise and fall with the tides of time.


    It was still a long way for their guild to shape up, if at all.


    Just as he was thinking about this¡­


    "Hmmm¡­?" Liam suddenly stiffened and sat up. "Luna, slow down. Stop here."


    In front of him, between two huge rocks, there was a small group of creatures.


    They had long pointed ears and huge feet and hands with a thin body frame.


    They looked like goblins and were thin and short but their features were different from that of a goblin.


    "Imps?" Liam narrowed his gaze and observed the group carefully.


    [Demonic Imp; Level 13]


    [Demonic Imp; Level 14]


    [Demonic Imp; Level 10]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Without any exception, all the creatures in front of him were lower-level imps.


    Liam was already familiar with these creatures and was also very interested in them.


    This was because, unlike the other demons he hade across so far, these imps belonged to a pure demon breed.


    They were not a beast hybrid like most demons, and their bloodlines were probably not contaminated.


    More importantly, just like the lesser dryads, these imps were also able to cast fire magic.


    Ever since he forged the souls of the lesser dryads, Liam had been wanting to forge another simr creature and hone his skill.


    So, these imps were just what he needed to train!


    Liam looked at the imps and then back at Luna. If theynded right now, he probably wouldn''t be able to use all of them.


    So he decided to follow the little fox''s technique.


    "Luna, head to the vige we just crossed a while back. Do it fast."


    Kyuuuu!


    The fox bobbed her head and then zoomed to the location in a jiffy.


    Liam quickly hopped off from her outside the vige and went in all by himself.


    He then returned back in a couple of minutes and in his hand, there was a huge cage.


    Who was this cage for? The white fox cocked her head and looked at him curiously.


    Liam grinned. "You have some work to do."


    A few minutester, the duo was back in the same valley. Liam jumped to the ground and Luna dashed ahead to take care of business.


    Within seconds, the group of imps was banged up, shoved in the cage, and brought back with only a gift wrap missing.


    "Good girl." Liam smiled and patted her head.


    He then sat down to start his work.


    Now that he had the guild matters somewhat sorted out, at least momentarily, he wanted to focus on the most important task at hand.


    Liam knew that he would only be a fool if he dyed his progress any more even after knowing the self-regenerative property and growth potential of his soul undead.


    He needed to focus on forging. He simply needed to forge more and then some more.


    Quality, quantity, type, he had so much to experiment with and improve.


    And because they had the ability to grow with him, the sooner he achieved this, the better it was for unlocking their full strength.


    In fact, he did not have any time to waste.


    "Come out," Liam murmured, and his small army of soul undeads instantly emerged.


    There were chickens, rabbits, wolves, bears, and dryads.


    It took a second for Liam to take in the presence of this very diverse group.


    He let out a small sigh and then looked at Luna. Her next task was ready. "You know what to do."


    Kyuuuuuu!


    [Yes, Master]


    "Be careful. We don''t know this ce well. So stay close and don''t wander too far."


    The fox nodded, rubbing her head up and down on Liam''s shoulder, and then ran away to do her bidding.


    The other soul undeads also promptly followed her.


    Liam silently watched the group disappear behind some rocks and let out another deep breath. "Time to get to work."


    He then looked at his cage of imps. They were screeching and wing, trying to break free. The whole cage was rattling.


    However, Liam did not care about that. He opened the cage and reached forward to grab a single imp.


    He took a beating, but it was barely a scratch on his health.


    On the other hand, he only needed a single punch to end the imp''s life.


    Liam quickly sat down and tried his best to focus on the small soul bead that popped out of the dead imp.


    Argh. He could already feel a burden on his mind just sensing this soul bead.


    Just like the lesser dryads, he could tell that this one as well was not going to be easy to handle.


    However, that did not matter because he was now in theher realm and not in the Xion realm.


    "Come on!" Liam grunted andmanded the thickher in the air to condense to form hundreds of tiny ck hammers.


    He then forced all the hammers to thrum with life and made them bang the small soul bead up and down repeatedly.


    DANG. DANG. DANG. DANG.


    The thundering of the hammers echoed loudly, filling the entire ce, but Liam was far too upied to hear it.


    "Damn it. Why is it still so difficult!"


    He clenched his hand and used all of his mental focus to concentrate and continue forging the soul bead.


    Based on everything that he had learned so far, Liam came to a logical conclusion.


    He had made prior calctions and then started this forging, but now it looked like all the logic was out of the window.


    Forging this damned thing was still ridiculously difficult!


    "Why? What am I missing?" Liam gritted his teeth and tried his best to persevere. However, he couldn''t hold on any longer after a few seconds.


    Seeing that he had no other option, he once again fished out a fire essence crystal from his inventory space.


    Even though he did not want to, it looked like he needed to rely on this.


    Liam tossed the crystal up into the air and then caught it back in frustration, absorbing everything that was present in the stone.


    The stone dissolved, and a wisp of energy floated across him. Almost immediately, his eyes widened in surprise!


    "What the heck? Why is this effect so instantaneous?"


    The soul bead that he was struggling to forge up until now was just like that no longer stiff and sturdy.


    It became soft and malleable making it easy for him to finish the rest of the forging.


    Only a few more seconds passed when the notification also popped up.


    [Ding. Soul Forging Sessful]


    Liam shed his eyes open to see the familiar bluish white soul bead with a tinge of yellow orange hue spread across it.


    The bead then disappeared as the ghost of an imp emerged in its ce.


    Grug. Grug. Grug.


    The soul undead grunted and gazed at Liam, waiting for hismand.


    Just as it lifelessly looked at him, he also stared at it nkly for a minute, trying to understand what just happened.


    "Attack that rock," Liam muttered in contemtion.


    Grug. Grug. Grug.


    The imp dragged its scrawny body and tossed a small ball of fire.


    Its casting speed was faster than the dryad''s but clearly, the damage capacity of the attack was a lot lesser.


    Liam already expected this because while an imp fought with a quick session of fire attacks, dryads tended to be cannons that delivered big hits.


    So the forging was indeed sessful. There was no doubt about it.


    From whatever angle he looked at the imp, it was a perfect replica, just like the imps in the cage.


    It also seemed to be capable of doing magic and its level was also Level 11 which almost mirrored its original level.


    So no matter how he analyzed it, the forging was very sessful. However, Liam was still not satisfied.


    What he did not understand was¡­ why did he need a fire essence crystal even though they were in theher realm currently?


    This was supposed to be his strong point!


    He was strongest in all aspects when he was in theher realm. So why was this particr forging still proving to be difficult?


    "What am I missing?" Liam quietly pondered.

 Chapter 366 - Mexican standoff

    <h4>Chapter 366 - Mexican standoff</h4>


    A couple of hours passed by, and Liam was now working on the fourth demonic imp. This was also thest fire essence crystal he had in hand.


    However, he still had not figured out a solution to his problem, which was¡­


    "Why am I not improving?" Liam took out his frustration on the soul bead as the hammers responded to his anger and hit the soul bead that much more savagely.


    So far, he had used three fire essence crystals and forged three demonic imps sessfully. This was in addition to the two lesser dryads he had previously forged.


    But despite his forging resulting in sess every single time, there was simply no other progress.


    He did not even receive the system prompt indicating that he had progressed in the legacy.


    Earlier, he was just forgingmon beasts but now he was forging lesser beasts. Did that not matter at all? Did that not mean that his understanding had improved?


    If it did not mean anything then why was it so difficult. Why was he not able to forge one without a fire essence crystal?


    Liam could feel that he was missing something, probably something very crucial but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn''t ce his finger on the issue.


    He was just walking around in circles without any end in sight.


    Grunting in frustration, Liam finished thest imp as well, making his total count of imp soul soldiers to four.


    The four imps stood fuming in front of him, looking like lean and mean killing machines, ready to wreak havoc at hismand.


    They gave off apletely different vibepared to undead chicken ghosts.


    Though the birds had their strong points, it was clear thatmon beasts'' strength couldn''t bepared to lesser beasts.


    Liam''s disappointment reduced a little after seeing the imps clumped together. "I guess this is not bad for now."


    He picked himself up from the ground and whistled loudly, calling Luna back. He was out of fire essence crystals so he couldn''t forge the remaining imps even if he wanted to.


    He could still try but sometimes the smart thing to do was to know one''s limitations and weaknesses and more importantly when to stop.


    Kyuuuuu!


    As soon as he whistled, the white fox hurriedly dashed over to him and appeared in a second. Behind the fox, the soul undeads as well marched in a hurry and assembled.


    All of them stared at the four imps in front of them and then at Liam.


    Some of them had intelligent eyes and looked curious while others didn''t seem to care.


    Luna was in the former category as she jumped up and down, inspecting the ghost imps from all directions.


    "What are you looking at? They are your newest underlings, Luna." Liam chuckled.


    He then dismissed all the soul undeads, packed up their stuff, and once again hopped onto Luna''s bigger version, resuming their journey to the Thol city.


    They were not too far now and only had a couple more hours of travel time. Liam decided to rest during this time and also n for his next course of action.


    He absentmindedly ran his fingers through the luscious pelt of the fox, making the white beast purr contently.


    "Let''s see¡­ first¡­ soul undeads¡­ I can try forging something which doesn''t have an attribute. Maybe then I won''t need a mana essence crystal."


    "Second¡­ There is still the threat of the spatial rift mission at the garrison. Hmmm¡­ We need to ovee possibly a strong guild with just the strength of our garrison."


    "Heh¡­ My passive exp depends on it."


    "And about my experience points¡­" Liam rubbed his eyes vigorously and let out a deep breath. "It should only be a few more hours, and I should finally hit Level 50."


    "I need to make preparations for that as well¡­"


    "Not to mention the guild. We have the numbersing in now, Luna. They need to stick. I also owe parting gifts to everyone who came to the party."


    "Tsk. Tsk. Too much to do and too little time."


    He closed his eyes silently contemting things for a while. A few minutester, he opened his eyes and grinned.


    "Alright. Now we have a n. Let''s see if everything goes ording to the n."


    Soon the white fox arrived near the Thol city, and Liam did not bothernding outside. The two of them directly entered the garrison tower.


    Almost immediately two blurs bounded towards Liam and he felt a headacheing.


    "Husband¡­ it''s been too long~~"


    "Husband¡­ I missed you~~"


    "Yes, I missed you both too." Liam gave up and allowed the two to cling to him from two sides. He did not see whose cleavage he was resting his head on but it felt good.


    As the one human and two demons walked side by side into the garrison tower or rather the two demons dragged the one human into the garrison tower, the white fox stared at the unbelievable scene with its blue eyes rmingly wide.


    Kyuuuuu?


    She hurriedly reduced her size and ran behind the threesome, trying to find some hole or space to lodge herself onto Liam.


    However, that seemed¡­ a little too impossible.


    The little fox first struggled and then pouted and then started snarling.


    The two demonesses did not care about the beast at first but one of them turned to hiss at the fox which made Liam quickly take action.


    Among the three dangerous women, Luna was still the most harmless and the most gullible, so he decided to start with her.


    "Go and meet with Talon. The two of you should head out to nearby areas and improve your strength. Just stay on the outskirts of the city and train for a bit. Can you do it?"


    Liam squatted down and patted the small fox lovingly. He also took out some of the meatballs and fed the little furry creature.


    After all, unlike the other two demon beauties, Liam knew exactly what the little thing wanted and how to coax her.


    And as for the aforementioned demon beauties¡­ what they wanted with him was still a mystery.


    It took two seconds, but coaxing Luna was very simple. With just a few head pats and meatballs, the fox was already back to her happy mood.


    Kyuuuuu!


    She rubbed her head on Liam lovingly and then ran away to do her master''s bidding.


    Seeing this, the other two demon beauties also made a mental note. Perhaps the way to their husband''s heart was through this little fox.


    They made a small O with their lips and then nodded in understanding.

 Chapter 367 - Playing with fire

    <h4>Chapter 367 - ying with fire</h4>


    Inside the main hall in the garrison tower, Liam sat on the huge throne-like chair, with the armrest on both of his sides upied by the two beautiful demon girls.


    Their hands and legs were all over him, one kissing his neck and the other kissing his earlobe.


    They had already removed his clothes revealing his bare upper body and pushed their naked plump breasts up against him as they tried to seduce him.


    And when he did notply, they began removing the items from the lower half of his body as well, licking and sucking on whatever they pleased.


    Liam groaned as the two nymphs tempted him to no end. He scooped them up every now and then and tried to cool things down but nothing was helping.


    They went right back to it and began to work even harder.


    Liam took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. With great effort, he freed one of his hands and rubbed the middle of his forehead and his eyebrows.


    If only he wasn''t suspicious of these two, he could have had some fun with them. However, he hade far too long to falter now because of something like this.


    He closed his eyes for a moment and then pulled the first one up. This was the mother as he could recognize her bigger cup size and more experienced seduction method.


    She was also the more difficult to handle so Liam decided to tackle her first.


    Of course, he already had ns for both of them. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have stepped into this danger zone in the first ce.


    "Yuki,e here." Liam pulled the slender curvy woman up to his chest. He kneaded her melons making her moan and then kissed her trembling lips.


    Meanwhile, his hand traveled down and rubbed her wet sensitive area. "I need something from you, Yuki. I wonder if you will help me."


    "Ah~~ Husband~~ Anything for you¡­" The demoness swayed her hips in pleasure, clearly wanting him to do more.


    But Liam did notply and left her begging for a couple of seconds.


    "Do you know about something called the essence crystals? Perhapsher essence crystals?" He slowly continued.


    The demoness twitched in pleasure, her answering out in between her moans. "Ah~~~ yes, husband. I know. They are very rare. Ah~~"


    "Good girl." Liam kissed her again. He then pulled the other one Misa as well up and held the both of them tightly in his embrace.


    "This is important. Listen to me. I am going to need more strength to protect both of you. So I need your help. Can you both try and get someher essence crystals for me?"


    "Or perhaps fire essence or lightning essence? Any essence crystal would do. Can I trust you both? Will you be able to do this?"


    Liam stroked the two women in his arms as he earnestly asked them. Though he was portraying a confident image outwardly, he couldn''t help but be slightly nervous on the inside.


    He was after all trying to manipte two high-leveled demonic nymphs who seem to have a mind of their own. They did what they pleased when they pleased.


    He had a feeling that the two were extremely vtile.


    He did not want to test their loyalty and allegiance too much and more importantly, he did not want to test their so-called love and adoration for him.


    So he only tested the waters a little, prepared to quickly double back to safety.


    Liam stroked the duo gently and then ced kisses on their foreheads. "If this is too much trouble, then forget about it. I don''t want to trouble my wives."


    The two women who were up until now purring calmly on his chest and enjoying the attention suddenly perked upon hearing his words.


    Their eyes were twinkling like bright stars and they looked at Liam the same way Luna looked at her favorite meatballs.


    "Mmmm¡­ is everything okay?"


    "Yes, husband."


    "Yes, husband."


    The two demons hurriedly nodded their heads. They licked their lips and sat up straight.


    "I will bring husband a handful of essence stones!" Yuki dered proudly.


    "No, I will bring my husband more essence stones. I will bring him a ram''s head full of essence stones!" Misa retorted back.


    "I will bring him an ogre''s head full of essence stones!" Yuki snorted.


    "I will bring him a mammoth''s head full of essence stones!" Misa did not give up.


    "Where are you going to find a mammoth, you dumb witch! You are as dumb as rocks."


    "Then, you are dumber than a rock. Even dumber. Like a pig!"


    "Snort. Pigs are more intelligent than rocks! Who is the fool now?"


    Cough. Cough¡­ Liam tried to zone out from this squabble but the fight did not seem like it was ending any time soon.


    "Ahem. Ahem." He waved his hand, and the two did not notice him at all and were clearly in their own world.


    Nope. Liam stood up in one smooth motion, making the two startled and fall down on the ground on their naked butt.


    "Ah~~ husband!" The mother and daughter pair pitifully looked at him, rubbing their ass.


    They looked like they were sulking, but Liam could see that they were clearly smiling, enjoying the pain.


    His face twitched.


    "I don''t like it when you both fight. The next time I catch you both fighting there will be more punishment. Ahem. Get up and bring some essence crystals."


    He ordered the two and turned around, with his back facing them. A drop of sweat trickled from his forehead.


    A weird silence ensued after that and when he turned back to look a minuteter, the duo had already disappeared.


    Liam sighed in relief and then sat back in the throne chair, now more freely andfortably. "This should buy me some time at least."


    He shook his head helplessly and looked around. His two hardcore fans had been busy in his absence as the whole hall was grandly redecorated.


    Not just that, but unlike before, the demons did not casually wander in and out anymore. There was a lot of structure and order.


    "Hmmm¡­ are those two really going to bring me a giant''s head full of essence crystals?" He chuckled wryly.


    When there was too much to do, it was best to delegate some work and that''s precisely what he did as well.


    But as for whether they woulde through or not¡­ only time can tell.


    Liam took a second, rubbed his face with his palms, and then waved at one of the guards standing at the entrance. "Get me something to eat."


    He then moved on to the next task that he had nned.


    With the dungeon runs and the items that he had looted both from the demons and from the other tes, he had now gathered a lot more ingredients and raw materials.


    So Liam wanted to start feeding them to the sword he had.


    More importantly, now that he had the special ability [Soul Sensing], he wanted to look at the sword again. He wanted to really see it.

 Chapter 368 - The true form of the black dragon sword

    <h4>Chapter 368 - The true form of the ck dragon sword</h4>


    Liam clenched his fist in excitement. The ck Dragon sword was a soul weapon made from ck dragon souls.


    It was an imperfect weapon, but still, its power was astronomical.


    If he could somehow remove the seals binding the weapon, this could be another cornerstone of his strength and power both inside the game and in the real world, just like his army of soul undeads.


    However, more importantly, his understanding of soul forging might also deepen.


    Even if he managed to remove a single seal, he would gain a lot in return.


    Steadying his mind and focussingpletely, Liam withdrew the old rusty ck Dragon sword from his inventory space.


    As soon as he took it out, his eyes widened, and his hands trembled. A tremor swept across his body.


    The thing that he was holding¡­


    CLANG.


    Liam dropped the sword to the ground. His body was drenched in a cold sweat.


    His gaze was still fixated on that sword as he took a step back. Not that he wanted to stare at that thing, but¡­ that thing was staring at him.


    The sword was alive!


    There were at least three pairs of evil and sinister eyes on that sword that were locked onto him, watching him, observing him, discerning everything about him.


    If he stared at them any longer, he felt as if he would be devoured alive.


    "These are¡­ dragon eyes?" Liam mouthed in a raspy voice, his throat parched. It was even difficult for him to breathe, let alone speak.


    This was the true form of the ck dragon sword?


    The oppressive killing intent emanating from the sword was too much for him.


    It was not something he could handle, even though he went through so much in his two livesbined.


    This was not an aura that he could get ustomed to or adjust to. This was like an emperor''s aura that demanded absolute domination.


    In front of this mighty being, he was but an ant.


    And there was not just one but three mighty beings, three ck dragons!


    There could be more?


    At this point, Liam was not sure of anything.


    He had vastly underestimated this sword and the ck dragon souls.


    These dragons could not bepared to the lesser drake Niria who he had fooled a while ago.


    In front of these mighty beings, just like him, Niria was also an ant.


    Just their mere gaze was enough to make him freeze, and that too they were not alive. These were just their souls.


    Liam gasped for breath, his body, mind, and soul still being assaulted by the three pairs of eyes.


    He felt as if he was on the verge of copsing. Something inside him was crumbling, and he instinctively knew that it was not a good thing.


    He needed to act, and he needed to act now.


    But what was he supposed to do? This much pressure was suffocating. He couldn''t breathe, and he couldn''t think of anything.


    At this time, right when he felt as if he was about to plunge into some sort of darkness, Liam remembered something important.


    He could just unsee it.


    He snapped out of his trance and closed his eyes quickly. His skill [Soul Sensing] required his utmost concentration and focus.


    And if he did not, he could just not see the dragons or their eyes?


    It was just a spontaneous thought and since he did not have any other ideas, Liam opened his eyes again slowly to try it out.


    His heart raced, and his heartbeat pounded loudly in his ears as he looked at the sword lying on the ground in a daze.


    "That demon milf''s big boobs."


    "That demon milf''s big boobs."


    "That demon milf''s big boobs."


    He chanted the few words like a mantra, only paying some attention to the sword as he tried to fill his brain with that remarkable cleavage.


    "Fuck." Liam breathed in relief. The old rusty sword was back to its previous state.


    It looked as dull and harmless as it had always been.


    Liam copsed on the ground next to the sword. All his thoughts about unlocking the damn thing were quickly buried.


    What if he unlocked it now and it became a bane instead of a boon?


    He lifted the rusty sword and looked at it again.


    He had seen the sword plenty of times before this, but the sword in his hand at the moment felt as if it was apletely different one.


    Liam checked its description again to see if anything was different.


    [ck Dragon] (Soul Weapon, One-handed sword)


    [This is a sword made from forging the souls of a thousand dragons; It is currently broken and sealed]


    Current Grade: Umon


    Current Attributes:


    Stamina: +5


    Strength: +5


    Defense: +5


    Vitality: +5


    Agility: +5


    Intellect: +5


    [Attacks have a 10% chance of ignoring the defense of the opponent]


    [1st Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade weapons]


    [2nd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade herbs]


    [3rd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher ores]


    [4th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher gems]


    [5th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand elemental essences]


    [6th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand bloodlines]


    [7th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand souls]


    [8th Seal: N/A]


    [9th Seal: N/A]


    "No. Nothing is different." Liam''s gaze lingered again on the details.


    He then cautiously took out a unique weapon that he had prepared for this purpose and ced it on the rusty old sword.


    The sword started to tremble a little and he immediately closed his eyes.


    The next second, a loud roaring sound echoed in the garrison hall, but it did notst long. It disappeared just as it appeared.


    Liam wondered if it was safe again and slightly peeked to see the rusty sword looking dull andckluster. "I guess this is fine?"


    Letting out a deep breath, he then patiently unloaded all of the herbs, ores, and weapons he had prepared for the sword.


    He still did not have enough to meet the thousand mark but he was one-fifth of the way there.


    Perhaps in a couple more weeks, he would even be able to lift the first three seals.


    However, whether he should do that or not was now apletely different question.


    "How did that guy manage these dragon souls?" Liam pondered.


    That too he only saw three pairs of eyes, and his condition was already this bad.


    The sword was said to contain the souls of a thousand dragons.


    What would have happened if he had by chance sensed the souls of all thousand dragons?


    Would he have be retarded right now?


    Merely thinking about it was enough to make him sweat.


    Just how terrifying was this sword and if the sword itself was so tyrannical what about the person who forged it?


    Liam stared at the wall in front of him in a daze. He had only barely scratched the surface of power.


    To get overconfident with just this was foolish. It would only lead to his doom and fall. There was still a long way for him to go.


    Liam gripped the sword in both excitement and nervousness and carefully ced it back into his inventory.

 Chapter 369 - we are being targeted

    <h4>Chapter 369 - we are being targeted</h4>


    After handling the ck dragon sword, Liam felt hungry and tired, and he knew that he had to take some rest.


    Perhaps because he had been pushing himself to the extreme a lottely, he was also getting tired sooner.


    Liam was not like the others. His experience and knowledge of this game and the new world were higher than other ordinary yers.


    So he recognized these signs quickly and decided to take some rest.


    He leisurely had some food without thinking about anythingplicated, and in the meantime, he also took care of the usual managerial duties in the garrison.


    Of course, there was the massive elephant in the room whereby their small garrison had to participate in a spatial rift capture.


    But other than that, Liam wanted to make sure that there were no other pressing concerns.


    After all, this was his golden goose that continuously kept giving him big chunks of experience points without him having to do anything for it.


    Especially with the increased rewards and the workflow he had established in the Thol city, wherein he took the weaponry and equipment from here and sold it to the other yers in the auction house, everything had been progressing smoothly.


    Gold wasing in at a steady pace, and there was a sort of equilibrium established. At least, this was the case when Liam visited the garrison thest time around.


    But this time¡­


    "Hiriyu, how much revenue do we owe this time?" Liam frowned, seeing the parchment in his hand.


    Hiriyu, the demon from his personal team whom he had also appointed to take care of the garrison duties, stood in front of Liam, scratching his head hesitantly.


    "Leader, we owe 5000 gold."


    The other demons in the room as well exchanged nces with each other.


    "Hmmm? This seems to be more than the usual?" Liam asked again.


    They typically only paid around 1000 gold coins every time the emissary visited, and now this number had increased five times!


    "Is this because of the war efforts?"


    "Leader!" Hiriyu grunted. He did not know how to beat around the bushes so he directly came to the point.


    "Only our garrison''s revenue has been increased. Others are still paying the same amount."


    "Hmmm?" Liam grinned. "Are you sure about this?"


    "Yes, leader. I investigated this matter properly." Hiriyu solemnly nodded.


    Liam did not say anything after that and silently nodded. As for what might have brought this upon them, he already knew the answer.


    Those two women!


    They were definitely more trouble than they were worth, but¡­ considering that the crazy duo was out right now searching for essence crystals on his behalf¡­ maybe not?


    Liam shook his head and decided to think of this extra 4000 gold as payment for the essence crystals.


    However¡­ that was just this once.


    "Things can''t continue this way." Liam shook his head. He needed to do something.


    Either he needed to extort the required amount of gold from someone or he needed to gain more power, influence, and allies so that they were not bullied like this.


    The issue was that¡­ something like this was easily doable in the Xion realm, but here in theher realm, he only had limited knowledge and, therefore, limited opportunities.


    Liam silently contemted the different things that he could do. After a few minutes, he dismissed everybody.


    He already had a n in mind, and now it was going to be even trickier.


    But if it worked¡­ then it could take care of a lot of things at the same time.


    "Luna! Get back here! Bring Talon also with you." Liam stood up and called the white fox. It was time to return to the Xion realm.


    The beasts scurried over quickly to the garrison tower, and then Liam used his personal portal to teleport all of them back to the familiarnds immediately.


    They had a bit of flying to do as they were on the outskirts, but they reached the royal city in a few minutes.


    [Mia, are you still in the royal city?]


    Liam first messaged her in the group. Almost immediately, a reply came but it was not from her. Rather it was from Alex.


    [I am in the administrative building, finishing up some recruitment and guild residence establishment work]


    Hmmm. Liam looked at it and was about to close the system interface when another message shed.


    [Liam, there is something else I need to inform you. There is someone targeting our guild.]


    Just as he was reading this, another message as well popped up.


    [Actually, I think several guilds are targeting us.]


    [Ok, stay right there. I will join you in a minute.] Liam grinned and closed the messages. In all honesty, this was something he had already expected.


    With the interview, they had managed to handle the public and sway their opinion, but their real opposition was still in the game.


    And these enemies were not ones that could be moved with a simple speech from a beauty.


    As long as they existed, especially now at the beginning stage, their guild''s growth will stagnate and development will be hampered.


    However, Liam was not too worried about it.


    After all, how many strategies had he seen in his lifetime!


    These were merely just yground politics!


    The things that he knew of were far more vicious and domineering.


    And it was about time to teach some of the pests lingering around them a lesson.


    "The weather is good today, Luna." He smiled enjoying the gentle breeze, and walked towards the administrative building.


    Kyuuuu


    The fox snuggled close to him and sat on his back, half-hidden in his cloak, looking around everywhere curiously.


    When the two of them reached the spot, Alex was already waiting outside for him.


    The red-haired woman looked nervous, and as soon as she caught sight of Liam, she quickly tucked in a few strands of her hair behind her ears.


    She pulled her cloak to make sure that her identity was still hidden and then hesitantly looked up.

 Chapter 370 - The more the better

    Chapter 370 - The more the better


    "Sorry¡­ I mean. Ummm¡­ Mia wanted to start her quest soon. Since you asked me to rest, I decided to do some of the work before heading to the divine temple."


    "I¡­ I didn''t mean to overstep my¡­ I mean if you don''t want me handling all this then I will stop."


    Alex started fumbling and exining as soon as Liam walked over to her. She looked extremely nervous to be talking to him in person, one on one.


    Her lips were trembling and parted. Her voice and face looked anxious. Everything about her was different.


    There was no trace of the previous arrogant and headstrong girl that Liam was familiar with and more importantly, she was no longer looking at him as the enemy.


    He almost couldn''t believe that this was the same person. Could someone really change that much?


    His question was soon answered when the redhead''s face started quickly changing.


    She looked very flustered almost as if she was regretting behaving this weak and vulnerable in front of someone and kicked a small stone to the side.


    "I have run a guild before. I won''t do a bad job." She looked away and mumbled.


    "I didn''t say that you would." Liam chuckled. "Actually, I have been meaning to send you both a message. Good job on the interview. I heard good things?"


    Alex quickly forgot about her nervousness. She opened up the guild interface and shared it with Liam.


    "Yes, see we have applicationsing in every minute. Before it was even crazier. In total, we got like a million applications. Isn''t that crazy?!"


    Liam chuckled. "How many followers do you have on social media? Give it time and the total number will probably equal that."


    "What? Are you serious?"


    "Of course, you two are big celebrities now. I don''t expect anything else."


    Alex blushed, but then she realized that the person was simply making fun of her. She narrowed her eyes, deciding to let that slide, and changed the topic.


    "Ummm¡­ Can you see this? Mia gave me permission to be a guild admin. I can give you permission too."


    "No need. I can already ess it." Liam shook his head.


    "How? I mean you are neither guild leader nor vice-leader?"


    "Mmmm. There is actually another position in the guild. Not many people know about it."


    "What position?" Alex was nervous to pry for more details but at the same time, she was also curious.


    "Do you really want to know? Alright. Since you are an admin you should be able to check it. Go to the top right corner and select guild details."


    Alex nodded, her hands simultaneously tapping on the screen. She pulled up that list as she was already aware of that.


    However, as soon as she opened it, she was shocked!


    How did I not see it before! Alex blinked in disbelief.


    There¡­ in the pop-up box¡­ right below guild leader and guild vice-leader, there was another small line, Guild Owner.


    And next to it, Liam''s name was written in bold letters.


    Fuck me. She had been ying the game until now just like Liam, but she had no clue such a thing existed.


    Liam chuckled. He could read the woman like an open book so he added. "This is only specific to S-Rank guilds. That''s why you probably did not know."


    "Ah. I see." Alex nodded dumbly.


    She had always assumed that the guy had simply handed over the responsibilities to Mia and Derek because they were basically his ves.


    What difference did it make if he was the guild leader or not?


    But still, it was weird that he did not want any part of the control of the guild. It did not match his personality.


    And now after seeing this, finally everything made sense.


    Alex smiled bitterly. This guy hadn''t handed over the guild entirely after all.


    "What? You have something to say?" Liam grinned.


    "Nope, boss. Nothing at all." Alex quickly shook her head. There was also a small smile on her face.


    It was clear that she now felt morefortable talking to him and did not act very stiff and rigid, unlike her usual self. This was also why Liam had spent some time chatting with her.


    "Ok, so what problem did you want to talk to me about? Did someone ce a bounty on our guild members?" Liam quickly moved on to the main topic.


    "How! How did you know that?" Alex widened her eyes and stared at him.


    Though she knew better than to be surprised at this point, she still couldn''t help it. Even before she opened her mouth, this person already knew the issue.


    Could be possibly read minds?


    "Who is it? Should be the Jade mountain guild?" Liam said as he continued scrolling and vaguely looked at the names of the different applications.


    "Yes! I asked around and they are indeed one of them."


    "Mmmm¡­ we just shed with them outside the dungeon so this is to be expected. Let me think. Then the second guild must be stormtroopers?"


    This time, however, Alex shook her head. "No. Not them."


    "Hmmm?" It was now Liam''s turn to be surprised. This was something he expected especially after seeing Derek''s name as the vice-guild leader.


    But why did they suddenly decide not to get involved?


    "Well whatever, less headache for us." Liam shrugged.


    "Mmm. There are also some other smaller guilds. Some of them ced bounties and some of them are directly ganging up on our guild members as they leave the city."


    "So soon? Interesting."


    "Yes. This is what I am concerned about. We faced simr issues in heavenly retribution as well but that time we had a chance to stabilize the guild foundation."


    "Now, these guys are attacking us from day 1."


    "If this continued, then even with Mia''s influence¡­ I am afraid no one will join. We will bebeled as a weak and namesake guild."


    "I agree." Liam nodded. "So, do you have any suggestions?"


    "I¡­" Alex hesitated a bit.


    She was also a guild leader once so she did have some solutions, but she suddenly felt like a student being questioned by a strict teacher and put on the spot.


    "We can maybe attack them back? We can call back some of our stronger guild members from theher realm and take care of the annoying pests?"


    "I mean if we kill them repeatedly, they should back off."


    "Ok. That sounds good, but not now. Let''s wait for a bit before directly engaging. I don''t want to scare them away just yet." Liam grinned.


    "I have other ns for these guilds, so the more the better."

 Chapter 371 - Mass Spam!

    Chapter 371 - Mass Spam!


    ''Huh? The more, the better? What is this guy nning now?'' Alex silently stared. She snapped out of her trance only when Liam called out to her for a second time.


    "Do you have a list of the guilds who are openly against us?"


    "Huh? Ya. Yes." Alex nodded.


    "Alright. Share with me that list." Liam smiled calmly.


    Alex did not know why, but his smile felt a bit dangerous. This person was definitely nning something!


    "Ummm¡­ what about our guild members?" She couldn''t help but ask.


    The main issue was that these people were not able to leave the royal city or the trade city. Every time they stepped out, they were easily hunted down.


    If they could somehow leave the main areas to level somewhere else in the Kingdom then there won''t be much of an issue.


    However, even doing this was monumentally difficult.


    No matter how much she racked her brain, other than fighting back, Alex could not think of any other solution.


    This single thing might look like a small problem but if it was not properly taken care of, it had the potential to derail all of their ns.


    Everything she and Mia did would also be useless, and no one would want to join their guild.


    And all the momentum they had gathered would also be useless!


    "In a bit, all these guilds should be busy. Everyone can move freely then. Tell them to use this chance and increase their level." Liam once again shed another smile.


    There he goes again¡­ Alex was speechless.


    "So¡­" She asked, fishing for further information but Liam shook his head.


    "The less you know the better. You should also work on your special quest. I will handle some of the matters."


    "Ok." Alex did not question him. She then awkwardly said bye and ran away, not wanting to spend any more time with the guy than it was necessary.


    Seeing this, Liam continued smiling. He then started walking, not to the administrative building but to a deserted ally on the side.


    He made sure that no one was around him and opened his system interface. He then immediately began contacting the guild leaders from the list one after the other.


    He did not say much. All he said was¡­


    [Are you interested in purchasing the guide for conquering a spatial rift?]


    All of his messages were short, simple, and exactly the same.


    Without waiting for the replies, Liam then casually stood up, whistled, and opened a portal back to theher realm.


    "Let''s go, Luna. We have more work to do."


    With a devious grin, both the man and the fox promptly arrived back at Thol city. They then entered the garrison and once again started preparing a second set of messages.


    However, these ones were different. They were not meant for other yers or the group members currently in theher realm.


    Instead, they were meant for the¡­


    "Hiriyu,e here," Liam called the demon over. "What is themunication system here?"


    Huh? The demon blinked.


    "I mean if I want to contact other garrison leaders, how do I do it?"


    "Leader, we have a set of boar owls that we can use."


    "Oh? They have a boar''s face?" Liam badly wanted to shake that image off of his head. Luckily, it was easy to do so because he was thinking about several things right now.


    "Yes, leader. And they are trained to deliver messages." Hiriyu exined.


    "Alright then. Bring me a set of parchments. Write in that what I am about to tell you."


    The demon hurriedly nodded and did everything exactly as Liam instructed.


    A few minutester, about a couple dozen parchments were readily prepared. Liam gazed at the neatly folded message and clicked his tongue.


    "Not enough." He shook his head.


    "Hiriyu, how many garrisons do you think are present in our Kingdom? What about the neighboring Kingdoms? Our allies?"


    "Is it possible for us to send a messenger boar owl to all of them?"


    "Ahhh¡­" Hiriyu dropped the ink feather in shock. The leader wanted to contact everyone? Something huge was about to go down! He started sweating.


    "Leader, are we sending this same message?" He asked.


    "Hmmm. Yes. Call other demons for help if you need it. Do whatever it takes. In two hours time, I need this message sent to every single garrison that we can reach."


    "Spread this message far and wide."


    Hiriyu gulped. He knew better than to question Liam or his actions so he silently bowed and got to work.


    All the demons busily scurried in and out of the garrison preparing for this. The entire ce was bustling with activity, all the demons murmuring and whispering in hushed tones.


    Liam did not care about this. He understood their nervousness.


    Heck! He himself was quite nervous.


    But at the same time, he also thought this out as well as he could.


    Even the message he was mass spamming now was very carefully phrased. It did not implicate him but at the same time, it provided the other party with valuable intel.


    It basically said that there was a slight chance for the humans to act like petty little thieves and attack while in subterfuge and invisibility.


    Since the humans were no match for the strength of the demon army, they might be trying to lure the demons one by one and kill them by ganging upon them.


    Liam made really sure that he did not say anything definitely. He only said that there was a chance for this to happen and there were rumors that he heard.


    So the message was vague but at the same time, it should be more than enough to nt the seed of doubt in the general''s brain.


    This ensured that no matter what he wouldn''t take the fall.


    If the humans followed a different strategy then they couldn''t fault him and if they followed the same strategy that he mentioned, then he would be a hero!


    And if this worked¡­


    Liam grinned in anticipation. There was going to be a good show.


    ***

 Chapter 372 - Scoring goals on both sides

    Chapter 372 - Scoring goals on both sides


    In the game ''Evolution Online,'' inside an exclusive chat group¡­


    Rising Dragons GL: Guys, big news! Goddess Mia contacted me! She is bending over backward to let me fuck her.


    Earth''s Doom GL: ¡­


    Earth''s Doom GL: I have something important to share. I just received a cryptic message. Not sure whether to trust it or not.


    Rising Dragons GL: Dude! Why are you ignoring me! I AM TALKING ABOUT THE SAME THING!


    Earth''s Doom GL: ? The one about the secret strategy for clearing spatial rifts?


    Eradicators GL: I also received that message


    Bloodthirsty Ninjas: Me too!


    Skullcrushers: Ho Ho! This thread is active again. By the way, I also got the same message.


    Ghostbusters: Same here.


    Earth''s Doom GL: So basically, all of us were contacted?


    Eradicators GL: Rising Dragon, did yer Mia really contact you? Personally?


    Skullcrushers: Pffft! That bitch is trolling us. Tell the truth. That guy Liam contacted you too, right? He contacted everyone, so there is no point in lying.


    Earth''s Doom GL: Alright, there is no point in discussing that now. It does not matter who contacted whom. What do you guys think about the intel? Should we reply to him?


    Rising Dragons GL: Bitch, why should I lie? She did contact me whether you believe it or not. She came to big daddy begging for mercy. Hmph.


    Eradicators GL: Sure she did.


    Rising Dragons GL: Your mother and sister also came over.


    Eradicators GL: Sure they did.


    Earth''s Doom GL: Guys, stop this.


    Rising Dragons GL: Bitch, who died and made you the leader? If anyone is the leader, it should be me!


    Rising Dragons GL: Also, unlike you retards, I contacted him back. He has two conditions. One is 200 gold coins, and another is we need to stop targeting their guild members.


    Eradicators GL: Didn''t you say goddess Mia contacted you? Now, why are you talking about Liam?


    [Ding. Rising Dragons Guild Leader has left the chat group]


    Eradicators GL: LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL


    Earth''s Doom GL: Moving on. I just sent him a reply as well. He basically said the same thing to me. 200 gold coins and we need to stop targeting their guild members.


    Skullcrushers: It seems very legitimate to me.


    Eradicators GL: That guy Rising dragon was correct. He is bending over and begging us to stop screwing him and his pathetic guild.


    Bloodthirsty Ninjas: POG! We hit him exactly when the time is correct. That''s why he quickly surrendered. What expert? What first ranker? Without our say so nothing will happen in this Kingdom.


    Earth''s Doom GL: I just messaged my friend in Assassin''s guild. They did not get any such offers. So maybe only those who put the bounty on the guild members are getting this. We need to act fast.


    Eradicators GL: 200 gold is too much. What if that asshole is scamming us?


    Bloodthirsty Ninjas: Ya, we should wait


    Earth''s Doom GL: Agreed


    Skullcrushers: Agreed. Let''s wait.


    Eradicators GL: Ok, so we are all waiting. I will also do that.


    The group quietly dispersed, no one chatting any longer. However, the next instant¡­


    Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!


    "So all six of them took the bait? Interesting. He He He." Liam grinned as he opened the first message.


    [Hi, Earth''s Doom is willing to take a step back with the bounty, but we can pay you 200 gold only after confirming that the strategy is legitimate.]


    "Nope, next."


    [You give the strategy first, and we will payter]


    "Heh." Liam chuckled, shaking his head. He opened the subsequent four messages, and all of them were simr.


    "These guys couldn''t have coordinated with each other ande up with that 200 gold? The typical mentality of small fries."


    "They want to form a group and work together but at the same time they want to be better than their piers." He sneered in disdain.


    However, after waiting for two more minutes, this same thing pricked his mind and he was beginning to get restless.


    "Hmmm¡­ should I have maybe given a lower gold fee?"


    "Did I give these idiots too much credit?"


    "Hmmm¡­ maybe I need to give this some more push."


    This measly 200 gold coins did not matter to him, but the thing was if he reduced the price even further they wouldn''t take him seriously.


    And he definitely needed them to do that. For his n to work, he needed this strategy to spread. Now the only thing that was missing was a good scapegoat!


    A couple more seconds passed as Liam contemted reducing the price further when suddenly he received another message. This time it was from the Assassin''s guild.


    [Brother, I thought we were friends¡­]


    Liam hit his forehead with his palm and chuckled wryly. Sometimes even if he did not intend to trap someone, theye begging to him. What was he supposed to do?


    "You only have yourself to me, but who knows. Maybe if you act fast enough, you might be able to pass through before the shit hits the fan."


    The timing was very crucial in his n, so he quickly messaged Abraki back without any dy.


    [You want the strategy? 1000 gold]


    "Damn it. So ruthless!" Abraki saw the message and scratched his head. The others had gotten a lower price tag, so why was theirs alone so high?


    He looked at Elijah, who also had a disgruntled appearance, and sighed. Liam was still clearly holding a grudge?


    [Alright. I will transfer the 1000 gold coins to you. Where are you?]


    [Royal city]


    Liam promptly replied, and within a few seconds, 1000 gold coins arrived in his inventory space. He also did not dy and quickly shared the strategy with the Assassin guild.


    Abraki''s eyes widened in surprise on seeing the simple yet elegant strategy. It was no wonder they had been able to take care of things quickly and even got the first achievement.


    This method was simply ingenious. The number of demons was too many to face head-on so all they had to do was split up and start grinding them down.


    This was just too good!


    Abraki gave a stink eye to Elijah who remained silent and then exined the tactic to the core members of their team.


    Everyone gulped nervously and clenched their fists in excitement. The second achievement for clearing the spatial rift was definitely going to be theirs!


    The group quickly decided to try their luck again now that they knew the secret to sess. They immediately departed to attempt the battle.


    Shortly afterward, the news began spreading.


    Since Abraki had only shared the method with the core team, the exact method was not out just yet but everyone knew that they had purchased the guide.


    So all the other guilds who had first contacted Liam and rejected him again started sending a flurry of messages.


    They could only curse themselves for not being decisive when they got the chance the first time around.


    After all, it was just 200 gold coins. It was not a big dealpared to the various gains they could obtain in the spatial rift. Not to mention the fame.


    Right now, there was only one guild that had sessfully managed to clear the rift. No one else in the entire game, in the whole world had managed to do the same!


    So there was way too much riding on this.


    Also, after they get this information in their hands, they could also potentially sell it to the other guilds and make more money.


    No matter what they do, only profits and gains were waiting for them! So they would lose out if they hesitated any longer!


    [Bro! Please share the strategy. I already sent the payment]


    [Expert, send the strategy. We won''t target your guild any longer. We made a mistake]


    [Brother, if you share the strategy with me, apart from paying you, I will tell you about all the nasty things some other guilds have nned for you. Don''t trust anyone. I am saying this for your good!]


    Liam swiped all the messages one by one. It looked like his n worked after all.


    In just a couple of minutes after finishing the transaction with the Assassin guild, he had already received a sum total of 1200 gold coins, 200 from each of the guilds he had contacted earlier.


    It was clear that all of them wanted to be the second guild to get the achievement and he as well did not hold back and generously shared the information with everyone.

 Chapter 373 - Setting up the guild residence

    Chapter 373 - Setting up the guild residence


    After pocketing the gold and spreading the strategy among the six small no-name guilds, Liam did not hang around and hurriedly portaled back to theher realm.


    There, he once again ensured that all the boar owls were on track and the mass spamming was happening effectively.


    Only after checking everything he finallyid back on his throne to rx. This was it. The groundwork was nowpleted. The bomb was lit.


    All he had to do now was wait and watch as the explosion rang loudly and the fireworks colored the sky in their sparkle.


    Liam took a few whiffs ofher, eased his muscles, and once again portaled back to the Xion realm. Traveling back and forth, he was using his personal portal as best as he could.


    However, in all of the information he shared, Liampletely omitted the fact about the portals to theher realm being the spatial rift.


    He never intended to share that apart right from the beginning.


    "Now that this is done, I should start with the next order of business."


    Liam checked the time and set a reminder for 3 hours. That was probably when things would begin to start blowing up.


    In the meantime, he had other things to take care of.


    Liam walked back into the administrative building and went to one of the free counters.


    Since most of the guilds were focused on the demon invasions, thankfully the ce wasn''t too crowded.


    "I am here to develop my guild residence." Liam rapped his fingers on the counter.


    The beautiful woman sitting on the other side twirled her hair and arrogantly looked up to say something.


    However, as soon as she saw Liam her expression drastically changed and she got up from her chair in rm.


    "Please forgive me for my manners, Lord Duke. Pleasee this way. Pleasee this way."


    The woman swayed her hips and led Liam to one of the private rooms in the interior of the building.


    She then sat very close to him, pushing her assets out cautiously. Liam did not care because he was in a good mood.


    Letting the woman brush up against him as much as she wanted, he started reciting a huge list.


    "I need the models for smithy, alchemyboratory, stables,bat training, magic training, cooking, and inscription."


    His words seemingly shocked the woman because she even stopped her advances and spoke hesitantly, "Ah! But Lord Duke¡­ ummm¡­ guilds are only permitted a maximum of two training rooms."


    She was very nervous because if the Duke got unreasonably angry, it would be her head on the tter.


    The woman bit her lips and anxiously eyed Liam, but surprisingly the Duke still had the same indifferent look on his face.


    "That should not be a problem. My guild is an S-Rank guild. So as long as I pay the required gold coins these things should not be a problem?"


    "Ah! Of course. Of course! Lord Duke, please forgive me." The woman sighed in relief and immediately stood up and bowed.


    "Please wait a few minutes, my Lord. I will make the necessary arrangements for you right away. Please excuse me."


    Liam lightly nodded, and the woman hurried away to take care of business.


    He then stretched his legs andid down on the huge couch in the private room, looking up at the ceiling.


    A couple of minutester, the first notification rolled in.


    [Ding. Please select the grade of smithy you want to establish.]


    [Option1: Third-grade - costs 500 gold coins]


    [Option 2: Second-grade costs - costs 1000 gold coins]


    [Option 3: First-grade - costs 5000 gold coins]


    [Option 4: S-grade - costs 20000 gold coins]


    The price of the building models increased rapidly as the grade became higher, with the first-grade and the S-grade smithy buildings costing a ridiculous amount of gold coins.


    But Liam did not hesitate and directly selected First-grade.


    He was currently a bit short on gold coins because of his othermitments so he couldn''t directly get the top upgrade.


    He was also short for the second-best upgrade, the first-grade building model, but he still selected that because Liam knew a small trick.


    "Select option 3." He happily said.


    After that, promptly the next notification popped up.


    [Ding. Please select the grade of alchemyboratory you want to establish.]


    [Option1: Third-grade - costs 510 gold coins]


    [Option 2: Second-grade costs - costs 1010 gold coins]


    [Option 3: First-grade - costs 5010 gold coins]


    [Option 4: S-grade - costs 20010 gold coins]


    Liam once again responded with the same answer. "Select option 3."


    The next second the subsequent notification popped up.


    [Ding. Please select the grade ofbat training room you want to establish.]


    [Option1: Third-grade - costs 490 gold coins]


    [Option 2: Second-grade costs - costs 1020 gold coins]


    [Option 3: First-grade - costs 5030 gold coins]


    [Option 4: S-grade - costs 20030 gold coins]


    Liam sat up straight and rubbed his hands in excitement as he selected the same thing. "Option 3."


    Surprisingly, the next instant a new notification rolled out.


    [Ding. Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first guild with a Silver Grade Residence; 500 fame points are awarded to the guild; 5000 gold coins are awarded to the guild]


    [DING. KINGDOM ANNOUNCEMENT. Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first guild with a Silver Grade Residence; 500 fame points are awarded to the guild; 5000 gold coins are awarded to the guild]


    Liam grinned. This was what he was waiting for.


    Since only S-rank guilds could establish more than two guild workspaces, they would also obviously be the first ones to get this achievement.


    In reality, there were also other ways for the A-rank, B-rank, and C-rank guilds to establish more than two workspaces, but that involved guild upgrade scrolls and a lot of reputation points which other guilds had not managed to acquire until now.


    So now, all these easy first achievements were for their guild to take as they pleased, and Liam was nning to take all of them.


    These might not be as prestigious as the dungeon first clear achievements that showed the strength of a guild, but every single one of these achievements came with a coin reward.


    More importantly, this coin reward was cascading, which meant that the gold reward from one achievement was enough to fund the purchase of the other building models and, therefore, the next achievement.


    In Liam''s previous life, the first guild to grab this set of achievements had boasted about their luck and windfall, making everyone curse them in jealousy, and now it was his turn to use the same loophole.

 Chapter 374 - Back to back achievements! Again!

    Chapter 374 - Back to back achievements! Again!


    As the new achievement announcement popped up in front of everyone, the whole kingdom became chaotic once again with Crimson Abyss at the center of focus.


    "Silver grade residence? What does that mean? Do they have better facilities?"


    "I think there should be an inscription in the forging rooms that gives a higher chance of sess."


    "Maybe all the materials are better? Damn it. I wish I had ess to that. Paying these association assholes every time I need to make something is bleeding me dry."


    "Why is it Crimson Abyss in the spotlight again?"


    "Fuck. I wish I had joined Goddess Mia''s guild earlier. Now all these facilities will already be full!"


    "Ah. I need to go join too! They won''t lock the recruitment right? Shit, now there will loads of yers trying to join."


    "What are you talking about? Don''t you know that all the Crimson Abyss guild members are being chased and hunted down?"


    "Ya, you will only get killed if you join. Don''t be an idiot and be fooled by these gimmicks."


    "Ah. You are correct. I will wait and see what happens."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, Liam was not done yet. Now that he had the gold coins from the achievement reward, he busied himself again.


    This loop would only work when all the buildings were constructed at the same time. So Liam tapped away at the interface without stopping.


    The subsequent notifications as well promptly popped up like clockwork in front of him.


    [Ding. Please select the grade of magic training room you want to establish.]


    [Ding. Please select the grade of Inscription space you want to establish.]


    Liam grinned and selected ''Option 3'' for both the buildings without holding back, and bingo! Another achievement chimed in.


    [Ding. Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first guild with a Gold Grade Residence; 1000 fame points are awarded to the guild; 10000 gold coins are awarded to the guild]


    [DING. KINGDOM ANNOUNCEMENT. Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first guild with a Gold Grade Residence; 1000 fame points are awarded to the guild; 10000 gold coins are awarded to the guild]


    Liam licked his lips contently as he opened the guild interface and saw all the gold coins being deposited.


    The reward for upgrading guild residence from silver grade to gold grade was even more amazing, and the number of gold coins awarded was much higher.


    "Alright. Time for thest one."


    Liam tapped the system interface and more options popped up.


    [Ding. Please select the grade of the cooking hall you want to establish]


    [Ding. Please select the grade of the stables you want to establish]


    Using the reward gold coins, Liam quickly finished buying the models for the remaining buildings as well. "This should do it?" Liam muttered, and the next and final achievement rang loudly.


    [Ding. Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first guild with a Diamond Grade Residence; 2000 fame points are awarded to the guild; 20000 gold coins are awarded to the guild]


    [DING. KINGDOM ANNOUNCEMENT. Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild for bing the first guild with a Diamond Grade Residence; 2000 fame points are awarded to the guild; 20000 gold coins are awarded to the guild]


    For an individual guild to gather so many resources and funding was not easy at all. And the thing was, these upgrades were not really absolutely essential.


    One could always use the facilities in many cities for doing the same thing, albeit at a small fee.


    Even if a guild had these upgrades, it would only function to make their yers'' lives more convenient, sort of creating a one stop shop and a better nourishing, encouraging, and weing atmosphere for crafting yers.


    Not just that but inside the guild selling and buying rates would be more stabilized, and guild members could exchange goods and services rather than trading with gold.


    So there were indeed a few advantages, but mostly these advantages were not too critical for a guild to survive and thrive.


    Especially now that it was a growing stage in the game, it was better to invest this ridiculous amount of resources in equipment and materials rather than throw it away in guild residence.


    This was the consensus, at least a while back, but now¡­


    Watching the achievements ring loudly one after the other and also seeing the generous gold coins being rewarded, the other guild officials wanted to bang their heads on the wall.


    Why didn''t they think of this before!


    If they knew that investing in the guild residence could be so rewarding, they could have also shelled out the gold. However, then they remembered the sad truth.


    Even if they had the required gold coins, they couldn''t do it because of the maximum cap of two facilities.


    It was very obvious that ''Crimson Abyss'' was only able to do so much and take advantage of these rewards because of their special S-rank.


    While all the other yers were burning in silent jealousy after hearing about the newest achievement of ''crimson abyss¡­


    Liam looked at the hefty chunk of gold coins and made a quick mental calction.


    It was good to have some reserve gold coins in the guild for attracting new yers, but¡­


    He cracked his neck and started tapping again on the system interface, immediately upgrading the alchemyboratory and the smithy building to the best S-grade quality.


    Now that he was close to reaching Level 50, he needed to start spending more time upgrading his skills in both these areas, so the guild residence with these facilities upgraded to the maximum would be handy.


    Liam quickly finished thest and final touches using all the gold coins from the reward. "With this, everything should be taken care of?"


    The next achievement was only when every single building was fully constructed and upgraded to the top S-grade quality.


    Since he clearlycked the gold coins for that, there was nothing more to be done now.


    He stood up to leave, but as an afterthought, he sat back down and selected something else as well.


    [Ding. Please select the grade of the massage parlor you want to establish]

 Chapter 375 - Attack of the ravens

    Chapter 375 - Attack of the ravens


    After settling things at the administrative building, Liam headed out, walking on the streets of the busy city.


    The entire ce was abuzz with activity, and Liam was well aware that he was the reason for it.


    "I wonder how many will stay and how many will leave?" He chuckled and jogged to the outskirts.


    Liam then entered [Stealth] before leaving the city gates.


    He looked around, hoping to run into some of the people who were camping and lying in wait for their guild members, but it seemed like the coast was clear for now.


    "I guess they are all busy with the spatial rift¡­ this should keep them upied for a while."


    He opened his system interface and shot a quick message to Alex. "You can ask everyone to leave now. It should be safe."


    As soon as he sent the message, he received a reply immediately, almost as if Alex was waiting for him. "Congrats on all the achievements. Yes, I will inform them."


    Liam looked at it and then closed the interface.


    He was about to call for Talon so that they could leave to attend to the next business when suddenly a flock of ck ravens appeared in the sky above him.


    And before he could even realize their presence, these birds shot downward towards him like arrows and bullets.


    "Hmmm?" Liam only had a second, but that was enough for him.


    He quickly backed away several paces, leaving the raven darts aimed at him to strike the ground.


    Their sharp beaks plunged deeply into the wet forest ground and were stuck amidst the dust and grime.


    This was proof enough to show the power and tenacity with which they had attacked.


    Moreover, there was a dozen of them. If Liam had not reacted in time, he might have really lost his life to a bunch of ravens.


    "Huh? Where did thesee from?" Liam was perplexed. He had a vaguely familiar feeling on seeing these birds, but he couldn''t exactly ce his finger on it.


    He watched as the birds dislodged themselves from the ground and once again began attacking him, but now that he knew they were there, things were very different.


    Liam casually moved, his feet tracking different patterns and his body bending at various angles. It was a child''s y for him to evade these birds.


    After ying around with them for a couple of seconds, he looked at the little fox, leisurely peeking out from his back.


    "Luna, you know what to do."


    Liam took out a big metallic cage from his inventory space and then tossed it out.


    The little fox''s eyes sparkled on seeing this, and she got to work quickly.


    BOOM. BOOM. POW. POW.


    In a few minutes, the ravens were all banged up and packed neatly inside the metal cage, not one of them dead or wasted.


    Liam patted the little fox, genuinely impressed with her work.


    The ravens were around Level 30 while Luna was only Level 11, and yet the little thing had made a quick work of them.


    "Good girl. Good girl. Here have some more meatballs." Liam took out thest few meatballs from his inventory space and gave them to the fox.


    "I need to ask Shen Yue for more."


    His gaze shifted from the fox, who was grinning from ear to ear happily, to the cage full of ravens, all of them having a terrified expression.


    "Time to practice forging."


    Liam grabbed the cage, settled on an isted spot, and started his daily training.


    This time he did not even have to look for the ingredients. They had literally fallen out of the sky. He let out azy yawn and grabbed the first bird in his hand.


    He used [Throat Grasp] to remove the remaining health and finish the bird off.


    And as usual, the small soul bead popped out of the ck raven.


    Liam immediately manipted the mana in the air around him to engulf the bead and started the forging process.


    Compared to how he struggled to forge the demonic imps, this was extremely simple and easy.


    He felt as if he could do this even if he were not focussingpletely on the forging. It felt second nature to him to mold and refine the small soul bead.


    His progress in this technique and how far he hade were very obvious. Liam''s gaze flickered in excitement, but he still patiently continued the work.


    DANG. DANG. DANG. DANG.


    Dull sounds echoed as the soul bead was slowly refined.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­ as Liam was calmly going about his business¡­ the entire world, both inside and outside, descended into chaos.


    At first, the sh headlines and online forums exploded with the news about thetest guild achievements of ''Crimson Abyss.''


    Though these achievements were not a huge deal, the impact was explosive mainly because no one else had figured out a way to develop their guild residences to such an extent.


    So everyone was curious as to how the residence would look, how everything would turn out, and what exclusive benefits they might receive.


    Even the look of the building was highly anticipated as this was the first S-Rank guild throughout the entirety of the game, including multiple kingdoms and empires.


    Because of this new development, another tide of yers began lining up to join the guild.


    The fact that other guild yers were hunting down the Crimson Abyss guild members also seemed to slip everyone''s minds conveniently.


    With such an overwhelming incentive to join the guild, dying once or twice seemed trivial.


    So everyone excitedly discussed the prospects of joining the guild and how much they would be able to gain if they did.


    Not to mention, a guild residence took only a couple of hours to be fully constructed.


    This made the excitement and fervor that much more exaggerated with even bets being ced as to where the location might be.


    Surprisingly, this information was rather secretive as no one seemed to know the answer. Rather, the people who knew about this were busy doing something else.


    And just like these yers, there was also another set of yers who were very busy and couldn''t care less about the new guild residence being erected.


    These were the yers who belonged to six small no-name guilds in the Gresh Kingdom.


    At the moment, these six guilds were all going all out in preparation for entering the spatial rift and for fighting against the demons.


    They did not hold back as they sent in-game notifications and real-world emails to all their guild members, calling everyone to assemble.


    Not only that but they also used all of their guild reserves, top-tier equipment, at least the ones they could afford, and prepared all sorts of things including potions and other consumables.


    They pulled out all the stops and fired on all cylinders, not sparing a single expense.


    They acted in a mad frenzy as if they were spurred from seeing the constant achievement notifications of the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild.


    Why should that guild alone hog all the achievements?


    The world might not know but the hot and trending guild at the moment had actuallye and fallen at their feet, begging for a truce.


    If ''Crimson Abyss'' can be so popr overnight because of a few achievements, their guilds could also be as popr!


    With the fire to win and promote themselves, all the six guilds worked tirelessly.


    They knew that they had only one chance to attempt this properly with their full force so the guilds took their time preparing.


    Though they wanted to seed at all costs, they did not want to act rashly and fail even with the answer ket to the question in their hands.


    There would be nothing more shameful than this.


    However, this was only the six small guilds.


    The seventh guild, the Assassins guild, who had also received the information from Liam did not think along those lines.


    Liam only mentioned it once, but Abraki was quick to catch the point.


    He only made adequate preparations and started the spatial rift as soon as possible without dying things.


    They were also very hush-hush and silent about it, with Abraki ordering everyone to keep a tight lid on things so no one knew that they were already starting.


    Only when a couple more hours passed by just like that uneventfully, suddenly an unexpected achievement popped out in front of everyone inside the game.


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions. ''Assassins'' guild has conquered a Spatial Rift.]


    [As the second guild to conquer a spatial rift and defeat the demons, 1000 gold coins have been rewarded, and 1000 fame points have been awarded. This grand achievement will be etched in history.]


    [DING. WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: Congrattions. ''Assassins'' guild has conquered a Spatial Rift.]


    [As the second guild to conquer a spatial rift and defeat the demons, 1000 gold coins have been rewarded, and 1000 fame points have been awarded. This grand achievement will be etched in history.]

 Chapter 376 - Everything is leaked!

    Chapter 376 - Everything is leaked!


    Everyone was utterly stupified on seeing the two notifications ring one after the other.


    ''Evolution Online'' was not a simple game at all. The whole world was somehow currently involved in the game.


    Many corporations were starting to invest money and manpower.


    Even governments were beginning to take notice and trying to pull some threads behind the scene to control the game environment and the various guilds in the game.


    However, in thisplicated ecosystem, suddenly two guilds from the same Kingdom managed to get the same achievement, nabbing the first and second ces?


    That too, this achievement was not anything ordinary. It was in the event that was on fire at the moment, the demon invasions!


    How could a coincidence like this exist?


    Surely, one guild must have leaked some sort of a strategy to the other.


    There was simply no other possibility. Both guilds must be coordinating with each other in one way or the other.


    It didn''t take long for everyone to realize this, and all the online media exploded with this news.


    Inside the game as well the major guilds started mobilizing to gather more information.


    Once might be a fluke but two times in a row was something that couldn''t be overlooked.


    Everyone began hurriedly contacting the guild leader and other guild members of the two guilds, trying to buy or extort the information somehow.


    At the same time, the six other guilds who were nning to start attempting the spatial rifts also became rmed.


    It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on their heads.


    While they were taking their time, making sure that their preparations were perfect, another guild had already gone ahead and sessfully obtained the achievement!


    If only they hadn''t dyed so much, they could have been the ones to bag this one!


    It was a narrowly missed opportunity and it filled their hearts with bitterness and regret.


    As soon as the achievement notifications rang loudly, three of the six small guilds immediately started their spatial rift invasion.


    The other three coincidentally decided to sell the information in their hands first before starting their own expedition.


    Before, they hesitated to sell this information because they did not know if this was correct or incorrect and, more importantly, if anyone would trust them.


    But now that the Assassins Guild had achieved the same feat, they boldly and confidently began spreading the news.


    Among the different guilds, the Rising Dragon guild in particr went one step too far.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­ in a quiet part of the forests on the outskirts of the royal city, a person was calmly finishing the forging of thest ck raven.


    It took a couple of hours, and Liam also tried a few variations and practiced a few things, so only now he was done with the forging of the dozen ravens.


    He looked contently at the twelve bird ghosts standing in front of him, all of them emitting a fierce ominous aura.


    "Not bad. Not bad at all."


    "Hmmm¡­ It''s about time¡­ things should be¡­"


    Liam grinned and then casually flicked open the system interface to see if the drama had begun.


    Just as he thought, his inbox was blowing up with messages.


    He stared at the various messages he had received, a couple from people he knew but mostly from strangers whom he had no intention of replying.


    Liam opened the messages from Alex and Berat first.


    "Only these two messaged me? Good. Good. It means that the others are still busy in theher realm. Mia should also be doing that quest."


    He opened the message from Alex first.


    She had sent him a few screenshots, and in that people were messaging her to see if she was willing to sell the strategy for less than 5000 gold coins as that was the going market rate.


    "5000 gold coins? Heh. What a bunch of greedy little pigs. The higher you fly the faster you will fall!" Liam chuckled and then sent her the response.


    "Don''t reply to anyone."


    Ding! Alex immediately messaged Liam back in a hurry.


    "Hey, what happened? Everyone is sharing our strategy openly! Everything is online! That Assassin''s guild also got a clear achievement. What is going on? Are you aware of this?"


    "Yes, I know everything that is happening. You can say that I am behind all of this in a way."


    "What? Do you have some sort of n? I mean, at this rate, won''t people discover about theher realm easily? Won''t that be bad for us?"


    Liam could hear the woman''s panic even in her words.


    "Rx. Nothing like that will happen. Just don''t respond to any messages or anyone and watch the show."


    On the other end, Alex was going crazy. "Rx! How am I supposed to rx?"


    But she knew this person too well now to ever doubt his words. She only wished that the demon would exin things to her once in a while.


    She typed a few things, erased them, typed again, and finally, after a few seconds, sent another message.


    "One of the guilds, Rising Dragon, is iming that we surrendered to them and that''s why they have ess to our fighting strategy."


    She expected some sort of response from Liam at least for that since she knew that he was a prideful person, but Liam only shamelessly grinned.


    "Oh? That''s nice of them to take the fall like that." He replied to her.


    "Huh? I am not able to understand anything. I have no idea what is happening." Alex finally folded.


    "Just wait a few more minutes and everything should be clear," Liam replied and then added. "Don''t you want to see our guild residence? If you are free, you should join me."


    He also sent the same message to Berat whom he had not seen in a while and asked the two of them to meet at the location of their new guild residence.


    Liam then picked up Luna from the ground, who had fallen into a deep sleep, and pinched her neck, waking her up. "Let''s go."


    Kyuuuu.


    The small fox sleepily nodded. In the next second her size unexpectedly became several times bigger and a big white bed appeared in front of Liam.


    "He He." Liam smiled and climbed the cute fox.


    He could have also used Talon to fly around but sitting on the soft-furred fox was much more convenient than the wind ripper with the metal wings.


    He dismissed the soul ravens and soon the fox kicked its hindlegs and rose up into the sky. Talon as well pped his wings, and the group started moving towards the southern part of the Kingdom.

 Chapter 377 - Raven Chum

    Chapter 377 - Raven Chum


    In the vast blue afternoon sky, a huge snow-white fox was peacefully floating in the air, the giant furball putting the soft and fluffy clouds to shame.


    Atop this furball, there was a man, only barely visible, as he was sunk into the white fluffy bed. He seemed to be in a state of deep heavenly sleep that could make anyone jealous.


    However, all of a sudden, this wholesome calm scene was disturbed.


    KRAA! KRAA! KRAA! KRAA!


    A dozen ravens appeared out of nowhere, seemingly descended from the heavens above, and started attacking chaotically.


    "Again?" Liam''s eyes shed with a murderous glint as he swung his sword around, shing at the pitch-ck birds.


    And this time, they were not merely Level 20 birds.


    They were around Level 30 and clearly had the potential to do sizeable damage and perhaps even magic.


    As if answering his own thoughts, Liam also noticed tiny wisps of ck smoke around these ravens.


    "Not good." He quicklymanded Luna to head down to safety before anything more unexpected happened.


    The fox growled as she flung aside a couple of ravens that were pecking at her from the side relentlessly and then plunged to the ground headfirst.


    Even whenpared to these Level 30 beasts, her movements were more agile and swift and she was easily able to maneuver, giving the bunch of squawking ravens the slip.


    She dove down like a bullet, and just before shended on the ground, Liam quickly jumped off of her.


    He did not want to give the ravens any chance to recover. So before he even bnced himself, he started sting the birds with fire bullets.


    The ravens who were right on their tail were utterly caught off guard. It was not as if they could change their direction without losing their speed.


    And when they did this, they became even easier targets to Liam.


    He did not hold back and sent out sharp arrows made of ice that urately pierced the birds right beneath their skull in their weak vital point and killed them instantly.


    THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.


    The entire fight had onlysted for a minute, and the dozen ravens dropped down to the ground, one after the other, dead and lifeless.


    "Where did these evene from?" Liam let out a small breath, looking at the dead birds.


    And like clockwork, familiar small bluish-white soul beads started popping out of the dead ravens.


    Liam suddenly had an idea. He quickly settled on the stony ground they hadnded on and focused on the soul beads.


    Not one at a time like he did before.


    Instead, this time he tried to focus on multiple beads.


    "One¡­ two¡­ three¡­" Liam gritted his teeth and counted, and soon, just like before, he started feeling the huge weight and pressure on his body.


    "So three is my limit?"


    He did not mind it as this was already a huge improvement from before.


    Also, even if it was only three, all he had done so far was sense them. He still had to smother them in mana and chisel them into living soul undeads. That was a long way to go.


    Liam let out and sucked in strained breaths of air as he continued holding these three soul beads in ce.


    He manipted mana into tiny hammers and started refining and forging them.


    Though he had already done each of these steps hundreds of times now, handling more than one soul-bead was a lot different.


    The difficulty was exponentially increased, and his mental strength was also getting drained a lot faster.


    However, despite zig-zagging on the edge, Liam somehow mustered enough strength to bring it back home.


    A few minutester, all three shiny beads were forged to perfection.


    They thrummed alive in his palm and then expanded to be the ominous vicious ravens he had fought before.


    KRAAA! KRAAA! KRAAA!


    Liam looked at the birds tiredly as if he had personally birthed them which wasn''t too far off the mark.


    He was making steady and small improvements in his forging, which was satisfactory.


    With only limited knowledge and no proper guidance, he was content as long as his skill did not stagnate and reach a roadblock.


    Liam retrieved a canteen from his inventory space and drank some water.


    He then tossed in a few recovery berries and gave onest look at the ravens before dismissing these as well.


    "Hmmm¡­ This is the second time I am being attacked by ravens¡­" Liam ruffled his hair and stood up to look around. "I don''t think I am in the territory of ck ravens¡­"


    "Just what is going on?"


    He walked over and patted Luna as he once again climbed onto the huge white fox, and the duo continued their journey.


    Talon wasgging behind them quite a bit but because of the fight, by the time they were up in the air, the wind ripper had caught up to them and the group once again resumed their journey.


    They were almost close to the location, so Liam did not bother resting this time. He also had an unsettling itch at the back of his mind thinking about the ravens.


    A few more minutes passed by in silence when thendscape under them suddenly changed.


    The lush green forests that were full of life earlier now disappeared, to be reced by dry and dreary withered trees and thorny brambles.


    Death and disease gued the surroundings. Everything in the near vicinity was the same. It looked as if someone had sucked every single ounce of life from this territory.


    Even a strong stench of death and decay floated in the air, swimming around in all the nooks and corners.


    Liam took a big whiff of this nauseating pungent air and grinned in amusement. "We are here, Luna."


    Kyuuuu¡­


    The white fox nodded in response, squirming and squiggling her nose in difort.


    And in front of them,id a majestic ptial building, sprawled across the huge expanse of deands.

 Chapter 378 - New Guild Residence

    Chapter 378 - New Guild Residence


    As Luna circled the hugepound a couple of times, Liam eyed the spread of the different buildings underneath them.


    They all looked grand with a marble exterior inteced with gold patterns.


    From its looks, it seemed like each profession had its building, and the smallest one was already five stories tall.


    "Impressive," Liam murmured, taking it all in. Just the exterior was awe-inspiring.


    He had only seen pictures before. He never had the chance to visit an S-Rank guild in person in hisst lifetime.


    "Let''s go in, Luna."


    Kyuuuuu.


    The white fox shook her head and floated down tond near the main gate.


    Two Level 30 guards were standing at the gate who immediately bowed in front of Liam and then stepped away.


    He as well nodded at them.


    "So a basic edition guild just gets me Level 30 guards, huh?" He took a look around, and the few guards he spotted were all at the same level.


    Though it was inconvenient to have Level 30 guards standing around thepound when the guild was located in a Level 40 region, this was already a better deal than what other guilds were getting.


    Only S-Rank guilds received these ''free'' NPCs like the guards. So Liam did notin and kept walking.


    As he headed down the main path, he saw a few yers standing around at the entrance of the main guild residence and discussing.


    "Oh my god, are you serious? Is this a guild residence? Why does it look like a city?"


    "Did you do the full tour yet? There are so many different buildings!"


    "He He. Wait till I tell my friends in the so-called top guilds about this. They were showing offst time. Mu ha ha ha. Now it''s my time."


    "Did you go in and see, by the way?"


    "Hmmm. That is still a problem. I am only able to ess the halls and the ground floors of the different buildings. I am not able to go to the higher floors."


    "Ya, me too."


    "I think we need more guild contribution points."


    "It looks like it, but we can get quests already. So it should be an easy grind. Alright. I am going to get more quests now."


    Liam chuckled as he walked by the bunch of excited yers who barely noticed him as they were in their world.


    He first headed straight to the stables to give Talon a proper ce to rest.


    Unlike Luna, who he doted on constantly, the poor guy never asked him for anything and had even leveled up all the way to 34 all on his own.


    Though the wind-ripper bird did not have much potential growth-wise, he liked his innate attitude to grow and be stronger.


    He brought the two over to the stables, where a couple of NPCs were leisurely arranging some things. There weren''t any beasts in the stables yet so they did not have much work to do.


    However, on seeing Liam, their behavior quickly changed.


    The yers might not recognize him but all the NPCs working in the guild residence were already aware of Liam''s status.


    They quickly stiffened up and waited for his instructions.


    Liam patted Talon and smiled at the men. "Take care of this wind-ripper for me. He will be staying here for a while."


    Squawk Squawk


    Talon let out a couple of low noises and then walked into the grounds, choosing a spot on its own. He thenid downfortably on a hay bale stack that was spread out like a mattress.


    "Good boy." Liam patted the wind-ripper and then shifted his gaze to the second beast in his possession.


    The little furry thing already had a suspicious look on her face. Her gaze met Liam''s, and she instantly understood what he was nning to do.


    SHAKE. SHAKE. SHAKE. SHAKE.


    Kyuuuuu!


    The white fox dramatically shook her head and bolted out of the stables. Clearly, she did not want to rest here along with Talon.


    She jumped around here and there like a cat with its tail on fire and thenstly jumped onto Liam''s back again, holding on for dear life.


    The two stable keepers watched this scene in utter shock.


    This was the first time they were seeing a tamed beast behave in this fashion. They couldn''t understand what was happening.


    Judging from their dazed looks, Liam could already discern their experience. Once again, these two were just trainer beast tamers at most.


    Whenpared to the loli beastmaster Seraphina, these two were probably only good for keeping a check on the overall physical well-being of the beasts.


    Of course, nothing more could be expected from a basic guild model. Though the facilities and general ambiance were top-notch as he paid for them, the NPCs were still low-leveled.


    "Hmmm. I will work on thister." Liam made a mental note and kept walking.


    Scowling at the stables from behind his back, Luna let out a big sigh of relief and slumpedfortably, curling around Liam''s neck like a winter shawl.


    He also did not force her and onlyughed in amusement. All her mannerisms were undeniably bing more and more human-like.


    The duo then proceeded to walk into the guild''s main residence where some more people had gathered now.


    Luckily, the guild residence was located far away from the main cities and on the outer edge of the Kingdom, where the level requirement was higher.


    Otherwise, the entire ce would have gotten chaotic with a flood of yers barging into the guildpound due to the recent poprity.


    Liam casually walked by the few yers and entered the huge hall of the main residence.


    In this ce, there were a fewfortable seating areas, lounge areas, and a couple of NPC waitresses distributing drinks.


    The interior looked extremely luxurious, like a 5-star resort.


    This was also the first time for Liam to look at ces like this so he took his time looking around and then walked further into the hall where a huge door led to the main corridor.

 Chapter 379 - Everyone is getting massacred

    Chapter 379 - Everyone is getting massacred


    The long corridor branched into several rooms, and one of the room doors was wide open.


    "This must be where they are." Liam walked over, and he saw Alex and Berat sitting inside.


    The duo saw him too, and Berat immediately shot up from his seat, waving his hand vigorously. "Boss Liam, we are here! We are here! Please don''t go."


    Thest few words came out very quietly, but both parties heard him. Alex rolled her eyes, and Liam chuckled.


    However, he did not stop there and prickled her a bit more. "What happened? Did you scare Berat too much?"


    "Excuse me? Are you sure you should be asking me this question! You are the one who is scary!" Alex chewed her lips and turned her head to send another re to Berat.


    The poor guy got even more spooked and startedughing awkwardly. "Boss, please don''t joke anymore." He did not have enough strength to bear this kind of dangerous humor.


    "Ah, I have some more gold coins with me from thest transaction. Shall I send it to you to now or put it in the guild vault?" He quickly changed the subject.


    "Mmmm. Keep sending it to me." These funds were his personal funds and he did not want to mix them both unless required.


    The two of them finished the transaction while Alex sat quietly and finished the drink in her hand.


    "Done, boss. I sent everything. When is the next batch arriving?" Berat rubbed his hands and asked.


    "Should be soon," Liam said as he sat down. "Did you both take the tour yet?"


    "AH! YESSS! Boss, this guild residence is amazing!!! I didn''t expect S-Rank to be so awesome. Did you see other guild residences? They are all living in the slumpared to us."


    "The cooking hall, the alchemyboratory, even the massage parlor!" Berat grinned ear to ear as he continued rambling on.


    Liam as well simply smiled and continued patiently listening as if he was not in any sort of hurry.


    Only Alex was restless and shifted in her seat. It was a rare opportunity to meet with this guy like this and she couldn''t believe that it was being wasted away talking about random nonsense.


    She waited a couple of minutes but eventually set her ss on the table and looked at Liam firmly.


    "Why are you grumpy? Did you not like the guild residence?" Liam chuckled.


    "I¡­ ummm. What? I am not grumpy. Who said I am? I mean, I also like the guild residence. A lot. Though honestly, we could have done without the massage parlor."


    "Eh? A massage parlor is important." Liam shook his head resolutely with a smirk.


    He was about to add something, which clearly was going to be inappropriate so Alex jumped the gun and interrupted him.


    "Can we please talk about some important issues first?"


    Liam raised his brows and smiled. He already knew what she wanted to talk about. "Ok sure? Is this about the spatial rifts again?" He asked.


    However, unexpectedly Alex shook her head, "No."


    "Hmmm?"


    "This is about guild recruitment. Have you seen the numbers? At this rate, we are going to get overrun!"


    "I see." Liam nodded, still with a smile.


    "Huh? I am not saying this happily."


    "We should do something to tone it down. Most of these people arepletely useless. If we make our guild too bloated with this kind of people, it won''t end well."


    "Ipletely agree. No arguments here." Liam shed another smile.


    "Huh? I-" Alex opened and closed her mouth wordlessly.


    She took another breath, paused for a second and then continued. "Ummm¡­ Ok, so one suggestion I have is to open the ''inner guild membership'' to the public?"


    "This can help us solidify some sort of base numbers?"


    "Too many people areing and going. If we don''t do something to stabilize soon, things are going to be difficult." She suggested.


    This was the best option they had avable. If they could organize more dungeon runs and raiding parties with these trustworthy inner members, they could grow solidly.


    The sooner they do this, the better. She had already been itching to do this and was only waiting for Liam''s ''yes.''


    She even opened the system interface when discussing and looked at Liam, fully expecting him to agree to this as well.


    However, unexpectedly, Liam simply shook his head. "Oh about that. Leave it for now. We are not opening that yet."


    Alex almost spat out the drink in her mouth. "What? Why? Shouldn''t we separate inner and outer members and incentivize inner members more so that everyone would work harder?"


    "No." Liam replied tly.


    "I¡­ I think you are wrong. What is the point of putting in this feature if we are not going to use it?"


    "Nope."


    "Can you give me a reason?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "It would be nice if you did that once in a while!"


    "..."


    Clearly, the tension was increasing and Berat who was sitting quietly near the duo and watching their discussion started sweating.


    It was toote for him to leave the room. Or was it?


    Just as he fidgeted with his fingers and shifted awkwardly, suddenly he saw Liam get up and walk over to reach for another drink.


    And when he returned, he flicked Alex''s forehead and casually replied, "Do you want to be a mass murderer or what?"


    "Don''t you know what would happen when we open up that feature for everyone?" He shook his head and sat back down, taking a few sips.


    Berat was utterly confused.


    He looked at Alex to see if she understood something, and surprisingly she also had a confused expression which quickly turned to one of realization.


    "Ah. I didn''t think about this." She lightly nodded.


    "Hmmm¡­ what you said is not wrong, but leave things be for now. In a few weeks, some truths shoulde out, and at that time, we can set our use as well."


    "Otherwise, there would be unnecessary friction with the government and things might be messy. Do you understand?"


    "Yes, sorry." Alex hurriedly nodded again. She definitely did not think about this aspect. Even imagining the consequences was scary.


    Berat still looked confused, no longer understanding what was going on. Was he missing something obvious?


    He steeled his nerves and decided to voice out his doubts rather than remaining dumb. "Boss, what is this? What government? Are we doing something wrong?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam turned to look at him. He then added a few words with a stern look. "If people took a soul oath and betray us anyway, what will happen?"


    "They will die?"


    "Yes, that''s right. And if a huge number of people die, won''t the government question us?"


    "Ah¡­ government¡­?" Berat still did not understand. "Wait¡­ why will the government get involved?"


    Then the words slowly sunk into his brain, and he asked again. "They will only die inside the¡­ game? Right?"


    With his eyes widened like big footballs, he looked at Liam and then at Alex.


    The two continued casually sipping their drinks, not caring in the least about what they had just spoken about.


    "They will die only inside the game right?" Berat gulped.


    "What do you think?" Liam chuckled wryly and then stood up.


    "Alright, I have some things to finish up. Alex, why don''t you fill him in? Also, in a while, some things will happen. It''s best to stay calm and do nothing."


    "Huh? Is this about the spatial rifts?" Alex had a bad feeling.


    "Yup," Liam answered and then walked away.


    He had only just left the room when Alex received another message.


    "Boss! Big NEWS! Something is happening. All the other guilds are getting massacred in the spatial rifts!"


    "What the hell¡­?"


    Alex looked up at Berat, and now both of them looked utterly shocked, though for very different reasons.

 Chapter 380 - Back to training

    Chapter 380 - Back to training


    "Boss, I heard from my different sources that five guilds have wiped out in the spatial rift at record time."


    "That too, three out of those five guilds have directly purchased the method to clear the rifts from our guild."


    "They are using the same method that we used, but they are dropping like flies. Everything is a big mess. Several people have startedining about this."


    "No one knows what is going on."


    Alex read all of the messages calmly and then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, recollecting what Liam had said right before leaving.


    So this is what he meant?


    Was this all nned out from the very beginning?


    Now that she thought about it, the fact that Liam was so generous in revealing their strategy and letting it spread like a virus among the general public was a little out of character.


    Since when was he generous and easygoing?


    These people dared to trust a wolf in wolf''s clothing, so they really had no one to me but themselves.


    The more she thought about it, the clearer everything became.


    Knowing that this person was capable ofmanding an army of demons, it was not impossible at all¡­ at least for him to manipte everything in this fashion.


    But even so, that was just a small number of demons, but this was several armies, infinite demons. Could he possibly have some sort of pull over the entire demon world?


    Alex shuddered. Just the thought of such a possibility was too¡­ terrifying!


    While the whole world was scrambling to get a foothold in this new world, this person was already close to ruling it?


    And she was nning on making an enemy out of this person.


    How foolish she had been!


    She smiled bitterly. Hindsight was always 20-20. There was no point in thinking about all of that now. The past was the past, and the future was the future.


    She clenched her fists and stood up to head to the divine temple once again.


    When everyone was bing more and more powerful with every passing second, she couldn''t afford tog behind.


    "I need to do better. Rey''s life depends on it." Alex muttered under her breath and dashed out of the room in a hurry.


    Only Berat was now left behind, and he dumbly stared at the open door, blinking in confusion, still stuck at a previous time point.


    "They die only inside the game, right?" He repeated the same question again with a nk look on his face, but now the answer was abundantly clear to him¡­


    Meanwhile¡­


    One human and one white fox stood in front of one of the shinier buildings in the entirepound, the alchemyboratory.


    After staring at the exterior for a couple of seconds, the duo went inside the building.


    Liam walked past the luxurious halls and the different rooms and directly took a staircase that led to the highest floor in the building, the tenth floor.


    This level contained the best-grade items and raw materials and was exclusively reserved for the core guild members.


    Though everything around him was dazzling and spectacr, Liam continued walking absent-mindedly.


    He did not have time to stop and smell the herbs or admire the environment. Other thoughts were swirling in his mind.


    More specifically¡­ the Level 50 milestone and theplete extra-strength deep cleansing he needed to do when he reached that level.


    This thing had always been an itch at the back of his mind for so long for various reasons.


    The vagueness of the quest chain, his insufficient knowledge of the quest details, and the difficulty in sessfully being able to concoct such a grand supreme elixir.


    He absolutely had no confidence in achieving 100% sess when it came to this.


    Just like the other yers, he would also be attempting most things for the first time when it came to this specific quest. The end result was anyone''s guess.


    Not to mention the difficulty in leveling up alchemy talent past the mastery threshold. He had no doubt that this was going to be an uphill task.


    Nevertheless, he was here and now he was finally going to take care of it.


    Liam walked into one of the practice chambers and closed the door behind him.


    The inside of the chamber was huge and spacious and had big windows from where he could almost see the boundary of the deands.


    This was the second reason why he needed to bring up his alchemy level and fish for more recipes.


    Shortly after he entered the chamber, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in?" Liam snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to see a young woman standing at the doorstep.


    "Hmmm?"


    "My Lord, I am Seeka. I am here to assist you today." The young woman bowed respectfully.


    Was this another perk of the upgraded alchemy building? Liam nodded and then instructed the woman to arrange everything he needed.


    This was also convenient. While the assistant tidied up and ced all the ducks in a row, Liam opened the system interface to take a look at his progress.


    He stared at his pitiful Intermediate Level alchemy rank and his even more pitiful list of avable alchemy recipes with a heavy heart.


    Without any attention, it had really stagnated a lot.


    "Tsk. Time to change this." Liam clicked his tongue and closed everything to sit downfortably in front of the cauldron.


    Thankfully, he did not have to go out and hunt for recipe drops just yet.


    He still had a few recipe books from the time Mei Mei and Shen Yue were camping the elites and hunting them repeatedly.


    Liam took out the first recipe book from his inventory space and learned it properly.


    [Rage potion]: The user enters a frenzied state for 30 seconds; All stats are increased by 5%; There is a small chance to break free from control skills;


    "This is a good one that I can use. I will start with this."

 Chapter 381 - Boss Luna

    <h4>Chapter 381 - Boss Luna</h4>


    [Ding. Your chance of sess in crafting is increased by 10%]


    Liam closed the notification as he adjusted his seated position. He was currently sitting amidst several packets of herbs, flowers, and pails of clean water.


    In front of him, there was a huge cauldron with mysterious engravings.


    On his right side, there was a small white fox peacefully sleeping, light snores leaking out of her tiny mouth.


    And on his left side, Seeka, the attendant for the room, was standing obediently. "Sir, I finished preparing everything." She informed Liam.


    "Alright, first pour the water in."


    The woman nodded and emptied three pails of clean water into the cauldron. She then brought over the first bundle of herbs that Liam would be needing.


    "Mmmm. ce it here."


    Liam cracked his fingers and then circted the mana in his body, cing his palm on the cauldron to activate.


    Unlike before, he did not intend to use the runic inscription on the cauldron to regte the heat inside the concoction.


    This time he personally wanted to drive the process.


    Though this would require more mental effort, more control over his mana usage, and also a lot more mana overall, it was still best to choose this method rather than the automatic method.


    This was because Liam was already at the Intermediate level in alchemy.


    To progress any further, he needed to concoct potions a grade above than the basic potion recipes he had been using thus far.


    Only low-grade and above would be effective and give the result he wanted in the shortest time possible.


    He would need to concoct a hundred basic potions to get the same experience as concocting a single low-grade potion.


    Of course, he could try and create high-grade potions for even better efficiency, but that would only give the opposite result.


    With the increase in grade, one''s chance of failure also simultaneously increased, especially when using basic methods like automatic regtion of the cauldron.


    At the same time, manual regtion of the temperature with mana was also extremely difficult as some of the herbs, and ingredients in higher-grade potions needed a very fine touch.


    Even a quarter degree above or below might result in the failure of the concoction.


    So taking into consideration all these things, an alchemy practitioner was required to pay attention to everything holistically in order to improve himself.


    Liam closed his eyes and only focused on the mana flowing through his palm. He could already feel the difference in everything both within him and the cauldron he was touching.


    Compared to the very first time that he had attempted this when brewing the body cleansing potion, his condition right now was like heaven and earth.


    He could feel every inch of the cauldron and the water that was beginning to boil within. It was almost like an extension of himself.


    His state of focus was also at peak, so not wanting to disturb this near perfect condition, he quickly spoke, his eyes still closed.


    "Throw in the first batch of herbs."


    Seeka, the female NPC, who was standing on the side and dazedly admiring Liam''s technique, was startled by his sudden words.


    She was only a beginner apprentice practitioner. So she gulped nervously and hesitated.


    "What are you waiting for?" Liam once againmanded.


    This time she quickly hurried up and tossed the herbs inside the boiling liquid. However, the ideal temperature was already missed, and the liquid bubbled out in an unsightly froth.


    "Hmmmm." Liam opened his eyes and looked at the mess.


    "Master, I am sorry. Please forgive me." Seeka immediately fell on Liam''s feet and started crying.


    "Huh?" Liam was confused as he looked at the young woman. She had a simple appearance and wore themon attire that non-noble people used.


    "This is not your fault. I do not have enough control yet." Liam took pity on her and said a few kind words.


    This wasn''t entirely untrue. If he had better control, he would be able to both regte the cauldron and add the herbs all on his own.


    Since he did not have that level of control yet, he needed another person''s assistance to get a better chance of sess.


    Liam looked at the young woman who was aplete mess. She was shaking from top to bottom still affected by the previous try.


    He let out a small sigh. He was already running out of time and couldn''t afford to spend some to train someone else from scratch.


    "Hmmmm¡­" He quietly pondered as his gaze shifted to the white fox sleeping peacefully.


    Liam scooped up some froth from the floor and flicked it onto the beast which immediately dirtied the snow white immacte fur.


    Kyuuuuu!


    Luna woke up with a whine, her crystal blue eyes blinking innocently as she stared at the culprit who disturbed her sleep.


    "Get up. I need you to do something." Liam grinned wickedly.


    Kyuuuuu?


    A couple of minutester¡­


    Seeka covered her mouth with her palm as stood at the back, almost sticking to the wall, her eyes glued onto the miracle that was happening in front of her.


    A big white fox with three fluffy tails stood near the cauldron, holding a bundle of herbs in her paw.


    "Now." The human being doing the actual concoction would mutter once in a while and the fox as well would promptly toss the herbs into the cauldron.


    It was extremely humiliating and humbling at the same time to see a less intelligent beast do the things that she managed to fumble and mess up.


    But it also gave her confidence.


    As amoner, her life had not been easy and she was always waiting for a chance to break free from the shackles of her birth.


    And now, she finally had the chance to do so.


    After a few minutes, she recovered from her initial shock. Her eyes shone with resolution as she pped her cheeks, wiped her face, and took a step forward.


    She might not have enough talents and messed up the opportunity to be the assistant of this esteemed person.


    But¡­ she still could be an assistant for this fox!


    Someone else might consider this a step down and an embarrassment. However, to her, the fox looked dazzling. Especially, the eyes of the beast had a profound depth.


    Even if shecked the experience to be the expert''s aide, she was determined to impress this fox expert.


    "I can do it." Seeka stepped forward and tidied up the things around them so that the fox could ess everything easier.


    This definitely made the process a bit smoother, so Luna did not stop her.


    And thus¡­ on this fateful day, Luna somehow hoodwinked a person into bing her first follower.

 Chapter 382 - Preparing baths for everyone

    <h4>Chapter 382 - Preparing baths for everyone</h4>


    After the first mishap, the coordination of the group was a lot smoother, and Liam was finally able to concoct a sessful batch of low grade rage potions.


    [Ding. Low Grade Rage potion created]


    [Ding. Low Grade Rage potion created]


    [Ding. Low Grade Rage potion created]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    "So it takes about an hour, huh?" Liam sucked in a big breath of air and immediately started working on the second batch.


    This was also one of the reasons why he had not focussed on the crafting skills from the get go.


    Though they y an equally important role and probably contain several hidden gains and benefits, every single of them was time consuming and punishing.


    Thankfully, he had the passive experience gain to be able to focus on this matter more freely. He would have done it irrespectively, but his level was at least not stagnating this way.


    Liam did not bother cleaning anything up and simply stood up to sit on another spot.


    Seeka hurried and arranged everything for a second batch, and this time she did not make any mistakes.


    "Good." Liam nodded and quickly started the process all over again.


    The fox helped him add the herbs as and when needed and Seeka bottled all the potions and stored them carefully.


    This saved Liam some time and he only focused on the concoction. Another hour passed by just like that, and the second batch of potions was also sessfullypleted.


    Once again, there was no failure.


    Liam closed his eyes, took a few breaths to feel refreshed, and immediately started working on the third batch.


    If this were before, he would have definitely felt drained after two hours of continuous mana maniption, but now it was different.


    Thanks to forging the undead souls constantly, his mental strength and willpower had tremendously improved.


    He felt as if he could keep going on and perhaps even attempt something moreplicated. Maybe a high grade potion¡­


    Pondering over this, Liam hurriedly finished the third batch of rage potions as well.


    Each batch was huge andted over 20 potion bottles. So in all, he managed to secure 65 rage potion bottles after working for 3 hours straight.


    Giving Seeka time to arrange everything properly, he then opened his system interface to see the list of alchemy recipes he had learned so far.


    [Basic Healing Potion]


    [Basic Mana Potion]


    [Basic Stamina Potion]


    [Basic Strength Potion]


    [Basic Agility Potion]


    [Basic Fire Resistance Potion]


    [Basic Anti Venom Potion]


    [Low Grade Body Cleansing Potion]


    [Low Grade Stealth potion]


    [Low Grade Anti Venom Potion]


    [Low Grade Water Breathing]


    [Low Grade Rage Potion]


    [Chrysanthemum Lethal Poison]


    [Nine-Color Paralyzing Poison]


    Liam''s gaze shifted from one recipe to another and in the end, he decided to go back to the very beginning. He chose the [Low Grade Body Cleansing Potion] again.


    This was also a low-grade potion and could currently help him increase his alchemy proficiency. Also, the only people who had consumed this potion were him, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei.


    The others, even Mia or Alex had not yet used this one.


    "Hmmm¡­ They might not be using this in the most optimal condition, but this should at least give some stat boost to the core group."


    So Liam decided to concoct a few more batches of this potion while he was still grinding his alchemy skill.


    This was also slightly less time-consuming than the rage potion, giving him a ten minute profit, so it fit his criteria perfectly.


    "Are you still here?" Liam sent a message to Alex and then quickly got to work.


    He fired up the cauldron once more. This time his movements were a lot more fluid whenpared to the previous times.


    He was finished warming up, and now he was ready to go.


    Ginseng. Maricharin. Linti root. Bonasitu¡­


    Liam tossed in one herb after the other, and a few minutester, the concoction was slowly inching to perfection.


    He had a couple of spare minutes, so he checked his messages. It looked like Alex had already left.


    "Never mind then." He had already considered this, so he didn''t care about it too much.


    After all, there were small bottles to store potions that were supposed to be simply drunk and big lidded vats to store the other kinds that needed to be dunked in.


    Liam quickly finished the rest of the brewing as well and called Seeka over to take care of the rest.


    This was the first time for the woman to handle something like this, but she bit her lips and got it done carefully.


    Liam nodded in satisfaction and proceeded to grind a few more of the body cleansing solution and tossed everything in the guild vault.


    Time slowly ticked by and before he realized he had already spent several hours cooped up in the small room.


    However, even though he had been continuously working, he still felt energetic. Luna as well looked aszy as ever. Only the apprentice girl was sweating buckets.


    "Ok, then. I will stop for now." Liam stood up and walked out.


    He flipped over his system interface and took note of the several notifications that he had received.


    His alchemy skill had upgraded quite a bit but he still did not receive the one that he was waiting for, the upgrade to the Master level.


    "At this rate, it is going to take a long time. This is not enough." He shook his head, talking to himself. Next to him, Luna rubbed her head against his leg, trying tofort him.


    "I need more recipes, better ones. I cannot keep grinding with the low grade ones. I need to take the next step and see if I can do it."


    Liam stopped, pausing for a couple of minutes, and stared at the distant scenery through the window.


    From the top floor, the view looked amazing and he knew where exactly he was going next.


    The rock temple dungeon!


    It was time to pay another visit to that dungeon!

 Chapter 383 - Who wants to do some PVPand ganking?

    <h4>Chapter 383 - Who wants to do some PVPand ganking?</h4>


    Inside the Crimson Abyss guild group¡­ chaos was reigning supreme!


    "Anyone heard anything from the guild higher-ups? What is going on?"


    "Every other guild isining about our guild."


    "What every guild? Literally, everyone online is bashing Crimson Abyss."


    "What the hell? I am getting death threats!"


    "What random guild is this? Where are all the higher-ups? Our guild''s name is being tarnished left and right, saying that we scammed everyone. Is anything being done about this?"


    "This is a trash guild."


    "What a useless guild! They are cheating by using money and buying everything nice. Other than the guild residence, which they basically paid for, there is absolutely nothing in this guild."


    "And even this money they got by scamming others. There is not a single thing honest about this ce. They are simply trying to cheat and get ahead."


    "Guys, be careful. I heard the higher ups are forcing guild members to cough up gold coins."


    "Trash guild. Trash guild. Trash guild."


    "If we stay in this guild, we are going to be hated by everyone and targeted left and right. I am leaving."


    "Me too."


    "Me too."


    "+1"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    When Liam opened the guild messaging area, he noticed that everything was aplete mess.


    It wasn''t too serious, but just that some haters had managed to get in, and they were spreading negativity and unnecessarily adding kerosene to the fire.


    Liam simply chuckled at this sight.


    He was quite sure that Berat was still recovering from the harsh truth he had learned about or was dumped on him recently.


    It would be nice if he had the time to sit everyone down and personally convey the bad news or good news.


    Unfortunately, no one had the time for that, and he had to cope on his own.


    And Liam did not mind if he took a few hours to do that.


    Moreover, this much blowback was still not the peak. He expected things to explode a lot more.


    After all, he had single-handedly caused multiple guilds to wipe out. Why wouldn''t everyone be furious?


    In fact, some of the members who wereining loudly right now were probably spies. Not all, but definitely a majority.


    And of course, there were always a few who liked to sow chaos without any reason to watch everything burn.


    There was no point in thinking about that kind of entity.


    The real task would be to distill out any valuable yers from this group of randomness and add them to the core team of the guild.


    Since Liam was nning to spend some time scouring for resources, he decided to take care of this as well.


    Walking out of the guild residence, he casually gave another look at the chaos in the guild chat, and then he started typing.


    Of course, he had no intentions of doing anything to calm down this chaos. Instead, he tossed another match inside.


    "Who wants to do some PVP and ganking?"


    And all of a sudden¡­ the guild chat that waspletely rowdy just a second ago now stopped,ing to a total halt.


    Every single person who was chatting at the moment recognized the name of the person who had sent thest message.


    They also knew that he was the current most mysterious person in the entire ''Evolution Online'' game, unshakeably upying the leaderboard number 1 ranking spot!


    It had now been several days since the game was released and no one had been able to dethrone him right from the beginning until now.


    This alone spoke volumes about this man''s undeniable strength, power, and prowess and now this expert was messaging in the guild group!


    Such an unimaginable thing happened!


    For some reason, the people who saw this message started to feel very nervous and excited.


    They had felt a simr way when the Goddesses Mia or Alex asionally typed something in the guild chat but the feeling this time was far more pronounced.


    It was more different. It was something thatmanded respect.


    Everyone subconsciously held their breaths, and no one ended up typing another message for a full minute.


    Liam chuckled and sent another message, "Is that a no?"


    The next instant, the entire chat exploded as if a dam had broken.


    Everyone started typing furiously to get Liam''s attention. This was a rare chance to be one of the core members so no one wanted to miss it.


    "Boss, I am in."


    "Where should Ie?"


    "Let''s kill them all!"


    "Who dares to talk bad about my guild?"


    "KILL! KILL! KILL!"


    "Loot and plunder!"


    "Let''s show our guild''s strength!"


    "God, please send the coordinate!"


    "Should we gear up ande or will you be giving us gear?"


    "The guy above, so shameless! Aren''t you ashamed to ask for handouts? Boss, I am already fully geared, take me."


    "Same me too. I don''t need anything. I just want to join the team!"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    All of the sudden any and all haters disappeared magically into thin air, with everyone only moring to sweet talk the expert.


    Liam indifferently looked at the chat and then closed it.


    If he sent anything in right now, it would definitely get buried so he instead used the guild announcement feature to send a message to everyone in the guild.


    "Anyone who is free can assemble in this location for PVP. For every kill, you get a guild contribution point and an additional bonus."


    After sending the message, Liam did not hang around in the guild residencepound any longer and quickly left.


    Kyuuuuu!


    Both the fox and the human being disappeared at an impressive speed. Under the moonlight of the night, the white fox shot forward like an arrow.


    After being cooped up in the room, Luna was also feeling restless. So she kicked up her best speed possible relieving all the stress and tiredness.


    Liam felt the wind crashing on his face and grinned as the vibrant freshness sunk into his eyes, nose, and face.


    He took a deep breath, sucking everything in. It was time for the second half of the show and this time things were going to get bloody.


    ***

 Chapter 384 - The more the merrier!

    Chapter 384 - The more the merrier!


    When Liam and Luna arrived at the northern part of the Kingdom, not so surprisingly, a huge horde of yers was already waiting for them at the designated spot.


    Of course, this was because the duo had to travel all the way from the south to the north, and the other yers were probably closer.


    But it was also because Liam and Luna made a small pit stop beforeing here. He had to make some preparations for what he had set in motion.


    Liam eyed carefully the yers standing ahead of them.


    There were almost about hundred yers, and most of them had adequate equipment and decent levels.


    This was not a bad gathering at all. Any guild leader would be pleased to have amassed such strength just a couple of days after the guild''s official opening.


    However, Liam did not look pleased at all.


    There was a mysterious glint in his eyes as he gazed at the crowd coldly.


    This was because most people gathered here were probably¡­ spies, moles that other guilds had injected into theirs.


    Otherwise, how could normal yers so easily reach here, especially in the midst of all the chaos and ruckus surrounding the guild?


    Liam observed the bunch of frauds waiting to eat him alive, but unfortunately for them, this was not the first time he was encountering a situation like this.


    He already knew how each one of them was going to behave and to what extent they would go to gain his favor.


    So he was definitely not going to let them leave! At least not yet!


    What Liam needed the most right now was raw materials and recipes and lots and lots of them.


    He needed the main recipes that everyone would be after the moment they break into the Level 50s. This was an absolute must before even touching 50.


    So when this much freebor was avable in front of him, how could he simply let them go?


    "Listen up." Liam''s voice thundered as he rode majestically on Luna, the duo halting at the front of the gathering.


    Everyone instantly turned to pay attention to him and the crowd became dead silent. It turned out that the information they had wasn''t false after all.


    The guild expert was indeed here!


    The numerous yers all without any exception eyed Liam from top to bottom, trying to size him up.


    They wanted to know just what was special about him that he was able to dominate the ranking board ruthlessly.


    Did he perhaps have a special item on him? An Epic ranked item or even perhaps a Legendary ranked item?


    And in case he had¡­ they needed to find out about it ASAP!


    This was an absolutely perfect spot to rape the guy and take everything he has!


    Had hee out here all alone, relying on the newly formed guild and so-called guildmates? Howughable!


    Among the huge crowd, several people started to make ns secretly.


    Liam, however, did not care even a bit about these things. The more the merrier!


    "Listen up!" He continued, "Our guild urgently needs the drops from this dungeon for a secret mission. So everyone who contributes to this will get 5 times the guild contribution points."


    "So every single material that you obtain from this dungeon run will get you 5 points. You can keep the equipment. We only need the recipes and raw materials."


    "Please work hard so that our guild can soar high!"


    After hearing Liam''s words everyone looked ted. This was the best opportunity to climb thedder rungs of the guild and take over from within.


    And while everyone was busy running the dungeon, their guild could silently ambush and kill Liam a few times to obtain all the secrets he had on him.


    No matter how they thought about it, this was a win-win situation.


    However, Liam was not done talking yet and he continued after clearing his throat. "At the same time, keep in mind that this is a Level 40 dungeon."


    "This means that the fights will be challenging. Only enter the dungeon if you are at least level 38. Otherwise, do not enter. I repeat, do not enter."


    "If you are not Level 38, don''t bother going in. I received information that we might expect some unweedpany here."


    "So you can instead choose to stay outside and guard while leveling up at the same time."


    Fuck! All the spies in the crowd bit their tongues, feeling as if cold water had been poured on them. This guy was giving them absolutely no chance!


    If everyone was outside, how could their guild ambush and gain benefits?!


    Liam grinned and finished his small speech with thest few inspiring lines.


    "For the next few days, we need to haveplete control and a monopoly over this dungeon! Without our say-so, no one should even be able to step foot in this area!"


    "CAN WE DO IT?" He grinned wickedly and shouted.


    "Yesss!"


    Everyone replied back, some were absent-mindedly nodding while others were shouting with equal zeal.


    "I CAN''T HEAR YOU GUYS! CAN WE DO IT?"


    Liam himself couldn''t help but feel embarrassed to act like this, but if one wanted to reap the maximum benefits, one had to be shameless sometimes.


    "YESSSSS!"


    This time everyone replied back with equal fervor.


    Smiling like a true leader, Liam then hopped off Luna and walked forward toward the dungeon.


    He had asked her beforehand not to adjust her size in front of these people, so the big fox followed him with the same appearance, haughtily sticking out her nose.


    The crowd as well respectfully parted, giving the duo more than enough space to pass through and Liam and Luna entered the dungeon wordlessly.


    Everyone could only dazedly look at them disappear into the portal. No one among them was even level 30 yet, let alone level 38.


    So how could they follow the person into the dungeon?


    "Dude, it looks like no one else in this group is Level 38. See no one is going in." One person whispered.


    "Hmmm. Ya, I also observed that. This guild is only for a show. From the outside, it seems strong but there is nothing inside. Our guild higher-ups are worried about nothing." His friend replied.


    "There is no need to spy on these guys."


    The two guys continued chatting when suddenly one of them stopped and turned to look at the dungeon. "Hey, wait a minute."


    "So no one is entering the dungeon¡­ did that mean that guy actually entered a Level 40 dungeon by himself?"


    Realizing what had just happened, the two stood dumbfounded staring at the dungeon. Several others also realized the same thing and gulped.


    This was the power of the number one leaderboard ranker?!

 Chapter 385 - Partying with the undeads

    Chapter 385 - Partying with the undeads


    Ignoring the crowd outside, Liam calmly entered the portal and stepped into the ''Rock Temple'' dungeon. Next to him, Luna as well stood alert, looking around everywhere.


    They were standing on t grasnds covered with fresh greenery, but there were numerous huge boulders and blocks of rocks atop this nd.


    It was just like Liam had seen it thest time.


    "Alright. Time to do some grinding."


    It had been a while since he had turned off his brain and just did rote grinding. He was actually looking forward to it.


    The only thing was that¡­ the dungeon he was standing in was a level 40 dungeon and he also did not have the guild group with him.


    "Soloing a Level 40 dungeon? Just how bad can it be?" Liam grinned and took a step forward, but then he suddenly stopped.


    "I am not really alone, am I?" His smile widened.


    Since no one was there around, this was a very convenient time for him to bring out his army of soul undeads.


    "Come out," Liam said, and almost instantly, wisps of bluish-white essence leaked out of his body, and in front of him stood several odd figures.


    Chickens, rabbits, wolves, bears, ravens, andstly his two ghost casters, imps and dryads.


    Everyone stood atplete attention, and they were all looking at him, waiting for hismand. Seeing them all together like this was truly a sight to behold!


    But Liam did not n on stopping here. This army of less than 50 soul undeads was in no way enough for him. He wanted to gain more power.


    "Let''s go," Liam shouted, and the group arrogantly marched forward.


    The group''s battle formation was also very unique.


    Since Liam was basically going to carry his army of undeads to raise their power level, he and Luna stood at the front while the rest stood at the back.


    Just as they took a few steps a group of rock crawlers skittered forward from the huge stone blocks.


    "Time to begin."


    Liam unsheathed his sword while also conjuring an ice spear in front of him, and Luna opened her tiny mouth to spit out fire.


    BANG. BANG. BOOM. BOOM.


    Explosive noises rang loudly from within the dungeon as pieces of the rock crawlers scattered left and right, and the whole ce trembled.¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­


    Inside a tavern, in the trade city Yleka, a group of people were seated in a booth.


    They all had tired, worn-out looks on their long faces and they listlessly ate the food and chugged the drinks.


    Even those who typically entertained themselves with the waitresses of the tavern did not seem interested in doing so at the moment.


    They looked extremely gloomy and depressed.


    And they were none other than the guild members of the recently famous guild Rising Dragon, though not famous in a good way.


    "HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!" Gorak, the Rising Dragon guild leader, a burly-looking man with a handsome face bashed his mug on the table.


    He looked furiously at all the people sitting in front of him but no one even dared to look up. They did not want to see him, and they did not want to answer him.


    However, this behavior did not do anything to appease his anger. It only made him even more furious.


    "Didn''t the Assassins guild get the first clear using this same method? Then how did we get wiped out like this?"


    "Fuck! OUR ENTIRE GUILD WAS WIPED OUT!"


    He suddenly turned to his right and gripped the cor of the guy sitting next to him. "Tell me. What are the losses?"


    "Don''t fucking sit here and eat! Tell me what are the losses, DAMN IT!"


    "Sir¡­ that¡­"


    The other guy was one of the higher-ups in the guild who usually got a lot more respect from Gorak but now he received a different treatment and he was far too nervous to care about it.


    Unfortunately for him, it looked like he had to be the bearer of the bad news today. There was simply no escaping it.


    The guy flinched and spoke nervously, "Sir, each of us at least lost one piece of equipment. We also received the penalty of one level loss."


    "So both money and time¡­" He saw Gorak''s face bubbling like a volcano and did not dare continue talking.


    "WHAT MONEY AND TIME? Do you think that''s the only thing we lost? We also lost fucking respect, you idiot! WE LOST EVERYTHING!"


    "WE LOOKED LIKE FOOLS!"


    "In front of the entire fucking world!" Gorak let go of the person forcefully, so much so that he fell back onto the floor.


    "We looked like fools in front of the entire world!" He repeated the same words and took another swig from his drink.


    "We actually paid gold coins from our pockets and stood in a queue waiting to get our ass raped!"


    "We even sold tickets to others for this same show."


    "As if wiping out and losing face is not enough, now these guys are also badgering me to return the gold coins and pay extrapensation."


    "Even after I med everything on that BASTARD, they are still hounding me forpensation!"


    "BA HA HA HA! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?"


    "WE LOST EVERYTHING! I LOST EVERYTHING!"


    "Do you know that my fiance broke up with me today?"


    "My father spat on me!"


    "And my high and mighty brother fucking gave me advice on how not to trust everything everyone said!"


    "CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE IT!" Gorak smashed the mug in his hand, throwing it randomly on a wall. Everyone trembled.


    But surprisingly, Gorak did not say anything else. He became weirdly quiet the next instant. With his head lowered, he gazed at the table and spoke in a low voice.


    "Liam¡­ find out everything about him. That thing that we wanted to try¡­ let''s test it out on him."


    "Sir! But!" The person who was thrown on the floor gasped in shock and so did many others.


    "No. He fucking deserves it. Find out where he is. I want to kill him. I want to erase his existence."


    "If someone fucks with us, they need to know what will happen."


    Gorak''s words contained a domineering power in them that no one else wanted to oppose him anymore. Everyone silently nodded.


    The entire booth was filled with an ominous deadly silence.


    Coincidentally, at this exact same time, a new message arrived. "Boss, we have some news. Something big happened. Crimson Abyss guild is making another move."


    "What?" Gorak''s eyes widened.


    "Boss, everyone is gathering in front of a Level 40 dungeon for some quest, and apparently Liam, the ranker number 1 is going to be there!"

 Chapter 386 - we will win!

    Chapter 386 - we will win!


    The piece of new information instantly sobered up Gorak. He stood up from his seat in haste and started to barge out of the booth. However, he stopped himself.


    He had already lost everything once. He was not foolish enough to brashly tackle this enemy a second time.


    No, under no circumstances could he afford to underestimate this opponent again.


    He walked back to his seat and sat down, cradling his head in his hands.


    He waited for a couple of minutes and then opened his system interface to go back to the group chat that he had exited just earlier in the day, the chat group with the six guild leaders.


    No one was actively chatting in the group at the moment and, the ce was aplete dead zone.


    Seeing this, it was abundantly clear that every one of the guilds were probably going through the same thing he was at the moment.


    This once again reassured him that his decision to deal with this more patiently was indeed the right one.


    Huuuu¡­ Gorak took a deep breath and started typing.


    Rising Dragon GL: Who wants revenge?


    Rising Dragon GL: I know where that bitch currently is


    Eradicators GL: Fuck you! Everybody knows that, you idiot!


    Earth''s Doom GL: Guys, let''s stop fighting already. We have suffered too much this time.


    Skullcrushers GL: Damn it, don''t remind me. I am not able to step out of the city. So many people are looking for me. There is a fucking bounty on my head!


    Eradicators GL: We ced a bounty on that bastard''s head and now there is a bounty on our head. This is¡­


    Bloodthirsty Ninjas GL: You guys are all here? Come, let''s cry together.


    Rising Dragon GL: Stop talking nonsense. That fucker won''t be in the same ce for too long. We need to act fast.


    Earth''s Doom GL: I agree.


    Skullcrushers GL: What is the point of agreeing? All our gear is nowpletely trashed.


    We lost 30% of our strength in one wipe, but that bastard set up a shiny new guild residence while we were getting our ass kicked.


    He bloody got one more achievement, became more popr, and the guild also got more members! How are we supposed to fight against him now?


    Do you guys even know many guild members they have at the moment? It''s impossible!


    Bloodthirsty Ninjas GL: I think the same too. We are still struggling to recover from thatst blow. Screw it. I don''t want to face him again. That brat is extremely cunning and vile.


    Rising Dragon GL: I know. This is why I am contacting you bunch of idiots. Let''s not fight against him alone. What if we fight against him together?


    The entire chat group all of a sudden became quiet.


    Earth''s Doom GL: How guys are you bringing?


    Rising Dragon GL: I am bringing everyone! I want that bitch to die a hundred times!


    Earth''s Doom GL: Ok. I will also bring everyone then.


    Skullcrushers GL: You guys, I suggest you both give up. They have too many numbers on their side.


    Their strength is nowparable to the top guilds in the Gresh Kingdom. If we buttheads again, unnecessarily we will only lose.


    Rising Dragon GL: No, you are wrong. This time we will win.


    Earth''s Doom GL: Listen up guys. I also know that they have quite a few numbers on their side.


    But think more carefully about it. These people just joined recently and probably don''t have any coordination.


    It is not possible for them to hold out against us. If the six of us attack with a solid formation, we can easily take this win.


    Who knows? Maybe this single battle will be enough to recover everything that we lost?


    We can also hold our heads high and get our respect back! Someone cheated us, so we fought them and took back our honor, doesn''t this sound good?


    Bloodthirsy ninjas GL: I get it now. We will definitely win this time!


    Eradicators GL: Yes! I also agree. We can definitely win this. You guys better not try to pull one over and do something shady.


    We are already knee deep in this shit. There better not be any backstabbing!


    Rising Dragon GL: No, all of us will bring our full guild''s strength. We will fight with Crimson Abyss and ughter everyst one of them.


    If we stand together, then our numbers won''t lose out to theirs. We can win this!


    Earth''s Doom GL: Agreed. They might have a lot of cannon fodder on their side, but we also have our numbers. With six of us together, we will bring this home.


    Bloodthirsy ninjas GL: Ok, let''s do this.


    Skullcrushers GL: Guys, I am still¡­ Fine, whatever. We have already lost so much. Why not suffer some more?


    Eradicators GL: Ok, I will go make the preparations now.


    Rising Dragon GL: Bring out everyone as fast as possible. We need to do this soon. Otherwise, that bastard might slip away from us.


    Gorak closed the system interface and lifted his head to look at the group sitting in front of him. "Come on. Get up. We have work to do. We need to prepare for war!"


    Huh? Everyone gasped in shock and looked at their guild leader. All the madness and fury that was bubbling in the guy just a second ago had nowpletely dispersed.


    It looked like their guild leader was starting to get serious. Everyone quickly scrambled to do his bidding and take care of the required preparations.


    This was going to be huge!


    Within a minute, the booth becamepletely empty and now only Rising Dragon was left alone. For some reason, he still did not get up from his spot.


    He stared nkly at the wall as if he was deeply thinking about something.


    "Hmmmm¡­ No¡­ I still can''t shake this uneasy feeling. Even this much preparations is probably not enough. We need more."


    He quickly flipped open the guild interface again and searched his contacts. His eyes then finallynded on a name, Gu Donghai.

 Chapter 387 - The guests have arrived

    Chapter 387 - The guests have arrived


    Ka ta ka ta ka ta


    Liam hurriedly dashed ahead, circling the giant rock centipede. The beast roared as it shook its head vigorously andunched to pursue the tiny human bothering it.


    It twisted its body that was hard and sturdy, and swung itself at the target with its mouth wide open. For such a huge and heavy beast, its speed was quite impressive.


    However, no matter how much it tried, it just wasn''t able to grab the human.


    Liam''s movements were sharp and decisive.


    The mana in his body churned like a raging sea as he boosted his speed and agility and darted back and forth, shing down at the rock centipede.


    Since it was an Elite beast, he had to put more effort than usual. Despite his higher rank, it was still bothersome to deal with an Elite beast single-handedly.


    Of course, he had already expected this, so he did not show any signs of tiredness and continued pushing on, doing whatever damage he could.


    The rock centipede had very few ws, so it was not that easy to handle, but it did have a major w: its single-mindedness.


    It was extremely easy to grab the beast''s attention, so Liam happily moved around without worrying about anything, and a little further away a part of his posse silently dealt damage in peace.


    Luna, the two imps, and the two dryads kept churning out one fireball after another all of them targeting the rock centipede''s head and mouth.


    In this way, the fight continued, barelysting for a minute, and a half. Liam then dealt thest blow and the giant rock monster dropped dead obediently.


    "Phew! Another one down. Let me see what we got."


    Kyuuuu!


    As if this was her cue, Luna sprang forward and grabbed the couple of items that had dropped and swiftly brought them to Liam.


    "Two pieces of Jcite ore. Hmmm. Not bad. Shall we move on to the next one?"


    Kyuuuu!


    The fox nodded her head vigorously and prepared to pounce ahead when Liam suddenly stopped moving.


    "Heh. It looks like our guests finally arrived." He chuckled, looking at the notifications.


    Several people had sent him the same messages, but were these messages for warning him or making sure that he didn''t escape?


    "Time to have some fun. Let''s leave the dungeon." Liam dismissed all of his soul pets and then grabbed Luna to head out of the ''Rock Temple.''


    Immediately, as soon as he stepped out, a few people came running over to him. It looked like these few people had organized the crowd that had gathered here tonight.


    "Boss, several yers are headed this way."


    "Do you know how many?" Liam asked.


    "Boss, maybe around a thousand? There are too many yers. I think maybe more than one guild is making a move."


    "Hmmm¡­ how far are they?"


    "They should be arriving in a few minutes. What should we do now?"


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam gazed at the distance, silently pondering.


    The person reporting this news took this chance to get a few more brownie points.


    "Boss, actually all our guild members were scattered. I personally asked everyone to re-group and prepare to fight back. Ah. I hope that is okay?


    "Ummm¡­ we are going to fight back, right?"


    Liam turned to look at the overeager person and patted his shoulder with a beaming smile, "Yes. Yes. Of course, we are going to fight them. Why do you think we won''t?"


    "Ah¡­ Right. Right. We should fight¡­ and win and show everyone what our¡­ guild is made of."


    That person was no longer confident in his own words for some reason. He felt as if Liam''s smile was not simple and tried to think about what was happening.


    However, Liam did not wait around. He charged forward and shouted, "Everyone. Do your best! Kill everyst person! Don''t let anyone escape!"


    "I will triple the rewards! Everyone will get three times the guild contribution points as they would get for a normal kill! This is your chance. Use it well! Fight to your heart''s content."


    Hearing his words, the several yers gathered around shouted in response energetically.


    "Fight! Fight! Fight!"


    Liam grinned and then continued. "TANKS! MELEES! Get to the front. Healers in the middle and long-range DPS at the back. LET''S GO! HURRY UP! Get into formation."


    Sitting on top of Luna he dashed around here and there and gave out orders for a while but as the time for action grew closer, he suddenly disappeared.


    Both the big white fox and him were nowhere to be seen.


    Realizing this, the various yers in the group started to be restless. Especially the spies in the group whoprised a major portion of the crowd were dumbfounded.


    All the small groups that hade to the guild to scout and get information started getting restless and discussed furiously.


    "What the heck? Where did Liam go?"


    "What is his damn problem? What sort of a leader abandons his guild like this?"


    "Wasn''t he here until now giving some sort of speech like a brave person? Now suddenly, he is nowhere to be seen?"


    "Who the fuck cares about that? What are we supposed to do now? Stay here and fight? Why the hell are we involved in this nonsense?"


    "Ya, why should I fight? I just came here to see what these guys were up to! And now I am supposed to fight for them? Fuck, I will die!"


    "Let''s just leave now. We still might have a few seconds? Let these losers take the heat and we can escape somehow?"


    "What nonsense are you bbering? Where could you possibly go when the other side is this close. See, there theye! Damn it!"


    "Ayyaaaa! Why are we doing freebor?! I still want to try and escape"


    "Wait, wait. Don''t go yet. Maybe that person is standing in stealth somewhere and observing."


    "Oh, you are correct. We havee till here, let''s just fight this out also. Unlike these noobs, we have experience. We can even win this shit if we try.


    "Ya, let''s stay and fight."

 Chapter 388 - You know?

    Chapter 388 - You know?


    While everyone stood hesitating not knowing what to do, the enemy was already at the doorstep, and no one had time to think anymore.


    All the alternative courses of action were shut down just like that, with only one option in front of everyone, which was to fight!


    The few genuine yers who had wanted to be a part of the guild rushed ahead to fight, and the different spies also helplessly looked at each other and proceeded to do the same thing.


    They simply had no other choice.


    As soon as the other group arrived closer, almost instantly a volley of attacks flew over to this side. Clearly, they did note here with the intention of resolving anything with peace talks.


    The vanguard, the middle guard, and the rear guard all started taking damage, and in a minute, the somewhat scattered Crimson Abyss group began crumbling.


    While their side only had about 300 to 400 yers, the six guilds arrived with most of their strength and brought over around 1000 yers.


    The entire ce became aplete mess. The healers at the back tried to do their best and somehow pull up the numbers, but it was simply impossible.


    Against the coordinated attacks, they were iling and drowning.


    But as opposed to theplete chaos on this side, the other side was well organized and fought with ruthless ferocity.


    They were pulling huge damage numbers, and it was almost impossible to bring down the health of their vanguard.


    The two sides looked like two extremes!


    One had clearlye to battle while the other looked as if they had been caught with their pants down while taking a shit.


    This somewhat made sense because technically, they had been ambushed.


    But their leader was still here? He could have put some effort into organizing some part of the group at the least?


    And where was he now? Who ismanding? Who is in charge? What was happening?


    The current situation was the absolute worst. It looked as if no one had any intentions of winning. Some were even trying to run away even though it was toote.


    There was nothing anyone could possibly do. The battle was over before it even began. Everything happened too fast and no one was able to react properly.


    For some, this was also the first time participating in a battle, so they easily crumbled. Only the experienced spies from other guilds were able to somewhat hold out.


    In the midst of this chaos and confusion, no one noticed that a figure had already slipped to the other side of the battlefield.


    "See, didn''t I say that we were going to win?" Rising dragon''s guild leader contently licked his lips. Seeing all this destruction and massacre was very satisfying.


    They were utterly dominating the other side and it was a good feeling.


    Just a few hours ago, they had suffered this same fate at the hands of the demons, and now it was payback time. There was nothing more satisfying than revenge well done.


    Now who would dare to call themughing stock and who would dare toe after them and curse them. It was time to show their power!


    "You told the guys to publicize about this online, right?"


    "Yes, sir. All the preparations are done. Everyone will know about our victory."


    "Mmm¡­ good." Gorak nodded. However, there still seemed to be a restless look on his face despite everything.


    This was because he couldn''t spot the one person he wanted to find the most.


    He did not care if all of these people here died or not. This victory would bepletely meaningless for him without that one person.


    "Where are you? Where are you?" Gorak murmured to himself while looking around.


    At the same time, he also sent a few men out to close the borders and stop everyone from escaping.


    "Hmph! "You cannot leave this ce alive today!" He sneered and started sending in attacks. He was a mage so he conjured a fireball and sent it to the opposite side.


    However, before his attack couldnd, suddenly, something big popped up over his head.


    A big fat fireball!


    "Huh?" Gorak looked at that fireball and the one in his hand, he blinked in confusion. One was the size of the burning sun while the other was as small as an egg yolk.


    And before he could blink¡­


    BOOM!


    The giant fireball sted, raining down fire bullets in all directions.


    -100


    -500


    -300


    ..


    ..


    ..


    Several damage numbers floated atop the yers, and all of a sudden, the side that looked like it was going to win, was now in hot water.


    And the person responsible for this stood at the back cooly. Liam did not stop and swiftly moved among the crowd of yers to keep his position changing.


    He then once again conjured another fireball that rained down bullets on a different set of yers. Just like that, a whole group of yers had their health dinged.


    "Hey! Who is that?"


    "Fuck! Someone else in here."


    "Here! Here!"


    After the second attack, Liam''s presence was found out, and a few yers tried to attack him. However, since he was at the back right now, there weren''t that many melee yers.


    A couple of melee yers and a few hunters and mages tried targeting him. Seeing this, some of the yers at the front also started paying attention. Some of the tanks rushed to the back.


    In under a minute, Liam was quickly surrounded in all directions, and several attacks flew toward him.


    But unexpectedly, the person simply grinned. He did not look as if he was a prey trapped in a circle. Rather he looked as if he was about to start hunting.


    Liam unsheathed his sword and quickly started plowing through the crowd. Clinging to his back, Luna as well did the same.


    As he shed down at the yers in front of him, Luna sprayed fire everywhere. To make thingsplicated, the duo kept continuously moving.


    Every time someone tried attacking them, the attack insteadnded on their own teammate. Instantly, the ordered, well-organized group became chaotic.


    "Rising dragon, what''s happening in your guild? Why are you guys self-destructing?" All the other guild leaders started messaging.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Gorak cursed out loud. "That bastard is here!" He then typed furiously and charged towards Liam.


    He had been searching for the guy, and now he was finally here. He did not care how many of his guild members died here. Now that he was here, he did not want to let him go at all costs.


    "You think you are strong enough to take on an entire army single-handedly? DIE!"


    Gorak aimed for Liam and started sending out several attacks. "Healers, heal me. Everyone, focus and kill that guy! I will reward 1000 gold coins to anyone who gets him!"


    Hearing his words, all the nearby yers immediately rejoiced. This was their chance to be rich overnight.


    Everyone gripped their weapons tightly and sent out several attacks one after other, all aimed at Liam.


    Though some of these attacks looked like they were going to miss their mark, most of them were definitely going tond.


    "I GOT YOU NOW, you bastard!" Gorak immediately turned around, starting to head outside.


    "Boss, where are you going now?" Someone called after him.


    "I am going to the graveyard. You guys keep fighting." Gorak did not think about it too much and replied absent-mindedly, but as soon as he finished talking¡­ something was amiss?


    HUH? He turned around, fear and panic apparent in his eyes, only to see that the person he had just now spoken to was right behind him.


    "So you know huh?" Liam smiled calmly.


    "I know¡­ what?" Gorak felt a chill run down his spine.


    The next second, Liam was no longer standing in front of him and his vision also darkened.


    [Ding. You have died]


    Gorak''sst bits of health disappeared and he lifelessly dropped to the ground. Liam stepped on him and avoided a few arrows aimed at him.


    "So the cat is out of the bag huh? The bubble should burst in the next couple of days. I need to hasten my preparations."


    He took out another [Rage Potion] from his inventory space and dunked it down.


    With this burst of power, his stats received a significant boost, and suddenly he was about 20 to 30 levels higher than the surrounding yers.


    This was in addition to the extra stats he already had.


    And to top it all, every one of his attacksnded like a cannonball with much more power and destruction.


    From the moment Liam showed up, the entire group of yers on the rightmost part of the army was inplete disarray.


    Several people died in quick session and their numbers had drastically reduced just like that in the snap of a finger.


    All the other guild leaders who observed this from a distance drew big gasps in shock.


    They did not realize it until now, but after witnessing it first-hand in front of them, they finally grasped the concept.


    A true expert was equivalent to an army!

 Chapter 389 - Healing Potion

    Chapter 389 - Healing Potion


    As Liam once again moved away from his position, the other guild leaders slowly realized the real peril of the situation.


    It was as if a dam was broken, and now the yers were everywhere.


    Where there was structure and formation before, now there was onlyplete chaos. The yers from both sides had mixed together and were fighting very haphazardly.


    And this infection was also spreading.


    At this rate, their strength in numbers would go to utter waste. There would be a lot of friendly fire and damage on their side.


    The number of yers dying was also steadily increasing.


    The other side was going down, but they seemed determined to take their army along with them.


    And the reason for all of this was just a single person!


    The other guild leaders quickly tried to gather their elite yers to at least restrict Liam''s movements until they could get a hold of the whole situation.


    But unfortunately, they were toote.


    Before they could begin to do anything like that Liam was already in the midst of the second guild group.


    This time it was the Eradicators guild''s turn. Liam entered the fray and immediately started murking up the waters.


    He did not use any strategy specifically. He simply passed through like a hurricane, wreaking everyone in his path and this was more than enough to disrupt everything.


    The coordination and group formation that the six guild leaders had boasted about was nowhere to be seen.


    And because of the way they had poprized the battle, more and more members of the Crimson Abyss guild also started pouring in, all of them finally reaching the destination of the battle.


    The entire ce becamepletely chaotic and in the midst of this, to add more fuel to the fire, a group of Level 50 ravens descended down from above.


    "WHATTT!!!! WHAT ARE THOSE?"


    "Why are level 50 beasts here?"


    "Maybe this is the special quest the crimson abyss guild is here for?"


    The group of birds chased after Liam but everyone misunderstood the situation and started focussing their efforts on them.


    This made the ravens very furious.


    KRAAA! KRAAA! KRAAA!


    Suddenly, the battleground was filled with their squawking sounds.


    This alerted even more people and quickly, the PVP fight evolved into fighting for the chance to get thest kill of these ravens.


    While everyone waspletely involved in fighting, Liam on the other hand, quietly slipped away to the graveyard.


    He broke into a cold sweat, seeing the ravens tear a new one and rip apart a few yers into shreds.


    "Again? Why am I getting repeatedly attacked by this mob? And they seem to be getting stronger and stronger with every wave? What the hell is going on?"


    Liam bitterly smiled. These birds were chasing him!


    Something was definitely not right.


    He knew that he needed to figure this out soon because if the next wave was going to be a group of Level 60 or higher ravens, even he might not stand a chance.


    He would get pitifully punctured by these birds.


    Liam paused for a moment, looking back at the bloody battlefield.


    Brrrrr. He then shook himself, throwing the image out of his head, and turned around, dashing towards the graveyard.


    The ravens can wait. Right now there was something else more important that he needed to take care of.


    While others chased after the potential drops from these ravens, Liam sped towards the graveyard to collect his own reward.


    After all, this was the main reason he was here. How else could he easily gather so many souls without putting any effort?


    He needed gold. He needed souls. This was the perfect chance for that.


    When Liam arrived at the graveyard, he sucked into a big breath and immediately shifted into [Stealth] mode. Luna jumped off of his back and she as well hid in a nearby bush.


    The graveyard wasn''t that far from the battlezone, so they had to take care of business quietly and quickly.


    More importantly¡­ there needed to be a second battle zone in this area so that whatever he was going to do now would remain unnoticed.


    Liam only had to wait for a couple of seconds when yers started resurrecting one after the other.


    A few probably already did before he arrived. He did not care whether they ran away or rejoined the battle. His only focus was on the ones who had resurrected right now.


    Giving up on the stealth, Liam''s figure blurred as he dashed towards the four yers who were hurriedly checking their person to see what they had dropped.


    "Damn bro, I dropped my sword. What bad luck!" One yer cursed.


    "Thank god! Thank god! Thank god! I only dropped that stupid wrist piece." Another one kissed his bow that was his priced possession, a unique grade gear.


    The third friend was about to say something when suddenly their happy reunion was interrupted.


    "Who-"


    SLASH SLASH SLASH


    Liam chopped the four of them, his sword dancing in the wind. In the dark of the night, the silent purple shes quickly imed the four lives effortlessly.


    And this time, the poor guy''s treasured bow indeed dropped.


    Liam indifferently picked up the equipment and tossed it into his inventory. He then once again went into [Stealth].


    However, he didn''t get much time as, before long, the next group of sheep arrived, waiting to be ughtered by him.


    "Eradicators this time huh¡­"


    Liam took a note of the guild emblem worn by the group before swiftly clearing them.


    In case he was not able to finish them off today, he could always revisit the guild with the most kills and im his bounty!


    After taking care of thesest few, the next batch arrived even sooner only barely giving him time to enter [Stealth] again.


    This time surprisingly it was members from his own guild and the five of them also seemed to know each other.


    "Guys, what the heck? I can''t believe I actually died. The higher-ups better pay sufficientpensation for this."


    The five of them had grave looks on their faces which made Liam very suspicious. Also, weirdly they were not even checking their gear and they already seemed extremely upset.


    Could they also possibly know?


    Liam did not act immediately and waited for another second and there it was.


    "I died too many times already. Sorry, man. I am logging out. Fuck this shit. Growing strong and all is fine, but I first need to be alive for it."


    Just as he suspected, the five yers in front of him knew about the truth!


    Which guild did they belong to?


    Just as Liam was thinking about it, another person opened his mouth. "That''s exactly why we are working hard. We need that healing potion."

 Chapter 390 - Missing Persons

    Chapter 390 - Missing Persons


    Liam who was casually listening up until now suddenly stiffened up.


    He had been fishing for some other information such as the guild they were from, but he hadn''t expected to stumble upon something like this.


    "Healing potion? They couldn''t possibly be talking about¡­?"


    Snapping him out of his thoughts, the other person kindly added a few more details.


    "What to do? If only we knew this from the beginning¡­"


    "Heck, do you know how many times I died for a stupid quest! Thinking back I could have avoided all that and would now be in a much better position."


    "Sigh¡­ ya¡­ now we have to beg for something random like this just to live." The man shook his head, "I don''t know what''s going to happen to this world."


    "Mmmm. It is indeed scary, but I am also excited. We know all this information before others. So we are already ahead of millions or even billions of people. Doesn''t that make you feel excited?"


    "Stupid idiot."


    "He He. Alright. Let''s not hang out here too long. Others should be spawning soon. Let''s run away."


    "Agreed. No one would notice if we participate in this battle or not. It is better to spy from thefort of the massage parlor."


    "Ha Ha Ha."


    The two of themughed and chatted while quickly rushing away from the graveyard. They werepletely oblivious to the fact that they were being watched by a predator.


    Unfortunately for them their fate was now already sealed.


    Whatever lingering doubts Liam had, everything was nowpletely cleared up, but¡­ he did not intend on following them or dealing with them right now.


    These two indeed had very valuable information and they needed some special attention. Also, since they were going to be in the guild residence, there was no hurry to chase them.


    He watched the two disappear, but before they could escape from the area someone else respawned.


    Under no circumstance did Liam want the duo to find out about his presence so before the next couple of yers could even spawn fully, he shed down with his purple sword, taking their lives without a single sound.


    This unfortunate trio dropped three pieces of equipment that were quickly collected and put away.


    Liam then silently continued his business while being deeply engrossed in his thoughts. Unlike the people he was killing, his mind was as calm as an ocean.


    With every step that he was taking to level 50, he knew that he would be stepping intopletely uncharted territories about which he had very little information if any.


    However, that did not concern him. He only needed a few more steps to get the solid foundation that he had always yearned for.


    With that in his grasp, he was confident in his ability to handle the rest.


    Time slowly ticked by. The night was long as Liam continued to indifferently ughter everyone who resurrected.


    His mind was calm and steady and somehow the atmosphere was also extremely soothing.


    He was in the Xion realm at the moment so he knew for a fact that there was noher around him and yet this ce and the air around him, everything was very rxing.


    It was as if he was suddenly able to think very clearly. Liam calmly breathed in and breathed out. The more time he spent killing the yers who respawned, the more he felt alive.


    He only did this because grinding the number of souls he needed was a lot more efficient this way. He was not reaping them one by one. This time he was going to get an entire bunch.


    Not just that but he was also getting a lot of gold and items. War was truly one of the most profitable ways to farm things.


    Gathering the things that dropped, Liam did not discriminate and continued to ughter more and more yers, irrespective of what guild they belonged to.


    The only yers whom he allowed to get out of that hellish graveyard were yers from his guild. However, not all of them were that lucky.


    If someone exposed himself to being a spy, then that person was naturally moved to the kill category. In this manner, things continued and soon several notifications started showing up.


    [Ding. You have devoured a soul]


    [Ding. You have devoured a soul]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The system chimed in session after the first hour passed by. Many of these yers'' souls were already terribly damaged so Liam did not have to grind a lot.


    And though the game system reduced the event to just another notification, Liam was well aware of what he was doing.


    Every time he received a notification, it meant that he was taking away that life. Yet he did not bother to check if that person was good or bad or whether he deserved it or not.


    Perhaps someone else might be more considerate of such trivialities, but he knew enough to know that these things do not matter in the long run.


    When the truly terrible things knock on the earth''s doorstep, hundreds and thousands of innocent lives would be imed.


    Compared to that number, something like this was simply irrelevant.


    At that time, no amount of good deeds or morality woulde to his or anyone else''s rescue. Only pure strength would matter then and only pure strength mattered now.


    This was a lesson that Liam had learned the hard way. He knew what kind of future awaited them so he did not dare dwell upon such trivialities.


    He steeled his resolve and continued ughtering the many yers one after the other. Consequently, the number of souls he devoured also steadily increased.


    Just like this almost another hour passed by when suddenly a few yers started heading towards the graveyard.


    It looked like someone had noticed the absence of the dead yers. Or perhaps the battle was thinning down. It was about time after all.


    Liam gripped his sword tightly as he gazed at the few yers in front of him.

 Chapter 391 - Grimreaper at the graveyard

    Chapter 391 - Grimreaper at the graveyard


    Back on the battlefield, something extremely unusual was happening. The army of more than one thousand men the six guilds hade with had somehow dwindled to half its numbers.


    Some of the elites were also missing.


    Even among the guild leaders, three of them were missing.


    Gorak, being one of the first few people to die, had respawned and rushed back to the battleground. However, when he returned the entirendscape had changed.


    He couldn''t believe his eyes.


    Everything in front of him felt surreal. He had been so sure that they were going to win this fight, but somehow the tables had turned and now they were on the losing end.


    Just how the hell did this happen?


    Was this all the disturbance and destruction caused by that person?


    He simply could not digest it. Was it even possible for someone to be so strong? Did the level difference matter this much?


    He felt as if he was going crazy. Madly tossing attacks at any enemy he could spot, he dashed ahead in a frenzy.


    Gorak tried to find Liam in the crowd but it was impossible. Actually, the bastard was extremely showy so it should have been rtively easy to spot.


    The fact that he couldn''t do was proof that he was right now not there on the battleground. Could he have already left? He thought that this was over and actually left the area?


    Gorak gnashed his teeth in humiliation, but the enemy''s arrogance was going to be his lucky chance.


    Ptui! He spat in anger and furiously sent several instructions in the guild channel.


    He tried as much as he could to bring back the scattered allies together and to get the fight once again under their control. This was the only thing that they needed to do to win.


    They still had the numbers on their side and Liam was also missing. This was the perfect chance to make aeback!


    However¡­


    Several minutes passed by and Gorak had to yet bring things under control. In fact, everything was just the opposite.


    Little by little they were devolving more and more.


    With every passing minute, somehow the yers on their side seemed to be dwindling while the other side was growing in size?


    "Damn it." Gorak chewed his nails,pletely out of his wits, but he suddenly froze as if he had forgotten about something important and remembered it only now.


    "Hey! Did you see anyone from the Gu family yet?" Gorak turned around urgently. He looked at the two other people from the guild and they had anxious looks on their faces.


    "Boss¡­ that¡­" They hesitated to reply to him.


    "What? What happened? Where is the division from the Gu family?" Gorak could already tell that something was wrong.


    "Boss, they did note here."


    "What do you mean? Are they runningte or something?"


    The guy shook his head with a bitter smile. He then ryed whatever information he managed to find.


    "Boss, I am not sure if any men are headed this way. I was not able to find out what Gu Donghai decided. But¡­"


    "Hmmm?"


    "Arge number of yers from the Jade mountain guild are headed towards the south¡­ towards¡­"


    "Their guild residence?" The veins on Gorak''s forehead throbbed.


    Pa! He threw his left fist at his right palm angrily. "Those bastards! They actually dared to backstab me! They used me?"


    It was clear as day to Gorak what had happened. He did not have to be a genius to understand this.


    Gu Donghai knew in advance that there was going to be a huge battle here. The bunch of guilds was going to keep Crimson Abyss engaged here.


    He knew this information and the bastard decided to use this for his own advantage.


    While they were struggling and dying here just to get a foothold, that bastard was going to casually raid their guild!


    "BA HA HA HA HA! This is good! This is too good!" Gorak startedughing loudly like a maniac. At this point, he did not know what else to do.


    However, the next second, something jammed onto his back, snapping him out of his thoughts.


    "Alright. We can deal with thatter. I should focus on what is in front of me." Gorak looked around and saw the obviously reduced numbers.


    This could only mean two things, either the yers on their side were running away, or¡­ something was happening at the graveyard.


    Perhaps just like how they had sent a small portion of their troops to the side to get the yers who were running away, the other side was camping in the graveyard and slowly culling their numbers?


    Gorak pped his forehead hard. He already knew about this, so why the hell did he not consider this earlier! And why the hell did they not do this in the first ce!


    "SHIT!"


    "Boss?"


    "Let''s go. Let''s go. Fast. Fast. Round up some of our elites and bring them over here immediately. We are going to the fucking graveyard!"


    A few members of the Rising Dragons and a group of other elites quickly scrambled and rushed over to the graveyard, the respawn site.


    Since the ce was located somewhat close to the battleground, they did not have to search for it for too long. They quickly arrived at the ce.


    "STOP!" Gorak suddenly halted his footsteps. Everyone was shocked and wondered what was happening.


    But Gorak continued to look around like a lunatic, turning his head here and there.


    He could feel that something was wrong. The graveyard was bleak and dull like it always was just like any other graveyard.


    But there was something amiss here. He was sure of it. He subconsciously took a step back. However, it was already toote¡­


    In front of him, d in familiar clothing and armor was the same person¡­ the person who had only just now killed him a few minutes back.


    "So you are finally here huh?" Liam grinned.

 Chapter 392 - Your base is under attack!

    Chapter 392 - Your base is under attack!


    "What are you doing in the graveyard when there is a battle still going on out there? Hmmm?" Liam grinned.


    Gorak and the other Rising Dragon guild members stared at the ghost in front of them in utter shock.


    They hade here expecting to find a huge number of yers but instead, there was only one. However, that one person was¡­


    Everyone gulped. No one expected to find this monster here.


    Even the guild leader Gorak who had first realized that some yers could be sabotaging their army from the graveyard for some reason failed to think about this person.


    "I¡­ what¡­" Gorak stammered, unable to get any words out.


    His reddened eyes were fixated on Liam, not even a hair on his body moving. The others also had simr expressions. No one wanted to breathe or speak.


    "What? You are not going to answer me?" Liam chuckled. "You don''t have to. The fact that you are here already told me everything."


    He took a step forward and seeing him, the others subconsciously took a step back.


    "You are leisurely camping out at the graveyard, so what other reason could be there for your presence here?"


    "But the question still remains¡­ how much do you know? Are you just here to rescue your friends or perhaps you know about everything?"


    "I¡­ I don''t know anything. What¡­ what are you talking about?" Gorak''s eyes widened even further and he started blurting out.


    He was already petrified of the guy, so how could he let him know his real intentions?


    "Hmmm¡­ is that so? But I thought I heard you say that you want to kill me off? You know once and for all?"


    "How¡­ how did you?" Gorak''s heart sank. This person knew everything.


    "Haaa¡­ so you really did know after all." Liam smiled. "I was not a hundred percent sure until now, but I guess this confirms everything."


    "No. No. Nothing like that. I don''t know what you are talking about."


    "So you did not n to kill me permanently?"


    "What? No no! I never thought about such things. What are you saying? This is just a game. I don''t know anything."


    "Well¡­" Liam shrugged. "Either way it doesn''t matter to me."


    His hand that was gripping his sword suddenly moved and his figure blurred. Before anyone could react, the next instant¡­ two heads rolled on the ground.


    Two of them had died just like that!


    Gorak flinched as blood sttered on him. No, this wasn''t something that he could possibly handle.


    He snapped out of his trance, gave up any and all intentions of fighting back, and started screaming, "LOG OUT! LOG OUT! LOG OUT!"


    However, unfortunately for him, nothing of that sort was happening. In his panic, hepletely forgot that one could not log out when involved inbat.


    He quickly scrambled to open his system interface and pressed the option there repeatedly. He needed to log out! Somehow!


    But even then nothing was happening.


    "Shit." He then realized that they were all in the same party and that''s why he was inbat. He quickly left the party and opened his mouth but he was toote.


    Liam shed at him, directly engaging him inbat. It was only a small superficial sh but it was enough to draw some blood.


    Gorak trembled. Hisst opportunity also flew out of the window. Now no matter what he couldn''t log out until thebat ended.


    He looked on his sides from the corner of his eyes to see if there was anyone whom he could use but¡­ there were only dropped equipment scattered on the ground around him.


    Everyone else had died. He was thest one remaining.


    "Don''t worry. Your friends will spawn back shortly and then I will get to kill them all over again." Liam smiled.


    "No. You can''t do that." Gorak''s mind was spinning.


    "Why not? It''s just a game right?" Liam smirked.


    The man flinched from the wound on his arm that was hurting like hell. His pulse quickened and desperation set in. "Why are you doing this? How could you be so cruel?"


    "Eh? So if it''s your men, then I''m being cruel, but didn''t you do the same to our guild members? Or did you note here with the same n?"


    "No! You can''t do this! You cannot get away with this! Everyone will know what you did!"


    "That''s right. You can''t do anything to me. My dad is an officer. He will make the police arrest you. Your whole life will be spoilt. Think about this."


    Gorak shook his finger, his entire body trembling from top to bottom.


    "Hmmm?" Liam still remained calm. It looked as if what he heard did not matter at all.


    "But¡­ but if you just let me go this once, then we can both benefit a lot. I know a lot. For example, right now you are actually in danger. See. I can be of help. Don''t kill me. Don''t kill me." Gorak continued.


    This was hisst chance so he started blurting out hurriedly, not even thinking before speaking out loud. He might as well be negotiating with Yama so he did not hold back.


    "That''s right. I can do anything that you want me to."


    "If you just kill me, I am useless. But if you let me go just this once, I will give you a lot of gold coins. I can give you whatever information you need. I can also help you in real life."


    Seeing the grown man ball his eyes out and continue to plead and beg for his life, Liam only lightly chuckled.


    "Ok, let''s say I forget and forgive everything that you did so far. You are just a pest, it''s not difficult for me to forgive a mosquito. So now tell me what can you give me?"


    "What is this information that you have?"


    Color returned to Gorak''s pale face and he immediately started spilling the beans. "Gu¡­ Gu family. Gu Donghai! He is currently on the way to raid your guild residence!"


    "Since the guild residence is not in a city, he thinks that he can take over and make it their guild''s. If you leave right now, with your strength you should definitely be able to hold him back."


    "Hmmm? Is that so? That is indeed new information." Liam mumbled.


    The poor guy could not believe what he was seeing. He had just now said something rming and urgent, but the other party did not show any response at all?


    "I am saying he is going to take your guild!" He hurriedly repeated, trying to exin.


    But Liam simply let out a soft sign. "We already talked about that. Do you have anything else to offer? Hmm?"


    "What¡­ what are you saying?" Gorak waspletely speechless.


    "Don''t forget. You are right now negotiating for your life. So I would rmend that you not hold anything back."


    I know that. I know that. Gorak gnashed his teeth and muttered inwardly. He already knew all of that but the thing was he really did not have anything else to offer.


    Liam gave him a couple more seconds. "Anything?"


    Gorak gulped, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly.


    "I guess not huh? Alright then. I am losing valuable time here." Liam took a step forward, swinging his sword in the air. His de looked so sharp that it was cutting air itself.


    Gorak''s scalp numbed and a yellow liquid dripped inside his chainmail. "Wait. wait. You will regret this. You will regret this. Can''t you understand what I am telling you?"


    "Gu Donghai is attacking your base as we speak. The Gu family will take everything that you have."


    "You don''t believe me? Is that it? Don''t be a fool. He will kill you. He hates you for some reason."


    Gorak did not even care anymore about what he was saying. He was trying desperately to divert Liam''s attention. He wanted him to sweat and panic and forget about him.


    However, unfortunately for him, the man in front of him did not seem to care at all.


    Just like how he was standing there as if he had no connection with the battle that was going on, he also seemed to give two shits about the guild residence.


    Liam simply took a step forward.


    "You can''t be serious."


    He took another step forward.


    "He is going to destroy you! If you kill me right now, you will also die like a dog! The same fate awaits you also! Mark my words. Mark my words."


    "Ughh. Stop shouting like a shrew." He took another step forward, now directly standing in front of the guy.


    "No! No! My father will kill you. Don''t do this, please. Please. Gu Donghai will destroy you. He will take it all."


    "Heh. Are you sure? Seriously, what do you think is happening over there right now?"


    "Bye." Liam chuckled coldly and then swung his sword again, directly severing the guy''s head from his body.


    Gorak dropped lifelessly to the ground, the two halves of his body scattering in different directions along with one of the items he had equipped.


    "That was not productive." Liam clicked his tongue and bent down to pick up the item. This had to make up for his loss of the coupe of precious minutes.


    He then wiped the blood off the sword with his two fingers and sheathed it back.


    He had only interacted with the guy for so long in the hopes that he could get more information but that did not yield any results. Nevertheless, he wasn''t too disappointed.


    Liam quickly hurried back to the graveyard as a few people had already run away from the spawn point.


    He did not want to lose all of his hard work for the past couple of hours. So he quickly went back to what he was doing before.


    Another yer appeared and Liam immediately finished him off with a single strike.


    And as for what Gorak had said about the Gu family¡­ Liam thought about it and smiled. He really hoped that they would not change their ns and actually attack!

 Chapter 393 - Just a small promise

    Chapter 393 - Just a small promise


    Meanwhile¡­


    A tall woman stood calmly at the entrance of a remote city inside the Gresh Kingdom. The gentle wind ruffled her reddish auburn hair, and she tucked the few strands behind her ear.


    "I am here."


    Alex grew slightly nervous looking at the gigantic golden gates. The city was very impressive.


    Even from the outside, the ce was spectacr, with various showy artful buildings dotting thend.


    Just like Yleka city and royal city, this ce also should have be extremely popr.


    In fact more popr because the city was rumored to house an exceptional number of virgins and beautiful women.


    But nothing like that happened mainly for one reason, not everyone was allowed inside the city!


    Only people who have done enough quests to gather a sufficient amount of divine fame points and temple contribution points were allowed inside.


    People who received a direct invitation like the one Alex did were also allowed inside.


    However, these were not the reasons that she was nervous. She was tensed because of the strange quest she had received.


    Not only was the quest vague but the time she received it was also very unusual. She couldn''t help but feel the anticipation build up within her.


    She wanted more power, needed more power. Would this quest be the solution to her problems? There was only one way to find out.


    She took a deep breath and stepped into the gates of the city. Unlike any other ce within the Kingdom, this was a lot more serene and tranquil.


    There were no vendors lining up the streets. There were no hawkers or groups of yers crowding around everywhere.


    Instead, there were big trees, beautiful sculpted buildings, gardens, and koi ponds. She dide across a few NPCs who shed a kind and gentle smile as they walked past her.


    Alex as well naturally smiled in return. In fact, she was feeling a lot calmer now and continued strolling down the street, inhaling the warm nourishing air.


    The main temple was located up the hill a few miles ahead so she headed over there directly.


    In spite of being anxious about the quest, she also wanted to attempt it and learn more about it as soon as possible. The exploration of the city had to wait until after she had dealt with the quest.


    Alex quickened her pace and walked along the winding path up the hill that lead to the entrance of the temple.


    The scenery on the way was breathtaking. There were all sorts of flowers, trees, wild nts, and herbs arranged neatly in various patterns.


    They seem to be naturally littered around the path but at the same time, there was an underlying elegance that seemed to tie everything together.


    A rxing gentle fragrance wafted out of these nts calming the minds and rejuvenating everyone who took the path up.


    The sound of the nearby gushing waterfalls also added to this ambiance.


    Alex couldn''t help but pause for a second and take in the whole atmosphere.


    Perhaps because she had only just been in theher realm, she could feel the stark contrast between the two ces very distinctly.


    One was like warm soothing milk while the other was like acid. For the first time, she realized just how much effect the affinity to an element could have.


    She silently took a few more deep breaths and started walking up the hill again. This time she saw a couple of meditation pavilions scattered around amidst the flowery gardens.


    A few women were seated on these pavilions, with their eyes closed and the light robes on their bodies fluttering to the whims of the wind.


    "Ughhh¡­" Alex stared at them and then looked awkwardly at the attire she was wearing currently.


    Unlike their clean thin silky robes that clung to their figures, the clothes she had on were gaudy, murky, and bloody.


    No doubt hers would be more practical if a fight broke out, but when in Rome¡­


    She quickly changed into a spare set of clothes she had, a clean shirt and a pair of linen pants. It was not what they were wearing but at least it was clean.


    She let her hair hang loose and continued walking.


    Since there were almost no yers around, she did not have to cover herself from top to bottom and she used this rare chance to air out her insides.


    Now she felt a lot more at ease and enjoyed the walk, soon reaching the entrance of the temple.


    The huge marble structure with gold inteced resembled the royal pce in several aspects. However, the two buildings were very structurally different.


    While the pce sprawled out horizontally upying a lot ofnds, the divine temple was more like a pagoda extending vertically.


    It was clear that the entire city was built around this particr hill, with the divine temple at the center.


    "Greetings sister, may I help you?" One of the attendants wandering about on the premises of the temple came over to Alex and asked. She had a warm smile on her face.


    "Yes, I am here to meet priestess Xuraksa." Alex casually tossed out the name of the person from the quest she had received.


    But unexpectedly, the woman in front of her seemed visibly surprised. Her mouth even made a little o. "High priestess Xuraksa? Please, sister. Come this way."


    Alex nodded and to her surprise, the temple attendant personally escorted her inside the huge temple and just like that, her nerves that had only now calmed down, again started to re up.


    The minute she took the first step into the temple, she felt a vague pressure on her body. It was a weird feeling as if something or someone was watching her from somewhere.


    But when she looked around, there were only pristine white marble walls and white marble floors with the asional dull grey pattern.


    There was really nothing else around her. However, the feeling she had was unmistakable.


    Just as she was mulling over this, she took another step forward, and suddenly the space in front of her twisted and she was no longer standing on the hallway of the temple''s ground floor.


    "Hey!" Alex staggered back in shock. She immediately took out her sword and her shield defensively, her heart pounding against her chest.


    However, nothing happened and after she had a chance to calm down and take a breath of two, she noticed an elegant, goddess-like woman sitting atop a golden throne.


    "Wee to the divine temple, young pdin."


    Alex blinked and nodded, unable to avert her eyes from the strange person. The woman also had a warm smile just like the temple attendant but both were definitely not the same.


    There was mysterious pressure that exuded from this goddess that was absent from the other one.


    Alex recovered and quickly put away her sword and the shield. She had a feeling that even if she had these it waspletely useless.


    She could tell that there was a chasm of difference between her strength and the strength of this goddess, who was most probably...


    "Priestess Xuraksa?"


    "Yes, my child. I am high-priestess Xuraksa." The woman continued smiling while her eyes were solidly fixed on Alex.


    Feeling very exposed, Alex shuddered slightly and then scrambled for words, "I am¡­ I am here to take the Vow of tenacity?"


    "Of course, child." The priestess smiled. It looked like she was done with her scanning. "I am the one who sensed your spirit a while back and called you here."


    "Ah¡­ I mean¡­ Thanks." Alex awkwardly gave a return smile. "So how should I-"


    "Ha Ha. You don''t have to do anythingplicated. You can simply take the vow in your heart." The priestess chuckled lightly.


    Alex still looked confused so she exined a bit, "You don''t have to be so nervous. In a way, these vows are nothing special."


    "They are nothing but promises we make to ourselves. In this case, you are making a promise to yourself to fight tenaciously and never give up even in the face of impending death."


    "If that is something that you want to do, you can take the vow. Otherwise, you can also ignore it, child. There is nothing wrong with it. It is entirely up to you."


    Alex nodded. She now had a better understanding of the whole quest, though she had a small nagging doubt at the back of her mind that things couldn''t possibly be so simple.


    "A promise to myself huh¡­ never giving up¡­"


    The moment she thought about it, the obvious disadvantage stared at her in the face. This meant that she would not be able to run away from any enemy?


    As if reading her thoughts, the priestess smiled and said, "It is not about fighting or fleeing child, it is about fleeing once you decide to fight."


    "Ah." Alex nodded. "Ummm¡­ if I may ask, would this give me anything in return?"


    "Of course, it will. If you make amitment to yourself, it will strengthen your resolve, will power and determination at your weakest, when you need it the most."


    Alex had wanted some sort of numbers but it looked like vague cryptic answers were the only ones she was going to get.


    She thought about it for a second and then decided to ept it. She was a tank after all and more importantly, she was always thest to leave a fight, so it suited her well.


    "Ok. I will do this." She did not know what would happen once she did but it was worth finding out.


    She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and thought to herself. ''I always promise to fight back and never give up."


    Given how everything had gone so far, she did not expect anything and was about to open her eyes but unexpectedly, something strong gripped her.


    Cough. Cough. Alex clutched her throat, gasping for breath. She felt suffocated like she was six feet underwater. She did not know what to do.


    It was as if something was clutching or chaining her heart or her very soul. It made her feel imprisoned. She was getting buried alive.


    Alex fell down on the marble ground and twitched uncontrobly, but she seemed tock any and all control over whatever was happening.


    There was only pitch-ck darkness everywhere. She did not even know how long it persisted.


    She bit her lips hard, drawing blood, in some sort of attempt to keep her sanity, but it was of no use. She really felt as if she was going to die.


    At that moment, she just wanted to die even if it was to end the choking sensation that was gripping her.


    However, suddenly something snapped.


    Just as she was struggling, the same words that she had spoken just a second ago once again shed in her brain.


    ''I always promise to fight back and never give up."


    It was like a chant. It repeatedly echoed inside her like a repaired tape recorder. Soon she even forgot that she was not able to breathe and a warm feeling spread across her body.


    This feeling gave her strength and a kind of unique power.


    [Ding. You have gained a new skill]


    [Ding. You have learned ''Vow of Tenacity'']


    [Vow of Tenacity - Passive skill; When your health drops below 2%, all your stats receive a 200% boost for 10 seconds]

 Chapter 394 - We are losing

    Chapter 394 - We are losing


    [Vow of Tenacity - Passive skill; When your health drops below 2%, all your stats receive a 200% boost for 10 seconds; Cooldown - 1 minute]


    Alex gasped as she stared at her system interface without blinking. She read it again and again to make sure that she didn''t misinterpret things.


    This skill meant that any time she was close to losing or rather dying, she would get ast burst of strength and power to turn the tables around!


    This single skill could seriously mean the difference between life and death! Skills like this existed? This was simply too unbelievable! Too over-powered!


    She only knew one other person who could potentially have skills like these and that was Liam.


    No wonder that guy is always able to pull ahead of others and fight like a maniac. She tsked inwardly and then shook her head realizing that she wasparing herself to the guy for no apparent reason.


    She closed the system interface and turned to look at the priestess to say something when suddenly she noticed that something was off.


    The golden throne was empty and the room she was standing in was also empty.


    "Hmmm?" Alex looked around and spotted a door on the side. She opened it and stepped out to the corridor.


    Once again, the corridor was empty but a couple of secondster, a few temple attendants walked past her, all wearing the same white robe with the golden borders.


    "Excuse me? Priests? Priestesses?" She awkwardly called out and the group of people abruptly halted.


    "An intruder? Who allowed you inside?" One of them anxiously spoke but the other female attendant standing next to her stopped her.


    "Sister, calm down first. You can''t see the golden glow on her skin?"


    The second part of her sentence was a low whisper but Alex heard it nevertheless. She quickly lifted her arms and looked and indeed there seemed to be some sort of a light glow.


    She then touched her face and neck and a couple of other ces. Weirdly enough, everything felt the same.


    "What are you searching for, sister? It''s just the holy aura." One of the younger temple attendants couldn''t hold herughter back any longer and chuckled.


    "Shhh. Stop it." Another one warned her and then turned to talk to Alex, "Sister, if you are looking for the temple priestess she is at the war room."


    "Oh? Thank you." Alex decided to quickly check out the ce while she had the chance.


    She could clearly see that she was on one of the higher floors right now. Perhaps if she left this ce, she would not be able to visit again. She was not even sure if the higher floors of the temple were open to yers.


    She quietly followed the directions and turned right to enter a huge hall at the south end of the floor.


    Just from the size of the ce, she expected a lot of people inside but there was only one woman standing in a corner.


    She was leaning over a table and staring at something spread out atop it. And as soon as Alex entered the space, she looked up as if she sensed her presence.


    There was a visible frown on her face, which quickly changed as she nced at the redhead.


    "Wee, pdin. You havee here at the right time. I have an important mission for you."


    "Yes, priestess."


    Alex raised her brows in pleasant surprise as she did not expect to get a quest here. She quickly walked over to the woman, wanting to take a look at the map on the table as well.


    Alex had expected some sort of old map of the world on a faded yellow paper or something simr to that but when she went close by she was once again shocked.


    The things on that table actually moved!


    There was a sort of white fog over what looked like green mountains andnds. This somewhat resembled the image of an Earth-like when seen from outer space.


    But atop this, there were several red points, ckish-red waves rippling from the point. Some of these points had less color intensity while some had more color intensity.


    She was only barely able to get a glimpse when the priestess quickly waved her hand and everything disappeared.


    Alex awkwardly gulped, wanting to have a better look. It looked very interesting and definitely important. It would be nice to know the contents.


    But she swallowed those questions and talked about the quest. She had learned the hard way that it was always better to get the quest first and then poke aroundter.


    "Please tell me what I can assist you with, Priestess."


    "Mmm. Vile energy is beginning to seep into our air, water, andnds. More and more beasts are losing their minds and turning demonic. Visit the western valley to help our people."


    [Ding. New Quest Received]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N]


    "Yes." Alex quickly epted the quest. "I will do my best to save them, priestess. It is my good luck."


    "Mmm. I will bless you to have sess." The priestess nodded.


    [Ding. You have received the divine temple''s blessing. All your stats are increased by 5% for the next 12 hours]


    "Thank you, priestess."


    Alex was happy about this bonus but she still wanted to ask about the map. "Priestess, please forgive me, but may I ask what the red spirals on the map are?"


    "I¡­ ummm¡­ got a bad feeling from them."


    "Mmm¡­ I will tell you. Since you are now a pdin of the first order, this is something that you are privy to."


    "The red spirals are the cracks in the space where our defense is being tested, where the rift battles are taking ce."


    "More specifically, the red ones are where we are losing and the white ones are where we are winning."


    "Ah¡­ that means." Alex gasped.


    "Yes, we are losing." The priestess solemnly nodded.

 Chapter 395 - To win or to lose?

    Chapter 395 - To win or to lose?


    "Hey, I just learned something important." Alex sent a message to Liam the moment she stepped out of the divine temple.


    After getting the quest and talking to the priestess for a few seconds, she couldn''t find anything else to do there and decided to head out.


    It looked like she needed to finish that quest first to get more quests.


    So she directly started walking back out of the city, while informing Liam about what she had found out from the priestess and that map.


    "I am currently stepping out of the divine temple. The priestess here is telling me that the demons are winning this war." She sent the next message.


    Alex did not know if this piece of information had any significance to it or not but for once she was happy to find out something that Liam had no idea about.


    There was even a small smug smile tugging at her lips.


    She happily drank in some more of the divine city air and took a few steps, when the reply for message promptly arrived.


    "Is that all? Did she say anything else?"


    "Huh?" Alex stopped in her tracks and her face twitched as she stared at the message, "Is that all? Is he serious? He doesn''t think that this is a big deal?"


    She bit her lips and furiously typed a reply back, "I also received a random quest." She tried to think hard if she missed anything else but that seemed to be it.


    "Ok." Another reply arrived.


    "..." Alex did not know why but she suddenly felt like strangling someone.


    Just as she was about to close the system interface and continue with her day, suddenly another notification popped up.


    [Ding. Warning! Crimson Abyss Guild Residence is under attack!]


    [Ding. Warning! Crimson Abyss Guild Residence is under attack!]


    [Ding. Warning! Crimson Abyss Guild Residence is under attack!]


    "What the hell!" Alex almost jumped in surprise. She then hurriedly messaged Liam but this time no reply came in from the other side.


    She gave up on him and then opened the guild channel to see what was happening when she finally noticed all the shenanigans that had transpired in thest couple of hours.


    She saw Liam''s message in the guild channel and the all out brawl that was happening in the ''Rock Temple''.


    Apparently what started as some sort of guild outing had evolved into a chaotic battle among several guilds.


    That region was now even gged as a PVP heavy zone and there were warnings in the guild chat asking others to not go over there.


    There were also several peopleining about the guild andct of proper authority and now on top of everything, someone was attacking their guild residence!


    Just what the heck was going on!


    She had only just now left the guild and so many things happened? And no one had even bothered to inform her about anything?


    This was not good. Alex gritted her teeth. The main problem was that all their core members were still in theher realm so their guild was basically a loose cannon right now.


    They desperately needed more trustworthy members and they needed them now. They also needed more organization before everything turns into a clusterfuck.


    Making a mental note, Alex started running out of the divine city, rushing back to the guild residence.


    Luckily, she wasn''t too far away and would be able to arrive there soon.


    Even as she was running, she once again opened the interface and still, there wasn''t a single reply from Liam.


    Did this guy just not care about the guild residence or perhaps¡­ did something really bad happen? She couldn''t help but assume the worst.


    Her thoughts started running wild and she quickened her pace wanting to get there before things became too worse, but the next second another notification popped up.


    [Ding. Crimson Abyss guild has sessfully defended against the attack!]


    [Ding. Crimson Abyss guild has sessfully defended against the attack!]


    [Ding. Crimson Abyss guild has sessfully defended against the attack!]


    She abruptly stopped her run, almost stumbling down, and stablized herself. "Are you serious?!" She blinked and stared again, now more confused than ever.


    It had only been one minute since the under attack warning and they had already defended? What was this? A child''s game?


    Just what the hell was going on?


    She took a deep breath and once again started heading to the guild residence. The attack might be over but she still needed to know just what had happened.


    Now it made sense why Liam did not even flinch on seeing the warning notice. Maybe he anticipated this and made preparations?


    "That must be it."


    She brushed past the brambles and the tall trees and ran through the wilderness and as she did, she once again came to a screeching halt.


    Suddenly everything made sense.


    The map she had seen on the priestess war table and the fact that Liam trapped several guilds into wiping outpletely in the spatial rifts, what if these two were connected?


    Alex chewed on her nails nervously.


    Of all the people she knew that this game was not merely a game. So if the demons are winning the war, she did not know what was going to happen.


    Taking another deep breath, she opened the system interface to once again send a message. This was too important.


    "Liam, I think maybe because of the huge number of recent losses, we might be losing this war. What do you think? Is this because of whatever you did?"


    "Come on. Reply. Reply." She mumbled looking at the interface when a response promptly arrived the next second.


    "Of course, it is because of what I did."


    "What¡­" Alex opened her mouth and dumbfoundedly stared at this message. She could even imagine him smiling as he typed these words, the same cocky smug smile.


    "Fuck!" She cursed out loud and then typed again.


    "I have a feeling that this will end very badly for us. I mean¡­ since you have the demons under your control or something like that, is there anything else you could do to change this oue?"


    Seeing that there was no other replying her way, Alex resumed her trip back to the guild.


    Meanwhile¡­ at the other end¡­


    Liam continued to stare at the message. It was not that he did not want to reply but he himself did not know the answer yet.


    Alex was absolutely correct. This change in oue was definitely his doing.


    He did not consider that the small strategical move he had made could have such a big impact, but it did.


    It looked like these two victories were the difference between one side winning and the other side losing.


    This meant that the margin of the victory had originally been very slim.


    In his previous life, the humans had sessfully defended all the spatial rifts and chased out the demons. They had celebrated this event as a great glory to all mankind.


    But only now he understood the reality of it.


    They had only managed to win by the skin of their teeth and now that he had meddled in this and tipped the scales, everything had changed in an instant!


    Liam stared nkly at the system interface as he mulled over this. He now had a better idea of things but the main question still remained¡­


    Which side should win?


    Which side should win so that he could reap the maximum benefits?


    The humans in the Xion realm won the war thest time around but that did not seem to y any role in the futurendscape of earth.


    Their victory did not trante to his world''s victory? Then perhaps their loss would trante to earth''s betterment?


    "Hmmmm¡­" Liam silently pondered over this. This was important so he did not want to make any decision hastily.


    There was still some time for the war so he decided to think about it some more beforeing to a conclusion.


    Besides, no matter what decision he made, things might already be out of his control.


    He was only coincidentally able to cause a domino effect this time creating significant ripples that made one side win and the other side lose.


    He might not be able to repeat this again even if he wanted to.


    Engrossed in his thoughts, he tossed and turned on Luna''s back. They were also on their way returning back to the guild residence.


    After the news spread, more and more yers started appearing at the site of the battle and most of the yers were PVP lovers.


    Things became even more chaotic and even the graveyard was not left out. So it was no longer convenient for Liam to stay back there.


    Also, he had already obtained two of the three recipes he hade here for, high-grade mana potion and high-grade health potion.


    With these two in hand, he could now start to practice the next grade of alchemy and if sessful could easily be a Master.


    So the duo did not linger around and quickly headed back to the guild residence.

 Chapter 396 - Giving a bath to the redhead

    Chapter 396 - Giving a bath to the redhead


    When Luna and Liam arrived at the guild residence, coincidentally Alex also arrived at the same time.


    The two of them did not say anything as they silently gazed at the damage and destruction, not inside the guild residence but rather outside it.


    There were huge craters on the ground that the groundskeepers were cleaning up, and some of the nearby trees and nts were destroyed.


    There were even greyish ck smoke fumes stilling out of some ces. Blood and bones were scattered everywhere.


    No matter which way one looked at it, the guild residence couldn''t have been under attack.


    Rather it appeared as if some unwanted cattle or sheep wandered into the territory and someone sted these foolish animals into smithereens.


    "How..." Alex gaped with her mouth open wide.


    "Heh. What else would happen if some idiot gathers an army to attack and take over an S-rank guild? They will be shot down of course!" Liam shrugged.


    "By tanks or cannons or something?" Alex looked up at thepound walls to see if anything of that sort was there.


    "No" Liam corrected her. "Thepound has a magic formation inscribed in the building walls and boundaries."


    "Well, this is the most basic for an S Rank guild. We can do a lot more fortifications. We just need to cough up more gold."


    "Ah¡­ I see."


    As she looked at the craters on the ground, Alex gulped in anticipation of just how powerful those upgraded fortifications might be.


    Snapping out of her thoughts, she noticed that the person next to her had already disappeared.


    "Liam!" She called out after the guy. He was walking towards the alchemy tower.


    Alex quickly followed him because there was still a lot more that they needed to discuss and she did not intend to let him slip away this time.


    She followed him all the way to the alchemy tower and as she entered the building, she finally caught up to the guy.


    Liam seemed to be standing at the entrance and looking at something.


    "Hmmm?" Alex walked over and saw several big barrel-like containers on the showcase. "Eh? What is this?"


    Usually, guilds only showcased their most prized possession, very rare potions in the guild lobby to entice other yers to contribute more and improve themselves further.


    So what were these unattractive barrels doing here? Shouldn''t be there some stylish colorful ss potion bottles instead?


    Just as she was pondering over this, Liam turned towards her and said, "Good you are here. You can try this."


    "Huh? Try what?" Alex squinted her eyes to read thebel of the potion. "Body cleansing potion?"


    "Yup. It cleanses and purifies your body. I want to see how effective it is. Do you want to try it?"


    "Ohkay?" For some reason, Alex felt a little wary. Nevertheless, she followed Liam up to the top floor where Seeka greeted them with a smile.


    He gave a set of instructions to her and she started preparing for the bath. Soon everything was set up and Alex eyed the boiling water in hesitation.


    KYUUU!


    Luna was this close to pushing her in but Liam chuckled as he pulled the fox back into his arms.


    "Just step into it. It will be a bit painful but you will be fine." He exined. "I will be right here if you need anything."


    He was doing this because he wanted to check just how efficient the potion is for someone who had already progressed this much in their strength.


    This solution gave the best results when one was in the initial stages of mana exposure, but this way shouldn''t be too bad either?


    Even if they manage to gain some bonus stats, it was still a plus. So he urged Alex to step in, waving his hand with a misleading smile.


    Alex as well nodded and started climbing into the vat, when Liam abruptly interrupted her. "Oh, you just remove your armor and other items. Best to just enter the bath in your underwear."


    "Huh? In my¡­" The woman''s face instantly changed as she became anxious.


    "What are you thinking about? Calm down. This is the way to get maxim benefits." Liam shook his head helplessly. "Besides, haven''t I already seen everything there is to?"


    "You!" Alex''s blood immediately shot to her cheeks, making her face and neck red with embarrassment and she turned to retort back angrily.


    But seeing the calm indifferent look on Liam''s face, she was once again reminded of the past and she did not want to make the same mistake again.


    She knew that the guy was probably just giving instructions for her betterment so she let out a small sigh and stripped down before quickly stepping inside the vat.


    The hot sizzling liquid scorched her skin and suddenly being embarrassed and half-naked in front of Liam was no longer her biggest concern.


    Mother! Alex bit her lips as she let out a loud yelp.


    After being killed and wounded several times inside the game, she should have already been used to this kind of pain, but it was still unbearable.


    Surprisingly, she saw Liam walking toward her. He sat next to her calmly on the ground. "You are doing good. Hold on a little longer." He even encouraged her.


    Alex did not expect this kindness and dumbly nodded.


    As the burning waters slowly warmed her body down to her very core, she felt something deep inside her burn.


    She did not know why but tears started spilling out of her eyes as let go of everything she was holding to.


    It was easy to react to this overwhelming straightforward physical pain whenpared to the other things that she had buried inside her heart and mind.


    She closed her eyes and silently cried.


    Liam did not say anything. He did not disturb her and silently waited for a few more seconds. "It should be done now. Did you get any notifications?"


    He did not want to embarrass her by saying anything else so he only talked about the stats. Also, that was the only thing that really concerned him.


    "Ah." Alex shed her eyes open. She was so engrossed that she did not even realize that the waters had cooled down now.


    She quickly pulled up the system interface and saw that she had received a notification just like Liam had mentioned.


    "What? How is this possible! I got a plus 10 in all stats!" She stood up from the barrel in shock, sshing water all around her.


    She did not even realize that her white linen bra and panties were nowpletely wet and transparent.


    With her dank red hair sticking to her body, her face and cheeks flushed lightly, and her deep curves glistening in moisture, she looked extremely seductive at the moment.


    If it was any other person, they would have straight up gotten a nose bleed just from the single look but Liam now had lots of practice.


    Alex was indeed extremely beautiful but this was nothing whenpared to the two seductive nymphs who threw themselves at him constantly.


    Thanks to the mother and daughter pair, he was easily able to maintain hisposure and answer with a straight face.


    "That''s good. I prepared some more. So make sure all the core team members get a shot at it."


    He then turned around to leave, giving her some privacy, but it looked like Alex still did not realize her situation. She quickly called after him.


    "Liam, one second. I have something to ask you." She stepped outside the vat, her tits bouncing lightly, and walked over to Liam.


    "Hey, I wanted to ask you¡­ What happened in the guild a couple of hours back? Why did you rile up everyone? And why did you start that fight with the six guilds? What was the point of it?"


    "Oh, that?" Liam grinned. "Now that you remind me about it¡­"


    He started emptying out contents from his inventory space. Alex''s mouth opened once again as she gasped in surprise.


    In just a couple of minutes, huge piles of sparkling equipment glittered on the floor.


    There were all sorts of items in these piles. Most of them even looked high-end, having silver and golden luster to them.


    "Don''t we need items for the guild incentives? You can use these. Keep only unique rated items and toss the rest to Berat for selling and scraping."


    Alex nodded, continuing to dumbfoundedly stare at the items. She was unable to take her eyes off them.


    Even for her, this was something extraordinary and she was not strictly thinking about the items themselves.


    Sure, the equipment on the ground was impressive but more importantly the carnage one needed to cause for obtaining all these items was even more¡­ terrifying.


    Just the thought of it gave her goosebumps.


    She didn''t notice but her nipples visibly hardened and especially because she was effectively naked at the moment the person in front of her could see everything.


    Some women were turned on by money, some by gold, apparently this one liked items? Liam chuckled and did not say anything.


    He turned around to leave thinking he would give her some privacy when he remembered the other crucial thing he had gained from all the chaos.


    The news about the soul healing potion!

 Chapter 397 - A way to cure your brother

    Chapter 397 - A way to cure your brother


    Liam looked at the naked redhead drooling at the items and thought about it for a second. He then decided to go for it.


    He currently had a lot of things on his te. It was best to leave this one to the two sisters.


    After all, they were both equally motivated or rather even more desperate when it came to finding a medicine like this in order to cure Rey, so he was confident in their abilities to see it through.


    "Alex, one more thing. I have some news about your brother''s condition." Liam did not beat around the bush and directly came to the point.


    "I found two men who could potentially lead you to a cure for your brother''s condition."


    He ryed to her everything that he had overheard in the graveyard and Alex dropped the item she was holding in her hand.


    The golden staff ttered on the floor as she stared at Liam in utter shock.


    This was it! This was what they had been waiting for and tirelessly searching every day and night,bing through this entire bizarre world.


    And now they finally got a crumb to follow!


    "Liam, is this true?" She clenched her fists and asked.


    "Mmmm. It is. If I am correct, these two men should be at the guild''s massage parlor at the moment."


    "Ok." Unexpectedly, Alex immediately started walking out of the room, but Liam quickly grabbed her and pulled her back with his hand on her waist. Only that area seemed to be safe to touch.


    "First of all, calm down. Don''t do things rashly. We might have only one shot at this."


    "You don''t have to remind me that. I am calm. I will not let them both get away." Alex snapped back.


    "Oh really? You are calm? Did you take a look at yourself first?" Liam narrowed his eyes and looked at her sternly, his gaze then drifting to the rest of her body.


    Hmmm? Alex was confused. It took her a second but her eyes followed Liam''s gaze and she finally realized her current plight.


    The man''s hand was wrapped around her waist and her bare ass was tightly pressed against his body.


    She could feel the cold,fortable feeling that seeped out of his touch, the ce where his hands touched her. It felt good. It made her pulse quicken.


    She shuddered slightly and then snapped out of her thoughts. She did not know why her body was reacting like this.


    Everything else was even worse. Her nipples were visible. Her peach was visible. Basically, she was naked with every inch of her body on disy!


    Gasp. Her eyes widened and she quickly pushed Liam away, pulling out fresh clothes from the inventory and covering herself up first.


    While doing so, she did not forget to shoot death res at the guy.


    Liam, however, simply shrugged. How was he the bad guy here? Maybe I should have reminded her that everything was disyed vividly?


    "Well, whatever." He ignored the death res and continued, "Now you do understand. Anyway, I don''t think you are still calm enough. I suggest you call Mia over as all."


    "I think both of you should work on this together. And if you still need more help, immediately message me. This is too important. Not only for your brother but for all of our futures."


    "I hope you can get this done. Hmmm?"


    "Yes, I will get it done." Alex gritted her teeth and replied. She did not want to admit it but the guy was right about everything.


    She opened the system interface and messaged Mia instantly.


    "Are you sure I have time? Will they be in the massage parlor?"


    "Heh. Yes. Yes. I am sure. You don''t have to worry about that part. Those two are men of culture. They are probably getting the special massages."


    Liam nodded with a serious expression as if he was stating a fact.


    "What culture?"


    "Nothing. Nothing."


    Alex saw this and her face twitched but she didn''t say anything. "Ok, in that case, I will make a move now."


    "Good luck."


    She paused for a moment by the door and mumbled, "By the way¡­ I¡­ ummm¡­ thanks, but Liam, I am sorry. I have to ask, what about the demons?"


    "What about the demons?"


    "Won''t they weaken us tremendously? I mean if they win the war and all the demons enter this world or if something like that happens?"


    "Or maybe they will make us stronger?"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Seriously, there is no way of knowing the future." Liam sighed. Even after living through this twice now, he could not predict which way the coin would fall.


    "Don''t think about these things. If I were you¡­ I would think about the vow you took."


    "What do you mean?" Alex''s interest was piqued.


    "Think about the conditions under which you triggered that quest, perhaps you might get clues for something more. Maybe there are more vows?"


    His words struck Alex like a jolt of lightning and she instantly had an idea about something.


    "You are right! You are absolutely right!" She blinked her eyes in a daze, solidifying the idea in her head.


    "Heh. Don''t mention it, teammate." Liam smiled and patted her on the shoulder as he walked out of the room.


    Sitting on his back, all curled up, a small fox raised her head to give Alex a serious stink eye.


    For a second, Alex was extremely startled to see that very human-like expression on the cute adorable animal, but she had far too many things on her mind now, so she did not take it to heart.


    Outside, Liam walked over to one of the adjacent rooms which Seeka had already prepared for him. He now had the required potion recipes to continue training in alchemy.


    Apart from what he had looted a few more people also submitted recipe books and raw materials to the main guild assistant, hoping to get a lot of guild contribution points and get in good graces with the upper management.


    All in all, he had gained a lot from this small mess that he stirred up.


    "What do you think Luna¡­? Heh, wars are the most profitable and most efficient way to gather resources." He patted the fox''s head.


    Kyuuuuu!


    The little beast smiled, enjoying the attention.


    "Oh and that reminds me¡­ I need to collect my rewards from the other side also." Liam''s mind wandered over to the demon whom he had inadvertently cucked.


    He couldn''t help but wonder how things were going there on the other side in theher realm! He had to be a hero there, right?

 Chapter 398 - Master is sus...

    Chapter 398 - Master is sus...


    Liam tucked away all the other thoughts from his mind and called out the system interface to check out the two new recipes he had learned.


    His next steps would heavily depend on how things progress in this.


    [Basic Healing Potion]


    [Basic Mana Potion]


    [Basic Stamina Potion]


    [Basic Strength Potion]


    [Basic Agility Potion]


    [Basic Fire Resistance Potion]


    [Basic Anti Venom Potion]


    [Low Grade Body Cleansing Potion]


    [Low Grade Stealth potion]


    [Low Grade Anti Venom Potion]


    [Low Grade Water Breathing]


    [Low Grade Rage Potion]


    [High Grade Healing Potion]


    [High Grade Mana Potion]


    [Chrysanthemum Lethal Poison]


    [Nine-Color Paralyzing Poison]


    "Alright, done with the basic potions and the low grade potions, now it is time to try the high grade potions. This should definitely get me the master promotion."


    Liam thoroughly looked at the ingredients and concoction process of the two high potion recipes he had learned. He only had two, high grade mana potion and high grade healing potion.


    Just like their name suggested, these were far more efficient than their lower grade counterparts.


    Especially after reaching Level 50, Liam would need these immediately.


    After Level 50, there would be a huge jump in both the quality and quantity of his mana, and also his health would receive a significant buff.


    At that time the low grade mana potions and low grade health potions would only be capable of regenerating a small chunk of his needs.


    In fact, even now before he is yet to cross the Level 50 threshold, these potions are already insufficient. So it was about time to upgrade these inferior potions.


    Besides, there was also another reason that Liam needed the supply of these two potions. Not only were they more effective but they also contained far fewer impurities.


    So using these instead of the inferior potions would be less detrimental to his growth once the Level 50 milestone is reached and he forms a mana core.


    In his previous life, several people had fallen into this pit and were forced to use these lesser regeneration potions because they did not have the better ones in hand.


    At this point, mana potions and health potions were extremely essential to the game. One would simply find it difficult to survive without these.


    If they did not have enough stock of these potions and be able to use these potions during a fight, then killing Elites and other stronger monsters would be impossible.


    Their movements would be restricted. They would have to go out of their way to avoid PVP or other dead-end situations.


    The entire game would suddenly be filled with death traps without the regeneration potions.


    Liam had already been through this once before so he knew the importance of these potions. This was precisely why he was focusing on alchemy right now.


    Before he touched Level 50, he absolutely needed to concoct a big batch of these potions.


    If he fails and doesn''t manage to do it before he hits Level 50, it still doesn''t matter. He simply cannot go out without these potions in hand.


    Otherwise, he would be forced to use the inferior lesser potions and only be undoing all the hard work he did so far and start ruining his body''s constitution little by little.


    "Ok, between these two, I have the ingredients I need for the mana potion, so I will start with that first."


    After studying the ingredients and the concoction process, Liam made up his mind and started working out the details.


    He also shared with his fox and his fox''s assistant the herbs and the other items that he would be needing. The two busied themselves setting up everything.


    "Master, shall I add the water and activate the cauldron?" Seeka asked as Liam seemed to be waiting for the two of them to finish up.


    But surprisingly, Liam shook his head.


    Only a fool would underestimate the difficulty in concocting high grade potions and he was not going to do that.


    Before even touching the cauldron, he first started mentally going over the entire process from start to finish.


    He did this several times, paying full attention to all the details, even the smallest ones. Both Luna and Seeka waited for him patiently.


    Only after about half an hour, Liam opened his eyes. He looked at the two who were staring at him in a daze and smiled. "Well, we have about 90% chance of sess I think. Let''s start."


    After all, there was only so much thinking and mental preparation one could do. Everything boiled down to the actual execution.


    Seeka filled in the water for the cauldron and Liam rxedly raised his hand to activate the mechanism.


    The huge vessel thrummed alive and he started pumping in more and more mana for it to achieve the optimal state.


    As the first water bubble appeared with the temperature of the cauldron high enough, Liam immediatelymanded the fox. "Luna, now."


    The fox as well quickly tossed in the first set of ingredients.


    Their coordination was very strong and the herbs started dissolving immediately giving the required light green color to the boiling water in the cauldron.


    Just as the first signs of white foam started appearing in this light green solution, Liam instantly gave the nextmand.


    "Now."


    Luna quickly tossed in the next batch of herbs as well. The color once again started changing and Liam began turning up the heat in the cauldron.


    Just like this, the group continued diligently working.


    Unlike the low grade mana potion, the high grade mana potion did not take a long time to concoct. The process was in fact a lot faster.


    One batch only required ten minutes of brewing.


    But every minute of those ten minutes was extremely crucial. Even the slightest mistake could make the whole thing burn out.


    Liam took a deep breath and started churning out huge quantities of mana. He was now almost at the end. However, he was still not over the finish line. This was one of the more difficult steps.


    This step in particr was very challenging because this required mana control when dealing with huge quantities.


    Mana control when dealing with a medium amount of mana was the easiest to handle. When the mana amount became too low or too high, controlling it became exponentially difficult.


    Liam already knew that he did not yet have the required control to achieve this part easily but he couldn''t give up just like that.


    He had to at least try a few times. Otherwise, he was never going to improve. So he was now basically dealing with high stakes and high heat.


    If his mana maniption was sessful, the potion would form to conclusion and if not, then everything would blow up in his face, with the mana and the heat getting out of control.


    1 second passed¡­ 2 seconds passed¡­ 3 seconds passed.


    Beads of sweat trickled down Liam''s forehead and his entire body was stinging with the sensation of the mana coursing through his veins.


    It was as if his blood and mana mixed together to form a highly chaotic turbulent stream that cut through his body, scraping him ruthlessly wherever they came in contact with his flesh.


    Liam clenched his fists, bore the internal pain, and continued churning out more and more amounts of mana.


    Whatever he had put out was definitely not nearly enough. The color of the potion was not budging from the pale green. It did not change to the bright crystalline blue that he wanted.


    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." Liam bit down and churned out even more mana when abruptly everything colluded together andbusted right in his face.


    BOOOM!


    A loud explosion rocked the alchemy room on the top floor, the noise echoing loudly in the empty corridors and the gas and smoke leaking out of the open window.


    And inside the room, the three ckened beings stared at each other.


    Liam''s eyebrows and the front half of his head were burnt, leaving him half-bald and Luna''s pearly white wless fur was now covered in soot and dirt, making her look like a dirty ck cat.


    Seeka''s condition was also no better. Her clothes became burnt and her upper body was now exposed.


    Liam looked at the two of them who were once again staring at him in a daze, a slight fear, and anxiety mixed in their eyes.


    He let out a small sigh and then broke into augh. "You two, stop spacing out. Time to start the next batch."


    Kyuuuuu!


    Luna''s mood became better on seeing Liam smile and Seeka as well quickly started preparing everything again from the scratch after changing into a new set of clothes.


    In a couple of minutes, the trio once again settled in front of the cauldron to start the process all over again.


    Kyuuuu¡­


    This time the fox apprehensively stepped near the vessel and Liam gave her a warm encouraging smile. "A couple of explosions arepletely normal during pill concoctions. Ok?"


    Kyuuu¡­ the fox nodded, scrunching her nose. She did not know why but she felt as if her master''s smile was a bit suspicious.

 Chapter 399 - A black colored Luna

    Chapter 399 - A ck colored Luna


    After a few minutes, the trio repeated the exact same steps as the previous time and soon they were once again at thest crucial step.


    BOOOM!


    Another explosion rocked the room and Luna blew out a puff of smoke, coughing up with her tiny mouth.


    Seeka as well became bald this time.


    However, Liam calmly said¡­


    "Again."


    Just like the first two attempts ended in failure, the third, the fourth, and the fifth as well consecutively ended in the same manner.


    The white fox looked at Liam pitifully, her fur now almost pitch ck. Liam as well was fully bald and Seeka was close to losing her mind.


    The two dreaded the next attempt but thankfully for them, Liam did not say anything and closed his eyes.


    They had now tried this same process five times and all five times the cauldron had exploded. Liam was not frustrated about this.


    While learning alchemy such things were expected especially when he was directly trying to make a huge leap going from making low grade potions to high grade potions.


    But the thing that bothered him was that he was not making any progress. In all the five attempts he had not learned anything.


    If things continued this way then even if he repeated the same set of movements a hundred times, he would still not learn anything.


    He calmed himself down and silently closed his eyes to try and decipher what was going wrong.


    Clearly, the problemid in thest step but was it really his mana maniption that wascking, or was it something else disguised as his mana maniption?


    Liam cleared his head and dissected the whole process into several steps, thinking about the individual steps carefully.


    Mana potions especially high grade mana potions contained within them a gentle aura. The explosive nature of the mixture was only when it was not fully concocted.


    And this explosive nature was because of one specific herb, Thithinali.


    Liam shed his eyes open to look at the bundle of Thithinali herbs that were ced on the side.


    In the recipe, it was described that this herb required extremely high heat to stabilize. Otherwise, the whole brew would be exothermic and explode.


    At the same time, certain parts of this herb were also very sensitive. So the mana had to be carefully circted only on the outer edges of the herb.


    "Did I make a mistake?" Liam pondered.


    He picked up a stalk and tried to process this stalk alone by churning out his mana and running it around the leaves of the herb.


    Seeka intuitively took a step back but the little fox was too curious to do the same. She was perched beside Liam and peeked her head in curiously, when¡­ Do you want to read more chapters?


    BOOOM!


    Another explosion rang out.


    This one was rather a small explosion. Nevertheless, it burst right on the little thing''s face making her riled up.


    When Liam chuckled and picked up the next stalk to examine, the fox furiously opened her mouth and let out a growl before burning the whole herb thoroughly.


    Everything happened in an instant and the herb waspletely ruined. The little fox only realized what she had der.


    She yelped in shock, her eyes going wide. Now she had done it!


    The little fox gulped and immediately put on a pitiful expression looking at Liam with all sorts of cuteness dripping from her face.


    Liam on the other hand was still busy staring at his hand where the herb was previously there.


    Seeing that he was not paying attention, the fox adjusted her cute face and popped into hisp from different sides really trying to show him that she was repentant.


    After an entire minute, Liam finally paid attention to the little thing and rubbed her eyes. "Idiot. Stop it. I am not mad. It''s fine."


    He rubbed the little fox''s head, thinking about what he had observed. In the split second that the herb was burnt, he had actually experienced a cooling feeling in his hand.


    He knew that Luna''s fire was a few degrees hotter than his own conjured fire. Could it be because of this?


    Liam mulled over this for a couple more minutes but no matter which angle he approached this from, this seemed to be the only logical reason.


    It then struck him that perhaps where he was going wrong was not in the control but in the quantity.


    "You did good, naughty little girl." He picked up the fox by her scruff and ced her on the side. "Let''s start from the beginning again."


    "Yes, Master!" Seeka hurriedly started pouring in the water and the fox as well obediently grabbed the first set of herbs in her paw seeming a little too eager.


    Liam smiled, "Add it in."


    The first steps of the process quickly went by and they were soon at the deciding step. "I will try with 80% of my mana now."


    He closed his eyes and touched the cauldron, churning the huge quantity of energy in his body. Pain rippled across his body as he tried using all of that mana at the same time.


    At the same time, the Thithinali stalks floating on the concoction, all of them started vibrating. Liam could feel it and he knew that he was close.


    He gritted his teeth and tried to hold on but a secondter¡­ BANG!


    Once more everything exploded.


    However, the explosion this time was not that bad. In fact, only the cauldron had snapped apart and the liquid seeped out.


    This was a lot betterpared to the previous times when several tongues of fire roared out and the entire room was filled with smoke and debris.


    This was progress!


    Liam grinned and shouted. "AGAIN! NOW!" He had a feeling that he had this in the bag!


    Everything was quickly set up and when the moment arrived, he resolutely eyed the cauldron. "90% mana this time!"


    "This is going to hurt."


    He tried to prepare himself as he swirled the mana circting in his body, but as soon as hemanded all of it to do his bidding, his entire body twitched in pain.


    The pain was simply excruciating.


    Despite this, Liam was not done yet. He had to bear this pain and he also had to keep his mind sane somehow while going through this torture.


    Both Luna and Seeka could see how much he was suffering and the two of them gaped at him with awe and respect.


    Their master''s willpower was tremendous!


    As Liam continued to push through, each second dragging like an eternity, soon the entire cauldron started glowing.


    ***

 Chapter 400 - DIE! DIE! DIE!

    Chapter 400 - DIE! DIE! DIE!


    Both Luna and Seeka immediately widened their eyes. Was it all going to explode this time also? The suspense was too much.


    They couldn''t bear to look but they also couldn''t not look.


    The glow started bing brighter and brighter and just as the cauldron shook and shivered, indicating all signs of an impending explosion, suddenly the greenish liquid inside bubbled and absorbed all the heat.


    The color as well started changing from a dark green to a faded green to a pleasant turquoise blue and finally to crystal clear bright blue!


    Kyuuuuuu!


    Luna cried in joy!


    [Master, its sessful!]


    Seeka as well pped her hands in excitement. The two of them turned to look at Liam who tiredly opened his eyes.


    "Mmmm¡­ That''s good." He flopped down on the ground, resting his body and mind as that had truly taken everything out of him, pushing his limits to the extreme.


    He let out a small sigh and swiped the several notifications away.


    [Ding. High Grade Mana potion created]


    [Ding. High Grade Mana potion created]


    [Ding. High Grade Mana potion created]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    "Good. Good." A couple more times of this and he was sure to reach the Master level.


    Liam smilednguidly and was about to close his eyes for a short rest when suddenly something vile gripped his heart, mind and body.


    "I got you now, you bastard!"


    "I got you now! BA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"


    Liam shuddered as his ears filled with a terrifying bloodcurdling howl. Where was iting from? He tried to pry his eyes open with great difficulty and looked around.


    But there was no else around.


    "What are you looking at, you bastard? BA HA HA HA HA! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" The voice continued to re loudly in his head.


    Liam once again shuddered. His head hurt like it was about to split, but he still could not figure out what was happening.


    What was this? Where is the voiceing from?


    It was flooding his entire being. It was as if the voice wasing from within him.


    Just as this thought entered Liam''s brain that was currently being fried, he immediately shed his eyes open in realization.


    The voice was indeeding from inside his head or brain or at least that''s what it felt like and more importantly, this voice was familiar!


    However, just as Liam managed to get this small amount of rity, the voice inside his brain started to be crazier and crazier. Do you want to read more chapters ?"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    Liam twitched on the ground in uncontroble pain. He clutched his head as if he was preventing it from exploding just like all the cauldrons.


    He now had no doubt. This was some sort of mental attack, a vicious mental attack that was definitely aimed at iming his life!


    "NO." Liam shot back. He writhed in agony. The pain was tormenting but he hade too far to crumble now.


    He refused to be deterred by a mere mental attack that too by someone who was not even present here. "I will not die."


    He grabbed onto the herb stalks that were nearby and crushed them with his hand, juice flowing out because of the force he was applying.


    Both Luna and Seeka looked at him worriedly, not knowing what was happening. Especially Luna was jumping around Liam restlessly, her little eyes full of sadness.


    She wanted to do something to help her master. Seeing him suffering so much, she finally couldn''t handle it anymore and directly jumped on him, licking his face tofort him.


    But no matter what she did, nothing seemed to help.


    Liam continued writhing in pain and the voice in his head as well kept on loudly ring as if there was a loudspeaker jammed right in the middle of his head.


    Even as he was struggling with this, only barely holding on, suddenly things took a turn for the worst. Liam''s reddened eyes squeezed out in pain as he felt a new force assault his brain.


    This time as well it was something he was already familiar with, the wailing sounds of the hundreds of souls.


    He was attacked by this same thing back when the dark elf assassin had crushed a ck bead and now it was back again?


    It did not make sense. He couldn''t understand anything.


    He was far too weak to bear this kind of pain, let alone get a grip of even a moment to think of a possible solution out of this predicament.


    With just the single person shouting in his head and cursing him to die, he was still able to somewhat breathe but now with these many wailing souls added together, he was done.


    Liam''s world cracked and his vision darkened. He onlysted for a second before he lost his consciousness.


    The twitching and the writhing stopped and his bodyid still on the ground.


    Kyuuuuu¡­. Luna worriedly continued licking him.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    A couple of hours passed just like that and Liam slowly stirred awake. The moment he opened his eyes, immediately a notification shed in front of him.


    [Ding! Warning! Warning! Warning!]


    [Ding! You have been possessed by a vengeful soul!]


    [Ding! Warning! Warning! Warning!]


    [Ding! Your soul is being slowly corroded!


    "What the heck?" Liam rubbed his head and slowly sat up. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing. He had to blink and check again.


    His head was still throbbing in pain but he felt a lot better now and he could at least somewhat think. However, the notification in front of him was still the same.


    Nothing changed. It was not a bad dream or tiredness from exhaustion.


    "What is happening? Possessed by a vengeful soul? Huh?" He looked at the notification and everything that happened in the past few hours shed in his mind.


    His eyes widened in shock as he now remembered everything or rather was able to put everything together to somewhat get a grasp of what had transpired.


    He had exhausted himself trying to concoct the mana potion when suddenly someoneunched a mental attack to try and kill him.


    As Liam recollected everything, he also realized something important.


    That person''s voice! It was so familiar because he had heard it only recently!


    It belonged to the damn guy who was boasting about his family and begging him just a while back!


    Gorak, the former guild leader of the Rising Dragon!


    ***

 Chapter 401 - Haunted

    Chapter 401 - Haunted


    Liam shook his head trying to regain some sort of rity. Back at the graveyard, he had collected a decent number of souls.


    He did not finish his ''Soul Devourer'' quest yet but he had collected about 30 souls which was a significant progress.


    Was Gorak''s soul among one of those souls? Shouldn''t it have dispersed by now? Was it still lurking around? Liam had a million questions.


    But he was sure that this was that guy''s voice and he sounded quite vengeful. So he was probably the vengeful ghost or soul clinging onto him.


    However, just as he got a second to think about these things, once again the voice started ring loudly in his head.


    "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    Liam clutched his head, wincing in pain. It stung him from all sides but this time, he was not exhausted.


    "Shut the hell up!" Liam shouted, clenching his fists. He was able to clear the fog that covered his mind and the pain as well significantly reduced.


    He still felt a mild throbbing at the back of his head like that of a prolonged migraine headache but it was nothing that he couldn''t handle.


    "So you did not die fully and you are now clinging to me huh?" Liam took several breaths and tried to stabilize his mental condition.


    "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    Another burst of stabbing pain assaulted him.


    Liam gritted his teeth and shook his head. His head throbbed, but the pain wasn''t too much.


    "Damn it. How the hell am I supposed to get rid of this vengeful soul?" He could see that it would literally be impossible for him to do anything in a state like this.


    He activated [Soul Sensing] to see if that could help him get a better look at this strange affliction. He had never heard of anything like this before.


    Liam frowned as he tried his best to focus and sense any presence of a soul around him.


    At first, all he felt was a blinding headache but as he took several breaths and kept trying, he soon sensed the presence of a thinyer of aura all around him.


    It was as if white dots were covering him all over, every inch of his skin.


    Liam raised his brows in shock. He absolutely had no idea what to do with this or how to make this go away.


    He was actually possessed by a ghost? An undead soul? Something like that could happen?


    He might even be inclined not to take this seriously if not for the mind numbing pain or the very real threat of his own soul corrosion.


    Liam thought about the two demonic nymphs, the ck ravens and now it was this guy''s ghost! His number of stalkers was steadily increasing and he had not managed to shake any of them!


    At least the first two were manageable but this once seemed to be the worst.


    "Hmmm¡­" He calmed down and once again attempted to do something about this situation. Thankfully, sensing souls was not the only thing that he could do.


    Liam quickly tried to get a feel for the scattered soul dots. Until now he hadn''t tried to forge a human soul but now he somehow needed to make it work.


    He slowly tried to bring the scattered dots together one by one. It was a slow process and his head was still throbbing but he was able to push them together bit by bit.


    At first, it was extremely difficult and each dot weighed heavily.


    However, as more and more coalesced, they began attracting each other with a sort of natural pull that made Liam''s work a lot easier.


    His idea was to collect all of them together and forge them or even fling them away to get rid of the weird status of being corrupted by the vengeful soul.


    "Come on. Come on." He gritted his teeth and continued, slowly pulling everything together.


    Soon a small bluish white node began pulsing. It was not as solid andposed as a typical soul bead. It was very dispersed.


    However, the intensity of the soul bead was definitely several folds higher.


    <i> [  ]</i>


    Liam grimaced, feeling the full weight of a human soul. Another pang of searing pain assaulted him and this time it was much much worse than the previous attacks.


    His vision darkened and for a split second, he lost control of the coalesced soul.


    It was only for a fraction of a second but when his vision cleared up the coalesced soul was missing.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed. He could sense that the soul had once again wrapped itself around him.


    "KE KE KE KE! I WIN! YOU LOSE! DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Gorak''s voice as well pounded loudly into his brain.


    "Fuck!" Liam clutched his head and tried to push this annoying voice to the back of his head.


    He knew it already. He was not strong enough. There was no way he would be able to deal with this curse in his current condition.


    However, despite this, he did not falter.


    In reality, he had already expected something like this. Everything that was powerful had its own pitfalls as well.


    That too ''Soulmancer'' was a mysterious ss that he had never heard about. The potential and strength that he could gain from the ss were also endless.


    Considering these things, facing such challenges in the path was already expected. This was not his first rodeo.


    And he was definitely not going to go down because of a single soul possessing him.


    He ughtered the guy when he was alive and he was going to ughter him again now that he was undead.


    He was already this close to doing it. He now only needed a bit more soul strength and he knew exactly how he was going to achieve that!


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air with determination. "Level 50!" He mumbled. Soon everything would be resolved!


    Along with the ability to form mana core, his body and soul would also get a qualitative change as soon as he touched Level 50.


    With this increased soul strength, he would be able to easily get rid of the weak soul fragments stuck to him.


    "BA HA HA HA HA HA! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE, you bastard!" Liam ignored the boisterousughter in his head and turned to look at Luna who was still staring at him worriedly.


    "I am alright." He rubbed the fox''s head with a warm smile.


    ***

 Chapter 402 - Baiting the ghost

    Chapter 402 - Baiting the ghost


    "Master, I have already prepared all the mana potion bottles." Seeka bowed and informed.


    "Ok, let''s start the next batch then." Liam nodded.


    Both Luna and the young woman were shocked to hear this.


    Just now this person was twitching and writhing on the floor as if he was about to die but he was once again back to concocting potions?


    Just what sort of determination did this person possess?


    Kyuuuuu. Luna rubbed her head against Liam worriedly and then jumped over to the cauldron to take her ce.


    Seeka as well started preparing the water for the next batch.


    Liam saw the duo''s worshipping eyes and smiled bitterly. It was not that he wanted to push himself. He just had no other choice.


    He had a feeling that the world was working against him. Everything that could possibly go wrong was in fact going wrong.


    His fate was trying its best to correct itself and make him once again weak and helpless. Liam was sure of it.


    However, he was not frustrated. He knew that he was not going to fold any time soon. There might be a mountain blocking his path but all he needed to do was take one step at a time.


    And the next step in his path was the alchemy quest.


    He needed the body cleansing potion to solidify this foundation and build his mana core on.


    He cleared his mind only focussing on the cauldron in front of him and once again started up the mana potion broth.


    "DIE DIE DIE!" Gorak''s vengeful ghost did not miss this opportunity and started raising a ruckus in his head. Every time he tried to focus, the effect was that much worse.


    Liam flinched in response. He did not expect this and the concoction became ruined.


    Seeing everything in disarray, the voice grew happier and startedughing even louder.


    Liam was utterly perplexed. He couldn''t understand just how much of the guy was still remaining, clinging to thest bits of his soul.


    "Again." He calmly spoke and attempted the whole thing from the beginning.


    "BASTARD! How dare you kill me! Now I will torture you to death!"


    Liam sucked in another breath of air and started working from scratch.


    As soon as he began focusing and manipting the mana in his body, Gorak''s voice relentlessly echoed loudly.


    DIE! DIE! DIE!


    The voice became happier as if it was expecting Liam to fail. However¡­ on the second try¡­ Liam did not even flinch!


    He continued casually as if he was listening to music leisurely.


    For a second, there wasplete silence.


    "Heh? Did I just shut this guy up sessfully?" Liam grinned.


    "BASTARD! How dare you kill me! Now I will torture you to death!"


    "BASTARD! How dare you kill me! Now I will torture you to death!"


    "Sure, you do you." Liam continued working on the potion brewing, leaving the ghost speechless.


    Surprisingly, Gorak also quieted down, but Liam had no doubt. This guy was definitely nning something.


    And Liam knew exactly what it was.


    He patiently continued with all the steps of the potion recipe and soon arrived at thest challenging step.


    "Is this what you are waiting for?" He smirked as he churned out about 90% of the mana in his body.


    Just like before, this process was excruciatingly painful and Liam started sweating profusely. He hardly seemed to have a handle on this and looked very exhausted.


    Meanwhile¡­ the soul fragment covering his body quivered. Gorak''s soul was confused because Liam''s words were contradictory to his actions.


    He knew he was going to be exhausted and he was still doing this. Wasn''t he worried that he would die? Was there some sort of trick here?


    Gorak''s soul hesitated for a second but then it once again furiously growled. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" This was the perfect time for the ghost to attack and it was going to attack.


    Liam grinned. It was exactly as he thought. There was still some part of Gorak clinging around. He was notpletely lost.


    "You know¡­ if I die then you also die?"


    EKKKK?


    The ghost that was screaming in his brain all of a sudden abruptly stopped shouting.


    "That''s right. You should have died already, but you did not. You are still alive. How do you think that is? It is all because of me." Liam casually mouthed while sting the cauldron at full force.


    And just like he had hoped, the ghost as well did not continue screaming. It listened to his words though everything only made sense somewhat.


    Liam waited for one more second and then his smile widened.


    Hook, line, and sinker! He had this ghost and he knew it!


    "I can bring you back from the dead, Gorak." Liam dealt the finishing blow. The moment he mentioned the name, a loud roar erupted in his rain, almost breaking all of his brain cells.


    Thankfully Liam already finished the potion concoction and the notification also popped up. So he did not hold back and clutched his head, trying to bear the pain.


    "GORAK! Are you still there? Do you want to live again?" Liam grit his teeth and repeated his words again. "Do you want revenge or do you want to live again?"


    The more he pushed the ghost or the undead soul, the more furious it became and the corresponding pain also exponentially shot up.


    "You will die if I die." Liam convulsed on the ground, shouting out loudly.


    This continued on for a good few minutes and Luna and Seeka both stood utterly frozen. They could see that Liam was struggling but was he going to win?


    A couple more minutes passed when abruptly, Liam stopped twitching and his voice as well died down. He then let out a deep breath and sat up calmly.


    "Ok, I am ready, let''s make the next batch."


    His mind was as calm and steady as an ocean and the wailing ghost obediently stayed silent.


    ***

 Chapter 403 - Finding the village

    Chapter 403 - Finding the vige


    Liam used the few minutes of silence that he got and quickly finished processing another two batches of high grade mana potions.


    With that, he also received the notification that he was expecting.


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased to Master Level]


    Liam heaved a sigh of relief and as if sensing that the soul that possessed him reared its ugly head again, sending another pang of stabbing pain down his brain.


    Liam winced and rubbed his temples. "You want to live, don''t you? Keep it down, Gorak." He did not hesitate and repeated the same mantra.


    Just like before, this time also the ghost quieted down. He was slowly getting better at handling this thing and the mental attacks.


    He looked at his experience bar which was now about 90% full. "Almost there." He gritted his teeth and stood up.


    "Ok. wrap this up too. We are done with the potions for now."


    Seeka nodded and quickly scrambled to prepare everything. Liam then tossed all the potions into his inventory space and grabbed Luna to ce her back on his shoulder.


    Even though they had taken an unexpected detour and picked up another baggage, somehow they were back on the track again.


    "Let''s see. We need to make the high grade health potions."


    "We need to continue the quest and get the recipe for the body cleansing potion and we need to figure out how to make the high grade body cleansing potion as well."


    The road was definitely long. Liam chuckled inwardly and then shivered a little as he started heading out of the alchemy building.


    Luna rubbed her face worriedly on his neck. She could feel the burden her master was carrying alone. She was extremely sad.


    The two of them headed out of the guild residence. Several yers had now gathered in thepound all busily chatting and gossiping about thetest events.


    They were pointing to the craters outside the guild residence and admiring the security defense of the S-Rank guild.


    Liam saw the crowd and then decided to take the other route.


    He walked over to the back exit and from there, he directly hopped onto Luna''s back, the two of them flying out of thepound.


    "We need to go further south, Luna." Liam closed his eyes and mumbled, lying on the soft fur of the fox which was now back to its pristine white color.


    He pulled up the quest again to take a look.


    [Ding: Unique Chain Quest PartB - In the far south of the Gresh Kingdom, there is a small town and the Lord of the town is a disciple of an ancient medicine master.]


    [Visit the town Jeheriya and obtain the cure for crippled meridians]


    "We need to meet the vige chief I guess? But first, we need to find this ce."


    Kyuuuu. The white fox nodded and the two of them disappeared into the dense forests searching all the areas thoroughly.


    Liam was only awake for a brief period.


    With the undead soul constantly clinging to him and the tiredness of the potion brewing finally catching up to him, he fell asleep in a few minutes.


    Luna could even hear snoring sounds. She grinned and she made sure that her movements were smooth. She kept moving south and soon arrived near a small vige.


    Kyuuuu? The fox cocked her head. She had no idea if this was the vige they were looking for.


    She silentlynded near a tree but quickly rose up to the air again after sensing the presence of several beasts around them in the densely packed forest.


    She continued hovering mid-air to make sure that Liam was safe.


    Another hour ended up passing by just like this when Liam finally stirred awake. "Hmmmm? We are here already?"


    Kyuuuuu!


    Luna bobbed her head up and down.


    "Alright. Go on down then." Liam chuckled. There were some beasts down in the forests so he asked her to directlynd outside the vige.


    Their presence rmed the small ce the bunch of people in the vige gathered around. Liam could even see the fear in their eyes.


    And he did not have to ask why. Since they were on the borders of the Kingdom, they were probably constantly being harassed by wild beasts.


    "I am not here to make any trouble." Liam waved his hand in a friendly gesture. He did not enter the small ce just like that. He patiently waited for a response first.


    From what he could see, the NPCs'' levels were quite low. These were not probably the ones he was looking for.


    Seeing that no one was stepping forward to talk to him, Liam once again repeated himself.


    "I am here to find a vige called Jeheriya. If anyone helps me find the ce, I can give them a generous reward." He patiently smiled.


    However, once again, no one stepped forward to talk to him. The bunch of people simply gathered around and were staring at him without saying anything.


    "Ok. We will on our way then." Liam waited for a couple more seconds before turning to leave. If they did not respond to him, there wasn''t anything much he could do.


    But just as he was leaving, one young boy ran out from the back. "I can help you! Please wait! Please wait!"


    Huh? Liam paused and turned around, only to find all the adults in the vige with scared looks on their faces.


    A couple of them quickly hurried to step forward and close the boy''s mouth.


    "Sorry, sir. He spoke out of turn. We really don''t know about any vige like that. Please forgive the boy''s impudence." A man stepped forward to exin.


    Liam chuckled. Clearly, things were not so simple. He could see that the person was visibly trembling and for some reason, it did not look like he was the reason for his fear.


    "I understand. He is a small kid after all." Liam smiled warmly with a subtle glint in his eyes.


    "Now that I think about it. I am slightly hungry. Could I perhaps step in to have a meal and a drink?"


    ***

 Chapter 404 - New VIP of the village

    Chapter 404 - New VIP of the vige


    All the vigers looked very nervous, but no one had the guts to stop the adventurer from stepping into their small settlement.


    "Can you show me the way to a food stall?" Liam also did not care about the several anxious eyes looking at him and patted the small kid.


    "Maybe we can also take a tour of the vige while we are at it huh¡­"


    The kid looked at the two adults standing next to him who were probably his parents. Seeing that they no longer had any choice, they nervously nodded.


    The kid as well gulped and started slowly walking. He kept turning back to look at the others, clearly hesitant.


    Liam chuckled. He had a feeling that he knew how to make this reluctance disappear. "Here. Catch." He took out a gold coin from his inventory space and tossed it to the kid.


    Seeing the shiny coin, a bright smile instantly appeared on the little boy''s face. "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir." He gulped and pocketed the coin.


    Of course, he also suddenly became a lot more energetic and there was a spring in his step. "Sir, I will take you to the pond first. It is my favorite ce in our vige."


    "Alright." Liam nodded.


    The kid smiled from ear to ear and gleefully took Liam from one spot to another. Liam as well patiently followed him listening to all the drivel.


    From the outside, the vige indeed looked like a typical normal vige. There was nothing off about the ce, there weren''t any important buildings or significant monuments.


    Everything was just ordinary. The name of the vige was Boer vige which was also not the one he was looking for.


    But Liam had observed some of the crowd''s expressions change when he had mentioned Jeheriya vige so he was not nning to leave this ce just yet.


    More importantly, the vigers here had deceptively low levels.


    Liam knew very well that there were only a few settlements near the borders of the Kingdom and the inhabitants of these settlements had high levels, some even past 100.


    Otherwise, the vige wouldn''t be able to survive the harsh conditions.


    So the presence of not even a single expert among the group of normal vigers was very suspicious.


    Liam continued following the young boy as he led him everywhere. It was only a small vige so the tour simply took a few minutes and they were back to the main street in no time.


    "Thank you sir for visiting our vige." Since the tour was over, the boy was about to return back to the crowd at the entrance but Liam abruptly pulled him back.


    "Not so fast. I saw that we didn''t go towards thest row of houses?" Liam asked.


    He might have been simply following the kid but he was also observing every small detail while he did so.


    And clearly, the little kid avoided going over to that specific street alone.


    "Hmmm? Nothing special over there for us to see?" Liam smiled.


    He did not expect anything specifically but the kid started immediately fidgeting, once again bing very nervous. This made Liam''s suspicions even stronger.


    He no longer bothered with the small kid and quickly dashed towards thatst row of houses.


    He peeked here and there and went around the ce. However, he couldn''t find anything out of ce.


    Finally, just as he was about to leave, he spotted a beggar sitting at the corner of the street. Liam immediately became alert and moved a few steps back.


    He was able to see the levels of all the vigers in this small settlement but he was not able to see the level of this beggar.


    "So this is the secret?" Liam calmly stood at a distance and observed the beggar.


    The man was shabbily clothed, sitting on the ground with his head leaning against one of the thatched houses.


    There was a vacant look in his eyes as he simply stared ahead. He did not even bother to turn towards Liam to take a look at the intruder.


    It was as if he simply did not care what happened.


    "Hmmm¡­ this guy is either a no one or someone very powerful." Liam could tell that much from his experience.


    "Hello there, the weather today is nice." He walked over to the guy.


    "Would you like some food?" He took out some food from his inventory, handing it to the beggar.


    However, there was absolutely no response from the guy.


    Liam tried to talk to him for some more time, even mentioning Jeheriya vige and the alchemy master, but there was still no response from the guy.


    Clearly, this discussion was not going anywhere.


    Liam chuckled and casually walked away. He already had a feeling that he needed to go about this the hard way, but first, he needed some confirmation.


    He reached the entrance of the vige and the vige chief and a few others were still standing around there, probably to make sure that he leaves and did not create any trouble.


    "Hello again." Liam smiled.


    "Ah¡­ thank you for visiting our vige, sir." The chief looked a little relieved and a little anxious. It was written on his face that he wanted Liam to leave just like this.


    But unfortunately for him¡­


    "I am thinking of staying here for a while, chief." Liam smiled.


    The man''s eyes immediately went wide.


    He was about to say something when Liam interrupted him quickly, "I saw some beasts bothering you guys north of here, why don''t I take care of that for you first? Hmmm?"


    The chief''s eyes once again bulged in surprise. He did not expect this. He quickly nodded with a small bow, "Whatever you please, Sir."


    The others as well stared at Liam in shock and surprise as the man and the fox casually walked away.


    The duo headed into the forests and before long, a huge viper popped out of a nearby bramble. It was a Level 40 beast.


    "Time to unwind." Liam grinned and dashed forward. "Come out." He added and the next second a horde of undead souls appeared behind him.


    Luna as well jumped off his back and started attacking the viper.


    The Level 40 beast did not even hold out for a couple of seconds and dropped dead in an instant.


    Liam closed the notification and then cleared some more of the thorny brambles in their path to get to the next beast.


    In this manner, the group continued hunting and clearing the beasts in the region.


    The experience points gained were not much since it was divided among many and also Liam was high-leveled, so he received fewer experience points when hunting beasts lower than his level.


    But it did not matter because the entire event was nothing but a walk through the forests. No one even had to lift a finger and the job waspleted quickly and easily.


    In fact, Liam spent more time gathering some of the herbs that he spotted along the way.


    They wandered in the forests neighboring the small vige for another couple of hours and finally returned back to the vige.


    It looked like the vige chief had instructed a few men to keep an eye out for Liam as some people were still gathered around the entrance of the vige.


    As soon as they spotted Liam returning back, one hurried over inside to inform the chief. The others prepared to wee him when they finally noticed the huge corpse he was carrying.


    It was a giant three-headed cow that had been terrorizing their farmers for months now. The three men couldn''t help but instantly rejoice on seeing the monster dead.


    "My Lord." The three of them bowed, with their respect and affinity towards Liam quickly taking a turn for the better.


    Liam chuckled. He was not surprised by this treatment. In fact, he had already expected it. "He He. This is not the only one. I have some more meat."


    He dropped the huge cow on the ground and then took out a couple more humungous beasts and piled them up.


    "We are having a feast tonight." Liam patted the guy and started walking back into the vige. This time, however, no one blocked him. Everyone started treating Liam like an important guest.


    Even the vige chief became extremely courteous to him and weed him to his own personal mansion with open hands.


    The whole vige''s mood improved and a festive celebratory atmosphere hung in the air.


    Clearly, the people in the vige were starving without properly established trade routes to the main cities. So when Liam brought over so much food, they started worshipping him.


    The vigers gathered together to cook all the beasts and the whole ce looked like a carnival, with Liam as the chief guest.


    "My Lord, we are extremely grateful for your kindness. Thank you. Thank you so much." The vige chief groveled. "Pleasee this way and enjoy the feast with us."


    "Ok." Liam smiled and followed him.


    At the same time, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a beggar staring at him with a mysterious glint in his eyes.

 Chapter 405 - l can help your village

    Chapter 405 - l can help your vige


    "Heh." Liam chuckled and continued following the vige chief. He knew that his n was working and he was not done yet.


    In no time at all, the festivities began and the grand feast was well underway, with everybody celebrating in full swing.


    The fine aroma of the meat filled the air, boisterousughs of the vigers rang loudly and a group of beautiful women gathered around to dance and put on a show.


    Liam silently chewed the food in his mouth watching everything with a faint amusement in his eyes.


    He waited a while, giving the vige chief enough time to settle down and just as he was about to take the first bite, Liam hit the nail on the head.


    "Is the vige struggling to support itself?" He smiled.


    The vige chief looked startled at first but then his expression turned solemn. "Yes, my Lord. we are indeed struggling for the past few years."


    "Our vige and a few neighboring viges were attacked by the elves a few years ago and we lost too many men at that time."


    "Ever since then our vige is suffering. We want to request aid to the kingdom but¡­" The middle-aged man sighed softly.


    He was prudent enough to know that it was not wise toin about the King or rather the nobles who are being oblivious to their suffering.


    They had tried sending messengers and some of their people over to the Kingdom in the past but that also did not result in any sess as the path in between was too perilous.


    Liam could see that the chief was still being guarded so he served a few more drinks to the guy and after downing the fifth drink he was much more talkative.


    Liam chuckled and continued to patiently listen to the man and his ramblings and after a few minutes, he finally made his move.


    "Hmmm¡­ Your conditions are indeed extremely unfavorable. As a Duke of our Kingdom, it pains me to see our people suffering like this. I wish I could do something to aid you." He sighed.


    His words struck like a hammer and the vige chief instantly felt sober. Was he rambling on all this time to a Duke?


    "My Lord, please forgive me." He dropped the juicy leg piece in his hand and quickly stood up, his entire body shaking from head to toe.


    "Hmmm¡­ that''s alright." Liam looked as if he was genuinely aggrieved. "It is not a crime to ask for resources for your people."


    He was not sure if this was going to work but in his previous lifetime, some guilds had managed to do this so he also wanted to give it a try.


    The game worked that way. Every event needed to be looked at as an opportunity to grow stronger. Every small bit counted to this. Even this deste vige couldn''t be overlooked.


    "I might have a solution to your problem, chief." Liam waved his hand, signaling the guy to sit back down.


    "Our guild residence is not too far away from this vige. We could potentially establish a trade route from the vige to the guild."


    "A sort of secure route that could be used by the vigers and merchants for trading services and goods."


    "You can also work in the guild residence, setting up more acres of herb farms and teach more of your people other trade skills so that we can have a smooth cooperation."


    "Hmmm? What do you think about this?" Liam cautiously put forward his proposal.


    If he could somehow secure this deal, then it was almost as good as acquiring this vige as their personal working force.


    Liam looked at the chief''s face and the guy as well seemed to be pleasantly surprised. He was shocked but in a good way.


    "My Lord, I¡­ we would all be extremely grateful." Happy tears started streaming out of the man''s eyes. It looked like his n was sessful.


    However, before Liam could rx, suddenly the chief''s expression started changing again. His eyes widened as if he remembered something and then he started appearing hesitant.


    "I¡­ I¡­ my Lord. Please forgive me. That¡­ I am afraid there is something that I haven''t told you yet."


    Right on cue! Liam smiled and spoke slowly, "Is this about that beggar?"


    "Ah. Yes. Yes." The chief nodded in a daze.


    "Tell me everything. No matter what, I will help you deal with it."


    The vige chief once again nodded and then started exining, "My Lord, that beggar is¡­ Lord Raizen from the Jeheriya vige."


    "Ever since that vige was destroyed by demon beasts, the Lord has been resting in our vige. However, his condition is not good."


    "It was terrible tragedy, my Lord. Sir Raizen lost all of his family in that fight. The entire vige was massacred and he was the only survivor."


    "I haven''t seen them personally, but I heard that he doted a lot on his two daughters and his wife but he lost all of them in a single day."


    "So ever since then, he had been in the same miserable state."


    After hearing the vige chief''s story, Liam now understood what had happened.


    This was why they hadn''t been able to find any of the nearby viges. It turns out that they had been destroyed.


    But unfortunately, knowing this was not really that helpful. In fact, he had a grave expression on his face because this was now going to be that much more difficult.


    He chewed on his food and sipped his drink, silently contemting all of his options. Sucking up to the guy was indeed going to be very challenging but it shouldn''t be impossible.


    After all, the quest waspleted in his previous timeline. So he should also technically be able to figure it out.


    Liam took a couple more minutes to seem like he was really putting a lot of thought into this and then turned to the vige chief.


    "Don''t worry about Lord Raizen. I am sure the man just needs some time to grieve. We won''t bother him."


    "Let''s give him some time, space and enough food to heal. We can work around him to establish the trade routes and secure more resources for the vige."


    "Ah, yes my Lord. I can definitely take care of that. Thank you, my Lord. Thank you."


    Liam nodded and then stood up to walk out of the building. Now that his task was aplished he no longer nned to waste his time on the celebrations.


    Instead, he started tapping on the system interface to set up new guild quests.


    These quests all pertained to the vige and were simple quests such as clearing the path, helping the local vige residents and so on.


    Liam leisurely strolled around the vige while setting everything up. Of course, he was also searching for that beggar whom he was not really nning on leaving alone.


    After doing a couple of rounds, he finally found the man sitting near the pond this time. He once again paid no attention to Liam but Liam observed everything about him.


    Though the guy still seemed indifferent on the surface, his attitude had definitely changed.


    Liam wandered around the vige for some more time and then spent the rest of the night clearing the beasts on the outskirts of the vige.


    Since this was not taxing, he could both rx and earn more brownie points at the same time.


    But unfortunately, things did not go as peacefully as he wanted.


    Several times through the night, Liam felt the searing headache. Pain clouded his brain and his senses as the soul clinging to him kept acting up again and again.


    That too the damned ghost chose the worst time to act.


    At first, Liam chalked it to coincidence but soon there was a pattern. Every time he was in the middle of fighting or tackling more than he could handle, the ghost would start acting up.


    "Gorak, do you now want to live anymore?" He even tried calming it down again, but the ghost did not listen to him always.


    Only the words ''DIE DIE DIE'' kept constantly looping in his mind.


    The night passed by just like this and when dawn arrived, the vigers once again looked extremely relieved as they now had a lot more food for consumption.


    When he first arrived here, the vigers were all tired, gloomy, and worn out with a murky aura hanging over their heads. But now, the entire ce was full ofughter and joy.


    Liam nodded and once again strolled the streets to find the beggar. "Is that guy invisible or what, why is it always so hard to find him?" He mused in slight annoyance.


    Nevertheless, he kept going. He needed to persuade the damned beggar and he needed to do it soon.


    With that recipe in hand, he would be able to strengthen all of his attributes significantly and he might even be able to exorcise Gorak''s ghost fully out of him.


    With that guy constantly screaming in his head, Liam was on the verge of going crazy.


    He walked around a couple more streets and finally, he found the man. The beggar was sitting near a yground of sorts and watching the young children y in a daze.


    "Hmmm?" Liam waited for a while but it was of no use. Seeing that he was once again being ignored, he could only leave.


    But suddenly, just as he was about to walk away, the sky above him darkened.


    The sun had risen just now and it was broad daylight outside so what could possibly cause this darkness?


    Gudang! Liam instantly knew what this was! This was his second group of stalkers! The ck albatross around his neck!


    "Level 55? Damned ravens."


    Liam cursed and quickly looked around for the best way to deal with them.


    "Should I just run away?" He was just now helping everyone rebuild the vige so he didn''t want things to get destroyed because of the fight.


    Moreover, all the birds were Level 55 this time. Things were definitely going to get tricky.


    Just as he was thinking about how to deal with the ravens, suddenly another thought popped into his brain.


    He looked at the group of children sitting near the beggar and then started running towards them.

 Chapter 406 - Hero is here

    Chapter 406 - Hero is here


    "Ahhhhhhh!"


    "Scary birds!!!"


    "Red eyes are attacking us!! Ahhhh! Ahhhhhh!"


    "Save me! Save me!"


    The group of children started shouting and screaming in fear.


    A dozen ck ravens descended upon them out of nowhere and each and every single of the ravens was extremely strong and emitted a sinister aura.


    The children instantly became extremely scared. They did not even have the strength to run away and simply stood there in shock and fear.


    Tears and snot dripped from their faces. They were just young tender children and they were standing like innocent sheep waiting to be devoured.


    Everything also happened too fast and no one was able to react.


    In fact, all the vigers only noticed the ravens when the children started screaming and it was already toote.


    "Where did these monsterse from? What is happening?"


    The small vige that was in a celebratory mood just nowpletely turned upside down. It was as if a giant scythe was hanging over their heads.


    This was it! Their vige was doomed!


    Ahhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhh! Everyone started screaming loudly.


    Most of the vigers were too terrified to even take a step forward and could only watch helplessly.


    They were not strong enough. They wouldn''t be able to do anything.


    They did not evenpletely process what they were seeing. They saw the ravens and the childrens standing there defenselessly.


    Just as their brain made the connection and they started to scream, the ravens already descended.


    "Oh no!!!! Ahhhhh!"


    The men and women screamed. They already knew that it was toote and they shrieked in horror. Their heart ached for the small children. The entire vige looked petrified.


    However, at this most unfortunate time, before any raven could reach the group of children, suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere.


    A hero!


    A hero stood tall in front of the children!


    He had a purple sword in his hand and there was a small white fox on his shoulder.


    His ck eyes glowed with infinite determination and he seemed as if he would rather die first than let anything happen to the children.


    Or at least it appeared to be so.


    This hero was of course none other than the newly arrived stranger, Lord Duke.


    All the vigers gasped in shock. Even the beggar looked at the scene with a strange glint in his eyes.


    And right in front of everyone''s eyes, the Duke''s figure blurred as he single-handedly fought against and parried the dozen birds.


    "DON''T WORRY! DON''T BE AFRAID! I WILL TAKE CARE OF THESE MONSTERS!" Liam shouted. "Someonee here and bring the children away. Staying here is too dangerous for them."


    Even as he said that he heroically led the cackle of birds who were all violently screeching and wing at him, away from the children.


    He shed down at them relentlessly and the fox next to him spewed out fire like there was no tomorrow.


    Everyone waspletely awestruck. This was the first time they were witnessing an expert fight personally. It was simply too inspiring! It made their blood boil!


    SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!


    BOOM! BOOM!


    The purple sword shed here and there, small and big fireballs appeared now and then, a burst of gale tore apart from the middle.


    Everything looked utterly chaotic but one thing was for sure, the hero had the upper hand.


    Everyone awed and oohed, moved their body left when Liam moved left, moved their body right when Liam moved right,pletely engrossed in the battle.


    Even the beggar stared at the sight unblinkingly though it was for a different reason.


    The fight itself did notst long. After the initial shock, Liam dominated the birdspletely and overpowered them from the start to the end.


    It was as if he had plenty of experience in fighting these kinds of monstrous ravens. He predicted their every move and was prepared for their every attack.


    He cleanly blocked them and countered perfectly. Every single attack of his drew blood.


    While Liam continued fighting with the ravens, another figure also finally moved. The beggar who was squatting on the floor was now standing next to Liam.


    He was not wearing any armor or guards. He did not possess any weapons. He just silently appeared next to Liam and started fighting with the ravens.


    He fought them with his bare hands.


    And unlike Liam who was struggling against the dozen ravens because of the huge difference in their levels and attributes, this man was different.


    He only needed a single attack to finish a bird and two secondster, the fight ended just like that. In fact, it could no longer be called a fight. It was just a massacre.


    All the ravensid on the ground, their face punched in and their beaks squashed.


    The dozen terrifying pitch-ck ravens might as well be crows that were scattered on the ground after a stormy night.


    All the vigers gulped in disbelief as they stared at the dead birds. No one moved a muscle. They were too shocked.


    Complete dead silence ensued after the massacre, which Liam finally broke. "Your fighting skills are amazing, Lord Raizen."


    Not paying any more attention to the beggar, Liam shamelessly walked over to the children and squatted in front of them. "Are you alright? Don''t be scared. The birds are now dead, see?"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Thank you, Lord"


    "Thank you, uncle"


    The children started shouting and pping. The vigers also then started rejoicing, some of them thanking the beggar and some of them thanking Liam.


    However, Liam quickly stepped aside.


    "Please, thank Lord Raizen. It is only because of him that the ravens were quickly taken care of." He shook his head and did not take any praise.


    He pointed all the vigers to the beggar. Everyone thanked him with tears in their eyes, while Liam patiently waited on the side with a warm smile on his face.


    He even squatted down to check on the children again.


    "I am not sure why the ravens attacked, I will go check the borders." He loudly informed the vigers. He then did not linger and walked over to the outskirts of the vige.


    No one was able to see his face from the back but at this moment Liam had a big grin on his face. He knew that his quest was already as good aspleted.


    "Thank you fuckers." He looked at the sky and mumbled.


    And as far as the ravens were concerned, Liam already figured out why they hounded him non-stop.


    He had almost forgotten it but after seeing the damn birds circle around him relentlessly even if he was brain dead he would remember this.


    These ravens belonged to the very first dungeon, the beginner''s dungeon. He had even obtained a quest from that dungeon that he had long forgotten.


    And now these birds were probably trying to remind him about the quest. Perhaps some sort of punishment for leaving the quest unattempted for so long?


    By now Liam had seen so many different types of events and quests in ''Evolution Online'' that this was no longer surprising to him.


    But what was surprising was the fact that a beginner''s dungeon offered such a quest. It was also rather rare for a quest to have such peculiar negative effects.


    Usually, only the quest failed notification popped up. However, for this specific quest, ravens were attacking him repeatedly! How strange!


    Liam was originally nning on leaving this quest on the back burner because he had other important things to do but now he couldn''t help it. He had to re-evaluate things.


    Perhaps after reaching level 50 and forming a core, he could see this quest through and check where it leads?


    "Hmmm¡­ before that I definitely need to get rid of this damned guy from my head. Get the recipe, find the herbs and make the potion."


    He let out a deep breath feeling the tiredness seeping in.


    Liam did not know why but ever since he received the notification about the vengeful ghost, he had also been hearing the dull wailing of several souls from before.


    He first heard them when the dark elf crashed the ck pearl and he had not heard them again that is until recently.


    Now, no matter how he tried he couldn''t unhear them. They were like a dull background noise constantly gnawing at him.


    If Gorak''s presence was a headache that throbbed from time to time violently and painfully, these souls were like the constant ear ringing noise that was always present though only mildly annoying.


    They did not hurt as much but something told Liam that they were not so simple. Everything together was draining him and his mental energy rapidly, leaving him tired more often than not.


    He could already feel these effects slowly starting to worsen. He needed to get to 50 soon and he needed the recipe for the body cleansing potion even sooner!


    "Damn it, I hope that worked. That old fart better hand me over what I need." He rubbed his temples in tiredness.


    And before he could close his mouth, the same figure appeared in front of him.


    "Lord Duke is it?" The beggar coldly snorted.

 Chapter 407 - RUN! RUN! RUN!

    Chapter 407 - RUN! RUN! RUN!


    "Yes, that would be me." Liam tried his best to keep a straight face and remain calm.


    Inwardly he was quite nervous or rather the man standing beside him forcefully brought about such an effect.


    He had the aura of someone who had killed too many people. Just his mere presence made all the hair on Liam''s back stand up.


    He knew that he had to be very careful now. Based on his next actions, he would either die or seed in his quest.


    "Thank you for helping me back there. Though I gave those vigers my word, my strength was¡­" Liam looked at the ground solemnly.


    "Hmmm¡­" The beggar''s eyebrows shot up. He looked surprised. He did not expect this level of introspection from a young person.


    "You are fine. Knowing that you are not strong enough is half the progress." The middle-aged man awkwardly cleared his throat.


    Though he was not that old, the tiredness in his eyes and the way he behaved seemed to belong to someone who had already lost all will to live.


    "Thank you, senior." Liam nodded. He was about to say something when the beggar abruptly interrupted him.


    "You can also stop beating around the bush. You are just wasting your time here."


    "Sir?"


    "Heh." The beggarughed. "No need to act in front of me, young man. I know why you are here."


    The man circled around Liam, eyeing him from top to bottom. "A strength superior to your level, a body purer than it should be, aren''t you here for the recipe? Hmmm?"


    "Yes, sir." Liam did not bother hiding it any longer. "Demons are invading ournd. I need to be stronger. I need to make my guildmates stronger, our Kingdom stronger."


    "We need this strength to have a fighting chance."


    Did it work? Liam''s heart thumped, deafening his ears. The small pause turned into a long one and then into an awkward silence.


    However, Liam knew better than to press on further. He was already on thin ice so anything he said now would only work against him.


    So he continued remaining silent. He stared ahead at the distance without bothering to exin anything else.


    The beggar looked at him and a subtle hint of amusement flickered in his eyes. He then chuckled and tossed something onto Liam''sp.


    "I am giving you what you want, but everything else is in your hands. This recipe¡­ even I don''t know how to make this potion."


    "You can do whatever you want with it." The beggar grumbled as he walked back to the vige and once again sat inconspicuously in a corner.


    At the end other, Liam''s eyes shone with excitement. His entire body was drenched in sweat and his heart was about to leap out of his chest.


    It looked like he had been right in assuming what this quest required. He needed to earn some points of fame with the vige or this old beggar.


    The other guy who obtained this recipe in his previous life probably finished this only after doing several series of long-winded quests but thanks to the murderous ravens, he was able to achieve it in a single day.


    Liam picked up the recipe scroll, learned it immediately, and then urged Luna. "Let''s go. Now."


    Kyuuuuu!


    The white fox nodded. Seeing that her Master was in a hurry, she kicked her heels, lifted up into the air, and flew away at top speed.


    The duo quickly disappeared from the vige. All the vigers looked at this scene in confusion, but the beggar who observed him from the distance only nodded in approval.


    To the vigers, it looked like he received some urgent news and to the beggar, it looked like Liam was overly eager to be stronger and make the Kingdom stronger.


    However, only one person knew the truth and that was Liam.


    He was in fact running away!


    Though it would have probably served him better to stay there for some more time and cement some rough patches over, it would be a grave mistake to do so.


    He needed to get out of there ASAP!


    If the ravens returned before he left, then all of his shamelessness would be disyed out in the wide open for everyone to see.


    The old man would definitely kill him or even cripple him for being heartless enough to use small children in his scheme.


    The excuse that nothing would have happened to them either way wouldn''t probably work on him. So Liam did not look back and continued fleeing.


    Only after reaching a safe distance, he let out a small sigh of relief.


    But he still did not haveplete peace of mind. "DIE DIE DIE DIE" Gorak''s ghost taunted him with the usual chanting that echoed in his brain.


    "SHUT UP!" Liam annoyedly cursed and flipped open his system interface. He opened the recipe list and his gaze soonnded on the newest addition.


    "Greater Body Cleansing Potion."


    "Huuuu¡­ I finally got it." Liam copsed on Luna''s back breathing in and out as he tried to understand the recipe and the process.


    He had some of the ingredients but the others¡­ he needed to search for them.


    There was also the matter of the ravens. Even Liam did not know when the next attack was going to be. He needed to deal with them soon or things could go haywire.


    He thought about it for a second when another loud roar erupted in his head. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" It was Gorak''s soul again, trying to wreak havoc on his mind.


    "This guy is annoying me even in his death. Fuck!"


    Liam clutched his head which was throbbing in pain. The birds can wait. He needed to exorcise this damned ghost first. Among the two evils, this idiot''s undead soul was the greater evil.


    "Wait till I finish this potion. I will deal with you first." Liam fought back.


    Compared to the first time, he was already able to deal with this mental attack a lot better, but it still hurt like hell.


    Just as he was struggling with the ghost, a message from Mia suddenly shed in front of him. "I have more information on the soul healing potion."

 Chapter 408 - King Dante

    Chapter 408 - King Dante


    "So soon?" Liam bolted to sit up straight and stare at the message.


    Since Rey''s life was on the line, he knew that the two sisters would definitely try their best but he did not expect that their best would be so impressive.


    Liam paused for a moment, thought about his current situation, and then typed his reply. "I am on my way right now to Yleka city, if you are close by we can meet there."


    "Ok, I will see you there." Mia quickly agreed.


    Soon, Luna and Liam arrived at the city gates.


    As the duo dived down tond, Liam hopped off his ride, and the huge fox effortlessly transformed into a harmless kitten like creature.


    The two of them then hurriedly walked into the city almost as if they were running away from something which they were.


    They did not wander anywhere and directly headed over to a local tavern and to a private booth on the upper floor of the tavern.


    "Hey, I am here." Liam pushed open the door to find Mia sitting inside alone. The moment he saw her he knew that something was wrong.


    The woman looked as beautiful as ever, calm,posed, and aloof.


    In fact, she looked even more pure and angelic than her usual self which could only mean that she had also used the body cleansing solution.


    But despite all of this, Liam could clearly see a hint of sadness in Mia''s eyes. He hade here expecting good news or well at least some news, so what happened?


    "What happened?" He asked calmly, sitting down in front of her, opposite to the side of the table she was on. "Did those two not spill out everything?"


    Liam had the chance to listen to their conversation for a little while back at the graveyard so he already had some idea about their natures and characters.


    The two were basically spineless cowards. It really shouldn''t have taken a lot to break them? So what could have gone wrong?


    "No, that''s not it." Mia shook her head. "They actually¡­ Alex only needed ten minutes with them and they told her everything."


    "They folded in ten minutes?" Liam spat out the drink in his mouth in shock. That was way too fast! Just what did Alex do to them?


    "Yes." Mia nodded. "We already have the information from them. We also know that it is one hundred percent true."


    "How is that?"


    "Alex had them sign the ve contracts." Mia took a sip from her drink and answered as a matter of fact.


    Hearing this Liam once again spat out the drink in his mouth. "ve contracts?" He asked again to confirm.


    "Ummm. Yes." Mia nodded. There was faint blush in her cheeks as she did so because she herself realized the hypocrisy in her words.


    The two of them had vinized Liam when he did the deed but now they were doing the same thing.


    "He He." Liam grinned in amusement, unable to pass up the chance to tease the ice princess. Mia''s cheeks became even redder, but she quickly cleared her throat and recovered.


    "Like¡­ Like I said, we got all the information but the thing is¡­ it didn''t lead anywhere. They don''t know much about the soul healing potion."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam nodded. He expected as much. "What else did they tell?"


    "The two are actually from one of the top guilds in the neighboring Kingdom, Sledge Hammer. They are officially not part of the guild."


    "They were only recruited recently to spy on us. Paid them in cash irl for doing so." Mia exined.


    "Sledge Hammer¡­ hmmm¡­" Liam silently listened. He was indeed familiar with that name. It was one of the top guilds in his previous life time also.


    Were they already popr enough for the top guilds to pay attention to?


    "Go on." He nodded.


    Mia shook her head. "That''s it. That is literally all the information that we have."


    "These two responded to the spies for hire notice and got recruited both for money and for the promise of soul healing potion."


    "Of course, the guild only revealed the second reward for the more talented yers."


    "Eh? Are you sure they did not know anything else?"


    "Yes, apparently the guild higher ups are very keen on keeping everything hush hush, under the wraps. Only very few people know about these soul healing potions."


    Liam listened silently but he clearly did not look convinced. "Something doesn''t add up. Did those two tell you anything about what the guild wants to find out from us?"


    "Because if they are just two random spies why would they know the information about the soul healing potion. Just a mary reward should be enough?"


    "I think we are missing something."


    Mia as well had the same doubt so she agreed with him.


    "Is Alex with them right now? Can you ask them what they wanted to know from our guild?"


    Mia nodded and opened her system interface to quickly send in the message.


    And as soon as she did, within seconds, a reply popped up.


    "They wanted to know about the details of the expert yers in the guild, about you, about the spatial rift mission strategy, and about fire resistance potion."


    "Ok." Liam mumbled but the next second, he suddenly realized a possibility. "About fire resistance potion?"


    "Wait, can you ask who exactly recruited him?"


    "Ok." Mia nodded and quickly sent another message. A secondter, the reply for this one also chimed in. "Someone named Dante recruited him."


    "Dante?" Liam''s eyes widened in shock. This couldn''t be a coincidence!


    He was already extremely familiar with this name. In fact, everyone would be really soon.


    This was Dante Russo, the Italian guy who would be the top alchemist in the entire world, also known as King Dante.


    And he already had the recipe for the soul healing potion?


    Now, everything made sense. Perhaps it was because of this potion that he managed to climb to the top of thedder!

 Chapter 409 - Coalition of the Righteous

    Chapter 409 - Coalition of the Righteous


    Hu¡­ Liam ruffled his head letting out a deep breath. "They signed the ve contracts, right? Those two guys?"


    "Yes," Mia nodded.


    "Ok, then we should have them continue what they are doing. Maybe even give them some bread crumbs."


    "You think that this information is legitimate? That guild really has the soul healing potion or its recipe or whatever?" Mia looked up.


    She did not want to count on this before but now after hearing Liam''s words she became slightly hopeful.


    Liam paused and then sighed a little. "I think that the chances are very high, but getting this might not be easy."


    "They are in a different kingdom which makes them out of our reach at least for now. Even if we manage to corner the guy, it will still be difficult to get the information from his hands."


    "Something like this, a soul healing potion, is extremely valuable. He won''t be willing to share it. We could try some violent approaches but some people are very proud."


    "They might even take the recipe to the grave with them rather than sharing it." Liam exined.


    Though it seemed as if he was stating mere possibilities, only he knew that King Dante was indeed such a person.


    That guy would really rather die than submit and give away something of his to save his life. He was also egotistical and narcissistic. This was not going to be simple.


    But at least, they now had a start and knew where to look and this was progress. "Don''t worry. We will get it soon and we will help Rey."


    Mia nodded as she also agreed with Liam''s words. This was better than not having any clue at all. She watched him as he finished the rest of his drink and looked like he was about to leave.


    "Oh! I almost forgot!" Mia hurriedly eximed.


    "Hmmm? Something else on your mind?" Liam assumed that she probably wanted to talk about her transformation after the body cleansing potion.


    But unexpectedly, Mia said something else, "I am not sure if you are aware yet¡­ the six guilds who attacked us, they now merged together!"


    "Eh? They did that?" Liam chuckled in amusement but then he suddenly stopped. "Hmmm? They did that?"


    "Yes, they are called ''Coalition of the Righteous now," Mia added. "I don''t think they are nning to let us go so easily."


    "Now that they have restructured their guild, I think they should be once again gearing up to attack us, put a bounty on our guild members-"


    Mia continued talking but Liam was no longer listening to her. He was rather thinking about something else¡­ how could these six guilds have possibly made aeback?


    He had thoroughly demolished them. Thirty of their members were dead. Permanently. Other than that, he had looted several items from them.


    First, he had trapped them in the spatial rift where their guild reserves should have surely been wiped out.


    And then, he once again ughtered them by luring them over to the ''Rock Temple'' dungeon.


    These two blows back to back should have technically erased these two guilds off of this world and yet here they were¡­ stronger than before.


    They had even joined together to form a bigger guild. Something like that needed the trust of the other yers which meant that they needed a lot of gold coins and items.


    Since Liam had already taken away these things from the six guilds, how could they possibly manage to gather everything right back? In no time at all!


    Something did not add up and he had a feeling that he already knew the person behind this.


    Who would possibly benefit when his enemies bounce back after suffering serious losses by his hand?


    He could only think of one person, the one person who made all his moves from the sidelines and used his team of experts to almost steal his inheritance.


    Liam hadn''t crossed paths with that group in a while now. So he couldn''t help but wonder what they were up to now.


    He did not even know if he was still a target or if they just randomly butted heads. At that time, he couldn''t focus on the group because he had too many things but now, it was time.


    "Hmmm¡­ we definitely need to investigate more," Liam mumbled to himself. He did not want to be caught off guard one more time.


    Perhaps now, he could get ahead of the other group and take the first shot.


    "What?" Mia asked in confusion.


    "Those two guys. Alex''s newckeys. I have some work for them to do." Liam grinned.


    He might be correct or he might not be correct, either way, this venture would definitely yield some interesting results.


    "Coalition of the Righteous huh? Who are they trying to fool? Heh."


    "That is an interesting name indeed." Mia as well had a subtle smiling expression as she sipped her drink silently.


    "By the way, how much did your attributes improve?" Liam asked and the two of them continued chatting for a while when suddenly a ck cloud started forming outside the window.


    Liam only need a single nce to know what it was.


    The heck! So soon? Did they not literally handle a bunch of ravens beforeing here? It''s starting all over again?


    And of course, as soon as he started bing anxious and a potential life threatening situation popped up, the dull background noise in his head once more became prominent.


    The undead soul was acting up and Liam felt as if his head was going to burst open.


    DIE! DIE! DIE!


    "No! Not today." Liam shouted and made a quick decision.


    The timing he had calcted for the next attack was wrong.


    Things were happening much faster and he had a bad feeling about this batch of ravens, so instead of fighting like the previous encounters he now decided to flee!


    "Mia, listen I will meet with youter." Shouting incoherently, he quickly opened theher portal and jumped into it.

 Chapter 410 - Where are my rewards?

    Chapter 410 - Where are my rewards?


    After jumping into the portal, both Liam and Luna fell onto the coarse sands of theher realm desert right outside the Thol city.


    Liam stared at the portal wondering if the ravens would also follow them here, but a few seconds ticked by and nothing of that sort happened.


    The swirling energy of the portal also disappearedpletely, closing behind them, and only then he sighed in relief.


    "Fuck. That was close." He did not bother getting up. He enjoyed the pleasant sensation as he further sunk into the warm sands of the desert.


    With theher waves crashing against his body, it was as if he was in a beach. Theher also relieved some of the stress in his body and he took a long deep breath.


    "So this works huh. Those pesky birds can''t follow me here."


    The moment Liam realized that the ravens were not going to leave him alone, he already nned to use this escape strategy as his backup.


    Every time these birds hade after him, it had always happened only in the Xion realm and not theher realm. So he had a hunch that this would work.


    The duo rxed for a bit just lying down and staring at the red skies without doing anything and then finally Liam got up.


    "Come out." He summoned his group of soul undeads as the region out of the Thol city was a good grinding ce filled with lower level demonic beasts.


    Almost instantly, a new notification popped up.


    [Ding. Your soul pets are enriched by theher]


    [Ding. All attributes of your soul pets are increased by 50%]


    "That''s weird. I have never seen this notification before." Liam eyed the buff carefully.


    He had summoned out the soul undeads inher realm even before this but this was the first time he was seeing such a notification.


    "Is this because they have leveled up to a sufficient extent?" Liam could not think of any other reason.


    He watched the group of undeads ughter through the demonic scorpions and rogue hounds and the group leisurely walked over to the city outskirts.


    Liam then dismissed them as he entered the city gates and walked through the crowded streets. Thol city was as thriving as always with the demons bustling about busily.


    This meant that the garrison was working well and everything was as it should be. Liam grunted in satisfaction taking a quick look at all the surroundings.


    With Luna curled up on his neck, he wandered for quite a while before heading over to the garrison tower.


    "He He. Time to collect the rewards." Liam rubbed his hands in excitement, and Luna mimicked his actions, the master and the pet having the same wide grin.


    Considering that he had helped out the demons big time in this war, the rewards he would get shouldn''t be simple at all.


    Perhaps he could even get rare herbs?


    "Hmmm¡­ where is a good herb farming spot in this world?" Liam pondered as he walked into the building.


    The alchemy recipe that he received from the beggar lord had been weighing heavily on his mind since the moment he got it.


    He wanted to start working on it as soon as possible.


    Though that guy warned Liam that this would be difficult to concoct, maybe even impossible, he had the confidence to do it.


    After all, in his previous lifetime, someone had already aplished this feat. So technically he should also be able to do the same.


    He mentally went over the short recipe and everything that it required, trying to understand and think about the nuances of the process as he climbed the stairs of the tower absent-mindedly.


    Just as he turned around the corner, a familiar big demon quickly rushed forward and greeted him.


    "Leader." Hiriyu bowed.


    Liam snapped out of his thoughts and nodded at the demon, "Mmm. How is everything going?"


    "Leader¡­"


    "He He. Tell me, are all the garrison leaders impressed with us? We should be famous by now right?"


    "Leader¡­"


    "That should have taken care of the small tax problem we had also. Oh! Ipletely forgot, are those two back yet?" He felt a shiver just thinking about the two seductive demons.


    "Cough. Cough. Leader¡­"


    "Hmmm?" Liam stopped, finally noticing that something was amiss. He turned around to look at Hiriyu who now had an anxious panic-stricken expression on his face.


    "What happened?" Liam instantly had a bad feeling. Now that he had a chance to look at all the demons in the garrison, something was definitely up.


    By his calctions, the entire garrison should be celebrating right about now but instead, almost all the demons had grave serious expressions on their ugly faces.


    "What happened now?" Liam asked again and this time Hiriyu replied with a sigh, shaking his head.


    "Did the other garrison leaders contact us back? I gave them the strategy and they won the battles, they should have definitely responded to that?"


    Hiriyu once again shook his head. "We did not receive anymunications from the other garrisons, leader."


    "Hmmm? Then what happened? Why do you look like this?"


    "Something bad happened, leader. We did receive a message but it is from the King himself."


    "Huh?"


    "Leader, you have been summoned by the King of our territory." Hiriyu shuddered.


    "That is a bad thing, how?" Liam was still confused. He had after all contributed a lot to these demons so he was probably being summoned to get rewarded in person?


    As if he could read his thoughts, Hiriyu once again shook his head. "Leader, I already investigated this matter."


    "The court has dered you as a traitor. The king has summoned you to personally hand out the punishment."


    Liam''s eyes widened as he silently listened to the demon spill all the details. It looked like whatever he did had backfired.


    His information was too good so the damned bastards hadbeled him as a traitor instead of thanking him for the service.

 Chapter 411 - The twelve high lords

    Chapter 411 - The twelve high lords


    "No good deed goes unpunished huh?" Liam''s face twitched. He remained silent for a moment as he did not want to make any rash decisions on an impulse.


    A couple of secondster, his expression once again turned calm and indifferent. He looked at Hiriyu and asked casually, "By when do I have to appear in front of the King?"


    "Leader." The demon blinked. He did not understand what kind of a question this was.


    Typically when summoned by the King any demon would drop what they were doing and rush to the Lord as soon as possible.


    Their life depended on it. However, their leader was calmly asking such a question. What was he supposed to answer?


    "Leader!" Suddenly Hiriyu eximed after remembering something.


    "You must visit the King immediately. Otherwise, there is a chance that his highness might send someone from the twelve High Lords."


    "Twelve High Lords? Who are they?" Liam wrinkled his brow. This was the first time he was hearing about them.


    "Sorry, leader." Hiriyu shook his head. "I have no information about them. I don''t think anyone has ever seen them."


    "There are only rumors that these twelve high lords are demons from the abyss. They are said to be emissaries sent to every kingdom from the abyss."


    "But no one has ever seen them in person. Once when a powerful demon lord tried to destroy the eastern garrisons for a blood sacrifice, the twelve high lords took action."


    "Only this much ismon knowledge." Hiriyu solemnly exined.


    "So you think that if I don''t go meet our ''King'' on time, these guys mighte after me?"


    "Yes, leader." The demon answered sadly.


    He really admired and worshipped this garrison leader but now it looked like he was not going to be around any longer.


    Even if he was not punished by the King, he might still be probably demoted from the position. These kinds of urrences were verymon in their Kingdom.


    Hiriyu saw the leader walking away, engrossed in his thoughts. The man walked over to the garrison terrace, mounted the huge white fox, and then the two of them took off wordlessly.


    Seeing them leave, Hiriyu could only sadly sigh. "Thank you leader for everything that you have taught me." He silently nodded and walked back in.


    However, contrary to what he was thinking, the man sitting on the white fox was not in the least sad. In fact, he had a huge grin on his face.


    Liam''s heart was pounding in excitement. "Finally! Something is going my way!"


    "Abyss¡­ Abyss¡­ Abyss¡­ I have been hearing about this ce for a long time and now I finally get some clues."


    "Heh. I don''t even have to go searching for them. It seems they wille to me willingly. How wonderful!"


    Growl! Luna shook her head with a big smile, her mood reflecting Liam''s mood.


    Liam chuckled in amusement at the little fox''s actions, but the smile did notst long. Despite everything that was happening, time was still running out quickly.


    And before it did, he needed to collect as many trump cards as he humanly could. Only that would ensure some sort of stability in the future, for what was about toe.


    And something like the abyss should definitely have some treasures that he could use. The problem was that was he strong enough to plunder them?


    Liam gazed at the vast sky indifferently, stroking the soft fur on Luna''s back as the duo flew to the eastern part of the territory.


    This was not the location of the Demon King''s castle. In fact, the castle was located in the western parts, in the opposite direction to where they were headed to.


    So why were they going towards the east then?


    This was because, in the eastern regions, the conditions were a little more favorable for vegetation and nt growth.


    Since he was momentarily stuck in theher realm thanks to the ravens, he needed to find the herbs required for the body cleansing potion right here in thesends.


    Another reason was that, in hisst life, Gu Zhun, his ''master'', the person who tortured him day in and day out, the person whose fate he had stolen in this life¡­ when he had obtained this recipe from the same quest and prepared this potion, he only managed to do it during this time when theher realm was being explored.


    Because of this Liam was quite confident that the herbs required for this potion were here in the Nether realm rather than the Xion realm.


    So even if the ravens had not chased him out here, he would havee here anyway. This was his only clue to finding the location of the ingredients.


    As he mulled over the recipe and the herbs he needed for this potion, Liam''s thoughts wandered to the events of the past.


    He couldn''t help but think of the Gu family, and Gu Zhun and the miserable life that he had lived.


    The thoughts of the past flitted through his head and his gaze turned ice cold, but he quickly regained his equilibrium.


    Someone else might find it peculiar that he had still left his enemies alone, the people who had caused him so much misery and even made him wish for death several times.


    However, Liam did not care about that.


    "Heh. Only someone weak would be obsessed with revenge. I will not focus on such insignificant things. At least not yet."


    He snapped out of his thoughts about the past and went back to thinking about the recipe. Among the ten herbs that he needed, he only had two at the moment.


    Would it really be possible to find every other herb on the list in this realm? Or did he have to go somewhere else also?


    He tried his best to rack his brain and think of anything else that might be useful, but no matter how much he tried, all the roads pointed only to this world.


    "Fine, I guess I will just start with the areas which the Gu family explored."

 Chapter 412 - Following the bread crumbs

    Chapter 412 - Following the bread crumbs


    Sitting atop Luna''s back, Liam opened the map of the Zodal Empire on his system interface and looked at it again.


    Now that he had more information about thisnd after viewing the old parchments from the garrison, his map was far more detailed.


    However, this was only in those parts of thend where the demon settlements were established. The vast majority of the empire was stillrgely unexplored.


    Liam''s index finger slowly circled around the parts that were still greyed out. "What is there here? Hmmm¡­"


    Ideally, he would have liked to explore each and every single one of these areas, but time was running out. He couldn''t afford to waste his precious opportunity wandering around aimlessly.


    Instead of trying to randomly cast a in the sea and hope for a fish to get caught, he chose to go to the well-known hunting grounds. At least here, he would for sure return home with a game!


    Liam looked at the Zodal Empire which upied the eastern zone of the Nether Realm.


    There were still three more kingdoms in the Nether realm, which upied the other northern, western, and central zones.


    The south was mostly uninhabited. This was because a poisonous miasma upied the whole southern part of the Nether Realm which even the demons could not endure.


    All the yers who attempted to go to the south in hisst life had also died. They had died the moment they stepped into the zone, without being able to get a single look at thend.


    However, there were also a few rumors circting around that some of the guilds managed to sessfully explore this southern region as well.


    Liam had no idea whether this was true or not, but he knew for sure that the Gu family hadn''t been in the south. So that area was definitely ruled out at least for now.


    This left him, the eastern, northern, and the western parts of theher realm. He knew that the Gu family had explored bits and pieces of all three regions.


    This meant that the herbs he was looking for could also potentially be anywhere in these three areas.


    And among these three, Liam was starting with the Zodal Empire in the east. This was where the garrison was located and he had also already covered many areas in the Empire.


    So he decided that it was a good ce to begin his search.


    "Let me see. Where all did the Gu family camp within the Zodal Empire? Hmmm¡­" Liam wrinkled his brows and tried hard to think.


    He remembered a lot from his past life but it was impossible to remember everything.


    As far as he knew there were a few ces in the eastern part of the Zodal Empire where they had set up shop and this was also the ce with the most favorablends for vegetation.


    So this area fit his two criteria very well and he decided to start from here.


    "Well, it doesn''t matter. I should be able to find these herbs soon. The portals to theher realm were not open for that long. They should not have been able to explore that much."


    Liam''s gaze wandered over the map for a few seconds and he soon picked the first spot.


    "Luna, go southeast for some more time and then slow down." He patted the white fox and she nodded her head obediently.


    A few minutester the duo promptly arrived at the first location. Coincidentally, it was raining heavily in the zone and ck raindrops tumbled on the white luscious fur of the fox.


    "Does it hurt?" Liam asked and just like he expected the fox as well shook her head. [No, master]


    Unlike before, there were no debuff notifications, so this made sense. "Ok. Good then. Keep going."


    Continuing to get drenched in the horrendous downpour, the duo circled the area slowly. It was mostly nd except for the hugeke that was sprawled across the region. Pa nda


    No vel "I never noticed this." Liam''s curiosity got piqued and he patted Luna, signaling her tond. There were not manykes or water bodies in theher realm so this was a rare sight.


    The ck drops of rain pattered on the calm stillke, the ck color changing as soon as it touched the crystal clear water.


    It was a strange sight to witness. The water itself was red to look as it reflected the red sky of theher realm and in thiske of red, ck dots drizzled everywhere.


    Liam could even feel theher energy in the raindrops dissipate and disappear into the air as if it had never been mixed along with the water.


    The duo continued to observe this phenomenon curiously for a few seconds after which Liam quickly got down to business.


    He started scrambling about the ce, looking everywhere for herbs, minerals, beasts, basically anything that could be of value.


    "Hmmm. This won''t do. I need more help." Liam stopped. "Come out." He called his army forth and the entire ce quickly became lively.


    Bak Bak Baka!


    Kraaa! Kraaa! Kraaaa!


    Squeak Squeak!


    Roar! Rumble!


    A wide cacophony of noises rang out loudly as the bunch of undeads started running around everywhere.


    Liam only dared to let them all loose because he hadn''te across a single beast or wild animal yet and he had already been searching around this zone for several minutes now.


    This seemed a little strange but his main goal at the moment was to scour for herbs. So along with his group of soul undeads, he continued rummaging the area from top to bottom.


    Thanks to this, within a matter of minutes, they covered the whole ce and had finished looking everywhere except for theke.


    They did manage to find a few patches of herbs here and there, but they were not the ones he was looking for.


    "Ok. Good work everyone." Liam dismissed the gang. Only theke was now left, so he decided to first take a look inside and then call his undead helpers.

 Chapter 413 - Searching the lake

    Chapter 413 - Searching theke


    Liam''s gaze wandered around theke, taking a measure of the huge ce. He had to dive into this freezing cold water and search for the required herbs.


    Unfortunately, Liam''s knowledge when it came to herbs of theher realm was extremely limited just like the rest of the world.


    In fact, he recognized only three of the ten herbs that he needed for the potion brewing, and that too thanks to the information that he had gathered from the Itaka city lord.


    As for the other seven, he had no idea what sort of herbs they were. He only knew how they looked and their name.


    Fortunately, the recipe provided at least these basic details. Otherwise, he would have no ce to start.


    Liam stood still observing theke for a couple more seconds as it seemed very unusually calm and quiet without even the asional jumping of a fish.


    "Hmmm¡­ Doesn''t look like I am going to find any herbs here¡­ Well, I just have to dive and find out." He stretched his limbs and then without further adieu simply jumped into the water.


    "Mother fcker!" Although he had already expected it, the freezing cold water still struck him like a bolt of lightning.


    "Hmmm¡­ Isn''t this a bit too much?" There was something off because, with his upgraded stats and his Level 49 constitution, he shouldn''t be feeling a sting like this.


    It was as if the cold was reaching his very core, freezing his body from the inside to out. "I need to do this fast."


    Liam quickly took out a bottle of underwater breathing potion that he had in his inventory and emptied the contents in his mouth before dunking his head back into the water. Pa nda


    Novel He began swimming downward and soon it becamepletely dark. It was a deepke, despite not looking that deep from the surface.


    Liam paused for a moment and then took out a glowing stick from his inventory space. This was a smallmon item that had a rune inscribed on it and could be used as a candle.


    He gripped it in between his teeth and began to swim further down to the floor of theke. The more he went deeper, the colder the water became.


    He only swam for a couple of seconds when new notifications began to roll out.


    [Ding. You are currently affected by extreme cold]


    [Ding. Your movement speed is reduced by 50%]


    [Ding. You feel sick]


    -5


    -3


    -5


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Seeing that his health had promptly started to drop, Liam frowned.


    "Perfect! Just what I needed." He sighed softly as he tried to circte mana through his body which was now starting to feel cold and frigid. He could barely move.


    As if this was not enough, the other entity clinging to him immediately sensed his weakness and came out to y.


    DIE! DIE! DIE!


    Gorak''s loud screams started once again sting in his brain.


    Liam''s face twitched, wanting to kill the bastard all over again. He gritted his teeth, bore everything, and kept going downward.


    Even if he could not scour the bed of the entireke, he at least wanted to explore a small part of it to make sure that he did not miss anything.


    So with his health still continuing to drop, he quickly moved as fast as he physically could and reached the bottom.


    Once he was there, he roamed around for a couple of seconds to take a good look. However¡­


    "Damn it. This is just in rocks. There is nothing else here." Liam could only see small white color rocks everywhere.


    Weirdly, they seemed to be even colder than the surrounding water. This made him take a second look at the stones to check if they really radiated a wave of freezing coldness.


    Normal stones were not usually capable of doing something like this.


    He reached his hand closer to the stones and bingo! Just like he thought these stones were not simple. They were as cold as ice cubes.


    Liam bit the bullet and picked one up, bearing the biting cold that seeped from the touch but surprisingly the white thing was not a stone at all! It was a scale!


    All the small white crystals lying on theke bed were scales!


    And there were so many of them. To the extent that he could see, the entire bed of theke seemed to be covered in simr scales.


    These scales definitely belonged to the beasts inside theke.


    To shed this much, there had to be several beasts inside theke which did not seem to be the case as he had not run into even one until now.


    Theke as well was very calm without any ripples. All this could mean only one thing.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock and it took him one second to put everything together.


    The silent area, the presence of no other beasts, the freezing coldke, and not a single fish in sight, all of this could mean only one thing!


    There was an apex predator somewhere in thiske!


    And right now, Liam was in the most vulnerable position he could possibly be in!


    He was already at half his health and it was further continuing to bleed quickly. His movement speed was reduced and his entire body was almost frozen.


    In this state, if he by chance got caught by something at a higher level, then it was definitely game over.


    He had already died once before and Liam did not mind it because he had gained so much more because of that death. The profit was much bigger than the loss.


    But he was not an idiot to die for nothing!


    So he instantly kicked his legs down with as much force as he could muster, propelling his body upwards.


    He also used up the mana he had stored and started casting fireballs to warm up the water around him.


    If there was a beast in thiske, it had probably noticed him already so there was no point in being subtle about the escape.


    He simply threw all caution to the wind and ran away as fast as possible!


    Compared to the descent, the return trip was much faster as it only became more and morefortable the closer he got to the surface.


    He was only seconds away from reaching the surface and jumping out of theke. However, before he could do so, a loud siren-like sound echoed in the waters.


    The calmke became turbulent and Liam could definitely feel somethinging at him at top speed!


    "Damn it. This is not going to end well. LUNA!"


    Liam called out to the white fox and instantly his ride appeared above theke. Now all he had to do was reach forward and push through thatst few inches of water above his head.


    Glugg. Glugg. Glugg.


    Glugg. Glugg. Glugg.


    Liam tried to shoot upwards when suddenly something red came at him.


    It looked like a rod made of flesh or at least that''s what he saw in the split second as the thing''s speed was insane.


    "No, I cannot dodge thispletely." Liam knew his options. He instantly turned his body at an angle and made sure that he was on the same axis as the rippling waves.


    This gave him the additional boost that he needed and he used it to zoom out of theke waters.


    This was enough for the white fox to take action. Luna spotted him the moment he reached the surface of theke.


    She immediately grabbed him just like Liam always did by the scruff of her neck and the two of them flew up, away from theke.


    However, they were still not quite free. The red rod still came after them and almost touched Luna''s tail.


    Now that they were up in the air, they could clearly see what it was. The red rod was a tongue covered with what looked like a million blisters.


    Something oozed out of these blisters and chances were that it was highly poisonous.


    But at thest moment, before the tongue could grab onto Luna''s tail, Liam mmed a fireball onto the rod.


    Flesh sizzled and another loud roar erupted from underneath theke as the tongue rapidly withdrew like a stretched out rubber band.


    Liam and Luna, now both high up in the air, panted loudly taking a breather. It was impossible for another attack tond on them unless the beast inside theke could fly.


    A couple of seconds passed and nothing came after them. So clearly that did not seem to be the case. They were safe at least for now.


    However, just as the duo stared at theke waters, ready to bolt at any instant, a pair of big bulging yellow eyes silently appeared underneath the clear waters.


    They finally got a chance to take a look at the beast residing in theke. It was a giant white-scaled toad!

 Chapter 414: Ding! Soul Forging Has Failed!

    Chapter 414: Ding! Soul Forging Has Failed!


    The giant white-scaled toad looked majestic from underneath the water. The beast was ugly no doubt but the aura it emitted was extremely threatening.


    Liam was not even able to see the level of the beast. There were only three question marks atop its head. This meant that there was at least 50 level difference between him and the beast?


    ¡°Just miss.¡± He gripped the handful of white scales in his palm. Seeing the beast still ring at them he had a bad feeling so he patted Luna on the back. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Liam did not dare take his eyes off of the beast while Luna quickly speeded away. Of course, he was not nning to leave this toad alone.


    A beast of this grade would typically have impressive drops, not to mention give a lumpsum experience points boost. He couldn¡¯t afford to miss something like this.


    ¡°Shall Ie back here with the guild or maybe¡­¡± The image of the two insatiable demonesses popped into his mind and Liam chuckled wryly.


    Clearly, thetter was a better option but at the same time, he did not know how much he could resist those two now that an extra soul was also clinging to him.


    He would probably crumble like a champagne tower and attack the two back, paying severalfold for everything he had endured all this while.


    ¡°No need to worry about that right now.¡± Liam shook his head and gazed at the white scales he was still holding onto his palm.


    ¡°Tsk. So cold, but they should have some sort of use. Hmm.¡± He ced the two scales into his inventory, marked the spot on the map, and then started picking out the next target spot.


    It wasn¡¯t too far away and the duo quickly arrived at the area.


    Since they did not know the exact region, this time as well Liam and Luna circled around the huge territory that was filled with thorny brambles and densely clustered coarse coniferous trees.


    However, unlike in the previous zone, there was nothing suspenseful or suspicious here. Plenty of beasts roamed about the area and they seemed to be around Level 40.


    ¡°So long furred ck panthabears and stone beetles huh¡­¡± Liam calmly observed the area first.


    Though both the inhabitants seemed to be roaming around in huge packs and clusters, there was nothing else special about this spot.


    Even after circling a few times, he did not find any anomalies. ¡°No wonder those guys explored this area.¡± Liam shrugged.


    At this time when theher realm opened up, the Gu family¡¯s strength was still on the lower side though they were constantly growing. So for their level, the guild would have only been able to explore ces like this.


    Novel Liam did one morep around the area and then the duo directlynded near the huge tree where an enormous beast was lying down leisurely.


    It had long limbs like a panther and thick ws like a bear, its ck fur gleaming in the moonlight.


    It was an Elite, bigger than the rest of the prowling beasts and the leader of the group.


    ¡°Come out,¡± Liam shouted as he hopped off of Luna and dashed towards the panthabear elite without giving it any chance to prepare.


    Behind him, the group of undeads as well ferociously roared. However, Liam immediately gave themand for the beasts to stop.


    For now, he only ordered the two dryads and the few imps to attack the beast. The others would instantly dissipate if the panthabear managed tond even a single attack.


    Not that Liam needed any of their help. He was used to relying on his own strength. He unsheathed his sword and parried with the panthabear as it wed at him ferociously.


    With the difference in the attributes and thebat experience, the beast was no match for the man¡¯s sword moves and the fight ended before it began.


    [Ding. You have gained experience points]


    A dozen silver coins scattered, along with a furry pair of gauntlets.


    Luna as usual dashed towards the shiny treasures and brought it all back over to Liam.


    He ced them in the inventory and calmly wiped the blood off the purple sword, cing it back into the hilt. ¡°Alright, now that this is done. Why don¡¯t you all head out and hunt for a while?¡±


    ¡°Search this area without leaving a single spot and bring me back whatever you find. Luna, you know what to do.¡±


    Kyuuuuu!


    The fox bobbed her head up and down hurriedly, brimming with excitement and enthusiasm. She was the picture of a brown-nosing student who desperately wanted to be a teacher¡¯s pet.


    Liam watched the gang scurry away and then sat down beside the elite panthabear¡¯s corpse.


    The others were not able to see it or sense it but unexpectedly he was still holding onto something, a small whitish-blue bead, the soul bead.


    The elite panthabear¡¯s soul had still not dissipated!


    He did not know how or why this improvement came about but he was now able to stabilize and hold the soul for a longer period of time.


    Liam steadied himself and then began the forging process. Among all the beasts he had attempted to forge, this was the highest level.


    The beast was also a very powerful elite beast with fast reflexes and strong attack power. He was already looking forward to this undead soul.


    ¡°This should be good.¡± Liam grinned and started pummeling the soul bead withher hammers.


    Almost instantly a sharp pain exploded in his mind, quickly spreading to the entire body. Liam frowned as he already knew what was going toe next.


    Without disappointing him the very next second, familiar chanting verses started echoing in his mind.


    DIE! DIE! DIE!


    Liam¡¯s concentration was instantly ruined like someone poked a balloon with a needle and the soul bead that he was hammering crumbled and dissipated.


    [Ding. Soul Forging has failed]


    This was the first time Liam was seeing this notification.


    Another pang of severe pain erupted in his body and his core and as if this was not enough, taking advantage of this momentary weakness, Gorak¡¯s vengeful soul started loudly ramming against his brain.


    Liam clutched his head and convulsed on the ground. This was the second major attack that he was trying to withstand.


    The bastard simply refused to submit and surrender. The soul was hell-bent on wreaking havoc.


    Fuck! Liam silently screamed.


    This was a mistake. Since he was able to sessfully concoct a potion with the ghost still clinging to him, he had assumed that forging also wouldn¡¯t be an issue.


    Especially after seeing the improvement in soul sensing and maniption, he really thought that this was going to be a piece of cake.


    But it was not! It hurt like hell!


    Because of this constant repeated mental assault, he felt as if he was going crazy. It was making him weaker and weaker and he did not like it.


    He wanted to be in control of his fate.


    ¡°Damn it! SHUT UP!¡± Liam screamed. This was not the Xion realm. This was theher realm. Here, he had the absolute advantage.


    He clenched his fists and grabbed hold of the sliver of rationality he had left and started to inhaleher from the air like there was no tomorrow.


    His exhausted body and mind instantly felt invigorated.


    Liam used this chance to make a counterattack and regained some of hisposure.


    He controlled the pain enough to sit up straight and focused on the thin film of soul pigments surrounding him all around.


    He had tried this already once and also failed, but that was back in the Xion realm. Now he was in theher realm.


    He had a feeling that this time he was going to seed.


    ¡°COME ON!¡± Liam shouted and started gathering all the soul fragments together, one after the other.

 Chapter 415: L Am Back!

    <h4>Chapter 415: L Am Back!</h4>


    Liam''s head throbbed violently and the blood vessels in his ears and nose popped, blood leaking out of his orifices.


    Just as he was trying resolutely to subdue the vengeful soul, the soul as well was trying its best to destroy him.


    It could sense that its state was in great peril.


    Unfortunately for Liam, the more he withstood the pain and the more soul fragments he gathered, Gorak''s soul was bing that much stronger and stronger.


    His ability to attack Liam mentally was also increasing and this was not even the end.


    Liam had only managed to gather about a quarter of the soul fragments and he was already at his limit.


    What would happen if he managed to gather half of the soul? Three-fourths of the soul? And finally, the whole soul?


    Just the mere thought of it was a heavy blow to Liam''s mind and body as he was trying his best to hold on.


    "I can do this. Shut up. One step at a time."


    A loss here would mean another death and more soul damage. His soul was already not whole so none of that mattered anymore.


    But what mattered was his victory in this tug of war!


    He needed to win at all costs not because he would lose too much otherwise. He just wanted to win. He had already lived an entire lifetime of pain and suffering.


    He did not want that to repeat all over again. If he submitted to this nobody''s soul right here and now, then that meant that his potential was only so much.


    Liam refused to ept that. He sucked in another big gulp ofher and started collecting the rest of the soul fragments as well.


    Slowly, little by little, the millions of tiny dots enveloping him started umting in front of him in the shape of a small ball.


    The human soul was much bigger than the lesser beasts'' souls. It was no longer a soul bead. It was a soul ping pong ball?


    Liam''s body trembled feebly as he slowly and painfully dragged his mind over the halfway checkpoint and then the three-fourth checkpoint.


    At this point, blood was no longer seeping out of his eyes or nose. Rather his body started bing extremely dry.


    He looked like a withered nt, with his muscle mass starting to disappear.


    Now that his soul was already at its limit and no longer had the strength to bear the onught, something else from his body was being used topensate.


    Liam shivered as he now felt considerably weaker. His mind and brain were already numb with pain. After a certain point, adding some more to this did not make any difference to him.


    So he continued silently. He kept going at it, forcefully dragging all of the remaining soul fragments as well and joining with the small ball floating in front of him.


    There were only a few bits and pieces of it now left and Liam scrapped everyst fragment, stuffing it all inside the small ball.


    He could now more vividly hear Gorak''s pain and screams of agony, but they were nothingpared to his own pain.


    His withered body swayed in the wind as he bit the bullet and finally grabbed thest soul fragment that was floating around him.


    "COME ON!" Liam shouted, his voice ringing loudly amidst the ominous silence of the forest, with only the distant rustling of the leaves and the dull sounds of battle in the background.


    Thisst bit was the most difficult part of the entire process. It felt as if he was pushing a mountain. He couldn''t make that small fragment of soul budge.


    It was fine when it hovered in mid-air but as soon as he tried to bring it towards the soul ball, it immediately bounced off. The two were repelling each other vehemently.


    Perhaps because the whole soul had already dissipated and should have been destroyed, the reversal of the process was proving to be impossible.


    However, without making the damn bastard''s soul whole again, Liam did not know how else to remove the vengeful ghost from him. The bitch was stuck to him like a leech.


    "DAMN IT! GET IN THERE ALREADY!"


    He really could not hold on for much longer. He neither had the mental strength nor the soul strength nor the physical strength to do so.


    He had tapped into all of them and used up all of them. He was nowpletely exhausted even his unyielding spirit running on fumes.Pa nda


    Novel But he was not ready to give it all up just yet. He did not be strong overnight. He had struggled every day to get here, to reach where he was currently.


    If he needed more strength, then he would somehow bring out more strength and power.


    Liam was nowpletely stick and bones and he was only barely able to sit straight. He looked like a skeleton wearing a onesie made of skin.


    But he summoned a bit more strength pushing his limits further again and using thisst burst of energy, he tried to shove it all together.


    The soul ball quivered in response!


    While Liam was bing weaker, it was bing stronger. As he jammed thest soul fragment into the soul ball, this time there was no more restraint.


    The soul ball greedily sucked in thest bit of the soul fragment as well and at that moment, something clicked sending Liam into the depths of despair.


    Gorak''s soul which was now whole and healthy started sucking in Liam''s soul which was terribly weakened.


    He had used almost all of his everything to put the guy''s soul back and make it whole again, but once that happened, immediately the newly formed soul started attacking back.


    And more importantly, Gorak was now fully conscious!


    This should have never happened. His consciousness should have dissipated when he was first killed but here he was once again whole and healthy.


    "I am back! I am back!" Heughed loudly, every wave ofughter striking Liam like lightning.


    Gorak had no idea why he got this second chance. He also had no idea what was happening.


    He peeled his formless eyes open and looked around, trying to understand as much as he could.


    Of course, the only thing he recognized was the bastard who had killed him in the first ce!


    "FUCKER! FUCKER! FUCKER! Why did you kill me? I begged you to let me go! Now it''s my turn. If I am dead, then you bettere with me."


    Seeing Liam''s current condition, he was able to tell one thing for sure. The guy now looked like a corpse and he was almost as good as dead. What happened to him?


    Wasn''t he strong, muscr, and powerful? How was he reduced to this state now? Did I have something to do with this?


    Ke Ke! Gorak was amused.


    If he had something to do with this, then it was good, but even if he did not have anything to do with this, he simply did not care!


    This was his chance!


    When he died, it was too fast and too sudden! There was so much hatred and rage swirling within him. He was no longer alive thanks to this fucker!


    But now, he had the chance to get even. Revenge sweet Jesus!


    It was simply too delicious!


    "Let''s die together my good brother!" Gorakughed loudly sending another wave of shock to Liam''s body.


    Liam already did not have any strength left, so under this attack, he crumbled and fell down like a bowling pin.


    Heid on the ground,pletely weak and unable to do anything.


    Gorak could see this or rather sense this and it made him even more violent. The surge of power he felt was too intoxicating!


    Just as he was about to deal another blow, suddenly he realized something. He felt a strange attractive force from Liam''s body.


    One soul was pulling the other soul.


    Sensing this, Gorak suddenly had a crazy thought. What if he devoured Liam''s soul? Could he perhaps live again?


    He absolutely had no idea what was going on but the pull he felt from Liam''s body was unmistakable. He could instinctively feel that this was his chance to survive.


    He was a ghost now, he should be able to possess him right?


    All sorts of crazy things were happening in this damned game, so why not this?


    "LET''S GO! I WILL MAKE YOU MY BITCH! FOR ALL ETERNITY!"


    "BA HA HA HA! ONLY THIS WILL SATISFY ME!"

 Chapter 416: You Want To Devour Me?

    <h4>Chapter 416: You Want To Devour Me?</h4>


    The moment Gorak made the decision, something clicked and he suddenly found himself plunged into a world of darkness. He couldn''t see anything in this world of darkness.


    "Huh? What is this? Where is this ce?" He would have been shocked but he was already a ghost so there wasn''t much that he did not expect.


    He looked around for a few seconds or perhaps minutes, it was unclear. And suddenly he found a small light at a distance.


    "What is that?" Gorak started walking towards it or rather moving towards it as he did not have any physical body at the moment.


    He first walked slowly and then started rushing towards it. He knew it. He had to grab that thing, whatever it was.


    He walked. He ran. He sprinted. He kept going forward. However, no matter what he did. He was somehow unable to reach that small spot of light?


    What the fuck was happening?


    "Come to daddy here!" Gorak ran and ran and ran and continued running¡­


    And after what seemed like an eternity, he finally could not go on any longer. He stopped and started panting and heaving out of breath.


    He looked up to see that small dot still at a great distance away from him, making fun of him and mocking him.


    Even though it was small and insignificant, it looked like no matter what he did he would never be able to touch that thing.


    It was a frightening thought. If he couldn''t touch that, then was he lost in this darkness forever?


    Just as Gorak realized this possibility and his will wavered, something flickered in the distance. It was still the same small light spot but as he stared at it, suddenly a pair of eyes appeared.


    He knew these eyes. It belonged to¡­


    Gorak gulped.


    The pair of feral bloodthirsty eyes stared at him with such an intensity that he felt as if his mind which was only now reformed was once again beginning to get shredded.


    AHHHHHHH! Gorak screamed in pain.


    His only constion was that the small spot of light which was a pair of eyes now was somewhere far far away in the distance.


    He himself had tried to touch it and failed. It was impossible for the eyes to attack him. That monster couldn''t possiblye to him.


    "No. No. No. No. Impossible." He shook his head.


    But before he could even finish that thought, the pair of eyes blurred. The next instant, it appeared right in front of him. It was almost as if Liam himself was standing in front of him.


    "You want to devour me? Let me see you try!"


    Liam''s voice thundered, filling the entire space and everything began shaking violently. The darkness itself started cracking.


    Gorak trembled in fear. He couldn''t stand up in front of this intimidating pressure, this willpower. He slowly felt his energy being sucked dry.


    All the rage and the surging turbulent strength that was present inside him started drifting away into nothingness.


    And Liam, who was standing in front of him started bing bigger and bigger. An enormous mental pressure cracked down on him and immediately Gorak folded.


    He barely put up a fight before crumbling.


    The world of darkness as well copsed.


    Back in the outside world, Liam shed his eyes open. Though he still looked weak and withered, the spark in his eyes was once again revived. P and a


    Novel He coughed violently and slowly sat up straight and in front of him, the small soul ball hovered, flickering in and out like a bulb that was about to fuse out.


    Liam looked at this ball and his dried out, bleeding lips slowly curled upwards. "I have you now."


    "What¡­" A tired voice rang inside Liam''s mind.


    "Oh, you can still talk?"


    Liam did not want to lose this precious opportunity and quickly got down to business. He sucked theher in the air to his starving body and ignored the pain rippling through him.


    He had already endured so much, what''s a bit more?


    But if missed this opportunity even after suffering so much, he would be the biggest fool!


    This was his chance!


    Sure, he only barely survived the process but now he had to push a bit more. He could feel it. He was on the verge of understanding something.


    He needed to try forging this human soul that was battered and bruised beyond all recognition. Moreover, it also had a consciousness attached to it.


    If he could somehow refine this soul, then the benefits might be enormous.


    And more importantly, he was not going to let the bastard just die and drift away to nothingness for all the pain that he had caused him.


    There needed to be payback and it had to be a hundredfold bigger!


    Even if the idiot was a ghost, he was not going to let him leave without getting back what he was owed!


    "Forge!" He shouted and a dozen hammers made of thick pureher energy appeared in front of him.


    For this part, he needed to give it his best shot and focus but his condition right now was different.


    So Liam gambled and took a bunch of stamina berries and popped them into his mouth.


    He dunked down health potions, mana potions and even ate some food, trying to recover as best as he could while at the same time focusing on the soul in front of him.


    Thankfully, since they were in theher realm right now, he was somehow able to manage it. He did not need any mental strength to manipteher unlike he did for mana.


    And he used this freed-up mental space to recover.


    But recovering physical body, and mana was the easy part. His mind and perhaps even soul were still far too exhausted. He did not know how to recover those.


    Nevertheless, Liam still continued to hold on and slowly and carefully forged the soul ball withher.


    After a certain point, he felt too weakened, as if everything would copse at any second now. He truly could not hold on any longer.


    "Ok, this is it." Liam gritted his teeth and then finally took out the trump card that he had been saving for so long.


    Theher herb from the necromancer''s cave!


    [ck Nether Moss]


    This herb was a very precious item and had soul-strengthening properties.


    Liam originally wanted to save this herb for making a precious potion but now seemed to be an important turning point in his life.


    He decided to go all-in at this venture and quickly chewed down thest bunch of herbs that he had left, saving only a few leaves for the future.


    Gulp. He swallowed everything and almost instantly a wave of warmth swept across his body.


    Though this was far from enough to help him recover, this bit of energy was more than sufficient to keep him going for a bit more. Just a bit more.


    Gorak''s soul struggled in his grasp and loud screams echoed in his mind.


    But Liam''s hold was steadfast.


    "Sorry, bud. You are not going anywhere today." He grinned with a chilling gaze and theher hammers started beating the soul even more viciously.

 Chapter 417: Hello Again!

    <h4>Chapter 417: Hello Again!</h4>


    A few more minutes passed by and soon almost an hour passed by¡­


    Liam still continued to diligently hammer away at the soul ball that was vibrating up and down as if it was going to explode at any given second.


    In the beginning, the process was a bit vtile but after the initial phase, he how had it under control.


    He felt as if he was only seconds away from sealing the soul and finishing the forging but the same was true for thest hour.


    No matter how much he tried he simply could not bring this single soul fully under his control. He could not see an end in sight.


    It was almost as if he was missing something, but he was not.


    He poured an endless amount ofher into it and soul absorbed it all, only to spit it out secondster. He hammered it withher from all angles and it refused to condense and submit.


    At this point, he did not know what else he could do.


    This was exactly how he had done every other soul forging process in his previous attempts. Now that it was a human soul, something additional was needed? Why?


    Was it because the soul of a human being was superior? Or maybe he was just weak at the moment?


    Did he perhaps need to use another essence crystal like the fire essence crystal he used during forging the imps and the two dryads?


    Liam mulled over the several conflicting theories and ideas in his mind but everything was too confusing, especially in the fatigued state he was.


    He also did not have any more essence crystals to test out that. He did not have anything soul rted except for the¡­


    "Hmmm¡­"


    Liam took out the sword that he did not n to take out until muchter as it was a double edged weapon in many ways.


    But he also wanted to try absolutely everything that he could. If he was not going to be able to forge this guy''s soul then he at least wanted to test out a few things using the soul.


    So Liam grabbed the ck dragon sword from the inventory and surprisingly, the instant the sword popped out something unexpected happened.


    The soul that was tossing and turning up until now refusing to submit immediately became obedient.


    Liam could also feel this change as the resistance he sensed was no longer there.


    "NOW!" He gritted his teeth, threw the sword down onto the ground, and once again diverted hisplete attention to the soul.


    Theher hammers thundered violently and using this small window he had gotten, Liam dealt thest and final blow.


    [Ding. Soul Forging Sessful]


    [Ding. New Soul Undead Follower is summoned]


    [Ding. You have reached the limit of soul undeads you can currently summon]


    [Ding. The vengeful soul guing you has been removed]


    [Ding. Your soul is no longer being corroded]


    Liam blinked as a tired smile surfaced on his lips. It worked! It actually worked!


    He fully did not understand why but it worked. This notification was the proof of that. Also, along with that notification, a wave of energy assaulted him.


    All the excess energy he had used to shape the soul and keep it glued together was returned back to him.


    Almost instantly, his body which looked like a withered nt brightened up a little more.


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air as he watched the small soul orb that thrummed with energy before expanding and emitting bright rays of blinding light.


    And when that light died down, he saw Gorak''s ghost with a dumbfounded look on his ghost face.


    The guy felt as if the entire world was suddenly not real. What the hell just happened? I am a ghost? Just what sort of power does this person possess?


    If he had only known beforehand¡­


    Liam, on the other hand, ignored his confused new ghost follower and instead, looked at the sword thatid on the ground.


    At first, he did not understand but now that he thought about it, he had a better idea.


    Soul forging was not just forging souls!


    It was not a technique that simply involved beating soul orbs withher and mana. Perhaps he had to use a soul itself to forge another soul? Maybe even use his own soul to forge?


    It was just an iplete thought but Liam felt as if he had gained an insight into something profound.


    As if to reassure this thought, another notification as well promptly popped up.


    [Ding. You have now acquired 50% of the Legacy]


    Liam stared at the notification in amazement. He was indeed right!


    Maybe he was struggling to forge the human soul because his own soul was weak.


    Once he took out the ck dragon sword, everything changed because how could a mere Level 30 or so human soul hold up against several powerful dragon souls?


    Liam copsed on the ground, staring at the sky, and tried to think about it more. However, he was way too tired at the moment.


    Also, he was risking too much by being defenseless like this in the middle of nowhere.


    "Luna." He mumbled, trying to call the fox back, but surprisingly the next second a small tongue licked him in the face.


    Huh? Liam turned his face to see that the white fox was already there by his side.


    In fact, all the undead souls were also standing in a row. They seemed to have been observing him all this while. They were also not looking too good.


    All the undead souls looked shaky and terrified.


    "Hmmm¡­ should be because of the sword. Dismiss." Liam tiredly mumbled and the soul undeads disappeared, along with the newest recruit.


    He then tossed the ck dragon sword into his inventory space as well and let out a big sigh.


    Working with iplete knowledge was extremely dangerous. It hadpletely worn him out even if everything turned out for the best in the end.


    There were several instances where it was touch and go for a moment. He might have really not made it. This was a hard lesson.


    "The next time, I should only touch forging when I have done enough preparations." He made a mental note and dragged his body with Luna''s help tond on top of her.


    The white fox increased her size to be a big fluffy bed for Liam to restfortably. "Now then, shall we leave?"


    Kyuuuuu!


    Luna shook her head. [Master, this loot]


    She reminded Liam about the piled up random drops that she and the group of soul undeads had collected painstakingly clearing all the beasts in the area.


    "Ah, right. I almost forgot." Liam nodded.


    Luna moved closer to the pile and started handing out the items one by one to Liam who tossed it into the inventory, not bothering to see any details.


    The only thing he noticed was that once again there were no herbs in the pile.


    "Ok, let''s go to the next ce," He did not feel disappointed. He had after all gained a lot more here than he expected.


    And since there were no herbs in this zone as well, the only thing they could do was to keep looking.


    The duo then rose up into the air as Luna waddled mid-air flying over to the next location. On top of her, Liam closed his eyes and rested for a while.


    Now that he had somewhat recovered and replenished his energy sources he felt a lot better.


    He also felt a lot lighter and free because the pest that had clung to his brain was no longer there.


    He could only imagine how much his soul would grow stronger with the next stage. He couldn''t help but anticipate that growth and power.


    While Liam rested, the three-tailed white fox continued flying over to the next region, very smoothly and carefully so as to not disturb her master.


    However, as soon as they neared the zone they were interested in, suddenly Luna came to an abrupt stop.


    Kyuuuuu! She called out to Liam and he woke up,zily opening only his one eye to take a look. But the next second he quickly sat up straight with a big grin.


    When it rains, it pours! After all the mind numbing torture he had just experienced, the heavens had given him a chance to relieve some stress.


    Liam''s gaze wandered around the scene in front of him as he fixated on the giant death knight a few miles ahead of them. The big guy was ughtering a bunch of earth golems.


    However, what caught his eye was that his death knight was none other than the same one that he had faced back at the necromancer''s cave, the one that had killed him.


    And standing around the death knight were of course¡­ the group of experts, Kouske, Madan, Anya, and Barret


    Liam grinned, his lips curling up. "Hello, again."

 Chapter 418: An opening!

    Chapter 418 - An opening!


    Luna continued to linger in the background and sitting atop her, Liam carefully observed the situation first.


    This had happened coincidentally and he had not gone looking for them, but since their paths crossed, there was no way he was going to let them go just like that!


    But he did not act rashly.


    This time he was not dealing with no name guilds or third rate guilds. He was dealing with a group of people far more astute and strategic, not to mention talented.


    It would be foolish to underestimate them and go in without proper nning.


    In spite of the fact that his abilities were currently a step above theirs, chances are high that they have a few trump cards up their sleeve. This encounter was probably very risky.


    Thest time they had shed he had lost his life and they had also managed to steal something from right under his nose.


    However, that was because they had the element of surprise on their side which this time, he had.


    So, despite all the risks involved he was still not nning to let this rare opportunity slip by. He needed to pay them back for everything after all.


    Also¡­ Liam''s gaze hovered on the earth golems, the group was fighting against.


    These golems were different from the rock giants he had fought previously and the metal golems his sister currently possessed.


    They had nts and ores stuck on several crevices and spots on their body.


    It was as if these nts were growing on these golems, nourishing by their lifeforce and the blood of their enemies. These could be extremely valuable.


    These could also very well be the herbs that he was looking for. He had already decided to fight them and this only confirmed his decision.


    But Liam still did not act¡­ he patiently stayed back and continued observing.


    This was because the giant death knight that was also present along with the four experts was no longer Level 80.


    Liam could not observe the details of the death knight any longer probably because Kouske had bound to it or something simr, but he could still notice the levels of the earth golems. They were each Level 60 and the giant death knight was pummeling them left and right. None of the earth golems even had the slightest chance to fight back.


    The movements of the death knight were even more agile and decisivepared to before when Liam had dealt with the same guy.


    It also seemed to be holding a different weapon in its hand. It was a pitch-ck weapon with a bright blue glow surrounding it.


    And apart from that huge thick sword in its hand, the death knight also had a metallic chain around its wrist.


    It swung the sword and the chain alternatingly and demolished the earth golems around it.


    Just from observing the fight for a few seconds, Liam could tell that the death knight''s health was probably still full.


    It did not have single damage on it and the earth golems were also clearly not able to fight back. This was good news for the four experts but not so much for him.


    "Hmmm¡­ All conditions seem to be too unfavorable for me at the moment. Should I maybe leave?" Liam frowned as he narrowed his eyes and continued to observe the fight.


    He did not want to let them leave but at the same time, he did not want to walk into a death trap.


    "I need an opening," Liam muttered, watching the death knight ughter everything. That should have been his loot!


    And unlike the golems he got from the mecha gnomes, this guy looked like he could level up, so it would have been a lot more useful.


    "I wonder what kind of pet is that? If I kill all four of them, then can I bind to that death knight?" Liam patiently waited thinking through various possibilities.


    All he needed was a small chance, just one opening to take advantage of, but the group was doing very well. There were absolutely no slip-ups.


    How could there be when they had such an overpowered undead servant by their side!


    "Tsk. Tsk." Liam clicked his tongue and continued to wait while the number of earth golems was slowly dwindling.


    And unfortunately, all he could do at the moment was this, wait from afar and silently cheer for the other side.


    "Move faster! Come out and attack that thing together!"


    "Why not split up and attack the smaller humans first!"


    "Come on, don''t you guys have an Elite or a field boss?"


    Liam shook his head helplessly. Though these earth golems were around Level 60, they were far too dumb and their movements were clunky.


    Now he understood how the Gu family had defeated this bunch of golems and grabbed all the herbs from the fallen giants.


    These four were actually yet to do that. They were still busy fighting the group so they did not have time yet to scrape away the herbs from the dead giants.


    "If only¡­" Liam suddenly stopped talking and his gaze flickered as he noticed something from the corner of his eyes.


    In the distance, where the group of four and their giant death knight were fighting against the earth golems, all of a sudden a huge dust cloud started forming.


    At first, it was small but it quickly picked up the pace and started bing bigger and bigger. Of course, if Liam could see it from the distance, the group of four also noticed it.


    The death knight as well noticed it as its attention now turned from the earth golems to this giant sandstorm.


    And just as everyone was wondering what was happening, something huge and big stepped out of the sandstorm.


    It was a massive giant earth golem!


    Since its size was humungous, even Liam could clearly see it and the three question marks floating above its head!


    It looks like the elite of these earth golems appeared after all and¡­ along with it¡­ an opening also appeared!


    Liam grinned and he finally made his move!

 Chapter 419: Fat Juicy Sheep!

    <h4>Chapter 419: Fat Juicy Sheep!</h4>


    "Luna, stay here. Don''t move anywhere unless I ask you to. You should absolutely note near that ce, do you understand?"


    Liam jumped off the white fox and then repeatedly warned her before dashing towards the chaotic ce where everything was unfolding.


    He immediately activated [Stealth] as he closed in on the area.


    In reality, he did not have any devious,plex, or convoluted n. He just had a simple n that all gamers have followed since the dawn of time.


    Ambush!


    When the death knight would be busy fighting against the monstrosity, he would take the chance to pop up behind the four and finish them all one after the other.


    It was a simple and efficient n.


    It was going to work out 100% and if it didn''t he could always run away, thanks to the monstrosity over there.


    Liam was confident that as long as the death knight was alive and well, the monstrosity''s aggro would be fixated on the death knight and no one else.


    Ironically, this was the same situation the other party had used to kill him. However, unfortunately for them in the end he was the one who had won that fight too.


    Liam chuckled wryly and circled around toe closer to the battle zone. Just in case his stealth wore off, he made sure to position himself behind a huge boulder.


    He then stood back and waited, ready to enter at any moment. Everything was far too chaotic at the moment so he did not go in just yet.


    The dust clouds themselves had not yet fully cleared. He could only see the outline of the monstrosity that was several feet tall. He wasn''t able to tell what it was.


    However, even though he couldn''t see anything properly¡­ just the aura the giant emitted was more than enough to put Liam on high alert.


    "What the hell is that?" He stared at the giant for a couple of seconds, watching it sway its big arms and block the first attack and the second attack of the death knight.


    One clearly overpowered the other. The death knight was not going tost long. Liam could tell that much just from this first exchange of blows.


    His gaze then shifted over to the group of four standing behind the death knight.


    With that death knight acting as a tank, the four were pelting as much damage as they could on the giant monstrosity.


    Kouske wasmanding a group of skeletons and some fleshy undeads. He seemed to have improved since thest time they had met as he now had control over about 30 undeads. Pa nda


    Novel He was also using a shiny staff and casting some dark element spells.


    Standing next to him, a thin t-chested beauty was healing the death knight and at the same time casting several debuff spells on the giant.


    She was wearing a particrly eye-catching crown on her head that seemed to be made of emerald gems. A faint golden aura seeped from this crown, mixing in with the allure of the woman.


    Liam observed this crown and a look of surprise shed past his face. This was because he had already seen this crown before in his previous lifetime.


    This was the trademark legendary item that Anya, the nature witch possessed. All her photos and fanfare always included her and this crown.


    The most circted photo was one where sat on a throne with an attitude like a Queen with this remarkable crown on her head.


    Of course, the stats of this crown was never revealed, but everyone knew that it was a legendary item.


    And now, she already possessed this legendary item!


    Liam looked at her busily weaving spells in the air and then looked at the death knight facing the big giant. He did not have any choice but to change his initial assessment.


    This group might have a fighting chance against the high-leveled giant after all!


    Not just her, but the ones standing on the other side also seemed to be equally capable. Liam observed the fighting style of the other two when once again he was shocked.


    Madan, the fat and chubby hunter had a big pping bird by his side which was not in the least any ordinary bird.


    It was a harpy, one of the rare pets in the game, capable of dealing a lot of damage and also dangerous mental attacks.


    He also had three other chimeric beasts which Liam could not recognize.


    There was definitely a possibility that he had evolved some of themon beasts in this world to bring out different and unique beasts.


    Right now, this ability was not too daunting but as the game progressed if he managed to bring out an army of these chimeric beasts, then his strength would be explosive. ?????-?????


    Liam clicked his tongue and nced at thest member of the party, the berserker.


    He carefully looked at him from head to toe but nothing seemed to be special about this person. Perhaps he was yet to meet with his destiny.


    "Heh¡­ this is interesting. Howe I did not think of it before?" Liam suddenly chuckled.


    As he was observing these four experts, he finally realized something obvious that was right in front of his eyes!


    The truth was that he had stolen Kouske''s fate sessfully.


    Without the legacy from the necromancer''s cave, he was no longer someone who would be a pir of human civilization.


    His army that had rivaled even the first wave of the great beast horde that had invaded the was no longer going to be present.


    Sure, he was still a talented fighter and might achieve some greatness but he was never going to be as great as he previously was.


    However, the same was not true for the other three. The three experts of the group apart from Kouske were all ripe for taking.


    They still had their own fate and unique destiny and were on the correct path to bing someone truly powerful and terrifying.


    For example, Anya''s Legendary Emerald Crown. Now that she was equipped with that, her growth would be unstoppable.


    But on the other hand, for his own team, Liam was only able to secure something for himself and Shen Yue so far. That too Shen Yue''s special ss was purely coincidental.


    For the others, he did not have any sort of special trump cards. Even his sistercked something solid to rely on.


    And since Liam''s knowledge of these things was rathercking, there was little he could do about it.


    However¡­ now¡­ everything changed.


    Three fat sheep had delivered themselves right to his doorstep!


    Why stop with just stealing from Kouske? Why not steal from every single one of them?

 Chapter 420 - Golden goose

    Chapter 420 - Golden goose


    While Liam was busily eyeing all the items the four yers had on their selves, a loud thundering sound snapped him out of his thoughts.


    A big rock flew to the side he was hiding in and he quickly moved away.


    "Heh. Alright, I will do a tally of my lootter on. For now, I should pay more attention to the fight."


    Though he did not n on facing the monster in front of him, he wanted to gather a little bit more information about it. It was better to know its weaknesses.


    Just then some of the dust and smoke cleared and Liam was able to get a better view of the giant these four and the death knight were up against.


    Immediately he was shocked.


    The giant in front of him was a humongous lump of earth, but it did not have any face. At the spot where its head and face should be, there was a thick red miasma enveloping it.


    [Faceless Giant ???]


    "What the hell is this?" Liam''s gaze moved from the giant''s face to the rest of its body and he was even more shocked!


    From top to bottom, the faceless giant was covered in shining ores and gems, and several precious herbs.


    He only recognized a few but he had a feeling that the rest as well were equally precious. This giant might as well be a walking treasure trove.


    "So that''s why¡­" Liam murmured. He now understood why these four were here fighting against the earth golems.


    He hade here relying on the information that he had from his past life. Though he was using it for free, to collect this information, the Gu family had spent a lot of resources.


    So how did these four arrive at the exact same location?


    They were also there to collect the treasured me fragment.


    They were there when he was about to explore the necromancer''s hideout and once again they were here now fighting against this faceless giant.


    Liam wanted to assume that these four were stalking him but he knew that he would definitely be wrong.


    Instead of him, these four were rather stalking all the profitable zones and from the looks of it, they even had better knowledge than him when it came to where treasures could be hidden!


    Just what sort of nonsense was this? How could these random four yers have better knowledge about secret spots than him, a person who hade back in time?


    Liam chuckled wryly shaking his head and looked at the four again who were seriously dealing damage to the faceless giant.


    He did not think about things too much because he already knew that there was another person on their team. It was not just these four.


    And that fifth person¡­ Liam was now almost 80% sure about his ss and his capabilities.


    The fifth person had to be some kind of oracle, maybe a person who could see fortunes, and divine the future. He could also tell that the person was not all that powerful yet.


    Otherwise, he would have predicted his presence as well. Or maybe he predicted him and also predicted that their team wouldn''t lose no matter what?


    He was fine either way. "Heh. I will take this as a challenge." Liam chuckled.


    After some calctions, Liam decided to change his n of action. These four were far too precious for him to take them outpletely right here and now.


    One shouldn''t kill the golden goose. It was better for him to bleed them slowly over time.


    If these guys could detect precious treasures then all he needed to do was tail them and grab the treasures right from their hands.


    Liam let out a small sigh and then sat back leisurely watching the show. He wanted to see which way the fight was going to go before he took any action.


    A few seconds passed and then a few minutes passed. Soon almost an entire hour passed by. However, the fight was still raging wildly with neither side willing to give up.


    Anya''s legendary item was probably helping them keep up. They had managed to bring the giant''s health down by 50% but were struggling to take it down any further.


    It looked like the fight was going to take a while.


    Liam meanwhile did not remain idle. He started moving around and collecting all the herbs from the fallen earth giants.


    Everyone''s attention waspletely on the elite and there was a lot of dust and smoke on the battlefield, so he was able to smoothly move around and collected a lot of herbs.


    Some of the herbs were even what he needed for the potion. With the loot he collected, he now had 5 of the ten herbs he needed for the high grade body cleansing potion.


    All in all, it was a good trip. He hadn''t done anything and yet had gotten a big haul.


    But he was not done yet. The main course was still waiting for him.


    Liam once again hid behind a big boulder and again started observing the fight. The faceless giant was now at 40% health. It was going down very slowly.


    And it looked like the group had already exhausted themselves. The death knight was also beaten and battered. How were they going to deal with the rest of its health?


    Just as he was thinking about it, suddenly Kouske retrieved something from his inventory space. The others looked at him in nodded and the group started moving further away.


    Liam immediately became alert. Something was definitely going to happen. What were these guys going to use?


    He saw something small and golden on Kouske''s palm and the next instant, the guy solemnly threw the ball in the direction where the death knight and the faceless giant were in a deadlock.


    Also, at that exact moment, the death knight was also unexpectedly dismissed. The huge sword and the undead disappeared into thin air, leaving behind only the faceless giant.


    And before that faceless giant could even make a single move, the golden ballnded at its feet.


    KARA KABOOM!


    A loud explosion rang out.


    Just from the effect of the explosion, one could tell that the explosive used was a very powerful one. Liam could feel the strong waves of the st all the way from where he was hiding.


    "Oh, so this was your backup n." He grinned as he exactly knew what was going to happen now. These guys nned to take out the rest of the faceless giant using explosives.


    But they could have done it from the beginning? Why do it only now? Was it because they did not have enough?


    That did not matter now.


    Liam took a look at the whopping 50 million health points of the faceless giant. Now only around 15 million were left but it was still a lot.


    They were confident enough to take care of this with just explosives?


    His question was answered when a few more explosives joined the first one. Every single one of them was extremely powerful and removed big chunks from the faceless giant.


    Thisbined with the damage the four yers were still dealing, the big health bar was quickly bing depleted.


    "Tch. Why are you in such a hurry?" Liam knew that he had to do something soon. Earlier he had a lot of time but now he did not have much time. He needed to act fast.


    He took a deep breath and observed the situation one more time before making the final decision. He then activated [Stealth] mode and once again disappeared.


    This time he did not move away. Rather he moved closer to the faceless giant.


    ***

 Chapter 421 - Someone else is here?

    Chapter 421 - Someone else is here?


    "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Oh my god, this is a lot of fun!" Madan chortled loudly, while Anya wore a frown on her face. She was coughing badly thanks to all the dirt, smoke, and debris.


    There was also a thinyer of ck filth covering her skin which made her feel nauseous. She hated this entire setup and the st smell.


    Next to them, Barret and Kouske both had indifferent expressions. Everyone was extremely drained and worn out and couldn''t wait for this fight toe to an end.


    "Just throw another bomb and get it over with." Anya spat out after coughing some more.


    Each bomb dealt around 100000 damage so she knew that the fight was not over yet. They still had a long way to go.


    For the next few minutes, the group incessantly bombed the huge giant and Madan kited it using one of his pets, the silver antler.


    The stag''s speed was remarkable as he jumped around taking the faceless giant for a trip.


    Every other minute, they had to change locations because they couldn''t see the giant thanks to the smoke and the debris.


    So like this, the group alternated between kiting and tossing the explosives.


    This was an extremely expensive way to deal with an Elite, but their circumstance at the moment was like that.


    For some reason, they had received a message from their big brother asking them to finish the fight as soon as possible and move away from this area.


    He had even mentioned dropping the elite altogether if they couldn''t finish it soon enough. So without any other choice, Kouske decided to use the explosives.


    They had worked very hard after all so he couldn''t bring himself to let it all go to waste.


    Also, they weren''t strictly asked to leave, they were instructed only to be careful. So he decided against leaving immediately and chose this sure-shot method to kill the elite.


    With this Kouske was confident that he would be able to handle the situation and that everything would work out smoothly.


    The group continued coordinating without any w and the faceless giant''s health as well steadily decreased.


    Soon the giant''s health touched itsst 10% and at that time, the red miasma that covered its face slowly started spreading to the rest of the body.


    "Not good." Kouske immediately tossed a few bombs at the same time, all aiming for the giant''s right leg.


    The huge foot cracked and burst under the effect of the huge chain explosion, resulting in the big guy staggering and swaying.


    The red miasma that was spreading around also stopped as if it was interrupted.


    The faceless giant''s level, power, and health were clearly high but from the looks of it, the elite also had a lot of ws, one of the fatal ws being its speed and less variety of attacks at its disposal.


    It only had a sliver of health left now. "Quick. Quick. Let''s end this." Madan shouted in impatience.


    Anya also tiredly nodded while Barret stood next to her with a shield protecting her just in case.


    The group collectively decided to end the fight and threw over the next batch of explosives after Madan recalled his pet.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The entire ce trembled from the impact of the explosions. Heatwaves rippled in all directions and dust and smoke filled the whole area. Nothing was visible. ????????Fu??.c?m


    "What happened? That should have done it right?" Madan shouted, rubbing his eyes.


    "Hmmm." Kouske had a strange expression on his face. "Yes, thatst bomb should have finished the elite."


    "Anya, can you use your wind attack to quickly clear the area a bit. We need to see what is going on."


    Anya listened to Kouske and immediately started casting a nature spell.


    Several small wind whirlpools appeared around her and they shot forward to quickly clear the smoke and fumes.


    And just as the dust cleared, everyone could see the huge thing swaying mid-air.


    There was probably only a minute amount of health left in the elite and before any of the four could take action, suddenly a fireball appeared out of nowhere andnded on the faceless giant.


    Everything happened too fast.


    They had only barely taken a look when the giant''s now lifeless humongous body fell onto the side with a loud thud, creating a smokescreen and tremor as if another explosive had gone off.


    "What the hell?" Everyone quickly backed away as the mere impact of this sent out several rocks in all directions.


    Anya hurriedly used another [Wind Whirpools] to clear the zone and gain more visibility when unexpectedly one of the whirlpools hit something solid and a damage number popped out.


    The dust and the debris as well cleared leaving behind the silhouette of a lone yer and the multiple loot pieces scattered around the faceless giant''s corpse.


    Everyone stood frozen, shocked senseless. They stared at the faceless giant''s corpse in a daze. The giant was clearly dead. Even the loot was there.


    So who received all the experience points?


    And on the other side, Liam had a big face splitting grin.


    [Ding. You have received 1000,000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have reached Level 50]


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this bonus chapter!


    ***** END OF VOLUME3****


    Dear readers, thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement. Your kind words mean a lot to me and keep me going every day. I hope everyone enjoyed this volume. Please let me know your thoughts, and feedback in thement section.

 Chapter 422 - Tit for tat?

    Chapter 422 - Tit for tat?


    [Ding. You have received 1000,000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up]


    [Ding. Your pet Luna has leveled up]


    [Ding. Your pet Luna has leveled up]


    [Ding. Your pet Luna has leveled up]


    [Ding. You have reached Level 50]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first yer to reach Level 50]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have earned the title ''Stage 1 Ranker'']


    [DING. World Announcement: yer Chang Liam has sessfully reached Level 50. This achievement is etched in the walls of fame and his glory will be sung for all eternity!]


    [DING. 5000 gold coins have been rewarded, 5000 fame points have been awarded.]


    [DING. World Announcement: yer Chang Liam has sessfully reached Level 50. This achievement is etched in the walls of fame and his glory will be sung for all eternity!]


    [DING. 5000 gold coins have been rewarded, 5000 fame points have been awarded.]


    "Of course, you would announce it to everyone." Liam chuckled. However, he did not have the time to think about that right now.


    Just like he got the notifications, the others also would have gotten it.


    And before the four staring at him could realize the obvious, his body shifted and he moved as fast as he could.


    Kouske only needed a second to summon the death knight again so he did not want to risk things.


    He might be Level 50 but that thing was Level 80 at the least and not to mention, he had already died to the guy once.


    Ka Ta Ka Ta Ka Ta


    Liam''s figure disappeared and while everyone nkly stared not knowing where the person in front of them went, he silently appeared next to Anya.


    "What? How?" The Russian blonde shrieked and quickly started casting spells but she was already toote.


    A purple sword shed around her, and weirdly the sword was not touching her. She couldn''t block it with her staff, she couldn''t dodge, she couldn''t do anything.


    Was this because of the difference in agility or perhaps¡­ some new technique?


    Anya had never seen anything like this.


    Before she could make a move or even understand what just happened, her chest armor was cracked, her throat was slit, and blood spurted out uncontrobly.


    Only now did everyone realize that Liam had attacked her. They had only just seen him disappear but he had already attacked Anya¡­ and killed her?


    What kind of monstrous strength was this?


    "HEY!" The berserker near her whose job was basically to protect her watched everything go down dumbly. He simply could not do anything.


    This was the difference in their stats?


    "FUCK THIS SHIT! How the hell is he here!" Madan screamed like a teenage girl.


    Kouske''s hand trembled and he quickly summoned the death knight back again. It only had about 40% of its health left and hadn''t recoveredpletely.


    However, its level was 80 and even if Liam''s level was 50, it should still be able topletely overpower him.


    "KILL HIM! Don''t let him leave!" Kouske shouted and the death knight grunted loudly, its huge body dashing towards Liam or where Liam previously had been standing.


    But unfortunately, the person in question was no longer to be found.


    "Barret, what happened? Where did he go?" Madan shouted.<i> [ Updated from


    . c o m ]</i>


    The three of them who were still standing looked around to search for Liam, but no matter where they looked he was nowhere to be found.


    "Fuck. I know it. He is still here in stealth mode. He is going to ambush us from somewhere!" Madam chewed his nails anxiously.


    "Wait. Don''t panic. We won''t lose. We will get him this time." Kouske''s eyes darted from left to right and right to left, cautiously paying attention to every little detail around them.


    They had stolen something right under Liam''s nose and they had gained a lot from it, so obviously he was not going to leave them alive.


    He had to be there somewhere around¡­ Kouske clenched his fists as he took deep breaths mentally preparing for the person to pop out of thin air.


    He knew that person. He could guess his personality. This was definitely tit for tat for what had happened back in the necromancer''s cave!


    That person''s strength and power were as such. He would have unwavering confidence in himself and for sure strike once more to kill.


    But that was exactly what Kouske needed! That strength and power would be his undoing! The death knight was not the only trump card he had!


    "Come on." He gritted his teeth and patiently waited.


    The three of them did not dare take a step forward, standing still, observing everything around them as if their life depended on it.


    A few seconds passed by and soon an entire minute passed by. Liam still did not show up. They continued waiting for a few more minutes but he still did not show up.


    At this point, they couldn''t help but start doubting their assumption. Was he even still here?


    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Where are you! You bastard! Why don''t you show your face in front of me if you have the guts!" Madan shouted out loud.


    "Shit. This is all my mistake. Everything happened so fast that I thought he was going to attack me next." Barretmented. "I was too focused on defending and now I don''t know where he went."


    He kept looking at the spot where Anya''s body had previously been and now disintegrated and disappeared just like Liam.


    Sighing at his words, Madan as well felt aggrieved. He stomped on the ground and shouted out some curse words.


    "How the hell did he kill Anya so fast? Is there a huge stat boost after reaching Level 50 or what? This is so fucking unfair!"


    However, as soon as he finished speaking, almost instantly, the three of them had a strange look on their faces and they started panicking.


    Only now they remembered something crucial. Anya was dead!


    And that meant¡­


    "Where is the graveyard? We need to go there right now!" Kouske quickly dismissed the deathknight and the three of them got onto the mount Madan summoned, a huge Griffen.


    The trio then quickly raced to the graveyard which was not too far away.


    A few flyingher serpents blocked their path but Kouske did not hesitate to summon the death knight and finished the fight hurriedly.


    They thennded in the graveyard, once again resuming their vignt lookout. But this time the three yers were no longer confident.


    All three of them had a dreadful look on their faces.


    A few more minutes passed by just like this in silence when finally a figure materialized in the graveyard.


    "Anya!" Kouske eximed anxiously.


    "What the hell! You ipetent idiots! How did you let me die! Fools! I am the healer. Your job is to protect me!" The blonde''s t chest heaved up and down in anger.


    She looked like she was about to rip a new one, but stopped midway. Anya noticed that everyone was looking at her weirdly. "What? What happened? Did you all die too?"


    No one answered her, everyone remaining suspiciously silent.


    "Kakaya? Don''t just stand there like stupid freaks!" She twirled her hair in annoyance and then she finally noticed it.


    Something was different. Something was missing. They hadn''t died in a long time that she had almost forgotten what it means to die and what happens when a yer dies.


    Anya''s face changed, her angry look now reced with a constipated look as she nervously touched her head.


    "No. No. No. Fuck. Fuck. No!" She muttered under her breath, almost too afraid to do it, but she had to. Her hands lifted up and she touched her head, her hair, only to find out that¡­


    The emerald crown was missing¡­

 Chapter 423 - Level 50 status screen

    Chapter 423 - Level 50 status screen


    Meanwhile, somewhere a few miles away from the area¡­ Liam was grinning ear to ear, seated atop the white fox.


    "The thing about having an item that every single yer would covet¡­ is that you should be able to protect that item. He He He."


    "Doesn''t it look beautiful, Luna?" He twirled the emerald crown in his hand. He was not one to admire a woman''s jewelry item but the one in his hand was truly exquisite.


    The green gems on the crown sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight, but the most important aspect was not its beauty.


    This was a legendary item Liam was holding in his hand. Now that they were out of harm''s way, he brought the crown closer and observed it properly.


    "Inspect." He mumbled and tried to take a better look at the crown and study its attributes, but unfortunately, nothing popped out.


    He even tried to equip it and when he did, it only got slotted as a trash item with no attributes whatsoever.


    [Emerald Crown]


    [Health +1]


    "Hmmm. Don''t tell me that a legendary item can be bound only to one person in its lifetime!" Liam frowned.


    After a minute he then shook his head with conviction. "That shouldn''t be the case. This crown should have been forged by someone a long time ago to reach the status of legendary."


    "So obviously it had had more than one owner. Hmmm¡­ Maybe it works only on women? Or perhaps someone with high nature affinity?"


    He observed the crowd for a few more seconds and then tossed it into his inventory space.


    "I guess I can test all this out with Mei Mei."


    After all, he had stolen the crown for her as her build and Anya''s build had several simrities.


    Though one was a shaman and the other was a healer, both of them relied heavily on nature magic. "Hmmm¡­ it should work out¡­ mostly."


    Liam nodded and then shifted his attention to his own personal growth. The crown was not the only thing that he had stolen.


    Thanks to the experience points from the faceless giant, he finally reached Level 50!


    Level 50 was an important milestone in the game. One could even say that this was the true starting point of the game.


    "Tsk. Tsk. Too bad I couldn''t get the loot from that giant." Liam clicked his tongue but he was still smiling ear to ear as he did not care about that too much at the moment.


    After all, there were still two or probably even more people he needed to rob from that group. It was alright to allow them to keep some stuff momentarily.


    And as for the level 80 death knight which was the biggest threat standing in his path, he only needed to reach the same level and that threat would no longer be relevant.


    Or maybe he did not even need to do that. From what he knew, chances were that the death knight was an item-bound summon.


    Perhaps all he needed to do was to hunt down and kill the guy once to snatch the deathknight away from him.


    He could have done it this time as well but there were too many what-ifs hanging around and he did not know for sure.


    So he went in for the kill that he was 100% sure would yield something exceptional like the precious legendary item.


    In the long run, the legendary crown definitely had more value than the death knight anyway.


    Liam silently gazed at the distance in the direction where the group should be at the moment. He had a sudden thought but then he shook his head.


    "It is too soon. They will definitely be on the watch and attack this time." He clicked his tongue and opened his system interface to check out his new and updated stats.


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 50


    ss: Soulmancer


    Titles: Rolling in Debt, Perfectionist, Soul Devourer, Pioneer, Gresh Kingdom Duke, Thol City Garrison Leader, Stage 1 Ranker


    Pet: Luna, Talon


    Health: 5187/ 5187


    Mana: 5050/ 5050


    ______________


    Vitality: 137


    Stamina: 137


    Strength: 137


    Defense: 137


    Intellect: 137


    Agility: 137


    Unassigned points: 12


    ______________


    Every level up gave 2 stat points for each attribute and since Liam had distributed all the stat points uniformly over time, all of his attributes were yet to reach 150 units.


    And for thest level up as well he had 12 unassigned stat points.


    "Hmmm¡­ I will distribute these points also evenly."


    "Every level up after Level 50 should give me 3 stat points for each attribute. Depending on how things proceed now, I will start to assign these points more selectively."


    He made some mental calctions and then looked at the next part of the status menu, the skills window.


    His gaze anxiously searched for the familiar words that he had missed up until now. Liam could already feel it, but he still wanted to verify it by making sure.


    Skills:


    [Mana Maniption], [Nether Maniption], [Throat Punch], [sh], [Sword Dance], [Spirit sh], [Spirit Wrath], [Stealth], [Pickpocket], [Unlock], [Tame], [Awaken], [Demonic Summon], [Ice Shard], [Lightning Bolt], [Fire Ball], [Lava Rain], [Soul Forging], [Soul Sensing], [Summon Soul Undeads], [Dismiss Soul Undeads], [Nether Fire Storm], [Nether Fire Serpent], [Mana Net], [Frozen Earth], [Trapping vines], [Fire bullets], [Nether Scythe], [Wind des], [Ice burst], [Lightning Snake], [Earth Spike], [Venom Burst], [Ice nket], [Intermediate Ice Maniption], [Intermediate Fire Maniption], [Intermediate Lightning Maniption]


    Trade Skills: [Alchemy] (Master Level), [Forging] (Master Level), [Mining] (Intermediate Level), [Herbalism] (Intermediate Level), [Cooking] (Beginner)


    -<i>  </i>


    "Hell ya!" Liam punched the air seeing that both his sword spirit techniques, [Spirit sh] and [Spirit Wrath] were finally unlocked!


    This was his first trump card in the Level 50 game!


    While everyone still had toprehend how to use their weapon in bnce with their selves, he had already achieved this part in hisst lifetime itself.


    He might not know any fancy techniques but he knew the basics and the basics were like cycling or swimming, once you knew, you knew.


    It was impossible to forget it, forget the feeling of it all.


    Liam''s grin faded as he slowly stood atop the white fox, bncing himself. He then unsheathed his sword and started swinging it just like he had done a million times before.

 Chapter 424 - Date night?!

    Chapter 424 - Date night?!


    Inside the Gu family residence¡­


    "World''s top yer has reached Level 50! What will this mysterious game bring us now? What is in store for us in the future?"


    "What new features will be unlocked and what new territories will be avable? With the first yer reaching Level 50, everyone has so many questions for the hero!"


    "Now¡­ if only this hero would talk to us!" The news anchor winked as she repeated the same sh news that was currently trending in many news outlets.


    Watching this particr piece of headlines shing once again, Gu Donghai let out a miserable grunt and clutched his remote control in anger. His entire body was trembling from top to bottom.


    He had failed. He had miserably failed once again.


    He had nned everything perfectly, taken action when the other party would have least expected it, and attacked the guild residence when basically no one was there inside.


    It was not like he had blindly gone in. He did the research.


    He learned the number of NPCs in the guild residence and spent a huge amount of gold coins to even recruit simr NPCs to fight for him.


    The victory should have been his and that damned guild residence should have been his as well!


    By now he was the one who should have been the center of everyone''s attention and grabbed all the headlines! Instead, it was this damned bastard again and he had failed yet again!


    "LIAM! LIAM! LIAM! Damn it, where the hell is that lucky retard! If I ever get my hands on that jackass, that will be thest day he will live! Hmph!"


    "Bao, what are the chances that bastard lives in our vicinity?"


    "There should be some way to find out his location in the real world. Have you noticed something about this game? It always tries to out you rather than hide you."


    "Wouldn''t it be nice if this bitch who caused us so much loss lived right next street? Mother fcker, I would rip him apart from limb to limb and then some more¡­ Cough. Cough. Cough."


    Gu Donghai coughed violently, drops of blood appearing in his handkerchief. His health has only been getting worsetely with no end in sight.


    The subordinate standing next to Gu Donghai quickly hurried over and brought him some cough medicine and a fresh ss of hot water.


    "Hrmmm." Gu Donghai cleared his throat and took the medicine. However, before he could even swallow the water, his door banged open forcefully and an elder stood in front of his room.


    "DONGHAI! What the hell did you do now? Didn''t I ask you to stay quiet and do nothing? Was that really so difficult for you?"


    The arrogant young master who was shouting at the top of his lungs up until now suddenly became dumbfounded and stared as if a cat got his tongue.


    "Father¡­ I¡­" He then coughed again violently, though this time of his own volition so that he could earn some sympathy points.


    "Donghai. Stop this nonsense. I already know about you, idiot. You want to fool this old man? Stop doing all these foolish things and get to the main house."


    "Young master has instructions for all of us. There is a family meeting in a couple of days. And because of you, I am going to lose a lot of face there, do you know that?"


    "Do you know how much loss we have suffered because of you? Idiot. Idiot. Useless piece of garbage. Good for nothing."


    "You don''t know how to do a single thing, couldn''t you at least listen to my words and stay away from that game?"


    "Father! That''s unfair! I know it, father. I can be big. I am just a little-"


    "Shut the hell up. You have no idea what is going on! That game is not as simple as it seems. Wait till the family meeting."


    The father looked at the son sternly and knowing that he was once again not going to listen to him, he looked at the threeckeys standing near him.


    "Bring that game capsule out. Make sure that he doesn''t log into the game again. If he does, I will personally kill you three! Do you understand?"


    The old man snorted coldly and then left the room, not leaving any space for Donghai to retaliate. Not long after a woman rushed into the room and hugged the chubby guy tightly.


    "Donghai! What did you do now? Your father is very upset. Did he scold you? My poor boy." She hugged him and started crying.


    Gu Donghai, however, pushed the woman away. "Shut up. You are all always treating me badly. I could have been the next heir of our Gu family but everyone is plotting against me!"


    "You are also on their side right. Everyone is on their side." He once again started coughing violently.


    Seeing her son''s health deteriorate every day, the poor woman sighed and once again hugged him tightly.


    "How about we go for a nice dinner tonight? We haven''t gone out in a while ever since you started ying that stupid game!"


    Donghai scoffed. "Stop pestering me and get out."


    "Ok, son. Take care and try to get some sleep. I wille back in the evening again."


    "Damn it. If only I could walk outside and run into that freak. I will¡­!" Donghai spat out venomously.


    Meanwhile¡­ at the other end¡­


    Liam was still exhausted so he decided to log out for a little bit. Before logging out, he messaged his sister, asking her as well to log out.


    With the news about the true death beginning to spread, he already knew that things were on the verge of change. Soon the earth as they knew it might not remain the same.


    So he wanted to take her out and have a nice evening meal with her before giving her the bad news and the good news. It was time for her to know the full story.


    They also needed to refill and stock up on supplies so that when everything started to be crazy they didn''t have to deal with emergencies rted to food and other necessities at the least.


    As Liam mentally nned the evening ahead of him, a reply promptly arrived.


    "Brother! Brother! Shall I call sis Yue also?" Obviously, this was Mei Mei''s first response. "This girl¡­" Liam chuckled wryly. Innocence was bliss.


    He didn''t want to ruin her good mood as these were probably thest few normal hours that she was going to enjoy. "Alright, whatever you want." He readily agreed.


    As he did not n on leaving Shen Yue helpless by herself, today was as good as any other day to break the truth to her as well.


    "But maybe I shouldn''t do it in a public ce¡­ hmmm." Thinking about how the two were going to react, Liam then logged out andzily stepped out of the gaming capsule.


    After which he showered, freshened up, and walked outside with a big yawn, only to find the two girls already dressed up and waiting for him.


    "Wait, shouldn''t women take longer to get ready?" Liam scratched his head.


    "Don''t tell me. You guys didn''t even shower? No wonder it stinks around here." He jokingly teased the duo which promptly earned him a few punches from Mei Mei.


    "Brother! UGH! You don''t know how to talk! You are going to be single for the rest of your life!" The little girl narrowed her eyes and finished her barrage of punches.


    "It stinks because we haven''t aired out the apartment in a while and someone did not do the dishes before logging in. Hmph."


    "Eh? So you both were also ying continuously?" Liam chuckled lightly while picking up some change, his wallet, his phone, and a bottle of water.


    "Of course. Oh my god, brother. Did you not see the chat at all? We have so much to catch up on." Mei Mei pped her hands in excitement.


    "Ok, ok. Let''s go. We have a lot to get done tonight. We can talkter." Liam smiled and led the two outside.


    He held the door open for Mei Mei and then Shen Yue who still remained very quiet. "After you." Liam smiled and Shen Yue only nodded, her cheeks a little red.


    The little minx of course saw this and grinned ear to ear. "Why do I feel like a third wheel suddenly? He He." She picked up her phone to get a cab but Liam stopped her.


    "Why don''t we use the public bus and when we are returning, we cane back by cab."


    "Ah? Ok." Mei Mei nodded.


    Though it was a bit weird she didn''t think too much about it as previously when they had been just a step away from being homeless, they had used the public transportation all the time.


    In fact, she was only going to call a cab because Shen Yue was there with them.


    She put the phone back in her pant pockets and walked alongside Liam as the three of them leisurely strolled over to the bus stand.

 Chapter 425 - A fun day?

    Chapter 425 - A fun day?


    "Hey! Look over there. Isn''t that woman gorgeous?"


    "Damn. Why the hell is she standing in a bus?"


    "Must be a model for sure."


    The group of youngsters on the bus did not bother to lower their voices at all. More like they couldn''t as they admired the seductive beauty in front of them.


    Shen Yue fidgeted with her fingers and pulled her t-shirt down awkwardly, but it did little to nothing to hide her curves.


    Standing next to her both Liam and Mei Mei were only barely controlling theirughter.


    Of course, they knew that it was a serious situation but Shen Yue''s expressions were so funny that they couldn''t help it.


    "Sis, you have so many fans! Please don''t cheat on my brother!" Mei Mei pouted.


    "You!" Shen Yue became even more embarrassed. She looked at Liam from the corner of her eyes but the guy did note to her rescue. He was just having fun.


    Especially around his sister, the man really had a warm loving smile which she couldn''t help but want for herself as well. He was the most dependable sincere person she had ever met.


    As she silently stole nces at the brother, the said brother and his sister continued joking around and they finally arrived at the destination, one of the high-end malls in the city.


    "Huh? This mall?" Mei Mei was confused.


    "Ya, why don''t you both do some shopping? We have some time." Liam smiled.


    "What really?" The young girl became instantly excited. They had been staying at home all this while and barely stepped anywhere outside.


    And before that, they did not have any money. The two siblings in fact hadn''t done anything like this for a long while.


    Even when their parents were around, money was tight so they did not have any experience like this.


    Liam chuckled as he could literally see the little girl''s eyes twinkling. "Yup really. Go nuts. Buy whatever you want." Unexpectedly, he then turned to Shen Yue and added, "You too."


    "Ah but¡­" Shen Yue stammered in shock.


    She couldn''t understand this person''s behavior. He was doing everything a boyfriend would but he did not show any interest romantically? Was she friend-zoned?


    Seeing her dazed, Mei Mei pulled her away. "It''s alright, sis. Come let''s go." The duo then waltzed from one shop to another as Liam patiently apanied them without grumbling.


    Though Mei Mei did most of the shopping, he also picked out some clothes that he would need and the duovishly spent money.


    Shen Yue was the only one awkwardly standing. Different clothes were shoved into her bag forcefully and she awkwardly epted them as there was no chance for her to refuse.


    She was already mentally preparing toe back the next day and return so that she could transfer the money back to Liam.


    The shopping spree was soon over and Liam ordered all the packages to be delivered to their apartment so they didn''t have to carry anything with them.


    He then ordered a cab and the three started visiting various food stalls in the city, some cheap ones and some expensive ones based on their reviews.


    For some reason, all three of them had monstrous appetites. Maybe because they had been roaming around the mall or maybe because they had been ying the game all day and night.


    This time even Shen Yue did not hold back. At first, she was shy and tried to eat daintily in front of Liam but seeing the brother and sister having so much fun, she also let loose and enjoyed with them.


    The three had a lot of childish fun wolfing down all sorts of food items. They spent a couple of hours on it and finally stopped at a high-end restaurant to finish the restaurant hopping.


    "Brother, what''s gotten into you today?" Mei Mei giggled, all hopped up on sugar.


    "Nothing. I just always wanted to taste the food at this ce." Liam chuckled and shrugged. Seeing him so happy and carefree, the young girl smiled.


    Mei Mei was very ted to see her brother enjoying himself like this for once and she hugged his right arm with a soft sigh.


    Shen Yue blushed as she suddenly had the urge to hug the person''s other arm, but she quietly walked next to him.


    The three then sauntered into the ce. "Table for three?" Liam asked, rapping on the desk of the receptionist.


    "Wee, Sir and Madams. You are lucky, this is ourst free table." The woman led them to their booth on the corner.


    The three sat down and Liam ordered a whole bunch of items. It looked like it was a lot but as they started digging in, everything began to disappear.


    The three of them chatted and enjoyed and the evening was proceeding pleasantly when suddenly a loud voice interrupted the cheerful atmosphere.


    "I want my usual booth. Cough cough. Can you not understand what I am saying? Bitch, I want it so make it happen. Cough. Cough."


    "Sir, please.".???


    "What? Do you know who I am? I am from the Gu family. I can make you disappear! You better be careful of what you are going to say next!"


    A chubby youngster opened the door of the booth brashly and walked in, coughing violently.


    Behind him, there was the apologetic receptionist and beside her was an elderly woman, dressed elegantly. However, she showed no signs of intervening to stop whatever was going on.


    In fact, she had a proud look on her face as if she was supporting the chubby youngster''s actions.


    The said youngster did not bother covering his mouth as he continued hacking up and then finally paid attention to the three people sitting inside the booth.


    "You! Scram!" He was just about to unleash some more polite words when he suddenly noticed the beauty in front of him.


    "Ah." The chubby youngster''s jaw dropped to the ground and drool visibly leaked out of his mouth. He almost couldn''t believe that such a beautiful person existed.


    No, he had seen more beautiful women before this one was different.


    He just had to have her.

 Chapter 426 - Aren’t l a genius?

    Chapter 426 - Aren¡¯t l a genius?


    Gu Donghai couldn''t believe it. The woman in front of him was simply too mesmerizing.


    She was only wearing a simple t-shirt but that contoured her obscene body and tempted him to no end. She had the perfect ratio among all the women he had everid his eyes on.


    Big melons, slender waist, and a face that was iparably beautiful. How is a woman like this sitting here?


    Shen Yue moved closer to Liam as she felt ufortable with the guy''s obvious staring.


    Mei Mei as well felt very irked. "Brother¡­" She also moved closer to Liam from the other side.


    Snapping out of his trance, Gu Donghai finally noticed the other two people also present in the booth. His eyes first hovered on Mei Mei, looking at her from top to bottom.


    Obviously, this one wasn''t as developed whenpared to the goddess in the room but one could tell that she would also be great beauty if she grew up.


    Donghai licked his lips in anticipation finally paying attention to the third person in the room. At first nce, he suddenly felt weird. He had a feeling as if he had seen the face somewhere.


    But that wasn''t really a surprise because if it was someone eating here, they must be quite affluent and belong to one of the main families in the city.


    So he might have seen the guy at one or the other parties and that was not what was important at the moment.


    How the hell did this random in-faced guy manage to get not one but two beauties to eat with him? What the hell was happening here? Was his family rich?


    If so then he was even richer! Hmph!


    Only then did Gu Donghai remember the term brother. Now that made sense. He was probably just a loser who was simply apanying these two beauties like a servant.


    He continued looking at Liam as he was thinking about something deeply.


    His hands itched to take action now itself but that wouldn''t be wise. He was already on thin grounds with his father thanks to the assholes from the main family.


    He couldn''t afford to create amotion here and make a scene. Then his father might truly disown him, but that didn''t mean that he was going to let this beauty slip out of his hands.


    He would rather die than do that!


    Gu Donghai''s eyes once again flitted over to the goddess in the room and his body began heating up like a furnace.


    For a second, he forgot all the reasoning he had earlier and all he wanted to do was grab her, rip her clothes apart and take the woman right then and there.


    He even started moving and took a step forward but before he could go any further, another hotel manager arrived at the scene.


    "Sir, please. The VIP booth at the window with a view of the city is avable. Please forgive my subordinate. Please follow me so that we can serve you well and make up for the blunder."


    Gu Donghai trembled for a moment and then coughed violently hacking up a lot of stuff. He then turned around to leave along with his mother who was silently eying everyone with contempt.


    The manager and the receptionist sighed in relief for narrowly having avoided amotion and Mei Mei was about to let out a sigh when suddenly the guy stopped.


    Gu Donghair turned around and pointed his index finger at Liam, signaling him to follow him.


    "Hmmm? You want to talk to me?" Liam smiled. His smile was very polite. In fact, unusually so.


    Liam then casually stood up and walked over to him. Donghai nodded at him smugly and then asked his mother to get seated first.


    "I have some business to talk to my friend here. You go ahead first."


    He ced his fat arm around Liam ufortably even though it was difficult considering their height difference and ushered him into the restroom. Two of hisckeys also apanied him.


    The three stood toweringly in front of Liam or at least tried to and Gu Donghai cleared his throat threateningly. "Do you y the game ''Evolution Online''?"


    "Yes?" Liam''s face twitched but he managed to answer with a straight face.


    "How would you like 5000 gold coins? Ke Ke Ke?" Gu Donghai tried to sneer like a viin but he only ended up with another bout of cough.


    "What? 5000 gold coins?" Liam gave a purposefully exaggerated response.


    He could already see where this was going¡­ the only issue was that he didn''t know why fate was tempting him like this?


    And of course, the next second just like he expected, Gu Donghai started revealing his true colors.


    "Brother, you know much money is 5000 gold coins right? Right now the time is ripe. If you exchange it for dors you will be a millionaire in an instant. Ke Ke Ke. Don''t you want it?"


    Seeing that the person was sufficiently impressed, Donghai knew that he had him where he wanted him to be.


    "ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. FIVE. FIVE THOUSAND GOLD COINS."


    He furled out his fingers and added, "And the only thing that you need to do is bring along the two girls with you to a tavern."


    "Ah, wait before that. This is important. Are you in the Gresh Kingdom? How about those two? Which Kingdom are you three in? They are also ying the game right?"


    Gu Donghai started panicking because this was a crucial detail that couldn''t be helped. Otherwise, things would beplicated.


    Andtely, he had been very unlucky as well. Failures after failures and him getting always sick. Surely, he would at least have some luck in this aspect? He begrudgingly waited and¡­


    Just like he wanted, the guy nodded positively!


    "Yes," Liam replied, no expressions or emotions visible on his face.


    Gu Donghai visibly became overjoyed. Finally! Things were going his way!


    "Phew! Good then! See we are meant to be good brothers. He He He. Why don''t all three of you head over to the Big Mug tavern in the Misty city?"


    "We can meet up and I will give you 5000 gold coins alright?"


    Gu Donghai saw that the person was still staring at him so he added, "No need to worry. I don''t need anything from you."


    "I will be very honest here. I just want to go on a date with your sister, that''s all. Ha ha ha."


    "Ah. Is that so¡­" Liam sighed. At first, it was simply a low-hanging fruit that was tempting him but now this fruit was already in his mouth. How could he still not bite it and devour it?


    "Ok." He agreed even acting a little reluctant.


    "Don''t worry. I will give you 5000 gold coins. I will also introduce you to the Jade Mountain guild''s main team. They will take you under their wing and you will earn even more."


    "Do you understand now?"


    "Ah. Ok. Thank you. Thank you so much, brother." Liam once again nodded, this time appearing much happier.


    "Hmmm¡­ Let me see. Why don''t we meet up in 5 days?"


    Though he was a little impatient to get his hands on the goddess, Gu Donghai still gave a conservative date because he was deep down still scared of his father.


    But he was not at home often so five days should be good. He nodded and confirmed it.


    "Ok, brother." Liam as well nodded.


    "Alright. You can go back now." Go Donghai waved his hand away.


    The twockeys ushered Liam away and came back to Donghai with confused expressions. What was happening? Why was their boss being so nice?


    5000 gold coins was an astronomical sum of money! Especially for people like them stemming from middle-ss families.


    "What? You guys still don''t understand? Too dumb! Cough Cough." Gu Donghai cleared his throat and exined.


    "See for girls like that¡­ cough¡­ outside world is a bit too inconvenient."


    "Ahem. It''s not like she wouldn''t agree to be my girlfriend. Heh. Who could resist this young master''s charms? But it is such a drag to be tied down by one chick."


    "But inside the game world, we can make things more interesting. Do you understand? Ke Ke Ke. There she won''t be able to get away from me and there will be no one to help her."


    "Do you understand now? Aren''t I a genius? Just one look at that joker, I knew instantly that spineless idiot would sell off his women."


    "Ke Ke Ke. Sure, I will date them. In a very special way."


    "As for the gold coins he can dream on. Idiot. Did he really think I was going to give him 5000 gold coins? Ke Ke Ke."


    "Boss, what if he doesn''t show up?"


    "Eh? Not possible. But in case he doesn''t show up, he should be living in our city only. Where is he going to run and hide from me?"


    He coughed some more and then cleaned his mouth before walking back to the booth where his mother was sitting.

 Chapter 427 - End of the world

    Chapter 427 - End of the world


    When Liam returned back to the booth, both Shen Yue and Mei Mei looked at him anxiously.


    "Brother, what happened? Did he do something to you?" The young girl''s eyes were almost tearing up as this was a past trauma in her heart.


    Instead of the giggling childish smile, she had a sad helpless look.


    Considering that until recently Liam was someone who was always bullied and beaten up, she couldn''t help but worry if the same thing had happened again.


    Liam''s heart ached a little seeing her like this. He sighed softly and sat down next to the girl. "No, no one can ever hurt us, ever again." He kissed her forehead and patted her.


    The little girl immediately became flustered and pushed Liam away. "Brother, why are you teasing me all the time!"


    "What? What did I do now?"


    "Ah. Never mind that. So what did he call you for then?" Mei Mei was confused. Those entitled jerks were definitely up to no good. It was written all over their face!


    "Mmmm." Liam casually picked up a fruit that was on top of one of the dishes and tossed it into his mouth. "You don''t have to concern yourself with them. They are nobodies."


    If anyone, especially from their city had heard him call the members of the Gu family nobodies, they would have assumed he was an idiot.


    However, Liam did not seem to care at all. "Alright. Are you both done eating? Let''s go. We still have some more shopping left to do."


    "Huh? More shopping?"


    The two women looked at each other in shock as they were already bored of shopping. They couldn''t understand how Liam still had the enthusiasm for it.


    But a few minutester, they understood the real meaning of his words.


    Along with Liam, the duo found themselves hauling away bottled water, tissue paper, dry rations, canned food, and several other misceneous necessities.


    "Brother, what is this? Are we preparing for the apocalypse or what?" Mei Mei grumbled.


    Liam staggered slightly on hearing her words but did not say anything. He was going to exin everything in a couple of hours after all. So he just smiled and nodded.


    "It''s a secret."


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei rolled their eyes at his bad joke and then continued working.


    After giving the order for the whole bunch of stuff, Liam instructed the manager of the ce to deliver it to his house.


    Usually, this particr grocery store did not have any delivery service but he had bought so many things almost clearing out the warehouse that they had to make an exception for him.


    After the supplies trip, the trio finally called for a cab and returned back to their apartmentplex.


    However, there was still work because all the deliveries began to arrive one after the other.


    Liam had rented beforehand a few storage rooms in their apartmentplex itself to store all the supplies. So everything was quickly and conveniently put away.


    If they hadn''t thought that his behavior before was suspicious, the two girls now were quite sure that something was going on.


    Well, either something was going on or Liam had a severe case of hoarder''s disease. Even the delivery guys gave him odd looks.


    When everything was finally finished, Liam had actually ended up stocking 10 big storage rooms full of supplies.


    "Brother, seriously. What is going on? This is¡­ I mean what is all this¡­" Mei Mei walked closer, held Liam''s hand, and asked slowly. There was a lot of anxiety in her voice.


    Obviously, her brother was not stupid. So what the hell was going on? Shen Yue also stood behind her, with the same questions written on her face.


    Seeing the two looking at him as if they were worried about his sanity, Liam chuckled wryly. "Mmmm. Let''s go inside first and talk."


    "Ah¡­ should I go home?" Shen Yue asked hesitantly when they reached their floor as she did not want to intrude on something personal but Liam firmly shook his head, "Why don''t you also join us?


    "Ummm. ok." She walked in after Mei Mei and Liam closed the door of the apartment. He then sat them both down, even giving them each a ss of water beforehand.


    How was one supposed to break the news about the end of the world?


    He sighed and directly jumped right into it. "Earlier that joke about the apocalypse¡­"


    "Ya. I was just joking." Mei Mei restlessly fidgeted. "Brother! You are scaring me. What is it? Please tell me quickly. What happened?"


    "Ok. Ok." Liam nodded and then broke the news. He could see it in their eyes that they already doubted the same thing.


    "I think there is really going to be an apocalypse."


    "Huh?"


    "What are you saying, Liam?" Shen Yue gripped her shirt anxiously. This was clearly not a prank or a joke, so what the hell?


    "Sigh. I can''t give you any proof or any solid evidence. The only thing I can say is that this apocalypse should be rted to the game ''Evolution Online''"


    "It''s just like what the name of the game suggests. It''s helping us human beings evolve. Does that make sense to you?"


    Hearing him, Mei Mei''s eyes went wide and she nodded dazedly.


    She was always used to taking Liam''s words at face value so she didn''t doubt what he was saying and was rather trying to process and digest this big piece of news.


    Shen Yue, on the other hand, couldn''t believe it at all. More like she did not want to. "No, how is that possible? I mean how do you? Liam, stop it. Stop messing with us."


    "Do I look like I am joking?"


    "Then how do you know?"


    "Hmmm. For starters, how did this game happen? Who made it? Don''t you find it strange that no one knows anything about it?"


    "I mean our technology is developed but it is not so developed that virtual reality is the same as reality right? How did this sudden jump happen?"


    Shen Yue gulped, slowly nodding. She couldn''t answer any of his questions. The more she thought about it, the more everything made sense.


    The game suddenly taking over the world... Everyone bing involved with it so much so that their whole life seemed to be revolving around it...


    It just didn''t feel like it was about making money anymore. It was almost like this was another life. Sometimes it felt more real than their real life¡­


    Liam sat down and patted her. "There is another thing. Haven''t you read about all the mysterious deaths happening all over the world?"


    "What do you think caused them?"


    "The world as we know it ising to an end and there is nothing we can do about it." Liam sighed.

 Chapter 428 - Are they all dead?

    Chapter 428 - Are they all dead?


    "There is nothing we can do¡­" Shen Yue dazedly repeated Liam''s words.


    The two girls nkly stared at Liam holding their breath and waiting for him to say something that made sense and but it looked like that was not going to happen.


    Liam also wanted to give them some space and time to process things but the two seemed as if their brain was going to shortcircuit.


    So he quickly moved on to the next half of his speech.


    "So that was the bad news¡­" He sat between the two women on the couch. He pulled over Mei Mei patted her and gently kissed her on the forehead again.


    "There is also some good news."


    The duo sharply turned and looked at Liam, their eyes widened like a deer in front of the headlights. Their whole world was copsing, so there was also good news here?


    How was it even possible?


    "What are you saying, brother?" Mei Mei squeaked like a mouse. She was almost afraid of this good news.


    "Eh! What? Did both of you forget?" Liam smiled, nting another kiss on the girl''s head. "So what if the game is going to influence the world and change everything?"


    "Did you both forget that you are also ying the game? If there can be good things, there can be bad things also."


    "ording to my theory, we should be able to get stronger in the real world if manage to be stronger in the game world. Does that make sense?"


    Ah. The duo gasped and then the realization dawned on them.


    "Brother, but how do you know all this?" Mei Mei wrinkled her nose, her entire face filled with anxiety.


    "Sigh. Look here. I also don''t know anything for sure. These are just hints I gathered. Bits and pieces of news from here and there."


    "In any case, this game has already be our livelihood, and we are already ying it quite seriously. Nothing changes now, alright?"


    Liam wanted to give the two some encouragement instead of scaring the crap out of them and this was really the best he could do.


    "I mean I am sharing with you guys this piece of information because you two looked at me as if I was a madman for buying supplies."


    "Tell me, what should I do? Isn''t it best to be prepared?"


    Liam stood up and sternly looked at the two women listening to him like little children, hanging onto each of his words.


    "If I am correct, then our future is very unpredictable. So what can we do about that now?"


    "All we can do or anyone can do is be prepared as best as we can. That''s all correct?"


    "Sigh, if I knew that you two would be so worried, maybe I shouldn''t have said anything in the first ce."


    Liam acted like he was regretting his actions and closed his eyes. Almost immediately Mei Mei jumped up, bing energetic.


    "No. No. I am not scared. Brother, I will also work hard. We will do our best." The little girl tugged at Liam and hugged him.


    "Brother, you must have been carrying this burden all by yourself all these days. I am so sorry. I didn''t know. I was just messing around."


    "I should have yed it more seriously from the beginning. I am sorry. I really did not know."


    "That''s okay. Of course, you did not know idiot. Because I am only just telling you now."


    Liam smiled lightly. Of course, just like he thought, this route was better. For a long time, this girl had always been all about protecting him.


    She hadn''t hesitated standing up against children twice her size back then and now, she was not going to hesitate and be stronger, all to protect him.


    He could see the innocent determination in her eyes. Liam hugged his sister tightly, patting her on the back.


    "This was why I told you guys not to die. Now, do you understand everything? Don''t worry. Everything will be fine if we be stronger. Trust your brother. Alright."


    "Ok." Mei Mei nodded and then continued hugging Liam. He did not say anything the two remained standing like that for a few minutes.


    Near them, Shen Yue was still silent as she absentmindedly stared at the floor deeply engrossed in her thoughts.


    Even after Mei Mei became better she was still lost in her space. "Sis, are you okay?" Mei Mei asked her. She walked over and patted her.


    "Ah. No. I mean, Mei Mei sorry, can I talk with your brother, alone for a moment? Do you mind?"


    Mei Mei looked shocked after hearing that but then she realized something and quickly ran over to her room.


    "Sis Yue, brother, I am going back to the game. Aha ha ha ha. I am not here. Don''t mind me. Carry on. Carry on."


    Shen Yue awkwardly fidgeted with her fingers as she could see that the little girl had mistaken her words, but she could not care about that right now.


    After she heard her room''s door closing, she turned toward Liam but she continued looking at the ground without mustering the courage to look up at him directly in his eyes.


    "You want to talk to me about something?" Liam let out a long sigh of relief and sat back on the couch.


    The thing that he was dreading was telling his sister the truth and her reaction to it and now that that was over, he felt as if a huge burden was lifted off of his shoulders.


    Shen Yue also should be fine? Though he thought that she looked a little stiff. What did she want to talk about?


    Suddenly Liam had a bad feeling.


    It was because he could see that the woman was neither sad nor shaky from fear. Rather she looked very serious as if she had something weighing heavily on her mind.


    "What happened?" He asked again.


    ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? ???? ??? ?????.???


    Shen Yue took a deep breath, lifted her head, and slowly spoke, "Back then, near that graveyard¡­"


    "When those five people assaulted us¡­ you killed them repeatedly. Again and again and again. Until they no longer appeared¡­ Are they all dead?"


    Liam''s eyes instantly narrowed as he gazed at the woman in front of him with a strange glint in his eyes. "What are you implying?" His voice became cold.


    He stood up and stalked over to her, standing right in front of her. His eyes casually flitted over to the other side to make sure that this sister was really inside her room because...


    Depending on what happened next...


    Things could get really messy.

 Chapter 429 - What if...

    Chapter 429 - What if...


    Shen Yue looked at Liam and for a second, she trembled subconsciously not knowing why. There was something different about him and the way he looked at her.


    Was it because he was standing so close or was it because¡­?


    She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath before continuing. "I am not implying anything. I just want to know the truth."


    Liam paused for a moment. He did not reply immediately. He could see the woman in front of him shaking and yet she was boldly confronting him.


    He should probably feel impressed by such a person but unfortunately, she was touching his bottom line right now.


    If it meant that she could even remotely harm him or his sister, he wouldn''t hesitate to end her right here and now.


    He really did not want that to happen. He hade to know her to be a very kind and caring person.


    However, such people most often tended to be self-righteous to a fault and that was not going to work for him.


    So should he tell the truth and roll the dice or lie convincingly and part ways. After all, she saved Mei Mei once and this was something that he owed her.


    On the other hand, she already knew way too much. If she did not betray him today, what if she betrays himter on?


    Liam clenched his fist, a million different scenarios running through his mind. But the thing was he already knew what he had to do.


    And just as he was about to open his mouth, unexpectedly the woman in front of him moved.


    Shen Yue let go and hugged the man tightly.


    "Huh?" Liam was startled.


    "I am sorry. I am so sorry. I did not know how much of a burden I have been on you. That time when those people tried to attack us. Again when we got caught in that witch''s temple."


    "Every single time you were the one who helped me out. Right from the beginning, you took care of me without asking me for a single thing in return."


    "Why are you so good to me?"


    Liam was speechless. He could tell that Shen Yue was sobbing on his chest. He could feel the woman''s heart beating out of her chest.


    This was not someone who was upset with him. He ced his fingers on the girl''s chin and tilted her head up a little.


    "You don''t care that I killed those people?"


    "They deserved to die. They wanted to do cruel things to me and Mei Mei. If this is real and not just a game then¡­"


    She shuddered thinking about what could have happened if she or Mei Mei got captured by people like that. "You are not wrong. They are wrong."


    But Liam did not stop there.


    "Those are not the only people whom I killed. I have also killed other people for no reason. I have probably killed a few innocent people here and there too."


    Shen Yue gulped.


    "And I am not done. In the future, I am nning to kill more. That guy from the Gu family whom we met today, I am going to kill him."


    "In fact, I am going to kill their entire family without leaving anyone behind. I have to kill them even if not all of them deserved such an extreme punishment."


    "Do you still think that I am not wrong?"


    Shen Yue now truly looked shocked. She kept staring at Liam, not knowing what to say. The person he was describing¡­ such a person was truly heinous.


    How could she still think that he was not wrong? How could she still love someone like that?


    Seeing her face change, Liam bitterly smiled. See, he was not wrong. There was no one in this world who would understand him and care about him unconditionally except for his sister.


    However, before he could finish that thought, the very next instant, once again something unexpected happened.


    Shen Yue shut her eyes tightly close and shook her head.


    No. No. No. All of his words were confusing her and more importantly, the life-changing truth that she had just learned was also making her nervous.


    But the truth was right in front of her. It was all along in front of her.


    Liam might be saying a lot of things but from the day she knew him, she had only seen him do one thing.


    And that was to shower love and warmth on the people whom he cared about. That was his true identity no matter what else he said.


    "You are not wrong. You are still not wrong." She firmly replied.


    "You don''t care if I kill a hundred or a thousand or perhaps even more people?"


    Shen Yue sighed and nodded. "You are not a monster to go on a killing spree like that. And if you did do that, you probably have a reason for it."


    "Heh. So you are just going to trust me blindly?" Liam chuckled.


    However, Shen Yue still looked serious, "Yes."


    "May I know why?"


    "Because I know you."


    "Is that all?"


    "I¡­ I¡­" Shen Yue stuttered. She hade so far and she did not want to back out now. She gripped her shirt edges tightly and finished it. "I like you."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam''s eyes widened. It was not like he did not know this. He was not dense but he did not expect her toe out and say it like this.


    He looked at the woman whose face was now fully flushed and her body that was trembling slightly.


    What was he supposed to say now? For god''s sake, he was just a second away from killing the girl if things had gone south and now she confessed?


    He ruffled his head uneasily and took a step back. "Ok. We should log back into the game. It''s been too long and I have something important to talk to you guys."


    "Ah¡­ " Shen Yue''s face paled. He didn''t say anything to her? She just stood rooted on the spot,pletely frozen. Her eyes were already glistening.


    Seeing that she became visibly wilted, Liam ruffled his hair again and decided to smoothen things a little bit.


    "About the other thing, I think we should talk about itter when everything bes more stable¡­ I will be right here with you even then, so nothing will change."


    "We cannot afford to lose focus right now. Do you understand?"


    Shen Yue blinked. So she was not rejected? Or was she still rejected and these were just words to console her?


    Liam sighed. This was still not resolved?


    He decided to use the same tactic he used on Mei Mei. He had a feeling that it would work.


    "Don''t think about all these things now. We need to work hard and survive." He took a step forward and patted the woman on her head. "Can I count on you?"


    "Ye¡­ yes. Yes. of course." Shen Yue wiped her eyes. "I will always stand by you. I didn''t know before sorry. Now I will work hard. I will definitely work hard."


    "Alright." Liam nodded with a gentle smile. "Thank you in advance then."


    "So¡­ I will go to the game capsule and log in now?"


    "Yes, I will contact you both inside the game."


    "Ummm. Ok." Shen Yue looked again at the warm smile stered on Liam''s face and she once again blushed furiously before heading out.


    "Heh. She is also so protective." Liam almost felt bad for not responding to her properly, but the truth was he also did not lie to her.


    The timing right now was far too crucial for him to be entrapped and entwined in the arms of an enchantress. Maybe if her profession was different, things would have been a lot easier.


    But after seeing Gu Donghai''s behavior back at the restaurant, he did not want to underestimate her charms and allure.


    Back then, the guy almost looked bewitched by her. What was that? Were things already beginning to change?


    "No, I am thinking too much. I am giving that trash too much credit." Liam shook his head. There, of course, was always a possibility like that. He did not dare rule that outpletely.


    But there was still time for that and there would be a major announcement and the fact that he was not affected by her allure also meant something.


    Otherwise, if her abilities were really leaking into the real world, then no man including him would have been able to resist her.


    He would have probably already taken her to the bed.


    Liam contemted things carefully, not letting his judgment be clouded. Did she look the same as before or more beautiful?


    The answer was definitely more beautiful!


    "Hmmm... What if she is indeed more alluring than usual but my mental strength increased?" Liam''s gaze changed as this seemed to be more usible.


    He had recently been pushing himself to the extreme a lot. What if all those painful circumstances gave him more resistance?


    He suddenly became stiff as a frightening thought popped up in his mind. Was mana already present in the world?

 Chapter 430 - ls it there or not?

    Chapter 430 - ls it there or not?


    A shiver ran down Liam''s spine. Could something like that be happening?


    He immediately closed his eyes and tried sensing if mana was present in the air around him.


    He reduced his heart rate, cleared his mind, and focused only on one thing, the essence of the swirling mana.


    He stood on the spot with his eyes closed like a statue and soon, in the blink of an eye almost an entire hour passed by.


    However, no matter how much he tried, he was still unable to sense anything out of ordinary. Only the summer''s warmth assaulted his body and made him want to turn on the air conditioner.


    After a while, Liam stopped this exercise which was obviously not going anywhere. It was a bit disappointing but since he did not expect much from the beginning he did not care.


    A part of him was also relieved because if mana was indeed present all around him right now, that would mean he had even less time to prepare.


    "What am I thinking? It is impossible for mana to be present so early." He shook his head and let out a sigh. "I should go log in and stop wasting time. It''s already been a while."


    He then silently walked over to his room to log back into the game capsule, but a faint look of doubt still lingered on his face. He was notpletely convinced.


    He lifted up the game capsule absent-mindedly and stepped inside to lie down, t on his back.


    Soon the world around him darkened and he was once more in the familiar environment with the familiar face peeking at him anxiously.


    Kyuuuu!


    In a sh, the white fox jumped atop him, settling on his shoulders and she licked his face a few times.


    "Alright. Alright. That''s enough." Liam smiled. This was the lengthiest break he had taken in a while and it felt good.


    He inhaled a big gulp of air, this one very obviously filled to the brim with wisps ofher and the small doubts he had also faded away.


    This was what a lungful of air filled withher or mana felt like, not that dry air he was breathing back in the outside world.


    Now he was more sure about his conclusion. Mana was definitely not yet present on earth.


    Of course, there was always the possibility that it was his body that couldn''t sense it just yet, but Liam did not n on going down that rabbit hole.


    He had already lived through everything once. He knew what was going to happen and what the future was going to be like at least for a while.


    So there was no point in wasting time on less probably theories.


    Sure, it would be another loophole that he could make use of in case it turned out that way, but he did not want to make any ns based on it.


    His aim and his goal right now couldn''t be clearer. He was at Level 50 and he needed to establish his mana core.


    After one''s physical body, one''s mana core had the most importance.


    This was what differentiated an above average yer from an average yer. This is also what differentiated a top yer from an above average yer.


    This would be his second base, his second foundation based on which everything else would be determined.


    And just like the physical body, the mana core could also be established in different ways. The method in itself did not matter as much but the final product definitely did.


    And depending on the rank of this final mana core, a yer''s power would instantly shoot up.


    Liam was not an optimist. He knew too much about this world and had experience way too many things in his life to behave like one.


    Practically speaking, this was the height of power he intended to reach before the final veil unfolds and the harsh reality bes visible for everyone to see.


    Time was slowly running out. They were already in theher realm expansion and that meant that soon the war would be over and then chaos would descend upon earth.


    There was nothing that was going to stop it or dy it. So he had at the maximum one more month to get everything in order.


    And in this month, he wanted to establish the best mana core he possibly could.


    Once he had everything organized, it would then be a cakewalk to carry the core team and bring everyone''s level to 50 and help everyone establish their mana core as well.


    This would definitely solidify their strength both inside the game world and real world. A yer with a mana core was heads and shoulders above a yer without a mana core.


    Their power levels were not even in the same vicinity. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that a yer with a mana core could easily take out dozens of yers without mana cores.


    If he managed to bring each of his sister''s, Derek''s, Mia''s, Alex''s, and Shen Yue''s level to 50 and helped them establish the core most suited for them¡­


    Their beginning in the new world was going to be unstoppable!


    Just thinking about it made Liam''s blood boil. There was a lot of work left to be done!


    "Right, I should first message them. It''s been a while. They are probably waiting for me."


    He quickly opened the messages and contacted everyone in theher realm starting from his sister.


    His n at the moment was to scour for herbs in theher realm, so it was best to do that as a group.


    Especially if they came across elites, with a group he could at least think of tackling the thing instead of fleeing away every time.


    He also did not forget to mark the spots on the map where he had seen the faceless giant and the ice frog.


    Their level was too much for them even as a group but he could always return back to them when time permitted and if theher portals were still open.


    Liam swiftly sent out a few messages and since they had all started together, everyone''s location was rtively close to each other.


    In fact, he was the furthest from the group so he arranged a meeting close to the group.


    "Luna, let''s go. Show me how fast you can be." Liam grinned and hopped onto the white fox, now several sizes bigger.


    Kyuuuuu!


    The fox as well naughtily grinned and bobbed her head as if she was epting the challenge and the next instant, she began sprinting mid-air, zooming forward like an arrow.

 Chapter 431 - Here! Catch!

    Chapter 431 - Here! Catch!


    "Brother! Over here!" Mei Mei waved her hand as Luna smoothly slowed down and circled around the group.


    "Yes. I see you." Liam smiled. He was happy to see that she was not stressed or anxious. Rather she seemed to be in a hyperactive ''I need to help brother'' mode.


    He chuckled because this was not the first time he was experiencing this mode. It was better this way.


    Lunanded and he jumped off of the fox energetically. The break from the game along with the nap he took just now was more than enough for him to recover his condition.


    Things would have turned out differently if he had failed that soul forging but since he was sessful he was able to recover mostly.


    However, clearly the same couldn''t be said for others. Many in the group looked worse for wear. They seemed like they had been working very hard.


    "So what have you guys been up to?" Liam grinned contently.


    It was good that they were treating this seriously. He had now almost broken the news to everyone. Only some were left.


    "Sir, I came across a ruin a few miles from here. I spent most of the time exploring those ruins." Derek answered first.


    "Brother, we found a couple of dungeons around that area. We also saw some elites." Mei Mei reported next.


    "Oh, that''s quite good. Did you get any valuable drops?" Liam was surprised.


    Thest time around, a few guilds indeed came across dungeons in theher realm but the details regarding that were kept in wraps.


    The only thing that were known about them were the dungeon names from the world announcement notifications. So Liam was very interested in this piece of information.


    "What are the dungeon names? What type of beasts were there inside? How were the drops?" He started asking a lot of questions.


    Seeing this everyone''s eyes also turned toward the little girl, all waiting for her words.


    Mei Mei immediately became extremely embarrassed, especially since she now knew what was at stake.


    "Ah. No brother." She tucked a hair behind her ear and added, "Umm, we couldn''t explore it properly. They were all too high-level for us."


    She then looked at Shen Yue standing next to her for support who also quickly nodded. "Some of them over Level 70."


    Derek had given a lot more details than they had to offer so the two felt abashed. They nervously looked up at Liam to see his expression, only to find out that he couldn''t care less.


    He simply nodded and then moved on to the next person. Coincidentally, many people had simr encounters. It looked like either the mobs were too weak or too strong.


    "It''s fine. I did not expect you guys to grind a lot. Just the information you have is more than helpful. Mark everything and make a group map which we can tackleter."


    "For now, we should do some hunting together as a group. The next stage, Level 50 is almost here. We need a lot of herbs. We should start raiding ces that have herbs as drops."


    Liam exined the tentative n. No one asked him any questions because they all knew that he was Level 50. So it was only natural that he knew more about things than they knew.


    "Other than the two spots that came up, did anyone elsee across anything herbs rted?" Liam asked again, but it looked like this was all the information he could get.


    It was neither too bad nor too good. "Alright, let''s get moving then."


    Everyone was about to set out when Liam abruptly stopped as he almost forgot something important. "Mei Mei, one second."


    "Huh? What happened, brother?" She turned around and before she could finish her words, something bright came towards her. "Catch," Liam said.


    "Ah! Brother, be careful! I almost dropped it." The little girl fumbled and caught the item and the next instant her eyes widened in shock. "What is this¡­"


    It was a crown and she had seen a few ornamental drops like this before and but she had never seen anything¡­ so beautiful¡­


    The emerald gems sparkled mysteriously and the silver frame of the crown as well had a unique glow to it. From certain angles, it looked even strangely multicolored.


    Everyone who was preparing to leave also saw this and they couldn''t help but stop and stare at the item. It was a remarkable piece of jewelry that shone brilliantly.


    Mei Mei''s eyes were lit up like twinkling stars as she stared at that crown. Shen Yue, and Kang Minah also looked at the crown with yearning.


    On the other side, one other girl also eyed the crown with big wide eyes. Luna licked her lips greedily as she ced one paw after another and stalked towards the crown slowly.


    But before she could go near Mei Mei or the crown, Liam grabbed her in one swift motion and stared at the naughty little fox. "Not for you!"


    As if each of his words fell down like thunderps, Luna''s eyes opened even wider. She couldn''t believe the wordsing out of his mouth!


    First, it was shock and then her expression quickly changed to sadness. The little fox pouted with her tail tucked behind her legs and walked away in depression.


    Liam shook his head and chuckled wryly watching the little beast''s antics. Was he going to pay for thister?


    Anyways¡­ he shifted his gaze from the fox to his sister. "You. Why are you still staring at it? Equip it and tell me what you see."


    "Ah ok, brother." Mei Mei snapped out of her trance and quickly equipped it. She then opened her system interface to take a look, almost instantly bing even more shocked.


    "Brother¡­ this¡­ this¡­ is a legendary item?


    Mei Mei dumbfoundedly stared at the details and then looked up at Liam in shock.


    "Hmm? Do you see something? Share the details quickly."


    Liam could tell that the item was obviously behaving differently in Mei Mei''s hands. Now he was itching to find out the details.


    After all, this was the first legendary item he had everid eyes on both his lifetimesbined.


    Mei Mei nodded and shared with him everything promptly.


    [Ding]


    [Emerald Crown]


    [Rating: Legendary, Level 1]


    Health: +1000


    Mana: +1000


    Vitality: +100


    Defense: +100


    Stamina: +100


    Agility: +100


    Strength: +100


    Intelligence: +100


    Passive Skill: Life Bloom - The spirit of nature courses through you to rejuvenate your soul, mind, and body; All your stats are refreshed every five minutes.


    Active Skill: Spirit Bloom - Call forth the spirits of nature to assist you and your allies. The spirit of wind increases agility by 5%; The spirit of fire increases strength by 5%; The spirit of earth increases defense by 5%; The spirit of water increases vitality by 5%


    [To upgrade absorb the spirit force of one thousand yers]

 Chapter 432 - A bad quest?

    Chapter 432 - A bad quest?


    "Spirit force¡­ what is that?" Even though this was the second time around for Liam ying this game, he was still not familiar with this term.


    However, except for this term, he was familiar with everything else. True to its rating, the Emerald Crown was stupidly over-powered.


    It was no wonder that the group of 4 could hold out against that high-leveled elite for so long.


    They did have the help of the Level 80 death knight as well but someone needed to heal that death knight and a crown like this at the hands of a healer should do the trick!


    Also, these stats were the Level 1 item stats. It was given in the description that the crown could be evolved.


    So if Anya had already managed to evolve the crown at least once that would exin why she was so over-powered.


    More importantly¡­ above all else¡­ Liam knew one other secret.


    He knew that there was a way to bring this Crown to the outside real world. This was the main reason he was excited.


    Looking at it right now, it might seem impossible but Anya had done so in her previous life. So it was definitely possible.


    Did she perhaps put all her efforts into leveling up the Crown and may be at higher levels some clue about it could be obtained?


    "Hmmm¡­ that should be the case." Liam examined the stats carefully and then closed the system interface.


    Mei Mei, on the other hand, still continued to stare at Liam dumbfoundedly. Did her brother just casually toss her a legendary item?


    Everyone else as well had the same expression.


    They didn''t get a chance to look at the stats of the Crown but they heard the word legendary and that was enough to make their scalp numb and scare them senseless.


    A legendary item for god''s sake!


    Things like that werepletely unknown in the game until now!


    And now the little girl possessed such an item?!


    This little girl was going to be OP!


    Suddenly they couldn''t help but wish that they also had siblings like Liam. He took care of everyone to some extent but of course, the little girl got the most attention.


    Seeing Mei Mei standing like a stone, Liam flicked her forehead. "What happened? You don''t like it? Is it too heavy on the head?"


    The heck? Everyone who heard this wanted to bang their heads somewhere. Not liking a legendary item? Too heavy? This brother and sister pair was too much!


    If it''s too heavy, please give it to me, I will wear it!


    Mei Mei was also drowning in embarrassment. This brother of hers!


    She shook her head furiously and looked at Liam with hesitation and clouded eyed. "Brother. This¡­ is it really okay if I have this?"


    "Yes, you have nature affinity. This should suit you. You don''t like it?"


    "Brother!" Mei Mei stomped her feet. This was the second time. "Of course, I like it! That is not the issue here!"


    After ying with the group for so long, she knew that a lot of talented experts were there even in their small group.


    There was one other shaman and three hunters who should all technically be high in nature affinity.


    They were so much more skilled than her and had also been working hard and leveling like maniacs.


    So she couldn''t help but feel ufortable epting this heavy crown in front of everyone when she did not do anything to deserve it. Won''t this cause problems in the team?


    Liam on the other hand did not seem to care about this at all.


    "Well, if you like it, then you should keep it and use it properly! Didn''t you want to be strong?" He simply shrugged.


    Ah¡­ Mei Mei nodded. She saw that her brother was serious and did not argue with him any longer. Yes, this was tant nepotism but she couldn''t care less. It was her brother.


    She let out a sigh and hugged her brother tightly. "I will not let you down, brother."


    "Ha Ha. Ok. Then we are all going to be counting on you. You better pull your weight!" Liam patted her.


    Next to him, Luna looked at the little girl with attitude and bobbed her head up and down smugly as if she was also saying the same thing Liam was telling.


    "Ok, we should keep moving now. To get good drops like this, we need to start hunting a lot more high-leveled elites. You guys are ready, right?"


    Liam''s words were like sparks. They instantly uplifted the mood and everyone was more than ready to start grinding again.


    With a legendary item dangling right in front of their eyes, the whole group was very motivated. Everyone quickly prepared to leave.


    All of them had one mount or the other, but not all had flying mounts. Just as Liam was thinking about how to make arrangements for this, Shin Soo walked over to him scratching his head.


    "Bro, Hi. I don''t know if this is relevant, but I thought I will just let you know¡­ I mean in case¡­"


    "It''s fine. Even if you think that it''s remotely important. You should always tell me." Liam patted him on his back.


    "Ok, boss." Shin Soo nodded and then quickly started filling him in.


    "As I said, I am not sure if this is relevant. In a small city a few miles back, some of the demons were collecting herbs by hawking loudly."


    "They said that their leader''s daughter was very ill so they needed all the herbs they could get their hands on."


    "I covered my head, did some rudimentary disguise, and tried the quest."


    "It was a good repeatable quest. It gave a good amount of experience points in exchange for herbs but it did not give any money in return."


    "So I only submitted it a couple of times with the herbs I had in my hand. That''s about it. Sorry if it is not of much help."


    "Since you asked for anything that was herb rted, I thought that I would just let you know about this. Aha ha ha."


    Though repeatable quests had a lot of value, this one was not as good since herbs were something extremely valuable.


    No one in their right minds would exchange such valuable items for experience points that could simply be earned by grinding for a few more minutes.


    This was why Shin Soo ignored it straight away and walked out of the city after doing a couple of rounds. Now also he only mentioned it on a whim just because.


    However, after hearing his words, Liam became unexpectedly quiet and then grinned, his lips curling upwards.


    Perhaps if one was ying this game for the first time, they would look for quests like this to take the shortcut and level up fast.


    But he was not ying it for the first time¡­ so his eyes were on something else entirely.


    "Heh. Time to make a trip to this city."

 Chapter 433 - Herbs! Herbs! We accept all types of herbs here!

    Chapter 433 - Herbs! Herbs! We ept all types of herbs here!


    After reaching the city outskirts, Liam first asked the group to wait and he entered the ce alone to check things out.


    Unlike the rest of the yers or at least those who did not have high enough demonic orher affinity, he did not have to worry about anything and can pretty much enter any ce freely in theher realm.


    Unless he picked a fight himself or there was some sort of special circumstance, the demons would not bother him too much.


    But the same could not be said for Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and the rest of the group. They would have to disguise themselves and even then they had to be constantly wary of their surroundings.


    At any given time they could be sniffed out and exposed. Then the entire city would burn them and eat them for dinner.


    However, all of that did not apply to Liam. He casually walked on the streets of the city and just like the intel, there were several oddly shaped demons standing and peddling for herbs.


    They did not even take a look at what herbs they were collecting. It seemed like they were simply hoarding whatever they could get their hands on.


    "Oreyyy! What are you looking at? Do you have any herbs to contribute? Either piss or get off the pot. Do not crowd the space. Keep moving. Keep moving."


    The demon in front of Liam shouted at him. From the looks of it, he was too much of a small fry to know Liam''s status so he simply treated him like any other random demon.


    "Ah right, sorry boss." Liam took a step back and smiled.


    After that, he took several steps back and quietly sat down in a rickety looking eatery, all the while not removing his eyes from the group of hawkers.


    The bunch of them continued shouting energetically for a while and several demons as well came by depositing herbs every once in a while.


    As the sun started dipping, one of the demons, coincidentally the one who shouted at Liam moved around and started collecting all the deposits.


    It was quite a big haul and filled two giant sacks, almost the size of the demon himself.


    The demon looked smugly at the harvest, grabbed the two sacks, and then started walking towards one of the bull hound carriages at the entrance of the city, dragging the two sacks with him.


    Satisfied and proud of his day''s work, he jumped onto the carriage along with his haul and sped out of the city.


    And a couple of minutester¡­ the person who had been sitting all this while finally made a move.


    Liam''s expression was as calm as ever as he once again started casually strolling along the streets, towards the city''s main gates.


    But just as he reached the gate and stepped out¡­ his speed suddenly increased several folds. He activated [Stealth] and sprinted in the direction where the carriage had disappeared.


    The tracks were very obvious and not too difficult to spot and the carriage itself came into view within moments.


    "So there you are¡­" Liam hung back and watched the demon calmly from a distance.


    There was no security whatsoever surrounding this carriage. There were not even additional carriages forpany guarding this main carriage.


    It was almost like the person was taking along something that was utterly useless.


    "Hmmm? Did the demons not value herbs?" Liam was puzzled.


    If he wanted, he could take all the herbs from this guy right here and right now and there would be nothing anyone could do about it.


    He watched the carriage for a while, stalking it carefully, all the while not showing any intention of making a move.


    He waited and watched it all the way until it reached another city, several miles over. The carriage then casually entered the city gates without any pomp and show.


    The demon even paid the guards at the gate the entrance fees.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam stopped in his tracks.


    He undid his [Stealth] and then once again started following the city by heading in through the same gates, but this time he did it more inconspicuously.


    He followed the carriage all the way until it stopped near one of the tall brick buildings.


    This seemed to be the destination as after arriving here, the demon stopped the carriage, jumped out, and dragged the two sacks along with him.


    Liam stopped there and did not follow him anymore. He did not even linger in the city and started walking back out of the gates.


    "That was interesting." He muttered to himself, a subtle smile dancing on his lips.


    Although this was a time consuming process, it was definitely a necessity because he now knew something very crucial. From the beginning to the end, the carriage waspletely unguarded!


    Slowly, a n started forming in his head.


    "Luna,e out." The small white fox popped out of his hoodie and after walking for a good distance, the duo lifted off into the sky, flying back to their group at top speed.


    The rest of the group was currently busy grinding three-tailed dome scorpions. They did not wait idly while Liam was away and everyone was busy honing theirbat skills.


    They split into groups of two and were clearing the hordes, but not all of them did this.


    Derek always hunted alone because he was simply too efficient at killing. If someone partnered with him, he would only be effectively carrying them.


    Except for him, the others typically teamed up but this time, there was another surprise.


    Shen Yue and Mei Mei, the usual duo team had split apart this time. Equipped with the legendary item, Mei Mei''s damage was simply too much.


    She was massacring the scorpions left and right and this did not leave much space for Shen Yue to contribute anything.


    Before she could strike with her twin daggers, all the little girl needed to do was cast a single earth spike.


    The dome of the scorpion was split in half and the beast screamed in pain before copsing on the side lifelessly.


    "Mu ha ha ha!" The little girl grinned ear to ear and simply ran around picking up drops. On top of her head, the emerald crown was dazzling brilliantly.


    "This is too good!" Mei Mei tried to be very serious as she now knew the truth but it was hard to not get excited with so much power in her hands.


    "Come at me you bunch of weaklings! Mu ha ha ha!"


    If this world was a game, then she was currently on cheat mode!

 Chapter 434 - lts all about that Give and Take

    <h4>Chapter 434 - lt''s all about that Give and Take</h4>


    "Boss, what happened? Did you check out the quest? Was it of any help?" Shin Soo ran over to Liam as soon as he and Lunanded.


    Everyone else as well finished off their current target quickly and regrouped around Liam.


    "Brother, guess what level I am right now? He He He." Mei Mei arrived first as right now her speed was faster than everyone except for Liam and that was because of the level difference.


    "36?" Liam smirked.


    "Nope! He He. Wait, yes 36." Mei Mei pouted realizing that her brother did not let her show off.


    Liam chuckled, "Anyways¡­" He then looked at the other party members, "How would you guys like to level up just as fast as her?"


    "Huh? Boss, are we really going to do that herb quest?" Shin Soo was the first to put two and two together.


    "Yup." Liam then started taking out all the herbs that he had collected or rather stolen from the earth golems while the famous four were busily fighting with the boss.


    He also took out some of the reserve herbs he had in his inventory emptying out all of his stock supplies.


    Soon, there was a huge pile of all sorts of valuable herbs on the ground. Everyone looked at Liam dazedly. Just how on the earth did he manage to collect so much?


    His personal collection of herbs was probably bigger than an entire guild''s collection.


    Where did he even find time to collect these many herbs and also level up and hone his fighting skills at the same time?


    "If anyone else has other herbs feel free to throw it all onto the pile." Liam stepped back and the others as well took turns emptying all of their stocks.


    With everybody''s herbs in the mix, there was now a giant pile. Shin Shoo couldn''t help but gulp in anticipation.


    If they actually turned in all of these herbs¡­ just how many experience points they would get¡­ but was it really wise to do something like that? It would be such a waste.


    But then again, it would be good to level up fast so that their guild could be a step ahead of the other guilds.


    Once they were ahead they would be able to go to the higher leveled zones and using that advantage, they could always be ahead of the other guilds.


    After all, everything was a chain reaction in ''Evolution Online''.


    A few minutester¡­ Seeing that all the herbs were collected, Liam pped his hands loudly, "ok, now everyone should equally split up everything."


    He did not take any himself and stepped back.


    "Oh, and after splitting up, everyone should follow Shin Soo''s lead and do the quest. Don''t worry about the herbs. Exchange everything you have and enjoy the break."


    His words shocked everyone because it was extremely foolish to exchange all of these precious herbs for experience points, but Liam calmly smiled and reassured them.


    "I have a n. Alright. Let''s go. Chop. Chop."


    With this, no one hesitated any longer. The group quickly moved and everyone started hurriedly putting away their portion of the herbs.


    Since they were short on time, they did not bother going about this in an organized way and it soon became a firste first serve basis instead of even splitting.


    Whoever got to the herb first, it was theirs.


    Especially, with the legendary item constantly dangling in front of their eyes, everyone was over-enthusiastic.


    Liam also did not say anything because some amount ofpetition within the group was healthy. Otherwise, everyone''s growth will stagnate.


    So just like that, the pile of herbs ended up getting cleaned out within minutes.


    The party then walked over to the city together, all disguised in various shapes and in various colors and their inventory slots full of herbs.


    They were not going to enter too deep into the city and considering the poption of a typical demon city, they were able to walk in and mingle alongside the demons unnoticed.


    The group then gathered around the hawkers on the street, directly jumping into the business without wasting any time.


    "Hello, demon sir. I have some herbs with me here." Shin Soo waved his hand clutching a bunch of nts.


    "Give me. You did well." The demon grunted and quickly grabbed the bundle from Shin Soo''s hands.


    Almost instantly, the notification sounded as well.


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 10000 experience points] <del></del>


    "Hell yes! This is what I am talking about!" Shin Soo grinned and started quickly emptying out all of his inventory slots.


    Following his lead, Derek, Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and everyone else as well did the same.


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 10000 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The group started handing out all the herbs with them and their experience bars as well began filling up quickly.


    Especially, Shen Yue because of her charm seemed to be receiving more rewards for the same amount of herbs so she was the first one to level up in the group.


    Quickly, everyone else also started leveling up one after the other.


    Before this, they had only heard about games having loopholes and such, but this was the first time for most of the group to experience one such loophole, and¡­ it was glorious!


    "Here, take some more."


    "I got some more."


    "Herbs for you, demon sir."


    Grinning ear to ear everyone emptied out their wares.


    In all honesty, the group expected the quest to get saturated after a while but to their surprise, the demons continued shouting without showing any intention of stopping.


    In fact, the group of peddlers looked more energetic because they had managed to collect an unusuallyrge quantity of herbs today.


    So they kept on hawking for more even when the entire party ran out of their herb stockpile.


    "This is¡­" Shin Soo and everybody else were speechless, but their job got done so they quickly got the hell out of the demon settlement before their jig was up.


    Everyone almost leveled up twice just from this single trip so their faces were full of smiles.


    Although this smile faded a little when they turned around and saw that all of their group''s herbs were now gone, neatly bundled up into 20 huge sacks by the demons.


    But there was nothing they could do about it now.


    They could only silently walk out and distance themselves from the city as per their leader''s instructions. Almost all of them had long faces. They had leveled up but at what cost?


    And just as this group was departing from the city, suddenly a familiar figure walked past them.


    "Huh?" Mei Mei was the first one to respond as she swung her body around to see a cloaked figure entering the city. "Brother?"


    Though he waspletely covered in a ck robe with a hoodie, being in the same group, they were all able to see his yer name tag clearly. So they had no doubts about who he was.


    "Ha Ha Ha! Boss already told us he had a n! Of course, he is not going to let go of all those herbs that easily!" Shin Soo fisted his palm in excitement. Only now everyone felt relieved.


    They did not dare linger around in case they spoil his n and quickly evacuated the ce, heading back to their meet up point.


    And once they were there, the group again started grinding the mobs on the spot.


    Now that they had tasted the sweet joy of leveling up casually, they were fueled to the brim and hunted with vigor.


    Soon a couple of hours passed by when suddenly the familiar white fox descended from the sky.


    And sitting atop the fox was Liam giving everyone a thumbs up!


    "All done."

 Chapter 435 - Fool me once...

    <h4>Chapter 435 - Fool me once...</h4>


    When Lunanded on the ground, still sitting on top of her, Liam started tossing the huge sacks, one after another forming a pile on the ground.


    He did not have to exin to anyone what these sacks contained. They already knew the answer!


    And more importantly, the number of sacks did not add up. If their calction was correct, then their leader had somehow obtained more herbs than what they originally had.


    "Brother! How did you get everything back?"


    "Oh. That was easy. A simple smash and grab." Liam smiled, jumping from Luna''s back.


    "There is no one guarding the transport carriage carrying these sacks. So all I had to do was deal with the single guy. Very straightforward daylight robbery."


    Ah¡­ everyone was dumbfounded.


    So this was what Liam was doing while they were busy grinding. He followed the demon and tracked the whole process thereby easily finding the loophole.


    He then not only retrieved what was theirs but went above and beyond to steal extra as well. How could it be any more perfect?


    They still had their herbs and had also leveled up twice!


    Shin Soo particrly was very happy as he felt that this was the first time he had contributed something to the group.


    "Boss! Can we do this again?" He asked, a big greedy smile stered on his face. If they could just milk this a bit¡­


    However, he did not get the response that he wanted. Like pouring cold water on his dreams, Liam broke his bubble.


    "We can only probably do it one more time. There should be another shipment of herbs heading out in a few hours just before the night falls. We can try at that time."


    "But this won''t be as easy. Things might get a bit tricky. So we need to be more prepared this time."


    "Ah. That is so unfair!" Mei Mei had also wanted some more free fast exp and so did the rest of the group so they couldn''t help but feel a bit disappointed.


    Liam looked at the bunch and shook his head helplessly. These guys were too spoilt!


    "Listen up. You guys should not underestimate these demon cities. Each city has a garrison. They had an army of demons ready to set off on theirmand."


    "This army is many times more powerful than the NPC armies of the Gresh Kingdom. They will wreck us and ughter us all with their sheer numbers. Do you understand?"


    "Have you guys forgotten the rift battle? We only got this precious chance because we caught them off guard."


    "They don''t seem to value their herbs too much. So let''s use this chance well and not get greedy." Liam flicked his sister''s forehead.


    Hearing his words, everyone else sobered up as well. At least they can repeat this one more time, right? That part was a littleforting.


    Liam did not have to remind them again as everyone quickly divided all the herbs among themselves.


    After that, the group redid their disguises slightly different from the previous disguise and once again set out to the small demon city.


    This time around, the city was a lot more chaotic. The demons were bustling about here and there busily. There was palpable tension in the air, probably because they were robbed. <del></del>??? ????? fu?? . c?m


    Also, there were now a lot more demons standing around the herb hawkers.


    The big guys were still exchanging copper coins and experience points for herbs but the security had definitely doubled and all the demons looked extremely pissed.


    They were no longer simply hawking but bullying and manhandling the passersby to ''donate'' herbs for their cause.


    "They must have a daily quota to meet." Observing the behavior of the demons, Liam was sure about this.


    "They must have been happy that they managed to meet their quota earlier but since everything was stolen, they are angry."


    "Ok this time, let''s not go all at once. Don''t even go near them. Just cross them and they should take care of the rest. Give it like 10 mins break and the next person can go."


    Everyone nodded in understanding. Shen Yue decided to go first and try her luck since she had her charm working for her.


    Of course, unlike the other demons who were pulled over and almost frisked, she received an entirely different treatment.


    She elegantly took out one herb after the other, handing over everything to the demons who were thanking her by kneeling on their hands and feet.


    A couple of minutester, she was done and she managed to level up one more time. She then returned back to the group like a champ with a sweet smile on her lips.


    "Ok. Me next! Me next!" Mei Mei licked her lips and ran over excitedly, only to be stared down by the demons. She sighed helplessly and then gave them all her herbs.


    How could she possibly get the same treatment as Shen Yue? She did receive experience points in return but she walked back to the group with an unsettling feeling. Life was not fair.


    Liam smiled and patted her. "Don''t worry. We will teach them a lessonter."


    Mei Mei perked up after hearing that and stared at the bunch of demons with hatred as if she was mentally already skewering them.


    She might not be as enchanting as sis Yue, but she was also good-looking, damn it! She onlycked in one department! Was that such a crime?!


    And just like Mei Mei, the others were also ''bullied'' into exchanging their herbs. This made their life easy and experience points rained down non-stop.


    In a good mood, everyone joked around as the group headed out one after the other and collected all the experience points for a second time by exchanging the same batch of herbs.


    Sweet free exp! This was life!


    However, after this part got over, then came the second half, the more difficult half of their mission. They now needed to get all the herbs back.


    The group walked out well before thest person submitted so as to not arouse any suspicion but unlikest time they stayed close by, lingering around the city outskirts.


    Not long after, a carriage headed out. This carriage carried all the sacks filled with herbs. There were about 25 sacks loaded in the carriage, a haul even bigger than the previous time.


    However, before the group of yers eyeing this single carriage like hawks could feel relief, five other carriages headed out right behind the first one.


    And each of these five carriages was jam-packed with tall and sturdy demons, all sitting next to each other, carrying several weapons.


    Liam was right. The demons had amped up the security this time around!

 Chapter 436 - Bandits

    <h4>Chapter 436 - Bandits</h4>


    "Not yet." Liam got out of the [Stealth] mode and joined the party. "If we attack now, the entire city will ughter us. So not yet."


    The group of demons in the few carriages was something they could still handle but not the whole garrison.


    Everyoneid low and finally, about an hourter, their chance arrived.


    "Now!" Liam shouted. This was the best location to stop the carriages and attack the demons. They were in the middle of nowhere, and the closest city was still quite far away.


    There was no way for the demons to call for reinforcements.


    Liam, Derek, and Shin Soo made the first move as the trio jumped in front of the carriage and shed down at the bull hounds.


    They aimed for the legs which instantly made the carts wobble and crash against each other.


    "Who is there?!"


    "Bandits!"


    "Beastmen?"


    "ORAAA! These must be the same thugs who robbed you before! Kill those bastards!"


    The demons started shouting and pouring out of the carriages one after the other.


    A few of them were even high-leveled but thankfully most of them were around levels 40 to 50 so they were not too out of the league.


    Otherwise, handling this group would have also been out of their hands.


    Liam dashed forward and blocked the two demons as they charged at him with their hammers.


    "This reinforcement is stronger than I expected. Mei Mei, take out the golems. Also, start casting. Time to show off your crown."


    "Yes, brother." The little girl stood next to Luna as she started chanting one spell after another.


    She started with the enemy debuff spell and then threw in the ally buffing spell and by the time, she was done, the strength of the bunch of demons was reduced by a whole ten levels.


    The power of the legendary item clearly stood out!


    "This is awesome!" Mei Mei tilted her head, wearing her crown proudly, and then took out the two golem balls and tossed them on the ground.


    The next instant the two giant metal golems appeared.


    The defense golem stood next to the casters while the attack golem started walking around and pummeling demons into thin crust pizza.


    The other yers in the party as well attacked the demons rapidly without giving them an inch to fight back.


    With the buffs from Mei Mei''s casting, they felt invigorated and each of their attacks struck heavy damage.


    The demon that was under Shen Yue''s charm was also doing significant damage.


    The other demons did not understand why their ally had switched sides and were caught off guard. Shen Yue used this opportunity to quickly finish off the guys.


    "As good as always I see." Liam chuckled. The others did not know, but while fighting Liam also silently observed everybody else''sbat abilities and skills.


    He wanted to see how they had all improved in the short time they were out grinding on their own.


    Would there be some surprises? Maybe some yers who showed talent beyond their potential? <del></del>??? ????? fu?? . c?m


    Unfortunately, there weren''t any. How could something like that be so easy?


    Only Derek was shining as always. Shen Yue was now more fluent in using her daggers and she also shone but it was mostly due to her special ss.


    And of course, Mei Mei had the legendary item and she was going all out as well, but other than that, the rest of the yers were above average at best.


    Liam was not someone who believed that genius and talent was something people were born with. He believed in working hard for it.


    He used the second chance he got and worked hard toe to where he was today. And for these people, he would have to be their second chance.


    Perhaps if they faced some life and death situations, they could also bring out the hidden talent and potential within themselves, but was there any ce like that?


    The only ce he could think of was the old ruins where he had obtained the ck dragon sword. Maybe it was time to pay a visit to that old man again.


    If he could somehow scam the guy into training some of his teammates, then their group would perform a lot better.


    Liam put a pin on this thought and then he continued wrecking the demons in front of him.


    With the whole group fighting together, the fight did notst long and the demons were quickly taken care of.


    Luna only popped up now and she started running around and collecting the drops. Everyone grabbed a couple of sacks each and the group was out of there within minutes.


    "Pfft. Brother, we again managed to get more herbs than we already had." Mei Mei giggled, but then she remembered something and her excitement died down a little.


    "No more free exp¡­"


    "What is the n now, brother? Are we going to one of the dungeons I and sis found? I want to test out my spells in the dungeon."


    Mei Mei adjusted her crown and opened the system interface to take a look at the map. "There is one near this ce."


    She looked up to Liam to see his expression when she got rewarded with another forehead flick. "BROTHER!" The little girl pouted rubbing her forehead.


    Liam chuckled and shook his head. "Don''t be in such a hurry. I am not done with this herb collection quest just yet."


    "Huh? Are we going to do this again, boss?" Shin Soo scratched his head. Even he knew that it was a bad idea to do so.


    "No, not that." Liam pointed his finger in the direction where the carriage was headed to. "You guys keep grinding. I think I need to check out that city more."


    "I want to find out just where all these demons were transporting the herbs to."


    "Boss, you can''t be thinking about¡­" Shin Soo looked petrified and so was the rest of the group members.


    Knowing Liam so far, they all understood him pretty well. So they understood what he meant as well.


    While they were all happy, content, and overjoyed with just exploiting this small loophole and getting some free experience points, Liam was on an entirely different level.


    He already had his eye on the motherlode.


    "Heh. You guys. We need this. I am not doing this out of boredom." Liam chuckled faintly.


    It was not that he was fond of looting other people''s stock supplies, it was just that it was the fastest way to get his hands on a diverse supply of herbs.


    So when the shortcut was right in front of his eyes, how could he let it go?

 Chapter 437 - Wanted

    <h4>Chapter 437 - Wanted</h4>


    Once the group was in the clear, Liam first sorted out all the herbs from the giant sacks. He wanted to see if he got any new varieties of herbs from their little excursion.


    But unfortunately, even though there were a few new herbs, they were still not the ones he needed for the elixir recipe. He also did not know what they could be used for or their names.


    Nevertheless, he organized all the herbs that he knew and as well as those he did not know and ced everything in his inventory slots.


    "Tsk. Tsk. I am already full." Liam clicked his tongue. He then hopped onto Luna''s back and the duo lifted up heading straight to the city ahead of them.


    "Here we are." The two of them reached the ce in a few minutes and once again, Liam changed into the ck robe that covered his body and his face.


    Normally, a hooded figure like this would stand out but in the busy city, he was just one among the many.


    Just like Itaka city this Karakus city was also a considerably big city.


    Liam easily blended into the crowd of demons and walked over to the big brick building where the carriage had stopped the previous day.


    "What is this ce? Some sort of a storage bank?"


    He walked closer but before he could enter the ce, he was abruptly stopped at the gate. "Halt, do you have an appointment to meet with the Lord?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam was confused. The demons only addressed their garrison leader as Lord within the city so this was the garrison building of the city?


    "No, I don''t have an appointment. I wille backter." Liam smiled and silently withdrew.


    It seems this ce wasn''t an ordinary one. He had to first gather some information about the city ande back to pay a visit again.


    Liam took a walk and settled in one of the eateries. He paid the guy a few copper coins and ordered a lot of food items.


    And a couple of minutester, he slowly started.


    "So many carriagesing into the citytely, I wonder what is happening?" Liam casually stretched his hands with a yawn as if he was merely thinking out aloud.


    "Ha? What are you talking about? Don''t we always have a lot of carriages bringing us herbs?" The demon who was frying the meatughed loudly.


    "What are they doing with all the herbs?" Another demon asked.


    Liam did not have to make the conversation anymore as the bunch of demons sitting in the small eatery started chatting amongst themselves.


    "Ya,tely there have been a lot more carriages? Is our Lord trying something new?"


    "No, it''s because some other city Lord''s daughter is sick. Our Lord is the only alchemist in the vicinity. Of course, everyone woulde to our Lord for help. Ha Ha Ha."


    "Yes, Yes, our Lord''s talent in alchemy is the best." Liam added to their gossip, thinking he was mingling in with them.


    However, unexpectedly, his words elicited a bout of loudughter from the other demons.


    "Who is this greenhorn trying to brown nose? The Lord is not here to reward you, chap. Ba ha ha ha ha! Save all the flowery words forter."


    "Our Lord is the worst at alchemy. Why do you think we get so many carriages and we are always procuring herbs? Ha Ha Ha"


    "No demon is good at alchemy. Ha Ha Ha." A L L N O VEL F U L L . C0M


    "Why are you idiotsughing? It''s our tax money that is being burned as herbs." Another burly demon sighed. The mood immediately turned sour and the demons changed the subject.


    Liam as well paid up and left the eatery. He now had a good idea about what was going on here.


    The Karakus city Lord was an alchemy enthusiast though not a very sessful one. What was it about demons that made them bad at this? Liam pondered.


    This was also probably why the herbs were never guarded. All the pieces of the puzzles wereing together.


    The only negative point was that Liam had hoped to loot a bunch of herbs from this ce. However, after hearing about everything he doubted if any of them remained.


    The demon probably already went through them by practicing with them? Or maybe not. Either ways, he needed to do a bit more investigation.


    And he couldn''t do it by keeping a low profile like this.


    Liam once again walked over to the same big building. "Is this maybe the guy''s training spot?"


    "Halt." The demon guarding the ce once again blocked him. However, this time Liam did not simply leave.


    He removed the ck hoodie from his head. "I am the garrison leader of Thol city and I want to meet with your Lord to discuss an important matter."


    "Ahh! Please forgive me, my Lord. I did not recognize you." The demon standing guard immediately became nervous and quickly ran over inside to convey the information.


    Meanwhile, Liam casually waltzed in and the other demon standing guard did not dare to stop him.


    "Not bad." Liam looked around. The building itself was very simple and spacious. There were a lot of demons rushing here and there, looking very busy.


    "The guy must be training hard."


    BOOM! Before he could even finish his thoughts, a loud explosion resounded. After that, Liam heard a loud disgruntled noise and followed by heavy thudding footsteps.


    Jumping down the winding staircase at the corner of the hall, a huge ogre appeared in front of Liam.


    "Hello there, famous garrison leader of the Thol city." The ogre snorted in disdain.


    Liam''s brain instantly spun as this wasn''t a situation that he had foreseen. This demon already knew about him? That changed everything.


    He looked at the big ogre who was probably a hybrid of something species as he had some uncharacteristic leaves growing out of his horns.


    This demon was definitely not nning on making friends with him. Did he just get himself caught in an enemy''s territory?


    He did not expect the news to be spread this far.


    Did every single city in the Kingdom or perhaps the Empire already know about him? Was he a wanted person?


    Sighing softly, Liam lifted his hand. "Ie in peace." He already had a n.


    He did not even have to think so much about it. The way the ogre looked at him, it was in obvious and a n automatically took shape.


    "Karakus city garrison leader, please hear me out. I need your help." Liam smiled politely as if he was in desperate need of the demon''s help.

 Chapter 438 - The genius alchemist

    <h4>Chapter 438 - The genius alchemist</h4>


    "Let me guess. You heard that I am the King''s favored Lord and you want me to put in a good word with his highness?" The ogre stared down at Liam and spoke in a mocking him.


    Hmmm? There was something like this? Liam chuckled inwardly and nodded with a grave expression. "Please, you know I did not do anything to deserve this. I am innocent."


    "Thol city leader, you should have really thought about this before making an enemy out of my good friend." The ogreughed.


    I knew it. His beingbeled as a traitor, summoned by the King, all the trouble he was in, everything was because of the damned mother and daughter pair.


    I need to work those two harder. A lot harder and make them payback for all of this trouble. Liam shook his head helplessly.


    "Lord, there is an exnation for everything that happened. However, I am not here to justify myself. I came here to make a deal with you." Liam said.


    "I am listening?"


    "I came across a mysterious scroll in a ruin not that far from here and I obtained some insight into alchemy from that discovery."


    "The scroll was destroyed as soon as I touched it but I think I can help you make progress in your alchemy from the knowledge I obtained."


    "Eh? You think that YOU can help me? HA HA HA HA!"


    The ogre started clutching his stomach andughing. He was now more than sure that this demon hade here just to try and trick him.


    "Don''t mistake me, my Lord. I don''t think I will be of much help. After all, you are the alchemy genius in this area. I think maybe I can help you a little with the easiest recipe."


    "That too there is just a possibility. But in the off chance that I am really able to help you, could I request my Lord to put in a good word for me?" Liam kept calm.


    He was already here so he decided to just try and take a better look at things before leaving. And for that, this seemed to be a good enough reason.


    "Just give me a chance, Lord." Liam tried to sound convincing. Maybe if he helped this ogre without bruising his ego, he could really put in a good word?


    And as for the herbs, he did not have much hope now. Since the garrison leader himself was involved in this, there was no way he would be able to steal herbs from the main storehouse.


    At most, they could camp in this ce and rob the carriagesing to and fro from this ce, but for that, they would be better off searching for herbs in other spots.


    Either way, this trip wasn''t too fruitful and Liam was almost ready to leave but surprisingly the ogre suddenly stoppedughing.


    "Alright, let''s see just much you can help me. Follow me, Thol city garrison leader."


    Liam sighed and followed the ogre. Though he already knew this wasn''t going to amount to anything, he was still curious to see just what equipment this ogre was using.


    For not even being able to make the basic potions¡­ that required a special type of talent.


    Or maybe his items were bad? Was this guy using a cracked cauldron or something? He needed to give the ogre some credit. Maybe he was really not stupid?


    Just as Liam was mulling over these possibilities, suddenly the ogre arrived at a room and opened the door. a???0?e? F u?? . c 0 m


    Almost instantly, Liam stopped in his tracks and swallowed all of his previous thoughts. What the hell?


    "What? Thol city leader, you look a bit shocked? Come in. Come in. You have some incredible luck to enter my alchemy chambers. KE KE."


    The ogre looked quite pleased as he lead Liam inside the gigantic room if it could even be called a room.


    The brick building was no longer to be seen. Instead, the inside of the room was like a giant garden. There were trees, nts, small birds chirping, and there was even ake.


    The entire ce looked like a utopia. It was serene, calm, peaceful and from the looks of it, the best ce for an alchemist to be attuned with the world and do his best work.


    The moment Liam stepped in, he could feel the familiar presence of mana. There was alsoher. The entire air was filled to the brim with energy.


    It was an environment that stimted one from top to bottom. How could such a ce exist in theher realm? Even in the Xion realm, something like this¡­


    Liam did not know what to think. He had not remotely heard of or seen anything like this in his two livesbined. Just what the hell was this ce? Some sort of inscription or illusion?


    He silently took in everything around him as he followed the ogre into the huge garden.


    The ogre hummed and walked a few milesing to stop in front of a huge tree. It was a banyan tree, that had several branches, spread far and wide.


    But the tree was not the most impressive thing about the garden. Under the huge tree, there was a small rectangr tablet.


    It was a stone tablet with some archaic symbols etched on it and there was a faint glow surrounding it.


    The moment Liamid his eyes on it, he felt a mysterious aura seeping from the tablet. He could feel that the tablet was not something ordinary.


    He also could not inspect it or see any details. There were only question marks on the thing.


    "Ke Ke. Now, do you see my awesomeness Thol city garrison leader? How are you going to teach me anything about alchemy? Ba Ha Ha Ha!"


    The ogre demon''s words snapped Liam out of his trance.


    "I don''t know my Lord. I will just try." He replied absentmindedly. His gaze was still fixated on the stone tablet. He couldn''t make out the words written on it.


    However, the glow surrounding the tablet was definitely unmistakable. That thing was definitely a treasure.


    Just how did it fall into the hands of this ogre guy? Was it because of this that he was not willing to give up on alchemy? No, that was not important. The more pressing issue was¡­


    How was he going to take it out of the ogre''s hands?


    Liam did not want to risk anything for a few herbs but this tablet was definitely worth taking a risk. He had already pissed off one city''s garrison leader, what was one more?

 Chapter 439 - Watch the fools running away

    <h4>Chapter 439 - Watch the fools running away</h4>


    "Lord Ghet, could you tell me which alchemy recipe you are mostfortable with? We can start from that one." Liam suggested, while he simultaneously cased the joint.


    This ce was not going to be that easy to steal from.


    First and foremost, the garrison leader''s level was far too high. Liam could not even see his level. All he could see were the question marks.


    Secondly, the ce was also located smack dab in the middle of the city. So it was heavily guarded and not to mention, this room, in particr, was very tightly monitored.


    This was definitely going to be a headache. Liam sighed and continued paying attention to the ogre who was still exining to him the basic health potion recipe.


    Someone who cannot even manage to make the basic health potion recipe? Why even bother breaking your head over this?


    But Liam also appreciated the demon''s stubbornness, determination, and his refusal to give up. The thing was¡­ these qualities were not always rewarded.


    Sometimes it is just better to give up and move on!


    Because he was refusing to let go, the poor demon was suffering so much. "Alright, I will definitely try to help you, Lord Ghet." Liam nodded and he meant every word.


    The poor demon was working so hard only because he had the invaluable treasure in his hands. If he no longer had that treasure, wouldn''t that make him give up and attain some peace?


    Liam smiled warmly as a n started forming in his mind. "Lord Ghet, I am currently a little tired from the travel. Can we meet here in a couple of hours?"


    Grunt. The ogre snorted and pped his hands. "You two, take the Thol city garrison leader with you and attend to him."


    He then silently went back to practicing something in a shy cauldron that looked very exquisite.


    Though his words indicated that he was showing respect to another garrison leader, his actions were very clearly rude.


    However, Liam couldn''t care less. He hurried along with the two demons who led him to one of the chambers in the same building.


    He was not even taken to the main garrison tower, another sign of disrespect. But Liam, still smiling, entered the room and asked the others to leave.


    He then locked the door and started his work immediately. Ransacking his inventory slots, he fished out a big ck stone simr in color and texture to the tablet he had just seen.


    "Yup. This should do it." He grinned.


    A few minutester¡­


    Resting on the ground in front of Liam was Luna and near her, there was a stone tablet almost identical to the one that was in the garden above.


    "What do you think, Luna? Does it look the same?"


    Kyuuu


    The fox bobbed her head in agreement.


    "Well, it doesn''t matter. To that guy, it probably looks the same." Liam carefully ced the stone tablet back into his inventory and then stood up from the ground.


    It was time for the show!


    He walked out of the room and first went to another eatery to eat his fill. Only then did he return back to the special alchemy room where the Karakus city Lord was already busily working hard.


    "Oh, there you are!" The ogre snorted seeing Liam at the entrance. "Come. I have waited long enough. Let me see what pointers YOU can give me."


    "Ok, Lord Ghet. As you wish." Liam cleared his throat and continued, as he circled the ogre.


    "Lord, if I may point it out, it is best to close your eyes and meditate for a while before starting alchemy practice."


    "And also¡­ it is best to keep the surroundings free of disturbance."


    The ogre demon rolled his eyes at Liam as he was pretty sure that the guy was simply showing off. Nevertheless, he waved his hands and sent the few guards out of the room.


    Liam''s strength was too low to consider him a threat so the ogre did not think much. He closed his eyes and mockingly added, "Should I start throwing in the herbs also with my eyes closed?"


    "No, my Lord. You can open your eyes now." Liam smiled.


    "Now what?"


    "Add some water and then add the herbs."


    The ogre rolled his eyes again and then gave Liam a death stare before doing all the steps.


    But just as he ced his hands on the cauldron and usedher to fire up the cauldron, the next instant, everything blew up! BOOM! a???0?e? F u?? . c 0 m


    The ogre looked aggrieved seeing that once again his efforts had been in vain. Coincidentally, Liam also looked very shocked.


    He had not expected this. The ogre had done everything perfectly and yet failed to make something as simple as the basic potion?


    How could this even be possible?


    The only thing that Liam could think of was theher. Washer really this turbulent?


    He himself had never tried using to date to create potions or pills. Maybe he would also have the same problem?


    Liam snapped out of his thoughts and quickly dodged as something came flying at him. The big ogre had actually picked up one of the debris and tossed it at him in anger!


    "Why are you still standing here? You told me that you will help me achieve sess! Where is it?! Thol city garrison leader, is this enough, or are you going to continue this charade?"


    "Do you take me for a fool? I have been practicing for so long and a greenhorn like you wants to give me pointers? HMPH!"


    "Did you think that you cheat me? Did you think I am so easy to fool? You want me to put in a good word with his highness? DREAM ON!"


    The ogre grunted furiously. Perhaps the demon was so embarrassed to fail in front of somebody else and became really agitated.


    He grabbed whatever he could get his hands on and started throwing things at Liam.


    On the other side, Liam was absolutely stunned. He had never expected the ogre to behave like this. However, this was also a chance for him.


    His job here waspleted a while ago when the ogre had closed his eyes for a couple of minutes. So this was as good a chance as any to make his exit.


    In fact, the sooner he left the better because he did not know how long his creation would hold up. Perhaps after the ogre calmed down a bit, his work would be exposed.


    He needed to leave before that.


    And since the demon was personally chasing him out, a better oue couldn''t have happened.


    "Sorry, Lord Ghet. I will take my leave now." Without turning back, Liam hurriedly dashed out. The moment he was out of the building, he already summoned Luna and jumped on her back.


    He did not even bother running all the way until the city gates and the duo instantly lifted up in the air to fly away right in the middle of the city.


    All the demons standing were extremely shocked. Was something huge going down in their city?


    By now news had spread that the Thol city garrison leader was visiting, so everyone looked towards their own leader for some exnation?


    The huge ogre had by now walked out of the building as well. He stood calmly and leisurely, not bothering to chase after Liam or anything.


    He simply looked up at the fleeing person and sneered in contempt. "KE KE KE! Look at how he is running with his tail in between his leg!"


    "KE KE KE! Trying to swindle me? You are 10 years too early!"


    The other demons standing around also joined in and everyone startedughing at the figures in the sky who had be small dots by now.


    "The Thol city garrison is a joke!"


    "Trash city! Trash leader! Our city is the best!"


    "The demons there are also stupid! And the city is the absolute worst! I heard everyone is extremely poor there!"


    The horde of demons gathered in the square, crowding around their leader to boisterously chat andugh about the Thol city and the cowardly garrison leader who was running away from them.


    The ogre as well was haughtily enjoying the show whileughing alongside everyone else.


    After all, it was not an everyday urrence to see another garrison leader run away like this! So pathetic and shameful!


    This further fueled the crowd and to earn more brownie points, the demons started cursing the weak Thol city garrison leader furthermore.


    The crowd becamepletely rowdy and theirughter rang out for several miles.


    And in the midst of thismotion and hubbub, suddenly a thin and short demon hastily ran over.


    He squeezed into the crowd and desperately tried to reach the ogre who was standing at the center of all of this ruckus.


    His eyes were bloodshot, and his body was trembling but he was determined to make his way through as if his life depended on it.


    "LEADER! LEADER!" The demon shouted at the top of his lungs, finally reaching near the ogre. "Leader! Something terrible has happened! The alchemy garden disappeared!"

 Chapter 440 - Who is the real fool?

    <h4>Chapter 440 - Who is the real fool?</h4>


    "WHAT? WHAT are you telling me?" The ogre demon instantly turned several shades red. He grunted in anger and took one big leap tond directly in front of the building.


    He then rushed towards the special room as fast as he could, almost blindly. Hearing that something had happened to the special room, his heart almost stopped.


    This was the single most important thing he had in his possession. Even the King had agreed with him that the stone tablet was a priceless treasure.


    Because of this one treasure, he had be famous and his rank had risen from a mere toon leader to a garrison leader and a city Lord in lightning speed!


    This was even when he had not yet managed to understand the inscription on the stone tablet.


    If could somehow manage to gain something and somehow understand the words on the tablet, then his future would truly be limitless.


    He might even get a ticket to the abyss and be a member of the elites.


    This stone tablet was simply far too precious. If he lost this¡­ then everything he had nned would crumble.


    The ogre sweated profusely and shook his head. He did not want to think about such a frightening circumstance!


    However¡­ when he stopped in front of the room and saw the previously lush magical ce turn into something dull and empty, he knew that something was definitely wrong.


    His heart dropped. He gulped, opening and closing his dry mouth, and walked over to the stone tablet that was now t on the ground in the big empty room.


    The ogre couldn''t help but sigh a little in relief. Whatever may be wrong, at least the stone tablet was still here.


    So maybe not all hope was lost. He let out a deep breath and very carefully picked up the stone tablet, holding it gently with both his hands.


    "Why? Why does it feel different?" The weight was a bit off.


    Or maybe because he hadn''t lifted the tablet up in so long, he had forgotten it. He scratched his head.


    The ogre then very cautiously turned the stone tablet, front, and back and took a look. Though it seemed like it was the same, something about it was different.


    Just as he was thoroughly examining the tablet to see what could have changed and what happened, suddenly it slipped.


    He was holding it properly but because his big thick hands were sweaty and shaking and he was also extremely anxious, he dropped it by mistake.


    Everything happened too fast and the ogre''s head was already overheated from thinking about the sudden change.


    So he was not able to catch it in time and he could only dumbfoundedly watch the tablet hit the ground.


    BANG!


    The stone tablet hit the ground and the next instant several cracks appeared on it.


    Gasp! The other demons in the room were all stunned silly. How could cracks appear on a priceless treasure from a mere 10 feet drop?


    Even they knew that something like that was impossible and yet it had happened. So that could only mean one thing¡­


    This stone tablet was a fake!


    This exins why the room suddenly changed and why the tablet cracked after falling to the ground, but where was the real one? Who took the real one from a ce so heavily guarded? A.L.L N.O.V.E.L F.U.L.L


    Just as this thought floated across all the demons, suddenly the image of a person fleeing on a white fox entered their mind.


    So this was why the Thol city garrison leader was running away?


    All the demons gulped as they realized this small fact.


    More importantly, they were all simply standing around andughing loudly at the fool''s actions¡­ when they could have been chasing and catching the culprit?


    Their Lord must have also realized this?


    BANG!


    Suddenly another loud sound echoed as the ogre Lord wordlessly lifted his thick leg and stepped onto the already cracked stone tablet.


    The next moment, the stone tablet burst into a million pieces, bits and pieces and dust flying everywhere.


    All the demons shivered and the ogre turned around to look at the bunch with a grave expression on his face.


    "PREPARE THE ARMY! NOW!"


    "I don''t care where that bastard is! Even if we have tob through the entire Kingdom, bring him to me! NOW!" The ogre angrily stomped out of the alchemy building.


    Watching their Lord leave, the other demons as well hastily scurried away and the loud war horn red through the entire city.


    Within just a matter of minutes, the whole city was in aplete uproar!


    And meanwhile, the person responsible for everything¡­


    "Luna, keep going. Don''t slow down even for a second. If you are tired, tell me."


    Liam''s heart was almost beating out of his chest. This was the riskiest move he had made from the beginning of the game until now and he somehow pulled through!


    No, actually, he was not out of the woods just yet. He only has a head start.


    Liam hurriedly opened the system interface to message the rest of the group when unexpectedly Mei Mei messaged him first.


    [Bro, we again found a new dungeon here. Actually, it might not be a dungeon. It is something. Can youe over to take a look?]


    "Good timing?" Seeing her message, chuckled wryly. He wanted to get the hell out of here as fast as possible but something like a dungeon might also work.


    He would effectively be ''hidden'' as long as he was in the dungeon and so he might as well use this chance to run a few rounds and gather some raw materials from theher realm.


    Dungeon drops were always different from the field monster drops so there was a high chance to get a recipe book or skill scroll or other precious materials.


    Besides, this was also a good chance to bring everyone''s level higher.


    Running dungeons repeatedly was the best way to bring up a group''s level while also simultaneously honing their skills.


    Time for some power leveling!

 Chapter 441 - Clash!

    Chapter 441 - sh!After about an hour of traveling, Liam and Luna were almost close to the spot where the rest of the group was currently waiting for them.


    However, just as they reached that zone, Liam received another message from Mei Mei.


    "Brother, some other guild members are here. They are not letting us pass through. They are also not letting us leave. They want us to pay 10000 gold coins as fees first."


    "For now, we managed to escape them and we are hiding in this spot, but not I don''t know how long we will be able to hold them off?"


    "Shall we leave? They have too many numbers on their side. What should we do?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam who was busily scanning the sky and the grounds nearby for his pursuers saw this message and rolled his eyes. "Who are these guys now?"


    He had wanted to take refuge in some dungeon and grind peacefully but that did not seem to be possible now. Who was this new bastard making his life harder?


    "I will be there shortly. Stay put." Liam messaged the group and the duo started traveling at top speed to their destination.


    "Wait Luna, don''t go in just yet."


    Kyuuuu.


    The foxnded near the outskirts and Liam hopped off and entered [Stealth] mode.


    "It''s better to be cautious for now. There shouldn''t be many yers here just yet, which guild is here?"


    Liam hurriedly moved about the brambly dry forest and headed over to the coordinates which Mei Mei had sent over.


    It was good that they had contacted him because the majority of the guilds and the average yers were yet to enter theher realm. So whoever was here was definitely not average.


    He did not know what guild they are but they definitely knew about Crimson Abyss. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have asked for the ridiculously high 10000 gold coin hostage fees.


    After Crimson Abyss repeatedly got world achievements for the S- Rank guild establishment, there would probably be very less yers who did not know about them.


    And it looked like this time one of the whales had spotted them and had taken interest in their guild!


    Liam had already expected things like this to start happening. Only that this was sooner than he expected, but ultimately it did not matter because¡­ he knew exactly what to do!


    Carefully navigating between the densely clustered trees and brambles, Liam slowly circled around to the spot where the group was patiently hiding.


    However, he did not go over to them directly. Instead, he wandered around a bit more to first get a good grasp of the whole situation.


    This would be aplished a lot easier with him flying atop Luna, but then the other side would also be wiser to his presence. He still did not know their numbers so he needed that advantage.


    After Liam started scouring again, within a few minutes, he ran into a group of yers.


    "Just like I thought¡­ these guys have split up into smaller groups and are searching the area."


    Liam carefully observed their movements and tried to gauge the level of the yers but it was difficult to guess something like that with just this much.


    He needed to deal with them directly to get a better idea. "I see six¡­ alright, time to go in."


    Liam walked over to the woman who was wearing a white robe and started with her first.


    As his stealth came undone, he unsheathed the purple sword and smoothly shed down the weapon.


    SPURT. Blood sshed everywhere and the priest died without ever being able to see who killed her.


    Everything happened so fast and by the time the other members of the group realized what had happened, Liam already moved on to the next target, the warrior knight.


    Standing behind the guy, he mmed a huge fireball onto the opponent and was prepared to send in another attack, but the tank dropped dead with just the one attack.


    "Oh, too weak!" Liam shook his head.


    "What the hell did you say?!" Two other melee yers rushed toward him brandishing their weapons.


    One was carrying a sword while the other was carrying an ax and the two of them looked extremely confident despite their teammates lying on the ground.


    In closebat melee yers had the most advantage as it took time for the spell sses to cast their magic.


    And after seeing Liam, throw out the giant fireball, the two yers couldn''t help bute to the conclusion that he was a casting ss.


    He had probably only managed to kill their knight because of the element of surprise.


    But now that the intruder was revealed and not in stealth mode, the two yers did not expect any more threats and rushed forward to quickly finish off the bastard.


    "This is your bad day bucko. You picked a fight with the wrong guild." One of them shouted, swinging down his ax.


    Liam who was about to send another fireball mming down on the guy suddenly released the mana and stepped back, only dodging the attack and not giving them anything in return.


    "Oh, my bad. This might have all been a big misunderstanding! What is your guild name by the way?"


    The man standing in front of Liam looked at him in confusion. Something was not right. This person was saying words like misunderstanding but why is he smirking?


    "We are from the diators guild! Moon Kingdom''s top guild! Do you understand now?" The guy continued swinging his ax and the other yer as well shed down at Liam relentlessly.


    "It is toote to apologize now. Let us kill you ten times and maybe then we can start talking. Hmph."


    The two of them grinned, expecting Liam to feel fear now and just as they wanted, Liam''s movements also slowed down as if he was no longer nning to dodge.


    The two became even more energized on seeing this. "You only have your own bad luck to me."


    The guy with the ax activated his finishing move [Blood Berserk] and he started spinning wildly. The swordsman grinned on seeing this because he knew that the fight was already over.


    Blocking against [Blood Berserk] was a huge headache and especially for a magic ss, this move was a dead end, a fatal blow.


    However, unexpectedly, the spinning started slowing down.


    In fact, the skill had not yet beenpletely activated. "What happened?" The swordsman moved forward only to see that his friend was actually spinning without a head.


    To be more precise, only his body was spinning and his head was already on the ground, but before he could feel sorry for him, his own head as wellnded right next to the other guy''s head.


    Just who the hell was this person they had run into? He stared at Liam dumbfoundedly.

 Chapter 442 - 40 vs 500

    Chapter 442 - 40 vs 500


    "Should be around Level 30. So not total idiots." Liam sheathed his sword and once again entered [Stealth] to move about in the wilderness.


    The fact that these guys were searching for their group worked in his favor. If he could pick out a few of these groups, the strength of the opposite side would automaticallye down.


    However, he needed to hurry as the death of these yers would have already warned the rest of the group. So they were probably in the midst of the regrouping right now.


    This meant that Liam had to hunt them down faster than they could regroup. "This should be interesting."


    He cut through the brambles swiftly and since everyone was rushing towards each other, the whole field became a game of bumper cars, except when they bumped into Liam, they were kicked out of the field altogether.


    The yers were also not too far away from each other so they quickly fell one group after another.


    "What the hell is happening?"


    "Is there another guild here? Who is killing everyone?"


    "Is that group?"


    "Damn it. What part of scouting do these idiots not understand?"


    "We might have to wait for everyone to respawn and ask them."


    The guild members began to scramble, not understanding what was going on. But clearly splitting up right now was the bad move.


    However, the guild did not allow things to get much worse. The guild higher ups immediately took back the reins.


    "Everyone stop moving randomly. Only move in big groups. These guys are strong. Only our elites can handle them."


    "Let''s just regroup and bust these suckers. We can negotiate with them in the graveyard. Move now."


    Liam chuckled as he instantly noticed the difference in the movement patterns of the groups. They changed their behavior so he as well changed his.


    "I aming now." He messaged the group and then rushed towards them.


    "Brother, what happened? Who are these people?" Mei Mei greeted him first with a hug.


    She was wearing a dark green robe that matched her emerald crown and looked like a princess.


    "Nothing. Nothing. No need to panic. Didn''t you need something called spirit force to upgrade your item? Time to test out what that is." Liam warmly smiled.


    "So what is this ce that you guys found? Derek fill me in."


    "Yes, Sir." Derek who was silent up until now quickly started exining.


    "There is a portal in this zone that looks simr to a dungeon portal."


    "However, there are some special seals around the portal and when we tried to get in, six level 50 elites appeared from these seals."


    Mei Mei jumped in at this part and finished Derek''s exnation. "And when we were fighting these elites, the other guild members sneaked up on us and started attacking!"


    "So unfair, brother! We put so much effort! We did so much damage!"


    "We would have finished off the six elites! But because of those stupid people, we had to retreat!"


    The little girl gnashed her teeth and everyone else as well had simr aggrieved expressions.


    "Alright. Alright. Calm down, everybody. These things aremon and they are going to be a lot moremon. So don''t sweat it." Liam chuckled faintly.


    Everyone immediately became surprised. Their boss became kind and forgiving all of a sudden?


    However, Liam was not done yet. He stretched his hands and asked the group, "Shall we pay our friends another visit then?"


    "Alright. Everyone quickly fill up on your consumables. Let''s start now."


    Liam once again activated [Stealth] and a few others who had learned the skill also activated it. The group then started making its move toward the dungeon portal.


    This was where the other guild had also reassembled, stationing all of their men. Clearly, neither side was willing to give up this spot.


    The difference was that¡­ the first group now had an additional person on their side.


    After both the teams made their move, it didn''t take long for everyone to arrive at the same destination.


    The wilderness also did a poor job of hiding the presence of the various yers, so as soon as one side came closer to the other side, the battle had already begun!


    On one side, about five hundred yers stood tall, all equipped decently with at least unique grade items.


    But on the other side, though the yers also seemed to be equally well equipped, their numbers were pathetically small.


    Only a couple dozen yers were standing.


    40 vs 500


    It was not too difficult to guess what the oue of this battle was going to be and the ''winning'' side sneered at the small group of yers who did not know their ce.


    "What a bunch of idiots! You should have just paid upfront the gold coins!" Someone shouted loudly. This person was sitting on a huge mammoth like beast with fearsome horns on its head.


    "HURL THE CANNONS!"


    The long-range attackers including the hunters and the mages started dealing damage first sending out a barrage of attacks.


    However, before these attacks couldnd, a huge golem appeared out of nowhere, and around it there was a forcefield that blocked all of these attacks.


    "What the hell? Golems? This guild is the one with the golems?"


    Just as they were reeling in shock after this revtion, they also realized something else. All of a sudden their attacks felt weaker.


    What was happening?


    "DON''T STOP! KEEP ATTACKING!"


    "EVEN THE GOLEMS WILL BREAK!" The guy sitting on the mammoth shouted loudly. It looked like he had some skill to amplify his voice because hismands thunderingly rang out.


    On the other side¡­ Liam clicked his tongue in envy. "What a useful skill! Something like this will definitely raise morale in a battle. I wonder where he got it."


    As a reincarnator, even he did not know where to obtain this skill. Standing by his side, Mei Mei let out a long breath.


    "Brother, I finished all the buffs and the debuffs." She smiled excitedly.

 Chapter 443 - This is the nether realm

    <h4>Chapter 443 - This is theher realm</h4>


    "What are these idiots thinking? How can just a handful of yers deal with our guild''s strongest teams? Are they relying on these two golems?" diators guild leader looked around anxiously.


    He was standing at the backlines as he was primarily a healer and because of this, he was also able to get a good overview of the battle.


    "No, if they relied on just this, then our guild''s win is already confirmed. Look at the health of the golem. It''s already down to half." The woman next to him muttered while casting a spell.


    All of their healing and damage outputs were reduced by half for some reason so she was casting twice as fast as she usually did without paying much attention to mana conservation.


    "Hmmm¡­ I can also see that. That golem won''tst much longer now. It would be different if that golem could actually do somethingplicated but this one is way too simple."


    "This battle is almost over. There is no way these people are going tost long. Rearguards. Stand alert. Their next move would probably be to take on our healers."


    "We should defend them at all costs. As long as our healers are alive, this battle is over."


    Just as the other side, prepared to go on the offensive mode, the group of 40 was also wondering about the same thing.


    How were they going to deal with this huge army? Did they even have enough juice?


    Unlike the guilds they had faced before, this one was a lot more capable and they were also well-equipped. Not to mention, the weakest yer was already Level 30.


    The diators truly lived up to their top guild name tag.


    Even after Mei Mei''s buffs and debuffs, the damage they received was still fearsome. At this rate, their group was going to be obliterated within seconds.


    "Boss, do we have a n?" Shin Soo anxiously shouted in their group chat.


    "Of course, we have a n. Look to your right." Liam along with the group of stealth yers finally reached their target and began taking action.


    However, unlike the other side expected, their target this time was not the healers standing safely at the rear end of the guild army.


    Instead, the group of stealth yers reached the dungeon portal that was wide open.


    And instantly, as soon as they approached the portal, six spheres of swirlingher materialized. From within these spears, six gigantic monsters appeared.


    "Nagas?" Liam couldn''t help but gasp in shock as he did not expect this to happen. What the hell were nagas doing in theher realm?


    Either way, this was not his concern right now. As soon as the six elites were summoned, the group of stealth yers quickly retreated under Liam''smand.


    Of course, he also knew that it was extremely difficult for a mere group of 40 yers to take on 500 yers. He never intended to do that from the beginning.


    Now that there was a third party on the yground, the mechanics of the battlefield instantly changed.


    The nagas started randomly tossing out massive currents of attacks in different directions and since the majority of the ce was upied by the diators guild because of their sheer numbers, they were the ones who received the brunt of the attack.


    And Liam did not stop there. "Now, we attack the healers!"


    The chaos andmotion that ensuredpletely turned the situation on the battlefield. Using this, Liam and the group of stealth yers reached the other side and started attacking.


    Healers were the backbone of anyrgescale battle formation but this was not the reason why Liam chose to attack the healers.


    There was a reason why Mia and Alex were not currently with them, grinding alongside the rest of the group. This was because they were currently standing in theher realm!


    Here, the divine affinity yers who typically constituted at least half of the healing poption suffered the most.


    [Nether Scythe] Liam grinned and a gigantic ck smoking scythe appeared on the rear side of the diators'' battle formation.


    Just as he was casting that, Mei Mei also gave another individual buff to Liam which instantly increased the size of the scythe by a couple of levels.


    Now, the thing loomed like death itself covering almost fifty yers at a time.


    "Now." Liam manipted the scythe toe down sweeping.


    The giant ck weapon of pure sizzling energy struck like a swinging pendulum and in its wake, a series of ridiculous damage numbers popped out


    -1000


    -1500


    -500


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Because of their reduced attributes, these damage numbers were higher than some of the healers'' total health and they directly started dropping dead like flies.


    They couldn''t withstand this single attack and almost half of the healing section got wiped out.


    The very first move Liam made aftering out of the [Stealth] dealt a death blow to the guild''s battle formation.


    Neither side could believe this oue as both friends and foes alike stared at the monster among them in shock.


    What was this insane attack power?


    Following Liam''s lead, the few rogue yers, hunters, and a couple of brawlers also stepped out of the [Stealth] and started hunting down whatever was left of the healers'' section.


    The diators guild leader and the vice guild leader standing next to him suddenly felt their throats parched. What the hell just happened?


    Within a single minute, the well-organized, well-oiled machine had fallen into utter pandemonium.


    Where the fuck did their healers disappear to? How could there be so many casualties? Just what attack did the other side use?


    At this point, the diators understood one thing. There were opponents that they could mess with and there were opponents they should absolutely not mess with.


    And this time, it looked like they had made the wrong decision.


    However, it was toote to withdraw now. The melee yers at the rearguard of the group rushed towards Liam and the group of yers.


    They might have taken out their healers using some tricks but in reality, this smaller group was nowpletely isted from the already small group of 40 yers.


    So what if they did not have healers? The other side also did not have any healers!


    And it was not like they could afford to cast that same insane aoe spell again! It was time to take out this bunch of yers!


    The group of fifty yers started directing all of their attacks at the group of eight who were at the wrong ce where they were not supposed to be.


    However, before they could take another step, another huge scythe appeared above their heads...


    ***

 Chapter 444 - l am not playing this broken game any more!

    <h4>Chapter 444 - l am not ying this broken game any more!</h4>


    Seeing the sky darkening over their heads once again, the yers turned pale. How could this ungodly aoe attack appear again so soon?


    Shouldn''t this person be already out of mana? Even if he was using mana potions to recuperate, it shouldn''t ve this fast! Just what was happening? What sort of casting was this?


    Even the spell casters standing in the group were dumbfounded. A few of them had aoe spells but they were nothing inparison to this scythe of death.


    "Hurry! Cast mana barrier!"


    The yers standing on the periphery got the hell out of dodge but those who were already within the range and also engaged with the other yers couldn''t move so easily.


    A few barrier spells went up to protect these people, only barely helping them escape the sure-shot death.


    The massive scythe shed with the several small barriers, resulting in both the attacks evened out and the danger being momentarily averted.


    However, before they could sigh in relief, once again another giant scythe appeared. Seeing this one of the warriors became so enraged that he tossed his shield angrily on the ground!


    "What the fuck is this game? Why the hell is it so unbnced! I am calling bullshit, damn it! I am out! Just kill me already motherfucker!"


    Many others also had simr frustrated expressions and gnashed their teeth in disgruntlement.


    The spellcasters could not even afford to do that as they crazily re-upped their mana to once again start casting the barriers.


    But unfortunately for them, even this was not enough. By the time they downed the mana potions and started reloading the barrier spell, the scythe already descended down, iming almost half of the health.


    One more attack and the entire group would get annihted.


    "What are you all doing? Attack! Attack! Kill him! He is the one casting the scythes!" The party leader guiding the melee yers shouted.


    The group of them started running towards Liam but before they could reach him, he already started running away while simultaneously casting the nexther scythe.


    "Don''t let him escape!" The other melee yers continued to chase after him with pitchforks.


    However, the third attack still descended and since everyone was on a move, the barriers couldn''t be set up properly, and once again few yers lost a huge chunk of their health.


    Average Level 30 yers had about 3000 health so they could only eat three scythes at most. Most yers at the back now barely had any health left.


    While those yers continued suffering, the yers at the vanguard were also equally suffering. The two golems were quickly brought down but the six giant nagas were quite a handful.


    The formation waspletely broken because of the haphazard firing of their lightning balls and also themotion at the back.


    Using this as an opportunity, the other party started taking out the yers one after the other.


    And when they tried to break the harmony in the opponent''s team, the tank at the front was like an immovable mountain that prevented any melee yer from cutting through.


    Derek''s every attack was like a truck that directly sent the yers to another world.


    The guild that started with a whopping 500 yers now felt suffocated because of the pincer attack from both the back and the front end.


    The number of casualties started mounting and without the healers to support the group, the big numbers quickly dwindled.


    However, unlike them, Mei Mei and Kang Minah were smoothly handling the healing part.


    Though Mei Mei did not have too many healing spells, the one or two she had seemed more than enough to bring up the health of the people near her.


    But the main reason why the front was crumbling was in reality someone else. Nobody noticed but Shen Yue was standing near one of the naga elites.


    Thanks to her recent level ups, she had gathered some free unassigned stat points which she did not hesitate to dump into her charm to get ahead of this sticky situation.


    This was the reason why at least one of the six nagas were repeatedly and strategically targeting the diators guild members with the big fat lightning balls.


    Each of the attacks took out three to five yers and this decimated the entire structure of the army.


    Within minutes, the battlefield turned messy and chaotic and in between this, Liam messaged Mei Mei to remind her.


    "Don''t just randomly attack. Target the yers whose health is low and try to deal thest hit."


    Mei Mei nodded in understanding. She still needed to collect this spirit force. She checked the stats on the item again, only to see that the spirit force was already 4/1000.


    So she was doing something correctly.


    Mei Mei gripped the staff in her hands and started casting more [Earth Spikes].


    Unsuspecting yers with half of their health still remaining were assaulted in their read end out of nowhere, the protrusion from the ground randomly popping out and tearing through their armors and guards.


    Almost each [Earth Spike] contained a yer''s corpse hanging on it for disy which quickly became a frightening scene.


    It was as if they were in a cursed graveyard where the several corpses were hooked up for scaring away the others.


    Mei Mei herself was witnessing the full power of the legendary item for the first time.


    She couldn''t bring out its full potential earlier when she was grinding one or two beasts at a time, but now that they were dealing with so many yers at a time, the difference in the attributes was clear as day.


    This item was tagged legendary for a reason!


    The opponent crumbled without even being able tond a single attack on her.


    Mei Mei quickly rode the momentum and killed a few more yers before checking the progress on the upgrade once again.


    [Ding]


    [Emerald Crown]


    [Rating: Legendary, Level 1]


    Health: +1000


    Mana: +1000


    Vitality: +100


    Defense: +100


    Stamina: +100


    Agility: +100


    Strength: +100


    Intelligence: +100


    Passive Skill: Life Bloom - The spirit of nature courses through you to rejuvenate your soul, mind, and body; All your stats are refreshed every five minutes.


    Active Skill: Spirit Bloom - Call forth the spirits of nature to assist you and your allies. The spirit of wind increases agility by 5%; The spirit of fire increases strength by 5%; The spirit of earth increases defense by 5%; The spirit of water increases vitality by 5%


    [To upgrade absorb the spirit force of one thousand yers - 7/1000]


    "So it''s not directly proportional to the number of yers I am taking out?" Mei Mei was confused slightly. However, she did not have time to think about it right now.


    She quickly closed the status screen and went back to nuking the yers as the battle now seemed to be within their grasp.


    The group of five hundred yers was almost down to thest hundred and one out of the six nagas elites was also circling the drain.


    Seeing this, all the Crimson Abyss guild members were floating on top of cloud nine with their morale and confidence boosted high up.


    However, the group leader at the back had a different expression on his face. Liam repeatedly checked the skies.


    Not good! This was taking longer than he expected!


    The demons chasing behind him could be here anytime now and they were not like the diators guild members whom they scammed by summoning the Elites.


    If the demons arrived every single yer in their group would be instantly obliterated.


    Liam paused for a second and then stopped fighting at the rear, slowly making his way back to the front.


    He stopped in front of one of the naga elites that was thrashing around a tank from the diators guild and looked at it with his eyes narrowed.

 Chapter 445 - l have an announcement!

    <h4>Chapter 445 - l have an announcement!</h4>


    Liam only needed one look to see why the nagas were easily torturing everyone. Sure, they had higher levels and also definitely better attributes, but there was also another hidden factor.


    What the other guild members hadn''t realized was that there was a small radius of poison cloud surrounding each Naga which made them more vulnerable and perhaps also affected their speed and other attributes.


    With so many things happening simultaneously, many yers wouldn''t pay attention to the small details and dot damages but sometimes that made all the difference.


    These naga elites shouldn''t have been aggroed in the first ce but since they were aggroed they needed to be taken down as fast as possible so as to not burden the tanks.


    However, they were not able to do this because the nagas were not the only enemies they were dealing with. This was why the diators were going down rapidly.


    Liam observed this and he did not make the mistake of going close quarters to these naga elites.


    He picked his target, the naga that still had quite a bit of health left, and started using the fewher spells he had learned.


    [Nether Vines Grapple]


    [Nether Firestorm]


    While the former held the naga elite in ce momentarily, thetter unleashed a torrent of burningher onto the elite.


    HISSSSS!


    The naga mmed down itsmia lower half in pain, taking out all of its anger on the poor tank who was trying to handle it.


    The guy went flying away and now the full attention of the naga was on Liam.


    ROAR!


    The naga''s hiss came out as a roar as it leaped towards Liam, dropping its coiled body next to him.


    "Nope. Not happening." Liam understood the creature''s intentions very well.


    It wanted to trap him as well within its poison cloud so before it couldnd, Liam already moved back several paces away.


    Of course, this just happened to be in the midst of a bunch of yers from the diators guild.


    He sent out two more [Nether Firestorm]s towards the naga one after the other, not giving the monster any break and before the naga could once again catch up to him, he was gone from that spot as well.


    Caught between him and the almost flying naga, only the yers standing near them suffered. The naga toppled them like bowling ally pins,ying waste to the yers wherever it went.


    Using this, Liam also tracked it all the way through whatever was left of the diators guild.


    The guild members, already on the verge of tears started spilling out bloody tears after seeing this. How was this even a fight anymore? This was just in bullying!


    At first, when they had realized that the group of yers standing in front of them were from the Crimson Abyss guild, they had thought that this was their lucky day.


    The reputation of the guild was as such. It was supposed to be a guild for show with lots of money bags and pretty women.


    There were even rumors that the S- Rank of the guild was a decorative one. If one paid more gold coins they could get the ranking as well.


    But¡­ now¡­


    They could only me themselves for stepping on the lion''s tail!


    With the naga''s rampaging and the rest of the guild members falling for the direct attacks from the opponent, the diators finally copsed without any leg remaining to stand upon.


    Two of the naga elites were also down, and only four more remained, with these monsters also having just half of their original health points.


    "EVERYONE! DON''T SLOW DOWN!" Liam shouted. "Let''s finish what we started and enter the dungeon first!"


    Hearing his words, everyone did not dare to even sigh in relief and continued focusing their attacks on the elites.


    Now that no one was around to disturb them, the group split themselves into four and finished the remaining elites in no time in a very organized fashion.


    Technically, it was only three elites because Shen Yue had taken control of thest one and used that naga to attack its peers.


    At some points, her damage output was evenparable to Liam and Mei Mei which really showed the importance of hidden sses in the game.


    Seeing the little girl pull her weight with her legendary crown and the beautiful sister pull her weight by enchanting the monsters, everyone else as well yearned for special sses or at the least special items.


    However, then their eyes flitted over to Derek who stood like a huge immovable mountain and blocked every single attack from the naga elite that was almost twenty levels above him.


    The man looked like he had sparred with nagas all his life as he was able to predict where the next attack woulde from.


    With everyone working together smoothly and considering that the nagas were already gravely injured, it did not take long for the group to finish off the remaining four elites as well.


    THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.


    Almost all four nagas fell down at the same time and glittering loot ttered out of their corpses.


    The group collectively gasped at the sight of the massive harvest, not just from the elites but also from the hundreds of yers they had PKed. War was truly profitable!


    "Everyone collect as much loot as possible and get into the dungeon portal in 2 minutes!"


    Still not allowing anyone to take a break, Liam hurriedly urged everyone to enter the portal. Clearly, there was something else going on.


    So understanding the urgency, the group as well quickly finished all the loot cleaning up and before the two minutes, every single member of the party was inside the dungeon portal.


    When Luna entered she still had a bunch of items gripped in her mouth. She tossed them down along with some coins.


    "Idiot, you didn''t swallow anything, right?" Liam picked up the fox and mercilessly shook her with her head upside down.


    And surprisingly, just like he had said, a few coins fell out of the fox. Liam chuckled wryly and put her back down again.


    Only after entering the dungeon, he felt relieved. "Alright. Everyone, take a break. We don''t have to start the run immediately."


    He sat down on the ground, the tiredness from the battle finally catching up to him. Others as well had simr exhausted expressions.


    After all, everyone had fought with 200% of their attention. They gave it their all because even the slightest mistake could have cost a lot.


    So now they were fully exhausted. Nevertheless, the group was in high spirits after the win and everyone began to excitedly pile up the loot to take a look.


    This quickly changed the atmosphere into a festive one.


    Surprisingly, some of the items were better than the ones they had equipped so many yers in the group switched out their old ones.


    But even after this, the huge heap in front of the group was dazzling brilliantly. These items might as well be gold coins. When converted this would be a huge sum of money.


    Of course, a majority of it would probably go to guild development but some of it would alsoe to the yers.


    Thinking about this everyone couldn''t help but subconsciously count their dors. Some even started talking about vacation ns, buying properties, and such.


    Only Shen Yue and Mei Mei bitterly smiled, looking at each other.


    "Brother, when are we going to break their bubbles?" Mei Mei inched closer to whisper to Liam.


    Liam silently nodded, looking around. These people had all pledged their loyalty to him and the guild so it was about time that everyone knew the truth.


    There was no point in keeping things hidden anymore. They were going to learn about it quite soon even if he didn''t do it.


    "When huh¡­ this is as good a time as any¡­ why not now?" Liam smiled and stood up. "Everybody. I have an announcement!"


    "WHAT! Ah! Brother! I was just randomly saying! Are you really going to do it?"


    Mei Mei started panicking but seeing that her brother looked serious she became silent, and quietly observed.

 Chapter 446 - Heads or Tails?

    Chapter 446 - Heads or Tails?


    Not many people knew this but the forty yer team in theher realm was the true Crimson Abyss guild.


    Every single one of them had taken the loyalty pledge and all of them had been fighting together and ying together for a while now.


    Though within this forty yer group, there were a few smaller groups, people from various backgrounds sticking close to each other, overall they shared a good bond.


    So when Liam stood up and casually broke the news to everyone¡­ unexpectedly things went down a lot smoother than he had expected.


    Derek, Mei Mei, and Shen Yue already knew about it, but this was the first time the rest of the group were hearing this.


    At first, they also had questions and doubts but when Liam talked about the gaming capsule rted deaths no one could question that unshakeable fact.


    Everything else might be a hypothesis or assumption, but this happened in the real world, right in front of everyone.


    So if a death inside the game could affect real life, it was not a big leap to assume that other things from inside the game might also affect real life.


    Liam did not pressure the group of yers and gave them some time to think about things.


    Since they were already inside the dungeon and hidden from the outside world, there was no need to rush as well.


    Liam calmly sat down on the side and started examining the new herbs from theher realm they had obtained after looting the carriage.


    These were allpletely new to him and he had no idea about them. So he took out one stalk after another and started studying their properties, familiarizing himself with them.


    Meanwhile, Mei Mei and Shen Yue were busy looking through the pile of loot.


    Mei Mei checked if any of the unique items in the pile synergized well with her Emerald Crown while Shen Yue checked for items with additional charm attributes.


    Shen Yue discovered that not only items but the way she dressed could also increase her charm attribute.


    The saying clothes maketh the man or in this case, the woman was one hundred percent true for her ss.


    So she searched through the pile as if she was rummaging Macy''s Sale section for better outfits.


    Other than these two, of course, there was Luna who waszily lying beside Liam and munching on a meatball, and also there was Derek who stood guard for the whole group.


    Though they hadn''t technically entered the dungeon, they were still standing within the walls of the dungeon, so he remained alert for any possible iing danger.


    Watching these 5 people casually go about their business, the rest of the group could only bitterly smile.


    Here they were trying toe to terms with something insanely impossible, but these people were all somehow okay with it?


    The worst part was that this truth was right in front of their eyes for several days now.


    Only they did not see it or perhaps they did and subconsciously did not want to think too much about it.


    And now that Liam had spelled out the exact words, they could no longer ignore it.


    "It''s fine. Guys, let''s snap out of it." Shin Shoo muttered to his small group.


    All five of them were from the Jingnam district in Korea and all five of them also knew each other inside and outside of the game.


    "At least we picked a winning side¡­"


    Kang Minah smiled bitterly and nodded. This was indeed true. The day that they had forced Liam to take them as hisckeys was probably the luckiest day of their lives.


    Chung Hee and Kin Hyun also looked at each other, thinking about the same thing.


    After they recovered from the initial shock, every single one of them felt relieved that they had made the right choice.


    "Ummm¡­ what about our parents and siblings?" Chung Hee hesitantly spoke out aloud.


    Unexpectedly, Liam answered his question, all the way from the other side of the small cave.


    "You should ask all of them to get a game capsule and log into the game. They can join our guild. Start doing quests and be stronger."


    "We will make a special guide for our group''s families, friends, and siblings. They can ess that once they take the loyalty pledge."


    Liam paused to see if someone would oppose him but no one seemed to mind it.


    After all, the people who were gathered there were from different countries, different cultures, and different religions.


    These kinds of rules were necessary to make sure that everyone could peacefully coexist and grow stronger together.


    However, for now, Liam decided to stop with just this. Just a few people dying was still not enough proof for the impending apocalypse and these guys were not Derek.


    He couldn''t simply ask them to uproot their lives and move to his hometown. There would be a time for that and now was not the right time.


    Other than Shin Soo''s group, the rest of the group members were from Mia''s previous guild.


    That group silently discussed amongst themselves and was doing a lot better than the Korean group ining to terms with reality.


    Perhaps because they were all well aware of Rey''s condition to begin with, they may be already had a hunch about these things.


    They as well agreed to Liam''s suggestion about bringing in all of their friends and families to the game and also joining the guild.


    Liam did not n to micromanage them and let them deal with the finer details by themselves.


    Perhaps their own families would not believe them or their exnation. They might have to lie and ask them to join so that they can receive free cash.


    The whole transition would be chaotic. There was simply no way around it but in the end, this situation was still better thanpletely being unprepared.


    Liam gave the group a few more minutes to discuss things amongst themselves, but after the one-hour mark, he promptly stood up.


    "Alright, now it''s time for the dungeon run. We are not going to gain anything by sitting like this chatting idly."


    "The future is uncertain. We need to work hard and make sure that it doesn''t stay that way. Sure, this game is definitely frightening but it is also a chance for us."


    "Let''s use it properly."


    Everyone couldn''t help but feel goosebumps after hearing his words. They all knew that Liam was correct.


    This game was a double-sided coin, a curse, and a boon at the same time.


    But unlike a coin toss, which side they were going to get was not going to be determined by luck. It was going to be determined by their blood and sweat!

 Chapter 447 - No pain No gain

    Chapter 447 - No pain No gain


    "Everyone, go to their positions. This does not look like a usual dungeon, so let''s be extra cautious." Liam said as he stepped forward out of the small cave at the entrance into the long dark tunnel of the dungeon.


    He was just about to reach into his inventory and take out a re for lighting up the ce when suddenly he noticed something strange.


    There was absolutely no noise behind him! No nking of weapons, no murmuring noises, and no enthusiastic shouts.


    "Hmmm?" Liam quickly turned around only to find out that the rest of the guild was somehow missing. Only he was there, all alone.


    Kyuuuu!


    A soft head rubbed against his leg, reminding him that she was also there.


    "What the hell just happened? Did we get separated from the rest of the group?" Liam unsheathed the purple semi-epic sword and looked at Luna who was still present there with him.


    "This dungeon is getting more and more interesting."


    "Let''s go."


    "And now that it''s just the two of us here, why don''t you alle out?" Liam chuckled.


    The dungeon might have mysteriously isted him from the rest of the team but he still had an entire readymade party with him.


    The next second, the group of soul undeads appeared beside him, all of them looking gnarly and ready to fight.


    Liam then lit up the re and walked through the long winding tunnel along with Luna and the undeads.


    Before long, the group paused as a couple of nagas rushed towards them from the sides.


    They were Level 50 nagas, surprisingly the same level as Liam and they seemed to have magically appeared out of nowhere.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam observed their movements and quickly used his sword to block and parry the tridents of the two nagas.


    Their speed and agility also weirdly matched his own but this was before he used mana to enhance his moves.


    The sword and the tridents nged for a few times before Liam directly retreated a few steps back to unleash [Nether Firestorm].


    -1000


    -1500


    Big damage numbers popped up on the nagas and their 100,000 health points quickly started dwindling.


    Luna standing behind Liam also started throwing out fireballs, along with the lesser dryads and the imps.


    And since Liam held all the aggro as he was still the maximum damage dealer, the other small fry undeads as well started pounding on the couple of nagas from the sides.


    With all the soul undeads doing consistent chip damage, the health of the nagas floored in no time and the two dropped dead.


    Kyuuuu! Luna immediately sprang forward to pick up the drops but weirdly nothing dropped? Or rather the bodies of the two nagas disappeared as if they never existed.


    The corpses as well typically disappeared inside the game but the way these guys had disappeared was very different. More importantly, there were no drops.


    "Wait, there are no experience points also?" Liam was now sure that something weird was going on. Every kill definitely gave some experience points.


    "What the heck is this dungeon?" He gripped his sword and continued walking forward. There was only one way to find out and that was by heading further inside.


    Liam took a few steps and then paused, suddenly turning around to look at one of his soul undeads. To be more specific, the odd one out.


    "Don''t think that I did not notice what you have been up to." He narrowed his eyes and looked at the casually chilling ghost coldly.


    Gorak instantly shivered. "Yes, boss." He responded immediately without thinking too much.


    "So you can talk huh?" Liam''s eyebrows twitched. "It looks like I have to pay you some special attention really soon."


    Among all the undeads he had forged, the human one really looked like it was more special and had far more secrets to it.


    He definitely needed to poke and prod the guy to understand more. "You better fight properly and notze around."


    After giving the guy another threatening look, he made a mental note to do thister and went back to pay attention to the dungeon.


    Copying him, Luna also gave a simr look to this disobedient servant.


    "Ahhh¡­" Seeing the two, Gorak shivered again and gnashed his teeth.


    The thing was that he had a small secret, a very small one which was that¡­ he was different from the other soul undeads.


    He was not just a mindless drone who obeys orders. He could think and feel to a certain extent. He also retained all of his memories from when he was alive.


    Sure, it was painful to know that he was now a ghost and someone else''s ve but this also gave him hope that maybe one day he will be able to break free?


    So at all costs, Gorak had wanted to hide from the damn bastard''s eyes but it looked like that was going to be difficult.


    The guy found him out even when he tried his best to be invisible!


    Just as the ghost was thinking about various things, two more nagas popped up in front of them, and without realizing Gorak had already started attacking the monsters.


    Even though he had some consciousness, he still feltpelled, needed to obey the direct orders of his master. "Fuck my life." He whined and attacked the two nagas.


    He was a mage when he was alive so now also he attacked with magic spells. He had retained all of the skills he had previously.


    He mindlessly switched them out one after the other and continued barraging the spells on the nagas.


    His order was to fight properly and notze around so this time he really had to put in his best efforts.


    "Just wait bastard¡­ one of these days I will have my revenge." He cried while he fought to the best of his capabilities to serve Liam.


    He did not realize it but this time Liam was paying more attention to him even though he decided to experiment with the guyter.


    He had noticed each and every single expression on the ghost''s face and also the moves he made.


    More importantly, what Gorak did not know was that¡­ if Liam paid more attention to a specific undead, he was even able to hear its thoughts and feelings.


    "Interesting." Liam grinned. It looked like his first human soul undead was indeed very special. He had some amount of free will and free thinking. It seems he could even curse him freely.


    But did this mean his potential was higher than the other soul undeads? Or did he be like this only because he was a vengeful ghost to begin with before getting forged?


    There were too many doubts and too many questions. He really wanted to learn and understand his ss better to tap into the full potential of his ss.


    But first¡­ ng!


    Liam blocked the naga''s next attack as he took a step forward, and used [Spirit sh] to finish off itsst bits of health.


    With all the soul undeads now working to their bones, two more nagas fell, and once again there were no drops and no experience points.


    A dungeon that gave neither of these things was definitely a waste of time but Liam continued quickly plowing through the nagas to get to the bottom of this mysterious ce.


    A few secondster another wave of nagas arrived, and there were five of them this time.


    Liam''s expression changed as he observed that all five of them were again Level 50 and moved with a simr speed and agility as his own.


    And since there were five, the difficulty this time had exponentially increased!


    He was still more than capable of handling this much but the issue that he was concerned about was how the others were doing. Was everyone in the same boat facing a simr situation?


    "No point in thinking about that right now. I first need to get out of here."


    [Nether Scythe] Liam raised his hand tomand the swirlingher in the air and started cleaving the nagas left and right.


    With the soul undeads and Luna giving support to him from the back, this battle as well did notst long. However, before thest naga could go down, Liam suddenly stopped.


    "STOP." Hemanded the others as well to stop and stepped forward defenselessly to take a hit.


    There was something about this ce that was bugging him from the beginning. So he wanted to confirm something.


    Just a couple of hits from the snake man wouldn''t do much damage to him. He stepped forward and when the naga raised the trident to strike him down, he simply stood and took the damage.


    Or rather no damage at all!


    "I was right!" Liam gazed at the naga in front of him in puzzlement. The damn thing could do no damage to him if he did not attack it in the first ce.


    It was an illusion! Everything inside this ce was an illusion!

 Chapter 448 - What is real and what is not?

    <h4>Chapter 448 - What is real and what is not?</h4>


    "No need to fight anything. Let''s keep moving." Liam frowned as he looked around the dark cave tunnels. The entire ce looked like a maze, without any way out visible.


    As soon as he realized that the nagas appearing were mere illusions, a part of him also expected the cave and the tunnels around him to also be illusions but that did not seem to be the case.


    These indeed looked real. He touched the moist murky walls as he continued dashing forward, heading deeper into the cave tunnels.


    A few secondster, another group of nagas popped up but Liampletely ignored them.


    He ran right through their physical bodies which turned into light dust the moment he touched them. The illusion did not work because he was now aware of it?


    He now understood this ce somewhat. "Such an borate illusion¡­ what is inside these tunnels?"


    The more he thought about his current situation the more uneasy he felt. This ce was definitely not like any other regr dungeon space.


    This was entirely something else. The six naga elites up front and all of these illusions¡­ perhaps someone was trying to keep intruders out of this cavework?


    In that case, there was either a grave danger inside or a huge opportunity, or perhaps bothbined together.


    Usually, danger and opportunity went hand in hand. So Liam was now even more impatient to get to the bottom of this.


    He blew through the few illusionary naga mobs that appeared in front of him one after the other but after some time even they stoppeding out.


    Liam''s expression once again changed. The fact that no more illusions appeared was not exactly good news.


    Because¡­ this could only mean that¡­


    The person or the inscription or the demon or whatever was controlling these illusions realized that he was here and he saw through their magic!


    So their next attack would probably be stronger than this!


    Who was he going to face next? He had a feeling that it was not going to be simple.


    Liam started mentally preparing himself for what was about toe when suddenly the tunnel walls started bing bigger and bigger.


    The small tunnel opened up to a huge underground cavern and at the center of this cavern, there was a nagazily coiled around.


    Liam immediately stopped because for an instant three huge question marks appeared above this naga''s head.


    However, he realized that once again this could be an illusion, so he shook his head, closed his eyes, and looked at the naga again.


    Bingo! The naga that appeared in front of him this time was only Level 60!


    But¡­ a level 60 elite could control so many illusions? Was the previous question marks an illusion or this level 60 was an illusion?


    He did not dare take another step forward as he silently stood and observed the creature at a distance.


    But it looked like that was not entirely up to him.


    Just as Liam arrived at the mouth of the tunnel opening, he barely had a chance to take a look at the naga in front of him when suddenly something hurled towards him.


    The next second he found himself standing at the center of the cavern or rather, he found himself bound and coiled at the center of the cavern.


    The huge naga reared its head up and gazed at him with a pair of menacing eyes.


    He hissed at Liam as if he was saying something to him, but Liam couldn''t decipher thenguage and understand his words.


    Besides, he had other pressing issues at the moment. The naga had fully coiled around him and even breathing was impossible.


    The condition right now was truly dangerous. He couldn''t afford to let this continue any longer.


    So without paying any head to what the naga was bbering, he willed theher swirling around to form giant spikes that pierced the coils from all directions.


    HISSSSS!


    Though the thick skin of the naga was seemingly not injured, the coils loosened up a bit and Liam used this chance to quickly jump out and move several paces back.


    HISSSSSS!


    "Why do you attack when we are having a conversation? That''s not good manners, boy."


    "Hmmm?" Liam''s eyes widened in shock. This snake was actually talking to him?


    "Of course, I am not a brainless monster. I can talk in several tongues." The naga started slithering close to Liam once again.


    "What can I do for you, my Lord?" Liam yed along while his eyes simultaneously looked for ways out of this cavern.


    There was no way this damned naga was Level 60, it was still ying tricks on him and the tunnel he hade in was also blocked now.


    He waspletely trapped with this illusion bastard?


    Liam shook his head and tried to really see through which is real and which is fake. He tried to observe even the smallest of the details of everything around him.


    However, he couldn''t find any hints. The reality or the illusion, whatever was around him was woven together perfectly!


    How was he supposed to fight with such an opponent?


    Liam hurriedly pulled over as much asher toward him as he possibly could. Right now, against this unknown opponent, this was probably the strongest weapon he had in his arsenal.


    He needed to use the natural affinity towardher to his advantage and escape from here.


    He started curling upher around his arms and his body, creating a makeshift protective barrier.


    However, in the middle of doing this, Liam suddenly had another thought. This naga couldn''t possibly be manipting theher around him too?


    Fuck! That was a frightening thought. If nothing around him was real, how the hell was he supposed to fight against this thing?


    But could he really manipte theher as well?


    This was the first time that he was dealing with an enemy like this who could alter reality and it was not going well.


    He hated the feeling of being toyed around with and that was exactly what the naga was going with him. He was toying around with him.


    The naga still probably did not even use a fraction of his strength and he was already losing!


    Liam gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and tried to sense the presence ofher around him. He might not be able to fight back but this much he could do.


    It only took him an instant to feel all the millions of wisps ofher all around him and he could tell that if he needed they would be at his beck andmand within seconds.


    However, he did not want that at the moment.


    Liam wanted theher wisps to stay where they were. Instead, he tried to sense the surroundings around him using theseher wisps.

 Chapter 449 - A test?

    <h4>Chapter 449 - A test? </h4>


    Liam had no idea if this was even going to work but he knew that he had to try ande up with something and he had to do this while the naga was still not serious and simply toying with him.


    He closed his eyes as with his eyes open he couldn''t fully focus and this in itself was contributing to the illusion. He needed to see the world around him as if he was truly blind.


    In fact¡­ Liam clenched his fists and let go. He needed to see the world around him after shutting down all of his other senses.


    Perhaps this was his only way out of this illusionary mess?


    He had not done anything like this before so Liam was not 100% confident that he could aplish this feat, but he was short on time and this was the only solution that he hade up with so far.


    He tried to ignore the sounding from the naga''s movements, the feeling of the crisp air on his skin, and the solid ground under his feet, only focusing on theher around him.


    Almost instantly, the world around him cracked, shatteringpletely.


    "It worked?" Liam couldn''t believe it. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself coiled around, still within the grasp of the same naga. So he never broke free?


    "So¡­ you figured it out huh¡­" The naga hissed.


    Liam ignored him and looked around. Beside him, the other ghosts were relentlessly bumping into the thick coils of the naga, trying to break him free.


    Luna as well was opening and closing her small mouth repeatedly, assaulting the snake''s coils with big intense red mes one after the other.


    Seeing that that was not enough, she was also going crazy scratching away at the damn thing with her paws as if there was no tomorrow.


    "You have a very loyal pet¡­" The naga hissed.


    Liam ignored him again and frantically tried to free himself from the grasp of the creature.


    "Struggling is useless boy but seeing that you are notpletely an idiot¡­ how about I give you a special offer?"


    "If you can hold on for 5 minutes against my clone, I will let you leave this ce. Are you willing to try?"


    "Or you can just be my snack and wake up again?" The naga grinned, pulling Liam closer to his mouth.


    Liam waspletely stunned not because of the shock he received from seeing the naga''s ugly face up close but because of thest part of what the naga mentioned.


    Wake up again¡­? Does that mean that this naga was aware of the yers in the game? Or rather the intruders in this world?


    Just who was this person?


    More importantly, a person of this power level could have simply prevented anyone from disturbing him in the first ce. Why go through all of these? Unless he was testing¡­


    "I am willing to take the test," Liam spoke what he was thinking.


    The naga grinned, "Aren''t you a smart one? I have high hopes boy. Don''t disappoint me."


    Before Liam could blink, he once again found himself standing on solid ground. "No, this is still not real." He couldn''t see Luna or the other soul undeads around him.


    Instead, four nagas materialized in four corners boxing him into the center of the square. Weirdly, all four nagas resembled the same naga who had held him captive up until now.


    Just what sort of a test is this?


    Liam gripped his sword and shook his head. There was no point in thinking too much.


    Before the four nagas could make a move, he started pulling all theher around him towards him. Liam was now almost covered by a thickher aura that wrapped him like a ck nket.


    Hissss¡­ Instantly, the nagas around him started moving, not giving him the chance to attack them freely.


    The four nagas moved at lightning speed and Liam could only barely see them.


    [Nether Firestorm]


    [Nether Firestorm]


    [Nether Firestorm]


    [Nether Firestorm]


    He did not hold back and attacked them with everything he had. Four vortexes of powerful mes roared in four different directions. The entire cave became burning hot.


    "Marvellous!" Someone hissed from the background.


    But Liam did not allow himself to get carried away, he gripped his sword tightly and started making the next preparations. Something told him that things were not going to be this easy.


    And just like he had expected, the four nagas werepletely unaffected. When the actual attacknded on the nagas, not even a single damage number popped up.


    "They are not real! How do you expect me to fight against them?" Liam shouted in frustration.


    If the bastard wanted to test him for some reason, it was fine but at least have some shame to conduct a fair test.


    What the hell was he supposed to do against illusions that will never take any damage?


    Seeing Liam''s frustrations, the other party roared loudly inughter, his movements still not stopping. "No boy! I am not an illusion, I am very real."


    As the voice echoed throughout the cave, Liam felt as if his head was spinning. Where there were only four nagas, now somehow there were forty nagas!


    He blinked and tried to see through the illusion but in the next second, the forty nagas became four hundred nagas!


    "Do you see now? It''s all me. BA HA HA HA HA!"


    Liam''s hand trembled as he silently tried to gain control of something. Anything. But the truth was that this entire situation was not in his hands anymore.


    All he could do now was¡­


    "5 minutes. I need to hold on for 5 minutes."


    He narrowed his eyes and with a wave of his hand, he manipted theher nket surrounding him into hundreds ofher bullets that shot forward to pierce the clones or the images or whatever they were.


    HISSSS


    HISSSS


    HISSSS


    All the nagas collectively hissed making his head spin and his vision blur. And when his vision cleared, there were now only three nagas circling around him.


    Liam tried to summonher once again but suddenly he couldn''t sense anyher at all.


    "He He He. Sorry, boy. You used up everything." The same voice thundered in the big cave and the three nagas rushed towards Liam with their tridents.


    They wielded the tridents like spears and thrusted them towards him,pletely locking him in at the center.


    "He He He. Your condition is not looking good, boy. It looks like you will fail this test."

 Chapter 450 - 5 minutes...

    <h4>Chapter 450 - 5 minutes...</h4>


    The damned naga was still taunting him but Liam did not have the time to be frustrated with him.


    5 minutes!


    He needed to hold on for five minutes!


    If he couldn''t useher anymore, then¡­


    Liam instantly used mana to bring up an ice block on one side and he used his purple sword to block the moves from the other two nagas or rather naga images.


    Once again no damage numbers popped out but¡­ his block was not perfect and one of the attacks grazed against his shoulder.


    As if the item he was wearing did not even exist, the attack cut through the metal and reached his body, even drawing some blood.


    "So¡­ the opponents are not real¡­ there are no damage numbers¡­ there are no experience points¡­ but the blood is real?" Liam smiled bitterly.


    Before he could even finish that thought, the next attacks started pouring in. He did not get any time to think or manipte mana to conjure any spell.


    With the attacks raining down on him, he could only do one thing, the thing that he was most familiar with.


    Liam shed down his purple sword at the iing trident and pushed it back. Hepletely let go of every single thought in his head and focussed only on the tridentsing at him.


    CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.


    The sharp sounds of metals shing against each other reverberated throughout the big empty cave as the one man and the three nagas relentlessly battled.


    Liam was only barely holding on because, in the beginning, he was able to match the speed and agility of the three nagas.


    However, with every ticking second, he was slowly and surely falling behind. It was only 5 minutes that he had to hold on but those 5 minutes felt like an eternity now.


    Wherever he turned there was a naga striking him with the trident. At least they were not using other attacks. Otherwise, Liam would have long since lost the fight.


    What exactly was the naga trying to test him for?


    He did not have the time to think about it at the moment.


    Liam had to give his 100% here to the fight. He watched the three naga''s each and every move and tried to predict their attack pattern.


    He couldn''t keep up with their speed so this was the only way possible for him to keep up. However, when he tried to study their attack pattern, all he could see was a jumbled mess.


    It looked as if they were all after images of each other.


    The real one¡­ was he even here? Liam couldn''t help but doubt everything in front of him.


    However, the blood trickling from his hand was undeniable. The real one had to be here!


    As his purple sword shed brilliantly, blocking and parrying the three nagas simultaneously, Liam suddenly found a small opening.


    After a few seconds, their movements had already be a little predictable.


    He would have seen it earlier but because everything happened so fast, he was only able to spot this weak point now.


    The next second when the three nagas jutted their tridents towards him, without hesitation Liam used up 20% of the mana he was saving and enhanced his speed and strength.


    He then used one of the nagas to push himself and jumped up to avoid the attacks from the other two, and without giving them the next attack, he instantly shed down using the full power that he could muster.


    [Spirit sh]


    HISSSSS!


    Finally, one of the three nagas was pushed back. Using this to his advantage, Liam quickly broke the encirclement and this gave him a few seconds.


    But unfortunately, it did notst long. The nagas once again cornered him in no time and Liam once again had to mindlessly swing his sword in all different directions to block the attack.


    And he was only second minute in¡­


    Three more minutes¡­ he needed to hold on for three more minutes¡­


    CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG


    CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG


    Sparks flew around from the metals shing against each other. Liam was able to brace the attacks for a few seconds but he was once again overwhelmed quickly.


    And this time, the nagas also changed the attack pattern.


    "Damn it. I have no other choice. I have to use that." Liam panted breathlessly and sucked in a big mouthful of air before pulling his sword back. "I can do this!"


    The three tridents should have immediately struck him but weirdly they did not. His body started spinning like a top and the sword that retreated now shed around even more brilliantly.


    [Sprit Wrath]


    This skill when typically executed had the power tomand hundreds of swords from the earth, each dealing a ridiculous amount of damage, 1000% to be more urate to the enemy that had incurred the wrath.


    However, doing something like that would be extremely foolish right.


    Liam desperately needed a breather but using this skill would empty his tank and only make him extremely vulnerable to the subsequent attacks.


    This was why Liam did not use the skill as it was. He modified it and used a lighter version of it. The skill that he used now onlymanded one-tenth of the power of the usual [Spirit wrath].


    The three nagas were struck with a dozen swords that popped up under their coils and skewered them like roasted snake meat.


    And because he lowered the intensity, the attack was also not too draining and Liam continued to move, distancing himself from the snakes as much as he could.


    He also withdrew some sks from his inventory and dunked them in one after the other. Stamina, Mana, and Rage.


    He downed everything down and stared at the three nagas in front of them who were once again hot on his trail.


    They dashed towards him from three different sides and this time when Liam looked at them there was a strange light in his eyes.


    This was the fourth minute. Thest before the final minute. If he could hold on for another 120 seconds, then he would have passed this test!


    "COME AT ME!" Liam gripped his sword and materialized two ice spheres using the mana that he had just regenerated.


    The two balls of ice did not hit anything and rather remained swirling around him.


    Only when the nagas blurred to appear next to him, Liam used the two spheres to directly block the trident attacks.


    This momentarily reduced their attack speed and he once again used this to ce distance between the trio and himself. His goal here was not winning or killing them.


    He could long since tell that something like that was impossible.


    Instead, this was a cat and mouse game.


    He was the mouse and they were the cats and he needed to survive for another 100 seconds!


    ***

 Chapter 451 - Was everything an illusion?

    <h4>Chapter 451 - Was everything an illusion?</h4>


    100 seconds!


    Liam suddenly felt that this was extremely doable! He can get through this! He can pass this test and get out of this weird ce, that is if the damned naga keeps his word.


    He had a feeling that the snake was not to be trusted.


    And before he could even finish this thought, as if the other party could read his mind, a loud voice reverberated in the cave.


    "Too easy! Let''s make things a bit more interesting!"


    HISSSSSS


    The next second the number of nagas battling Liam doubled and there were now a total of six nagas.


    More importantly, Liam was no longer able to use even mana, essentially cutting him off of bothher and mana.


    "What the hell¡­" His eyes widened in realization when he couldn''t feel either of the two energies but he couldn''t afford to think about it right now.


    Without giving him even a chance to breathe, the six sets of tridents locked him in ce, all of theming at him with the clear intention of skewering him.


    Liam could only retaliate so much. If he was not overwhelmed before, he was nowpletely under the water.


    He madly fought with the six nagas, at this point only the opponents in front of him visible.


    After a certain limit, even that disappeared from his vision, only the tridents now upying all of his mind.


    It was as if there was a rhythm and all he had to do was follow that rhythm and meet the weapon every single time.


    Beingpletely pushed to the extreme, Liam slowly even forgot about the number of seconds he had still hold on or the fact that he was trapped in some sort of weird illusion.


    The six tridents were the only things in his mind.


    CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.


    The weapons contiuned ceaselessly shing and eventually he managed to push back one attackpletely.


    HISSS! The naga skidded back and the image disappeared.


    "I can see it now!" Liam gripped his sword tighter. He could see their movements and he could see how they were able to achiever this sort of effect.


    It was just a hunch but he decided to test it. When the naga on his right side pointed its trident towards him, Liam instead attacked the one on his left side.


    At all times, there was only one naga around him! The rest were all images! Illusions! This was he was sure of it! It was as if the thing that was clouding his mind was nowpletely lifted.


    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    The nagas continued to relentlessly assault Liam but he no longer fought back mindlessly.


    He could vaguely grasp some concept using which he could see through their movements and the difference between truth and lies.


    So he only attacked two nagas amidst the six. His technique was not perfect but it was enough to push them back and break the encirclement.


    Liam then moved several paces back. He did not realize it but when he did, he left several after images in his path.


    If someone else had seen him right now, they would have been extremely shocked. This was the same technique the nagas had used as well!


    Just as Liam was about to dive back in and finally take out the damn naga who had been torturing him for so long now, suddenly the world around him started turning dark.


    "I knew you had it in you. HISSSSSS! Congrattions on passing my test, boy. I will see you again when the timees. HISSSSSS!"


    Liam felt a splitting headache ripple across his brain and when he opened his eyes or rather when he was able to see, he was once again back outside, in front of the dungeon portal.


    He was on the ground, from top to bottom fully drenched in sweat.


    "What the hell just happened?" He shook his head, trying to think clearly.


    Kyuuuu.


    A small fox walked over to him, looking worriedly.


    "Oh, you are also here?" Liam sighed in relief and turned around to see the rest of the group arrive one by one as well.


    However, not everyone was as stable as him. Derek swung his axe around as if he was still fighting the nagas.


    Shin Soo screamed, "Damned snakes! Get away from me!"


    A lot of people were in different different poses. From the looks of it, none of them had figured out the illusion part and were still fighting thinking that the nagas were real.


    Only when they realized that they were somehow outside again, they calmed down.


    "What the hell was that?"


    "Oh my god. Everyone is here again."


    "Brother, there were so many nagas! The more I killed more nagas starteding at me." Mei Mei ran forward and hugged Liam.


    Everyone looked extremely pleased to get out of the hell hole. They were not getting any drops, any experience points and the number of nagasing at them were never ending.


    They were also restless being caught alone and fighting the waves of beasts alone. Now that they were finally outside, everyone was able to breathe.


    "What dungeon was that?"


    "Boss, could it be some special secret ce? Maybe it had some treasure? It definitely did not look ordinary."


    Everyone was of the same opinion and nodded in agreement.


    They wanted to attempt this godforsaken dungeon again though they already knew that it was going to be just as terrible as the first time.


    They needed to do it. Otherwise, they would miss this treasure.


    In reality, Liam was also of the same opinion.


    There was something in this ce and the fact that they had all returned outside without dying meant that whatever was inside was not trying to harm them.


    It might even be a ce for training. He could still feel his nerves tingling from having fought continuously for so long, pushing himself to the limits all throughout.


    He did not obtain anything this time, perhaps if they go in for the second time, they could get something?


    Liam turned to the dungeon portal to investigate if they had to deal with the six elites at the gate again, only to find out that the entire ce hadpletely vanished.


    There was no sign of the dungeon or anyndmark indicating that the dungeon was ever here. "It disappeared?"


    Liam no longer knew what to think about it. The whole damn ce had actually disappeared! Was anything even real or did he just dream about the entire thing?


    "Alright." He quickly shook it off and pped his hands loudly. "Let''s get moving. Too many people know our location. It is not good to stay too long here."


    Immediately, Luna ballooned up and Liam dashed forward to hop onto her in a rush. However, when he moved, behind him there were two after images...


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill]

 Chapter 452 - l only taught him a little something

    <h4>Chapter 452 - l only taught him a little something </h4>


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill]


    [Illusionary Sword: Consumes 10% soul strength; What is real and what is fake is no longer indistinguishable; Three after images are generated with each sword move; Cooldown: None]


    Liam stared at the notification with his mouth wide agape. This¡­ was this the same skill that the nagas used? Since when did he learn this skill?


    And it looked like he was not the only one who noticed this skill.


    "Brother, just now! Gasp! It looked like there were three of you!" Mei Mei covered her mouth and looked at him in shock. "How did you do it?"


    "Yes, we will talk about itter," Liam answered her as if he was answering his own doubts, and the group quickly set to leave the area.


    Making sure that there were no demons or humans on their trail, Liam brought the group over to the nearest herb grinding areas.


    He had had enough of trying to find shortcuts. Sometimes the grinding just needed to happen and since they were a big group this should be a lot faster.


    Liam sucked in a breath and along with the rest of the guild started hunting down the mob of demonic beasts one after the other.


    More than hunting, he focused on the skill he had newly learned. Clearly, the version he had now was very basicpared to what he had seen back in the cave.


    Perhaps if he trained more¡­ he would also be able to achieve that level?


    Liam gripped his sword and moved faster. He had a feeling that he needed to push his agility more to achieve this.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, somewhere in the eastern part of theher realm, the same dungeon portal silently reappeared along with the six swirling blobs of energy, the elites that guarded the said portal.


    And inside this portal¡­


    There was a huge naga resting, coiled around on the floor. However, it was not the same person Liam had seen. Instead, there was an old naga.


    He was really old with his skin saggy and his scales oily, no longer having the luster they possessed once.


    And the space also waspletely different. It was not the dark moldy cave. Rather it was like the inside of a pce.


    There were all sorts of riches andforts inside and the old man was also not alone. There were several people serving him. He was living the life of a wealthy king.


    And right at this moment, he was staring absentmindedly at some sort of a silver mirror that was made of water.


    "What do you mean you gave our rune to someone?" A beautiful face appeared in the mirror and was almost screaming at the old naga.


    "The life of our entire n depends upon it. Have you lost it, old man?"


    "Calm down. Calm down, princess. This is no way to talk to your ancestor."


    "Ancestor? My ass!" The face in the mirror hissed. "How can you give away our rune so easily? Without it, we now have no other trump cards in our hand!"


    "He doesn''t even know that he has it. I wouldn''t-"


    "Shut up, you old fool. What else did you give away? What else did you ruin? Did you perhaps tell him all our secrets? Give away our n''s weaknesses?"


    "Cough. Cough. Little girl, you must respect your ancestor. I only gave him the rune. Nothing else. Cough. Cough. Maybe a little technique."


    "What did you say? What technique?"


    "Little girl, I did it for a reason. The lines of fate¡­ That person is not-"


    "Stop talking about the lines of fate all the time."


    "Old man, you were never really good at it. I heard from father that you were just a wannabe fate mage. So just answer my question without bullshitting. What did you teach him?"


    "I might have taught him some of our illusion moves but wait."


    The old naga smiled bitterly seeing that the vein on the forehead of the face in the mirror was throbbing violently.


    "He might have really not picked it up at all. Besides, he probably wouldn''t be able toprehend anything from it."


    "You don''t have to be so afraid. He is verycking in many aspects though in other aspects he is extraordinary."


    The woman in the mirror furrowed her brows, her frown bing deeper. "Shut up!"


    "Aha ha ha ha. Little girl, I don''t think that someone like you is capable of scaring someone like me. Cough. Cough. Why don''t you stop trying to do that?"


    HIIISSSS!


    The face in the mirror did not scream any longer and calmly spoke. "My apologies, grand ancestor. Perhaps the grand ancestor has really forgotten all of his duties."


    "Ughhh¡­ little snake, no need to be so formal. Cough. Cough." Somehow this was scarier than the tone she was taking before. "How about you go back to scolding me?"


    "No, grand ancestor. Who am I to question your actions?" The face in the mirror was even calmer than before. She was so calm that ayer of frost covered her face.


    "I will be taking my leave then." The waters in the mirror started rippling and the face of the woman started to blur.


    "Little girl, wait. Little snake. Listen, I only did what I did because I could see the lines of fate coursing through him. Maybe he is the person who will be able to-"


    The old naga sighed. The princess was no longer there on the other side of the mirror. It seems that he was ranting all by himself without any audience.


    Hisssss! The old naga sighed and slowly slithered away drinking the wine in his ss.


    "Should I have perhaps told her that she had also met the human being previously and even personally given him her pearls?"


    "I could sense her presence with that boy. Otherwise, I would have never invited him in."


    "Well, whatever. She will know it soon enough. Hissss¡­ These young blood¡­ so impatient¡­ can never seem to see the lines of fate."


    The old naga''s face turned a shade of red when he remembered how his prowess in fate magic had been spread by his ungrateful seeds.


    "These bastards¡­ they don''t know my worth. Tch. Tch."


    He then pulled into his arms two beautiful young nagas one on each side and retired to another chamber.


    "This old man is so tired. Sigh¡­ the burden I carry on my arms¡­ who will ever understand it. Sigh. Come help this tired old man rx a bit."


    The two young women smiled and followed the old naga into the chambers, several intense noisesing from within there afterward

 Chapter 453 - Herbs.Check

    <h4>Chapter 453 - Herbs.Check.</h4>


    "Hmmm¡­ Why haven''t I spotted a single demon until now?"


    Liam picked up the loot, a couple of silver coins, and then searched the skies and thend for any sight of demons.


    "Shouldn''t they be out searching for me everywhere? This seems oddly quiet."


    He paused for a while and then resumed his work, hunting more demonic beasts. This was the second spot they were grinding in and the drops were quite decent.


    He had already managed to collect quite a bit of herbs as well.


    "Liam, I have some more herbs." Shen Yue walked over and handed him another bundle of stalks.


    "Hmm. Thanks." Liam epted it and was about to ask her not toe over for every small thing when he stopped talking. It was because Shen Yue was not done yet.


    Mei Mei also joined them sweating profusely and it looked like the two of them had hunted together. "Sis Yue, did you give him yet?"


    "Yes, I am doing that right now." Shen Yue smiled and started taking out several more herbs. Soon a huge pile began to form in front of the trio.


    "Where did you guys get all of these herbs?" Liam wryly chuckled.


    He had been a little too preupied with perfecting the new technique that he didn''t exactly give all of his focus to gathering herbs from here and there, but these two had apparently done that and very sessfully too.


    "Thanks." Liam smiled at Shen Yue, genuinely expressing his gratitude. He had recognized a couple of herbs in the pile that looked simr to thest ones which he needed for the recipe.


    "Brother! Sis Yue worked so hard for you! You should thank her better." Mei Mei winked.


    "Why don''t I thank you first?" Liam rolled his eyes and flicked the little girl''s head.


    "No¡­ No¡­ it was nothing." Shen Yue smiled at their usual antics, blushing heavily.


    "No, it''s not nothing. This is a huge help for me. Thanks. How did you manage to get so much though?" Liam was genuinely shocked.


    From her collection, it looked as if the duo hadbed through the entire zone and picked clean any and all of the valuable herbs.


    It was almost impossible to do it so fast!


    "He He. Sis Yue, what? Shall we share our secret?" Mei Mei smiled.


    Though she was joking around at the moment, one could see that the little girl had worked very hard as she was sweating from top to bottom.


    She also looked very tired and worn out, having the weary look of someone who fought non-stop.


    Shen Yue also had a simr appearance. The two of them indeed seemed to have given it their all.


    So Liam sighed softly and gave them some time and attention which they seemed to be seeking.


    After being with the other spoilt girl in his life day in and day out, he now may be understood women better?


    He silently stood and waited for the duo to tell him what they were excited about.


    His gaze, however, ever so often flickered to the pile of herbs as he was mentally trying to see if these were the ones that he needed.


    "Brother! Are you listening?"


    "Sis Yue enved a group of weird-looking demon goblins and made them all do the dirty work for her! Sis Yue was awesome!"


    "I would have killed them because they were only Level 10 but Sis Yue had an idea and she made the five goblins worship her."


    "They did everything for us!"


    "They went in between holes, cracks, and crevices and picked up all the herbs in the region. Isn''t she awesome? 100% girlfriend material!"


    This kid! Liam rolled his eyes again. Why is she trying to set me up even when she knows that the world ising to an end?!


    He shook his head helplessly and then gave an awkward pat to Shen Yue. "That''s good thinking. Keep it up."


    The two women looked at him as if he had murdered someone so Liam quickly decided to leave that area.


    "Did those goblins have some cave? I need somece private to try out the concoction." He murmured and slipped away after putting transferring all the herbs into his inventory.


    Watching him run away from them, Mei Mei gave the poor girl a hug. "Sorry, sis. One of these days, we will get him."


    "No. No." Shen Yue gently smiled. "Let''s not trouble your brother. I only want to share his load. Come, let''s go back to grinding."


    "Herbs, usually don''t respawn so soon but we can clear the mobs nearby."


    "Sis Yue¡­ you are¡­ too good for my brother." Mei Mei gave her another hug and the two of them then ran away to continue their work.


    Meanwhile, Liam quickly dashed into the empty cave and cleared a couple of demonic goblins that had respawned.


    "Luna,e here. Quick." He called the fox and began setting up things.


    Kyuuuuu. The white fox speedily arrived the very next instant.


    "Stand here and guard me. If any goblins spawn, kill them. Got it?"


    Kyuuu. The fox nodded her head.


    Liam gave her a pat and then hurriedly went back to examining all the herbs in his collection. This was it. After searching almost seven zones, he finally had all the herbs that he needed.


    He went through the recipe another couple of times and took out all the herbs listed in the recipe. Luckily for them, none of the herbs happened to be rare herbs.


    They were able to obtain everything that they needed just from scouring the different areas in theher realm.


    These were probably avable in the Xion realm as well and they could have gotten it if they had looked hard enough.


    Liam was confident about this because now that he could take a look at everything together, he could see that none of the herbs wereher touched herbs.


    They did not have any specificher properties. This made sense because the recipe itself was something he obtained in the Xion realm.


    If there were anyher realm specific herbs to begin with, then the recipe would have been different.


    In any case, Liam didn''t have to worry about all of that. He only had a vague idea that the herbs might be avable here because of the Gu family''s track record.


    And just like he hypothesized, he searched the areas and now had also sessfully obtained the herbs. It was finally time to try and create this potion.


    With this, he would be able to form the mana core and officially take the first step as a Level 50 yer!


    Though Liam had been long since waiting for this moment and the blood inside his body was boiling with anticipation, he still tried not to get ahead of himself.


    After all, the old beggar had warned him about the difficulty of this recipe. Would he really be able to make it?

 Chapter 454 - Too far!

    <h4>Chapter 454 - Too far!</h4>


    A few hourster¡­


    "Sis Yue, what do you think my brother is making inside?" Mei Mei curiously asked.


    Shen Yue shook her head, making her long ck curls dance in the wind. "I have no idea."


    The two of them had been observing the cave for a while.


    They knew that Liam was inside because Derek was standing guard outside and they had also seen him going in or rather running in.


    But the thing was¡­ after that he hadn''t stepped out for hours together. asionally, there were loud st noises and smokeing out of the cave.


    Sometimes even Luna bolted out from inside looking pitch ck in color and coughing up ash and dust but Liam waspletely holed up. There was not even a peep from him.


    "Grinding in the same spot¡­ it''s not boring but I wish I could fight something stronger." Mei Mei mumbled and then turned around nevertheless to continue doing the same.


    Shen Yue as well went back to the grind. And just like that¡­ another few hours passed.


    However, all of a sudden, a huge explosion resounded loudly in the forest, thick smoke and debris sting out of the cave.


    The st rocked the whole ce. Several cracks appeared in the cave, and the whole ce looked like it was about to copse.


    Everyone became shocked and quickly rushed back to see what happened. The cave as well started crumbling, Liam and Luna rushing out at thest minute.


    "Ahhh. Boss, are you okay?"


    "Brother, what happened?"


    Mei Mei and the others looked at Liam worriedly because the man in front of them right now lookedpletely different than his usual self.


    He was gaunt, lifeless, drooping and might as well be a sack of skin and bones. Even a heavy wind might blow him right off.


    Just what the hell happened inside the cave?


    Naturally, Liam understood everyone''s shock. However, he would not exin his actions.


    The recipe was definitely time consuming and difficult, perhaps even impossible for him to fullyprehend, but it somehow needed to be done.


    This time there was simply no other way around it. Without this, their foundation would remain forever shaky. They would also never amount to anything.


    In ''Evolution Online'' or even in the new world, the higher one grew, they also simultaneously trapped themselves and reduced their potential.


    After a certain point, there would be no more potential left and they would not be able to grow any further.


    And without this elixir, that bottleneck would arrive that much sooner. Liam was not ready to ept this. He did not want to waste this glorious second chance he received.


    If he did, there wouldn''t be a greater fool than him!


    No matter what happened, he was going to make this damned recipe work.


    Liam was too tired to talk and flopped onto Luna''s back. "You guys continue. I need some rest."


    He hadn''t given up just yet. He was going to go back to banging his head on the wall right after he got some rest, but the problem was¡­ he was no longer sure if he would be able to do it.


    This was not a simple matter of controlling or manipting mana. He also had all the herbs that he needed.


    However, he was no closer to figuring out what this recipe needed or what mistake he was making.


    Perhaps it was missing something. That was why the beggar said that he was never able to make it.


    And just like him, would he also not be able to make it? Liam couldn''t help but be anxious.


    If it was hard work that it needed, he was ready and willing tomit, but sometimes there was such a thing as genius. Something above and beyond hard work.


    Maybe he would never be able to do it?


    "No, I should not think like that," Liam muttered under his breath and covered his eyes. He decided to rest for a bit, so while the others continued to grind monsters, he took a small nap.


    "Ummm¡­ Liam, are you awake?" After some time, Shen Yue walked over to him.


    "Hey." Liam yawned.


    "Umm¡­ I made something for you." Shen Yue extended her slender hand forward to reveal two nicely roasted meatballs.


    She blushed slightly and exined. "These will help with your-"


    Unfortunately, before she could finish her sentence, a white paw beat her to it and grabbed the two meatballs.


    Munch. Munch. Munch. Luna happily grinned, savoring the taste of the good food. The white fox did not show the slightest hint of remorse for behaving so shamelessly.


    Shen Yue was speechless. "Ah¡­ never mind." She bitterly smiled and decided to head back, not knowing what else to do.


    Those two were the only items she prepared. They had extremely high recovery properties, so she wanted to give them to Liam, but now it was gone.


    Liam as well was lost for words. He shook his head helplessly and chuckled.


    "Thank you for the meatballs, but you didn''t have to. I already ate a few berries. They are as good as anything else."


    "Right." Shen Yue nodded. She also knew that, but it wouldn''t be good just to eat berries all the time.


    Anyone would want to eat something tastier once in a while, which was why she had made it for him but this fox!


    "I will make some again." She turned around to leave. However, Liam quickly pulled her back.


    "Forget about that. Let''s spar for a bit." Now that he had somewhat recovered and he didn''t want to go back to alchemy so soon, he decided to practice the illusionary sword technique a little bit.


    He chose Shen Yue particrly to do this because if she also managed to learn something from him, then it would greatly benefit her.


    Illusionary Sword was a technique that would go extremely well with her ss Enchantress.


    "Take out your daggers." Liam as well unsheathed his self-made purple sword. A few people noticed this, and the group started gathering around.


    The big boss was going to spar, so they did not want to miss this!


    "Sis Yue! You got this!" Mei Mei cheered for her.


    Shen Yue, on the other hand, was trembling from top to bottom. She was not at all ready for this!


    All she wanted to do was give some snacks to the guy, and now he was going to fight with her?


    Oh god! He is going to see how much I suck! Shen Yue rubbed her sweaty palms on her robes.


    "What? Shouldn''t an enchantress be bolder?" Liam did not give her any chance topose herself and started making the first move.


    He unsheathed his sword and dashed forward, not holding back in the slightest.


    Shen Yue blinked in a daze, and by the time she snapped out of her trance, she was already pushed back, and a heavy wound appeared on her waist, blood trickling from the wound.


    With just one hit, she was already down half her health and was also under the bleed effect, which meant that she was going to lose her health faster.


    And she knew that Liam was not going all out. In fact, he was far from going all out.


    "So weak¡­ Tsk. Tsk." Liam smirked, speaking out loud the thoughts in her mind. "Are you just nning to be a weak little girl forever?" He continued taunting her.


    Though he was making fun of her, no one standing around them dared tough even a little because they had all personally witnessed Shen Yue''s strength.


    She might be weak when fighting against Liam, but that did not mean that she was weak against all of them.


    Even Mei Mei did not say anything. Her brother probably had a reason for doing this, but she only wished that he wouldn''t go too far.


    Unfortunately, it looked like Liam nned to do exactly that¡­


    "Get up and shake your hips. Maybe then you can charm your way out of this battle? Heh. All women know is only that, right? Either use their body or their tears?"


    He did not stop talking and dashed forward again, once again striking the woman at the same spot where she was wounded before.


    It was a vicious attack. Shen Yue lookedpletely stunned. She did not know why Liam was being so cruel to her, but she did not have time to think about that right now.


    Everything he said was true. She was very weak. She weakly made an attempt to block his attack, only to get mmed onto the ground several feet away.


    There was a puddle of ck rain on that spot, and Shen Yue waspletely drenched in the filthy puddle water from top to bottom.


    "For an enchantress, you look a bit ugly. Heh." Liam chuckled.


    "Maybe Mia or Alex would have done better than you with your ss. I mean¡­ both of them look much better than you."


    His words sounded loud and clear as he dashed forward to attack the girl once again.


    He still looked calm as if he was simply going about his business, but everyone else had a grave expression.


    Liam had gone too far! They all knew it! Mei Mei silently lit a candle for her brother. He was going to pay for this. They could all see it from the look on her face.


    Shen Yue''s face considerably darkened. Something about her changed like a switch flipped, and she moved to dodge this attack.


    "That''s more like it. Now, let''s go." Liam grinned.

 Chapter 455 - You cannot be this easy!

    <h4>Chapter 455 - You cannot be this easy!</h4>


    Shen Yue red at Liam with her eyes shooting daggers at him.


    As for the real daggers, she gripped them tightly and tried activating the strongest weapon in her arsenal to get some breathing room and refill her health.


    [Beguile]


    "Hmmm? Why is it not working?"


    [Beguile]


    [Beguile]


    She gritted her teeth and mumbled loudly, loud enough for the other person to hear.


    Liam grinned. This was something else that he had wanted to test.


    Back when he was with the naga, the naga had said something about his mental acumen being good.


    So he wanted to see what effect this skill would have on him, but he never expected it not to workpletely.


    "Try again." He then moved casually, cornering the woman again, and shed his sword downzily.


    Even with everything he had said, this action was way more humiliating as it showed the difference between both their levels.


    Oveing her initial shock, Shen Yue bit her lips and then started casting her other skills. Why are my skills not working?! Is my charm attribute truly not effective against him?


    [Beguile] [Mesmerize] [Distract]


    She used all of her special skills at the same time in haste.


    "Think steadily. Don''t panic." Liam instructed her and prepared to make the next move when suddenly he noticed that something was off. His movements were a lot slower.


    So something worked?


    He quickly recollected her skills again, which included beguile - mind control, mesmerize, the stun spell, andstly, a time-altering spell, distract!


    So the distract skill was still working, which meant that his mental strength wasn''t all that powerful just yet. He only had a slight advantage over her.


    Shen Yue as well realized this and quickly gobbled up two bottles of health potion.


    A red mist enveloped her, quickly recovering her health, and she dashed forward tond her attacks before the effect wore off.


    She did not want to do this, but she also did not want to look like a weak, helpless burden in front of Liam. She wanted to prove herself.


    There were 30 more seconds before the distraction effect wore off, so that was all the time she had, and that too the skill did not do much. It only warped Liam''s sense of time by 1 second.


    For dealing with others, this was more than enough, but for this person¡­ it was not enough. He was strong. She needed to execute her strongest move in order to prove herself.


    Shen Yue gripped her daggers with determination and spun around, her body starting to emit a dazzling glow.


    [de Dance]


    This was the special active skill of her Epic ranked dagger. An epic weapon was heads and shoulders above other weapons, so the skill was not for nothing.


    Shen Yue''s slender body was instantly enshrouded in numerous daggers. These daggers danced around her in a violent fashion, and yet not one injured her.


    With Shen Yue herself spinning around as well, she along with the daggers looked like a violent hurricane brewed by the death goddess.


    And suddenly, this hurricane came to a halt, Shen Yue disappearing and the numerous daggers flying forward like zooming bullets.


    Except that all of these daggers had a unique torque in their momentum. They zigged and zagged, their trajectories unpredictable.


    How was one supposed to block the attack if they did not know where it was going to strike?


    And that too, with the sheer number of daggers in the air, this move was definitely a finishing move!


    Everyone witnessing this gasped in shock. None of them had the confidence to defend against such a move. Mei Mei already started preparing a healing spell in case Liam needed one.


    The daggers buzzed alive and shot forward, all of them heading toward Liam, and he as well was clearly not prepared, his movements still being sluggish.


    There was no more mystery or suspense at this point. This was definitely game over, but everyone knew that things couldn''t be so simple.


    It was never simple when their big boss was involved.


    And just as they suspected, at thest minute, before the daggers could strike Liam, he split apart into three different figures.


    It was difficult for one person to block the attack, but it was not difficult for three people to block the same attack, especially when the said person was Liam.


    The daggers that were violently thrumming alive one by one disappeared after getting tangled with the purple sword.


    And Shen Yue, who by now showed up behind Liam tond the finishing touch for this move, was alsopletely trapped.


    After avoiding the dagger dance, Liam did not give her a chance to make the next move. Though his movements were sluggish, there were now three of him.


    Three purple swords shed, and Shen Yue did not know which one to block. She used the dagger in her right hand to block one and the one in her left hand to block another.


    But the other sword still hit her on the same wound again, pushing her away several feet.


    She sprung back quickly, trying to cast [Mesmerize] and [Distract] again, but this time Liam was more prepared.


    He quickly closed his eyes and dashed towards her once again using [Illusion Sword]. He was also testing just how much he could use this skill without feeling drained.


    Shen Yue gulped. She genuinely did not know what to do now. She had not yed against an opponent like Liam up until now. He was on an entirely different level.


    She moved, trying her best to block the sword swings with her dual daggers, but she only barely managed to block one or two.


    It was impossible for her to block the attacks raining down on her from the three Liams at the same time.


    And before long, CLANG!


    Liam purposefully struck the dagger in her hand loudly, thereby ending the fight. If he sent even one more attack, then the girl would be dead.


    So he knew when to stop and backed away. "That''s enough."


    Shen Yue was confused for a second and then realized what had happened. The next instant, tiredness overtook her, and she slumped down on the ground.


    "Sis Yue!" Mei Mei quickly healed Shen Yue, and Liam picked her up off of the ground, gently cing her down on a nearby rock.


    He helped her sit up and drink some health potions and eat some recovery berries. Soon she felt a lot better, and the wounds on her body also healed up.


    Nevertheless, Shen Yue looked a bit down, so Liam awkwardly cleared his throat and mumbled. "About before, I was just saying things to get you worked up. Don''t take it to heart."


    "Umm. I understand." Shen Yue nodded. Clearly, she was still upset.


    Liam ruffled his head and then nted a small kiss on her forehead before heading over to the group.


    He pulled aside Derek and started sparring with him while Shen Yue dazedly touched her forehead, blushing bright red.


    "Sis Yue! You cannot be this easy!" Mei Mei did not know whether to cry orugh.


    "Ah¡­ Don''t say that. Everything he is doing is for us. He is working very hard." Shen Yue mumbled, still rubbing her forehead.


    Mei Mei shook her head helplessly. Her brother really had it too easy, and yet he was single! What a masochist!


    The two of them continued watching Liam and Derek spar, which surprisingly did not go that differently from when Liam and Shen Yue had sparred.


    Although in the beginning, Derek fared much betterpared to Shen Yue, as time progressed, he as well suffered under the effects of the technique.


    Illusionary Sword technique was simply too good, and since Liam''s sword techniques were already above average, he was able to bring out the effects masterfully.


    After Derek, a few other melee yers as well took turns and sparred with Liam.


    Derek went in for seconds, thirds, and several more helpings, and Shen Yue as well gripped her sword and went back a couple more times.


    After some time, even some of the long-range yers wanted to try and fight Liam. This was a rare opportunity to learnbat, and no one wanted to miss it.


    And when they were not sparring with Liam, the rest of the group did not stand around and waste time and continued to clear the mobs near them.


    In this manner, things continued for a while when the sky above them started to darken.


    Liam let out a small sigh of tiredness and then stopped. "Hmmm. Time went by quite quickly. Alright, we can start moving to another location, and you guys can train with a different mob."


    "And I will go back to¡­ Hmmm¡­" He stopped packing up and suddenly looked up again.


    Something was not right.


    The sky was not darkening like it was supposed to, and more importantly¡­ only the sky right above them had darkened¡­ everywhere else was still bright.


    Before Liam could realize what was happening, a loud shrill voice resounded amidst them. "GIVE ME BACK MY CROWN, YOU BITCH!"

 Chapter 456 - Thats my crown!

    <h4>Chapter 456 - That''s my crown!</h4>


    "Bitch! That''s my crown you are wearing!"


    The words struck like thunder, and Liam did not have to look to know who it was. He instantly bolted, moving to stand next to Mei Mei.


    He did not want her to die, but more importantly, he did not want her to die and drop the legendary item.


    Standing in front of them, the long leggy Russian blonde red at the sister and brother duo.


    She hissed like a vampiress looking at her prey but seeing Liam, she quickly backed away several paces rejoining her group.


    Standing beside her were three other yers whom Liam recognized all too well. Of course, there was also the fifth person.


    Liam looked at the huge death knight and clenched his fists tightly.


    "Have youe here to return what is mine?" He sneered, his gaze particrlynding on Kouske.


    "YOU!" Anya shouted, her entire body trembling in anger. "Give me back my crown! Right now! Right this second!" She stomped her feet on the ground.


    Standing next to Liam, Mei Mei''s eyebrows shot up at the crazy woman''s im. "No, this is my crown!" She as well stomped her feet on the ground in a simr fashion.


    Liam only smiled and didn''t say anything to hold her back. He never had any interest in sparking a conversation with this group.


    He already knew why they were here.


    His only concern now was how to get out of this because if it were just this four, he would have already killed them and camped in their graveyard. The problem was the giant deathknight.


    With that monstrosity here, there was no chance for him to win this battle.


    Perhaps a Level 20 yer could kill a level 40 elite, but a level 50 wouldn''t be able to do the same to a Level 80 or, for that matter a Level 70.


    It was because all the creatures higher than Level 50 had a qualitative change in their everything, including attack power and defense strength, all thanks to this small thing called mana core.


    And this death knight, even from the looks of it, definitely possessed a mana core. Liam''s attacks probably wouldn''t even scratch it.


    It one-shot killed him back then, and it would again one-shot kill him without batting an eye. So how were they supposed to escape this thing?


    Liam''s mind spun quickly as his gaze lingered on the four yers standing in front of him.


    "Liam! You cowardly dog! You can''t run anymore! Your bad time starts now! Today. You are the one who is going to lose, and you are the one who is going to suffer."


    The chubby hunter grinned, petting his big demonic two-headed hound.


    "Why should we run? There are only 4 of you. There are 40 of us! Do you really think you can take us?" Shin Soo could not stand still after listening to Liam being disrespected.


    The others also gathered around closer, the tension in the air palpable.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Look at this guy. Do you really think that an average joe like yourself can take me?"


    "You can''t even stand straight in front of me without me allowing you to do so!" Madan snorted haughtily.


    Anya as well red at him with a bitch face. "Why are these mutts barking?"


    "Today, you guys cannot win no matter what happens! Just prepare to die. Don''t tell me I didn''t warn you." Madan chuckled.


    "You already know that you are going to win?" Liam finally spoke up. This was bad. This was very bad. Inwardly he was panicking, but he tried to remain calm.


    However, he was still found out by Kouske.


    "Madan, that''s enough. No need to talk to these people. Let''s finish what we came here for." Kouske muttered gravely and then waved his hand.


    The next instant, a huge rumbling sound echoed. The big death knight started glowing brightly, along with the sword in his hand.


    "Everyone move back," Liam shouted. "I will keep the deathknight busy. Everyone else, run now!"


    However, he was not done yet. After shouting, he again messaged in group chat, "Derek, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei. You three should try to draw the other four away from the death knight."


    "I cannot beat this death knight. You have to take care of the guy summoning it. Don''t underestimate these four under any circumstances."


    "Each one of them is capable of rivaling me in strength or maybe even stronger. So don''t let your guard down."


    "If you think that you cannot win, then both of you should help Mei Mei escape thebat zone and log out. Her legendary item will drop if she dies."


    "Now go! Either kill them or escape, do it fast. Run!"


    Several things about this abrupt ambush were unsettling but what was most troublesome were still the words the fatty let slip. They were going to win? What did that mean?


    Why were they here? How did they find out? Are they tracking something? Perhaps him? Were they tracking him through some method?


    Liam shook his head. He couldn''t afford to focus on the ''why'' at the moment.


    This could even be a coincidence. They had stayed in this single spot for almost an entire day, and these four might have identally caught the scent.


    After all, he had taken something precious from them. So maybe they were searching for them and found them because they stayed in a single spot for too long.


    Anything could have happened. That was not important right now. What was important was¡­ the giant death knight standing in front of him.


    The fate that he had managed to steal only half of hade back to bite him in his ass, but luckily it was still in theher realm. In here, he was the King!


    [Nether Scythe] Liam started with his strongest move.


    Thick wisps ofher gathered around to form a massive scythe like storm clouds gathering around to smite the earth with lightning and thunder.


    Before the death knight could make its first move, Liam hurriedly brought down the scythe on the huge thing and the four guys standing near it.


    Meanwhile, behind him, the rest of the group started running.


    Not one of them hesitated or questioned Liam''s words. They started running as fast as they could without turning back even once.


    Kouske and the other three as well saw this. Their attention turned from the huge scythe Liam conjured that was easily blocked by the level 80 death knight to the yers fleeing the scene.

 Chapter 457 - Do you want to jump ship?

    <h4>Chapter 457 - Do you want to jump ship?</h4>


    "Dude! They are RUNNING AWAY!" Madan shouted. "Look at them running away like rats!"


    "Hmph. They are running away with my crown! You are not getting away from me that fast!"


    Anya was the first to move as she dashed towards the bunch of yers, specifically aiming for the little girl with the shy crown on her head.


    To see her prized possession on a good for nothing little girl felt like a p on her face. She bit her lips in frustration and weaved her staff, readily sending out an attack spell.


    For her, it didn''t matter that a dozen people were running around the little girl. Only her crown was important.


    Without it, even the idiots in her group were looking down on her, and she hated it.


    [Entrapping Vines]


    [Laser Leaves]


    Anya did not hesitate and started with the strongest attacks in her arsenal. These were not shy skills, but they got the job done, and more importantly, they had never failed her.


    Her eyes twinkled as she watched the leaves dart forward faster than bullets or anything else directly aimed at her good for nothing target.


    While the vines sprouting on the ground beneath her feet hold her steady, these leaves should slice that tender neck right off.


    Anya sneered in disdain and sent out two flying vines to grab the crown that was anyways going to be hers. The little girl was not even aware of what wasing behind her back.


    A small celebratory smug smile tugged the blonde as she dashed forward with her long legs, but before she could take another step, suddenly something shifted.


    The leaves that were about to strike the girl''s back were instead blocked by a shield. A big guy had appeared out of nowhere.


    "Hmph." Anya gritted her teeth in frustration and sent out several more [Laser Leaves]. However, Derek blocked every single attack.


    The healer was utterly helpless against the tank that stood in her way. She instantly turned to look at Madan and Barret, who nodded and quickly ran to catch up to her.


    "Let''s see how you are protecting that little bitch now." She muttered and continued running behind the group.


    Now that Anya saw things more clearly, she noticed something. Though everyone seemed to be haphazardly running, there was also a certain formation.


    It was very subtle, but it was there. If she was not a healer who was used to seeing everything from a wider angle, from a bird''s eye point of view, she would have definitely not caught it.


    The little bitch was not as unguarded as she thought. It looked like they knew what they were doing after all.


    "They are trying to split us up." Anya mouthed.


    "Huh? Should I go back to Kouske?" Madan scratched his head, sending out his hound and three other beasts after the group.


    "No," Barret answered instead of Anya. "This is our main mission this time. We need to retrieve the crown. Let''s stay on that. Kouske is more than enough to handle Liam on his own."


    "Hmmm¡­ will he really be okay? That Liam is a problematic fellow." Madan looked worried.


    "Hmph. There is nothing he can do against the death knight. Like that person said, he will lose this time." Anya scoffed.


    "What, Anya? You never trust big brother''s words, and today you choose to believe him?"


    "He He. Looks like what big bro said is true. Some people only want to believe in fate when there is something good waiting for them."


    "Shut up. I never said that I did not believe him. I was only saying we should take it with a hint of salt. Whatever. Let''s just go and get the crown back."


    Madan wanted to cook up another witty repartee, but the other two left him behind in the dust, so he whined and dashed forward to catch up with them.


    "Damn it. Why are you making me run so much!" The two skinny bastards were much more agile whenpared to him.


    In the end, he whistled to call back one of his beasts and gave chase to the fleeing crimson abyss guild members.


    The three of them were in their level 40s, and they were able to chase quickly. It almost seemed as if they were going to reach the group.


    But weirdly, at this instant, something unexpected happened. The group once again split into two.


    "Your funeral idiots!" Madan grinned because anyone who saw this situation knew that it was best to stay together and fight.


    In fact, if they stayed together and fought, they might even have a chance, a very very slim chance, but now¡­


    "Let''s go." The three of them did not care about the other members of the crimson abyss guild and only chased after the three they were really interested in.


    This time Madan, Anya, and Barret, all three of them started sending in attacks at the one woman, one big guy, and one little girl who was running away.


    However, most of the attacks were still skillfully evaded by the trio.


    Derek helped Mei Mei block some while Shen Yue''s slender body was like a de of grass that bent along with the storm to remain unyielding.


    "Waaahhh¡­ why can''t beauties like this be there in our group?" Madan licked his lips, seeing her beautiful figure running in front of him. The view was perfect!


    "Shut your pie hole, Madan." Anya scoffed and red at Shen Yue, "Can''t you see? They are not average yers. Let''s speed this up. I need that crown back in my hands."


    "Fine. Fine. As you say so¡­ jealous bitch." Madan spat out thest part. He then started using [Freezing Arrows], albeit his own blend of freezing arrows.


    Five arrows zoomed forward in the air with breakneck speed and just like before this time as well Derek, Mei Mei and Shen Yue blocked them.


    However, Madan grinned. This was because the attack was not over yet.


    The arrows that were cleanly blocked unexpectedly shimmered as they struck the ground, and the spot where theynded released an icy aura that still affected the three people within the radius.


    The trio''s movement speed and agility instantly dropped, and the three of them as well came to a screeching halt as there was no point in running away any longer. They were caught!


    On the other side, the other three as well came to a halt.


    While Anya and Barret red at the three of them, Madan clutched his stomach and caught his breath. "Hello! Hello! Hello! Prettydy, do you want to jump ship? I can marry you right now!"

 Chapter 458 - l will let you beat me up later

    <h4>Chapter 458 - l will let you beat me upter </h4>


    Shen Yue looked at the guy in front of her with disgust and anger, but she did not dare underestimate these opponents.


    She gripped her daggers tightly, eyeing the opponent that she wanted to target.


    If she could charm the fatty and attack the woman along with Mei Mei, then they could easily finish her off and help Derek tackle the other berserker.


    She quickly made the mental calctions and signaled Mei Mei while simultaneously using her [Beguile] skill.


    At the same time, Barret as well rammed forward with a green aura enriching his strength. It looked like he had the same idea as he directly pushed to take out the weakest link, Mei Mei.


    But Derek blocked him, and the two tanks ended up butting heads against each other. Shen Yue saw that and hurriedly cast her spell. The first time hadn''t worked out.


    "Cool. Cool. Calm down, prettydy. Your charm won''t work on me." Madanughed and took out a shining gun.


    Bang. Without a single wrinkle in his movements, he steadily took out the gun and pressed the trigger.


    But Shen Yue wasn''t exactly slow either. The moment she saw that her spell was not working, she had already started working on her next move.


    Both the hunter and the healer should equally be weak against closebat, so either of them was a good target.


    However, before she could make a choice, the decision was already taken for her.


    She twisted her body and rolled on the ground to avoid the bullets, immediately jumping up and running towards the fat guy.


    "Ba Ha Ha Ha Ha! This is the best fight ever! Oh my god! How can someone look so sexy? But I am sorry, miss. I am a little hard to get. You first have to y with my pets."


    Madan ducked out, easily evading Shen Yue''s daggers, and resummoned all of his pets one after the other.


    Shen Yue gritted her teeth and quickly backed away from the huge beasts that spawned in front of her, every single one of them barring their teeth at her.


    Liam was correct. These yers were not the normal opponents.


    Shen Yue gritted her teeth and fought with the hound, the bear, and two things that looked like a mash-up of weird creatures.


    Meanwhile, Mei Mei and Anya were busily throwing spells at each other. Mei Mei had more offensive spells, and Anya had more defensive spells, so they were essentially at a stalemate.


    And just like that, Barret and Derek were also evenly matched. Shen Yue''s gaze flitted over to them briefly before settling back on the beasts surrounding her.


    However, just as she did, she noticed something from the corner of her eyes. There were¡­ two Dereks¡­


    Shen Yue waspletely stunned. She, of course, recognized this technique. Derek learned that by just sparring with Liam for one day?


    And just how long had it taken for Liam to learn the same thing?


    What were these guys? Monsters?


    At this rate, she would never ever be able to reach them, stand shoulder to shoulder with them. Shen Yue gripped her hand and spun her body around faster.


    If Derek was using this technique, she wanted to use his momentum and take out at least one of them.


    She sparred with the beasts surrounding her, and at the same time, she tried to get closer to the berserker.


    "Not so fast." Madan noticed this instantly and grinned as he shot forward several arrows toward the woman.


    Shen Yue''s speed was already reduced, and with four beasts on her trail, she was not able to budge. Unless¡­


    She made a quick decision and dodged only some of the attacks while taking the rest head on. She then ran as fast as she could and used [Beguile] on Barret.


    Even though what she did was very abrupt, the berserker only sneered at her as a thick red aura enveloped him. It looked like he was already prepared for it.


    Shen Yue''s efforts were wasted, and she hurriedly downed a health potion, once again dancing around and fighting the four beasts that did not let go of her.


    Madan also did not give her any room for escape, and he shot forward another batch of arrows. These ones were weirdly glowing yellow.


    "Yes, these are my custom-made arrows. Aren''t I awesome? Beauty, it''s not toote. I can still marry you. Ha Ha Ha."


    Between the beasts and the arrows, Shen Yue waspletely trapped. Seeing that she had locked herself, Derek made a move.


    He aggroed three of the four beasts surrounding her and gave Shen Yue some breathing room, but this led to him getting pushed back, and Barret did not let the chance slip bynding two heavy attacks on him.


    Shen Yue bit her lips. She felt like she was really useless if her charm did not work, and she hated it. She did not want to be a dead weight.


    She was tired of being weak and helpless. She waved her dagger around, blocking the attacks from the hunter.


    Since she started ying the game and learning how to fight, she had improved leaps and bounds, but it was still not enough.


    She was still weak and useless.


    No. I should stay calm. Shen Yue reminded herself and prepared to use thest two powerful attacks in her arsenal.


    If she was going to die here, she was going to take someone along with her. A L L-N O V E L-F ULL


    And just as she prepared to cast [Mesmerize], suddenly another idea struck her. She had tried her [Beguile] skill on the hunter and the berserker, but what about the healer?


    She saw Anyapletely involved in her fight with Mei Mei, the two women both verbally and physically assaulting each other.


    She only had one chance at this. In a split second, she used her finishing move [de Dance] and diverted Madan''s attention while simultaneously arriving next to Anya.


    And then¡­


    [Beguile]


    Bingo! It worked!


    Shen Yue grinned as she quickly made the healer attack the hunter. "Mei Mei, help Derek! Now!"


    Though very much shocked, the little girl understood what was happening and she immediately changed her target.


    Shen Yue then turned to the hunter who had pretty much toyed with her for the past few minutes. She might not be as strong as him, but along with Anya, she definitely was.


    Seeing the two womening towards him with daggers and staff in their hands, Madan gulped. "Ladies¡­ please¡­ this is not the m¨¦nage ¨¤ trois that I want."


    "Shut up!" Shen Yue shouted as she started sending out one attack after another. Anya as well did the same, rage and anger etched on her face.


    For some reason, it looked like this person wanted to beat up the poor guy whether she was under the spell or not.


    "Stop it, you mad woman! Snap out of it already! I will let you beat me upter, alright. Just snap out of it already."


    Madan''s health was drastically dropping, and the guy shouted at the top of his lungs.


    He could manage one of these women, but the two of them were too much even for him. He waspletely out of his league.


    The effect probablysted only for some seconds, but it looked like he was going to die before then.


    Madan gritted his teeth and tried to move back to evade some of the attacks, but it was useless. However, he was not nning to lose just yet.


    The problem was Anya. So he decided to deal with her. He quickly drew an arrow and sent it flying towards the healer.


    Just like always, Anya as well dodged it, but it was not a simple arrow. A popped out of the arrow and trapped the healer, who was caught like a butterfly.


    She struggled for a couple of seconds, and that essentially wore out the rest of the time she was under the effect of charm.


    "Anya! Fast! Cast a protection spell! Otherwise, you will once again fall for it." Shen Yue hurriedly tried to recast the spell, but the healer was faster.


    She did not need to be reminded. She had already cast the protection before anyone warned her.


    And of course, once she came to her senses, she immediately dashed towards Mei Mei once again.


    Clearly, she couldn''t care less about what happened to the other members of her team, and that was this group''s main weak point.


    Shen Yue could clearly see it. They did not work together as a group at all. She used this chance to continue barraging her attacks on the hunter.


    "Bitch! At least throw me a heal before you leave, you ungrateful-" Madan spat out and struggled to defend against Shen Yue.


    But before she could close him, Anya rolled her eyes at him and sent a heal anyways, quickly reversing the situation.


    She also healed up Barret and all of Madan''s pets, making the group''s effort so farpletely worthless.


    "Ha Ha! What are you going to do now, beauty? I have seen all of your tricks. Now you have to see mine. Don''t run away from me."


    Madan took out another whistle from his inventory and blew on it. This time a huge beast started materializing in front of Shen Yue.


    It did not evenpletely appear when it had already lifted its leg to stomp on the woman. "That''s a dinosaur? dragon?" Shen Yue was absolutely speechless.


    She quickly tried to move, but the beast had an insane speed that she had not experienced before.


    From the corner of her eyes, she could also see the special frost arrows on Madan''s hand once again.


    "Game''s over, prettydy." Madan grinned and shot the arrows forward.


    Just as he expected, Shen Yue was also not able to evade them. Her speed reduced several folds she was going to be a ttened meat paste. There was no doubt about it.


    But just as it was about to happen, suddenly, a golden shield appeared in front of her. "Sis! I got you!" A voice shouted out loud.


    "What the hell?" Madan blinked when he suddenly saw another person standing near Shen Yue. He had a shield in his hand.


    And before he could understand what was happening, three other yers appeared, all of them surrounding him.


    The rest of the crimson abyss guild members were here!

 Chapter 459 - You were saying?

    <h4>Chapter 459 - You were saying?</h4>


    "They are all here? But how?" Madan was utterly dumbfounded.


    "Dude! You might be strong, but don''t think that we are all weak! We were never nning to run from the beginning!" Shin Soo shouted as he took over tanking the huge beast, covering for Shen Yue.


    Shen Yue then quickly appeared next to Madan and started unleashing all of the dagger moves she had learned so far.


    The hunter now becamepletely helpless.


    If it was just one person, he could dodge, but while he was trying to evade her attacks, ice spheres, fireballs, arrows, and all sorts of attacks started piling up on him.


    It looked like the entire guild was trying to put him down first, concentrating all of their attacks on him.


    "DAMN IT ALL!" He quickly tried to back away and be invisible, but Shen Yue''s daggers did not allow that.


    She used [de Fury] and took out a bunch of daggers from her inventor, throwing them all out in a horizontal sweep.


    Madan''s location was immediately found out, and since he had used one of his pet''s skills [Absolute Defense] already, there was nothing else he could do except die quietly.


    "This is what happens when you overestimate your abilities." Shin Soo righteously dered, which made the dying guy roll his eyes.


    The truth was that they had never underestimated them. Obviously, they had ounted for the fact that the opponent had 40 yers in their group while they only had 4.


    But the thing was that¡­ they had something to make up for this drawback!


    A giant colossal Level 80 death knight!


    This battle should have never dragged out for this long. It should have been an instant blood massacre!


    So how the hell was things ying out in this fashion? Where did their calctions go wrong?


    Was it their fault? Did theyck proper coordination? Perhaps if Anya hadn''t shot forward with focus only on the Crown, things wouldn''t have be this bad?


    Maybe if they did not think that everyone was running away afraid of them, they would have been more careful? Did they really underestimate their opponents?


    No. In reality, those were just secondary reasons.


    Those all just happened and could have been easily ovee. So what the hell went wrong?


    As Madan''s consciousness faded away and his lifeless dead body hit the ground, he finally realized the main reason why they were in this predicament¡­


    This was all because¡­ of that one person.


    The fact that these people were able to fight back, counterattack, and even manage to kill him was also all because of that person.


    The person who was keeping the death knight upied for so long!


    They had not underestimated anyone''s abilities, but even they did not think that a Level 50 yer could hold out against a Level 80 death knight for so long?


    Only because of that, they were in the current situation where they were up against forty yers and outnumbered.


    If the Level 80 death knight had been free to assist them, this situation would have never happened.


    These forty yers who were arrogantly putting them down would have instead been crushed like ants.


    Everything only went downhill because their deathknight was still busy somewhere else.


    How the hell was that monster doing this? Shouldn''t he have gotten one-shotted by now? Just what was happening over there?


    Meanwhile¡­ a few miles back¡­


    The person whom Madan was thinking about was still strongly standing¡­ at least for now¡­


    [Nether Scythe] The powerful attack that Liam had used did not even manage to scratch the surface of that monstrosity.


    Liam gritted his teeth and looked at the giant death knight. They had now sessfully separated the two halves of the group, but they were still not out of their predicament just yet.


    The biggest threat was still alive, and he did not know how long he would be able to hold on.


    CRASH. The death knight swung its sword, striking down Liam.


    Liam, on the other hand, didn''t move away from it. There was no point in doing so. He couldn''t outrun it, he was not able to damage it, he was not able to do anything to it.


    He was like an ant fighting against a dragon. So he only took a couple of steps back and summoned a thick ck wall ofher around him on all sides like a barrier.


    [Ding. You have created a new skill - ck Box]


    The death knight''s sword mmed against this defensive barrier, and the ck box broke into a million pieces, shatteringpletely.


    The death knight then furiously tried to strike him down once again using another sword move, but Liam reacted in the same way by summoning another [ck Box].


    From the beginning, he never nned to beat this thing. It was impossible.


    So, for now, he was just buying time. If he couldn''t do any damage to this thing, then he was determined not to take any damage from the thing. A L L-N O V E L-F ULL


    Also, every time he summoned a [ck Box], he took a few steps back, slowly moving away and away.


    Seeing this, Kouske was furious. "You are not getting away this time, Liam! No matter what tricks you are thinking of pulling, you might as well save them for another time!"


    "This time, it''s our win! It''s already decided."


    Kouske grew frustrated waiting for the death knight to do something useful or even Liam to do something stupid.


    However, he could still only sit idly and watch this fight from the sidelines.


    This was because¡­ though one side was attacking and the other side was putting up barriers in a repetitive fashion¡­ this happened at a ridiculously fast-paced speed!


    He wasn''t even able to see anything properly, much less intervene. All that was visible to him were ck structures getting broken down and reconstructed repetitively.


    But how was he doing that? How could he continuously keep up this sort of defensive barrier? Was he able to use mana potions andher so effectively?


    More importantly, how was he conjuring suchplicated magic spells without any sort of downtime or even casting time?


    Every single attack from the death knight struck like thunder, the Level 80 killing machine sending out one attack after another relentlessly.


    SLASH. SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.


    However, for every attack the death knight dealt, there was one more barrier popping up. There was simply no end to it!


    Just how long did Liam possibly think that he could keep this up.


    "Think about it, Liam! What is your end game here? You took the emerald crown from us! How about you give it back? Maybe we can talk about other things after that."


    "Even you know that you cannot keep this up."


    "Give it up. We are winning. Stop it, and let''s talk like adults." Kouske gnashed his teeth and muttered the words.


    He did not even know if his words were getting through because this was not a fight he dared touch.


    ck wisps of energy erupted like mes engulfing the whole ce. The speed alone was something beyond his level.


    If not for the death knight, then¡­ Kouske shuddered to think about the results right now.


    No, even with the death knight, nothing was set in stone. He could feel it. A feeling of fear. He feared the guy in front of him very much, and he did not even know why.


    They were going to win this time? It was predicted! Nothing could go wrong!


    "You better listen to me! Your teammates are paying for your arrogance right about now. My team would have already killed half of them."


    "If you stop now and concede, at least the other half will live. Don''t be selfish and think about others. I think you know what death inside this game means."


    "Are you willing to sacrifice everyone else just for the sake of one item?"


    Kouske hastily tried to convince Liam. However, a feeling of panic started arising in his heart because no matter what he said, the other person did not seem to care in the slightest.


    Maybe he couldn''t hear him?


    Just as this thought floated in his mind, suddenly, a name greyed out in their group.


    "Huh?" Kouske''s eyes widened in shock. For a second, he couldn''t believe it. "No, this is impossible!"


    And before he could digest this, the other two names as well greyed out one after the other.


    "YOU WERE SAYING?" Liam loudlyughed, his maniacal voice ringing out in all directions. "I am thinking¡­ hmmm¡­ I am going to refuse your offer."


    "Now, how about I give you an offer? Return the item that you stole from me like a petty thief!"


    "Otherwise¡­"


    "You will never get a chance to see the other three alive¡­"


    "You do know what dying inside the game means, right?"


    Liam grit his teeth and summoned another [ck Box] as the death knight continued pummeling him.


    Even though he had a perfect affinity withher, his body still umted some fatigue every time he was manipting the massive quantity ofher.


    But the other person did not know this, so he was fine for now.


    "So how about it? Return this cute thing back to me. He He He and I will let you and your little friends live." Liam let out another burst of maniacalughter.


    "You know what... maybe don''t... then I can have more fun take it right out of your hands!"


    "What is mine. Will be mine. One way or the other."

 Chapter 460 - The prediction was not wrong

    Chapter 460 - The prediction was not wrong


    "What are you¡­"


    Seeing the thick wisps ofher obeying Liam as if he was their Emperor, Kouske trembled. He was also a necromancer just like Liam, but they couldn''t even bepared on the same page.


    How the hell was he so strong? Kouske looked at the man in front of him dumbfoundedly.


    Their leader''s prediction had gone wrong. Their group had died, and now they were under the threat ofplete annihtion?


    They had the winning card. Shouldn''t they be winning right now? How did everything go wrong? He did not even know what to do next.


    They had attacked from a position of strength, but how were they supposed to prepare for a Level 50 yer fighting equally with a Level 80 monster?


    More importantly¡­ their big brother''s prediction went wrong? This was impossible!


    However, just as the thin man trembled pondering if they really had no other choice except to surrender here¡­ suddenly, something felt off.


    Someone wasing, or rather¡­ it was not a single person.


    Both Kouske and Liam instinctively turned around to see a huge army of demonsing toward them.


    Some of them were onnd and some on them were in the sky, riding some sort of bat faced mount.


    But the sheer number of them was enough to strike fear into anyone''s heart. Both Kouske and Liam stared at the iing demons and both of them were at a loss for words.


    However, Liam was the first to recover because he could tell exactly why they were here.


    "Damn it. They noticed me! Did the fight here cause too much disturbance?" He erected another barrier to block the death knight.


    Barely holding back with this monstrosity was his limit, there was no way he was going to manage these many demons. Was he going to die today?


    This was checkmate. There was no escape from this situation.


    As if answering his predicament, something even more strange happened. Kouske had recalled the death knight to stand by his side.


    It was clear that he had assumed these demons to be on Liam''s side.


    Only Liam knew that that was not the case, but he couldn''t care less about clearing this misconception or using this situation to his advantage.


    If he gets caught in this swirling whirlpool, the only way out was death! So the moment he got the split second chance to do something, he immediately entered [Stealth] and ran.


    He ran as fast as he could away from the crime scene towards the fox that was hiding further away from the scene of the battle.


    Without a single moment of hesitation, Liam then hopped onto the fox and the duo bolted away like there was no tomorrow.


    At the same time, Liam also furiously typed in the chat, "Keep running. Don''t stop."


    Everyone was surprised because they had assumed that they were going to camp the graveyard for the drops from the three yers but they did not question Liam''smand.


    Every single member of the crimson abyss guild dropped what they were doing and fled the scene in a rush.


    Meanwhile, Kouske only realized what happened after a few seconds. When he turned around, Liam was not there. Not even a single house fly was there in the vicinity.


    "He ran?" Kouske now understood. He had mistaken things. The demons and Liam were not allies. Rather Liam had used this chance to escape.


    "Damn it." He let out a long sigh and quickly started working on the next things.


    Only himself and the death knight were still standing and the demons wereing right at them.


    Thankfully, the demons were still at a distance away. So he quickly dismissed the death knight and fled the scene as well. He messaged the others as well to flee.


    The group only met back after a few miles, hiding their figures amidst the dense thorny forest.


    Today''s mission had ended in failure and all four of them had grave expressions.


    Anya, Barret, and Kouske looked too serious to speak anything and silently walked side by side. Only one person opened his mouth.


    "Ah¡­ so many of my arrows were lost this time." Madan clicked his tongue, making everyone turn towards him.


    Anya gave him a death stare. "My emerald crown is still with that little bitch! Who the fuck cares about your damned arrows!"


    The leggy Russian blonde then turned to bark at their small makeshift group''s leader, "Kouske! Where is the victory that we were foretold! Hmmm? What the hell is this?"


    "I knew it was going to be like this before itself!"


    "All of these predictions, these stupid foretellings, everything is false! That guy is just messing with us! We gained shit today!"


    Anya''s t chest heaved up and down as she relieved her frustrations by continuously spewing out Russian curse words.


    At first Kouske did not say anything but he then stopped to look at her. "You should shut up. Don''t forget that you got that crown in the first ce thanks to that person."


    "Now you are bad mouthing him because something went wrong? Weren''t you the one who foolishly chased after that little girl?"


    "If you had stayed back and fought, maybe we could have killed Liam this time."


    Anya waspletely speechless. "How dare you! Don''t you dare try to put this me on me! You couldn''t finish that annoying prick even with a Level 80 death knight! You do not have the rights to ce this me on me!"


    This one again spiraled another bout of arguments between the group which went out of control. After a few minutes, Kouske who had be silent again opened his mouth.


    "I know you guys think that we lost today. You all did die. So we did lose something today. But as I see it, we also gained a lot today."


    Huh? Everyone waspletely confused with Kouske''s words.


    "What are you talking about?" Barret asked.


    "I am talking about that guy''s true power! I know how to beat Liam." Kouske smiled. "I now know all of his secrets."


    The three of them stared at the thin necromancer in front of them with confusion hoping for an exnation.


    Kouske nodded and exined everything to them without leaving them hanging. "ording to my estimate, that person should have an S tier affinity toher."


    "Huh? S-tier? That''s impossible! Do you think high-grade affinities are thatmon?" Anya scoffed.


    "Hey. Think before you speak." Madan interjected. Unlike her, he understood it immediately. Liam definitely had an S- tier affinity. Perhaps even an SS- tier affinity.


    That was the only exnation as to how he was able to hold his own against the Level 80 death knight!


    "What I am saying is true. Which means, the next time we fish them out, I know exactly how to trap him." Kouske nodded. "Don''t worry. You will get your crown back soon."


    "Hmm. It looks like the prediction was not wrong after all."

 Chapter 461 - No more running!

    Chapter 461 - No more running!


    "Hmmm¡­ As long as I do not have a mana core, I would have to keep running from all of these idiots." Liam leaned on the tree he was sitting beside and muttered absent-mindedly.


    After running for so long, he wanted to take a break and think about some things, and it didn''t take long for him to notice the obvious.


    His fans suddenly multiplied!


    There were now too many people behind him in both realms.


    "Tsk. This is very inconvenient. I need to settle some debts quickly." Liam munched on roasted meat Shen Yue had given him previously and drew circles on the ground.


    There were too many things to do, and the big war should be ending any time now. The timeline was also a big mess. Everything was happening faster this time around.


    At this rate, thest and final update might really end up happening sooner than expected as well.


    After the game firstunched, they were now officially closer to the end of the three months mark.


    If the war between the Nether realm and the Xion realm ends and the Xion realm stabilizes, then the next phase would kick in, followed by the changes to the real world.


    At this point, the various governments and the people would realize the truth about the game and the deaths inside the game.


    At first, they would try to block it, but it would be useless as it was literally impossible to make sure that no one entered the game.


    Seeing that they had no other choice, then the governments would jump into the game as well with full force.


    Not just them but all the industries, corporations, and every single organization in the world would enter the game, trying to get a piece of whatever pie this was.


    Then the game would truly be outrageous, individual yers no longer having many chances to develop themselves.


    Before this happened, Liam wanted to establish himself and make a clear difference between himself and the other yers, but now he seemed to be pushing that boundary.


    "I need to make that mana core as soon as possible¡­" He let out a small sigh.


    This was a very real roadblock that he was facing. Either he had to do it, or he had to get someone else to make it.


    Liam would have given up if not for the alchemy tablet that he stole from those guys. He wanted to see if he could get some insights from that tablet.


    But for that, he first needed a ce where he couldpletely be at peace and not keep looking over his shoulders every other minute.


    "Hmm¡­ I am now wanted in both realms. Where can I work where nothing can possibly attack me?"


    The guild residence was out of the question because if Level 80 ravens started pecking at the walls, even their S rank guild would copse.


    It would be different if he did some of the upgrades. Then the guild residence could even hold out against a Level 100 beast horde.


    But those upgrades were insane gold sinks. He did not have that kind of gold at the moment in his hands. More importantly, it would require not just gold but also other materials.


    "So that is out of the question¡­ where else could I peacefully camp for a few days?"


    Liam silently gazed at the crooked circles on the floor that he had drawn, and a ce came to his mind.


    "Alright. That should do it." With a big grin, he packed up everything and made the portal to return back to the Xion realm.


    "Luna, remember. As soon as we go through this, we need to make a run for it."


    Liam stretched his limbs. This was going to be a test of his agility and speed, but once he did it, he would be safe for the time being.


    The small fox as well mimicked his actions, and the both of them prepared themselves. The next second, the duo sted through the portal.


    Liam jumped onto Luna''s back in one smooth motion, and the white fox then shot forward through the air and the clouds like an arrow.


    "Where are we?" Liam hurriedly pulled up the system interface to check. They were on the outskirts of Yleka city, which was perfect for them.


    "Luna, it looks like luck is on our side this time. Let''s go east. Get to the city, and don''t stop until you reach the huge tower in the city."


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air and prepared himself for anything that could happen. As the white fox dashed forward, he peeled his eyes open for any signs of the damned ravens.


    And the birds did not disappoint him.


    Just like he expected, the sky soon started to rumble, and a tear in the air appeared. Something big and huge stepped out from within this tear. It was a w!


    "Fuck! Luna! Fast Now!"


    Liam started making a huge ice ball. They had almost reached the city, and now they just needed a few more seconds.


    "Come on. Come on. Come on." He mumbled, eyeing the big w that was now a full ck-feathered leg. If this bird actually attacked them, they were dead meat for sure.


    But ZOOM!


    The duo arrived at the city safely.


    Luna let out a small sigh, and she looked like she was reducing the speed, but Liam immediately warned her.


    "No! Don''t stop until you reach the tower." He pointed to the tower in the distance. Sure, the city was safe and had enough soldiers to protect them even against higher-tier beasts.


    The issue was that those soldiers would take their time to arrive typically, and by then, he would have already been skewered by this giant raven.


    So even within the city, they wouldn''t be safe. The one and only location in this entire city where they would be safe no matter what was the PVP tower!


    And this was also Liam''s target!


    Others might not know this, but the PVP tower was a very mysterious tower, and equally mysterious was the tower master who sat at the top most floor of the tower.


    He was not an ordinary person, and the tower itself had several protective inscriptions, runes, formations, and talismans guarding it.


    Even during an invasion, no one would be able to touch this tower or, for that matter, any other tower in any other Kingdom or city.


    So this was the one and only ce where Liam would really be able to focus on his task without having to worry about the bunch of birds.

 Chapter 462 - Special event?

    Chapter 462 - Special event?


    On a nice sunny day¡­ at the trade capital of the Gresh Kingdom, Yleka city¡­


    Several yers of the popr mysterious game ''Evolution Online'' was casually walking on the streets, chatting with their friends or loved ones.


    However, in the midst of this pleasant city atmosphere, suddenly something dark flew above everyone''s heads, disrupting the leisurely vibe.


    "Huh? What is that?"


    "That looks like an airne!"


    "The fuck? Where did airnese inside evolution online? Wash your eyes, idiot! That''s a flying mount!"


    "You are the idiot! Your mom is the idiot for giving birth to you, and your dad is the idiot for ejacting you! I am not talking about that one. I am talking about the other one!"


    "The other one?"


    The group of people tilted their heads up to see another huge shadow crossing them again, but this time, the shadow was enormous, mean, and lean, streamlined like a jet ne, and it zoomed past them, taking only a fraction of a second.


    And it did not stop there¡­


    Right afterward, three other big ck jetnes whooshed past them, lifting up all the robes of those who were standing on the street. Many colorful sights were revealed.


    "Dang! What is happening in the city today?"


    "Maybe some special event!"


    "Let''s go and check it out!"


    All the yers in the city had seen this strange urrence, so they hurriedly chased after the ck shadows which were now circling the PVP tower at the center of the city.


    And these were not mere shadows¡­ because their speed had considerably reduced, everyone could finally see these creatures clearly.


    They were ravens! Red-eyed huge monstrous ravens!


    And most yers could only see the question mark on top of these birds, so they couldn''t fathom their exact level, but they were definitely high-leveled birds!


    What were these huge ravens doing inside the city? What was going to happen now?


    Everyone watched the birds with their eyes peeled open, waiting for some pies to drop from the sky.


    Only two heads stared at this bunch of ravens with apprehension. Liam and Luna were both panting.


    In the end, Liam almost did not make it. It was touch and go. He had to leap off of Luna''s back and dash into the tower hall with every ounce of mana in his body concentrated in his legs.


    Only because of this he made it. Otherwise¡­


    Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Liamughed nervously and then waved his hands at the ravens ring at him with their sharp red eyes.


    "Good luck." He whistled and casually walked inside, expecting the bird to now peck at the tower relentlessly before something bad happened to them.


    Luna as well smirked and followed him, with her three tails swishing left to right stylishly.


    The five ravens could only helplessly stare at their prey walking inside without being able to do anything.


    But unexpectedly, these creatures did not even attempt to ram at the tower or anything crazy like that. They simply stared and then left as if they already knew what to do and what not to do.


    Like their levels, their intelligence was also extremely high.


    Liam stopped and noticed this with a grave expression on his face because this was not good news. This was bad news. "Could they see the formations blocking them?"


    The thing was.. he could also only see question marks. He did not know their actual levels.


    It looked like this time the crazies had upped the difficulty level several folds instead of going to the next step. Just what was this quest that forced him to do it so tantly?


    The more it forced Liam, the more he grew wary of it and did not want to attempt it. With the limited time he had he did not want to take on risky things unnecessarily, but the thing was¡­


    Did he really have a choice?


    "I should not worry about that right now." Liam immediately entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 100th floor.


    He had reached here thest time he had entered the PVP tower, so now he was able to ess the same floor.


    Ding. The elevator promptly arrived at the destination, and he walked past the numerous yers crowding around on the floor.


    The ce was vastly differentpared to thest time he had visited with a variety of new shops, both yers owned and NPC owned, but Liam did not bother to take a look at anything.


    He directly went over to one of the alchemy rooms, the highest grade avable, paid the coins for it, and settled there.


    "Ok. Here goes nothing¡­" Liam took a deep breath and started making the concoction one more time.


    He repeated all the steps listed in the recipe and regted the mana for the cauldron as best as he could.


    This was the mostplicated recipe he had attempted up until now. So much so that every time he went through this process, there was one improvement or the other in something.


    His mana maniption improved, his mental focus improved, his knowledge about the herbs and handling of the herbal essence improved.


    Every single time he attempted this concoction, he always improved a little bit. However, all of that was still not enough.


    He had sunk about 48 hours now in this recipe, and it was still not enough.


    Liam calmed himself down and tried not to think about the past failures. He only focussed on the cauldron in front of him.


    Soon¡­ a few minutes passed by¡­ just like this inplete and utter silence. Of course, except for the constantly sizzling and roaring cauldron.


    And the next instant¡­


    BOOM!


    Another huge explosion rocked the small alchemy room. The cauldron stedpletely, parts of it flying everywhere, and Liam and Luna both coughed up ck smoke.


    "Another failure huh¡­ it is fine." Liam rubbed Luna''s back.


    Letting out a small sigh, he took out the precious tablet that he had stolen from the ogre demon city lord back in theher realm.

 Chapter 463 - BFFs

    Chapter 463 - BFFs


    Liam took his time to observe the stone tablet properly.


    He held it carefully in his hands, well, at least as carefully as he could because the thing weighed like a mountain, and it was not easy to lift it or ce it in hisp.


    But luckily, only the front side of the tablet seemed to be special with something inscribed on it, so he did not have to examine it up close for too long.


    After a few minutes, he ced it on the ground, nted against the wall just like the other person had done.


    Liam then took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and sat in a meditative pose in front of this tablet. He looked at it and then stared at it as best as he could.


    This stone tablet was a precious treasure. There was simply no doubt about it. Even at first nce back at the ogre''s special alchemy room, Liam felt a special pull towards it.


    He could feel it clearly. There was something profound about this stone tablet. He couldn''t exactly ce his finger on it, but the feeling was unmistakable.


    If he could just understand what was so special about this block of stone, then perhaps he would be able to make some huge developments in his alchemy skill.


    But for now, this seemed to be just wishful thinking¡­


    Liam tried his best to grasp the profound feeling and decipher the things from the stone tablet, but it was to no avail.


    After about an hour, he decided to take a short break and saw that Mia had messaged him.


    "I am here inside the PVP tower." He responded to her with his whereabouts, and Mia immediately arrived at his doorstep.


    "So fast? Did you need something?" Liam smiled and opened the door.


    The alchemy chamber had automatic air cirction and purification functions. Otherwise, ck smoke would have blown out when he did.


    However, there were no automatic cleaning facilities. It was only Luna running around picking up things, so the inside of the room looked like it had been through a lot.


    Mia curiously peeked and then stepped in. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you about something." She nodded.


    Coincidentally, she was also wearing a simple, clean white robe, something simr to the ones the divine temple priests wore.


    It covered her entire body from her neck to her legs with a slit on the side that revealed her long snow-white legs and toned thighs.


    In fact, the entire robe clung to her body snugly, outlining every little curve and dip.


    And unlike Liam, she had not even taken any elixirs thus far, so whatever her appearance was inside the game, she had the same in the outside world as well.


    After staring at a stone for hours, this was a good change. Liam chuckled inwardly and sat down on the ground, pointing her to the spot in front of him.


    Mia as well sat down, adjusting her robes a bit so that the slit didn''t travel up and reveal everything about her lower body.


    She always felt very conscious in front of this person, who might as well be a wolf waiting to gobble her up.


    "So I see you are still wandering in the divine temple¡­" Liam probed.


    "Ah. Yes. Both Alex and I have been doing quests in the divine temple. I wanted to talk to you about this only." Mia took a deep breath and then started exining calmly.


    "There are a lot of highly rewarding quests in the divine temple these days, and they are handing out experience points and reputation points very generously."


    "So both me and Alex have been doing these quests non-stop to see if we could get any hidden ss quests or other unique special quests."


    "I also had another idea. Our guild currently has a lot of members."


    "I know you said that we will roll out the inner member and the outer member contracts after a while, but I did not want to miss this opportunity."


    "I am not sure how long these divine temple quests wouldst. I was thinking we should select a group of priests or pdins and nurture them."


    Liam couldn''t help but smile seeing the usually cold and confident Mia nervously exining things. He raised his hand quickly and stopped her.


    "So these things you can do on your own. If you are still feeling not confident enough, just send me a message. You don''t have to meet me in person and waste your time."


    "You don''t have to ask me permission for everything. I trust your judgment. Cough. Cough. I should be more clear. I trust your judgment, not your sister''s." He chuckled wryly.


    Mia as well awkwardly smiled and nodded. She knew how Alex could be impulsive sometimes, so she didn''t say anything.


    "And this is a good idea," Liam added. "To groom a batch of priests and pdins huh¡­"


    Seeing that he was thinking about something else, Mia became curious and asked, "Do you have anything on your mind?"


    "Yes¡­ I don''t think you know, but we have four new best friends, and actually, your idea might help them a lot."


    While he was fighting the giant Level 80 death knight in theher realm, Liam noticed something interesting.


    Just like how theher was empowering him, it was surely empowering the death knight as well.


    Because when he had fought the monstrosity back in the Xion realm at the necromancer''s cave, where he had found it for the very first time, its strength was not this much.


    Perhaps it underestimated him and did not show its full strength. That was also a possibility, but chances were that the death knight got a few buffs in theher realm just like he got.


    And this meant that¡­ it would also potentially be weakest when fighting against the divine affinity yers just like him.


    So if they had a team of well-groomed priests and pdins¡­ the next time they faced the thing which Liam had a feeling could be soon¡­ then they might no longer need to run away.

 Chapter 464 - Cant scratch even the surface

    Chapter 464 - Can''t scratch even the surface


    "Eh? Who are these yers?" Mia blinked, her eyes now falling on the stone tablet in the room. Instantly, she could tell that this was not something ordinary.


    She had only not seen Liam for a couple of days, but he already had so many new secrets?


    Liam smiled and shook his head, "I will introduce you guys soon enough."


    "For now, focus on what you told me. If the divine temple is really being generous with quests, then this is a huge chance."


    "Just like you said, you take a group of trusted yers and get the maximum out of this. Just make sure that you are trusting the right people."


    "It''s better if you make them sign the guild contract."


    Mia nodded. She as well had a simr opinion. With everyone''s lives on the line, just word of mouth was no longer enough.


    "Alright, then I will take my leave." She could see that Liam was busy, and neither of them had time just to sit around and chat, so she quickly prepared to leave.


    "Good luck." Liam wished her and then went back to staring at the stone tablet. However, he was not focusing just yet.


    His thoughts were still on the divine temple. Based on both Alex''s and Mia''s words, the divine temple really did look restless. They were making moves that they hadn''t previously made.


    It looked like this whole war on currently in a delicate equilibrium, a scale that was tipping every so lightly both on the right and the left side at times.


    Liam couldn''t help but wonder what would happen if he blew up this equilibrium¡­


    More importantly, given how things were currently progressing, would this get them more time or less time than they had in his previous life?


    This was the million dor question!


    Thest time around, the Xion realm had won this war, but their world, the Earth had suffered. So what if, this time, the Xion realm lost the war?


    A shiver ran down Liam''s spine. A huge timelinendmark like this was too big for him to mess with. Only someone really crazy, someone with a death wish, would do something like this.


    But he couldn''t seem to shake this idea off. Was he really going insane thinking about something like this?


    No, he was not the insane one. Insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.


    If someone wanted a change, then they need to do something differently!


    If Liam messed with this bnce and changed the oue of the war, then it was akin to dropping an atom bomb on the whole timeline.


    His fate, others'' fate, everything would be uprooted and changed from top to bottom. There would possibly be a whole new world.


    But maybe something insane like this was really required to save their future?


    Liam sighed and decided to pin this idea for now. After all, he did not yet know even if he was capable of doing something like this.


    For now, it was best to let things y out and see what was best. He shook his head and closed his eyes, once again staring at the stone tablet.


    At this point, it seemed very futile to look at it, but he decided to give it a proper try before shoving it back into his inventory slot.


    If that dumb ogre demon who couldn''t make even a simple basic potion dared to dream about mastering this tablet, surely he shouldn''t give up so easily?


    Meanwhile¡­ at the abovementioned dumb ogre demon''s residence¡­


    "My Lord, we searched everywhere. We were not able to find even a small clue about the Thol city Lord."


    "Hmph. I already knew that. How would that rat still dare show his face after stealing something from me?"


    "Hmph! He would probably be holed up somewhere by now, waiting for us to forget about him and let this go."


    "Since we are at war, that rat must have made these calctions, but he is wrong. I am not going to let him off that easily! Hmph!"


    "Go and inform our King. This matter will be settled quickly."


    The ogre demon stood up with a loud grunt. "I will see how long you are running around like this!" He snorted coldly and then turned around to leave.


    And before he could do so, one of the demons hurriedly chased after him. "My Lord¡­" The demon hesitated to speak.


    "What is it?" The ogre grunted impatiently as he was already in a bad mood.


    "My Lord¡­ What if the Thol city Lord managed to¡­ find out the secrets about the stone tablet? Then¡­ informing this situation to the King might work against us." The demon nervously asked.


    "Hmmm? What did you say?" Hearing him, the ogre''s face changed. He turned around and stared down at him furiously.


    "You mean to say¡­ that useless rat would gain something from the stone tablet that I have been researching for decades?"


    The ogre''s face then once again changed as he began tough loudly, clutching his stomach. "Ba Ha Ha Ha Ha! You make good jokes!"


    "For him, that thing will only be a stone!"


    "Don''t worry your pea-sized brain with things like this. Just do what I tell you. Ba ha ha ha!"


    "I bet that bastard wouldn''t even be able to scratch the first level! It took me three decades to get to that point."


    "And he does not have three decades! That rat wouldn''t evenst one day once the King issues his case to the twelve High Lords! Ba ha ha ha!"


    "Now tell me, could he possibly figure out everything in one day? Ba ha ha ha!"


    "Idiot! Ba ha ha ha!"


    The ogre demon''sughter rang loudly as he left the other demons dumbfounded. A few secondster, they also realized the same thing and nodded in understanding.


    Something like that was really impossible. Of course, the group of them have served the city Lord for several years now, so they knew what he was talking about.


    Their special alchemy room had not always been like this.


    It was only because of their Lord''s genius that the stone tablet glowed one day, and a mystical garden appeared in the small room.


    Nobody knew why it happened or how it happened. They knew that their Lord also did not know, but the fact that it happened itself is proof of their Lord''s genius!


    How could a random rat match their Lord''s genius?!


    The group of demons, including the guy who raised this question first,ughed amongst themselves, and everyone dispersed.


    And unbeknownst to them¡­ back at the Xion realm¡­


    When Liam shed his eyes open, he was no longer in an ordinary alchemy room.

 Chapter 465 The mysterious stone tablet

    Chapter 465 The mysterious stone tablet


    "Hmmm?" Liam closed his eyes and opened them once again, only to see the scenery still the same as before. He was sitting in the middle of a garden?


    He stared dazedly at everything around him. He did not even know at what point he had closed his eyes.


    A few hours in, he suddenly felt as if he grasped something, but when he tried to think about it, unknowingly, he had closed his eyes and spent a lot of time in that state.


    Not that he remembered what he was thinking about. It was like a dream that he did not remember now that he was awake.


    Liam hurriedly looked at the stone tablet again, only to see the same old stone b with words inscribed on it. However, now there was an additional faint glow surrounding it.


    It was just like when he had seen the stone tablet for the first time. He had not gained anything from it yet, but it felt as if the tablet had acknowledged him?


    Liam sighed and stood up to take a look around. Just like at the ogre demon''s ce, this room as well magically became a garden.


    There were several trees, nts, a vast blue sky, chirping birds, and a gentle breeze. It was a pleasant evening atmosphere.


    Amazed once again at how these things could pop out of a stone world, Liam walked around and took a look.


    Soon he found a familiar face.


    The white fox that usually roamed around him was now diving in and out of the small pond near the center, having a great time by herself.


    Liam shook his head helplessly and left her to y. He then continued his walk, taking a look at everything around him.


    All of this was indeed amazing, but the thing was¡­ he had still not made any progress towards that recipe that he needed so desperately.


    Just how long was it going to take before he made any headway in it¡­? He did not even have a single clue which was very frustrating.


    Liam let out a long sigh and then turned around to return back to the spot where the stone tablet was ced.


    All of this was like a world that had popped out around the stone tablet, but the tablet was still at the center of this small world.


    Liam walked back to the stone tablet and sat down in front of it. The atmosphere this time was a lot more rxing, but he couldn''t care less about it.


    It mattered very little if he was attempting this monstrous recipe in a desert or a cave or a pleasant environment like this.


    The problem was never the ambiance. The problem was the recipe.


    Something was missing, or rather maybe he failed to see something or understand something crucial, which was why every single time it was blowing up in his face.


    And now there was another problem also. It was not as if he had an endless supply of herbs to train this recipe, he only had a few more sets which gave him about twenty more tries.


    From this point onward, every single attempt must be done carefully. Liam tried to go over the recipe again mentally and thought about where he could possibly go wrong.


    However, he suddenly noticed something strange from the corner of his eyes.


    Adjacent to him, on a small patch ofnd¡­ there was something familiar growing¡­


    Hmmm¡­ Liam was now truly speechless. Perhaps because he had been cooped up here for so long¡­ he really lost it this time?


    He blinked his eyes several times, rubbed his hurriedly, and then looked again. No, he had not gone crazy. It was still there!


    He slowly stood up inplete and utter shock and went over to that small patch ofnd. He took a deep breath, squatted in front of thend, and looked at it, his eyes wide like boiled eggs.


    "How is this possible¡­"


    Liam still couldn''t believe it. He slowly stretched his hand out and touched the small nts growing on this patch ofnd.


    These were not ordinary nts¡­ rather¡­ they were the same herbs that he was thinking about seconds ago and worrying that he was about to run out of them!


    How could they possibly be growing in this ce!


    This couldn''t be a simple coincidence!


    He sucked in a big breath of air again and directly plucked one of the herbs. He took it closer to his face and examined it carefully.


    The same smell, the same coarse, grainy texture. More importantly, it wasn''t a sapling or an aged nt. It was ripe.


    The nt was grown to perfection!


    Liam ran his fingers over the leaves and looked up to see the rest of the patch when once again, his jaw dropped to the ground.


    He still hadn''t gotten over the previous shock, but now there was another one!


    On the spot that he had just now plucked a herb, he saw another herb. It was the same as before, in ideal condition, ripe and grown to perfection.


    "What is this ce¡­ what is this tablet?" Liam stared at the whole thing, falling back in shock. He crumpled the herb in his hand and threw it in front of him.


    Yup, it was very real.


    This means that¡­ this stone tablet was truly a treasure¡­ a treasure he couldn''t even begin to understand.


    So what if this single recipe did not work! In his hand, there was a gold mine! With his, he no longer needed to scavenge for herbs and waste his time!


    Liam hurriedly tried to see if this also worked for other herbs.


    "How do I activate this?" He closed his eyes and thought about another recipe, the high grade health potion recipe that he did not have the herbs for.


    He gulped and gave it another two good minutes just in case.


    Did it work?


    He shed his eyes open to see¡­ there was now a second patch ofnd with a bunch of herbs growing on it.

 Chapter 466 Herbs everywhere

    Chapter 466 Herbs everywhere


    "These are indeed all the herbs that I need for the high grade mana potion¡­ what is happening here?" Liam immediately wanted to test the limit of this thing.


    He quickly opened his system interface and closed his eyes to think about every single recipe he had collected, more specifically the low grade and high grade ones.


    [Basic Healing Potion]


    [Basic Mana Potion]


    [Basic Stamina Potion]


    [Basic Strength Potion]


    [Basic Agility Potion]


    [Basic Fire Resistance Potion]


    [Basic Anti Venom Potion]


    [Low Grade Body Cleansing Potion]


    [Low Grade Stealth potion]


    [Low Grade Anti Venom Potion]


    [Low Grade Water Breathing]


    [Low Grade Rage Potion]


    [High Grade Mana Potion]


    [High Grade Health Potion]


    [Chrysanthemum Lethal Poison]


    [Nine-Color Paralyzing Poison]


    He waited for a minute or so again and opened his eyes hurriedly to check out the results.


    Bingo! There were now ten patches ofnd in total with different herbs growing on them!


    Liam silently stared at this amazing stone tablet for a few seconds, not knowing what to think of anything. He had never known or seen a treasure like this.


    With this, he could learn everything that his heart desired! He would not have to waste his time searching for the herbs!


    Even if he were not able to take this stone tablet back with him to the real world, he would still be able to make good use of it here.


    And he had only barely scratched the surface. He could feel it. There was so much more to this stone tablet.


    "Hmmm¡­ This is still not enough. I need to learn more recipes. Maybe then I will gain more things from this stone tablet."


    Liam opened the system interface and messaged Berat to start collecting as many recipes as possible at all costs.


    And since he was in the trade city, he also transferred some 200 gold coins he had in hand to the guy.


    This was just chump change whenpared to the usual amount they dealt with, but for other guilds and yers, this was still a huge number.


    "Hmmm¡­ Now that I no longer have to worry about herbs, I should go back to trying to figure out that recipe¡­" Liam mumbled and took out another cauldron.


    He settled in front of the patch ofnd on which the herbs for this specific recipe were growing. He looked at the cauldron and then the herbs.


    Though all of this had happened, the truth was that he hadn''t made that much progress in understanding the recipe itself.


    If he tried it again, he knew that this time as well it was going to end in a failure. It would just be a waste of time to try anymore without having something solid to go on.


    "What can I do¡­" Liam quietly pondered. If he did not know something, the easiest thing to do would be to ask someone who knew it.


    But this specific recipe¡­ even the alchemy experts in the alchemy association might not be aware of it.


    They might eventually figure it out. However, it could take a while. He did not have that much time on his hands. He needed someone who could help him with this recipe fast, ASAP.


    Liam thought for a second and then nodded. He exactly knew who to ask about this.


    If someone could help him with this recipe, it was the person¡­ who he knew had already seeded in doing it once.


    King Dante!


    In his previous life, this guy concocted this potion and sold it in batches. So surely he would be able to figure it out this time too.


    He opened his system interface, but he did not have the contact for Dante yet. "I guess I could ask those two."


    Liam then messaged Alex to get Dante''s information from the two spies, well past spies and now her followers.


    "Not bad." Within a few minutes, he already received the information that he needed. However, Liam still frowned. It was not enough to know Dante''s location. He had forgotten a key point.


    He had forgotten that he was not able to step out of this PVP tower for the time being. So even if he knew where Dante was or would be, it was still useless.


    He needed to make the guye to him!


    Liam sighed and once again contacted Alex, this time asking her to arrange a meeting for the two spies with Dante.


    "Would he reallye?" Alex was doubtful.


    But Liam was sure. "Ask them to tell him that they had discovered a secret about me. He wille."


    A couple of minutester¡­


    "Liam! Just like you said! That guy immediately agreed! The meeting is in half an hour inside the PVP tower on the ground floor, just like you requested." Alex replied.


    "Alright. Here goes nothing." Liam chuckled and stood up.


    Since he had already booked the room for a few more hours, no one else would be able to enter inside even if they wanted to.


    So he left everything, including the stone tablet and Luna, and stepped out of the crafting room. But before he could take a few steps, he suddenly had an odd feeling.


    A shiver traveled down his spine. He felt as if someone was watching him, someone far more powerful than him. There was an odd pressure that he felt.


    "No. Let''s not take any risks." Liam doubled back into the alchemy room and retrieved the stone tablet back, and ced it into his inventory carefully. He did not want to take any chances.


    He also grabbed the small fox and brought her as well along with him, leaving behind only the broken mess and the useless debris in the crafting room.


    Only now he felt rxed. He then took the elevator, walked over to the ground floor, and patiently waited for the three to arrive.


    A few more minutes passed, and finally, the first person arrived, shortly followed by the second one. The two spies were here.


    After that, almost another hour passed when a fat chubby guy waltzed in through the door.


    "This is Dante? Hmmm?" Liam frowned as this was not the same person he knew.

 Chapter 467 L Come In Peace

    Chapter 467 L Come In Peace


    Liam stared at the chubby guy up and down for a few seconds. Nope, this was definitely not the ''King Dante'' he knew of!


    The person that he was familiar with was strong, lean, muscr, handsome, and charismatic. He was one of the richest yers both before and after the apocalypse and had dozens of wives.


    After seeing that person from afar, Liam couldn''t simply bring himself to see this chubster as the same charismatic guy.


    Perhaps all of that was the after effect of consuming various elixirs like the one he wanted.


    Liam decided not to think too much about it.


    This was definitely Dante as the facial simrities were unmistakable, and so was his name and guild name. He stood up and walked over to the group.


    "What do you mean you don''t have anything yet? Then why did you call me here?" Dante furiously shouted at the two good-for-nothings in front of him.


    He hade here running all the way, thinking that these guys finally managed to get some intel, but they were just as useless as always.


    "Tch. What a waste of time! Don''t call me again. Fuck off." Dante red at the duo, breathing fire down on them.


    "Heh. Let them go. I am the one who called you here." A voice sounded from behind, making the guy turn around and look.


    "Hello." Liam calmly smiled at the wide-eyed chubby yer. "Whatever information you need, you can directly ask me."


    "You!" Dante looked in confusion from Liam to his two underlings, and he understood what happened. These two dogs had betrayed him!


    "This is what I get for trusting brainless idiots to do the job! Ptui!"


    "Hey. Hey. Ie in peace. Calm down. Can we go somewhere more private to talk some business?" Liam chuckled faintly and exined things to the guy before he popped his lid off.


    "Hmmm? What about?" Dant''s face changed. He was also curious now. He silently followed Liam as the two of them headed inside the tower.


    Since Dante was also qualified to enter until floor 50, they picked a restaurant on that floor and settled in a private booth.


    "Tell me. What is so important that you had to meet me in person?" Dante sneered. He was much calmer now, having a good grasp on what could have happened.


    "Heh. What''s the rush? Why don''t we get something to eat first?" Liam smiled. He wanted to feel out the guy to see if a business deal with someone like him could actually work.


    Not that he had a choice in that matter. This was the only person whom he knew was capable of getting the job done.


    "You want to eat something? Do it on your own time. I suggest youe straight to the point." Dante leisurely leaned back on the bench, putting his leg up on the table to sit in an arrogant, intimidating pose.


    . ?`?`m His gazended on Liam, looking at him from top to bottom in disgust. What a pretty boy! He hated guys like this.


    And he had to admit. He had gravely misjudged this so-called top ranker. He didn''t have a single noteworthy item on his body.


    He probably just had some trick up his sleeve for fast-leveling. And as for those recipes¡­


    "By the way¡­ I already have your fire resistance potion recipe. KeK." Dante sneered. "I hope you didn''te all the way here to beg me about it?"


    Liam chuckled again. "But I didn''te here. You did."<del>


    ,c`o`m</del>


    Perhaps because he had already lived through many things, he felt like he was talking to a spoilt child.


    Dante''s face immediately changed, so Liam did not push him any further. After all, he was here for peace talks.


    "Alright. Shall we have a proper conversation now?" He as well leaned back with a smile. "I have a recipe with me that you could greatly benefit from. Are you interested?"


    "Hmmm?" Dante blinked in confusion, and then his fat lips curled up into a grin. "Why? Are you not able to crack the recipe?" He hit the nail directly on the head.


    Liam nodded. "Yes." He did not n on hiding this fact from the guy. A little bit of honesty is needed when making a deal. Someone had to take the first step.


    "Oh! He He He. So you really are here to beg for my help." Dante once again sneered. "What is this recipe that even someone like you can''t crack?"


    "Aren''t you the famous alchemy genius who made the only fire resistance potion on the market?"


    "If a genius like you couldn''t crack it, why would someone like me be able to help you? He He He"


    Liam''s face twitched. He waited for the guy to get it all out of the system, but it didn''t look like this peace talk was going to end smoothly.


    "Yes. I am not able to crack it, but maybe you might? Are you interested in trying? It is an extremely lucrative recipe." He asked patiently, even trying to bait with the money card.


    "Hmmm¡­ maybe¡­ what is the recipe? Share it first."


    "Mmmm. We need to make some agreements before that." Liam shook his head. He was willing to overlook the other party''s arrogance, but this was the important part right here.


    "What agreements? Pfft. You need my help here. Not the other way around. I am not making any agreements."


    "You shouldn''t be so hasty. You should take a look first. I wouldn''t be here discussing this matter with you if it was not something important."


    Liam looked at the guy calmly, cing his chin on his palm. "Alright. How about I tell you the name of the potion as a sign of goodwill?"


    "Ok." Dante cocked his head to the side and listened.


    "It''s a body cleansing potion. It improves stats."


    "Oh?" Even though Liam downyed its importance, Dante still looked shocked to hear that something like this existed.


    Of course, this would be extremely lucrative. The guy was not lying to him!


    "So¡­ what sort of agreement are you looking for here?" He probed further.


    "Hmmm. Nothing big. Just a 40% - 60% profit split and your word that you wouldn''t be sharing this recipe with anyone else."


    "Of course, I would also need you to let me watch while you make it how many ever times I need to and supply me as many potions as I require."


    "Obviously, I will be providing the herbs for the potions that I order." Liam casuallyid out everything on the table, and now it was Dante''s turn to respond.


    But the guy continued to look at Liam with a weird expression.

 Chapter 468 Alchemy Grandmaster

    Chapter 468 Alchemy Grandmaster


    "What? I am asking only for 40% here. The terms aren''t too bad. Let me tell you this beforehand. This recipe is not easy to obtain."


    "No matter which mob you grind, there won''t be another copy of this recipe. I got it from a special quest." Liam exined.


    But the more he exined, the more Dante''s face changed, and not in a good way. The guy continued to remain silent.


    "Do you want to negotiate further?" Liam probed.


    . ?`?`m But instead of answering him, the other party abruptly stood up. The big sneer as well returned back to his face.


    "Did you think I was one of your ves that you could order around? Heh. You can keep your recipe to yourself. I don''t need it."


    "Oh, and if you still desperately need me to help you with it, you can alwayse to find me and beg me some more."


    "But don''t ever talk about agreements or things like that in front of me. Heh. Who do you think I am? Do you know my professional rank?


    "I am just a step away from alchemy grandmaster!"


    "Grandmaster? Already?" Liam couldn''t help but be shocked. He knew that the guy was a genius, but he did not know that he had already attained such a level!


    Who was a Grandmaster? Someone whose status rivaled that of a King! They were as rare as clean politicians! Only a handful present in the entire Xion realm perhaps!


    Their existences were mysterious, and items produced by them were at least of Epic rank.


    They were the only beings capable of producing Legendary rank items, even if it was only a slim chance.


    And this guy was close to achieving such a level? More importantly, without even stepping into the Level 50 realm?


    Was such a thing even possible?


    Liam waspletely shocked, and seeing this shocked expression of his satisfied the other party tremendously.


    "Now you understand. Heh. Idiot." Dante scoffed before heading out. "Talking to me as an equal? What arrogance!"


    He looked back at Liam one more time, enjoying the sweet look of shock and despair, and then walked away without looking back anymore.


    Liam, on the other hand, was still in shock. He only recovered after a minute. He looked at the empty doorway through which the chubby guy had walked out and silently nodded.


    That was a genius. If this were a novel, he would be the protagonist. Liam smiled wryly.


    Dante was what people called a born genius, and he knew it. Hence, he also had the arrogance to match it. How would such a person ept any sort of deal?


    Liam calmly grabbed the small fox near his feet, who had jumped out and now was hissing at the doorway angrily.


    "Hmmm¡­ I know how you feel." Liam patted her absent-mindedly. "Maybe I could have been more polite and humble?"


    "No." He then shook his head. Sure, he needed this badly, but he also had a bottom line. He was willing to trade and make an alliance, but he was not going to beg anyone for help.


    So what if he was a genius? He had already stolen the fate of one genius, what''s one more?


    "In a few days, we will see who is begging whom¡­" Liam indifferently stood up and walked back to the alchemy room. It was time to go all out!<del>


    ,c`o`m</del>


    He pulled up the system interface and then started messaging Mia.


    "If you are still in the guild recruiting divine affinity yers, set up an announcement for gathering recipes. Don''t hold back and give max contribution point rewards."


    "I need alchemy recipes. Doesn''t matter what recipe it is. The more, the better. As long as it is something that is not on the list, send it to me."


    Liam quickly sent over all the details to Mia. If that guy could figure it out, then it should be theoretically possible for him as well to figure out. There was nothing stopping him!


    The recipe was 100% doable.


    "I will get it done no matter what." Liam clenched his fists and hurriedly tried to see if he had covered all the corners.


    He had already informed Berat, and now he informed Mia. This should be enough for the time being.


    This should bring him more than enough alchemy recipes from the Xion realm. As for theher realm¡­


    Liam thought about it and decided to venture back there once more. It would take some time for the recipes to be collected, so he did not want to sit simply until then.


    That too, with the ravens on his back, there was nothing much he could do here, so it was best to return back for the moment.


    He opened theher realm portal and quickly stepped in. Luna as well ran in behind him.


    "Shall we do some hardbor?"


    Kyuuu!


    Luna bobbed her head and then puffed up to be a big fox. Liam was just about to hop onto her when suddenly his vision turned ck.


    "Forced logout?"


    That was the first thing that came to his mind, but his consciousness drifted away before he could understand what was going on.


    When Liam opened his eyes again¡­ the blur slowly cleared to reveal a round something sitting on a sparkling throne made of bones?


    Huh? Am I seeing things?


    Dante was sitting on a throne in front of him? Impossible!


    Liam rubbed his eyes again to see properly. There was indeed a fat chubby guy sitting on a really cool throne, but it was not Dante.


    It was¡­ wait, he had never seen this person in his life before¡­ both his lives. Who was he?


    Where the hell am I? He groggily tried to sit up and turned around to see the rest of the room, or rather the huge hall he seemed to be in.


    He was still confused, but everything cleared right up when the familiar faces came into his vision.


    Demons! There were demons everywhere!


    This meant that he was currently in front of the King?

 Chapter 469 - Prisoners dont get to talk

    Chapter 469 - Prisoners don''t get to talk


    Liam instantly sobered up. He did not have the time to take it slow right now. He no longer had any doubts.


    He was definitely in front of the King who had summoned him formitting treason! He was fully surrounded by demons on all sides!


    Most of them had question marks on their heads which meant that they were probably level 100 and beyond.


    If they wished, they could even kill him right this second. There was simply no way for him to escape this entrapment.


    The fact that he was still alive right now was a miracle. How did he even get here? Was this the work of one of the twelve High Lords?


    If it was¡­ then their real strength¡­


    Liam shook his head. I need to focus. How do I get out of this? If they still haven''t killed me¡­ it should only be because of that stone tablet!


    He then realized something else important. The demons hadn''t really bothered with him even after he wasbeled as a traitor and summoned to the King.


    They had only taken action after he had stolen the stone tablet. This meant that they ced a lot of importance on the artifact.


    This was strange because these people did not even know the real value of the artifact.


    He himself had only scratched the surface, but these demons hadn''t even been able to achieve that much. So why did they immediately drag him here?


    Unless¡­


    Liam suddenly had a thought. What if these demons valued the person and not the stone tablet. Perhaps they valued potions and pills. After all, these items were a rarity in the demon world.


    If this was the case¡­ then maybe he still had a chance?


    Liam slowly tried to stand up. His entire body was aching as if someone had kicked him all over while he was still unconscious. Probably the work of someone he knew?


    He shook it off and looked at the round person sitting on the throne again. Now that he had a chance to take a better look at him, this guy in front of him looked nothing like Dante.


    Both of them were dark-skinned, and that would be the only simrity between them. In fact, Dante would be his thin cousin.


    Perhaps the demon''s body structure was like that. Hormonal imbnce?


    Liam cleared his throat and didn''t concern himself with these extra details. After all, he was in serious trouble right now.


    With high-leveled demons, one could never tell what sorts of attacks they might use, and sometimes, death could be far more damaging.


    So he had to salvage this before something bad happened. "Your highness, I-" Liam opened his mouth hurriedly to exin his side of things and plead his case.


    However, before he could utter a few words, a heavy blownded on his back, making him buckle down.


    One huge sturdy demon was standing beside him with his thick leg pushing him down.


    "Prisoners don''t get to talk." Another voice sounded, and Liam lost his consciousness once again.


    When he opened his eyes¡­


    "What the hell¡­" Liam rubbed his eyes. The damn demon had knocked him out one more time. Just what were these people up to?


    Couldn''t they simply kill him and get it done with? At least he could respawn somewhere else and be on his way.


    He knew that it was pointless to put up any struggle against those who were 50 or so levels over him.


    In these cases, it was just better to die and not get caught once again in the hands of these high-leveled beings.


    "So, where am I now?" Liam looked around and tried to stand up.


    His body swayed in the air, feeling weak and drained, but before he could get the hang of things, something big and brown rushed towards him from four corners.


    Ziiiiinnngg. A blinding pain seared through his head, but Liam ignored it and quickly took out his sword that was hanging by his waist.


    It was good that the person who ''kidnapped'' him did not bother stealing his sword.


    In one swift motion, Liam withdrew the weapon and swung it habitually without even thinking twice about it.


    His head cleared only when the first big brown thing fell on the ground with a squeal. It was a boar. He was dealing with a demonic boar.


    Liam instantly dodged the other three that came baring their tusks at him and swung his sword around to finish off those as well.


    These boars were barely Level 20, so they did not pose any threat to him. However, it was not over yet. There were about thirty to forty of these boars, all of theming straight at him.


    Liam frowned and nted himself sturdily on the ground. As the boars began pouncing on him one after the other, he swiftly cleared each and every one of them with just the use of his sword.


    He took his time to do this while dodging some attacks and bending his body at various angles. If he wanted, he could have cleared everything a lot faster, but that was not his aim here.


    He wanted to see where he was and what was happening around him.


    Liam''s eyes darted left and right as he took a look at the giant ground in the middle of which he was currently standing.


    It was a hardened red sand ground, and the space he was standing on looked like an arena. He then lifted his head up to see the huge crowd gathered around.


    Only now Liam realized where he was!


    He was standing in the middle of a giant colosseum. So many demons surrounded him, all of them sitting on the seats and observing him from the sidelines.


    The crowd looked particrly rowdy, and since the ringing sound in his ears stopped, he could hear them clearly. They were enjoying the show very much, shouting and cheering loudly.


    But¡­ they were definitely not cheering for him!

 Chapter 470 - Boooo! Boooo!

    Chapter 470 - Boooo! Boooo!


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock as he realized what was going on. These people were treating him like entertainment! What was this? Some sort of survival test?


    While ughtering the boars, he checked out the sides to see who was sitting and quickly spotted all the key figures.


    The heavy weight King, some other demons, and of course, his recent fans, Itaka city lord, and the ogre demon were allfortably seated amidst the audience.


    It looked like they had traveled here to see his plight specifically.


    Apart from these few demons, the rest of the audience seemed to bemoners, perhaps the Kingdom city dwellers. These demons were simply enjoying the show for the heck of it.


    From this, Liam could tell that this was probably their custom, nothing new to them. However, the question still remained¡­ what was he supposed to do?


    To ughter these Level 20 boars, Liam did not need much.


    He managed to kill everyst one of them in just a couple of minutes, and that, too he only took so much time because he was trying to feel out the crowd.


    Wait¡­ where is Luna?


    "Are you here?" Liam tried to reach out to her but it was of no use. There was no replying back. Whoever picked him up and brought him here, must have left her out.


    It was one thing to get lost in the Xion realm but it was entirely another thing to get lost in theher realm.


    Liam''s expression turned grave as he thought about the little fox being alone in the vast wilderness. She was way too small and powerless to be alone in this region.


    If he did not have a time limit before, he had one now.


    Should I just die? He seriously considered this possibility, finishing off thest of the boars. If he died, he knew what would happen, but if Luna died, the consequences might not so simple.


    Liam hurriedly tried to sift through the various system messages to see if he could get a clue about this ce while the rest of the colosseum exploded into loud chaos.


    Seeing that their first wave was easily defeated, all the demons stood up from their seats and started booing him animatedly.


    "Down! Down! Traitor!"


    "Die!"


    "Take this!"


    Some even threw the things they had in their hands at him.


    Not giving him any time to get a grip, soon a loud gong resounded and the next wave was released.


    BULLS!


    Liam''s eyes widened. Not because he was afraid of these bulls, but because he finally caught hold of the notification that he wanted to see or rather didn''t want to see.


    [Ding. You have entered the Colosseum.]


    [Ding. Penalties for death: Level reset, titles reset, skills reset, and inventory reset]


    "I knew it! I fucking knew it!" ces like this were never simple. He had even gotten experience points for all of the boars, so he knew that this was going to be a headache.


    The better the rewards were, the worse the penalty of the failure and the danger surrounding it!


    But even so, Liam had not expected the penalties to be this harsh.


    This was do or die. If he failed in this, then everything he had obtained so far would be nothing. All his efforts would mean nothing.


    He did not know that the penalty for being summoned by the King would be so bad.


    If he did, he would have chased out those two long ago by hook or crook or maybe never stepped into theher realm again.


    But now that he thought about this, it also made sense. When Kingdom quests were so rewarding, a summon by the King would have an equally severe punishment.


    He did not think about this before, and now that it had happened to him, he could understand it. Hindsight was always¡­


    "Why don''t you just go ahead and ban me from the game itself!" Liam gnashed his teeth in anger. He tried not to think about the consequences and crumble downpletely.


    This was not the first impossible situation he had jammed himself into. There was definitely a way out of this. He just needed to think.


    He needed to think about what to do next instead and how to act. His life depended on it. These forty or so boars were nothing, but what about the next wave and the wave after that?


    He had to do something fast, or he would be out of time. Before things became worse, he needed to figure out how to save himself.


    But it was not going to be easy.


    No wonder the two city lords screwed over by him were sitting happily and watching the show with big grins on their faces!


    It was his turn to getpletely screwed over now!


    All his chickens hade home to roost, and this time there was no running away.


    "Damn it. I need to do something fast." Liam gritted his teeth staring at the bulls in front of him, thudding towards him.


    He titled his head to look at the stands, particrly at the expression on the King''s wide face. There was a smug, arrogant expression on the man''s face.


    Seeing him, Liam couldn''t help but think of the obvious. Why go through all of this trouble? Even if this was a custom, surely all of this was too much just for him?


    They did not even ask him for the stone tablet yet. Shouldn''t they care more about that treasure?


    It was almost as if someone had adamantly wanted to humiliate him before they got rid of himpletely.


    It was clear that the King had done all of this because his two most valuable city Lords requested him for it.


    Now, what would happen if he proved that he was more valuable than the both of thembined? Wouldn''t everything change then?


    Liam then, without any hesitation, lifted his hand. "Come out."


    The next instant, his motley group of soul undeads appeared in front of him, standing between him and the raging bulls, galloping towards him, wanting to kill him.


    The soul undeads immediately whirred into action, the group of them madly rushing towards the demonic bulls.


    Rabbits, chickens, wolves, bears, imps, all of them charged towards the forty or so demonic bulls.


    When things hade so far, there was no point in hiding his strength anymore.


    The number of these undeads was actually more than the number of demonic bulls, and the level of these undeads, at least everything above the chickens and rabbits matched the bulls.


    So in an instant everything changed and both the opposing sides were now evenly matched. This was without including Liam in the equation.


    The forty or so raging demonic bulls shed against the forty or so soul undeads.


    A loud cacophony of deafening screeching sounds echoed, making everyone sitting around the Colosseum stand up in shock. The demons were utterly andpletely stunned.


    They did not expect this twist in their show.


    Necromancers were feared and revered throughout thends of theher realm for their power and their proficiency in the demonic arts.


    Every single necromancer was treated with respect by the demons, even by the city Lords and the King himself. They are usually strong allies that a garrison recruited.


    And now unexpectedly, the person fighting in the arena was a Necromancer! That too, from the looks of it a very strong one!


    Why was this person punished in the first ce?


    All the demons curiously turned to look at their King who in turn red at the two city Lords who had conveniently forgotten to mention to him this small detail.


    Liam could tell that his n was working. Maybe there was a chance for him after all.


    ***

 Chapter 471 Wrong Calculations

    Chapter 471 Wrong Calctions


    The moment the soul undeads appeared in the arena, they started fighting it out with the raging bulls, and everything happened too fast.


    But despite all of this, Liam''s eyes never left the King. He observed the man''s expression change down to the veryst detail, and the n in his mind solidified.


    This could indeed work! Maybe all he needed to do to survive here was to show his worth!


    Liam clenched his fists and sat down in the middle of the arena without paying attention to the soul undeads surrounding him who were madly wing and kicking the bulls.


    The agonized sounds of the bulls echoed loudly, making all the demons in the audience watching this gory fight wince.


    The soul undeads were particrly energetic today as they were back in theher realm, and considering that the bulls mainly specialized in physical attacks which were weak against the soul undeads, the bunch was going wild and crazy.


    It looked like the bulls were going to buckle down and give up soon. The second wave was also going to be smoothly cleared.


    All the demons had assembled here to see the prisoner being punished and tormented, perhaps stampeded to death by the dozens of boars and bulls, but what was happening here was the opposite.


    And Liam was not done yet.


    He calmly settled down in the middle of the arena as if nothing was happening around him and took out a cauldron.


    "This better work." He murmured and continued tossing one thing after another in the cauldron. Of course, he was not doing anything fancy. He was only making the simple basic health potion.


    And the reason for him to be doing this¡­


    Liam grinned maniacally. He was pushed into a corner. If these two demons wanted to take him out, he was not going to go down without a fight!


    By the time the soul undeads packed and parcelled the demonic bulls, Liam as well was done with the first batch of potions.


    He packed everything into small bottles and calmly put everything into his inventory. He even opened one bottle and gulped it down.


    What the hell was he doing? All the demons watching this scene were utterly shocked.


    At first, they couldn''t believe that the prisoner in front of them was a necromancer, and now they found it even more unbelievable to see the said necromancer brewing potions!


    What the hell was happening here? Why was such a revered master being punished? All the demons once again looked at their King for some sort of exnation.


    And the King¡­


    The demon King was by now shivering in anger. He repeatedly red at the two city lords, who were also not in much better shape.


    Especially, the ogre demon was shaking from top to bottom. How the hell was this rat making a potion? He had been trying to make one for all of his life, and this guy did it so casually!


    It was unbelievable for him. More importantly, something else scared him more.


    When they had met previously, the useless rat was not this proficient in alchemy, and now he was¡­? How did this happen?


    Either he was lying, or he gained something from the stone tablet!


    The king valued him so highly because he had managed to get the garden transformation out of the stone tablet, but if this rat had gained something more, then the tables would instantly change!


    No, that absolutely cannot happen! Otherwise, the consequences would be dire. Perhaps he would find himself in the same situation as the rat!


    The ogre demon shivered and then quickly whispered something to the underling standing beside him. <del> ,c`o`m</del>


    The two city Lords silently exchanged nces, and seeing the first one, the second one also whispered something to the same underling.


    Not good! Liam could immediately tell that something was going to happen.


    While continuing his showmanship, he kept an eye on these three important figures at all times, and definitely, the two city Lords were making some sort of move now.


    What are they up to now? He quickly checked the condition of the soul undeads, and all of them were doing tremendously great.


    The second wave was almost entirely wiped out, with only a few more bulls left standing.


    The group of soul undeads ganged up against thesest couple of bulls and brought them down together.


    The entire arena was now fully littered with the corpses of these beasts, experience points raining down on Liam without stopping.


    As for the souls of these corpses, Liam watched his army of undeads devour the souls to heal themselves after the fight.


    Everything was going smoothly ording to his n. Sure, these two sour grape foxes threw him a curve ball, but he was handling that now.


    The King as well seemed extremely regretful, as if at any instant his decision could change. This was good.


    "Please, my King, give me a chance to exin." Liam took advantage of this small gap of silence and quickly tried to talk to the demon.


    However, before he could make any headway, the next gong loudly resounded, and the third wave of beasts appeared.


    This time it was rats!


    Numerous huge demonic rats with big fangs and sharp red eyes appeared in the area,pletely surrounding Liam.


    Not only that, but when looked at closely, these rats had some sort of ck sticky liquid dripping from their teeth.


    "Venom?"


    And judging from the thick ck color of the venom, Liam had another doubt. Was this theher venom?


    This was the same venom he had faced back when he was fighting with Hongumbra, the previous garrison leader of Thol city, the city currently in his leadership.


    Back then, the demon had been so arrogant because of this very venom.


    And now¡­ it looked like these two genius Lords had the same n. The duo was clearly plotting to take him out using these rabid rats.


    Liam looked up to see the two watching him with visible glee in their eyes. The two demons looked hell-bent on getting revenge now that they had their chance.


    But unfortunately, they had chosen the wrong target. Liam grinned.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 2~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 472 Out Of The Frying Pan?

    Chapter 472 Out Of The Frying Pan?


    The two demons watched the horde of rats surrounding Liam on all sides. This time the number of rats was simply too many. The soul undead army couldn''t keep all the rats upied.


    They managed only to stop half of the demonic rats, and the rest charged toward Liam with full gusto, baring their fangs at him.


    "Hmph. Die quickly." The ogre demon grunted.


    "It''s best to finish this off soon." Nyaka as well seriously mumbled.


    The two of them were starting to feel anxious. They also did not like the way the King was looking at them. It was best to finish this fight as soon as possible.


    If Liam was dead, then they could probably say something and smoothen the situation, but if he somehow ended up being alive, then things would be very tricky.


    Who knew that the damn rat would be hiding so many cards in his sleeve? He had purposefully tricked them by acting weak and stupid in front of them!


    If possible, they would have wanted a stronger horde to fight against the damn guy and finish him off in one hit, but then the King would definitely know that they had intervened.


    So these rats were their only hope. The two demons clenched their behinds and watched the scene tensely.


    However, their actions did not gopletely unnoticed. The demon King, who was hesitantly allowing everything to ur up until now,pletely lost his cool on seeing the rats!


    This was going to kill the prisoner!


    If the other Kings came to know about this, he would be aughing stock! Who in their right mind would kill a strong city Lord.


    On the other hand, now that they were in the Colosseum, he also could not interfere. That would also damage his reputation and make him look like a fool.


    The demon lookedpletely torn. In the end, he snorted coldly and called over the underling standing behind him. He as well whispered something in his ears.


    If Liam managed to survive this wave somehow, then he was going to stop the show and reward him, but if he did not, then he could only let this go and punish those two.


    The demon''s big round eyes locked onto Liam and observed him curiously.


    He was half-expecting the necromancer to raise another group of undead, but surprisingly he did not do that.


    Huh? The demon king was shocked. He blinked a few times and then peeled his eyes to watch the arena in front of him. Am I seeing things?


    Unexpectedly, the person standing in front of him was casually battling with the bunch of rats without caring in the least about theher venom.


    Does that mean this necromancer has venom resistance? The King was not stupid. He immediately recognized what was happening.


    Just as he did, the other two seated a few feet away from all realized their mistake. They had bet on the wrong horse. They should have used something else, some other beasts, maybe.


    These rats were absolutely worthless!


    Meanwhile, Liam silently enjoyed their panicked expressions while continuing to take care of the rats. He didn''t reveal all of his trump cards just yet and yed it safe.


    He cleared the rats one after the other and left the remaining for his soul undeads. Thanks to this unexpected arena, his soul undeads were getting a lot of experience points.<del> ,c`o`m</del>


    He was also receiving a big chunk of their hard-earned experience points. That too, the rats were Level 40, so the experience points reward was quite decent.


    He received about 200 for each rat, the rest getting distributed to the undeads. Some of them even leveled up once.


    As for Liam leveling up, he needed 10 million experience points to progress from Level 50 to 51. So this was not happening any time soon.


    Otherwise, he would have been more concerned about reaching Level 51 without forming a mana core.


    That was not an ideal situation, and such a thing would definitely affect his foundation.


    Liam wiped the ck sticky liquid off his forehead after cutting down thest of the rats. ck venom had sshed all over him, making him look like a tar demon.


    But he did not care about that right now. This was a crucial moment. Though he was now a bit more confident, he knew that he was still not out of the hot water.


    If things had gone any differently, he would be in a really bad situation right now. However, thankfully the King was not aplete blockhead.


    But that didn''t mean that Liam was out of danger. There would still be some price to pay. Liam knew it.


    Now that this wave of rats ended, with the silence that ensued, Liam quickly bowed in front of the King again. "Your highness, give me a chance to exin."


    And just like he expected, this time, the King cleared his throat and stood up. "Your brave actions merit a reward. Follow me."


    The huge demon jiggled as he walked, or rather slid over the floor and exited the colosseum under everyone''s watchful eyes.


    The faces of the two city Lords paled. All the demons sitting in the arena erupted into loud cheers! Not boos but actual cheers!


    Meanwhile, two demons quickly approached Liam and escorted him from the arena into another room to get cleaned up and changed.


    Liam as well dismissed his soul undead army and followed them. The treatment this time was already vastly different.


    Though the two demons were higher leveledpared to him, like thest time, they did not knock him out this time and drag him out of the arena.


    Instead, they treated him respectfully like a VIP.


    They waited for him to finish up everything, change into a new set of clothes, and then escorted him to the royal pce using one of the royal mounts, a giant big-toothed bat.


    The pce was near the colosseum, so they didn''t have to travel for long. The two demons then hopped off the mounts and once again escorted Liam into the pce.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 3~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 473 - l am innocent

    Chapter 473 - l am innocent


    Liam was still shaking from what just happened.


    One second, he was close to losing everything that he had worked so hard for until now, and the next second, these guys were treating him like a big shot.


    If anything, this only speaks to what he already knew! Only strength mattered!


    He wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued walking. He was a lot calmer now and looked around the pce interior.


    Unlike the Gresh Kingdom pce, which was beautiful and dazzling, this pce was made of ck stones and dark corridors.


    The whole ce had an intimidating vibe. But the most interesting part was the portraits on the walls of the pce.


    There had to be at least a hundred portraits of the demon king in various poses and expressions. In some he looked smiling, some were terrifying, and some were even nude.


    I need to wash my eyes. Liam trembled inwardly. What sort of a character has these many self-portraits?


    This was only the second pce he was seeing the inside of, but clearly, this couldn''t be normal?


    Liam silently observed everything, and soon the group arrived at the main hall.


    This was the same hall where Liam had previously been. At that time, he was on the ground, but now he was standing.


    The two demons bowed, and Liam as well did the same.


    He then looked up to see the same huge throne made of gold and bones, and the huge demon king was sitting atop the throne like a boss.


    "Your highness." Liam opened his mouth, and the demon king immediately grunted loudly.


    "You have too many usations lined up against you, Thol city Lord. What do you have to say for yourself?"


    And before Liam could answer him, the other parties standing nearby quickly opened their mouth.


    "Your highness, you are the fairest, benevolent, and most powerful King in the entireher realm. Please, you have to seek justice for me. The Thol city Lord kidnapped my two wives!"


    "Your highness, the most handsome King in the entire realm, the kindest and the impartial god of our demons, you have to seek justice for me too. The Thol city Lord stole my precious stone tablet!"


    As if these two were not enough, another demon stood up and started adding oil to this fire,


    "Your highness, my Lord and savior, my handsome God, please smite this demon. The Thol city Lord is a traitor. He possessed information that only a spy from the Xion realm would know!"


    Without giving Liam any chance to open his mouth, the three demons started spouting flowery words to the King, at the same time mounting their me on top of him.


    Liam was dumbstruck. Such tant fawning shouldn''t work, right?


    He had only just now gone through a huge ordeal and somehow now obtained a chance to stand in front of the King and exin himself.


    Of course, he had also prepared satisfactory answers, but now he was no longer sure. He could see the subtle changes on the chubby round moon face of the demon king.


    Not wanting to let things once again go out of control, Liam quickly started exining.


    "Your highness, I sincerely apologize to my fellow city lords. But these usations are unfair. I am innocent."


    "Lord Nyaka''s wives followed me without my knowledge to my garrison and are still refusing to leave. I have requested them several times, but despite that, they show no intentions of leaving."


    "And the stone tablet¡­ As you can see, my knowledge of alchemy is vast. I only paid Lord Ghet a visit to share my knowledge with him and exchange pointers."


    "But¡­" Liam smiled bitterly and continued, "I was unfairly med for stealing the stone tablet. I did no such things. I really do not know why Lord Ghet''s stone tablet broke."


    "I do have a theory though¡­"


    He hesitated and then spoke, "When I was standing next to Lord Ghet, I felt a strange energy entering my body, perhaps that was the essence of the stone tablet?"


    "If that were the case, then it would make sense that the stone tablet broke into pieces once I left the city. Without the essence, that treasure might as well be just stone."


    "And your highness¡­ please trust me. It was not my intention to absorb this essence. It happened on its own. I ampletely helpless."


    "Topensate for this, I am willing to supply your highness with a certain number of potions every month along with the rest of the tribute."


    "I hope your highness can please ept this." Liam bowed.


    "And as for the other usations on me¡­Your highness, I implore you. I am not a traitor. My intention was only to help us win."


    "I caught a human being in the recent past, and I tortured this information out of him. I even shared this information with all of our garrisons, helping other Lords obtain a win."


    "Please, your highness, I am not a traitor. This usation is a conspiracy nted by the Xion realm dwellers to sow discord among us. Please put an end to these lies."


    Liam put on a pitiful expression, shamelessly exining everything and bending every single fact ording to his convenience.


    Added to this, he also sounded very convincing. All the demons gathered in the huge hall nodded at his exnation as if agreeing with him.


    After all, many of them had obtained sweet victories in the rift battle, so they were notpletely against him.


    Not just the other demons but the King as well looked quite convinced. Seeing this Ghet and Nyaka started panicking even more.


    But then Nyaka''s eyes twinkled, and a strange glint shed past his eyes as he once again started talking.


    "Your highness, this Thol city Lord is spouting nonsense! How could my wives admire a weakling like him! They have only always admired you, our strong and powerful King!"


    "If they had indeed run away, they would havee here directly to serve as your ves, your highness. How could they possibly go to the Thol city on their own ord!"


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 4~


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 Chapter 474 Self-Destruction?

    Chapter 474 Self-Destruction?


    Fuck. Liam frowned. He did not have a good feeling about this. What the hell was this tant ttery? Was the king really going to fall for something obvious like this?


    The demon Ghet also quickly joined in.


    "Yes, your highness. How could this be possible? The stone tablet never acknowledged a genius like you. How could it possibly acknowledge someone like him?"


    Thest demon also joined in. "Your highness, we only won all the rift battles thanks to the vast knowledge and priceless advice that you have given us."


    "Now the Thol city Lord wants to im this as his doing? I will not stand by and simply watch this lowly demon iming to be your equal, my highness."


    Liam was speechless. He thought that he was shameless, but these guys were even more so. They werepletely trying to push him into something else.


    While the three continued to fawn and tter the demon King, Liam started quickly ransacking his brain.


    He had a feeling that he was only minutes away from being once again thrown into the Colosseum and fed to the dogs, so he had to act fast.


    Wait, now that he was outside of the Colosseum, maybe he could justmit suicide and get the fuck out of this situation?


    But then again, he would only get into more trouble if, by chance, the nearby graveyard was still within the Kingdom.


    Someone might see him, and he would probably be caught instantly. If he ran away now, he could nevere back from this blow.


    He needed to think of something else fast. The clock was ticking.


    The three demons, however, did not stop. They enjoyed Liam''s plight while continuing to bber non-stop to the guy on the throne.


    The demon King remained silent so far, but Liam could see that he was hesitating, standing on the edge. He could go either way.


    The main problem was that these three guys knew way more about the demon king than Liam did, and theypletely used it to their advantage.


    Stop. Don''t panic. Let me think. Liam tried to remain calm and think about the whole situation. What kind of a person was this demon king?


    He couldn''t help but think of the numerous self-portraits hanging on the walls, these ttering words by the three city Lords and the full court with the dozens of demons just standing to show their presence to the King as if they did not have any other work.


    All of these things pointed to one and only one thing.


    This demon king in front of him was¡­ undoubtedly¡­ vain!


    Liam hade across numerous personalities in his life, so he had no doubt about this.


    Only if this were the case all of the tant ttery would work. Otherwise, why would the three demons still keep spouting this nonsense?


    So should I also start ttering? Liam momentarily considered this, but he quickly moved on. No, that won''t be as effective.


    He needed to do something that wouldpletely change the tides in his favor, and he also had an idea of how to do this.


    He was only hesitating a little because this was very risky, and he was also not sure if he would finish this. Nevertheless, he did not have too many options at the moment.


    He had to make this happen somehow!


    If he couldn''t then he would have to flee once again, which was not new to him. The problem would be that he could never step inside theher realm again.


    And thanks to the ravens, he also couldn''t return to the Xion realm. He would really be stranded. Liam sighed at his pitiful plight.


    Even he sometimes couldn''t understand how things became this bad.


    ''Ok. Here goes nothing.'' Liam cleared his throat a little and bowed in front of the demon king. "Your highness, if I may interject here¡­"


    The three demons immediately turned to re at him, but the king on the throne raised his hand to give Liam a chance.<del></del>


    "There is a way I can prove my allegiance to your highness." Liam mouthed with a serious face. "I am in the process of making a body cleansing elixir that would greatly benefit your highness."


    "Please. I humbly request you to allow me to finish it and present it to you, your highness. This elixir would prove my sincere respect towards you and the Kingdom."


    Liam once again bowed. He stood with confidence and humility, waiting patiently for a response.


    And just like he expected, all the demons standing in the huge hall also looked shocked. The King sitting on the throne as well looked curious.


    Liam''s words werepletely out of the blue. No one had expected him to say this.


    Even the three demons who wereying down one usation or the other over him now looked dumbstruck.


    How were they supposed to react to this? This was aplete curve ball from the left side!


    Ah. Ah. They looked at each other in ufortable silence.


    Finally, the King sitting on the throne spoke, breaking the silence. "Alright. I will give you the chance to prove yourself. Ahem Ahem. I am indeed in need of such an elixir."


    Bingo! Liam immediately started sweet-talking further to cement these words. "Yes, your highness. Rest assured. I will try my very best or die trying to."


    "The effects of this elixir will be amazing. It will cleanse all the impurities from the body andpletely change your appearance."


    "Your highness will be even more handsome and charming! If that is even possible!"


    Once he started going, the lies and the words as well naturally flowed and Liam ended up promising several things.


    Most of these were from the fat loss ads that he had seen on tv and on various social tforms. After all, weight loss was one of the biggest industries in the current world.


    So he simply used that to his advantage.


    He spoke non-stop for a couple of minutes, and the demons standing around had no choice but to ept defeat. How could theypete with this nonsense?


    If their nonsense was at one level, this nonsense was at an entirely different level.


    They continued to remain silent and did nothing to stop this. At first, they were speechless. However,ter on, it was because of a different reason.


    The truth was that the more Liam spoke, the bigger a grave he was digging for himself.


    The King would have likely forgiven him before, but now after all of this nonsense, there was no way he was going to overlook this.


    So why should they stop him and help him out of this grave?


    There was an art to ttering as well, which clearly this idiot did not know. The demons looked at each other, exchanged meaningful nces, and silently stepped back.


    They no longer needed to do anything to destroy Liam. He was doing that all by himself.


    There was simply no suspense anymore.


    When he eventually fails to deliver everything that he was promising, the King was going topletely obliterate him without as much as a thought.


    Idiot!


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 5~


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 Chapter 475 My Master is the bestest!

    Chapter 475 My Master is the bestest!


    A few miles away from the big city where the demon king and the royal pce were located, a huge bat pped its wings and was speedily headed out of that ce.


    Sitting atop the bat was a lean muscr guy whoid back and stared at the sky in deep thought. Liam breathed in and breathed out steadily, but he still could not calm himself down.


    That was close! Too close for hisfort!


    He would have almost lost everything he had worked so much for andpletely wasted his second chance.


    The higher you fly, the deeper you will fall.


    Liam sighed and asked the bat to continue flying. He needed to find Luna first before anything else. Not knowing what the little fox was doing all by herself was quite troubling.


    However, just as they were about to step into the next zone, a familiar voice sounded in the distance, and a ball of white fluffiness rushed into Liam''s arms, crashing into his ribs.


    "Huh? You are already here?" Liam was beyond speechless. The little fox had tracked him all the way to the main city. This was impressive.


    "Sorry for letting you down." He muttered in a low voice and then silently stared at the white fox who was busy nuzzling against him.


    With Luna here, everything was now back to normal¡­ well, almost.


    The big issues still remained. He needed to sort some things out first. It was now far too dangerous for him to stay in theher realm, and he was not done with this realm just yet.


    He had big ns here that he was yet to execute. So he needed to settle this once and for all.


    "Hmmm¡­ now that you are here¡­" Liam patted the bat, who was busily pping his wings. "Turn back to the city."


    In reality, it was a bit risky for him to be out of the main kingdom city at the moment. He had just now humiliated more than one city lord who were all above Level 100.


    Any one of them could easily kill him. Not to mention whoever dragged him to the Kingdom in the first ce.


    He either needed to take care of this crisis once and for all orpletely never step into theher realm again.


    There were only two options left for him, and the next few hours would determine what the best option might be.


    This was because Liam did notpletely shoot in the blind. Even when he was running his mouth, he still had an idea. Now he only needed to see if it would pan out or not.


    The batnded in the middle of the city, and Liam hopped off the beast, which then took off without waiting for his instructions.


    Liam didn''t care about it and walked towards one of the inns nearby. He booked a big suite and went up to the room directly.


    "Moment of truth." He took a deep breath and started busying himself.


    Kyuuu. Luna padded over to him and looked at him curiously. As soon as she saw the cauldroning out of thin air, she instantly panicked.


    PTSD! She had suffered way too much recently because of this cauldron!


    Nevertheless, she patiently watched Liam without disturbing him.


    She put on a pitiful face and tried to scope out a location in the room that might possibly not be affected by the impending st.


    A few secondster, she found one and jumped over to that spot, resting on the ground with her three tails coiled around her.


    Since she had been searching for Liam for so long, she was also extremely tired.


    Kyuuuu. She then silently continued to watch her master. It was always fun to watch him up until the eventual explosion.


    She wondered when it was going to happen this time.


    A few seconds passed in silence¡­ and then some minutes¡­ soon almost an entire hour passed by¡­


    Kyuuuu? Luna cheered up and looked at Liam with stars twinkling in her eyes. Maybe the days of continuous loud explosions and ck smoke were behind them?


    However, just as that thought crossed her mind¡­


    BOOOM!


    A loud explosion rocked the room.


    Kyuuu¡­ Luna pitifully coughed up puffs of smoke again, but when she looked at Liam, all her sadness disappeared. This was because Liam was grinning this time.


    "What are you looking at?" Liam winked at the small fox and then fell back onto the dirty floor andughed loudly. This trial might have been a failure, but he now knew what he had to do.


    So what if he was not a born genius who could be a grandmaster effortlessly!


    He had more than enough brain!


    I figured it out! Ha Ha Ha Ha!


    Ha Ha Ha Ha!


    Liam shouted at the top of his lungs.


    If the room were not soundproof, the entire inn would be shaking with hisughter at the moment.


    Not even bothering to clean up any of the mess, he hurriedly started the next batch of potions by taking out a new cauldron.


    This thing that had gued him and confounded him for hours now¡­. was finally going to get resolved!


    Liam looked up at the small fox who was gazing at him worriedly. "What are you looking at? Your master is going to do it next time. Do you know how?"


    Kyuuuu. Luna nodded in a daze.


    "He He. It is actually very simple. If you can''t do it all at once, then break it into smaller parts! Do you understand?"


    Kyuuuu. Luna once again nodded in a daze.


    Her master was really a great genius. Everything he said sounded so profound. The little fox gulped, looking at Liam with stars twinkling in her eyes.


    And thus, the next hour continued to proceed in this same fashion, with one human working hard in the cauldron and one fox staring at the human with a worshipping gaze.


    And this time¡­ just like her master had said¡­ there was really no explosion!


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 6~


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 Chapter 476 No tricks

    Chapter 476 No tricks


    "What? What are you saying, Lord Ghet?" Nyaka stood up from the chair, almost stumbling and swaying in the air. He couldn''t believe what he was hearing.


    That damned rat already returned back? And he even called for a meeting with the King?


    "Impossible!" He banged his fist on the table, breaking and shattering it into several small wooden pieces that went flying everywhere.


    "Come with me. Let''s go and see what is happening!"


    "Yes. That''s why I am here."


    The two Lords hurriedly returned back to the King''s pce and walked in long strides to the main hall.


    The two looked around and saw that the King hadn''t arrived yet, and there were not many demons in the big hall.


    "Wait, Nyaka. I have a n." One demon whispered something in the other demon''s ears, and soon, the entire hall became fully crowded with demons of all shapes, sizes, and colors.


    When the King eventually arrived, even he was surprised that such a huge crowd had gathered. They were all waiting as if they had arrived to watch some sort of spectacle.


    He had not called anyone, so why did the full court assemble?


    He looked around in confusion for a couple of seconds but then shrugged and casually sat down. The more, the merrier. He liked the crowd and did not mind it one bit.


    Seeing this both Nyaka and Ghet exchanged nces and grinned in satisfaction. The first phase of their n was sessful. Now only the second and final phase remained.


    Once Liam arrived, that also would be perfectly executed, and the damned rat would also be ughtered mercilessly!


    The entire hall, including the King, waited in anticipation, and a few minutester, the main chief guest finally arrived.


    "Your highness. Please forgive me for my tardiness." Liam bowed humbly.


    After he had set out to leave, he suddenly felt light-headed, perhaps from exerting himself too much. So he had to rest for a bit and then arrive.


    It was quite rude to make a King wait, but Liam couldn''t care less about it. This was because¡­ the item in his hand was just that special!


    The demon king waved him away casually. He also did not care about these formalities at the moment. His eyes were only on the prize.


    "Never mind that. What have you brought for me? Show it. Quick!" He impatiently asked.


    Liam nodded with a smile and calmly stepped forward to hand one of the servants a small bottle. It was a nail-sized bottle with just a drop of liquid inside.


    "Huh? What is this?" The demon king frowned.


    Using this as an opportunity, Nyaka started lighting the fire. He winked at Ghet and added, "That looks very suspicious, my King."


    "Just one drop? Only venoms and strong poisons are stored like this? I am worried for your safety, your highness."


    The demons also agreed with this, and a few more raised their voices, all taking this chance to tter their King.


    "This potion has to be tested first!"


    "Yes! Yes! Test it first!"


    The King looked around and then nodded. "What do you say about this, Thol city Lord?"


    "I have no objections, your highness." Liam simply smiled. He was already prepared for this. He looked behind him, and another demon dragged a huge bat into the main hall.


    This was the same bat who had dropped him off and deserted him without his say so. Was Liam holding a petty grudge? Absolute not. Just a coincidence.


    "We can test the medicine by feeding him if that is alright with your highness."


    The king nodded with curiosity, and the bat took a step back. Liam then stepped forward and fished out another simr vial from his inventory.


    Right in front of everyone''s eyes, he opened the bottle and fed it to the beast, who had no other choice but to gulp it down.


    Drop dead. Drop dead. Drop dead. Nyaka silently chanted under his breath and Ghet also had a simr expression on his face.


    However, a few minutes silently passed, and nothing happened.


    Yes! Both the demons cheered. They nudged the other demons standing near them, and everyone started whispering. Soon the whispers grew louder, and someone loudlymented.


    "Nothing is happening! Is the Thol city Lord trying to scam the King?"


    "He is just trying to cook up something to escape from his treason charges!"


    "He is trying to fool our great benevolent king!"


    "The Thol city Lord needs to be punished for his impudence!"


    "Your highness, he is trying to cheat you!"


    All the demons soon became riled up and started raising their voices one after the other.


    Even the ones who were supportive of Liam were now against him for wasting everyone''s time and for trying to cheat their King.


    At this point, the King himself had a strange expression. His gaze became stern, and he looked at Liam, who was still simply smiling.


    "Your highness, give me a couple more minutes." He answered calmly.


    Standing near him, Nyaka loudly harrumphed. "Your tricks won''t work in front of his highness, Thol city Lord! His highness has a wisdom that is beyond your understanding."


    "Tricks?" Liam shrugged. "I think you are speaking too hastily, Lord Nyaka." He was as calm as the ocean, without the slightest hint of fear or anxiousness.


    And the thing was¡­ he was not even lying. He really did not have any tricks this time. One did not need any tricks when they actually had the real thing.


    So why would he bother with all of this nonsense?


    Liam''s gaze was still on the bat, never leaving the beast. "5 more seconds." He slowly spoke, and Nyaka''s heart suddenly dropped.


    He did not like this confident look on Liam''s face. Weaklings should not be confident.


    However, before he could finish this thought, the very next second, suddenly something cracked.


    FRRRT!


    Everyone couldn''t help but wonder what this noise was when a horrid pungent smell started spreading in the huge main hall.


    And the source of this smell was unmistakable! It was the bat!


    The bat had let loose a loud fart, and it did not stop there.


    St! St! St! Things started falling out of its ass.


    "What the hell is this?! Someone get this beast out of here! This is enough!" Lord Nyaka cringed and shouted, clutching his nose. The King as well had a sour expression.


    A couple of demons immediately came running to take the bat away, but Liam promptly stopped them. "Not so soon. Your highness, this is just the impuritiesing out."


    "Aren''t you curious about the transformation once all the impurities are squeezed out?"


    Gasp. Immediately the entire hall became silent.


    So the Thol city Lord had really managed to find a cure for fatness? Cough. Cough. To take out all the impurities from the body?


    The entire hall began to whisper and murmur amongst themselves.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 7~


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 Chapter 477 - The lucky bat

    Chapter 477 - The lucky bat


    Liam''s words were far too tempting for the demon king to pass up. He immediately raised his hand and ordered the other demons to stop their ruckus. "SILENCE."


    The entire hall instantly became very quiet. Not even Ghet or Nyaka tried to make any noises. Only Liam walked closer to the bat and patted the beast.


    "It will hurt a bit now, but you should bear with it."


    "..." The bat silently stared back at Liam.


    And just like he said, the very next second, the beast started twitching in pain. The demon king leaned closer and looked at this scene with a gulp.


    The superficial impurities were first excreted through the bodily fluids, and now it looked like it was the turn for the deeper impurities to get out.


    As the bat started groaning and whining loudly, struggling in pain, thick ck pungent liquid started oozing out of its orifices.


    Its eyes, mouth, nose, ears, ass, everything was leaking, and the beast was also suffering terribly as if it was in unspeakable agony.


    It even startedshing out at Liam, who was standing nearby, but he casually evaded all of its attacks without much effort at all.


    "Easy boy, easy." He calmly said as if nothing big was happening. However, this made the rest of the demons in the hall drop their jaw to the ground.


    Even those who were shouting the loudest just a few minutes earlier were now gobsmacked. They no longer needed any further proof.


    Everything was crystal clear,id out right in front of them. The damned bat had consumed a top-grade elixir, and its body was currently being purified from its very roots!


    The worst part was that if they had dared to step forward and test it out on behalf of the King, they could have had the chance to consume this top-grade elixir!


    But now they had stupidly missed it!


    Would they still be able to get one for themselves or for their garrison generals?


    All the demons hurriedly started calcting how they could talk and make amends with the Thol city garrison leader after he stepped out of the pce.


    They all wanted to be the first in the queue and get the elixir before the others could get their hands on it.


    They even began listing all the treasures and weapons that they could use to exchange for this elixir.


    Items can always be found sooner orter, but this elixir in front of them was priceless. It would permanently boost their strength and correct their origin.


    They absolutely needed this medicine!


    As the demons continued to rack their brains, a few more minutes passed by, and soon the bat stopped groaning and crying.


    Under everyone''s observant eyes, the beast slowly stood up. It was standing in a big puddle of filth, but it couldn''t care less about it right now.


    It was busily admiring, looking at itself in shock. Its previously bby saggy body was now lean, mean, and strong.


    Its wings were firmer, ws were healthier and sharper, and not to mention its eyesight was now a lot better.


    However, it was not just these physical changes. Something else also changed, and the beast could feel it.


    SWING! It turned its head towards Liam and looked at him with its eyes twinkling. This man was God! Give me more, please! The bat started acting cutely and begging Liam.


    It was extremelyical, but no one felt likeughing at the moment. Such a lowly beast had stolen their treasure! They only felt aggrieved.


    The King as well gulped and quickly stood up. "Everyone get out. I have some personal business with the Thol city garrison- I have some personal business with Lord Liam!"


    "..." Everyone speechlessly looked down at the ground and quickly cleared out. Of course, they had already expected this.


    Even Ghet and Nyaka were now somewhat regretful.


    "Your highness¡­ that thing might still be poisoned?" Ghet did not give up and mumbled, scratching his head, but the next instant something came flying at him.


    It was a wine ss. "You have still not left?" The king''s voice thundered, which made the ogre shiver and run away.


    Soon only the King and Liam were left in the main hall, save for a few servants. "Your highness, I am happy to provide you with more proof, but I only have two more of this left."


    "No. No. Not needed." The King quickly replied, his eyes still on the cool-looking bat. He licked his lips in anticipation and then hurriedly waved at Liam.


    "Quick. Let me try it too."


    Liam nodded and gave him the two vials. "Use both of them, your highness." Seeing the guy''s condition, Liam was not sure if one would simply be enough.


    Also, there was another thing. This was not the actual elixir. This was his own modified version. So just to be safe. He gave the two vials to the King.


    The King as well eagerly received the two bottles in his hands as if they were precious treasures.


    He almost drooled when he looked at them, but then he quickly changed his expression, returning to a stern gaze.


    "Come here." He pped his hands loudly and summoned two demons. He signaled something to them, and they ran over to bring another two demons.


    Liam could instantly tell that these two were different. There was an overpowering demonic aura seeping out of them.


    "Good. Good. I am d you can sense their strength." The King haughtily spoke.


    "If anything unsightly happens to me after I consumed these two elixirs, they won''t hesitate to end your life immediately."


    Liam nodded. "I understand, your highness. But please be aware that the elixir would give you a certain amount of pain."


    "Yes, I understand. I am not unreasonable."


    Sure you are not. Liam cursed the guy inwardly and nodded. Worst case scenario, if he dies, then he would have to leave theher realm and never return back.


    He had already given this his all. So he did not have any regrets no matter what happened next. He silently watched the King toss the first bottle of elixir into his mouth.

 Chapter 478 - New BFF

    Chapter 478 - New BFF


    SPLOSH! SPLAT! SPLAT!


    Liam cringed and so did the bat still standing next to him and also the other demons in the room.


    Everyone was just barely stopping themselves from puking their guts out because the scene in front of them was truly disgusting.


    At first, they had been curious to see how the pill worked, especially Liam. But now¡­


    Blob after blob of something putrid and jelly like jiggled and fell down out of the King''s ass. Horried pungent gas filled the entire hall.


    The true impurities removing process hadn''t even started yet but already a mountain of waste had piled up. It stunk worse than a rotting mess of corpses.


    All this shit was actually inside a living breathing creature? It was simply unbelievable.


    After a certain point, everyone including Liam ran to the opposite corner of the hall while waiting for the rest of the transformation to take ce.


    After the superficial cleansing, then came the next stage of cleansing. This generated fall less goo but it was a painful process.


    Even Liam was surprised because it took an entire hour almost.


    The demon king continued shouting and screaming at the top of his lungs for the whole hour and finally¡­ something stepped out of the nasty mount.


    The person was covered from top to bottom in filthy slimy rancid stuff. It was the demon king.


    Huh? Liam''s jaw dropped on the floor and so did the jaws of the other demons in the room.


    No one had expected such a huge change!


    The person standing in front of them in no way resembled the previous demon king.


    "Your highness¡­" One of the demons hesitantly spoke, worried that something bad had happened, but the next second the King broke into a burst of loud ravingughter.


    Two rows of white fangs shed brilliantly amidst the ck filth, revealing a big grin.


    "Get me cleaned up. NOW!" The King ordered.


    And Liam grinned. He still did not know the final result but he had seen enough to know that it worked.


    That too, with just a single dose, there was so much change! This was good news!


    Hopefully, this was enough to secure his ce in theher realm?


    Having no other choice, he patiently waited for the rest of the clean up which not so surprisingly took another hour.


    Everyone vacated the main hall and went to another hall where the demon king walked over to reveal his new appearance.


    Heh. Liam was once again shocked.


    Standing in front of him was a tall dark skinned elf!


    Well, at least most of the features were elven. There were some other additions like small horns and a tail, but all in all the demon in front of him was unexpectedly handsome!


    "Are you impressed Liam? What do you think?" The demon king grinned. Unlike before, he was not stern or distant. Rather he behaved quite friendly with Liam.


    Even Liam did not expect this treatment or this kind of transformation.


    "Yes, your highness. You look amazing! Very handsome!" Liam smiled and he was not lying!


    "Of course, I am. He He." The King grinned and walked over to him. He then unexpectedly put his arm around Liam and pulled him along with him.


    "Come friend. Let''s have a feast!"


    "Your highness?"


    "Yes! From now onwards, all charges against you are dropped! Anyone who touches you will have me to answer!"


    "Here. Take my medallion. With this, you will have all the respect that a member of my court will have. Hell, you can have everything that my Generals have."


    "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Come my good friend, Liam. Let''s go and feast! Today is a day to celebrate! Ba ha ha ha!"


    Liam smiled and followed along, inwardly sighing in relief. At least he had crossed this part of the danger. For now.


    The two of them walked over to some sort of dining hall where a huge feast was served.


    The King no longer bothered to keep a low profile and invited all the other demons back including Ghet and Nyaka for the big celebration.


    The moment everyone entered the room, without fail every single demon gasped in shock. To see a handsome youthful person instead of their ''King'' shocked them to their very core.


    And of course, the King enjoyed all the attention he was getting to the fullest.


    The celebration continued on for hours and hours and it was a big event.


    Though in the beginning the King kept praising Liam,ter it became all about him and Liam as well did not mind.


    He silently retreated to a corner and stayed away from the spotlight. He already had enough targets on his back.


    However, that did little to help him. How could he keep a low profile now?


    All the demons started approaching him one by one and started sweet talking to him.


    Some even mistook his interests and demon Nyaka''s stories and were willing to trade some of their mistresses.


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry.


    He politely declined their requests saying that he was tired and drained out and would only be able to make more potions in a few weeks or when he improved himself more.


    He was doubtful if someone would get offended but the demons were really bending over backward to please him and did not seem to mind it at all.


    Heh. Liam grinned and sat back to enjoy without any worry. Life in theher realm was now going to be smooth sailing!


    Well¡­ at least for a while. Liam''s nce fell on his two fans who stood at the other corner and kept staring daggers at him.


    Nyaka still did not give up and tried talking to the King again but he was swiftly sent away with a useless reply.


    "Your highness! This in uneptable!" Nyaka trembled in anger. He was not willing to ept this answer.


    Liam might be an alchemist but he was also an inscription master!


    So how could he be more valuable than him? The demon trembled in anger.


    However, not giving him any chance to talk back, the King snorted in disdain.


    "If your wives are willing you can take them with you, I am not going to give out an order forcing them to follow your whims. They are also my subjects!"


    "Also, there will be no fighting in the kingdom between my garrisons. If you cause any disturbance in my kingdom, I will not show mercy."


    After this, Nyaka or Ghet could not say anything and could only silently step back with their tails between their legs.


    Though the King did not mention Liam''s name while giving them their verdicts, everyone could clearly see the truth.


    The Thol city garrison leader was not to be messed with!

 Chapter 479 - You are cursed by the raven witch!

    Chapter 479 - You are cursed by the raven witch!


    The celebrations continued for a long time, and Liam did not have the luxury of waiting around for the whole thing to end.


    He slipped out as soon as he was sure that his absence wouldn''t be noticed. He just now got on the good side of this King, and he didn''t want to do anything rude and offend him again.


    For a race of bloodthirsty war mongering brutes, some of the demons were too sensitive for their own good.


    "Ok. Now that this is taken care of, we need to¡­ hmmm?" Liam paused, noticing that the bat was still standing behind him.


    "Oh!" He eximed in surprise.


    He had almost forgotten about this beast, but it was good that he was still clinging on to him. "I need to purchase a batch of these bat beasts for the guild."


    Liam looked around to see where he could possibly get some. It was about time everyone in the group had their personal flying mounts.


    After this point, every second counted and they couldn''t afford to spend it on traveling. Especially for the sake of exploring the rest of theher realm, this was the best.


    Liam walked around the Kingdom city for a few minutes taking a look at everything. There was no longer any noose around his neck. So he was able to go wherever he wanted casually.


    "Hmmm¡­ So overall, there is not much difference between this and any other demon settlement, huh. Alright. Let''s see where the bats are being sold."


    The market street was thest ce to explore, and it looked far more interesting, so Liam headed over there to take a look at all the items avable.


    He was now in theher realm and in the midst of a demon settlement, so chances were that there might be some unique items for sale in this market.


    Though nothing like that was avable in the smaller garrison cities, this was the Kingdom city. Liam had some hopes of running into something special, and he continued looking around.


    The first few minutes were quite disappointing as he simply kept running into market sectors trading meat.


    There were all sorts of meat avable from different kinds of beasts, so this would basically be any cooking profession yer''s dream spot.


    Even Luna''s mouth was watering the entire time as she eyed everything with twinkling eyes.


    In the beginning, Liam just continued walking, ignoring the vendors, but after some time, ncing at the drooling fox next to him, he decided to buy some things.


    "You want it now, or shall I ask Shen Yue to cook something first?" He chuckled and asked her.


    Kyuuuuu!


    The fox immediately shook her head. [Cooked, Master]


    "Alright." Liam nodded and then continued his exploration. Still behind these two, the bat looked at their interaction enviously and quickly ran after them.


    The group toured the market for some more time with simrly disappointing results. In the end, Liam directly walked over to a demon.


    "Where can I buy more of these?" He pointed to the bat who suddenly became stiff from the attention.


    Huh? The vendor looked at Liam and then eyes the bat from top to bottom, only recognizing it after a few seconds. A look of surprise appeared on his face. This was a top notch item!


    "Ora! Whos dis? You can''t buy our birds that easily! But¡­" He grinned, "I can take dis off our hands. How about 5 coppers? This is a generous offer no one else will offer you brat!"


    Liam''s face twitched hearing this generous offer. "No. Thank you. I think I will pass." He smiled calmly and then took out the medallion from his inventory.


    ng. The vendor''s face instantly changed as he dropped the thing in his hand in shock.


    "Ahhh! Forgive me, Lord! Forgive me!" He began shaking from top to bottom .???


    Seeing that Liam''s expression was not softening, the demon gulped and quickly gave the information that Liam had asked him in the first ce.


    "These creatures are only sold in the King''s square. If you go straight for a few more blocks and then turn right, you should reach the King''s square."


    "Mmm." Liam nodded and then walked away. Behind him, both the fox and, for some reason the bat as well scoffed at the poor demon with a lot of attitude before walking away.


    This little thing is growing more arrogant by the day. Liam chuckled at the duo and went over to the special square that the demon had mentioned.


    However, before turning the corner, he couldn''t help but notice another vendor selling some herbs.


    "Hmmm?" Liam walked closer and took a look at the small stall. His brows immediately shot up because the herbs here were actually being sold for dirt cheap prices!


    "5 bundles of herbs for 5 coppers? Unbelievable!"


    Even though Liam had the stone tablet''s garden now for growing whatever herb that he needed, the alchemist inside him couldn''t let this cheap sale go to waste.


    Just as he was browsing the collection with the intention of buying everything irrespective of whether he needed it or not, suddenly a woman''s loud voice sounded in his ears.


    "CURSED! YOU ARE CURSED BRAT!"


    The woman''s shrill voice and her peculiar words caught Liam''s attention, and he casually turned to give the person a look.


    It was an old female demon with oddly curled coarse hair. Some other things were also sticking out of her head.


    "You! You are cursed!" She looked at Liam and shouted again.


    Hmmm. Liam paused for a moment and then decided to leave. He was wasting time here.


    It was probably some chatan trying to earn money, so he did not think anything special of it, but the next second, before he could take another step, the woman uttered something else.


    Something else that she should not have.


    "YOU ARE CURSED BY THE RAVEN WITCH BRAT!"


    Fuck! Liam''s face instantly changed as he heard that familiar term, and he turned around to walk closer to the old demon, almost scaring her.

 Chapter 480 - Up to no good!

    Chapter 480 - Up to no good!


    "What did you say?" Liam stared at the demon up close. He first thought that she was a vendor but it looked like she was also browsing the goods just like he was.


    "I said." The old woman grinned, "You are under a curse. Someone has put a strong curse on you."


    Weirdly this time, her voice was different whenpared to before. She had a sweeter more melodious voice whenpared to the shrill coarse caw from earlier.


    Liam blinked at this sudden change, and the old woman also cleared her throat, quickly realizing what had happened. Cough Cough. She once again continued in her shrill voice.


    "Which witch did you piss off to be under such a powerful curse?"


    "Curse?" Liam ignored the small hup as he was currently more interested in what the demon had to say rather than her voice.


    Curse? He really did not remember being affected by something like that. At the least, a notification would have popped out.


    The only other way would be¡­


    Liam''s eyes widened as he realized that there was another possibility!


    The curse could be attached to the quest?


    Something like that was possible?


    Liam shook his head. ''What kind of quest did I ept? Wait, can I get rid of the curse by rejecting the quest?''


    He opened his system interface and pondered over it but in the end, he decided not to do it. The quest might be something important. There was also a map.


    "Is there any way to remove this curse?" He lifted his head up to ask the same old woman who was now back to browsing the herb shop.


    "Mmmm. Maybe. But it will cost you a lot." The old woman snickered.


    Oh? Was this his good day perhaps? Liam was pleasantly surprised once again. Not only did this person point out the root of his problem but she also had a cure for it.


    "I will pay the cost. Can you tell me how to remove the curse?" He fished out the medallion for the old woman to see.


    The demon''s eyes went wide seeing this medallion and she stared at Liam for a couple of seconds before she quickly changed her tone.


    "Cough. For now, I can make a temporary charm for this curse. It will hide you from the curse, but it won''tst long."


    Liam became excited. This was good. This should give him enough time to form a mana core and also finish the quest so that the damn ravens wouldn''t be all over him again.


    "Yes. Make that for me."


    "Ke Ke Ke. That will cost 10 gold coins. My Lord." The old woman''s grin widened.


    10 gold coins? In a demon settlement? It was strange but Liam did not care. If he could move freely in the Xion realm again, then 10 gold coins was too cheap!


    "Ok. Here." Liam took out 10 gold coins and handed it to the demon.


    "Wait here. I will return shortly. My Lord." The old woman snickered and ran away.


    The heck? Is she even going to return back? Liam scratched his head. The person was not respecting him properly and the way she addressed him was also very weird.


    Especially after showing the medallion, there should have been some behavior change but it didn''t look like there was?


    Did I just get scammed for 10 gold coins?


    Liam sighed. He couldn''t tell what just happened, but waiting for a few minutes was not a big deal. He also did not n to be idle while he did that.


    He turned to look at the demon running the herb shop and then gave him another gold coin. "I will buy everything in your shop. Come here."


    The demon immediately became overjoyed. He quickly helped Liam pack everything and the shop waspletely empty in minutes.


    Liam then gave instructions to the demon and made arrangements for purchasing the bat mounts he hade here for.


    He shed his medallion a few times and the work got done smoothly. After shelling out a few more gold coins, he managed to buy a total of 20 mounts.


    Only this was avable at the moment so he purchased these few mounts and stopped. Liam did not want to draw too much attention on himself.


    Besides, this ce seemed to have some sort of breeding facility established. He had never seen this in the other cities. He might be able to visit here regrly and obtain more mounts.


    While Liam calmly interacted with the few demons and made some ns on what he could do, the old woman unexpectedly returned.


    "Oh, she actually came back?"


    She was holding in her hand a soggy bundle that had some blood dripping from it?


    "Here. This should solve your curse problem temporarily." She handed it over to Liam. She then also handed over to him another scroll.


    "If you give me the items listed here, then I can make a permanent something for your problem." Liam hurriedly took the scroll from her hands and looked at it.


    There were some herbs listed on it which was not a problem for him, but there were also some other things listed on the scroll, one of which particrly caught his eye.


    Ice frog''s tongue


    "This ice frog¡­ where is this?" Liam quickly asked, though he already knew the answer.


    The old demoness grinned and tossed him a parchment that had the rough map of thend. On it was marked a few crosses. "The ingredients should be there."


    So he basically had to travel to all these ces and get items from the rare elites at these spots? Liam bitterly smiled.


    The cure was worse than the disease. For this, he might as well take a look at the raven''s quest and see what it is about.


    Either way he did not have the strength to do these things at the moment. So they all had to wait.


    He looked up to ask the old woman to see if there were any other alternatives but in the crowd, he was not able to find her.


    It looked like she had left while he was busily studying the map.


    "Well, whatever." It was not like he could get all the items required even if he found her.


    "Time to check if this thing works or not and take a trip to our guild." Liam looked at the herd of bats all staring at him in unison and nodded contently.


    In front of the group was the bat who had eaten the potion. The guy had taken the initiative to be the leader of the pack.


    Liam looked through the streets once again to see if he could find the old woman and thenmanded the group.


    "Let''s go." He hopped on top of Luna who kicked off, flying up into the sky. The bats as well then followed him, the group together lifting up in the air.


    All the demons below in the city watched this strange scene and exchanged looks. Was something going on?


    At a distance, the two demons Ghet and Nyaka were also watching. Of course, one of them recognized the fox on top of which Liam was riding.


    "That guy purchased so many flying mounts at a time?" Ghet gnashed his teeth in anger and enviously looked at the group disappearing into the distance.


    Nyaka as well had a simr expression as if he had just chewed on ginger. The two of them hated the bastard who had humiliated them so much.


    "How does he have the fund to purchase so many demon steeds at the same time?"


    "Yes. Yes. I also heard about the increased reward for the squads and toons in Thol city. Something fishy is going on for sure."


    "Let''s investigate, Lord Nyaka. This guy is up to no good!"


    "This rat will definitely get caught! He is hiding something!"


    "Hmph. Rest assured. I won''t let him off easily!"

 Chapter 481 - Lets give brother a surprise

    Chapter 481 - Let''s give brother a surprise


    After getting out of the city and the demon settlement on the outskirts, Liam made sure that he was not being followed and then quickly messaged the rest of the group to see where they were.


    Fortunately, they weren''t too far away, and everyone was also leveling together, so it was easier to reach the whole group.


    They only needed to fly for a few more hours, and they soon reached the group.


    They were in a mangrove type of area, except that in this mangrove, there wasn''t any water. There was tar everywhere.


    "What ce is this?" Liam waved his hand at Mei Mei and Shen Yue. He was surprised because this was his first timeing here, and he also hadn''t heard of any ce like this.


    "Brother! You are back! What happened? You didn''t message us for a while, so we were worried." Mei Mei rushed over first.


    "Is everything okay?" Shen Yue also came over and stood next to her.


    "Yes. Yes. Everything is alright." Liam smiled. He saw that the rest of the guild group was here, but no one was enthusiastic abouting and greeting him.


    Rather they seemed very upied with the tar pond. They simply kept staring at the pond like it was their mortal enemy.


    "What is going on?" Liam queried.


    "He He. Brother! Don''t mind them. They won''te and meet with you anytime soon!" Mei Mei giggled.


    "Huh? Why?" Liam was still confused.


    "So you really don''t know about this ce. Ha Ha Ha! I found it first!" Mei Mei still did not exin things to him and was purposefully teasing him.


    Seeing this, Liam grinned wickedly. "You won''t tell me, huh? Then I guess you don''t want the gift I got you this time?" It was his turn to tease the little girl.


    Just as he said this, the bats also started arriving one after the other. Their speed was a lot lower than Luna''s, so they were only arriving now.


    "Boss! Behind you!" Someone immediately shouted.


    "Brother! Move!" Mei Mei already started casting, and Shen Yue as well drew out her weapon.


    The other guild members who were busy before also quickly rushed forward to take care of this bat problem.


    Their eyes were particrly locked on to the boss bat at the front.


    "This elite looks strong!"


    As the whole group prepared to start attacking the bats, Liam hurriedly raised his hands andughed. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Stop attacking these cuties!"


    "Eh? What is cute?" Mei Mei frowned. "This thing?"


    Liam rolled his eyes at her and then took out a bunch of scrolls from his inventory. "Ok. It looks like Mei Mei here doesn''t want her flying mount. Who wants it? Firste, first serve."


    Fuck! Everyone who was still staring at the scene in confusion now finally understood what was happening.


    Wait, firste, first serve?


    Oh shit!


    As soon as the words dawned on them, everyone dashed forward immediately.


    Ultimately, those with better reaction speed and with higher agility won this smallpetition, and a line formed in front of Liam.


    "Not bad." Liam smiled and then broke out the bad news. "I only have 20 at the moment. So only half of you are getting the mounts now. The other half will have to wait for some more time."


    "20 mounts?"


    Everyone gasped in shock.


    And seeing the way Liam was treating this as nothing, they did not know how to react. They had all assumed that there would only be one or probably two at the maximum.


    How could there be 20 mounts?


    "I hope no one has anyints." Liam smiled and started handing out the scrolls one by one.


    Everyone shook their heads with a wry smile. Why would anyone have anyints? No other guild at the moment could possibly have rewards like this!


    Even if they did, they would ask for an arm and a leg as contributions first, but their big boss was freely giving away coveted items like it was nothing.


    They couldn''t help but feel more gratitude toward Liam and the group. They were part of a good group, and no one wanted to screw it up. This meant that they had to work harder!


    Everyone silently steeled their resolve, and within the next couple of minutes, the distribution waspleted.


    The 20 yers who received the scrolls immediately started activating the inscriptions.


    The way these beasts were sealed was slightly different from the way the beasts were sealed back in the Xion realm.


    Also, those seals were only avable for the hunter ss. However, this seal seemed to be avable for everyone irrespective of their ss.


    This was the main reason why Liam was able to purchase these and bring them over easily.


    In a moment, everyone became busy with their new mount and started examining their beast and bing friends with it.


    The other half could only look over enviously and silently curse themselves for being slow.


    "I suggest you guys form pairs of two. This way, everyone can travel together faster and cover more area."


    "Yes, boss." The group became busy as Liam distributed everyst beast, including the one that received the potion. He gave that one to Derek.


    This time he was the only one who received special treatment as Liam had directly walked over to him and handed him one even though he did not stand in line.


    Everyone else received the same treatment, including Mei Mei, who didn''t get anything.


    "Brother¡­" Mei Mei pouted quietly. In the end, she really did not get one. "This is so unfair."


    "Didn''t you call them ugly?" Liam grinned. "Alright. Alright. I am just messing with you. You will get one in the next batch. For now, you can share with Shen Yue."


    "Ok." The little girl nodded. "You are the only one for me, buddy." She patted her panther with a sad face.


    "Heh. I really don''t have one." Liam chuckled. He ignored the girl who was putting on an act and walked over to Shen Yue.


    The woman was startled to see hime over alone and quickly arranged her hair, tucking the unruly strands behind her ear.


    "Ummm¡­ Liam. Thanks."


    "It''s nothing. Did you finish the contract?"


    "Yes, I did." She smiled and patted the bat. "I think he likes me very much."


    "Of course. He does." Liam looked at the adorable woman feeding meatballs to the bat and patted the beast as well.


    "Are you really okay?" Shen Yue suddenly asked.


    "Yes, why do you ask?"


    "No. I just thought that¡­ you look a bit tired."


    "Hmm?" Liam''s expression turned serious for a second, and he answered her. "Yes. There was something, and now I am fine."


    "Oh." Shen Yue nodded. She did not pry into it anymore.


    "Here. I got something for you." Liam transferred all the meat bundles he had purchased from the city. "This will help you level your cooking more."


    "Ah. Thanks."


    Seeing this Mei Mei walked over to the duo as well. "You got sis Yue two gifts and nothing for me? This is seriously unfair!"


    Shen Yue quickly put everything away, blushing furiously. Of course, since these three were here, a fourth party also wandered in.


    Kyuuuuu!


    Luna arrived at the right time and blinked cutely at Shen Yue. Though she was acting cute, this was by no means a request. This was a collection visit, and everyone knew it.


    Shen Yue couldn''t help but giggle and gave the fox some meatballs to eat. She also gave Liam some more food, basically everything that she had prepared whenever she had free time.


    "This is a lot. Thanks." Liam curiously checked out the properties of everything.


    [Melted Bone Soup]: +3 to all attributes for the next one hour


    This was the most efficient item, and it was quite good. It actually gave a boost of 18 stat points in total, even though its effectsted only for about an hour.


    From thest time, Shen Yue had really improved a lot. Liam chatted with the two girls for a couple of minutes and then quickly excused himself.


    Now that everything had been distributed, he had other things to take care of.


    "Brother, where are you going?" Mei Mei asked.


    "Back to the Xion realm."


    "Oh! What about those ravens?" All the members of their group knew about this, so Mei Mei was naturally worried. She did not want Liam to die inside the game.


    "Don''t worry. I found something for them. Maybe." Liam smiled and flicked her head. He then said goodbye to the duo and left silently.


    "Ah! I didn''t even tell him what''s special about this ce!" Looking around the tar mangrove, Mei Mei only remembered now.


    After seeing the bat mounts, she hadpletely forgotten their conversation.


    "It''s fine. Let''s work hard and give brother a surprise when he returns back! Every time he gives us something. This time we will give him a surprise!"


    The little girl did a fist pump in the air, and Shen Yue as well nodded.

 Chapter 482 - Did it work or not?

    Chapter 482 - Did it work or not?


    "There. That should be good. Land under that tree." Liam patted Luna on the back.


    He wanted to put a sufficient distance between himself and the guild group just in case the ravens decided to follow him into theher realm.


    They were also at a good distance away from the nearby demon cities, and this spot was well hidden. It was a perfect ce to open the portal.


    Luna dove down and quicklynded, and Liam hopped off from her back.


    He took out the item from his inventory slot and looked at it curiously. Could he really trust this thing? He took it near his face and examined it more closely.


    The so-called ''charm'' bag did not have a pleasant smell. Also, he could not ce his finger on it, but the whole thing was suspicious.


    "Luna. You know what to do." He spoke after a few moments of hesitation. There was no point in thinking about this anymore.


    The only way to find out if it worked or not would be to walk out of that portal and find it out for himself.


    Liam stepped forward and opened the portal. He then let out a small sigh and entered it. "Come at me, bitches."


    Almost instantly, loud cawing noises sounded.


    Caw. Caw. Caw. Caw.


    Liam was startled, and he was about to do a double take when he realized that these birds were simply the distant birds flying away, startled by his sudden entry.


    So they were scared of him just as he was scared of them.


    "Crap. These are not the ravens." Liam shook his head and let out another sigh. He was on the edge because he needed to act instantly.


    However, a couple of minutes passed, and nothing happened. it looked like he didn''t have to do anything after all.


    "Don''t tell me¡­ this thing actually works?" He just couldn''t believe it. The way the fishy old woman was acting, he was 100% sure that it was a scam.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam waited, and soon another 5 minutes passed by without anything happening. Only the gentle cooling breeze of the Xion realm brushed past his face.


    "So the charm bag seems to be working?" He scratched his nose and stopped opening the portal to theher realm repeatedly.


    There was simply no other exnation. It really worked!


    Liam took another look at the weird thing and shoved it into his pocket before happily jumping on top of Luna again.


    "Let''s go. I can finally move freely!"


    Kyuuuu


    [Where to, Master?] Luna happily jumped around the sky, sharing her master''s mood.


    "One second. Let me see. For now, keep going south."


    Liam then opened his system interface and sent a short message to two people. This was one of the reasons why he had rushed back here.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Mia, what do you think?" Alex whispered in her cousin''s ear, the two women keenly eyeing the group of yers in front of them.


    They were doing one of the quests together as a group with their selected fifteen candidates.


    All of them were overjoyed to be working with the two big celebrities but what they did not know was that every single one of their actions was currently being examined under a microscope.


    Every small action, including how they were looking at the drops, was noted without fail.


    "Mia, tell me again why we are doing this. Even if one of these bitches betray us, that guy will skin me alive." Alex sighed.


    The group they had managed to distill was not too bad.


    Though there wasn''t anyone with A or S grade affinities, six among the fifteen had B grade affinities, and the rest had C grade affinities.


    Their skills were also not that terrible. With more training and practice, the group could truly shine.


    "He is not that bad." Mia bluntly replied. "Alright. That''s enough. Let''s join them and finish this quest. I don''t think that we need to test these guys any longer. This group should be fine."


    "Ok. As you say." Alex stretched her hand and prepared to dive head first into the troubled waters. Mia as well started casting some damage spells.


    Since they were a group of priests and pdins, their damage output wasn''t all that great, but everyone''s coordination wasing along smoothly.


    And once Alex and Mia joined the group, their damage numbers also started spiking. The pack of demonic jackals they had been fighting against was finally pushed back.


    A radiant glow enveloped both the woman, and they dazzled brilliantly while ughtering one jackal after another.


    Seeing these two in action, the other yers gulped with respect. Fighting alongside these two showed just how much the difference between them was.


    In fact, before joining this group, they were not so serious and also didn''t take Alex or Mia seriously, but now that they were here¡­ everything was different.


    The people trashing these two online and calling them empty vases or beautiful flowers were real idiots.


    If any of those haters witnessed these two women fight in person, they would also feel instantly ashamed and shut their mouths.


    Those people would probablyment their bad luck for not being able to enjoy such an opportunity. Everyone standing here knew just how big a deal this was.


    To be in a group with not one expert but two experts was a true blessing! It was not even about the amazing quests or item drops they were getting, it was about the techniques!


    ying up close with these two, they were able to learn a lot about their own ss.


    The group continued working hard, and soon almost the entire pack of demonic jackals was under their control.


    However, just as they were dealing with thest few jackals, suddenly Alex stopped fighting. Unexpectedly, Mia as well stopped in her tracks.


    The two of them stood like statues rooted to their spots. Everyone else had no idea what was going on and stared at them in shock.


    But Mia and Alex paid no attention to them. They did not even care about the rest of the jackals. Only the system prompt in front of them upied their entire mind.


    "I am¡­ what is this, Mia?" Alex gasped.


    "You got the same message?" Mia as well looked anxious.


    "Is he being serious?"


    "I don''t know. We¡­ we need to go there and find out."


    The two of them suddenly turned to leave,pletely forgetting about the jackals and even the other yers.


    Only the message they received was on their mind. It was just a small message, but it was everything to these two.

 Chapter 483 - Experimental medicine?

    Chapter 483 - Experimental medicine?


    "Ask Rey to log in and bring him to the guild residence."


    Alex read and re-read the message again and again. However, no matter how much she did, she simply couldn''t believe it.


    "Mia, do you think he really got something?" She asked the person next to her, who also looked anxious.


    "We are almost there. We will find out soon enough." Mia answered.


    Since Rey was fainting back and forth, it was difficult to get him logged in repeatedly and then bring him over to the guild residence.


    It took a couple of hours when finally the three of them reached the guild residence.


    "This is our guild residence? It looks super cool!" Rey started to speak, craning his head and taking a look at everything.


    But before he could utter his next sentence, he fainted again.


    "Mia, I can''t take it anymore." Alex crumpled on the ground. It was too much for her to see her brother''s condition in such a state.


    "To suffer so much he might as well be dead." She sobbed.


    Mia''s heart also ached to see her only family in this condition. With a small sigh, she looked up at the alchemy tower just a few feet away and silently muttered. "Please, let this be real."


    In reality, deep down her heart Mia knew that this was probably not going to happen. It was because the two spies turned followers had already spilled everything to Alex.


    They both knew that the meeting with Dante did not go well. The guy was only starting to be famous so not many people knew about him, but Mia and Alex knew a lot about him.


    Because it involved Rey, they had investigated the guy extensively. The person was a very egoistic person. Not to mention Liam.


    He was a bit more practical but they knew that if worsees to worst, he wouldn''t beg for them.


    So after the disastrous first meeting, it was impossible for Liam to have obtained the soul healing potion recipe.


    So they really couldn''t believe this message that they were seeing right now. Did he perhaps discover some other method?


    This was the only small hope they had, but this was also¡­


    Mia let out another sigh. There were many things about this game that were difficult but the most difficult part was finding anything that was rted to soul.


    Recipes rted to soul, items rted to soul, consumables rted to soul, pets or even weapons rted to soul, all of these were almost impossible to find.


    So was it really possible that Liam found one of these recipes? The guy was capable of a lot of things but in this case, both of them didn''t think that even he would be able to help.


    After logging out and in another time, the two women finally managed to bring Rey all the way over to the top most floor of the alchemy building.


    Both of them hadn''t bothered with any professions until now so this was the first time they were visiting this floor.


    "What is this guild residence sis?" Even Rey was shocked.


    Being sick all the time, he had only been watching TV and following news about the game until now, so he knew how much of a difference there was between other guilds and their guilds.


    "Shhh. Don''t talk too much." Alex shushed him. Everyone was worried about this guy and even in this condition, this fellow had the guts to be soid back.


    "Don''t get too excited. Just try to rest and rx." She patted him lovingly and before she could finish her words, a door opened and Liam stepped out.


    And just like that, suddenly the guy next to her was already missing.


    "Bro! Oh my god! I never believed it when these two told me but we are really in the same team! We are in the same guild! Bro, we are going to be¡­ best¡­ friends¡­"


    Thud. Rey fainted again and fell on the ground before he could even get to Liam.


    "This moron!" Alex facepalmed and gritted her teeth in anger. "Look at this idiot. You did this to him, and yet he is running like a dog to you."


    "Alex!" Mia immediately stared at her, hoping that Liam hadn''t heard this small outburst. These things were all in the past, and she did not want to bring them back again.


    Alex sighed and let out a deep breath. She also didn''t want to think about the past but the wounds were still fresh and her brother was still suffering.


    So she couldn''t just let it go. Especially when he was iling in front of her like this. "I know. I know. I am sorry. I will log out and log him back in again." She sadly mumbled.


    "No need." Liam interrupted her, ignoring everything else. "Just bring him in like this."


    "Ah. Inside this room?" Alex carefully dragged the fainted person on the floor toward the room. She also did not argue about anything else and tried to be present.


    She slowly lifted her brother up and pushed the door to step inside.


    And the moment she did¡­


    "What!"


    Thud. Alex dropped Rey in shock. She looked around her in confusion, and when she still did not understand, she even leaned back to look outside before looking back inside once more.


    "Liam¡­ what is this¡­"


    One second they were in a in-looking corridor and the next second they were in some sort of secret garden?


    "It is just something that I picked up. Some sort of artifact." Liam pointed at the stone tablet, which was lying inconspicuously under a huge branching tree.


    He didn''t bother exining more than that because he was really impatient about this next part. He stepped forward and lifted Rey to put him in a morefortable posture and in a better spot.


    Mia noticed this and asked, "You really got the soul healing potion?" She didn''t dare believe it but now, after seeing everything around them. Maybe¡­ just maybe?


    "Yes. I did get something like that." Liam vaguely replied.


    "But the meeting with Dante didn''t go well?"


    "Mmm. It didn''t go well."


    Seeing the guy answering everything half-heartedly, Alex was about to go crazy! I am going to kill him!


    Liam chuckled. "Don''t kill me just yet. Wait till I at least try and save your brother."


    Alex immediately became bright red and turned her face towards the side. "I didn''t say anything."


    "Sure you didn''t. See, I can''t exin anything at the moment because I am not sure if this is even going to work in the first ce."


    "What are you saying?" Mia asked worriedly.


    Alex also panicked. "Hey! You better not try something fishy!"

 Chapter 484 - Your love is weak!

    Chapter 484 - Your love is weak!


    "Rx,dies." Liam quickly stopped the duo from spiraling. "I got the notifications from the system, so it is a legitimate elixir."


    The two did not look convinced, but Liam did not me them. The guy in front of him was only barely holding on. There was a high chance that a single wrong dose could kill him.


    So Liam opened his system interface and showed it to the two.


    [Lesser Soul Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Mind Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Spirit Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Body Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Blood Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Marrow Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Root Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Muscle Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Meridian Cleansing Elixir]


    "Elixirs?" Mia''s eyes widened. Elixirs were advanced high-grade potions, and this person can already make elixirs?


    Not just that, but he could make so many elixirs?


    "How¡­ How did you manage to get so many elixir recipes?" Alex gulped and asked the question in Mia''s mind.


    Such a thing was simply impossible. Maybe one or two was believable, and even that was pushing one''s luck, but this guy had nine recipes?


    For instance, they had been ying this game for so long and did not get a single elixir recipe drop until now!


    So how did he have so much? Was there some sort of secret treasure spot? Loophole?


    "No. That''s not what happened." Liam chuckled faintly and shook his head. "It''s impossible to get these many elixir recipes. All of this¡­" He bitterly smiled.


    "I got all of this from a single recipe."


    Huh? Both the women looked confused.


    "These are all lesser elixir recipes that I derived. The original elixir recipe is far more potent, probably higher grade or greater grade."


    "Then isn''t using that better?" Alex impatiently asked.


    "Yes, of course, it is." Liam rolled his eyes. "But I have to make it right? Unless you are some sort of secret alchemy genius that I don''t know about?"


    Ah. Alex quickly shut her mouth.


    Mia as well nodded in understanding. "So this was why you had that meeting with Dante? To see if he can help you figure it out?"


    "Yup."


    "He was not interested?"


    "Nope. But he did help though. Aha ha ha. He doesn''t even know it!" Liam grinned wickedly.


    "After meeting him and someone who looked just like him, I got this inspiration to split up the recipe and then try making the elixir."


    "I still can''t make the original powerful one but mind you, the effect of these split ones are not at all bad. I believe this can help your brother temporarily."


    "For now, he is not even ying and is in an extremely weak state. But with this cocktail of elixirs, he might be able to recover somewhat."


    "At least he will be able to walk and talk normall and even resume ying the game without fainting every other minute."


    The two women looked at Liam in a daze and nodded their heads in agreement. They did not know what else to say.


    Sure obtaining the recipe was difficult; making the recipe was difficult but altering a recipe like this was also equally difficult!


    If Dante was hailed as a genius by the other yers, then what could this person be called!


    "So shall I do it?" Liam asked again, scratching his head. He was also impatient to see the results. He was using the poor guy as a guinea pig, but at least he meant well.


    "Um. Yes. Yes. please help him." Alex hurriedly answered.


    Before, she did not have any hope, but now, it looked like her brother''s condition might really improve!


    The two of them silently walked over to a side and watched as Liam started taking out four small vials.


    "Why don''t you give all the nine?" Alex immediately blurted out.


    "Not needed."


    At first, he had split the body cleansing elixir into even moreponents to understand it better. However, he managed to make it wholly, so he didn''t need all the nine elixir vials.


    "We only need the main four."


    [Lesser Soul Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Mind Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Spirit Cleansing Elixir]


    [Lesser Body Cleansing Elixir]


    Liam arranged the four in a line. "Let''s first start with the basic one." He opened the vial of the body cleansing elixir and tipped it into Rey''s mouth.


    "You both might want to step out." He warned them, but the duo resolutely shook their heads. If something went wrong, they wanted to be here to help out.


    However¡­ a few secondster¡­


    Secret garden or not, the two ran out of there, not daring to take another breath inside the room.


    "What? Your love for your brother is only so much?" Liam did not let them off and teased them, which made both the women feel embarrassed instantly.


    Especially because their levels were so high and their body inside the game had changed a lot, their senses had also improved.


    The two also had S-grade and higher divine affinity to begin with. So the bad smell was hitting them a hundred times worse. They simply couldn''t stomach it, even if they were worried for Rey.


    Liam, however, was calm and rxed, as if this was not a big deal for him. He sat back leisurely and waited for the process toplete.


    He gave it a few seconds, and since everything seemed to be going well, he started taking out a cauldron and prepared to do some work.


    Meanwhile, something else also started happening. The garden that waspletely ruined with the pungent smell and the revolting ck sticky liquid started auto-cleaning slowly.


    The dirt and debris started to disappear by sinking into the ground below. This was why Liam dared to do this process inside this garden in the first ce.


    It not only gave an unlimited stash of herbs, but it also cleansed itself. What an amazing artifact!


    He observed everything for a few seconds and returned to his work. After seeing how Mia and Alex readily agreed to try something out even if it was not perfect, Liam got another idea.


    It was time to pay the newbie town instructor a visit.

 Chapter 485 Back To The Beginning

    Chapter 485 Back To The Beginning


    While Liam fired up the cauldron and started doing more experimentation, the guy on the grass next to him finally stopped leaking stuff.


    It was now the second part of the cleansing where the deeper impurities came out so even with his eyes closed, he was wincing in pain.


    "This is only the beginning." Liam gave the poor guy an understanding look as he weighed the side effects of the rest of the elixirs in his mind.


    A few more minutes passed in silence and the two women standing outside also once again returned back to the garden.


    No matter how unbearable it was they still wanted to be there for their brother.


    "Don''t worry. It''s almost over." Liam saw that Rey stopped wincing. He now looked like he was peacefully asleep.


    "Time for the next one."


    Liam grabbed the [Lesser Mind Cleansing Elixir] bottle and emptied its contents into Rey''s mouth.


    He was just about to tell the two women that he did not know what the side effects of this elixir would be when unexpectedly Rey shed his eyes open.


    They were pitch ck in color and he immediately started attacking the three of them.


    Thankfully, his level was a lot lesser than any of them so it was like a small puppy barking at them. He wasn''t able to do any real damage.


    "Is this the effect of this elixir?" Alex straight up held back the guy and asked Liam


    "Yes. It should be. He is probably in some kind of nightmare." Liam spected.


    When he had consumed the elixir nothing like this had happened so this elixir recipe in his hand was definitely superior to that one.


    There would probably be a lot more benefits than simply stat gain.


    However, this was also his modified version so it had to be weaker than the real deal. "Just give it time. Everything should stop in a few minutes."


    Alex nodded. Both she and Mia tried to call out to Rey to break the nightmare and wake him up to reality but that seemed impossible.


    No matter what they did, Rey continued struggling and swinging his limbs wildly like a zombie.


    Even Liam did not expect it but this continued on for about half an hour when finally the guy woke up screaming and came to his senses.


    He was fully drenched in sweat and he looked like he had just gone through war. "Huh? Huh? Where am I? What happened to the spiders? Alex! Alex! There are spiders!"


    "Hey. Hey. Rx. You are fine now. It was just a dream." Alex hurriedly hugged him. "You are okay. You are alright. Take a deep breath."


    "What? Are you serious? It was just a dream? How is that possible?" Rey dumbfoundedly stared. But he then quickly stood up.


    "Wait, so is this also a dream? Am I in a dream within a dream? Is this that fucking movie Inception? Get away from me, you demon!"


    "You don''t look like my sister. You are ugly. Shoo! Get away!"


    Alex''s face twitched as she leaned back, calmly lifted her hand, andnded a tight p on the guy''s face. "See. It''s real?"


    "Dude! I am already sick! Did you really have to hit me! You heartless monster!" Rey pitifully rubbed his cheeks and whined.


    Interrupting this heart-warming brother and sister moment, Liam calmly pointed out the obvious. "I don''t think you are that sick anymore."


    p??d? n?ve? Huh? Alex and Mia as well only realized it now.


    "Rey! See you are not fainting anymore!" Alex shouted in excitement.


    "Can you get up and try to stand. Tell me how you are feeling." Mia helped him stand up.


    The three of them worriedly stayed silent for a couple of minutes and Rey was still fine. It was no longer just a conjecture. He was actually fine.


    Alex became emotional and stepped forward to hug her brother. He was finally himself after a long time but before she coulde closer to him, he pushed her away and fell on Liam.


    "Bro! Bro! You are awesome! Thanks for saving me!"


    "This ungrateful little shit." Alex dragged him back. "There are still two more elixirs left and I hope it hurts."


    "What? No¡­" Rey shook his head as he looked at the two vials on the ground.


    "Bro, you made these potions? I really got better drinking them?"


    "Yes. Mia and Alex will exin everything to youter." Liam patted him. "You should first finish all the elixirs. These next two might be even more painful. Try to bear with it."


    Rey gulped and nodded. He was also tired of being weak and sick all the time so he was ready to get this over with.<del></del>


    But like Liam had warned him, the two next ones were even more painful. At least in the case of the body and mind, he could sense where the pain was and it was manageable.


    However, with the soul cleansing elixir and spirit cleansing elixir, Rey couldn''t even pinpoint where the pain was. It waspletely unbearable.


    Only because both Mia and Alex were constantly by his side and giving him words of encouragement, he was able to get through the whole process.


    The entire thing took about two hours and all throughout Rey was continuously screaming at the top of his lungs in pain.


    In the end, when everything was over he fainted from the sheer exhaustion of the procedure.


    "Let him sleep a little." Liam ced the stone tablet back into his inventory and prepared to leave. He had a lot of things that he needed to get done as soon as possible.


    Especially after observing the effect of the various elixirs on Rey he was more than determined to make the original, the unmodified version.


    Just for these modified versions, the benefits were extraordinary, just how potent would the original elixir be?


    Engrossed in his thoughts, he stepped out of the room and started walking out. After he reached a few steps, Alex came running behind him.


    "Did something happen?" Liam asked.


    "No. No. I just wanted to say¡­ I mean thanks a lot." Alex fidgeted with her fingers and mumbled.


    Liam looked at her but he did not make a big deal of it. "Ok." He replied and then went back to climbing down the staircase.


    "Ah." Alex stammered and quickly rushed behind him again. "One second."


    "What happened?" Liam asked her again.


    "I¡­ I managed to get some more recipes. Here." Alex took out a bunch of potion recipes and handed them to Liam. There were in total fifteen recipes which was a good haul.


    "This is good. Thanks. I appreciate it." Liam quickly ced all the recipes in his inventory.


    "I¡­ I didn''t do anything. This is from the guild. A few yers exchanged these recipes for guild contribution points." Alex hurriedly exined.


    "I see. Alright then."


    Alex still looked reluctant so Liam sighed and went back to give her a pat. "I hope your brother recovers enough to be able to y again." He awkwardly patted her head full of flowing red hair.


    "I have to go now. I will meet back with you guyster."


    He finally left and the red-haired beauty no longer ran behind him. She was standing rooted on the spot with variousplicated emotions on her face.


    She started at the empty space for a few seconds before returning back to the room that was no longer a garden.


    "Yes, he wasn''t kidding when he said that the garden was from the stone tablet." Mia smiled bitterly.


    Even she was surprised. It was almost as if there were teleported back and forth from a different world.


    She noticed Alex''s weird expression and asked, "Did something happen? Why did you run out in a hurry?"


    "Nothing. Nothing. I just wanted to say thanks." Alex awkwardly coughed and recovered.


    "Right. Did you say thanks or did you pick a fight with him again?"


    Alex silently rolled her eyes and did not reply any longer. The two of them sat beside Rey and patiently waited for him to recover.


    Meanwhile¡­ Liam was already on his way to the Gresh Kingdom newbie zones.


    These were the small towns and viges near the center of the Kingdom. The new yers usually spawned here.


    If he did not have the quest in his hand, he would have had to search for the man everywhere but he had the quest so he only needed to take a look at the quest description.


    This had now changed to indicate that he had to return back to the instructor and meet him at V town. This meant that he was currently there.


    Liam quickly hurried over and reached the town area. The ce was in fact currently being tormented by two demonic beasts.


    A few of the town elders had gathered around to deal with these beasts and the instructor was also one of them.


    Around these people, of course, many yers were gathered around like hyenas because for the newbies this was a rare chance to fight with an elite right in the newbie zone and maybe even get thest hit and bountiful experience points.


    However, unfortunately for them¡­ Liamnded and he only needed a couple of hits to finish off the two demonic beasts.


    Liam ignored the several yers who cursed him out loudly and directly walked over to the instructor.

 Chapter 486 Partial Completion

    Chapter 486 Partial Completion


    "Ah! You have returned!" The instructor beamed brightly as soon as he spotted Liam.


    "I am d that you have returned safely." He paused for a second and then added. "Even if you have not seeded in this quest, your safety is all that matters."


    Did this guy sniff me out or what? Liam bitterly smiled.


    "Can we talk somewhere more private?" He then whisked the guy away from the prying eyes of the crowd who were unwilling to leave empty-handed.


    However, seeing the instructor walking away, the other yers couldn''t do anything. In the midst of thismotion, someone suddenly shouted.


    "Hey! Did you guys see it? That yer''s level was question marks! It has to be one of the high-rankers for sure!"


    "Oh, you are right! What is a high ranker doing in a newbie vige?"


    "Maybe there is some sort of secret treasure or hidden item? That instructor should be the key!"


    The word started quickly spreading around.


    Liam, on the other hand, had taken away the man to the training hall of the town and the two of them sat inside one of the rooms.


    "What is that you wanted to talk to me about?" The instructor then asked Liam with curiosity.


    Liam smiled and took out the four vials from the inventory slot. He had prepared two batches of the elixirs. One he had given to Rey and this was the second set.


    "Sir, even though I did not manage to finish the quest perfectly, using my skills I aplished a part of it. With this medicine, I am sure that your condition will be cured."


    "Oh?" The guy raised a brow and stared at Liam for a moment before taking all the four vials and inspecting them one after the other.


    Liam waited and watched him with anticipation.


    This was technically a partialpletion of the quest so would it be considered a sess or failure, it all depended upon his luck and probably what this man felt at the moment.


    Which way was the coin going tond? Heads or tails?


    "This¡­ I need some time to think about this." After a few seconds, the instructor unexpectedly replied.


    Ah. Liam had truly not expected this oue. But whatever. It was a worthy try.


    "I will take my leave then, Sir. Since you are not satisfied with this, I will continue to do my best to obtain the original elixir for you." Liam sighed and said and prepared to leave.


    "Aren''t you taking these with you?" The instructor called him to return the set of vials.


    Dang. He doesn''t even want this? Bastard! Liam nodded and was about to take them back when he suddenly had an idea.


    He retracted his extended hand no longer intending to take back the elixirs. "No, Sir. You should keep these with you. These days the demons are attacking ournds relentlessly."


    "Being a cripple, you are useless and good for nothing. What will you do if a group of strong demons suddenly attack you?"


    "You!" The instructor stood up in anger.


    "Ah. Forgive me. I don''t mean any offense. I am only worried about your safety. Forgive this little brother''s impudence." Liam put on a pitiful face that he learned from Luna and continued talking.


    "Even if you are angry with this little brother, you should at least keep these elixirs with you. They might help you in your time of need."


    He then somehow made his face even more sad, depressed and pitiful and walked away from the instructor after a small bow.


    "Sigh. These martial artist guys are always too much of a perfectionist. What he won''t take it unless it''s aplete elixir? Let''s go, Luna. We did our best."


    He hopped onto the ballooned up fox and the two of them quickly departed.


    They were on a tight schedule at the moment so Liam did not want to waste too much time on something that might or might not work.<del></del>


    The duo soon reached their next destination the trade city. Berat was waiting for them there and waved his hand seeing Liam walking in through the city gates.


    "Boss, I have managed to gather 10 recipes." He quickly announced as soon as he saw them. He looked very nervous and only rxed when Liam did not seem upset with that number.


    "You did well." Liam patted him and he meant it.


    Their ever-growing guild members had only gathered 15 recipes but Berat alone had gathered 10 by messing around with the auction houses so it was indeed very impressive.


    "Ok, then I will be off. Continue to keep a lookout." Liam mumbled while he started ruffling through the recipe scrolls to see if there was anything extraordinary.


    "Oh! Boss! I almost forgot this. Here." Berat took out something else from his inventory and handed it over to Liam.


    It was a white-colored card simr to the ck metal credit card of the real-world version.


    Several small letters were inscribed on this white card but they were not very visible. One could only see the vague outlines.


    "What is this?" Liam asked. He had never seen anything like this before. There was also the system prompt [Do you wish to bind it?] while he examined the card.


    "Boss, I am not sure. But there was a beggar outside the auction house and I used to feed him every day because I was bored simply sitting at the same ce."


    "A couple of days back, he gave me this card and told me to ept this as a payment."


    "I searched around to see if I could find any clues but no one knows anything about it. It looks like we can only find out after binding."


    "And you didn''t bind it?" Liam was once again surprised.


    "Ummm. Boss, I thought it might be something special. So I decided to give it to you first to bind."


    Liam stared at the guy not knowing what to say. Even someone like him was touched by such strong loyalty. "I appreciate it, thanks. I will find out what this is about and let you know."


    "Alright boss, good luck." Berat wished with a smile.


    Suddenly, Liam couldn''t help but feel like a viin when surrounded by guys like him, Derek, and Rey.


    "Heh. I guess this works too. People like him need someone like me to look after them." Liam chuckled and waved him goodbye.


    He and Luna then walked into the city entering the PVP tower one more time.


    Though the charm was working, for now, he had no idea how long it was going to work so just to be safe, he decided to start the next agenda for the day inside a well-guarded ce.


    "I need to gather more recipes, make more potions, and somehow understand how to make this elixir."


    Liam settled inside the same room that he usedst time and paid for a whole day, 48 hours in advance.


    Alchemy or for that matter any other profession was a terrible time sink. He did not want to fall into that pit but now it looked like he had to. There was simply no other choice.


    This elixir was too good to pass up and he couldn''t bring himself to take the modified version while the real version could just be another day of hard work away from them.


    "I guess I can''t me that instructor. Even I don''t want to take the half-assed version." Liam chuckled helplessly and took out all the recipe scrolls.


    He also took out the white card and once again the system prompt popped up. "Fine, let''s see what happens if I bind this card."


    p??d? n?ve? [Do you wish to bind it?]


    Liam clicked [Yes]


    The next second the white card started shining brightly.

 Chapter 487 - My name is Kouske

    Chapter 487 - My name is Kouske


    Hmmm? Liam stared at the glowing white card wondering what it could be when he felt a sudden force on his body. The next second his vision darkened.


    On the bright side, now he no longer had to wonder. He was already very familiar with this feeling so he knew what was happening.


    This was a portal! Teleportation magic!


    Another secondter, everything cleared up and Liam was once again able to see. He was no longer sitting inside the same alchemy room within the PVP tower.


    Rather he found himself on the street, albeit a very strange street, one that was made of white satin threads.


    It was like he was floating mid-air, seated on a bunch of threads. Thend under him was non-existent.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. Where the hell am I?


    [Ding. You have arrived at the Milky Way Auction City]


    [Ding. Your Milky Way Pass is now charging]


    "Milky Way Auction city?" Liam had never heard of this ce even in his previous life.


    He finally looked up from the ground if it could even be called that and checked out the areas around him. The whole ce was in fact simr.


    This entire city or whatever was on top of this silverish white satin thread woven ground.


    Moreover, he was also not alone. Around him, all sorts of creatures were walking around. There were elves, beastkin, demons, ogres, weird-looking apes, and even some metallic robots.


    And none of them were fighting with each other!


    They exchanged odd nces as they crossed each other, but no one was fighting. They were simply peacefully coexisting.


    Some even cast a disdainful look on Liam as they went by him. He was after all weirdly sitting on the ''ground'' in the middle of the walking path.


    Hurriedly heposed himself and stood up, only to fall down all over again. The gravity was all out of whack in this weird ce. He couldn''t bnce himself properly.


    Ha ha ha ha


    A burst of melodiousughter rang loudly near him.


    "Great. Now someone isughing at me." It took two more seconds for Liam to get a hang of things and he was finally able to take a step with bnce.


    "Are you new here?" The same melodious voice asked him.


    Liam turned to see a beautiful creature standing behind him. He couldn''t even tell what race or type she belonged to.


    She looked human structurally but she had a milky white skin that was glowing just like the street he was standing on.


    There was no description system window that popped up over her head. In fact, no details popped over anyone''s head.


    It was almost like one couldn''t find out another person''s identity in this ce.


    "You are definitely new here." The girl giggled.


    "Miss, you have very keen and observant eyes. Yes, this is indeed my first timeing here." Liam shed a polite smile.


    "Ah, you tter me." The girl giggled again and she seemed to be warming up to him.


    It was not a bad idea to befriend someone in this strange ce and find out more details. This girl in front of him seemed as good an information source as any.


    "My name is Kouske. Nice to meet you." Liam smiled and bowed lightly.


    Mmm. The girl also returned his greeting and bowed a little in response. "You can call me Itzel. I am happy to make your acquaintance too."


    "What is this ce? Can you tell me where we are?"


    "We are in the milky way city of course." The girl giggled.


    Liam was too preupied to notice before but now that he was paying attention to this person, he couldn''t take his eyes off of the woman.


    There was some sort of spark or twinkle about her that was maic. Her smile was like the dazzling stars that could light up the entire night sky.


    She waspletely different from the other creatures and beings walking past them.


    "Aha ha ha ha. You still look very lost. Come, I will take you for a tour around the ce." She smiled again.


    Liam as well nodded with a polite smile and he made sure that he was on the best behavior. He seemed to have bumped into a friendly stranger.


    But he knew better than anyone that there was no such thing as a free lunch.


    So he still kept his guard up. He was not naive enough to trust a strange girl just because she had a beautiful smile.


    Also, he found it weird that the other beings who were passing them bypletely ignored him and the blue shining girl even though they were standing right in front of them.


    The disdainful and curious looks he was getting earlier were also gone now. It was almost as if the others couldn''t see them or even if they saw, they ignored them.


    Liam took a deep breath and decided to worry about thister. First things first. He needed to figure out where the hell he was and what was special about this ce.


    He followed the young girl with a polite smile as she started leading him away. A couple of minutester¡­


    "See this, Kouske? This one is an inn. You can rest here if you are tired."


    "This one is an eatery. You can eat here if you are hungry."


    "This one is a tavern. You can drink here delicious things!"


    Liam''s face twitched. What the hell kind of introduction was this!


    "Miss Itzel, can you tell me what currency is used here? How can I buy something to eat?" He asked after listening to all the bullshit patiently.


    "Ah. Sorry. I don''t know about that because I am not allowed to go inside these ces." The girl blinked adorably.


    Liam was once again speechless. He did not know if this girl was acting cutely or if her nature was just that.


    "But Miss Itzel should know about the auction house, right?" Liam asked without giving up.


    After all, the system prompt called this ce Milky Way Auction city so there had to be an auction house here!


    "He He He. Of course, you dummy. I can enter the big building. To buy anything in the big building you just need mana cores, but for more expensive items you need gems."


    "Mana cores?" Liam gasped. It was just like he thought. This ce did not ept gold coins. Instead, it was mana cores.


    With this, his doubt was now almost confirmed. He was probably not in the Xion realm at all! He couldn''t sense mana. He couldn''t senseher. Just where the hell was he?


    "Do you want some money? Why do you look sad?" Itzel tilted her head as if she was taking pity and asked.


    "No. No. I can''t burden you, Miss Itzel." Liam smiled politely and quickly refused. He needed to find out more details.


    He couldn''t afford to ask for help and risk this person''s strange kindness towards him.


    "Shall we continue walking?"


    "Yes. Ha Ha." The girl giggled and once again started skipping and walking.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 1~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 488 - Come,lets play!

    Chapter 488 - Come,let''s y!


    A few more minutester¡­


    "And that is the main big building! It is not open now, but there different nice items will be auctioned from time to time."


    "This is the most famous ce in the milky way city where everyonees from far away ces. Lots of nice things are also sold here."


    The girl pped her hands and turned around to face Liam.


    "Ha Ha. That end''s our tour! Did you like it, Mr. Kouske?"


    "I sure did. You are an amazing tour guide!" Liam smiled. "Miss Itzel, do you maybe know when the auction house will open again?"


    "Umm¡­ It should open in another week. 6 days 4 hours to be precise!"


    "I see thanks, Miss Itzel. I am very grateful for your help." Liam politely bowed. The ce was in fact not that big and most of it was just inns and restaurants and bars.


    There were also a few other more useful shops that Liam wanted to revisit and check out. So he politely bowed and prepared to bid farewell to the strange girl.


    "Thank you, Miss Itzel. I don''t want to take up your time any longer. I hope you have a great day!"


    Unexpectedly, the girl''s face changed. "You are leaving so soon? Don''t you want to y with me some more?"


    y with her? Liam coughed awkwardly. Maybe she is joking? "Ha Ha Ha. Whatever pleases you, Miss Itzel."


    "Yay! You are the best! Come let''s go to the duck pond! We can y fishing there!"


    Liam blinked. Was this really the best use of his time? He needed to be working on his alchemy right now.


    He wanted to check out the shop that sold potions to see if there were any new recipes here.


    After that, he wanted to use the white card to go back to the PVP tower ande back in a week when the auction starts.


    He also needed to hunt beasts and get mana cores to be able to buy something in the auction. Not to mention he had to form his own mana core as well.


    But this girl was calling him over to y fishing in a duck pond? He scratched his head not knowing what to do now.


    He didn''t know this strange girl''s background so he did not want to casually offend her. On the other hand, he also couldn''t waste time like this.


    And which grown-ass woman behaved so childishly? This girl walked like a child, talked like a child, maybe she really is a child?


    In the end, Liam decided to go along with it. ''I can give it another hour and find more information about this girl''s background.''


    "Ok. Ok. We can y fishing, but isn''t it gettingte? Don''t you have to go home? Where do you live?" Liam asked.


    "I live outside the city. That''s alright. My mother is not home." The girl giggled.


    "Oh. Aha ha ha. That''s good then."


    Liam now became even more curious about this girl''s background. He thought that she was from another realm but turns out she was from here. Just what was this ce?


    The girl quickly began leading him to the said pond and he also quietly followed. Once again everyone walking around the streetspletely ignored them.


    "Where is this pond, Miss Itzel?" Liam kept the conversation going to make the girl talk more.


    Also, this was a genuine question because he hadn''t seen any pond in their small tour from earlier.


    The ce was more like a typical city with only buildings everywhere, not much of anything else.


    "It''s right this way." The girl winked. ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? Fr??w??n????.?om


    Hmm? Liam followed her and not long after they reached a dead-end street. Just when he was wondering where they were going to go, the girl stepped forward and tapped lightly on the wall.


    Immediately the ce started glowing brightly and opened up.


    "Come in. Quick!" Liam walked in and the girl entered too. The wall then closed behind them. The next second Liam received another huge shock.


    Before he didn''t see it or rather it didn''t hit him properly but now he could! Without the crowd around them, the ce was more visible to him.


    With the dusk sky, and the satin thread ground extending as far as eyes could see it was like he was standing on top of a giant jellyfish!


    And beneath the sating threaded jelly ground, there seemed to be a profound depth.


    But despite this, strange environment, there were trees, nts, and bushes around them. They had ck stems and luminous leaves.


    More importantly, everything around him was shimmering.


    Milky way auction city¡­ The satin threaded jelly ground¡­ The different gravity¡­ No mana orher¡­


    It couldn''t be, right? Liam gulped and turned to the childishly smiling girl. "Miss Itzel, this ce had star energy?"


    "Aha aha ha. Mister Kouske, you are a dummy. It''s not called star energy. It''s called astral energy. I will teach youter. We should y now first! Come, I will take you to my pond."


    "Sure." Liam smiled bitterly.


    ''Astral energy huh¡­ At least I didn''t get any debuffs.''


    The two of them walked and soon they came to a big pond beyond which there was a pce. But it was not like the pce back in the Gresh Kingdom or even the Nether realm.


    It was a gigantic pce. Liam couldn''t see where it started and where it ended. He might as well be an ant in this ce.


    "Miss¡­ Itzel¡­ maybe it is not a good idea for me to be here." Liam couldn''t help but notice that there were none of the other beings or creatures in this part of the city.


    Was he once again somewhere he should not be with someone whom he should not be with?


    "No. No. It''s alright. Papa built this pond for me! Of course, I can bring my friends here!"


    "Papa? Your father?" Liam gulped. "Is he around?"


    "No. No." The girl shook her head. "He went away for some work. He will be back only next month."


    Phew. Liam rxed a little. At this point, he just wanted to get this over with and leave the ce. "Let''s y then?" He smiled and asked.


    "Yay!" The little girl pped and squatted in front of the pond. The pond had water that was once again shimmering.


    Liam curiously dipped his finger in. He immediately got a cool nourishing feeling. He then scooped up some water and tried drinking it.


    Immediately, his stamina, health bar, and mana bar glowed. It was as if every bit of tiredness from his bodypletely left him.


    Liam noticed that the girl was staring at him so he quickly smiled. "This water is so tasty!"


    "Yay, I am d you liked my pond, Mr. Kouske."


    "I feel thirsty often. So let me fill some water in my can." Liam shamelessly took out some big canisters and continued filling them one after the other.


    Unfortunately, he only had twenty. If he had known about this before, he would have definitely brought more!


    "Sorry. I am done now." He smiled.


    "Just in time. See! There! I see a fish!" Liam followed the girl''s blue finger when unexpectedly¡­ BOOM!


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 2~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 489 - Greeny doesnt like visitors

    Chapter 489 - Greeny doesn''t like visitors


    Liam couldn''t even see the attack. Something fast and powerful shot forward from the girl''s hand. The next second, a dead glowing fish floated on the pond.


    "1 point for me, Mr. Kouske!"


    "Aha ha ha. Miss Itzel is so strong!" Liam awkwardly chuckled. This girl was strong enough to kill him a dozen times over!


    "He He." The girl shook her head. "No, Mr. Kouske. Big sister is the strongest. But papa says I am the prettiest!"


    "Of course, you are. You look very pretty, Miss Itzel."


    "He He. Thank you, Mr. Kouske. Oh, look there! There is another fish! This time I will let Mr. Kouske get it."


    "Ok." Liam nodded. He aimed for the glow just beneath the water surface and sent forward a lightning arrow, but his hit wasn''t nearly strong enough.


    With one hit from the girl, the fish began to float belly up but his attack did not even tickle the damn thing.


    "Looks like I am very bad at this." Liam smiled.


    "No, No, Mr. Kouske don''t worry. You spot the fish. I will help you kill it!" The girl excitedly said.


    "Alright. Thanks for helping me."


    The two of them then began ying and within a few minutes, several fishes were floating on the pond. It was a sight to behold.


    "Ahem. Let me clear all of this up for you." Liam smiled. "Since Miss Itzel is clearly winning, the loser should do this chore."


    "He He. You are so bad at this, Mr. Kouske." The girl happily giggled.


    Sure, I am. He obviously had to let this monster in a little girl''s costume win. Who knows what will happen if she lost?


    He waddled into the pond and a cool refreshing feeling swept across his entire body. "The water feels good, Miss Itzel," Liam remarked.


    He then began hurriedly sweeping up all the dead glowing fish and tossed them into his inventory. They were probably some good items with a lot of value.


    The water also felt quite good. He wished he could take more of these.


    However, just as he was busy stealing everything in sight, the girl sitting on the side suddenly yelped!


    "Mr. Kouske! I almost forgot! Be careful! My pet greeny is inside the pond. He doesn''t like visitors very much!"


    Huh? Greeny?


    Liam instantly had a bad feeling. Call it intuition. He did not even think twice before starting to back out of the pond when something moved near his legs.


    Fuck! He now started running out of the pond as fast as he could and he also almost reached the shore when suddenly green vines shot out of the pond and wrapped around his leg.


    They were pulling him back into the pond.


    Fuuuuckkk! Was he now supposed to fight this thing? Liam struggled to get away from the thing''s grasp by digging his heels into the jelly ground.


    But there was a different type of bouncy friction and no bnce! What the hell!


    He couldn''t even attack the damn thing because it was the girl''s pet. Luckily for him, the girl finally took action.


    "Greeny! Greeny! Mr. Kouske is our guest! Don''t be rude!"


    MRUUUUU!


    Something roared with discontent and Liam felt the vines around his leg loosen up.


    "Thanks, Miss Itzel. Aha ha ha. I wish you had told me about ahem ''greeny'' sooner." He awkwardly smiled, catching his breath.


    He was just saying it, but the girl''s face immediately changed. Unexpectedly she started crying. "Sorry, Sorry. Mr. Kouske. Please don''t hate me."


    "What now? No. No. Not at all. Nothing like that."


    "No one talks to me and no one ys with me. Papa is always busy and my sisters are always training. Mr. Kouske is the only nice person who is willing to y with me."


    "Please don''t hate me." The girl sobbed and as she did storm clouds began forming above their head and the pond water started churning.


    The heck? Liam''s eyes widened in shock. What the hell was happening? Just who was this girl?


    And what was he supposed to do now? Comfort her? He quickly walked over and sat next to her.


    "Please don''t cry, Miss Itzel." He then had an idea and took something from his inventory. It was one of Shen Yue''s meatballs. "Here, do you want to try some food from my ce?"


    The girl immediately lifted her head up and blinked at Liam. "Ah really. Thanks, Mr. Kouske. Papa says never take anything from outsiders, but you are my friend. So I will eat this."


    She nibbled on the meatball and the next second revealed a curious expression. "I have never eaten anything like this! It''s good!"


    "Do you like it? Here take some more." It was Luna''s food and if it could save his life, Liam did not mind giving it away.


    He was sure that the girl had probably eaten better things. What he was giving was maybe equivalent to fast food and sometimes fast food was what one needed.


    Soon everything returned to its normal state and the girl was happy once again. She wiped her mouth after eating and then dusted her hand before standing up.


    "Thank you for ying with me, big brother. Sorry, Mr. Kouske."


    "You can call me big brother, Miss Itzel. I would be honored." Liam shamelessly smiled again.


    The girl looked even happier and brimmed with excitement. "I have seven sisters and not one big brother! Now, I finally have a big brother also! Yay!"


    "Ha Ha." Liam ruffled her head, just like he does with Mei Mei and the girl seemed to enjoy it. "Alright, I should leave now. I wille back next week. That time we can meet again?"


    "Ah, but big brother''s card is all used up!" Itzel worriedly replied.


    "You mean this one?" Liam showed her the white card.


    "Yes!" The girl nodded. She paused for a moment and then tapped her ring to take out a white crystal.


    "Big brother, use this one. That card you can use only once but this one you can use any number of times."


    "Oh. I see. Thanks." Liam felt relieved. Because he did not know what it was he almost wasted this chance.


    "Mmm. Goodbye, big brother." Itzel waved goodbye. Liam felt the white crystal glowing and his vision once again darkened. A secondter, he was back in the same room at the PVP tower.


    Liam blinked in a daze and then shook his head. "What the hell just happened? Did I eat some strange herb? Was I tripping?"


    He hurriedly opened his inventory slot to find the items still there. So everything was real after all. He chuckled wryly thinking about that strange experience.


    "Let me check out what this is." He took out a fish from the inventory slot.


    Ding. [Glowing Silverfish - When consumed increases all attributes permanently by 1]


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 3~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 490 - Magic Pond?

    Chapter 490 - Magic Pond?


    Ding. [Glowing Silverfish - When consumed increases all attributes permanently by 1]


    Liam dumbfoundedly stared at the small fish in his hands, ced it down, and took out another fish from his inventory.


    Ding. [Glowing Silverfish - When consumed increases all attributes permanently by 1]


    "You have got to be kidding me¡­"


    He retrieved another five fish and all of them also had the same special effect.


    "This is insane. What kind of fish is this! No wonder that damned greeny was so strong! That bitch is probably feeding on these fishes non-stop!"


    While Liam was busily looking at these fish, the other person in the garden also smelled the aroma of the meat and slowly padded toward Liam.


    Kyuuuu!


    A fox shamelessly appeared.


    Liam chuckled and immediately shook his head. "No. No. No. Nope! Until you show me one of those mes you ate, you are not getting anything more!"


    Luna adorably pouted but Liam was resolute in his decision. He gave the fox some of Shen Yue''s meatballs and he started his sushi feast.


    How could the ordinary meatballpare to the special fish?


    Luna made pitiful faces the entire time. "No way, sweetheart." Liam did not waver.


    He started roasting the small fish lightly before tossing them one by one into his mouth and chomping down on everything including bones.


    Promptly, the notifications also started appearing one after another. His stats started steadily jumping.


    "Heck yes!"


    After the repeated failures in making the elixir, it felt good to get some boosts. The entire room now smelled delicious and the sound of crunching bones filled the space.


    Kyuuuuu! Luna whined again.


    Liam grinned and shook his head. "Still no."


    He was done eating the fifth fish and tossed the sixth one in. He had a total of 20 fish and he couldn''t wait for the huge boost this was going to give.


    Every level up below Level 50 gave 2 stat points per attribute and every level up after Level 50 gave 3 stat points per attribute.


    Besides this, he already had the stat boost from consuming the elixir. So if he consumed all of these fish, he would be much stronger than any other yer at the same level!


    He could even rival someone ten levels higher than him.


    Liam grinned ear to ear and quickly ate up. The notifications also steadily rolled in.


    But suddenly after eating the 7th fish, he was no longer seeing any difference. He quickly opened his status screen.


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 50


    ss: Soulmancer


    Titles: Rolling in Debt, Perfectionist, Soul Devourer, Pioneer, Gresh Kingdom Duke, Thol City Garrison Leader, Stage 1 Ranker


    Pet: Luna, Talon


    Health: 5193/ 5193


    Mana: 5056/ 5056


    ______________


    Vitality: 145


    Stamina: 145


    Strength: 145


    Defense: 145


    Intellect: 145


    Agility: 145


    ______________


    There were no notifications of further stat boosts and couldn''t see any more stat gains. The only boost he got was the additional stat points from the first 6 fish.


    "Hmmm?" Liam stopped eating. "Is there may be a limit on how of these I can eat? Even if I eat more, I wouldn''t gain anything. Ok, I will save these then. There is no point in wasting them."


    Kyuuuu!


    Immediately, the fox next to him brightened up and she reminded him of her presence.


    Give me! Give me! She looked at Liam with big adorable eyes!


    "What a little scammer!" Liam chuckled and after thinking for a moment, he gave the little thing three of the fishes, storing the remaining ten for future use.


    Kyuuuu!


    Instantly, Luna revealed her shining teeth and revealed a big smile, the fish disappearing within seconds.


    Liam was curious to see how many stats she would gain. The little fox was after all a celestial grade beast so she probably received more benefits?


    And bingo! He was right!


    He had only received +1 and Luna was getting +5!


    He hurriedly opened her status page to take a look.


    [Ding]


    [Name: Pet1, Luna]


    [Level: 16]


    [Type: Spirit beast (Evolution possible)]


    [Grade: Celestial]


    "Why are you so mysterious Luna? What stats do you have? You won''t show me?" Liam lifted the fox by her tail and shook her yfully.


    As if being high on the fish she had just eaten, the little fox as wellughed giddily.


    "Heh. I will y with youter. I really need to do some work now." While everyone was busy fighting for their lives, it was ironic that he had already spent several hours just ying.


    Liam tossed the fox aside and started arranging everything to study the recipe one more time.


    He spent a couple of hours thinking about how he could make thepound more stable and prevent it from disintegrating and falling apart at thest step which was his main issue.


    In fact, this was typically the main problem with most potions since it was only at the end when everything, all the separate ingredientse together tobine and be something new which was the basis of alchemy.


    He mulled over this for another hour and then stopped for a few minutes. He was once again at a standstill and was not making any progress.


    "Ok, I should learn and practice more recipes." He took out the recipe scrolls and learned everything one after the other. Some of them were easy but some of them were difficult.


    "Hmm¡­ Hopefully, this should improve my skills a bit more." Liam cracked his knuckles and started working on the new recipes.


    He first went through the recipes and made sure he understood the process and the reason why certain herbs were used for certain recipes.


    He had already sunk a few hours in now so after a few more minutes, he waspletely exhausted.


    Liam fell back, lying down on the grassy garden, and stared at the sky. "I should just take a nap."


    "Hmmm. Maybe I will try drinking that pond water. That was very refreshing. Maybe it can recover mental fatigue or help me concentrate?"


    Liam excitedly took out a canister and decided to check out the water as well.


    He only checked out the fish before and since the fish was very special, the water it was swimming in was also special?


    He opened the cap and took a small gulp. Almost instantly, the mental tiredness that he had umted so far disappeared.


    He felt invigorated as if he had just woken up from a 12-hour sleep!


    Even though it did not give him any stat boosts, this was also a very good item. "I guess time to get back to work." Liam chuckled wryly as he peered over the recipes again.


    But a few secondster, he lifted up his head to look at the small pond not too far away from him. That''s right! He also had a pond, didn''t he?!


    "I never checked out that pond." Liam clicked his tongue. The little fox was ying inside it all the time but he didn''t think of it as anything special.


    But now after seeing the other pond, he wondered if this could be anything good?


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 4~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 491 - BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Chapter 491 - BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    "Nah. I am probably expecting too much." Liam stood up to try it out anyway and walked over to the pond.


    He did not straight up jump into it since there might be a ''Greeny'' in this pond too but considering that Luna was swimming here all the time there was probably nothing like it.


    Liam removed all the clothes on his body except for his underwear and dived into the pond with a ssh.


    It had been a while since he took a bath so the water felt very refreshing. He then drank a couple of mouthfuls of the water.


    It was sweet and had a pleasant taste, even felt soothing, but nothing else happened.


    "I guess I really was expecting too much." How could a pond from that weird cepare to the pond that popped out of a stone tablet?


    Liam sighed and decided to stay in the pond for some more time just to be sure.


    Luna happily yed around him while he rxedly floated around, thinking about the elixir recipe that was still giving him a headache.


    Without him realizing it, almost an entire hour passed by just like that.


    Suddenly¡­


    Ssh! Liam hurriedly rushed out of the pond. He almost grasped something and was close to solving this puzzle.


    Without bothering to put on any clothes, he sat down in front of the cauldron and started throwing things into it. This time he didn''t do it one by one and threw in all the herbs together.


    He then started making the elixir.


    . co?


    A few more minutes passed in silence and soon the whole cauldron began rocking.


    Liam waspletely drenched in sweat from top to bottom.


    He gritted his teeth and manipted the mana and finally at thest moment which counted the most, he gave it his all and churned out whatever mana he had remaining.


    Bbt. Bbt. Bbt. Bbt. Even the cauldron started rocking wildly.


    Was another explosion iing?


    Kyuuuu! Luna quickly dove into the pond to escape the aftermath, curiously peeking out to take a look from the safety of the waters.


    Now the cauldron was rocking even more wildly.


    Liam''s eyes were also red in color. The blood vessels in his eyes had burst out. The veins on his hands and muscles were also popping. He looked like he was only barely holding on.


    And just as the cauldron began to roar loudly as if it was about to st apart, the next second everything quieted down without a single sound.


    Tizzzzz. Something sizzled quietly inside the cauldron.


    Liam held his breath and looked inside to see a single drop of liquid. It was a clear teal-colored liquid.


    [Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased to Expert Master Level]


    "YESSSSSS!" Liam grabbed the fox next to him, squished it in excitement, and fell back on the ground roaring withughter.


    This damned thing had been guing him forever now and he finally got it right!


    He then abruptly tossed Luna away and before he could forget this feeling, he quickly started making another batch again.


    "Oh, I should store it first."


    Liam realized that he was too tired to think clearly and chuckled in his state of euphoria. He stopped the second batch and transferred the drop into a small vial first.


    He took out the canister and drank another small sip of the water which gave him instant recovery. He then jumped into the pond again.


    Only now he was able to finally breathe. Though he wanted to repeat the process asap, it was too draining to start up immediately. He needed a few breaths.


    Five minutester, he was once again clear-headed. In fact, more so. He mentally went over everything that he had done for the elixir.


    He was able to think about each and every step with a crystal clear mind without any confusion. He had a unique rity.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" Liam looked at the pond water. Though he did not get any notification, he could tell that this pond was doing something. He was able to think more clearly.


    It was either because of that or because of his bonus stats, something helped him. The recipe that he couldn''t crack for so many days was finally in his grasp.


    Liam swam around for a few more minutes and then quickly ran out like a maniac to start the next batch once again.


    A few more minutes passed by and this time as well the cauldron once again started rocking wildly¡­ and¡­


    BOOOM!


    Everything exploded.


    Unfortunately, Luna who had confidently stepped out this time was now fully covered in ck soot!


    Kyuuuuuuu!


    She scratched out the grass on the ground in anger and dove back into the pond, never wanting toe out again.


    Liam, however, was much less upset. He quickly stood up and moved onto a cleaner patch of grass and started repeating all the steps all over again.


    He had unlimited herbs, he had already made it work once, so he was not going to give up without getting it fully within his grasp.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Another four explosions rocked and finally on the fifth one, the much-awaited notification popped up.


    [Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    Liam grinned. He quickly tossed the single drop of elixir into another vial and looked at it like it was his most prized possession.


    "Again!" He mumbled and started up the next batch.


    The next few hours passed by just like this and several portions of the garden became burnt and charred. Also, Liam managed to prepare five vials of the elixir.


    His productivity was one in five which wasn''t too bad. Compared to his before, he was very much happy to have reached here.


    He spent some more time so that he didn''t forget the technique and thenid back to rest. There was no point in making these anymore at least in his current state.


    Now it was time to use this elixir!


    Once he officially stepped onto the next stage, he would then be able to make them more effectively.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 5~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 492 - He is stealing from me again!

    Chapter 492 - He is stealing from me again!


    Liam looked at the single drop of crystalline teal liquid inside the vial and clenched his hand. He now had the elixir but that didn''t mean that things were going to be easy.


    In fact, he had a feeling that the actual difficult part was yet toe.


    From the way Rey had struggled, it was clear that the elixir did so much more than simply removing impurities. Not to mention incredibly painful.


    Especially considering that Rey had taken the medicine at a lower level and the elixir he had taken was also not theplete one, Liam could only imagine what the effects of the real one would be.


    "Luna, it''s better that you stay in a different room."


    Kyuuuuu


    The fox shook her head resolutely.


    "No. It''s not debatable. Rey attacked the other people in the room. What if I also attack you?"


    Kyuuuu


    The fox shook her head again.


    "Too bad. You have to listen to what I am telling you."


    Liam picked up the fox by the scruff of her neck and brought her over to the room next to him. He then paid for that room as well and booked it for an entire day.


    Kyuuuu


    Luna pitifully looked at him, but Liam shook his head. "I wille and get you soon. I promise." He then went back to the room with the stone tablet and the garden inside.


    He directly entered the pond once more and opened his mouth to pop the contents of the vial. Almost instantly a warm feeling shot through his body and his vision darkened.


    Huh? Liam was shocked. He expected severe pain or some sort of substance leaking out of him first just like how it happened to the others but what was this.


    There wasplete darkness all around him.


    All of a sudden, this darkness disappeared and a ck hooded figure stood in front of him. He had a purple sword just like Liam and his stance was also simr to how he typically stood.


    "A mirror image of myself?"


    Before he could understand what was going on or where he was, the figure in front of him instantly moved.


    "Wait. This is the effect of the elixir. I am just inside my head. Snap out of it. Snap out of it." Liam quickly mumbled.


    But nothing was happening.


    The ck hooded figure attacked him with a horizontal cut and Liam narrowly missed by backing away awkwardly.


    "What is happening? This is not real. SNAP OUT OF IT!" He shouted loudly but nothing was changing.


    He was still in the same weird dark space and the hooded figure was attacking him relentlessly.


    All of his moves were simr. They were undoubtedly his own habits but they were a lot more perfect. They were difficult to evade.


    "I guess I am going to have to fight here?"


    Liam did not see any other way through this and started swinging at the madly charging figure. The two of them shed and both were pushed back.


    The next time Liam started casting a fireball and the figure opposite him pulled out a big ck sphere of energy.


    The two of them shed one more time and the ck spherepletely decimated the fire in Liam''s hand.


    "You are weak. You are not capable of protecting anyone. You will once again fail and perish." The figure opened its mouth and shouted.


    The hoarse voice rang loudly in his ears preventing him from thinking anything at all.


    Liam shook it off and moved. If mana attacks were not enough then he switched toher. He conjured the same ck sphere and rammed it against the figure.


    Whatever attack he used, the other figure used and whatever the other figure used, he used as well to counterattack.


    CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.


    Metal shed with metal and all sorts of attacks flew from one side to another but without any specific result. Everything was either countered or evaded.


    The fight went on for a while because both of them were evenly matched. However, as more time passed Liam started getting tired but the other figure still continued attacking relentlessly.


    If things continued like this, then Liam knew that he was going to lose. He had used everything he knew but it was not enough.


    "Damn it. Can I only get through this if I improve myself right now?" He gripped his sword tightly, trying to find a way out of this mess.


    If there was any technique that he could improve easily¡­


    Liam immediately tried the illusion technique. He dashed towards his evil twin, appearing as if he had split into two and the next second, the evil twin as well split apart.


    There were now four people on the battleground.


    "Damn it." Liam gritted his teeth. This was not going to be easy.


    Meanwhile¡­ the pond Liam was sitting in rapidly churned.


    And it did not churn simply, it was also absorbing huge amounts of mana, much more than what was avable in the atmosphere.


    It tapped into the very veins of the building and started absorbing mana like a ck hole.


    If it had been an abandoned ruin or some other sort of treasurend perhaps it would have gone unnoticed but this was the PVP tower in the middle of the city.


    And inside this same PVP tower¡­ on the topmost floor¡­ a pair of eyes shed open angrily.


    "Again? This bastard is stealing from my mana reserves again? Unbelievable!" An incredibly old man shivered in anger. There were even traces of jealousy present on his face as his long beard trembled.


    He got up and went inside a room angrily, banging the door close behind him. The two other disciples standing in the same ce looked at this weirdly before exchanging knowing nces.


    After all, they had been with their master for a long time so they knew about him very well. Whoever made him angry was going to pay for it.

 Chapter 493 - New PVP tower event!

    Chapter 493 - New PVP tower event!


    A couple of hourster¡­


    [DING. WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PVP TOWER EVENT]


    Every single yer logged into the game and currently in the Xion realm received this announcement.


    yers all over the world in the various kingdoms and territories rushed to the PVP tower in their respective cities to check this out.


    Because of this, the PVP towers that were now mostly forgotten by the average yers and only used often by the experts once again started gaining momentum.


    More yers started attempting to climb the tower and more floor battles started taking ce.


    And at the top of all of this hustle and bustle, an old man grunted angrily, observing everything that was happening inside the towers.


    This was the tower master for all the PVP towers and everything that happened here went through him.


    However, right this second, all of his focus and attention was on one and only one person. "That bastard is still absorbing my mana!"


    His gaze did not shift from Liam as he watched the young man in the pond and the stone tablet alternatingly.


    He also noticed the fox in the adjacent room that seemed to be of a superior grade. A strange glint crossed his eyes as he continued watching the scene.


    Completely oblivious to this, Liam was still within the pond that was churning wildly.


    His body was now covered from top to bottom in dirt and puddles of ck liquid floated on the clean pond.


    His body trembled ever so often but if one looked closely, his muscles were bing more defined, stronger, and tougher.


    The person seemed to be in a dire situation, in terrible pain but as much as he was suffering, he was also improving much.


    Inside the dark world, Liam was almost at his limits. It felt as if he had been going at this for all eternity but he just couldn''t do anything.


    No matter which technique he used, it was difficult to progress forward from where he stood. If it was easy, he had already aplished it.


    Right now, the stage he was in was stagnant. He needed to learn more, and fight more to improve and it was difficult to reach that stage.


    There was also a crushing force that sort of restricted him which made it that much more difficult for him to do something.


    He was just not able to win over his evil twin. Anything he did was countered. There seemed to be simply no way to cross this hurdle.


    However, Liam still had notpletely given up. There was something that he was working on, a lifeline that he clung onto in this terrible storm which was his reaction speed.


    Since everything else was difficult, this was thest thing he had left. The more he fought his evil twin, the smoother and quicker his movements were bing.


    After spending so much time in front of the cauldron, his nerves were crackling with excitement from this fight. His neurons were firing at top speed. He waspletely in rhythm.


    He slowly converted the mana andher fight to a sword fight and started tackling the problem in a more closebat style.


    His strategy was to lure out the opponent''s attack pattern and use that weakness. Everyone had an attack pattern, their preferred practice.


    Even though his method of learning was very unconventional, he still definitely had one.


    Only that it was difficult to find because he learned it through sheer brutebat instead of studying it under any instructor.


    Liam continued attacking and retreating and attacking and retreating. He also used mana andher attacks in between when things got too heated and his stamina bottomed out.


    However, it looked like even this strategy was failing.


    Liam was now howling in pain. The pond began churning even faster and Luna who was in the next room curled up into a ball, tears falling out of her eyes.


    She could feel the immense pain her master was in.


    And there was also the other person watching everything with an indignant expression. The old man snorted wanting Liam both to win and lose.


    If he lost, then he could directly obtain the things that he had his eye on without any hassle but if Liam won then he would be able to thrash his around personally and then obtain the items.


    So either result was eptable to him. He just wanted it to end already. "My mana. My mana stones. He is eating up everything!" The old man grimaced.


    This continued on for almost ten whole hours when finally the pond stopped churning. Liam as well stopped moving and struggling. His body now floated still on the steady waters of the pond.


    Everything quieted down like the calm after a storm and inside the dark space, Liam''s sword was glowing with a fiery red luster.


    In the end, he finally managed tobine his magic attack with his sword attack.


    He was not sure how he did it. He did not know if he would be able to repeat it but he definitely had this one shot.


    However¡­ something was changing.


    He was yet to deal this death blow to his evil twin but as if sensing that the fight had already ended, the space started cracking at the seams.


    "HMPH!" Liam harrumphed coldly and dashed towards the image. He wanted to take it down badly. It had tortured and tormented him for so long so how he could let it go just like that?


    He brought his sword down at full force when suddenly the hooded figure lifted his head and Liam saw a strange face. It was not his face. Rather it was someone else''s face.


    All this time I was fighting against someone else? He stopped in shock and the rest of the space as well crackedpletely.


    He was finally back in the pond water, staring at the blue sky created by the stone tablet. He was back in the familiar garden. It was over.


    [Ding¡­]


    [Ding¡­]


    [Ding¡­]


    Several notifications immediately appeared. Liam blinked in a haze. He took a deep breath and then copsed.

 Chapter 494 - Forming a core

    Chapter 494 - Forming a core


    When Liam opened his eyes, he found himself floating in the small pond that had now somehow be even smaller. He looked around and saw that the garden itself was somewhat destroyed.


    "Hmmm? Did I do this?"


    Liam only remembered fighting inside that ck space so he didn''t understand why the outside was so damaged.


    He thought about it for a moment before his mind wandered back to the person whom he had faced inside that ck space.


    All along he assumed that he was fighting his own mirror image. It made sense because maybe he was fighting his own mental demons to be stronger.


    But at thest moment, he had unmistakably seen someone else.


    He only managed to catch a glimpse of that person''s face. He could not even remember that face right now but he clearly remembered the feeling.


    It was as if he had seen him somewhere before but he couldn''t quite figure out where.


    Liam lingered in the same thoughts for a couple of minutes before shaking it off and snapping himself out of the trance.


    He had more important things to do than worry about an imaginary foe.


    That''s right! He had finally finished the cleansing process that he had worked so hard to aplish!


    "Time to form my core." Liam grinned. He was now truly going to step onto the next stage.


    In hisst life, this was such an unimportant process because his condition was like that. While others climbed to the top from this single step, he could only dream of something like that.


    But now he was here again once more and this time everything was different.


    Ignoring the garden that was beaten up, he still continued sitting inside the pond water and opened up his system interface first to check the effects of the elixir.


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 50


    ss: Soulmancer


    Titles: Rolling in Debt, Perfectionist, Soul Devourer, Pioneer, Gresh Kingdom Duke, Thol City Garrison Leader, Stage 1 Ranker


    Pet: Luna, Talon


    Health: 5250/5250


    Mana: 5200/ 5200


    ______________


    Vitality: 160


    Stamina: 160


    Strength: 160


    Intellect: 160


    Agility: 160


    Physical Defense: 160


    Mental Defense: 50


    Soul Defense: 50


    ______________


    Skills:


    [Mana Maniption], [Nether Maniption], [Throat Punch], [sh], [Sword Dance], [Spirit sh], [Spirit Wrath], [Stealth], [Pickpocket], [Unlock], [Tame], [Awaken], [Demonic Summon], [Ice Shard], [Lightning Bolt], [Fire Ball], [Lava Rain], [Soul Forging], [Soul Sensing], [Summon Soul Undeads], [Dismiss Soul Undeads], [Nether Fire Storm], [Nether Fire Serpent], [Mana Net], [Frozen Earth], [Trapping vines], [Fire bullets], [Nether Scythe], [Wind des], [Ice burst], [Lightning Snake], [Earth Spike], [Venom Burst], [Ice nket], [Intermediate Ice Maniption], [Intermediate Fire Maniption], [Intermediate Lightning Maniption], [ck Box]


    Trade Skills: [Alchemy] (Expert Master Level), [Forging] (Master Level), [Mining] (Intermediate Level), [Herbalism] (Intermediate Level), [Cooking] (Beginner)


    ______________


    Liam continued staring at his stats for an entire minute. He opened his mouth and closed it speechlessly. This time the effects of the elixir werepletely beyond his imagination.


    All of his basic attributes had increased from [145] to [160]. This was a 15 stat points gain per attribute.


    Each level past Level 50 only gave 3 stat points per attribute when leveling up so a 15 stat point boost was simr to having a 5 level advantage over the same level opponent.


    This was not taking into ount the original advantage he had before consuming the first elixir and not to mention the silverfish.


    With everythingbined together, Liam now almost had the equivalent of a 10 level difference between another yer of his same status.


    And this was before he started forming his mana core.


    Undoubtedly, this difference was only going to widen now after he establishes his core.


    Liam rubbed his hands expectantly and cracked his neck.


    He was excited about this but he was more excited about the two new attributes that had popped up on his status screen.


    "Mental defense and soul defense¡­" He mumbled in deep thought. "Did these show up because they became big enough only now?"


    The only other extra attribute he had seen was when Shen Yue unlocked her hidden ss and gained her Charm attribute.


    "Does this mean these are also going to improve now with every level I gain?"


    With every level past level 50, a yer gained 3 stat points per attribute and he now had 2 additional attributes.


    So this meant that he was going to get a passive boost of 6 stat points per level.


    More importantly, he could now assign stat points to these two new types of defense.


    Liam had alreadye across unique mental attacks and he personally knew how strong they were.


    It was good to have some extra stat points saved in case he needed that sort of defense unexpectedly.


    And as for soul attacks, he was not too worried about that at the moment.


    If anyone was capable of doing such an attack, it would probably be him because of his Soulmancer ss but he himself had no idea how to obtain the knowledge about attacks like that.


    So putting that aside for now, he continued looking at his status screen for a few more minutes and then closed it.


    "With this, now I am done with all the prep work. It should be time." He took a few deep breaths and then closed his eyes.


    "COME!"


    Liam gritted his teeth and without any warning, he abruptly started pulling in all the mana that he could.


    The abundant mana rushing into him gave him a pleasant sensation. The mana weaved through his body and the mana particles synergized with the cells in his body.


    Before he was not able to pull in so much mana but now after the thorough cleansing he was able to take in so much more.


    Liam himself was startled by the difference he felt but he kept going. He knew that this shouldn''t be his limit.


    After going through so much, he wanted to squeeze inside everyst bit of mana that he could and only then establish his core.


    "MORE!"


    He stubbornly sucked in everything that he could sense around him. Slowly and steadily, he stuffed wisps after wisps of mana.


    Soon the space around him started crackling. The amount of mana inside him was no longer pleasant. It was now turbulent.


    It crashed against his body wanting to create chaos. His newly remolded blood vessels and muscle tissues started tearing from the insides.


    A wave of pain rippled across his body.


    Liam gritted his teeth and bore the pain. He knew that it was not over yet. It was just beginning. He needed to bear so much more that was about toe.


    Taking another big breath, he once again called in a big wave of mana from the surroundings into his body.


    WHOOSH!


    Pain instantly sted him apart.


    The mana that was turbulent before was now like a raging storm.


    It was no longer simply crashing against him and tearing him at the seams. It was like a wildfire that wanted topletely consume him.


    Liam immediately knew that perhaps he had gone a step too far.


    He should be regretting it or even letting go of some of the mana so that he can conveniently form a core but he stood his ground.


    He did not want to give up just yet. If he did not give his 100% now to form the core, thenter he would surely regret it.


    Biting his teeth, he held in all the mana forcefully not letting a single wisp get out. From top to bottom, he was nowpletely flushed with energy.


    And because of that, from top to bottom he was also burning in pain.


    Blood wasing out of his eyes, noses, ears, and mouth. His bones cracked. His muscles dissolved.


    His body shriveled until there was only a set of broken bones and saggy skin. He was now fully covered in blood.


    With each second that passed, he was in unimaginable pain and torture but Liam knew that this was nothing whenpared to feeling useless and weak.


    Bearing this was still a hundred times better than having to beg someone else for his life, for his sister''s life.


    And he was still not done!


    "Again!" He shouted and this time a violent tornado-like mana cocoon started forming around him.


    Liam was on the brink of losing his consciousness so he didn''t notice anything anymore, but someone else did.


    High up on the tower, the old man observed everything and snorted in annoyance. He had actually been impressed with the boy up until now.


    He had even momentarily considered taking him in under his wing but thisst step, it was really¡­


    "This greedy scoundrel! Just how much is he nning to eat! There should be a limit to his audacity! A frog wanting to be a dragon?!"


    "Impossible! You went too far. You should have known when to stop!" He snorted in disdain. Now there was nothing more for him to watch. This was purely self-destruction and foolishness.

 Chapter 495 - Not enough!

    Chapter 495 - Not enough!


    With all the violent mana raging and swirling around him, Liam was like a straggler lost in the stormy sea.


    It was definitely foolish to push himself this far. However, he was not a fool. Unlike what others assumed, he did not do it without a way for him toe back.


    Liam sat in the middle of the storm with a resolute look on his face, bearing the torturous pain that was thrown at him, and just when his body was about to bepletely ripped apart¡­


    He grinned.


    It was time to bring it home!


    For a second, hepletely ignored all the mind-numbing pain that had gued him and only thought about one thing.


    And this thing was not somethingplicated, not some ancient text, instead, this thing was¡­ the sun!


    He imagined the sun on a clear sky and thought about the warmth that spread throughout his body.


    He then visualized this warmth moving from all over his body to the very center of his body. This was going to be his Sun, the thing that was going to provide him warmth for the rest of his life.


    It was a very simple visualization technique that worked.


    Moreover, this was also not Liam''s first time using it. In his previous life as well he did the same.


    In his previous life, forming a mana core was a huge thing at least for a certain period of time. Several top yers boasted that their method was superior and so on.


    However, in the end, after wasting several days on this, it slowly came to light that it really did not matter what technique one used.


    What mattered was the body''s condition and the amount of mana one nned to condense within themselves.


    How they preferred to visualize this was up to the individual. This particr factor did not make any difference in the final result.


    Liam personally preferred to visualize his mana core in this way because when everything else became aplete mess, the sun that rose in the morning and disappeared in the night was the only constant thing in his life.


    No matter what happened, that was the only thing he knew will happen that day, the next day, and the day after. Even the presence of mana on the did not change that fact.


    The Sun was high up in the skypletely untouched by all the madness and chaos happening everywhere else. For countless days, he had wished that he could be like that as well.


    It was a small thread of light to which he had clung to during several difficult days and it held a strong emotional significance for him.


    And the stronger this visualization, the easier it was to form the mana core. Only because of this and the fact that he had already done this once before Liam was confident.


    He pictured a miniature Sun forming at the center of his body.


    To power up this Sun, he condensed every single wisp of mana that he could sense around him and sent it all to this miniature Sun.


    To the best that he could, he visualized everything. He imagined the mana coursing through his veins, rampaging through his body to get absorbed by this Sun.


    In the beginning, it was difficult but the more he pictured it, the process became easier and easier. This was it.


    Liam started shoving more and more mana into his Sun and the mana core should be formed anytime now.


    "Come on. Come on. Come on." He gritted his teeth and his body trembled in anticipation. He was almost there now.


    His mana core should stabilize any time now.


    Liam continued feeding the Sun and soon the mana raging in his body started disappearing. After that, it was time for the mana that formed a tornado around him to get in.?


    "Come on!" He shouted as he shoved everyst bit of mana that he could.


    It took him an entire minute but he held his visualization with determination and condensed everything inside him, within that miniature Sun.


    NOW!


    After sending in thatst wisp, he felt something change and something settle and stabilize. This was the mana core.


    Liam shed his eyes open as he no longer needed to do anything. It was over.


    He tried to sense the new ball of energy inside his body but suddenly something felt off. He did not quite get the feeling ofpletion.


    Wait, his eyes widened as he closed them again and tried to sense his mana core.


    Unexpectedly, his mana core was still not formed?


    Liam frowned. He sensed the center of his body and saw that his miniature Sun had now be more of a ck hole.


    All the mana entering his body was still being continuously absorbed by it. It was insatiable.


    Contrary to before when the mana he had gathered had been too much, now it felt like the mana he had gathered was not nearly enough.


    "Hmmm?"


    He could tell that he could condense a lot more mana into the same center. It was not full yet. It did not lock and be a core.


    While this was not necessarily a bad thing, it could also be very troublesome if it was not stable. Then Liam would basically be a ticking time bomb.


    He took a deep breath and tried to see what exactly was the verdict.


    1 second passed. 2 seconds passed.


    Soon several minutes passed.


    His partially formed mana core still held on strong and was stable enough. It was just that it was not full.


    So he would have to keep adding more and more and condense everything until the thing was finally full.


    But wouldn''t that mean his core was going to be¡­


    Interrupting the deadly silence in the room, Liam fell back onto the pond and burst intoughter.


    This waspletely different from what had happened in his past life so he didn''t catch it soon enough. Back then, he only needed a few minutes to form his mana core.


    It was very straightforward, locked, and loaded.


    Now he still couldn''t even fill the core, but this was nothing to worry about. Rather it was good news! It was because he was hungrier, his capacity right now was that much bigger!


    After the two rounds of cleansing, it looked like his body was capable of holding even more mana than he had ever imagined.


    Liam licked his lips and immediately went back to sitting in a meditative pose. This was going to take time but he was ready for it.


    He then took a deep breath and started inhaling all the mana that he could.

 Chapter 496 - Violet Core Vs Red Core

    Chapter 496 - Violet Core Vs Red Core


    Meanwhile¡­ on the uppermost floor of the tower¡­


    "Master." A person respectfully bowed in front of the old man.


    "In a minute, there will be a corpse in one of the lower levels. Go fetch the stone tablet beside that corpse." The old man waved him away.


    He then grunted and stood up to walk away. He opened one of the rooms on the topmost floor and entered it. Inside there were myriad treasures¡­


    The old man''s eyes glimmered as he eyed all of his prized possessions lovingly. In a second, there was going to be a new addition.


    However, just as he was thinking about this, suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Another disciple stood at the door this time and he had an anxious expression on his face.


    "What is it?" The old man asked gruffly.


    "Master¡­ another one of our formations has copsed."


    "What how is it possible? Do you know how expensive it is to make each one of them! What happened this time?"


    "Master¡­ all the mana waspletely sucked out."


    "WHAT!" The old man trembled in anger. More than the formation running dry and cracking, he was concerned about what it actually meant.


    That moron had pulled through somehow!


    And not just that, he was still continuing to absorb mana, sucking his next formation dry! How is this possible?


    The old man then remembered the pond, Liam was still standing in.


    "It has to be because of the stone tablet. It is indeed an amazing treasure." He came to this conclusion.


    "Leave it be. Don''t take any actions at the moment." He sent the other person away as well but after some time, he called him back and whispered something to him.


    Only now the old man looked relieved.


    "You dared to finish ten of my inscriptions? Now let me see just how strong your mana core is. Hmph!"


    He continued patiently observing Liam while Liam in turn continued patiently absorbing the mana in the surroundings.


    A few hourster¡­


    [Ding. You have sessfully formed a mana core]


    Liam felt something click and his body suddenly feltplete. Hmmm. He snapped out of his trance and took a deep breath to feel it properly.


    Yesss!


    It was indeed true! The way mana circted in his body was now different!


    He closed his eyes for a few more minutes and meditated to stabilize this condition and understand it a bit better. He could feel the power surging within him.


    A huge grin split his face into two. All the power he had felt so far paled inparison to the power he felt at the moment. It was apletely different feeling.


    Not just that¡­ he had now taken the biggest step that he could to ensure his future and the future of everyone he loved!


    Today was a huge day!


    With this, he alone would be moving on to the next phase of the game!


    Liam stood up and checked his status screen again.


    This time there shouldn''t be much difference except for the total mana he had ess to but there was one more thing that he was curious to look at, the grade of his mana core!


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 50


    ss: Soulmancer


    Titles: Rolling in Debt, Perfectionist, Soul Devourer, Pioneer, Gresh Kingdom Duke, Thol City Garrison Leader, Stage 1 Ranker


    Pet: Luna, Talon


    Mana Core: Red


    Health: 5250/5250


    Mana: 20000/20000


    Mana Regeneration: 1000 mp per minute


    ______________


    Vitality: 160


    Stamina: 160


    Strength: 160


    Intellect: 250


    Agility: 160


    Physical Defense: 160


    Mental Defense: 50


    Soul Defense: 50


    ______________


    Skills:


    [Mana Maniption], [Nether Maniption], [Throat Punch], [sh], [Sword Dance], [Spirit sh], [Spirit Wrath], [Stealth], [Pickpocket], [Unlock], [Tame], [Awaken], [Demonic Summon], [Ice Shard], [Lightning Bolt], [Fire Ball], [Lava Rain], [Soul Forging], [Soul Sensing], [Summon Soul Undeads], [Dismiss Soul Undeads], [Nether Fire Storm], [Nether Fire Serpent], [Mana Net], [Frozen Earth], [Trapping vines], [Fire bullets], [Nether Scythe], [Wind des], [Ice burst], [Lightning Snake], [Earth Spike], [Venom Burst], [Ice nket], [Intermediate Ice Maniption], [Intermediate Fire Maniption], [Intermediate Lightning Maniption], [ck Box]


    Trade Skills: [Alchemy] (Expert Master Level), [Forging] (Master Level), [Mining] (Intermediate Level), [Herbalism] (Intermediate Level), [Cooking] (Beginner)


    ______________


    Liam hurriedly looked through the list and found what he was looking for.


    "I actually formed a Red Core!"


    "My total mana increased four times and I have a mana regeneration rate!"


    He stood up from the small pond in shock. This was unbelievable to someone like him who only managed to form a violet core in hisst life.


    One was on one end of the spectrum and the other was on the other end of the spectrum. The difference between the two was night and day.


    Liam could tell it by just looking at the extra thing that had popped up, the mana regeneration rate!


    He never had anything like a mana regeneration rate. He did not even know something like that existed.


    "I need to take this out right now for a test drive." Liam clenched his hands, tossed the stone tablet back into his inventory space, and dashed out of the room.


    Almost immediately he felt the drop in the mana in the surrounding air.


    "Hmmm?" He stopped in his tracks. Earlier he couldn''t sense it properly but now he had instantly caught it.


    The mana inside the stone tablet garden was much higher than the mana in the general PVP tower. "Was it may be just the alchemy room effect?"  still had some time left so he peeked back into the room. Sure enough, mana here was a bit higher but still not as high as when the stone tablet had been there.


    "Maybe it has some sort of mana gathering effect?" Liam came to this conclusion. This was good because things like this were going to affect his mana regeneration rate.


    In deep thought, he stepped out of the room back into the corridor and then walked out of the PVP tower. Surprisingly, once again the mana density in the air changed.


    So the PVP tower itself had a higher density of manapared to the mana avable freely in Xion. "Good to know." Liam nodded.


    He walked out onto the streets for a few seconds, stretching his hands when suddenly he stopped and scratched his head. "Why do I feel like I am forgetting something?"


    "Crap!" The next second he then rushed back into the tower and back into the room, not the one he was in but the one next door.


    Inside there was a small white fox with three tails. She was full of tears.


    "Cough. Cough. I am alright now. Why are you crying?" He shamelessly smiled.


    The poor fox did not know that she was almost forgotten and jumped onto him with both her paws clinging to his neck.


    She then only stopped whining when she had licked all over his face, several times until he was dripping with saliva.


    "It''s ok. It''s ok. Everything is alright now. Let''s go and raise some hell, shall we?" Liam patted the little thing andforted her.


    The duo then left the PVP tower to take a trip outside the city. It was time to hunt down some elites and test his newly formed mana core!

 Chapter 497 - Limit

    Chapter 497 Limit


    A couple of hourster both Liam and Luna arrived near their guild residence.


    Now that Liam was Level 50 and had a mana core, he no longer had any business being near the central areas of the Kingdom.


    All the higher-level beasts were in the outer regions. Since their guild residence was also located in one such area, Liam decided to start from here.


    When the duo arrived at the zone and the fox flew closer to the ground, Liam looked at the huge acres of ruined cknds.


    Nether was still seeping out of it very diffusely. Surprisingly, he was now also able to sense theher better after the second cleansing.


    "Hmmm. There is still that Kingdom quest I need toplete. There is not much time left for that quest. How am I going to make all thesends return to their former glory?"


    Liam thought back to the quest that he received from the King and frowned. He had made huge progress in alchemy but this problem still remained.


    He didn''t have any particr recipe or medicine to make thesends fertile again. He also did not know where to obtain such a thing.


    But Liam did have some idea, to begin with. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have epted this venture and sunk so many gold coins into it.


    It was just that he couldn''t do it. He needed help from others, perhaps someone with ess to the priest or pdin ss instructors or shaman or hunter instructors.


    Both these types should be able to pick up some bread crumbs if they spoke to people in and around their ss building.


    "Hmmm¡­ Mia and Alex have too many things on their te. Mei Mei and the others are still in theher realm. The only person who is free enough to do this is probably that guy."


    Liam rubbed his temples as he started getting a headache just thinking about that fellow.


    "Nope. I don''t have a choice. He is really the best person for this job." He sighed and sent the message out.


    The duo thennded near the northern part of the guild residence. From here, there walked over a few miles and found their first target!


    A group of wasp nests!


    Well if they could even be called that. These nests looked more like small hills, only that they were probably hollow on the inside.


    There had been severalints from the guild that these Level 60 wasps were one-shotting yers often when they tried to move in and out of the guild.


    The problem had escted so much that they could no longer even ess that gate of the guild residence. The wasps had made that entire area impossible to ess.


    Considering this, Liam decided to start his training from these wasps.


    From the outside, their guild residence might be the dream spot for the numerous other guilds but in reality, they were fat and bloated and had a lot of issues like this.


    If these things were allowed to fester, then eventually the guild residence wouldpletely be destroyed.


    However, now that he had already taken the first step and reached the next stage, these problems were nothing big.


    Liam cautiously circled the area and first observed the magnitude of the enemy he was up against.


    These Level 50 beasts were technically no longer an issue to him but there was another problem when dealing with wasps. These guys tended to attack together.


    Especially since Liam was nning to attack their home base and clear and uproot their nests altogether, he had to be very careful. Otherwise, their entire swarm would be on his ass.


    "So there are five hills in total which means at least 100 or 200 wasps."


    Liam made this assessment after surveilling the area for some time and also taking note of the wasp size and number of swarms heading in and out every other minute.


    "This means that I cannot attack their home base just yet. We need to first attack and clear the smaller swarms of ten or twenty." Luna nodded in agreement.


    The duo then backed away to a safe distance and then waited for their first encounter. Not long after, the first swarm showed up.


    BZZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ


    "Are you ready, Luna?"


    The next second Liam lifted his arm up and folded his fingers like a finger gun, pointing it towards the group of wasps.


    As Level 50 beasts, they possessed remarkable speed and agility but right now they were simply aimlessly wandering, not knowing that a sniper was locking on them.


    So their speed at the moment was not too much. They were simply hovering aroundzily looking for some unsuspecting prey.


    However, little did they know that they were going to be the unsuspecting prey. After aiming for the wasps, Liam did not hold back and immediately started the attacks.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Back to back three football-sized fireballs went flying, all three of them hitting three wasps perfectly.


    Usually, it would take Liam quite a bit of effort to do this, especially sending out three power-packed attacks one after the other, but now he suddenly found it as easy as swinging his sword around.


    He was able to manipte mana more freely and condensing the attack to form dense rocking punches was also effortless.


    -5000


    -5000


    -5000


    Three huge damage numbers floated up. Compared to before when a single fireball only did damage of around 1000, now the effect of the same attack was fivefold higher!


    Seeing this, Liam quickly sent out another volley of fireballs. This time as well he condensed it as best as he could and shot them forward.


    -5000


    -5000


    -5000


    Another three big numbers popped up and coincidentally with the same amount of damage.


    This time since he had aimed all of the attacks on a single wasp, the insect gotpletely burnt to a crisp, or at least its wings and fell down onto the ground with a thud.


    The other three wasps he had aimed also suffered a simr fate and in the span of a second four insects from the swarm dropped down to the ground, charred and struggling.


    The other wasps in the swarm immediately became alert and wise to the fact that someone was hiding and attacking them.


    They increased their flying speed and started randomly buzzing around like bullets in the air. This was their real speed and at this speed, they were capable of punching a hole right through a thick dense tree.


    Now it was much more difficult for Liam to aim at these things. He was also not pleased for another reason. "Hmmm. It looks like I have reached some sort of limit." He mumbled to himself.


    From what Liam could see, fireballs were just not going to cut it anymore. He conjured another five fireballs and tested his theory.


    He made sure that each and every fireball was nicely condensed and yet when the damage numbers floated up¡­


    -5000


    -5000


    -5000


    Three out of the five fireballs hit their target and all three of them got the same damage numbers as well.


    "I need stronger spells." Liam came to this conclusion. It was either that or he needed to conjure a fireball that was even more intense.


    This was rather a difficult task because, after a certain point, it was not possible to make the fireballs any denser.


    The only way to improve their density and attack power would be to improve the intensity of the me itself!


    And Liam had no idea how to do this. So the other cheaper and more straightforward approach would be to learn better, stronger spells that consumed more mana.


    "Let me see¡­ Fire balls, fire bullets, andva rain. These are the only three spells I know in fire-type attacks."


    He then looked at the small fox next to him who was happily doing nothing. "Hey! Don''t you know that fire shield skill? Show it."


    Kyuuuuu!


    Luna immediately disyed her awesomeness. Liam watched it a couple of times but watching it was different from personally experiencing it.


    "Alright. I guess there is no need to waste time here. I will just buy or grind the skill books and then learn the skill."


    He then jumped out of the spot they were hiding and almost instantly the rest of the wasps shot toward him.


    [Ice Wall]


    Liam immediately erected four walls of ice which sprouted out of the ground as if they had been waiting a long time for hismand.


    THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD


    The five wasps that were alling at him like fastballs inevitably banged against these ice walls and were sent back from the impact, crashing down on the ground.


    The ice also reduced their moment speed as they struggled back up and once again shot forward. They started repeatedly banging against the ice walls and soon they started cracking.


    In the meantime, Liam as well did not stand still.


    He had at first given up on learning new skills without getting the actual skill book but as soon as he used ice barriers, he got an inspiration.


    In the same way he manipted the ice element, he started surrounding himself with the fire element as well. However, it quickly proved useless.


    Both the elements had very different and very unique vibes. When he tried to handle them both in the same way, the result was choppy and inefficient. The skill was not even executed.

 Chapter 498 - Lunas speciality

    Chapter 498 - Luna''s speciality


    Liam pondered for a moment and then started bombarding the wasps surrounding him with more fireballs.


    He tried doing a few more things to them like changing their shape, adding a spin and then slowly he began to stretch them out little by little.


    The fire balls became more like flying fire walls that pped the wasps but this form was not ideal as both the speed and power were lowered.


    Liam continued experimenting with whatever he felt like while ying around with the wasps left and right. His improvement in strength was more than apparent just from this.


    After a while when he was finally done with thest of the wisps, he managed to get a rough idea about the type of element fire was.


    "I should use all the element type spells alternatingly to understand this type of difference better."


    He made a mental note and jumped back into the hiding spot, waiting for the next swarm of wasps.


    Luna as well followed him and was about to jump in but at thest minute, she dashed ahead towards one of the fallen wasps and picked something up.


    She then ran back to Liam and dropped it into hisp.


    "Hmmm? What is this? Did I miss a drop?"


    The next second he was startled because this thing was very obviously a mana core. It was a small pea-sized mana core that he had clearly overlooked.


    Or rather he did not expect a level 50 wasp to already possess one.


    While it was true that beasts above Level 50 had a chance to form a natural mana core, this was more true with Level 60 and above beasts.


    Around Level 50, it was pretty rare toe across a mana core drop.


    Even what he obtained wasn''t a good one. It was just a low-grade mana core with a dull violet shade to it. Nevertheless, it was something he needed.


    Liam patted the little fox and put the mana core inside his inventory. "Good job!" He could always count on the little greedy thing to grab everything in sight.


    Soon the next swarm appeared and Liam started the process all over again.


    [Ding. You have gained 1000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 1000 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The training went on for a while and the number of wasps from the nest slowly started piling up. Liam also managed to gather 3 low-grade mana cores from ughtering about 60 wasps.


    This was bad butpared to before this was still better.


    In fact, he couldn''t help but wonder if personally forming a mana core helps with the drops. Maybe he got these three mana cores as drops because he had one himself.


    "Well, whatever." Liam quickly put away that thought as figuring out the mechanics of this ''game'' was not going to help him that much, especially these few small details.


    He continued ying with the fire-type attacks and slowly grinding down the rest of the wasps as well when suddenly the big shots from the nest started appearing one after the other.


    There were six elites that had stepped out to patrol.


    "It looks like it is time to get a bit more serious." Liam took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was about toe.


    It was 1 vs 6 and he was going up against six elites! This was not going to be easy!


    So he took a second to set his mind and then began. With a Bang!


    Six fire balls mmed on the 6 elites one after the other, taking away the first 5000 of their health. Each of these elites had about a million health so this was just the beginning.


    Liam then did not give them a chance to locate him and kept spamming the same spells over and over again.


    He was doing this even though it was not the most efficient way to burn through their health. This was because he was doing it to burn the wings first.


    However, the elites were not that easily trickedpared to the normal wasps.


    They quickly sniffed him out and before he could damage their wings, they shot forward toward him spiraling their pincers like drill bits.


    "Damn it." Liam hurriedly started erecting several ice walls around him.


    For the elites, this was child''s y and they crashed against the walls, shattering them into pieces in just one or two hits.


    But Liam was not done yet. In fact, he had nned for this exact same situation. The six wasps surrounded him and the hand that should have gone to the sword by now was also staying still.


    He had already decided to fight with these guys as a mage so he was not going to change his n midway.


    As soon as thest ice wall crumbled, he grinned and instantly erected a few more walls. However, this time the wasps didn''t get the ice alone.


    In between the walls, sharp spikes of earth unexpectedly arose and caught the wasps off guard. Two out of the six elites were instantly impaled by the spikes.


    And one of them was also impaled right in its already charred wing, making this wasp the first to fall down on the ground helplessly.


    Once it did this, it was already a goner because now the elite was under Luna''s domain. She started harassing the fallen wasp to no end until it was fried crisp and perfect.


    [Ding. You have gained 5000 experience points]


    Liam promptly received the notification as he continued to deal with the other five wasps. These guys had a lot of health but once they were crippled, they became pretty useless.


    Their speed, agility, and numbers were their strongest points and Liam aimed to take care of these things first.


    He erected a few more walls and earth spikes but after the first few attacks, the wasps became alert to this pattern. They now more consciously dodged his attacks and didn''t fall for it so easily.


    "Alright, time for the next phase," Liam mumbled as he quickly retreated back a few paces.

 Chapter 499 - Field Boss!

    Chapter 499 - Field Boss!


    Liam quickly retreated back and used that few seconds head start he got to cast [Lava Rain].


    A huge ball ofva crackled upwards and disintegrated into several big beads ofva that dropped from the sky.


    The five wasps, who had already recovered from thest attack, once again shot after Liam with ferocity, only to be caught up in thisva rain.


    Liam as well was under the same area but since he was not moving very much right now, he was able to avoid theva rain drops easily.


    The same could not be said for the wasps. They came at him with so much speed that they ended up getting hit several times before a good chunk of their health disappeared.


    More importantly, their wings were finally ruined. All five wasps dropped down, struggling and both Liam and Luna quickly took care of the rest and finished the elites in no time.


    Without their speed and agility, the wasps were not too much of a threat and the notifications popped up promptly one after the other.


    "Did we hit everything? Let''s go inside and check it out."


    Liam along with Luna walked into the bunch of small hills in the area. From the outside, they might look like hills but inside they were clearly wasp nests.


    "What is this?" Liam touched something stringy and stic. Several bundles of the same thing were hanging upside down.


    It looked simr to something and then in a moment, it struck him. This was honey!


    Honey was a rare ingredient that is used in several cooking recipes. So if this was really honey, then the abundant resources in front of him could be directly converted into gold coins.


    Pressing the liquid in between his fingers, Liam directly licked a little to confirm. The next second a thick delicious sweet taste entered his mouth. This was definitely honey.


    [Ding. You have consumed Striped Wasp Honey]


    [Ding. Your agility is increased by 20% for the next 5 hours]


    "Hmmm. This also has an additional effect?" Liam stared at the inside of the hill in amazement. 20% buff for the next 5 hours was a pretty good one.


    Especially, in normal dungeons and big dungeons, something like this could improve the whole group''s stats and give a hugepound effect.


    There was also a lot of honey avable. This was a big jackpot.


    Earlier Liam had ns of destroying these hills to clear out this wasp problem but now this was not a problem rather this was a natural honey farm right next to their guild residence.


    There was no way he was going to destroy it.


    "Come out." Liam summoned his soul undead army and ordered them to harvest half of the honey inside the first nest hill.


    The group then repeated the same for the four hills in the area.


    "Alright. Now how do I transport all of this to the guild residence?" Just when Liam was thinking about this, a familiar face popped near him.


    "Bro! I am back!" Rey grinned from ear to ear and ran towards Liam shouting all the way.


    "Ah." Liam took a step back ufortably. He had almost forgotten that he called this person over. "Are you feeling better now?"


    "Yes, bro! I am 100% better. See I am already up by 5 levels. Alex told me that she will help me level up but I wanted to do it on my own."


    "Alright. That''s good." Liam scratched his head. He then talked to Rey about the ruined plots around the guild residence and thetter quickly agreed to work on it with a big beaming smile.


    "Anything else, bro?"


    "Right. Can you take care of moving all of this honey into our guild vault?"


    Rey once again nodded energetically with a big smile. "Anything else, bro?"


    "Umm. No." Liam awkwardly smiled. "Just take care and do your best to get stronger."


    Rey nodded his head up and down, almost jumping in ce. He then quickly began taking care of things. He called a couple of his friends over and started the transportation process.


    Liam waited for a few seconds and then left the area. The wasps were only going to respawn the next day probably so he no longer had any work here.


    He took another look at Rey who noticed him ncing and waved goodbye furiously. Liam waspletely speechless. Why does this guy even like me so much?!


    He shook his head helplessly and then left. However, before he could take a few steps, the ground underneath them suddenly started shaking.


    Rey and the other couple of yers from the Crimson Abyss guild instantly rushed out. "BRO! Thank god you are still here!" He shouted from the distance. "BRO! There is a field boss here!"


    Hmmm? Liam turned around to see the guy waving at him madly and behind him, something huge wasing out of the ground.


    It was a humongous wasp and it flew out of the ground slowly. It had a pair of big red eyes that murderously gazed at the four human beings in front of it.


    Its legs were all sharp and pointed like the ends of a spear and unlike the other wasps Liam had faced, this one did not just have 6 of these legs.


    There seemed to be numerous spear legs all bunched up together. Its sting was huge and dripping with some sort of venom. Overall, the wasp was terrifying to look at.


    It held true to its status as a Level 55 field boss!


    "Bro, how are we going to fight this thing?" Rey gulped and asked.


    The two other yers standing near him looked at him dumbfoundedly. Shouldn''t they be running away right now? Why was he talking about fighting!


    They both looked at Liam, wanting him to talk some sense into the guy but Liam as well was unexpectedly nodding at Rey''s words.


    These two have definitely decided to die here! The two other yers started backing away.


    They knew Liam was already Level 50 but there was no way a single Level 50 yer was going to be able to defeat a Level 55 field boss on his own!


    This was the definition of insanity!


    "You three stand back and support with DPS whenever possible," Liam shouted as he ran forward closer.


    This wasp was indeed going to be a tough opponent but everything should have some weakness. And this one''s probably should be¡­ its huge body!


    "Because of its huge body, this guy''s speed shouldn''t be impressive. The wings are probably just for show. We can do it."


    However, before Liam could even finish speaking, the huge wasp suddenly moved. It pped its wing and shot up to the sky with incredible speed.

 Chapter 500 - Bigger not better

    Chapter 500 - Bigger not better


    "Fuck!" Liam only needed one look at the thing to eat back his words. This field boss was indeed not something to be trifled with.


    Every move it made showed its domineering strength. It was heads and shoulders above the boss elites they hade across so far.


    Even before dealing with it, he could already tell that this one had a mana core.


    Liam did not waste any more time and quickly took out the leftover anti-venom potions he had.


    It was only a low grade potion and he was not sure if it would work against this boss but it had to suffice for now. At the least, it would reduce the symptoms.


    "Bro! Tell me what should I do?" Rey dunked it down and energetically asked. Unlike the two next to him, he had unshakeable confidence in Liam.


    He said it could be done so it could be done. There was no other question about it.


    On the other hand, seeing him Liam was speechless. What can a Level 10 do against a Level 55 boss?!


    "Just sit tight and do what you can." He said and dashed forward. "This is going to be troublesome. Luna, attack when you can."


    Against absolute strength and speed like this, only equally absolute power would work. However, Liamcked that at the moment.


    All he had were tricks and now, tricks were not enough. To fully demonstrate the power of his mana core¡­


    "I really need a stronger spell!" Liam let out a deep breath and unsheathed his sword. This was not training mode. This was hard mode!


    His heart pounded as he clutched his sword and waited for the monster to descend.


    After the wasp shot up like a rocket, itpletely disappeared for a couple of seconds. However, Liam did not have any doubt. It was definitelying back down.


    The thing probably wanted some fresh air after remaining underground for so long.


    1 second¡­ 2 seconds¡­


    A few seconds passed by in ominous silence and then it happened, the wasp shot back down to the ground at incredible speed like a speeding train.


    And it came directly for Liam!


    BOOM!


    Liam drew his sword to block the thing but he immediately regretted that decision.


    Combined with the power of dropping down from the height, the wasp''s single attack made his body tremble and shake.


    The ce where he stood went in a couple of feet just from the impact and a huge chunk of his health also disappeared.


    This was not an opponent he could beat in hand to handbat. Its speed and agility gave it an immense strength that seemed to be beyond his own.


    After the first attack, the wasp did not stop there.


    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    Its numerous legs thrusted forward, all of them wanting to skewer Liam. From the outside, it looked like aplete massacre but for Liam, this attack was actually somewhat manageable.


    He used his own boosted speed and agility to block and parry with the legs threatening to make him into a meat paste.


    In the midst of this, all of a sudden a huge me scorched the wasp''s back.


    Kyuuuu! Luna angrily growled.


    While the others were busy watching the fight even forgetting where they were, only Luna gave it her all and attacked the wasp.


    -1000


    -500


    -700


    Three damage numbers popped up. This was not nearly enough to take out the 5 million health field boss but it was a start.


    The little fox''s eyes twinkled as she prepared herself for the next attack. She looked particrly angry, watching Liam struggle like this.


    And seeing her actions, Rey and the two others also started attacking the wasp providing the small amount of support that they could.


    Rey was a hunter and the other two were mages so they were able to do something. However, the grand total of their damage was still miserably lower than Luna''s.


    At this rate, this fight was definitely not going anywhere. At least with Liam blocking the thing and with just them three providing the dps this battle was already a goner.


    "Shit! How can I help bro?" Rey quietly pondered.


    Right at this second, he got a message. It was from Alex. He assumed that she was just checking on him but surprisingly it was about Liam.


    [Do you know where Liam is?]


    Almost immediately, Rey sent her the reply and asked her toe to his coordinates. He replied to her with an Urgent tag.


    They were also very close to the guild residence. If this fight turns into a guild raid, this would be over in the blink of an eye!


    Rey immediately got this idea and started sending out messages to all the friends he had made in the guild so far.


    It was not difficult to spread the word and soon a big crowd showed up.


    Liam who was fighting with the wasp saw this and chuckled. More number of yers always did not mean a smoother battle.


    He knew Rey meant well but this could easily backfire. Their guild was full of spies and shady yers at the moment. The rest were blind fanatics of the two sisters.


    There were some normal yers but their skill level wasn''t that good.


    So in this situation, more than half the attacks couldnd on him rather than the wasp and they would essentially be putting him down.


    It was basically open season on him!


    However, Liam was not a newbie. He knew how to handle this situation perfectly. The moment he saw the approaching crowd, he immediately started changing his position.


    He made sure to have the wasp facing the crowd from the guild and his own back was up against a hill, the huge wasp acting as a shield for him.


    Now even if his ''loyal'' guild members wanted to ''help'' him, they couldn''t do it. Their only option was to attack the wasp.


    This worked out perfectly and with Liam''s tanking, the other yers started to slowly grind down the health of the field boss.


    But how could a field boss be brought down with just this?


    As soon as the wasp''s health dropped down to 75%, something unexpected happened. The huge wasp once again shot up into the air, disappearing in the cloud cover.


    Everyone tilted their head up to look at it and Liam had a bad feeling.


    "Retreat!" He shouted but it was already toote. The wasp that had shot up now came down plunging directly into the middle of the crowd.


    Itnded smack dab on the head of a yer and instantly skewered twelve others around it.

 Chapter 501 - lts about time!

    Chapter 501 - lt''s about time!


    "Ahhhh!"


    "Save me!!!"


    "Someone heal me!!"


    Several shouts echoed as the wasp started casually ughtering all the yers surrounding it. Rey saw this and he waspletely speechless. He hadn''t expected such a turn of events.


    Things just went from bad to worse. Now he truly understood the meaning of higher-level bosses.


    If someone assumes that they could simply take down these big shots with just numbers, then it was only going to be a disaster, a grave miscalction on their part.


    Rey watched as the wasp cleared for itself a path of blood and flesh and now it wasing in his direction.


    He quickly took several paces back and continued hitting it relentlessly. One of his arrows got a critical hit andnded right in the middle of the wasp''s right eye.


    The wasp immediately groaned and its attention fell on the group of yers on Rey''s side. Rey broke into a cold sweat.


    Fuck! It was their turn to get ughtered! This whole fight was going to be a team wipe!


    The wasp immediately sted to their side but before it could get there Liam once again arrived in front of it and blocked its path.


    BOOM! His semi-epic grade sword trembled as he shed against the strong limbs of the wasp.


    After a couple of exchanges, the wasp''s aggro was finally once again stabilized as it couldn''t go past Liam but now only slightly more than half of the group remained.


    Among them, some of them were even running away so this number became quickly less than half. Fortunately, the damage output was still not too bad.


    With Liam blocking all of its moves, the wasp''s health started to decrease from 75% and almost reached 45% when it suddenly started to shriek, emitting horrid high-pitched noises.


    It pped its iron wings and strong sound waves and gusts of wind, mixed together started wreaking havoc on the group.


    Many yers were simply blown away and even Liam found it difficult to stabilize. He quickly started erecting several ice blocks and tried to contain the damage and chop down the attacks.


    The other mages in the group as well followed his lead and started doing the same but in the end, it was too difficult to bring the damage under control and another section of the raid group fell.


    Every gust of wind that sted out from the wasp started iming two to three yers at least. Whoever was remaining was also low on health.


    "Watch its movements! Try to evade the attack!" Liam shouted loudly. Some tried to take his advice but in the midst of all the chaos andmotion, not many were able to follow his words.


    The wasp continued to wreak havoc and only stopped after a few good seconds, ughtering another batch of yers.


    There were hardly 20 or so yers left at that point but the wasp still had 40% health left.


    However, without the full backup of the guild party, and with just these 20 yers left, it was difficult to get the health to budge anymore.


    Moreover, it looked like the wasp wasn''t done yet. It was preparing to send out yet another onught of wind attacks when suddenly a new group of yers arrived.


    Everyone couldn''t help but turn to nce at the new arrivals wondering if some other guild caught the whiff of their field boss and hade over to fight.


    These new yers weirdly all had white-themed clothing and a strong presence.


    No one could tell if they were friends or foes but before anyone could react, two yers among the group acted first.


    One of them jumped in front of the wasp right next to Liam while the other started casting a series of healing enchantments.


    Now everyone realized who this group was! Alex and Mia! Their guild backup had arrived!


    "You can leave the tanking to me," Alex grunted and blocked the wasp''s next attack with her shield.


    "Heh. You are also here." Liam chuckled and moved back.


    Now that he no longer had to worry about bearing the brunt of the attack, he started his assault.


    And just like that, the wasp''s health which was stuck at 40% started to once again decrease.


    Liam knew that this beast probably had another burst attack saved up for thest few percent of its health, so he was already prepared for it.


    A few secondster, the health bar hit 10% and the wasp immediately let out a loud shriek. Its body started glowing red and its sting grew several sizes in length and thickness.


    The next second it started pping its wings,bining its wind attack with its venom, spraying venom everywhere.


    This instantly brought everyone''s stats down so rapidly and Liam''s damage output also suffered. However, he had just the item ready for this situation.


    "RETREAT NOW!"


    He tossed out one of the A-grade grenades, directly onto the wasp, and then he started casting several earth spikes one after the other all aimed at its wings.


    He did not stop there and continued assaulting the wasp with several fireballs.


    Thisbined with the impact of the grenade took care of thest bits of the health remaining and the wasp couldn''t evade anything thanks to the many spikes holding it down.


    In the end, it struggled fruitlessly and fell to the ground dead and lifeless.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have sessfully defeated the Wasp Queen]


    [Ding. You are the first to defeat Southern Hills Wasp Queen. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for defeating the terrifying Wasp Queen.]


    [DING. World Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for defeating the terrifying Wasp Queen.]


    "CHEERS! CHEERS!"


    "HELL YESSSS!"


    "WE DID IT!"


    Hearing the notifications one after the other, the entire guild became excited and started celebrating loudly.


    Moreover, this was an incident that took ce near their home base so everyone was incredibly pumped up. The entire guild was in a celebratory mood.


    Of course, in the midst of this crowd, Luna did her job as always and collected all the drops without leaving a single one behind.


    Liam himself was about to do the same but seeing the fox running around he stopped and watched the little thing in amusement.


    A couple of secondster, five shiny items were promptly presented at his feet.


    Kyuuuu!


    Liam took the items one after the other and inspected them carefully.


    One was a high-level cooking recipe that involved honey. Another was a weapon drop. The rest of the items were venom sacs, serrated legs, and hard shells, all parts of the wasp''s body.


    Andst but not the least, just like Liam had expected, this one indeed had a mana core. That too, it was a medium-grade mana core.


    "Not bad." Liam ced everything inside his inventory.


    On the plus side, he was happy that he had gained a mana core. On the minus side, he needed to hunt more beasts on this level to get more of the mana cores.


    This was definitely going to take a lot of effort. He silently closed his eyes and pondered about which ce might be best to farm these mana cores.


    But soon, footsteps sounded near him and snapped him out of his thoughts.


    "Liam, I have something important to tell you!" Alex panted.


    "Huh? What happened now?" Liam raised his brows in curiosity. "Did you guyse across some rare quest in the divine temple?"


    "No." Alex shook her head.


    "Then what happened?"


    "The news broke!" Alex said seriously.


    "Which news?" Liam asked, but he already had a feeling about what this might be about. Confirming his thoughts Alex as well spoke the words in his mind.


    "The news about the game and the associated deaths."


    "Heh. It''s about time!"

 Chapter 502 - The game is banned

    Chapter 502 - The game is banned


    Seeing Alex and Liam having a conversation, Rey hurriedly rushed over. "Bro! I am sorry! This was my mistake. I screwed up by calling over everyone."


    "Hmmm?" Liam shook his head. "What are you talking about? This was very close to the guild residence. Even if you didn''t call eventually everyone would have noticed."


    "Ah¡­ that is true."


    "Alright. Enough about that. The boss is down so that''s all that matters. Now we have bigger fish to fry." Liam looked at Alex who was also waiting to hear his next move.


    "Give me a few minutes. Let me log out and check things first. We can meet back in an hour." Liam nodded and then quickly logged off.


    He then hurriedly got out of the capsule and switched on the TV.


    BINGO!


    Just like Alex said, the headlines were¡­


    "The game that kills!"


    "Beware of the new videogame ''Evolution Online''! yers ying this game are affected by strong electric currents and are dying due to various health issues!"


    "Recent unexined deaths all linked to the mysterious video game ''Evolution Online!''"


    "At this time, the government requests everyone to stop ying this game!"


    "WHO strongly rmends everyone to stop using any kind of virtual reality game capsules!"


    "Anyone found ying the game would be strongly fined and game capsules would be confiscated!"


    "The game ''Evolution Online'' is banned for the foreseeable future!"


    Liam continued watching the news for a while, changing different channels. It looked like Alex was right. The news had indeed broken.


    Each channel was reporting news more outrageous than the previous one but all were basically saying the same thing.


    yers ying the game had mysteriously died. However, they did not borate on anything further. There were no solid details.


    And just like hisst timeline, in this one as well the government was going all out in a futile attempt topletely ban the game.


    Thinking about this now, Liam could only chuckle.


    In reality, while the government appeared to strongly rmend several things on TV and online, behind the scenes they were actually doing something else.


    They didn''t reveal all the details about the deaths associated with the game and kept the real facts to themselves. This led to people believing that simply logging into the game itself was dangerous.


    So everyone stopped ying the game altogether, well at least most of the poption. The gold exchange prices also dropped.


    Not just that but both the military and the government started entering the game in full force. They also allowed various corporations and big families to enter the game.


    While the rest of the country obediently listened to their so-called rules they went behind everyone''s back and used this chance to get a strong foothold.


    This was all done in the name of the investigation.


    They also poached several strong yers from the various guilds by threatening them with imprisonment and their real-life assets.


    This was why it was very important to not let one''s identity leak.


    "Rat bastards!" Liam shook his head and spat at them. He then continued watching the news for a few more minutes before ordering some food and freshening up.


    After an hour he promptly logged back into the game. It was time to implement some things.


    "Bro! We are here!" Rey waved at him. Alex, Mia, and Rey were all standing at the same spot.


    "Let''s go to the guild residence and talk. We are very close anyway." Liam waved back at them and the group moved their meeting to the guild base.


    "Liam, did something change?" Mia asked as soon as she saw him up close.


    "What do you mean? The news?"


    "No, you. You are stronger. A lot stronger. I mean after reaching level 50, did something happen?" She asked again.


    Liam grinned in amusement. This girl''s eyes were as sharp as ever!


    "Yes. Something did change." He took out the mana core that the field boss dropped and showed it to Mia. "This is a mana core."


    "Oh?"


    "Not just beasts but humans are also capable of forming these mana cores. When you reach Level 50, the divine temple priestess should be able to help you out."


    "Raise your reputation as much as possible before that. She might even give you special techniques or special quest for the core itself."


    "But whatever it is, make sure to talk to me first. I can tell you if there is a better alternative."


    "Ok, thank you." Mia nodded. She was at Level 44 right now and there was still a long way to go for her to actually reach Level 50.


    But sensing just how strong Liam''s mere presence was, she couldn''t wait to reach that stage as well.


    The four of them walked back to the guild residence silently, all engrossed in their own thoughts and finally, after the group settled down in one of the conference rooms, Liam broke the silence.


    "It''s time to implement our special guild ranks."


    Everyone looked up at him, gulping nervously and Liam continued. "Send out the contract offer to everyone. They can now be inner members of the guild or outer members of the guild."


    "Penalty for the inner members for any sort of betrayal is permanent soul death. This should be very clear."


    "SUPER BRO!" Rey shouted loudly!


    Both Alex and Mia gave him a hard nce but they also nodded in agreement. Just seeing the fight against the field boss unfold it was clear that they needed more organization and less chaos.


    And if just a Level 55 field boss was like this, then what about all the dungeon bosses, Level 60 and above field bosses, and other high-leveled elites?


    Teamwork was going to be more and more important and they needed to remove all the leeches from their guild. So it was the perfect time to implement this.


    "Liam, there is definitely going to be a huge uproar," Alex spoke.


    "That''s alright. I have a n for that." Liam smiled. "We are going to start doing some dungeon runs and power leveling."


    "When they see the gains they can get for being an inner member, they will gradually settle down and begin to think of the guild as their home."


    "So we will be working together a lot for the next couple of days."


    "What! Seriously!" Rey stood up in shock.


    Seeing this Alex quickly pulled him back, "Why the hell are you getting excited for? You can''t raid with us anyway. You need to catch up first."


    Ah¡­ Rey realized this point and he immediately became sad, but it didn''tst long. He once again grinned and smugly lifted his nose up.


    "That''s fine. Bro gave me a special mission so I will be off doing that."


    "What special mission?" Alex asked but the guy did not answer her and mysteriously ran away after giving Liam a wink.


    "This brat!" Alex wanted to pummel him.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 1~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 503 You are being carried

    Chapter 503 You are being carried


    "Which dungeon are we heading to now?" Alex asked Liam while the rest of the team assembled quickly.


    Other than their divine affinity team of 15 members, there were also a few new faces who had signed the new contracts immediately.


    Everyone looked extremely excited. There was also a new ranking list now which determined the individual yer''s rank within the guild.


    And since they had all joined immediately these ten people were currently at the top of the list.


    From what they could see, the guild valued loyalty a lot so they were d that they made this decision.


    Everyone expectantly looked at Liam to see what dungeon they were going to be raiding. Liam on the other hand was still oddly quiet.


    After a couple of seconds, he finally turned to look at Alex and Mia, "Do you guys have any quests in dungeons for the divine temple?"


    "Ah. Right. There is one. Level 45 dungeon Darkhold. We haven''t attempted it because we are still trying to increase our overall level."


    Liam nodded. "That should be perfect. We have fifteen plus ten plus 3. Almost a 30 yer team. We can attempt the dungeon."


    "Huh? What is this?"


    "Most of us are only Level 30ish still, how can we attempt a Level 45 dungeon? This is a suicide mission."


    "What the heck did we make a mistake when we signed the contracts?"


    Liam''s words were shocking to everyone gathered there and the group started to murmur and whisper in disagreement.


    However, the two women standing next to Liam did not reveal any such doubts. They both silently agreed and started to switch over items and gear up for the raid.


    Seeing them, the others really did not have any other choice and did the same.


    Luckily for them, the Darkhold dungeon was not located too far away.


    They only had to travel a few hours by foot and the group reached the Level 45 dungeon, which wasn''t too far away from the divine temple city.


    And when they arrived there, Liam who had been silently sitting atop Luna all this time, resting with his eyes closed, finally jumped onto the ground and spoke.


    "Everyone who has divine affinity, should quickly head over to the temple city and get their buffs."


    "Hmmm? What buff?" Half the group was confused but the other half knew exactly what to do. The group of them then left and once again arrived after a couple of hours.


    "So much time wasted! Is this buff really worth it?" Someone loudlymented from the back.


    Liam did not bother answering the guy and the group quickly entered the dungeon without any other instructions.


    As soon as they took a step inside, a group of angry demons rushed over to their side. All of these demons had three red eyes and five horns jutting out of their head.


    And from the get-go, these demons started throwing various fire-type attacks at the group.


    Level 42 Vulcan


    Level 43 Vulcan


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    There were in total nine of these Vulcan demons in the first mob itself and everyone immediately took a beating.


    "What the hell?!" The group started panicking and it looked like the guild party was heading straight into a team wipe at the very beginning itself.


    But the next second, Alex casually pulled over four of these vulcans towards herself and three other pdins handled the remaining five demons.


    . co?


    After that everything quickly stabilized.


    The healing team which was a solid 10 member team started casting various spells and recovered all the health and the rest of the group provided damage support.


    The group also rearranged themselves in the best way possible and slowly one by one the vulcans started falling.


    "Fuck! We can actually take down a Level 40+ mob! This is insane!"


    "Ya. For some reason, I thought dungeons would be more difficult. Hmmm."


    "Me too. This is not bad at all. We should have done this sooner."


    "Ya. I agree. Especially if we had better directions this run could go a lot faster. Who is this party leader?"


    Some members of the group were dissatisfied that they were not getting clear instructions. However, one of the priests from the divine team quickly shushed the bunch.


    "You all. You better stop talking and focus. What did you think? These demons are being killed because of yourbined efforts?"


    "Huh? Then?"


    "Look properly. You bunch of noobs. You are currently being carried! Do you know why you were given no instructions, that''s because you are not needed."


    "So shut up, watch the fights with your eyes peeled open, and then maybe for the next run, you can be useful."


    The priest brutallyid it out for the group and the bunch of yers couldn''t believe what they were hearing. Only a couple of minutester, they were actually able to see it.


    What the priest said was indeed not wrong. Amidst the chip damage from the group, one person was alone doing the damage equivalent to a whole other group.


    This was none other than their party leader and alleged real guild leader, the top ranker at the moment, Liam. This was the ability of a Level 50 yer!


    Everyone couldn''t believe their eyes. The few of them who had never met or knew about Liam immediately quieted down and started watching him at work with admiration.


    All the vulcans were crumbling one after the other under his constant barrage of attacks. Inside the huge ruins, the few mobs that appeared were cleared in a jiffy.


    And not just Liam but all the divine affinity yers were also performing better.


    Apparently, the divine temple buff thatsted for 10 hours was an OP buff. It increased everyone''s attributes by 10%.


    As if this was not enough, Liam was not the only yer who was dominating. All the divine affinity yers seemed to be extremely well coordinated.


    Mia and Alex were already famous but the rest of the team was also coordinating very well.


    Suddenly the new yers who had just now joined the group felt very nervous. They were really being carried!


    Everyone immediately started doing their best so that they would get more chances like this in the future and quickly climb up the guild ranks.


    Due to the news about the deaths associated with this game, most of the yer base had now logged out temporarily so whoever was remaining right now was by no means ordinary.


    This was also why Liam had brought along this group of yers with him to see their skill level.


    At the least, they had the guts to defy their government''s orders and think for themselves and make a decision. Otherwise, they wouldn''t still be logged in and ying at the moment.


    And his hunch wasn''t wrong.


    Among these yers, Liam saw a couple of good, well above average skill level yers. Their talent shone amidst the others standing beside them.


    "Not bad." Liam clicked his tongue and continued ughtering the demons. It was too early to judge now, so he didn''t say anything to them just yet.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 2~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 504 Sea of flames

    Chapter 504 Sea of mes


    After the first few minutes, all the disagreements within the group silently got resolved and everyone worked together very well. They soon reached the first boss of the Darkhold dungeon.


    It was a three-headed vulcan demon that dealt both fire element and dark element damage. The fifteen divine affinity yers could already feel a strong suppressive aura from this boss.


    "Hmmm! I didn''t expect a dark element boss here." Alex frowned.


    "Of course. There was going to be one. Did you think that the dungeon would be easy? Since you got a special quest from the divine temple, it is going to be more challenging for you guys." Liam exined.


    "I guess. Since when did this game hand out easy quests." Alex grumbled.


    "No. You just need to know where to look for them." Liam grinned and stepped back. "For this one, I will solely focus on damage dealing, so you three should tank the boss."


    "Rotate it between the three of you after every major attack."


    "Major attack?" Alex prepared herself to take charge first.


    "Yes, at every 10% this demon is going to spew out balls of ck fire. Everyone should immediately back away and hide behind that huge stone for cover."


    Liam walked over to a corner of the huge space first and started moving some stones together. This was the shortcut to tackling the first boss.


    Everyone nodded silently and giving a couple of seconds, Alex started the next fight by tossing her shield like a boomerang.


    Ding! A loud sound resounded and the three-headed demon snapped its eyes open to growl at them in anger.


    On the other side, a small damage number floated up.


    -100


    Alex''s starting attack had only managed to deal this small damage. Everyone gulped, taking a look at the boss''s health bar. It was a whopping 10 million!


    This demon was much worse than the wasp field boss they had just now faced. Would they really be able to take this on?


    As if answering their doubt, the demon roared loudly and thundered toward Alex, angered by her attack. It lifted its huge arm and struck a heavy blow, pushing her back a couple of steps.


    If it was anyone else, they would have been flung aside right now but Alex managed to still hold her ground. There was a bright glow surrounding her body.


    Divine Might! She used the first big buff she had. This meant that before the buff ran out they had to bring down the first 10% of the boss''s health.


    "Everyone focus! Whoever doesn''t dodge properly will be out of the team for the next run!" Mia gave the orders this time. She could see the doubt and hesitance in the group so she intervened.


    And just as she spoke, Liam made the first move. He sent out five huge ice spears one after the other, all aimed for the vital parts of the huge demon.


    He then without stopping started erecting several earth spikes on the ground right below the demon thereby hampering its movements.


    That was it. The 20 seconds of the [Divine Might] was about to run out. The others also started hastily lobbing all the attacks that they could, hoping that this would be enough.


    Everyone almost held their breaths watching the damage numbers float up.


    -100


    -200


    -115


    -50


    ..


    ..


    ..


    What pitiful numbers were these?


    However, in the midst of these pitiful numbers, another series of damage popped up.


    -5000


    -6000


    -4700


    ¡­


    ¡­


    This set of damages was on apletely different scale. The first demon boss''s ridiculous defense almost didn''t seem to matter for these attacks.


    "So amazing!" Everyone quickly nced at Liam once before reverting their attention back to the boss. No one dared to stop attacking.


    This was because even with Liam''s ridiculous damage numbers it was still impossible to bring down 1 million health points in the first 20 seconds before the [Divine Might] ran out.


    At this rate, he would maximum be able to bring down 100000 health points. More than that¡­


    However, the next second, the group was shocked once again. After casting the first round of ice spears and earth spikes, Liam did not stop there.


    He kept bombarding the demon with various attacks, one after the other.


    How the hell does he have so much mana? Everyone gaped in shock. His attacks as well were very different from the attacks of the other mages in the group.


    He almost had no casting time. His ice spears were bigger and his earth spikes were sharper and more sturdy. It was as if he was apletely different tier of mage.


    The four other mage yers in the group couldn''te close to his level. They could only watch and try to learn from him but that also seemed futile.


    As each attacknded, the next attack wasing in immediately, losing almost no time in between the back to back casting.


    It was as if this was a desktop game and someone was repeatedly spamming the same key. But ''Evolution Online'' was different. They had to activate the skill which took a fixed amount of time.


    So how was this yer still able to achieve such a unique speed?


    Just as everyone watched, the demon''s health started falling down rapidly and before the 20 seconds could run out, about 900000 of its health had dropped.


    Now only thatst part was remaining. Everyone quickly used all of their cooldowns and spammed every attack they could.


    Mia as well stopped supporting Alex and joined in to deal the rest of the damage, finally bringing down the health by the first 10%.


    "NOW!" Liam shouted and immediately ran away.


    Mia, the other healers, and the rest of the group as well started running away to the small stack of stones.


    Alex as well ran away leaving the tanking the next person who immediately used [Divine Might]. This skill which gave a 20 second long 70% immunity was the key to this battle.


    And just like clockwork, the demon lifted his three heads up and sent out three streaks of attacks.


    One was a pure fire attack. One was a dark element attack and thest one was abination of fire and dark element type attacks.


    The entire space became filled with fire. It looked like they were floating on a sea of mes.


    Of course, this was except for the spot where the makeshift stone wall had prevented the mes from entering.


    What a godly strategy!


    Everyone broke into a cold sweat just imagining the extent of damage they would have received. They would have all been one-shotted and this would have been a team wipe.


    Thankfully, someone knew how to ovee this problem!


    But they were not out of the danger just yet. After the mes died out the group once again dashed back to their positions. They had to bring down the next 10% of the vulcan''s health.


    The second ten percent of the health for some reason dropped a lot faster than the first 10% of the health and before long, it was time to run away and hide once again.


    Everyone wondered how this could be possible as Liam was already going all out from the beginning¡­ Then they noticed a small foxzily sauntering over.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 3~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 505 Burn

    Chapter 505 Burn


    After the first two scrimmages, everyone properly followed the rules and ran back and forth quickly grinding down the huge three-headed demon''s health.


    At one point one yer made the mistake of bing too engrossed in attacking the demon and forgetting to run back and hide in time.


    He almost lost his life in an embarrassing way but Mia rescued him and promptly filled up his health bar.


    With Liam''s damage and her healing and the three tanks doing their job perfectly, it was almost impossible to lose and the first boss quickly fell.


    They had actually managed to grind down all 10 million health points!


    [Ding¡­.]


    [Ding¡­.]


    [Ding¡­.]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Everyone immediately received their experience points notifications and it was extremely generous.


    ''Evolution Online'' was a game that rewarded challenging monsters above one''s level so everyone received bountiful gains ranging from 10000 exp to almost 50000 exp.


    Liam on the other hand saw a pathetic 1000 exp gain. It was because this guy was actually lower leveled than he was.


    But he didn''t care about it. The thing that he needed was the drops from this big guy.


    He watched as Luna dashed around, immediately collecting everything in sight and dropping it in front of him.


    "Good girl!" Liam chuckled. There were three drops in total.


    Everyone watched him as he bent down to examine the drops. They were all curious to take a look but no one had any hopes that they would actually get a share.


    But unexpectedly, Liam tossed the first one towards one of the mages. It was a cloth armor. "Here you go. This should improve your agility and casting speed."


    "Ah. Thank you. Thanks a lot, boss." The guy was startled and quickly epted it.


    The next item was a weird gem that Liam tossed into his inventory and the final item was a much awaited skill book!


    This was the reason why he had run this dungeon in the first ce so he was not nning on giving this to anyone.


    "I will be learning this." He announced and started opening the book. The next second the book disappeared and Liam received a notification.


    [Ding. You have learned a new skill ''Ring of Fire'']


    [Ring of Fire: Consumes 2000 mana. Creates an unquenchable fire around your enemy that burns them upon contact; Cool Down: 1 min]


    "Not bad." Liam eyed the skill and he was itching to try it out. This could potentially cause more damage than a simple fireball.


    "Ok. Let''s go. Next boss." There was no one who particrly needed a break so the group kept on moving. The ruins were on nd and it didn''t take them long to spot the next mob.


    Several vulcans were huddled together and upon seeing the group of human beings walking forth, they immediately dashed towards them.


    Alex and two other pdin tanks quickly rushed forward to meet them and banged their shields against the vulcans.


    By now, the attack patterns of the demons became somewhat predictable so they easily blocked the attacks. With Liam''s and others'' support, they sted through the mob.


    Liam did not even get a chance to try out the new skill. The group continued pushing forward unstoppably until they arrived at the second boss which was a huge vulcan serpent.


    Just like a naga, this demon had a serpentine body but it also had three eyes and five horns atop its thick brick red head.


    Alex and everyone looked at Liam for some sort of strategy but this time he only smiled in response. There were no shortcuts for this one. So there was nothing to say.


    Liam paused for a moment and remembered something about this one. "Watch out for the underground attacks." He added.


    "If the small rocks and sand near you start vibrating, you have to move soon. But take this advice with a bit of salt."


    Everyone gulped and prepared themselves. This was going to be difficult. They could already see it. Alex as well had a serious expression as she nodded and started the battle.


    The huge demon hissed at it lunged towards the group.


    Alex had some trouble catching its aggro and the vulcan serpent managed tosh out at a part of the group, taking out a decent chunk of health from about 10 yers.


    Liam quickly dashed back without falling into the demon''s trap.


    This was also his first time facing against this boss. He had seen videos, read about this dungeon but this was his first time experiencing it in person.


    So even for Liam it took a second to get used to the mechanics. Thankfully, they had Mia''s healing which topped up everyone''s health bar once more.


    "Get back. Get back. Pay attention to the tail." Liam shouted loudly and started his attacks. He didn''t want to less the boss run amok too much.


    After attacking it with a few ice spears and earth spikes, he activated his newly acquire skill [Ring of Fire]. Almost instantly, a circle of raging mes appeared around the vulcan serpent.


    "Amazing!" Liam gasped at the beautiful sight.


    Luna as well look overjoyed. As a fire spirit beast, she looked longingly at this skill and then at Liam. "The next one is yours." Liam chuckled.


    Especially for this boss this skill seemed to be too good.


    As the serpent continuously thrashed around, trying to over power Alex and strangle her, parts of its tail repeatedly shed against the mes and every time that happened a big chunk of health disappeared.


    -7000


    -5000


    -6000


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Several huge numbers started popping out. Some of them were already higher than the damage caused by fireball attack without any fine tuning.


    "I knew it. This is the effect of higher spells. I need to get more better spells and train with them." Liam licked his lips and started pummeling the vulcan serpent with more spears and spikes.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 2 Chapter 1~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 506 Dungeon Quest

    Chapter 506 Dungeon Quest


    The second boss was much more difficult than the first one because there wasn''t any shortcut strategy the group could follow but since Liam''s damage output had considerably increased, the fight was progressing somewhat smoothly.


    Several rings of fire burned brightly on the ground and every time the serpent crossed these spots, it received multiple dot damages.


    And since the majority of mechanics of this boss relied on its fast movement and tunneling underground and popping out of nowhere, it easily got itself stuck in the numerous rings of fire.


    The yers also found it difficult to not get caught in these rings but since the vulcan serpent''s speed was a lot faster, it received the most damage.


    Before it could tunnel down for the 10th time, its health was already close to zero and Liam finished itsst bits of health as well by using strong [Lightning Bolts].


    Thud! The huge demon fell onto the ground lifelessly.


    "It''s dead?" Someone said, looking at the corpse in front of them. They couldn''t believe that it was finally over.


    The entire fight waspletely chaotic and it felt as if all they did was run around. Yet no not a single yer had died.


    They had all heard that a good healer can carry a team but this was the first time they were witnessing it.


    What a high level skill! If they all had that skill, perhaps the fight would have been over a lot sooner!


    The person everyone was looking at, Mia, silently walked over and picked up the two items near her feet. She then went to Liam and gave him the two.


    Luna dashed around and brought over the other two drops. This boss had actually given out 4 drops which were very generous.


    Liam looked at the first two which were once again weirdly cut gems. They in fact looked simr to the previous one.


    Seeing this, he immediately looked at Mia and asked, "What is your quest in these ruins? Is it progressing?"


    Mia shook her head. "We need an item. Probably thest boss drops it."


    "What item?"


    "High-priestess staff." She then ryed the full description of the quest.


    "Apparently one of the divine temple''s students had stolen the high-priestess staff but because of the negative feelings became vulnerable to demonic possession."


    "The quest is to retrieve that staff and kill the traitor."


    Liam nodded. "It seems like a pretty straightforward quest. Were you only waiting because this was a high-level dungeon?"


    Mia smiled. "Yes. For the dungeon. Also, this quest is an S-grade chain quest."


    "Alright." Now Liam understood and surprisingly he also took out the three gems that had dropped so far from these two bosses. "You should take these. I am pretty sure you need them."


    "Oh." Mia epted it. When she held those gems, she could vaguely feel divine element within them so what Liam said made sense.


    She nced at the guy who was already busily inspecting the next two drops. With her SSS affinity even she had missed this obvious clue, how did he find out?


    Mia softly sighed. Whenpared to others, she might be called talented but whenpared to real monsters like him, she still had ways to go.


    She silently retreated back reying the fight just now to see how she could improve more.


    The next two drops were both bracelets, nothing special, just items just gave a considerable stat bump.


    But bracelets were always coveted drops because, with the right ones, a yer would be able to stack five or even six bracelets on each hand.


    Liam took the one that gave +10 intelligence for himself, giving the other one that gave +10 strength to Alex.


    "Are you sure?" Alex didn''t think that she would get any, but Liam shrugged.


    They still had to get through the next boss and thest boss and it was important to bring up the group''s level or at least key yers'' level so that things would go smoothly.


    After taking a 5 minute breather, the group cleared the next few mobs of vulcans and headed further inside the ruins.


    The third boss was waiting for them there and it was a winged vulcan demon with red eyes and ten horns.


    Just seeing it from a distance was extremely scary. This had to be the ugliest but also the scariest boss they had seen!


    "Everyone focus your attacks on the horns. We need to take out the horns before the health of the boss drops down to 50%." Liam nodded at Alex to start the fight.


    She paused for a moment and considering what Liam had said, this time she used both [Shield Toss] and [Judgement Strike] together to start the fight, directly aiming for one of the horns.


    The heavy item banged against the sturdy horn, producing a loud nging sound, followed by what sounded like a crack.


    "Good job! Everyone! Focus on that horn first." Liam shouted and started attacking. The others also followed his orders and not even a secondter, the first horn was already down.


    The group then started focusing on the remaining horns just as Liam mentioned.


    As the fight progressed, they could see that this was not the most effective way to attack the vulcan because the horn for some reason had a higher defense than the rest of the demon''s body.


    However, Liam''s lead had given them fast clears on both the bosses so they didn''t question his tactics. Besides, no one had any alternative ns to suggest.


    The boss health only slowly dropped while the group already hacked away the sixth horn. At this point, the vulcan seemed enraged and began jumping around in a frenzy.


    "Everyone watch its eyes. If it is looking at you, move immediately!" Liam shouted.


    Luckily his warning was on time and the group was able to narrowly escape the tantrums of the boss.


    However, while moving around constantly, they were no longer able to focus and target only the horns and their attacksnded everywhere.


    This brought down the demon''s health even lower, almost close to 60%. However, there were still three more horns left.


    "Everyone stop attacking," Liam shouted again. At this rate, they were not going to make it. It was best to wait for the boss to stop jumping around so much and then target the horns again.


    However, that was easier said than done because the vulcan was not making it easy for them.


    It had a huge club in its hand and using the gust of wind from its wings, it moved with incredible agility. Everyone was only barely escaping the fate of being crushed into a pop tart.


    As if this was not enough, because they stopped attacking, the demon''s health was once again going back up.


    It looked like this fellow had a little bit of passive regeneration and his health was already back to 65%.

 Chapter 507 Sizzling Tornado

    Chapter 507 Sizzling Tornado


    "Damn it." Liam did not like what was going on. They needed to act fast. They only had three more horns left but they seemed impossible to remove.


    "Everyone resume attacking! Don''t hold back. Aim for the horn as best as you!" Liam decided to change the tactics a little bit.


    It was better than letting the boss health go all the way back to 100%. That would not only negate all their hard work so far but it would also be a severe moral blow.


    Everyone understood what was happening and immediately started attacking the boss again. The health that was stagnant as well started dropping.


    Even Liam''s aim was only passable because the damned vulcan was moving back and forth, only 95% of his attacks reached the horn.


    Luna, Mia, and other dps tried their best, and finally when the health dropped down to 50%, they managed to take out two more horns. Only one was left now.


    "Fuck." Liam immediately looked around. This was bad and he tried to see if there was something that could be done. However, there was simply no ce to hide.


    "Mia! Save all your cooldowns. In a second, you will have to use them." Liam shouted to warn her.


    He then suddenly had an idea and shouted again, "Everyone else. Come and stand right behind me. Make a cone-like formation. Everyone including healers. Come fast. NOW!"


    "Quick. Alex! Get over here as fast as you can." Giving out the instructions, Liam hurriedly dashed forward to stand in front of the other two tanks.


    No one understand what was happening, but everyone quicklyplied. As far as they were concerned, the instruction was simple and straightforward. They had to stand behind Liam.


    As for the reason¡­ they all understood it the next second.


    As soon as the health dropped down to 50%, the vulcan started pping its huge wings and generating gusts of winds.


    The demon then unexpectedly lifted its head up and started summoning a giant bundle of lightning.


    This lightning nodebined with the gusts of wind to form a giant tornado which instantly started surging towards the yers.


    Or more specifically towards Liam who tossed out a giant fireball at the vulcan to grab the full aggro.


    With him at the front, the tornadoshed against his body, threatening to tear him apart.


    Liam almost couldn''t handle the shear force. He nted his sword on the ground and tried to stabilize himself by putting his full weight on the sword.


    However, every single time a gust of wind from the tornado sheared him, he lost 200 health points. At this rate, he was going to bottom out really fast.


    But Liam was not nning on letting that happen. Without letting the tornado progress any further, he started erecting several barriers, some made of ice and some made of earth.


    These short walls got sted apart by the force of the tornado but when they crumbled they also took with them a small percentage of its strength.


    The tornado was slowly bing weaker and weaker. Liam looked over to see that the vulcan was also in a weakened state after casting this attack so it was time to do the next step.


    "Alex! Take over! Mia! Cover for me!" He grunted loudly and with one big move, he removed the sword from the ground and allowed himself to be pushed back by the tornado.


    Alex watched what he did and quickly used her cooldowns to hold down the attack.


    The other mages in the group as well imitated Liam''s moves and started erecting ice walls and earth spikes.


    The two hunters in the group sent their pets along with Liam and Luna as well went behind him. This group then started fighting the main boss.


    Because the vulcan was in a weakened state, Liam used this chance to deal the maximum damage that he could.


    By the time, the tornado lost its strength, he actually managed to crack the remaining horn and using the weak state, he also brought down the health to 20%.


    The other yers then starteding out of the formation and lobbed over their attacks as well.


    When the boss was at thest 5% health, it howled loudly and started summoning another tornado, this time something that was much bigger.


    However, when it looked up it could no longer summon the lightning bolt. Without the lightning, the tornado was unable to pick up any speed or strength and it crumbled.


    Everyone else as well didn''t wait around for the demon to do a second try and they hastily chopped away thest bits of health.


    GERRRRRAAAAAA!


    The huge vulcan finally copsed down on the ground, dead and lifeless. Everyone looked at this scene with their mouths open as if they still couldn''t believe it.


    Every single boss fight was insanely difficult. They could only do their best and follow the lead and somehow in the end things work out. Just how powerful were these guys!


    Just like the boss, these guys as well copsed, needing a break badly.


    "It''s fine. Everyone. Let''s take a 15 minute break this time." Liam pped his hands. He as well then sat down and started eating some of the meat which Shen Yue had prepared for him.


    He gave one piece to Luna and patted her head lovingly. "This would have gone much smoother if those guys were with us." He chuckled.


    Without dwelling on it, he then started recollecting everything about thest boss that he could think of.


    That was the most difficult opponent in this entire dungeon so it would be foolish to underestimate its abilities. Even this previous fight was too much of a touch and go.


    He had to think of something at thest moment and luckily it worked.


    To have just one person block the attack and the rest of the team hide behind that person was actually some other boss''s mechanism but at that desperate moment, Liam''s mind racked everything that he knew and this one had the highest chance of working.


    Thankfully, they were able to use that and cross one more hurdle without any casualties despite it ending up being quite risky. Liam did not want thest one to be risky as well.


    They needed adequate preparations. Otherwise, they might really not be able to get through to thest boss.


    "Hey! You forgot the drops!" Alex dropped three items near Liam and then sat down beside him as well. "If you are thinking about the strategy to beat thest boss, I would like to help as well."


    Liam nodded. "I am not too sure but there should be instances where you would have to heal the boss." His gaze went over to the loot and fell on the lone book lying amongst two gemstones.


    "Another skill book dropped?" His eyes widened in shock and he quickly grabbed the book. "This is a [Sizzling Tornado] book!"


    Of all the items, the boss could drop, it actually dropped the main item he was interested in!


    "It looks like we are going to be able to clear this dungeon after all." Liam chuckled.

 Chapter 508 Final Boss

    Chapter 508 Final Boss


    [Sizzling Tornado: Consumes 5000 mana. Creates a wind tornado that shoots lightning bolts at random. Area of effect 5 feet. Cool down: 5 mins]


    Liam looked at the skill description and was amazed. A 5 feet area of effect was too good! This skill could potentially be used both as a multi-target attack and as a single-target attack.


    The 5 minute cooldown was indeed a bit punishing as that meant that he could only use it once in a fight but cooldowns can be brought down if he gains more insight into the battle.


    Liam hurriedly pulled up the other rted skills and took a look at them as well.


    [Wind des]


    [Lightning Bolt]


    "Ok. I should now try these out a few times." He muttered to himself and stood up. Alex watched the guy run away like a kid who just got a new toy to try out.


    Liam stood in a corner of the ruins and first activated the [Sizzling Tornado].


    Almost instantly a huge wind picked up, not as big as the one the boss had summoned but something smaller in size.


    The wind quickly gained speed and became a tornado, its entire body crackling with energy. The next instant a couple of lightning bolts shot out of this small tornado.


    One hit a yer on the side and the guy screamed in pain. "Boss! That took out 500 hp!"


    Liam nodded in satisfaction. This was just the beginning. He was looking forward to the time when he mastered this spell. At that time, just how much could it do?


    He grinned to himself and started practicing [Wind des] and [Lightning Bolt].


    He practiced a bunch of these spells and when the cooldown refreshed he once again activate [Sizzling Tornado] and tried to get a feel for that spell.


    Everyone couldn''t help but look at the guy in admiration. Here they were all resting but the person who had done the maximum didn''t bother to get any rest and was immediately training.


    And even that training waspletely unique. The three mages in the group moved closer and silently observed Liam to take notes.


    Liam as well saw them and gave a few pointers.


    "You have to visualize the skill and feel the flow of mana. Visualize everything from start to finish and soon you will also be able to cast instantly."


    The others looked shocked to hear this as no one had ever thought about doing anything like this. Could this method really work?


    Joining Liam in training, all three mages as well started practicing the few spells that they had. Alex, Mia, and the others watched this in envy and they as well tried doing what Liam suggested.


    But how could it be so simple? Everyone could hardly feel anything. Only Alex and Mia were able to do it and they already knew about these things.


    They had learned it after Liam had given them a few hints at the very beginning when they had all grouped up together for the beginner''s dungeon run.


    At that time Mia caught this point when Liam mentioned learning a skill simply based on its execution. Deriving from that, she had learned the execution of the skill.


    And now she was able to execute almost all of her skills without the help of the system-activated spells.


    Unlike her, Alex only had 60% proficiency in her skill set. There were still quite a few skills that she was not able to execute without the system''s help.


    And now looking at Liam she waspletely shocked. She had always assumed that the guy was a born genius just like Mia but it looked like she had once again mistaken him.


    It seemed like he worked hard for what he had.


    Alex eyed the guy with a mixture of emotions when she saw Mia walking over to her. "I was looking there, not at him." She quickly exined.


    "Hmmm?" Mia ignored the weird statement and asked. "Did Rey message you? How is he doing?"


    "Ya. Ya." Alex immediately rolled her eyes. "That bitch is doing just fine. Do you know! He still won''t tell me what quest he is working on! What an ungrateful little shit!"


    Mia couldn''t help but smile lightly. "It''s fine. Let him enjoy." The duo silently continued watching everyone training like crazy. Were they even on a dungeon run anymore?


    Thankfully, after a few minutes, Liam stopped and asked everyone to pack up for the next boss. It was time to finish this dungeon.


    Everyone moved along the ruins and cleared the mobs of vulcans on their path, finally arriving at something that resembled a dome-shaped building.


    It was somewhat a replica of the divine temple in the divine city. Liam could see how this would be a huge ck mark on the priests and priestesses in the temple.


    "No wonder they gave out this quest." Liam waved his hand, signaling everyone to enter the ce cautiously. There might be someone attacking them as soon as they enter.


    In most closed structures in dungeons, this was the case.


    And just like he expected, in this one as well, a bunch of vulcan demons immediately ambushed them near the entrance.


    [Ring of Fire]


    Liam did not hold back and cast a strong spell, scorching the bunch of vulcans together and taking a huge chunk of their health.


    The remaining health was quickly chipped away by the rest of the group as they pounded down on the couple of mobs.


    It almost seemed as if they were running a dungeon a few levels below them and not a few levels above them.


    After clearing the mobs, the path inside the dome-shaped temple was finally freed up and the group moved closer to the interior.


    They arrived at a huge prayer hall in the middle of which a half-human and a half-demon figure was chanting something loudly.


    Everyone immediately stopped in shock. This was the final boss and he had a whopping 20 million health points!


    Would they really be able to defeat this guy? They all stared dumbfoundedly at the sight in front of them.


    Coincidentally, Liam also had a simr expression. Not because of the boss, but because of something else entirely. His gaze was locked onto the stone deity that the boss was praying to.


    He felt familiar energy seeping out of that stone deity. It washer!


    Moreover, he didn''t simply sense a small amount ofher. There was lots and lots of it. Everything was locked in a ck sphere that hovered over the stone deity.


    It looked like some sort of ritual perhaps had made this happen. Irrespectively of what was the reason behind it, Liam was still d about this discovery.


    Now he had another trump card to rely on!


    "Let''s go!" He gave Alex the signal and directly served the boss a hot sizzling tornado.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 2 Chapter 2~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 509 Healing the boss?

    Chapter 509 Healing the boss?


    ROAR!


    The half-demon, half-human ugly ass boss turned around and shouted in pain and anger.


    It waspletely caught off guard by Liam''s [Sizzling Tornado] and the shearing tough winds removed several chunks of health from the freak.


    -1000


    -5000


    -6000


    -3000


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Several big damage numbers popped up and even Liam did not expect the spell to be this effective.


    This was what a finishing move should look like. It demonstrated the full power of his mana core. The boss lost almost 10% of its 20 million health points just from this single attack.


    However, just as everyone cheered in excitement and already saw this fight as good as over, suddenly something unexpected happened.


    The boss grunted angrily and chanted something to dispel the huge tornado. It once again waved its hand to recover 5% of the 10% lost health points in all but an instant.


    "FUCK!"


    "This is too unfair!"


    "Did you guys really expect the boss fight to be so easy? COME ON! DON''T SLACK! PICK UP THE PACE!" Liam shouted.


    He as well dashed forward to start dealing damage using the multitude of spells in his hand. When his mana was near the bottom, he also used his sword to deal some damage.


    Since this was thest boss, he was giving it his all and didn''t just use his mana core.


    Everyone was surprised to see Liam use his sword and more importantly, his damage was once again formidable. All the melee yers dropped their jaws on the floor.


    It was very shameful to see a mage dealing more damage than them while fighting with a sword.


    But since it was Liam they did not take it personally. He was just a monster. There was no point in analyzing his skills. Everyone simply tried their best.


    The group pummeled the boss and once again managed to bring down the health of the guy to 90% when unexpectedly once again the same thing happened.


    The damned guy chanted something and started healing back up to 95% health. Everyone could only curse at this ridiculous boss.


    So what? Would they never be able to get his health down more than 95%? How was one even supposed to fight this thing?


    Liam as well instantly realized that something was wrong as soon as he saw that second heal. This was perhaps why they had mentioned healing the damned guy in the boss mechanics.


    "Again!" He shouted loudly and started shing his way towards the boss again.


    This vulcan half-breed was dealing dark element attacks so Liam was able to approach him more easily than the others, thanks to hisher affinity.


    This time he activated [Spirit sh] and [Spirit Wrath], several swords directly appearing below the demon hybrid''s feet.


    His body immediately drifted away like he was floating trying to avoid this attack but still a few swords struck his body, removing a portion of his health.


    Luna as well opened her mouth and sent out a giant fire burst. Thisbined with everyone else''s attack once more brought down the health of the boss by 5%, bringing him to 90% health.


    But before the boss could start chanting, Liam immediately shouted, "Alex! Mia! Now!"


    Like they had talked before, the duo stopped healing the yers and cast all of their healing spells on the boss. This coincided with the boss himself chanting to recover his health.


    And surprising everyone, the two waves of healing actually canceled one another!


    The boss was finally not able to bring his health back up. "Good Job! Now let''s push on forward!" Liam shouted.


    They had only gone past the first 10% gate but everyone already felt tired. "Last BOSS! Let''s clear this dungeon!" Liam shouted again, somewhat picking back up the mood again.


    Now that they had a way to go past the self-healing, maybe they can really finish this boss! Everyone started pushing themselves to churn out damage.


    Liam as well stood in the front as an example and relentlessly lobbed over one attack after another. A few secondster the second 20% of the boss''s health finally disappeared.


    "Again!" Liam immediately shouted and Alex, and Mia focussed their healing and buffing spells on the boss one more time.


    This effectively canceled the chanting and the vulcan hybrid roared in annoyance. He seemed really enraged now and started chanting something even louder.


    "Liam! Should we heal him again?" Mia hurriedly asked but Liam shook his head.


    "That should only work on healing spells. I don''t think he is healing himself right now. KEEP ATTACKING! PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!"


    Everyone nodded and gritted their teeth, continuing to churn out the maximum damage that they could.


    The next second, they got their answer. The boss stopped chanting and several ck balls suddenly emerged.


    These ck balls further burst open and five mobs of vulcan demons appeared, swarming the whole group. Everyone found themselves facing two or more of them.


    "Pete, you take over the aggro for the boss!" Liam shouted at the second tank. He then turned towards Alex and gave her anothermand. "Alex, aggro all the mobs! Now! Do it fast!"


    The two tanks immediately switched positions and Alex started going around, aggroing all the mobs onto herself.


    This was a tremendous load for any tank and even she was struggling. It didn''t look like she would be able to hold on for much longer.


    "Hold on! I am here!" Liam immediately shouted, giving her hope. "Everyone else, focus on the boss. Keep attacking. Don''t stop! Leave the mob to me!"


    Alex slowly pulled all the mobs to the right side of the huge hall and Liam cast multiple rings of fire on the spot to trap and beat down these extras.


    Meanwhile, the boss once again started chanting and this time, Mia did not have to be reminded.


    She recognized the healing chant and started casting her own healing spells to negate that. Her healing was the highest so the boss''s aggro unexpectedly shifted to her in an instant.


    The second tank Pete did not act in time to get the aggro back. "Not good!" Liam noticed this from the distance and quickly dashed towards Mia.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 2 Chapter 3~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 510 Something wrong?!

    Chapter 510 Something wrong?!


    Liam thought he could reach there fast enough to block the guy but the vulcan hybrid''s speed was much faster than him.


    Mia as well quickly tried to retreat back but ck chains emerged holding her down.


    This mechanic was supposed to be dealt with by the tank because they had several defensive spells in their repertoire.


    Mia, on the other hand, only had a couple of these spells. Coincidentally both the spells were under cooldowns.


    She also found that she was not able to cast anything under the effect of the chains, not even any healing spells. This really looked like it was time out for her.


    Liam as well knew that this was gut-check time so he used thest resort he was holding onto.


    He hurriedlymanded theher swirling near the stone deity and sent it out like spears towards the vulcan hybrid, aiming for his vital points.


    His maniption ability and his casting time now were a lot faster than any other spell that used mana.


    However, the damage was not too big since he did not rely on his mana core. But that did not matter.


    The damage was enough to divert his aggro momentarily and that split second gap was enough for Liam to reach Mia.


    From there, Liam did not stop and used his sword to continuously attack the vulcan hybrid.


    And he also did not hesitate to use moreher to attack the guy.


    It looked as if the boss hadn''t realized yet what was happening and that Liam was using something of his.


    While the two of them were engaged, Mia as well managed to break free from the ck chains and Alex finished off thest of the mob and returned to her position as the tank.


    The fight quickly went back on track.


    The boss summoned another round of mobs when its health dropped down to 50%, but this time everyone handled it very well and the fiasco from before did not repeat.


    Slowly, the health dropped from 50% to 40% and then from 40% to 30%.


    The vulcan hybrid lookedpletely enraged and started chanting once again. This time his entire body started glowing red.


    He ignored everyone else and turned toward the deity to chant. A ck swirl of energy covered his body.


    "The boss will summon now another boss! Watch out!" Liam shouted.


    This was thest phase and the most difficult phase of the fight. If they could somehow get through this then they would have conquered the entire dungeon.


    As everyone including Liam prepared for this crucial step and looked keenly to see what was going toe out, slowly something odd unfolded.


    The boss seemed to be getting frustrated?


    He also seemed to have forgotten the many attacks still raining down on him, slowly bringing down his health.


    His entire focus was only on the stone deity and he continuously kept chanting, sometimes shouting in between.


    What the hell was happening? Everyone looked shocked.


    "Don''t ck! Keep pushing!" Liam reminded everyone.


    Whether the boss was having a bad day or not, they needed to still beat him up.


    And unlike the others, he had some inkling about what was going on.


    Liam grinned watching the poor corrupted priest curse and try chanting again and again. He was like a broken tape that was stuck at that point.


    He waspletely out of control and looked like he had forgotten everything else. His health was already down from 30% to 15%.


    Now only thest bit was left. Seeing this nobody slowed down. Everybody kept going on with their attacks, taking advantage of the attack as best as they could.


    And standing among these people, Liam was also doing the same, except that he was also steadily pulling all theher that was once again beginning to gather.


    He did not even bother using thisher. He just kept collecting it and sending out other attacks.


    Finally, when the health dropped down to thest 5%, the vulcan hybrid stopped his desperate attempts.


    He turned around with his eyes and body still glowing right red and sent out several huge crackling ck balls.


    "Watch out and dodge!" Liam reminded everyone.


    He then used the big swirling ball ofher he had been holding onto and sent it out all at once towards the big guy.


    The vulcan hybrid screamed in realization and dashed towards Liam to w him out.


    His body even became erged and dozens of horns started protruding out of this giant body, gearing up for some sort of hail mary attack but he was toote.


    Liam''s attack already struck him hard and removed whatever strength he had left.


    And finally¡­


    [Ding. You have gained 1000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have sessfully defeated the Corrupted Vulcan Priest]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You havepleted the dungeon run]


    [Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first to clear dungeon ''Darkhold'' on normal difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the dungeon ''Darkhold'' on normal difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the dungeon ''Darkhold'' on normal difficulty.]


    Everyone cheered loudly and copsed on the ground.


    Liam as well was equally happy and grinned ear to ear, though it was for a different reason.


    He almost couldn''t believe it. He had actually found a loophole for a dungeon''s final boss! A loophole that in his previous life waspletely non-existent. This was brilliant!


    He once again looked at the stone deity and the space where the swirlingher had gathered. He suddenly had a small curiosity. How did this summoning work?


    Liam himself had a demon summoning spell that he hadn''t used in a long time. He couldn''t help but wonder if that spell usedher as well.


    As he was silently pondering, Luna as usual dashed around and picked up all the loot and brought them over.

 Chapter 511 Let the farming begin!

    Chapter 511 Let the farming begin!


    There were in total four drops, three of which were gem shards and the fourth one was the staff of high priestess that was required for the quest.


    Liam quickly took out the other gem shards he had and started assembling everything together curiously.


    "Is it just me or does this look like they don''t go together?" Alex asked. She was also kneeling near Liam, watching what he was doing.


    "Hmmm¡­ The staff has three empty sockets so maybe there are three gems?" Liam responded absent-mindedly.


    While these two tried to figure out the puzzle, the person who actually had the quest calmly stood on the side with her eyes closed.


    Mia was doing an analysis of the fight that had just taken ce trying to see what could have been done better. Everyone else as well was silently trying to recuperate.


    A few minutes, Alex excitedly shouted, "I got it!"


    "Liam, give me the one in your hand. I can fix this." She asked again.


    "No."


    "Huh? What do you mean no!" Alex furrowed her brows.


    "Give me a minute." Liam shushed her which made the redhead even more agitated. She scowled and stood up to take a walk.


    Liam, however, did not even look at her and still kept staring at the semi-attached together gemstone.


    "What is it?" Mia slowly walked toward him and asked.


    "I don''t think this is a gemstone."


    "Huh?"


    "Ya. I am sure of it. I don''t think this is a gemstone at all." Liam stood up abruptly and tossed everything into his inventory.


    "Everyone let''s get out of the dungeon. This run is over." He announced and started walking back to the portal at the entrance. He then without any exnation left the party.


    Everyone stared at him curiously wondering what was happening when they saw him once again squatting on the ground and ying with the gem shards.


    And this time he actually ced everything together to form aplete gem or rather what came together was not a gem at all in the first ce.


    It was a mana core! He was sure of it!


    And the system notifications that popped up also confirmed his doubts.


    [Ding. You have obtained a cracked high-grade demonic mana core]


    [Ding. You have obtained a cracked high-grade demonic mana core]


    [Ding. You have obtained a cracked high-grade demonic mana core]


    Liam would have recognized it immediately but since this was red in color and he had not seen many mana cores to begin with, he was slightly thrown off his mark.


    But once he saw theplete thing there was no doubt about it.


    "Hmmm¡­ I wonder if I can use these as well for that auction?" Liam suddenly had a thought.


    He was in terrible need of mana cores and though these were not the absolute best quality mana cores because they had the weird tag ''cracked'', these were still high-grade ones.


    The mana core that he obtained by struggling so much against that wasp field boss was only a medium-grade mana core.


    Sure with better skills he might be able to kill other field bosses a lot faster, there was still the chore of chasing after them and finding them.


    While these three cracked high-grade demonic cores, he had obtained them with not much effort. So what he needed to do was pretty obvious here. The only question was¡­


    Would it work?


    Liam smiled bitterly and turned to look at Mia. He then handed her the staff but not the three demonic cores.


    "Invite me back. Let''s farm this dungeon again."


    "Hmm¡­" Mia looked at him for a moment and then nodded. She didn''t ask for any exnation. They had anyways nned to run this dungeon a few times to gain fast experience points.


    Everyone else as well was thrilled to hear this. First, when Liam left the party they had all been dejected but now that he was back, they were super hyped to attempt the run again.


    Everyone wanted to correct their mistakes and do it all better this time around.


    However, this opportunity¡­ never arrived¡­


    From the get-go, Liam started going all out and started training the couple of new spells he had learned.


    These were finishing moves and with his mana core to boot, the group basically sted through the mobs in half the time they had taken previously.


    Experience points constantly rained and system notifications constantly dinged. This was a real speed run!


    Alex twirled her hair and moved to Mia to ask her, "What is he doing? Is he looking for something?"


    Mia shook her head. "I also don''t know."


    Someone else standing beside the both of them answered instead. "I think party leader is just helping us level up?"


    Alex rolled her eyes and then walked away. She knew Liam too well toe to this conclusion. She was sure that there was something that he needed.


    And she got her answer soon enough. After they cleared the first boss for a second time, unexpectedly, they once again received the gem shards as drops.


    "Huh? What is happening? Do we need more than three gemstones for the staff?" Alex picked up the drops.


    Liam was already next to her and took the shards off of her hands. "I will be taking these."


    "Huh!" She wanted to say something but then she was the big smile on Liam''s face and she took a step back from the smiling demon.


    "Alright. So the thing is¡­" Now that Liam had confirmed his theory, he exined a little to the two. He showed thepleted demonic mana cores to them.


    "These are actually mana cores, not gemstones. Since you guys have the quest, this dungeon seems to be dropping these broken mana cores for you both."


    "Oh!" The two of them now understood what was going on. This was why he did not hand over the red stones to the two of them.


    If Liam had given them thepleted mana cores, then the quest would have progressed to the next stage, and there wouldn''t be this specific drop anymore.


    "So you want to keep running this dungeon to farm these?"


    "Yup. Right now, I need these cores. A lot of cores!" Liam grinned. Three mana cores for a single run was too good! That too, high-level ones!


    He had originally nned to run this dungeon because he had heard about the hidden boss of this dungeon possessing a mana core, but he never thought that there would also be these additional gifts!


    And talking about the hidden boss, it was maybe time to trigger that guy?

 Chapter 512 Not a good idea

    Chapter 512 Not a good idea


    Inside the ''Darkhold'' ruins, near thest boss, a group of yers were tiredly lying on the ground like dead dogs.


    This was the fifth time they had continuously run the dungeon. Everyone was aching all over the body. This speed was simply too much for them.


    The only plus point was the experience points.


    The system was dinging constantly with experience points notifications. A couple of them had even leveled up twice in just these few hours.


    However, at this moment, no one cared about that. They just wanted to rest a little.


    In the midst of this lifeless group, one guy alone was contently looking at the awesome haul in hisp. There were a total of 10 cracked demonic cores.


    Not all runs gave the same amount of core shards, so after fiveplete dungeon rounds, he only had ten cores in total instead of fifteen.


    "Alright. Shall we go for the next one?" Liam shoved everything back into his inventory slots and stood up, stretching his limbs.


    He got one more good skill book in thest run and he couldn''t wait to try it out.


    Skill book drops were quite rare so even getting three of them for the five runs was still considered quite good luck.


    Liam looked at the three new skills that he added to the repertoire.


    [Ring of Fire]


    [Sizzling Tornado]


    [Dark Cutter]


    Thest few hours had indeed been very protective. "It''s fine. As long as you guys are trying your best, we can go for it." Liam smiled at the tired looking bunch.


    Unable to say no to the tyrant, everyone dragged their tired bodies onwards.


    Thankfully, Liam was not lying. He alone carried the dps section of the party.


    Alex and Mia, both were still fresh as new and the few divine affinity yers they were personally grooming were also in a slightly better condition.


    Only the other less experienced yers werepletely dead, but in this category, three yers were doing a lot better than the rest.


    These three were also the ones Liam had his eye on. Coincidentally all three of them were mages. So he gave them a few tips from time to time.


    "Ok! Listen up, everyone! This run could be considered as a rest run for you guys! So make sure not to overdo anything."


    "We will be doing the hard mode next and the nightmare mode the turn after, so everyone should rest properly and work out any kinks in this round itself."


    Liam did not stop and shouted while still ughtering the vulcans in front of him. Everyone silently nodded. Before they were at least somewhat trying but now they really did take a break.


    Hard mode and nightmare modes of the dungeon runs were not a joke. They definitely cannot pull through in their current condition.


    So everyone properly rested while continuing to walk alongside Liam and the other yers. Of course, from time to time they tossed in a few attacks and they did the mechanics for the boss.


    The run was soonpleted and this time the haul was even worse than the previous run. It was as if the system itself was discouraging the yers from repeatedly farming the same dungeon.


    "Only about one and a half demonic core. Tch." Liam clicked his tongue.


    "How much more do you need?" Mia asked.


    "It''s fine. Running hard mode and nightmare mode should give us some good drops."


    "Liam, actually. I am not sure if it is a good idea to do that right now." Mia sighed.


    "Huh? What happened?"


    "What else? If we go up, there is always someone wanting to pull us back down." Alex sneered.


    "She is talking about the other guilds in the Gresh Kingdom. They are getting restless." Mia added.


    "Hmmm."


    "I bet it''s those idiots. They are fanning the mes behind our back."


    "Oh? Are you both talking about the coalition guild something?"


    "Ya. The coalition of righteous. It''s those idiots." Alex spat angrily. "Some of the other top-tier guilds are also talking."


    "Basically, they are now calling us a terrorist guild and an anti-national guild because we ran dungeons after the governments issued the ban."


    "Some of our guild members quit because they are worried if they wouldnd in trouble from being associated with us."


    "Ya and someone is purposefully bringing up our names again and again. Since our identities are not like yours, we are easy targets."


    "Hmmm. I see." Liam nodded.


    It was indeed true that these things were a big issue for Mia and Alex. Their names were too famous. Unlike him who was hidden, these two were practically celebrities.


    "Alright. Let''s just run the hard mode and nightmare mode. After that, you both can log out and send out a message that you had only just noticed the news."


    "You can even say that you won''t be logging anymore. I mean don''t worry about it."


    "You can log in right after you post that message on social media but stick to maybe finishing your divine temple questline," Liam exined his thoughts.


    "Wouldn''t this affect your farming?" Alex asked.


    "No. You saw how ineffective it was bing. We could always run the hard mode and nightmare modeter tomorrow to get more cores, but it''s not worth it."


    Liam shook his head. "Focus on your quests."


    "Besides, I also don''t know just how effective these cracked cores are. If it is something useless, then we would have wasted the time for nothing." He bitterly smiled.


    He knew better than anyone else that this system was always unpredictable.


    If he assumed too much and sunk too much time on a ''loophole'' then, in the end, he would be the one to get bitten on his ass.


    "Alright. We will do that." Both Alex and Mia agreed. What Liam suggested seemed to be a good practical n.


    "Oh and Alex, before I forget. Can you use your twockeys¡­ ahem¡­ I mean followers to find out what those coalition idiots are up to."


    "It''s been a while and it looked like they forgot. It is time I teach them a lesson. Maybe alsoplete my soul devourer quest." Liam grinned, not speaking thatst part out loud.


    Alex looked at him strangely and then agreed. How is he going to teach them a lesson? She then sighed and decided to ask himter.


    She opened her interface and sent out the message. The group then hurriedly finished the rest of the run and walked back to the entrance to start the next run, the much dreaded hard mode.

 Chapter 513 Hard Mode

    Chapter 513 Hard Mode


    Hard mode. Everyone stared at the gate of the dungeon which became red and then entered the dungeon.


    Almost immediately a horde of vulcans assaulted the party which was quickly dealt with. However, no one rxed just yet.


    With higher difficulty in the dungeon, the main issue was the different bosses. That was where the real challenge would start.


    And soon the group arrived at the first boss, the three-headed vulcan demon that dealt both fire and dark element damage.


    "In this mode, the demon can start spewing its main attack at any random time and not just at every 10% of its health reduction," Liam warned.


    He then created a bigger stone-walled safe area this time around near the corner of the ruins.


    Everyone, even the melee yers stood near the stone ce for the entire fight except for the tanks.


    Only Liam and Luna moved freely and one out of the three tanks stood next to the fight and handled the aggro.


    After the ''sea of mes'' attack, the tank then switched out with the next tank in line. In this manner, the fight was smoothly resolved within a couple of minutes.


    When the experience notifications rang loudly, no one could believe that they were actually running a dungeon on hard mode. It seemed no different than the normal mode.


    These same events repeated for the second boss as well when the serpentine vulcan startedmanding the several eggs it hadid under the surface of the ruins.


    These eggs hatched during the boss fight and started attacking the individual yers while the vulcan also slithered in and out of the ground as it pleased.


    The difficulty of the fight had definitely increased but still¡­ every time a small serpentine vulcan attacked a yer, Liam appeared next to them in the span of a second and took care of the extra.


    The entire process seemed utterly effortless and the second boss was also quickly defeated.


    And once again, their party leader had carried them through another boss in the hard mode of a dungeon. In front of Liam, everything everyone seemed to do only amounted to nothing.


    Just how much was the difference between a Level 50 yer and others? Do they really get such a huge boost in strength?


    Counting all the experience points they received, the group was once again energetic as everyone wanted to reach Level 50 as soon as possible. Perhaps the real game started only then.


    The group then arrived at the ten-horned third boss who previously had used his horns to summon bolts of lightning that were served next to a tornado.


    And this time, all of his horns werebined together to form a unicorn-esque huge horn that shot out bolts of lightning all throughout the fight Freewebn?vel.c?m.


    This horn was also tougher, probably meant to be very difficult for the yers to deal with. However, with just a few attacks, it was cleanly shaven off the demon''s head.


    The fight after that was just like before and the boss was quickly put down, the group also arriving at thest boss at record speed.


    At first, everyone expected at least this fight to be more difficult than the normal mode because it was thest boss but once again just like all of the previous runs, this guy was again fumbling and cursing at the stone deity.


    "Boss, you are bullying the poor guy!"


    "Am I?" Liam smiled and used theher that the poor corrupted priest had saved up to pummel him and ughter him.


    The next instant the series of notifications rang loudly.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have sessfully defeated the Corrupted Vulcan Priest]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You havepleted the dungeon run]


    [Ding. Congrattions. You are the first to clear dungeon ''Darkhold'' on hard difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the dungeon ''Darkhold'' on hard difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the dungeon ''Darkhold'' on hard difficulty.]


    "Eh? We didn''t trigger the hidden boss this time too?" Alex scrolled through the various announcements and wondered out loud.


    Typically, the speed at which the dungeon was cleared yed a huge factor in triggering the hidden boss.


    This was especially the case in hard mode dungeons and nightmare mode dungeons. So technically in this run, they should have faced the hidden boss.


    However, no such thing appeared?


    "No. We did not get the hidden boss." Liam mumbled in deep thought. He then fiddled with the couple of drops from the boss as he gazed at the stone deity in the temple hall.


    "I think I know how to trigger it. Let''s do it in the next run." He then distributed the first bracelet drop and kept the second one to himself.


    His hand was now stacked with four bracelets, giving him an additional buff of 10 stat points in agility, intelligence, and strength. They nged together as Liam pushed them all down.


    "Let''s move! Time for thest run!"


    Everyone gulped and quickly obeyed. Other than Liam, only Alex and Mia had already experienced dungeon runs on this difficulty level before.


    Even for the divine affinity yers, this was the first nightmare mode run. So everyone was nervous. The tiredness as well was not making it easy.


    "Boss, shall we run after a small break?" One person suggested but Liam simply smiled at him. "It should be fine."


    "Ah." The person couldn''t say anything after that and nervously nodded.


    5 minutester¡­


    The dungeon portal once again glowed brightly and this time it was pitch ck in color. "Let''s go." Liam energetically shouted as if he had drunk three pots of coffee and walked in.


    Everyone else as well gulped and followed him. The moment they did, two packs of vulcan demons arrived from both sides and ambushed them.


    Unlike the ones before, all these demons had special carvings on their body and also looked more ferocious.

 Chapter 514 Nightmare Mode

    Chapter 514 Nightmare Mode


    With one look at the enhanced vulcan demons and the carvings on their bodies, Liam already knew that this run was going to be special.


    "I think we will be encountering the hidden boss this time." He was sure of it.


    Everyone felt a chill run down their spine. As if the nightmare mode was not enough, they were also going to encounter the hidden boss.


    The vulcan demons came one after the other and it definitely took longer than usual to defeat them.


    The full group participated as well, no one holding back. But even with that, just clearing the mobs was extremely taxing.


    At this rate, everyone couldn''t help but wonder if they were really going to be able to get through all the bosses, let alone the hidden boss.


    But unexpectedly as soon as the group reached the first boss fight, Liam started taking out some goodies.


    "Boss, what is this?"


    "This tastes like honey."


    Liam distributed to everyone a little bit of the honey he had harvested. He also started taking out the low-grade rage potions he had made earlier.


    Even basic potions were going for 10 silvers and 20 silvers. Low-grade ones like the rage potion would definitely be valued at least at 50 silvers.


    So everyone gasped in shock after receiving their quota.


    If they could they would have wanted to save this but defeating the boss and having that record was far more valuable. Besides, they did not want to get kicked off the team.


    Everyone downed the rage potion one after the other and the fight soon started. Almost instantly Alex tossed her shield and grabbed the boss''s aggro.


    Liam moved like a whirlwind toward the boss and started shing down the three-headed demon, not holding back.


    -5000


    -10000


    -7000


    ¡­


    ¡­


    A series of terrifying damage numbers popped up. These were almost double the damages of what Liam''s previous sword shes were dealing.


    If anyone did not know the effect and importance of rage potions before, they understood it very well now.


    With thebined effect of the honey and rage potion, the entire fight was smooth and the boss went down quickly just like the one in the hard mode.


    The mechanics for the hard mode and the nightmare mode wasn''t all that different.


    The only difference was that the boss had some strange ck engravings on his body which made him stronger, faster, and more agile.


    Liam had countered this with their own set of buffs so by the time the fight went down, it was no different from before.


    The boss was quickly put down and everyone moved on to the mobs again.


    These mobs were the real pain in the ass in this dungeon run because they had to face them without any extra buffs.


    The engraved vulcan demonckeys were much more difficult to handlepared to the normal vulcan demons.


    Without Liam, the rest of the group probably would not be able to take care of this mob.


    Even though Alex and Mia had top-tier skills, without the dps to burn these suckers down, the mobs would have definitely overwhelmed the dungeon party.


    There were simply far too many vulcans. After struggling with these never-ending mobs, the group finally arrived at the second boss, the serpentine vulcan demon.


    Just as everyone was wondering how they were going to deal with this one, Liam once again started distributing rage potions.


    "Guild leader!" Everyone was too touched!


    Their team was a 28 yer team so with each potion valued at 50 silver, this whole thing wasing to a whopping 14 gold.


    And there were four bosses in this dungeon! Not to mention the hidden boss!


    So if Liam nned to use rage potions for all the bosses, the grand total wasing to 70 gold! For many guilds, this was their entire wealth!


    And they were actually throwing this away in a dungeon run!


    Only the top-tier guilds and star guilds could afford to be so callous. Could their small newly formed guild really afford to do the same?


    "Boss, maybe we can try this one and then save the potion for thest two?"


    "No." Liam firmly shook his head. "Time is more valuable than money. Let''s get this done and keep moving."


    After Liam spoke, everyone quickly drank their potions and Alex soon started the fight. Just like the previous ones, this one as well went down smoothly.


    The boss was down and the group soon arrived at thest parts of the ruins.


    This time the entire dome-shaped temple was covered with ck engravings. These engravings also somehow seemed alive.


    "Maybe thest boss fight won''t be so easy." Liam paused and tried to recollect as much as he could about this dungeon.


    He had never run these dungeons in his previous life. He was neither strong enough to run them by himself nor part of any proper team.


    So all the information that he gathered about this dungeon was from the various things posted on the inte, from the point of view of a spectator.


    This was far fromplete, but as someone who knew about several dungeons, he had a bit of idea and could make some sort of educated guess with a high chance of being correct.


    He turned towards Alex and Mia and exined to them, "You guys might have to focus a lot more on the healing mechanics. I think our result here will be dependent on that."


    Alex and Mia, both of them, nodded solemnly and prepared themselves. Liam once again distributed the potions and the main fight soon started.


    It was an instant disaster. The boss was out of control from the get go. None of the tanks were able to maintain aggro.


    The vulcan human hybrid simply dashed toward whichever yer randomly and started attacking them.


    Liam as well responded immediately, but to expect someone other than the tank to be able to take hits from a boss was simply asking for death.

 Chapter 515 Last Boss

    Chapter 515 Last Boss


    "Phew that was too close!" Liam stared at the demon priest whose several strands of hair were all flying in the air ominously as if he was being possessed.


    If he had acted any slower than the yer next to him would have died. Mia as well did a timely heal and the situation was salvaged.


    However, they were not out of the woods just yet. The vulcan priest shed with Liam a couple of times before directly bounding towards another one of the yers.


    He was like a cannon ball randomly bouncing from one yer to another yer and dealing lethal damage.


    "Damn it." Liam grunted and chased behind the guy, once again only narrowly managing to prevent an instant kill.


    "This won''t work for too long." He had to do something right now.


    Liam thought about it and the next time the boss moved, he used the illusion technique.


    When fighting with the boss, there were two Liams and before the boss could move, one of the Liam already moved, ready to respond for the ensuing attack.


    And bam! Just like he expected, when the boss again moved to dart away to a random yer, Liam had enough headstart to catch up with him.


    In fact, he blocked himpletely and the yer did not receive any damage. Everyone looked at this scene and were utterly dumbfounded.


    Their leader was actually treating this boss as a ping pong ball, the priest left to dangle between the two versions of himself.


    Even Liam himself was surprised. He was not sure that he could make this technique work as his understanding wasn''t too deep, but he was steadily improving.


    Right now, he was only able to create an afterimage but maybe slowly he could actually create shadow selves, each of them even capable of doing actual damage.


    A faint idea flitted past Liam''s mind. Unfortunately, he couldn''t think about it right now and he quickly focused on the battle at hand.


    The illusion technique was also too taxing. He couldn''t keep doing it again and again.


    "Fuck it. Time to use theher." Liam gave up on saving theher forter andmanded the ball of swirling energy.


    Other than for saving itter, he was also prepared to not use it this time because he wanted to trigger the hidden boss. However, it seems that was too high of an aim.


    There was simply no other option. He had to tap that.


    [Dark Cutter]


    Liam immediately used the spell that had ironically dropped from this guy. It generated two waves of dark elemental shes that travelled like an X.


    GRAAAA!


    The boss immediately shouted as if it was further enraged from getting attacked by its own signature move, but Liam was not done yet.


    From the few times he had used this attack, he could tell that it was notplete. Rather it would be far more effective if he usedher for this attack rather than his mana core.


    Liam quicklymanded theher that was swirling near the stone deity and then tried to haphazardly merge the spell withher and send it out.


    [Dark Cutter]


    BANG!


    The next instant, a terrifying roar echoed throughout the temple ruins as a huge ck X mark appeared.


    Unlike the previous dark shes, these two shes were huge and vibrant, far more powerful. They were thrumming with energy and sted forward with full force.


    -10000


    -20000


    -10000


    -10000


    -10000


    Several damage numbers popped up as the attack hit the target at multiple points, but this was not the surprising part. The shocking part was the magnitude of the damage!


    With just a single attack, Liam was able to remove 60k health points from the boss. If he repeats this one attack ten times then won''t this fight be as good as over?


    He grinned in excitement and then started using more of theher from the stone deity. It felt good to use strong spells that packed a punch.


    "I should be able to form aher core too?" Liam only had a mana core and the effect of this spell was already this dramatic. What would happen if he makes aher core too?


    "I need to finish this fight first." He made a note to work on this soon and continued running around and chasing the vulcan priest.


    The guy was now glowing bright red along with an aura of ck. He seemed to have snapped after Liam shaved off a huge chunk of his health and was now going even more berserk.


    However, all of his attempts to heal himself back up was promptly stopped by Mia so the boss becamepletely helpless.


    He was only losing more and more health with time and the fight was steadilying to an end. Hidden boss or not, at least the dungeon run was going to bepleted smoothly.


    Everyone did their best and pushed forward to bring down thest chunks of the boss health. Liam as well did not hold back and sucked theher from the stone deitypletely dry.


    30%... 25%... 20%... 15%.... 10%... 5%.... 1%


    Just as everyone sucked in a big breath of air and started tossing out theirst power packed attacks, suddenly¡­ the priest abruptly stopped in front of the stone deity.


    "Hmmm?" Liam immediately had a bad feeling.


    "Everyone! Keep attacking! Don''t stop! Last push!" He shouted while sending out another [Dark Cutter] that could potentially end the fight, but¡­ just as the attack was about tond on the boss¡­ unexpectedly a ck sphere enveloped him.


    The [Dark Cutter] attack got consumed by this ck sphere and did not do any damage to the boss. Not that just all the other attacks that fell on the guy were somehow blocked as well.


    It was as if the ck sphere gave him full immunity!


    Standing within the safety of this ck sphere, the vulcan priest started loudly chanting something. He fell to the ground on his knees and raised his head up to pray to the stone deity.

 Chapter 516 Hidden Boss

    Chapter 516 Hidden Boss


    Liam frowned as he looked at the ck shield that was still absorbing all the damage. Should he give it his all and try to break it or should he save his energy for whateveres next?


    "From the way he is chanting, this also has to be some sort of summoning magic? I guess there isn''t any more time."


    Without any hesitation, Liam dashed forward as he watched the ck sphere start cracking and crumbling. He simultaneously started casting [Dark Cutter] to remove thatst bit of health and to directly kill the boss.


    Irrespective of what happened next, this should kill the guy. He was confident of it, but he also shed his sword down just to be sure.


    However, the instant he reached the kneeling priest, he was immediately thrown back. His body shuddered from the impact as he struck the ground. A big chunk of his health as well disappeared.


    Liam shook it off and hurriedly stood up again, only to see a huge ck mass swirling around the stone deity.


    And it was no longer just a deity.


    A familiar face popped out of the deity. It was Hongumbra?!


    How was he here? Liam stared at the demon who was none other than the previous garrison leader of the Thol city back in theher realm.


    "He He He! We meet again!"


    This guy¡­ didn''t he die back then in front of him? Liam still couldn''t believe what he saw. Perhaps he was a ghost? Soul remnant?


    "Foolish human! No one from the abyss truly dies! Don''t try to understand our power with your tiny brain!" Hongumbra fully stepped out of the swirling ck mass.


    "At first I thought why bother answering this insect''s calling, but imagine my surprise when I saw your ugly face here, in the human realm! He He He. Isn''t this quite a surprise? He He He."


    "I wonder what the other demons would think if they know about this."


    Liam frowned. On the other hand, thest boss, the vulcan priest was delirious with joy.


    "My Lord! My savior! Thanks for-"


    St. Not bothered to even fully listen to the priest, the demon lifted his leg and brought it down on him, ending his life in a fraction of a second.


    [Ding¡­]


    [Ding¡­]


    [Ding¡­]


    [Ding¡­]


    Everyone immediately received their notifications but no one had the mood to be cheerful about that.


    The demon in front of them waspletely different from all the other demons they had faced so far. His mere presence was making them shiver and tremble.


    Every step the demon took had an overpowering domineering aura. It was as if they couldn''t move if he did not give permission.


    But someone was still able to move just fine. "Everyone stay back. Get back." Liam shouted as he gripped his sword and dashed forward.


    "Talk all you want. I defeated you once before, I can do it again!" He did not hold back and immediately started by casting a [Ring of Fire]. This locked the demon inside.


    Unfortunately, only for a second.


    Hongumbra sneered and snapped his fingers to instantly put away the mes. "Heh. So weak!"


    Liam gritted his teeth and moved back several paces. He once again started casting another spell, the sizzling tornado this time.


    The mana from the air thrummed alive as a huge swirling vortex formed in an instant, shooting out lightning bolts randomly.


    "Ba ha ha ha ha! Still weak!" Hongumbra snickered.


    Liam ignored the taunts of the demon and started using his control abilities to lock the guy in ce.


    [Mana Net]


    [Trapping Vines]


    He then nced at Mia to silently signal her to attack. Any spell with the divine element should do considerable damage to the demon.


    At the same time, he also shed his sword down on the huge muscr guy. When he had met him earlier, this demon was not this powerful.


    Back then there was level suppression and now also there was level suppression. Yet he was iparable to his previous life.


    It was as if he had received baptism and was born anew in the abyss. Just what sort of a ce was this abyss?


    Liam used mana to improve his speed and agility and shed at the demon. Hongumbra easily blocked his every move, still sneering at him but suddenly his expression changed.


    A bolt of pure divine energy struck his back and the demon screamed in pain. His eyes reddened and he swung around to see who had attacked him from the back.


    But how could Liam let go of this opportunity? He did not give Hongumbra any time to respond and continued attacking him with everything he had.


    His cooldown for his spirit attacks had already refreshed and he immediately used [Spirit sh] and [Spirit Wrath]. He cast another [Ring of Fire] and used that to continuously lob over fireballs at the demon.


    While he was pummeling the guy with one attack after another, Alex and Mia also did not let the chance slip by and used all of their divine affinity attacks to do solid damage to the demon.


    Seeing them, the rest of the group also did not remain idle, everyone started piling their attacks on top of the demon.


    Hongumbra was instantly overwhelmed. Especially the numerous divine affinity attacks falling on the demon were doing a number on him. Every single attack burned.


    He shook his head, looked up, and let out a loud roar, immediately unleashing his signature move, theher venom tentacles.


    However, the only person standing near him was still Liam and he was absolutely not affected by this move. The others were at a distance and they were outside the range of the attack.


    "What happened? It looks like you are still not strong enough? Come back after training a bit more." Liam grinned and kept pummeling down the guy.


    Hongumbra''s health quickly drained and the demon helplessly screamed as he twisted his body and fled back to the portal. The next second both the huge demon and the portalpletely disappeared.


    The fight was finally over?


    A pin-drop silence filled the temple and a momentter, the notifications rolled in.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You havepleted the dungeon run]

 Chapter 517 New Skill Book

    Chapter 517 New Skill Book


    "What? This run is finally over!!"


    "YAYYYYY! We did it!!!"


    "Boss! You are amazing! Guild Leader, you are amazing! Guild Vice Leader, you are awesome!"


    Everyone started loudly cheering looking at the serial notifications and the plentiful experience points. A couple of yers once again leveled up which made everyone''s mood even better.


    While the others were busy taking a look at their gains, Liam alone was still staring at the stone deity that had now broken apart and fallen to the ground.


    Tch. He clicked his tongue.


    Though they had somehow won this fight, he was not in the least satisfied. He was still too weak. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have just sent the guy packing, he could have destroyed him, body, and soul.


    "I still need to understand these skills better and train with them," Liam muttered to himself in deep thought. He had a feeling that he was still not tapping into his mana core properly.


    In hisst life, he had the pathetic least quality mana core so using it and not using it was not that much different. However, this time it was different. He had a top-quality core and he had to use it properly.


    Kyuuuuu!


    Seeing Liam standing still, the fox quickly rushed around and brought over all the drops to him.


    Alex had picked up one as it was near her, but the little fox did not let her off and growled at her until she gave it up. The fox then happily trotted over, bringing everything to Liam.


    Alex looked at this tant bullying and opened her mouth wide, covering it with her palm. This little fox had a big attitude!


    She sighed and helplessly walked over to Liam. She also wanted to take a look at the drops. This was a high-level dungeon in nightmare mode so this has to be good!


    "What is this skill book?" She picked up the book first as more than item drops skill books were far more valuable. Alex stared at it and a secondter, she almost yelped in shock.


    "This is a demon summoning skill book!"


    "Huh?" Liam snapped out of his thoughts and finally paid attention to the redhead standing next to him. "Summoning Skill book dropped?"


    "Yes, a demon summoning skill book." Alex quickly passed him the skill book as it was very ufortable for her even to just hold it. The book''s demonic aura was making her palm sting.


    Liam noticed this and was now more curious. He looked at the book and indeed it was a summoning one.


    "This should be a high-level skill book, right? Who do you think should learn this?" Alex asked. She did not wait for his answer and started thinking out aloud about the various warlocks in their guild.


    Only after a couple of minutes, she noticed Liam still remaining quiet, and¡­ the skill book in his hand had also disappeared.


    "Hey! You learned it?"


    "Hmmm. Yes." Liam answered absent-mindedly.


    "Why?" Alex looked even more shocked. She then quickly changed her tone, "Ahem. I mean obviously, you can learn it but I mean, it will be a waste right?"


    "Liam?"


    Seeing he was busy, she sighed and did not say anything any longer. A couple of minutester, Mia walked over to her. "Sheesh. This guy is being too wasteful." Alex grumbled to her exining what happened.


    Mia immediately widened her eyes. "Alex. No, you are wrong. He used a summoning spell when we ran a dungeon before. You don''t remember?"


    "Hmmm." Alex became quiet. Now that Mia mentioned she also remembered something like that happening, but the thing was¡­ wasn''t it still wasteful?


    "Hey, even if he did have a demonic affinity, it shouldn''t be too high. One cannot have everything maxed out right? I mean take us for example, my nature affinity is only C. Wouldn''t it be better to let someone else learn?"


    "Listen, I am grateful and everything for all that he is doing. He can take everything if he wants to. I have no qualms about it. I am just giving my honest opinion taking the whole guild into ount. I am not trying to pick a fight. You tell me if what I am thinking is correct or not?"


    Mia nodded. She also agreed with Alex, but then again if Liam wanted to be wasteful then he deserved to be wasteful. It was not their ce to question him.


    "Let this go." She shook her head. She didn''t want this to be a thing.


    "Alright." Alex shrugged as well and the two of them walked away as the other person clearly did not want to be disturbed.


    Liam continued studying the skill for a long time so the rest of the group slowly started to disperse to take a break. Everyone was fully wiped out so they had to log out or sleep within the game for resting.


    A couple of minutester only Alex and Mia were left. The two sisters were still patiently waiting for Liam.


    A few more minutes passed by in silence when suddenly Liam opened his eyes and started chanting something.


    Almost immediately a red-colored aura started gathering, seeping in from the nooks and corners of the temple ruins.


    This aurabined together to form a crack in the spatial integrity and from within this, something vile and ominous stepped out.


    This demon was huge in size, dark red in color, and looked like a balloon. The next second it opened its mouth and started howling loudly.


    [Howler Demon, Level 50]


    Both Alex and Mia stood up in shock. They watched the creature in front of them with awe as it had a very powerful aura.


    For something this powerful, the summoner would probably not be able to hold on for too long. So while the creature was still out and about they tried to observe it properly.


    Liam as well did the same. He walked around the demon looking at it up and down.


    A few seconds passed like this in silence. The weird thing was¡­ the demon was still there? Shouldn''t the summon have ended by now?

 Chapter 518 Demonic contract

    Chapter 518 Demonic contract


    [Demonic Summon]: Consumes 200 mana and summons a lesser demon. Spell active for 20 seconds.


    [Demonic Contract]: Consumes 500 life force permanently to form a contract with a greater demon.


    Liam looked at the two demonic summoner skills that he had acquired and then at the demon in front of him, howling loudly like a rabid hound.


    "Alright. Not bad. I will keep you." He mumbled after a while. He still did not know what ''life force'' was. But no matter what it was, losing 500 of that for this big guy seemed to be a decent trade.


    "Keep you?" Both Alex and Mia were confused. What was going on? What was this skill? The next second, Liam started chanting something weird again and his eyes flickered while he did so.


    Howl!


    The demon as well had a strange look on its face as it stared down at Liam. It even brought out its thick big tongue and licked its lips in excitement, revealing its two rows of spiked teeth.


    The demon looked like an angry, ferocious, obese bulldog standing on its two hindlimbs.


    Its ws were stretched towards Liam and it was also sharpening them every other second by rubbing them together like it couldn''t wait to shred him apart.


    Looking at this, both Alex and Mia started to be worried. Did Liam really have this under control?


    They silently prepared to intervene if something happened and just like they feared, the next second, a bright red aura started covering both Liam and the demon.


    This for some reason made the demon very energetic and it started howling even more loudly.


    Howl! Howl! Howl! Thick ck vapors started enshrouding its body and its features started contorting and distorting.


    In the midst of this mayhem, the demon suddenly reached forward, to swing its ws at Liam.


    Pa! Pa! Two heavy blows struck Liam''s body, making him stagger on the spot.


    Both Alex and Mia immediately stepped forward to defend him but unexpectedly Liam raised his hand to stop them. "I will deal with him myself."


    He had to do it himself. Otherwise, this was never going to be sessful. Liam stared at the demon and shouted, "STAY DOWN or you will regret this!"


    Howl! The demon did not agree with him. It continuedshing out at him.


    Liam retreated back a few paces and cast [Ring of Fire] which held the demon in ce and stopped it from chasing him.


    "Liam! What is happening? What should we do?" Alex asked, anxiously looking back and forth.


    "Nothing, it''s almost over. Wait." Liam answered. She still did not understand but the woman standing next to her had her eyes peeled open.


    "I think he is forming a contract." Mia mumbled in a daze.


    "A contract with a demon?" Alex gasped. Now she understood.


    Forming a contract with a demon was just like taming a beast as a battlepanion. However, though they were simr in some aspects, both of them were vastly different.


    If a beast and a demon of the same level were to sh, it was undoubtedly the demon that would get the win.


    Demons were far more powerful than domesticated and tamed beasts. They had a bloodthirsty aura that made them excellent warriors and battlepanions.


    Alex gaped at the demon in front of her. Could he really form a contract with this guy?


    It was no wonder that he did not give up on the skill book! Who would want to lose out on such an amazing contract binding skill!


    She let out a sigh and watched the scene in front of her anxiously.


    However, unlike her, Liam was calm andposed. He was very dissatisfied with the way the fight with Hongumbra had gone down, so this one had to pay for it.


    "Stay down!" Liam shouted again and shed at the howler demon. It neither had the defense nor had the resilience of the strong demon from the abyss.


    After a few shes, the howler demon took quite a big hit and it still couldn''t break free from the [Ring of Fire], taking several additional burn damages.


    But the demon was not done yet. It growled loudly and started spitting out ck orbs.


    This was a dark element attack and it had some sort of honing ability because when Liam tried to dodge them, the attack still maically veered over to him.


    The demon sneered at him. It was game over.


    But unexpectedly, Liam was still calm and steady. "Not good enough." He grinned and directly took the attacks head on.


    He seemed like a hero facing darkness directly but what the demon didn''t realize was that Mia was already healing him.


    Liam continued attacking the howler demon again and again and the demon as well fought back ferociously.


    However, the fight was one-sided and rigged right from the beginning. It was only a matter of time before the demon became tired and submitted to the contract.


    In the end, it had to admit to Liam''s strength and power. No matter what it did, it shockingly just couldn''t harm him! So it begrudgingly submitted.


    Howl! It let out ast yelp before getting sucked into a circle withplex patterns and symbols.


    And the next second, Liam promptly received a notification.


    [Ding. Congrattions. You have sessfully bound a greater demon.]


    [Ding. Do you wish to name your contracted demon?]


    "Hmmm¡­ demonckey 1." Liam answered without giving it much thought. He was exhausted from battling nonstop.


    [Ding. Your contracted demon is now named demonckey 1]


    He cringed a little on hearing it but then shrugged and ignored it. Phew! He fell back onto the ground, copsingpletely.


    "Ummm¡­ what happened? Did it be sessful?" Alex wanted to bite her nails in nervousness.


    "Yes. Yes. Everything went well. Thanks for the help, Mia." Liam closed his eyes and replied.


    Mmm. Mia silently nodded.


    However, Alex was shocked again. "What? You helped him? How? When?" She was watching the demon so intensely that she did not even notice the constant heals Mia was supplying.


    Also, Liam had explicitly asked them not to help him. So when was he talking about? She looked at the two of them and it seemed like they had subtly done some tricks.


    "Tch. So that''s why you were able to tame that thing." Alex rolled her eyes. "I knew from the start it would be difficult to use this skill with a bad affinity."


    "Bad affinity? I guess you could say that." Liam calmly breathed in and out, trying to rx his tired body. "By the way, you both should log out and set your social media things straight. Otherwise, this might get out of hand."


    "Right." Mia nodded. "We will leave then."


    "One second." Alex walked up to Liam impatiently. She chewed her lips and wasn''t done with the guy just yet. "What affinity do you have? Tell me."


    Just once¡­ just once¡­ she wanted to be correct about something!


    Liam grinned and teased her on purpose. "Like you said, I have a bad one."


    "Ya. What is that?"


    "S grade."


    "He He. I knew it!" Alex chuckled but then suddenly stopped, "What did you say?"


    Mmmm. Liam quietly hummed, not responding to her anymore.


    He stretched his hands and legs on that dirty charred ground containing the scars of the battle just now and the dungeon run from before. He just wanted to take a nap.


    Seeing him like this, sleepy and defenseless, Alex was so tempted to lift her leg up and give the guy a good kick, but she silently sighed and gave up.


    Mia as well tugged her hand, signaling that they had to leave.


    "Alright. Alright. I will shut up my mouth now. Let''s go." She looked at Liam again and couldn''t help but silently wonder just how many top-grade affinities he had.


    She knew that hisher affinity was good, at least grade S and now his demonic affinity was also at least grade S? Could it perhaps be that he had every single one of his affinities S grade?


    "No. Something like that is impossible." She shook her head, and giving the guy onest look, she followed Mia out of the dungeon.


    Now that the two sisters also left, only Liam was present in the dungeon. He tiredly stared at the broken high ceiling. It looked as if it was going to crumble and fall on top of him.


    "I should head out too." He muttered in a daze, thinking about some things and he suddenly remembered something that he had forgotten.


    Liam quickly sat up and opened the various notifications and his status screen and he finally found the thing that he had forgotten.


    [Health] -500


    "So lifeforce meant health?" He now understood. "This is indeed an expensive price. That demon better be worth it." Liam sighed and closed his screen.


    He then stood up and walked out of the dungeon. Beside him, the white fox quietly trotted over, and besides this fox, there were now two more entities.


    One was the howler demon curiously observing everything and the other one was a random demon that Liam summoned using the starter skill.


    From now onwards, he nned to train in these types of demonic spells as well. This was the true reason why he was not frowning right now from his health getting cut short by 500 points.


    After being in theher realm for so long and after observing so many demons up close, he couldn''t help but be curious about the demonic energy.


    Especially now that he had run this dungeon, he could see the clear link between the two types of energies. Bothher and the demonic energy were unmistakably linked somehow.


    He did not know where this thought was headed but he couldn''t ignore it. And then there was also the abyss. Just thinking about that gave him a chill down his spine.


    "No. I shouldn''t distract myself so much. There is not much time before everything shuts down and the apocalypse begins. I can''t be idiotically following every little breadcrumb."


    He gave a quick nce at the demon walking behind him and then at Luna. He instantly knew what hecked the most right now. He had too manyckeys and not enough experience points!


    It was time to power up whatever boost he had managed to gather so far!


    Instead of trying to search for new ones, he needed to strengthen what was there in his hand at the moment, his spell casting, his soul army, and his spirit beast!


    "Let''s go and do some hunting. Come out." Liam summoned his army of soul undeads, walking over to one of the nearby grinding spots.


    It was a lush valley with several trees and rolling mountains.


    More importantly, it was filled with various different types of lower-level mobs, all ranging from Level 20 to Level 30, a picture-perfect spot for his small diverse army.


    "Go. Hunt. Kill. Be stronger. Don''t wake me up and don''t die." Liam ordered the group and he casually dropped to the grass, falling asleep quickly.


    This spot was a hidden spot in between higher-level mob areas so not many yers were around. Even if someone were toe, Luna was on duty to wake him up.


    So there was nothing to worry about. Besides, there was also the one guy who was watching over everything.


    The howler demonid on the grass next to Liam, like a guardian bulldog keenly watching everything happening around them.


    Unlike the others, the demon did not need to level up by hunting these smaller prey because the demon''s level was also the same as Liam''s. Level 50!


    So if any other yers were to approach them at the moment, it was not Liam''s group that was going to be sorry!


    Meanwhile¡­ outside in the real world¡­ just like Liam had foreseen, a terrible storm was brewing. Alex and Mia were getting bashed a lot on social media.


    But that was not the worst part. The worst part was that Mia was summoned by the board of directors of her father''spany.

 Chapter 519 Checkmate

    Chapter 519 Checkmate


    Inside a huge conference room on the 10th floor of the building, a group of men were seated, all dressed up in posh professional attire with their suits probably costing several thousand dors.


    More importantly, everyone had an indifferent, arrogant look and clearly displeased that they were being made to wait.


    "What happened? The princess is not here yet?" The chair at the head of the table, Jonathan Hofstader, mockinglymented.


    When Mia''s father was alive, he had always called her their princess and the man did not hesitate to mock his dead brother''s words.


    And this cruel remark only fell t on the other gathered big shots'' ears.


    The men sitting around the conference table all either indifferently continued about with their business or sneered in disdain just like the chair at the head of the table.


    Only one person clenched his hands tightly and replied back. "Uncle, you preponed the meeting time purposefully, knowing that Mia is still answering the press."


    Rey red at the man who had once been so friendly and supportive to them but now hadpletely turned his back on their plight.


    Not only that but he also wanted to swallow the wholepany and even Mia''s house and personal property.


    Rey absolutely hated the guy. He had always felt a bad feeling from him as if everything about the man was fake and now his true colors were out for everyone to see.


    "Heh. I don''t recall anything like that. Besides, if thepany is important to her, she should have arranged other things forter today." Jonathan Hofstader simply shrugged.


    "You also gave her the wrong time. This meeting is supposed to be in 2 hours."


    "Did I now? Then howe everyone else is here?"


    Rey simply could not take it anymore. He stood up angrily but before he could do something that he would regret, the conference room door opened again and Mia walked in.


    Immediately everyone quieted down. All the eyes in the room turned around to look at her and see the defeated expression on her face.


    However, what they saw was something different. The woman was as confident as always and there wasn''t even the smallest sign of frustration or sadness on her face.


    She looked like a pure angel made of ice as she waltzed in, donning a simple and elegant egg shell white dress. Her long honey blonde hair hung loosely, dancing like a cascading waterfall with every step she took.


    If the Mia before was beautiful, the Mia right now was absolutely breathtaking, the epitome of perfection. Everyone couldn''t take their eyes off the woman.


    Their gaze trailed her as she walked in and quietly sat down on one of the empty chairs. "My apologies for runningte." She curtly nodded and sat down.


    "That''s fine, Miss Mia. Shall we start the proceedings now?" Jonathan Hofstader smiled and nced at her before turning to his assistant who was standing near him.


    However, no one noticed the strange glint that shed past his eyes as he looked at Mia.


    "Today''s agenda." The assistant announced. His voice snapped everyone''s trance as they stopped looking at Mia and awkwardly cleared their throats.


    Mia, on the other hand, did not look in the least bothered by these things. She simply sat in her ce indifferently.


    Her calm and collected nature only further riled up the person. Jonathan Hofstader scoffed impatiently and grabbed the file from his assistant''s hands, reading it himself.


    "You are alreadyte. So let''s not beat around the bush. This meeting of the board of directors is convened because of your recent irresponsible actions."


    "You are thispany''s acting CEO, that means you have to be a model citizen. Instead, you dared to defy a direct government order andmit treason."


    "You dragged our entirepany''s reputation to the mud along with you. I have sources in the government telling me that an arrest warrant is being prepared for you as we speak."


    "Do you even know what this means? Miss Princess, this is not a yground. Thousands of people depend on us for their livelihood. If our stocks go down, then they will all suffer."


    "How are you going to answer all of this? How are you going to make up for all of our losses?"


    Hearing Jonathan pointing out all of their current issues point by point, everyone started raising their own issues as well.


    "The recent managerial duties have been neglected."


    "You are spending more time on social media and ying a video game rather than running apany."


    "What else did you all expect from a 20 year old? I knew it from the beginning. At this age, the youngsters only know how to drink and party."


    "Yes. Yes. This was why I objected to her taking chargest quarter and now the new quarter is going to start. We need to make some changes."


    "I agree. This quarter we need to do damage control. Otherwise, things might go beyond repair and ourpany stocks would truly plummet."


    "I have sources saying that an economic storm ising. We need to stabilize our condition soon. Otherwise, we will be in hot water."


    One by one all the board members started raising their voices and pointing fingers at Mia.


    And the person who threw gasoline to light this fire, Jonathan Hofstader, silently rested his face on his palm and observed her, taking note of Mia''s every action.


    Once again the strange glint shed past his eyes.


    Mia, on the other hand, silently looked at the center of the wooden table observing the pattern of the rippling waves on the wooden surface.


    She patiently listened to every singleint that was raised against her. She did this for a whole twenty minutes before calmly standing up.


    "I have heard everyone''s opinions. I will give you all a suitable answer soon." She curtly replied, preparing to leave.


    "No, Mia. You cannot run away like this, Princess." Jonathan Hofstader stood up and followed after her.


    Seeing these two, Rey as well got up and quickly walked out, but he was stopped by two men who asked him to sign for his attendance. He hade here today instead of Alex so he had to take care of a few formalities.


    "Damn it. Give me quickly." Rey did not have a good feeling.


    Outside the room, Mia continued walking straight to the elevator and pushed the button to the ground floor.


    After giving today''s meeting half an hour, she knew that things had now be unsalvagable. Back in that room, there was nothing she could have said or done.


    They were all already against her. Or rather someone had nned everything beforehand.


    "You shouldn''t leave so soon, princess. You should at least try and talk to some of the board members, else you might really end up losing everything you own."


    Mia stopped in her tracks hearing the familiar voice. She did not turn around. However, the other person still chuckled and walked over to her.


    "You really sealed your own fate this time. I didn''t even have to do anything. A scandal like this will finish you."


    Jonathan Hafstader lifted a few strands of her soft silky hair and felt it in his fingers, the strange glint shing past his eyes again.


    But Mia quickly moved away and turned to re at him icily. She gave him a stern look and then walked away without saying anything else.


    "Your father is gone, princess. You better stop deluding yourself that you can run thispany. You need me. You know that. It''s checkmate, princess."


    Mia indifferently closed the elevator door. She then walked out to catch a cab and directly went over to her house. Alex was waiting for her there.


    "How did it go? I just spoke with Rey."


    "How else could it go? It was just as we expected."


    "Damn it. I knew it. That pervert bastard wants to screw you out of every penny you are worth. Damn. What a disgusting man!" She spat out angrily. This man was supposed to be their guardian.


    "What are you going to do now?"


    Mia shook her head. "I will make a few calls to mywyers and see what could be done, but I think we are going to lose the house."


    "Ok." Alex nodded. She also thought of something so she quickly walked into her room and then directly logged into her game cab.


    "Liam, are you there?" She quickly sent a message to the only guy who could probably help them at the moment.


    "Liam, could you please tell me what is the best way to farm gold coins? We urgently need money and lots of it."


    Alex sent the message and silently prayed. He hade through every single time they needed him, so this time also¡­


    "Please. Come on. Come on."


    Ding! A message popped up the next second but it was not the one she expected. Instead, it was a strange cryptic message.


    "Go to the airport. Now."

 Chapter 520 Whats your address?

    Chapter 520 What''s your address?


    Before Alex messaged him, Rey had already messaged Liam and told him about everything. He had asked him the same question to see if there were any worthwhile big investments in the game.


    But Liam immediately knew that something was wrong.


    Was it around this time Mia had disappeared?


    He couldn''t remember this part clearly because at this time so much chaos andmotion had ensued. The exact timeline was not too clear to him.


    So many celebrities disappeared around this time and an entirely new set of celebrities cropped up, the rankers of ''Evolution Online''. Though Mia belonged to both of these categories, she also for some reason had disappeared.


    Why? What happened to her and who did this to her were all a mystery.


    However, Liam was sure about one thing. This time, history was not going to repeat itself, at least in her case. He was not going to let his investments go to waste.


    Besides, it was also time to implement the next phase before the world started to be more chaotic.


    Pretty soon all countries would basically shut down and then travel would not be easily possible. There would be so many moreplications.


    Instead of dealing with all of that, it was better to just start moving things now. As for how he was nning to exin these things to others¡­


    "When I logged into this game for the very first time¡­ I got a premonition, like a dream of the future¡­" Liam messaged Rey. He hoped that this exnation would stick.


    Knowing ces where bosses would pop out, dungeon strategies, and battle strategies, these things werepletely different from knowing things that were going to actually go down in the real world.


    Unless hees clean about this return back in time, there was no reason for anyone to believe him, uproot their whole life and move in with him.


    So Liam decided to go with something like this. Now all that was left was for Rey to believe him.


    "I will exin these things to you guys in person but for now, I think that your life is in danger. So the three of you should immediatelye to my ce." He added.


    He then looked at the system interface with a frown on his face. Would this work?


    As if answering his question, the very next second, Rey''s response popped up. "Bro! This is awesome! We will be right there!"


    Liam bitterly smiled. Of course, this guy was going to believe him. Why did he even doubt this in the first ce?


    He also saw that Rey had already logged out. "So fast? He didn''t ask me a single question?" Liam now was truly speechless. "Since when did I be so trustworthy?"


    He pped his face with his palm and let out a sigh when a new message popped out, this time from the personpletely opposite to Rey, the one that questions everything he does. Alex had messaged him.


    "These two siblings are going to drive me crazy!" Liam replied to her with a short message and let Rey exin everything else.


    ? It looked like he had indeed sent some messages to Alex because she as well logged out shortly afterward.


    Now the only thing that remained was to wait and see what was going to happen. Would these guys really trust him and make such a huge move?


    Just in case anyone decided to log back in and contact him again, Liam hung around the same spot for a little longer.


    He also used this time to catch up with Berat. They needed to up their gold game soon. "Maybe I should sell some of the rare herbs from the stone tablet garden." Liam pondered.


    However, before this came the strange auction house he had visited. He needed more mana cores to participate in that. There were now only 2 days left for the big auction.


    "Well even if I don''t have enough cores, I can always farm for more and attend the next one. Maybe I can exchange for the rare herbs with mana cores there? Or even auction some rare herbs?"


    Just as Liam was trying to figure out the best course of action, Alex once again logged in and messaged him, "Where should wee? What is your address?"


    Hmmm¡­ Liam remained silent for a second as he truly did not expect this trio to quickly agree just like this. "Take a flight to the Hangzhou airport." He gave them all the required details and his phone number.


    This officially marked it. It looks like the next phase was now starting to take shape quickly.


    He only nned to do this one weekter but since Mia and Alex were already in hot water, there was no harm in kicking off things a bit early.


    Liam gave some more directions and chatted with the woman for a little longer. He then wrapped things up and stood up to stretch his arms and legs.


    All of this right now was still a mere discussion. Whether they were going to actually do it or not was yet to be seen.


    Liam twisted his body and cracked his neck. He had actually slept for 12 hours straight. Sleeping inside the game was less efficient than getting a real good night''s rest, so he had to sleep longer.


    But on the plus side¡­


    Liam grinned as he lifted his gaze to look up at the marvelous scene unfolding in front of him.


    On one side of the valley, all of his soul undeads were beating up a small mob of green snakes. Chickens and rabbits were pecking at them wildly, the three wolves were ripping everything apart.


    On the other side, the dryads, the imps, and the bears were wreaking havoc. It was really a sight to see.


    These guys had started hunting when he went to sleep and now they were still busily grinding. From the looks of it, they seemed to be doing this for thest 12 hours without break?


    What incredible stamina! Only an undead can grind like this continuously!


    Liam''s eyes then fell on the lone straggler, his human soul undead. Only this fellow seemed to be half-heartedly walking around with a big attitude all over his ghostly face.


    He absent-mindedly swung his ax, hitting the grass around more than the actual target. When the cat was away, the rats partied!


    He was the perfect example of a government employee chilling at the desk, with work piled all around and yet busily tapping away the phone.


    Liam''s lips twitched as he stared at thezy bones. "This guy needs some disciplining."


    And looking at this, he was also reminded about the other guys that needed to be taught another good lesson, Gorak''s previousrades, the newly formedbined guild, the so-called ''Coalition of Righteous.''

 Chapter 521 Pet1 vs Demon Lackey1

    Chapter 521 Pet1 vs Demon Lackey1


    Liam opened his system interface and looked up his friend list for two specific names. These were none other than Alex''s twockeys.


    "Did you two find out more information about that coalition guild or not?" He sent a rather stern message because he needed this information yesterday.


    But unexpectedly, as soon as he sent the message, he also got a reply. "Boss, what are you talking about? Everything is there online."


    The next second another reply came in.


    "Boss, sorry we forgot to inform you. That guild actually is very openly boasting about their abilities and new raid group." The two changed their tone and sent Liam a better response.


    "They also openly stated that they will be attempting the rift battle tomorrow, in another 10 hours."


    Liam read the message and chuckled slightly. "Good. Good. This saves me the trouble. It seems these guys are very confident this time around. That''s good. We will get a good harvest."


    He then dismissed all of his undeads, keeping only the demon and Luna on his side.


    It was time to pay another visit to theher realm.


    Liam opened his personal portal to theher realm and stepped in, the other two following behind him quickly. As usual, they were teleported somewhere on the outskirts of Thol city.


    Kyuuuu. Lunazily yawned and ballooned up to take her role as the ride, but she saw that Liam was still busily looking at the neer, the howler demon!


    Kyuuu! This was not eptable.


    Liam, on the other hand, ignored the little white fox''s antics and continued to take a look at the demon. He also received two new notifications.


    [Ding. Your contracted demon''s attributes are increased by 10%]


    [Ding. Experience points gained by your contracted demon are increased by 10%]


    "So your stats are also buffed in theher realm¡­ Not bad." Liam closed everything and then to Luna''s delight dismissed the demon.


    That''s right she was the only pet Liam favored! She jutted her chest out proudly and stood like an aloof elegant awesome fox.


    "You are getting cheekier by the hour." Liam hopped onto the fox and tugged her ears yfully.


    Kyuuu. Luna whined adorably and shot forward like a bullet,nding on the Thol city''s garrison tower terrace in under two minutes.


    "Hmmm¡­ this is definitely higher than your normal speed. Did you level up?"


    Luna lifted her paw to show the peace sign. She had leveled up twice in the 12 hours.


    "Good job." Liam smiled and gave her a few pats. "As long as your strength matches your attitude." He chuckled and walked away.


    Behind him, the little fox pouted as if she was terribly wronged but the next second she put on a happy smile and trotted behind Liam.


    She could care less what he said, all she needed was the attention.


    She shrugged and swaggered forward into the garrison in front of the demon whom Liam had once again summoned.


    Though the howler demon was one of the greater demons who didn''t have the ability tomunicate properly, it was still a demon from the abyss.


    Keeping it around more might increase its wisdom and awareness. So Liam decided to keep it summoned as often as possible.


    He walked over to the big hall of the garrison and flopped down on the bigfortable throne. He then opened up both Luna''s stats and the demon''s stats to make a fewparisons.


    [Ding]


    [Name: Pet1, Luna]


    [Level: 18]


    [Type: Spirit beast (Evolution possible)]


    [Grade: Celestial]


    [Ding]


    [Name: Demon Lackey1]


    [Level: 50]


    [Type: Greater Abyss Demon]


    [Grade: Common]


    [Skill1: Dark Demonic Burst]


    [Skill2: Demonic Frenzy]


    [Skill3: Demonic Bite]


    [Skill4: Demonic w]


    "These stats are not bad but whenpared to Luna, this red guy is stillcking a lot." Liam analyzed out loud, making the fox reveal a big smug grin.


    "What are youughing at? This is only whenparing potential but right now, he beats you inbat abilities hands down."


    Kyuuuuu!


    So unfair! I am still a baby!


    The fox once again pouted but Liam rolled his eyes and ignored her.


    A few other demons had arrived to meet with him and were waiting for him so he put away the status screens and paid attention to them.


    "Hiruyu, how have things at the garrison been?" Liam first asked his right-hand demon when it came to handling the affairs of the garrison.


    With everything going on, he hadpletely ignored this ce. Just thinking about the gold coins he might need to fill up the garrison coffers gave him a headache.


    It was a worthwhile investment but the constant need for a supply of gold coins was a real pain in the behind.


    He needed to constantly keep hustling for gold coins by collecting the items from here and selling them back at the Gresh kingdom auction houses.


    And since he had not been doing this for a while, things must have piled up now. "Alright, give it to me straight." Liam sighed.


    However, surprisingly, the next second Hiriyu actually smiled. "My Lord, I have great news for you! We received several tributes!" The demon''s eyes were bright like twinkling stars as he excitedly informed.


    "Huh? Tributes?" Liam lifted his brow in confusion.


    "Yes, my Lord. Several other garrison leaders paid some friendly tribute to us to build a good rtionship with you, my Lord. The King also sent us some resources."


    Hiriyu then turned around to call a few demons up to the front. These guys brought everything over one after the other.


    A couple of minutester, lying in front of Liam were various size wooden chests with golden designs and more importantly, each of these chests contained things that glittered.


    There were silver coins, gold coins, various glittering gems, dazzling items, metal ores, several chests of herbs, beast blood, beast bones, demonic cores, fine cloth¡­ the list simply went on!


    As if this was not enough¡­ there were also about ten demon women who walked over to stand in front of Liam. "My Lord," they smiled at him shyly and bowed.

 Chapter 522 Keep it coming!

    Chapter 522 Keep iting!


    "An alchemist is so popr?" Liam was speechless. He stood up and walked around the women, greeting them one by one and checking them out from top to bottom.


    He was very interested in their stats. Who knew? He might have just received ten strong fighters!


    Right now, he would take everything that he got. It was the end game zone now, so every little bit counted. Not that he was not interested in the other things.


    "Ahem." Liam cleared his throat as he couldn''t help but look at some of these women''s assets. They were very eye-catching in an obvious manner.


    "My Lord, I am the daughter of the ck Thorn city garrison leader. My father sends you his sincere wishes."


    "My Lord, I am the daughter of the Devil''s Trap city garrison leader. My father also sends you his sincere utmost respect."


    "My Lord, I am¡­."


    One by one all the demon women bowed and started introducing themselves.


    They all seemed to hail from the small garrison cities, probably the garrison lord''s attempts to have ties and form a good rtionship with Liam.


    While the bigger garrison cities seemed to stop with just sending material tributes, the smaller ones had actually sent over their daughters!


    The reality of it only sunk in after Liam heard all the women introduce themselves one after the other.


    All of them looked beautiful though some of them were thick and some of them were thin. The group even had one ogre woman who looked like she could snap Liam in half.


    He snapped out of his trance and shook that image off of his head.


    But the problem still remained¡­ what was he supposed to do with the ten of them? Concubines? Marry them?


    Their stats were not bad. They were all between Level 70 and Level 90, and two of the demon women even had question marks above their heads.


    These two also looked the best in the group as well, having humanoid dark elf features, except for the furry tails. The others also looked good in their own regards and had their charm points.


    It wouldn''t be too bad to have them as concubines but at this point, Liam had a feeling that this damned game was purposefully trying to mess with him and divert his attention and focus!


    When was he supposed to train if he spent his time on these juicy rewards!


    The cake was right in front of him but if he ate it, he might have to pay a terrible price.


    Liam bitterly smiled. He sucked in a big breath of air and decided to deal with this issue right now and here.


    After all, these women should be rather easy to deal with. It was that crazy mother and daughter duo who gave him headaches and thankfully at least they were not here at the moment.


    "Please thank your fathers for their good wishes. You can all make yourself at home. Hiriyu, take care of them and see if they needed anything." He tried to sound as diplomatic as possible and gave the demon a knowing look.


    Luckily, Hiriyu was smart enough to take his subtle hint and quickly showed the women the way out to another part of the garrison tower that was more catered to the guests.


    Only now everyone in the hall could breathe freely. Both Liam and Luna sighed at the same time. That was intense!


    But now, it was finally time to take a look at the real rewards, the things that he could actually use.


    Liam immediately transferred all the gold coins into his ount, leaving only the silver coins behind.


    He then pocketed all of the items, gems, misceneous ore materials, and the several chests full of different different herbs. His inventory was fully flush and so were his resources!


    "Heh. This quest just keeps on giving!" Liam chuckled. Thinking back to the risks he had taken and the difficulty of the overall quest, this was quite satisfying.


    "Hiriyu, use these resources for the day to day upkeep of the garrison. Let me know if you need more resources."


    "My Lord, thank you. I will get it done." Hiriyu nodded respectfully. The demon then scratched his head and informed Liam of the other important thing that he had almost forgotten.


    "My Lord, we also got the orders that we no longer need to pay Kingdom tax!" He punched his palm with his hand and shouted in excitement.


    "Oh? More concessions. Alright! Keep iting!" At this point, Liam just epted everything with open arms. "Anything else?" He grinned.


    "Ah, leader. The king also informed us that we no longer need to participate in the rift conquests." Hiriyu quickly added.


    Their garrison was technically a medium-sized one and only the bigger city garrisons were expected to participate in these battles and contribute to the grand war.


    Their garrison should have never been listed for battle in the first ce. Because certain influential people intervened behind the scenes, this happened.


    But now, Liam held that position. From the looks of it, the King was favoring him a lot and this instantly turned all the tables.


    He was now in the position of power and he didn''t have to dance to the tune of the other garrison leaders. In fact, if he wanted he could make someone else''s garrison crumble and disappear.


    However, Liam did not care about these grudges and also did not care too much for these politics but at the same time, he was not yet done with these rift battles.


    They might not need to participate but he was absolutely nning on doing just that.


    All of these rewards, tributes, and being the King''s favored demon of the month was good but it was not longsting.


    To keep things peaceful for the remaining weeks that the game would still be open to everyone, he needed something more, a strong demonstration of his strength and power!


    "Get everyone ready. In about 8 hours, we will be doing a rift battle!" Liam dered.

 Chapter 523 Did you see my LEVEL?

    Chapter 523 Did you see my LEVEL?


    After informing the garrison, Liam did not linger around and quickly messaged the rest of the guild group who were currently in theher realm.


    It would be best for them as well to participate in this rift battle though he wasn''t sure if he would be able to invite them into the raid team?


    As long as everyone stands within the formation maybe it will work out?


    Liam pondered about this and sent the message out. He also hadn''t checked on these guys for a while so he opened the party chat history to take a look.


    "What?" Almost instantly, his eyes went wide.


    The chat in fact was not that active. There were only a few messages here and there, but these messages¡­ were simply too ridiculous!


    "I reached 40!"


    "Bitch please! I got to 42!"


    "Sigh. I am only 41. I amgging behind."


    "Mu ha ha ha! I am 44 already."


    It only took Liam a nce. He immediately could tell what these numbers were, but the thing was he still couldn''t believe it.


    So he hurriedly opened everyone''s guild profile and checked.


    Mei Mei - Level 45


    Shen Yue - Level 45


    Derek - Level 45


    Shin Soo - Level 43


    Kang Minah - Level 43


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam gulped. What the hell were these numbers? When he had left everyone was still around 38 to 40. How could the levels suddenly shoot up like this?


    Did these guys all be garrison leaders and get their own demon cities? What was going on?


    He quickly messaged Mei Mei again. "Are you fine? What is everyone doing? Where are you guys?"


    Another minuteter, Mei Mei''s reply finally came in. "What happened, brother? We are still in the same spot you left us."


    Liam saw the message and his eyes twitched. This girl was purposefully acting innocent.


    He knew about his sister very well. There was no way she would be able to remain calm about something like this. It looked like they had found a very good spot to level up!


    "Alright. You guys keep doing what you are doing. Ignore my earlier message." Liam sent another reply.


    When their leveling method was still efficient, there was no need to make them travel unnecessarily and waste time.


    If needed, they could always run another raid. It was not an absolute must for them to participate in this one.


    Liam closed the interface to move on to the next work when another message from Mei Mei quickly arrived. "Brother! What happened? You are not asking anything else?"


    Liam chuckled. This girl wanted to show off! "No, I am good."


    "Did you see my LEVEL??????????"


    "Yes. It''s good. Keep it up." Liam grinned and closed the interface again.


    Trying to act smart with him? Now you enjoy the consequences. He could already imagine his sister''s red face. He was going to pay for thister but whatever.


    "I wonder how they found such a good spot." Liam walked back and forth in the garrison hall.


    The leveling up speed was quite good. Even he did not know of any spots like this. With this, their speed might actually be faster than his.


    However, there was one thing still bothering him.


    There were no free lunches in the world and more so in this game. If they were able to level up this quickly, then there might be an equally expensive price to pay.


    "Be wary of your surroundings and don''t hesitate to call me." Liam sent another message. He decided to warn them just in case something turned out to be fishy.


    "There are still 7 to 8 hours more." He paused for a moment and then went into one of the rooms to try and make the cleansing elixir again.


    Now that he had a mana core, this should be easier. He just might be able to make it without relying on the stone tablet. He also had 5 sets of herbs which should be enough to make 2 batches at the least.


    Liam calmed down and prepared everything first. He then fired up the cauldron. Time quickly passed and when he was at his fourth attempt, it was alreadyte for the rift battle.


    However, he did not want to stop the process midway.


    The other three attempts had resulted in failures so he was determined to get this one right, especially because he had a good feeling about it.


    A couple more minutes passed in silence and the next second¡­ CRACKLE CRACKLE¡­


    The water inside the cauldron sizzled and this batch of concoctions sessfully condensed.


    [Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    "Phew." Liam grinned and let out a huge breath.


    "1 out of 4 huh¡­" This was a pathetic sess rate but he was getting there and this time he also managed to make the elixir without the help of the stone tablet''s special garden and special pond.


    "The subsequent sess rates should be better." He mentally went over all the steps that he had just done and walked out of the room when unexpectedly he ran into the dark elf beast kin.


    "My Lord." She bowed respectfully. Her emerald gaze shifted from Liam to the small vial in his hands. "Is that the elixir, my Lord?" There was a visible flicker of greed in her eyes.


    "Hmmm?" Liam frowned. He did not answer her and kept walking. "My Lord! Please wait!" The dark elf called after him and ran behind him.


    "My Lord, I have a request for you. I am aware that the garrison is currently participating in a rift battle. Please allow me to participate in the fight."


    "Sure." Liam casually answered and kept walking.


    The dark elf looked surprised. She had expected more resistance and also something else¡­


    "My Lord!" She again called after Liam and ran behind him.


    Liam now stopped. It was obvious to him what this demoness was after. It was not a big deal for him to give it to her but the question was whether this person was trustworthy.


    His gaze dragged down on the shapely figure of the dark elf but it didn''t seem to make the other party nervous.


    "My Lord," The dark elf chewed and swallowed.


    "Hmmm?" Liam as well did not help her out.


    After dancing on her toes for a couple of seconds, without seeing any other way out, the dark elf finally came out with it.


    "My Lord, please. Can you give me an elixir? I want to be stronger. My mother is imprisoned-"


    "Stop." Liam did not let her speak further. He had no interest in hearing her sob stories. Not that he did not feel pity for the elf but he simply did not have the time.


    "These elixirs are precious. If you need them, then you need to have something equally valuable to trade for them." He gave a stern reply.


    "But¡­ But¡­ My Lord¡­ I."


    Liam shrugged and turned to walk away. He had spent the past 8 hours making this one batch. There was no way he could simply give it away for free.


    Besides, if the demon woman desperately wanted it, there was a chance that she would¡­


    "My Lord, if you grant me this elixir, then I shall pledge my undying loyalty to you. I have nothing else to trade. Only myself." She resolutely replied.


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept Yessika varkeya as your follower?]


    [Y/N]


    Bingo! Liam grinned. He was also expecting something like this.


    That too, this was one of his tributes who had question marks on her head. She might not have anything valuable but she herself could be a powerful ally.


    Now he did not have any problem with trading the elixir.


    "Yes." He mumbled and gave the elf her elixir.


    [Ding. Yessika varkeya is now given the follower status. You are able to view her status]


    Immediately, the question marks atop the demon woman''s head disappeared, revealing a Level 121 status. She would indeed make a fine addition to the group. Liam nodded contently.


    She might not be able to leave theher realm but at least while they were here, she would be invaluable, and especially considering that the rest of the group were not attending this rift battle¡­ she was a timely addition!


    But why stop with one?


    Liam suddenly had a thought and he grinned. He knew what to do with the ten new arrivals, but all of that had to wait until after the battle. It was time for some payback!

 Chapter 524 Ready! Start!

    Chapter 524 Ready! Start!


    "Everyone is assembling. You might want to consume the elixir and clean up before arriving. Good luck." Liam wished the dark elf and continued to walk out of the garrison, heading to the main square.


    The entirety of the garrison''s manpower had gathered here. It was a sight to behold!


    Numerous demons of various shapes and sizes all stood in perfect order and discipline. They might be brutes and bloodthirsty fighters but their military game was top tier.


    Liam was amazed at this scene. In his past life, even when it mattered, their people couldn''t do this small thing, but here just a small garrison was so organized.


    Perhaps if they had also stood united, at least that once, they wouldn''t have lost very badly and millions of lives wouldn''t have been wiped off of the face of the earth.


    Just the thought of that memory made Liam shudder.


    And this was just the first wave, he couldn''t even imagine what happened in the subsequent waves. If he truly did not want history to repeat itself, then he had to change it!


    He needed to be stronger. This was still not enough.


    Liam was 100% inspired by the current environment around him. For someone who was once weak, helpless, and powerless, this scene gave him goosebumps.


    "EVERYONE! PREPARE YOURSELF! THIS BATTLE IS OURS TO WIN!"


    "WE WILL WIN IT AT ALL COSTS!" He shouted.


    All the demons looked up to him and responded to him in unison. The entire city was thrumming with battle energy.


    Thanks to the generous reward structure, the number of recruits in the city was a lot higherpared to the other small cities and all the demons were also decently equipped.


    Units, squads, toons, everyone marched together and thest of the demons hurriedly assembled. Next to Liam, his main demon squad as well promptly assembled.


    All the demons had leveled up considerably since thest time Liam had met them. He hadn''t seen them for a while and it looked like their growth hadn''t stagnated.


    "Good." Liam nodded in satisfaction. "You guys did well."


    "Leader!" The group of demons cheered in unison. Some even teared up. They had really worked hard! Even Hiriyu was standing with them. This was a full reunion of the old squad.


    Liam smiled and did not say anything. The truth was that he wouldn''t be able to take these guys back with him. So he didn''t purposefully cultivate any rtionships.


    However, despite that, they had fought together a lot. So it was natural to be close. "Do you guys want to be my followers?" Liam asked.


    Before he did not know that they could be his followers but since the dark elf was able to, maybe these guys would also be able to?


    "Yes, leader!"


    "Yes, leader!"


    All the demons immediately looked excited. Liam as well grinned with the same excitement. Both sides waited but weirdly nothing happened?


    Liam did not receive any notifications. Then how was the dark elf able to do that.


    He looked at the squad in front of him and the only difference between them and the dark elf was that the other part was Level 100 plus.


    So they have to be Level 100 and above to be followers?


    Liam pondered for a couple of seconds and decided to deal with thister. There were probably some nuances associated with that. Now they had a war to win!


    "Alright. Let''s go! Let''s get this battle started!"


    GROWL! All the demons shouted in unison and Hiriyu brought a war scroll over. There were 20 war scrolls in total and this would be their first one.


    Liam turned to see that Yessika had also arrived.


    The dark elf was not all that different from before, just judging from her appearance but there was definitely something about her that was different.


    She had a stronger presence. Liam couldn''t ce his finger on it.


    "I am here, my Lord." She respectfully walked over to stand next to him.


    "Ok, then. Hiriyu, start the formation."


    The demon nodded and tore up the war scroll. This was the activation method. There wasn''t any otherplicated chanting.


    The moment the seemingly normal war scroll was torn up, almost immediately the entire city was covered by some sort of magical runes, the sky, the ground, everything was covered in these runes.


    Soon the runes appeared on the demons as well and the next instant everyone was teleported.


    [Ding. The rift battle now begins]


    [Ding. New Quest Avable]


    [Ding. Conquer the spatial rift]


    [Ding. Reward: 10 million experience points]


    "Heh. This will take me to the next level directly!" Liam was overjoyed. It was going to be a good harvest today!


    The blur soon cleared up and he clenched his fist and looked around to see where they hadnded and where the rift battle was this time.


    Surprisingly, he saw a pleasant scenery this time. They were standing on an ind of sorts with a vast ocean in front of them with crystal blue waters.


    Did theye to a rift battle or summer holiday?


    But Liam knew better than to be fooled by their surroundings. This was random just like the enemy they would be facing.


    "Everyone! Don''t let your guards down! toons! Stay in formation! Units listen to your squad leaders. Everyone stick together and attack to the best of your abilities!"


    Liam didn''t have to give too many instructions because these demons were already battle veterans.


    Theher realm was always in a state of war because of the invasion missions. So every single one of these demon soldiers was an experienced fighter.


    They also didn''t have to group themselves into casters or melee fighters. There were very few casters in the army and these demons formed the central unit.


    All the other melee fighters upied the peripheral units. As for healers, they were even fewer in number.


    This was the main weakness of the demon armies. This was also what the others used to destroy them in the war thest time around.


    Their sheer numbers just couldn''t make up for theck of healers. So in the end, they crumbled. Liam was not nning to let things follow the same path this time around.


    He had no idea what was going to happen in the big war but as far as this battle was concerned, they were going to win it! No matter what!


    "Send out the scouts! Let''s see where these bastardsnded!" Liam shouted.


    The few demons in the front squad quickly activated their stealth ability and started moving around to look for signs of the opposition.

 Chapter 525 Shitty Luck

    Chapter 525 Shitty Luck


    "Everyone. Let''s take 2 minutes of silence for our fallen hero. Gorak, we miss you, buddy. This win is for you!"


    The former leader of the Rising Dragon guild, also one of the six guild leaders in the new Coalition of the righteous guild, raised his sword heroically.


    The guy had his eyes closed and his pose made him look like a righteous warrior descended from the heavens.


    At this exact time, the rift buff alsonded on the group gathered, making everyone seemingly glittering.


    For the purpose of the rift battle, the divine temples had also started selling several rift-rted short-term guild buffs.


    Coalition of the righteous guild did not hold back any expense and had bought a lot of these buffs. They were determined to win this battle no matter what.


    In the outside world, there were currently big issues going on with the government and the game but because of some insider information, these guys knew that the game was going topletely explode in the uing week.


    People who were earning peanuts before were now going to start earning lumpsum amounts.


    In every Kingdom, the top 10 guilds would be determined this week and if they did not stabilize their position right now, it would be difficult to do soter on.


    So they absolutely had to win this rift battle!


    "Let''s hunt the demons and win this fight!" The six guild leaders shouted in unison and everyone else roared in response. There were about 10000 of them in total so the big gathering was quite lively.


    Everyone''s morale was superbly boosted and the entire guild was in the mood to ughter anyone and everyone in front of them!


    Now the only thing that remained was for the demons to appear.


    "There! The demons are there!" Someone shouted and everyone turned to see a huge army of demons marching on the white shores of the ind.


    Because of the rift battle, everyone''s level was adjusted and the demons were all around Level 30 which was the average level of the opposing group. This was also one of the divine temple''s buff.


    However, even though the levels were not too different, one side had about 10000 in numbers while the other side had about 50000!


    Everyone''s face immediately changed. From the information they had received sometimes, there were fewer demons and sometimes there were more demons. So this was not a good start.


    More importantly¡­ everyone''s eyes focussed on the person at the center who was sitting atop a huge white fox. This person''s level was shockingly 50??? His level was not reduced?


    But there was no time to think about that.


    "ATTACK! NOW!" Themanders quickly reacted. Everyone knew that the shoring of the demons was their casters.


    They were mostly melee fighters so before they reached them, they had to take down the demons. Their sess strategy relied mainly on this weakness.


    Without giving them any chance to fight back, the guild hurriedly started firing at full force. They did not even have to aim. They simply started sending out all types of attacks as fast as they could.


    One other guild had achieved victory following this same tactic. They caused almost half the force to crumble before they could ever reach them.


    So maybe if they are lucky, they could also do the same?


    However, the next second¡­ something unexpected happened. All the demons started running towards the forests on the inside of the ind rather than approaching them.


    The outer parts of the ind had white sandy beaches near the water that had no ce to hide but the inner parts of the ind had dense forests and numerous tall trees. There were plenty of ces to take cover.


    "Not so fast." Liam grinned. The demons were only easy to take down if they did not know what they were doing. But under hismand, he sneered at the bunch of yers with pity.


    They should not have messed with his guild. Since they dared to do that repeatedly, he could not be med for this.


    Once the demons took cover, it was their turn to start attacking. Arrows from this side started flying towards the guild still standing on the shores.


    "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT? RUN! WE WILL TAKE COVER TOO!" The other party who were now sitting ducks beingpletely exposed also copied Liam''s strategy and ran into the forests.


    However, they forgot about something crucial.


    They wanted to deal with the demons long-range, not melee and once both the armies decided to step into the forests, the fight instantly became a melee fight.


    The demon side did not stand by idly and started running towards the opposition under the cover of the trees.


    They were already prepared for the yers to run into the forest and when they did, the demons were ready for them.


    Almost instantly, everything fell into chaos. The demons starteding out of the woodworks like red ants and they were everywhere.


    Every yer found himself ganged upon by three to four demons. It was an utter disaster. Up close, the demons were incredibly difficult to fight.


    They had sturdy bodiesced with scars, strong defense, and even stronger attack power. Some of their items were also better than the ones the yers were wearing.


    Everyone cursed their stupid luck to run into a rift battle with an opponent this strong.


    "Damn. Our luck sucks like always. This is a random match-up, why did we have to end up with this team? This is bad. We are going to lose like this. Let''s use up the other buffs also."


    The six mainmanders suddenly sent out res into the sky and the next second a group of yers took out a potion and drank it.


    As soon as they did, about a hundred people from the group started growing in size. They became twice their normal size and everything about them as well doubled.


    These yers were now no longer level 30ish. They were now around level 60ish.


    Liam saw this and he grinned. "Now it begins."

 Chapter 526 Game is rigged!

    Chapter 526 Game is rigged!


    Liam only knew some things about the rift battles and this new potion these people had used was definitely a surprise to him. However, that did not change anything.


    Though he did not know much about this specific potion, he knew that the effect would probably notst that long.


    Unless each of these enhanced yers takes out hundreds of demons at once, the oue of this battle would still be the same. Even so, Liam did not want their losses to be too high.


    It was time for him to take action. He churned the mana in his body especially tapping into his core, pushing it to his extremities to boost his speed and agility.


    He then sted forward at full speed, arriving in front of one of the enhanced yers in a couple of seconds.


    sh. He unsheathed his purple sword and swung at the guy at full speed.


    The yer was a pdin who had only just now happily freed himself by pushing back the four demons ganging up on him, enjoying the thrill of power.


    But now he was suddenly unable to react. Before he could see what was happening, like a storm, a dozen sword shesnded on him.


    -1000


    -1500


    -2000


    -1200


    Each one did hefty damage taking out significant chunks and in about ten or so attacks, he found himself lying on the floor lifelessly.


    "Ah¡­" The yer died with his eyes open searching for the enemy.


    "You can''t just boost your stats and expect to be strong." Liam chuckled. He was already on the move to the next guy.


    These yers were really easy to spot as they were considerably bigger and every single one of them was able to overpower the four demons surrounding them.


    "This potion is really neat. I should stop underestimating the divine temple and put more effort into the rest of the spatial rifts. Otherwise, I might end up regretting it."


    Liam observed the enhanced yer swinging his dagger around and doing several critical vital damages. One of the demons was already down.


    There was no time to waste. As he moved towards this next guy, he brought along with him a big ball of fire that he jammed at the guy, sending him toppling backward.


    He then finished the battle with a few sword shes.


    "Too easy." He grinned and immediately moved on to the next yer. This time his focus was on using his mana core as much as he could to boost his movements.


    In order to bring out the full potential of the core, he decided to practice this first. Not that he needed it.


    Liam was like an overpowered yer in a beginner zone, wreaking havoc everywhere he went. In fact, those who consumed the super boost potion were supposed to be doing this.


    These potions were super rare. The coalition of the righteous guild had paid a huge price to obtain these potions. They also had to sign treaties with some other guilds.


    But now one by one these yers were beginning to fall like dominoes. Weirdly, these guys were the first to die. Even normal yers were outliving them.


    This battle was starting to getpletely out of their hands. First, it was the bad match up and now their potions had gone to waste. What else was there left?


    They had made so many preparations and it did not amount to anything. These rift battles were a huge headache.


    So many guilds had gotten through the rift battles but their guild was once again going to be wiped out? Why did they have to have such bad luck?


    "Everyone! Group up!" One of themanders shouted. Individually, it seems these people were still too weak. They absolutely could not let the potions go to waste.


    "Healers? What are you doing? Are you sleeping?"


    "Everyone! Hurry up and get in formation! Anyone who doesn''t do this won''t get any bonus this month!"


    Seeing that the yers were all dropping like flies, the six guild leaders decided to take at least some action.


    So many of the other enhanced yers, especially the long-range ones including hunters, shamans, and mages started getting together andbining their forces.


    These guys were able to deal significant amounts of damage especially by spamming some of the aoe attacks.


    As Liam cleared the other guys one after the other, he also noticed this group as they were very eye-catching.


    "Two can y this game." He smirked. He did not at all look concerned about this strong formation. Rather, he looked happy as if someone had made his job easier.


    "Time to try some of my new spells."


    They had aoe spells but so did he. Liam dashed forward moving closer to the group of boosted yers and then started casting the new spells that he had learned.


    [Sizzling Tornado]


    A giant vortex started forming in front of the group of yers, randomly shooting lightning bolts at them.


    Before they could do something about this, right in the middle of the cluster of healers, a ring of fire appeared. These mes were burning hot and they roared loudly as if they were alive.


    The next spell [Dark Cutter] was not exactly an aoe spell but because too many people standing together, the spell targeted one yer and then swept past him to injure the subsequent couple of yers.


    Liam did not stop there. He also cast [Lava Rain] and summoned multiple [Earth spikes]. The group of yers who had gathered around like sheep were all now scampering around chaotically.


    It seems standing together was just as dangerous as staying apart. The six guild leaders felt like pulling their hair out. Nothing they did was working. This wasplete bullshit!


    These rift battles were unbeatable! This stupid game was utterly rigged!


    Fuck it all!


    No one was able to do anything. The number of yers getting massacred quickly started snowballing.


    With every yer that died, the group was starting to be weaker and weaker and before long, the battle was already over.


    The entirety of the rift battle onlysted for about one hour? What the hell just happened?

 Chapter 527 Ta Da!

    Chapter 527 Ta Da!


    The demons cheered loudly as thest yers disappeared from the spatial rift.


    Liam knew that portals appeared to take them back when the other side won, but what happened when this side won? Maybe they needed to look for portals here as well?


    "Everyone, don''t forget to collect the dropped items." He reminded everyone and waved at Hiriyu to ask him some information when abruptly, the space around them started cracking.


    "Hmm?" Liam did not know what was happening.


    The next second, the same type of runes as before appeared everywhere, and soon they were teleported back to the city square.


    [Ding. You have conquered the spatial rift]


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 10 million experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up. You are now level 51]


    The notifications as well promptly chimed in.


    All the demons loudly cheered and celebrated, everyone praising the garrison leader for his wit and wisdom. This was the fastest battle they had experienced.


    Liam, however, stood on the side,pletely surprised. He called over Hiriyu and hurriedly asked him about things. "What happens after the rift battle ispleted?"


    "Right, leader. After we win the fight, that spatial rift is ours permanently. We poked a hole in their barrier."


    "A hole?"


    "Yes, my Lord. And if we poke enough holes, we can break their barrier, and we will be able to establish a permanent portal between their realm and our realm. We all will be able to enter their realm to obtain their resources."


    "Hmmm. Ok." Liam nodded. He now somewhat understood things though everything was a bit vague. "I should maybe just ask the King. He should be able to give me a better answer."


    Liam thought about it for a moment and then moved on to the next important thing that he needed to pay attention to.


    "I need a detailed report of all our losses and gains. I will be gone for a few hours. When I get back, I will expect that to bepleted." He instructed the demon.


    Hiriyu quickly nodded, and then Liam walked away. He needed to make a few more batches of cleansing elixir before it was time for the auction, but before that¡­


    "Let''s go, Luna. We need to take a look at this new special spot."


    Ever since Liam had heard about the ce, he had an unsettling feeling, so he wanted to examine this so-called sweet spot with his own eyes.


    Was there really such a ce in theher realm that generously gave out experience points? Impossible!


    He hopped onto Luna and was about to take off when he heard someone calling out to him. "My Lord. My Lord." It was his new follower, the dark elf.


    "My Lord, may I please take my leave?" The woman looked very desperate. "My Lord, this is my mother¡­ I have to rescue her. I only need a few days."


    Liam scratched his head, thinking about what to say. He was sympathetic to her plight, but he was also on a strict timeline.


    That too, a few days was very vague. Who knew when she was going to return next? It was best to milk something out of the woman first.


    "Which way are you headed to? I am currently going to a location to sort something out. Why don''t you apany me on this trip? You can then leave to take care of your affairs."


    Liam made a quick calction and decided to use this Level 100 plus power house in case there was any danger in that special leveling spot.


    The dark elf nodded hurriedly. She looked relieved, and her eyes became watery with gratitude, making Liam slightly ufortable.


    "Ahem. You can also ride with me." He signaled her to sit beside him.


    Kyuuuu! Luna frowned, but since Liam personally invited the demoness, she didn''t act up. She silently kicked her heels and started climbing up into the air, speeding out of the city.


    Yessika immediately became shocked. She had never seen a young beast with such incredible speed. "She is magnificent, My Lord." The dark elf mumbled.


    "Yes, she is." Liam smiled and patted the fox.


    He then made some conversation with the dark elf demon to know more about her background and the realm, and the group soon reached the mangrove area.


    Almost immediately, Yessika clutched the staff she was holding. Up until now, she was chatting in a somewhat rxed manner, but now she tensed up all of a sudden.


    "My Lord, there is a strong creature residing here."


    "I knew it." Liam bitterly smiled. For everything, there was a price to pay.


    Luna gracefullynded near the area where the group was standing, and Liam and Yessika jumped off the white fox.


    "Brother! You came!" Mei Mei rushed over to Liam to hug him first, but he signaled her to be quiet and asked everyone to get away from the area.


    "What happened, brother?"


    "There is a dangerous beast here," Yessika answered.


    "Eh? What is she talking about?" Mei Mei frowned. She then looked at the dark elf from top to bottom and then at her brother.


    "Brother¡­ who is this?"


    "Hmm? Right. This is my follower, Yessika. And Yessika, these people are my¡­ tribe?" Liam vaguely exined and looked around. This was indeed the same area he had visited before.


    ck murky swamp with widely stretched-out mangroves. "What were you guys hunting here?"


    "Brother, like I said. There is nothing dangerous here. Come here, I will show you what we have been doing." Mei Mei pulled him over a small exposed puddle in the messy swamp.


    "Give it 2 seconds."


    Liam nodded and waited. Soon, in the dirty ckish brown puddle, something floated. It was a¡­ small slimy worm?


    "It''s just a tadpole, brother. See. It''s harmless." As soon as the worm-like thing wiggled and came up to the surface, Mei Mei immediately used the staff in her hand to poke it.


    In one smooth stroke, she had perfectly impaled it!


    "Ta da! And this gives me 500 experience points! Isn''t this awesome?"

 Chapter 528 Guests incoming

    Chapter 528 Guests iing


    500 experience points for this? Liam''s frown deepened. "So this happens in every puddle? You guys are all leveling up in this way?"


    "Yes! Yes! Isn''t this brilliant?" Mei Mei proudly bobbed her head up and down.


    He looked at Derek, who also seriously nodded.


    "Alright. How long have you guys been doing this?"


    "Four days now! Isn''t our leveling speed amazing? If only these tadpoles showed up faster, we could speed up even more!" Mei Mei clicked her tongue in disappointment.


    Sigh. Liam bitterly smiled and turned to look at Yessika. "Can you sense where the monster is?"


    "Huh? What monster? Brother, you are being paranoid! There is really nothing here. See." Mei Mei shrugged and jumped into the puddle, going up and down in the muddy mess and the soggynd.


    Liam did not bother talking to the little idiot anymore and grabbed her to pull her back. "Yessika?"


    "My Lord, the beast slumbers under thend."


    "Can you sense how strong it is?"


    The dark elf closed her eyes for a second, but she instantly revealed a startled expression.


    "MY LORD, it is stirring awake! My probing disturbed it¡­ It is a very powerful beast. I am not sure even if I would be able to handle it. My Lord, it''s best to leave from here."


    "Huh? Brother, what is she-"


    However, Liam did not allow Mei Mei even to finish her sentence. He instantly grabbed her and jumped onto Luna. "EVERYONE LEAVE NOW! GET ON YOUR MOUNTS! FAST!"


    Liam, Mei Mei, and the dark elf climbed onto Luna, who quickly lifted up into the air. The others as well did not dare question or doubt Liam.


    They followed hismand like their religion, and everyone was in the air, on their bat mounts.


    "DON''T STOP. DON''T SLOW DOWN!" Liam shouted. Luna zoomed forward, and the other bats hastily pped their wings, following behind them.


    Only after reaching a safe distance, everyone stopped. They allnded back on the ground again.


    Luna was not panting, but all the other mounts were breathless and gasping. They had really run out of that ce at full speed, though they had no idea why.


    All eyes turned to Liam to see if he would exin, but suddenly a loud roar reverberated from a distance. Giant explosive sounds echoed, and they could feel the tremors on the ground from where they were standing.


    "We should keep moving. That should be the beast."


    Everyone gulped. This was where they had been leveling for the past few days. This was¡­ living on the edge.


    Only after putting some more distance between that spot and their group everyone slightly rxed.


    However, if one really really focused and paid close attention, they could still hear the beast. It had to be at least Level 100 or maybe even 200! Just how many dangers were lurking in theher realm?


    "It''s fine. There is no need to worry. I doubt the beast would have attacked you guys. After all, you have been there for four days. Maybe you guys could have really got away with it." Liam reassured everyone.


    What he said was not false, but he left out the part where everyone was standing on thin ice that could crack beneath their feet at any second.


    "Putting this matter aside, I don''t want you all to focus purely on leveling. Don''t go for these shortcuts."


    This was a familiar trap that many people in his life had fallen into. There had been some leveling maniacs in his time that upied the top spots on the leaderboard.


    Some of them did not even belong to any guilds and still outshone most yers and became huge celebrities. However, in the end, all of this did not matter.


    When the apocalypseunched, they had to start from scratch, and at that time, they were left behind in the dust as mere weaklings. Blindly gaining levels was not going to do anything.


    "Think about it," Liam exined. "Not everything from the game is reflected in the real world."


    "We be weakened if we die a lot of times, but we are not bing stronger outside if we are stronger inside the game."


    "So we should keep our priorities straight. We should focus on improving our skills and learning how to fight as if this was the real world. Leveling up is only secondary."


    "The only thing I would suggest for you all to be open to is anything rted to your soul."


    "Soul fighting techniques, soul strengthening items, soul weapons, spirit weapons that bind to your soul, spirit beasts that bind to your soul."


    "Luna here is also a spirit beast."


    "I don''t know more to exin it to you guys further. I am trying to figure things out just like you all. So I hope you can all listen to me and focus on the important things first."


    "I know it''s time-consuming, but try to explore more ces, fight more beasts. After you arefortable fighting a group of beasts, move on to the next location. If you finish exploring it, move on to the next location."


    "Keep moving and exploring, and keep challenging yourself. Our survival might depend on it." Liam patiently advised, giving everyone a lot to think about.


    He then called over Derek, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei aside. "Derek, you should log out and make your move now."


    "Yes, Sir." Derek nodded. He did not ask any questions and immediately logged out.


    "Eh? What move? What?" Mei Mei nkly stared at the empty spot where the big macho man was previously standing.


    "Right. I need to inform you girls about this. You should log out in a bit and stay offline. We have guestsing to our house."


    "Guests? We have rtives?" Mei Mei innocently tilted her head to the side.


    "Heh. Why don''t you find out for yourself?" Liam chuckled. "Log out in another 5 hours. That should be good enough. Maybe order some food etc."


    "Eh? Why this suspense?" Mei Mei crumpled her nose and rubbed it with a cute pout. However, Liam had already turned to talk to Yessika.


    Shen Yue chuckled, watching this. Liam loved to tease his sister and always did it. "Mei Mei, I think Derek might being." She pitied the girl and told her whatever she had managed to gather from the conversation.


    "What? Are you serious? Derek is going toe to our house?" Mei Mei was shocked.


    Shen Yue nodded, her expression also turning serious. "This should be why we purchased so many supplies. Remember. I think maybe the time for all that ising soon."


    "Right." Mei Mei nodded. The two looked at Liam for a few seconds and then quickly left to work on the mob they had spotted earlier, a couple of miles away.


    The others also quickly began doing the same. Liam''s words were eye-opening. He had said simr things before, but this time they also knew about the deaths worldwide because of the game.


    They had seen this with their own eyes. Things were no longer just a conjecture. So they did not dare take it lightly. Everyone started working hard, paying attention to the fighting techniques.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 1~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 529 lncrease the rewards

    Chapter 529 lncrease the rewards


    "You should also take off now, Yessika." Liam thanked the dark elf for sniffing out the beast. Without her, there might have been a mass wipeout, wasting everyone''s time and effort.


    More importantly, Mei Mei would have lost her legendary item. They wouldn''t even have been able to retrieve it unless they managed to defeat that thing. That would have been very tricky.


    The dark elf looked very grateful, and she bowed to Liam several times before speeding away in another direction. She did not look like she had any mounts.


    Liam watched her leave and then opened up his portal. He had work to do, and returning to the Xion realm was the best option.


    He adjusted his charm pouch and then looked at the white fox, shamelessly cozying up to Shen Yue for food. "Luna, let''s leave."


    The duo stepped into the portal and speeded towards the guild residence, directly heading over to the top floor of the alchemy building.


    This was where he could concoct his potions peacefully, and he needed to make a lot more batches before the auction at the mysterious Milkyway ce began.


    Liam sat down cross-legged and quickly began his work. Seeka was here, so she took care of all the arrangements, Liam only handling the main task.


    Of course, he also took out the stone tablet this time. With the stone tablet, his efficiency was far better, so he did not want to waste his time and beat around the message.


    Soon everything was arranged perfectly, and Liam began making the first batch.


    This was his first batch for the day, but by now, he had practiced this same recipe at least fifty or sixty times. So all of his movements were calm, casual, and fluid.


    Especially since he was sitting in the stone tablet garden now, everything was proceeding much more smoothlypared to the batch he had worked up in theher realm.


    A little over an hourter, the first batch was almostplete. Liam gritted his teeth and lit up the final re for the cauldron and the finishing touch and...


    [Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    Liam transferred the single bead of teal-colored liquid into a small vial and then let out a sigh. "Not bad. First try itself became sessful."


    He looked at Luna and grinned, and the fox grinned back. Seeing the two of them celebrating, Seeka also shyly smiled.


    However, in the midst of this harmonious atmosphere, suddenly another notification popped up.


    [Ding. 1 mana core has been consumed]


    "Huh?" Liam stopped smiling and seeing him, and Luna as well stopped smiling.


    "What? Mana core is consumed? How?" He quickly checked his inventory to see that the mana core he had taken from the wasp field boss was really missing.


    This was bad news. He had saved this up for the auction. More importantly, he had no idea how it could have been consumed.


    Liam paused for a moment and then stood up to walk to the next room. He then took out all the cracked demonic cores he had obtained from the temple ruins and stored them in that alchemy room.


    "Now, let me see what is consuming my mana core."


    He sat down again and began to make the next batch. However, after a few minutes, the garden around him abruptly disappeared.


    Luna shrieked in shock, and Seeka also looked rmed, but Liam only calmly sighed. He had already thought about this possibility while racking his brain for potential culprits.


    That''s right. How could it be possible for one to obtain infinitely free herbs and infinitely free resources? Everything had a cost and effect.


    It was this stone tablet that had consumed his mana core!


    Perhaps because of the energy already present within it, the stone tablet did not ask him for payment until today, but now it looked like it needed more mana cores to function.


    "I guess it was really too good to be true." Liam smiled bitterly. In reality, he did not mind paying this price. It was just that he was too poor and did not have enough mana cores.


    "Wait, I was also able to use this stone tablet in the PVP tower. Maybe I will be able to use it there again."


    The rooms inside the kingdom''s crafting associations and those inside the PVP tower had special formations. These formations were sort of like electricity wires, brimming fully with mana.


    So perhaps the stone tablet could tap into these formations and be able to function?


    The more Liam thought about this, the more likely it felt. This was why he could use the stone tablet freely in the tower. Now it all made sense.


    Liam steadied his mind again and continued with the batch of potions, ignoring the garden''s disappearance and the stone tablet. He was already halfway through and wanted to finish this batch sessfully.


    Another hour passed when finally he was done with the second batch.


    [Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    Liam sighed in relief and packed that bead of teal-colored liquid into another vial. He now had two vials of precious Cleansing Elixir.


    However, for the auction he was headed to¡­ he doubted if this was enough. He needed to make more of these, and for that¡­


    He looked at the white fox next to him. "Let''s go to the PVP tower."


    Luna nodded, and soon they both reached Yleka city.


    Standing in front of the enormous tower at the heart of the city, Liam hesitated slightly. After all, he knew that what he was going to do was probably in the grey area.


    But in the end, he shrugged it off and walked in. "I am only going to be using a little bit of mana. I don''t think he will care."


    He used the elevator and went to the 100th floor, once again nning to use the alchemy room in the tower.


    This was where the stone tablet seemed to function freely without sucking up his personal wealth. So he decided to make the cleansing elixir batches here.


    Liam took out the shiny tablet and ced it in the center of the room. The next second, the empty alchemy room transformed into a serene, magical garden.


    The atmosphere was pleasant, and the small fatigue he had umted from making two batches back to back was immediately taken care of.


    "That''s more like it." He sucked in a big breath of fresh air and dove straight into his work. He started making the next batch of the potion.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "This bastard!!! How dare he!" The old man at the top of the tower threw the wine ss in his hand, shattering the metal on the wall like it was ss.


    "The audacity on this buffoon! He is not joining the contest I created and dares to continue stealing from me. Hmph!"


    "Increase the reward!"


    "But master¡­"


    "SHUT UP! I said increase the reward. I''ll see if he still ignores me!"


    The disciple scrambled away to do his bidding, but¡­ there was no change whatsoever.


    Time ticked by, and Liam continued to patiently process one herb after herb, immersed in his own world. He did not even pay attention to the PVP contest notification.


    A couple of hourster, he made the third sessful batch and immediately began working on the next one without any break.


    Meanwhile, the guy watching him from the top was about to lose it. Every second Liam spent inside the PVP tower with the stone tablet hanging out was costing him an arm and a leg.


    "This is unforgivable. Completely unforgivable." The old man muttered and watched Liam like a hawk, his eyes redder and redder with anger.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 2~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 530 Hi...Come in...

    Chapter 530 Hi...Come in...


    While Liam waspletely immersed in making more body cleansing elixirs, Mei Mei and Shen Yue logged out of the game. Liam had mentioned ''guests,'' so they were not sure if they were expecting only Derek or his family as well.


    Irrespectively, Shen Yue helped Mei Mei tidy up the apartment, and the duo also ordered a bunch of food items that were a little light on the pte and something that everyone could eat.


    After making all the preparations, the two turned on the TV to watch some news.


    Lately, their whole group had been talking about this same thing, the government ban. It was hypocrisy at its best, and everyone was extremely annoyed with it.


    "Let''s change the channel. I cannot deal with this preaching anymore."


    The news channel either had false fear-mongering announcements about ''Evolution Online'' or the recently increased earthquake frequencies. There was nothing pleasant to watch anymore.


    "Sis Yue, let''s watch some k-dramas. See what is going on." Mei Mei sipped her juice and muttered. They were having a rare break, and it was a pity to let it go to waste.


    Shen Yue smiled and changed the channel; fortunately, something good was going on. The two of them lounged on their couch with a nket and started watching it happily.


    However, after a few minutes, this was also interrupted. A piece of hot news appeared and started shing on the screen.


    "Hey! That''s Mia!" Mei Mei sat up straight.


    Shen Yue also stirred awake. She had almost fallen asleep. "What! You are right! That is Mia. What happened?"


    "Star yer of the game that kills ''Evolution Online'' has stepped down from her position as the CEO of Innovative Technology."


    "Mia Hafstader and her cousin Alex Hafstader, two famous rankers of the game ''Evolution Online,'' were used today of not following the government''s orders."


    "The two rankers have assured that they wouldn''t be logging into the game in the near future and were onlyte in their response to the government''s orders because of their dungeon run."


    "Mia and Alex scandal!"


    "The two hottest evolution online rankers are in hot water!"


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue looked at the news shing on several channels, and it looked like this had only now broken out.


    "Poor Mia and Alex." Mei Mei sighed, and Shen Yue was also sad for them. As the two became engrossed in the events on the news, suddenly their doorbell rang loudly.


    "It must be the food. I will go get it, sis." Mei Mei jumped off and ran over to the door. She opened it with her eyes still glued to the tv.


    Especially because they kept repeatedly showing Mia, and it was heartbreaking to watch her sad, lonely expression. It was clear for everyone to see.


    Though all her fans wanted to see some expressions on the ice queen''s face, they did not want to see this type of sadness.


    "Here is the tip." Mei Mei shoved a couple of currency notes forward and finally turned to grab the food, but the moment she did, she was instantly stunned silly.


    "You¡­ You¡­" With her mouth wide open, she looked at the three people in front of her and then at the woman who was currently being shown on the TV.


    "Ahhhh! You are here!" Mei Mei ended up shrieking.


    rmed by this, Shen Yue hurriedly got up from the couch and walked over to see what the fuss was about. ?


    And when she did¡­ she was also equally shocked!


    "I¡­ Ummmm¡­ Hi¡­ Hi¡­ Come in. Please." She snapped out of her trance and recovered faster than Mei Mei.


    "Yes, Yes,e in. Sis Alex and Mia." Mei Mei also awkwardly weed them. Behind them, Rey also walked in, but no one seemed to care about him.


    He bitterly smiled and started conversing with the cab driver to coordinate and bring all the luggage upstairs.


    The cab driver who was helping out also received a shock. He had never seen so many beautiful women under a single roof. Two of them were also foreigners.


    He looked at Rey, who seemed extremely happy and gave a knowing look. Little did he know that the person was actually happy about something else entirely.


    After bringing all the luggage in, Rey heaved a big sigh of relief. "I am finally in bro''s house! This is unbelievable!"


    He saw the four women sitting and chatting, and he quietly went over to the balcony to look outside. They had traveled a lot in their lifetime, but this trip was very different from the rest.


    It could change their whole life¡­


    Inside, Mei Mei and Shen Yue eagerly served some drinks and snacks to the two women. It felt surreal to see the two foreigners seated on their couch.


    They had expected Derek but not this group. This was truly a surprise.


    "Mia, what happened? Did you really have to step down from the CEO position?" Shen Yue asked. Not that she wanted to be intrusive, but this news was still shing on the TV beside them.


    "Yes, I stepped down." Mia smiled a little. She did not say anything else except Alex, sitting beside her loudly face palmed.


    "Don''t ask her. Ask me. This madam did this deed at the airport. She called thewyers and asked them to sell everything, the shares, the house, everything."


    "That''s why the news broke now."


    "What? Really?" Both Mei Mei and Shen Yue were shocked. They were bothmon folks, so they did not have experience in these things, but still it sounded like a huge deal.


    "You should not have acted so willfully, Mia. You should have contemted this decision for at least a few days." Alex sighed. "Now, even if you want, you cannot get it back. That man will make sure of it."


    "I sold it because of him." Mia decisively exined. "I don''t want us to have to do anything with him any longer."


    Alex shook her head. "It''s not that easy, right. Even if we want to get away, would he let us go? We still have to face him when we return to the country."


    "What if we don''t return¡­ ever¡­"


    Mia''s words were too sudden. All of them became shocked. "I think our future is here." Mia calmly stood up, "May I use the restroom?"


    "It''s there, sis." Mei Mei showed her the way.


    "This girl¡­" Alex shook her head. She sighed and started looking around the simple house. "So¡­ this is where that devious bastard lives¡­"


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 3~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 531 lf you still have it...

    Chapter 531 lf you still have it...


    Inside the game¡­


    Liam was now busily preparing the eighth batch of potion. Out of these eight batches, he had 5 of them sessfully condensed, so his day had been good so far.


    And a few minutester, the eighth one also worked out.


    [Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]


    [Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]


    Kyuuuuu!


    While Liam nodded with contentment, Luna danced happily, seeing that the cauldron didn''t explode on her face.


    "Six out of eight! This is a good improvement." Liam smiled. He wanted to take a break, but he had prepared fifteen sets of ingredients, so he wanted to use them all up.


    Also, he wanted to make as many batches of potions as possible for the auction. So he ate a few recovery berries, adjusted his breathing, and dove right back into the task.


    Time slowly ticked by and Liam as well continued to concoct. He was fully immersed in his work and had a calm and bnced attitude.


    His face also revealed signs of maturity far beyond his age. Seeing him right now, anyone would want to respect him and make acquaintance with him. However¡­ one person alone was fuming in rage.


    The old man shivered and trembled with anger. Every time Liam started another batch, his heart sank a little more. Watching him work hard was making his forehead veins pop.


    "This brat is going to suffer a bacsh. I am sure. I am sure. Idiot. Doesn''t even know that he is supposed to take breaks in between. Just because he has some achievements in alchemy, he thinks too highly of himself. Hmph."


    "Expert alchemist? He is equal to the fly that sits on dung. How many expert alchemists I have seen in my lifetime. This brat is overestimating himself. Hmph."


    The esteemed tower master revered by the King himself continued muttering to himself and stalking his new enemy.


    This continued for a while, but after making the next two batches, Liam stood up to leave. He could only do ten batches, and thest two ended in failure. So he decided to take a break.


    "Six out of ten. Heh. Our sess rate now became pathetic." Liam chuckled along with Luna at his misery and walked out. "What shall we do now? Log out and meet our guests?"


    This was his n, but he remembered something else he could do. He opened his system interface and looked at the quest guing him since the beginning of this game.


    This was the first ever quest he had received and was still iplete. "Ok. Let''s submit this and be done with it."


    He checked the quest details, and it showed that the instructor was back in the same vige he had visited previously.


    "Luna, V town." Liam clutched one of the vials and sat atop the fox.


    The duo reached the small vige in no time. However, this newbie vige waspletely different from the one they had previously visited.


    In fact, it was no longer a newbie vige. There were orcs everywhere, each around Level 60, and no yer or viger was in sight.


    "Hmmm¡­ the quest says he is here¡­ so where is everyone?"


    Liam paused and looked around for a while. He then hopped back onto Luna, "Circle this ce. See if there is a cave or burrow."


    Kyuuu¡­ Luna got to work, and soon they spotted a small cave hidden among a dense cluster of trees. "I knew it. These guys are hiding here."


    "Land here."


    Kyuuu!


    Lunanded at a spot slightly away from the cave, and as soon as she did, two orcs came running at them with massive clubs.


    However, these level 60 orcs were only a terror to the newbies, not to Liam. He instantly cast [Ring of Fire] on one, stopping the guy in ce, and sent a [Dark Cutter] towards the other orc.


    These orcs relied on their superior physical strength to tackle their enemies, and since Liam was ying as a mage at the moment, they werepletely out of their element.


    He kited them and finished them off in a few moves without breaking a sweat.


    [Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]


    "Heh. That felt good." After brewing potions for a long time, fighting felt terrific. The experience points were also not that bad. "Let''s do some more warm-up."


    Liam grinned and started running around. Just those two orcs didn''t entirely satisfy his appetite. He needed more!


    [Fireball]


    [Fireball]


    [Fireball]


    He started tossing out balls of fire at every orc that caught his eye.


    In ''Evolution Online,'' aggro was a tricky thing. It was easy to gain but difficult to lose unless something else catches the monster''s interest.


    And here, only Liam was interesting. He was the juiciest piece of meat in this newbie forest with low-level vigers and no yers.


    So within seconds, Liam had a train of orcs behind him. He managed to gather an entire dozen of them!


    "Perfect! Now it''s time to start the grind!" He stopped running and turned around to face the train of orcs.


    [Sizzling Tornado]


    [Dark Cutter]


    [Lava Rain]


    [Ring of Fire]


    [Fire bullets]


    Liam rained one spell after another on the bunch of orcs, letting his mana core spin wildly without reserve. After tanking all of his mana, he then dashed forward and took care of the remaining health with his sword.


    [Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]


    [Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    It took him all of two minutes to trash the dozen orcs and get a good bump of 26k experience points.


    "Alright. That was fun, but now we should go back to the main task at hand." He let Luna collect all the drops and walked over to the small cave.


    It looked like he had created a lot of ruckus by attacking the orcs because several vigers were standing right outside the cave, watching him in awe.


    They had worn out clothes, some even torn, and had tired, weary looks on their faces. They were watching Liam as if they were looking at their savior.


    And among these people, the instructor Liam was looking for was also present. There was a strange expression on his face, something that resembled a mixture of guilt and regret.


    "Young adventurer¡­ you came back." He lifelessly spoke.


    Liam chuckled inwardly at the man''s sad plight. He could see that he had gone through a lot, but the damned guy had made him take multiple trips for this single quest which he was not very happy about.


    Either way, he was here to finish this quest. So he took out the vial from his inventory to hand it over to the guy when the instructor unexpectedly spoke first.


    "Young man, I am willing to take the iplete elixir. If you still have it with you¡­"


    ***


    Mass Release Part 2 Chapter 1~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 532 Asura

    Chapter 532 Asura


    "Iplete elixir, huh?" Liam smiled. He then gave the guy the vial in his hand. "I have already managed toplete it."


    The instructor looked shocked. He received the vial in his hands as if he was receiving something holy and invaluable.


    He eyed the teal-colored liquid inside and gulped nervously. "This is really the elixir?"


    "Yes, try it out." Liam smiled.


    The instructor absent-mindedly nodded and then walked deeper into the cave with a baffled expression. At this point, Liam expected the quest to be over, but he didn''t get any notifications.


    "I guess I am standing guard for this guy." Liam did not mind it. These orcs gave good experience points.


    He continued hunting down the orcs while the guy inside took the cleansing elixir. Everyone could hear the loud screamsing out of the cave.


    This ended up attracting the attention of even more orcs.


    "The more, the merrier." Liam grinned and continued protecting the cave, the vigers, and the instructor who was inside.


    This continued for a few minutes, after which the screaming finally stopped. Liam looked up to see the instructor walking out.


    He once again looked dazed and confused and stared at Liam as if he was seeing a ghost.


    "Everything okay, sir?" Liam asked.


    The instructor immediately shook his head. He then unexpectedly copsed on the ground, kneeling, sobbing with his head on the ground.


    "My Lord! My Lord! Please forgive this humble idiot. I did not realize your true strength. I didn''t have the ability to see the truth, my Lord."


    "Please forgive me. Please ept me as your follower."


    "Huh?" It was Liam''s turn to get shocked. First, it was the dark elf beastkin Yessika, and now it was this guy. Everyone wanted to be his follower?


    Was this cleansing elixir so awesome? Apart from cleansing one''s body, it also made them want to be followers?


    Liam did not know what to think of it, but since the guy was willingly offering up, he did not refuse. "Sure, you can be my follower." He smiled.


    He didn''t think that the instructor would be of any help. Unlike the dark elf, this guy was a low-leveled starter NPC. Irrespectively, he was a goodbat expert.


    Perhaps if he stationed him in the guild, he would be able to spar with others and train them? This option sounded attractive to Liam, so he quickly epted it.


    [Ding. Quest Complete]


    [Ding. Quest Reward: Eternal gratitude of the townhall instructor]


    [Ding. The instructor is now your follower]


    [Ding. The instructor has abandoned his given name. Would you like to name him?]


    "Huh?" Liam sucked on his teeth. He did not know why but this felt like another quest thread. Why did the guy abandon his name?


    He pondered it for a couple of seconds and then decided to let it be. It was probably because his family ridiculed him for crippling himself. He was mostly overthinking this. Even otherwise, he decided to revisit thister.


    "Yes, I will name him Asura." Liam cooked up something that sounded cool and scary. His follower should have a cool name.


    Luna immediately gave him a look. The name she received was pet1, but this guy was receiving an actual name from her Master. Life was so unfair!


    "Let''s go. You cane with us."


    The middle-aged man nodded in response. He silently followed Liam and hopped onto Luna, the three of them heading back to the trade city, Yleka.


    After arriving there, Liam sent the guy to test his potential. He was the one who tested the stats for Liam, and now the tables were ironically reversed.


    "Good luck." Liam wished him and walked back to the PVP tower. Break time was over, and he was back to his potion-making madness.


    As far as he was concerned, this PVP tower was a blessing to him, and he wanted to use it as much as he could.


    He used up the remaining five sets of ingredients he had prepared and also prepared another batch of fresh ingredients, all using the stone tablet, and spent the rest of the day in the tower.


    By the time he was done training, he had a total of 20 vials of body cleaning elixir!


    All the ss vials looked stunning, lined up one after the other, with the single drop of teal-colored liquid inside them. Liam stared at his hard work for a minute and then packed everything to log out.


    "They should have arrived by now. I should go and take a look." He casually whistled and logged out of the game.


    Meanwhile¡­ the person stalking him had plucked out half of his mustache. This was sphemy! There was going to be retribution! He shivered in anger.


    Unbeknownst to this, Liam happily smiled and stepped out of the capsule. He was in a good mood. Everything was going his way.


    "Huh?" After getting out of the game cabin, he noticed a person sleeping on his bed.


    "Yue?" He called and tried to gently wake the sleeping person when the nket abruptly fell down and revealed a bright beaming smile.


    "Bro! I am here!"


    Liam immediately backed away. "Right. Wee."


    It was a bit weird to see this guy in person, and sure enough, the real-life version of him irked Liam more than the game-world version of him. He would never be able to understand someone bright and sunny like him.


    "How was the trip? Everything okay?" He asked. "Oh, I am sorry if I disturbed you while you were sleeping. Feel free to sleep some more." Liam slowly backed to the door.


    "Ah? No, no! No way, I am sleeping! Bro, let''s catch up! Let''s do something! Oh my god, I finally have a brother to hang out with!"


    Liam frowned. What was this guy talking about? Wasn''t he rich and popr?


    "Ok, we can do all that, but let me first meet everyone. We have a lot to discuss."


    Maybe because they were talking and the voices could be heard outside, the door opened, and another person stepped in.


    "Hi, Liam."


    ***


    Mass Release Part 2 Chapter 2~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 533 All in

    Chapter 533 All in


    "Hi, Liam," Alex smirked and walked in with her nose tilted up.


    "Look at that. Your in-game appearance doesn''t match your face and body at all. I guess you found a shortcut, some secret technique for this too, huh?"


    Seeing that the person in front of her wasn''t as intimidating as when he was in the game, she couldn''t help herself and went ahead with all the snarky remarks running through her brain.


    Liam, however, remained silent. He let the girl have some fun, and then as he walked out of the room, he looked at her up and down and smugly pulled one end of his lips up.


    "I may look different, but you seem about the same size."


    Alex immediately became speechless.


    What he said seemed innocent enough but considering everything that happened between them¡­ her somewhat tanned cheeks started blushing furiously. What the heck size was this guy talking about!


    Liam ignored her and walked over to the living room where Shen Yue and Mei Mei were awkwardly sitting, and Mia was on the side talking on the phone with someone.


    "Did you guys get some food I am starving?"


    "Brother! You didn''t tell me Mia and Alex wereing here!" Mei Mei jumped up as soon as she saw a familiar face. Now they weren''t outnumbered in their own house.


    Liam casually shrugged, and Rey, who was behind him, bitterly smiled. "Little sis, I am also here."


    Liam patted the guy and then flopped onto the couch, ordering more food on his phone.


    Next to him, Mei Mei was throwing punches to his rib cage. Alex and Shen Yue were chatting, and Rey was grinning at him like an idiot.


    Usually, their apartment was very empty. It had be a little lively after Shen Yue came, but now with everyone here, the vibe had changed entirely.


    Thest time they were this happy was when Liam''s parents had been alive. He silently watched the scene, hoping that he could make all of this happinessst.


    He had done some preparations for it, but no matter how much one prepared, something like this was bound to make a person anxious. Nothing would ever be enough.


    They had crossed half theke somehow, and now they had to cross the other half. This was the most crucial part. Otherwise, everyone might still end up drowning in the end.


    Liam absent-mindedly ate his food while making some calctions in his mind about what to do.


    With the body cleansing quest finally done, he needed to target the next thing that could be transferred to the real world.


    "This should be that soul sword." He murmured to himself.


    This, in fact, was even more important than the body cleansing part. That would only give him a slight bump, but this was a definite advantage.


    If he could summon the sword at will, he would be unstoppable once the apocalypse descends.


    However, removing the seals of that sword was easier said than done. This was going to be very difficult. Not to mention, the sword was also shing with his special ss Soulmancer.


    Thest time he awakened it, it almost wiped his brain and soul. Now he had the mana core and was considerably stronger, but still¡­ the risk was always there.


    The only way to deal with this would be to focus on his ss more.


    Liam sucked in a big breath. He had put off this for a long time now. It was time to make sense of it and sharpen his soul army.


    "Hmmm¡­ In thisst stretch, these two should be my main focus. The soul sword and my soul army." He almost made up his mind when a certain fox''s sheepish face crossed his mind.


    "I guess I need to deal with her too. She needs to evolve." He nodded.


    Unless she grows into the spirit beast stage, Luna would not be able to be a spirit that he could summon at will. He wouldn''t be able to bring her out of the game.


    Liam took a deep breath and fixed his goals for the next part, strengthening his resolve simultaneously.


    "Ummm¡­ Are you okay?" Shen Yue asked hesitantly. Even with all the eyes in the room, all of her attention was on the one guy, so she noticed his serious expression.


    "I am fine." Liam smiled. He patted her and then stood up to walk back to his room. It was time to log in again.


    "Bro? You are leaving already!?" Rey became rmed. "When are we going to hang out?"


    "Hang out?" Liam almost stumbled and fell. "You first finish the task that I gave you, then we can hang out."


    "Ah! Right! Ok, then I will also log in." Rey instantly stood up.


    "First, do you have a game cabin here?"


    "Shit! Ipletely forgot about that. With the government ban and everything, would we be able to buy new ones?" Rey started panicking.


    Liam smiled and calmly showed him the door. "Follow me."


    Mia had also just gotten done with her call, so she as well joined Liam and Rey, having caught the end of their conversation.


    "I see¡­ you made arrangements for everything¡­" She mumbled. She didn''t have to see what was on the other side of the door. She knew Liam and how meticulous he was.


    However, even Mia was surprised when he opened the door. The huge store room had several essential items and on top of which there were also about twenty gaming cabins.


    "When did you¡­ n all of this¡­"


    "A long time ago." Liam smiled helplessly.


    "In that case, you should know my decision also. I havepletely settled everything back home, now I am 100% in." Mia informed him.


    "What? Sis? What do you mean you sold everything?" Rey waspletely shocked. He didn''t think that his sisters would stay for more than a few months and now they were staying permanently?


    "Mmm. We will be staying here from now on." Mia''s face looked as cold and calm as ever that Rey was no longer able to question her about anything.


    Liam was also equally shocked. "You did not have to do that." He paused and then added, "I appreciate you trusting me."


    The two of them seemed to be talking in very few words with some sort of silent understanding between them. So Rey was going crazy, but he also did not mind permanently staying here.


    Overall, it was good news.


    "So, what is the n now? Are we building a game workshop? Are we going to start a newpany? Bro? Sis?" Rey followed the duo back to their apartment, badgering for more answers.

 Chapter 534 Guild Meeting

    Chapter 534 Guild Meeting


    Liam left the remaining arrangements to Mia and the others and logged back into the game. He was going to make a few more batches of cleansing potion to start with, but as he walked into the PVP tower, he received a huge shock.


    All of a sudden, the PVP tower was insanely crowded!


    yers buzzed around the ce like flies and mosquitoes. About half of the yer poption in the entire Gresh kingdom seemed to be here. The other half also would have probably been here if not for the government ban.


    "What the hell is happening here?" Liam walked over to take a look. He was searching for a bulletin board or something for some news but as soon as he stepped in a system announcement shed brightly.


    "Oh, so this is a big event¡­" He gazed at the description and his eyes immediately went wide. There was a new PVP contest in the tower!


    Liam was shocked. Not because of the contest but because something like this did not exist in hisst life. Also¡­ the contest details were quite vague, but the rewards for the contest were very clearly written.


    Epic items!


    Pets!


    Rare Skill Books!


    There was even a broken legendary item!


    Just what the hell was this contest?


    The more he looked at it, the more shocked he became. This was definitely not there in his previous life. He would have remembered something like this for sure!


    Liam did not waste any time and immediately logged out. This was huge, could potentially be a very big turning point for them. Such a bizarre event with even more bizarre rewards was definitely connected to the tower master.


    And the PVP tower master was one of the top beings in the entire realm!


    These PVP towers were everywhere, in all of the Kingdoms and Empires scattered throughout the Xion realm so the connections the tower master has was also endless. He was not a simple person at all so the rewards also won''t be simple.


    But why now? Liam mulled over this. It seemed abrupt and out of nowhere. He thought about it for a second and then a frightening possibility popped up in his head.


    Was this perhaps because of him¡­


    Last time around, Mia, Derek and probably Anya received some sort of legacy. However, this time around, Liam had changed their fates and because of this probably changed the fates of many others as well.


    Everything was always a chain reaction so just maybe¡­ maybe this chain reaction triggered this?


    "Well there is no point analyzing the cause. We need to get those rewards." Liam stepped out of the game capsule, surprising everyone. Mei Mei, Shen Yue were still helping Mia, Alex and Rey set up so all of them were surprised to see Liam out so quick.


    "Brother, what happened?"


    "Bro! What happened?"


    Mei Mei and Rey were the first to ask. Liam''s face was serious so both of them toned it down.


    "You guys should immediately log back into the game. Also, Mei Mei and Shen Yue, tell everyone in theher realm to leave it and return back to the Xion realm."


    "Huh? Why?" Alex furrowed her brows. Something big was definitely going on. Otherwise, this was a bad move and Liam would not make any bad moves.


    Everyone looked at Liam and he solemnly informed them. "There is a huge PVP event going on in the tower. The rewards are¡­"


    "Motherf! Alright. I am going back in right now." Rey quickly jumped back to setting up the three game capsules in the living room. Mia and Alex as well nodded and stopped their other work and began to finish the set up of the capsules.


    With around six game capsules in the apartment, the ce looked as if it was littered with coffins. The girls decided to put the game capsules here and keep their other belongings in Shen Yue''s ce so everything was sorted out quickly.


    This type of arrangement was a little inconvenient to the trio who were born with a golden spoon but no one cared about that right now.


    Everyone hurriedly logged back into the game. Since Liam mentioned the broken legendary items and pets, no one wanted to miss it.


    The entire group rushed over to the trade city in no time at all, all of them excited to grab the prize for themselves and for the group.


    And the half of the group who had been in theher realm all this while were particrly happy to do this. Being there this long was taxing on their body and mind in inexplicable ways. The fresh air of the city felt soothing after that experience.


    "Is everyone here?" Liam booked a grand banquet hall in one of the most expensive high-end restaurants in Yleka city for everyone. He decided to first have a big meeting before heading over to the PVP tower with the group.


    In this meeting hall, there was Mia, Alex, and the group of divine affinity yers they were grooming, there was Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Derek and the group from theher realm andstly there was Rey and the few yers who had signed the inner member contract.


    The grand total was close to 80!


    Liam himself felt a little shocked to see the group number increased to this much. They had been slowly picking up one person after another and now they had be a formidable group.


    "Cough. Cough. So this is our first official guild meeting. I appreciate everyone logging into the game, even under these circumstances."


    Liam first thanked the group. He was awkward in addressing them, but the content was what mattered.


    "We have a few announcements first." He called over Mia to stand beside him as well. "You can tell them."


    Mia nodded and continued. "We are currently in the process of building a base for our guild in China. This ce was selected because of many reasons, but the important thing is we will be arranging for everyone to move here and live here for the long-term."


    "We strongly rmend you guys to move to the base along with your friends, families, and rtives. All the incurring costs and bureaucratic procedures will be taken care of from our end. The living amodations would befortable in a good area."


    "Everyone who decides to do this, please contact either me or Alex in our social media handle with yourplete details. Everything else will be taken care of from our end." Mia quickly finished her part of the announcement.


    She then went back to sit in her ce but Alex raised another question. "Liam, I am just asking this because we are discussing about this right now but don''t you think its best to stay in a remote suburbian town or vige. We can make that entire ce our base and the costs will also be more efficient."


    Liam shook his head. "No, there is an important reason why I chose this ce. It has to be this spot and also, we have to be careful. Moving huge numbers of foreigners in one particr spot will raise suspicions from the government."


    "So we have to be smart about this. Everyone will first arrive in different parts of the country and set up your bases in different cities, towns, viges."


    "But after that, you will take the local transportation and arrive at the main base. There will also be other tricky things. You should refrain from going outside often. You cannot spend huge amounts of money."


    "Basically, your life and the life of your family members, everything will change drastically. It is only for a few months but this is required." Liam exined everything in detail.


    He did the best that he could with Mia and Alex also chiming in but in the end, not everyone was probably going to be able to do this. After all, uprooting someone''s life and moving to another ce was not a joke.


    Despite this, he tried to convince everyone as best as he could because only he knew that if they made the wrong decision now, they could forever regret their choice.

 Chapter 535 Earthquake in the PVP tower

    Chapter 535 Earthquake in the PVP tower


    Yleka city, PVP tower¡­


    Sitting at the top of the tower, an old man watched the entrance of the building like a hawk. So many yers were filtering in and out, and the entire ce looked like a festival. But¡­


    The person he wanted to see the most was still not here!


    As the lovelorn old man kept staring at the entrance and sighing, finally he was able to catch a glimpse of the person.


    "Now! Now! Send the announcement now!" He screamed out loud.


    Not too far away¡­


    Liam and about 80 other yers entered the PVP tower one after the other like a huge procession.


    Of course, this would have been extremely eye-catching, but everything was drowned in the already suffocating crowd near the building.


    "Hmmm¡­ winning this contest is not going to be easy." Liam looked around and observed all the yers piling in.


    This was why he did not spend too much time on the guild meeting and quickly brought the group over here. Everyone who was someone would be participating in this contest.


    All of the entire Gresh kingdom''s hot shots would be here. This would be their guild''s first official test to shine and show their strength.


    Liam let out a small sigh and waved at the people around him. "Good luck to all. I will see you guys at the top."


    While the others started registering for the contest, he directly entered the elevator and reached the 100th floor.


    He was not nning to go to the event just yet. He wanted to make a few more batches of the cleansing elixir while he still could.


    The auction was going to begin in a couple of days, so this was hisst minute preparation. Otherwise, it would be a pity if he found something interesting but couldn''t buy it because he did not have the funds.


    Besides, thepetition looked like it was a big one. There wasn''t a clear deadline also. So he casually started going on about his business.


    Seeing the guy whistle and walk into a room, the man at the top became livid. At this point, he was plucking out the hair from his head, several grey hairs on the ground next to him.


    How many items! He had listed several of his prized possessions as shiny rewards. Yes, he had no ns of handing over any of it, but he had still put them out, and yet this little bitch was not paying him any attention?!!


    "Bastard! Motherfcker! @#$#$..." Several colorful words flew out of his mouth. "I know what to do to make you submit, you dung beetle!"


    And the next second¡­


    [Ding. Another reward has been added to the PVP contest]


    [Ding. Spirit Essence]


    Liam received another notification. "How many rewards?" His eyes went wide. There was a description, so he clicked on it.


    [Spirit Essence: Nourishes a spirit beast during its evolution; Chances of a sessful evolution is increased by 50%]


    "50%?" This meant that with this spirit essence, Luna would surely evolve to the next stage without any issues.


    With her egg cracking when she hadn''t yet hatched, her absorbing several powerful things beyond her ability, the little fox''s life until now had been one heck of a roller coaster.


    Considering that she was also not developing and bing stronger as fast as he expected a beast of her potential to do, Liam doubted that she had some foundation issues.


    This would probably create a lot of problemster on. Even her evolution to herplete spirit beast form might be tricky, but with this spirit essence, all of these problems could be solved.


    At least from the description, this looked like a godly must-have item, tailor-made for Liam!


    "This contest is getting more and more interesting." Liam grinned, his eyes fixated on the abrupt notification. However, the next second he closed it and calmly went back to work.


    "This! BASTARD! I AM GOING TO RIP YOU APART!" The old man jumped out of his chair and started stomping the ground in anger, making the entire PVP tower quake and tremble.


    This effect rippled through the multi-floored tower, every room and arena shaking.


    All the yers, including Liam, became shocked and did not know what was happening. Some even debated running out of the tower, thinking an earthquake was en route.


    However, the tower did not stop shaking. The old man was utterly furious this time around. He did not listen to anyone and kept stomping on the ground as if he was squishing Liam himself.


    "Why don''t you try setting a time limit for entry?" Suddenly a loud voice boomed.


    "Hrmmm!" The tower master immediately stopped his tantrum and turned around to look at the intruder, "You! That is right! That will work! That will absolutely work!"


    He hurriedly sent another announcement stating that the contest entry would be closed in 3 hours. Immediately, he started spying on Liam.


    And just as he expected, the guy finally acted. Liam looked shocked and straight away stood up to walk out of the alchemy room to register for the contest.


    Like any other yer, he did not want to risk things anymore, especially because this contest seemed to be weirdly changing all the time.


    Seeing this, the old man broke into a big smile like the clear sky after a storm. Bingo! Finally!


    "Hmmm? Aren''t you being a bit too petty for your age? Don''t you have enough treasures already?" The intruder spoke again.


    He seemed to be on good terms with the tower master, and if Liam were here, he would have immediately recognized him.


    "What is it to you? Why are you even here? Isn''t there anything important at the cksmith association?" The tower master spat back.


    The other guy smiled. "No, what is important is right here. What is this? Since when did the PVP tower be a circus?"


    "Don''t interfere in this."


    "But I will¡­ You see¡­ I also have a vested interest in this person."


    The two old men silently stared at each other, and a secondter, realization finally dawned on the tower master. "Is this guy your disciple?"


    He crossed his fingers and smirked smugly. "Now I understand. See, I didn''t think someone like him coulde this far without some guidance and backing."


    "Now I see it. Now I see it. With the support of a Grandmaster Forger¡­ even a trash like him could shine."


    Hearing his words, the other guy silently smiled. "Tch. Tch. Tch." He clicked his tongue, "Disciple? Unfortunately not. I haven''t done anything for him. I only n to guide him a little."


    He then gave a stern gaze and added again, stressing thest part. "A LITTLE. Like we are supposed to guide them. Not covet their treasures and hatch ns to take them away."


    The tower master''s face immediately changed.

 Chapter 536 Just the start

    Chapter 536 Just the start


    The tower master''s face immediately changed. It only took one second for the usatory tone of the other person to send him to the defensive edge.


    "Is that so? Then let me ask you something. Are you only guiding him a little, or are you perhaps trying to do something else?"


    "Maybe you are pulling some threads in the shadows. Maybe you know about something, and you are not willing to ept it¡­ Hmmm?" He threw the usation right back.


    With one guy ring at the other, an ufortable silence filled the room. Finally, the old man from the cksmith association broke this silence.


    "Crawford, ha ha ha. You take things too far, my old friend. I was only concerned about you. Well, never mind that. Shall we watch this contest together at least?"


    The tower master frowned. He knew that the person in front of him was very shrewd, but he had nothing to say against such a straightforward request.


    "Hmmm. Have a seat." One of the disciples immediately rushed forward to ce a chair next to the tower master.


    Another brought wine and snacks, and the two old men settled to watch the show. The mirror-like circr portal in front of them disyed everything.


    Well, not everything. At the moment, it was just showing Liam''s actions.


    Unbeknownst to everything that was happening around him, the guy was very excitedly walking over to the registration spot.


    Seeing this, the tower master Crawford chuckled with satisfaction. It was now only a matter of time.


    However, unexpectedly the person next to him was also smiling. Crawford saw this, and his temper raised. "You won''t be intervening, right? ?"


    "Me?" The old man from the cksmith association, , shook his head. "I won''t interfere with anything at all."


    Though his words were innocent enough, tower master Crawford did not have one ounce of trust for the old guy. The subtle smug smile on the guy''s face pissed him off.


    Hmph. He turned around to pay attention to Liam. No matter what happened, that stone tablet was going to be his!


    Meanwhile¡­ Liam saw the crowd at the contest registration and clicked his tongue. "This is going to be a huge pain in the ass. Please tell me that at least the format is knock out."


    Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly, another notification popped out.


    [Ding. The PVP contest will now be conducted in a single-elimination tournament for the first round. A total of 100 contestants will be selected]


    Immediately, all the yers on the contest arena floor blew a casket.


    "Hey! What is happening? Why did they change this up suddenly? Which bastard is running this contest?"


    "Are you real? I wasted so much time here, and now you are changing the format?"


    "What the heck? How am I eliminated? This is unfair. I only lost before the contest rules were announced. So this loss shouldn''t be taken into ount."


    "Me too! I am also eliminated!"


    "I am also eliminated!"


    One by one, several yers were kicked out of the contest floor, and since this was a special floor dedicated only to this contest, they were also unable to re-enter it.


    The whole area was outraged. Many yers wanted to burn down the whole damn tower.


    Some even tried attacking it, but the instant they did, their attacks right away bounced back to them, several times higher, dealing lethal damage.


    Seeing this, the others could only grumble or shout loudly, expressing their discontent, and walk away.


    The normal PVP tower climbing path was still open to them, but the contest door seemed to be close forever, and no one was able to do anything about it.


    The yers on the inside were in no better shape.


    Everyone was happily participating just now, discussing their strategies and finding ways to cheat the system to climb in the ranks faster, but now there was only a tense atmosphere.


    This was a brutal contest. Only a swift death was waiting for them. The chances of loss were extremely high, and luck would also be a major factor.


    If they were unlucky enough to face a monster early in the match up, then there was no choice but to be eliminated.


    Liam, on the other hand, couldn''t be happier. "This should be fast." He cracked his joints and registered his name when his turn came.


    A few minutester, he was called onto the stage. The yers'' names could be kept hidden, so his name was also hidden.


    Even otherwise, not many people were paying attention to the ring. Because of the sudden twist, everyone was still scrambling around to gather resources for their own fight.


    However, those who watched the fight received a thorough shock.


    The fight in front of them was over in a second. They only saw fire. There were a few fireballs, and then the match was over. What attack was this? Were mages this powerful?


    Moreover, as the guy walked down the stage, he let out a yawn. There was a mask on his face, but it was still clear that he looked bored.


    Everyone gulped subconsciously, watching him sit back in the arena. This contest was not going to be easy.


    Coincidentally, other than the yers, another person was also unhappy to see Liam win like this. "Tch." Tower Master Crawford clicked his tongue.


    "Make up your mind, you senile fool. If he doesn''t win, how will you steal his treasures?" Grandmaster  smiled wryly.


    "Hrmm? Say that to me again?" Crawford immediately red up, his veins bulging.


    "Nothing. Nothing. I am saying this is just the start. You shouldn''t be this heated up now itself."


    Crawford scoffed and turned around. "He knows some tricks. So what? As you said, this is just the start."


    He He He. Grandmaster  did not say anything else and silently watched the event with a twinkle in his eyes. He truly wanted to see how much Liam had improved in this short time.

 Chapter 537 Lucky Guy

    Chapter 537 Lucky Guy


    "Liam, shouldn''t this be over soon?" Mia asked. On the contest floor, all the Crimson Abyss guild members were sitting side by side.


    Out of the 80 guild participants now only 20 remained, but the rest of the crowd had also thinned down. Now only about 500 or so yers were still present on the floor.


    Looking at these yers, Liam absent-mindedly answered. "It should soon be done. 200ish matches.. Eachsting barely a minute or so. It should be done soon. 5 hours¡­ 6 hours¡­ Hmmm¡­"


    Mia nodded. She also thought the same, but she was more curious about what Liam was doing. He was eyeing the crowd as if he was searching for something.


    "Is something wrong?" She couldn''t figure it out and asked him again.


    "Huh? What?" Liam smiled. "No, I am just doing somest minute window shopping. I am trying to see if anyone among this crowd is worth inviting into our group."


    "Oh?"


    "Mmm. You should be doing the same. Everyone who is a decent yer in the entire Gresh Kingdom should be here. Let''s assess our friends and enemies.


    Mia again nodded. Alex who was sitting beside them and listening to their conversation also nodded, the two of them hurriedly beginning to do the same as Liam.


    They watched all the yers like hawks no matter how talented they were. Mia also began to make a detailed spreadsheet, coordinating with other guild officials.


    The others, however, were more worried about their matches. The three at the top didn''t have any issues, but everyone else was struggling.


    Other than these three, the only ones having a smooth time were Shen Yue, Derek and Mei Mei.


    "Bro, I am done. I won this one too." Mei Mei grinned and sat on the other spot beside Liam.


    The emerald crown was shining brightly atop her head. No mask could hide this item. It was like a big shiny diamond jewel dazzling even in a sea of yers and other shiny equipment.


    And because of this, just like how Liam and the others were searching for other yers, many yers also had their eye on Mei Mei.


    Luckily, as the crowd thinned down, these eyes were also reducing.


    The group silently continued watching the matches and waiting, and soon the next couple of hours also passed by. Five more from their group were eliminated.


    "Liam, did you notice something weird?" Alex suddenly mumbled. Right now Mia was fighting on the arena, so she was sitting beside Liam.


    "What?"


    "Every single one of us has been called to the arena at least three or four times but you alone¡­ didn''t you fight just that one match?"


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam had also obviously noticed this.


    "I am just saying you might be called soon. There aren''t that many yers around. Your match up is going to be very strong." Alex thought out aloud.


    She thought the guy might want to discuss some things but Liam only smiled. "You think so? I really hope that is the case." He casually replied.


    Alex rolled her eyes at the guy''s arrogance but she also knew that he had the goods to back it up. Low key she was excited to see his match.


    However¡­ another hour also passed by and some more yers were eliminated, the total now almost 200 and yet Liam wasn''t called even once?


    This guy was simply coasting through the preliminaries! What the hell is this? Just how lucky can a person get? Would he really be in the top 100 just like this?


    Alex watched the rest of the matches with her mouth open wide. Time ticked by quickly and just like that, the number of yers were reduced to 100.


    Until the very end, Liam was also never called back onto the arena stage again! Not even once! He was the only yer who participated in just a single match.


    Lucky bastard! Alex sighed.


    Soon, thest of the fights was also over, and the top 100 were quickly finalized.


    From Crimson Abyss, there were a total of 8 members. Everyone expected only 6 but unexpectedly two more yers also reached the top ranks.


    Out of these two one guy was a pdin from the group Alex and Mia were coaching and the other one was the mage Liam had given pointers too.


    "Not bad. You both did well." Liam praised them both. The group was about to start discussing things when suddenly another person also popped in.


    "Surprise bro! I am also here!"


    "Eh?" Everyone turned around to see Rey standing there. Almost instantly they were all shocked, including Liam. No one had expected him to make it.


    He was out of the game for most of the time and he did not have any special items like Mei Mei or ss like Shen Yue. So this meant that Rey was talented?


    "No way." Alex loudly answered the question on everyone''s minds.


    "What no way? Only you are allowed to be a star? I can''t do well?" Reyughed and pushed her aside to stand next to Liam.


    "You just got lucky probably like him. So stop talking back to me!" Alex immediately retorted back, pointing at Liam who only had to fight once.


    "You two. Don''t bring me into this." Liam quickly walked away. He wanted to do a couple ofps to look around the huge auditorium.


    Unfortunately, most yers were in the standard issue mask just like he was. No one wanted to deal with the government ban nonsense.


    "Well whatever." Liam then turned to return back to the group.


    It seems the only information he would be able to gather here would be from the matches and the skills and abilities the yers used.


    But one thing was clear, this contest was going to be very interesting.


    As he walked back to the rest of the Crimson Abyss members, the second round announcement promptly dinged.


    [Ding. All yers are requested to form groups of 10; Everyone without a group will be eliminated]

 Chapter 538 Second Round Surprise!

    Chapter 538 Second Round Surprise!


    "Ten? That means we need one more." Alex looked around, paying attention to a few yers who were standing alone by themselves.


    "Yes, I also have a couple of yers in mind that might be a good addition to our team." Mia as well had her opinions.


    Of course, other than these two, Liam had his eye on a few yers as well.


    But before anyone could walk around and see if they were willing to join their team, one of the yers walked over to the group on his own.


    Everyone was surprised at this sight. However, they were also curious as they had seen the person''s fights, and he was a very talented thief ss yer.


    Why was heing over to them? Did he want to join their group? As they waited to see this, the person also arrived and began introducing himself.


    "Hi, I am-"


    Unexpectedly, at this exact time, someone interrupted him. It was a familiar chubby hunter. "Dude, this group is full. Go beg somewhere else." Madan grinned.


    He pushed aside the new guy and stood before Liam and the others, "Hello, friends. Long time no see."


    The heck? Shen Yue and Mei Mei were shocked. The others did not know about him, but these two knew very well. What did he want with them?


    Mei Mei also subconsciously reached for the crown on her head to protect it.


    "He He. You can keep it, princess. I am not here for that. In fact, I am not here to fight at all. Just a friendly visit." Madan rubbed his hands andughed.


    "Shall we participate in this group fight together? You guys are one short, aren''t you?"


    No one knew what to say because no one had expected this. So they all turned to look at Liam who hadn''t said anything just yet.


    His gaze was fixated on the hunter standing in front of them. There were a lot of things running on his mind but he couldn''t out a finger on why exactly this was happening.


    "So to what do we owe this pleasure?" Liam asked.


    "Oh! Liam bro! There you are!" Madan grinned. "Honestly, nothing. Nothing at all. I am being very serious here. This contest is too good and I just want to get top 10."


    "Isn''t your team the beast ce for that?" He winked.


    "And what about your other teammates?"


    "Meh. They can rot in hell. I am more interested in your team bro. Please let me in! Come on! I am being serious here."


    "If this works out, I could even transfer to your team. What do you say? Maybe even sign one of those ve contracts?"


    Alex''s face immediately changed but she forced herself to be quiet.


    "Right. Right. My bad, that''s a sensitive topic. Moving on¡­ ha ha.. You know that we can''t die here. Its the PVP arena. I also can''t steal any treasures. So what is the problem?"


    Liam looked at him sternly. He knew this guy and the group was starting another round of games with them but he was just not sure what his end goal was.


    With everyone else being silent, Liam thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. "No, we have already invited him." He pointed his hand at the thief.


    "Really?" Madan looked at the thief who stood silently and then sighed. "Well that''s too bad."


    Just as he was speaking, the other members of the group also arrived. These people just like Madan were not wearing any masks.


    "Madan, what are you doing here? You have time to mess around?" Anya annoyedly shouted, her gaze scanning everyone and finally settling on Mei Mei''s crown.


    "Yikes. I got found out. Bro! Why didn''t you add me soon?" Madan yfully made a crying action and then left with their team.


    "Liam, who are these people?" Mia immediately asked him, as soon as they left.


    She felt the presence of several strong yers in their group. If there was apetition for their guild in this contest, it would be that team.


    "We don''t have much time now. I will exin to you after the fight. Hopefully, we ddon''t face them in this round."


    But then again, everyone in the top 100 were more or less talented so this was truly going to be difficult.


    "Ummm¡­ Excuse me, sorry to interupt you guys. It''s gettingte so if you can add me to the group and finalize for the contest, I can be at ease." The ignored thief yer spoke up.


    "Hi, my name is Stephen."


    "Ok. We will do that first." Liam did not talk about anything else.


    They still needed to observe this person and perhapster if everything worked out they could try recruiting him but right now was too early.


    He opened the system interface, quickly entered himself as the team leader and selected everyone''s names and also added Stephen''s name.


    There was a 15 minute timer so everything waspleted fast.


    Soon everyone else was also done and it seemed that all the yers had managed to get into a team. The 100 yers had divided themselves into ten 10 yer teams.


    "Bro! We have the biggest advantage here. No other guild probably has so many yers in this line up like we do!" Rey happily did a dance move by shaking his hand.


    "Hmmm. It looks like it." Liam also nodded. The next second, a loud gong resounded, indicating the start of the next round.


    And surprisingly, that was not all that was announced.


    [Ding. The betting avenues are now open. All the yers are wee to ce bets on the different groups.]


    Seeing this, everyone in the arena was shocked because when the announcement read all the yers, they actually meant all the yers, even the ones who did not qualify.


    This sent another huge wave of uproar among the yers. This was a good chance to earn some gold coins!

 Chapter 539 Start!

    Chapter 539 Start!


    "Wow! Bro, they actually turned on the betting for the event!" Rey was ted.


    "Liam! We need to make some bets. Shall I use the guild gold coins?" Alex''s hands were also itching.


    It was tiresome to be poor in this damned game. Everyone became anxious to ce bets. This was a really good opportunity to do some quick gold farming.


    But what about the other side of the coin?


    "You guys¡­ aren''t you all a bit too confident?" Liam shook his head helplessly, irrespectively he waved his hand. "Yup, bet all you want. If we don''t take risks now, when are we going to."


    Everyone immediately brightened up and started tapping at their system interface furiously. Only Liam focussed on the format of the next contest, the group fight.


    In both his lifetimes, he personally had never participated in these group fights, but he had surely witnessed some. These were apletely different affairpared to the normal PVP fight.


    In this, there was a special factor that determined a team''s victory or loss and this factor sometimes mattered more than talent itself. This factor was the terrain!


    Depending on what terrain the fight was based on, a team might win or lose. Everything could be decided by this one thing.


    Liam currently was mulling over this but he wasn''t too worried about it. The only terrain that could give him a problem was something that Alex and Mia would be strong in.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    [Ding. The first battle is now starting]


    Soon the system announcement rang loudly.


    "Hey! I hope your luck works this time too and we get a free ride." Alex smirked but before she could finish talking, another announcement popped up.


    [Ding. Match 1: Team 10 vs Team 7]


    And their group was team 7!


    "Damn it." Alex cursed. She absolutely did not want their group to be the first one but it looked like they had drawn the short straw.


    "Rx." Liam on the other hand was calm andposed. He was in fact slightly looking forward to this.


    Not long after the announcement, a countdown timer started and the two teams assembled on the in looking battle arena.


    Liam, Mia, Alex, everyone walked onto the arena stage one after the other. The opposite team as well stepped onto the same stage. All the other eighty eyes silently watched them in anticipation.


    "Bro¡­ I am feeling nervous." Rey could barely contain his excitement. Only he was enjoying the attention and the environment. The others were trying to figure out whom they were up against.


    "This is definitely not Madan, or Anya. It has to be one of the top guild teams in the Kingdom." Liam typed in the chat.


    "There are 5 warriors/ berserkers in their group. They will probably try to use a close up approach on us."


    Before anyone could observe more details, a bright light surrounded the entire arena and all the yers standing inside the arenapletely disappeared.


    "This is also a modification of the teleportation scroll?" Liam was amazed.


    Everyone still had their consciousness, and as the light faded, a new world opened up in front of them.


    "So windy!" Mei Mei''s slender body was shaking, and she was almost about to fall over.


    "Everyone, be careful!" Liam immediately shouted. "Watch where you are standing. Don''t move. Don''t take another step."


    Only after he warned everyone realized where they were standing. All the ten yers were currently standing on top of tall spikes.


    In fact they were standing, on a sea of spikes. Some of them were tall, some of them were short. Some of them had pointy tops and some of them had slightly tter tops, only enough space for a single person to stand.


    Bnce was absolutely crucial on this battlefield. Even one slip up would make them fall on the side and get them impaled by another spike.


    For normal people, this kind of bnce was unimaginable, almost impossible. However, every single yer standing here had trained in physicalbat to some extent.


    Every time they faced a beast, they were taking thisbat training subconsciously. So not only Liam but the other nine team members were also able to bnce themselves on top of these tall spikes.


    Everyones'' hearts were racing wildly, but at least the initial disaster of losing their bnce, falling over, and toppling to their deaths was averted.


    "Moving on these things is not as easy as standing still, so everyone be very careful," Liam shouted as he swung his purple sword at one of the spikes.


    Surprisingly the spike was extremely sturdy. A huge nging noise resounded, and a tremor swept across Liam''s body.


    Clearly, breaking these spikes to create a more stable base was out of the question. There was no other choice but to themselves on these death spikes. This was going to be very risky.


    No one made any move. Everyone looked at their surroundings first. This was a group fight so they had several other things to take note of also, for instance, where their enemy was.


    "Bro, the others are over there! I can see them!" Rey shouted. He was using [Hunter''s eye], one of the skills for a Hunter ss yer. This helped him see better than the others so he was the first one to spot the opposition.


    After he pointed it out, Liam and the others could spot the other group as well, their figures appearing blurry for them from the distance.


    They also had a chance to get a grasp of the whole field and where exactly they were standing in. However, this did not make anything better.


    The current battlefield they were all transported to was basically a sea of spikes. This sea of spikes was split into two parts with something in between.


    They couldn''t see what it was from their location, but the gurgling sounds indicated that it was a river or some other water body gushing through at a rapid pace.


    The two teams had transported on the two sides of this river. However, that was not all.


    Just as everyone was trying to figure out the best method to go about this, suddenly, a huge shadow appeared ahead of them, and when they looked up, they saw a giant bird or something.


    "Fuck! EVERYONE! DUCK DOWN! NOW!" Liam demonstrated first by climbing down off of the spike he was standing on. Now he was no longer standing on the spike, but he was clinging to it like a monkey on a tree.


    The others stared at him in confusion for a second, and then they understood what he was doing. Everyone else copied him and did the same.


    They climbed a good distance down the spike, so they were not standing atop like juicy prey waiting to be devoured by the giant bird.


    Luckily, they were able to do it just on time.


    Scree! Scree! Scree! The huge bird screeched and pped its wings and tried to swoop down, but it couldn''t get very far because of the spikes that were in the way.


    It looked like the spikes were imprable for the bird as well.


    Phew! Everyone collectively sighed in relief, seeing that their strategy had worked. This was a close call.


    They looked up at the bird to see that it had left their side by now and moved onto the other side, and from the looks of things, they were also doing the same.


    "Bastards! They are copying us!" Mei Mei shouted.


    "Yes, little sis! This is unforgivable!" Rey also shouted after that.


    The two of them seemed to be on the same wavelength, and Liam ignored both the idiots. His gaze swept across the battlefield once, and he knew how to win this thing.


    "Everyone, we can''t stay here for much longer. We need to move to the center where the river is running quickly. Whoever gets there first will win this fight!"


    Liam did not have to repeat his words twice. Once he pointed it out, it was obvious. Whoever gets to the center first would be in a better position.


    They would be able to aim for the other side and bring them down. Considering the wind, the bird, and the deathly spikes, this was checkmate. The only option was to run to the center.


    Liam hurriedly started moving, swinging from one spike to another like a monkey. He rotated his mana core to push some of his mana to his legs and strengthened his jump.


    Derek, Alex, Mei Mei, Rey, and the two other yers also did the same, but Mia, Shen Yue, and the thief followed a different approach. For them, it was easier to bnce themselves on the tip of the spike, so they did that.


    But overall, the entire group hurriedly started moving from the edge to the interior of the sea of spikes. Of course, the other group saw this, and the next instant, they started copying the move.


    Now, this battlefield suddenly became a race to see who would reach the center first!

 Chapter 540 Sabotage!

    Chapter 540 Sabotage!


    Ka Ta Ka Ta Ka Ta


    All the twenty yers in the battleground arena were currently speeding towards the center.


    It was not an easy task because bncing and running around on the spikes was like trying to maneuver across a bed of needles.


    One slip-up meant game over. The bird flying on top of their heads was also not making it easy. Everyone tried to be as careful as possible, but shortly after they started moving, two loud screams resounded.


    Ahhhh!


    Arghhh!


    Within seconds, two out of the ten were already down! The mage and the pdin yers fell off the spikes and were instantly killed, their bodies teleported out of the battlefield.


    The other side was also not doing that well. Three yers from that team also seemed to be missing.


    "Brother¡­ ah brother, I think I am going to fall next." Mei Mei shouted, her voice trembling. A couple of others also looked nervous.


    Seeing all of this, Liam slowed down. They needed to change their tactic. Maybe this wasn''t the best approach.


    "Everyone keep moving but slow down. No need to rush. Rey, can you target the other group from here?"


    Long-range yers were able to do long-range attacks but when the distance was this much, only specialized snipers could execute such attacks with uracy.


    Considering that Rey had taken such a big break from the game, Liam didn''t think that he would have such a skill but surprisingly it looked like he had one.


    "Yes, bro. I can do it." Rey shouted back.


    "Good. You stay back and only focus on attacking. You don''t need to hurry to the center. Make sure you aim for their legs or neck to make them lose bnce."


    "Yes, bro. Leave it to me." Rey immediately hung back and started firing arrows one after another.


    "You guys also slow down. Make sure you are stable before moving." Liam warned everyone before proceeding forward. Even he was finding it difficult to move at a fast pace without falling and dying.


    In the end, the group became divided into three. Liam, Shen Yue, and Mia were at the front of the group, all three of them having superior bncepared to the rest.


    Mei Mei, Rey, and Derek were stuck at the back, their bnce being the worst, with the thief and Alex in the middle.


    The other side also seemed to have wised up because there weren''t any more casualties from their end as well. All seven yers were still alive and well, even though they were struggling with the spikes.


    Especially when the bird circled around, everyone had to duck down at a moment''s notice, and this was the most challenging part.


    This continued on for a few minutes when suddenly Liam noticed something strange. Among both the teams, he was the one who was closest to the center, so he was also the one first to observe this.


    As they moved closer, the spikes were bing warmer. The rock or the stone he was clinging to was strangely warm, and the air around them in general was also warmer.


    However, the gurgling sounds were also bing louder at the same time. What was happening? Something felt off.


    Liam continued dashing ahead while thinking about this when he caught the first glimpse of the gurgling bubbling river, except that it was a river ofva.


    So it turned out that there weren''t really any safe areas on this battlefield. The fight had to happen on the spikes.


    "Hmmm¡­ this could be troublesome. I need to finish this soon." Liam did not want to take any chances and settled on one of the spikes.


    Before the others could realize what they were rushing towards, he wanted to use this chance first. So he started casting a fireball.


    Now that they were a lot closer, aiming wasn''t impossible. It was difficult but not impossible.


    Liam aimed for the yer closest to him and sent out three fireballs. Bang! Bang! Bang! The first one missed, but the second two were right on target and made the opponent lose his grip.


    Now, there were only 6 more to go!


    Mia and Shen Yue also arrived next to Liam, and they as well saw the obvious. This fight could be tricky if they didn''t deal with it soon.


    On tnd, they would probably overtake these guys easily, but if the opponent had some advantage on a terrain like this, this could make things difficult.


    So just like Liam, they also started aiming for the yers on the other side and shooting. Several bright, dazzling attacks started flying from one side to the other.


    However, it seems they had worried unnecessarily. Their opponents this time weren''t all that special or rather, their side was too over powered in this match up.


    As soon as they started attacking, one by one, the yers started falling apart. The remaining 6 yers became only 3 in a matter of seconds.


    Now the other side realized that they were under attack already, but they couldn''t do anything. It was toote.


    "Wow! Our first battle is going to be an easy win!" Rey shouted in excitement from the back.


    "Dude! Don''t jinx it!" Alex turned around and shouted, and exactly at that instant, a flurry of daggers swept past her, striking her at various vital points.


    Normally, this wouldn''t be difficult for Alex to evade, but this time, she was really caught off guard.


    Even so, she dodged a few daggers and took hit from a couple, somehow also maintaining her position on the spire, but the next moment she started feeling dizzy.


    Her body shook, and she fell off the spike without being able to do anything. Everything happened too quickly, and no one was able to react.


    Where did the daggers evene from?


    "The new guy!" Rey shouted.


    Liam was fully paying attention at the front and attacking at full force, so he only noticed this when he received the system alert. It seems they were under attack! From their own group member!


    "Mia, Shen Yue, Keep attacking! I will take care of this." Liam quickly hurried back. Why was this random guy targeting them?


    The prizes this time were too attractive. So it didn''t make sense for the person to sabotage their own team at an important tournament like this. Something did not add up.


    In reality, any one of their core group members could have dealt with a guy like him, but the problem was the terrain. Otherwise, Alex would not have been defeated so easily.


    "Where are you? Show yourself!" Liam shouted and cast a ring of fire around himself. He then gazed at the numerous spikes surrounding him, all of them empty and all of them unupied.


    Grunting, he conjured a huge fireball on his palm, and then using it like a machine gun, he started sending out small fire bullets in all directions.


    "Got you!" This attack revealed the presence of the thief in an instant. "Don''t you want to win this tournament? Why are you attacking your teammates?"


    Liam sent out another volley of attacks before the guy could get back into stealth.


    Seeing that he was not going to be able to hide anymore, the thief started dashing towards Liam at top speed.


    For a second, Liam was very shocked. The guy''s bnce and movements were so good that they might as well be fighting on the t ground right now. No wonder he dared to attack so brazenly!


    This person was definitely not an ordinary yer. He was very talented in closebat.


    Liam''s talent came from the training, and the experience he had from both his livesbined but this person was naturally talented or perhaps he trained under some Master.


    Either way, this was not an easy opponent. His speed was also extremely formidable. This guy had surely allocated a lot of stat points to his agility.


    Watching the guy make a move, Liam vaguely guessed his point of attack and sent out a [Dark sh].


    If his speed was high, then his defense was probably very low. He only needed one attack tond to finish him off.


    "Come on." Liam muttered and started to cast another wave of fire bullets when suddenly the person appeared behind him.


    Shadow Steps! This was thief ss yer''s special move, a high level skill, and this yer behind him had it.


    Liam immediately swung his sword down to block the daggering for him but using this as an opening, the other party swept his legs and made Liam lose bnce.


    However, it was still not enough to topple himpletely. Liam steadied himself on a nearby spike, taking small damage to his health bar.


    But almost as soon as he became stabilized, the thief once again appeared behind him.


    This time Liam was more alert and he immediately dashed away from that particr spike, rather than try to fight the guy.


    DANG! DANG! DANG! Sparks flew as his sword screeched against the spike''s hard stone, and the two of them started a run and chase from one spike to another.

 Chapter 541 Big and juicy

    Chapter 541 Big and juicy


    Seeing Liam stumble a little, the thief yer Stephen grinned. His mission was now going to be easier than he expected. Aiming directly for the next spire Liam was going tond on, the guy sent a flurry of daggers.


    "Give it up, bud. No matter how much you struggle, it''s only going to be futile. The person you are up against¡­ your fate is already sealed. You are a dead man walking."


    Stephen found it amusing to see the other party''s struggle. The thing was¡­ they had no idea just how strong he was, but they will soon find out.


    He smirked, and just as he was about tond the next attack, his confidence wavered. The person running ahead of him suddenly stopped.


    "You want a fight? You should have just directly asked me for it." Liam calmly smiled. He was no longer running away from the thief.


    His speed also seemed to have increased, and he was in no hurry to go anywhere. He was standing right in front of him, ready for a fight.


    Stephen did not understand. If this guy was not running away, then why did hee this far? He looked around, and then it dawned on him!


    All along, Liam had been trying to separate himself from his teammates. That was why he had instantly moved away. This was a trap!


    Stephen immediately tried to enter stealth mode, but it was Liam''s turn to be amused. Now that they were alone, stealth or not mattered little on this battleground.


    He conjured a huge ball of swirling ice this time, and shattering it, he sent hundreds of ice shards all around him.


    In the split second that Stephen was forced to reveal himself because of this attack, Liam already made his next move and dashed toward him.


    At the fast pace he was moving, he might as well be running on the ground. Just a few minutes ago, he was struggling with this terrain, and now he was alreadyfortable with it?


    Stephen was dumbfounded, but he did not have the time to think about this right now. Liam was already in front of him and shed down with his sword.


    However, the thief as well was not done just yet. He smoothly blocked Liam''s attack, his dagger matching the semi-epic grade sword and even pushing him back a little.


    "Did you think I just added all my stat points to my agility? So naive. You just made a grave mistake. My strength is my strongest counter."


    The thief let go of his dagger, and five other simr daggers showed up in his right hand.


    He used his left hand to block all of Liam''s attacks, and with his right hand, he used these daggers to tackle him with simultaneous multi-attacks.


    Liam waspletely overwhelmed. The guy''s attributes could not possibly be better than his, but at the same time, his attacks were all mysterious.


    He couldn''t make out any of it.


    "Did you think you would be able to fight a closebat yer? You should have thought about this more, you half-baked mage?" The thief''s voice rang loudly, resonating from all sides.


    So not only was he fighting Liam at his full capacity, he also sounded very confident. This guy definitely has some sort of technique.


    He churned his mana core and conjured six big fireballs at the same time, sending them out in all directions, but the guy managed to avoid all six attacks without any issue.


    Liam did not give up. He was still calm and steady and focused on the attack and the retreat rhythm.


    No matter whatplicated techniques he was using, in the end, he only needed to focus on the final move, the result. Moreover, the thief''s speed was also slowing down.


    The guy immediately tried to jump back into stealth, but Liam did not let him go. He cast serial earth spikes, one more spike popping out of the already existing spikes, acting like thorns in his path.


    However, it looked like the person was not retreating now, so this attack did not affect him. Instead, after entering stealth, Stephen approached Liam and silently stood behind his back.


    "It''s game over."


    "Yes." Liam dodged him in the only way that he could, which was by falling onto the bed of spikes.


    Stephen grinned. The victory was his. He watched the guy plummet to his death in satisfaction, but before Liam''s body could hit the nearest spike, something white and fluffy popped out all of a sudden.


    And Liam¡­ floated right back up into the air.


    "How?! How is this possible?" Stephen was dumbfounded. No one was allowed to bring a mount into this fight, and this guy was clearly not a hunter.


    However, he did not have much time to think about it.


    While watching Liam, the other partypletely forgot about the second factor everyone needed to pay attention to in this battleground. This was what Liam had nned for all along.


    The huge bird!


    The gigantic flying beast swooped down and grasped Stephen with its huge ws. The guy was so focussed on showing his superiorbat skills that he forgot about the other things.


    "Let''s go, Luna. Let''s end this battleground." Liam calmly patted the fox.


    And just as the duo was about to set out, suddenly, the bird that had only now left the area returned at full speed.


    It saw Luna''s big chubby body and immediately tossed out its earlier prey, losing interest in the scrawny human.


    St! The next second, Stephen fell to his death, impaled by a spike, and was teleported out of the battleground.


    "Hmmm? This is... we have to fight against that thing now?" Liam did not expect this twist.


    Since it got its prey, he thought the bird would only return for the next round after a minute or so, but it was back already.


    As the huge flying beast was about to chase Luna and make her dinner, loud bells rang, indicating the end of the battleground.


    All the members of the opposition were already down!


    "He He. Our timing is too good." Liam winked at the fox, who was busy showing her tongue to the bird.


    Even otherwise, it wouldn''t have been a huge deal for Luna to shrink down again and disappear, it would have only been a bit risky.


    Bright lights appeared around everyone,pletely enveloping them, and in the next second, the group was teleported back to the PVP tower''s tournament floor.


    Huff! Huff! Huff! Everyone panted whilefortably cing their feet on the solid ground.


    It felt good to be back. Alex and the two other yers who were dead were also present there and walked over to the group.


    "We saw everything." Alex was fuming. "That bastard who backstabbed us ran away somehow. He must have entered stealth mode the moment he died. I looked for him here, and he is nowhere to be found."


    "Let him go. Don''t focus on that." Liam sat back in the arena auditorium, his gaze meeting the numerous eyes on him.


    The fight was broadcasted. This meant that they had bigger problems, or at least he had bigger problems. One of his trump cards was revealed.


    As if the number of people behind him already was not enough, now more were going to chase after him for Luna.


    Irrespective of that, this tournament was important. So Liam did not mind. Besides, he had also notpletely revealed his hands.


    "Good job. You guys managed to get everyone down on time." Seeing Derek, Mia, Shen Yue, and the others walk over to him, Liam nodded at them encouragingly.


    It looked like this tournament was going to reveal many things about many yers. Others might learn about their strength, but it was also a good opportunity to learn about others.


    "Liam, who do you think is targeting us? That yer did not belong to any guild. Why did he suddenly attack us?" Mia asked.


    Her cold gaze swept the huge auditorium, silently taking into ount everyone paying attention to them.


    "It should definitely be that fatty!" Alex fumed. "That guy appeared just as the backstabbing bastard walked over to us. This stinks rotten."


    "Alex, don''t fat shame the guy." Reyughed lightly. He was also getting a little thick in the middle these days, so he was joking about it.


    "Shut up, idiot. For once, can you be serious about something?" Alex shouted at him and was about to walk away when the guy they were talking about unexpectedly showed up in front of them again.


    "He He. Did any of you beauties think of me? I got an itch in my back." Madanughed loudly, not holding back at all the fact that he was enjoying their misery.


    "For this, you guys could have invited me to your group. It looks like you got backstabbed either way."


    "Shut up. Don''t think that we don''t know. You guys sent him, right. What did you achieve?" Alex spat out.


    "Oi! Oi! Babe, calm down. Don''t start ming me now. I didn''t do any such thing. You can ask my group if you want." Madan smugly pointed her towards the group of people standing near him.


    "That''s enough, Madan. Let''s leave." Kouske reminded him immediately.


    "Heh. He is only talking to them because of all those women. Stop wasting everyone''s time, you lowlife." Anya scoffed.


    Madan''s face changed, and he let out a sad sigh. "Look at this boss Liam. See what I have to put up with. Can you please hand me out a ve contract too?"


    "Shut up." Alex was livid. "You are not fooling anyone here. We know about your underhanded ways. So just shut the hell up and get lost. No one here is buying what you are selling."


    "Heh?" This time it was not Madan but Anya who responded. "We use underhanded methods? Pot is calling the kettle ck."


    She suddenly took a step forward and stood in front of Rey, who was casually smiling and watching the show from the sidelines.


    "Aren''t you the sick one? It looks like you are cured now, but¡­" She grinned, giving him a strange look, "Did you ever think about why you got sick in the first ce?"

 Chapter 542 He is here?

    Chapter 542 He is here?


    Whatever happened with Rey, only Liam, Mia, and Alex were party to it, so the other yers from the guild looked at the tall blonde woman mouthing in front of them in confusion. What was she talking about?


    Rey''s expression also changed. There was a subtle change in his yful casual face which he always wore. Others might have missed this but Anya did not.


    She silently sent a friend request to him with a wink.


    "Let''s go and this time I am not repeating my words." Kouske cleared his throat sternly.


    "Tch. You are such a kill joy." Madan clicked his tongue and followed behind him like a obedientp dog. Anya as well scoffed and left.


    "Hmmmm? Who do these people think they are? We are the top guild in this Kingdom right now and we are also the top yers, why are these idiots acting so arrogantly?" Alex red at the bunch.


    "Liam, aren''t we all just waiting for the next round? How about you tell us about them now?"


    Mia also nodded. Even though they had somewhat of a solid foundation now and their strength was formidable, she could still feel that it would be a mistake to underestimate these people.


    Along with the two girls, the others also looked at Liam for an exnation.


    The guy had been suspiciously quiet since after the fight. He did not say anything about anything even when the blonde woman was critizing him openly.


    "What are you thinking about?" Alex urged him again.


    "I think¡­" Liam mumbled absent-mindedly, "what if these guys really did not send that thief?"


    "Hmm? So what? If its not these yers, then its some other guild. We are now a proper organization. We are bound to have enemies." Alex shrugged.


    Liam, however, did not look convinced.


    "It doesn''t matter. See! The second battleground is about to start and did you notice? The number of yers in the tournament is now 90. The 10 who lost were already eliminated."


    "So, by the time the five battlegrounds arepleted only 50 yers will remain. I don''t think there is going to be more 10 vs 10 matches. So we don''t have to include any more new yers into our team."


    What Alex pointed out wasn''t wrong but Liam still felt a little uneasy for some reason. At this stage, an expert thief yer like this suddenly popping out? Where was he all this time?


    As for the other thing, Liam did not forget about that also. " I think you guys should talk to Rey again. I hope there are no hard feelings."


    The three of them turned to see Rey who was just like alwaysughing and chatting. He seemed to be asking Derek for tips on how to be beefed up like him.


    "He is¡­ ummm¡­ he is fine. See." Alex shook her head helplessly. "This guy¡­ I am just letting him take it easy because he just recovered."


    "It''s fine. Let him be." Liam sighed. "And about those people." He briefly exined to Mia and Alex about his interactions with the four yers.


    "My guess is that¡­ they have a very powerful yer in their team. I haven''t met this yer personally yet so I cannot verify this theory but if I am correct, then this person is able to locate treasures."


    "WHAT?" Alex was shocked. From what Liam exined, this seemed to be the logical conclusion and yet it was difficult to imagine that someone could have such an overpowered ability.


    "The emerald crown Mei Mei is currently wearing belongs to that blonde. I stole it from her." Liam added. The proof was right in front of them so they couldn''t ignore it.


    "Do you think that it is just limited to treasures though?" Mia asked.


    "No." Liam shook his head. "Maybe like an oracle, a special ss like the one Shen Yue has. But until I see this guy with my own eyes, I don''t want to make the wrong assumptions."


    His eyes then scanned the crowd that was gathered in the tournament floor. Suddenly, Mia and Alex realized something at the same time.


    "You think he is here?" Mia''s cold gaze also checked out the other yers in the auditorium.


    That was right. This tournament was huge. The prizes were enough to boost a guild''s strength astronomically so no yer worth his salt would want to miss such a thing. Keeping it low profile was not worth it when the stakes were this high.


    However, Liam sighed and shook his head. "I also thought the same thing at first, but now I think that the chances of him showing up are 50-50."


    "Just because he can see the future or spot treasures, it does not mean he is personally strong. Maybe he is a support type yer."


    "So probably not best suited for this tournament. Let''s see. Maybe there will be a surprise for us."


    Liam was not too positive about this. The guy that took so much efforts to remain in the shadows is probably there for some good reason.


    As the three of them discussed about this, the gong rang loudly and it was time for the next battleground of the tournament to begin.


    Two groups of ten yers walked over to the stage and the next instant they were all teleported to their battleground.


    This time the battleground waspletely different than the previous one. It was on a deserted temple ruins and the yers were not the only ones the groups had to watch out for. There were all sorts of spiders, centipedes, snakes and other beasts.


    Just like the first battle, this one as well had its own advantages and challenges and it looked like the victor would be determined by the way the yers handled and took advantage of the terrain.


    However, right off the bat, one of the two teams came out with a clear advantage. One side''s abilitiespletely overshadowed the other and the yers were dying quickly.

 Chapter 543 Shocking Move

    Chapter 543 Shocking Move


    "That group is so powerful! Sis, do you know which guild they are from?" Mei Mei asked Alex.


    "Yes. Yes." Alex nodded. Though everyone was wearing full cloaks that did not reveal many details, the yers'' faces were visible from time to time.


    "That group is probably the one to watch for us. They are from ''Dragons of Justics'', one of the three main guilds in the Gresh Kingdom. Also one of our mainpetitors for now."


    "Alex, there is something else." Mia corrected her. "Look closely, I think I see some ''Devil''s Advocate'' yers in this group too."


    "Eh? That''s not possible." Alex shook her head resolutely.


    Among the various guilds in the Gresh Kingdom, Dragons of Justice, Devil''s Advocate and War Brothers were currently the top three guilds.


    And ever since, Crimson Abyss made an entry, threatening the position of these top guilds, the three of them had reached a delicate bnce, some sort of a peace treaty.


    Alex had been paying close attention to these three because today they had formed an alliance and tomorrow, this alliance could be against their guild.


    She was monitoring all their moves and she knew firsthand that the three guilds really took a lot of effort to keep this treaty, settling several disputes internally.


    So it did not make sense if suddenly two of the three guilds became closer, forming a stronger bond. That would mean that thendscape of the Gresh Kingdom was going to change again.


    "This is impossible." She shook her head. "Are you sure Mia?"


    Mia nodded. Then the two sisters became busy discussing amongst themselves about the various yers fighting on the battleground.


    Just like them, the others present in the arena also looked upied with the same thing. Everyone was trying to figure out everyone else and find out information about thepetition.


    The second fight soon came to an end and the third one and the fourth also followed suit. Lastly, the fifth battleground was also announced when everyone received another huge shock.


    For thest battleground, it was team 1 vs team 4 and shockingly, team 1 was an all star team!


    Every single member of this team was a ranker on the Gresh Kingdom leaderboard and belonged to the guilds upying the top five positions on the leaderboard at the moment.


    This meant that not only two guilds had coordinated, but all top five guilds of the Gresh Kingdom had silently coordinated for this event!


    "Fuck! Mia, you were right! These bastards are cooking up some new shit!" Alex gripped her pants. Simr expressions could be seen throughout the auditorium.


    The other strong yers from the smaller guilds and the few independent yers suddenly felt cheated. If they created an All Star team from the top five guilds then what chance did they have?


    Here they were trying to coordinate with new yers whom they hadn''t yed with before but the top five guilds sneakily had everything prepared beforehand.


    Just like everyone guessed, the fifth battleground barelysted for a few seconds and the opposite team waspletely decimated.


    The battleground was over even before it began. This was the power of an All Star team. Everyone in the auditorium became silent.


    This could mean several things but what it actually meant was that, these ten yers were going to be in the finals!


    If they coordinated for this one fight, then there was nothing stopping them from coordinating for the other fights too. So in a second, this entire tournament became imbnced.


    Everyone cursed loudly at their bad luck. There were simply no more chances for struggling yers toe up. The top guilds again and again imed all the opportunities.


    While everyone in the auditorium was fuming about this sneaky move by the big shots, one person alone looked like he couldn''t care less about it.


    Liam simply sat with his eyes closed and meditating.


    He was trying to get more control of his mana core by silently churning it and circting mana through his body without letting anything leak outside.


    This was one of themonly avable techniques for mana control and yers woulde to know about it from their ss towers after reaching Level 50.


    Since Liam was not a big shot in his previous life, he was only privy to information like this which was freely avable. However, he knew better than to ignore the importance of doing all of this.


    Even simple andmonly avable techniques like this could be deadly especially when no one else other than him had begun to form their mana core in this crowd.


    "Liam, what do you think? We have some information about these top yers. Do you want to take a look? Should we make some sort of strategic n beforehand?" Mia asked.


    Liam, on the other hand, calmly shook his head. He knew about the PVP tower more than anyone else. So preparing beforehand was not going to be very useful.


    "Let''s wait until the next contest is announced. We can then discuss strategies."


    "Right." Mia agreed with him. Everyone else anxiously looked at the arena stage as thest of the yers walked down onto the tournament floor.


    And just like that, the second round was alsopleted.


    The strange new PVP contest that was dragging its feet all this while was suddenly on full steam and in the blink of an eye, two rounds werepleted just like that.


    More importantly, there were only 50 more yers left now!


    The tournament had finally heated up and the next couple of rounds could be thest rounds that would determine who would be getting all the unbelievable prizes.


    Everyone couldn''t contain their excitement. There was a legendary item on the line! Who wins here could determine everything from here onwards.


    At this moment, the next announcement arrived, and the bells rang loudly.


    [Ding. Round three will begin shortly. All the yers are requested to prepare a suitable mount]

 Chapter 544 Round Three!

    Chapter 544 Round Three!


    "You couldn''t be more obvious if you tried. Ha Ha Ha Ha." Grandmaster  smiled wryly. "Just how many of that poor brat''s treasures are you interested in? Can''t leave him even one or two?"


    Ignoring the tant mockery, the PVP tower master Crawford scoffed in response and continued with his business.


    He couldn''t care less about what the old fart next to him had to say. He was far more interested in the white fox with the three tails.


    "Her speed just now was spectacr. I have never seen a young beast exhibit such marvelous abilities. I need to examine her better."


    Mumbling to himself, the tower master was busy making his observations and calctions and then some more observations.


    At the same time, the person next to him continued to be silently amused by his actions. Neither of them exchanged any words with each other.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "Mounts?" All the remaining 50 yers on the tournament floor started scrambling. The members of the currently most popr All Star team also became busy.


    With thetest announcement, they did not have to guess that this round depended on their mounts.


    It was probably a race of some sort with the yer on top of the mount. So everyone tried their best to bring out a decent beast.


    Of course, the top yers were still not too worried about this. Regardless of the mounts, the yer would still be on top and would most probably determine the real winner. So they had nothing to worry about.


    The only ones who worried were the yers who were close to getting eliminated. They wanted to bring out powerful mounts and seal the gap in the yer skills.


    Amidst all of this strategizing, there was a little bit of issue in Liam''s group as well. Alex, Rey, and the two other yers did not have any special mounts.


    They only hadmon beasts, and in fact, all four of them had the same dire wolf breed, one of the mostmonly avable mount drops.


    And with four of them standing side by side, it was kind of embarrassing, to say the least.


    "Damn it, Rey! Aren''t you a hunter? Don''t you have anything else? Did you have to use the same wolf?" Alex shook her brother.


    "Eh? What are you worried about? Our wolves look cool. See! They look majestic and awesome, standing next to each other!" Rey even whistled to show his enthusiasm.


    Alex wanted to bury her head somewhere. "Can''t this stupid round start already!" She just wanted to get it over with and go to the next round, where hopefully, she might get to pound someone down.


    "Sis, you need to stop being so violent all the time!" Rey poked the bear andughed courageously. Everyone who heard him silently said their prayers.


    The next second, Rey''s ears started getting twisted by the said bear when suddenly bright lights enveloped all the yers on the floor. Once again, they were getting teleported.


    Where to? No one knew.


    When the bright lights faded, everyone''s vision cleared up to reveal a magnificent bed of clouds.


    Like soft fluffy cotton candy, blobs and blobs of white clouds were everywhere, till the distance eyes could see, and all the yers were currently standing atop these clouds along with their selected mounts.


    "Oh my god! Brother! Is this where the race is going to be? This looks so beautiful..." A bright smile spread across Mei Mei''s face as she started scooping one handful of white mist after another.


    Her panther also shared her yful nature as the duo yed around. Seeing this, Luna who was standing by Liam, jumped into the fray ying with the two.


    The white fox had a precious face as she jumped around in the clouds, treating the fluffy clouds like soapyther.


    However, only these three in the entire group had this attitude. Everyone else was dead serious.


    Mia''s majestic white tiger stared arrogantly ahead, its pristine pure nature not in the least sullied by the shenanigans of the fox and the panther rolling around in the clouds next to it.


    The tiger stood away as if it had no idea who the other two beasts were.


    On the other side, a couple of bats stood near Shen Yue and Derek.


    The two looked out of ce, with demonic aura seeping out of them. Especially the one that Derek had, the one that was buff and muscr just like him, attracted a lot of attention from the neighboring yers.


    At this time, everyone was standing in a somewhat straight line, and coincidentally, the person standing next to Alex was¡­


    PFFT! Madanughed out loud, unable to control himself.


    "What a sorry sight this is¡­ since when did the famous Crimson Abyss be this pathetic? What is this? Four fire wolves? A small fox? A panther and two bats?"


    "Ba ha ha ha ha! This is ridiculous. Four dire wolves! Ba ha ha ha! The guild vice-master actually has a dire wolf!"


    Alex gritted her teeth and tried not to get affected by the fat ass. She ignored him and paid attention to the other yers around them, especially the ones from the all star team.


    However, Madan was not nning to let her off that easily. "Miss Alex, do you know what a mount should look like? See our boss."


    He pointed to the guy standing a couple of paces away from him, where Kouske was standing. And next to Kouske was shockingly a huge death knight.


    This single thing was much bigger than everything else put together, so currently everyone''s attention was on this death knight.


    Even Liam couldn''t believe that he was doing this. "This guy is really taking full advantage of my item." He smiled bitterly.


    "You see now, Miss Alex. This is how a mount should be." Madan grinned smugly. Though he had used Kouske as an example, the mount he had wasn''t that bad either.


    It was a ck bird that looked like a sparrow, and a thick aura of dark element seeped out of it. "This is a spirit beast, right?" Alex clicked her tongue in admiration, looking at the sparrow. Shepletely ignored the taunts.


    Madan''s face slightly changed, but he was still jovial. "This little thing. It''s nothing. It''s nothing." He tried not to make a big deal out of his bird.


    "You don''t have to be so pretentious." Alex sneered and turned around.


    She hated this type of person the most, the one who downyed things purposefully, acting as if what they had wasn''t good enough. She ignored the person and started paying attention to the other yers.


    This event was basically a show of mounts, so everyone wanted to gather information about what was avable and how powerful it was.


    In the midst of this, Rey alone looked upied. Originally he was also sightseeing, but now he was staring at his system interface.


    There was a message blinking for him. "I can give you the coordinates for a better hunter''s pet." It was from Madan. While talking trash with Alex, the guy simultaneously messaged Rey.


    "Okay?" Rey sent a reply, looking confused.


    Surprisingly, a reply immediately arrived. Madan did not beat around the bush and directly gave him a couple of coordinates.


    Rey looked like he was not sure what was going on. He scratched his head and stared at the screen when another reply came in.


    "Just a friendly help from one hunter to another."


    Before Rey could say anything to this, a bell rang loudly, so he closed the interface, deciding to deal with thister on.


    With the sound of the bell, the other yers also prepared themselves.


    A bright line appeared in front of them, something that looked like a ray of sunshine, and everyone called back their mounts to stand in order behind this line.


    Some even started climbing on top when suddenly another bright light shed, and all the yers mysteriously found themselves back on the PVP tower''s tournament floor.


    "Huh?" Everyone was utterly shocked. What just happened?


    Moreover, it looked like only they had been teleported. Their pets were still there on the bed of clouds which was currently being disyed to them.


    "Wait, this round is only for the pets and mounts?" Someone pointed out the obvious, and then everyone nodded in realization.


    Suddenly everyone who was not nervous before was now sweating. Which idiot organizer would actually keep a mount race as a round in an important tournament that could decide their fate?


    Shouldn''t this kind of tournament be conducted based on theirbat ability? This was simply ridiculous! Utter bullshit!


    Everyone silently cursed this damned tournament organizer and their bad luck for not having better mounts.


    Unfortunate yers like Alex straight up squatted on the ground with their hands on their heads.


    "Damn it. Am I going to get eliminated now?" There was simply no other result. What was amon dire wolf supposed to do in this group of monstrous looking mounts?


    It was game over for her.

 Chapter 545 who to pick?

    Chapter 545 who to pick?


    Outside the PVP tower¡­ Most of the crowd that was there earlier had nowpletely dispersed.


    A few groups of yers were still standing around and looking at the tower longingly, but the majority had either gone in to climb the tower through the main PVP route or moved away from the area to do some other quests.


    But at this time, suddenly something strange happened. Four giant squares appeared outside the tower, floating mid-air magically without support of any kind.


    These squares were also not normal. They were special reflective squares that glowed brightly and as this glow decreased, images started shing on these four things.


    A secondter, everyone could see these images properly.


    GASP!


    All the yers standing around the tower were instantly stupified. The tournament was being telecasted!


    The special PVP tower tournament was actually being telecasted on these giant squares! All the yers standing around started huddling together and watching this scene.


    News started spreading quickly, and more yers arrived on the scene.


    Then something even more unbelievable happened. The betting opened up to all the yers currently in the vicinity of the tower!


    This was like jaggery to the flies, and all the yers swarmed the tower once again.


    They didn''t have to enter it, so everyone squeezed themselves into the crowd somehow and stood around the tower.


    They mored and wed in using whatever means necessary peeling their eyes open for the events on the big square.


    Free gold was not something easy toe by! So all the yers discussed the event and analyzed it under a microscope as if their life depended on it.


    "What is happening in the tournament right now? Who is winning? Who should I bet on?"


    "What the hell? Wasn''t this some sort of PVP event? Why am I seeing a white fox in the square?"


    "Look! There are dire wolves, tigers, fox, bear, woah¡­ wait a second¡­ wait a second." The person panted and then continued, "IS THAT A FREAKING DEATH KNIGHT!"


    As one by one, the faces of the various mounts started shing on the four big squares, all the yers were dumbstruck, trying to understand what was happening in the tournament now.


    But the news broke out soon enough. "Hey! I heard from my guild seniors! The round currently going on is a mount race round!"


    "What? A race between mounts?" Many yers'' faces immediately brightened up as they realized that this was a betting gold mine. Sure, yers wereplicated, but mounts were not!


    It should be easy enough to spot weaklings and strong mounts and bet on them, winning the jackpot! This was a ridiculous round made just for them to win gold coins!


    This sudden development shocked everyone, but at the same time, all the yers began working very hard, forming guild groups and alliances and discussing all the information that they could get their hands on.


    This information reached the yers inside the tower as well, the ones currently standing on the tournament floor.


    Things started snowballing, and soon someone had made a full list of the mounts participating and which guild it could potentially belong to.


    This list instantly became a hotmodity and started selling for several gold coins. Many guilds invested and purchased this list and started reselling for cheaper. Soon almost everyone had it, and the yers started gossiping about the best odds.


    "YOWZA! Look at that! The Gresh Kingdom''s top three guilds have 20 slots among the 50 slots! This is insane! Just how powerful are they! Other guilds only have one or two slots."


    "What? You didn''t hear? It seems in the previous round, the two of the top 3 guilds cooperated by forming an All Star team. This tournament''s winner is already decided."


    "Yes. Yes, one of the yers from Dragons of Justice, Devil''s Advocate or War Brothers is going to take the win for sure."


    "Well, this round the yers are not important. We need to pay more attention to the mounts. Let''s see what''s the best mount from the top three guilds of the Gresh Kingdom."


    "He He, why are you being vague? Bro Roger has this win in the bag! Look at that six winged lion!"


    "Right. Right. All the other mounts are stupid standing next to our guild master''s lion!"


    "Fuck! Who the hell brings dire wolves to this tournament? Idiots! What a waste of an opportunity! If I had the chance, I would have had themon sense to get a better mount beforehand."


    As the four giant squares shed all the mounts one after the other, revealing dire wolf after dire wolf, a small fox, a panther, and two ugly looking bats, everyone became even more convinced about their decision.


    Many guilds almost decided their bets. The ck sparrow and the white tiger were slightly concerning, but the lion stood out the most.


    And as far as the huge death knight, some guilds decided to bet on it, but many decided against it because the size was not the only thing that mattered. The huge thing could be slow for all they knew.


    But at the same time, the thing looked terrifying and powerful so it could also be a very good bet. This decision was confusing.


    It was either the six winged lion or the tyrannical looking death knight for sure, but the several guilds did not make up their minds yet.


    Just then, the attention fell on the other side of the line, and unexpectedly, the entire crowd fell into a huge uproar.


    It seemed that the surprises were not over! On this side of the line, there were actually five drakes!


    There were five winged drakes, each one a different color and all of them stood majestically.


    "What the hell? These yers have drakes as their mount? Where is this information in this stupid list?"


    "Wait, who are these yers? I haven''t seen anyone flying a drake in our Kingdom or seen any announcement for that matter?"


    "Yes, I also haven''t heard of anyone having dragon mounts in the big guilds. Where are these yers from? Another Kingdom?"

 Chapter 546 Ready, Set, Go!

    Chapter 546 Ready, Set, Go!


    "Damn it. It''s all over." Alex was now sure of it.


    Earlier, at least they were simplypeting with other rare mounts, but now there were even higher grade mounts in y. That too, not one. There were five, and they were dragons!


    What were they now supposed to do? Four or perhaps all of their group was now inevitably going to be eliminated in this round.


    "Who the hell are these people? Shit. Shit. We are supposed to take the win in this tournament. Where did these guyse from?"


    Not just her, but Mia, Rey, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and all the standing yers of the Crimson Abyss guild looked crestfallen.


    Compared to the other yers, these guys looked even more dejected because they were that much sure of their victory.


    Others might not be aware, but they knew Liam''s strength and Mia''s abilities. Even Alex and Derek were second to none. So all they needed to do was get into the final ten.


    In a straightforward PVP match, there was no way that their team would lose. This win was supposed to be theirs. However, at thest minute, this stupid round changed everything!


    Now they were no longer confident about anything. These new yers who had outstanding mounts would probably not be simple. Theirbat abilities would alsoe into the picture.


    This tournament just got out of their hands!


    At the same time, just like them, every other guild from the Gresh Kingdom also had the same look. Even Madan, Kouske, Anya, and Barret looked constipated.


    The three top guilds of the Gresh Kingdom also looked butthurt.


    The couple of individual yers and the one or two yers from the few smaller guilds like the Assassin guild and the Stormtroopers guild were also livid.


    They had somehow wed their way and managed to obtain a position in this fight, and now everything was going to be taken away from them.


    Someone new was now going to take the pie that had fallen from the sky into the Gresh Kingdom guilds''ps.


    "Find out who these guys are!" Everyone sent messages to their respective guilds and started the search.


    The Gresh Kingdom leaderboards and achievement boards mainly had information only about the guilds inside the kingdom, but that was not the case in the outside world.


    Thanks to the inte, every single achievement by every single guild inside the ''Evolution Online'' game was avable for everyone to see, and several websites had detailedptions of these things.


    Just like how yers relied on the auction house to make gold coins, many yers relied on this informationwork to make money.


    Some of the top guilds already have coborations with guilds from the other Kingdoms so that when teleportation between Kingdoms eventually opens up, they can immediately pool their resources and zoom ahead.


    These kinds of deals were plenty. Not all kingdoms inside the Xion realm were built the same. Some might be located near rich deposits of ores, some might be located near gem grooves. Every Kingdom had its specialty.


    yers were only not able to jump between these kingdoms and take advantage of the cheaper or, more abundantly avable resources because of the dead terrain between each kingdom.


    In Xion, in most kingdoms, the center areas were the safer areas. As one inched closer to the border, all the areas were dangerous territories.


    They were home to level 100 plus beasts, savage races, and perilous environments. If one tried to fly past the borders, then the yer would only end up dying.


    This was the main reason why everyone was still confined to their starting Kingdoms. However, right now, thatndscape seemed to be changing.


    While other guilds were still busy trying to find out from where these yers could have popped out, Liam knew for a fact that these guys had to havee from outside.


    And using their PVP tournament as a stepping stone, these guys are probably aiming for the tournament prizes and, along with that, to establish a branch of their guild in the Gresh Kingdom and start recruiting yers from here.


    This was why they had decisively revealed their mounts today!


    As for how they could have managed to cross the borders, even he did not know.


    But it didn''t matter. After all, his main ying field was the big wide world outside and not this small kingdom he was currently in. He had always made all the moves with this in mind.


    Liam''s gaze silently moved across the huge auditorium, falling on the various yers as he tried to see if he recognized someone.


    "Drakes¡­ huh¡­ as far as I remember, only that kid had dragon pets. These guys haven''t even reached Level 50. How did they get their hands on drake mounts?" He quietly pondered.


    Meanwhile, the fifteen minute timer on the screen was quickly running out. There were now only a couple more minutes left before the mount race officially began.


    "Liam! Liam! Are you listening? Who should we bet on?"


    Alex chewed out her nails, looking at the screen. The drakes were the obvious choice, but at the same time, Kouske''s special mount couldn''t be ignored.


    "Who the hell is allowing a fucking undead freak monster as a mount? I want to see this PVP tower master damn it. Does that man have no brains? How is this a mount?"


    "Liam? Liam? Hello! The tournament is about to start!!! Who should we bet on?"


    Seeing that the guy was still deeply thinking, Alex lost her patience and started shaking him violently. Immediately everyone backed away. There was a third world war going to now break out between these two.


    However, surprisingly Liam did not look like he was in the mood for it today. He only mildly reacted.


    He pushed her away and looked at the small white fox who was still happily ying with the clouds without a care in the world.


    "Don''t overthink things. Stay calm and bet on Luna."


    "Are you sure?" Alex was shaking in excitement.


    "Yes." Liam replied, and he ced his personal bet as well, cing 10000 gold coins on Luna.


    At thisst minute, as the final few seconds were now running out, all the yers standing around were busy doing the same thing.


    10 seconds. 9 seconds. 8 seconds¡­.. 2 seconds. 1 second. 0!


    [DING! The third round is now starting. All bets are closed]


    The system announcement popped up, and the next instant, the white fluffy clouds flew up like dry dirt on a race track. All fifty beasts shot forward at top speed!

 Chapter 547 Winners and Losers

    Chapter 547 Winners and Losers


    As soon as the race started, the entire ce went into a huge uproar. All the yers standing outside the PVP tower were shouting fervently and chanting the name of the beast they had ced their bets on.


    Inside the tower as well, this was the same atmosphere. Everyone was loudly cheering for their mounts at the top of their lungs.


    Amidst these shouts, one fox alone received special attention. Mei Mei, Rey, Alex, and actually almost all the nine members of the Crimson Abyss guild were cheering loudly for Luna, not bothering about their own mounts.


    "Come on, Luna! Come on, Luna!"


    "Luna! Luna! Luna!"


    Only Liam remained silent.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Are you all cheering for the dire wolves?" Madan walked over to stand next to this group. He seemed determined toe to their group every chance he got, and of course, as always, his eyes were only on Shen Yue.


    "Why don''t you mind your own business?" Alex wanted to chase him out of there right away.


    "Miss Alex,e on. Even you have to admit that this is funny. Dire wolves. Ha Ha Ha. See, there is no doubt here. Our bro''s death knight is going to take the win." He shrugged. "Dragons are well and good for showing off but let''s be honest, this fight is already decided."


    Alex bit her lips in frustration, and the others also did not say anything. In truth, they weren''t all too strong in this particr round.


    "Damn it! These clouds are still not clearing up! I can''t see anything. What is happening?" Alex had ended up betting 50% of their guild''s gold coins on the match. So she was extremely nervous.


    Not helping this situation, Madan continued running his mouth as he pleased, not holding back at all.


    "Mia, Liam, what is happening? Is anyone able to get in touch with their mounts?" Alex, Rey, and the other two yers were unable tomunicate with their mountspletely. Many yers seemed to have thismunication issue.


    Right now, the mounts were probably doing whatever they wanted. This made the tension that much worse, and no one could see the race clearly.


    But thankfully, another secondter, the clouds slowly started clearing up, and there was some visibility.


    At this point, it looked like the mounts had already got divided into various groups, some at the front, some in the middle, and some at the end because of which everyone could see what was happening. Especially at the end, where only a few mounts were there.


    And this was spot upied by none other than¡­


    "Ba ha ha ha! Would you look at that? You guys are thest!" Madan clutched his bulging stomach and startedughing heartily.


    The way the four dire wolves were slowly trotting didn''t seem to help the situation. Not just Madan but most of the yers inside and outside of the tower wereughing at this pathetic sight.


    The same bed of clouds that looked very mysterious and fun at the beginning now seemed to be a headache to these four wolves. They were getting disoriented trying to run across these clouds.


    However, after a second, everyone noticed that these dire wolves were not alone. There was a fifth mount along with the four wolves. And this was¡­


    None other than the death knight!


    "Fukk." Madan''s face twitched as he stoppedughing. The entire arena and the yers outside the PVP tower also became quiet.


    Everyone stared at this scene dumbfoundedly because the death knight was one of the main contenders of this race, and many yers had bet on it. However, now it was right at the back with the wolves.


    How the hell could this happen?


    Kouske was the first to notice that the death knight was not exhibiting its usual impressive aura and more importantly, its size was different.


    It was not huge or gigantic anymore. It looked like a normal undead zombie, the size of a standard human being.


    It was still fast as it tried to run, but its armor suit was weighing it down heavily, making its speed no different than the wolves.


    "What the hell? This is level suppression or what? Why is it so unbnced?" Madan and the other members of his team looked livid.


    Particrly Kouske''s face had darkened with shame and embarrassment.


    They had all been happy that their death knight was somehow allowed in the mount race, but now it looked like they had only been allowed to get penalizedter in the race.


    "This is bullshit! This race is absolutely ridiculous."


    "Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha!" Now it was Alex''s turn tough loudly. "Didn''t you say that you were going to win? Now what?"


    She already knew her wolf was going to lose, so it was not a huge blow but seeing this death knight chugging along at the end like a loser was so much more satisfying.


    Madan sighed at this, but the next second he revealed a big smile as if this did not affect him at all. "Beauty, you seem to have forgotten that my sparrow is still in the race, hmm? Don''t get too happy! We might still win this race!"


    "Hmph. Yes, without your weight dragging that sparrow down, it does really have a chance to win. You are correct." Alex scoffed and walked away to stand next to Mia.


    She didn''t want to lose her mind by talking to this idiot. The race was still going on and their guild still had several mounts in the forefront. "What happened? Are you able tomunicate with your tiger?"


    Mia shook her head. It was a no go.


    "At least, we are still at the front." Alex patted her.


    At the moment, all the mounts that can fly seemed to be doing better than those that couldn''t. While the direwolves and the death knight was at the back, these flying mounts were in the front.


    Mia''s white tiger, the five drakes, the six winged lion particrly came to the forefront. Of course, because it was almost fully white in color, no one paid much attention to the fox that was also at the front along with these mounts.


    Surprisingly, just like the fox, there seemed to be two other dark horses. One was a blue snake and the other one was a ck panther. This was a different beast and not Mei Mei''s purple panther as she wanted it to be.


    "Eh? Where did these mountse from? They are able to run shoulder to shoulder with the drakes!" Everyone was confused.


    Mia saw this and suddenly turned to look at Liam. "You are able to talk to Luna, right?"


    "Yes." Liam nodded.


    Mia''s eyes widened and then she asked the other thing that was bugging her. "Did you ask Luna to go slower?"


    "Of course." Liam smiled. "We still don''t know what this race is about. For now, these guys are just running. Let''s see what happens before making any moves."


    "Right. That is good." Mia looked at the drakes and at the ck sparrow that was slowly gaining speed. One thing was clear.


    Among the mounts at the front, no one was showing their true ability yet. Her tiger and the six winged lion were probably the only mounts running at full capacity already.


    So they were probably not going to get qualified for the next round. This race was brutal.


    On the other hand, the majority of the yers who ced the bet on the drakes were extremely happy. This was the result they wanted.


    "How much longer is this race going to go? Aren''t the winners clear now? Let''s just stop it!" Everyone jeered loudly because they wanted the drakes to win.


    The five drakes pping their wings calmly and casually was a majestic vision.


    The other beasts scrambling to stay near these five beasts only looked like jokers, especially the two bats who looked out of breath, only barely keeping up.


    But at this moment, something unexpected happened. Giant rocks started dropping from the sky towards this bed of clouds.


    These rocks made huge holes in the clouds and some of the mounts straight up fell into these holes.


    Ding. Ding. Ding.


    The four dire wolves first arrived back at the arena after falling into these holes, and at this point, it wasn''t a surprise to anyone.


    "Damn it!" Alex opened her mouth, only to be kicked out of the tournament floor. Everyone who was disqualified just got directly booted out.


    "Damn. The redhead is gone." Madan grinned. He looked a little too happy so Liam who was silent up until now decided to use this chance to get one more eliminated.


    Madan''s ck sparrow was very close to Luna so he only had to give onemand.


    The next second, a burst of me appeared out of nowhere and startled the sparrow, making it crash against one of the rocks, and the bird too, was out of the race.


    "FUCKKK!" Madan found himself booted out of the tournament floor as well.


    "Let''s start the race, shall we?" Liam stretched his hands and stood up.

 Chapter 548 Playing Dirty

    Chapter 548 ying Dirty


    After Alex was kicked out, she was boiling in frustration. Near her, Rey and the two yers had also been kicked out, along with their dire wolves.


    "Damn, do we have to be the first ones to get out? This is so embarrassing." And just as she finished her sentence, a chubby guy appeared right next to her.


    All the yers getting kicked out of the tower appeared at the same point on the street, so everyone was once again next to each other.


    Alex looked at Madan, and Madan looked at Alex. Both of them were confused, but the next instant, Alex broke into a burst of loudughter.


    "Ba ha ha ha! You said you were winning? You said your sparrow was some awesome shit? What happened now?"


    Sure, the tiny sparrow looked very special hovering next to the dire wolves, but in the end, it was also kicked out just like the wolves.


    "Hey? What? Cat got your tongue?" Alex continuedughing at him mercilessly.


    Madan did not have the face to respond to her, and to make matters worse¡­ right now, on the big disy square something bad was happening.


    All the yers standing around were looking at the same thing, drawing their attention to it as well.


    "That fox in the front just now turned and attacked the sparrow!"


    "What the hell? Isn''t this just supposed to be a race? Now one mount can attack another?"


    Moreover, the fox did not stop there. She gave a smug grin and started attacking all the mounts around her willy-nilly.


    Well, it looked random to others. But Madan was very aware of who the fox was attacking. The big purple bird belonged to Anya, and the ostrich with the wings belonged to Barret.


    They had prepared these mounts, especially for this tournament round, and the fox seemed to be targeting them first.


    Luna''s elegant agile body shed back and forth, left and right, ying around in the clouds to her heart''s content. yers could not even see clearly if she was running or flying.


    The fox''s movements were simply too dazzling, not to mention the fire she was breathing. She avoided the stones nimbly and zig-zagged around to attack the couple of mounts near her.


    None of the other beasts could match her moves. The purple bird narrowly managed to avoid her fire attack and the stones, but unexpectedly Luna''s paws wed at her and got her.


    The ostrich was knocked out even before that. And just like that, Anya and Barret found themselves outside the PVP tower at the same spot.


    Alex, who had only managed just now to get herughter under control, saw this and became even more overjoyed.


    "Oh! All of you came out. Ha ha ha ha! You guys are a really tight-knit group. Keep it up. Keep it up."


    Anya angrily stomped, and Barret and Madan simply grunted. "Let''s go. We knew from the beginning that we were not going to get anything here."


    "Eh? How do you know that? Perhaps you can see the future?" Alex jokingly asked.


    Anya looked startled for a moment, and the group then quickly walked away without bothering to involve themselves in the conversation further.


    Watching them leave, Alex stoppedughing, and her expression turned serious, "So Liam was indeed telling the truth. This group is not simple."


    Beside her, Rey had a strange expression on his face. He still had the coordinates that Madan had messaged him privately.


    "Sis, I have some work now. I will check back with youter."


    "Is this the quest Liam has you on? To heal those destroyednds?"


    "Umm. Ya. Ya. That one." Rey answered hurriedly and also left the spot. Only Alex and the other two were now left.


    "Let''s get out of here. There is no point wasting any more time on this tournament. Damn it. I am going to go and get myself a freaking decent mount."


    Alex disappeared, and the other two yers also left to take care of their business.


    The top members of the guild were busy with the tournament, but as per Liam''s orders, the others did not waste their time and were grinding in dungeons, trying to improve their fighting skills.


    Meanwhile, the crowd around the PVP tower was still intense, and no one else wanted to budge from their ce. Just in this single round, there were already so many upsets and unexpected twists.


    Thankfully for them, the death knight was not yet out of the game, and the drakes were still in the lead, so at least their money was safe for now.


    If only that damned fox were not there! She was the only troublemaker in the group!


    However, after watching the fox attack the three other beasts out of nowhere, how could the others keep quiet? Many beasts started shing with each other.


    Even the death knight was in trouble.


    A purple panther approached this death knight by running backward and tossed it out through one of the holes, essentially getting Kouske as well kicked out of the tournament.


    The man grimaced at Liam as he was getting teleported out.


    "That''s right. I don''t need you guys in here. I need you out there mining stuff so that I can steal from you." Liam chuckled lightly. "Good job, Mei Mei." He patted his sister.


    "Now, tell your panther to keep running at his own pace. Don''t worry about the otherpetition." Because that was his job.


    Liam turned to pay attention to the status of the race on screen. "Luna, get everyone on your side first."


    Kyuuu¡­ the fox bobbed her head up and down for everyone to see. She then growled at the white tiger and the two bats, getting them all on her side.


    After the beasts started fighting with each other, and with the rocks still continuing to fall from the sky, everything became a chaotic rumble.


    The race hadpletely changed thanks to the firestarter fox!


    "Let''s see. Me, Mia, Derek, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei, that''s five positions. The five drakes can take the other five positions. This means that everyone else has to go."


    Judging from the first two rounds and how yers were eliminated, Liam guessed that this elimination round would probably have only ten yers left at the end.


    So if before the race coulde to a natural conclusion, if he could eliminate all the others, then that would ensure at least five of their team members to be in the final roster.


    "Time to start ying dirty."


    Liam looked at the few beasts that were closing in. "Luna, let the drakes go for now. Take out all the others one by one."

 Chapter 549 Take down the fox!

    Chapter 549 Take down the fox!


    Kyuuuu! Luna grinned and immediately began her assault. She jumped onto the back of the white tiger and swung her body around to face the others.


    The next instant, the fox opened her cute mouth and began spitting out huge balls of fire. She was like a moving cannon and was one shotting the other beasts ruthlessly.


    Combined with the rocks falling from above, the beasts could only barely withstand one or two hits before getting dunked by the several rocks and fell out of the bed of clouds.


    It started with only one or two beasts, but after Luna began her assault one by one, all the mounts started quickly falling.


    Within seconds, the total number of mounts had decreased from 50 to 25! Everyone watching this show was inplete uproar. How was this even a race anymore?


    All the yers who had bet on the fallen heroes shed tears of blood and cursed the damned fox loudly. This one fox had single-handedly changed the course of the tournament.


    At this time, the news that the fox was a mount belonging to the Crimson Abyss guild started spreading. Mia''s white tiger was also very popr, so it didn''t take long for the yers to figure out what was happening.


    The Crimson Abyss guild mounts were all ganging up together and trying to eliminate the others. At this rate, every other participant was going to be eliminated.


    "This tournament is rigged! This isplete bullshit! Crimson Abyss is cheating!" All the other guild members started rioting. Unfortunately, theirints only fell on deaf ears.


    Even after the total number of mounts fell to 25, the fox and the tiger duo did not look like they were going to stop anytime soon.


    If any other mount came within their eyesight, it was immediately shot down.


    However, the race was still ongoing, so things once again took a turn, and it was for the worst.


    The rocks falling from above suddenly stopped, and in its ce, there were now arrows engulfed in what looked like toxic fumes. That too all of these arrows came at them horizontally and not vertically like the rocks.


    This made things so much more difficult as the arrows were extremely fast to begin with, and on top of it, all the beasts were also running towards the arrows and not away from them.


    This further increased the rtive speed.


    The difficulty of this race was just cranked up to the maximum!


    Now Luna did not even have to take action. As soon as the arrows appeared, it was clear that except for the drakes and the mysterious fox, no one else was going to clear this round.


    This made everyone happy because this situation gave an unfair advantage to the beasts in the back. Since the arrows were shooting at them from the front, the beasts in the front would be the first to fall.


    And right now, only one or two arrows showed up, just like the rocks at the beginning, but slowly this number was increasing, and avoiding these arrows while running forward was impossible.


    This made everything messy. Suddenly the mounts of the yers at the back began to rejoice. Now there was a chance for them to win!


    Other yers standing and watching this also began to rejoice in Crimson Abyss''s misery and celebrate.


    "This is called karma bitches!"


    "HA HA HA! You made me lose ten gold coins! It serves you right! DIE! DIE! DIE!"


    "The drakes won''t go down. Only the Crimson Abyss mounts are going to fall!"


    "Finally! Justice is served!"


    Almost every single yer wanted to see the damned cheaters fall and get kicked out of the tournament.


    "SEND MORE ARROWS!"


    "TAKE DOWN THE FOX!"


    Several chants could be heard resonating around the PVP tower. Mei Mei and Shen Yue became very nervous.


    "Liam¡­ Will everything be fine?"


    "Bro¡­"


    Even Mia''s calm and cold facade was reced with her anxious blue eyes looking at Liam to see what would be his next move.


    Only that man seemed to be calmly standing, unaffected by anything happening around them or anything happening on the screen.


    "Liam, do you have a n?"


    "Of course." Liam nodded. "I am just waiting to see how the drakes will perform, but maybe it is time to put the n in action."


    Liam grinned and then gave a slight nod. "Do it, Luna."


    Almost immediately, the small white fox ballooned up and became several sizes bigger.


    And she did not stop there. In a smooth movement, she started tossing the beasts around her onto her back.


    Kyaaa! The majestic big white tiger yelped like a kitten as he was thrown unceremoniously by the fox. The two bats stared like owls as they ufortably sat on Luna''s back. The panther''s condition was no better.


    In a second, all four beasts that were running near Luna were suddenly on her back, sitting atop the huge fluffy ride. Luna''s fur was that too much softer than the clouds.


    Clinging onto her tightly, the group of beasts stared at each other with big confused eyes. What was happening?


    This same expression was there on all the yers'' faces as well. Just now, everyone was chanting for the downfall of the unruly fox, and now things became even crazier!


    "What nonsense is this?"


    "Something like this is also allowed?"


    "Just how far are these bastards going to go? Is there really no limit to their atrocities?"


    "Why is the PVP tower allowing this? Who the heck is conducting this tournament, damn it? Can''t you disqualify this guild already?"


    The entire yer base once again fell into a huge uproar, but at this time, one wise person reminded everyone.


    "Guys, rx. No matter what tricks these people use, that fox won''t make it."


    "Look at the drakes. Even they are struggling to avoid the arrows. What do you think is going to happen to the fox who is this big in size and is also carrying this much dead weight?"


    "Ah! That''s right! The fox will never make it!"


    "Right! Right! This stupid guild should lose! Only then I will be satisfied!"


    As everybody not so silently voiced out their prayers and watched the race with their eyes peeled open, right in front of them, something unbelievable urred.


    The darned fox''s speed did not reduce at all. In fact, it became even faster as it rolled around the bed of clouds like a giant fluffy ball. It was avoiding all the arrows left and right with ease.


    The wise person and the other yers who were waiting for the fox to fail could only gawk with their mouths wide open.


    One by one, all the other mounts began to fall, but the fox with the three tails was still going strong! In the blink of an eye, the twenty-five beasts were now reduced to thirteen.


    And among these thirteen, five mounts belonged to the crimson abyss guild!


    Everyone burned in jealousy. The Gresh Kingdom was the home ground for all the yers in this city, standing around the PVP tower, and the six-winged lion had been the unbeatable symbol of strength for all of them.


    But now suddenly, an arrow passed right through the lion''s forehead, and thest of the contestant from the top three kingdom guilds fell through.


    Currently, this PVP tournament that was boasted to be a special tournament held for the Gresh kingdom yers did not have any yers from the top three guilds of the Kingdom.


    Only the second-tier guild Crimson Abyss had five yers still in the race. This was a huge p in the face to every yer of the Kingdom.


    And as for the Crimson Abyss guild members, they were all cheering loudly and chanting Luna''s name! Suddenly, she somehow became an even bigger celebrity than Mia or Alex!

 Chapter 550 Who is in and who is out?

    Chapter 550 Who is in and who is out?


    "Ha Ha Ha! Luna is too awesome!" Mei Mei pped her hands in excitement,ughing out loud. Tears wereing out of her eyes because she wasughing so hard.


    She couldn''t help it. The sight of Luna carrying the other four beasts was simply tooical. While carrying the four rice bags, she was also evading all the iing arrows like a pro.


    It was awesome and hrious at the same time.


    Even Derek, who seldom showed any emotions was dumbstruck at this sight.


    "How¡­ how did you train her like this, Liam?" Mia gulped.


    "Me¡­ train her? She is just running wild like she always does." Liam absentmindedly answered.


    He was not concerned about Luna. He knew that the little thing would somehow pull through. What he was more concerned about was the three other mounts somehow still surviving.


    In fact, they were not merely surviving. They were thriving. Their movements were even better than Luna''s.


    This was a snake, a tiger, and a rabbit trio.


    Liam hadn''t noticed them before because they were far too ordinary to stand out among all the other mounts, and there was nothing special about them. So they simply drowned in the crowd.


    However, there were now only thirteen beasts on the racetrack, so it was impossible not to notice them any longer.


    The question was, where did these guyse from? And how did they survive until now? By fluke or¡­


    No, it did not look like a fluke. The way in which the three animals were evading the arrows showed that they were indeed skilled. So who did these belong to?


    And just like Liam, many others had the same question on their minds.


    Especially when looking at that snake, Liam had a strange feeling as if he had seen that snake beforehand. He just couldn''t ce it.


    "Luna, try attacking that snake?" Liam frowned, observing everything. If it was timed right, she might need just one attack to take out two of them.


    Luna as well grasped that and shook her head. [Yes, master]


    It looked like she still had it in her to send out an attack while simultaneously continuing to evade the arrows. It was pushing her limits, but she confidently bobbed her head.


    Liam watched as the fox slowed down a little, and she then opened her mouth to spit out sts of fire at the three running ahead of her.


    The next instant, his frown deepened. He did not see what he expected.


    With the arrowsing from the front and the stsing from behind, these three should have at least stumbled, but they increased their pace and easily evaded Luna''s attacks.


    "So they can go even faster?" He did not have a good feeling about this.


    Technically, the drakes should be the most powerful mounts on the racetrack, but Liam''s gut feeling was telling otherwise. "Luna, ignore those three. Try attacking the drakes."


    The fox once again nodded. She increased her pace reaching the drakes quite quickly. The five of them had slowed down a little to avoid the arrows, so she was able to catch up.


    But in doing so, one of the bats got knocked out by an arrow as Luna twisted at a weird angle. Nevertheless, she managed to attack one of the drakes, and the drake roared in anger.


    This was a blue-colored drake, and it turned around to send a torrent of water toward the ballooned-up fox.


    Luna couldn''t avoid it in time, so she quickly did some thinking and crashed against the other drake with her huge body.


    Immediately, things became a big mess as the three other riders on her back were tossed out, and the drake itself was pushed away haphazardly, making it bump into the other one.


    Arrows were still continuously pouring in, and all of thisbined snowballed into the entire rounding to a halt.


    The disy disappeared. The viewing squares outside the PVP tower turned nk, and loud gongs resounded, marking the end of the round officially.


    However, all the yers watching this match didn''t blink. They stared ahead nkly, holding their breath. What just happened? Who made it, and who got disqualified?


    Everyone wanted to know the answer to this million dor question.


    Two out of the bunch got disqualified, but who exactly got disqualified and who went on to the next round was entirely anyone''s guess at this point.


    Liam as well had no clue what just happened. However, he was still standing on the tournament floor. Shen Yue, who was standing near him, had disappeared, but Derek and Mia were still there.


    And a secondter, the fox, the buffed-up bat, and the white tiger also appeared.


    Liam grinned in realization. "You did good, Luna."


    Kyuuu¡­ The fox adorably rubbed her head against him and then climbed on top of him to curl around his neck.


    "Good girl. Good girl." Liam petted her some more. "You worked very hard."


    "Thanks a lot, Luna." Mia as well spoke to the fox, but the little thing smugly turned her nose up and didn''t bother reacting to her.


    Derek, as usual, stood silently on the side with a serious expression on his face.


    "Right." Liam sighed and then turned to look at the others who still remained on the floor. There were ten of them, and they were all the final contestants for this tournament.


    Liam''s gaze wandered from one yer to another. They were all wearing cloaks, so he couldn''t see their features properly, but he definitely recognized one out of the nine.


    This was the same thief who had joined their group and backstabbed them, Stephen. He had also made it to thest round.


    "Hmmm." Liam''s eyes suddenly widened in shock. He now remembered where he had seen that snake. The weird daggers the thief had used had a simr snake carved on them.


    That was where he had seen that snake before!


    And if that was indeed the case, then the snake that participated in the race was an item-bound creature just like the death knight?

 Chapter 551 Lets blow some steam

    Chapter 551 Let''s blow some steam


    "No. What am I thinking?" Liam shook his head. For an item to have a spirit bound to it, it had to be legendary grade.


    What were legendary items? They were extremely rare priceless artifacts that could single-handedly change someone''s fate.


    Even in his previous life, the only legendary items ever obtained from the game could be counted in a single hand.


    One was Anya''s emerald crown, and there were two other rumored ones obtained by yers in other kingdoms. So how could this person in front of him possess a legendary item?


    This was impossible. He must have mistaken things.


    Otherwise, this would be a huge deviation from his past life, a very troublesome one at that, considering that the person with the legendary item was, for some reason, against them.


    Liam silently mulled over this thought. His main problem was not that this yer was powerful.


    His issue was rather trying to understand why this unknown yer was targeting them. Did I offend someone else recently?


    Snapping him out of his thoughts, the next announcement rolled in.


    [Ding. Thest round will be conducted after 48 hours]


    "Eh? This is strange." Mia remarked. "Why is there suddenly a break for 48 hours? Wouldn''t it be better to get this over with?"


    Thest round only consisted of 10 yers. Considering the way the event had proceeded so far, it shouldn''t take long for this part to get over as well. So everyone had the same question in their mind.


    However, no one bothered to question this or ask the NPCs on the tournament floor. The announcement was very clear, so the yers started silently leaving the arena one after the other.


    "This is good. I have some urgent work that I need to do." Liam also started to leave.


    For him, this break couldn''t havee at a better time. He needed to use the token to visit the milky way auction town again.


    He was prepared to miss it because of this special tournament, and now it looked like he did not have to do that. He could attend both. How convenient!


    "Did the tower master also n to attend this auction?" Liam suddenly had a fleeting thought. He was very curious about this mysterious tower master.


    In hisst life, he didn''t climb the PVP tower at all but maybe in this life, he would have the chance to meet this amazing, generous person.


    "Well, whatever. I should first go to the auction house." He prepared to leave the ce when suddenly he noticed that Rey had sent him a message.


    He opened the message and saw it, only to be utterly shocked the next instant.


    "Derek, Mia. Both of youe with me." The others had already left for the guild residence to hang out there, so Liam could only get hold of these two.


    "I hope we are notte." He informed Mia as well, and the three of them dashed into the forests outside of Yleka city.


    Several miles to the north of the city¡­ currently, someone else was also running very fast. Rey ordered the dire wolf he had tamed to take care of the ape blocking his path.


    While the wolf gnawed on the ape, both the beasts struggling in a death match, he stealthily stood back and shot some arrows ahead.


    The ape became severely injured and was close to dying, but at this point, it made a loud noise and called over reinforcements.


    "Damn it," Rey shouted and tried not to panic.


    Since Liam had advised him to focus on both long-range and short-range attacks, he put away the bow and clutched his spear, dashing towards the two new apes that had appeared.


    He swung the spear around and thrusted it wildly, somehow dealing with the two beasts. The dire wolf also continued attacking in a frenzy. Together, they quickly took care of the three apes.


    "Nice! That gave good experience points, but we should be careful now. ck Thunder, you should try and sniff out if there are any beasts nearby. We are heading into higher-level territories, so it''s best to avoid trouble for now."


    The wolf ck Thunder hurriedly shook his head. The duo then got to work as they sniffed their way through a safe path. After a while, the duo came to a halt.


    "This is the spot they mentioned." Rey scratched his head. When Madan messaged him, he had told him that there would be an egg here, but there was nothing in the vicinity.


    "Maybe someone else took it? I should wait for it to spawn again?" Rey was confused. After waiting a while, he ended up messaging the person again.


    At the other end, Madan was grinning ear to ear. "Oh, you are there! Bro, you should have told me before! I wille over." He immediately turned to look at the disappointed, long faces standing next to him.


    "He He. Guys, I have some good news for you."


    "Hmm? What the hell are you talking about? Just shut up." Anya scoffed.


    "Sister, I know you are angry about that loss, but please don''t show it to me. I am innocent." Madan made a pitiful face.


    Anya was about to say something when Kouske interrupted the duo. "What did you want to tell?"


    "Right, so I have the precious brother waiting for me." Madan did his version of the evilugh.


    "Hmmm? Their brother?" Kouske frowned. "Why are you doing this? We don''t have time to waste like this. You know what our orders are."


    "A~ Don''t be such a buzz kill, Kouske. Come on. All we do is follow orders. Didn''t we just get fucked up by that damned fox? How about some sweet revenge?"


    "Ya. I want to see that bitch suffer too." Anya crushed the bread in her hand.


    Since she could eat anything inside the game without gaining weight, it was her past time to eat bread which was something she couldn''t do outside.


    Kouske sighed seeing the determined faces of these two. "At least let''s check with brother first."


    "Eh! What is this? Don''t I have my freedom anymore? Even for peeing, I need to check with this guy? This is annoying." Anya scoffed.


    "Kouske bro,e on. Please. This is just a small detour. Why must you be so strict? We are just blowing off some steam¡­"


    Unable to reason with the two anymore, Kouske shook his head helplessly. He gave up and rubbed his face, "Do whatever you want, but you do know that this is risky, right. What is Liam shows up?"


    "That''s why we need you, bro. The best-case scenario is still if Liam shows up. Don''t you want to give the death knight some much-deserved blood?"


    "Fine, I will go with you guys."


    "Yay! Thank you, bro!"


    "Let''s fuck up those bitches this time."

 Chapter 552 Leaving so soon?

    Chapter 552 Leaving so soon?


    Under the warm,fortable sun, Rey was casually whistling and humming a tune while he searched the bushes and trees in the area for any signs of eggs or other pets.


    Suddenly, he heard rustling sounds nearby, and when he turned around to look, a loud p fell on his face.


    "Ah¡­ sis Mia¡­" Rey was startled. Usually, it was Alex who beat him up and not Mia, who was more of the calm and cool type.


    "What the hell were you thinking?" She didn''t hear it and shouted at him. Next to her, Derek and Liam also did not look pleased.


    "Bro! Are you also here? But I told you what I am doing. Why did youe here?" Rey sighed.


    "What? Don''t talk to him. Talk to me. What were you doing? Hmmm? Did you really think that there would be an egg here? You don''t know this is a trap?" Mia twisted his ear mercilessly.


    "No, sis. You guys listen to me first. I am not dumb, alright? They were trying to do something, and I was trying to y the double agent. Do you understand? Why would I willingly walk into this trap? I had an even bigger trapid out for them, alright?"


    Mia was shocked.


    "That''s right. I am not stupid, sis. I might be smiling all the time, but I am not stupid. Did you think I got into that tournament by fluke? I have been working hard every day. Liam helped us so much. I also want to contribute. I don''t need you two to protect me at all times."


    Rey exined everything to them. "If you guys had just let me y this out, I would have infiltrated into their group and found out more information. Ah. Why bro? Even you didn''t trust me?" He looked at Liam with a frown, disappointed at him for the very first time.


    Liam, on the other hand, sighed and shook his head. "It''s not that I don''t trust you, but you don''t know these people. They will not hesitate to kill you."


    "I am not saying that your n is bad or it wouldn''t have worked, but these are not your average yers. Do you understand? While I am still alive, there is no need for you to take these risks."


    He walked over to Rey and patted him on his head. He was grateful that the person saw an opportunity and tried to use it to help their team even though doing so was putting himself at risk.


    "Next time, don''t do anything without consulting with me first. I know we were busy with the tournament, but you still have to wait. It''s okay to miss an opportunity. Your life is more important."


    However, just as Liam was about to say something else, he abruptly stopped and picked off the fox that was on his neck and tossed her to the ground.


    "Luna, take him to the guild residence and drop him there first. Get out of here now."


    Before he could even finish his words, four yers walked out of the trees in front of them. "Ha Ha Ha! Why are you sending him away so soon?" Madanughed loudly.


    Next to him, Kouske, Anya, and Barret were also present. All four of them looked like predators who had sessfully managed to circle their prey.


    Both Mia and Rey looked shocked. They hadn''t expected these guys to show up so soon, but Liam did not look frazzled in the slightest.


    He calmly signaled Luna to leave as Rey was too weak to face this group at the moment. He might die just from the spilling of friendly fire.


    Liam then turned to look at the newly arrived guests. "Why did you call him here? Do you want to break up my team? If it were me, I would pay more attention to my own team instead of trying to pick apart others." He casually shrugged.


    "Shut up!" Anya hissed at him. She hated him the most for stealing her emerald crown.


    "He He. Why? You don''t want me to point out the obvious?"


    "Liam, let''s leave." Mia reminded him. Every second they stayed here was dangerous. This was a trap, and there was no doubt about it.


    However, Liam still did not look like he wanted to run. He stood steadily, holding his ground. He looked at the four yers in front of them and smirked.


    "Say¡­ did you four ever think about what your big brother knows and doesn''t know?"


    "What do you mean?" Anya red back at him.


    Next to her, Kouske''s face immediately changed. He did not like where this was going.


    "I mean¡­ do you really believe that your big brother did not know the truth about this game? He sure let you all die several times. Hmmm? Your all knowing brother did not know about the death in the game and how it affects you?"


    "Don''t spout nonsense. We haven''t died that many times."


    "Not now." Liam''s lips further curled up. "How about back in the cave where you tried to steal a me fragment? I personally watched you all die a few times. Oops. Did I say too much?" He chuckled mockingly.


    "You! I knew it! I knew someone sabotaged us!" Barret blurted out. He was the one telling everyone from the beginning that their y''s aggro was a mess and something was off.


    "Well¡­ I stole from you. You stole from me. Let''s call it even. The main point is¡­ are you all just puppets of someone else? Or do you have your own brain? Are you willing to die for your ''big brother'' while he sitsfortably somewhere safe? Hmmm?"


    Anya''s eyes widened. Madan and Barret also became silent.


    "Maybe he even let you all die a few times so you guys don''t be more powerful than him?" Liam shrugged. Everything he said was on point, and the group of four looked shocked.


    This was something that they had also thought about, so when Liam pointed it out, he was hitting the nail on the head.


    Kouske saw this, and it was clear that things were not heading in a good direction. This needed to stop now. "That''s enough. No more talking."


    He immediately adjusted the ring on his finger, and in the next second, a huge figure materialized in front of them.


    Liam and the others, however, did not simply stand there waiting for the death knight to be fully summoned. This was their cue, and they already started running in the opposite direction.


    Seeing them flee for their life finally cheered up the group of four.


    "You cannot run from us!" Madan sneered. He sent his beasts at the escaping three people. Anya as well spat at them and sent a couple of attacks.


    Their attacks were strong, but it was insufficient to hold anyone back. Only the death knight was capable of doing that.


    "Go! Kill them all!" Kouskemanded the death knight. This time no one would be escaping. They can run wherever they want, but today they were going to settle the scores once and for all.


    The death knight grunted obediently, and just like its master wanted, it breathed out blue fumes and dashed behind the fleeing yers.


    Its speed was much faster than theirs, but unfortunately, Liam, Mia, and Derek had had too much of a headstart.


    The terrain was also very tricky, and the undead that was bigger in size had the disadvantage of moving here. So things were not straightforward. There was a possibility that the three of them might really escape.


    Kouske saw this and clenched his fist. "Damn it."


    Anya, Madan, and Barret were also not happy about it, but there was nothing that they could do. They could only watch them run away.


    "Fuck! Such a waste!" Madan sighed. This was the third time this guy was escaping from them! And it infuriated him that they couldn''t do anything about it.


    However... just as the three fleeing yers were about to disappearpletely from their eyesight into the forests, suddenly, something unexpected happened.


    Liam stopped moving. Seeing him, Mia and Derek as well came to an abrupt halt and looked at him in confusion. Were they not running anymore?


    "It is not difficult to escape now. But¡­ the thing is¡­ I don''t think we need to run anymore." He turned around with a smile to face the death knight directly.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 1~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 553 Strong!

    Chapter 553 Strong!


    Liam meant what he said. He now had a mana core. He was in the same bracket as this overpowered death knight.


    There was no need for him to run away anymore. This was why he hade here in the first ce. Otherwise, he would have dealt with this matter in an entirely different manner.


    The moment he decided toe here, he was already prepared for this fight. Did they think that he would forever be running away from them like a weak, helpless littlemb?


    "Bring it on." Liam grinned.


    Everyone was shocked. Kouske stared nkly, not knowing what was happening. He knew that Liam was strong, but he was not strong enough to be this confident against his death knight.


    However, no one had any time to think. Everything happened too fast. It only took 2 seconds for that monstrosity to catch up to Liam. He was now standing face to face with the death knight.


    He looked at the giant growling soldier of death, and he could see that its level was 85, a whole 34 levels stronger than him.


    Could he really win against this? This was the question on everyone else''s mind.


    Mia and Derek panted as they anxiously looked at Liam''s back while the other group had the same response though both of them were anxious for very different reasons.


    SLASH. The next instant, the death knight made the first move.


    It brought down its huge sword onto Liam, and Liam as well did not dodge it. He blocked it with his sword as his mana core spun vigorously.


    BOOM! Both the attacks were evenly matched. For a second, the whole ce became deathly silent. No one understood how Liam was able to block a direct attack!


    Only Mia was able to guess vaguely. She could tell that Liam was using his mana core. Is that why he stopped to face this thing now? However, was just mana core sufficient?


    The death knight was a killing machine, and it did not give Liam any time to think.


    Blue aura exploded from the monstrosity, and this aura enveloped the sword as well. The next second, the death knight started wildly attacking Liam in a frenzy.


    Every single attack struck like thunder. Blue lightning shed. The air around them crackled.


    The death knight was attacking him in a frenzy, and Liam was not a fool. He did not n to stand simply and get fucked.


    There was a chance for him to hold on against this opponent and take it down, but he still could not afford to underestimate it.


    Setting aside the 34 level difference, this thing in front of him might as well be a boss.


    To face a technique from a boss was the same as signing a death warrant. Liam hurriedly moved back several paces. He had to kite this thing.


    He boosted his speed and agility to the maximum by churning his mana core and moved in a sh. The death knight''s attacks did notnd on him and narrowly missed him every single time.


    However, he did not do just that. He used everything that he had been training up until now.


    [Ring of Fire]


    [Dark Cutter]


    [Sizzling Tornado]


    The death knight grunted angrily. Every single attacknded perfectly and chipped away at its health, giving it immense pain, but it was still not enough to slow it down or cause any significant damage.


    Its total health was a whopping 20 million!


    And Liam''s every damage was only doing a maximum of 5000 damage. At this rate¡­


    He was not done yet. ''Just as I thought, these spells are still not enough.'' Liam observed the progress and made a quick decision. He stopped ying like a mage.


    He unsheathed his sword and dashed forward towards the death knight.


    As he shed down the semi-epic grade sword towards the death knight, sparks flew like fireworks, and surprisingly, his sword attack had a fire element type attack attached to it.


    His sword sh seemed as if he was using a burning sword.


    Both Derek and Mia looked dumbfounded. They knew that Liam was practicing this, but this was the first time they were seeing him execute it sessfully.


    He finally managed tobine his sword attack with mana? Now they understood why he had been confidently willing to fight against this thing.


    Every single fire sh was dealing significant damage.


    10000


    15000


    11000


    Huge numbers popped out, and the death knight looked disoriented from the slew of attacks Liam was throwing at it.


    He was like a mosquito buzzing around and attacking from all directions.


    "No. This is still not enough." Liam paused and suddenly took out the rage potion from his inventory. Almost instantly, his battle power soared up further.


    He once again dove right back into the fight and started shing at the death knight relentlessly. This time every single attack dealt a damage of 20000 or 25000.


    Mia as well was not standing still. With Derek standing in front of her and protecting her, she started dealing her own damage with the variety of divine affinity spells she had learned.


    Her damage numbers were also quite big.


    -10000


    -12000


    -7000


    Especially because of theher affinity, the death knight was taking extra damage from her attacks, and because of its huge size, Liam was able to evade them as well easily. So only the death knight was affected.


    At this rate, the 20 million health was going to be evaporated in no time.


    The group of four hadn''t expected things to progress like this at all. They thought that Liam would flee away just like he always did and not fight back.


    And now that he fought back, they had no clue what to do. This was their ultimate trump card. What were they supposed to do now?


    They stared at this unbelievable sight, dumbstruck and stiff. Finally, Anya was the first one to speak up. She clenched her robes and shuddered.


    "Kouske¡­ what¡­ what is this? Are we getting pushed back? Why is he able to fight our death knight?"


    "Let''s call the backup. We cannot afford to lose here. This is why I told you guys not to do this. We should have asked his permission first." Kouske replied gravely.


    "Shut up, Kouske. I don''t want to hear your ''I told you so.'' Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I hate this." Anya was furious.


    "I will call that group now." Kouske shook his head helplessly. They were already in this now. They no longer had a choice. They have to go all in no matter what, or they could lose too much today.


    ***


    Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 2~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 554 Backup is here!

    Chapter 554 Backup is here!


    Kouske, Madan, Barret, and Anya gritted their teeth and tried to join the fight to help the death knight.


    It was just that the fight waspletely beyond their level. They couldn''t barge into it no matter how they tried.


    In the end, Anyapletely gave up and ran behind Mia, who was providing strategic support to Liam. "Only with the help of this bitch, he is able to fight! I will take her down!"


    "MADAN!"


    She called him and chased after Mia. Madan as well realized what she was trying to do and followed her quickly, sending his beasts to chase the priestess.


    However, as the two of them reached closer to Mia¡­


    BOOM!


    A ck burning x roared at them from the side, dark cutter! Both Anya and Madan only narrowly dodged it.


    They both knew whose attack this was, so they werepletely stupified as they turned to look at Liam. That guy still had the time to send them an attack while dealing with that Level 85 death knight?


    Just what had happened since the time they hadst met? How did he be so powerful after touching Level 50?


    They tried advancing towards Mia again when another couple of attacks once again stopped them.


    The third time, Liam directly brought the fight to them, and Anya almost got skewered by their own death knight.


    Mia waspletely untouchable, and every single attack from her dealt severe damage to the death knight. At this rate¡­ unless their backup arrived¡­


    Kouske gritted his teeth and waved his staff to start casting another dark element attack when he received the message from his group. He immediately became overjoyed.


    Who they were waiting for were finally here! This fight was once again going to be theirs!


    "Madan! Anya! Retreat!" He shouted loudly. Both of them also saw the relief on his face and understood what was happening. They quickly retreated.


    Even Barret, who was fighting against Derek, retreated.


    The next instant, a group of yers, emerged from the forest. They were all wearing white colored outfits, and there was a pure aura about them.


    "ATTACK! ATTACK! Focus on the guy who is standing next to the death knight! Take him down first!" Kouske saw them and screamed.


    "KILL! KILL! KILL all those bastards!" Anya huffed, her t chest rising and falling as she fumed in anger.


    Madan also did a fist pump in the air. "YES!"


    Now, they will finally be able to turn the tables with this backup.


    However, just as the three of them rejoiced and prepared to start their second wave of assault with full force, no one else was following them.


    Instead, a few yers rushed towards them, and some stood at the same spot and even started attacking them.


    And one of the yers rushing toward them had a ming red hair. She was a pdin.


    "I wanted to p the shit out of you hours ago. Thank god! I at least got the chance now!" Alex grinned and targeted Madan first, attacking him wildly.


    Anya was also surrounded by two pdins, andstly, Kouske was bombarded by long-range divine attacks from the priests.


    All three of them could not understand what was happening. This should have been their divine affinity backup yers. Why was Alex Hofstader here?


    Why did the other team also have a dedicated divine affinity yer group? Before they had a chance to catch their breath, another group of yers also arrived.


    Kouske hopefully looked to see if at least this group was theirs, but unfortunately, the first person he saw was the little girl with the emerald crown.


    This was it. They were fucked. He did not have any doubts as to who she was.


    Shen Yue and Rey were also there in that group, along with the rest of the crimson abyss yers and a big white fox!


    Everyone had been sulking in the guild residence after having lost so badly in the PVP tower tournament, so this was a perfect opportunity for them to take out their frustrations.


    They had started here as soon as Liam and Mia had started. However, since they were farther away, they could only arrive now.


    Rey saw these people while he was en route back to the guild residence, and knowing that a huge fight was going down, he struggled with Luna, making her turn back.


    The fox was quite adamant and did not defy Liam''s orders, so in the end, he had to jump off of her and fall down to the ground, even taking damage in the process. He then joined the rest of the group and arrived at the scene.


    With the second group also here, the divine affinity yers headed over to assist Liam while the others took care of Madan, Anya, Kouske, and Barret.


    With the full force of the Crimson Abyss guild here, the group of four could notst for more than a few seconds. Dropping one item each, the four slumped on the ground lifelessly.


    The death knight in front of Liam immediately came to a halt. It only took a split second for Liam to figure out what was happening.


    He instantly dashed towards the fallen corpses and the dropped items near them.


    He hurriedly picked up all four items. One was a scroll, one was a whistle, one was a pendant, and another one was a yellow crystal.


    Liam quickly checked the description of each to see which bound the death knight, but before he could do so, the death knight had already disappeared along with the four corpses.


    "Fuck!" He cursed loudly because this could mean only one thing. The death knight did not drop. The other group still had it.


    However, all was not lost yet.


    "Everyone! Quick! Which is the nearest graveyard?" Liam reminded the group, and the whole guild hurriedly scrambled to get to the graveyard.


    That''s right. This was not over yet. It won''t be until they werepletely erased from their existence. There was no going back now. One of them had to die today!


    ***


    Mass Release Part1 Chapter 3~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 555 Priceless treasures?

    Chapter 555 Priceless treasures?


    Liam and the entire core part of the crimson abyss guild hurriedly dashed over to the nearby graveyard for this zone and camped out there.


    Everyone knew what they were about to do.


    Some people were happy about this, some people were anxious, but some were not quite pleased with outright killing someone. It was clearly written on their faces that they were ufortable.


    However, Liam did not bother persuading these people.


    When the apocalypse starts, even the kindest soul would turn a shade darker, so there was no point in him trying to ''convert'' anyone. Moreover, it looked like there wasn''t any need to do any such thing today.


    The group had now camped around the graveyard for almost half an hour, but there was no sign of any of the four yers.


    They had either not respawned, or they had spawned somewhere else, both of which were highly unlikely and very difficult to aplish.


    However, there wasn''t any other exnation. After waiting for a few more minutes, Liam kicked the rock near him and stood up. "Let''s go. There is no point wasting time here. They escaped."


    "Ah! Sorry, bro! We went through all of this trouble because of me, and we didn''t even get anything in return." Rey ruffled his hair and mumbled.


    "No." Liam shook his head, "We got some things and maybe¡­ " He had seen the faces of the four when he had talked to them at the beginning.


    That group dynamics was definitely on the rocks. If he was not wrong, the four should have some trouble sticking together after this.


    "Well, I guess we have to wait and see about that," Liam murmured and then left the group along with Luna.


    After he was by himself, he took out the white token from his inventory slot. "Stay in the guild residence until I return." He gave her a couple of instructions and then activated it.


    Soon he was teleported to the same weird world where the ground one walked on was jelly-like, made of white satin threads. Everything was resplendent with a gentle luminous glow.


    [Ding. You have arrived at the Milky Way Auction City]


    [Ding. Your Milky Way Pass is now charging]


    Liam looked around at the streets and the buildings, trying to recollect which way the main auction house was.


    He had only barely been here for a couple of minutes, and the familiar melodious voice once again rang loudly in his ears. "Big bro! I found you!"


    In front of him stood a young girl who was glowing brightly. She had a smile that could melt anyone''s heart.


    "Miss Itzel!" Liam was startled, to be honest. He didn''t expect the little girl to find him once again, and that too, right after he set foot here. Was she waiting for him or what?


    Feeling a shiver run down his spine, he gave her an awkward smile. "How are you doing, Miss Itzel? Your smile is as pretty as always."


    The girl giggled immediately and then started pulling Liam away.


    "Big bro, let''s go to the auction house. Come with me. Mama and Papa gave me some money to spend. We can have some fun!"


    "Eh?" It looked like Liam no longer had a choice in this matter. The little girl had abnormally strong yet tender hands, using which she dragged Liam away like a toy train to the main street.


    The roads were so much more crowded this time around, and all sorts of creatures were walking around them. The huge auction house gates were also open.


    "Do we need some sort of pass to get in?" Liam curiously looked around the space. He couldn''t even recognize the material the building was built on.


    But the little girl next to him again giggled, "No, big bro, you are with me." She gave a sweet smile and dragged him right into the auction house.


    The interior of the ce was huge, like a football stadium with booths instead of seats. This gave privacy to the respective beings taking part in the auction.


    Of course, Itzel brought Liam over to one of the VIP booths at the very top, which gave a bird''s eye view of the whole ce.


    "Ahem. Thanks, Miss Itzel. This ce looks amazing." Liam smiled. At this point, he was simply going along with the flow.


    "Oh right, I have some mana cores here with me. Can you tell me if this will be sufficient for any item?"


    Liam took out the broken demonic cores that he had been carrying along with him all this time. He ced them in his palm and showed them to the little girl.


    "Ah?" Itzel looked shocked. She stared at the cores and then at Liam. From the way she was looking at him, Liam had a feeling that he had stumbled upon something big.


    Was this perhaps something priceless? An invaluable treasure? Maybe using this, he could get something good here? This couldpletely change the game.


    Liam clenched his fists in excitement and looked at the little girl, who for some reason seemed a bit anxious.


    Seeing this, Liam gulped. Was the thing he had perhaps too terrifying? Amazing enough to shock this mysterious girl?


    However, the next second¡­


    "Big bro, this thing is¡­ How about I share some of mine with you?"


    "Huh?" Liam''s face changed.


    Itzel saw this and hurriedly consoled him, "Papa gave me a lot of pocket money this time. You can use it, big bro. Don''t worry. Don''t worry. We can buy whatever you want."


    "Then these cores?"


    "They have gone bad, big bro. Don''t worry. We can still have some fun with them. Here, give me one."


    The little girl abruptly grabbed one of the cores from Liam''s hand and threw it at a tall blonde elf walking into the auction house.


    It was a brutal direct attack to the back of his head, and the elf turned to look in their direction with an annoyed expression, his eyes ring up like volcanoes.


    Liam immediately felt his heart stop, and he ducked down in reflex. However, the little girl next to him still giggled. "Big bro, don''t worry. He can''t see us. We are VIPs! Ha Ha Ha Ha"


    "Say, who should we target next?"


    Liam broke into a cold sweat. So the demonic cores he was grinding for that long were really useless? His heart ached at all that time he had wasted.


    However, he didn''t have a chance to dwell on that. The troublemaker was already preparing the next throw.


    "Miss Itzel, how about we y something else with these stones?" Liam bitterly smiled, crying out tears of blood.


    Though his time might have been wasted, he didn''t want to let these broken demonic cores ruin his life further!


    "Like what, big bro?" The girl tilted her head, and then as if a big realization had dawned on her, she gasped.


    "That''s right! We can throw these stones in greeny''s pond and see who can make them fly on the water making small sshes. My papa showed me how to do it once. We can y that game."


    "Sure. Sure." Liam nodded and continued to shed tears, but he was also eager to visit that pond again.


    He had prepared huge vats beforeing here, so this time if he got the chance, he was going to drain that damn pond dry, greeny or no greeny!


    The two of them then silently watched the crowd filtering in and out of the building, and soon a couple of hourster, the huge doors at the entrance tightly banged shut.


    The auction was about to begin!


    "Big bro, I am so excited!" Itzel pped her hands.


    "Me too, Miss Itzel." With a smile, Liam nodded, inwardly praying for his safety. This little girl was a ticking time bomb!


    ***


    Mass Release Part1 Chapter 4~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 556 My sisters

    Chapter 556 My sisters


    While Liam happily watched the proceedings from the VIP row, several rows beneath him, in the lowest seating area where individual booths were not even avable, there was an annoyed old man. This was none other than the PVP tower master, Crawford.


    Right next to him, there was also another old man who was none other than the forging grandmaster, .


    While the former was annoyed beyond his wits to be in such a disrespectful position, sitting in the lowest rungs of the auction house, thetter was calm and indifferent.


    However, just like Liam, this duo was alsopletely focused on the stage in front of them. Everyone in the huge auction house was waiting for the same thing.


    Soon, a loud gong resounded throughout the entire auditorium, and not longer after that, a group of women walked over. Liam immediately noticed something odd.


    For some reason, all of these women had a light blueplexion with shimmering milky skin just like the little girl sitting next to him.


    "Ummmm¡­" Liam blinked. There was obviously some sort of connection between these guys.


    This girl also had a mansion here and seemed to live here, so maybe these were people conducting and managing this auction house and this city?


    "Miss Itzel, do you know them?"


    "Ha Ha Ha! Big bro Kouske is so smart! I wanted to give you a surprise, but you found out before! They are my sisters!"


    Liam smiled. He was indeed correct.


    "You have 20 sisters? Or they are just your friends?" He probed and then quickly added, "I am asking because Miss Itzel is so much prettier and sweeter than your sisters."


    He scratched his head. He didn''t want toe across as nosy, but he had a feeling this made him look creepy.


    ''If I could have brought Luna or Mei Mei then the whole bunch would have be good friends, and it would be far easier to find out information.'' Liam smiled awkwardly.


    Luckily for him, the little girl seemed way too innocent. She giggled sweetly and bumped her head on Liam''s shoulder.


    "Big bro Kouske! Ha Ha Ha! They are all my own sisters, but I am indeed the prettiest! Mwah!" She abruptly gave a small kiss on Liam''s cheek and started giggling.


    Ah¡­ Liam was speechless. He rubbed the spot on his cheek, which felt weirdly cool.


    But the little girl didn''t seem to care at all. She continued her rant with a big smile. "Papa also says I am the prettiest. I am papa''s favorite too! Ha Ha Ha. You should meet my papa, he is a very nice person."


    "Right." Liam did not know why but he had a feeling that this meeting wouldn''t go well. He smiled awkwardly again as the little girl began naming one woman after the other.


    "That''s Sidra sis, Maia sis, Lyra sis, Danica sis¡­"


    Was he supposed to remember all these names? He couldn''t tell clearly from this distance who was who. He just silently listened while observing what the women were doing on the stage.


    They prepared a huge stone b table, and on top of which they ced three covered tes.


    "Big bro, look there. There are three items for auction today!"


    "Only three?"


    "Eh? Big bro, is new here right, so you don''t know. If there are only three items, then it means this time the auction is of high-quality stuff, good treasures."


    "When there are more items, then quality won''t be too good. This is a big auction and a small auction. Today is a big auction."


    Liam was able to understand the gist of the long-winded, confusing exnation, and he looked curiously at the three covered items. What could they be?


    His question was soon answered when one of the shimmering maidens stepped forward and spoke. Her voice was melodious, just like Itzel''s, and yet it filled the whole auditorium.


    "The auction now begins. Today''s first item is¡­" She brought the te out and then removed the lid to reveal a small white bead, or it could be a pearl.


    Liam tried to take a closer look as it was difficult to see from the distance, but in the next second, the image and the details of the pearl shed in front of him.


    [Ding. Thousand year old Siren''s pearl]


    [Type: Ingredient]


    [Use: If correctly used, it has the chance to boost vitality by 5000 and strength by 5000]


    "5000 vitality and 5000 strength?" Liam almost fell back in shock.


    What were these stats? This waspletely unbelievable. If he could somehow get this, then wouldn''t he be able to massacre everything and ace this damned tutorial?


    From the looks of it, the littledy next to him also had simr thoughts, though for a very different reason.


    "How pretty¡­" The little girl was almost drooling, staring at the pea-shaped pearl. Her eyes were also twinkling like a puppy''s.


    "You want that, Miss Itzel?" Liam asked her the obvious.


    "Yes, big bro. You want it too?" The girl looked conflicted.


    "Let''s see how much it will cost first." Liam turned to click the start bidding option when he almost got a heart attack.


    [Going price: 1000 greater mana cores]


    "Greater mana core? This should be the highest quality mana core, and we need a thousand of these to buy this item?"


    The price was a bit steep, but the effects were truly amazing.


    Just as Liam was thinking if there was any way he coulde up with this ridiculous number of mana cores, the price in front of him had already changed several times.


    [Going price: 2000 greater mana cores]


    [Going price: 3000 greater mana cores]


    [Going price: 10000 greater mana cores]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    By the time he took a look again¡­


    [Going price: 200000 greater mana cores]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ce a bid?]


    Liam almost got another heart attack from looking at this price.


    Yup, this waspletely out of his price range. There was no way he could ever farm 200000 greater mana cores before the tutorial shut down.


    However, the same could not be said for the little girl next to him. She licked her lips and stared at the screen with full concentration.


    "I am going to get this, big bro." She typed up 500000 and sent her bid in.


    500000 greater mana cores? This little girl had that many mana cores? Liam bitterly smiled. Moreover, he also knew the real reason why she was cing the bid. It was because the pearl was pretty.


    He shook his head helplessly and silently watched the show. This auction was not something he could participate in. It was only for him to watch.

 Chapter 557 lts very tasty

    Chapter 557 lt''s very tasty


    "Big bro, do you have any mana cores with you?" Itzel chewed her lips in frustration.


    The auction price was now up to 700000 mana cores. It was still getting higher, but it looked like the little girl''s pocket money had finally run out.


    "700000 mana cores?" At this point, Liam simply shook his head. "I am poor, Miss Itzel."


    "Ah, that''s okay, big bro. Don''t worry. This pearl wille to auction some other time again. I will save up my pocket money and buy it then. Don''t worry about it."


    Seeing the big smile on the girl''s face, Liam helplessly sighed. This kid was really not bad. She was definitely from a rich household, but she did not have any arrogance or attitude.


    "Why don''t you ask your other sisters?" Liam suggested, to which Itzel became embarrassed and shook her head.


    It looked like they were not too close. Maybe this was why she had asked him to y with her in the first ce. It must be lonely for a young girl to be all on her own.


    On a reflex, Liam lifted his hand and patted her. "Next time, we will get it." He said.


    The two of them then watched in silence as the pearl was finally sold for 999999 mana cores.


    "It''s ok, big bro. We will get the next one!" Itzel energetically dered.


    However, the next item the woman brought over was even more terrifying. It was a small bone on top of which a glyph was carved.


    Glyphs were strange inscription runes that carried enormous power. Liam was only just learning about all of this. This particr thing was also clearly precious as the starting bid itself was 1 million mana cores.


    "Ah~~" Itzel wordlessly sighed. This one was a bust. The little girl only had about 700000 mana cores, falling short of 1 million by quite a bit.


    "Maybe the next one?" Liam smiled and consoled her while he personally was just curious to see what item would be revealed.


    From everything that was going on at the moment, one thing was clear. This world was not a part of the tutorial. He had a feeling that there was more to this ce.


    Perhaps this was a clue to what really was happening. If that was the case, then this little girl was a key to learning about a lot of things.


    While Liam was thinking about this, the second item was also sessfully auctioned off. The item went for a whopping 5 million mana cores, an amount that was unimaginable for him.


    Itzel''s sisters then brought over the third and thest item. As Liam curiously peered over, the elegant woman opened up the tray to reveal a small fruit.


    It looked like a peach and was also of a simr size.


    "This is?" Liam muttered when the screen shed in front of him again.


    [Ding. Brahma Fruit]


    [Type: Consumable]


    [Use: Healing elixir. It can be consumed to heal the soul, spirit, mind, and body. There are no injuries that cannot be healed by this fruit.]


    Liam''s eyes went wide. He did not expect such an item to show up. This was exactly what he needed to make himself whole again.


    He needed this fruit desperately. If he could somehow achieve that, then his strength would undergo another qualitative leap. However¡­


    [Going price: 100,000 greater mana cores]


    [Going price: 200,000 greater mana cores]


    [Going price: 400,000 greater mana cores]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The screen was shing relentlessly, and the price was shooting up rapidly. Liam clenched his fists, staring at the screen. He couldn''t do anything else. Coming here this time had really opened his eyes. There was a world beyond their world, and it was terrifying.


    Just how strong were the people around him, right now, right here in this auction house? Thinking about it made his pulse quicken. He still had a long way to go, but he was determined to get there.


    The little girl tilted her head to the side and looked at Liam curiously. "Big bro, you want to taste that fruit badly?" She asked.


    "Huh? Taste?" Liam was confused.


    "Papa said it''s very tasty." She replied as a matter of fact.


    "Have you eaten that?"


    "No, I never had the chance. Greeny ate it once." Itzel scratched her cheek and answered.


    "Greeny?" Liam was even more shocked. That thing in the pond had eaten this priceless treasure? This world was truly unfair.


    "I will try to get it for you," Itzel added.


    However, the auction quickly went out of their hands as the final bidding price this time was the highest, and the fruit was sold at 5 million mana cores.


    The auction then ended eventlessly, and everyone quietly started dispersing.


    Liam and Itzel as well walked out of the ce with long faces. The things that they wanted were right in front of their eyes, but both of them had been very poor to buy them.


    "Big brother, the next auction is in 2 weeks. Would you being here again?"


    "Hmmm? Next auction, huh? Why not¡­ I wille and y with you again." Liam smiled. "Do you want me to y with you now?"


    Even if he couldn''t buy anything from this auction, he still wanted to use this precious opportunity to learn more about this ce and other things from the little girl.


    But unexpectedly, she shook her head. "Ah. Big bro, sorry. Itzel can''t y with you now. I have to go and take care of milky."


    Hmmm? He already knew about greeny, but who was this milky?


    Liam became curious and asked her again, "Do you need any help? I am happy to help you."


    "Ah? Really? Big bro, you really don''t mind helping me?" Itzel batted her eyelids cutely. The little girl then smiled and started dragging Liam away once more.


    Just like thest time, they entered a huge gate that led them outside of the main city into the suburbs, and there was the single huge gigantic mansion up the main road.


    "Come here, big bro. Let me show you something." The little girl continued dragging Liam, and surprisingly, they were heading towards the main house.

 Chapter 558 Violet

    Chapter 558 Violet


    Liam was bold before, but now he started getting nervous. The pond was fine. However, going to the house? Was this going tond him in trouble? Wait, did he have to meet the so-called dad?


    "Ummm. Miss Itzel, I don''t want to disturb your parents. I am not sure if you are allowed to ring friends back to the house. Would you be in trouble? How about I stay near the pond? You can tell me what you need help with and bring it there, maybe?"


    "No, big bro Kouske. Papa and Mama are still not home. My sisters are also busy at the auction house. No one is there at the house. It''s fine."


    The little girl did not want to hear no for an answer. She continued dragging Liam all the way to the main house, and luckily they didn''t go in.


    She took him to the big garden that spread for acres and acres and brought him over to a small flower tree. Its flowers were extremely beautiful.


    But the most remarkable thing was the creature lying under that tree. It was a rabbit, a rabbit with snow-white fur.


    More specifically, it was a female rabbit who had just given birth to a litter of small bunnies. They were all newly born and looked adorable.


    The little girl swooned as soon as she saw the bunnies and left Liam to run over to them. She picked them up, and started ying with them,pletely forgetting herself.


    "Ah! I want to bite you!"


    "I want to eat you!"


    "Come here, little squishy."


    Miss Itzel was aplete goner. At one point, Liam was worried that the little girl would really eat a bunny as she was kissing them so much.


    He chuckled and walked closer. "These are adorable, Miss Itzel." He squatted down to tickle one of the little bunnies on its stomach.


    The little one was slightly a darker shadepared to the rest of the milky white bunnies, and its right eye was scarred. It looked like it was blind in that eye.


    However, as soon as Liam touched it and rubbed it, the bunny immediately became attached to Liam and grabbed his finger like it was a carrot.


    "Good girl. Good girl." Liamughed as it reminded him of Luna when she was still young and newly hatched.


    Seeing the two of them bonding together, Itzel unexpectedly asked. "Big bro? You want him?"


    "Huh? Can I take him?"


    "Yes! Milky is actually my sister''s bunny. She will not like the blind one. I was thinking of letting him go free in the wild, but if big bro takes it, then it will be awesome!" She gave him a thumbs up.


    Liam didn''t think too much about it. It was just a rabbit, probably an ornamental pet, and he wanted to earn more browny points with this girl, so he readily nodded.


    "Alright, I will take care of this little one. Do you want to name him?" He lifted the little rabbit and tickled her again.


    "Yay! Yes! Yes! I want to name her! We can name her Violet?" The little girl licked her lips.


    "Right, it''s a good name. She looks a shade of violet from this angle." He nodded with a serious expression. It was not like he cared about that.


    The thing that he cared about was¡­


    Just as he was about to broach the main topic, the little bunny in his hand suddenly nicked his palm, drawing blood.


    And the next second, a screen shed in front of him.


    [Ding. The astral spirit seeks a bond with you. Do you wish to bind with the astral spirit?]


    [Ding. Click Yes or No to ept or reject the contract]


    Liam waspletely speechless. Astral spirit? What the hell was that? He had heard of spirit beasts, legendary beasts, epic beasts, ancient beasts. What the hell were astral spirits?


    He hurriedly clicked yes. The next instant, a cool refreshing feeling swept past his body, and a small voice squeaked in his mind. [Papa.]


    "This¡­ papa is not¡­ ahem¡­ call me, Master?" Liam awkwardly corrected the rabbit.


    Itzel saw this and startedughing loudly. "Big bro! Ha Ha Ha. What are you saying? Papa suits better." She started rolling on the grass andughing even more loudly.


    The dozen bunnies all jumped up and down on her, and the bunch of them were enjoying themselves thoroughly.


    How was he supposed to do reconnaissance in the midst of this ytime? Liam sighed and waited, joining in on the fun now and then.


    He was supposed to be preparing for the apocalypse, but when in Rome¡­ He flopped back onto the green grass that somehow grew on this jelly-likend and looked at the strange sky.


    There were green lights today dancing in the sky, just like the aurora lights back on earth. It looked beautiful, mesmerizing.


    Liam had never had a chance to visit ces like that, so he enjoyed this view.


    The bunnies jumping up and down on him as well felt rxing, and he took a deep breath, momentarily forgetting the burden on his shoulder.


    But suddenly, Itzel shrieked like the little girl she was. "Big bro! You have to leave! Now!"


    "Oh?" Liam didn''t have to ask her what happened. He already knew. Someone was back. Maybe the dad or the mom? Fuck! Today was going to be his funeral.


    "Which way should I go?" He hurriedly leaped back on his feet and started sprinting out of the garden. The few bunnies and Itzel chased after him.


    "Big bro Kouske, take this route. You will reach the city faster." Itzel showed him a smaller path in between the trees and sent him away.


    And Liam as well clutched his newly acquired pet and started running without looking back. He was only able to breathe when he reached the bustling city.


    "Huff. Huff. Huff. Why am I even running? I didn''t do anything wrong, right?" He shook his head helplessly and mixed back in with the crowd, feeling safe amidst the masses.


    ***


    Golden Ticket Bonus Chapter~~

 Chapter 559 You are not welcome here

    Chapter 559 You are not wee here


    Liam looked around, not wanting to get back so soon. He couldn''t get more information from the little girl, but there were shops here, and he wanted to see if he could get something from there.


    He still had the few elixirs he had made as well. However, he no longer had any hopes of exchanging them in the auction house. Perhaps it would be best to try his luck in the alchemy shops.


    Liam walked over to one of the shops, shoving the tiny rabbit into his pocket. The shop was selling pills and potions, so it was as good as any other shop on the street.


    The ce was crowded, so he had to wait a while, and finally, when it was his turn, Liam walked over to the shop manager who was at the entrance.


    "I-" He started speaking only to be interrupted the next instant. "Where is your emblem?" The shop manager, a gruff middle-aged man, asked.


    "Emblem?"


    "Emblem? Your tattoo? Where is it?"


    Liam assumed that he was talking about the white token card and took it out, but the moment the shopkeeper saw the card, he immediately stiffened.


    "Heavens! This is unbelievable! You are actually from one of the-"


    "Marco! What are you doing!" Another woman who was standing nearby hurriedly closed his mouth. She stared at him, and the shopkeeper stared back. They seemed to be having some sort of silent argument.


    A momentter, the woman answered instead. "You need an emblem to enter any of the shops. You don''t have it. So you cannot purchase anything from this shop or any other."


    "Okay," Liam still smiled politely, "Can I ask you where I can get this emblem? I also-"


    "Excuse me. We are busy right now. You should leave." Once again, the woman interrupted him, and just like that, he was chased out of the shop before he could even say anything.


    Liam didn''t mind it and decided to try his luck in a couple of other ces. However, everywhere he went, it was the same result.


    The other shops were even worse in treating him. They looked at him in disdain that too with a look he was familiar with, as if he was a ve or someone not of their status.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam stood outside and watched the bustling ce. So many people, and no one was willing to talk to him. What the hell was going on here? Was it perhaps because of his low level?


    Either way, he had wandered around quite a bit without any result, and it looked like it was time to return back to thend where he belonged to.


    He took out the white token from his inventory slot again, but before he could activate it, a hand caught hold of him abruptly.


    Liam was shocked as he looked at the ck cloaked figure. The hold as well was quite strong. He couldn''t break free. "Who is this?" He asked, and a familiar voice responded.


    "I didn''t expect to run into you here. But this is good. We don''t have much time. So listen carefully. Why haven''t you visited the elven settlement yet?"


    "I..."


    "You need to go there. Before you ask me why, first take a look at your mana core. It is slowly being corroded. Do you think it was easy to have a root both in mana andher?"


    Liam''s eyes widened. He knew who this was now, but he did not understand what he meant. This was why he purposefully did not form aher core yet, if such a thing was even possible.


    So what was he talking about?


    "I didn''t form aher-"


    "You don''t have to form it consciously. Having a high affinity is both a boon and a curse. Look within you more closely, and you will understand."


    Hmmm... Liam listened to him, but he was not convinced just yet. He shook his head, "Even if what you are saying is true, this mana core is not my permanent one. I don''t have time to worry-"


    "What if I tell you that your mana core could be linked with your soul?" The old man''s words struck Liam like thunder. There was also such a possibility?


    "As I said, we don''t have much time. Only the elven ancestor will be able to help you in this entire world. Leave everything else and seek him. Otherwise, your world will be doomed once again."


    Liam was now even more shocked after hearing this. What did he mean by again? How did he know?


    As if the person in front of him could read his thoughts, he chuckled. "Take this." The old man shoved a scroll into Liam''s hand.


    "This will help you win the tournament. Leave this ce. It is not good for you to linger here. You don''t belong here yet."


    He didn''t leave any space for Liam to respond and activated the white token in his hand, and the next second, he was once again back in the Xion realm.


    "What the hell just happened?" Liam looked at the scroll that he was still clutching in his hand.


    He opened it to take a look, and immediately a flood of information rushed into his brain, so much so that he was feeling dizzy.


    It took him an entire hour to get a grip, and finally, he was able to think clearly again. As for the information in the scroll¡­


    <ding. you="" have="" learned="" the=""plete=""pendium="" of="" herbs="" part1=""></ding.>


    "This¡­" Liam closed his eyes, trying to recollect something that he had just learned.


    He was able to visualize a herb, look at its structure, its name, its smell, its texture, what it could be used for, and what its properties are. He was able to tell almost everything about that herb from a to z.


    And he was able to do this not just for one herb. He was able to do this for a thousand. No, it was more. He was able to do it for about five thousand.


    Liam immediately sat down and closed his eyes, thinking about everything patiently. This was truly a priceless treasure.


    For the old man to actually give him this without expecting anything in return¡­ There were also the words that he had spoken.


    It almost seemed as if he wanted Liam to seed in something. Perhaps this would have an impact on both of their lives.


    What was this world really? He just thought of it as a tutorial but truly, what was it?


    He let out a deep breath and then solely focussed on the task at hand. He went over each and every herb that he had learned about from the scroll. He didn''t want that memory to slip away.


    And as he did, he understood what the old man meant by using this to win the tournament. He wanted him to unlock the first seal on the ck dragon sword!

 Chapter 560 The road ahead

    Chapter 560 The road ahead


    At Crimson Abyss guild residence¡­


    The main task force of the guild was busy discussing the strategy for once again clearing another spatial rift.


    There were a lot more guild members now as more people had signed the special guild contract. Along with the core members, the total number wasing to almost 200.


    Though this was on the lower end for the yers required to clear the rift, each of the core members was equal to about ten regr yers.


    More importantly, they had already cleared the rift once before, so they were confident.


    "So it is decided. We will clear the rift after the PVP tournament is done." Mia announced.


    "Until then, everyone who is not involved in the tournament will be clearing the Level 40 dungeons. The goal is to increase everyone''s level as fast as possible."


    "Split into five groups and start clearing the dungeons. Rotate between the dungeons so that you are not repeatedly fighting the same mobs. Focus on improving your battle skills."


    Mia''s words were crisp, concise, and clear. Her ice-cold facade, which was chillier than usual, made everyone shudder and nod in submission.


    And the person she was actually pissed off with also gulped nervously. Rey inched closer to Liam as if that would make him feel safer.


    Liam only just arrived at the guild residence as he had some things to take care of. After the meeting, most people dispersed, leaving behind only Mia, Alex, Derek, Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and Rey.


    Liam then took out a whistle from his inventory slot and ced it on the huge conference table. "Rey, this is for you."


    "Huh? What is this, bro?" He quickly picked up the whistle.


    <Hunter''s whistle (Epic Grade Unique Item): Makes a beast submissive to the hunter''s will; Works on all the beasts with levels lower than the hunter; 10% chance to work on beasts with higher levels than the hunter; 5% chance to work on rare beasts; 1% chance to work on beasts belonging to epic grade and above>


    "Oh my god, this is brilliant." Rey waspletely speechless. "Bro, did you look at the description of this thing? This is amazing. With this, I can tame almost any beast. I just have to find it. What an incredible item."


    He licked his lips and looked at the whistle with visible longing in his eyes, but Alex smacked his head and took the whistle off of his hands.


    Taking a look at the thing, she frowned at Rey and then asked Liam, "Are you sure you want to give this thing to this idiot? After thatst screw-up, I should just break his capsule and make him sit out this whole thing."


    "Sis!" Rey started to protest but quickly shut his mouth.


    "Don''t make me beat you up again. How dare you endanger yourself and others by doing something so stupid? Where was your brain? Back at home? Did you forget to pack it? Do you know how much we had to go through to get you back, and now you do this?"


    "I had a n. Bro¡­" He once again looked at Liam, but today was his bad day as Liam was already preupied. He did not get involved in the family fight.


    Seeing his serious face, Mia couldn''t help but suspect that something else was going on. "What happened? Are they going to chase us and attack now? Do we have to do something?"


    "No. Not that." Liam shook his head, but then he quickly added, "yes, I mean, we need to be careful. They lost four things to us, and all four items are not simple. They also already lost the emerald crown. They will definitelye after us with everything they have."


    "So we do need to be very careful. Only move in groups and use stealth when leaving cities and so on." He tapped his fingers on the table and absent-mindedly droned on. Clearly, something else was on his mind.


    "Liam, did something happen?" Alex asked again.


    "Hmmm." He paused for a moment and decided to brief them about it. "I got a small clue about something. I am not sure if it is possible or not, but I think I have to follow this lead and see it through."


    "Oh?"


    "You guys might have to manage things around the guild without me for some time. I won''t be reachable or at least close enough to get to you guys if you need me. I think I have to cross the Kingdom boundary and go to the far eastern territories."


    Liam exined to them the brief encounter he had with the cksmith grandmaster and how he said there might be a way for the mana core to be linked to the soul.


    "Wait, that means our abilities can transfer to the real world just like how we are dying here?" Alex gripped the table in excitement.


    "Yes, but..." Liam nodded. "We don''t have much time left."


    "That''s fine. That''s fine. It''s still worth trying, right."


    "Yes."


    "Brother, but you will be all alone there¡­ what if something happens?" Mei Mei worriedly bit her lips. She was silently listening until now, but for her, all of these didn''t matter. The only thing she heard was that her brother was once again going to take a big risk all by himself.


    "Please, can Ie with you? Sis Yue also? Big brother Derek also?".


    Liam smiled and shook his head. "I will be fine on my own. You guys should stick together and stay safe. Also¡­"


    He looked at everyone sternly and added. "If what I am thinking is right¡­ the government will be creating more and more issues now. There are going to be guild battles sanctioned."


    "This is very important. You need to stay here and fight. Otherwise, we will lose the footing we have acquired."


    "Mia, don''t forget the divine temple quests." Liam gave instructions about everything that he could think of and then prepared to leave. "Oh, I almost forgot. Here, Mei Mei. I think this pendant will go well with your crown."


    Liam tossed out the epic-grade pendant, which was the second item he had looted from the four.


    <Active Skill: Reset the effect of another item ignoring the cool down>


    If the hunter''s whistle was amazing, this was also another amazing item. Mei Mei immediately understood what Liam meant.


    That was right. This item by itself wasn''t all that brilliant butbined with another item of high caliber like her emerald crown, this instantly became a top-tier item.


    "Thanks, brother. I promise I won''t disappoint you." She muttered under her breath. Liam pulled the little girl closer and hugged her tightly. "Don''t be an idiot. Just stay safe and listen to Mia, Alex, and Yue."


    "Ok." Mei Mei teared up, and she did not know why. For her brother to actually leave her here and go somewhere on his own¡­ even she understood that this had to be a dangerous trip.


    But once again, she was not strong enough for her to be actually able to help him and not be a burden. Otherwise, wouldn''t he have taken her with him?


    Shen Yue also had a simr expression on her face. "Please take care of yourself." She wanted to say more, but she stopped herself.


    Liam looked at the long faces and chuckled, "Why are you two behaving like this? This is not some sort of farewell. We still have the tournament to win, and when Ie back, if I don''t find you all at Level 60 or higher, there is going to be some punishment."


    "I will still be reachable by message. So you can message me anytime." Liam smiled and patted the little girl, giving a nce to Shen Yue.


    He then turned to look at Derek and signaled him to walk with him. The two of them left the main guild hall, walking over to the pet stables.


    "Derek, I will be counting on you to protect my sister."


    "I understand, Sir. I will protect her even if I die."


    "Heh. That''s good, but it will be better if both of you are safe. But thanks. I owe you one for this." Liam patted him, and Derek silently nodded.


    "Did you make arrangements? When are you moving?"


    "In 2 days, sir."


    "Good. Just tell Alex. She will take care of the amodation. You have a sister, right? You should get her to y as well. It''s a bit toote, but it''s better than never ying the game. Do you understand?"


    "Yes, sir." Derek nodded. The both of them reached the stables when unexpectedly, Liam received a huge shock.


    Next to the stables, on a small clearing, one person alone was relentlessly practicing his swordy. This was none other than the instructor whom Liam had recruited as his follower and named Asura.


    And right at this moment, Liam couldn''t help but feel that this name was very apt for this person. Though he had used it on a whim because it sounded cool, right now, this person might as well be the demon he was named after!

 Chapter 561 Explosive Growth

    Chapter 561 Explosive Growth


    "What is this guy''s level?" Seeing the monstrous aura around the man, Liam was utterly shocked.


    The person he knew before and the person in front of him now werepletely different. He pulled up the stats immediately to take a look.


    ______________


    Name: Asura (Follower of Chang Liam)


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 35


    ss: Sword Saint


    Health: 4000/4000


    Mana: 5000/5000


    Mana Regeneration: 500 mp per minute


    ______________


    Vitality: 150


    Stamina: 200


    Strength: 150


    Intellect: 120


    Agility: 200


    Physical Defense: 250


    Mental Defense: 300


    Soul Defense: 300


    ______________


    "How is this possible?" Liam stared at the word sword saint in utter disbelief. Not to mention his stats, which were even better than his. How did he manage to achieve such a feat?


    This guy was a cripple just a couple of days ago, but now he was a sword saint? This was an even more unbelievableeback story than the one he was living.


    Now Liam was very curious about his background. He must have definitely known the skills beforehand and probably was held back by his blocked mana vessels.


    As soon as that got fixed, the guy was soaring through the sky like a dragon.


    Both Derek and Liam observed him from a distance, not wanting to interrupt him. They were at first just watching him, but they couldn''t help being transfixed by his movements.


    This was the difference between normal swordy and a refined technique. While one was simply a fighting technique, the other one was profound.


    Every attack created powerful ripples that radiated outward violently. At the same time, all of the force was contained and restrained.


    Liam could feel goosebumps when watching the man practice his sword moves. He also wanted to learn a technique, something that was suitable for him.


    This was why back in the battleground, the thief was able to stand his ground and fight against him. Learning a technique definitely boosted one''s strength and power and made it more difficult for the opponent to read and respond.


    As the two of them continued watching the instructor in awe, unexpectedly, they received a notification.


    <Ding. You have learned a new skill [Three Phantom Images]>


    <Ding. You have learned a new skill [Sword Purge]>


    "Sir Liam-" Derek was confused.


    "Yes, I also received the notifications," Liam said.


    He then realized something and hurriedly added. "Derek, ask our guild members to train with the guy. Everyone must takepulsory training. Hold sparring matches for guild contribution points. Get all the core members to spar with him."


    "Yes, sir. Now?"


    "Right now, I am going to train with him a little bit." There was still some time left for the tournament, so Liam intended to make use of all of it.


    Seeing that the other party was not nning to stop anytime soon, Liam strode forward to stand in front of him directly. Only then the other person noticed him and stopped.


    "Master." Asura bowed, paying respect to Liam, who chuckled at the irony because he was the one who had a lot to learn from the other person.


    "Let''s spar." He said and unsheathed his sword. He hade to check on Talon once, but now that he had stumbled upon this surprise, he was not nning on letting it go.


    Alex, Mia, and the other guild members who were still at the guild residence all gathered around to watch the two spar. Inspired by them, the entirety of the grounds in front of the guild hall suddenly became a sparring practice space.


    Hours quickly passed, and soon it was time for thest round of the tournament to begin again.


    Liam finally stopped sparring. "Damn. I ampletely wiped out." Heughed bitterly, jumping on top of Luna as they started flying towards Yleka city.


    Mia and Derek as well followed the two as the three of them were participating in the final round. The group entered the city and walked over, but the climate in the city was a lot different now.


    There were stalls in every corner and not the ones set up by NPCs. These were yer set-up stalls, and they were not selling anything. Instead, they were recruiting.


    "So they started, huh?" Liam grinned, giving only a nce to these people.


    Mia and Derek walked beside him, curiously checking what these new pop-up stalls were, only to find out that they were recruitment booths by the government. The two of them were shocked.


    "Are they seriously trying to strong-arm people into joining these government guilds? What the hell is happening?"


    "Mmmm. Things are only going to get more and more ridiculous." Liam whistled and walked over to the tower.


    The space in front of the tower was even worse. yers were standing there and creating disturbance for everyone walking in and out of the tower.


    They were also searching for the final participants of this tournament like bloodhounds, but who were these participants? They were top experts. Like slippery fishes, no one was caught yet.


    So the yers could only continue shouting in frustration.


    "The government has strictly ordered everyone to not log into the game. Go back. Go back. You cannot enter here. If you still want to y this game, you have to join one of the government-sanctioned guilds."


    "Anyone who wants to enter the PVP tower has to register their name here. You are breaking the rules by logging into the game."


    "yers who y the game without the government''s permission will be penalized."


    A few of these yers rushed towards Liam, Mia, and Derek as well and blocked their path to the tower.


    "Can''t you hear us shouting? Where the hell do you think you are going? Get over here and register-"


    THACK! The next second, the person''s head was snapped. The other two guys also stood frozen before their severed halves hit the ground.


    Instantly, a huge uproar erupted outside the PVP tower.


    Everyone knew that within the city, no yer could harm another yer. This was the reason why they had been canvassing boldly, so what the hell just happened?


    All the yers started rushing towards this scene of the massacre. Many were secretly happy to see this happen because these guys were starting to be very irritating.


    No government in the world could find out who hacked all the game capsules and how this video game was happening right now, but they wanted to control it still? Keep dreaming!


    While everyone stood around and watched the scene and the government-appointed yers scrambled to find out who did this, the person who was responsible for this casually walked in and pressed the elevator button.


    "Thisst round is not going to be easy," Liam said to Mia and Derek. "Are you guys prepared?"


    Both Derek and Mia nodded silently. They had already done all the preparations. Now all that was left was to fight!

 Chapter 562 First Seal

    Chapter 562 First Seal


    "Liam, where are you going?" Seeing him get out on the 100th floor of the PVP tower rather than the tournament floor, Mia couldn''t help but ask.


    "I will join you guys in a bit." Liam smiled and then disappeared as the elevator door closed. He was rather excited as he walked over to one of the alchemy rooms avable on the floor.


    He quickly paid the required coins and entered the space. "Here goes nothing." He first removed the stone tablet from his inventory slot and set it up inside the room.


    After that, he removed his clothes and jumped into the pond.


    Luna curiously watched Liam as he closed his eyes and started meditating. The little fox wondered what was going on when unexpectedly, the next instant, several small rustling sounds echoed in the garden.


    Kyuuuuu?


    When the fox looked around, small shoots of various herbs were growing at a visible rate, bursting out of the ground. Not one or two but several. There were also all sorts of herbs, each one different from the other.


    The entire garden was filled with the medicinal fragrance of these herbs, and Liam was not done yet. With his eyes closed, he went through the list of herbs one after the other.


    The pond water as well nourished his body and mind, giving him a sort of rity. He was easily able to recollect all of the herbs from part 1 of thependium.


    More importantly, because of the unique skill of the stone tablet, as he thought about each and every one of these herbs, they began sprouting out of the ground magically.


    A golden glow covered the entirety of the stone tablet, and it began getting darker and darker. Liam did not notice it. He continued to meditate and patiently visualized all the herbs individually.


    By the time he was done, he waspletely drained out mentally. "Damn, even sitting in this pond, this process is very tiring." He stretched his hands and yawned.


    However, he got out of the pond hurriedly as he was too excited. Finally, he was going to remove a seal from that sword, his soul weapon that was going to rain terror on the outside world!


    Liam smiled nervously as he was both excited and apprehensive about this part. Excited because of the power-up but nervous because it was a soul weapon, and it affected him.


    At least thest time he tried to wield this weapon, it left asting impression on him that he did not want to recollect. But¡­ that was then, and this was now.


    He was stronger now. He had a solid foundation and a mana core.


    So Liam confidently clutched the sword, sitting cross-legged in front of the pond. He steadied his mind and then looked at the fox, who was happily rolling around on the grass.


    "Luna, grab all the herbs and bring them to me one by one. Be careful."


    Kyuuuu! The fox immediately perked up and started working on her chore. She dashed around here and there and carefully plucked out the herbs to bring them back to Liam.


    Some of the herb juices really made her salivate as they were too tasty, but she obediently brought over everything to Liam.


    "Good girl." He patted the herb and started after taking a deep breath. "Let''s go!"


    <ding. athanira="" has="" been="" consumed=""></ding.>


    <ding. rediflora="" has="" been="" consumed=""></ding.>


    <ding. hexagonal="" porisenthis="" has="" been="" consumed=""></ding.>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As Liam started feeding the sword with the multitude of herbs, one by one, several notifications started rolling out.


    With each herb that he gave the sword, his pulse became quicker as he was that close to unlocking the seal.


    After feeding about nine hundred herbs, it was finally time to break the first seal on the weapon, and for this, he needed to sense it, all of it.


    Thest time Liam did this, the numerous souls swirling inside the sword locked onto him as if they were alive.


    They were terrifying existences capable of devouring himpletely. He did not doubt that.


    At the same time, he was not going to concede so easily to a bunch of dead souls, even if they were dragons.


    "Come out." Liam also summoned his personal soul soldiers. It felt good to have numbers on his side when facing that many souls.


    Now there was nothing more left, so he took a deep breath and focused, activating his soul sensing. It was always active, but he had to focus quite a bit in order to sense the souls.


    He brought hisplete attention to the dull rustly sword lying on the grass in front of him, and soon, the sword started thrumming alive.


    It was time. He took thest few stalks of the herb and fed them to the sword. With this, the sword had now consumed a thousand different rare-grade herbs.


    <ding. myora="" radicura="" has="" been="" consumed=""></ding.>


    <ding. a="" thousand="" herbs="" have="" been="" devoured=""></ding.>


    Kachak Kachak Kachak Kachak


    Following a short moment of silence, an ominous feeling bubbled out of the sword.


    Inside the dull piece of metal, numerous eyes shed open without any warning. Each of these eyes was slit-like, and they locked onto Liam, silently simmering.


    Then the next second, a tremendous wave of pressure assaulted him out of nowhere. The eyes that were on him tried to subdue him and make him submit to their will.


    The enormous weight of their souls was crushing him from all directions. For a moment, Liam couldn''t breathe. He gasped and convulsed on the ground, writhing in pain.


    However, he soon regained control of his body. He had, after all, withstood things far worse than what the dragons were capable of unleashing at the moment.


    He also knew what was waiting for him in the future. So there was no way he was going to buckle down right now and ept defeat to a mere weapon.


    A weapon could never control a person, it was the person who was meant to control the weapon. He gritted his teeth, and in one fell swoop, he pushed away the soul pressure crushing his body.


    "FUCK OFF!" His voice rang loudly in the big empty garden, making Luna worried.


    The next instant, ripples of loud roars emanated from the sword, each angrier than the previous one. Wave after wave of insane pressure assaulted Liam, but he held strong.


    He rotated his mana core steadily and used it like a talisman to ward off the evil.


    However, the dragon souls did not give up that easily. They continued attacking him one after the other, sometimes evenbined together.


    Every single one of these attacks struck like lightning on his mind and soul, and he shuddered. Thissted for an entire hour when a final momentous roar sted from the sword, after which the weapon went back to being dormant.


    It had failed. It couldn''t do anything to him.


    Ignoring the several eyes continuing to re at him angrily, Liam smiled and took the sword in his hand.


    His breathing was haggard, and he was sweating profusely from top to bottom, but it looked like he had won this round, and the sword temporarily submitted to him.


    However, the weight of the weapon in his hand was not light. It might not be physically heavy, but it bore down on his soul, the numerous eyes still locked onto him.


    They were all simply waiting. Waiting for a weakness that they could make use of, waiting for a chance to attack him once more.


    "Bring it on." Liam chuckled, not breaking the eye contact. He red right back at them as if they were in a staring contest.


    After a while, the eyes disappeared, the weight of the weapon reducing a smidge. He could still feel the living, breathing weapon as if veins of mana and blood were coursing through it. However, it was not hostile.


    "Good." Liam nodded, and he stood up to try out his new weapon.


    ***


    Golden Ticket bonus chapter~

 Chapter 563 Final Round!

    Chapter 563 Final Round!


    Liam lifted the sword and casually shed it at the tree nearby. In a single hit, the tree was easily sliced into two halves.


    "Let me take a look at the stats." He stopped swinging the sword and opened the status screen.


    <ck Dragon> (Soul Weapon, One-handed sword)


    <This is a sword made from forging the souls of a thousand dragons; It is currently broken and sealed>


    Current Grade: Unique


    Current Attributes:


    Stamina: +20


    Strength: +20


    Defense: +20


    Vitality: +20


    Agility: +20


    Intellect: +20


    <1st Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade weapons>


    <2nd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade herbs>


    <2nd Seal has been broken>


    <3rd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher ores>


    <4th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher gems>


    <5th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand elemental essences>


    <6th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand bloodlines>


    <7th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand souls>


    <8th Seal: N/A>


    <9th Seal: N/A>


    "This is a huge improvementpared to before." Liam was satisfied. He ran his fingers on the sharp edge of the sword. The new active skill could be very powerful if he used it properly.


    But¡­ though the attributes bump was good and the new skill was first ss, there was still something that was bothering him.


    The weapon was a bit ufortable in his hands. It was not fully submitting to him.


    Liam gazed at the sword for a moment before a cold look shed past his eyes. It was not perfect, but the power he wielded right now was more than enough to handle the PVP tower tournament.


    He looked forward to the rematch between himself and the thief. He wanted to see if he could break that guy''s technique this time around.


    As if channeling the feeling in his heart, the sword also lightly thrummed.


    "So you are notpletely rejecting me, huh?" He sheathed the sword with a smile and ced the stone tablet back into the inventory slot.


    He then waved at Luna, the duo walking out of the alchemy training room. They entered the elevator and headed straight for the tournament floor.


    It was time for thest showdown.


    The elevator dinged open right onto the tournament floor, and this time there was barely any crowd. There were only ten yers on the whole floor.


    Mia nodded at Liam, and Derek as well did the same, the two of them looking like ice cubes. Neither showed any signs of nervousness about the fight.


    Heh. Liam grinned and walked over. The three of them sat in the corner of the auditorium. Opposite them, four other yers huddled together.


    "They should be the ones with the drake mounts. I bet they are not too pleased with us." Liam mumbled as he sat down.


    Luna had single-handedly caused one of their teammates to get kicked out. So one didn''t have to guess that they would want some revenge.


    "We lost two. They lost one. We should be the ones who are not pleased." Mia chimed in. She even looked slightly annoyed, which was rare for her.


    In truth, no one was pleased with such a round because it caused a lot ofmotion and did not really measure the yer''s talent.


    Rather it measured their luck and who had a better mount. However, luck was also a talent, and Liam knew this well. He did not reply anything and continued to look at the other yers on the floor.


    Apart from the seven of them, there were also three other mysterious yers. No one knew what guild or kingdom these guys belonged to. The information on them waspletely non-existent.


    These were the main three yers Liam had his eyes on as well.


    As the whole group eyed each other in silence, trying to measure up their opponents and gauge their level, the fourth and thest round was finally announced.


    Both inside the tower and outside the tower, everyone watching and waiting for this immediately perked up.


    However, the next second, everyone gasped in shock. This announcement gave an even greater shock than any of the previous rounds.


    <Ding. The final round of the tournament is now starting. yers are warned that the death penalty is not waived in this round>


    Immediately, an uproar spread across the gathered yers outside the tower. Dying inside the game was a huge deal at the moment, so obviously, many yers were not pleased with this announcement.


    But the next second, as realization dawned on them, they were secretly pleased. They were not participating. It was only those ten top yers!


    Many loved the fact that these insanely overpowered and lucky yers had to die at least one if not many times. Finally, there was justice in this world!


    Misery lovespany, so many smiling faces in the crowd could be seen. Only the faces inside the tournament were not as happy.


    Liam also had a cold expression on his face. This single announcement just raised the bar for this tournament high, not because of the possibility of death but because now he could potentially drop something if he dies.


    This was the real hidden message in this announcement.


    And just like him, Mia as well realized this subtext. "Liam, what about that stone tablet? If you want, I can tap out and take some of your valuables to store them for you temporarily."


    "No," Liam shook his head. "I doubt that is possible."


    "Hmmm. I don''t think so." Mia mumbled while simultaneously pulling up a trade window when she noticed that the window was grayed out. So no one would be able to trade anything.


    "If worsees to worst, we can always concede?" She suggested, but Liam once again shook his head. "If I am not wrong, even that shouldn''t be possible."

 Chapter 564 Why the hate?

    Chapter 564 Why the hate?


    As the reality of the tournament began to set in, all the yers mentally prepared themselves, feeling the tension slowly increasing. The audience outside the tower as well was equally nervous.


    This was a big moment for the final round yers, but it was also a big moment for them because of the betting. The slots were open, and the yers were now able to ce bets on the ten different yers.


    At this point, each yer was marked by his or her mount.


    So on the betting list, there were four majestic-looking drakes, a snake, a rabbit, a tiger, a buffed-looking bat, a white tiger with wings, and finally, a little fox who had a particrly naughty smile.


    Everyone''s heart ached as they stared at this fox with vengeance. She had single-handedly caused many yers to lose their money. If not for her, the six-winged lion, the symbol of the strength of their Gresh Kingdom, would have won!


    However, now there was not even any representation from the top guilds of the Gresh Kingdom. This was simply ridiculous.


    Each of the top guilds had tens of thousands of yers. They were now also getting financial support from corporations and big bigpanies across the world.


    With everything put together, the financial strength of the top guilds was not something that could be looked down upon. They had both strength in numbers and the money for it.


    Even so, somehow, this tournament ended up in this dire state, and it was all because of the damned fox. Everyone raged silently, but at the same time, no one ced their bets on the fox for thest round.


    Just because a mount was good at running, it doesn''t mean that the corresponding party would be good at fighting, and this round was all about fighting.


    Many people ced their bets on the drakes because obviously, these beasts were also going on the arena, and a yer''s strength, whenbined with the drake, was going to be insanely high.


    Not to mention, the yers who were capable of getting a drake in the first ce would logically be good at fighting as well. Also, these yers'' identities were no longer a secret.


    The fact that these yers belonged to the neighboring Borush Kingdom''s mid-tier guild Golden Knights was revealed in a big way, the news sshed on several forums and tv channels.


    Aside from the spatial rifts of theher realm, this sudden PVP tower tournament was the other special event taking ce. So the news coverage on the topic was huge.


    Who the exact yers were was still unclear as the guild seemed to be keeping a tight lid on things, but their background was not simple. It looked like Borush Kingdom''s guild hierarchy was soon going to be shuffled.


    So including the four yers from the Golden Knights guild and the three yers from the Crimson Abyss guild, everyone almost knew who the different mounts belonged to and which yers were the top ten finalists.


    Well, all except for the mysterious three yers who seemed to have jumped out of nowhere just like the PVP tower tournament.


    However, not many people were willing to ce their bets on these guys. Surprisingly, most yers ced their bets on Liam and Mia.


    Even though the small fox was cursed to no end, the top ranker and the famous priestess looked like the obvious choices to go with.


    An equal number of yers also ced their bets on the four guys from the Golden Knights. They were not wildly famous before this tournament, but the fact that they own a drake mount meant a lot, and this was enough reason for them to be strong contenders.


    Other than these two, some yers who liked to live on the edge even ended up voting for the three mysterious guys on the off chance that these were the true dark horses.


    In fact, Derek was the only person who didn''t get any supporters. Not many people recognized him except for the guild members of the Stormtroopers guild, who were also only looking forward to seeing him lose and suffer a satisfying death.


    In this manner, the betting continued in full rage, with every guild from the Gresh Kingdom pooled outside the PVP tower.


    The top three guilds, Dragons of Justice, Devil''s Advocate and War Brothers, the Assassin guild, Gu family''s Jade Mountain guild, Genovese guild, the one rumored to have connections with the Italian mafia, all the big yers of the Gresh Kingdom were present around the PVP tower.


    Their main aim might be betting on thisst round, but secretly they were also assessing the real strength of the Crimson Abyss guild, which was now inevitably going to emerge as the overlord of the entire kingdom.


    There was simply too much riding on this single tournament. There were legendary items among the rewards! This was too big!


    If Crimson Abyss managed to get these rewards, the entirendscape of the Kingdom was going to change.


    For this, it would be better if one of the other seven yers won this tournament. Otherwise, Crimson Abyss guild would really be unbeatable within the Kingdom.


    No amount of financial backing would equal a legendary item''s power. Any single item from the reward was capable of boosting a guild to the next tier.


    So this was a monumental moment for all the guilds from the Gresh Kingdom. Everyone ced their bets, and of course, hiding among these yers, Berat also ced his bet.


    Alex had sent him all the winnings from the previous round, so he quietly squeezed in between this crowd and did his job.


    When everyone else was exploiting this chance to earn money by cing bets on Crimson Abyss, how could they let go of this chance?


    The guild went all in, betting most of their guild''s gold coins on their one and only big boss.


    As thest of the bets rolled in, the two old men sitting atop the tower were casually ncing at this list.


    Grandmaster  saw that the tower master Crawford was particrly happy seeing Crimson Abyss guild cing a huge bet. He even rubbed his hands together as if he was waiting for something huge to go down.


    And what he wanted to go down wasn''t exactly a secret. The old guy was waiting for his victory moment.


    "Why do you hate him so much?" Grandmaster  asked in amusement. "We have no rtion or feud with these people. In a way, they are just like us, forced into this madness unwillingly. Don''t you think this is going too far?"


    "Meh. Who cares? This is old news." The guy spat out. "This is the natural order. Everyone has to go through it, so why should I feel sorry for them?"


    "So all you care about is looting from that brat?"


    "Yes." The tower master scoffed in annoyance, only realizing what he said after he had spoken. However, he didn''t bother changing his stance even then.


    "Who is looting from whom? That brat is the one looting from me! Do you know just how many of my mana cores he has consumed so far? He is the viin here. Even today, he emptied another pile." The old man snorted.


    "First of all, that stone tablet is clearly a treasure from one of the higher worlds. It shouldn''t even belong here. I am doing everyone a favor!"


    "Sure. Sure." Grandmaster  did not bother arguing with the unreasonable person any longer. He silently gazed at the disy of the tournament arena and at Liam, who was sitting in a corner.


    "I hope you can give me a good show today." He muttered under his breath. He couldn''t be as confident as the guy beside him in how today''s events would turn out, nevertheless, he was looking forward to it.


    Just like that, under the watchful gaze of the many yers spilled around the PVP tower and the two hidden big shots at the top, a loud gong soon resounded, and the first match of the finals officially began!

 Chapter 565 Player1 vs Player10

    Chapter 565 yer1 vs yer10


    "Sis! It''s starting! It''s starting! Who do you think is going to be called first?" Rey shook Alex like a rag doll, not able to contain his excitement. However, he stopped and quickly stepped away when she turned to give him a death re.


    The two of them were currently seated on a terrace slightly far away from the PVP tower.


    From here, they were still able to see the arena disyed by the four huge floating squares, but they wouldn''t be able to ce bets. That didn''t matter as the two of them were only here to take a look at the fights.


    This was a fight between the top experts of the Gresh Kingdom and some outsiders after havingbed through several rigorous rounds, so one could definitely learn a lot from this.


    Alex gazed at the square in the distance with a frown on her face. "Hmph. I don''t know who will be called first, but it won''t be that guy."


    "Eh? Why?"


    "He is lucky like that. Do you know he only yed a single match in the first round? Probably, Derek or Mia might get the unlucky first draw."


    But before she could finish her words, another gong sounded, and the announcement chimed in.


    <Ding. yer 1 and yer 10 are requested toe to the arena stage>


    "Sis! yer 10 is bro, right? Bro is going first!" Rey shouted in excitement, and Alex silently swallowed her words in nervousness. "Good luck." She wished him from afar.


    Meanwhile, on the tournament floor, Mia as well mumbled the same words while Derek silently nodded.


    The two of them watched as Liam grinned and walked onto the stage casually. Unlike the thousands of yers witnessing this match, he did not have even trace amounts of nervousness in his demeanor.


    "I am here." He announced coldly.


    And the yer standing opposite him was one of the yers from the Golden Knights guild. He stepped onto the stage along with his drake, both of them looking regal.


    The drake was proud and domineering, and the yer looked no less decked in dazzling items. All the items on his body were at the least golden unique grade.


    "I am here." He banged the spear in his hand on the stage, announcing his arrival as well. The drake next to him grunted loudly, raising its crimson head to stare down at Liam.


    Seeing this, a fox jumped off of Liam from somewhere inside his cloak and snarled back at the dragon though the little fox with the three tails was no match for the huge beast.


    Standing next to them, Liam also looked very poorly equipped. He had a few bracelets, some rings, a beaten-down armor, and some new pauldrons that were the only golden items.


    The rest all looked like trash, especially the sword he was holding in his hand. It was rusted and dull without any luster. That too, after observing the opponent, Liam sheathed this old rusty sword as well.


    "He is going to y as a mage?" Mia''s eyes glinted with interest.


    Like her, the opponent as well seemed to be surprised. "You are not using a weapon?"


    "Hmmm?" Liam stood silently. He did not bother answering him.


    This made the other party angry. "You are underestimating me too much!" He gritted his teeth and red back. The drake next to him also did the same. The two of them looked like they couldn''t wait to ughter him.


    But Liam still stood casually. He did not bother exchanging any pleasantries.


    Only the fox on the side jumped around, growling non-stop and snarling as if she was ready to unleash hell, though this looked cute rather than domineering. Thispletely ruined the cool casual vibeing from Liam, making him look like a random yer.


    Many yers outside the tower were seeing this scene, and they all wondered if this was really the top-ranked yer in the entire game. He looked too¡­ ordinary.


    Suddenly, another loud gong sounded, and the two yers were teleported to a desert-like environment with huge rocks lying around.


    After a moment of silence with the two yers sizing each other up, the match began without any other dy.


    The figure with the spear was the first to make a move without giving the opponent a chance to attack first. He didn''t care that the guy was underestimating him. All he wanted was a win.


    And this match should be easy.


    From what he could tell, only the pet of this yer was special, and he assumed that the person probably received the beast as a reward for leveling up fast.


    While he clutched his spear and lunged forward, the drake also opened its mouth, sending out a re of mes.


    With these two rushing toward Liam and attacking him from the get-go, it looked like the match was over even before it began.


    Everyone gasped as they prepared to see a charred body lying on the ground, mangled by the spear. The yers who had bet on Liammented silently. However, the next second¡­


    An even bigger me appeared!


    The small fox that was prancing around all this time aimed for the drake and sent out a fire st, and at the other end, the guy who had dashed forward with the spear was sted away, right out of the stage.


    When everyone looked closer, they could see a small tornado, picking up the sand and rocks nearby. This tornado strangely had lightning bolts shooting out of it?


    It first sted away the yer, and then it went straight for the drake. The beast, which was having a fire-spitting contest with the fox, was also sted away.


    It took a moment for everyone to grasp what had happened, and before they did, both the domineering drake and the yer were one-shotted and lying on the ground with their tongues out.


    Everyone waited to see if at least they only took damage and would be able to stand up and make aeback, but the loud gong that came next announcing the end of the match crashed any hope.


    The match had ended just like that!

 Chapter 566 Again?

    Chapter 566 Again?


    After the gong sounded, the two yers once again appeared on the arena stage. Of course, one was standing, and the other was a corpse that disintegrated.


    The drake as well disappeared. Only his ghost resurrected a few miles away at the city''s graveyard.


    So the match was really over? Everyone gaped, unable to grasp what had happened. No one thought that at the top, there could be so much difference between yers.


    All they saw was only one skill, and the match was over just like that?


    However, that was the truth.


    A moment of dread-filled silenceter, many of the yers standing around the PVP tower cheered loudly, and a huge wave of uproar spread across the masses.


    Everyone from Crimson Abyss guild and particrly everyone who had ced bets on Liam were in high spirits! Without a doubt, they were going to hit the jackpot this time!


    "Sis! Did you see that? Oh my god! I have freaking goosebumps!" Rey shouted from the rooftop they were standing on.


    Alex, on the other hand, remained silent. Her blood was boiling from the show of strength everyone had witnessed. Absolute domination.


    Her chest lightly rose up and down as she eyed that spot Liam was standing. She also wanted to reach that ce soon.


    Meanwhile, high up the tower, a certain old man did not look too pleased.


    Particrly after seeing the person next to him grinning, his face turned ugly, and he scoffed. "It''s just getting started. What are you smiling for?"


    "Sure. Sure." Grandmaster ughed softly. The two of them then turned to pay attention to Liam.


    On the arena stage, Liam was staring at the ground in front of him in deep thought. There was something shiny on it.


    "Hmmm¡­ so what I guessed was correct¡­ Luna!" He called the fox, who was happily doing several smug poses, showing off and reveling in the victory.


    "Go get that." Liam shook his head helplessly. Maybe he was spoiling her too much.


    Kyuuu!


    The fox smugly swaggered forward to bid her master''smand.


    However, just as she was about to snag the item on the ground, all of a sudden a white light shed past her, leaving behind sparkly dust in the wake.


    Luna abruptly halted after seeing this. [Master, so pretty] She stared at the stardust type of thing floating in the air, which was disappearing at the same time.


    The little fox couldn''t take her eyes off of it. She drooled as she followed the twinkling stardust, and her eyes finallynded on the creature that was responsible for it.


    A small rabbit? Food? Luna blinked.


    But right in front of her eyes, the rabbit quickly grabbed the item on the floor and rushed back to Liam to return it.


    All Luna, Liam, and everyone else could see was a twinkling blur. The rabbit moved at an incredible speed and dropped the item that was a bracelet. She then magically disappeared.


    "Oh! I almost forgot about you!" Liam eximed in surprise. As many things happened after he got this little bunny, he hadn''t yetpletely examined it.


    And from the looks of it, she can disappear and reappear just like his soul soldiers. Liam stared at the bracelet in his hand and then started walking down the stage.


    This was very interesting, but on this stage, in front of all of these eyes watching him, it was not a good thing to dwell on this. Luna also followed behind him, though she did not very pleased.


    And just like her, someone else was also not pleased.


    Crawford stood up, kicking his chair and the table next to him that had some drinks. He used so much force that the objectpletely disintegrated. He was livid with anger.


    "What is that? What is that? Is that an astral beast? How did he get his hands on something like that? That''s a higher realm beast, for heaven''s sake!"


    "No. That''s not even a higher realm beast. That''s a mythical realm beast! How could he possibly have that? What is happening here?"


    "He He" Grandmaster  silentlyughed. He also did not know how this happened, but it was not a bad thing, definitely not a bad thing. "Don''t forget the rules, Crawford. Don''t fly too close to the sun and burn yourself."


    The tower master no longer wanted to hear this. After scowling angrily, he left the room in a huff without bothering to give the guy any face.


    Grandmaster , however, did not seem to care about that. He casually continued sitting at the same spot and watched Liam with a twinkle in his eyes. The real fight was going to start now.


    Back at the arena, Liam walked back to Mia and Derek to sit along with them. "What was that at the end? Did I see a rabbit?" Mia asked. She had only seen something run by so fast. Nothing else was clear.


    "Mmm. Ya. About that, I-" Liam was going to summon the little bunny and check it out when abruptly the next gong sounded, and the next match was announced.


    <ding. 2="" 10="" yer="" and="" are="" requested="" to=""e="" the="" arena="" stage=""></ding.>


    "Huh?" Liam''s brows shot up. Mia looked perplexed as well. Liam had only just now finished a match, and he was called again? This seemed a bit biased?


    Everyone else watching the match from the outside also gasped in disbelief. Back to back matches? They could already feel their gold coins flying away.


    Even Rey, who was always happy, seemed a little concerned. "This is so fucking unfair! Bro needs a break!"


    Alex, on the other hand, smirked a little.


    "What the hell, sis? Why are you smiling? Are you on the same team or not, damn it!" Rey twisted his lips in annoyance. His sister seemed to have a love-hate rtionship with Liam.


    "What are you bbering idiot! I am not smiling." Alex scoffed.


    "You are!"


    "No, I am not!"


    "You so are!"


    "Shut up!"


    "Just wait and see, my bro is going to ace all the matches."


    "I also want the same thing." Alex rolled her eyes.

 Chapter 567 lmpossible!

    Chapter 567 lmpossible!


    While the whole yer base seemed to be shocked at this ridiculous format for the tournament, Liam simply smiled and walked over to the arena stage once again.


    He did not look troubled in the least. It was almost as if he had expected this.


    Luna as well strutted over to arrive next to him, though the little fox looked troubled and anxious. She had her own problems. She was constantly checking Liam every now and then for signs of the small furry creature.


    After these two got onto the stage, the other party also shortly arrived. Not so surprisingly, this one was a yer from the Golden Knights as well and walked in with a green-colored drake.


    In all honesty, Liam had expected the guy to rage and dere vengeful statements, but the person in front of him was not that hasty. He seemed to be very cautious of Liam.


    Even when his gaze fell on the bracelet on his right hand that Liam was wearing, which only seconds before belonged to their teammate, the person did not mind at all. He was more focused and was in deep thought, as if he was cooking up strategies to win this fight.


    Liam was rather impressed. His opponent didn''t look like an idiot. Maybe if they were on a leveled ying field, perhaps a match with this person might have been very interesting.


    However, unfortunately, that was not the case. No matter how much these yers struggled, they had a mountain to surmount.


    GONG! The loud bell rang, and Liam and the other yer found themselves teleported to a forest. Almost immediately, the other person made a move and disappeared into the bushes and the dense thickets.


    "Hmmm? This is not a game of hide and seek?" Liam shrugged and looked at Luna. "Let''s fly." He wanted a view of the battleground, and at the same time, he also wanted to¡­ lure the yer out.


    While flying, Liam and Luna would be very vulnerable. No yer would be willing to miss that. Even though this person was very cautious until now and hadn''t even revealed what ss he might be, he would also definitely take that shot.


    "Fly lower," Liam whispered as he jumped onto the fox. Immediately, the two of them rose into the sky. The moment he did that, the battle ensued.


    Liam spotted the drake and its owner at a distance, and simultaneously they spotted him as well. "There, Luna!" Liam shouted, and the fox sped over to the spot like a bullet.


    The other person also did not remain idle. "Attack!" He shouted, and the drake next to him roared loudly.


    The drake had a higher health than the yer, so he tactically used it to block any attack Liam had nned. After having seen the tornado skill, he was already prepared for it.


    While the drake acted as the tank, he did not remain idle and quickly started going on the offensive, finally revealing his ss.


    The nts and the trees from the surroundings thrummed alive as several tendrils shot up to Luna and Liam. These were sharp, razor-like, and dripping with venom.


    Before the fox couldnd, the person was determined to take out Liam.


    He did not simply stop with the tendrils, he also started casting what looked like a different version of earth spikes where the spikes uprooted from the ground and came at Liam.


    Suddenly Liam and Luna found themselves in the middle of a death trap, attacksing in from all directions. It looked almost impossible to evade.


    However, the next second, the duo disappeared from this death trap. The fox and the person sitting atop it started dropping from the sky, free falling down.


    But after a moment, only the fox was visible. Liam was no longer visible. Shocked by this, the person looked up to see Liam leaping toward him like a cheetah on tree tops.


    He had incredible agility as he rushed toward the two of them. In fact, he was using some of the attacks as footing and moved.


    Whenpared to the unstable spikes they had experienced earlier in the group fight of this same tournament, this was nothing.


    But how could someone adapt so quickly and learn something just from a few minutes of experience? It waspletely unbelievable, and yet Liam was doing exactly that.


    The drake roared loudly as a thick aura surrounded its body, and the beast strengthened itself, but Liam was faster.


    He tossed a [Sizzling Tornado] to the drake that was thirsty for a fight and leaped around it to fight the main opponent.


    "You know¡­ That''s not the only attack I have." He conjured a huge fireball and mmed it down onto the opponent''s body.


    Boom!


    -1000


    An unbelievable damage number popped out. How could a fireball do such big damage? This waspletely insane. The opponent was speechless as he stared at Liam like he was a monster.


    "Just give up. It''s useless to fight against me now." Liam did not give the man any chance to react and mmed a couple more of the fireballs.


    With the lightning bolts popping out behind him and the fireballs he was conjuring, the entire forest was aze with fireworks.


    All everyone could see were these bright shes of fire before the gong sounded loud, and the two contestants were teleported back to the stage, one dead and one alive.


    The second match was also over just like that!


    It had taken slightly longer than the first match, but that was only because the battleground was a forest. Otherwise, this fight would have also taken exactly 5 seconds.


    Just what was happening in this PVP tournament?


    Everyone hadined earlier about the unfair rules of the tournament where yers were kicked out just after a single loss and some weird mount race being the penultimate round, but now¡­


    They could already see the person who would be winning this. The sheer disparity in strength. Why were they even upset in the first ce? It was not like anyone else had any chance to begin with.


    This tournament was already in the bag for Crimson Abyss.


    Crimson Abyss was strong! It''s big boss, the hidden ranker was even stronger!


    This was without a doubt proved in front of everyone.


    While the few yers standing outside the PVP tower rejoiced in their good fortune and the other yersmented their stupidity, Liam walked over to pick up the loot that had dropped this time around.


    The fox beside him had perked up, expecting the rabbit to make another appearance, but nothing like that happened.


    Only Liam walked over and picked up the chest armor that had dropped.


    He casually got down from the stage and was just about to take his seat once again when unexpectedly, another gong sounded, and this time it was sooner than thest round.


    <Ding. yer 3 and yer 10 are requested toe to the arena stage>

 Chapter 568 Overlord

    Chapter 568 Overlord


    Liam did not even get the chance to sit when he was already called for the next round. Heck, his skill cooldowns were not even refreshed yet, and the next match was starting?


    The third guy from the Golden Knights guild walked onto the stage looking just as confused as Liam. Nevertheless, he didn''t dare to think that he got lucky.


    From what he had seen, this person was going to ughter him no matter when they were matched up. He reluctantly stood there as the two of them were teleported.


    The battleground this time was once again barrennds, and the match was over before it even began.


    Liam was impatient this time, so he didn''t give a chance for the other person to attack this time and simply finished the match with a [Dark Cutter], followed by a few fireballs.


    The drake could only dumbly stare at its owner, who was lying on the ground like a corpse or rather as a corpse.


    Liam was then once again teleported back. The whole thing looked like a joke.


    At this point, all the opponents were simply walking onto the stage and paying one of their prized items as a tribute to the monstrous top ranker in the game!


    The drakes might as well be overgrown lizards. They were utterly useless. The winner of this tournament was already set in stone.


    And this time, after the match, Liam no longer bothered to step down. He simply stood there waiting for the next announcement, which arrived soon enough, followed by the loud bell.


    GONG!


    <ding. 4="" 10="" yer="" and="" are="" requested="" to=""e="" the="" arena="" stage=""></ding.>


    The next Golden Knights guild member walked over with his drake, and the first thing he did was¡­


    "I concede."


    Clearly, the opponent was too strong, and there was no shame in admitting loss to this person. However, even after he said that, nothing happened, and the two yers were teleported to a forest.


    "Sorry, bud, the only way you are getting out of this is death. I didn''t make the rules." Liam once again made the first move and finished the match in the blink of an eye.


    With this, four yers were down already. Half the tournament was over within half an hour. Was this the final round or not? Now, this whole tournament looked like a sham?


    Everyone who ced a bet on one of the drake riders was crying tears of blood. In hindsight, perhaps they should have ced their bet on the top ranker.


    Who was that idiot who spread the news online that Crimson Abyss guild was a joke and run by two useless flower goddesses? The top ranker was a leveling maniac without any skills?


    What happened was the exact opposite of that! Everyone gaped as they stared at the square disy dumbfoundedly.


    After this, no one needed any further proof about Crimson Abyss. If anyone still dared to bad-mouth the guild, then that person was brain dead.


    Some even began guessing how many gold coins the guild had used to ce a bet on this tournament. They were perhaps going to reap the maximum rewards. Not to mention the actual rewards.


    Crimson Abyss was undoubtedly going to be the overlord of the Gresh Kingdom.


    Watching all these theatrics outside the PVP tower and how everyone was talking about Crimson Abyss and Liam, the old man high up in the tower grunted.


    He was now inside a room, and in front of him, there was a small square floating. This one was simr to the big ones outside the PVP tower, except it was not disying Liam.


    Instead, it was disying the three other yers who had not yet been called onto the stage. His eyes lingered on the yers, especially on the weapon each one of them was currently carrying.


    "These fools better not disappoint me. If they cannot take down that roach even after I gave them my precious treasures, then I will personally ughter them and erase them from this world. Hmph."


    He did not even have to worry about the rules of this world because he had already taken care of it. He had issued three quests with rewards and penalties.


    Everything was clearlyid out. There was no chance that they were going to lose. Nevertheless, he sent a reminder.


    Even after this, if they lose¡­ he would take care of everything himself. The old man''s expression turned grave as he stared at the disy with bloodthirsty eyes.


    Meanwhile, Liam continued to stand on the stage, waiting for the next match to be called.


    GONG! The bell rang, and the next announcement came. When everyone was prepared to see the amazing top-ranker fight once again, unexpectedly, it was not for Liam.


    <ding. 5="" 8="" yer="" and="" are="" requested="" to=""e="" the="" arena="" stage=""></ding.>


    "Hmmm?" Liam watched the next person walking over. Was his turn finally over? Or perhaps¡­


    He looked at the next yer, and it was the same guy who had willingly joined their group and backstabbed them, Stephen, the thief yer.


    And he waspeting against Mia?


    "Be careful," Liam warned her as he walked by. Mia paused and nodded to him. There was no trace of nervousness on her face.


    Liam sat down next to Derek, and the two yers on the stage were teleported.


    This time they were not teleported to any of the previous battlegrounds. Instead, they appeared on a strange battleground that was shrouded in darkness.


    Liam''s frown immediately deepened.


    This was highly disadvantageous to Mia and very advantageous to the other yer as the thief had many skills that were more powerful in the darkness.


    And the battleground right now was so dark that some of the spectating yers did not even notice that the match had started.


    This was bad. If it were him, he would gain some invisibility first because absolutely nothing could be seen.


    And it looked like Mia as well had the same idea. She acted quickly. As soon as she realized what she was up against, she cast a divine heal on herself, which also provided some visibility.


    She was currently standing in what looked like an underground tunnel with no end in sight. The cave walls were also closing in on her. This was enough to make anyone ustrophobic.


    But Mia stood calmly. She used the staff in her hand to make sure that no one was sneaking up on her and recast divine heal as she backed up to the cave wall.


    However, just as she took another step, between the small interval when she recast divine heal, a leg swept her off.


    She lost her bnce and quickly regained it, but that was enough for the opponent to gain the upper hand.


    A continuous series of shes and stabsnded on her as she found herself unable to move. She repeatedly cast healing spells one after the other, but it was useless.


    The daggers seemed to beced with a very strong poison. She couldn''t heal herself as fast, and the damage numbers kept piling up.


    However, this was Mia, and her gaze remained calm as she was not done yet.

 Chapter 569 Defeated?

    Chapter 569 Defeated?


    She banged her staff on the ground sending out an echo of divine energy, which pushed back the ck shadow attacking her.


    She then consecutively started casting a few attack spells, all targeting the wisp of the same shadow as she knew how that skill worked.


    When a thief disappeared or vanished, there was always a small trace of the person that could be revealed by pure divine energy.


    However, the person once again vanished and materialized right behind her. He finished her off with a repeat of the same set of attacks she used first.


    Mia''s eyes revealed shock as she wondered how the cooldown of that move was refreshed so soon. The person should technically not have been able to demonstrate that burst of energy twice so soon.


    However, magically her health bar was filled up again. Her casting speed was so fast that the thief was unable to match it. Stephen grunted in annoyance. The priest in front of him was indestructible.


    He originally wanted to finish this match soon to give a devastating blow. In fact, he was supposed to finish the next two matches in less than a second to give a big morale blow to their actual target, but¡­


    The match was not going how he wanted it to go. This priestess was being a total bitch!


    "Just die already." He attacked Mia again, gritting his teeth in anger, and this time she managed to strike back at him,nding two divine attack spells on his right hand, which considerably reduced his speed.


    "I am not done yet." He gritted his teeth in anger. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He didn''t want to use them this time, but this woman was forcing his hand.


    "Fuck it." Stephen''s hands suddenly moved at a rapid rate. The pair of daggers he was using was no longer the same. He did not want to, but he was forced to switch out the equipment.


    And almost instantly, Mia noticed that something was wrong. Suddenly, she felt an ominous aura envelop her in the darkness. Something had changed.


    She became more alert and cast a couple of heals preemptively. However, the tingling, itching sensation on her skin did not go away. She felt like she was being slowly corroded by acidic air.


    She hurriedly started casting an array of spells, both offensive and defensive. She did not stop even for a second. Divine energy flowed through her casually.


    But even so, the next round of burst attacks inevitably ensued.


    SLASH. SLASH. SLASH. SLASH. Daggers shed all around her, and she wasn''t able to see anything. For a moment, it felt as if there was a serpent in the cave along with her.


    Everything happened quickly, and Mia was unable to evade the attacks. However, she was still able to heal herself rapidly.


    She had almost healed herself to her full health when she realized that the damage from the poison was stacking. The poison effect from the dagger this time was unbelievably powerful.


    Each tick of the damage was higher than the previous one, and they were also stacking, which meant¡­.


    40 seconds after she struggled, the poison umted so much that the next tick drained half of her health, and the thief took this chance to do another round of de dance.


    But Mia was still not willing to give up. She kept continuously casting. However, the strain was too much, and she coughed some blood before falling to the ground lifeless.


    GASP! Everyone watching the match shuddered in shock.


    If the previous matches were domineering, then this one was even more so because they could clearly see how talented both the yers were. Especially Mia. All the priest yers were inwardly petrified. So their ss could be yed like this?


    When the gong sounded, and the match ended, no one could believe their eyes.


    For some reason, everyone found themselves rooting for the beautiful pure goddess, and when she dropped dead on the floor¡­ some yers even teared up.


    "Bastard. Stop overdoing it!"


    "This is so unfair! How can a thief be matched up against a priest!"


    "Yes! Yes! This is utter bullshit! Priests are the weakest against thief and warrior-type yers! This is uneptable! There should have been two yer duals instead. This stupid tournament ispletely rigged!"


    So many yers shouted in rage outside the PVP tower.


    Alex and Rey looked grave. Mia died. She actually died?


    The others might not know, but they knew exactly how overpowered she was. She had an SSS-divine affinity.


    There was no priest yer in the game right now that could outdo her. But even then, she died? What happened?


    Alex had also died at the hands of this same person, so she could tell that something was definitely off.


    And amidst this chaos, something even more unbelievable happened. The thief yer, who had just now won the fight, kicked the dead corpse on the floor before the both of them disappeared.


    When he appeared back on the stage along with Mia''s fading corpse, he had the ugliest grin on his face. He looked at Liam directly as he walked over and picked up the ring that she had dropped.


    Also, he did not get off the stage. As if he knew that the next match would also be his, he continued standing, his gaze only fixated on Liam, giving him a challenging look.


    Alex and Rey saw this, and both of them looked seething.


    If she could, Alex would already be on that stage right now, mming the guy on the floor and killing the guy thousand times over, but she could not. So she silently stood seething in her anger.


    And just like her, most of the Crimson Abyss guild yers also had the same expression. They all wanted to kill that damn thief. Who the hell was he to treat their guild leader like this?


    The domineering image that the guild had just gained because of Liam slightly crumpled as well. Some even began to doubt if Liam would be able to stand against this yer?


    A mysterious top expert had popped up out of nowhere!


    However, back on the tournament floor, Liam''s gaze was calm and steady. There were no emotions visible on his face. He just continued sitting there silently, staring ahead into the distance.


    The gong sounded, and the next announcement rolled in.


    <ding. 6="" 9="" yer="" and="" are="" requested="" to=""e="" the="" arena="" stage=""></ding.>


    For a moment, the thief looked conflicted as if it was him who was supposed to be called next, and clearly, that did not happen.


    Nevertheless, he recovered immediately and walked down with the same arrogance on his face. He smirked as he crossed Liam and went over to sit on the other side.


    yer 9 was Derek, and now it was his turn to fight.

 Chapter 570 Give up

    Chapter 570 Give up


    "You saw what happened to your guild mate, right? The same fate awaits you as well." yer number 6 walked up the stage, loudly announcing.


    His voice echoed in the big silent auditorium, which now only had five yers in total. Crimson Aybss no longer had the monopoly. Their three had be two.


    The mysterious unknown yer gazed at Derek up and down with a menacing look in his eyes. He then revealed a smug expression as if he knew everything about Derek.


    Everyone watching the fight was also excited because after thest match anything could happen! They saw the confident expression on the opponent''s face and turned to look at Derek.


    Not just them but the opponent as well looked at Derek, eyeing him for some sort of reaction considering what happened in thest match. However, the man simply stood staring squarely ahead.


    He did not seem to care at all that Mia was defeated or that this was an important round of a tournament. He simply stood like he was waiting in line at DMV.


    His reaction made the audience perplexed and the opponent surprised. "Are you nning to concede like that other beta spineless jackass?" The guy further probed Derek.


    "Don''t think I will go easy on you just because you concede. I hate cowards like that. Ptui." He waited, but Derek was still staring nkly.


    This made the person even more furious as he now looked more and more annoyed. His menacing gaze also turned into something even more dark and sinister.


    He took out an axe from his inventory and banged it on the floor. This axe was gigantic. It was so much bigger than the one Derek was currently wielding.


    It had a golden luster to it which was an indication that it was a powerful weapon, but the most notable thing was the aura this axe was emitting. It was strangely bloodthirsty.


    It fit perfectly with the guy that was wielding it. The man and the weapon, bothbined, looked the part of an evil overlord waiting impatiently to y millions.


    Derek was still calm, but there was a strange glint in his eyes now.


    "So he also noticed¡­" Liam murmured, sitting on the sidelines. His gaze was particrly fixated on the weapon the person had just drawn. "If what I am thinking is correct, that weapon is influencing him. This is not going to end well."


    Kyuuu? Next to him, Luna cocked her head, paying close attention to what Liam was saying. Startling the little fox, a loud gong sounded, and the two yers in the arena were teleported.


    The match was officially starting!


    The battleground this time was simple barren grounds with a hard rocky surface. There was absolutely nothing special about it at all.


    Many of the onlookers cheered seeing this because, on this battleground, there weren''t any possibilities for trickery.


    It was a straightforward battleground, so chances were that Derek wouldn''t suffer the same fate as Mia. This was a good thing.


    Only Liam did not look pleased. His frown deepened watching the disy. He did not have a good feeling about this.


    His eyes narrowed, observing the two yers on the battleground, one of whom sinisterly chuckled just then. The person lifted his axe and licked the sharp edge of the weapon with a psychotic look on his face.


    In just a few seconds, his temperament hadpletely changed. He was up to no good even before, but now he had a maniacal look.


    It was a very drastic and abrupt shift in behavior. There was a madness about him that was unsettling.


    "OOOOOOOO! It started!" He shouted and came rushing at Derek.


    Derek immediately shifted his stance to block him, but the person''s pace was too fast. He dashed forward like a mad dog, not paying head to anything.


    Derek didn''t take out the shield and blocked the opponent''s axe attack with his own axe. The two of them collided.


    ZING!


    A loud noise resounded as dust kicked up. When everything settled, Derek was holding back the maniac with both his hands gripping the axe tightly.


    He had sessfully blocked the attack!


    However¡­ Derek''s face was no longer expressionless.


    He was grunting and gritting his teeth as if he was being pushed back, and the maniac in front of him was licking his lips without showing the slightest remorse.


    "Ke Ke Ke" His grin widened as the other party retreated first. He wildly swung his axe around and twisted his body to make a 360 turn, and attacked Derek once more.


    Zwing! Derek did not falter and blocked this one as well.


    But his challenge was just beginning. The mad dog howled as he twisted and contorted his body in weird crazy angles and kept attacking Derek relentlessly.


    Zwing. Zwing. Zwing.


    Dust and rubble lingered in the air as nothing was visible. Only the sound of continuously shed metallic weapons could be heard, but the rhythm of this sh was unfathomable.


    Just how fast were these two yers moving?


    And the way that their flesh shuddered and body vibrated showed that the strength involved in this fight was also unthinkable.


    This was a fight between two top-ranked tanks! Their steps were thundering, and their attacks were deafening. At the same time, their agility seemed to be a notch above even thief ss yers.


    When the betting first began, no one had paid any attention to Derek as he was mostly unknown, and his previous stint at the PVP tower was long forgotten with the rift battles and everything else that was going on in the game.


    But now, after seeing this fight, everyone got goosebumps on their body. This was a tank. They did not even know who to route at this point.


    If the previous fight was full of stealth and trickery, this was a straightforward head butt. So it was much more blood pumping.


    It was as if a live high-speed boxing match was going down, except the yers here were ten times stronger than those yers or perhaps more.


    Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing!


    The fight continued relentlessly as everyone held their breaths and watched.


    Derek waspletely drenched in sweat. His white face was dirt brown with the dust and dirt sticking to his sweaty face. However, he couldn''t care about that right now.


    His usually nk eyes looked alive, and just like the person he was facing, there was also a sort of madness in his own gaze.


    This madness became more and more pronounced as the opponent continued to push him back further and further. With every swing of the axe, his moves became stronger and faster.


    The opponent as well did not look deterred by this. The maniacal grin widened as he as well continued to swing his axe without retreating.


    The both of them exchanged blows as if they had forgotten where they were in the first ce and what they were doing. One person was a bloodthirsty lunatic wanting to kill, and the other person was unyielding.


    Surprisingly, this sh went on for an entire minute and then some more.


    With every attack happening in a fraction of a second, this was a long time, and the two sides did not look as if they were giving up.


    However, things were also notpletely even. After the first minute, there was clearly a personing on top.


    Derek was panting, and the other yer was howling energetically. The aura around him was growing thicker and thicker. It was now visibly red and dark.


    "No." Liam clenched his fist.


    He suddenly felt that something was off. This fight was no longer about winning and losing. He stood up and clenched his fists. A grave look appeared on his face.


    "Derek! Give up!" He muttered under his breath. He hurriedly tried to open the interface and send him a message, but Derek''s name was greyed out.


    He had already expected this, but he still tried in desperation. No, there was nothing he could do now.


    He looked up to see Derek struggle more, and then he also took out a rage potion from his inventory to gulp it down.


    This helped him regain the foothold he was almost losing and once again fought back with everything he had.


    Zwing! Zwing! Zwing! Zwing! The two of them shed, with neither side giving up just yet. Every single yer watching this scene in the huge disys felt their blood boiling.


    However, Liam alone looked more desperate. "Derek. Just give up. Please give up." He muttered. Unfortunately, there was no way for his words to reach the person on the battleground.


    He continued fighting with everything he got, and clearly, conceding was thest thing he had on his mind.


    And seeing Liam in this state, the old man at the top of the tower finally cracked a smile after so long. "Ba ha ha ha! Little brat, this game is just starting. I will make you feel true despair soon."

 Chapter 571 Broken

    Chapter 571 Broken


    Liam suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Every single hair on his body stood up as if he was currently stalked by an apex predator.


    This further fueled his confusion and frustration. He clutched his head as he just couldn''t figure out what was going wrong.


    Why was everything taking a turn for the worst? Who were these people? Why were they targeting them? Who was this new enemy?


    Liam couldn''t shake off the feeling that there was something going on here.


    Everything seemed to be working against him, as if someone was manipting it all from the shadows. What did he miss? Who did he overlook?


    Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly something changed.


    Liam looked up to see the fight in front of him. Derek''s weapon had cracked. The semi-epic grade he had personally forgedid broken apart on the ground like scrap metal.


    The two of them had been fighting on equal footing until now, and Derek was somehow managing, but in the end, his weapon had cracked. There was nothing that could be done now.


    Derek instantly withdrew his shield to try and block the next attack while also twisting his body to evade the mad dog, but none of that was enough.


    He was simply no match for the person howling wildly without any restraint. The opponent''s power was ten times higher than his for some reason.


    How could a person summon so much power that his own bones and muscles couldn''t handle? Derek''s eyes widened as he stared at something unbelievable in thatst instant.


    There was no more human being in front of him. There was only the sword, and it was burning bright, with zing red and ck mes.


    And the next instant, Derek saw himself being devoured by this me. He now understood it. It had consumed the person who was wielding it, and now it was consuming him also.


    However, after that moment of rity came a searing pain.


    Meanwhile, back on the tournament floor, Liam hopefully looked at the battleground arena. Did Derek die? If so, there was nothing that could be better. In this match, a loss was a win.


    And just as he wanted, when the dust and the rubble cleared, Liam saw the familiar corpse lying on the ground.


    In front of him was the cracked weapon and also the yer who fought against him. In reality, he was in no better shape than the cracked weapon. The man was weakly swaying.


    It looked like he could faint any time now and fall down. That would technically make this game a tie.


    Though Liam couldn''t care less about the result of the tournament at the moment, this was a small constion for Derek''s efforts. So he sighed in relief. Everything had ended well.


    "Fucking just fall," Liam said, and the yer as well crumbled. His shoulders slumped, and he lifelessly melted down, but¡­ before he could fall down¡­ the battleground disappeared.


    The two yers were teleported back to the stage. One was lying down on the ground like a corpse while the other was now magically standing tall.


    Liam clenched his fist even tighter as the hate inside him silently rose. He was only specting before, but now he was sure.


    The person that was probably messing with him and had caused the death of two people who were very important to him was none other than the tower master himself.


    It had to be. There was simply no one else who had that kind of power inside the PVP tower. This was a ce where the tower master ruled, and his words were thews.


    In his previous life, Liam did not know much about this mysterious person. In fact, no one did because the person never associated himself with any yers.


    He was always in the high lofty tower that was unreachable. The PVP floor climbing tournaments also led to nowhere. This was primarily why this ce was always called a time waste.


    However, in this timeline, everything had changed, and there was this sudden PVP tournament which was very lucrative. It was a bizarre tournament that had astounding rewards which could change someone''s fate.


    Liam had always wondered about what could have caused this deviation, but he never thought that he would be at the core of it.


    In fact, the more he thought about it, he felt as if this tournament was just designed to screw him over and bury Crimson Abyss.


    But what did he do to rue all of this wrath from that powerful person? They were in entirely different leagues. Suddenly, it stuck Liam!


    Of course, there was one thing that did link them, and it was the stone tablet! He had been using some of the mana reserves of the tower rather exaggeratedly.


    Perhaps it crossed a line? However, a meager amount of reserves like that is nothing for a powerful person like the tower master.


    Were his actions really warranted for a reaction of this proportion? He could have simply been kicked out of the tower or banned. That would have been a proportional response, but this¡­


    He couldn''t have possibly designed all of this just to get back at him?


    The more Liam thought about this, the more everything made sense, and all the blocks were falling in the right ces.


    As he did, his gaze fell on Derek''s corpse in front of him, and another frightening thought also urred.


    Thisst round and the death penalty¡­ it couldn''t be that the tower master not only intended to punish him but also confiscated the item that drops after his death? Maybe the same stone tablet?


    That didn''t make sense because the item that dropped would naturally belong to the person who defeated him.


    An NPC cannot steal something precious from a yer outright. It was simply against thews of the system.


    If anyone were to defeat him now at this point of the tournament, it was the three yers in front of him. Then the loot that he dropped would also belong to them. Unless¡­

 Chapter 572 Plan askew

    Chapter 572 n askew


    Liam''s eyes widened as an even more shocking possibility popped up in his mind.


    These three yers werepletely anomalies in the timeline, just like this tournament. They had popped out of nowhere.


    They were terrifyingly strong, possessing high-level techniques that he had never heard of in his previous life. Also, the weapons they wielded were equally overpowered.


    That was right. Their strength mainly stemmed from these two, and both these could have been simply orchestrated by the tower master.


    He could have actually created and molded these three experts all on his own and made them his personal puppets.


    Liam''s face changed a shade darker as he thought about all of this, continuing to gaze at Derek''s corpse. Every single one of his guesses was outrageous, and yet it made perfect sense.


    His frustration turned into a wide smile that looked maniacal.


    It was not enough that this game, whoever had created this game, and the destruction of their world that ensued fucked over him and everyone else.


    Now this random tower master also wanted to fuck him up?


    Liam lifted his head to look up abruptly. He was still smiling. His maddened, twisted eyes stared crazily at the roof, wondering if the person was watching this.


    He did not know how. He did not know when but he was going to deal with this tower master. You want to touch my possessions and my people? You need to pay the price!


    For a second, the old man watching everything from up top felt a chill crawl up his spine. For some reason, he did not like the look on the useless brat''s face.


    "Hmph. I will personally wipe out your existence." Earlier, he was only nning to take the things that didn''t belong to a ve being from a lower realm like him, but now¡­ something triggered him.


    He stared down at the pair of hungry eyes, which seemed as if they could see right through to him all the way up the tower.


    Hmph. He harrumphed and turned his face when he noticed something weird. The corpse on the stage was still there?


    When the old tower master realized that something was amiss, Liam, at the same time, also realized the same thing. Derek''s corpse still hadn''t disappeared!


    He had never heard of something like this happening. Death and rules about death were one of the few things that were absolute in the ''Evolution Online'' game.


    And Derek had clearly died!


    So how was it that his body was still on the stage?


    Liam''s eyes widened as he threw all caution to the wind and rushed to the stage. The only reason why this could happen was if Derek''s soul was entirely gone. Forever.


    "No. No. No." Liam shouted as he sprinted from his ce in the auditorium and arrived at the stage in an instant.


    He hurriedly dashed to the stage to sense if Derek had truly died and his soul extinguished but as soon as he reached near the corpse.


    BANG! He was pushed back out of the stage.


    Liam growled, thinking that it was the tower master''s doing again, but surprisingly the next second, a reddish ck aura enveloped Derek''s body.


    It was a thick, powerful aura that zed strongly. It was very visible and violent. Liam was able to step onto the stage, but he was not able to go near Derek.


    And when he tried to, the aura became even thicker and expanded to shoot outward. Liam was again and again pushed back, flung outside the stage like dirt.


    By now, he had already figured out what this aura could be as it was something he had seen not too long ago.


    He hadn''t experienced it in person. He had only witnessed it through a disy, so he wasn''t sure, but he no longer had any doubts.


    This was the yer''s weapon aura, the yer who had just faced Derek and technically won the match, but was it a real victory?


    If what Liam feared was indeed correct, then that person had lost far more than he had gained. The entity that made his weapon powerful should no longer be in his weapon.


    He had no idea what it was, what it could be, a soul, a demon, a spirit? It was something, but it was no longer in that weapon. This Liam was sure of.


    He looked at the yer who was confoundedly staring back at him and smiled. The weapon he was holding in his hand right now, as if it was a priceless treasure, might as well be trash.


    He He He. Liam chuckled, lying down on the ground. He was not entirely sure that whatever was going on right now was a good thing for Derek, but it was a chance.


    When Liam first noticed the weapon, he observed an odd feeling. He concluded that the weapon probably consumed the owner, eating away their mind and rationally, leaving behind only chaos and madness.


    This would exin the raged power behind the person who attacked Derek, but the thing was, the weapon''s ability did not stop there. It was probably a growth-type weapon that devoured its opponents as well.


    The moment Derek''s match was set, his fate was already sealed. He couldn''t win, and when he lost, he would have been consumed. The same fate probably awaited Liam as well when he inevitably faced the same guy in the uing rounds.


    However, now everything had changed. There was a chance. The aura seemed to have recognized Derek''s potential. It was probably trying to bind with him.


    This could both be harmful or helpful to Derek. Liam had no idea how things were going to turn out. It was all dependent on Derek himself.


    The only thing that he knew was that the tower master was not the reason for it. He was not responsible for it.


    Something even that powerful bastard did not expect had happened. What would be his reaction right about now?


    The tower master had underestimated Derek, focusing only on Liam. That was probably why this happened.


    But Liam knew better. Derek was not someone to be underestimated!


    ***


    Bonus chapter~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this bonus chapter

 Chapter 573 Preparations

    Chapter 573 Preparations


    <Ding. The next matches in the tournament will be held in 24 hours>


    As the eyes of the world were watching the man on the stage burning in a pyre, the next announcement rolled in. Everyone looked shocked, but the disy instantly vanished without any notice.


    "Sis, what is happening? I am worried about Derek." Rey kept repeatedly looking at the graveyard for the person to spawn. However, nothing like that happened.


    He and Alex hade here to make sure that Mia would be resurrected safely, but the match after that was even more heart-wrenching. Two of their top guild yers had died just like this.


    "Liam, you have to win!" Alex murmured as she continued to look at the disy and the graveyard alternatingly.


    Just like everyone else, she was also not able to understand what was going on. Who were these yers? They were strong enough to defeat Mia and Derek?


    She pulled out her system interface to see if she could contact Liam now because of the break announcement. "Tch. No, go." She bit her lips.


    "Let''s try again after 5 minutes?" Rey suggested. "Or shall we go inside the PVP tower? Maybe then we can contact bro?"


    Alex nodded. "I will wait here at the graveyard. You go and check."


    Rey immediately dashed toward the huge tower at the center of the city, and when he reached there, an even more unexpected situation awaited him.


    Thousand of yers were stranded outside the tower. "Hey, what happened here?" He asked someone passing by.


    "You don''t know? Everyone inside the tower was kicked out."


    "Huh? yers on the other floors also?"


    "Yes."


    Rey was dumbfounded. What the heck was happening here? He didn''t have a good feeling at all. "Bro, please be ok."


    Meanwhile¡­ Liam was currently staring at the system prompt in front of him.


    He did not know what was happening outside the tower, but he had received another message that he was sure no one else had received.


    <Ding. yers are not allowed to leave the PVP tower in the next 24 hours>


    "So you want to keep me here?" Liam coldly went back to looking at the zing pyre on the stage. He knew that he was caught in the lion''s den, but he wasn''t too concerned about it.


    Clearly, there was only so much this person would be able to do. Otherwise, he would be dead already.


    Seeing that the other party was making preparations in full swing to put him down, Liam also had a few things in mind. He was not going to lose in this tournament no matter what.


    Liam silently stood up and walked out of the tournament floor, leaving behind Derek by himself. There was nothing he could do here. He also couldn''t leave the tower, but he could still go somewhere else.


    He walked into the elevator and arrived at the 100th floor. He then paid the gold coins to book another room, and this time he paid for a forging room, not an alchemy room.


    Liam unsheathed the sword hanging on his hilt and stepped inside the room. He did not n to do this just yet and definitely not alone without a healer like Mia present, but now he couldn''t put it off any longer.


    "Luna, you are going to have to keep an eye on me." Liam patted the little fox.


    He then walked inside and sat down in a meditative pose in the small room. This ordeal, he needed to win at all costs.


    Liam ced the sword in front of him and then took out an item from his inventory space, it was one of the weapons he had been saving, an unique grade staff.


    There was a golden glint to this weapon that spoke of its high quality. This was an item that could be auctioned for at least five gold coins, but now¡­


    He ced the staff on top of the rusted sword, and the next second, the sword thrummed alive. ck wisps seeped out of the sword and started engulfing the weapon.


    A tremendous roar then resounded as the staff waspletely erased out of existence, leaving behind only some metal scraps.


    "Mmm. Next." Liam sighed and took out another unique-grade weapon from his inventory slot. Thanks to the ''Coalition of Righteous,'' he had several of these weapons.


    However, not all of them were unique-grade. Some of them were only rare-grade, barely meeting the requirements of the sword for the next seal.


    It would be up to the dragons if they would ept these weapons or not, though Liam was sure that they would ept it. They wanted to break open these seals just as badly as he wanted to.


    Except that he wanted to be stronger, and they wanted to devour him and obtain their freedom after being locked down for who knew how long.


    So both the parties cooperated to achieve theirmon goal, and Liam kept feeding the weapons in his inventory slots one after another to the soul sword.


    HISSSS! HISSSS! HISSSS! The ck wisps also continued to burn as they kept devouring everything.


    In the meantime¡­ the eyes that were stalking him widened in annoyance. "Futile. Your struggle is pointless." The old man scoffed.


    At the same time, he also tried probing the sword to see what it was and get an idea of its full strength. However, his attempts did not yield any result. The sword seemed resistant to his senses.


    "Hmph. I will ask that fool." Tower Master Crawford angrily stormed away from his private room back to the main hall where Grandmaster  was still sitting.


    In front of him, the disy was shimmering brightly as he was also watching Derek with his interests piqued. "Marvelous. Just marvelous." He muttered under his breath.


    ", what is happening? Why is that fellow burning?" Crawford asked. Before he asked the guy about Liam, he wanted to settle this matter as well.


    In both cases, Crawford''s own knowledge and expertise were drawing a nk, so he could only depend on this guy, but it wasn''t too easy to get any information out of this senile fool.


    Crawford twisted his lips and grumbled as he waited for the senile fool to reply to him.

 Chapter 574 lnfinite mana?

    Chapter 574 lnfinite mana?


    "Are you going to answer me or not? What is happening here?"


    The veins on Crawford''s forehead throbbed as he patiently waited for Grandmaster , but the other party continued to gaze at the disy silently. That too, he was not looking at Liam. Rather, he was watching Derek.


    "There is nothing to say. I simply do not have the answers for you."


    "You are lying."


    "Hmmm. Is that so?"


    Crawford''s mustache twitched. This senile fool was too infuriating. However, he had to be patient because this person was a Grandmaster of forging. If anyone had the answers, then it was this person.


    "Fine. Let this be." Crawford waved his hand, and the disy changed to reveal Liam, who was busily feeding the different weapons to the sword. "What is he doing? What is that sword? I am not able to sense it."


    "Ba Ha Ha Ha. Do you intend to steal every little thing from him or what? What is that sword? It must be something insignificant. Why are you interested in that?"


    Crawford stared silently at the guy, not able to believe his words. "It doesn''t look that simple, . Are you trying to pull one over me?"


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha." Grandmaster  smiled. "I am not doing anything. What are you talking about? I just here to watch the show."


    "Fine. As long as you say like that. Don''t interfere in my business." Seeing that he was not going to get anything else, the guy silently left to return back to his private chambers.


    "It doesn''t matter whether that fool tells me or not. Soon all the items will be mine." He went back to stare at Liam, who was still busily working.


    He cleared up a lot of space in his inventory slots by taking them all out for the sword to eat. Luna''s heart ached to see all the shiny things being eaten up.


    However, Liam was not done yet. He had filled almost 99% of the quota, but he had special ns for thest few spots.


    With a small sigh, he turned to take the dark purple sword next to him. "I guess I am going all in now?" He fed his best weapon, the semi-epic grade sword, to the ck dragon as well.


    Now he needed exactly ten more weapons to finish this transaction. "Time to get busy." Liam stood up and started throwing a bunch of ores into the burning furnace. He then started forging.


    "What the hell?" The old man''s eyes widened to see this scene. No matter how he looked, everything Liam did was perfect.


    His stance, his technique, his knowledge in forging, and more importantly, the final product, which turned out to be another semi-epic grade sword.


    The finished weapon looked just like the dark purple sword that he was using before.


    "So this brat personally forged the sword?" Crawford''s eyeballs almost fell out seeing the final product. Now he understood why the old guy was favoring him so much.


    Someone being able to craft a first-ss weapon like this, that too at such a young age, was truly hard toe by. Just as he was about to change his mind, he remembered something else.


    This brat crafted not only weapons but also potions!


    "So you want to swallow a mountain? Bah! Even though you are talented, you are still useless. You need some good guidance. Maybe¡­ just maybe, I will consider not killing you." He murmured in a low voice as he continued to observe Liam.


    The next 24 hours flew by in a jiffy, and Liam was at thest weapon as he had nned.


    <Ding. Forging is sessful>


    He received the main notification. He took the tenth and final weapon that was shimmering on the anvil and then directly fed it to the ck dragon sword.


    Each of thest ten weapons was semi-epic grade, and the sword''s aura had be several times stronger after consuming these powerful weapons.


    Semi-epic grade weapons that would probably go for 100 gold coins or even more in the auction house were simply being fed like snacks to the sword. So this much was to be expected.


    Liam took a deep breath and ced thest sacrifice on the weapon. The next instant, the ck dragon sword unleashed a huge earth-shattering roar.


    The countless dragon souls forged as a weapon bubbled out to take their revenge and morphed into a huge formless head. Only two sharp slit-like eyes were visible.


    These eyes turned to gaze at Liam and fixated on him with anger and hatred filled them. Liam also did not cower away. He stared back at the abomination unfazed.


    He still did not know what power thest yer held. So to avoid any unexpected surprises, he needed this sword to submit to him.


    However, that was easier said than done. A powerful aura swept up the ce, and Liam was sitting at the center of it. His clothes had already disintegrated, and several cuts appeared on his body as well.


    Liam grunted and refused to budge from this ce. It was shocking to see dead souls possessing such terrifying power. Perhaps it was unwise to unlock all the seals in this sword.


    But for now, he needed this seal to break.


    "Come on." He shouted and held strong. The powerful aura paid him no heed as waves after waves of pure manashed out at him.


    If it were any other yer, they would have already disintegrated under pressure exerted by such pure energy, but Liam quickly acted.


    He rotated his mana core to gather this unadulterated pure mana. His red-colored mana core thrummed alive as it began rotating rapidly. It was sucking all of these pure mana sts greedily.


    "You should not attack a mage with pure mana." Liam smiled.


    The dragons howled in rage. They were not done yet. This was just the beginning.


    As if challenging him to see just how much mana he would be able to bear, the dragons started sending out waves after waves without stopping.


    "Bring it on," Liam shouted loudly. He was not going to lose this challenge.


    Hepletely focussed on his body and the mana core inside him and started hungrily absorbing all the energy that the dragons were throwing at him.


    "Give me more." He roared, challenging the ancient, powerful beasts.


    The dragons roared and sent in more.


    While these two parties were busy butting heads with each other, the third party who was eavesdropping and peeping in on them had a very different expression.


    Energy couldn''t be created or destroyed. So, where was all of this manaing from? The tower master almost shed tears of blood as he continued to watch this unbearable scene.


    "Whose money are you using to make a breakthrough? You shameless brat!" The tower master trembled in anger.

 Chapter 575 You cannot win

    Chapter 575 You cannot win


    After the 24 hours time period, Liam once again stood in front of the tournament floor.


    On his hand was the soul sword, and it was no longer rusty or old. It had a brilliant sheen on it. ck wisps enshrouded the hilt, making it look even more mysterious.


    Taming this sword had taken a lot out of him, but somehow he was here, and he was still standing. He had sessfully broken the seal on the soul sword.


    Not only that, the bacsh from undoing the seal on the sword helped him make another breakthrough. He now had more control over the sword and his own mana core.


    In his previous lifetime, using his mana core was a simple matter but now, he had a red mana core, the best possible mana core. Using this powerful mana core was a challenge in itself.


    By pushing himself to withstand the powerful bacsh attack from the dragon souls, he managed to get a glimpse of the depth of his new mana core.


    Liam clenched the sword tightly as he stepped onto the tournament floor. He looked around to see his opponents already waiting for him.


    However, Derek was no longer there at the top of the arena stage.


    "What happened? Where is he?" Liam quickly pulled his system interface and saw that everyone''s name was greyed out, so he couldn''t tell anything from that.


    He couldn''t see if Derek had died or if he was still alive. Maybe they had moved to a different floor? While the several possibilities were running through his mind, the loud gong sounded announcing the next match.


    "I need to finish this soon. Only then I will get all the answers I need." Liam closed the system interface and walked over to the stage.


    There were no other yers. There was nothing even to guess anymore. The next fight would be his.


    He climbed onto the stage and stood steadily. He was ready for this round. He had done everything that he could and prepared to his best.


    Liam gazed coldly at the thief, who stood up and waltzed to the stage casually. Somehow, he as well seem to know that it would be his turn to fight. At this point, Liam was not surprised by this.


    <Ding. The next match is about to begin>


    The disys once again resumed showing the events urring on the stage, and all the yers were able to see the arena.


    Since this was the finals, a lot more yers stood crowded around the PVP tower. Mia had already resurrected and stood along with Alex atop a building close to the PVP tower.


    They had a feeling that Liam might need some help, so they stood as close as possible, even though no one was still able to enter the tower. Everything was onplete lockdown.


    With these two girls here, Rey was waiting at the graveyard in case Derek respawned and needed help.


    In fact, all the core yers from Crimson Abyss were called back from the dungeon farming, and they were all scattered around Yleka city, ready to jump into action if the situation called for it.


    <ding. 5="" 10="" yer="" and="" are="" requested="" to=""e="" the="" arena="" stage=""></ding.>


    The announcement rang loudly even though both the yers were already ready and on the stage.


    "He He He. I was waiting for this. Last time you used the bird and got away easily, but this time it won''t be that simple. You will have nowhere to run and hide." The thief''s words echoed while the two yers were abruptly teleported.


    Liam did not even have to open his eyes to know where he was standing now. His skin tingled as the stale air brushed past him. They were now on the same battleground where the thief had previously faced Mia.


    "Damn it. Are you serious? How can both times be beneficial to the single yer? Shouldn''t the battleground be a different one now?" Alex shouted in anger.


    Several yers who had ced bets on Liam also shouted in outrage. As if fueling this fire, the yer on the screen was not silent.


    "You should just give up now and surrender. You have no chance of winning here. Did you see how your two teammates were pathetically tossed out? You are going to follow them."


    "There is no surprise here. The end of this fight is already decided. You cannot win against me." The guy loudly cackled, his voiceing in and out of the cave from different angles.


    Everyone gasped after seeing this because this showed just how fast the thief moved, and it was unimaginable. Was the result of this match truly decided?


    Gulp. Everyone couldn''t help but start believing this statement. Liam was also standing very silent and still as if he had given up.


    It seemed like this time around in this tournament, neither Crimson Abyss nor any of the top guilds were able to achieve anything.


    These three mysterious experts would be the winners, and perhaps a new guild might arise from today''s finals.


    As everyone quietly mulled over this and watched the match in awe, all of a sudden the thief stopped talking and jumped into action.


    "Heh. You don''t even have the guts to admit when you are bested? The time I gave you is over. You could have conceded, and I would have let you die quickly. But now¡­ He He He¡­ Don''t me me for not going easy on you."


    Stephen''s speed instantly increased tenfold, and all anyone could see was the darkness. Since Liam hadn''t even lit a candle or cast any spell, nothing was visible.


    However¡­ there were still sounds, sounds of metal tearing through flesh.


    The sharp glint of the dagger shed every now and then despite the darkness that engulfed everything.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Your armor is a joke! Instead of leveling up to show off, you should have really focused and improved your gear a bit. Your stupidity is the reason why you will be losing today!"


    It looked like the thief got bored of talking to an unresponding wall, so he directly went for the kill. In the glint of the dagger, Liam''s head and neck were visible as the dagger was about to cut his throat.


    This,bined with all of the previous attacks, was more than enough to take down a yer, especially one that was not fighting back. So this match was reallying to an end.


    Everyone could see it. They couldn''t even me Liam here because the opponent''s strength was just that high. Even Mia couldn''t stand up to him.


    He had kicked her corpse like a ything. Against such overpowered yers, one could only feel hopeless and desperate. There was no route to escape.


    SLASH!


    The thief sneered and slit Liam''s throat.


    Everyone sighed.


    "There goes my gold coins."


    "He could have at least put up a fight."


    "What a waste! If I had been there, I would have done it better. Useless."


    The crowd clicked their tongues in disappointment and prepared themselves to watch the next match, which would probably be more amazing when suddenly they noticed that the yers were getting teleported back.


    Was the fight not over?

 Chapter 576 Pressure

    Chapter 576 Pressure


    Even Stephen looked bbergasted. That was his finishing move. Shouldn''t the fight be over? When he looked down to kick Liam''s corpse, only then he noticed that the corpse was no longer there.


    "So your daggers are legendary weapons?" A voice sounded behind him while at the same time, a dozen sword shesnded on his back.


    The thief immediately moved back, dodging most of the attacks. "You are a cockroach, aren''t you? You just won''t die." After retreating, he bounced back towards Liam once again to attack him.


    As a thief ss yer, he was fully able to demonstrate his speed and agility. He wove in and out of the darkness and brandished his two daggers wlessly.


    However¡­


    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    Every single one of his attacks was still blocked. Liam''s raw speed matched his and was even slightly faster than his. How was this possible?


    But Stephen was not done yet. He hadn''t even begun yet. He vanished into thin air and concealed himself to get a better start.


    He then once againunched at Liam from a dead angle where he wouldn''t be able to react properly. The pair of daggers danced in the air viciously, and their gleam contained a new color.


    That''s right. This time they were not merely daggers, they were poisoned daggers. Now all he needed was one hit, and Liam would 100% be down after that.


    Stephen huffed and sent out one blow after another, but this time as well¡­ it just wasn''t enough. Every single attack was either blocked or dodged.


    "If I am correct, your weapon shouldn''t just be legendary grade, it also possesses a spirit, a serpentine spirit?" Liam smirked.


    Stephen''s movement, for the first time, faltered. Not only was he able to make any advances, but he was also being studied by the opponent.


    He could suddenly feel the pressure of Liam''s gaze suffocating him. It was like being cornered by a beast waiting to strike. Sweat dripped down his forehead.


    "Are you going crazy? You must be very desperate to talk crazy shit like this?" He blurted out.


    The n was to make Liam feel defeated and desperate even before this match began, and he also looked the part. So far, everything seemed fine, but now Stephen was beginning to question everything.


    Who was the one that was getting pushed back here?


    He didn''t want to let this fight prolong any longer because the stakes were too high! He couldn''t lose here! His life depended on it!


    ng! He tossed his daggers up and caught them back, gripping them in a very different mannerpared to before. Now we will see who is the one getting pushed back.


    He sted forth from his spot with his daggers dripping with poison and unleashed a flurry of attacks at Liam. The two daggers danced mysteriously. Their movements were profound.


    This was the same technique that he had used back on the battleground, and he was quite confident about it. No one in the game right now would be able to figure out his technique. Not even Liam!


    This was because¡­ the technique that he had obtained was an S-rank assassin ss technique which contained several powerful skills that could do critical damage in the blink of an eye.


    "Die!" He gritted his teeth and shed away at full speed. This was it. There would be no more surprises.


    As he rained down the attacks on Liam, once again person he was attacking disappeared and reappeared at another spot. "Damn it, what is this? Some sort of clone technique?"


    Stephen continued to attack. However, each time Liam slipped away like an eel, only leaving behind after images. "How many times can you do this?"


    He did not give up and continued attacking recklessly. His technique was ultimately supreme, there was simply no way for Liam to figure it out.


    Stephen retreated and shed, retreated and shed, retreated and shed, but the match continued going on. The fight that should have been finished in under a minute had now gone on for three whole minutes.


    And Stephen was running out of air! Thief ss yers possessed amazing burst potential, but they were not suited for long-drawnbat.


    This was mainly because the skills put tremendous pressure on their body, taking a significant toll. The better a technique, the better the toll.


    And considering that Stephen was obviously using a high-grade technique, he was reaching his limit quickly.


    The guy''s movements started to slow down, and his attacks began faltering. He needed to end this now. So he threw all caution to the wind and started attacking more recklessly.


    Liam grinned. This was what he had been waiting for. Up until now, he boosted his speed and agility using his mana core and continued to y defense. Finally, his window of opportunity had arrived!


    "You know it''s not enough just to have a good weapon or technique. You need to master it." Liam''s voice echoed in the silent cave where only sounds of daggers could be heard. "It is my turn now."


    BOOM! He conjured a huge fireball and sent the little thief flying away. This single attack was enough to stop his movements and st him away.


    And right at this critical juncture, another creature in the cave also opened her mouth.


    Fire st! Luna sent her attack as well. Liam asked her to hide, and she did, but now it was time to attack.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Several fire-type attacks started flying left and right in the cave, lighting up the whole ce. Finally, things were visible to the yers gathered around the PVP tower.


    Alex looked at the disy anxiously. Even Mia clenched her robes. This was because she had personally faced this opponent, and he was not the usual enemy.


    "Mia, will he win?"


    "I don''t know."


    The two sisters and every other yer in Yleka city watched the screen as the fireworks finally calmed down, and a burning corpse could be seen on the ground.


    And next to his burning corpse was a man with a fox curled around his neck. Liam had won!

 Chapter 577 lf l were you...

    Chapter 577 lf l were you...


    The two yers were teleported back to the arena stage on the tournament floor. This time there wasn''t any dy or any surprises. The thief''s corpse disappeared, and Liam was the only one standing.


    Luna immediately dashed forward to see what shiny thing dropped before any other creature could beat her to it.


    She grabbed it roughly and dropped it near Liam. A pair of daggers unceremoniouslyid in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise on seeing the item.


    "Damn. It really dropped!" He couldn''t believe it even though he was seeing the thing on the ground with his own eyes. He had already expected this but still¡­ it actually dropped?


    He bent down to pick up the daggers coated with Luna''s saliva.


    [Ding. Serpentine Daggers; Legendary Rank; Binds when equipped]


    He ran his fingers along the dagger, observing every little detail. They were so sharp that they would have drawn blood if he was not careful, but something about it was different.


    The weapon almost seemed to be slumbering right now. There was a snake carved on its hilt, coiled around the entire dagger, its thin tail running along the de edges.


    This snake had looked alive during the fight, its red eyes glimmering, but now nothing was visible. It looked lifeless.


    "This must be why he was able to use so many poison attacks," Liam muttered. He tossed it inside quickly as he did not want to reveal it in front of the prying eyes of the entire Yleka city.


    A cold look shed past his eyes. Another legendary item was in their possession now.


    In his previous life, with only Anya possessing a treasure like this, the group had soared to the top, but now their guild possessed two legendary items.


    This was a twist in the timeline he hadn''t expected. This would greatly boost their strength as a whole. However, the price they had paid for it was also too great.


    Mia had died for this, and he was also not out of the hot water yet.


    The mysterious person they were up against had just lost a legendary item. He wouldn''t let things go so easily. Maye in the next match¡­


    Liam silently watched as another yer walked up the stage. If he was not wrong, the weapon he held should also be equally precious. This was the person who had managed to take down Derek.


    The tank eyed Liam menacingly and climbed up to stand in front of him. He then took out the same axe he had used against Derek and banged it on the ground in the same domineering way.


    All the yers watching this scene gasped. They had still not digested thest match, and now the next opponent had already arrived.


    The previous high-speed, heavy fight between the two tanks was still freshly etched in everyone''s mind. They had also seen Derek''s corpse.


    From all of this, every single yer had assumed that Derek had died. Permanently.


    Since this concept was now spreading all over the inte in the real world, everyone couldn''t help but jump to this conclusion.


    Would their top ranker be able to fight against this guy as well, or would he also be killed? One of the two oues would mean that the Crimson Abyss guild had lost a significant yer.


    So all the top guilds looked forward to this oue. This tournament had nothing to do with them any longer. Only the few yers who ced a bet on Liam were still holding their breath.


    The rest of them simply wanted to watch the match and learn a few things or simply wanted to watch Crimson Abyss be ruined.


    Expecting a simr reaction, the guy on the stage also sneered at Liam and licked his lips. "You will be a good prey to my axe. Ha Ha Ha"


    Everyone''s eyes widened at the obvious implication of this statement. That sword devours? They gawked at the huge axe and gulped. Crimson Abyss was done for this time.


    Alex and Mia also looked nervous. They did not even have the time to rejoice that Liam had sessfully thwarted away one threat. The second danger was standing right at their door.


    "Damn it. This fucking tournament is going to give me a heart condition." Alex sighed.


    "What the hell is happening? I wish we had never joined this in the first ce. Now, this is going to be another long and deadly struggle."


    "Do you think Liam will be able to win this time too?" She looked at Mia, who had a strange look on her face as she stared at the disy.


    "Yes. That axe is quite terrifying." Alex concurred.


    "No. I am not looking at that. I am looking at him."


    "Huh? Who are you talking about?" Alex absent-mindedly looked at the owner of the axe who still had the smug, arrogant expression stered on his face.


    She then shifted her gaze to look at the other person in front of him, Liam.


    Almost instantly, she was shocked because this guy looked even more viinouspared to that guy as he revealed a big evil smile.


    "What the hell could he be possiblyughing about now? Does he even have any tank skills? Without them, he won''t be able to withstand this fight!" She waspletely confused and looked to Mia for answers, who was equally clueless.


    All the yers also noticed Liam smiling, and no one knew what was going on. Even the yer standing on the stage seemed to be confounded by Liam''s attitude.


    "Don''t be overconfident. You defeated a useless guy. The rest of us won''t be that easy." His eyes shone with arrogance as he banged the domineering axe again, the nging sound resounding across the big auditorium.


    However, Liam remained unfazed and did not look intimidated by his tactics. Rather he covered his forehead and eyes with his palm and chuckled loudly. "If I were you, I wouldn''t bang that axe so much."

 Chapter 578 Defeat?

    Chapter 578 Defeat?


    "WHAT?" The other party was livid with anger. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BLABERRING ABOUT?" he shouted. He was already at the mad bull stage and was ready to attack Liam.


    And the gong as well sounded at the exact same time. The two yers found themselves teleported to the same battleground as before, barrennd with nowhere to hide.


    AWOOO! AWOOO! AWOOO!


    Immediately, the guy howled and swung his axe wildly. "I am going to rip you apart limb from limb and feed you to my dogs. You are fucking dead, you little slut."


    He was in full form as he shouted at the top of his lungs and dashed forward toward Liam, howling loudly. Sand kicked up, and the rocks shattered as each of his steps thundered on thend.


    Everyone could see that just one blow from this guy could send one to the respawn graveyard. However, Liam was stillughing like a lunatic. He couldn''t control himself.


    This only infuriated the guy further. "HOW DARE YOU STAND IN FRONT OF ME?" He shouted and swung the axe at Liam. His attack had tremendous pressure behind it. One could see the wind rippling from the swing.


    But Liam was still calm. Hezily lifted up the sword to block the attack. "Let''s finish this fast, Luna. We have things to do." Liam actually turned his head to look at the fox, and the two of them were chatting.


    On this side, this sword shed with the axe sending out a horrendously loud vibration. "YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE ME?" The guy shouted and attacked Liam again.


    He was revving up, and this time his attack was even faster, but Liam once again used a simple sword move to block him. "One more right?" He chuckled and asked Luna and the little fox had no idea what was happening.


    "JUST DIE ALREADY!" The guy screamed at this humiliation and swung the weapon with all the strength he could muster.


    CLANG! An ear-piercing metallic sound red, and in the next second, everyone gasped in shock. The guy on the battleground also froze. Shock and dread were etched on his face.


    The weapon on his hand¡­ was broken?


    "For the record, your little thief friend was better than you. Who doesn''t notice when their weapon turns toplete shit? Check your weapon stats every now and then. Ha Ha Ha Ha. It should no longer be legendary grade."


    Others might not have noticed it, but Liam figured it out right away.


    The weapon the guy took out was the same axe but it was different. The powerful aura was no longer there. The weapon still probably gave a good boost of stats, but that was about it.


    And as for the powerful aura that gave him the actual burst in strength¡­ it should be the one clinging to Derek at the moment. He needed to finish this fight soon and go to him.


    Liam stopped talking and kicked away the broken pieces. It looked as if he did it out of arrogance, but he kicked the scrap metal toward Luna.


    "What are you saying? My weapon¡­" The opponent looked like a zombie whose soul had just departed, waving goodbye. In thest match, Derek''s weapon had broken, but now his own weapon had broken.


    Liam did not give him any time to stand there and figure things out. He swung his sword a couple more times and quickly finished the match.


    Without the burst of power from the axe, the guy iled like an air-filled balloon and then popped, bing a corpse.


    GONG! The bell rang, and an ominous silence filled the entire Yleka city. What just happened? How could the match be over already?


    Everyone had expected a nail-biting, bone-chilling match this time also. However, what happened was anti-climactic.


    On top of it, they were also utterly confused. What happened to the strong howling weapon?


    Last match, the person and the weapon were an unstoppable force. They shed like a blood-thirsty demon, but now the axe was like a kitten, and the yer looked like an idiot.


    In under a minute, the fight was over!


    The battleground as well started disappearing, and the two yers appeared on the arena stage again, one dead and one alive.


    Immediately afterward, Liam looked to Luna, "Did you get it?"


    Kyuuu! The fox dropped the two halves of the broken weapon near him.


    "Good girl." Liam patted the fox and picked up the broken pieces to directly toss them into his inventory space.


    The essence of the weapon might be missing, but the weapon should still be crafted from top-notch materials that he could reuse.


    He then licked his lips and looked for the other drops. One of the shields had dropped. "Tch. Only Epic grade." Liam cracked his neck and tossed this one also into the bag.


    Everyone who was witnessing this scene wanted to beat him up. How many items dropped? What were the stats? They wanted to know!


    However, it was useless to guess because only the Crimson Abyss guild members would benefit from this.


    "Two down. One more to go." Liam let out a long sigh. The end of this mind-fucking tournament was finally here.


    He eyed the only other person in the huge auditorium beside him. This was thest of the three. Everyone else had been kicked out. It was now only him and that guy. This match would determine everything.


    Crimson Abyss could either emerge from this tournament as an Overlord, or he could be erased from existence. Liam was well aware that this was also an oue and a very real possibility.


    This tournament was not deadly when he first joined. The rules of this game were also rigid, but now everything has changed.


    The tower master seemed to be an existence who was at the top. It was a real possibility that he could bend the rules to his will.


    Liam would be a fool to underestimate him. Anything was possible. Moreover, the third yer hadn''t yed in any matches thus far. So he did not know what cards he held.

 Chapter 579 lts over?

    Chapter 579 lt''s over?


    As Liam''s eyes gazed at the figure sitting in the darkness, the next announcement rolled in without giving him any break.


    <Ding. Thest and final match of the tournament is about to begin>


    <Ding. yer 7 and yer 10 are requested toe to the arena stage>


    Liam watched as the guy stood up calmly and walked over to the stage. He was a big and muscr guy just like Derek, but at the same time, there was something austere about him, as if he was a monk or a sage.


    He kept his head low and walked onto the stage to stand in front of Liam. Like the others, he also didn''t mouth off or say unnecessary things, he just stood silently.


    "Hmmm?" Liam eyed him to figure out what sort of a yer he was. This was his final test, and he had an uneasy feeling about him. He felt as if he was missing something crucial.


    Sure, the yer in front of him seemed to bepetent and did not behave foolishly, but he wasn''t that extraordinary either. At least from just looking at him, Liam didn''t get any dangerous vibes.


    The gong loudly sounded to announce the beginning of the match.


    Surprisingly, this time the two yers on the arena stage did not get teleported anywhere. They were still standing on the stage, and something shed around them.


    Liam looked around and decided to test something out. He lifted his finger, sending out a fire bullet, not onto the opponent but the surrounding auditorium.


    Immediately, a translucent barrier appeared around the stage, blocking the attack. This barrier had hexagonal patches that glowed before they went back to being invisible again.


    Seeing this, Liam''s frown deepened. So they were going to fight in this small space?


    The first thought that urred to him was that he had nowhere to run or hide. At the same time, it was the same situation for the opponent.


    But who was going to be the hunter, and who was going to be the prey?


    While he was trying to be cautious, the other party did not stand still. The match started.


    All of a sudden, the big guy sted forward with tremendous speed. Wisps of wind gathered around him, propelling him and boosting his agility.


    Even Liam hadn''t achieved such mastery over the wind element. What speed! What power! However, it was still not enough.


    Liam could see the punching for him. This was a closebat mage! He was fighting against a mage, boxing with his elemental skills.


    Without hesitating, he unsheathed his sword and held it steadily to block the iing attack.


    BANG!


    The impact resonated loudly as everyone watched in awe. The opponent came in with such an overwhelming force and power, but surprisingly, it was still Liam who was standing at the end.


    The other party was pushed back from the exchange, but he was not done yet. The big guy grunted and came in for the kill again.


    He used some sort of wind elemental skill buff to boost his agility and came at Liam again and again relentlessly.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    The two of them shed. Fire wisps engulfed the guy''s hands, giving him power, the aura of the earth swirled around his legs giving him strength, and wind wisps covered his entire body giving him agility.


    What an incredible technique! Liam was amazed. Clearly, the guy was using a technique superior to his own mana boosting technique.


    While Liam simply used mana to boost his physical stats, this guy was using elemental wisps to boost the same. The difference between these two techniques was night and day.


    Just like the thief, this guy also possessed something extraordinary. Moreover, his items were also not simple. After exchanging so many blows, Liam had already identified two things that stood out.


    One was the knuckles. He had some sort of brawler item equipped on his knuckles. These shimmered and emanated a strong aura as each punch flew towards Liam''s face.


    The other item was the ck thread the guy wore around his neck. It was a simple ne-type item with a rabbit foot as a pendant, but nothing about it was simple. There was a unique aura swirling around that pendant as well.


    If Liam was not wrong, then these two items should be simr to the daggers as well. They should be legendary grade and possess item spirits, most probably the tiger for the knuckle item and the rabbit for the pendant.


    Liam eyed the two enticing items and wanted to end the match quickly, but he couldn''t bring himself to do it. He was learning a lot at the moment. Sparring with this person was more advantageous than winning over him quickly.


    By now, Liam was quite confident that this guy in front of him posed no threat. Sure, for any other yer, he was probably an expert that couldn''t be defeated. However, for him, it was still not that difficult.


    It would take only a few blows to deal with him. So Liam kept dragging the fight purposely to learn more about the technique he was using. At the same time, he was also trying to figure out what was in store for him.


    If this match ended, then the tournament ended, and he would be in the clear? But somehow, this seemed too easy. So he continued to drag the fight to make sure that he didn''t miss anything.


    Seeing this, the yers around the PVP tower loudly cheered. No one wanted Crimson Abyss to win at this point except for the people who ced bets on them.


    "See! Liam is getting pushed back! He is going to lose!"


    "That expert should be the winner of this tournament!"


    The masses rejoiced. However, a select few yers still noticed something odd. "He is not losing. He is toying with him." Alex grimaced. "Can''t he finish it fast? Why is he dragging this?"


    "Hmmm. It''s not that simple." Mia nodded. "He is thinking ahead."


    While everyone continued to watch, Liam finally started ramping things up. But to everyone''s surprise, he sheathed his sword back.


    Instead, he also started using his fists just like his opponent. He was now using a style simr to the guy and started exchanging punches!


    Wind wisps covered him. His fists were enveloped in fire. It was clear that one side''s technique was so much better, but Liam''s technique was improving.


    Everyone felt as if they were watching a boxing match in a fantasy world.


    "Mother! He learned it so quickly!" Alex was dumbfounded.


    The fight was nowpletely different. Liam was no longer on the defensive.


    With every punch he dealt, the other guy trembled, and the muscles on his body shook. Blood seeped out of his mouth. His physical enhancement was just not enough.


    In the end, Liam did an uppercut that removed thest chunk of the guy''s health and sent him flying. His muscr bodynded on the stage with a huge thud.


    GASP! Everyone collectively sucked in a big breath of air. The tournament was really over! Crimson Abyss had won!


    All those mouthwatering rewards! Everyone''s heart ached as they waited for the final announcement. Some people also started leaving.


    "Phew!" Alex sighed. "It''s over, right?"


    But at this moment, Liam alone frowned. This was because the guy lying face down on the stage twitched. "You are not dead yet?"


    He quickly dashed forward tond another blow and finish this fight. However, before he could reach the body on the ground, something flickered, and the next second, the body was no longer there.


    POW!


    A punchnded on Liam''s stomach abruptly, and the person who was previously dead was now standing in front of him, strong and steady. The towering figure narrowed his eyes and scoffed arrogantly.

 Chapter 580 Get out

    Chapter 580 Get out


    Liam''s entire body shuddered in impact. His vision blurred, and his insides shook. How was this possible? This person was not this powerful.


    He quickly got back up and centered himself. He churned the mana core and used more mana to strengthen himself. He then started casting a ring of fire around him.


    However, before the ring could close. The guy was already standing in front of him.


    POW!


    Another punchnded, breaking a few of his ribs.


    Liam coughed up blood and staggered backward. What was happening? He was not even able to get a stand to think clearly. Everything was happening way too quickly.


    Was this person really hiding this much power before? No, it was impossible.


    He was the only one who was above Level 50. Without a mana core, it was impossible for anyone else to be able to reach his level.


    They might possess techniques, they might possess items, but his mana core was top grade. He wielded enough mana to handle these things.


    But what the hell was happening now?


    He wasn''t able to make any moves at all. He was being mmed left and right. Even the moves were different whenpared to before.


    If the technique used before was iplete, now it felt as if a master was executing the same thing.


    No, it was almost as if Liam was fighting with an entirely different person!


    He waspletely out of his league, unable to respond. As he staggered back, coughing up blood, once again the guy appeared behind him.


    Liam was only able to turn around and catch a glimpse of the person before he was again sent flying away. This person was cold and ruthless. If he doesn''t do something soon¡­


    But where was the chance? When Liamnded, he was again met with the same person, ready to punch him again. In the span of a second, he had be a punching bag.


    "Damn it." Liam tried to retaliate, and it was no use. His attack was easily blocked, and the next punch was ready toe at him to break his remaining ribs.


    However, all of a sudden something happened. This time before the next blow could connect, another figure materialized in front of him and blocked the attack.


    "You cannot do this." His voice thundered. "This is against the rules. You cannot possess a yer. Think before you act."


    It took a second, but Liam recognized the familiar voice. It was the old man from the cksmith association whom he knew from before.


    How was he here? He knew this yer? And why was he talking about possessing? Who was possessing whom?


    Liam had several questions in his mind. However, this was not the time for it. He needed to gather himself.


    While the two in front of him stared at each other silently, he used this chance to dunk some healing potions and also drank the water from the little girl''ske.


    He was immediately able to recover to some extent, but that didn''t solve anything. Just as he managed to take a breather, the old man in front of him started to flicker.


    "I told you not to interfere. This is my tower. Get out." The yer shouted arrogantly, and the old manpletely disappeared.


    Liam shuddered and looked up. He instantly understood what was happening and scrambled to stand up, retreating back several faces.


    The old man was gone. He was really gone. The one person who could have helped him and stopped all of this was also probably kicked out of the tower just like the others.


    And he was very sure that a random yer, a human being from earth who simply logged into this game, was not capable of doing all this.


    This was the tower master''s n all along. He had trapped him nicely without any route for escape.


    Liam had never expected that the final opponent he would face in this tournament would be the tower master himself. Why was this person even targeting him? How could he possibly win against someone like this?


    His level seemed to be restricted, but there was far too much difference between them. Items, stats, or techniques, they were in different leagues.


    He also had no idea what level the tower master was. At his stage, he definitely possessed a mana core and perhaps more.


    Liam wasn''t even able to get a hold. He gritted his teeth and looked at the opponent in front of him.


    The big guy stared back at him seethingly. The pair of ruthless eyes did not blink. There were dark circles under the eyes.


    This was the tower master, or like the cksmith association elder mentioned, he was possessing the yer? That would exin why the person suddenly became overpowered.


    And if he was really not using his true body, then maybe he still had a chance? Liam racked his brain toe up with a strategy, but at this point, there was nothing else to do. He had to fight.


    "What? You figured it out so soon?" Crawford sneered. "This body is indeed inconvenient, but it will do. This is more than enough to take you down, you arrogant brat. Come!"


    Liam immediately unleashed a sizzling tornado. This was one of the strongest attacks he had in his arsenal, and he directly used that. There was no time to test the waters in this fight. Even a single slip-up could mean his death and more.


    ROAR!


    Instantly, the winds began coiling, and a big tornado started forming in the middle of the arena, shooting out lightning bolts haphazardly.


    This was a double-edged sword as it affected both Liam and the opponent. However, it also gave him some leeway to cast the next attack.


    And Liam did not stop. He wanted to use this precious chance. He immediately cast a ring of fire around himself and then sent out dark cutters towards the old man.


    With the three of his most powerful attacksbined together, maybe he would be able to get an upper hand?

 Chapter 581 Not enough

    Chapter 581 Not enough


    "What happened? Why did the disys go nk?"


    "Hey! Look! The squares are also retreating back!"


    "What? Why? Is the tournament over already? Did Liam win?"


    "Damn it. Crimson Abyss is going to be so annoying now."


    "You guys are wrong. There is something going on with the tournament. Did you notice that there isn''t any world announcement yet? Not even a kingdom announcement!"


    "Oh ya ya. You are correct. He He. I hope that guy gets fucked up. It is not fair for a yer to be that strong at this stage. He should have definitely cheated, and cheaters should be punished!"


    While the yers outside the tower busily gossiped and started dispersing to go about their own stuff, the talk of the city, the guild Crimson Aybss''s members busied themselves.


    "Where is he? Are you still keeping an eye on him?" Alex hurriedly typed into the system interface.


    "I am right behind him, ma''am. There are ten yers stationed here. He will not escape us."


    "Alright. Wait until he steps outside the damn city and then lift that fucker. Don''t screw this up. This is important. We need to have a long talk with him ASAP. Do you understand?" Alex sighed and closed the messages.


    She then turned to inform Mia, "We almost got the thief, and the other guy is also in our grasp."


    "Ok." Mia nodded. Her eyes, however, were fixated only on the PVP tower. "You leave then. Take care of this. I will stay here. Liam might need our help."


    "Ok." Alex also somberly looked at the tower and mumbled. Just like everyone else, the two of them as well were not aware of what was happening inside.


    All of a sudden, the disys were lost, and an old man appeared outside the tower. He was floating in the air while trying to bombard the tower defenses repeatedly. The entire city shook every time the two of them shed.


    Some yers ran away as fast as they could, thinking that a huge fight was going to happen and wreck the city, but many yers were spilling in back into the city to look for opportunities in this rare urrence.


    The PVP tower had always been a mysterious ce, and now that something was happening, no one wanted to miss out, especially the top guilds who had already lost in the tournament and were kicked out.


    They had all lined up quite conveniently outside to jump into action the moment something happened. The entire city was abuzz with activity.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside this all-important tower¡­


    Sweat trickled down Liam''s forehead as he cast the triple threat attack churning out a lot of his mana. He didn''t stop there and continued casting [Lava Rain], [Fire Bullets], barraging the entire ce with attacks.


    The whole arena was full of fire. It was impossible for anyone at this stage to withstand this much firepower. Even he had to evade some of the attacks.


    However, while he was still casting thest of the attacks, suddenly a ck hole appeared in the middle. It was floating in the air, and in the next second, it started sucking in everything clean.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Are you trying to tickle me, boy?" The same arrogant voice of the tower master ran out. "I am the saint mage Crawford. Do you think you can win against me with just this much? FOOL!"


    The ck hole became a ck sphere and started shooting out all the attacks back at Liam.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock, but he did not stand still and take all the attacks. He immediately started moving. Now, it was the tower master''s turn to be shocked because Liam''s movements were very simr to the thief''s.


    "Not bad, brat. You managed to learn a little just from sparring with that imbecile. Ba ha ha ha! But it is¡­ not enough!"


    BOOM! Another attack came flying at Liam. A me serpent coiled around the whole arena stage and reared its head up to swallow him wholly.


    But at the same time, unexpectedly, something else also popped up. Just as the opponent finished casting, Liam summoned his own trump card the same moment.


    A dozen of soul soldiers and the Level 50 howler demon descended and bombarded the muscr guy, or rather the tower master possessing the body.


    Liam also quickly evaded the attacks and sent his own sword shes at the huge figure.


    Maybe the soul soldiers by themselves were not enough. Maybe the Howler demon by itself couldn''t match the tower master. Perhaps his own attacks were still insignificant. But Liam refused to believe that all threebined wouldn''t do any damage.


    He threw everything he had at the opponent to create a single opening that he could take advantage of. This was all he needed. One opening. One chance. He would then be able to turn the tables.


    However¡­


    "Ba ha ha ha! This is too good! Brat, you have too many tricks up your sleeve! You have a demon summon! And what are these pests? They are too hrious. I should really thank you for entertaining me. I have been in a foul mood these days, and I needed this."


    Ping! Ping! Ping!


    The big guy lifted his index finger and started popping the soul soldiers one after the other like water balloons. They wailed before disintegrating and disappearing.


    The howler demon came at the guy at full force, but it was also crushed and sent back into the Abyss. Only a burst of maniacalughter rang loudly in the arena.


    Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha ha!


    "Come on. Come on. Show me what more you have! Come on!" A burst of wind tossed Liam''s body up and thrashed him onto the pentagonal arena boundary.


    Liam fell down on the ground, coughing up more blood and bruised everywhere. No matter what he tried, everything was just useless. The person in front of him was a peak existence whom he just wasn''t able to touch.


    But he was not done yet. Today he was going to fight with everything he had.


    He looked at the ancient mysterious sword in his hand. The countless dragons roared as if they sensed Liam''s gaze.


    "If I die, you die with me. Or better yet, you will be ves of that person. If you don''t want that fate, this is the time to ept me as your owner. Between him and me, you have more chance to take me down when all the seals are removed."


    ROAR!


    The sword thrummed alive. It looked like the dragons had epted his proposal.


    Liam leaped up onto the ground, clutching the sword, and dashed forward at full speed, using whatever energy that he could muster.


    SPIRIT SLASH!

 Chapter 582 You are an ant,l am a dragon!

    Chapter 582 You are an ant,l am a dragon!


    Roar! The ck dragon sword seethed in anger as Liam swung the weapon at the person in front of him.


    "Interesting. Caged dragons? Using your own spirit as a weapon?" The tower master sneered.


    "You are able tomand so much power with your tiny soul! You weapon masters are a crazy bunch indeed."


    BANG.


    Before Liam could even touch the guy, he was flung away. He had used everything he had, but the other party did not even care. He still kicked him away like a yapping little dog.


    BANG!


    Liam punched the ground in frustration. Was it all over? He gritted his teeth and stood up again, but his health was already on the margin. He took a health potion and drank it hurriedly.


    However, the main problem remained. In person or not, this tower master was unbeatable. What was he going to do now? He looked at the guy in front of him, mockingly looking down on him.


    Am I really only this much? No! Liam roared and ran right back, charging at the same person. At this point, there was nothing else to do. He could only fight, and he was going to fight with all he had.


    He swung the ck dragon swordbining the weapon with fire elemental wisps, increasing his speed and power. He used the entirety of his mana core.


    Even if the other person had an iron defense, it was still not impossible to break it. Everything can be brought down, and he will bring it down no matter what.


    Raaaa! He shouted and used his illusion technique to charge forward. Three massive fire shes rippled through the air, cutting at the big guy.


    Liam did not stop there and immediately retreated to leap back from the other side once again. He sent another three fire shes.


    Fire rained from all sides, and he continued attacking without stopping. He also had the most mastery in this element, so the damage numbers were terrifying.


    By the time he was done, his attack was no lesser than the giant fire serpent that took hold of the entire arena. The whole ce was burning.


    Liam panted, retreating back. He did not stop and started casting a [Dark Cutter] to deal more damage. The attack alsonded perfectly, with everything bombarding the tower master.


    Sweat trickled down, and Liam''s breathing became even more ragged. He was truly at his limits. "This has to work." He muttered.


    As if answering his words, the other personughed loudly. "Eh? This pest won''t go down easily?"


    He casually sent a punch in the air, and a huge swirl of mana appeared out of nowhere. It formed a vortex,pletely sweeping everything clean.


    "Didn''t I tell you? I am a saint, you fool. Know the difference between an ant and a dragon! Stay down where you belong."


    The aftermath sent Liam flying away, once again thrashing him on the ground.


    He still did not take it lying down. But whatever he did, the tower master easily countered. He used everything he had, and it was of no use. Whatever he did only seemed to be pointless.


    In the end, the big guy clutched him, grasping him by his throat, and lifted him.


    Liam struggled kicking his legs. He couldn''t breathe. He was suffocating. Seeing this, a small white fox dashed forward out of nowhere.


    Luna couldn''t take it anymore. She had stayed in a corner, hiding, because Liam had asked her to but she didn''t bother about that any longer.


    She rushed towards the huge guy and leaped up into the air, biting the hand that was holding Liam.


    "Hmph! I will deal with youter. Stay quiet." The tower master flung her aside like dirt. He didn''t have to lift a finger to deal with Liam so why would he sweat the small fox.


    However, just like Liam, the small fox as well didn''t stay down. She was right back, barring her fangs at him. She came at the guy again and again relentlessly.


    The tower master scoffed in annoyance as he did not find this futile exercise amusing. "I said shut up and stay down." He used more force and sent the fox crashing down.


    Her spine cracked, and the little fox whined in pain. She still tried standing up, but she was no longer able to. She could only pitifully look at Liam with watery eyes.


    Woo. Woo.


    "Luna. Stop." Liam closed his eyes as he did not know what to do anymore.


    He was once again back where he was, helpless and desperate. He had gained so much ande so far, only to find himself a helpless little weakling again.


    Against the normal yers, he might be all-powerful, but against an existence like this¡­ he was truly an ant. Any struggle was pointless.


    However, he still struggled, trying to get himself out of the choke hold. The tower master sighed and thrashed him to the ground.


    Liam was sent flying away, himnding on one side and his swordnding on the other side.


    He now had nothing anymore. His soul soldiers, his mana core, his pets, everything was useless against this person.


    He looked at the sword lying on the other side of the arena. He could feel the surging ck dragon souls within the sword. Only this can help him now.


    If he could somehow¡­


    "You need to submit to mepletely.. Otherwise¡­" He mumbled, only half-conscious. As if responding to him, the sword came rushing to his hand.


    A flicker of hope appeared as Liam tried to use another move, but before he could do anything, a crushing force put him down.


    "Brat, you have wasted enough of my time. That''s enough. You cannot beat me. Surrender and submit. I will let you live. It''s really simple."


    "You have a few ves, don''t you?"


    "I want you to be mine. You will be my strongest ve. How about it? This is your one and only chance to survive."


    "Hmm? Aren''t I generous? You would do good to ept my goodwill while I am still in a happy mood."


    Liam shuddered. As the person''s feet crushed his body down, trying to put him out like a cigarette, he writhed in pain and agony, but more painful than this were his words.


    A ve? His entire life, his past life shed before his eyes.


    He shuddered. No. No. He couldn''t go back to that. He would rather die than go back to that.


    Liam looked up and spat on the guy''s face. "Never." He said resolutely.


    "Ba ha ha ha! I knew it! You are a stubborn little turd, aren''t you? Good. Good. I was actually hoping that you will say this. Beating you up, torturing you and killing you is more fun!"


    "Ba ha ha! Don''t you dare think I will give you an easy death! By the time I am done with you, you will be begging to be my ve."


    "Here, take some more health potion. Don''t die on me." He shoved something into Liam''s mouth and then startedughing and beating him up some more.


    "So many days of anger! Finally, I can vent out! Ba ha ha ha!"


    Thrashed around like a ball on the arena stage, Liamid on the ground bleeding. He could barely see or feel anything anymore. His whole body was in pain. Everything was a blur.


    He was being utterly destroyed. He coughed up blood and tried to think, but all that came up was pain. The only other thing he felt was¡­ the roaring sounds of the numerous dragons within the soul sword.


    The souls called out to him from within the sword. They roared and rattled the sword, trying to reach him, but it was of no use.


    There were seals holding them down. They couldn''t break free or lend anymore of their strength, but it was still thest bit of hope Liam was clinging to.


    Compared to all the times before, he could sense them very vividly now, so maybe¡­ just maybe¡­ he could break free one of them?


    And just as Liam thought about this, another attacknded smack dab in the middle of the body, shattering his spinepletely.


    His eyes widened in shock. He knew what the tower master was doing. He was trying to cripple him!


    No. No. No. I cannot lose again. I cannot face the same fate again.


    He tried desperately to break the shackles of the dragon souls. He used whatever conscience he had left and tried everything that he could.


    However, it was no use.


    Ba ha ha ha! Another attacknded on him, right at the center of his body, shaking the root of his spirit and soul, his mana core trembling.


    Guhak!


    Liam spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood. He could see Luna lying down lifelessly, looking at him in pain. These were the same eyes his sister also had when she died in hisst life.


    He did not want to see this type of eyes again.


    BREAK! NOW! He shouted, and the sword rattled. Once again, it yielded nothing. Liam was on the verge of going crazy. Nothing! Nothing was working, and nothing was enough.


    However, in this madness, suddenly he felt something strange... something else happened.


    Liam froze for a second as he slowly looked up at the big guy sneering at him in disdain and preparing another blow for him.


    And when he did¡­ he saw it¡­


    Liam saw the soul lingering in the body. He could clearly sense the old man and his soul''s strength. He could feel the wrinkly old eyes staring down at him and savoring his misery.


    Liam suddenly felt it. He knew it in his guts.


    The ck dragons¡­ he might have failed to break their shackles, but this soul¡­ he can do it. He can break it. This soul in front of him was very weak right now.


    This was probably the price he had paid to torment Liam, and right now, he was going to use the same thing to take him down!


    Yes! He was not done yet!

 Chapter 583 Who is the real dragon?

    Chapter 583 Who is the real dragon?


    "Wait. Wait." Liam coughed up some blood and weakly mumbled. "I will ept¡­ wait¡­" He tried to get up and sit straight.


    "Oh?" The big guy stopped and did not lower his feet. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. The tower master had not expected Liam to ept his proposal this soon.


    Maybe the threat of crippling him had worked? But it was not enough. He had angered him for so long. He needed to vent out more.


    He watched Liam gulp healing potions and mana potions in amusement. He didn''t have a problem with this because there was no fun in beating up a dead dog.


    So he was waiting for Liam to recover, and then he would, of course, once again thrash him around to his heart''s content.


    How dare this lowly insect steal from him? He needed to be taught a good lesson!


    But suddenly, his face changed. The tower master watched Liam take out some sk and drink from there. What was this? What was he drinking?


    He wasn''t able to decipher the liquid''s properties from a single nce. There was a strong medicinal aromaing from it and also astral energy? How could that be possible?


    He narrowed his eyes and stared at it as if he was trying to remember something crucial.


    However, before he could figure this out, Liam suddenly stopped moving. He looked up at the tower master with his bloodshot eyes.


    For a second, Crawford felt his senses tingle. Something was not right.


    Liam saw the beady little eyes of the old man''s soul trying to figure things out, and he did not let that happen. He had only one chance, and he needed to act now.


    He couldn''t risk things and recover further. Even if he wasn''t at the optimum stage, he had to make this move now.


    As the tower master red at him, he red back at the guy, or rather his soul. He was still able to sense it very vividly. This was his chance.


    In one fell swoop, Liam grasped his chance and the soul in front of him.


    He was like a rabid dog thattched itself onto a juicy piece of meat. He clung to the tower master''s soul with all of his mind, soul, and spirit.


    "YOU¡­ What are you¡­" Only now the old man realized that something was amiss. He felt slow and sluggish, and his senses were drowning. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.


    COUGH. COUGH. COUGH. It was now his turn to cough violently and gasp for air.


    Liam could sense that his soul was suffering. However, he did not feel any pity.


    A malicious smile appeared on his face as he ruthlessly pulled the struggling soul out, the deadst yer now falling on the arena stage as a corpse, dposing fast and disappearing for the respawn point.


    Liam immediately doubled back on his efforts. He knew that he did not have much time.


    The tower master was a lofty being. He might have other tricks up his sleeve. Even if he did not, he might have several otherckeys, all perhaps much more powerful than Liam.


    He grabbed this soul and started condensing it.


    BOOM!


    With his newly formed mana core, he conjured a giant mana hammer and mmed it on the soul. He felt the old soul shiver and tremble. At first, it was in pain, but then it was in anger.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not pay attention to it. He solely focussed on condensing the soul into a bead and started hammering it relentlessly.


    He then sucked in another big breath of air and conjured another mana hammer. The more he used these giant, powerful hammers to strike the soul, the more he felt rejuvenated.


    Liam did not notice, but a part of the soul energy was seeping into him as well. This cured whatever ache that remained that couldn''t be cured even by the astral pond water he consumed.


    The pure energy from the old man''s soul healed himpletely, even his soul that was chipped earlier because of the one time he died.


    He was nowplete and whole and a burst of energy spread through his body, invigorating him from his very roots. "Settle down." Liam shouted and banged the hammers on the soul even more forcefully.


    Crawford''s soul sshed under his grasp like a fish out of water. He twitched, tossed, and turned to no avail. Liam''s grasp was strong. He just couldn''t break free.


    Moreover, he waspletely caught by surprise. He had never expected Liam to hold such a mysterious power. Soul attacks were notmon. That too, for sensing a strong soul like his, how was this guy doing it?


    Crawford stopped. As Liam continued hammering away at him, suddenly Crawford stopped struggling.


    So what if this little ant managed to take him by surprise and attacked him when he least expected it? His soul was strong!


    No matter what he did, his soul will never be harmed by the likes of this guy. That''s right. All he needed to do was wait for an opportunity and slip back into his old body.


    Besides, the technique this fool had was probably not that good. He just needed to be patient, and then he could decimate him once and for all.


    Crawford sneered as he arrogantly scoffed at the hammer strikes. ''Pfft. This only tickles.'' He stayed calm.


    Liam, on the other hand, was giving it everything he had. He had done this before with Gorak''s soul.


    Though these two souls could not bepared, there were simrities between both and in the process. So this time, he had more experience and knowledge.


    He just needed to persist¡­ for a few more seconds¡­


    Liam gritted his teeth and continued forging. Every time he brought down the hammer on the soul, he gave it his all.


    ''Foolish brat. It still tickles.'' Crawford rolled his eyes. In front of an existence like him, this ant dared to stand up. Hmph!


    This continued for a few seconds when Crawford''s face finally changed. He couldn''t afford to remain arrogant any longer.


    There were now a hundred mana hammers beating down on his soul, and he could no longer ignore. More importantly, he was starting to feel a little weak, a little woozy.


    He looked at the guy in front of him and he did not look like an ant anymore. ''What technique is this?'' His soul shuddered. He finally started sweating.


    Unfortunately for him, in the next few seconds his troubles only worsened. The hundred hammers now became a thousand.


    Liam was progressing at an incredible pace and it was no longer just tickling.


    ''Damn it. I need to do something.'' Crawford''s soul twitched. He hadn''t expected it to happen, but here he was, pushed into a corner.


    And he also had a feeling that something worse was waiting for him¡­ just what technique was this damned guy using?


    Crawford couldn''t think straight. The pain was unbearable. ''No. I cannot let this go on.'' He hurriedly racked his brain for the few soul techniques he had gathered throughout his life.


    He did not wish to use them because using a soul technique was different from using other normal skills and spells. There was always a price to pay when one used a soul technique.


    But now, he was in his soul form and the situation also called for it. ''Brat, I won''t go down that easily. You have a soul technique. I also have a soul technique.''


    Crawford hurriedly tried to do something and sent out a burst of energy in a rush. ''Die. Die. Die.'' He cursed Liam as he used this technique without caring about anything else. ''DIE!''


    As the hammers struck him down, Crawford waited and watched.


    He became even weaker because of the skill he used but he didn''t care about that. All he wanted was Liam to die a horrible death!


    And¡­


    Just like he expected¡­


    Liam froze. He suddenly stopped, and the hammers stopped as well. However, it was not because he was attacked. Instead, it was because¡­ he felt refreshed?


    The tower master''s soul was very tough. It was beyond Liam''s ability, and he was desperately trying to hold onto it, but now somehow, he received a huge wave of energy.


    Someone was helping him? Who could it be?


    It didn''t matter. This was the final push. Liam sucked in all the energy that came his way and increased the number of hammers to ten thousand.


    Each of the mana hammersnded on the shivering soul, dealing a mind-numbing, soul-crushing punch.


    Ahhhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhh! Crawford screamed in agony.


    What the heck happened to his attack? Why did it strengthen this bastard? Everything that he did was going wrong! Just who was this hateful guy?


    Crawford was going crazy. The hammers were killing him.


    Ahhhhhh! Ahhhh! He now started panicking. He had two more techniques that he could try, but he no longer had any energy to execute them.


    His entire world wasing down. He hadn''t felt pain like this in a long time. He was the tower master! Why was this happening to him?


    AHHHHHHH! Completely losing his cool, the old man blindly made ast-ditch effort. Just as Liam was using everything he had, he also used everything he had and made a run for it.


    As the next round of hammers came down, the soul shuddered and started violently shaking. It was difficult for Liam even to move the hammers.


    However, he gritted his teeth and held strong. Something told him that he needed to get through this else, all would be for naught.


    He hade so far, condensed it so much, he was not going to lose now!


    If he lost now, then this guy would return back to his original body and then erase him out of existence. He would probably do that to everyone he loved. No. He couldn''t lose here no matter what.


    His resolve was unbreakable as he shouted and used everything he had to bring down the hammers."STAY DOWN!"


    At the same time, the soul also violently shook. The two of them shed with everything they had. The entire tower trembled.

 Chapter 584 Disappeared?

    Chapter 584 Disappeared?


    "Hey! Something big is going down. Look over there. The PVP tower is shaking again."


    "That old man also stopped attacking it."


    All the yers gathered around the PVP tower and looked up to see the old man stop mid-air with a big grin on his face. In front of him, the PVP tower was shaking violently as if only that one spot was under an earthquake.


    Just as everyone looked at the tower curiously, suddenly somethingpletely unexpected happened. The entire tower disappeared!


    The PVP tower, a hugendmark in Yleka city, entirely vanished! No one was able to believe what they were seeing. How could a big construction like that go poof?


    More importantly, in the ce of the tower, there was a single person lying on the ground unconsciously.


    There were no clothes or items on his body except for a set of badly torn pants, and beside him, there was a ragged-looking sword and a small fox.


    Though the sword seemed extremely ordinary, the fox was very eye-catching. The small beast had three tails and was also severely injured. It would be very easy to grab the beast right now.


    Everyone''s eyes glistened with greed. However, before anyone could make a move, a familiar huge white tiger and a batnded near the person.


    "Stay back." A woman shouted as she climbed down from the tiger. It was Mia. Behind her, Shen Yue and Mei Mei also stepped down.


    Seeing these three beauties, some yers stopped, but many others had no intention of listening to them. It was fine, even if they were punished for fighting inside the city. Anything that could be gained from the top yer would be worth it.


    The crowd started rushing in madly. Seeing this, Mia, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei stood firmly surrounding Liam.


    It would not be possible for just the three of them to defend against these many yers, and the other crimson abyss members were tracking the three mysterious yers. They won''t be able to return in time to protect Liam.


    No one had expected the huge tower to disappear abruptly. They weren''t prepared for this. Liam''s condition also seemed to be extremely bad. Just what the hell happened inside the tower?


    Mia mmed her staff on the ground, starting to cast spells at the first line of attackers. She stared at the greedy mob resolutely. They were not going to get past her today, no matter what.


    However, the top experts from the other guilds in the Kingdom also had the same determined expression. Everyone was riled up from the power disy of Crimson Abyss.


    Seeing Mia, it wasn''t difficult to guess that it was Liam, the top ranker lying on the ground defenselessly. That too, only he had been inside the tower. So it was definitely him.


    How could they let this chance slip by? The two sides were ready to sh with the same ferocity. Shen Yue also had her daggers out, and Mei Mei started casting several buffs waving her staff.


    Just as this huge brawl was about to ensue and send the whole of the Yleka city into a messy riot, suddenly something loud resounded. The few yers at the front rushing forward were instantly pushed back.


    When everyone looked up, they saw an old man in front of them. "Hrmm." He grunted loudly and eyed the surrounding crowd with menacing eyes. "Who wants toe forward?"


    He gave Mia a look, and she nodded dazedly. Why was this person helping them? That was not important right now.


    Behind her, Shen Yue and Mei Mei hurriedly lifted Liam and ced him on the bat, the two of them also getting on top. The bat then started flying off into the air instantly. Mia as well grabbed Luna and the sword and hurriedly followed them.


    The group took off immediately, everything happening lightning fast. Only after they left did the yers standing around snap back into reality.


    No one had the guts to fight the old man. They saw him smiling and watching the group escaping peacefully, and they started silently dispersing.


    They moved out of that area and then hurriedly jumped onto any mount they could get a hold of. "Follow them. Quick. Quick."


    Droves of yers started chasing the two beasts flying away at top speed.


    "Sis Mia, I am casting some buffs on the two." Mei Mei anxiously kept looking back. Liam''s condition still seemed bad, and the next trouble was already at their doorstep.


    "We only need to reach the guild residence," Mia said. "Then everything will be fine."


    This chase continued, andbined with Mei Mei''s speed buffs, the trio maneuvered in between the tall trees and mountains and managed to give the slip to the group behind them.


    "There! Right there! We are almost at the guild residence!" Mei Mei shouted. She cast a few more buffs, and in onest rush, the two mounts flew into the guild residence in time.


    Once inside, Mia, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei floated on their mounts and looked at the yers following them.


    They hoped that they would turn back since they were in their base right now, but the yers outside had no such thoughts. The numerous yers barged into thepound and the guards at the gate.


    Almost immediately, Mia shouted and sent out guild announcements. "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! CRIMSON ABYSS, GATHER!"


    Horns started sounding, and all the NPC guards rushed forward. The situation looked dire as most of the guilds in the Gresh Kingdom had right now gathered around the guild residence.


    They had seen Liam picking up loot after loot and the numerous treasures on the Crimson Abyss yers. These were items that the other yers couldn''t even dare to dream of, and now it was right in front of them.


    All the guild leaders looked at each other and unanimously made a decision. They all had their own enmities between them, but Crimson Abyss was the bigger threat.


    Today Crimson Abyss was going down!


    While Liam was still unconscious, they absolutely had to destroy this guild!

 Chapter 585 What happened?

    Chapter 585 What happened?


    "Ah! These are seriously too many yers! Will they be able to break the barrier?" One of the mages standing on the wall worriedly mumbled.


    "Of course not." A figurended with a thud next to him, "These pigs think they can take advantage of us? Fuck no." Alex pointed her sword and smote one of the melee yers rushing forward to strike the barrier.


    The thick mana barrier glowed brightly as several attacks pelted it one after the other. The barrier held strong, but the yers seemed relentless.


    They were determined to break through the defenses today. Seeing this, everyone standing on the inside couldn''t help but be nervous.


    "Heh. Why are you all worried? They are attacking us out of greed. Let''s show these fools the strength of our guild residence. Want to attack an S-rank guild? Keep dreaming." Alex smirked.


    "Let''s fire up the cannons. I don''t want to take any chances, and I don''t want these pests loitering outside our guild residence for long."


    The group of yers standing near Alex immediately became overjoyed. Ever since they upgraded the guild defense, they had been itching to try this out.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the main guild hall, Liam finally stirred awake.


    "Brother! Brother! Are you okay?" Mei Mei immediately grabbed him and shook him.


    "Hey¡­ mmm¡­ wait." Thanks to the girl''s tough love, the guy who had just now recovered once again began feeling faint.


    Shen Yue saw this and immediately pulled the little girl aside. "Mei Mei! Stop! You are hurting him!"


    "Ah¡­ Sorry, brother." She wiped her eyes and mumbled. The little girl''s face was full of tears. Shen Yue''s eyes were also reddened.


    Only Mia was calm andposed as she continued attending to Luna and cast several healing spells on her in intervals.


    Liam slowly rubbed his head and sat up. In the end, he wasn''t too sure what happened. He felt a severe pain spread across his body, and he felt very weak. He had really strained himself too much this time.


    At least, was it sessful? He needed to know this. Otherwise, they might still be in danger. He hurriedly opened the system interface to check even though his vision was blurry and his body swayed.


    "Brother, what happened?" Mei Mei looked worried.


    "Liam, you should take some more rest." Shen Yue held him up to support him.


    However, Liam still continued to open his stats and checked his list of soul followers. Chickens, rabbits, wolves, bears, imps, dryads, and¡­ and¡­


    Liam rubbed his eyes vigorously. He couldn''t believe it. He just couldn''t believe it. There it was! Beneath his first human soul soldier, there was now another human soul soldier.


    [Ding. Do you wish to name your soldier?]


    "Yes," Liam muttered dazedly. He was still reeling in the fact that he had actually won. "Crawford." He named the guy because the cksmith elder had called him so.


    He then hurriedly summoned the guy. The next instant, white translucent wisps started gathering near him. They slowly morphed together and took shape.


    Not the shape of the burly closebat mage but the shape of a stern old man, lean and mean.


    "Ah~ brother, who is this?" Mei Mei gulped, inching away slightly closer to Liam. Just looking at him, this guy was quite fearful.


    Shen Yue and Mia as well turned to look at the newly summoned being in awe. They had only seen chickens and rabbits, so they were quite shocked to see a full human being appear in front of them.


    Had Liam already progressed this much?


    The two of them looked at Liam, only to find him absent-mindedly staring at the old man. He was also looking at the person for the first time. So this was the guy who had almost made their life a hell.


    "Can you talk?" Liam asked slowly, coughing a little.


    However, the soul in front of him did not respond.


    "Hmmm?" Liam''s face changed.


    He then summoned Gorak out. "Master!" The guy immediately shed a smile that looked shady and did a salute. Liam''s face twitched. This guy¡­ he had so much attitude and individuality. So¡­ why was the other soul very different?


    He closed his eyes and tried to get a grasp of the two of them.


    Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and Mia stayed quietly without disturbing. They could see that Liam was dealing with something important, so the three of them simply stared at them.


    Seconds ticked by and then minutes. Finally, after fifteen minutes, Liam shed his eyes open. They were filled with shock and disbelief.


    He then once again closed his eyes as if he was double-checking something. This time he was sure. It was unmistakable.


    "Execute a sword technique," Liammanded.


    Immediately, the soul follower stayed silent and waved his hands as if he was holding a sword.


    "What do you know about the stone tablet? Did you target me because of that?"


    Surprisingly, for thismand, the soul follower stayed silent. Gorak snickered on the side. Liam ignored that guy and continued to look at the tower master in perplexion. This confirmed his thoughts.


    The soul in front of him was iplete!


    Gorak''s soul wasplete. It might not be 100% perfect, but it wasplete, and the annoying guy was all there.


    However, the tower master''s soul was very different. Maybe only half of his soul or less than half was there, and because of this, he didn''t have any personality or memories that gave him the traits and characters.


    In a way, this was better. He would listen to hismands and follow him with absolute obedience, unlike the cker standing in front of him.


    The only question was¡­ what happened to the tower master now? Losing about half of his soul must have surely made him weak?


    Liam turned to look at Mia. "Tower?" He faintly asked.


    "The tower disappearedpletely." Mia immediately exined to him what had happened.


    "I need to go and meet the cksmith elder." Liam nodded with a sigh of relief. It looked like, at least for now, they were not in any immediate danger.


    If the tower disappeared and they were able to leave freely, then it should be fine. Maybe this was over. But what about the rewards? And what about¡­ He looked at Luna, who was resting nearby.


    "She is fine now. She is recovering." Mia said.


    Liam was about to reach the little fox when he felt a searing headache course through his brain and his body once again swayed. He could do all of this analysis and researchter.


    For now, he needed to rest and recover. He took out the sk and drank the special astral water. It helped him recover a little, but he was still very tired.


    Liam frowned. At the same time, he heard several loud fireworks from outside. "Is our guild under attack?"

 Chapter 586 Alive?

    Chapter 586 Alive?


    "Is our guild under attack?"


    Liam looked at Mia for an answer, and she nodded, "Yes, we are dealing with the aftermath of the incident. It is under control. You don''t have to worry."


    Liam rubbed his chin in contemtion. He was too tired, but at the same time, there was something that he needed to do, and a guild battle like this would be the perfect opportunity for it.


    "Let''s go outside and take a look." He stood and walked out. His body swayed a little again, but Shen Yue helped him, "Liam, do you need to rest?"


    He bitterly smiled. He had consumed the milky way pond water and health potions, so if he was still tired, that meant that he was not hurt physically or mentally.


    Resting wouldn''t really help him now because if he was correct, then what was causing this weakness could only be¡­ his soul.


    "That''s fine." Liam smiled and continued heading out. When he reached the entrance of the guild hall, he was immediately stunned. The soundsing from outside were too terrifying.


    "So everyone ganged up on us, huh?"


    "Yes," Mia answered. "But we have it under control," she added.


    Liam nodded and proceeded to walk outside. Shen Yue called forth her bat, and Liam climbed on top of it. When the creature pped its wings and flew up, he was finally able to get a full view.


    A huge expanse of yers flocked outside the guild. The forests could no longer be seen. There were only yers and yers everywhere.


    It looked like the entire Gresh Kingdom was here, and more and more yers were still joining in. "Go there," Liam ordered the bat to take him to the main entrance, where Alex was ying the role of conductor for the battlefield.


    Surprisingly, she was not using the cannons.


    Instead, several yers and NPCs littered thepound wall, and together they were bombarding the yers outside, picking off the weaklings one after another.


    "Heh, when will the battle be over at this rate?" Liam chuckled.


    Alex was caught by surprise because she hadn''t expected him to recover so soon. "Hi. How are you feeling now?" She stammered, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear.


    "Why are you not using the cannons?" Liam ignored her question and asked instead.


    "Ah." Alex lifted her hand and pointed out to the crater in front of the guild residence. They had indeed used the cannons, but the result was¡­


    "That''s why." She said with a helpless smile. "The cannons are too overpowered." She chuckled awkwardly.


    "He He. Of course, that''s why you should use them." Liam grinned.


    "But I am saving it as a backup in case-"


    Liam interrupted her, stopping her midway. "No, don''t hold back. Everyone''s eyes are on Crimson Abyss right now. We will use this opportunity to demonstrate our power."


    "Use everything we have. After this fight, the other guilds should think several times before deciding to attack us. They want to take down our guild, they need to pay the price."


    "We have taken things slow enough. Let''s go faster now!" He shouted.


    "Mia!" He called for the priestess and then unexpectedly jumped right into the middle of the fray before anyone could stop him. "HEAL ME!"


    For a second, everyone was shocked. Liam was not wearing any armor or anything of that sort. He was still wearing the same torn pants, and his face was also very visible, so everyone recognized him.


    However, he didn''t seem to care about that. All he cared about was¡­


    .


    With the big grin still visible on his face, Liam took out a random sword from his inventory and shed down on the person in front of him.


    -1500


    A huge damage number appeared, and blood sttered everywhere. The berserker fighting at the front died just like that, and as he did, Liam inhaled a big breath.


    Not for fresh air but for something else.


    "I knew it. I could almost sniff it out." His grin widened, and his face looked maniacal.


    Everyone snapped out of their trance.


    "Hey! That''s Liam! Crimson Abyss'' big boss! He is alive! Take him down!"


    "He has all the treasures! Kill him!"


    "What an idiot! He jumped out of the barrier! Attack! Attack! Attack!"


    All the yers nearby rushed towards Liam. Several weapons came flying at him. However, Liam was unfazed.


    "ALEX, NOW!" He shouted and calmly cast a [Sizzling Tornado] on the front, shing down the yers on his rear. His movements and his casting were wless and fluid.


    And because he had done this suddenly, no one person was able to respond in time.


    Who would expect a sane person to jump right in the middle of the enemy camp? Did he not care about his life?


    Liam had jumped, wreaked havoc, and grinned like a maniac all in a second, and when others rushed towards him, he immediately retreated.


    However, before the others could do the same and follow him¡­


    BOOM!


    A loud bang resounded, and the cannon sted without any warning. The power of this single attack was unbelievable. About 50 yers died in the single shot!


    And Liam stood at the head of this massive circle of death and destruction and sucked in another big breath!


    "Hmmm¡­ I was correct. This is the smell of souls." His grin widened once again. He was now able to sense souls and soul energy much better than before. He hadn''t expected this.


    He smiled and took another step.


    Souls! Souls! Souls! There were so many soul energy fragments in front of him. Every time a yer died, they lost a little of their soul energy fragment, and he was able to sense it!


    Liam doubted this even before. At that time, it was just a conjecture, and he was not strong enough to verify it. But now¡­


    He walked over and stood in the middle of the big crater, absorbing everything around him to his heart''s content.


    And his tiredness was finally relieved!


    Everything that ached in his body subsided, and he felt refreshed like never before.


    ***


    Bonus chapter 1~~


    Please thank God_of_Sandstorms for this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 587 Lunatic

    Chapter 587 Lunatic


    The st of the cannon resounded loudly amidst the group of terrified yers. They had seen this cannon sting before also when it decimated a big section of their forces.


    However, they still dared to stand in front of the guild residence because of one and only reason. Someone had said that the cannon could be fired only once.


    Where was this intelligent person now?


    The thousands of yers did not know who they were more terrified of, Liam or the cannon?


    The cannon had killed dozens at once, while Liam stepped into the bloody massacres and smiled like a lunatic. He was like the grim reaper swimming in the souls of the dead.


    yers who came face to face with him werepletely terrified. This person had lost it!


    And since he was a single person in the presence of several other melee yers, it was difficult to target him.


    The attacks were allpletely random and chaotic. The attacks aimed at him were falling on other yers and taking down their own side.


    No one was even able to aim properly because of all the dust and the st debris. There was just blood and flesh strewn everywhere. It was disgusting, pungent, and nauseating.


    Most yers at the back had already started running away. The big guilds quietly retreated.


    The moment they heard the cannon st again, they realized that they couldn''t touch Crimson Abyss right now. The cannons were simply too overpowered.


    They could only me their bad luck for not being able to upgrade their own guild residence yet and quickly started disappearing.


    However, how could Liam allow this to happen so easily? He was gaining a lot at the moment.


    [Ding. You have now acquired 55% of the Legacy]


    [Ding. You have now acquired 56% of the Legacy]


    [Ding. You have now acquired 57% of the Legacy]


    After the fight with the tower master and after forging his soul, it was as if a barrier had been removed in his brain.


    He was not only able to sense the souls better, but he was learning more and more about his ss. He was in the damn zone! He was not going to let his guinea pigs leave so easily.


    "ALEX! NOW!" He shouted again, and another round sted, taking one more group of yers down.


    And once again, Liam walked around the corpses, taking in the sweet essence of the souls. About ten rounds went off by the time the crowd finally managed to disperse.


    They were chased out like mere street dogs hit by stones. It was humiliating and not to mention very expensive.


    The ground was littered with loot. Some of the stragglers fell for this, and they tried to grab some loot before escaping, but it only backfired, and they died without knowing how.


    Liam cleaned the random sword he was holding with a sigh. Looking at all the loot, he couldn''t help but think of a certain someone.


    Usually, a white fox would go crazy on these items, but she was resting now. He did not even know how she was doing.


    He shook it off and signaled the guild members toe down and do it instead.


    Soon a mount of sparkling and dazzling loot formed in front of him. They had just now seen how scary their big boss could be, so no one dared to pocket anything.


    Alex was also overseeing things.


    "He He! Our coffers are full! Between the gold coins from the betting and this pile of loot, we are flush with guild reserves!" She announced. Everyone cheered loudly.


    The tournament was over, and everyone hade back unharmed. They had also chased out the hyenas wanting to pick their guild apart.


    Everything had ended well. The huge crisis that befell their guild had been averted. This was time for celebrations!


    With this, Crimson Abyss guild''s reputation was also going to soar to the sky.


    The number of members wanting to sign with their guild would increase, and their guild would be a top guild of the Kingdom. So everyone cheered and started celebrating in high spirits.


    Liam, on the other hand, didn''t participate in this and silently walked away. He dashed towards the graveyard near the guild residence in deep thought.


    Sitting there, he started harvesting random yers respawning after the fight. He simply killed the yers who showed up, one after the other, without leaving a single prey to escape.


    "Liam, what are you doing?" Alex followed him to check on him.


    "Finishing a quest." He answered, his frown deepening. He did not even bother standing as he sent out a sharp ice spear, piercing the next yer dead.


    Alex silently watched him. The guy wasn''t even batting an eye as he ughtered yers. She felt a little ufortable. However, she didn''t say anything.


    She knew about Liam enough to know that he wouldn''t be doing this unless it was necessary. As she was staring at him, Liam suddenly looked up at her and asked, "Where is Derek?"


    "Derek?" Alex gasped, finally realizing the important matter she had missed. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"


    Between Liam, Luna, the attack on the guild, and capturing the three mysterious yers, she hadpletely forgotten about Derek!


    Liam saw her fretting, and he shook his head. He pulled up his system interface as he already had a bad feeling about this.


    And just like he thought... Derek''s name was still greyed out.


    There was no way to contact him. He also did not know what happened to him and where he was now. "He was not there when Luna and I showed up?"


    "Ah~ No." Alex nodded. She bit her lips in frustration.


    "Hmmm¡­ It''s fine. It''s not your fault. I don''t think he is in a ce where we can reach him. There is no trace of him." Liam sighed.


    "So that weapon?" Alex gasped.


    "Yes... And I have no idea what type of weapon that axe is..."


    He silently pondered for a bit. There was only one person he could think of who could help them now.


    He needed to meet the cksmith elder to get more information. Maybe he can shed some light on what happened to Derek.


    ***


    Bonus chapter 2~~


    Please thank God_of_Sandstorms for this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 588 One,Two and Three

    Chapter 588 One,Two and Three


    "Okay, you go deal with other things. I am fine here." Liam sent Alex away and then sat at the graveyard, ughtering the iing yers. However, he wasn''t just doing that.


    Every time he killed a person, he started siphoning some soul energy bit by bit. This was different than soul forging. Now he was trying to manipte soul energy like mana.


    Except that it was nothing like mana. Handling mana was a hundred times easier than this.


    Liam tried to remember what he had done back inside the PVP tower. He gathered the soul energy fragments bit by bit as he ughtered the yers.


    He held it all together using his mental strength as an adhesive, and when the time was right, he fused them together in one step and started forging them before they burst out.


    The mana hammers thrummed alive, and they chiseled away at the amalgamation of souls.


    After dealing with the soul of that monstrous old guy, this was child''s y. Liam himself did not expect it, but he was able to handle it with ease as if he had been doing this all his life.


    The collecting part was the hard part. This one fell into ce without much effort. The soul energy condensed perfectly. He had to hold it all together constantly, but they became stable soon.


    Within a couple of minutes, the bead was forged to perfection. The system notification also promptly chimed in.


    [Ding. Do you wish to name this follower?]


    "Yes, name him ''One,''" Liam muttered. He then continued repeating the same process.


    He wanted to carve everything he grasped deep down into his mind. He didn''t want to forget a simple thing. He wanted to memorize all of it.


    He felt as if he let these threads go away now, he would lose a lot, and his learning would stagnate. So he steadily and patiently trained, mowing down one yer after another.


    Gorak gawked at this sight in fear. The new soul beings were all human-figured guys. Was his life going to be hard now?


    As if sensing his sentiments, Liam turned to look at him and gave him a nice big smile. Gorak felt shivers running down his spine. This psychopath was smiling at him!


    And the next moment¡­ what he dreaded happened.


    Liam turned to look at Crawford and clearly said, "You are the leader of this group. Make sure they work hard and improve their level. I want them to be doing this all the time. Monitor them constantly."


    Crawford nodded, and Gorak trembled. This was not what he signed up for. Wait, he did not sign up for anything in the first ce.


    While Liam continued busily forging, Crawford led the newly forged One, Gorak, and the other smallerckeys to start hunting some nearby beasts.


    Crawford''s level was 50, the highest among the group. So they were able to grind decently.


    After a couple of hours, Liam finally stopped to take a break. He had harvested about 20 yers and created two other new soul followers named two and three.


    Though he was feeling better now, constantly forging and handling the soul energy fragments was very draining. In just these two hours, a lot of mental fatigue had umted.


    So he decided to stop for now. He wanted to rest a little before continuing. However, there were also other pressing matters he needed to attend to.


    Liam walked over to the spot where his soul followers were busy grinding. Everyone, including Gorak, were working hard. Crawford was indeed a good leader.


    Liam watched them take down a grizzly for a couple more minutes before he dismissed the entire lot.


    The loot was also properly collected and heaped, so he tossed everything into his inventory and started walking back to the guild residence.


    Now that he had done what urgently needed to be done, he wanted to go and take care of the little thing that had repeatedly thrown herself at death, all for his sake.


    He entered the main gate and walked over to the guild hall. Shen Yue and Mei Mei were still sitting there next to the little fox.


    "How is she?" Liam asked.


    "She is physically fine, but¡­" Shen Yue shook her head. "She is not waking up. Mia has already tried healing her a lot. Nothing is helping."


    Liam sat down and picked up the small creature, resting her on hisp. He patted her while hurriedly going through all of his notifications to see if he had missed something.


    Where was this damned tournament''s loot? If only he had that spirit essence, he might be able to help her recover? But spirit essence was something that helps in evolving, would that help?


    He needed more professional help for this little fox. He needed to take her to the beast hall to get her looked at by a trained beast trainer.


    "Ok, it''s time for us to return to Yleka city." There were several things that he needed to do there. Both for Luna''s sake and Derek''s sake, he needed to make this trip.


    He lifted the little fox and then headed over to the stables. A huge metallic-winged bird was waiting for him there. "Let''s go, Talon," Liam called the bird.


    As an afterthought, he also called for Asura in case there was any danger lurking in the shadows. He made other adequate preparations and refilled his supplies before heading out.


    Talon had grown bigger and stronger sincest time. The bird was almost at Level 40, something that even yers would be envious of.


    He was able to support Liam and Asura easily. He opened his metallic feathers wide, brilliantly reflecting the sunlight, and sted through the sky at top speed.


    The bird reached the city very fast. The journey was uneventful, with Liam mediating the whole way, thinking about various things.


    The small fox was nestled tightly in hisp. Her breathing seemed better now, but she was still not awake yet.


    ***


    Bonus chapter 3~~


    Please thank God_of_Sandstorms for this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 589 Grandmaster Acalan

    Chapter 589 Grandmaster


    "Wait here, Talon." Liam left the bird outside the city and then walked in along with Asura.


    The two of them were covered in ck cloaks, so they were not instantly found out when they waltzed into the crowded streets. They mingled in effortlessly as many people were dressed in simr attires hiding their identities.


    "Did you hear? These idiots actually thought they could take down a guild with so many experts. Crimson Abyss wiped everyone out."


    "Ha ha ha! That is such a big face p! I was still thinking about whether to join a guild or not. But after this, what is there to think about anymore? I am joining Crimson Abyss."


    "What? Just because you want to join, do you think it is easy to join? Idiot. There are strict requirements. You won''t get in."


    "Bastard! I am getting in. You won''t get in. Shut up."


    The few yers walking next to Liam were bickering continuously. The entire city was talking about the PVP tower tournament and Crimson Abyss guild. Their poprity had exploded.


    Liam did not pay any attention to these things and continued walking. The first thing he noticed was theck of the several meters tall, sky-high building at the center of the city.


    He stopped in front of the empty space where the tower previously used to be. There were now only a couple of trees in the same spot and empty ground.


    It felt surreal to see such a huge monument disappear. "It really is gone." Liam gaped at the spot.


    PVP tower was a hugendmark for the game where yers honed theirbat skills, and now it was gone just like that. He couldn''t believe it.


    But was it really over? This was a big change in the timeline, and he was responsible for it. Would there really be no repercussions?


    Liam sighed. There was no chance of that. This was going to backfire on him in a big way, maybe. The only thing that was consoling was that¡­ at least the tower master had disappeared.


    From what Liam could tell, with that guy''s personality, he wouldn''t have let him off so easily if he did not have any other choice. So definitely, the guy was injured.


    The soul follower he forged from the tower master was also plenty strong. This meant that the original person became that much weaker.


    However, his enemy was not someone ordinary. He was one of the top figures in this world. He wouldn''t stay weak for too long.


    Liam clenched his fist. He needed to be stronger faster. He needed some answers. He nced onest time at the missing tower and then started walking towards the cksmith association.


    But as he reached the entrance of the building, he suddenly realized something important. He had no idea who that person was.


    Every single time they had met previously, the old man hade for him. He did not even know his name!


    Liam paused and then continued walking inside. Name or no name, he had to find this guy today. He walked over to the receptionist on the ground floor of the association.


    Luckily, there wasn''t much crowd today, and this was because of no other than the same old man. Only Liam knew that he was from the cksmith association. Every yer in the city was searching for the same person somewhere else.


    They had seen the old man attack the tower, so they came to the obvious conclusion that the tower disappeared because of him. Many spected that this was the beginning of a hidden quest and didn''t want to let this opportunity pass.


    Liam walked over to the empty counter and spoke to a thin middle-aged man. However, ten minutes and a few generic descriptionster, the guy chased him away.


    "Master, shall I teach that guy a lesson?" Asura was furious for Liam''s sake.


    "No." Liam shook his head. He then turned around to face the same guy but shed an emblem at him, his Duke status.


    The association assistant''s face immediately changed, and he started listening to Liam''s every beck and call patiently.


    "My Lord, please forgive me. I am really not able to understand whom you are talking about. Maybe one of the elders in the association?"


    Liam asked around the ce for a while, but this seemed like a dead end. It was almost as if this person did not exist.


    "Let''s go. Staying here any longer is not going to give us anything." The cksmith association was a dead end, but Liam knew one other ce where he could enquire about the old man.


    He pulled up the system interface and checked one of his long-standing quests, the soul sword quest. The old guy who gave this quest seemed like he knew the elder, and his current location was at the local tavern.


    If anyone knew about the cksmith elder, it was this person. Liam hurriedly walked over to the tavern and found the person he was looking for sitting in a corner, fully sloshed.


    He was clearly in no mood to talk, but on seeing Liam, he sobered up instantly. "Brat, you finished my master''s sword already?" The person stood up from the chair abruptly in shock, only to be disappointed the next second.


    The sword''s aura was clearly locked. So it couldn''t possibly be finished. He sat back down as if he had lost all interest in talking.


    However, Liam knew how to bring the interest back. He took out the sword for the man to see. "I have managed to break two seals, sir."


    Immediately the old guy''s face brightened up again as he picked up the sword and examined it closely. "Indeed. Indeed. Two seals have been broken."


    "You have done great. I knew you were the right person to protect my master''s legacy." The guy started tearing up, his eyes glistening.


    "Sir, thank you for cing your trust in me. I am here to consult with you about the next seal." Liam exined who he was looking for, and the old guy''s eyes widened.


    "You are searching for ? That old fox is not here in the city at the moment. One second." The man closed his eyes and silently stood still for a few seconds.


    "Yes, he is definitely not here in the city."


    Liam frowned. He hadn''t expected this. Everything about the tower and the tower master was shrouded in mystery. He was hoping to find some answers at least, but the only person who could help him had disappeared.


    He tried asking the guy several questions about where he might be able to find the elder, but everything was a dead end.


    He returned back to the cksmith association to ask around as at least he had a name now, and that also did not lead anywhere.


    Liam and Asura split up as they asked around several NPCs in the city. After sinking about four more hours in this, there was no one else to ask, and they finally gave up.


    It seemed as if this Grandmaster  never existed.

 Chapter 590 Chik.Chik.

    Chapter 590 Chik.Chik.


    Liam stepped out of Yleka city, a little disappointed. If he had gotten to talk to Grandmaster , things would have been a lot easier, but now he had to figure some things out on his own.


    And first, he had to take care of this little furry creature.


    Liam lifted the fox to see that there was no reaction whatsoever. She still seemed to be fast asleep. "I hope you are doing okay in there." He sighed and walked out of the city, calling out to Talon.


    Seraphina, the trainer he had a cordial rtionship with, was in the royal city, so considering that the old man was missing, it was better to take Luna there.


    Both he and Asura climbed on top of the huge bird and rested on his metallic feathers. However, this time he did not sleep.


    Instead, Liam did something else that he should have done a while ago. He looked through all of his system notifications to see if he had missed something significant, especially regarding the PVP tower.


    He patiently read through the list from start to finish with full attention, but¡­


    "Tch. There is absolutely nothing about that damn tournament. How can somethingpletely disappear like that? What about the results?"


    As Liam nced into the vast sky that nketed the kingdom, both beasts and humans alike, he sighed. He then remembered something and pulled out his inventory interface.


    He cracked his head and hands and started going through the numerous inventory slots one after the other. Almost immediately, his eyes widened in shock. There it was!


    In the 69th inventory slot, a pair of daggersid innocently. These were the same legendary daggers that he had picked up from the thief, and they were still there in his inventory.


    This was great news! Even if they did not receive any other reward from the PVP tower, obtaining this single legendary item was almost worth all the risk.


    If only Derek returned back soon¡­ Liam put the daggers away and continued looking when he suddenly found something else familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.


    It was a brawler''s knuckle weapon and a rabbit''s foot neck piece in the 75th and 76th slots.


    Liam was even more shocked as he definitely did not remember picking up these two items. Also, they had to be the same weapons thest guy used in the tournament.


    Liam had indeed picked up several items from the mass murders just now, but what were the chances that some other equipment with the same type was picked up coincidentally?


    His pulse quickened as he hurriedly took out the two items and checked out their superficial description.


    "Legendary¡­ and¡­ legendary!" Just like he thought both the items were indeed legendary rank. They were ditto the same ones thest guy was wearing, but how did they end up in his inventory?


    Liam put them away, deciding to look at them in detailter. For now, he needed to verify something else. These three legendary items were there in his inventory, so maybe other prizes were also added to his inventory?


    There was definitely a big chance for that!


    Liam hurriedlybed through the rest of the inventory slots one after the other, not leaving a single one out. "Come on. Come on. Come on."


    Talon screeched loudly, feeling his master''s excitement. Asura also looked at him in anticipation, sensing that something huge was about to happen.


    As the two of them eyed curiously, Liam sted through his inventory slot to slot. At first, his gaze was expectant, but the next few minutes silently passed, and his gaze slowly turned cold.


    "Damn it."


    Screwed! He was once again screwed by this damned system!


    Only the three legendary items were there. Nothing else was there. Not one reward from the big list of tournament rewards. What a scam!


    There wasn''t even the spirit essence that Liam had hoped would help out Luna. Where were the tournament rewards?


    He closed his eyes and closed the inventory, clenching the item in his hand tightly.


    "Hmmm." Liam then frowned to look at the thing in his hand.


    It was a dull grey-colored crystal. This was the only other thing that had magically appeared in his inventory, but he had no idea what this was.


    He was not able to appraise it properly. When he checked it out, it simply read [Crystal] without any exnation.


    "I definitely don''t remember putting this into my inventory. Maybe I picked it up from the battle loot?" He pondered. This crystal was in no way rted to the PVP tower or the tournament, so this was the only conclusion he coulde to.


    "Asura, do you know what this is?" Liam asked the instructor. Before bing his follower, the guy had served as an NPC, so there was a chance that he might know.


    However, that was also a dead end as Asura shook his head in confusion. "I have never seen that thing, Master."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam let out a deep breath.


    "Well, I guess there is no need to break my head over this. If this is connected to the PVP tower, then I can ask the person probably responsible for tossing this into my inventory."


    "Come out," Liam muttered, and the next second, a cluster of stardust twinkled brilliantly in broad daylight, morphing into a tiny furry creature right in front of him.


    .


    "Hello." Liam didn''t have the heart to talk to this creature as Luna stillid wounded on hisp and the way this little rabbit looked at him was the same way the white fox always eyed him. They both had the same innocent, loving eyes.


    Liam felt a pang of guilt in his heart as he stroked Luna. He then looked at the little rabbit again. "Did you pick up this?" He showed the brawler''s knuckle piece.


    Chik. Chik. The little white rabbit nodded energetically. It had a bright, cute smile and an adorable voice which made even Talon turn back and look for a second. Food?


    However, seeing Liam interact with it seriously, Talon turned away.


    Liam, meanwhile, took out the next item, the neckpiece, the one with the rabbit''s foot. However, the little rabbit didn''t seem to care about that at all.


    Chik. Chik. She again nodded her head.


    "I knew it!" Liam then took out thest item, which was the most mysterious one, as he had absolutely no idea what it was or where he picked it up.


    "What about this?" He asked.


    And surprisingly, this time also¡­


    Chik. Chik. The little rabbit nodded her head again!

 Chapter 591 Wait for me, my Goddess!

    Chapter 591 Wait for me, my Goddess!


    Liam''s heart pounded in excitement as he saw the little furry creature shaking her head again. "Violet, are you sure? Did you pick this one up at the tower? When?"


    Chik Chik Chik Chik


    The rabbit vigorously shook her head again.


    "Hey! I know you can talk! Can you tell me when you took it?"


    Chik Chik Chik Chik


    The cute little bunny smiled adorably without doing anything. Liam tried for five minutes, but in the end, nothing worked out. Not even bribing with food worked out.


    He then smiled helplessly and let her be. The only information that he could gather was that the crystal had something to do with the PVP tower.


    What exactly was it, and what it did needed to be figured out. However, there wasn''t any hurry at the moment, at least about this, because the crystal was in no way reacting to him.


    Liam thought about it for a moment and then ced the crystal back in his inventory space. The royal city wasn''t too far, so he began observing the events outside the city to ensure that it was safe for them and that they were not being tracked.


    Soon they arrived at the grand city. The metallic feathers glided, and Talonnded under a small tree near the city entrance. Liam and Asura hopped off, and the bird immediately flew up again to disappear.


    Thanks to the PVP tower, Yleka city was fully crowded, and royal city streets seemed to be deserted. Only a fraction of yers were roaming around here, visiting the different ces to finish their respective quests.


    Liam and Asurafortably walked on the roads and headed to the beast hall in the central sector of the city.


    The royal city beast hall was much bigger, but only yers with a certain reputation and those above Level 50 were allowed here.


    Liam and Asura walked in without any issues as Liam had both the level and the reputation required even though he didn''t have the hunter ss.


    "Where is Miss Seraphina?" He asked one of the hall assistants, and they were promptly brought to the master trainer.


    "You again!" The loli stood up in rm. She then remembered whom she was talking to and changed her attitude quickly. "Lord Duke! Forgive me, I mistook you for someone else." She awkwardly smiled.


    "Please tell me how I may help you this time."


    "Can we go somewhere private and have a conversation?" Liam calmly asked.


    Seraphina led them to one of the rooms upstairs. Seeing the serious expression on Liam''s face, she was very nervous. "Did something happen to the fox, my Lord?"


    Liam nodded. He then lifted Luna to reveal the small fox. She was sleepingfortably on his hands, looking very weak and fragile.


    It would be difficult for anyone to believe that this was the same fox who had repeatedly thrown herself in danger to protect Liam.


    "My Lord¡­ this¡­" The loli looked shocked. She carefully took Luna in her hands and started examining the beast. However, after a few minutes, only a frown surfaced on her face as she shook her head helplessly.


    "My Lord¡­ please forgive me¡­ I am unable to help you this time as well."


    Seraphina had seen several beasts in her lifetime, but this was the first time she had been left speechless by the same little beast over and over again and again.


    She had also never seen any one beast getting injured in so many mysterious ways.


    She continued staring at the fox and mumbled in contemtion, "Your contracted pet¡­ she is fine superficially, but I think that there is something wrong with her. She is perhaps injured deep inside. That is why she is sleeping like this."


    "She will need some time to heal." Seraphina stroked the fox''s silky fur, which was a bit rough around the edges at the moment.


    Liam sighed, "Is there anything we can do to help her?"


    "I am sorry, My Lord. I am really out of my depth here. Like I told youst time, the royal Grandmaster arrived in the city a few days back. Considering your status, you can maybe pay a visit to him?"


    "Hmmm."


    "He might be able to help you. Otherwise, it is up to the fox when she wakes up. She is very traumatized. She is a young beast, after all." Seraphina added.


    Liam took Luna back from her hands and then snugly held her in his arm. He then thanked the trainer and started heading out.


    However, they did not walk toward the royal pce where this Grandmaster trainer resided. Instead, they were walking out of the city.


    "Master, we are not visiting the Grandmaster? I have heard that they are very capable and have a lot of knowledge." Asura asked.


    Liam simply shook his head. Right now, maybe the obvious choice was to visit that trainer, but he knew that it would be the wrong decision. He needed to be careful with NPCs.


    If the tower master had created this whole tournament production because he coveted his belonging, then what were the chances that the same situation wouldn''t be repeated with this Grandmaster trainer?


    Especially when grandmaster  was out of town, he wanted to be careful with the NPCs. At the same time, Luna''s condition was also questionable.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed and walked out. "I need to help her." He was in a terrible mood because both Derek and Luna were still not out of danger yet.


    He walked out of the city and whistled for Talon, absent-mindedly climbing atop the big bird. However, just as they flew up, Liam suddenly received a system message.


    "Not so fast. Come back down. We need to discuss some things."


    "Hmmm?" Liam frowned and closed the message.


    But another one readily popped up.


    "I know your identity. I know where you live. Youe and meet me right this instant. Otherwise, I will announce everything to the world."


    And the sender of this message was Gu Donghai.


    ¡­.


    ¡­.


    ¡­.


    Meanwhile¡­


    "Yes. Yes. I am sure. That bitch boy will be here." Gu Donghai loudlyughed.


    "Boss¡­ but he is rank1¡­ is it really good to threaten him like this¡­ inside the game?" One of the yers standing next to him asked.


    Gu Donghai immediately sneered. "That''s why I have gotten our whole group and also these guys." He pointed at the group of yers who were standing on the side.


    "Those bastards from the main branch didn''t give us enough back up, but see how I managed to get these idiots. Do you even know our strength right now?"


    "Boss?" The guy widened his eyes in anticipation.


    "He He He. You have no idea. We have five hundred yers on our side, and they are right here. Just seconds away from us. They are all hiding in the dungeon. Do you understand now?"


    "Ah." Theckey hurriedly shook his head. Immediately the other guys standing near them started praising Gu Donghai.


    Gu Donghai would have wanted to stand like the hero that he was gracefully, but unfortunately, he was feeling too weak these days.


    So he cleared his throat and saved his face by quickly sitting down. This time he had another ck panther as a mount, one that looked very simr to the panther which Mei Mei had stolen.


    Sitting on top of that, he haughtily looked around, waiting for his new best friend to appear.


    Time ticked by and soon, almost an hour passed. Now Gu Donghai started getting annoyed. "This bitch is not at all punctual. Wait. I will teach you manners when I am done with you." He harrumphed.


    "Boss, will he even show up?"


    .


    "Of course, he will. His life is in my hands." He arrogantly snorted when suddenly a huge shadow passed them by.


    "Boss! He is here!" Someone shouted. When everyone looked up at the sky, there was a big bird circling them with two men sitting on top.


    And one of the two was unmistakably Liam!


    "There you are. Finally." Gu Donghai sneered. If anyone else was in his ce, they might have missed this chance, but he was smart. He put two and two together instantly.


    He had seen a woman in the group fight. This particr woman was not any ordinary woman. She was the love of his life, guing his heart and mind every second and minute.


    Ever since he had seen her at the restaurant, he couldn''t take his mind off of her. He was at a point where he didn''t see a reason to live unless he had her with him.


    And this person, his woman, was with this bastard!


    After he saw them together and the tournament abruptly ended, he had caught a glimpse of Liam''s face before the disys went out.


    And immediately, it struck him. His goddess was going to be his, all thanks to this idiot. His life waspletely going to change after today.


    "Goddess, wait for me." Gu Donghai rubbed his hands in anticipation.

 Chapter 592 A simple signature

    Chapter 592 A simple signature


    From the top, Liam saw the bunch of guys standing around and gossiping like old wives. They seemed to be in extremely high spirits and wereughing and chatting boisterously.


    Particrly, Gu Donghai was floating on cloud nine. His face was full of smiles, and he was rubbing his hands often as if he couldn''t wait for something.


    Liam''s face twitched on seeing this scene. He had almost forgotten this person but now¡­


    "Get down and kill everyone in sight." Liam''s cold gaze swept over the crowd as he jumped down. They wanted to take him down with just this dozen yers?


    Heh. Time to relieve some tension.


    After him, Asura as well jumped down silently.


    "You called me here?" Liam asked. Though his hands were itching at the moment, he needed some information before eradicating this pest. "Hmmm?" He took a step forward.


    Immediately, some of the yers at the back started trembling. However, Gu Donghai still sported a big smile.


    "Eh? You talk all high and mighty? Is this because we are inside the game? Ha Ha Ha. They don''t know, but I know who you are, idiot. Don''t try to act big in front of me."


    Liam remained calm and did not say anything. He wanted the other party to speak and that was the only reason why he had still not made a move.


    "What? Why are you standing quietly? Ha Ha Ha. You didn''t expect this right? I caught you. You cannot escape my eyes. I am not a fool like the other idiots. I caught you, Liam."


    "But don''t worry. I am here to talk peacefully. As you know we are all from the same area, I have a guild also. We should join our guilds together. All crimson abyss members will be a separate umbre unit."


    "You only have to sign one contract. That is all. Everything will be smooth and easy. Your identity will also not be revealed. Otherwise, you know what will happen right." Gu Donghai loudlyughed, but the next instant he started feeling faint and quickly sat down.


    "Come. Come. Let''s sit and talk." He cleared his throat and drank a little of some potion which strongly smelled like liquor. He then took out a scroll from his inventory.


    "Here sign this first. We can talk about the other thingster."


    Liam took the contract and looked at it. Coincidentally, it was the same contract he had offered Mia and Alex. His lips turned upwards in amusement.


    "You want me to sign this?" He asked. "And if I sign this, you won''t reveal my identity?"


    "Yes." Gu Donghai grinned from ear to ear. He was so close to achieving his dreams.


    "And you want my other guild members to also sign contracts like this?"


    "Yes. Ahem. The wording there might be a bit¡­ you know¡­ but this is just a dumb game. You don''t have to worry about it. The most important point is-"


    But before Gu Donghai could finish saying his piece, Liam suddenly chuckled. He then without any warning lifted the contract in his hands and tore it into two halves.


    "Anything else?"


    "YOU!" Gu Donghai shivered in anger, and then started panting heavily. "You think that this is so simple? You think you can tear up the contract and escape from this?"


    "You sign this while I am still talking to you."


    On the other side, Liam''s grin only widened. "Anything else?" He tossed the torn pieces on the guy''s face and unsheathed his sword.


    "Bitch, I came prepared." Gu Donghai started panting, even more, his chest heaving up and down furiously. In the next instant, several yers appeared out of nowhere. The entire forest was filled with yers.


    "That''s right. I have five hundred yers with me. What do you think you are going to do now? If I want, I can erase you out of existence right this second. Did you think being a ranker makes you special? In front of this army, what are you?"


    Gu Donghai contently watched the shock on Liam''s face. "You have nowhere to run. Stay here and sign the contract. Cough. Cough." He threw another contract in Liam''s face.


    Liam silently stared at the group of yers. He was indeed shocked, not because of this guy but because the yers in front of him were all level 35 and above.


    Moreover, they also didn''t belong to the Jade Mountain guild which was the Gu family guild. It seemed this fatty in front of him held many secrets! How was he going to get it all out of him?


    Just as Liam thought about this, suddenly he remembered something. This was not the only way he could interrogate this person. There was also another way.


    On the other side, Gu Donghai continued bbering away, "What? Got scared? I won''t kill you. From the beginning, all I want is a good coboration."


    Liam smiled. There was no need to hold back anymore. He swung his sword, immediately clearing the four yers standing in front of Gu Donghai and blocking him.


    Blood sshed on the fatty''s face and he shivered. "Can''t you see? I have five hundred yers with me. How do you think that you can win? You are crazy. Just sign the contract. Just sign it and all of this will end."


    However, Liam did not respond to him. He only stepped forward and killed the couple of yers on the right who were shooting arrows at him. More men fell and more blood was spilled.


    Gu Donghai''s eyes reddened. His men were falling like flies. "I have five hundred yers with me! Five hundred! You cannot do anything to me!"


    "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" He panicked and started shouting anxiously. He threw a few of his men in front of him as a meat shield and started running towards the back.


    "Don''t leave anyone alive." Liam sneered. He gave a nce to Asura and then dashed forward, humming lightly. "I am going to enjoy this very much. Thanks for arranging these souls."

 Chapter 593 See you on the other side

    Chapter 593 See you on the other side


    "Souls? What the hell is this loser talking about?" Gu Donghai kept running without turning back. Next to him, left and right attacks were flying, some even almost missing him.


    "Bastards! Watch where you attack! You nearly killed me! Useless! Useless! Utterly useless! I brought five hundred idiots with me! FUCK you all!"


    He went to the back and watched the battle from afar. Everywhere there was blood and carnage. There was only a single person but he was moving through like a tornado through the army.


    Everyone was trying to target him and attack him but the guy''s speed was insane. Everything was easily evaded. Even aoe attacks only backfired. Their melee yers were even more useless. Stupid idiots!


    "Damn it! I spent so many gold coins on this. What a waste!"


    How was this loser so strong? Even five hundred was not enough to deal with this guy?


    When they had met previously in real life, he looked like a good for nothing bitch boy running errands for the two beauties, but inside the game, he waspletely different.


    My five hundred yers¡­ My goddess¡­ Gu Donghai''s head started spinning. He leaned against a tree and took several deep breaths.


    No, five hundred was enough. He calmed down a little bit and turned to look when suddenly he noticed two tornadoes instead of one. Once again he received a shock. What the hell?


    Gu Donghai rubbed his eyes and looked again. There were really two big carnage circles that were sweeping through the army of yers. Who was the second person ughtering his men?


    Only then did he remember the other person who had jumped down along with Liam. "Don''t tell me¡­" He wheezed, "even that guy is powerful¡­ my goddess¡­"


    His dream was getting further and further away from him. How could this be possible?


    Gu Donghai''s head was starting to spin again as he felt very faint. At that time, an idea struck him. What if the dead yers did a sneak attack from the back? That bastard wouldn''t expect that.


    He would be caught off guard. They can bombard him and easily finish this off.


    And then it would be their win!


    Right, right. They have five hundred yers on their side after all.


    They just need to coordinate a little bit. Once the hunters with the [Mark] and the rogues with the [Bull''s eye] target him, then his speed could be slowed down and after that, the long-range yers could attack him.


    Pa! Gu Donghai punched his hand in excitement. "I am a genius! This is the best idea! I will take down that damn guy. My goddess¡­ My goddess.. I ammminnng for youuuuu!" He hurried over to the graveyard, panting and heaving.


    Every now and then he also turned to make sure that Liam was indeed fighting at front and center. There were always two circles of carnage where the yers were being tossed out. "Phew. He is still there. Time to finish this pest."


    Gu Donghai arrived at the nearby graveyard in two minutes. This was a part of his n right from the beginning as his team could die and revive and go back to the fight easily.


    This way Liam would be constantly overwhelmed. He was brilliant after all. So he took care of every little thing.


    "Guys¡­ huff¡­ huff¡­ listen¡­ don''t join the fight yet. Huff. Huff. I have a n." Gu Donghai keeled over and sat down on the ground, unable to stand on his legs anymore. "Let''s gather first¡­ huff¡­ go on the back¡­ huff¡­ then attack."


    His entire body was heaving and trembling from the two minute run he had just done but it was okay.


    Huff. Huff. He didn''t care about that.


    After this hard work, he would be chilling with his goddess, having the time of his life! What was this little bit of hard work? So he strained himself and spat out his big master n in bits and pieces.


    "What the hell? Huff. I am talking to you dumbfucks. Huff. Can you at least respond?"


    However, still there was no response. There was only a deathly still silence. Only his panting sounds could be heard.


    A few more secondster, Gu Donghai''s vision cleared up a little and he finally looked around to see what the dogs he had hired were up to.


    And when he did¡­


    He didn''t see the numerous yers that he expected to find. Instead, he only saw a single guy sitting on a stone b that marked the graveyard. This guy had an amused smile on his face.


    Liam? Gu Donghai''s heart almost stopped.


    How could this person be here and there at the same time? If he was here, then who was there killing everyone? What the hell was happening in this world?


    Seeing the person he wanted to ambush sitting right in front of him like a King, Gu Donghai was livid. GAHHHHH! He shouted in frustration.


    He felt as if he was going crazy. He couldn''t understand anything. Where the hell was everyone? He looked around in a daze. Their men were dying and not respawning?


    And just as he watched, suddenly a figure appeared at the graveyard. However, before that figure could even materialize full, a sword shed and the guy dropped dead on the ground, dropping something.


    He then followed a hand that casually picked up the drop.


    "What¡­ NO¡­ NOO¡­ NOOOOO!" Gu Donghai slumped in utter defeat.


    "He He. Don''t waste your energy shouting like this." Liam chuckled and then added, "I need you alive, well whatever is left of you."


    "What¡­ what¡­ are you saying?" Gu Donghai gulped. He was a sheep standing in front of a wolf. His head was spinning.


    Liam, on the other hand, calmly stood up and walked forward. "Don''t worry, little guy. You will understand everything soon. You will have a special ce in my team."


    "Team?" Gu Donghai gaped with his mouth open. He still did not understand. As he was about to open his mouth again, suddenly his vision blurred and the world darkened.


    "I will see you on the other side."

 Chapter 594 Welcome

    Chapter 594 Wee


    Liam sat down nervously and gave hisplete attention and focus to the soul energy fragments drifting in front of him. This would be the first time he was actually going to forge a human soul from scratch.


    When he had forged Gorak, it was an unusual situation where that idiot had clung to him as a vengeful spirit.


    Crawford''s soul was another special situation where the soul was already weakened to a certain degree and perhaps something else also happened.


    Liam suspected that the old guy tried to remove the soul and send it back to his original body while Liam was trying to pull it away in another direction.


    With the two of them tugging the soul in opposite directions, perhaps it was heavily weakened and torn into half or something like that. At least this was his guess.


    And as for One, Two, and Three, they were all forged from soul fragments of multiple people joined together. So the difficulty in that as well was not too much.


    However, Gu Donghai''s soul was a whole soul and currently, Liam was trying to forge him. This would be different from the other attempts he had done.


    Even though this one as well was weakened because of multiple deaths, the essence was still there. So whenpared to the chickens, lesser dryads, and imps, this one would pose a significant challenge.


    Liam did not dare to underestimate this and made adequate preparations. He summoned Crawford back to him, leaving behind only the Howler demon and the rest of his soul army to wreak havoc back on the battlefield.


    And from the looks of it, they were doing a great job because the respawn point was very busy. Since Crawford arrived, he was chasing and cutting down one yer after another without a break.


    The soul energy from this mass ughter was also nourishing in a way. Liam inhaled and sucked in a big breath of this energy-filled air. "Ok, I will start. This is the best condition to forge."


    In the midst of the numerous souls dying and respawning, he conjured mana hammers and started forging the soul that was struggling in his grasp.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Ah¡­ I am still alive?" Gu Donghai blinked. At first, he was shocked, followed by fear and panic but suddenly he noticed that he was feeling better than he had felt ever before.


    "We won? I knew it. We won. We won." His heart jumped for joy as he thought of the obvious reason for his well being.


    They must have killed the damn guy and taken some treasure from him and given it to him. That must be why he was feeling so good.


    "Ah¡­ I am really touched. I have really nice underlings. I should treat them to some drinks soon." Several thoughts swept past his brain as he continued thinking about random things.


    But suddenly a hand was waving in front of him. He snapped out of his thoughts as a familiar face came into his vision. "Gorak?" Gu Donghai was confused.


    This guy¡­ Wasn''t he dead? What was happening? That too something was just weird about him. He was shimmering in silver light?


    Am I hallucinating? If I hallucinate, it would be about my goddess, why would it be about this bastard?


    New novels chapters are published ?n !


    Just as Gu Donghai lifted his hand to rub his face, he felt something strange. He looked at his hands and then looked at Gorak.


    Maybe looked wasn''t the right word because everything was different. His vision itself was colorless?


    While he continued staring at everything in a daze, suddenly another familiar face came into his vision.


    Aaeck! Gu Donghai instantly shrieked like a little girl.


    "No! No! No! No! Why is this damned bastard here?!! No! No! No!"


    "I am hallucinating! I am definitely hallucinating!" Gu Donghai started panicking. He turned to look at Gorak, his other hallucination when the said person gave him a sympathetic smile. "Wee to the team, buddy."


    Ahhhhhhhh!!!!


    Gu Donghai started screaming even louder.


    "Shut it. Don''t make too much noise." Liam ruffled his head. There were many reasons why he made this guy one of his followers so while he was at it, he decided to get some back up as well.


    He took charge from Crawford and started ughtering the yers who were popping up. Forging Gu Donghai took more effort on his side than he had anticipated, so he was fishing for another appropriate soul.


    Soon he found another one and started forging again. This guy had also died several times so it was convenient to forge him.


    And Liam did not stop there. Another half an hourter, he picked his next target and forged the third guy as well into a soul follower.


    "I will stop for now." He then stood up and while the three new recruits continued frantically panicking, he resumed his hunt.


    Liam silently started massacring at the respawn point one more time. His gaze was cold as he cut down everyone who showed up.


    He also started forging more of the amalgam soul followers every now and then while he was at it. The process was tiring and he was mentally exhausted, but he couldn''t let this rare chance slip by.


    Soon, almost an hour had passed by and Liam still did not stop.


    By now, no more yers were left to fight. Asura, the howler demon, and the other soul followers also returned to the graveyard to stand near Liam.


    And as for the army of five hundred yers, they were currently dying and respawning in repeat.


    If anyone else had seen this sight, they would have been extremely terrified but Liam''s gaze was cold and unwavering.


    To him right now only one thing mattered and just as he cut down another yer, he received that promptly!


    <Ding. You have devoured the souls of a hundred yers>


    <Ding. Unique Quest: Devour the souls of a hundred ispleted>


    <Ding. You have received the skill book [Devour Soul]>

 Chapter 595 Devour Soul

    Chapter 595 Devour Soul


    [Devour Soul]


    Liam stared at the skill book curiously. The book looked like an ancient scripture more than a normal skill book. It was different, weighed heavier with dull decayed type binding.


    This was definitely not an ordinary skill book. After grinding for several hours toplete this quest, it seemed well worth the effort.


    Liam let out a deep breath before opening the book. The item instantly became spots of light and disintegrated.


    Not only that but for the entire next second, Liam''s body also was covered with a golden glow. All the forged souls hanging around nearby turned to stare at him, gaping at him in awe.


    Gu Donghai was livid. This guy was powering up even further?


    Gorak leaned towards him and whispered, "You will get used to it."


    Gu Donghai turned to him in shock. "You can talk?"


    "You can hear me?"


    The two looked as if they wanted to hug it out and cry but it only took Crawford one look to make the both of them freeze up. They silently stood and once again paid attention to Liam.


    Coincidentally, Liam looked equally frozen up. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing.


    [Skill: Devour Soul, Rank: S, Level: 1]


    [On devouring a soul, there is a high chance to gain a skill inscribed on the soul]


    An S rank skill! This was actually an S rank skill!


    Liam did not even know that something like this existed and that it could be obtained by the yers.


    From what transpired in the tower, he got a first-hand glimpse of how powerful an S rank skill could be and now he had actually learned one of such skills!


    "I have to figure out this skill." Liam came to this conclusion. From the description itself, he could see how powerful this skill was.


    If used inside the game, this skill could give him an endless supply of skills, and if he used it outside the game... Just thinking about it made his pulse race.


    This was indeed a truly powerful skill. He needed to master it quickly. Perhaps it could help him even break through further in his legacy.


    Liam silently pondered for a moment. He then turned to look at the Gu familyckeys he had tamed.


    "Now tell me. What do you know?"


    The three of them looked at each other.


    "I don''t have too long to waste with you idiots. Tell me what do you know about me and who all knows about me?"


    No Gu Donghai understood. He had somewhat calmed down now ande to grips with what happened to him. However, there was no way he was going to tell this idiot anything! Hmph!


    But unfortunately for him¡­ the next instant¡­ his mouth opened on its own and he started spilling everything.


    "I know your address and I know that you live with my goddess. I didn''t tell anyone else about this to protect my goddess from the Gu family bastards."


    "Goddess?" Liam chuckled while Gu Donghai begrudgingly stared back at him.


    It looked like Shen Yue''s hold was quite strong. This guy was still infatuated even after he became a soul pawn?


    "Alright. Can you two idiots confirm what he said?" He then asked the two other Gu familyckey souls he had forged.


    Everyone nodded together. Liam interrogated the bunch some more to find out more details. More importantly, he wanted to know how they managed to procure such a big force to attack him.


    "I asked for the government''s help."


    "You did what?"


    "I promised them that they could have the guild. I only need my goddess."


    Liam did not know whether tough or cry. Shen Yue''s effect was truly strong. "Do they know about my details?"


    "No." Gu Donghai answered gritting his teeth. He didn''t want to say any of these and yet, he ended up spilling all the beans. Damn it. He stamped his leg.


    Liam ignored him and dismissed all the soul followers. He was very tired at the moment.


    Constantly forging the souls was very tiring.


    Unlike forging metals, he was not able to do this continuously. He was beginning to feel a little faint and a throbbing ache also spread through the back of his head.


    Liam immediately logged out, after asking Asura, and Talon to head back to the guild residence. They took Luan with them.


    At the other end, the game capsule door opened and Liam stepped out wobbling. He flopped onto the bed nearby and fell into a deep sleep.


    However¡­ that didn''tst long¡­ sweat started trickling down his forehead. He entered a familiar nightmare that he never wanted to face again.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    In a barrennd, devoid of any signs of vegetation, a huge humanoid rhinoceros was running loose. Waves of radiation energy emanated from its body that made all thend the beast touched worthless.


    Buildings were crumbling and thend was dying. Everywhere the beast went death and destruction followed.


    And in front of this beast, under one of the several wreckages, many people were huddled together, all of them shaking and shivering.


    Among them were two youths who looked young but their eyes betrayed the pain and suffering they had seen which was far beyond their age.


    "Liam, we cannot stay here. We need to leave." The first person said.


    "Yes. We need to leave soon." The second person gritted his teeth and said, already looking around to see what were their options. This he was good at. They had to be.


    In this world, if one did not know how to run and hide at the right time and at the right moment, they wouldn''t survive. Not for a second.


    Soon Liam found a slightly big pipe or rather broken air vent through which they could fit themselves. "We can use that and leave from here."


    The other person nodded and the two of them slowly inched closer to the air vent. Liam went in first to scout the escape route.


    The other person did not follow him immediately. He belonged to the hero category so he quickly allowed everyone else to enter first.


    And about a secondter¡­


    Gahhhh! A loud grunt sounded. The beast''s head was locked right onto the small debris. It then sent out a beam thatpletely obliterated everyone in sight.


    Flesh and blood scattered everywhere and Liam panted staring at the spot where his recently acquired friend was resting as ashes.


    He closed his eyes for a second and then continued moving. At this point, there were no more tears or empathy left inside him. He gritted his teeth and continued.


    The rest of them somehow managed to escape the ce but suddenly another figure materialized in front of them. This person¡­ he was strange¡­ he was a human?


    Liam gaped at the man. He was lean, tall, and muscr. On his body, there were several runic marks that glowed bluish silver. His eyes also had the same color. His long white hair fluttered in the wind.


    Perhaps someone had arrived to save them?


    As if answering Liam''s question, the person nced in their direction.


    However, just from that single nce, it was clear. He was not there to help. His eyes were more ferocious and damned than the humanoid beast that had obliterated everyone.


    This person¡­


    Before Liam could take another breath, the figure moved and materialized right in front of him. The next instant, all he could see was red.


    Everyone around him popped like balloons, blood, and flesh sttering everywhere. Bluish white vapors lifted from these bodies and entered the figure, giving him more strength and power.


    He was powerful! So powerful! Liam would give anything to be as powerful as him.


    The blood-covered figure greedily sucked in everything and as for the carnage, he did not spare even a nce. He almost looked as if he had lost any and all rationality he possessed.


    And when everyone else died, his gaze turned to look at thest person alive, Liam.


    The two of them locked eyes when suddenly Liam noticed the obvious. This person standing in front of him was¡­ him?


    Liam felt his head splitting open as he snapped out of the damned nightmare and sat up straight. What was that? His entire body was drenched in sweat.


    Suddenly he felt a cold feeling spread across his body. This cold was chilling. It was making him numb from the inside out.


    Liam was frozen he couldn''t move. His eyes widened in panic as he started to shake and resist but the cold was overpowering.


    What the hell was happening? Was this another dream? He started shaking violently and banging on the wall.


    The freeze was spreading so much that he wasn''t even able to breathe now. It felt as if he was going to die. What the hell was happening?


    "Liam!" Suddenly the door burst room. Shen Yue worriedly ran towards him. "What happened? Are you alright?"

 Chapter 596 Brooooo!

    Chapter 596 Brooooo!


    Shen Yue noticed the state Liam was in and for a second, she did not know what to do. The person in front of her was pale and lifeless. Something felt wrong.


    "Are you okay? Do you need some water? Shall I call the hospital?" She did not even know if he could hear her, but she could no longer simply watch.


    She went closer to hold him and support him and grabbed a water bottle nearby to give him some water. At the same time, her other hand fished for her phone to call for the emergency.


    However, before she could do that a hand shot forward and held her. Shen Yue turned to see Liam looking right at her nkly in a daze. He was no longer shaking or shivering that badly?


    Umm¡­?


    At the other end, Liam finally closed his eyes and tried to breathe. His cold and frozen body was slowly thawing. Heat emanated from the spot Shen Yue touched him.


    The warmth from her hand was slowly spreading across his body and removing the frigidness.


    A secondter he was finally able to get a hold of his emotions. He still did not know what happened. Maybe it was a panic attack from the unusual nightmare? Or maybe¡­


    He let out a deep breath and turned to sit properly on the bed. He then pulled Shen Yue closer to him and hugged her tightly. The woman was like a warm shelter on a cold freezing night.


    He yanked her even closer, making her sit on hisp. Shen Yue was surprised at first but she crossed her legs, wrapping them around him, and hugged him back tightly.


    She buried her face in his shoulder, taking in the familiar scent. All the anxiety, uneasiness, and worry she had been holding in for so long, finally broke loose and tears started spilling from her eyes.


    Liam felt the wetness on his bare skin and sighed, "I am fine now. Don''t worry. I am fine. Thank you." He gently stroked her head.


    Shen Yue nodded silently but she didn''t look up. She just hugged him tightly like she did not want to let him go. Her soft body clung to him.


    Liam felt the long smooth legs lock around him and his hands moved on their own to caress her soft naked thighs. They were incredible to hold and touch and as he did, more heat started spreading.


    In the flow, his hands started going further up, inside the short skirt that the woman was wearing. He felt part of her soft flesh, pinching them as he wished.


    Shen Yue''s body shuddered a little.


    But she did not push him away. She only hugged him even tighter. Liam pulled her away to kiss her lips. "Thank you for caring about me so much."


    Shen Yue waspletely caught off guard and was swept up by the kiss.


    As if she suddenly realized something, she hurriedly pulled away buried in Liam''s shoulder again, wiping her tears hastily. It seemed that she did not want to show her crying face.


    "You look beautiful even if you are crying or smiling." Liam chuckled and patted her. He pulled the girl again and kissed her properly.


    That was right. He had people he cared about. He would never be like that monster he witnessed in his nightmare. He would not lose his mind. He was chasing after power but that was to protect himself and the people he loved.


    His body soonpletely rxed and his hands moved to remove the shirt that was holding him back. Shen Yue blushed furiously but she lifted her arms shyly.


    She was not wearing a bra underneath so Liam could clearly see her enticing body and her curves. "You look beautiful."


    He held her waist and lifted her up to ce the girl down on the bed. He tugged at the other piece of clothing that was hiding her and then did the thing that he should have done a long time ago.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Bro! Bro! What happened? You went offline for six hours?" A loud voice sounded as the door once again sprung open. Rey stood at the door with his jaw on the ground.


    He then quickly closed the door back but he had already caught a glimpse! There was someone else on his brother''s bed! This was huge news!


    He was grinning from ear to ear and quickly pretended as if he had never barged in. A few minutester, a door opened and closed in a hurry. Rey saw someone speeding out of the apartment.


    He snickered and quickly went back to Liam''s room. "Brooooo!"


    Liam was silently sitting on the bed and gazing out the window before he looked at the person shing a big shining smile and giving him a thumbs up. He shook his head helplessly.


    "Did you finish the task I gave you?" He asked the guy without letting him ask the obvious next questions.


    "Ahem." Rey immediately looked away and whistled. "I am almost done, bro. Almost."


    "Alright. Then I will update your sister about this, huh? I will tell Alex that you are almost done?"


    "Bro. Bro. I am really almost done. Please don''t tell her. I am logging back in right now." Rey disappeared even faster than Shen Yue running away from Liam''s room.


    And as soon as he left, Liam''s expression changed. In the empty room, he sat down alone and a cold look appeared on his face. The nightmare that he had experienced was a wake-up call.


    In fact, ever since he faced the tower master, this same thought gued his mind.


    He was strong now. There was no doubt about it. The him from the previous life could have never imagined obtaining this kind of power, but he had achieved it.


    However¡­ the cruel truth was that he was still nowhere as strong as the terrifying monsters that would descend on this world eventually.


    Those were his real opponents now, not the weaklings that would appear at the beginning. The strength he had now was perhaps enough to deal with the first few waves but what aboutter?


    And what if something unpredictable urs and he had to face another supreme being like the tower master? Then he would once again be reduced to the same old weak helpless state.


    No. That can never happen. He needed to change his strategies. From thest fight, this much was abundantly clear.


    He needed to focus on the endgame. He needed to obtain more power. After all, he had died very early in his previous life. He did not want to think of what might have happened after his death. Maybe there were even stronger beings that cameter after.


    And to stand against these truly terrifying opponents, he needed to work on his strength more, the unique skill that he possessed, his soulmancer ss.


    As several ns started forming, his mind was now clearer than ever. He knew exactly what he had to do in thisst phase.


    Liam stood up and took a deep breath. It had really been a long time since he logged out. Maybe the next time he logged out, everything would be different.


    He was engrossed in the ns for thest phase of the game and the future when he inhaled another deep breath of air and did some light stretching. His mind indeed felt sharper and clearer today.


    And as for the reason¡­


    Liam ruffled his hair, thinking if he had gone overboard earlier with Shen Yue. "Should I go and check on her?" He did not want to make her feel awkward so he decided to talk with herter on.


    He drank some water, took a few more deep breaths, and stepped into the game capsule. There was a lot to be done. Liam yawned andid inside.


    Just as his hand reached for the start button, he suddenly froze.


    His eyes widened in shock and his mind spun dizzyingly. In fact, he looked paler than he had before.


    He abruptly stood up, fumbling around, and stepped out of the game capsule without logging back in. He sat down on the bed, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath again.


    Yes, this was it. There was no mistake. This was mana. There was already mana on earth. Just how could this be possible?


    ***** END OF VOLUME4****


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 Chapter 597 Change

    Chapter 597 Change


    Liam shook himself from his train of thoughts andposed his mind and heart. He then once again closed his eyes and took deep steady breaths.


    "No. Not possible."


    He did it again and then again and then again. However, the results were the same. There was mana in the air.


    It was somewhat feeble, stronger than the density present in theher realm but weaker than the one present in the Xion realm. And it was definitely not as strong as the mana that would be presentter on.


    "If this is happening¡­" Liam shuddered as if lightning struck his body. He then jumped out of the bed and ran to his window. He haphazardly flung open the screen and looked outside.


    "No. Nothing." He did not stop there and immediately ran to their patio, looking out through each and every window of their apartment.


    Only then he let out a sigh of relief and flopped to the ground. "So mana is here but the invasion hasn''t started yet? What situation is this?"


    He still couldn''t believe what he was seeing so he tried to move the mana around his body to conjure a small wisp of fire.


    Almost immediately he winced in pain. Clearly, his actual body needed some time to get used to the mana. For now, perhaps all he could do was some breathing exercises to get ustomed faster.


    Liam closed his eyes and silently took a few deep breaths. This was a unique situation that he hadn''t expected.


    He had always assumed that the close of the tutorial and the influx of mana went hand in hand, but now things did not seem so simple.


    "Hmmm¡­" He silently contemted. If mana was already there, the invasions hadn''t yet started, then what about the dungeons? What about the artifacts?


    There were too many things that could be happening at the moment. Among these, there were also certain things that he could take advantage of. This changed everything.


    While Liam was pondering this, suddenly his eyes widened. His soul minions! He was able to use mana, so he should be able to summon them too?


    He took another deep breath and called out. Almost instantly, an army of chickens, rabbits, wolves, bears, and human figures popped out.


    Liam was almost stunned silly by his own minions. He opened and closed his mouth speechlessly. To see them in real life was a tad too overwhelming, but there they were¡­ they were actually right in front of him! Everything was real now!


    And as for their levels¡­


    Liam looked at the strongest of his minions¡­ Crawford.


    "Break that chair there." He said. The undead nodded nkly and walked over to the chair. He then moved his hands at a pace that wasn''t visible to Liam.


    Immediately the chair was broken into two. It was a swift smooth hit. The metal and the wood were crushed as if they were just y.


    There was no system interface at the moment but most probably the levels of his soul minions were still the same.


    Liam gaped at this sight. He silently stared at the small army while they stared back at him. A few seconds of silenceter, Liam fell back andughed like a lunatic.


    "This is good. This is too good. I am going to start this time with a group of overpowered minions. This is just sweet!"


    Seeing him cackle, Gorak and Gu Donghai exchanged nces. The two of them were confused at first and now they understood where they were standing. They were ghosts in real life! What was happening? Where was this world heading to?


    Meanwhile, Liam was busy making his ns. Now that this new game changing event had urred he needed to erase all of his old ns and make new ones.


    Right now in the whole world probably no one realized that something like this had happened. He was the one and only one with this knowledge. So he had to make proper use of it.


    And Liam knew exactly what he had to do. First, he needed to make some arrangements as he did not know how much time they had left.


    Mana was here so the other events might ensue very soon. If he moved alone, he wouldn''t be able to cover the bases properly.


    "Go and get her." Hemanded One. The forged minion directly went over to Shen Yue''s apartment and knocked, followed by a loud shriek the next instant.


    "Liam!" Shen Yue rushed to him in a panic. "What is¡­ what is all of this?" When she arrived, she saw all of his minions and was even more shocked. "What¡­ I¡­"


    She was just as dumbfounded as Liam as she stared at the impossible.


    "Hmmm. I am also not sure why this is happening." Liam exined to her, "but it is happening. So we need to do some preparations. Can you log in and bring everyone out?"


    "Ok." Shen Yue nodded.


    "I am going out now. I will be back soon." Liam tidied himself up and dismissed his soul minions. He then walked out of the apartment. There was something he needed to check.


    Mana was there on earth now. So what about¡­


    He took a cab and went directly to the graveyard on the outskirts of the city. It was a two hour drive but Liam did not waste the time.


    He mediated the whole time, slowly getting his body used to mana. He controlled a small stream of mana steadily and circted it throughout his body.


    By the time he finished three to five rounds, they had already arrived at the destination. Liam paid the guy and stepped down. Almost immediately a thick waft of a familiar scent assaulted him.


    "I was correct." Liam grinned. There was mana, and there was alsoher!


    Clinging to all the rotten corpses lying down in the graves and resting peacefully along with them were small amounts ofher.


    "It is not much, but it is enough." Liam waved his hand and all the bits and pieces ofher loitering around the graveyard instantly shot towards him.


    They clumped together and formed three ck spheres that revolved around him. The thick wisps ofher swirled as if they were alive.


    When Liam touched one of the spheres, the energy instantly thrummed, waiting for him to give themand. Liam instantly knew it. He could feel it. This was the same feeling he had inside the game as well.


    Such control and obedience were only possible if he had an absolute affinity to theher. In the beginning, he was not one hundred percent sure that this would work, but now it seemed like he had already achieved one of his big goals.


    Hisher affinity was off the charts, so the same should apply to all the other affinities. This meant that his bodyposition from inside the game was already transferred outside.


    Liam silently pondered as a frightening possibility cropped up in his mind. What if theposition never had anything to do with the body?


    Only soul rted things transferred to the real world as far as he knew. So one''sposition relied on one''s soul?


    Liam became quiet. The spheres buzzed around him without stopping. Several confounding thoughts shed in his mind, each more bizarre than the previous one.


    However, Liam immediately snapped out of it. This was not the time for that. He needed to take some actions soon and verify some things.


    He waved his hand again and the three spheres became dispersed and invisible, filling the air around him. In the nighttime, no one was able to notice anything weird.


    Liam hurried and called another cab, immediately returning back to the apartment. By now everyone had logged out and the living room was full of people.


    "Brother! What happened? Is everything okay?" Mei Mei was the first one to ask. Shen Yue hadn''t broken the news yet as she did not know how to.


    "I¡­ didn''t say anything yet." She began to exin when Liam interrupted her. "That''s okay." The next second he abruptly pulled all the particles ofher together.


    The three ck spheres once again thrummed alive, revolving around him. They seemed to be floating mid-air just like in the game. Magically.


    Everyone looked shocked. They were all staring at Liam dumbly, even Mia. What the hell was going on now? The hellish tournament had just now gotten over and now there was this? No one understood what was happening.


    And Liam did not stop there. He went ahead and summoned his soul followers as well just a couple of them. With this, everything wasid out in front of the group.


    All of them looked mortified. There were a couple of shrieks from Mei Mei and Rey. Alex''s face was serious. Mia also looked like there was something horrible about to happen.


    However, Liam shook his head and smiled. "Cheer up guys. This is not bad news. This is good news. Come on. We have some work to do."


    Everyone gulped.

 Chapter 598 Error Error Error

    Chapter 598 Error Error Error


    "Bro, are you saying we can actually cast our skills now? Like right here?" Rey was the first one to ask the obvious question.


    "Sure. Try and see." Liam shrugged. The thing was¡­ if it was that easy, they wouldn''t have suffered so much in hisst life.


    Human beings from earth had the worst affinity for mana, with the only exception being a handful of people. Liam looked at Mia who naturally belonged to his handful of people unlike him who had taken the tutorial''s help.


    "You guys should all try to sense mana and use it to cast something. Just try it out." He leaned back, patiently waiting for everyone to get a feel.


    One by one Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and the others tried to close their eyes and see if they could feel the mana or even something out of the ordinary.


    A few seconds passed by and no one could sense anything. Many had constipated looks on their faces as they tried to discern this new presence.


    However, right after 30 seconds¡­ "Ouch." Mia shook her hand with a calm look on her face. "I can feel it." She said.


    Seeing this Liam shook his head helplessly and smiled. Of course, he had already expected this. Probably only she will be able to sense it now. Others would need some help.


    And he had already thought about this and made preparations. "Crawford,e out. You¡­ help them."


    The soul minion nodded and then Liam showed the first candidate to Shen Yue''s apartment. "Huh? Why bro? Right here is fine?" Rey was confused.


    Liam shook his head. "No, you need the privacy."


    Rey still looked confused as he entered the apartment alone with Crawford. This was the girls'' ce so when he entered he curiously looked all around.


    "He He. I wonder if Alex is still messy, which one do you think is her room?" He had only barely finished talking when unexpectedly a punchnded on his back.


    Thwack!


    Rey went tumbling forward. "Yo! What the fuck! You are beating me?" He rubbed his ass and whined, ring at Crawford.


    However, the old ghost was emotionless as he again stepped forward, this timending a kick at another vital area.


    "Hey! Dude! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Rey shouted in pain but the other party mercilessly continued kicking him and punching him.


    Half an hourter¡­


    Rey returned back to Liam''s apartment with several bruises on his body. "Bruhhh" He made a grunting sound and then copsed on the couch. He wanted to ask why he was betrayed like this but he simply did not have the strength.


    He could only look at Liam and then at his sister pitifully. However, the two of them...


    "Good. Next person should go now." Liam casually said.


    As for Alex, she leaned closer and examined her one and only brother, "What do you mean good? Some more could have been done."


    You heartless monsters! Rey silentlymented inside seeing the two jerks having fun on his behalf. Just as he was about to protest even at the cost of his pain, suddenly a warm sensation nudged his skin.


    Rey instantly forgot about all the pain and stood up in shock. "Bro! Bro! I can also sense mana. Very little. Very very little but it''s there. Ai ah ah aahhh aaaahhhh," he then fell back down in pain. Nevertheless, a big smile appeared on his face.


    "So it really works?" Alex licked his lips.


    "Of course. And it''s not random beating. You have to target specific nodes in the body." Liam examined Rey''s hand as he spoke.


    Everyone finally nodded in understanding.


    "How do you know all of this?" Alex as well poked Rey''s bruises.


    "I don''t but luckily for us, our tower master does. You guys can also ask him to execute some basic skills and learn a few things."


    "To get your body ustomed to mana, everyone should do breathing exercises from now on for at least an hour a day after this sparring session," Liam exined. "Among all our to-dos this is the most important."


    Everyone silently listened and tried their best to get a feel for it. In the end, Shen Yue, Rey, Alex, and Mia were the only ones able to achieve this on the first day, first try itself.


    "Alex and Mia¡­ should be because of their high affinity. Rey.. he took the cleansing elixir. But Shen Yue¡­" Liam was surprised. At first, he thought it might be because of a certain reason. However¡­


    "It should be her ss. The effect she had on Gu Donghai was really something." As he thought about it, he couldn''t help but wonder if mana had been present even then. Maybe even before that?


    Liam was thinking about this when he suddenly realized something important. All the natural disasters!


    He never did connect the dots between the two but ever since the game began there had been a lot of earthquakes, and other incidences. Volcanoes that had been dormant for years had be active.


    Could all of this be because of mana?


    He ruffled his hair and decided to not delve into these things. Why and when did not matter at the moment. Only right now mattered.


    "Mia,e here," Liam called the woman who was also silently observing the group. "Take care of things here. I have to leave the city for a bit."


    "You don''t need anyone with you?"


    Liam shook his head. Actually, someone else wouldn''t be too bad but unfortunately, everyone here was too eye-catching. "No, it''s best if I go alone."


    "Ok," Mia nodded.


    "I am only traveling within the country. So it''s good."


    "When will you be back?"


    Liam again shook his head. It was best if he did not return back too soon but once again this could only be ascertained after he checked out his target. "I will be in touch if I need something."


    He then headed inside to pack some things and meditated for a while. After Crawford was done sparring with everyone, he immediately set out.


    His first target was only a train ride away. This was also one of the important reasons, Liam had set up camp here in this city.


    In hisst life, this same spot became everyone''s terror at the beginning butter on, the Gu family used it toe ahead on top.


    And now, he was going to use it and get ahead of the whole world. He felt his blood pumping as he watched the passing scenery on the train.


    Two hourster, the train arrived at the destination. It was a small remote farnd vige that no one had paid attention to before. However, after some days everyone would pay attention to it.


    Liam got down at the train station and started walking out into the vige. A few passersby nced at him wondering what was a new face doing in their vige but Liam kept walking.


    No one knew but his heart was pounding. "Please be there. Please be there." He hummed and walked. He headed out of the vige into the small cluster of trees and wild nts, grown without any restraint.


    "Little brother, don''t go there. There are a lot of mosquitoes and insects there. Some vigers have been bit and all of them ended up suffering from fever and other ailments for weeks."


    "Thank you, sir. I just need some nt samples. I won''t be long. I applied some mosquito repents." Liam awkwardly exined and continued walking.


    The elder didn''t care about it any longer. He clicked his tongue and muttered something about arrogant youth while going back to his own work.


    Liam on the other hand headed deeper and deeper into the wilderness. As he went further in, the number of insects buzzing around him likewise increased.


    "That person was not lying." Liam smashed an inch big mosquito popping the thing like a balloon. Blood sttered everywhere like a crushed capsule.


    "It''s still weak now."


    Though he had crushed one easily just now like an ant, after some days these same things would be reproducing rapidly and taking over entire cities, terrorizing everyone.


    "So the mutation process had also already begun." Liam nodded and continued walking. Right now, there was no one around him so he summoned his soul minions to take care of these pests.


    They were useless at the moment so he did not waste his time with them. His target was further up. Liam marched along with his minions, soon arriving at a huge tree.


    The tree was unnaturally hugepared to the rest of the trees around it, but it was also dead and dry. There were no leaves, only a huge trunk standing tall.


    "This is thendmark." Liam paused. He looked around and suddenly moved 5 feet to the right of the tree. Almost instantly, something threw him back, and¡­ a flickering screen appeared.


    [Ding. Initializing underway. The dungeon is currently not avable. Please try againter.]


    [Ding. A dungeon has been discovered]


    [Ding. Rewarded 10 extra stat points and 10 extra skill points for first discovery]


    [Ding. All experience points gained and dungeon drops are double for the next 12 hours]


    [Ding. Error]


    [Ding. Error]


    [Ding. Error]


    [Ding. Rewards are momentarily paused]


    Liam gaped in utter shock as he dumbfoundedly stared at this flickering screen.

 Chapter 599 Coin collector

    Chapter 599 Coin collector


    Liam stared at the notifications unblinkingly. The dungeons were not yet active. This was something he expected but the surprising part was that he still received the dungeon bonus rewards? This was insane!


    The screen quickly flickered and disappeared just as it had appeared, leaving Liam to wave his hand in the air. "Hmmm¡­ Pause huh? This means I should receive my rewards once the tutorial shuts down?"


    He could already see his stats insanely boosted when the world copses. Everyone would be wondering what was happening, but he would have an unbelievable head start.


    "Heh." Liam grinned. This was not one of the strategies he had nned for but it was simply too good to pass up!


    He immediately began calcting all the possible dungeons he could hit up. After a few minutes, Liam was only able to mark ten locations on the map on his phone.


    "Damn it. I have no idea where the rest are." He let out a sigh. He really only knew the dungeons in this area because hisst life was spent within these boundaries. If he had been stronger, he would have explored more and known more ces.


    "Well, I can''t change that so there is no point in thinking about that." He stood up, dusted his back, and once again continued walking forward instead of returning back to the vige or the train station.


    This was because this dungeon was not the only thing in this zone he came looking for. Liam took another route that led him out of the forest to a small clearing full of agriculturalnds.


    And in the distance, in the midst of these agriculturalnds, there was a small shrine. "Is this the one?" Liam had no idea if he was right or wrong. These memories were unfortunately too vague.


    "It should be here. I saw the group of people fighting over it in this area." He continued walking to the shrine passing through the desertednds that contained lush crops only days away from bing ready to harvest.


    In the future, this area would also be one of the valuable areas for the guilds as thend''s fertility was above average. However, Liam was not interested in purchasing thesends or anything foolish like that.


    After the apocalypse, if he wanted it, he could simply take it. Liam still marked the ce on the map as he arrived at the shrine.


    It was just a small Buddhist shrine. There was nothing special about it.


    The building was barely five feet wide with just a small stone statue inside. However, the thing that he was searching for was¡­


    Liam looked around like a thief and seeing that no one was there, he summoned Crawford out. "Break that."


    The soul minion immediately obeyed him. The stone statue shattered to bits the next instant. The job was done in a second!


    Liam walked forward, rummaged through the rubbles, and soon fished out a small coin. His eyes instantly lit up.


    He rubbed the dirt on the coin and just like he expected it became golden in color.


    "It really is here!" He examined the coin closely, unable to contain the excitement.


    There was no description of the coin or any other notification popping out but Liam knew that this was it. This was because, on the coin, a number was carved, the number 34. This confirmed everything.


    This was the coin he hade here for and he had found it!


    "Lucky coin 34!" Liam gulped. A very simple item that gave plus one luck. Nothing less nothing more.


    However, in hisst life, four guilds had fought with each other for this same coin, losing so many resources and manpower.


    This was because, with only one coin, the luck attribute increased by just one but with two coins this value became four times. If he had three coins, the value would be nine times, and so on.


    Liam knew this because the Gu family had possessed four of these coins after expending quite a lot of effort and now he had simply walked over and taken one for himself.


    So many things were happening at the moment but Liam still couldn''t help smiling at this coin. Having in-game knowledge was one thing but having knowledge of these artifacts¡­ now he was simply cheating.


    With a wide grin, he quickly pocketed the golden coin and then fled the crime scene after dismissing Crawford. Now that he had confirmed these two important points, he needed to do some work.


    Dungeons could be discovered for extra stat points and artifacts already existed!


    This was huge news! Too bad Liam only knew of a few important spots but this was more than good enough to get started.


    He took out his phone and sent a message to the group saying that he would need some more time. Liam then began to leave the small vige to return back to the train station.


    He was browsing through the local map to see if anything jogged his memory and if anything could be a dungeon.


    "The next one should be three stations away, near the old city. Would probably take four more hours by train." Liam did the math and got onto the train for the next location.


    He once again spent the downtime meditating and getting his real body getting more ustomed to mana.


    He was tossing the coin up and down repeatedly as he gazed out the window without thinking about anything in particr. There were too many developments as ofte, some of them good, some of them puzzling.


    Things were slowly getting more and more out of control and Liam could already feel the overwhelming devastating pressure of the guillotine hanging over everyone''s necks.


    Would he really be able to swim and not sink this time around?


    Just as he was thinking about this, the coin in his hand flipped and slipped andnded down on the moving train rolling away from him.


    But before Liam could jump forward and grab the rolling coin, a wisp of shiny stardust appeared as a familiar creature jumped out from him.


    "Violet?" Liam gaped in shock.


    The little rabbit dashed ahead and caught the coin in her mouth and returned back to him all in the span of a fraction of a second. She then again disappeared.


    Liam on the other hand stared at the coin in his hand, his lips curling upwards. When it rains it pours! It seems one more thing was now in his favor!


    This little rabbit could already be summoned out in the real world.


    Just to make sure, Liam called the little thing once again. Instantly, the rabbit appeared on hisp and blinked at him dazedly.


    Her fur was grey in color and her little innocent eyes twinkled like the stars. Her whole body was shimmering with a hazy glow.


    "Violet," Liam muttered as he watched the rabbit nudge against him and rub her head on him asking for attention.


    Liam on the other hand dismissed her immediately. It was far too dangerous to let this little rabbit be seen by others. After all, they were on a public train at the moment even though, Liam''spartment was empty.


    He was also remembered of a certain fox who was still struggling inside the game.


    He had no idea how to deal with that little creature and her injury this time. In fact, every time she got hurt, he waspletely helpless.


    Liam''s smile disappeared. He ced the coin back carefully and again went back to doing his breathing exercises. "Should I really pay a visit to that grandmaster? Is there no other way?"


    He gazed outside the window as the train silently continued zooming forward. About an hourter, an importantndmark arrived, the future base of the Gu family.


    In fact, this whole area was under their control until the news of the ve trading spread, and their guild slowly crumbled from the inside.


    Liam never knew why it happened or what caused it. He had simply run for his life as soon as the guild copsed and the contracts became null and void. Old memories shed past his mind as he reminisced about this.


    "Why did they even set up their base here?" He suddenly wondered gazing at the barrennds that had just a few patches of trees here and there.


    Logically this was a bad spot to set up camp. The best ce would be the city itself like how Liam was currently nning to set up their base.


    Then why did they set up here?


    Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly a thought entered his mind. Perhaps there was a dungeon or artifact here?


    Or maybe there was something special about this ce that allowed the Gu family to shoot up to power so much so that the government here started cooperating with them.


    There were too many possibilities.


    The train soon arrived at the station for this zone and Liam found himself stepping down even though this was not what he had nned for originally.

 Chapter 600 Shock!

    Chapter 600 Shock!


    "I can search here for some time and then head back to the train station to get the next train in a couple of hours."


    Liam arrived at the ce and saw that the size of thend was like a football ground or perhaps double that. It wouldn''t be physically possible for him tob through it to find if anything was hidden.


    He took one look at the ce and decided to go with the alternative. "No one is here. It should be fine." He summoned his soul minions and sat on the side, watching them do the job busily.


    However, even this did not yield any results. After about an hour and a half, Liam had nothing to show for the effort. "What a waste of time." There was still only half an hour more left.


    "Was there really nothing important here? Hmmm¡­" Liam looked at the ce silently and then realized there was one other person he could add to the search party.


    "Violet. See if you find anything interesting here." He called out the rabbit. She seemed to like collecting loot, so he decided to give this a try.


    The rabbit as well excitedly ran around after nodding her head.


    Fifteen more minutes passed by with stardust twinkling here and there. It was nighttime at the moment, so the whole field looked like a small paradise of fireflies.


    Liam almost regretted his decision to let the troublesome rabbit out when suddenly the creature popped up in front of him.


    Chik Chik Chik


    She dropped an object on hisp and then dove inside him, disappearing on her own. Liam dazedly stared, almost unable to believe what he was seeing.


    A small crystal was lying on hisp. This crystal was very simr to the crystal he had obtained inside the game. Even that was picked up by the same rabbit.


    "What is this?" He lifted it closer to his eye and looked at it carefully. "No, it is not the same."


    The crystal in his hand actually had some differences whenpared to the other crystal inside the game. To put it shortly, this one seemed low quality. Perhaps it was nothing? Just some trinket?


    "Well, whatever." He pocketed it silently and dismissed the other soul minions, effectively calling off the entire search party. Nothing else seemed to be here.


    So instead of fishing in the middle of nowhere, he hurried back to the station to reach the destination where he actually knew something existed.


    Once again, he stared at the nothingness as the train chugged along to the small town.


    This wasn''t tooplicated. When the train arrived at the small town, he went to one of the dpidated wells near a monastery and immediately received the notification.


    [Ding. Initializing underway. The dungeon is currently not avable. Please try againter.]


    [Ding. A dungeon has been discovered]


    [Ding. Rewarded 10 extra stat points and 10 extra skill points for first discovery]


    [Ding. All experience points gained and dungeon drops are double for the next 12 hours]


    [Ding. Error]


    [Ding. Error]


    [Ding. Error]


    [Ding. Rewards are momentarily paused]


    The screen again flickered andpletely disappeared before Liam could even read it properly, but it was enough for confirmation.


    "Ok, my job here is done." He did not linger around and headed back to the station. This was already time-consuming, so he tried to get in and out as fast as possible.


    If the whole team could have received bonus points, this trip would have been worth a lot more, but only one person can receive the discovery bonus, so it was just him. Even so, it was still quite a sweet bump.


    Liam hopped onto the train and took out his phone to check his personally made map again. However, a frown immediately appeared on his face.


    "I guess my next destination won''t be so simple?"


    Unlike the remote vige and the small town he had visited, this visit was going to be smack dab in the middle of the city.


    Moreover, the item he was interested in¡­ was exhibited in one of the city''s popr museums.


    Stealing from deserted ces where no one was there around to catch him was a piece of cake but stealing from an actual museum with cameras, security guards, and police was definitely going to be troublesome.


    But Liam had a n. When he stepped out of the train at the next stop, he had fully fleshed out everything from A to Z.


    "Well, if this doesn''t work, things will get tricky." He chuckled and hailed a cab to the museum.


    He was already at thest phase, so a few risks here and there needed to be taken. There was simply no way around it.


    When the cab arrived at the destination, Liam sighed as he adjusted his clothes and entered the museum.


    The city used to be very crowded, especially this museum, but now that everyone was engrossed in the game, very few people were around. This only made his work so much more difficult.


    However, Liam continued with his n. He first walked around the museum casually, leisurely strolling around and taking a look at the exhibits.


    He soon spotted what he hade here for, an old bell with a gem studded onto it. He didn''t care about the bell so much. It was the gem that he wanted.


    The red-colored gem was a precious item that buffed one''s strength and defense by a whole 50 points each. If one possessed this item, they could almost be invincible at the beginning stages. So how could he let this go?


    Liam only nced once at the item of interest and continued walking by as though he was just looking around absent-mindedly. He did not even return to the section.


    He finished hisp, went inside the restroom, and walked out of the museum calmly.


    However, just as he walked out¡­ suddenly loud rms red, emergency lights lit up, and the whole museum began to be swarmed by the security guards.


    The local authorities also arrived within seconds. So much chaos andmotion descended onto the museum, and no one was allowed inside or outside any longer.


    Only the people who were already out were walking away quickly, and among this crowd, there was Liam as well, with a small smile on his face.


    He again did not turn back and went to the park bench nearby. He sat down and closed his eyes, feeling the fresh night air.


    Five minutester, he stood up and walked over to one of the bushes near the entrance of the museum. He then bent down to pick up the item and calmly tossed it into his bag.


    "Hey! Who is that over there? You can''t stand here. The museum is closed today. Get lost." One of the policemen shouted at him, and Liam nodded, quickly walking away.


    Behind him, he could still hear the conversation clearly.


    "What was that? I have never seen anything like that."


    "That was a ghost, I am telling you. Perhaps for the first time in our entire world''s history, we actually captured a ghost on a camera. Isn''t that more valuable than that random bell?"


    "Idiot. What the hell are you talking about? How can a ghost selectively break open a disy case and steal an item? That was just a person in a costume."


    "Oh¡­ what you are saying is also not wrong. Nowadays, thieves have started dressing up in different styles and robbing. Come, let''s keep searching. We sealed all the exits, so the guy must be here somewhere."


    "Ya. We need to catch this guy today." The two policemen continued talking as they checked out the entrance one more time.


    Only Liam knew that they wouldn''t be able to find the culprit no matter where they searched because he had already dismissed Crawford. In reality, it had been a lot easier than he had expected.


    Crawford''s speed and strength were extraordinary. He had finished the task before anyone could blink. With this, even if he had to steal from the real higher-ups, it should be a piece of cake.


    With the bell now in his possession, Liam did not hang around anymore and swiftly returned to the train station. On his route, he hit up a couple more ces, and with that, all the low-level dungeons that he knew were taken care of.


    He had also obtained a chunk of 60 stats points and 60 skill points in total. Or rather, he would obtain it when the apocalypse officiallymences.


    "Ok. Not bad for a day''s work." He yawned and stretched his limbs, sleeping through the return journey. The next day morning, he was back at home again.


    When he walked in, the first thing he saw was the TV loudly reporting the news of the museum theft. Everything these days had been about the recent mysterious video game, so the robbery became a hot topic quickly.


    However, they surprisingly announced that no suspect had been found yet. Apparently, the police were embarrassed to release information about the ghost suspect.


    Liam chuckled and quickly went into his room to get refreshed.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Somewhere else in the world¡­


    A person stood up in shock, staring at the same piece of news. What he had dreamt about had actuallye to fruition!


    This means¡­

 Chapter 601 Departure

    Chapter 601 Departure


    After thinking about it for a while, Liam decided to log back into the game.


    There were still a few things he wanted to check out in the real world. For instance, the ces which were currently being affected by earthquakes and other areas that were being overwhelmed by new changes.


    However, there were also pressing matters that he needed to attend to back inside the game. Luna''s condition was not improving, Derek was still missing and more importantly, he had to deal with his corrupted mana core, the thing that Grandmaster  warned him about.


    Liam did not n to take that warning lightly as the man seemed to genuinely be on his side irrespective of whatever his ulterior motives may be.


    "Liam, how long do you think that will you be away for?" Mia asked. The game at the moment had suddenly be extremely turbulent.


    The news about the various government forces covertly trying to take charge of the game had spread and no one paid any more attention to the ban on the game.


    Though several political leaders exined that they had done this for the safety of the citizens, everyone could see the reality and the truth about the death toll was also leaked to the media.


    Because of all of this several yers began forming their own theories, each wilder than the previous one. One group even strongly advocated that the in-game powers were going toe out and their was going to enter a new era.


    The world immediately criticized this radical group and called them lunatics and conspiratory theorists but inwardly everyone began doubting the same.


    The yer base inside the game had also returned back to its former glory because of these recent developments. There were more yers than ever and all thepanies were starting to dig their heels in the game through sponsorships.


    Mia and her personal team of loyalpany employees analyzed these developments and all of them agreed that the next couple of weeks were going to be the most crucial time for development inside the game.


    With a few strategically ced moves, there was a chance for other smaller guilds to overtake the bigger guilds. Money was flowing into the game endlessly as there were no gold caps. All the real-world cash was being converted into in-game gold coins.


    How was this even possible without the full disclosure about the game and revealing the game''s secrets? No one knew the answer to this question.


    Some people spected that the top ten richest people in the world were secretly running this game but no one knew the truth. Irrespectively, a huge influx of yers entered the game and the atmosphere inside hadpletely changed once again.


    So Mia asked Liam more than once if he was really sure about leaving the Kingdom at the moment at this crucial time. Even her cold indifferent face shows traces of nervousness and anxiety.


    Liam smiled, "I am not going to leave the guild just like that." With that, he took out the pair of daggers from his inventory and gave them to Shen Yue who was silently standing on the side.


    The girl''s eyes instantly widened on seeing these daggers. Legendary weapon!


    Other people also recognized these daggers and gaped in awe. Almost everyone in the core team knew about this weapon by now and they also knew how important these daggers were to the guild.


    "Liam¡­ I¡­" Shen Yue gulped. She couldn''t possibly ept something like this.


    "ept it, sis. What are you waiting for?" Rey grinned. He had a sheepish smile as if he knew something that others did not.


    Hearing him, Shen Yue became bright red. She became even more flustered and held the daggers in her hand as if it was a hot potato that she did not want.


    Liam saw this and shook his head helplessly. He did not intend to put the girl under so much pressure. His intention was in fact the opposite.


    "I am not simply handing these over to you. It is only temporary. I know that you will use them well, but if someone else surpasses you, you would have to give it to them."


    In other words, she had to earn it. Shen Yue now became more at ease. She also had a determined look on her face as she did not want to let Liam down.


    Liam smiled and patted her and then looked at the other sheepishly smiling figure. "Mei Mei, how much have you progressed with your Emerald Crown''s quest?"


    "Brother¡­"


    "Whatever I said to Shen Yue holds true for you as well. If another yer performs better than you, feel free to kiss your crown goodbye."


    "Ah!" The little girl immediately panicked in shock. She clutched her crown tightly, not wanting to let it go under any circumstance.


    She had grown used to the crown so much that she couldn''t even picture herself inside the game without it. With all the ridiculous buffs and regeneration, she absolutely did not want to lose it.


    Shake. Shake. Shake. "Brother, no way. This is mine. I won''t give it." She blurted out and then added with an awkward as met Liam''s stern gaze, "I mean I will work hard, brother. Please."


    "Ok. Then I will leave the guild in both of your hands." Liam chuckled.


    "Our guild should be the only one with two legendary weapons. So use this momentum to our advantage. Only travel in groups and focus on learningbat."


    After addressing the group for some more time, Liam took Alex and Mia to the side and handed over to them the two golems and the bombs he had remaining.


    "It is important that I leave at the moment. Therefore, everything will be in your hands. Keep me updated about Derek''s condition and also my sister and Shen Yue¡­ keep an eye on them."


    Mia silently nodded while Alex rolled her eyes, "You don''t have to tell us. We know."


    "Is that so?" Liam chuckled. It was good to see her back in her former state. "By the way¡­" He filled in Alex about the details of the Kingdom quest and the plot their guild was built on.


    "You gave that idiot a quest like this?" Alex couldn''t believe it.


    Rey felt a chill run down his spine as he could feel his sister''s sharp gaze on him every now and then. "Fuck. I really need to hurry now." He ran away to Yleka city as fast as he could.


    Seeing this Alex shouted, "You better pray that I don''t catch you. How dare you ck on such an important quest?"


    "I am really trying, sis. Aiyaaa." Only Rey''s voice was heard and his figure soon disappeared.


    "Hmph. I will make sure that this quest is handled." Alex answered in confidence.


    "It''s not that. Only nature affinity yers could-" Liam was about to exin when he realized that perhaps there was a way for the divine affinity yers as well to bless thend.


    "Ok. Good luck." He stopped and instead nodded. The two of them prepared to leave thinking that the debriefing was over but Liam still remained on the spot.


    "Anything else?"


    Unexpectedly, Liam took out the three ve contracts in his possession. Seeing this Alex and Mia shuddered as they felt something tug at their soul.


    They stared at him in shock wondering what was he going to do now and why he took these out. Perhaps he did not trust them enough to leave them alone with the guild like this?


    Several confusing thoughts popped up in their mind. There was a tinge of sadness in Mia''s eyes and Alex gritted her teeth and looked away.


    No matter what had happened, this would forever be a sour spot for them as it showed that in the end, this rtionship they had with Liam was very one-sided. They could never be true friends orrades. He simply did not trust them that much.


    "Why you-" Alex opened her mouth but Liam did not let her speak. Without saying anything, he lifted the contracts one by one and tore them apart. Both the women stared at him stunned silly.


    "Liam!" Even Mia became emotional.


    "I am not going to apologize. My circumstances were as such." Liam tore all three contracts without any hesitation. "I hope we can all survive until the end."


    There was a seriousness in his voice that made the two utterly silent. No one said anything as the weight of the future started to sink in. Just what sort of a yeary ahead of them?


    Liam then gave the duo a dozen of the body cleansing elixir bottles he had made. After that, he spoke a few more words of warning and bid farewell to the two and the guild residence.


    Bringing Luna along with him, he hopped onto Talon and disappeared from sight quickly.


    Alex and Mia could only stare dazedly at the spot where he disappeared. For Liam to act like this, the two of them were utterly speechless.


    "Mia, let''s work hard," Alex muttered and the other party nodded.

 Chapter 602 Strolling with the soul army

    Chapter 602 Strolling with the soul army


    "It''s just us three now, Talon. Just like how we started." Liam''s gaze swept over the sleeping fox in his hand as he absent-mindedly muttered.


    Screee¡­ Screee¡­ The huge bird pped its metallic wings and craned its neck up to agree with him.


    But Liam chuckled. That statement was wrong. He looked at the howler demon staring at him sitting beside him. The creature made him ufortable when he stared too long into its eyes. It was as if he was looking into bottomless nothingness.


    Liam banged his forehead with his palm and snapped himself out of the trance. He stopped staring at the demon and instead looked over at the vast endless horizon.


    That was right. They were crossing the kingdom boundary for the first time. This path was covered with powerful creatures so he had to be careful.


    Liam had chosen to do this through the western boundary of the Kingdom as the barbarians were the easiest to handle in his opinion.


    The northern and the southern terrain were extremely unfavorable and he also did not know what creatures dwelled there. From what he knew from his previous life, there were several level 100 beasts in the region.


    He did not know more specifics than that but he knew that a Level 100 beast should not be underestimated. In hisst life, a couple of guilds had tried to raid these beasts but they were wiped out instantly.


    The amount of mana these creaturesmanded was on apletely different level. Their strength, power, and attacks could not bepared to the lower-level yers.


    So Liam as well did not dare take that route. As it was he did not know how much more time he had left in the tutorial. With everything going on in the real world and in the game world, all he might have is a couple of weeks or so.


    Hence, thisst stretch of tutorial time had to be used very carefully. He did not want to take risks and he did not want to focus on unimportant things.


    Past thend of barbarians were the elven kingdoms and his goal was to reach there.


    As the afternoon sun dipped lower and lower, the nket of night spread all around. Talon arrived at the border of the Kingdom, near the necromancer''s hideout where Liam had previously spent a lot of his timebing through the ce.


    "Drop me here, big guy." Liam patted the bird. Talon bobbed his head and then elegantly glided down tond on a clear patch of grasnd, one of the few in the densely packed forest.


    "From here on out, I think it''s best if I leave by myself. Take care. Return back to the guild residence and help others if they need you."


    Screee. Screee. Talon rubbed his head against Liam, gave a nce at the fox in his hand, and then once again soared into the sky.


    Though traveling by air would reduce the overall time taken, it was far too risky and would make them vulnerable to ambushes, so Liam decided to send Talon back and continue the rest of the way by foot.


    But of course, he was not traveling alone. He immediately waved his hand, summoning the small army of soul minions.


    Liam gazed at the bunch and they were leveling up quite nicely. Even the rabbits and chickens were around Level 30 at the moment.


    But it was nowhere enough.


    "I need to give you guys more attention," Liam muttered to himself. After the fight with the tower master, he had already decided to pay his ss a lot more focus and time.


    Each of his soul minions was technically a treasure that he could take from the game and use in the real world. Every single one of them could be forged into strong warriors.


    So now that he obtained the mana core he wanted, this was the most important thing he had to do. "Let''s clear all the mobs on the way. Don''t leave anything out." Liammanded.


    The group moved through the forest taking down all the smaller mobs. With Crawford taking charge, they were progressing a lot faster than usual. They even went out of the way to clear some of the mobs.


    With Liam at the center of the circle, the group of soul minions spread themselves along the radius and took out all the opponents they met.


    Liam as well enjoyed the constant influx of experience points.


    At first, it was less efficient for him to share his experience points with these many followers but now that everyone was almost pulling their weight, he was starting to see the results.


    It was still not as effective as when he would have hunted down these mobs by himself. However, he now had the free time to focus on other things.


    After the PVP tower incident, not only had he gained insight into controlling soul and soul fragments better but he also had obtained a few insights into the soul forging process itself.


    Liam whistled and called back two of the soul minions, two chickens. The birds immediately jogged over to him tirelessly. Their soul bodies were as pristinely clean as ever and their eyescked any emotion. They simply waited for Liam''smand.


    However, unexpectedly Liam did not say anything. Instead, he condensed the two into their respective soul beads, and with each of his hands, he controlled each of the beads.


    Liam closed his eyes andpletely focused on these two small beads.


    Soul bead was nothing but extremely concentrated soul energy. So he could feel the opposing and attracting forces within the beads which held together the entire soul.


    He could very clearly feel it.


    Forging souls like this without allowing them to dissipate was against the natural order. So they were constantly trying to burst open and attain that equilibrium.


    Liam had worked so hard to forge them with mana precisely because of this very reason.


    Now even if he tinkered with them a little, this delicate bnce would break open and the entire soul would copse and dissipate.


    However, at the moment Liam nned to do exactly that. He wanted to burst open these two soul beads.

 Chapter 603 Transformation

    Chapter 603 Transformation


    Liam gritted his teeth, focused on the two beadspletely, and then in one swift motion, he sent more mana into the soul beads, therebypletely distorting them and undoing all of his forging efforts.


    The next instant the two beads popped open like paint pellets spraying soul energy everywhere, but before the essence of the two souls could dissipate, Liam hurriedly caught hold of these two energy bundles.


    He then once again pulled them together and started forging them, but this time instead of forging them into two different soul beads, he merged them together and started forging them as one.


    This way the resulting beast would bepletely reborn with stronger soul energy and better attributes? This was just a hunch Liam had so he attempted using the chicken souls.


    He had thought about this before too but it seemed impossible. However, that changed after seeing the tower master''s soul split into two. If a soul could be split into two, then two souls could bebined together?


    The chances of failure were too still high but Liam decided to give it a try anyway. Even if it fails he wasn''t going to lose much. He summoned the mana hammers and started forging the two souls together forcefully.


    Surprisingly, it did not take too long. Just after a few minutes, Liam felt the two souls merge together without any issue, and when he condensed the whole thing into a single soul bead, the soul fragments easily obeyed him.


    His maniption and control of the soul particles had increased by leaps and bounds whenpared to the first time he had forged something.


    <sub></sub>


    Another couple of minutester, a notification arrived as well.


    <Ding. Soul forging sessful>


    When the bead expanded and the new soul shed in front of him, Liam almost couldn''t believe his eyes.


    The chicken standing in front of him was double the size of a normal chicken. It also had two heads. Not just that the beast looked much stronger and studier than a normal chicken.


    If he had to be more specific, then this would be an elite-rank chicken.


    Liam opened up the stats for the double-headed chicken when he suddenly received another notification.


    <Ding. You have learned a new skill - Soul Transmutation>


    <Soul Transmutation: Forge two or more souls or other items together into an entirely new type of soul; The forged soul has the chance of gaining additional attributes and abilities>


    <Ding. You have now acquired 60% of the Legacy>


    Liam stared at this notification in shock. He actually gained a new skill. This was good. This experiment was a sess. He grinned in satisfaction and next called over two rabbits. He wanted to practice this skill more and understand itpletely.


    "Hmmm¡­ The skill description mentioned two or more souls or items. Does this mean I can also forge items along with souls?" Liam silently pondered as he started tinkering with the two rabbit soul minions.


    This was a big clue he had received so he wanted to analyze it properly. Somehow taking bits and pieces of inspiration from here and there, he had managed to acquire 60% of the legacy. Now only 40% was left.


    What would happen if theplete legacy was acquired? Just the thought made Liam restless with excitement. Soon! He would achieve it soon!


    As they were, the chickens and rabbits were too weak even if they were level 30, so Liam started with them first and started forging two and three souls of these weaker beasts together.


    It looked like a chicken and a rabbit could not be forged together. The souls became far too chaotic and dissipated, but he still managed to forge three chickens together and three rabbits together.


    This resulting beast was much stronger than the one obtained after forging two souls. Liam immediately tried to forge four souls together but once again that resulted in failure. So for now it looked like he would only be able to forge three souls together.


    Liam spent a few hours training with these smaller beasts when he finally decided to take a break. In front of him, there were five chickens and five rabbits in total. However, these were not ordinary beasts.


    All the chickens had three heads and the rabbits had three tails. They were bigger and strongerpared to the normal chicken and rabbits and three of the five chicken elites also gained a new ability, [Hurricane Peck].


    The damage this skill dealt was quite significant especially if the attack happened to ur at a vital point.


    The rabbits also were no less. Two out of the five rabbits gained a new skill [Bleed Bite] and one of the remaining rabbits gained another skill [Death Kick].


    Overall, Liam was satisfied with this batch. More importantly, this was still a work in progress.


    By now he was sure that he could condense these souls back to the bead form any time he wanted and forge them again and again, over and over. So in the future, he might even be able to make these beasts stronger.


    "Ok. That''s enough. I have spent a lot of time in this area. Now we should test out what damage you guys can do." Liam stood up and stretched his limbs.


    The group once again started moving toward the border of the Kingdom and not long after they finally ran into the first group of barbarians!


    Liam looked at the group of sturdy thick bulky beings with slightly orcish features and grinned. "Time to test the newly forged minions. Go and get them."


    Almost instantly, the group of soul minions swarmed the barbarians. There were only six barbarians in the group.


    With Crawford swiftly dealing with four of them, the others took care of the rest. Within a few seconds, the group was already gone, vanished into nothingness.


    Only a few drops of equipment remained on the ground and they were promptly brought over to Liam.


    Everything was over in a minute. This was way too easy, but they were still on the outside.


    Once they enter the enemy territory then there was going to be much bigger trouble, more barbarians and this was what Liam was looking forward to as well!

 Chapter 604 The way in

    Chapter 604 The way in


    After encountering the first group of barbarians, Liam and the soul gang came across a few more groups. Surprisingly all of them were lower leveled so the minions took care of them withplete ease.


    Liam also used this chance to forge a new set of minions, the barbarians. These guys had a strong physical build and were naturallybat oriented so even if their level was low, they were performing better than many other minions.


    "Higher beings are higher beings." Liam clicked his tongue as he observed the new additions. He had managed to forge five whole barbarians, preserving their souls perfectly.


    Their forging difficulty was at par with human soul forging so this process was very time consuming. This was his main limiting factor at the moment.


    Since he was currently in enemy territory he couldn''t freely set up camp and do as he pleased. If a horde of barbarians swarmed him then it would be game over.


    Another big issue at the moment was that he was basically going in blind. Liam had no idea what the map on the other side looked like and what he would be facing when he stepped into the next territory.


    So far he had yed it safe because he had the knowledge from his previous life but now, he was winging it. There was no other way. He had to take this risk.


    "Should I just go through the middle?" He paused at the fork. Basically now would be the time to decide if he was going straight or right or left.


    Logically right down the middle would be the riskiest option because he would then have to travel through the barbarians'' territory. Left or right was better as he could perhaps sneak through the northern or southern borders.


    <sub></sub>


    But at the same time, there could be stronger opponents here for this exact same reason to prevent trespassers like him.


    "Hmmm." Liam thought about this for a minute and then took out something from his inventory. It was an old map torn at the edges and the second reason why he was traveling to the elvennds.


    This map was none other than the ''treasure map'' he had obtained from the three-headed raven in the beginner''s dungeon. Of course, now he knew better.


    Just like the amazing PVP tower tournament with bountiful rewards, this treasure map was also probably a honey trap. He was definitely walking into danger. There was no doubt about it.


    But Liam still decided to go through with it because¡­ when the apocalypse eventually descends on earth and he stood tall as a powerful force, what would happen if instead he was attacked by a bunch of ravens?


    All of his buffs, his hard work, his soul army, everything would be a waste and he would end up getting skewered by a bunch of ravens. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.


    The map was also a ''bind to user'' item so he couldn''t even drop it. He really had no other choice. He had to do this quest or find another way to remove this damned curse once and for all.


    "Treasure map huh? Show me what you got." Liam opened up the old scroll andid it t on the ground. He had looked at it earlier as well but it didn''t show anything then.


    However, now he was standing at the border of the barbarians'' territory. He had a hunch that the map might show something now. Since the quest was forced to this extent, there was a good possibility.


    And just like he expected, when he opened the map on the ground, the system interface opened up and the world map shed in front of him.


    And surprisingly, this time it was not empty. Veins started sprouting on the map and soon he had an almostplete picture of the area he was currently standing on.


    "So you are telling me how to go in¡­" Liam''s gaze turned cold. The map was surely luring him to a trap but right now he needed its help to safely cross the barbarians'' territory into the elven territory past it.


    He checked out the new paths that appeared before him and they were rather detailed. Immediately Liam was relieved that he checked the map.


    Both the northern and the middle parts were chalked full of barbarian settlements. Only the south was rtively empty. There were only a few sparsely located settlements. So it would be the easiest to travel through this region.


    <sub> .</sub>


    Liam noted down all the significantndmarks and then finally stepped forward taking the path that lead to the south. For a few miles, it was smooth sailing, but soon the forests started to grow thicker and thicker.


    Once in a while, Liam also heard loud noisesing from afar. Something did not feel right. He immediately stopped moving and looked around to find a burrow. He then ced Luna inside it and entered stealth to go ahead and scout the area.


    It was extremely difficult to maintain stealth in the dense forest as several little details gave away his position. Even if he was very careful, a twig snapped every now and then because of him.


    Luckily for him, the ce seemed to be deserted. Just as Liam was about to turn around, he suddenly heard a loud voice.


    Not too far away from him, a few barbarians were casually walking by. They were chatting andughing boisterously, everyone in some sort of celebratory mood.


    When Liam looked closer, his eyes slightly widened. The group was not alone. They were roughly dragging along a few elven women on the ground by holding their hair.


    The elves were all looking ragged and half-dead. However, surprisingly none of them were shrieking or crying out for help. They had nk indifferent expressions on their face as if they had already checked out of this world.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam pondered over this situation. Clearly, the bunch of elves in front of him had been taken into captivity. The question was whether he should rescue them or not?


    And no matter how he thought about this, in this case, rescuing them seemed to be the better option.


    Not because he wanted to help them out of the kindness of his heart but because he did not want to let this golden opportunity slip by.


    If he rescued these elves, then he would have a valid reason to travel to the elven territory. He could know more details about the best route to that zone and perhaps he would also be able to meet them on friendlier terms.


    "Yup, this is my ticket into thend of elves." Liam silently stood still for a minute and then stepped forward, deciding to take action. His gaze sharpened as he followed the group of barbarians from a distance and observed them carefully.


    Just from seeing them afar, he could tell that these guys were not as weak as the ones he had faced earlier. This group of barbarians was strong.


    He moved a little closer and he was able to see their levels. Almost instantly, Liam was shocked. Everyone in front of him was at least Level 70. The strongest one was almost level 80.


    Nope. If he gets caught in this group at the moment, he would definitely be done for.


    He waited and watched from the shadows to observe more first. Perhaps an opportunity would present itself. The group continued happily cheering and came to a clearing in the forest.


    The bunch of them tossed the women in the center and all took deep energetic breaths in anticipation of the feast that was about toe.


    But right at this exact moment, one of the barbarians cursed out loud. "Fuck! This bitch is cockblocking me on purpose!"


    His voice was gruff and burly but he undoubtedly spoke in the samenguage of humans, perhaps a dialect as some of the pronunciations were different. Thankfully, Liam was able to grasp the gist of it.


    "You three morons, did you not finish the task properly? The boss is calling us back."


    "UGHH! I did it just fine. Why are we always stuck on clean up duty anyways?"


    The group started arguing loudly after that and Liam could no longer make out what they were saying. A few secondster, four among the five left the clearing in a huff leaving behind the single barbarian to guard the elven women.


    Liam grinned. His window of opportunity was here.


    But he did not take any risks. He waited some more time until he was very sure that the group had walked away to a safe distance.


    Unfortunately, the guard dog did not stay still until then and already started viting one of the elven women.


    The barbarian was deep inside the elf, rocking back and forth and his eyes closed in ecstasy when suddenly a group of soul minions pounced on him from all directions.

 Chapter 605 You are naive

    Chapter 605 You are naive


    "What? Graaaa¡­. Who are you?" The barbarian was quite sturdy but he was caught off guard by the mini army, overwhelmed by the sheer number of minions.


    Hisrge body as well worked against him as everyone targeted him quite easily. On one side, the two mutated chickens were drilling into him with their hurricane peck. On the other side, the rabbits were kicking him relentlessly.


    Fireballs were flying in from the imps and lesser dryads. The bears were mming him down. The wolves and the hounds were tearing him apart at the seams.


    As if this was not enough, Crawford was doing an insane amount of damage with each of his attacks. The whole fight once againsted only for a few seconds and the barbarian went down in a jiffy.


    At thest moment, his eyes found out, and stared back at Liam indignantly as the body fell onto the ground disappearing soon after.


    The elven women stared dazedly at this sight and at the weird entities present in front of them, not knowing what they were or what was happening?


    And suddenly these entities started moving again. Each one of them started dragging or lifting the women hurriedly. The look on the elves'' faces changed slightly as they wondered if they were going to the fire from the frying pan.


    However, one woman aloneughed loudly. "You are still hiding? You must be pretty cowardly."


    In the distance, Liam''s eyes instantly widened. Was she talking about him? She could sense him? But he still stayed put.


    He did not care less about the elf taunting him. What he cared about was the barbarians returning back with an even bigger backup.


    Luckily, that didn''t happen and all the women were safely brought to a distance from their original campsite to the spot where he had ced Luna in the small burrow.


    Liam then continued to further move some distance away, almost back to the Gresh Kingdom border, and only then he stopped.


    Just as he was wondering if this was far enough, the same elven woman taunted him again. "Ha Ha Ha. Are you feeling safe now?"


    Liam frowned. Has this one gone nuts? However, when he looked at the talkative elf he paused for a moment. Those were not the eyes of someone who had given up or was checked out.


    What he saw was a pair of bloodthirsty eyes. And as for the elf''s level, he couldn''t see it.


    Earlier he had ignored this thinking that they were normal viger NPCs but now he couldn''t make the same assumption. ''Hmmm¡­ Who are these women?''


    They did not seem to be mere damsels in distress. The situation was definitely moreplicated than that.


    He looked at the talkative one and patiently asked, "I am only trying to help. How much ever I can. What happened? Can you give me more information?"


    The elfughed again. "Why? It''s pointless. Now you are also going to die with us." She sneered. "Oh, that''s not true. You sound like a human being. You can save yourself. Tuck your tail, turn right here, and run back to yournds. You will be safe there¡­ for now. Ha Ha Ha."


    Liam''s face twitched. "I cannot help you if you don''t give me more details." He looked at the other women hoping one of the others would talk but they were all silent.


    Only this one was opening her mouth even if it was just tough. He waited for a few more minutes and nothing changed. "Ok. It looks like you don''t want my help. Then I will be on my way."


    He picked up Luna and turned around as if he was really going to do that. At least now someone should panic and ask him for help?


    However, all he still heard was the same self-deprecatingugh. Now it was starting to piss him off.


    Liam clenched his fist in anger and started really walking away when the elven woman''s voice feebly sounded.


    <sub></sub>


    "Don''t act all high and mighty as if you genuinely want to help us. I saw you. Hiding in the bushes. You don''t care about us. You just want to use us. Ha Ha Ha. How are you any different than those beasts?"


    Liam frowned. Now that the cat was out of the bag, he also did not hide it. "Yes, I need your help too. I never said that I didn''t. I have to meet someone in the elven kingdom and I have no idea how to reach there crossing the barbarians."


    He stopped and looked back at the sneering elf, "So how about we help each other out? We can travel together and cross this ce."


    "Ha Ha Ha¡­ Ha Ha Ha¡­ How naive¡­ Ha Ha Ha."


    Liam sighed. "You are wasting my time and yours. If I am naive, then tell me why. Educate me, your highness."


    "Bah! I am no princess. I am a cavalry unit leader." The woman scoffed, taking a lot of pride in her position.


    Oh! Now Liam understood. This group of elves probably all belonged to the same unit. No wonder they remained unfazed even when they were about to be tortured.


    "Then how are you here? In this state?" He slowly probed. Hearing him, for the first time, the elven woman did notugh anymore and a serious look appeared on her face.


    "The barbarians are making a move. Soon there will be a war between the elves and the barbarians. There is too much bad blood. Things are about to escte."


    "And I¡­ I need to inform this¡­" The elf gritted her teeth in anger.


    "Human, I am notughing at you. I really wish that you were capable of helping us, but it''s impossible. We cannot cross thosends."


    "Maybe if we still had our strength but those animals deprived us of that first. We are now useless even more so than you. There is no hope. We are going to die here. If you want to help us, use your sword and give us all honorable deaths and be on your way."


    Liam''s gaze dragged onto the elven woman who imed to be the cavalry unit leader. She did not seem to be lying or joking this time.


    He remained silent for a few minutes before finally responding to her, "So I am not strong enough? That can be changed. How much stronger do I need to be? Hmm?"


    <sub></sub>


    For the first time, the elven woman looked shocked. She stared at the cocky human in front of her. How arrogant! How boastful!


    But when she looked at him, she could tell that the person meant business. There was something about the guy which made her want to trust him. It was a gut feeling.


    Ha Ha Ha Ha! Sheughed loudly once again. "Brat, you have a death wish. Fine, I will humor you. How much stronger you ask? Strength two times your own is required. Can you do it? Ha Ha Ha Ha."


    <Ding. New Quest Chain Avable>


    <Ding. Part1 - Gain ten levels>


    <Ding. Reward: Trust of the elven soldier Lyana>


    <Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N>


    Liam was shocked but he quickly epted it. ''This quest definitely smells like a chain quest leading me to the elvennds.'' He thought to himself.


    He had heard about quests that enabled safe travel from one territory to the other but he did not think that he would stumble upon one.


    Perhaps the first person to attempt to cross the borders would stumble upon this quest. Either way, the why did not matter so much, now that he had obtained this quest, he needed to see it through and get to the other side safely. Except that the quest seemed to have a level requirement.


    Level 60 huh? Should be doable. Time for some power leveling!

 Chapter 606 There are no shortcuts

    Chapter 606 There are no shortcuts


    Before getting started, Liam first checked with the elven woman who gave him the quest. "Is there any specific region nearby that can help me be stronger quickly?"


    Unexpectedly, the woman started lecturing him, "Hmm? What are you asking? It is not wise to rely on shortcuts to improve your strength. Only patience and hard work will be rewarded."


    With a sigh, Liam ruffled his head and slipped away. It looked like he had no other choice. He needed to do some hard-mode grinding.


    He had some spots in mind but they were all still within the Gresh kingdom border. So he did not want to leave his ticket to the elvennds alone here.


    "Would you like to spend some time in the human kingdom while I increase my strength?"


    The elven woman was once again shocked. Why was this human still talking so arrogantly as if this was something that was bound to happen?


    She did not like his overconfidence one bit. However, for now, she decided to go along with him. Not because she thought that this man would amount to something but because this would give her some time to heal.


    The five elves ended up silently following Liam as he walked back into the Gresh Kingdom. They did not have to walk for long as soon Liam stopped near a ravine. "You can set up camp here and rest for some time."


    He took out some food and gave the elves. Immediately after that, he dove into the ravine without any exnation and disappeared. The elf''s eyes widened.


    He is going to enter the dungeon alone? Her gaze sparkled with interest as he watched the waters curiously.


    When Liam appeared again, he was inside an underground cave through which the same ravine was still running turbulently. He was standing on awork of rocky passages above the water body.


    <Ding. You have entered the dungeon Wailing Ravine>


    <Ding. Warning! Warning! Warning! The minimum rmended number of yers for this dungeon is 5 and the minimum rmended level is 50>


    Liam grinned and casually swiped the notifications away. He then ced Luna down on the rocky surface and summoned his party members for the dungeon raid.


    Instantly, Crawford, Gorak, Gu Donghai, and the rest of the army descended onto the dungeon.


    "What dungeon is this?" Both Gorak and Gu Donghai looked around. They looked at Liam in envy seeing how he was progressing so fast. However, the two quickly got to work as they felt a chill on their back. "That damned old guy. How the hell did he end up as this loser''s ything?"


    As the group became alert, the first mob was here. A group of beasts jumped from the water towards them. When looked closely, these were big flying fishes with multiple rows of dangerously sharp teeth. Their speed and strength were rming.


    Liam immediately summoned the howler demon as well, letting Crawford and the demon take charge while he stood back with the other minions to get the bigger picture.


    However, he did not n to remain idle. He churned his mana core and sent out fireballs one after another. Each of them was strong, powerful, and packed with a punch.


    Along with this, as and when the cooldown wore off, he also cast [Ring of Fire]. He was yet to grasp the technique behind these bigger spells so Liam practiced with them whenever he could.


    His damage output was still several times better than Crawford and the howler demon though all three of them were about the same level.


    With Crawford, the howler demon, and Liam included three of them were level 50 and above, only two were missing as per the minimum requirement of the dungeon.


    Moreover, Liam alone was dealing damage equal to three yersbined together. So they did not get overwhelmed. The first mob was taken care of smoothly and Liam received a bunch of notifications.


    <Ding. 50 experience points received>


    <Ding. 50 experience points received>


    <Ding. 50 experience points received>


    <Ding. 50 experience points received>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Pitiful!" Liam clicked his tongue. This was the only drawback of grinding experience points with a big group. He only received a portion of it.


    The bunch of fish dropped some metallic scales which were crafting items so Liam took those and ced them inside his inventory. He then signaled the group to stop and did not move forward.


    "This is too slow." Liam sat on the rocky surface and sized up his minions. There were still a lot of weak minions in the group.


    The overall number was good but they were not strong enough. So the fight wasn''t too efficient and the experience points split was inconvenient.


    Not to mention if they faced a strong boss, then the weaker minions in the group would be quickly wiped out and if they continued to get wiped out every now and then, they would forever disappear.


    This would be extremely wasteful. Logically, it would be better to have a few stronger minions than several weaker minions. After a moment, Liam examined the stats of the three-headed chicken.


    <Name: Chicken1>


    <Type: Undead>


    <Level: 39>


    <Health: 3100>


    <Mana: N/A>


    <Strength: 35>


    <Agility: 31>


    <Magic Defense: 14>


    <Special Skill: Hurricane Peck>


    <sub></sub>


    "There is a significant level bump when I join two souls together¡­" This was something Liam had noticed previously and now he couldn''t help but think about it.


    After a few minutes, he shook his head and decided to go for it. "In the long run, this should save a lot of time."


    Liam settled at the entrance of the dungeon and started to work. Leaving aside the elite chickens and rabbits, his focus was on the wolves and the hounds this time.


    The hounds had aher attribute while the wolves did not have any attribute specifically. Sobining these two could possibly create a powerful elite with aher attribute. The only question was theirpatibility.


    He had lost three chickens and three rabbits when he tried to forge them together. "Hmmm¡­ these two should bepatible¡­" Liam murmured looking at the two undead and then began to work.


    If they were notpatible then he would simply lose one set of minions. This much he had to risk. He busied himself inside the dungeon and soon a few minutester¡­


    <Ding. Soul Forging Sessful>


    <Ding. New Soul Undead Follower is summoned>


    In front of Liam, a huge gnarly hound stood, its eyes viciously staring at him. This beast looked a lot tougher and stronger whenpared to either the hound or the wolf.


    "Impressive. What is your level big guy?" Liam hurriedly pulled up the status screen to take a look.

 Chapter 607 Reforged Army!

    Chapter 607 Reforged Army!


    [Name: Wolfhound 1


    Type: Undead


    Level: 43


    Health: 4500


    Mana: 500/1000


    Nether: 0/1500


    Strength: 53


    Agility: 56


    Physical Defense: 80


    Magic Defense: 18


    Special Skill: Wind de; Nether de; Nether Wind de; Alpha]


    Liam stared at the beast''s description in shock. His eyes particrly couldn''t believe the special skill list he was seeing. The wolfhoundbo in front of him could actually cast a dual element attack?


    "Wind de, Nether de, and Nether Wind de," he read the names of the skills again. "So wind element andher arepatible." Liam had no idea how tobine these two.


    He had only barely achievedbining his swordy with an elemental attack. He was still too far frombining two elements together. However, the beast in front of him could simply innately do that.


    There was also the new skill alpha. "Gives a 5% buff to its pack members. I see." Liam chuckled as he patted the wolf that looked like a hound or rather the hound that looked like a wolf? He scratched his chin as he couldn''t make up his mind.


    From one angle it looked like a wolf and from the other angle it looked like a hound, but no matter what the beast was terror-inducing. Its feral eyes could drill fear into the enemies.


    "Alright. Well, good enough." Liam sent back the new soul minion satisfied with this progress. "I am on the right track." This was the type of minion worth grooming and sharing his experience points with.


    The three-headed chickens and monster rabbits that were standing arrogantly up until now immediately made way for the new boss as they moved aside for the wolfhound.


    "Not bad. Not bad at all. Let me make a couple more of these." Liam once again called over another dire wolf and a hellhound and started the forging process all over again.


    Time ticked by and an hourter, three wolfhounds stood majestically side by side. However, only two out of the three had special skills.


    That too, the second wolf had a different set of skills [Nether w], [Wind w]. From the looks of it, it was not capable of casting the dual element skill yet. It also did not have the [Alpha] skill.


    The third one as well was rather ordinary as it had only [Nether Bite] though all the three new wolfhound versions were Level 40 and above with overall improved stats.


    Seeing this, Liam decided to move on from thisbo to his next target¡­ one of the spiked mountain bears and a dire wolf walked forward.


    He immediately closed his eyes and visualized a bear wolf, a werewolf with a bear head and it seemed to make sense, so perhaps they would bepatible?


    "Well whatever, I will just give it a try."


    A few minutester¡­ a huge bear stood on its hind legs, its body elegant and muscr. The head was that of a bear but its body was muscr and lean like a wolf''s.


    Its stats were once again better than a normal spiked mountain bear''s stats, with the same high physical defense. In fact, the physical defense was even higher whenpared to a live one.


    "Sess!" Liam was excited. "Level 48!" This was his best creation yet. Encouraged by the continuous positive results, a maddened look appeared on his face and he started going all out.


    The next few hours passed by in this manner. The entire dungeon resounded with forging sounds and not a single second was wasted as the various souls began to bebined in different manners.


    In the end, there were all sorts of soul creatures hanging around on the rocks, some of which Liam did not think would bepatible at all.


    There were¡­ Bearwolves, Bearhounds, Werewolves, Werehounds, Bearmen, Werebarbarians, Bearbarbarians.


    On the side, Gorak, Gu Donghai, and the four otherckeys from the Gu family were standing and trembling. At first, Liam was only experimenting with beasts but then he startedbining the souls of men and beasts.


    The group was worried sick when it would be their turn and if they would finally lose all of their identity, truly die and be the guy''s puppets. However, until the end, their turn never seemed to arrive.


    The group thanked their lucky stars, sighing in relief, as they watched Liam stand up, "This is enough for now." He cracked his neck as his gaze fell on this exact group.


    Everyone shivered but Liam smiled at the bunch. Of course, he was purposefully keeping them intact. He also did not touch Crawford and some of the barbarians.


    This was because he still had a use for them. Once that was done¡­ all the experience points they were swallowing would be put to good use.


    Liam gave the group another nce and then ignored them once again to examine his newer creations.


    All of them without any exception were Level 40 and above and their stats were extremely impressive. Compared to before, this was a huge improvement.


    Apart from this Liam had learned two important things. The first one was that almost all of the soul minions had a high physical defense but they had a lower magic defense.


    It did not matter what species they were. All the soul minions shared this low magic defense property. So Liam concluded that this was a weakness of his soul minions. They were more vulnerable to magic attacks.


    The second point was that almost any two minions werepatible except when it involved the very low-rankmon beasts like chickens and rabbits.


    So when the higher beings were involved,patibility did not seem like an issue at all. This surprised him the most as he had made the opposite assumption earlier.


    "I will think about thister." Liam finished hisp around the minions. There were now only about forty minions but each and every one of them was strong and sturdy.


    "Heh. Time to start the dungeon run again."

 Chapter 608 First Clear

    Chapter 608 First Clear


    With the new soul minions, the dungeon run began progressing a lot smoother. Wailing Ravine dungeon mainly had fish-type monsters in various shapes and sizes and the main threat was the number of these minions.


    Normally, guilds would struggle to get through this dungeon because the difficulty varied depending upon the size of the guild party raiding the dungeon. If someone used a bigger party to tackle the bigger mobs, then mob size would further increase.


    But Liam''s case waspletely different. He was technically only a single yer so the difficulty of the dungeon was at the lowest level and the mob size was also manageable. So the dungeon was easier than usual as the group ughtered their way through it.


    With the number of minions reduced now, Liam was also getting a lot more experience points, at least in triple digits. More than that, it was impossible to obtain. This was also one of the weak points of the ss, but something that could be easily solved.


    Though the shared experience points were painful, the speed of the dungeon run definitely made up for it. In the span of a few seconds, the group was at the first boss.


    It was a giant flying fish that hovered in the air. It opened its mouth to send some attacks but unfortunately, it didn''t get the chance as Liam fried with [Sizzling Volcano] followed by a [Dark Cutter].


    When the boss finished dealing with the two attacks, the other minions started pummeling it and without ever getting a chance to demonstrate any of its strong moves, the boss wailed for thest time before dropping dead.


    After the first boss, the wailing mechanics part of the dungeon started as everyone was subjected to constant wailing sounds from the special structure of the dungeon as well as the weird type of fishes that were present in the ravine.


    However, they had chosen the wrong party to target. Wailing or not, the soul minions couldn''t care less. It did not affect them at all.


    The main mechanics and headache the other yers would face while running this dungeon fell on deaf ears as the undead continued marching on forward.


    Soon, the second boss, the third boss, and the fourth boss fell and the end of the dungeon notifications sounded loud one after the other.


    [Ding. You are the first to clear ''Wailing Ravine'' on normal difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history]


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on normal difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on normal difficulty.]


    Liam also received a lumpsum of experience points for the dungeon clear which was again shared between his minions.


    Thankfully, at least the experience points gained were decent because it was a level-appropriate dungeon. He dismissed all of the soul minions and then walked out of the dungeon with the resting fox still in his hand.


    Ssh. Liam appeared at the other side of the ravine, above the ground.


    The five elven women sitting on the bank of the ravine immediately turned to look at him, but it was only a nce. The women then went about resting as they did not pay him any attention.


    After all, the man had spent several hours, almost an entire day in the dungeon but there was only a small minute increase in his strength. It wasn''t even visible.


    When was this person going to be stronger and when was he going to rescue them and send them back to their elven kingdom? Everything was clearly wishful thinking.


    Even the cavalry unit leader sighed in disappointment shaking her head. "Nothing special." She turned to look at the vast sky above which extended without any end in sight. It seems their stay in the human kingdom would also be like that.


    Liam, on the other hand, was looking seriously at his status screen and doing some calctions.


    From level 50 to 60, to cross each level he needed about 10 million experience points. The next jump came at 60 when he would need 15 million experience points to cross level 60 to 70.


    And right now from a single dungeon run after sharing exp with forty of his minions, he was barely getting 10000 experience points.


    This meant that for the 10 million experience points he had to run this dungeon¡­ a thousand times!


    Liam found himself oddly amused by the old-fashioned grind and looked forward to it. Though it was repetitive, his leveling speed at the moment was actually faster than when he was relying on the demon garrison. Except that now he had to put in the effort.


    Liam grinned as he ducked down back into the dungeon again.


    While higher difficulty modes had a lock on the number of times one could run a dungeon, the normal difficulty mode did not have anything like that.


    So it was time to shut off the brain and go into grind mode for the next few hours. The elves also seemed to be doing fine so without any care he started the big grind.


    <Ding. You have entered the dungeon Wailing Ravine>


    <Ding. Warning! Warning! Warning! The minimum rmended number of yers for this dungeon is 5 and the minimum rmended level is 50>


    The notifications chimed in loudly for the second time and just like before Liam ignored it and started the fight. He let one of the chickens hold Luna at the back and he stood at the forefront.


    While he was grinding he might as well multi-task. Leaving Crawford and the howler demon to do damage, Liam tanked the fight drawing full aggro onto himself.


    But he did not use any special tanking skills. He simply forced the attention of the beast he was facing by doing the maximum damage.


    Big fireballs flew left and right leaving behind dead fried monstrous fish and the water currents sizzled with lightning attacks. The flying fish might as well be fruit flies as Liam roasted them all ruthlessly.

 Chapter 609 How strong is he?

    Chapter 609 How strong is he?


    After Liam disappeared into the ravine again, Lyana listlessly looked at the gurgling waters wondering what the future held for them in this human kingdom. Perhaps they had to hide their identity as elves and live here forever like refugees?


    As she dazedly became engrossed in her thoughts, all of a sudden rippling movements appeared in the water without any warning.


    Lyana immediately became alert and prepared to hide in case there was any beast that had caught their scent when unexpectedly¡­ another person appeared in the ravine.


    This was the same person who had been there just a few minutes ago and now he was back? Did he not run the dungeon? Was there some issue?


    Lyana curiously looked at the human at the same time, her body hurriedly standing up from the grassynd. "What happened?" She asked.


    Hmmm? Liam on the other hand was confused by her question. "Nothing?" He shrugged and once again dove back into the dungeon.


    The elf watched his figure disappear once again and blinked. She dazedly stared at the spot for a couple of minutes.


    Perhaps the human returned because he was overwhelmed by the dungeon and ran away? But why did he immediately go back again? He should have rested and then attempted the dungeon againter. What was the rush?


    At the pace he was going, it was not like he was going to improve his strength in a couple of days. So why not conserve energy and train in a bnced manner? Just what sort of a person did not even know the basics like this?


    Her gaze turned judgemental as she once again began sizing up the human being whom she had only just met. Perhaps it was a mistake to follow this fool out here.


    Just as she was about to think of other things which she could possibly do, Liam''s tall figure appeared once again. His armor shone with multiple water droplet coating the metal and he took a deep breath before diving in again.


    "Hey! Wait!" Lyana called out but it was toote. The person went into the dungeon again? Such foolishness and stupidity! She was angry. She was now very angry.


    She stomped her feet and walked closer to the ravine, wanting to give the guy a piece of her mind when he inevitably turns up again in the next few minutes.


    Of course, he was going to turn up. For the first run, somehow he had managed after struggling for so many hours and now for the second run, the guy was simply unable to do it.


    "Idiot." She scolded him as she tapped her fingers on her elbow and waited. Not long after, like clockwork, Liam appeared once again.


    Lyana this time became so angry that she raised her hand without any exnation meaning tond a p on Liam''s face for wasting their time and giving them hope.


    But the elven woman did not have any strength at the moment so how could she manage to do such a thing? Liam quickly caught the slender pale arm that wasing at him.


    He saw the prideful eyes of the elf ring at him and wondered what he had done to anger this one. "Ahem? Care to exin yourself?" He asked.


    Moreover, his voice sounded very impatient which made the elf even angrier. "Why are you-" She began to shout at him when suddenly she noticed something strange.


    This person¡­ this person standing in front of her¡­ his strength had improved?


    At first, it wasn''t noticeable but now, she could clearly sense it. He had definitely progressed but how? And what was this speed?


    Anger turned into surprise which then turned into shock as she continued staring at Liam in awe.


    Liam frowned. He was in a rhythm and this elf was disrupting him. "Do you need more food? Do you need anything else?" He let go of her hand and asked her again.


    This time the elf responded. She dazedly shook her head. Those things, she did not need it. What she needed was an exnation. Just how powerful was this person in front of her?


    She thought back to the time when he had saved them from the barbarian''s grasp but things had happened too fast and until now she did not know how exactly he had saved them.


    But at the moment, that seemed to be the crucial question. Could she really depend on this person?


    She silently walked over to the side of the ravine no longer hindering Liam when he popped in and out numerous times. She sat on the bank and observed the man tirelessly, keeping count of his appearances and disappearances.


    Hours passed by and this continued without stopping. The man trained relentlessly. What seemed earlier like foolishness now seemed awe-inspiring.


    The other elves also noticed this by now and all of them had simr expressions as they continued watching Liam in awe. Slowly but surely his strength was improving.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­ in other parts of the Xion realm¡­


    The several yers and the numerous guilds were only just now recovering from the shock of the PVP tower tournament, and the disappearance of the tower itself.


    The craze revolving around the damn tower had also finally calmed down and all the guilds started pouring their focus into obtaining sponsorships from variouspanies and big corporations.


    Now that the government had unofficially removed the ban on ying the game and just called it a warning for those who wanted to y, more and more yers jumped back into the game.


    The rat race began again and the various guilds startedpeting once more. Everyone simply decided to forget about the tower incident.


    On the other hand, they couldn''t easily forget about Crimson Abyss. To everyone in the Gresh Kingdom, that guild was like a thorn in their path. They had to take it down in order to im the number one spot.


    But how was one supposed to do this?


    In this kind of atmosphere, a new Kingdom announcement and realm announcement rolled in silently without any warning.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~


    Please thank Mountain of Books for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 610 Tagged

    Chapter 610 Tagged


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on normal difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on normal difficulty.]


    "Liam is still here?" Mia looked at the notifications as her usually cold gaze showed signs of concern. She knew that the person was traveling out of the kingdom so she couldn''t help but wonder what made him turn around.


    "This is¡­ " Alex also stared in amazement. "Level 50 dungeon? And he soloed it? Look at this. There are no other party member names. That means he soloed it right? How did he solo a level 50 dungeon?"


    Liam was clearly taking no effort in hiding his strength. The two of them looked at each other and nodded in silent understanding. They needed to hasten their efforts as well. Otherwise, they would be left behind in the dust.


    Both Alex and Mia were currently in the divine temple city, fishing for quests. They closed the system notifications and hurriedly continued with their work.


    The other core members of the Crimson Abyss guild also had simr reactions.


    However, several others saw the same notification and for many of them, this was basically a reminder about Liam''s current location. The only problem was¡­


    By now the location of almost all dungeons in the various kingdoms was avable on the inte so everyone knew where exactly this was.


    Liam was deep in the Level 50 to Level 70 zone and it was not possible for anyone to ambush him easily.


    While the other guilds begrudgingly dropped the notion of hunting him down near the high-level area, one particr person looked at this with interest.


    "Anya, we need to make a trip. Fast."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­ back at the border of the Gresh Kingdom¡­


    Liam sat down on the banks of the ravine beside the elven women as hebed through the loot. There were four mounts of loot piled on the banks.


    Most of them were fish parts but there were also other noteworthy items, like leg guards and quick boots. He switched out the ones that had better stats, handed over his minions some weapons to use, and after a few minutes was finally done.


    "Damn. Has it really been only six hours?" He bit into a piece of roasted meat, courtesy of Shen Yue which if Luna was awake would have jumped onto immediately.


    "This grind is still too slow." Liam sighed.


    Lyana, sitting near him, bitterly smiled at this response. If she had strength like this¡­ then she would have never gotten herself into this predicament in the first ce.


    But what was this still enough to deal with the barbarians? That was something that couldn''t be determined at the moment. She shook her head helplessly.


    "What are you thinking about?" Liam asked and the elf once again shook her head.


    She did not want to break the human''s confidence at the moment. Maybe when he improves his level, he would really have a chance to go up against those monsters.


    Liam looked at her with a puzzled expression but he was short on time at the moment. So he once again resumed his dungeon farming spree.


    Soon a couple more hours passed and he decided to take another break before attempting the higher-difficulty modes of the same dungeon.


    He might have run the normal difficulty modes repeatedly but it would be foolish to underestimate the adventure mode and the nightmare mode of the dungeon.


    There were definitely some preparations required.


    Liam stood up and adjusted his gear one more time. He then distributed some gear to his soul minions as well. Not everything was working and looked like cloth gear with the least weight was the mostpatible.


    This took some time and then Liam remembered something else that he should have probably been using from the get-go.


    That''s right, he also had the two other legendary items. He could equip both of them right now and with these, the higher difficulty modes should be a lot easier, well provided that there were no hidden requirements.


    Liam hurriedly took out the rabbit''s foot neckpiece and the brawler''s knuckles. Both the items shone with a golden luster making the elves nearby open their mouths wide.


    After the tournament, he had been preupied with so many important things that he hadn''t even had the chance to examine these two items yet.


    "Let''s see what you can give me." Liam pulled up the system interface to check out the two items.


    [Ding]


    [zing Sun Knuckles]


    [Rating: Legendary, Level 1]


    Liam immediately rejoiced. This meant that he could equip it. He quickly looked below to see the detailed stats. Immediately, he was shocked.


    This was because unlike Mei Mei''s Emerald Crown or Shen Yue''s daggers, this one did not bump up any of his stats or give him additional health or mana.


    There was only one skill and it seemed to be doing something else entirely.


    [Passive Skill: For every elemental wispmanded, add half a stack of arcane to the attack. Every stack of arcane has a 1% chance to multiply the magic damage a hundredfold.]


    Liam stared at the description. He read and re-read the notification but there was no doubt about it.


    This was an item that could insta kill someone with a single attack if they managed to generate just the right number of elemental wisps.


    The requirement was that one needed to master the control of elements but if one were to do that, then this item would boost their power tremendously.


    This was it. This was how a legendary item tilted the game in a yer''s favor. Such an item could determine victory and loss, life and death single-handedly.


    And he had not one, but two of the said godly items. Liam took a deep breath and then looked at the next item''s description. Surprisingly, this one was even shorter than thest one.


    [Ding]


    [Yvette''s Lost Ne]


    [Rating: Legendary, Level 1]


    [Passive Skill:...]

 Chapter 611 Corrupted

    Chapter 611 Corrupted


    [Ding]


    [Yvette''s Lost Ne]


    [Rating: Legendary, Level 1]


    [Passive Skill: For every five enemies surrounding, gain an additional 5% boost in all attributes]


    [Yvette loved her pet rabbit very much. The rabbit protected her from grave danger thereby dying in the process. So Yvette made a ne out of the rabbit''s feet to always stay with her as a protective charm]


    "This is¡­" Liam gasped. At first, this might look like a weak skill but when the number of enemies increases, the real strength of the skill woulde into the picture.


    And for what he was doing at the moment, this particr neckpiece was a good item to have.


    Liam quickly equipped both items. "Not bad." He threw a few punches in the air, trying to collect elemental wisps. However, this was easier said than done.


    It looked like it would require some practice. And right now since he was mindlessly grinding, this was the perfect time to practice.


    Taking another two swings, Liam thought of something crucial that was still missing. "In Mei Mei''s Crown, there was a clear requirement for leveling up the item. What about these two?" He looked at his knuckles in deep thought.


    The problem with legendary items was that these were powerful, game-changing items to have inside the game but that was about it. They were only godly inside the game. They couldn''t even be brought outside the game.


    In hisst life, there was a rumor going around that the Gu family also possessed a secret legendary item but in the end, they did not manage to bring it outside.


    So after seeing Anya sh her emerald crown both inside and outside the game, everyone from the Gu family was burning with jealousy.


    In this lifetime, Liam did not want this same thing to repeat. They had three legendary items in their guild so they had to figure out how to bring these items outside to the real world.


    "It definitely has to do something with the leveling up." Liam silently stared at his knuckles for a few seconds and then nodded. "Perhaps this one will increase in level if I managed to gather more wisps?"


    The more he thought about it, this made sense. As for the rabbit''s foot ne, the only conclusion he could reach was that he needed to fight bigger mobs more.


    Perhaps when he triggers the passive skill enough times or if he fought against several enemies on his own, the neckpiece would unlock and go to Level 2.


    However, these were just conjectures at the moment. He needed to try out some things to confirm these theories.


    "Alright. Time to attempt the adventure mode." Liam walked into the ravine, entering the waters along with his soul minions.


    As he did, he could feel the fiery gaze of the elves on his back. In fact, he noticed that they had been watching him keenly ever since he summoned the soul minions.


    It didn''t look like it but he had observed each and every one of their reactions. Some were of disgust and some were of fear, but no one acted out. They only showed their emotions subtly before hiding it.


    "So the elves don''t like necromancers huh." Liam smiled and suddenly turned to look at the elven ring leader. Lyana felt a chill sweep across her body as she quickly bent her head down.


    Liam chuckled. Sooner orter, they were going to witness his minions fighting with the barbarians so what was the point in hiding from them now?


    He did not care if they were disgusted by him or looked down on him. They could do that all they want as long as the cooperation was smooth. Besides, even if they did not want to corporate, he always had other methods to get information from them.


    "I will be going in then." Liam chuckled and entered the dungeon. He gave the elf another meaningful nce before entering the depths.


    On the side, Lyana dazedly stared at the man''s disappearing back. In the shallow waters of the ravine, his tall figure was no longer visible. Only then she sighed in relief, but still there was hesitation in her eyes.


    Now she understood where Liam''s power and indomitable strength wereing from. He had disyed everything right in front of them. Every single one of the vile creatures was put on for show.


    "Leader, he is corrupted. We-" One of the elven women began to say something but Lyana quickly interrupted her. "No need. Don''t say anything now."


    Not just her but all of them had seen Liam take out the soul army. They were not fools. They could see that Liam was able tomand the undead, several of them.


    The elves were against this as they considered themselves beings of nature. Anything that went against the natural flow of things was considered sphemy.


    But at the same time, this was the person who had rescued them.


    Without this person, they would be caught between the greedy humans and the bloodthirsty barbarians. However, they could also not ignore a corrupted person.


    "We will not make a decision for now. Let''s wait." Lyana muttered in contemtion.


    She was not naive enough to think that every corrupted person was evil but evil came in all shapes and sizes. This person particrly¡­ was very ruthless.


    Sigh. She let out another deep breath. Evil or not, at this time, they needed this person''s help. Especially at the speed at which his strength was improving¡­ they might really be able to go back¡­


    While the group of elves silently contemted various things, inside the undergroundwork of rocks and water, Liam started the new dungeon run.


    In the adventure mode, the mobs were bigger and fasterpared to the normal mode. The fishes jumped out of the water in droves, making both Liam and the undead extremely busy.


    Though the fight this time was more intense, the swarm of undeads dealt with all the mobs easily. The added gear and the constantly flowing in experience points also helped as several of the undeads leveled up making the fight easier.

 Chapter 612 Definitely getting him today

    Chapter 612 Definitely getting him today


    Several miles away from the dungeon''s location¡­


    "Come on. Come on. Faster. At this rate, we are going to lose them." A chubby huntermanded his pets in a hurry.


    "Madan, I don''t see any point in this. He is only going to kill us." A tall blonde scoffed. While the two of them continued to argue, two more notifications rolled in.


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on the adventure difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on the adventure difficulty.]


    "Fuck! Already? He is going to leave for sure now. He is soloing the dungeon runs and he definitely won''t solo the hard mode. Damn it. Damn it. We are going to lose him." Madan cursed out loud.


    "And that is your biggest worry? What about how he is soloing the dungeons?" Anya sighed tiredly. It was tiresome to talk to idiots.


    The group tried to rush but no matter how much they tried, they only managed to reach the area a few more minutester. And by then the next announcement also already arrived.


    [DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on the nightmare difficulty.]


    [DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Wailing Ravine dungeon'' on the nightmare difficulty.]


    Everyone stopped in their tracks in shock. This was the notification for the nightmare level? That monster also soloed the nightmare difficulty mode?


    "That''s it. He cleared the hell mode also. Now he definitely won''t be there." Madan spat out in a huff.


    "What are you bbering about? That guy is soloing a Level 50 dungeon. This is a bad idea. Let''s go back." Anya frowned.


    Perhaps because they were in a high-level zone, she felt as if she was constantly being watched from all directions. Because of this and the fact that she was skeptical right from the beginning, she did not want to continue with this.


    However, Madan still firmly nodded. "This time, we need to settle the scores. We are definitely getting him today." He had a determined look on his face.


    They were almost there so he increased his pace and finally a few more minutester the group arrived at the ''Wailing Ravine'' dungeon.


    "Huff. Huff. Huff." Madan panted as he looked around. Unfortunately for him, there was not a soul in sight. "Damn it." He gritted his teeth in frustration.


    "I told you so." Anya immediately scoffed.


    "Dear sister, you told me shit."


    "Shut up. I told you that this was a bad idea from the beginning."


    Madan shook his head helplessly with a sigh. This was already a lost cause from the beginning and he was too tired to argue with the Russian bitch at the moment. So he simply gave up. "Fine. Fine. Let''s just leave."


    "Hmph." Anya scoffed.


    The group turned around when suddenly a person appeared in front of them out of thin air. "Leaving so soon?" Liam looked at the hunter who stood on the spotpletely frozen.


    "What happened? These days you seem to be cking quite a bit. You did not even check for the presence of stealth yers around?"


    "Tch. Tch. If you continue to be careless like this, this game will swallow you whole." Liam smirked but his gaze was cold and his sword was drawn.


    The other party also had a simr reaction as they red back at him.


    Seeing this, the five elven women on the side wondered what was happening. Lyana in particr was tense.


    Though everyone here was human, the two sides were ring at each other as if they had a blood feud between them.


    What was happening? Who were these new people? Was there going to be a dangerous battle taking ce? The elf was a war veteran so she could clearly see everyone''s defensive body signs.


    Lyana''s gaze flickered with interest as she mentally prepared to escape and run away in case of danger.


    However, weirdly almost an entire minute passed by and no one was making any move. Now the elves started getting confused. The two were ring at each other but they were not fighting?


    Just as they were thinking about this, one side finally made a move. "BroooOOO! Please put that sword away!" Madan dropped to the ground, sitting down abruptly in a defenseless manner.


    "Bro, sit down, please. I am only here to chat." He smiled awkwardly.


    Liam frowned. He had already expected these stalkers to show up here because the dungeon notifications were basically giving away his location but there was still something amiss.


    He looked at the big group which was basically a bunch of beasts except for the two humans. Only Madan and Anya were in front of him.


    Where were the other two? Were they nning some sort of ambush? Liam''s mind began to spin as he rapidly thought of all possible scenarios.


    In stealth mode as well he had searched for them but he couldn''t find them. Now that he had surprised them with his presence, he was still not able to find them.


    Seeing Liam looking around seriously, Madan loudlyughed. "Bro? Who are you searching for? This is it. Only we both are here."


    "Why?" Liam asked directly. If he wanted he could kill this guy in front of him in an instant but he was curious to know why they were here.


    "Bro! You really don''t know? Come. Come. Sit first." Madanughed.


    However, he saw that Liam was not budging and still stood like a tall immovable mountain, staring at him like a wild animal.


    "Bro! Chill. Chill. Like I said wee in peace. As for the other members of our group, we have no idea where they are. We are no longer in that group. Are you now interested in talking to me?" The hunter smiled in glee.

 Chapter 613 Friends?

    Chapter 613 Friends?


    While Liam processed the information, Madan looked around the guy, his eyes obviously going to the five elven women.


    All of them were good-looking, elegant, well-endowed, and had a wild charm to them. They were also dressed very sparingly making them look extremely enticing. Madan gulped.


    He then looked at the tall nasty blonde standing by his side. Immediately, he got a bad taste in his mouth. Where was the justice in this world?


    Sigh. He shook his head helplessly.


    "Bro, I am really saying the truth. You can trust me. This is exactly why I came here running hoping that I could find you here."


    "No schemes, no tricks, no backup ns, bro. I am here only to meet with you." Madan exined again.


    Liam looked at the big smile on this guy''s face and the other character who was blowing on her nails as if this whole thing had nothing to do with her. Did they really break off from their group?


    "Why this sudden decision? Didn''t you guys religiously listen to your leader, Mr. big brother?"


    Madan''s face changed at the mention of the name but he quickly recovered. "Listen bro, you stirred the pot and now you are asking who ruined the meal? Come on. What do you want me to say? I just didn''t want to be a puppet anymore."


    Madan sighed and turned to look at Anya, "Princess here, also doesn''t want to be a puppet. So we both called it quits. The other two are still with them though. If theye to you with this same story, don''t get fooled. Ha Ha Ha."


    Liam''s face twitched. This guy was warning him?


    "Sure. I will keep that in mind." He said calmly. "By the way, you still haven''t told me why are here? Don''t tell me it''s just to share with me this new development?"


    "Ha Ha Ha. Of course, not. I also wanted to ask bro for a clean te. I mean white g." Madan hurriedly stood up. No one else seemed to be interested in sitting together and chatting like civilized people so he had to get up.


    "Bro, listen to me. We have no enmity between us. Sure, we have tried to kill you but you have also tried to kill us. Let''s call it even bro. Please please please."


    "Huh?"


    "On one side, that bastard is scaring us saying that our future is dark and bleak. Apparently, we are going to die. On the other side, you are there."


    "..."


    "Hunting us down everywhere. I am getting nightmares, bro. I can''t even sleep properly. Worse. My performance is getting affected, bro. My girlfriend isining."


    "Oh, you guys are together?" Liam looked at Anya when the chubby hunter immediately shook his head like a maniac.


    "Bro¡­ why¡­ I just said please don''t kill me. Now you are plotting to kill me with her hands. Please don''t say things like that even as a joke. She is a real¡­ ahem¡­ aha ha ha¡­ friend." Madan gulped and finished his sentence.


    Liam coldly gazed at the bbering idiot in front of him and the Russian woman who still was not showing any interest in talking to him. Were they plotting something or was this actually genuine?


    As if Madan could read Liam''s thoughts, he sighed and whined. "Come on, bro. Please trust me. I am really not here to mess with you. I-"


    Liam raised his hand to interrupt him. The thing was¡­ this whole conversation was pointless. Trust could never be developed over a conversation or because one person said so and he would never trust this crafty hunter in front of him.


    "That''s enough." Liam firmly replied. "You want me to not hunt you down and kill you? Alright. I won''t kill you unless you stand against me. I can agree to that, but after that¡­"


    "Yes. Yes. I agree. You agree. That''s it. You said it, bro. You can''t change it. Alright? Friends? Friends right?" Madan grinned like an idiot but Liam''s gaze was unwaveringly cold.


    The guy had no choice but to give up for now. "Ah. ok." He scratched his head awkwardly, not wanting to push his luck.


    "Anything else?" Liam asked.


    "The elves?" Madan curiously peeked at the five women.


    However, Liam again cut him off quickly, "Looks like it is time for us to part and be on our separate ways."


    "Ah." Madan gulped seeing that the conversation was a dead end.


    Though he was extremely curious about what quest Liam might be on that was connected with elves and on a Kingdom border, there was no way for him to know it.


    "What about running a dungeon together?"


    "Hmmm. No."


    "Some trade? I have some special arrows that I use. We can exchange forging designs?"


    "You have to talk to Mia about that."


    "Bro! Come on. Let''s do something together to cement this friendship. Something. Come on, don''t leave like this?"


    But his words might as well be falling on deaf ears as Liam continued walking away. It looked like was also done with the wailing ravine dungeon. Along with him, the elves as well walked away.


    Soon the grouppletely disappeared from his view and he had to let them go because otherwise, the interaction they had just now would all be for nothing. He just couldn''t afford to be nosy.


    Madan sighed and turned around to leave. He looked at the snotty Russian blonde who was again wearing a scowl on her face, "Are you satisfied now?"


    "Sigh. Why am I stuck with her?" Madan let out a long breath and gazed longingly at the distance where Liam and the elves had disappeared to.


    "What did you SAY?" Anya raised her voice and crossed her hands.


    "Nothing sister. Nothing." Madan cupped his hands in a praying fashion and then prepared to leave.


    "What are we going to do now?" He sighed loudly when suddenly a message chimed on his system interface. Surprisingly it was from Liam and there was only one line on the message.


    "Arrange a meeting for me with your big brother."

 Chapter 614 Why not throw away the fox?

    Chapter 614 Why not throw away the fox?


    Lyana stared at the human walking in front of them in deep contemtion. She was trying to assess his character from the interaction just now but she was only drawing a nk.


    The man remained a mystery. The guy had saved them from the barbarians but he clearly waited until it was safe for him and did not react when one of them was brutally tortured. Perhaps he wouldn''t have saved them at all if there wasn''t a safe option avable.


    On top of this, he clearly had an ulterior motive for doing this. He wanted them to help him cross the barbarians. This told her that the person was a ruthless opportunist.


    The meeting with the other humans just now had also told her the same thing. Though the fat one and the woman had visited him to discuss peace, the ruthless guy had not budged an inch.


    The two feared him and from what she could tell had onlye here because they were afraid he would kill them. So this also supported her theory. The person who is standing with her was not a righteous one.


    However¡­ despite everything¡­ there was one thing that she couldn''t understand. Why was such a cruel ruthless person carrying around a small injured fox? Why not just throw it away?


    She could feel the life essence of the small fox waxing and waning like a flickeringmp in a heavy wind. The creature was useless, as good as dead and yet this person always continued to hold her like a treasure.


    Only this single thing shed with her image of the person and confused her. She still couldn''t tell if the person she had allied with was evil or not.


    The elf silently continued to stare at Liam as the scenery around them changed and the temperature suddenly spiked as they arrived at a barren warm area.


    The trees and the nts thinned out and thend was scarred with huge cracks. As the group walked further, these cracks started widening and the air also became hotter and suffocating.


    A white, hot mist hung around obstructing the vision in front of them, and past this mist, at the distance there was the vague silhouette of a single mountain peak.


    Liam gazed at this peak with a resolute expression. "The level 60 dungeon, Pits of Lava." Standing beside him, the elves looked at the same ce with apprehension.


    Already jumping to level 60 seemed to be a bold arrogant move, but the man next to them was indeed a bold person.


    The group continued walking forward when suddenly Liam stopped. The heat in the air had now be extremely ufortable, so much so that when inhaled the body was getting toasted from the inside out.


    <Ding. You are being affected by extreme heat>


    <Ding. Your health drops by 1 every second>


    "What a strong debuff!" Liam grimaced. However, he already had the item to deal with this. So he turned to the elves, "You guys should stay out here. Maybe even farther away. I am going to be busy for a bit now. I will see youter."


    Not many beasts were in this weird ufortably hot in-between zone so it was rtively safe. The five elven women agreed with Liam and prepared to stay back.


    "I can take care of the injured fox," Lyana even offered to help, though Liam immediately shook his head. "I appreciate it. But no. I have a feeling that she would like it more there than here."


    "Huh?" Lyana was shocked. She closed her eyes and tried to sense the creature''s life force and just like the human said, the life force had already be slightly stronger.


    She then realized that the fox in his hand was probably a fire fox so what she observed made sense.


    She silently nodded and stepped back while Liam took out a fire resistance potion from his inventory and emptied it before walking forward.


    Huuuuu. He took another deep breath now and the air was somewhatfortablepared to before even though it was not pleasant. But this was just the beginning.


    "This is going to be troublesome." Liam frowned as he headed further inside. The temperature was steadily increasing. The cracks on the ground were now far too many and quite big as well.


    A few secondster when he took another step, a burst of piping hot steam erupted under his feet, almost melting him in the process.


    "Fuck." Liam jumped forward, only barely managing to escape it. "I cannot go slow here." He immediately picked up his pace and started sting forward, enhancing his speed using mana.


    The air prickled his skin and beads of sweat trickled down his body, but before they could fall down and reach the ground, they disappeared in the heat.


    Without the fire-resistance potion, he wouldn''t even have been able to step foot into this zone. It was extremely hostile even for a Level 50 character with a mana core.


    However, for certain others¡­


    Liam looked down as the fox in his handfortably purred, showing the first signs of movement after these past couple of days.


    "I knew it." Liam smiled.


    This was the first reason why he decided toe here. When Luna was an egg and he had obtained her for the first time, she only hatched after absorbing the fire essence from theva.


    The environment here was even richer whenpared to that ce in the beginner zone. So he had taken a gamble that she would feel better here.


    And from the looks of it, this was working!


    Of course, this was also an ideal ce for him to currently dungeon dive because the Level 50 dungeon was not giving enough experience points and the leveling speed was too slow.


    He did not want afortable run. He wanted a quick run.


    Andstly, if it was this area, the other guilds would hesitate to step inside the zone and disturb him. So for now this was the perfect ce for him to grind.

 Chapter 615 Pits of Lava

    Chapter 615 Pits of Lava


    Tssssssssss¡­


    A drop ofva burnt Liam''s shoulder guards as soon as he entered the dungeon. In front of him,id a vast expanse of rocks, protrusions, and crevices that could be easily manageable, except that it was rainingva.


    And also, there wasva everywhere else. The rocks were basically floating on theva soup. There were only two stretches ofnd that were somewhat safe.


    One where Liam was standing and the other at the center of thevake. However, the former was still unsafe asva drizzled on it, dripping constantly from the rocks at the top, spread across as the roof of the enclosed dungeon.


    If Liam didn''t make a move soon, he would bepletely drenched inva, his health bottoming out, but this dungeon was not new to him so he knew exactly what to do.


    Though he had not entered into this space before, he had heard about it and read about it in hisst lifetime so he was somewhat familiar with it.


    Tssssssssss¡­


    Another drop ofva fell on the exact same spot and Liam burst into action. He used the small rocks that were here and there and raced across theva pool to reach the center safe spot.


    However, after reaching there, he ced the fox on the ground and immediately swung around, unsheathing the ck dragon sword.


    "Come out." He shouted, summoning the soul minions and the howler demon, and before he could close his mouth, theva around the small rock tform started bubbling.


    "Here theye." From within the bubblingva, all sorts of creatures started stepping out. Some were tall, some were short, some were beast-like, some were humanoid, and so on. Their onlymon feature was that all of them were dripping withva.


    Liam grinned. His fighting spirit was raging. Fully surrounded by Level 60 deadlyva monsters that could take his life in an instant. This was it!


    Thud! He nted his feet strongly on the ground and started his onught.


    With this type ofva beasts, ice attacksbined with lightning attacks, wind attacks, and dark attacks would be the most effective. Fire and earth wouldn''t do much.


    So he churned his mana core and immediately started spamming [Ice Spears] and [Ice Shards]. These seemed to do the maximum damage.


    And at such a close vicinity as more and more beasts crawled up from theva to enclose Liam, he started swinging his sword.


    The small rocky tform was meant to be an inconvenience to the yer but Liam was using this small space to decimate all the creatures that were relentlesslying up one after the other.


    The only tricky part was that a creature had to be finished quickly. Otherwise, it could regenerate its health somewhat by jumping back into theva.


    Liam was already aware of this point so he did not let himself get overwhelmed. Though his moves seemed arbitrarily random, there was always a pattern in that he was not sparing any injured creature.


    With the soul minions, the howler demons, and theva creatures, the small tform was aplete mess. Halfway through, Liam sent away some of the soul minions back in so that the fight did not be too chaotic and backfire at him.


    This smoothened some things and the first wave of the dungeon was swiftly cleared. However, almost immediately afterward, the second wave appeared.


    This was the second plus point of the dungeon. Liam did not have to move anywhere. Everything knocked at his doorstep one after the other giving him absolutely no rest. This was the brutal design of the dungeon.


    Liam grinned, weing the second wave of theva creatures with open hands.


    With everyva creature that fell notifications popped up endlessly. The huge chunks of experience points raining on him had already made all of this trouble worth it.


    Liam tirelessly shed the ck dragon sword that roared in his hand. After the tower tournament, finally, the sword seemed to be alive once again when facing so many enemies at the same time.


    The legendary rabbit''s foot neckpiece was also working amazingly. This was the item that had given Liam the idea of attempting this dungeon in the first ce. Without it, Liam wouldn''t havee to this ce just yet.


    The buffs from the neckpiece boosted his attributes tremendously. His speed, strength, stamina everything was pushed to the extreme as more and moreva creatures started pouring in.


    The second wave, the third wave, and even the fourth wave, everything was handled in a jiffy, almost as fast as the previous dungeon. If the yers from his past life knew about this clearing speed, they would shed tears of blood.


    As thestva creature of the fourth wave fell, the entire ce started shaking. There were light tremors everywhere and thevake roiled.


    Waves after waves ofva started assaulting the small tform, rocking it back and forth. However, Liam did not look scared. He gripped his sword tightly and stood steady. He already knew that nothing was going to happen to this tform.


    Even the one at the entrance had a chance to crumble but this tform was the core of the dungeon so no matter how much it rocked it would never fall.


    The threatening tremors continued to rage for a few seconds when from within the turbulent waters of thevake, something huge started materializing.


    A giant creature appeared from the depths of theke to face the intruder.


    <Lava Giant, Level 60, Dungeon Boss>


    This was the only boss of the dungeon and it had a mana core! This meant that its attacks were going to be much fiercer than the other mobs.


    So for this boss fight, Liam only kept Crawford and the howler demon around, sending back everyone else.


    "Let''s go," he shouted as he dashed forward and swung his sword.


    And just like that, the fight started with the ck dragon sword howling loudly.

 Chapter 616 l am dead

    Chapter 616 l am dead


    "Arrange a meeting for me with your big brother."


    Madan chewed his nails and stared at this one-line text again and again unblinkingly. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. One devil wants to meet the other. What am I supposed to do now?"


    He was already relieved that their ''big brother'' had let them simply leave the team, just like that, without any sort of repercussions whatever.


    And now¡­ he had to go back and ask for a favor?


    "Fuck." Just the thought of it made Madan nervous. He shook his head and thought about his alternatives. What if he brought this to the guy as a business proposition?


    He thought about it for a second but then once again shook his head. "Damn it. That also won''t work. The crazy guy will once again start bbering about fate and the future and drive me crazy."


    "ARGHHHH! Just what am I supposed to do now?! Should I just tell him that big brother didn''t agree to a meeting?"


    That seemed to be the best option for now. Madan spat out bits and pieces of his dirty nail and stood up as if he had decided his course of action.


    However, all of a sudden he froze. He couldn''t help but think of the meeting with Liam that had gone exceedingly well.


    To be honest, just like Anya had been warning him from the beginning, he at least expected to die once or twice. If not for that, then the meeting should have gone horribly wrong.


    But none of that had happened. Everything went so smoothly. Suspiciously so. Just thinking about it, gave a chill to the guy. Maybe all along, he was let off only because of this meeting?


    If perhaps this meeting did not happen¡­ then¡­ maybe that guy would hunt him down and kill him after all?


    "Fuck. I am so dead. That maniac might just do it."


    No matter how he looked at this he was definitely caught between a rock and a hard ce. He could neither arrange the meeting nor let it go.


    ARGGHHHH! Madan shouted in frustration.


    Meanwhile¡­ back at the dungeon¡­


    ARGGHHHH!


    Liam shouted as he repeatedly mmed the ck dragon sword onto theva giant. After every single time he attacked, he had to move because the giant was ready for the next attack.


    However, he soon grasped this rhythm, and with Crawford and the Howler demon backing him the rest of the fight went smoothly. The boss was put down just like the otherva mobs.


    <Ding. You are the first to clear ''Pits of Lava'' on normal difficulty. Your grand achievement will be etched in history>


    <DING. Kingdom Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Pits of Lava dungeon'' on normal difficulty>


    <DING. Realm Announcement: Congrattions to the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild party for the first clear of the ''Pits of Lava dungeon'' on normal difficulty>


    A series of notifications and abundant experience points instantly chimed in. Liam, however, ignored these things and quickly went ahead to take note of the small fox lying down on the ground in a corner.


    Weirdly enough she had a small smile on her face as if she was dreaming and she looked extremelyfortable that Liam did not feel like disturbing the little thing.


    Unfortunately, to reset the dungeon he had to go back out ande in again. So he lifted the little thing and walked out. Behind him, the howler demon collected the drops and followed Liam out of the dungeon.


    Once outside, Liam quickly took a look at the drops most of which were quite useless except for the pair of boots which gave a bump in the fire resistance.


    Tossing the others into the inventory, he equipped this set of boots and once again rushed back into the dungeon carrying the fox along. He only had about a dozen fire-resistance potion bottles and he wanted to make good use of them all.


    So once again the rodeo started all over again. This continued for six hours straight when the potion supply finally ran out.


    Liam huffed as he walked over to the barren crackednds some distance away from the main dungeon. The elves were still standing there, patiently waiting for him.


    He waved at them and went to sit beside them. However, he remained silent, checking his status first.


    He had started this whole dungeon business at Level 51 with about 40% of the experience bar filled up. Now, he was at Level 52 with about 80% of the experience bar filled up. And to do this, it had almost taken him the entire day.


    "So one level per day?" It did not sound bad, but Liam frowned. For others, this might be an insane leveling speed, but for him, this was just simply not going to cut it.


    At this point, there was no way he could afford to spend his time here in the middle of nowhere, grinding endlessly in a dungeon.


    However, at the moment, this seemed to be his only option. It was impossible to cross the barbarians territory when he was this weak. The elves made that clear.


    "I hope this is at least helping you." Liam turned to look at the fox who seemed to be slightly doing better? Maybe not? He really had no way to tell.


    He stroked the creature gently and lovingly when Lyana unexpectedly spoke up. "That dungeon is helping the beast." She said, affirming his theory.


    "How do you know?" Liam was surprised, to say the least.


    "Ummm¡­ I am weak right now. So I can''t say for sure but I can vaguely sense the life force of the beast." The elf looked reluctant to answer the question almost as if she regretted blurting it out in the first ce.


    "Hmmm¡­ Thank you for telling me this." Liam thanked her sincerely.


    He wanted to ask more but he decided to wait until he finished the quest. Hopefully, by then the elf would be more willing to answer the questions.


    His gaze left the sleeping fox and flickered towards the dungeon in the distance, thinking about the more pressing issue.


    He was nowpletely out of the fire resistance potions. So how was he going to continue these dungeon runs?

 Chapter 617 What is this?

    Chapter 617 What is this?


    Liam took out the other items he received from the dungeon. Apart from the pair of boots, there was also another ring and belt that had dropped and both had some fire resistance attributes.


    He added these to his current gear but the required fire resistance was still far away. He neither had extra potions nor herbs to make more.


    Liam looked at his inventory for anything that he could use and saw that he still had plenty of health potions left. "I guess I could always drink these and keep going?"


    He thought about it for a moment and did not go along with it because health potions were always required for emergencies and it was not wise to use them during grinding.


    Even if he nned to do that, then he needed to prepare more beforehand and only then use it. Otherwise, in case there was any unexpected emergency, he would be caught off guard and the result would be disastrous.


    Either way, it looked like he needed to spend some time making potions. "Hmm¡­ too bad the PVP tower is out ofmission." Liam bitterly smiled and started to take out things to make more health potions.


    He had more sets of herbs stored for making these so there wasn''t any issue. The next couple of hours quietly passed with Liam silently busying himself with the potion-making.


    Lyana observed this and became even more shocked. This mysterious person who had rescued them seemed to be holding many talents and secrets.


    After making a few sets of potions, Liam then once again started the dungeon diving process. His goal was to get a few more fire resistance items and if possible the dungeon set because that would enable him to wander around this ce easily without needing any other potion.


    However, the grind was brutal. He ran the same dungeon ten more times and still there wasn''t any other item drop. He had ten health potions still left which wouldst about twelve runs so Liam kept going.


    With every run, the little fox also seemed to be doing better and better. One could now see her chest rise and fall as she seemed to be sleeping much more peacefully.


    A couple more hours passed by when Liam once again ran out of potions. It looked like it was time to move on to another dungeon as this was bing less efficient.


    At the same time, Luna''s condition was improving here so he was torn between the two options. If he could only use the stone tablet anywhere, his life would be a lot easier.


    However, he neither had the mana cores for it nor there was any particr location nearby. There were only barrennds and beyond that dense forests for acres and acres.


    Liam silently stared into the distance when suddenly something very obvious crossed his mind. What about the dungeon itself?


    Dungeons were special ces inside the game where mana was found in abundance and since the stone tablet required this sort of rich mana for its special functions, why not give this a try?


    The more Liam thought about this, it made sense and he did not know why he didn''t try this before. The solution to this problem could be something so simple and all the while right in front of his eyes?


    He stood up and quickly dashed forward to the dungeon once again holding the little fox in his hand. "Come on. This needs to work."


    Liam firstpleted the dungeon run, killing the final boss as he had every time before. He then settled on to the small rock at the center, taking out the stone tablet from his inventory space. Heid the inconspicuous stone tablet to rest on the ground.


    One second passed. Two seconds passed. Nothing seemed to happen. Not even the usual garden popped out.


    "Hmmm¡­ Maybe this is a bad idea?"


    Liam began doubting his theory when suddenly theva surrounding the rocky tform at the center started bubbling slowly.


    Soon the bubbles became intense as if theva itself had started to boil. "Fuck! This whole thing is going to explode on my face?"


    Liam hurriedly picked up Luna and prepared to leave but before he could a visible ripple emanated from the stone tablet. The next instant everything around them calmed down and surprisingly, the scenery also started changing.


    In a second, Liam was no longer in the volcanic mountain. Instead, he was on barren crackednd that was somewhat simr to the outside and yet different.


    "What is this?" Liam was utterly shocked. It was almost as if he was in another ce. Till the eyes could see, this same barren crackednd extended indefinitely.


    Only the stone tablety innocently some distance away. There was absolutely nothing else here. Maybe this was a version of the garden?


    But Liam knew that it couldn''t be so simple because the air around him pulsed with a strange energy. It prickled his skin like the summer heat.


    "Luna?" Liam immediately panicked and checked the fox to see if she was okay when the sight that met him was once again shocking.


    The small fox had an intoxicated expression on her face as if she had just eaten her fill and drank a few jugs of wine.


    "You¡­" Liam helplessly smiled. It seemed that he was worried for no reason. The fox was doing just fine. Only he looked stranded and confused. "Just what is this ce? Can I still make potions here?"


    He looked around strolling for a while, keeping the stone tablet as his direction center but there was really nothing in this ce. No pond. No trees. Only acres and acres of scorching hot barren emptynd.


    It was theplete opposite of the garden. He closed his eyes and thought of a few herbs and unfortunately, even those did not pop up as they did with the garden.


    "I guess this is a bust after all?" Liam turned around to walk back to the stone tablet.


    There was no point in staying here any longer and he knew that the space would disappear if he tossed the stone tablet back into his inventory space.


    However, when he returned to the ce, this time something was different. Near the stone tablet, a small puddle was formed if one could even call that. It was just a handful of water.


    Liam curiously walked over closer to this puddle and peered into it. Almost immediately his eyes widened in shock, his lips slowly curling up into a grin.


    Inside the puddle, visible clearly, were small wisps of fire essence. Golden reddish wisps were dancing in the water.


    If he was right, then this puddle had to be some sort of special pond just like the one in the garden but with a concentrated amount of fire elemental essence.


    He bent down and scooped some amount of water, dipping his hand inside the puddle. Just like he thought, something warm and nourishing swept across his body.


    He waited for some notification like the one he received earlier but nothing like that came out. Nevertheless, he was sure that this was fire essence he was absorbing. He remembered the feeling and it was exactly the same.


    "Just what is this ce¡­"


    Now that he had confirmed the presence of fire essence, slowly other things were also starting to fall into ce and everything was bing clearer.


    The stone tablet in front of him was probably absorbing all the essence from the dungeon and slowly pooling it in this ce. With time, perhaps there would be another big pond in this spot.


    Did this mean if he took the tablet to a frozen dungeon or an earth dungeon then those essences could also be collected? There were so many possibilities he could think of.


    Liam looked at the stone tablet in puzzlement. He was sure he still hadn''t scratched even the surface of this treasure.


    "Hmmm¡­ Now that I think about this, if that old guy Crawford went crazy over this stone tablet, then it''s definitely not something ordinary."


    He wondered what surprise it would give him if he fully unlocked its potential, but all of those could wait. For now, there was something more important that he needed to do.


    Liam gently ced the fox in his hand down into the puddle formed near the stone tablet.


    He was ready to quickly lift her back up in case things looked worse but the fox cooedfortably nuzzling her head in the waters like it was her mother''s womb.


    "Seems to be working?" Liam continued to observe the little thing and only then decided to let her be.


    "So this ce collects the essence and the dungeon also seems to be fueling the tablet. Why can''t I make it grow herbs then?"


    He suddenly had a thought and closed his eyes. He imagined a herb again but this time he imagined one herb that was rich in fire essence and grew only in an extreme atmosphere, specifically inside a volcano.

 Chapter 618 Poof!

    Chapter 618 Poof!


    When Liam opened his eyes, in front of him there was a small red color vine that was curled up on the barren grounds like a snake. Interspersed on this vine, there were tiny red fruits, Fire Persimmons!


    Liam grinned. It actually worked. He had only half-expected it but this was good. After observing the nt, he plucked the small fruits on the vine and then started making juice out of them by smashing the fruits together in his palm.


    He then fed this juice to the little fox who was happilyying in the puddle. A drop fell down her cheek which was quickly retrieved by a small tongue.


    "Are you getting better?" Liam smiled. He fed the fox some more of the juice filled to the brim with fire essence and then allowed the little creature to rest.


    Everything was going great but his main problem still remained. He did not have any fire resistance potions. Only one ingredient probably could be grown in this type of atmosphere so it was not possible to make the potion at the moment even with the stone tablet.


    So Liam dropped that idea and decided to just spend some more time here before leaving for another dungeon. He wanted to give Luna enough time to recover and see if her condition improved.


    Meanwhile, there was something else that he wanted to try out. He sat down close to the puddle near the stone tablet where the fire essence was slowly and steadily umting and grinned. "Come out."


    The next second, his group of soul minions popped out with Crawford standing front and center.


    "Damn it. Is he going to torture us more?" Gu Donghai worriedly looked around, not recognizing where they were. Gorak also showed a simr expression as he cautiously studied the surroundings.


    It was a strange sight that they had never seen before, except of course for the demon Liam and the little dead fox. Ever since Luna had fallen ill the two were cursing her relentlessly and hoping for her to die just so that Liam would suffer.


    But now that was not their problem. The problem was this lunatic. Every time he summoned them when there was no battle, they could tell that something else was going to happen. Was it their turn?


    As this thought crossed their mind, Liam''s gazended on them for a moment and then flitted away ignoring them. Instead, he once again focused on the chickens and rabbits.


    Liam ordered one of the three-headed chickens toe over. By now, it was a habit for him to start experimenting with these beasts first before proceeding to the higher-order soul beasts.


    All the soul minions watched as the three-headed chicken innocently walked over because it did not know better.


    Liam smiled at the chicken and then without any warning condensed it back into the soul bead form. He then started churning his mana core and forging the soul bead once again.


    This time he was notbining this soul bead with another soul bead. Instead, he wanted to try andbine it with the fire essence swirling in the puddle near him.


    Liam gritted his teeth feeling the familiar pressure of the soul thrashing against his grasp to disperse and then he started slowly fusing it with the essence from the pond.


    Though the process seemed simple enough, actually doing it turned out to be troublesome. Controlling pure essence was very difficult and the whole thing was brutally slow putting that much more pressure on Liam.


    In the end, it took him five hours to get a grasp andpletely reforge the soul. Thankfully, he got the notifications that he wanted.


    <Ding. Soul forging sessful>


    <Ding. You have now acquired 61% of the legacy>


    Liam wiped the sweat off of his forehead and nodded contently. "Not bad." He then quickly opened the status screen to check the new and improved version of the three-headed chicken.


    [Name: Chicken1


    Type: Undead


    Level: 41


    Health: 3700


    Mana: 100


    Strength: 39


    Agility: 35


    Physical Defense: 69


    Magic Defense: 18


    Special Skill: Hurricane Peck; Fiery Pursuit]


    "This is too good!" Liam''s grin continued widening as he scrolled up to down and noticed all the new changes in the status screen. Not only had the chicken gained mana stat, and increased magic defense, it had also gained a new skill.


    [Fiery Pursuit: Create streaks of fire while chasing after the enemy; Cool Down: 3 minutes]


    The skill did not make sense as it could affect the chicken as well, it was extremely weak and the cool-down was horrible. However, Liam didn''t care about that.


    Though this skill might be useless, the fact that this was even possible was very big news! It opened up several avenues for him to reinforce the others!


    Liam took a deep breath, closed the system interface, and called over the guy next in line. The huge rabbit arrived in front of him in a single jump.


    And thus¡­ the long day started. Starting from the chickens and the rabbits, Liam started reforging all the soul minions one after the other in the presence of the fire essence.


    The puddle next to him that was being constantly filled up by the essence from the dungeon was slowly being sucked clean by him from the side.


    One by one all the minions received their baptism. Liam as well was very satisfied with the overall results. Even if not many special skills popped up, everyone''s magic defense improved a lot.


    This was important because the magic defense was one of the main weaknesses of his soul minions. With a higher magic defense, their health wouldn''t get drained as fast as before.


    And not everything was so low-key. Some of the minions gained notable skills. One, Two, and Three who were all werewolves now gained [Fire sh], where fire essence enveloped their ws and increased their attack power.


    The imps and the lesser dryads as well showed huge improvement as their soul beads underwent a qualitative transformation with their attacks now a lot stronger.


    The entirety of the next twenty-four hours was spent in this madness and of course, the little fox was happily resting on the side throughout all the ruckus.


    Liam let out a deep breath as he tiredly looked at the group of minions in front of him. He had worked very hard but it was going to pay off in the uing days.


    He observed all of his creations one by one and now the only ones that were left unforged were theckeys from the Gu n, Crawford, Gu Donghai, and Gorak.


    Except for Crawford, all the other guys were shivering in fear. Was it their chance next?


    Liam did not have any ns for them at the moment but hearing them curse Luna repeatedly made him want to teach them a lesson. "Perhaps I should give it a try?" Liam gave a sinister smile.


    He called theckey number one whose name he did not care to remember and everyone''s face fell. This was it. This was the end.


    Theckey number one stepped forward hesitantly though he did not want to and everyone else watched in dread as Liam made the familiar hand motion.


    And just as things were about to take a turn for the worst, suddenly something started happening. The world was shaking. More precisely, thend they were standing on was quaking.


    Liam immediately became alert as his eyes went to Luna first and he grabbed the fox. He then turned to look at the stone tablet which was vibrating visibly.


    "Hmmm?" Before he could begin to wonder what was happening, the stone tablet glowed and the next second everything around him darkened.


    When Liam''s vision cleared, the group found themselves standing on the outside. The special world was no longer there and the stone tablet was also lying on the ground.


    "Hmmm?" Liam picked it up and tossed it into his inventory space. "What happened? Why did I get kicked out?" The obvious question appeared in his mind as he looked around and saw the familiar dungeon''s location.


    However, something was different. It took Liam a second but he soon saw what was different. The dungeon was missing! The entire damn dungeon was missing!


    "Fuck!" He looked around hurriedly, moving here and there, and saw that the tall mountain peak had really vanished. There were only dry crackednds nearby. The white mist, the volcano, theva, everything was gone.


    Liam couldn''t believe his eyes. For the thing that he was seeing, there was only one exnation, but... could that really be possible? It frightening to even think about it.


    However, the truth was right in front of his eyes.


    He had only nned to borrow, and take a little mana from the dungeon, but now it looked like the stone tablet had ended up swallowing the whole dungeon, the entire goddamn ce!


    Wasn''t this just a bit too much? How could a significantndmark of the game disappear just like that?

 Chapter 619 No rest for the wicked

    Chapter 619 No rest for the wicked


    Liam waited for some sort of notification to pop out but nothing of that sort happened. The only thing he was sure of was the fact that the dungeon in that area was really gone. He even spent a few more minutes to confirm this andbed through the area but the truth was the truth.


    The elves all looked at him curiously wondering what happened to make him anxious. Liam did not share the news with them so they were still in the dark as a disappearing dungeon was something they wouldn''t even think of in their wildest dreams.


    For everyone in this world, the dungeons were a fact. For Liam as well it had been the same, that is until now.


    The guy scratched his head and stood in a daze. Seriously! How did this happen? He hadn''t even run the adventure mode and the nightmare mode. Heck, he had nned to absorb more fire essence to improve his affinity to the element and boost his attacks.


    But he hadn''t had a chance to make any of that happen. The damn dungeon had disappeared on him before that!


    Liam bitterly smiled as he took out the stone tablet from his inventory space and stared at it. Was there some way to get the dungeon back? Come on. Show me the path!


    But nope. He could spend days staring at that thing and nothing would ever show up. That''s not how the damned stone tablet worked.


    Liam lifted his head to look at the spot where the majestic mountain peak had previously been. A few days ago, he had stolen some meager amount of mana and for that, a damn lunatic was behind his life.


    And now he had swallowed a whole dungeon. What was going to happen to him?


    Liam clenched his fists as he tossed the tablet back into his inventory space. He stared at the empty spot for a while and then let out a deep sigh.


    There were definitely going to be repercussions for this but the truth was that no matter what the repercussions, he had to see this through. The treasure in his hands was definitely not ordinary and there were only a few more days left before everything changed.


    At thisst moment, he couldn''t really afford to put something like this in the backseat. At the same time, he had to reach the elves first crossing the barbarians. Both of them were equally important.


    Liam thought about it for a moment and then made up his mind. Right now he was going to focus on leveling up and as for the stone tablet, his next target would be a Level 80 or Level 90 or perhaps a Level 100 dungeon.


    Instead of raiding the smaller insignificant dungeons and making them disappear, in the process raising several red gs, it would be more useful for him to experiment with a higher-level dungeon directly.


    The essence he could obtain from it would also be a lot higher. A level 60 dungeon could only give him so much before dying. A higher-level dungeon should give him so much more.


    "Ok. I will do this." Liam made a decision and turned around to leave when suddenly a little rabbit popped out of him, twinkling in the darkness of the night.


    "Hmmm? What is this now?" Liam only had a chance to barely open and close his mouth when the rabbit returned back to him and dropped a crystal on his palm before disappearing again.


    "This¡­" He was speechless. He had only just now somewhat made up his mind and suddenly a new curve ball was thrown his way.


    Liam stared at the crystal with apprehension. He still did not know what it was but he was not an idiot. The coincidence just now was too much to ignore.


    The crystal in his hand was very simr to the crystals he had with him previously and it appeared right after the dungeon disappeared.


    His mind spun as he quickly put two and two together. The crystal that appeared with the disappearance of the tower, the crystal he had found in the Gu family''s secret residence, and now the crystal that popped up after the dungeon vanished! All three of them were probably of the same type!


    "Maybe a power source for the tower or the dungeon? Or maybe¡­"


    Liam snapped himself out of this trance as his thoughts began to run wild. He still concretely did not know what these crystals were and how they could be used if at all.


    He needed to stop wasting time. This stone tablet and these crystals, he would get to them soon enough but for now, he needed to focus on the concrete thing thaty ahead of him.


    Liam tossed the crystal as well into his inventory space and summoned his group of soul minions. "Let''s move. Kill everything in your path." As if fleeing from the scene of the crime, the group was quickly gone from the area.


    The elves were rmed as they saw that the undead army in front of them had gained even more power and momentum as they massacred their way through the forest.


    Liam also did not remain idle and his sword shone under the brilliance of the moonlight. There were so many frustrating unknowns at the moment but the thing that was constantly going to be by his side was his strength.


    So he dashed forward as he cut his way through the beasts of the forests slowly and steadily improving his strength. His next target would be another Level 60 dungeon Swamp Mire.


    This had the same mechanics as the previous dungeon where all the mobs rushed toward the intruders at the same time.


    So to make the best use of his legendary items, Liam chose this dungeon. Also, these dungeon runs were very fast so it was ideal for him to level up without wasting time.


    Liam ran into the dungeon and summoned his underlings. In a second, several pairs of eyes popped out of the dirty swamp. He was surrounded on all sides by crocodiles. "Here we go again."

 Chapter 620 Long Time No See

    Chapter 620 Long Time No See


    Lyana watched the person in front of her with rapt attention. She did not know what had changed after thest dungeon but she could definitely sense frustration, a sort of impatience in his movements.


    He was going in and out of the swamp dungeon continuously without a single second of break. His strength was also ordingly increasing at a steady pace. At this rate, he was going to¡­


    Lyana gulped. She couldn''tprehend this sort of speed. Little did she know that the human she was admiring had very different thoughts.


    "Slow. Too slow." Liam spat out the nasty swamp taste from his mouth. The speed at which he was going was simply not enough. At this rate, he was going to¡­


    Liam shook his head. "This is very slow. I cannot afford to simply grind levels at this pace." He was no longer in the beginning stages of the game. So he was wasting crucial time.


    This especially left a sour taste in his mouth because he knew of a way through which he could level much faster, much much faster. And yet to not use that cheat method¡­ was frustrating.


    A couple more hours passed by just like that when suddenly two huge birds appeared, pping their wings and hovering in the sky right above where the elves were seated.


    Lyana immediately became alert. The other elves also looked around to see where they could possibly run to and escape this cmity.


    However, before they could take any steps, a man jumped down without any warning. Now the elves became even more terrified. Were they caught by some greedy human?


    But unexpectedly, this human suddenly bowed in front of them. Well not exactly to them, behind them, Liam walked over to the group. "Thanks for making the trip." He nodded at Asura, examining the guy.


    True to his name, the guy had once again exploded in his power level. He was now at Level 48. It was almost as if he was power-leveling just like Liam, but without his army of minions. So, this was pure hard work.


    "Take care of these guys. I will be back in a day or two." Liam grinned as he patted him. When his follower was so explosively growing, he simply should notg behind. It was time to make the trip.


    Asura obediently nodded, but the elves had no idea what was going on. Where he was he leaving? Who was this new person?


    However, Liam was not inclined to share any more details with them. As long as his precious quest NPCs remained safe, that was good enough.


    He smiled and then clicked the bright reddish-ck option on his system interface. Immediately a portal opened up in front of him. It was time to head back to theher realm and get done with this damn leveling quest.


    Lyana and the other elves stared in absolute shock as Liam stepped inside the portal and disappeared. Along with him, the injured fox and one of the birds disappeared as well leaving behind only the new guy.


    Just what was happening?


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    On the other side¡­


    Screee¡­ Talon hissed at the sting of theher rich air.


    "Sorry, bud. Are you alright?" Liam on the other hand felt very refreshed.


    Hearing him, the bird hurriedly shook his head. He just needed a minute to get used to the air because he hadn''t been here in a while. He was happy to be here, to serve his master again.


    "Ok then. Let''s go when you are ready." Liam smiled, making the bird even more flustered as if he did not want to show his weakness to his master.


    They had teleported to the outskirts of the Thol city like usual and Talon quickly gave him a ride to the city garrison building, arriving at the top of the red tower in just under a minute.


    "Good boy. Good job." Liam gave the bird a few pieces of meat, then walked into the familiar ce. As if the demons sensed his arrival, instantly a group appeared in front of him.


    Everyone looked at him with expectant eyes wondering what was going to happen now. After the juicy first victory, their leader hadpletely disappeared, only to reappear now after several days. Everyone was almost yearning for another fight at this point.


    Liam chuckled at their very obvious faces, "So what have you guys been up to? Shall we do another rift battle?"


    Instantly all the demons started rejoicing. Everyone except Hiruyu left, scurrying away to make the necessary preparations. Hiruyu stayed behind to fill Liam with all the details.


    While these two were discussing various things, another person also quietly appeared, followed by nine other figures. These were none other than Liam''s ten brides.


    Immediately Liam felt a headacheing as he remembered all the mess he had left behind in theher realm, even inside his garrison.


    These ten were the least of his concern, what he was worried about was the other two¡­ the mysterious demonic nymphs.


    As if he could read Liam''s thoughts, Hiruyu helplessly smiled and informed him. "Leader, they are not back yet."


    "Hmmm? That''s good then." He sighed in relief. Though he was somewhat looking forward to the essence crystals they collected, this was also not bad. Now he could level in peace.


    Liam dismissed everyone as he started making his own preparations as well. However, one person still remained.


    "My Lord." The dark elf beast kin Yessika varkeya stayed behind waiting for a personal audience with Liam.


    Thest time he had seen her, the woman''s level was 121 but now she was at 125. That was an admittedly impressive leveling speed. She was also in some sort of trouble and had personally requested him for an elixir so he wondered what happened to that.


    "How is your situation? Did you take care of your business?" Liam asked her.


    "Yes, my Lord." The dark elf hurriedly nodded. She seemed happy that the City Lord remembered her.


    "Alright then. You can leave now and prepare for the rift battle. We will be starting in a couple of hours. I will take some rest." Liam smiled.


    "My Lord, please allow me." Unexpectedly, the dark elf lightly bowed and started disrobing in front of him right then and there, revealing her seductive alluring figure.


    Huh? Liam was speechless.


    The elf did not stop until she disrobed all the way and knelt down with her head on the ground as if she was offering herself to Liam like a sacrifice, her naked bodyid out in front of him.


    Cough. Cough. What is this? Did the two nymphs give some sort of lecture to the other women in his garrison while he was away?


    "Ahem. Can you get up?"

 Chapter 621 Attack! Kill !

    Chapter 621 Attack! Kill !


    Liam looked at the beautiful naked woman in front of him and let out a sigh. "Get up." He said to the kneeling figure and chuckled helplessly. The invitation wasn''t too bad but he had work to do.


    "How about we save this for the celebration afterward?" He gave a polite reply to the dark elf without humiliating her too much.


    "I am honored, my Lord." The elf nodded and started putting her clothes back on. "I will put my life on the line and obtain this victory for you at all costs." She gave a passionate deration before bowing and quietly disappearing from the room.


    Liam nodded, "I guess the elixir might have helped her a lot." He watched the spot where the woman had been kneeling down just seconds ago and clicked his tongue.


    "Too bad I have to leave these people behind. If there was some way I could take them with me¡­ it will be a huge boost¡­"


    However, that was a far-fetched dream so he did not dwell much on it. His focus was on the rift battle that would soon happen. Meanwhile, he took out his cauldron and started making another batch of various potions.


    Right now, Liam held the notable alchemist title in the Kingdom so several other cities had given him some herbs as tributes.


    Hiruyu brought over the ones he needed and he started making a few batches of fire-resistance potions, health potions, and mana potions, refilling the reserve he had used recently in the dungeon runs.


    Soon all the demons assembled and Liam as well walked out to the main square of the city. Around him, the entire garrison had assembled, all the units, squads, and toons.


    It was an awe-inspiring scene and no matter how many times he saw this scene he would never get used to this. He sucked in a big breath and looked at Hiriyu, "Start the formation."


    The demon nodded and tore up the war scroll. Immediately, the entire ce was covered with glittering runes and the next instant everyone was teleported.


    <Ding. The rift battle now begins>


    <Ding. New Quest Avable>


    <Ding. Conquer the spatial rift>


    <Ding. Reward: 10 million experience points>


    "This is more like it." Liam hummed at the sight of the familiar notifications and the generous experience point rewards.


    Though this was extremely enticing, he did not want to touch these rift battles for one and only reason, he did not want to affect the oue of this war.


    However, with the addition of the mysterious stone tablet and the unknown crystal cores, things changed. He needed more time to properly figure out these unique treasures, the time he couldn''t waste with simple mindless grinding.


    Taking another deep breath, Liam looked at the rocky mountainous area they had teleported to and shouted loudly, "Let''s win this." He immediately summoned his army of soul minions and sprang forward in stealth to meet the opponents.


    Ahead of them like clockwork, a group of human beings arrived. From the looks of it all belonged to the same guild as they had their guild outfit on.


    All the yers also seemed extremely happy. These days a lot of guilds were easily clearing the rift battles and many had set up camps in theher realm to explore the new world.


    So everyone was in high spirits, confidence shining on their faces, not having a single doubt about their inevitable victory.


    "Attack! Kill the demons! Let''s take down these monsters!" Liam heard the energetic shouts from the front lines, amidst the loud cheers. He grinned. "Let''s start." He gave themand on their side too.


    With this sort of limited terrain, there wasn''t really any special battle tactic. It was going to be a simple head-on fight. Buffs and debuffs flew on both sides along with several attacks and just like that the fight started with a bang.


    This time the humans seemed to have more tricks up their sleeves. Liam was sure he had seen many yers around Level 38 and Level 40 and yet on their side, the demons'' levels were all squished down to 30.


    At the same time, the explosive potions also seemed to be at work as he saw severalrge figures charging forward to the demon''s side, each of them having a dedicated healer team.


    Not just this, but Liam also caught sight of some fortifying spell scrolls and aoe spell scrolls being used that unleashed all sorts of attacks on groups of demons. These were powerful skills that possibly couldn''t be learned by these low-level yers without some additional help.


    Compared to the first rift battle, this one was a lot more organized and structured. Either the guild had spent a lot of gold coins or the divine temple was handing out these boosts like candies.


    In any other rift battles, perhaps they could have won but unfortunately¡­


    Liam ignored the aoe attack scrolls that were bringing down the health of the demons. He asked the guys to move out of the area when targeted. Other than that there wasn''t much they could do.


    Theck of healers was their ring weakness but many demons had a special skill called life drain which aided in regaining some of their health back.


    Meanwhile, not wanting to fall behind, Liam dashed forward to put in motion their one and only strategy, their overwhelming offense.


    The idea was very straightforward and simple. He just needed to take down as many yers as he could. Liam dashed ahead to one cluster where the two groups were fighting and unsheathed his sword.


    This specific bunch was one of the Level 40 group and the yers seemed to be having a lot of fun bullying the Level 30 demons. However, the moment Liam stepped into the ring the winds changed.


    "Fuck! Level 54? What is happening? How is this guy level 54?"


    Everyone immediately became rmed, but before they could do anything about it, one by one all the yers in the group started falling down. They couldn''t even properly see this new enemy. All they could see was the sword that shed here and there.

 Chapter 622 out of his mind

    Chapter 622 out of his mind


    With Liam going all out, the small group was entirely decimated without leaving a single yer behind and he did not stop with that.


    He immediately moved to the next group and started unleashing all of his attacks one after the other, killing everyone in his path without showing the slightest hesitation.


    All the yers who were happily bullying the level adjusted demons, fell in shock, unable to stand against the one person whose level couldn''t be touched by the divine buffs. Liam was the loophole in this battle and he made proper use of his strength.


    All of his summons, the undead minions retained their original level as well. Both in the previous battle and this battle this was the same.


    Judging from this, it was obvious that the level adjustment didn''t affect the yers, and since Liam was also a yer he still remained at Level 54. The only difference was that he was a yer on the other side.


    Liam grinned as he started massacring everyone in sight one after the other. To him, everyone from the opponent team might as well be experience point balloons. The faster he took them down, the faster he would obtain the rewards.


    That too the demons already had the numbers on their side so as soon as they received a small help from him, they immediately began to take charge even though their level was lower.


    Liam particrly targeted the yers who had taken the enhancement potions and the healers of the team who had the weakest defense. He used this tactic repeatedly and mercilessly until only a handful of yers remained.


    "What the hell man? What is this rift battle? This is not how things are supposed to go."


    "We paid a huge price for that stupid guide and now randomly there is a level 54 demon. Where the hell did this guye from?"


    "I am also fighting with strange high level spirits. Are these even demons?"


    All the yers were extremely confused as they died one after the other. For every other guild, this battle had gone smoothly but for them, this sudden anomaly had popped up out of nowhere.


    Soon thest of the yers fell down on the ground lifelessly. Until thatst moment, there was unwillingness in their eyes as no one had expected this oue. The rift battle that was supposed to be easy now had turned out to be impossible just for them.


    Not long after this, while everyone was still hurriedly collecting the fallen loot, the runic symbols started appearing in the air around them and the garrison group was teleported back to the city square.


    Liam also promptly receivedpensation for his hard work.


    [Ding. You have conquered the spatial rift]


    [Ding. You have been rewarded 10 million experience points]


    [Ding. You have leveled up. You are now level 55]


    There it was!F


    He was Level 55!


    He had only spent a few hours and he was already one level higher. This way was definitely a lot smoother than the good old grinding method.


    All the demons around him as well loudly cheered and celebrated, everyone praising the garrison leader. They were already stunned silly by the first rift battle they had participated in a while ago but shockingly, this rift battle was even faster than that!


    In the beginning, the news of other garrisons losing out to the humans had made them a little nervous but after this battle, no one had any more doubts left. Even if all the other garrisons lost their fight, they would still win!


    The entire city erupted into celebrations and Liam chuckled helplessly retiring back to his private room. Hiriyu alone followed him thinking that something was amiss.


    And when Liam finally addressed the demon, he became utterly speechless.


    "Ask everyone to rest and rx. We will be participating in another rift battle in a few hours." Liam''s words struck the demon like lightning as he stood still, trying to grasp the meaning of this.


    What were rift battles? They were life and death battles that were fought with the entire city on the line but now their leader was talking as if it was just another walk around the city border?


    If it was anyone else, then the demon would have assumed that the garrison leader had gone crazy, but this was Liam. So the demon gulped nervously.


    "My Lord¡­" Hiriyu nervously mumbled.


    Liam immediately looked at the demon, locking his cold gaze onto the poor guy. "Don''t worry. I won''t let anything happen to our city. It''s better if we finish this soon." He exined with a stern voice.


    The demon saw the resoluteness on Liam''s face and could tell that this decision was serious and was not going to change. So he quietly bowed and scurried away to make the necessary preparations.


    And so¡­ a few minutester¡­ a loud announcement rang throughout the entire city. It was another war call. They were going to run another rift battle on the same day!


    Instantly, the entire Thol city erupted into chaos andmotion. No one could believe what they were hearing.


    Many were excited but some were shocked and skeptical and some were even outright against the idea. The reward from a right battle was good but it was not worth it for them to risk their lives.


    Hiriyu quickly ryed this information back to Liam hoping that this would change his mind. "So it looks like this time we will be participating with fewer numbers. Hmm¡­ that''s alright." Liam casually nodded.


    The demon had not expected this. It seems that their leader was still stubborn. Where was this going to lead them? However, he personally believed in this leader so after informing Liam, Hiryu left quickly to continue the preparations.


    Liam alone stood in the room silently and stared at the distance. Perhaps they needed some potion boost as well. He took out his cauldron and started making some potions topensate for this small loss of numbers.

 Chapter 623 Madness

    Chapter 623 Madness


    After a couple of hours, the entire Thol city once again assembled at the main square, some of the demons to spectate and some to actually take part in the rift battle.


    The entire ce was in an uproar with hushed murmurs and whispers spreading like wildfire. The morale was at an all-time low and the high spirits of the first battle were nowhere to be seen.


    Everyone looked nervous and unsure of how things were going to go. Liam smiled as he observed this and walked over, but he did not give any rousing or morale-boosting speech.


    Instead, he calmly waved at Hiriyu, and the demon and a couple of others brought over three sacks, making clinking noises. When they opened the sacks, they saw that the inside was full of ss bottles, more specifically potion bottles!


    The demons'' eyes went wide like saucers. Potions in general were considered luxury items avable only for the privileged few. But here their garrison leader was distributing these as if they were meat jerky.


    Liam did not stop with that. He also asked everyone to switch out their gear and change into better items. Every rift battle came along with a huge loot and he did not hold back and invested this loot to improve everyone''s gear.


    All the demons were instantly overjoyed. With these many abundant resources suddenly it made sense for everyone to participate in a rift battle again.


    "Damn, I mistook our leader. Maybe it was an order from the King."


    "Yes, Yes. Our leader wouldn''t do this without any reason. We need to give it our all and win this fight! Hiyaaaa!"


    The spirits that were down just a few seconds ago were quicklying back up to full gear. Liam chuckled and signaled Hiriyu to start the rift battle.


    Mayhem ensued as once again the guild in the opposition waspletely destroyed. Level 30 demons equipped with rage potions and health potions were not easy to handle and Liam''s level was once again not nerfed.


    Him being almost ten levels above everyone else and with his already enhanced stats that were head and shoulders above the average yer base, the opposition was utterly demolished and the battle once again swiftly ended without any surprises.


    The demons were utterly dumbfounded. The battle this time had gone even more smoothly than the previous time when there had been more soldiers.


    What was happening? Since when were rift battles this easy?


    As everyone was teleported back to Thol city after the sessful raid, all the demons gaped at their leader in awe. No, it was not the rift battle that was easy. Their leader was simply too fearsome.


    The entire city rejoiced and once again began their celebrations. This time they were letting loose even harder because in the history of their world no other garrison had ever managed to achieve such a feat.


    Two rift battles back to back and astounding victories in both? This was a first!


    Liam watched everyone jumping around and silently called Hiriyu with a casual expression. "My Lord¡­" The demon for some reason had a bad feeling. It couldn''t possibly be, right?


    However, Liam smiled and casually spoke the words the demon dreaded. "Tell everyone to once again be ready in three hours. We will be running another rift battle."


    Hiriyu was utterly speechless. Yessika who was standing behind him had a simrly stunned expression. She had walked over to the city lord to offer herself again but hearing this she was shocked to the core.


    Another rift battle? They were going to run back to back three rift battles? This was no longer impressive. It was simply insane.


    Liam smiled helplessly. He very well understood their thoughts but he was in a time crunch so he had to break a few eggs here and there. He looked at Yessika as if he just had an idea and called the dark elf over, "Good, you are here. I need you. Come." He then quickly walked to the private room.


    The elf gulped and followed. She was happy to serve the city lord however he wanted but the guy was clearly a beast and she did not have any experience in these matters. So she couldn''t help but be nervous.


    She clutched her robe and walked into the private room when she again received another shock. Inside the room, there was a total of six cauldrons lined up in order. All of them were filled to the brim and all of them were lit!


    "Don''t just stand there. Come forward and follow my instructions carefully."


    The dark elf blinked her almond eyes and stood in a daze. Only when one of the cauldrons hissed loudly, she snapped out of her trance and got to work.


    Liam once again started to prepare a new set of potions bing very busy. However, this time he also took out some of the body cleansing elixirs he had prepared earlier.


    He had only given some to Mia for their guild''s use. He had saved the rest in case he needed them in the future for some sort of quick exchange but now seemed to be as good as any time.


    He called over the rest of his wives and handed over the potions to three among the nine of them giving a significant boost to their strength. He also called over his personal unit and two of the toon leaders he was familiar with and distributed five more potions. This left him with only five more potions which he saved forter use.


    "Alright. Now we are ready. Let''s start the next round." Liam grinned.


    His level 55 bar was almost full. One more attempt and he would reach Level 56!


    "Damn. This is too sweet. I am cruising through right now." Giving a nce at Luna who was resting, he returned to the city square along with the others to once again start the show.


    Madness descended on Thol city as all the demons cheered loudly for their lunatic garrison leader!

 Chapter 624 Zooming through!

    Chapter 624 Zooming through!


    The next several hours might as well be a blur because Liam barely remembered anything. With continuous potion brewing and the rift battles without any break, he was fully exhausted.


    However, at this moment even with all the exhaustion, he still sat back on his throne with a big satisfied grin. In front of him, the system screen blinked the number 60.


    After an entire day of continuous grind, thanks to the rift battles, he had finally reached Level 60.


    In front of him, the main toon leaders, garrison officials, Liam''s personal unit, and his ten wives stood nervously. No one was sure what was going to happen right now.


    In the beginning, it was simply a feat of strength, a test for their perseverance but now they were no longer sure. How many more rift battles would they participate in? Just the thought of it made them all shudder.


    However, the next second Liam stood up, his body slightly swaying. "Ask everyone to rest properly. You have all done well." He gave a small smile and thumbs up to the group and walked over to another room and copsed on the bed.


    He had an intoxicated expression on his face as he fell into a deep sleep. All the demons dumbfoundedly stared at this, their leader''s nk sleeping face. He seemed to be at peace as he snored loudly.


    Hiriyu was the first to react as he quickly adjusted Liam''s position on the bed and then closed the door to stand outside as a guard.


    The others saw this and then quietly dispersed, all of them heading over to take some rest as well. After an entire day of back-to-back battles, everyone was dead tired.


    That night, the city became eerily quiet as most of the demons at the moment were silently slumbering with alcohol jugs in one hand and women in the other hand.


    Meanwhile, back at the Xion realm, the entire yer base was once again in an uproar. The top ranker of the realm had suddenly gone from Level 50 to Level 60 all in the span of a couple of days.


    Here they were struggling to progress from Level 43 to Level 44 dragging their asses but one person alone was screwing with the pace of the game.


    At this rate, he was going to be at Level 100 while everyone else was at Level 50? This was bullshit! All the major guilds were outraged. Moreover, there was nothing they could do about it.


    The entire damn guild was keeping quiet about this secret leveling method. No one knew how Liam was doing this. At this time, something unusual happened.


    One of the guilds from another Kingdom covertly contacted a guild from the Gresh Kingdom.


    Coincidentally both of them had participated in the infamous PVP tower tournament. One side had the six winged lion mount and the other side possessed the formidable drakes.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, inside one of the inns in the divine city, Mia and Alex stared at their guild rooster in astonishment. These past few days they had been extremely blessed in that both Mia and Alex had managed to find their own chain of unique quests.


    What Liam said was correct. They hung around the divine city relentlessly and finally managed to fish out these unique quests.


    However, after Rey''s frantic message and them checking the leaderboard, they realized that the students would never be able to outdo the master.


    "Level 60! That bastard actually managed to reach Level 60!" Alex flopped back onto the bed with her mouth open wide.


    They had been working day and night but still, their levels were like snails. No matter what they did, they barely moved. But this guy.... in a single day...


    Next to her, Mia silently looked out of the window without any expression on her face. It was impossible to see what thoughts were running inside her brain.


    Alex sighed on seeing her puzzle of a sister and jumped off of the bed. "That''s it. I also need to reach Level 50. Mia, I am leaving for that quest. Good luck with yours."


    "Hmph. When Ie back¡­. I will also be Level 60!" She resolutely did a fist pump before jogging out of the inn. It was good that she did not wait for a response from Mia as the girl was still staring out the window.


    But after a few minutes, she also picked up a few things from the room and started heading out. She walked towards the main divine temple, to the floor at the peak of the temple.


    She clenched her fist and stepped inside the big empty room with only a single person standing inside. "You are back?" The person lifted her head and spoke, revealing a peerlessly beautiful face.


    Even Mia paled when she stood next to this figure. She was like an angel descended from the heavens whom everyone would worship if they had a chance to meet. She was the embodiment of kindness, virtue, and purity.


    And now this woman walked over to Mia with a warm smile on her face. "Are you ready?"


    "Yes, I am ready."


    The mysterious woman smiled and as soon as Mia closed her mouth, she started speaking something in a strangenguage.


    Strange runes started spreading across the room and the woman who was just now standing there suddenly vanished into pixels of light.


    And along with her Mia''s figure as well disappeared. The entire room was now deserted, only surrounded byvish wall adornments and golden furnishings.


    When Mia opened her eyes again, she found herself in an entirely different ce. Just like when she arrived first at theher realm, she received a notification this time also.


    <ding. you="" are="" the="" first="" yer="" to="" enter="" divine="" realm=""></ding.>


    <ding. your="" divine="" affinity="" is="" sss-grade=""></ding.>


    <ding. all="" your="" attributes="" are="" increased="" by="" 5%=""></ding.>


    <ding. your="" recovery="" rate="" is="" increased="" by="" 20%=""></ding.>


    <ding. while="" you="" are="" here,="" cannot="" be="" affected="" by="" ...<="" p=""></ding.>


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Mia curiously looked at the set of notifications in front of her.

 Chapter 625 Clap Clap Clap

    Chapter 625 p p p


    When Liam woke up it was already the next day. Huff. He let out a breath of relief and the first thing he did was summon the system interface.


    Name: Liam


    Level: 60


    There it was, blinking vividly. It was 48 hours of hard work and it was worth it. He was finally ready for the elves and to make the trip across thend of barbarians.


    Unfortunately by this method, his summons were still a tier lower whenpared to him but that would be rectified soon.


    The barbarians had huge numbers on their side. This was why they were feared by both the elves and the humans but Liam was counting on this same thing to level up his minions during this journey.


    "Alright. Time to head back." Liam stood up, his hand swiping away the system screen in front of him when he suddenly noticed a shing message.


    "Hmmm?" Liam opened it.


    "I know you are in theher realm. The meeting you requested can be arranged." It was a message from Kouske.


    Heh? Liam couldn''t help but smile at this message, not because he heard the reply that he hadn''t expected but because there was something weird about it.


    First, they agreed to a meeting.


    And second, they wanted to meet on his turf, where he was strongest.


    "Hmmm¡­ Are they nning something?" Liam chuckled, getting out of bed. "It doesn''t matter. Either way, I am doing this." He knew he was taking a risk but he had to do this.


    And from this interaction, he knew that the other party was most probably in theher realm at the moment. However, he was not going to meet with them through traditional means.


    He had another n. This guy had stayed in the dark for too long now. So it was time to lure him out into the light.


    He sent a reply to Kouske asking for coordinates and time for the meeting but shortly afterward, he called for Hiriyu and set some things in motion.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    In other parts of theher realm¡­


    Suddenly something interesting started to happen in a small demon settlement, quite a distance away from Thol city. Hushed murmurs and whispers about the sighting of a treasure started quietly spreading.


    It looked like this news was tightly kept under wraps for a long time but since today was the day an expedition was leaving from the demon settlement to hunt for this treasure, a lot of tongues started wagging and the cat was out of the bag.


    In one of the settlements, Kouske and Barret were standing next to a ck dded figure.


    "I am sure of it, sir. This is what I have heard and I also confirmed it. They are leaving in a couple of hours so if we leave now, we should be able to get there before them and obtain the treasure." Kouske said.


    After two seconds of silence, the ck dded figure shed his eyes open and nodded, "I agree. We should leave now." He had a pair of gold-rimmed sses on. Even though inside the game, no one''s physical inability was tranted, this person was still wearing sses.


    Kouske was immediately shocked. "Brother, you areing?" Barret, standing next to him also looked simrly shocked. The big boss seldom came with them on these kinds of trips so what was happening now?


    "Is there some danger?" He nervously added.


    However, the ck dded figure only shook his head, "No. On the contrary, this will be a very fortuitous encounter."


    Once again the two of them were shocked but the next second they revealed excited expressions wondering what this fortuitous encounter might be. If their brother said something, then it was 100% set in stone. So they were already looking forward to it.


    Just as the group of yers prepared to leave, suddenly Kouske remembered something which gave him a bad aftertaste in the mouth. "Right. That guy messaged me again. He is asking for the date, time, and coordinates. What should I tell him?"


    The ck-dded figure immediately came to a halt. He remained silent for a couple of seconds without saying anything else. Everyone else also quietly waited as they were already used to this behavior of their leader.


    Though the person randomly pressed brakes like this, afterward he usually said something mind-blowing. So they had no problem waiting for it.


    However, seconds quickly turned to minutes as the person still remained silent. After a few minutes, he sat cross-legged down on the ground and started to meditate.


    Of course, Kouske expected no less because the person in question here was their worst enemy, their biggest opponent. Not only was he strong but he also had a twisted personality. So this much was to be expected.


    And thus, theplicated silence continued, and finally after half an hour, the ck-d figure once again opened his eyes. Unexpectedly, there was still doubt in his eyes.


    "I can''t see anything clearly now. Let''s first head out and I will try to think about thister with a clear head." The guy adjusted his gold-rimmed sses again and muttered.


    "Ok, sir." Kouskepletely agreed with him. They were about to do something important now. So it was best to think about this nuisance and deal with himter. The treasure was the most important at the moment.


    As for Liam, the meeting he had requested was strange, but that could easily wait forter. Since they had lost two of their core team members thanks to the damned guy, they were now in a hurry to gather more strength and support.


    The group then made some preparations, silently left the area, and started their treasure hunt. This secret treasure was definitely going to be theirs.


    Kouske was a calm and cool-headed person but after suffering so many losses against Liam continuously, he couldn''t help but imagine the expression on the hateful guy''s face when they finally meet!


    How would he react to this new treasure in their hands? Did he think that they were so easy to trample upon? This was just the beginning.


    A couple of hourster, the group arrived at the spot where the treasure is supposed to be. This area was the ''guednds'' with overgrown, disease-infested rotten forests and slowly dying beasts, all afflicted with the same disease.


    Just the air in the surroundings made everyone want to puke their guts out. This trip was not going to be a pic. However, no one cared about that.


    Along with Kouske and Barret, the other yers started busily looking around for any clues or special NPCs while the silent leader of the group walked alone to a corner by himself and sat down in a cross-legged position.


    "Why are we even searching? Look there. Sir has started his business. He will soon let us know the exact location and whatnot." One of the yerszily yawned.


    "He He. You are right. There is no need for us to work hard. The big boss is awesome after all." Another one agreed.


    Seeing the group happily chatting and gossiping, Kouske frowned. He walked over to the group and sternly looked at thezy bums.


    Seeing him everyone quickly became silent but it was toote. "So you don''t want to do any work and simply want to hang around for the reward?" Kouske gave them a stern lecture.


    He then went back to searching. Others also started doing their work properly and cleared some of the mobs from the area searching for the possibility of an elite.


    Unfortunately, they couldn''t get more information about this treasure. The details they had were very vague. The only thing they were sure of is the area.


    And if it was a treasure, it was usually either dropped by an Elite or perhaps looted from a treasure chest. So everyone peeled their eyes open and searched the zone.


    Soon another hour silently passed by and everyone had alreadybed the area from top to bottom. Everyone grumbled as this was turning out to be a waste of time.


    Even Kouske was beginning to wonder about the validity of this tip. Perhaps the demons were mistaken about the treasure in this region?


    He looked towards the person who still had his eyes closed and continued to meditate. He then hesitantly walked towards him.


    He did not want to disturb him but at the same time, he wanted to give the update. At this stage of the game, time was money so they couldn''t afford to waste their time here.


    "Sir, we have looked everywhere. There are no traces of treasure in this zone." Kouske said in a low voice. He then patiently waited for an answer, without knowing if he would get any.


    Surprisingly the next second itself, the ck-dded figure shook his head. "No." He answered simply. "I am not wrong. The fortuitous encounter we havee for is right here."


    Just as he finished speaking, suddenly, out of nowhere, a loud pping sound echoed.


    CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP


    CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP


    A person slowly materialized out of thin air.

 Chapter 626 Black

    Chapter 626 ck


    CLAP CLAP CLAP.


    CLAP CLAP CLAP.


    "I have to hand it to you. You are indeed something special. This is the first time I am seeing anything like this," Liam smiled.


    Seeing the familiar face and the familiar voice materializing, Kouske, Barret, and all the other yers were in utter shock. How the hell did this guy show up here?


    They had gathered this information with great difficulty and paying a good price, so how could this guy also possiblye here to the exact same location at the exact same time?


    However, that did not matter at the moment. What mattered was¡­


    Without wasting any second, Kouske immediately summoned the humongous death knight and Barret unleashed some sort of aura. The other yers also started chanting something making the necessary preparations.


    Every single one of the yers gathered in the area seemed to be ready to shoot Liam at sight and kill him as if he was the most wanted criminal.


    However, before anything like that could happen, unexpectedly one person raised his hand, ceasing any and all efforts.


    "That''s enough." The ck-dded figure muttered.


    His words brought an ufortable silence to the ce, no one daring to say anything else afterward. They could only silently re at the bastard who was still continuing to smile as if he were mocking them.


    "Hey. Hey. Hey. Listen to your leader now. He knows I am not here to cause any trouble." Liam shrugged with a chuckle and walked forward casually.


    His words, his mannerisms, his smile, everything was inmmatory but the others could only grit their teeth and bear with it. Not a single person dared to open their mouth.


    "I am impressed," Liam muttered and squatted down in front of the ck-dded figure. He still couldn''t see the face clearly but he could see the gold-rimmed sses.


    "Hello. We finally meet?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "A man of few words?"


    "My words are expensive. Just like my time. I don''t like others wasting it."


    "Then I wille straight to the point." Liam chuckled. "You wanted to see me and I am here. In return, I need something from you. "


    Hearing the shameless guy, Kouske could no longer refrain himself so he ended up shouting loudly. "What the hell are you bbering? Who wanted to see whom? You were the one who was begging to meet with us!"


    The guy not only broke up their team but now dared to show up in front of their whole group and talk so haughtily? Unbelievable!


    However, Liam once again simplyughed it off.


    "Shhh. Small fries should keep quiet when the adults are talking. We can do thister after the meeting is over? I would love to talk to you! Remember? Ourst conversation? It was fun, right?"


    "Bastard!" Kouske was livid.


    Liam smiled and turned towards the ck-dded figure again who was staring at him strangely through the gold-rimmed sses.


    "I need information about one of my guild members. I need to know where he might be at the moment. Can you get that for me?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "In return, I will owe you one."


    Finally, even the silent person couldn''t keep a straight face. Hearing him, the guy lifted his head up and looked back at him through the gold-rimmed sses. "Heh. Your words are worthless."


    "Yes. You are a snake! Do you think we are fools to trust the words of a snake?" Kouske clenched his hands in anger, but the next second he snapped his mouth shut as Liam turned and looked at him, his cold gaze gripping the guy.


    He then silently turned back to look at the seated person in front of him. He was finally able to see his face.


    "Be that as it may¡­ but¡­" Liam smirked and added, "Didn''t you already divine a good fortune here? So the information I have¡­ it should be useful to you right?"


    "Hmmm¡­."


    "No matter how I look at it, you are the one benefitting from this exchange. So why not go with it? Isn''t that what is good for you?"


    This time the person did not respond anything back immediately. He looked at Liam as if he was thinking about something deeply.


    Seeing the two grown guys stare at each other in pin-drop silence, everyone gulped nervously. The silence was almost deafening. Only the whooshing sounds of the wind could be heard.


    Their heart was beating loudly and even the sweat trickling down could be felt vividly. Just what was going to happen? No one knew what either of them was thinking.


    The tension in the air was palpable. A big battle could break out at any given instant so everyone held their breath watching this scene ying out in front of them.


    Was their big boss going to ept this madman''s proposal or reject it?


    Just when the tension was at the highest point suddenly someoneughed and this time it was not Liam. "You seem very nervous. You are talking a lot. So this must be really important for you hmm?"


    The ck-dded figure stood up. He pinched his gold-rimmed ss to his nose, making sure to let Liam know that he had the upper hand in this conversation.


    "Ok. I will agree. Just this once."


    Liam didn''t say anything. He remained silent. Seeing this the other partyughed again, "Well, I can''t do it right now. I need time."


    Liam nodded.


    "I will send you a message in three days'' time."


    "Ok."


    The two of them then nced at each other before Liam abruptly entered stealth.


    "Hey!" Kouske immediately became rmed and tried to search for his presence and the others also prepared to locate him. However, the big boss shook his head. "No need."


    "Sir! This¡­ I cannot ept this. He has caused us a lot of loss. How could we allow him to freely walk in and walk out like this? I am sorry. I just cannot."


    "Ha Ha Ha. Do you think that I didn''t consider that option? If we had been hostile to him today, then we would have been the ones to lose."


    Kouske was shocked. If the big boss personally said this then it had to be true so he did not doubt that part. What he couldn''t believe was¡­ just how did he be so strong so soon?


    "Fuck! If only I could also be that stupid garrison leader." Kouske sighed. Unlike others who were left wondering, he knew that the secret to Liam''s sessy there.


    But what was the use of knowing this¡­ he was still not able to do anything. While grumbling about this, suddenly he realized something. "Sir, he left. That means the treasure is still ours for the taking."


    Everyone also realized the same thing and revealed relieved expressions but when he said it out like that something felt off. It took them a couple of seconds for the truth to settle in. Everyone looked at their big boss who silently smiled.


    "Damn it." Kouske spat out in rage. They had all been yed right from the beginning. The guy had orchestrated everything. "So should we just leave?"


    The ck-dded figure again nodded with a smile. He walked forward to put a hand on Kouske and patted him.


    "Don''t get so worked up. If you get emotional, you will make mistakes. Don''t you know that? Hmmm? Aren''t you a calm person?"


    "I know, Sir. I am sorry." Kouske put his head down in embarrassment. "It''s just that when he is involved..."


    "Ha Ha Ha. That is true. He is indeed an infuriating person, but¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "If you knew¡­ what I know¡­ you will feel only pity for him."


    Kouske''s eyes widened in confusion. What was he talking about?


    The big boss smiled. "You know how I sense dangerous situations."


    "Yes, sir. The color grey?"


    "Right. But, do you know how that person''s future looks?"


    Kouske gulped. He really wanted to know how it looked. Was it white? That was the aura of a blessed person. Seeing how lucky he usually was, that was probably the color. Or maybe perhaps golden? That was the aura of a ruler.


    But unexpectedly... the words he heard next were...


    "It''s ck. Solid pitch-ck without a single shade of white or even grey. Heh. So rx."


    "What?!"


    The guy patted Kouske again and then climbed onto his mount. "We don''t have to do anything at all. Not even lift a finger. That person is doomed with or without our intervention."


    "In fact, there is nothing anyone can do to help him. He is just a walking corpse. He might as well be dead already."


    Kouske gulped. His brother''s premonitions were not a joke. So if he says this¡­ then it means that Liam was indeed doomed.


    "Sir¡­ Are you going to warn him?"


    "Why? He didn''t ask me about himself. He asked me about Derek. So that''s all the answer that I owe him."


    Kouske silently nodded in deep contemtion.


    Just what was going to happen that his future was so irredeemable? Knowing Liam so far, the guy was definitely going to piss off someone even more terrifying?


    No matter what it was, it was none of their concern.


    Kouske closed his eyes and let out a deep breath of relief. There was a small smile on his face as he couldn''t help but enjoy this misery that awaited his enemy.


    The group then quietly left the area without lingering there any longer and wasting their time. After all, they had other big things nned in theher realm before the war between the two worldse to an end.

 Chapter 627 Any dungeons around?

    Chapter 627 Any dungeons around?


    From the distance Liam watched the group of people take off.


    Beside him, there was Hiriyu, his personal unit, and the few people he had given body cleansing elixirs, among whom most of them were his followers at the moment.


    "We are going to let them leave, leader?" Hiriyu asked, his voice almost growling at the sight of humans.


    Liam chuckled in response. "Yes, we are."


    He knew that he could attack them right now as they would be extremely vulnerable. He could perhaps even erase that whole group out of existence, but he did not intend to do so.


    If he had then this meeting would have never taken ce. Perhaps the smallest inkling of such a thought in his mind would have sent the other person running for the hills.


    Liam still did not know how the skill of his opponent worked. For that matter, he also did not know if this meeting was actually going to yield something. Everything was out of his hands.


    All he could do was make sure that he was not in any danger when meeting this person who had been in the shadows up until now.


    As for the results¡­ it was up to that person to decide if he wanted to make the trade with Liam or not.


    A few minutester, this group as well packed up their things and returned back to Thol city. When they arrived there, the entire ce was busily celebrating.


    Their city lord had achieved something which no other garrison had managed to achieve in years. The whole city reveled in joyous celebrations.


    Apart from this, tributes from the neighboring cities and other garrison leaders were pouring in steadily. Everyone wanted to tter Liam and get on his good side.


    Gold coins, herbs, ores, and other sparkling things filled the big hall of the garrison. A grand feast was prepared for the city lord and several demon women flocked around him to please him.


    Seeing all of this, Liam waspletely speechless. Too bad he simply did not have the time to enjoy any of it. He was already runningte and he needed to return back to the main world.


    He ate a portion of the feast in a hurry, shoved some of the gold coins and almost all of the herbs and ores into his inventory slot, and then prepared to leave.


    "Luna?" He called out to the sleeping fox while walking towards her. The little creature was still peacefully sleeping without any signs of waking up. Just how much longer was she going to be in this state?


    Looking at her, Liam suddenly had a thought. He had leveled up and was now ready to return back to the elves.


    This was what he hade here for, but¡­ since he was here, wouldn''t it be eptable to test out¡­ just one dungeon? Just one perhaps?


    After all, the dungeon he had destroyed was in another world entirely. Events in this world couldn''t possibly affect the events in that world and he also wouldn''t be implicated.


    With the abyss and the other stronger demons, there were several suspects here. No one should be able to track it to him? At least right away?


    Liam thought about it for a moment and then decided to take this small risk. It was worth it for finding out more about the treasure.


    Moreover, he also obtained the stone tablet in theher realm. So there could be more clues here.


    After mulling over it for a few more minutes, he called for Yessika and the others, basically the same team he had just taken out for the rendezvous.


    "Do you know of any high-level dungeons in this training area?" Liam asked the group. ncing at the injured fox in his hand and he then added, "Preferably something that has to do with fire?"


    "Fire? There is the burning valley dungeon." Yessika was the first to suggest. "My Lord, this is a training area that we normally use when we are close to Level 100. Will this work?"


    "Ok, let''s go there." Liam nodded.


    The ce wasn''t too far away from Thol city and since they knew where to look for it, they quickly arrived at the dungeon spot.


    Immediately a tall and swirling portal stood out amidst the neighboring trees andnd. The portal was majestic and gave off a dangerous aura, unlike the smaller ones.


    Liam couldn''t help but look around. There were eight Level 100 plus demons with him, so technically this should work out?


    Besides, this was also theher realm so he did not think much and daringly stepped in. However, almost instantly he was thrown out.


    "My Lord!" All the demons ran towards him in shock.


    "I am fine. I am fine." Liam chuckled. In front of him was a new notification.


    <ding. you="" are="" currently="" unable="" to="" enter="" the="" dungeon=""></ding.>


    This was the first time Liam was hearing about something like this. He knew that there was a maximum level requirement for a dungeon but only now he was seeing a minimum level requirement.


    However, he was not ready to give up just yet. He didn''t care too much for the free experience points or the carry these guys could offer. What he was after was¡­ the essence of the dungeon.


    So Liam quickly stood up and cleared his throat, "I am fine. I am fine. You guys should go ahead without me. Complete the dungeon and then one of you can step out."


    The demons nodded and hurriedly followed his orders. At the same time, Liam also quickly created a party and added all of them to this group.


    He had never tried this before but he knew that NPCs could be included in the groups so he was hoping that this would work.


    After everyone went inside, a few minutester, the dungeon suddenly started glowing brightly. It was glowing for a few seconds before returning back to its normal state.


    The next instant, a demon quickly scurried out. "My Lord, we have finished the task."


    "Oh? So soon?" Liam gave the demon a smile.


    Of course, he also noticed that he did not receive any experience points for the group''s dungeon run, but he wasn''t concerned about it as this was something he had already expected.


    The real question was what happened now?


    The dungeon was technically cleared and not yet reset. So would he be able to enter the dungeon at least now? Or would he be kicked out again?


    Liam took a deep breath and then stepped into the portal.

 Chapter 628 Another one bites the dust

    Chapter 628 Another one bites the dust


    Liam fully expected to be thrown out on his ass again but surprisingly that did not happen. He was able to enter the dungeon without any hitch.


    However, once he was inside, he only barely had a chance to take a look when almost instantly a heat wave assaulted him. Rather calling it a heatwave would not be doing it any justice.


    He was being cooked alive at the moment. 10% of his health dropped in a second and it was continuing to go dangerously low.


    "This is not good." Liam could see the dire situation he was currently in and immediately took out the stone tablet. As heid the tablet on the ground, he gulped down a health potion and waited for the effects to start.


    The other demons also worriedly looked at Liam as he clearly couldn''t take the burning hot air of the dungeon. "My Lord¡­" Yessika hesitantly said when suddenly everything around them started to change.


    Thankfully, the stone tablet quickly got to work. "It will be fine now." Liam sighed in relief as the atmosphere was slowly bing mellow and the stone tablet''s world opened up.


    All the demons were utterly shocked. The burning valley in front of them was no longer there. Instead, it was a dull barrennd with nothing in sight. There was only a small suspicious puddle at the center.


    Just as they were wondering how this was possible, slowly something else became exceedingly clear. The space they were in at the moment was rich in fire essence.


    Since all the demons were above Level 100 and their body had matured ordingly, their perceptivity was currently higher than Liam''s. They could immediately sense this change.


    And this time, Liam also could vividly notice it. This was the difference between the lower level dungeon and Level 100 dungeon. The essence here was much thicker. At the same time, it was also veryfortable and nourishing and not harsh.


    Liam looked at the fox in his hands who also seemed to be enjoying the ambiance. He ced her in the puddle just likest time and quickly started his business.


    The other demons obediently stayed on the side watching him in silence. A gasp escaped their mouths as they witnessed the undead soul minions materializing in front of them and flooding the space.


    Liam immediately started forging and reforging every single minion in this upgraded space. Now he had enough time to finish the rest of the minions and after a few hours, almost everyone received an upgrade in terms of fire magic resistance.


    Of course, some also gained a boost in fire magic affinity, all the imps and the lesser dryads having more fire power now for their respective level.


    Liam wanted to mainly aplish this, after which he started growing several Fire Persimmons so that Luna could consume them regrly. He made about ten piles of the fruit which he transferred into his inventory space, each pile upying a slot.


    "Now to thest task at hand." Stretching his limbs, Liam sat near the puddle and tried to absorb the fire essence swirling in the puddle bit by bit.


    The puddle had now grown a lot and there was more essence avable in the waters but there was only a certain amount he was able to take in. So his pace was nevertheless slow.


    Liam continued to steadily absorb the essence and it took about five hours before he finally received the notification that he wanted.


    <Ding. Congrattions. Your affinity for the fire element has improved. All your fire type attacks now have 10% increased damage]


    Liam clicked his tongue reading the description. There was a definite increase in his attack damage but it was not as high enough as he would have expected. For the efforts he had put he expected more.


    "Since it''s a permanent buff, I guess it''s difficult to bring this up?" He concluded with a frown. He then once again closed his eyes and started to absorb more essence from the puddle.


    However, all the demons standing on the side and watching him werepletely speechless. They had an entirely different understanding of innate traits like fire affinity.


    Something like this needed a person to be born with it. Otherwise, it was very difficult to change the affinity, but their city Lord¡­ They gulped and continued watching Liam in awe.


    The next few hours quietly passed by like this when unexpectedly once again things started changing. There were small tremors and rumbling sounds as the world in front of them faded.


    Everyone including Liam and the little fox found themselves back in the outside world of theher realm. "This is sooner than I expected?" Liam let out a deep breath and stood up.


    He had expected a high level dungeon to give him more time but it looked like all dungeons could only fuel the stone tablet for a certain period of time irrespective of the dungeon''s level.


    While Liam continued to ponder about this, the other demons looked around in shock. Burning valley dungeon was missing?


    The dungeon they had known all their life hadpletely vanished without any trace.


    Liam noticed this and awkwardly cleared his throat. "Right. I require your silence in this matter. No news of what happened here should spread. Even if someone else asks, we had nothing to do with this dungeon. Is that clear?"


    "Yes, My Lord." Everyone collectively replied.


    "Good. Good. Then you can all return back to the garrison. I have some personal things to attend to."


    Though many of them were reluctant to leave him alone, particrly Yessika, Liam quickly chased them away and he also opened the portal to leave the ce in a hurry.


    He had daringly consumed yet another dungeon but he did not n on repeating that action and bringing more attention to himself.


    Like a thief wanting to skip the scene of the crime, he ran away along with Talon and Luna back into the Xion realm.

 Chapter 629 Not strong enough

    Chapter 629 Not strong enough


    When Liam stepped out of the portal on the other side, he was once again back in the Xion realm. He was teleported somewhere near the center of the Gresh Kingdom so he had to travel to the border of the Kingdom for a second time.


    He checked Asura''s position on the map and then patted the big bird, "Let''s go Talon."


    A few hourster, the group of three finally located the spot where the elves were hiding. There were small signs of disturbance here and there indicating that there had been some trouble but everyone seemed to be doing fine.


    "Hello." Liam waved his hand at the bunch as the bird elegantly glided to the ground. He jumped off the bird and stood in front of the elves who were visibly shocked by his sudden appearance.


    More than that, they were shocked by Liam''s level. It was already 60?


    Lyana gulped as she stared at the person in front of her. In just a couple of days, his strength had increased so much? This was unbelievable and yet somehow it was true.


    Just what did he do to achieve something like this? Even with repeated dungeon diving, his progress shouldn''t have been so fast.


    Liam could see that the elf was very confused but he did not want to share his secrets. It was best to keep his role in the demon army to himself.


    "Shall we leave then? It should be a long trip from here to the elvennds, so it''s better we start as soon as we can." He smiled at the quest giver, the leader of the small group of elves.


    "Ah. Y¡­ Yes." Lyana stammered. She had no wordsing out of her mouth as she wasn''t even able to think clearly. She still couldn''t process this person''s sudden burst of strength.


    She was sure that Liam must have done something unnatural. However, when one took shortcuts like this, the price they paid for it would also be equal. She wondered what price this man had paid.


    On the side, Liam spoke with Asura a few words, transferred some items to him, emptied his inventory space, and then sent the guy away on Talon.


    After that, the group finally embarked on their long and arduous journey. They trudged through the dense forest keeping a low profile and soon were back at the Kingdom border, the original spot where they had initially met Liam.


    This was it. Beyond this point, they could encounter the barbarians at any given instant.


    Liam took a deep breath and was about to head further inside their territory when suddenly Lyana opened her mouth.


    She had been suspiciously silent all this time and the quest she gave as well was still iplete, so Liam''s interest was instantly piqued. What did the elf have to say now?


    "Is something the matter?" Liam asked. He could see the panic in the elf''s eyes, something that was not there before.


    "Yes. Yes. We need to stop." The elf replied with haggard breaths. "We need to turn around. We cannot do this. You cannot do this. Your level might be higher now but you cannot take down the barbarians. You are still too weak."


    Ok? Liam scrunched his face. Was this leading to another level-up quest? Was this damn chain quest simply a serial level-up quests one after the other?


    "So how do I be stronger? Do I need to level up more?"


    Surprisingly, the elf shook her head. "No. No. It''s not that simple. I apologize. I was foolish. I mislead you into thinking that there was actually a chance for us." The strong woman then started sobbing right then and there.


    Liam could only feebly hear her voice in between the sobs.


    "The barbarians¡­ they have a special kind of strength¡­ no one can beat them¡­ we can never go back¡­ they are bloodthirsty powerful beasts¡­ they will never let us go home."


    "They are not that bad. I have already killed a few."


    "No. No. You haven''t met the true powerhouses. They are impossible to win against. They will make you kneel."


    For the next few minutes, Liam tried to talk to Lyana and the other elves but it was useless. The elves were too traumatized to give out any details. They were fine up until here but once they arrived at the border, they became aplete mess.


    All Liam got, in the end, was that the barbarians had a special kind of physical strength which made it impossible to harm them easily.


    That was how the elves had also lost. Their elemental magic was renderedpletely useless. Moreover, the barbarians also had numbers on their side. So the ending became tragic.


    Narrowing his eyes, Liam looked at the path ahead of them. From the beginning, he knew that crossing the border wouldn''t be as simple as raising his level, but it would have been better to get some clues to start with.


    "Well, I guess I can start now and test the waters first."


    Liam helped the group of elves hide in one of the nearby bushes, shoved the fox along with them, and then summoned his newly reforged army.


    "Let''s go for a hunt. I guess this time we need to find one of these so-called powerhouses."


    He used the map to locate one of the settlements and quietly crept in. As he officially crossed the border between the two kingdoms, there wasn''t any clear difference except for the notification which chimed in.


    <Ding. You have now entered a new territory>


    <Ding. You have received 1000 experience points>


    Liam swiped them away and continued moving forward in stealth. Not long afterward he came across the first group of barbarians. These guys looked strong and sturdy, seemingly higher leveled than the ones he had faced before.


    "Alright. Time to test just how strong their physical defense is." He unsheathed his sword and rushed forward into the fray head first.

 Chapter 630 Dead End

    Chapter 630 Dead End


    There were four barbarians in the small group and Liam tackled them without summoning the soul minions. He wanted to see just what strength were the elves talking about.


    The ck dragon sword in his hand thrummed in resonance as he dashed forward and sliced the toughened up skin of the barbarians.


    SLASH. SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.


    His body nimbly moved as he evaded all of their attacks and shed at them relentlessly. The huge barbarians werepletely helpless as their bloodthirsty eyes locked onto Liam wanting to tear him apart but they couldn''t even touch him.


    From the beginning to the end, Liam was in control of the entire fight. The fight started and finished in the blink of an eye.


    "Level 45, Level 54, Level 49, and Level 30." Liam kicked around the corpses, observing their level and picking up the loot that dropped, some silver coins.


    "Hmmm¡­ these guys weren''t that strong. Maybe I need to target more higher-leveled guys, but just to be safe..." He grabbed hold of one of the three barbarians'' souls and started forging it quickly.


    It took a few minutes but Liam was done soon. He had selected the Level 54 barbarian and the final soul minion turned out to be Level 51.


    "Not bad." He nodded in satisfaction at his creation.


    Unlike the necromancy ss, he needed some time to raise each undead in hismand but the plus point was that¡­ he could still talk to them and ess their memories.


    Liam forged this guy for this exact purpose. He waited for the soul minion to fully activate and then stood up to face the undead barbarian,ing straight to the point.


    "What is so special about you guys? How do you have such high physical strength and defense?"


    The barbarian immediately revealed a disgruntled expression, looking at Liam and then at himself, unable to ept his new reality. He stared down at the enemy unwilling to answer any of his questions.


    However¡­ his mouth opened on its own and he was already talking. "Barbarians are tough. Raised tough. We are engaged in constantbat since birth."


    The undead soul then continued talking about all thebats he had participated in since his birth. Liam listened to him ramble on for a while scratching his head, but then he dismissed the new guy. Clearly, this was not the information he was looking for.


    "I will go ahead and search for some more I guess." He entered [Stealth] and started looking for the next prey. Not long after, he met another group. These guys were also Level 50 something and they were about ten in number.


    Liam did not take any unnecessary risks. This time he summoned some of his minions and attacked the small group along with this party.


    However, once again the fight was underwhelming. The group of barbarians was easily overpowered and the fight also ended without any surprise.


    Liam saw the corpses littered on the ground and tried creating another soul minion. He interrogated the guy just like the one before without getting any solid answers. Once again, they were not able to learn anything new.


    "Hmmm¡­ this is going too slow." Liam clicked his tongue and silently retreated back. From what he had seen, sure the barbarians were a bit tough but the elf''s words were definitely misleading.


    They did not have any special strength that he needed to be wary of. He looked around sighting another group not too far away but he did not engage with them.


    He had wasted enough time at the border like this. It was time to cross over the ce seriously. Liam returned to the spot and took Luna from where he had hidden her.


    He then nced at the elves who were nearby. They seemed to have somewhat settled down now but no one looked interested in moving from that hiding spot.


    "Fuck this. What a waste of time!" Liam decided to ignore the group for now. They were not the only ones who were capable of showing him the path ahead.


    He summoned the newly forged barbarians and proceeded inside the territory with the help of information from these guys and his map.


    "So the easiest path here should be through this small vige." He dodged the heavily defended areas and tried to pass through the small viges that were scattered around.


    With the undead barbarians in the lead, the first vige was crossed just like that. "Alright, now where do we go?"


    "There forest in this vige is very dense. Grraa. Easy to cross here." One of the soul minions answered even though he clearly did not want to.


    Liam nodded and sneakily crossed the second vige also. However, this time the journey was not so peaceful. They faced a few mobs of beasts which were quickly taken down by the soul undead.


    As he bent down to pick up the drops grumbling that the rabbit was not doing her job properly, Liam noticed a few familiar faces from the corner of his eyes.


    It looked like the elves were quietly following him from a distance. "Hmmm?" Liam turned to look at them.


    Lyana and the other elves immediately bent their heads down.


    Liam was speechless. Wouldn''t it be better to juste along with him instead of doing this roundabout thing? He couldn''t understand this strange behavior.


    "Well, whatever." He was already here so he continued moving forward using his methods. After the second vige, the group silently snuck through the third and the fourth vige as well.


    Everything almost felt too easy when suddenly one of the undead barbarians stopped moving. The others also followed suit and all of them stopped moving.


    "What happened?" Liam frowned, "Which is the safest path from here?"


    However, none of the undead answered him this time. "Hmmm?" Liam paused for a moment and then asked a different question.


    "Is there no safe path from here?"


    Immediately, the five newly forged undead bobbed their heads. "Yes."

 Chapter 631 Campsite

    Chapter 631 Campsite


    Liam looked around and found a proper ce to hide Luna first.


    He then entered [Stealth] and moved ahead by himself for scouting purposes. All of his soul minions had given the same response so he wanted to find out just whaty ahead.


    He snuck beneath the trees and the dense brambles and moved for a while when the forest finally opened into a clearing.


    However, before he could take another step forward he heard rustling sounds nearby and saw a group of barbarians walking towards him.


    Liam immediately redid his [Stealth] and backed away a little. He did not even breathe and waited for the group to walk past him.


    Thankfully, the barbarians did not sense him at all. They almost brushed past his body, walking so close to him but they did not detect him.


    Only after the group crossed him, Liam took a deep breath.


    He once again ducked out of the cluster of branches to take a look at the scene in front of him and he finally understood what his minions were talking about.


    Ahead of him were huge gigantic boulders blocking the terrain and as for the path in between these boulders, there was an entire horde of barbarians settled in between them.


    It looked like he had run into one of the military camps and there was simply no ce to hide or take cover.


    "So this was what the elves were talking about?"


    Liam further retreated back a few steps into the safety of the dense forest. He definitely had to make some ns before continuing forward and for that, he needed some more information.


    "What do you guys know about this camp?" He enquired the soul minions who were of only a little help.


    He tried asking them in a bunch of different ways but they did not seem to know the answers. Only the ones in the camp probably knew the details of the camp.


    "Hmmm. That''s fine. I will just have to lure one or two and ask them about it."


    It was either this or he had to travel a significant amount of distance to go around this camp which once again might not be fruitful as he could run into another settlement or another camp.


    Taking a deep breath, Liam once again entered [Stealth] and started stalking the entire stretch of the campsite.


    Though the campsite looked very crowded and rowdy at first sight, there was nothing special going on in the area.


    The barbarians were simply spending their time in leisure. Some of them were strolling about, some were roasting their dinner, and some were simply sleeping in their tent-like structures.


    Of course, there were also the ones involved in carnal pleasures and simple brawls, both activities having a lot of spectators watching the show.


    What particrly stood out was their brutal nature. When the brawl ended, the winner casually broke the neck of the loser and crushed his skill by jumping on his head repeatedly, putting the weight of the entire body.


    The others also cheered for the winner by shouting in high spirits. The barbarians wereplete savages without a single ounce of respect or kindness for even their kith and kin.


    If Liam was caught in the midst of this group, then he did not have to imagine the consequences. He made sure to remain inconspicuous and continued observing the campsite.


    After a while, he finally had a rough idea about the total numbers in this area. There were more than a hundred barbarians blocking their path.


    "Hmmm¡­ this is troublesome. If possible, a direct conflict had to be avoided in this ce." Liam decided to do another round just to be sure. At the same time, an idea was slowly forming in his mind about how to cross this ce and reach the other side.


    Not long after, he returned back to the spot where Luna was resting and picked up the little fox.


    He fed a few persimmons to the fox and then summoned his small personal troop of soul minions. It was time to make a move. He now had a solid n.


    Before leaving he nced at the elves onest time and asked again, "Are youfortable just tagging behind me like this? I am warning you. This time you won''t be able to do that. Eithere with me or you will face the same fate as before."


    He waited for a couple of seconds but the elves did not show any response. "Fine. Your wish." Liam ignored them and started his work.


    He took out armor and chest guards from his inventory and made himself look bulkier like a barbarian. He then covered himself with a ck cloak.


    Well, the disguise was not perfect but it would take someone a couple of seconds to notice that something was wrong. All the elves stared at him in shock.


    Liam continued to ignore them and double-checked himself a couple of times. He shoved the fox inside one of the armors and finished the final touches. "Alright, I am ready now."


    Seeing that Liam was really leaving, the elves gulped in fear. They looked at each other and finally, Lyana stood up after making a decision. The group started following Liam again, this time more closely.


    Liam shook his head helplessly. "If you are going to follow me again, then we need to do something else. Don''t simply stand there."


    These past few hours he had observed the campsite, he had managed to collect a few items, chains and cuffs to be specific.


    He took out the bunch from his inventory and tossed it in front of the elves. "You will have to act as my ves if this is going to be sessful."


    After a few seconds of hesitation, the elves finally relented and started changing into their roles as well. As it was, they looked tired and haggard so they did not have to do much to y the part.


    Liam nced at the group and everything looked satisfactory. "Now we are ready." He smiled and started walking, everyone else following his lead.

 Chapter 632 Right under the nose

    Chapter 632 Right under the nose


    The loud sound of the chains rattling echoed in the empty forest as the group proceeded to move. The group was slowly nearing the military campsite.


    Lyana who was silent up until now bit her nails in nervousness and spoke up, "Will just this disguise work out? The barbarians are not fools." She looked very worried. It was clear that they were going to get caught.


    In fact, none of the elves thought that this was enough.


    They were simply following Liam''s orders as they did not have any other choice. It was either follow him or die in the forest. So all of them looked terrified.


    Liam on the other hand lookedpletely rxed. He had a n. It was either going to work or not work. If it works, then it was the easy route. If it doesn''t work then it was the hard route. He wasn''t too worried about it.


    "Don''t worry about all this. Run when I run. That''s all you have to do." He smiled at the elves as they finally arrived at the clearing. Now it was truth time!


    All the elves nervously looked around as more than a dozen hungry bloodthirsty eyes fell on them instantly. In fact, everyone seemed to be looking at them, not one person paying attention to Liam.


    Suddenly it struck Lyana and she realized the obvious. This bastard had used them as bait to escape this campsite? She took a step back trembling as she watched a bunch of barbarians shouting and walking towards them.


    No! No! No! How were they going to escape now?


    However, before she could even finish that thought, all of sudden something else started happening. A loud war horn sounded and all the barbarians started shouting agitatedly, the whole ce devolving intopletemotion.


    "Raaaa! We are under attack!"


    "Raaa!"


    "Raaa!"


    The entire campsite fell into chaos and everyone began running here and there to prepare for this unexpected ambush. It looked like for the barbarians fighting came before women so Liam and the elves were quickly forgotten.


    "NOW! RUN!" Liam shouted as he and the elves also started running. Everyone was in a rushed state, no one paid any special attention to them. Making use of the disturbance they hurriedly crossed the winding path curving around the huge boulders.


    The path itself wasn''t too long. It was rtively small, the only drawback being that everything was out in the open with no ce to hide. So using this chance the group easily crossed it right in front of the barbarians in the campsite.


    Some even shouted, calling Liam a coward as they watched him flee at the sound of the war horn but no one suspected anything more. They simply saw him as a merchant trying to protect his wares.


    In the span of a few minutes, Liam and the elves managed to cross the whole ce and disappear. In the end, there were a couple of barbarians who simply tried to block his path but these guys were no threat and were quickly taken care of.


    Liam kept moving after putting them down and the group only rxed when they were well past the finish line and back in the thick of the forests on the other side of the boulders.


    "Phew! That was close!" Liam chuckled and started undoing his bulky disguise. It was good but now it was time to go as it hindered his movements a lot.


    The bunch of elves could only stare at the guy in awe. What just happened and how was this human being doing this so casually? They had actually escaped right under everyone''s nose!


    Who even attacked the barbarians at this exact same moment helping them? They were not able to understand anything.


    Surprisingly, at the other end, the barbarians also had the same expression. They had no clue what was going on.


    One minute, some weird three-headed chickens, psychotic rabbits, wolves, and monsters of all shapes and sizes were attacking them, but now¡­ they had all magically disappeared.


    All the barbarians could do was scratch their heads and return back to the camp. A few even wondered where the fresh elven ves went but no one was thinking about them in particr.


    Everyone waspletely focused on the weird ambush thatsted about five to seven minutes.


    Meanwhile, Liam swiped the few notifications that told him how many experience points he had gained.


    Create a diversion and run! It was a simple and straightforward strategy and it had worked like a charm. It was very satisfying.


    Letting out a sigh of relief, he once again summoned the newly forged barbarians and asked them again with a smile, "How about now? What is the safest path?"


    Thankfully, the next leg of the journey was not too taxing. They just had to cross a couple of small viges and it wasn''t all that difficult.


    They crossed the first vige simply maneuvering through the forest and for the next vige, they had to sh with a small group of barbarians before they were free to continue forward.


    Everything was proceeding smoothly. They were almost out of the main zone that blocked their path to the elvennds.


    If they just manage to cross this main zone, then ording to the barbarian undeads they would be able to easily cross over to the elven territory using the vastly sprawled wilderness where the barbarians did not wander a lot. So it would be easy to escape their eyes in that territory.


    Liam nodded and started moving again. It was good that this trip proved to be simpler than he had assumed. He was currently short on time and this helped a lot.


    Lyana and the other elves were also rejoicing inwardly though they looked very nervous on the outside. They were almost back to their territory! They did not think that such a thing would happen but here they were!


    Just like Liam, the group of elves also energetically moved as the group approached their next path which was a winding path around a hill nking a waterfall. The barbarian settlement was on the other side so this was the only way to escape their detection.


    The path around the waterfall was quite treacherous that no human being or rather civilian, even the experienced adventurers would be able to cross through.


    However, Liam was inside the game. All his stats were enhanced and he was no longer an ordinary human being.


    Hiking through this treacherous path might as well be a stroll in the park for him. He also helped the elves cross and once again without any hitch, the whole group made it through to the other end.


    This was it! They were now fully outside the main zone. They were just a few miles from entering the wilderness after which their path would be unhindered.


    Everyone sighed in relief and prepared to take thisst leg of the journey with big expectations when suddenly¡­ the gushing waterfall was not the only thing making a sound.


    Liam stopped moving and so did all the elves as they heard several rustling sounds around them.


    Apes? Everyone''s eyes shifted to look around as they saw numerous figures emerging from the densely packed forest. They werepletely surrounded on all sides.


    Not by apes but by barbarians!

 Chapter 633 Trapped

    Chapter 633 Trapped


    Liam''s mind spun as he looked around hurriedly, searching for a path of escape. They might be in a difficult position but it was nothing he hadn''t seen before. In his past life, he had escaped even worse scenarios.


    Trees, the trail, the waterfalls, his brain worked in overdrive. No matter how he looked at this the waterfalls seemed to be the best option. It would be easier for him to jump in and escape.


    However, as soon as he slightly leaned towards that side and looked like he was about to jump, Lyana immediately opened her mouth. "NO!! There is a beast down there that will kill you!"


    Thud. Liam instantly stopped his movements and supported himself using a tree branch that was hanging off the mountain. What beast was down there? Now, where were they supposed to go?


    Seeing his actions and the elf''s panicked shout all the barbarians startedughing.


    "Ke Ke Ke ke!"


    "Ke Ke Ke!"


    "Ke Ke Ke Ke!"


    In the midst of thisughter, a loud voice boomed through. Go ahead and jump human! It''s been a while since I saw that monster! Ke Ke Ke ke!"


    A huge elephant beast with two giant tusks appeared standing on the edge of the cliff and atop it a barbarian was sitting. Everyone made way for this guy and respectfully quieted down when he arrived.


    "Puny human! Did you think it was that easy to escape from us? You are now trapped. You have nowhere to run. Hmph!" The barbarian haughtily dered.


    Liam looked at the guy mouthing off as he pleased. He seemed bulkier than the rest, had more items on his body, had a special mount, and also had a special headdress.


    He hadn''t seen any other barbarians like this before. So he observed the man in front of him keenly. As for what he was saying¡­


    "Trapped huh? We will see about that."


    It looked like his sneaking across the enemy''s camp n hadn''t worked after all. Now he had no other option but to go along with his n B.


    Thud. Liam kicked off the hard mountain''s surface and abruptly jumped up without any warning.


    All the barbarians stared in shock seeing the human being in front of them having so much power and agility, but Liam was not done yet.


    It only took him a moment to get away from the rocky side, dangerous side of the mountain to the t mountaintop where all the barbarians had gathered. In one second he had regained his footing and was no longer in a perilous position.


    However, that didn''t change anything as he was still surrounded from all sides.


    "Hrmm! Attack him!" The barbarian seated atop the elephantmanded his underlings and waved his hand impatiently.


    His eyes then flickered to the five elven women trembling and standing on the dangerous path. A strange glint shed past his eyes. "Who do we have here?"


    But before his question could be answered, his attention was once again caught by the human being. The five barbarians who had dashed towards him had all fallen back.


    Liam''s sword was drenched in blood as he relentlessly shed at his enemies, imbuing firepower in his attack whenever he could.


    Within a few seconds, the five Level 55 barbarians were quickly put down. The others standing around also gaped at this scene as they stared at Liam with their bloodthirsty eyes.


    However, they did not look scared. Instead, they seemed very eager to throw themselves at Liam and fight him.


    As the first five went down, another group rushed towards him. This time there were a couple of Level 70 barbarians in the group.


    "Bring it on." Liam gripped his sword tightly and continued shing down the thick beings in front of him. He did not want to reveal his trump card just yet. As the barbarians were still underestimating him, he wanted to use this chance well.


    sh. sh. sh. The ck dragon sword shed here and there and blood sttered everywhere. Within a few seconds, the next group of barbarians also dropped down dead.


    But right after the third wave arrived as even more barbarians came forward with the intention of pummeling Liam to the ground.


    Some even threw their spears and weapons at him from a distance which he swiftly evaded. The weapons insteadnded on the barbarians nking him and injuring them.


    Raaaa! The group let out an angry roar as they swung their thick fists at the human being one after the other. The fight became a big rumble with everyone haphazardly taking their chances.


    Liam, however, was still calm and collected. He only responded to the attacksing for him and returned that attack with his own attack which was several times stronger.


    "Good effort, but you are simply not strong enough." He chuckled and swung his sword to his heart''s content. Toying with these barbarians was simply too much fun.


    The other side did not share these same thoughts. Every single barbarian who faced Liam was trembling and shaking. They were utterly bewildered as all the attacks they were receiving weighed like a mountain.


    What was happening? How was this human so strong? Weren''t humans supposed to be weak physically? That too the person in front of them wasn''t even using any magic. He was simply fighting with a weapon so the barbarians were left clueless.


    By now seeing his crew getting massacred the big guy sitting atop the elephant beast also shouted in disgruntlement.


    Many of his men were getting ughtered and it was happening within seconds. This new enemy was not to be underestimated. This much was clear to him.


    THUD! The barbarian grunted loudly as he jumped off the elephant and arrived in front of Liam in a few strides.


    All the other barbarians parted like the sea allowing this person toe forward and his mere presence exuded a huge pressure on Liam, making his body slightly shake.


    <Level 80; Barbarian War Chief; Health: 500,000>


    "I guess this is the one the elves warned me about?" Liam''s gaze locked onto his new target as he couldn''t help but feel the excitement from facing such a strong opponent. "Let me see what you have."


    Ka ta ta ta. Liam immediately dashed forwardnding the first blow on the barbarian chief.


    "Hmph. Insect." The other party spat out as he simply lifted his thick arm to block the attack.


    VRMMM! The pulsing steel of the ck dragon sword shed against the thick sturdy flesh of the barbarian and the impact sent both of them back a few paces.


    Surprised by this turnout, the barbarian chief''s eyes lit up curiously. What strength does this human in front of him possess?


    "It''s been a while since I had a chance to fight properly. HRAAA! COME!"


    Liam grinned. This was just the beginning he was not done yet.


    He once again dashed forward at the barbarian aiming his attack directly at this throat but at thest minute just when the barbarian was again nning to block him with his arm, suddenly Liam''s image split into three.


    "HRRRM!" The barbarian grunted as he stared at the trickery. However, he did not get flustered. He simply blocked one attack after another, letting the third one actually strike his vital point.


    -1000


    A big damage number floated atop but shockingly there was no blood. No matter how one looked at it this attack was aimed at the weak point, right near the neck region but still, there was no heavy injury.


    The barbarian chief''s physical defense was simply amazing!


    "So even my critical attacks are not critical?" Liam did not stop there and continuedshing out at the big guy. He was trying to get a hang of the attack pattern of the chief.


    Weirdly enough the other party was only blocking him and not doing a single offensive move. Also, the other barbarians were also simply standing around and watching the show. No one showed any intention of sneakily attacking him during this fight and backstabbing him.


    The entire barbarian group was clearly looking down on Liam. When such an interesting opportunity presented itself to him, he did not want to let it go!


    After all, 500,000 health points weren''t all that much. He had soloed bosses with more health. He continued swinging his sword around and slowly gaining rhythm for the barbarians blocking pattern.


    A few more seconds passed and Liam was still only slowly chipping away the health. He wasn''t doing anything shy. Seeing this, the barbarian chief grunted in annoyance. "Weak. You are too weak. Graaa!"


    He raised his hand to block Liam''sst attack as he nned to send the insect flying with his next move but just as he moved his body, suddenly Liam''s speed increased.


    [Spirit Wrath]


    Using the full momentum he had gathered so far, Liam used his ultimate sword technique on the guy when he least expected it.


    Grummm!


    Hundreds of swords sprang up from the ground skewering the enemy standing atop it.

 Chapter 634 Back to the elven lands?

    Chapter 634 Back to the elvennds?


    The barbarian chief''s eyes reddened as he saw his health quickly dropping. He also wasn''t able to react to the attack properly and almost stumbled and fumbled out of the zone.


    "Hrrmm! That tickled insect!"


    Liam ignored the barbarian as he dashed forward again to finish the fight. The guy''s health was now 50% down so he wanted to bring it down to zero before anything unexpected happens.


    However, the barbarian was no longer on the defense as he was previously. The big guy grunted and moved his legs apart, throwing out a punch to meet Liam''s attack.


    Thud! The power-packed punch shed with the sword sending shockwaves in multiple directions. The barbarian was still standing solidly in the same spot while Liam was pushed back.


    "Oh? So he is finally starting to attack?" Liam also did not hold back and immediately cast [Ring of Fire] around them.


    He sent out a [Sizzling Tornado] right after it but he sent this outward and not towards the opponent. This was because he wanted to tag as many barbarians as possible and this was easy since everyone was standing together in a crowd and watching the show.


    The [Sizzling Tornado] hit the barbarians and several of them scattered like bowling alley pins. Also, Liam suddenly disappeared in front of the chief.


    Using the chaos andmotion that ensued he sped through the rest of the crowd that was not tagged and shed wildly in different directions.


    His mana core was rotating wildly and he used all of it to boost his movements so his figure appeared like a blur in between the crowd. No one was able to react. The barbarians werepletely helpless.


    Many wondered what was going on as the fight became suddenly different. This also visibly angered the chief as this was tant disrespect to him.


    "Your opponent is me!" He shouted and thundered behind Liam, who on the other hand grinned and continued running wildly as he had his own ns.


    "I will do what I want." His voice was not heard by anyone in the ruckus andmotion. This cat and mouse chase continued on for a few seconds and the barbarian chief started to notice something weird.


    Liam''s speed was continuously increasing. Logically he should tire out but instead, he was bing faster and stronger. How was this possible?


    Just as this thought popped inside his brain, suddenly Liam stopped moving. "I think I have enough." He grinned and stood around to face the barbarian chief who was bolting towards him.


    The other party had no idea but right now Liam''s stats were boosted to almost 100%. The legendary item in his neck was glowing white.


    Because of all the barbarians gathered around, the rabbit''s foot was working in overdrive and boosting all of Liam''s attributes. This was the perfect time for the legendary item to shine.


    Using the momentum from this insane boost, Liam swung his sword and sent out two of his most powerful attacks, attacks whichbined mana with his swordy, two back to back [Fire sh].


    A visible cross of burning mes appeared and the attack burned through the sturdy defense of the barbarian chief.


    With his stats already boosted andbined with the increased fire damage from the affinity, the two attacks charred the barbarian''s body, draining whatever was left of his strength.


    The big guy''s health rapidly dropped and was almost down to thest 5%. Liam grinned. It was time to deal thest blow. He dashed forward to send out two more [Fire sh] to end the fight.


    Boom! The battleground reverberated and, the impact of the attack sted the barbarian chief away, his humungous body flying and hitting something in the distance.


    For an instance, the entire ce became eerily quiet with only the dust and the rocks settling back down on the ground. All the barbarians stood shell-shocked. They couldn''t believe that their chief actually lost.


    The elves who were currently being held captive by a few barbarians also looked shocked. Lyana did not think that the human had it within him but somehow he had aplished it! This was it!


    So they were going to escape from this hell after all? They were going to go back home? Back to the elvennds?


    While everyone stood stunned silly, Liam alone did not rx. He frowned staring at the body on the ground or at least the spot where the body was supposed to be. Was he dead yet?


    No. Liam knew it because he didn''t get any system notifications. Also, he could not sense the soul that slipped out of the man''s body on death.


    No, the barbarian chief was definitely not dead.


    A sudden chill crept up his back as an ominous feeling rose in his heart. Something was wrong. What could it be? He needed to step forward and finish this fight once and for all.


    Liam dashed ahead to the spot where the barbarian''s body had flown away, but before he could get a grip on the surroundings and observe the things around him, suddenly something came flying at him from the side.


    Pa! Liam''s body turned stiff from the attack that connected to his jaw as if his entire body was electrocuted. It was Liam''s turn to go flying back.


    But in thest moment, he at least managed to catch a glimpse of the enemy who had managed to take away half of his health in a single attack!


    No, more than half as his health bar was still dropping. What the hell was this attack?


    Liam stared at the barbarian chief still standing tall in front of him.


    As the dust and smoke cleared, the big bulky body was clearly visible. The armor and the clothes on the guy were shredded and tattered but his body itself looked good as new. The previous injuries that Liam had personally etched on the man''s body were no longer to be seen.


    Instead, there was a visible red glow on the barbarian, something that exuded far more pressure and power than before.


    Liam gaped as he watched the other thing that was different now, the guy''s description.


    <Level 80; Barbarian War Chief; Health: 50,000,000>

 Chapter 635 Immovable

    Chapter 635 Immovable


    "What is this?" Liam''s head ached. 50 million health points? He was no longer sure if he was sane or if he was seeing things. How the hell did the barbarian chief suddenly manage to get this ridiculous buff?


    Moreover, his health bar was also now at 25%. That one attack of the guy had drained 75% of his health!


    What unimaginable attack power and defense power!


    Now Liam finally understood what the elves were talking about. Against someone like this, of course, they would be totally helpless. However, things were not yet over.


    For using power like this, there was always a limit. Probably the guy could only use this once or the effectsts for only a few seconds. If he could somehow hold on until then¡­ victory would be his.


    Liam hurriedly gulped down a bottle of health potion and then sprang back up for round two. He didn''t directly sh with the barbarian chief again. Instead, he ran into the crowd, finishing off some of the barbarians who were already injured by [Sizzling Tornado] and had less strength.


    He wanted to cull down the crowd a little bit while he could since that was the second thing he needed to be wary about, the first still being the monstrous strength of the chief.


    In this way, he was waiting for the skill to run out and also dealing with the numbers, thereby hitting two birds with one stone.


    However, the barbarian chief did not n to let him go that easily. The big guy thundered after him, reaching him once again in a few strides, and surprisingly, the strong overpowering aura was still wrapped around him.


    "I guess it''s still not time to fight with you." Liam hurriedly ran away once again. He threw a couple of barbarians he was toying around with onto the chief and then fled the scene.


    Raaaa! Behind him, a loud roar reverberated. The barbarian chief sounded very angry. He did not like the way his prey was slipping through his fingertips.


    At this point, he did not even care about his allies as he rashly punched whoever was in his way and thundered behind Liam. A path of blood and flesh opened up for him as his speed constantly increased.


    Liam turned back to observe this and he was once again shocked. Logically the effect of the skill had to go down but instead, it was going up?


    Just what type of skill was this person using? Was waiting for the skill downtime actually going to work? As he continued to run away from the madman he began to seriously doubt this.


    Unfortunately, he did not have to think about this for too long. Even with all of his boosted stats, the barbarian chief still caught up to him in no time.


    The thick sturdy hand came at him with a punch which Liam tried to duck and evade, sending out a [Fire sh] at the same time. However, he was not able to fully evade the iing attack but at least the attack he sent perfectlynded.


    Liam prepared immediately for the next attack when a surge of pain exploded from his hand where the punch had only grazed him.


    What the heck?


    His hand was almost severed from his body and his health was dropping ridiculously once again. On the other hand¡­ Liam''s gaze went to the health bar of the other party to see the damage he caused and it was barely¡­ a hundred?


    The barbarian chief''s health had only dropped a hundred with one of his strongest attacks!


    Liam bitterly smiled as he moved back several paces in a hurry, but the punchesing at him did not stop.


    Left. Right. Center. Upper hook. The barbarian chief was stubborn and fixated. His bloodthirsty eyes red at Liam as he was hell-bent on finishing this fight.


    His moves were heavy and non-stop and each of them was deadly. The barbarian did not use any weapons but his body was his weapon.


    Liam was only narrowly missing every attack. His health was already on the low and there was not a single second he could spare to top it off by drinking a health potion.


    To make matters worse, the barbarian seemingly had infinite stamina. He was not going down at all. In fact, the aura around him burned like the bright sun, growing stronger than ever.


    Liam tried to persist for a whole of one minute but the fight was not going anywhere.


    If things continued this way, he would be the one losing. His attacks were alsopletely useless and they did not even make a mark on the guy. The barbarian chief''s health was rock solid.


    Soon, it was bing too difficult to evade the attacks as well. Liam instantly made a decision. This fight had to end! It was suicidal to sh with this guy right here and right now!


    Moreover, this special skill of his¡­ was still active!


    The elves were correct. He was not strong enough to face this person just yet.


    Several thoughts ran across his head, but now wasn''t the time to think about these things. If he lost his concentration even for a second, he was going to end up dead. He needed to get out of here first!


    Liam continued exchanging blows with the chief boosting his stats further using whatever mana was left in his mana core. However, this was not going tost for long.


    On the side, he summoned a few of his soul minions, Crawford and the Howler demon to help the elves and also to retrieve Luna.


    While he kept the barbarian chief busy, the group escaped into the wilderness. His goal here was not to fight with this guy but to get to the elvennds.


    As soon as the elves managed to put a safe distance between themselves and the crowd of barbarians, Liam once again leaped forward to attack the barbarian chief and when he did, he split into three images.


    "Hmph!" The barbarian grunted, determined to crush him when suddenly one of the images silently disappeared. After that, all he saw was a tornado shooting out lightning everywhere.

 Chapter 636 New Quest Available

    Chapter 636 New Quest Avable


    Raaa! Raaa! Raaa! The enraged shouts of the barbarian chief filled the entire forest as heshed out at everything unable to find Liam.


    He pummeled the barbarians nearby. He uprooted the trees in anger. His bloody eyes scanned the crowd around him but all he could see was dust andmotion. The insect he was fighting with had once again slipped out of his hand.


    After a few more seconds of madly running around and bulldozing everything in sight, the barbarian chief finally calmed down. His eyes turned towards the wilderness in the distance.


    "Search!"


    The barbarians instantly dashed into the wilderness on hismand.


    On the other side, Liam did not stop running. "Do you guys know the path through this ce?" He caught up to the elves easily and asked them in a hurry.


    But the thing was if he was able to sniff them out, then the barbarians would also be able to do the same thing. It would only be a few minutes until they were caught especially if more barbarians could use that kind of strange boosting skill.


    Liam was now more and more curious about this special strength that the barbarians had. He never knew about these beings in his previous life.


    What was behind their crazy unbelievable strength? What was that aura around the barbarian? Some kind of berserk skill? Maybe some sort of innate ability?


    He also didn''t know what he could do to be a match for him as hepletely couldn''t understand the barbarian''s power.


    Breaking his thoughts, Lyana suddenly spoke up, "It''s no use running." The elf panteding to a stop. She was no longer running and all the other elves stopped as well.


    "It is impossible to run away from them. We cannot escape this wilderness. There is no path here. This is the forest of no return." The woman startedmenting.


    Liam paused, letting out a deep breath. Now he was beginning to get irritated with these elves. They neither had any useful information nor any other helpful tips.


    All they were doing is dragging him down. This was more than he bargained for. Perhaps it was time to make them into soul pets and get everything they knew out of them.


    His cold gazended on the five elven women when suddenly the quest once again popped up in front of him.


    <Ding. Quest - Gain ten levels ispleted>


    <Ding. You are now trusted by the elven soldier Lyana>


    <Ding. New Quest Avable>


    <Ding. Part2 - Find the secret behind the barbarians'' strength>


    <Ding. Reward - Return of Lyana''s lost memories>


    <Ding. Do you wish to ept the quest? Y/N>


    "Hmmm?" Liam''s lips twitched. Just when he was nning to convert the elves into something more useful, unexpectedly the next part of the chain quest popped out.


    It also looked like a very basic quest with step by step instructions. So it might prove to be extremely valuable, teaching him something important. Liam did not want to ignore such a quest.


    "Find out the secret of barbarians, huh?" This was something he was also interested in.


    He first summoned the barbarian soul minions currently in his possession. Earlier he was not asking the right questions but now he knew what to ask.


    However, ten minutes of interrogationter, he was back to square one. He couldn''t get any information from the group he had captured.


    All he could gather was that only a few barbarians were privy to this information. Possibly very strong ones. Perhaps they underwent some sort of special training?


    Liam pondered over it for some time, but he shook his head and stood up. No matter how much he thought about this, it was all going to be just spection. So he did not want to waste time.


    There was work to be done. He needed to find people who knew more about this. He asked the elves to hide properly and also gave them Luna to safeguard. He wasn''t going too far so this much was eptable.


    Liam then entered stealth and retraced his steps heading back to the waterfalls. Coincidentally, he did not have to travel long. Within a few seconds, he came across the first group of barbarians who were hot on his scent.


    The bad news was that they were very skillfully tracing the small disturbances in the thick forest and were already on his trail. However, the good news was that the chief wasn''t with them.


    Liam did not hesitate and immediately summoned the full force of his soul minions and attacked the group along with them. He needed to finish this fight fast and without much chaos.


    So he used the full extent of his strength and finished the five barbarians in under a minute. One of them was about to send some sort of signal with a whistle but Liam swiftly prevented that from happening.


    "Hmmm. The first part is done. Now onto the next part."


    He quickly grasped two of the dead barbarian souls. While fighting he tried to also analyze who was stronger and he selected specifically those souls.


    Perhaps because he was in a hurry or perhaps because of the pressure of a strong enemy looming behind him, Liam''s forging speed was quite good this time.


    He managed to forge the two souls in record time, but¡­ once again he couldn''t get any answers.


    Liam sighed and quickly got back to business.


    The first two might be a failure but in this huge horde of barbarians, he refused to believe that at least one wouldn''t know the answer to his question!


    These guys were also right under the chief so chances were very high that they knew something important. Sticking to his theory, Liam continued to hunt down the barbarians who were coincidentally hunting him.


    Soon minutes turned into hours and a couple of hours passed by with him simply running around the forest and searching for more search parties.


    And it looked like the barbarians had also wisened up as now all the groups had at least a dozen members. So at least one of them would be able to send a distress signal.


    However¡­ what they did not ount for was the growing soul army on Liam''s side.


    With four to five soul minions ganging up on each barbarian and Liam''s aoe attacks, the bigger teams were also instantly killed.


    Liam did not know when he would be hitting the next limit but for now, he was busily racking up the numbers. The only drawback was that no one had the information that he wanted.


    And soon¡­ this also changed!


    When Liam was tackling the fifteenth group of barbarians, suddenly one of the barbarian''s eyes turned blood red.

 Chapter 637 What now?

    Chapter 637 What now?


    Liam instantly knew that he had hit jackpot. This was the person that he had been looking for all this time.


    And he also knew that he had to act fast. The barbarian in front of him was Level 54. So he might not be as strong as the chief but he could easily be just that powerful with the weird skill.


    Liam did not want to take any chances. He immediately rained down hell on the barbarian, giving him a taste of all of his powerful attacks.


    He was not going to repeat the same mistake again.


    Before the guy even had a chance to take the next breath, the barbarian was dead and his soul floated to Liam''s hand casually.


    He ignored the other souls and started harvesting this one at full speed. A few minutester, a brand new soul minion stood tall in front of him.


    "Tell me everything you know."


    "Raaa!" The barbarian shouted angrily. He shook and trembled and made a constipated face as if he was trying to get out something but his mouth was running off on its own.


    "Bloodlust. I use my bloodlust and anger to be stronger."


    "Hmmm? And how do you do that?"


    The barbarian shook his head. He had no answer for that.


    "Is there some sort of special skill or training method?"


    "Yes, beastnd. We train there to unlock our strength."


    "Oh?" Jackpot! Now Liam was more curious. "Tell me more about this beastnd."


    "The beastnd is located at the center of the barbarian territory. It is heavily guarded at all times because this is our n treasure."


    Liam nodded and the soul undead continued, "Inside the beastnd, we undergo hellish training. We can only fight with our hands and nothing more."


    "We train there. We be stronger. We be powerful. We cannot be touched by magic or trickery! We rely only on our strength! Raaaa!"


    The undead became really emotional as he began recollecting the details of the training. Unfortunately, the guy did not know much more.


    All he knew was that the first round of training involved fighting with beasts. He hadn''t passed even the first round so his knowledge stopped here.


    Liam listened to the guy for a few more seconds and then began to consider the situation. There were two main issues for him.


    One was that this said beastnd was located in the middle of the barbarian territory so it would take a lot of effort on his part to get there.


    Secondly, he also did not know just how useful this secret technique might be for him. This low-levelckey did not know more details about the technique itself and the more he understood it, it struck him as an innate ability of the barbarians.


    So even if he took the effort to reach the center of the enemy''s territory, it could be pointless and there were other things he needed to do first.


    Thinking about it for another minute, Liam suddenly asked the barbarian another question. "Do you know your way out of this wilderness?"


    "Yes."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Back in the Gresh Kingdom, the entire trade city was abuzz with hot news. In fact, the entire world was talking about this astonishing news.


    All of a sudden in ''Evolution Online'' another S Rank guild had shown up out of nowhere!


    Every single yer inside the game was currently discussing this new development. One of the top guilds in the game at the moment, Crimson Abyss was the only guild to obtain this rank. So they held a massive advantage over every other guild.


    This difference in strength was so drastic that even several guildsbined couldn''t shake the guild residence of Crimson Abyss. They chased away the top guilds of the Gresh Kingdom without a single casualty.


    However, all of that had changed now. There was another guild with the same rank. This was huge game-altering news because now there was a chance for everyone to obtain the secret of upgrading their guild.


    When it was just Crimson Abyss, no one was able to get this information but now there was a new guild in town, Abyssal Warriors.


    All the yers from the top guilds across the various kingdoms, the government-associated guilds, and several corporation-associated guilds, everyone immediately scrambled to reach out to this new power.


    Inside a restaurant in the divine city, Alex looked at the direct effect of thistest development and frowned. The number of yers applying for their guild drastically reduced all in a day.


    "Meh. Why do you care so much, sis?" Rey who was sitting in front of her mumbled with his mouth full of food. "We don''t want a bloated guild, right? It''s good to lose some of the fickle-minded people."


    "Shut it and eat. You are spraying food everywhere." Alex sighed. She did not want to exin to this idiot. It might start out as decreasing number of applications but it was going to end with something else.


    "Why do you look so worried, sis?" Rey asked again in confusion.


    But this time Alex gave him a proper reply or rather she was simply thinking out loud. "Hmmm¡­ there might be another guild war soon. With Liam away, we need to make preparations well in advance for this."


    "Oh?" Rey nodded with seriousness after understanding the gist of it. What his sister said wasn''t far-fetched at all. Though he might not know to think ahead like her, he could understand this much.


    "What do we do now, sis?"


    "Hmmm¡­ Nothing. We are already preparing for the worst so there is no need to change anything. But perhaps¡­ we can do some arrangements."


    She stared silently at her message list for a while and then clicked on a certain message that she had received a while back.


    Rey peered over to look at it and when he saw whose name it was, he gulped in shock. They were going to contact their enemy?


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~


    Please thank Kingrig for sponsoring this bonus chapter~

 Chapter 638 The more the merrier

    Chapter 638 The more the merrier


    With the newly forged barbarian in the lead, Liam and the group of five elves were busily moving through the forests. They were making good time and in just under an hour they had covered a lot of ground.


    "Hmmm¡­ It looks like this decision was the right one after all." Liam sighed.


    In front of him, there were two choices and he had chosen to go to the elvennds first. The barbarians and their special training had to wait.


    Though it might make him more powerful, there were two other very important things he had to aplish in the elvennds. Otherwise, the moment the apocalypse hit the real world, before he could do anything, a bunch of ravens might massacre him.


    Liam shook his head at that disturbing thought. He had to finish that damn quest first.


    He summoned the game''s map and the entirety of the wilderness was highlighted on the map, along with the barbarian territories he had crossed until now.


    Tall trees surrounded them on their path, the area so densely packed that there wasn''t any sort of light in the forest. But it looked like they would really be able to cross thisst stretch of their path with the help of this soul minion.


    Of course, the elves following him were still as useless as ever. However, Liam simply allowed them to follow him as they had already traveled so much distance together. At this point, he might as well escort them all the way to the elvennds and cash in the reward.


    While he was trying to figure out what exactly to do after crossing the wilderness, the minion moving robotically forward up until now suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    "What happened?" Liam asked him.


    The undead barbarian soul did not answer him and stood still in the same spot dazed and confused.


    "I am guessing we are lost?" Liam chuckled, once again asking him the obvious.


    The undead shook his head innocently. Though he had spoken big words before, now he had somehow gotten lost, but this was something Liam had already expected.


    In fact, if he could, he would have consistently marked their tracks so that they could retrace their steps when needed but unfortunately, even that was not possible. They had to cover their tracks lest the barbarians sniff them out easily.


    This wilderness was both a boon and a curse.


    Liam turned to see if the elves would offer any assistance at least now as they should be close to their territory but once again there was only despair on their faces.


    He sighed and ruffled his head as he tried to think of some way from here.


    "Alright, we might as well camp here for some time and have some food before we continue." Liam signaled everyone to set up near the base of a huge tree and started distributing the food.


    Though they didn''t particrly light any fire, there was still a lot ofmotion and the delicious aroma of the cooked meat wafted in the air.


    Liam made no effort to hide it as he only took out more and more food from his inventory as if he had a voracious appetite. He continued doing this until there was a distinctive smell in the air around them.


    The elves finally noticed this peculiar behavior and looked at Liam curiously. Lyana was about to open her mouth to warn him when she was abruptly interrupted by a low growl.


    A huge white-colored beast with two huge horns on its head galloped towards them from a distance. It looked like it was a mix between a bear and a boar as the beast headed straight for the food pile.


    "Oh! Our first visitor is already here."


    Liam unsheathed his sword and the weapon was drenched in blood the next second. The huge beast alsoy dead in front of them, Liam already tinkering with the big guy''s soul.


    Not long after the same beast once again materialized, this time in its soul form. All the elves stared at Liam in shock.


    They had already seen him do this several times but still, they were unable toe to terms with it. But even more shocking were his words.


    "Do you know the ce where the elves live?" Liam asked. He did not stop there and repeated the same without showing any signs of tiredness.


    The five elves had grown up next to this wilderness all their lives but they had never seen anyone find their way through this ce using such a technique. It was simply too ruthless.


    They watched this scene continue for a couple of hours when finally a useful visitor arrived. A huge condor circled them from above and Liam''s eyes immediately lit up.


    He had been searching for a flying-type undead for a while now! This was perfect!


    He raised his hand, aimed at the bird, and sent a single thick lightning bolt. The condor immediately screeched in agony and fell down. A few more lightning bolts fell on the Level 45 bird and it was dead by the time it reached the ground.


    In the next few minutes, its soul was also sessfully harvested and forged. In front of the group, a brand new soul undead condor stood majestically.


    "Wee." Liam smiled at the bird. "Now tell me¡­ where do the elves live?"


    The condor blinked its eyes for a second and then started flying in a specific direction. "Heh. Would you look at that? It seems that our break time is now over."


    He packed the huge lunch buffet back into his inventory space in a jiffy and the group was once again on the road. Not long after the barbarian as well seemed to be confident once more, followed by the elves.


    "I guess we are finally reaching the elven territory." Liam could already feel the wilderness around them thinning down.


    And a few minutester, they ran into the first group of elves.

 Chapter 639 Filthy human

    Chapter 639 Filthy human


    As soon as Lyana saw the elves, she immediately rushed forward toward them in joy but Liam grabbed the woman and closed her mouth with his palm. He then lifted his finger to ce it on his lips and signaled her to keep quiet.


    Just as the elf wondered why the human was behaving strangely, suddenly another figure appeared out of the shadows. It was a barbarian.


    Lyana gasped in shock. Moreover, there wasn''t just one but four other barbarians also appeared from the thicket, dragging along with them a lifeless elven woman.


    "Bastards!" Lyana clenched her fist, tears streaming out of her eyes. She wanted to rush forward and kill all of them, but if she did that, unfortunately, she would only be joining them. The elf''s body slumped in Liam''s hold as she looked down in shame and embarrassment.


    The barbarians did not linger around there for too long and after a few minutes, they left the area, taking along with them their freshly caught ves.


    Only then Liam and the group stepped outside. No one said anything as they walked ahead silently without looking back. Finally, Liam said a few words to ease the rtionship, "If I could, I would have."


    Lyana shook her head. She also understood. None of them was a match for the barbarians so they had no choice except to suffer this fate. Otherwise, the elves would have retaliated a long time ago.


    A few more hourster, the wilderness soonpletely cleared up revealing a gentle and beautiful forest. The air in the ce was itself different. There was something in the air that made everyone feel at ease.


    "We are here," Lyana mumbled as she copsed to the ground. The other elves also fainted on the spot. "Huh?" Liam turned to look at them but before he could do anything, something hard struck the back of his head and he lost consciousness.


    ***


    Liam did not know how much time had passed by when he woke up again. He looked to his left and right with a weird expression. "I am in a prison?"


    He hurriedly tried to summon his status screen, but of course, like always, when in a prison the system interface did not work and all hismunication was cut off.


    "Perfect." He chuckled helplessly. The only good thing was that next to him a foxy on the ground pitifully. It looked like they put Luna behind bars as well.


    "So¡­ you are finally awake?" A gruff voice sounded from outside. Liam turned to see a stern-looking man standing outside the prison room. He was tall, lean, had elfish features, and a whip in his hand.


    "What are you looking at, filthy human?" He spat out in contempt.


    The cherry on top of the cake. Liam bitterly smiled. He didn''t say anything and also he wasn''t too worried about this situation.


    He had followed some sort of quest to arrive here so he was pretty sure that he was safe for the time being. Worst case, he probably had to wait until Lyana and the other elves recovered.


    "Chi! You look too smug for a vermin who is about to die. You disgusting piece of filth. Wipe that rotten smile off your face." The elf outside shouted once again andshed his whip at the prison bars.


    He wanted his prisoners to quake in fear so seeing Liam unnerved like this was extremely infuriating for him. "This won''t do. Filthy trash like you needs to be taught a lesson! Hmph!"


    The elf jingled the key bunch hung on his hip searching for the right key when suddenly a set of footsteps echoed in the dark ce.


    "That''s enough, Groter." A tall elven woman walked over and she was adorned from head to toe with numerous noteworthy items.


    Hmmm? Liam casually looked from the elf named Groter to the new woman as if he was watching a show that had nothing to do with them. He knew he was going to get out anyways so all of this was just fast forwardable cut scene as far as he was concerned.


    Groter saw this and became even more furious. "Leader, this trash!"


    "Shut up!"


    Groter was shocked.


    "How dare you insult the hero who saved our people! Go! Go inside and punish yourself with a hundred whips!"


    The woman then elegantly bowed towards Liam and immediately sprung open the prison cage. "Please forgive us for this misunderstanding. Lady Lyana has regained her health and she exined everything."


    "Oh? Lady Lyana?" Liam nodded with a polite smile. He then picked up Luna, dusted his back, and walked out like a boss.


    "Please follow me, Sir Liam." The elven women lead him out of the ce, through a long tunnel and the both of them finally emerged from within a big tree trunk.


    So the prison was underground within a tree''s rootwork? This was Liam''s first time in a ce like this. He had also never heard about this before. So he looked around everywhere in awe.


    The outside was even more impressive with several huge trees, and a widework of some sort of rudimentary huts atop the trees, each containing a couple or more elven soldiers.


    Hmmm? In all honesty, Liam had expected more but these elves were poorer than the demons?


    As if she was reading Liam''s thoughts, the elven woman next to him immediately exined with a smile. "We are still outside the main Kingdom, Sir Liam."


    She escorted him for a few minutes when finally something bright and noisy came into the view. "This is more like it." Liam smiled as he looked around. In front of him, a huge city was sprawled with several elves bustling about here and there busily.


    There were all sorts of hawkers on the street. Herbs! There were numerous herbs everywhere! The entire ce was lively, full of new information and new possibilities.


    And of course, the one thing that stood out like a sore thumb was that¡­ there were only elves and elves everywhere.

 Chapter 640 That would be me

    Chapter 640 That would be me


    "Am I the only human being here?" Liam smiled in amusement. It was impossible to miss the weird gazes that fell on him and the numerous eyes locked on to him chalked full of disdain. The hatred in the air was palpable.


    "It seems that my time here won''t be that easy." He continued walking whilst ignoring the stares as much as he could. In a couple of ces, some elves almost rushed forward towards him, only stopping at the ount of the female elf next to him.


    "Sir, pleasee this way." Sheughed awkwardly and pointed to a tall tree at the center of the crowded space. Unlike the other trees, this one had a lot of decorations and was clearly more special.


    Liam wondered what this was when suddenly the world around him darkened once again. Huh? But this time he did not lose his consciousness, rather this was something he was already familiar with, the feeling of teleportation.


    The next second when he was able to see again, he was standing in front of a giant marble pce. It was a grandiose building with gold and silver extravagantly stered on it and yet the overall look was very pristine and elegant.


    "Is this the royal pce?" Liam asked, eyeing the several elves littered around them. Of course, these ones also did not disappoint and exhibited the same prejudiced gazes.


    "Yes, Sir. Pleasee this way." The woman smiled politely and continued to escort Liam into the pce gates, where they were promptly joined by a group of guards who now began walking along with them.


    Each of their levels was around Level 135 and they exuded strong pressure on Liam, not in the least bothered to hide their hostility.


    Soon the group arrived in front of a big hall and only then the guards stepped away. Liam looked up to see a huge dining table with a few elves sitting around the table.


    Just from looking at them, one could tell that these guys were special as they had donned royal eye-catching robes and looked even more elegant and beautiful whenpared to the other elves.


    "Your majesty." The elf near Liam immediately bowed and he as well followed her in doing the same.


    "Hmmm¡­ you may stand." A lean and tall elf stood up from the table to walk over to Liam. "Wee to the elvennds. I have heard a lot about you."


    Liam stopped bowing and stood straight to face the person addressing him. This had to be the King but the words he was saying didn''t quite match well with the sharpness of his eyes.


    While the former was polite, thetter clearly had an intent to kill.


    Liam''s senses were all tingling in high alert. He could tell that he was in an extremely dangerous situation at the moment. He needed to do something fast.


    "Please, your majesty. I did not do much. I saw injustice happening in front of me and I couldn''t simply watch it. I only did the best I could. I wish I had done more."


    Liam exined keeping a very earnest face like a chivalrous knight in shining armor. He might as well be the epitome of goodness and justice.


    The King looked at him sternly for a moment before walking back to the dining table, "Tell me everything in detail." The tension in the room as well slightly eased up.


    Liam bowed once again and started recounting everything vaguely. He mentioneding across them in the human kingdom and how he had ended up escorting them all the way back to the elvennds because he was worried for their safety.


    However, he did leave out certain parts. He left out the details about the strength that allowed him to bring them all across the vast dangerous territory.


    Instead of talking about that, he talked about the barbarians in detail. Their special power and how he and the other elves had to use special tricks to escape from them and run into the wilderness.


    The King and the other elves listened to everything patiently and their expressions changed every now and then. Particrly when he talked about the barbarians, the mood in the room visibly changed.


    "Barbarians!" The elven King shouted after Liam finished speaking and punched the table in front of him angrily. "They dared to touch nobility now?" His face was full of anger. His gaze seethed in fury.


    The atmosphere of the entire hall shifted as everyone else as well turned extremely serious.


    Liam personally thought that it was weird for the King to care about nobility in a situation like this but he could see how conceited these elves were.


    He did not n on interfering in their business. Every race had its own hierarchy and it had nothing to do with him.


    The elves then started discussing this issue and it looked like recently this had grown into a huge problem. This continued on for a while when suddenly the King realized that Liam was still standing among them.


    "Hmmm¡­ You should be tired after traveling for so long. Make sure to enjoy our city''s hospitality and rest well. We can meet again some other time."


    "Ah~" Liam could see that he was being dismissed from the hall and probably he would never get to see the King again, so he did not waste any time and came straight to the point.


    "Your majesty, please forgive me for not mentioning this earlier but I am also here for another reason." Liam gulped. He had no idea if this would work but this was all he had.


    "Grandmaster  sent me here, your majesty. He instructed me to meet with an old friend of his. I am not sure who this friend might be." He awkwardly exined.


    He really had no idea who the guy wanted him to meet but if another human being was here and made friends, he vaguely guessed that the King might know about it.


    Liam expectantly looked at the King''s face which went from cold and angry to a confused look. He clearly had no idea whom Liam was talking about.


    Perhaps this was a bad idea after all. Just as Liam was about to bow again and salvage the situation, suddenly someone else in the room spoke up.


    "Come again? Who did you say sent you here?" A thick and burly elf stood up.


    Liam was instantly shocked. This elf was different. Unlike the other thin and skinny ones, he was big and muscr. More importantly, he was fierce. The pressureing from the elf felt as if Liam was being crushed by something imperceivable.


    This elf was a monster. His head was full of white hair but his body oozed power and vitality. For a second, Liam''s body trembled without his permission. The person in front of him was¡­ strong.


    NO! The elf in front of him should be the strongest person he had ever run into.


    He couldn''t sense him at all a few minutes ago but now that he revealed his presence himself, all Liam could see was him.


    "Grandmaster ." Liam''s voice came out as a whisper under the effect of the pressure he was in. He could barely breathe let alone talk.


    To make matters worse, the elf was also not making it easy for him. He continued exerting pressure on him, making Liam kneel and buckle on the floor.


    He coughed hoarsely, his vision turning white, and clutched his chest in pain. His entire body was about to burst open and be a meat paste. Blood leaked out of his eyes.


    Liam''s mind froze. His body froze. He couldn''t think or move or breathe.


    And right at the moment when he felt as if he was about to die, the elf''s loudughter rang out, "That would be me, brat. I am that old asshole''s friend."

 Chapter 641 Kicked out

    Chapter 641 Kicked out


    Liam felt the pressure crushing him ease up a little so he hurriedly took a few mouthfuls of fresh air to gather himself and calm down.


    "Speak up, brat. Why did that old man send you here?" The elf did not care about his plight and only asked him what he wanted to know. "Speak up fast."


    "He wanted me to¡­ cough¡­ train under-" Liam only just started to exin when he was quickly interrupted.


    "Stop right there." Another loudughter rang out. Liam looked up to see the elf casually walking out of the hall as if whatever was going on had nothing to do with him any longer.


    Umm¡­ You almost killed me just to say this? He waspletely dumbfounded. He hade all this way just for this but what the hell was this oue?


    Liam swayed as he slowly stood up and the giddiness in his head was starting to disappear. He looked at the other elves in the room who were all now staring at him silently. There was still hatred in their eyes but now there was also pity.


    After a couple of seconds, the King waved his hand and one of the elven guards rushed forward to help Liam stabilize and gave him some water to drink.


    Liam smiled and did not ept the water. He could see that they were being polite but that was that. They were still closing the door in his face. He basically had to leave the ce now as he had no more reason to stay.


    It did not matter what he did or whom he helped. This was where it all ended. However, Liam was not ready to give up just yet.


    "Your majesty." He opened his mouth and the King immediately cut him short. "I wish I could do something but my hands are tied." He then showed the door and added, "You are still wee to enjoy the day in the city and taste our fine food and wine."


    Before any more words could be exchanged, the two guards at the entrance of the hall quickly arrived next to Liam, ready to escort him once again, this time out of the pce.


    And just like that, he was kicked out of the pce in the next minute and even returned back to the outside market city on the outside after being pushed into another teleportation gate.


    "So what now¡­ hmm¡­" Liam sighed and let out a deep breath as he stood alone in the strange city full of elves who red at him angrily. His gaze silently swept over the ce as he came to a decision soon.


    "Stay the night, enjoy the ce, and then leave huh? Unfortunately, that''s not why I came here." With the injured fox still in his hand, he silently walked out of the city, the same way he walked in.


    Crossing all of the tall trees that lined up the way to the elven establishment, he once again arrived at the same wilderness. "Heh. Time to head back in."


    The next second the undead condor materialized next to him. "Go in and do some scouting for me. Let''s see if we can get our hands on some good prey."


    Screee! The bird screeched and pped its wings, immediately taking off. In the nighttime, the soul undead circling the tall trees of the wilderness was a sight to see.


    And just as it looked beautiful, it was also very efficient. Very soon, the bird returned with good news. It had found what its master was looking for.


    After receiving the signal from the bird, Liam checked his surroundings first. There were not many elves patrolling here. Just a small group.


    "No wonder these guys are getting taken easily." He walked over to them whistling and then waved his hand.


    "Hey there!" Liam casually introduced himself. However, the elves of course reacted differently.


    "A human being?"


    "Trespasser! What are you doing here?"


    Thankfully for Liam, one person seemed to know about his short stint here so he stood up and calmed the others down. "Leave him be. I heard he had an audience with the King just now."


    The group of elves immediately looked at Liam in a different light. However, they were not yetpletely convinced.


    "If I am correct, he should be leaving ournds now. Instead, he is still standing here. Hmm¡­ What are you up to, human?"


    "Easy there. Easy there." Liam smiled. "I am not here to make any trouble. I was indeed on my way back home but I spotted a few enemies whom you all might be interested in, so I am here to inform you."


    "What? What are you talking about? Spit it out clearly."


    "Barbarians. There is a group of them very close by. Probably waiting to sneak into the city and capture more elves to sell as ves."


    "You! Watch what you are saying!" Liam''s words stung so the group of elves gritted their teeth, but at the same time, they couldn''t ignore what he was saying.


    After a couple of seconds of hesitation, the elf who had recognized him spoke up again. "Wait here while we go inform our leader about this."


    "Ok." Liam nodded. The group dispersed leaving behind two elves with him, both of whom kept ring at him.


    Liam, on the other hand, silently smiled. He had no intentions of waiting here. Without saying anything to the two Level 35 elves standing next to him, he quickly disappeared.


    The elves couldn''t react in time and could only watch him rushing into the wilderness. The two looked at each other in puzzlement but eventually shrugged.


    If he runs into the wilderness alone like an idiot, then it was not their problem. All they had to do was wait here and inform the leader of this development.


    Not long after, just like nned, the other elves returned with a Level 53 elf who was supposedly the leader of this small group.


    "The human being-" One of them started to exin how Liam had run away when a voice sounded from the distance.


    "I am here."


    All the elves turned to see the human being they were searching for walking towards them and dragging along with him a bunch of barbarians.

 Chapter 642 Working with the elves

    Chapter 642 Working with the elves


    "Sorry. These guys looked like they were about to escape, so I had to take action and get them first." Liam exined with a sweet smile to the bunch of elves who were staring at him with their mouths wide open.


    He walked over casually and stood in front of them, tossing the five knocked out barbarians on the ground like gunny sacks. Just from looking, one could see that all five of them were in a bad state, their faces and bodies being ck and blue in several spots.


    "You¡­ you did this alone?" Finally, one of the elves asked. For maybe higher elven soldiers and generals, this might not be a big thing. Still, to a patrol unit, this was unbelievable, especially because the barbarians were not dead and captured alive.


    "Ah. Right. These guys are not strong enough, so I was able to take them down." Liam smiled once again. "By the way, if you guys had a prison, we should take them there soon while they are still unconscious. This would help in interrogating them for more information."


    Agreeing with Liam, the elves quickly did the same, and Liam also ended up apanying them for their own safety. He was now freely walking inside the same prison he was captured in just a few minutes ago.


    The elf guarding the prison cells recognized Liam and got another shock. But the situation got resolved quickly since the elves seemed to hate the barbarians much more than human beings.


    Not long after that, a few more elves joined them and took note of Liam''s achievement. Finally, even the leader of the patrolling teams arrived at the spot. He looked at Liam up and down and gave a satisfactory nod.


    "You have helped us greatly this time. Walk with me."


    Liam smiled politely and walked with the guy. "Don''t think that we are idiots. We also are capable of capturing the barbarians like this. We are not weak."


    "Hmmm?"


    "What I am about to tell you is something that is privy only to the higher echelons of the elvenmunity. So I would suggest you keep it to yourself."


    "Ok." Liam nodded with a serious expression.


    "Our biggest threat in the area until a few years were the dark elves. They are elves who renounced our god and went astray after their mind got twisted by demonic energy."


    "And while we were dealing with them, all of a sudden, the barbarians who did not dare raise their heads against us somehow became stronger."


    "They have developed some sort of drug that strips an elf of all of their mana and power. But this was still under our control as we found an antidote for this drug."


    The elf stopped and sighed, "That''s when the barbarians revealed something else. A new kind of power."


    Now Liam understood. "Do you mean the power that allowed them to be several times stronger suddenly?"


    The elf looked visibly surprised, but he nodded. "Yes, I am talking about that same thing."


    He sighed again and continued, "Currently, we are under attack from the barbarians on one side and the dark elves on the other side. So the situation in Kimoria is not great. We recently had a major struggle, so right now, we are trying to recuperate and gather our strength again."


    The elf led Liam back into the city and one of the taverns. He then generously even ordered a few food items and drinks. The food was mostly vegetarian and was nothing special but the wine tasted divine.


    Liam had never had anything like this before in his life. He helped himself to a few refills while the elf continued the story.


    "I know human beings and elves don''t have the best of rtions, but I would personally like to thank you for this help. You have also taught me that all human beings are not the same."


    Liam smiled, "No, you were right the first time. Most human beings are greedy." The two of themughed at that remark, and the atmosphere slowly turned into a friendly one.


    At this point, Liam slowly suggested his main agenda, "I have some free time at the moment. There is no rush for me to get back to the human kingdom, so if you don''t mind, I can stay behind and assist you in capturing more barbarians."


    The elf immediately turned stiff. There was a look of reluctance on his face. This was why Liam made sure not to say help or hurt their pride at any point in time, but it still looked like the elf was not convinced.


    "In return, I hope I can continue to drink your wine." Liamughed it off to continue keeping the atmosphere light.


    The elf was still not too pleased, but Liam ignored that and started to act as if he was drunk and loose-mouthed.


    "Saaa! This is good! This would help me out a lot. I would be penniless if I returned back to the human kingdom now, but if I stay here and work for you guys for some time, I will get some silver coins, right?"


    "I can also take pride in the fact that I am working for the elves. This is¡­." Liam continued the charade, painting the picture of a perfectckey, which he was already well versed in.


    And a few minutester¡­ the elf finally relented!


    The next day, the city of Kimoria saw an unexpected scene. One human and a bunch of elven soldiers were working together, and from time to time, they would drag several captured barbarians to their prison.


    Liam did not reveal his undeads as the news about that part of his skill set seemed to have not surfaced just yet. Instead, he used [Stealth] and his swordy to make a quick work of whatever barbarians he could find.


    The elves were also scouring the wilderness along with him, so they covered a lot of distance together. More importantly, whenever they came across one of the special barbarians capable of using the bloodlust skill, they silently retreated.


    In this manner, things continued to proceed smoothly. From the morning till almost evening, Liam worked together with the elves patiently even though it neither gave him experience points nor gave him loot.


    This was just the first day, so he did not worry about that part. What he wanted to do was buy more time to stay back in the elvennds, which was sessfully aplished.


    But his main problem still remained. How the hell was he supposed to get the old man to teach him what he needed?


    He did not even know how many days he had to burn for this to happen. Considering that there wasn''t much time left, this was going to be a very expensive endeavor, and he only hoped it would bear fruit.

 Chapter 643 Quest Completed

    Chapter 643 Quest Completed


    The first day quietly passed by just like that, and Liam continued to mingle with the elves without any break, even for resting at night. This impressed even some of the veteran elves that an outsider was willing to work so hard for them.


    However, that was it. There was no other development. After sinking almost 48 hours in this quest that was going nowhere, even Liam began to doubt if what he was doing was the right thing.


    But thankfully, he did not have to wonder about this for too long. The next day morning, when the sun peeked out of the thick clouds, he saw a familiar figure walking toward him.


    And an unexpected notification also popped up.


    <Ding. Quest: Find the secret behind the barbarians'' strength>


    <Ding. Reward: Return of Lyana''s lost memories>


    <Ding. Quest Completed>


    <Ding. Lady Lyana now considers you her friend>


    Liam stared at this sudden notification and broke into a smile. It looked like he was going in the right direction after all. Perhaps this was simply a reputation grind, and he was overthinking things.


    Though he was not outright being awarded any reputation points, he could visibly notice some change in the behavior of the elves around him. Maybe if he kept this up for longer or¡­


    Liam looked at the elf named Lyana walking toward him. Perhaps this elf was the key to his sess here.


    "I am d you are doing better, mydy." He shamelessly smiled at the elf and addressed her in a formal tone which waspletely opposite to how he had treated her all these days.


    "Ahem." The elf noticed this and smiled awkwardly. "I am sorry I am only able to visit you now." She tucked her hair behind her ear and clutched her robe nervously. "I should properly thank you for helping us back there. If it wasn''t for you¡­"


    Liam immediately waved his hand and stopped her with a gentlemanly smile, "We don''t have to talk about the things in the past. You are now here, and you are safe." He reminded her as he could see some painful memories sh past the elf''s clear eyes.


    Lyana smiled in response and nodded. "You must be tired after working so hard. Would you care to join me for a meal?"


    "It would be my honor." Liam gave another shameless smile, all the while celebrating inwardly. It looked like his quest was going to be easily achieved.


    The two of them walked over to one of the restaurants, and once again, a grand feast of different types of vegetables and mushrooms was served. Some of the mushroom items were even tastier than roasted meat which pleasantly surprised Liam.


    As the two of them dug into the meal, Lyana surprisingly broached the important topic even before Liam could talk about it.


    "Ummm¡­ I also just learned about what happened when you visited the royal pce. I will apologize on their behalf. We just have a bad history with the human kingdoms in general."


    Liam was inwardly surprised, but he kept calm and smiled again, "Yes, don''t worry about that. I understood that much. I only wish¡­" He sighed gently.


    "Mmm¡­ I heard about that too¡­ Elder Haldir is¡­ ahem¡­ very busy. He is also very strict and has a bad temper, I should say. It will be very difficult to even talk to him, let alone ask for help or convince him to do something."


    "Oh?"


    "Even if we approach the elder, we will be treated in the same manner. It''s just impossible to even meet with him. So don''t feel bad."


    Seeing that the elf was trying her hardest to console him, Liam gave a small smile, but he didn''t like the fact that his work here just became ten times harder.


    He was hoping that at least Lyana would be of some help because of her noble family connections, and now even that didn''t seem to be the case. Was this really going to be a long and hard reputation grind?


    While he was silently thinking about this and emptying another ss of wine, Lyana looked at his eyes in worry. The man seemed to be sad and burdened despite always smiling.


    "Ummm¡­ I know I said that it''s impossible, but I can try to help." She spoke up once again.


    Liam instantly perked up. I knew it! Rescuing these elves had to give something in return! "Oh? I would greatly appreciate any help I can get." He quickly replied to her.


    Lyana did not want him to get over-excited and exined. "Ah~ We shouldn''t get our hopes up, though. My mother is an old acquaintance of the elder. So maybe she can help. I am not too sure."


    Liam, however, shook his head, "Please don''t worry about that. I am already grateful that you are willing to help."


    Unlike the elf, he knew how the chain quests in the game worked, so he was pretty sure that the old elf was going to agree this time around. This was going to work!


    An hourter¡­


    "Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha!"


    "Me training this pathetic brat? Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha! Good one!"


    Arge old hulking elfughed hysterically at the three individuals in front of him, two graceful feminine elves and one human, filling the room with a loud burst ofughter and saliva spilling everywhere.


    When he scowled in contempt, his icy gaze focused especially on the human being.


    The old guy then, yet again got up and rudely left the room without even giving Lyana or her mother a chance to respond. The two elven women could only helplessly shake their heads at Liam.


    And naturally, right before the old guy left, he also made sure to give Liam another taste of his power as tremendous pressure consumed him and him alone, causing the man to buckle and wheeze on the ground once more.


    "Motherfucker!" Liam cursed the damned elf under his breath as he was now once again back to square one.

 Chapter 644 In high demand

    Chapter 644 In high demand


    After the second embarrassing encounter with the old elf, Liam sat by himself in the elven eatery with some mushroom dishes in front of him and a big jug of wine, which he quickly emptied.


    He was hoping that he could take a shortcut, but it looked like this was going to be a hard grind with no end in sight. "Damn it." He was in a bad mood. However, he was not ready to give up just yet.


    Even though the old guy was painfully infuriating, this was too important to give up. On the other hand, he couldn''t simply go around hunting barbarians like chickens for days on end while also getting no experience points.


    This was a lose-lose for him, no matter which way he looked at it. Unless¡­ When Liam emptied the second jug of wine, hended on a better idea.


    He wasn''t only good at fighting. He had two more tools at his disposal to win over the elves and enhance his standing in Kimoria. One was his forging abilities, and the other was his alchemy skills.


    Not to mention that both of these were huge time sinks, just like the reputation battle he was currently in. So if he could do these both together, he would benefit a lot. A n slowly took shape in his brain as Liam stood up and left the eatery.


    But he did not jump right into anything. He first did a tour of the marketce, where the elves usually conducted their trade.


    Just like the royal pce, there were other teleportation gates for other ces. What he saw just now was only a small portion of the elven city.


    However, Liam didn''t yet have the necessary permission to visit these ces. So, he stayed put in this marketce for the time being and observed the surroundings.


    Once again, the first thing he noticed was the presence of abundant herbs. Some of these herbs were entirely new to him, and he had no idea what they were or what they did.


    As he crossed by these new items, he paused and made sure to purchase some. Enough for him to gain some understanding of the herb, but not so much that he would raise any red gs.


    "This is truly a Godsend location to purchase herbs." After only covering a quarter of the market, Liam had already made a number of purchases. "Wait, with these many herbs, it is so weird that they do not have any potions or pills for sale?"


    Liam approached one of the stall owners to inquire about this. He first made a purchase and then asked the elf, "Do you know where I can find some potions for sale?"


    Naturally, the elf gave him a hateful look before answering his question. "Hmph. Not everyone can purchase our potions. "Our products are the best in the world, but they are not essible to every living thing that crawls to ournds."


    Liam politely smiled and then left the shop without sparing another nce at the prideful elf. He was not disappointed. This was something he had already expected.


    In the demon settlements, alchemists were a rarity, but over here in the elvennds, how could the same thing be true? With so many high-quality herbs avable, it wouldn''t be very difficult to nurture several top-tier alchemists.


    And unlike the demons, the elves were well aware of the worth of their herbs. Even Liam''s purchases were not cheap, in part because the prices were jacked up for him because he was a human and in part because the herbs were of high quality.


    Taking everything into ount, Liam swiftly arrived at the logical conclusion. Here, his forging skills would serve him a lot better than his alchemy knowledge. Now all he had to do was wait for Lyana to make another trip.


    Like clockwork, the elven woman once again came looking for him after sending off her mother. Once more, she apologized profusely and repeatedly to Liam.


    "Don''t stress about it. In all honesty, I know you gave it your all. My destiny does not include learning from such a¡­ ahem¡­ wise elder. Let it be." The gentlemanly Liam smiled and said, "I actually have another favor I need to ask you..."


    A couple of hourster¡­


    There was a brand new stall in the elven marketce, and surprisingly this stall was being run by a human being no less! The elves almost couldn''t believe what they were seeing. Such a thing couldn''t possibly happen in theirnds, and yet here it was!


    "I appreciate this a lot." Liam smiled at the elven woman in front of him.


    "Please don''t mention it. This was the least I could do." Since she hailed from a noble family, she was easily able to pull strings and get this done.


    After all, this marketce was formoners to exchange goods, so there wasn''t much fuss. After making sure everything was fine, Lyana bowed and left.


    Liam then finally started the second phase of his n. This time, it had to work! No, it will work! He was sure of it because what he was nning to sell was anything but ordinary.


    Not bothering to disy any items in his newly set up shop, Liam started taking out some things one after the other. In a few minutes, the makeshift shop turned into a proper forging space.


    Not long after that, something new once again happened in the same marketce. A human being was grabbing the spotlight in the elven settlement by continuously hammering on the same weapon for hours together.


    At first, the elves did not take notice of him because the purple sword he was forging did not seem like it was anything special. However, after three hours, the weapon began emitting a strong and powerful aura.


    Moreover, the weapon was also being forged right in front of everyone. Soon some of the elves started drooling as the impressive weapon in front of them was slowly finished to perfection.


    <ding. your="" forging="" skill="" proficiency="" has="" increased=""></ding.>


    <ding. forging="" sessfully=""pleted=""></ding.>


    <ding. dawn''s="" sword=""></ding.>


    <ding. rating:="" semi-epic=""></ding.>


    Liam lifted the purple sword, a replica of his own sword, and nodded in satisfaction. He then ced the newly forged weapon on the stand with a polite smile on his face.


    Almost instantly, a loud uproar erupted among the elves who had gathered around and had been watching this one-man show up until now.


    This was a fine weapon! No, it was an amazing weapon! They did not even have to inspect it. They could tell that much just from looking at it.


    And this weapon was made right in front of their eyes by this genius, hardworking human being! Liam''s status among this small elvenmunity instantly skyrocketed as everyone mored to buy the weapon from him.


    Asmoners, they did not have the chance to buy high-quality weapons like this, and especially now since they were at war on all sides, a weapon like this could change their whole life!


    "I will take it for 1 gold coin!"


    "Snort! 1 gold coin? Who are you trying to cheat? I will take it for 10 gold coins!"


    "Hey, wait a second. I will take it for 20 gold coins!"


    "30!"


    "40!"


    "Damn it! 41!"


    Different numbers started flying left and right, and finally, a tall elf walked forward and announced confidently, "61 gold coins."


    Everyone else immediately grew silent, as they couldn''t afford such an exorbitant cost. They also did not have that many gold coins at hand. So they had to give up.


    Liam didn''t care much about the cost as earning money whilst selling this was simply a side hustle. His main motive was still the reputation gains, and that was going to take some more time.


    Heh. Liam grinned as he looked at the crowd around the shop. No, maybe it won''t take that much time after all.

 Chapter 645 Headache

    Chapter 645 Headache


    "Hey! Did you hear about the new shop?"


    "Just yesterday, it popped up, and it is selling really amazing weapons it seems!"


    "Yes! Yes! I also heard that a human being runs the shop?"


    "What? A human being in Kimoria? Are you drunk?"


    Lyana blinked as she looked around in a daze. It hadn''t even been a single day, and yet somehow, Liam was the talk of the entire city.


    She thought back to how worried she was if he would get any customers at all, and she sighed in embarrassment. Now she couldn''t even get to the shop if she wanted to.


    The crowd outside the shop was so big that nothing in the front was visible. All the elves were moring to go forward, and those who obtained a spot did not want to leave.


    "If this continues on¡­" Lyana exhaled as what she had been dreading began to ur really soon. A few elves in the line started roughhousing with their neighbors, and soon fights started to ur.


    Though Liam seemed to be still unaffected in the front, this much disturbance was more than enough to garner the attention of the higher-ups.


    Lyana rushed ahead to stop this, but she was toote. The royal guards promptly showed up on site. Now things were out of her control. The best she could do was make them wait until Liam finished forging the current item.


    An hourter, Liam once again found himself standing in the grand hall in front of the elven King, elven Queen, and a few others, including a particrly burly elf who had an amused smile on his face.


    "Tell me again? What is this disturbance that I am hearing about?"


    Liam politely smiled as one of the guards stepped forward and exined the incident. This was the oue he was also expecting, so he did not have any qualms about it. Only Lyana, who was standing on the side, was trembling nervously on his behalf.


    The king who heard the detailed exnation was equally shocked. In his wildest imagination, he had not anticipated that the human who had somehow wandered into their elvennds by chance would possess such a talent.


    Now, what was he supposed to do? The king frowned in contemtion.


    On the one hand, it was troublesome to allow a human being to linger in their territory for too long, let alone conduct business sales. On the other hand¡­ this was a different time¡­ a time of war.


    An extra pair of hands in the production of weapons, especially ones of this caliber, was an irrefutable necessity at the moment.


    The elven king looked at the human being who was starting to give him a headache now. Though everything he did was for the welfare of the elves, there was just something unsettling about the whole thing. His intuition said so.


    Seeing the king remain unusually silent, Lyana quickly butted in. "Your majesty, please forgive me. It was I who obtained permission for him to set up a stall and sell his wares. Please don''t punish him. It was my ignorance that has led to this urrence."


    "Hrmm. I see." The king answered, his cold eyes never leaving Liam. A few more seconds of ufortable silence filled the room when the king finally cleared his throat again and announced, "I have made my decision."


    Everyone curiously listened, and the king continued, "Though the circumstances are against our guest, it has been my understanding that he had simply wanted to sell his wares before making the return trip back to the human kingdom."


    "This is indeed a special case. No human being before had had such a privilege. However, no other human being has contributed more to the elvennds whenpared to our guest."


    "Taking into ount the services he had already done for our kingdom, I have decided to temporarily grant permission for our guest to sell some of his wares before departing our fine city."


    "But this will be done in an orderly fashion, adhering to the rules of the city. That will be all." The king stood up to leave, dismissing the gathered elves. Everyone else seemed in agreement with this decision, so the whole thing went smoothly.


    After the King, the other elves also gave Liam a customary nce as they left the hall one after the other. Liam politely smiled back at them while Lyana sighed in relief.


    The elves also did not look at him with as much hatred as they did during the first meeting. Almost everything was falling into ce, and Liam triumphantly turned to look at the elf he was mainly interested in.


    When everyone else had left the room, the old elf lumbered over to Liam, a wry grin still on his face. He even seemed a little friendly this time.


    Huh? Did it already work? Liam became nervous for the first time as he could see that the old guy was finally paying attention to him. This was also exactly what he wanted.


    But the next second¡­ his questions were answered¡­


    Thud! Liam once again copsed on the floor as a burst of sudden pressure assaulted him and forced him to fall face forward on the cold, hard ground. All he could now hear was the unrulyughter once again filling the entire room.


    "Damn it." Liam was speechless. He could only breathe when the old monster left the room, and Lyana rushed forward to help him. "Are you okay?"


    Liam shook his head. No, he was not okay. In fact, he would not be okay until he dealt with this damned old guy! He punched the floor with his fist and then stood up to leave the hall as well.


    The guards escorted them back out of the teleportation portal, and Liam was once again at themoner''s city. However, unexpectedly, one of the guards turned around and gave him an emblem.


    "You can now use the weaponry teleportation portal."


    "It''s that one," Lyana whispered to him. Liam smiled in response. He was also excited to check out this one.


    The elven woman apanied him as the both of them used the new teleportation gate and entered the ''weaponry'' area.


    Immediately, a different ce appeared in front of them, and Liam''s eyes glittered at the magnificent sight. Splendid golden buildings, pristine streets, beautiful and elegant elves¡­


    This ce waspletely different from themoner''s city. It was almost as if this was an entirely different kingdom.


    But before Liam could take another step¡­ "Halt!" A guard immediately appeared next to them. Liam raised his brows as he saw that the elves hadn''t trusted himpletely after all.


    "For now, you are only able to visit the smithing building." The guard listed out the clear instructions provided for Liam. Standing next to him, Lyana felt very awkward at how her fellow elves were treating her savior, but she was also helpless.


    Liam, however, did not mind. Things have to be done step by step. There was simply no way around it. Soon the group arrived at the smithing building, and Liam was escorted to the ground floor, where the guard finally left him.


    Of course, the other elven guards inside the building took over. The elf at the reception of the building gave Liam a stern look up and down and handed to him a token. "You are free to use this room for your convenience."


    "Thank you." Liam gave a polite smile. The guards then escorted him to the specific room, which was fully equipped with all the tools that a cksmith would require.


    On top of this, there were also some scrolls at the top of the workbench.


    Hmm? Liam picked up the scrolls to see that they were work orders. "You will be working on these." One of the guards behind him haughtily reminded him.


    So I am supposed to stay inside this single room and work on one order after another like a ve? That is the courtesy the elves have shown me?


    Perhaps it was time to deal with the elves in an entirely different manner.


    Liam''s cold gaze swept over the scrolls when they suddenly disappeared, and new notifications popped up in front of him.


    <Ding. New Quest Avable>


    <Ding. Quest: Forge a weapon to perfection>


    <Ding. Reward: 10 gold coins; 10000 experience points; 100 reputation points>


    <Ding. Bonus Reward avable depending on the grade of the weapon forged>


    <Ding. New Quest Avable>


    <Ding. Quest: Forge a weapon to perfection>


    <Ding. Reward: 10 gold coins; 10000 experience points; 100 reputation points>


    <Ding. Bonus Reward avable depending on the grade of the weapon forged>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Just like that, Liam''s sour mood disappeared on seeing the five new quests that were now avable to him. His cold gaze cracked, reced with another polite smile on his lips as he gave a response to the arrogant guards.


    "Sure, I will get cracking right away." He was finally on track to gain reputation points in the elven territory! Now everything was definitely going to work out!

 Chapter 646 Friends

    Chapter 646 Friends


    For the next few hours, Liam became busy with the new quests he had received. Though these quests were also a hard grind, at least now he was gaining experience points, and he was also increasing his skill in forging. So overall, this wasn''t aplete waste of his time.


    On the side, Lyana still hung around, along with the two guards, as she started assisting Liam in various things. The guards frowned on seeing a nobledy do the dirty work and gave Liam a stink eye.


    And Liam also wasn''t one to forget or forgive.


    So... after a few minutes... the roles were quickly reversed, with Lyana standing to the side and admiring Liam while the two haughty elven guards assisted him and did all the dirty work.


    With everything as it should be and a calm, tranquil atmosphere to work in, Liam was quickly progressing as he forged one weapon after another without any breaks in between.


    After some time, even the guards couldn''t help but change their attitudes towards the strange human being in the elvennds. They now looked at him with respect and awe as they gazed longingly at the several semi-epic grade weapons he had lined up.


    Since Liam only had the ingredients for this particr recipe, and the total recipes he knew weren''t particrly impressive, all the weapons were carbon copies of each other.


    However, that didn''t matter, as the experience points and the reputation points were stilling in one after the other.


    Finally, after he finished the fourth quest and the fourth sem-epic grade Dawn''s sword, the notification that he was looking forward to arrived.


    <Ding. You are now friendly with the elves>


    Huff! Liam exhaled a puff of air and sat back on the floor in fatigue. Lyana immediately offered to take him out to lunch, but he politely refused. "I need to get back to work immediately."


    He was also tired of eating the same vegetarian food for every meal so he dipped into his supply of Shen Yue''s special items. Liam''s eyes softened a little on seeing the familiar meatballs. This used to be a certain little thing''s favorite.


    "Oh?" Liam had an idea as he took out the fox from the cloak he had folded and kept on the side and handed her over to Lyana. "Can you help me feed some fruits to my fox?" He asked with a disarming gentlemanly smile.


    Elves were great natural healers, and moreover, he now had a good rtionship with this elven woman, so it was worth giving this a try. Perhaps he could even stumble upon a cure for Luna while he was still in the elven territory.


    Liam was not too sure about this, but at this point, he did not want to leave any stone unturned.


    Thankfully for him, the elf took an immediate liking to Luna. She petted the small, unconscious furry creature, enjoying the lustrous fur and her adorable sleeping face. "It is too bad that she is hurting deeply." The elfmented.


    "Yea, it is too bad. She got hurt to protect me," Liam answered with a sigh. He was also missing the little thing a lot. However, there was nothing he could do for her at the moment. All he could do was continue working hard.


    Taking another breath, he went right back to forging as he started on the next weapon. A couple more hours passed when another problem surfaced. Liam was finally out of raw materials!


    "Is there anywhere I can buy more ores here?" He scratched his head and asked Lyana and the two elven guards.


    "Sire, you can buy them on the first floor." One of the guards immediately replied. Lyana also nodded.


    "Ok then, let''s take a trip to the first floor." Liam and the group walked over to the ce where they were selling various raw materials used in forging.


    He saw all types of ores on disy, but they were heavily priced. It looked like ores were a raremodity in the elven territory. Also, the type of ores Liam was searching for wasn''t avable at all.


    "Now this is a problem¡­" Liam frowned as he looked around the ce. His eyes glossed over the numerous ores on disy andnded on thest section. Shockingly, this section had recipes for sale instead of ores!


    He immediately became curious and walked over to that area. There were indeed recipes for sale, and the highest grade avable was unexpectedly Epic!


    "Jackpot!" Liam grinned. This meant that he was finally going to be able to forge an actual Epic-grade weapon after his numerous attempts at the semi-epic grade. His hard work had paid off.


    "I would like to purchase this and five sets of the ingredients required."


    The elf standing in front of him was visibly amazed at the order. Huh? As Liam wondered the reason for this strange response, his eyes fell on the cost of the recipe that was inconspicuously scribbled in a corner.


    10,000 gold coins


    "10,000? Ha ha ha. Ok, take it." Even Lyana looked worried as she watched the guy pay the exorbitant price without a thought.


    "Liam¡­ this recipe¡­ I have heard that it''s very difficult. You will simply be wasting your gold coins." She tried to dissuade him.


    However, Liam firmly shook his head. An Epic grade weapon''s recipe was definitely worth this much.


    It would undoubtedly be challenging, but he preferred to work hard andplete this task than to spend a great deal of time crafting inferior weapons and earning reputation points piecemeal. After all, time was still the most valuable thing for him at the moment!


    He casually took out the required number of gold coins and paid the elf. It came out to be a total of 12,000 with all the ingredientsbined, and this effectively emptied half the gold coins he had at the moment.


    His reserves, which were flush because of the PVP tournament winnings and the tribute from the garrison, became half in an instant.


    Lyana and the two elven guards gaped in astonishment as they witnessed this scene. They gulped and followed Liam as he walked back to the forging room.

 Chapter 647 Not the only Kingdom

    Chapter 647 Not the only Kingdom


    "Sis, we are here¡­" Rey mumbled as he looked around at the forest surrounding them nervously. "Ughhh¡­ I don''t have a good feeling. Do you really think that this meeting will go well?"


    Considering whom they were meeting, Rey couldn''t shake off the uneasy feeling he had. However, the red-haired woman next to him appeared more confident.


    "Hmph. I am fine either way, whether it goes well or not. In fact, I would like it more if it doesn''t." Feeling the violent auraing off of his sister, Rey backed up a little. "Don''t go over to the dark side, sis." He mumbled under his breath.


    "What nonsense are you bbering now?" Alex immediately snapped. However, before she could beat up the poor guy, thankfully, the person they were waiting for emerged from the side.


    "Ha Ha Ha. You brother and sister pair are as lively as ever." Madan chuckled. His beady eyes then looked around as if he was fondly searching for someone. "Miss Shen Yue did note?"


    "Why? Are we not enough?" Alex crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave the guy a cold stare.


    "Of course. Of course. More than enough, my goddess. Ha Ha Ha." Madan awkwardlyughed, ruffling his head.


    He nodded at Rey in pity as he understood the poor guy''s plight a little too well. He also had a cold, frigid woman riding him at all times.


    I feel your pain, bro. The two guys exchanged nces, making Alex re up even further. "If you have nothing else to say, we are leaving! NOW!"


    "Ah! Wait, sis. Please. Wait. Wait. Here. I have brought some gifts for you." Madan hurriedly took out the good stuff because of which they were meeting here today in the first ce.


    "Shit! This is!" Rey instantly gaped. Alex also looked shocked. "May I?" She asked and inspected the three arrows that Madan had on his palm, one after the other.


    <Ding. Freezing Arrow>


    <Ding. Exploding Arrow>


    <Ding. Zap Arrow>


    "How did you imbue these elemental attributes into arrows? I have never heard of hunters being able to do something like this. Did you learn how to forge?"


    "Ha ha ha." Madan chuckled, seeing that he had finally caught the attention of the red-haired beauty. "I can''t tell you all my secrets now, can I?" He answered in a mysterious way to show off.


    However, this only bought an eye roll from Alex, so he quickly changed his answer. "Aha ha ha. Just joking. Forging is too much of a hassle for me. This is a special hunter''s skill book that I picked up."


    This immediately caught Rey''s interest, and his ears perked up, "Bro, where is this skill book? Where can I farm for it?"


    Madan was speechless. The sister gave him the wolfish re, but the brother gave him the puppy dog look. Are they purposefully trying to y him?


    Not wanting to lose his edge, the chubby hunter shrewdly brought the topic back to the main discussion. "Bro, that''s why we are here, right? That skill book is very rare, but we can do regr trading. Potions, weapons, or gear in exchange for these arrows, how about it?"


    Alex silently red at him for a few more seconds before nodding in agreement. They needed this extra boost in the uing days, and if what she predicted came true, these small things could y a huge role.


    The two of them then discussed a few more details about the cost and the delivery, and then before Madan could rejoice about the sweet deal made so easily, Alex opened her mouth again.


    "Of course, you will only sell these exclusively to our guild."


    "Fuck! I knew this was too easy. Miss Alex, that''s not very fair. Live and let live, please." Madan was not a pushover, so he was not going to ept such a bad deal.


    Unexpectedly, Alex smiled and nodded, saying, "Alright, if you feel this is unfair, then go ahead. Feel free to sell it to whomever you please." However, along with this, she also added¡­ "Let me just quickly update Liam about this."


    Ah~ The guy was now speechless. He saw the redhead opening her system interface and typing something. It also seemed like she was just about to press send, so he hurriedly blurted it out.


    "Exclusive it is. Exclusive. Exclusive. I swear. Please let''s not bother boss Liam with these small details, sister."


    Immediately, Alex revealed another pretty smile and shrugged. "If you say so."


    "You are too brutal!"


    "You don''t know the half of it." Rey shook his head on the side, to which Madan bitterly smiled. The two of them were ready to whine again, so Alex impatiently ended the meeting.


    "Let''s leave now. There might be ears in this remote ce too." She turned around to leave, grabbing Rey along with her.


    Madan called out to the two of them when he saw that they were really going to leave. "Miss Alex, onest thing."


    "Hmmm?"


    "Consider this a bonus from me." Madanughed and added. "There will be several new developments in the next few days. The Gresh Kingdom is not the only kingdom in this game."


    "What do you mean?" Visit Libread for a better_user experience,


    "There are other kingdoms and other powerful guilds. They cannot do anything right now because the game has sealed different kingdoms and guilds to their own territories, but what if all of that is changing?"


    Alex''s face turned serious. This was indeed big news, but it looked like Madan was not done talking.


    "Your big boss stepped on a lot of toes and caught the interest of many special people. They won''t forever stay in the shadows and allow you guys to grow, so if I were you, I would start making preparations."


    Alex frowned, "Assuming this is true, why are you helping us?"


    "Of course, it''s because I want to be on your good side. I might not look like it, but I am very smart." Madan winked and knocked his head with his finger. "He He. I know whose side to take."


    "Hmph." Alex scoffed. "You are just an opportunist."


    Madan shook his head,ughing. "There''s nothing wrong with being one as long as I don''t betray you guys. Trust me. I have no intentions of doing that."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam stared at the half-done staff in front of him with displeasure. He had tried his best, but he could only forge it to a semi-epic level. The final epic grade weapon was just not materializing.


    "Hmmm. This is my first time trying to forge a staff. Is that why this is so difficult?" He looked at the weapon again and shook his head, as he was too tired to think about anything.


    After sinking so many hours into this, he wanted a break before continuing. Leaving the little fox with Lyana, he left for the outskirts of the elven territory again to catch more barbarians and stretch his limbs.


    This time he also ventured even further, taking his soul army out for some good old fashion grinding. The problem with having a lot of minions is that they have to be constantly fed experience points, or else they start tog.


    Besides, when all else fails, this was the army that was going to stand by his side when the tutorial ends and the apocalypse begins. Naturally, he had to polish them as much as possible before then.


    After spending a few hours in the wilderness, Liam hurriedly returned back to the elven territory. It was time to resume the reputation grind once again.


    But seeing that he was not any closer to forging the epic ranked weapon, he decided to pay another visit to the shop.


    He glossed over everything again and finallynded on a gold grade unique rank weapon, the highest rank weapon under the epic and semi-epic grades.


    This was not as expensive as the previous purchase, but it still cost a pretty penny. More importantly, the ingredients required to forge the item were avable for purchase in excess, so he wouldn''t run out of these as long as he had the gold coins to burn.


    Liam brought this new set of items to the room and once more plunged into the non-stop forging madness. The two guards assigned to him couldn''t handle the pressure anymore and switched out because they became too tired.


    Lyana as well only showed up every now and then as she also couldn''t continuously remain cooped up in the heat and the loud, ear-piercing sounds of the hammer.


    As for Liam''s inability to forge the epic ranked staff, no one thought too much about it as they expected this result from the beginning.


    Even among the elves, only experienced elders close to achieving the Grandmaster title were able to craft such powerful weapons.


    Liam being able to craft semi-epic weapons was already an achievement for them. To expect him to go further than that was simply a fool''s dream.

 Chapter 648 Fool!

    Chapter 648 Fool!


    72 hourster¡­


    Liam stared nkly at the several golden unique staffs he had crafted lying down on the ground like garbage. On the other side, there were failed products of the epic-grade staff heaped up.


    Though the two piles were constantly increasing in size, there was no improvement in the quality of the forged weapon.


    "It seems that I have hit a wall." Liam rubbed his chin in deep thought, unable to find where he was going wrong.


    "Would it help to take a look at the finished staff?" Lyana, sitting on the side and petting Luna, slowly suggested.


    Liam''s eyes instantly widened. Something like that was also possible?!


    He did not think of this, as this was not how things worked in the human kingdom. One cannot simply buy or take a look at an Epic-ranked item.


    "Do they really have weapons for sale, or is it like an exhibit?"


    "Ummm¡­ it''s in the training arena. The elves can borrow and train with any weapon of their choice." Lyana exined.


    Seeing the finished product would definitely help. "Let''s go right away." Liam stood up in excitement. The two of them, followed by the guards, soon reached the ce.


    His reputation with the elves was still on the friendly level, and he hadn''t gone to the next stage just yet, but it seemed like that was enough as he was allowed into the training arena without any issue.


    However, the inside of the training arena waspletely different than what he had imagined. Numerous elves were sparring with each other and practicingbat on the grounds.


    It was a sight to see the elemental spells being used so fluently. Some of the elves could also use closebat techniques and spells that cost mana.


    Liam clenched his hands as he looked around. He hadn''t seen that many elves in action except for the lower-level patrolling elves, so this was very new to him.


    Things considered extremely difficult by the human kingdoms were being easily executed right before him. His own fighting spirit was kindled as he watched the different sparring matches.


    "Ummm¡­ Liam¡­ this way." Lyana gently reminded him as he seemed to have forgotten why he hade here in the first ce.


    "Right." Liam smiled and followed the elf. The two of them walked over to the interior of the training grounds, where there was surprisingly another teleportation gate.


    The guards standing next to the gate did not look concerned seeing Liam, so he as well went ahead and helped himself to the gate.


    Immediately, the duo was teleported to another area, which was not all that different from the earlier training grounds except that the elves here were more extravagantly equipped.


    "This is a training area for the noble families," Lyana exined.


    "No wonder they have ess to epic grade items for training." Liam nodded in understanding. The two of them walked over to the elf monitoring the borrowing of weapons.


    Unlike the previous training grounds, the weapons here were all showcased in a neat and orderly fashion as each of them was very valuable.


    "Wee, Lady Lyana. What would you like to borrow today?"


    Lyana in turn looked at Liam, whose eyes glossed over all the items in the disy. The weapon he was trying to craft was a staff, more specifically, "Staff of the Moon Temple."


    "There." Liam pointed to the silver staff lying inconspicuously on the second row.


    The elf immediately frowned upon hearing him and acted like he hadn''t heard Liam speak. "It looks like my reputation is not enough after all." Liam smiled and turned to look at his free pass in the elvennd.


    Lyana immediately spoke on his behalf and asked for the staff. Now the elf finally responded. "Right away, Lady Lyana." He picked up the staff and made a few markings on the book in front of him.


    He then extended it to hand it over to her when suddenly another hand reached in between and grabbed the staff.


    "Ha ha. Lady Lyana, it''s been a while. I heard that you were out on a mission. When did you get back?" A tall and handsome elf stood in front of them.


    "I am doing well, Lord Saevel." Lyana answered curtly without giving any other exnation.


    Hmmm? Acquaintance? Liam looked at the two of them, but for some reason, Lyana seemed ufortable.


    "That''s good to hear. If you are signing up for a training session, then we can practice together." The other elf continued chatting without getting the hint. He could see Liam standing beside her, but hepletely ignored him.


    On the other hand, Liam was also doing the same as his eyes were only on the staff the elf was holding. He was mildly annoyed that he had to wait to examine the weapon personally.


    Thankfully, it looked like the elf was also not interested in conversing with this person, so she ended it quickly. "I apologize, Lord Saevel. I am rather busy at the moment. Perhaps we could meet at another time."


    "Oh? Yes, yes. Another time it is then." The elf then acted as if he was going to hand over the staff, only to pull it back at thest minute.


    "By the way, I heard that Lady Lyana is spending a lot of time in the smithing building these days." The elf''s eyes finallynded on Liam as he said this and added with a chuckle, "Perhaps this new friend is the reason for your interest?"


    "Lord Saevel, I think you are misunderstanding things here." Lyana immediately tried to smooth everything over, but the other person smirked.


    "If mydy really wishes to learn how to forge weapons, then I will be more than willing to guide you personally. There is no need for you to rely on these outsiders."


    "I am-"


    The elf did not allow her to talk and continued to boast about all the recent items he had forged. On the side, the other elves standing near him also intervened to borate on how amazing Lord Saevel was.


    Finally, Lyana herself lost patience and spoke up. "Lord Saevel, may I please have the staff? We can leisurely talk about thister. I am afraid I am a little short on time now." She bit her lips in frustration.


    "Oh, my bad. I almost forgot." The elf once again acted as if he was going to give her the staff, but at thest moment, he took it back again.


    Liam''s lips twitched on seeing this. This was getting old. Why did they have to run into this problematic bastard now? He has already wasted too much of their time.


    Even Lyana was not amused as she called him out, "Lord Saevel! We have already reserved the staff!"


    "Ha Ha Ha. I am just joking, Miss Lyana. Please don''t mind me." He gave her the staff finally, and she in turn handed it to Liam.


    The elf frowned as his gazended on Liam as well, "Oh! The staff was for your friend, huh?" He paused and added, "He doesn''t seem too pleased with me. Hmmm?"


    One of the elves standing near him immediately interjected. "Listen, human. Who do you think crafted this weapon in the first ce?"


    Liam''s brow arched up as he was genuinely impressed. So this elf was not all talk?


    But the next instant, theckey added. "Hmph. Fool! This weapon is crafted by Lord Saevel''s master! It''s your privilege just to be able to look at something like this."


    "Hmm. That''s enough. Let''s leave Lady Lyana and her friend to practice." Thankfully, the group of elves walked away without creating a biggermotion.


    Liam ignored them and looked at the splendid staff in his hand. It was light andfortable, but at the same time, he could also feel how powerful it was.


    Though an Epic rank item and a Legendary rank item could not bepared, an Epic ranked item had its own strength and was head and shoulders above countless other weapons.


    <Ding. Staff of the Moon Temple>

 Chapter 649 Impossible

    Chapter 649 Impossible


    <Ding. Staff of the Moon Temple>


    Rating: Epic


    Health: +100


    Mana: +1000


    Vitality: +50


    Intelligence: +100


    Passive Skill: Mana courses through the weapon''s wielder, giving a 2% boost to all earth elemental spells cast using mana.


    Passive Skill: When your mana runs out, the elements surround you to grant an additional boost of mana, and all earth elemental attacks have a chance to trigger an elemental curse.


    Active Skill: Trigger an elemental curse; cool down: 2 minutes


    "Elemental curse?" Liam then read the description for the particr effect, as he hadn''te across this specific one.


    <Elemental Curse: A random elemental attack that inflicts 20% more damage than ordinary attacks>


    "Not bad. This should be something unique to the elves." He waved the staff and tried a couple of attacks after getting into the training grounds. He chose the training dummy spot and not the sparring session spot.


    Aiming at the dummy, he cast a fireball and instantly bang. The normal fireball itself hit like a cannon, sting the dummy apart in a single shot.


    -5000


    A huge damage number popped up, and a new training dummy reappeared. This was the power of an Epic ranked weapon.


    In some cases, having an Epic ranked weapon was even better than having a Legendary ranked weapon because, just like it did now, an Epic ranked weapon would be able to immediately disy its brilliance, whereas a Legendary ranked weapon needed time to grow.


    If he could forge such a powerful Epic ranked weapon¡­ Just the thought of it gave goosebumps to Liam. He tried using the weapon tond a few more attacks and really get a feel for the staff.


    Several eyes locked onto him as he used the dazzling staff freely. However, all of them only looked at him in disdain.


    "Look! Even an ape can fight if it has the right item!" One of the elvesmented loudly, resulting in a loud wave ofughter.


    Liam might be continuously disying powerful spells, but naturally, it was all thanks to the weapon in hand. However, he did not care. Inspecting the weapon first hand was a great idea. He was able to get a lot of inspiration from it.


    After a few minutes, he silently handed the staff back to Lyana. "I will head back to the room again. I want to try forging this once more."


    "Wait, Sir Liam! I will also apany you." The elf hurriedly returned the staff to the training grounds keeper and then followed him.


    Seeing Lyana run behind the human being like this, a few elves scowled and then went about their business. But three elves, in particr, continued to re in the direction the two of them had disappeared.


    "Lord Saevel, that human being is aiming to forge the ''Staff of the Moon Temple''."


    "Mmmm. I can see that."


    "My Lord, will he seed?"


    "Heh." The elf loudlyughed and walked away without saying anything else.


    Only the otherckey then exined, "For forging the staff, one needs an extremely high affinity to the earth element. A human to have such a thing? Impossible!"


    "Oh?"


    "Lord Saevel is also stuck at this stage for a few years now. That''s one of the reasons why he is not able to forge the staff."


    "Oh."


    "Don''t you know this? Why did you ask him? He was in a good mood today, so he let you go. Otherwise¡­ idiot."


    "Right. My bad. I forgot about that. So there is no way the human will be able to forge this weapon."


    "What forge? Ha ha ha. He won''t even be able to figure out why he can''t forge it."


    The two elvesughed and chatted, continuing to walk behind Lord Saevel to catch up to him.


    Meanwhile¡­ back in the forging room¡­


    Liam stared at the halfpleted staff in his hand with a frown. Yet another failed product. It looked like what he had learned from inspecting the staff firsthand was also not enough.


    He followed everything in the recipe and used the right ingredients, yet the finished product was repeatedly a failure.


    "Sir Liam¡­ perhaps¡­" Lyana was about to suggest that he give up, but she quickly stopped herself seeing the expression on his face. Surprisingly, there was no confusion or hesitation in his eyes.


    Liam looked at the staff with determination. This was not the first time he had attempted to forge a high-level weapon, so he was notpletely clueless.


    Besides, he also had the experience of forging souls. So after the 20th failed attempt, he could see what he was missing, but the problem was¡­ this was not something he could solve easily.


    Liam remained silent for a while and then attempted to forge the staff one more time. This attempt, he carried out the forging process more slowly than he usually did, but of course, the final product was once again a failure.


    He tossed it aside and suddenly smiled at Lyana. "Can I leave my fox in your care again, my Lady?"


    "Ah¡­ Yes, yes. Of course."


    "Thank you. I am just heading out to stretch my hands and legs a bit. It is too tiresome to be cooped up in here all day." Liam casuallyughed it off and used the teleportation gate to leave the area.


    He headed towards the wilderness like he usually did, but after some time, he entered [Stealth] and started retracing his steps.


    However, he did not return to the elven settlement. Instead, he crossed the stretch ofnd to enter the forests on the other side of the settlement, the Forest of Echoes.


    Liam had heard about this forest before, but this was his first time entering this ce. More specifically, he was not supposed to be here.


    This was a protected space for the elves where they had banned all fighting and hunting. Only peaceful creatures lived here under the protection of the elves.


    And to hunt down these peaceful creatures was precisely why he hade here.

 Chapter 650 Grinding, grinding and more grinding

    Chapter 650 Grinding, grinding and more grinding


    Liam did not have a death wish. He did not start hunting down beasts right away and first started heading deeper into the forests, away from the elven settlement.


    From the information he had gathered so far, he knew the rough position of the areas around the elven settlement, and the ce he was headed to at the moment was in the dark elf territory.


    Unlike the elves, the dark elves did not have any restrictions for hunting, so he would be able to move more freely.


    A couple of hourster, Liam finally arrived at a good spot. In front of him, there was a herd of winged horses quietly grazing the pasture.


    "Ok. The first target is confirmed. Come out everyone." Liam sat down on the forest ground to take a break while a sizable group of soul minions of various figures and shapes appeared from within him.


    "Hunt whatever you guys can find. Start with those horses." He ordered the condor alone to stay back while the rest stampeded towards the poor horses.


    The herd of elegant winged creatures were ughtered in an instant as the Level 40 horses didn''t stand any chance against the soul minions.


    Soon the drops from the bloody hunt were littered in front of Liam. It was a bountiful harvest with a lot of silver coins, horse feathers, horse teeth, and even leather materials.


    These would fetch a pretty penny if ced in the auction house, but Liam frowned as the thing that he was expecting was nowhere to be found.


    However, this was something he had expected, so he did not care. The item he was looking for had an extremely low drop rate, assuming it could even be obtained from this area.


    Liam was notpletely sure about it. He did not know any details about the elven territory. Even in hisst life, there wasn''t any information avable about this zone.


    The only thing he knew was from reading the item description of a very coveted crafting item that was sold by an NPC in the Northern Empire, one of the four main human empires in the Xion realm.


    For all he knew, that might or might not be true, but right at this moment, this was the only shot he had.


    Otherwise, he would really have to give up crafting that Epic ranked item, and the reputation grind would no longer be viable as it would take too long for him for it to be worth it.


    "This better work." Liam sighed and let out a big breath of air. He just needed it to be here. As far as the abysmal drop rate was concerned, he wasn''t all that worried about it.


    He looked at the group of soul minions in front of him, busily hunting down another herd of elegant beasts, this time fire stags.


    "Come on. Drop. Drop. Drop." Liam mumbled whilezily watching the show.


    This scene repeated itself for a few more hours. The condor flew first and scouted the area, followed by the rest of the soul minions entering the said area and mauling everything in sight.


    It was an added bonus that the beasts in the forest were automatically friendly unless they got tagged. So the soul minions were easily able to avoid the stronger Level 60 plus targets.


    They did not even require Liam''s assistance any longer. They were able to move freely and efficiently, with him barely doing anything.


    The only issue was that¡­ even after several hours, there was still nothing to show. Only experience points and silver coins were piling up, along with other misceneous loot.


    Of course, there were also several herbs that Liam was able to harvest from roaming about the forest. Overall, it had been productive, but the item he was after was still eluding him.


    A few more hours passed by just like this when suddenly a little rabbit popped out from his body and dashed towards the soul minions.


    They had just killed a bunch of swans, ruining a small tranquil pond, and the rabbit dove directly into the bloodied water without any hesitation.


    Liam now knew too much about the rabbit not to understand what this meant. He immediately stood up and rushed towards the pond as well. What could be there inside?


    He didn''t have to guess because the rabbit soon appeared. When the little creature popped out again, Liam could distinctly see the rabbit holding a small orb in her hands.


    "YESSS!" He immediately jumped into the pond and grabbed the orb, inspecting it right away.


    <Ding. Orb of Water: Contains a dense amount of water essence>


    Thankfully, the system description was there, and he was able to confirm it. "Finally!" Liamughed loudly in excitement as he stepped out of the pond water, appearing all bloody because of all the murdered swans.


    Sure, the thing he was looking for was ''Orb of Earth,'' but at least now he had the confirmation. He could indeed farm for these orbs in this area. This was more than enough for him to go on for the moment.


    He bent down and examined one of the swans and asked Crawford, "Did these guys use any water element attacks?"


    Crawford nodded. The swans had indeed used some water attacks.


    This confirmed Liam''s suspicions about something that was fairly obvious. For an earth orb, he needed to target earth type beasts.


    Now that he knew he could indeed obtain these orbs as drops, he no longer had to cast a wide. His hunt now would be far more efficient and effective.


    "Listen up. Attack only the earth type beasts from now on, but if youe across something on your path, then feel free to kill it."


    Liam then specifically showed the orb to Crawford. "I am looking for this. So don''t lose it."


    "Come on. Let''s go. Let''s go. Hunt faster!" With a loud shout, he also joined in the festivities as the group started tearing down and plundering the peaceful Forest of Echoes.

 Chapter 651 Even when unconscious

    Chapter 651 Even when unconscious


    When Liam returned back to the elven settlement, he made sure to wash off the thick stench of blood. He directly walked over to the cksmith building to enter the forging room once again.


    Weirdly, the building looked deserted, with fewer elves than usual. Even the guards assigned to him were missing, but Liam ignored it and went straight into his room.


    Almost an entire day had passed by since he started farming for the orbs, and he was now ready to try forging the item once again!


    Liam started with tossing the ores in the furnace and repeated all the steps until the end which was the most important part. But when he reached thisst stage, he did not continue any longer.


    He stopped and took out the special item from his inventory, a small brown orb. He brought it close to the raw, unrefined weapon, and the metallic ore instantly sucked in the orb as if it was hungry and starving for it.


    Liam gulped and immediately started hammering the semi-finished staff. This was it. This was thest part, and if he could just go through this¡­


    A lot was riding on this single thing, and his blood was boiling as he felt the energy thrum against the weapon wanting to break free. Just getting the orb was clearly not enough.


    When forging the weapon, Liam could feel that he needed to condense a lot more earth elemental energy to perfectly forge the weapon, which he had done now using the orb of earth.


    However, he now still had to make sure that the elemental essence was perfectly infused with the metal. Thanks to the recipe from the elves, he already had the best materials suited for this, but he had to also force this equilibrium using his own mana.


    If he had an innate high affinity for the earth element, this would have been a lot easier. Since that was not the case, he had to work with what he had.


    Liam closed his eyes and focused his very best as he struck the hammer against the weapon, injecting his mana every time he did. His mana core churned non-stop as he continuously worked to subdue the weapon.


    Loud hammering sounds echoed in the room, and Lyana, who pushed the door open to enter, stopped in her tracks. The scene in front of her was simply too amazing.


    She could feel it. A strong weapon was being birthed at the moment.


    She gasped lightly, holding the fox close to her chest, and silently observed Liam from afar, not even daring to breathe loudly lest it disturbs him.


    And just like that, she ended up standing still for the next two hours, when finally a loud explosion resounded through the room. The energy built up became too unstable andshed out.


    Lyana''s pale white, elegant face became covered in smoke and soot, and the poor fox in her hand was also subjected to the same fate as the soft white fur became all ck.


    "Cough. Cough. When did youe here?" Liam chuckled, looking at the two ckened figures. He also had the same disheveled appearance, but he couldn''t care less about it right now.


    He was this close to finishing the forging process. He apologized to the elf and hurriedly chased her out, wanting to try the process all over again.


    "Sir Liam, I¡­ there is an auction going on." Lyana had actuallye here for this purpose, but she almost forgot it after seeing the exquisite forging technique in person.


    "Oh?" Liam''s interest was piqued. He had a feeling that just like the Milky Way auction house, this one would also be special, so he definitely wanted to take a look. "How long does the auction go for?"


    "It starts today evening and ends at nightfall," Lyana answered.


    Liam nodded. There were still 12 hours for him to give the weapon another try. This was good enough. He made ns with the elf to meet again in a few hours and quickly got down to business.


    Outside, the streets of the elven city were slowly bing crowded with the elves pouring in from several cities, all for the sake of the auction. After Lyana cleaned herself up and the fox, she once again walked over to the cksmith building.


    It was a little earlier than the scheduled time, but she wanted to see the forging of the weapon again. But when she got to the building, a familiar face greeted her.


    "Lady Lyana, fancy meeting you here. Again." A tall, handsome elf stood rooted in front of the building.


    "Lord Saevel. Greetings." Lyana was speechless. This person never paid much attention to her before, but now all of a sudden, she had run into him twice already.


    "Greetings, my Lady. Would you be interested in apanying me to the auction house today? I heard that some rare potions are going to be auctioned today evening. It is going to be a rowdy event."


    "Ah, Actually, Lord Saevel, I have some business to attend to. I will be heading to the auction house after that. I do not want to inconvenience you by dying things." Lyana awkwardlyughed.


    She then proceeded to step aside and enter the building when the elf appeared in front of her once again, blocking her path.


    "Not so fast, Lady Lyana."


    Seeing that he was not even being subtle anymore, the woman red back at him. "Lord Saevel, what is this?" He might hail from a noble family, but she was also from one, so she did not back down easily.


    However, the elf merely chuckled. He casually raised his hand and said, "Calm down. Calm down. I just want to talk to you about another important thing."


    "That would be?"


    "I suggest that you stop spending any more time with that human being. He is just a useless piece of trash."


    "Watch your words, Lord Saevel. Sir Liam is my guest." Lyana scoffed at him and walked past the elf, who was still only smiling wide.


    "A filthy human shouldn''t have been allowed here in the first ce. It won''t do any good to anyone. I am just trying to look out for you as a friend." The elf''s voice rang loudly behind her.


    Lyana ignored him and continued to walk inside the building, quickly reaching Liam''s room.


    She wanted to watch the forging process again, but when she entered the room, she found the human already seated and resting. It looked like she had missed it.


    "Shall we leave?" Lyana awkwardly asked.


    She did not pry about the results of the forging since it was not really a surprise. Crafting an Epic-rank weapon was not something easily aplished.


    The two of them then silently headed over to the teleportation gate where the auction house was located.

 Chapter 652 Filthy rich elves

    Chapter 652 Filthy rich elves


    When the both of them arrived at the teleportation gate, Lyana was immediately prepared to use her tone of authority.


    However, unexpectedly, the elven guard standing at the teleportation gate bowed respectfully to both her and the human being standing next to her as he made way for the two of them to use the gate.


    Lyana had no idea what was happening while the person next to her continued to wear an obscene smile. "After you¡­" Liam politely stepped back, showing her the way.


    "Ugh. uh.. Ok." Lyana nodded and used the teleportation gate first.


    The auction house was located in a different cepared to the rest of the city as the elves from various kingdoms arrived there for the auction event.


    The streets were heavily crowded, and the patrolling elven guards were alsorger in number. Liam was once again amazed to see the thriving, vibrant city in front of him.


    "This is a neutral ce for all the elven kingdoms to meet and exchange goods," Lyana whispered.


    Apart from the auction house, there were many other shops selling all kinds of wares. Only the more valuable items were sold in the auction house.


    The other trades were conducted through street hawkers and shops. Since many elves were here, it was a good ce in general to sell items.


    When Liam pulled up the system map to take a look, he saw that they were no longer within the Kimoria Kingdom. They were somewhere in the middle of a bunch of elven kingdoms.


    As the only human being caught in between the entirety of the elf poption, Liam would have been more nervous, but¡­ things had changed now.


    With the big smile still stered on his face, he followed Lyana as she led him to the auction house. Once again, the guards bowed respectfully and allowed the two of them to enter.


    Though it was a huge auditorium with generous spacing, finding a spot to sit was troublesome. It took a while before the two of them could find seats.


    And when the elf looked at Liam to see if he wasfortable, he still had the same big smile on his face. In all the time she knew this person, Lyana had never seen him so happy. The elf even began to wonder if something was wrong.


    Soon the whole auditorium became filled with elves and loud bells chimed, indicating the beginning of the auction.


    Liam''s gaze finally turned serious as he stopped elf-watching and paid attention to the first item that was being currently announced.


    "Gold potions! Starting bid! 500 gold coins!" An elegant elven woman''s voice rang loudly. Next to her, another female elf stood carrying a tray of five small potion bottles.


    Liam was waiting for an exnation but nothing of that sort came up. It looked like everyone was already expected to know about the items.


    As a result, he could only ask Lyana, "What is a gold potion?"


    "Oh? It''s a potion that boosts your luck temporarily." The elf exined to him casually.


    However, Liam immediately became shocked at hearing it. "What? Temporarily increases luck?" He had never heard of something like that. He definitely wanted to buy this batch as something like this could definitelye in handy.


    He immediately prepared to raise his hand to make a bid when the next bid was read out aloud by the auction conductor.


    "10000 gold coins. 11000 gold coins¡­ 11500 gold coins¡­ 13000 gold coins¡­"


    The worst thing was that this bid kept on continuously increasing until it reached a final price of 50000 gold coins.


    Liam was stunned speechless. He turned to look at Lyana who had a rather bored look on her face. "They really lucked out. Luck potions went for almost double this price in thest auction."


    "Double this price?" Liam looked at his own empty pockets. It seemed like he would most probably have to sit this auction out. Just like the Milky way auction, this one also was beyond his limits.


    But he was notpletely done yet. He still had a trump card which he reserved for one and only one item in case something of that sort popped up.


    After the luck potion, there was the high-grade health potion and mana potion up next.


    This was followed by a long list of several other potions such as Invisibility potion, Strength potion, Focus potion, Transfiguration potion, Flight potion, Enlightenment potion, Beauty potion, Disguise potion and the list went on and on.


    More importantly, every single one of these potions was high quality and had longsting effects. They were extremely useful potions that could potentially be life-saving in many instances.


    Liam''s hands were itching to buy them, at least any one of them, but all he could do at the moment was stare at them and drool over them. Each of the potion sets ended up going for 100,000 gold coins to 1 million gold coins and he did not have this sort of ridiculous gold.


    "Are these damned elves mining the gold themselves?" He sighed in frustration when Lyana chuckled and nodded. "Yes, some of us have gold mines."


    "What¡­" Liam waspletely speechless. He shook his head and continued watching the show, now with expectant eyes. It should be anytime now, right?


    Just as he was thinking this, the elf on the stage walked over, carrying the next item. This was actually a chest guard which meant that the potions section was finally over.


    "Syllia''s Blessing" The auctioneer announced listing out the stats of the armor one after another.


    And to Liam''s shock, this was a semi-legendary ranked item!


    Legendary items were too few in the game and sprinkled across the vast world but right now he was actually able to buy this semi-legendary ranked item?


    However, the next second, the harsh reality came crashing down on him. The starting bid was 1 million gold coins. He smiled bitterly and simply continued watching the show.


    The next item, the one after that, and the other after that were also of the same semi-legendary grade, but every single one of them quickly shot up into the millions.


    Finally, thest one had a lower value, only barely reaching one million and this was an Epic-ranked item. Liam''s eyes immediately lit up. It was finally his turn. The big smile was back on his face as Lyana stared at him in confusion.


    Soon, the subsequent item arrived when the human being sitting amidst the numerous elves almost couldn''t contain his excitement.


    "Staff of the Moon Temple" The auctioneer announced loudly and Liam''s grin widened.

 Chapter 653 Thief!

    Chapter 653 Thief!


    "Staff of the Moon Temple," The auctioneer announced loudly, followed by the weapon''s stats.


    Liam pped his palm in excitement. It was finally his turn to make some real gold, to milk these filthy rich elves for a good profit.


    The first bid quickly went up, and it was for a whopping 50,000 gold coins.


    "Come on. Come on. 1 million. I need a million." Liam anxiously muttered. To his surprise, the next bid was from the person sitting next to him.


    "60,000 gold coins," Lyana shouted. A few elves turned to look at them. However, her bid was quickly outdone by another couple of elves.


    "80,000 gold coins!" Lyana bid for the staff again. It looked like she was not ready to give up easily.


    "Huh?" Liam started sweating. Everything happened too fast, so he needed a second to grasp what was going on. Thankfully, another couple of bids came in quickly, raising the price to 200,000 gold coins.


    Before the woman could open her mouth again, he hurriedly pulled the elf closer and whispered in her ears, "Why are you bidding for this?"


    Lyana blushed and said, "To help you, Sir Liam." She mumbled in a low voice.


    Yup. It was just as he had assumed. Liam shook his head helplessly and quickly exined the situation to her. "I forged this item."


    "WHAT?" The elf almost shouted in panic.


    "Shhh. I made this. I am selling this. So don''t waste your gold coins." Liam wanted to say, ''You can buy me something else instead,'' but he refrained from speaking his mind.


    The truth was that he might really need her help soon. With all the items being auctioned here, finding something valuable, such as an elixir or a cure for Luna shouldn''t be challenging.


    Liam was precisely aiming for this specific item. Even if no such thing popped up in the auction today, he still needed to gather the required funds in case it bes avable in the future.


    "I should also try auctioning the body cleansing elixir?" Liam made a mental note.


    As soon as he finished forging the staff, an option to put the item in the auction house automatically popped up in front of him on the system interface as part of the quest.


    This was why he was easily able to do this. He might have toe here personally for the next item and deal with the more minor details, which shouldn''t be too much of a hassle.


    Depending on his training schedule, he should definitely be able to forge more items and concoct more elixirs in his free time.


    And as for the training schedule, Liam''s grin widened. The old elf should finally ept him after today because¡­


    "Are you okay?" Liam snapped out of his thoughts and asked the elf sitting next to him. She was still staring at him with her mouth wide open.


    "Ahem. Yes. Sir Liam." Lyana quickly adjusted her posture. She knew how terrifying Liam was, but even in her wildest dreams, she didn''t think that this was possible.


    Forging an Epic ranked weapon! At such a young age! Gulp! She couldn''t fathom the depth of his talent and prowess.


    She clenched her fists in excitement as she and Liam started paying attention to the soaring prices.


    Perhaps because some elves regretted not bidding on the previous semi-legendary item and losing out, the final bid for the staff was a whopping 750,000 gold coins!


    Liam couldn''t believe his eyes. With these many gold coins, he was probably the wealthiest yer alive in the whole world at the moment. All the top guilds in the Gresh Kingdombined wouldn''t amount to his range.


    However, this was nothing to be excited about. Money was simply a currency, a means to an end. And the end he needed was valuable precious items. If he could only get something good for Luna¡­


    Silently, he paid attention to the rest of the auction house, but the specific item he was looking for never showed up. There was nothing rted to a spirit beast put up for auction.


    Slightly disappointed, he stood up and walked out along with Lyana and the hundreds of other elves pouring out of the auction house.


    "Sir Liam! We should celebrate!" The elf excitedly eximed.


    "Okay." Liam smiled and nodded. The two of them then tried to make their way out of the crowd to the auction house office first to collect Liam''s gold coins.


    "The auction house usually takes 20%, so you should get around 600,000 gold coins, Sir Liam." The elf excitedly exined to him.


    The two of them swam across the crowd and finally found the shore. They had only just entered the building when three familiar faces blocked their path.


    "Lord Saevel!" Lyana was livid. She just couldn''t understand how this darned guy managed to find them even amidst this huge crowd! Even Liam was impressed. This guy was a dedicated stalker.


    "Lord Saevel, please move out of our way. We have some important business to attend to." Lyana spoke firmly.


    However, the elf in front of her casuallyughed it off. Since talking to her was not bearing any fruit, he no longer seemed interested in doing that. Instead, he started shouting loudly.


    "Filthy human! How dare you try and steal from me!"


    "Guards! Guards! Thief! Thief!"


    The three elves started shouting loudly, immediately attracting the attention of every single elf around them. It only took a second, and suddenly all eyes were on Liam, the only human being in the elvennds.


    "What? No. No. Sir Liam did not steal anything. These are all lies. False usations." Lyana started panicking. She knew and understood the prejudice and contempt the elves held for human beings very well.


    That''s why she also knew how bad this situation was. If Liam was caught in the middle of something like this, he probably wouldn''t even get a hearing and would be directly sentenced to death.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


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 Chapter 654 Success?

    Chapter 654 Sess?


    What should I do now? Who should I ask for help? Lyana stood frozen, not knowing what to do.


    She looked at Liam to see if he was doing well, but to her surprise, the other person was surprisingly calm, even smiling. Why was he still smiling?


    As she stared in dread with her widened eyes, she watched a group of guardse forward, splitting apart the crowd of elves. Right before everyone''s eyes, these guards directly arrested the culprit without any sort of exnation.


    However, the next second, all the elves immediately gasped, and Lyana rubbed her eyes to see if she was hallucinating. This was because the person arrested was not the human being but the elf who caused themotion.


    Just what was happening?


    "What are you doing? Let me go! Let me go! He is the thief! He is the one who stole from me!" Saevel struggled as he red at the guards rough handling him. He couldn''t believe it!


    Just what the hell was happening? The other elves who were with him and had started themotion were also quickly arrested.


    "At least arrest him also!" Saevel yelled, his rage consuming him. In front of so many important figures, he was beingpletely humiliated.


    And to make matters worse, one of the guards stepped forward and bowed in front of Liam. Saevel was dumbfounded. The guard was not arresting him but rather bowing in front of him.


    "Please forgive us, esteemed Lord. We were negligent and caused you inconvenience."


    "WHAT ARE SAYING? HE IS THE THIEF!" Saevel was livid.


    On the other hand, Liam calmly stepped forward and looked at the elf being pitifully held captive.


    ''You should have created this drama a little sooner. Unfortunately, I am already out of your reach. I am a Forging Grandmaster with an Honored reputation with the elves.''


    Liam smirked at him and then turned to wave at the elven guard. "Don''t worry about it. I know you are working hard. I am just sorry that such unruly people disrupted everybody''s evening."


    All the elves also seemingly agreed with him and nodded in agreement. Such uncouth behavior! Everyone looked at Saevel in disdain.


    The guards bowed again and quickly dragged away the culprits, while Liam was once again free to do as he pleased.


    "Shall we go in?" He asked the other dumbfounded elf with a polite smile. Lyana nodded with a gulp.


    After a quick trip to the auction house manager, Liam walked out with a big grin. The auction house only charged him a 15% fee instead of the usual 20% fee, so he was in a good mood.


    His gold reserves had gone through the roof in the span of a day. More importantly, his reputation had gone up two levels, from [Friendly] to [Respected] and then from [Respected] to [Honored].


    This was the effect of reaching Grandmaster status. It was an exalted status that basically gave a yer a free pass in every region, even in the Empires, where none of the other reputations worked.


    However, right now, Liam needed this reputation for another vital task.


    had warned him about a corrupted mana core. Though he did not feel anything at the moment, he trusted the old man enough to take his warning seriously.


    It was time to pay the old elf another visit. "Let me see how he is rejecting me this time." After putting in so much effort, Liam was quite confident in the final result.


    Lyana had called him to celebrate, but the two of them took the teleportation gate to the royal city, where the main target lived.


    They stopped outside the magnificent building where the old guy lived and announced themselves to the guards standing outside.


    Just like the others, the two guards were also very respectful and rushed to do their bidding. One minute passed¡­ Two minutes passed¡­ Soon it was an entire ten minutes, and the two did not return.


    Liam''s face twitched. What was taking so long? The triumphant smile he had worn consistently was starting to fade as he had a bad feeling about this.


    Do I need to increase my reputation even higher? A frightening thought popped into his head.


    As if answering his question, the next instant, a tremendous pressure descended upon him as if a God himself descended from the heavens, and Liam fell face down, t on the hard paved ground. Without any warning, he was being crushed all over again.


    What the fuck! Liam was furious. He could hear the distinct, belligerentughtering from inside, which he was pretty sure was mocking him.


    Just what the hell did he do to piss off this damned elf that he was being treated in this manner even with his Grandmaster status and Honored reputation?


    Did his reputation mean nothing at all? Was his Grandmaster status a joke? Was  really friends or enemies with this damned old guy?


    Liam was going crazy as he picked himself back up again when the pressure eventually waned. He was speechless, utterly speechless.


    He had done everything in his power, luck was on his side, and he even achieved something impossible using knowledge from his past life.


    What more could he possibly do now? Who else could if he couldn''t get this old man to give in? He was entirely out of his wits. He just did not know how to proceed with this damned thing anymore.


    "Sir Liam¡­" Lyana worriedly looked at him. She did not know why Liam was hell-bent on making the entric elder acknowledge him.


    The elven royal family was known for their arrogance, but even among them, the elder was a special case. She was also helpless here, so she could only silently watch.


    Meanwhile...


    Back in the Gresh Kingdom, at the Crimson Abyss headquarters, all the core members of the guild had assembled in the conference hall, and the group looked extremely serious.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


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 Chapter 655 Someone was following me

    Chapter 655 Someone was following me


    "So you are telling me that more and more rogue yers are starting to target our guild parties? That too, our core team guild parties?" Alex couldn''t believe what she was hearing.


    Their guild had a huge advantage with respect to the overall yer level. Out of the top 10 spots, they alone held six spots, and out of the top 50 spots, they held 20 more spots. So how could this happen?


    "Miss Alex, they are ambushing us with numbers, and that too, not with a group of low level yers but high level yers. We out level them by maybe 5 or 6 levels.


    "This is why we are not able to maintain our upper hand. And some of these yers are not newbies. They are quite experienced and are coordinating very well."


    Alex nodded. She also understood the situation. Something was off. It was not easy to pressure their core team. So where did all of these high-level yers suddenlye from?


    Even if theycked skills, with enough high-level yers and average coordination, it was still possible to shake down a team of experts and that is if there are no monsters among this team of experts.


    Their main problem at the moment was that all the monsters in their guild were either AWOL or busy doing their own things.


    Liam, Mia, and Derek had all disappeared, and no one was even able to contact them. Their names were grayed out, and allmunication was cut off.


    Shen Yue and Mei Mei were still there with their legendary items, but it was not possible for just the two of them to be everywhere. This was why the guild was currently struggling.


    Alex rapped her fingers on the table in front of her in deep thought. It was true that their guild at the moment was missing its strongest yers, but how did this information get out? Others should technically not know about this.


    With Liam around, no one should even dare touch their guild or their guild members. So if other yers were confidently attacking them, it meant that this news was somehow out there.


    She asked Rey to distribute the newly acquired arrows. This should help a little, but the main problem was still there.


    "Ok, let''s do this. Let''s regroup our main party and only split into two. Mia, Shen Yue, and Asura will be in one. I will be in the other group. Let''s see who is still daring to ambush us."


    Everyone agreed to this suggestion. Alex did not spell it out, but everyone there knew that she was also a monster. So with her around and the group numbers strengthened, they should now be able to fight back.


    "Miss Alex, the other issue..." Berat spoke up to remind her.


    "Right, Dante, the guy who recently became an Alchemy Grandmaster." Alex turned to pay attention to him. "He should be the first Grandmaster yer in the game. This is the first time I have seen a notification like this."


    She pulled up the system interface and looked at the profession ranking again. She saw Dante''s name at the top, and then her eyes automatically began to scan for another familiar name on their own.


    However, she could only sigh as Liam was still at the Master level for both professions. There was still no news or updates from his end. She had no idea what the guy was even doing.


    "Miss Alex, Dante has issued some sort of ban on our guild. So no one is trading with us anymore. We are gettingpletely blocked."


    "These days raw materials, recipes, and alchemy potions are no longer being put up for auction. There is more direct trading happening behind the scenes."


    "So the number of items I have been able to procure for the guild has drastically reduced. I am not able to buy them from the auction house, and no other guild is making any trade with us."


    "If this continues, then our potion supply will start to run dangerously low."


    "Hmmm¡­" Alex rubbed her temples, as she was starting to get a headache dealing with all of this administrative crap. She would rather just go to a dungeon and smash things.


    She then suddenly remembered the Rock Temple dungeon, which Liam had asked her to monopolize. Because of everything else that was going on, shepletely forgot about that one and cked in that aspect.


    If what Liam said was true, then the drops from that dungeon were enough to groom several of their own alchemists and even other professional experts.


    "Berat! I will settle this soon." She stood up, banging her fists on the table. "Let''s start back up our dungeon runs again. Also, get all of our assassins ready."


    "Want to block us from the game? Hmph! I will see how they are doing it."


    With that, the meeting was dispersed and all the core members stepped out of the meeting hall to refill their supplies for the guild run. Rey alone hung back to talk to Alex.


    "Sis¡­ I am sorry to bring it up, but what about the other issue?"


    "What other issue?"


    "Sis! I am not lying! Someone was following me. I really saw that man on the street corner."


    "Impossible. How could that sleazebag be here? You probably saw someone else."


    "No sis, that bastard has sniffed out our new address. He knows where we live now. It''s dangerous. What will happen if he tries something shady? I mean we are vulnerable in the game capsules."


    "Ok. Fine. Fine. I will think about this and figure out what to do. I still think that you are being paranoid. Mia gave up everything before moving here. There is no way he is still obsessed with her with everything else going on in the world."


    But just as she said that out loud, even Alex did not look convinced. Actually, she knew the guy too. He was really obsessed with Mia, so the chances of him letting her go just like that were indeed slim.


    "Ok, I will also deal with this." Alex decided to change her thoughts. "Hmmm¡­ I wonder what that guy is doing. It would be better if we talked to him first, especially about this."


    She had no problems dealing with in-game issues, but this was a real life one, and they were right now in a different country.


    "Rey, I am going to log out real quick and leave a note in the house for Liam. He might not be able to contact us inside the game but if he could log out then I am sure he will check up on us."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


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 Chapter 656 l know what to do!

    Chapter 656 l know what to do!


    After the unexpected debacle, Liampletely shut himself inside the forging room. He had a total of five orbs of Earth, three orbs of Fire, three orbs of Water, and one orb of Air.


    He also had enough gold coins to buy any recipe and raw materials he pleased and the status of a Forging Grandmaster, along with an Honored reputation.


    It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that he could pretty much do anything in the elvennds at the moment. Channeling all of his frustrations, he blew all the gold he had earned and purchased two more recipes that were avable.


    These were avable on the second floor, which he did not have permission to ess before. However, now he had the permission and the means to make the purchase.


    All the elves who had looked at him in disdain before when he was spending the gold coins fluidly now looked at him with awe and respect.


    The entire cksmith building and the elven city were abuzz with news about the new human being who had arrived and who had managed to forge an Epic ranked weapon.


    Even the elven King had extended an invitation to Liam for a formal dinner. However, none of this helped him at the moment, as the main reason why he arrived in the city was still stagnant.


    The bastard who was supposed to teach him showed absolutely no interest in Liam.


    After 48 hours of continuously forging one weapon after another, Liam managed to produce another three Epic ranked items, one chest guard and two bracelets.


    The system this time did not offer any option for auctioning. Instead, he had the option of submitting the repeat quest for 500,000 gold coins and 5000 reputation points.


    Liam knew that he could probably get more money if he auctioned these three, but right now he was in a mad frenzy to max out the damned reputation points.


    Just how much more did he have to go before that elf agreed to train him? He was determined to see this through!


    Liam immediately picked out the materials to forge the next item, but he realized that he had already run out of the different orbs. He needed to farm for them once again.


    He let out a sigh before standing up and heading outside to the same grinding spot one more time. The Forest of Echoes was once again covered in blood as the soul minions started to create havoc everywhere.


    Experience points were also steadily piling in. Gorak and Gu Donghai killed another stag together as they gnashed their teeth in anger.


    They could feel that Liam had once again be stronger. The person who had killed them and was torturing them even after death was happily riding the wave of the game, bing stronger and stronger.


    "Seriously, why are these elves doing nothing to this bastard?"


    "Someone grow a pair and kill this monster!" The two souls wallowed in their sad plight.


    Liam could clearly sense them bad mouthing him, but he had bigger fish to fry at the moment than deal with these idiots. He did not remain idle this time and participated in the massacre, venting out all of his frustrations.


    However, it was still not enough. After farming for some time, he obtained another ten orbs, and he decided to return to the base. He did not want to stay here too long and get caught.


    In the middle of the night, he activated [Stealth] and walked out of the forest. He then undid the [Stealth] skill and walked back into the city to the spot where all the teleportation gates were present.


    But, just as he was about to take the gate that would bring him back to the cksmith building, a few elven guards greeted him.


    "My Lord, we need your assistance. We saw a few barbarians close to the forest. We tried to ambush them, but they kidnapped some of our men. Please help!"


    Liam immediately stopped in his tracks. When he heard about the barbarians, suddenly something clicked inside.


    Barbarians! That was right! He hade here all the way from the Gresh Kingdom by dealing with the barbarians. He had also received a quest regarding the same.


    Though he did not technicallyplete the quest, that was already history now and the quest was null and void because of thetest developments, but¡­ what if¡­ the old elf was not recognizing him because he never dealt with the barbarians properly?


    Suddenly everything clicked together, and Liam could see why he was repeatedly failing in this endeavor again and again. It had to be because of the barbarians. There was simply no other exnation.


    This means that he had to deal with the strange strength they possessed and find out the full secret behind it.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam paused for a moment and thought about this. Though the path ahead of him was exceedingly clear now, defeating that raging barbarian was easier said than done.


    He was almost at Level 63 at the moment, but he did not have any confidence to face the barbarian one more time. With everything else remaining the same, the oue would also obviously remain the same.


    If he went along with these elves and confronted the enemy, he would be defeated again and would have to run and escape with his life on the line. Nothing was going to change.


    No, he could not attempt the quest like this. He needed a trump card. Something that can help him but what could he use that would give him an edge against someone like that, someone that possessed an unbridled strength?


    Liam stood still like a statue as his mind spun, thinking about various things. "Bloodlust¡­ rage¡­ this is all I know¡­ what can I use against this?"


    The elves standing in front of him stared at him nervously. They seemed rather quiet and patient, waiting for him to respond instead of seeking someone else''s help. Two of them even looked at each other and exchanged nces.


    Finally, after a few minutes, Liam snapped out of his thoughts. "I know what to do! Let''s go!"


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 657 Ding! Ding! Ding!

    Chapter 657 Ding! Ding! Ding!


    Inside one of the huge ptial houses in the elven residential area, an elf was angrily walking back and forth. He walked back and forth, chewing his nails out as he did so.


    He only stopped when another elf rushed inside, bowing to him respectfully. "Lord Saevel, I have news. The esteemed Lord took the bait."


    "Hmph. Don''t call him a Lord in front of me." Saevel scolded the little elf and dismissed him. He then continued his pacing back and forth, now in a more rxed manner.


    "You are done for now, you filthy trash. These brainless idiots might sing praises of you but I know you cheated."


    He had seen Liam execute some spells the other day and he was one hundred percent confident that he simply did not have the elemental affinity to forge an Epic ranked weapon.


    But somehow the weapon was still forged? He was sure that something was off. He just was not able to find out what it was. However, that was for others. He didn''t need any proof.


    He already knew that the filthy human was bad news, and that was enough. It was enough for him to be sentenced to death in his court. "Die, you little bitch." Saevel muttered as he finally stopped pacing and went inside with a huff.


    ***


    Liam rushed into the wilderness along with the group of elves. "Where are the barbarians?" He whispered in a low voice. If possible, he wanted to fight with them alone because he did not want to expose his undeads.


    The elves, on the other hand, did not seem to be interested in giving out any concrete detail. They simply kept saying that the camp was further ahead.


    At first, it sounded natural, but soon something felt off. There was no urgency in their voice anymore. They hade to him for help, but now they no longer seemed to care about it.


    Liam paused his steps, suddenlying to a stop. The other elves also did the same.


    However, the next second he entered [Stealth] without any exnation. The elves became shocked and their expression changed. "Where is he? Where did he go?"


    Wind whistled in the distance, and the group assumed that Liam was already on the run back to the elven establishment.


    "Damn it! He found out about the n!"


    "Come! Quick! We need to search for him and find him. Otherwise, Lord Saevel will punish us!"


    The group quickly hurried away, hurling attacks in the air, and aiming to break Liam''s stealth. Meanwhile, the person in question stood just a few feet away from their original position.


    The only difference was that he hadn''t tried to go back. Instead, he had gone further into the wilderness.


    "So these guys were plotting something, huh? They even gave up the name of the mastermind." Liam facepalmed, chuckling lightly. He was too distracted to notice it before, but these idiots made it too easy for him.


    "Well whatever. I need to thank that fellow. Though the execution was bad, the idea is definitely not bad. This has to work." He continued heading further into the wilderness.


    As for the idiots who tried to attack him or whatever their n was, they had to wait. He had more important things to do. He needed to find some barbarians as soon as possible.


    He finally had an idea how to take them down, and he needed this to work in order to get in the good graces of that damned bastard.


    Liam''s heart raced as he dashed into the wilderness at top speed. Everything was riding on this. "This has to work." He mumbled and scoured the forest for the familiar, bulky figures.


    Not long after he ran into the first group of barbarians. However, the elite he was looking for was not in the group.


    Liam quickly searched for the next group and the group after that, leaving corpses in his wake, and finally in the sixth group there was a barbarian that caught his interest.


    "Finally!" He grinned and rushed forward directly jumping into the frey. The barbarians were shocked for an instant. Usually their enemies ran away from them and not towards them.


    "Who are you, puny human?" The elite barbarian scowled, but Liam had already started the theatrics. He unsheathed the ck dragon sword and swung it at thepany.


    "I don''t need you guys, so you can die first."


    The elite barbarian''s eyes widened as he stared in shock at the terrifying scene. One by one the dozen members of his unit were falling. They were unable to even counter attack properly as the sword danced rapidly.


    He could tell that this enemy was not ordinary. The barbarian immediately roared loudly. His anger surged as his eyes reddened, and so did his strength.


    A strong, violent aura erupted from him, and the atmosphere immediately changed. Liam swung around, hurriedly shing at the two other remaining barbarians.


    But it looked like the big guy did not intend to give him any time off. He dashed forward with incredible speed, each of his footsteps thundering on the ground.


    Thick fists came at Liam, each of them packing a tremendous amount of strength. One hit could probably drain three-fourths of his health.


    However, Liam grinned. He tossed the other barbarian so that the punch fell on him, and the resulting impact sent the guy flying.


    He ducked down, letting thest remaining barbarian take the next blow, and hurriedly stepped back several paces.


    There it was! The ridiculous health for a level 70 barbarian, along with the ridiculous strength and the ridiculous power.


    "I was waiting for you." Liam ran away from this strange powerst time, but his feet were rooted to the ground this time. Instead of running, he took something out from his inventory and suddenly....


    DING! DING! DING!


    In the middle of the thick wilderness, a bell chimed loudly.


    "Hmmm?" The barbarian cocked his head to the side in confusion, but unbeknownst to him, his rage, bloodlust and his strength were already dropping.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 658 Revered

    Chapter 658 Revered


    Liam grinned. "It actually worked?" This was a huge risk he had taken, but now it has paid off. He lifted the bell in his hand again and shook it one more time.


    "Hymn of Tranquility, how do you like it?" He shoved the bell back into his inventory space and hurriedly dashed at the confused barbarian.


    sh. sh. sh.


    Liam immediately bombarded the barbarian with fire shes, one of his strongest attacks. The big guy roared in anger and retaliated back, but he no longer possessed the overwhelming power and the abundant strength.


    His attacks were easily blocked, and Liam''s agility was much higher than the other party''s. Moreover, he also had the ck dragon sword while the other party was fighting barehanded, relying on a strength that was no longer there.


    Suddenly, the overgrown barbarian in front of him became no different than any other barbarian. It was Liam''s turn to dominate the fight. Health points rapidly dropped, and soon the guy was on hisst 5%.


    Liam took a deep breath and twisted his body tond thest flurry of attacks to finish this fight once and for all finally.


    However, right at this moment, the barbarian exploded in strength one more time. The strange, hostile aura erupted out of him, and his health once again skyrocketed.


    Roar! The barbarian''s eyes widened,pletely blood red as he realized the same too. He immediately rushed forward towards Liam wanting to smash the human being into a meat paste.


    "Damn it." Liam immediately stepped back several paces in rm. Was the bell not working any longer? Perhaps the effect was not a permanent one?


    He took out the item again and shook it in a hurry.


    Ding. Ding. Ding.


    A melodious sound flooded the battle scene. The barbarian again began to fumble in his steps, panting and heaving.


    Liam did not want to take his chances anymore as he gulped a rage potion and used the extra burst attack damage to drain the barbarian''s health even faster than before.


    But once again, it was easier said than done. The bloodlustpletely reinvigorated the barbarian and restored him to total health, so Liam had to start cutting him down from scratch all over again.


    Even without the boost, Level 70 barbarian was not a joke. The sparring continued with several attacks flying back and forth, and when finally the big hulking guy was brought down, Liam copsed on the ground,pletely out of breath.


    "Luckily, I had the chance to fight him alone." He huffed and stood up. Now it was time for the next part, the part where he finally gets the reward that had been eluding him for so long.


    He prepared to leave when he suddenly noticed some strange red symbols flickering on the barbarian''s corpse. It was only for a second before the body disintegrated.


    "Hmmm?" Liam decided to ignore it for the time being and picked up the silver coins. He then did not linger around the wilderness for long and made a beeline out of the forests into the elven city.


    And once he reached there, he directly took the teleportation portal to the royal city where the damned old fart resided. Of course, he did not go to him straight. He first visited the King.


    The elven King stared at Liam in shock. "I cannot believe this. You have found a solution to our problem so soon?"


    "It was just a coincidence, your highness. While studying the different crafted weapons and armor, I came across this unique weapon, and I sensed that it might help us." Liam replied with a smile, trying to be as modest as possible without undermining his efforts.


    The King looked at Liam and then at the bell and startedughing loudly. "Ha Ha Ha! Maesel, look at this! Hymn of tranquility! What an ingenious idea! Well done, Liam! Well done!"


    Surprising even Liam, the elven King hugged him and patted him on the back. "I am sincerely grateful for your invaluable contribution."


    "We have always been at odds with those beasts who have nows or morals, but only recently have they been acting like this, possessing such strange power. Now, with your help, we can get to the bottom of this."


    "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this invaluable contribution, Grandmaster Liam."


    <Ding. You have been rewarded 50,000 reputation points>


    <Ding. You are now Revered among the elves>


    Yes!! Finally! Liam rejoiced inwardly, only barely containing his happiness. He had really worked too hard for this damned quest, and it looked like the King was not done talking yet.


    "We elves are eternally grateful to you. Please let me know how I can repay this debt. You can ask me for anything. In fact, guards!" The King pped his hands and called for the two guards stationed near the inner chamber.


    "Please escort our esteemed Grandmaster to our Treasury. Please, Grandmaster Liam. Please let me know if anything in our Treasury piques your interest after looking through it." The elven King beamed.


    Liam was also startled to receive such a huge reward. He could possibly gain another Legendary weapon from this endeavor. This was truly tempting. Nevertheless, he shook his head. There was something else that he direly needed.


    "Your Highness. Unfortunately, I have to refuse your generous reward."


    "What?"


    "Your Highness. I apologize for being straightforward. Instead of this reward, please kindly speak to Elder Elidyr on my behalf. I wish to seek his tutge to improve my abilities. I desperately require his wisdom to further my forging skills." Liam spoke and bowed deeply in front of the King.


    Hearing such a humble request, even the King couldn''t ignore him. Moreover, it was for forging, and the elven kingdom could profit a lot if he made another breakthrough and forged an exceptional weapon.


    Wheels began turning in the King''s head as he quickly made a decision. "Please rise, Grandmaster Liam. I will try my best to convince my father. I give you my word."


    Hook! Line! And Sinker!


    Now let me see how you are refusing me, you old bastard. Liam subconsciously rubbed his neck, thinking about all the times he had fallen t on the ground.


    He smiled at the King with one more bow and a grateful nod and watched the man leave the grand hall to do his bidding immediately. The elven Queen and the other elders present in the hall also gave him an encouraging smile.


    "Please, Grandmaster Liam. Please take a seat and enjoy some wine with us." Liam smiled.


    He sat down, his eyes still expectantly fixed on the door, and lifted the wine ss to drink a mouthful of the delicious, aromatic wine.


    The rich liquid filled his mouth with an exquisite vor. He savored the mouthful and was halfway through gulping it down when the King stormed back with an angry expression on his face.


    Liam froze. No, it can''t be. It can''t possibly be. But¡­


    "I have failed you, esteemed Grandmaster." The King banged on the wall with his fist. "I tried my best, but the elder is¡­ I apologize. I am helpless when ites to my father."


    Spurt. Liam spat out the wine in his mouth.

 Chapter 659 When everything else fails...

    Chapter 659 When everything else fails...


    The King was still continuing to exin how difficult it was to talk to the old elf, but Liam was no longer hearing him. He was a calm and collected person, but right now, he was close to losing it. What the hell was wrong with that elf?


    He had tried everything that he possibly could. He had boosted his reputation. He became a Grandmaster in a tradeskill, and he even dealt with the barbarian situation.


    If this wasn''t enough, then what was? Did he have to find out more about the barbarians going to the very root of this issue, or did he have to increase his reputation further?


    Both of these were extremely time-consuming, not to mention almost impossible to aplish. Liam had a way into the demon settlement because of theher affinity, so he could easily mingle with them.


    Simrly, with the elves, he had the quest line, and he could get a foothold. But it would take forever to infiltrate the barbarians and get to the bottom of this. It was definitely a waste of time.


    It was the same with the reputation grind. After the [Revered], it was the [Savior], and that was not something one could reach by simple reputation grind.


    No matter what he did, Liam wouldn''t get any more reputation point rewards. He also did not know how to reach the [Savior] reputation status. No one in his previous life had managed to achieve this.


    So essentially, both of these routes were extremely difficult or nearly impossible. What was he supposed to do now? What would happen if his mana core was really corrupted? Was there a chance that he could be crippled?


    Liam shuddered at that thought. "No, something like that cannot happen. I cannot go back to being helpless and powerless. I cannot lose what I have."


    "Your highness, please allow me to meet the elder onest time. I want to request him earnestly. Terrible things are happening in the human kingdom at the moment."


    "The elves are strong. So the barbarians are trying to cross over the human border and harm our vigers, taking innocent human beings as prisoners. I want to be stronger to take down these vile creatures and stop all of this."


    Liam ranted some nonsense rted to the barbarians and continued pulling at the thread. He was so close to it that he did not want to give up.


    The elven King was also taken back, even mildly irritated. However, he could clearly see the person in front of him was in genuine pain, and he sighed in understanding. He really did want to help him.


    "Of course, the esteemed Grandmaster is free to request an audience with the elder. It is only my hands that are tied. Unfortunately."


    Liam bowed before him and began to leave the grand hall in a hurry. Unexpectedly, he returned to the grand hall with the same speed and stood once again in front of the King.


    "Your highness, may I please request you for some lucky Golden Potions?"He gritted his teeth and bowed. The King had mentioned a reward to him, and he might as well cash it now. This would be his final shot, and he wanted to really give it his all.


    "Golden Potions?" The elven King was shocked. "You haven''t even visited the Treasury but you want to seek this reward?" He looked disappointed. Several elves in the hall also shook their heads in disappointment. But Liam did not care.


    If there was anything that could help him at the moment, it was luck. He really had tried everything else.


    After a few seconds, the King looked at the guard standing on his right and nodded. The guard then hurried somewhere inside, walking back out with three potions on a tray. Even from a distance, one could see the potions glimmer and glitter, sparkling golden.


    "Use these potions wisely, Grandmaster Liam. But it is my sincere advice that you do not rely on these potions for whatever you seek. Luck seldom brings you sess." He clicked his tongue, handing over the three potions to Liam.


    "Thank you, your highness." Liam bowed. He knew that he could have probably gotten something more useful instead, but right now, this was what he needed.


    He then hurriedly excused himself and rushed out of the grand hall one more time, heading straight for the elder''s residence.


    This was it. This needed to work. Liam sighed and looked at the three small bottles of potions in his hand.


    Golden Potion: Increases your luck temporarily; Effectsts for five minutes; Can be stacked twice; Can only be used once in your lifetime.


    Liam now understood why the king had given him three bottles. It looked like he could drink all three simultaneously for increased effect, but he could only use this once in his life?


    This was a terrible deal. He was no more pleased with the description of the golden potion than the reason why he had to ask for it in the first ce. But he hade too far now.


    Liam opened the first potion bottle and gulped it down. It went down smooth and had a fiery taste. He also opened the next two and gulped them down one after the other.


    A strange feeling instantly spread across his body, and he felt highly energetic. Along with this, there was also a significant feeling bubbling inside him. Confidence. He was really confident that he could do anything at this moment.


    Liam grunted and stepped towards the gate when suddenly Lyana called for him from behind. She rushed over to him after hearing about everything that had transpired from one of the elven elders.


    "Sir Liam, do not go in. The elder is dangerous. If you keep repeatedly trying to ask him for the same thing¡­" Her beautiful face was fully covered in dread. She was genuinely warning Liam about his well-being.


    However, Liam shook his head. He had already made up his mind. "I am here to visit the elder." He opened the gate and informed the elven guard at the entrance, just like before.


    And the guard, as well, hurriedly ran inside. But this time, it was barely even a second when the big, burly elf stepped outside, each of his footsteps thundering loudly.


    "Ba ha ha ha! I heard what you did, you stupid brat. Do you really think that just because you guzzled some lucky potions, I would help you? Ba ha ha ha!"


    The elf loudlyughed and lifted his hand. Immediately, Liam felt a crushing weight on his body. This time, the pressure was several times higher than before. It was actually hurtful.


    He started bleeding from his eyes, nose, and ears, and he coughed violently, unable to breathe. He was also losing big chunks of his health.


    "Did you think someone like you could force my hand? You want to manipte me? Do you know who I am?"


    -50


    -100


    -200


    His health continued to drop, and Liam was now at 50% of his health. With every step the old elf took, it dropped further, the pressure on him doubling up.


    The old guy, on the other hand, showed no remorse. He looked at Liam as if he were merely a ything and enjoyed squishing him down.


    "Do you know what I hate the most? Ants acting all high and mighty, thinking that they can save the world! Bah! You can''t do anything. Your world is doomed. You cannot save it. ept it. ept your fate."


    He sneered at Liam, who was still struggling, gripping his throat as if he wanted to say something. "It looks like you do not understand. It''s better for you if I just end everything right here and now. Why don''t I just end your misery and put you to death?"


    The elfughed maniacally and lifted his hand. Immediately, a tremendous amount of mana enveloped his hand. The guards standing nearby shivered. Lyana''s face turned pale.


    And the person at this epicenter, Liam, stared in shock. He wasn''t able to do anything at all. He couldn''t even think or move his hand. The elfpletely paralyzed him.


    He did not understand why things escted so much, but he knew he had to do something. He had seen many dangerous predators in his life, so he knew that the person in front of him really intended to kill him.


    Instant death! That''s what awaited him. There was no mistake in that, yet¡­ he couldn''t do anything. He was arrested entirely and frozen.


    As the old man''s thick hand came down, Liam''s gaze was locked on the disdain-filled stare of the guy, and his life shed past his eyes. He once again failed without being able to do anything at all?


    A single tear slipped out of his eyes, falling down. His vision turned blurry, and his health dropped to thest 1%. The world around him started bing dark. This was really the end?


    Liam did not want to ept this. And just as thest of his consciousness was fading away, he suddenly heard a loud shriek.


    "Oh my god! How can you be so cute!" Someone shouted in a high-pitched voice.


    Huh? Who was this? Liam did not understand what was happening. The pressure that was crushing him lessened a little. Perhaps a lot. And he did not get the death notification yet?


    With that, he passed outpletely.

 Chapter 660 The boss is back

    Chapter 660 The boss is back


    When Liam stirred awake, finally recovering from the ckout, his head was throbbing wildly.


    What happened? Where am I?


    A feeling of dread and panic instantly swept over him as he vividly remembered the feeling of being crushed to death, and yet¡­ he was not dead right now?


    There were no notifications. He did not respawn, and this was definitely not a cemetery. So what happened? Did the luck potion really work?


    He looked around in a daze as his vision cleared up, and when he did¡­


    Liam instantly froze. His eyes widened in surprise, and his pupils dted in shock as he stared without blinking or breathing at the peculiar scene in front of him.


    "What¡­" His throat was still too hoarse, so he couldn''t get the words out, but¡­ just what the hell was happening?


    There was the familiar big hulking elf sitting in front of him, which was not the thing that shocked Liam. Rather his gaze was fixated on something else entirely.


    He was looking at the small furry creature happily giggling andughing, snuggling adorably on thep of the giant elf.


    "Luna?"


    Gulp. Liam swallowed, suddenly wondering if he was still unconscious and perhaps dreaming. The scene in front of him was unbelievable, no matter how he looked at it.


    He lifted his hands and rubbed his eyes, even pinching himself, and yet the reality did not change. It was Luna, alright. The creature had the same pure snow white fur with the three tails and a naughty smile on her face.


    And the scary old elf who had tormented him and tortured him each time they had met was now smiling warmly as if he were just another grandpa next door ying with his young grandchild.


    The elf who had the power to insta-crush him into oblivion was tickling the little fox''s belly and giggling along with her like a lunatic.


    Liam did not know what to think anymore. He was receiving one shock after another. He was not dead, and Luna was somehow fine?


    As he continued to stare nkly at this absurd situation, the little fox suddenly stopped giggling and whirled around to face Liam.


    "Master!" A bright and clear voice rang out. The next second, tears flew everywhere as the little fox leaped out of the old elf''sp tond on Liam directly.


    She stuck like an octopus to his face and started to slobber himpletely.


    Liam was startled for an instant, but then he sighed in relief as he hugged the little fox. Unknowingly, a few tears came out of his eyes as well.


    Seeing the two reunite after so long was truly a heartwarming scene. However, the old elf who was watching this heartwarming scene from the sidelines had his jaw clenched and his face contorted.


    "Cough. Cough." He loudly cleared his throat.


    However, the two in front of him did not seem to care about that. His face twitched as he repeated this once again, this time more loudly and with a slight infusion of his power.


    "COUGH. COUGH."


    Nothing happened to the little fox, but Liam felt like someone had just pped him hard. Damn it. He gritted his teeth and turned to look at the elf.


    Liam did not know how to address him, so he simply used the same honorifics he used for the elven King. "Your highness, I am genuinely grateful-"


    Thud! He did not even have a chance to finish his words as he found himself once again being hard pressed on the ground.


    Kyuu? Luna looked in confusion between her Master and the nice old uncle who had been very good to her. But in the end, Liam still came first for her, so she pounced at the elf without giving any thought to how powerful he was.


    Liam immediately panicked. "No! Luna!"


    However, his warning was toote. The fox was already biting and wing and spitting fire at the elf. Fortunately¡­ the other party seemed to be enjoying it for some reason?


    "You want to y? You want to y? Herees the tickle monster!" The old elf grinned as he grabbed her by the neck and tickled her belly once more.


    Liam was left speechless. Just what the hell was happening? At first, he thought it was because of the lucky golden potion, but now the reality was painfully clear to him.


    He was being spared because of Luna!


    "Your highness-"


    Thud! Liam had only lifted his head, but now he was back on the ground again.


    "Don''t waste my time with unnecessary nonsense. For some reason. Ahem Ahem. I have taken pity on you and decided to help you out a little. Do you understand?"


    "And in return?" came Liam''s response.


    The old elf did not make him hit the ground this time and looked at him curiously. He had not expected this reaction from the human being.


    "In return? Hmmm?" Heughed.


    Liam''s heart pounded as his fear worsened. Seeing how the elf had clearly taken a liking to Luna, what if he asked her in exchange for helping him?


    Would he really be willing to make the trade? To exchange the innocent little thing to save his own life? What about his sister and the other people who relied on him? Would he give her up, considering everyone''s life was on the line?


    He trembled slightly as he felt an excruciating pain in his heart and his mind. What would he do if he had to make this decision right here and now?


    "You can rx." Unexpectedly, the old elf spoke again with an amused expression on his face. "Once bonded, a celestial beast will never consider anyone else to be their master during their lifetime."


    "Even if I kill you a hundred times over, it is still useless. So don''t worry. I will not try to take her away from you. Besides, I don''t want her life to end in this small, make-up world."


    Liam stared at the man in disbelief. He couldn''t believe his words. Did he really not want Luna? And a made-up world? What did he mean by that?


    "What?" He opened his mouth, only to find himself hitting the ground again. But this time, the old elf caught Luna before she could attack him again. "Rx, little one. I am just teaching your master a few things."


    [Luna, don''t do anything. He is on our side. He is helping me.] Liam also sent her a mental message.


    Only now, the fox calmed down and silently watched with her big eyes wide open. The old elf smiled at the adorable little thing and then turned his attention back to Liam when an annoyed scowl reced the smile.


    "Don''t ask me things that you should not ask. It will only draw unwanted attention. All you need to know is that I will ept your request and teach you some things. Hmph."


    "But because of this, don''t think that I changed my opinion of you. You are still an ant, and your world is doomed. You won''t be able to do a single thing to change anything."


    "However¡­ you have a celestial beast with you. That changes everything."


    The old elf then gently ced Luna on the ground and stood up to leisurely walk around Liam. He barely did onep when, suddenly, his body moved, and a punchnded on Liam.


    Pa!


    "Above average foundation."


    Pa! Another punchnded immediately after that.


    "Above average mana core."


    Liam curled on the ground as he could feel his rib cage split apart and his internal organs shaking, but the elf was not done yet.


    Pa! Another punch came from the left.


    "Greedy and ipetent. You have bitten off more than you can chew."


    Pa!


    "Perfect Nether affinity and yet to choose to form a mana core. Why? Are the undead not enough for you?"


    "This is why you havee running to me, haven''t you? You want to continue having your ythings while nurturing your mana core. You want to swallow two whole daos whole?"


    "What a greedy little bastard! Ba ha ha ha! Do you think that just this much is enough to change your fate?"


    He looked at Liam''s face, which was still full of resoluteness, as he stared back silently at the old elf.


    A momentter, the elfnded another strong punch on Liam while also giving a re to Lyana, who was standing on the side.


    The poor elf trembled as she had purposefully hidden some facts from everyone and did not tell a single soul about Liam''s undeads.


    "Get out." The old elf shouted, and Lyana and the few guards who were still standing there scattered away like marbles without giving a single look back.


    The elf then turned to Liam and picked him up from the ground by his neck just like how he had picked up the little fox, though he had looked lovingly at thetter while his face right now was nothing short of evil.


    "Go and take care of any business that you have left. When we start, you won''t be able to stop for a while."


    Thud! He dropped Liam to the ground roughly, leaving him again with only a sliver of his health.


    Kyu¡­ Luna quickly ran over and licked Liam in worry. Was this nice uncle really on their side? Was her Master really going to be okay?

 Chapter 661 Kidnapped?

    Chapter 661 Kidnapped?


    After dropping Liam to the ground, the old elf switched gears and went back to ying around with the little fox as if nothing happened.


    At first, Luna was reluctant, still sticking close to her master, but seeing some tasty things in the other party''s hand, the traitor quickly rushed over and started munching away.


    Liam gaped at this scene. This old guy definitely had a few screws loose, but¡­ he couldn''t deny that he was the most powerful person he hade across in the game so far.


    Even standing in front of the King back in theher realm did not give him this sort of feeling. There was something about this old man.


    Wait a second. Liam''s breathing quickened. He hade across someone like this once before, the naga who had taught him the illusion technique. It was only for a brief second, so he could be mistaken.


    Regardless, none of that was relevant. Liam shook his head. The goal in front of him was clear. Grandmaster  had said it, and now this elf had also said the same thing.


    Clearly, there was some issue with using mana andher at the same time. He had never heard of anything like this before, but then again, his knowledge from his past life was very limited.


    Also, he was a special case in that he had an SSS-gradeher affinity. He needed to figure out what exactly this was and how it was going to affect him.


    Liam took up the offer the old elf gave him and decided to log out for a bit.


    Ever since he came to the elvennds, he had not been able tomunicate with the rest of the guild, so he decided to check how things were progressing on the other side.


    He logged out of the game and stepped out of the capsule. He looked around to see that the house was pretty much empty.


    "Everyone is busy ying? Heh. Good." He closed his room door when he saw a note stuck on the door. It was a scribbled, handwritten note from Alex.


    "Hmmm? We have stalkers?"


    Something like this could be dangerous if it was not nipped in the bud, and it had been a while since he had taken a stroll outside.


    Liam changed his clothes and stepped outside to investigate. He got down the stairs and exited the apartmentplex, walking out to the main road.


    He silently walked along the pavement, engrossed in his own thoughts. The weather wasn''t too bad, and it was a pleasant evening. A few others were strolling around, enjoying the fresh air.


    However, Liam only had a frown on his face.


    Everything in the elvennds had ultimately gone well, but there was a rather distinct, bitter, lingering aftertaste of failure as he had tasted the same feeling of being helpless all over again.


    He continued to walk along the streets in the silent darkness when suddenly an SUV pulled up next to him without any warning.


    Hmmm? Before he could do anything, he found himself being pushed into the SUV. He was actually being kidnapped.


    "What do you want?" Liam calmly asked.


    There were six bulky men in the vehicle, one of them driving, and no one had any firearms out, probably because they did not find someone like him threatening.


    The men did not answer him, and only nkly looked at him.


    Liam debated for a second and then decided to take the easy, sure-shot route instead of the long, uncertain route. "You guys picked the wrong day to mess with me."


    The menughed amongst themselves, looking down at the scrawny kid, wondering what he could do to six grown men, and the next instant¡­


    "Come out."


    Something exploded in the SUV, and the six men immediately became stiff. All around them were creatures they couldn''t fathom. What the hell was happening?


    However, they did not have any time to process anything as they were all killed instantly.


    "Good job, Crawford."


    "Gorak, park the SUV somewhere nearby. Let''s find out just who these guys are."


    Sitting inside the vehicle, Liam calmly examined the six corpses one after the other. It looked like they really did not think much of him, as they had not taken any efforts to hide their identities.


    The six guys were from the Gu family.


    "So Alex was correct. Someone is indeed watching us, but it is not the uncle. It is my pasting back to haunt me."


    With a chuckle, Liam summoned Gu Donghai out, and apparently what he found out was true as the undead young master immediately shuddered at the sight of the dead corpses.


    "So you recognize them?"


    Gu Donghai obediently nodded.


    "Hmm¡­ What is it with your family?" Liam sat back, leaning on the leather seats of the SUV.


    "Do you know¡­ I almost forgot about them. I did not want to be tied down with anger and hatred from a different lifetime, so I almost let them live."


    "Well, I am not really that forgiving, but I was busy. Your family could have really used this chance to live a little, but it seems like they are asking for it."


    "They are literally forcing my hand. What is the point of me being reborn if I can''t even take care of a little thing like this?"


    Gu Donghai silently shivered. What the hell was this lunatic bbering about?


    However, internally, he was happy. His family had finallye to his rescue! And this guy was finally going to get what wasing to him!


    He dared to kill him and torture him like this even after death? You will not die a good death, you bastard! I curse you! Die bitch!


    Liam could hear everything he was thinking. However, he only smiled. Perhaps it was really time to take care of the Gu family once and for all.


    An opportunity hade knocking right on his doorstep. It would be foolish to let this go and allow things to escte even more.


    "Drive the vehicle to the Gu family estate."

 Chapter 662 Massacre

    Chapter 662 Massacre


    In the dead of night, suddenly, loud sirens red everywhere, and the city that was supposed to be sleeping was unexpectedly wide awake in dread and panic.


    Police cars and ambnces lined the streets as everyone tried to make sense of the terrifying event that had happened in the span of a single night.


    All the local news channels were going crazy, repeatedly reporting the same news. For the first time in a while, something other than the popr video game had upied the headlines.


    "Two hundred men killed overnight! Who is the prime suspect in the Gu family massacre?"


    "No witness alive! No evidence left behind! Police are helpless! Was this a gang fight between rival families?"


    "Gu family mass murder! There is a serial killer loose in the city! All the residents are advised to stay inside and lock the doors. Call the police if you see any suspicious activity on the streets."


    "One of the three big families of the city was erased out of existence in a single night. All Gu family heirs abroad are in a panic. Will there be more murders?"


    "Nighttime horror! Gu family stocks have plummeted overnight. Gu family guild, Jade Mountain, one of the top guilds of the game ''Evolution Online'', disbanded because of insufficient members. From riches to rags. What will the Gu family''s young heirs abroad do now?"


    When the entire city was panicking about this horrendous development, one person alone calmly sipped the green tea in his mug and looked outside through the window.


    "Though we live quite far away, we can still hear the noises all the way over here, huh?" Liam smiled as he ced the mug on the table and stood up. He also switched off the TV and walked over to the balcony to smoke.


    Since their apartment was on the tenth floor, he could see things happening in the distance. Bright red lights and blue lights brightly shed. The whole city was really in a state of terror.


    But for him¡­ at least a part of him was finally at peace. However, it did not make as much difference as he would have thought. He took a long drag of the cigarette and then let out a sigh.


    He did indeed care about getting revenge or whatever that was, but the thing was¡­ when the apocalypse descends, the ugly side of humanity was revealed.


    It was not just the Gu family that was out to exploit the weak and the innocent. They were just one of the many organizations fondlybeled as Dark Guilds. They exploited everyone they could and also held a lot of power.


    There were also constant shes between the so-called Dark Guilds and the so-called Hero Guilds. When Liam thought back to this, he was still embarrassed by the foolishness disyed by humanity.


    Of course, he could only think in this manner because he had the gift of hindsight, but still¡­ The fact that the human beings thought that they were superhumans and now belonged to the top of the food chain, meant to rule the whole universe, made him cringe.


    When the real threat arrived, these so-called superhumans, the top powerful yers, were wiped out in a sh because everyone was too busy fighting each other and trying to establish themselves as the rulers of the new world.


    No one stopped to think that there was something beyond them.


    Liam shook his head, not wanting to think about this nightmare again. This time, it was going to be different. History was not going to repeat itself. He was prepared for it.


    He took another long drag from the cigarette when a pair of warm hands wrapped around him from the back. "Liam, are you okay?" It was Shen Yue''s voice.


    "Mmm. I am fine." He didn''t turn around and simply answered her, continuing to look outside at the dazzling lights.


    Shen Yue let out a small sigh. She had onlye here to check on him because, by now, everyone inside the game had also heard the big news.


    And as soon as she heard the name ''Gu family,'' she instantly couldn''t shake the feeling that this had something to do with Liam. So she quickly logged out.


    Just like she feared, she also found Liam outside the game, but otherwise, he seemed normal. Perhaps she was worried for no reason?


    "Shall I leave?" Shen Yue asked again.


    Surprisingly, Liam shook his head. "No, stay here with me for a bit." He pulled her to the side, wrapped an arm around her, and put out the cigarette with the other hand.


    Shen Yue smiled with a blush as the two of them stood side by side, watching the lights in the distance. The night was freezing, but she felt warm as she silently enjoyed this moment.


    After a while, she absent-mindedly snuggled closer to Liam while mumbling in a low voice, "I wonder who did this¡­ Do you think it could be something rted to the game?"


    "No. Nothing rted to the game." Liam also offhandedly replied.


    "How are you so sure?" Shen Yue looked at him with confusion. Almost everything happening in the real world right now was rted to the game, so she wasn''t convinced that this was something unrted to the game.


    She was prepared to argue over this logically with Liam, but then his reply came¡­


    "Because I did it."


    Shen Yue''s pretty eyes instantly widened ten times in size. "You¡­ You mean you killed the entire Gu family?"


    Liam sighed as if he was disappointed. "No, I couldn''t get everyone. Some of the bastards are living abroad."


    What the¡­ Shen Yue was even more shocked by this response. Everything she had guessed at the beginning was indeed correct! Liam was the one responsible for all of this!


    And here he was, standing as if nothing at all had happened!


    One of the loud ring sirens that passed by snapped her out of her trance as she frantically looked at him. "What are you saying? Is this true? Liam! The police! What if they catch you!"


    "Thank you for worrying about me." Liam smiled and did not say anything else. He simply leaned over and kissed the girl, drowning all the other questions she had.

 Chapter 663 This is going to suck

    Chapter 663 This is going to suck


    "Will they really not find out?" Shen Yue asked again, her fingers drawing circles on Liam''s chest and her naked body tightly clinging to his.


    "Of all the things you are worried about this? Do you not care why I killed them?" Liam chuckled, kissing the girl''s forehead.


    "Not really." Shen Yue closed her eyes and inched closer as if she was hinting that she wanted more kisses. "We had two run-ins with those guys so far, remember? I don''t really care if scum like that lived or not."


    "You have changed a lot." Liam smiled. "When I first moved here, the girl next door was a kind, good girl. Now¡­"


    "What! I am still a nice person!"


    Liam kissed the pouting lips, pulling the girl closer again.


    He had spent the past two hours with her, among other things talking to her about the various things that happened in the elvennds and also about the events that had transpired earlier tonight.


    He did not really need the break as he had stayed inside the SUV the whole time, his minions doing all the dirty work but he still took the couple of hours to rx a little.


    The burden he had carried all through hisst life had ended today as if it was nothing. It felt surreal.


    "What are you thinking about?" Shen Yue poked his cheek yfully.


    Liam sighed a little and smiled. "I am thinking about what to do next." He then turned toward her, attacking her for the fourth time in a row.


    Shen Yueughed and pushed him away with her hands, despite the fact that her legs were tightly wrapped around him, indicating the opposite.


    It was rare to catch the guy in this mood when he was not serious and single-minded about powering up, so she wanted to help him take his mind off of things.


    Moaning sounds soon filled the room, and when they were done, it looked like Liam finally managed to tire her out. The woman did not even bother washing up. She fell asleep on the dirty sheets.


    With a smile, he covered the enticing beauty lying naked on his bed with a nket and stepped away. When he saw her peaceful smile, his face turned solemn once more.


    He needed to do more, a lot more, if he wanted to keep living this peaceful life. Starting with this training.


    Liam wondered what the old elf was going to teach him.


    This would be the first time he was going to formally learn something from a master. He couldn''t help but feel a little excited, even if it was from that nasty old man who almost killed him for no reason.


    Just the thought of the guy gave Liam a headache. He had a feeling that this was not going to be easy. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Shen Yue one more time before stepping back into the game capsule.


    Liam''s world darkened before it brightened up again, and he found himself inside the elvenmoner''s city. "I guess it''s time to start."


    He went to the teleportation portals near the big tree and picked the one for the royal city. He then walked in long strides to the familiar residence where he had cleaned the ground with his face several times.


    Of course, as soon as he arrived at the entrance and walked in through the giant gates, once again, a shocking scene was awaiting him.


    The fearsome powerful old elf was lounging in a rocking chair in the pce gardens and on hisp was a small fox happily lying with her body sprawled out and belly getting rubbed.


    Naturally, this was in addition to the things that she was munching. One item looked like a berry, the next one looked like a flower, and the next one even looked like a gemstone.


    "What in the name of¡­ " Liam stood in a daze and watched the scene unfolding in front of him in disbelief.


    After a few seconds, the duo finally noticed his presence, or rather, acknowledged that he was also there, though only barely.


    "Master¡­" One happy fox cooed, and the other party simply grunted in annoyance. "You are back?" The guy then went back to feeding the fox as if Liam did not exist. Clearly, he had his priorities.


    However, Liam did not care about these things. Instead, he was grateful that the old elf had managed to cure Luna when he had not been able to figure out what was wrong with her.


    Moreover, Luna was able to talk now?


    The fox was no longer simplymunicating with him through their mental connection. She was actually talking. This meant that the elf simply did not cure her. He also helped her to further grow?


    Perhaps this old elf was the key to triggering her spirit beast evolution. Without this, the fox will not be able toe out into the real world with him when the tutorial shuts down.


    "No. Not even I know how to do that." The old guy grunted again.


    "What?" Liam was startled.


    "I said I don''t know how to trigger the spirit beast evolution. Oh. Don''t look so shocked. I can read it on your face, youzy brat."


    Liam awkwardly coughed and did not say anything. It looked like it was just his wishful thinking, wanting the elf to have all the answers he needed.


    "Fool, you don''t even understand the precious creature that you are bonded to. A celestial beast is a powerfulpanion. She has more potential than you. She has a bloodline purer than yours, and her growth can be exponential."


    "You will never be able to reach the heights that she can easily grow to, but all that requires effort. You need to nurture her carefully and not treat her like this, like a random rodent."


    "You are ipetent,cking, and selfish!"


    The old elf did not stop there and continued to berate Liam to his heart''s content. Of course, ending the session by once again crushing him down on the ground.


    "This is going to suck." Liam spat out the dirt and stones from his mouth.

 Chapter 664 A strange portal

    Chapter 664 A strange portal


    After thrashing Liam to his heart''s content, the old elf leisurely walked back to his rocking chair and sat down, once again feeding some things to the little fox.


    Liam shook his head helplessly at this scene and slowly got up. He ate some berries to recover his stamina, health, and energy and took a few breaths to calm himself down.


    The training hadn''t even started, so he still had a long way to go. There was no point in getting frustrated now.


    Since he had alreadymitted to this and even struggled a lot to get to this position, Liam decided that he might as well give it his all and y the part.


    After a few minutes, he stood up and walked over to the old elf. "Master, how should I start with my training?" He put on the face of a sincere student and asked.


    "Heh?" The elf coldly snorted. "First of all, don''t call me Master, and second of all, all this ass-kissing isn''t going to get you anywhere."


    Liam''s face twitched, but he controlled himself and patiently waited for the old elf to get on with his attitude. Thankfully, after the few humiliating words, he finally got to the point.


    "Do you know how to use your mana core?"


    "Huh?"


    "You have somehow scraped together a semi-decent mana core, but I doubt you know how to utilize it properly." The elf blew on his nails and absent-mindedly mumbled while continuing to feed another berry to the little fox.


    Liam''s eyes widened. He did not understand what the elf was talking about, but he was eager to know more about it. His mana core already gave him a significant power boost, and if it could be used even better?


    Not to mention, he still had the big question looming over him. "Your highness, what is wrong with my mana core? How is it corrupted?"


    "Hmmm. Don''t think about that right now. You will not be able to understand it. Your foundation itself is so shaky. I suggest you worry about that first."


    Liam once again nodded. He had in fact made painstaking efforts to make sure his foundation was solid, but here the elf was telling him the opposite.


    Everything right now was a puzzle to him. Unfortunately, he could only wait and patiently learn whatever he could and try to make sense of the whole picture eventually.


    The old elf took his own sweet time. A few more minutester, when the fox let out a loud burp, heughed in amusement and finally stood up from the rocking chair.


    "Let''s go." He scowled at Liam, signaling him to follow. The old man then started walking out of the residence onto the main street and towards the cluster of portals without any exnation.


    Liam silently followed him. Soon they arrived at the junction. However, unexpectedly, the elf did not bother approaching any of the portals in the junction.


    Instead, he took out some sort of medallion from his robe. Immediately a loud rumbling sound echoed, and to Liam''s surprise, another portal showed up, materializing out of thin air.


    This portal looked a little different from the rest in that the swirling waves of energy seemed extremely turbulent.


    "Get in." The old elf gave the order without any other exnation.


    Liam stepped forward and touched the portal, instantly getting sucked in. On the other side, a strange sight unfolded in front of him.


    He was standing on top of some sort of austere ground, like that of a temple. Except here, the pirs were made of earth, and strange, exquisite carvings were etched on them.


    There were four pirs, and the teleportation gate was located at the southern corner of this ground. Weirdly, he couldn''t see beyond this.


    A barrier stretched between the pirs, forming some kind of secluded space that separated these few acres of ground, perhaps about half the size of a football field.


    While Liam was wondering what this ce could be, the other two also arrived. The old man grunted loudly, and Luna looked around with curiosity just like Liam.


    The elf then suddenly lifted his hand and aimed directly at Liam.


    "What are you¡­"


    Before Liam could respond, a cannon ball sized mana zoomed right past him, just narrowly grazing him. Everything happened too fast, and Liam could barely even react.


    By the time he moved away, there was already a big cut on his cheek, blood dripping out of it, and 30% of his health had dropped. If the attack hade any closer, he would have really died.


    Damn it! So this old elf was nning to kill him all along?


    However, before Liam could finish the thought, the attack that had whizzed past himnded on the barrier at the back with a loud bang.


    Immediately, something else happened. The barrier around the four pirs began vibrating loudly and started glowing pitch ck. Realization dawned on Liam. So he did not attack him, he had simply activated this thing, whatever it was.


    Soon, a strange energy seeped out of the barrier, and Liam shuddered as he felt this energy touch his being as well. The next second, a notification popped out.


    <ding. you="" have="" now="" entered="" a="" time="" space=""></ding.>


    <ding. time="" here="" flows="" in="" the="" 10:1="" ratio=""></ding.>


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. What was this ce? What does it mean, 10:1? He had a guess, but it was too frightening to think that something like this could be possible.


    He looked at the old elf dazedly, who still had the same old annoyed expression. "Don''t just stand around. Start training."


    "Your highness¡­ this ce¡­"


    "Hmmm¡­ I forgot. It must be the first time for a bumpkin like you to step inside a ce like this. Time flows differently here. 10 hours here is only 1 hour on the outside. I figured an idiot like you required this extra time to make something of yourself. So don''t disappoint me."


    Liam silently listened to the old guy berate him again with a bitter smile.

 Chapter 665 Cute genius and the dull dud

    Chapter 665 Cute genius and the dull dud


    After activating the barrier, the old man casually returned to feeding the little fox by pulling out another rocking chair from somewhere. Liam was about to ask how he should train when suddenly another figure burst out from the teleportation portal.


    It was none other than the elven King.


    "Father! What are you doing? He is a human being! How could you bring him here? Even if he had helped us, this absolutely cannot be allowed. Already there is a lot of unrest because of the barbarians. Now this is only going to cause bigger unrest."


    Seeing that the old elf was not hearing him, the King became more agitated. "Father! Even if we ignore all that, there is still the most important thing to consider! The price we would be paying is simply too much! The council decided that this is to be reserved for our sav-"


    "That''s ENOUGH. Not one more word. You will not question my decision, and you will not speak a word of this to anyone." The old elf finally responded. However, his words struck like thunder, rendering the other party speechless.


    The elven King opened and closed his mouth simply, without uttering another word. There were all sorts of myriad expressions on his face, fear, anger, disbelief. However, the old elf once again went back to tickling and ying with Luna.


    On the side, Liam was shocked but also a little relieved. He thought that the old elf was only a jerk to him, so it was consoling to see the dude treat even his own son, the King, in this way.


    He silently watched the show. Both the ''NPC''s in front of him were extremely high-leveled and powerful. This was not a conversation he could intervene in.


    Rather, he was more interested in what price the guy was talking about. Unfortunately, he was interrupted before he could finish his sentence. But the fight was definitely not over yet.


    Come on. Come on. Tear this old guy a new one. Liam silently cheered for him, but the elf shuddered before turning around and leaving in a huff. He really did not utter another word! What an obedient son!


    And of course, the old elf once again went back to ying around with Luna as if nothing at all had happened.


    Coo chi cooo coo chi coo


    Liam cringed seeing the old, muscr guy act like aplete nutcase. Yup, this elf was definitely not right in the head.


    "You are still standing idly?" Suddenly the elf''s gruff voice sounded again, and Liam jolted to a seated position out of habit and started meditating.


    "No. That''s not what you will be doing. Any idiot can do what you are doing right now. So quit that nonsense and GET UP!"


    Liam quickly stood up and the next second the old elf also stood up, his towering figure walking toward him.


    Damn it! What is he going to do now? Liam couldn''t help but be slightly nervous. But unexpectedly, the old guy stopped a few paces in front of him withouting all the way to punchable distance.


    "Cute baby, can youe here? Allow this grandpa to teach you as well."


    Kyu? Luna''s ears perked up, and Liam''s face twitched. The difference in the treatment was simply too painful. Regardless, he made sure to listen.


    "While it is easy to gather mana when you are not doing much else, it is an entirely different matter when ites to gathering mana while you are doing other things." The old guy lectured. "First try to gather and absorb mana while doing simple tasks like walking and moving your limbs."


    Both Liam and Luna listened carefully and then looked at each other after the old guy was done.


    "Kyu. Master, I don''t understand anything. What is grandpa saying?" Luna made a pitiful face.


    Liam smiled and nodded at her. "Just try your best."


    Seeing this, the old elf scoffed in mockery, rolling his eyes.


    Liam had long since decided to ignore the mannerisms of this elf. He brushed off the taunts and started trying to gather mana while executing a basic sword move.


    Oh! He immediately realized that something was different. This was far more difficult to execute, just like the elf had mentioned.


    Nodding, he was about to swing his sword another time when suddenly the fox next to him started jumping around and yelping in joy.


    "Master! Masta! Look at me! I can do it! Kyuuuu! Luna can do it!"


    Huh? Liam turned to see the little creature jumping around here and there. More importantly, there was a dense aura of mana surrounding her, as if she was a mana ma.


    With every jump the little fox did, mana fluctuated, and she was absorbing more of it. Not just that, she was also spitting out fire here and there, and mana was still surging.


    What the hell kind of mana maniption is this? Liam stared in bewilderment.


    Here he was struggling to just make a simple movement while the other party was casually ying around? Where was the justice in this world?


    "He He. Aren''t you a genius? My cutie pie, sweetie pie num num num" The old elf picked up the fox and started tickling her belly.


    "Hmph. Listen, brat. Spirit beasts are geniuses. They learn to do it naturally. A dull dud like you has to train. I suggest you get to work."


    Liam''s face twitched. It was too embarrassing tog so far behind a baby beast, even if she was a spirit beast. He focused and tried to achieve the same thing.


    For the next few hours, he continued to train diligently while the other two chilled and rxed, the big one feeding the little one all sorts of items. Of course, every now and then, the little fox also helped Liam by showing him how it was done.


    Finally, after six hours, there was some improvement. When Liam swung his sword again, he was able to absorb some mana as casually as if he was breathing.


    "This is it. This is the feeling." He was overjoyed, but he kept his cool and continued to practice it a few times. He wanted to memorize the feeling.


    However, all of a sudden, Liam felt something else. Something else was different.


    For the next attack, instead of the normal sword sh, he executed a fire sh, and this time he both pulled in and pushed out the mana simultaneously.


    And just like he had experienced before, he felt that something was different.


    Liam immediately sat down crosslegged and tried to focus. He could feel that the change was in his mana core, so he tried to focus on that.


    Not that his mana core itself had changed. It was more like¡­ chains. He could feel some sort of invisible chains holding down his mana core. What were these chains?


    Liam reached down and tried to rattle these chains. He willed for the chains to break and shatter. He shook them violently, but he was not able to break them loose. However, he did not give up. He gritted his teeth and continued trying.


    And for the first time, the old elf noticed him. Hmmm? The guyzily opened his one eye to actually look at Liam. Even a hint of awe could be seen on his face.

 Chapter 666 Weak!

    Chapter 666 Weak!


    A few more hourster, Liam waspletely exhausted. So he temporarily stopped training and opened his eyes, letting out a big sigh. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to break those chains, he was simply not able to make them budge.


    Perhaps the elf had some clues about this for him?


    He looked up to find the elf, only to see that the guy had gone missing. Instead, a small fox waszily rocking back and forth in that rocking chair with a heap of berries near her.


    "Masta!" Luna immediately pounced on Liam with her mouth full of fruit, spraying the juice everywhere on his face.


    "Where did that elf go?" He picked up the little traitor by her neck and asked her rather sternly. However¡­


    Kyuuu! The little fox giggled as if it was ytime and gave him the biggest smile. "Grandpa went to put out some fires."


    "Fires?"


    Mmm. Mmm. The fox bobbed her head up and down.


    "Alright. I guess I will continue training then." Liam had the canister full of water from the strange pond, which helped in relieving fatigue, so he drank a sip from it.


    He then once again went back to swinging his sword, trying to see if he could execute it better this time. Totally ignored by him, the little fox ran around him, jumping here and there, making cute poses.


    In the end, Liam still did not pay attention to her, so she dragged herself back to the chair and pitifully continued munching on the berries one after the other with a very sad face.


    Liam''s face twitched. Naturally, he observed the antics from the corner of his eyes. He was focusing on the task at hand, so he ignored the fox.


    And now, the little fox was pouting.


    "Sigh. Alright. Come here." Liam smiled bitterly and started petting the furry creature. "Good job. Good job. You did very well." He assumed that the little fox wanted some kudos for her deft handling of mana, so he gave it to her.


    And of course, almost immediately, the pouts and the sadness disappeared, reced by a big smug grin. "Thank kyu, masta! I''m going to steal as much as I can from grandpa!"


    "Huh? What are you talking about?" Liam was confused for a second, and then it dawned on him. He fell back on his butt and startedughing. "So that''s what you were doing. Keep it up, you little scammer!"


    Luna giggled again. "Masta, I am close to a breakthrough. I can feel it. Then I will be able to fight all our enemies!"


    "Good girl. Good girl. Take your time and do it properly. Don''t push yourself." Liam smiled lovingly as he rubbed the little furball''s head.


    He then went back to his training after giving another helpless nce at the fox, who was watching him in amusement, munching on her berries.


    "Good luck, masta!" She even gave him a thumbs up, mimicking his actions when he did the same to others. From the looks of it, all she needed to do for her breakthrough was eat?


    The more Liam learned about celestial beasts, the more shocked he became. What was a powerful beast like her doing in this tutorial game in the first ce?


    And he found her in the starting zone. For some reason, he had a feeling that she did not belong here.


    Liam shook his head and decided to think about thister. For now, he had to focus and cross this first stage. "Moving while also inhaling mana," he mumbled, continuing to swing his sword.


    Compared to before, he could execute it a lot better now. Slowly, he tried breathing in the mana while also pushing it out when casting smaller spells.


    It again took a couple of hours, but eventually, he was able to execute the smaller spells while multitasking.


    What difference was this going to make? Liam pondered when he noticed his mana bar. It was hardly dropping.


    Already because of his high-quality mana core, he had a lot of mana supply, and now even that was not getting consumed when he was using smaller spells.


    "Oh?" Liam understood why the elf was teaching him this. He continued training, seeing more and more improvement, the more he got ustomed to the feeling.


    In fact, there was also an extra punch when he attacked. Manipting mana-in and mana-out at the same time was affecting both processes.


    But the bigger question still remained¡­ What were those chains? Was this the corruption that Grandmaster  had talked about?


    While Liam thought about this, the elf finally returned back to the time space using the teleportation portal. He seemed extra smug and pleased with himself, disying a big smile on his face but when his eyes fell on Liam, he instantly scowled.


    "Why are you cking?"


    Liam wanted to roll his eyes, but he remained calm. "Your highness, please check my progress." He confidently demonstrated what he had practiced for the past several hours.


    It was a fire sh that cost only half the mana it would typically cost. Not just that, he repeated it multiple times, each time maintaining the steady in-flow and out-flow of mana.


    Liam had selected this attack because it is one of the most powerful weapons in his arsenal. With this, the elf should definitely be impressed.


    On the side, even Luna pped for him excitedly.


    He repeated the attack about a dozen times and finally stopped. He bowed and looked at the elf, "Your highness?"


    "Weak! Pathetic!" The elf, not so surprisingly, spat out. Liam had half-expected this, so he did not care, but the old guy was not done talking yet.


    "Why are you showing me these childish attacks? Do you not have anything more powerful? You only learned this so far? Even a child could coordinate their mana when executing these simple warm-ups! Hmph!"


    "I apologize, your highness, for letting you down. I will practice now more diligently." Liam managed to answer with a straight face.


    "Hmph. You will only end up wasting my time with another childish attack. I will teach you something now. Try to execute that with the mana coordination." The old guy scoffed.


    Huh? Liam was once again shocked. Every time this elf berated him, unexpectedly, he also taught him something good? He took a few steps back in advance and observed the big guy curiously.


    The elf waved his hand the next second,manding a huge swirl of mana around him. He was like a vortex attracting all the mana in the air around them, and not just that, this swirling mass also seemed to have an earth element attribute?

 Chapter 667 Futile

    Chapter 667 Futile


    While the mana was still gathering, the old elf unexpectedly unleashed the whole attack, and the next instant, the ground quaked, and several earth spears rose up at the same time. Naturally, all of them pointed toward Liam.


    It looked like he was still holding back. If the old guy really unleashed this attack in its entirety, Liam won''t even have any ce to dodge.


    Even any barrier he erects probably won''t be able to hold back the spears. They were strong and sturdy spears that looked as if they were ready to drill through anything. Only instant death awaited him.


    The most impressive part was that it had barely taken the elf a few seconds to conjure such a powerful attack, and Liam was sure that this was nothing for him. He was definitely capable of doing more. Just how powerful was this old guy?


    "Don''t just stand there. Get to it. This spell is simple enough. Gather mana, mix an element you arefortable with, and send it out."


    Liam nodded. Sure, it was just that simple. Regardless, he was also itching to try it out. He decided to try using fire instead of earth, as it was the element he was mostfortable with.


    He took a few steps away from Luna and the elf and calmed himself first. Taking a deep breath, he as well raised his hand in the same fashion and started gathering as much mana as he could from the surroundings.


    However, the mana he couldmand and the mana the old elfmanded were on entirely different levels. Liam decided to ignore this for now as he simply tried the best he could.


    He then took a deep breath and tried to apply what the elf said, adding some fire elemental essence to this swirl of mana.


    Usually, this process was done inside the body, more specifically in the mana core, but now he was trying tobine both his internal and external mana while also adding the elemental attribute.


    This drastically increased his mana reserves, and at the same time, he could feel that the resulting magic was going to be so much more powerful. But this also made it that much more difficult.


    Liam gritted his teeth and tried to execute the attack. Unfortunately, the first two times, the mana dissipated before he could ever control it properly and unleash it. The next time, it exploded on himself, taking almost half of his health.


    The elf watched him with a smug smile as if he was enjoying seeing him fail, and the little fox beside him might as well be munching on popcorn.


    However, not even a few minutes had passed when the two widened their eyes in shock. After the first few bad tries, Liam finally managed to get a sessful attack through.


    There was still a considerable difference between the power level of his attack and the elf''s attack. Still, this was the most powerful magic Liam had cast so far in both of his livesbined.


    The fiery mana gathered in his hand swirled turbulently, and when unleashed, a big firestorm raged in front of them.


    This attack was almost twice as powerful as the [Sizzling Tornado], and more importantly, Liam had learned it from scratch and made it his own, not needing the help of a skill book or the system.


    <Ding. You have learned a new skill [Firestorm]>


    Liam swiped away the notification and looked at the old elf eagerly, "Your highness-"


    "Hmph. Don''t get excited just yet." The elf snorted in annoyance. "Your skill is just like you, weak and ipetent. Besides, you haven''t started the main part of the training. Try that first, and let me see if something is entering your thick skull."


    Ah¡­ Liam bitterly smiled and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. That was right. He still had to try the mana-in and mana-out maniption techniques. This would basically mean that¡­


    Scrunching his nose, he pondered over it and tried tobine everything together. Once again, it wasn''t easy to get it right from the very beginning, but Liam was slowly getting the hang of it.


    When he was attempting the skill for the tenth time or so, suddenly, it struck him.


    If he were able to gather mana for the spell while at the same time refilling his mana core and replenishing the manaing out of it, the resulting magic would be so much more potent, powerful, and big.


    It wouldpletely be on a different level than the [Sizzling Tornado] and could definitely be a killer finishing move!


    Seeing that Liam was beginning to grasp the lesson''s central concepts, the elf was satisfied with his progress and prepared to leave, giving him some alone time to train in peace.


    He was almost out of the portal when Liam saw it and quickly called after him and ran toward him. "Your highness!" He was not going to let this elf leave here without asking him about the thing that was weighing heavily on his mind.


    "Your highness! The corruption in my mana core! Is it rted to the chains shackling my mana core?"


    "Huh?" The elf stopped in his tracks. He then turned around to reveal a smug smirk and scoffed. "What the hell are you bbering about?"


    "..."


    "The shackles you saw around the mana core are just your own imagination, the manifestation of your limit. For instance, it was a seed enveloping the mana core for me. Do you understand?"


    Liam nodded. It seemed that he had been hasty in jumping to conclusions. Thankfully, the elf exined it to him quite a bit in detail.


    "Have you ever thought about what is the next step after forming a mana core? To survive, you need to reach that step, and to reach that step, you have to nurture and grow your mana core while being constantly limited by these shackles. Ultimately, you have to break your shackles. This would be your true awakening."


    Liam''s heart pounded. To survive¡­ the elf clearly said to survive, which means if he reached this step, would he be powerful enough to face whatever came after?


    The elf did not continue after that and once again turned to leave. When he disappeared through the teleportation gate, only his voice boomed in the empty spot. "You are not ready to face your corruption yet. You have to dig deeper for that."


    Liam nodded and returned to his practice as well.


    For the first time, there was maybe a clear goal in front of him, and he wanted to achieve it no matter what. He wanted to break these shackles that held him down.


    He could tell that it was going to be difficult, but he had to achieve it somehow.


    Awakening!


    Perhaps it was his intuition, but something told him that he needed to do this at all costs.


    Meanwhile¡­ on the other side¡­ the old elf no longer had any trace of arrogance on his face. Instead, he only looked tired and worn out.


    "It doesn''t matter how hard you try. You will never be able to break those shackles." He mumbled to himself with a sigh. He did not know if not disclosing this information to the human being was the right decision or not.


    But¡­ the elf sighed again. He knew for a fact that the human being in front of him would never be able to awaken.


    Theher that strengthened him and made him more powerful than everyone else was the same thing that was also going to hold him back. It flowed through those shackles, keeping the mana core down.


    For one to grow, the other has to be killed. It was impossible for mana andher to coexist. So Liam was already doomed from the beginning.


    This was also why the old elf did not want to teach him. No matter how much he tried, in the end, his struggles would only be futile.


    And his world¡­ yet another would copse.


    "Why did you send him to me, ? What exactly did you expect me to teach him? Even if I did, it would never be enough."


    "All these treasures will not save him. The Celestial beast will not be able to save him. Nothing will save him or his world. Only a lonely and deste future awaits the two of them."


    The old elf looked pained as he tiredly walked back to his residence. This ce, this world, he had spent far too much time here than he thought that he would.


    If there was one thing he had learned in all these years, it was that no one could put an end to his suffering or stop this madness. It was his fate to live for all eternity in this cruel prison.


    "At least you will get your peace in your death." The elf sighed and silently resigned to his chamber, drinking from his personal collection of wine.


    "Which year did I brew this?" It did not matter. It was all the same for him; a pawn stuck for eternity with no way out.

 Chapter 668 l got this!

    Chapter 668 l got this!


    In contrast to the tranquil environment where Liam was training, chaos had descended upon the entire Gresh Kingdom. The whole ce, just like most of the rest of the world, was suddenly discussing one and only one thing, the overnight massacre of the Gu family.


    Normally, news like this would have made the front pages of the different newspapers and magazines and would have created some amount ofmotion, provided the government did not sweep the whole incident under the rug.


    However, in the age of the inte and, more importantly, in the age of ''Evolution Online,'' this incident became an even hotter topic.


    More than the cold-blooded massacre of two hundred plus civilians and high-ranking government officials of one of the many prominent families in China, the news about one of the top guilds in the Gresh Kingdompletely copsing overnight hit harder.


    Jade Mountain, 9th in the Gresh Kingdom guilds'' ranking, had disappeared with nothing but a poof! Thispletely changed the dynamics of the guilds in the kingdom.


    Jade Mountain alone had about twelve thousand yers, and all of them were now avable for the other guilds to recruit.


    One of the main reasons for the giant guild to copse, the corporations backing the Jade Mountain guild, were also avable now for the other guilds to fight over.


    Though someone had destroyed the foundation altogether, these corporations had pulled out so fast that they were the key factor in the copse of the guild.


    And now they were avable for the other guilds to vie for with their surplus funds.


    In fact, many guilds were secretly surprised when this backing behind the Jade Mountain guild was revealed. They had been hiding a lot of things from the outsiders'' eyes.


    Not only corporations but the Jade Mountain guild was one of the few guilds being sponsored by the government!


    And they were also in the process of swallowing several other smaller guilds. These key facts only came out after the guild was wiped out.


    If the unfortunate massacre hadn''t happened, it wouldn''t have been an exaggeration to say that the Jade Mountain could have risen to be one of the top five, or heck, even one of the top three guilds in the Kingdom.


    All of that, however, was now merely spection and wishful thinking, as the once promising guild had been bulldozed to the ground with no one knowing which group was responsible for this.


    Absolutely no evidence had been left behind, not one fingerprint or even shoe print, making the whole thing aplete mystery.


    Meanwhile, one of the two people who actually knew everything about this incident, Shen Yue, returned back to the guild headquarters. She informed Rey and Alex that the problem regarding the people following them had been solved.


    She didn''t say anything in detail implicating Liam in the mess, but it wasn''t difficult for the duo to guess and put two and two together. This made Shen Yue nervous, though the very instant all her anxiety was eased.


    "Heh. Now, I wish it really had been that sleazebag uncle who hade knocking at our doorstep." Alex clicked her tongue without showing any other emotion.


    On the other hand, Rey was worse and kept cursing his bad luck that he had not chosen to log out and missed the whole thing.


    Shen Yue blinked at the sister and brother duo, wondering what kind of people were in her life right now. No wonder Liam had asked her to share it with the two of them without worrying about the consequences.


    "Bye Alex. Bye Rey. I will return to the Rock Temple and join Mei Mei and the others."


    Alex nodded, and Rey gave her a big smile. "Thanks, sis Yue! We were able to get twenty more yers to the Master level with all the recipes and the raw materials from the dungeon!"


    "Is it better now?" Shen Yue asked.


    She didn''t use much of the consumables because she didn''t have to, but most of the other core members of the guild and the main team relied heavily on it, just like the rest of the world, to keep up with the top yers and keep challenging elites and bosses above their level.


    Unfortunately, this puts a burden on the guild. "Not yet, sis." Rey replied.


    But Alex grinned silently. "Don''t worry. I got this. I am almost done. We will soon not have to worry about this idiotic problem anymore."


    Their guild''s supplies were not matching the demands, but she knew exactly what she had to do about it. Liam had alreadyid the groundwork, so it would be humiliating if she did not even solve this small problem without his help.


    "In fact, I am off to settle this right now once and for all. After this, there should be no shortage of supplies for us. Want to corner us? It won''t be so easy."


    "What is she talking about?" Rey was confused, but the three of them disbanded, each going their own way.


    Shen Yue returned to the Rock Temple dungeon zone, which had now be a PVP hot spot with Crimson Abyss utterly monopolizing the area.


    Rey ran to the Hunter Association as he had received a special ss quest. Thanks to him snooping around the building day and night, trying to finish the task Liam had given him, he managed to stumble into another chain quest.


    Andstly, Alex was headed to the divine city with a smile still hanging on her lips. Surprisingly, as soon as she entered the city gates, a priestess rushed over to her, making the few yers on the street turn and look at the two of them.


    Priestesses were the top NPCs in the divine city, and their status was no less than the status of the Kingdom''s royal family. However, Alex still had a bold smile as she took something hideous from her inventory slot.


    "Here. I have brought the thing that you asked me for."

 Chapter 669 A demoness?

    Chapter 669 A demoness?


    Alex held in her hand the head of something that looked abominable. It had a huge head, a pair of ck venomous eyes, and two curved horns. Purple blood was still freshly dripping from the corpse''s head.


    "Ah! That demon is dead! That demon is really dead!" The priestess'' eyes widened in shock. "Pdin, you have done a great service for the divine temple! The entire Gresh Kingdom is indebted to you."


    Alex smiled and nodded. On her side, she finally received the notification that she had been waiting for so long.


    <ding. quest=""pleted=""></ding.>


    <ding. you="" have="" learned="" the="" new="" skill="" [blessings="" of=""nd]=""></ding.>


    "I will take my leave then, My Lady." Alex bowed and impatiently dashed out of the city. The priestess was shocked as she actually wanted to give her another quest.


    In the end, she could only embarrassingly shout after the Pdin. "Meet me back at the Divine Temple!"


    A few other yers eavesdropped on this information and tried to talk to the priestess, volunteering to do the quest, but these pests were quickly shot down by the priestess, who floated up into the air and flew towards the Temple in the distance.


    Meanwhile, Alex was already en route to the guild residence. More importantly, she arrived at the acres and acres of so-called guednds that surrounded the guild residence.


    "Finally!" She looked at the aura of death and decay filling the air around her, her skin almost stinging because of it. She had spent so many hours of grueling reputation grind and repetitive quests to get here, but it was going to be worth it.


    "Blessings of the Land!" She shouted out loud.


    Her eyes widened, and she looked at the cknds around her, waiting for something drastic to happen. Weirdly, no such thing happened.


    A couple of seconds passed, and soon an entire minute passed by and nothing at all happened. "Huh? What the hell?" Alex was now pissed.


    This was the skill she found out, she even hounded the priestess for it and obtained the skill somehow, but now it was not working?


    "Aaarrrggg! This is total bullshit!" Alex shouted. For once she wanted to be cool and save the day, why was it so difficult?


    She waited for some more time, tried using the skill multiple times, cursed loudly a lot and seeing that absolutely nothing was happening at all, she could only kick the earth underneath her in frustration.


    "Fuck it. Fine. I will visit that damn priestess again and see what the hell is wrong!" She angrily shouted and turned to leave when suddenly she noticed something strange from the corner of her eyes.


    She hadn''t noticed it before because it was small and very easy to overlook, but once her gaze locked onto the spot, she couldn''t unsee it.


    There it was! A few feet away from her¡­ a small patch ofnd that wasn''t as ckened as the rest of thend.


    "Wait¡­ don''t tell me." Alex neared that spot and squatted down to observe it more closely. A part of her wished that this was true, but a part of her wished that she simply imagined this¡­ because if it was indeed true¡­


    "No. No. No." She cleared her throat and hesitantly activated the skill again. "Blessings of the Land." She mumbled under her breath.


    And lo and behold, the space in front of her indeed changed.


    Not all of it, not drastically.


    Just the small patch of cleannd grew a little bit. The square inch of cleansednd was now a square and a quarter inch of cleansednd.


    Dread filled her face as the red headed beauty repeated the skill again. [Blessings of the Land]


    And once again, the small patch of cleansednd grew a little bit.


    "What the fuck is this?" Alex fell back on her butt,ughing out loud at her own misery. Sure, she had obtained the skill, and the skill had worked, but what the hell was this?


    The speed of the damned thing was simply too much!


    At this rate, she was going to have to spend an entire day on this damned thing, wasn''t she? This was way worse than the reputation grind!


    "You bastard!" Now she understood why Liam had pawned off this monstrously boring task onto her before running away to god knows where. "Motherfcker. I should have just left it to Rey."


    Unfortunately, it was toote for all of it. The ball was in Alex''s court, and she had to see it through.


    It was not that she didn''t understand the significance of what she was doing and how the world was changing, but hours of mindless grinding like this was enough to faze even the toughest ones.


    The listless redhead stood up and sighed. She then started casting like a soulless zombie, the same skill, over and over, again and again.


    "Blessings of the Land"


    "Blessings of the Land"


    "Blessings of the Land"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As thend around the guild residence was slowly being cleansed, all the yers inside the guild residence could hear the frightening screams of the local mobs from time to time.


    It almost felt like someone was torturing everything in that area. Perhaps a new field boss popped up?


    This continued for the entirety of the day when finally, a terrifying figure stepped into the guild residence. She looked like a yer, but she had red eyes and red hair resembling Medusa''s hair.


    A demoness?


    Rey, who was casually chilling inside the massage parlor of the guild residence, was the only main member of the guild still left in the vicinity, so he came over to check it out.


    "Hey ugly, where are youing from? Guards. Guards." Hezily yawned and mumbled something while stretching his limbs.


    And when he finally opened his eyes to take a proper look, a massive shield came flying at him at top speed, knocking him back several feet and breaking his head.


    "Ah! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I really did not recognize you! What happened, sis!"

 Chapter 670 Challenge issued!

    Chapter 670 Challenge issued!


    After resting for a while, Alex left the guild residence to go to the royal city. The hard part was done, and now it was time to collect her much deserved reward.


    "Sis, do you really think that the King would give us the reward?" Rey was nervous as he instructed his new mount, an eagle, to head to the royal city. Since Alex still did not have a flying mount of her own, the brother and sister duo were sharing this one.


    "I don''t know, sis. I don''t think the King will acknowledge us. This is bro''s quest. He shoulde and submit it and get the rewards."


    Alex immediately gave the guy a stink eye. "Yes. Yes. It''s your precious brother''s quest, but I was the one whopleted it. Besides, this is a matter of guild residence. So it should be fine."


    Soon they arrived at the city outskirts, and both Alex and Rey jumped off of the eagle, walking the rest of the way.


    The outside of the city was always a prime PVP zone, with some petty yers hanging around to harass those who entered and exited the city premises. However, Alex and Rey did not have this problem as most yers recognized the redhead and immediately stepped away.


    The duo entered the city without any issue, and they directly arrived at the royal pce, which was cordoned off from the rest of the city with huge walls and heavily armed guards.


    Alex took out the guild medallion to show it to the guards, but it looked like they did not need it. "Thank you for your service to the Kingdom, Pdin." They bowed to her and stepped aside.


    "So my rep from the divine temple works here too?" Alex grinned at the pleasant surprise and continued walking inside. Rey, who was getting a dirty look from the guards, quickly followed after her so he wouldn''t lose her.


    "Tch. This game is too heavily reliant on reputation. What bullshit. It should be more about the skills!" He grumbled.


    "Ha Ha Ha. Mr. Sour grapes. You are only saying that because you have absolutely no reputation with any faction. Ha Ha Ha."


    Rey pursed his lips together and didn''t continue to argue with his sister as she had a bad habit of using her hands too often.


    The two of them soon arrived at the main hall of the pce and were ushered in front of the King. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Pdin. I apud your great services to the Kingdom in times of need." The young king of the Gresh Kingdom nodded with a smile.


    Alex returned the greeting with a smile and bow, while Rey did the same with an odd look on his face. Something was definitely off. His tingly senses told him so.


    He prided himself on being a good judge of people and to date has lorded over Mia and Alex with his ''I told you so'' several times because they didn''t listen to him about Liam in the beginning.


    And in the same way, with one look at this King, he already had a gut feeling that something was amiss.


    Just like he suspected, the next second the King''s expression changed. As soon as Alex opened her mouth and mentioned why they were here, all signs of hospitalitypletely drained from the guy''s face.


    Instead, the smile turned upside down. "You managed to cleanse thends?" He arrogantly asked with a brow cocked up.


    "Yes, Your Majesty." Alex bowed again


    "Fine, you may collect your reward." The King gritted his teeth and muttered. "Visit the administration office. They will officially assign thend to your guild."


    Almost instantly, a wave of hushed whispers and murmurs spread across the courtroom. It was almost as if no one in the ce respected the King.


    Even Alex could see this. "Sis, something is wrong. Let''s leave quickly." Rey sent a private message, and she also agreed.


    "We thank your Majesty for your kindness. We will do our best to serve the Kingdom well." She hurriedly bowed, and the two of them excused themselves out of the hall.


    They only stopped walking when they arrived outside of the royal pce. They were finally able to breathe. The pressure exuding from the different people back at the main hall was suffocating.


    "What the hell, sis? Why was that guy treating us like that? Didn''t we do the Kingdom a huge favor?"


    "I have no idea." Alex frowned. "Everything about that interaction was wrong."


    "Also, sis. Something is wrong with that guy. Don''t you think that he looked a little like a woman?"


    "Huh?" Alex turned to look at her idiot brother, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Stop bbering. Whatever. The quest is nowplete, so let''s go get thend deeds transferred."


    "Ok, but I am telling you. Something is wrong with that guy."


    Alex shook her head helplessly, and the two of them walked over to the administrative office. However, when they arrived there, they received another huge shock.


    The quest reward that was originally just supposed to be thend around the guild residence, now somehow involved several key plots right here in the royal city, as well as trade city and divine city, the three main cities of the Kingdom, the ces where the yer base has always been abundant.


    "What the hell?" Alex was speechless.


    Now she understood why the King had looked so pissed off when she mentioned this quest. Liam had really swindled a lot from the poor guy this time around.


    While others were still focused on robbing the yers or small-time NPCs, this guy was going around stealing from the royal family in broad daylight.


    "Isn''t bro awesome." Rey grinned, standing beside her.


    "Yup." Alex helplessly nodded with a sigh. She then took a deep breath and grinned,pletely changing her attitude. "Ok. This makes our ns so much better."


    She first wanted to set up some shops near their guild residence and conduct trading because their guild residence was in the middle of the higher-level zones.


    Many yers would require consumables frequently, and it would be very inconvenient to return back to the cities for every small thing, not to mention time-consuming.


    Of course, this trading would naturally be conducted for raw materials and not for gold coins. Though not all yers might go for it, some yers would definitely use this service, and that was enough.


    Slowly they could build momentum, and this would be a hub for trading. The fact that only their guild had the permits to do something like this was also a huge boost.


    So this was the n Alex hade up with to ensure that their guild received sufficient raw materials without having their members farm day and night for them and waste their time.


    However, now after seeing this new development, things were going to be much more chaotic. They could actually do the same in the main three cities!


    Alex frantically started making calls to the group of yers back at the guild residence whom they have been grooming recently, their own group of alchemists, and cksmiths.


    Things were quickly put into motion, and soon the entire Gresh Kingdom was once again plunged into chaos as the word about these new plots ofnd quietly spread among the various guilds.


    So far, this was the only area where the other guilds had been able to put pressure on Crimson Abyss but now it looked like they were going to lose even that edge.


    Not even a few hours had passed after receiving the plots ofnd as a reward for the quest when suddenly a new notification appeared in the guild main menu.


    <Ding. Guild Dragons of Justice has dered war on Guild Crimson Abyss>


    <Ding. The defending Guild Crimson Abyss has the right to ept this challenge or decline>


    <Ding. If declined, the Guild Crimson Abyss has to pay a fine of 5 million gold coins to the Kingdom''s treasury>


    Everyone in the guild was instantly shocked to their core. 5 million gold coins as a penalty? This was an astronomical amount that no one in the game would be able to afford at the moment.


    So even the dumbest yer in the guild knew that a war was definitely iing.


    Besides, even though many yers did not want to admit it, Crimson Abyss was the uncrowned overlord of the Gresh Kingdom. So why should they be the ones worried about this challenge?


    As soon as they realized this, the yers started to rx a little. The sudden notifications had scared them a little, but now many were even ridiculing the Dragons of Justice guild for being reckless, and foolish.


    Most of the guild was even rejoicing as this was simply free gold iing when unexpectedly several other notifications popped up as well.


    <Ding. Kingdom Announcement: Dragons of Justice is now an S-Rank guild>


    <Ding. Realm Announcement: Dragons of Justice is now an S-Rank guild>

 Chapter 671 Fine Print

    Chapter 671 Fine Print


    In the northern part of the Gresh Kingdom, near the Rock Temple dungeon, a few of the Crimson Abyss members were busily grinding, running the Level 40 dungeon again and again.


    This group consisted of both inner members and outer members of the guild, along with a couple of core members switching out between the runs.


    This was to ensure that all the drops from the dungeon were properly collected and distributed, with the raw materials and recipes going to the crafting-focused yers of the guild.


    There were still a few spies left within the guild but these yers could only be outer members of the guild as they couldn''t sign the incriminating guild contract and be inner members.


    The poor souls weren''t even able to pocket some drops because all the dungeon runs were always closely monitored by the inner members and the core members.


    In the beginning, the guild only had about fifty core members. However, because of the structure of the guild, this number was slowly and gradually increasing.


    During dungeon runs like this, the couple of core members observed everyone in the party, and if there were any yers with potential, they were immediately picked and groomed.


    And if these yers performed consistently, they also had a chance to be core members of the guild. In this manner, the guild''s growth and development were not stagnant. It was constantly evolving.


    The only sector of the guild that was almost impossible to enter was the guild High Council. There were only thirty members currently in the guild High Council.


    For a core member to be a part of the guild High Council, they need to match the guild contribution points and, not to mention, defeat at least five of the standing High Council members.


    This rule also applied to the current members of the High Council. If anyone''s contribution points dropped or they cked off in leveling orbat practice, they were at immediate risk of losing their rank.


    Naturally, each tier of the guild membership had its own perks and advantages, including a generous gold coin bonus. This further ensured constant growth.


    In fact, Liam had stolen this guild structure from one of the top guilds from his previous life, and right now, Crimson Abyss was thriving because of this. There was a bnced ecosystem established which kept everyone on their toes and gave them incentives to improve.


    And right now, this steady state was suddenly shattered.


    Another S-Rank guild had appeared out of nowhere in the Gresh Kingdom!


    This was the third S-Rank guild in the entire game world, and moreover they had also dered war on Crimson Abyss!


    The clock started ticking as only 48 hours were left to ept or decline the war proposal. The eyes of the entire world were now on Crimson Abyss guild.


    At first, the outer members had rejoiced and called the ''Dragons of Justice'' idiots but after learning that they were now an S-Rank guild, thisughter and mockerypletely disappeared.


    Surprisingly, the inner members of the guild had apletely opposite reaction. In the inner member guild channel, everyone was busy trying to be a core member and no one paid attention to this nonsensical battle threat.


    But now that the opposing party was an S-Rank guild, they also quickly changed their attitude. Now this became an opportunity to showcase their talent, prove themselves in front of the guild higher-ups. So everyone was looking forward to the war and were in high spirits.


    A simr atmosphere was present in the Core member chat channel as well with everyone extremely excited about the uing war.


    It was only the acting guild leader who nervously smiled as she made a note of the general guild morale. Without Liam, Derek and Mia, the entirety of the burden of this war fell on Alex''s shoulders.


    And she was not confident to bring this home.


    Their guild was full of monstrous yers who could single-handedly trash an army but the problem was that those monsters were all away. Shen Yue and Mei Mei were still there. However, they could utmost be called above-average yers not monsters.


    "I need to get this done. Somehow." Alex licked her lips. She clicked on the challenge first to see the details of the event. Apparently, issuing an official challenge was very different from gathering all the yers and ganking a guild residence.


    It was detailed that in an official challenge, the members of the two guilds would be teleported to a war zone. There were different war zones avable and the defending guild held the advantage as they had the option to pick up the zone.


    Of course, the challenging guild also had their own advantage as they took the right to challenge first. After a challenge was issued, there was only 24 hours to ept or decline the said challenge.


    And the moment it was epted, the battle would immediatelymence. This meant that the defending guild only had 48 hours to prepare. Otherwise, the only option they had was to forfeit.


    Alex carefully went through all the do''s and don''ts of the guild wars and also the details about the different avable war zones.


    The rules were quite straightforward. Everything was basically allowed. Potions, food, all consumables were freely allowed. yers were also able to equip whatever they wanted.


    The only restriction was on the use of NPC soldiers. Unless they were deemed as followers, NPCs were not allowed to participate in the battle. Also, the NPC crafted cannons and such were not allowed.


    Alex carefully read through these rules several times, and slowly a n started forming in her head. Yes! This battle! They could unquestionably seed in this battle!


    Just as she was thinking about this, suddenly her eyes fell on a small detail that was at the bottom of the challenge description, inconspicuously buried in other details.


    A maximum of 500,000 yers were allowed to participate in the guild battle. There was no minimum.


    "Fuck!" Alex immediately stood up in rm. All the strategies she had decided on up until now suddenly seemed irrelevant. 500,000 yers? This was a ridiculous number.


    Sure, it was an upper limit, but what would happen if someone actually managed to touch this upper limit. Currently, with all of the inner guild members, core members, and high council members put together, the total yers in Crimson Abyss guild just barely amounted to 20,000.


    A lot of yers remained skeptical about joining the inner guild because of the special terms and special contract requirement. This was both an advantage and a disadvantage to the guild, but right now, it was mainly a disadvantage.


    Sure, with the outer members of the guild, they could somehow scrape together a 200,000 total, but 500,000 was still far off, and more importantly, these 200,000 would be extremely diluted. It was inevitable that spies would slip into the 200,000, and that could lead to a quick defeat.


    "Damn it." Alex gritted her teeth. Though it was not possible that any guild could muster this insane number, something told her that this was the fine print that was going to cost them the battle.


    ''Dragons of Justice'' was the second ranking guild in the Gresh Kingdom. Why would they foolishly attempt to challenge them without any trump cards in hand? They definitely had some sort of solid n, and her gut feeling told her that this was it.


    20,000 yers against 500,000? It would be aplete massacre. Even imagining it was extremely painful.


    "Damn it." She cursed loudly and walked back and forth. This was a huge headache. Moreover, what could she do in a mere 48 hours?


    Alex immediately called for a guild meeting. This was do or die. She would never forgive herself if she lost everything when Liam and Mia left the guild in her hands.


    So without dying further, she quicklymenced a guild meeting, and most yers were already en route because of this sudden notification.


    Soon all the core members were assembled in the huge guild hall, along with some of the high council members. Everyone had grave expressions while Alex filled in on the finer details about the challenge.


    "Guys, this is it. It''s time to get all hands on deck. I am open to any suggestions. If anyone has any ideas on how to win this battle, I am all ears." Alex announced with a sigh.


    Instantly, a pin drop silence filled the huge grand hall. No one opened their mouth to say anything. There was only an awkward, ufortable silence as the guild''s morale was at an all-time low.


    Even those who considered this a challenge and were in high spirits to prove themselves now looked a little shaken.


    The huge whopping 500,000 tightened like a noose around their necks. If this worst-case scenario came true¡­ No one was able to think of a feasible solution.


    It would be easy to ignore it as it was just a possibility, and they do not know the exact number of yers the other party was going to lose, but if they did that now and rxed, ultimately they might be on the losing side,pletely unprepared and vulnerable to a smack down.


    They were all capable, skilled yers, but their experience in this situation wascking. They could only silently mull over it in their heads, banging against the wall, thinking about what to do.


    With every passing second, this silence only became more deafening and in the midst of this mass confusion, an unexpected message popped in the guild chat.


    "How is everyone doing?"

 Chapter 672 Where are you?

    Chapter 672 Where are you?


    Liam copsed to the ground, heaving and panting,pletely exhausted after five hours of nonstop training.


    Manipting mana for so long was draining, to say the least. Especially because he was trying to regenerate the mana he was using actively, it was twice as taxing.


    However, all of this was worth it. Liam''s gaze fell on the several small craters adorning the ground in front of him. He had created all of this. A single casting of the new spell was enough to do this much damage.


    His hands were itching to try out the effect of this thing on live targets. It would be a killer finishing move. The only problem was that he was yet to perfect it.


    The system had already acknowledged the skill, but the darn old man did not seem to think so. Hence, he was stuck here, repeating the same thing over and over again, each time trying his best to improve.


    This sort of monotonous training was probably not many people''s cup of tea, but he did not mind it. He had yearned for an opportunity like this countless times in hisst life, and now that he had it, there was no way he would squander it.


    "Again!" Liam shouted as he gathered himself and stood up. However, just as he was about to start the training again, a system notification chimed, that too from his list of messages.


    Only now he noticed that he could finally ess messages again. Ever since he stepped into the barbarian and elven territories, he had beenpletely cut off from the rest of the world, and now he was back online again.


    "I need to thank the person who messaged me." Liam chuckled as his gaze wandered to take a look when suddenly he realized that he had kept all the messages silent save for one.


    An anxious feeling welled inside him as he opened this message hurriedly to take a look. Just like he expected, it was from that person, but¡­


    "I have searched everywhere. Your friend is still alive but he is not there in this world or theher world."


    The sender of the message was Kouske. Liam, however, was certain of the true sender of this message. He had finally received the answer that he had asked for. Unfortunately, it was not the one he was looking for.


    "Where are you? Are you suffering? Was I the reason for this?" His expression turned cold and deste as he stared at the charred ground in front of him. First, it was Luna, and now it was Derek.


    He clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white. He was sick and tired of seeing the consequences of his actions fall on others. He wanted to be strong to protect the ones he loved, but no matter what he did, it was never enough.


    Every step was an uphill battle. Just what happened in the PVP arena? Where was Derek? The guy trusted him to a fault, but he couldn''t do anything at all in the end.


    Suddenly, a warm furry body jumped onto him from behind. "Masta, don''t be sad." The little fox licked him on the cheeks.


    Liam stared in a daze at the pair of adorable eyes that looked back at him in worry. A secondter, he sighed, letting out a deep breath. "I should not get emotional. He is still alive. I will find him."


    As he grabbed the little fox and tossed her back onto the ground again, his mind wandered to the Milky way auction house and the strange world it belonged to.


    There was also the Divine realm. If Derek was not there in Xion or theher realm, perhaps he was in one of these two worlds. There was also the Abyss or perhaps¡­


    Suddenly another thought arose in his mind. What if these are not the only worlds? What if Derek was teleported to an entirely different world?


    The weapon he fought against back in the arena had a strange spirit of sorts attached to it. Could there be a separate world for such weapon spirits?


    Liam took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. The possibilities were endless, and hecked the knowledge to make assumptions here.


    His best bet was to seek advice from someone who could provide a more informed response based on their own experience.


    He looked toward the portal to see if the elf wasing back anytime soon, but unfortunately, it did not seem like it. The guy simply waltzed in and out on his own whim without any rhythm or pattern.


    "I guess I can only wait?"


    Though it was frustrating, Liam decided to leave this for now and return to his training. Time wascking. He did not have the luxury of simply sitting and worrying. Otherwise, he would only lose more people.


    He took another deep breath and was about to return to his training when he noticed something else that was strange. He had a blinking world announcement and several guild announcements.


    As he clicked open the various messages one after the other¡­ a cold glint shed past his eyes.


    Someone was dering war on them? That too, so soon after he decimated all the Gresh Kingdom guilds? Logically, they shouldn''t even have recovered from that blow yet.


    They were either foolish, which Liam did not believe they were, or they somehow obtained the information about his absence from the guild. Even if that was true, two S-Rank guilds rarely shed.


    In his past life, it was only the A-Rank guilds that ran around dering war on each other and were involved in petty struggles.


    The S-Rank guilds were like behemoths. Two behemoths did not sh, and the other guilds did not dare toy ims on them. But it looked like things were going to be different this time around.


    "If they are so sure of themselves as to issue a public challenge, then they must be nning something big." Liam clicked his tongue.


    And if that were the case, then this battle was not going to be an easy one¡­


    He opened the guild channel and saw that there was an ongoing guild meeting. Immediately, he sent a message.

 Chapter 673 What can we do in 48 hours?

    Chapter 673 What can we do in 48 hours?


    "How is everyone doing?"


    The moment the single message came through the guild channel, the mood in the guild hall changed. The previously drab and morose faces suddenly brightened up as if a gust of fresh air had been blown into the room.


    "Guild Leader!"


    "Boss Liam!"


    "Big Boss!"


    All the yers immediately started greeting Liam, one after the other. Seeing this, Alex quickly raised her hand. "That''s enough. We don''t know how much time he has, so let''s not waste it. Anyone typing in any unnecessary bullshit will be kicked out of their rank without exception."


    The red-haired beauty had menacing eyes, which meant that she was serious, so even Mei Mei did not dare type in the guild channel. Only Alex sent a message exining the main problem they were facing currently.


    On the opposite end, Liam also wore a thoughtful expression. "Hitting the maximum limit, huh? That is indeed worrisome." He mumbled to himself as this was not a situation he was also familiar with.


    Something like this had never happened in hisst life as two behemoths never shed, but now it was different. This was a fight between an S-Rank guild and an S-Rank guild, so this situation was very much possible.


    "Am I overthinking this?" Alex asked, to which Liam responded with a big ''No.''


    She was indeed correct in identifying this loophole. He could also see it. In fact, it was inly obvious if one looked at it from a different point of view.


    The guild had suddenly upgraded to an S-Rank guild, the secret of which shouldn''t be out just yet unless one of the previous existing S-Rank guilds decided to share it. In this case, it almost seemed as if two S-Rank guilds were putting their resources together to take down Crimson Abyss.


    Not to mention the recent Gu family guild, Jade Mountain''s dissolution. Several yers would have been freed up from this, and chances were that ''Dragons of Justice'' could have secretly put some effort into recruiting these yers.


    When he went against the currents and took out a huge post-apocalyptic yer overnight, Liam had already expected that there would be some consequences. Maybe this was it?


    Since he bulldozed the Gu family to the ground, now fate wants to return that favor?


    Liam chuckled. This was indeed a troublesome situation that could have crippled any other guild, but it would not be so easy to bring his guild down.


    After all, he had something that the other guilds did not have, knowledge about the future and also a lot of knowledge about this game.


    And unfortunately for them, the other party had issued the challenge a little too quickly. The appearance of three S-Rank guilds finally triggered the guild war feature of the game, but they should not have challenged them immediately afterward.


    They should have made themselves well aware of the different war zones first and studied a few strategies. This one slip-up was going to be quite expensive.


    Two S-Rank guilds might not have shed with each other in his previous life but several A-Rank guilds have shed with each other. After this can of worms was opened, this was verymon.


    And one particr war that was very famous was the one between Assasin''s guild and a guild from the Empire, the Sr res.


    Sr res was an established guild that was almost close to bing an S-Rank guild while the Assasin''s guild was still struggling to maintain its A-Rank. Their member numbers were also likewise, the entire battle extremely one-sided.


    However, in the war that ensued between the two guilds, the Assasin''s guild was the inevitable winner and this was not because of any secret weapons or special loopholes. It was because of the war zone they had selected.


    And for this battle, Liam was nning on using the same war zone.


    "Everyone, we will be using the g capture war zone for this guild battle. Keep this a secret and, of course, take your time to properly study the war zone. I will inform you of the final strategy soon." Liam sent the message in the guild chat.


    At the same time, he also privately messaged Alex, outlining the full strategy. The redhead''s eyes widened as she noticed how brilliant the n was. With this, even if the opposition hit the maximum limit in the number of yers, they still won''t be able to do anything.


    "Our victory this time should be so overpowering that no other guild should ever challenge us again. I am counting on you."


    With Liam here, everyone''s spirits were roused again, but surprisingly, Alex dismissed the meeting very fast.


    "Everyone just do your best and continue leveling and improving your skills. Some of you will get direct messages from me, so keep an eye out for that."


    After that, she finally sat down and started taking notes, listing out all the questions she had for him one after the other.


    "Liam, is there any way we can obtain more followers? What about the ones in theher realm?"


    This was the first question because she had heard about a demon who had helped the group escape once in theher realm. If they could somehow bring them here, they could surely win this war.


    However, once again there was only a big ''No''.


    "I cannot bring those guys here. It is not possible for them to use my portal, and they won''t be considered part of the guild if they are not here."


    "That''s too bad. What else can we do in 48 hours?" Alex sighed, but quickly another reply came in.


    "A lot. For example, I do know of a way you can get a follower," Liam answered.


    Alex was immediately all ears. Other than a kickass mount, this was also something that she wanted.


    "Did you increase your reputation with the divine temple like I asked you to?"


    "Yes! Yes!"


    "Then get moving. You have some work to do."

 Chapter 674 Come in

    Chapter 674 Come in


    Liampleted another training cycle and tried to recall what he knew about this particr follower while Alex arrived at the divine city as he instructed her to do.


    The thing was, this particr follower was a bitplicated. Unfortunately, this was the only information he had regarding any followers, as only this person was stupid enough to give all the details to the mass public. If only there were more boastful yers, his life would have been a lot easier.


    "I am here, Liam." Alex heaved, almost racing to the ce.


    "Good. Now search for a small orphan girl. She could be anywhere in the city. This is all the information I have."


    "What? What am I supposed to do with an orphan girl?"


    Liam chuckled. This part was actually a bit cliche, and he cringed even as he was exining. "A divine temple priestess discarded the child. It''s her child. If anyone from the temple knew that she was unfaithful, she would be punished, so she threw out her own kid."


    "I came to know from an NPC that this kid was very talented, perhaps on the same level as Mia. If you can sweet talk this kid, then she should easily be your follower. She could be a pocket healer to Asura, and together those two would be able to wreck the other side''s numbers.


    Alex grinned. That indeed sounded amazing. She immediately started looking around busily, on the streets, in alleys, near dumpsters, and on the backroads. She started searching every inch of the city.


    Meanwhile, Liam was already working on the other thing on his mind. He contacted a certain someone who was recently conducting trades with his guild regrly.


    "Boss! Of course, I will deliver. When you are asking, how can I refuse? I will get to work on it ASAP!" Madan immediately replied back. "Boss, I can also join the guild temporarily and quit after the war?"


    Liam chuckled and instantly stopped that train of thought. "That would not be necessary."


    After that, the next item on his agenda was once again rted to supplies. He opened up the list of newly recruited or rather newly groomed crafting yers and started going through their names one after another.


    In all honesty, Liam did not expect much from this. It was just ast-ditch attempt to see if there was anything that he could pick up on, any special names that he could recognize.


    "Oh, while I am at it. I should just go ahead and check the whole guild rooster." Liam dove into the long list of names and buried his head in the deep end.


    At first, his speed was good, but after the first hundred names, everything started to look the same. So he started alternating between training and looking at the names.


    Eventually, he gave up because it did not look like it was going to amount to anything. He closed the guild rooster and decided to focus on thest and final trump card he had.


    Liam closed the system interface and saw the old elf was not back yet. He then hurriedly logged out of the game. For thest and final trump card, he actually had to step outside of the game.


    "Yawn. This is going to be brutal." He stretched his limbs as he stepped out of the game capsule. There was a reason why he did not n on doing this just yet, but now that things had escted so much, there was no point holding back.


    After getting out of the apartmentplex, Liam hailed a cab and went directly to the nearby train station. He then got out after 5 stops at the next city, which was an hour away.


    He once again hailed a cab to go to the outskirts of this city, where a small, run-down building was located in the less privileged part of the city.


    It was a small building, but it was kept in immacte condition and had an austere, dignified air about it. "Yup, this is it." Liam nodded.


    He stepped inside, and immediately a young woman arrived at the door to greet him. "Brother, the dojo is not open now. The timings are on the notice board outside. Pleasee backter this evening."


    "Ah, my bad." Liam smiled awkwardly, but he did not move. "I am actually not here for the dojo hours. I would like to meet with the elder, please. I have traveled a long way for this."


    The hospitable attitude on the young woman''s face immediately disappeared, and now there was a slight frown.


    "Why? Why do you want to meet with him? Did you watch the movie Kung Fu Panda ande here or what?" Her brows knitted together, and she sternly looked at the young man in front of him.


    He had a pale face, and clear skin, almost with no blemishes or imperfections as if he was a model, and his body also looked like he hadn''t worked out a single day in his life. Why would someone like this want to meet with the Master?


    "Idiot." She mumbled and turned around to leave. "Get out and clear the space. You can''t meet the Master. Tch Tch." Nowadays, the wannabe crowd who wanted to learn something just to do a few poses for social media was on the rise, and all the idiots were falling into their dojo.


    Hearing her, Liam did not look one bit disheartened. Instead, he revealed a polite smile. "Then in that case, may I challenge you to a dual?"


    "What did you say?" The woman''s eyes instantly widened in shock. "Are you serious? You are taking this to a whole new level! Why waste everyone''s time like this?"


    Liam simply continued smiling.


    "You know what¡­ this works out too." The annoyed, homely face of the woman turned into a wickedly mocking one as she cracked her knuckles and red at Liam like a predator.


    "Come in. Come in. I will dly ept your challenge." She sneered and walked away, leading Liam inside.

 Chapter 675 A duel against me?

    Chapter 675 A duel against me?


    The inside of the building was structured like an old-fashioned dojo with a medium-sized fighting stage at the center. The young woman began to walk onto this stage without any exnation and turned around to arrogantly beckon Liam over with her index finger.


    "Get up."


    Liam smiled. With a nod, he, too, followed her and stepped onto the stage.


    "Let''s begin. I don''t have all day."


    Without wasting any more time, she cracked her knuckles again and directly dashed towards her prey. "Who do you think you are toe here and challenge me for a duel? I will teach you a lesson with a single hit!"


    Swoosh!


    A punch came flying toward Liam as the woman did not bother using any weapon or technique and jumped into straightforward hand-to-handbat. Moreover, this punch was aimed at his weak point in the neck, and one hit would immediately knock him out.


    "Not bad." Liam calmly smiled. Naturally, this was the reason he was here. Well, not for this young woman but for her grand-


    He couldn''t half-assedly focus anymore and snapped out of his thoughts. As soon as the punch was evaded, the young woman immediately twisted her body and went for the next attack.


    She feigned an attack with her other arm and, at the same time, sent a kick with her leg. With unwavering certainty that this time the fight would be won, confidence gleamed in her eyes. This confidence was well-deserved as each of her attacks was power packed to the brim.


    However¡­ her opponent was not an ordinary person.


    Pa! Pa! Pa! Liam blocked the first fake one, evaded her kick, and when she followed up with a third uppercut, he also blocked that easily. He then went one step further and threw a punch aimed at her shoulder,pletely tossing her bnce.


    Thud! The next second, the opponent was on the floor, ring at Liam like a wounded dog.


    "Do you want to continue?" Liam smiled.


    "Of course, you bastard." The other party jolted back up and dashed towards him again with a vengeance when suddenly a loud voice echoed in the empty dojo.


    "That''s enough. He is not an opponent you can win."


    The girl who was raging just a second ago abruptly froze and stopped in her tracks. She even took a step back and obediently bowed her head, though her eyes still seemed unwilling.


    "What business do you have here, young man?"


    Liam smiled and turned around to face the main reason he was here. "To meet with you, Master." He bowed.


    In front of him, there was an old woman who looked slender and austere. She had a head full of gray hair and almost no presence, resembling only a kind olddy next door, but Liam knew different.


    This woman was a monster in disguise. If she unleashed her true form, mana or not, everyone in front of her would quake.


    "Hmmm? And why do you want to meet me? Do I know you?" The old woman asked again. Her voice was still polite, but now there was a strange tension in the room.


    Liam unflinchingly looked at her and answered. "I want to challenge you to a duel, Master."


    "What?" The woman who was silently standing in front of Liam with her head bent down looked up in utter shock and disbelief.


    Lunatic! This guy was a total lunatic! He has definitely lost it and gone crazy.


    However, when her gaze fell upon the stranger''s face, she couldn''t deny it. There was a calmness about him. He looked steady and strong even when stepping into the lion''s cave willingly. Was this foolishness or something else?


    Just like her, the old woman also appeared equally shocked. For a second, she waspletely speechless and looked startled, but she eventually broke down into a warm smile.


    "Ha Ha Ha. It''s been a while since someone challenged me. Are you sure about this?" Still wearing the same warm smile on her face, she also started walking toward the fighting stage.


    So she did not outright reject me? Liam smiled awkwardly.


    Naturally, this made his work here easier, but something told him that the warm smile was just a facade. The closer the old woman approached the stage, the more nervous he got.


    And when the old master finally took a step into the fighting ring, the warm smile was no longer to be seen. "Are you sure about this brat? I will not ask again."


    The old master''s aura was only slightly leaking out, and even that was enough to make him sweat. However, Liam managed to still keep calm. He hade here prepared for this, and he was not going to leave without aplishing it.


    "Yes, I am sure." He bowed again, and then added with a smirk, "If I win, ording to the dojo rules, I can make a request?"


    "Oh?" Once again, the old granny and the young woman, both of them looked shocked. Who was this person?


    "You want to make a request? Can I know what this request is?" The granny asked in an amused tone.


    "I think I will say that after the dual."


    A vein on the woman''s forehead throbbed at hearing Liam''s reply. The granny smiled again, revealing a very familiar predatory grin. She also cracked her knuckles. Like grandmother, like granddaughter.


    "Ok, then shall we start? Clear the stage, Ning Xi."


    The young girl nodded and hurriedly stepped out of the fighting stage, but not before giving Liam a pitiful look. Poor fool! He was going to get thrashed today.


    The second she stepped off the stage, the granny immediately revealed her true form, no longer holding back. She arrogantly looked at Liam as if she was challenging him.


    "These days everyone thinks that I have grown old. Ha Ha Ha. Prepare yourself, brat." Without any warning, the old granny instantly moved,ing to stand in front of Liam.


    What incredible speed! Liam shuddered. He waspletely unable to react at all.


    From outside, Ning Xi sneered. This fight was already over. What an idiot!


    Her grin widened at the same time the old woman''s hand also struck forward. Coincidentally, she was targeting the same vital point on the neck, aiming for a one-hit knockout.


    And Liam couldn''t even react to the granny''s movements, how would he be able to block such an attack? This was definitely game over.


    However, before the smile on the granny''s face and the grin on the granddaughter''s face could fully form, suddenly something else happened.


    White fog covered the entire stage, even seeping out of it, and the old woman''s blow struck something solid, and it was not Liam''s body.


    "What in the name of¡­"


    The grandmother and granddaughter pair just stared in disbelief at the unbelievable scene in front of them. Just what the hell was happening?

 Chapter 676 l come in peace

    Chapter 676 le in peace


    "What are you? What are these vile creatures?" Perhaps because they were caught off guard by something that was not supposed to exist, the granny was shocked for a moment, but after that, her adaptability was rather quick.


    She no longer reeled from shock or fear. Instead, she reached for a sword on the wall that had previously only served as decoration. Unsheathing the weapon, she dashed towards the monstrosities that spilled into her home and sullied it.


    sh. sh. sh.


    There was no fear in her eyes as she single-handedly started fighting against creatures that she hadn''t dreamed about in her worst nightmares.


    "Master!" Ning Xi shouted, the other party in the room, shouted in rm. The old woman might not recognize these creatures but she was a person of the younger generation, and no matter how auspicious and isted their dojo was, news about ''Evolution Online'' still seeped through.


    So she knew for a fact that these creatures were the ones from the strange game. But how the hell were they here? In their dojo? And, more importantly, outside of the game? Who was this person?


    She stared at Liam with a million questions running through her mind.


    On the other side, the old woman was putting on a sessful one-woman show. All her movements were precise, crisp, and dazzling. She was single-handedly whipping the soul army into shape.


    Observing all of this, Liam ruffled his head. He knew that this was not going to be easy. The woman was a powerful warrior but seeing her fight on equal footing with his level 40 plus minions, the respect he had for her only grew more.


    But if things continued going in this direction, it was inevitable that she was going to get hurt. The level difference was simply too much, and his minions were all not freshly forged newbies.


    They were already battle prepped. They were holding back right now because of hismand, and it was only a matter of time before a slip-up urred.


    Under no circumstance did Liam want that to happen. He did not know a lot of decent human beings in hisst life, but this person was one of them.


    Perhaps because of their proximity, they had crossed paths in more than one instance, and every single time she had saved him even though he ''belonged'' to the detestable Gu family guild.


    She did not know who he was, or what his backstory was. She simply saved the whole group without asking a single question. At that time, he had yearned for bing someone like her, a person who possessed a strength that was even capable of saving the enemies.


    And now¡­ here they were¡­ crossing paths again.


    "Stop," Liam shouted, his voice resounding loudly amidst the nging noises. "Remember what you said before. I am not an opponent that you can fight. Let''s stop this. I am not here to fight you."


    Swing. The granny instantly stopped and her eyes darted toward Liam. Her focus finally shifted from the undead to Liam, and instead of fighting with a craze, she started paying attention.


    That''s right. Everything started with this brat. He summoned these ungodly things that gave a chill to someone like her. So this was the main person she needed to fight and take down.


    She dashed towards Liam, her weapon drawn out like a wild animal.


    Liam''s eyes widened, but he did not bother even moving an inch. That was because¡­ before the old woman could ever reach him, there was a minion already standing in front of him, Crawford.


    The guy sent her flying back. "That''s enough. PLEASE listen to me. I do not want to hurt you or your family. I am not an enemy."


    Liam knew that the monster nick-named ''Empress'' was not one to give up. So naturally, he had another n. He stepped forward and before the granny could pounce on him once again, he conjured a big old ball of fire.


    It was nowhere near what he could do inside the game, but it was enough for now, at least to get her attention. The old woman was already at her limit, and when she saw the ball of fire, just like Liam expected, she copsed.


    What the hell was happening around her?


    Liam sighed and walked closer to her. "Rx, please. You cannot win against me, and I am not here to fight with you. Ie here in peace. I need to talk to you. This challenge is just for you to take me seriously."


    The old woman silently stared at the ground. She seemed to be calming down, but at the same time, there was still hesitation in her eyes.


    Seeing this, Liam turned to the other party in the room. "Ning Xi? Can you help her get up and sit? We need to talk. This is important. Don''t tell me that you haven''t heard about the recent deaths because of the game."


    Ning Xi dumbly nodded.


    "I am here to tell you that there is more to this," Liam exined. Thankfully, convincing her was easier than convincing the old tigress.


    A few minutester¡­


    Ning Xi closed the dojo for the day, and the grandma and granddaughter pair sat down in front of Liam with solemn expressions. Tea was served, and the duo stared at Liam with a million questions in their minds.


    Liam chuckled awkwardly, "Don''t ask me for an exnation. I don''t have any."


    The other two were not in the mood foredy, so they didn''tugh.


    So Liam could only continue. He tried his best to briefly talk about everything without scaring the bejesus out of the duo.


    "I am also just like you, trying to figure everything out, just that I know a little bit more. As you can see, the game can do so much more than simply kill yers."


    The duo nodded, and Liam smiled.


    "And I don''t think that is the end. I think our world is changing."

 Chapter 677 What will the future bring?

    Chapter 677 What will the future bring?


    Several minutester, after Liam had exined everything as best he could, the olddy still said nothing as she lifted her teacup to her lips for another sip. There were myriad emotions swirling in her eyes as she wordlessly surveyed the person in front of her.


    Liam also did not rush her. What he had exposed them to was not something that could be disgusted easily. So he gave them a few minutes to think things over.


    Finally, the elder opened her mouth after ten more minutes or so. "Let''s say that I believe everything you are telling me. Now, what do you want from me?"


    Liam smiled. This part was simple. There was only one thing he wanted from her. "I want you to join my guild."


    "Hmm?" The old woman raised her brow in surprise. Coincidentally, there was a different reaction from her granddaughter. Ning Xi seemed to clutch her dress in excitement.


    It looked like this girl was already interested in ying the game but perhaps did not do so because of the strict rules of the dojo.


    "Let me be more clear." Liam reiterated. "I want you and your dojo members to join my guild. Our guild has the resources to quickly limate you to the game and also help provide you with certain resources for your growth and safety."


    The old woman nodded. Now she understood Liam''s purpose ining to visit her, but there was no free lunch in this world, so the next question was obviouslying. "And what do you want from me?"


    "In summary, nothing. I simply want you to join us and fight alongside us. When the world around us inevitably changes, there would be now or no government."


    "There could be terrifying dangers lurking in many corners that no one person or one group would be able to face." He paused.


    "When that timees, I want us to together fight for our survival."


    The old woman''s eyes silently widened as she listened to this. There was also nothing else Liam could say, so he stood up shortly after that.


    "You don''t have to give me an answer right away. Take your time. Though I do want to be honest with you, I came here today because our guild is facing a huge challenge before the end of the day."


    "So if you want, you can join the game and y with our guild for the next week and then make a decision whether you want to stay with us or not. I am not going topel you."


    "But mark my words. It doesn''t matter if you stand by us or not, but at the very least log into the game and y it. Otherwise, when the world changes, you might be left behind or worse."


    Liam waited for a response, but the duo still remained silent. Unfortunately, this was all the time he had for them. There was really nothing more he could say to convince them if they weren''t already convinced.


    "This is my address and contact number. Please give me a call and leave a message when you have made the decision. I trust that you will not reveal the things which happened here to anyone else?"


    The old woman nodded. Liam then bowed to her and began to leave.


    Though there was still a chance that he might receive the callter, he knew that if he walked out of here today without getting any response from the olddy, the chances of them joining the guild were really slim.


    There was nothing more he could do about it. Unlike Alex or Mia, this was not someone he wished to coerce into submission. He owed her at least that much.


    Seeing Liam silently leave, Ning Xi began getting restless. "Grandma¡­ stop him. Say something. I have heard about his guild, Crimson Abyss. He is really not lying to us. I think he is genuinely trying to help us."


    "Hmmm? You think so?" The olddy muttered in deep thought, but even so, she watched Liam leave and did not say anything. She simply closed her eyes andid back.


    "I thought I had already seen everything there was to see in my life but is it still not time for me to pass on peacefully? What will the future bring?"


    "Grandma¡­"


    ***


    At the city''s train station, Liam stood on the tform in deep thought, waiting for the next train to arrive. As the train station was on an elevated tform, he looked through the window to see the beautiful cityscape.


    Unfortunately, everything was going to be ruined really soon. But he did not care too much about it. Maybe the world needed an awakening before itpletely fell into the abyss of human greed and became a concrete jungle with no end in sight.


    Rather what he cared about was¡­


    "Did I forget anything else?" He looked around the cityscape, wondering if there was any other item or artifact that he should be plundering before things turned to shit.


    If only he had more time on his hands, he could have summoned the strange rabbit out and used her like a treasure detector. Yup, that was really not a bad idea.


    ''Should I maybe give the rabbit to one of the guild''s family members and ask them to go around different ces?'' Liam pondered but quickly decided against it as it would be too risky.


    Most special items or artifacts would be in special ces, and if the rabbit ran around to casually steal something, then they might get caught. It was just not worth the hassle.


    Chucking away that idea, Liam silently hummed as he peaked forward to check if the train wasing when, all of a sudden, another voice shouted his name from the back.


    "Hey! Hey! Wait! Don''t go."


    "Hmmm?" Liam smiled. He did not have to look back to see who it was. It seemed like his trip this time was not a total waste after all.

 Chapter 678 l offer same day delivery services

    Chapter 678 l offer same day delivery services


    "Liam. Huff. Huff. Master has agreed to your terms." Ning Xi informed Liam in a hurry. She appeared to have raced up the ten flights of stairs to reach him in time.


    "That''s good."


    "But what about the equipment? Isn''t there a huge shortage of gaming capsules at the moment?"


    "Leave that part to me. I will have the gaming capsules delivered to your addresster today."


    "What?" It was so easy? Ning Xi couldn''t believe it.


    Liam smiled and nodded again, easing the anxious expression on the woman''s face slightly.


    "Alright. If there is anything else, we canmunicate by phone or you can ask other guild members inside the game. My train is here. I will leave now."


    "Un." Ning Xi reluctantly looked at Liam as he climbed onto the train. For some reason, his calm expression irked her. It was as if they were all pawns being used by this man.


    "Hey, we are only joining on a trial basis. Just because you gave us the gaming capsules, don''t expect anything from us." She suddenly feltpelled to remind him.


    However, unexpectedly, Liam only continued to smile. "I wouldn''t have it any other way."


    The train sped off, and the mysterious stranger who had appeared today disappeared almost as quickly. Ning Xi stood in a trance at the same spot for several minutes and then finally left the station as there was a lot they needed to prepare for.


    Was the world really going to changepletely? She gulped.


    ***


    After returning home, Liam immediately logged back into the game. He had wasted quite a bit of precious time, but it was a necessary evil and there was nothing he could do about it.


    "I hope that asshole is not around." He mumbled as he opened his eyes within the same time space. Of course, immediately a voice boomed in response.


    "What did you say?"


    Bastard! I know you can hear me! The guy hadpletely disappeared for hours together, but now he was back. Liam inwardly cursed his bad luck and shook his head.


    "Nothing, Master. Can I demonstrate to you my progress?"


    The old hulking elfughed at his bad attempt to change the topic. A sinister light shone in his eyes as he started walking towards Liam with a grin. "Sure. That''s exactly what I had in mind."


    And for the third time in a row, Liam saw someone cracking their knuckles and walking towards him with a pair of menacing eyes. However, this time, he did not dare to be confident or arrogant.


    This was going to hurt!


    Liam did not even have a chance to inform Alex or anyone else from the guild about the recent addition as the old monster directly jumped into the scene and started pummeling him without any restraint.


    But unlike before, his strength was somewhat restrained. So Liam was able to somewhat fight back and dodge.


    "Come on. Put your back into it. Didn''t you train so hard all this time?"


    Pa! Pa! Pa!


    "I can only imagine how hard you''ve been training. You must be so sure of your abilities that you logged out of the game, wasting several hours of this precious time."


    Liam''s eyes widened. Did this guy just say log out of the game? Aren''t NPCs supposed to be unaware of something like this?


    Moreover, this was not the first time this elf had let slip something like this. This wasn''t the first time something like this had happened, and hisment only served to reinforce his wishful thinking.


    This elf in front of him was perhaps the key to everything!


    "You still dare to think about some nonsense while you are sparring with me? I guess you are too good for this level of strength. Why don''t I kick things up a notch?"


    Fuck! Liam immediately snapped out of his thoughts and paid attention to the monster who was hurling punches at him. He needed to have a long chat with this monster, but that had to wait. For now, he needed to survive.


    "Stop half-assing things. I can see that you use mana to bolster your physique, but once again you are only barely scratching the surface. Go all the way and push your body. Stuff your mana into every cell of your body. Use every wisp of mana you have to make yourself stronger. Get it together."


    Crack! The elf tossed another punch, which sent Liam flying away.


    However, at thest minute, he managed to do exactly as he was told and churned his mana core to bring out more agility and bnced himself as hended on his feet.


    A grin crossed Liam''s face, but the elf sneered at him. "We haven''t even begun, brat. "Don''t get too cocky just yet."


    Liam let out a deep breath and focused as the next batch of hitsnded on him like a hurricane. As for the guild battle, he had already helped the best that he could.


    With the Empress added to the team and the game n, the chances of their victory were now 60-40 at best. The rest would have to be handled by the guild.


    There was simply no other choice. The guild battle was important but, at the same time, this old elf in front of him was several times more important.


    There was nothing more he would be able to do now. This was where his focus and concentration needed to be.


    And if the guild could not manage this much on their own, perhaps that endeavor was a wasted effort from the beginning. This challenge was nothing like what was going toe in the future.


    If they are not prepared for this, then there was no point in grooming more yers. It was not possible for him to always carry them. They needed to stand strong on their own.


    So this would be a test for everything. They would eithere out stronger than ever or fade into obscurity.

 Chapter 679 Here, have some candy

    Chapter 679 Here, have some candy


    Meanwhile¡­ back at the Gresh Kingdom¡­


    The entire Kingdom was in an uproar because of back to back staggering announcements. First, it was the Gu family''s massacre, then it was the appearance of another S-Rank guild, and finally, two S-Rank guilds were going to sh against each other!


    This was especially good news for all the smaller guilds and particrly the rest of the guilds upying the top ten guild ranking roster. The smaller sharks swam frantically in search of blood as the two whales shed.


    The next few hours would y a significant role in determining the guildndscape for the Gresh Kingdom, so preparations were underway in full force.


    Not just the shing guilds but everyone was emptying out the auction house by throwing more and more gold coins into cirction, stockpiling all the resources.


    The true importance of lifestyle yers to a guild shone at this moment, as the guild that held the upper hand in resources would undoubtedly have a higher chance.


    So every single member of the several guilds was scrambling to obtain potions and consumables and was hoarding things left and right like they were toilet paper.


    In the midst of thismotion, the acting guild leader of the star of this show, Crimson Abyss was surprisingly doing something different.


    "Kid,e on. This is really tasty. Please try some first," Alex begged the ten year old girl in front of her. She tracked down the person Liam had asked her to find, but that seemed like the least of her worries at the moment.


    Right now she was squatting in front of four small kids, all about the same age. Alex was very sure that the kid she was looking for was among the four, but the problem was that it was very difficult to make any of them like her or even trust her.


    Being orphans, the bunch had severe trust and abandonment issues. They did not ept anything from her, not food or clothes or even small berries. Heck, they did not even talk to her.


    And she had already sunk three hours into this.


    "Dear Lord, save me," Alex grumbled and stepped away to take a break. Although she had never had much patience for kids in general, these four were doing everything they could to make her life difficult.


    And the strategy right now was not working.


    She couldn''t simply give them something good and increase her favorability with them. It was not that straightforward, so she had to fall back and think about this.


    Luckily for her, these were just kids, so it was easy to trick them. After moving away, she started observing them from a distance. Perhaps something in their routine would give her the opportunity to step in and save the day.


    And this opportunity arrived sooner than she expected.


    After a few minutes, the four kids tip-toed towards the bazaar area and were sneakily trying to shoplift some fruits. Of course, since the shopkeepers were already used to seeing their sad little faces, the ensuing scene left little for the imagination.


    The four of them were instantly caught!


    But Alex still did not budge from her ce. "Not yet," she muttered under her breath and sat tight, allowing things to y out in front of her.


    Shortly afterward, a group of guards arrived and started strong-arming the four children.


    "They are taking them to the prison?" She quickly stood up because that would be troublesome, but the next second, something unexpected happened.


    The four guards started thrashing the four kids ruthlessly. "We tell you vermin to repent every day and you still won''t change?"


    "Repent for your sins!"


    "It is a cardinal sin to steal!"


    "The Holy Land is not a ce for thieves."


    Seeing the four kids being heartlessly beaten up, Alex couldn''t stay still and rushed forward. "That''s enough." She shouted at the guards.


    The men turned to re at her, but her reputation with the divine temple worked magic as their gaze softened up almost immediately. "Yes, My Lady." They stepped back obediently.


    Alex also calmed down a little at this time and cleared her throat. This game was so realistic that the outside world and this world blurred sometimes. Especially because they were spending their time day in and day out here, it was hard to remember that this was just a game.


    And being clear-headed was never Alex''s forte so she got a little carried away seeing how badly the kids were getting beaten. But now she calmed down and gave a polite nod to the guards.


    "Mmmm. You can get back to your post. It seems that your method of teaching these kids a lesson is not working. I will handle them personally from now on. There is no need to waste your valuable time."


    "Yes, My Lady." The guards were quick to agree, as they did not care too much about these pipsqueaks. They simply handed the chains to Alex.


    Each kid was cuffed at one of the legs, hands, and the neck. Anyone''s heart would ache to see a small child in this condition, but the people around her only seemed to raise their noses at their plight and walk away. They were happy that the four little thieves got what they deserved.


    "Come. Follow me." Alex mumbled, trying to not pay attention to the ''holier than thou'' people around her. She then started walking out of the city.


    She didn''t go too far and stopped near one of the ponds on the city''s outskirts. "Ok, we should be fine here." She took out the key the guard gave her and started unlocking the chains one after the other.


    Normally, in this situation, the four children should be grateful to her and hug her and sob to her, crying about their difficult lives, but these four appeared to have different thoughts.


    One red at her, the other two were indifferent, and thest one even spat at her. Alex''s face twitched. "You little¡­" She grumbled and ignored the idiot.


    At this point, she was truly speechless. Just what the hell was she supposed to do to win these idiots over? She no longer knew!


    However, there was a reason she had brought them here. She was not sure if this was going to help or not but at least they won''t keep getting beaten up like stray dogs day after day.


    "Come here and sit down. Observe me carefully."


    Naturally, the four remained indifferent. Alex sighed and went ahead to take something out of her inventory. It was a small fishing rod.


    In fact, this was the only crafting-rted item she carried with her. Not because she was trying to do something, but because this was a special memory for her.


    When her parents were still alive, she used to go fishing with her father.


    And now it''s been years since she did something like this. When she first entered the game, she saw thismon rank fishing rod being sold and purchased it, but this was the first time she was using it.


    "Come and sit near me," Alex called out again and walked over to sit near the pond. Fortunately this time, the four kids obediently listened to her, probably out of sheer curiosity.


    Alex rolled her eyes. She could never understand kids! Anyway, she continued exining. "Here, you should hold the rod like this, hook a worm, and then toss it into the pond."


    The hook was promptly tossed into the pond, and not long afterward, a juicy little fish also got caught. "See, now all you have to do is pull it back up with some force."


    "Ta da!"


    She pulled the rod towards her, revealing a small, twitching fish. These fish were nothing special, just normal, harmless beings that posed no danger and also gave no experience points.


    They were also not very nutritious or tasty, so there was plenty in the pond.


    The four kids'' eyes glittered as they watched Alex in action. She removed the fish from the hook in one swift motion and then banged it up a little to stop its suffering.


    "And now, your meal is ready."


    "Next, we will get a small fire going." She set up everything, slowly teaching the group one step after another, and soon a good roast was on the way.


    "5 more minutes and it should be ready. Who is hungry?" She grinned and looked up at the kids. The four were already drooling, their previous brash attitudepletely wiped away.


    "Have you all never tasted fish before?" She cut up the fish into four portions and gave each kid one portion. This time the four did not put on any act and refuse her. They immediately epted it, though the fourth one, the most problematic one, still scowled a little.


    The vein on Alex''s forehead throbbed, but she decided to ignore it. "Listen up, brats. What I showed you just now, was it easy enough?"


    The four kids nodded while busily munching down the roasted fish. It was probably not so tasty, but since they were starving, they seemed to really enjoy the meal.


    "If this is easy enough, then you cane here and get a free meal whenever you want. I know eating fish all the time might get old, but at least you don''t have to steal and get beaten up anymore."


    "Here, you can have my fishing rod."


    The four kids suddenly stopped eating and looked at Alex in a daze, but the redhead snorted and turned her head. "What are you looking at? This is just a cheap rod. I was going to throw it away, so I am giving it for free. Whatever."


    She then looked back at the kids from the corner of her eyes to see that they were all smiling at her. Alex sighed. This was the first time she had seen them smile in thest few hours.

 Chapter 680 New friends of the guild

    Chapter 680 New friends of the guild


    With four new minions tagging along behind her, Alex once again returned to divine city.


    After the fish, there was nothing more left to be done. Four prompts popped out one after the other, and all four kids were willing to be her followers.


    Liam had only asked her to get the one follower, but now it looked like she aced the mission, having gotten four for the price of one.


    However, was any of these four actually the one she was looking for? This was something she had yet to find out.


    Alex walked into the testing building along with the four and then paid to get all of them examined.


    "What is this, big sis?" One of the kids asked.


    "Oh, this? I just want to see what your talents are so that when you grow bigger and stronger, you can make the right decisions. And just sis is fine. No need to call me big sis." Alex smiled awkwardly.


    All the kids nodded, looking around curiously. The tester then started examining all of them one by one.


    He had a bored look on his face upon seeing the bunch of dirty orphans and had half a mind to ask them to scram. However, out of respect for the pdin, he half-heartedly did the examinations.


    "Average affinity with divine element and nature."


    "Above average affinity with fire."


    "Below averge affinity for mana."


    And finally, when thest and the most troublesome kid stepped forward¡­


    Alex was almost on the verge of chewing out her nails. Thankfully, the testing crystal shone with a blinding splendor.


    "SSS affinity!" The NPC screamed in rm. Everyone in the big room immediately rushed forward to see the test results, and Alex grinned with pride as it was her follower''s results.


    This brought back fond and not so fond memories of when she had first witnessed a random nobody get SSS affinity, followed by Mia getting SSS affinity.


    And now, finally, she also had an SSS affinity tag to her, even though it was just her follower. It felt good.


    Ignoring all the stupified NPCs, she started walking out of the testing center in glee. She had barely taken a few steps when a voice snapped her out of her happy ce.


    "Aunty Alex, what did my test say? Aren''t I good?"


    With her lips twitching, Alex turned around to re at the little imp. "Yes, you are." From the devilish grin, she knew that the girl was doing it on purpose, so she didn''t bother correcting the little prefix she used for her.


    Alex immediately ushered the bunch of them to the guild. Now that she had gotten this key follower, she needed to take care of other things. There wasn''t much time left. The little twerp also needed to level up, and so on, to be more useful.


    Just as she was about to call back one of the guild members who was running through the Rock Temple dungeon grind runs, suddenly a new group of people waltzed into the guild residence.


    There were about forty of them, and all forty had the same set of beginner clothes. So it was very hard to miss the gang. More importantly, each of them had an arrogant attitude that was contrary to the newbie clothes they were wearing.


    "What the hell? Who are these people?" Alex was waiting for the little troublemaker to wash up ande out, and it was impossible for her to miss this obnoxious group.


    "Did you guys just join the game today?" She loudly inquired.


    The group, however,pletely ignored her. Only a couple of secondster, the old woman at the center muttered something, and one of the new yers rushed forward toward Alex.


    "Your Guild Master sent us here. You need to attend to us."


    "Hmmm?" Alex cocked her brow and looked at the young woman in front of her. "Guild Master? Then who am I?"


    She wanted the person to quake from hearing her speak, but weirdly enough, the young woman still looked arrogant. "Liam sent us here. Don''t waste our time."


    "The fuck?" Alex almost flew off the handle, but she stopped herself as she had heard a very familiar name.


    "What did you say? Liam sent you here? What Liam? What are you bbering about?"


    "I said do not waste my time. Liam, the guild leader of the Crimson Abyss guild, sent us here. Is this not the guild''s residence? He said you need some help with the war? He asked us to talk any of the high council members. Do you know who they are? If you know, nod yes, else keep moving."


    Alex stood stupified. This was not all. The young woman also proceeded to give the correct name of the city they lived in and said that Liam visited them earlier today. What the hell was happening?


    Meanwhile, a little girl ran towards her from the other side. "Aunty Alex! I am ready, let''s go!" The little girl gave a wicked, naughty smile.


    Turning left to right, Alex gaped incredulously at the obnoxious kid and the equally annoying group of strangers. All new additions to the guild and all of them at Level 1.


    More importantly, all of them were supposed to y a key role in the guild war? What the hell?


    ''Are you fucking kidding me?'' She hurriedly opened the system interface and furiously typed in the chat to talk to Liam, but naturally, the bastard was unresponsive. How very convenient.


    So she was supposed to babysit these forty something people? This was Deja Vu, a repeat of the damned ''cleanse thend'' quest and her misery repeating all over again.


    ''Nope. Nope. Nope. Not happening.'' She shook her head. She refused to be used like a pawn to babysit and carry these idiots. But then again, Liam wouldn''t have asked her to do this unless it was important.


    "Ah, damn it. Fine. One run. That''s it. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."


    "Hmmm? You swear a lot, Aunty Alex."


    "Shut up and follow me." Alex scoffed. She then turned towards the forty idiots crowding the entrance and pretty much said the same thing.


    It would be too difficult to take the whole group all the way up to the rock temple. She was also curious to see what was so special about this bunch, so she decided on apromise.


    "Let''s do a few runs together. There is a dungeon nearby, so follow me."


    Among all the guilds in the Kingdom or perhaps even the entire game, only Crimson Abyss got to enjoy this unique perk.


    Thanks to the location of their guild, almost four of the dungeons close to the guild residence were solely used by the guild members. Others avoided the area like the gue.


    One of these four dungeons was the wasp nest, and this was Alex''s target. As a Level 20 dungeon, it was perfect to train these noobs, and if something got out of control, she alone was enough to manage the chaos.


    The group quickly arrived at the dungeon, and Alex gave a stern stare to the little kid. "Always stand behind me. Don''t go out of my sight." She wanted to protect the child when they were inside the dungeon.


    As for the others, she wasn''t too concerned. It wouldn''t matter a lot if a few of them died a couple of times. It was almost impossible to learn to fight without dying. It was part and parcel of the game.


    Irrespectively, she gave a cursory nce to the rest of the group as well. Some of them had weapons, and some of them did not. "Does anyone need anything? I am carrying some weapons with me?" Alex offered.


    However, no one responded. So she massaged her brows and continued, "Try to pay attention inside. Fighting here is not the same as in movies or something. You need some time to get used to things, so be patient."


    The group nodded. She couldn''t tell if they were simply nodding or if they actually understood shit.


    "Also, try not to be afraid of the monster. They might be temporarily stronger than you, but once you level up, you can be stronger than them. Got it?"


    Once again, there was no response. Just a nod.


    "Alright." Alex shook her head helplessly and started walking into the dungeon. "Follow me." All the forty noobs and the little girl also entered the dungeon.


    Everyone gasped immediately as they saw apletely different world inside the portal. As opposed to the forest they were standing in, once they crossed the portal, there were lush green rolling valleys all around them.


    And in these valleys, there were some sparsely located trees here and there. Of course, hanging from each of these trees was a gigantic wasp nest. This was the wasp nest dungeon. A very basic Level 20 dungeon.


    However, Alex looked around to see everyone standing in shock, staring at this in amazement. These noobs were clearly not even used to the game yet. What the hell was the point in training them now?


    "This is going to suck." She grumbled as she dashed forward and sliced the nearest nest.


    ****


    New cover art is Mia


    If you want to support novel characters'' illustrations, visit my P.a.t.r.e.o.n website: pat reon/yolohy

 Chapter 681 Monsters

    Chapter 681 Monsters


    "A total waste of time." Alex grumbled and brought down the first nest. Immediately six wasps popped out of the nest and started hovering around her.


    "Come on. Don''t just stand there. Start doing something." She sighed in boredom at the weak creatures. She only had to taunt barely to keep them in alive.


    In all honesty, this was a waste of everyone''s time since she was too high-leveled for this dungeon. This being amon dungeon, she was able to enter with the noobs, but that was it.


    No one was going to get any experience points from it. So it was just a waste of time. However, their guild was located in a high level region, and this was the only low level zone in the region.


    "Maybe I should have taken them all to Yleka City and let them farm like the other beginners." She thought out loud, absent-mindedly ying with the wasps. "Wait a second, how did these peoplee to the guild residence in the first ce?"


    The journey from the center to the edge was full of higher level beasts and these guys were still in noob clothes so they clearly do not have any mounts or money for carriages. How did they do it?


    Just as Alex was thinking about this, suddenly dull thudding noises sounded all around her. Half the wasps she was ying with were dead.


    "Huh?" But no one was standing near her. Well, there was one person. How could one level 1 yer kill three level 20 wasps?


    She hadn''t even finished her thought before the answer to her question jumped out at her. The one person standing near her, moved once again, punching forward at the wasps with her bare hands.


    Ka cha Ka cha Ka cha


    Alex recognized some of her moves as being from boxing or MMA, but the speed and precision with which she was performing them were simply incredible. No normal person was capable of fighting like that.


    In the blink of an eye, all six wasps were lying on the ground, twitching and wriggling. But wait, something was wrong here. Alex waited and waited for the dude to finish the wasps.


    However, that never happened. Instead, he went back to start discussing with the granny what he felt he had done wrong.


    Just what the hell was happening here? Did Liam get these people from some weird fighting cult? And then it struck her! That''s exactly what he had done! No wonder they were so strong.


    But¡­ "Hey! Hey! Why are you not killing them off?" Alex pped her hands, grabbing the attention of the bunch.


    "Hmmm?" The person looked at her in confusion. "Why hurt innocent creatures? I have already defeated them." He shrugged.


    "What¡­" Alex opened and closed her mouth wordlessly. She looked at the group with a deadpan expression as all of them seemed to look at each other and nod in agreement. Under what rock were these people living?


    Slowly, it dawned on her¡­ perhaps¡­


    "Hey¡­ on the way to the guild residence¡­ did you guys fight with some beasts?"


    "Hmmm? Yes"


    "And you didn''t kill those too?"


    "Yes?"


    Alex''s face twitched, but she managed to remain calm. "And what level beasts did you manage to fight?"


    "Level 30?"


    "What did you say?" Alex gaped in shock. A level 1 yer fighting with a level 30 beast? Was this guy really serious? This was basically defying the rules of the whole damn game.


    Now she understood why Liam had bothered to actually log out and recruit these people in person. They were way too overpowered!


    With them, their guild''s strength would definitely go up a notch, and if others received pointers from these people, the whole group''s fighting capabilities would collectively increase. This was incredible.


    Alex suddenly had a new idea. This level 20 dungeon perhaps wasn''t a big deal to these people after all. "Let''s all just go back out ande back in."


    And once they were out, she kicked herself out of the party.


    "Now, you all can go in and clear the whole dungeon." No one questioned her, and they did what she said to the letter. Talented and rule following. Damn! This unit was going to be powerful.


    But she knew that she was not the leader to this group. It was the old woman. Would this person really work under them?


    "Madam?" She called out to the granny. "There is no need for everyone to fight one by one. I suggest you guys clear the dungeon as fast as possible."


    The granny nodded and the group walked in.


    "And for God''s sake, please kill the damned wasps! Otherwise, you won''t be stronger." Her voice boomed loudly, though she did not know if this was going to do any good or not.


    She sighed and tiredly sat down on the ground, inhaling the scent of fresh grass around her. "Follower check. Strange new recruits check. Consumables check. Strategy check. What else can I do?"


    Thinking about this, she suddenly realized who was the perfect person to deal with these new recruits and bring them up to speed. She opened the system interface and started to message Rey.


    "Yup. He should do it. Perhaps some discipline from these people might stick to him." Alex giggled to herself. A secondter, she froze as the group of people walked out of the dungeon.


    "Wait a second? It''s only been ten minutes, right? Good Lord. These guys are all monsters!"


    She dazedly asked the group to keep running the dungeon again and again. It took only one hour for the whole group of forty to level up to 10. That had to be the fast leveling pace!


    Rey also arrived in the meantime and was equally shocked. Alex dumped the hateful group onto him and immediately fled. This was not going to work. If she did not train harder and faster, she was going to be fucking left behind!


    Naturally, she also dumped the little twerp onto Rey''s head and got the hell out of there. There were still more quests for her to get done at the divine temple and there was also something else she wanted to do.


    This would be one of their trump cards if she managed to get it done properly. She grinned and ran back to the divine city.


    Meanwhile, everyone else was also busily preparing, each with their own tasks.


    Outside the rock temple dungeon, Mei Mei was busily kiting a few yers and knee deep in PVP. She wanted to push through and upgrade her Emerald Crown.


    Being a shaman, it was not easy for her in the PVP field, but she was a shaman with a legendary item and a fancy panther that dealt significant damage. So she drew quite a bit of blood. Compared to before, she had improved a lot, and her fighting experience was also quietly growing.


    Shen Yue as well was doing the same, as her daggers also revolved around PVP for the next upgrade. Both of them were working hard to upgrade the legendary items before the guild war.


    The remaining High Council members were all in the middle of their training regimen with Asura, and the core members were exerting equal effort to level up as best they could. The yers in the lifestyle were also busily burning the midnight oil.


    This war was going to be difficult, and everyone knew it. However, they had no other option. They had to win. Their entire reputation depended on that.


    Every time, it was their guild leader breaking the barriers and opening new doors for them, but now there was a chance for them to prove themselves. They had toe through!


    Especially, the long-term members of the guild were itching for such an opportunity. Now that they had it, they wouldn''t let it slip.


    Everybody was doing their best and was confident in their abilities toe out on top in this war. Hours passed by quickly, and soon there were only six more hours left before the final deadline.


    Last-minute preparations were still being carried out, but mostly everything was set in ce. The Crimson Abyss main team was all set. This war was going to be theirs. They were confident in their efforts, hard work, and skills.


    Only the finishing touches and the actual battle were left. As the clock ticked closer and closer, everyone worked harder and harder.


    And in the midst of this rowdy atmosphere, all of a sudden, a series of unexpected system notifications shed.


    <Ding. Kingdom Announcement: Teleportation Arrays are now open allowing yers to travel from one Kingdom to another at nominal fees>


    <Ding. Realm Announcement: Teleportation Arrays are now open allowing yers to travel from one Kingdom to another at nominal fees>


    <Ding. Kingdom Announcement: Empires of the Xion Realm are now avable for yers to seek entry>


    <Ding. Realm Announcement: Empires of the Xion Realm are now avable for yers to seek entry>

 Chapter 682 Public Enemy No.1

    Chapter 682 Public Enemy No.1


    Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!


    As the new notifications rang out loudly, a wave of uproar spread throughout the whole world. The consequences of these notifications were far from trivial; they had a significant impact on each and every single yer of the game.


    These new additions basically opened up several new regions for everyone. New dungeons to be explored, new hunting zones, and more importantly, yers were not confined to their starting kingdoms anymore.


    So this was inevitably going to result in a huge reshuffle. With friends wanting to y with friends and small guilds merging left and right, everything was changing.


    There was also a new ranking list that became avable called the Realm Guild Ranks. This opened up another can of worms because now all guilds that existed in the whole game werepeting against each other.


    While everyone else was busy with this sudden unexpected development, exploring options to further develop themselves, Crimson Abyss guild yers alone were facing an entirely different set of problems.


    Something that had previously been a hypothesis now appeared to be a near-certainty.


    With the new teleportation portals, yers from various kingdoms could easily move around, and with some careful nning, guilds could even help each other out in times of war.


    Moreover, the timing of the whole thing was simply uncanny. These new updates arrived right now, just a few hours before the guild battle? How could this still be a coincidence? Everything was obviously thought out in advance.


    Alex clenched her fists as she stepped into the guild hall. Along with her were the special group of priests and pdins, the divine affinity yers, that she and Mia were personally grooming.


    The group of people had just now achieved something that probably no one else in the game had achieved. They convinced the divine temple to hand out the special potions, which were only strictly used for theher realm invasion rifts.


    Some of the potions were ridiculous as they directly enhanced the strength of a yer twofold for an entire minute. This meant that a Level 30 yer would temporarily have the stats of a Level 60 yer, and a Level 50 yer would have the stats of a Level 100 yer!


    They only managed to gather ten of these potions, but when strategically used, this was enough to massacre the other side. So having achieved what they wanted and procured another trump card for the guild, the group returned to the guild hall in high spirits.


    But this was short-lived as the divine affinity group stared at the announcement dumbfoundedly. For every step they took, the opposition also made equally scary moves.


    "What Madan said is happening¡­" Alex mumbled. However, she quickly snapped out of it. "Everyone calm down. This is what we have been preparing for. They might have their trump cards, but we also have ours. We can still win this war!"


    And before she could even finish speaking, someone pointed out the leaderboards. The Gresh Kingdom leaderboard was currently undergoing a weird change.


    Naturally, Liam remained Rank 1 because he was in a position where no one could possibly even approach him, but the other spots were different. Suddenly everything was up for grabs as the screen flickered rapidly.


    Gasps and shocks loudly echoed in the guild hall as a whole bunch of new yers started popping up at the top.


    Level 50!


    Level 50!


    Level 50!


    In an instant, except for rank 1, every single one of the top eleven spots on the leaderboard was taken by a different yer, and they were all level 50!


    Whenpared to the update concerning the teleportation portal, the sudden and dramatic increase in the levels of these yers was much more worrisome.


    More importantly, right next to the name of these new top rankers, their guild name was written, and all of them belonged to none other than the ''Dragons of Justice'' guild.


    "Bastards! Check the names again! These guys belong to the guild, or were they recruited at thest minute?" Alex furiously typed in the guild chat.


    At this point, it was clear that the other party was hellbent on winning this war one way or the other. "They must have recruited yers from other kingdoms!" Alex gnashed her teeth.


    Unexpectedly, another piece of information arrived shortly after that, refuting her theory. Apparently, this time the person who was responsible for this did not even bother to stay in the shadows.


    The newly crowned Alchemist Grandmaster Dante proudly announced histest creations, experience boost potions!


    He managed to create 200% experience boosting potions, and naturally, he sold the first batch exclusively to the ''Dragons of Justice'' guild members.


    Not just that, he also publicly announced that he wouldn''t be selling these potions to Crimson Abyss or any other guild that was associated with Crimson Abyss.


    Bang! Alex hit the wall behind her with her fist. "Good. Very good! Trying to shut down all of our options?"


    It was clear that they didn''t want any other guild to help Crimson Abyss at thest minute. Any sane guild wouldn''t risk their chance of obtaining such a godly game-changing potion over aiding another guild that might soon lose all of its clout.


    All of their enemies were deliberately joining hands to take them down andpletely destroy the guild. It was not like she didn''t know this was going to happen. However, actually watching it all go down was a lot more nerve wreaking.


    "We need to do something. This is not enough. We need to do more." Alex sat down to calmly consider whether she had missed anything in this hastyst-minute scramble.


    "Potions¡­ kingdoms¡­ empires¡­ teleportation portals." She murmured to herself before standing up in shock. That''s right. There was another thing that she could do.


    She checked out the time, and there were now only less than six hours left before the final deadline for the battle. This was going to be a mad dash, and she would need all the assistance she could get.


    Alex instantly messaged Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and a few more members of the core team, totaling ten. She then walked out and picked up Asura, who was as usual in the midst of this training.


    "This should do." She licked her lips confidently, and everyone started heading to the main cities. The whole group soon arrived at Yleka City.


    "Boss, where are we going?" Isaac, the mage asked. He was one of the core members and also Liam''s number 1 fan who had mastered natural casting without the help of the system''s skills.


    "Ya, sis Alex, why did you call us suddenly? I am so close to upgrading my crown!" Mei Mei looked impatient, too.


    However, Alex shook her head and looked at the group with confidence. "You guys will thank me for thister."


    "Huh? But where are we going now? The guild war is going to start in 5 hours! This is superst minute."


    "I know that, but this is important." Alex grinned. She then added after a pause, "We are going to get us our own fucking garrison."


    The group waspletely shocked. Nobody had anticipated this. Nevertheless, Shen Yue raised a second concern. "Alex, I disagree with you. What is the use of pursuing this right now? Aren''t NPCs not allowed in the guild war?"


    Others nodded in agreement after hearing her words.


    Alex, on the other hand, still stood firm. "Ha ha ha, that''s where you are wrong." She clicked her tongue. "Have any of you actually visited a garrison before? I have, and I am telling you there is something that we can use there."


    Once again, everyone else was shocked. It was indeed true that they didn''t know much about garrisons, so now everyone was looking forward to checking out one.


    Alex also clenched her hands in excitement. Herpetitive spirit was raging high. Ever since Liam got control of a garrison, she wanted one as well. She was envious of the free experience points the bastard was receiving and how effortlessly he was leveling up.


    Because of this, she had already researched everything about garrisons that she possibly could and even visited all the garrisons within the Kingdom.


    But there was one huge obstacle in her path: the fact that the King owned every garrison in the Kingdom. It was impossible for any other guild to take control of one under normal circumstances.


    Only garrisons in the border areas outside the Kingdoms were up for grabs. Naturally, these were riddled with problems and required some work.


    The worst of all was the requirement for teleportation portals. Without the portals, these garrisons were mainly inessible. Alex had been breaking her head over how to solve this, fishing for some kind of quest to unlock these portals.


    But today, someone else had solved it for her. All the better.


    Now all she needed to do was seizemand of a garrison, and she would have a surprise ace up her sleeve that no one would seeing.

 Chapter 683 The enemy revealed

    Chapter 683 The enemy revealed


    Shen Yue, Alex, and the rest of the group promptly arrived at the new building, which stood majestically near the entrance of Yleka City. This building was the new structure dedicated to the teleportation portalwork for the Kingdom, and it was immensely crowded.


    Especially since the Gresh Kingdom was the talk of the world at the moment because of the impending battle, the whole ce was packed full. yers were filtering in and out every second, everyone busily involved in something or another.


    And in the midst of this chaos andmotion, Alex and the group also squeezed their way in through the crowd. Luckily, when they entered the main teleportation hall, the NPCs were allowing only the yers actually using thework to enter and exit, so the crowd thinned out.


    Their chance arrived soon enough, and they entered the inner hall. Almost immediately, a spectacr array of dazzling colored circles came into their view. These circles had strange runic symbols and pulsed with unfathomable power.


    "Incredible, isn''t it?" The NPC in charge of the teleportation portals walked toward the group. He usually did not chit-chat with scrubs, but Shen Yue caught his eye, and Alex''s reputation with the divine temple was also not nothing.


    "What happened, good sir? How did these portals get damaged in the first ce?" Alex probed. Since she had failed to activate this, she wanted to know who seeded and how they had done it.


    It turned out that they did not have to grill anyone to get these answers. The NPC was more than happy enough to sing praises about the yer responsible for this.


    "Lord Das is a brilliant knight. He single-handedly fought off all the beasts around our ancient formation and repaired the rune stone that provides energy for the entirework."


    "Without him, none of our kingdoms would have had thesemunication and tradeworks. We would all be isted, making it easier for the filthy demons to invade us and ughter us little by little."


    Alex rolled her eyes. Although she was the one who requested it, the NPC simply continued to sing the praises of the amazing Das, the great savior of humanity.


    ''This bastard definitely got instant high-rep in all the kingdoms.'' She thought to herself.


    He had to have gotten it because Das was not a nobody. He was the guild leader of the ''Death Knights'', one of the top guilds in the Vozoya Kingdom.


    That being the case, someone from the Gresh Kingdom was singing praises of him. This could only mean that the person received tremendous benefit from this quest and possibly a free pass in all Kingdoms.


    And looking at the coincidental timing of the guild war and the unlocking of the teleportation portals, there was a high chance that Das and this guild were supporting ''Dragons of Justice'' or at least they were one of the supporters.


    As for how many guilds had truly banded against them, this was something that needed to be figured out. Since these guilds dared to strike them when they were down, they deserved retaliation.


    Alex sulked silently as the NPC concluded his lengthy monologue. He then politely reminded her about the nominal teleportation fees, just 5 gold per person.


    "The heck?" She blurted out, her brows furrowing together. This was called a nominal fee? Her face twitched as she paid for their group and proceeded to ask the NPC about the Dark Forest garrison.


    This was a garrison at the southern border of the kingdom, outside the border, to be more specific. She already did her research and picked out this one among the five or six options avable to them.


    "Oh, you want to head to our border garrison? All the garrison portals are present on the lower floor. Please take those stairs to reach them."


    "Also, beware that this portal is not a 100% secured portal. Dangerous creatures might be lurking on the other side. Good luck, heroes!"


    Alex and the others hurriedly did not linger around any longer and hurriedly rushed downstairs. They took the Dark Forest garrison portal, instantly arriving at the designated location.


    When the bright light from the teleportation array faded, a huge building sprawled in front of them. Surrounding the building, there were tall trees and unkempt brambles.


    "This is the garrison?" Alex sighed in disbelief. They were essentially standing in front of a broken-down ce in the middle of a forest.


    She knew that the condition of the garrison would be bad, but she didn''t know that it would be so bad. Nevertheless, they were here and they needed to get this done.


    "Anyone here?" She called out aloud as the group walked inside the gates. Almost immediately, they were pushed back. "An invisible barrier?"


    "Yes, it looks like there is an invisible barrier here. Also, I sense several powerful beasts nearby." Asura''s hand was already on the hilt of the sword as his gaze wandered about.


    Not long after he said that a group of huge white-furred beasts emerged from the dense shadows baring their fangs at them. That too these were not ordinary beasts. They were Level 60 beasts and had strange patterns on their bodies.


    Alex had a bad feeling as soon as she saw them. "Watch out." She shouted but it was toote. The fifteen beasts had the group fully surrounded. Then without any warning, they produced sharp metallic spikes on their bodies and no one had to guess what was going to happen next.


    "Dodge!" Alex shouted as everyone prepared to do the same.


    The beasts werepletely ruthless. In a second, every single beast released the spikes on its body and the small enclosed space became a death trap.


    At the same time, they also started attacking from the periphery wing left and right with their big paws and sharp nails. Roar! Roar! Roar!


    In an instant the calm, and silent forest that looked deserted became filled with deadly ferocious sounds. Any party assaulted under this condition would have been instantly wiped out. There was simply no chance of escape.


    However, this was not an ordinary party. Alex hurriedly activated the defensive spells she had in her possession. Mei Mei started casting buffs unleashing the full power of her Emerald Crown.


    While these two held the group together, on the side Asura, Shen Yue and Nathan, the three melee yers dodged the spikesing at them from multiple directions and tackled the beasts with ease.


    Asura alone was dealing with five beasts at the same time. Shen Yue took care of three and Nathan took care of two. This immediately reduced the load on Alex who was single-handedly managing five beasts.


    While these four took the full aggro of the beasts surrounding them, the others quickly got to work.


    Taking a couple of hits from the spikes was not a big deal. The priest Yumi already started casting a group heal. The five ranged yers also started barraging the beasts with strong power-packed punches.


    All the core members and high council members of the guild had run dungeons together several times so the group''s coordination was impable.


    Within a few minutes, the fifteen Level 60 beasts were brought down without any hitch. The group received a good lump some experience points boost as well.


    However, the fight was far from over. This small tussle attracted more beasts to their location. Asura with his keen senses was the first person to warn anyone. "More beasts areing our way."


    "Thanks!" Alex shouted as she gripped her shield and sword. She made the right decision in bringing this group along with her. Now, it did not matter how many beastse their way. They might as well be free experience points.


    "Guys this is our chance to fast level. We don''t even have to go searching for these beasts! Let''s kill them and reim our ranks!" She shouted as she flung her shield at a pair of fluorescent green eyes that popped out of the bushes.


    The next horde of beasts had arrived and once again they were Level 50 and above. The group pushed themselves to the limit, fighting in formation.


    However, this did not end with the second horde or the third horde. The beasts kept oning out of the forests and attacked the group relentlessly.


    By the time, thest one showed up, they had already been fighting for two hours straight. "Fucking hell!" Alex was furious as she repeatedly smashed her shield on the head of the poor beast.


    "Sis, it''s ok. We all leveled up at least once. This was a good grinding spot." Mei Mei smiled awkwardly trying to cheer her up.


    But no matter what she said, it was true that this diversion had taken a lot of their time. Even Alex was beginning to regret this now.


    She had half a mind to simply use the portal back to arrive at the city. This time they did not even have to pay the gold for using it as no one was manning the portal.


    She touched the space near the garrison gate and the barrier was still there. No more beasts wereing as well. Alex and everyone else was now at a loss for words on how to proceed.


    Finally, Alex shook her head and sighed. "Fine, let''s just leave. I am sorry everyone for wasting your time." She walked over to the teleportation portal and barely stepped on it when unexpectedly a middle-aged man appeared.


    He was fully geared up and was wearing the tabard of the Gresh Kingdom. "Heros! Wait!"


    Alex held her breath, hopefully waiting for the next wordsing out of the guy, and luckily for them, it was what they wanted to hear.


    "Just a moment. I cordially invite you to enter our garrison; please ept."


    Bingo!


    "Of course, it would be our honor." Alex grinned.


    "Thank you, esteemed Pdin. Thank you, young heroes." Behind the guy, several other simr tabard wearing soldiers also emerged. "We apologize for being unable to assist you earlier."


    "Our garrison was not always like this. We used to be the Kingdom''s power, fiercely defending our borders. However, after a particrly powerful beast horde ambushed us, our strength had dwindled and our resources dried up."


    "These beasts also damaged the teleportationwork. So we were unable to get reinforcements from the Kingdom. Using thest of our supplies, we were only barely guarding ourselves."


    "And now, thanks to you, some of these beasts have been culled. This is proof enough of your strength and valor. Please, I have a small request for you."


    <Ding. New Kingdom Quest Avable>


    <Ding. Assist and aid the garrison to rebuild and return to their former glory>


    <Ding. Reward: Managing rights of the garrison>

 Chapter 684 Good Luck! Great Luck!

    Chapter 684 Good Luck! Great Luck!


    As the clock ticked closer to the 48 hours time limit, all the yers in the ''Evolution Online'' game eagerly looked forward to the first guild war in the game, that too between two S-Rank giants.


    However, no one had any doubts as to what the oue of this war would be. ''Crimson Abyss'' was the overlord of the Gresh Kingdom, but that was before. It was old news. Right now, ''Dragons of Justice'' was currently quickly gaining ground in every ranking.


    They had already started setting Level 50 dungeon records, purchased several plots in the kingdom, set up multiple shops, and even managed to get the favor of the Grandmaster Alchemist Dante.


    Several huge guilds and major corporations from the USA were openly supporting ''Dragons of Justice'' andst but not least, there were also some weird rumors spreading around.


    The powerhouses of the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild were missing! No one knew where they were or what they were doing. Some even spected that these guys had died too many times, so they were also severely injured, and unable to y the game anymore.


    With these rumors spreading around even more guilds started openly supporting ''Dragons of Justice''. And as far as everyone could see, ''Crimson Abyss'' guild was simplycking. They had absolutely put no effort into this war.


    Taking all of this into consideration, the result of this war was already clear. Nevertheless, everyone eagerly awaited the main event. They wanted to see the ''Crimson Abyss'' guild members who were haughtily running around the kingdom take a beating and simmer down.


    Soon it was thest hour, and everyone started doing the final preparations. In Yleka city and other main cities, everyone could see ''Dragons of Justice'' guild members starting to assemble, proudly wearing their guild tabard, which had a majestic dragon engraved on it.


    It was truly impressive to see so many well-equipped strong yers congregated in one ce. Some of the other guild members started leaving their own guilds to put their applications in for the ''Dragons of Justice'' guild.


    Just like their name suggested, this guild seemed to be the true dragon of the Gresh Kingdom. The other party was nowhere to be seen. The Crimson Abyss guild waspletely missing in action.


    Though time passed quickly, nothing changed regarding this predicament. Crimson Abyss guild members were all scattered and going about their business like it was just any other day. When others asked, no one had any clue about any war preparations.


    At this rate, some even began to doubt if the guild was going to forfeit the challenge. But there was a price to pay for that. Could the Crimson Abyss Guild be so powerful as to afford such an insane amount?


    It was time to find out! There were only 20 more minutes before the deadline, and the war could start at any time now!


    Many spected that they would give up and many spected that they would ept the challenge only at thest minute. However, while there were still 15 minutes left, unexpectedly a big notification chimed in.


    <Ding. Kingdom Announcement: Crimson Abyss guild has epted the war challenge. The guild war between the Crimson Abyss guild and the Dragons of Justice guild is about to begin>


    <Ding. The Kingdom Auction House has now opened the betting arena. All the yers of the Gresh Kingdom are allowed to ce bets on the oue of the war>


    <Ding. The betting arena will close in one minute>


    "Fcckkkkk!" All the yers became agitated. No one had expected this to happen!


    Not only did the Crimson Abyss ept the challenge, but there was also a chance for everyone to bet on this war and earn money? This was huge news!


    Naturally, everyone knew who to ce their bets on. The only problem was the ridiculously short time limit. No one had made any preparations for this, so no one had a lot of gold coins in their hand.


    It was toote to sell their shit and get more funds. So they could only begrudgingly bet the small amount they had.


    It was also toote for others to go to the teleportation gate and get back to the Gresh Kingdom. So many yers missed out on the betting.


    Everyone felt extremely indignant because of this. Their only constion was that they were not the biggest losers in this war. That position could only belong to Crimson Abyss!


    The odds in the war also predicted the same. When the one-minute timer ran down, the odds were as low as 1:10000. It was clear that no one was expecting Crimson Abyss to win in this war!


    ***


    Inside one of the restaurants in the royal city, a well-built, dark-skinned man waszily sitting and leaning against a plush sofa. He was getting the royal treatment in the high-end restaurant with a few scantily d women fawning over him and several delicious dishes served in front of him.


    And the man was also not shy. He freely enjoyed all the delicacies in front of him without any reservation. Das Jackson was not a prude. He knew how to live. No, he knew how to enjoy his life like a king, and that''s also what he wanted to be in this game.


    Their guild Death Knights was originally a low-tier guild in the Vozoya Kingdom. At first, no one thought that they would make it, but now they were the talk of the entire ''Evolution Online'' game. They had gone from rags to riches in a single move.


    And finally, they were there where they belonged!


    Enjoying this newfound sess, Das happily hummed while munching on another leg of rainbow chicken, a very vorful bird, when suddenly he saw the notification that shed in front of him.


    "Oh, the battle is starting!" He eximed loudly in excitement, starting to head out of the restaurant. He did not really care too much about the oue, but he figured he might as well enjoy the show with some betting action.


    However, just as he was exiting the restaurant, a loud voice called after him.


    "Hello! Hello, good sir. A penny to read your future?"


    "Huh?" Das was intrigued. "And what does my future say?" Heughed loudly and turned around, only to be shocked.


    In front of him, a really pious-looking monk was standing, or at least he assumed it was a monk because of the bald head, his simple clothes, and the big, all-knowing smile he had on his face.


    For a second, he couldn''t help but want to worship this man or something like that. This man was a saint, a godly person. That was the vibe he gave off.


    However, Das snapped out of it soon enough. "Ahem. Like I said, please go ahead."


    "Sure. Sure. First, one gold coin, please."


    Das raised his brows, but he handed over the gold coin anyway, not because of how the guy looked, but because there was something peculiar about this person. He couldn''t see his ss.


    Das had a special skill he received after the kingdom chain questline that allowed him to inspect both things and people. Unless it was extremely special, this skill would reveal its secrets for him.


    And he couldn''t see the ss of the person in front of him. This piqued his curiosity even further. So he handed him the gold coin without any questions.


    And the monk, as well, took the gold coin, his eyes twinkling and his kind smile bing even wider. "Blessings. Blessings." He then closed his eyes and remained still for a moment. The smile disappeared.


    Hmmm? Das felt a wave of strange anxiety sweep across him. What was he going to tell? His heart was pounding.


    He watched the monk with rapt attention as the guy suddenly shed his eyes open again. The smile on his face also returned.


    "Blessings. Blessings. No need to look so worried. It''s all good news. You are going to have good luck, no, great luck. People are going toe running behind you and offer you riches! Your life ispletely going to change. Best wishes, good sir."


    Das finally rxed his tense shoulders and cracked a smile. For a second, he thought something bad was going to happen, but it looked like he was worried for nothing. The monk''s words only confirmed what he already knew. Death Knights were going to go to new ces, and there would be no stopping them.


    "Good. Good." He sighed, letting out a deep breath.


    However, it took him a second to realize something else.


    "You took one gold coin for saying this?" Das furrowed his brows and snapped out of his thoughts to look at the monk. But he was toote. The damned monk had already disappeared into the crowd.


    "What the hell? How can this person escape right in front of my eyes?" It was weird that he couldn''t sense his presence at all.


    "Ah. Fuck it. Doesn''t matter." Das scratched his head and then started walking away.


    Like everyone else in the Gresh Kingdom and probably in the entire ''Evolution Online'' game, there was only one thing on his mind right now, the guild war!


    And it was about to begin any second now!

 Chapter 685 War Begins!

    Chapter 685 War Begins!


    As the one-minute timer ran out and the betting arena closed, all the yers eagerly awaited the beginning of the war. The only issue was that in ''Evolution Online'' there was no recording facility, which was something the streamers alwaysined about.


    So even if the war was taking ce, unfortunately, no one would be able to see it, which made all the yers very frustrated. Being invested in the war, they really wanted to see it from start to finish and enjoy the thrilling experience. Only that wasn''t a possibility.


    However, all of a sudden, something unexpected happened. In every major city in every kingdom, a huge square appeared in the sky, just like the one that had appeared during the PVP Tower Tournament finals.


    This enormous square divided into six squares, each encircled by dazzling light. This made every yer stare up at the sky in awe.


    And when the brilliance faded, surprisingly, the scene of thousands of yers gathered together appeared.


    "Dang! Isn''t that the war?"


    "We can actually see this go down?" Everyone was shocked and happy at the same time.


    Coincidentally, even Liam did not know that this was going to happen, as this was the first time there was a guild war between two S Rank guilds in both his livesbined.


    While all the yers around the world rejoiced at this unexpected surprise, the stars of the actual show did not know any of this was happening.


    Every single yer involved in the guild war waspletely cut off from the outside world. No messages could be sent in or out by these yers.


    Instead, there was a new war channel open, through which all the yers in the war could talk to each other. Individual messages between the various yers participating in the war were also banned.


    In essence, there were only two group chats active, one for the attacking side and one for the defending side. This came as a shock to everyone, but it was nothing game-changing. Both sides quickly adapted to it.


    Since the audience could see the transformations urring in real-time, the mood quickly became electric. Many groups started chanting the team names they were supporting.


    "Go! Go! Dragons of Justice!"


    "Down with Crimson Abyss!"


    Naturally, many of these were supporters of ''Dragons of Justice,'' but there was still a small portion supporting ''Crimson Abyss.''


    "Underdog for the win! Crimson Abyss! Crimson Abyss!"


    Other yers looked at these delusional idiots with pity and continued to watch the show.


    Meanwhile¡­ At the real battlefield¡­


    Thousands of yers started arranging themselves in straight files, forming rows and columns. Every single one of these yers was fully geared with at least one or more Unique grade items, and there were several thousands of these men.


    The entire scene, with everyone standing together, was chilling, and they were not done yet. The men were still continuing to walk out of what looked like a huge cave.


    A huge mountain range spanned this end of the battleground, and from within a gigantic cave in this mountain range, the members of the attacking team, ''Dragons of Justice'' were assembling together.


    However, the war hadn''t started yet. There was some sort of invisible barrier that prevented this army from spilling out. For now, all everyone could do wase out of the mountain range and assemble in front of the barrier.


    As for what was beyond the barrier¡­


    Tall trees and a dense forest sprawled out in front of them. The entire ce was full of brambles, and a visibly viscous green liquid dripped out of these brambles.


    However, amidst this suspicious-looking forest, there were also five other clear pathsid out in front of them.


    The instant everyone saw these five paths, they already knew what battleground they were dealing with. This was none other than the ''Capture the g'' battlefield.


    "So, they ended up selecting this battleground?" Rowan walked out along with a group of yers to stand at the front of the slowly assembling army.


    He was the guild leader of the ''Dragons of Justice'' guild, the third S-Rank guild in the game, and also the person who was going to emerge victorious from this war. He had put in a lot of effort, made some questionable deals, everything to ensure that this would be the case. There was no turning back now.


    "Rowan, what is the n now? What are we going to do?" Lorenzo, the guild vice leader of ''Dragons of Justice'' asked him. There was a little anxiety visible on his face. Unlike others, he still could not bring himself to be confident.


    However, such prudence was not weed by his peers. One of the newly appointed elders of the guild, Vikram, loudly cleared his throat. "What is there to discuss in this situation? They couldn''t have picked out a worse battleground. This is going to be an easy win."


    "Hmmm." Rowan also nodded, agreeing with him. "Capture the g'' battleground was a pretty straightforward one. Both sides had a g, and whoever captured the enemy''s g first won the war.


    On their side, this g was located inside the cave in which everyone had teleported or spawned for the battleground, their starting point. The battleground description given by the system mentioned that the opposite side would also be very simr.


    This left both groups with only selected options, namely the five paths that opened up in front of them. Obviously, the ''Dragons of Justice'' guild had studied this map well in the 48 hours they had to prepare.


    In fact, they had studied all the maps well and thought of many possible strategies for each of the maps. Coincidentally, this was one of the extremely straightforward ones.


    90% of the battleground was the poison forest, which waspletely inessible. This simply left the five paths between the poison forest as the only routes avable. Any one of these five paths would directly lead them to the enemy.


    Under these circumstances, if they used a strategy to split their group into five and assaulted the enemy on all five paths, they could without a doubt bulldoze their way into the enemy''s base and capture the g.


    This was the most simple and straightforward strategy that gave the side with the overwhelming numbers an unfair advantage.


    And this was also why the entire guild was already celebrating their victory. Of all the battlegrounds, Crimson Abyss could have chosen, this was definitely the worst. They had dug themselves a big, deep hole and were simply waiting to be killed and buried.


    "Let''s go with what we have nned! We won''t be the ones to lose this war!" Rowan confidently dered.


    "But what if they used the Poison Forest to bypass everything ande to the other side?" Lorenzo was not convinced. There was a ring loophole to this battleground.


    However, his question only brought mockingughter from the others.


    "Sure, by the time they bypass this forest ande to this side, we would have already taken the g from their side."


    "Did you forget the number of men on our side?"


    "You are thinking too much!"


    The few people started ridiculing him when suddenly a loud st was heard in the distance and an assortment of colorful fireworks lit up the sky. It was daytime, but these fireworks were still radiant.


    And the next second, the invisible barrier disappeared.


    "EVERYONE! IT''S STARTING! THE WAR HAS BEGUN!" Mustafa, the main guardian warrior in the guild, also one of the elders and themanding general for the first unit, loudly shouted. He activated his skill [War Cry] and the effect was simply amazing.


    In an instant, everyone became alert, and their attention was on the battleground.


    "All units start moving!"


    "First, second and third unit, take the first three paths."


    "The remaining units split yourselves into the fourth and fifth paths."


    Instead of distributing all the yers evenly on the battleground on all five paths, this was a special surprise Mustafa concocted on the spot for Crimson Abyss.


    By sending considerably more men onto the fourth and fifth paths, there was a chance that they could secure a swift and easy victory!


    The other side would only realize that such a move had been made after they encountered each other on the paths, but then it would be toote.


    There was simply no way one yer can move from one path to the other.


    They would have to cross the poison forest to do so or retrace their steps all the way to the base, both of which would only result in their downfall.


    After announcing, Mustafa looked at Rowan for confirmation and the guild leader also agreed. In reality, this was not something he had pulled out of his ass at thest minute. They had discussed several strategies beforehand, and this was simply one of them.


    Everything else was smoothly sorted out, and the attacking side finally began marching forward! It was time to pulverize their enemies and be the overlord of the Gresh Kingdom!

 Chapter 686 Oh God!

    Chapter 686 Oh God!


    "Look there! The Dragons are starting to march first!"


    "Wow! How many men do they have? Their army looks gigantic!"


    "Woah! Even after splitting five ways, they have so many men on their side. What is going to happen?"


    "Of course, the dragons are going to win. Now it''s just a matter of which path is going to be captured first."


    "Wait, where is the other side?"


    "Look! Look! They are changing the disy to show Crimson Abyss!"


    "What the heck¡­ what are these guys¡­"


    The entire audience was suddenly dumbfounded. On one side, men were marching together in unison like in a goddamn epic war, while on the other side, there were just a handful of yers assembled together haphazardly.


    The way they split into five channels was also very random. Overall, the whole scene was utterly underwhelming. Everyone knew that this battle was going to be one-sided but this was too far.


    Especially on the fifth path, there were only two people. On the other side, the fifth path had a huge number of yers piling up, probably one of the most heavily loaded paths.


    Has Crimson Abyss given up on this war? How could a top guild be so weak? At this rate, they were simply going to lose without even putting up a fight.


    Meanwhile, on the battleground, the two sides were quickly approaching each other. yers were marching down the five paths, with both sides aiming to cover as much distance as possible.


    Soon, the first collision urred, and coincidentally, this was on the fifth path, the path that only had two guild members from Crimson Abyss.


    And just like all the yers who were watching the show, the Dragons were alsopletely taken aback. Never in their wildest dreams did they think that this battle would be so easy.


    2 yers against 150,000 yers?


    This was utterly ridiculous, and even among these two yers, one looked like a small child.


    Themander leading this division grinned in happiness and shouted, "CHARGE! ATTACK!"


    The Dragons of Justice took action first. This was going to be their victory. They can im this path in no time and then push forward to grab the other side''s g.


    yers charged forward in a mad frenzy to attack the two yers in front of them. Long-range yers started casting, and melee yers pounced forward. Everybody wanted to get that easy win.


    However, that''s when the nightmare started¡­


    The kid was harmless enough as she silently took a step back with a smile. But the other party, the man who looked like he was in his thirties, was not that simple.


    He lifted his gaze to look at the enemy. Every yer immediately felt a chill run up their spines. The next instant, the person blurred as he shot forward to the side, into the poisonous forest.


    THUD!


    THUD!


    In a sh, two giant trees from the right side fell onto the path, blocking the majority of the path. Some of the melee yers got caught in this fall, the thorns on the trees scraping their armor.


    Some even received a cut, which made them instantly paralyzed, showing how notorious the poisonous forest was.


    And the man did not stop with that. He repeated the same on the other side, and two more trees fell from the left side.


    As a result, the Dragons of Justice were forced to back away. The trees on the path gave them only a narrow space to walk in between, and at most five yers could charge at a time.


    And when they did¡­ Asura was waiting for them.


    With a single sword in his hand, the man shed at the yers who charged through the narrow path, and every single one died.


    The whole division was furious. What the heck was happening?


    "Stop! Don''t go through those trees anymore! Mages, first burn those damn trees!" Kieran, themander of this division, shouted in a panic.


    However, it was not so simple to stop Asura. The one-man killer machine entered the fray. If they were not going toe to him, then he was going to go to them.


    He hurriedly dashed to the side, into the poisonous forest again. One needed to be extremely nimble, agile, and skilled to move through these forests. To the normal yers, this was a forbidden ground, but not for him.


    In one second, two more trees fell, blocking more yers. Now the yers were jammed between the two sets of trees, one burning and one not, but both very poisonous.


    Of course, there was also the monster who jumped into this small section. Asura spun around, his movement elegant and charming and, at the same time, possessing a deadly aura. The group of yers did notst even for a minute. Corpses dropped left and right.


    And by the time, he was done with this batch, the little girl had already caught up and healed him back up to full health.


    Thus, started the unending nightmare for path number 5.


    There was an army on one side and only two yers on the other side, but the two werepletely untouchable. Not one single attack could bended.


    The two yers were relentlessly hunting down the army a dozen at a time. Corpses were piling up on the path, with blood and flesh scattered everywhere.


    "RETREAT! RETREAT! RETREAT!" Themander shouted in horror. Kieran had participated in PVP before but this was a in and simple massacre. This was too cruel. People were dying around him.


    Everyone knew by now about the consequences of the game ''Evolution Online''. Death inside the game meant death in the real life too.


    And these many people were suffering. Before the war started, they didn''t think about this, but now after seeing everyone around him drop like flies, he was filled with utter terror.


    This war, they should have never started it in the first ce. Oh God! Someone needed to save them!

 Chapter 687 Path 3

    Chapter 687 Path 3


    "Masta! Masta!"


    Kyuuuu


    A small, adorable fox wagged her three fluffy tails as she licked the sullen cheeks of a dead-looking person lying on the ground breathlessly.


    Liam winced as every inch of his body was aching. Right from the depths of his core to his limbs, bones, and muscles, everything was aching.


    Parts of his body were ck and blue, with several cuts and bruises littered everywhere.


    And naturally, the person who was responsible for all of this was standing right next to him, harrumphing loudly. "How long are you nning on staying down? Get up. Move your ass."


    Liam smiled bitterly as he took another deep breath and slowly stood up. How many hours, or rather days, have passed now? He had no idea.


    Inside this space, time had lost all meaning for him. There was only training, more training, and brutal endless training.


    For all the days he had yearned for someone to teach him something, he was now fully satisfied and then some. This elf from hell was taking care of him very well.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Unlike him, every other yer in the ''Evolution Online'' game was focused on something else, the first guild war, the battle between the two S-Rank guilds. However, there was no longer any mockery or even excitement on their faces, there was only pure terror.


    In the huge disy square up in the sky, the face of a little girl shed as she hummed a little tune and skipped her way over the many corpses on the road. In front of her was the man, whose body and sword were both dripping with blood.


    While the man hunted, the little girl casually healed him. Some yers tried to bypass the monster and target the little girl, but this was easier said than done. In essence, path number 5 was aplete goner.


    Seeing just two yers on the defense side, everyone had expected a sure shot win, but now the tables hadpletely turned. Moreover, the worst part of this whole affair was that no one recognized these two yers.


    Where the hell did these monsters evene from and why did they have to join Crimson Abyss of all the guilds!


    While the massacre on route 5 was still ongoing, the disy shifted to show the next path, path no.3, where the two sides finally caught up and were now standing face to face against each other.


    That''s right! What if one path was a dead end, there were still four other paths left! Many yers sighed in relief.


    Simrly, inside the battleground as well, everyone was once again starting to be hopeful. Earlier, the guild battle chat was in aplete uproar after hearing about the one-sided massacre, but now they were eager for the second path.


    Also, two of the guild elders rightfully pointed out that there was something good in this situation too. As soon as the massacre started, it became clear that they couldn''t do anything about it.


    So Mustafa and Lorenzo both told the division right away to slowly lure these two yers away from their base. Since this path was lost, they simply did not want these two talented yers to interfere when they took down another path and captured the g.


    The end goal here was to still capture the g, so this should be their main target. Because of this, they decided to sacrifice the whole division. Without Liam and Mia and now without these two mysterious experts, the rest of the war had to be a cakewalk.


    The bigwigs of the guild immediately started paying attention to path number 3. The morale of their group was at an all-time low, so they had to take this path and secure their victory. There was simply no other option.


    However, all such hopes were instantly crushed as a message popped into the guild chat. One of the yers had already spotted a familiar face, one of the famous personalities of Crimson Abyss, the little girl with the Emerald Crown.


    All the yers by now knew about the three legendary items in cirction inside the game. One of these three overpowered items was in the Gresh Kingdom and in the possession of none other than the Crimson Abyss guild.


    Even if the Dragons of Justice did not hold that much respect for the Crimson Abyss without Liam or Mia, they still did not dare underestimate the legendary item. The power of a legendary item was on a whole other level.


    That too, everyone knew about the power of the Emerald Crown all too well. Anya, the previous owner of the said weapon, was happy to sell everyone information regarding this.


    It was clear to her that she was not going to get back her crown any time soon, so she didn''t pull any pouches, selling the specs of the Emerald Crown down to thest detail.


    And this was also why everyone was wary of this single item on the single yer.


    Among the three known legendary items, the Emerald Crown was the best when it came to group buffs. It was indispensable when running dungeons and raids, not to mention in a huge,rge-scale event like this battle.


    As soon as the guild higher-ups looked at the message, they immediately began to sweat. They already knew that path number 3 was not going to be an easy win.


    However, they were also not ready to give up. From what they could see, only this one notable person was there in the entire group. There wasn''t any sign of any other strong yers. So this path could still be theirs.


    And just for situations like this, Mustafa had prepared something else, a surprise.


    "Tell them to send the backup team A to path 3."


    Immediately, the battle started raging as the various yers on path 3 shed against each other. This time, there were several yers on both sides and no tricks as far as they could see like the monster in the previous path.


    The only drawback was that the advantage in numbers that the Dragons had did not seem to matter much here. Even without any trees falling on either side of the road, the path itself was quite narrow.


    There were only so many yers who could upy the front lines at any given time. Both sides seemed to be equally matched in their healing game and long-range attackers.


    So, for the first minute, everything seemed to be at a standstill.


    Seeing this, Rowan grinned. "Mustafa, you made the right decision with the backup. If the battle continues like this, then we can take down this path when the backup arrives."


    He barely typed this in the guild chat when suddenly small changes started happening on the path 3 front lines. The tanks who were holding up the front lines in the path faltered a little.

 Chapter 688 Wild Granny

    Chapter 688 Wild Granny


    "What just happened?"


    "Why are the two tanks acting like this?"


    "Wait, they are attacking their own team members?"


    "Woah! Look at the other yers near the two tanks, they seem to be standing still like they are frozen?"


    "Idiot! That''s not frozen! That''s called being paralyzed!"


    yers from both inside the battleground and outside the battleground started sweating profusely as they watched the previously standstill fight, now crumbling one-sidedly.


    And at the center of this chaos, was a red-clothed figure whose movements were aplete blur. Only the shine from her two daggers was visible.


    The battle that was happening in perfect formation with the tanks at the front, the healers holding them strong and long-range attackers doing chip damage, had suddenly fully devolved.


    Within a second, the Dragons no longer had that iron wall in front of them and the reason for this, they all seemed to be poisoned.


    "Boss, someone from the other team had a poison weapon!"


    "Boss, they are using paralyzing venom!"


    SOS messages popped up in the guild chat one after the other and without the tanks blocking the attacks, the melee yers took big hits and the formation on the Dragons'' sidepletely copsed.


    However, the other side was still holding on strong with Mei Mei at the front and center throwing out buffs left and right as soon as her cool-down refreshed.


    She also attacked as many yers as she could. She was only a sliver away from upgrading her item so she did not want to let this chance slip by.


    And as for the person who was causing the real havoc in the battle, Shen Yue grinned as she used her daggers without holding back.


    While the rest of the world only knew about the three legendary items in the game at the moment, in her hand was the fourth legendary item, the snake daggers.


    They had an inbuilt venom that cut through many defenses and all she needed to do wasnd one hit to petrify the opposition.


    And once she made them vulnerable, the other yers took care of that person quickly. In this way, the Dragons soon started falling down one after the other.


    The paralyzed person did not even have a chance to respond as the others focused their attacks on him. The healers were also helpless against the strange and unique poison inherent to the daggers.


    This was the simplicity of Shen Yue''s legendary item at the same time also its limitation. Unlike Mei Mei hers did not offer any buffs, it was purely an attack mode item.


    While her level 1 item was extremely potent, to evolve it she needed to work very hard. She needed to collect several venoms from beasts to upgrade the item.


    If she did not do that the weapon could be useless in the future. However, right now it made her aplete powerhouse.


    Though, unlike Asura, she still had Mei Mei''s Crown and other inner members of the guild to back her up, the effect of her legendary item directly depended on her skill and she did not let the guild down.


    With every move she made, she imed a group of yers. Not one single attack was wasted. All the training they took by fighting PVP battles outside the dungeon day in and day out, not to mention the sparring sessions with Asura, all the effortspletely paid off.


    With every passing second, the team''s morale quickly skyrocketed as they began fighting with even more fervor and passion. On the other hand, the opposite side became aplete mess.


    The 6000 or so members on the Crimson Abyss side were slowly but surely overpowering the 50,000 or so members of the Dragons of Justice guild.


    This was extremely embarrassing. The other side waspletely frustrated. First, it was two super-strong monstrous yers and now there was a legendary item and a weird poison against them.


    However, no one was ready to give up just yet. This fight was nowhere close to being over. The difference in numbers, though outwardly seemed not to matter, still had an effect.


    Especially when the backup arrived, perhaps there was a chance to turn the tables again and make aeback. But for now, this path was neither here nor there.


    Before anyone could begin to specte how this was going to end, the disys changed as all the remaining three other paths also finally saw some action.


    This happened almost at the same time as if it was nned beforehand, but no one suspected anything like that. They were too busy looking at what special surprises the other three paths held.


    Now the two guilds shed against each other in all five paths. While two were brutal, the other three had some of the best yers among the Dragons of Justice. So everyone was optimistic.


    Especially on path number 1. All eyes turned to look at the five generals of the guild, all of them on the same path.


    Rowen, Vikram, Lorenzo, Mustafa, and Taher, all Level 50 and all fully geared with multiple epic-ranked items. Three of them were tanks, and two were mages. However, all five of them stood at the front, ready to unleash terror.


    As for the yers opposing them¡­ There were about a thousand or so. Weirdly, an aged woman, someone who was old enough to be one''s grandmother or even great grandmother was standing at the front.


    "What the hell¡­"


    Rowen furrowed his brows. He turned to look at Mustafa, his master strategist, but the fight did not wait for him. The granny''s figure blurred as she zoomed toward them.


    "Watch out," Mustafa shouted as he was already in the front, trying to predict and block the attack. Unfortunately, the other person was simply too skilled.


    The granny twisted and turned her body to attack him, going around the shield. Shing! A terrifying blow struck, but the next second, a pathetic damage number floated up.


    "What the heck?" Mustafa was speechless. But he didn''t have time to think as the granny pounced on him again with a wild smile on her face. She was like a beast unleashed.


    At the same time, the other members of the group also dashed forward.


    Everyone seemed to be melee yers as they took position for closebat. However, this was only about a hundred yers, the others were at the back sending in long-range attacks.


    The yers attacking long-range were not all that impressive, but the closebat yers, all of them, seemed extremely skilled. The only weird part was that all their damage numbers sucked, which could only mean that they were low-leveled.


    Seeing everything around him, Mustafa did not know whether tough or cry. What was going on with this guild war, and who the hell were these mysterious experts?

 Chapter 689 All paths lead to Rome

    Chapter 689 All paths lead to Rome


    Path number 1, the path which had the five generals of the Dragons of Justice and the path in which they were supposed to get a sure-shot victory, was now inplete and utter chaos.


    The strongest division of the Dragons couldn''t push past the granny and the few yers behind her. Of course, they would have been more frustrated about this development if not for the fact that they counted themselves extremely lucky.


    The damned granny and most of the troops were low-level yers. Otherwise, by now¡­ everyone shuddered to think about the consequences. It would have been aplete massacre. They would have one-shotted their side.


    But thankfully that was not the case. At least in this scenario, they were able to handle them. And thanks to this big w, there was also a small chance for them to win, just a small chance.


    "Mustafa, ask the other back up team to get to this path!" Rowen shouted.


    He gritted his teeth while engaging in a one-sidedbat with a girl who looked like she was barely twenty years old, but how the hell was she fighting like this?


    This woman was none other than Ning Xi. She grinned as she finished the fight by jabbing at the exposed vital point on the man''s cracked belt multiple times.


    <Ding. You have gained 2000 experience points>


    <Ding. You have leveled up>


    Ning Xi found that she hadpletely recovered after the level up notification. She was once again bursting with energy and vitality.


    "Gosh! I love this game!" She excitedly punched her fist onto her palm a few times and spotted her next target as she ran towards them.


    On the side, Mustafa and the other three generals had a grim expression on their face. They watched the young girl run around like she was ying the game on easy mode and suddenly a frightening thought popped up in their head.


    Can yers gain experience points here?


    Normally during PVP one cannot gain experience points so no one had thought about it but just now that was unmistakeable a glow of someone leveling up.


    This meant that while these yers were currently low-leveled, the more the battle prolonged, they were slowly going to gain strength and momentum!


    In the end, their army was going to be a stepping stone for these yers, a fast and effective method to level up.


    How did they overlook something so significant?


    No, it wasn''t them who had overlooked. They did not know this because their side had barely killed anyone yet. The other party would have already been aware but why will they shout their secrets out?


    They could only me their own weakness for not finding about this sooner. Mustafa instantly made a snap decision. Rowen hadmanded him to get the other back up to this path but he decided to not do it.


    Right now, the war was at a crucial point. They weren''t able to establish their dominance on three of the five paths and their guild leader had died.


    And in all honesty, he knew that these yers in front of him were not someone they could defeat. Perhaps if they took out the support unit at the back, providing healing and long-range damage they had a chance but that was easier said than done.


    The best they could do in this path was force this fight toe to a stand still. That being the situation, the back up here would be wasted.


    And the war also would be eventually lost.


    They had made so many efforts, spent so many resources, even signing contracts with other guilds that weren''t all that beneficial to them but only to lose so badly like this?


    Mustafa gritted his teeth. They might have lost three paths but this war was far from over. They still had another trump card which Crimson Abyss would never seeing and this was going to clinch them this victory.


    And for that, he needed to send the backup to that team.


    "Everyone! Hold on! If you feel your health dropping, retreat. Try not to die. We don''t have to defeat them here. We need to hold this path down."


    Mustafamanded in the guild chat and then hurriedly looked for any information on what was happening on thest two paths. He only had so much time because he sensed a sharp gaze on him and it was none other than the granny.


    "Fuck!"


    Back at the Gresh Kingdom everyone else was also going equally crazy.


    Before the war, it looked like only Dragons of Justice had made all the preparations and were going toe out on top of things but now everyone could see that Crimson Abyss was unshakeable with or without Liam.


    "Who the heck is that granny? I have never seen or heard of any experts like this?"


    "Fuck! Maybe I should ask my grandmother to also log into the game? Do you think the game has special buffs for these old coots?"


    "Yes! Yes! I think some loophole like that is there. I am also going to ask my grandmother to log in!"


    "Look! The granny and her team are actually holding back the guild leader''s personal division."


    "Wow! Crimson Abyss seems like they only brought a handful of yers from the guild for this battle, but they are still pulling through. This is unbelievable."


    "Haven''t you heard? They only brought inner members of the guild who signed that ridiculous guild contract. A friend of mine is an outer member and they didn''t have permission to join the battle."


    By now more information about the ongoing guild war had spread among the yer base, but no one dared to jump to a quick conclusion like before.


    One side seemed to have an endless supply of yers while the other side barely had about ten thousand. However, the mere ten thousand were holding back the entire army casually.


    With three paths already at a dead end, all the yers both inside and outside the battleground curiously looked at thest two paths. Whatever happened in the war would be determined by these two paths.


    Particrly, the remaining four generals of the Dragons of Justice eagerly waited for the updates but something was wrong. No one from path 2 was responding.


    What was wrong now? What was happening in path 2? Did Crimson Abyss prepare something for this as well? Everyone''s heart dropped as they felt very anxious.


    However, unlike the yers in the battleground, the audience already knew the answer to this. But their expression was equally pained. Almost no one could believe what they were seeing.


    On path 2, Crimson Abyss hadpletely shattered everyone''s expectations. Standing majestically in front of everyone was six big armored war tanks.

 Chapter 690 We are winning!

    Chapter 690 We are winning!


    The Dragons of Justice yers on path 2 stood frozen as they stared at the unexpected roadblock that was on their path. Perhaps this was a mechanism of the battleground?


    A faint hope arose in their heart, only to be crushed soon as the next second, the top popped open and a set of parallel guns appeared from within. Then without any warning, all the guns from all the six tanks started firing at them.


    "Damn it. Heal! Heal! Heal! Activate all the defense!" Once again, it was the Dragons who fell into chaos. They tried attacking the tanks but a mana barrier popped out which protected the tank from the attack.


    The other side also did not remain idle. Using the momentum created by these tanks, the yers behind the tanks started sending in long-range attacks.


    Coincidentally, most yers here were hunters and at the front of the group was Rey, grinning from ear to ear. All the hunters used the special arrows which Madan had delivered to devastate the other side.


    With the tankers and the special arrows, the Dragons of Justice became a big fumbling mess in a second. As if this was not enough, when the yers were quickly retreating to regroup and think of some strategy for this godforsaken battleground, Rey tossed the golem marble at them.


    Immediately, the giant attacking golem popped up and started attacking everyone around it. When the group tried to focus attack on the golem, the tanks and the hunters were sting at them.


    And when they focussed on the yers or the tanks, the other two were sting at them. No matter how they looked at it, they werepletely overwhelmed.


    Their healers simply couldn''t put up with the mana consumption. Even after drinking bottle after bottle of mana potion, they were struggling to keep up


    When they finally updated the others about this disaster, the four remaining Generals of the Dragons of Justice were utterly speechless. For the first time, they understood the meaning of what it meant to be an S-Rank guild.


    As for their own guild, their rank might be S but they were nowhere close to this guild in front of them which was a true S-Rank guild.


    "Gone! Leader, path 2 is also gone!"


    With their guild leader dead and one path after another falling into the enemy''s hands, all yers were beginning to already admit defeat.


    At this point, even the global yer base watching the show was not surprised. They simply began specting as to how Crimson Abyss got these war tanks.


    As far as they knew, something like this did not exist in the game. Otherwise, every single guild would have gotten it. The importance of war-grade equipment like this couldn''t be overstated.


    All the guilds immediately gave out orders to spare no effort in researching this. No one was interested in seeing this war unfold anymore. There was no suspense remaining.


    When Dragons of Justice showed up with half a million yers, Crimson Abyss was the underdog, but now, after taking one path after another, it was only a matter of time before the real dragons won this battle.


    They were guaranteed a massive payoff, and as a result, their power and standing were going to skyrocket. At this moment, every other guild in the world was green with envy over Crimson Abyss.


    As such, no one was paying attention to thest path, path number 4, where nothing spectacr was happening. This path was narrowerpared to others except for that, there was nothing outstanding about it.


    Both Crimson Abyss yers and Dragons of Justice yers shed with each other in their respective battle formations. In fact, this was the most normal battle taking ce in this entire war.


    There appeared to be no tricks, no tanks, and no monstrous yers. There were simply two groups shing against each other. Both of them seemed to be of simr levels and also simr skills as the fight slowly and steadily progressed.


    However, one person alone paid attention to the progress on this particr path. It was none other than Mustafa.


    "Mustafa, your guess was correct. Crimson Abyss Core yers are all here."


    "Can your team handle those guys?"


    "Yes, of course. If we cannot handle even this group, then what are the ck mercenaries good for?"


    "Alright. Good luck."


    This conversation was quickly buried in the guild chat as the other yers started shouting and screaming for help. The Dragons of Justice guild members were getting massacred on all paths, well all except for one.


    And as the war raged on, soon a turning point arrived. Two teams of backup task forces finally arrived for the Dragons of Justice, but unexpectedly, none of the paths that actually needed this backup got it.


    Instead, the backup arrived at the path that did not need it, path number 4.


    Everyone''s eyes widened as they once again started paying attention to the Dragons of Justice. It looked like the guild might just make aeback.


    Crimson Abyss might be strong in all the other paths but it was true that their strength was stretched thin. They also did not seem to have more of the war tanks or skilled yers, leaving behind this one path vulnerable.


    Lo and behold! The other party correctly grasped this chance and started counterattacking!


    Everyone had heard rumors about how strong the Crimson Abyss core members were but surprisingly they were getting slowly pushed back. The strength in numbers was clearly disyed here.


    The progress in all the other paths was not as fast as this one, making this a really big factor in the whole battle. Were the Dragons of Justice really going to make aeback?


    Everyone bit their nails while waiting and watching what was happening. The answer might soon be revealed in a matter of minutes.


    With more yers falling on the wayside and the momentum of the backup, the battle for the path becamepletely one-sided and within a few more minutes, all the Crimson Abyss yers on path number 4 fell.


    "Oh my god! This is actually happening! We are winning!"


    Messages began flooding the guild chat as the troops on path 4 hurriedly marched towards the main base of the enemy where the g was ced.


    There were several yers still scattered here and there, some even entered the poison forest to avoid dying but Dragons of Justice did not even let these yers go.


    They wanted to establish how overpowered and domineering their guild was so they chased after these few yers also and killed them. It really looked like Dragons of Justice were going to win this fight in andslide.


    Without any other blockade or unexpected surprises, they marched all the way toward the enemy''s base reaching the main barrier.


    There weren''t any more Crimson Abyss yers blocking the path and no members on standby for defense. "How careless!" Everyone clicked their tongues in anticipation.


    This war was finallying to an end after so many twists and turns and unexpected surprises. But in the end, sheer numbers seemed to trump everything else.


    With the eyes of the whole world on the disy, the Dragons of Justice division sessfully captured path 4 and was now in the enemy''s main camp.


    Now there was no stopping them. All they had to do was grab the g and it was their win!


    Many guilds had even started working on how to poach Crimson Abyss experts when the guild inevitably crumbles after this war. Some even began making serious moves.


    And in the final moment, just as they were about to step into the enemy fortress inside their cave, a loud horn resounded throughout the battleground.


    <Ding. The g has been captured>


    <Ding. War has ended>

 Chapter 691 Stripped Clean

    Chapter 691 Stripped Clean


    <Ding. The g has been captured>


    <Ding. War has ended>


    "Huh? What happened? We didn''t get the g yet? How is the announcement here already?" The leading yer of the Dragons of Justice division 4 looked confused.


    "Oh maybe, we just needed to enter the base?" Someone suggested. Everyone had odd expressions on their faces as something did not feel right.


    And before they could begin to guess further, another series of notifications rang loudly announcing the winners to everyone without leaving any remaining doubt for guesswork.


    <Ding. The defending guild Crimson Abyss has won the war>


    <Ding. The challenger guild Dragons of Justice has lost the war>


    <Ding. Congrattions to all yers of Crimson Abyss. The Kingdom awards 1 million gold coins to the valiant efforts of Crimson Abyss>


    <Ding. The defeated guild Dragons of Justice guild has to pay apensation of 5 million gold coins to the victor Crimson Abyss>


    <Ding. Kingdom Announcement: Crimson Abyss is the first S-Rank guild to obtain victory in a guild war. This achievement will be forever etched in the halls of glory. An additional bonus of 1 million gold coins and 10,000 reputation points are rewarded to the guild>


    <Ding. Realm Announcement: Crimson Abyss is the first S-Rank guild to obtain victory in a guild war. This achievement will be forever etched in the halls of glory. An additional bonus of 1 million gold coins and 10,000 reputation points are rewarded to the guild>


    The notifications did not stop and continued ringing endlessly. All the yers from the Dragons of Justice guild had an ashen expression on their faces.


    The cake was right in front of them, but at thest minute, someone else had eaten it? What the hell was the meaning of this?


    They had absolute control over all five paths of this battleground, so what happened?


    And on the disy, the answer to this question was dazzling brightly. Around the captured enemy g, a group of yers led by a fiery redhead danced triumphantly.


    And on the enemy''s base, everyone could clearly see a sixth path newly formed right through the middle of the poison forest.


    It was a small and narrow path, probably enough for one person to walk through, but there it was, all clear and safe, with no poisonous trees or brambles hanging around.


    What the hell? Everyone gaped at this sight with their mouths wide open.


    As for how they managed to do it, no one knew the answer to this question. They only knew that the war had ended and Crimson Abyss was the one who had thestugh.


    The next second, the square disys once again disappeared, and one by one, all the yers were kicked out of the battleground and teleported back to their respective guild residences.


    Huzzah! The entire Crimson Abyss guild shouted at the top of their lungs! The whole guild residence became rowdy as everyone began celebrating without holding back.


    This war was like a noose around their necks and now they have won it and struck it big! 7 million gold coins!


    They were incredibly wealthy at the moment. Their guild was probably the richest guild in the entirety of the ''Evolution Online'' game.


    And other than what the notifications announced to the world, they also received additional benefits. Everyone got a shit ton of experience points as a bonus, and most of the core members of the guild leveled up multiple times, hitting Level 50 one after the other.


    Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and almost three-fourths of the core members of the guild took back their positions on the ranking list, all hitting Level 50 gloriously.


    It was a p in the face to everyone, especially Dante, who had made a huge deal about the exp buff potions. While the Dragons of Justice guild members had sneakily hit Level 50 right before the guild war, Crimson Abyss had leveled up right in front of everyone''s faces.


    The entire yer base fell into a huge uproar as they watched Crimson Abyss soar into the sky, taking back their overlord position. With this war, it has now been proved, without any doubt, that Crimson Abyss''s position in the Gresh Kingdom was unshakeable.


    And more shocking events urred shortly thereafter.


    The third S-Rank guild in the game, the Dragons of Justice, was unable to pay the required penalty for losing the war. The guild assets were immediately seized, and even the items owned by the yers of the guild were instantly seized.


    Everything was transferred to the Crimson Abyss guild residence, making the yers ever more ecstatic. They were now dancing on the graves of their enemies, and no one was shy about it.


    The whole world had seen them win a fucking guild war without Liam or Mia or Derek, the three heads of their guild. This was a huge achievement for everyone.


    Everyone let loosepletely, and all the yers who did not be inner members of the guild were cursing their bad luck.


    The war spoils were proudly disyed in the guild warehouse as no one had gotten around to splitting them up just yet. All of a sudden, there were several Epic-grade items, mounts, pets, gems, and even silk clothes, and such.


    The Dragons of Justice were stripped clean of all the items, not leaving a single thing behind. No one expected the consequences of the war to be so brutal.


    And to make matters worse, these items were all disyed in the guild warehouse for everyone to see. Except that they could only see them. Only the core members and the high council members had ess to them.


    Of course, Alex had already sent a notification that everyone who participated in the war would be generously rewarded, so everyone was looking forward to it.


    With the perfect timing of this war, the all-time high reputation of Crimson Abyss, andstly, the teleportation gates opening up, many yers started migrating to the Gresh Kingdom just to apply to be a part of the Crimson Abyss guild. Applications started pouring in left and right.


    Instead of fading away into obscurity as was anticipated, the guild effectively conquered the entire Kingdom with a single war!

 Chapter 692 A different monk

    Chapter 692 A different monk


    Inside one of the inns in Yleka city, a grown-ass man wearing barely any clothes barged into a room in a very rude manner. Three men sitting around a table turned to look at this intruder who had entered without permission.


    However, no one showed any reaction. One of them remained silent and indifferent while the other two seemed to be showing some pity. This only made the intruder even more agitated.


    "You! You feed me false information like this, destroy my entire guild, and still dare to sit here peacefully and drink your stupid tea?"


    Immediately, two among the three men jolted up from their chairs and stood defensively. One of them had a strongher aura swirling around while the other was ready to go berserk.


    However, the third guy, the person enjoying his drink, remained calm.


    "The tea is good." He raised his gold-rimmed sses and answered as a matter of fact.


    The other person was about to explode but the sses guy chuckled lightly and raised his hand, stopping him from speaking further. "If I were you I would think twice before opening your mouth, Rowen."


    "But-"


    "That''s enough." The gold-rimmed sses guy did not talk any further. Instead, one of the two other men grabbed the shirtless guy and brought him over to another room on the same floor, adjacent to this room.


    "Kouske! Barett! This is not fair! This is not the deal we made. How did they end up winning? You said. No, he said that we will win. You said his predictions never-"


    "Yes, I know what I said and I know what we discussed, but you still lost. This was should have been your victory but you still lost. You understand what that means, right? You suck that much."


    "What¡­"


    "Even after all arrangements we made for you, all the favors we pulled in, you still somehow managed to lose this war. Who do you think suffered a bigger loss? You or us?"


    "But¡­"


    "Are you a total idiot? How could you forget about Alex? She is the guild leader at the moment and when you didn''t spot that redhead anywhere in the five paths, shouldn''t you have thought that something was wrong?"


    "Oh wait, that''s right. You died way before that. You couldn''t even stay alive until the end of the battle. What a piece of useless trash!"


    "Kouske!"


    "Just shut up and leave. You were never fit to be a guild leader in the first ce. That''s why you lost. Now, don''t waste your time sulking around like a pussy."


    "Suck it up and rebuild yourself. You are still at Level 50, use that to your advantage. You already know what guild to join now. And more importantly, this should be thest time, you disrespect brother."


    "If you do it again¡­ do I need to spell things out for you?"


    Rowen shook his head listlessly. In front of these people, he was but a mere ant. Even if they crushed him under their feet, he couldn''t say anything. They gave it all and now they took it all. All he could do was swallow his pride and follow the orders.


    Just a few hours ago, he was a man who had everything, at the peak of fame, at the top of his career, eyes of the whole world on him, and now he had nothing. He was a loser and he had to start from scratch again.


    Rowen gritted his teeth and stepped outside. His trade window opened as Barett gave him a set of items and some gold.


    "Don''t mind the harsh words. You don''t understand but we have indeed lost a lot in this war. We can talkter when you have a chance to get back on your feet. Until theny low."


    Rowen sighed. For a second, he wanted to throw this charity right back at their faces but he really was not in a position to do so.


    He never even wanted to go into this war in the first ce and now he was being med for everything. The world sure was unfair.


    As he walked away from the inn, mixed in with the other yers, he saw a proud guy walking past him. He was wearing a Crimson Abyss guild tabard and showing off.


    For a moment, Rowen couldn''t help but think how his life might have been different if he had joined a guild like that. Maybe he wouldn''t have to bow his head to others like he did now.


    Not too far away from Rowen, there was another person walking equally dejectedly.


    "Boss, what happened?"


    A tall well-built man shook his head in response. This was none other than Das.


    "Das, you look sad. Are you upset that the deal won''t go through?" One of the yers near him asked again.


    "Nah." Das shook his head. "The deal will go through for sure. Their win or loss has nothing to do with us."


    "Then?" The friend couldn''t understand why he was so upset. "Did you maybe bet a lot of money and lose it?"


    "Nope." Das still said no. He was not a betting man. He didn''t bet all that much on the war.


    "Then what the hell happened?" The friend finally lost his patience!


    "Arghh." Das sighed. "I met a guy."


    "Huh?"


    "I met a monk and he said that I would have good luck. No, he said great luck. He said people would chase after me and give me things."


    "What the hell are you talking about? Wait, is this that big brother person?"


    "No. No. Of course, not. This was a different monk. I was hoping we could recruit him to our guild. You see how powerful that person is, so maybe I thought this guy would also be powerful."


    "Oh?" Now the friend understood. "Should we try searching for him, then?"


    "No. No. Let it be. What he said didn''t happen after all." Das decided that the monk was just another wannabe scammer, cheating everyone with the same good luck predictions. "Forget it." He shook his head.


    And just as he took another step, he walked right into what looked like a big pile of shit.


    "FUCK!"


    For some reason, the monk''s smiling face and his prediction shed past his mind at this exact same time.


    "Damn it. Let''s go and run a dungeon. I need to do some stress relieving." Das pped his forehead and the group silently disappeared from Yleka city.


    And somewhere in the same city, a monk sneezed loudly.


    "Ah. Someone must be thinking about me. Maybe what I predicted, finally came true? Yes, yes. That should be it. Maybe they are looking for me to thank me. Sigh. Unfortunately, I am too busy so I should keep moving forward."


    He revealed a very self-content, smug grin as he jutted his chest out and walked forward. There he saw a well-equipped yer leaning against a wall and stopped in front of him.


    "Kind sir, you seem to be a very nice person, do you want to know your future? It will cost just 1 gold coin."


    ***


    ***


    ***


    "Huzzah!"


    "Yay!"


    "Bottoms up!"


    "We did it!"


    There was a loud round of cheers as everyone crammed into the cramped apartment for a round of beer. Of course, the only underage girl in that group was begrudgingly holding a can of juice.


    "Sis Yue, can I not taste a little?"


    "No, way." Shen Yue shook her head. Her cheeks were flushed as this was her fifth bottle. Just like her, Alex was alsopletely drunk. Everyone was letting loose as they had really worked hard for the war.


    The only people who weren''t drinking anything were the old woman and two men dressed in an old-fashioned way. They were actually the chief guests for this celebration as Alex had invited them over to the house to try and deepen their bond.


    She could see that they weren''t part of the guild''s main roster yet, and after witnessing their talents on the battlefield, she absolutely did not want to lose them.


    However, as the evening progressed and the number of drinks increased, this was quickly forgotten. Rey was also equally drunk, along with a few other guild members who had dropped in for the party because they lived nearby.


    Thankfully, before the dojo people decided to leave for the evening, a sober person finally entered the party.


    Liam''s room door opened as he stepped outside, flinching at the loud music. "You guys¡­" He chuckled helplessly. Now he did not have to guess what happened to the guild war.


    Naturally, he immediately noticed the granny and her two associates sitting on the couch in a side silently. He waved at them helplessly with a polite smile.


    However, as he was walking toward them, a figure dashed right into his arms so forcefully that she pushed him right onto the ground, soft red hair cascading all over his face.


    "Liam! We won! We won! We won!"

 Chapter 693 l made my decision

    Chapter 693 l made my decision


    Liam raised a brow at the redhead who was sporting an unexpectedly big, warm smile. She was almost always either smirking at him or rolling her eyes, so this was new.


    "Yes, you guys won. Good job." He simply smiled and patted her on the head, which made her suddenly widen her eyes. A blush crept up onto her cheeks and she tried to quickly get off, only to end up slipping and falling on him again, pressing her soft assets onto his chest.


    "Careful." Liam patiently smiled. It was funny to see the feisty Alexpletely drunk, and he was simply enjoying the show. However, just as the woman fumbled on top of him for a third time, a few hands popped out of nowhere and readily helped her up.


    "Don''t worry, sis Alex. I will help you up." Mei Mei pulled one side of her lips up, revealing a knowing smile. Next to her, Shen Yue had a small face as she also helped peel off the redhead from Liam.


    "Right, thanks." Liam chuckled awkwardly as he looked from Shen Yue to his sister. They helped Alex up, and now all three women were staring at him with different expressions.


    "Ahem. I will catch up with you allter. I should go and speak to our guests." He quickly fled the scene without turning back.


    "Master Ning." Liam bowed to the old granny. "How are you adjusting to the game so far? I heard you guys had a resounding victory. Congrattions."


    The old woman indifferently nodded. "I didn''t do much."


    Liam sighed. She probably did not like this party environment.


    "Right, I am sorry about this. I don''t think I gave a proper introduction to you and your students, so these idiots ended up throwing a party like this for you. Ha Ha."


    "That''s fine. We don''t mind."


    "Oh? Then¡­ is something else the matter?" Liam probed.


    "Hmmm¡­ Nothing. I am considering whether to join the guild or not." The woman honestly answered.


    Ha Ha Ha. Liam ruffled his hair.


    Was this heading in a good or bad direction? He couldn''t tell.


    Naturally, he was willing to offer something extra to sweeten the pot, but at the end of the day, it was their decision and he was fine with whatever they decided.


    As far as he was concerned, he had already paid back the debt that he owed. He had introduced them to the game, and now they had a better chance of survival in the real world.


    "Since you''ve already helped out a lot with the guild war, I won''t bother asking you to officially join our ranks. That decision is up to you. But¡­"


    "Hmmm?"


    "If you join us, I can promise you some amount of autonomy. You and your students can form a separate independent division of the guild, and the only requirement would be that you don''t betray us."


    The old woman stared at Liam for a second. In all honesty, she did not expect the young man in front of her to suggest something like this.


    While she was uncertain about the future, there was something about the person in front of her, that made her want to rely on him. She couldn''t quite ce her finger on it.


    She continued staring at Liam for a few minutes before she stood up and left with the two men. "Alright, I will think about it and let you know."


    Liam nodded with a smile. At least it was not an outright rejection.


    After getting out of the apartment, the granny turned to look at the man on her right. "What do you think, Meng? Tell me your opinion about the young man whom we just met."


    The guy named Meng let out a sigh. "Master, he is very powerful, much more powerful than us."


    "Hmmm¡­ I think so too." The granny nodded.


    The other guy then spoke up on his own, "Master¡­ I don''t think he is powerful. I think he is different."


    "Different?"


    "Yes, master." The guy nodded. "He seems like he has experienced life and death before."


    Suddenly, the granny stopped walking. That''s right. This was exactly what she was feeling as well. The reason she wanted to rely on him was that he seemed like he had already experienced something far, far worse.


    Those young eyes held a deep, unfathomable wisdom that even she didn''t understand. No person of his age should possess something like that, and this was exactly why she was both willing and hesitant to join him.


    Willing because she could tell that he was destined to be someone powerful, but also hesitant because she knew that someone like him wouldn''t bat an eye when killing his way to the top.


    "Maybe I am thinking too much." The old granny sighed.


    The future was after all uncertain. So if she was nning on cing her trust in someone, why not him? Her time was already over. She had to think about the other people relying on her.


    "Ok. I made my decision." She nodded.


    "Master?"


    "Master?"


    "Yes, we will be joining that guild officially and we will be ying this game seriously from now on. Inform everyone to tell their families. Everyone will start living in the dojo for the foreseeable future."


    "Yes, Master."


    *****


    A/N Top Fan Event: As we are approaching the end of Part 1 of the story, I have decided to organize a special event tomemorate this milestone. Top 20 fans of the book can now send me suggestions for new characters that they want to see in the book. (Can be new characters, new powers for old characters, new events post-apocalypse, etc). I will try my best to incorporate them into the story as long as they are not world breaking. You can contact me here throughments or on Discord. Cheers! (To check if you are one of the top 20 fans, you can check the about page of the story where the fan ranking is listed)

 Chapter 694 What is the next plan?

    Chapter 694 What is the next n?


    Back at the apartment, Liam looked at the bunch of idiots drinking and dancing happily. He simply smiled and did not n on reprimanding them. Sometimes it was important to celebrate small victories.


    After sending off the granny and the two guys who came along with her, he decided to head back to his room to rest a little. The past few hours, or rather days for him, were extremely tiring.


    He had lost all track of time and it was simply training, training, and more training for him. But unexpectedly, the old elf chased him out today.


    As hey on the bed silently, his door creaked open and Shen Yue and Mei Mei tip-toed inside. "Brother, are you fine?"


    "Huh? Of course, I am fine." Liam chuckled. He sat up straight to talk with these two. It had been a while since he had seen his sister. He was about to ask how she was doing¡­ however¡­ that seemed to be a reduntant question.


    The little girl chimed in loudly with her important announcement without even Liam''s prompting. "Brother, I upgraded my crown! Yay!" She jumped on him to give him a big hug and proudly dered.


    "By the time you are back from the elves ce, I will be strong enough to fight with you! You don''t have to leave me anymore when going to dangerous ces. I can help you."


    "Oh! I reached Level 50!"


    "Sis Yue, also reached Level 50!"


    Liam silently listened to the little girl and gave her a few head pats. After spending a lot of time with Luna, he now started doing this with all the women habitually.


    And, who knew, it appeared to be a crowd pleaser!


    Mei Mei smiled brightly as she continued chattering non-stop. At this rate, he was not going to get any sleep, so Liam finally opened his mouth.


    "By the way, since you reached Level 50, you should be able to take the elixir I made. Have you done that yet?"


    "Oh?" Mei Mei''s interest was immediately peaked.


    "Is Mia still missing?"


    "Yes, brother."


    "In that case, take Alex and another good healer and take the elixir in their presence. Also, make sure everyone in the guild, core members, who reached level 50 does this."


    "I don''t think there are enough elixirs, so it is going to be firste, first serve." He casually said with a smile. "Oh, also post an announcement in the guild about this."


    Mei Mei''s eyes immediately started twinkling. Since Liam had given her an important job, she did not hang around anymore and quickly ran away to log back into the game. Everyone else was drunk, so she wanted to be the first to take the elixir.


    And looking at the enthusiastic little girl, Shen Yue also prepared to do the same when Liam pulled her towards him. "You are not talking to me still?"


    Shen Yue blushed and shook her head.


    "I am innocent. She fell on top of me all on her own," Liam shrugged. Seeing the genuine and sincere expression on his face, Shen Yue couldn''t help but burst intoughter. "You are a liar."


    Liam smiled and hugged the warm figure tightly. "Good job, by the way."


    "Huh? For level 50? I didn''t do much."


    Liam smiled. "I am not talking about that. I am talking about how you have managed to control your charm." This was the first thing he noticed because the party outside would have been disasterous otherwise.


    "Ah¡­ you noticed! I wanted to surprise you." Shen Yue blushed. She wore a warm smile on her face as she hugged him back tightly.


    Taking her in, Liam sighed. "I missed you guys." After days of unending hellish training, even someone like him needed this type of a warm person.


    "Sleep with me for a bit."


    "What?" Shen Yue became bright red, but she soon realized what Liam meant.


    It was barely a few and he was already fast asleep, hugging her tightly. She closed her eyes with a smile and tried to get some sleep as well.


    When Liam woke up, he groaned tiredly and got out of the bed, ignoring the enchantress next to him. It was difficult to do so, especially when she had such a cute sleeping face, but it was time to get back to the grind.


    He stepped out of his room to have some warm breakfast when he noticed Alex sprawled on the floor like a dog ttened by a truck.


    It was extremely amusing to watch, and Liam couldn''t stop himself fromughing. How many likes would he get if he exposed one of the top beauties of the world sleeping in this embarrassing position.


    A groan snapped him out of his thoughts when he saw that Alex was also waking up. He walked closer and flicked her forehead. "Wake up, Miss sleepy head."


    Alex heard the familiar voice and was instantly mortified. "Fuck!" She cursed out loud as she shed her eyes open and stared at the person whom she absolutely did not want to see at the moment.


    "What? You are not happy to see me? Yesterday night, you seemed very happy?" Liam took this opportunity to tease the fiesty redhead.


    "What¡­" Alex dumbly stared. She then shook her head vigorously once again like a dog. "What are you bbering? Anyway, are you going toe back to Gresh Kingdom or not? What is happening with the elves?" She quickly changed the topic at lightning fast speed.


    Liam chuckled and sipped the coffee he made for himself. Now that he thought about it, there were some things that needed to be discussed.


    "Now that the guild war is over, what is your n?"


    "Ummm¡­ to set up and upgrade the shops, to upgrade our garrison. He he. That''s right, we have a garrison now." Alex grinned from ear to ear as she sat up straight,posing herself.


    In the process, she kicked Rey hard in his butt, which she couldn''t care less about. The other party also did not seem to mind as he turned the other side and continued sleeping along with the other people still sleeping on the living room floor.


    Liam saw this and shook his head helplessly. "Come inside. We have a lot to discuss."


    "Oh?" Alex quickly followed him and unexpectedly, the first thing Liam said was¡­ "Forget the shops and garrison."


    *****


    A/N Top Fan Event: As we are approaching the end of Part 1 of the story, I have decided to organize a special event tomemorate this milestone. Top 20 fans of the book can now send me suggestions for new characters that they want to see in the book. (Can be new characters, new powers for old characters, new events post-apocalypse, etc). I will try my best to incorporate them into the story as long as they are not world breaking. You can contact me here throughments or on Discord. Cheers! (To check if you are one of the top 20 fans, you can check the about page of the story where the fan ranking is listed)

 Chapter 695 Get lost

    Chapter 695 Get lost


    "What!" Alex instantly went into rage mode. She couldn''t believe what she was hearing. "What do you mean ignore the shops and garrison? Do you know how much I worked for that?"


    "Do you know how much time I spent on cleansing your stupidnds so that we can finish that kingdom quest and get our stupid guild residence lease and those shop spots?"


    "And now you are asking me to ignore it? Hey!"


    Liam raised his hand to stop her first. "Calm down. Calm down and listen to me."


    "Hmph."


    "I asked you to do that before when the teleportation portals were not open yet, but now they are open. There are a lot more important things to do."


    "Oh?" Now the hot redhead became curious and she silently listened.


    "The teleportation portals are not the important factor here, the most important thing is the Empire," Liam exined. "Generally, it is not too easy to enter the Empire. They will not let people from other kingdoms waltz in just like that. However¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "Our guild is S ranked. Others don''t know this yet but S-Rank guild members with enough guild reputation points have a free pass to the Empire. That means everyone at the Core level and High-Council Level should be able to walk in and out freely."


    Alex nodded, "Ok. I got it. So we will go to the four Empires before other yers and try to get some quests, special items, and maybe more shop slots. We also have a lot of gold coins. So if there is an auction house there, maybe we can find some good items."


    Seeing the girl hurriedly list out one goal after another, Liam sighed. Too bad, he had to once again say ''No'' to her.


    "Nope. You will be doing none of that."


    "Ah¡­"


    Liam sighed. His expression turned serious as he continued, "Listen carefully, we are now in thete stages of the game. There are probably 20 or weeks left in this game. Though we would have double this time inside the game, it is still never enough."


    "Are you sure?" Alex felt a little panic rising.


    "Unfortunately, yes." Liam did not want to sugarcoat it. This was the hard truth, and as for the future after that¡­ "Anyways," he continued, "we need to use thesest few weeks as best as we can."


    "Items, gold coins, potions, bombs, and so on, all these are useless. When the game ends there will be a hard reset. We will not be able to take any of these things with us. So you should focus now only on yourself and your skills."


    "Start with using the body cleansing elixir in the guild vault. Ask everyone who touched Level 50 to use it, but don''t form the mana core immediately."


    Liam knew that none of them knew how to form a mana core, but still, it had to be said.


    "First, head to the Empire, any of the four Empires, and talk to the instructors in the ss hall. These guys are different than the NPCs in the kingdoms. The ss hall NPCs in the Empires are the real deal."


    "If you visit them after taking the body cleansing elixir, all of you will be able to get some personal, one on one training. This will make sure that you guys form the best mana core possible."


    If it was just mana core, Liam would have taken the time to teach everyone himself, but there was also the other important thing.


    "They will also teach you mana rotation and other ss-specific tricks. This is important. Many of you still can''t instantly cast skills without the system''s help. In these 20 weeks, you have to learn how to do this. This is it. There is no more time left."


    Alex seriously nodded, gripping her shirt. Liam was correct. Unlike Mia, she was not in that position just yet. She remained silent for a moment and then confidently dered.


    "Ok, I will get it done."


    Liam smiled. He raised his hand and patted the redhead on her shoulder. "I know you will. Good luck. If you want to test out your newly acquired skills, I would rmend the ''Underground Arena''. All empires have this. Best ce to train and improve your skills."


    "I also heard a rumor that if you have enough points in the arena, you can im a treasure from the Emperor, and there is a chance to get a soul weapon. Something like my ck dragon sword."


    Liam then filled her in on a few more details and prepared to leave when he suddenly remembered that he had almost forgotten something important. "Theher realm should soon close. So if you guys want to do onest raid, this is a good time."


    "Huh? You don''t know?" Alex furrowed her brows.


    "Know what?"


    "Theher realm is already closed. The divine temple personally led its elite group to thest space tear andpletely drove away the demons and closed the tear as well. This was Mia''s special quest."


    "What? When did this happen?" Liam was shocked. Now it was his turn to be confused. He probably did not get the announcement since he was in the elf kingdom and was cut off.


    Technically, this shouldn''t happen for at least two or three more weeks, but this was already aplished!


    More importantly, the divine temple won again!


    He had handed out body-cleansing elixirs left and right, leaked the battle strategy, andpletely wrecked havoc, and yet the divine temple still managed to regain the upper hand.


    This was proof of how powerful they were. To Liam, this particrly mattered as they were his biggest weakness.


    "Ok." He sighed. "So Mia is still not back? Her contact is still off?"


    "Yes." Alex answered, looking a little worried.


    But Liam was not as worried. This was apletely different situation whenpared to Derek''s. "She is probably in a special ce for divine affinity yers just like I am in the elf Kingdom." He consoled her.


    "Ok, then I will log back into the game. You won''t be able to contact me either. So good luck. Be patient." Liam waved his hand as he walked back to his room.


    "I know. I know." Alex grumbled in response as she also went back to her room where her game capsule was there. Since Liam had stuffed so much information in her head, she had already gone into serious mode and started nning out her day.


    Liam also had a lot of things on his mind as he got back into the game. He also needed to decide what to do next. Thest thing that happened was the old elf suddenly put the brakes on his training and kicked him out of the time-space barrier.


    His exact words were¡­ "Get lost and don''te back here again."


    Liam had no problemplying with this directive because he, too, was tired of dealing with the elves. The only problem was that he still needed some of his questions answered.


    Thest time he logged out, he had logged out right outside the old elf''s residence, so when he logged back in, he found himself at the same spot.


    The ce was just as deserted as it used to be, with no one walking around. A couple of secondster, a fox ran toward him from the big gate, grinning ear to ear.


    "Masta! I am here!" The cute fox shook her three tails as she instantly pounced on top of him without wasting any time.


    Liam chuckled and patted her. However, his gaze was already fixated on the gate because after this fox, probably¡­


    Bingo!


    Just like he expected, a big hulking elf was also walking toward him, shortly after the fox ran out. He knew that the guy would at leaste to say goodbye to Luna.


    "Master." Liam bowed, and surprisingly, the old elf did not scold him for that. However, he did scold him for a different reason.


    "You log out and ck off every single chance you get! How irresponsible!"


    Liam bitterly smiled. Yes, yes, it is my bad that my mental strength is not as good as yours. He inwardly scowled but didn''t dare to say it out loud. He had other better things to ask.


    "What are you doing here? Did I not ask you to leave?"


    "Yes, yes, I am leaving now, Master. I just wanted to ask you one thing before leaving." Liam politely bowed.


    "Hmmm?"


    "Could you please tell me what this is?" He stepped forward to hand over a dungeon crystal to the old elf.


    To his surprise, the guy immediately looked shocked. "Why do you have this?" He asked, his eyes visibly bulging.


    "I found it?"


    "Hmmm¡­" The elf gave a stern nce to Liam and stared at the dungeon crystal in his hand for a couple of seconds.


    He then unexpectedly looked up at Liam once again and tossed the crystal right at his face. "This is useless. Throw it."


    The heck?! Liam was utterly speechless. However, he silently picked up the dungeon crystal and put it back into his inventory. Now he took out the other crystal, the one that he had obtained from the PVP tower.

 Chapter 696 Something that you should not have

    Chapter 696 Something that you should not have


    "Hmmm? You have another one?" The elf raised his brow, ready to throw this one also on Liam''s face, but when he had a chance to take a closer look at the crystal, his expression drastically changed.


    He hurriedly grabbed the crystal from Liam''s hand and examined it from all angles. He then sent a sliver of his mana into the crystal and tested it.


    "Unbelievable! How the hell did you even get your hands on something like this?" The old elf was visibly shocked.


    "I¡­ its a long story." Liamughed awkwardly as he thought about whether or not he should tell the elf about the stone tablet.


    While this crystal was perhaps some sort of treasure, he knew for a fact that the stone tablet was an even bigger treasure. This was why the tower master was tempted to plot an borate scheme to trap him.


    This elf probably would not do something like that, but Liam did not want to take any chances. He didn''t want to tempt fate by revealing all his cards. "What is this, Master?" He cautiously asked.


    Thankfully, the elf didn''t dwell on the matter. He stared at Liam for a few seconds and then sighed loudly. "Something that you should not have."


    "Listen, brat. This thing could be very useful to you, and I am not talking about just inside the game. There is an artifact attached to this crystal, a spatial artifact that has an unfathomable depth."


    "It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to call this crystal one of the top-tier treasures that you could have obtained from this game. In fact, you are not supposed to have this in the first ce. If the news that you possess this spreads, then there will be grave danger to your life."


    "So I suggest that you don''t take out this crystal until the veryst minute. Do you know whichst minute I am talking about?"


    "When the tutorial ends?" Liam narrowed his eyes as he probed the elf further with this remark.


    The elf also nced back at him sternly, but he neither confirmed this nor denied it. He pretended as if he did not hear it and continued, which essentially told Liam what he wanted to know.


    "Bind it in thest minute and then they won''t be able to stop you. It will be difficult because only someone who has awakened can bind with this crystal, but on the off chance that you actually manage to do it, then everything inside can be yours outside too."


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. Something like that was actually possible?


    "Yes. I am not lying. It is a spatial artifact that permanently binds to you once activated. It will be attached to your soul, so you can summon it and dismiss it as per your will. And by doing so, you will be able to ess everything inside this too."


    Spatial artifact¡­ summoning and dismissing¡­ Liam''s mind spun quickly as he connected the obvious dots. Considering where he had retrieved this crystal¡­ could it be?


    "Master, could this be a tower?"


    "Hmmm? Yes, yes. It could be a tower, a mansion, a pce, anything. That doesn''t matter. What matters is that you can store things inside this artifact and keep it with you at all time."


    Liam nodded. There was no need to spell everything out for him. He already knew what he was going to do. However, it won''t be that easy. He still had to¡­


    "I suggest you forget about this crystal for now. The road ahead of you is paved with difficulties, so focus only on your awakening." The elf warned him about the same thing he was thinking about.


    "I will seed, Master." Liam bowed again.


    The elf stared at him for a moment, myriad emotions swirling through his eyes, but the next second he went back to his cold demeanour.


    "Go. Get lost. Don''t loiter around my residence and crowd the space."


    "I will do that, Master." Liam bitterly smiled. "I just have one more question for you. Is it possible for a person to be trapped in this crystal?" He exined a little about what happened to Derek.


    However, in the end, the elf shook his head. "Hmmm? I don''t think so. It is impossible for a person to be inside an unbound crystal. Even after you bind the crystal, it depends on what type of spatial artifact this is. Chances are low."


    Liam nodded in deep thought. He already had a feeling about where Derek might be, so this just confirmed his doubts. "Master, do you think there is a world for weapon spirits?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "Where the really strong weapon spirits might be born? Just like the spirit beasts?"


    The elf once again became puzzled as he looked at Liam, but he immediately responded. "Brat¡­ stop asking about things that are beyond your control. You don''t have time now to worry about others. Worry about yourself. Else you will be erased."


    He did not give any space for Liam to ask about anything more as he scoffed and started walking away.


    At this point, Liam could only turn back and walk away. His instructions were to get lost, and he knew exactly what he needed to do at the moment.


    As he took the portal out of the royal residence and returned to the elvenmon market, the old elf silently observed all of his movements from a distance.


    Coincidentally, he also knew where Liam was headed to next.


    "I can smell that old witch on you, brat. This will be a test for you. A big test. I hope you can survive."


    The elf still looked a little conflicted about not warning Liam, but it had to be done.


    If he was not capable of surviving this small catastrophe, then there was no way he would be able to face things in the future.


    "Survive ande back. I want to see you seed."


    As Liam stepped out of the elven territory into the Forest of Echoes, the old elf also silently retreated back into his pce.

 Chapter 697 You will pay for your sins

    Chapter 697 You will pay for your sins


    Liam walked into the Forest of Echoes calmly with a small furry creature popping out of his armor. Unlikest time, he did not have to conceal himself using [Stealth]. He now had a standing in the elvenmunity, so he freely walked into the sacred forest.


    Naturally, once he was deep enough into these forests and there were no more elves in the vicinity, he started his business.


    Bang!


    He raised his hand, and a ball of fire sprang forward at breakneck speed. The Level 51 deer in the distance only barely had a chance to nce in his direction when the fireball aimed for its head perfectlynded and blew its brains out.


    As the corpse lifelessly thudded on the ground, the other beasts standing near it scattered and ran helter-skelter.


    <Ding. You have gained 50 experience points>


    "Not bad." Liam nodded in satisfaction. This was the first time he had a chance to test out the effects of his so-called training, which was nothing but an excuse for the old elf to pummel him day in and day out.


    He wasn''t even sure if he had learned anything from it or gained anything productive at all, but now that he had executed an attack, he could feel the difference between his earlier self and his current self, even on something simple like the fireball.


    Essentially, he was much more fluent in mana now. He raised his hand and again aimed at one of the fleeing deer to observe the changes when suddenly, Luna jumped off of his neck and stood behind him, growling loudly.


    "Hmmm?" Liam let go of that deer and immediately turned around. To his surprise, there was no one around him, and yet Luna was staring in a particr direction and growling viciously.


    "Grrrr! Master! There are five elves there!" The fox snarled.


    And it looked like Luna''s detection was on point as the next second five elves emerged from the shadows with ugly expressions on their faces.


    "Heh." Liam''s lips curled upwards as he instantly recognized the face at the front. "You are the one who got arrested for trying to make a scene at the auction house, aren''t you? You are still not satisfied?" He chuckled.


    "Shut up!" The elf howled. "I knew it. I knew you were doing something fishy. You are living proof that humans are depraved. You are not supposed to hunt in the sacred forest, and now you will pay for your sins."


    "Heh?"


    "In the name of the Ballin family, I hereby arrest you and sentence you to death. Go and capture him." The elf shouted at the men surrounding him. Immediately, all four elves rushed toward Liam.


    He, on the other hand, was still smiling.


    "You want a death sentence? Alright, I will grant your wish." He sneered. He stepped forward, dodging the two flying discs of wind that came at him.


    The elves were naturally talented wielders of mana, so their attacks were power packed. However, unfortunately for them, they were against the wrong person.


    Liam took another step, simultaneously inhaling a deep breath of air. The elves couldn''t see it, but with every move he made, the mana around him was reacting.


    He sucked in a big gulp of the good stuff and conjured five spinning fireballs around him. The next instant, the five fireballs sted toward the five targets.


    He did not stop with that and continuously kept sending the same attack again and again. Mana was overflowing in his blood and veins. Everything he used was immediately regenerated.


    As a mage mana consumption was the worst enemy but now Liam felt as if he had an endless supply. He was still not at his best yet and even so, he was truly able to reach into the depths of his mana core. Compared to before, the difference was huge.


    As for the elves, they were unable to keep up with Liam''s speed. They stared at him in shock. They couldn''t believe that a mere human was so adept at using mana. With attacks constantly barraging them, they couldn''t run or hide or fight back.


    One by one the four elves wailed in pain and agony as they became severely injured and writhed on the ground only barely alive. At this point, they just wanted death. However, Liam had other ns.


    As for their leader, the elf paled when he saw his men go down like flies. He had assumed that Liam wouldn''t harm them because he was from a big family but now he could see the err of his ways.


    He hurriedly waved his Epic-ranked staff at Liam, starting to conjure a powerful attack. He was also severely injured and only barely holding on, but he had enough strength to not fall just yet.


    "I say, let''s see what you whip up." Liam also calmly waited for him tounch the attack. He had spent all this time in training, so he desperately wanted to improve the range of his skill set. He wanted to learn more powerful attacks.


    "You are from a big noble family, right? Don''t disappoint me."


    Meeting his cold gaze, the elf shivered. Why did it feel like they were not battling? Liam stood as if he was a teacher waiting to inspect his student, and the elf trembled.


    In the end, the attack he conjured also came out as sputters. He created several vortexes of spiraling wind that looked very threatening. However, all Liam had to do was flood his body with mana as he casually evaded the attack.


    "Hmmm. That was disappointing. You are useless. There is no point in dragging this out." He shrugged and dashed towards the guy to end the fight.


    The elf screamed. "Save me! Save me!"


    "But no one is here?" Liam smiled.


    The elf became even more panicked as he looked around, "Save me, Dimitri! I will give you everything I promised. I swear, save me."


    Now Liam paused in his tracks. Perhaps he was mistaken. It seemed like someone else was also here, after all.


    At that exact same time, a loud growl sounded somewhere in the distance, as Luna pounced forward at full speed.


    Both Liam and the elf who was on his deathbed turned to look at the sight when a dark elf appeared out of nowhere as he was trampled upon by the fox.


    "Bastard! You ran?" The elf''s eyes were bloodshot with anger. Coincidentally, Liam also did not look good, as he had already recognized this dark elf.


    Their gazes met, and the dark elf sneered. The next second, he took out something that resembled a potion bottle, except that Liam knew it was not a potion.


    "Luna! GET OUT OF THERE!" He shouted.


    He no longer held back and immediately summoned his soul army, taking everyone who was alive by surprise.

 Chapter 698 Welcome

    Chapter 698 Wee


    In the blink of an eye, five barbarians stood guard near each of the injured elves, and Crawford was already near Luna, right in the face of the dark elf, which looked very unsightly at the moment.


    Then something even more unbelievable happened as Luna''s figure blurred and she instantly appeared next to Liam, well away from the dark elf. This time, even Liam was shocked. It looked like the little fox had unlocked a new ability!


    As if this was not enough, the several other remaining soul minions were now rushing towards the dark elf. "Curses!" Dimitri dropped the potion he was holding, which began to give off a dark violet vapor, and ran for his life.


    This was a top-tier poison potion that he had personally developed, so he confidently believed that this was going to buy him some time. However¡­


    Not caring one bit about the poisonous miasma, the weird-looking creatures were chasing after him. What the hell are these things?


    He looked around in a panic to see that at least the poisonous miasma had prevented the fox and the human being from following him.


    Hmph! He made a snap decision as he took out another potion bottle. This time the bottle was golden in color and the potion inside looked more like a vapor than a normal potion.


    The dark elf menacingly eyed Liam again as he unwillingly swallowed this potion, and the next second, his figure disappeared.


    Crawford''s attack onlynded on empty air. The soul minions searched the area for a while but the dark elf was nowhere to be found.


    "That''s enough." Liam''s voice sounded from the back. He knew that they had lost him.


    "Master, who is that?" Luna growled. "He threw something stinky at me!"


    Liam couldn''t help but snap out of his thoughts andugh loudly. "That''s right. You don''t recognize him. You were still an egg when we met him. Ha Ha Ha Ha. But I am pretty sure he is here right now because of you."


    Kyu? The fox innocently cocked her head.


    "Do you still remember all the fire fragments you swallowed?"


    Kyu?


    Liam was speechless, but he wasn''t all that surprised. After all, Luna had eaten all three me fragments while she was still an egg, and he did not even want to go into the issue of whether she had consciousness then or not.


    "Anyway, I think that the dark elf is not gone yet. He is definitely hiding somewhere around us." Liam thought out loud in a low voice. Luna immediately turned serious as she looked around as if meaning to sniff him out. However, she was only drawing a nk.


    "It''s fine. Let''s keep going. Maybe he is gone." Though Liam said this, he already knew that the dark elf wouldn''t leave them alone this easily. The guy was a poison master and a very crafty one at that.


    He should have seen that his own strength doesn''tpare with Liam''s, so he should be lying in wait for an opportunity to fight dirty, or at least until he crossed the Forest of Echoes.


    Beyond that, he would no longer be under the watch of the elves, so that''s when he was probably nning to strike again.


    "Master, what about these guys?" Luna snapped at one of the elves who was secretly trying to inch away from the group.


    "Oh them? Right. Thanks for reminding me." Liam revealed a big smile. "I was thinking we should add some new friends to our group."


    Huh? All the captured elves were confused. What the hell was he talking about? Friends? Perhaps he was going to let them go?


    Only the one elf had a terrified look on his face. Since he was from a noble family, he had had the chance toe across an undead before and the beings in front of him were all undead.


    So what Liam said didn''t make him feel relieved one bit. Instead, he only became even more nervous. Something told him that he had made a very bad decision bying here.


    And he was not wrong.


    An hourter¡­


    Five elves stirred awake from their eternal slumber. They looked around to see the familiar forest and the familiar faces of the viin and his fox, but there was something different.


    "Hello, wee to the group. By the way, I was wondering if you guys still remember how to craft weapons?"


    Liam knew that at least one of the five, the noble family''s son, was an apprentice to a forging grandmaster. So he hoped that the guy had some decent knowledge of the subject matter even after his death.


    Logically, he should have because only Crawford''s soul was split and not whole. Unlike him, everyone else''s soul was whole, so they should retain memoriespletely?


    Liam looked expectantly, and the elf also nodded in admission, though he seemed as if that was thest thing he wanted to do.


    "He He. Your name? Saevel or Baevel something right?"


    "Lord Saevel!" The soul minion immediately snapped back with attitude and arrogance, to which Liam simplyughed. He couldn''t care less about it.


    Next to the new recruit, Gorak and Gu Donghai also shook their heads pitifully. Poor guy. There was a time when they were also full of attitude like this. They knew that the noobs would mellow down sooner orter.


    For the next few minutes, Liam busied himself interrogating the new recruits, particrly Lord Saevel.


    What weapons can you forge? What recipes do you know? What grade is your mana core? He asked the group of five all the questions that he could think of, and it looked like they were notpletely useless.


    If things go as nned, he might be able to make them non-stop forging machines, and these five elves might in fact turn out to be the most valuable assets!


    "I need to learn more recipes from the elves before leaving." Liam made a mental note. However, that had to wait. For now, his path was toward one and only ce.


    He flipped open the system interface and looked at the map, which was getting more and more detailed as he progressed in that direction. At this rate, he would reach that ce by the end of the day or maybe even sooner.


    He looked at the cute and cuddly fox who was already making herselffortable around his neck and scooped her up by her neck.


    "Your highness Luna, if it is not too much trouble, may I ride you this time?" Liam shook his head helplessly at thezy idiot. After revealing a skill like that, she still wanted to sleep around his neck all day?

 Chapter 699 Boss Luna!

    Chapter 699 Boss Luna!


    Liam dismissed his soul minions and hopped onto Luna''s back. The fox then happily used her new skill to disappear and reappear a few yards away every time.


    "You really can do this¡­" Liam became dazed. The feeling of going through something like teleportation was surreal. This definitely had to be one of the high-tiered skills, but how was she doing it?


    He tried to sense something, anything, but it was beyond his understanding. He looked at the smiling celestial beast, who was showing him hertest improvement with great pride.


    Was this an innate skill? Just how many more skills did she have?


    Liam became curious as he gently patted the fox on her back, "Did you learn anything else, Luna?"


    "Yes, Master. Lots of skills. Grandpa taught me a lot! Kyu!"


    Sure, he did. Liam bitterly smiled.


    While he was undergoing torturous training, this little fox was happily eating and sleeping away the whole time and yet somehow ended up learning more things than him?


    "Alright, why don''t you show me everything that you learned? Look to the right. There are some beasts there."


    Kyu! The fox nodded cutely. She then reached the spot Liam had pointed to in the blink of an eye. There was a small group of four spotted leopardszily lounging around.


    However, these guys were different than the usual leopards as they had antlers on top of their heads and were eating grass. Perhaps they were omnivorous and were eating grass at the moment. They also looked very peaceful.


    Luna immediately gave them a disapproving look. Choosing grass over meat? sphemy!


    The fox snarled at the bunch of beasts and then, without any warning, she opened her mouth to produce a jet of mes.


    "Fuck!" Liam waspletely caught off guard.


    He was just about to warn her, as the strongest among the leopards was already at Level 51, but it looked like there was no need for it. The leopards didn''t get a chance to react and werepletely drowned in the mes.


    At this point, he couldn''t even see anything in front of him. All he could see was a wall of mes. It was truly shocking to see such a powerful attacke out of a little creature''s mouth!


    Well, she was not so little at the moment as she had increased her size to amodate Liam on her back, but still, age-wise she was very young, not even a year old? Was this the power of a celestial beast?


    Liam now understood why the old elf had called her nature''s blessing. At this rate, it was going to be him who would be holding her back.


    He hopped off of her and observed her from the side to get the full picture, and when he did so, he was once again shocked.


    There was a weird rune glowing bright orange on the white fur of the fox, extending from head to tail, the entire length of her body.


    Not just that, but one of her snow-white tails was also now slightly glowing with a reddish-orange-yellow hue like that of a me.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam wondered whether this could be the me fragment he had taken from the small vige, the one he had stolen from Kouske''s team.


    Chances were that Luna was now finally starting to assimte the me fragments? There was also the nine-divinities crystal. He didn''t know if she fully used the effects for her first evolution or if there was still something left behind.


    Of course, there were also the various items that the old elf had fed her every day. It could be any of those things that helped her reach this stage.


    However, irrespective of what helped her, one thing was abundantly clear. This little fox was a ck hole of resources. At least now she was starting to show some results for everything that she had eaten.


    "Good job, Luna." Liam patted the smiling fox and watched as she killed all of the Level 50 grass-eating leopards like they were just gazelles. He even got some experience points for the kill.


    "Nice!" Liam picked up the couple of silver coins that dropped as loot and some hide materials and hopped back onto the fox. "Alright, head towards that direction, but if you see any beasts, you know what to do."


    Luna happily shook her head, pleased with her disy, and then continued to burn through the forest as she blinked from one spot to another, hunting everything in sight.


    Surprisingly, this grind went even faster than the previous time they had ransacked this forest for elemental orbs. This was life! Hunting on the back of an overpowered beast!


    And by the time the fox peeped out of the Forest of Echoes, Liam received a happy bonus of two orbs, one of water and one of wind. He also received a good chunk of experience points.


    "I guess the fun times are over now?" The peaceful, tranquil forest region was quickly thinning out. With Luna''s new blink skill, they covered the area a lot faster. The journey that should have taken an entire day was finished in just a few hours.


    And now they were almost close to their destination.


    Liam narrowed his eyes as he started cautiously observing everything around him. From this point onward, they were no longer in a peaceful zone. Dangerous high-level beasts could be lying in wait at any turn.


    And considering the location he was headed to, he was pretty sure that his chances of making it there alive were rather low.


    *****


    A/N Top Fan Event: As we are approaching the end of Part 1 of the story, I have decided to organize a special event tomemorate this milestone. Top 20 fans of the book can now send me suggestions for new characters that they want to see in the book. (Can be new characters, new powers for old characters, new events post-apocalypse, etc). I will try my best to incorporate them into the story as long as they are not world breaking. You can contact me here throughments or on Discord. Cheers! (To check if you are one of the top 20 fans, you can check the about page of the story where the fan ranking is listed)

 Chapter 700 The danger ahead

    Chapter 700 The danger ahead


    "Let''s proceed on foot, Luna." Liam patted the ballooned-up fox, and shended on the ground with a nod. At this point, Liam''s knowledge of the world map was pretty much exhausted.


    Beyond this, no guild had managed to explore the world in his previous life, and even if they had, he did not have any information about it.


    However, where he needed to go, he was notpletely clueless. There was a ''higher force'' helping him. With a small smirk, he flipped open the so-called treasure map, and immediately he could see a detailed route that led him to the X mark.


    "If what I am thinking is correct, we shouldn''t run into any danger if we follow this path." Liam decided to go for it as there was no other option at this point. This was the only way to get there that he knew of.


    The duo once again resumed their journey as they continued drifting from one forest to another without any end in sight.


    To make matters worse, the dotted path on the map kept on changing every other minute. The destination was still the same, but they were going toward it in a very convoluted manner.


    However, Liam did not doubt this map. This quest and this map seemed to desperately want him at the destination at any cost. His only question was what was going to happen once he arrived there.


    Soon, the forests started thinning down once again, and the map, as well, finally stopped changing. "Hmmm¡­ Are we here?" Liam checked but they were still not quite there. There was some more distance left to be covered.


    "Let''s go Luna." The fox blurred and reappeared a few yards ahead of them when abruptly, the scenery in front of them changed. The thick nket of the forest was no longer there. Instead, they were standing on charred rockynd.


    Liam turned in shock to see that the forest was cut off a few feet behind them. It was as if someone had taken a ruler, drawn a perimeter, and burned off all the forest beyond that outline.


    And right now, they were standing absolutely naked and vulnerable with no cover whatsoever to hide their presence.


    In just a second, Liam could feel several strong auras probing him. There was an ominous chill that gripped him. If he stood here even a moment longer¡­


    "Quick. Go back!"


    It looked like Luna also had the same thought, as the little fox readily teleported back into the thick forests without wasting any time. The duo then simultaneously sighed in relief.


    They were able to breathe only after they stepped out of those scorchednds.


    "Damn it! Just what the hell is this ce?" Liam jumped off of the fox''s back and took out the small charm bag that was tied to him. He tossed it on the ground angrily.


    Logically, he should have been assaulted by ravens the next instant. But Liam already knew that this wouldn''t happen. After all, he was here.


    He was finally at the destination of one of the first quests he had received in the game, though right now this only looked like a dead end.


    "Now what? How am I supposed to go further? Am I going to fight with those powerful beings?" He did not know what they were yet, but just their mere presence was enough to send chills down his spine.


    Taking a deep breath, Liam pped his cheeks, calmed himself down, and once again walked ahead to take a better look. The presence of so many strong auras earlier had shaken him up, but now he was steady.


    ''Evolution Online'' was a bizarre game. There were many things wrong with it. At the same time, there were also some unwritten rules, one of which being that a quest would never be truly impossible.


    If it were truly impossible, then the system wouldn''t allow it in the first ce. So Liam was sure that he was missing something.


    Also, when the risk was higher, the reward was also that much more unimaginable. So he was not ready to turn around just yet.


    He activated [Stealth] and slowly inched forward this time, leaving behind Luna under the cover of the forest. Even then, he did not dare to go beyond the boundary. He simply stood on the edge and first observed the surroundings.


    Thankfully, the strong auras did not seem to mind him this time around. "So as long as I don''t step on the scorchednd, I am fine?"


    Liam furrowed his brows and looked into the distance to see if he could notice anything. Unfortunately, nothing was visible. There was only a vast expanse of scorched tnd as far as his eyes could see.


    "What the hell¡­"


    Something was off. When Luna had teleported earlier, he managed to nce briefly at the scene in front of them, and at that time, there seemed to be some sort of fort in the distance. But now he couldn''t see anything? Was this an illusion? A mirage?


    So as long as he was inside the forest, he was safe, only that he wouldn''t be able to observe anything and if he stepped on the scorchednd, he would be an instant target, but he can start to figure out where he was and what this ce was?


    Both the options sucked terribly!


    "Well¡­ I guess this is not too much of an issue. I do have some expendables after all¡­" Liam sighed and summoned one of his soul minions, Gorak.


    This guy had been pretty much useless since he was created so this was the perfect opportunity to use him.


    And as if he could sense Liam''s intentions, Gorak started shivering. "Master¡­"


    "Go. Go on, my live bait. Let me see just what is this ce." Liam shrugged without any remorse.


    Hearing his order, the soul minion could only obey him and Gorak started walking forward slowly. He stepped out of the forest cover and onto the scorchednd.


    "Master¡­"


    "Keep going!" Liam ordered, payingplete attention to the surroundings. Gorak took another step when the t scorchednd was no longer empty and deserted.


    Bingo! He was correct. There was indeed a fort-like structure at the distance. Liam quickly pulled up the map and the spot marked on the treasure map was the same location as that fort.


    So whatever the quest needed him to do or rather that three-headed raven wanted him to doy ahead in the fort in front of him.


    "Ok. Keep moving. Go closer to that fort." Liam once again ordered.


    Gorak nodded and took another step when suddenly the air in the areapletely changed.


    "Something ising!" Liam gasped and the next instant a huge shadow appeared above Gorak. A huge bird or rather a reptile pped its wings.


    [Level 80, Steel-Skinned Wyvern]


    Liam only barely had the chance to make out the full outline of the creature when the wyvern dove down to decimate the solo soul minion.


    Ahhhhh! Gorak screamed. Luckily for him, Liam dismissed him at thest moment.


    The wyvern immediately roared in annoyance. Its sharp split-like eyes turned to the forest and locked onto Liam, even though he was well behind the tree cover. For a second, a wave of pressure enveloped him, but then it disappeared.


    He could see the wyvern flying away in the sky without doing anything else.


    What incredible perceptivity! What an amazing power! This was a real dragon!


    Liam felt his knees shaking. This was not the first time he had seen a dragon in person. This unexpected meeting here triggered memories for him that could make anyone go numb with fear.


    But no. He was not that same weak person! This time it will be different and it will start from here. His pulse quickened as he stared at the sky, watching the creature disappear into the dense clouds.


    Liam took a few more deep breaths as he calmed down. First things first. What the hell was a wyvern doing here? Didn''t hee here on a quest from a raven?


    It then struck him! Where was the beginner''s dungeon located? It was located near Nieria, another draconian creature.


    Though Nieria and this wyvern couldn''t bepared at all, as one was an injured, lesser drake while the other was a full-fledged wyvern, a draconian creature was still a draconian creature.


    So perhaps there was some connection between them?


    Be that as it may, what did the raven want from him? He opened the ''treasure'' map again as it was his only clue, but nothing else was visible on that old parchment.


    Liam scratched his head. He couldn''t understand heads or tails of this forced quest. A beginner''s dungeon wanting him to go up against wyverns? This was ridiculous!


    Unless¡­ The raven saw his potential? Did the SSSher affinity bring him this headache? He had so many questions and no answers.


    However, these were not important at the moment. The danger in front of him was now clear. The question was whether to go forward or retreat.


    Liam remained silent for a minute. He then grinned lightly. Of course, he was going to go ahead! Fuck the ''treasure'' map and the raven! He couldn''t care less about that. Instead, what he cared about was the wyvern itself.


    How often does one encounter a powerful draconian creature, let alone one at Level 80? This was his chance. It was time to get his first draconian soul undead! He absolutely couldn''t afford to miss this!

 Chapter 701 New agenda!

    Chapter 701 New agenda!


    Gresh Kingdom, Crimson Abyss Guild Residence:


    All the core members and the high council members of the guild were currently seated in the guild meeting hall.


    "Boss, we once again received a lot of guild applications," Berat informed Alex. "With this, we have close to 300,000 total members. Also¡­"


    "Hmmm?"


    "Boss, many guild members are demanding that they want to join the core team. Otherwise, they are saying they will quit the guild. I wouldn''t care if it was just the outer members but the inner members are also very vocal, especially after the guild war."


    "Oh?" Alex silently smirked. She naturally knew why this was happening. They had received a huge pie after the guild war and now everyone wanted a piece of it, but if they think that it is going to be so easy¡­ they have another thinging.


    "Hmm. They have good timing. I was also going to make an announcement exactly about that." Alex smiled. It was rare to see her smiling like this, but no one was happy about it. Something was going to happen. They knew it.


    Alex stood up and still with that smile on her face, she cleared her throat. "Listen up, everyone. From today onwards, there will be two new divisions of the guild."


    "One will be led by Master Ning. I will leave the selection of candidates for the division to her. She will make an announcement about it soon."


    "As for the second team, it will be led by me. I will also make an announcement about the selection criteria in a few minutes."


    "The most important thing you have to know is that these two new divisions will be directly under the high-council members and enjoy a lot more privilegespared to the core division, the inner division, and the outer division of the guild."


    "Now this brings me to the next announcement."


    "From now onwards, we will no longer remain in the Gresh Kingdom. We are moving to the Empire! Except for the outer members, all the guild members will be given 20 gold coins, the teleportation fees for the Northern Empire, Brihald!"


    Immediately, the entire hall became very quiet. This was huge news. Many yers have tried it, but no one has managed to reach the four empires just yet. So everyone was curious as to how they were going to aplish it.


    However, Alex surprisingly moved on to the next topic without talking about this.


    "Once you are in the Empire, you go directly to your respective ss hall and start training under the masters there. Forget about your level. Forget about other things. Just focus on honing your skills and improving yourself."


    Everyone nodded, but the big question still remained. "Boss, how are we going to get into the Empire?" Finally, someone asked.


    Alex smirked. "S-Rank guild members can enter and exit the Empire freely once they have enough guild reputation points."


    Damn! All the members assembled were instantly speechless. This was too unexpected. This meant that everyone who participated in the war could already enter the four big empires as they had all gotten a shit ton of guild contribution points as a reward for their war efforts.


    More importantly, this information was not avable online! Chances were that no one else knew about it, so they had first dibs on everything in the Empire!


    Alex took one look at everyone''s faces, and she immediately knew what they were thinking. She didn''t me them, she also thought about the same thing before Liam corrected her.


    "Guys, I am sure there will be a lot of new quests, new events, and activities in the empire, but the guild master''s, I mean the big boss Liam''s, official rmendation is for you to focus on your training in the ss hall. First, reach Level 50 and then concentrate on this training."


    "But you all know that no one is forced to do anything, so I will leave it to you to decide. Also, don''t be naive enough to think that we are going to be the first."


    "We have been busy with the war for the past 48 hours. I am sure the other S-Rank guild also figured this out and are probably already in the empires right now, trying to get special quests, etc."


    "It is better for us if we don''t participate in this madpetition. Focus on your training." Alex repeated again. She said the same thing one to three times to make sure everyone really listened to her.


    It was easy to get caught up in thepetition, but they have to keep their eyes on the prize, the end game. Liam had said they were only a few weeks away from the game''s shutdown, so this made her very nervous. What was going to happen after that?


    Alex sighed. She could see that everyone was visibly restless to run to the empire right this instant, so she didn''t want to keep them long. "Alright,st announcement. Here we go."


    "In the empire, there is also another ce called the Underground Arena. Everyone is advised to test their strength and practicebat in this arena."


    "As I said before, the members of the new division we are making will be chosen solely based on how well they do in this underground arena,"


    "Oh, and feel free to spread around that only S-Rank guild members can enter the Empire. That will be all. Meeting adjourned."


    Spread around the news? Shouldn''t they keep it a secret?


    Some yers were confused, but they didn''t have time to worry about it at the moment. This was a huge chance.


    From the way Alex announced it, it was clear that this new division was going to receive a lot of special privileges and even perhaps rare opportunities, so everyone shuffled out of the guild hall as fast as they could to get to the Empire and test out this new underground arena.


    Shortly after the meeting, two more announcements came in regarding the same thing they talked about in the guild hall, and Alex announced these directly on the guildmon channel so everyone would be able to see them, even the outer members.


    This further lit a fire under everyone. The guild leader was not joking. It looked like everyone had a chance to make it into this new division. Every day, thepetition inside the guild was exponentially increasing, so no one had time to ck off.


    Droves of yers exited the guild residence and began making their way to the city to use the teleportation portal to the Empire. Of course, the spies among the outer members of the guild readily spread this information around.


    "Sis, will this really be okay?" Rey was worried. "Should we have kept it a secret?"


    Alex immediately revealed a wicked grin. "It''s called fishing, idiot."


    "We will get even more applications after this news spreads. The more the merrier. Don''t we need a lot of yers to grind for raw materials in dungeons? We can use the freebor. Our time is far more valuable."


    "By the way, you haven''t reached Level 50 yet. Hurry it up, or else you will be left behind."


    "Fuck!" Rey quickly waved her goodbye and scurried away.


    With a smile, Alex also began finishing off thest few things on her checklist. She opened the guild interface and paid the hefty gold coins required to upgrade all the guild facilities.


    Everything was upgraded to the highest level, including the alchemy tower, forging tower, training facilities, guild defense, guild offense, and the number of NPCs they could recruit. She even upgraded the massage parlor, though she didn''t particrly approve of it.


    These new upgrades were the additional rewards for the guild members for pushing their limits in the guild war, and she was very generous with them. After all, the kingdom had awarded them with an excess of gold coins for winning.


    She also got a surprise when she raised the level of the guild stables to the highest grade. A new function popped up!


    [Beasts breeding facility]


    Alex was instantly shocked. It looked like they could breed beasts here and then help them form contracts with yers. This was extremely important because if someone obtained a powerful beast, then they could use that to breed more powerful beasts.


    She quickly looked over the details of this ce, and there were even more surprises in store for her. It looked like they could actually breedbat beasts that were loyal to the guild as a whole and not necessarily individual yers.


    This meant that they could actually unleash these beasts even as a separate division.


    Now Alex badly wanted another guild to challenge them to a guild war. They wouldn''t even see what hit them!


    He He. With a wide grin, she made the required preparations and upgraded everyst bit of the guild residence before setting out to the Northern empire. It was time to begin the next phase of this game!

 Chapter 702 Playing with fire

    Chapter 702 ying with fire


    Somewhere in thend of elves¡­


    Aeck!


    Ahhhhhh!


    Noooooo!


    Gorak and Gu Donghai screamed one after the other as their peaceful,zy life as neglected soul minions suddenly became a nightmare.


    Without giving them any chance to breathe or take a break, Liam continued summoning and dismissing the duo repeatedly as he baited them again and again for the steel-skinned wyvern.


    There were two things that he wanted to confirm.


    One was whether the same wyvern approached the intruder every time, and the second was whether it always came alone or came with apany when there were more soul minions.


    Liam fiddled with this same setup for a couple of hours, and every time only the single wyvern showed up without anyint.


    "I guess this is as sure as I am ever going to be?" He stretched his hands in contemtion as the main part of the show was about to start now.


    "Luna, are you ready?"


    Kyu!


    The little fox confidently red at the skies. Dragon¡­ smagon! She was better than all of them!


    And then started the fireworks!


    The fox quickly puffed up, going from being a small, cuddly baby to a bigger, elegant, and more majestic beast. She bared her teeth and took a threatening step forward, as one of her tails already lit up.


    Growl!


    Luna blurred and reappeared in the scorchednds. She arrogantly snorted and took another step forward when the sky above started to show movement.


    Within seconds, a huge shadow appeared looming over the fox, and Liam immediately acted. "Now!"


    Growl! Luna opened her mouth, and a big jet of mes roared loudly. The fox absolutely showed no fear in the presence of the powerful and intimidating wyvern.


    The split-like eyes of the beast showed surprise as it roared again and dove toward the fox. A single p of its wings was enough to split apart the sea of mes that covered its vision.


    But Luna was not done yet. She let out a low growl and once again used the same attack. However, this time she took a step back.


    ROAR!


    The wyvern ignored the mes and pped the attack aside like it was nothing. It roared loudly, watching the fox with its eyes full of fury.


    The draconian creature was only used to beasts fleeing at its sight. So its pride was wounded by the little fox''s defiance, and it sped toward the fox with an angry re.


    [That''s enough. Get back!] Liam, who was watching this, quicklymunicated with Luna mentally. Their aim was to get the attention of the beast, and it looked like they had aplished it quite well, more than they had hoped for.


    Naturally, Luna added her own spice to thismand. The fox grinned and shook its butt at the mighty draconian beast before teleporting back to the forest.


    ROAR!


    The wyvern was now furious. The beast stormed forward, not caring anymore whether it was in the scorchednd boundary or the forest. First of all, it had no rules. This was merely an act of mercy, and since these two cretins couldn''t respect it, none was necessary.


    It did not care if it destroyed the entire forest, today it was going to tear this silly fox apart, along with the human who had bothered it for thest few hours.


    Naturally, the wyvern was not a fool. It could see the ploy as clear as day. The two cretins were trying to lure it, a mighty draconian beast! And now, it was time to pay the price for their actions!


    Zing! It pped its de like steel wings and sted through the forest. It aimed for the spot Luna had reappeared, wanting to ram and make a meatpaste of the fox.


    Luna as well did not show any signs of moving. The steel-skinned wyvern and the fluffy fox were about to collide, and when they did¡­


    BANG!


    A loud, ungodly sound echoed in the forest.


    The wyvern''s slit-like eyes widened as it noticed something blocking its path. It actually hadn''t crashed into the fox. Rather, a mana barrier had appeared in front of it, protecting the fox at thest moment.


    "Luna, attack using full power now!" Liam shouted. While holding on to the barrier strongly, he also started casting another spell. The Howler demon summoning spell.


    The wyvern was once again shocked. The puny human being in front of it could actually dual cast?


    Liam gritted his teeth. Yes, he could dual cast. This was the second thing he had learned from the old elf, but his mastery of this was not nearly enough.


    Even so, he tried his best to hold back the steel-skinned wyvern while the fox, the howler demon, Crawford, and a group of soul minions started attacking the wyvern.


    ROAR! The draconian creature was furious.


    Ants! Ants! Everyone in front of it was nothing more than ants! And they dared to stand up to its might and attack? sphemy! It felt the sting of the numerous smaller attacks and roared loudly.


    Immediately, the entire forest was enveloped in a strange pressure. Today, the beast would show the difference between an inferior being and a superior being!


    Draconian beasts were naturally blessed with a tremendous amount of mana. Want to hold back a wyvern with a crude mana barrier? Dream on!


    Liam saw that the huge beast was getting ready to send them both to the side of the dead, so he told Luna to use her ability to teleport right away.


    The fox understood, and the second phase of their n started. The very next second, Luna madly started appearing and reappearing all over the forest.


    Poof! Pop! Poof! Pop! Poof! Pop! Poof! Pop!


    One second she was here and the next second she was there. She appeared and disappeared at lightning speed.


    Roar! The wyvern raged in anger. The ants were using petty tricks, but in front of absolute strength, all of these tricks would be useless!


    With another p of its wing, it broke and shattered the mana barrier. It then turned its attention towards the human being who was hell-bent on infuriating it.

 Chapter 703 Die! Die! Die!

    Chapter 703 Die! Die! Die!


    This was it. Liam knew that this was the deciding moment.


    If he could evade thising attack, then his victory was all but guaranteed in this fight. At the same time, if he could notpletely dodge this single attack, then it meant that he still had ways to go before facing a creature like the one in front of him, a majestic wyvern.


    Liam''s gaze turned cold as he watched the huge draconian bird in front of him p its steel wings and open its mouth, aiming directly at him. His pulse quickened. He did not waste any time as he immediately churned his mana core buried deep within him.


    Where was the attacking from? What was going to happen? As his mind raced, he pushed mana to every inch of his body, packing himself with all the power he could muster.


    The next second a loud roar erupted from the wyvern as a dozen spikes emerged from the ground. All the spikes were dangerously sharp, metallic steel spikes just like its scales.


    Liam instantly leaped up into the air to avoid the brunt of the attack, but that was not all. The Wyvern wasn''t done yet.


    Not only did steel spikes pop out of the ground, they also started raining down from the sky. Sturdy, thick, sharp spikes also started showing up on the sides. They wereing at him from all directions.


    Within a fraction of a second, Liam waspletely cornered from all sides. Steel death trap! That would be an urate name for this attack!


    His n was to evade this attack and then coordinate with Luna to pincer attack the wyvern from both sides but now the damn creature had used a reverse card on him and done the same by attacking him from all sides.


    Evading was no longer an option. Liam immediately made a split second decision. All the mana that he nned on using to boost his speed, he now redirected for something else.


    He pushed them all to his right hand, pulled in as many earthen essences as he could to his hand, and also called for atmospheric mana around him, focusing all three on his right hand. He then thrust his hand forward using everything as momentum for the attack.


    BANG! He punched the steel spikes on the side. If he couldn''t evade the attack then he was going to break right through it!


    Waves of mana and earthen essence roiled from his punch as the steel spikes that met his hand were sted to smithereens and Liam used this opening to break out of the trap that was confining him.


    However, the fight was far from over. He used everything he had to break out but the dragon simply snorted in amusement at his efforts.


    Metallic spikes continued to rain down on him both from the top and the bottom as Liam pushed himself to keep moving. More! He needed more power and more strength to defeat this monstrous beast in front of him!


    But he was also not done yet. The fight was just starting. Though he was not able topletely evade the previous attack, he was still able to emerge unscathed from it, taking only a small hit to his health.


    This was more than enough for him. This told him that he had a fighting chance and he was logically sound in challenging this indomitable beast.


    Now it was time for him to reveal his card, the weapon that he had against this beast because of which he had started this whole fight. He unsheathed the ck Dragon sword.


    ROAR! Instantly another tremendous pressure enveloped the air around them and this wasing from none other than his sword.


    Liam could feel the souls of the dragons inside the sword shaking and trembling. They were raging to get out of their prison ande out into the world.


    The presence of the wyvernpletely triggered them. They called out to Liam on their own, begging for him to use the sword.


    And Liam grinned, "Yes, that is the n." His legs moved without a break evading the attack of the wyvern while his hand clenched his sword tightly. He was determined to win this fight.


    After getting pushed around by the old elf day in and day out, it was not an understatement to say that he was frustrated and this wyvern here was going to be his prey.


    Little did the wyvern know that the puny human being in front of it was nning to use it like a punching bag to relieve all the pent-up stress. Its slit-like eyes shone with a cold glint as it stared at the sword in the human''s hand.


    As an intelligent and powerful beast, it could feel the strange aura seeping out of the sword. When it stared at the sword deep enough, it even felt a shiver run through its body.


    No! The wyvern immediately roared. How dare a puny human threaten someone like him? This was not eptable!


    Its fury erupted like a volcano as it roared loudly again and again and started to attack Liam in a mad frenzy. It wanted to finish off the fight the next second.


    It was shameful for a mighty draconian being like itself to drag the fight for so long. For its strength, the human should have already died thousand times over! Snort!


    Immediately, all sorts of attacks started pouring down on Liam. He could literally feel the atmospheric mana gushing toward the wyvern. Between him and the beast, mana seemed to choose the wyvern.


    However, there was also another party present in the battlefield which the wyvern hadpletely forgotten. It was distracted by the sword in Liam''s hand and forgot about the little fox who had lured the beast here in the first ce!


    On one side, the wyvern was attacking the human being with a craze. Liam, on the other hand, was only barely holding on as he swung the sword in his hand with an equal craze as he cut through the various things being hurled at him.


    Steel spikes, rock boulders, stone shards, and all sorts of things engulfed him as if he was standing in a tornado. What was a wyvern? It was not a rare or an epic grade beast. It was a supreme beast that looked down on everyone else.


    So its magic attack was extremely powerful. Liam had to use his utmost concentration to survive this flurry of attacks.


    Even with the sword coordinating with him, and all his strikes breaking apart the boulders and spikes like butter, the attacks were endless! They kept oning anding as if the damned wyvern had infinite mana!


    But right at this moment, the third-party jumped into action. While the wyvern was attacking Liam, the fox appeared right behind the wyvern and mmed. She sent a powerful swipe toward the steel-skinned beast.


    Luna''s blue eyes glowed brightly as she growled in anger and sent a furious swipe toward the wyvern that was power-packed. The draconian beast waspletely caught off-guard.


    It stumbled because it felt the mana in the air responding to someone else now and because its attention was distracted, the single attacknded, and the wyvern stumbled.


    SCREECH!


    Luna''s ws struck the steel-like scales on the wyvern as she started wing at the huge bird left and right viciously.


    And when the wyvern finally caught up to her¡­ Poof! She was gone!


    She reappeared at its back again and did the same thing. She started appearing and disappearing and attacking the wyvern from all sides in a frenzy.


    "How dare you attack my master! Die! Die! Die! Die, you overgrown lizard!" The usually adorable andzy fox truly looked ferocious at the moment as she started mercilessly pummeling the wyvern.


    And that too, her ws were not simple scratches. Each hit was infused with mana and fire essence. She also underwent training, well sort of, with the old elf and the results of the training were now clearly visible.


    Each sh from the fox''s paw streaked fire as it cut through the steel scales of the draconian beast. As if this was not enough, Luna opened her mouth and sent a huge jetstream of fire aiming right for the slit-like eyes that looked down upon her.


    Meanwhile, Liam was not idle. He already arrived at the scene of the fight and ganged up together with Luna as he started attacking the wyvern from one side.


    SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!


    The ck dragon sword shone more resplendently than ever as it danced against the steel scales of the dragon. Liam was finally able tond some hits!


    He as well unfused every single sh of the weapon with fire essence and each hit took a big chunk of health.


    -10000


    -12000


    -8000


    The damage numbers were popping off non-stop. The 10 million health of the Level 80 wyvern was finally beginning to leak.


    In fact, after the training, his damage numbers should have been higher but the natural defense of a wyvern was too frightening. If he had used any other weapon than the ck dragon sword, Liam wondered if he would have still been able to do so much damage.


    But now was not the time to think about that. He didn''t care how he managed it. By hook or crook, he wanted this beast badly.


    With Luna attacking relentlessly from one side and him attacking non-stop from the other side, this finally seemed like it was going to happen!

 Chapter 704 Sweet Victory!

    Chapter 704 Sweet Victory!


    Bang! sh! Bang! sh! Bang! sh!


    The wyvern''s slit-like eyes growled in silent anger as it saw that it was being ganged up on by these two ants. They were using cheap tricks to pummel it from all sides. Worse, this was actually painful!


    ROAR!


    The draconian beast couldn''t take it any longer and shook its body violently. It thrashed around its steel wings and tails in a frenzy andmanded the mana around it to make its natural weapons more deadly.


    Liam instantly took several steps back. He had a feeling that just one hit from its tail would be enough to one-shot him, so he did not take that risk. Luna as well instinctively did the same.


    The fox looked at Liam, and he nodded. They were in silent understanding of what to do next. When closebat was no longer possible, it was time to burn everything in sight!


    Liam immediately unleashed the spell that he had been training for almost every day in the time-space with the old elf, [Fire Storm]. The fox also did the same. Huge raging mes appeared and engulfed the whole area in an instant. The heat in the air sky-rocketed.


    Roar! The wyvern stopped throwing tantrums and let out a loud howl. Everywhere it could see, there were only mes. It was stinging from the many injuries on its body. Its health was also constantly dropping.


    It no longer dared to be arrogant. It started hurriedly sucking in all the mana from the surrounding in an attempt to cast its own spell and thwart this attack.


    And so, in the middle of the two fire tornadoes, another tornado appeared, sucking the air out of everything. This one was considerably bigger, threatening to tear everything apart. This was the natural skill of a draconian beast, head and shoulders above every other species.


    However, at the moment, there was a stronger contender.


    Luna growled, sucking a big breath of air into her mouth, making her face all puffy. And the next second, the size of the dancing tornadoes started changing. Luna''s firestorm started to be much much bigger.


    Roar! The wyvern did not want to ept it. It once again tried to pull the mana to its will, only to find that the mana was not responding to it.


    The wyvern was shocked for the first time. It turned to look at the fox, wondering just what sort of a creature it truly was. sh! While it let its defenses down for that second, Liam brought his sword down, aiming directly for the beast''s neck.


    The metal screeched against the steel scales and he definitely drew blood. He was tossed the next second down on the ground by the huge beast, but the damage was already done.


    While the wyvern was focused on Liam, Luna did the chip damage, and while it was Luna''s turn, Liam brought down the health of the beast little by little. The duo had perfect coordination as they danced circles around the wyvern.


    The beast waspletely overwhelmed. No matter what the wyvern tried, the damage was continuously umting. Soon it was down to thest few thousand.


    At this point, the wyvern''s eyes becamepletely bloodred as it raged loudly. The draconian beast seemed as if it had lost all sanity. Only survival was on its mind. A violent aura appeared around it and the ground started shaking.


    Trees were getting uprooted. The ground started peeling and rocks and sand were everywhere. A huge whirlpool of disaster started forming with the wyvern at the center.


    Of course, Liam was not nning to stand on the spot and take the full brunt of this attack. There was no need to be a hero. He simply ran away, outside of the radius of the attack.


    Both he and the fox stood on the outside and watched the destructive power of the wyvern. Its health was also going up slowly. Now, this was more concerning. Liam frowned. He could clearly see that their main challengey here.


    When the wyvern finally ran out of energy, they needed to bring it down as fast as possible before it could cast this spell again. Otherwise, this fight would never end. Now it was all down to what was faster, the beast''s recovery or their damage output.


    Liam no longer held back as he summoned all of his soul minions and the Howler demon. They won''t be able to hold out against the wyvern, but they are more than capable of doing some chip damage at the least.


    And if it ended up in him getting this wyvern''s soul, it was worth losing some of his soul minions!


    The raging wyvern soon deted, and the forest also calmed down. Liam narrowed his eyes at the panting wyvern. This was it. This was the sign!


    "CHARGE!"


    He shouted as all of his minions started pelting their attacks on the wyvern.


    Surprisingly, it was Luna who held the aggro in this particr fight, as the wyvern seemed to have something against her personally.


    So no matter what angle Liam attacked, the wyvern only focused on the fox. This only made everything easier as he continued to attack to his heart''s content.


    The naughty fox also seemed as if she waspletely enjoying herself. She used her teleportation ability non-stop as she drove the wyvern crazy.


    The beast was soon back on its deathbed, with only a small percentage of its health remaining. Liam swung his sword at the same gaping wound on its neck repeatedly and used everyst bit of strength he had.


    The wyvern was struggling. It no longer had any energy or pride left. After getting pummeled, again and again, the draconian beast let out a loud roar as it was no longer able to fight back. Just one more attack and the beast would die.


    KYUUUUUUU!


    Luna shouted loudly in triumph as she prepared to send out another firestorm!


    Liam also grinned, his body slumping from tiredness. It was over. They won. He didn''t bother attacking, seeing that the fox was already ahead of him. Also, he was expecting something else to happen right now.


    And just like he assumed¡­ right at this crucial moment, something happened. A strange mist enveloped the ce, and a dark elf appeared out of his cover of invisibility.


    Dimitri grinned from ear to ear. Following Liam patiently up until now had finally paid off!


    The fox and the human being had fought tooth and nail with the wyvern, but it was he who was going to reap the rewards and have the finalugh!


    The elf dashed toward the weakened human being while sending out sizzling, deadly bolts of dark energy at the wyvern. This was going to be one shot with three kills!


    He was going to get the wyvern''s bounty and thest kill. He was going to ughter the human being in order to exact his vengeance. Andstly, as a bonus, he would get the fox as his pet. The beast was clearly not an ordinary one, so he looked forward to taming it.


    With his eyes full of dreams, Dimitri dashed forward in glee to change his fate. However, right at this time, a sword shed through his throat, blood sttering everywhere.


    The dark elf waspletely dumbfounded. Because of the previous time he had faced off against Liam, his body was permanently damaged, but this n was foolproof. He was sure to seed. So what happened¡­


    As his head rolled to the ground, his gaze shifted to Liam, who had not moved an inch from his spot. It was also not the fox as she floated up in the sky above the poison cloud. So who the hell killed him?


    The dark elf''s gaze finallynded on the other person or rather being standing near him, a white-colored entity, a soul minion.


    "Good job, Crawford." Liam grinned. Naturally, he did not forget about this sneaky pest. So he had appointed Crawford to watch out for him since the fight began. How could he not take care of this variable?


    As for kill stealing the wyvern, no matter how strong the poison was, it wouldn''t be easy to bring down a draconian beast. So it was not dead yet.


    Liam grabbed Dimitri''s soul in one hand and quickly sent a [Dark Cutter] at the wyvern''s bleeding wound. It was time to kill this wyvern.


    However...


    Before his attack couldnd, a huge bolt of lightning hit the wyvern right on its head, making the creature twitch in agony and let out itsst dying breath.


    Was it you who attacked? With his mouth agape, Liam turned to look at Luna, who was also looking at him in confusion. Neither of them had gotten that final kill! That could only mean someone else was here apart from them and the dead dark elf!


    GROWL! Luna yelled out in fury.


    Damn it! Liam jolted up in shock.


    It did not take long for the two of them to spot this third party as a small figure emerged from the smoke, the dust, and the poison cloud, but this person was fast. He quickly disappeared, only his voice echoing in the silence of the aftermath.


    "So long suckers."


    A kid? He looked like a kid! Liam''s face twitched.


    He was feeling too many things at the moment to focus on who this person was and what actually happened. Besides, he didn''t have the luxury of doing that at the moment.


    "Come out." He instantly summoned all of his soul minions to stand as guards and only focused on the soul hanging onto the dead wyvern''s corpse.

 Chapter 705 Alive or dead?

    Chapter 705 Alive or dead?


    Liam clenched his fist and forcefully brought his mind to the task at hand. He needed to extract the wyvern''s soul. As far as he was concerned, this was the sole reason why he had struggled and fought so hard, and it was still within his grasp. So he did not want to miss the chance.


    As far as Dimitri''s soul was concerned. He took out a ck bead from his inventory and sent the soul into the bead. This was an item that had been sitting in his inventory for a while now. He also had other ck beads that were stuffed full of souls.


    It was ironic that when Liam faced the dark elf thest time, he had tossed one such ck bead, putting him in a world of agony and tormenting him before finally dying to Luna, and now the tables were turned. Liam used the same ck bead to store the dark elf''s soul.


    He was now free to fully attend to the wyvern''s soul. He did not waste any time as he quickly took out the canister of milky way pond water and drank a few mouthfuls.


    With this, he stopped feeling tired right away, and his body started absorbing mana again like a vortex, filling up all the empty reserves. At the same time, Liam concentrated only on the small soul fragments emerging from the wyvern''s corpse.


    Gradually, his eyes started to widen in shock.


    Since bing a soulmancer, he had witnessed many deaths and the subsequent dissipation of souls, but this was the first time he was witnessing something truly unique.


    The soul essence of the wyvern was extraordinary. Unlike most dead bodies, this one shone like a million stars or a bunch of fireflies all in the same ce. The soul essence was so thick.


    "This is going to be difficult." Liam grit his teeth as he silently strengthened his resolve. No matter how impossible it was, he was not going to lose here. He slowly started gathering all the soul fragments, one after the other.


    He could feel a bundle of tremendous mental pressure starting to build up. As he started gathering more and more soul fragments, this pressure started exploding exponentially.


    Ahhhhh! Liam screamed in the silent forest. Luna worriedly walked over to him, but she didn''t approach him for fear of unnecessarily disturbing the process. She silentlyy next to him, watching his face twist as each wave of pain crashed.


    However, Liam was holding on steadily. Seconds ticked by when he almost managed to gather 80% of all the soul fragments. This was not perfect, but this was his limit at the moment, he could feel it.


    He grabbed onto this chunk of soul fragments tightly and started the next steps of forging. Mana in the air roiled as numerous humongous mana hammers appeared in front of him.


    Withstanding the mind-numbing pain that wastched onto him, Liam grunted as he brought down the set of mana hammers, pounding on the clustered soul fragments.


    "Again!"


    "Again!"


    "Again!"


    He willed all the strength he had in his body, soul, and mind as he steadied himself and continued the process despite the pain.


    Seconds turned into minutes as he lost track of how much time had passed. He was using everything he had to hold onto the soul, so he only focused on that.


    But as things progressed, it was only getting more and more difficult. He was holding onto the immensely powerful soul by only a thread and this thread could also break at any moment.


    Liam could no longer remain calm. He knew that he needed to do something and fast. Otherwise, he was going to lose. His mind raced with a million possibilities that he could do differently but he was under severe pressure and he could only think so much.


    However, there was still one option that stood out whenpared to others. The orbs!


    Thanks to Luna''s farming, he had managed to obtain a few more elemental orbs. There was even a couple of earth orbs in his possession.


    And this was not the first time, he was trying something like this. He had already forged souls using elemental essence. So technically, he should also be able to use elemental orbs?


    Meanwhile¡­


    Directly opposite the spot where Liam and Luna were currently settled, a kid finally noticed that something was amiss and stopped in his tracks. He turned around, again and again, checking his surroundings in disbelief.


    "What the hell? No one is chasing after me?"


    He then hurriedly checked his notifications to see if he had actually aplished what he wanted to do or perhaps if it was he who was mistaken.


    But¡­ no¡­


    There it was! He had received 1 million experience points for a single kill! 1 million! Not some ordinary number!


    He had actually managed to kill-steal a fucking wyvern. This was huge! To top it off, he also seemed to have escaped.


    And he also received the title, <dragon yer=""></dragon>


    Anyone who aplished such a feat would be immensely proud and joyful. This was really huge! However, this kid was different.


    There was no smile on his face. In fact, apart from the momentary confusion he had shown when no one wasing behind him, he waspletely emotionless.


    He simply swiped all the notifications and continued moving forward as if nothing at all had just happened. His soulless eyes were fixated on one thing and only one thing, and that was the fort ahead.


    This fort that was heavily guarded by draconian creatures was his goal, and he was going to get there no matter what. He was going to get there before anyone else possibly could.


    For that, he did not care even if he had to do something shameful as stealing someone else''s hard work.


    The kid stared into the distance as he started walking towards the fort. Unlike when Liam had tried, no creature showed up when he walked into the open, scorchednds.


    And the kid also seemed to be sure of this.


    He walked confidently ahead as if he already knew he would bepletely safe. And when he took another step forward, loud roar resounded in the distant forest.


    Hmmm? The kid turned around and stared in confusion. That was the exact same spot he had escaped from just now. His eyes widened in surprise as another roar echoed right after the first one.


    What the hell was happening? The Wyvern, wasn''t it dead?


    He opened his system interface to check and all his stats were still there, so what was that sound? He furrowed his brows but then continued walking forward. There were bigger things he had to worry about.


    As for the yer whom he had backstabbed, he couldn''t give two shits about that loser.

 Chapter 706 Lets lure some more wyverns

    Chapter 706 Let''s lure some more wyverns


    While the kid continued walking toward the fort leaving the forest behind him, things back in the forest were not as simple. One human and one fox stood dumbfounded, staring at the majestic creature in front of them.


    Roar! A wyvern let out a loud, earth-shattering bellow, myriad emotions contained in that single cry of disbelief. His slit-like eyes simmered in unwillingness as he tried toe to terms with his new reality.


    He should have be a mighty creature revered by many given one or two decades, but now it was reduced to a mere sordid creature that was neither living nor dead.


    No! He cannot ept this. He roared again and again, repeatedly, trying to break free from the shackles that bound him. He was a creature blessed by nature. Surely, he can ovee this little trickery.


    However, after some time, he could see the pointlessness of his efforts. Yet he couldn''t help but remain unwilling.


    "It''s not just you. Everyone has some chains tying them down." Liam calmly muttered.


    He knew what to do to help this wyvern attain some peace. He took out his ck Dragon sword and stabbed it into the ground.


    The wyvern''s eyes instantly shook. His entire body trembled. Earlier, he couldn''t sense it properly, but now he did. All the souls of the dragons inside that sword¡­


    Gulp. He took a step away from the sword in fear. He then looked up at Liam in reverence.


    Of course, Liam had nothing to do with capturing all the ck dragon souls into the sword, but he did not feel the need to exin such trivial information to his newest soul minion.


    Instead, he decided to go with something else. "If you follow me, you will not regret it."


    Standing next to him, the fox looked at Liam with twinkling eyes. So cool! Her master was so cool!


    Kyu! Luna, as well, nodded with her nose up in the air. "If you follow my master, you won''t regret it."


    And thus, the brainwashing was sessfullypleted. The wyvern''s expression changed from awe to worship as he bowed before Liam and acknowledged him as master.


    A few feet behind them, Gorak and Gu Donghai were fuming inwardly. Howe they never got this treatment? Life was really not fair!


    Of course, the wyvern never had a chance to begin with. Liam was the one who forged his soul, so he was bound to him. But since he was dealing with a prideful creature like the wyvern, he decided to give him some respect and make it look like the beast also had a say in the matter.


    "Alright, now that we are done with this¡­" Liam''s gaze shifted to the direction in which the kid had disappeared. He had not quite forgotten about him.


    Kyu! Luna also snarled in anger. The wyvern, unaware that these two were angry over who killed him in the first ce, also joined them and gave a loud growl.


    Liam ignored the duo and first thought about things calmly. At worst, he had lost a few experience points and probably some valuable materials that could have been dropped. This was not worth pursuing at the moment.


    Rather, he looked at the wyvern and pulled out his stats.


    <Ding>


    Name: Wyvern 1


    Type: Undead


    Level: 67


    Health: 1,000,000


    Mana: 500,000


    Skills:


    Meteorite Smash; Earthquake; Sandstorm; Spike Cage; Spike Storm


    "Yup." His decision was correct. The stats of a draconian beast were truly impressive. It looked like the beast had lost some of its strength and power when it died but it was still sufficiently overpowered.


    What he needed most at the moment was more soul minions like this. Besides, if the person who stole from him was here, then they were bound to cross paths again. It was not worth wasting time on a random goose chase.


    "Get ready, guys. Time to lure some more wyverns."


    He dismissed everyone, and now only Luna and he were left behind. "You know what to do." He looked at Luna and nodded. The fox grinned, stepping forward.


    She cautiously took a few steps, looking to her left and right every second. However, something was different this time. She had already covered a considerable distance, but nothing happened at all. No other wyverns came chasing after her.


    She turned to look at Liam in puzzlement, who was equally confused. Was that it? Was only one wyvern guarding this mysterious fort? That sounded a bit unbelievable.


    The map did not give him any other details and he also did not have any other information aout this ce. However, now he had someone to whom he could actually ask these things.


    With a smile, he quickly summoned the wyvern back.


    "Tell me. What is this ce?"


    Growl? The wyvern cocked his head to the side and looked back at Liam.


    "Hmmm? Did I not ask the question properly?" Liam decided to try again. "Are you guarding something? What is inside that fort? Treasures?"


    Now, the wyvern responded. His slit-like eyes widened ever so slightly as he nodded with his big head. "It''s a prison, Master. I guard the prison."


    "What?" Liam was shocked, though he had a feeling right from the beginning that this treasure map was too good to be true.


    And when the ravens showed up one after the other, forcing him toe here, everything became clearer. He assumed that the treasure map was probably bait to lure him here. However, he did not think that this would be an actual prison.


    "Who is inside this prison?"


    The wyvern shook his head. That he did not know. His duty was to only guard the fort.


    "Hmmm¡­ How many beasts are guarding the fort? How strong are they?"


    "My brothers and sisters are guarding the fort. They are all not as strong as me."


    "Huh?" Liam found this difficult to believe. "Really?"


    The wyvern looked a little embarrassed as it added, "They are slightly stronger than me. There are twelve of us."


    "Slightly stronger, huh?" He nodded with a chuckle. "Then why aren''t theying out?" Technically, at least one more should have popped out when Luna stepped on the scorchednd.


    "Master, I also don''t know. Since I was defeated, all of my brothers and sisters should havee forward to defend the prison."


    Liam looked at the fox, who was now happily running around here and there on the scorchednd without any care in the world. "Perhaps they are already involved in a conflict?" He wondered.


    The wyvern gasped but quickly agreed with him. "Yes, master. Maybe my brothers and sisters are currently fighting with a foe."


    Once they came to this conclusion, Liam did not have to think twice about who this foe could be. "Let''s go." He took the wyvern along with him as he called Luna back.


    It looked like it was time to pay a visit to the sneaky little thief after all. Who was this person who stole his kill and what was he doing here? All the answersy ahead at the fort in front of them.

 Chapter 707 Dragon King

    Chapter 707 Dragon King


    A white fox with three tails flewzily over a vastndscape of scorchednd. Sitting on top of it, Liam cautiously looked at the fort in the distance. Was nothing really going to pop out of that fort and attack them?


    He looked at the undead wyvern flying next to them for an answer. "Master, perhaps because of my presence, my brothers and sisters are not attacking you?"


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam nodded. The truth was that unless they went there and checked it out, they wouldn''t know the answer to this question. There was no point in ying the guessing game now.


    The group soon arrived at the fort, which looked eerily quiet from the outside.


    "So this is the ce that is supposed to be full of treasures?" Liam bitterly smiled. Only a truly brain-dead idiot or a naive child would fall for such a tant trap.


    However, he was here. So he had to step inside and check it out. If one did not take risks, there wouldn''t be any rewards.


    Liam took a deep breath and walked toward the fort. Just to be cautious, he summoned Crawford and the howler demon to stand beside him as well, all of them forming a small party.


    And in front of them, the two giant doors of the fort were wide open. They were free to enter the building. There were no guards, guardian beasts, or anything of that sort.


    "Of course, the doors are open." Liam chuckled wryly. The ce was luring everyone with open arms. They walked inside, and the first thing they noticed was the really tall ceiling. From the outside, the fort did not look very tall, but it sure did now.


    Everyone looked up instinctively as they felt a chill brush past their bodies as if someone was watching them. Were the rest of the elven wyrens hanging out at the top of this ceiling? Liam almost expected the giant reptile birds to fly down, pouring fire and hail on them.


    However, nothing of that sort happened.


    "Master, that way." The wyvern lifted his paw and pointed forward.


    Liam nodded, and the group walked in that direction. The whole ce was still quiet, with only the sound of their own footsteps echoing in the huge space.


    "Is this really a prison?" Liam couldn''t believe it. Shouldn''t there be more guards or some other beasts? There also weren''t any signs of disturbance or fighting. The fort seemed as if it waspletely deserted.


    "Let''s keep walking."


    The fort was just as long as it was tall, and the group continued walking through several twists and turns. The path ahead of them seemed never-ending.


    "Are we really going on the right path?" Liam frowned.


    The wyvern, however, confidently bobbed his head up and down. Seeing this, Liam could only trust the beast and continued walking forward. Soon they arrived in front of another gigantic pair of gates.


    This one was rather different. It seemed to be made of some sort of special metal and looked extremely strong and sturdy. There were also numerous mysterious runes carved on this gate, making it look very threatening.


    "What is there on the other side?" Liam asked.


    "Nothing?" The wyvern cocked his head to the side and answered. "The path ahead simply continues."


    Liam let out a deep breath and tried pushing the door open. However, the door was very heavy and it did not budge. "Here, why don''t you open it?" He let the wyvern do the work.


    The draconian beast grunted and stepped forward casually. This was the home of the beast, so he was used to these halls and this path. He did not seem nearly as anxious as Liam.


    The wyvern raised his paw and confidently pushed open the door. And as he did¡­ the deafening silence that prevailed in the fort up until now was suddenly gone. Instead, loud screeching and roaring sounds filled the halls.


    Liam''s jaw dropped to the floor as he stared at the scene in front of him in disbelief. Looking right back at him were millions and millions of lizard men? Or whatever they were?


    What the hell?


    More importantly, at the center of this big mess, waving around a huge me, was a small human figure.


    Liam immediately recognized him. Or rather, he recognized the big dragons standing around this kid. They were not drakes, lesser dragons, or wyverns. There were real dragons, even if they weren''t fully grown up yet.


    And in the entire ''Evolution Online'' game, there was only one person who actually managed to do this, to tame real dragons. He was extremely popr both in this lifetime and the previous one, but after the apocalypse descended, the kid was nowhere to be seen.


    Countless people had wished for this dragon king, as he was fondly named, to save the world, but he was nowhere to be seen.


    And right now, this kid was standing in front of Liam, surrounded by the huge horde of monstrous lizard men. Liam also had no doubt that he was the same person who had snatched away his kill. What the fucking hell? Just what was happening? Why was he here?


    However, he did not have the time to think about this at the moment. One look at Liam and his group, and everything changed!


    "What? You came here for the treasure? You want to get revenge?" The kid smirked arrogantly, and before Liam could do anything, his dragons started clearing a path for him. The beasts actually shed against a wall of the fort and broke it open.


    "The treasure is mine, and as for the revenge, first survive this, and thene find me." Shouting loudly, the kid and the five dragons entered through this hole, fending off the lizardmen at their throat. Of course, once they crossed the hole, they blocked the path.


    Meanwhile, the attention of all the lizardmen turnedpletely toward Liam.


    Thousands upon thousands of lizardmen swarmed in the direction of the small group of five. They wereing out of everywhere, every nook, corner, pir, and ceiling. They were never-ending.


    And all of them gave theirplete and utter undivided attention to Liam!


    *****


    A/N Top Fan Event: Because of special requests, I have decided to include more people. Now Top 50 fans of the book can send me suggestions for new characters that they want to see in the book. (Can be new characters, new powers for old characters, new events post-apocalypse, etc). I will try my best to incorporate them into the story as long as they are not world-breaking. You can contact me here throughments or on Discord. Cheers! (To check if you are one of the top 50 fans, you can check the about page of the story where the fan ranking is listed)

 Chapter 708 Lets do some power leveling

    Chapter 708 Let''s do some power leveling


    Seeing an entire army stampeding towards them, Liam''s eyes twitched. This kid¡­ does he actually believe that there is some sort of treasure here?


    Only someone really stupid or self-absorbed would fall for such an obvious trap. He did not know whether tough or pity him, but he had more important matters to handle at the moment.


    Large gnarly creatures were racing toward him at top speed.


    However, Liam showed no signs of being frightened by them or at a loss as to what to do next. "Come out, everyone. Let''s do some power leveling." He simply leaned back with confidence and said.


    Before any of the lizardmen could touch him or evene near him, his horde of soul minions appeared and took charge.


    Did that kid really think this much was enough to take him down? Was he trying to trap him? Laughable!


    So what if there was an army of hideous lizardmen? He had his own army of hideous minions of all shapes and sizes.


    All of the barbarians, the newly recruited elves, the werewolves, the bearmen, everyone assembled and rammed into the lizardmen army.


    And, of course, there was also Luna.


    The fox, for some reason, was far more worked up whenpared to Liam, as she set dozens of lizardmen in mes every time she opened her mouth. Luna''s tail was glowing brighter than ever as she became a one fox killing machine.


    Watching her dazzling in the battle, how could the wyvern stand still? The arrogant draconian beast did his part, wreaking major havoc from his side.


    Mana in the fort churned violently as one draconian beast and one celestial beast ran wild on the battleground. Crawford did a number as well, and the other soul minions tried their best, though they couldn''t match up to the top three monsters.


    The hordes and hordes of fierce lizardmen pouring out of the fort in all directions, threatening to eat and take over the world, suddenly looked like dumb moths running to the me, straight to their inevitable deaths.


    However, they seemed to be hardwired to fight until their death, so they just kepting anding even though every wave was squashed and utterly decimated.


    And the more the numbers became, the higher the gain. Experience points were raining down endlessly. All the minions were leveling up at a visible speed. Liam''s level, which had been stagnant for a while, was also starting to soar.


    The ground glittered with shiny things. These lizardmen attacking them in swarms were all well-equipped, so their drops were also quite decent. Taking this as a cue, one another special character popped up.


    A small rabbit ran out and started collecting everything she couldy her paws on. Slowly, a heap was beginning to form at the back.


    Of course, a sharp fox noticed this rabbit from a mile away.


    However, she was conflicted. She was in the middle of ughtering, so she couldn''t immediately jump into thepetition of who was better at collecting loot.


    In the end, the fox continued fighting with a pout, taking out this extra anger on the lizardmen. More creatures started to get burnt violently.


    In the midst of all of this chaos andmotion, Liam stood still, as if he was in a trance.


    Around him, the soul minions, Crawford, Luna, and the wyvern formed a circle and were unleashing hell and killing dozens and dozens of lizardmen every second. However, Liam did not move a muscle.


    At first, he was simply watching the show, but soon something else happened. The numerous souls that were released from the lizardmen falling dead left and right were shining like bright white lights.


    Since there were too many creatures surrounding them and every single one of them was being ughtered, the whole battleground was giving off an ethereal glow.


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air as he instinctively pulled all the dying souls towards him. He had experienced this only once before when all the guilds had tried to gang up and attack the Crimson Abyss guild residence, but this time it was different.


    The souls swirling around him were much stronger, denser, and more numerous. Just being in the mere presence of so many souls made him feel rejuvenated. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on whatever feeling he was getting.


    Surprisingly, something was pulling him toward his mana core. It was only for a brief second, but he felt it. These many souls gave him the strength to rattle the chains that were holding down his mana core.


    Liam tried to grab onto this feeling and rattle them harder. However, it was useless. The feeling was fleeting, and it was already gone. He opened his eyes and tried to get back to it again, but it was easier said than done.


    Seeing that this was not happening, Liam didn''t dwell on it. He quickly took out another empty ck bead. He then started pulling in as many souls as he possibly could into this ck bead.


    It was impossible for him to settle down right here at this fort and start forging in the middle of all of this chaos andmotion. But this was a chance he did not want to miss.


    Souls were abundant as a white hazy aura covered the whole ce. He did not know what it was about this ce but the souls were lingering back. They were not dissipating fast enough. For a soulmancer like him, this was a boon, a holynd.


    While the others continued ughtering, he focused on absorbing everything around him. The ck bead was brimming with energy. He only had five of these beads with him, which he was saving for a special asion, and this was definitely one.


    These lizardmen had a partial draconic bloodline, so their souls were strong just like their physical stats and fighting abilities. If he could forge even a portion of these souls¡­


    Liam licked his lips and continued absorbing everything that he could. That kid¡­ he really needed to thank him.


    In all honesty, the part about forging could be hard because he wasn''t sure how to use the ck bead when it was full of souls.


    Thest time the dark elf released all the souls from the ck bead at once, it incapacitated him, so taking the souls out of the bead part might be harder than simply shoving everything inside. But it wasn''t something impossible. He was confident enough to somehow get it done.


    At this moment, in particr, he felt like he could achieve anything he wanted. The souls around him made him euphoric. It was an indescribable feeling. He was bursting with power from top to bottom.


    In this second, he felt as if he could raise his hand and even grab a soul that was still alive and inside a living being. The thought took root in his mind, and he feltpelled to try it out.


    Holding the bead in one hand, Liam really raised his other hand and aimed for one of the lizardmen that were attacking Luna from the back.

 Chapter 709 A different path

    Chapter 709 A different path


    Liam could feel the lizard guy''s fighting spirit, his angry soul, surging inside that strong and robust body. He could even feel all of the emotions of the creature. They were heightened as he sensed them.


    He gulped and tugged at it. The lizardman instantly froze. He turned to look at Liam in a daze, not understanding what was happening.


    Liam unknowingly grinned and tugged at his soul some more. A power-hungry look appeared on his face as he watched the creature squirm and fall down inexplicable pain. The lizardman waspletely helpless under his grasp.


    He tugged at the already wounded soul even more, and this time, the creature gasped for breath, and his eyes bulged out of their sockets. He twitched on the ground for a couple of seconds before dropping down dead.


    Liam''s grin widened as he still held onto the soul he had personally harvested and slowly brought it over to the ck bead, enjoying every minute of the pain and agony that were encased in the soul.


    A living soul waspletely different from a dead and decaying soul. He could feel the creature''s resentment, anger, and curses. And for some reason, it was satisfying, giving him even more pleasure. It was an addictive drug that he craved more of.


    Hurriedly, Liam raised his hand again totch onto another living soul, and a sharp pain seared through his mind. He had hit his limit. But the pain snapped him out of his trance-like state.


    Only Luna noticed that something was wrong. She immediately dropped the fight she was tangled up in and teleported next to him.


    Kyuuuu? She pounced on him with her huge paws, knocking him to the ground. "Master? Wake up."


    Liam let out a sigh as he came back to his former self. He couldn''t fully understand what just happened. One second he was himself and the next second, he acted differently.


    "Yes, I am fine." He absent-mindedly patted the fox. "Go back, I am fine." He then swiped away the notification that blinked in front of him.


    <ding. you="" have="" now="" acquired="" 70%="" of="" the="" legacy=""></ding.>


    Almost a whole 10 percent gain¡­ He couldn''t believe it. This was a huge step forward.


    For the first time, Liam felt as if he was wrong all this time. He had been walking with his eyes closed. This legacy¡­ maybe it waspletely different than what he had imagined it to be.


    He could still vividly feel the emotions and the weight of the living soul.


    Liam snapped out of it and took his milky way water canister to recover his mental strength. Whatever that power or skill was, he was still not strong enough to meddle with it just yet. He only had a taste of it and he almost lost himself.


    And from the looks of it, if he tried to force things when he was not ready, he could lose control of himselfpletely. It was better to improve his mental strength some more before attempting this again.


    He shook his head and stood up, once again going back to absorb all the souls that he could into the ck bead. He took a deep breath and tried to see if he was still able to¡­


    The next second, his eyes widened.


    Yes, when he focused hard enough, he could still see the souls inside the creatures that were still alive. This time, Liam stopped there and did not go further. The skill was iplete. If he tried it a few times, maybe he could perfect it but it was too dangerous.


    He couldn''t afford to use this new power carelessly. At least not yet. He was not strong enough for that. Nheless, this would be his ace in the hole if he were ever in a truly life-threatening predicament.


    The way the creature was utterly helpless had left asting imprint on his mind. He knew that if he wanted he could do it again, make someone else feel that way.


    Liam shook his head and continued pulling all the dead souls into the bead. Soon, the numbers of the lizardmen started dwindling and they were no longer as threatening as they were before.


    "Let''s end this quickly." He shouted as the soul minions roared in response. Unlike the lizardmen, they did not need food or get tired. They relentlessly kept attacking, and finally, thest one died.


    Liam as well absorbed even thest of the souls without wasting any, filling up two of the five beads. He looked around and saw the corpses slowly bing light dust and dissipating.


    The huge hall of the fort was nowpletely empty and the ce returned to being once again calm and silent. The intense battle that had taken ce only five minutes before seemed to have never taken ce at all.


    The only evidence was the four piles of loot that the little rabbit had meticulously piled up.


    Kyu! Luna immediately jumped towards the rabbit and stared down at her smugly. A naughty smile then crept up her face as she ever so slightly moved her paw, kicking the rabbit away like a tennis ball.


    "Alright. That''s enough." Liam rubbed his temples in tiredness. He dismissed the little rabbit and also all the soul minions, leaving behind only the wyvern and Luna, and also the elves.


    "Did you have any storage space with you?" He asked the elves as he started rummaging through his inventory space for the loot he recovered when he killed the elves.


    The elvenckeys all shook their heads as they didn''t have anything like that, but the noble family''s son sure did. "I have a ring."


    "This should be it, right?" Liam took out the ring and wore it. He wondered if he had to do anything to activate it. However, the next second, another inventory panel popped up in front of him.


    "Oh, I guess what is yours is automatically mine?" He smiled at the whopping 2000 slots of inventory space. Not only was it better than his own inventory, but it was also capable of storing more items.


    About ten pieces of equipment fit in a slot, and with it, he was easily able to store all the drops from the massacre.


    Liam hurriedly shoved everything inside as he did not have the time right now to look through it. Though he was pretty sure that there was no treasure here, he still wanted to see what this prison was and, more importantly, what the ''Dragon King'' was up to.


    He walked over and looked at the big gaping hole in the wall which was haphazardly closed with a boulder. This was where the kid had run into.


    If he went in here, perhaps he would be able to catch up to him really fast but he thought about it and decided against it.


    Instead, he once again asked the wyvern to lead the way. He was alreadygging behind that kid and would probably never beat him to it if he followed the same path.


    The only option for him was to take the most direct shortest route.


    And maybe if the kid was lost in the fort¡­ just maybe they would be able to meet him before too long.

 Chapter 710 All that glitters...

    710 All that glitters...


    The next few minutes were essentially a race to the finish line as Liam, Luna, and the undead wyvern ran through tunnels and passages and long-winded corridors. Luckily or unluckily, there were no more armies or even a few elites blocking their path.


    Since they had already taken care of the lizardmen, there seemed to be nothing else guarding the ce. Liam frowned. This was not exactly good news because it means that the other party could have very well already reached the end zone.


    And just like he expected, when the three of them reached thest corridor, there were loud growls echoing ahead of them.


    "Stop." Liam immediately signaled to Luna and the wyvern. "You both stay here and onlye forward if there is any sign of trouble. For now, I will go alone and see what is happening."


    Both of them nodded, and Liam quickly took a bottle of an invisibility potion from his inventory. He gulped it down, and the next second, his figure and his presencepletely disappeared.


    The effects of the invisibility potion were slightly better than the [Stealth] skill. Since everything about this fort was unknown, he did not want to take any chances and made the best preparation that he could.


    Liam then checked everything, calmed himself down, and slowed his heart rate as he slowly walked toward the end of the corridor. As he rounded the corner at the end of this long path, he finally caught sight of the haughty little twerp who had now run away from him twice.


    "Got you." Liam grinned. He silently observed the kid from a distance. He seemed to be staring at a giant door in front of him. The door looked archaic with numerous runes inscribed on it.


    Liam squinted his eyes to take a better look at the door and at the runes, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t understand any of it. The few demon tongues he knew werepletely unrted to the runes inscribed here.


    The kid, on the other hand, seemed to be extremely focused. He actually looked like he knew what he was doing. What the heck? How does this little guy know and understand suchplex runes? Was this perhaps rted to his ability to tame dragons?


    That was the only answer Liam could think of because, as far as he knew, there was no ce or NPC in this world that could teach a yer about suchplex runes, and considering that empires opened up just now, it was highly impossible for him to have learned this in a traditional way.


    "It should be an innate skill of his hidden ss or some other type of special skill." Liam could onlye to this conclusion. He waited patiently, and a couple more minutester, the kid finally made a move.


    With a cocky grin on his face, he pulled an item out of his inventory space.


    "A key?" Liam''s eyes widened. He only caught a quick glimpse of the key before the kid inserted it into one of the many holes in the door. At first, they looked like part of the rune, but now, upon closer inspection, he could see that they were actually keyholes.


    Did he get the right one? In the next instant, Liam heard a loud rumbling sound, and the massive door cracked in two, revealing a passageway inside.


    The kid grinned and walked inside. Liam also followed him, but as he stood in front of the giant gates, he was utterly shocked and dumbfounded.


    Inside the giant gates, there was a big hall, and there was one more set of grilled gates blocking the path. However, one could still see inside, and the sight was enough to leave anyone breathless.


    Because at the back of the hall, behind the grilled gate, there were heaps and heaps of glittering treasures. Everything inside was sparkling. Gold coins, golden ornaments, countless gemstones, mana cores, nes, brooches, bracelets, armor, weapons, rings, the list was long.


    Liam didn''t even have to go inside, and he was already assaulted by the blinding radiance. With his mouth agape, he stared at the treasure mountain without blinking. The kid was also visibly drooling.


    Who wouldn''t want to get their hands on such a huge treasure trove? The hall in front of them might as well be the treasury of an entire empire, or perhaps even several prosperous empiresbined together.


    "Fuck, so there was really a treasure in this ce?" Liam was speechless. He was pretty sure that this was a trap, but it seemed like he was the one who overthought things.


    He sighed and lifted his leg to take another step forward, essentially entering the hall, when suddenly a chill crept up his spine. Something was amiss.


    There was a strong and powerful aura that surged in the hall. He immediately took that leg back and stepped outside the hall once again.


    "What was that?" Liam frowned.


    His eyes darted across the big hall as he finally managed to look past the treasure. In the corner of the big hall, there was something else besides the treasure. Or rather, someone else, a woman.


    She was chained to the wall like an animal, her hands, legs, and neck tightly bound. Her body seemed fragile, and she was bony and barely alive.


    Her long, jet-ck hair was unkempt and strewn about everywhere. Everything about her looked grimy and murky, and she seemed to be sitting in utter filth.


    However, that was not what caught Liam''s attention. It was the terrifying, blood-curdling aura that she was exuding. One look at this woman and he immediately knew that she was bad news.


    On the other hand, the kid was still drooling over the treasures and was probably trying to figure out how much everything was worth in his head.


    Liam did not understand. This kid¡­ was he not able to see the woman chained right next to the treasure piles? Doesn''t he see what I am seeing?

 Chapter 711 Arrogance or?

    711 Arrogance or?


    Hmmm? Liam''s frown deepened.


    Clearly, the kid couldn''t see this woman at all. His eyes were only fixated on the treasure and nothing else. He even scanned the hall from end to end more than once, but he still did not notice the woman.


    Was this the prisoner the wyvern talked about?


    Liam tested the water by trying to enter the hall one more time, but again, as soon as he took one step inside, he could feel the stifling pressureing from the chained being.


    This pressure was something far greater than that of the old elf. It was as if an ancient evil aura was seeping out of the woman, something very powerful and vile.


    Just staring at her made his skin tingle with warning signs. He knew this was not going to end well. Both the kid and he might be in grave danger.


    But this powerful being was inside a prison, so maybe they were safe?


    The next second this thought crossed his mind, the kid once again retrieved a key. It looked like it was the same key, and he walked directly over to the next set of gates.


    "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This idiot." Liam started panicking.


    On the one hand, he wanted to stay here and watch what happened next, but on the other hand, he was really wary of this woman who was chained up. So he was debating between running away and staying here.


    Also, there was another set of runes here, engraved on the grilled gate. Maybe the kid wouldn''t be able to figure this one out? That seemed to be a valid possibility.


    But to Liam''s dismay, the kid clicked his tongue loudly and took another step forward. The bastard had figured out the damn rune in less than a minute, giving him no time to make a decision.


    Should he stay here or leave?


    As the kid lifted his key to ce it on the locks of the grilled gate, all of Liam''s senses screamed at him. The prison gate was about to be opened any second now!


    Should he run or stay back?


    Even if he started running now, could he really escape this mysterious person? If she was truly as strong as her aura suggested, then wouldn''t he be dead anyway? Maybe if he used hisher realm portal, he could escape?


    Liam''s brain spun as he tried to make a decision. This could be life or death.


    However, before he could do anything, something else happened. As soon as the kid clicked the key onto the grilled inner gates, loud roaring noises started echoing inside the giant hall.


    One after the other, giant reptilian birds descended from the ceiling. The wyverns were here! All of the remaining eleven wyverns, all different sizes, and shapes, circled the kid.


    Caught off guard, the kid looked shocked, and he dropped the key on the ground. He was finally interrupted! The wyverns also did not pay any attention to Liam and simply eyed the kid.


    Liam sighed in relief. His gaze instinctively went to the key on the ground as he wondered if there was a chance for him to take it, but when he looked at it, he immediately recognized it.


    He didn''t have to steal this key. He already had one!


    This was the same key he had taken from Nieria''sir! Just how many copies of this damned key were in cirction?


    Hold on, that was not the main problem at hand right at this moment. The growling, roaring cries of the eleven wyverns filled the hall and flooded the passageway.


    They were the huge threat looming around his neck. They might not pay any attention to him at the moment, but what about after they kill and decimate the kid?


    He looked at the wyverns and they were all level 90 and above. One, even at Level 110. He took another step back.


    Seeing so many wyverns together sent chills down Liam''s spine, but the kid seemed to know no better. Ignorance was truly bliss? Did he not understand how powerful these beasts were?


    If they attacked together, it would most definitely be a massacre. They wouldn''t need 2 seconds to finish him off.


    Liam didn''t dare waste time any longer as he immediately made a portal to theher realm, ready to escape at any given time.


    Doing so broke his invisibility, but he couldn''t care less about that. It was impossible for any invisibility potion or stealth skill to work against a higher creature like a wyvern.


    While Liam prepared to flee, the kid stood fearless as the wyverns circled around him, each one looking more menacing than the previous one.


    Even the dumbest person should be shaking in their boots by now. So was this fearlessness really because of blind arrogance, or did this kid have some sort of potential?


    Liam couldn''t help but pause and look at him. The next second, his question was answered as another set of beasts magically appeared in front of the kid.


    Instantly, Liam''s mouth dropped open in shock. These beasts¡­ they couldn''t be, right? He blinked and looked again, but there was no mistake.


    They were also draconian beasts, but clearly, these were different than the wyverns. In fact, the wyverns looked like overgrown lizards with wings in front of these powerful, majestic creatures.


    So, even though he did not want to believe it. His gut feeling told them they were real. The five newly summoned beasts were not your average monsters or even wyverns or drakes. They were actual dragons!


    They had to be! Liam now understood why the kid was so confident. He had known that the kid was some sort of dragon tamer and even nick-named ''Dragon King'', but to have actual dragons as pets?


    This was inconceivable. These beasts were supreme beings that stood at the top of the food chain. He wouldn''t be surprised if each of these beasts were celestial grade just like Luna.


    Their mere presence was almost as strong as the woman who was chained up. Liam''s body trembled because of the pressure that spread in the room and spilled into the hall.


    It looked like the wyverns were no exception. They also visibly trembled in the presence of the five dragons.

 Chapter 712 Cha-ching

    712 Cha-ching


    Five dragons vs. eleven wyverns!


    And Liam had a front seat to this battle!


    Even though he knew that this was not the best ce for him to be at the moment, he couldn''t help but want to stand here and watch this scene. The danger also had a plus point.


    When higher beings or expert yers fought with each other, there was a lot to gain by just looking at the battle. One could possibly gain a lot of insights. It was a chance that shouldn''t be missed.


    But the thing was¡­ would these wyverns really fight against the five dragons? From the way they were cowering in fear, they appeared like they had the same thought Liam had. They wanted to run away!


    Seeing this, Liam half expected the wyverns to back off and flee, but they soon recovered. After the staring contest thatsted all of 2 seconds, the wyverns roared loudly again, as if they were possessed. They were clearly behaving against what they naturally wanted to do.


    Liam could clearly see that. Just like those lizardmen back at the other hall, these wyverns also did not submit. They did not care that they were going to fight to their deaths.


    They red back at the dragons with defiance and refused to bow down to the pressure. The next instant, an intense battle erupted.


    ***


    Meanwhile, back in thend of humans¡­


    Mu ha ha ha ha! Alex let out a loud evilugh as she watched the guild coffers fill up at an rming rate. That''s right. After the news about S-Rank guild members getting automatic permission to visit empires, the guild applications were piling up in bulk for Crimson Abyss.


    Every Tom, Dick, and Harry wanted to join the guild. Alex already had the n to use these freeloaders, but she decided to go a step further and charged a small nominal application fee of just 10 gold coins for every yer who wanted to be a guild member.


    At this stage in the game, this sum of gold coins was neither excessive nor insignificant. So most of the yers did not think twice about this and paid the fees.


    Considering that there were only two S-Rank guilds in the entire game, the first wave of applications itself numbered in the hundreds of thousands.


    yers temporarily quit their old guild just to enter the empire. Some even quit permanently because Crimson Abyss was, after all, an S-Rank guild, so they were naturally curious to see just how amazing the guild was.


    In just the first hour, the guild had raked in an astronomical amount of 1 million gold coins.


    And since Crimson Abyss was the one who leaked this information after setting everything up in ce, they hadplete control over the situation and were prepared for the massive influx of yers.


    On the other hand, ''Battle Gods'', the other S-Rank guild in ''Evolution Online'' was on apletely different page. They were set up as a traditional top guild with a massive capacity, but their intake was very meticulous with a rigorous selection process.


    So when hordes of yers approached the guild all at the same time, they weren''t able to adjust quickly as they had not expected the information to leak.


    Any sane person would want to use this advantage, but who would have thought that Crimson Abyss would leak such a crucial detail?


    Because of this, while the other party was flourishing, the Battle Gods were stumbling and fumbling. However, they were also a top guild, so this setbacksted barely an hour at the most.


    But this hour was more than enough for Crimson Abyss guild to rake in a huge profit and take the lead!


    Alex was over the moon. While Liam instructed them on what to do next, taking care of the logistics of the process was an entirely different beast.


    Entering the underground arena and fighting there was not free. Every time a yer did so, they had to take care of the fees.


    Also, since the number of core members of the guild increased, many people wanted to relocate to different cities in the real world, especially after hearing that the game would shut down in a few weeks and then the stakes would be higher than ever.


    Even if they did not risk shifting to an entirely different continent, they still wanted to move closer to each other, sort of forming a small guild branch in their own respective country.


    This much was feasible. All they had to do was move their game cab and temporarily rent a ce to live. They were not uprooting their whole lives, and it was also easier to convince their families.


    However, this small move needed some money as well. Alex did not want to leave anyone high and dry, so she made the extra effort to organize some guild funds specifically for this purpose. All in all, this sudden influx of gold coins helped a lot.


    As she walked the broad and paved streets of the Northern Empire, she let out a content sigh that everything was progressing smoothly and was on the right track. Now all that was left was for her to start the actual training.


    Whistling, she made her way to the massive ss hall building reserved solely for the divine affinity yers. Unlike the kingdoms in the game, the big Empire was notable for its devotion to the Divine Temple. In general, all divine affinity yers were treated very well in the Empire.


    NPCs greeted them politely. They received a lot of discounts, and even the ss hall for divine affinity yers was head and shoulders above the others.


    Alex walked into the pristinely clean building, looking forward to the training and what she was going to learn when, unexpectedly, a person interrupted her.


    "Good day, kind miss. Would you be interested in hearing about your future on this fine sunny day?"


    "Hmmm?" Alex turned around. A fortune teller?


    ***


    Bonus chapter~~


    Please thank Dusk_Cypher for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 713 Good Fortune! Great Fortune!

    713 Good Fortune! Great Fortune!


    "Yes, mydy. Only one gold coin to know your future."


    Alex gawked at the bald yer, who somewhat resembled a monk. He was shing an innocent divine smile that only great saints probably possessed.


    One look at him and anyone would want to trust him instinctively. It was not a quality that could be pinpointed. It was just a feeling that the monk emanated. He just had that good guy/ saint tag attached to him.


    However, Alex couldn''t care less about all of this. What she cared about was¡­ he was a fucking fortune teller! Was this really true or was this a bullshit scam?


    If it was true, even by a small margin, she wouldn''t hesitate to recruit this guy at all costs. She knew about the other fortune teller or prophet or whatever that bastard was who was against them.


    So if she could somehow recruit this guy, then wouldn''t that threat be totally nullified?


    Alex''s eyes twinkled as she continued gawking at the monk in front of her with twinkling eyes as if he was a walking pile of good luck and good fortune.


    Coincidentally, the other party also had a simr smile. The two looked at each other as if they wanted to swallow each other whole, but who was going to seed?


    "Here. Take this gold coin." Alex handed over the payment swiftly. The monk also smiled and epted it. Immediately, he closed his eyes and started mumbling something.


    He then shed his eyes open with a serious expression. "What? What happened? I mean, is something big going to happen?" Alex asked anxiously.


    "Blessings. Blessings. No need to worry. There is absolutely no need to worry at all. You will have good fortune. Great fortune. In fact, you will get to meet your biggest benefactor today."


    "Huh?"


    "The person whom you have been waiting for all these days and dying to meet will show up today in front of you all on their own."


    "Mia!" Alex gasped. Was Mia really going toe back today? She was really going to meet with her? She no longer even cared about the monk. As long as Mia was back, everything was going to be fine.


    Ever since she had gone missing, Alex had been worried sick. So she even became teary-eyed at the thought that Mia was finally going to be back today.


    "Sir, are you sure?" Alex asked the monk once again, only to find out that he was no longer standing in front of her. "What the hell?" Her eyes widened in shock.


    How the hell did this person manage to disappear right in front of her? One second he was there and the next second he was missing? Did he know some sort of teleportation skill?


    She looked around for him for a little while, but the person was nowhere to be seen. He had really disappeared. "Damn it. I should have asked for a friend request first." Alex cursed her stupidity and silently walked back to the ss hall in deep thought.


    Sure, she regretted losing the monk, but what she was more concerned about was Mia. Was she really going to meet with her again today? She opened her system interface to once again check if Mia''s name was still greyed out. Unfortunately, that hadn''t changed.


    "Come on. Come on." She was walking carelessly and muttering to herself when she abruptly bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry." Alex sighed and stepped aside to walk around the person she had rammed into.


    But unexpectedly, that certain someone put a hand on her shoulder.


    "Hmmm?" Alex paused, and when she turned around, she saw a familiar face, but not the one that she wanted to meet. Instead, their sleaze bag uncle, Jonathan Hofstader, was standing in front of her.


    "Well, hello there." Jonathanughed with his trademark big, cocky grin. "If it isn''t my dearest Alex¡­ how have you been, my darling? Did you miss this uncle too much?"


    Alex''s face immediately changed. This was thest person she wanted to see on this. "Bastard." She clenched her fists and seethed.


    "Ha Ha Ha. It seems you haven''t changed a bit. You''re still as rude and uncouth as ever. My dear, you are a grown woman now." Jonathan licked his lips as he dragged his gaze from top to bottom of the fuming redhead in front of him.


    "Grown up very nicely, I must add. Try to be more pleasant. Otherwise, no man would ever be interested in what is there underneath all theseyers of armor. Learn from Mia. She knows how to seduce."


    "SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!" Alex couldn''t stand Mia''s nameing out of the sleazebag''s mouth. She immediately drew her weapon out and stepped forward threateningly, but Jonathan did not seem to be concerned at all.


    "I dare you, my dear. I dare you toy a hand on me." He casuallyughed.


    Alex knew that the guy was purposefully trapping her, so she gritted her teeth and controlled herself. She banged her sword on the ground and decided to walk away. This bitch was not worth ruining her start in the Empire.


    "Heh." Jonathan chuckled. "Leaving so soon? Why? Did Mia call you? Oh wait, that''s right. The prodigal daughter is missing, isn''t she?"


    The man''s words made Alex stop right in her tracks. How did he know this? She then shook her head. No, many people knew about this. So it was not a big deal.


    As if he could read her mind, Jonathanughed again. "I know where she is."


    "Where is she?" Alex asked, swallowing her pride and anger.


    "That''s not how business transactions work, my dear. You need to do something for me first."


    "What do you want?" She gritted her teeth.


    "I want you, of course."


    Alex clenched her fist and started walking away again.


    "I am kidding. I am kidding. I don''t have any interest in a wild tigress. I would rather have your ice princess. What I am interested in is your guild. How about you hand me over one of the legendary items your guild possesses, I will immediately tell you where Mia is."

 Chapter ?714 This game is nothing

    ?714 This game is nothing


    Alex trembled.


    "You know, I am not lying. The contracts in ''Evolution Online'' are binding. Even if I wanted to, I could not cheat you here. How about it? Hmm? It''s a good trade, isn''t it?


    "Do you really know where she is?" Alex bent her head down and asked again. She was visibly quivering.


    "Yup, I really do know where she is. I also know that she is in danger. I am really not lying. You know how much I care about Mia. Why would I lie? More than anyone, I want her to be safe and sound."


    Jonathan could see that he had sessfully hooked onto the fish, so he said a few more reassuring words and walked closer. "Come on, Alex. Mia needs you. Don''t be so stubborn."


    "It''s just a legendary item in a dumb game. How much could it even be worth? Isn''t Mia''s life worth more to you? Don''t you want to protect her?"


    Alex nodded with a listless expression. "How can I be sure that this information is correct?" Her voice almost came out as a whisper. She really seemed to be on the verge of breaking.


    Jonathan''s grin became wider and he became more confident. "Let''s say a very reliable person divined to me her future, her location, and, of course, our future together."


    Alex once again shuddered.


    "You should know that in the future, all three of us will live together once again as a happy family. You both will bear many children for me."


    "Shut up. You are lying. This is all just nonsense."


    "I am sorry, my dear. I am really not lying. Alright. Thatst part was a lie but hey, shouldn''t you be thanking your savior? I am being so generous that too. Tch. Tch."


    He clicked his tongue and continued, "Well anyway¡­ the first part was definitely not a lie. That man''s words are never false. So tell me, are you ready to make a deal or not?"


    Jonathan walked forward to once again ce his arm around Alex when she suddenly gripped his wrist hard enough to crack the bones inside and twisted his arm as she turned.


    The sadness, insecurity, fear, and anxiety she just disyed were also no longer there. Instead, she smirked maliciously. "Thank you for that, dearest uncle. Deal? I don''t think that is required anymore. I already got the information that I wanted."


    Alex knew exactly whom this snake was talking about. So why make a deal with the snake when she could directly contact that person?


    "You stupid bitch, let my arm go," Jonathan screamed in pain. "Guards! Guards!" He started shouting.


    "Rx, uncle. You are a grown man. Behave like one. Why are you screaming like a 12 year old. Can''t even take this much pain? He He." Alexughed. "A filthy trash like you wants both me and Mia? Can you even handle us? You seem to not have the balls for that, little bitch."


    She pushed him away, and he stumbled and fell down, gripping his hand in pain. He even downed a health potion in the hope that the pain would go away, but it was still hurting like hell.


    Seething in anger, he looked to the guards who had arrived. "Arrest her. She attacked me!"


    "Nope." Alex calmly shook her head. "He ced his hand on me first without my permission."


    "Fucking liar!"


    Alex shrugged. She no longer cared to exin. The guards, as well, looked at both of them and then dispersed. And before leaving, they, of course, bowed to Alex.


    "Greetings, Sir Pdin."


    "We pay our respects, Sir Pdin."


    Alex grinned and waved at them. "Did you see that, you spineless cockroach? I can do whatever to you, they wouldn''t even give you a pity look. So the next time you see me, don''te and stand in front of me. Run and hide! Ptui!"


    She spat at the snake and started walking away. She wanted to do more but even she was not confident that she could get away with it.


    "Arrogant bitch! You think you are all that? Aren''t you just a ve to that man? Do you think he will always be around to protect you? You can spread your legs as much as you want, but soon you and your guild are going to be wasted! Mark my words, your end is fucking near."


    Alex chuckled and continued to walk away. Her time was far more valuable than this barking dog.


    "Bitch, this game is nothing. Do you think that you are the kings of this world? The real powerhouses are all silent and hiding, you stupid bitch. Very soon, it will be our time. And when ites¡­ ha ha ha¡­."


    "I am going to own you. Both you and Mia. Not here in this make-belief ce, but in the goddamn fucking real world. You will be ves licking my dick day in and day out, you stupid bitch."


    "And when I am done with you both, you will disappear from the world just like my bastard brother."


    Alex shuddered. She couldn''t help but pause after hearing this. This game is nothing. In the real world? So they were not the only ones who knew about this?


    "That''s right! Ba ha ha ha! What do you think my bastard brother and his wife would have be if they were still alive? I think my brother would have be a pdin and that bitch would have be a priestess. It''s funny how divine affinity seems to run in our blood."


    Jonathan continued taunting Alex about Mia''s dead parents, but he also seemed to realize that he had let slip something important inadvertently. So he never spoke about that again.


    Alex turned to give him another nce before finally leaving that ce and entering the ss hall. It seemed like they needed to move faster and be stronger. How could they possibly have known that things were going to start happening in the real world?


    No matter how much she thought about it, the only person she knew was capable of figuring out something like this was the mysterious oracle, the one Liam told her about.


    That means Jonathan Hofstader definitely knew that oracle. There was no mistake about it. Also, he clearly belonged to the other S-Rank guild Battle Gods. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to enter this Empire.


    Alex quickly connected all the dots in her mind. Everything unmistakably pointed to one and only one thing. The oracle was somehow associated with the other S-Rank guild Battle Gods.


    That was the only exnation for all of this. And judging from what the idiot bbed, these guys were silently recruiting talented individuals under their banner while distracting them with weaklings like Dragons of Justice.


    If Crimson Abyss grewcent just because of a single victory, then these powers in the shadows would suddenly swallow them one day when they least expected it.


    Alex furrowed her brows. Things were starting to beplicated. It looked like everyone was making their preparations when the shit hit the fan and reality changed. They needed to hurry up!

 Chapter ?715 New Event?

    ?715 New Event?


    Alex tried to pay attention to the divine ss hall instructor who droned on and on about how the divine energy cleanses your body, soul, and mind, but she just couldn''t stop thinking about the nonsense that the sleaze bag had bbed.


    How much of it was true and how much of it was false? Was Mia''s life really in danger? First, it was Derek and now it was Mia?


    After a while, she couldn''t concentrate at all so she excused herself and left the hall. Whether it was true or not, it was better to be on the safer side and find out whatever she can about it. She opened her system interface and sent a message to the only person who could give her some kind of rity.


    An hourter, Alex was sitting in one of the upscale restaurants in the Empire and sampling some of the most mouthwatering delicacies she had evere across. In the game, one didn''t have to care about stress eating so it was amon sight to see many women stuffing their mouths full.


    A few minutester, the guest she was waiting for promptly arrived. "Oh! Miss Alex, you already went ahead and ordered." A pair of twinkling eyes attached to a chubby body surveyed all the food on the table with great interest. "Ha Ha Ha. You sure know the way to a man''s heart."


    "Madan, you better stop before you get beaten up. Sis is serious." Unexpectedly another familiar face also popped in.


    "What are you both doing together?" Alex crossed her arms and looked sternly at the two hunters in front of her. One was chubby and cunning and the other was a simple idiot. They didn''t match at all but they seemed very chummy with each other.


    "He He." Madan grinned without answering her while Rey quickly exined, "Hey, don''t get me into trouble. Just tell her the truth. After you messaged him, he messaged me saying he needed some help with a hunter ss quest. That''s why I joined him, sis."


    "Hmmm? Is that so?" Alex looked at Madan coldly and the other party started sweating. "It''s the truth. There are no tricks. I already promised that I am on your side so stop doubting me every time, Miss Alex."


    "Fine. Sit down. And like you said, if you are truly on our side, then you should have no problem answering my question."


    Madan chuckled as he pulled the chair and sat down. "Alright. Let me start by first telling you why I asked to meet you in person."


    "Hmph. Isn''t that just for looking at me?" Alex rolled her eyes. By now she was used to this guy ogling at her every chance he got.


    "Ha Ha Ha. Of course, I would never miss that, Miss Alex. You know me too well. But there is also another reason." Madan''s face turned serious as he added, "I heard through the rumor mill that all our chats, messages, personal conversations, calls, everything are being monitored."


    "Hmm?" Alex raised her brow in shock. What was this now?


    "It''s fine. No need to panic. As I said, it''s just a rumor. I was near the Empire anyway so it is better to meet in person. Don''t you think?" Madan shrugged. "And as for what you asked¡­"


    Alex patiently listened, her heart pounding. Please don''t say Mia is in danger. Unfortunately for her¡­


    "I think Mia might be in danger. I don''t know for sure." Madan sighed. "All I heard is the top three yers of Crimson Abyss will all be having dark terrible days ahead. I really do not know more than this. You know I am no longer with them so they don''t trust me."


    "Wait, but are you sure this prediction is from that guy? I mean there might be other oracles in the game. What if someone else predicted this? Maybe it''s not so reliable?"


    Madan shook his head. "This I can give you a 100% guarantee. It is impossible for another oracle to be present in this game. Big brother''s ss is a unique hidden ss. No one else for sure has this ss."


    "Hmmm¡­" Alex frowned. She couldn''t help but think of that smiling monk whom she had been wanting to badly pummel down all day.


    But that didn''t change the fact that something about the guy was fishy. That bitch had predicted she would meet someone important to her and she met that sleaze bag just like he said.


    However, that was not important at the moment. "What else did you find out? What about Jonathan?"


    Madan sighed. "Sorry. Again, I only have bad news for you. This one I was able to get a definite answer. Jonathan Hofstader is one of the backers of ''Battle Gods'' so when he says he spoke to big brother, there is a high chance that it is true."


    Alex tiredly nodded. She already knew this one. The man was ready to make a contract with her so she had a feeling that he was telling the truth and now Madan also confirmed it.


    Mia could really be in danger¡­ And the other thing about Battle Gods guild silently recruiting expert yers¡­ everything was probably true.


    "Sorry, Miss Alex. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I hope everything is fine?" Madan awkwardly scratched his head.


    "No, it''s fine. Thanks for the help." Alex bit her lips and nodded. "Do you know anything else about the Battle Gods?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Alex did not share this part when she was probing him for intel but now she wanted to know more. "My uncle said something about Battle Gods secretly building a team for when something happens in the real world? I didn''t understand any of that nonsense." She yed dumb.


    Madan, on the other hand, immediately shook his head. "This one I can tell you for sure. It''splete bullshit. I mean Battle Gods is an S-Rank guild so they have their own set of strong yers but I don''t think there are making a secret army or anything like that."


    Hmmm. Alex nodded. She wanted to believe him but no matter what he said, there was always a possibility.


    "Well, if you still don''t believe me, I can tell you this. Something huge is going to happen soon. This is going to be the biggest of the biggest events to ever happen in the game."


    "Huh? What are you talking about, bro?" Rey quickly asked. Liam hadn''t said anything about this so both he and Alex were shocked.


    "If I knew, I would have told you. The party is keeping everything under tight wraps." Madan helplessly smiled. "The only thing I know is the rewards for this event are huge. There might be chances for yers to be rulers!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Ha Ha Ha. As I said, it''s just a conjecture. I don''t have much information. What I am trying to exin to you is¡­ even if there is some sort of secret army among the Battle Gods, they would definitely expose themselves in an event like this."


    Both Alex and Rey nodded. This made sense. Something like bing actual rulers of territory was unbelievable. It could change thendscape of the whole game.


    However, the probability of an event like this actually urring was pitifully low. After all, Liam also hadn''t warned them about anything like this. So it was best to not get confused and go off track.


    The three continued discussing the topic for a few more minutes after which Alex asked Madan to see if he could find out more about Mia. Madan agreed to help her and the three then parted ways.


    They walked out of the restaurant with Alex returning back to the ss hall and Madan and Rey stepping out of the Empire to tackle the hunter ss quest.


    And just as they did¡­ a notification rang loudly in everybody''s system interface.


    <ding. warning!="" a="" sudden="" increase="" of="" demonic="" beasts="" has="" been="" spotted="" in="" many="" parts="" the="" xion="" realm.=""rge="" hordes="" have="" started="" to="" approach="" human="" settlements!=""></ding.>


    <ding. heroes="" and="" adventurers="" are="" immediately="" requested="" to="" return="" back="" their="" home="" kingdom="" help="" king="" defend="" against="" the="" beast="" hordes!=""></ding.>


    <ding. protect="" humanity="" and="" your="" efforts="" will="" be="" generously="" rewarded!=""></ding.>


    <ding. 72="" the="" event="" beast="" siege="" will="" begin="" in="" hours!=""></ding.>


    "What the fuck!" Alex stopped right in her tracks. There was really a motherfucking mega event happening! What the hell? This was way too sudden and unexpected!


    Well, every single event in the game had always been like that but this one especially felt too sudden because Liam hadn''t said a single word about it.


    Usually, he was on top of everything and they had a jumpstart on all the other yers and guilds but this one seemed to have eluded even Liam. What was happening? What was this event?


    Alex flipped open her system interface in a hurry. Unfortunately, Liam''s name was still greyed out. "Shit. This is bad."


    This event had the potential topletely change the game as it was and at this crucial juncture, the three heads of their guild were all still missing!


    The other two, no one had any idea where they were but Alex knew where Liam was and it was too bad that she still couldn''t reach him.


    But their saving grace was that there were still 72 hours. So what if she couldn''tmunicate with him inside the game, they could alwaysmunicate outside the damned game.


    Alex logged out in a hurry and wrote down detailed descriptions of everything that had happened. Now, all that was left was to hope and pray that Liam logs out and sees this.


    She felt a little guilty to think in this manner because she knew that Liam was already carrying a lot of burden all on his own. She needed to step up and handle this one.


    "Fuck it. It doesn''t matter. With or without Liam, we will again win this time."


    She clenched her fists to calm her nerves as she couldn''t help but think about the army of experts Jonathan had let slip. Everything would be clear after this event.


    "I will do my best." She sighed and logged back into the game.

 Chapter ?716 Red flags all over the place

    ?716 Red gs all over the ce


    While all the yers in ''Evolution Online'' started breaking their heads over the recent notification and preparing for this super special event, one person calmly took a few steps back.


    The wyverns and the dragons were both domineering beasts that stood at the top of the food chain and the battle was raging wildly. Mana in the room was like a powerful hurricane threatening to tear everything apart.


    Liam knew that he had to keep a distance here. This was not a fight he could participate in. Underestimating the enemy here would be a grave mistake.


    At the same time, he couldn''t help but look sideways as his gaze shifted to the other entity in the room, the woman shackled in chains.


    She seemed not shaken up by any of this. It was as if she didn''t care what the result of this battle might be. Instead, there was a small smile on her previous expressionless face.


    Another red g! Liam bitterly smiled as red gs went up all over the ce. This was definitely not going to end well.


    He found himself once again debating getting the hell out of here because now the wyverns bought him some time to really run away but at the same time, he couldn''t just give up what was in front of him.


    Seeing everything that was happening here, even he couldn''t help but drool at the pile of treasure. There could potentially be legendary grade items or perhaps even higher grades in this room.


    If anything were to be associated with such treasures at all, wouldn''t it be dragons and wyverns and this mysterious locked prisoner?


    And perhaps the treasure itself wouldn''t be the most valuable thing in the hall. For him, there were other things that were far more valuable.


    The sparks of the battle were also not spilling out of the room. Though the gates were open, there still seemed to be some sort of invisible barrier in between the spaces.


    So where he stood he was at a safe distance. He still had time to wait patiently and gauge how everything yed out.


    Liam calmly assessed the situation. In front of him, all sorts of attacks were flying here and there. They were nothingplicated, simple beams and balls of fire and whatnot, but the intensity was enough to perhaps ruin an entire kingdom.


    This was the first time Liam was witnessing the fully unleashed power of draconian beasts. These beasts were even more terrifying than the ones that had wreaked havoc on earth and finished their life once and for all.


    What was more shocking to Liam was that the two sides seemed to be at a standstill. The dragons were insanely powerful, with their every move a death sentence but at the same time, the wyverns were also holding their ground steadily.


    The fight in front of him transpired at an extremely rapid pace and he could only catch glimpses of an attack here and there, everything else merging together as a single destructive wave. But one thing was clear.


    The wyverns were able to match the power of the dragons and the kid did not look pleased with it. From what Liam could tell, this was only possible if there was some sort of temporary buff on the wyverns or perhaps temporary debuff on the dragons.


    Also, just going by appearance the dragons seemed younger. Maybe that was why their power hadn''t matured yet. So even though they were up against a superior beast, the wyverns were holding on somehow.


    However, this was only for a brief time. Barely only a minute had passed when the situation started changing. One of the wyverns was heavily injured.


    In the end, the innate ability still triumphed as the first wyvern soon fell. The beast was sted right out of the hall as it crashed right in front of Liam, letting out a loud groan, its life escaping its snout with thest breath.


    Liam gulped. He looked at the battle which was still madly raging on and he looked at the million soul particles sparkling like diamonds from the corpse of the wyvern.


    This was too juicy for him to simply let it go! Heck, he was sitting here and waiting just for a chance like this!


    As terrifying sounds continued to rumble from within, no one was paying attention to the dead wyvern, not the kid, not the chained-up prisoner, and not the dragons or the other wyverns.


    It was the perfect opportunity!


    Liam took a deep breath and decided to take action. While everyone else was busily fighting each other, he hid behind a pir and silently started pulling the soul fragments from the corpse.


    He did not have the time to forge these fragments at the moment so he took an empty ck bead and started storing the fragments inside.


    This was definitely a gamble. But thankfully, the bead seemed to be capable of holding the wyvern''s soul. Ideally, he wouldn''t want to do this as the soul could get ruined in the process but he did not have any other option at the moment.


    He would rather have a weakened wyvern than let this corpse go to waste and have no wyvern at all. "Please work." He mumbled and continued shoving the wyvern''s soul into the ck bead.


    As far as he could tell it was progressing well but only when he took the soul back out of the bead and forged it, he could know for sure.


    And while he was sneakily stealing one dead wyvern''s soul, the battle reached another crescendo as three more wyverns simultaneously dropped dead. It looked like the dragons were slowly overpowering and dominating the battlefield.


    Liam was shocked. He was almost done absorbing this soul but he couldn''t possibly go and grab the three other souls because they were smack dab in the middle of the battleground. He would also have to enter the hall where all the action was taking ce.

 Chapter ?717 All fall down!

    ?717 All fall down!


    Liam''s heart pounded as he tried to rack his brain for a solution. He had one in the bag but there were not three others ripe for taking! He watched the dazzling fight in front of him, wondering if there was some way he could steal those three souls as well.


    Luckily for him, the one thing that seemed to be working for him was that these soul particles did not dissipate so easily. They were continuing to linger on the corpse as if they were waiting for him toe and harvest them.


    Was this because the soul belonged to a higher beast or perhaps because of the barrier that seemed to enclose the hall?


    Either way, he was in a difficult position. There was no way he could collect these souls without going in right? Perhaps he could attempt it? Even if he seeded, would his presence then be revealed to everyone else?


    Just as he was mulling over this, in the blink of an eye another three wyverns fell down. Unfortunately, their corpses as well thudded on the ground right in the middle of the battlefield.


    After that, things started exploding at an exponentially rapid pace. The fight becamepletely one-sided and thest four wyverns also crumbled at breakneck speed.


    The five dragons jutted their chest out, proudly disying their battle scars, and roared loudly. The kid also shouted with arrogance. They had won the fight!


    "Stupid bitches. Do you think you can win against someone like me? I am meant to rule this world. I am the fucking dragon king." He shouted loudly and kicked the wyvern''s corpse in front of him.


    He then arrogantly walked to the keyhole once again, his chest jutting out as if he was the ruler of the whole damn universe. Liam''s face twitched. Don''t tell me! He still hadn''t seen the woman in shackles?


    While the kid ced the key once again inside a pattern, it was clear that there was nothing else to stop him this time around.


    Fuck! What was going to happen now?


    Liam was going crazy. This ce was a treasure trove for him. Ten wyvern souls were shining brightly right in front of him and he wanted them all! Where else would he get such a chance for a second time?


    For this, he wouldn''t mind going up against this kid. The wyverns might have lost but he had a few tricks up his sleeve.


    Besides, the dragons also seemed winded from the battle. They only won barely so they can''t show their full potential if he attacked immediately. Win or loss, this was a risk, he had to take.


    There was also the mysterious chained-up woman who was a big wild card. There were too many moving parts and anything could happen at any instant. The risks were simply overwhelming and he had to make a decision now!


    While he was contemting whether he could absorb their souls from where he was hiding sneakily or if he had to go in an all-out battle with the kid, something strange happened.


    The kid turned the key, the prison unlocked and the door cracked open. At that moment, Liam couldn''t help but look at the chained-up woman. Was she going to get up ande running at the kid like a crazy beast?


    However, she did no such thing. In fact, she hardly moved at all. Only the smile on the woman''s face changed. It was now a big wide grin. Liam shuddered. This was the most dangerous entity in the room, not the dragons, not the wyverns.


    His eyes glued onto the woman to see what her next move would be but all the movements happened somewhere else.


    Arrghhh! The kid suddenly shrieked, the arrogantly cocky look on his facepletely wiped out and now reced with a pained agonized expression.


    The next second things happened really fast before anyone could react. The woman who was sitting in the cornerpletely chained suddenly lifted her head up and raised her hand.


    The kid did not even get a chance to take another breath as his body floated up and was flung aside thrashing on the opposite wall.


    And he was not the only one who was affected!


    Unexpectedly, the five dragons that were majestically standing next to him just a second ago now started dropping like flies one after the other. Their huge bodies lifelessly thudded on the ground.


    Everything happened too fast and even Liam only saw it after the five dragons were already down. There was no blood. There were no injuries. They were simply dead.


    The supreme beings who were just now fighting with full of life, vigor, and power were just like that reduced to nothing.


    "Noooo! Noooo! Nooo!" The kid started screaming. He was in utter shock. He was frantically pounding at the system interface willing for his skill to work.


    A beast tamer could usually resurrect their pets after they died. Liam also knew this which was why he was even more surprised. The kid might not be able to see but he could see clearly.


    The dragons in front of him were simply dead. At this very moment, there was no difference between them and the dead wyverns. All the souls of the dead beasts were shining like stars as they hovered around the bodies of the respective corpse.


    How could this be happening?


    Ahhh! Ahhh! All the arrogance and the attitudepletely disappeared from the kid''s face. There was now only utter terror. Liam had no idea what he was seeing but he was manically moving his fingers mid-air as if he was closing several notifications.


    However, with each passing second, his expression only turned worse.


    As if this was not enough, the woman in the chains was not done yet. She let out a loud cacklingughter as she made her next move.


    Right in front of Liam''s eyes, the soul dots of one of the dragons slowly started lifting up and then moving toward her.


    ***


    Bonus chapter~~


    Please thank Dusk_Cypher for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter ?718 Just one more?

    ?718 Just one more?


    "What the¡­" Liam gawked at the unbelievable scene in front of him. The chained-up prisoner was also absorbing the souls of the dead corpses?


    Weirdly enough she didn''t even spare a second nce at the kid who was still shaking and shivering in the corner. All her focus was only on the dragons.


    This made Liam think about a frightening possibility. What if the target of the woman were these dragons from the very beginning?


    Perhaps if he hade here sooner, he would have received the unique ss ''Dragon Tamer'', and then it would have been him who was fattened up like a sacrificial goat before the woman butchered him just like she did to the kid.


    The more he thought about it, the more this seemed extremely usible. Why else would there be more than one key to this ce? The three-headed raven was possibly her minion who simply picked good candidates and sent them her way?


    Now everything made sense. The woman''s n all along was maybe to absorb all the souls of these draconian beasts and recover her strength! She could then break out of the prison herself without needing anyone else to open any doors with keys.


    When she got out, she was probably nning to also kill the kid which exined why there was no word of him after his initial poprity.


    Liam''s mind raced as he was finally able to connect all the dots. The woman in front of him was most definitely extremely vicious. She lured beginner yers with the promise of a big reward, only to use them and throw them away.


    It was impossible for someone like that to not have noticed him. He needed to get the hell out of here ASAP! She was probably nning to get rid of both the kid and him the minute she regained her strength.


    But what if she did not regain her strength?


    Liam looked at the soul fragments moving from the dragon''s corpse and in particr, paid attention to the speed at which the soul fragments were being absorbed.


    "This is slow." At least from what he could see the prisoner was only able to slowly absorb the millions of small soul fragments. His own speed was definitely faster than this. In fact, she could probably absorb the soul fragments a lot faster if she was closer to the corpse.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam paused for a moment as he made a quick calction. There seemed to be only one exnation for this. Despite the key unlocking the doors, both the inner doors and the outer doors, there was definitely some other barrier holding the woman back.


    That''s why she still seemed to be confined within the prison, chained up and unable to move. So maybe he could absorb one more wyvern''s soul to test the waters?


    Just to be safe, Liam quickly created a portal to theher realm once again. He then hurriedly took out a bead and started his work. While the woman was busily absorbing the soul of a dragon, he began sneakily pulling the soul of the wyvern closest to him.


    And the moment he did that, the woman''s face immediately changed. Unfortunately for him, she cocked her head to the side and looked directly at Liam.


    Gudang! Liam''s heart dropped. Now he had done it. Was this going to be his second death in the game? He was fully prepared to die as he understood that this was a very real possibility but to his surprise, the woman only continued to stare at him.


    And he, on the other hand, was still absorbing the wyvern''s soul!


    Liam''s heart raced as he had a feeling that his original assumption was most probably true. He continued absorbing the wyvern''s soul faster and faster. He waited and watched the woman to see if she was going to take any action at all.


    But all she did was stare daggers at him while she herself continued silently absorbing the dragon''s soul. A very ufortable silence prevailed in the room.


    Soon Liam had almost finished absorbing the entire wyvern''s soul into his ck bead. Meanwhile, the woman only managed to absorb one-fourth of the dragon''s soul.


    Liam looked at the ck bead and then at the next wyvern''s corpse. He already had three wyverns'' souls now, should he maybe stop? Nope. He hade too far to stop with just three. There were still 13 more draconian beast souls right in front of him!


    How would the woman react if he took just one more soul?


    Liam gritted his teeth as he pulled the remaining soul fragments as fast as he could and daringly moved on to the next one. The woman now let out a low growl but once again, she did nothing. She did not even move a muscle.


    A couple more minutes passed by when Liam was finished absorbing the next wyvern soul as well. His speed today was much faster than his usual speed.


    As he was simply shoving the soul into the bead, while the other person was steadily absorbing it into herself, he was able to take the soul a lot faster.


    And now that he had managed to get two wyvern souls right under this woman''s nose, he had no ns to stop now.


    Much to her dismay, he walked even closer, settling right outside the hall, very careful not to step inside, and started absorbing the remaining wyvern souls also, one after the other.


    By the time, the chained-up woman was done with the first dragon corpse and sucked dry its soul, Liam had actually managed to steal six of the wyvern souls!


    With the two he already possessed, he now had a total of eight wyvern souls! Only four more were remaining. Well, since he already had eight of the twelve, why not go for theplete set?


    At this point, he threw all caution to the wind and daringly hooked onto the next wyvern soul. Right at this moment, a loud angry roar bellowed.


    The woman finally finished absorbing the first dragon soul and she growled louder than all the dragons and wyverns put together, her face and eyes maddened with unbridled fury.


    "Stop stealing what is mine, you damn bastard!"

 Chapter ?719 Too good to be true?

    ?719 Too good to be true?


    "Hmmm?" Liam frowned at first, but then his lips unexpectedly curled up to reveal a cunning smile. The woman had just spoken. What she said wasn''t as important as the fact that she only spoke. Because¡­ this meant that she could only speak!


    What would a powerful being do when they are truly angry? They had their own pride and ego, so they wouldn''t bother talking to someone insignificant in their eyes, like Liam. Even the old elf had thrashed him around every chance he had gotten.


    The fact that this woman didn''t do any of that and simply shouted out a few words in a shrill voice implied that she was only capable of doing that much. This was good news! This was huge news!


    After hearing her yell in anger, Liam became even more confident as he started pulling the souls faster and faster.


    When the chained-up woman saw this, her already ugly face changed into something even more unsightly. Liam did not look like he was going to respond to her or pay heed to her words, so she became more frantic.


    "Bastard! Stop it! Stop it right this instant! Otherwise, I will make you die a death that you will regret for all eternity!" The woman screamed at the top of her lungs, each of her words packing a powerful, terrifying aura capable of inducing fear in men''s hearts.


    "I will peel your skin off, cook your flesh while you are still alive, and feed you to the dogs!"


    "I will hunt down your mother, father, brother, and sister, and kill all generations of your family after torturing them for an eternity!"


    "Mark my words! You will never see the light of day! You will die in this fort just like all of these miserable creatures in front of you."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    While thedy in chains continued raging on and on, Luna, who was standing a few feet away from all of this, couldn''t help but wonder. Just what the hell was going on? Who was causing all of this ruckus and being rude to my master?


    [Master, should Ie over?] She quickly asked Liam in her mind, but he immediately responded with a ''No.'' The woman was clearly after powerful beast souls, and he did not want to risk exposing Luna.


    Thankfully, it looked like the fox''s presence had not yet been noticed. This only confirmed Liam''s theory that the prisoner''s powers were extremely limited.


    She might be someone very terrifying and powerful, but right now she was merely a snake without fangs. This was why he was very careful not to enter the room, and now he knew for a fact that her powers were limited outside this threshold.


    "Perfect." Liam soon finished gobbling up the next wyvern as well. The woman stared at him in disbelief, also panting slightly. She had screamed at him all sorts of taunts and threw the weight of her aura around left and right, but nothing was working!


    "Stop it. That''s enough. I need the souls. Just leave the souls. I can offer you other things." Her voice was very hoarse now after continuously shouting. The stick was clearly not useful, so she resorted to the carrot.


    "Look here. Look at this mountain of treasures. In exchange for the souls, you can have any three items from this pile. Anything at all that piques your interest. I give you my word."


    Finally! Now we are starting to y ball! But Liam did not respond to her again. He only silently rolled his eyes again. Three items? That was not nearly enough topensate for these powerful creatures.


    He shoved thest of the wyvern''s soul into the ck bead and proceeded to move on to the next wyvern calmly. There was now only one more wyvern left for him to absorb.


    The woman''s eyes reddened in anger as she saw the human beingpletely ignore her. "Fine, you can take four items, no you can have five items." She tried to bargain.


    Unfortunately for her, everything only fell on deaf ears. Nothing she offered was moving Liam at all, at least outwardly.


    On the inside, Liam was sweating profusely. He knew this was a dangerous game he was ying but his gut instinct told him to keep pushing her.


    He was the one who had the upper hand here. All the leveragey with him. Otherwise, this mysterious powerful person wouldn''t be pleading with him this pitifully.


    Let me see how far you are ready to go. Liam had a feeling that if he pushed this woman just enough maybe he could get all of these treasures.


    And the next second, just that happened. Seeing that Liam was greedily trying to absorb thest two wyvern souls as well, the woman gnashed her teeth and offered up everything.


    "You can take everything. I will give you my word. I won''ty a finger on you. You cane in and collect all the treasure heaped up here."


    Liam couldn''t help but slightly falter after hearing this. This was what he had been waiting for, the full offer!


    However¡­ this seemed too good to be true?


    Especially the part where the woman promised not to harm him all on her own. Shouldn''t he be the one negotiating something like this? Why did it feel as if this was too easy? Everything had gone just as he had expected, and this was a bit unsettling.


    Liam did not stop and once again continued absorbing the wyvern soul, but this time he gave a curt reply to the woman. "Why don''t you make that kid deliver all the items outside this room? Then we can talk more."


    "What!" The woman shivered in anger. She had willingly gotten to this point, and yet this guy was continuing to press on her nerves. "You cane in and collect the items yourself. Didn''t I give you my word? No harm will befall you!" She scoffed angrily.

 Chapter 720 An offer you cannot refuse!

    720 An offer you cannot refuse!


    As the woman watched the hateful person with a cold glint in her eyes, Liam only chuckled lightly. "Heh. Mydy, do you take me for a fool?"


    Sure, she gave her word, but one''s word was only worth their honor and dignity. As for the chained-up woman, she seemed to have neither of those.


    Liam still remembered the strong evil and sinister presence he felt when he briefly tried to enter the hall. It was strongly imprinted on his mind. Why would someone like that keep their word?


    "I am not stepping inside. If you want, you make that kid bring everything over here for me to see."


    "INSOLENCE!" The woman immediately screeched again. "I give you my word. What more do you want? No harm will befall you!"


    Unfortunately for her, the more she tried to convince him, the more Liam dragged his feet on the ground. He refused to budge from his stance at all. There was no way he was stepping into that hall.


    The woman trembled in anger. Once again, she was met with a roadblock. Whatever she said fell on deaf ears. She was fuming from top to bottom, but nothing was changing.


    She didn''t have a choice, so Liam expected her to do what he said. To his surprise, though, she stopped talking.


    Hmmm? Liam raised a brow and started harvesting thest wyvern as well. Anytime now?


    Seconds slowly ticked by as he continued greedily absorbing thest soul. However, to his surprise, the woman remained quiet. She was no longer pestering him.


    She still seemed to be silently gritting her teeth and muttering curses under her breath but that was all. She did not yell or threaten him with anything or offer any olive branch. Now it was his turn to get nervous. Did he end up pushing her too much?


    It did not matter. To him, the wyvern souls were a lot more valuable than any treasure she could offer because he could directly take these souls outside to the real world.


    A few more secondster, the job waspletely done. Liam licked his lips in contentment. All the twelve wyverns who were supposed to be guarding this fort were now in his possession!


    What an amazing haul! This was a lot more than he had bargained for, but he was not done just yet. After finishing off all the wyverns, Liam did not stop there and ced his hands on the remaining dragon souls.


    Immediately, the woman, who was silent up until now, suddenly started shaking in madness. She even tried to break free, rattling the chains that were keeping her down, and started shouting like a maniac.


    "STOP IT!"


    "STOP IT!"


    "STOP IT!"


    And Liam could see why she was this upset. Even he could feel the inherent difference in the quality of soul. He couldn''t quite ce a finger on what it was, but the feeling that a dragon''s soul gave waspletely different than what a wyvern''s soul gave.


    In fact, he wasn''t even sure if he would be able to forge this soul. Just the process of funneling and absorbing the soul was a great deal moreplicated and difficult, putting immense pressure on his mind.


    Liam took out the canister of milky way water and kept gulping it down every now and then as he tried his best to pull the soul towards him.


    However, each soul fragment behaved like it was glued to the next one, and when he pulled one, it was as if he was pulling everything. He could feel the weight of all the soul fragments, and that ced enormous pressure on him.


    This process was definitely going to take longer than before, but Liam was very firm in his resolve. To the woman''s dismay, he kept going on and continued to absorb the soul of the first dragon.


    He took another new bead and concentratedpletely on the task at hand. Everything else became background noise to him, including the crazy person who was now rattling the chains in a frightening manner as if she was going to break out of there at any given instant.


    Unfortunately for her, nothing was working. It was clear that Liam was not going to stop no matter what she did. So, after a few seconds, she quieted down and started absorbing another dragon''s soul.


    Now it had be apetition. She could even let go of the wyvern souls, as they were but a mere snack to her. However, under no circumstance could she ever let go of the dragon souls. They were simply too irreceable and her entire n relied on them.


    She also noticed that Liam was simply saving the souls away and not using them, so she decided to deal with thatter on. For now, she focused and started absorbing the soul in front of her.


    Time passed slowly as the two did their separate things, sucking as much as they could. Clearly, the woman was better at handling souls, but Liam was able to match her speed as he was simply shoving the soul inside the ck bead.


    Little by little, their speed started increasing, and an hourter, Liam ended up getting two of the dragon souls while the woman got the remaining two.


    At this point, Liam simply dusted his hands and stood up. He had gotten everything he wanted, more or less. There was no point in him staying here any longer.


    He smiled and waved at his new friend, who was now back to staring at him in silence. "Have a good one. I will be leaving now."


    Unexpectedly, the woman smirked at his remark. "Why are you announcing your departure? Hmmm? Don''t you have all the souls you need already? You could have just left. Why bother talking to me? Hmmm? Perhaps you are still eyeing this treasure?"


    Liam chuckled. "Nah. I am good. One shouldn''t be too greedy. You can keep your treasures."


    The woman smirked again at Liam''s confidence. "Even if it means one of them would help you heal your body that is currently deteriorating?"


    And just as he was about to leave, she had given him an offer that he could not refuse.

 Chapter ?721 Your future might depend on it

    ?721 Your future might depend on it


    Liam frowned. He was really prepared to leave because now the risks far outweighed the rewards but thisst move by the mysterious prisoner was a checkmate. He could no longer simply ignore what she said. Now she also held some power in her hands.


    "What do you mean by deteriorating? I feel just fine." Liam shrugged, trying to y dumb. He wanted to get as much information as possible from this strange person, but how could it be so easy to trick someone like her?


    The woman simply chuckled and did not entertain him with any further information. Liam waited for a few seconds but this was clearly a moot point. "Fine. I wille in and get it but you have to give me more information about this treasure first," he cautiously said.


    "Heh. You don''t trust my word. Then how could you trust anything I say?" The woman cackled in a shrill voice, mocking Liam. Now that she had all the power in the conversation she did not hold back.


    Liam let out a sigh. What to do? What to do? What to do? He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. True, he did need to figure out what was wrong with him badly and the elf did not really help much with that. This woman might be his only chance for all he knew.


    But¡­ she was absolutely correct. He did not trust her at all. Risk everything he had just for a small chance that she could help him? No. It was far too risky. The woman could literally obliterate him the second he stepped inside the hall.


    Liam was tempted. However, he sternly shook his head. There were some risks he couldn''t afford to take. Even if he missed this chance down the road it was possible to find another solution. It was just good to know that a solution existed at all.


    Giving one more look at the shackled prisoner, Liam turned to leave.


    Huh? The woman gawked at this scene as she had definitely not expected this. She believed that she had this man on the hook so she was shocked to see him simply walk away.


    The damned guy still won''t enter the hall? Did he somehow figure out my trick? Her pulse started quickening. If Liam truly left her behind here just like this then she would be out of all options until someone else with a key arrives.


    How long would that even take? Before that, if things escte then once again, she would plunge into eternal darkness until an entirely different world descended! There was too much at stake for her. She simply couldn''t let Liam leave.


    "Wait. Stop. Stop. I see that you have seen through my tricks so I won''t beat around the bush anymore. Listen. I wille clean. This time you can really trust my word."


    Hmmm? Liam paused. Now, what was she talking about? He turned around to see that the hall hadpletely changed. He had only looked away for a couple of seconds but everything in front of him was different.


    There were no piles of gold coins, gemstones, or precious ores. There were no glittering items, rings, or weapons. There was nothing. The entire treasure mountain hadpletely disappeared as if it had never existed in the first ce!


    Ah! Now it dawned on Liam. He finally understood why the woman was hell-bent on bringing him in even though he offered her the deal of sending the items out instead. These items had never existed in the first ce! Everything was a lie and illusion, used to lure the yers inside!


    Wait a second, then why hasn''t she still harmed the kid? Liam couldn''t understand. He got the gist of the situation but he still had several questions.


    However, for now, he acted as if he truly figured out all of this on his own.


    "Now that you are finally being honest, we can start to have a conversation. Start by telling me who you are and what you are doing here." Liam cleared his throat and spoke firmly in an authoritative confident manner.


    The woman sighed. She remained silent for a few seconds but then she opened her mouth and mumbled. "Would you believe me even if I told you?" She smiled bitterly.


    "Go on." Liam nodded. Truth or not he did not mind hearing her out.


    The woman lifted her head up, gazed directly at him, and moved her lips, "I am a draconian princess."


    "Huh?" Liam blinked. This was thest thing he had expected. How was it possible for this person to be a draconian princess when wyverns were guarding her prison cell?


    But then again, she was able to guide the kid to get the special hidden ss so there was possibly some truth to what she said.


    "I knew you wouldn''t believe me. My own kin fighting to keep me imprisoned here. Unfathomable right? But it is the truth." She let out a sigh. "These creatures are not in their right minds. I don''t me them. What I have told you is the truth. It is up to you to believe me or not."


    Hmmm. Liam remained silent for a couple of seconds and then nodded. "Ok, so why are you in this fort? In this prison?"


    It seemed that he had asked something that he should not have because the next instant, the woman clenched her fists tightly and rattled the chains that were binding her. In the end, she bit her lips and shook her head. "That''s none of your concern."


    She seemed like she wanted to rant out venomously but for some reason did not actually do it. Liam also did not press her. As she mentioned, it was none of his business. Instead of asking her more superfluous questions, he directly came to the point.


    "Now what can I do to help you? Don''t ask me for the souls of the wyverns or the dragons. Just like how they are precious to you, I also need them. It is for my survival. I hope you understand."


    The woman cackled loudly. "Survival huh?"


    She looked at Liam with a gaze that spoke of millions of untold truths but her mouth was tightly shut. "You won''t survive even with them. What are you going to do with a bunch of souls? It is useless to you."


    "Hmmm?"


    "I suggest you give them to me instead. I will put them to good use and repay you back with something that you can actually use to change your fate."


    Liam was about to respond to her proposition but she interrupted him. "Wait and think for a minute before you give me an answer. Your future might depend on it."


    ***


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 Chapter 722 He who must not be named

    722 He who must not be named


    Liam became silent. He knew that this woman could still be bullshitting him for all he knew but he wanted to try if there was another way out.


    "I am sorry but that''s just not possible. I don''t want to disclose to you why I need these souls but I really do need them. Ask me for something else instead."


    The woman shook her head, she as well remaining firm in her resolve. "Unfortunately, that is not possible. In my current state, only powerful ancient souls can restore my strength and vitality. Everything else is pointless."


    "Oh?"


    "The few souls you possess alone have the power to give me my life back and so much more. It is because of this that I earnestly request you. Please return those souls to me. I am truly desperate." The woman mouthed, hanging her head low.


    Liam was startled for a second. He did not expect the powerful being to literally beg him but here she was doing just that.


    "Is it true that you really have a solution to my deteriorating body?"


    The woman''s eyes immediately lit up. Was this guy finally going to agree to her conditions and return the souls?


    "Yes! Yes! Yes! I do not lie about this one. I definitely know what to do for someone with your affinity. We draconians belong to an ancient bloodline. We have lived for an eternity almost. How could I not know about something so simple?"


    Liam rolled his eyes. If she was really that capable, then why did she end up here in the first ce? "Ok, then I will believe you. Tell me what can I do for you? Maybe I can bring you the souls of powerful elite beasts?"


    "Huh?" The woman blinked. "No, no. Just the dragon souls and the wyvern souls would do."


    And then to the woman''s dismay, unexpectedly, Liam shook his head again. "I am sorry, but that''s not possible."


    "You! What the hell?!" The woman trembled visibly. She clutched her head as if she wanted to tear her hair out. After talking so much, this hateful person was once again back to square one? Did he not hear anything that she said?


    "ARE YOU DEAF OR JUST AN IDIOT? Did you not hear me? I need powerful ancient beast souls! Otherwise, I cannot recover."


    "Hmmm¡­ No, is there anything else that I can do for you?" Liam looked very serious as he repeated the same thing again.


    The woman was now totally livid. In all her life, with all the creatures put together, this had to be the most hateful person she had evere across. "BASTARD! Give me back those draconian souls. They are my kin. They belong to me. Give them back to me!"


    "No."


    "Who do you think you are? You are a weak human being who hasn''t even awakened yet? What do you even know about draconian souls? Even a million souls of your pathetic kith and kin wouldn''te close to these few souls."


    "No."


    "You ask what I want? Either return back my draconian souls or bring me a million of your useless human souls? Can you do that?" She bellowed in rage.


    She did not want to talk to this hateful person any longer. He was truly a vile person without an inkling of kindness and it was clear to her that he was not going to return the draconian souls.


    But unexpectedly, Liam finally nodded his head in a different direction. With a small grin, he said. "Yes. Thatst thing could be arranged."


    "What?" The woman was shocked.


    "I can give you a million of my fellow humans."


    As he repeated his words again, the woman now had a truly horrid expression on her face. "You are going to betray your entire race for a small benefit?"


    "Yup." Liam already had a n when he learned without a doubt the amount of soul strength this woman needed to recover.


    The woman stared at him for a moment in puzzlement and then shook her head. "You might be willing to sell out your entire race but unfortunately that is not an option. There are forces here that are beyond yourprehension."


    Liam''s smile widened. "You mean the people who imprisoned you will realize that you are trying to escape?"


    "What did you say?" The woman now stared at him in utter disbelief as her jaw dropped to the ground. "How? How did you know that?"


    Bingo! Liam knew that he had guessed it correctly. This was why the PVP tower master Crawford had not killed him and went in that roundabout way to make him submit.


    All these small hints he had collected, from the tower master Crawford, the grandmaster cksmith  andstly that old elf, today was clicking together.


    There was one thingmon among all of them. It was that they were afraid of someone or something in this game.


    And it was as if they talked about this being or entity, then they would be found out!


    So if he extrapted this logically, this prisoner was also probably trying to keep a low profile with this same entity. Who was this someone who had such power over these terrifying beings?


    He who must not be named? A god? Perhaps the person who was running this whole tutorial or perhaps even responsible for the entire apocalypse that befell the?


    There were so many questions running through Liam''s mind but he knew that he couldn''t get the answers he wanted from this person. Just like all the others she also wouldn''t talk anything about his particr being.


    So instead, he told her his n. "You will only get caught if youpletely erased the soul of someone. If you take just a little bit, you will not get caught. Am I correct?"


    The woman silently stared as she pondered the words she had just heard, but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn''t find any ws in that.


    After a few seconds, she nodded. "That is indeed the case. You are correct. I can either use the few powerful draconian souls or I can use small fragments of millions of human souls."


    This time she didn''t say this out of anger. This was an actual possibility. Just a little bit won''t hurt at all. The only problem was¡­


    "How are you going to bring me a million human souls?"


    Liam fished out a dungeon crystal from his inventory. "Using this maybe?" He then told her the n he had in mind. It was just an idea but the woman was more cooperative this time around and the two discussed to finally arrive at a solution.


    ***


    Bonus chapter~~


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 Chapter ?723 A genius?

    ?723 A genius?


    After Liam cooked up a rough n on the spot, the self-proimed draconian princess started looking at him in a new light. Could this man perhaps be a genius?


    Even she couldn''t have thought of something so convoluted and devious. Little did she know that Liam hadn''t cooked up anything on his own. He had merely borrowed a page from the ybook of a cunning and petty tower master.


    The two of them discussed the ins and outs of the n for roughly fifteen minutes, and then the woman took her sweet time to mull over various things and give the green signal.


    The most important part of this entire thing was not to attract too much attention. The woman might be nervous about this, but Liam was more than sure it would work out.


    After all, the damned tower master created an entire event just to steal from him and, of course, kill him in the process. So technically, they should also be able to do the same thing and get away with it.


    Finally, after a couple of hours, both of them were in agreement, and the prisoner confidently grinned. If everything went well, this could even give her a better chance of recovering herplete strength.


    "Let''s begin." She muttered and lifted her hand up. Liam as well nodded and tossed the dungeon crystal in his hand inside the hall. The next instant, the mana in the fort started roiling like the waters of a stormy sea.


    The scenery around them started rapidly changing, and Liam felt a wave of dense mana sweep across his body.


    The fort, which was originally a simple structure akin to a temple, was now transformed into a fiery and dark, withva bubbles cracking in every corner and hot air hissing from the red brick surface.


    "Master!" Luna growled from the other side, extremely wary of what was happening.


    As her shout resounded throughout the tower, the woman momentarily opened her eyes and stared in confusion, there is another powerful creature right here in the fort?


    Liam''s expression immediately faltered. "I don''t think so. You are mistaken. If there was another creature, it would have alreadye here to attack me. See, nothing is there."


    He somehow tried to exin it, and thankfully the woman nodded, returning to the task at hand.


    Liam also sighed in relief. It looked like the barrier guarding her was truly strong, limiting her powers on the outside. However, what was going to happen when this was no longer the case?


    He had a feeling that he needed to make a backup n of his own. If not, he wouldn''t be surprised if this princess ended up putting her ws on him or Luna when everything was over.


    After a while, theplete transformation was soon finished, and the fort now had a new look. Coincidentally, Liam also received a notification.


    <ding. you="" have="" entered="" the="" dungeon="" fiery="" pit=""></ding.>


    <ding. you="" are="" the="" first="" to="" discover="" dungeon="" fiery="" pit;="" all="" experience="" points="" gained="" doubled="" for="" next="" hour;="" there="" is="" a="" higher="" chance="" obtain="" item="" drops="" hour=""></ding.>


    "He He. All done!" The woman grinned, and Liam nodded with a small smile. He swiped the notification away, seeing that everything was indeedpleted to perfection.


    In fact, there was a boss monster ring at him right this instant from inside the hall. Naturally, normal yers would rush inside to defeat this monster without doubting anything.


    And while they were busy fighting the boss, their souls would slowly be snacked upon by the other boss in the room.


    "Are you sure that normal yers wouldn''t be able to see you?" Liam asked, rubbing his chin. In reality, even if they saw her it wouldn''t be a problem as thanks to the popr games in recent times, rescuing the princess prisoner was amon theme.


    But the woman firmly shook her head. "They shouldn''t be able to see me at all. To be honest, I don''tpletely understand how you were able to see me. I am only a fragment of my past self, with only my soul barely remaining and everything else already gone into nothingness."


    Liam nodded. He knew the answer why. It was probably because of his soulmancer ss and his soul sensing skill, but he did not n on exining those things to her. He needed whatever edge he could get in case the woman decided to turn against him.


    "So, everything is done? Shall we begin?" The woman emphasized her words once more when she saw Liam was still considering something else. She was impatient to recover her strength.


    "Sure." Liam smiled, but he did not move an inch. His smile widened as he added one small detail that the person seemed to have conveniently forgotten. "Just a small thing before I leave and set things in motion."


    "Huh?"


    "How about you remove this damn curse you ced on me?"


    Cough. Cough. The woman awkwardly cleared her throat. She immediately knew what curse Liam was talking about. The only surprise here was that she didn''t expect him as well to be one of her chosen ones, or rather thembs groomed for sacrifice.


    "Well, the curse should leave you as soon as I recover my strength." She shrugged.


    But Liam firmly stood his ground and shook his head. By now, he knew a great deal about the person chained up in the corner. She was a very cunning person, and almost everything that came out of her was a lie.


    "That was not our agreement. When you recover your strength, you will help me with my condition. As for this curse, you need to remove it right now."


    The two of them then entered a staring contest with no end, with neither willing to budge. However, in the end, the woman sighed and once again relented.


    She could see that the allure of one promise was enough to handle the human being in front of her. Besides, her curse was a very weak one. It was not that much of a leverage.


    So she acted as if she were being generous and trustworthy and mumbled, "Okay. Since you are requesting it, I willply. You better not go back on your word."


    Liam chuckled. "Of course. The second you remove this curse, I will set everything into y."


    The woman nodded and lifted her hand to draw something in the air. ckish purple runes immediately appeared in front of her. She then suddenly snapped her fingers, and all the runes she had drawn exploded.


    At the same time, Liam felt a chill crawl down his spine. The next second, he felt somewhat lighter, freer. There was no notification that popped up, but he could tell that the curse was no longer there.


    However, a small doubt still remained. Since when did beings of draconian lineage use curses? He had only heard about witches and practitioners of dark elements using such magic.


    Liam did not dwell on it too much. After all, his knowledge of the matter was microscopical. There were still so many things that he knew nothing about.


    "Good. I will check to see if the curse has really been released. Otherwise, there will be no deal." He said.


    "Do whatever you want." The woman sighed and leaned back.


    Liam did not linger around any longer, and he calmly left the fort after taking Luna with him. The duo flew above the numerous mobs and bosses in the dungeon and even got the dungeon exit notification when they walked out.


    "Master, what happened?" Luna worriedly asked. She could sense that there was a lot on Liam''s mind, and she wanted to help.


    "Nothing. We just have a lot of work to do." After they were a good distance away from the fort, he quickly logged out.

 Chapter ?724 Another event?

    ?724 Another event?


    "Hmmm. I wonder if anyone is around?" Liam ruffled his hair and stepped out of the gaming capsule.


    He had asked everyone to busy themselves for the next few weeks, so there was a high possibility that no one was in the apartment. That was fine. He could simply leave a note. Only that woman was in a hurry. He personally was in no such hurry.


    To begin with, he did not even fully believe that she actually knew something that could help him. There was another reason why he readily jumped into this endeavor, and that was to prepare for the future.


    In hisst life, at least from what he understood, one of the main reasons why everyone suffered was because of their pitiful soul strength. They couldn''t power up as fast as they needed to and when wave after wave of assault arrived, the entire copsed and became a wastnd.


    However, in this life¡­ he might be able to do something about this. Of course, he did not intend to be a hero so whatever he did woulde at a cost.


    He was the one who was giving the pain at the moment, but he also had the medicine for the same nned in advance, the soul strengthening potion, the one he had given to Rey. He needed to start mass-producing this.


    Liam walked out of his room in deep thought about how to bnce his time between training, forging, and alchemy when suddenly he stopped in surprise.


    There was a new person sitting on the couch whom he did not recognize. Moreover, it was a very beautiful foreigner.


    Was it perhaps Alex or Mia''s friend? He had once heard someonement that beautiful women flock together, so he was pretty sure that this was someone rted to the two of them.


    "Hello." Liam bowed to wee the person, who immediately stood up and returned his greeting with a nervous smile. "You are¡­"


    "I am Derek''s sister, Lily." The woman hurriedly introduced herself.


    Huh? Liam was startled.


    He knew that Derek''s family had been working on moving here, but things wereplicated because they had to transport a game capsule with a person in it and make sure that it did not power down. How did they even manage this?


    As if she could read his mind, Lily quickly exined. "Miss Alex arranged a private jet for us and made all the arrangements."


    Liam nodded. "I am d to know that you arrived here safely. If there is anything that you need, anything at all, let me know. Don''t hesitate."


    "Thank you, sir. Miss Alex has been very kind to us. She took care of everything."


    The next second, an ufortable silence filled the room. Liam felt a pang of guilt creeping in. He had tried his best, but he was still unable to find any clues about Derek or what happened to him. Now how was he supposed to face this woman?


    Unexpectedly, Lily simply smiled. "Please rx. I am not here toin to you or ask you about my brother. Miss Alex gave me a task, so I have been waiting for you."


    "Oh?" Liam did not anticipate this at all. He fully expected her to grab his shirt cor and ask him for justice. Derek trusted him, and now he was missing. Who else was responsible for him?


    "What task?" He asked.


    "There is a new event in the game." Lily smiled and quickly exined the beast siege event.


    Liam nodded respectfully. He could see that the woman in front of him looked extremely frail and tired. Even though she was smiling, her eyes were very sad. She might not want to pressure him by demanding that he save Derek, but how could she not worry about him?


    Also, what the hell was this beast siege event? He frowned in contemtion. Something like this waspletely unheard of in hisst lifetime. So why the hell was this event happening now?


    Had he changed the timeline so much that now it was no longer recognizable, even remotely? Liam rubbed his temples. He already had a lot left to aplish in the few weeks that were remaining. Now, what was this new headache?


    But then again, an event like this was the perfect chance to level up. In his previous lifetime, most of the yers had leveled up using theher realm event. However, that had abruptly ended for whatever reason.


    So perhaps this was a recement event? Something made up to correct that anomaly? But why did that anomaly crop up in the first ce? If the divine temple had not intervened, theher realm event would have continued. So why did they intervene?


    There were too many questions, and Liam did not want to go down the rabbit hole to guess the reason behind each urrence. There were more important tasks at hand at the moment.


    After listening to Lily, Liam then asked her to log back into the game and ask Alex to immediately log out and meet with him. This was something he needed to personally discuss with her.


    Lily nodded and hurriedly did as she was asked. A few minutester, Alex panted and ran over. "Liam! Good! You are back! Listen, I have something very important to talk to you."


    Liam smiled bitterly. "Before that, I have something even more important to talk to you."


    "Huh?" Alex stared in confusion. "What are you talking about?"


    "I am talking about another new event that we have to basically organize."


    Alex sat down and listened to him as Liam exined to her the most bizarre thing that she had ever heard of. "This has to happen now. Preferably before the beast siege event. Since everyone will be busy preparing for that, it is a perfect time for implementing this."


    "Ok, I will do my best." She nodded.


    As usual, while everyone else was ying one game, Liam seemed to be ying apletely different game. Where this was going tond them was definitely a mystery. She gulped and stood up to leave, giving him another nce.


    An hourter¡­


    A strange rumor started spreading about the appearance of a new legendary item.

 Chapter ?725 Auspicious Day

    ?725 Auspicious Day


    Assassin Guild''s headquarters:


    "Boss, I have big news! Come quick. We need to leave right now!"


    "Hmmm? Stop shouting nonsense. First talk camly." Abraki sighed. With every day that went by it was bing more and more difficult to handle the guild. Right now, their guild was literally divided into two halves.


    While he wanted to focus on this beast siege event, the other half wanted to infiltrate into one of the S-Rank guilds and wanted to enter the Empires. Day in and day out several fights broke out because of this top and now this idiot wasing with a new headache.


    "Now. Tell me. What are you bbering about?" Abraki asked tiredly.


    "Boss! Legendary item! I am talking about a legendary item!"


    Abraki''s eyes immediately lit up. As a yer in the game, he was fully aware of what a legendary item implied and the power that came along with it. So even he was not above the allure of such a godly artifact.


    "Are you sure? Where did you hear this?" He jolted to stand up and asked.


    "Ah¡­ that¡­ One of our spies in the Crimson Abyss gave me this information." The yer awkwardly exined.


    Abraki''s expression immediately changed. He had specially asked his vice-guild leader to not leave any more spies in Crimson Abyss. However, it looked like he was ignored.


    Perhaps they assumed that he was a fool? Abraki sighed, not even bothering to give the vice-guild leader seated, Elijah, sitting near him a nce. It was tiring to remain in this guild.


    The truth was that anyone who underestimated Liam would only end up paying a horrible price. How could they not understand something so simple and straightforward? Leaving spies inside that guild would simply be a waste of manpower.


    And as for that monster letting slip a piece of news like this? Impossible! There was something weird going on here.


    "I don''t have a good feeling about this." Abraki gave his honest opinion. However, he was immediately met with a bunch of disgruntled faces.


    "Sure. While every other guild is out and about trying to get their hands on this legendary item, why don''t we wear skirts and blouses and sit in our guild residence, ying house?" Elijah angrily rebuked.


    "Abraki, I don''t understand why you always want to bend over backward when ites to Crimson Abyss? I mean are you their guild leader or ours?" Another elder of the guild angrily retorted.


    "Do whatever you want. I am not going to let out guild miss this chance just because you want to be friends with Crimson Abyss." Elijah loudly harrumphed and walked out of the room.


    Three-fourths of the other elders of the guild also walked out along with him, all of them busily enquiring about this new juicy piece of information.


    Abraki, meanwhile, looked at the only two yers still sitting along with him. These were the ones who believed in him. As for the others¡­ No one was even trying to be polite or subtle any longer. The guild was already broken. Perhaps it was time for them to leave.


    "Let''s focus on the beast siege. While everyone else is fighting for the legendary item, we can make some ns ande on top of this event." He mumbled in deep thought.


    He might not have much sway in the guild anymore but he still had a small dedicated group of yers. They were all like family to each other and would never betray Abraki. So they immediately listened to him and started making preparations for the beast siege.


    Simr events were happening in all the other guilds as well. Stormtroopers guild, War Brothers guild, DareDevils guild, every single guild in the Gresh Kingdom had already mobilized some or all of their forces to investigate this new lead.


    However, these guilds all obtained the information from different different yers. The news about the legendary item had now spread like wildfire that no one knew where it originated from.


    More importantly, Crimson Abyss was also seen investigating this news. So no suspicion was raised.


    Soon not just guilds of the Gresh Kingdom but every major guild in the 20 kingdoms of ''Evolution Online'' was fully aware of what was happening.


    diators, the top guild of the Moon Kingdom, Golden Knights, the guild with the drakes, Death Knights of the Voyoza Kingdom, everyone received the information and started making preparations.


    Most of the guilds split their guild force into two, the elite teams investigating the legendary item while the other group preparing for the beast siege. The entire game was abuzz with activity.


    The most impressive part was that it had only taken half an hour for the news to fully spread. The allure of a legendary item was simply too godly!


    Naturally, among those who heard the information, there was also the mysterious S-Rank guild Battle Gods.


    Though they were warned by the guild''s secret expert that this endeavor might not lead to good news, the bait of a legendary item was too much to ignore. In the end, the guild sent some of its experts to investigate.


    Aside from this small elite group, arge number of other yers from Battle Gods also queued up for the teleportation portals. These yers were originally doing quests in the Empire to take advantage of their guild status but now they decided to go after the legendary item.


    For the experts, this might simply be another strong point they could rely on but for normal yers, this was a chance to change their fate! No one wanted to let the chance slip by!


    As if adding fuel to this fire, a monk on the streets of the Empire also yed his part.


    "Good Luck! Great Luck!"


    "You will receive amazing heaven-defying luck today!"


    "You will seed no matter what you do today!"


    Even he couldn''t believe himself. Anyone whom he tried to divine for had great luck today, especially the ones who queued up for being teleported to Gresh Kingdom.


    "It must be some sort of auspicious day today." The monk nodded in contemtion before quickly disappearing into the crowd.

 Chapter ?726 Hypocrites and whores

    ?726 Hypocrites and whores


    While all the guilds were still breaking their heads over the small clues and bread crumbs that were all over the ce, a red-haired woman quietly stood in front of a golden portal.


    Alex knew that she did not have much of a headstart as she had nned everything that way but she still wanted to quickly check out this new territory first before all the vultures showed up.


    Besides, she knew exactly what to do and what not to do. Liam had already warned her about everything very clearly.


    Alex gulped and stepped in through the portal. Immediately, the world around her changed and she found herself in the middle of a vast expanse of scorchednds. In front of her, there was a giant fort looking ancient and mysterious.


    And at the entrance of this fort, there was a dungeon portal.


    "Bingo!" She grinned. "So this is where he was all these days."


    Alex looked around as she was curious about this strange ce that Liam had run into. After a couple of seconds, she hurriedly opened her system interface.


    And just like she expected, Liam''s name was finally green! She immediately sent him a party request and¡­


    "Yay!" Alex did a fist pump in the air. The request was epted! From there, it only took her a couple of minutes to rush to where Liam was currently sitting.


    "I didn''t expect you toe here." Liam chuckled as he waved at her.


    "I was just curious." Alex bashfully replied, looking away from him.


    "Hmmm?" Liam paused as a sudden idea popped up in his mind. "On second thought, it''s good that you are here. Let''s go."


    "Where?"


    "To the dungeon. I want to show you someone or rather show you to someone before the others get here."


    Alex immediately understood whom he was talking about. She quickly adjusted her hair, tucking a few strands behind her ear. "Ya. Ahem. I am also here to take a look at this mysterious prisoner. So that works out."


    "Right." Liam nodded and the two of them walked over to Luna who wasying on the grasszily. "Can you take us both to the fort, your highness?


    Kyuuuu! The fox pouted as she did not like Liam teasing her in front of others. Nevertheless, she ballooned up and the trio reached the fort in a few seconds.


    "Wow, she has gotten so much faster." Alex praised the little fox, making her very happy. Liam simply smiled. "Of course, she did. She ate a lot these past few days."


    "What do you mean?"


    Liam did not exin as it was a long story and the three of them entered the dungeon.


    <Ding. You have entered the dungeon Fiery Pits>


    Immediately a system prompt shed in front of them. Both of them ignored it as Luna continued flying all the way inside the fort.


    The fort was enormous so the dungeon upied simply a portion of it. Nevertheless, it was remarkable.


    "If only such a shortcut existed for all the dungeons." Alex bitterly smiled as she watched all the mobs and small bosses crawl underneath them.


    Since they were flying, they smoothly avoided all of the small fries and arrived straight at the main big boss. "Luna, stop here." Just like before Liam made sure that the fox did not waltz in front of the draconian princess and only took Alex to the spot.


    "Wait, don''t enter. Just stand here."


    Alex nodded and looked at the grand hall thaty ahead of them. The final boss of the dungeon a huge fire-type monster was loitering inside and behind that in a corner of the hall, there was a small treasure chest.


    However, though the treasure chest looked small, there were mysterious markings engraved on it. This was actually Liam''s idea.


    Many people might be wary if a pile of treasure was littered in front of them. Instead, this treasure chest was much more believable.


    And judging by the look on Alex''s face, he knew he was correct. "You know there is no real legendary item here right." Liamughed. He then brought Alex over to right in front of the hall where she could be seen properly.


    Hmmm? Alex was confused.


    But the next instant, he got the response that he wanted. "You promised me a million souls. Why have you returned with this pitiful single soul?" A figure chained up inside lifted her head and looked directly at Liam.


    Her gaze then wandered over to Alex who was standing right next to her. It seemed like she had gotten weaker as her movements were a lot slower. Nevertheless, when her gaze fell on Alex, her eyes immediately widened.


    Her mannerisms changed and a fiery anger like the depths of hell arose in her eyes. "Tell her toe in. Bring her in. NOW! RIGHT NOW!" She suddenly started screaming out loud.


    "You hypocrites! You damned whores! Come inside, you bitch!"


    "LIAM! BRING HER IN! NOW!"


    Ready to erupt like a volcano, she hissed at innocent Alex who could not even see the chained-up woman in the first ce. "Liam, what is happening? Why am I suddenly feeling like this?"


    Her entire body was covered in goosebumps and Alex became anxious. Something did not feel right.


    However, Liam who was standing next to her remained calm. In fact, he had a smile on his face. His motive ining here actually worked out!


    "Ok, time for you to leave. Go and stand next to Luna." He quickly sent her away.


    "WHY! YOU PROMISED ME! I NEED HER!" The draconian princess screamed even louder seeing Alex walking away. She even tried to break free rattling her chains.


    "Heh. Calm down, princess." Liam smiled. "This was just a test run. She is my friend. So she is not up for grabs. Your meal will soon arrive. Just wait for a few minutes."


    But the draconian princess was still agitated. "NO! She is not your friend! She is a filthy whore! They are all whores! Don''t trust the pious ones! They are the most vicious!"


    Liam sighed. It looked like he had overdone things and the woman waspletely triggered. There was no point in talking to her now. He decided to pay her a visitter.


    "As I said, your meal ising to you. Happy hunting! Stay alert and don''t screw things up!"


    ROARRRRRR!


    The draconian princess seethed in anger as Liam walked away. "I knew it." His smile widened. He had a theory about who could have possibly arrested this person and this small trip told him everything he needed to know.

 Chapter ?727 New alchemy apprentice

    ?727 New alchemy apprentice


    "You mean the divine temple is somehow rted to everything that is going on?" Alex couldn''t believe it.


    "Well, at least they should be the ones who arrested this draconian princess." Liam was about 70% sure of this. "In any case, I need you to return back to the Northern Empire and ask around about this. Not now, but once I give you the signal."


    "Ok." Alex nodded. "I will be leaving then. I also have to do some garrison stuff for the beast siege event."


    The tanks they used for the guild battle were slightly damaged. Now she needed to figure out how to repair them by using the garrison blueprints or borrow some skilled workers from the garrison.


    Liam frowned. He did not like this beast siege event because he couldn''t gauge just how important it was. However, based on the information they had received from Madan, even he did not risk ignoring it. "Good luck. It is a good chance to level at the least, so let''s do our best."


    "Will you be joining us?"


    Unexpectedly, Liam shook his head. "Sorry. I still have some important things left to take care of."


    "More important than getting the governing rights of a kingdom?" Alex raised her brow.


    Liam could only bitterly smile. He would exin it to her if he knew more about it. Instead, he asked her to open her trade window, and five more vials of Body Cleansing Elixir appeared instantly.


    "What? When? I mean, how did you manage to do this?" Alex was shocked.


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue had already used this Body Cleansing Elixir and stepped into the next stage of the game. So she was well aware of exactly how godly this elixir was.


    Both Shen Yue and Mei Mei had undergone aplete transformation. Even she, as a woman, couldn''t help but continue staring at Shen Yue until she turned off her charm.


    Though Mei Mei didn''t outwardly have any such response, her stats andbat abilities had exponentially exploded after taking the elixir.


    Making a godly elixir like this couldn''t be easy. In fact, the so-called Alchemy Grandmaster roaming around the streets of Gresh Kingdom would jizz in his pants if he knew something like this existed.


    Foolish idiots were boasting around loudly and giving interviews on TV when they were really frogs in a well who knew nothing.


    But what Alex did not understand was that Liam was clearly busy with other things, so how did he manage to make these elixirs as well?


    "Hello. Earth to Alex?" Liam snapped his fingers to get her attention. "What are you staring at? Quickly ept it. Make sure everyone breaks through to level 50 and forms the mana core before the beast siege. That should help you guys win the event."


    "I will soon send you guys some more elixir. I have a new secret production method, so there should be more of these now."


    "Ok." Alex nodded. She wanted to ask what the secret was but decided against it. She did not want to pry too much. She silently took out a few scrolls from her inventory and gave them to Liam. "I purchased the teleportation scrolls that you told me about."


    "Oh?" Liam quickly epted it.


    With this, his travel time was going to be a lot more efficient. Unlike in kingdoms, the Empire had some special items that were very useful, one of which is this return scroll. A yer can use this scroll to teleport to the Empire from almost anywhere.


    He did not know if it would work from theher realm, as no one had the opportunity to test that out in hisst life, but he knew for sure it would work from anywhere within the Xion realm.


    At least he didn''t have to drag himself all the way through barbarian territory again. "This will save me a lot of time. Thanks."


    After that, Alex bid farewell and quickly left the area by using one of the same return scrolls, and Liam went back to doing what he had been doing before she got here.


    He made himself at home in the deep forests that surrounded the scorchednds. He left the undead minion Wyvern1 behind to keep an eye on the other end of the golden portal, which was about to be flooded with yers from all the guilds.


    Meanwhile, Liam calmly summoned the newest addition to his team. "Come out." A dark elf immediately appeared. If Alex was there, she would have recognized this dark elf in a second. It was none other than Dimitri.


    But at the same time, it was not the old Dimitri. The elf no longer had the same arrogant expression as before. He stood silently in front of Liam, having alreadye to terms with his new reality.


    All of his years and years of hard work, experience, and meticulous day and night training, sometimes without even taking a break for weeks together, everything had culminated in this, his new life.


    "You know what to do." Liam grinned as he took out many sets of herbs and other ingredients.


    The dark elf soul minion Dimitri obediently walked over to him and started his work with a nod. He began arranging the cauldron and all the herbs, and a few minutester, the basic concoction for the body cleansing elixir was boiling in the cauldron.


    All of his movements and his methods were impable, and the potion brewing proceeded without a single hitch.


    Unlike Liam, Dimitri''s experience with alchemy was simply too profound. Especially because the form was alreadyid bare in front of him, brewing this potion was basically child''s y to him.


    No matter how many times Liam watched him, closely observing him, he couldn''t find a single fault. He could only apud his talent and dedication. Everything was wless and the result was also perfect. Dimitri was a true poison master.


    "Even though you were a turd when you were alive, I must say you could be my most useful minion yet." Liam chuckled in amazement.

 Chapter 728 Potion making machine!

    728 Potion making machine!


    Liam gazed at the abundant ingredients for the Body Cleansing Elixir which he was able to amass from the elven kingdom. He then looked at Dimitri who was already close to finishing up the first batch.


    The damn guy''s speed was actually faster than his. This was understandable because even with two livesbined Liam''s experience in alchemy was nothing whenpared to the Poison Master.


    Also, the soul minion, unlike him, did not get tired, was not prone to human errors and more importantly, did not need any sleep or rest. He could literally keep making this around the clock.


    Liam had so many more ns for Dimitri, but for now, he was going to make this guy prepare the Body Cleansing Elixir day in and day out. With this, the Crimson Abyss would definitely have its core members strengthened to perfection for the iing end times.


    Liam wanted to shape them into an Elite Army of men and women who would be able to stand against the truly devastating monsters that were yet to show their heads.


    "Keep making the same potion again and again until I ask you to stop. Every single batch needs to be perfectly made. Do you understand?" He gave clear instructions.


    Dimitri nodded.


    With the dark elf taking care of this side of things, Liam started his own production task, forging souls. He took out one of the ck beads and tried to sense the souls inside it.


    He did not dare start with the wyvern or the dragon souls just yet. These are souls which he could not afford to screw up with. Instead, he used the bead with the lizardmen first.


    Before Alex interrupted him, he was doing the same thing. He first practised with the souls of the lizard guys and only then attempted to forge Dimitri''s soul.


    He extracted Dimitri''s soul from the ck bead and forged his soul with great difficulty and everything ended up as a resounding sess.


    The dark elf hadn''t lost a single memory or any of his skills after the forging process. The proof of which was sitting right next to him, busily making one potion after another.


    But Liam was still not confident enough to mess with the draconian souls. So he once again used some lizardmen souls for practice first.


    Time ticked by slowly in silence, with Luna and Crawford standing guard on one side, Dimitri making Body Cleansing Elixirs on the other side like a maniac, and finally Liam as well forging one soul after another also like a maniac.


    Soon, five lizardmen soul minions were sessfully forged and they stood in a line near Liam.


    "Phew." He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he checked the levels of these new guys. "Level 44, 51, 35, 48 and 51. Not bad." Compared to before, the forging process was a lot easier now, especially because he was able to use mana more efficiently.


    Apart from this, Liam also noticed other small improvements and some rather big improvements.


    The minions he forged were able to move more independently. The wyvern that was circling high above the fort and observing the yers was at least 50 km away from him, and he was still able to maintain a connection with the beast.


    The forging efficiency and ease had tremendously increased. More importantly, he was able to handle souls that were stronger than his own. Otherwise, he would have never been able to forge the elves or the wyvern in the first ce, as they were all higher leveled than him.


    With the more he progressed in his legacy, all these changes were slowly bing apparent and his proficiency in his ss was also gradually increasing. Just a little bit more and he would be truly able to master this ss.


    "I cannot give credit to the legacy alone for all of these changes." Liam silently pondered. He had a feeling that his mana core also had something to do with this. It was as if his mana core was slowly strengthening his soul and vice versa.


    Perhaps this was why the ''Awakening'' that the old elf mentioned was extremely important for one''s true strength to show.


    Liam closed his eyes as he sensed the shackles which bound him more vividly now. Grabbing these shackles, he churned his mana core more rapidly as he tried to forge the next soul.


    He might not be able to break them just yet but he could feel it. He was slowly inching closer and closer to them.


    Liam sighed and began to concentrate on the task at hand. He reached out and sensed the profundity of the soul in his possession. There was another reason why he was forging these lizardmen''s souls first, to get their memories.


    However, this was easier said than done. Just like the previous souls, this guy''s memories were alsopletely scrambled.


    All he could get was that the soul had always been guarding the fort, and the only thing it knew was how to fight. There were simply no other memories.


    Liam thought that the lizard people, like the elves, would have skills, memories, and talents, but their minds were the same as the minds of beasts he had forged in the past.


    Just pure animal instincts. They could only be fighters, albeit good ones.


    Liam was slightly disappointed, as he wanted to learn more about the fort and the prisoner through these souls. Nevertheless, he continued and forged the soul to perfection, and moved on to the next one.


    He did not know how many more he nned to practice until he touched the wyvern and dragon souls, but he was not ready just yet.


    While Liam was fully immersed in the soul forging, the scorchednds not too far away from him started seeing a lot more activity.


    Dozens and dozens of yers from guilds all over the world started pouring out of the golden portal and looking around the new terrain in excitement.

 Chapter ?729 Impossible to clear?

    ?729 Impossible to clear?


    The first thing all the yers saw was the gigantic, humongous fort that was sprawled right in front of them and the attractive dungeon entrance that was swirling right at the gates of this fort.


    The legendary item must definitely be inside the dungeon or the fort!


    Every single person had this same thought as they rushed into the dungeon immediately. Thankfully, it was only a level 50 dungeon.


    Most average yers were hesitant, but the elite guild groups took on the dungeon one after the other with confidence. Many went in solo, and many went in after forming huge parties.


    There was also thepetition to set records for first clear, fastest clear, and so soon. In no time, the fort became extremely lively. The stakes were far too high here, so everyone repeatedly attempted the dungeon, even if they kept dying.


    Slowly but surely, thousands of yers flocked to the site, and a huge crowd gathered near the mysterious location. News about this started spreading, and more yers began to assemble.


    Some yers even started setting up repair shops and item shops near the fort to refill the supplies of the poption.


    However, no one noticed the wyvern that was circling high above in the clouds, hidden from the eyes of the crowd. The undead minion dutifully reported to Liam everything that was happening.


    "Ok. Good job, Wyvern 1. It looks like our n is moving along smoothly. Hmmm¡­ Maybe it''s time for us to meet that person again?"


    Liam finished forging the 20th lizardman and stood up. He then took out one of the advanced invisibility potions that he had Dimitri concoct.


    After taking this potion, even he was not able to sense the dark elf''s presence. Only Luna was able to slightly sense him. So Liam was quite confident that he could slip by the masses unnoticed.


    Moreover, the crowd in that area was toorge that probably no one would pay attention to him even if he did not use the invisibility potion. As long as he didn''t reveal his face, he should be fine.


    Regardless, Liam took all the necessary precautions and made his way to the mysterious dungeon, the center of the chaos andmotion. He silently entered the dungeon portal.


    A couple of yers noticed the portal''s color flickering like it did when someone entered and mockingly chuckled. "Which genius is trying to be over-smart? Did he think that if he went in after drinking an invisibility potion, he would have a higher chance of surviving? Idiot."


    "This dungeon is a bitch. We got wiped out by the second boss."


    "I heard Golden Knights are at thest boss already."


    "Yes, Thunder Gods are also at thest boss, it seems."


    "You guys are crazy. Obviously, Crimson Abyss or the Battle Gods are going to get the first clear. Those two are S-Rank guilds. They are probably going to take the legendary item and leave everyone in the lurch."


    "Not necessarily." An intelligent personmented. "Guild rank is different from dungeon party strength. With all the big shots from Crimson Abyss still missing in action, other guilds have a good chance."


    "Then what about battle gods? I heard they have set several records in the dungeons of their Kingdom."


    "Well, in any case, we will know soon enough. I bet in a few minutes, someone is going to get the first clear."


    And just like everyone expected, the first team indeed stepped into the final boss hall soon enough but¡­ the moment they entered the hall, they found themselves mysteriously dead.


    Did thest boss just one-shot the whole dungeon party? Everyone was speechless.


    This group was coincidentally from the Assassin Alliance, one of the first parties toe through the golden portal. After three wipes, they slowly worked their way to the final boss and the reward was so close, almost in their hands, but somehow they were all killed?


    "What the hell just happened?" One by one the Assassin Alliance yers respawned. Before they could process this information, all of them shockingly found themselves back in the Gresh Kingdom. They had actually respawned in a graveyard in the Gresh Kingdom!


    "You have got to be kidding me." Elijah grumbled in annoyance. Earlier when they died, they respawned near the portal, but now they respawned back at the Gresh Kingdom. This was going to cost them valuable time!


    What if someone else cleared the dungeon first before they could go back all the way?! So unfair! They did all the hard work and they deserved this reward!


    All the Assassin Alliance yers put their heads together to try and figure out why they died in the first ce as they raced back to the golden portal.


    However¡­ As the first yer touched the portal¡­ he was instantly flung back. What the hell? One by one the other members of the party also tried to enter the portal but for some reason, they just couldn''t?


    Elijah wanted to bang his head on the tree nearby. Just what the hell was happening? Everything had gone ording to n, but at thest minute, it all flopped? So unlucky!


    They had no idea what to do next. Everyone was so frustrated that they really would have bashed their heads against the tree, but the next second, another party appeared.


    It looked like they had followed the same footsteps as when the group tried to enter through the golden portal, they were also mysteriously flung back.


    They kept trying again and again, only to have the same result over and over. At this time, Elijah walked over to them with a bitter smile. "Hello friends, did you just get wiped out at thest boss?"


    Soon the third party arrived, and then the fourth party arrived. Moreover, these yers were not just random yers. They were elite top yers from top guilds around the world.


    And these yers had all been one-shotted and kicked out!


    No one was able to understand anything. They all simply gathered together, trying to figure out what was going on. How did they all get mysteriously killed and also kicked out?


    By the time the tenth party arrived, the truth was finally crystal clear. Everyone could see the obvious. The dungeon''sst boss could be attempted only once! After this, they wouldn''t be able to enter the dungeon again.


    As soon as the different groups realized this, they started getting in touch with their respective guilds and making ns. This small new development did not deter anyone from attempting to get the legendary item. Instead, it only motivated them even more.


    What was a legendary item? Something that could make one rise from trash to top expert! So how could obtaining one be so simple?


    The fact that the mysterious dungeon was so difficult to clear only encouraged everyone. They were now 100% sure that thest boss dropped a legendary item. So how could they let this chance go?


    All the yers started contacting their guilds and making their own assumptions in a hurry. Some searched for Fire Resistance potions, assuming that was why they were getting one-shot.


    Some tried to use extreme buffs, and some even tried to get their pets tank for them in the hopes that they could decipher this sudden mass wipe attack of the boss.


    And just like that¡­ the lively crowded atmosphere near the dungeon portal slowly started dwindling and dwindling.


    But after a few minutes, it once again picked up when a whole new crowd arrived. Now that everyone had one and only one chance to attempt thest boss, no one wanted to miss the opportunity.


    All the guilds began to send their main teams to the fort. All the yers on the ranking list started showing up. The whole area became star-studded. Even the top-ranked yers of the Battle Gods guild could be seen.


    Of course, Crimson Abyss was the only exception. None of the Crimson Abyss top yers could be seen near the fort. However, no one had time to worry about them.


    Everyone was busily trying to figure out the strategy for the dungeon. All sorts of theories were flying around.


    When the top rankers arrived, all the small fries immediately became worried that the legendary item would get stolen away but weirdly even the top rankers suffered a team wipe!


    They were able to directly clear the dungeon from the start until thest boss. However, at thest boss, even the so-called experts and monsters were mercilessly wiped out.


    These were yers who hadn''t died even once since the game began, and now all of them were respawning back in the Gresh Kingdom, their confidencepletely shaken up.


    By the first few hours, many experts suffered this same humiliation and all ended up getting kicked out. Just what the hell was happening?


    While the entire world''s poption was breaking their heads over this weird anomaly, one person alone was grinning ear to ear. Inside thest boss hall, the woman chained up in a corner of the big room revealed a satisfied evil smirk.


    Souls! Souls! Souls! There were so many of them for her to eat up!


    As she gleefully lifted her hand to finish the next group of eager adventurers, she noticed that this one did not quite enter the hall. Hmmm?


    She turned to see that this time it was not a group, just one yer, and it was none other than Liam. "Having fun, are we?" He chuckled lightly.

 Chapter 730 Keep Dreaming!

    The draconian princess silently eyed Liam for a second and she then shed a sweet smile. "Why don''t you step inside and I will tell you all about it."


    Liam rolled his eyes. This bitch was back to the starting point but he did not care as long as she coughed up the pay. "I think we can stop with these formalities. How are you enjoying your feast? Is your strength recovering?"


    Hmmm? The woman grinned and then cocked her head to the side. "It''sing along." She curtly replied.


    "In that case, shall we talk about your end of the deal? What can I do to improve my condition?" Liam didn''t care about this banter and he came straight to the main point. He needed to know this.


    The draconian princess, on the other hand, took one look at his serious expression andughed in his face. "Heh. Slow down, my saviour. What''s the rush? I have just started snacking. The main entree is still left."


    Liam frowned. From the beginning, he did not n on waiting too long before iming what belonged to him. He didn''t trust the person to keep her end of the deal, and he did not want to wait until she regained all of her power.


    Now she was simply showing what he expected all along.


    "Don''t be so predictable. I helped you and now it''s your turn to help me. Or else¡­"


    "Or else?" The woman raised her brow.


    "Let''s not do anything that you might regret." Liam calmly advised her.


    "Who is the one overstepping their bounds here?" She grinned. "The deal was for you to help me recover my strength. Do I look like I recovered my strength?"


    "I am not in the mood for an argument. I will ask you one more time. Are you going to hold up your end of the deal or not?"


    "Sigh. I am feeling so weak that I am unable to even talk to you. Come back in a few hours and then we can definitely talk." The woman did not wait for Liam''s response as she bent her head down as if she was sleepy and tired.


    Liam''s face twitched. "So you really want to y it like this?"


    No response.


    "This is thest warning." He repeated again.


    No response.


    "Fine. Then don''t me me for being ruthless."


    With her head still bent down, the woman smirked. What could he possibly do? Everything was already set in motion and now even if Liam tried to stop things himself, it was impossible. No one would believe him.


    However¡­ the next second¡­


    "I can always tip the divine temple you know." Liam calmly uttered.


    The draconian princess instantly jolted up and red at him angrily. She no longer had the smug smile on her face, rather she looked very triggered.<sub> </sub>


    "What happened? Didn''t you say you were too tired?"


    "You are lying." She seethed in anger. "You and them¡­ you and them are also¡­" She seemed like she wanted to say more but she bit her lips and stopped herself.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam frowned. "I am not lying and I suggest that you do not test my patience. You made a deal and now you better keep your end of the bargain." His cold gaze was unwavering, making it clear that he was not joking around. He was definitely being serious.


    The draconian princess stayed silent for a moment and then she bent her head down again. "Fine. Enough chit-chat then." She seethed through her gritted teeth. "The solution to your problem is rather simple. So I won''t dy this anymore."


    She sighed lightly and continued, "What you need is a fruit. It''s a small tangerine fruit that is of unknown origin. It randomly appears on blessed vegetation. It is also nicknamed ''Limitbreaker''."


    Liam''s eyes instantly lit up. So, there was actually an easy solution? All he needed to do was eat this one fruit? He couldn''t believe that he got this information out of this cunning person.


    "But¡­" The woman continued. Liam''s gaze hardened. "There is a but?"


    The woman bitterly smiled. "Don''t start celebrating too early. This was also why I didn''t tell you this sooner."


    "Hmmm?"


    "This fruit. This limit breaker is a rare celestial-grade treasure. Do you think something like this could be easily obtained?"


    Liam remained silent.


    "Pfffftt. Ha Ha Ha! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! The look on your face is simply priceless! A mere mortal from a lowly realm wants to be a dragon? Keep dreaming ant."


    Liam clenched his fist.


    "What are you staring at me for? See I kept my end of the deal, you foolish human. Don''t you darein! I told you what you need. But as for whether you will be able to get it. Ba ha ha ha! That is not my problem. Goodbye."


    Liam swallowed his words and calmly asked, "Do you know where I can find this at least? Maybe a location? Even a rough one?"


    The woman paused but then she again burst intoughter. "You are an even bigger idiot than I thought. I am locked up in here, you fool. How would I know? Why are you asking me? Ba ha ha ha!"


    The prisoner continuedughing while Liam remained silent for a while. He stared at the prisoner for a few more minutes before eventually turning back and walking away.


    This was not the result he had expected but this was something, a start.


    Loudughter continued resounding in the empty dungeon as Liam walked out, gulping down another invisibility potion. Hordes of yers were still littered around the dungeon portal, all of them waiting for their godly opportunity.


    However, Liam continued walking ahead without sparing them as much as a nce. Soon the pensive look in his eyes turned cold as he opened his system interface. He ran through all the names in the inner member guild list and there was one blinking green.


    Liam''s finger tapped as he contacted this person. "Tell Alex to make a move. Tell her to go to the temple high priestess immediately." He sent a simple message.

 Chapter 731 Something Is Wrong!

    After sending the message, Liam did not look back and continued walking forward. He was fully aware of what he had done, and he did not n on being anywhere in the vicinity when the shit hits the fan.


    As for why he had done it, he simply had no other choice. It was not as if he was fond of backstabbing in this way. He would rather be straightforward and brutal. But he had already considered this from several perspectives, and if he tried to keep his word, the only oue he was able to see was his death.


    This mysterious being was a prisoner, imprisoned by possibly one of the most powerful factions in this world. What would happen if word spread around that he helped the person escape?


    Even if the divine temple let this matter rest, would the prisoner let him live? He was the only one alive who knew that she had escaped or was at least close to escaping. Wouldn''t she want to erase his existence to remove all evidence?


    No matter what, he was the one who would be in danger. This deal was never valid, to begin with. An agreement like this could only hold true if it was made between two true equals. When their strength disparity was so great, he had to look out for himself and his family.


    The only thing Liam couldn''t figure out was how such a powerful being didn''t see his betrayaling from a mile away. It seemed fairly obvious and logical for him to act this way. So why was she so sure that he wouldn''t rat her out? Was it perhaps because of hisher affinity?


    Liam mulled this over in puzzlement as he quickly made his way back to the forest. Once he was under the cover of the forest, he did not care about his invisibility any longer and called for Luna.


    The man and the fox then set out on their return journey back to the elvennds. The old elf had chased him away in such a hurry that he barely had time to do everything that he nned to do. Moreover, he needed to talk to the elf about the new intel he had gathered.


    "Limitbreaker fruit¡­ A celestial grade item¡­" Liam wondered if it was really possible to get his hands on something like this. His gaze shifted to the soft, luxurious white fur ball he was currently sitting on.


    He had already obtained something of the celestial grade, would it really be impossible to get one more item? Just one more? He patted the fox while he mulled over all the ces where he could possibly search for this item before the game shut down.


    Theher realm was definitely an option. However, there was another ce where he was quite confident of getting what he needed, and that was the Milky Way Auction House. If there was really an item like that around, wouldn''t that little girl know about it?


    There was a chance that she could even pluck out the dang fruit from her backyard tree and gift it to him! He had to start his search from that ce!


    While Liam was thinking about this, Luna had already crossed half the distance by teleporting in and out, and the duo were almost back at the elvennds.


    But all of a sudden, she unexpectedly came to a screeching halt, almost throwing Liam off her back. "Master! Something is wrong!"<sub> </sub>


    Liam snapped out of his thoughts. He lifted his head to look up and saw a bright, glimmering barrier of sorts in the distance. "Isn''t that where the elvennds are?" He opened his system interface map again just to check, and that was indeed the ce.


    "What happened there?" He frowned. "Let''s go closer and take a look." He patted Luna, and the fox cautiously took off once again. The duo approached the barrier slowly, and when they got closer, what they saw only confirmed their suspicions.


    There was a gigantic barrier in front of them, preventing them from going any further. Luna even tried shing against this barrier several times, lobbing a few fireballs at it but it was impossible to crack.


    Just the magnitude of the thing was simply enormous. It seemed like the barrier was epassing the whole elven kingdom, or perhaps that entire territory, including all the elven ns and kingdoms.


    How was this possible? Liam gulped as he imagined the kind of magic one would need to erect a barrier of this magnitude. The person who was capable of doing something like this¡­ was this the work of that old elf? Was this why he had chased him out in a hurry?


    Liam did not understand what was going on. After staring at the magnificent magic for a while, the fox and the human then started circling around the thing. Since they couldn''t enter the barrier, their only option was to go around it.


    Thankfully, Luna was able to fly, and the nearby territories seemed to be neutral forest zones. So there weren''t any factions hanging around in the wilderness, wanting to shoot them down for flying in the enemy zone.


    However, when they reached half the distance, suddenly sounds of disturbance echoed ahead of them. There wasn''t any magic per se, but loud nging noises could be heard as if someone was ramming something powerful against something strong.


    "Luna, wait here," Liam asked the fox tond and took another invisibility potion as he moved closer to check what was happening. Some of the sounds he heard were familiar, so he already had a wild guess.


    And when he arrived there, he knew he was correct.


    Barbarians! The barbarians had finally made a move. In front of him, there were hundreds of thousands of barbarians swarming the barrier like flies.


    More importantly, each one of them had bloodshot eyes and swelled-up bodies as they repeatedly rammed themselves against the barrier.

 Chapter 732 Please Stop!

    "Impossible!" Liam gaped in shock. When he saw these barbarians previously, only one among dozens of them had this strange power, which enabled them to explode in power. But now, every single one of them was in this berserk, powered-up state?! How was this possible?


    Liam could visibly see the barrier shaking and trembling. The strong, imprable magic wall that didn''t budge when he rammed against it, was now struggling under the attack of the barbarians. How were they so strong?


    They had not only the numbers but also the power to back up the numbers.


    "Damn it. This is bad." Liam gritted his teeth. Yes, he felt bad for the elves, but there was another reason why he was apprehensive about this new development. This was because once the elves were done, where would the barbarians turn next? The human kingdoms!


    If these guys turned their attention to the human kingdoms, then thest few weeks would be extremely chaotic, and there would be several deaths. The timeline would drastically change.


    The people who were only wiped out after the apocalypse could actually die sooner before this damned tutorial even shuts down!


    Liam never envisioned himself as the hero who sought to save the entire world and every single person who lived and breathed. But this was too huge an event even for him to avoid. It had the potential to alter the course of history and trigger a global catastrophe!


    "They absolutely cannot win this war!"


    He needed to find a weakness and at least partially destroy this army. If only he could bring over his demon garrison!


    Liam asked Luna to fly around the whole group and back into the depths of barbarian territory. Perhaps he could cull the poption there while this group was busy trying to break the barrier.


    The duo stealthily flew above cloud cover as Liam somewhat made out the distribution of the entire army. It was a massive army that could strike fear in the hearts of everyone who witnessed it. On the other hand, the elven poption was pitiful.


    "The barbarians definitely have the numbers on their side," Liam said in a grim tone. The duo continued to observe the army, and eventually, it started tapering off. This was exactly what Liam was waiting for!


    He immediately patted Luna to swoop down andnd near one of the camps that were in the far back, spread out sufficiently. If he attacked now, the others would have no idea.


    But the fight needs to be wrapped up quick and clean before the barbarians could transform. Even if one sign of disturbance leaked outside, he couldn''t use this strategy anymore.


    This was definitely a detour in his n. However, he at least had to try something. He only nned to involve himself as much as he could. And even if nothing works out, it was still a good grinding spot for his minions.


    "Alright. Let''s do this." Luna licked her lips as a vicious glint appeared in the fox''s eyes. She dove down at lightning speed, her figure blurring and appearing in front of the barbarians without any warning. At the same time, Liam shouted. "Come out."


    Instantly, the army of soul minions materialized, with the newly added lizardmen taking the lead. They seemed to be even more bloodthirsty than the barbarians, as they sprang forward and mauled everyone in their path.<sub> </sub>


    Crawford and the other minions also did not want to get left behind, and everyone rushed over to the closest barbarian. Moreover, the camp only had a dozen or so barbarians. This resulted in aplete ughter.


    Five minions or more ganged up on every barbarian, and before the muscr, sturdy beings realized what hit them, they were already dead.


    Luna growled in annoyance as she didn''t have any space to fight. Liam also did not participate. The two of them hovered in the air, keeping an eye on things in case someone turned into the berserk, bloodlust form.


    However, no such thing happened. The entire fight onlysted for about a minute when the sixty plus soul minions finished raiding the camp. In the end, the drops were also collected and neatly bundled up with a bow on top.


    Sure, the experience points gained were minimal, but they were just getting started!


    "Perfect." Liam grinned and dismissed the group. "Let''s go to the next camp, Luna." The fox growled and bobbed her head enthusiastically.


    If they continued like this, they could easily take down close to a quarter of the army before they realized something was going on. And then they can think of what to do next.


    As soon as Liam gave the signal, Luna pounced on the next camp of barbarians, and once again the army of soul minions appeared out of thin air and ughtered the camp mercilessly.


    "2 down, 50 to go!"


    The duo hopped from one camp to another without any break and relentlessly hacked and shed at the barbarians. They were painting the entire forest red with barbarian blood.


    After an hour, Liam''s experience bar actually filled up by 30%, which was huge considering he had to share experience points with so many minions and Luna.


    But they were only able to do this because none of these barbarians had transformed yet. It would be an entirely different story if they actually had to fight with the berserk group.


    "How long can I keep this up?" Liam wondered as his soul army raided another camp and returned with the glorious loot. Everything was going smoothly, but it definitely won''tst long. He needed to contact the elves somehow, or at least the old guy. Otherwise, figure out something else to do.


    Just as Liam was about to go to the next camp, suddenly a familiar voice sounded. "Grandmaster Liam! Wait! Wait! Please!"


    "Huh?" He turned around to see Lyanna frantically calling for him and flying towards him on a huge eagle. What was she doing here? What was going on?


    As if answering his question, the anxious elf opened her mouth and blurted out. "Grandmaster Liam, please wait a moment. Don''t attack the barbarians anymore. Grandpa was the one who orchestrated all of this."

 Chapter 733 Kicked Out

    "Ummm? What did you just say?" Liam couldn''t help but think that he had misheard the elf.


    "Ah. That. Ahem." Lyana awkwardly cleared her throat. She wanted to exin more but unfortunately, she also didn''t understand. So all she could do was repeat what she said before.


    "Sorry, Grandmaster Liam. I am unaware of any details. His highness only told me that he wants you to leave this territory. He said that the clock is ticking and he will buy you as much time as he possibly could. He was sorry that he couldn''t do more."


    Liam was shocked. He silently listened to the elf not understanding what was going on. Why did he have to leave this ce and what time was he buying? He just could not figure out what was the old elf''s intention and what he was trying to do.


    After a few minutes, he sighed and made a decision. "Alright. I will leave then."


    He could still hear the barbarians raging loudly and hammering at the elven barrier but this was not his fight. He wasn''t going to lose anything by listening to the elf''s words so he decided to go with it even though he did not understand the reason behind it.


    Liam quickly took out a return scroll from his inventory. He then looked at Lyana and gave her a nod. "Thanks for everything." He proceeded to tear the scroll when the elf hurriedly stopped him again.


    "Ah! Grandmaster Liam, please wait!"


    Now what? Liam raised his brow and looked at her.


    "Ummm¡­ That¡­ I will alsoe with you." The elf blushed and awkwardly said.


    "Huh? You want toe to the human kingdom?" Liam immediately began to make mental calctions. Was this part of some sort of huge cross-racial questline? Was this why the old elf asked him to leave? What could be the rewards?


    But snapping him out of his thoughts, the Lyana gulped and spoke. "I wish to¡­ be your disciple and learn from you."


    "Eh?" Liam was speechless. He scratched his head as his gaze dragged on the elf standing in front of him. "Disciple?" He did not expect this.


    "Yes, Grandmaster Liam. I wish to seek guidance from you and learn forging." Lyana exined again.


    "But won''t it be a problem if I take you to the human kingdom?"


    "Ummm¡­" The elf hesitated.


    Unfortunately, Liam couldn''t directly ept her request. He had to weigh the pros and cons of this situation.


    Lyana was someone who had a lot of experience inbat and now that she had somewhat recovered, her level was already 85. She could potentially be a very powerful ally especially because all of his demon underlings were back in theher realm.


    Liam thought about it for a moment and then decided to go with this one as well. Sure, there were risks but these were thest few days and he had to take all the risks now. Otherwise, there won''t be chance for that in the future.


    "It''s fine. You cane with me. As long as you stay in the guild residence, you should not be running into any trouble. Also, make sure to cover your ears and hide your identity thoroughly.<sub> </sub>


    Liam looked at the scroll in his hands again and then put it back into his inventory. This scroll would teleport him right to the Empire and Lyana''s identity would be instantly sniffed out by the monsters there.


    So it was better to travel again and not take the shortcut. Besides, he already had the path cut out for him and this time Luna had her teleportation skill.


    Liam signalled for the elf to hop onto Luna and soon the trio lifted up into the sky. The white fox swished her three tails as her figure started blurring in and out of thin air.


    The beast weaved through the air a path that lead straight back to the Gresh kingdom.


    And thanks to her abundant stamina and never ending mana, she continued doing this all the way until they reached the guild residence.


    "Hmmm¡­ it''s good to be back here." Liam sighed in relief. So many things were happening around him and everything felt uncertain. However, being back at the guild residence felt as if he had a solid footing underneath him again.


    The guild residence also seemed extremely lively. They had arrived just in time for the beast siege. Everyone was rushing around preparing for the uing event.


    Liam, however, had no intention of talking to anyone at the moment. "Luna, go straight to the forging building." There was still a lot of work left to be done.


    Inside the forging room, while the fox and the elf rested for a bit, he took out the white token and fiddled with it in his hands. Now that the old elf was not reachable, he could only rely on the little girl to get more information.


    There was also theher realm as thest resort, but he doubted if the demons would know anything about a Celestrial Grade item like this.


    They regarded his finished version of the Body Cleansing Elixir as an invaluable treasure. That itself showed just how wealthy they were. Nevertheless, Liam nned to investigate there as well.


    Talking about the Body Cleansing Elixir, he summoned Dimitri, and the dark elf respectfully bowed before starting his duties. He once again began making potions like clockwork.


    While Liam prepared to make his next move, back in the scorchednds, near the elven territory, all the yers witnessed somethingpletely unbelievable.


    Five mysterious white-robed figures appeared in front of the fort. The pressure they exuded and the aura that seeped out of them were simply extraordinary. For a second, all the yers could do was stare at these figures with their mouths wide open.


    And before anyone could react, four of the five figures walked into the fort, immediately followed by a deafening, enraged roar that sent shivers across everyone''s spine.


    Thest mysterious figure then waved their hand, and the next instant, the dungeon portal, the teleportation portal, and the fort itselfpletely disappeared.


    The yers once again magically found themselves back in the Gresh Kingdom. What the hell just happened? Who were those white-robed figures? No one knew.


    All they could see was that there was no more portal and no more chances left for obtaining the legendary item! Sadly, the dream of getting such a godly item was gone just as quickly as it hade.


    Or wait, did someone perhaps get the legendary item and that''s why everyone was kicked out? Scratching their heads in confusion, all the gathered yers started walking back to the city in confusion.

 Chapter 734 Check The Ranking Again

    Inside the forging room, Liam tampered with another lizardman''s soul as he contemted heading over to the Milky Way auction house. The white token waspletely charged, and he could go at any instant. This was not the issue.


    The issue was¡­ thest time he was there, forging grandmaster  had warned him to stay away from that ce. So Liam didn''t want to immediately head over there in a rush. He first wanted to make some preparations and, if possible, pump up his level some more.


    "Should I go there after the beast siege?"


    This event waspletely new to him. However, it seemed like an extremely amazing levelling opportunity. Having a huge minion army was both a blessing and a curse, and this was exactly the type of help he needed to feed everyone experience points.


    Liam silently chuckled to himself. In the beginning, his fate was bending over backwards in order to screw him, but now it looked as if it was helping him. Well, not that heined. He would take all the help he received.


    This beast siege event would be his next stepping stone!


    After Liam finished forging the lizard soul he was handling, he opened his system interface, as a few messages had chimed in while he was busy. He replied to one of them right away because it was from Alex.


    However, the moment he pressed send, the red-haired beauty barged into the forging room the next second. It was as if she were waiting right outside his doorstep.


    "What is this? Were you just waiting for me outside?" Liamughed.


    Alex blushed furiously, but she quickly recovered her pride, as she hade here to talk about something extremely important. "Liam! Don''t joke around! Do you know what happened?"


    "Hmmmm?"


    Alex narrated everything that happened. "I went to meet with the high priestess and guess what? She rewarded me with a whopping 1 million reputation points! I now have the Savior status with the Divine Temple! Can you believe it? Savior reputation!"


    "Do you know what this means? I can literally buy out anything I want, do anything I want, and get any information I want in any of the freaking empires! Have you been to one yet? The best trainer in the ss hall personally came down to wee me, and he is tutoring me!"


    "I am learning so much right now. Do you know how fast I can cast spells now? It''s ridiculous. All my tanking skills havepletely transformed." Alex continued ranting non-stop. It was clear that she was extremely excited.


    Liam patiently listened to her and waited for her to finish. All of this was good, but what he wanted to know was¡­ what happened to the prisoner inside the fort?


    "The prisoner?" Alex shrugged. "I have no idea about that. They should be dealing with her right about now. But I just heard from a bunch of yers that everyone had been chased out of the fort and basically from that zone. Portal, dungeon entrance, everything disappeared."


    "Everyone is so confused. Ha Ha Ha! Idiots are trying to break their heads over something that didn''t exist in the first ce! Ha Ha Ha! Serves them right to gang up on our guild and attack us!"


    "This is just too good. I bet they are still wasting their time trying to find out if there are any loopholes and whatnot. Ha Ha Ha! So evil! I love it!"


    Alex continued chatting by herself for a couple of minutes but Liam was in deep thought. Would there be some sort of consequence now? After all, this time he had meddled in something way beyond his level. Perhaps a high priestess would show up at his door as well?<sub> </sub>


    In fact, while Alex continuedughing at her own rant, he couldn''t help but keep looking at the door. He was half-expecting someone to show up at this exact moment but nothing of that sort happened.


    Was he seriously going to get away from this unscathed? Liam sighed and shook his head. He did not have the time to keep thinking about things that could maybe possibly happen. He had to focus on the one thing that he knew for sure was going to happen.


    Liam kept the ck bead in his hand back into the inventory and took out another ck bead. However, unlike the one before, this bead didn''t simply have lizardmen''s souls. It contained the wyvern souls!


    He let out a deep breath and made up his mind. He had already practised enough. There was no point in putting this away any longer. It was time to extract the wyvern souls and attempt to forge them.


    Seeing that he was about to do something, Alex quickly stopped talking and observed Liam. "Ummm¡­ Shall I leave?"


    Liam nodded, "Up to you. If you want you can sit with her and watch. Just don''t make a noise or any disturbance."


    "Her? Her who?" Alex''s gaze shifted and she finally noticed the elf in the forging room. "What the fuck? An elf?"


    "She is my disciple," Liam answered with a straight face.


    "You have a disciple?" Alex could only barely control herughter as she heard these ridiculous words. Are the elves in this world so bad to do that they have to be disciples for just Master level experts?


    "By the way¡­ do you know someone called Dante? That bastard became the first and only Grandmaster in the game and is trying to intimidate our guild saying that he won''t sell us any of his speciality items."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "Normally, I wouldn''t care but that bitch has an Exp boost potion which I heard is very good. I will somehow try to get some of that for our guild members. We could use some fast levelling."


    "No. Don''t bother with it." Liam immediately stopped her. He knew of this potion because it was very famous in his previous life as well but there were severe restrictions on its usage.


    A single yer could only use the potion thrice at most. So it was not worth wasting time and effort on something like that. Liam exined this to Alex. "He is just making it sound mysterious by keeping this minus point a secret."


    "Ah." Alex nodded. Now she understood. She had almost fallen for this stupid trick. "How did a bastard like him be a Grandmaster? This is so infuriating." She cursed.


    Liam, on the other hand, only lightly chuckled. "You might want to check the ranking list again. Now that I am here, a few things should have changed."


    Sitting at the corner of the room, the elf also smiled in a mysterious way.


    Seeing the both of them act in this manner, Alex was confused. "Huh? What are you talking about?" She opened the system interface and checked the ranking list again and when she did¡­

 Chapter 735 Three At A Time?!

    "Grandmaster¡­ Grandmaster? You are also a freaking Grandmaster? What? How? When?" Alex waspletely dumbfounded.


    "I gained a few things in the elven territory, thanks to my disciple." Liam gave Lyana a nod and then smiled.


    "It didn''t show up on the ranking list because I was not there in the usual territories. I am assuming that just like how I wasn''t able tomunicate with you guys, this one also did not get updated."


    "Right." Alex gulped, but she still continued to stare at Liam in shock. She was feeling a lot of things at the moment.


    On one hand, she was happy, but on the other, herpetitive spirit was killing her. Every second, the person in front of her was simply pulling away from her at lightning speed. Would she ever be able to catch up to him?


    "Alright. I have some things to do. So are you going to stay or leave?" Liam asked her again.


    "Ah¡­" Alex dumbly stared. That was right. She had asked if she could watch him forge the souls. But her gaze then fell on the elf sitting in the corner.


    Clearly, she only had eyes for Liam, as the elf didn''t look away even for a second. She was observing him with deep reverence and an obviously infatuated look¡­ like a groupie.


    Alex immediately became self-conscious and embarrassed and ran away. "Sorry, I have a lot of shit to do."


    "That''s fine." Liam shrugged. Now that he was finally free to get some work done, he summoned Crawford to keep an eye on things and started.


    He took the ck bead in his hand. He tried to sense the soul inside and grab it just like he had done for the numerous lizardmen''s souls. However, as soon as he did, he instantly felt a searing pain in his head.


    The wyvern souls were not the same as the lizard souls. While thetter were simplymon thugs, the former was a draconian beast. They were not so obedient. There was a lot of leftover anger, resentment, and unwillingness. They wanted to attack Liam even when they were dead.


    Liam gritted his teeth as his head started spinning. This was clearly not something he could handle. He decided to let go of the chunk he tried to hold on to and try againter, but how could it be so simple?


    As if the wyverns understood his intentions, they started doing the opposite. They readily jumped out of the bead and grabbed Liam. Right now, if he let them go, then he would lose them forever.


    "Damn it." Liam gritted his teeth as the pain became increasingly difficult to handle. He knew forging these draconian beasts would be difficult, which was why he had practised a lot but in the end, everything was still useless.


    "What is happening?" He had done everything properly, and yet the weight on his mind at the moment was unimaginable. It was as if¡­ he was dealing with a horde of beasts.


    Liam suddenly realized what was happening. Instead of one wyvern soul, the damn beasts wereing to him three at once. He was pulling three souls at the same time!


    Because he stored the souls in the ck bead first without directly forging them, the three souls were sticking to each other like glue. These were probably the strongest of the wyverns if they were capable of doing this.


    And, unfortunately for Liam, he was now dealing with the most difficult ones first! And that too, three at a time!


    Already handling the draconian beast''s soul was taxing on his body, mind and soul but now he had to deal with three souls at the same time? Impossible! <sub> </sub>


    At the same time, if he did not somehow get through this, then three souls would be wasted. If he lets the juicy wyvern souls in his hand go to waste like this, there probably won''t be another chance to obtain souls like this before the tutorial shuts down.


    Liam madly churned his mana core, sending sts of mana to all parts of his body and filling himself to the brim with energy.


    The forging room in the S-Rank guild residence was also of top quality. The room itself had strong, nourishing waves of mana, and Liam tried his best to suck everything dry. He was trying anything and everything to get through this.


    In the corner of the room, Luna finally woke up when she felt the huge mana vortex in the room. "Master!" She worriedly looked at Liam. When she went to sleep, everything was fine, and now she had woken up in the middle of a war zone? Kyuuu?


    Lyana also inched closer, sensing that Liam was in trouble. She wanted to help him somehow but she had no idea how to.


    In a hurry, she took out all sorts of potions and items she had stored away in her spatial ring, hoping that something could help him. However, at this moment, it felt as if none could even reach him.


    A strong and terrifying aura seeped out of the ck bead and enveloped Liampletely. From within this cocoon, blood-curdling screams emerged.


    Liam once again found himself in a nightmare that he never wanted to visit again. Blood and destruction surrounded him; he felt utterly helpless and despondent; there seemed to be no escape, and the only way forward was death.


    When his mind was at its weakest, the three wyverns tormented him with his worst memory. Liam did not know if one of the wyverns possessed a mental attack ability because this was too strong, and the image appeared like it was yesterday.


    It was like he was being shoved into an endless loop. For others, this might be a mere nightmare, but for him, it was something that he lived through.


    Combined with the pain that was searing through his body, this made him shiver. He was barely holding on as it was, and now, this pushed him over the cliff.


    Liam copsed on the ground and started twitching. The wyvern souls began rejoicing. However, the next instant they realized that it was too early to be celebrating because¡­ even though he was twitching wildly, Liam was still holding onto them!


    He clutched them with whatever he had left, not letting them go even at this moment. The three wyverns werepletely shocked. Just as they were about to send in another wave of attack, suddenly the other thing in the room started acting.


    The ck Dragon sword that Liam had ced next to him started rattling against the floor, and from within it, a loud roar erupted. The wyverns instantly shivered.


    They could clearly sense the oppressive pressureing from that sword. There were countless draconian souls within that sword! In front of these souls, the three wyvern souls were nothing inparison. They were petrified.


    And Liam only needed this small chance.


    He was constantly fighting against the hold these three souls had on him, and the moment they were distracted by the ck Dragon sword, he immediately regained his senses and grabbed the momentum.


    Ten gigantic mana hammers appeared in the room, and as they thudded down onto the unruly amalgam of three souls, a sphemous roar emerged.

 Chapter 736 Big Boss Is Here?

    Time quickly ticked by, and the day of the beast siege soon arrived. There were only two more hours left for the big event to officially start.


    The chaos and themotion about the rumored legendary item had also died down by now, and all guilds were busy making their preparations. The elite teams had gathered front and center, fully ready for the event.


    However, in Crimson Abyss, all the big shots were still missing!


    No one in the guild had seen any of the top yers for whom the guild was famous. But unbeknownst to everyone, some of the core members had spotted the big boss in the guild residence.


    "Boss, I heard the guild leader is here. Would he be joining us?"


    "Ya. I also heard this rumor. Is big boss Liam back?"


    "Fuck. If that is true, we are going to really kill it!"


    Alex rolled her eyes at the bunch of core members who were immediately getting very excited. "So¡­ who all is happy that Liam is going to be here? Can I get a show of hands?" She smiled and said out loud in the room chalked full of the guild''s main roster members.


    Naturally, a bunch of hands went up the next instant. However, little did they know that this was a trick question.


    "Alright. Everyone who raised their hands would have their guild contribution points reduced by 100."


    "Noooo!" Several gasps echoed across the big hall.


    But Alex sternly shook her head. "If you are looking for an easy way out and for someone to carry your ass across to the finish line, then you are in the wrong guild."


    "Yes, our guild leader is strong, but he is only one person. If we always put all the burden on him, what are we doing here?"


    "Do you want to be truly useful, fighting for our guild and all our friends and family, or do you want to be a side character who is always dependent on the guild leader? Make up your mind soon!"


    "No one''s position is permanent! There are thousands of inner guild members who want to take your ce and your position. They are all gaining contribution points at a rapid rate. So if you snooze, you will lose. Don''t me meter for not warning you guys."


    "This beast siege event is going to be huge. All our positions are in jeopardy. If people in our guild manage to get more contribution points, our whole roster might have to change. So good luck! Let''s all do our best!"


    "Oh! And if I don''t see some of you, here again, it was nice knowing you!" Alex gave a wicked smile and walked away.


    There was pin-drop silence in the guild meeting hall after she left. Everyone was both inspired and nervous. No one wanted to be left behind, and worse, no one wanted to lose their position or rank.


    So the group immediately dispersed at lightning speed to make even more preparations and ensure that everything was in perfect condition. There were only a couple more hours left for the beast siege event, and the tension was running very high.


    "Ok. I am done with the guild meeting and have assigned everyone their respective positions for the beast siege." Alex checked off each item on her list when she walked into the special room in the guild residence for high council members.


    "Done with getting all the potions from the alchemy division."<sub> </sub>


    "Got all the gear repaired."


    "Switched out most of the core team''s items."


    "About 50% of the core members havebat mounts."


    "Got the extra NPCs and mana tanks from the Garrison. Also paid for the Garrison upgrades."


    "Set up the defenses for the guild residence. Arranged for the mana cannons on the guild residence wall and also paid for their upgrade."


    She continued going through all the items in her checklist one by one in detail and then made sure to double-check if they were finished. It had been a jam-packed couple of days but she was finally through it.


    "Right, I should also give better items to that little twerp." Alex reminded herself about her new follower as shey on the table tiredly.


    "You forgot about Madam Ning''s group."


    "Huh?" Alex immediately recognized the voice. She looked up to see Liam standing at the doorstep. He waved his hand and started walking in.


    Here she thought that she was tired, but Liam looked even more tired and exhaustedpared to her, with huge dark circles under his eyes.


    "You should give Madan Ning some funds to upgrade their items. Otherwise, those people wouldn''t even bother with it." He chuckled and walked over to stand in front of her.


    Alex instantly became flustered and quickly replied, "Right. I almost forgot about that special group."


    If she didn''t force some things onto them, the old granny and the group of yers would probably end up fighting bare-handed! They were after all an extreme case of relying on one''s skill and nothing else.


    She made a note in her list right away and quickly sent out a few messages to make sure that this gets done. Only then did she sigh in relief.


    "Sorry. Sorry. My bad. I overlooked that one part."


    Liam smiled at the woman and patted her. "Don''t worry about it. You are doing everything that you can. But you are clearly stretched thin. Delegate your work to some more people. We have some reliable members in our group."


    "Right." Alex nodded and then, in a low voice, mumbled. "If Mia was there she would have told me the same thing¡­"


    Liam sighed. "Rey told me about what happened with your uncle. Don''t worry about that group. He will be taken care of soon enough, and we will also get everything that belongs to you and Mia back. If he wants a face-off in the real world. Heh. I am more than happy to give it to him."


    Alex nodded, and tears started falling out of her eyes. She then unexpectedly lunged forward and hugged Liam tightly.

 Chapter 737 L Have A Special Spot In Mind

    Liam raised his brow in surprise, but he did not push her away. He knew what Alex was really worried about and why she was a nervous wreck even though she was still portraying her strength outside.


    "Mia will be back soon. She can handle herself." He patted her and reassured her. "In the meantime, now that you have your new savior status, you can ask around about Mia in the divine temple. You can even ask the same high priestess."


    "I tried doing that already." Alex sobbed. "She says she is not aware of anyone like that. She spected that Mia was on a special mission and thus her identity was temporarily concealed. I am not convinced. I feel like they are hiding something."


    "Hmmm. I also think that is the case." Liam frowned. He didn''t care so much that Mia was not able to send any messages ormunicate with them. This was most likely due to the fact that she, like him, was in a special, locked region or new territory.


    However, the thing that bothered him was that she did not even log out once after that. She should have at least been able to do that. But just like Derek, she was also missing.


    "Divine temple¡­ maybe I need to pay a visit," Liam muttered to himself.


    He had been avoiding that area because of his specialher affinity. He already knew how the divine temple would react to him because the demons had recognized him as a friendly yer.


    If he visited the divine temple or any of the higher-ups in the divine temple, he might end up doing more harm than good. He would probably get arrested even for stepping in.


    However, now Liam had to take this chance. There was simply no other way.


    It had been too long since Mia was gone, and with the divine temple involved in arresting the draconian princess, he wanted to probe that group more. Maybe they had more secrets.


    But still, it was best not to get involved directly. He would have to take help from Alex and the other guild members in this endeavor. While Liam was debating what to do, a loud knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.


    He looked up to see Shen Yue standing at the doorstep. For some reason, she seemed to be staring at him a little weirdly? Hmmm? Only then did he notice that he was still hugging Alex.


    Beating him, Alex pushed him away first, her face fully flushed red. She then mumbled something inaudible and ran out of the hall.


    This girl! Liam shook his head helplessly. Thanks to her, now the entire thing looked very suspicious while all he did was innocentlyfort the woman since she was crying. Was he in trouble now?


    "Hey." He awkwardly cleared his throat and waved at Shen Yue who was still looking out the direction Alex had run away.


    "Is she okay?" Shen Yue walked in with a worried look on her face.


    Liam was surprised for a moment as he had expected apletely different response from her. He did not know much about women but this much wasmon sense. However, Shen Yue still defied his expectations.


    "She looked like she was crying. Is she okay?"<sub> </sub>


    Liam smiled and pulled her closer. "I missed you." She was the kindest person he had ever met in both his lifetimesbined.


    Shen Yue blushed with a secret smile on her face, happy to be greeted this way but she quickly snapped out of it as she hade here to find Liam for something important.


    "I heard you formed a mana core, how did it go?" Liam asked.


    "That. Yes. It went very well. Thanks for giving me that Body Cleansing Elixir. Ummm... I have something else I want to share with you. I suddenly received a quest a couple of hours ago."


    This was why she was here in the first ce and she quickly exined the quest to Liam.


    "Escort the princess of Gresh Kingdom to the corrupted temple?" Liam frowned. Since when did Gresh Kingdom have a princess?


    As far as he knew, there was only that wimpy guy who was the crown prince before and now the current King after the previous King had passed away.


    Liam was also not particrly fond of the guy. For some reason, the King hated him and was always rude in all their interactions despite him being a Duke of the Kingdom.


    "What do you think, Liam? Is this quest important? I know you asked me to focus on my skills, technique, and leveling up my legendary daggers but this is a Kingdom quest so I think it could be important."


    "I agree with you. Hmmm. Let''s see. We have several positions from which we are fighting against the beast horde. How about you fight with the group near the royal pce? That way you can keep an eye on things and if any Princesses your way."


    "Ok." Shen Yue nodded in agreement and then quickly asked, "You will also be there?"


    Liam smiled and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I won''t be anywhere near the main cities. Sorry."


    "Oh, then are you nning to fight in the guild residence?" Unlike the other guild residences which are located in the city, theirs was smack dab in the middle of the forest so it was a little hard to guard against the beast horde.


    Everyone would be focusing on the cities as hunting beasts there gave more points and automatically all the guild residences within the city would be protected. However, Crimson Abyss had to specifically protect their guild on their own.


    Thankfully, they were an S-Rank guild so no one was worried about this particr issue. Nevertheless, it was a good ce to attack the beast horde without being disturbed by others and without a lot ofpetition.


    But surprisingly, Liam still shook his head. "I have a special spot in mind." He said with a mysterious smile.


    Shen Yue could tell that he was nning something. She smiled and tip-toed to ce a kiss on Liam''s cheeks. "Please take care."

 Chapter 738 Countdown To Beast Siege Event

    After Shen Yue left, Liam returned to the forging room and picked up the elf who was waiting for him there and also the fox who was still sleeping peacefully.


    Looking at her yawning and rolling aroundzily, he also felt a yawning on, but he was too excited to sleep right now. Even though he was dead tired, there was something he was very much looking forward to and that was this beast siege event.


    Logically he should have rested at least a little before a big event like this but Liam didn''t bother with it as he was not nning on doing anything during this beast siege. He was just going toy back, enjoy the show and slowly rx.


    With a mysterious grin, he hopped onto the fox along with the elf and then left the guild residence.


    There was now only half an hour left before the siege officially began and everyone was moving to their final positions. Liam also did the same and moved to the position that he wanted.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the three main cities of the Gresh Kingdom¡­


    All the guilds were scrambling to catch the best location within the cities. There were also a lot of royal guards patrolling the area.


    And from the looks of it, the area distribution was firste first serve. When scuffles broke out about which group upied which zone for the beast siege, the guards always gave the green signal to the one that arrived first.


    This caused a hugemotion as something like this was crucial information that the system conveniently withheld. Otherwise, everyone could have nned better. But there was no point in crying over spilled milk and all the guilds tried to do the best they could at the moment.


    The best zones of the city were near the main front entrance and the exit of the city where the towering wall broke into gates that were more vulnerable.


    Moreover, all parts of the boundaries were extremely valuable as one could simply stand on the wall and st some of the iing beasts. Especially for long-range yers, this was easy pickings and a very coveted spot.


    So all the guilds rushed over to upy these areas first. In most of the Kingdoms around the Xion realm, this same scene could be seen repeatedly happening everywhere. All the top guilds aimed for the border zones.


    Some guilds, on the other hand, decided to take the shortcut and positioned more yers in the inner zones of the city.


    They spected that the beast horde was going to be huge and monstrous this time and that just the yers on the walls and the borders wouldn''t be able to handle them. So instead of targeting the mad rush, they targeted the spillover which should logically be easier to handle.


    However, these were only second-rate guild strategies. The true first-rate guilds were not afraid of the volume of the beast horde. They majestically stood front and center weing the chaos with open hands. They had the resources and manpower to back up this confidence.


    Once again this made clear the difference between the various guilds. With various guild tabards shing brightly in the broad daylight, one could see who was truly powerful and who was being cautious, though only time would tell whose approach was the better approach.


    However, despite all of this, a single guild alone somehow managed to stand out once again, shocking everyone for the nth time. Crimson Abyss''s strategy surprisingly did not match any other guild''s strategy.<sub> </sub>


    While all the other guilds were busy fighting for the best spots in the main cities of their respective kingdom, Crimson Abyss guild members were nowhere to be seen.


    There were a group of yers near the royal kingdom but other than that, there were only a few yers here and there, stationed on the outer walls of the main cities. The main chunk of their yer base was clearly awol.


    Normally, if any other guild did the same then everyone would call them idiots and move on but now the guilds and the yers knew better than to underestimate the current top S-Rank guild. They could tell that Crimson Abyss was up to something in secret.


    And very soon the reason behind this was revealed.


    A few yers who coincidentally were rushing back to the main cities saw Crimson Abyss yers littering around in the nearby viges and small towns.


    The guild actually ignored the three big cities of the Gresh Kingdom, the trade city, the royal city, and the divine city, and focussed on small settlements instead. What could be the reason behind such a decision? Were there going to be more beasts in these small settlements?


    Everyone tried toe up with various answers and analyses to this question but no matter how they tried to exin this, they could onlye up with half-baked responses.


    There could potentially be more beasts in these small settlements but why kill twice the number of beasts with increased risk just to earn the same reward?


    It really didn''t make sense that a top guild was doing this instead of upying the juicy positions inside the main cities. The kills inside the city had more points and this was a fact. So what was going on? However, it was toote to y this guessing game.


    Unfortunately, Crimson Abyss only revealed this strategy at thest minute. So most guilds could only ignore what they were doing and continue with their own strategy as they did not have any time left. The countdown to the event had officially begun!


    Some guilds still tried to copy Crimson Abyss and stationed some of their groups in smaller viges and towns, thinking that they could also somehowe out on top even if they blindly followed the same strategy.


    And with thesest-minute changes, loud horns started resounding in all parts of the various kingdoms and the beast siege was finally here!


    ***


    Bonus chapter~~


    Please thank Dusk_Cypher for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 739 Rank One!

    After the deafening ring of the horns finally subsided, a dead silence as thick as a nket descended over the entire world.


    The next second, a dull white noise echoed in the distance, which slowly became louder and more prominent. Soon, this became thunderous as a gigantic army of beasts stomped their way toward the human kingdoms.


    For a second, all the yers who witnessed this scene became speechless. They have never seen anything like this in their entire lives. The beasts were simply countless. They did not have a beginning or an end in sight.


    Huge and small cities alike were being overrun by this sea of seemingly infinite beasts. When they announced this event, none of the yers had expected a beast tide of this magnitude.


    What was this? How were they supposed to fight against this? This felt as if it were the end of the world! If this beast tide washes over them, not even bones would be left!


    Thankfully, another round of loud horns sounded, snapping everyone out of their trance. The yers on the walls, who were the first to witness this unbelievable sight, gulped and started their work.


    They raised their weapons and started firing. Their hands were shaking. Their figures trembled. Some yers started attacking simply out of fear or on impulse. Half weren''t even aiming at anything.


    What were they supposed to aim at? There were all sorts of ferocious and terrifying beasts in the horde, the likes of which they had never seen before.


    The mere sight of these beasts was enough to instill fear in many yers. They just randomly started emptying out their mana and arrows by shooting attacks one after the other.


    Worse, some yers were too terrified to stand on the walls anymore and jumped down to run away from the borders.


    After all, death in the game was carried over into the real world. If one died enough times, one would end up permanently dead. Moreover, no one wanted to die facing the pain of being stampeded and crushed like meat paste.


    So many yers began to fall back and run away. They had greatly underestimated this so-called beast siege event and they werepletely unprepared for a hell like this.


    Only the truly talented and skilled yers who had spent most of their time in the game world were able to somewhat adjust to this scenario and start fighting back.


    The NPC guards on the walls also joined these yers, and finally, the initial shock and trauma from the appearance of the beast horde died down. Everyone started attacking wildly.


    The first wave of beasts crumbled under the relentless onught of the yers stationed on the border wall, and because of this, the next wave of beasts slowed down slightly and was more manageable.


    But this was only for a couple of minutes, after which the border was inevitably breached and the beasts began spilling into all the main cities.


    Of course, the conditions in the neighboring viges and towns were even worse. Within seconds, they werepletely overrun, and destruction ensued.


    Thankfully, most of the people in the viges and towns had already relocated to the big cities before the beast siege so the loss of life wasn''t too great.


    Not that any of the yers had time to care about the NPCs'' lives. The fate of their own lives was at stake. After the breach of the border, the insides became chaotic as well.


    All of a sudden, there were beasts everywhere, in every nook and cranny. There was no safe ce in sight.


    "Fuck this event! I am logging out!" Many yers even tried doing this, but to no avail. A system message promptly appeared, stating that during the beast siege event, no one would be able to log out.


    Everyone waspletely enraged. The few who had already died realized that they were once again getting resurrected in the city''s graveyard itself! Smack dab in the middle of the chaotic fighting!<sub> </sub>


    Even if they died, there was no escape from this hell! What were they supposed to do now?


    Just as the entire realm was in chaos, suddenly a few figures walked out to battle in every major city in the respective kingdoms. These men were members of the royal family. They were followed by the royal army.


    Immediately, there was a sudden turn in the tide of events. The beast horde that was running wild and unrestrained struggled slightly.


    And using this small chance, the top yers and guilds in various cities started taking action. They also began dealing significant damage, dispatching several of the beasts.


    Slowly, the other yers also joined in. There was no escape, so they might as well fight. Soon, the situation became only slightly overwhelming, and the guilds even startedpeting with each other.


    The various groups stationed all over the city started taking care of their zones and striking down everything in sight. The death toll became a lot lower.


    A new pop-up screen appeared in the system interface that showed the contribution rank of each guild. This further encouraged everyone as the fight against the beast horde officially began.


    The top guilds were slowly showing their worth and started appearing at the top of this list. Surprisingly, the main Gresh Kingdom guilds, the Assassin guild, Storm Troopers, War Brothers, and a new guild, Rightful Defenders, started rising in the ranks.


    They were doing even better than the S-Rank guild Battle Gods. Everyone was shocked by this result. What was happening? How did the Gresh Kingdom guilds suddenly be overpowered?


    The surprising thing was that Crimson Abyss, who was nowhere to be seen and was missing in action, was also rising in the ranks. In just 15 minutes, they passed all the other guilds in the rankings and moved up to the top spot!


    What the heck? How was this possible?


    The yers who went to the towns and cities werepletely mauled and killed, so everyone assumed that the Crimson Abyss had made a mistake on their part and followed the wrong strategy this time.


    However, once again, without any surprise, they rose to the top!


    While yers were still stupefied by this development, another frightening piece of news arrived. yers started noticing something else that was off about the Gresh Kingdom.


    The beast horde in this particr kingdom alone was much smaller and more manageable. All the yers gaped in shock. What the hell?


    In the other kingdoms, everyone was going through hell, but here in the Gresh Kingdom, guilds were ying in easy mode instead of hard mode? This was too unfair!


    Now they understood why Gresh Kingdom guilds were at the top of the ranking board. With a smaller horde, they were happily grinding away. No wonder Crimson Abyss even managed to obtain the top position.


    If there was a game master for this game, all the yers would have already rushed over and pelted the guy with stones. How was Crimson Abyss trying to find loopholes in every fucking event anding out on top?


    All the yers, without exception, were convinced that this was the case. And¡­ they were not wrong¡­


    Not too far from the main cities of the Gresh kingdom, a single person was wreaking havoc.

 Chapter 740 Eat Up!

    The northern part of the Gresh Kingdom was mostly mountainous and the southern part had extremely cold terrain.


    <o>,m The central part, however, was t for most regions. There were still the asional rolling hills located here and there, one of which was right beside the two main cities, in fact, sort of in the middle of the trade city and the royal city.</o>


    And this particr mountain range split the sea of beast horde into two as they rushed towards the two major cities.


    But if one looked closely, one would be able to see that the horde that split into two halves was lower in volume than the horde which originally thundered in this direction.


    This discrepancy was thanks to a group of translucent bluish-white colored minions. To call this a group would be an understatement, but they did look small in front of the endless beast horde.


    "Where are theying from?" Liam swallowed hard as he watched the beasts in awe. They were everywhere. He couldn''t see the end or the beginning. They were of all sizes and shapes and looked terrifying.


    Liam''s eyes lingered on this unbelievable destructive force as memories of the past flitted across his mind. He had witnessed scenes like this before, just not on this scale.


    But the blood and death that ensued were still significant nevertheless. What was going to happen this time around?


    He clenched his fists as he thought about the future that loomed over all of them. His gaze then shifted to the other army in front of him, the army of his soul minions.


    They were a destructive force on their own, doing a number on the beast horde. The imps, the lesser dryads, the werewolves, the chickens, the rabbits, the bearmen, the elves, the humans, and even the newly forged lizardmen, every single one of the minions was busy at work.


    They shed and skewered the iing beasts culling down one after the other. The beast horde was endless but Liam''s minions were also relentless.


    They did not stop, pant, or get tired. They did not show fear or hesitation. They continuously killed one beast after another, chipping away from the horde little by little.


    Each kill gave them more experience points and more strength. If they got injured, they swiftly recovered by using the soul energy of the beast that they just killed. They were steadily growing at their own pace and experience points were raining down endlessly.


    As for getting overwhelmed or overrun, the five big shots at the front took care of this particr aspect.


    A big white fox rampaged as she torched everything in sight, wing the rest left and right. Next to her, there were Crawford and Dimitri, two of the morepetent, experienced, and skillful minions.


    Lastly, there were two other creatures, creatures who could instill fear in anyone whoid eyes on them. One was a wyvern who called forth a rain of earth spikes to impale everything in sight and as for the other¡­


    A huge, magnificent three-headed wyvern stood front and center, spitting fire, ice, and wind sts from his three heads. His level was only 30 but the beast was on a stage of his own, quickly racking up the death counts.<sub> </sub>


    With a single move of his head, he sted away countless beasts. With one swipe of his tail, he impaled dozens. Just this one beast created a massive circle of death around him.


    Not willing to fall behind the star of the show, the other four big shots also pushed themselves as they created their own smaller circles of death.


    Meanwhile, the ones suffering was the beast horde as the huge volume of the beasts began thinning down considerably.


    Instead of two streams, one towards the royal city and one towards the trade city, and the leftovers scattering in all directions, there were now three streams, the middle one being the portion of the beast horde ughtered by the soul minions.


    "Ha¡­ Ha¡­" Liam wheezed with an intoxicated maddened expression on his face. His past, present, and future were shing with him in his mind but one thing was for certain. This beast wave was a godsend to him!


    "Eat up. Eat to your fill! Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Heughed like a maniac resting on one of the rocks that overlooked everything happening below him.


    The blood, gore, and cries of pain might be unsettling or frightening to someone else but it was a feast for his eyes and music for his ears.


    He closed his eyes, sucked in a big breath of air, and let out a sigh of relief. The souls seeping out of the corpses were slowly and gradually nourishing him. Forging the three-headed wyvern had taken everything out of him.


    He had seeded in forging the massive powerful beast but the process had left him tired and weak. He tried eating recovery berries, more nutritious meat, health potions, and even the water he had gathered from the milky way pond. However, none of that helped.


    Only now, in the presence of this massive influx of souls, he began feeling better. The dark circles under his eyes disappeared and he felt a kind of strength returning to his body.


    "Master, I think you might have overextended your soul," Lyana exined. The elf sitting near Liam had been observing him from the beginning and as an elf, she was intuitive about a few things.


    In this particr case, she was shocked, to say the least. She had watched Liam struggle at the death''s door to forge the magnificent undead creature. Though she was raised to hate the non-living, she couldn''t help but admire this creation.


    "Overextended my soul huh?" Liam repeated her words. He was also thinking along the same lines. He had already used his body, his mana, and his mental power to forge these creations and now it looked like he had also tapped into his own soul to finish the job.


    "The next time I will pay more attention." Liam nodded as he continued watching the massacre and recovering bit by bit. Right now, he did not feel as if his soul was still wounded or overextended. Rather, he felt stronger.


    Liam grinned at the endless supply of beasts. This beast horde was going to make him very strong.

 Chapter 741 The Government Takes Action

    "Damn it. This is the fifth time I died. What sort of a crappy event is this! We cannot run, we cannot hide and we cannot log out! Was this event just created so that we could die?"


    "Bro, at least it''s the fifth time for you. I am here at fifteen. I have seriously had enough of this shit. After this, I am going to log out and note back."


    "Yup, better to do my boring day job than y this goddamned game and die like a dog. This is ridiculous."


    "Guys! Guys! I heard from my friends that the beast horde in the Gresh Kingdom is a lot more manageable. The teleportation hall is still working. Many yers are teleporting to Yleka city."


    "Oh shit! This is good news! What are we waiting for? Let''s go."


    "Ah¡­ but¡­ if we kill the beasts there, we won''t get any points. Only if we kill them in our guild''s kingdom we can get points."


    "Huh? That''s too bad but I don''t give a shit! Bitch, right now I just don''t want to die!"


    "That''s right. These idiot guilds can suck it. How could the big leaders underestimate an event like this? They should have cared about our safety and made more preparations."


    "Ya. I was anyways thinking of leaving this shitty guild and joining Crimson Abyss or Battle Gods. This is a perfect opportunity!"


    Several yers came to the same conclusion as the crowd around each Kingdom''s teleportation halls was starting to build up. When the guilds strictly opposed this action, many yers directly quit their respective guilds.


    The tension because of the mounting death tolls was not so easily diffused. Their very own lives were at stake at the moment, so even some small guilds decided to give up on the event altogether and run to the Gresh Kingdom to save their lives.


    Meanwhile, the other guilds that were too big to give up their pride were all struggling.


    "Fucking Crimson Abyss! How are you cheating? Give us the method!"


    "They are truly vicious and heartless! So many people are dying! How can they still be hiding this secret cheat? Shouldn''t they share it with everyone?"


    "Right! They have at least this much responsibility to the world. How could they not care about their countrymen? The government should do something about them!"


    "Ban the guild! They shouldn''t be allowed to y the game! Arrest the yers who are part of the guild and put them in jail!"


    "Yes! Yes! The government needs to take action. There need to be consequences for this."


    The disgruntled yers started sending several death threats to Alex and the other known celebrities of Crimson Abyss. As the death toll kept increasing, thismotion and chaos only became worse.


    Weirdly, a few minutester, these same yers started running over to Gresh Kingdom and even applied for Crimson Abyss membership in the midst of the event.


    The number of deserters was continuously growing and every single Kingdom except for the Gresh Kingdom plunged into utter disarray. Only a few notable guilds like Battle Gods were still able to keep the situation under control and somewhat stabilize.


    At this time, another unexpected event happened. A set of new guilds started to rear their heads ande up in ranking. These guilds also had very specific names, notably, the USA, Russia, Canada, China, Japan, Germany, India, and so on.<sub> </sub>


    It was almost as if the governments of the world had made a united decision and used this special event to kickstart their respective guilds.


    Especially at a time of unrest like this, the yers who were struggling and only barely clinging to their lives immediately deflected to these new guilds in the hope that government would offer protection.


    Coincidentally, this n actually worked. All the yers who wore the government guild tabards seemed to be well organized and holding down their zones pretty well. If one looked closely, one could see that these yers were in fact highly skilled and definitely not your average group.


    All of their movements, weapon usage, andbat abilities were top-notch. They were also attacking the beasts surrounding them and overwhelming them fearlessly. There was no hesitation or cowardice in their eyes.


    From this, it wasn''t too difficult to guess who these yers were. Only trained army soldiers were capable of such a feat.


    It was almost as if all the nations across the world unanimously decided to take action today and unleash all these trained soldiers into the game at the same time or at least publicize this fact at the same time.


    It was impossible for something like this to happen on the spot. This response to the event was definitely prenned. However, no one cared about this. As long as they could obtain some protection, they were already satisfied.


    These special guild members also excelled in giving out orders to other random yers so slowly by slowly the situation was getting under control at least in some sectors of the main cities.


    Meanwhile¡­ the situation in Gresh Kingdom was also far from optimal. The yers in this Kingdom were facing another kind of issue. There were no longer enough beasts in the main cities!


    Thanks to the deserters from other kingdoms running to the main cities in the Gresh Kingdom and a certain someone, the beast horde was actually bing thinner and thinner.


    yers were barely dying anymore and even PVP fights between small groups started breaking out in parts of cities.


    This would have been good news except that Crimson Abyss was leading the ranking board with a whopping unimaginable lead.


    And now that there were no more beasts, how could the other guilds ovee this difference and fight back?


    While everywhere else the various guilds were stillpeting with each other fiercely for the top rank, in Gresh Kingdom, the current top guilds might as well sit down and rx because they had nothing to do.


    They had lost the event without even ying it!


    They still could venture out of the city walls and fight the beasts in the wild but at this point, that would be equivalent to suicide.


    Inside the cities, everything was organized and a huge yer base was there to tackle the horde but outside it was still a free for all.


    Everyone had the courage andpetitive spirit but they didn''t have the confidence to bring their guild outside and face the full force of the horde.


    So unable to do either this or that, the yers in the Gresh Kingdom were literally hanging out and chatting, leisurely killing the one or two beasts that crossed their path.


    "Damn you! Crimson Abyss!"

 Chapter 742 The World At The Palm Of His Hands

    Sitting atop the rock, Liam calmly read the various reports that came his way. "So much chaos andmotion for this beast horde? Tch. Tch. No wonder we fell so quickly thest time around."


    His gaze shifted to the beasts that were struggling against his minions. The truth was that though this particr event was terrifying and the beast horde was a force to reckon with, the actual beasts in the horde were still manageable.


    They were all around Level 50 and even if they possess a mana core, it was nothing spectacr. At least it was just for show and they did not actually tap into it.


    There was a sizeable mountain of mana cores piled up next to him and Liam wondered why there were so few beasts in the game that could actually use the potential of their cores. The tutorial did not cover this aspect?


    He felt this was weird and then continued looking at the rest of the reports. Just as he thought most of the guilds were whining andining that someone else did not solve the problem for them.


    "You want the cheating method?" Liamughed at the ridiculous notion.


    It was also clear that his main upation hadn''t spread yet. Except for the few core members and the high-council members of the guild not many people had witnessed him use the soul minions.


    Even back at the PVP tower fight, when he was facing Crawford, the disy had been cut off and his soul minions were hidden from the public eye.


    "I guess when we finally face each other, I can give you a good surprise." Liam grinned, his eyes now browsing through the ranking leaderboard with a smile.


    Crimson Abyss was still number one, not just in the Gresh Kingdom, but also in the whole world. The second rank was upied by ''Battle Gods'' without any big surprises there.


    Liam also recognized the third and fourth rank guild names, Devil Tyrants and Gxy Guardians. These two guilds were famous in hisst lifetime as well. They were top-tier A-rank guilds that were on the cusp of bing S-Rank guilds.


    But the guilds that really caught his eye were the various government-associated guilds. It only took him one look to realize what was happening here and who could possibly be behind all of this.


    To use the beast siege event as a stage to showcase the power of the government and to actually convince so many world leaders to agree to this major decision, there was only one person who was capable of such a feat, to orchestrate something so big and monumental.


    His favourite oracle!


    He had been silent for a while but Liam did not forget about him.


    And if he actually managed to aplish something like this, his power and backing in the real world and in the game world had already increased to a terrifying level.


    If Liam''s assumption was indeed correct, then he was no longer within his grasp. It was quite unbelievable that someone was capable of changing history more than he was.


    This person should now single-handedly wield more power than anyone else alive. It was almost as if he was already the Emperor of the unknown new world, uniting all the forces. <sub> </sub>


    However, there was only one problem. Was the man operating in the shadows powerful enough by himself? If yes, then Liam had to apud his genius and his efforts. But if not, then he could onlyugh at all of these developments.


    Making political and strategic moves like this, having the world in your pocket was surely impressive. But what about when everything changed and all order copsed?


    When ites down to it, the new world demanded one thing and only one thing, true power. When that need arises, all these alliances would only crumble into nothingness.


    So he was not in the least bothered about this development, at least not yet. Everything was just starting and the real battle for survival was yet to begin.


    "I hope for your own good, you know what you are doing." Liam chuckled lightly.


    With these new developments, perhaps the apocalypse will be more interesting this time around. He clenched his fists in excitement.


    Though the unpredictability of the dangerous future was quite terrifying, he couldn''t help but feel excited at the same time. He was not the same helpless person any longer.


    He closed all the system interfaces and then took a deep breath before first taking out all the ck beads in his possession.


    Now that he had almostpletely recovered from his tiredness, he wanted to stuff all the beads in his possession with the plentiful souls in front of him.


    Liam first carefully picked out the beads that had the wyvern and dragon souls and put them away because these were too precious for him to meddle with. He then started stuffing the remaining beads with as many souls as he possibly could.


    Too bad he only had a few of these with him. So this process got over rather quickly, especially with the speed at which all his minions and Luna were ughtering everything in sight.


    If someone saw this scene, they would assume that the snow-white fox was also an undead because she showed no signs of fatigue. The rabbit, who also hadn''t shown up in a while, was out and about, busily collecting anything shiny and glittering.


    As for the star of the show, it was still the three-headed wyvern, no matter how much Luna tried to outshine the draconic beast.


    He was wreakingplete terror and devastation on the beast horde from three directions, with no end in sight. The beast was simply too brutal.


    Did three-headed wyverns even exist naturally? If a three-headed wyvern was so powerful just how strong would a three-headed dragon be? Liam wondered as he smiled at this spectacr scene. He couldn''t help but want to start forging the dragon souls.


    However, he was fully aware that he would instantly die if he tried to do that. He was only barely able to withstand the bacsh from the wyvern souls, so he still needed more training and strengthening before he attempted that one.


    "Alright. It''s time I joined this party!"

 Chapter 743 Time To Join The Party!

    "Alright. It''s time I joined this party!" With a big grin, Liam unsheathed his ck dragon sword and jumped into the middle of the fray.


    This beast horde was not just a chance for him to level up and amass more minions but it was also a perfect chance for him to unlock two of the remaining seals on his ck dragon sword. So he did not want to miss this opportunity.


    Before the horde thinned down, he was going to break open the seals that held him back.


    With countless souls wailing around him, he was at his strongest and this was the most ideal atmosphere to face the bacsh of the weapon or rather the dragons sealed within the weapons.


    Liam grinned as he felt the thrill and bloodlust of the chaotic battle unfolding in front of him. Kicking his feet off the rock he was standing on, he jumped into the middle of the beast horde that was heading to the city.


    Instantly the beasts around him started baring their fangs and charged at him with loud roars. However, all of these roars were drowned by the tremendous roar that erupted from his sword.


    [Sword Dance]


    Liam''s body spun as he held the sword and he shed at anything and everything that was close to him. Blood sttered everywhere and chunks of flesh flew left and right.


    Within seconds both he and the sword he was holding were drenched in the blood of all sorts of beasts and chimeric monsters.


    Liam did not even have to wait for long. It was only a few minutes before the inevitable reminder of the system prompted in front of him.


    <Ding. A thousand bloodlines have been devoured>


    <Ding. You have unlocked the 6th seal of your weapon>


    For a momentplete silence enveloped Liam cutting him off from the battlefield entirely. But this was very short-lived. It was the calm before the storm. The next instant this silence without any warning turned deadly.


    Aaaarrghhh!


    Liam screamed as a gigantic pressure leaked out of the sword in his hands that he was still clutching tightly. A nameless force shot from the earth he was standing on all the way to the sky. This force ripped everything apart.


    The beasts that continued to charge toward him were all blown apart into smithereens. This force was a tornado uprooting everything in sight.


    "Master!" Luna and the other minions turned to look at Liam. The two wyverns also looked at him but when they did, they started trembling in fear.


    While the others simply saw a pir of energy shooting up, these two draconian creatures could feel it in their souls. There were countless eyes peering out of this pir of energy.


    Every single one of them was slit-like and every single one of them was locked onto Liam. they defiantly stood tall and looked down upon him.


    They were free! They were finally free to unleash a part of their presence outside the sword! Four out of the Nine seals had been broken and they were able to peak out of the damned sword!<sub> </sub>


    ROAR! The several souls inside the sword bore into Liam with vengeance. They snorted in arrogance at the beasts mouring around him. In front of their eyes, these were nothing but ants.


    But as for the man who currently had control over them¡­ ROAR! The pir became even more intense. It was as if it wanted to devour everything in sight and be more powerful.


    For a second, Liam couldn''t breathe. He was drowning in this strange power that waspletely wrapped around him and suffocating him.


    But this time he did not fall to the ground and convulse like a weakling. He was already prepared for this and that was why he decided to break this seal in the first ce.


    "GIVE IT UP!" He shouted and started pulling the souls lingering all around him. He used them to make himself stronger, and retain his sanity.


    He had never tried this before and he was not 100% sure how exactly to proceed with this or how to evenprehend soul energy but since this was threatening his very life, he knew that his instincts would kick in.


    He tried to notice how exactly the ck dragon souls were trying to affect him and used the surplus souls around him to cover this weakness.


    Naturally, he was not efficient but at this point, he did not care about wastage or anything. He just used whatever he could get his hands on en masse and made it into a shield that protected him from the wrath of the ck dragon souls.


    The instant this feeling popped up in his mind, he started digging into his heels further. He held onto this feeling and tried to picture a shield all around him made out of these souls, sort of like a cocoon.


    Immediately, the pressure on him reduced tremendously. He was slowly by slowly regaining more control of his mind and senses.


    With this foothold, now he started making the cocoon around him thicker and thicker. Wisps of strong soul essence drifted around him, answering hismand.


    The souls within the sword trembled in rage. Even they could feel the pulling from him. They might have helped him in the past but they would never submit to a mere mortal like him.


    ? They would rather cease to exist than suffer this humiliation. They were powerful ancient creatures that stood at the top of the world. Even if they perish, they would never submit to an ant like him.


    SNORT! The ck dragon souls collectively roared and dove down to attack the newly made cocoon. They tried to bombard it and shatter it.


    Liam shivered. Everything in his world shook, but he knew he was on the right path and he also did not want to back down. He gritted his teeth and bore everything, pulling even more souls toward him in a frenzy.


    The dragon souls saw this and became extremely furious. The human had tricked them! This was apletely unfair battleground!


    He was at his strongest and they were at their weakest. They couldn''t do anything to the ant toying with them in this pathetic world and the pathetic essence that lingered in the world.


    They continued unwillingly ramming against the soul cocoon a few more times but soon, they had no other choice.


    Another earth-shattering roar echoed from the pir of energy as the dragon souls returned back to the sword, silently simmering within the confines of the weapon.

 Chapter 744 A Very Fine Jewel

    Liam panted as he felt the weapon once again thrum with life. The sword in his hand was heavier than ever, but it was calmly resting in his hand. Was it over? He was not sure, but he tested the waters by slowly dissipating the cocoon around him.


    Still¡­ there was no response from the sword? It was as if the weapon waspletely subdued. Liam smirked. It looked like this was over, at least for now. It turned out that doing this in the middle of this battlefield was the right decision after all.


    Ding! Ding! Ding! Several notifications rang out loudly, interrupting his thoughts.


    Liam moved out of the way of the beast horde and hurriedly opened his system interface to check the notifications.


    <Ding. You have unlocked the 6th seal of your weapon>


    <Ding. ck Dragon Sword has been upgraded>


    <Ding. You have unlocked a new attribute ''Soul Strength''>


    <Ding. Your Soul Strength has increased>


    <Ding. You have now acquired 76% of the legacy>


    <Ding. You have unlocked a new skill ''Soul Shield''>


    <Ding. You have now acquired 81% of the legacy>


    Liam blinked. Hepletely hadn''t expected this.


    When he forged the three-headed wyvern, he only got a small boost to his legacy, from 70% to 71%. However, the breakthroughs he made today were much bigger than that. One pushed him from 71 to 76%, and the other from 76 to 81%.


    He actually had 81% of the legacy!


    It seemed like only yesterday that he had started from scratch!


    Slowly building this little by little over time, he was now almost close to acquiring the whole damn thing. More importantly, this new attribute¡­ soul strength¡­


    Even with his increased understanding of the legacy, this should be the most valuable thing he acquired today.


    <Soul Strength: First Order>


    "First Order? What does this mean?" Liam narrowed his eyes to think about the implications of this new attribute.


    Soul strength was something that was basic to all living beings. More than anyone else, he was aware of this fact because he had by now gone through hundreds of souls.


    A living being''s strength, weakness, memories, desires, dreams, their entire life, a soul was a record of all these things collectively.


    Improving this shouldn''t be as simple as gaining a bonus in the strength or agility stats. Liam felt as if this particr attribute was much deeper and had more meaning and consequences.


    He licked his lips as he jumped back into the beast horde and began yet another onught. There was still a lot he needed to understand and he needed to analyze. A lot of unanswered questions remained.


    But he also had the perfect battlefield that could help him figure out these things and solve the questions. All around him, there were countless souls wailing for his attention.


    Liam did not waste any time, and he first tried using the newly upgraded sword. He swung it around, sending sword shes at the beasts around him.


    sh! sh! sh! sh!


    Four consecutive shes were executed, but even Liam was amazed at the results. Just for merely bringing down his sword, terrifying damage numbers popped up.


    -10,000


    -50,000


    -15,000


    -25,650


    His swordy was far from perfect, so this was simply unbelievable. If his half-assed sword work can unleash so much of the weapon''s capability, then how much damage would a trained technique bring out?


    Liam felt goosebumps as he continued using the sword repeatedly. As for the reason for this new development, he could feel it clearly after the fifth swing.


    The powerful aura thatshed at him when he unlocked the seal was now surrounding the sword, hence the exaggerated damage numbers.


    This waspletely different from when he had undone the first seal, the second seal, or the third seal. The effect this time was off the charts. Every time a seal was undone, more and more of the dragon souls seeped out.


    Liam couldn''t help but wonder just how powerful this weapon would turn out if he unlocked the fourth, fifth, and seventh seals as well. There were also the mysterious eighth and ninth seals, about which nothing was known to him.


    He gritted his teeth as he shed at the beasts around him one more time before taking a look at the system interface.


    [1st Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade weapons]<sub> </sub>


    [Broken]


    [2nd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher grade herbs]


    [Broken]


    [3rd Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher ores]


    [Broken]


    [4th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand rare grade or higher gems]


    [5th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand elemental essences]


    [6th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand bloodlines]


    [Broken]


    [7th Seal: To break the seal, devour a thousand souls]


    [8th Seal: N/A]


    [9th Seal: N/A]


    "Right now, I can also break the 7th seal. Hmm¡­ For the 4th seal, I have some gems but a trip to the Four Empires should help me get through that. And the elemental essences¡­ maybe those two demonesses finished collecting?" Liam did a quick calction.


    He probably had the ability to unlock all seven seals, but would he be able to withstand the result? With each seal he unlocked, the weapon became more and more dangerous.


    In hisst life, the person who managed to conquer this weapon and even managed to bring it out into the real world was one of the key pirs of the copsing world.


    So Liam believed that it was possible for him to aplish the same feat and be just as strong. However, he doubted if he would have the same path to achieving the results.


    Thanks to his soulmancer ss, the bacsh he felt from the sword was probably so much more terrifying than that person ever did. This made it more difficult for him.


    However, that did not change anything. He still had to unlock the seals andpletely bind with the weapon before the tutorial ended. He had to be strong enough to withstand the aftermath. There was simply no other way.


    And as for how he was going to do it, Liam guessed that the answery in the new attribute and the new skill he acquired. These two should be the key.


    If he raised his soul strength high enough, then dragon souls simmering in the weapon shouldn''t be able to affect him. Even if they did, the skill [Soul Shield] should be able to save him from their wrath.


    This should be true at least for this seal and perhaps for the next one. But thest seal¡­


    Liam did not know what he needed to do to withstand the effect of that one, and if all seven seals were unlocked, would he really be able to handle the weapon? Would he then be able to take it out of this world? There were also the eighth and the ninth mysterious seal¡­


    There were too many uncertainties. Liam let out a sigh and steadied his mind. There was no point in jumping the gun now. He could only calmly take everything step by step.


    After a few deep breaths, he attempted to repeat the movements from earlier as he tried to recreate [Soul Shield] one more time. He also tried to pull the souls towards himself to improve his soul strength and potentially bring them to the Second Order, but it was easier said than done.


    Though he had aplished this once, it looked like he had to practice more to get the hang of it. Liam cracked his neck and started busying himself.


    With the multitude of souls around him, he alternated between practising the new skill, forging new minions, and trying to sense his own soul strength.


    However, what he did not know was that his movements hadn''t gone unnoticed this time around.


    As he ughtered beast after beast, a pair of ethereal eyes watched him from a distance. These eyes belonged to a woman who looked as if she were an angel descended from the heavens.


    Her entire figure brimmed with divine energy from top to bottom. She was iparably beautiful. There was a pride in her gaze that set her apart from everything around her. And currently, this woman''s full, undivided attention was on Liam.


    "Interesting." She smiled as she continued to observe him in the mirror in front of her. "If things continue at this rate, his kill count is going to be iparable to other yers."


    "Imagine fishing for a pearl and finding a diamond. Mmmm." She had been looking at the list of yers engaged in the beast siege and their respective contributions when she unexpectedly stumbled upon a surprise, the top yer on this list.


    It was good that she decided to pay more attention to this particr event, otherwise, she would have missed such a wonderful opportunity.


    "What is he? How could I have missed him for so long?" She whispered to herself in a low voice. However, the knight next to her still heard her and bowed his head. "May I intervene, your eminence?"


    "No. Let him be. I want him to be stronger." The smile on the woman''s face grew wider. He will be my crown jewel." Her finger touched Liam''s figure in the mirror as he dispatched another dozen beasts. "A very fine jewel indeed."


    The knight next to her slightly frowned before his expression became steady again. But if one looked closely, they would be able to see the anger simmering in his ck obsidian eyes as he also continued watching Liam.


    Silence filled the space. But a minuteter, the angelic woman seemed as if she had changed her mind. Her smile disappeared, and unexpectedly another order was issued.


    "On second thought, let''s start the next phase. Send in the big guys."

 Chapter 745 New Kingdom Quest Available

    Gresh kingdom, royal city¡­


    The situation in the city at the moment was so peaceful that Shen Yue, Mei Mei and a group of core yers were sitting around and chatting aimlessly.


    This same event was happening throughout the whole city but at least the others had some PVP action. But since this group was near the royal kingdom even that was not there.


    "How long is this going tost?" Mei Mei yawnedzily. She was feeding her panther a fresh batch of meatballs which she acquired from Shen Yue.


    "Don''t know. I am so bored." Ian murmured in response, trying to aim at a distant yer or beast with his arrow. At this point, he did not care which one he hit. He simply needed someone toe at him.


    "That''s enough." Shen Yue immediately reprimanded them. The group quickly quieted down, no one wanting to disobey her.


    By now, word had spread that she was the girlfriend of the big boss, thanks to two people, Mei Mei and Rey. So everyone treated her with respect and fear.


    Also, after forming the mana core, Shen Yue''s abilities were at apletely different level. To listen to her was the wise thing to do.


    A few more minutes passed by in silence with everyone observing the royal pce like a hawk when suddenly loud horns started ring once again.


    "What''s happening now?"


    "Something is going down!"


    Everyone immediately became alert. The couple of assassin yers wandering in the front lines quickly sent the updates to the team. And just like they suspected something huge was indeed going down.


    All of a sudden the beasts fighting against the yers started shouting in an enraged voice. Their eyes became red and they started attacking in a frenzy without any self-preservation as if they had lost their minds.


    Not just that but their attack power and health as well suddenly sky-rocketed. If every yer was facing a random mob character before, now they were facing an elite boss!


    And this did not happen just in the Gresh Kingdom, it was happening all over the world, in every kingdom. yers who had only just now somewhat stabilized their group and the beasts they were fighting with suddenly found themselves overwhelmed yet again.


    Without any warning, their opponents became several times more powerful. The blowsing their way turned deadly and lethal and in a second, there was mass chaos. Once again yers started appearing in the graveyard en masse.


    yers were struggling and barely holding on even in the Gresh Kingdom where there were currently not that many beasts. In the other kingdoms, the situation was that much worse. Just like that the battle once again turned in the favour of the beast horde.


    As wave after wave of beasts kept oning, for every hundred beasts about a dozen were these special elite boss beasts that had unbeatable power and insane health reserve. Guilds had to set up raid units just to keep them engaged.


    Every second the situation was bing worse and worse. If this continued then there would only be aplete and utter massacre, perhaps the entire human poption could be wiped out!


    Everyone''s faces turned ugly and ashen as this harsh reality dawned on them. For the first time, the horror of this game was out in the open for all the yers across the world to see.<sub> </sub>


    With the god of death knocking at the doorstep, everyone furiously typed in their system interface to force log out. It didn''t matter if they belonged to a government guild or top guild, they simply wanted to get out. Unfortunately, that was still impossible.


    "Aiyoooo! I am going to die here!"


    "Let me go! Let me go! I want to see my wife and daughter!"


    "Damn it! I am still a virgin! I don''t want to die yet!"


    The mass hysteria and panic spread like a wildfire. yers even began hiding inside buildings to escape from the beast horde fully knowing that something like this could probably buy them only a couple of seconds. They simply did not know what else to do.


    And amidst this chaos and confusion, suddenly another set of NPCs emerged from the shadows. The Dukes, Grand Dukes of the various Kingdoms along with the military Generals appeared out of their hideouts.


    These were the true powerhouses of the kingdoms and now, finally, they got down to do the dirty work themselves. The tides of the war immediately turned as these monsters started tossing out powerful attacks tobat the berserk beasts.


    Huge meteorites started falling from the sky, earth shook, the ground split apart here and there spewing out fire, ice spears andva rained, the entire ce turned chaotic as one massive attack after another assaulted the elite beasts.


    "Oh dear god!"


    "Thank you, Jesus!"


    All the yers immediately rejoiced. Finally, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. The situation that looked hopeless just a second ago, now slowly started returning to the formal equilibrium.


    Thankfully, the NPCs intervened in time. It was almost as if the yers were never expected to fight these on their own. But it did not matter how the event was designed. All the yers were just happy they were not killed left and right anymore.


    Peace returned and several guilds even started to try and kill steal from the NPCs triggering a whole other series of events. Though logging out was still impossible, yers once again participated in the event with gusto.


    And in the midst of thiseback, Shen Yue finally received a notification that she was waiting for. Her special kingdom quest prompt shed in front of her again.


    <Ding. New Kingdom Quest avable>


    <Ding. The princess of the Gresh Kingdom is in great distress. Escort her unharmed to a safe location without falling prey to the enemies all around>


    <Ding. Do you wish to ept this quest? Y/N>


    Shen Yue hurriedly pressed the Y and this time there was a blinking mark on the map that pointed her straight to the target she was supposed to protect.

 Chapter 746 Your Secret Is Safe With Me

    With the target arrow marked for her, Shen Yue couldn''t ask for a better hint to start the kingdom quest. She did not know why she of all people specifically received this quest, but she was determined to do her best.


    Shen Yue activated [Stealth] mode and started to move in the direction of the tunnel, which covered the northernmost part of the canal that cut across the city. This was an interesting spot as it was the farthest from the royal pce.


    Who was this so-called princess running from? Firstly, she did not know where a princess popped out from, but if it was for protection, shouldn''t she be running toward the pce?


    Shen Yue couldn''t understand the situation. Nevertheless, she was very curious to meet this secret, hidden princess. She continued running towards the tunnel, careful not to bump into anyone else, and soon reached her destination.


    Weirdly, when she arrived, no one else was there. Just to make sure, Shen Yue searched all areas surrounding the tunnel thoroughly, but she couldn''t see anyone. Since it was a somewhat open area, not even other yers were around, as they couldn''t hide in this spot.


    "What is going on? Where is this princess?"


    She frowned and looked around when suddenly she spotted another person sitting at the far end of the tunnel. He had hidden quite well between two narrow passages, so she missed him while searching the ce the first time around.


    Shen Yue immediately revealed herself and walked over to this person. Naturally, she also turned on her charm, as this usually made things a lot easier.


    "Hi, did you by chance see a young woman somewhere around here?" She asked with a sweet smile. As she finally had a chance to take a good look at this person, she was immediately shocked.


    The person she was talking to was in a terrible state. The poor guy seemed too battered and bruised. He was very young and had a feminine face, which currently had numerous cuts and injuries.


    He looked back at her with a pair of red eyes and shook his head.


    "Ummm¡­" Shen Yue felt awkward. From his condition, it was clear that he was a beggar or amoner who got badly injured in the beast horde. "Do you want something to eat?" She took out some food and a health potion for the poor beggar.


    "A decent health potion?" The beggar''s eyes immediately lit up. He grabbed it and emptied it out in a second. "Give me another one."


    "Hmmm?" Shen Yue didn''t care about the beggar''s demanding attitude or why her charm didn''t seem to be working. After all, the poor thing was very badly hurt.


    In this condition, he probably wasn''t thinking straight, so what could he have seen? She gave the guy a couple more health potions and prepared to look around once again when she abruptly stopped in her tracks.


    She turned to stare at the ''beggar'' one more time if he could even be called that now.


    With the person''s facepletely clearing up and his wounds all healing, little by little, the haggard and crumpled face was turning into something astonishing.


    Shen Yue couldn''t help but gasp lightly. This person''s features were utterly stunning, but a secondter something else stood out. She was shocked again, as she was actually beginning to recognize the person in front of her.<sub> </sub>


    It was none other than the current king of the Gresh Kingdom!


    When all the high-level NPCs walked out to face the beast horde, particrly the elite beasts, in the royal city, the King and the royal court also made an appearance. So what was he doing here?


    Shen Yue only needed one more look, as suddenly everything seemed to click into ce. The king who looked like a woman, her special rescue the non-existent princess quest and the fact that she was right now staring at this person where her target was supposed to be¡­


    All of this pointed to one thing, and only one thing. The current King of the Gresh Kingdom was actually a woman? The crown prince had always been a princess? Was this why he was being hunted down?


    Shen Yue''s eyes twinkled as she slowly opened her mouth. It was time to verify this wild thought she had. "I can help you reach a safe location, princess." She said.


    "You can? Quickly tell me. What is your n?" The ''beggar'' stood up in rm. It took him, or rather her, a second to realize what just happened, and she froze awkwardly.


    Got you! Shen Yue grinned brightly. "Don''t worry, princess. Your secret is safe with me." She unleashed her charm fully and gave a light nod. "As for the n¡­ it is pretty simple."


    "Everyone is focused on the main entrance and exit of the royal city, I am sure you are aware of some emergency exits?"


    The ''beggar'' nodded.


    "We could use those to leave the city and then head somewhere safe. Me and my group of guild members will see to it that you reach somewhere safe and sound, princess."


    The young man bit his lips while being repeatedly addressed as a princess, but he did not say anything to deny it.


    Shen Yue smiled and called for the rest of the team. Everyone had their invisibility potions ready, and soon the entire group set out on their mission.


    The ''princess'' led the way, and they easily reached one of the side exits. En route, a few beasts sniffed them out, but Shen Yue and the group quickly took care of the beasts and put them away.


    Luckily, all the special elite beasts were upied by the main NPCs, so they did not have to face these monstrous creatures. However, this situation immediately changed as they stepped outside the city.


    Within seconds, they were surrounded by ten of the berserk elite beasts.


    Shen Yue immediately prepared to fight. She knew that the difficulty of a kingdom quest would definitely be off the charts, so she hurriedly dashed ahead with her daggers.

 Chapter 747 Same Place?

    Seeing Shen Yue charge forward, everyone else in the group took their respective ces as the fight instantly broke out. Several colourful attacks started flying left and right, and arrows and weapons shed brightly in the sunlight.


    The group confidently moved, coordinating perfectly with each other. They had all run several dungeons together, so they were all well aware of each other''s strong points, weak points, and capabilities. They fought supporting and buffing each other as the overall strength of the group soared.


    However, the enemy in front of them was not just any ordinary enemy. With a massive health of ten million, each of the ten elites was akin to a freaking dungeon boss.


    It was not just their health but also their attack patterns. They hadplicated attack patterns that were not easy to dodge, and each one dealt a massive chunk of damage. Every single attack was sudden and bizarre, and they attacked in a frenzy with no thoughts of self-preservation.


    Worse yet, the fight devolved into chaos and eventually coalesced into a small nucleus, drawing in additional elite beasts. The ten berserk beasts they were facing quickly became fifteen.


    Biting her lip, Shen Yue watched as things began to go south. The whole fight was aplete mess, and they were only barely holding on. If things continued this way, this quest was going to end before it ever began.


    The really infuriating part was that the damned princess did little to nothing to help. Wasn''t she supposed to be powerful since she was able to y the role of a king?


    Everyone here was fighting for her survival, and she was simply standing and watching the show. Tsk. Tsk. What a piece of work! Shen Yue gave her a re and then decided to take action.


    "Everyone, let''s split up. It''s impossible to get out of this as is, so you guys slowly draw these beasts back to the city, and then they will automatically be taken care of."


    The others quickly followed the orders, and the fight changed trajectories. Shen Yue then looked at two yers specifically, one long-range hunter and one priest. "Ian and Josh,e with me. Princess, let''s move."


    While the rest of the group held the aggro of the beasts and kept them busy, these three slowly slipped out. They managed to evade the heavy hitters of the beast horde and ughtered their way out of the mess.


    Shen Yue then led everybody to the spot where their mounts were safely hidden. This had been their retreat n, just in case, the beast horde was too difficult to handle in the surrounding viges and towns where Alex and the others were fighting.


    Shen Yue borrowed two mounts from this stash, and the group of four was quickly out of harm''s way. The beast horde did contain some flying beasts, but most of these were hovering over the cities. So for now, they were mostly safe, though this probably wouldn''tst long.


    Some yers had already tried using this strategy to save themselves from the beast horde and miserably failed. They were ganged upon in mid-air and plummeted to their deaths.


    Hence, they had to quickly fly to another destination and get off the skies. But where were they supposed to go? What was a safe destination in this never-ending beast horde?


    As if answering her question, a system prompt shed in front of Shen Yue. Her quest was updated, and now there was an arrow mark indicating where the escort mission ended. In fact, the entire path from start to finish was clearly dotted.<sub> </sub>


    "I guess this makes things simpler." She sighed and signalled the group to move forward. Luckily the destination wasn''t that far away. They should be able to reach you within a few minutes.


    The group cautiously proceeded forward, the two bat mounts using the cover of trees and clouds whenever possible. Everything was going smoothly but when they got closer to the location slowly Shen Yue''s expression stiffened up.


    She knew what this location was. Rather she had already been here before. She would have recognized it sooner if not for the fact that she was constantly looking around and making sure nothing sneaked up on them but now that they were here, she immediately recognized the spot.


    The safe location for the princess was nothing but the same demon temple where the old enchantress had kidnapped them and nned to use them for some sort of sacrificial ritual!


    If Liam did note and rescued them on time, Shen Yue shuddered to think what could have happened and now they were back here again, back at the same spot! What the hell?


    She even flipped open the system interface map to double-check if this was really the safe location where the quest was supposed to end and it was still the same. Nothing changed. This was the spot.


    Shen Yue did not know why but she had a bad feeling about the whole thing. The first quest which gave her the special ss was a quest to help the old maid in the royal pce but in the end, the maid betrayed them and nned to use them for her evil deeds.


    So would this person also end up doing the same?


    "No. What am I thinking? This is apletely different person. She is not really connected to the enchantress. I am overthinking things." She calmed herself down.


    However, immediately another unsettling thought arose in her mind. If this is not connected to the enchantress then why would she get this quest of all people? It didn''t make sense. It had to be someone connected to her special ss. Only that exined things.


    Also since she was unconscious, she never really got a good look at the enchantress''s face when she was not old and shrivelled anymore. She only heard the story from Liam. So perhaps this woman could resemble her or be connected to her in some way?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


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 Chapter 748 Like Mother Like Daughter

    p </anda>


    Shen Yue kept stealing nces at the princess who was still in her king disguise. No matter how she looked at it, the person was indeed extravagantly beautiful and if all the disgusting makeup was removed perhaps even more beautiful than her.


    There really was a big chance that she might be an enchantress too. Irrespective, Shen Yue decided to mentally prepare herself just to be sure. It was better to be safe than sorry. She gripped her daggers tightly as she continued looking around, watching out for any potential beast attacks.


    In the next few seconds, the destination arrived and the two bats flew down andnded smoothly. The trip was aplete sess without any mishaps.


    And from the looks of it, the demon temple was most definitely a safe location.


    There were a few beasts roaming around in the area but most of them were outside the perimeter of the temple. No beasts were present inside the actual building structure.


    Ding! The system notification also arrived to indicate that the quest wasplete. A chunk of experience points chimed in and a sizeable amount of gold coins were also rewarded. All in all, it had ended well.


    Before checking out the rewards, Shen Yue first bowed to the princess. "Your highness, we are here. Please let me know if we can help you with something else."


    The good thing about a kingdom quest was that most of these were chain quests and the rewards exponentially increased with each chain quest.


    So even though Shen Yue was nervous about this ce and this situation, she still did not want to miss out on the opportunity and started fishing around for the next quest.


    And just like she wanted, the King/ princess calmly smiled. This was a huge improvement since their first meeting. It seemed like the favorability had increased a lot. Now Shen Yue was more than sure that there were other quests.


    "Let''s go inside and take a look." The princess replied and Shen Yue and the two guys followed her. "Ian, Josh, we might have to fight some mobs inside. Be prepared" Shen Yue whispered to the two quietly and everyone became alert.


    The group only barely entered the big dpidated walls of the temple when all of a sudden a force field appeared and pushed them inside.


    "Princess!" The three of them quickly looked around to check on the chief guest they were supposed to protect when unexpectedly¡­ that chief guest was doing just fine!


    Shen Yue bitterly smiled. In the end, everything happened just like she was hoping it wouldn''t! She looked at the devious smile on the face of the person and, she quickly got back onto her feet and entered [Stealth].


    Sure, she might be in a simr situation likest time but there was one big difference. She was no longer the same person!


    Shen Yue managed to get out in time as three dark bolts made their way to the three of them. The other two did not respond fast enough and were hit. Ian''s health dropped by 10% and Josh recovered by casting a healing spell.


    But after this, the two of them were also on their feet and engaged inbat. They easily evaded the next couple of dark element attacks which came their way.


    Using this chance, Shen Yue showed up behind the princess and backstabbed her. The opponent was strong but Level 70 was still something she could manage. After all, she had in her hands a pair of legendary daggers.


    The paralyzing effect of the daggers should have already been activated so Shen Yue hurriedly activated a slew of attacks. She did not hold back and also activated her charm and started using her enchantress ss special skills. <sub> </sub>


    However, the moment she did that, a strong dark element shield jutted out and sted her away. "You dare use my mother''s legacy against me?" The opponent finally revealed her true form.


    Shen Yue looked up to see an unbelievably breathtaking woman with a strong demonic aura seeping out of her. Everything she had assumed was indeed true. The two were connected and moreover, they were mother and daughter!


    Shen Yue got back up again and dashed towards the woman. "You are just like your mother. Attacking the person who rescued you!" She used de dance to get in some attacks before the next defensive barrier popped out.


    She just needed a couple of attacks to go through and the venom on the daggers would take care of everything else. But shouldn''t the paralyzing effect from the backstab be already active?


    As if answering her, the princess sneered. "Weak! Useless!" She easily evaded all the attacks, each of her movements exquisite and breathtaking.


    "A person who stole my mother''s legacy shouldn''t talk down to me. You are a mere thief. Do you know what is the real power of that legacy?"


    She turned around and just as Ian and Josh were about tond their attacks, the two guys suddenly stopped, frozen in ce. The strong demonic aura seeping out of the princess became much more intense as she mumbled something inaudible.


    The next second, Ian raised the arrow he was clutching in his hand and pierced his throat with it and Josh stabbed the pointed end of his staff into his eyes. "Hey! Stop!" Shen Yue shouted but the two were in no position to hear her.


    They acted as if they werepletely bewitched and repeatedly did the same moves in a frenzy until they dropped dead on the ground, their bodies dissipating into dust.


    They actually died? Shen Yue''s face became pale.


    Ha Ha Ha Ha! The princess cackled loudly. "Did you think that was all I had nned for them? They are not done yet. Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "They can''t escape from me even if they die! Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "They will keep killing themselves over and over again and again until I say so! Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "They will stop only when their souls arepletely obliterated! Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


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 Chapter 749 L Will Take It From Here

    Shen Yue''s heart sank. They will keepmitting suicide until they die permanently? Though she had no proof that something like this was actually possible, she was inclined to believe this witch.


    The crazy psycho did not look like she was joking. She needed to finish this fight as soon as possible and get to the graveyard, or at least inform someone about this.


    She clutched her daggers tightly and dashed toward the princess, whose eyes were red now as if she had undergone some sort of transformation.


    After forming her mana core, Shen Yue obtained a few more skills, but none of them enabled her to do this. So she couldn''t help but wonder what exactly this woman''s power was. What were her plus points and minus points?


    As for her own positives and negatives, by now it was clear that none of her enchantress ss skills worked on the enemy. [Beguile], [Mesmerize], [Distract], nothing worked.


    The same was true for the princess. She was also not able to charm Shen Yue as she did with the other two guys. Also, her magic strength also seemed to be quite low. Either she was injured, to begin with, or she was currently not at her peak.


    Either way, this was a fight that Shen Yue was not prepared to give up. She only needed ten minutes, and she was confident that she would be able to finish this up and help the two people, who by now were probably respawning at the nearest graveyard.


    "Wait for me." She muttered and started swinging her daggers madly. None of their ss powers was working against each other, so it all came down to this, her fighting technique.


    Shen Yue had not beenzing around all of these days. She had trained hard for several hours every single day with Asura. Her current fighting form waspletely different from before. Every action she took demonstrated the painstaking effort she had put forth.


    The princess growled in anger as she saw that she couldn''t shake Shen Yue off that easily. "What weapon is that?" She attacked with more dark energy bolts.


    Shen Yue didn''t bother answering her, as she evaded most of them and blocked some of them with her dagger. The stinging, corrosive dark elemental energy couldn''t do anything to the legendary weapon. She kept pushing the enemy with everything she had.


    The princess tried her best to keep this a long-range fight, but Shen Yue kept closing in on her, forcing the opportunity for the damned witch to be stabbed with her poison daggers.


    She alternated her pace, one of the tricks she learned from Asura, so her attacks also alternated between fast-paced and slow-paced. It was very difficult for the princess to make sense of her pattern and rhythm. It threw her off.


    Shen Yue''s stats right now were also highly boosted thanks to the daggers, so with that, she was able to make up for the level difference. She might have been a damsel in distress the first time around when fighting with the mother, but now she was not even close to being helpless.


    Moreover, she had 60% resistance against dark element after she formed her mana core, so unless the princess used powerful attacks, she wasn''t able to do anything to the woman. These attacks came infrequently, which Shen Yue avoided at all costs.


    The longer the fightsted, the more certain Shen Yue became. The princess was wounded. Even though she had not managed tond a hit until now, she knew that she would be able to do so soon enough.


    Ahhhhhh! She shouted as she executed [de Dance] again. She was slowly beginning to overpower the damn woman.


    And if the princess was able to use demonic spells, was she also capable of doing the same? Suddenly, Shen Yue had the urge to try something. It was like an instinct. She had observed Liam so many times, well for different reasons, but she was able to mimic him.


    ''Feel my mana core and move it.'' She muttered to herself and tried to increase her speed. Just a little bit more, and she would be able to do it.<sub> </sub>


    Shen Yue gritted her teeth and pushed herself as she finallynded a perfect stab. But at thest minute, the princess blocked with thick demonic energy miasma.


    Unfortunately for her, Shen Yue was not done yet. She had already foreseen this and twirled around tond the real attack she had nned.


    -5000


    A damage number popped up. This was nothing huge, but that was not the point. Now that she hadnded an attack, the effect of the dagger should be active. Was it the paralyzing effect or the poison effect?


    -1000


    The next second, another damage number popped up, immediately answering Shen Yue''s question. It was the poison effect that would now make her health slowly bleed!


    "This is not enough, you whore. Do you think you can kill me with this cheap trick?" The princess''s face contorted and Shen Yue smirked. She did not stop attacking and continued pushing forward with her daggers.


    Soon another attacknded and then another, an insane damage number popping out.


    -10000


    This was the real power of the daggers. The poison effects and the paralyzing effects actually stacked. The more hitsnded, the more the poison would spread and drain the health of the opponent.


    "Just one more and you are dead, bitch." Shen Yue relentlessly attacked the princess, not giving up. Her daggers gleamed with bloodlust as she went in again for the kill.


    However, before her daggers could touch her, suddenly a golden shield appeared between them. Shen Yue''s eyes widened in shock. What was this attack? It didn''t look like her opponent''s attack.


    As she was wondering about this, she unexpectedly heard a voice. "That''s enough. I will take it from here."


    And when she turned around to look, Shen Yue saw a woman in a cream-white robe standing next to them.


    <o>,m ***</o>


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


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 Chapter 750 Filthy Demon Garbage

    Shen Yue was first caught off guard slightly, and when she looked more closely, she was utterly stunned silly. "Hey! Are you-" She started to speak, but before she could finish her words, the white-robed woman raised her hand, and the next instant, she was mercilessly tossed away.


    Shen Yue''s body was flung aside like dirt, and itnded on the wall with a dull thud as her slender figure slowly slid down unconscious. "I did not allow you to talk." The white-robed woman sneered.


    And she was not done yet. A golden cage dropped out of nowhere and locked the heavily injured princess in ce.


    Immediately, all the dot damage on her that was slowly but surely draining her health came to aplete stop. Her health even slowly started recovering, though she was still caged like an animal.


    Meanwhile, the white-robed woman did not pay any more attention to her as she walked towards Shen Yue''s unconscious figure. She stood in front of her and snapped her finger as a golden strand of energy appeared and started swirling around Shen Yue.


    The strands of energy then unexpectedly grabbed her by her throat and gripped her tightly as her body lifted up in the air. Shen Yue immediately started choking. She was an inch away from death, as there was only a sliver of health left.


    However, the white-robed woman did not seem to care about that. She simply continued looking at Shen Yue with an indifferent, cold gaze. "Hmmm¡­ Interesting. I didn''t expect to find two of you here."


    She flicked her hand, which made Shen Yue''s struggling body float closer to her. "I was only sent here to capture one, but now I am thinking of taking both." Shen Yue struggled and tried to say something when a healing spellnded on her, only for her to be tossed away once again.


    Shended on the same wall, and her health fell to the samest 2%. "Insects like you shouldn''t raise your head against me." The white-robed woman sneered. She again healed her and lifted her body to thrash her against the ground.


    She did this repeatedly, healing her again and again and again and beating her into a pulp in the most sadistic way. The pain was inhumane and torturous, and it was enough to drive a person insane.


    Shen Yue, however, did not break that easily. She withstood everything and kept trying to fight back. She needed to leave this ce or at least inform Liam about this.


    Ian and Josh depended on her. They were her friends. She didn''t want to let them down and be the cause of their deaths.


    She should have sent the message sooner, but how was she supposed to know someone would show up randomly in this remote ce?


    But still, she should have sent the message sooner. Called for backup. Did something. Tears streamed down Shen Yue''s face as she held on, refusing to give up no matter what.


    "Heh? How dare a whore like you have so much nerve? Filthy demon garbage. The likes of you should be wiped out from this world. If I ask you to be obedient, stay down like a dog. Else, I wouldn''t-"


    Before she could finish, a sudden burst of wild, raging mes hit her,pletely burning off the robe she was wearing and revealing a set of whitece underwear. Her face betrayed her abhorrence and disgust.


    The next second, while she was yet to recover from this shock, another punchnded on her and sent her flying away. When she looked up, she saw a huge fox strutting towards her, her feral eyes locking onto the prey.


    And standing next to the fox, was Liam.


    On the other side, Shen Yue coughed. But she was no longer struggling. She now only had a small, silly smile on her face as her body slumped down, tired and haggard. Liam was here. Everything was going to be okay.


    Boom! The white-robed woman, however, was not done. Another robe appeared around her, covering her body as she jolted off the ground and propelled forward.


    "You want to sh head-on with me? Bring it on!"


    Liam sent a [Dark Cutter] that he conjured and ran right toward her, not afraid of going toe to toe. The person in front of him clearly had a divine affinity, his worst matchup, but today he was ready to see just how badly he would fare against one of them.


    Who woulde out on top?<sub> </sub>


    He dashed forward, unsheathing the ck dragon sword, whose roar filled the entire hall of the temple. The wind whistled a dangerous tune. For a second, the other side slightly faltered, but the next instant, they continued zooming forward.


    Boom!


    The two of them collided, and unexpectedly, both of them were pushed back. At thest minute, the white-robed woman had pulled a golden staff out of thin air that absorbed the entire attack, almost.


    Liam couldn''t believe it. A weapon powerful enough to block his ck dragon sword? Who was this person? It couldn''t possibly be a yer, right? Was he fighting against a divine temple NPC?


    He gripped his sword tightly as he felt the fighting spirit of the dragons loudly raging inside. He immediately prepared to attack again.


    [Spirit sh]


    The other party also did not stay down and once again dashed forward. This time her entire figure was covered with divine energy strands as she started shining like a dazzling golden star.


    Liam could feel his skin burning in the presence of the pure unpolluted energy. He had a feeling this time their impact wouldn''t be as smooth as thest time.


    He quickly began doing his own enchantment as he started wrapping his body in pure mana. His mana core spun wildly.


    Before they could fight, though, a huge fireball hit the woman in the white robes, destroying the divine shield she had forged around herself.


    Growl! Luna red at the enemy. She was also here!


    Liam grinned as he continued dashing forward. This was the small opening he needed. He zoomed towards her and shed down the raging ck dragon sword.


    The woman once again blocked the attack using her staff, but now extra mana backed him up, and only she was sted away from the impact. Liam stood steady and tall like a mountain. A dangerously high damage number also popped out.


    -10,000


    The white-robed woman looked furious. The damage was nothing to her. The humiliation was worse.


    With the snap of her finger, she healed herself back to full health. She lifted her head up to see Liam''s face as she once again got back on her feet to prepare for the next attack.


    However, the person in front of her was standing frozen.


    A frown formed on her beautiful face as she stared down the enemy and the vile fox. She could sense the strong death aura from him. Was this an enemy she could handle?


    While her mind raced, the opponent was still staring at her? Did he not want to fight anymore?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 751 Stop Looking At Me With Pity

    While the woman looked at Liam weirdly, as if a few screws in his head hade loose, Liam did not care and continued to stare at her. His gaze was fixed on the pair of enraged blue eyes. The next attack slipped his mind as he couldn''t ignore the familiar face in front of him.


    The white-robed woman was¡­


    But why would the enemy wait so long for him topose himself, the white-robed woman grumbled something and started materializing a spear of divine energy in her right hand. The sheer intensity of it made Liam''s skin crawl, and he snapped out of his daze.


    "Mia! Stop! It''s me" Liam shouted.


    "What are you bbering about?" The white-robed woman scoffed in annoyance, continuing to make the spear in her hand more deadly.


    "You don''t remember? Alex and Rey? Do you not remember them?" Liam growled in anger, his voice echoing in the otherwise silent hall.


    At that moment, something faint simmered in the woman''s blue eyes. Liam immediately felt relieved, as he could feel that she wasn''tpletely gone.


    He did not know what happened in the divine realm, but this was not good. She hadpletely forgotten him and Shen Yue as if she had been brainwashed. She appeared to have forgotten her own name.


    Just what the hell happened? Didn''t he change her fate this time around? Why was she again in this pit?


    And suddenly, a frightening thought crept into his mind. What if the misfortune that befell her had never been about her uncle? What if this was it all along, and in reality, he hadn''t changed anything at all?


    No, that was not important right now. Whatever the reason was, whatever her fate was, he had the power to change it here and now! He needed to win this fight at all costs, and he needed to take her away with him, dead or alive!


    He clenched his fist and prepared to go all out on the next attack. He started churning his mana core wildly and gave a nod to Luna. This was Mia, after all, a born genius with an innate SSS affinity and an insanely high aptitude for mana.


    Furthermore, he had no idea what weapon she was holding or how much she had changed since she had gone missing. Without all this information, he couldn''t afford to go easy on her, especially when the stakes were this high.


    Liam gritted his teeth and tried casting another [Dark Cutter] again, as he could feel the dpidated demon temple pulse with strong dark elemental energy.


    If this didn''t work, he would have no other choice except to overwhelm her with his army of soul minions and take this fight by sheer numbers.


    He only held back because he was yet to experiment with just how much his soul minions would suffer under divine attacks. But if worse came to worse, he did not mind sacrificing a few to bring her out of this.


    "Stop looking at me with pity!" Mia roared as she couldn''t stand the sight of the person in front of her. She stomped her feet on the ground as a pulse of divine energy spread throughout the hall.


    Liam jumped up to avoid it but it still took a chunk of his health. She then started dashing towards him with all of her might. Liam sighed. He was already prepared for this. He released the [Dark Cutter], which screamed through the air as the attack burned its way to the target.<sub> </sub>


    Liam did not simply wait. He immediately dashed forward as well to deal the next attack and the attack after that personally with his sword to end this fight. Luna growled as the duo worked up the energy to finish the battle in one go.


    The entire temple hall was in chaos. Mana was being pulled in from everywhere. The fight was reaching a crescendo. As the two sides got ready for their most powerful attack, which could have destroyed the temple itself, a strong st of divine energy ripped through the big hall.


    And it was not from Mia.


    Liam stumbled and lost his bnce, causing his attack to miss the target and hit the air instead. Before he could begin to wonder what just happened, a figurended right next to Mia with a loud boom, spilling divine energy everywhere.


    Liam immediately backed away several paces in retreat as he felt a strong killing intenting from this person. He was decked in golden gear from top to bottom and each of them was engraved in mysterious runes. This person was dangerous.


    Liam''s instincts and his gut were screaming loudly, and his fight or flight response kicked in. He couldn''t see the level of the person standing in front of him, just as he couldn''t see Mia''s level.


    Could he still stand up against him, or did he need to flee from here?


    His eyes darted to Luna, who understood him without any words. She blurred as she silently appeared next to Shen Yue.


    However, as if her movement triggered it, a violent, oppressive aura started spilling from the golden figure in front of him. The terrifying aura sunk into him and burned his skin. It pressured him to buckle down.


    Liam gritted his teeth. He tried to move but he couldn''t. Even though this pressure couldn''t match the way the old elf had mmed him down every other second, it was still enormous. Only someone beyond his level was capable of doing this.


    What was the meaning of this? If this person was so powerful, why not directly kill him, right here and right now?


    Instead, this person was¡­ Liam bit down on his lips and withstood it. The golden guy was forcing him to kneel.


    However, Liam clenched his fist and held on. I will not. He stood steady, his feet rooted on the ground, not moving even a damn inch.


    The golden figure revealed a fleeting look of surprise but the next second, with a blinding sh of light both he and Mia disappeared.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


    Please thank Raymond Tague for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 752 Whats Up His Ass?

    "Mia!" Liam shouted but no one was there in the hall. The golden armoured man, Mia and the princess in the cage, all three of them hadpletely disappeared without any trace. Only an unsettling feeling lingered behind. What was happening?


    Liam stared at the empty space for a moment before quickly rushing over to Shen Yue. her condition wasn''t all that great. He pulled her onto hisp and gave her a little water from the canister that contained the milky way pond water.


    Shen Yue winced in pain as the water that was akin to an elixir slowly dribbled down her throat drop by drop. A couple of secondster her eyes flickered and some colour returned to her skin.


    Liam then immediately gave her a health potion. With that, she slowly recovered and shed her eyes open anxiously. "Ian! Josh!" She sat up straight in a panic.


    "It''s fine. I am here. You are safe." Liam hugged her tightly, as a strange glint shed past his face. What was happening around them? This was just a kingdom quest. Why did it turn out like this?


    Shen Yue stared at him and then sighed in relief. "Liam, you are here." She looked around and there weren''t any enemies. She once again let out another sigh and smiled sweetly. Everything was fine.


    Hmmm? Suddenly the smile on her face disappeared. There was something wrong. Ian and Josh! She immediately informed Liam about what had happened and about how the two had killed themselves. She also repeated the words of the enchantress to him.


    "Could it be true?"


    Liam pulled up the system interface and it still showed that the status of those two yers as dead. "I am afraid that''s a very real possibility." He nodded gravely.


    He still had a lot of unanswered questions in his mind and several frightening theories about the future but for now, this was more important. He picked up Shen Yue and jumped onto Luna as the three of them got the hell out of there.


    p Understanding the situation, Luna as well rushed to the nearest graveyard at the top of her speed. She blurred in and out and they were at the destination in a minute.</anda>


    However, just as they reached the ce, they saw both Ian and Josh respawn. At this point, they had probably died a few times so they had lost some items on their person including their weapons.


    But that did not stop the duo. They dashed towards the nearby tree and repeatedly banged their heads on the huge trunk. Blood spilt from the injury and their health was dropping by the second. Without caring about it any of it, the duo continued to kill themselves.


    Observing this, Liam frowned. "So even death did not remove the skill''s effect? Just how powerful is this skill?" He walked over to the duo and then carefully pulled them back.


    But the two of them were in no state to respond to him. They did not even seem to recognize him. They had nk eyes and were acting like drones whose only purpose was to die.


    Hmmm. Liam saw the situation and immediately summoned two barbarian soul minions. The two big guys held Ian and Josh down, preventing them from doing anything else.


    Liam then shoved a health potion down each of their throats and finally, the endless dying cycle stopped as the two remained captive. But the situation was still far from resolved. This was just a temporary solution.


    Liam sighed and pulled up his system interface. He then called Alex. Only divine affinity yers could probably deal with something like this. Both priests and pdins had [Cleanse] skill and he hoped that using the skill would suffice.<sub> </sub>


    And there was also the other reason why he wanted to meet with Alex.


    "How many people do you need?" A reply instantly chimed in. Crimson Abyss was now so far above every other guild that Alex was able to respond quickly.


    Liam stared at the message for a moment and then shook his head. "Bring your group." He marked the location where he was previously farming the beast horde and asked the team to get there as soon as possible.


    There were still several confusing thoughts in his mind and he needed to settle everything. For that, he needed his group.


    While the others made their way to the location, Liam and Shen Yue also arrived at the spot along with Luna and the two bat mounts they had originally used. Ian and Josh were still held as captive as the groupnded on the elevated rocky space.


    Roar! Their presence didn''t go unnoticed as the beast horde underneath them continued to charge forward and some of them climbed the rocky path to reach Liam and the group.


    But before anything could attack, a huge shield pushed them back and Alex jumped on the top to stand next to Liam and Shen Yue. The group of core guild yers along with her also dove in as they quickly handled the few beasts that had made their way to them.


    When they had a minute, Alex finally turned to look at Liam. The man was unusually very silent and still without jumping into action and she did not like it.


    "What happened to them?" She asked pointing to Ian and Josh who were being held captive by the soul minions. "Did they do something to betray us?"


    "No. No. Alex." Shen Yue immediately intervened and exined before there was a misunderstanding. She filled Alex in on everything that happened.


    "Some sort of curse huh? Let me try." Alex cracked her knuckles and then tried the [Cleanse] skill. The two guys were instantly covered with a divine aura and soon, the nk look from their eyes disappeared.


    "Woo! That''s about it. I think the Cleanse worked. They should be fine." Alex grinned.


    Just like she said, the two guys immediately recovered from their stupor and looked around, having no idea of what just happened.


    All they could see was that some of their clothing and items were missing and they were in an entirely different ce with all their team members and a shit load of beasts around them.


    Their levels had also dropped? Fuck! The duo looked around in a daze.


    While Shen Yue filled them both in on what had happened, Alex walked over to Liam. "What''s up his ass? Why is he standing like this?" Liam seemed to be in a particrly bad mood but she had something to talk to him so she walked over anyways.

 Chapter 753 Good Or Evil?

    "Hey! Can we talk?" Alex chirpily eximed with a smug grin as if she had a huge scoop and couldn''t wait to tell Liam about it. However, the other party was still standing still, not even acknowledging her.


    "Hmmm? What happened to him?" Alex walked around to stand face to face with him and snapped her fingers. "Hello! I have something to tell you!"


    Liam smiled bitterly. He also had something to tell her, but he was still debating whether or not it was the right thing to do. The person in front of him was extremely capable except for when she was all riled up.


    And telling about Mia would definitely get her all worked up. There was no way for him to know what she would do or how she would react.


    The enemy this time was not a normal one. Liam had a feeling that he was dealing with someone powerful this time. Very powerful. Much more powerful than him. So they had to be extremely cautious and careful with this. Otherwise, there could be irreparable damages.


    But then again, Alex was not someone weak. She was strong and perhaps he needed her strength to deal with this. It was her family after all. She deserved to know.


    "What is it?" He asked her, still debating what the right decision was.


    Alex could sense that something was off. She frowned slightly and then continued, "So¡­I told you I formed my mana core right¡­ I got a lot of stats bumps and I decided to check my affinity again. Guess what?"


    "What?"


    "My divine affinity is now SS-grade!" Alex beamed in response. "I know. Not as good as Mia but I am getting there. Thanks to you. When she finally gets her ass back here, she is in for a surprise." She punched her fist in excitement.


    "Good job." Liam awkwardly replied. "About-"


    "Wait. Wait. I am not done yet. I have another surprise for you." Alex grinned and pointed to one of the elite beasts charging towards their group. "It''s about those guys."


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow. "What about them?"


    "Well¡­ since we had some time on our hands, I was messing with some elites and trying to figure out how they were so strong and got such huge buffs all of a sudden. Guess what?"


    Liam immediately had a bad feeling. He did not have to hear the rest of her words. He could already tell what wasing. "What?"


    "These beasts have a divine buff!" Alex eximed. "I mean some sort of divine energy buff. I am sure of it. I can just sense it on them. There is a faint mark of divine energy on every single one of these berserk beasts."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I am sure. They are so strong because they have some sort of divine spell boosting their health and stats."


    Liam''s face changed. His cold gaze shifted to one of the elite beasts near them. Was this also their doing?


    Meanwhile, Alex continued to talk about her conspiracy theories. "So now I am thinking there could be some sort of deeper power y here. Maybe someone from the divine temple is corrupted. Maybe they are trying to take charge of something. Maybe-"


    Liam, on the other hand, remained silent. He did not expect this at all. <sub> </sub>


    So far, everything was fine and normal as the experience from his previous life dictated but now suddenly in every direction he turned, there was the divine temple doing something from the sidelines. They seem to have a hand in everything.


    What was happening? Weren''t they simply just another faction inside this world? Or were they the ones governing everything?


    Imprisoning one prisoner was a coincidence but all of these things happening around them couldn''t be ignored. Everything pointed to the divine temple being the one managing all the events in this world.


    But even if that was the case, what happened to Mia? Why was Mia under their grasp?


    She acted as if she was brainwashed and all her memories had been removed. Everything about her had changed.


    She was cold and aloof before not letting anyone get close to her except for Alex or Rey but she was still a kind person. And now there was nothing left of her previous self.


    More importantly, all of this happened only after she visited the divine realm. Just what happened while she was over there? How did everythinge to this?


    If these beasts were buffed by a divine spell, then were the barbarians buffed by the same divine spell?


    Liam silently leaned on a tree nearby. His mind was swirling with questions and it was a lot for him to simply ignore and keep sticking to his original n. What was he missing here?


    And there was also one thing that was mainly bugging him.


    In both this life and his past life, he always thought that this game, the tutorial was something that was meant to help everyone. Get them ustomed to mana and prevent them from bing mindless mana zombies.


    <o>,m It was a second chance for everyone. They could be reborn and change their fate. Be someone strong and powerful even if they were poor and helpless in real life. </o>


    But¡­ what if that was not case?


    What if that was not what the tutorial was mainly intended to do?


    Liam couldn''t shake this thought away. Whatever angle he thought about things, this tutorial seemed to be doing more harm than good.


    For instance, in hisst life, everyone''s soul was extremelypromised.


    This time the news spread sooner that deaths result from the game so people were cautious not to die a lot butst time this information only spread a littleter so everyone was weak when the tutorial ended.


    If they really meant to help then wouldn''t this have been dered explicitly right from the beginning?


    Liam had always taken this as an unspoken rule that was intended to be found out by the yers or perhaps as the penalty for being weak. But now that he thought about it, he wondered if this was hidden on purpose.


    What if this tutorial that was meant to be helpful was secretly meant to be harmful behind the scenes? What if they were all being set up to fail right from the beginning?

 Chapter 754 Dont Use Them Anymore

    Liam couldn''t shake the thought out of his mind as everything seemed to suddenly make sense. By the end of the tutorial, they were not supposed to be strong but weak.


    Now he also understood why this mysterious beast horde event had popped up in this timeline when something like that was never there in the previous one.


    And from what he had heard about the event, the death tally was quite significant in every other kingdom except for the Gresh Kingdom. Thanks to him, the casualties here weren''t numerous.


    However, that still left the other event, theher realm event. Coincidentally, it had ended suspiciously soon this time around. At first, he didn''t think too much about it but now, it made sense.


    The demons this time had a huge upper hand over the humans and were most likely to win the war, once again thanks to him. But the divine temple did not let this happen.


    He recalled Alex mentioning that the divine temple personally intervened and ended the war. Due to this, the casualties in theher realm event this time weren''t that much.


    Putting everything together, it almost looked like the beast horde event was set up in order to offset this difference. Enough yers hadn''t died so they had to make sure that this waspensated somehow.


    Why? What did this aplish for them? How did it matter to them if they were weak or strong? How did it matter to them if they survived the iing apocalypse?


    Or did they simply not care about any of that? Perhaps all they needed were souls? What really happened when a yer died inside the game? Was their soul being siphoned?


    In the name of the tutorial, were these people siphoning the souls of an entire?


    Liam felt as if he was suddenly able to see everything clearly for the first time. Every single move made in this tutorial was towards the downfall of humanity.


    And these were strong enemies. People who could crush him with a snap of their fingers. How could he possibly stand up against them in this world that they created?


    It was impossible. They would never let him grow.


    Did that mean he had to keep his head down until the tutorial ended and silently grow as strong as he possibly could? Could he not go after Mia or Derek right now?


    That means he couldn''t tell Alex about Mia at the moment. Shen Yue also did not seem to remember anything so it was convenient.


    It was not that he did not want to rescue her but going after her right now would simply be suicide. He first needed to be stronger, much stronger. He probably only had one shot at rescuing Mia and he had to make it count.


    As the various thoughts swirled in his mind, Liam tried to recollect everything about the divine temple and suddenly remembered the divine temple''s special potions.


    "Alex, do you have those divine temple special potions with you?" He immediately turned towards her to ask.


    "Huh? Oh, these." She took out a couple of potions and handed them to Liam. "Yes. I gathered a lot of these. They yed a big role in our guild war and even in this beast horde. Got us top ranks." She grinned.


    "Do you need some more?" She started taking out several potions, some even to distribute to others. Since the beast horde event might end any time now, she figured they might as well use these to get as many numbers as possible.


    However, to her shock, Liam immediately hit her hand, causing the potion bottles to fall down on the hard rocky ground and get shattered. "No. Don''t use them anymore."<sub> </sub>


    "What¡­ are you doing?" Alex blinked.


    "Just don''t use anything from the divine temple or the NPCs anymore." Liam quickly replied. Unfortunately, he did not have any exnation for her. This was purely his own hunch.


    He then summoned Dimitri and asked if the poison master elf could analyze the potion but that was also a dead end. The elf shook his head and said that the potion was tooplicated for him to analyze.


    Liam became silent. This left him with only one option. He still had a way to figure things out but it was very risky. However, he had to do it.


    Because if he could just confirm this, then it would mean that everything else was also true and he was not simply building up these things in his mind.


    He let out a deep sigh and then turned to face the rest of the group. "Who used these divine temple potions? It doesn''t matter where or when."


    Immediately, a few people raised their hands.


    Liam nodded and continued, "I am going to do something now. I need a volunteer for it, someone who hadn''t died but had consumed a few of these divine potions. Also¡­"


    "What I am about to do might hurt and there is a chance something terrible might happen. You could die. Permanently. Who is willing to take that risk?"


    Everyone became silent. They did not understand what was happening or why Liam was asking for something like this.


    "I will be honest here. I need your help. I am basically asking you to sacrifice yourself. If you die, then I will take care of your family in your absence to the best of my abilities." Liam repeated again.


    He did not mention what he was going to do or why he was doing this, so everyone was a bit reluctant. Moreover, he mentioned real death so the group became nervous. They couldn''t immediately agree to it.


    But two hands instantly went up in the air. One was Alex and the other was Shen Yue. Both of them trusted Liam and hence did not hesitate one bit.


    Surprisingly, there was also one other person. One of the mages also raised his hand. He was Neil, Ian''s brother.


    "I will volunteer. I have used 10 divine potions so far and I haven''t died once. I fit your criteria." He gritted his teeth and stepped forward. "I will take the risk, but please, in return, may I ask that you help my brother recover his soul strength?"


    Liam was about to pick Alex but she was far too valuable. Besides, he liked the conviction in this yer''s eyes. "Ok. I will help your brother, Neil. Come here and stand."


    He then signalled the others to resume the ughter of the beast horde. The entire group sort of formed a full circle leaving some space in the middle.


    Liam, along with Neil, jumped from the overlooking rock tform to this circle. He was in the middle of death and destruction and surrounding him, there were souls constantly drifting away. It was the perfect spot.


    "Are you ready?" He asked. Neil nodded and then it started.


    Liam closed his eyes and used his soul sensing skill just like he did back at the fort. He tried to remember how he had grabbed onto the lizardman''s living soul and did the same to Neil. He focussed his mind and grabbed onto Neil''s soul.

 Chapter 755 Stronger

    Ahhhh! Neil shouted and buckled down.


    Liam as well winced in pain. This was not easy. He was also suffering.


    He still did not have the ability to do this properly but he was trying his best not to hurt the person. Even though Neil hadplied and was not resisting, it was not that easy to hold onto a living soul.


    There was an enormous mental pressure weighing down on him. But he had to do this.


    Liam shouted out loud and grabbed the soul that was twitching like a fish out of water, extremely slippery and hard to grasp.


    A momentter, he was finally able to do it. Almost instantly his eyes widened. Neil''s soul was notplete. He did not have the ability to determine just how much it was damaged, but he could tell for sure that it was not whole.


    This meant that everything that he had contemted was indeed correct.


    Liam immediately let go of the soul. He did not want to cause any further harm. He had already confirmed what he wanted to know. That was enough.


    Seeing that he had an unsightly expression on his face, Alex felt very uneasy. Something was definitely up. What was happening? She looked at him and before she could ask anything, Liam shook his head.


    "Now is not the time. Let''s continue dealing with the beast horde. I will exin it to you after this is over."


    That''s right. While the beast horde event was still going on, he needed to do everything he could to be stronger. He should not miss this chance.


    Liam felt like suddenly everything was making sense and he was starting to see what was really happening. At the same time, there was a noose tightening over their necks. They definitely needed to use this event to power up as much as possible.


    "Ummm. Should we all make a party then?" Alex asked.


    Liam shook his head. "No, I will be levelling up alone. I need you all to help me do something. Get the attention of all the special elites and keep them engaged. I know this way you won''t be able to get many experience points but trust me and do it."


    Alex nodded. "That''s fine. Whatever you need us to do, we will do it." Liam was different at the moment. More serious than she had ever seen him be, so she did not question anything.


    "One more thing." Liam interrupted her as she disbanded the current party and made a new one including everyone assembled over there.


    "Do you have any exp boost potions with you?" These were the special potions which alchemy Grandmaster Dante had made and banned their guild from purchasing. But knowing Alex, Liam was sure that she would have still managed to collect a couple of these potions somehow.


    And just like he thought, she indeed had a few with her. "Here. I am assuming you need three." She handed over three potion bottles to him. From this, she understood what was Liam''s current n.


    She immediately jumped down into the fray and shouted, "Come on. Target all the elites and bring them over to this side. Let''s help our boss do some power-levelling."


    Liam did not say anything. He silently summoned his soul minions.


    The elites were time-consuming and gave out fewer experience points and it was far better to farm the other beasts than touch these magically buffed elites.<sub> </sub>


    Earlier Liam didn''t think too much about it but now he knew better. While the tutorial wanted them all to gain power, they didn''t want them to gain too much also.


    But he was going to do it. He was going to improve his strength by leaps and bounds in the remaining time he had. These few weeks were more than enough. He was almost there and he can definitely get there.


    And then he was going to stand against the divine temple with everything he had. He was going to be stronger right under their noses and stand against them on their own turf.


    Yes, this was difficult but with his ss, he was confident he could achieve it. All he needed was some time.


    No longer caring about the consequences of the beast horde event or the rewards given out for the same he summoned his minions and ordered them to ughter all the beasts in sight.


    One by one all the members of the soul army made an appearance. Watching this, all the guild members present in the area stared at him dumbfounded.


    What was this? How were these creatures standing in front of them? When they hadst seen Liam, he had a big army but it was nothingpared to what he had now!


    Wyverns, elves, lizardmen, barbarians so many strong minions appeared and immediately started plundering the battleground. Now they understood why their points were so high.


    Their big boss had been gone a long time but now he was back with actual dragons as minions!


    Wyverns were not dragons but these yers couldn''t care less about that distinction. As far as they were concerned these monstrously strong creatures might as well be dragons!


    p Everyone gulped as they watched this mighty army crush everything in sight. The three-headed wyvern in particr stole the show with three different powerful attacksing out of its three different mouths. What the hell? How could something be so overpowered?</anda>


    Whenpared to Liam, they were all clearly at a different ce in the game. Realization pped them in the face. Everyone quickly got down to work as the number of elites slowly started increasing.


    As the soul minions ughtered more beasts, more elites also started to pool. Alex aggroed all the elites and tanked them efficiently. The group somehow brought the situation under their control.


    Meanwhile, Liam was standing still. He did not fight or kill or participate in anything. Instead, he only did one thing. He stood and locked onto all the souls around him.


    With the experience points automatically raining down on him, he sat down in the middle of this circle of death and took out a ck bead. More than farming experience points, right now his attention was on the multitude of souls around him.


    This beast horde was his only chance to forge when he was at his strongest and he needed to forge the remaining dragon souls and the wyvern souls.


    Without any hesitance, he took out the first wyvern soul and started forging.


    THUD! THUD! THUD! Giant mana hammers banged down on the wyvern soul and when it resisted, Liam hammered it relentlessly.


    After forging the three-headed wyvern, the bacsh from this single soul was nothing big. Besides, he was at his strongest at the moment.


    He gritted his teeth and forged the struggling wyvern into submission.

 Chapter 756 Terrifying New Regiment!

    "Wyvern No.2"


    Liam named and tossed the newly forged one right into the battle.


    Naturally, his soul was once again slightly injured from the forging though much less than what had happened the first time around but this was exactly what Liam wanted. Only when injured he could heal it.


    And only when he healed it, he could feel the connection to his own soul the strongest.


    Inhaling all the souls around him, Liammanded what he needed and felt the intangible entity that was inside him, his own soul. It was like a miasma that eluded him and yet it spread across him, covering every inch of him.


    Liam did not try to push it. He simply grabbed onto this faint feeling and absorbed the soul essence from the other souls and made this miasma stronger.


    This was easier said than done. Last time he had done it intuitively because he was very heavily injured. One could even call it a fluke. And now he was trying to do it on purpose. So it was far more difficult and he did not know exactly how to.


    But he had an idea. This was not his first day with the soulmancer ss and he was notpletely clueless. With the noose tightening around their necks, he was working all the harder to get to where he wanted to be.


    Liam gripped hard the miasma he was holding onto, and he forcefully imagined it with the colour white, like a waning moon. He then imagined the other soul wisps toe and join this iplete circle so that his soul became a full circle.


    Or rather he held onto both of these parts and then rammed them together forcefully until they became whole. It was difficult to concretely imagine and execute it but he tried his best and on the twelfth try, he managed to do it a little. His injured soul became a little stronger.


    There was no notification or anything to confirm this and all he had was a feeling but he kept on going. Without taking any break, he grabbed the next wyvern soul and once again began to forge it.


    The other newly forged beast, Wyvern 2, was already ughtering and contributing to experience points by now.


    Notably, this one had the highest level so far, Level 51. It snorted arrogantly and dominated the fight, only to be matched by the three-headed wyvern. Even Luna, Crawford and Wyvern 1 couldn''te close to it.


    Watching this scene, all the yers currently handling the elite beasts gaped in shock. They had already seen the wyverns but what shocked them this time was entirely something else.


    It was the speed with which Liam had forged this draconian soul. It was barely ten minutes! This person had actually made a wyvern undead out of thin air in ten mins?!!


    And he did not look like he was stopping anytime soon.


    After ''wyvern 2'' there was ''wyvern 3'' and soon Liam was already in the third wyvern soul. One after the other, he carefully siphoned out the souls from the ck bead and forged them to perfection.


    With every wyvern soul he forged, he was getting better at his real goal which was to concretely sense his soul, make it stronger and tap into its power.


    But the real test still awaited. Would he be able to make his soul strong enough to forge the dragons?


    In this way, almost an entire hour passed and all the remaining wyvern souls were sessfully forged. Other than the three-headed wyvern which now took it upon himself to act as themander of the group, there were wyverns 1 through 9.<sub> </sub>


    The group majestically stood amidst the beast horde as they formed a separate unit that ughtered their way through the charging beasts.


    Roar! Their collective aura even made the elites tremble and shake. The ten wyverns were a force to reckon with. Their attacks killed dozens of beasts at the same time and the mana in the air was sucked dry.


    They single-handedly rained terror on the beast horde. They circled in the air and torched everything below them. All the guild members standing beside them gulped in fear. Just how strong was their big boss?


    Even the yers further away, those in the three main cities could spot these terror-inducing creatures from the distance, especially the ones standing on the border walls.


    Everyone trembled in fear as they wondered if a wave of dragons was next going to assault the cities as a part of the beast horde.


    Already the death tally was sky-high and if a wave of dragons assaulted, everyone would be utterly decimated. Little did they know that these beasts actually belonged to a yer.


    And as for that concerned yer, Liam was racking passive experience points by thousands every second. The number of kills pulled in by the wyvern unitbined with the exp boosting potion he had consumed, his level was shooting up through the roof.


    He already touched Level 70 and now he was close to reaching Level 75!


    On top of this, Luna did not want to be outdone and tried her best to cause an equivalent amount of damage. A single fox tried to match an entire unit of wyverns and she wasn''tgging too far behind.


    Her first tail which was only asionally glowing bright red was now continuously glowing brightly as if she hadpletely assimted one of the three me fragments she had swallowed. If she assimted all three mes just how much more powerful would she be?


    Liam panted as he observed everything around him. That''s right. They were all growing stronger together. It was only a matter of time. He sucked in a big breath of air, once again used the souls swirling around him to strengthen himself and attempted to break the shackles again.


    RATTLE! RATTLE!


    His mana core surged and the shackles trembled. Every single time he increased his soul strength, he also tried breaking these and he could feel it. He was close.


    More importantly, the key to achieving everything that he wanted was right in his grasp.


    All he needed to do now was build his soul strength and he would be strong enough to awaken his mana core and face the enemy. He could grow step by step and be an existence that can change everything.


    And it all started with the dragon souls.


    Liam had two dragon souls in his possession. Yes, these two dragons could potentially be powerful allies for his soul army but more than that, these two would be the true test of his soul.


    He had to strengthen his soul and be strong enough to withstand the dragon souls and forge them. In the process even if he was hurt, he would only be stronger from that, which was his true goal.

 Chapter 757 Forging The Dragon Soul

    Liam steadied his mind and adjusted his body''s condition to the best that he could. This beast horde was the perfect ce for this. He couldn''t have asked for a better location.


    With every beast soul that was being ughtered aiding him to be stronger, he took a ck bead and started pulling out the first dragon soul.


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    Almost instantly, a tyrannic pressure assaulted him. The soul he had grabbed onto this time felt infinite.


    He did not feel this much strain when he had shoved the soul into the ck bead but now that he was trying to get a sense of the whole thing, the situation waspletely different.


    He gritted his teeth as the pressure was almost too intense for him to handle. His mouth, nose, ears and eyes started bleeding and his head felt as if it was going to st apart.


    But just as he was going topletely crumble, Liam sucked in the souls from around him. He shouted in agony but he tried to bear the pain. He almost had it. He can do this.


    Liam shivered and tried to hold on. Two more minutes of intense agony washed over him, the pain assaulting him in waves. He continued holding on and withstanding everything.


    At a certain point, his health started dropping rapidly.


    Seeing this, Alex who had been observing him closely for a while now immediately cast a healing spell.


    At first, she was hesitant because it could potentially disturb him but when his health dropped to an all-time low, she decided to make the decision even though she hadn''t talked about it with Liam beforehand. Her guts asked her to intervene and she decided to do it.


    And luckily for them, the n did not backfire. Thanks to her, Liam''s health quickly recovered but it was only for a second. It then once again started going down.


    "Fuck it. One of the priests go up there and keep healing him." Alex shouted.


    Without the priest, it was going to be extremely difficult to handle the elites but everyone could see that their big boss was up to something very important at the moment so they bit down and took the pressure.


    They could always call the soul minions for help but they did not want the experience points farming to slow down. Everyone right now could see Liam''s levels soaring in the ranking board. So no one wanted to disturb that process.


    If things continued this way, he could even reach Level 100!


    ? This would be huge for their guild! When every other yer in the world would be Level 50 or 60, their guild alone would have a freaking Level 100 yer! With this, they could be the unrivalled overlords of this entire game!<sub> </sub>


    So under no circumstance, they wanted to disturb the soul minions who were farming experience points at top speed. They continued dealing with the elites with everything they had and their lives on the line!


    Meanwhile, inside the circle of death, Liam was still continuing to struggle. The priest yer healed him continuously but his health did not stabilise at all.


    This continued on for almost fifteen minutes straight when finally, Liam looked as if he was slightly out of critical condition. His health also stabilized.


    Everyone gulped and looked at him eagerly. He did not suffer so much while forging the wyverns, just was he forging now that could send him into a pain spiral like this?


    They swallowed and looked forward to the resulting minion that would pop out.


    And Liam as well gritted his teeth and finally managed to grab hold of theplete dragon soul. He was panting and heaving but he finally had it in his possession, the entirety of the dragon''s soul.


    Thankfully, he had saved one dragon soul per ck bead so the issue of two-headed joined souls did not happen this time. Otherwise, he would have simply died.


    Although, he was not fully out of the woods just yet. Liam weakly smiled as he stared at the football-sized soul energy swirling in front of him. This was the biggest soul he had ever handled and managed to condense.


    And this was just a small percentage of the whole forging process. He still needed to go through the rest of the steps. Would he really be able to do it?


    As it was, he barely had any juice in his body, but Liam knew that he had to. There was simply no other way. He closed his eyes to suck in a few more souls around him to recover a little and then start the forging process.


    He steadied his mind and took a deep breath, feeling the multitude of souls hovering around him as his soul minions ughtered everything in sight. Perfect! This was just what he needed to recover.


    In a single motion, he inhaled the air as he pulled all the souls he needed towards him. The soul fragments obeyed hismand and zoomed forward as if he was a ma.


    And just as they were about to reach him and replenish him, suddenly Liam shed his eyes open.


    Confusion, panic and anxiety appeared on his face as he felt an immense forcee down on him without any warning. His souls had also gone missing.


    The soul fragments that were just about to recuperate him hadpletely disappeared, with nothing left behind. What was happening?


    Liam''s instincts told him that something was off. He needed to act quickly. It was only a fraction of a second when everything started changing but because of his gut feeling, he pushed the dragon''s soul back into the ck bead instantly.


    And just as he did, the next second, an even greater pressure crushed him down without any warning and the air around him pulsed with a strange energy. No, it wasn''t just any energy. It was divine energy, an intense wave of it burned through his skin like a corrosive acid.

 Chapter 758 L Am Here To Reward You

    Everything went dark for a split second as a powerful ray of light shone down from the sky. No one could see anything or even open their eyes.


    And when they were finally able to open their eyes again, an ethereal being stood in front of them. A golden angelic ethereal being with blonde hair. Her face was not visible; only a halo around her head could be seen, and her entire figure glowed from top to bottom.


    Despite the fact that nothing about her was concretely visible, one still had the impression that she was a peerless beauty who had descended from the heavens themselves.


    No one, including Liam, was able to take their eyes off of her. It was as if they were transfixed and spellbound to look at her and worship her.


    Liam was the first person to recover, as he dazedly shifted his gaze from this ethereal being and noticed the two other people standing on either side of her. It was none other than the golden knight and Mia.


    As soon as he saw Mia, his pulse immediately quickened, and he had a bad feeling. Who were these people, and what were they doing here?


    He had only just figured something out, but before he could take a step forward, they were already here? Did theye here for him? Damn it. Why were they here at this crucial moment?!


    Before he could get any answers, Alex as well snapped out of her trance as she trembled at the sight of the familiar face. "Mia!" She shouted and dashed forward.


    Liam only had the chance to turn and barely look at her when her charging figure was recklessly flung aside without any warning. "Silence insect." It was Mia who had done it. She watched indifferently as Alex''s body hit a rock and slid down unconscious.


    This made everyone else as well snap out of their trance. What was happening? They all could see Mia, but they couldn''t understand why she was acting in this manner?


    But before anyone else could make a move, another wave of intense pressure hit them, making them kneel on the ground without being able to breathe properly, let alone move a muscle.


    This time the angelic figure in the centre had taken action and not even Liam could resist it. She only had to lift a finger and snap it, and that forced his body into submission.


    Luna was the only one who growled loudly, but a golden cage fell on her the next second, silently sealing her in ce. All the undead summons also dissipated on their own and the beast hordepletely disappeared as if they had never existed in the first ce.


    "Now, it''s better." A melodious voice rang out as the dazzling angelic figure floated closer to the group of kneeling yers. She floated gently and gracefully all the way to where Liam was kneeling.


    "A first-order yer? Unbelievable!" Her voice sounded again. It was as if she were impressed, but there was also a tone of mockery in those words.


    "Oh, now I understand." She continued circling around Liam. "You have an SSS- Nether affinity. Hmmm? How did a human like youe to possess something like this?"


    Liam''s back stiffened up as a chill ran down his spine. He felt something scanning him. He was suddenly naked. It was as if there was nothing he could hide from this person.


    And the goddess was not done yet.


    "Hmm... Interesting. Very interesting. You also managed to obtain one of the top legacies in my world. p p p. Well done. Bravo."<sub> </sub>


    "Not to mention¡­ a divine beast, a superior mana core, above average body constitution, insight beyond what should be capable of, a weapon thatmands true power and even draconian souls."


    "How wonderful. Marvellous. Marvellous. For a mere human being from your realm, you have outdone yourself. Ha Ha Ha. Bravo. Bravo." She lifted her hands and pped.


    However, with every word she said, Liam''s expression only became that much worse. Seeing this, the goddess chuckled lightly.


    "Don''t misunderstand me. I am not here to punish anyone. Rather, I am here to reward you. Courage and bravery should be rewarded, not punished. And your efforts, young hero, definitely did not go unnoticed."


    Hmmm? Liam was confused.


    "Mmmm. Let me first introduce myself. I am one of the divine temple''s high priestesses. I am here because you have contributed a great deal by protecting our people and the Gresh Kingdom from this beast horde."


    Liam felt the pressure on him lessen, and it even pulled him up to stand again. Then, without any warning, the high priestess threw another bomb at him.


    "As a reward for your meritorious achievements, how would you like to be the fifth emperor of this world?" Her voice rang loudly and clearly.


    Liam was dazed. Fifth emperor? What the hell was she talking about?


    "Hmmm? Why are you looking at me like that? Do you not believe me?" She retrieved a golden orb from her ring and held it in her palm. "You just have to ept and you will gain not just that title but also immense power that can bring you to the top of this world."


    "Bing an emperor would let you be the ruler of all the yers. You would be able to earn riches and power beyond your imagination. Everyone else would serve you. You will only be second to me."


    As she continued talking, throwing out one sugar-coated word after another, the golden knight next to her frowned, which didn''t go unnoticed.


    Liam''s gaze was observing everything that was happening around them as he mentally prepared for the worst and did not let his guard down.


    Mia, on the other hand, did not have any reaction. She just stood there, cold and indifferent.


    Silence filled the space, as no one else made any sound as well. No one even understood what was happening. The hit Alex took left a bad aftertaste, but this offer didn''t seem to be bad.


    ***


    Bonus chapter 1~


    Please thank Raymond Tague for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 759 You Are Lying

    Silence filled the space, as no one else made any sound as well. No one even understood what was happening. The hit Alex took left a bad aftertaste, but this offer didn''t seem to be bad.


    If Liam truly became an Emperor, then their guild would be the top power in this world. They would basically be ruling this world. If any of them were offered the same chance, they would have jumped on it already.


    However, Liam did not rush because he knew some things that he hadn''t shared with others yet. He took his time and remained silent for a while. He then slowly asked, "What about her? Did she also willingly ept?" His gaze fell on Mia.


    The high priestess immediatelyughed it off. "Oh, she! Yes, I almost forgot. She is your friend, am I correct? Don''t worry about her. Aha ha ha. She is right now getting ustomed to her new power and strength, so her memories are temporarily sealed."


    "When it is safe, she will be back to normal again. There is really nothing to worry about." She assured again.


    Liam sneered inwardly. "Is that so? Ok, then." He answered but quickly added, "I will think about bing your Emperor when she regains her memories."


    The goddess, who had been casually floating all this time, suddenly paused. Seeing this, the golden knight immediately leapt forward.


    "You cretin! How dare you address the high priestess directly?!" His hand shot forward as he sent a deadly punch to Liam, which sent him flying backwards.


    At the same time, a healing hand saved him from his health bottoming out. It was the same golden knight who had hit him. He also healed him as he again charged towards him, preparing to bash him up one more time.


    "You are biting the hand that feeds you!" He sent another punch, once again healing him immediately.


    All the while, Liam absolutely did not react. He did not show the slightest trace of pain or agony which made the knight even more angry as he revved up for a third punch.


    But this time, the high priestess intervened. "That''s enough." Her voice rang out but it was clear that she was not serious and or even cared about what was happening. She was still being very casual.


    "What is the need to be so hostile? Forgive my knight. He is a bit short-tempered. There. I have healed all the damage. No harm would befall you." She floated closer to Liam.


    "You just have to nod, and the world will be at your feet. Aha ha ha. You will be just as powerful as him, and you don''t have to get beaten up by anyone again."


    Liam remained calm. He wiped the blood off his mouth and looked up without any hatred or fear of what just happened. "I still refuse to ept your offer."


    The high priestess paused and asked, "Now, why would you refuse something good?"


    It was Liam''s turn to pause, as he felt that he needed to smooth this out a bit. "I want to obtain it with my own power. I am not strong enough yet, and I don''t deserve this."


    He gave a random but believable exnation. His face was also dripping full of modesty and genuine sincerity as if he truly believed his own words and really meant them. <sub> </sub>


    Even the golden knight, who seemed hell-bent on thrashing him around just a moment before, changed his expression upon hearing this. This was an attitude he could respect!


    However¡­ the high priestess weirdly cocked her head to the side. "No. You are lying." For the first time, the halo around her thinned out a bit as her eyes became visible.


    They were a pair of mesmerizingly beautiful eyes with golden orbs, but right now all Liam could see was unfathomable coldness and cruelty within them.


    Liam''s pulse quickened. He did not want to be hostile or reveal his intentions just yet. He debated epting this so-called Emperor position again and again but if he did, he had a feeling that it would be a grave mistake, something from which he could not go back.


    The title and the position were simple enough. Perhaps, like when he became a duke, this one could also mean nothing and simply give him a specific territory to rule. However, why was this person here, standing face to face with him, and what was that golden orb?


    Liam still did not know many things about ''Evolution Online'' but one thing he knew was ''consent''. This game was big on consent. He was pretty sure that was why this woman was still standing in front of him and talking to him patiently and amicably.


    p And the way in which these guys were healing him left and right and not daring to kill anyone even by ident showed that they were not allowed to deal killing blows either.</anda>


    Hence, Liam did not intend to ept this emperor''s position no matter what. His instincts told him that it was most definitely a trap. Perhaps Mia had epted something simr because of which she was in her current condition?


    He couldn''t exactly pinpoint the danger, and he also did not know it for sure, but he was not going to take this position.


    He tried to search for another way out, but how was he supposed to escape this person who seemingly controlled everything and knew everything about him?


    "I apologize. Please forgive me. I have no intention of bing a ruler. Only adventure and fighting suit me. I am extremely humbled by your offer, but I have to, unfortunately, refuse it."


    But Liam was not done. He quickly added. "If I may suggest it, perhaps one of my guild members could ept the golden orb and be an Emperor on my behalf?"


    "I will support them with all of my strength and fight on the frontlines to continue to protect humanity from the terrible beasts and demons." He kneeled in front of the high priestess in the most sincere way.


    ***


    Bonus chapter 2~


    Please thank Raymond Tague for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 760 Too Naive!

    Liam''s act was picture-perfect. This time as well, his words sounded extremely just and convincing that the golden knight once again nodded in approval. Giving a position of power to someone else in order to fight on the front lines? That was something that he could respect.


    But when Liam looked at the high priestess, he knew that he had failed.


    How could it be so easy? How could someone like the person in front of him be fooled by someone like him?


    All of Liam''s efforts were in vain. The person''s eyes gleamed mysteriously as if she had already figured him out from the inside out.


    To make his fears worse, the high priestess suddenly said somethingpletely unexpected, somethingpletely out of the blue, something that stopped his heart in its track.


    "You seem to know more than I think you know. Just how far have youe?" Liam''s face paled. Before he could say anything to salvage this situation¡­ the woman''s eerily beautiful eyes and the golden orbs within them started flickering.


    And just like that¡­ everything that Liam had done and experienced shed in front of her like a movie, right from the beginning to the end. Every single thing that has happened since he entered this tutorial, yed out in front of her.


    She could see each and every detail, the moment he had met with the raven, how he had entered theher realm, how he had obtained Luna, how he had obtained the stone tablet, when he went to the milky way gxy with the white token, the naga pearl that he had, everything wasid out bare in front of her.


    Liam''s heart further dropped. It was literally pounding out of his chest as all of his secrets came out right in front of him, one after the other and were shown to her in vivid detail.


    She was watching everything in fast-forward mode, pausing every now and then and looking at him with a loaded nce that contained unfathomable meaning.


    And more importantly, from these smaller details, she figured out something else. Liam''s deepest, innermost secret, something that he hadn''t shared with anyone before.


    "Interesting. Very interesting." The high priestess muttered to herself as her smile widened. "You move as if you already know. How? How is something like this possible? How can you know the future?"


    He remained silent. Or rather, he was frozen. What was he supposed to do now? What was supposed to do against a person who might as well be the god of this world?


    How could she control everything if she was just another high priestess of the divine temple? This woman was definitely hiding her true identity. She was someone else. Someone else far more powerful and beyond hisprehension.


    He didn''t answer her or say anything else. He sensed a dangerous feelinging from her. However, that didn''t help. She looked at him and smirked with an all-knowing nod. "Perhaps you figured out everything."


    He couldn''t hide anything from her. She knew everything. Every single damn thing. This was beyond him and what he was capable of.


    Liam clenched his fists. It was clearly game over for him.


    The next second, he felt his body float up as the angel came closer to him, revealing a gentle, magnanimous smile that only looked ugly at the moment.


    "Do you agree to be my emperor, or do you want to perish?" She was a tad more direct this time, no longer hiding anything.


    Her true intentions were out in the open for him to see, and he was correct. He didn''t really have a choice here. If he epts either, he was going to perish.


    He flew too close to the sun, and now the sun had arrived at his doorstep to make a personal visit to him.<sub> </sub>


    Liam felt an inhuman pressure assault him from all directions. He gritted his teeth, but he did not yield. "I refuse." He gave the same response again.


    Another wave of pressure assaulted him. It made him twitch with pain, and it was torturous. "I refuse. I refuse. I refuse." He shouted.


    "Hmph." The woman then tossed his body again. "Are you not afraid of death?"


    He weakly coughed and sat up. He did not say anything.


    "Or is it because you know that I cannot kill you?" She sneered. Her peerlessly beautiful face twisted and contorted in the most horrendous way possible.


    Liam felt his body solidly frozen. A chill that threatened to freeze his very soul clung to his body. This person, this being, could take his life in an instant. He just knew it. If she put just a little more pressure on him right now, he would break apart.


    He wanted to shout and yell in pain. He wanted to shout out all of his grievances and his miseries, but even at this moment, he controlled himself.


    Even though he could feel the finality of things, he still tried his best not to expose just how much he was aware of.


    "I¡­ I¡­ I am confused." He squeezed the words out of his mouth.


    However, it didn''t amount to anything. His ying dumb was simply useless. The person''s face contorted further as her cruel smile widened some more. She acted as if she did not hear Liam at all and continued.


    "Heh. You are correct. I indeed cannot kill you, but I can do something else." She paused, andughed, her once-melodicugh now echoed like the cackling of a witch.


    Nothing was hidden any longer. Everything was out in the open for everyone to see.


    "An ant like you wants to go up against me? You think you can improve your strength step by step and stand up against someone like me?" She sneered.


    "Too naive! Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "Do you think that I will be sleeping while you are powering up? Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "I will show you true power and real hell. You will regret not epting my offer when you had the chance. Now watch all the time you had disappear!"


    She then snapped her finger as another wave of intense divine energy assaulted everything in sight. A wave of energy swept past everyone. Not just Liam, but every single yer inside the game.


    ***


    Bonus chapter 3~


    Please thank Mountain of Books for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 761 L Have Already Cut Off His Legs

    What was she saying? Seeing the malicious smile on the angelic face Liam had a bad feeling. The high priestess''s gaze locked on to him, observing him with glee. It was as if she wanted to savour his desperation and misery.


    The next second a loud system announcement chimed in.


    <Ding. Congrattions on sessfully defending against the beast horde. The event has officially ended>


    <Ding. A system update is starting>


    All the yers around the world suddenly found themselves free from the beast horde that had been terrorizing them nonstop for the past couple of hours. The whole event hadsted barely for four hours but it sure did not feel that way.


    Huzzah! Everyone started immediately rejoicing. Many people even took the chance to log out of the damned game which was hell-bent on iming their lives.


    The various guilds on the other hand weren''t all that happy with this sudden turn of events.


    The winners of each kingdom were happy and looked forward to the reward that the system was going to provide but the losers cursed to their heart''s content because they felt as if they could have won if they just had some more time.


    But in the midst of these celebrations and pity parties, no one expected the next system message which chimed in after a couple of minutes.


    Liam''s face turned ashen as he slowly read the new notifications.


    <Ding. The system update is finished>


    <Ding. Congrattions! With this, the tutorial ising to an end. The real world awaits you. The game will shut down permanently in 3 hours. Good Luck!>


    Unable to believe what he was reading, he looked up at the high priestess in utter dread. The thing that he feared the most had happened and too far sooner than it should have!


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha." The high priestess chuckled, thoroughly enjoying the scene. She licked her lips with an unmasked glee as she sneered at Liam. "A first-order cockroach wants to stand up against me?"


    "You should have licked my feet and worshipped me like how your bitch here did." She snapped her finger and Mia''s head hung low like a puppet.


    Liam gritted his teeth. He knew she was lying. Mia was probably tricked. He clenched his fist tightly, anger and regret surging inside. Maybe if he had found out about these people sooner, maybe if he had worked harder.


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha!" The womanughed at his anger. "What are you angry for? At least this way she is living, isn''t she? You and I both know what is going to happen to you! Good luck!"


    The high priestess revealed a smug ugly grin. She then nced at Luna and then back at Liam mockingly before she smiled again and all three of them disappeared.


    "Priestess, are we really going to leave him just like that?" The golden knight immediately asked. He was not quite satisfied with how things had proceeded.


    However, the high priestess seemed to be too upied to answer him. "A first-order cockroach right in front of me. Who would have thought that this day woulde?" She mumbled to herself.


    "Someone managed to actually crawl up despite being born in a shitty trash realm. It seems that we have be far too lenient. For the next realm, we need to put tighter controls." <sub> </sub>


    "Hmmm. Yes. That should do it. Just offer the right rewards and the fools will automatically scramble to worship us."


    As she continued making ns and adjustments, the golden knight couldn''t help but ask her again. "Your eminence¡­ about him¡­"


    "Hmmm. What about him?"


    "Changing everything just for him¡­ was that really necessary?"


    "Yes. It was." She nodded solemnly. "Even though the enemy is a lowly mortal, never underestimate anyone."


    "Yes, your eminence." The golden knight bowed. "In that case, should I do anything else?"


    "Hmmm. No. Not necessary. He doesn''t know it yet, but I have already cut all his legs. Now he has nothing to stand on."


    "Ah?" The golden knight hadn''t expected this.


    "Sure, he has a lot of interesting things like that divine beast. Unfortunately, that''s all he has. He cannot take anything out. I made sure of it. I have already shut all of his routes of escape."


    "He is nothing anymore. Just a broken toy." The priestess chuckled and then added, "And I am happy with the whole one that I have." She gave a look at Mia and patted her as she smiled.


    "What about thisher affinity?"


    "Ha Ha Ha. Nether affinity? I don''t know how a mere human being came to possess aher affinity but mark my words. That is not a blessing. That is a curse." The priestessughed again.


    "No human can ever withstand an affinity to the undead. Only a demon would be able to bear the weight of such a curse. Mmm¡­ That kind of power will eat him inside out."


    "Yes, your eminence. You are wise." The golden knight bowed, but he was once again ignored as the priestess walked ahead by herself.


    "I need to inform the higher-ups about the change in schedule. They won''t be pleased." She lifted a white ball in her hands that contained something like mist inside and tossed it up and down in deep contemtion.


    "Tch. Tch. It is not even opaque yet. What a poor harvest." A golden glow covered her and in the next instant, she disappeared.


    A couple of seconds after she left, the golden knight stopped staring nkly and mumbled something as a divine spell engulfed Mia. She then returned back to her former cold indifferent self, stillcking all her memories.


    "Go. Go and do what you are supposed to do." The knightmanded her as if she was a puppet and he then he himself settled in front of the gigantic mirror that currently disyed Liam''s horrified face.


    The priestess had told him no more actions were necessary but he wanted to make sure of it so that her words indeed were proved correct.

 Chapter 762 The Game Is Shutting Down

    <Ding. The system update is finished>


    <Ding. Congrattions! With this, the tutorial ising to an end. The real world awaits you. The game will shut down permanently in 3 hours. Good Luck!>


    The entire world, which had been celebrating the destruction of the beast horde, began to tremble as they stared at therge notification that had appeared out of the blue.


    It was so abrupt and sudden that no one even knew what to make of it. The tutorial is ending? What tutorial? This was a tutorial game?


    The real world awaits? Who the hell wanted the real world? Heck, they were ying the game because the real world sucked, and this was a wee change. Now, why did this announcement mention the real world?


    That too the game was permanently shutting down? What did this mean?


    Everyone started panicking. Especially the corporations and the big sharks who had invested a lot in this game began sweating, not understanding the heads or tails of what was happening.


    Some people even began scrambling to sell their in-game gold coins for dors, but to their dismay, even that option seemed to be no longer avable.


    The game began its slow, mysterious demise in the same way it had appeared: without any exnation.


    In the midst of all this panic, suddenly another rumor began to spread. Someone called this game a beta test and hypothesized that the actual game would be more difficult and would be released soon.


    Moreover, because the gold coins seemed to be sort of blocked now, they said that all characters would retain their wealth and special titles in the new game, which was why the currency transaction was not avable.


    This quickly started spreading and became the main public opinion. It seemed to put everyone at ease and also sort of hyped up the release of the next version. Everyone began to look forward to this with bated breath, counting just how rich the new game was going to make them.


    Like blind sheep, they began celebrating in taverns and brothels in full merriment.


    Meanwhile¡­ the selected few who actually knew the truth couldn''t rx like this even one bit. They couldn''t possibly still delude themselves into thinking that everything was just warm and peachy.


    Another game release? Who were they kidding? Now was not the time for new games! Everything was going to be painfully real!


    All the Crimson Abyss guild members suddenly found themselves on pins and needles.


    At least the core members of the guild knew that this wasing, though the thought of this reality never really sank in, and now it was already here?


    It was unbelievable. They almost couldn''t digest it. What happened to the guild higher-ups? Why were there no announcements about this? What were they supposed to do now?


    There were so many questions and not enough answers. The guild chat group was all the rage. What were the big bosses doing? Everyone wanted to know! Their entire life depended on this!


    And right now¡­ these big bosses were in no better condition.


    Mia Mia Mia! Alex was inplete shambles. Everyone else also did not understand what was going on. They had just now witnessed something bizarre and crazy! <sub> </sub>


    One second, they were all nning a future in the game, plotting and scheming how to earn millions and settle down rich with many wives, but the next second, the game was going to permanently shut down.


    What the hell?


    Liam also sat, frozen in ce. The golden cage around Luna disappeared, and she dashed towards him and licked him worriedly. "Master, are you okay?"


    Liam looked at the clear blue eyes of the fox, who was yet to bind to him. In three hours, they would no longer be together. The same went for the ck dragon weapon, the stone tablet, and every single thing in his possession.


    He was not prepared for anything. He wasn''t prepared at all. Everything he had carefully secured was going to slip away from his hands, and there was nothing he could do about it. The beast horde was also now gone. He had no idea what to do now.


    The limit breaker fruit! That''s right. If he could go to the Milky Way auction house and get the help of that little girl, maybe something could be salvaged after all.


    Liam immediately searched for the white token to go to the auction house, but¡­ somehow that was missing. "No. Impossible." He searched for it again and again, but nothing changed. There was no use. The white token was also gone.


    With a dreaded look on his face, he then opened the system interface. A bitter taste already filled his mouth as if he could foresee what was going to happen next.


    And just like that¡­ theher realm portal was also missing.


    His system interface option that had the portal skill before was now simply nk. Liam threw his head back and startedughing maniacally. This was it! Everything was over. He waspletely cornered!


    Kyuuuu? Luna came closer and hugged him tightly with her small paws. She could feel that something was very wrong. What was happening? She did not understand.


    She pitifully looked at Liam, hoping it would all be okay. She did not want her master to suffer. She licked him lovingly.


    Liam saw the fox, and his eyes reddened. On his other side, Alex walked over to him and slumped next to him. She knelt pitifully and looked at him, tears streaming down her eyes.


    "That was Mia¡­ that was Mia¡­ wasn''t it? why was she like that? What is happening? What did they do to her?" She sobbed listlessly. She hoped that Liam would say something but seeing the look on his face, shepletely broke down.


    "Why are you not saying anything? You said that you would take care of everything! You said that we would be fine! You said that you would protect us!" She punched his chest and shouted in agony.


    Seeing Alexpletely break down, everyone else who was panicking froze. The woman, who had only ever been headstrong and proud in front of them, was now aplete and utter mess. She was crying like a child.


    No one knew what to do. They were also close to breaking down. What was going to happen now? They all looked towards Liam, as he was their only hope at the moment.


    But the question was¡­ was he enough? In front of the God who had just changed their whole destiny at the snap of her finger, what could even Liam do?


    Were they all simply doomed?


    In the midst of this noise and ruckus, Liam let out a deep breath and stood up.

 Chapter 763 We Have 3 Hours

    Liam gently pulled Alex off of him and stood up. Though he wanted to say something to her to console her, now was not the time for it. Every second at the moment was precious.


    He couldn''t allow himself to falter now. If three hours were all that was left then that was that. He would still seed. He had to, but the question was how?


    He racked his brain as his gaze swept across the guild members around him. Everyone was in utter shock and no matter what n he thought of, every single thing needed more than 3 fucking hours.


    Luna¡­ Mia¡­ Derek¡­ what was he going to do now?


    The woman had made sure that there was nowhere he could go and no one he could turn to. So what was he supposed to do now?


    The only strength he had at the moment was his soul minions.


    As he thought about it, suddenly Liam felt an rm go off in his brain. Yes, he had his soul minions. They were not something that someone could just ignore.


    They were strong and powerful creatures who could hold their own. Besides, he was able to take them out of the game. So¡­ why didn''t the woman do anything about them?


    The more he thought about it the more it bothered him. Even if all his others strengths were stripped clean, these minions were more than enough. They were a terrifying force. When he had his army to face the apocalypse, what else did he need?


    But still, she didn''t seem all that bothered about them. The woman who went out of her way to make sure he had no ce to escape,pletely ignored these minions.


    Was there something else that he had missed? Why was she so confident that he would fail even when he had his soul minions with him?


    Liam had a feeling that something was not right. And then it struck him. What if there was something really off about his assumption? What if he was not able to take his soul minions out once the game shut down?


    No, he clutched his head and shook it vigorously. Because of all the uncertainties and the impending doom, he was driving himself crazy. He was able to take the soul minions out right now so he should be able to do it after the game also. After all, they were all a part of his soul.


    But then why did she leave them alone? She did not even kill them once while she was here as a part of the grand show she had disyed. The woman was so hellbent on demonstrating just how strong she was.


    She went out of her way to make sure that Liam knew the difference between her and him, where they stood in the food chain and what was their respective positions in this world and the outside world.


    So why did she leave his soul minions? He couldn''t shake this thought off at all.


    Nevertheless, he decided not to dwell on it. He needed to calm down. Calm the fuck down. Liam reprimanded himself. He snapped himself out of it. There was no use thinking about these possibilities now.


    This was not the first life-or-death situation he had faced. The world had always been cruel to him and it was no different now. He needed to ept the harsh truths, what he could do and what was out of his control.


    He had to face the consequences and deal with things as theye.No matter how things yed out, he need to remain steady and clear-headed, or else he might just lose more than he needed to.


    He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes for a minute. And then what he needed to do floated over all the other mess. It was crystal clear. Above all else, the first and foremost thing he had to do was¡­ this so-called awakening.


    He needed to awaken his mana core. He took a few more deep breaths as he contemted this. After that, it was even more clear. This was it. This could solve several of his problems.<sub> </sub>


    If he managed to awaken his mana core, not only would it allow him to retain his mana core and his level when he was kicked out of the game but there was a possibility that he could also somehow bind the PVP tower crystal or whatever spatial thing that crystal had.


    If he could just somehow do that, then he could bring Luna with him.


    Not just her but he could bring every single thing that was valuable out to the world with him, the legendary items, health potions, herbs, ores and gemstones. Perhaps even his followers coulde out with him. The possibilities were endless.


    Liam clenched his fist as his gaze filled with resolve. He was going to do this. He was going to aplish this no matter what. This was hisst hail-mary attempt.


    He looked at Alex and she was in no condition to listen to him. Without wasting time he looked at Shen Yue and gave the orders.


    "Gather all the legendary weapons in the guild and bring them to me."


    "Tell everyone who reached level 50 to cleanse their body and form the mana core."


    "Go to the guild vault. Take out everything that is valuable. Round up all the followers we have in the guild, doesn''t matter whose follower it is."


    "And thene find me. In the next three hours. Focus on only this."


    Shen Yue listened keenly and memorized everything Liam said. "I¡­ is there anything else I can do?" She asked, worry lines forming on her beautiful face.


    Liam sighed and stepped forward to kiss her forehead. "Everything is going to change. Be ready and be alert." He let her go and turned to his right, "Luna,e on."


    The fox became bigger on his signal and he then jumped on top of her. He had three hours and the clock was ticking. "Luna! Get to the dungeon sphemous putrid."


    sphemous putrid was a Level 80 dark element temple that was on the northern mountains, just above the Rock Temple dungeon. The whole territory was extremely dangerous and it had a lot of high-levelled beasts, but Liam didn''t care about that right now.


    He needed to be there and take this risk. Now was the time for taking risks.


    Luna as well understood this. She could feel that something was wrong. She prepared to use her full power, full energy.


    "Master¡­"


    "We have 3 hours Luna, everything depends on it. Let''s go. We need to make this count."


    ***


    Bonus chapter~


    Please thank Mountain of Books for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 764 All Bets Are Off

    While the entire Xion realm was inplete disarray over the announcement of the game shutdown, one fox alone blurred in and out of the clouds in the sky as she sped across the Kingdom, heading to the northernmost border.


    Liam and Luna arrived at the sphemous Putrid dungeon safely in just a few minutes, thanks to the fox who was using her blur skill like there was no tomorrow. She had exhausted herself so much that when they arrived at the destination she was panting hard.


    With a sigh, Liam patted her but he did not say anything else. He directly walked into the Level 80 dungeon and summoned his soul minions.


    In an instant, the entire dungeon was flooded with all sorts of creatures. They seem to outnumber even the mobs that originally belonged to the dungeon.


    All sorts of gued creatures popped out of the nook and corners of the dungeon but the wyvern unit and the barbarian unit simply ughtered everything in sight.


    And since they were all of the undead race, the poisonous fumes of the dungeon did little to nothing to them. Theypletely ignored everything about the dungeon and cleared the whole ce in just a few minutes.


    Big chunks of experience points chimed in as this was a Level 80 dungeon after all and some of the soul minions levelled up but this was not why Liam had chosen this specific dungeon. He had selected it for its dark element attribute!


    The dungeon was enriched in dark element and partiallyher. Next to theher realm, this was probably where he was strongest at the moment. This was exactly why he was here.


    After he received the dungeon''s clear notification and the vanity first clear announcement which rang loudly across the world informing them about his current location, he immediately dismissed his soul minions.


    He was not particrly concerned about the system outing his location because first of all, he was in the dangerous northern terrain where several powerful creatures lurked. If anyone wanted toe here, it would require time and sufficient strength.


    Moreover, there were only two and something hours left before the game shut down. If anyone still wanted to waste their remaining time ande find him for trouble, he wouldn''t mind spending some seconds dealing with them and adding them to his army.


    Nevertheless, he still dismissed his soul minions to head outside the dungeon. Not to stand guard and not let anyone lie in wait for him but to continue farming experience points by hunting in the area. Every second was precious right now so it had to be used to the fullest.


    Meanwhile, Liam settled down in the dungeon itself and without any hesitation took out the stone tablet from his inventory.


    The high priestess left these few items alone without tampering with them. Liam doubted if it was because she had forgotten about them. Rather she probably didn''t have permission to meddle to that extent.<sub> </sub>


    Though that person seemed to be in control of a lot of things, clearly she also had to follow certain rules and guidelines. Otherwise, Liam was pretty sure he wouldn''t even be breathing at the moment. It would have taken her all of 2 seconds topletely erase him.


    But he did not have time to figure these things out at the moment. What she was able to do and not able to do was none of his concern. He was alive and still breathing, he was here so he began his work.


    He ced the stone tablet on the ground and the next second, the world around him started changing. He was back to the familiar barren terrain with nothing but a puddle of swirling fire essence.


    Another puddle next to the fire essence puddle suddenly popped out and in this new one, dark element essence started umting bit by bit. The stone tablet had already begun its work! It had started refining the essence of the dungeon and storing it within.


    Liam observed this and nodded in satisfaction. It was still working the same. She had really not been able to tamper with it at all.


    "Even when she listed out all the strong points I had, she said nothing about this stone tablet and also the rabbit." Liam pondered out loud while rubbing his chin. "Did she think that I will forget about them just because she hadn''t mentioned it?"


    Maybe before he was cautious about using this stone tablet but now there were only 3 hours left! All bets were off! He was going to siphon off as many dungeons as possible if that was what was needed.


    As the essence from the dungeon was slowly drained and absorbed by the stone tablet, Liam tried to sense the same and adjust his condition. However, there was still a problem. The concentration was not enough just yet.


    "Damn it. This is too slow." He stood up and directly saw down right in the puddle. He then tried to sense his mana core and once again found himself staring at the shackles that held him down. This was it. This was why he was here.


    Before he started the rest of his n, he first tried to feel these shackles thoroughly and probed the full weight of their presence. He could only barely do it for a couple of seconds before his head started throbbing with pain.


    How pitiful! This was his current status and within these three hours, he needed to get from here topletely shattering apart these shackles. How the hell was he going to do it?


    Liam already knew that this was a difficult or rather probably an impossible task and he had no delusions about it.


    But no matter how impossible it was, he was not going to give up. He was still going to give it his best shot! It was time to put his n into motion and drag himself across that finish linee hell or high water!

 Chapter 765 Break For Me

    Steadying his mind, Liam took out a ck bead, not one of the empty ones and not the one that had the dragon''s or the lizardmen''s souls in them. Instead, he took out the ck bead that was alreadypletely filled with human souls.


    This was one of the items he had acquired from the dark mages who had sacrificed the vigers. The souls of the vigers were essentially trapped inside.


    Perhaps the right thing to do here was to release the innocent souls and put them to rest, but unfortunately, he was not in a position to do the right thing at the moment.


    Liam did not hesitate as he broke and shattered this bead, pulling out all the souls within the bead in a single move.


    The next instant, white mist exploded from the bead, just like when Dimitri, the dark elf, used the attack on him. But the him now was much stronger than the him back then. So he did not twitch and convulse in the pain as the numerous souls banged against him from all sides.


    Instead, he silently felt them and epted their presence. He held onto his breath as the wailing of the souls echoed in the stone tablet world and bore the pressure they ryed.


    For a second, the souls seemed extremely unsteady, as if they were going to st apart and dissipate, but soon they started bing stable.


    Just like the fire element essence and the dark element essence swirling in their own respective puddles, these souls as well started forming another puddle and swirled within that puddle.


    "I knew it." Liam grinned. His guess had been correct. Just like back at the fort where they had imprisoned the dragon princess, the stone tablet was also a special ce. The souls were still stable here without dissipating.


    Naturally, this was a huge risk he had taken as he could have simply lost all these souls, but at this point, there was no longer any sense in holding back. He needed to jump in with both his feet and tried anything and everything that made even a little sense.


    Sensing the numerous souls around him, Liam stood up from the dark element puddle to sit in the middle of this soul essence puddle. He then took a deep breath and let everything go.


    Haaaa. He could feel the abundant energy rushing into him, and he felt as if he was in the mostfortable spa. These soul essences were truly nourishing for him.


    Feelingpletely pumped from top to bottom, Liam then took yet another shot at his mana core and the shackles that bound him. He sucked in a big breath of air, held onto the chains that kept him down and once again rattled them.


    RUMBLE RUMBLE!


    RUMBLE RUMBLE!


    The chains started creaking and groaning.


    The thick metallic shackles that were immovable before were now shaking and trembling as hemanded them to break apart.


    "Break for me." Liam gritted his teeth and used the full strength of his mana core to st them into smithereens, but¡­ how could it be so easy? This was the extent of his current ability, even sitting immersed in soul essence.


    "Come on. Break." He gritted his teeth and tried, only to fail again.


    "It''s fine. I know how to push it further." Liam stopped struggling with the stubborn shackles. He was just beginning. After all, there was no need to push anything just yet. For now, he had confirmed what he wanted to confirm.


    He was stronger and able to forge higher beasts in the presence of souls, so he assumed that he also had the best chance to break these shackles in the presence of these souls. This told him that he was on the right path. Just that his soul was not strong enough.


    Liam sucked in a breath, and without any other choice, he started working on his n B. He took out another ck bead and broke apart that one as well.


    While the earlier bead contained the souls of weak human vigers, this one waspletely different. It did not have any weak souls. It collectively held the souls of numerous lizardmen.<sub> </sub>


    These strong vengeful souls swirled around Liam, echoing in agony and pain. For a moment, he felt his body shiver, but he quickly steadied himself. He couldn''t afford to let himself be affected by just this much. He still had a lot to face.


    The strong souls shed against him wave after wave, and Liam continued to bear everything.


    The wyvern souls and the dragon souls were challenging as they were a singr, extremely powerful entity. Even though these souls were not as strong as them, they still had the numbers on their side. Facing the whish of these numerous souls was not a simple matter.


    But this was also what Liam wanted. As seconds ticked by, he started feelingpletely drained and exhausted. His head was throbbing, and his body was trembling. However, he continued to hold on by drinking the water from the Milky Way pond.


    After a certain point, even that stopped working as the pain started increasing exponentially. At this moment, Liam started pulling in energy from the very souls that were attacking him.


    This, in turn, made his own soul a little bit stronger. Only a little bit. So he was continuing to struggle nevertheless.


    Liam patiently withstood everything and started repeating this same thing, again and again, each time slowly strengthening his soul. At the same time, his other soul minions were running wild outside the dungeon and farming experience points, slowly increasing his overall strength.


    ***


    Back at the divine temple in the Eastern Empire, the high priestess sat on her throne with an annoyed expression on her face. Her meeting hadn''t gone well.


    The useless good for nothings who were above her just because of their status dared to point fingers at her and called her names. They said she had bezy and ipetent to let something like this happen.


    "As if any of those idiots are capable of managing an entire realm like me!" She scoffed angrily. Adding to her bad mood, the mirror in front of her suddenly stopped disying Liam''s whereabouts.


    "What happened? I want to know what he is doing at all times!" She angrily clenched her fists. If she could, she would have already crushed this pest that was causing her a headache thousand times over.


    But unfortunately, her hands were tied, so she could only watch. "Your eminence, I am not sure what happened." The golden knight bowed and regretfully answered.


    "Useless. Utterly useless. Can''t you even see this? He should be using that stone tablet. That''s why we are not able to observe him." She rubbed her temples and mumbled, the frown on her face deepening.


    "Useless idiot is probably just making more of his soul minions. Trash. Doesn''t know the value of the treasure he is holding in his hands. Come to think of it, just how did the demonse in possession of something like this?"


    "Hmmm... I need to prepare more for our next project. It looks like I cannot underestimate these demons. Thankfully, in 3 hours, I don''t have to deal with this insect again. Without him incessantly buzzing around, I will be able to focus on other important things."


    "Yes, your eminence."


    "That''s enough. Get out now. Take this mirror with you and keep an eye on him. I have some other things to take care of."


    "Yes, your eminence."


    "And remember, I don''t care what happens to him. He is not worth my time. Just get me that stone tablet as soon as that vermin is kicked out of my world. That is more important."


    "Yes, your eminence." The golden knight obediently bowed without daring to raise his head.

 Chapter 766 All Out!

    Liam stared at the soul essence puddle he was currently sitting in. He was finally ustomed to it, but he could still feel the weight of the numerous lizardmen''s souls, just that it was not enough to harm him anymore.


    He was stronger than that now. So it was time to move on to the next step.


    Though there were several things he could do at the moment, the current path he had chosen to take was very simple and straightforward. What doesn''t kill you will make you stronger.


    Now that the vigers'' souls and the lizardmen''s souls had already strengthened him, it was time for the next test that he needed to face.


    Liam took out the two ck beads that contained the dragon souls. He did not know if he was ready for this or not. He was probably not.


    But his main intention here was not to forge these two souls. He wanted them to forge him instead. Just like he used the souls of the vigers and the souls of the lizardmen, he was prepared to throw away these two souls as well to make his own soul stronger.


    This was the only way out of his current predicament. If he couldn''t break his shackles just yet, maybe his soul just wasn''t strong enough. Right now, this was all he had. Just ifs, buts and maybes. So he was going to use everything he had to try and survive.


    Liam ced one ck bead down and held the other in between his thumb and index finger. He then gritted his teeth and started pulling out the dragon''s soul again.


    Groan. Liam''s body trembled at the enormous pressure which instantly assaulted him. He had only done this an hour back when he brought the entire soul under his control.


    But now that he was repeating the same thing again, it did not get any easier. He once again had to go through the same pain and agony as the dragon''s soul shed with his own.


    Meanwhile, the time was ticking. Liam downed one health potion after another as he persevered through the ordeal. Soon after the first few seconds, the soul slowly returned back to his control. Of course, not without damaging a part of his own soul first.


    Liam winced from the gut-wrenching pain, but he held on strongly to the huge football-sized dragon soul swirling in front of him. This was where he was previously interrupted, and now he was going to forge this soul to perfection.


    However, he did not rush things right from the get-go. If he forged the soul as is, it was sure to explode out of his control and mix in with the other soul essence swirling around him, permanently lost to him. He first needed to heal.


    This was also one of the very important things that he wanted at the moment. With a smile on his face, Liam patiently felt the full extent of the injury that his soul suffered, thanks to the dragon''s soul.


    He then started using the surrounding soul essence to heal himself. He seeped the random soul essence into his own and slowly made himself whole again and, in the process, a little bit stronger. <sub> </sub>


    Only after that he attended to the football-sized dragon soul that was squirming in his grasp. However, he only barely started and summoned the mana hammers to bang on the soul when it started once again revolting,shing out at Liam.


    "Damn it." Liam shuddered as waves of pain started assaulting him once more. Instead of going step by step from 1 to 100, he had directly jumped from step 10 to step 100, so naturally, he had expected this. He needed to withstand this pain at all costs.


    Liam used every ounce of willpower in his body to muster the strength and courage to keep going on. His mana core also churned wildly to give him the strength that he needed.


    He was tapping into the core more than he had ever done. He was pushing himself more than he had ever done. He had no other choice. He needed to do this. He needed to survive ande out alive at the other end.


    As if listening to Liam''s wishes, the stone tablet was also churning out the dungeon''s essence faster than it usually did. Mana inside the stone tablet sky-rocketed, and Liam suddenly found himself with surplus mana that he could use.


    BANG! He immediately made the mana hammers a dozen times bigger, and nine giant hammers thrashed the unruly dragon soul from nine different directions.


    While Liam continued struggling with the dragon soul and also racing against time, Luna curled up in the fire essence puddle and started her own training.


    Meanwhile¡­ the rest of the world wasn''t all this calm and steady. Most yers were running around like headless chickens. Fights broke out, and guilds started waging wars against each other.


    yers crowded around the big cities of the various kingdoms and did all sorts of things that they did not dare think of before. Daylight robbery, unprovoked PVP, cornering, molesting and raping female yers and NPCs, all hell broke loose.


    Some of the guilds even dared to loot NPC-run shops and, in the end, got pathetically thrown into prison. But mostly, the yers got away with whatever they did because the NPC poption in the city simply couldn''t handle the full poption of the yer base.


    Amidst this mass hysteria, only a handful of guilds at the moment acted sane and sensible. In Crimson Abyss, Shen Yue stepped up and took care of all the administrative duties with the help of Mei Mei, Rey and a few others.


    Alex was unfortunately too disturbed to do anything at the moment. Rey, on the other hand, was surprisingly more reliable. No one expected it, but he managed to struggle and hit Level 50 even with histe start in the game.


    Not only that, but he also formed his mana core after using the body cleansing elixir and now was helping Shen Yue handle things. With Mia and Alex the way they were, his usual yful nature waspletely gone, reced by a mature, reliable person.

 Chapter 767 The Harsh Truth

    <Ding. System Notice: 2 more hours until the game begins to shut down>


    As the new notification reminding everyone of their impending doom chimed in, Shen Yue began talking.


    "Listen, everyone. The clock is ticking. If you are close to reaching Level 50, stay back in the game, level and form your mana core after consuming the elixir. But if you are not, then please log out and start assembling together."


    Her voice reverberated in the guild hall as she addressed everyone present there. She also sent the corresponding instructions in the guild chat announcement segment for those who were not present in the hall.


    The guild hall, which was usually lively and thriving, today looked solemn and grave, as if a death had urred in the family. Most of these people knew what wasing, so they couldn''t help but be nervous and shaky.


    Rey saw that they badly needed a morale booster, or else this type of atmosphere could be detrimental. "Come on! Why do you guys have long faces? Those idiots out there should be the ones crying at the end of the day."


    "We all know what to do. Let''s everyone stick together and face this together. Since the beginning of the game, we have been training for this, and we can do it." Rey cleared his throat and shouted. "Everyone say it with me."


    "CRIMSON ABYSS FOR THE WIN! WE CAN DO IT! WE WILL SURVIVE!"


    All the guild members gathered immediately perked up as they started shouting after Rey one after the other. They had indeed been preparing for this day long and hard!


    "CRIMSON ABYSS FOR THE WIN! WE CAN DO IT! WE WILL SURVIVE!"


    "CRIMSON ABYSS FOR THE WIN! WE CAN DO IT! WE WILL SURVIVE!"


    "CRIMSON ABYSS FOR THE WIN! WE CAN DO IT! WE WILL SURVIVE!"


    Loud cheering noises echoed in the guild hall as the team morale quickly shot up. Every single core guild member was already aware of the n when the day arrived.


    Though Liam had not foreseen this kind of development, he thankfully decided to take care of this sooner thanter. He mainly did it so that everyone would take the game more seriously, but this was now helping them in crunch time.


    Wishing good luck to each other, the group then started logging out one after the other because they knew that the real battle was going to be out there in the world, not inside here!


    So unlike the others, they did not care about the gold coins or the money they had invested in the game. They simply deposited in the guild vault everything that they had in the respective slots based on the item''s value and then logged out without looking back.


    Targeted gathering points had already been discussed and established. Many yers previously relocated closer to these locations, but there were also many yers who were sceptical and didn''t bother with it.


    However, now no one dared to be sceptical any longer. The countdown was ticking, and a global bomb was going to go off. So everyone simply packed some necessary items and started heading to the meeting points with their friends and family.<sub> </sub>


    And those who weren''t near any designated meeting points could only curse their bad luck and stupidity for not listening to Liam earlier. There were now only less than 2 hours, and it was toote to travel anywhere far.


    Shen Yue had already instructed these people to collect some household weapons like knives, hammers and axe and stay prepared to fight.


    The others were also doing the same at the designated meeting points as everyone prepared themselves mentally and physically to face the day, which was possibly going to be the worst fucking day in their entire lives.


    Meanwhile, time and tide wait for no one as the next dreaded message arrived.


    <Ding. System Notice: 1 more hour until the game begins to shut down>


    There was now only one more hour until the gamepletely shut down! Even more panic and chaos spread online!


    "Filthy! Disgusting! This is the true nature of these vile creatures." The golden armoured knight spat out as he watched the mayhem in the realm. Standing next to him, Mia indifferently kept staring.


    "You don''t think so?" The golden armoured knight turned to ask her, curious about her silence. Perhaps she felt lenient as they were her own kind?


    However, Mia unexpectedly shook her head. "They are not worth my attention." She pridefully answered without batting an eye. The golden armoured knight looked startled for a second, but then he continued watching the disaster that unfolded in front of him.


    The priestess was not wrong. In fact, he also had no interest in watching these insects. As for the person who had piqued his interest and really wanted to observe, he was still hidden from his vision.


    "What is he doing? Her eminence mentioned that he possessed not just wyvern souls but also dragon souls, but could he have really somehow managed to forge the dragon souls?" The golden armoured knight silently pondered to himself.


    "No, what am I thinking? Ha Ha." He chuckled to himself. He was definitely overthinking. Something like that was definitely not possible.


    For a person from the trash realm, already his achievements were apudable. Anything more than this could only be a dream and not a reality. That was the harsh truth. No one was above this.


    However, unbeknownst to him, at the exact same moment¡­ two majestic creatures roared loudly, their thunderous roar and powerful aura crackling the very air surrounding them.


    Liam panted as he stared at the two dragon soul minions standing in front of him.


    One was a lightning beast whose every breath crackled with power, and the other was an ice beast whose mere presence froze thend around it.


    The two dragon undead minions were only Level 10 and Level 12, respectively, but their aura was something else. They stared down at Liam, their gaze filled with myriad emotions.

 Chapter 768 BOOM!

    Liam gaped at the magnificent creatures standing in front of him, not in their flesh and blood but in their soul form. This was it. He was done. He had actually managed to forge two dragons.


    Their levels were on the lower side, and there was some soul diffusion during the forging process, so he had let some of their soul slip through the cracks, but in the end, it was done.


    The proof was in front of him. He had withstood everything that these two threw at him and forged them as best as he could.


    Liam tiredly panted and heaved as he continued to gaze at the two creatures in stupefaction. He then shook his head and snapped out of it. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to admire them right at this moment.


    Two hours had gone by in the blink of an eye! Now there was only one more hour left!


    And there was still so much for him left to do¡­


    He took a deep breath and started the next part quickly, the part where he healed his currently damaged soul. In thest couple of hours, he had not only forged these two dragon souls, but he had also forged himself in the process.


    His soul was now essentially much stronger. He could just feel it.


    "I can do it. I can break it this time." Liam''s gaze filled with resolve as he hurriedly tried to heal himself back to his most optimal condition.


    Forging the two dragon souls went by well, but right here, this was the most important step. He needed to do it this time. He needed to break the shackles. No matter what.


    With just one hour left, Liam hurriedly inhaled the souls around him like a maniac.


    After dealing with the dragon''s souls, the weak vigers'' souls and the slightly stronger lizardmen''s souls were simply a nourishment to his injury. They no longer affected him. This in itself proved that he had be stronger.


    Liam grunted as he felt his soul heal rapidly after the hour and a half of intense forging. He as well urged it as best as he could, and in the next few minutes, he was once again back to his former self.


    He then took a sip out of the Milky Way pond canister to adjust his mental fatigue and shoved some food into his mouth just for the sake of it and was finally ready to attempt the awakening again.


    Liam closed his eyes and felt the abundantly rich mana all around him. He steadied his mind and his breathing and started reaching down to his mana core.


    Almost immediately, he gasped in surprise as he shed open his eyes. Even though he tried to stay calm, he couldn''t do it. His mana core this time feltpletely different from before. It was unfathomably deep and profound. More so than he had ever felt it before.


    He had undergone brutal hellish training with the old elf but forging these two dragon soulspletely topped all that training. The change he noticed now couldn''t bepared even with the results of that hellish training.


    "Does this mean I am close?" Liam couldn''t help but feel excited. After all, this was a matter of life and death and not just his own.


    He once again took a deep breath and dove in again. He knew it. He was going to do it this time. He was going to st away those chains and awaken his mana core!


    As the condescending domineering face of the high priestess appeared in front of him, Liam grunted again and reached back down to his mana core.<sub> </sub>


    "BREAK!" He shouted out loud,pletely engrossed in his own world and scaring silly the fox sitting next to him who was also training very hard.


    Luna blinked her clear blue eyes and stared at Liam intently. She could also feel that her Master was extremely excited at this moment, as if he was on the cusp of achieving something extraordinary.


    As the two dragons and the fox continued to stare unblinkingly at Liam, he gritted his teeth and shouted loudly for the fifth time.


    "BREAK!"


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    This time shockingly, the mana in the stone tablet world started churning wildly. The mana reserves that had not been affected in the least while Liam forged the two remarkable dragon souls now unexpectedly showed signs of dwindling!


    Luna immediately became worried. Will her Master have enough mana? She could sense that he should not be interrupted at the moment. He was in the middle of a breakthrough, but unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it.


    The mana around them continued dropping at an rming pace, and she waspletely helpless. She snarled silently in anger as she got back into the fire essence puddle and focussed on her own training. Useless! She was too useless!


    Unbeknownst to her and Liam, surprisingly, the dragon soul minions also had simr expressions at the moment. They did not seem quite as unemotional and unattached as the rest of the soul undead. It was almost as if they were not dead.


    However, even more shocking than this was the behaviour of the stone tablet at the moment. As the mana inside the space started dwindling, the stone tablet started churning the essence of the dungeon even more wildly.


    Normally, a Level 80 dungeon should havested for 2 entire days ifpared to the behaviour of the stone tablet previously, but now with the way things proceeded, the essence of the dungeon seemed as if it was going to be depleted any second now.


    The golden knight who was observing all of this without blinking dropped his jaw on the floor. Just what the hell was happening inside that space? He clenched his fists anxiously and stared at the mirror.


    Was something huge going to happen? His heart pounded loudly as he waited and watched for things to be revealed. Unfortunately, that was all he could do at the moment. That and pray that nothing unforeseen happened.


    If something did happen¡­ the priestess¡­ she would not be happy.


    But the next second, BOOM!


    A loud explosion rang out as the dungeon that previously existed was no longer there. "NOOO!" The golden knight shouted as he jolted to stand up in shock. What just happened? Did that human being manage to break through?


    He peered through the mirror with his face so close to it as if he simply wanted to dive into the mirror himself. And it looked like he did not have to wait any longer!


    When the dust and smoke cleared, the person that was hidden from his vision all this time finally revealed himself. Liam sat there, his head drooping low and his hands bleeding.

 Chapter 769 Failed?!

    For a second, the golden knight looked stunned as he looked at the two undead dragon soul minions, but then his lips curved into a sneer as his attentionnded on the human being.


    His gaze dragged on Liam from top to bottom to confirm what he felt, and this sneer widened. "Paha! Of course! A lower-realm trash will be a lower-realm trash! I am just thinking too much. Ha Ha Ha!"


    "Ok. There is no point sitting here and watching this human any longer. There is only less than an hour left. What could he possibly do with that time? Make more soul minions? Pa ha ha ha! The priestess was correct. He is just a fool who is in over his head."


    "On the other hand, I have a lot that needs to be done before everything closes down." With a sigh, he stood up and left the hall.


    Before leaving, he turned to nce at the mirror onest time, only to find Liam still sitting like a statue, a broken and desperate one at that. "He ispletely done for." Heughed loudly and continued walking.


    Meanwhile¡­ the person he was watching indeed looked listless at the moment.


    Liam''s eyes betrayed his disappointment as he kept banging his fist against the cold hard ground with his bleeding fists. He had failed. He had actually failed!


    Even with all of the efforts he had made, he failed again. No, he could not ept this. He would not ept this. He stopped punching the ground and tried again. He kept trying again and again and again, only to fail every single time!


    "Damn it!" Liam shouted loudly like a maniac, his agonized yell breaking the silence of the rocky forest around him. He had gambled all the time he had into forging these two dragon souls, and yet he had failed.


    He neither aplished anything in his legacy nor broke the shackles which stood in the way of his awakening. He had failedpletely and utterly in every single thing. He had tried so hard, and yet the result was a big fat zero.


    If this was not enough, then what else was he supposed to do? Was this impossible for him after all? No, that was not eptable.


    Instead of punching the ground beneath him, he punched himself in the face the next second. "Calm down. Damn it. Calm down. Think."


    That''s right. It was still not time for him to give up and ept whatever happened. Until he had thest second inside the game, he was going to try and keep on trying. That was all that he could do now.


    Liam stood up and steadied his turbulent heart and mind to the best that he could. He was on the right path. He was sure of it.


    Thest time he tried, he was definitely closer to breaking those goddamn chains. He just needed more soul strength. He just needed to be a little bit stronger. He was there. Almost there.


    But now the problem was he no longer had any wyvern or dragon souls in his possession to further train his soul. What was he supposed to use now?


    "Damn it all." He shouted in exasperation. It was fine. So what if he did not possess any more draconian souls? This mountain range was full of high-level beasts! They might not be wyverns or dragons, but they had to suffice!


    He was going to hunt down and massacre every single one of these terrifying elites and use them as stepping stones to climb up to the top. He hade too far now to lose everything.<sub> </sub>


    Ordering his soul army to follow him, Liam sped along the mountains on Luna''s back, searching for the uncrowned kings of this territory. The fox blurred in and out crazily, and within a few seconds, the first sacrifice promptly showed up in front of them.


    It was a six-winged lion, an adult, fully grown six-winged lion and a Level 95 beast at that.


    Normally, a beast of this level and stature would stand tall and proud and stare down at its enemies with arrogance in its eyes, but this one suddenly started trembling as it gazed upon the army that descended in front of it.


    Naturally, it did not care about Liam, who was a mere human being. Rather its gaze locked onto the terrifying creatures whonded right next to him. An army of wyverns? Just what were these big shots doing on its territory?


    And before the six-winged lion could even blink, a multitude of attacksnded on it like meteorites. All the wyverns opened their mouths and rolled out their attacks one after the other.


    The 2 million health points of the six-winged lion looked like a joke in front of these monsters. However, it was not enough topletely erase its existence. It was still alive.


    I better get the fuck out of here. The six-winged lion did not have any intentions of fighting back. It just simply wanted to get out of there and run for its life.


    It was confident in its speed and knew that it could buy time by summoning a golden shield. But just as it was about to turn tail and p away at lightning speed, another two giant attacksnded on it.


    The six-winged lion gaped in shock as its eyes finallynded on the perpetrators of this attack, the two smaller draconian beasts whonded at the forefront of the soul army.


    Dragons? Its mind reeled as it took itsst breath and copsed. The poor lion did not even get a chance to fight back as it waspletely overwhelmed by beasts beyond its imagination.


    And to its dismay, it did not find peace even after death. It had only barely closed its bulged eyes when Liam stepped in front of it. He grabbed the beast''s soul in its entirety and started hammering it with giant mana hammers.


    Even if he was not able to break his shackles, the mana he was able to wield now was on apletely different level. With everything in his grasp, he banged onto the soul that shivered and quivered under the full impact of the mana hammers.


    The soul was forged in a minute!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 770 Time For Insanity

    The six-winged lion roared as he stood in his new form, majestic, tall, proud, and as an undead.


    The pitiful lion did not know if he wanted to be happy or sad to be a part of this new army, but when wyverns and dragons had submitted, how could he not submit to the new master?


    It became happy after a moment of confusion and swiftly stood next to the wyverns and dragons as if he was also a draconian beast.


    Watching this, all the other soul minions, at least the ones who were aware of what just happened, gaped in shock. This was the fastest Liam had forged! Luna also looked proudly at her master.


    The only issue was that Liam did not look quite as pleased. His reddened eyes red in anger as he punched the rock next to him.


    This was not enough. This only barely made a dent in his soul.


    "Move!" He shouted, and everyone immediately started the next hunt. After the six-winged lion, it was the Level 95 striped white tiger''s turn.


    This beast as well was mercilessly bombarded with all sorts of attacks, and its soul was forged the next minute. Roar? The tiger pitifully looked at the lion, who had once been its mortal enemy but now was a fellow soldier. What was happening?


    More importantly, why was their new Master psychotic?


    Liam was filled with rage as, once again, this formidable opponent only managed to make a dent in his soul. With these small dents, when was he going to increase his soul strength again?


    He needed more. A bigger foe. A much stronger foe that required him to put his life on the line. Something that was as powerful or at leastparable to the dragon souls he had forged.


    Liam''s gaze then widened as he remembered the other dragon souls that were in his possession. He then threw his head back and startedughing maniacally. That was right. He had the answer right in his hand, and yet he was searching around everywhere.


    Earlier, he was afraid he couldn''t handle the opening of the seals, but now he had to give this a try. There was simply no other choice.


    And he had enough materials to unlock just one other seal, the soul seal. He had already stored all the souls he needed in the ck bead from the beast horde assault. Now all that was needed was for him to feed these souls to the sword.


    He unsheathed the ck dragon sword and stared at it, feeling the wrath of the countless dragon souls contained within it. He had somehow handled two dragon souls, but now would he be able to hold out against these countless dragon souls?


    Liam took a deep breath and immediately ordered Luna to make a move. Right now, he was short on time. Once a decision was made, he had to stick to it. The faster that countdown approached, the more risks he had to take.


    And right now, he was probably going to take the biggest risk of his life.


    For that, he needed another dungeon. He was willing to take risks, but he was not an idiot. If he attempted this without a dungeon, he would definitely get screwed six ways from Sunday.<sub> </sub>


    "Luna, go to the Rock Temple dungeon." He ordered the fox, and the rest of the posse followed him. The Rock Temple dungeon was only a little distance south of where they were currently and also the closest dungeon to them at the moment.


    The only drawback was that this dungeon was only a Level 50 dungeon. However, it had to suffice.


    He did not have knowledge about any other high-level dungeons in this area, and his knowledge about high-level dungeons was not all that much, to begin with. There was no point in wasting time right now searching for one.


    Luna arrived at the Rock Temple dungeon in a jiffy, and the group cleared out the dungeon in less than a minute. The mobs and the bosses inside did not even know why they died when they dropped down onto the cold hard ground.


    The soul minion army then cleared out and started farming experience points outside once again, this time the two dragons also joining them.


    "Ok. Here goes nothing." Liam took out the stone tablet one more time, and the world around him changed. He was once again back in the barrennd with the essence puddles. This time an earthen essence puddle started forming.


    Liam, however, did not pay any attention to it as he walked forward and sat back down into the soul essence puddle, which still looked quite healthy. Either the souls did not deteriorate in this space, or they were degrading at an extremely slow pace.


    Whatever it was, it was something for him to figure out in the future, if at all. For right now, he took out the sword without wasting any time.


    He immediately took out the ck bead he had prepared, the one full of the numerous beast souls and started feeding the souls to the sword.


    Immediately, tremendous pressure fell on his body, gripping him from top to bottom. Both sides were attacking him, the ones he was using as cannon fodder and the ones on the receiving end.


    Though the beast souls weren''t as strong as the dragon souls, they still had an effect on him en masse. The ck dragon souls present inside the sword were also no better. They were bound to the sword, and yet they were powerful enough to torment him.


    A ripple of mind-numbing pain spread across his body, and Liam grinned. He weed this pain. "More! More! Give me more!" Heughed, challenging the monstrously strong souls. The sword trembled as it unleashed more pain and agony on him.


    Liam shivered, but he bit down and held on to his sanity. He probably would fare better if he fed the souls one after the other and slowly and gradually progressed, but there was no time for it. This was the time for insanity.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 771 L Cannot Lose Here

    Withstanding the pain from the bacshes he suffered left and right, Liam pulled the soul essence around him to heal himself. His mana core churned faster than ever, and the mana within the stone tablet also violently roiled.


    And just like that, yet another dungeon was getting drained faster than ever.


    Liam could feel it. His soul strength was steadily increasing. Meanwhile, he only had less than half an hour left. Would he make it in time? Fuck. He needed to hurry.


    As he shoved the numerous beast souls into the ck dragon sword, the bacsh became bigger and bigger, and his soul was also bing stronger.


    The only issue was that the pain was also explosively increasing every single second. This time the ck dragon sword did not hold back and showed its true colours.


    It was as if the sword realized what Liam was trying to do and challenged him back. Did you want damage to your soul? Let me see if you can handle this.


    After a couple of minutes, the thousand souls were almost in, and Liam could only barely hold on. However, the main show was yet to start, the main feast yet to be served.


    At this time, the sword in Liam''s hand suddenly trembled and disappeared. Instead of the cold hard weapon, now all that was left was a white mist.


    Liam couldn''t help but be shocked. This waspletely unexpected.


    Right in front of him, this unfathomably powerful mist rose up and devoured the rest of the thousand souls from the ck bead all on their own.


    They were sucked in a fraction of a second andpletely devoured. This was not good. Liam immediately prepared himself for what was about toe next.


    ROAR!!! The white mist enveloped him, and then it started, the beginning of his personal hell. His body trembled, and his soul shuddered, unable to withstand the intense whish from the dragon souls that surrounded him.


    Liam felt as if his body and everything were going to st apart into smithereens. He did not want to die. He did not want to lose to this, but at this moment, it felt as if his death would be a kindness.


    If he could just die, then he would escape from all of this pain and torture. The suffering was too much for him to bear that he even forgot why he was doing this in the first ce.


    But before he couldpletely vanish into this nothingness and lose himself, thankfully, his instincts or his muscle memory or, rather, his soul memory kicked in.


    Out of habit, his heavily injured soul, which was getting more and more injured by the second from being thrashed around by the dragon souls, started absorbing the soul essence from the puddle he was sitting on.


    However, because of the speed at which he was being injured, very quickly, this puddle also started to dry out. In a matter of seconds, his soul consumed the numerous souls that were previously swirling around in the essence puddle.


    It didn''tst long at all as this puddlepletely disappeared without any trace and the assault of the ck dragon souls was far from over. At least this gave him temporary mental rity, which made him feel the pain all the better. Liam shouted in agony.


    He did not intend to underestimate this weapon, and yet somehow, he had done just that. This was why he had dyed dealing with the next seal until now. But he was not in a position to dy any longer, and he had rushed things.<sub> </sub>


    There were consequences for this, and he had to face them now. Not everything was going to go his way, no matter how desperately he wanted them to. Now he could see it clearly. It was a fool''s errand all along.


    Reborn again? Change his fate? It didn''t matter how many chances he got. Perhaps someone like him was destined to fail every single time. Tears streamed down Liam''s face. More than the pain, the hopelessness was pushing him to despair.


    Can someone like him stand up against a god like that woman? Memories of the dreaded past shed across his mind. He wanted to simply let go and die, but if he did that, then history would once again repeat itself.


    "No. No. No. I cannot lose here." Liam banged on the ground with both his fists. He shouted until his throat became hoarse and got a grip on himself. With one single movement, he then took out another ck bead and broke it.


    He did not stop there. He broke another and then another one. Suddenly, the puddle that was drained just now was once again flush with soul essence.


    Since the ck dragon sword was not holding back, Liam went all out as well. He also did not bother saving anything for the future. He used everything in his possession.


    The lizardmen''s souls, the beast horde''s souls and the vigers'' souls. He broke every single ck bead without any concern. If he was going to go down, at least he was going to do down swinging.


    Liam started inhaling all the soul essence around him without any reserve. The ck dragon sword continued to do a number on him, and he, in turn, drained the souls faster than the stone tablet stabilized them to hold his ground.


    He was only hanging by a thread, but he was still there, bearing it all. Slowly the second round of souls was also being inhaled at an insane pace.


    Meanwhile, all of these shenanigans were also sucking the mana dry. The more Liam struggled against the ck dragon sword, the more mana was sucked dry.


    Soon, the Rock Temple dungeon waspletely destroyed and consumed by the stone tablet.


    The world around him also copsed, and he lost even the small support that he received from the stone tablet.


    Now only a cluster of souls remained around him, which were dissipating at lightning speed, and the ck dragon sword was still raging!


    "No! I will not lose here!" Liam shouted again as he started madly pulling all the souls towards himself. With or without the stone tablet, he was going to subdue this sword right here and now.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 772 What Is He Doing?

    Liam held onto anything and everything that he could and continued struggling against the sword.


    He knew that even though he was suffering here, his time was also constantly running out. He needed to get through this faster. That hadn''t changed.


    But something else had changed.


    Unfortunately, he was no longer hidden from the outside world. The moment the dungeon copsed, two pairs of eyes fell on him as they gaped at him in amazement and astonishment.


    "What is he doing?" Mia gasped, for the first time showing some sort of emotion on her face. Her reaction surprised the golden knight, and he quickly dashed toward the mirror to take a look.


    Though he wanted to leave this insect alone if something unexpected happens, he couldn''t face the high priestess, so he ended up staying back and observing him after all.


    He had handed over a few of his tasks to his underlings and was back in the hall where the viewing mirror was located.


    And now, he was thanking his lucky stars that he made this decision. Because the scene in front of him was frightening, to say the least.


    "What is he doing?" Mia repeated the same words as if she was mesmerized.


    "He is¡­ he is increasing his soul strength." The golden knight stammered. He assumed that the person would simply be creating as many soul minions as possible, but he did not expect this.


    This human being had actually unlocked another seal of the soul weapon, knowing full well that he couldn''t handle it. There could only be one reason for it.


    The golden knight was so sure of it because he could feel it.


    The first-order human being was slowly bing closer and closer to a second-order human being. His soul strength was steadily skyrocketing!


    All of this only pointed to one thing. The human being in front of him was breaking himself down and healing himself back up again! Repeatedly!


    This was something that he could not even fathom. It might be a simple concept, but the pain involved was extraordinary. A person could lose their mind in this process. It required true resolve and determination tomit to something like this.


    As the golden knight exined what was happening, Mia ced her hand on her chest. There was something stirring within her, a small memory.


    Was he insane to choose a training method like this? She felt her heart pounding as if she already knew that this man would go to any lengths to achieve what he wanted.


    Not only she but the golden knight also had a look of reverence on his face. Even though this was his enemy, he couldn''t help but want to respect him at this moment. He even found himself rooting for him to seed.


    However, it was only for a second.


    He quickly shook his head and snapped out of it. What was going on here? Would this person really seed? If he bes a second-order human being, then¡­


    "Damn it." The golden knight gritted his teeth in annoyance. All that was left was ten minutes! Just ten minutes! Why couldn''t he just stay put?


    There were only ten more minutes left, and this damned insect was still hell-bent on causing him a headache.


    No. He couldn''t let this happen. Under no circumstance could he be allowed to seed. <sub> </sub>


    For her eminence, the priestess, he needed to stop this at all costs.


    Knowing full well that there would be consequences for this, the golden knight summoned a system interface in front of him and stared at it. It disyed the map of the Gresh Kingdom. He knew what he had to do.


    But now was not the time.


    By now, he had a good understanding of the person in front of him. If he intervened now, then somehow, he might still survive ande out on top.


    The human being in front of him was a resilient little pest. He should not underestimate him. So now was not the time.


    He needed to wait for the opportune moment, and when he finally struck and made his move, that human being should not be able to get up again.


    The golden knight rubbed his chin as he patiently continued watching Liam twitch and wither in pain. His gaze observed every little detail to ensure that he would not miss it.


    The countdown timer was also running non-stop. The ten minutes were now five minutes. There were only barely five minutes left for the game to shut down.


    "Maybe I don''t even need to interfere?" He mused to himself, but as if his words had jinxed it, the human being in front of him suddenly started showing signs of a breakthrough.


    The sword mist that waspletely overpowering up until now was now bing less and less violent. If he was correct, then Liam should be on the cusp of subduing the weapon.


    The moment he was waiting for was here!


    "Die!" The golden knight immediately swiped his interface and then clicked on something. His gaze then shifted back to the viewing mirror as he watched the scene with renewed interest and a confident grin.


    Meanwhile¡­ near the Rock Temple dungeon, or at least the ce where the dungeon previously used to be¡­ something stirred.


    A strange creature reared its head up in the Gresh Kingdom''s northern mountain range.


    This creature was sleeping at the depth of the mountain range, dust and cobwebs surrounding it as if it was unperturbed for decades.


    However, at this moment, its slit-like eyes sprang open without any warning.


    The next instant, it moved, and its humungous body blurred. In a second, it broke theyers andyers of hard earth above it and drilled its way to the surface, raising its gigantic head.


    This creature was now standing right in front of Liam, and its slit-like eyes were locked onto him.


    [tinum Elite; Basilisk; Level ???]


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 773 L Will Take Care Of This Ugly Thing!

    Growl! Luna was the first one to react. The fox who was standing guard next to Liam all this time immediately became rmed and dove right in between him and the giant serpentine monster.


    But her face was etched in worry. She only needed to nce once to know that this was not something she could handle. She couldn''t even fathom how powerful this creature was.


    She frantically opened her mouth to hurl out a fire st with her tail shining red and then tried to reach out to Liam through their mental connection.


    However, as she did, tears started dripping from her eyes.


    Till now, she hadn''t attempted this because she did not want to disturb Liam, but now that she did, she could feel just how much pain her master was in.


    Wooo! The fox whined as she stared at her master and the giant creature in front of her. No matter what happened today, she was going to guard her master!


    But before she could even finish that thought, the harsh reality dawned on her. Her attack did nothing to the beast at all.


    On the other hand, the huge monster raised its head and hissed loudly. Its sheer movement tossed the fox away like dirt!


    Luna''s health quickly dropped. Before she could recover, another attack came for her as a giant tailshed at her. The speed and agility of the attack were simply too much. There was no way for her to evade.


    The fox lit up in mes, using the best me barrier that she could erect, bracing herself for the attack. She knew that it was not enough. She was going to die, but at least she would buy a couple of seconds for her master.


    Her clear blue eyes watched the tail that was about to smack her to death. She closed her eyes, preparing for the pain that was going to ensue but surprisingly, nothing happened.


    Luna quickly opened her eyes to stare in shock. Standing in front of her was a red-haired pdin who took the brunt of the attack.


    Alex was here! And instead of the fox, she received the attack and was tossed away.


    Alex''s follower, the little girl, frantically tried to heal her, but it was no use. It was a one-hit instant kill.


    This wasn''t an enemy against whom she could stand up. Even her best tanking skill did not work, as the Basilisk''s attack went right through all of her defences.


    Her only constion was not she was not alone. Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey and about twenty core members of the guild stood firmly in between Liam and the monstrous creature.


    And there were also Asura and Lyana.


    Shen Yue was only bringing a few yers with her to carry all the items as they did not fit into the inventory slots, and the followers whom Liam had asked her to round up, but when they arrived here, the situation was entirely unexpected.


    Liam was in a deep trance which they did not dare disturb. They patiently waited and waited. At the same time, the clock was also ticking down. They were not sure what they were supposed to do when finally thest few minutes arrived and, along with it, a giant monstrosity.


    Now they knew what they were supposed to do.


    Alex was the first one to respond. Even though she was broken down and listless all the way here, the minute sheid eyes on the scene, she jumped into action to protect the fox.


    Mei Mei started casting the buffs. Asura, Shen Yue and the others started attacking while the few healers madly tossed healing spells left and right.


    All of them were well aware that this was a suicide mission, but they gave it their all.<sub> </sub>


    Watching this desperate attempt at survival, the golden knight casually sneered, shaking his head. "It''s useless. They are just throwing their lives away."


    He was not worried in the least about these small fries. There was nothing they could do that would change the course of fate here.


    Mia, on the other hand, had apletely different expression on her face. Her heart ached more and more as she watched this scene. She felt a gaping hole somewhere within her.


    Everyone in front of her was dying.


    Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey, everyone was killed or rather ughtered and massacred by the single terrifying creature. Even Asura couldn''t hold up against it.


    But for some reason, she couldn''t feel happy seeing this.


    Instead, she felt sad. She did not know why.


    The golden knight next to Mia continued to watch the show andughed loudly. "It''s all over now." He felt so relieved that things hadn''t gone out of his hands and let out a big sigh.


    3 more minutes or 2 more minutes? Everything was over.


    But the next second, he blinked, and something strange happened. A person who was not supposed to be there was standing next to the small fries.


    An elf stood in front of the Basilisk!


    This elf was none other than the old elf, the former elven King, a significant being in this world!


    "Grandpa!" Luna shouted at the top of her lungs.


    The elf grinned. "That''s right. Your Grandpa is here now. I will take care of this ugly thing. You go help that idiot. Stand near him and don''t move. Don''t let anything or anyone disturb him."


    The old elf then immediately jumped in front of the Basilisk. An enormous storm of mana surrounded him, and his voice reverberated loudly. "Wind domain!"


    For the first time, the Basilisk was not able to simply swing its tail and finish the enemy standing in front of it. Its slit-like eyes became bigger as it gazed at the new prey with interest.


    Watching this scene unfold, the golden knight trembled from top to bottom in anger. Someone had thrown a wrench into his n at thest damn moment.


    "A clone? Did he use a clone? How dare this elf defy the rules?" His voice bellowed.


    The golden knight immediately drew some runes that dazzled, and the next instant, he, along with Mia, teleported to appear right at the scene of the crime.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


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 Chapter 774 Game Over

    The golden knight watched as the elf drew the full aggro of the basilisk. Standing around him were all of Liam''s soul minions, including the wyverns and the dragons.


    The creature was clearly stronger than all of them put together, but it seemed as if they would be able to hold on for a while, at least for a few minutes, and definitely, until the game shut down, thereby buying the time that Liam desperately needed.


    And this was exactly what he did not want to see happen.


    "Do you know what you are doing?" He rushed forward, his voice bellowing and instantly interrupted the elf. He expected the old guy to start sweating and freeze in his tracks, but the other party unexpectedly continued as if he did not hear any of it.


    "Sure. I am fighting this ugly snake here." The old elf casually replied and then further added, "What about you? What are you doing here? Shouldn''t you be an obedientp dog and simply stay back within the divine temple? Why did youe running here?"


    "Shut up! Elf! I order you to leave this ce this instant. Else there will be dire consequences, and I will personally intervene."


    "Oh! That''s actually perfect. You see¡­ I am not the only one here who doesn''t belong here. Could you personally intervene and send this ugly snake back where it belongs?" The elf sneered mockingly.


    His words made the vein on the golden knight''s forehead twitch.


    None of his threats was working, and it infuriated him. More importantly, the problem was he did not have the time. He needed to deal with this right now!


    These insects were stirring up trouble at thest damn minute!


    This was it. He was going to intervene. He would deal with everything elseter.


    And just as he was about to raise his hand and send the elf back to where he came from, suddenly, there was movement behind him.


    The elf, Luna, Mia and the golden knight immediately turned to look at the person who was responsible for it. It was none other than Liam. He was out of his trance, and he stood up, letting out a groan.


    The golden knight''s eyes widened in shock. His prying gaze immediately scanned him from top to bottom, and the old elf also did the same thing.


    But the next instant, the old elf bitterly smiled while the other guy sneered in happiness.


    "BA HA HA HA HA! After everything, you still failed! What a waste!" The golden knight startedughing. He checked the timer, and now there were only 60 seconds left!


    This was it! Game over! He waspletely overjoyed! Now there was really nothing anyone could do.


    "You want to fight? Go. Go ahead and fight. BA HA HA HA!" The golden knight maniacallyughed. He was usually a calm andposed person, but this was truly nerve-wreaking and had made him a mess, giving him several heart attacks.


    But finally, it was over! All over!


    He sighed in relief, and the next second, a system notification also chimed in.


    <Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>


    <Ding. You have 60 seconds left to log out>


    Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey, and everyone were in terrible shock as they stared at this notification in utter dread. They all respawned in the nearest graveyard, and now it was toote for them to get back. Was Liam okay? What was happening back there?


    yers all over the world also felt something in their gut. For some reason, this final notification was sending chills down their spine. Many people already started logging out, while others decided to stick it out to the end.


    In the Southern empire, Kouske stood alongside a tall and lean man with gold-rimmed sses. "I will log out now, brother." The other party nodded. He also then logged out the next second, but before he did, he looked toward the north.


    "Why is my future showing signs of change?"


    Meanwhile¡­ in the far north¡­


    Liam shed his eyes open. He saw both familiar and unfamiliar faces in front of him, but he did not pay attention to anything that was happening around him. There was one thing and only one thing on his mind.


    He needed to heal!


    Contrary to what the golden knight was shouting at the top of his lungs, he wasn''t actually done. He had run out of souls. So while he sessfully subdued the sword and injured himself, the second half of his training, where he healed himself back, still remained.


    However, he was still out of souls. That didn''t change, and now there was no more time to hunt more beasts and absorb their souls.


    Liam''s gaze fell on the only thing that he could actually use at the moment. Immediately one of the barbarian souls rushed towards him as if he was a ma. The soul thenpletely disappeared within him.


    That was right! He was going to consume his own minions to heal himself back! That was the only path in front of him at the moment.


    But the thing was¡­ just one barbarian''s soul was not nearly enough.


    Liam had a feeling that it was going toe down to this. When he had first run out of souls, he was already prepared to do this.


    And now, he unhesitantly did it.


    He looked at the two dragon soul minions and lifted his hand, pulling them both towards himself. If that draconian princess could heal herself with these souls, then so could he!


    <Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>


    <Ding. You have 40 seconds left to log out>


    Liam then took a deep breath and absorbed both the souls back into himself and, at the same time, reached for his mana core.


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    His body shook.


    Luna looked worried. The elf''s face changed as a look of shock and awe washed over him. And naturally, the golden knight''s face became twisted and contorted. He finally realized that perhaps it wasn''t over after all.


    No! That cannot happen! He immediately rushed towards Liam, but a thick mana barrier appeared between himself and his target.


    "If you want to get to him, you need to go through me!" The old elf stood firmly. Even if it was just a second, he was going to buy it for Liam!


    "Why are you risking everything for a random human being!!!!" The golden knight bellowed in rage. He red at Mia,manding her to move, but she was standing frozen, rooted to the spot. Her mind was somewhere else.


    And in the midst of this¡­


    ARGHHHHH! Liam let out a loud agonizing yell.


    The mana in the air thrummed alive as every single wisp was drawn to Liam at the moment. He became a huge human vortex that just madly pulled everything to himself.


    And another notification showed up.<sub> </sub>


    <Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>


    <Ding. You have 20 seconds left to log out>


    sh! The golden knight felt his heart pound loudly as he used an absolute skill. The mana barrier was instantly dispelled, and the old elf was also crushed.


    "DIE!" He shouted and approached Liam when suddenly he was thrown back.


    "DAMN IT ALL!" He hadpletely forgotten about the protective barrier.


    Since there were only a few more seconds to go, every yer had the protection barrier that helped them log out even if they were inbat at the moment. Unfortunately, even he was not capable of tampering with this.


    But despite this¡­


    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    The golden knight continued to bang against the barrier, unable to ept what was happening. His whole face was twisted in rage and regret.


    However, that didn''t help at all. Right in front of his eyes, he watched the mana vortex be bigger as a huge mana storm formed.


    <Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>


    <Ding. You have 10 seconds left to log out>


    Then, once again, Liam shed his eyes open. His cold gaze fell on the golden knight as he ignored the several other notifications that were crazily popping out left and right.


    Not caring about anything, he took out the PVP tower crystal from his inventory.


    <Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>


    <Ding. You have 8 seconds left to log out>


    <Ding. Do you wish to bind with space crystal?>


    "Yes," Liam muttered. Immediately, a space appeared in front of him with several options, along with dozens of notifications. His mind spun rapidly, and he selected several random options.


    <Ding. The tutorial is now shutting down>


    <Ding. You have 2 seconds left to log out>


    As the eyes around him watched him in shock, his figure blurred and in one single movement, he grabbed the thing that was the most important to him and rushed into the roughly formed space with all the speed he could muster.


    <Ding. The tutorial is now permanently shut down>


    <Ding. Good luck to all upants of realm 145673>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    On the other side, the game capsule cracked open as Liam stood up from within it. Surprisingly, the capsulepletely disintegrated and disappeared as light dust the next second.


    But Liam did not pay attention to that as he had already witnessed this once before. Instead, he looked outside the window as an earth-shattering thunder roared alive. A blinding massive lightning bolt descended from the heavens above.


    Multiple tornadoes started appearing out of nowhere all over the world, and before anyone could even take a breath, chaos andmotionpletely descended in their full form.


    Everything that happened in his previous life once again repeated. The tutorial was truly over. Now it was the real deal. "Come out," Liam said as his soul minions started appearing one after the other.


    Immediately, a red system screen also shed in front of him. On that, two words blinked brightly, catching his attention above all.


    Name: Liam


    User Level: 80


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, in a corner of the world, on some frigid northern icend, a young boy stepped out of his house without a single piece of winter wear on his body. It was as if the biting cold could do no harm to him.


    More shockingly, when he opened his mouth, a female voice sounded as a thick evil aura dripped out of him. "I am finally out." He turned around to walk towards the ice-cold wilderness that the currently raging snowstorm had created.


    On his back, there was a big dragon tattoo.


    Coincidentally, around the same time, a weak, sickly old man also walked out of a house in Egypt. "What world am I in?" The old man grimaced. "It doesn''t matter. I, Crawford, am free. I am no longer restricted by anything."


    The old man then revealed a big grin as he inhaled a big breath of fresh air. "I aming for you, you bastard. I am going to take back everything that belongs to me, and this time, there is nothing stopping me."


    ***** END OF VOLUME 5****


    Mass Release Chapter 6~


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    Dear readers, with this, we are officially starting Part 2 of the book. Thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement. Your kind words mean a lot to me and keep me going every day. It has been a journey for me to get to her, and I hope everyone enjoyed this as much as I did. Please let me know your thoughts and feedback in thement section. I look forward to sharing the rest of this story with you all.


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 Chapter 775 Here We Go!

    "Level 80, huh?" Liam stared at his status screen, which was red in colour.


    He was also able to summon and dismiss his soul minions without any issue. However, the thing that he truly wanted to confirm¡­ was something else.


    Taking a deep breath, he was about to start tapping his system interface when a loud noise interrupted him.


    "Liam! Liam!" Alex almost broke the door open and barged in. With tear-stained eyes, she gasped as she looked at the person standing in front of her. The next second she dashed forward and hugged him tightly.


    "I¡­ sob¡­ you are here¡­ sob¡­ you are okay¡­ I was so worried¡­ sob."


    Liam could see that she was aplete mess. She was barely able to get any words out. "Wait. Calm down and tell me what happened."


    "Mia is gone! She is not here. The game capsule broke down and disappeared, everyone got out of the game, but Mia is still not there. She is justpletely gone. All her things are here. Her clothes, her money, everything but she is missing. Liam, what happened to her?"


    Alex was shaking uncontrobly. Even though so many things had happened in the game, this had been herst hope.


    Others might have dreaded this moment when the game shut down and everyone was kicked out, but she had been hopeful.


    She desperately wished that at least now Mia would be within their reach. No matter what happened to her, they could always heal her slowly as long as she was with them. However¡­ now¡­


    "What happened to her? Where did she go?" Seeing herpletely hysterical, Liam could only sigh. He had no answers for her.


    He pulled her closer and hugged her, shushing her cries by burying her face into his chest. "I cannot give you an answer right now, but I promise I will bring her back. I think that the tutorial game world still exists. We can still bring Mia back."


    Alex looked up with her teary eyes. She could see that Liam was serious. In reality, she herself hade to the same conclusion as that seemed to be the only logical possibility, considering everything happening around them.


    "Can we really get her back?" She asked as her lips trembled, but before she could finish her words, a group of people rushed into Liam''s room, barging through the open door.


    Mei Mei dashed forward and hugged Liam tightly from the other side. "Brother, you are fine." She sighed in relief. Shen Yue and Rey, who were standing next to her, also looked very relieved.


    None of them knew what happened after they died and respawned in the graveyard, but at least Liam looked fine. In fact, he looked more than fine.


    Mei Mei was the first to notice as she felt the rock-hard abs on her brother. She took a step back and started circling Liam. Sure, he had changed a lot in recent days, but the person in front of her now was apletely different person.


    It was almost as if¡­ he had switched ces with the in-game avatar? How could this be possible?


    Watching Mei Mei ogle at her brother, the other two and Alex also noticed the changes and became shocked. They gaped as they eyed Liam from top to bottom. Just what happened after they died?


    Karakaboom! Thunder roared loudly outside, interrupting everyone''s thoughts.


    "We have work to do," Liam spoke first. This was not the time for a happy reunion. The real event had only just begun. They needed to get on top of things right now, right from the start.


    "Alex, fill Rey in on what we talked about." Liam looked at the brother-sister pair and nodded. "If you both need some time to gather yourself, stay here and talk for a few minutes, but I suggest that you get a grip quickly."


    "Brother, what happened?" Mei Mei asked in confusion.


    "Mia is missing. Even her body is missing." Liam exined.


    He didn''t bother hiding it, as this was something that was going toe out sooner orter. When the world around them was unravelling, what was the point of sugarcoating things?


    "We don''t know where she went or how to help her. But before you guys start to worry about her, first take a look around yourself, look at the world outside." It was cruel to say these things, but Liam couldn''t afford to be anything else at the moment.


    He then looked at Alex and Rey in particr and continued. "If you really want to help her at all, bring her back to us, you need to be strong enough for that. So focus on that first."


    "In a minute, there is going to beplete chaos. The monsters that we saw inside the game are going to be running rampant on these streets. People are going to turn into mindless zombies that you see in horror movies. We need to start fighting, do you understand?"


    Alex dully nodded. Rey also did the same. None of his usual yfulness was there on his face. He clenched in fists, his gaze filled with resolve.


    "I still don''t know how the others are doing, but you four need to be strong. Let''s go. We need to go downstairs and start dealing with this." Liam pointed to his window. There were already some screamsing from outside.<sub> </sub>


    As if this was not enough, the building that they were standing on was starting to shake. Earthquake! Not just that, but the skies thundered relentlessly. Everything felt as if it was going to crumble down any second now.


    Everyone looked scared and worried, and their faces were etched with the uncertainties of the future. They knew this wasing but now that they were actually here, it was difficult to ept the reality.


    "Come ON! We need to move!" Liam urged them again. "Don''t forget. Your levels have all reset. You basically need to start over again. Think of your system prompt, and it will open up."


    "Everything is just like in the game, but here, we only have one life!"


    Everyone gulped. Liam did not linger any longer and rushed out of the apartmentplex. If they dyed even for another minute, then their own team members might lose their lives.


    He ran down the stairs as he loudly shouted. "Come out and assemble in the front!"


    Mei Mei, Shen Yue, Rey and Alex also followed him downstairs as they knocked on everyone''s door. There were at least six of their guild members staying in the building, including Derek''s family. So the group started rounding up everyone.


    Liam personally knocked on the apartment where Derek''s family was staying as he had a bad feeling.


    And just like he feared, Derek''s sister, Lily, opened the door with a look of dread on her face. "My brother¡­" She opened her mouth, and Liam did not need her to finish her sentence to know what she was going to say. Like Mia, Derek was also missing.


    But this time, Liam knew that the divine temple had nothing to do with him, so what happened to him? He quickly snapped out of it, seeing Derek''s other sister, a little girl walking over to the door with tears streaming out of her eyes.


    "Lily, I am so scared." The little girl rubbed her reddened eyes as she clutched a stuffed toy in her hands.


    "Mr. Liam, what is happening? Where is my brother? I don''t know what to do." Lily hugged her little sister, and the two of them looked at him for answers.


    Faced with the same helpless stare once again, Liam shook his head. "Now is not the time to talk about it. Come out. We need to go to a safe location first."


    He then once again started rushing down to take a look at the things happening downstairs. Behind him, Mei Mei, Shen Yue, Alex and Rey hurried along with everyone else and their families.


    Within a couple of minutes, the group had already rounded up about twenty people, including their guild members and their families and friends.


    Meanwhile, the other people staying in the same apartmentplex and the nearby houses watched this random group of mixed-race people in bewilderment.


    What were they all doing? They had weapons in their hands? Seeing the group holding all sorts of things like huge axes, kitchen knives, and hammers, the neighbours all became wary.


    Everyone was already freaked out about the climate outside. One second it was thunder, and the next second, they could feel tremors, small tremors but still enough to scare the bejesus out of them.


    To make matters worse, the phone lines, inte, electricity, everything was out. No one knew what they were supposed to do now.


    Some looked outside the window, holed up inside their homes and waiting for the government to do something, while others rushed out and started gathering in the streets to see what everyone else was doing.


    So in the midst of this confusion, seeing a bunch of people holding weapons made everyone scared, especially because there were a lot of foreigners in the group.


    Were these all looters? Were they going to randomly start attacking and take advantage of this situation? If they could, they would have already called the police, but since that was not happening, the civilians in the street silently watched the strange scene.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not care about all of these because he knew that in a minute, everything was going to change permanently.


    Karakaboom! Another round of terrifying thunder rumbled when finally, the apocalypse officially arrived.


    "There! To your left!" Liam was the first one to point out. A little further down on the street to their left, a strange ckish-purple aura started gathering.


    This aura started bing thicker and thicker, and then, without any warning, a massive bolt of lightning zapped this huge umted aura. The next second, the giant swirling ball of dark purple roared alive.


    And from within it¡­ strange beasts started appearing one after the other.


    "Here we go. It has started!" Liam pointed to this thing. "Let''s move."

 Chapter 776 Overpowered From The Start

    Thump. Thump. Thump. Liam felt his heart race as he inhaled a breath of the city air, except that it was now no longer the familiar stale, polluted air but instead a whole new type of air, the kind mixed with mana.


    Mana levels had finally reached the same concentration as the ones in the tutorial, perhaps even higher.


    However, the most noticeable change was still the dark violet vortex that appeared out of nowhere. From within it, all sorts of beasts started pouring out without any warning.


    "First things first." Liam wanted to do something else at the moment, but he couldn''t focus on that just yet. He had to pay attention to the current situation. His eyes locked onto the beasts emerging from the portal.


    These beasts were, in fact, nothing to him. After all, this was just the first wave, and he was not the weak, helpless person he was in his previous life, but the same couldn''t be said for others.


    Behind him, there were about 50 men and women of all different ages. Among them, there were even five small children.


    And unlike him, they were all standing at level 0. They needed some help to avoid mishaps. Moreover, the sooner everyone gained a level, the better it was.


    When a person reached Level 1, the chances of them turning into a mana zombie became considerably lesser. With every level gained, this probability became lower and lower, and it helped the human body get assimted to mana a lot easier.


    However, once the mana rejection starts, it would be way too difficult to treat it. So Liam did not think about anything else and focussed only on the situation in front of him.


    Just like how his family was precious to him, everyone who hade here trusting him had their own families, and they were all precious. This time around, he did not want a single casualty.


    Liam coldly gazed at the beasts pouring out by dozens and gave out swift orders.


    "Everyone withbat experience, step forward. Others step back. Everyone who can sense mana and is capable of executing a skill, take another step forward."


    While the group prepared themselves to follow these orders, Liam went ahead with the next n of action. With a wave of his hand, he summoned his army of soul minions.


    One after the other, the various soul minions also started appearing. Weird-looking chickens and rabbits, werewolves, human beings, elves, barbarians andstly, even the wyverns.


    Every single soul minion that was there inside the game was now standing outside in the real world! These minions were far scarier than even the ones charging out of the portal.


    Immediately everyone became shocked. "What the heck!" Someone gasped loudly. Others stared at the soul minions in terror as the presence of these outside the game was more shocking to them whenpared to the apocalypse itself.


    By now, most of the team had taken a look at their status screen and saw their level once again reset back to zero. It was a brutal nerf.


    However¡­ their guild leader¡­ was somehow an exception? How was he able to bring out these soul minions? No one understood what was happening.


    But the initial shock soon turned to joy as they thanked their lucky stars for making the right decision and joining Crimson Abyss right from the beginning.


    And Liam also was by no means stingy with them. Once the soul minions assembled, he gave out the next order.


    "Everyone y man to man with the soul minions. They will mortally injure the beasts for you, but you will be dealing the final blow. Let''s get some fast levelling up and running."


    "Those who have family, help your family members also deal with this and gain at least 5 levels. This is very important."


    "Everyone, whether you havebat ability or not, whether you are afraid or not, whether you want to fight or not, has to do this and gain at least 5 levels!"


    "This will be our territory from now on. We will im this gate and use all the beastsing out of this gate for our levelling. GO! NOW! Don''t forget. Just like inside the game, this is also a race! Ready, get set, go!"


    With Liam shouting orders one after the other calmly and steadily, and the soul minions taking out whatever came in their path, the initial chaos was quickly brought under control. <sub> </sub>


    Every single beast that stepped out of the gate was also swiftly taken care of. As if athletes waiting for the balls from the automatic ball dispenser, the group of people now eagerly waited for the next beast to step out.


    The beasts charging ahead were also not some weaklings. Though most of the beasts were around Level 5, there was plenty that was Level 10 to 20. To people who were just starting from Level 0, this was nothing but a death sentence.


    In hisst life, there had been several casualties before some sort of order finally began to form. However, this time around. There wasn''t even a single casualty until now. With Liam present, everything hadpletely changed.


    The soul minions treated this endless beast wave like a snack as they crushed each and every beast without much effort. And the others used this chance to level up fast and make themselves strong.


    At the same time, with each level gained, everyone was slowly and steadily getting used to mana in the real world as well. Coincidentally after a few minutes, they didn''t even find any difference between the game world and the real world.


    They finally understood what Liam had been telling them about. Without any clear-cut skills to activate and no skill books dropping, they kind of had to rely on their muscle memory. But this was easier said than done.


    It was difficult to understand the nuances of their ss innately and cast the magic. For something like this, they needed to be well-versed in their ss from A to Z.


    However, just as many people were thinking about this, Alex stepped forward to the front of the group with a big leap.


    A strong divine aura seeped out of her, and mana surrounded her slender figure from top to bottom, making her look extremely beautiful, like a goddess.


    But the next second, this goddess directly punched a Level 20 spiked wolf that charged at her, smashing the poor beast into a pulp. The wolf lost all of its threateningly huge canines and groaned in pain before copsing to its death.


    Everyone who watched her gulped nervously. And Alex was not the only one. Right behind Alex, Shen Yue and Rey were also excelling equally.


    But the most notable person was still Judah, one of the mages. It was rtively easier for the pure closebat types to transfer their skills, but for a mage, it required a deeper understanding.


    And Judah managed to achieve this feat. He was casting ice spears and ice bullets one after the other and taking out the beasts easily. This first line of fighters was awe-inspiring to others as they stood as an example for everyone to see.


    This was the difference between normal yers and true experts. Everyone else as well wanted to achieve this feat and slowly started pushing themselves.


    The initial fear and panic by now werepletely gone. There was a structure, and everyone had clear goals. The situation quickly became extremely stable.


    Meanwhile, the civilians stared outside from the safety of their respective houses and gawked at this scene with their jaws on the ground. They felt as if they had gonepletely crazy because they couldn''t believe their eyes.


    What they did not know was that they were able to observe everything peacefully and calmly only because of Liam. This scene might be ying out in their city, but the situation everywhere else waspletely different.


    Several purple vortexes had appeared all over the world, and beasts poured out endlessly from each and every single one of these vortexes. In just the first few minutes, casualties skyrocketed.


    And things were only starting. There was worse yet toe.


    Liam, on the other hand, calmly watched the group quickly learn to handle the beasts by themselves. Since everything was stabilised, for now, he finally had a chance to take a step back.


    For others, today was about levelling, but for him, these beasts were pretty much useless.


    He had something far more important to do. He needed to examine what exactly happened in thest 5 minutes of the game shut down as everything was a blur in his mind.


    It would be urate to say that he was in some sort of trance and did everything instinctively without thinking it through. Now finally, he had the chance to take a look at things carefully.


    More importantly, it was also time to get the answer to something he had been dreading since the game shut down. Luna¡­ what happened to her?

 Chapter 777 At What Cost?

    Liam walked away from the gate and to the park that was right next to the street. He looked around at the t ground and nodded. "This should do it."


    This was typically a busy spot, but today it waspletely deserted. So this was a perfect ce to do what he needed to do.


    Ideally, he would have liked to have more privacy as he had no idea what was about to happen next, but for now, this small park had to suffice.


    Liam then took a deep breath and summoned his system interface. Immediately, a red screen shed in front of him, followed by numerous notifications.


    <Ding. Rewarded 10 extra stat points and 10 extra skill points for the first discovery of the dungeon>


    <Ding. Rewarded 10 extra stat points and 10 extra skill points for the first discovery of the dungeon>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam directly ignored these updates and looked around for the one thing that mattered to him right now. A few secondster, his eyes widened as he finally found what he was looking for.


    <Unnamed Spatial Artifact>


    Status: Bound


    Structure: Simple Tower


    Stage: Level 1 unlocked


    Liam''s eyes widened as he took a deep breath and prepared to enter this space once again.


    This wasn''t theplicated part. All he had to do was will it, and he would be able to enter the artifact again, but the thing that made him nervous was¡­ what he was going to find inside or, rather what he was not going to find inside.


    Liam took another deep breath and finally entered the space. But before he could even get a glimpse of where he was, a small furry figure pounced on him furiously, knocking him back with the impact.


    Kyuuu! Master!


    Liam''s face was suddenly dripping wet as a white fox clung firmly to him and started licking the heck out of him.


    "Heh." Liam sighed in relief. He did nothing to stop the fox and simplyid back and closed his eyes with a smile. "You are alright. That''s good." At this moment, it was as if a huge pressure had been lifted off of his shoulders.


    He was notpletely aware of what happened in thest few minutes, but he clearly remembered seeing a giant snake and this little fox standing between him and the snake, determined to protect him with everything she had once again.


    "That reminds me. Luna, can you tell me what happened?" Liam finally pulled the fox off of him and asked her. He wanted to know what exactly went down. He wanted to know everything the divine temple did to make him fail.


    Seeing that his warm and loving gaze had turned cold, Luna became serious and started filling him on everything that transpired. But the more she started describing, the frostier Liam became.


    "Master¡­ Grandpa¡­" Luna''s voice trembled.


    As an ''NPC'', he was definitely not supposed to interfere and expose more information than what could be exposed. But the elf had gone one step further and actually did more than that. He had protected Liam.


    "He risked everything for us." Liam mouthed. Now that he thought about it, he did not even know the old elf''s name. He clenched his fist and stared at the ground.


    He had indeed won. He managed to awaken his mana core fully, bind the tower and secure his soul minions and Luna at thest minute, but at what cost?


    The old elf had sacrificed himself for his sake. He couldn''t even imagine what hell he was going through now, considering he broke a huge rule. Perhaps he was also chained up like that draconian princess?


    What about the cksmith grandmaster ? He was also missing when Liam had looked for him earlier. It was as if he hadpletely vanished. Was he also imprisoned somewhere?


    What would be of Mia?


    He hade out victoriously, but he also paid a huge price for it. No, the people who had supported him and helped him had paid a price for it.


    Liam took a deep breath and calmed down his turbulent emotions. He was cold and calctive but never to his own.


    "Luna¡­ how badly do you want those divine temple freaks to pay?" He silently muttered. He still did not understand all of it and what exactly the tutorial was, but he understood one thing.


    The divine-affinity beings were the ones behind everything. They were pulling strings as administrators treating everyone like puppets and using them as fodder for their own purposes.


    Liam knew that the path ahead was going to be incredibly perilous. The enemy this time was too formidable, someone he couldn''t evenprehend. On top of this, they first had to survive the apocalypse.<sub> </sub>


    But he was also now stronger than he had ever been. Though his enemies wanted him to lose, he was still standing here, and he had already taken the first step to repay this debt he owed them.


    Liam smiled as the face of the high priestess shed past his mind. He vividly remembered those eyes that looked at him as if he was just an insect that would amount to nothing no matter how hard he tried.


    He was meant to live and die a meaningless short life, struggling for survival. That was all that he was supposed to be. Nothing more and nothing less.


    "We will see." He closed his eyes, and his smile widened, even scaring Luna away. The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes when Liam finally jolted to stand up.


    "Ok, it is time to head out." He leaned forward to lend a hand to the little fox, who was more than happy to jump on his back and curl around his neck as she always did.


    Kyuuu! Luna cocked her head to the side and curiously asked. "Master, where are we?"


    She had been wanting to ask this for a while as she could sense that the world she was in right now was a different one than the world she had been in before.


    Or rather, the fox had only known one world all her life, so she was very interested in what had happened and where exactly they were now.


    Liam patted the little thing and asked her to wait. "I will show you once we head out, but we should first take a look around here."


    He turned his attention to the spatial artifact inside which he was currently standing. There were many things he did not understand about this ce.


    When he first bound with this artifact, a bunch of notifications had popped up, which he barely remembered now as he had randomly selected the options for the set-up.


    In short, he made it look like the PVP tower back in the game with the default, reset to thest structure format, and right now, that seemed to be the case as he craned his neck and observed the space from floor to ceiling.


    Everything was indeed just like the PVP tower, except that there were no NPCs around or no mana arrays set up. The thing was literally just a space, as the name of the artifact suggested.


    "I guess this is it then?" Liam was not disappointed. This was already good enough. After all, it allowed him to bring Luna out. "Ok, let''s head back out. There is a lot of work left to be done."


    He did not have to monitor the beast wave as he was pretty sure his soul minions and the guild members should be more than enough to handle them, at least from this gate, but there were other things that need to be taken care of.


    All the beasts that were ughtered need to be properly skinned, cut and stored for consumption. The entire world was at a standstill right now, so it was only a matter of days before the food supply runs out.


    There was also the task of consolidation of territory. Since only this part of the city was probably safe and cleared of beasts at the moment, there would be several eyes on thend.


    Unfortunately for them, Liam was not nning on simply handing over anything to anyone, even if it was the government, so certain precautions needed to be taken.


    As he was contemting these things and the next steps of action and was preparing to log out, suddenly, a huge shadow fell on him.


    Liam immediately became alert and turned around. What was happening?


    He couldn''t even sense the presence of this creature up until now. How did he miss it? There wasn''t a single whiff of killing intenting from whatever it was. This could only mean that this was a very powerful being.


    Just what else did he end up inadvertently bringing from the damned tutorial to the outside world? Fuck!


    As his gaze rapidly flickered to take a look at the monstrosity that had somehow slipped in, a small squeak sounded from the big creature, and Liam''s eyesnded on the familiar culprit.


    "You?"


    However, his shock did not end there.


    The next second¡­


    Hic¡­


    An item fell out from the mouth of the creature.


    ***


    Author''s Note: Starting next month, there is an alternate way to sponsor bonus chapters and mass releases. I have created a new tier in my patr_eon ount for bonus chapters. This gives three bonus chapters for every sub. Please visit the web_site link to take a look. /yolohy


    I have introduced this method because it is cheaper and gives me more percentage of tips which I can direct to creating the rest of the character art. You also get ess to special content on my patr_eon ount such as new stories and other perks. Thanks for the support and encouragement. I hope everyone enjoys the new volume!

 Chapter 778 Violet To The Rescue!

    ng!


    It was the ck Dragon Sword!


    The ballooned-up rabbit in front of Liam actually spat out his ck Dragon Sword!


    Liam waspletely speechless. His heart began to beat uncontrobly as he walked over and picked up the sword.


    He only had time to grab Luna and rush into the tower at thest second before the game crashed. He did not think about anything else. He was rushing out of a burning building, and he instinctively grabbed the person whom he wanted to save the most.


    But unexpectedly, this rabbit in front of him had taken action on his behalf. She actually managed to run out and get the sword at thest minute!


    Liam chuckled, shaking his head. What a peculiar creature! He really needed to appreciate her more!


    But why the hell was she ginormous?


    And then it happened again?


    Staring innocently at Liam, the rabbit Violet opened her mouth, and once again, another item dropped.


    ng!


    And this time, it was one of Shen Yue''s legendary daggers!


    "What the¡­" Liam was beyond shocked. His eyes were transfixed on the legendary treasure, which was more powerful than any weapon the first wave of beasts could drop and would likely be more powerful than any weapon dropped by subsequent waves as well.


    The only reason he never bothered to focus on these items was that bringing them out of the game was almost impossible, and now this little rabbit had done just that.


    His gaze then shifted from the solo dagger back to the rabbit as a thought entered his mind. Were these the only two items that she had brought with her?


    As if answering his question, the rabbit opened her mouth again, and lo and behold, another item dropped. It was also a dagger, or, to be more precise, the second dagger of the legendary item set.


    And then it started¡­


    ng! ng! ng! ng!


    Items started raining down one after the other without stopping.


    Liam and Luna both stared at the rabbit in utter shock. Just what the heck was happening? Loot was piling up in front of them. The rabbit was spitting out item after item.


    And her size was shrinking with each item that spilt from her mouth. Was this little thing a walking space ring? What was happening here? Like a chipmunk hoarding nuts, this rabbit had hoarded all the items into her mouth


    How long was this little rabbit even out collecting all these treasures? How fast should her speed have been to gather everything?


    Liam hadn''t felt anything at all. He did not know when the rabbit summoned herself out or when she slipped into the space artifact along with him and Luna. Since he waspletely focused on his mana core, he had missed the whole thing.


    Now he watched the rabbit in awe as she slowly returned back to her former little self after emptying out everything that was within her mouth? Stomach? Where did she even keep all these?


    He stared at the mysterious rabbit as she continued to put on the show for two to three minutes straight, puking out her guts.


    And when thest item dropped¡­ Liam''s heart almost stopped.


    Thud!


    It was the stone tablet!


    Unbelievable!


    Liam squatted down in front of the pile of gold and the stone tablet that was on top of it. He then fell back,ughing his heart out.


    Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha! This just blew up their odds of surviving the apocalypse!


    He knew for certain that the divine priestess did not expect this to happen. How would her reaction be when she learned that he not only managed to escape unscathed, awakening his mana core, but also took everything along with him?


    However, Liam''s excitement was short-lived, and his gaze turned cold.


    If she came to know that all of these were taken, then she was probably going to take out her anger on Mia or the old elf, or perhaps Asura or Lyana, or any of the people that were close to him.<sub> </sub>


    The mere thought made him sober up from this unexpected lottery win. He let out a deep breath and stood up. "Thank you, Violet." He sincerely thanked the rabbit and picked her up. Even Luna leaned closer and gave the rabbit a pat with her small paw.


    Chik. The rabbit bobbed her head and vanished in a puff of sparkling stardust that rushed into him. Unlike Luna, she was truly a low-maintenance pet.


    Liam smiled, and he then, along with the fox, stepped out of the artifact. For now, he did not bother taking any of the items outside. For the first wave, this waspletely unnecessary.


    The beasts that emerged could be dealt with usingmon household weapons. Otherwise, the entire would have been wiped out with just this first wave.


    He also wanted everyone to get theirbat mojo back. If they got used to relying on weapons too much at this stage, then it was only going to hurtter on.


    As Liam once again appeared in the outer world, Mei Mei was standing right there, along with one of the wyverns. "Brother, what happened? Are you alright? You suddenly disappeared?" The little girl''s face was filled with worry.


    But the next second, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the familiar little fox curled around Liam''s neck.


    "LUNA!" Mei Mei shrieked with delight. The little fox also didn''t give her much attitude this time and allowed her to snuggle with her and pet her, at least for the first couple of seconds.


    Liam sighed in relief, looking at the two little idiots in front of him. He did not know if he had achieved enough in this life, his second chance, but the sight in front of him was worth everything.


    Whatever the future held in store for them, he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that thissted.


    "Alright. That''s enough ying. How is everyone doing? What level are you?"


    "I am at level 2 already!" Mei Mei smiled with glee and pride, only to be quickly reprimanded. "Don''t fool around anymore. Level faster." Liam flicked her forehead.


    "Ouch. Brother, you are so mean."


    "Am I now? What level is Alex?"


    The little girl immediately became quiet. "Sis Alex is at Level 3 already." She sulked and replied in a low voice.


    "See how hard-working Alex is. You should be more like her."


    Mei Mei didn''t care for his stern voice and stuck her tongue out yfully. Liam helplessly gave her another forehead flick and smiled before walking back into the fray.


    Mei Mei returned to her position as well, but this time there was no yfulness on her face.


    She looked pretty darn serious, and her movements and actions looked more mature. Only in front of her brother did she always y the cute sibling part so that she could lighten his mood a little bit.


    Meanwhile, Liam walked over to Alex and pulled her aside. "I am heading out now for a few minutes. Can you guys manage by yourself?"


    "Yes. You can leave it to me." Alex nodded. "Are you going to check on that old woman and her dojo?"


    "No. Shen Yue should have already informed them about everything. If things go well, they should be joining us around nightfall on their own. They don''t need my help."


    "Oh." Alex agreed. She knew firsthand thebat abilities of those people, so she too had the same opinion. Those were thest group of people who would need any help.


    "Then where are you going? I am only asking because we have no way ofmunicating with each other."


    They had a system screen right now, just like the one in-game, but the two werepletely different. This one felt more like a basic version than the one inside the game.


    It didn''t have many features like inventory slots, friend lists,munication channels, or party functions. It simply disyed their current level, status, and attributes.


    Liam also knew this, which was why he was not nning to go too far. "I will be around this area. Closeby. I just need to track what is happening in our neighboring areas."


    "Do you need someone with you?" Alex smiled bitterly as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Of course, he did not. He was probably the only Level 50 plus being on the entire!


    "My minions will be here with you guys. So keep farming." After talking to her, Liam prepared to leave when Alex called for him again. "How long will this beast wavest?" She hesitantly asked.


    "The entire night."


    Her eyes widened in shock, but she gripped the axe she was holding and nodded with determination.


    "Let''s go!" She shouted and continued fighting with vigour. Fighting was the thing that she was good at, and they needed to get stronger faster.


    Even if this beast wavested until the next day, she was prepared to stand and fight them. After all, Mia was waiting for them.

 Chapter 779 Partial?

    Liam took another nce at the gathered group and then signalled Luna to prepare for takeoff. It was surreal that he now actually had a flying mount to use outside the game. The condition he was inst time around and the condition he was in now was just too insanely different.


    With Luna here, his work had be so much easier. Her speed alone was enough to take severalps around their city in just a couple of minutes.


    With a small smile, he hopped onto the fox, who undoubtedly attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity.


    The civilians wondered what the heck was going on, but the guild members, who had all already seen Luna in full form, gasped in shock. The fox was also here with them?


    So their big boss not only managed to retain his power level and keep his undead minions, but he also managed to bring out the powerful fox?


    This was simply too amazing! Their big boss was still the top yer, even in reality! The world might be going to shit, but their start was impable!


    Not only Crimson Abyss members but Liam''s mount was also famous among other yers. Since he was the mysterious top ranker and hidden boss of the S-Rank guild, all the avable information about him was widely spread.


    Naturally, there were also rumours mixed in with this, but everyone had seen this fox in the PVP tower match and on several other asions. So information about Luna was low-key popr among the yers.


    And thanks to the massive poprity of the game, these yers were everywhere. Seeing the giant white fox up in the air, the few yers who were residing in the same city immediately knew that the top boss of ''Evolution Online'' was actually a resident of their very city!


    This waspletely unbelievable! The elusive figure actually lived right next to them! If only they could share this news right now on the inte! There would be a huge uproar immediately.


    However, the next second another burst of thunder loudly rumbled, reminding them of the painful, harsh reality. At the moment they did not have inte or electricity.


    Everything had changed. Heck, they weren''t even fully aware of what was happening outside.


    While these people debated whether to go down and check things out or to continue staying holed up inside their houses and apartments, Liam and Luna lifted up in the air.


    "Don''t fly too high. Stay low and use your best speed." Liam patted her.


    Kyuuu!


    The fox bobbed her head and started sprinting around the city, painting the sky with her colours. The little fox was very excited about the new ce she was currently in.


    More importantly, she was very happy that Liam was right next to her. Unlike others, she did not have any other burdens, so she was happily grinning without a care in the world.


    Liam sensed her mood and patted the fox with a smile. He then focussed on the task at hand.


    He took a deep breath, inhaling the abundant mana in the air and rotated his mana core. This was the first time he had a chance to do this at his own leisure.


    He was kicked out right after the awakening, so he was yet to test this new stage of his mana core.


    What did awakening truly mean? Just how much stronger did he be? He still needed to understand all of these. This was important because only if he knew this could he prepare for the next step and the step after that.


    One had to know oneself thoroughly first. Otherwise, they would never be able to defeat the enemy.


    And before that, there was also something else that he needed to do.


    Liam summoned his status screen to take a look at his level 80 stats. He did not even have a chance to check this one out yet!


    He rubbed his hand in excitement and opened the interface as he had worked long and hard for this, suffering unbearable torturous pain. The next second, a red-coloured screen shed in front of him.


    "Hmmm? It''s red in colour?" He didn''t think much of it before, but now that he saw this, he felt that it was a bit unique. This was because, typically, the status screen was blue in colour.


    Right now, everyone else''s screen was blue in colour. Even in hisst life, his interface had been blue in colour, but now it was different.


    "Is this because of mana awakening?" Liam pondered as his gaze shifted to study the stats that shed in front of him.


    ______________


    Name: Liam


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 80


    Mana Core: Red, Partially Awakened


    Health: 10,000/10,000


    Mana: 50,000/50,000


    Mana Regeneration: 5000 mp per minute


    Soul: First Order


    Pet: Luna


    ______________


    Vitality: 250


    Stamina: 250


    Strength: 250


    Intellect: 300


    Agility: 250


    Physical Defense: 250


    Mental Defense: 5000


    Soul Defense: 5000


    ______________


    "Hmmm¡­ So my health and mana have increased quite a bit." Liam thought to himself.


    It was not surprising that his health had increased because he was Level 80 now, after all. The health increase was pretty much just corrting with this Level. There wasn''t that much of a bump otherwise.


    However, his mana increase was quite evident. There was a significant improvement in that. His mana regeneration had also increased decently.


    But¡­ it seemed a little anti-climactic for the horrendous experience he had to go through, and the sacrifices that he had to make and others had to make. He somehow felt that his power level should have risen by a few more levels.


    Even though he was quite overpowered at this stage, the world was not going to remain the same as today. It was only going to keep evolving constantly, and at that time, his current level would be nothing.


    He still needed to keep improving every single day. Otherwise, when the actual threat arrived, all of this would be for nothing.


    "Tch. Tch." Liam clicked his tongue in disappointment. At least his soul defense and mental defense were quite high. Maybe that''s all he gained from all the struggles.


    With a sigh, he looked over the details once again when his gaze stopped at the mana core. "Partially awakened?" His eyes shone with a cold glint as he wondered why this was the case.


    "The old elf told me I had to awakenpletely. Hmmm¡­ I also felt like I did it. Then why is it still showing partial?"


    Liam sighed. He had no idea what was happening. He desperately needed more information. He clenched his fist as he thought about the grumpy elf who had guided him. The regret that he probably cost that person his life still lingered.


    "There is no use thinking about that now. I have to look forward and be stronger. Only then can I actually help them?" Liam let out a deep breath.


    Being regretful or grateful was simply a waste of time. What he needed to do was be strong enough to do something for them in return, perhaps even save them from that hell.


    As he continued to gaze at the stat panel in contemtion, suddenly, a thought sparked in his mind. His mental defense was high, and his soul defense was high, but right next to those two, his physical defense was staggeringly weak.


    It was definitely higher than what others probably would have, but whenpared to his other two stats, it was rather low.


    "Could this mean that the elixir was not effective enough?" Liam thought about this issue. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.


    Due to the tremendous efforts, he put in, both his soul and his mind had undergone a qualitative leap, but what if his body wasgging behind? Was that why his mana core was still partially awakened?


    Moreover, there was no issue of corruption. Grandmaster  had warned him about it, and the draconian princess had given him a solution for it.


    Unfortunately, Liam did not have the time to do anything about this at all. He only managed to awaken at thest minute, but that still did not solve the problem.


    Liam quietly thought about these things for a few minutes, but no matter how much he tried to understand, he just did not have the tools to analyze the situation.


    "Fine. I will deal with things as I go. Besides, when that thing opens, maybe I can purchase more information." His gaze became steady as he cleared the different conflicting thoughts in his head and looked around.


    Thanks to him and their guild members, their part of the city was still mostly the same except for a couple of buildings that had copsed because of the earthquakes. However, a little distance away, that was no longer the case.


    If one stood on top of the terrace of a high-rise building or, in Liam''s case flying at a height, the true mayhem of the apocalypse was visible.


    The other part of the same city was inplete chaos. Fire trucks, sirens, everything was ring loudly, and people were running helter-skelter.


    "Let''s go there." Liam patted Luna, and the fox immediately bobbed her head as her figure blurred towards their next destination.

 Chapter 780 Starting The Business Back Up Again

    As the fox arrived near the next gate, Liam could see death and destruction everywhere. The road was littered with numerous casualties.


    This gate had opened up right in the middle of a residential area, and that too was one of the posh residential areas, so it looked like even police forces had arrived on the scene. There were signs of struggle.


    But how could ordinary cops stand up to the beast wave? Several officersy dead near the gate, their bodies only barely recognizable as they were being feasted on by a group of beasts.


    On the side, several beasts were gathered outside a bungalow and threatening to break through the gates. Simr scenes could be seen throughout the street.


    The entire ce was riddled with beasts from top to bottom. Everyone outside on the streets was mauled and ripped apart by the beasts, leaving behind only those who were confined within the safety of their houses.


    Even that seemed as if they were only barely holding on. As the number of beasts increased further, the pressure on these buildings continuously increased.


    Though the beasts were rampaging everywhere, one or two kept adding to the existing group that was gathered outside the individual bungalows, threatening to break down the barriers.


    As Liam and Luna drifted in the sky, observing everything that was happening below them, they finally noticed some gunshots being fired.


    10 miles away, at the local police station, some of the policemen had gathered and were putting up a fight. But clearly, this small resistance was also only minutes away from crumbling. Maybe they wouldst for another hour if all the luck was on their side.


    However, all of this wasn''t surprising to Liam. He had seen this and so much more already. The first wave was miserably devastating, even though it consisted of only weak beasts.


    This was because of the element of surprise. No one was prepared for this chaos. Everyone was still in the aftermath of the tutorial''s shutdown and worried about their economic status.


    Even otherwise, no one in their right mind would predict something like this to happen except for some paranoid nutcases, or rather, apocalypse enthusiasts.


    These were the people who had bunkers built in their houses and safe rooms specially constructed, but right now, they were also the ones who were going to survive.


    The iing death and destruction would simply be too much for themon folk. Only specific people, like the military or the big families with bodyguards and personal armed forces, had a high chance of surviving.


    Everyone else needed luck on their side. And in the end, the few others who somehow managed to survive by hook or crook would then be taken advantage of by these powerhouses in society.


    In the name of maintaining a semnce of the previous world, the burden of manualbour fell on these stragglers. The ones at the top would also not bother to improve themselves, and in the end, with every subsequent beast wave, humanity would be wiped out little by little.


    This was the cruel fate Liam had experienced in hisst life, and now history was repeating itself.


    Liam watched as the rich and affluent of society cried and begged for their lives from the confines of their houses. He frowned at this sight in deep contemtion. However, he did not feel any pity for them.


    These were the same people who had mercilessly continued to torture him. These were the same people who had grabbed his underage teenage sister by her hair right in front of him.


    Though he had already taken care of the main family responsible for his personal misery, the Gu family was just one of the many aristocrats in the district. There were others, and they weren''t that different.


    That being the case, why should he help these people? This was because¡­ he needed more manpower.


    Heh. Liam grinned. That was right. He was indeed nning on helping them. After all, someone needed to do the hardbour.


    In hisst life, these bloated pigs continued to enjoy their sweet life even after the apocalypse without shedding a single drop of sweat, but this time, things were going to be a bit different.


    He decided to worry about these thingster. After all, he was just a single person. He did not n on going around and rescuing the entire world.


    Instead, what he nned to do was just establish a circle around their central territory. To be more precise, he wanted to test the limits of his soul minions.


    At this distance, he was still able to feel them clearly and sense everything that was happening back where his sister, Shen Yue, and others were fighting.


    So all the gates within this radius where he was able to feel his soul minions would be his. Liam decided to start with this strategy and go from there.


    Everything had happened too fast. He was still nning the quests and items he needed from the tutorial game, so he hadn''t clearly mapped out this part of his future just yet. He had to n and execute on the spot.


    "Let''s go down, Luna."


    Liam pointed to one of the houses, the tenth bungalow on the street. Inside this building, two small children were standing on the terrace and crying, hugging each other. They were terrified of the roars they could hear outside.


    Luna immediately stiffened up. She also agreed with Liam''s decision. Moreover, she was touched that her master was so kind-hearted. Shended right in front of the bungalow with a proud smile, still praising her master in her head.


    The next second, the fox opened her mouth, and a fire wave sted every single beast in sight. Liam hopped down from the fox at the same time, but he wasn''t rushing inside tofort the children.


    Instead, he coldly gazed at the dozen corpses that were burnt to a crisp, more specifically, trying to pay attention to the dozen souls that these beasts possessed.


    A part of him was actually a bit nervous, wondering if he could sense the souls of these creatures as well as he could back inside the game.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~


    Please thank Wateiwaz for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 781 All In An Hours Work

    Liam wondered if he could really sense the souls of these creatures outside the game. This would be his first time trying something like that, and a part of him was a bit nervous.


    He took a deep breath and first used his own soul as a reference. As soon as he got a feel for it, he could immediately grasp the familiar sensation of the energy.


    "That''s it. Right there."


    He shed his eyes open, and as if some switch within him had flipped, he was instantly able to see the faint dots of soul fragments.


    With a grin, he then quickly reached for the beast souls in front of him. Without any effort, he was able to feel the soul energy within these slowly dissipating soul fragments.


    They were weak and negligent whenpared to the powerful souls he had recently dealt with, but they were unmistakably the same soul fragments he had been tinkering with all this time inside the game. Just like the mana in the air around him, this one also did not change one bit.


    Liam took another breath and then calmlymanded the dozen souls all at the same time. Mana hammers appeared around these souls, again at the same time.


    And as for the forging process¡­ it required no more than a single nce from beginning to end. The dozen misceneous beasts immediately appeared as soul minions right next to their corpses.


    "Go. Hunt down every beast in sight." Liam indifferentlymanded. He then hopped back on Luna and proceeded to move on to the next bungalow.


    The same scene repeated there as well. Once again, another dozen misceneous soul minions were created.


    Liam did not hold back and continued to do so for the next few minutes. After only fifteen minutes, a second small army of fifty soul minions was formed. The only difference was that these minions were extremely weak.


    However, he did not care about that right now. He had a few minions of quality. Now he was focusing a bit on quantity. After all, this beast wave was perfect for achieving something like that.


    There were plenty of beasts avable for taking, and he wanted to see just how much he could handle at the moment. He wanted to push himself.


    He might be powerful now, but that was temporary. He knew just how powerful his enemy was. What''s worse was that there might be even more powerful beings that he didn''t know about.


    To get to their level, he had to push himself constantly. There was no other way. He had to be proactive even when the situation did not call for it. Only then would he be able to prepare for the future. He always needed to think ten or fifty steps ahead.


    Besides, these cannon fodder could always be used as soul-healing medicine when he needed it.


    Liam made himself busy, and soon the fifty turned into a hundred. His soul minions started running wild through the city, actively hunting down the beasts that came their way.


    This instantly reduced the pressure on the city, and the beastsing out of the gate no longer reached more than a few yards before they were taken out.


    "Heh. Whether in-game or not, the beast horde is extremely valuable for leveling up!" Liam observed the new chaos with satisfaction. His work here was done for now.


    He could still sense his soul minions back at their base, so he decided to travel some more distance. Luna ballooned up again, and the duo set off for their next destination.


    However, they couldn''t stretch this limit beyond a certain point. Before they hit the next gate, Liam had already lost the connection with his soul minions.


    "So 50 km is still my current limit, huh... not bad." The duo paused at this boundary and stared back at the vast distance they had covered.


    "This is going to be our first territory, Luna." Liam indifferently muttered. "Go up."


    Kyu! Fast as an arrow, Luna ascended, and the two of them swiveled around to survey thendscape below. Six enormous gates glittered under the dark, stormy skies.


    Liam grinned at this sight. He was like an emperor looking down on the peasants. The gates that once terrified him were nothing more than a ything for him right now.


    "Come on. There is work to be done. Let''s pay each of these gates a visit to begin with."


    Marking the entire circumference as their territory, the duo shot forward to the rest of the gates as well. They stopped at each one, and Liam created another four armies of a hundred minions each, bringing his total to almost a whopping 700.


    The amount of work put forth, however, was ridiculous. The entire thing only took him about an hour. With Luna blurring in and out of the sky and Liam forging the souls at the snap of his finger, they barely had to do anything to achieve this feat.


    However, what was nothing to him was everything to others. As Liam created more and more soul minions on his whim, the entire city and the surrounding areas immediately became less chaotic.


    The number of casualties dramatically dropped. People who were going insane calmed down a little. Beasts were not knocking at their doors anymore, and people were not getting mauled left and right on the street.


    But they did experience something else. Everyone saw strange, translucent bluish-white creatures running around rampant.


    These looked just like the other beasts, but they were surprisingly fighting with the beastsing out of the weird purple circle that had popped out of nowhere.


    Even though they looked just as scary as the others, no one was brave enough to face these new minions. They simply left one enemy to fight with the other enemy and started running here and there for their safety.


    The only issue was that nothing seemed safe anymore!


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~


    Please thank Wateiwaz for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 782 Unbalanced

    Floating high up in the sky, Liam and Luna gazed at the chaotd that was sprawled beneath them. "Did we overdo it a bit?" Liam smiled.


    He never expected that he would be able to forge so many soul minions and maintain them at the same time. He also hadn''t hit his limit just yet.


    However, these were simply souls forged from weakmon beasts. So it made sense that his current capacity has not been filled.


    After all, even thousands of these minions cannot be equal to the two dragon souls he had forged, both of which he had to sacrifice to heal his soul.


    "I wonder how many more of these I can make." Liam quietly pondered. Though these were weak and seemingly did not possess that many benefits, there was a reason why he was investing time in them.


    Like gold coins, dor bills, or mana, soul power was also a currency. In times of dire need, he would be able to use these minions and their soul fragments.


    At the same time, numbers were something Crimson Abyss alwayscked.


    Sure, the guild overall had a healthy member count, but if one looked at the number of members who had actually signed the contract, it was barely fifty thousand.


    This was not nearly enough. To tackle this first wave and the ones after that, it was inevitable that they needed more numbers.


    Also, in this new world, the beast wave was not the only thing he had to take into ount. There were also the humans, the original upants of this. He needed manpower to supervise them as well.


    Taking these things into ount, Liam decided to invest some time into this first. However, he did not know that all he needed was an hour. This was way too simple.


    With a chuckle, he closed his eyes and tried to sense his soul minions that were spread across thend underneath him.


    He still had a connection to each and every single one of them. He could vividly feel what they were doing, which enemy they were fighting against, and what was happening around them. It was as if they were an extension of himself.


    Liam had only barely begun to get a feel for the first dozen minions when a sharp pain snapped him out of it. He even lost his bnce and almost fell off Luna.


    Kyuuu! The fox immediately panicked and supported him with one of her tails.


    "It''s fine. It''s fine. I am alright." Liam steadied himself back up again.


    It looked like even though he could theoretically sense all of his minions, his current ability to track them and their surroundingspletely was a bitcking.


    He remembered his poor physical defense, and putting together what just happened, and he could onlye to one conclusion. His body was terribly imbnced.


    "My soul strength should be stronger than what my body and mind can handle. The same goes for my mana core." He thought to himself. "Then there is also the issue of corruption."


    Liam sighed and flopped onto the soft fur of the beast. He had no idea how he was going to aplish any of this. He silently pondered for a few minutes, but then he decided to leave this aside for now.


    There was no point in trying to think of solutions to problems he had no idea about. It was better to focus on what was at hand.


    "Alright. Since these guys are good to go on their own, perhaps we should focus on the next thing on our to-do list."


    Liam was about to give orders to Luna when he decided to sense a soul minion near the main group just to make sure that everything was proceeding smoothly.


    However, as soon as he did, a frown appeared on his face. The vultures were here!


    Standing around Alex and the rest of the group was a branch of the local police task force. Liam could also see some prominent people present along with them.


    These were faces he had seen often on the local news channel. There were a few rich tycoons, some industrialists, andst but not least, there was also the mayor of the city.


    The funny part was that these people hade over here instead of attending to the other areas of the city, which had been subjected to far more distress.


    One could say that Liam''s sector was the safest ce at the moment, as he got a grip on things right from the beginning, not allowing even a single beast to pass him by.


    So technically, there were zero casualties in this area, but lo and behold, every top authority person was assembled here. Not just them, but ambnces, heavy-weight guns, and weapons were all here.


    Everyone was in top form and ready tounch into action with a clear chain ofmand in ce. The only issue was that they were not needed here.


    "Heh. This is happening sooner than I expected." Liam coldly sneered, but it was not time to intervene just yet.


    And from the looks of it, there was no need to hurry either.


    These newly arrived helpers only stood at a safe distance, with no intentions of taking charge any time soon. They looked quite content to stand back and simply watch the show.


    "Let''s go, Luna. Head back to the base."


    The fox immediately started moving at top speed, and in no time, the duo arrived at the scene of action.


    After stepping down from the fox, Liam paid no attention to the uninvited guests standing at the back. He ignored their shocked expressions and continued walking forward.


    There was no need to strike up any conversation with these people just yet. Rather, he came here to see the beast corpses that were scattered around.


    Treating the priceless spatial artifact as a simple storage ring, he casually started cing all of the beast corpses into the storage space one after the other.

 Chapter 783 What Is Their Secret?

    "Mr. Mayor, that is the person I told you about." A man in the back whispered to another who was wearing a luxurious-looking formal suit even in the midst of an apocalypse.


    On his hand was a phone that disyed several images of Liam''s takeoff andnding from the spot as he was riding on top of a certain white fox.


    "Mmm. Ok, I got it." The mayor acted like he didn''t care, but when he looked at the photos again, a strange light shed in his eyes.


    His attention was particrly riveted by the white fox with three tails that could unmistakably soar through the air.


    "Let''s continue observing for now." He calmly said.


    Not just him but every single bit shot assembled at the site currently had their eyes locked onto the newly arrived individual.


    Particrly, the way that he seemed to make the beasts'' corpses magically disappear caught their eyes.


    The person was also clearly not afraid to step anywhere near the strange phenomenon from which dangerous wild beasts were charging out.


    They had only dared toe here when the situation waspletely under control, and that too after taking several precautions and making sure that there was nothing here that could endanger their lives.


    After all these, they were still observing things from the back, not daring to go to the frontlines, but this person was just casually walking back and forth, even if a beast was right next to him.


    "Get me all the information avable on him."


    "Bring me details about all the foreigners here and how they came to be here."


    "Contact the international security department and find out how these many foreigners suddenly appeared out of nowhere."


    All the big shots started handing out orders one after another to their underlings while continuing to watch the show with awe. Meanwhile, a few civilians also slowly started toe out of their shells and watch the show.


    The normal people were still too scared to step outside their houses, but those who were familiar with the game ''Evolution Online'' slowly started gathering some courage.


    They daringly walked towards the crowd gathered and watched the dazzling show that was disyed in front of them.


    Many people even immediately spotted Alex and Shen Yue, two of the three great beauties of Crimson Abyss. Liam''s face might not be particrly famous, but the identities of other Crimson Abyss top yers like Alex, Shen Yue, and Mia were not exactly a secret.


    So the news that Crimson Abyss had taken charge and was protecting their city spread quickly. Many people were grateful. Some were indignant and envious, while others were too shocked by the endless wave of beasts to care about these things.


    Especially because they had only just now faced a beast wave inside the game and died several times because of it, even watching the horrific scene from safety was still traumatizing.


    However, the other big shots couldn''t afford to be this unaffected by this key piece of information. Most of these people had invested heavily in ''Evolution Online'' before everything turned to shit.


    And now they wanted their return on these investments!


    How could this guild alonee out on top? How did they have all these preparations worked out beforehand? How were they alone so strong even after the game was shut down?


    Was there some secret behind their strength? Did the powers from the game transfer to the real world? Watching the ease with which the group was handling the beasts, everyone gaped in awe and jealousy.


    They were particrly curious about the bluish-white creatures that were helping everyone. If it was like this, then they could also join and fight. It was not fair that only these people received this kind of support.


    Several thoughts began to sprout in the heads of the audience. The more time passed, their fears lessened, especially after watching how easily all the beasts were being dealt with.


    Some of the crowd started to act bolder as they ordered their personal guards to bring back some beast corpses for closer examination.


    However, when these guys stepped forward, suddenly, something unexpected happened. The bluish-white creatures, who had been solely focused on hunting the beasts up until this point, swung around without warning to face the approaching humans.


    Immediately, all the courage drained from the faces of these intruders, and they became pale, hurriedly stepping back out of the battle zone.


    Liam chuckled slightly as he watched this from afar. "Don''t want to fight but want to take the war spoils? Dream on." He didn''t do anything about it and just kept storing the corpses of the dead beasts in the tower space, one after the other.


    He now no longer even walked around as the minions did the job for him and brought the corpses over to him.


    Instead, Liam was leisurely taking a break from his day by sitting on the nearby park bench with Luna right next to him.


    After some time, he also ended up dismissing the soul minions from this part of the city. Alex and the others now seemed capable of handling the beasts by themselves, and moreover, he was also there to supervise everything, so he took back the redundant help.


    Everything was progressing just as nned. The families of the guild members had also managed to obtain some levels.


    Shockingly, some of the middle-aged women whom Liam would have never expected to fight back were also swinging their kitchen knives and taking out some beasts by ganging up together.


    They couldn''t simply watch from the sidelines while their sons and daughters were risking their lives and fighting.


    One particrly loud-mouthed woman was repeatedly bashing the head of a monkey with adle. Another elder was using his walking stick to spank a dire wolf. The wolf yelped in pain as its behind turned bright red.


    This type of scene became moremon as time passed, and the guild group continued to stand firm against the beast tide and fight on.


    But even the longest and most tiring day had toe to an end sometime. As the night went on, the stormy skies eventually settled down, and the climate and the overall weather tremendously improved.


    There were no more sh rains, heart attack-inducing thunder, or lightning. Everything calmed down, and as the first rays of the morning sunlight peeped through, finally, the relentless beast wave stopped!


    The gate was still glowing brightly, but no more beasts were charging out of it. It looked like this ordeal was finally over once and for all.


    Everyone sighed in relief and tiredly copsed in the middle of the road itself, either sitting down or lying down. The entire group was panting heavily as if they had just sprinted through a full marathon.


    Though these were low-level beasts continuously fighting all night long, it definitely took a toll on their bodies. They were once again starting from scratch, after all.


    While this group of people werepletely worn out, the other, more energetic group finally made their move!

 Chapter 784 You Are Under Arrest!

    As everything calmed down and the dust settled, a loud and authoritative voice boomed amidst the silence. "That''s enough. If you do not want to suffer any further consequences, step aside peacefully."


    Immediately, the police task force, who had been standing at the back all this time, marched forward with arrogance and authority.


    At the centre of this group was the mayor of the city. He as well stepped forward, his hands tied at the back and his head looking around loftily as if he was above the masses.


    "Everyone stay calm and do not panic. The city has the situation under control. We will not let anything happen to innocent civilians. But first¡­"


    He cleared his throat and continued, "Let''s first all settle down. Unnecessary panic and unauthorized vigntes would only worsen the situation." His gaze shifted towards the group of people sitting on the road tiredly as he mentioned this particr statement.


    With a stern gaze, the mayor then once again cleared his throat. "So I suggest all of you to first disperse and go back to your respective houses in an orderly manner. I repeat. Everyone should disperse and go back to your residence in a calm and orderly manner."


    "The government is on top of this mysterious urrence, and we will handle things from here on out. No one needs to worry or panic. Go back and wait for more instructions. Soon the inte and phone lines will be restored, and everything will be sorted out."


    Hearing the mayor''s strong and confident words, the entire crowd rxed and finally felt some relief. As there were numerous police task members standing around, everyone quickly obeyed them and started walking back to their residence.


    Only a few people stared back at the mayor as if he had spoken something that was even more ridiculous than the apocalypse descending on the world.


    However, these people also did not want any trouble and silently retreated back. After all, they neither belonged to the guild nor belonged to the government forces.


    They were simply spectators and bystanders in this event, so they went back and decided to watch what happens from the safety of their homes.


    But looking at the way in which things were proceeding, they wouldn''t be surprised if an all-out war urred between Crimson Abyss and the government!


    The next second this thought entered their mind, they could only bitterly smile at how ridiculous such a notion was!


    An in-game guild was actually fighting in the real world with skills and attacks from the same damned game!


    Just what in hell was happening around them? Why was reality and game world merging? What sort of future awaited them?


    Amidst this confusion swirling in everyone''s hearts and minds about the uncertain future, the crowd silently dispersed.


    Meanwhile, back at the portal, the big swirling mess of energy from which countless beasts had been spawning one after another just now, a few people still remained on the spot. They did not show any intention of returning to their houses.


    Heck, they couldn''t care less about what the fatdy sang about. Unlike others, they weren''t oblivious to what was happening. They knew exactly what was happening, and they knew who was the real one in charge here and whose orders they had to obey.


    While the police task force cleared everyone, these guys acted as if it had nothing to do with them. They were also too tired to move at the moment. They simply looked at Liam, who was rather calmly standing with a polite smile.


    Watching this, the mayor, the chief of police, and the deputy chief of police all grimaced, their faces turning unsightly. Never in their experience had an order been so grantly disregarded.


    Especially with everything around them crumbling and the uncertainty of what was happening, these authority figures did not take this well. They wanted to maintain some semnce of normalcy at all costs, even in these dire circumstances.


    So without giving even an inch, they pushed ahead.


    "Did you not hear what Sir Mayor just announced?" The police chief loudlymanded. "Everyone return to your homes. The foreigners need to stay back for questioning. Also." He paused and then turned to look at Liam. "You need to stay back."


    Coincidentally, the police chief did not stop there. He continued to look at Liam andmanded sternly. "You are in possession of an illegal animal. You need to hand over the animal to Sir Mayor, and you are hereby ced under arrest."


    "Get down on the ground and put your hands up in the air!"


    As the man''s voice rang loud and clear in the crisp early morning, everyone present in the vicinity was utterly shocked. Someone actually dared to speak in this manner to their guild leader?


    Was this person crazy? Did he not just witness what had happened?


    So this is what an idiot looked like¡­ everyone inwardly said their prayers for the poor bunch of disillusioned bureaucrats. It was going to be their funeral today.


    And just like they suspected¡­ they looked towards Liam and saw the smile on his face widen. But unexpectedly, Liam simply nodded.


    He waved his hand at the guild group. "Everyone stand back." He as well then proceeded to walk to the back and then got on the ground.


    Ideally, a criminal would have never been allowed to do this, and police would have shot at them even if he took a single step forward, but this was a special case.


    No one dared to shoot at this person, and they were all happy that the person willingly surrendered. So they silently let him do as he pleased.


    When Liam finally raised his hand, two of the policemen hurriedly handcuffed him. But once again, there was no reaction. Liam only smiled.


    Seeing Liam behave in this fashion, the other guild members were also confused. They were shocked and surprised as they had expected fireworks, but this was anti-climactic.


    What was going on? Were they really surrendering to the government?


    But Liam had already spoken, so they knew their orders and what they had to do. They silently started walking back away from the portal towards the location of Liam''s apartment, their main base.

 Chapter 785 Oops!

    Not just the guild members but the government forces, the big shots and the three main authority figures all looked extremely confused. None of them had expected this to go down so smoothly without a single hitch.


    But this suspicion only lingered on for a second, after which they resumed their arrogant stance. They were the government, after all. It was only logical that they take charge.


    The mayor as well resumed his lofty posture and gave out the next order. "Everyone stand guard around that strange thing." He pointed towards the portal. "I have already informed the higher-ups, and we will soon know what this is and how to shut it down."


    Immediately all the policemen started moving out without any questions, following the guidelines of the Mayor to the T. No one challenged the authority, and everything was finally under control as it should be.


    The Mayor cleared his throat loudly, giving a proud, confident smile. The unthinkable had happened, and yet everything was brought under control. "Good. Good." He muttered under his breath.


    However, at this time, the person who was silently standing with his hands cuffed finally opened his mouth. "Are you sure? Do you not need our help?"


    "Hmmm?" The mayor''s face twitched as the sarcasm in the voice was way too obvious. The person did not bother to hide it.


    "Stay down. Whatever it is, we can manage. We only did not intervene because unruly youngsters like you decided to take matters into your own hands. Otherwise, we would have finished this disturbance a lot faster with even fewer casualties."


    "Do you even think before you act? How do you think you will take responsibility if something disastrous happened? Luckily for you, we were there to provide backup and take care of public safety. Hmph."


    The mayor wasn''t done yet as he continued to berate Liam as if he was hellbent on making it clear who was in charge here. However, just as he opened his mouth again before any words coulde out, something behind him sizzled.


    It was the portal. It sizzled and crackled as something else starteding out. It was big. It was huge.


    Just its leg was the size of a human being! Its torso was thick like a car, and it was definitely a beast as it was covered with ck fur from top to bottom.


    Everyone''s face paled. They watched the scene in terror as right in front of their eyes, a giant-sized gori stepped out of the gate in its entirety.


    "Arghhhhh!" The policeman closest to the gori screamed in fear and shock. His blood-curdling cry attracted everyone''s attention, but when they turned to look at him, the man was already missing. The thick tree trunk-like fur-covered leg was present in his ce.


    However, this leg had blood splotches at the bottom. As everyone''s gaze shifted to these blood splotches, they could clearly see the man crushed into a meat pulp by the giant gori.


    OOOO! OOOO! OOO!


    The beast let out a terrifying roar, waking up the wholemunity, who had only just now rxed a little and retreated back to their homes to get some sleep. Apparently, their hell was not yet over!


    "Oh! My bad, I forgot to mention that the beast wave was not yet over." Liam sneered. He had indeed forgotten to mention a crucial piece of information. At the end of the wave, there was always a boss monster!


    His mocking words, however, were drowned in the chaos andmotion that followed.


    "SHOOT THAT THING!" Someone shouted.


    The mayor was standing dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. He had just now given a long lecture about how everything was under their control, but all he could see at the moment was the giant beast.


    It was as if his brain had short-circuited. He couldn''t think about anything else. The chief of the police and the deputy chief were in no better condition. They were also equally bewildered at the monstrosity that was standing in front of them.


    What was happening? What was such a thing even doing in their world? Nothing made sense anymore.


    Finally, one of the business tycoons was the first to shout loudly. He had yed ''Evolution Online'' for a decent amount of time, so he was able to somewhat adapt to the situation.


    Also, he was standing at the back and not exactly staring at the maw of the beast. This made things a little bit easier.


    "Everyone! Don''t just stand around! Shoot that thing!" He ordered.


    And right at this moment, his voice was the wake-up call for all the policemen. Even though this person was not the one in charge, no one cared about that right now. Everyone started firing at the monstrosity without holding back.


    RA TA TA TA TA!


    RA TA TA TA TA!


    The guns went off continuously, the entire ce smelling like gunpowder in a second. However, this did not help at all. They couldn''t even scratch the surface of the beast.


    Instead, they only managed to anger it further!


    The giant gori looked enraged and let out another loud, terrifying roar that reverberated through the empty streets. The beast then lifted up into the sky in one swift move and started randomly jumping around.


    POW! POW! POW! POW!


    And each time itnded, one of the policemen was crushed into meat pulp. The entire ce, which was calm and settled just a minute ago, was now inplete chaos.


    Everyone saw that their guns were useless against this giant monstrosity, so they started to turn tail and run helter-skelter before death arrived, knocking at their doorstep.


    The mayor, the police chief and the deputy chief was no better. They were also running away, along with all the big shots and their bodyguards.


    In the midst of this mayhem, the mayor stumbled and fell down, coincidentally right in front of Liam. "Why are you standing still? Go and do something!" He shouted in anger and panic.


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~


    Please thank Wateiwaz for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 786 You Are Being Unreasonable!

    Seeing the utter dread on the mayor''s face, Liam calmly smiled. A Level 15 field boss was nothing to him, but he was not nning to make a move anytime soon. "You said that you did not want our help, right?" He sneered at the desperate guy mercilessly.


    At the same time, his hand was busy as he started converting all of the dead human souls into his minions, one after the other.


    After all, these were trained professionals who had spent at least two years in the police academy learning how to do their jobs well. He did not want to miss out on such valuable, skilled minions.


    Seeing the smug smile on the other party''s face, the mayor trembled uncontrobly. "You are being unreasonable! Everyone is dying! Can''t you see?" He simply wanted to p the shit out of him, but he couldn''t risk staying here any longer.


    He started scrambling to run away, but he suddenly found himself flying andnding right next to the giant beast. Liam had grabbed him and tossed him back to the front lines.


    Ahhhhh! The mayor screamed.


    "Not so fast." Liam smiled. "Stay and defend and protect everyone. You are not going anywhere today."


    The man became further terrified and started shouting madly, "You! Traitor! Traitor! He is a traitor! Shoot him down!" The only problem was that all the cops next to him were already squashed like bugs by the boss.


    Unable to think clearly, he lunged towards a gun that was lying nearby and started shooting Liam down himself. Seeing that he was not moving, the mayor''s face twisted into a pathetic smile. He even got a couple of shots in.


    However, only then did he realize that something was off. The bullets thatnded on the guy definitely made holes in his shirt, but that was the extent of the damage they were able to cause. There was no blood, or even a scratch, for that matter.


    "What¡­" The mayor stared at the sight dumbfoundedly.


    "Just how big of an idiot are you?" Liam shook his head helplessly. "Alright. I think that this is enough." He summoned one of the wyverns, who immediately took control of the situation. It first squashed the mayor, who was talking a bit too much.


    The giant gori immediately noticed this new entry. The beast, who had been rampaging around until now as if it were the King of thisnd, suddenly came to a halt on seeing the real King.


    It dazedly eyed the wyvern in fear and shock, and the next second, a burst of me assaulted the beast,pletely roasting it from top to bottom.


    Thud!


    Just like that, the boss of the gate copsed lifelessly. Everyone who witnessed this stood frozen on the spot, nkly staring at the scene.


    Soon afterwards, the gate started crackling and sputtering once again. To all the people still scattered around the area, this felt like a death sentence. They immediately prepared to flee again, but surprisingly, something different happened this time.


    Instead of another monster stepping out, the portal simply became duller and duller, finally vanishing into nothingness. Like it had never been there, the mysterious gate vanished from sight.


    Huh? Huh? What happened to that massive thing?


    Did it just disappear?


    Did they win?


    Was it over?


    Everyone gulped as they looked around in pure horror. Was everything really over?


    Only Liam casually walked forward and ced the gori corpse into his spatial artifact as if he couldn''t care less about anything else.


    He also put the corpses of some of the other beasts that had died nearby into the same artifact. Then he began looking carefully at the ground for something.


    The next second, he picked up a small crystal from the ground. It was a mana core. "Got it. Our job here is done." He coolly whistled and started walking toward the guild group after dismissing all the recently created soul minions.


    The guild members were all still staring at him.


    Alex rolled her eyes at this drama. This guy always had to overdo it. "You couldn''t have done this in any other way?" She shook her head.


    "Heh." Liam chuckled. "This was not just for putting on a show. This was a lesson for everyone. Look around you. There are eyes everywhere. We can''t go around dealing with everyone one at a time, can we? Who has the time for that?"


    "Well, I guess I could have taken a more direct approach, but that would have been way more brutal, and there would have been even more casualties. Letting the boss teach them a thing or two instead was definitely the better option."


    Alex was speechless. Why was it even necessary to have casualties in the first ce? People were not in their right minds at the moment. So maybe showing them a little bit of patience was required.


    Liam shook his head. He could clearly see what she was thinking. "See¡­ I don''t want to kill everyone mindlessly. I do think that they deserve a chance to change."


    "But at the same time, they needed to know that I do not have any problems with allowing a few deaths." Liam smiled.


    He was, in fact, extremely serious. Right now, manpower was something that was needed. The casualties in this city were very low because he had intervened, but that was not the case everywhere.


    The world right now was facing severe death and destruction. So he wanted to avoid massacring everyone, even if they were idiots and even if they deserved it. But that didn''t mean he was going to be endlessly patient with them no matter what they do.


    There would be a bottom line, and just for today, this bottom line was a bit lenient. Everyone needed at least a day toe to terms with the new reality. Even after that, if some people didn''t want to follow the new rules, then there would be a price to pay.


    What Liam said did make sense, so everyone nodded in understanding, but at the same time, how exactly was he nning to bring everyone under his control?


    There was just too much chaos andmotion at the moment, and there were far too many people to handle. Whenpared to this, their numbers in this city were very pitiful.


    No one had previously realized how important Liam''s earlier warnings would prove to be until now. If they had, then perhaps their entire guild could have been here, and they would have been unshakeable.


    But now, with just this small fraction of people, everything was going to be difficult.


    Liam, on the other hand, seemed to not care about this issue. He looked very confident as if he had already nned everything out, just like back in the game.


    "Hey¡­ Now what? You have something on your mind?" Alex asked, gripping the axe in her hand tightly, ready to fight.


    Liam smiled. "Well, first things first. There are five other gates in the city, so there should be five more bosses. Let''s deal with them first."

 Chapter 787 New Top 5

    After the gate disappeared, things pretty much calmed down in the street. Most civilians simply went back to the safety of their homes as they had no idea what was going to happen next.


    The big shots in the city as well quietly retreated back to different ces as they were also unsure of many things. The shock at the end, where another beast had surprisingly appeared out of the gate, told them that they knew nothing about this whole ordeal.


    All they knew was that this whole event was somehow linked to the mysterious game ''Evolution Online.'' The game ended, and the next second, chaos descended.


    This couldn''t just be a coincidence. No one was foolish enough to think that. However, the question still remained. What were they doing to do now?


    Especially after witnessing the tyrannical disy of power and strength, no one dared to do anything sneaky or oppose the strongest person in the city at the moment.


    So everyone quietly dispersed, wondering what the next day was going to bring them. Were they going to live or die at the end of this day?


    Just like the other civilians in the city, coincidentally, the Crimson Abyss guild members and their family members also returned to Liam''s apartmentplex, which was their main base at the moment.


    Their current order was to take rest and rx since they had been continuously fighting for almost an entire day without any break. Though everyone was a bit restless to do this now of all times, the tiredness soon set in and in the end, all those who fought fell asleep like a log.


    There were also some soul minions guarding the building, so they did not have to worry about safety.


    Meanwhile, five people alone were missing from this group, including the master of the soul minions. After the gate closed, Liam immediately moved on to the next task at hand. He brought along with him Shen Yue, Alex, Mei Mei, Rey and Shin Soo.


    Surprisingly, he did not do this because he favoured them. These five had all managed to reach Level 10 while the others were still at Level 7, 8 or 9. While Liam had expected Alex to outperform others, the other four names were actually unexpected.


    Shen Yue and Mei Mei possessed legendary items in-game, so he had never really evaluated their actual talent inbat. Rey as well had ate start and was mostly goofing around.


    And as for Shin Soo, Liam was, in fact, quite familiar with his skill level, but once again, he was pleasantly surprised. When they had teamed up a long time before, his skills were not at this level, but now he had improved himself by leaps and bounds.


    More than anyone else, Liam understood his mentality and his hardworking nature, so naturally, he rewarded him and brought him along as well.


    Currently, Liam and the three girls sat on Luna, who had a disgruntled expression on her usual adorable face from being a ride to so many people, and the two guys sat on the condor undead soul minion, freaked out by the weird physical texture of the soul minion.


    The group first headed to the nearby gate, where a huge rhinoceros was wreaking havoc. This boss was still too much for any one of them to handle by themselves, so the five of them tackled him together in a group.


    Liam did not participate and simply stood on the side, keeping an eye on things, just in case something unexpected happened. However, it was not the first time for these five to coordinate and fight.


    Especially with Alex already being able to use a divine strengthening skill all on her own without any skill book or help from the system, the fight proceeded smoothly.


    She tanked all the blows while the others did their best to inflict damage, and within a few minutes, the huge beast copsed on the ground, its body hacked and shed and its healthpletely drained.


    "Damn it. That was way harder than it should be." Alex grumbled as she watched the portal vanish into nothingness once again.


    Standing behind her, Rey chuckled. "That''s what she said." He gave Shin Soo a wink, making him as wellugh, but the two immediately shut up as soon as they received a death re from the redhead.


    "Bro, how long are we going to fight without any weapons?" Rey let out a tired sigh and sat on the bloody ground, not caring about the mess. Without his bow and arrow, the weapon he was most familiar with, he was struggling a bit.


    He did not feel it as much when fighting against the weaker beasts, but the difference wasing out when fighting against the thick bosses. He could clearly feel his shoring.


    "Tch. I should have made some arrangements for this beforehand. I didn''t think of this at all." Rey tossed the knife he was holding down onto the ground, which fell down with a clinking sound.


    As a long-range fighter, he preferred to stay away and not get up close and dirty. He even got smacked by the rhino a bunch of times, only narrowly escaping, and his clothes werepletely ruined. He absolutely hated this fighting style.


    After ranting a bit, Rey looked at Liam to see if he had some sort of solution, but the other party was silently smiling. Immediately, Rey could tell that something was up. "Bro¡­ what are you not telling me?"


    The next second, something appeared in Liam''s hand, a glittering golden bow and some arrows.


    "What the heck!!!" Rey immediately jumped up in delight, forgetting that he waspletely tired out. "Please tell me this is for me! Please! Please! Please! Bro!"


    "Heh. Of course. This is for you. I was thinking of giving this to you onlyter, but since you are a special case, you can have it now." Liam smiled.


    Rey lunged forward and epted the weapon with glee while the others stared at Liam in shock, thinking about the implications of this action. Did this mean¡­

 Chapter 788 Crimson Abyss! Assemble!

    When Liam noticed that everyone was staring at him with sparkling eyes, he started tough. He knew what they were thinking.


    "Brother, you have my crown?" Mei Mei was the first to ask.


    "Ummm¡­ Do you also have other weapons?" Alex eyed him suspiciously.


    Even Shen Yue and Shin Soo, the quiet ones, seemed to want to ask him a question but said nothing. Instead, they stared at Liam with intrigue written all over their faces.


    Liam shook his head. He knew this wasing. "Alright. I do have some items with me, but I will only give them to you when you guys reach Level 20."


    "Or rather, whoever gets there first will receive the goods. It''s up to you to make sure that what you want is still there when you reach level 20."


    Everyone gulped. This meant that Liam still had the legendary items with him? He clearly did not deny that. The five pairs of eyes twinkled as they looked at the rhino corpse.


    This single boss gave everyone an entire level bump, bringing up their levels to 11. They were ready to attack the next one! Level 20 wasn''t too far, and everyone''s hands were itching to hold the items they were familiar with.


    After Liam ced the boss into the spatial artifact and picked up the mana core, the group promptly left for the next gate. Once again, a vigorous battle ensued.


    Unlike in the game world, in the real world, every level up only gave two stat points, so the progress was painfully slow. It was as if they were ying in the hard mode now.


    To make matters worse, Liam stopped Rey from participating in the group fight this time, so things were more difficult, dangerous, and risky. The group ended up fighting for a full ten minutes before the boss was finally down.


    But ultimately, it was worthwhile because everyone gained significantly more experience points as a result of having one fewer person in the group. Only Rey looked as if he had bitten down on something very bitter.


    "This is so unfair. My level is stuck. Bro, what is this¡­"


    Liam smiled. "Have some patience. There is plenty of time for you to level up."


    Rey still sulked for the rest of the trip as the group continued moving from one boss to the next. He repeatedly offered to take someone else''s position if they became tired, but no one was willing.


    So he ended upzily resting right next to Luna, who also had nothing much to do. After a while, he had the daring thought to y fetch with Luna, but very quickly, he dropped the idea as the fox gave him an icy stare.


    The next couple of hours went by in this manner, and finally, all the gates within the marked territory were sessfully taken care of, the beast corpses were cleaned out, and mana cores were collected.


    "Huff. Huff. Now what?" Alex winced, as she was nowpletely out of it. Even if she wanted, she couldn''t move a single muscle at this point. Everyone else as well looked like dead dogs.


    Their levels also stopped increasing by huge chunks after level 13, so those who had the idea of searching for more gates and clearing them quickly tossed it out.


    Luckily for them, Liam also agreed with them. "Nothing just yet. I will drop you guys back home. You should take some rest. There is a lot more work to do tonight."


    "Thank god!"


    "Ooof!"


    "Thank you, brother!"


    Everyone looked extremely relieved, except for Rey, who had barely broken a sweat. However, he also did notin as the group promptly returned to their base.


    The small apartmentplex now looked extremely crowded, with everyone living under the same roof, but this way, everyone was able to get some peace of mind and rest easy.


    When Liam and the others arrived, food was already prepared and ready to serve. The group had a hearty meal together, and to top it off, Liam took out some beast corpses.


    "We should be eating this from now on. These beasts have a good amount of mana in their bodies. So eating their meat will help with the mana assimtion process." He exined.


    Everyone who wasn''t too tired or sleepy began helping with the meat processing, and the group shifted the party to the huge terrace upstairs.


    The meat was nicely grilled by some of the older mothers in the group who had a lot of experience in cooking. Soon, a delicious aroma wafted out.


    Everyone received a generous helping of the meat. After their long day, everyone was relieved to sit down to a delicious meal and unwind together.


    Theyughed and chatted about the events that had been terrifying just a while ago. More importantly, they thanked their lucky stars that they decided to move here based on a whim, trusting a stranger they had met online.


    While the other members of the guild might also be doing better, it definitely wouldn''t be the same as being in the same base as the big boss.


    By now, the others were probably still struggling to survive. Who knew there might have even been some casualties? Thinking about this brought the group''s mood down.


    But soon, this changed as some new guests arrived. Just like Liam had predicted, the old granny had arrived at their doorstep, bringing along with her about a hundred people.


    Among these hundred people, about forty were trained fighters and members of her dojo. All of them were also official Crimson Abyss guild members.


    The gathering quickly became very lively with these new people as everyone mingled with each other freely and rxed. Liam took out some more beast meat for the newly arrived people, and everyone had their fill.


    Most of the day went by in this manner as everyone let loose, but when evening arrived, Liam quickly gathered the main group for a meeting. "Ok. Let''s discuss the next steps."

 Chapter 789 Lets Go In

    "Alright, brat. I am here. And just like you said, everything else happened as well. Ha Ha Ha. The world really turned into a terrifying ce, just like you said it would. Ha Ha Ha." The granny chuckled wryly.


    Her old and tired eyes looked a little lively today evening, a strange glint sparkling within them. She felt ten years younger and more energetic than she had ever felt in her entire life.


    It was as if she had obtained something today that she had been searching for every single day since she started training officially in her teen years. She felt whole andplete. "Brat, tell me. How do you know of all these things?"


    The group of other yers standing near them were all surprised because this old woman was repeatedly calling their big boss a brat, as if he were just a boy next door.


    But Liam did not seem to mind it. He simply answered her with a smile. "Just a hunch."


    The granny narrowed her eyes to stare at him with a mysterious gaze, but before she could say anything else, Liam added with a chuckle. "What has happened has happened. There is no point in discussing that now. Why don''t we talk about what is next?"


    Everyone immediately quieted down. This was something every single person assembled here wanted to know. What was next? What was going on here? What was going to happen to them?


    Liam gazed at everyone with a cold and stern nce and broke the news. "It''s not over yet. It''s just beginning." He finally said it.


    What? What was he talking about? What was beginning? Everyone''s face instantly changed. The beast wave ended, and the gates vanished. So many people had assumed that this was over.


    They were all of the opinion that perhaps in this new world, superpowers and special abilities would be the norm. This would mean that they would have to get adjusted to a new world order and perhaps new leaders, a new regime, and even newws.


    At least, this was what everyone was mentally prepared for. Though this in itself was something unthinkable and unimaginable, it was still not that scary, especially because they had the upper hand at the moment. They would somehow be able to manage things.


    But now, with Liam''s cryptic words, it sounded as if things were not that simple. What was going on here? Everyone looked at Liam for answers, and he took a deep breath before continuing.


    "The beasts that just came out were just a warm-up. Appetizers. I have a feeling there is more toe. I am not sure when or how, but even stronger beings might invade our space. All I can say is that we need to be prepared to fight and defend ourselves at any given time."


    "We need to be constantly improving to survive. Just like back in the game. If you consider the game a tutorial, now the real deal starts. We cannot rx just yet. Don''t forget that out here we have only one life."


    "If you die, then you die. There is no second chance."


    Everyone''s face fell. Hearing these words, everyone couldn''t help but imagine the worst-case scenario. This kind of life¡­ wouldn''t it be no different than hell? Constantly watching over their shoulders, constantly living in fear, who wanted to live like this?


    Liam shook his head. "There is no need to be scared. The first thing everyone needs to understand is that these things are beyond our control. All we can do now is survive."


    "But that doesn''t mean we are helpless. We can slowly train ourselves once again, be stronger, and fight back. All I ask is that you take this seriously and do everything you can."


    "We need to do our best, so even if we fail, we have no regrets. Let''s work together and survive this hell! Yes?"


    YES!


    "We will not fail."


    WE WILL NOT FAIL!


    "We will survive!"


    WE WILL SURVIVE!


    With Liam pushing them, everyone started shouting at the top of their lungs. Even their respective family members joined in as if they had also been a part of the guild all along. The gloomy, foreboding atmosphere also rapidly changed.


    Liam let out a sigh and then raised his hand. Everyone immediately became quiet. "There is another announcement for today."


    "Tonight, sometime¡ª I don''t know when, I don''t know where¡ª there will be a pir of light in the city. It could be anywhere and at any time. It could be appearing in front of us as I am speaking now."


    "It doesn''t matter. But the moment it shows up, we have to get there as fast as we can. Understood?"


    Hearing Liam''s words, everyone nodded and nervously watched the city around them, craning their necks left and right.


    Liam jumped on Luna as well, and both of them appeared prepared to take off at a moment''s notice. As for what that pir of light was or why they had to reach it first, Liam did not exin these things.


    "It is a special ce, a shop of sorts." He only said this much. As for the rest of the things, it was better to let everyone witness it for themselves.


    Time ticked by, and soon, around 8 pm, a pir of light indeed showed up in the city, just like he mentioned. It rose from the ground and shot up to the sky, extending infinitely.


    What is that?! Everyone gaped. Another wave of beasts? They all turned to look at Liam for instructions, but he and the fox were already gone.


    "Luna! There! NOW!" Liam shouted as the duo shot forward like a bullet. It was not too far from their residence, and with Luna''s speed, they arrived at the spot in an instant.


    Liam jumped down and looked at the space in front of him. There it was! There it really was! The thing that Liam was looking for! A simple brick building that had ten floors.


    "Here we go." Liam grinned. He was once again back in front of this familiar ce, though now he was no longer the same person. "Let''s go in."

 Chapter 790 Welcome

    As Liam walked into the door with the little fox closely following behind him, a small being appeared in front of him, greeting him at the doorstep. "Wee. Wee."


    He stared at the creature, whom he had not seen for a while now. A fairy.


    She had shiny, sparkly wings on her back, which she fluttered as she hovered in front of him, eyeing him curiously.


    She was wearing a silvery white dress thatplimented her silver hair, and she also had a big, friendly smile on her face. She looked quite cute and adorable.


    But Liam knew better than to be carried away by this smile. He remained silent.


    "Hello, I am Tilia. How may I help you today?"


    He ignored the pleasantries and curtly replied. "I would like to register my ss and look at the items for purchase. I would also like to trade in a few things."


    Oh? The fairy was taken aback a little bit.


    A human who was not swayed by her heart-melting cuteness. This was new. Her eyes gleamed with interest as she shed another smile and moved aside.


    "Wee, Sir. Pleasee in. I will guide you through the registration process." She winked.


    "And since you are the first person to register in the entire world, you will receive a special bonus."


    Huh? It was now Liam''s turn to be startled. He was so nervous about registering for his ss that he did not think something like this would be there.


    "A bonus for the first person, huh? I am not going to say no to that." He grinned as he thought to himself.


    The fairy led him inside the building, which was rather unusual. He felt as if he was getting some sort of VIP treatment.


    Usually, these creatures were very snarky and greedy. There were several times in hisst life when more than one of these bug women spat on him for not possessing enough money.


    And now they were being kind and humble? He just couldn''t get used to this polite treatment. Liam ignored the fairy and looked around.


    The interior of the building waspletely different from the exterior. While from the outside, the building might just look like a simple, random brick-walled structure, the inside was sparkling and pristine.


    The shop''s distinctiveness was enhanced by the bright and spotless white marble floors, the sophisticated and exquisite carvings on the walls that belonged only in royal pces, and, importantly, the dainty female creatures that could seduce countless men.


    But the most mysterious aspect of the shop was its own origin. Where did this shope from? What was its purpose here? Nobody knew the answers to these questions.


    Liam never understood the reason behind this mysterious shop in hisst lifetime, and now nothing had changed. However, he didn''t care too much about these things. He was far more concerned about what was toe next.


    Looking at the bigger picture and thinking about everything that had happened up until now, including the hand of the divine temple in all the events, was a luxury he couldn''t afford just yet.


    Even if he wanted to think about these things, there was nothing he could do at his level. Only when he became stronger, perhaps, could he get some clues about these mysterious factions.


    He silently followed the fairy as she continued to lead him inside the shop. To his surprise, they had crossed all four desks on the ground floor of the shop, but they were still heading further in.


    Where were they going?


    "In here." Tilia beamed with another sweet smile.


    All her actions were innocent and pure, just like the white dress she wore, but there was a sort of seductive teasing charm to that innocence as if she were testing the limits of the man in front of her, watching and waiting for him to slip.


    Unfortunately for her, Liam had absolutely no reaction whatsoever.


    He was already used to being around women much more dangerous than her. Both Shen Yue and his two self-proimed wives from theher realm had far more of an impact on him than this petite fairy.


    Instead, what piqued his interest was¡­ why was she going out of her way to make an impression on him? These creatures clearly did not care about humans.


    After the first beast wave itself, it was almost as if they decided that this race was doomed and treated everyone with a condescending tone and mockery.


    So why was this one behaving differently now?


    Liam only had to think about it for a moment before the realization dawned on him. His answer was there in his question itself. This difference in treatment was precisely because of the same first beast wave oue.


    However, this time, at least in this area, they hadn''t suffered a massive loss. Instead, everything was already under control, and the gates had also been taken care of. So obviously, these creatures also changed their attitudes.


    Besides, his level at the moment was also quite abnormal, far exceeding that of normal beginners.


    All these told Liam one thing. These two-faced bitches behaved nicely to people with power and trampled on those who did not possess any.


    First, it was the divine temple and now, these fairies. Were there no fair and just races in the world? Heh. Liam chuckled wryly at this naive thought. Of course, there wasn''t.


    Only power and wealth spoke loudly. The strong had rights, and the weak had toy low and pray for their future, wishing on a shooting star. Such was the cruelty of the world.


    "This way." The fairy opened a private door to reveal arge room.


    And on this mahogany door, two words were clearly inscribed in silver ink.


    Store Manager


    Liam couldn''t help but gasp inwardly as he saw these two words. Store manager? This fairy who was talking to him was actually the store manager?!


    This was a surprise to him. This meant she should have an in-depth familiarity with both the store and the current events of the world atrge.


    Perhaps there were some advantages to being friendly with this fairy. For the first time, Liam smiled back at her.

 Chapter 791 Earths First Evolver

    "Thank you, Miss Tilia. May I know if you are the store manager of this ce?" Liam politely smiled.


    "Oh! You noticed! Yes, that would be me. I am the humble store manager that runs this ce." The fairy beamed in response, a little excited that Liam was finally warming up to her.


    "And since you are a special customer, you are always wee to look for me to conduct any transactions. I will be more than happy to attend to you personally." She winked her eyes and did a small curtsy bow.


    "Thank you. This is a great honour indeed. I will keep this in mind and look for Miss Tilia any time I enter the shop. I hope that I won''t be troubling you." Liam smiled again, not being stingy with his attitude.


    "Ha Ha. Nonsense. It is no trouble." The fairy giggled and brushed his words off. "Now, shall we start with your transactions? I have a feeling that you have a lot to offer to me." Her eyes glimmered with a strange light.


    Hmmm? Liam felt an rm go off inside his brain. What did she mean by this statement?


    He nodded and took a beast corpse from his inventory, still smiling. "First, I would like to know how much I can sell this for?"


    "Mmm¡­ Amon striped tiger?" The fairy blinked, inspecting the beast in a fraction of a second. "I am afraid this won''t get you much, Sir Liam. You would need a hundred of these beasts to exchange for onemon-grade mana core."


    "That''s quite alright." Liam retrieved the beast corpse and ced it back into his spatial artifact.


    He had already expected this answer, so it did not reallye as a surprise to him. What he really wanted to check was something else, and bingo, the next second, the fairy did indeed talk about it.


    "Mr. Liam, you amaze me once again. Your world has only begun to evolve, but you are already in possession of a spatial artifact! May I know what type of artifact it is?"


    Liam chuckled. "Thank you, Miss Tilia, but I am afraid I cannot answer you."


    "Oh?" The fairy''s face became small.


    "I mean, I am not sure myself. When I awakened, I just found the artifact already bound to me. It is a mystery to me as well."


    "Oh. I see. In that case¡­ might I suggest something." The fairy smiled again. "How about you sell the spatial artifact? The beasts'' corpses that you possess will not amount to much, but you would definitely get a good deal on the artifact."


    "You can then exchange the mana cores for a decent weapon. At this stage, that is probably more valuable for you. You might need a good weapon that is suitable for your strength and your level?" She winked at him with a charming smile.


    "Oh. That is indeed a good idea." Liam nodded with furrowed brows as if he was really thinking about it. "Give me some time to think about it because a spatial artifact is also extremely useful for me right now in terms of acquiring resources."


    "Sure, Mr. Liam. Take your time. I will be here waiting for you." Tilia smiled.


    Of course, you will. Liam sneered inwardly. This simple conversation proved two things.


    First, this woman was able to tell that he possessed a high-grade treasure with him. Second, she was not able to tell exactly what it was or what was inside it. This was good news.


    Otherwise, this dainty-looking fairy as well would probably turn into a wicked witch ande after him with everything she had! There were already too many people behind him, and he really did not want another headache, especially right now.


    This was the problem with possessing a high-grade treasure. If you did not have the power to protect it, everyone was going to hunt you down for it. But at least for the moment, Liam seemed to be safe from this fate.


    Now that he had confirmed this, he smiled and asked the fairy again, "Can I register for my ss now?"


    "Yes, of course, valued customer. I have already started the process. It should be done soon." Tilia beamed. She opened a system interface panel, and on it, Liam''s name was written.


    Shockingly, right next to his name, there was a title.


    [Earth''s First Evolver]


    The fairy noticed that Liam was surprised, and she exined with a smile. "This is the reward I was telling you about. "Because you are the first person from this world to officially register, you will receive 50 stat points as a bonus."


    "You will be even stronger, Mr. Liam." She winked at him.


    "Ha Ha. That is good." Liam grinned. His gaze was still on the panel as he could see some sort of timer circle running out topletion. The next second, a notification popped up in front of him.


    <Ding. You are now officially registered as an evolver. You have received 50 bonus stat points, freely avable to allot to any of the attributes>


    Liam eyed the notification with interest. He only knew about registering for his ss, so this was new to him. What did registering as an evolver even mean?


    Just as he was thinking about this, his gaze casually fell on the store manager''s panel behind the notification. On there, as soon as he got registered, a couple of other names appeared.


    And a secondter, several other names appeared. The fourth one particrly caught his eye, as it was Alex''s name. It looked like she had also arrived at the building shortly after him.


    His gaze then shifted up to see who the other two names were in between them, and he abruptly froze.


    Right there on the panel, there was a name he recognized, written in clear, bold letters!


    GEROME CRAWFORD


    It couldn''t be, right?


    No! That''s impossible!


    How could that damned tower master follow him out of the game world into the real world? Something like that shouldn''t be possible!

 Chapter 792 New Class

    It was a shock to Liam that the guy was even alive, but he was right here on this with him? FuuuucckkkK!


    This was not good. Several thoughts surfaced in Liam''s mind. Why did hee here? Was this the only ce he could escape to, or did hee here for a specific reason?


    No, it did not matter. Irrespective of the reason he came here, Liam knew the guy a little too well. He was going toe after him with everything he had. There was no doubt about it.


    Wait, if he was the first to arrive and Crawford was the third, then who was the second? Perhaps someone from the divine temple?


    Liam''s heart raced as he hurriedly looked at the other name on the panel. However, before he could take another look, the panel quickly disappeared.


    Instead, the fairy''s smiling face greeted him.


    "Ha Ha, Mr. Liam. No peeking. The first hundred evolvers list will not be made public for some time." She smiled and spoke in a teasing tone, then sat back in her chair.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the fairy. If this was something that he should not have a look at, then why did she allow him to take a peek in the first ce?


    And then it struck him. Was she perhaps testing him? Just like how he probed her, maybe she also probed him? She did everything on purpose to see if he showed some sort of reaction?


    If so, she had won this round!


    Liam did not mind it. After all, he also got some valuable information out of this. Crawford was here. He could be anywhere in this world, but he was here on the samend as him.


    And this time¡­ things were going to be different.


    Liam smiled and gazed at the fairy silently. Now he was also curious about who the second name was. It was a weird Greek name that he couldn''t grasp with just a single nce, especially since he was distracted.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam doubted that it was someone ordinary. After all, he and Crawford were not ordinary. So there was someone else that he needed to watch out for.


    "Shall we move on to the next transaction, Mr. Liam? Shall I help you register your ss?" Tilia cocked her head to the side and smiled at Liam with her usual heart-melting smile.


    "Yes." Liam nodded. The other things had to wait. For now, this was the most important thing he needed to focus on.


    The fairy shed a smile and took out a transparent crystal from one of the drawers of her desk. She then ced it on the table in front of her. "Please ce your hand on the crystal."


    Liam took a deep breath and followed her instructions. He gently ced his hand on the crystal ball. Immediately, a white gaseous material appeared in the previously transparent crystal, swirling around in a turbulent fashion.


    "Your soul is veryplicated, Mr. Liam." The fairy teased him again. "You must surely be stronger than a typical zeroth order being.


    "Ah. You are praising me too much." Liamughed and brushed it off.


    This was another clue. From the looks of it, this fairy was not able to ess his system panel. The rules in the real world were much more stringent than the ones in the tutorial world.


    Even the store manager was not an exception to it. This was good news. So far, he had received both good news and bad news, but the result of this test would trump everything.


    Liam curiously eyed the crystal, wondering what it was going to spit out. When he had been kicked out of the tutorial world, he only managed to awaken his mana core.


    As for his legacy, it had improved a little, but he knew for a fact that it was still iplete when the tutorial ended. So did he lose it all? In the end, did he only retain the ability to make soul minions?


    This was something Liam was uncertain of, and now everything would be revealed. He stared at the small crystal orb intently as if his gaze would affect the oue of the test.


    While Liam stared at the orb, the fairy stared at him, trying to discern him. A couple more seconds passed by, just like this, inplete silence.


    And then, a screen shed in front of Liam.


    <Ding. You are able to register for the following sses: Mage, Warrier, Necromancer, Assassin, Hunter, Druid, Shaman>


    <Ding. Please select a ss of your choice to register>


    Liam sighed. Of course, he had already expected this result, so he was not disappointed. You win some. You lose some.


    "I would like to register as a Necromancer." He said. Even though this was not the same as his special ss, it was still something for him to go on.


    After all, even without the legacy, he still retained all of the skills he had learned. That was more than enough for him for now.


    As for the rest of the legacy, Liam had not given up on that just yet.


    Mia, Derek, the old elf, and his legacy, he was going to get back all of it from the divine temple. For now, he just needed to survive and be strong enough to do that.


    He did not know what the future held, but he believed that if he could somehow survive the trials of the apocalypse ande out on top, he would definitely get a chance to take back everything that was his.


    But first, he needed to be stronger.


    "You seem to be in deep thought, Mr. Liam. Perhaps you would like to take some time and think about your options?" The fairy asked him again in a teasing tone.


    Liam smiled. He did not say anything.


    "He He," She giggled. "Then I will go ahead and register you as a necromancer. From here onwards, you will receive a 5% discount on all materials purchased in the store, and you will be able to ept quests issued by the store."

 Chapter 793 Millionaire!

    "Then I will go ahead and register you as a necromancer. From here onwards, you will receive a 5% discount on all materials purchased in the store, and you will be able to ept quests issued by the store."


    The fairy then started exining the rules of the store. "You can only ept a new quest after finishing the previous quest. Every quest has a deadline and must bepleted before the deadline expires."


    "You can also register your secondary professions to receive specific profession quests. Rewards are paid out after submission of the quest."


    "For certain quests, raw materials are provided by the store, and in case of failure, these raw materials must be returned intact."


    "Failure to do so would result in a permanent ban from the store as well as confiscation of something equally valuable."


    While Liam silently listened, the fairy continued spelling out all the rules of the store. He was already aware of these rules, but he listened to them nevertheless. After all, this was the main reason why he had bothered toe here and register in the first ce.


    The list of rules was long, and it went on for a few minutes. At the end of it, Manager Tilia did not forget to add a familiar disimer. "Please note that all the rewards are only mary. The store cannot issue any quests which will directly impact your strength."


    Liam sneered inwardly. Why don''t you say exactly what this meant? Why sugarcoat it?


    In hisst life, disaster struck when the second wave of monsters arrived, mainly because of this shop. Everyone had been so engrossed in finishing quests provided by the shop that they forgot that they had to train inbat as well.


    This was simply a time-wasting endeavour for most people, and that was what the disimer really meant.


    For Liam, on the other hand, the same did not hold true. So he was rather interested in these quests and, more importantly, in the rewards of these quests, which were essentially nothing but mana cores.


    One needed mana cores to buy anything from this shop, and considering the mysterious nature of this shop, Liam was sure that it held many items of interest, specifically skills books.


    Skill books existed not just in the tutorial world but also in the real world. However, obtaining them was an entirely different issue.


    The ones sold in the store were extremely expensive, something that no one could afford even if they worked for days together, burning the midnight oil day and night.


    And the ones that dropped from the creatures that were not native to earth had an abysmal drop rate.


    How was one even supposed to hunt down hundreds and thousands of these creatures without the said skills in the first ce? The entire thing was simply a vicious cycle of failure.


    This was one of the main reasons why everyone became obsessed with the shop and grinding the quests.


    After listening to the rules, Liam continued patiently waiting for the next topic, the biggest reason he was here and also why he raced before everyone else to get here.


    And finally, the fairy came to this point.


    "Now that we are done with the ss registration, Mr. Liam I would like to inform you that your store card is ready." Tilia smiled and handed Liam a simple ck card.


    "Since you are our first customer, the store has rewarded you with 1,000,000 low-grade mana cores." She shed another teasing smile.


    Liam nodded and epted the card. This was what he was aiming for. In hisst life, Gu family''s young master received this bonus gift, and he did not stop bragging about it.


    But the idiot used the mana cores to purchase a basic skill and wasted the whole thing. Liam was not nning to do the same. He had a better n.


    He also intended to buy a skill, but it would be something that couldn''t simply be learned naturally. There were many unique skills like that, the most important one being¡­


    "I would like to make a purchase." Liam immediately said.


    Tilia grinned as if she knew this wasing. "Sure, Mr. Liam. Here is our list of avable skills. Please feel free to make your selection."


    The next second, a panel shed in front of Liam. Several skills were listed on it, ranging frommon to umon, and the cost of each skill was ridiculously high.


    Themon ones cost about a million, while the umon ones were even more expensive. Liam''s gaze lingered on the list for a while, but then he directly went for the one he had his eye on.


    [Inspect]: 1,000,000 mana cores


    "This one." Liam clicked on it. He tapped his card on the screen, and immediately all of his mana cores emptied out. At the same time, a rune appeared in his mind, along with a notification.


    <Ding. You have learned the skill [Inspect]>


    [Inspect: You gain special insight on the object of interest; Can be upgraded]


    Liam closed the notification. He got what he wanted.


    "That is a very good choice, Sir Liam. Anything else on your mind?" Tilia asked. She was also tapping away at some system notifications.


    Liam nodded and got up from the chair. He wanted to have another conversation with this fairy in front of him, but now was not the time for it. He first needed to attend to some business.


    "Thank you for everything. I will take my leave, Miss Tilia."


    "Until next time, Mr. Liam." The fairy, too, waved him goodbye without getting out of her chair this time.


    Both parties seemed to be engrossed in their own thoughts as Liam left the room and returned to the rest of the store, which was quite lively at the moment.


    By now, the rest of the guild had also arrived at the building, and from the looks of it, everyone was shocked at the ridiculous prices listed for the store''s products.


    "Hey Liam, I got some mana cores as a reward." Alex was the first to notice him and walked over from the side, waving her ck card at him. "What do I do with this?"


    "Right." Liam absent-mindedly replied. "Do you know how many people got this reward and how many mana cores we have in total?"


    Meanwhile, he opened his status screen to distribute his new stats and take another look at his newly acquired skill.


    His status screen shed in front of him, and unexpectedly, something new was written on it.


    Name: Liam


    ss: Dual ss - Necromancer, Soulmancer (Sealed)


    ***


    Bonus chapter~~


    Please thank Passmemoney for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 794 Setting Up The New Base

    ______________


    Name: Liam


    ss: Dual ss - Necromancer, Soulmancer (Sealed)


    Species: Human being


    Gender: Male


    Level: 80


    Mana Core: Red, Partially Awakened


    Health: 10,000/10,000


    Mana: 50,000/50,000


    Mana Regeneration: 5000 mp per minute


    Soul: First Order


    Pet: Luna


    ______________


    Vitality: 250


    Stamina: 250


    Strength: 250


    Intellect: 300


    Agility: 250


    Physical Defense: 250


    Mental Defense: 5000


    Soul Defense: 5000


    Additional Stat points: 70


    Additional Skill points: 20


    ______________


    Skills:


    Inspect (Level 0)


    ______________


    Liam stared at the status screen in surprise. Instead of just necromancer, his old ss was also listed on the status screen. Did it not show up on the crystal because it was sealed?


    "Hey, what happened? Is something wrong?" Alex noticed the weird expression on his face and asked.


    Liam paused and then lightlyughed. "No. Nothing." Wasn''t sealed the same as not having his legacy at all?


    In reality, it did not matter if the ss was sealed or if the ss was lost to him altogether. It probably meant one and the same thing.


    And either way, this was not over. If Crawford can really step out of the tutorial world into the real world, then he could also do the same and once again enter that world.


    When that timees, he was definitely going to get his entire legacy back, one way or the other, even if he had to rip it out of the same high priestess.


    As for how he was going to be strong enough to stand up to her, especially without his legacy to back him up¡­ there was always the apocalypse.


    Liamughed inwardly. He himself did not expect that he would think in this manner. In hisst life, he saw the apocalypse as a death sentence for this world, but now¡­ he was seeing it as an opportunity.


    He was still not callous enough to think that surviving this would be easy. However, if he managed to survive, he was sure that he would reach unimaginable heights. Only then would he be able to stand against that person.


    Liam clenched his fist in determination as he turned to look at Alex. "Ask everyone to save their store cards properly. They can''t buy anything now, but in the future, we will use them." Alex nodded.


    Seeing the two of them chatting, Rey also joined in. "Bro, what are we going to do next?"


    Liam smiled. "Next, you are going to train."


    He took out a map from his pocket with a couple of coordinates marked. These were the locations of the two dungeons that he knew of and had previously visited.


    "These two are dungeons. Take the group and go here. Don''t split up for now. Stay together and train in the dungeons. Go slow and steady."


    "Remember, you don''t have your items and armour yet. So be careful. Can I count on you guys to do this properly without any casualties?"


    "Yes, bro. Leave it to me." Rey quickly took the map and started looking at it.


    Alex also nced at it but then turned to look at Liam. "What are you nning to do?" She was curious because Liam was clearly not going toe along with them. That would just be babysitting and a waste of his time.


    But to her surprise, that''s exactly what he said. "I am nning to babysit."


    "Huh?"


    "Mmm. By the time you guyse back, there will be a new ce for everyone to stay."


    "Oh, I see." Alex frowned. "If you want to do something else, I know a few guild members who are trustworthy enough to handle these administrative things. You can give them the work."


    Liam shook his head. "Don''t worry about me. I will also be doing something else simultaneously. You guys should first make a move and run both dungeons once before midnight and then once after midnight."


    "You can only run through them once a day, so make it count. Maybe for the second round, you can form smaller parties if you are confident. Good luck. I am counting on you to get the result without casualties."


    "Remember, if you die once, that''s it. There are no second chances."


    Alex sighed. "Yes. I know. I will take care of it." She also hated this part.


    In fact, she had actually scoured over the skills avable in the shop for the past few minutes for this exact same purpose to see if she could find some sort of resurrection skill.


    But unfortunately, it was a dead end. Nothing like that was avable.


    "Ok. We will be leaving then." Alex left after discussing a couple of logistical issues. Liam, as well, left the store soon after that. There was a lot to be done now.


    He hopped onto Luna, and the duo lifted off into the sky.


    Sitting calmly on the back of the fox, Liam gazed at thend that sprawled beneath him. "Luna¡­ I think it''s time to select a proper guild residence now. We can''t have everyone living in squalor."


    He spotted the two buildings that he had his eye on and had picked out earlier. The two were the best international hotels in the city, with twenty floors each. They were also located right next to each other.


    "That should do." He patted Luna, and the fox blurred in and out, immediately appearing on the terrace of one of the buildings.


    Liam then summoned his army, or rather, a batch of his army. About fifty soul minions materialized in front of him the next second. This batch consisted of random beasts of all different kinds.


    As their leaders, Liam also summoned five of the werewolves and gave them a simple order. "Empty this entire ce and the next building. There shouldn''t be anyone left inside."


    Awoooo!


    The five werewolves bowed in agreement. They then rushed out to execute the orders.


    "Be careful. Don''t make a mess, and don''t kill anyone unless it is required. Just scaring them should suffice. Maybe some minor bites."


    Awoooo!


    Shortly after that, the entire hotel resounded with loud roars and howling sounds, with groups of people running outside in fear for their lives.

 Chapter 795 Setting Up The Sweatshop

    While the first group was busy clearing their future main base, Liam did not remain idle and quickly summoned the next group. This batch consisted mostly of the barbarians and also¡­


    "Whaaat¡­ what the hell is happening¡­ how am I¡­" A stout middle-aged soul minion appeared along with a dozen other fit human soul minions.


    Since this was the first time they had been summoned, it took them a couple of seconds to get to grips with their new reality. Their faces turned horrified as they saw what they had turned into.


    And when they looked at the man responsible for all this misery and pain, he still had the same indifferent look, the one that he had when they were being killed by that big monstrosity.


    What happened to that beast? Was it still rampaging around in the city like Godzi? They looked at the city below from the tall terrace, and it seemed to be just as calm as ever.


    Perhaps there weren''t as many people on the streets as how it was before, but still, it was peaceful and without any disturbance whatsoever.


    In the end, only they died a miserable death. If they hadn''t acted hastily back then and befriended this person, would everything have been different? They looked at the terrifying person in front of them with fear and regret.


    "Wee to the team." Liam simply said. "Take this group with you and round up all the firearms and other heavy machinery in the city and in the surrounding areas. Bring everything to the building over there."


    Liam pointed to another tall building at a distance. He did not want to put these weapons in the same spot where the residence was.


    Also, these weapons were going to be pretty much useless soon enough, but until then, they could still be deadly to the others and pose a threat to the life of guild members and their families.


    It was still just the beginning, so everyone hadn''t yet recognized the true threat looming over this world.


    So instead, they would focus on other petty things like fighting with other humans for morend and territory or control of more dungeons which was the new resource.


    This was nothing but a time waste. Liam did not want to get himself involved in this pettiness. However, there were people dependent on him, so he decided to take some precautions.


    "Not just the government reserves but check every house and every building and seize whatever firearm they possess. If someone resists, knock them out or, if needed, kill them. Go"


    The second group of soul minions quickly scattered away as they finished receiving their orders.


    "Residence is taken care of, and weapons are taken care of. Now it''s time to start the third order of business."


    Liam and Luna took off from the terrace, and this time they appeared next to a huge factory warehouse on the outskirts of the city. This was a warehouse for storing grocery store supplies, so selecting this had many advantages.


    Liam casually walked in, looking around to see if there was anyone to stop him. But the ce waspletely deserted. "I guess this makes things easier."


    It only took him a second to break the various locks, and he easily entered the main space. "Nice. This will do. This will be our third base."


    Standing at the centre, he once again summoned another wave of soul minions.


    These again consisted of random beasts who Liam promptly ordered to clear the space and move the products safely to the vehicles standing outside.


    But this was not his main agenda. Once his minions got busy and hurriedly focussed on the task, he started taking out all the beast corpses from the spatial artifact.


    These were the beasts that had charged out of the massive portals from the first beast wave. They were nothing special and did not even have any mana cores, but they were also notpletely useless.


    Once Liam emptied out all the corpses from the spatial artifact, he summoned thest but massive batch of soul minions, which included all sorts of creatures.


    "Start processing all of these beast corpses. I want the beasts skinned, deboned, and every part of their body separately cut and processed. Also, make sure to organize them properly. Once that is done. Keep the meat separately."


    The soul minions nodded and immediately got to work. Depending on the type of creature, some of them were fast, and some of them were slow, but all the minions obediently followed Liam''s instructions to thest letter.


    They robotically processed each and every single corpse from the pile in a neat and orderly fashion.


    "Bastard! What a cruel, heartless bastard!" Gorak whined in silence.


    "This motherfucker is making me work in a sweatshop, damn it!" Gu Donghai cried.


    The other Gu family members also had unsightly expressions. Nevertheless, they continued doing their duties diligently.


    Liam took a look at his sincere minions,ughed lightly, and then left the area. "Let''s go, Luna. Time to take a break." The duo did not linger around and quickly returned back to the two newly vacated hotels.


    The fox arrived directly at the presidential suite of the first hotel. This was the best room in the whole ce, and Liam helped himself to it.


    The room was big andfortable, with a lot of fancy amenities, and the bed itself was soft and covered by silky sheets.


    Liam removed all of his dirty clothes and flopped onto the bed in exhaustion. Luna quickly jumped onto the same bed and silentlyy curled up right next to him.


    Of course, before going to sleep, Liam also summoned thest batch of soul minions, the more powerful ones.


    He put some of them to guard the area, like the six-winged lion and the white-striped tiger and then sent the remaining to fly around thend and see if there was anything suspicious or valuable.


    Dimitri was a trained alchemist, and the wyverns were draconian creatures with a taste for treasure.


    So even though it might not result in anything, Liam still sent the beasts out to find the needle in the haystack. That done, he turned in for the night.

 Chapter 796 What In The Name Of Hell...

    When Liam woke up, it was already well past noon the next day. Thanks to everything that happened at thest minute in the game, his mental fatigue had umted quite a bit, and he ended up sleeping for well over eight hours.


    With a yawn, he got out of bed and threw open the blinds, letting the warm afternoon light flood the entire suite.


    Looking at the city at this moment gave a feeling as if almost nothing had changed at all, but if one looked at the distant parts beyond the city, there were clear signs of disturbance that called for his attention.


    "I guess it''s time to get back to work." Liam lightly smiled.


    He turned to look at the fox, who was stillzily curled up on the bed underneath a couple of warm, cosy nkets, but her eyes were flinching from the sunlight, clearly implying that she was already awake.


    Liam shook his head and then proceeded to freshen himself up a little bit. When he was done, the fox was still in the same position. He smirked and started walking out of the room, ignoring the little fur ball.


    Kyuuuu! The little head swung around, eyes wide open. Immediately, the fox panicked. She hopped off the bed, running after Liam.


    "Wait, Master, don''t leave me behind!" she said. "I''ming too!" A pair of pitiful eyes stared at him. Liam chuckled and held the door open. "I wouldn''t dream of it."


    Luna couldn''t decide if those words were true or if she was simply being made fun of, so she quickly jumped onto Liam''s back, pretending not to hear. She then once again settledfortably around his neck and closed her eyes.


    Liam''s lips twitched a couple of times, but he didn''t say anything. After all, he was not the only person who was fatigued from everything. So he let the fur ball nap all she wanted.


    He used the stairs to go up one floor silently and opened the door to the terrace, revealing the spectacr view of the huge city. This was his new office.


    He took a deep breath and let the fresh air fill his lungs. He felt a sense of calm and rity wash over him, and for a moment, he just stood there, enjoying the view and the quiet.


    From here, he could sense his soul minions busily running around, doing the various errands he had assigned. He tried to probe a couple of them and then nodded. It looked like it was finally time to set the next n into motion.


    "Bring all the processed items back to me." Liammanded the warehouse minions with a grin. He did not foresee using his soulmancer ss like this, but he had to admit that this was extremely convenient.


    On the other side, the minions immediately obeyed hismand, moving quickly to gather all of the processed items.


    Heaps of neatly cut and cleaned beast skins were folded and stacked ording to the type of beast they belonged to.


    There were buckets of blood lined up, all sorts of meat butchered and squared away, nails, horns, and tusks collected¡ªbasically, every part of the beast''s corpse was thoroughly collected without much wastage.


    After Liam gave his orders, these items were immediately transferred to ten of the trucks outside the warehouse, and Gorak, Gu Donghai, and a few others who knew how to operate the bigger vehicles set out to deliver the goods to their boss.


    Meanwhile, Liam walked downstairs to cook up something for himself and the ball of fur. Though he could currently survive without food for a while, he still decided to eat today as he was feelingpletely famished.


    The duo reached the ground floor, where the hotel cooking facilities and restaurants were, and as soon as they arrived, Liam was pleasantly surprised. He had expected the ce to be deserted, but it was bustling with activity.


    Friends and families of the guild had already made themselves at home in the new base. They also seemed to be well organized. It was good to see that everyone was adapting to their new situation and making the best of it.


    Liam had not expected such a smooth transition in such a short time.


    "Mr. Liam, would you like something to eat?" A voice sounded behind him, and when Liam turned, he saw Derek''s sister Lily walking toward him. Next to her, there was also the other sister.


    The little girl lifted up a tray of cookies and showed it to Liam, "Big brother, do you want a cookie?" The girl looked way too adorable. She kept brushing her wild golden locks out of the way of her eyes and shed a cute smile.


    "Thank you," Liam said as he crouched next to her. "What is your name?" He smiled and poked the cheeks of the doll-like girl.


    Despite having her world turned upside down, the little girl showed no signs of distress. This was the resilience of children.


    Liam couldn''t help but remember when Mei Mei was around the same age, and she used to hug him and shower him with kisses when he was sad or upset.


    Since then, a lot of things have changed. He sighed softly as he poked her again and stood up. He needed to find Derek soon.


    "Mr. Liam, here are some reports. I gathered information about everyone currently residing here and put their details together. We have also assigned ourselves day to day tasks that need to be done, so everything runs smoothly."


    "Thank you." Liam nodded and epted the thick binder.


    Now he understood the reason behind everything getting sorted out so quickly. It was Lily who had been working hard to make sure that everyone was taken care of and that the new base was functioning well.


    Liam was impressed by her dedication and efficiency, "Thank you for doing this, and if someone doesn''t listen to you, feel free to bring it up to me or Alex or any of the other main members."


    "Ok." Lily nodded. She then did not linger around and proceeded to continue with her work as usual.


    Liam gazed at her name, which was also in the report, and saw that she had worked as a secretary for a surgeon. "No wonder she is good with administrative stuff."


    Taking a bite of the cookie, he then walked over to the table where a few trays of hot food were being served buffet style. They were well-cooked and looked delicious, with an inviting aroma.


    Liam picked up a te and helped himself to some food. Surprisingly, there were portion sizes written down for each dish, and from the looks of it, a person wasn''t supposed to take more than what was allowed.


    "Wow. She has really taken care of every little detail." Liam praised the young woman. He made a te for himself and walked out to the garden, waiting for his minions to be assembled.


    He had barely taken a bite when another person called for him. Alex looked shocked as she ran towards Liam, her generous chest bouncing as she did.


    "Liam, huff! What the hell, huff. Just how many minions do you have now?" She spoke, lookingpletely baffled. "Your minions are everywhere in the city. They are totally running amok! What is going on?"


    Liam smiled. The numbers were indeed intimidating, but there were heavy limitations. "They are quite a few in number, but they are pretty much useless. They are very weak in actualbat. I can only use them for menial tasks like this."


    Alex sighed, shaking her head. What Liam said was not wrong, but he left out a crucial detail. With time, even these were going to be strong enough!


    Interrupting the two of them, five trucks roared loudly, arriving outside the hotel one after the other. "Huh? What is this?" Alex turned to observe the vehicles. Were the police or military back for more so soon?


    "Don''t worry. These are my guys." Liam calmly answered, continuing to munch on the food.


    "Your guys?" Alex blinked.


    Soon, she understood what he meant.


    One after the other, the drivers of the trucks disembarked. Along with them, some more minions also stepped down.


    These guys then started lifting stacks of all sorts of processed beast parts from the back of the truck and brought them over to Liam.


    "What in the name of hell¡­" Alex''s eyes widened in shock as she watched these minions at work. She had never seen anything like this before, and she couldn''t believe that Liam was actually using his soul minions to do things like this.


    "This is incredible," she said to Liam, who was still munching on his food. "I didn''t realize you could control so many minions at once, and they can be used for more than justbat."


    Liam nodded, swallowing his food. "Yup."


    "But what are you nning to do with these?" Alex was confused.


    Liam grinned. "I have a n."

 Chapter 797 World Domination?!

    Watching Liam pack away, one after the other, all the items into his storage space, Alex became curious. "What are you nning to do with this?" She asked, as she did not understand why Liam was even wasting time on thesemon grade items.


    They were clearly the lowest trash level items, not worth anything. So even though all of this was pretty impressive, what was the purpose behind it all?


    Liam looked up from the stacks of items and met Alex''s gaze, "True. These items may not be worth much on their own, but whenbined together, they are worth a lot."


    Seeing that the girl was still confused, he grinned. "I am talking about the quests given out by the magic shop."


    "But¡­"


    "I know I said that those quests were a waste of time for you guys, but the same rule doesn''t necessarily apply to me. As you can see¡­ I have a lot of helpers."


    Alex gulped as she continued watching the undead minions continue to unload one stack after another. Liam as well swiftly ced everything in his storage space.


    If he really used all of his minions to do these quests, then could it even be called farming anymore? Wasn''t that straight-up botting?


    She stared at the scene in front of her with shock and awe as she silently took everything in. After a few minutes, she finally opened her mouth again as a strange light shed past her eyes.


    "Liam, can you tell me something honestly?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "Just how strong are you?" Alex unflinchingly asked. She knew she was intruding on his private information, but she wanted to know. "Are you strong enough to beat that bitch?"


    Liam paused. He knew exactly whom Alex was talking about. "I don''t think so." He honestly answered her. "Not even close." He did not intend to lie or give false hope.


    This enemy they had to face was way too powerful. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration if he said that they were merely ants in front of her, ants that she could squish at her will.


    Liam sighed and walked forward to pat her on the shoulder. "Don''t be hasty. Don''t rush. I know Mia is with them, but we need to keep our calm. We will take one step forward every day, and eventually, we will get there."


    Alex nodded. Seeing that she was still down, Liam signalled for her to walk with him. "Are you busy? Do you want to apany me to the shop to take a look at things?"


    "Ahh¡­ Sure. We finished the dungeon runs for today. I was just nning to do some training on my own. I can do itter."


    "Ok. Give me ten minutes then." Liam no longer made his minions carry out all the stuff. He directly walked over to the trucks and started putting everything inside the spatial artifact.


    He was done in a few minutes, after which he left along with Alex and Luna for the beacon of light that shone brightly in the middle of the city, indicating the location of the shop.


    The trio travelled in silence as they arrived at their destination.


    Alex was immersed in her own thoughts, mulling over something only she knew. Lunazily strutted forward while Liam looked up at the shop in silence, wondering what the store quests would lead up to.


    This was something new to him as well. Though this shop was present in hisst life as well, he could only window shop at that time, like a poor beggar looking at the mall from the outside. But now¡­


    Liam grinned and stepped in. He was greeted by the familiar sight of the store manager, Tilia, as soon as he walked into the store. It was clear that she had hurriedly waltzed over just to meet him, as she had left behind a trail of fairy dust in her wake.


    "Hello, Mr. Liam, our super special customer. How may I help you today?" The fairy shed a sweet and sugary smile.


    For a second, Alex blinked in a daze and looked at the pair in front of her. What the heck was this special treatment?


    A frown formed on her face as she saw the fairy closely interact with Liam, only a step shy of directly holding his hand and dragging him inside herir.


    What a thirsty bitch! She rolled her eyes at the elegant figure, who seemed to have conveniently forgotten about her. She sighed and followed the two anyway.


    Liam barely said a word before the fairy was already hovering at his side, eager to assist him with whatever he needed. "Mr. Liam, don''t tell me you have already managed to amass another million mana stones and are ready to make your second purchase so soon? Ha Ha Ha."


    "In that case, I can show you some special skills that only VIP customers like you could probably afford. I assure you. These are strong and powerful skills that you will definitely find worth for the price."


    Liam smiled. This was the same trap which several others had fallen into previously, and he had no intention of doing the same. However, since the fairy was being extra chatty, he decided to ask about the other thing that was there on his mind.


    "Miss Tilia, before we browse these special skills, could you tell me a little bit about establishing a guild?"


    "Huh?" The fairy looked a little startled, but then she broke into a smile.


    "Of course, Mr. Liam. You are very astute. It is indeed now possible to establish a guild on your world and register with us officially. This is a bit pricey, but it has several unique advantages."


    "Once a guild is established, there will naturally be more order and peace in yourmunity. The guild will also have ess to exclusive content and rewards, as well as the ability to participate in certain special quests."


    "With our special services, you can rest assured that your growth and development would essentially be unstoppable. Your power and your guild''s strength will explode exponentially, and your entire city will be a powerhouse."


    "Mr. Liam, this will essentially be your first step towards world domination!"


    Both Luna and Alex looked at each other as they rolled their eyes at the same time. What flowery words! This fairy could beat every other pushy salesman on the!


    She wasn''t holding back at all, not in the least!


    She was painting a picture that was almost impossible for any man to refuse, especially for someone in a position of power like Liam!


    And to their surprise, Liam also seemed to be buying what she was selling??!!!

 Chapter 798 The Good Old Scam

    "Hmmm. That really does sound incredible." Liam replied. "I would hate to miss out on such an opportunity, but unfortunately, it looks like I have to pass on this. I simply don''t have the required resources." He bitterly smiled.


    What is he doing? Alex couldn''t understand. Didn''t theye here exactly for this purpose to get more resources? Why was he sweet talking to this woman for so long?


    "Don''t worry, Mr. Liam. We can always make special arrangements for special VIP customers like you." The fairy blinked.


    What¡­ while Alex and Luna looked at the fairy in confusion, she snapped her fingers and produced a white-colored card.


    "This is a store credit card. I am sure you are familiar with the concept. He He He." She giggled flirtatiously. "With this, you can purchase whatever you want and then payter at your own pace."


    "Oh?"


    "We will only charge very low fees and interest rates. But I am sure these things do not matter to someone like you. With your level and your strength, you will be able to pay this off in no time, Mr. Liam. He He He."


    "Thank you, Miss Tilia. You are really kind to offer such special deals to us." Liam smiled. "I am very grateful for your generosity."


    "Of course, Mr. Liam. I am here only to serve you." She winked flirtatiously.


    Alex almost choked on her saliva on hearing these scandalous words. Her frown deepened. Thankfully for her, this did not continue, as Liam asked the important question next.


    "Miss Tilia, may I know how much the guild registration costs?"


    "You don''t have to worry. It''s a small amount. Just a hundred million mana cores, Mr. Liam."


    Alex almost dropped her jaw on the ground and turned to look at Liam in shock. The other party, however, seemingly remained indifferent. It was almost as if he was agreeing with her.


    Was a hundred million really a small amount? Are you serious? Would they ever be able to pay back such an insane amount?


    Just the interest andte fees alone would be astronomical for such a huge amount! Moreover, was this just for guild registration?


    This was clearly a credit card scam!


    If the credit card did not exist, no one in their right mind would save up for something like this and pay it all at the same time when there were other powerful skills and items they could purchase.


    Alex really wanted to punch someone to make sure that she was not having some sort of bizarre dream and that this was reality. Was Liam really going to make this purchase?


    She didn''t have to wait long to know the answer to this. The next second, Liam nodded with a smile. "Ok, then. I will humbly ept your help. Please help me register the guild."


    Tilia smiled. "Excellent choice, Mr. Liam. I will begin the process right away. It will take some time, but I assure you that it will be worth the investment."


    "In the meantime, please feel free to browse our selection of special skills and other items. Let me know if you need any assistance or have any questions."


    Alex, still in shock at the amount of money Liam was willing to spend, could only watch as the fairy began the process of registering the guild. She decided to remain quiet and let Liam handle the situation as he saw fit.


    A few minutester, the fairy closed her system interface and smiled at Liam once again. "All done, Mr. Liam. The guild is now officially registered. Please select a name, and please choose the guild leader."


    Liam did not hesitate and immediately answered. "The guild name will be Crimson Abyss, and I will be the guild leader."


    This was no longer the tutorial world, and there was no point in trying toy low right now. This was an entirely different ballgame. Here, he nned to establish his strength unshakeably and build a solid foundation.


    Alex swallowed as she watched the whole thing go down. It would be a lie to say that she was not nervous about this, but at the same time, it was Liam doing this, so she couldn''t rule anything out.


    After a few more formalities, which included Liam cing a drop of his blood on some sort of parchment, which then disappeared into light dust, the guild registration seemed to be finallypleted.


    "Everyone can register for the guild when they visit the shop." Tilia beamed with a honey-coated smile.


    Liam nodded. "Thank you for taking care of everything so quickly, Miss Tilia. I was wondering if I could use this credit card to purchase other skills as well?"


    "Ah, I am afraid that wouldn''t be possible, Mr. Liam. You have already maxed out on the limit." Tilia apologetically answered.


    Liam smiled. He did not mind it because he had already expected this.


    "Then, may I please bother you with something else? I would like to submit some quests."


    "Of course, Mr. Liam. I would be happy to help you with that too. Please follow me."


    As Liam, Alex and Luna walked along with the fairy, all the eyes in the shop were on them, not just themon folk who had wandered in here to figure out what this was but also the other fairies in the shop.


    The fairies were discussing amongst themselves in hushed voices, whispering to each other about something.


    "He He He. Don''t mind them, Mr. Liam. We are all just excited for you. In the entire world, you are the first person to establish a guild. Congrattions." She winked. She then came to a stop in front of a simple desk in front of a bulletin board.


    "To ess the quests, you simply have toe and stand here. A system prompt should open up in front of you." Tilia exined. "Please remember that you will be able to ept only one quest at a time."


    "Oh, I almost forgot. Since you are a necromancer, you can even make your minions work for you and finish the quests faster. You can pay off your credit card more quickly in this manner." She winked.


    Both Alex and Luna once again rolled their eyes in unison. This woman has no idea.


    Liam, on the other hand, just smiled. "Thank you for the helpful tip, Miss Tilia."


    "Tee hee. You are always wee, Mr. Liam." The fairy once again giggled flirtatiously and then walked away with a bow, finally leaving the three to themselves.


    She didn''t seem to be too intent on attending to these special guests any longer. She simply had an indifferent smile on her face, as if she had already gotten what she wanted.

 Chapter 799 A Worthwhile Money Drain

    Watching the pushy woman leave, swaying her hips and her pair of silvery wings, Alex shook her head helplessly. She finally turned to Liam to ask, "What is with this guild registration? Isn''t the cost a bit too much? Do we absolutely need it?"


    Alex could feel a headacheing just thinking about the number of beasts she had to kill to obtain such an insane amount of mana cores. First of all, where would they even find so many beasts? Also, mana cores were precious items as is.


    There was a reason why they were being used as a currency. They had several uses, including fast mana recovery and production of various items, not to mention there was a chance one could gain additional stats by absorbing mana cores.


    Taking all of this into consideration, wouldn''t it be simply better to use the mana cores or exchange them for some skills instead of simply wasting them on registration?


    Alex did not have to spell anything out. Liam already understood her concerns. "It''s not what you think." He smiled. "Yes, registration costs are ridiculous, but once registered as a guild, several options open up."


    "You mean more quests?"


    Liam shook his head and added with a grin, "Do you still remember the guild residence back in the game?"


    "Huh? Yes?" Alex was confused. Why was he asking about that now?


    Liam''s grin widened. "What if you could have a simr structure in the real world too?"


    The redhead opened her mouth wide to make an O-shape as she stood stunned after hearing this. "Ah¡­ what¡­ are you serious?"


    Something like that was really possible? She couldn''t believe it.


    Liam nodded. "Yes, I am very serious. First, join the guild, and then take a look at the fine print for yourself." He pointed to the system interface screen that shed in front of him. There were only a few words written on it.


    <Crimson Abyss Guild>


    <Guild Registration Complete>


    <Required amount of mana cores - 100,000,000>


    Below this first option, there were also several other options, but these were all greyed out. Liam''s gaze wandered over these options, wondering what they could possibly be.


    In his previous life, there was a small group near the Gu family settlement who managed to do the guild registration before the Gu family. At that time, all the higher-ups in the Gu family were extremely distressed about this.


    They were split into two groups, one wanting to purchase the same registration and the other not wanting to take a big risk. In the end, they watched the other guild crumble under the weight of the monthly fees.


    When the guild failed to pay the fees, the registration was actually rescinded, and they were left with nothing. Watching this, everyone else, including the Gu family, thanked their lucky stars that they did not rush into this blindly.


    However, Liam had a different opinion. Sure, the group regretted the registration, but that was only because they couldn''t afford it. There was no doubt that it was a money drain. However, he had a feeling that the payoffs would be equally amazing.


    At this point, considering who his enemies were, Liam had no choice but to take these risks. Crawford, Divine Temple, these were not people he could beat by simply levelling up and bing stronger. He needed more cards that he could y, which was what he was currently after.


    And regarding pushing boundaries, it was finally time to start attacking the next wall that was holding him back, the store quests.


    Liam closed the guild interface, which was currently useless, and opened the store quest board interface. Immediately, a few new quests shed on the screen. They were just small, simple quests and nothing life-altering.


    <Attention! A call for ten dire wolf hides has been issued>


    <Reward: 2 mana cores>


    <Attention! A call for fifteen devil boar horns has been issued>


    <Reward: 2 mana cores>


    <Attention! A call for five ck bear hides, preferably with undamaged fur, has been issued>


    <Reward: 3 mana cores>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Ok, time to begin." Liam cracked his knuckles and started. With Luna standing next to him and blinking at him with her big eyes, he started taking out questionable materials one after the other from the spatial artifact.


    Though they were neatly packaged, they were bloody, rough around the edges, with little to no extra processing. However, Liam already knew that the store did not care about these specific details.


    So without holding back, he selected one trivial quest after another and started handing out all the materials in stacks to the fairy standing in front of him.


    The woman smiled at first and graciously epted the materials for the quest, handing out the reward immediately too, but as every second passed by, the look on her face changed.


    She flinched with disgust at the sight of so many bloody trash items, all mounting up in front of her. Of course, the store had only issued these quests, but seeing so many of these items at the same time¡­


    "One second. One second. Mr. Liam." The fairy raised her hand to stop him as she first put away the materials submitted. She just couldn''t keep up with the speed with which he was submitting.


    However, after a couple of seconds, she was again ready to ept more materials. These were just trash items, after all. They were nothing impressive. So she resumed the cycle of epting the items and putting them away.


    But soon¡­ the fairy''s expression changed again, and this time it was not one of disgust. She gaped at Liam in awe and amazement as he continued handing out the items even after an entire hour.


    What the hell was happening here? Just how many materials had this human being gathered? The fairy gulped as her gaze wandered from the bloody items to the mana cores that were also constantly piling up on the side.

 Chapter 800 Back To Back Quest Submissions

    Meanwhile¡­


    "Madam Tilia, our scores are in!" A fairy rushed into the store manager''s office. "Just like you predicted, we have the highest score so far among all the shops on this."


    "We received bonus points for both our first evolver registration and our first guild registration. We have really hit it big this time!"


    "Hmph! There''s nothing to be shocked about. Everything was well within my expectations." Tilia scoffed at the simpleton whose eyes were bulging with happiness from just this much.


    She waved the fairy away and muttered under her breath. "This is just the beginning. There is a lot more toe."


    Tilia leaned back in her chair, feeling satisfied with the sess of her shop. It was all thanks to her hard work and dedication, and she was determined to keep it up.


    ? Sheughed as she twirled the paperweight on her desk, remembering the big fish that had gotten caught in her. "I am going to milk you dry." She licked her lips.


    Coincidentally, a fairy knocked on the door at the same time. "Madan Tilia¡­ ah¡­ something is happening."


    "Huh? What are you talking about? Be more specific." She brushed her silver hair back with disinterest.


    "Madam Tilia, please check the store quest board." The fairy, who was sweating profusely, did not know how to exin things and blurted out in urgency.


    Hmmm? Tilia calmly checked the board, but the next second, her eyes as well widened in shock. What the heck was going on in her shop?


    She gulped as her silver-blue eyes traced all the transactions happening in her shop. So many quests had been submitted in thest hour! And all by the same guild, or rather, the same individual!


    Ka ta. The fairy stood up in shock, making the chair she was sitting on tumble and fall down.


    When she had joked earlier about using undead minions to finish the tasks, she had merely remarked casually. But now¡­ did this man somehow aplish such a thing?


    Otherwise, how was it possible for someone to finish so many trivial quests? Moreover, it looked like he was not done just yet. He was still continuing to submit these quests at a ridiculous pace.


    How did this person even obtain so many raw materials, to begin with? Even if his level was unusually high for a beginner evolver, it still shouldn''t be easy to aplish this feat.


    These kinds of things were time-consuming. Not to mention the processing thates after killing the beast.


    Tilia gulped. There was also another thing that nagged her.


    Judging from the sheer quantity of the items submitted, this kind of capacity far exceeded the limits of a normal spatial ring. So, what sort of spatial item did this human being possess?


    This strange person was full of mysteries!


    Just a while ago, she was amusing herself by thinking of this person as someone who could be easily manipted, but now she was forced to see this same person in a different light.


    No, this was not someone she could take lightly. At the same time, this did not necessarily spell bad news. Rather¡­


    "Liam." She muttered to herself. "I need to find out more about this human being." She licked her lips as she quickly walked out of her office. She already had a new n. If everything worked out¡­ then perhaps¡­


    A strange glint shed in her calcting eyes as she pulled up her lips to reveal the familiar, friendly, charming smile. "Mr. Liam, you sure know how to keep us on our toes. Tee hee."


    Tilia waved her hands, dismissing the fairy who was attending to Liam and began to attend to him personally. "Please allow me to help you finish the rest of your transactions." She smiled cutely.


    Liam did not say anything and simply nodded. At this moment, he was moving his hands at a fast pace like a bot. He epted the quest, took the item, and immediately thudded it onto the desk made of clear crystal material in front of him.


    He did not stop or pause. He simply kept repeating the same thing. Tilia shed a smile at the sight of the hardworking man and waved away all the mana cores that were making a mess.


    Instead, she summoned a store card that automatically tallied everything and kept the mana core numbers up to date with every transaction Liam did.


    She also did not flinch or feel disgusted as she handled all the raw materials herself, storing them in appropriate store vaults.


    By now, Alex had already registered with their guild. She stood with Luna and watched the show with a bitter smile on her face. Seeing how everything was going, she suddenly felt like an idiot to have even questioned Liam when he made that huge purchase.


    This world had two different sets of rules, one for people like her and the other for monsters like him. It was simply idiotic topare both of them with the same rules.


    After some time, she sighed silently and decided to return to their temporary base. Things were clearly going to continue for a while, so she decided to use this time to inform others as well to get to the shop and finish their guild registration.


    And just like her, everyone else who entered the shop also had simr expressions on their faces as they watched Liam in action. Their big boss was simply too overpowered!


    This went on for another few hours until Liam was finally done around midnight. "Phew!" He chuckled awkwardly as he looked up to find all the fairies in the shop gathered around him and looking at him in shock and awe.


    And the most notable person was the fairy right in front of him. The incredibly alluring and charming Tilia blushed lightly as she gave her usual flirtatious smile.


    "Mr. Liam, your hands¡­" She suddenly reached forward and grabbed Liam''s hands, bringing them close to her chest.

 Chapter 801 Why Would L Be Jealous?

    "Mr Liam, your hands must be paining after working so hard." The fairy opened her mouth and sweetly spoke.


    Hmmm? Liam''s brow raised in shock as his lips twitched a couple of times, feeling the soft mounds under his grasp. The thin silvery white dress the fairy was wearing did little to hide what was underneath.


    Why am I getting this special treatment? He thought to himself as he tried to observe his surroundings. Clearly, something like this was not usual as the other fairies also remained silent, looking down and blushing a little.


    Okay? Liam then received another notification, the one that he was actually hoping for.


    <Ding. You are now friendly with the Shop 2341678797>


    <Ding. You are able to ess the F-Rank shop quests>


    Liam grinned. He was indeed correct. He had a theory that if he continued submitting these low-level quests, then eventually, higher-level quests would open up for him.


    He almost knew that his theory was correct when the quests were actually starting to run out, and he had just now submitted thest quest.


    But with this notification, everything was 100% confirmed!


    Liam wanted to quickly open the new quest board and take a look at what the next level entailed, but his mind was sort of stuck at the ce where his hand was!


    Tilia was still holding his hand close to her chest!


    What was going on here?


    "Ahem." Liam coughed as he wiggled his hand free, in the process feeling more of the softness. "It''s nothing much. It''s not my effort alone. I had many willing helpers. You could call it my guild''s team effort." He smiled.


    "Tee Hee. So humble, Mr Liam." Tilia batted her eyshes and beamed brightly as if nothing had happened at all.


    She didn''t mind me feeling her up? Liam could not understand what was going on. Perhaps this fairy was trying to manipte him emotionally?


    He was not sure if she was attempting some sort of mental attack, but after being with Shen Yue for so long, it definitely did not have any effect on him. He did not feel any particr attraction towards the fairy.


    "Thank you for personally helping me, Miss Tilia. I would like to take a look at the next avable quests now." Liam politely said.


    The fairy bowed and waved her hand, signalling for him to continue. "Please go ahead, Mr Liam. I will be waiting for you right here. Tee hee."


    Em. Liam ignored the naughty fairy and focussed on his task at hand. If the other party actually wanted to use him, he did not mind it. After all, only then would he be able to use her.


    So, for now, he continued to encourage her, albeit not so open that it would give away his intentions.


    "Let''s see what these new quests are going to give me."


    He put away all the other thoughts and opened the new quest board with expectations. In hisst life, he had been stuck at this stage forever, and now he was finally going to move forward.


    "Please be something good. Please be something good."


    The blue-coloured quest screen shed in front of him, and immediately he revealed a shocked expression. Bingo! He was correct all along!


    Meanwhile, a little distance away from where Liam was staring at his system interface, a group of people were standing and watching him with awe.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Big bro is really awesome! We are just seeing fairies for the first time, and he already has a fairy girlfriend." Rey grinned with visible worship in his eyes.


    "What the heck are you talking about?" Standing next to him, Alex did not look as pleased. "Are you blind, or are you just pretending not to see? Clearly, that woman is just trying to trap him."


    "Meh. Trap or not, bro is still going to get lucky." Rey grinned, wiggling his eyes at Shin Soo. The tank also seemed equally amazed as he nodded in agreement.


    Seeing the two men act like total idiots, Alex sighed in exasperation. "I think you both left your brains at the coat check." She grumbled.


    "And I think you are just jealous." Rey stuck his tongue out.


    Alex immediately red up. "What rubbish are you bbering? Why would I be jealous?"


    "Don''t lie, sis. It is so painfully obvious. It''s written all over your face."


    "Shut up. What do you know?"


    "Ba ha ha."


    Alex sighed and then looked at him seriously all of a sudden. "I am not kidding. Don''t make jokes like this anymore. I am telling you seriously that I am not interested in Liam."


    Huh? Rey stoppedughing.


    "I am not saying that he is bad or anything. He is indeed very inspiring and trustworthy, and I am d that he is on our side, trying to help us, but as an individual, I am really not interested in him that way."


    "Why? What is wrong with my bro?" Rey scowled. "If you really think like that, then as your brother, I have to break it to you. Your taste in men is very bad."


    Alex scoffed. "It''s not about taste. It''s just that I don''t think Liam is capable of loving anyone. Maybe his sister, but I think that''s about it. As for others¡­"


    Her gaze wandered to the person who was still intently looking at the blue screen in front of him.


    "I think that he just looks at them as tools to achieve his means. He keeps the good ones by his side and throws out the bad ones. He is too cunning, too maniptive to love someone else."


    "Sis! Come on! That''s a bit harsh!" Rey frowned.


    "I am not saying he is in the wrong here. I think his circumstances were pretty much to me. Perhaps because of his past and how the world is right now, he is like this."


    "I mean, aren''t we all like this in one way or the other? We are also relying on him and using him in a way. The fairy would also be no exception. She would also be used by him."


    "All I am saying is, I don''t think he could really fall in love with anyone at the moment. For that matter, I don''t think you or I could also experience anything like that. The world is like that."


    Rey shook his head. "You are still lying to yourself. If you really think that bro is not capable of loving anyone, then what about Mia? Aren''t you with him right now, counting on him to rescue her?"


    Before Alex could say anything, he immediately added, "Yes. Yes. I know you are also trying your best, but deep down, you know that bro is on a different level whenpared to us."


    "If anyone is going to sh with those divine temple assholes and rescue Mia, then it is going to be Liam. You can''t deny that. I know, just like me, you are also counting on him to do that, and bro also knows that."


    "If he really did not care about us and only thinks of us as tools, why would he need to take such a big risk? Mia is indeed very gifted, like you said, a very useful tool, but no one would go to such lengths just for a tool."


    Alex swallowed as she listened to her brother in silence. She opened her mouth a couple of times, but she couldn''t bring out any words to refute him. She only gazed at that person from a distance.


    On the side, Rey''s grin widened even more. "As I said, bro is awesome." He shrugged with a smug smile.


    Alex''s lips twitched as her hands immediately flew to her brother''s thick head. Pa! A p resounded in the shop the next second.


    "Sis!" Rey became aggrieved. However, he didn''t say anything else, watching the vein on his sister''s forehead throb. "If you open your mouth again, I will kill you myself." Alex threatened him.


    "Who is going to kill who?" Suddenly, another voice sounded near them. Liam was standing right in front of them. "You guys seem very lively. What are you talking about?"


    Seeing him, the two siblings jumped up like cats that got electrocuted, hair standing on their backs. Shin Soo revealed an awkward smile.


    Hmmm? Liam saw the brother and sister blushing bright red and sensed that he had intruded into some sort of weird conversation. What were they talking about? Now he was curious. Could it be something about him?


    Rey was the first to recover as heughed ufortably and ruffled his hair. "Bro, we were just talking about that fairy. Ha ha ha. By the way, what happened? Were you able to find any new information as you hoped?"


    Liam could see that he was changing the topic purposefully, but he did not care about it. After all, he had some exciting news to share.


    "Yes. In fact, I did." Liam grinned.

 Chapter 802 More Guests

    "The new quests require items exclusively from the portal bosses," Liam announced.


    "So the quality of quests really did change¡­" Alex gasped a little. Rey and Shin Soo also looked at Liam with determination filling their eyes.


    For Liam, this wasn''t all that difficult of a quest, but for normal beginners like them, this quest was indeed a challenge. They could hone their fighting skills andbat abilities a lot by continuously fighting with these elites.


    It could push their current skills and help them achieve a breakthrough. All three of them were immediately itching to get started.


    Seeing the three almost staring at him with puppy dog eyes, Liam helplessly chuckled. "Do you guys also want toe with me for this grind or what?"


    All three instantly nodded their heads in response very vigorously that it almost lookedical. Liam did not n for this, but he also did not mind it. There were always other things he could aplish while waiting for the team to take care of the boss.


    "Alright. Let''s go then." Liam waved at them. The group first returned to the base, and picked up Shen Yue and Mei Mei as well before leaving.


    Because of their initial lead, the new group ended up bing the guild''s main raid team. Everyone else looked at the departing five enviously, especially at Rey and Shin Soo who had climbed up from the bottom rungs. This just showed that hard work paid off.


    However, they also had work to do. The other members of the group soon snapped out of it and started preparing for their dungeon runs.


    Though the two dungeons they had discovered so far could only be run once a day, it was in itself a monumental task. The dungeons were quite big and took a lot of time toplete thoroughly.


    The rewards were not that good, and the progress was slow and steady, but everyone was gradually improving with every run.


    Meanwhile, high up in the sky, Luna snarled in annoyance as she once again made a flying ride for the guild members. This time all five plus Liam sat on top of her without summoning another undead flying mount because this way, they could save a lot of time.


    With Luna blurring in and out at top speed, they were outside of the territory they had cleared earlier in a couple of minutes. Soon the next gate also glittered brightly in front of them.


    "The elite shouldn''t be too far from the gate. Look around, and let''s get this over with fast." Liammanded.


    Luna growled in agreement, and the fox flew around here and there for a couple of seconds. Not long after, a huge figure came into their view. A big hippopotamus was settled well in a localmunity pool and was chilling calmly without any care in the world.


    "What the hell?" Alex facepalmed at this sight.


    Mei Mei burst outughing, and Rey awkwardly scratched his head, "Poor thing. He looks so peaceful. Should we disturb him?"


    However, just as they wereughing at the elite, the beast''s eyes shed open, and its gaze locked onto the human beings who were floating above it and staring it down.


    Immediately, the beast roared in anger, and along with the loud noise, a jet of water also came right at Luna, aiming to crash her to the ground.


    But how could a Level 17 elite''s attack harm a celestial beast? Luna simply snorted in annoyance and lightly moved her body, dodging the attack like it was nothing.


    This further enraged the hippopotamus as it jumped out of the pool and started shooting out several other jets of water.


    Luna, on the other hand, calmly evaded every single one of the attacks like it was nothing. In the end, the elite even became tired after sending out so many different types of attacks one after the other.


    Finally, Liam intervened. "That''s enough, Luna. Justnd on the ground. The others need the training."


    Kyuuuu! The fox sulked as Liam did not praise her, but shended on the ground nevertheless. Immediately Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei and the two boys rushed forward to start the fight.


    However, this was easier said than done. While Luna had made it look so easy to dodge the attacks from the boss, the rest of the group had to struggle a lot.


    In the meantime, Liam walked out of the fight and started doing his own thing. He once again summoned his scouting soul minion squad, which essentially contained Crawford, the wyverns and Dimitri, the dark elf.


    The previous searches did not yield much, but he was not prepared to give up on the idea just yet. "Should I also send the rabbit out?" Liam wondered.


    The rabbit definitely had an eye for treasure, but the thing was, the little creature seemed to be operating on her own will, which was why Liam had hesitated.


    "Well, I can always try."


    "Violet!" He called out for her, but the rabbit was a no-show. He tried a few times and then gave up. "I need to find out more about both Luna and Violet somehow."


    Out of the three pets he was bound to back in the game, he had managed to bring out two of them, only leaving behind Talon, but their growth was still very stagnant, especially the rabbit.


    He had no idea how to nourish them and bring out their potential.


    "Let''s think about thatter." Liam summoned some of his other minions and let them freely run around the ce, hunting whatever beasts they ran into.


    Unlike their city, this ce was aplete mess, with lots of damage and destruction all over. The death count was also probably high, with people still dying to the beasts every minute.


    Liam did not intend to protect or save anyone from the burning buildings, but at the same time, he was here, so he simply allowed his minions to level up a bit.


    If he simply went around the world saving everyone, he would ultimately fail in the bigger picture. He was clear about this and did his best to keep a bnce.


    After he set everything in motion, he noticed that the fight with the elite wasing to an end, so he walked back over to the group.


    Shen Yuended thest hit, and the big guy fell back with a thud, blood squirting out all over from the lethal cut on his throat.


    Liam then casually lifted his hand to extract the beast''s soul. By the time he reached the corpse, he was already done forging it.


    Roar! Just like that, the hippopotamus was born again.


    "No matter how many times I see this, I can never get used to it." Alex sighed and sat down tiredly on the ground. She and the rest of the group watched as Liam ced the corpse in the spatial artifact.


    While they were engrossed in the fight, a few more of the stray beasts in this city had alsoe forward, and Liam swiped everything into the spatial artifact without wasting even a single beast.


    He might havepleted the basic quests from the shop, but the meat from these beasts was still needed to feed all the families.


    As the cleanup was well underway, the portal gate a few feet away from the group also crackled and started disappearing.


    "Now what? Shall we leave for the next one?" Alex asked. She let out a big loud heave and got to her feet, ready for the next round of fighting.


    Liam closed his eyes and tried to sense some of his soul minions, but it looked like they were still upied. So he gave them a few more minutes.


    "Take some rest. We will leave in a bit."


    Alex shrugged, and the others also did not mind. Everyone was winded after the fight. So they did not mind the break.


    Soon the horde of minions returned after their respective missions, and the group looked at the army dumbfoundedly. They gulped as they watched Liam dismiss everyone and casually wave at them.


    "Let''s go."


    The group reassembled on Luna in silence, and they started their grind right away. In the beginning, each gate took approximately an hour, but as the day went on, this time became a lot lesser.


    Soon, they had taken down about twenty more gates.


    "Let''s return to the base." To everyone''s surprise, Liam unexpectedly cut the trip short. Just as they were beginning to wonder why he''d done it, the reason became immediately clear.


    When Lunanded back at the base, the scene hadpletely changed. There were now lines of people lined up outside the hotel, all anxiously looking for some sort of answer.


    "Wow!" Mei Mei shouted and covered her mouth with her hands. Shen Yue, Rey, and Shin Soo also looked shocked. Only Alex licked her lips as she smirked slightly. "This is sooner than I expected."

 Chapter 803 Its Not That Simple

    "Let''s go in first." Liam gazed at the crowd indifferently. Right in front of several pairs of envious eyes, Lunanded inside the hotel gates, and everyone walked in.


    After seeing the group return, Lily rushed out in a hurry. "Mr Liam, I¡­ am not sure how to handle this situation. They all want to join us." She realized she didn''t have to exin anything because everyone had already witnessed the shocking scene.


    "Don''t worry about it, Miss Lily. I will take care of the situation. You have already done a lot. Thank you." Liam smiled and patted the woman.


    "Ah. I didn''t do anything." Lily couldn''t help but blush when she was being praised in front of everyone, especially the main members of the group.


    What a womanizer! Alex immediately rolled her eyes. She looked at Shen Yue, wondering what her reaction was going to be, but unexpectedly, the girl only had a kind smile on her face.


    Too gullible!


    Her gaze shifted back to Liam when she noticed that the other party was looking right at her. Ahem. She awkwardly cleared her throat.


    "You didn''t hear what I said?" Liam shook his head helplessly and repeated his words. "Let''s get everyone assembled in the hotel conference room. I think it''s time we assigned some responsibilities to the group."


    Though he did not want to be involved in these things, there was still some basic organizing that needed to be done. Otherwise, the dynamics of the group would crumble.


    If he took the time now toy a solid foundation, things would be much easier and run more smoothlyter on. Also, there was another reason why he needed to do this. It''s because only he knew what was going to happen next.


    After Liam gave his orders, everyone quickly moved their asses and started assembling in the conference room one after another. It only took about an hour for the whole group to be there, which included the granny and her members of the dojo.


    Liam then didn''t get much involved as he allowed Alex and Lily to take over. Alex was already familiar with most of the guild members, so she quickly assigned certain basic duties like handling weapons and resources, taking turns guarding the territory, and so on.


    The dojo members were mostly assigned to lead dungeon diving groups and make sure that all the core members ran the two dungeons every single day.


    Then the main part arrived, which was assigning responsibilities to family members and those who were not used to or did not want to get involved inbat.


    Liam finally stepped forward to speak. "It is neither necessary norpulsory for anyone to fight on the frontlines, but I suggest everyone at least get to Level 10 in the next couple of days."


    "Take turns and get help, but in two days'' time, there will be another roll call, and I expect everyone to be at this level."


    Liam''s words did not give anyone any chance to rebuke him. However, everyone had the utmost respect for him, so even though this was something they did not want to do, they still ended up nodding in agreement.


    After all, they were living in such a world. They did indeed require some self-defense skills of their own in case something unexpected happened.


    But no one knew that there was also another reason why Liam had made this sort of requirement.


    "Now, about the people waiting outside." He finally came to the main point. "First, collect their details. Then each of you can pick two people and keep them under you. You will be the leader, and you can delegate your work to them."


    "As for dungeon runs and such, only the core guild group will be involved in this. The others have to work their way to get this chance. The same goes for food. Everything will be graded ording to the work done. There will be no free handouts here."


    After Liam announced the gist of what he had in mind, a few more of the guild members chipped in with their ideas, and soon, some sort of hierarchy was established. Different teams were set up, and even the housing space was expanded.


    "At this rate, we will be taking over the whole city. Is that the n?" Alex asked.


    "Yes, but not yet." Liam replied.


    "Huh?"


    "The danger from the first wave is not yetpletely over."


    Alex was shocked. "What do you mean? We got the beast wave under control, killed the elites in the nearby areas, and closed the portals. Isn''t everything already done?"


    "No." Liam shook his head. "It''s not that simple."


    He sighed and exined. "The real disaster of the first wave is going to happen in the next few days."


    "In about three to four days'' time, some people are going to fall sick, some people are going to be extremely weak and ill, andstly, some people are going to be violent and vicious."


    "That''s not all. They will also lose all sense of themselves and start attacking others. Sometimes even to death. You can say that they will turn into zombies."


    Alex looked stunned. "Are you serious?" At this point, she did not even bother asking him how he knew about this.


    "So just the beast wave and the civil unrest are not enough, huh¡­ this kind of thing on top of everything else¡­" She bitterly smiled. It was almost as if humanity had no chance of survival.


    She let out a deep sigh and then looked at the people gathered in the conference room. How many of them were going to make it?


    Liam understood her thoughts very well. He wanted to tell her that the worst was yet toe but decided against it for now. It wouldn''t be good to scare her senseless.


    Instead, he gave her some good news.


    "By the way, everyone here is safe. To be more precise, everyone who reached at least level 5 should be rtively safe."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 804 Survival Of The Fittest

    "Oh!" Alex stared nkly. "You mean they won''t be sick or lose their minds anymore?"


    "Yup." Liam assured her. "So basically everyone who didn''t stay idle and sit at home cowering in fear would be safe."


    "Levelling up is also not the only way. They just need to do something. Either kill the beasts or at least obtain beast meat in some other way like trading for other items."


    "If enough beast meat is consumed, the chances of being affected by mana are greatly reduced." Liam exined.


    "This is just natural selection. We cannot do anything about it. Those who can adapt will survive, and those who cannot will die. This is just how it is."


    Alex nodded in understanding. Everyone else standing around also overheard the conversation. They couldn''t help but be grateful to Liam.


    He not only took care of the bare necessities but also went above and beyond to ensure the well-being of their families. He was protecting them from things that they did not even know existed.


    Once everyone was aware of the danger involved, the group began distributing tasks with much more seriousness, as no one wanted to lose their loved ones.


    Leaving these tasks to the guild members, Liam and the main group, who had just now gone hunting for portal elites, silently retired to the other part of the hotel.


    The group was tired after the continuous grind. Liam, naturally, was unscathed, but the same couldn''t be said for everyone else.


    Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei and Shin Soo, all of them had sustained some amount of injuries while fighting against the elites.


    Rey was rtively unharmed, but since the others were involved in directbat, they were scratched, cut, and bruised in several ces.


    Thankfully, arrangements had already been made for this purpose. A group of four were attending to all the fighters who had returned frombat and to those injured in some other way.


    A sort of makeshift health station had been established. The group received some basic first-aid treatment from them while Liam checked on his sister for a bit before heading right back outside along with Luna.


    The main reason he had returned was to warn everyone about mana zombies and how unsuspecting people could turn dangerous, but now that the issue was dealt with, he swiftly returned back to the task at hand.


    "Everything is going well, Luna. Better than I expected." He patted the fox and hopped on her. The duo then set off, making their first stop at the magic store.


    "Woah. Mr. Liam. You are already back to turn in more quests." Tilia rushed out to greet him like always, shing the same coquettish smile.


    Liam waved at her. "Ha Ha. Is there anything else that I should be doing?" He did not expect it and had only said the words casually, but the fairy''s expression slightly changed nheless. This did not escape Liam''s observation.


    "Ha Ha Ha. I meant that I would like to pay off my debts as soon as possible." He added with a wink, waiting for the other party to say something.


    However, the fairy smoothly glossed over the conversation, continuing to talk about the store quests and simply throwing in several words of praise for Liam.


    He, too, continued to smile, but he was certain of something. The fairy knew more about the current situation than he did, even though this was his second time around.


    Also, there was probably something else that he should be doing at the moment.


    What could this be?


    The first wave of beasts has passed, and the crisis now involved mana zombies. These two events might be threatening to humanity and the as a whole, but Liam was definitely above their impact level.


    So what was it that he should be doing?


    Liam walked over to the quest board while continuing to mull over this issue. He submitted the few quests that required certain body parts of the elite beasts, like liver, gall dder, and eyes.


    In the end, he only managed to finish a few, and it was not enough to reach the next stage.


    This was something he had already expected, so Liam did not care too much about it and exited the shop after bidding farewell to the overly zealous fairy.


    "I need toe here more often, Luna. I should make her talk more." He made a mental note as he nced at the shop one more time before the fox took off.


    Without the other baggage on top of her, Luna''s speed was faster than ever as she cruised through the wide-open skies and arrived at the next gate.


    This time they started searching for the gates in the opposite direction, and not long after, they ran into the first one.


    Since it was just Liam and Luna, Liam did not bother to reign in the fox, and the beast went all out. As if she was too tired from dealing with slow pokes all day long, she blurred in and out and raced from one gate to another.


    Naturally, the fight with the elite after reaching the respective gate was also a piece of cake, as all she had to do was open her mouth and send out a fire burst.


    The opponent was simply burned to a crisp without ever getting a chance to know why they were dead.


    The first, unfortunately, elite directly turned to ashes, but then Liam quickly reminded her of the reason why they were doing this in the first ce.


    Kyuuu! Sorry master! The fox became embarrassed. She trod lightly around the next boss, trying to leave the body, or at least most of it, unharmed.


    The grinding was still quite efficient, as the duo managed to grab another twenty kills within a few hours, and Liam also added another 20 elites to his army, along with their respective mana cores.


    Everything was proceeding well, and as an added public service, he was also closing portals left and right, helping others in general.


    The two were just about to continue doing their routine when suddenly Liam noticed something unusual. In the distance, there was a small red glow in the sky.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 805 Right Under Their Nose

    Liam''s eyes widened as he gazed at this unexpected phenomenon. What was that? And when he observed it closely, the glow seemed to be appearing near the city where their main base was!


    "Luna! Let''s return to the base! Now!" Liam did not hesitate and immediately gave the orders. What made him anxious was that he had no idea what this red glow could be.


    Another portal? A new dungeon? Nothing of that sort should be appearing right now. What was going on?


    Several terrifying scenarios ran through his mind as Luna raced back to the hotel. When they got closer, another red glow appeared, and this time they were able to see it more clearly.


    The glow seemed to being from a re of sorts, and it was definitelying from their city, more specifically from their base.


    What happened? What went wrong? Crawford found him so soon? Or perhaps something else terrible had happened?


    Each possibility was scarier than the previous one. Liam''s gaze sharpened as he almost dove out of Luna as soon as they arrived at the base.


    Shen Yue, and Mei Mei were standing right there at the entrance, waiting for him. "Brother! You came back! You saw our re!"


    "What happened? Did you both signal me?" Liam could see that at least these two were visibly safe, and nothing disastrous had happened.


    The hotel buildings also seemed to be intact, and there were no signs of struggle or beast activity. So he felt a little relieved.


    Mei Mei as well smiled and did not look panicked. "Brother, sorry to call you back like this, but we thought that you might want to know about this. We discovered something unusual."


    "Let''s go in and talk." Shen Yue shushed Mei Mei hurriedly as there were quite a few people still standing outside, waiting in a queue.


    Seeing how the two were acting, Liam became very curious. He wanted to know what made them call him so urgently. "Alright. Quick. Let''s go in and talk."


    Luna also followed them after shrinking back to her small-sized version. The several people waiting outside in the lines watched the scene with amazement, but no one could figure out what was going on and could only simply watch.


    Meanwhile, Mei Mei dragged Liam to the health section right after they entered the hotel. Surprisingly, there seemed to be too many people gathered here at the moment whenpared to the usual.


    "Did something happen in the dungeon run?" Liam immediately asked. That was the only thing he could think of because the injured people were not just any members of the guild.


    They were, in fact, the trained members of the dojo under the leadership of the granny. All of them had excellentbat skills, and all of them were very experienced.


    So the chance of anything unexpected happening in the low-level dungeon was very unlikely. But despite this, they were all injured?


    Liam walked closer and observed that they were also quite heavily injured. He also did not see the granny around. Was she alright? Just what the hell happened? This did not seem to be a simple run of the mill bad luck situation.


    Ning Xi noticed whom Liam was looking for and quickly cleared up the misunderstanding. "Mr Liam. Master is doing fine. She retired to her room because she had obtained some insights, and she did not want to be disturbed."


    "Okay." Liam nodded. "Then what happened?" He sat down, letting out a small sigh.


    "I will exin everything from the beginning now." Ning Xi unexpectedly smiled. Liam became more and more curious.


    "We were clearing the dungeon like usual when we encountered something strange. Or rather, Master felt as if there was something strange about a passageway."


    "We debated over it, but in the end, we decide to make sure that we were not missing anything. So we broke the wall downpletely."


    "Hmmm? You guys actually broke down a dungeon wall?" Liam was puzzled. He had never heard of such a thing before.


    "Yes, and we found another passageway inside. We entered this new passageway and unexpectedly ran into more mobs of the dungeon."


    "But¡­ this time, the mobs were a lot stronger."


    "You mean¡­" Liam stiffened up as realization sank quickly.


    "Yes, this part of the dungeon was no longer just Level 1 to 20. This part should be from Level 20 to 30 or even 40."


    Liam clenched his fists in excitement. He couldn''t believe what he was hearing.


    He knew that there were different dungeons scattered all over the world, but as far as he knew, these were just low-levelled dungeons suitable for yers ranging from Level 1 to Level 20. So what was happening now?


    Ning Xi smiled. She already knew that Liam would be excited to hear this. She was also equally excited. For the first time, they were contributing something to the team.


    All these days, they had only taken the information and help from Liam, so it felt good to give something back in return, to prove that they were also important members of the guild.


    "We ended up suffering some injuries because we hadn''t expected something like this to happen. But we somehow managed to make it out of the dungeon alive, thanks to Master and senior brothers."


    Ning Xi exined everything. Liam also patiently listened to her from beginning to end. The more he heard, the more he was sure of it. These dungeons were not what they seemed to be.


    In hisst life, these dungeons were merely considered tools that beginners used to train. There were always rumours and talks about dungeons of higher levels.


    Everyone entertained such notions because the idea was not far-fetched. While the portals and the beast waves were considered trials of the apocalypse, these dungeons were training tools.


    It wouldn''t be surprising to find out that just like in the game, in the real world also, there were dungeons of different levels.


    But, even though these assumptions made sense, no one had ever been able to find a higher-level dungeon. It was always a mystery to the different guilds.


    Some people even refused to believe that this was true. They used each other of cheating and hiding dungeons in their territories, like small children using each other of not sharing their toys.


    Only now was Liam able to see the truth. Not only these higher-level dungeons existed, but they had been right under everyone''s noses!


    Liam immediately stood up in a hurry. This was indeed huge news! He needed to immediately go there and pick the dungeon apart from top to bottom!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 806 Pa! Pa!

    "Which dungeon is this?" Liam hurriedly grabbed Ning Xi by her shoulder and shook her.


    "Ah¡­ Ah¡­ it''s the same Jing city dungeon." The poor girl got scared and blurted out.


    She was also excited about this new information, but she did not know enough to fathom the implications of such an unexpected discovery.


    Liam was the only one who knew, and he was also the only one who needed this right now. This was probably what the fairy had meant when she had let slip earlier about something.


    Liam grew more and more excited. Though he was doing something at the moment, it was not nearly enough to improve his current condition.


    But now, that had changed. He could actually tackle the higher-level dungeons and go beyond 80, the level he was currently stagnated at.


    After getting all the information from Ning Xi, Liam did not dare linger around.


    This time he did not call anyone forpany and immediately rushed over to the dungeon by himself, riding on top of Luna at top speed. Sensing Liam''s mood, the fox was also equally excited.


    The two of them did not take long before they arrived in the same vige they had visited before. This time the ce was even more deserted whenpared to earlier.


    The reason for this was abundantly clear as a swarm of mosquitoes assaulted the duo as soon as Lunanded.


    The mosquitoes were bigger in size, numerous and did not have the brains to know that they should not mess with beings far beyond their abilities. So they foolishly tried to stick their parts into the meaty fox.


    Growl!


    The fox immediately opened her mouth and spit out a burst of fire in anger.


    "Just ignore them and go straight for that dungeon." Liam pointed at the green-coloured portal. He did not have the patience at the moment to deal with these smaller mobs.


    Kyuu! Luna shook her head and tossed out another burst of fire before she blurred her way into the dungeon.


    <Ding. You have entered dungeon 114>


    Liam swiped the notification away and sted his way through the inside of the dungeon. It was only a basic dungeon with weak monsters meant to be fodder for the beginners. In this particr case, these were wolf-like chimaeras.


    The entire dungeon was in the shape of awork of caverns, and Liam made a quick work of the howling monsters by summoning his soul army.


    He then managed to arrive at the specific location in a couple of seconds. "This is where they mentioned, so the wall should be one of these two." He looked at the narrow passageway in which he was standing.


    He tried to sense if something was different. He closed his eyes and tried to observe the air around him, searching for clues about mana or anything else for that matter. However, he was only drawing a nk.


    But how did the old granny sense something that he was not able to? He couldn''t understand.


    He decided to think about thatter and first took a deep breath before punching the wall in front of him. He then immediately turned around and punched the one behind him as well.


    Pa! Pa!


    In the blink of an eye, the whole thing shattered, both front and back, falling down as bits of rocks.


    When the dust cloud settled, lo and behold, there was indeed a passageway staring at him, just like the granny had said.


    Howl! Immediately, a pack of chimaera wolves jumped forward before Liam had time to process anything. He did not bother dealing with these low-level cretins as he side-stepped them, leaving them behind for his soul minions.


    He entered the main passageway with a gulp. Could it really be true? His heart was pounding loudly as he took one step after another, observing the surroundings.


    He was still in the same cavern-likework, but the steps were inclined and winding, almost as if he was climbing onto a different floor.


    As he turned the corner, he was actually on a different floor, basically with a simryout of the dungeon, except that the chimaera wolves here were Level 20 and above.


    "Motherfucker. I can''t believe this." Liam smiled in disbelief at the scene in front of him. The information he had received was indeed true. The dungeon was not just a low-level beginner dungeon. It had another level!


    Then, could it mean¡­


    Liam''s heart was still pounding as he picked up the pace and sted through the second floor of the dungeon. While his soul minions attended to the mobs and the floor boss, he busily scanned the dungeon floor from top to bottom.


    Howl! All the chimaeras were wildly incensed by this tant disrespect, but they dropped down dead left and right before they could even get a chance to express this anger.


    Meanwhile, Liam started from the dungeon entrance itself and repeatedly punched every inch of the walls that lined the pathway. Some of the walls copsed, and some did not.


    Those that copsed also did not reveal anything spectacr, just another small cavern or loop. However, as he approached the mainir of the final boss, there was finally a change!


    One of the walls crumbled to reveal a passageway that had inclined winding steps which lead further upstairs.


    Liam clenched his fists in excitement as he felt his pulse quicken some more. He only took a step upstairs when another pack of chimaera wolves emerged.


    And this time, they were Level 35 and above!


    It was true! Everything was true! If he climbed higher and higher, he could actually reach Level 50 and stronger beasts?


    Liam licked his lips. With a grin, he stepped forward confidently as he mmed the iing beasts onto the sides of the wall and continued to walk forward as he reached the next floor of the dungeon.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 807 What About The Other Dungeon?

    The third floor was no different than the first two floors as Liam cleared all the mobs at an insane pace and once again started searching for the passageway that led further up.


    The dungeon itself was quite huge that it took twenty and thirty men groups about an hour to finish in entirety. But for Liam, it had only barely been a few minutes since he started the run, and he was already on the third floor.


    From there, it again took him only a handful of minutes to locate the next passageway. With every discovery, he was bing more and more excited as he couldn''t see the limit of where this was headed.


    While inside the tutorial game, though the opportunities were plenty, his time was cut short but now, he had the time. Only the first wave of the apocalypse had been triggered up until now.


    He had plenty of time until the real horrors began to show up. The unfortunate part was that he had no way to prepare for this.


    This was why he had been fishing for opportunities by grinding the quests from the magic shop. But now, another brand new path had opened up in front of him. He was not going to waste this opportunity.


    As Liam broke down the walls for the next passageway, this time instead of chimera beasts, surprisingly, a group of orc soldiers rushed forward.


    Each of them was tall and sturdy and was at least Level 45.


    Bingo! This was exactly what he was waiting for!


    Liam immediately summoned his main battalion, his first string soul minions. The next second, the wyverns, Crawford, Dimitri, the six-winged lion, and the striped white tiger, all showed up ready to battle.


    In front of these minions, the dozen orcs could not really put up a fight, and they crumbled and dropped like flies, just like the other beasts.


    Finally, the experience points also started to umte bit by bit. However, the experience points given by this dungeon were extremely sparse whenpared to the tutorial game.


    Just seeing the small numbers was extremely painful. Though Liam was thankful for this opportunity to improve his strength, this was a harsh reminder that it was not going to be so easy.


    However, after everything he had faced, Liam was not going to be deterred by something so small. If all that was needed for him to get stronger was to fight relentlessly and spend every second of his waking time doing it, he was ready for that.


    The fourth floor of the dungeon posed him no threat, as he once again did not even have to lift a finger. He continued pushing forward, relying just on the strength of his minions.


    Even the final boss was not an issue. A few more minutes passed by, and Liam quickly found the passageway for the next floor.


    Finally, he was on the fifth floor and was going to cross the level 50 threshold in this dungeon. More orcs dashed forward as Luna and the wyverns made quick work of the group.


    Unexpectedly, the rest of the floor was also a joke, as there weren''t any other surprises. Just the minions alone were able to handle the fight. Liam received some experience points as well.


    He didn''t mind because he was Level 80 and these beasts were still thirty levels below him and didn''t appear to have formed any mana cores.


    So they couldn''t measure up to Liam''s abilities and died just as quickly as the rest. He sessfully found the next passageway as well.


    "Maybe this one will be challenging." Liam licked his lips and stepped forward, but as soon as he did, he came to a grinding halt. A barrier popped up in front of him without any warning.


    It was a translucent blue-colored barrier, akin to a pure mana barrier, but a very strong one that was already repelling him before he could even take a step forward.


    He could feel the strong mana wavesing out of the barrier even from a distance.


    <Ding. Congrattions. You have cleared the first section of the dungeon. The dungeon is now beginning to update. Time remaining: 24 hours>


    "Damn it." Liam punched the barrier in front of him in frustration, but that only proved useless as it did not even budge an inch.


    He waited there at the same spot for a couple more minutes and tried again. The same message once again popped up.


    "I guess I have no choice." Liam turned back and left the dungeon, the same way he had entered. However, he did not return to the base just yet and decided to pay the other dungeon a visit as well.


    He wanted to know if this strange thing was only happening in this dungeon or if it could happen in any dungeon on the.


    It would be extremely amusing if thetter were true because it would mean that the majority of the poption had been as blind as bats their entire lives, not knowing what was in their own backyard.


    They would have wasted such a precious resource for training and bing stronger. No wonder that when the subsequent trials of the apocalypse arrived, the entire waspletely wiped out.


    Liam let out a sigh as he dismissed all of his soul friends and hopped on top of Luna. The duo headed to the second dungeon, whose location they knew, and dove right into the green portal.


    This one was also a chimera dungeon, with various poisonous chimeras roaming about. There were all sorts of poisonous insects and beasts crawling in the dungeon.


    Liam did not waste any time and summoned the big shots right away to take care of the trash.


    Meanwhile, he punched the cavernwork walls systematically, and not too long after, just like in the other dungeon, a passageway actually opened up!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


    Please thank Teddy Penguin for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 808 Private Conversation

    Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha!


    "So it is really true¡­"


    Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha!


    Liam threw his head back and startedughing maniacally. He looked at the passageway in front of him, the winding steps leading inward, and he just couldn''t believe it.


    Not just one damn dungeon! But every damned dungeon had multiple floors?


    What the hell were they up to in hisst lifetime? How could they not have discovered something so simple?


    Perhaps if they had discovered this sooner, they wouldn''t have suffered so much! So all that misery and suffering was only because of their foolishness?!


    Liam pped his forehead with this palm as he looked at that passageway. Just the sight of it made him so angry.


    However, there was no point in dwelling on the past. Now that he knew about these things, there was much better nning that needed to be done.


    These dungeons were more than enough to prepare for the end times.


    If armies were what was required to stand firm against the terror that was about to be unleashed then he would create these armies.


    If it was still not possible to rally others to stand together and survive the end times, then he would create an army of his own against whatever wasing!


    Liam rushed in, followed by his minions, and started clearing the rest of the dungeon as well. Just like in the one before, he cleared until the fifth level on this dungeon too when the same message shed in front of him again.


    <Ding. Congrattions. You have cleared the first section of the dungeon. The dungeon is now beginning to update. Time remaining: 24 hours>


    He dismissed his minions and stepped out of the dungeon. He now needed to wait for a day to see what happened next but Liam was optimistic.


    These dungeons were definitely moreplex than what he knew. And if the dungeons were like this, then there were probably also other things that he didn''t know of yet.


    For all he knew, the answer to bing stronger anding out on top of this apocalypse was already avable to him. He just had not figured it out yet.


    Liam gazed at the dungeon portal for a few minutes and then the duo made a move.


    Now that he had settled the two dungeons, all he could do for the next 24 hours was wait.


    So he went around with Luna farming some more elite bosses and closed down some portals before returning to the baseter that same night.


    As soon as he stepped back into the hotel, Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and Ning Xi immediately rushed forward to greet him. It looked like they were eagerly waiting for him to learn more about the dungeons.


    However, Liam shook his head. "I will exin everything. Give me some time." He was not 100% sure yet what the update meant so he did not want to endanger anyone''s life.


    "Also, ask the group to keep this information confidential."


    Liam then had some dinner with the group and he received more updates about what was happening in the base.


    It looked like the number of people flocking to their base and requesting to join the guild was still increasing.


    "Most of these people are yers from the tutorial game. They don''t seem to be particrly talented." Rey exined.


    "Oh? Did you guys conduct some sort of test?" Liam took a bite of the roasted wolf meat and asked.


    "Yes, bro. I came up with the idea." Rey grinned. "Everyone was doing sparring practice anyway. So we did some recruitment tests for those iming to be yers."


    "I mean we are still putting them in the third string after all ourbat guild members and the nonbat guild members. We are being careful."


    "Hmph."Alex sneered. "They are just fair weather jackals. They want to join us now seeing how our guild managed toe out on top. Otherwise, why would they line up outside our gates? Hmph."


    "You are not wrong." Liam chuckled. "They just want to be on the side which is stronger. Tomorrow if another guild has a stronger base, they would probably leave us and join that one. But¡­"


    He paused and added, a pensive look in his eyes. "We need the manpower. Don''t forget that our guild is very spread out at the moment. We don''t even know how many people survived and how many didn''t. So let''s give these people a second chance."


    "As long as they stay within the lines and do their part without creating any disturbances, let them be. But the moment they start something, kick them to the curb. There will be no third chance."


    Everyone agreed. These conditions might be a bit harsh, but someone''s careless mistake could cost a lot of people their lives. So they needed to be strict.


    "Ok. I will be leaving now." Liam did not sit around and talk for a long time, as he had a big list of things he needed to aplish in these 24 hours. More importantly, he needed to pay attention to the details.


    "Bro, are you going to meet that fairy?" Rey chimed in with excitement.


    Immediately, several eyes in the group turned to look at Liam. Shen Yue and Mei Mei, both looked a little startled. Alex rolled her eyes.


    Some other women, including Ning Xi, looked at him questioningly.


    Only Shin Shoo had a bitter smile as he looked at Rey and shook his head. Bro, you just casually tossed a bomb.


    Liam, on the other hand, was too preupied to notice this ripple effect. "Yes, I am on my way to that shop. There is a lot I need to ask that woman about. In private." He answered in a matter of fact manner.


    In private? By now everyone had seen the fairy Rey was talking about, so they couldn''t help but stare at this remark.


    Rey was the only one who smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Good luck, bro. Conduct a thorough investigation. He He He."


    To everyone''s surprise, Liam further added fuel to this fire. "Yes, I n to." He made a suspiciousment and left.


    Hearing this, Alex dropped her spoon in shock, and even Shen Yue looked a little startled. What the hell was going on here? They looked dumbfounded, but Liam and Luna had already disappeared.


    The fox took off and directlynded in front of the magic shop, their next stop. Liam hopped down and walked into the inconspicuous shop that opened up into a grand store.


    He looked to the attendant on his right and immediately asked for the main boss. "Can I talk to your manager?"


    "Ha Ha. I am right here. Why are you looking for me so eagerly, Mr. Liam?" A melodious voice floated across the hall.


    Liam turned to see the familiar face, painted with a flirtatious smile that was enough to charm any man into a spell. He smirked. "Thanks for the tip. I did find something better to do with my time."


    He could see his words have an immediate effect on the creature as she looked slightly stunned. The few others in the shop also turned to look at them, listening keenly to their conversation.


    Seeing this, the fairy became more flustered.


    Liam was satisfied with this oue. "Shall we go inside and talk?"


    The fairy''s sweet smile returned. Nevertheless, she nodded. She lead the way as the two of them returned to the manager''s private room.


    "What is this tip you are talking about, Mr. Liam? If you say things like that, then I might get in trouble." Tilia sat back in her chair andughed awkwardly.


    Liam sat down opposite her and smiled. "I am talking about the dungeons, Miss Tilia. I will soon be bringing you some good things back from the dungeons."


    The fairy narrowed her eyes as a strange glint shed within them. "You are really astute, Mr. Liam. I don''t think there are that many people who are capable of figuring out this hidden secret in just a matter of days."


    "Who said that it was me?" Liam smiled. "Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for this, but I am going to take advantage of it."


    "Tee Hee. Such humility and honesty in someone so young are very admirable." The fairy coquettishly giggled and stood up from her chair to walk over to Liam.


    She gently leaned on the table right next to him, so close that only her scent filled the space between them. "You are a man of many admirable qualities, Mr. Liam."


    "Heh. Is that so?" Liam''s mouth twitched. The woman''s fragrance tickled his nose and made his hands itchy to reach forward and grab her by her slender waist. Something was different today.


    Seemingly amused by his reaction, the fairy inched even closer, stopping only a hair away from him. "Yes, Mr. Liam. You are very impressive."


    Liam immediately pulled back. He did not know what this person was capable of, so he had to be careful not to fall into some trap.


    As for her intentions, he was already aware of them. She was once again trying to manipte him, but he decided to give her an opportunity to be more direct.


    "In that case, how about you reward me with something? You, Miss Tilia, are very knowledgeable about the things currently happening in my world. How about you share with me some of your insights?"

 Chapter 809 Deal Or No Deal?

    The fairy paused. She stared at Liam with herplete undivided attention, and something twinkled within the depth of her eyes. She let out a deep, raspy breath and, unexpectedly, started leaning forward.


    She inched closer to Liam, holding her gaze, and covered the distance between them. She was once again so close to him that he could feel her cool breath mixed with her scent on his face.


    To Liam''s surprise, she then parted her lips and came further closer. Her cherry red lips glistened with an enchanting charm as she ced her mouth right on top of Liam''s!


    A soft, wet, flower petal-like sensation assaulted him. However, it was only for a brief moment. Just as he was about to react, the fairy quickly pulled back, her lips merely brushing past his.


    "I am sorry, Mr Liam. As a store manager, I have to remain neutral towards all my customers, and I am afraid I am not allowed to participate in the events of your world."


    She gave a charming wink and then stood up to walk back to her chair behind the desk, putting a distance between herself and him.


    Liam''s gaze turned cold. This was something he had already expected, but he had still hoped that he would be able to forge some sort of rtionship with this fairy.


    Instead, the other party only seemed to be interested in teasing him. If anything, she made that clear today.


    Or perhaps his strength was just not enough to tempt her into forming any sort of rtionship. Either way, this path was not going to get him too far at the moment.


    Liam decided to leave this forter, maybe after he reached Level 100.


    "Of course. I understand, Miss Tilia. I wouldn''t want to force you to do anything that you are notfortable with." He shed a smile and stood up. "I will be taking my leave then. I have quite a few quests to hand over."


    As if nothing had happened, Liam casually walked out of the manager''s room and went over to the quest board section.


    The fairy''s eyes trailed behind him with an odd glint, but then she closed her eyes and remained silent as if she were contemting something deeply.


    Back inside the shop, Liam opened his quest interface and started submitting the few quests that he could. Even though the quests this time involved gathering materials from elite beasts, specifically portal bosses, the quest submission was still a merciless grind.


    Liam did not observe any change in the quality or quantity of quest content, even after spending quite a bit of time on this. But that was fine. He was also prepared for this.


    Given how dungeons are now so much more valuable, he had already made ns to search the entire country for the rest of the dungeons.


    These were the most important resources at the moment. The two locations that he was most familiar with were not nearly enough. They needed to find more dungeon portals and take control of those territories as well.


    After all, China is a vast country. There was no way that these were the only two dungeons in the vicinity.


    Liam finished up the quest board business and then proceeded to walk out of the store. Several people waved at him and respectfully greeted him as he passed by.


    Currently, the various customers littering the magic shop were all mostly Crimson Abyss guild members or wannabe guild members.


    "If I want to expand the territory, then I might have to recruit more people." Liam made a mental note as he walked out. He returned to the hotel right after that, as he still had the rest of the day to burn.


    And while he was waiting, there was something else that needed his attention. "It should happen anytime now," Liam murmured to himself as he went back to his room and looked outside the window.


    Just so that he did not miss out on anything, he also unleashed his soul minion army to patrol the city. To see the seven hundred plus undead minions walking around the living was a terrifying sight.


    Everyone would have started panicking and attacking these weird things or shitting their pants and locking their doors, except by now, news had already spread mostly through word of mouth.


    Thanks to the poprity of ''Evolution Online'', there was at least one person on the street who knew about the video game and the famous S-Rank guild Crimson Abyss.


    Because of this, the line outside the hotel was getting longer every day, and everyone naturally assumed that these minions belonged to the guild in some way or another.


    Moreover, the soul minions seemed harmless, as they did not pay any attention to anyone. They simply walked about minding their own business, so it was easier to get used to their presence.


    There were also some who still dared to attack the undead, but most of them had by now leveled up a few times, thanks to the beast wave. These few attacks were insignificant inparison to the beasts, which could flee much faster than the Level 0 humans.


    This went on for some time until the long night ended, and a new day began. As the first rays of sunlight hit the city, Liam finally received the signal that he was waiting for.


    "Let''s go, Luna." He immediately summoned the fox, and the duo took off from the hotel, reaching their destination in just a few seconds.


    Lunanded in front of a poorly constructed apartment building in what looked like a very congested area with several low-cost buildings squished together in the same neighborhood.


    "So we start off in the slum area, huh?" Liam sighed with a chuckle.


    This sort of thing was to be expected, as people who are already weak, malnourished, or sick from some ailment were the first to fall.


    Their bodies were unable to withstand the new energy that they were not ustomed to, and therefore they have a higher chance of not being able to sessfully adapt to mana.


    This was precisely why Liam was here.


    Mana zombies! The next threat that the apocalypse posed.


    It was time these creatures started showing up one by one, and it looked like the first one was already here.


    Rawwrrr! A loud, enraged sound echoed from within the small apartment as everyone poked their heads out from their small windows and small balconies in confusion and worry.


    What was happening? Are there more beasts once againing out?


    Suddenly they found themselves looking for the creepy undead that had been patrolling their street just a couple of minutes ago.


    However, to their dismay, neither the creepy undead nor the person to whom the creepy undead belonged was anywhere to be seen.


    Liam did not n on intervening just yet. He simply stood on the side and continued to observe the situation from the outside.


    This meant that there could potentially be some casualties, as he did not exactly have X-ray eyes and couldn''t prevent any mishaps from happening inside the apartment without being present there.


    However, he still decided to do this because this was a very sensitive issue.


    If Liam intervened and saved the people from the apartment building, then there were two ways things could y out.


    He would either be praised to the high heavens and called a savior or be cursed and condemned to hell.


    Most often, the affected person''s family would reject their situation as reality and instead ce the me for their death squarely on the shoulders of the savior, iming that this was an injusticemitted by him.


    He would be branded as a power-hungry psychopath out to mutte everyone by the same people who begged him for help.


    Liam had seen a lot of this happen in hisst lifetime, and he wanted to avoid this sticky situation at all costs. So he took his time before going in.


    Meanwhile, a thin young man who appeared to be in histe 20s or early 30s suddenly clutched his head and began yelling or, more urately, roaring loudly in agony inside the small apartment.


    Everyone in the surrounding houses could clearly hear this guttural shout.


    But it did not stop there. The young man screamed in pain for a few seconds, after which he lifted his head up and looked at his wife near him with reddened eyes.


    Something within him had cracked.


    The woman could sense it. The person in front of her was her husband, but at the same time, he was no longer the same person whom she knew and was familiar with. Her gut instincts said so.


    He was staring at her like a rabid animal was staring at her. She only felt fear, not even concern. It was just a human instinct.


    "Arrrggghhh!" The woman screamed and banged open the door. She started madly shouting and running away.


    The few people who had opened their doors to take a look at what was going on immediately became alert upon seeing this. Everyone quickly started closing their doors back up again and silently hid inside.

 Chapter 810 Lord And Saviour

    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    "Please open the door. Please open the door." The woman wailed in fear, pounding on everyone''s doors. However, it waspletely useless. No one paid any attention to her situation and turned deaf ears to her cries for help.


    But at the same time, it was not so simple to escape the grasp of the mana-infused human being. Like a rabid animal, he crashed here and there, in the process even breaking down some of the cheaply built doors and wall structures.


    Wooden splitters and sand dust flew everywhere as huge holes started appearing. Now the inhabitants no longer had the safety of their homes, and it was no longer just the single woman who was screaming and running for her life.


    Several panicked people started running out of the building, all of them shouting in fear. The person who had lost his mind because of mana chased them out instinctively and even managed to get a couple of them.


    His hands bashed their heads against the wall with a force that made human skulls crack open like egg shells. Brain matter sttered everywhere, and pools of blood formed on the floor. The single mana zombie was enough to unlead utter terror on the group of normal people.


    Whenpared to the Level 0 humans, the mana zombie''s strength and movement were like that of a Level 15 beast.


    No one stood a chance against the single rabid guy and could only run away from him in fear. The man''s limbs and face were also currently swollen up with veins popping out, making him look all the more terrifying.


    Luckily, they were able to outrun the monster barely. If someone stumbled on their path, then that was the end. Only death awaited them.


    Seeing this, all the inhabitants of the small neighbourhood started running away randomly, fleeing in different directions for their lives. In just a few minutes, the entire ce fell intoplete chaos.


    This was the terror of a mana zombie! One was enough to cause numerous casualties.


    Unlike in the fictional books and movies, people who got scratched by the creature did not get infected or contract some form of the disease, falling into the risk of turning into one themselves.


    But on the minus side, no one really lived to tell this tale. The mana zombie never simply scratched. The hits were always strong and deadly. It one shot all its victims to a meat pulp.


    That''s why this was one of the main reasons the world''s poption plummeted. First, the beast wave and then the appearance of zombies. Humanity was dealt a crushing blow right from the get-go.


    Standing on the side, Liam and Luna watched this scene indifferently. The fox couldn''t care less about the plight of the human beings who were not rted to her master, while Liam knew better than to intervene at the moment.


    He gave it one more minute, and only when most of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood were outside and praying for a miracle he finally made a move.


    The mana zombie might be strong for normal humans, but for a level 80 human being, it did not pose any threat. Liam only needed one casual hit to finish the guy.


    Seeing him publicly decimate the abomination, everyone loudly cheered and rejoiced. The people who were fleeing as well stopped running away and turned to look at the scene.


    Liam had purposefully made a spectacle out of the whole situation exactly for this purpose. He dragged the corpse out for everyone to see, putting it in the middle of the ground where the neighbourhood had gathered.


    He then looked at the anxious and terrified crowd and addressed them calmly.


    "I have solved the issue for now, but be careful in the future. Everyone who hasn''t consumed mutated beast meat or properly adapted to this new world has a risk of turning into a monster just like this person."


    "If you want to know more, visit that beacon of light." Liam pointed to the magic shop in the distance.


    He did not want to give away the location of the guild base directly. Instead, he gave directions to the shop, where at all times, one or the other member of the guild always hung around and could guide these neers.


    This was important because humans seldom had the tendency to appreciate things that happened easily and came to them for free.


    This way, they would have to work a little to get to the base and then go through the selection process, which would result in them appreciating and valuing the facility more.


    After speaking these few words, Liam then nodded at Luna. The fox immediately ballooned up and swaggered over to Liam. The duo then took off without caring about anything else.


    However, the moment after they left, everyone immediately started murmuring and whispering to each other. It did not look like Liam had done much, but the effect he had was phenomenal, specifically what he said.


    They had to consume beast meat? Was there a chance that they could also turn like this?


    Everyone gulped in fear and shock. They looked at their family members, worried that the same thing might happen to them as well.


    Most of the people were simply waiting for this phase to pass and for the government to take over once again so that things would be back to normal but today''s incident only showed that they were merely daydreaming.


    Perhaps things were only going to get worse. When faced with this harsh reality, everyone began to discuss their options hurriedly and about the person who had just now rescued them.


    Most of the crowd was grateful for Liam''s intervention, and some of them even considered him to be their saviour. The woman whose husband had turned into the zombie in the first ce was still bowing to the spot where Liam had stood and addressed everyone.


    If not for him, there would have definitely been a massacre in this neighbourhood. They admired his strength and apuded that he had gone out of the way to help them for nothing in return.


    Naturally, many were envious of the power he possessed and wished that they could be someone like that. Talks about the Crimson Abyss guild also surfaced.


    They might not have recognized Liam but Luna was a very famous celebrity. She gave away Liam''s identity, and the gamers in the group informed others about who had helped them out. Immediately many decided to join the guild.


    Since Liam had given them clear instructions about what to do, some people even packed their bags and started biking and driving their cars over to the beacon of light in the distance using thest bit of fuel they had saved.


    It was clear that they needed to help themselves. The government was not moving fast enough.


    Rather than believing in something that might or might not happen, they decided to check out the address given by the person who had actually saved them.


    However, this fraction of the crowd was rather less. Many still headed back to their houses and stayed inside, hoping for a rescue team to drop at their doorstep and make all these nightmares disappear.


    Meanwhile¡­ from a distance, Liam received the news from one of his soul minions that were patrolling the area he had only just left. He wanted to keep an eye on what was happening, so he paid attention.


    "So about ten families listened to my words, huh¡­ not bad for a start." He indifferently said. This was just the beginning.


    When more people begin to turn into mindless monsters, eventually, they would all have no other choice but toe running to him.


    Liam particrly did not care about this oue. These were weaklings and probably would require a lot of training and effort to contribute anything at all to the guild.


    At the same time, he wanted to give everyone at least a fighting chance. After all, he knew very well what it was to be weak and helpless and have nowhere to turn to. Once upon a time, he was also like this.


    Heck, against certain individuals, he was still not strong enough. In a way, they were all in the same boat, struggling to survive their own battles. So he did not look down upon anyone''s weakness.


    However, despite being offered a chance, if they still did not take any action to survive, then that was no longer his concern. He wanted to pull others up, but that did not mean that he was a bleeding heart.


    "Let''s go, Luna. Everything will fall into ce eventually."


    Patting the luxuriously soft white fur, Liam asked the fox to go to a nearby isted area. It was time for the main course. He wanted to address the main reason why he had taken the time to do all of this.


    He wanted to test his new mana zombie soul undead.

 Chapter 811 My Bad

    Liam stood in the middle of the big football-sized ground that was covered with wildly grown trees and nts.


    This ce was once a neatly mowedwn with various structures for the children to y, such as swings and see-saw, but now it resembled a mini forest with the trees and ntspletely taking over.


    Amidst this wilderness, Liam calmly summoned his newly forged soul minion. He had not forgotten to grab the dead soul even though he had put on a show for everyone to see. This was the main reason why he had gone there in the first ce.


    Luna snarled as the new undead immediately materialized in front of the duo. Liam also watched the minion with rapt attention, trying to get a sense of its soul.


    The duo silently stood and stared at the newly forged undead for several minutes. Not knowing what to do, the newly forged undead as well stared at the duo back, whilst scratching its head with its finger.


    A few more minutes passed by like this when eventually, Liam let out a sigh and dismissed the minion. His hunch had been correct but that was all he knew so far.


    He could tell that it was quite different from the normal soul minions he had forged so far but he couldn''t understand exactly why. It was more like the minion was too weak for it to reveal any secrets to him.


    The only thing that he could figure out was that even though when alive the mana ''zombie'' had lost its mental faculties, when forged into a soul minion, it still obeyed hismands and did not run wild just like it did before dying.


    So technically it regained some of ite mental faculties or perhaps its soul was not fully degraded like its physical body that as soon as it gained a soul body, it was able to think a little?


    "Tsk. Tsk. What I thought was 100% correct. These could definitely be more powerful than normal human minions but I am not able to figure out how and why this soul is different. Hmmm. Maybe I just need more samples." Liam silently pondered.


    Mana zombies were different from normal humans in the sense that every part of their body had been infused with pure mana,pletely overwriting the basic biological wiring of the body.


    This was why Liam had thought that the soul minions forged from mana zombies were perhaps more powerful whenpared to normal soul minions.


    However, he could onlypare this between one human soul minion to another. There wasn''t any beast mana zombie at least until the extent that he knew of.


    "Well, I wille back to this when I make more of the same." Instead of wasting any more time, Liam hopped back on Luna and headed back to the base.


    Even before theynded, they could see that the base was as lively as ever, with more and more people beginning to queue up outside the building. Recruitment was in full swing.


    The news about the mana zombies was also starting to circte, along with some rumours. People were more eager than ever to join the guild in order to obtain some beast meat for their families.


    And since there were strict rules about dungeon raiding teams and membership hierarchy, people were willing to do almost anything at this point to be a part of their guild.


    They had already missed a chance to join the Crimson Abyss guild back in the tutorial game, and they did not want tomit the same blunder again.


    When Liam and Luna arrived at the base, they were greeted by an unexpectedlyrge crowd, not the ones from outside but rather the ones from inside.


    "Liam, we are no longer able to ess the dungeon." Alex folded her arms in front of her chest as she walked forward and mouthed the issue.


    The two teams had attempted, as usual, to do the daily dungeon runs, but when they tried to step inside the portal, nothing was happening. Instead, they had obtained a system notification that the dungeon was currently being updated.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam nodded. He had somewhat anticipated that this would ur. Though he had hoped that the update was only specific to him, it looked like it had indeed ended up affecting the whole dungeon structure.


    "That would be my bad." He smiled and exined what had happened and how he had triggered that update. Everyone stared in awe.


    They were only now struggling to clear the first level of the dungeon, but Liam had not only cleared all five levels, he also triggered an update that was probably going to make the dungeon harder.


    Looking at everyone''s nk faces, Liam quickly added. "Since these two are not avable, we just have to discover new ones. I am sure that there are more dungeon portals."


    "Right." Alex nodded with a bitter smile. The problem was not that. The problem was the ring difference in strength between Liam and the other members of the guild.


    She did not know about the others, but she clenched her fists tightly, wanting to close this distance between the two of them.


    Perhaps she was always fated to remain weaker than this person and could never match up to him. Still, she wanted to change this destiny of hers and be as strong as him.


    "You heard the man. What are we all waiting for? Let''s go then. Come on. Come on. Chop. Chop. Pack some supplies."


    "Since we temporarily don''t have dungeons to train, lets look for stray beasts nearby and hunt them down." Alex loudlymanded, and the group immediately started making preparations.


    She then turned towards Liam and asked him, "I am assuming you want to take care of the dungeon finding business?"


    Liam nodded in agreement. While they could also search for new dungeons, it would be a waste of manpower and efforts, not to mention very time consuming.


    For finding the remaining dungeons, one would have tob through the entirety of the country even, and would need to cover a lot of distance.


    It was better that he took care of this personally because it would be far more efficient.


    With the help of Luna and his soul minions, he would have to at most spend a few days to find new dungeons.


    In fact, even without his soul minions, he would still be faster than others in this aspect. This was the advantage of having a flying mount.


    For others it could take several months and there was a chance they might still return empty-handed. So this was a no brainer.


    Liam discussed a few more details with Alex, Rey and Shin Soo. He also warned the group about the ferocity of the stray beasts.


    When they first emerged out of the portals, they were mostly lower-leveled but now after these past couple of days it was possible that some of them underwent mutations and evolutions to be stronger.


    It was a very real possibility that powerful elites and field boss level monsters might have evolved. So he warned them about these irregrs before sending them off.


    Liam then checked the time and noticed that he still had a few hours left before the 24 hour deadline was up so he decided to take a good rest for the remainder of the day.


    After all, his next opponents wouldn''t be normal monsters. If the dungeon were sessfully updated, then he would have to start facing higher level beasts soon, and perhaps those that possess mana cores.


    So he wanted to be 100% prepared for this encounter and face the dungeon while he was at his best.


    Liam silently walked up the stairs in deep contemtion and then flopped onto the bed to get a good rest. It was still bright outside, so it was an odd time of the day to actually sleep, but he had enough residual tiredness that he immediately fell asleep.


    However, just after a few minutes, he drifted off into the same recurring nightmare that was his previous life. When Liam woke up again, he was sweating all over.


    Haaa! He let out a deep breath and pulled thezy fox lying next to him all bundled up.


    Luna was still here, and this was a different life, not the one that he dreaded. He smiled a little as he reminded himself of this fact.


    He looked out the window to observe the city around him, and everything seemed so calm and quiet. Unlike his previous life, where everyone was hiding and fleeing right about now, the current atmosphere was almost as if nothing had happened.


    It was easy to becent and over-confident under such conditions, but Liam knew better than that.


    With the future that awaited them, even if he grew slightly arrogant, there would only be death waiting. He needed to work harder and prepare more.


    ? "Let''s go, Luna. Time to start grinding."


    He tossed the fox who was enjoying his warm and cozy hug onto the ground and got out of bed with an aim. It was time to do some work and old-fashioned fighting.

 Chapter 812 New And Upgraded

    After leaving the base, Luna arrived at the entrance of the first dungeon in a jiffy. Right off the bat, Liam could see that the dungeon was different now.


    Earlier the portal was a pale green color, but now it was a bright emerald color. Even looking from the outside, it gave off a vibe that it was richer and denser in mana.


    "We might be in for a ride." Liam clenched his fist in excitement. He couldn''t wait to start fighting as he cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.


    Luna followed suit and repeated the same movements, but it only looked cute and adorable when the fox did the same. As her three tails swayed in the wind, the two of them disappeared into the dungeon.


    Almost instantly, a thick waft of mana assaulted Liam. He could lick the energy in the air. He looked around observing the surroundings of the dungeon.


    It was quite simr to the previous one. Another cavernwork with rocky sand walls on all sides. However, the passageways seemed to be wider and taller.


    There was also something else in the air, a palpable tension. Though he was standing in a simr ce as before, this time it feltpletely different. Liam''s gaze hardened as he traced his fingers on the wall, feeling the toughness.


    Just what changes did the dungeon undergo?


    Before he could finish the thought, loud guttural growls echoed in the passageway, and something big and heavy thudded in the distance.


    The footsteps grew closer and louder as big figures started to emerge from the shadows. A dozen giant orcs stood in front of Liam, grunting and snorting.


    And these were not just ordinary orcs. Liam could tell that much from just looking at them.


    "Inspect."


    [Orc Elite; Level 61]


    The orcs growled and rushed forward, not waiting for Liam to examine them in peace. Every single step they took rumbled across the cavern and right now they were stampeding toward him with huge maces in their hands.


    The weapon looked very heavy and sturdy just like its wielder. The spikes on the mace seemed to be made from some sort of special material. They had a reddish glow to them.


    Apart from the mace, their huge bodies were also covered in other armor which also had the same spikes lined on them.


    Just judging from the looks these had to be at least Magical grade or even Unique grade and they definitely boosted the strength of these brutes giving them an intimidating aura.


    Liam couldn''t see beyond this point with his current [Inspect] skill. However, it was very clear to him that these orcs werepletely different from the orcs he had fought back against in the first version of the same dungeon.


    Even their skin tone was different as the other orcs were light brown in color while these were dark brown in color. They were also taller and a lot more muscr with dense blood veins winding like snakes around these thick muscles.


    "Wyverns!" Liam directly summoned his strongest unit for shing with these orcs. He wanted to gauge the strength of these creatures before unleashing the smaller guys.


    His soul minions were strong but the only drawback they had was their ability to regenerate. It was not infinite so it was best to avoid uncertain situations and his gut feeling told him that this was one.


    The wyverns swiftly materialized as soon as Liammanded and the draconian beasts stood tall against the huge elite orcs. They not only matched the 12 feet height of the orc elites but they were also equally threatening as they stared down upon the inferior creatures.


    However, unlike the previous opponents, these orcs surprisingly did not shake and trembled on seeing the wyverns. Instead, they shed with even more gusto.


    Their growls dripped with bloodthirstiness as they swung their maces against the soul minions without any fear in their big reddened eyes.


    The wyverns naturally did not back down and blocked and parried with them using their ws and tails.


    There were fourteen orcs in total and only ten wyvern soul minions but the three-headed wyvern was able to handle more than three by itself. There were also two more wyverns that handled two orc elites each.


    SMASH! RUMBLE!


    SMASH! RUMBLE!


    The fight raged on and to Liam''s surprise, the two sides almost shed evenly.


    But this was only for a few seconds after which the three-headed wyvern opened his mouth and flooded the whole cavern with mana-rich attacks.


    The other wyverns followed the example of the leader as one by one all of them started casting their magic attacks.


    Fire, ice, lightning, earthen spikes, and razor-sharp winds assaulted the now crowded passageway sending the orc elites into a frenzy.


    The protective armor they were wearing seemed to repel the attacks to some extent but after a couple of seconds they quickly gave out. They couldn''t handle the intensity of the draconian attacks.


    Though the orcs were able to match the physical strength of the soul minions, their magic resistance was still inferior. Perhaps they might be able to withstand the magic attacks from other people but the intensity of draconian magic was slightly stronger.


    The attacks started piling up and they started losing chunks of their health. Soon the fight became one-sided and the orc elites started getting pushed back.


    Liam watched this scene with his eyes narrowed. The battle was progressing smoothly for now with the advantage firmly rested on their side but what concerned him was that they had only barely started.


    This was the first floor of the new and upgraded dungeon and the wyverns were already pushed to such an extent that they had to rely on their innate attacks?


    Just how strong were these orcs and what did the other floors of the updated dungeon hold for him?


    Liam grinned as he licked his lips in anticipation. He had a feeling that he would have to personally step in and fight today. He looked forward to it.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


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 Chapter 813 Progress

    After the first set of the orc elites crumbled and fell dead, Liam received a bunch of system notifications.


    <Ding. You have gained 100 experience points>


    <Ding. You have gained 100 experience points>


    <Ding. You have gained 100 experience points>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "I guess the experience points distribution is as brutal as ever." He chuckled wryly on seeing the abysmal numbers. The experience points he needed to level up were still the same as what was needed back in the tutorial game, so to see any progress was going to take a while.


    This was nothing new, and Liam brushed it aside. He came to the more important part, which was making more soul minions. "These orc elites would make fine soldiers." He clicked his tongue.


    He then immediately tried to grasp the souls of the orc elites who had fallen down in front of him. But to his surprise, something was different. Rather something was missing.


    Liam frowned and tried a few more times again. However, the end result was still the same. Unmistakably, all the beings in front of himcked any sort of soul!


    Or perhaps the soul was bound to something in a manner that prevented him from sensing it at all.


    No matter what the reason was, it was clear that he wouldn''t be able to make any of these orc elites into his minions.


    Liam could only watch as the corpses started to disappear one after the other, and soon the passageway was empty. "Tsk Tsk, that''s disappointing but fine. Let''s just go in." He clicked his tongue and shrugged.


    The orc elites would have made really good soldiers, but he did not have anyints. At least now, he was able to start pushing his level again, and even though his army wasn''t growing in size, it was steadily growing in quality and strength.


    The group walked inside when Liam abruptly stopped in his tracks. While trying to forge the orc souls, he had almost missed something else important!


    He turned around and collected the small shiny object on the ground that had rolled to the edge of the wall.


    It was a mana core!


    One of the orc elites had actually dropped a mana core!


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam pocketed the mana core in contemtion and then turned around to look properly.


    And just like he had guessed, there were two more simr spherical objects lying inconspicuously on the ground.


    Since these were low-grade mana cores, they did not possess that much of a shine, so it was rtively easy to overlook them.


    "Ha! I almost missed three mana cores!"


    Liamughed as he picked all three mana cores and pocketed them. Apart from the staggering improvement in strength and constitution of the dungeon mobs, this had to be the second important change to the dungeon!


    These dungeons were notorious in his previous life for their terrible drop rate, but now three mana cores had dropped just from this single mob. This was quite a good bounty!


    Liam grinned, and Luna as well shed an equally big smile. The group then excitedly pushed on forward.


    After the first group of orc elites fell, Liam ordered the wyverns to keep charging ahead. Not long after, they were met with another mob. This time as well, there were about fifteen orcs in total, and they were all elites of the same caliber.


    The fight once again started in full swing. The orcs growled loudly, but the wyverns opened their mouths to match them with equally terrifying roars. The silent cavern became filled with all sorts of screeching sounds as attacks flooded the space a second time.


    Along with the wyverns, Liam also summoned Crawford, Dimitri, the six-winged lion, and the striped white tiger, as he wanted these elite soul minions to continue growing as well. With this, the two teams were somewhat evenly numbered, so the fight this time was even faster.


    "So only Crawford and the wyverns are able to take on these elites easily. The rest are still struggling." Liam observed from the side. Luna nodded as if she was seriously listening to him.


    A couple of minutester, the second fight was also over. Confirming his earlier theory, yet again there were four mana cores on the ground.


    "Not bad. Not bad at all." Liam picked them up and pocketed them. The group then continued making their way through the dungeon floor, cutting down dozens of orc elites at a time.


    Soon almost an hour passed by, and they had put down almost a hundred or so orcs, but still, there was no sign of the boss''s room.


    "This ce is huge. Woot!" Liam whistled as he picked up another two mana cores. "With this, we gained a total of 33 mana cores, three items, and one weapon. This dungeon is really very generous, don''t you think so, Luna?"


    Kyuuuuu! The fox bobbed her head cutely.


    The group pushed ahead, wandering around the dungeon for some more time. Just like that, another hour also passed by, but there were only more orc elites. There was no end in sight for the dungeon.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam frowned. If not for the mana cores and the items dropping every now and then, and the constant flow of the experience points, he would have directly assumed that they were in some sort of never-ending illusion.


    But they were still progressing and collecting loot which was very real, so he could only conclude that¡­


    "This is one big ass dungeon. Maybe we should speed up the process." Liam turned to look at the little fox, who waszily yawning.


    She seemed as if she was really beginning to appreciate the free experience points that were raining down on her without her having to lift a finger.


    "Madam, I am talking about you. Would your highness be willing to fight a little?" Liam chuckled.


    KyuuuuU! Luna rubbed her snout as if she was wronged, but she quickly nodded her head.


    Liam then broke the group into three teams. He also summoned a few other elves and barbarians who were over Level 50 to pad the numbers.


    The traditional method would be to progress in the dungeon one mob after another, but Liam did not n on adhering strictly to those rules.


    These elite orcs were still not enough to challenge him. They needed to crank up the pace so that they could finally face a worthy opponent.


    Now that they had pretty much confirmed that there were no more hidden surprises on this floor of the dungeon, he decided to run through the rest of the dungeon as fast as they physically could.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


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 Chapter 814 Bigger And Thicker

    Another two hourster¡­


    Liam had gone all out except for getting into the field himself and ughtering the orcs left and right with his own hands, but it looked like he had still underestimated the size of the dungeon floor.


    "Six hours!" Heughed as he sat down on the dungeon floor, looking at the now empty space all around them. They had ughtered about a thousand orc elites in the past six hours and had finally wiped the floor of the dungeon clean.


    Though they hadn''te across any dungeon boss specifically, Liam was pretty sure that this floor of the dungeon was picked clean from top to bottom.


    Now the question was¡­ how to go to the next floor from here?


    Liam had methodically cracked the walls one after the other right from the beginning, but another passageway had still not opened up. Was there perhaps a change in the mechanism?


    He mulled over this thought as he absent-mindedly punched the wall he was currently leaning against. This was the far end of the dungeon and the absolutest wall as well.


    And just as he punched it, surprise, surprise, the rocks gave way, shattering under the impact of his attack and crumbling down to reveal a¡­ passageway.


    "I guess there is no change in the mechanism after all." Liam chuckled and stood up. "200 mana cores, 20 item drops, 5 weapon drops, and about 50,000 experience points." Tallying the total gains, he entered the dark passageway which led upstairs. "Time to go to the next floor."


    On the current floor, they had run into orc elites ranging from level 50 to 65. So Liam could already guess the level of opponents they were going to face on the next floor. As a precaution, he even dismissed all the soul minions, except for the wyverns.


    The group climbed the winding stairs and turned around as they came face to face with the first of the next set of opponents.


    [Hulking Orc, Level 68]


    [Hulking Orc, Level 71]


    [Hulking Orc, Level 67]


    If the previous orcs were huge and thick, then these ones were even more so, with everything on their body bulging, especially the big package at the front, which was jammed right in the face of one of the wyverns.


    The draconian beast roared in rage as heshed out at the orc, beginning with the same big package. The other minions also joined in the rumble.


    However, the fight was not as smooth as the previous ones. These hulking orcs were bigger and thicker, and their physical defence was impressive. Moreover, they were a hair above the wyverns when it came to their physical prowess.


    It almost looked as if they had trained their body to the extreme, perhaps even to perfection. Every single punch and swing of their weapon contained explosive power. The wyverns were only barely able to match the attacks and were even slowly getting pushed back.


    "Hmmm¡­ Should I maybe intervene?" Liam pondered, but the next second, the wyverns proved that they weren''t draconic beasts just for show.


    Since the physical attacks were raining down on them without stopping and much faster than they could counter, they switched to different tactics.


    The ones at the front blocked the attacks and dodged everything to the best of their abilities, while the ones at the back spammed their magic attacks relentlessly.


    Just like the physical defence, the magic defence of the hulking orcs was also quite impressive. They were taking far less damage whenpared to the elites.


    Some of this could be attributed to the items on the orcs, but it was clear that their physical abilities were top-notch.


    Liam looked at this and, in the end, decided to add four more minions to this mix. He summoned Crawford, Dimitri, the six-winged lion and the striped white tiger.


    With this, the bnce finally shifted to their side. The three Hulking Orcs that showed up in the beginning were joined by three more, resulting in a total of six opponents, which now the soul minions vastly outnumbered by eight.


    The fight becamepletely skewed, with just six orcs on one side and fourteen soul minions on the other side, ten of which were draconic beasts.


    Though the fight took longer, eventually, it broke into the side of the draconic beasts.


    The wyverns imed their resounding victory, throwing their heads back and roaring loudly while looking up as if they were challenging the heavens themselves.


    Luna also seemed to have been inspired by this fight as the little fox snarled and waved her paws as if she was also ready to jump in and fight, showing everyone who was the boss!


    In the same line, both the lion and the tiger tried to do something simr, only for their actions toe out in an awkward fashion. These beasts were typically the kings wherever they went, but in this group, they had no other choice except to take the second string shirt.


    Meanwhile, only Liam had a pensive look on his face. He picked up the two mana cores that had fallen in deep thought.


    The fight went fine. He had received almost the same amount of experience points, and the soul minions had also managed toe out on top in the end, but there was one thing that was bothering him.


    These orcs were much stronger than any Level 70 monster he had faced back in the tutorial game. Why was this? What exactly were these creatures, and how did they originate and enter this world?


    If the tutorial game was another world, then did these creatures also reside in another world? More importantly, what happened to their souls?


    Liam tried sensing the souls of these hulking orcs, but it was useless. Once again, he wasn''t able to generate any soul minions from these guys.


    The more he thought about everything, the more confusing it became. He couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation in front of him.


    It was as if he was in the middle of a vast puzzle with only a few pieces visible to him. He felt blind. He couldn''t see beyond what was given to him.


    Liam hated it.


    He watched the huge orc bodies disappear into nothingness and stared at the same space for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh.


    Though it was frustrating at the moment, he had no other choice but to ignore some things, at least for the moment. Otherwise, if he overthought everything, it might have the opposite effect and hamper his growth.


    He needed to focus on the thing that was in front of him. He needed to improve his strength to a level that he would finally be able to understand these things.


    "Let''s go." He ordered the group to step into the next floor.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


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 Chapter 815 Stepping Stones

    After taking down the first mob, Liam ordered Luna to join the fight, and the group began clearing the next floor in full swing as fast as they could.


    The physical prowess of the hulking orcs took a little time to get used to, but eventually, the group got the hang of it, and they began clearing the mobs one after another.


    This floor was bigger than the previous one, and all the mobs consisted only of hulking orcs.


    Liam did not bother summoning the rest of the soul minions, as they wouldn''t be able to deal with the blows from the orcs. One hit and they would be decimated.


    To speed up the process, he also participated in the fights this time. He cracked his knuckles and took out the ck dragon sword, which he hadn''t held in a while.


    The sword rested silently in his hands.


    Liam couldn''t help but roll his eyes at the weapon. It was this same weapon that had caused him so much pain just a while ago, but now it looked so innocent and docile.


    The dragon souls within the weapon also seemed suspiciously quiet.


    It was almost as if they were trying to get their strength back so they could attack him with all their power when thest seal was broken.


    "Well, we will see about it then." Liam grinned and dashed forward at the group of five hulking orcs, his eyes glistening with excitement. It looked like he was about to hug his old childhood friends.


    He dodged the attacksing in hot from the left and the right and then dove down as he shed at the big guy in front of him.


    Liam felt the de of the sword cut through the thick, muscr, fleshy mass, and the grin on his face widened. It was good to keep getting free experience points without doing anything personally, but getting his hands dirty felt much better.


    He shed at the big guy repeatedly and made quick work of the orc. After a few seconds, he quickly got used to the hulking orcs'' fighting pattern, and the rest of the fight went even smoother.


    After the fifth mob, he was almost matching the wyverns'' and Luna''s speed as they took down the orcs at the same pace.


    But this quickly changed again as Liam overtook the other group at the end of the first hour. His speed was much faster as he started taking down the hulking orcs in just a few blows.


    Despite that, the rest of the dungeon was still long and never-ending. After twelve hours, the total number of hulking orcs tallied to a whopping 1200, and finally, the dungeon floor was emptied out.


    "That''s another 300 mana cores, 30 items, and 4 weapons."


    Liam licked his lips as he walked over to the dead-end wall that marked the end of the long cavernwork. He then lifted his hand casually and punched through the wall, revealing the passageway for the next floor.


    As if the monsters inside were waiting just for him, they came forward to greet him as soon as they heard the sound of the boundary wall crashing down.


    Liam stared at the bizarre creatures standing in front of him, and the grin on his face stretched from ear to ear. "You guys will make perfect stepping stones for me."


    Today was going to be a good day.


    He dove forward and initiated the fight, with Luna and the wyverns joining him in the action. The group then began another long, arduous grind thatsted several hours.


    After the [Hulking Orcs], there was the [Titan Orcs], which were creatures of physical perfection. A single hit almost took away 1/6th of Liam''s health. They also had very high physical defense and magic defense.


    There were about 2000 of these titan orcs, which were followed by an entirely different type of orc on the next floor, the [Abomination Orcs].


    These big guys were 30 feet tall, the same height as the titan orc, but they were enormous in size and not exactly lean and muscr.


    They were bby and round, with fat and flesh abundant on their grotesque bodies, which had all sorts of weird, irregr features. Some of them had three heads, some of them had five heads, and some of them had extra hands and even extra legs.


    They were truly horrendous to look at. Only their faces remotely resembled those of orcs.


    And it was not just their physical appearance, these Abomination Orcs were quite nasty in that their attacks varied greatly. They had a range of both physical attacks and magic attacks in their arsenal, and they threw these at Liam and the soul minions at random times.


    Moreover, the titan orcs were around level 70 to 80, while the abomination orcs were around level 80 to 90. The difficulty of the dungeon floors was now really starting to pick up.


    When Liam reached the abomination orcs, he was so evenly matched with these grotesque creatures that he could no longer power level with his soul minions.


    Both for the titan orcs and the abomination orcs, he had to take the center stage and get down and dirty with his own hands while the soul minions stood at the back and provided long-range support to merely help him in the fight.


    He added a few more minions to the mix and basically used anyone who could stand far away and shoot an attack forward. He personally acted as a tank for these guys, keeping all the orcs'' attention to himself.


    Only Luna was still standing side by side with him in the fight as she tried to distract the orcs by using abination of her blur skill and her fire affinity. She roasted the orcs left and right without getting tired, showing her full potential.


    However, even with her help, the fight was extremely tiresome and grueling. On the bright side, the experience points were higher and the drop rate was improving.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 816 Where Is He?

    While Liam was busy with the orcs, the rest of the group slowly started to spread out and take charge of the city. They split into two groups and started expanding their circle in two different directions.


    But they soon realized that Liam''s warning was not for naught. As they headed deeper into the outskirts, where every single beast hadn''t already been cleared, they started running into some unexpected elites and strong beasts.


    Despite the danger and difficulty presented by these beasts, the group gained a substantial amount of experience points from defeating them.


    But the drops were non-existent and there were also no mana cores. At least the beast meat obtained from them was extremely nutritious.


    Unlike Liam, the two groups couldn''t simply pump and dump. They did not have any soul minions working for them at the moment. They had to personally take care of the resources.


    Alex had already taken this into ount, and she arranged for some means of transportation and reliable workers after talking with Derek''s sister, Lily.


    These people followed the two groups around on big trucks and helped in the loading and unloading of beast meat when the fight was finished.


    This way, they were also able to cover more distance.


    Even though there were times when it was inconvenient, such as when the road became clogged because drivers had stopped their vehicles and left them in a chaotic state, it was, by far, the most convenient and effective option avable.


    In this way, the two scouting and hunting groups continued their expansion mission for the next couple of days. Their presence was like a parade on the street as more people began to learn about the new group forming at the heart of the city.


    Some individuals even boldly approached passersby in order to inquire about the situation. They took the information with a healthy dose of skepticism, at least up until the point where they heard the name "Crimson Abyss."


    With weird rumors spreading about some sort of apocalypse and some people even iming that the game world had merged with the real world, many survivors decided to check out the so-called Crimson Abyss headquarters.


    Meanwhile, more mana zombies had also started to emerge. This further led to more people flocking towards Crimson Abyss.


    Soon, the base became extremely busy, with various people handling various tasks and duties around the clock.


    Thankfully, eating beast meat not only provided them with the additional strength they required but also assisted everyone in remaining in the best condition possible, with their physical and mental capabilities operating in high gear throughout.


    Among this hubbub and busy atmosphere, only a few people noticed that something was odd. An important figure was missing in action at least for three straight days.


    "No, I really haven''t seen Mr. Liam." Lily apologetically shook her head and answered the redhead, who was nervously biting her lips.


    "Where the hell did he go? Is he alright?" Alex sighed as her chest heaved, letting out a deep breath. She weirdly felt restless after not having been in contact with Liam for so long.


    Her attractive features remained scrunched up in worry for a few good minutes when she forcefully reminded herself. "What am I worrying for? He is a monster. He will be fine. There shouldn''t be anyone on this entire who is capable of hurting him."


    Her words were spoken out loud, but Lily knew that they were not meant for her. Alex was simply trying tofort herself by saying these things.


    "Ok, thank you." The redhead nodded and left after a couple more seconds. Despite all the logical assurances she had given, she still seemed worried.


    Seeing the woman walk away half absent-mindedly, Lily couldn''t help but smile bitterly. This was not the person who hade to visit her today about this matter.


    Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and Ning Xi had alsoe to her earlier with the exact same set of questions, all wanting to know if Liam had returned to the base at all after he left to explore the updated dungeons a couple of days ago.


    They all had the same look of worry and concern on their faces and were extremely distressed that they hadn''t heard back from him.


    "Our guild leader has a lot of women looking out for him." Lily couldn''t help but chuckle to herself. She then sighed as her gaze wandered to the skies, searching for the familiar sight of the three-tailed snow white fox.


    "Please be alright, Mr. Liam." She muttered under her breath. What she didn''t realize was that, at the moment, she too had the exact same look of concern.


    Unfortunately, the second day also passed by without any sign of this person.


    Finally, at the end of the third day, a foxzily drifted across the sky andnded with a yawn in front of the hotel. From atop the fox, Liam rolled down, his body covered in numerous cuts and injuries.


    Lily almost shrieked in fright on seeing this appearance of his. She was scared stiff, and her face turned pale.


    The all-powerful Liam was actually hurt? Just what had he been up to for the past three days? Was something worseing their way? Was the world going to end?


    Numerous questions ran through her mind as she rushed forward to support the man whom everyone looked up to.


    She did not want to see him stumble and fall, not in front of these people or in front of anyone else. He was their pir of support, and he needed to stay strong. For the sake of her brother, he needed to be even stronger.


    Lily felt guilty that her thoughts were a little selfish, but she couldn''t help it. Her situation was like that. This man in front of her was the only person capable of bringing her brother back, if at all.


    "I am fine. Don''t worry." She heard Liam mumble, but she continued to cling closely to him and helped him to a suit on the ground floor of the hotel.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


    Please thank Frenchii for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 817 L Am Fine Now

    Lily stared at the man currently in her room, lying on the bed that she had been sleeping on for the past few days.


    All of the main guild members had their rooms upstairs on the top floors of the hotel, and they hadn''t yet returned from the hunting trip.


    So Lily had to bring the big boss over to her room to rest. It was not like she could drag him by herself all the way over to the penthouse suite, and the person seemed in desperate need of some rest.


    Considering all of these, she did not hesitate and immediately brought Liam over to her room to make himfortable, but now she was feeling very embarrassed.


    She hadn''t even gotten around to changing the sheets yet. The bed was probably smelling like her. Or worse, it was probably stinky?


    Lily''s mind was racing, and her thoughts were all over the ce, but when she looked at the person''s body and saw all the wounds, she quickly snapped out of it and scolded her naivete.


    The person was injured. She needed to help him apply some first aid instead of foolishly standing around. She nervously adjusted her sses and took a deep breath.


    She then hurriedly rushed out and brought all the supplies that she needed. She personally did not have any experience in this field, but she had watched plenty of people do the same both before and after the world had changed.


    Since not many people were around at the moment, she decided to do whatever she could to help him for now. At the very least, clean the wounds so they can heal faster.


    She arranged everything near Liam and then, with a gulp, started removing the wet, sticky clothes from his body.


    Lily gasped lightly as she could immediately see the lean, taut muscles that were hidden under the shirt. Even if it was currently riddled with numerous injuries, she had neverid eyes on a more perfect body.


    She did not know why, but she felt very nervous, and her face heated up. Her hands were shaking.


    She had been around attractive men before. However, the person right now in front of her waspletely different. He exuded a different kind of charm. Perhaps this was the allure of a strong man.


    In a world like this, the man was strong, powerful, and dependable, perhaps even indomitable. Who wouldn''t feel attracted to someone like him? She let out a sigh and calmed herself first. She then bent down to finally start.


    Lily had barely ced her hand when the door of the suite banged open. "Is he back?" Alex rushed in, shouting at the top of her lungs. Right behind her, Mei Mei, Shen Yue, Rey, Shin Soo, and a few others were standing.


    Lily suddenly felt like a thief who had been caught stealing. Ah¡­ She stared at the group with her lips parted.


    Luckily for her, no one paid any attention to her. Everyone only saw Liam and Luna sprawled messily on the bed, and they rushed in to check on the duo.


    "Is he alright? Is he hurt?" Mei Mei worriedly looked.


    "Liam! Liam! What happened? Did you fight against someone dangerous?" Alex was not so gentle and started rolling him around to check just how severely he was injured.


    The others gathered around the bed as well, all examining the injured person from top to bottom.


    Lily smiled bitterly as she took a step back. She clearly did not belong here. She should just leave the room and give everyone some privacy.


    But as soon as she turned around, she saw a breathtakingly beautiful face right behind her. "Thank you very much for taking care of him." Shen Yue bowed politely with a small smile.


    "Ummm. I didn''t do much." Lily became even more embarrassed.


    Shen Yue acknowledged her with a nod before moving on to clear the crowded area. Lily watched the woman stand up assertively, like a mother protecting her cub, and with just a few words, she had everyone leaving.


    Lily couldn''t believe it. Shen Yue always gave off the impression of being gentle and shy, but at this moment, she was anything but that.


    Lily wondered if she could also be strong like this person one day. With a smile, she left the room.


    The rest of the group also followed her. Clearly, Liam wasn''t seriously injured, so even though everyone was curious as to what had happened, they did not dare disturb his rest.


    Only Shen Yue stayed back and helped Liam change his clothes, get cleaned up, and apply first aid. She then patiently waited on the chair by the side for him to wake up.


    By the time Liam opened his eyes, it was already the morning of the next day.


    "Hmmm?" He saw Shen Yue sitting up, her face tiredly resting on her hand. She even had her eyes closed, and a little bit of drool had leaked from the corner of her lips.


    Liamughed as he saw the enchantress in such a state, which didn''t happen very often.


    As if she sensed it, Shen Yue immediately snapped her eyes open. "You are awake! How are you doing?" She quickly got up and rushed over to him.


    Liam smiled and wiped the drool from her lips. "Why did you sit over there? You should have just sat near me or just slept next to me."


    Shen Yue immediately started blushing. The next second, she realized what had happened. "You are changing the topic. Are you fine now? Does it hurt anywhere? Please tell me what happened."


    This person always carried all of his load all alone on his shoulders. She knew that she wasn''t strong enough to share his burdens with him but at the least she wanted to be a little helpful.


    Liam smiled again and pulled the girl closer to him, kissing her soft lips.


    "I am fine now." He grinned and pulled her even closer, making her sit on hisp. He held her tightly close to his chest, feeling her warmth spread across his body as her hands wrapped around him.


    He let out a small sigh. He had been fighting nonstop for 72 hours and waspletely exhausted. He was also injured slightly in a few ces, but none of that mattered as long as the ones he loved remained safe.


    To protect these few, he would go even further, even if it was to the depths of hell.


    He rested his head on Shen Yue''s shoulder and started telling her everything about the dungeon.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Passmemoney for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 818 Does It Hurt A Lot?***

    Shen Yue gasped lightly. "So the dungeon monsters here are a lot stronger?"


    "Yes, but it is a good thing." Liam smiled and leaned back. At least now, he was finally moving forward.


    He stretched his hand, but the next second he regretted it. All of his muscles were aching. Without a healing potion, the recovery was going to take some time.


    "Does it hurt a lot?" Shen Yue blushed a little as she moved closer.


    "No. It should be fine tomorrow."


    Shen Yue nodded. She fidgeted with her hands a bit as if she was hesitating, and she then gulped lightly and started unbuttoning her shirt.


    Liam''s eyes widened slightly as he saw the shy girl behave so brazenly, but he was not an idiot or a saint to say no to it. He calmly continued leaning back and watching the show.


    The first two buttons revealed her slender neck and wless skin, along with a little of her soft, enticing mounds.


    Shen Yue''s hands then paused a little as she became far too embarrassed. She thought that she would take the initiative, but this was way too difficult than she had anticipated.


    Liamughed as he saw the girl''s hands trembling, but he did not even budge a little and continued simply watching the show with a teasing look.


    In the end, Shen Yue bit her lips and started hurriedly undoing the rest of her buttons without ever looking up, even for a single nce.


    Her shirt opened uppletely, revealing the entirety of her well-endowed assets. Except for the in pink innerwear that barely contained her breasts, she waspletely naked waist up.


    "Liam¡­" She faintly mumbled before lowering her head in embarrassment. Her cheeks were fully pink, and her neck was also bing flushed. Not able to bear it any longer, she bit her lips and lunged forward to hug the man tightly.


    Liam was not in the mood to tease her any longer and quickly lifted her up to throw her into the bed.


    Kyaaa! Shen Yue yelped in surprise, but her lips were quickly sealed. Liam pressed his lips firmly against hers and inserted his tongue inside her mouth.


    He immediately felt the hands that were wrapped around him tighten up, and he began to move his tongue even more. The atmosphere in the room slowly began to heat up.


    He continued to suck her lips and her mouth for a good while, and when he released her, Shen Yue was slightly panting, her eyes watery.


    The woman looked extremely seductive. At the same time, he could see just how much she loved and cared about him, giving her an innocent charm even though she hade to him all on her own.


    "I am sorry we don''t spend enough time together." Liam brushed her soft silky hair gently as he stared into her beautiful, alluring eyes.


    "I¡­ " Shen Yue felt very embarrassed to talk in this position when her every reaction was observed by the person above him. "I¡­ don''t mind." She somehow squeezed a reply out.


    Liam smiled and closed her lips again as his hands began to move through her body, starting with her soft fleshy mounds.


    He removed the pink cloth that was covering the twin peaks and squeezed them gently and firmly as he continued moving his tongue inside her mouth.


    He felt the woman underneath him tremble slightly as he moved his hands from the soft stic mounds to her waist and then lower. He hiked up the skirt she was wearing as he rubbed the area between her legs.


    Shen Yue trembled again. She was already wet and was panting heavily.


    Liam grinned and pulled up to lower his pants. He then raised her legs as he removed her skirt and her thin panties that were already soaked. He ran his hands along her long slender legs, feeling the soft, warm skin and taking in the sight in front of him.


    Shen Yue squirmed ufortably and closed her eyes in embarrassment, not willing to look at him directly.


    Liam smiled teasingly as he began to stroke her soft area, taking in more of her reactions. She looked way too cute to be an enchantress.


    Nnngh. She moaned lightly, her body twitching a little. He could feel some more wetness on his fingers.


    Liam did not hold back any longer and pushed forward to start the attack. He kissed her lips and began to first move slowly inside her.


    Ah¡­ Shen Yue gasped and shuddered and dug her hands into his back.


    Seeing that she was bing more and more excited, Liam increased his speed, and his mouth moved to her breast as he sucked the soft, big mounds and licked her nipples.


    He devoured the alluring body underneath him as it was meant to be, savouring all of the enticing charms and curves, further stimting her.


    Several moans began to slip from the slightly parted lips.


    He began to thrust harder and faster as his own desire was building up. His hands grabbed the soft stic bottom and pushed into her with urgency.


    And just as things were about to explode, he leaned forward and kissed her firmly once again.


    Ahhh! Shen Yue moaned loudly as the climax ensued. However, right at this time, the door of the room banged open. A redhead barged in hurriedly. "Liam, what happened? Are you fine now?"


    As soon as she noticed that he was awake, she blurted out instantly but only after a second, the scene in front of herpletely registered in her brain.


    Gudang!


    Alex stoodpletely frozen as she stared at the two naked bodies in front of her. Everything was fully revealed in front of her. Nothing hidden. Her face turned nk, and smoke starteding out of her head.


    "I¡­ I¡­" She continued to simply stand and stare, unable to move her body or look away.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Passmemoney for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 819 Daylight Robbery

    "You didn''t knock." Liam was the first to respond, as he smiled bitterly and pulled himself out. Ah¡­ Shen Yue then grabbed a nket lying nearby and covered herself up.


    But what she did not expect to see was a fox who was sleeping soundly under the nket. Had they actually done everything with the fox right next to them?


    She looked at the fox and then at Alex, not knowing what to be more embarrassed about. She wanted to bury her head somewhere.


    Liam, on the other hand, waspletely shameless. He was stark naked, but he didn''t care about that. He casually took his time and walked across the room to get a towel.


    "Anything urgent?" He asked as he wrapped the towel around him.


    Alex shook her head nkly. She stared at the two people in front of her and then at the fox, only to silently turn back and leave.


    Alex stood there for a second with her jaw on the ground. She then silently turned back and left, closing the door behind her.


    Following her lead, Shen Yue also hurriedly tried to run to the bathroom, but Liam quickly grabbed her and pushed her back onto the bed. "Where are you running? Let''s finish what we started."


    Kyaaa ha ha¡­ The girl yelped and giggled at the same time. He threw the towel and nket both on top of the fox and then resumed what they were doing before the interruption.


    Meanwhile¡­ outside the door¡­


    "Asshole. Bastard. Jerk. Can''t you fucking lock the door!" Alex grumbled loudly, gritting her teeth as she stomped away in a huff.


    Rey and a few other guild members who walked past her saw this and quickly made themselves scarce, as they had never seen the woman so furious.


    "What happened to make her so mad?" Rey wondered, but he continued walking away in the opposite direction at the same time, not daring toe on her warpath.


    A couple of hourster, Liam called for everyone as they assembled together for lunch. He then exined the new and updated dungeon version to everyone, warning them not to enter just yet.


    The meeting went on for a while, during which Alex remained silent. On the other hand, Rey and others had several questions for Liam, as they couldn''t believe that the same dungeon had suddenly be so difficult.


    "Bro, were you really not able to one-shot your way through the floors?"


    "Ha¡­ No one has that kind of absolute strength." Liam shook his head helplessly. Since this was as good a time as any, he also added another warning to everyone.


    "Since this dungeon is so far above my skill level, I fear that other future disasters we might face would also be out of my league. We should be prepared for everything. How is the boundary expansioning along?"


    The group discussed some logistics for a while, after which Liam decided to visit the magic shop. He had obtained a lot of items recently and wanted to check just how much they were worth.


    In these situations, his previous life knowledge was pretty much useless. He was a pauper back then whenpared to his current condition.


    Liam directly walked out of the hotel and summoned one of his undead to carry him.


    Just like him, Luna had also exhausted herself back on the fourth floor of the dungeon fighting with the abomination orcs, and she was still asleep.


    So he did not disturb the fox. He simply ced some food in the room and left for the magic shop.


    Surprisingly, this time when he entered the shop, he did not see the familiar face rushing forward to greet him. The shop manager, Tilia, was nowhere to be seen.


    "This is interesting," Liam muttered under his breath, but he did not particrly care about it. After all, it has already been established that the fairy was not going to help in any manner, at least for now.


    So he did not bother wasting any more time wondering about her actions and went straight to one of the counters.


    "Hello, Mr Liam. How may I help you?" It looked like they were still treating him with respect even though the main person was not there to attend to him.


    "I would like to sell an item." Liam took out one of the elite orc''s shoulder pieces that had dropped on the first floor of the new dungeon.


    Items were precious, as currently, they did not have the knowledge or ability to manufacture these kinds of reinforced magic items by themselves. So he did not n on selling more.


    The one that he offered to sell was merely to gauge its value. The fairy nodded and epted the shoulder pad with a slight look of awe in her eyes.


    "This item is of very high quality, Mr Liam." She even praised him. She then opened her system interface, ced the item within it and returned a hefty pouch. "That will be 100 mana cores, Mr Liam."


    "Hmmm?" Liam''s face twitched as he received the pouch. What the hell was this? Hearing her praise the item, he had hoped for a lot more, but this was a bit disappointing.


    At this rate, even if he were to sell all the items, it won''t be enough to settle the debt. Was this all designed in such a manner that they would forever remain broke?


    With a sigh, Liam narrowed his eyes and asked again. "Then¡­ can I take a look at the items for sale?"


    "Sure, Mr Liam." The fairy immediately opened up a screen with a smile. Liam''s gaze dragged on the list from one item to another, only to end with a bitter smile the next moment.


    It was just as he thought. The fairies were buying back the items at a dirt cheap price while selling items of a simr level for a hundred times that same price.


    If this was not daylight robbery, then what was?


    Instead of purchasing anything from this shop, it was better to grind away in the dungeon.


    Liam did not sell any other items and simply took out the store credit card and waved at the fairy''s face. "I will pay back some of my debt."


    He then took out about five hundred mana cores from his spatial artifact and heaped them all unceremoniously on the table.


    Again, the fairy had a shocked look on her face as she scrambled quickly to pick up all the mana cores that were now falling to the crystal-clean floor.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Preacher for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 820 We Have A Problem

    As soon as Liam took out the mana cores, the entire shop became quiet, and both the fairies and humans alike looked at him with shock and awe.


    No one had expected him to possess so many mana cores. Both the parties were well aware of just how difficult it was to obtain these mana cores, so they swallowed at the sight of so many heaped in front of them.


    However, the person Liam most anticipated still did not pay attention to him. Tilia was once again nowhere to be seen.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam decided to ignore it again. "Let me see just how long you remain indifferent." He grinned as he walked out of the store.


    He then summoned his undead condor again and hopped on top of the beast.


    Before falling asleep, he had once again asked his minions to surveil the city and the towns and viges around the city for more signs of mana zombies.


    So now he had quite a bit of work cut out for him. He started paying visits to all his soul minions that called for him one after the other, stopping and forging mana zombies at every spawn point.


    His limit was yet to be reached, so he continued this grind for the rest of the day, only stopping when he had finally run out of mana zombies.


    Liam then stopped at a quiet ce before once again beginning to inspect these soul minions. However, it looked like his luck for the day had run out. He was not able to discern anything at all.


    "I still can''t figure these out." He sighed and gave up after a while.


    He summoned the condor again and decided to return to the hotel base for a hearty dinner. He nned to take the entire day off before attempting the next floor of the dungeon.


    Otherwise, he had a feeling that things might be too much for him to handle. The first floor, or rather the sixth floor, had Orc Elites ranging from level 50 to 65.


    The seventh floor had Hulking Orcs ranging from level 65 to 75. The eighth one had titan orcs that were of level 75 to 85, while the ninth floor had Abomination orcs that were around 85 to 95.


    With the help of his soul minions, Liam was able to tackle the titan orcs somewhat, but when he ran into the abomination orcs, he had to go all out in all seriousness.


    He had even equipped himself with various items and had also used the ck dragon sword in his fight against these orcs, using some of the strongest moves in his arsenal.


    However, he still ended up getting injured and only barely making it. In fact, he was not even sure that he finished the entirety of the ninth floor.


    So the next trip to the dungeon was undoubtedly going to be much more challenging. "Maybe I should first test the waters with the other one." He quietly pondered as the condor elegantly glided down tond near the hotel base.


    Coincidentally, a group of people were leaving the hotel building at the exact same moment to scout and hunt for more beasts. Shen Yue as well was standing with them.


    Liam smiled as he saw the beautiful woman waving at him shyly. He hopped off the condor and walked to her in long strides with a loaded grin, but out of nowhere, a white figure pushed her aside and flung herself to him instead.


    Kyuuu! Luna jumped on him and greeted him with a sweet and adorable smile of her own. "I missed you, Master." Liam shook his head helplessly as he pulled the fox off of him.


    "Are you all headed out?" He turned to pay attention to the group.


    Everyone from the main team was there. Alex rolled her eyes at him. She had clearly not put the earlier incident out of her mind.


    Mei Mei came forward and gave him a hug. "Brother, you better still have my crown. I am close to reaching Level 20."


    Liam patted her with a nod. He chatted with the group for a bit, inquiring where everyone was going. He then waved goodbye and walked inside.


    He had half a mind to stop Shen Yue from leaving, but he didn''t want to hold her back too much. They were anyways going to return in a few hours, so perhaps he could meet her again before heading to the second dungeon for training.


    With azy grin, he walked up the stairs, had some grilled meat and washed it down with a few drinks. He held the next drink and clinked it with Luna as the duo stared outside the window and silently savoured the taste of the beer.


    It was nice to drink a little after a hard day''s work, and it had been a while since he had worked this hard.


    Though it felt counterintuitive, he really looked forward to going back to that dungeon and testing his limits with whatever waited for him at the next level.


    He knew it was going to be painful and probably life-threatening. He might even have to sacrifice a few of his soul minions in order to escape from the dungeon. Yet he still very much looked forward to it.


    Sometimeter, the duo once again fell asleep, with Liam sprawled across the giant King sized bed of his luxurious penthouse suite and Luna''s ass sprawled all over his face.


    The two of them were sleeping so peacefully that they did not look like they were going to wake up any time soon, but suddenly a loud bang resounded in the room.


    Barely a few hours had passed by when Alex barged in once again. Liam groggily rubbed his eyes, once again staring at the hot-headed redhead, whose chest was heaving up and down.


    "Hmmm?"


    Unexpectedly, this time she seemed to have more important things on her mind. "We have a problem." Alex panted as she looked right at him.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Preacher for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 821 New Developments

    Liam immediately became sober and got out of bed as he could tell that this was something urgent and probably troublesome, as the redhead had even ignored their previous interaction to run to him for help.


    "What happened?" His interest was piqued. Was it Crawford? His mind immediately went to that petty old man who was probably still hell-bent on destroying him and iming back his tower.


    However, the next second, Alex opened her mouth and said something unexpected. "A new type of zombie, I think?"


    "Huh?"


    "We were clearing a huge beast horde in the east when we ran into two other people. They were getting overwhelmed by the beasts, so we rushed ahead to help them, but it was toote. They were dead by the time we arrived."


    "Hmmm?" If they were dead already, then what was the problem?


    "It''s their corpses. The two guys looked like¡­ ummm¡­ they had been dead for several days." Alex exined awkwardly. "Look, if there were a working phone, I would have taken a photo for you. You have to trust my words! They really looked weird. Dead and desated."


    "Ok." Liam nodded. "I believe you, but you guys should stay away from that beast horde then. There is probably some sort of poisonous beast in that area. Those could be tricky, and we don''t have any antidotes or healers yet. Best to y it safe."


    However, Alex shook her head. What Liam said was probably what she should have done, but they had followed the vehicle tracks of the two guys instead. "There is a bigger camp in that area."


    "What?"


    "We were only able to scout a little, but a group of people had gathered in that area. They looked a little like the mana zombies, except I saw some of them having horns on their heads. Could it be some sort of demon virus?"


    Liam remained silent.


    "Whatever they might be¡­ they have really good senses." Alex sighed.


    "What happened?"


    "We were almost caught. We escaped by using the beast horde, but it was a very close save." Alex lowered her head in guilt. "I am sorry. I should have turned back earlier. I didn''t think we would run into anything like this."


    "It''s fine." Liam nodded. "You did good escaping from there. Stay here and take a break. I will take care of the rest."


    "Ok. Be careful. They seemed strong."


    "I got it." Liam was not nning on underestimating them. If Alex and the others thought that they were strong, they were probably strong. But what he did not understand was¡­ what the hell was demons doing in this area? Or the demonic virus or whoever the group had run into?


    "This is not good." Liam clicked his tongue. It was one thing for the timeline and history to change back in the game, but why were new, unexpected things popping out in the real world too? In hisst life, he hadn''t heard of anything like this at all.


    "I need to pay them a visit." He prodded Luna until she woke up too, and the two of them then immediately left the hotel. They arrived at the specific coordinates within minutes.


    "Don''t go any closer." Liam quickly patted the fox. He could already see the group Alex was talking about. Coincidentally, they were still in the same area.


    There were a few men standing around with guns, guarding two trucks and just like Alex had mentioned, these guys had horns on their heads, and their faces were slightly contorted. They only barely resembled humans.


    "What the hell are these?" Liam silently pondered.


    In the next couple of seconds, a few beasts wandered their way, and the sturdy men quickly dealt with them without panicking in the least.


    They did not even use their weapons and only used their fists. They punched the beasts as if they were merely puppies, bringing out explosive strength from their fists.


    "So they are not worried about the beasts¡­"


    This entire zone was crawling with beasts, but the group did not seem to care about that at all. Their strength was also above the level of these beasts.


    Now the question was¡­ just how strong were they?


    Liam summoned one of the barbarians to take a look at the situation. However, he quickly dismissed the soul minion.


    "I should wait. This doesn''t look like their final destination."


    These men by themselves did not look all that strong even though they overpowered the beasts, so Liam decided not to take any immediate action.


    It was more important to get to the bottom of this situation and find out what exactly was happening here.


    The ce also did not have any necessities that were required for a campsite. Clearly, they were not living here. Judging from the presence of the truck, perhaps they were moving something from here to their main base.


    Liam waited patiently for another half an hour. Soon, he heard a loud rumble of a trucking to the same spot. The group of men immediately bustled about, and everyone got into their respective trucks.


    A few minutester, the two trucks started moving again.


    "Luna. Let''s follow them."


    Kyuuu. The fox snarled as she slowly started drifting across the sky, trying to stay out of sight of the two trucks. Meanwhile, Liam summoned some of his soul minions to take care of the beasts crawling around in the area.


    Another couple of hours passed, and the trucks finally came to a halt. They stopped in front of a huge hospital building. The armed men quickly jumped out of the trucks and opened the backs of the vehicles.


    Just as Liam curiously watched what they were about to retrieve from the trucks, an unbelievable scene yed out in front of him.


    About thirty people climbed down from the trucks under the loud threats of the armed men. Among these people, men and women of all ages were present, even some young children.


    And they were all in chains!

 Chapter 822 An Interesting Opponent

    "Hmmm¡­" Liam silently frowned as he continued to observe everything from above. It was not just one truck. People were being moved out in chains from both of the trucks.


    In total, there were some fifty men and women and ten children. All of them were in chains, bound by strong metallic threads.


    "You get over there." One of the men loudly shouted in his raspy voice. He then began segregating the group into men, women and children separately.


    The more Liam watched, the more unsettling things were devolving into. The group of suspicious-looking armed men led the male prisoners to one wing of the hospital.


    They once again returned to the female poption, only this time, they started handling them in an entirely different manner.


    The thugs went around groping and harassing the women for a few minutes before shoving them all forcefully into another wing.


    Lastly, the children were taken to another area.


    Liam did not intervene just yet and continued to watch the group for some more time.


    Seeing the number of prisoners, at first, he had assumed that this was a big operation, but surprisingly, there were only a few armed men guarding the perimeter at all times.


    They shouldn''t exceed twenty. Logically it did not make sense. How are just these twenty people handling all the prisoners? Even if they had guns and even if they were stronger, it was still impossible to run an operation like this.


    However, just as Liam was contemting this, two more trucks arrived. People exited the two trucks once more, but this time they were not chained. Also, they were all men.


    No one was even supervising these guys as they stepped out of the truck one after the other. They were carrying dry rations, mangled corpses of beasts, drinks and all sorts of food items and other supplies inside the hospital.


    All the prisoners looked soulless and did not exhibit any sort of emotion. They were simply mechanically carrying the goods inside, almost as obedient as his soul minions.


    Seeing this, Liam became even more suspicious.


    The apocalypse had only barely begun, with everything starting to copse just ten days ago. So how was it possible that these many people were already so obedient? They shouldn''t have broken down so soon.


    He continued waiting for some more time when finally, another vehicle arrived. This time it was a jeep, and from within it, a man seemingly in his twenties stepped out.


    He was apanied by six women, all of whom looked very beautiful and were dressed in very skimpy clothes, revealing almost everything.


    With three women on one side and three women on the other side, the young man then swaggered forward, entering the hospital building in a drunken stupor. His steps were also unsteady.


    "Could this be the leader?" Liam wondered. Judging from the manner he was treating the women and enjoying himself, he wanted to conclude this, but at the same time, this person did not look as strong or sturdy.


    He was so wobbly and heavily drunk as if he was about to copse any second. Compared to the horned and armed men who were standing on the side, he waspletely different.


    It was impossible for him to be any kind of leader! Even if he were, he would be overthrown in a second and reced by someone else.


    Liam silently observed the area, thinking that some more people might arrive, perhaps the real leader of the group, but no such thing happened.


    The day gradually darkened, and no more trucks or any other vehicles were going in or out of thepound.


    All of this pointed to only one thing. The guy he saw earlier was most definitely the leader of this whole group.


    Liam coldly gazed at the set-up for some more time beforeing to the only possible conclusion. His opponent had to be capable of mind control in some way.


    Otherwise, all of this was simply impossible.


    Mental attacks were very unique and dangerous attacks. Liam only knew about Shen Yue''s mental attack, which was extremely fearsome.


    However, now it seemed like this person was also probably capable of something like this.


    This kind of opponent could be very unpredictable, and it was good that the others did not engage with this enemy. Liam, on the other hand, did not have any such restrictions.


    He had quite a bit of mental defence built up. So he was not hesitant, and he also had no intention of allowing this to continue. It was time to go inside and take a closer look at what was going on.


    "Luna. Land there." He patted the fox, and she elegantly glided down tond at the back of the hospital.


    Two armed men saw hime in right away, but before they could do anything, their dead bodies silently fell to the ground.


    Liam stood next to the corpses dusting his hand. He did not forget to forge the two into soul minions. "I was correct. Their level is not too high. They just have brute strength, maybe burst power." He concluded.


    He was just about to examine their horns and their peculiar features when unexpectedly, the next second, he watched the two bodies shrivel and wither away right in front of his eyes.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock before narrowing again as he looked at the two corpses. This was definitely new. "Well, I guess more new materials for me." He grinned and decided to move on to the next targets.


    Because the dead bodies were too disgusting to examine, he decided to check out two live ones instead.


    He turned around to see another couple of armed men a few feet away from him. They were standing facing the opposite direction and had not noticed him in the darkness of the night.


    Liam took a step toward them when once again, something unexpected happened. The two armed and horned men in the distance also dropped dead, but this time he did not do anything!

 Chapter 823 You Are Not My Friend, Peasant!

    Someone else was here? This was the first thing that came to Liam''s mind.


    Just like he had sniffed out this shady bunch and arrived here, there was a high chance that someone else had alsoe here to hunt down these mongrels.


    However, this third party was very intriguing. There was no one visible at all.


    Liam could only see the darkness of the night and nothing else. There was absolutely no trace of someone else present in the vicinity.


    Rather than the actual enemy, this was more worrisome. If they could escape his attention so easily, then their skills were quite good, or at least their stats in agility was impressive.


    Liam did not linger around any longer and quickly dashed forward to take a look. This situation was getting more and more interesting by the second.


    He went around the hospitalpound, and just like before, the armed men were dropping like flies left and right.


    Someone was actually killing them all right in front of his eyes, and he was still not able to catch sight of the killer.


    Liam did not rush and took care of the souls first, one after the other. They were far too precious to let them go to waste, and besides, he needed information from these people.


    He then observed the corpses, and every single one had decayed and desated just like the previous one.


    Liam continued following the trail of dead bodies and soon arrived at the main hospital block. All the other armed guards were already dead, and he also had twenty-three newly forged souls in his possession.


    "Now for the main event?" He hurried inside and heard some noisesing in from a room on the right side. "I am the King! I am a fucking King! You cannot treat me like this." Someone was shouting.


    When Liam walked in, the first thing he saw when he stood in front of the room was blood.


    There was blood everywhere!


    And the six women whom he had seen alive and well only just now were all lying on the floor, pale and dead. Their heads were unceremoniously ripped off from their bodies, and the halves were randomly tossed around without any remorse or respect.


    More importantly, the person who was responsible for all of this was currently in a pitiable situation. With his face jammed onto the ground, the thin person was squished like a bug and barely alive.


    Standing on top of him was a person fully d in ck clothes. Only his eyes were visible.


    More importantly, this person was looking right at Liam. ring at him like a silent tiger. "Step aside. I am not here to fight you." He growled.


    "Hmmm?" Liam smirked. "That''s my friend, you know?" He purposefully lied. Even the person who was ttened like a pizza on the ground looked up at him oddly. Friend? What the hell was this guy talking about?


    "You are not my friend, peasant. I am the King!" The guy growled.


    Hearing him, both Liam and the ck-robed figure turned to look at the idiot at the same time. He was not even reading the room. Both of them had the itch to facepalm.


    "Like I said. It is not your fight. Step aside. I am warning you." The ck-robed figure curtly warned Liam again.


    Liam chuckled, and then he stepped aside. "Alright. See. I am more than willing to step aside, but first, you need to do one thing for me."


    "Hmmm?"


    "Simple. Kill him. Right here and now." Liam shrugged casually.


    The ck-robed figure immediately clenched his fists. Liam''s eyes trailed along his movements to see that he had gripped a pair of not too shabby-looking daggers in his hands.


    In fact, they looked quite good. Liam''s impression of the guy was steadily increasing every second.


    "Why do I see hesitation?" He smiled again, his gaze slightly turning cold. "Perhaps I was mistaken here. Perhaps you are the one who is his friend."


    Ptui! The guy immediately spat out. "He is a heinous person who hasmitted a lot of crimes. He is not my friend."


    "Then kill him and leave."


    The ck-robed figure shook his head. "I can''t do that. I need him alive."


    "To interrogate him?" Liam chuckled.


    The other person solemnly nodded. He did not try to hide it.


    What he did not know was that Liam wanted him to kill the guy for the exact same purpose. "It looks like we are at an impasse here, my friend."


    The next second, unexpectedly, the other person dropped his prisoner on the floor. "I don''t think so." He dashed forward, his figure bing a blur.


    Liam had to admit. He was taken aback by this sudden disy of skill. Mastering something like stealth or some kind of movement technique like the one disyed in front of him right now was extremely difficult.


    It required a different kind ofprehension, and not everyone could do it. Only geniuses of Mia''s calibre could even dream of achieving something like this.


    The ck-robed figure was undoubtedly very talented, but that stopped here.


    As the opponent disappeared, Liam''s eyes immediately darted to the side. In a single swift motion, he used his hand to block the daggering at him, right for his throat.


    Shing!


    Not only was the dagger blocked, but he had also caught it!


    The ck-robed figure''s face briefly materialized at the same time. However, there was only shock and awe on that face.


    Ha! The person grunted and quickly tried to take his dagger back for the next attack, but Liam''s hold was simply too strong, and the dagger did not budge even an inch.


    In the end, the ck-robed figure flinched andpletely gave up on the dagger as he disappeared again.


    "I suggest you stop this now," Liam smirked in amusement as he spun the dagger in his hand and looked at the cold metal and how sharp it was. The dagger was really not bad.


    As if enraged by the way the opponent was ying around with his weapon, the next second, the person again appeared, this time right behind Liam, and he again went for the throat.


    "So ruthless." Liam chuckled as he once again swung around and blocked the attack, this time gripping the other dagger as well.


    If he could do it once, he could naturally do it again and again. Perhaps he had overestimated the abilities of this person?


    But just as this thought crossed his mind, Liam''s eyes instantly darted to the side. It was not over yet. There was another attacking right at him!

 Chapter 824 Frying Pan To Fire?

    An ice attack?


    Liam narrowed his eyes at the sight of the icicle rapidly approaching him, ready to impale him.


    It was impossible for the ck-robed figure in front of him to attack him, so that meant that there was someone else also present here and that someone else was working with him, that too with so much synergy. They were definitely together.


    Liam''s gaze shifted. Just as the icicle was about to sh his throat, he dodged ever so slightly and caught that as well with his other hand. The icicle might be fast, but to him, it was easy to evade as it only moved in slow motion.


    "Ice and dagger, huh? Interesting." Liam grinned. He crushed the icicle with one hand and bent the metal of the dagger with his other hand.


    The ck-robed figure had already given up when he saw Liam react to both attacks simultaneously with just a split-second difference. His heart sank further as he watched the dagger get bent.


    He immediately began retreating, but the other person had seemingly not taken the cue. Attacks continued to rain down on Liam.


    Another icicle zoomed forward, followed by another and another.


    A look of dread appeared on the ck-robed figure as he blurred in and out of the shadows. "No! Lan Fen! Stop!" He shouted, but he was already toote.


    It only took Liam one second to arrive next to the second party. The person wielding the dagger might have some tricks up his sleeve, but the other party was clearly an ice mage. How could they even possibly react to his move?


    "It''s my turn now." Liam grinned.


    He conjured an icicle of his own as he restrained them in his grasp. To his surprise, this one was a woman. He pressed the icicle against her throat, and the slender woman struggled like a fish out of water.


    "It''s useless. Give up." Liam smiled. "Shall we stop this nonsense now? Or do you want to test my patience further?"


    Just like he expected, the next second, the ck-robed figure obediently appeared in front of him, not daring to try anything else.


    "I apologize for my behavior earlier. We have no enmity between us. I would be grateful if we could end things here. You can take the prisoner. Please let my sister go."


    The ck-robed figure graciously offered as his eyes drifted to the person lying on the ground, only to find out that the said person was already dead?


    He looked up at Liam and saw the subtle smirk on his face.


    He then realized that during the fight, the guy was already taken care of. He was now dead, his head cleanly severed from his body.


    When did he even find the time to kill him? During the fight?


    The ck-robed figure''s eyes once again widened as his estimate of the opponent waspletely crushed. Just how strong was he?


    Liam let out a satisfied chuckle after seeing the dumbfounded expression on the other party''s face. "I don''t think I need your permission. I am done here. I will take care of this problem. You don''t have to worry about him anymore."


    He pushed the girl he was holding forward, releasing her from his grasp. The ck-robed figure did not say anything and held his tongue, remaining silent.


    However, the girl gritted her teeth in indignance. "You are leaving us just like that? Despite the fact that we tried to kill you?"


    "Ha? You want me to do something about that?"


    The girl was about to say something, but before she could, the ck-robed figure silently walked over to her and patted her on the shoulder.


    "Sir, please forgive my sister. She spoke out of turn. We have been affected by these people, so she got a bit emotional. I will apologize on her behalf."


    Liam nodded. He had already gotten what he wanted, and he particrly did not care about these two. They also did not seem to harbour any ill intentions, so he did not feel the need to stretch this any further.


    However, that didn''t mean he waspletely uninterested in them. There was still one thing that he was very much curious about. Just how did these two manage to be so powerful?


    There was only one exnation for this. They had to have control of a dungeon!


    And this was something Liam did not n to let go of.


    "Everything is fine. No harm, no foul. Let''s talk as friends." Liam smiled. "Oh, by the way, where are you all staying?"


    The brother and sister pair immediately turned to look at each other. They couldn''t help but suddenly feel as if they had jumped from the frying pan to the fire.


    "Ahem¡­ We have a small settlement nearby. It is just a small gathering of people." He seemed to stress the word small a few times.


    "That''s fine. I would still like to pay a visit." Liam smiled, though his smile did not fool anyone. Smiling or not, he looked like a wolf waiting to gobble everyone up.


    "It''s alright if you don''t want to take me there. I bet one of these days I might end up wandering there myself. Ha Ha Ha."


    Gu dang! The ck-robed figure started sweating. Liam did not even bother hiding the threat in his words, and now he had no other choice left.


    "Please, Sir. I did not mean it like that. It would be my honour to take you to our settlement." He quickly swallowed his words and extended an invitation politely.


    Liam smiled. "I am Liam." He finally introduced himself. The other person nodded and returned the greeting. "I am Lan Deming, and this is my sister Lan Fen." The two of them bowed to Liam respectfully.


    "If Mr Liam wouldn''t mind waiting for a moment, could my sister and I take care of the people inside this camp first?"


    "Sure, we will do as you say." Liam agreed. He walked out and patiently waited on the side as he watched the two siblings run around and take care of business.

 Chapter 825 L Have My Own Ride

    The two siblings first took care of all the corpses and burned them.


    Liam chalked this up to them taking some safety precautions in case there was a potential viral outbreak of some kind or some other kind of disease. Just like Alex, maybe they assumed the worst too.


    However, he already knew that this was probably not the case. He might not be aware of anything like this out in the open world, but inside the game world, he had seen some corpses that had decayed in the same manner.


    While he had been in the dark mage camps, there were several corpses that looked exactly the same. So there was probably someone nearby who was capable of wielding dark magic.


    Then what about the ability to mind control? How did that factor in?


    Just as Liam was thinking about this, the siblings moved on from sweeping the hospital camp one more time to rescuing the prisoners.


    The girl Lan Fen, who practiced ice magic, lifted her hand as she sent small bursts of frost aura in multiple directions. Immediately, the several chains binding the prisoners became frozen.


    Lan Deming then produced another set of daggers, the one that had not been destroyed by Liam, and he ran around and broke the frozen chains individually.


    ng! ng! ng!


    All the shackles and the strong metal chains broke apart and shattered without any resistance. sting each one into smithereens, the guy continued running around.


    They first took care of the new recruits who had just been brought to this ce. They then went inside to free up some more chained prisoners.


    Liam silently watched everything, paying particr attention to the way the two of them used their skills. They possessed a natural ease that only someone who had practiced this kind of magic for decades would be able to achieve.


    Or someone with a high affinity for mana and a superior mana core.


    Liam lifted his hand, imitating the girl''s action. He had never tried frost aura himself. He pointed his finger to a nearby rock, shooting out a burst of aura, and the next second, the rock waspletely frozen.


    "Hmmm¡­ that works." He chuckled wryly.


    The problem was that the two in front of him shouldn''t be able to do these things with such ease. They might be weaker than him at the moment, but given time, they could be stronger, especially if his own strength stagnated.


    Liam had no ns of letting that happen. Nevertheless, he was curious about the reason behind their strength. Were these kinds of skilled people even alive in hisst life?


    Or perhaps, by averting a disaster from befalling this province, he had triggered some changes to the current timeline?


    Either way, he definitely wanted to get to the bottom of this. It was utterly impossible for someone to develop skills like this by just grinding in the dungeon for a few days.


    So other than a dungeon, what other secrets were these guys hiding? Liam silently pondered while he continued to wait for some more time.


    The duo took care of the newly imprisoned people rather quickly. They gathered everyone, asked them to wait, and promised them that they would take them to a safe ce.


    The people also attentively listened. They were captured like ves and mistreated by the bunch of hooligans, so when these two appeared out of thin air and saved them from these monsters, they had no qualms about trusting them.


    They simply did not have any energy left to doubt their good intentions. All of them looked nk and drained, unable to make sense of the world they were currently living in. They just needed to hear the word safe, and they were ready to follow along.


    However, it was not so easy to deal with the other group of people, the men who behaved like soulless zombies and carried out all the orders without any handcuffs or shackles.


    Liam was correct. It turned out that these people were indeed mind-controlled. No matter what Lan Fen or Lan Deming tried, they simply couldn''t shake off their stupor. In a way, they were already gone.


    The two siblings discussed things between themselves for a while, and in the end, they ended up deciding to bring them along to the camp anyway.


    These mind-controlled people were kind of acting like robots at the moment. They were following anyone''smand at this point. So it was rather easier tomand them to obey than to understand their condition or cure them.


    The two probably decided to deal with themter. Liam thought to himself with a small smile. He had no ns of intervening in these things.


    He had seen so much more life loss. If he tried to tackle every single group that was doomed then he would lose sight of the bigger picture.


    Instead, it was best to leave these issues to the small time do-gooders like the brother sister pair in front of him.


    After securing all the people from the hospital base, at least the ones who were alive, the duo once again loaded everyone into the same trucks and finally, walked over to Liam.


    "Sorry to make you wait, Mr. Liam." Lan Deming politely bowed. "We are now returning to our base. Please allow me to escort you." He extended his hands and showed Liam the truck that he was driving.


    "My sister will be driving the other truck, and we are both headed back to our main camp." He exined further.


    "Ok." Liam nodded, but he did not walk toward the truck. Instead, he lifted his fingers and whistled. Immediately, a huge white creature descended from the skies, scaring the bejesus out of everyone, even the Lan siblings.


    "I have my own ride." Liam smiled as he hopped onto the fox. "You guys can start. I will follow you."


    "Ah¡­ Alright." Lan Deming awkwardly nodded, as he rushed back to the truck. Without any further dy, the two trucks quickly roared to life and started moving.

 Chapter 826 A Functioning Settlement?

    The two siblings had told Liam that their base was quite close by, but clearly, this was a lie as the journey had already taken about 3 hours, and it did not look like they were located anywhere close.


    However, Liam did not mind it. Hezily yawned as hey on top of Luna while the two of them slowly drifted along in the sky.


    In the meantime, he sent his minions down to do some hardbor. This area was outside the initial boundary where Liam had cleared everything, and there was even a gate nearby.


    So he used the time to farm some lower-level beasts and also search for the presence of a dungeon or treasure or any other valuable item in the vicinity.


    He even received reports from his soul minions about a few mana zombies that he quickly took care of. A couple more hours passed by, and finally, the trucks seemed to be slowing down.


    "Looks like we are here, Luna." Liam smiled at the small zone the group had managed tomandeer. Unlike the shoddy hospital area, this was rather a much more organized settlement.


    The area underneath him seemed to epass a gated apartmentplex that included several facilities like a couple of grocery stores, shopping stores, and even cliniques with medical supplies.


    More importantly, this ce was located away from all danger zones. There weren''t any gates nearby, and the generally overgrown trees and nts were also sparse.


    Considering how in many areas, forests had taken over normal civilization and concrete buildings, Liam was sure that these people had taken special measures to cut down the greenery while they still could.


    All the areas were also clean and neat, without any bloodshed or bodies. Even if they had managed to take care of beasts, that still left mana zombies. So it wasmendable that they had everything under control.


    In fact, it was quite impressive for someone without the help of hundreds of soul minions to get things organized to such an extent.


    Were the two siblings in front of him so talented both in their skills and in their ability to foster such a settlement? They were pretty young to have a talent like that.


    Liam silently mulled over everything as the two trucks came to a stop. Luna as wellnded nearby and quickly curled herself around Liam''s neck.


    "Pleasee this way, Sir." Lan Deming approached Liam hurriedly, showing him the way inside the gatedmunity. A few guards had alreadye out to wee them.


    When Liam looked around, he also saw a makeshift watch post above the tallest building in the area, which should have informed them of their arrival prior to this.


    This exined the behavior of the guards, who were now helping everyone get down from the trucks and make sense of things.


    Just like inside theplex, the outside of theplex was also equally peaceful. There seemed to be more people on the outside as well.


    Though it was not clear if they belonged to the same group or not, they definitely enjoyed the safe environment created by these people.


    "You managed to do all of this in such a short time?" Liam smiled at Lan Deming, slightly probing the other person.


    "Ah. No not me." Deming shook his head and scratched his head awkwardly. At the same time, another voice greeted them from the distance.


    "My son is too humble. None of this would be possible without his strength." A middle-aged man with greying hair walked forward, surrounded by a few guards.


    He was wearing a prim and polished jacket just like the mayor but the vibe the two of them gave waspletely different.


    Liam only needed a nce to see that this man was the real backbone of this makeshift settlement. In just a few days, he managed to bring the entire situation under control.


    Most probably he was a government official before all of this happened.


    Before Liam could finish the thought, the middle-aged man introduced himself by saying the same. "I am Lan Ganjie, the secretary for this province. Nice to meet you, young man."


    He extended his hand for a polite handshake and Liam returned the sentiment with a nod. A provincial secretary was only second to the provincial leader.


    Now everything made sense. If this person was a government official, especially such a high-ranking one, then it was natural that he had themon sense, the ability, skills, and resources to make all of this happen.


    More importantly, the person hasn''t changed to a power-hungry version in these desperate times. At least from a superficial point of view, society was still intact to a certain extent without anyone getting exploited.


    However, Liam did not rush to any conclusions just yet. He had seen too much in both his lifetimes. The apocalypse inevitably reveals the worst in most people, especially if they were in a position of power.


    From here everything might appear peachy but one needed to look closer to see the real situation. At least that''s what he thought.


    Liam tried his best to remain skeptical but as Lan Ganjie took him for a tour around the settlement, he couldn''t help but be surprised at everything he saw.


    It was far too soon to say. However, as far as he could see the man had indeed tried his best to treat everyone well. At the same time, he also did not appear to be a naive righteous leader aiming to please everyone at the cost of the future.


    The people in the settlement were actively involved in many things ranging from growing fruits and vegetables to hunting the beasts that had emerged from the gates and were still prowling around in the vicinity.


    Liam also saw a group of people hard at training, sparring with each other. These people were even surprisingly around Level 5 which meant that they had daringly faced the challenge in front of them.

 Chapter 827 Dangerous Monster

    It took about an hour, but Liam patiently apanied the leader Lan Ganjie as he gave a tour of the whole facility and all the areas they had upied.


    Overall, everything seemed on the up and up without any sort of underhanded exploitation. Everyone was happy and well-fed, and Liam did not see any particr red gs that could potentially indicate any wrongdoing.


    Or perhaps he still hadn''t seen the true colour of this ce.


    ''Am I thinking too much?'' He chuckled inwardly.


    On the off chance that this ce was indeed legitimate, Liam began to wonder if something like this existed in his previous life.


    ''Provincial secretary, huh? None of that would have mattered to the Gu family. In fact, just because this man was a government leader who survived, they might have taken extra steps to finish him off.'' Liam thought to himself.


    The Gu family had taken over at least the entire half of this part of the province. So even if a settlement like this had existed at the beginning stages, they would have probably seen to it that it was utterly demolished.


    Or perhaps even on their own, the ce did notst very long. The subsequent waves of the apocalypse were brutal, to say the least, and they were probably wiped out because of their insufficient strength.


    No matter the reason, Liam was beginning to see the value in the group in front of him, especially the few government officials who were well-versed in their organizational and governing abilities.


    He was never really the one to put trust in the government or politicians, as they hadn''t done anything for him even before the apocalypse, but at the same time, he was also not naive enough to think that they were all cut from the same cloth.


    The only question was whether the person in front of him was reliable or not.


    Liam silently thought about this as they continued chatting for a while about this and that. But eventually, they circled back to the important topic, the elephant in the room.


    "May I know your thoughts about the events that transpired back in the hospital?" Lan Ganjie came to the point. "Someone of your calibre must already have a strategy in mind. Aha ha ha. If you don''t mind, please share it with me."


    The man''s voice was extremely polite, but at the same time, there was also a small tone that implied he was very serious about this matter. There was an air of demand in his request.


    Liam smiled. He did not care too much about the way he was treated or how much they respected him, but he was also not nning on letting them remain blind to the ways of the new world.


    Only the strong had the right to demand anything or raise their tone. The weak simply did not have a say. It would be better if they learned this lesson sooner rather thanter.


    Liam''s smile widened, and the next second, without holding back, he immediately unleashed the full extent of his power without containing his aura and his killing intent.


    The middle-aged man hadn''t expected this and waspletely caught off guard.


    He and the others standing around Liam at the moment, including the Lan siblings, felt a stifling pressure envelop them all of a sudden. It was something intangible, yet they could clearly sense it.


    Dread filled them. Everyone''s face paled.


    Only the two siblings were not affected that much as they only slightly winced, but the level 0 and level 5 humans standing around, especially Lan Ganjie, began to shiver and tremble.


    A sort of fear and anxiety overcame them as they couldn''t face Liam any longer. They were forced to look down at the ground and grit their teeth even just to hold on.


    Some even took several steps back, wobbling all the way. Their legs felt as if they were jelly.


    Even the portal boss they had faced together as a group did not make them feel this way. But the man in front of them¡­ they couldn''t bear the weight of his gaze.


    This person was dangerous! He was powerful and strong, someone they couldn''t possibly stand up against. He was an apex predator!


    "Sir Liam!" Lan Deming couldn''t stand it any longer to watch his father in this state.


    Even though it wasn''t too obvious, it was clearly affecting them, perhaps even causing them irreversible damage. Maybe even make them susceptible to bing mindless maniacs?


    However, no matter how worried he was, he still did not dare to order the person in front of him. Otherwise, perhaps only death would await them all.


    He had a feeling that this monster wouldn''t bat an eyelid as he massacred their entire settlement. As this thought crossed his mind, Lan Deming suddenly found himself shocked.


    Why did I think like that?


    He snapped out of it and pleaded with Liam again. "Please. We did not mean any disrespect."


    Next to him, Lan Fen red at Liam like a tiger. Her fists were clenched, and her eyes became bloodshot. She was also only barely holding on.


    "Why are you doing this?" She asked with bated breath that leaked out with a frosty aura from her pale lips.


    Liam smiled, but he did not immediately respond. He continued to assault the group with his presence for a few more seconds before he finally stopped.


    He then contained his power within his mana core, which in itself was a sort of meditation, and calmly addressed the group.


    "Sorry about that. I lost control of myself for a second. Now, what were we talking about?"


    Everyone shivered. Lan Ganjie opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. He did not know what to say. Nothing wasing to his mind.


    He looked at the young man in front of him, who barely looked like he was twenty years old, but his physique, his strength, his power, everything was exceptional.


    His gaze, in particr, possessed the wisdom of someone at the top, someone they couldn''t near even if they tried for all their life.


    He thought that he had already judged the person in front of him well enough and had given him enough credit, but only now did he realize that he had been a frog in a well.


    His own son and daughter were considered geniuses by everyone in this camp.


    However, whenpared to the person sitting in front of him, they now looked like mere children who were only now learning how to walk.


    This visit just took a turn for the worse.


    It was clear that this was no longer going to be simply a conversation or negotiation. There was no hope for that.


    What happened next would only be a one-sided decision. Their lives were at the whim of this person in front of them.


    He might as well be a tyrant, and they needed to obey whatever he asked them to. There was simply no other choice.


    While everyone was scared shitless and wondering what was going to happen now, Liam calmly continued, "Oh yes, we were talking about the hospital disaster."


    He paused for a moment making everyone sweat, further soaking their already wet, sweat-drenched clothes.


    "I don''t really have any ns at the moment. Why do you ask, Mr Ganjie? Do you suspect that more people could be involved in that?" Liam crossed his hands and narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the group in front of him.


    Everyone gulped. This person only just now made them almost pee in their pants for no reason, and now he was talking as if nothing happened at all?


    Lan Ganjie sighed. He looked at the two siblings standing on the side first and shook his head. He had raised his children well, and they were not foolish to act rashly in a situation like this, but he still had to make sure.


    Don''t do anything. His silent gaze ordered them. Warning them like this was better than dealing with the consequences. Because if anything at all went wrong, this day could be their end!


    The two understood this as well and nodded at their father.


    Lan Ganjie then turned to look at Liam and politely nodded. "Mr Liam, I am not sure how to answer your question, but I will tell you everything that we have found out so far. Perhaps this could aid you in your actions and future decisions."


    "Mmm. Please carry on." Liam also gave a nod in return and calmly listened.


    Lan Ganjie sighed. "I am not sure how to exin this, but in short, the group of people inside that hospitalplex are creatures one would call vampires. They drink the blood of other human beings."


    "Huh?" Liam''s eyes widened.


    This was¡­


    He had not expected this, but it would only take him 2 seconds to verify this information from his newly forged soul minions. So he first wanted to get all the information from this group.


    "Go on." He said calmly.

 Chapter 828 That Video Game?

    "They kidnapped a few people from our settlement recently when they went out hunting. That was when we came to know that monsters like this existed even among us humans."


    The middle-aged man exined with a bitter smile, the irony in his words not escaping him. While Lan Ganjie was talking about monsters, he was well aware that one was sitting right in front of him.


    "We also discovered other peculiar things about them. They prefer drinking the blood of women. They captured ten people from our group and turned the women into blood bags and sex ves."


    "The men?"


    "They enved them with some sort of mental spell. Even if their family was tortured right in front of them, these men are unable to respond. They made the men watch while they did everything."


    "One of the women escaped from there. That''s how we know everything."


    The man did not have to exin things further. Liam could already imagine how these people were tortured and yed around with before they were eventually killed and tossed like used scraps.


    This also exined many things he saw, specifically the demonic appearance of the armed guards. He wasn''t sure if these guys were ''vampires'', but there was a high chance that they used blood magic or simr demonic magic.


    Whatever it was, it definitely had a hold on them. After hearing everything, it was quite clear that these people had lost almost all sense of reason and logic.


    At this point, there was no more humanity left in them. Just like their appearance, they might as well be heartless demons. Heck, he knew some demons who had more heart than these deviants.


    "This is the extent of our knowledge, Mr Liam. I know this is not much, but I have shared with you everything we know."


    "This is also the reason why my son and my daughter went to the camp to capture the leader alive and to find out more about the situation. You know the rest of the story." He exined.


    Liam nodded but then remained silent. He gazed at Lan Ganjie as if he was trying to discern everything running inside the man''s mind with just his eyes. It made the middle-aged man very ufortable.


    Even so, Liam kept staring at the man in silence for a few good seconds before he nodded again. "Alright, thank you for sharing this information with me. I think it will be very helpful." He smiled.


    Immediately, everyone let out a collective gasp of relief. Lan Ganjie also let out a sigh. Perhaps this was over?


    Unfortunately, they had celebrated too soon. The next second, Liam once again opened his mouth, "Shall we now talk about the other thing then?"


    "Other thing?" Lan Ganjie nkly repeated his words, wondering what was this ''other thing'' could be.


    Not keeping him in suspense, Liam smiled and magnanimously exined, "I am talking about the dungeon. What is the location of the dungeon you all are training in? Are you keeping it hidden?"


    Gudang!


    The elder''s face immediately drooped. How the hell did this monster sniff out the information about the dungeon?


    This was the only thing he had been counting on ever since he met this powerful person.


    He thought that perhaps if Deming and Fen continued training in the dungeons, then they could also be powerful like him, and soon they could be unshakeable pirs of thismunity.


    Then enemies like him couldn''t randomly show up and threaten them like what was happening at the moment.


    However, Liam''s words had clearly shown that this was nothing but a pipe dream. It was all over. Lan Ganjie smiled bitterly as he realized his foolishness.


    How could someone powerful like this not know about dungeons in the first ce? He probably had found one himself. Even if he did not, since he asked for it, Lan Ganjie now had no other option but to reveal its location.


    It was impossible to keep hidden something like this anyways. He also did not have qualms about sharing information. The only issue was¡­ would the other person still allow them to use it? Or would they monopolize it?


    "Mr Liam, please forgive me for not informing you about this earlier. This old man is not as sharp as he used to be. Some things are slipping my mind. Otherwise, I would have told you about this when I was giving you the tour."


    Lan Ganjie then turned to look at one of his subordinates standing behind him, who quickly ran inside a building and brought back with him a pen and paper.


    On that, Lan Ganjie roughly outlined something simr to a map and marked a location with an X mark. "This is the location of the dungeon." He passed the paper to Liam.


    Liam nodded and took the paper. He didn''t mind the small white lie that the man said to save face in front of him.


    He gave a nce at the paper and then simply folded it and kept it inside his pocket. This dungeon was good news. With this, everyone would be able to train once again.


    He had to take the other two dungeons for himself as he had to test out a few things but training the other members of the group was also very important. Otherwise, they wouldg behind and only be liabilities.


    Moreover, several new events are cropping up around him, things that he was not aware of. In this case, it was best that everyone became strong enough to protect themselves.


    "Thank you. This saves me a lot of trouble." Liam nodded in contemtion.


    In reality, he did not need their help. Once he suspected that there was a dungeon here in the vicinity, he could have found this himself in no time with the help of his army, but he nevertheless said this not to make things too awkward.


    He had already demonstrated where he stood and where they stood. There was no point in shoving this on their face again and again.


    He was also starting to have a n in his mind regarding this group.


    "Ok, then I will take my leave." Liam smiled and stood up.


    He wanted to return back to the base immediately and ry this information to the group. He also had to start his private investigations regarding the so-called vampires.


    This had to be immediate because he wanted to assess the threat as best as he could before entering the updated dungeon again. There was a lot of work to be done.


    Seeing that he was finally leaving, the others were also very relieved. Though earlier it was a false start, this time it looked like the monster was letting them go for real.


    With a smile, Liam patted Luna, and the fox became bigger right in front of everyone''s eyes. Immediately several gasps loudly resounded. A lot more people had gathered now, and they were all shocked to see the huge beast.


    "Don''t worry. She is harmless." Liam chuckled and then added, "To a certain extent." With a loaded gaze, he hopped onto the fox, and the duo lifted up slightly, floating in the air.


    "It was my pleasure and honour to make acquaintances with you, Mr Liam." Lan Ganjie squeezed out a smile as well. Somehow the meeting seemed to have ended with no casualties, and that was all he could ask for right now.


    As for the future¡­


    He sighed as he watched the two monster lift up and disappear. This thing could even fly? He watched in awe. Suddenly tomorrow seemed even more uncertain.


    He silently turned around in deep contemtion when abruptly, Liam''s voice sounded again. "I almost forgot. Congrattions on your very talented son and daughter."


    Lan Ganjie''s face became contorted as he lifted his head up to see the fox still lingering in the air above him. Hadn''t he left yet? What new hell was this? What did he want now?


    "Their strength is increasing at a tremendous pace whenpared to others, am I correct?" Liam smirked in amusement.


    Lan Ganjie''s face paled again. He couldn''t help but look towards his son and daughter, who also seemed to have shocked expressions. How did he know about all of this? Just who was he?


    "Last question." Liam continued without caring so much about their response. "In ''Evolution Online'', what was your ss and what level did you manage to reach?"


    "Hmmm?" Lan Ganjie was now genuinely surprised. "That video game?"


    "Yes, and I asking about you two." Liam pointed specifically at Lan Deming and Lan Fen.


    Those two as well looked confused, just like their father, and they slowly shook their heads. "I apologize, Mr Liam. I have no idea what you are talking about." Lan Deming replied first.


    Hmmm? Liam raised his brow. "You don''t know about the video game, or you did not y it at all?"


    "Ah¡­ both?" Lan Deming answered hesitantly.


    Huh? Liam''s eyes widened in shock. This was a curve ball that he hadn''t expected.

 Chapter 829 Moving Day!

    Was he lying?


    Liam''s gaze scrutinized the assassin-type fighter as he simply couldn''t believe what he was hearing. How was it possible for this person to have not yed the game at all? Or even heard about it, for that matter?


    ''Evolution Online'' had been all over the news. So this waspletely impossible.


    Seeing Liam''s furrowed brows, Lan Ganjie started sweating and hurriedly stepped to exin, "He was in special military training. I was grooming him for¡­" The middle-aged man felt embarrassed to continue.


    "Ahem. I was grooming him for the leader''s position." He awkwardly smiled. "So he was in an intensive training facility. They were cut off from the world until recently."


    "The leader''s position? You mean the Premier''s position?" Liam curiously asked.


    "Cough. Cough. Yes, sir."


    Liam nodded. He was still notpletely convinced, but if these two indeed hailed from a traditional conservative political family, then that would make some sense.


    But even if Lan Deming was in some isted training facility, then what about the other one?


    Liam looked at Lan Fen, the slender and elegant looking girl who seemed to be around his age. However, she also shook her head.


    "I have heard about the game, but I also haven''t yed it personally." She honestly replied.


    "She was also undergoing training in various aspects." Lan Ganjie once again exined with a bitter smile. He did not know if this person was going to believe him.


    After all, the game was wildly popr and all over the news. Even he himself had tried it out a bit, but he did not pursue it as he didn''t believe immersing oneself in an alternate reality was the solution to anything.


    How could he know that their reality itself was going to be like the one inside the game? Fate had yed a cruel joke on him.


    Liam looked at the three people in front of him and did not know what to think of anything. He remained silent for a few seconds and then nodded.


    The thing was, it didn''t matter too much if they were telling the truth or simply lying. Sooner orter, the truth woulde out. And even if it did not, it was not going to change anything.


    Liam did not bother asking anything else and finally left the area once and for all, taking off along with Luna.


    From high up in the skies, he nced at the disappearing figures pensively. It was not a big deal if they were lying¡­ because he as well knew two people just like this brother and sister pair.


    Alex and Mia.


    The two girls were naturally gifted.


    However¡­ what if they were telling him the truth?


    On the off chance that something like this was indeed true and the strength of these two had nothing to do with the game, then that could only mean that there were going to be others.


    Crawford wouldn''t necessarily be the only person standing in his way. Some of these naturally gifted people might crawl their way up to him.


    However, he was not foolish enough to let something like that happen.


    Liam clenched his fist as a rush of excitement swept past him. His gaze turned to the two dungeons in the distance. Those were his stepping stones.


    Using them, he was going to be much, much stronger before anyone could evene close to his shadow!


    And now there was another one.


    Liam nced once more at the small settlement as he silently smirked and patted Luna. "Go as fast as you can."


    Kyuuu! The fox nodded, and she jetted off.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Back at the gatedmunity, Lan Ganjie walked back and forth in the big hall room of his house. As a leader, he was allotted the biggest and the most luxurious bungalows in the vicinity.


    "What should we do now? How can we prepare for this?" Muttering these few words, he continued walking in the same stretch.


    The other people standing around him nervously looked at each other, not knowing what to do. "Sir, maybe he won''t return?" Finally, someone suggested.


    "Yes, sir. The meeting went somewhat smoothly, and we were also very hospitable. We even gave away the dungeon address. There is no reason for him to be angry with us. We also don''t have anything else to offer. Someone powerful like that probably won''t pay any attention to us."


    Lan Ganjie sighed. He looked at the bunch of people advising him and again sighed. What was he supposed to tell these naive, optimistic idiots to make them understand the gravity of the situation?


    "You both also think so?" He turned towards Lan Deming and Lan Fen to ask.


    Thankfully, at least his blood did not disappoint him. Both the brother and sister shook their head.


    "No, father. He will definitely be back." Lan Deming said.


    "I agree with uncle that we don''t have anything valuable, but in the current condition of the world, manpower itself is something very valuable." Lan Fen added.


    Lan Ganjie bitterly smiled. He wanted to feel proud that he had raised his children well and that they had a good head above their shoulders. If everything hadn''t changed, they would have definitely had great political careers.


    His life ambition was to erase the corruption and greed from their society and bring back the former glory of their country where everyone was not suffering and working like drones from morning to night.


    Unfortunately, fate had yed a cruel joke on him. Just like he wanted, everything had changed, but not for the better. He wanted to be hopeful that they could somehow make it for the better, but today''s events shattered that hopepletely.


    Lan Deming understood his father''s thoughts very well. "Father, let''s not give up hope just yet. All we need is time. If we could just have a little time, even a week, we could do it. We can be stronger."


    "Yes, father." Lan Fen also nodded, her eyes burning with ambition. "We will definitely be stronger than him. Then no one will be able to threaten us again."


    Lan Ganjie remained silent for a while. He then nodded at his two children. Perhaps it was his age that he was inclined to give up so easily but looking at the resolve of these two, he also decided not to give up just yet.


    Since the world had changed, it was time to change along with it!


    The group started seriously discussing a new and upgraded training strategy for everyone and especially Lan Deming and Lan Fen.


    A few minutes after that, the first batch set out to start this new training n which naturally first started with running the dungeon.


    However, as soon as they stepped out, they noticed something weird. There was a lot more movement on their usually deserted streets.


    There were more people?

 Chapter 830 Friends Or Foes?

    "Heyo!" A bright smiling face greeted Lan Deming from a distance. The first thing that the assassin noticed was the bright smile, followed by the shiny bow on this person''s back.


    His own daggers were an ancestral heirloom and hence were of high quality, but the bow looked even more amazing. Just what sort of materials was it crafted from? Who was this person? Who were these people?


    While he was standing utterly bewildered, the other party actually started running towards him. "I am Rey." He introduced himself.


    Lan Deming was shocked to see that he was actually a foreigner. "Hello. I am Lan Deming. Please to meet you." He politely bowed back in response.


    Rey gave him another one of his trademark happy smiles and then, without bothering to beat around the bush, directly asked, "Are you guys headed out somewhere?"


    "Is this guy bothering you? Hi, I am Alex." From behind, another foreigner popped up.


    This time it was a beautiful red-haired foreigner. She had an aura about her that made Lan Deming keep wanting to look at her.


    Ahem. Lan Fen had to remind him to cut it out. "Hello, I am Lan Fen. Pleased to meet you." She also introduced herself, jabbing her brother from the side. "Ah. Hi. Hi." Lan Deming awkwardly blurted out. The others standing around also vaguely murmured some greeting.


    Alex first smiled and bowed slightly to return their gesture and then tossed a bomb at them. "I hope you don''t mind. We decided to settle around here for a bit."


    She adjusted her flowing red hair, tying it up into a ponytail. "Since the dungeon is close to this area, it will save us a lot of time if we temporarily lived near here."


    Dungeon? Immediately the group became silent. What the hell was happening today? First, it was that person and now all these people? Where is everyoneing from?


    Lan Fen was the first one to realize the obvious, and she parted her trembling lips to speak the obvious. "By any chance, do you happen to know Mr Liam?"


    Before Alex could say anything, Rey jumped the gun first. "Yup. That''s my big brother." He proudly announced. "He is the one who sent us all here!"


    Alex pulled him back and shook her head. "Anyway, we have taken up enough of your time. So we will be leaving now. I hope we can continue to live together peacefully in this area."


    The duo waved their hands politely as they walked away, leaving behind a group of dumbfounded men.


    Only just now, they had made several ns to secure their future, but someone had already thrown a wrench into the whole set-up.


    What were they supposed to do?


    "Let''s go back and report it to father." Lan Deming wryly smiled and turned around.


    A couple of hours passed by, and soon it was nightfall.


    However, absolutely nothing had changed at all. More and more people were settling in on the street in empty houses and wherever they could find spots.


    A whileter, a huge group of people started moving, and the direction in which they were headed left little to the imagination.


    "Father, it looks like they really want to just use the dungeon like they said." Lan Deming let out a sigh. The entire day they were on pins and needles, but nothing out of the ordinary had happened.


    "Isn''t this a good thing?" Lan Fen did not want to deal with this anymore. She just wanted to head out for their own dungeon run. "While we are sitting around, the opponent is only bing stronger." She reminded everyone.


    "It''s not that simple." Lan Ganjie looked out his window at the calm and peaceful road. By now, they had more information about everything and had even found out about the guild Crimson Abyss.


    "Father, I really don''t think their intention is to exploit us. Maybe Liam just wants peaceful cooperation."


    "Hmmm. In that case, shouldn''t he have led with that?"


    "Maybe they were also sceptical like us?"


    Lan Ganjie shook his head. "It doesn''t matter. He has the strength here. If pushes to shove, we have no other choice but to obey his orders."


    Unable to reach any conclusion, in the end, the group decided to send only half the members for their usual dungeon run, leaving behind the other half to guard the area. Not that it mattered.


    Lan Ganjie already knew too well that no matter what they did, it was all useless. At this point, they really were at the whim of that single person.


    If he indeed only wants them to cooperate with him, then it would be their lucky day.


    The middle-aged man continued to look out the window, wondering what was going to happen tomorrow. He wanted to strategize and n for the future, but what could he do?


    As Lan Ganjie turned around and decided to get some shut-eye for an hour or so, a few figures moved under the shadow of the night.


    These figures had incredible agility and superhuman strength as they positioned themselves on several tall buildings spread across the city.


    One of them specifically was stronger and faster than the others.


    "Is everyone here?" She licked her lips and asked, her tongue forked at the end.


    "Yes, boss. Everyone is here." Another figure standing next to her answered.


    "Perfect." The woman nodded her head.


    "Here I thought that it would be a waste of my time and talent to just deal with these few people but¡­ Ha Ha Ha¡­ somehow I see a lot more juicy blood bags."


    "It''s our luck that today several fat sheep have transported themselves right to our doorstep. Ha Ha Ha. Let''s have a good hunt!"


    The woman lifted the sunsses that she was wearing, revealing a pair of dark crimson eyes.


    Under the glow of the moonlight, these eyes glimmered like shining, beautiful jewels. If one looked at them, they would probably be lost within them.

 Chapter 831 Slurp

    Along with the rest of the group, Lan Deming and Lan Fen hurried over the tar roads, which were pretty much wilderness at this point. More than the monsters, it looked as if the trees and wild nts had taken over the entire world.


    Their settlement was located near the dungeon, so it was very convenient for them to travel to and from the dungeon every single day and just like usual, they arrived at the dungeon in about an hour.


    They would have arrived sooner if only they could actually use a car or a bus for transporting everyone. Or, for that matter, a magic beast that possessed the ability to fly. Several people thought to themselves.


    After seeing the white fox that could fly, this desire was deeply imprinted in many people''s hearts though no one had the guts to say it out loud.


    While some fantasized about the white fox, others'' minds were on the new neighbours who had decided to move in next to them. Engrossed deeply in these kinds of thoughts, the group arrived at the dungeon, travelling in silence, unlike their usual loud banter and discussions.


    And just as they reached the green-coloured dungeon portal, they received another shock. Their new neighbours had already assembled outside the dungeon or rather sort of set up a camp.


    Well, it was not as much of a shock as it was an awkward meeting. When they moved close by, it was already abundantly clear that this was going to happen, and these people were also going to use the dungeon. They had also announced it loudly.


    What they did not expect to see was these many people in front of the dungeon. There had to be at least forty to fifty men and women. Some of them were even middle-aged. Onedy specifically was very old, so old she could be their dead grandmother.


    And yet they were all nning to run the dungeon? Weren''t they taking things too casually?


    Not just that, but the entire group was behaving in an extremely rxed manner. They were roasting meat, drinking beer, eating snacks and sitting around and chatting with each other as if they had nothing to worry about.


    It looked as if some tourists hade here for a pic!


    The groups stared at each other and exchanged awkward nces, neither knowing how to address the other. Alex was the first one to break the ice as she got up and jogged over to Lan Deming.


    "Hello again! I hope we are not making too much noise." Sheughed, followed by a few chuckles from the rest of the group. Rey mumbled something loudly from where he was sitting, but his mouth was stuffed full, so no one was able to hear him.


    "I think he means¡­ are you hungry?"


    "Ahem. No. No. Thank you." Lan Deming swallowed and quickly answered. It was clearly a lie because the roasted meat smelled so good. They had also eaten some of it, so they knew the taste beforehand. Nevertheless, he shook his head like a gentleman.


    Seeing the big size of the group, he couldn''t help but wonder how they were consuming such a precious item so freely. All fifty of them got to eat this nutritional food?


    "Don''t be too polite. You should take some while it is being offered. I insist." Alexughed.


    "Maybe after we finish the dungeon run." Lan Deming awkwardly refused again.


    While they were talking, some members of the group started getting up, and a team entered the dungeon wordlessly.


    "You don''t run the dungeon together?" Lan Deming asked in shock. When he saw the huge number, he assumed that they would all enter together as a single team.


    Only that made sense, but now about six to seven people stepped in, and he knew for a fact that this was the first time they were going into this dungeon. Were they not afraid?


    "Oh. They will be fine." Alex brushed aside his concerned question. "By the way, that reminds me. We also should be getting in soon." She waved to the guy and the rest of the group and walked back over to their camp.


    "Get up. Let''s go." She whistled.


    Another team stood up, and this time as well, there were only ten people. They, too, then stepped in through the dungeon portal without any pomp and show.


    This was followed by three other teams, and every single one of them entered the dungeon without any sign of fear or hesitation on their faces.


    Lan Deming, Lan Fen and the rest watched this scene in awe, their eyes widening every time the portal red up, and a team entered. A scene like this was eye-opening for them.


    Most of their group consisted of normalmon folks who were too weak for this world. However, all these fifty people were battle ready!


    They all looked at each other dumbly. Even for them, going inside the dungeon was a life and death trial. They only dared to do it because Lan Deming and Lan Fen were present with them, and the duo were more powerful than all of them put together.


    But these people¡­ they didn''t seem to care about the dangers of the dungeon all that much. What the hell? Just what were their levels?


    Seeing the general mood of the group, Lan Deming loudly cleared his throat. "Don''t think too much. They also probably have powerful fighters in their group. Let''s keep our focus and do our job."


    Everyone nodded in agreement, and the twenty or so people collectively entered the dungeon, with Lan Deming and Lan Fen taking the lead.


    Once inside the dungeon, all the teams that entered separately were in separate instances, so they were all unable to see each other.


    A couple of hours passed by in silence, where only the dungeon portal glowed brightly amidst the wilderness. Soon the first team stepped out of the dungeon.


    Coincidentally, it was Lan Deming''s team. Everyone looked very tired and worn out. Some of them even had injuries, but there were no casualties.


    "Shall we return back to themunity, sir?" One of the men asked Deming tiredly. However, the brother and sister pair were in shock. They were busy looking around as if they were hoping to find someone.


    "Do you think maybe they are already on their way back?" Lan Fen furrowed her brows.


    Lan Deming shook his head. There were absolutely no signs of disturbance at all. This could only mean one thing. "No. I think they are still in the dungeon." He answered with a rueful smile.


    They had entered the dungeonst, and technically they should also be thest to step out but judging from everything around them, it looked like they were the first to step out.


    This was not a race, and it did not matter who walked out first, but the thing was, this clearly showed the difference in strength between the two groups.


    Even with Lan Deming and Lan Fen present, the two who were touted as geniuses, their team still couldn''t measure up to the others. Not even one of the five teams.


    "Let''s take a break first and then start the return trip." Lan Deming spoke after a minute of silence. He really wanted to see just how long these people would be able to hold on inside the dungeon. Just what was the difference between them?


    However, this turned out to be a bad decision. Another couple of hours passed, and it looked like no one wasing out any time soon. Were they nning onpleting the whole dungeon on the same run?


    Lan Deming sighed. He then tiredly stood up and waved his hand at the rest of the group. There was no point in waiting here any longer. "Let''s head back." He said, and the group quickly started clearing out.


    Everyone was hungry and starving, so the return trip was a lot faster than usual, even though they were dead tired. The group arrived back at the settlement in silence, each thinking of their own burden.


    "Ok. We will again meet back here tomorrow at the break of dawn." Lan Deming announced loudly. Everyone nodded, and the group was about to disperse.


    But suddenly, Lan Deming froze in his tracks. Lan Fen also turned to look at him at the same time. Their faces were full of dread as they both could instinctively feel it. There was someone else here!


    Lan Deming immediately withdrew his daggers, and Lan Fen created an ice spear from her magic. But before either of them could do anything else, a sweet melodious voice giggled.


    The sound of theughter loudly rang, echoing in all directions. "My sweet, sweet blood bags. You are finally here. Slurp." In the dark of the night, a pair of crimson eyes lit up brightly.


    Who was this? What was going on? Everyone couldn''t help but shiver at this ominous presence as a chill crawled up their spines. They subconsciously took a step back.

 Chapter 832 You Forgot To Invite The Neighbours To The Party

    "My sweet, sweet blood bags. You are finally here. Slurp." A figure slowly walked out of the darkness. Everyone watched in a daze, but Lan Deming and Lan Fen were quick to react.


    Deming immediately disappeared into the darkness, and Lan Fen produced a dozen thin ice needles barely visible to the eye.


    The two of them worked in coordination as Deming first struck with his dagger at the unwee intruder while Lan Fen''s needles shot forward, aiming for all the vital points.


    Both of their speeds were quite impressive. Even if the opponent managed to evade one attack, it was impossible to evade the second attack simultaneously.


    They were surely done for or at least were bound to take significant damage. This was the talent of the top two fighters, who were the pirs of theirmunity!


    Everyone watched in awe, expecting to see the intruder bleed. However, what happened next waspletely unexpected.


    The pair of crimson eyes glowed brightly as the figure ignored both attacks and casually stepped forward. To everyone''s surprise, it was a tall and petite woman who looked extremely attractive.


    She had a stunning figure and wore a ckcy dress that clung to her body, which made her all the more seductive.


    She smiled calmly at everyone with a mysterious glint in her eyes as she lifted her hands to effortlessly block Deming''s next attack and the attack after that.


    Lan Fen also did not give up. She gritted her teeth and continued to attack the woman with everything she had. She materialized a huge ice spear and dashed forward towards the woman.


    Seeing her, the others as well snapped out of it, and the three of them who were carrying guns took out the weapon and aimed for the woman.


    The words she had spoken and her crimson eyes had already revealed to everyone who she probably was. Someone from the hospital vampire group had escaped and was now at their base to take revenge.


    However, only Lan Deming and Lan Fen knew that this person was nothing like the others. She was far more powerful than the rest of the trash they had taken out.


    As bullets zoomed forward and they continued attacking the woman with their full abilities, the seductive womanughed once again.


    "Oh no! This is more than I expected! You guys cane out. Otherwise, I might identally kill someone. Oops. We cannot afford to waste precious goods." She made an O-shape with her plump, red lips and mockingly covered her mouth with her hands.


    The next second, several bright crimson eyes popped out of the darkness. Lan Deming and Lan Fen stared in shock. They werepletely surrounded.


    And to their surprise, these were all vampires? Where did theye from?


    Moreover, these vampires seemed to be on apletely different level than the ones they had killed.


    Before they could make sense of things, the crimson eyes started moving with incredible speed. Within a minute, the whole group was forced to kneel into submission, their hands held behind their heads.


    Even Lan Deming and Lan Fen were unable to put up a fight against these creatures. They had not only amazing speed but also amazing strength. The whole group waspletely subdued.


    "Now that was better. A lot quicker." The woman in the ck dress smiled as she licked her lips and walked forward. She came toward Lan Deming specifically and ran her long fingernail along his cheek.


    "What an intoxicating scent you have¡­" She took a deep breath, leaning closer to him, revealing all her assets. "You guys did not trust me. Now see for yourself."


    The other vampires silently stood, not moving a muscle. Even though it was an invitation, they knew better than to ept it.


    "Bah! Fine. Let''s just finish up fast here. We have more work to do. We need to move south." The woman scoffed.


    South? Lan Deming''s heart skipped a beat. If they were going south, then it was inevitable that they would run into Liam! Perhaps they were not yetpletely doomed.


    "Hmmmm? What are you thinking, my sweetie pie? What was the thought that just ran through your head?" She leaned even closer and licked Lan Deming.


    "Ahhh! I am just not able to control it. He is just too delicious." She licked her fingers and added, "Only someone who has tasted an evolver will know."


    "The most delicious blood is the blood that is mixed with mana. Slurp. The rest of these people are only fit to be ves. But you will go straight to my personal pantry. Slurp."


    She smacked her lips and forced Deming to stand up. "Why don''t you guys get out and round up the rest of the sheep? I want to take a snack break."


    She then tilted her head back up, revealing two sets of shining fangs, and with a smirk in her eyes, she dove straight for the pulsing carotid.


    However, before those sharp fangs could dig into the pale white skin¡­


    Bang!


    A ball of fire appeared out of nowhere and hit her hard!


    The vampiress was so taken aback by the attack that she actually fell backwards. Her beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed, and an ugly scowl appeared on her seductive face.


    "You guys are having fun without inviting your neighbours." A voice sounded.


    The vampiress watched as several more people appeared out of the darkness, but this time they were clearly not on the same side. These were human beings, more specifically, human beings with a strong scent of manaing off their bodies.


    "What are you waiting for? Take them all down. I don''t care if they lose a limb or two. I need them all broken down!" The vampiress screamed in anger.


    The fact that she had fallen down in an extremely unsightly manner, and that too in front of all her subordinates, made her extra furious.


    Today, no one was going to get out alive!

 Chapter 833 L Am Sorry, Father.L Have Let You Down.

    The vampiress snarled and pounced forward, wanting to dip down onto Lan Deming''s neck again.


    However, this time a few arrows zoomed toward her, sending her back once more. A couple of these arrows actually managed to hit her and drew blood!


    Arrrghhh! She snarled in anger.


    The other vampires also dashed to start a full-on onught.


    Though they did not seem to have any particr sort of magic affinity or special skills, their stats made up for theck of these things. They charged forward with tremendous strength and power.


    Lan Deming used this chance to slip away from the grasp of the vampire and disappeared back into the darkness. However, he was speechless as to what he was supposed to do next.


    Everywhere around him, there was blood and carnage. Loud screeching and nging sounds of metal echoed from all directions.


    Only now, they werepletely overwhelmed by the group of unexpected vampires, but in just a few seconds, the entire situation had changed, and now there was a fierce battle ongoing.


    Unlike their group, these people were clearly not easy targets. They were fighting toe to toe with the evil creatures, who possessed enviable strength and power.


    Lan Deming did not have to wonder who these people were. The hot and sizzling red-headed foreigner was simply too eye-catching for anyone to ignore.


    However, she was not the only one who was pushing back.


    It looked like a couple of teams had returned to the home base, and every single one of the team members was putting up an admirable fight.


    But was it enough to take down the group of blood-hungry monsters?


    Lan Deming did not stand still anymore. He immediately rushed towards the person closest to him, who was currently being beaten into a pulp. Coincidentally, it was someone from his group and not the other group.


    Were they all so weak whenpared to others? What are they even doing in this crazy new world?


    Seething from anger and an unwillingness to ept this fate, he rushed forward to fight back. He used his natural stealth skill to the best of his ability as he weaved in and out of the darkness and struck with his dagger repeatedly.


    The fight continued for a few minutes as both sides seemed to be evenly matched, but this did notst long. A few arrows shot forth in between the duels that shifted the bnce of the fight immediately.


    The vampires started to lose.


    "He He He! My aim is too goodtely!" Rey kissed the next arrow in his hand before sending that out as well.


    Alex rolled her eyes at her cheerful brother and couldn''t help but make a snide remark. "You know you are cheating, right? Only you have an actual item. We are all simply fighting with our hands! Don''t be so shameless and call this your win!"


    And it looked like she was not the only one who noticed. A few of the vampires banded together and started chasing Rey to make him payback for the pain and suffering he was causing.


    "Mommy! Someone kill these fuckers!!!!" Rey started loudly yelling as he made a run for it.


    Lan Deming saw this scene, and he was once again dumbfounded. This was a fucking life and death situation, and these people were still not treating it seriously?


    Just what the hell was happening? How were they so arrogant? From where was this confidenceing?


    Sure, they might be more skilled and powerful and probably of a higher level whenpared to their group, but in front of these vampires, even they were vulnerable. So why were they so carefree?


    For now, it looked like they were winning, but this was a rumble! This fight could turn at any second! Did they not understand this?


    Lan Deming shed his dagger at the vampire in front of him, evading the sharp ws and fangs that came at him. He managed to do a number on this guy thanks to the brutish way in which the vampire was blindly using his raging power.


    However, before he could feel happy about this small victory, suddenly, the same cackling rang loudly again.


    As if this was not enough, another woman had appeared out of nowhere and floated above them in the sky. She actually had the ability to fly!


    More importantly, her looks were a ditto copy of the previous one, so much so that they could be twins. No, they were probably twins.


    One was wearing a red dress, while the other was wearing a ck dress. That was the only difference between them.


    "Ysabelle, it looks like you are totally useless without me!" The newly arrived vampiressughed haughtily.


    "Shut up, Alice!" The other one hissed from the ground while she tackled a well-built Korean to the ground.


    Shin-Soo looked at the two in confusion. He was able to handle one, but two would be difficult. So he quickly nced at Alex, signalling for help.


    Out of all the vampires, this woman was definitely the strongest, and now that another one arrived, he guessed that the other one was also equally strong, if not stronger.


    In short, more backup had arrived, so they now needed to start fighting more seriously!


    And just like he predicted, the newly arrived vampiress seemed to possess a telekic ability as she casually waved her hand to fling aside a couple of people.


    Perhaps they were in a much more dire situation than he had originally assumed!


    However, Shin Soo did not look stressed because of this. As if he knew what was going to happen next, he became rxed and started attacking more freely. He did not even bother calling Alex for backup anymore.


    And he was not the only one doing this. Alex and Rey also started shaking their heads in pity as they watched the backup force of vampires arrive and join the battle.


    "Yikes! There is going to be a bloodbath today!"


    Seeing everyone behave so nonchntly, Lan Deming was close to losing it. These people were crazy! There was something very wrong with all of their heads!


    His breathing became haggard as he started to increase his pace further to counter the five vampires nowing at him all at once.


    All of them were fast and strong, and they had pure strength and power on their side. Lan Deming''s heart dropped as he saw that there was no way they were winning this fight.


    As soon as the backup arrived, this was already a lost cause, and now they were all doomed. Nothing was going to change it.


    His body twisted and turned to face the attacks, but he couldn''t hold on. Soon, he made a mistake, and a pair of fangs reached right for his throat.


    This was it. This was his end.


    I am sorry, father. I have let you down.


    Lan Deming closed his eyes. If only he were stronger...

 Chapter 834 Yummm!

    Hmmm? Lan Deming was confused.


    Something was wrong.


    Why did he not feel any pain? Was this the life shing across his eyes in slow motion that usually urs before death?


    But still, something felt off. The vampires should have ripped apart his head by now. It did not make sense.


    He shed his eyes open to see why the death god hadn''t opened his door for him. However, instead of the death god, there was some other god in front of him at the moment.


    At least, that was the thought that came into his mind as he watched a familiar figure slice the heads of five of the vampires with a single movement of his sword.


    Bones crunched, and blood sttered everywhere. Everyone turned to witness this scary scene as the vampires growled loudly in anger, seeing their brethren fall like dummies.


    In the midst of this blood and gore stood a single person who, in a calm and collected manner, walked towards Deming. "Are you alright?"


    "Mr¡­ Mr Liam." Deming stared at the kindly smiling person in shock.


    This was the same man who had terrorized them before, but all he could think of at this moment was how he had saved him without even saying a word about it.


    This kindness and this warmth¡­ this person in front of him was a good person. He had unnecessarily misunderstood him. No, their whole group had unnecessarily misunderstood him!


    He hade to their aid like a hero at thest minute and saved them all!


    The next second¡­ Liam opened his mouth, shattering all of these thoughts.


    "Sorry I didn''t jump in sooner. That''s my bad. I had to use you guys as bait to lure out everything in the vicinity. Otherwise, it would be a total waste of time to go after these things one by one."


    Liam let out a yawn and stretched his hands as if he was bored out of his wits. "Thanks to them, I had to waste a whole day waiting for this. Now, let''s get this over this."


    Lan Deming''s face twitched. What did he just say¡­? Bait?


    However, Liam was already gone. After forging soul minions out of the five he had just killed, he swiftly moved on to the next group.


    "Lots of new materials! Nice!" Liam smiled. He really looked forward to how these high-quality vampire soul minions were going to fare.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t discern much from the previous batch. They were simply grunts and didn''t have anything valuable for him. Their souls were also not that different from ordinary humans.


    The only information he got was about this raid that was happening tonight. He did not think it would amount to much. But this time, it looked like some interesting specimens had indeed shown up.


    He was very curious to see how this entire vampire cluster formed in the first ce, especially so soon after the apocalypse began!


    Liam particrly looked at the two twins, who seemed to be stronger than the others, as he licked his lips. What surprises did these two hold?


    The vampiresses saw this, and suddenly a chill crept up their spines. They feltpletely creeped out as they felt Liam''s burning gaze on their bodies, and they could tell for a fact that he was not looking at them sexually.


    They could also see the way Liam was killing everyone and everything around him so casually. Just how much strength one had to possess to ughter their way through this crowd? What the hell was his level?


    In reality, he had slowed down as he was creating soul minions along the way, but they did not know that. Yet.


    What they knew was what they saw with their own eyes. Within the span of a second, about a couple dozen of vampires dropped dead like flies. This enemy was strong.


    "NOOOOO!" Screamed the vampiress named Ysabelle. She couldn''t handle watching her entire army utterly destroyed right in front of her eyes.


    She was the one who had scouted out this entire ce and had nned to take charge of this livestock.


    Everything was fine. Everything was going her way, but that was¡­ two seconds ago. From where did this madman show up? How was he so strong?


    The only person whom she couldpare him was¡­ no, perhaps this man was even stronger?


    Her seductive eyes widened in panic as all traces of her arrogance and attitude that she had earlier werepletely wiped away. There was now only fear.


    She looked up at Alice, and the two vampiresses nodded at the same time. This was not an enemy they could face.


    Thinking that they were walking into a group of sheep, they had entered a monster''s den. They needed to leave. They needed to RUN! RIGHT NOW!


    The twins did not hesitate and immediately took off. However, this was simply wishful thinking on their part. Before they could even take a few steps forward, a strong scent reached their noses. Liam was right behind them.


    However, instead of fear, all they felt was heat. They were assaulted by an intoxicating delicious aroma that made them delirious!


    This was none other than the blood of the man who had undoubtedlye to im their lives.


    Ysabe stopped. She couldn''t control her impulses. Her brain asked her to run, but her body wanted a taste of this blood. It was nothing like she had ever felt before.


    Blood like this¡­ slurp! Was of the highest quality! Slurp!


    She licked her lips and turned around, her crimson eyes shimmering brightly in the dark of the night. There was a sort of madness on her face. She was ready to do anything for this blood.


    She red like a predator as she searched for the source of this blood, but she only barely got a glimpse before her head rolled slid from her body, rolling down and falling onto the ground with a thud.


    "Ysabe!!!" Alice shouted. She screamed in agony as she felt the pain of her twin''s death.


    "Don''t worry. I am not heartless enough to separate you from your sister." Liam chuckled.


    She sprinted forward, growling angrily at the conceited foe, but only her head flew forward as her body slumped down lifelessly.


    Lan Deming stared at Liam in disbelief. Even the twins did not give him any issues. They were swatted to death without him sparing a single drop of sweat.


    Every single vampire on the battlefield also had the same expression as they watched their masters lie lifelessly on the ground. They were dead? Just like that?


    Their corpses had already be decayed and desated, turning into ashes. They had really died for good!


    How could this be true? They were supposed to rule thisnd. They were supposed to build an empire, but¡­ they died just like that?


    Tonight wasn''t even supposed to be a difficult mission. They were merely raiding a bunch of weaklings. How did everything change?


    All the vampires trembled as they watched the untouchable tyrant turn around. As his gaze swept past them, they could feel their lives already slipping away from their bodies.


    It was all over. They were going to die. They knew it.


    Lan Deming slumped onto the ground in terror, finally realizing the difference between himself and the god that was in front of him. What was that he told his father?


    He would train hard and be strong enough to face him in a week? Howughable! He really was a fool.


    Lan Fen also stood frozen on the spot, staring at Liam in shock.


    Liam, meanwhile, casually went around and took care of the rest of the minions.


    "Oh! How is it going? Are these things weak against divine attacks?" He showed up near Alex and cleared off the six vampires she was taking down single-handedly, forging them into soul minions.


    He then popped up near Shin Soo and took care of the four he was fighting against.


    Liam continued his rounds, and soon, within a minute, the entire vampire gang waspletely erased from the vicinity.


    Just as he finished his business, from a distance, a white fox carried over a bunch of almost dead, beaten to a pulp vampires.


    Kyuuuu!


    "Master, I found these guys lurking."


    Luna adorably smiled as she dropped all the bodies next to Liam.


    "Good job, Luna." Liam chuckled as he took care of this set of vampires as well and created another bunch of soul minions.


    "Is that it?" He clicked his tongue as if he were a little disappointed and then looked around at the deathly silent city. He then sighed with a smile. "Let''s go back first."


    Alex and the rest of the group went back first, talking to Liam about the new dungeon.


    The others stared at each other for a while before doing the same thing. Under the cover of darkness, they listlessly packed up and went back to their gatedmunity.

 Chapter 835 They Are Undeads!

    After the massacre of about fifty odd so-called vampires that happened in the dead of night, Liam immediately returned back to one of the decent empty houses in the area.


    He sat down and leaned back on the big couch in the living room of the house, with Luna crawling up next to him. It was time to do some good old-fashioned interrogation.


    He was very curious to learn more about this blood-sucking group and where they suddenly popped out from, so without any dy, he quickly got down to business.


    "Come out." He started the event by summoning the two main stars of the show from the get-go, the twin vampiresses.


    The next second, two soul minions instantly materialized in front of him.


    But unexpectedly, Liam''s eyes widened on seeing the duo, especially their forms.


    Typically when soul minions were forged, they retain their features and their body structure from when they were alive, just before dying. This included the armor and the clothing on their body.


    For instance, most of the barbarian soul minions had their trademark head crest items on their heads. This did not add any special stats or effects. It was just a simple representation of the soul of the person at the time when they were killed.


    This was also the case for the several human soul minions Liam had created from the dead policemen. Most of them were still in their police uniform or at least the soul version of it.


    However, this was the first time Liam saw something very unique. The two vampiresses standing in front of him were almostpletely naked!


    They simply had three small patches of clothes covering their three private areas, that too only barely revealing all of their plump assets.


    On top of that, the duo did not panic or look anxious in the slightest. They stood tall with confidence and arrogance as they eyed Liam with visible lust in their eyes.


    "Master, you called for us?" The twins licked their lips in unison and stepped forward towards Liam at the same time.


    "Huh?"


    Before he could blink, they were already in front of him, kneeling down on the ground in a very suggestive position.


    The twins opened their mouths wide and looked up at Liam with big ssy eyes. "Please allow us to serve you, master."


    Liam could swear that he saw a sh of crimson glint sweep across their gaze. What was happening? Why were these two minionspletely different from every other minion he had forged?


    Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He had, in fact, seen this type of behaviour before. When he forged the two dragon souls and the wyvern souls, they retained a significant portion of their personalities, specifically their pride.


    Not just the draconian souls but the six-winged lion also disyed something simr. In this case, its personality had a slight tinge of cowardliness to it.


    However, that didn''t mean that the souls had to be of high quality. Even Gu Donghai and Gorak kept more of who they were than many of the other human souls.


    In the same way, these two vampiresses in front of him also seemed to have retained some of their personalities.


    Liam was not yet sure why these soul minions behaved differently than the others. If he had to guess at the moment, then he would probably attribute these special quirks to their growth potential.


    Another possibility was the hatred that these minions harboured for him and their degree of unwillingness to ept their fate as his soul minions.


    Liam gazed at the two seductive vampiresses kneeling in front of him with parted lips. Somehow the word growth potential did not seem to be apt for the moment.


    The two of them might as well be wolves wanting to eat him up alive. He gave a rueful smile as he shook his head helplessly and cleared his throat. "Get-"


    But he did not get a chance to finish his words as he was abruptly interrupted by the group of people walking into the house.


    Coincidentally, Alex was the first one to walk in. "Sorry to interrupt you. We thought you would be talking to the soul minions. So we decided to join you. I mean, if that is okay with you¡­"


    However, before she could finish talking, her words trailed off as she stared at the unbelievable sight.


    In front of her were the two recently soul-forged vampiresses, and both of them were kneeling in front of Liam, their eyes fixed on a certain part of him as if they were about to have their mouths full.


    They were also very explicitly naked?


    What the¡­


    Alex''s face slowly changed as she found her brain once again short circuting. How the hell was she in this same position all over again?


    However, this time she was well aware that she was not alone. Next to her, Shen Yue and Mei Mei also stood gobsmacked with simr stunned expressions.


    Shen Yue looked frozen while the little girl''s face was bright red like a tomato, as she had seen something that she was not supposed to see for a few years.


    If there was a person who reacted even worse than these three women, it was Rey. He covered his nose as if he expected blood to splurt out of it at any instant and stumbled forward with an awkward shriek.


    "Aiyo! Bro! THEY ARE UNDEADS!"


    As if he couldn''t believe that his role model, the man he always put on a pedestal every single time, could have such a deviant fetish, he looked extremely betrayed, even more so than Shen Yue.


    However, it was only for a second. He then quickly recovered. "Bro, I am sorry. I am sorry. My narrow-minded brain should be pped. I lost my way for a minute there."


    "Your undeads are different from the normal undeads. They still have a soul. In a way, they are still alive. So this is apletely different scenario."


    "I support you one hundred percent." He even gave Liam a big thumbs up. "Tell meter how it feels to be sucked-"


    "Cough. Cough. Let''s stop it there." Liam did not dare let this misunderstanding continue any longer. "It''s not what it looks like." He threw his hands up in the air and exined.


    Unfortunately for him, not a single person in the room seemed to believe him.


    Alex rolled her eyes. Rey was in his own world, thinking about something that Liam was pretty sure was not going to make things worse.


    Even Shin Soo had a knowing look on his face, though he did not outwardly say anything. Liam did not even dare look at Shen Yue or Mei Mei.


    "You guys¡­"

 Chapter 836 Become Powerful!

    Liam sighed and quickly gave up on convincing anyone. He then turned to look at the two vampiresses, who still hadn''t taken a hint and moved from their positions.


    It looked like they couldn''t care less about the others in the room as their gaze was only glued onto Liam. He facepalmed and rubbed his brows.


    "You two. Can you get the hell up and stand normally?"


    Thankfully, the two soul minions immediately obeyed him. The twin vampiresses got up from their suspicious incriminating positions and stood in front of Liam.


    Even though their eyes still shed a heart sign, at least they were not hurling themselves at him. They waited for him with eager anticipation, casting longing nces his way.


    Liam''s face twitched. Before anyone else could speak, he opened his mouth first. "Let''s move on. What can you two tell me about yourselves?"


    "Our names are Alice and Ysabe, Master." One of the twins answered. "We are eternally bound to yourmand and will carry out your wishes regardless of the cost."


    Liam nodded, but he wanted more answers. "Who made you vampires?" He asked again, starting with the important question first.


    Alex and the others also snapped out of the earlier situation and intently listened to the current conversation.


    They as well very much wanted to know who had the power to create beings like this or if this was perhaps a natural phenomenon, a by-product of the apocalypse.


    Unfortunately for them, the twins became silent as they shook their heads.


    "Hmmm?" Liam frowned. "How did you two be like this? Who asked you to attack all the people in this area?" He asked again.


    However, this time as well, the duo remained silent.


    "You don''t know, or you can''t tell?" Liam''s gaze hardened. All of his soul minions were loyal to him to a fault, but the two in front of him¡­ he was slightly doubtful.


    If they were indeed vampires, then were they already undead who perhaps possessed a different master?


    "Are you bound to someone else?"


    "No, master." The twins immediately answered. "We are only bound to you. We don''t know who created us and made us this way. We cannot remember." Alice said.


    "We only remember that he was a foreigner and had a weird ent," Ysabe added.


    Liam had guessed as much because the twins were both clearly from China just based on their facial features. However, Alice and Ysabe were not native names.


    "We''re also unaware of how he bestowed this power on us. One day suddenly, beasts started wing at our doorstep, and when we were about to be killed, somehow, we were saved."


    "We don''t remember his face or any other details about him. The only thing that remained with us was his words. They used to echo in our heads constantly."


    "What words?" Liam asked.


    "Be powerful." The twins answered in unison.


    "And you no longer hear them?"


    "No, master. Ever since you gave life to us again, we no longer hear the words."


    "Then what about the blood? Who taught you to drink it?" Liam couldn''t believe that two young women could wake up one day and simply find themselves as vampires.


    However, it looked like that was what had happened.


    "We don''t know, master." Alice replied. "After that day, we found that we were very powerful and we could easily kill everything that was in our way."


    "While killing, we drank the blood of our prey because we were hungry. We knew that this blood could make us stronger. We also knew that we could make more of others like us."


    "You just knew these things?"


    "Yes, master."


    Liam was perplexed. He silently observed the two soul minions in front of him, at a loss for what to ask them next. "Do you remember anything else at all?" He vaguely tossed out a question.


    "Yes, master." The twins nodded obediently. "In two weeks'' time, we are supposed to travel further north to meet with others like us."


    "In two weeks?" Liam''s eyes widened.


    Though he hadn''t talked to the others about this, roughly in three to four weeks, there would be the next wave of the apocalypse.


    And the timing the vampiress mentioned seemed awfully too close to this checkpoint. This meant that they were nning something big, potentially something that could affect them all.


    Haa¡­ Liam sat back on the couch, engrossed in his thoughts. Just like that, out of nowhere, another variable had popped up!


    While the existence of the high-level dungeons was a wee surprise, this was by no means pleasant or wee.


    He had a feeling that it was not a mere coincidence that something like this had cropped up so close to his home base.


    Was this perhaps the work of the divine temple? Did their influence extend beyond the tutorial world?


    Or perhaps Crawford had a hand in this? Was he already aware of his current location?


    Several confusing thoughts swirled in his mind as Liam silently gazed at the two vampiresses in front of him.


    If what he heard was true, then these two were probably not the only vampires that were ''created''. Was this mysterious person making several more of the same?


    And if each of them created their own nests, then soon this entire country was going to be riddled with vampire zones.


    Perhaps this wasn''t even restricted to this country?


    Just like the others, Liam had to base his theories on spections here. His past knowledge was useless. This was apletely different issue that hadn''t happened before.


    What was the best thing to do now? He quietly pondered.


    Seeing that Liam was silent, Alex took the chance to ask a few more questions of her own.


    She stomached the appearance of the two slutty soul minions and talked to them about the various strong points and weak points of vampires in general.


    Though these two twins were quite threatening when they were alive, the other minions only had stats to their strength.


    And the reason for this became clear as the twins started exining.


    Every time a vampire drank blood, they actually gained a certain number of stats!

 Chapter 837 Knock.Knock.May We Come In?

    Alex was shocked. What kind of power was this? It was no wonder that they were able to be so powerful in such a short amount of time.


    While everyone was risking their lives hunting down beasts to improve themselves, these guys were simply kidnapping the weak and the helpless and bing stronger by sucking their blood.


    Alex was getting pissed off just thinking about this. "This is ridiculous! Completely unfair!" She stomped on the ground.


    "Ummm¡­ Miss Alex¡­ Sorry, but I think there is something else. A catch." Shin Shoo interrupted her.


    He was a level-headed person, so he was able to notice this before others. "Is there a limit to the stats they can gain through this method?" He asked the vampiresses.


    Alice nodded. "Yes. We need to keep drinking blood from stronger beings in order to gain stats. Otherwise, our growth will stagnate."


    Ysabe further exined, "Initially, we can gain a good amount of stats even from weaker beings, but as we grow stronger, we can no longer do this. Either we have to keep drinking the blood of stronger beings, or we need arge number of weaker beings."


    Now everyone understood the whole kidnapping ploy and what they were doing with the humans in the hospitalplex.


    Instead of risking their lives, these low lives had gone after the weaklings and simply nned to gather a huge number of people, treating them as livestock.


    "Is there anything else that we should be aware of?" Alex red at the two soul minions icily.


    Even though they were dead at the moment and had joined their side, she still couldn''t help but feel angry looking at the two vampiresses. "What about the whole mind-control thing?"


    Alice shook her head. "That is simply a temporary effect. It''s a mediocre ability, and it won''t do anything if the target has even a tiny amount of mana empowerment, even at level 1."


    "Oh. That''s good. If they did have a mental attack ability, then this fight would have been so much more difficult." Alex sighed in relief. "Now all we have to do is find these suckers and punch them in the face."


    But she then remembered that she had actually seen one of these two fly, so she narrowed her eyes and asked again. "What about other abilities? Why are you able to fly?"


    "Other vampires don''t have that. Only we both have a special ability."


    "You mean others that you created don''t have these kinds of abilities?"


    "Yes," Alice answered. "Ysabe has a special agility boost, while I can fly and use telekinesis powers to some extent."


    "Hmmm¡­ so only the main leaders created by that person have these sorts of abilities." Alex nced at Liam, and he nodded at her, signalling for her to continue asking the questions.


    He silently listened to everything as the group continued interrogating the two minions for another hour or so, asking about all sorts of things and making sure not to leave anything out.


    From this, a few other small details came out, such as the regenerative abilities of the vampires. They also seemed to possess a burst damage skill where their stats were temporarily boosted for 10 seconds.


    Everyone made a note of all the details and memorized their traits by heart. From tonight''s meeting, it was abundantly clear that they were going to face a lot more of these guys from here on out. So it was best to be prepared for it.


    The meeting then came to an end after about another hour. Quietly, everyone exited the room, leaving Liam alone with the two slutty vampires once more.


    But now, no one was in the mood to think about any frivolous matters.


    With the threat of the vampires looming above everyone, they knew very well that they were onlying out on top of this or, rather, surviving because of Liam.


    If he were not there, then the consequences would be dire. They were also painfully aware that their actions were restricting him quite a bit.


    If not for their group, which hung around his neck like a dead weight, he wouldn''t still be here, keeping an eye on things.


    So the group silently departed, resolution and determination shining in their eyes. They were all eager to gain strength as quickly as possible. Otherwise, in this new world, they would eventually be left behind in the dust.


    Liam was powerful, but he was not a god. Moreover, at least the people in this small group cared enough about him not to ce the whole burden on his shoulders.


    As the group walked out in deep contemtion, unexpectedly, they ran into someone else on the doorstep.


    Standing in front of Alex, Shen Yue, Rey, Mei Mei, and Shin Soo were none other than Lan Ganjie and his two heirs, Lan Deming and Lan Fen. There were also a few others from the same group.


    "Did you guys need anything?" Alex crossed her arms and asked sternly.


    Lan Ganjie politely smiled. Someone in his political position would have taken offence at being addressed like this, especially by a foreigner, but he knew better.


    He did not care about Alex''s tone or words and calmly replied, "Madam, I apologize for showing up suddenly like this without prior notice. Please, if you don''t mind, spare me a few minutes of your time."


    "Huh?" Alex was surprised.


    However, before she could answer, Liam walked out of the house, stretching his hands and with a big smile stered on his face.


    "This is in regards to?" He grinned as if he already knew the answer to this question.


    Lan Ganjie could see the confidence on the man''s face. He chuckled and politely bowed. "We would like to request your permission to join your guild."


    "Hmmm." Liam grinned as he gave the nod to the shrewd politician.


    Just like he expected, the other sidepletely folded. The only thing was that he did not expect this to happen so soon, but this was a good thing.


    This showed that he was indeed in the right to recruit these people. They were quickly able to adapt to the situation and see what the best course of action was.


    If they had waited longer, hesitated, or worse, if Liam had to force their hands to merge the two groups, then this wouldn''t have been as fruitful as it was now.


    So overall, he was very satisfied with this oue.


    "You are more than wee to join our guild. We could really use someone who has a political background and your organizational skills." Liam politely replied.


    Lan Ganjie smiled. A few others let out sighs of relief.


    However, no one in the group was naive or stupid. The other party might be treating them with a lot of respect, but everyone here knew the truth too well.


    This was by no means an equal merger. This was aplete surrender.


    And sometimes, it was better to surrender to an ally than to die at the hands of the enemy.

 Chapter 838 Have You Given Up Already?

    The next two days were a bit chaotic as the two groups gradually merged, and everyone tried to get acquainted with each other.


    The first thing that they did was get everyone registered as a member of the guild. For several people, this was also the first time they saw the ''shop'' and the beautiful fairies.


    They immediately became excited and mesmerized and entered the magic shop. However, everything was quick to disappear as soon as they saw the price tag on each item and skill.


    It only took them a few seconds to understand the reality. This shop existed purely to taunt them!


    After the introduction to the magic shop, the whole settlement then started picking up their stuff and moving to the new base that Lan Ganjie and the others had set up.


    Even though the hotels were closer to the shop, the dungeon was more important for their growth right now. As a result, everyone relocated to the new area and settled in the streets surrounding the main camp.


    It was a bit awkward to expand suddenly, but no one was picky enough to demand luxuries orforts, so it wasn''t too hard to settle down.


    As per Liam''s orders, Lan Ganjie also immediately started to work on the administrative side. The number of people had suddenly increased, but the rules of the camp were still the same.


    Everyone had to work. There were no free lunches for anyone.


    Lan Ganjie requested Alex''s permission to change up a few things, but mostly he stuck to the hierarchy. The strong always had the first pick, whether it was beast meat, clothes, or other essential materials.


    He agreed with this principle since this was the only way to motivate everyone to keep trying harder and harder every single day. If a false sense of security seeps into the camp, then it could be extremely disastrous.


    The second thing that remained constant was the guildbat groups.


    There weren''t any changes to the groups that ran dungeons together because Liam had already instructed them not to dilute the first string groups with newbies.


    There was no point in giving free experience points and carries to others. If they wanted strength, they had to risk their lives and work for it.


    However, he did make the exception for Lan Deming and Lan Fen, as these two were special cases.


    These two were naturally blessed with high mana affinity despite not consuming body-cleansing elixirs like some of the guild''s core members.


    Their progress was phenomenal, just falling short of Alex''s and a few other talented fighters who stood out. They were also not in the same league as the granny and some of her students. Otherwise, the brother and sister pair were solid in their skill set.


    More importantly, they were also developing at a frightening pace whenpared to the others.


    Watching the two of them fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the group during the dungeon runs, Alex had an unsettling feeling well up inside.


    She quietly walked over to the side and leaned on a tree tiredly.


    "What happened, sis?" Rey walked over to her.


    "Nothing." Alex shook her head with a tired smile.


    "Hmmm?" Rey did not think that it was nothing.


    There was definitely something bothering her. He observed her line of sight and saw that she was gazing absent-mindedly at the two new additions.


    Rey immediately gasped. "Don''t tell me. Have you already given up on big brother Liam? You are interested in the new guy?"


    Alex''s face twitched, but Rey did not pick up his cue and continued on.


    "This is¡­ I didn''t expect this from you, sis. You have to be more loyal. You cannot look at other guys like this. If you are not sincere, then you can never win over big brother. Do you understand?"


    Alex''s face further darkened.


    The vein on her forehead throbbed as she listened to her brother go on and on, once again singing praises of Liam and, of course, along the way shattering her own self-respect into a million pieces.


    Finally, even Rey couldn''t overlook it. "Aha ha ha ha. I am just joking." He quickly took a few paces back and then ran away.


    Alex huffed and picked up the huge axe that she had found in one of the toolsheds. She then walked away to start practising her moves.


    At this point, they had permanently settled in front of the dungeon, running continuously without taking a break and maximizing their time inside.


    "Talented? I will show them what is talented." She gritted her teeth and continued to swing her weapon, each time also propelling a wave of divine aura outward.


    Slowly, she was bing more and more adept at handling mana and, more specifically, divine energy on her own. Now that they did not have help from the tutorial skill system, this was a herculean task.


    Rey watched her from a distance with a small smile on his face. His usual yfulness was not there as he watched his sister lovingly.


    He did not have to guess or ask why Alex had been so upset. Even he was prickled by the same thing. The two new people were very simr to Mia.


    Just like Mia, they were also able to grasp everything quickly and improve at an astonishing pace. Of course, Mia was still a step ahead, as she was a born genius.


    However, the two also did not fall too far behind.


    Watching them made his heart ache for the missing ice-cold angel. If Mia was here¡­


    Rey as well revealed a tired smile and shook his head. There was no point in thinking about that now.


    She was still alive and well. So instead of wasting time worrying about her, they had to be stronger, strong enough to bring her back.


    In a second, he wiped off the sincere expression on his face and reced it with his usual sunshine smile.


    "Who is ready for the next run? WHO! WHO! WHO!" He started howling like a wolf out of nowhere, which earned a few chuckles from the nearby team members.


    "Can you please stop acting like an idiot?" Alex facepalmed. Only her brother could be a total idiot, even in an apocalyptic setting. The guy did not have a single responsible bone in his body.


    She also red at the two new additions and quickly turned her focus back to her training, not willing to fall behind anyone.


    Born genius or not, she was determined to be better and stronger than anyone. Especially that guy.


    Liam''s arrogant face shed across her mind as she started swinging the axe with even more gusto, almost as if she was doing target practice, imagining his face right in front of her.

 Chapter 839 A Suffocating Grind

    While others continued to train in the dungeon day and night, Liam as well was pretty much doing the same thing as he arrived at the second dungeon that had been updated.


    He had first gone to the earlier dungeon, where he had already cleared a few floors, but to his surprise, he was not able to enter the thing, and a system notification popped out about the weekly reset.


    From the looks of it, the updated dungeon could only be attempted once a week, no matter how floors were cleared.


    This was a bit inconvenient, but luckily Liam had the luxury of another dungeon to lean on in the meantime.


    By the time he was done clearing the mobs of the second dungeon, the timer from the first one would easily run out, and he would be able to go there again.


    The n was solid. The only problem was the vampires that had recently cropped up. If they chose a time he was inside the dungeon to attack the base, then the result would be disastrous.


    At the same time, Liam couldn''t afford to sit and wait for something to happen simply. Otherwise, the impending second wave of apocalypse would crush them all.


    So it was either the rock or the hard ce. But then, there was another option, and Liam was staring at her currently.


    The little fox did not look happy as Liam coaxed her to return to the base and stand guard. Since their mental connection was strong enough, he would be able to keep an eye on everything while at the same time continuing to train.


    After taking care of that, Liam then finally stepped into the second dungeon. Unlike the first one, this dungeon did not have any intimidating towering creatures that were almost twice his size.


    Instead, it had small cute creatures. Well, cute but deadly.


    Liam''s face twitched as he stared at the group of slimes rushing towards him at full speed. Each of them looked a shade of green and purple, clearly containing something extremely toxic within them.


    If he was not careful, he could die even if he managed to kill these little things.


    But this was only a problem for others. Not for him. He had special tanks just for this purpose.


    Liam did not waste any time as he summoned his army of soul minions, at least those who were above Level 40.


    These slimes might not look like it, but they were still level 50. So he did not underestimate them and called forth only the big shots.


    The wyverns naturally stepped out first and started stomping down on the little things, snorting in annoyance.


    Almost immediately, the little slimes burst open like bubbles, and at the same time, Liam instinctively erected a mana barrier around him.


    The little shits spewed out both gaseous and liquid things that filled the entire space with a poisonous haze. It hung in the air like a heavy cloud, lethal and deathly.


    Moreover, they did not even die from the impact. The little blobs clumped together to form a few bigger slimes that once again came at the undead, shooting out bullets of poisonous substances.


    This was definitely going to be a drag. Liam did not like the dungeon very much. At least with the orcs, he was able to run through the space efficiently with a lot of speed, but these little things were time-consuming.


    At this rate, it was probably going to take an entire day just to deal with this floor, even though all the slimes on the floor were simply around level 50.


    Liam remained patient for the first three mobs while the wyverns tried variousbinations of elemental attacks to see what the slimes were weak against.


    They tried first freezing them and then zapping them with electricity, frying them directly with fire and even just trapping them under earthen barriers, but nothing was working.


    Their corrosive ability was top-notch as they slipped right through whatever attack was being piled on. The slimes had an insane magic resistance.


    The only way to kill them seemed to be physically exhausting them through repeated cycles of breaking them down as theybined together like jelly goo. In other words, it was a slow and painful process.


    After the fifth mob, Liam even started contemting quitting the dungeon run. The time spent versus the experience points gained was really not worth it.


    However, he also did not have the heart to give up on the dungeon just like that because then he would have nothing else to do.


    "How is iting along, Dimitri?" Liam asked the dark elf, whom he was hoping was his way out of this mess. Unfortunately, that also proved to be useless as the dark elf couldn''t identify or analyze the material of these slimes.


    In the end, Liam had to go through the awfully long grind until they arrived at the end of the cavernwork, where something extremely hideous stared at him.


    <Level 60, Elite Slime Mother>


    This particr slime was huge and tall and had a skull resembling an old woman hanging at the front. It also had a prefix in front of its name, suggesting that this was probably the boss of the dungeon.


    Liam''s eyes widened before he prepared to jump into the fight and withdrew his ck dragon sword. Unlike the other dungeon, this one interestingly had a floor boss.


    "So the architecture of each dungeon is different?" Liam took a deep breath and erected a mana barrier around himself before taking a step forward.


    "Let''s start."


    BOOM!


    The wyverns instantly started the onught with a variety of elemental attacks. The slime mother roared as she started spewing out corrosive acids that made the air tingle whilst casually ignoring the elemental attacks.


    Once again, the magic resistance was off the charts. However, the corrosive acids were alsopletely useless against the soul minions as they did not possess a fleshy body, to begin with.


    The two sides'' strong points negated each other. However, they also had their weak points. While wyverns were somewhat weak against both magic and physical attacks, the slime mother couldn''t do either of those.


    So from the get go the soul minions surrounded the slime mother and started cutting down the huge blob of goo.


    "Maybe I overestimated this boss?" Liam quietly watched the fight.


    However, as the boss''s health dropped down to thest 30%, he had to swallow this thought. The slime mother materialized some sort of acidic poisonous globules, which then evaporated to be sizzling lethal des.


    These des started flying left and right in the cavern, making it very difficult for both soul minions and Liam to evade the attack.


    Moreover, the poisonous vapours in the space obscured the vision, hiding them partially. These des also did some amount of physical damage.


    "So you are finally starting to fight back, huh?" Liam grinned. He moved from his spot and shed down at the slime mother with the ck dragon sword.


    The soul sword cut through the jelly-like slime, cutting down a big chunk of the health.


    The boss became enraged and started sending out more acidic and poisonous wind des, but Liam churned his mana core to maintain his agility at the peak condition whilst also maintaining the mana barrier.


    He shed at the boss again and again and again, bringing down the health by 5% every single time. In the end, he drained everyst bit of health of the slime mother as the huge thing wailed before exploding.


    SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!


    Putrid, greenish-purple poisonous jelly goop rained everywhere, but weirdly enough, there was no notification of experience points.


    Liam immediately had a bad feeling. This fight was still not over!


    The next second, the boss that burst out once again appeared in front of him. However, this time she was in the form of a slime army.


    Each thing that fell apart after the explosion became an individual slime monster. Each of them was nauseatingly resilient as they came at him from all directions.


    If his soul army was intimidating, this army of disgusting slimes wasn''t any less. More importantly, it was clear that each of them was going to keep splitting again and again until they eventually died downpletely.


    "Motherfcker!" Liam couldn''t help but curse out loud.


    This was going to be a long fight. He also did not hold back and summoned a bigger group of soul minions, and the two armies went up against each other fearlessly.


    Liam as well zig-zagged around the cavern, taking care of everything that came in his path.


    The slimes were never-ending, and the fightsted for about three hours straight. It was a long and boring grind, and the experience points were not nearly as rewarding.


    The only plus point was the fact that when Liam arrived at the next floor of the dungeon, he was staring at some sort of tree or a nt. There were no more slimes on the next floor!

 Chapter 840 Slow And Steady?

    While Liam took a breather, two of the wyverns took care of the poisonous nts by themselves by burning down the vines spread everywhere.


    Unlike thest floor, this one went by quickly, but Liam did not move forward just yet. He was waiting for his minions to get back.


    Back on the lower floor, the numerous soul minions were patiently going through puddles of sticky, oozy materials that were stered on the floor and the walls to see if anything had dropped after the fight.


    This was the first time Liam had battled a boss in the updated dungeon, so he had a feeling that there might be something to look forward to, perhaps a decent item drop.


    And his hunch was right on point. It took a few minutes and thebined efforts of several soul minions, but eventually, a barbarian returned back with a mana core.


    "So, no item or weapon?" Liam let out an exasperated sigh at the sight of the smaller than usual mana core, but as he received the mana core to take a closer look, his frown quickly turned.


    Unlike the pure crystalline structure that mana cores typically tended to have, this one was actually slightly muddled. It had light streaks of dark green and purple, like veins running along the mana core.


    As far as Liam knew, something like this was not possible in themon-grade mana cores. In fact, he hadn''t observed anything like this, even in the mid-tier mana cores back inside the game world.


    The only exnation that remained was¡­ this mana core was not ordinary.


    Thankful that the long and painful grind had at least turned out to be worth something, he quicklymanded the soul minions to move onto the next floor of the dungeon.


    Perhaps this was his lucky day.


    This dungeon might not have dropped as many weapons and items as the first dungeon, but if it was going to drop high-quality mana cores that had an affinity to an element, then that was far more valuablepared to the item drops.


    Liam grinned as he pocketed the core and ordered the minions to take care of the rest of the mobs on the dungeon floor. With fire-spitting minions front and centre, this floor got cleared at a much faster rate.


    The vines were quite sturdy andced with poisonous thorns, but after getting repeatedly bombarded with various attacks, they did not stand a chance.


    They alsocked the high magic resistance of the slimes, so the floor got cleared out quite easily. Liam as well received a nice chunk of experience points.


    Of course, this would have been taken care of a lot faster if a certain fox had been here. Liam smiled at the thought of the fox as he quickly tried to connect to Luna.


    "Is everything over fine?"


    Growl! Luna replied back snappily. From the looks of it, she was still pouting.


    Liam shook his head helplessly and continued to move onto thest few mobs on the floor. Soon even those were cleared out as the group arrived at yet another dungeon boss!


    Well, if one could even call it that.


    Liam eyed the huge spread of the thick, sturdy veins that were twisting and turning all over the ce. It did not even look like a creature in the first ce, but he did not dare underestimate it.


    The whole thing was definitely a single unit.


    And if he were a single person, this boss would have definitely given him a run for his mana. However, he was not.


    Liam signalled for the wyverns to start the fight once again. The ten draconian beasts spread out and started attacking the massively spread out boss in different ces.


    Vinesshed out from all sides, and the fight was a total blood bath or would have been if anyone in the army actually had blood flowing through their veins.


    Liam summoned a few more minions to watch the back of the wyverns, and then he himself dove into the fight as well. This was a splendid training opportunity, and he did not want to miss it.


    Coiled veins erupted from all directions, trying to attack him, scratch him and tie him up, and it forced Liam to move as fast as he possibly could to evade the sturdy and nimble opponent.


    He shed down at the vines that he was not able to evade, but the regeneration ability of the monstrous nt was quite impressive. It kept regrowing with every cut it received.


    Just like the mother slime, it took a while to exhaust the strange being.


    This made Liam even more confident that this guy also possessed a higher-grade mana core which was essentially supplying the creature with endless energy.


    The only question was whether it was high enough to take on the attacks from the wyverns and Liam at the same time.


    The answer to this question was revealed in a few minutes as the huge enormous nt that didn''t seem to have an end, or a beginning was burnt to a crisp with nothing left, save for one single item.


    Amidst the fallen ashes, the six-winged lion dug out a suspicious small mana core. He hurriedly ran to Liam to hand it over like a good little dog.


    Liam observed the mana core and noticed a light greenish-yellow tinge to it this time. Once again, he had received an above-average mana core. "Perfect. Let''s keep going." He grinned.


    They were down two floors, and there were still, hopefully, many more left. At this rate, this dungeon trip might just help him pay a huge chunk of the debt or buy another valuable skill.


    The next floor of the dungeon was a wee non-poisonous zone filled with treants. These monsters were pretty much trees that hade alive with a tinge of evil mixed in them.


    But Liam realized he had jumped to that conclusion too fast as the first one immediately opened its mouth to st a very pungent breath and one filled with toxic spores.


    Thankfully, he already had his mana barrier up as he had anticipated some sort of poisonous attack, which seemed to be the theme of the entire dungeon.


    He evaded the attack, and at the same time, the wyverns started attacking the treants. However, it did not go as smoothly as thest floor.


    The treants not only had the poison burst, but they were also hitting heavy. Each of them was around level 80, and the wyverns couldn''t hold on for too long. Even the three-headed one struggled.


    So Liam immediately sent all of his helpers to the backline, taking the brunt of the attacks and attention onto himself. It was time to get dirty and personal.


    Just like in thest dungeon, he was once again stuck on this particr floor with the mob around level 80.


    Even with his bonus stats and enhanced abilities, it was still draining to tackle an entire dungeon all by himself. The other soul minions did chip damage at best.


    But Liam continued to trudge along the dungeon relentlessly.


    The hard, physically tiringbat helped him take his mind off of many things, especially about the uncertain future and the dangers looming around them, both the ones that they knew of and the ones that were probably hidden.


    Hours passed by, and he slowly and steadily progressed on the dungeon floor, taking out one group of treants after another.


    The tall tree-like monsters whipped their branches at him, each oneshing out with heavy weight. Liam suspected that these creatures were using earth elemental attacks to boost their strength and power further.


    He did not know how long it had been since he started working on this dungeon floor, but it was clear that he was not going to be done anytime soon.


    The only question was whether to continue going in this manner all the way to the end of the dungeon floor to face the floor boss.


    While the thought of obtaining another higher-grade mana core was enticing, he did not want to risk his life unnecessarily.


    They were outside the game world now. Every death meant a permanent death.


    His logic warned him to leave the dungeon before the boss, but Liam also wanted to challenge himself by facing an enemy far stronger than him.


    While he was mulling over this decision, an unexpected notification popped up in front of him.


    <Ding! Your guild has been upgraded>


    "Huh? What now?" Liam stopped in his tracks staring at the new message. The two mana cores were still with him, so it was not him that had initiated it.


    "I guess I will take a trip and check it out." He cleared a few more of the treants along the way, gaining some experience points and then finally left the dungeon to pay a visit to the magic shop.


    He was curious about the guild upgrade, but he also wanted to see if he could buy some sort of trump card from the magic shop before attempting the floor boss.

 Chapter 841 L Will Give It To You Right Now

    Shortly after receiving the notification, Liam left the dungeon and summoned his undead condor. He took a ride on the soul beast and arrived at the magic shop in the next few minutes.


    When hended, surprisingly, two people were already waiting there for him. One was the three-tailed snow white fox who snarled at the undead condor and jumped onto Liam to take her rightful spot.


    And the other was Lan Ganjie.


    "Hmmm." Liam smiled. "How are you adjusting so far to the transition?"


    "Aha ha ha." Lan Ganjie lightlyughed in response. "What can I say, guild leader? We are truly blessed to have met with someone like you."


    It would have been quite awkward for the middle-aged man to treat someone so young as Liam with respect, but at the moment, he was honestly grateful.


    "I wanted to personally thank you again for sharing beast meat with us. I heard about how it helps to prevent people from bing violent and turning mindless."


    "We had several casualties because of this, and we also lost a few loved ones. Everyone is very grateful that this problem has finally been resolved. We will never forget this kindness."


    Liam nodded. "Don''t think too much about these things. In this new world, we are never really safe. All of us can only try to survive and do our best."


    "Mmm."


    "Did you also receive the notification about the guild upgrade?"


    "Yes, Mr Liam. Everyone registered in the guild received the message, but I asked them not to flock over here and waste their time."


    "I only brought a few people with me to check things out. Miss Alex, Mr Rey and my son Deming are inside. I was also just about to head inside." Lan Ganjie exined.


    Liam nodded again and then walked into the magic shop along with Lan Ganjie. The senior turned to take several nces at Liam as he was not sure if he should address the other thing.


    Liam, at the moment, had several injuries littered over his body. Some were small scratches, but a few were rather deep cuts, but the young man did not seem to be bothered by any of it.


    In the past, Lan Deming and Lan Fen had also run through the dungeon several times, but they always came out unscathed. They were never injured in this manner.


    However, just judging from this, it would be foolish to assume that they were stronger or knew how to fight better than Liam.


    In reality, this man was probably taking more risks than his son and daughter, fighting with stronger opponents by cing his life on the line.


    Lan Ganjie silently sighed in admiration as he couldn''t help but feel more and more positive about the young man walking beside him. He also made a mental note to talk to his son and daughter to push them a little more.


    However, as he walked in, he realized that this wouldn''t be needed at all. Standing inside the magic shop, Alex, Deming and Rey also had simr appearances to Liam, with numerous injuries on their bodies.


    Only the foreigner, Mr Rey, was looking a little better, but the other two seemed as if they had gone through a big ordeal.


    Lan Ganjie nodded contently. It was now clear to him that his talk or advice was no longer required for his children. They had a much better role model to emte.


    He could see the strongpetitive spirit raging in Deming''s eyes and couldn''t help but feel proud. If he was also young¡­


    Before he could finish that thought, coincidentally, an old woman entered his vision, and he once again smiled bitterly as he was forced to swallow his words.


    Naturally, he had heard about the ''super'' granny. The revered dojo master was a lot older than him but was still a force to reckon with, putting to shame even many of the younger fighters.


    There was no point cing the me on age. Lan Ganjie decided to stop thinking about unnecessary things.


    Just like others, he also had his strong points, and he wanted to contribute the best that he could by focusing on these strong points.


    "I will be talking to that fairy over there. Please excuse me, Mr Liam." He politely announced and took his leave.


    Liam as well made his way to the trio who were standing inside the magic shop and discussing something very seriously. "What did you all do now?" He jokingly asked.


    Unexpectedly, Alex turned to give him a very serious answer to that question. "A group of us reached Level 20, and we received the guild upgrade notification."


    "You guys reached Level 20 already?" Liam was visibly shocked.


    Sure, the first twenty to thirty levels were rather easy to gain, and it only became exponentially difficultter on, but still, this was a remarkable feat.


    In hisst life, he only barely managed to reach level 5 or something around that when the second wave of the apocalypse hit.


    And now, they were already ahead of the curve. This was good news.


    "Ok. Let''s check out what this guild upgrade is about." Liam excitedly stepped forward, only to be headbutted by the arrogant redhead.


    "Aren''t you forgetting something?" Alex huffed, cing her hands on her shapely hips.


    "Hmm?" Liam did not understand.


    "Hand me over my shield and my axe! I reached Level 20, didn''t I?" The redhead fumed.


    Liam chuckled as he finally understood the reason why the group had trained so intensely. Naturally, he was also well aware of the said reason. After all, in hisst life, he struggled like a dog without a proper weapon.


    "I will give it to you right now." He smiled and did not tease the redhead any longer.


    He reached into the spatial artifact, and right in front of everyone, he took out a broad sword and a shield that had a faint silver lustre.


    However, the moment the weapons were brought out in the open, a powerful aura seeped out of them. It grabbed the attention of every single person standing inside the shop, including the glittering fairies.

 Chapter 842 New Updates?

    "This!" Alex couldn''t believe her eyes. Others were also equally shocked.


    All the fairies in the shop started murmuring to each other in hushed whispers. It looked like they were able to tell the grade of the weapon by just looking at it.


    Perhaps they also had an Inspect skill like the one Liam had purchased. At least, that''s what he assumed.


    He knew that, at the moment, he was drawing attention to himself. However, he did that for a reason.


    And the next second, this ''reason'' actually stood up from her desk and finally walked out to show her face again.


    The store manager Tilia batted her eyes, shing a smile at Liam.


    Many of the new members were extremely shocked at this behaviour, but the old members had seen a lot more, so they did not particrly pay any attention to her.


    Simrly, Liam also did not pay much attention to her. He politely nodded back but then quickly went back to ignoring her.


    "Are you going to take it or not?" He winked at Alex.


    "This¡­ this is an epic-grade shield and an epic-grade sword?" Alex gulped.


    She extended her trembling hands and carefully epted the weapons as if she were epting a newborn baby into her arms.


    Her eyes wandered lovingly over the weapons she had longed for day and night for so long.


    "Brother! This is so unfair!" Rey''s eyes were locked onto the amazing set of weapons as well. He had only received a random bow, but Alex had received an epic-grade gear set? Nothing was fair in this world!


    Liam shook his head helplessly and raised his hand to pat the guy on the back. "Since you are cheating, you would have to reach Level 25 to get the items, not Level 20 like the others."


    "Bro¡­"


    Rey looked dejected, and his head drooped down as if he were drowning in misery, but the next second, Alex swatted him on the head. "Stop messing around. Let''s remember where we are."


    "Huh? So you remembered where you were when you asked bro for the items?" Rey scowled, but Alex ignored him and went back to admiring and getting ustomed to her new equipment.


    "Tch. Tch. So unfair. So unfair."


    Liam knew better than to intervene in the friendly fire between the siblings, so he side-stepped them and walked over to Deming.


    "Here you go." To Deming''s surprise, he handed him a pair of daggers as well.


    Deming did not even have to look closely. Just a single nce told him that this pair of weapons was on apletely different level than the ones he was using.


    What were they even made of?


    As an all-rounder, he had some amount of knowledge in smithing and such, especially when it came to traditional weapons. But he was entirely unable to recognize the metal these daggers were made from.


    He looked at them for a couple of seconds and could only draw one conclusion. These were very valuable. Far more valuable for Liam to be simply handing them over to him.


    "Ah¡­ I¡­" He stammered, looking up at the enigmatic guy only to see a gentle smile.


    "Don''t worry about it. You are a part of the team now." Liam patted him.


    No way! Immediately, both Alex and Rey turned to look at the pair of daggers in Deming''s hands.


    For a second, they were worried that Liam had been too impulsive. Only after they confirmed that it was not Shen Yue''s legendary daggers did they let out a sigh of relief.


    It was not that they had anything against Deming per se, but they had known the guy for not that long, so they were notfortable sharing their legendary grade items.


    Liamughed at the duo''s reaction.


    He also looked at Deming and added. "I will be honest with you. I have a better pair of daggers with me, but to win that, you would have to beat another member of the group."


    Oh? Deming''s interest was piqued, but he quickly shook his head.


    "Mr Liam, that would not be necessary. I am satisfied with what you have given me right now. I will first earn my ce before aiming higher." Since Liam was straightforward with him, he also did not beat around the bush.


    "Alright. At least stop calling me so formally all the time. We are all going to fight together from now on, trusting each other to watch our backs. So no need to be so distant."


    Liam patted him and moved on to the next task at hand. He still had to distribute weapons to a bunch of others, but for now, he first wanted to take a look at the new guild upgrade.


    Still ignoring Tilia, he silently opened the system interface without sparing the fairy another nce.


    Tilia obviously noticed this as the fairy''s face twitched. However, she as well remained silent. This was because¡­ she knew something Liam did not know.


    There was a surprise waiting for him, and she sneered inwardly as she wondered how the human being was going to handle the challenge.


    Meanwhile, Liam browsed the guild interface. His gaze went through the various details only to see that the upgrade was quite a simple one.


    They had basically unlocked another tier, which enabled them to organize the guild members in a more borate fashion.


    They could now have members and non-members, who were essentially members on a waitlist.


    Also, the total number of people who could register for the guild had also increased. Not that they hit this limit in the first ce.


    Other than these couple of changes, there was also the option to select a small territory as a guild residence. This basically only allowed people from the specific guild residence to inhabit that particr territory.


    "Hmmm¡­ this is new." Liam frowned. His gaze then shifted to check if these fairies were charging more fees for establishing a guild residence and marking a specific territory as theirs.

 Chapter 843 Unexpected Notification

    Liam did not mind paying the fees to register the guild, but if they again had to pay a ridiculous amount of fees to im a foothold on the that originally belonged to them¡­ that did not quite sit well with him.


    Thankfully, it did note to that. It looked like setting up a territory was free of charge. It was more of a firste, first serve arrangement.


    He observed it for a few more minutes and then realized something else. Wasn''t this a recipe for war? At least if they had to pay fees, then there would be some sort of threshold to cross.


    Liam gave a sideways nce to the fairy, who was still smirking and continued browsing the system interface. These seemed to be the main changes after the upgrade.


    They were a little underwhelming at the moment, but he did not care. Setting up a territory could potentially lead to many more things.


    They probably have to keep unlocking higher tiers to get more features. There was a lot of work to be done.


    Liam sighed, and just as he was about to turn and walk away, he noticed something strange. There was actually another small change that he almost missed!


    He clicked on the notification blinking in the corner, and his eyes immediately widened in shock.


    "Alex! Rey! Come here and take a look!" Liam immediately called the duo over.


    Since Liam was calling them, they naturally became curious and peered over the status screen quickly, and the next second they also revealed stunned expressions.


    Was this for real?


    <Ding. Crimson Abyss Guild is now visible on all magic shops in this world; Registered members from other shops would now be able to apply for guild membership irrespective of their location>


    The three went through the message several times over, and the implications of this were ring right at their faces.


    "Bro, does this mean we will now be able tomunicate with other guild members who are stuck in different parts of the world?" Rey eximed in shock.


    "Yes. That should be possible." Liam scratched his chin.


    They would finally be able to set up proper channels ofmunication with everyone who survived.


    Not only that, but they would be able to provide them with help and perhaps even do some sort of mana core transfer or item transfer through the guild warehouse to aid them. The possibilities were endless.


    The only problem was that this would alert both friends and enemies alike to their guild''s existence.


    And Crimson Abyss, or rather, Liam, had a lot of enemies.


    This single notification essentially elerated everything. They would once again be on the hot te before even the second wave of the apocalypse hit the.


    "This is not good." Alex also spelt out what was on his mind.


    Mmm. Liam hummed as he lifted his head up to look at the fairy hovering silently in front of him.


    Grin!


    It was only for a second, but there was an unmistakable smile on the fairy''s face, which quickly disappeared when their eyes met.


    "Good day, Mr Liam. May I help you with anything?" Tilia shed her usual flirtatious smile and asked, though it sounded more sarcastic than helpful.


    "Perhaps you want to sell us some weapons like that to make preparations for the future?" The fairy pointed at Alex''s shield and sword, which she was hugging closely to her body.


    So you are enjoying my misery, huh? Liam silently smiled and then shook his head. He was not hit hard enough in the head to make the kind of transaction the fairy was suggesting. The resale value would be dirt cheap.


    Instead, he fished out the two small mana cores. "I am not interested in selling any weapons, but you can help me after all." He showed Tilia the mana cores. "Can you tell me how manymon-grade mana cores these can be exchanged for?"


    The fairy''s face twitched as she gazed at the two bite-sized crystal pieces in Liam''s hand. It was clear that he had managed to achieve a breakthrough somewhere and had started putting down dungeon bosses.


    "Each of these can be exchanged for 10,000 tier 1 mana cores." She professionally replied. However, there was definitely a hostile vibe to her tone.


    Liam did not care about that and handed over his store card. "Add the bnce to the card."


    "Sure thing, Mr Liam." Tilia as well shed a cold yet polite smile as she waltzed back inside, throwing the card to another fairy to process.


    Standing next to Liam, Alex looked at the two mana cores, then at Liam, and then at the fairy who was walking away. She chuckled inwardly.


    "Women seem to either hate you or love you? What do you do to them?" She was very much enjoying the icy treatment Liam was receiving. For once, there was justice in this world.


    Hmmm? Liam snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at the snickering redhead, who seemed to be really enjoying herself. "Which category are you?" He raised his brows.


    Alex immediately flushed a little and turned away. "I am leaving." She took her shield and broad sword and ran out of the shop in a hurry.


    Only Rey and Deming still stood with Liam, one barely holding back hisughter and the other clearly confused about what was going on.


    "Well, 20,000 mana cores is not that much. I don''t think that I will be able to buy anything with it. So let''s make a move as well." Liam also started walking out of the shop after the fairy returned his updated store card.


    "Bro, what about our guild members?" Rey whistled and walked next to him.


    "The guild upgrade just got activated. So let''s give them some time to notice the guild first. We can trymunicating with them tomorrow. I am pretty sure that we can see some names by then."


    "Oh. That makes sense. Do you think they discovered some dungeons too? I wonder how they are doing." Rey started casually discussing various things with Liam.


    Lan Deming also walked behind them, silently listening to their conversation. He couldn''t help but regret that he had missed out on being a part of a game that had such huge global ramifications.


    And from the looks of it, it was not a simple game. The entire situation was shrouded in mystery on many levels and even gave rise to a monster like Liam.


    From everything that had happened so far, Lan Deming was sure of one thing.


    He might have been born naturally talented, but it was abundantly clear to him that the person next to him had worked hard to get where he was today. He respected that a lot.


    The three of them continued talking about various things as they walked out of the shop. However, before they could step out of the magic shop, another notification shed in front of all three of them.


    <Ding. Crimson Abyss has been challenged to a guild war>


    <Ding. Do you wish to ept this challenge? Yes/No>

 Chapter 844 Messengers Of God

    <Ding. Crimson Abyss has been challenged to a guild war>


    <Ding. Do you wish to ept this challenge? Yes/No>


    "What the fuck? Are you serious? Bro! Are you seeing this?" Rey almost flipped out on seeing the message.


    It had only been a few minutes since the guild had been made visible for all purposes, but in this short time, someone had actually sent them a war notice? Who the heck was this crazy lunatic?


    He turned to see what was Liam''s reaction as he found the guy oddly silent, but as soon as he did, Reypletely froze.


    His gaze shivered as he saw a bone-chilling coldness in the person''s face. Liam was angry, and he had never seen Liam this angry before.


    But wasn''t this just a guild war notice?


    He was also quite upset about it as it seemed like the other party was underestimating Crimson Abyss even though they were the top guild back in the game, but it was still not enough to warrant a reaction like this?


    After all, they had done something simr back inside the game as well and evene out victoriously. So it was the other person who should be worried?


    It took Rey a couple of seconds, and it finally sunk in.


    That was right. This was no longer a game, and they no longer had infinite lives.


    And this person had sent a war notice¡­


    It meant that they had decided to fight with them to death?


    Rey shivered once again. The realization hit him hard. This was an extremely cruel thing to do, especially at uncertain times like these. Humanity was supposed to stand together, not fall divided like this.


    Even though he was pretty sure that it was not them who were going to be on the losing side, it was still a huge deal. Who was this person who was determined to jump in front of their truck andmit suicide?


    His gaze lingered on the notification, and he finally paid attention to the finer details, starting with the name of the guild that had challenged them to war!


    "Messengers of God?" Rey became even more speechless.


    What kind of a narcissistic name was this? Just who the heck were these people? Where did this guild suddenly crop up from?


    And why on earth were they picking a fight with them of all the people? Haven''t they heard of Crimson Abyss before? Were these idiots? Rey''s head hurt.


    He then shook himself, snapping out of the confusing thoughts. It was simply no use trying to understand the inner workings of an idiot''s brain!


    He read the details again and saw that the challenge gave them 5 days to prepare in case they epted it.


    If they win, then the enemy''s territory would belong to them from now on, and if they lose, then their territory would belong to the enemy from now on. There was no other additional penalty or reward of any kind.


    Rey turned to look at Liam and saw that he still had the same bone-chilling gaze. "Bro¡­ ummm¡­ we¡­"


    "We are going to ept this." Liam coldly replied.


    There was also an option to decline and that did not have any penalty like the one inside the game. However, a guild could only decline three times, and a challenge could be issued every 45 days.


    So even if the guild decided to challenge them again and again mindlessly, they could still go on for a good 100 days without having to worry about this issue. This would also give them more time to prepare.


    For others, this might seem like the better option, but Liam knew more about what the future heldpared to others.


    In 100 days, everything would change, and then guild war would be thest thing on everyone''s mind. They would probably not even have to go through with this.


    But at the same time, the kind of people that issued a war at a time like this should not be allowed to continue to live.


    "We are going to ept this and massacre the other side. Completely." Liam repeated his words.


    This time around, things were beginning to unfold very differently. In fact, this might not be the only guild challenging them.


    So Liam was determined to give a good demonstration of what happens when someone issues a guild war challenge, treating people''s lives as nothing.


    "They want a war? We will give it to them."


    Rey could see that Liam was quite set on this decision, so he did not say anything else. He also agreed with Liam in the first ce, so there wasn''t anything else to say.


    ''Yes'' was the only answer here, and if they showed weakness or sympathy to the other side, then it was only going toe back and bite themter on. So Rey silently nodded.


    Deming, on the other hand, was curious about something else. "Mr Liam, do you by chance know this guild back when the game was ongoing?"


    "Huh? No, actually we never heard of this guild." Rey answered instead. "Why do you ask, Deming?"


    "The thing is¡­ I am not sure. But these people sent us a challenge so suddenly and so soon that it almost felt like they were waiting for us? I mean, waiting for our guild to upgrade? I don''t think that this war challenge is so straightforward. They might be plotting something."


    "Oh?" Rey nodded. "Now that you mention this, it does make sense."


    The two of them looked at Liam for his opinion, only to see that he was grinning wildly. "No."


    "Huh?"


    "There is no need to have any doubt." Liamughed. "This was done specifically to challenge us, and I am pretty sure who is behind this challenge."


    Both Rey and Deming were shocked but seeing Liam''s mood, they did not ask anything else.


    The three of them continued to walk silently out of the magic shop as Liam casually raised his hand and epted the challenge with a big grin.


    "It looks like we are going to war in 5 days!"

 Chapter 845 No One Has To Participate

    After leaving the magic shop, Liam, Rey, and Deming arrived at the new base hitching a ride with the big white fox, who hummed happily as she was no longer away from Liam.


    She blurred through the evening sky, only taking a few minutes to reach the destination.


    And when they arrived, the entire ce was alive for obvious reasons.


    "Bro, it looks like everyone received the notification about the war." Rey smiled bitterly.


    "Ughh. I will try to do some damage control on our end." Lan Deming scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed.


    Their side had far more civilians than the others, and also, everything was quite new to them, so they were inplete and utter disarray, scared about the impending war.


    Many did not even understand what this meant and the ramifications of something like this. They had seen the notification about the war and naturally jumped to the only conclusion.


    Though the world had visibly changed from all angles, it was still difficult for many people to digest something like this.


    Liam did not me them. He also did not bother preparing any inspiring and rousing speeches to motivate the masses. From the beginning, that had never been his aim.


    These people were far too weak, and it was far too soon for them for something like this to happen.


    Before Rey or Deming could talk to anyone, Liam walked right into the centre of the crowded street where everyone had assembled as if they were preparing for a procession.


    He looked at the group and calmly spoke to them. "This is not your fight. No one has to participate. Ignore the notification and carry on with your daily activities."


    Silence~


    Everyone nkly stared at each other''s faces as they were once again shocked and confused. However, as Liam''s words started to sink into them finally, they were more relieved than confused.


    So they did not have to participate in the war?


    Liam did not say anything else and silently walked into the house that he had picked. The crowd as well dispersed.


    However, not everyone was happy with his decision.


    Rey, Deming, Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei and the whole group of main Crimson Abyss guild members walked into the same house, quickly following Liam.


    "Guild leader, we cannot agree with this decision. We know that you do not require our help, but we would still like to participate." Shin Soo spoke first.


    "Liam, you cannot stop me from joining." Alex ced her hands on her hips and dered.


    "Brother, see, I also reached Level 20. I won''t be useless. I will also stand and fight with you." Mei Mei gripped the sides of the pant she was wearing.


    Shen Yue stood silently, but she was also clearly unwilling to let Liam take this challenge by himself. A few more people spoke and expressed their disagreement. Even Lan Deming and Lan Fen were in this group.


    However, Liam remained oddly silent. After listening to the forty or so displeased with his decision, he only smiled.


    A couple of seconds of awkward silence ensued, after which he stood up from the couch with a chuckle.


    "There is a reason behind every single one of my decisions. If we all get dragged into the war, who will stand guard by the base?"


    Ah! Everyone nodded in realization. They had be too hot-headed because of this sudden deration of the challenge, so they hadn''t yet thought about everything calmly.


    And now that Liam mentioned it, they could see the reasoning behind his decision. Unlike them, he had acted after thinking clearly.


    However, just as this thought ran across their minds, Liam once again opened his mouth and added. "Also, you guys do know that you are too weak to be of any help to me, right?"


    "With what confidence are you offering me this support?" He startedughing.


    Everyone became a little embarrassed as they awkwardly looked away. No one had any rebuttals for this statement, but thankfully, Liam did not dwell on it.


    He once againughed and continued, "While it is true that you are not strong enough yet, you have all done a good job of reaching Level 20 without the help of any crutches."


    "How did it feel? Did you get a good understanding of mana?"


    Everyone nodded silently.


    "Mana energy is the same here as it was back in the tutorial world, but it was easier to sense there because of the skills and the system''s help. Here it''s just a bit difficult."


    Just a bit? Many people bit their lips at this remark as they continued to listen.


    Liam smiled. "I know it''s difficult, but once you seed in sensing mana and using it as a part of yourself, it is permanently yours. No one can take it from you anymore."


    "This is not the tutorial. This is the real world. Try to learn as much as you can and improve as fast as you can. Don''t worry about small things like this war."


    "And that brings us to the next topic. Since many of you are already at Level 20, today you will be getting your weapons of choice and armour."


    Liam then started taking out several items from his spatial artifact one after the other, piling all of them up on the ground.


    These were the top guild vault weapons that Shen Yue had gathered, and the little rabbit had snuck in at thest moment. So there were many high-grade weapons, including epic-grade ones.


    Of course, in this list, there were also a pair of daggers and an emerald crown. These two outshone the rest of the equipment and were clearly in a league of their own.


    And everyone as well knew exactly what they were.


    Legendary items!


    Items that were iparably powerful!


    Several gasps echoed in the hall as Mei Mei immediately rushed forward and imed her beloved crown.


    When Liam mentioned earlier that he had it, she did not dare believe it, but now the familiar sparkling item was right in front of her eyes!


    "That''s mine!"


    ***


    Bonus Chapter~


    Please thank Preacher for sponsoring this bonus chapter!

 Chapter 846 Goodies For Everyone

    Seeing Mei Mei shamelessly picking the best item out of the pile, Shen Yue also did not hold back and dashed ahead with her cheeks burning brightly.


    She picked up the pair of daggers, whichy at the top of the pile, emitting a mysterious ominous lustre and had the aura of something iparably powerful.


    "Thank you." She shyly bowed to Liam before walking back to her position again. The two legendary items were gone just like that.


    The duo started caressing their long-lost items lovingly, with visible joy and excitement in their eyes. Others couldn''t help but feel envious as they watched this scene.


    Shen Yue twirled the daggers in the air and made a couple of moves which left a deep impression on anyone who saw the electric power seething in the air.


    Even Lan Deming, who was calm,posed, and stable earlier, couldn''t help but feel his heart agitate as he watched the daggers hissing like a pair of vicious snakes. As an assassin, his hands itched, wanting to hold something like that at least once in his life.


    Mei Mei as well, did not stand simply. As soon as she ced the crown on her head, she could feel the strong currents of mana coursing through her body and an insane power and strength seeping into her.


    This was from the stat boost provided by the Emerald Crown. She immediately started producing a ball of pure mana and, the next second, dispersed the same ball as several tiny dots of mana visiblynded on everyone in the room.


    What was interesting was that when these tiny dots of mananded, everyone could feel a breath of fresh air seeping into their lungs as if they had been energized.


    "Yesss!" Mei Mei did a small fist pump in the air.


    She had been trying to achieve this skill on her own for a while, and now she had finally managed to take thest step and finish the skill to perfection.


    <Ding. You have learned a new skill - [Blessing of Mana]>


    [Blessing of Mana: All stats of allies are increased by 1%]


    Mei Mei''s eyes gleamed like twinkling stars as she swiped the notification away with a giggle.


    Liam, naturally, received the buff as well and gave an encouraging nod to his sister. He had not been paying much attention to her, but she was still working very hard.


    In reality, he wanted her to live a peaceful life and make a lot of friends and have a decent childhood. However, he also did not want to control her too much.


    Was it even possible to have a childhood in the current world?


    He walked over to her, gave her a big hug and kissed her gently on the forehead.


    Almost everyone knew how much Liam doted on his sister, so they did not have much of a reaction, but some of the new additions to the team stared at this scene in shock.


    Even this insane monster has a side like this to him?


    Watching Liam like this was very humanizing for them, but no one dared to forget who he was underneath all that.


    Lan Deming once again changed the opinion he had about Liam. As a brother, he also understood the man''s intentions.


    As these few people curiously watched the heartwarming interaction, others did not stand around idly. After all, items were at stake, and the good ones were bound to go first!


    The two legendary items were clearly out of their reach, but there were still other things in the pile.


    Alex and Shin Soo picked out some armour for themselves. Shin Soo also grabbed a shield and a broad sword.


    He sparred with Alex a lot and copied a lot of her moves, and essentially learned everything from her, so their weapon choices were also the same.


    Next, Ning Xi took a pair of swords and some leather gear for herself.


    With her slender nimble figure, she was training to be a dual sword wielder. The leather armour and pants stuck closely to her body and gave her a seductive wild appearance.


    Mei Mei and Shen Yue also stopped marvelling at their legendary items and went in for seconds to pick up some armour.


    Hoping Liam wouldn''t notice, Rey also sneakily switched out his bow and took some armour as well.


    Berat, Kim Hyun, Kang Mina, and Chung Hee, everyone else as well started helping themselves one after the other.


    Back in the game, Berat was simply in charge of trading, but now after the world changed, he no longer wished to remain the same.


    While the game was still there, he had taken some pointers from Liam and trained in sensing mana and casting spells, even though he did not focus on levelling.


    Right now, all that knowledge was helping him and paying off big time. He was able to cast a good few spells without officially learning the skills. These were simply basic spells, but that in itself helped a lot, and he was also able to get to level 20.


    The group of Korean yers were also in the same boat. They had long since devoted themselves to Liam and practically worshipped him, so they had moved to his city as soon as he made the first guild announcement, not doubting him even a little.


    And now they were reaping the reward for it and gaining strength and abilities at a fast pace. Kim Hyun, Kang Mina, and Chung Hee, all of them followed Shin Soo and did not stand on ceremony. Their eyes searched for the best option avable and grabbed it fast.


    In fact, no one from the guild''s main team was holding back at all. One by one, everyone who had reached Level 20 stepped forward and helped themselves to the gear.


    Some of them were not the top rankers of the guild, but since they made the right decision to move here, they were now able to enjoy the high-quality gear that they wouldn''t have obtained otherwise without the intensepetition.

 Chapter 847 Vicious Cycle

    The item distribution continued on for a while as Liam had a pretty huge stash of weapons and armour piled up. Even the members from granny''s dojo helped themselves to the various items, setting aside their traditional values.


    Only the newest additions stood around awkwardly, knowing full well that it wouldn''t be correct to take advantage of Liam''s kindness. Forget about right or wrong, they wouldn''t dare in their dreams to do something like this and risk their lives.


    In the end, Liam walked over himself and handed Lan Fen an epic-grade magic staff. This was one of the weapons he had personally forged back in the elvennds inside the game.


    He thought that this fitted the style of the girl, and he gave her a weapon to encourage her natural talent.


    "Ah¡­" Lan Fen was a bit taken aback by this as she hadn''t expected such a gesture. She immediately looked at her brother as she was nervous about how to respond to this unexpected turn of events.


    But Lan Deming did not say anything. He simply gave her a nod and signalled her silently to ept the weapon.


    It did not matter that they hadn''t done anything to deserve it. Since Liam was giving it himself, there was no point in being pretentious and refusing a gift.


    In this new world, they couldn''t afford to nurture their pride too much. Survival came first.


    People with better equipment had a better chance to be stronger and obtain more opportunities which would once again put them in a better position to receive such opportunities.


    It was truly a vicious cycle.


    If one really wanted to climb from the very bottom and topple all of these people, then only heaven-defying luck would help or perhaps hardwork that consumed their very life.


    Nothing was wrong in epting a little help in this arduous journey, especially when many people''s lives depended on it.


    Besides, from everything he had seen so far, he couldn''t help but conclude that this was a good team to be a part of. If they did not deserve special treatment just yet, then they only had to work harder in the future and pay their dues.


    Lan fen understood her brother''s intentions and epted the staff. She also couldn''t resist such a powerful staff. Even beforeying her hands on it, she could already feel that this was going to change her life.


    And just as she suspected, as soon as the staff touched her hand, Lan Fen could feel a burst of energy sweeping through her body.


    Suddenly her mind became clearer, and some things that were bothering her with respect to her ice magic untangled themselves in her head.


    That was not all. She also got a small clue about using some other magic apart from her ice magic.


    She gripped the staff tightly and bowed to Liam in gratitude. She would definitely not let him down for trusting her with this.


    Liam smiled. He did not say anything. Naturally, he had given these two siblings the benefit of the doubt and taken a big leap in including them in their group.


    At least, that''s how it would look to an outsider.


    But in reality, there were zero chances that the two would ever betray him as long as their father was still in his settlement. He could even be called a hostage.


    Also, he had only given them a few things and nothing earth-shattering, so there was no need to think too much.


    Watching this interaction, Rey, who was standing a few feet away, quickly leaned towards Shin Soo, and snickered. "Look at that. Bro is already securing his next harem member."


    Shin Soo gave the guy a long and hard look and then quietly stepped aside. Alex, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and even Kang Mina, who had a crush on Liam, were all standing around them.


    If this guy were to speak even a decibel louder, then all these women would probably pummel them both. However, Rey did not get the hint and continued silently snickering. Luckily for Liam, the crowd was too upied with their new gear to pay attention to him.


    Soon, everyone finished grabbing what they wanted and needed from the items pile. It took about an hour for the whole event, but at the end of it, there were big smiles visible on most people''s faces.


    The weapon distribution was sessfullypleted, and this was the first step in the war preparation. Afterwards, no one lingered back any longer, and the several teams rushed back to the dungeon as if there was a fire lit under their asses.


    Liam couldn''t tell if it was because of the teasing words he had spoken, wherein he had basically called them useless baggage or if it was because of the excitement of getting actual weapons to st through the dungeon runs.


    Either way, everyone seemed to be extremely motivated and rushed to the dungeon in a hurry starting their runs sooner than usual. After all, there was a war happening in five days, and they had no intentions of remaining at the level 20s when shit went down.


    Seeing the crowd clear in a second, Liam also did not n to remain idle.


    He had just now finished running through the second upgraded dungeon partially as much as he could and was still quite tired. However, there were still things that he could do.


    The other dungeon would have reset by now, and getting through the lower levels was a piece of cake. All he had to do was take a stroll while his minions did the work.


    So he hurriedly washed himself up, put on some clean clothes, grabbed some food to eat and then left Luna behind to guard as usual before leaving for the orc dungeon.


    Without any dy, he dove straight into the portal and summoned his army or at least those minions in his army who were around Level 50.


    This ensured both speed and efficiency, and the dungeon run started with a bang as the wyverns went all out right from the get-go!

 Chapter 848 The Worry Stricken Wife

    Liam made sure to rest adequately while strolling behind his soul minions who were raising hell inside the dungeon. It looked like, after the reset, the entire dungeon was once again fully brimming with mobs from top to bottom, just like the first time.


    And since this was the second run, there were no more surprises waiting for him, and they progressed quite easily, at least until the third floor, where the Level 75 to 85 titan orcs stood guard.


    At this point, just the soul minions were no longer enough to deal with the dungeon mobs. Liam decided to take a pause here as he did not want to exhaust himself before the big eventpletely.


    For now, a few of the minions had levelled up, and he also managed to gather quite a bit of item drops.


    These items were quite redundant for the main members of the party as they had higher-tiered equipment, but in this world, one could never have enough gear.


    Lan Ganjie had also taken some new initiatives. After checking with Liam, the seasoned politician organized small task force teams for training neers.


    These people moved around the cities in trucks and vehicles and checked for stray beasts and mana zombies. They attacked these less-threatening foes under the safety of supervision and slowly trained.


    Dungeon mobs were too difficult for these types of beginners who previously did not have muchbat experience.


    Though this sort of setting might not yield anything in the short run, in the long run, there might be some surprising results. So Liam decided to allot the low-tier dungeon drops to these teams.


    He also saved some forter use when a guild vault became avable, and Crimson Abyss members from other parts of the world could ess this guild vault.


    Liam then once again resumed his dungeon run and slowly trained at his own pace.


    In this manner, the next few days quickly passed by, and soon, the five days got over in the blink of an eye. It was finally the big day! The war was here! Knocking on their doorstep!


    Liam returned back to the base a few hours before dawn and took some time to refresh himself and take a small nap.


    His mind was a little unsteady, not for theck of confidence but because he couldn''t help the numerous thoughts crashing like waves one after the other without an end.


    More than the war itself, the question that bugged him the most was¡­ Who were these Messengers of God? He had never heard of this guild before in both his lifetimes, which made it all the more mysterious.


    As he mulled over this thought and prepared himself for the day, an energetic redhead promptly showed up on his doorstep.


    "We are alsoing with you." Alex stood outside, along with a bunch of other guild members. Every single one of them seemed to be determined to support him.


    Liam chuckled lightly at the bunch. He naturally appreciated them because they had been loyal to him now for quite a while, but at the same time, he really did not n on taking anyone with him for many reasons.


    "I mean what I said. I will be going alone."


    "I really think that you should reconsider. You should at least bring a tank and a few healers with you. We will support you from the sidelines." Alex shook her head.


    Liam walked closer and couldn''t help himself as he flicked the forehead of the unruly redhead. "You want toe with me even if this is going to be dangerous?"


    Alex''s face twitched, but she replied seriously without responding to his taunt. "Yes."


    "I might be walking into anything. Are you willing to die for me?" Liam smiled and asked again.


    However, the redhead was still strong. "Yes." She also replied again.


    "Then what about your sister?"


    Finally, the girl''s face changed. Alex gritted her teeth without saying anything else and looked down.


    Liamughed and did not want to mess with her anymore. "Listen. I made this decision only after careful thinking, and it has not changed. Stand back and stay guard here. I have a feeling that this war could be a distraction."


    "As for me¡­ don''t worry about me. I will definitely be back."


    Everyone carefully listened to Liam and nodded. He had a n, and their duty was to follow his orders. So they did not question him again. Even Alex, who was always headstrong, let it go.


    "Don''t be too arrogant and hold back. Just go all out from the beginning." She mumbled.


    Liam smiled. "Ok. I won''t."


    "You know you can stack rings and bracelets. If you are first starting with long-rangebat, wear as many as you can, and when u move to closebat, you can lose some ording to convenience."


    "Yes, I know."


    "Liam, I think the enemy challenged us, knowing full well that we are crimson abyss. He might have some trump cards. Be careful. He might not know about your level 80 yet, but he might still have his own secrets."


    "Yes, I will keep that in mind."


    "You-"


    "Sis, that''s enough." Reyughed as he pulled his sister back, tugging at her hand.


    Alex looked startled for a moment as she finally snapped out of it and remained quiet. She realized that, at the moment, she sounded like a wife reminding her husband about the things that he shouldn''t forget.


    She became immediately flustered and then a little angry. "What do you know! Even if it is Liam, he is going to face an enemy, so I just wanted to remind him about a few things." She muttered under breath, defending herself with a scoff.


    Rey threw his hands up in the air helplessly.


    Liam chuckled. "I know. Thank you." He did not mind at all. He smiled at the redhead, who looked quite adorable and cute at the moment and then turned to leave.


    However, he stopped as Alex''s voice once again sounded. Was this girl still not done yet?


    "Ummm¡­ sorry¡­st thing¡­ the stats¡­ even the lower level opponent could have extremely high stats. Don''t forget."


    Alex had found this out only recently, so even though she was very embarrassed at the moment, she decided to inform Liam about this onest thing as she was notpletely sure if he knew this or not.


    "Yes, I do know about the special geniuses, blessed by mana." Liam smiled and gave a sideways nce at Lan Deming, who returned his gaze with a nod.


    But then he suddenly froze.


    "Did you say stats? What do you mean, stats?"

 Chapter 849 Rigged From The Very Start!

    Judging from the shocked look on Liam''s face, Alex could tell that she had indeed hit the nail on the head. It seemed like Liam did not know about this after all.


    "I knew it!" Colour returned to her face as she started talking a lot more confidently. "Liam, I will exin it to you. See. The thing is, when we level up, different people are gaining a different amount of stats."


    "Back inside the game, we gained 2 stat points per attribute for below Level 50, but now we only gain 2 stat points for every level. But this is not true for everyone."


    "I am gaining 6 stat points every level, and all of the guild members who had taken the body cleansing elixir are also gaining 4 or 5 stat points per level, higher than 2, which seems to be the norm." Alex continued.


    "Are¡­ are you sure?" Liam stammered. He had never heard of anything like this before. Some people gained 2 stats, while others gained more when levelling?


    In Liam''s previous life, he had only gained 2 stats for every level. Most people only gained that. However, the fact that Alex could gain 6 showed him exactly how tyrannical a person''s affinity was or rather, the tutorial had been.


    If one managed to use the tutorial in the right way, then the gains could reflect so much in the real world. He had only wanted to sharpen everyone''s affinity and base constitution, but it looked like it had inadvertently led to a result like this.


    This might not be as good as Liam''s own stats, as his stats were carried over from within the game.


    Those gains were quite generous whenpared to now, with anyone from Level 1 to Level 10 gaining 6 stat points per level, anyone from Level 10 to Level 50 gaining 12 stat points per level andstly, anyone from Level 50 gaining 18 stat points per level.


    This in itself had given Liam a huge leg uppared to other people who only gained measly 2 stat points in the outside world for every level.


    But it looked like that was not the end of it. He was not the only one with the advantage. Though not as massive as his, Alex and the others who consumed body cleansing elixir also had reaped some benefits.


    Liam then looked at Lan Deming as he thought about this. What about these two? How many did they gain? He had a feeling that the answer was not going to be simple.


    "I gain 10 stat points per level." Lan Deming quickly answered.


    Liam''s gaze quickly shifted to Lan Fen, and she also nodded. "I gain 10 stat points per level too." The two of them did not hide anything and answered honestly.


    Liam remained still for a moment and then helplessly shook his head.


    So not only did Lan Fen and Lan Deming have excellent innate abilities and raw talent when it came to magic, but they also had an unfair advantage when levelling up, gaining stats even better than Alex!


    Was this the difference in their bodies?


    Liam was not sure, but no matter what the reason was, this was going to make things more interesting and troublesome at the same time.


    The world was truly unfair. It was now painfully clear that he had been an absolute bottom feeder in hisst life. However, he was on the other side of the road now.


    Liam couldn''t help but wonder what his own stat gain would be like when the time came. Of course, it looked like he might have to wait for a couple of weeks for this.


    At his level, gaining even one other level was far more difficult and time-consuming.


    Liam then took his time to enquire a bunch of people about their respective stat gains. Unfortunately, it looked like there were no more ''born geniuses'' in their group.


    Shin Soo only gained 4 stat points per level. Mei Mei gained 5 stat points per level. Shen Yue, like Alex, gained 6 stat points per level, and Rey only gained 4 per level.


    This might look like it didn''t make much difference right now, but when the levels start stacking up, the tier difference would definitely be apparent.


    The game was rigged right from the start!


    The harsh reality was that hard work could only take someone so far. This was the irrefutable truth, and no one was above it. However, this was only for a short time.


    Seeing their faces a little down, Liam patted Rey and Shin Soo on the back.


    "These advantages are nothing. I believe that if someone tried their hardest every single day without losing hope, pursuing their goal with relentless determination, then these things would definitely not matter one day. We need to keep going forward and always strive for the best."


    Liam wanted to add that he himself was an example of this, but then he had received an unbelievable blessing that others probably wouldn''t even dream about.


    However, that did not mean that he did not believe in what he said. After all, the world had now changed so much that his blessing had already run out.


    His rebirth meant almost nothing now. This stat difference clearly told him that much. He needed to rethink every single fact that he knew from hisst life.


    Soon he would lose all the edge he hadpletely.


    However, what would stay with him was what he had achieved until now, and that was something no one could take away from him.


    With the jump start he had right now, his chances of survival in this new world were tremendously higher.


    No, in fact, just as he had gained power, he had also gained incredibly powerful enemies. It seemed even after being reborn, fate wasn''t that easy to ovee. He might be powerful now, but the world was still waiting for him to fall.


    In hisst life, all he could see was the Gu family and the insufferable torture they had imposed on him. He couldn''t see anything past that, and when he finally escaped their clutches, he had lost everything. His only family, any chance of survival in this cruel world.


    After that, he was simply running from one disaster to another until, eventually, death came knocking at his doorstep.


    But who knew at the end of everything, the end of it all, that there would be a miracle waiting for him?


    Liam was not someone who believed in free rides. There was a price to pay for everything, and he had a feeling that his miracle also probably had one, perhaps a big one that would consume himpletely.


    However, that was something to worry about when the time came. Not now.


    Now they had to survive.


    For now, he would be the miracle that these two needed to break through their limits. Liam smiled as he patted Rey and Shin Soo again. "Watch your backs while I am gone. I am counting on you to take care of things here."


    He also looked at Alex and nodded. "Thank you for letting me know about this."


    He then did not waste any more time and started walking away towards the white fox who was silently waiting for him. The two of them left the base in front of everyone''s eyes.


    Alex clenched her fists furiously, punching something nearby, not caring if it was a human or an inanimate thing.


    Mei Mei looked at the disappearing figure with ssy eyes. Shen Yue clutched the chain that hung at the centre of her bosom as she silently wished the man she loved good luck.


    When the war was first announced, everyone assumed a lot of things, but no one had ever imagined that only a single person would step out. Seeing Liam''s lonesome figure disappear in the skies, everyone couldn''t help but silently pray for him.


    If it were anyone but him, many would have called this arrogance, but this was Liam. so everyone kept their mouth tightly shut, with various thoughts running through their minds.


    At the same time, the level of respect they had for him also increased. For some, it even turned to be a type of worship and reverence.


    Liam was going alone to face a threat, the disaster that fell upon their entire settlement, and the gravity of that did not escape them. Though many took this for granted, there were still some who were grateful to him.


    Liam, on the other hand, did not think too much. He knew that as soon as the guild was made public, his old ''friends'' would slowly start toe out of the woodwork.


    Rather than winning or losing in this war, he was more curious to see who it was that had taken the first step and challenged him.


    After all, this was life and death. What gave them the power and confidence to issue this challenge? If it was an item, could he obtain it if he killed them?


    Liam subconsciously licked his lips as he thought about this matter.

 Chapter 850 Walking Toward Death

    A couple of minutester, Liam and Luna arrived promptly at the magic shop. Liam still did not know when or where, or how this war was going to be initialized, and he wanted to gather more details.


    Naturally, this shop was the only ce he could look for these details, as everything rted to the guild began and ended with this shop.


    When Liam walked inside the innocent-looking building, he immediately found the store manager waiting for him. The fairy had been ignoring him for the past few visits, but today she seemed rather eager to see him.


    Liam had already expected this, so he wasn''t really that surprised. "Greetings, Miss Tilia. Did you wait for me long?"


    The fairy''s lips twitched as she did not miss the obvious sarcasm. "Of course. I was waiting for you, Mr Liam. After all, we will be conducting today''s events." She replied with a polite smile.


    "May I know when your guild members might be arriving? You don''t really have a lot of time." She turned around and started walking into the shop.


    However, the next second she paused as she realized that she had overlooked the obvious. "Mr Liam, by any chance, are you nning to go to this war alone?"


    A faint glint shed past her fluttering eyes, which Liam did not miss. Ha Ha Ha. Heughed and then casually shrugged. "I hope that wouldn''t be an issue. There is no lower limit for the number of participants from a guild, right?"


    "Yes, you are correct." Tilia immediately answered him. However, it was not known to anyone what she was thinking in her mind as her lips lightly curved upwards.


    "Then, can you tell me more about this war?" Liam smiled and asked casually.


    "I can only tell you what is already written in the system interface, Mr Liam." The fairy curtly rejected his fishing expedition. However, Liam was not done yet.


    "It says here that there is no mary penalty or reward for those who win or lose in the war. So what exactly would you be gaining by managing this whole thing?"


    Tilia simply smiled. "It is our duty to help you-" She started beating around the bush, but Liam abruptly interrupted her, getting right to the point.


    "Let me see. Would you be gaining all the souls of the people who die in this war? I am assuming death is permanent in this challenge?" Liam grinned.


    Suddenly the fairy''s expression changed slightly. She couldn''t understand what would make this lower realm being talk about souls, among all things, but she quickly regained her calmness again.


    "Of course, death is something that is permanent, Mr Liam. Even we do not have the power to change something like that."


    "Hmm¡­ You still didn''t answer my question, though?" Liam did not let her off.


    The fairy''s face twitched. Every word Liam spoke was grating on her nerves, and she simply wanted to p the arrogant smile from his face.


    She took a deep breath and calmly replied. "As I said, I am not allowed to divulge such matters. What we gain and how we manage the store is something that is not avable formon knowledge. I apologize for the inconvenience."


    Liam chuckled. "Okay, I understand. Don''t beat yourself up about it."


    She might not have openly said yes, but Liam had a feeling that perhaps like mana cores, soul strength or soul power was also probably a currency and a very valuable one at that.


    Were there maybe soul cores? He tried to remember if he ever came across something like this in the milky way auction house.


    In fact, now that he thought about it, the milky way auction house was definitely not a part of the tutorial world managed by the divine temple beings.


    Liam pondered over various things for a minute, but he then snapped out of it and focussed on the more pressing matter, at least for the moment.


    He looked over the system interface again and went through the various things written about the guild war. He tried to read in-depth about the various aspects of the war, including the rewards and penalties section, the territory distribution and so on.


    Tilia, who observed this, silently smirked. "You should be more worried about other things, not these." She said.


    Liam''s nonchnt way of dealing with the war only made her sneer inwardly. He might be a level 80 being, but when hundreds of thousands of people bombard a single target, even a level 80 being might not be able to hold out.


    That too he was a level 80 being from a lower realm. So she couldn''t understand where did all this confidence stem from. "You might be walking toward your death, you know." She waggled her eyebrows at him in amusement.


    Liam chuckled at her reminder. "Yes. I know that, and this wouldn''t be the first time. Besides, isn''t there an option to quit?" He did not even look up at her and continued to nce at the fine print.


    Tilia scoffed at his answer. Sure there was an option to surrender, but¡­


    "Hmmm? Would a prideful man like you use this option?" She asked again.


    Liam smiled a little and then walked away without saying anything to her as he had finished looking up all the details. "Call me when it''s time. I will be right here."


    He walked over to sit in the waiting area and silently closed his eyes to rest a little, even letting out a small yawn.


    Prideful? Him? He was a survivor above all.


    Only he knew how much he had run and hidden in his life to survive and exist up until now. Something like pride was useless to someone like him.


    But that was not a sign of cowardice. In fact, it was a strength to know when you were out of your depth.


    This world was not small. There were several beings who were above him with unimaginable strength. So sometimes, it was wiser to flee.


    However, this war was different. Right now, he was quite determined to wipe out whoever gave him this challenge. He had no ns of running or hiding in this war.


    Tilia remained in her ce as she silently watched the human. She couldn''t help but read the man''s reaction despite his indifferent expression.


    Her smile faltered a little, and so did the way she looked at the human being in front of her.


    For some reason, she really looked forward to seeing how this battle would pan out. A small part of her even wanted him to win.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 851 Who Is God?

    With the little fox adorably curled up in hisp, Liam continued waiting in the shop''s corner for quite a while.


    Perhaps there might have been another waiting room if he had arrived here with a bigger group like the entirety of Crimson Abyss guild, but for now, no one said anything to him, so he silently continued waiting right here.


    It was almost noon, and the war was yet to begin.


    A couple of other people wandered into the shop, and they clearly seemed to recognize Liam, but no one had the guts to step forward and strike up a conversation with him. They simply looked at him from a distance, whispered something to each other and silently left the area.


    After three past noon, finally, the store manager Tilia fluttered her wings and appeared in front of him. She nodded at Liam with a smile. "It''s time."


    "Okay." Liam calmly replied and stood up. The fox on hisp had a simr deadpan expression as she opened her little mouth and let out a yawn.


    It was finally time to see who had actually challenged him to an all-out war. Was this an actual challenge, or were they trying to probe his strength? Either way, some heads were going to roll, and there was going to be a price to pay.


    "How does this work? Do I go somewhere, or do I do something?" Liam cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms, grinning at the fairy.


    "Nothing, Mr Liam." She shook her head. "A notification will appear in front of you. You simply have to ept that."


    The fairy had only barely finished speaking when a blue screen shed in front of Liam.


    <Ding. You have been challenged to a guild war>


    <Ding. Do you ept or reject the challenge?>


    <Ding. If you ept, you will be teleported to the battleground in one minute>


    <Ding. Yes/ No>


    "So you are giving me a way out one more time? How generous..." Liam smiled. However, he raised his hand and still selected the same option as before.


    "Yes"


    The next second, bright runes started shing around him and Luna haphazardly. Tilia smiled and took a step back.


    "Good luck. I hope you cane back alive."


    The fairy wished him with a tinge of mocking sarcasm in her voice as her lips curved into a sneer, but before her words could reach Liam, both the man and the fox disappeared from the shop.


    The next second, Liam found himself in a huge and barrennd with absolutely nothing on it, no buildings, no trees, no vegetation or even hills. Nothing at all.


    There were only acres and acres of drynd.


    The mana in the air also did not seem to be all that different. It felt the same as back on earth. So this battleground was somewhere on earth itself? Liam pondered.


    A couple of miles in front of him, several figures materialized, one after the other, almost at the same time as him.


    Liam silently observed the situation, trying to gauge the total number of opponents.


    Just from a single nce, he could see that this number was definitely above a thousand, probably even five thousand or more.


    However, this wasn''t really a surprise.


    The first limit for the number of guild members was ten thousand, so he had already expected whoever challenged him to arrive fully equipped with all of the ten thousand or probably even more.


    The real question was¡­ who was it that challenged him?


    Liam''s gaze hurriedly shifted from one face to another as he tried to answer this question. To his surprise, these were all oriental faces and, more specifically, of Chinese origin.


    This meant that whoever had challenged him was actually from China?


    He immediately had a bad feeling, and when he slowed down and paid more attention to their individual features, he could see the faint crimson glow in their eyes and the small curved horns on top of their heads.


    "Don''t tell me¡­"


    Was every single person gathered in front of him a vampire?


    Liam grinned. "This is not too bad."


    At least now he would have a chance to discover who is actually responsible for these events and behind the whole vampire mess. Perhaps he could even take care of this problem at the budding stage itself.


    He continued looking through the faces to see if he could recognise any of them, but it was of no use. Their features had already morphed a little, and the only thing he could gather was that these people were definitely from China.


    "Come on. There has to be a leader somewhere." Liam''s eyes searched the crowd when suddenly, right in front of him, the sea of vampires started parting right down the middle as all of them stepped aside in utter obedience.


    One person emerged from within, and, surprisingly, neither his features had changed nor was he Chinese. In fact, Liam recognised this man very well.


    He was a blonde American blood rtive of three of his closest confidants.


    Jonathan Hofstader


    "Your God is here." He smirked.


    "What? You look shocked. Did you not expect me?"


    The manughed arrogantly as his voice boomed through the otherwise silent battlefield.


    Liam looked nk for a moment.


    Wait a second.


    This guy called himself God, and the guild was Messengers of God. So this was the idiot who had challenged him? Was this really the person who had sent him the notice?


    He couldn''t believe his eyes. For some reason, he felt very cheated.


    Here he was, expecting one of the big shots to turn up, perhaps the ''big brother'' or even Crawford. However, it was this small fry.


    He couldn''t help but feel disappointed, and this was stered all over his face.


    Why the hell did he name his guild ''Messengers of God''? For a second, Liam had even expected this event to be somehow connected to the divine temple.


    However, in the end, it was none of them.


    What the heck?!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


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 Chapter 852 Why Are You Alone?

    "Jonathan Hofstader." Liam coldly gazed at the blonde guyughing haughtily in front of him. The person was most likely responsible for Alex''s and Mia''s terrible fate in hisst lifetime.


    He could already tell what probably went down this time as well. This guy somehow figured out that Mia, Alex and Rey were in China with him and set up this whole thing in motion.


    He probably came here a long time ago and was waiting for an opportunity to strike them.


    And the guild going global and bing visible to everyone gave him this perfect opportunity. He saw the name Crimson Abyss and immediately jumped at the chance to send the war notice.


    As for the vampiric powers, that part he still couldn''t figure out, but it was most likely a chance encounter or something the sleazy uncle picked up from the tutorial game.


    After all, he couldn''t be the only one who had gained things from the tutorial.


    "Well, whatever." Liam shook his head helplessly.


    Jonathan Hofstader frowned. It was clear that the enemy did not give him any credit, but he couldn''t care less about that at the moment. His mind was rather on other things.


    He kept looking around Liam as if he was waiting for someone else also to arrive at the battlefield, but even after a few seconds, no one appeared.


    Jonathan''s face immediately changed. He had wanted a juicy moment when he appeared in front of the two sluts and enjoyed the fear and panic in their eyes, but now that seemed like a distant dream.


    "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE ALL ALONE?" His voice bellowed. He was quite visibly disappointed.


    Well, join the line. Liam returned his question with a rueful smile as he was also very much disappointed.


    Jonathan''s brows turned upwards, and his fury shot through the roof. "I have heard about you, you know." He clicked his tongue.


    "You are far too arrogant for your own good. Did you think I came here without making adequate preparations? Did you think that I challenged you, not knowing who you were?"


    "You shouldn''t havee here alone." The man snorted in contempt and then raised his right hand high up. "This is a mistake that you are going to regret for the rest of your very short life."


    "You really should not havee here alone."


    Even though he knew all about Liam''s battle prowess, right now, he was extremely confident, and the reason for it became abundantly clear as a red aura started dissipating from his hand.


    This aura started spreading like wildfire throughout the battleground.


    Immediately, all the people assembled on his side started growing in size. They became taller and thicker, and the horns on top of their heads also grew.


    Liam watched as the thousands of vicious, demon-looking vampires snarled at him with their fangs jutting out threateningly.


    The transformation did not stop there. The same red aura swirled around each of the vampires, making them glow lightly with the very palpable aura of blood lust.


    Jonathan Hofstader himself also changed as he grew bigger and stronger like the rest of the vampires, though the change in his features did not seem so rudimentary as the others.


    He gave off a feeling that he gained something more.


    And before Liam could wonder what was happening, another change also urred. A huge blood-red sword appeared on the man''s right hand.


    "This is a lot of power-ups." Liam scratched his chin in contemtion, trying his best to make heads or tails of the situation.


    "Ha Ha Ha! What? Are you SHOCKED?" The guy bellowed at Liam.


    Jonathan waved his huge sword in the air threateningly and then pointed it directly at Liam.


    "ARE YOU TREMBLING?"


    "ARE YOU PISSING IN YOUR PANTS?"


    "Did you think you could protect those two just because you hid them from me?"


    "BA HA HA HA! Too bad! I am not done yet!"


    He threw his head back andughed maniacally. "Right now, what do you think is happening to the others?"


    "HA HA HA HA!"


    "I gave the orders and made sure everything was in ce before even stepping foot here. My people should have already arrived there by now."


    He licked the blood-red sword he was holding, and a vicious glint shed past his eyes. "It''s too bad that you are here alone instead of my two precious nieces, but this is also fine."


    "Because when you are dead, I will pay a personal visit to both those bitches."


    "Kek. I will ce them side by side and y with them day and night. I will thoroughly enjoy them for an entire week, maybe a month, even maybe a year. By the time I am done with them¡­ HA HA HA!"


    Jonathan Hofstader was getting hard just thinking about it.


    Imagining the way Alex and Mia would whimper under him with desperate, pitiful expressions was giving him goosebumps. The day the two of them were meant to be his personal ves was right in his grasp.


    "AHHHHH! I can''t wait anymore! COME, LET''S FINISH THIS!"


    "You read my mind," Liam answered with cold indifference.


    He was expecting a much bigger fish, so he was currently very disappointed to see this small fry dancing and running his mouth in front of him.


    The only constion was that he could at least take care of this small matter for Alex and Rey and finish this low life once and for all.


    As for the others around him¡­


    They still had a chance to surrender and quit instantly from the battle, but Liam did not bother warning anyone or even giving them a chance to do so.


    If this guy was already a ''vampire,'' then most of the others were probably converted too, and they might as well be dead.


    From what he had seen so far and learned from the twins, the vampires definitely had absolute obedience to their immediate superior.


    They wouldn''t step away from the battlefield even if Liam gave them a chance.


    "Let''s go."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 853 You Asked For This

    "Let''s go." Liam silently mumbled as he unsheathed his ck dragon sword.


    At the other end, Jonathan Hofstader sneered in contempt, twirling his blood-red sword. He looked at the crowd around him proudly andmanded.


    "This god is ordering you all to put down that dog."


    The thousands of vampires standing behind him immediately roared and started rushing towards Liam, the sole target of the opposite side.


    The entire army madly bulldozing forward was quite a spectacle. The atmosphere was electric. Jonathan became very riled up as he could almost taste his victory in the air.


    He started shouting even louder. "Go! Go! Go! Kill Him! Bring His Head to MEEEE!"


    Liam grinned. Naturally, he wasn''t alone, and he also did not n to drag this battle out unnecessarily.


    "Come out." He calmly said, and the next second¡­


    Hundreds of soul minions silently materialized around him, with the first row filled with terror-inducing creatures that towered over all the vampire grunts.


    In front of these monstrous beings, the vampire grunts suddenly looked like miniature dolls, all collectively rushing towards their death.


    Liam chuckled. "You asked for this." His gaze searched for the sleazy uncle, and soon enough, he found him in the crowd.


    The poor guy stood frozen with his jaw dropped on the battleground.


    Jonathan''s face paled. His body became a statue as his brain was unable toprehend what was happening in front of him.


    "What¡­ what¡­ I¡­"


    Sweat started pouring out of all of his orifices. He clutched his head, and his eyes almost fell out of his sockets, trying to make sense of the situation he was in.


    Just what the hell were these bluish-white creatures? Where did theye from?


    He couldn''t understand. No matter how he racked his brain, he just couldn''t figure it out. They were clearly not undeads and they also did not even look like a single entity.


    Some of them were huge. Some of them were small. He could see humans and lions and even dragons? His head was bing dizzy.


    Forget about all of these. The worst part was the numbers!


    All sorts of beasts in huge numbers were rushing towards him and his army as if they were once again back at the beginning of the apocalypse, the beast wave that happened on day 1.


    Wait, in fact, these beasts looked exactly like those same beasts.


    As his mind circled around pointless reasoning, trying to understand the events happening in front of him, the two armies roared loudly and shed with each other.


    RUMBLE RUMBLE


    RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Loud, ear-piercing battle noises echoed everywhere as blood and flesh sttered all over.


    Jonathan did not even have to look to know that it was his side that was taking the worst beating because¡­ Only his damned side had blood and flesh in the first ce!


    How was this possible? His body shivered and trembled.


    This person¡­ this person¡­ he nkly looked at Liam with his throat dry, and fear and astonishment etched on his face.


    This person was supposed to be a MAGE, for god''s sake!


    How did he have control of so many weird creatures?


    Jonathan did not understand where he had gone wrong.


    In reality, he was not the one to me. Back inside the game, Liam had never used his army in public. Not once. He had always been ying as a mage.


    The only people who knew about his abilities as a special type of necromancer were the guild''s core members and Kouske''s group, but even Kouske''s group did not have all the details.


    Right now, Liam was quite sure that they would also probably have the same reaction the person in front of him did.


    However, that didn''t mean he was going to give the guy some grace period to calm andpose himself and recollect his senses.


    He called for the war, and now he had to pay the price.


    Swinging his ck dragon sword wildly, Liam did not wait any longer and started pushing through the battling crowd.


    He cut through the huge mass of demon-like humans bearing their fangs and struggling against his soul minions.


    These creatures were not his primary target. His main target was smack dab in the middle, and currently, Liam was paving a path of blood to reach that man.


    Jonathan trembled. Watching Liam ughter his way through like the god of death forced him to snap out of his trance. He tried to get over this shock and convince himself that he still had the upper hand.


    After all, he had about ten thousand followers on his side. Liam''s side barely had a thousand at the most. So this was still going to break in his favour.


    That''s right. This war was still his to win. He wanted to believe it.


    However¡­ when his eyes watched the reality unfold in front of him, this small hope waspletely crushed and destroyed.


    Each of the wyverns alone wasying waste to dozens of his minions. Each move the giant draconian beasts made killed tens of vampires at the same time.


    And every single one of these creatures was equally terrifying.


    Adding to his dismay, there was also a three-headed wyvern putting down three times the number the other wyverns were ughtering.


    Behind these huge eye-catching, terror-inducing beings, the other minions were also not to be overlooked.


    A huge white fox was spitting fire in all directions. Every time she opened her mouth, the vampires in her path of terror burnt to a crisp.


    She also did not stay in one ce. Like magic, she kept disappearing and reappearing in several spots and wreaked havoc everywhere she went. She only left charred remains in her wake!


    Apart from this monstrous yet, stunningly beautiful and elegant creature, there was also a lion, a tiger, elves, barbarians, and all sorts of creatures. More importantly, they were allying waste to the vampires as if they were nothing.


    It was aplete, one-sided massacre.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 854 Another Trump Card

    Watching his army gettingpletely demolished right in front of him, Jonathan''s face twisted and contorted into an ugly form, and his eyes started bing redder and redder.


    He was angry, frustrated, anxious, nervous, panicking, and indignant that he was ambushed in this manner and had all the information wrong in the first ce. All sorts of emotions were bubbling up within him.


    SLASH!


    Grabbing his attention, Liam also arrived closer to him, ughtering his way through the army of red eyes and horns. He was doing his part and contributing to the mass murder.


    Vampires burst left and right like tomatoes, consumed by the ck dragon sword.


    "YOU! Stop it! I am warning you!" Jonathan shivered.


    This man was the reason why everything was happening. The army he had built with his blood and sweat, quite literally, was crumbling right in front of him.


    Watching all of his hard work go to waste, he was livid.


    More importantly, he knew that this wasn''t just a game any longer. The men he was losing were permanently lost to him. They were dead. They were noting back. This was a fatal blow to his strength.


    And this person was responsible for all of it.


    "I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL RIP YOU FROM LIMB TO LIMB!" Jonathan shouted maniacally.


    Though he was beside himself at the moment, he knew one thing for sure. Unlike his vampires, these minions were different. They were probably summoned to help Liam in this war.


    The bastard had done some sort of backhanded deal with someone to make all of this happen. However, that did not mean Jonathan was done yet.


    Especially after seeing Liam rushing to him, throwing all caution to the wind, some amount of colour and confidence returned to the man''s face. His eyes glimmered with hope once again.


    "Just like you, I also have another trump card left. Don''t think that only you prepared for this war." Jonathan snorted arrogantly and started chanting something.


    Jonathan Hofstader was the CEO of a multi-billion dorpany. He was not a fool. He had the brains to think.


    And the question in front of him was also not tooplicated.


    What was one supposed to do when one is assaulted by a horde of summons? One had to destroy the caster.


    That was it. That was the fastest and simplest solution and, in this case, the only solution.


    For some reason, his vampires were currently weak against the summons. The guy had used some sort of special item or special technique. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to achieve this.


    But this ended there. His summons might be strong, but he himself couldn''t be possibly strong enough to beat him.


    Jonathan snorted in contempt. Liam had no idea what wasing to him. With the power he wielded at the moment, he was going to crush the guy easily once and for all!


    It would have been far more troublesome if he had to cross the threshold of the strong beasts and draconic creatures and get to Liam, but the fool had brought himself over to the other side.


    Now there was nothing holding him back.


    "COME HERE! COME HERE! COME HERE!" His eyes flickered with a crimson shade as he hurriedly started drawing some runes in the air.


    Hmmm? Liam''s eyes narrowed as he immediately noticed this new development. He observed Jonathan''s actions carefully, but his speed did not falter.


    He kept ughtering his way towards the target, determined to end him before the spell he was casting or whatever he was doing could effectively activate.


    However, this was easier said than done.


    Before he could reach the other party, something erupted around Jonathan, and suddenly, he disappeared. The man became engulfed in a spherical blood barrier.


    Ripples of blood erupted around him and swirled around him as if he was the god of bloodmanding the element to his will.


    To add to this, all the droplets of blood smeared around on the battleground started lifting up and flying towards the weird spherical shell.


    "Not good!" Liam had a bad feeling about this.


    There was a lot of blood on the battleground, half from the ughter he had personally carried out and the other half from the wreckage his soul minions were leaving.


    All this blood was flying towards the spherical barrier and starting to umte there, making the pool of blood bigger and bigger. It was growing exponentially by the second, thanks to his own efforts.


    At this point, Liam could even feel a powerful auraing out. This aura became thicker and thicker, and he knew that he shouldn''t let this continue any longer.


    Whatever he was curious about, he could always ask the man after he was dead. Now was not the time. "Let''s end this right now." Liam increased his speed and bolted forward.


    He immediately started bombarding the spherical blood shell with all sorts of powerful magic attacks. Fireballs, ice spheres, lightning bolts, he tossed everything he had mastered at the blood sphere,manding the mana gathered in the battleground.


    However, it did not look like it was enough.


    The blood sphere was getting damaged, but it was also getting rapidly repaired and regenerated at the same time. Moreover, it was also bing thicker and thicker as more blood droplets flew over to this side.


    Tch. Liam did not like this at all. His gut feeling told him that he needed to go all out. He should not underestimate this enemy even though he was a weak bottom feeder.


    Sometimes even a dog can step on a lucky pile of shit. Without wasting any time, he turned to call the ten wyverns and Luna to his side immediately.


    He quickly calcted that theirbined attack power should be more than enough to bring this barrier down as well as to finish off the person within it.


    However, it was toote.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


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 Chapter 855 The Real God Of The Battlefield

    Suddenly, the blood sphere copsed, and the blood swirling around the guy started spreading out into another pool. There were now two puddles, one around Jonathan and another next to him, both emitting strong auras.


    And before Liam could wonder what was happening, a tall figure stepped out of the second blood puddle.


    It was a woman, and she was made of bloodpletely from top to bottom. She was tall, almost three times Liam''s size, and emitted an aura that was extremely powerful, perhaps evenparable to the old elf back in the game.


    Liam was not sure if he could actually face an attack from this being. He might be able to survive for a few seconds at the most by evading and using other tricks.


    How did this guy even get his hands on a skill like this?


    As he watched this unexpected scene happen and the tired smile on Jonathan''s face, who was now once again visible, Liam''s brain quickly whirred alive.


    Coincidentally, he came to the same conclusion Jonathan did.


    The blood woman was clearly a summon and a very powerful one at that, so instead of attacking her or fleeing away from her in fear, Liam dashed forward straight toward her.


    As the figure shrouded in blood started materializing blood-red beams that fired at him one after the other, he pushed his agility to the extreme and zig-zagged towards her.


    However, this was easier said than done.


    Each one of the hits from the blood summon was heavy and loaded. When theynded on the ground, boom! The ground shattered on the impact, and dust and debris flew everywhere.


    Liam gritted his teeth and continued pushing forward. He was almost there. He just needed to persist for another second.


    Seeing hime closer and closer, Jonathan also snorted and swung his blood-red sword down towards Liam, sending several sword beams.


    "How are you going to avoid the attacks now, bitch!" His arrogantughter rang loudly amidst the booms from the attack of the blood summon.


    "You are right. I can''t." Liam''s face, which was tensed up until now, suddenly changed. Why were these idiot''s attacks so strong that he was struggling to face them?


    It was because they were on a battlefield. However, he was not the only one who was strong on the battlefield.


    The other party had revealed all the cards on his side, but Liam also had some more cards left. In fact, on every battlefield, he had this trump card.


    Hong! He used his ck dragon sword to block the few attacks of the blood-red sword and then puffed his chest as he started inhaling something deeply.


    And it wasn''t air.


    Liam was inhaling the hundreds of souls lingering on the battlefield!


    The moment he saw the blood summon, Liam already knew that he had to resort to this. Hemanded the hundreds of vampire souls that were dying left and right, thanks to his minions.


    Their blood might have been used up by Jonathan, but their souls were still his tomand. He instinctively absorbed the souls and started collecting them all around him.


    Thest time he had used this particr skill was back inside the game, but the feeling was still crystal clear in his memory.


    He condensed the several souls wailing in agony, ignoring the mental pressure that assaulted him at the same time. He then forged them into a barrier just in time to reflect the barrage of blood beams from Jonathan''s summon.


    <Ding. You have learned a new skill - [Soul Shield]>


    Liam ignored the familiar system notification and continued sprinting forward at full speed. After all, he was not learning this skill for the first time. It would be more urate to say that he was relearning it.


    Jonathan''s eyes widened in shock as he couldn''t understand what just happened and was once again stupified by Liam''s actions.


    He clutched his sword tightly as his heart was beating madly. Liam was almost right in front of him.


    He looked at his summon with a mad craze in his eyes as if he could feel his death drawing closer and closer to him.


    "KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" He shouted.


    The blood summon obeyed him as she started to attack Liam more furiously. She appeared in front of Jonathan, blocking Liam''s path.


    However, all of a sudden, Liam was not alone. More specifically, there were three Liams.


    As he reached Jonathan, Liam undid the soul shield and activated his illusionary footwork technique to split himself into three images.


    The blood summon managed to deal with two of the images in the span of a second, but the real Liam appeared behind Jonathan and shed down at him with all of his might.


    He knew that he had only bought a second, but that was enough for him.


    "FIRESLASH!"


    Several ripples of burning mes erupted, mixed in with sword beams and flew towards Jonathan.


    The guy''s face paled. He hurriedly waved his blood-red sword like a maniac, trying to block the attacks at thest second, but whenpared to Liam, he looked like a kid shaking his stick up and down to chase a fly.


    He even tried to erect another blood barrier, but a single sword beam was enough to shatter itpletely.


    How could a mere level twenty or thirty block the attack of a level 80 monster?


    Liam was counting on this. Though his attacks had not broken the barrier earlier, he could tell that it was because of the spell he was chanting and not because of Jonathan himself.


    But now that the spell was already cast, he should still not be that powerful.


    And just as he expected, no matter how many barriers he erected, they weren''t enough. They shattered and disappeared as soon as they went up, revealing the shocked expression on the blonde man''s face.


    He gaped at Liam in shock, wondering why his summon hadn''t killed the guy yet. However, before he could finish his thought, Liam''s next shnded, and Jonathan found himself falling to the ground, his body limp and lifeless.

 Chapter 856 Milking Dry

    Once Jonathan was taken care of, Liam urgently erected another soul barrier, but as he did so, he realized that it was no longer required. The blood summon stood still as if she did not have the energy to move anymore.


    The next second, the woman crumbled and copsed lifelessly into a puddle of blood, all sshing onto the battleground without any owner tomand it.


    "Fuck! That was close!" Liam immediately grabbed onto Jonathan''s soul, which had already started to dissipate slowly.


    Hemanded the soul to condense once more, and without wasting any time, he forged the damn thing. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.


    Several dozens of vampires still rushed towards him, but he simply shook his head at these grunts and sent out a storm of raging fire, burning down everything around him alive.


    "Luna!" He called as the fox blurred and reached him in an instant. She was already close to him, and it took her only a second.


    Liam then calmly hopped on top of the fox andy down. As far as he was concerned, this war was already over.


    And just in time too. He waspletely out of mana.


    Huff. Huff. Huff. He tiredly took a few deep breaths as he stared at the sky above him, his mindpletely nk.


    That really was a close save!


    Even though he did not mean to underestimate the opponent, he also did not expect the sleaze bag uncle to possess an ability like this.


    Apart from the physical enhancement, the guy also possessed a weapon and the ability to summon a strange creature of blood, both of which were clearly powerful.


    The idiot did not know how to use them properly. Otherwise, things might have gotten a lot more troublesome.


    Liam closed his eyes and opened them again after silently collecting his thoughts. What if the next enemy possessed a set of skills like this but actually knew how to use them?


    This really was far too close for hisfort. His strength. It was not enough. He needed to be stronger. Otherwise, this world was once again going to swallow him whole.


    He continued to rest on Luna and waved his hand, and started forging the remaining souls.


    It took another few minutes for the war toe to an end as all the vampires did not give up and rallied against his soul minions even as they died one after the other.


    They also did not seem to care that their ''god'' had died.


    They simply continued fighting and attacking, with their blood lust getting the better of them.


    It was as if they could no longer think because if they could, they would have already surrendered and run away from the battlefield.


    However, that was their problem. Liam did not care about it and kept on collecting as many vampire souls as he possibly could. Finally, he seemed to hit his limit at soul minion number 1465.


    When he forged the 1466th minion, a searing pain assaulted him, and he could no longer hold that soul. The forged minion simply dissipated into nothingness or rather hung around as soul dots.


    In fact, the soul shield he had used earlier, which was now damaged and destroyed, was still notpletely erased. The soul dots still lingered around.


    "So the fairies are indeed collecting the souls." Liam coldly gazed at the soul miasma that had gathered in the air around him from all the corpses that were piling up.


    He tried absorbing some of it, but his own soul wasn''t damaged, so he couldn''t absorb anything or rather did not know how to. He only knew the technique to absorb the souls when his own was actually damaged.


    He then called some of his summons and started fusing them together to make room for more, but that did not help too much as he was only able to forge another thirty souls and then reached the limit once again.


    "Hmmm?" Liam frowned as he quietly gazed at the abundance of soul energy overflowing all around him. The snarky face of the fairy came to his mind, and the thought that he would be leaving behind all of this to that arrogant bitch gave him a bad aftertaste.


    The war was also about toe to an end. There were only a few hundreds of vampires still left. So he did not have too much time to figure out a solution.


    "Hmm¡­ Tsk. Do I really have to leave behind all of these precious souls?" He clicked his tongue when he suddenly realized that he had forgotten something very important.


    He might not have his ck beads still with him, but there was something else that he had.


    With a big grin, he reached into his spatial artifact, and took out an object that was capable of absorbing anything he threw at it, the stone tablet!


    Liam jumped down from the fox and ced the stone tablet on the battleground. Immediately, the miraculous treasure started doing its deed like clockwork.


    All the vampire souls on the battleground started getting pulled toward the stone tablet. The thing sucked everything around like a vortex.


    When Liam observed closely, he could also see the mana in the air being sucked dry.


    Heh. He grinned in satisfaction. Now, these souls were his!


    However, he knew that this small victory over the fairy, in fact, came at a price.


    He might have prevented her from reaping the souls that belonged to him, but in the process, he also revealed to her more about the stone tablet which was in his possession.


    "Hmmm. Can she even see what is happening inside here? Can the others?"


    Liam couldn''t help but wonder if his battle here effectively showcased to the entire world everything single skill that he possessed. His face changed as this thought crossed his mind.


    While this was bound to happen one day or the other, he did not want it to happen this soon.


    "Well, I guess I couldn''t have helped it." Liam shrugged.


    Even though he had to reveal a few things, he couldn''t let these many souls simply go to someone else''s hands, not when he had a bigger need for them.


    More than worrying about this, he was far more concerned about how to take his soulmancer ss skills a step further.


    Watching all the vampires get empowered had actually given him an idea. It would be very practical and boost his strength several times over if he could also get a skill like that.


    Especially now that he almost had a total of 1490 soul minions, if he could empower each and every single one of them, then the result would increase his battle power tremendously.


    "I wonder if the magic shop has any skills like this." Liam decided to work on this once he got out of the battleground.

 Chapter 857 How Did You Do It?

    After the main battle was finished and Liam started absorbing everything with his stone tablet, the rest of the activities did not take too long.


    Another fifteen to twenty minutester, thest of the vampires got mercilessly crushed by the white fox, and the battlefield waspletely cleared out.


    Liam did not wait until thest second as he was notpletely sure whether the fairies would pull some sort of underhanded tricks or not.


    So a couple of minutes before thest vampire died, he had already packed up the stone tablet back into his spatial artifact. He also dismissed his soul minions around the same time, fully ready to exit the battleground arena.


    There was another reason why he was rushing everything, and this was because of Jonathan''s taunting words at the beginning of the battle.


    He had mentioned something about sending more vampires to the base and attacking them from both sides.


    Though Liam had already foreseen that something like this would happen and made preparations for this, he still did not want to take his chances and linger here any longer than it was necessary. He wanted to make sure that at the other end as well things were taken care of.


    As the final opponent died, several runes started shing around Liam once again, and in the blink of an eye, the one human being and one fox, who were thest ones standing, were teleported back to the same magic shop.


    Before Liam could even fully regain his vision and his other senses, a sharp panicked voice rang loudly in his ears. "What did you do? How did you do it?"


    "Huh?" Liam turned around to see the fairy Tilia standing right behind him, her delicate face lined with anger and rage. She wasn''t even hiding it this time around.


    "What are you talking about?" Liam calmly asked though he knew exactly what she was talking about.


    "I am talking about what happened in the battleground! How did you take everything?"


    The fairy banged her fist on a table nearby that actually sent a huge crack right down the middle, splitting the whole damn thing into two halves.


    Liam coughed and took a couple of steps back.


    "Do you mean the drops from the vampires? They were pretty useless, just yourmon household weapons. We already have plenty of those, but I did take some for backup."


    Liam was not lying. The vampires did not have any drops, such as valuable items that could be reused.


    It looked like Jonathan had spent all of his time gathering numbers that he hadn''t given any thought about equipping them.


    As for the blood-red sword he was using, that also seemed to be a skill because no such item had dropped.


    "I really did not gain much." He shrugged.


    The fairy seemed as if she wanted to kill him. "Mr Liam. Please stop beating around the bush. You know what I am talking about. What I don''t know is how you managed to do it?"


    "Huh? I am beating around the bush? How about you tell me exactly what you want to know?"


    Liam had a feeling that something was off. Tilia herself was not talking about souls and instead was trying to get him to talk about it.


    Did this mean that she did not know what actually happened? Couldn''t they see everything? But that also did not seem likely, as he was pretty sure the fairies would at least get a front seat to the whole war.


    Suddenly, he thought of a possible reason. He knew that every time he used the stone tablet, it opened up an isted space that only had him and Luna and any other soul minions he summoned.


    At least in the game world, this was the norm. Others were unable to sense or enter this space. So what if now, the stone tablet had prevented the fairy from even seeing what had happened?


    Could he have somehow obtained the souls without revealing anything about his stone tablet? Liam''s interest was piqued.


    However, now was not the time to test this theory. Liam did not engage the fairy any further and curtly replied. "I have some urgent matters to attend to right now. How about we continue this conversationter?"


    He immediately turned around and rushed out of the shop without even checking any notifications. The fairy gritted her teeth in anger, but she did not have the authority to stop him. So, in the end, she could only watch as Liam disappeared.


    Outside the shop, he jumped onto Luna''s back, and the white fox took off in a hurry. She blurred her way to reach their base in a couple of minutes.


    And once they arrived there, just like Jonathan had warned him, Liam saw another bloody battle happening right in front of him.


    The vampires had swarmed their base and were attacking the guild members from all sides. The whole ce was inplete tatters, and there was death and destruction everywhere.


    However, he could still see his sister, Shen Yue, Alex, Rey and every single one of the Crimson Abyss members still alive and kicking.


    Liam sighed in relief.


    In reality, this was a gamble he had taken. The entire battle hadsted for about thirty minutes, and he wanted to see if the guild could hold on for thirty minutes without him.


    This was also why he hadn''t left Luna behind.


    Liam hovered in the air, watching the group fight the vampires without showing the slightest interest in joining the fight.


    Although he cared about this group of individuals a lot, which included his own sister, his girlfriend and several of his close friends, he did not want to be a crutch and hamper their growth, preventing them from ever reaching their full potential.


    He wanted them to get over this hurdle all by themselves and face their challenges. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be helping them. He would only be harming them.

 Chapter 858 What Just Happened?

    Liam watched the scene unfolding in front of him with rapt attention. It looked like Jonathan had brought the majority of the vampires over to the main battlefield for the guild war challenge.


    So there weren''t that many vampires here, only about a few hundred or so, which wasn''t a big number to handle. However, that was for him.


    On the other hand, the Crimson Abyss guild was very divided and spread out at the moment. Even the main core members were in different parts of the world, struggling in this new world by themselves.


    So for Alex and the rest of the group fighting in front of him, this wasn''t an easy ordeal by any chance. In fact, Liam hoped that it wouldn''t be. He wanted the vampires to challenge them and thereby p the harsh reality onto their faces.


    This was because Liam did not n to stay around for much longer.


    This was not something he had decided in the spur of the moment based on the guild war, but ever since he crushed all the portals that showed up on day 1, he had been thinking about this.


    In hisst life, for the strength he had, he was content with exploring only this region. His goal was also only surviving.


    However, things were different this time around. He could no longer afford to sit around and wait for things to happen. He had only done this for a couple of weeks or so, but there was already a consequence for his actions.


    A guy who was hardly ever a threat to him had shown up out of nowhere with a power that was foreign to him. Moreover, his other friends knew where exactly to find him now.


    They might not be able to travel directly to him just yet, but the race had begun, and whoever reached the end goal first would win. Liam did not want to fall behind in this race.


    He silently mulled over things as he watched Alex swing her epic-grade shield skillfully at the three vampires who charged towards her.


    Before the shield could even touch them, the three vampires were pushed back by an invisible force that Liam knew to be divine energy.


    The three vampire grunts did not even understand what hit them as they were cleanly sliced and diced the next instant by Alex''s next move as she swung her heavy broad sword down. Once again, her movement was empowered by divine energy.


    "Good." Liam nodded. Alex seemed to have gotten more proficient at mixing her attacks with mana and divine energy. This gave him more confidence that she would be able to take charge in his absence.


    His gaze then shifted to Mei Mei, who was busy casting her own spells. The emerald crown on her head gleamed as she sent bursts of fire at the vampires, not letting anyone get near her and also blocking a few more ready to pounce on Shin Soo.


    Shen Yue, on the other side, was leading her own massacre as she danced around with her two daggers, each and every move of hers lethal to the opponents who came near her.


    She seemed extra mesmerizing. Even the vampires who lunged at her throat appeared startled and dazed as they gazed at her up close.


    Next to the group, Rey had climbed up a tree not too far away, not too close, and he aimed for the vampires trying to overwhelm the group, taking them down one after the other.


    Everyone worked together in perfect coordination, with the more skilful and talented fighters at the border of the group and the less confident ones at the centre or slightly behind.


    The entire group was fully surrounded by vampires, and yet they managed to keep the upper hand in the fight by meticulously watching each other''s backs.


    On the other side, the granny''s group also performed with equal gusto and technique. The only ones falling behind were Lan Deming''s and Lan Fen''s group.


    Even as Liam watched, one person''s head was mauled by a vampire as he couldn''t block the enemy on time.


    However, Liam still did not show any signs of interfering. They had to get through this battle on their own, despite the number of casualties. If he were lenient now, then they would pay the price for it ten folds in the future.


    Liam silently watched the fight from the sidelines as he strengthened his resolve and made up his mind.


    He briefly considered taking Shen Yue and Mei Mei with him, but the ces he would venture to might be far too dangerous for their own good.


    Instead of taking them with him, it would be safer for them to remain right here and slowly improve at their own pace.


    Soon another hour passed by, and finally, the vampires were brought under control with all the unwee intruders taken care of.


    The entire ce was aplete mess, with several buildings damaged beyond recognition. There were also a few casualties here and there. The entire settlement that had been thriving only a couple of hours ago was now wrecked and made unlivable.


    In the midst of this ruckus, Liam and Luna glided down tond in front of Alex and the group. "We are done. We won the war." Liam announced the news.


    Everyone stared at him in relief as they also looked around and saw that, finally, everything had settled down. They had sessfully weathered the storm on both ends and were now in the safe.


    However, the next second, Liam opened his mouth again. "I will be gone for a few weeks. I hope everyone can take care of yourselves while I am gone."


    "There might be more guild war challenges, but don''t ept any of those. Focus on building your strength and improving yourself. Do you understand? I will be back soon."


    And before anyone could digest this sudden news, Liam smiled and waved at the bunch as he once again hopped onto the Luna and the two of them disappeared into the distance.


    "Huh? What the fuck just happened?" Alex blinked in a daze.

 Chapter 859 My Master Is The Bestest!

    After that short and abrupt farewell, Liam decided to make one more stop on the way before returning to the magic shop. He wanted to check out the area that had once been Gu family guild''s main residence.


    This was something that had almost slipped his mind and he was only reminded of it recently after seeing the sleezebag uncle''s face.


    "Luna, some more to the left." He guided the white fox.


    The first time he was here, he was working in thepound like a ve. The second time he was here, he hade by train and Luna was still trapped in the game world.


    However, everything was different now. The Gu family waspletely erased and Luna as well was with him in the apocalyptic world.


    "There. That''s the spot." Liam patted the fox and pointed to several acres ofnd in the distance. This was once a dry and barren area, only covered by some small weeds without much else growing.


    But now the same ce was almost unrecognizable. The entire area was covered with lush greenery, trees and nts grown without any restraint.


    Luna had to slice apart some rather tough branches and vines, just tond on the ground.


    "Hmmmm?" Liam''s gaze lingered around the ce, wondering what was so special about it.


    In hisst life, the Gu family had monopolized this whole region and even kept strict security allowing only certain people in and out of the mainpound.


    ves like him could only work in the outer border. Severe punishment was meted out to anyone who did not follow the rules.


    Liam looked at the area for a few more minutes trying to figure out its secret but it was not very useful. Just from a superficial nce, there was really nothing special about the ce.


    Especially, with the dense vegetation grown rampant, even he couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation.


    "Alright. I guess it is time to take this to the next level." He let out a sigh and called forth his army. Immediately a sea of soul minions appeared, flooding the densely crowded area.


    "Clean this uppletely. Wyverns, stand back. Dimitri and Crawford, lead the group. Make sure that there is nothing valuable among the trees and nts."


    Liam gave clear instructions to the group and then hopped back on to Luna as the two of them lifted back up into the sky, floating around above thend and not interfering in the clean up.


    Among all the soul minions, the dark elf Dimitri and the tower master Crawford were the most knowledgeable when it came to herbs and such.


    The wyverns were also probably talented in sniffing out treasures but Liam hadn''t seen a proof of this yet so he decided to be sceptical.


    After all, all the lore he had heard about draconian creatures back in the game might or might not be true. Knowing the maniptive nature of the divine temple, Liam wouldn''t put anything past them.


    Once he issued the orders, Liam then had nothing to do as he simplyid on top of Luna and waited for his minions to tear down the whole area apart inch by inch.


    "Doesn''t this bring back fond memories, Luna?" Liam chuckled. Back inside the game world, he had personally done this sort of thorough search and ransack in order to locate the necromancer''s hideout.


    Everything had started from there.


    And now they hade so far.


    However, the true test was still the apocalypse. Whatever happened in the game world would only be irrelevant if he couldn''t stand the trials of this new world.


    Liam''s mind wandered to the vampires and Jonathan''s strange skills once more as he silently pondered about this while his minions did the hardbor.


    Time ticked by and a few minutester, both Dimitri and Crawford came forward to report to Liam. Unexpectedly, they were holding in their hands a few hexagonal shaped gems?


    Hmm? Liam immediately jumped down from the fox to examine these new items.


    "Inspect." He took one of the red gems in his hand and looked at it.


    Surprisingly, these things only looked like gemstones, with cleanly cut edges and a sparkle and shine like a diamond, but they were very different to feel. They almost felt like a¡­


    <Ding. Red Stone Cherry - a fruit that can be consumed; This fruit is typically found in areas with high mineral content>


    Liam''s eyes widened on reading the description. "This thing is a fruit?"


    Since the [Inspect] skill deemed this to be a consumable, he tried eating one of the red-colored fruit. He took the one in his hand and ced it into his mouth.


    Crunch! Liam cringed as he was fully prepared for his teeth to take a good hit but surprisingly the stone like fruit was very tender and juicy on the inside, with a sweet taste filling his mouth from the bite.


    He then tossed the whole thing into his mouth, not to waste any juices and chewed and swallowed it. The next second, a notification popped out.


    <Ding. You have gained +5 Strength>


    Heh. Liam grinned as he swiped the notification away. What an unexpected windfall!


    He eyed the rest of the fruits the two soul minions were holding greedily when all of a sudden, he noticed that a certain fox''s beady little eyes were also glued onto the fruit pile. She even licked her lips as she eyed the sparkly stone fruits.


    "NO! LUNA!"


    Liam immediately took action as he ced all the fruits into his storage space.


    Kyu! The fox could only look at him pitifully. She seemed very hurt that he did not trust her and even took such drastic actions.


    Liam, however, firmly shook his head. "Don''t act so innocent. I know you, you little glutton!"


    He then started retrieving the fruits from his storage space one after the other, eating the sparkly things right in front of the fox mercilessly.


    <Ding. You have gained +5 Strength>


    <Ding. You have gained +5 Strength>


    <Ding. You have gained +5 Strength>


    <Ding. You have gained +5 Strength>


    Liam licked his finger after finishing the fifth fruit, and next went for the sixth helping. However, after this one, he did not receive any notification. He ate one more and did not get any then as well.


    "I guess that''s about it."


    Seeing that he was done, he turned towards the adorable pouting fox and shed her a kind, warm smile. He then handed her five red fruits as if he was the most generous person in the world.


    The dark elf Dimitri who watched this scene, rolled his eyes at his master.


    Who would even fall for this act? He turned to look at Crawford, but the guy was different from him. All of his soul was not there, so he was basically an emotionless robot.


    Sighing, he turned back and continued observing his master and his little master. To his surprise, the next scene shocked him to the core.


    Luna saw Liam''s action, and the innocent fox revealed the most adorable smile as she happily epted the fruits! What the heck?


    Even a baby was not this gullible! Just what sort of brainwashing did this guy do to the fox??? Dimitri was speechless.


    Actually, he was very aware of how crafty, cunning and intelligent the fox was. Her only w was that she was utterly blind when it came to this one person!


    "Tell me when you do not gain stats anymore." Liam patted the fox as he started feeding her the fruit one after the other. Unlike him, Luna actually ate all ten remaining fruits, licking clean the entire pile. She even looked up at him with twinkling eyes, expecting some more.


    "You are not done yet?" Liam wryly chuckled.


    Kyuuu!


    "I am still gaining strength, master." Luna licked her mouth, smearing red juices all over her snow white fur.


    "Well, sorry. That''s all we have." Liam shook his head helplessly.


    Kyuuu!


    "Luna is happy, master." She came in for a few more pats.


    Afraid to break up this ridiculous heartwarming scene, Dimitri slightly coughed. "There is more." The soul minion mumbled.


    "Right, there are the green ones and the blue ones." Liam nodded. There were three kinds of fruits in total, and he had a dozen or so of all of them, with the red ones nowpletely gone.


    Liam took out a green fruit and inspected it.


    <Ding. Green Stone Cherry - a fruit that can be consumed; This fruit is typically found in areas with high mineral content>


    A simr description popped out. Since his [Inspect] skill was still at the base level, this was already quite good, so he did not mind.


    "As long as it is consumable." Liam tossed a green fruit into his mouth. Immediately, a notification popped out.


    <Ding. You have gained +5 Agility>


    "Ho Ho. Nice." He grinned and was about to put the next fruit into his mouth when the dark elf soul minion once again spoke up.


    "Master, I am not talking about these fruits. There are a lot more where these came from!" He said, correcting Liam''s earlier misunderstanding.

 Chapter 860 Dig Deeper

    Liam''s heart began to beat rapidly as he heard the wordse out of the dark elf''s mouth. "You said there are more? Bring me to it right now." Hemanded with fervour.


    If there were more, then he could easily give the entire group significant power up, making them elites among elites. The very possibility made him shake with excitement.


    That too, since he was nning to leave everyone by themselves for a while, these additional stats could potentially be lifesaving for them.


    Ideally, Liam would have preferred to leave some of his soul minions with his guild or maybe his followers or perhaps the two golems that were guarding his sister and Shen Yue back in the game.


    However, none of this was possible.


    His soul minionscked the ability to be away from him, and both his followers and his golems were still stuck in the game world, along with the rest of the items from his personal inventory.


    Liam could only curse his bad luck that he was able to bond with the spatial artifact at the veryst minute.


    If he had done it even a second sooner, then he could have brought over the items from his personal inventory and perhaps even his followers along with Luna.


    "Since I am out of the game, what could have happened to the items in my inventory?" He wondered.


    Tch. He clicked his tongue in disappointment, but he also did not dwell on it too much. There was no point in him thinking about that right now. He needed to focus on what was in front of him.


    With Dimitri leading the way, Liam arrived at the spot in a few seconds. He immediately rubbed his eyes because he couldn''t believe the sight that awaited him.


    "How is this possible?"


    Spread out in front of them were several creepers sprawled across a big patch ofnd. The leaves were clover-shaped leaves, and at the centre of each of these leaf segments, there was a stone fruit.


    Some of them were red, some were blue, and some were green. There was no particr pattern in which these had grown. They were simply spread out like weeds in all directions, albeit with definite boundaries.


    In fact, their boundaries were so defined that Liam couldn''t help but observe them with special attention. It almost seemed unnatural for a nt that had grown this rampantly also to be contained within an area like this.


    Meanwhile, the fox next to him was going crazy.


    Kyuuu!


    Luna drooled at the sight of so much good stuff. It had been such a long time since she had eaten something tasty. "Master! Master!" She pleaded with adorable eyes, snapping Liam out of his thoughts.


    Liam shook his head helplessly and patted the fox with a smile. "Alright. Go crazy. Well, not too crazy. Don''t eat anymore if you are not gaining stats."


    Luna nodded her head with a big smile and then dashed forward at full speed. With her [Blur] skill activated, she was everywhere at the same time, and each time she showed up, the fruit on that leaf cluster disappeared.


    Liam watched the scene in a daze, and he then shook his head. "Luna, don''t kill the damn thing." He wanted her to be careful and not destroy the nt.


    As long as it was alive, they could always grow it more to nurture more of these fruits, but just as he spoke these words, Liam''s eyes fell on the first cluster of leaves that the fox had attacked.


    Though she hadn''t particrly ripped out or scratched anything and seemed to have handled it smoothly enough, the leaves in that spot started withering away, eventually turning into dust.


    Liam''s eyes then darted to all the other spots, and the same thing was happening everywhere. As soon as the fruit was harvested, that part of the nt died.


    "What the heck is this?" Liam turned to Dimitri for an exnation, but the dark elf shook his head. He had also observed this, but he did not have an exnation for the same.


    "I am not familiar with this nt, Master." He replied.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam watched a quarter of the whole creeperwork disappear just like that, with Luna prancing around here and there, eating to her heart''s content.


    When she was finally done, almost one-third of the whole thing was gone, poof.


    "Are you full?" Liam asked the fox, who was licking her mouth and cleaning up her face very meticulously.


    "Yes, master." Came the shameless reply.


    At this point, Liam was simply happy that she did not clear out the whole thing.


    However, even if she had done that, he wouldn''t have cared too much because this meant that she had gained a lot of stats and be stronger. So, in the end, it was worth the investment.


    As for the others in the guild, they had to share and make do with whatever was remaining. Perhaps, there was even a way for them to grow more of these nts?


    As Liam was thinking about this, he couldn''t help but remember the second half of the description of the fruit.


    "It usually grows in mineral-rich areas, so there are mineral deposits here?"


    Liam eyed the patch ofnd that Luna had effectively cleared out. "Dimitri, dig here and see if you can find anything below thend. Wait. First, collect all the fruits and then start digging."


    The soul minion obediently nodded and proceeded to do the necessary.


    Liam did not want to take any chances as sometimes the soil could be loose and give away, damaging and making the fruitspletely useless. So it was best to harvest everything first before starting to dig deeper.


    He stood on the side and watched the group of minions further pull apart the ce, especially within the area where the boundary of the creeper had been.


    It took a few minutes as thend seemed particrly hard even for his higher-level minions, but that only made Liam more excited.


    And before long, the mystery waspletely solved.


    Buried in the depths of the ground in front of Liam, interspersed between rocks here and there, wererge chunks of turquoise-blue crystalline shards, which gave a metallic shine as they reflected the faint colours of the dusk.


    "Inspect," Liam said in anticipation, and the system notification popped up in front of him.


    <Ding. Stroetium - A metal ore found in mana-rich areas. Due to its mana capacity, and strong and pliable nature, it can be used as a forging base for a wide variety of high-grade weapons>


    "This is¡­" Liam squatted down and touched the metallic ore in front of him. This was an item that could potentially be put to very good use if he also managed to find the other right ores for the amalgam.


    However, there was also something else.


    The stone fruits typically grew in mineral-rich areas, while the Stroetium was usually found in mana-rich areas. So what made this particr patch ofnd so special?


    "Extract the ores carefully and then dig deeper. Keep digging." Liam ordered the dark elf.


    Dimitri quickly rushed and started taking care of things once again. Within the next few minutes, several chunks of ores were neatly piled up on the side.


    Liam ced these in his inventory but waited patiently for his soul minions to finish the main task.


    His intuition said that there was something more special and unique about this ce, and within another ten minutes, this mystery was also solved.


    The soul minions turned the first crater-like dent on the ground into a huge deep hole and stopped when they struck something hard and crystalline.


    Liam jumped down to take a look, and this time, he was not staring at some random metallic ore deposits. Instead, the thing in front of him was pulsing with life, a thick wave of mana emanating out of it.


    He immediately felt refreshed. He took a deep breath and saw that his body was greedily absorbing the mana in the air around him. The mana right here was definitely thicker and richer than the one outside in the normal environment.


    "Inspect." Liam inhaled more of the good stuff and said.


    <Ding. Mana Vein - A rich source of mana; Rare-grade>


    Liam bent down to touch the pulsing crystalline stretch of mineral, but it burned his hand as soon as he went near it. He had to pull his hand back quickly. Otherwise, he would have gotten a third-degree burn.


    "So strong!" Liam clicked his tongue. He couldn''t help but wonder just how much of this set-up had the Gu family figured out in hisst life. Did they only find out about the fruits?


    Or did they find out about all of the fruits, the ore deposit and the mana vein?


    Either way, it did not matter. Now that he had gotten to the bottom of this, Liam could think of several methods by which he could take advantage of something so valuable.


    But first, he had to secure it.

 Chapter 861 Down In The Dumps

    It was abundantly clear that the mana vein in front of him was extremely valuable and that Liam had to secure it somehow. However, the problem was what to do about something like this, which was in the middle of nowhere.


    If he tried to mine it or extract it using crude methods or brute force, then he could potentially damage it. It also wouldn''t be a good use of manpower to make someone sit here and guard this ce 24/7, as it was in the middle of nowhere.


    As far as Liam could see, there were now only two options left. One was just to leave it as is and revisit it at ater time, perhaps when his soul minions could be summoned and left behind without needing his presence.


    The other option was¡­ the almighty stone tablet.


    Liam was not sure that this would work, but if there was one glutton who was more capable than Luna, then it was the stone tablet. At this point, he wouldn''t put anything past the treasure. Surely, it should be able to take care of this mana vein?


    He took out the stone tablet, and almost immediately, the mana vein started pulsing visibly.


    "Ok. So there is some reaction."


    He ced the stone tablet on the ground, and this pulsation started bing stronger and stronger. Before long, a stream of mana started pouring out of the vein and toward the stone tablet.


    Liam gaped as he watched this scene. He had never seen anything like this before. The concentration of mana in front of him was so rich that he could intuitively feel it would hurt him even if he went near it.


    The energy contained within it was also very raw and chaotic, as if it would not submit to anyone. He had never experienced mana like this before.


    Though it was clearly unstable, somehow, it felt more powerful and more dangerous than the gentle and nourishing version.


    Also, after seeing this, another thought entered his mind. Perhaps this was how mana zombies were created. Maybe they as well perceived and used this kind of chaotic energy.


    Liam quietly pondered as he tried to sense the unique mana in front of him, but it did notst long. The mana vein barelysted for a few seconds before foldingpletely in front of the stone tablet.


    The thing was fully sucked dry!


    The stone tablet as well hummed as if it was content after a well-deserved meal.


    Liam chuckled and squatted down to observe the weird material that was the only thing now left behind. It looked like a metallic shell, but it was still quite strong despite being devoid of the content inside.


    When he felt it, he could tell that the grade of this metallic shell couldn''t be any lower than the Epic-grade metal ores he had worked with back in the game.


    Liam nodded and quickly collected this shell as well into the spatial artifact, not leaving anything behind.


    "Turn this whole ce inside out. I want everything searched thoroughly."


    Once again, the soul minions got down to business, and the entire area was picked clean, this time further expanding their perimeter of search.


    Only after making sure that they were really leaving nothing behind did Liam dismiss the army and hop back onto Luna. The two of them then headed to the magic shop again.


    Now that the emergency situation was taken care of and the base was no longer under any threat, Liam wanted to take a look at the guild war oue and what exactly they had gained.


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the magic shop¡­


    All the fairies seemed restless as the store manager had gone into her office, banging the door shut angrily behind her. She also hadn''te out after that.


    Was something major going to happen? Everyone nervously looked at the shut door.


    More importantly, they were painfully aware of the bnce sheet at the moment as it was visible on everyone''s shop interface with a big negative red number.


    Their shop''s rank had also abruptly dropped down to the lowest among all the magic shops on earth.


    Previously, they were at the top as theirs was one of the first shops where a guild was registered, and even some amount of payment was made.


    No one else on earth had managed to make any headway in that aspect. However, now all of that had backfired on their faces, and they fell to the absolute bottom.


    While guild registration was always beneficial because of the ridiculously high registration fees, the main benefit was not that. It was, in fact, the guild war challenges.


    Since the store handled and conducted the battle from start to finish, they usually harvested a lot from this sort of affair.


    Because of this, everyone in the shop was in a celebratory mood today, especially the boss Tilia. With this war, their shop would go further high up in the rankings and sit in an undefeatable ce.


    However, in the end, none of that happened. Instead of shooting up, they went down as their harvest wasn''t even enough to cover the energy expenditure in the first ce.


    Everything changed in a single day. Instead of being revered and praised by the other magic shops, they became theughingstock of this entire realm and even back in their own realm.


    Word had already spread far and wide. This was why all the fairies were walking on eggshells, as they had no idea how their boss was going to respond now. If something went wrong, they would have a permanent ck mark on their records.


    While the workers in the shop anxiously looked at the manager''s office, the main person in charge of this entire ce was currently staring at a screen ckjawed.


    Tilia was frozen solid as she couldn''t believe what she was seeing with her eyes. The record of this battle was¡­ something that shouldn''t be happening in a lower realm like earth!

 Chapter 862 Rule Or Exception?

    While the actual battle had gone down, Tilia did not bother to spectate it or even take a look at the highlights,pletely ignoring the entire thing. After all, unlike Liam, she knew very well the level difference between the two sides.


    The strongest member of the ''Messengers of God'' guild was only at Level 20, while Liam was at Level 80. Just because of this single difference, the result of this battle was already decided.


    This was because when a being usually crossed the threshold of Level 50, they were stepping onto the next rank or the next tier. They typically formed a mana core that acted as a conduit of energy, multiplying the quantity and quality of all the attacks.


    This was not an advantage a simple difference in numbers could make up for. This was why Tilia did not care about the actual manner in which the battle went down.


    Besides, she already knew that Liam was a necromancer. She had seen many necromancer battles and witnessed even some of the stronger ones that were capable of shaking an entire realm.


    Whenpared to all those higher beings'' battle records, this record was nothing in front of her eyes. So she waspletely focused on managing the battlefield and bncing the energy consumption of all the teleportation runes.


    That was¡­ until the ridiculous big red numbers that had popped up in front of her.


    Tilia had panicked and immediately ran towards Liam, who appeared from the battle portal. However, the irritating human being did not give her any answers.


    She also couldn''t understand how a mere human being could have consumed such a huge amount of souls. Or perhaps something else went wrong with the battlefield set-up?


    Faced with a lot of questions, the fairy wanted to bang her head against the wall in frustration. Nothing was going right for her these days. She really wanted this to work out and had a huge n riding on the back of this battlefield, but in the end, everything had flopped.


    In a fit of rage, Tilia had opened up the battle records to finally take a look at what exactly went down and how everything had gone wrong for her. However, when she saw the record of the battle from start to finish, she waspletely speechless.


    Tilia gulped, still sitting inside the manager''s room, not daring to move from her ce. She even watched the same battle record several times over, but how could that change?


    It was the same thing over and over again.


    The human being whom she hadn''t bothered to ce in her eyes actually had the ability to conjure soul summons! Moreover, he was even able to control so many of them!


    Just how high was his soul strength? How could a being possess such tremendous soul strength without even crossing Level 100?


    Tilia had no idea what the hell was going on. Only one thing was clear to her. This particr lower-realm human being was by no means an ordinary one.


    In the past, when she was small, she had heard stories about strong transcendent beings that had arisen from humble beginnings. Tilia never believed in these fairy tales.


    When a person was born in a lower realm, their fate was already sealed. This was themon norm. However, now¡­ was she personally witnessing one such rare exception?


    Her heart nervously palpitated as she imagined such a future. However, a couple of secondster, she snapped out of it.


    "No. No. Something like that is still impossible." Tilia rubbed her brows with her hand and shook her head. Just being capable of dealing with soul energy was not merely enough to cross this hurdle.


    Most of the lower realms inevitably fell. This was simply how it was. Just one person couldn''t possibly be strong enough to change that!


    How could there be an exception to this rule?


    But¡­ if that person was even stronger than the cmities?


    Haaaa¡­. Tilia sighed in exasperation. She found herself unable to wrap her mind around this situation. She couldn''t decide one way or the other.


    While her logic dictated that the inevitable was indeed inevitable, her instincts told her a different thing.


    In the midst of this, there was also the big blinking red sitting on her system interface. She was frustrated about this before, but now this was the farthest thing on her mind.


    This was because if, indeed, this human being turned out to be a transcendental being, then the entire game was going to change. Even if she could remotely associate herself with this being, then all her troubles would cease to exist!


    But considering how she had treated him in the recent past, was something like this still possible? Tilia bit her lips, feeling that she had been too hasty andmitted a grave mistake.


    Was there any way she could repair this?


    The fairy quietly pondered her next moves when the devil himself suddenly showed up on her doorstep.


    Tilia gulped and headed out to receive him. She still had no idea how he managed to absorb the souls from the battlefield, as she had not seen any such skills being executed.


    Soul techniques were always mysterious and unique. She couldn''t possibly decipher everything with the experience she had.


    However, that did not matter right now. She had no choice but to suck up to him as she had never sucked up before.


    "H¡­ Hello, Mr Liam." She stepped out and greeted the human being with a flushed face and an embarrassingly big smile that made her want to die inside.


    "Huh?" Liam was surprised. Wasn''t this fairy all heated up and wanting to smash his head just a couple of hours ago? And now, she was once again back to her old flirtatious self?


    Things were not adding up.


    If he wasn''t sure before that she was able to view the events on the battlefield, he was now fully sure of it. This fairy had definitely seen everything, perhaps even his stone tablet!

 Chapter 863 Special Offer

    Ignoring the sudden change in the attitude of the fairy, Liam first decided to focus on the after-effects of the war. There were no specific mary rewards for winning the war, but there was a territory acquisition.


    Liam did not know how this worked. In his past life, the guilds were too busy dying left and right to focus on these things, and if there were indeed any guild wars, he was in no position to pay attention to those.


    <Ding>


    He opened the guild system interface to take a look at exactly what territory they had acquired. Immediately, a map of China or, rather, most of Asia shed in front of him.


    On that map, surprisingly, there were no demarcations of the current countries. It was not even the boundary that defined the Asia continent.


    It was a weird split somewhere in between, as if the Eurasia border had been moved a few units to the right, including only a part of Russia and not all of it.


    Liam tried to observe it closely to see what countries had been included and excluded, but without abelled world map in his hand, he was going nowhere.


    He had barely stepped out of his district, let alone his country. His geography knowledge in school was also not that great. So he decided not to worry about the details.


    His gaze glossed over the specifics and tried to look at the bigger picture. "Oh!" He noticed that there was an option on the side. "Does this magnify or extend the view?" He thought out loud as he clicked the marker.


    Immediately, the map of the entire world shed in front of him. However, it was not the world that he knew of!


    Liam looked up at Tilia, stunned for a second, as this was the first time he was seeing something like this. The map of the world hadpletely changed!


    Instead of the previous countries and continents, now there were 7 distinct chunks ofndmasses, not just distinctlybelled but also physically separate. Liam''s geography knowledge was at least this much to notice these obvious changes.


    The entirety of North America had drifted away from South America. In the same manner, Africa, Australia, Europe, and Greend, all thend masses had now moved far from each other, with the vast expanse of oceanic waters splitting them apart.


    And instead of the nomenture typically used to demarcate thesendmasses, they were nowbelled as territories 1 to 7.


    With territory 1 being North America, 2 being South America, 3 being Greend, 4 being Europe with parts of Russia, 5 being Africa, 6 being the rest of Asia, andstly, 7 being Australia.


    Only these 7ndmasses now existed in the whole world, and the smaller inds were all now merged with these hugend masses. The entirendscape of the had changed.


    "How is this possible?" Liam silently mumbled to himself.


    "Mr Liam, there is no need to be surprised or shocked about this sort of urrence. Since mana was introduced to the world only recently, it ismon for these kinds of geographical adjustments to ensure equilibrium and bnce."


    "Hmmm?" Liam was amused by the fairy''s helpful attitude. She was even exining things on her own initiative. "Then are there worlds in which mana is already prevalent?" Liam asked, making use of this chance.


    However, this time the fairy shook her head with a smile. "I am sorry, Mr Liam. I am afraid I am unable to answer that question."


    Liam expected as much, so he did not press the issue any further. He returned to focus on the map shing on the system interface. He touched territory 6, which was currently the territory they were residing in.


    The map once again zoomed in to magnify thendmass, but that was the extent of the details avable. There were no otherbels or anything. What was this even good for?


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam frowned.


    "Mr Liam, you can further magnify the map." Tilia reminded him.


    "Oh?" Only after she hinted, Liam observed the map more closely and scanned the thing from top to bottom. He finally saw the small dot that was very easy to miss otherwise.


    In fact, there were two of these dots on the map.


    And when he clicked one, it immediately became bigger and revealed the name ''Crimson Abyss''.


    So the other one was¡­


    Liam clicked the second dot, which also became bigger but showed the name ''Messengers of God'' instead.


    <Ding. You are now able to ess this zone>


    <Ding. Do you wish to annex this with the current Crimson Abyss territory? Yes/No?>


    Liam hummed as he looked at the fairy again, wondering if she had any more wise words to add, but Tilia simply smiled.


    "Fine. Looks straightforward enough."


    Liam clicked ''Yes'', and immediately the name of that small area changed to ''Crimson Abyss'' as well.


    "What the hell is this?"


    "So, are we being encouraged to fight each other and expand our guild territories?"


    Tilia blinked, shing her longshes.


    "Isn''t that quite convenient?" Liam did not look amused. "Instead of focusing on the dangers around us and this new world, we should be fighting and killing each other and wasting our time?"


    Tilia helplessly smiled again, but she did not say anything. It looked like this was another topic she wouldn''t be able toment on.


    "Well, whatever." Liam sighed and closed the interface. Perhaps someone else would be interested in this sort of conquest feature, but he couldn''t care less about it.


    In another two to three weeks'' time, everything was once again going to change. So worrying over these territories was a waste of time at the moment. Survival came first.


    He was just about to close the guild interface and leave the shop when the fairy hesitantly spoke up. "Mr Liam, I apologize that I was not able to help you a lot today, but at this time, I would like to remind you of a special offer."


    "For another hundred million mana cores down payment, you will be able to set up a safe zone for your guild members."

 Chapter 864 Something Has Changed

    "Mr Liam, I apologize that I was not able to help you a lot today, but at this time, I would like to remind you of a special offer. For another hundred million mana cores down payment, you will be able to set up a safe zone for your guild members."


    Liam immediately stopped in his tracks after hearing the fairy''s words.


    He was not too interested in the vain conquest game of who was controlling more territories, especially when everything was going to change with every wave of the apocalypse, but this¡­ this he was definitely interested in!


    "What do you mean by safe zone?" He immediately turned around to ask the fairy.


    Tilia blushed a little as she looked down at her feet. "Cough cough, my bad. I don''t think you qualify right now for this offer. Only a guild that had amassed sufficient zones is able to activate this feature."


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. Just when he had decided to ignore the whole territory conquest affair, at least for the time being, the fairy had pointed out why he shouldn''t do that.


    Even though she had taken back the offer just as fast as she had suggested it to him, it did not matter. The information itself was quite valuable.


    Moreover, for the first time, the fairy had helped him out in an obvious manner, that too all on her own. He dragged his gaze on her, wondering what triggered this change.


    It definitely had something to do with the battleground!


    "Did you see our battle against the other guild?" He asked her directly.


    Tilia nodded. "Since the magic shop conducts the guild wars, we are able to ess the battle records."


    "Then is every other guild also able to see these battle records?"


    To Liam''s surprise, the fairy shook her head. "No. That is not possible. The other guilds are only able to look at the oue of the challenge, not the battle records."


    Heh. Liam grinned. This was an unexpected windfall. He was quite sure that all of his secrets would have been out for the world to see by now, but it seemed he still had some time on his hands.


    It was impossible for anyone to have gathered information from this battle. He had personally wiped out every single vampire on that battleground, so there was no way for the word to have gotten out.


    And Crimson Abyss clinching another victory was not a new thing.


    With this matter settled, Liam quickly gathered his thoughts as he thought about the territory acquisition and the rted matters. If a safe zone could be set up, then that was indeed a huge deal.


    It was definitely something that was worth investing time and resources in. However, now was not the time.


    Since a safe zone could be set up, there could be other infrastructure also set up, perhaps even teleportation portals. There was a lot he needed to figure out about the guild system from this fairy.


    But all of that can wait. He first wanted to put an end to this vampire infestation.


    Liam silently pondered for a while and then decided that the best time to deal with the guild issues and build the base up further would be right after the second wave of the apocalypse.


    Before that, he wanted to get to the bottom of this vampire problem.


    Knowing how they were able to gain a lot of stats without putting in much effort and the strange skills they were able to learn casually, he did not want this problem to worsen. This is something that should be nipped in the bud.


    Liam thanked the unusually helpful store manager and walked out of the magic shop when he noticed a familiar face.


    "So you are really leaving?" Shen Yue, who was waiting patiently at the entrance of the magic shop, asked Liam.


    She was fully drenched in sweat from top to bottom, and it was clear that she had run all the way here from the base, perhaps on foot, taking the shortest path.


    Liam sighed and walked closer to her. "Do you want toe with me?"


    Unexpectedly, Shen Yue surprised him by shaking her head. "No."


    "Hmm?"


    "I don''t want to be a burden to you." She smiled, though her eyes betrayed her real feeling. "You left so quickly that¡­ I just wanted to send you off properly." She mumbled, not knowing how to exin her actions.


    "Thank you. I appreciate it." Liam pulled the girl closer and gently kissed her forehead. "I will only be gone for a few days, so take care and keep an eye on Mei Mei for me. Always stick together."


    "Mmm¡­" Shen Yue nodded, tugging at Liam''s shirt. "You also take care."


    She, just like everyone else, knew exactly why Liam was leaving them. He was going to be in far more dangerous situations than they would ever be in.


    "I am sorry." She said, feeling like she had disappointed him.


    Even after he had given so many chances to them and helped them, she was still not strong enough to stand confidently in front of him and ask him to take her as well. Heck, she even had a legendary weapon.


    Compared to Alex, who had nothing, she truly felt that she wasgging behind.


    Seeing the girl''s small face, which still looked mesmerizing and stunningly beautiful, enough to invoke the deepest protective feeling in any man, Liam couldn''t help but be moved.


    He smiled and hugged her closely for a few seconds before letting her go. However, he knew that this was not going to help her in any way. The thing that could help her was¡­


    "If you are so sad to see me go alone, then reach level 50 before I get back." Liam smiled and walked away after giving her another kiss.


    For someone like Shen Yue, who was loving, emotional and straightforward, only this was going to work and take her mind off of him. So he gave her a goal to achieve.


    And just like he thought, the girl''s drooping face immediately changed.


    She looked more determined at the moment as she silently nodded. Her hands clenched the edge of her pants, and she bit her cherry-red lips, looking rather seductive.


    "Ha Ha." Liamughed at her predictable actions. This was why he liked her a lot. She was simple, kind and loving. "Anyway, it is a good thing that you came down here to see me off. You saved me a trip." He leaned forward to kiss her again.


    "I have some things to give you." He took out a bunch of stone fruits from his inventory and handed them over to Shen Yue. He naturally left some as a reserve in case he needed themter for some experimentation and to figure out how to grow more of them.


    "This?" Shen Yue was confused. She did not know what these were but just judging from their appearance, she could tell that these were not ordinary items.


    "They are fruits. You should eat them. Eat only five of each and make sure you, Mei Mei, Rey, Alex and Shin Soo get to eat enough first before distributing them to others. Do it on the basis of their current level and their general standing in the guild."


    There were not many fruits to begin with so Liam only gave a few quick guidelines.


    He then smiled and waved her goodbye as he hopped onto Luna. The fox arrogantly lifted her head up in the sky, scoffing at Shen Yue. Wanting to apany her master? Only she was fit to do that!


    Liam''s face twitched, but he didn''t say anything. "Go north." He nudged her. The fox whirred into action, disappearing quickly in the next few seconds.

 Chapter 865 Kicking It Up A Notch

    "So he really left?" Alex frowned a little as she couldn''t help but feel like a piece of baggage unloaded.


    However, her gaze then shifted to Mei Mei and Shen Yue, whom she knew for a fact mattered a lot more to Liam than she would ever mean. He had also left them behind just like he had left her.


    What was he thinking?


    Wait, that didn''t make her feel any better. She didn''t want to get lumped in with the little sister of the girlfriend! She was neither of those! She was a strong pdin, for god''s sake!


    Just the thought of being left behind as if she was a weakling burned her soul.


    She clenched her fists and felt her blood boiling with her fiery temper ring up, but before she could reach her boiling point, suddenly, something was shoved into her mouth.


    Mhm?


    She looked up at Rey in anger who was holding something sparkling in his hand, something like a gemstone. He was also munching something, with a drop of juice threatening to leak from the corner of his lips.


    "Don''t overthink like usual and eat this, sis. It''s good stuff." He grinned like an oaf as he wiped his mouth and licked the same finger so as not to let anything get wasted.


    Alex wanted to punch his face, but since her mouth was stuffed, she first ate whatever was in her mouth. In a second, a rich vorful juice filled her mouth, dissolving and disappearing rapidly into her stomach.


    Hmmm? The redhead''s eyes then widened in shock as she stared at an unbelievable notification that popped out of nowhere.


    <Ding. You have gained +3 Strength>


    "What the heck?"


    "Yup. It is the effect of these fruits. Here, try some more. Sis Shen Yue is handing them out." Rey grinned.


    Alex quickly stood up and walked over to Shen Yue. "What is this? Where did you find this?"


    "Ah¡­ Alex, I didn''t find it. Liam asked me to distribute this to everyone. He must have found it somewhere." She hurriedly exined.


    Alex nodded and silently sat back down as she ate the rest of the fruits that were allocated to her in silent contemtion.


    With the fifteen fruits she consumed, she was able to increase her strength by 15 points, agility by 15 points andstly vitality by another 15 points.


    At her current level, this much stat gain was nothing short of gaining another unbeatable advantage over the enemy. It was a permanent buff that was always going to make her stronger than someone of the same level.


    And more importantly, about eight of them had actually managed to get this upgrade!


    Without a doubt, these eight members were going to be elites, the pirs of their group. Their strength would always be a notch higher than the others, irrespective of how much they tried to catch up.


    It was a little unfair just to share this good fortune only among 8 team members, but sometimes, strong elites were more necessary for the survival of a group and to shock and awe the enemy rather than the strength being distributed among a lot of individuals, thereby showing not that much of a result.


    "So¡­ this is why he left¡­" Alex silently mumbled to herself. With this additional stat boost and the weapons Liam had distributed, it would definitely not be an easy task to take any of them down.


    However, she was not satisfied with just that much. Liam had his own fight, but she also had her own fight.


    "Rey, we need to reach Level 50 quickly." She pulled the guy who was chatting happily with Lan Deming and randomly shouted at him out of nowhere.


    "Huh? Huh? Level 50?" Rey was confused. Where did thise from? But seeing his sister''s face, he knew that she was not joking around. "Ughh. Ok. We will do it." He grinned.


    "I mean, in 2 weeks, do you understand?" Alex again repeated.


    "2 weeks, ah? That''s a bit¡­" Rey scratched his head.


    "I mean it, Rey. I am not joking. From tomorrow, we will start attempting the Level 50 upgraded dungeons as well. With our new stats and gear, I think it should be possible to take down at least the first couple of mobs."


    "We should not be bringing him down. We should somehow push ourselves to get to his level."


    Shen Yue, who was standing nearby, chimed in at that remark. "Alex, I also think we should do that." Her fingers subconsciously ran through her pair of legendary daggers.


    The legendary item had a level to unlock, and she needed a lot of poisonous materials for the same.


    Thankfully, her progress from in-game was still retained, so perhaps after running this dungeon, she would be able to unlock the next level of the daggers, which would be a significant boost.


    Lan Deming and Lan Fen also immediately expressed their interest in doing the same.


    Everyone in the group at the moment treated them as if they were a big deal and people born with golden spoons because of their natural affinity with mana.


    However, the brother and sister duo was well aware of what theycked. Their advantage was only temporary. For instance, these fruits being distributed today were proof of exactly that.


    Sooner orter, their natural advantage was not going to mean much. At that time, they would only fall behind and get left out.


    Both of them did not want this to happen. The future was very uncertain. Especially when they had a group like this, they wanted to continue being a part of it and not get left behind in the dust.


    Though they were not aspetitive as Alex, they still wanted to stand next to Liam and fight alongside him one day instead of always being protected by him.


    Thus, a group quickly formed to attempt the first run of the Level 50 upgraded dungeon.


    Mei Mei, Shen Yue, Alex, Lan Fen, Kang Minah prepared themselves from the women''s side.


    From the boy''s group, Rey, Lan Deming, Shin Soo, Chung Hee, Kim Hyun and the two mages Hector and d, whom Liam personally trained sometimes back inside the game, giving them basics about handling mana, joined the group.


    Though the two mages were originally more talented than Shin Soo, Chung Hee and Kim Hyun, the three Koreans had overtaken the two mages by sheer hard work and persistence.


    Also, right now, the mages were struggling more than melee yers to adapt to mana and casting their skills without the help of the system.


    Once they got a hang of things, it was inevitable that this order would once again be challenged with people moving up and down their ranks.


    Shin Soo, Kang Minah, Chung Hee and Kim Hyun were painfully aware of this fact, but the four were determined to keep their positions no matter what changed in the future!


    It was a lucky chance for them to encounter Liam so randomly within the game, but only a fool would let go of this golden thigh.


    From then until now, they have held onto Liam for their life with everything they had, and they would continue to do so in the future as well.


    He was a God, and they didn''t find it shameful or demeaning to ept and dere that they were his ardent followers who would go to the ends of hell for him and would never leave him no matter what, out of gratitude and partly for their own survival.


    Because, unlike the gods in their religious scripture, this god was actually right in front of them and helped them and their families during their needs.


    With everyone determined in their own way with their own thoughts and principles, the group left the cleanup of the battle aftermath to the civilians of the guild and immediately sprinted to the dungeon at full speed to try things out with their new and updated stats and gear.

 Chapter 866 Maths Is Hard

    "This is it. We are going to attempt something very difficult and challenging, so everyone should only enter at their own risk. We will only try to do our best without endangering any of our lives." Alex loudlymanded.


    "If I find anyone trying to be a hero or trying to be over-smart, endangering everyone''s lives, then they will be immediately kicked out of both the team and the guild."


    "NOW! LET''S GO!"


    The group entered the dungeon portal that swirled dangerously in the middle of the thick wilderness. Everyone gripped their weapons tightly as they sucked in a big breath of air and stepped in.


    Alex''s red hair whipped about in the wind, mixed in with the dirt and sand of the dungeon, as she jutted her voluptuous chest out and used her epic-grade shield to block the first attack that came for them.


    They were attempting the orc dungeon first, so it was a pair of orc elites they were facing at the moment. The towering creatures almost made the woman seem insignificant in front of them, but Alex stood strong and used a divine aura to hold them in ce.


    "I cannot hold on for long, 2 seconds at the most." She gritted her teeth and said.


    The others did not need her reminder as they could feel the overwhelming strength of the orc elites in their blood, giving them all sorts of danger signals.


    Mei Mei started casting buffs. The four mages, including Lan Fen, started bombarding the elites with all sorts of attacks, quickly draining their mana. Rey rained his arrows at the big guys. Shen Yue, Kim Hyun and Lan Deming stood diagonally opposite Alex and struck the orc elites from the back, trying to go for their vital points.


    The full group went into burst mode as they pelted the two elites with everything they had. Fighting a dungeon thirty levels above them was easier said than done. Even with their weapons and stats, they were still at a significant disadvantage.


    However, everyone was determined enough to persist and kill the two elites in front of them, even if that was all they managed to achieve in this dungeon.


    Meanwhile, at a certain distance away, Liam was thinking about the same dungeon the rest of the group was currently fighting in.


    The main reason why he was forced to take a decision to separate from the rest of the group was exactly because of the two upgraded dungeons.


    These two dungeons served him as a good training tool, but in thest run, it was clear that he had hit a wall when it came to this training tool.


    Until the second floor, he was able to easily wipe out the dungeon mobs and clear the floor quite easily. However, after that, on the third floor, he encountered the titan orcs that ranged from Level 75 to 85.


    These were muscr giants whose every single hit was a finishing move. Their muscles were literally visible for him to see as they pulsed, contracted and stretched with every attack, packing a powerful punch.


    Against these enemies, his minions were useless. He personally handled these guys and was able to clear the floor, but this was where he was forced toe to a stop.


    The next floor, the fourth floor, had another type of orcs called the Abomination orcs that were even more difficult to take out. They were opposite in nature to the titan orcs, being more of the magical attack type, but nevertheless, they were gifted with a huge health bar.


    They were fat and chunky, huge orcs with thick hands and legs covered by severalyers of fat that jiggled with every move. At a first nce, one might think it would be easier to take out these orcs, but they would be gravely mistaken.


    Theyers of the fat served as an excellent magic defence barrier and also an excellent physical defence barrier. Moreover, their levels also could not be ignored.


    These big guys ranged from Level 85 to 95, and they packed a serious punch. After taking out a couple of these mobs, Liam simply could not push forward any longer.


    And this was the wall he was currently up against. Without a team at the same level or some sort of method to strengthen his soul minions, he was currently not able to take care of the fourth level of the dungeon, let alone the higher floors.


    This was not something that was going to change by him blindly grinding for levels on the lower floors, waiting for the reset every week. He had to improve himself actively. Otherwise, the progress would be too slow.


    Ideally, finding another dungeon where he could farm for mana cores would be a good starting point. That way, he would have three dungeons to spam in a week rather than two.


    Keeping this in mind, he carefully surveyed thend underneath him as he and Luna continued flying around in the area.


    After a few minutes, he took out a local map of the region he had secured and marked the location of the three dungeons. Perhaps there was a mathematical exnation of the location and distribution of these dungeons.


    Liam stared at the map and scratched his head, but nothing was popping out. So far, it seemed extremely random, with two of the dungeons being very close to each other and the third one being a little further away.


    However, even if he considered the furthest one, there wasn''t another dungeon in the vicinity if he used that as a radius and searched.


    "Maybe there aren''t that many dungeons to begin with?" Liam clicked his tongue. In hisst life, he only knew about these two dungeons. The third one was a pleasant surprise to him.


    Now he did not know how he was going to go about and find a fourth one. "Does it have to do with the location of the magic shops?" As this thought popped up, Liam suddenly had an idea.

 Chapter 867 Thank You?

    "Magic shops and dungeons, huh?" Liam did not know how one was rted to the other, but the logic somewhat made sense? Either way, it was just a theory. He continued searching for either another magic shop or a dungeon, but unfortunately, neither of those came up in his hunt.


    Instead, he ran into a portal after a few minutes. This was the purple portal back from the first wave of the apocalypse, and even though it had now been more than three weeks, this particr one had still not been cleared.


    "Hmmm¡­ This is good." Liam grinned and patted Luna, asking her tond in front of the huge portal.


    Beasts were still pouring out of the giant gate. If they had beening out constantly for the past three weeks, just how many beasts were now upying this territory?


    But this was good for him. It worked out in his favour. In fact, the more, the better. Liam quickly summoned his soul army to take care of the mess and to do some experience points farming.


    From the army, he sent a part of them to rummage this ce to see if he could find anything valuable in the vicinity, like the stone fruits they had run into.


    Meanwhile, he also had a n of his own.


    Liam was no longer within the game under the constant surveince of someone else, and there was no longer any need for him to tread lightly when it came to the stone tablet.


    This was the ultimate fight for survival, so there was no holding back now. He stood in front of the portal and took out the stone tablet to see if he could actually absorb the energy from the portal.


    He was also very curious about these portals. They were mysterious creations made of magic that was capable of acting as a gateway to almost an unlimited number of beasts.


    But what exactly were they? How were they created, and who was conjuring this magic? What was this type of magic in the first ce? Could it be something simr to the teleportation magic as these beasts were clearly teleported from somewhere else to here, the earth?


    Liam knew that it was not possible to get answers to his question in a single night, but he wanted to take a step forward. So he decided to use the stone tablet to try and absorb this energy of the strange portal as his own.


    Though he did not know what exactly was this type of magic, he knew that it had to be something strong and extraordinary to allow these many beasts to step foot on their.


    The only question was would the stone tablet be able to take in this portal energy?


    And he got the answer to this question almost immediately when the treasured stone b started vibrating, and ckish purple dots slowly started unspooling from the portal and moving towards the stone tablet.


    The beasts charging out of the portal immediately started targeting the stone tablet and Liam, but before any single thing coulde near either of them, a fox snarled and started her work.


    Mauling the weaklings left and right, she casually cleared every single beast in the vicinity, not letting anything disturb her master.


    Liam''s face twitched at the <1 experience point gained> notifications that were raining down on him. Not that this mattered. Hisplete focus was on the stone tablet, and the portal as the portal was slowly and steadily getting sucked into the stone tablet.


    Weirdly, this was taking a lot more time than the mana vein. Did that mean this portal was a much richer source of energy whenpared to that mana vein? What was so unique about this portal?


    Liam silently observed the scene, and a few minutester, the portal ended up fully copsing. The thing disappeared in its entirety, and in its ce, a crystal appeared, falling down onto the ground with a small clink.


    Liam was about to pick up this crystal when a certain rabbit made her cameo appearance and dashed ahead to bring it for him.


    She cutely handed him the crystal and disappeared into stardust with the same speed as she appeared, leaving both Liam and Luna in a daze.


    "Thank you?" Liam chuckled wryly as he scratched his head. Among the things that he did not understand, this rabbit was definitely the first on the list.


    Irrespectively, if the creature did indeed make an appearance, he knew that the crystal he was currently holding should be something very valuable.


    Liam stored the crystal in his spatial artifact as he wondered about the other crystals he once had in his possession, like the dungeon crystal back in the game.


    He did not have the items in his inventory with him at the moment, so he also did not have these dungeon crystals, but if he once again managed to procure these dungeon crystals, then would he be able to sell these in the shop?


    What about this portal crystal? Would he also be able to sell this in one of the magic shops? How much would these crystals?


    Instead of a single mana core from the dungeon, if he exchanged the entire dungeon crystal, then surely he should be able to pay off his massive debt immediately?


    As he considered this, another thought popped up in his mind. Instead of selling, perhaps he could even set up these dungeons again in another territory?


    He was not sure if this was feasible or not, but if indeed such a thing was doable, then he could potentially set up a lot of training dungeons right in the guild''s base, saving everyone a huge amount of time.


    This would also be a very valuable resource for the future of the guild as it would instantly boost their training regimen.


    Not just that, if he could also set up a safe zone along with this training zone within their base guild territory, then¡­


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


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 Chapter 868 Rapid Evolution

    Liam had always only thought about their survival, increasing his own strength and fighting the things that threatened them, so he had never considered something like this before, a life even after the apocalypse.


    There was even a chance that a semnce of peace could be established and people would be able to take a breather.


    Slowly a clear picture was beginning to form in his mind about what he could do to make this happen. But would he really be able to build a stronghold like this?


    Liam sighed and shook his head. This was something to think aboutter when he had these possibilities in front of him. For now, he first needed to identify the next dungeon.


    As he hopped back onto Luna, preparing to vacate the ce and move on to the next location, suddenly, something thundered in the distance.


    Hmmm? Liam frowned, but when the dust cloud came closer to them, he could see that this was just a big gori-type beast with two horns on its head, most likely the portal''s elite boss.


    Since he had closed down the portal using another method, this beast probably sensed it and rushed towards him. Liam silently observed the huge elite.


    Meanwhile, the gori jumped in front of Liam and started beating its chest proudly and arrogantly, letting out a threatening howl. It wanted to show a sneak peek of the terror it could unleash.


    However, all of thissted for a second. The next instant, something sparked in its eyes as its gaze shifted from Liam to Luna and then back to Liam. Its face visibly changed.


    It stopped shouting and shut its mouth tightly. The beast even began to step backwards, shaking its head. Without any warning, it then suddenly turned around and started running away!


    Huh? Liam''s eyes widened in shock. Luna, on the other hand, grinned. How could it be so easy to escape?


    Growl! She blurred and immediately appeared right in front of the gori that was speeding away. "Not so fast." With a single swipe, the beast was taken care of, and Liam received another <1 experience point gained> notification.


    He then hopped down to shove the beast''s corpse into the spatial artifact. Since he had been running dungeons a lottely, he dug out the beast''s forehead, searching for a core out of habit.


    "I guess these won''t have any mana cores?" Liam was about to take his hand out when he struck something hard and cool. "Wait, this guy had a mana core?" He was once again shocked.


    Not only was this beast considerably intelligent, but it also possessed a mana core. The more frightening aspect was that this change was observed in a little more than three weeks.


    Liam gave a rueful smile as he pocketed everything. The rate at which these creatures were evolving was something that should be taken note of!


    Unlike humans, who were slower and had to put in a lot more effort, even themon, trash-grade beasts that poured out of the dungeon portals were bing more and more dangerous as the days passed by.


    Soon instead of serving as a stepping stone for the humans to take their first step towards their evolution, these would instead be death traps roaming around the.


    Liam ordered his soul minions to keep killing as many beasts as possible as he once again started his search.


    While his soul minionsbed through thends for any signs of treasures, portals, dungeons or magic shops, he silently sat on Luna''s back and started meditating by circting mana through his body.


    With the world around him rapidly evolving and the existence of naturally blessed individuals like Lan Deming and Lan Fen, who had an extreme affinity with mana, he couldn''t afford to take it easy. He tried to strengthen his own mana affinity and attune his body to the energy as much as he could.


    This continued on for a while, but except for two more portals, they did note across anything special. On both asions, Liam made sure to use the stone tablet and collect the portal crystals and then resumed the search.


    Another few minutester, they finally dide across something else, but it was not a dungeon. It was a vampire nest.


    From a distance, Liam calmly observed the huge factory space that the group of vampires were upying. Surprisingly, in this one, he did not find any human ves orrge-scale debauchery.


    However, that did not mean that this ce was any better. Outside the factory, in a corner, hundreds of human corpses were piled up to form a small mound as if to make a spectacle out of it.


    The very sight was horrifying. It was a bloody rotting mess. They had used human beings as blood bags and thrown them out afterwards like they were trash.


    But Liam noticed something else. These guys were surprisingly not just sticking to the human beings. He watched some vampires feeding on wild beasts.


    These were either the beasts that had charged out of the portals or beasts that were already present on the and had now mutated because of mana.


    Either way, this single act proved that this group of vampires had the potential to be much stronger and more formidable whenpared to the first group he had encountered back in the hospital.


    They were also considerablyrger size-wise and probably also strength-wise and in other attributes as well. Moreover, in total, about five hundred vampires were there just in that area.


    With this much manpower and rapid power boosting, it was inevitable that these guys be a massive threat in the foreseeable future.


    However, that was before Liam decided to pay them a visit. "Come out." He calmly said as he gazed at the huge factory that sprawled across a vast expanse ofnd. "Kill everything in the area." He gave the order.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Raymond Vollintine for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 869 You Are Already Dead

    As soon as the soul minions entered the factory, the whole ce fell into disarray in an instant, and the smooth operation shattered like broken ss.


    All the vampires screamed and roared in anger as they were ambushed and assaulted by unknown enemies. However, they were vastly outnumbered and also out-levelled.


    More importantly, unlike the battlefield of the guild war challenge, killing these vampires out here gave experience points. So the minions enjoyed a good boost dealing with the mob of vampires.


    Some of the weaker ones even levelled up. They had also been slowly gathering experience points as they massacred the beasts throughout the district, and this was stacking up little by little.


    Liam hummed in satisfaction as he silently watched the destruction unfold in front of him. This was good, but what he was really after was the leader or leaders of this particr nest.


    As his eyes darted here and there, it did not take long for him to spot a bunch of vampires running away from a side exit away from the spot of the massacre. These guys were actually using skills instead of simply brute strength.


    "Running away instead of staying back and fighting? Smart move." Liam chuckled as he chased after the few vampires. Well, it was hardly a chase.


    The bunch of vampires were quickly cornered by Luna in a matter of a second. And just as fast as they were caught, they were also killed.


    Leaving behind the other soul minions to take care of the clean-up, Liam first forged the group he had caught.


    He then packed up and went to a cleaner spot along with Luna because the whole factory smelled of rotting flesh and blood, and he did not want to stay there any longer.


    He hadbined a few of his weaker beast soul minions beforehand to make space for the few new guys. So everything worked out perfectly.


    "I guess it''s about time I interrogate our new friends." Liam sat down on a ledge in an empty alleyway and started the show by first summoning the chief guest of the day''s main event, the sleaze bag uncle.


    "Come out," Liam called forth the guy. "Tell me everything you know."


    Jonathan Hofstader''s soul immediately appeared in front of him. "Hmmm." The guy arrogantly stared at Liam and then scoffed. "Who do you think you are talking to? I am a vampire lord. Mind your manners."


    "Oh, aren''t you that guy." Suddenly Jonathan acted as if he had realized something big. The next second, his mouth broke into a big grin.


    "Heh. Do you think you are all that? Do you know my true strength? If I want, I can finish you in a second. Oh, and how are my nieces? Tell those bitches that I aming for them."


    He rubbed his hands and continued, not showing any intention of stopping his monologue. "If I don''t bend them over and make them shout all night-"


    Thwack! Seeing him go on and on, someone else intervened.


    Jonathan''s eyes widened in anger. "Fuck? Who dared to hit my head?" He turned around to see a white figure shaking his head in disappointment.


    For a second, he became scared as he couldn''t recognize the figure and was startled.


    However, the next instant, the expression on his face further worsened. Some memories started flooding into his brain.


    Memories that he did not want to think about and memories that were extremely hurtful. They pped reality down on him ruthlessly.


    Jonathan staggered back in shock. "I am dead?" He looked at the human being who was calmly seated in front of him with a bored expression.


    He fell back onto the floor in absolute horror, checking his own body hesitantly, not wanting to confirm the hard facts, but the truth was there, and he couldn''t change it.


    He himself had be one of the white figures, a mere summon!


    "What are you? What is this?" Jonathan shook his head in dread, not wanting to ept his fate.


    However, Liam coldly dismissed him. "Hmmm¡­ I don''t have time to hold your hand through this transition. Just do as you are told." His time was too precious tofort this trash who did not deserve any kindness, even in death.


    "Tell me everything about your vampire powers. Did you gain some sort of item or ss from the game? Is this something that you carried over from the game?"


    Liam paused and then added. "Or did you receive these powers from someone after the apocalypse began?" He asked as an afterthought.


    At first, he thought that this guy could have been the reason for everything. But the more he thought about it, the more it did not make sense.


    The main reason being if he was so powerful, then that oracle bastard wouldn''t have let such a valuable pawn piece slip away from his hand so easily.


    Moreover, he was too dumb to be the mastermind behind all of this.


    The only exnation was that this guy somehow acquired this power after the apocalypse and when he was out of sight and out of mind from that oracle bastard.


    He also somehow managed to grow this power and his army quite fast, even in this short period of time.


    "I will die before I give you any information, you bastard." Jonathan spat out.


    "Heh. You are already dead." Liam grinned


    The next second, the dead sleaze bag uncle opened his mouth again to say something else, but instead, he found himself answering Liam earnestly.


    "Someone gave me this power. I don''t remember his face. I don''t know how to use this skill. I was able to do it before, but now I can''t remember how to. Even before I simply thought of the skill, and it became active. I don''t know."


    "The only thing that I know how to do is create more vampires, and that is by making them inject some of my blood."


    The guy then started rambling about how he created an borate n to take both Mia and Alex into his custody.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Raymond Vollintine for sponsoring this chapter!

 Chapter 870 Nothing To Worry About

    "That''s enough." Liam frowned.


    He was not really interested in listening to the sleazebag''s life story and ambitions. As for what he wanted to know, even Jonathan Hoffastader did not seem to have that information.


    Again the same response? Couldn''t remember the face? Just who was this person pulling all the strings? Was he strong enough to wipe out memories?


    He summoned the other newly forged vampires as well and confirmed with them about this. They all gave him the same answers, but they did not have any special skills.


    They only had minor powers like fire magic proficiency and enhanced strength like the vampire twins he had met previously and forged.


    At this time, Liam also summoned the vampire twins, thinking if he could get some information if he managed to ask everyone the right question or maybe jog some other memory.


    However, just as the two twins popped out, they immediately lunged at Liam at full speed. "Master, we are ready to serve you."


    The duo pushed their chests forward and knelt in front of him in their usual position, ready to take things into their mouth and swallow.


    "Bloody bastard." Jonathan sneered in contempt.


    Luna snarled at him, but Liam hurriedly coughed. "Luna, don''t do anything to him. He might die again and dissipate. I need to return this guy to Alex and Rey. They will take care of him."


    He realized that in his haste, he hadn''t informed the duo anything much about the war or their uncle.


    It was something that should be done so that they could have some piece of mind. He would also then see what to do with the useless bastard. As far as he was concerned, they could do whatever they wanted with him. It would be up to them.


    Liam then turned to pay attention to the two troublemakers who were still eyeing him like he was a tasty piece of meat they wanted to gorge on. "Ahem. from now onwards, I forbid you two to do this until I say so."


    "Well, not until I say so." Liam shook his head as he had spoken in a hurry, but then he was alone, and he did not have to exin his behaviour to anyone. He came to the main point.


    He made all the main vampires stand in line and asked them. "Do you all know each other? Are you all vampire lords?"


    Liam asked this because these vampires seemed to possess one or the other skills that the other vampires did not.


    Unexpectedly, the vampire soul minions shook their heads in unison. No one knew each other nor had evermunicated with each other before today in their whole lives.


    And even though they all had some amount of narcissism to them, surprisingly, except for Jonathan, no one else seemed to im that they were vampire lords or anything of that sort.


    Liam circled the group, recollecting the special skills or rather powers of each of these individual unit leaders. They seemed to be bestowed rather than developed.


    Also, Jonathan''s powers were definitely a step above the rest. Perhaps he was really a ''Vampire Lord'' like he imed?


    Though the chances of this were low, this made him think if there were more vampire lords like Jonathan. Something like that would definitely be dangerous.


    If they possessed powers like him but had more patience and brains to build this power and skill step by step, then they could really be a threat.


    "I need to find out more about you vampire lords." Liam patted Jonathan on the back. His touch made the guy''s soul contort in pain as he stumbled and fell forward in front of everyone.


    Jonathan growled in anger, his eyes ring at Liam, but the other party simply dismissed him. There was a lot more work to be done. He did not have time for this idiot.


    Liam quickly packed up all of his soul minions and then once again resumed his search.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­


    North of the currently marked ''Territory 6'', which included all of the Asian countries, there was an ind that did not show up on the world map which Liam had seen.


    In the middle of this ind, a small boy or rather a boy who was clearly a bit short for his age, was sitting on the sandy ground.


    He had human-like features and was dressed in crisp and clean clothes as if he belonged to an aristocratic family. His ck jacket and the matching trousers did not contain a single spec of dust even though he was sitting on the ground.


    More importantly, this boy had his eyes closed even though he was in the middle of nowhere. He only had a tranquil expression on his face. It was as if he was thinking about something pleasant or perhaps immersed in some sort of daydream.


    But all of a sudden, this expression changed, and he shed his eyes open without any warning. "Someone is killing my ythings one after the other."


    If one looked closely, small wisps of crimson liquid that looked a lot simr to blood were revolving and rotating around him as if he was the sun.


    "My Lord." Another voice chimed in, noticing the displeasure in the small boy''s demeanour.


    Four other beings rushed forward to attend to him, but the small kid silently grunted and waved them away. This was something that he had to take care of himself.


    "Nothing. Nothing. Forget it. You guys carry on." The small kidzily answered. "Just some mosquito is buzzing around me and irritating me. It will get pped down sooner orter. Nothing to worry about."


    All the underlings obediently nodded as they bowed to the kid and then left him alone to do their assigned chores with all of their sincerity. Unlike him, theseckeys did not look human.


    If Liam were here, he would have found simrities between them and the demons he had seen in theher realm.


    And the important chore they were attending to was... They were putting together some roasted meat and a refreshing coconut drink as per their lord''s request.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 871 Hidden In The Middle Of Nowhere

    Back on the maind, Liam continued searching for more clues about the vampires as something about them felt very unsettling to him.


    And it did not take long for them to run into the next group, a small vampire nest of only twenty or so vampires. All of them also seemed to be just grunts, with none of the vampires exhibiting any special skills.


    However, just as Liam left the area, they surprisingly ran into a magic shop. More precisely, his soul minions had sniffed out this magic shop while they were in the middle of massacring one of the wolf type beast pack.


    This magic shop was hidden in the wilderness, with trees and nts intertwined around the building, covering it so much that it made one think if the shop was purposefully being kept out of the public eye.


    Liam frowned on seeing this. Typically no one would bother to do such a thing as a magic shop was one of the most uselessndmarks in the post-apocalyptic world, especially to normal human beings.


    The sheer amount of mana cores required to buy anything useful was ridiculously high. So why would one even think about hiding this ce as if it was some sort of precious treasure trove?


    "Luna, stop here. Let''s go inside and check out this shop." Liam jumped down and cut down the brambles and vines with his sword, clearing a path for them to walk into the small building.


    And vo¡­ once again, a huge, pristinely clean, neatly arranged, sparkling, multi-floored building opened up in front of him as he entered the ce. Of course, the beings running this ce as well were fairies.


    This was not really a surprise. Liam had already expected this much because he had heard rumours about this from the Gu family guild in hisst life.


    He entered the big hall calmly and curiously looked around. Naturally, this ce was deserted whenpared to the shop near their base. It was not like they had mana cores to buy items from the shops but more people usually filtered in and out, trying their luck or just window shopping out of curiosity.


    But since this ce was hidden, even that little activity was not present in the shop. The fairieszily manning their desks had their eyes glued onto their system interface, tapping away wildly at something. It was almost as if they were ying a version of spider solitaire to cure their boredom.


    Some of them did indeed look up and gave Liam some attention but seeing that he had no intention of walking over to their desk, they once again continued minding their own business.


    However, all of a sudden, this silence in the shop was broken by a gleeful, hoarse voice. "Wee. Wee. Mr Liam, how are you doing this fine day? I am Aron, this store''s manager. May I please know what brings an esteemed guest like you to our shop?"


    A lean man with a particrly big nose walked out from inside. He gazed at Liam with discerning eyes, and even though his words were polite, there was an air of superiority about him. The man also had a very distinct pimple on his nose that made him look extra stern.


    "Hello. I am just visiting." Liam calmly answered him. He couldn''t help but observe the stark difference between Tilia and the man in front of him.


    He was definitely taller than her, almost the same size as Liam and was rather indistinguishable from a human being. All the sparkle and glitter and the feeling of charm that came along with a fairy were missing from the guy.


    However, Liam knew that he still shouldn''t underestimate the guy. He was through and through a fairy, and if anything, he had a feeling that this one was perhaps even more conniving and dangerous whenpared to Tilia.


    "By the way, your shop is perfectly camouged in the middle of all of this wilderness. I almost missed it. This can''t be good for your business. Are you not nning to clean the space and make the pir of light visible?" He slightly probed.


    The fairy immediatelyughed. "Ha Ha Ha. That is indeed very true, Mr Liam. You have made a very astute observation. But unfortunately, we are not allowed to step outside this shop. So something like that is out of our hands. Ha Ha Ha."


    "Hmmm. I see. In that case, why don''t I help you out? I can clear the area and make the shop more visible?" Liam smiled.


    Aron once again chuckled and politely nodded. "If that is what pleases you¡­" The fairy neither encouraged him nor discouraged him.


    Liam observed him for a moment and then proceeded to fiddle with the mission board at the shop for a few minutes. He was hoping to find something interesting here, but to his dismay, all the quests were extremely basic.


    It looked like his reputation or rank did not crossover from one branch of the magic shop to the other, and if he wanted to get anywhere in this shop, he would have to start back up again from square one.


    While this might be something impossible for someone else, it was merely a day''s work for Liam, but for the moment, he decided not to pursue this thread.


    Since he actually managed to find another magic shop, what he wanted to do now was scour this region to see if there were any dungeons nearby.


    He quickly checked the guild interface, which he could thankfully, and made sure that everyone was still alive and kicking. There were also no additional guild war challenges that had sprung up in his absence. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.


    So Liam gave a small nod to Aron whose eyes were still locked onto him like a hawk, and then started heading out of the shop. There wasn''t anything else left for him to do here.


    However, he did observe something strange. As he turned around to leave, he noticed an unmistakable small flicker of relief that swept past the store manager''s face.


    "Hmmm? Is he hiding something?" Liam''s curiosity was piqued, but he didn''t have to wait too long to find out the answer to this puzzle.


    When he walked out of the shop, he coincidentally bumped into another person walking into the shop, and more importantly, this person''s eyes were bright crimson.


    ***


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 Chapter 872 Another One

    Liam was not surprised to run into another vampire so quickly because they seemed to be everywhere and spreading very fast. However, he was shocked to see one actually walk into a magic shop.


    What was he doing here?


    Coincidentally, the other party also noticed Liam and appeared to be equally taken aback at his presence. He sneered at Liam with a loathful gaze and then grumbled something before continuing to walk into the shop.


    "Did he just call me pretty boy?" Watching the guy''s back disappear inside, Liam looked at Luna in puzzlement. He saw the vampire walk directly to Aron, and then the fairy and the vampire discussed something as they headed further into the shop.


    For some reason, the vampire seemed to be getting much better treatment than what he received. Shouldn''t it be the other way around?


    Liam was sure that Aron was also able to see his current level, but the fairy did not show any inclination to butter him up or offer him anything for sale. The whole thing seemed off.


    "Well, I guess we will find out soon enough." The duo disappeared into the wilderness.


    A few minutester, the same vampire walked out of the magic shop. He cut through the wilderness using his sharpened fingernails, which might as well be ws and hummed as he dashed out of the dense brambles.


    However, all of a sudden, the guy''s expression froze, and before he could blink, something changed in his mundane daily life.


    "That was quick. Now tell me everything you know." Liam grinned and asked the vampire which was now one of his soul minions. The fairy obviously wanted to hide this from him, but now everything would be revealed.


    The vampire snorted in arrogance, ready to sh at the smiling face of the human being. Instead, to his dismay, he found himself opening his mouth and spilling out every single thing that he knew.


    A couple of minutester, Liam and Luna found themselves once again in a hospitalplex, but this time, they were witnessing something even more horrifying.


    Inside the building, several women were enved and chained to the hospital beds, their numbers probably around hundreds. It did not matter how they looked or what size they were, everyone below a certain age was chained.


    ? More importantly, each of them was pregnant, with their stomachs visibly bulging.


    Not just this, but in a corner of this same hospital, several newborn children, about twenty to thirty, were lying on a bass and blood was being drained from their little hands.


    Liam''s face turned cold as he saw this inhumane sight.


    The vampire grunt had told him everything about this operation from top to bottom. This group of vampires had set up a whole baby-making factory and were peddling newborn children''s blood to the fairies in exchange for mana cores.


    Apparently, this was also a transaction that was epted in the magic shop.


    Perhaps it was not even an underhanded deal. Perhaps this was just the norm in this new world. The weak only had two paths in front of them, either being killed or enved.


    Liam sighed, shaking his head as he did not expect things to devolve to this level so quickly. At least in hisst life, they were fighting for life and death and fighting wild beasts that wanted to consume them for their hunger.


    However, this time, they were facing something even crueller and unremorseful. Why was this happening? Who was responsible for this change?


    He clenched his fists tightly. It did not matter. He would have his answer soon enough because this was not the only information that he had received from the vampire grunt.


    Liam silently hopped back onto Luna, and the two of them left the area without doing anything. Although a couple of secondster, the white fox came to a halt in front of a bungalow not too far away from the hospital.


    Liam did not even step into the ce, but he could already hear the screaming of the women. The vampire grunt had also told him about this ce, the ce where the insemination happened.


    "Come out." Liam indifferently muttered, and his soul minions appeared the next instant.


    The number of vampires in this small bungalow was surprisingly much more than the vampires in the hospital guarding the pregnant women and the newborn.


    And Liam wanted to take care of this without any sound because he did not want the main target to be disturbed.


    A couple dozen barbarian soul minions silently infiltrated the huge bungalow and started taking down one vampire after another, finishing every single one of them with one hit. It was quick and silent, and not even a groan slipped out.


    Soon the whole ce was evacuated, save for the women who were being tortured and one other vampire. This vampire was also the one doing all the inseminations personally.


    Unaware that his whole kingdom had crumbled, the guy was enjoying bliss as he raped a young woman roughly. Violent grunts and moans slipped out of the room in between the blood-curdling screams of the young woman as Liam silently appeared at the doorstep.


    His cold gaze locked onto the back of the big, sturdy, muscr creature who was once a human being but now was something different. Red bulging veins snaked around the man''s body, and there was an aura about him that made him clearly different from the rest of the vampires.


    Liam knew exactly why this was.


    In fact, the man in front of him was just the person he had been looking for!


    A vampire lord!


    He had finally run into another one after that sleaze bag uncle, another vampire who also called himself a vampire lord!


    However, this time Liam immediately took action. Having already experienced the strange and mysterious skills that Jonathan Hofstader could wield, Liam did not hesitate or waste any time inunching his attack.


    Irrespective of the level difference or the power gap between the both of them, he needed to kill the big guy as fast as he could and get this over with first. The rest can wait.


    He unsheathed his sword and aimed directly for the guy''s neck as a strong aura of mana enveloped his body. The next instant, his figure blurred, and he dashed forward at full speed.


    He swung the ck dragon sword down at the muscr neck with his full power. However, just as he was about to slice the neck of the deviant, a sphere of blood once again blocked his path!

 Chapter 873 Who Are You?

    Bang! A massive force pushed Liam away as the blood sphere swirled like an imprable fortress.


    Liam was stunned. He couldn''t see the level of the vampire in front of him, but surely the guy couldn''t be a level 80 being such as him? Then how was it possible that his attack was so easily thwarted?


    He couldn''t even scratch the guy and was pushed back. More importantly, Liam had been so fast that the vampire definitely did not notice him. It was almost as if the thing kicked in like an airbag in a car ident, providing automatic protection. How was this possible?


    However, Liam did not have the time to think about this right now. His first attack had failed, and now the vampire was aware of his presence!


    "WHO ARE YOU???"


    The big sturdy guy leapt out of the bed in one swift move, smashing the slender woman underneath him into a meat pulp.


    Liam could see the pair of fiery eyes ring at him from within the blood sphere. The next second, this blood sphere started thinning out and unexpectedly, in its stead, a blood red broad sword appeared.


    Once again, this was the same blood sword that the sleaze bag uncle had wielded. Perhaps one thing could be a coincidence, but there was no way both of these were mere coincidences, especially when this one also called himself a ''vampire lord''.


    "So next is the blood summon?" Liam knew what wasing, so even though the first attack had failed, he immediately started mming the next attack and the one after that and so on.


    Without stopping, he continued shing down the ck dragon sword, sending out fire shes at the big guy.


    The vampire quickly tried to block Liam''s attacks with the big red sword, but he couldn''tpete with Liam in terms of both power and speed. It was clear that the two sides werepletely outmatched. His health was rapidly draining.


    However, shockingly, the summoning skill was still not being used. Liam frowned as he felt that something was not right. The next second, the vampire shouted something that he did not expect.


    Blood Field!


    The sphere of blood that disappeared once again appeared, and this time, every single drop sunk into the vampire rather than the sword.


    It made him visibly bigger, and his muscles became red in colour. It also looked like the health he had lost just now had already regenerated as the wounds on the body vanished.


    Liam could instantly feel the power of the person standing in front of him skyrocketing. His agility, his power, his strength, everything increased exponentially as the vampire dashed towards him.


    Liam churned his mana core as much as he could and did not hold back. He wanted to take down this guy in one shot as he had a feeling that his regenerative ability was off the charts. Otherwise, for the damage he had already done, the vampire shouldn''t even be alive at the moment.


    He pped severalyers of mana on his sword attack andbined it with his illusion technique as he charged forward to block the blood red sword. However, when the blood red sword struck down, it only managed to hit Liam''s illusionary image.


    The real Liam appeared at the back as he swung the sword down. The attack was executed perfectly. With all of his mana seeping into the attack, the vampire should have been instantly split in half.


    However, that was not what happened. The strong, sturdy muscles at the back felt like steel, and the ck dragon sword only managed to make a deep gash. Blood spurted out of the injury, and the vampire shouted in pain.


    "I am going to kill you! I am going to kill you!" He came at Liam with the blood sword, slightly out of breath and staggering, but Liam immediately retreated back several paces.


    "That''s right, run bitch!" The vampire gnashed his teeth and arrogantly lunged forward, intending to chase after Liam and pummel him to death with his sword or even his bare hands if he could.


    No one had managed to inflict such pain on him until now, and he wanted vengeance for the suffering!


    HAAA! The vampire charged forward, but just as he took a step, all of a sudden, he was bombarded by several magic attacks from all sides. Especially the burst of mes on his back hurt the most as the attack was aimed at the same spot Liam had injured him.


    "You are the bitch!" A voice snarled.


    The vampire swung around to see a snow white fox with three tails standing right behind him and ring at him with hate-filled elegant eyes. On either side of this fox were giant creatures that he did not recognize.


    He waspletely surrounded from all sides. His own shout of anger disappeared in their roars. Blood essence seeped out of the blood sword, trying to heal him rapidly, but it was of no use.


    All sorts of magical attacks continued bombarding the guy. The vampire had no idea what was going on and why he was being suddenly ganged upon like this. What about the other guy? These creatures won''t attack him?


    He finally remembered Liam and his eyes trembled as he felt a faint premonition of what was going to happen to him. He tried his best to wave his blood red sword and thwart the attacks, at least get out of the ce, but it was of no use.


    He waspletely locked in, and before he could blink, a sword beam appeared in the midst of these other attacks, threatening to tear his very being apart. He immediately knew who had attacked him this time.


    Just like he feared, that person had taken action.


    "NOOOOO!" The vampire shouted in pain and agony as his huge body slumped down lifelessly with numerous attacks that continued to rain down on him. The blood sword finally disappeared, and it looked like his health also bottomed out.

 Chapter 874 Big One

    Liam silently gazed at the corpse in front of him, which had already started desating.


    The strong, sturdy figure that was previously towering over was now nowhere to be seen. The muscles had disappeared as if they never existed and even the bones were reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.


    Seeing this, Liam couldn''t help but wonder if this change was because the man was dead or because he had used an ability that was far beyond his means. There had to be a side-effect for possessing something that clearly did not belong to the vampire.


    "I will find it out soon enough." Liam''s chest rose and fell lightly as he clutched the soul of the guy tightly. His body might havepletely gone, but he still had a soul which was his to im.


    He immediately forged the soul and summoned the vampire in front of him.


    "My name is big one." The minion introduced himself.


    "Huh? Big one?" Liam was surprised. "You don''t have a name? Any other name?"


    The soul minion shook his head. Unlike Jonathan, he also did not exhibit any specific attitude and was very quick to ept his new reality. It was almost as if he had lost all sense of his individuality even before dying.


    More importantly, this guy knew how to use the power that was bestowed upon him. While Jonathan fumbled around, this vampire put up an actual fight against him andst for a few seconds.


    In fact, the fight was far more difficult than it should have been. Even with Liam being prepared beforehand, he was still taken aback by the unexpected skills that the vampire exhibited.


    These were not just any ordinary skills.


    They were powerful skills that granted insane buffs. What the hell was happening? How were these people, who were simply mere humans at the beginning of the apocalypse, in possession of such terrifying abilities?


    Liam had a lot of questions for the ''big one'', but the next second, the guy unexpectedly shook his head. "I don''t remember anything, master." The same reply chimed in again.


    "Fuck this shit." Liam sighed in frustration and banged the vestige of the wall behind him with his fist, making that small thing as well crash and crumblepletely.


    The entire half of the building they were standing on was ruined because of the fight. The whole thing was shaky, as if it was ready to give outpletely.


    "Come. Let''s go." Liam dismissed the soul minion and started walking out of the ruins. He now had two of these so-called ''vampire lords'' in his possession, but he was no closer to finding out just what the hell was happening.


    Were there more of them? How was he going to find these guys, who were hiding themselves quite well? The only option seemed to be the brute search that he was already doing.


    However, the drawback to this method was that these vampires were bing more and more powerful with each passing day. The main issue was not their individual statistics so much as their growing familiarity with their extraordinary powers and abilities.


    As he silently contemted these things and walked away from the area, a few footsteps sounded in front of him.


    "More vampires?" Liam frowned. He was about to summon his soul army again to take care of the grunts, but unexpectedly, the new arrivals were not vampires. They were just humans.


    To Liam''s surprise, they were also wearing official military uniforms and were carrying big firearms that looked like something only an army or police officer would possess.


    They also had numerous scars on their faces and arms, and they had hardened features as if they had witnessed a lot in the past few days.


    "Hmmm¡­ so everyone did not getpletely wiped out in this area. Good for them." Liam continued walking without stopping to talk to them. At this stage, he did not n to intervene with too many groups.


    It was an unnecessary hassle, and if there were too many new faces, then the guild might get out of control. They needed some time to stabilise with the current numbers.


    However, the other party seemed like they did not intend to let him go just like that.


    "Hey! Stop!" Someone called after him.


    Liam turned to see one of the military guys walk up to him. "What is the meaning of this? You are not going to acknowledge us?"


    "I am busy at the moment."


    The man grimaced and stepped forward to have a stern word with Liam when another person walked forward and ced a hand on his shoulder. "That''s enough, deputy general."


    "May I please know your name, Mr¡­?" He asked Liam more politely.


    "Liam Chang." Liam curtly replied.


    "Could you tell us what happened here?"


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam decided to spend a couple of minutes debriefing these people. He might be ruthless, but even he wasn''t cruel enough not to warn these men about the vampires in the area and their strength.


    Although he was nning to clear out everything in this zone first, it was still better to inform them about this danger.


    "This ce is currently not very safe. There are some human beings here who are targeting other people andmitting murders. They call themselves vampires and drink human blood." He started exining.


    He expected the other party to be shocked and was prepared to calm them down a bit. Just as he expected, they too became shocked. However, when the man opened his mouth again, it became clear that it was for apletely different reason.


    "How can you have this information? This is ssified! You aremitting treason just by knowing these details!" The man''s face quickly changed. The others also had grave expressions.


    Liam''s eyes twitched as he could see that they were really not joking. Moreover, this response was from the person in charge. He could already tell that this was going to be very troublesome very fast.

 Chapter 875 Please Wait!

    ''Should I just leave?'' Liam watched the bunch of military people take a turn for the worst, and he was not interested in picking a fight with them at the moment.


    It was both pointless and beneath him to be teaching this group a lesson. Not to mention the chances of them letting him leave without creating a conflict were practically zero.


    And as if she could read his mind, Luna also showed up at the exact same moment. There were still a few more vampires loitering around the area. So he had ordered her to take care of it. She was now back, and her timing was impable.


    ''Let''s get out of here!'' Liam mentally sent her a message, and the white fox blurred next to him as he became five times her normal size. This made the group''s expressions further worsen.


    Everyone was startled to see the fox appear out of nowhere. The majority of them also instinctively raised their weapons to fire at the fox.


    But Liam simply snorted. He did not care about that as he casually jumped on top of the fox.


    Mere guns hurting a celestial-grade beast? In their dreams!


    Everything happened too fast. With Luna''s arrival and his jumping on top of her with his agile movements, the group of armed military men were barely able to keep up. They only had shocked expressions on their face.


    More so when they saw Liam ready to ride off into the sunset. He even waved them bye as Luna took off, but with their good fortune, a group of vampires decided to enter thepound at the exact same time.


    Dragging along about five women, a dozen vampires showed up on the other side. These beasts saw the damage and destruction, and something became triggered in them instinctively.


    They all became agitated and rushed forward toward the military group. Naturally, Liam noticed it first before these men could react or even know that danger was about to befall them.


    He scratched his head and looked at Luna. The next second, Luna took care of the problem. The fox dealt with the few grunts in the blink of an eye as she swiped her paw left and right.


    Blood sttered everywhere as the vampires shouted and screamed in pain and fell down one after the other. This finally snapped the military group out of their trance.


    They gulped as they watched the gory scene, unable to believe what was happening.


    Liam did not me them. This group of vampire grunts were particrly powerful, probably because of how organized they were and the guidance from the ''vampire lord''.


    So even though the military group might have taken out vampires like this before, they would have still lost in a fight like this.


    However, now everything was taken care of, and momentarily they were not in any danger. Liam did not n on babysitting them any more than necessary, and he immediately gave Luna the order to leave.


    "SIR! Please wait!" A voice shouted behind him. It was the same person who had called him a traitor before.


    Rolling his eyes, Liam ignored the guy. However, just as Luna blurred in and out one more time, he heard the second half of the wordsing out of the guy''s mouth.


    "ANOTHER VAMPIRE LORD!"


    "Luna, stop." Liam immediately did a double take. Did that guy just say vampire lord? The duo turned around and returned to the same spot at the same speed they had left.


    "What did you say?" Liam asked him.


    "Sir, we need your help." The leader of the group sighed and calmly exined. The arrogance and the attitude from earlier were nowhere to be seen on his face.


    "Sir, I am sorry for offending you earlier. If I am not wrong, are you the person who defeated the vampire lord?"


    "Yes?"


    The leader once again sighed and smiled bitterly. "I apologize, sir. I apologize for everything sincerely from the bottom of my heart. We are all so frustrated that we became short-sighted and reacted in the worst way."


    "The truth is that we have lost a lot of ourrades to this vampire lord. We have been trying to eliminate him and the other vampires for two weeks now, but we have only managed to fail so far."


    "We have lost several of our brave brothers and sisters to these beasts. So we sincerely thank you for helping us deal with this monster."


    Liam nodded. "That''s fine. I understand. Can you tell me more about the other thing? You mentioned that there was another vampire lord? Were you just talking about this one, or do you, by chance, know the location of another one?"


    Rather than their apologies, this was what Liam cared about more. As he anxiously waited for the reply, the other guy slowly bobbed his head up and down.


    "Yes, Sir. We know the whereabouts of another beast such as this one." The leader replied.


    Liam''s face immediately lit up. This was awesome! This was going to make his work so much easier!


    "My name is Xiao Meng. If you don''t mind, would you please apany us to our base? There, our division leader will exin to you all the details."


    "You can''t tell me?"


    "Please forgive me, sir. I am not aware of all the details. I am a leader of the strike unit. To prevent our intel from falling into the hands of the enemies, each unit is only briefed about the required details."


    What the heck? Liam wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. The army had its own way of functioning, and he did not want to get into it at the moment. He just needed this information, and then he would be on his way.


    "Alright, let''s go."


    Luna once again became smaller in size and curled around Liam''s neck as the two of them patiently followed the group out of the building''s wreckage. It was time to pay this base a visit.

 Chapter 876 Welcome

    Soon the whole group was en route to the military base. Liam was sitting in a humvee with a couple of soldiers and the leader in charge of the unit.


    The vehicle had a hardened exterior and bulletproof ss and was definitely more sturdy and dependable than a normal car during these dangerous times. In the same vehicle, there were also a heap of firearms and some carefully boxed-up grenades.


    Other than this, the group also was in possession of some heavy artillery items like infantrybat vehicles that were following the procession of the five military-grade humvees.


    Not bad. Liam inwardly praised them. With their well-stocked heavy weaponry and group of trained military personnel, it was no wonder that they were able to hold on for so long against the beast tide. Perhaps in his past life as well, this group had prevailed.


    However, things were no longer the same. It was not just about the beasts and the mana zombies now, which was what these first few weeks of the apocalypse should have been.


    Instead, they were suddenly facing an entirely new type of enemy that had shown up out of nowhere. The vampires were a dangerous threat that, if left unchecked, could poison the entire country and, if not the entire world.


    While these firearms, heavy weaponry and military training were good enough to handle the first wave of beasts, it was a different story when it came to the evolved creatures like the vampires.


    The guns were simply not enough anymore. Perhaps grenades and tanks would hold on for some more time, but eventually, they would also cease to be useful. A simple mana barrier would be enough to deal with the damage from these instruments of death.


    Seeing that Liam was very silent and had not said anything for quite a while, Xiao Meng hesitantly tried to talk to him, "Cough. Cough. Mr Liam, please do not keep any of my earlier words in your mind. I was very out of line."


    "The thing is¡­ recently, we have quite a bit of people trying to act like vigntes. Everyone is very emotionally charged because of the atrocities done by these blood-sucking creatures." He exined.


    "That''s why I had to use strong words like treason to try and keep everyone in line. Sigh. I am really just trying to protect them from themselves. Going to face these creatures without preparation is no different frommitting suicide."


    "That''s fine. I forgot that long back." Liam nodded at the guy. His impression of the unit leader had also improved a lot. However, all of that did not really matter. The main question here was the location of this new vampire lord.


    So Liam once again patiently asked him the same question. "You are sure that your higher-ups have the location of another vampire lord?"


    Xiao Meng immediately became relieved. "Yes, Mr Liam. Of course. I am very sure." He also took out a device simr to a walkie-talkie from the back of the vehicle and switched it on.


    "We will be there in fifteen more minutes. Please inform the leader that we require an urgent meeting with him as soon as possible."


    "Yes, Sir." The other side replied.


    Xiao Meng gave Liam a nod and then switched off the device again, carefully cing it back in its ce.


    "Thanks." Liam returned his polite gesture. He was also impressed that these people had managed to once again secure some sort ofmunication lines for the base, even in these new world conditions.


    So far, everything about the group was encouraging, so he really looked forward to the meeting. He was not nning on this, but from the looks of things, it would be very beneficial to add such a team of trained professionals to the guild. If not now, then at least in the near future.


    The journey to the base took another couple of hours, even with the vehicles driving at considerably high speed and finally, the group arrived at the base.


    Immediately, Liam was greeted and escorted by another group of military soldiers. Xiao Meng also apanied him as they hurriedly walked into the huge gatedpound.


    The ce itself was located in the middle of nowhere in an isted area, far from the cities and towns nearby. However, just like every other location in the world at the moment, the entirety of thepound had been taken over by nts and trees.


    Liam could see some of the men doing cleanup work on the sides, cutting down the trees and nts and trying to keep this problem at bay. Moreover, they were separating wood and vegetation and moving them by trucks to different locations.


    Were they doing something with the wood? Just as he was thinking about that, he saw another interesting thing, sr panels on top of the building structures inside thepound.


    After the apocalypse descended, the days became longer and the night shorter. During these long hours of the day, the intensity of the sun''s radiance and the heat, in general, had also increased.


    Interestingly, it looked like this group was taking advantage of this phenomenon. Just like the abundance of wood, this was also a very good source of energy, and they were harnessing it.


    This coupled with the fact that they had managed to figure out a new frequency to secure amunications line and, from the looks of it, have an electricity supply up and running, Liam was very much impressed with the base.


    While Lan Ganjie had used his knowledge and organizational skills to set up a decent functioning base, these people had gone above and beyond that and set up a base that was not just functioning but thriving.


    If these people were also given the right guidance by Liam on how to increase their strength and adapt to mana in the new world, they could potentially develop and be a terrifying force.


    While Liam was looking around and making mental calctions, a stern, gruff voice greeted him. "Wee to our base, Mr Liam."

 Chapter 877 Serve The Nation

    "Wee to our base, Mr Liam. I am Zhu Huang."


    Liam looked up to see a towering, muscr guy who was definitely at least 7 feet in height. He was more than a head above Liam, who himself was around 6 feet in height.


    Surprisingly, the few men standing around the guy were also equally muscr and well-built, even if they were not as tall as the one at the front. It was clear that they were following some sort of strict training regimen.


    "I would first like to thank you for your extraordinary contribution to our society. I have heard about your strength andbat power from division leader Xiao Meng."


    "If not for you, we would have definitely incurred some heavy losses while we dealt with the culprit. Now we were able to avoid the few casualties."


    Avoid a few casualties, huh? Liam grinned in response. Though the other party was polite and friendly, it was clear that he did not intend to bend over backwards and thank him.


    The man''s words were neither too arrogant nor too subservient. It almost seemed as if he did not think it was too difficult to take care of the vampire lord.


    Was this simple overconfidence, or did he have real abilities?


    However, Liam decided to set this matter aside for now. It was natural for a person in charge of so many people to act in such a manner. Otherwise, he would quickly lose the respect of the people underneath him.


    "No need to thank me." Liam nodded. "Mr Meng mentioned that you had some information for me?" He once again came to the main point.


    "Yes,e this way. Let''s go inside and talk."


    The group escorted Liam and Zhu Huang inside the hugepound, where they walked to one of the office buildings and took seats. Immediately a woman walked over and served Liam a cup of warm fragrant tea and some snacks.


    Liam did not refuse the refreshments and epted them. Of course, there was always a possibility that they could have poisoned it, but unless they came across an extremely potent poison, it wouldn''t have any effect on him.


    And in the off chance that they really managed to procure a poison of that magnitude, it would always be revealed in his [Inspect] skill. He hoped that these people wouldn''t try anything foolish like that for their own sake.


    With a smile, he used the [Inspect] skill, and nothing showed up. So without the slightest hesitation, Liam casually lifted the cup and took a sip. "This is of good quality."


    "Thank you." Zhu Huang replied, unaware of the thoughts in Liam''s mind. He crossed his fingers in front of his chest and continued with an extra-official stern look this time around.


    "Mr Liam, I will not beat around the bushes. Regarding the vampire lord matter, we indeed have the location of another creature just like the one you took down just now. However¡­"


    "However?" Liam took another sip of the tea calmly.


    "Unfortunately, that is valuable information."


    "Hmmm?"


    "Mr Liam, a man of your calibre must know the importance of information like this, especially in a time like this." Zhu Huang added.


    "Oh?" Liam grinned in amusement. He now understood what this guy was circling toward. "So what do you expect in return for this information, Mr Huang?"


    He decided to continue entertaining the person as he was merely teetering on the borderline. This much shrewdness was required for survival right now. Liam did not mind it.


    He also did not mind exchanging some useful information that could help these guys survive better.


    Coincidentally, the next second, both of them opened their mouths at the same time.


    "I am willing to -"


    "The fox -"


    Liam immediately stopped talking with an amused look on his face, and Zhu Huang continued, "If you could lend us the strength of that beast you have tamed somehow¡­ then we would be very much willing to share this valuable information with you."


    Liam chuckled. "You mean her?" He pointed at the white fox whose face had visibly changed by now. She was ready to jump into the fray and tear apart the bunch of foolish humans sitting in front of him.


    "Yes, the fox. I apologize if the request is too sudden. You must understand that I do not have any ill intentions towards you. My first request would have been for you to join the army." The man paused.


    Liam''s face twitched.


    Zhu Huang gave a rueful smile on seeing this. "Exactly, Mr Liam. I also thought that your reaction would be exactly like this."


    "While we could use a man of your calibre in our service and desperately need someone like you, I understand that it is not possible for you to be bound by our rules and strict regtions. It would very much limit your growth."


    "So that is why I am instead asking the help of your tamed beast. If you could cooperate by donating your tamed beast to our cause, then that would be an incredible service to the nation in these desperate times. Please think about it."


    Seeing the tough guy mention her again for the second time, Luna went livid.


    She lost her patience and jumped towards the bad man to teach him a lesson, but unfortunately for her and fortunately for everyone else in the room, Liam caught her tail before she couldunch.


    "I am afraid that''s not possible." Liam chuckled. "She is an intelligent beast, and she has her own will. And as you can see, she is not interested in your proposition."


    Zhu Huang''s face changed ever so slightly. The men behind him also gritted their teeth. Their leader was being extremely reasonable, but the other person did not seem to treat anything seriously.


    However, to everyone''s surprise, Zhu Huang regained his calm and lightlyughed. "Ah. You are right. I can indeed see that the fox is not willing. I guess in that case, we can''t really help it."

 Chapter 878 Are We Really Going To Let Themleave?

    "Ah. You are right. I can indeed see that the fox is not willing. I guess in that case, we can''t really help it."


    The atmosphere in the room went from warm to freezing cold in a split second. Everyone became tense. The air was buzzing. What was going to happen now? Were they going to fight with this guy?


    Some of the soldiers even subconsciously gripped the weapon in their hands. However, on the other side, Liam remained calm. He silently gazed at the leader, wondering if he was really going to force his hand.


    Not that he cared. It would just be a waste of manpower and also in sad to see such trained personnel dying for little to nothing, but if it can''t be helped... Liam let out a small sigh.


    Unexpectedly, the next second¡­


    Zhu Huang opened his mouth. "In that case, would you be willing to trade with something else? Perhaps some other information that is equally valuable?"


    The man''s words made Liam raise his brows, and even the other military soldiers present in the room looked rather shocked. No one had expected the conversation to continue so smoothly, even after the tant disagreement. Had their leader given up just like that?


    But that was exactly what was happening!


    "I indeed have some valuable information to trade." Liam smiled. He was rather happy with how things were going. Though these people had tested his patience a little, they still hadn''t gone too far, so they deserved the benefit of the doubt.


    "It is about mana zombies." Liam continued.


    "Mana zombies?"


    Everyone listened intently as Liam started sharing the details about how to prevent people from turning into rabid attacking machines.


    He did not hold back and also shared the details about how beast meat can passively improve one''s basic stats. Though this was only to a certain extent, the few stat point advantages in the beginning stages were not to be underestimated.


    Apart from this, Liam warned them about the vampire issue that was spreading like wildfire, the way they gained stats by drinking blood, and how they no longer possessed any semnce of their selves, essentially bing a new person or rather an animal.


    He mainly stressed that there was no point in trying to get through to them or showing them any sort of kindness. If one became a vampire, then they were as good as dead.


    He then told them about the portals and the elites from the portals that were especially strong. He also shared details about the location of the magic shop in the area and information about the existence of dungeons where the military soldiers could train.


    He warned them about the fast rate at which the beasts were bing stronger and stronger and how it was better to hunt down these stray beasts in bigger groups to avoid casualties.


    Lastly, he even told them that there was a possibility of another attack wave like the one that happened the day the apocalypse descended.


    He was extremely generous and helped them out quite a bit.


    With each word he said, the men standing in the room became tensed and shocked. They couldn''t believe what they were hearing.


    And these were not just any men. The people who had assembled for this meeting were mostly the division leaders for different units, so they absorbed every single bit of information that Liam was throwing at them.


    Only after they listened to them they understood how fragile their current position actually was. Their safety and position of power right now was nothing but a mirage that could shatter any day now.


    While they thought that they had a handle on things, the reality couldn''t be further away. Some even started sweating profusely at the thought of what would happen if they had already confronted the vampire lord.


    The discussionsted for about half an hour, after which everyone in the room looked at Liam with a different gaze, something mixed with fear, respect, and awe. It was truly a pity that this person was not willing tomit himself to the army.


    However, they all also felt very grateful for him as these were crucial matters that he had shared, the things that were needed for their survival.


    Even Zhu Huang seemed visibly impressed with what Liam had given him for the trade. He really did not expect to gain so much.


    Moreover, the other party also did not try to do any cheap negotiations and simply trusted them by willingly sharing his side of things first, even though there was no guarantee of getting anything in return.


    What he did not know was that Liam had a method of obtaining what he wanted no matter what.


    Nevertheless, Zhu Huang also did not seem as if he nned to do any underhanded things. After Liam finished his part, the military leader also nodded and asked one of his subordinates to bring over a map of the region.


    He promptly gave this to Liam without any shenanigans.


    "This is thest seen location of the vampire lord. We know him to be the vampire lord because the few vampires we managed to capture and kill proudly boasted that their lord woulde to their rescue."


    "Oh?" Liam''s eyes lit up in interest. The thing that he wanted was finally here. He actually did not expect these people to have any real information, but this seemed valid? Either way, it wouldn''t take too long for him to check it out.


    "How many days has it been since your group located him at this ce?" He asked.


    Zhu Huang immediately grinned. It was their turn to show their upper hand. "That''s the thing. We tried to scout the ce a few times to see if he had left, but for the past several days, this lord has always been at that same ce at the same spot."


    "It is as if he is guarding something. Do you understand what I mean, Mr. Liam?" The military general asked with a knowing look on his face.


    Now Liam understood why the person had proposed to trade something for this information. If what he said was indeed true, then he might gain more than a soul minion this time around.


    However, that would be getting ahead of himself.


    Liam did not want to take the intel he received too much to heart as these people did not know the difference between heads and tails when it came to this new world.


    They were even nning to take out the vampire ''big one'' with the few low-leveled soldiers. Sure, they had firearms, but with the speed and agility the monster possessed, none of that would have been useful.


    After getting the map, Liam did not linger around for much longer and quickly left thepound after exchanging a few more pleasantries. Overall, his experience here wasn''t too bad, and the group seemed to have a lot more potential.


    But the question was how much they would be able to hold onto when the next wave hits?


    If they somehow manage to use his tips and survive and improve in the next few days, then it would be worth recruiting this group as well to the guild. Otherwise, this would be theirst encounter.


    Kyuuu!


    A voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Liam chuckled as he looked at the pouting fox. "What? Are you mad at me? Of course, I was not going to give you to them, you little idiot!"


    Kyuuu!


    Luna shook her head, refusing to listen to the exnation, and looked extremely down and depressed.


    "What a drama queen!"


    Liam pulled the fox off the ground and held her close to his chest, snuggling her and petting her. Only then the ''sadness'' seemed to reduce a little.


    "Alright. Can we go now? Maybe this vampire lord is guarding something tasty?" Liam winked.


    Immediately, the rest of the sadness also magically disappeared.


    The white fox became extremely spirited as she jumped back onto the ground with a cute, shameless grin and ballooned up, preparing to leave the area.


    Then right in front of everyone''s eyes, the duo departed by taking off high into the sky. They flew ahead at a speed that was unimaginable for themon people standing on the ground and watching them.


    Several of the soldiers gulped in disbelief.


    Flying! The fox was actually capable of flying!


    They only assumed that the fox was a magical beast capable of acting as abat partner, but they did not think that the creature was this special.


    To be able to fly¡­ several soldiers collectively sighed. If only they were also able to do something as astonishing as this, then wouldn''t they also be exponentially stronger?


    Even Zhu Huang''s eyes shone with a strange light as he watched this scene. No one could tell what was going on in the man''s head.


    "Sir, are we really going to let them leave? Just like this?" One of his trusted soldiers stepped forward and asked.


    "Hmmm¡­" Zhu Huang silently hummed. He did not respond to anything, and he walked back into his office room.

 Chapter 879 The Third Target

    After leaving the military base, Liam immediately headed over to the coordinates mentioned on the map.


    He had encountered two of these vampire lords until now, and both of them werepletely different in terms of both their skills and abilities.


    Jonathan Hofstadter was an impatient sleaze bag who demonstrated the ability to summon some sort of creature made of blood. He also used the blood sword in his hands just like a normal sword, not using any of its abilities.


    However, the second vampire lord, the ''big one,'' was very different.


    Not only was he strong and powerful in terms of stats, but even with just that much stat boost, he was able to utilize the blood sword much better,bined with some sort of regeneration ability and burst-type skill.


    Either this one wasn''t able to summon another blood creature, or perhaps all the vampire lords possessed different types of skills altogether. Liam did not have any other information about these vampire lords, so this was the conclusion he could arrive at.


    However, there was also one other thing. It was better to take out these vampire lords as quickly as possible to avoid any of them bing stronger than they were at the moment.


    The next one''s location was a bit far away, but with Luna''s speed, it did not take long for the two of them to arrive at the spot. Though when they got there, nothing was really visible.


    Just like every other ce on the earth at the moment, this one as well waspletely submerged in the wilderness, unable to make out anything.


    With the strength of the nts and the trees, even the most sturdy buildings were unable to hold out. Several buildings had cracked and copsed because of the monstrous roots piercing into them and the branches strangling them from top to bottom.


    In the midst of this rampant wilderness, there was a single ruined building in the distance that stood apart from everything else.


    "That must be it," Liam concluded, but he did not set off just yet. He had a feeling that this fight was also not going to be easy. He needed to make some preparations beforehand.


    He summoned the wyverns first and then instructed Luna and the wyverns to act only when he said so. Otherwise, he asked them to remain hidden.


    Weirdly, the entire ce seemed to be unusually deserted. There were no vampire grunts strolling around like in the other bases. Not even the mutant beasts were roaming around in the vicinity.


    Liam observed everything for a few seconds and then made his move. His figure nimbly navigated through the dense cluster of brambles and branches and arrived at the ruined building in a second.


    Though from the outside, it looked as if the entire building had copsed, that was not really the case. He looked around to see that the basement of the building was somewhat intact.


    On a second nce, he noticed that only the basement was intact. The floors above it had been broken apart with no floor or ceiling, just a big gaping hole that ended in the basement.


    Liam jumped down from the height andnded on the ground. The vampire lord was somewhere here. He only needed to find out where.


    In front of him, there was a hallway. He went further in through this huge hallway that was interspersed with rocks and copsed walls that formed heaps of uneven bricks on the path.


    The rooms on either side of this hallway were totally destroyed, but at the end of the hallway, the floor was further broken apart, revealing yet another gaping hole.


    "Is he inside this?" Liam once again jumped down and prepared to search, but he unexpectedlynded face to face with the same person, a pair of bright crimson eyes staring at him in surprise.


    The vampire lord was standing right in front of him!


    As the two of them stood staring at each other, neither expecting the other to be present then and there, Liam was the first one to react. He drew his sword and shed down at the vampire lord.


    However, the advantage he had was for naught as, just like before, his attack did notnd on the man in front of him. Instead, a blood sphere materialized out of thin air, protecting the vampire lord just like with the others.


    Liam grunted in annoyance and immediately retreated a few paces back. Using this chance, he then started creating fireballs one after the other. These spun around him like miniature suns waiting to explode onmand.


    But Liam did not mobilize them just yet because he already knew what wasing next.


    Bingo!


    The next second, just like he expected, the blood sphere started thinning down, and instead, a blood-red sword appeared in the vampire lord''s hand.


    This guy was tall and lean and did not particrly seem like the type who was going to rely on his muscles to fight. So Liam felt like his powers would definitely not be simr to the previous one.


    Then what was this guy capable of doing?


    As if answering his question, the vampire lord murmured something under his breath, clutching the blood-red sword tightly. Was he activating a spell?


    Naturally, Liam was not nning to let him finish whatever he was doing.


    As soon as thest of the spherical blood barrier dropped, fully transforming into the blood sword, he started unleashing the fireballs he had prepared one after the other.


    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!


    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Eight fireballs flew forward, hitting the vampire lord directly. The guy managed to dodge two and blocked two more with the blood-red sword, but he couldn''t avoid getting hit by the rest.


    The four massive fiery magic sts hit him, and he took the full brunt of the damage with nowhere to go.


    And Liam did not stop with that.


    He could see that the opponent was faltering and was heavily injured by the previous attack, so he dashed forward to finish the deed.


    Firesh!


    He swung the ck dragon sword down on the vampire lord, aiming to tear him apart into two.


    His mana was roiling within, buffing his strength, power, and agility, and the attack as well was perfect and well-ced. The vampire lord did not even have the chance to block or evade it as the ck dragon sword roared alive and descended down on him.


    However, Liam did not look happy.


    A frown formed on his face as he saw that the sword, which should have by now split the vampire lord into two halves, was stuck mid-air, only a scratch barely registering on the guy''s shoulder.

 Chapter 880 Helikatos

    Liam saw the vampire lord grin, and he instantly knew that something was wrong. He reached forward again and lifted the ck dragon sword up to swing it down one more time.


    However, just as he brought the sword down, he was blocked once again, and this time, he saw something shiny and metallic in between the ck dragon sword and the vampire lord''s skin.


    "Fuck!" Liam immediately retreated back several paces.


    There was one more being here, and that being was strong enough to block a direct attack from his ck dragon sword at his full strength. This was not good.


    And he already had a feeling what this additional being was.


    It was a¡­


    At the same time Liam retreated back, a figure emerged from the shadows. "Which idiot dared to attack us when this lord is guarding the entrance?"


    Liam stared at a huge blue-colored being in front of him that was half-human and half-spider. As the spider-human chimera skittered toward him with a vicious grin, a strong aura engulfed the space.


    This guy was definitely not at the level of the vampire lord on whom Liam did not bother using the inspect skill, as their levels and powers were not usually proportionate.


    But now he immediately used the skill on the spider beast man.


    <Level 110, Helikatos>


    Liam''s eyes widened. Not only was the spider beast man a level 100+ being, but he was also a named being.


    Why was someone like this present in their world right now? This did not make sense. This should not be happening. No matter how fast the beasts around him were evolving, this was an evolution rate that transcended the norm.


    The spider beast man did not give him any time to think as he skittered towards him at an incredible speed.


    While the upper half of his body was that of a human being, the lower half of his body was that of a huge spider, and the being possessed several sharp metallic legs.


    It was one of these legs that had been strong enough to stop Liam''s attacks from earlier, and now it was also these legs that were moving fast enough not to give Liam any time to react.


    The spider beast man crossed the distance between them in a millisecond and was now in front of Liam, attacking him with several sharp metallic limbs.


    ng! ng! ng! ng! ng!


    The sound of metal screeching against metal echoed loudly in the enclosed space as Liam grit his teeth and used the ck dragon sword to block every single attack that came his way.


    Each of the creature''s sharp metallic limbs aimed to pierce his vital point and tear his body apart. Not just that, but there was also a faint purplish-ck glint in the metallic skewers.


    Though Liam had no way to confirm his assumption without actually taking damage, he was pretty sure that these limbs were coated with extremely toxic material.


    One single mistake, failure to block one single attack, could potentially mean instant death. Moreover, the creature''s stats were clearly superior to his own, and his physical attack power and defense power were extremely high.


    And since they were already engaged in thebat, Liam couldn''t muster even a split second to conjure a spell to try and get the upper hand.


    His casting speed which was high enough to be ssified as an instant casting ability, was now somehow too slow in thisbat.


    He had to focus 100% to make sure that he was not the one losing in this exchange. The exchange was taking ce at a rate that was not even visible to the naked eye anymore.


    Liam was pushing himself to the limits. He was stuck in this vicious chain where he couldn''t move or stray from his current block and parry pattern.


    However¡­ he was not alone¡­


    Liam did not hesitate and immediately reached for Luna and the wyverns.


    GROWL!


    A huge sound resounded in the distance as the group of soul minions, and one white fox rushed forward.


    "For a level 80 small fry, you aren''t that bad! Ke Ke Ke! But it is only a matter of time! Ke Ke Ke!" Helikatos cackled as the man randomly lifted one of his limbs and licked it with his long pimple-covered purple tongue.


    Saliva dripped everywhere, and the ce where it touched the ground sizzled and hissed. Liam immediately knew he was right. This guy not only had astonishing physical stats, but he also boasted a dangerous poison.


    His level was also nothing to scoff at. There were about 30 levels of gap between the both of them. He had to be very careful here.


    The spider grinned menacingly as if he could read Liam''s thoughts and then shed a sideways nce at the vampire lord who was standing beside him.


    "Foolish human! Have you forgotten that I am not the only one here?" The spider cackled loudly again, the man''s sinister voice echoing in the space.


    Liam did not know what he was doing, but he had his eyes closed, and he was chanting something that might as well be gibberish to him. A red aura seeped out of him, and the air in the space smelled strange.


    Then all of a sudden, the spider in front of him burst forth with extraordinary speed and power, something even higher than before.


    "How?" Liam''s eyes widened in shock.


    Until now, he was matching evenly with the Level 110 monster, but now he was suddenly falling behind. How did he be stronger? He didn''t even see the spider activating any skill?


    However, the next second, it dawned on him. As a slight shade of fatigue assaulted him, he realized that the spider hadn''t be stronger. It was he who had be weaker.


    But just as he was about to bepletely overwhelmed by the enemy''s cluster of attacks, a massive fireballunched into the room, smacking the spider right on his face.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 1~


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 Chapter 881 Run And Hide, You Little Bitch!

    "Master!" Luna was here, and behind her, the ten wyverns dropped down one after the other.


    GROWL!


    ROAR!


    The entire ce became instantly filled with a volley of all sorts of magic attacks. Both the vampire lord and the spider beast man were taken aback by surprise as they quickly maneuvered to protect themselves in the rowdy rumble.


    Meanwhile, Liam used this chance to back up several paces and regain his footing quickly. However, he did not act in coordination with Luna and the soul minions to further put pressure on the two.


    Instead, he stealthily signaled Luna, which caught her by surprise. But she did not have to be told twice. The clever fox understood what the n was and immediately acted ordingly.


    While the three-headed wyvern and the other wyverns were wreaking havoc inside the small, confined space, she blurred and arrived next to Liam.


    Using this distraction which probably wasn''t going tost for long now, the two of them flew out of there, hidden amidst the dazzling attacks that rained everywhere.


    The moment Luna got out, she then instantly started running away at top speed. Her nimble and elegant figure blurred in and out, and she did not stop for anything.


    At the same time, Liam immediately dismissed the wyverns. They were too precious, and he did not want them to get destroyed.


    Also, he had a feeling that the vampire lord and the spider wouldn''t chase after him.


    From atop the fleeing white fox, he looked down to see the spider beast man skittering upwards and standing atop the ruined building.


    Liam was correct. He, indeed, did not chase after them. He stood there, rooted to the spot, and stared at them with a proud, arrogant grin, giving him a disdainful look.


    The spider then unexpectedly even gave him a flying kiss and waved goodbye with mocking glee.


    Liam smiled bitterly. He could tell what the goal of the other party was, but rather than getting angry, he only felt disgusted upon seeing the reaction.


    This confidence¡­ He wondered where they were getting this confidence from. Just from the level difference? Or was there something else that made him so confident about his superiority?


    He fell back onto the white fox and let out a tired breath. For now, at least, they were out of danger.


    However, it looked like Luna wasn''t quite happy with this oue. "Master! I could have bitten that spider in half!" She snarled.


    Liam chuckled. "Mmmm. No doubt."


    Though the danger back there was the spider beast man as he had more power and strength than the vampire lord, there was something else also at y.


    It was the unusual power of the vampire lord!


    If he was not wrong, this specific vampire lord had the power to cast debuffs!


    As soon as the vampire lord finished casting his skill, even Liam, who had his stats boosted because of several small buffs here and there like the gemstone fruits, felt his strength drain rapidly.


    His overall stats and abilities took a hit of about 25%, which was a critical hit, especially because he was already fighting against someone who was 30 levels above him.


    This was mainly why Liam decided to flee instead of staying back and fighting.


    He could continue to take chances and y out all of his cards and gamble on the oue, but on the off chance that one more spider skittered out of that hideout in the next second¡­ he did not want to do that.


    If something unpredictable like that happened, then it would be game over for him permanently. After all, this was not a game anymore.


    He first needed to know what he was dealing with. So Liam decided to take a step back.


    But that did not mean that he was giving up on the task once and for all. His gaze turned cold as he turned to look back at the distant location where he had just now run away from.


    He would be returning there soon, and when he did¡­ the next time won''t be the same.


    "Master, where are we going now?"


    "Go to that magic shop again." Liam calmly said.


    Kyuuu! Luna kicked up her speed by a notch and then dashed in that direction with all of her energy.


    Meanwhile¡­


    On a distant ind that was away from the mainndmass, a little kid shed open his bright crimson eyes that shone like the most beautiful gems in the entire universe.


    He had a big amused smile on his face as if he had just now received the most wonderful news in the world. "That''s right. That''s how you should run and hide, you little bitch."


    "Ba ha ha ha!"


    "Know your ce! Ha ha ha!"


    "Did you think you could so easily defeat my ythings? Ha Ha Ha!"


    The little kid burst into a fit of uncontrobleughter as a certain vampire filled him in on the details of the event that had just now transpired.


    Though he was not able to set foot on the maind for now, he was still able to maintain a mental link with his underling and was strong enough tomunicate through this distance.


    However, the so-called vampire lord was not a tamed soul link beast or his sired follower. To be able to maintain a mental link with a random underling¡­ who was thousands of miles away¡­


    If any other being came to know about this kind of mental strength, they would be instantly shocked to their core, and to think that a small kid wielded such power, their world beliefs would bepletely shaken.


    However, the little kid did not seem to care about any of that.


    He hummed in amusement as he paced back and forth on the sandy shores as if he was waiting for something extremely important, much more important than the news he had received just now.


    And soon¡­ the thing that he was expecting arrived.


    A demon appeared in front of him carrying a huge stack of magazine-like books, except on every single one of these books, there were big busted women disyed from cover to cover.


    "Sir Elmis¡­" The demon handed over everything to the little kid.


    It was clearly written on the demon''s face that he was extremely embarrassed to be doing such a thing, but he did not dare to take the task lightly. After all, a vampire lord had issued the task.


    And unlike the ones that paraded around this insignificant world at the moment, this was a real vampire lord, a vampire lord of the blood moon n.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 2~


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 Chapter 882 About The Vampire Lords...

    After several minutes, Liam was once again back in the same area. He jumped off of the white fox andnded on the ground, but they were not standing in front of the magic shop.


    Instead, there was a glowing green portal in front of them. It was hidden beneath a densework of thorny vines, but it was definitely there.


    "Hello, dungeon portal." Liam clutched the sword in his hands tightly with determination. He then entered the dungeon along with Luna.


    This was still a basic dungeon, so a slew of wolves rushed at him from different sides. Liam did not waste his time and immediately summoned his soul army to take care of the low-level beasts.


    Just like the dungeons back near their guild base, this one also had multiple floors, and he calmly cleared one floor after another without breaking a sweat, ending the entire dungeon in no time.


    The familiar ''dungeon is being upgraded'' notification rang out soon enough. The duo then once again lifted up in the air and started hunting down the next one.


    In this manner, before the end of the night, they cleared a total of three dungeons from top to bottom, forcing all of them to upgrade to the next level.


    Perhaps it was merely a coincidence, or perhaps it was a rule of the new world, but Liam only managed to find these three dungeons in the vicinity, all three of them sprinkled on the edges of the zone in which the magic shop was located.


    "Ok. The first part is done. Now we wait."


    Liam tiredly flopped onto the ground, resting on the green patch of tall grass that had grown like a rampant weed. Luna as well, silentlyy next to him.


    Though both of them were considerably tired, neither of them was in the mood to sleep. They simply stared at the night sky, which was devoid of any stars at the moment.


    On several asions, the little fox couldn''t help but peek at Liam to see how he was doing. She knew that her master was strong and powerful, but today had ultimately ended in a loss.


    She was extremely disgruntled with the whole thing and had taken out her anger on the weak mobs inside the dungeons they had massacred today, but it wasn''t nearly enough to quench the bitterness of the loss that she felt.


    It was like an itch that she couldn''t scratch and was nagging at her. She imagined the face of the damned spider again and again and punched the air, thinking that she was punching him.


    Just because he was at a higher level than them¡­ growl! It was unfair!


    As if he could read her thoughts, Liam lightly smiled and patted her back. "You are just a baby, aren''t you¡­ I keep forgetting it every now and then¡­"


    Kyuuu! Luna snuggled up next to him without saying anything else.


    The two of them silently continued to stare at the sky when suddenly leaves rustled in the distance. They immediately became alert, but the next second, Liam sighed and fell back to the same rxed position.


    Luna, on the other hand, jumped up and ran away somewhere, only to return back the next instant with a poor guy in her maw.


    She tossed the person mercilessly in front of Liam and then went back to snuggling up close next to her master. She gave a side eye to the cretin who dared to disturb this precious time she had with her master, which made the person subconsciously shiver.


    "Ah¡­ I¡­"


    Growl!


    He immediately shut his mouth.


    Liamughed and patted her and then calmly asked this intruder, "What are you doing here?"


    The only reason he did this was because this person was dressed in the military uniform, the same uniform that the others had worn in the military base he had recently visited.


    Liam watched as the guy quickly steadied himself first and then sat straight, taking a few deep breaths. He then looked back at him directly without any of the previous fear and mouthed in a serious tone.


    "Sir, I would like to request a few seconds of your attention."


    "Hmm?" Liam dragged his gaze, observing the person in front of him. He seemed to be in his early twenties, perhaps the same age as Liam, and was stick thin, also not that different from how he was before.


    But no matter what angle he looked at him, there really wasn''t anything special about him. "You already have my attention. Come to the point fast." Liam curtly responded.


    "About your visit today. I am afraid things are not as simple as what they made it out to be." The guy started.


    "Unlike the normal vampires, vampire lords are not easy to handle. It is my hypothesis that each of these vampire lords possesses different abilities."


    "They are powerful short-term abilities that can be taken down by a surprise attack and burst damage. Also, regarding the third vampire lord, I don''t think that he is alone."


    Liam''s attitude went from cold indifference to curiosity and then to shock and awe as he listened to the man in front of him with rapt attention.


    The thing was¡­ he already knew everything that the person was talking about. However, what amazed him was something else. How was this seemingly weak and normal person able to gather so much information?


    Liam was pretty sure that he hadn''t personally faced any of the vampires or the vampire lords, but here he was, discerning everything part by part. Just who was this guy now?


    Liam continued to patiently listen to everything he had to say, and the opposite party also borately spoke about many things, including magic shops, mana zombies, and dungeons.


    And after everything, in the end, he added two more lines.


    "Of course. Let me be very honest with you. These are all simply my theories and assumptions based on the information I gathered from many survivors and several soldiers."


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 3~


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 Chapter 883 Just A Guess?

    "Of course. Let me be very honest with you. These are all simply my theories and assumptions based on the information I gathered from many survivors and several soldiers."


    Liam almost fell down to the ground when he heard thisst bit. Wait, he was simply making assumptions all this time?


    Even the fox red in disbelief as she couldn''t believe what she had heard. She started listening to the cretin halfway through and was amazed at what he was saying, so much so that she stopped ring at him. But now she once again demoted the guy back to the cretin level.


    Seeing that the two of them were silent, the other party did not fret. Instead, he continued talking.


    "There is also one more thing. The general is not so simple. He will not let you off until and unless you join the army. He is extremely ruthless and will go as far as he needs to in order to achieve his goal."


    Liam chuckled. Sure, let''s add that to the te as well. In reality, though their meeting had gone exceedingly well, he had expected something like this would happen. It was just that he wasn''t nning on giving them a chance for their own good.


    Also, he had more important things to worry about at the moment.


    Now,ing back to the present, who was this person in front of him? He silently watched the stranger and couldn''t help but wonder if he had really guessed everything up until now.


    "So these are all just guesses?" He even asked him again.


    "Ahem. Yes, but I have solid theories backing them up."


    Liam nodded. He remained silent for a few more seconds and then asked him the inevitable. "So why are you here? What do you want from me?"


    The other party nodded and, without fear, answered him. "Mr. Liam, my name is Yuze Hao. I am here to request your permission to join your guild, Crimson Abyss."


    "Heh." Liam was even more amused. So this guy knew who he was. "In return for all of this information you just gave me, you want to join the guild? Only that much?"


    "Aha ha ha. Mr. Liam, I am not stupid enough to demand things from someone like you. I know my limits. Even this I am requesting only because of my current condition."


    "Though from outside, the military base might look like a bed of roses with the government still taking care of things and everything taking care of in an organized fashion with rules and regtions, the truth couldn''t be far from it."


    "There is rampant corruption, belligerence, and women and even some men are being exploited without their consent. And..."


    "I do not want a shelter just for me. I want a shelter for a group of twenty-five people in your guild."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam patiently listened to him and wasn''t really surprised at the oue.


    Though a military unit had a lot of plus points, it also had a major w. In a military structure, everything depended on the person at the top.


    If the person at the top had wed, misguided intentions, then everyone below him would also fall into that line in the name of patriotism and loyalty. This sort of mentality was drilled into the men from years of training.


    Not to mention at a time like this, when the whole world was falling apart, it was only human for these men to rely on these rules and hierarchy, especially if it was favorable to them.


    Seeing that Liam hadn''t replied to anything yet, Yuze Hao started to be nervous. "I also have another thing to offer to you." He boldly spoke up.


    "Hmmm?"


    "I have the blueprints to set up radiomunications and also to get the electricity back up and running. I also have the other blueprints for all the technology currently being used in the military base."


    "Oh?" Liam did not expect this. "How do you know about all of this?" "I helped the division leaders to set everything up."


    "You have a background in these things?"


    "No, Sir. I learned everything in these past few weeks."


    "Huh?" Now Liam couldn''t believe this. It was impossible for someone to understand the heavy, detailed technological details in such a short period of time. "What are you? Some kind of genius?" He jokinglymented. However¡­


    Surprisingly, the other party nodded in eptance. "Yes, Sir. I would like to think so."


    Liam''s face twitched, but then he smiled at the guy in front of him. Though he seemed to be a little arrogant about his abilities, he definitely had the goods to back them up. So he did not mind.


    "If you are such a genius, then howe you couldn''t be stronger? You know the rules of this world. If you be strong enough, then you can take what you want without my help. You can save your loved ones and your group without needing someone like me."


    Liam only casually joked, but the person''s face immediately changed. He looked like he was a bit embarrassed to talk about this.


    "Haaa? Is there something I should know?"


    "I am¡­ Cough. Cough." For the first time, the person in front of him stammered. "I am a bit queasy when I see blood. So I can''t really¡­"


    Liam once again dropped his jaw to the ground in shock.


    This guy was able to understandplicated technological stuff, the patterns, and the strategies of both the vampire lords and the apocalypse in general, but he was queasy on seeing blood?


    This¡­ he couldn''t be lying, right?


    No. It had to be true. What he was saying was so ridiculous that Liam doubted it was a lie.


    Liam chuckled lightly and then patted the guy. "Yuze Hao, wee to the guild. I would never say no to someone who came asking for my help, but you should know that I am equally ruthless to people who betray me. I do not give second chances."


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 4~


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 Chapter 884 Now We Start The Counterattack

    Yuze Hao stared at Liam for a second and then quickly nodded his head like a woodpecker. He had not expected the leader of the world-famous guild to ept him just like that.


    Though he had already calcted that this would happen, it was still weird for him to see his calctionse to fruition so perfectly.


    "Thank you, Sir." He hurriedly thanked Liam without any hesitation.


    Liam as well nodded with a lightugh and patted him. "I am currently busy, so you should not wait for me. The area between here and the crimson abyss guild base is mostly cleared."


    "There shouldn''t be any mutant beasts or elites roaming around in your path. Take your group and leave. Are you capable of doing that?"


    "Yes, Sir." Yuze Hao hurriedly nodded.


    "Ok, you may leave." Liam smiled.


    Normally, he would have asked him to wait, but he was tempted to test this amusing guy in front of him. If he really was who he imed to be, then he should be able to do this much without any issues.


    Yuze Hao once again nodded like a woodpecker and hurriedly stood up to leave. He did not want to disturb Liam any more than he already did.


    However, after taking a few paces, he suddenly stopped and turned around. Everything had gone so smoothly, and he had achieved what he wanted so easily that he became a little bit afraid.


    This was because the only thing that could have prompted Liam to do such a thing was the information about the vampires, and as for that intel¡­


    "Sir Liam, one more thing. Please take my words with a grain of salt. Especially about the vampire lord. I¡­ I haven''t met one in person. So¡­"


    Liamughed, and Luna grinned at that statement. "You don''t have to worry about that. You are, in fact, astonishingly correct about the vampire lords."


    "Huh?" Yuze Hao was shocked. How could Liam possibly know this? This meant that¡­


    "Yes, we already paid them a visit earlier today and confirmed everything that you just said." Liam shook his head helplessly.


    Ah¡­ Yuze Hao now realized why there weren''t that many questions for him. This person had already killed the vampire lord, just like the one before. That''s why he was very calm and casual.


    However, Liam unexpectedly once againughed as he flopped back onto the ground, lying on his back and staring at the sky. "No, I didn''t win. I lost. But that is for me to correct. You should continue and go along with your n. I will see you back in the base when I return."


    Yuze Hao nodded. Unfortunately, it looked like his warning hade a little bitte. He nced at Liam one more time and resolved to make up for this blunder in the future.


    He then left immediately as he did not want any of his people to stay in the damned military base even a second longer.


    Liam then summoned his army of soul minions toe out and patrol the area, taking care of any wandering mutant beasts or vampires in their radius of limit.


    He, on the other hand, took the rest of the time off and went over the battle with the vampire lord and the spider again in his mind. He kept repeating the same thing over and over, and eventually, the timer ran out.


    Liam then stood up and walked to the first dungeon. It was time to start the second half of his n. He called back his soul minions that were wandering in different parts of the neighboring town and city and then began his work.


    With the full force of his soul minion army, he started the assault of the new and upgraded dungeon. Just like before, the floors of the dungeon were increasingly difficult as Liam barged his way onto one floor after another.


    However, after the first two levels, he did not proceed anymore. He stopped and stayed back on the second floor of the updated dungeon, but this time, he took out the stone tablet.


    The inconspicuous stone tablet whirred into action as it started readily absorbing the surplus mana from the dungeon.


    Liam had been doubtful if it would work just the same as back in the game, but the treasured tablet did not disappoint him. Dense streams of mana started pouring in from all sides.


    Liam sat down on the ground, waiting for the process to finish, and Luna snarled quietly as she observed the stone tablet in amazement. Soon a couple of hours passed by, and the stone tablet continued to steadily absorb the essence of the dungeon as it pleased without caring about anything.


    The couple of hours slowly turned into half a day, and eventually, the walls of the dungeon started shaking. Even small rocks started falling down.


    Before long, the entire ce trembled as if it was undergoing a massive earthquake, and an hourter, the dungeonpletely disappeared.


    "Now we start the counterattack." Liam stood up and calmly picked up the dungeon crystal that had fallen down in front of him. He looked around, and there was only wilderness everywhere. The green portal that had been here before was now nowhere to be seen.


    "Let''s go, Luna." He hopped onto the white fox, and the duo then started heading to their next destination. Surprisingly, this time they were not headed to the next dungeon. Instead, they made a beeline straight for the magic shop.


    The ce that was still hidden deep within the crevices of nature now looked more deste and lonely than ever. With Liam having taken care of most of the vampires in the area, there wasn''t even a single fly going in or out of the shop.


    And when Liam finally entered, all the fairies immediately stood up with expectation, only to have their faces drooping when they saw who it was.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 5~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 885 Taking Candy From A Baby

    "Is this how you treat the customers of your shop?" Liam''s cold gaze swept across the fairies standing behind their counters beforending on the man in charge of the store.


    Aron, the fairy, had an unsightly look on his face as he red back at the human being who was responsible for everything.


    This damned creature had shut down his iepletely. While the blood he was collecting from the foolish humans wasn''t anything much in this world, it was a sought-after delicacy in several other worlds.


    He was making a pretty penny by trading these pints of blood in the other channels he had ess to, but now his supply chain waspletely shot.


    It was all because of this damned human!


    Aron''s face contorted as he thought about impaling and torturing the damned human being in a million different ways. If there were a chance, he would cripple the damned insect and sell him to the ogre brothel.


    A mere level 80 had dared to make such a big loss to him! He needed to pay for this!


    The fairy gritted his teeth as he eyed Liam viciously, not even bothering to hide the animosity he harbored in his heart.


    However, Liam simply revealed a small smile that did not travel to his eyes and took out an item from his pocket. "Well, I don''t have all day to stare at your face or your nose. I am here to make a trade."


    Aron''s face twitched at the tant insult to his shapely nose, and he scoffed in disdain. This irrelevant lower realm insect shut down his thriving business and now demands to make a trade? Howughable!


    "What worthless thing do you have to trade?" He rudely remarked.


    Liam ignored the remark and silently lifted up the item in his hand and showed it to the fairy. The fairy''s beady little eyes disinterestedly gave a nce in his direction, but the next second, he immediately froze.


    "Where! Where did you get this from?" Aron rushed to Liam and hurriedly grabbed the item from his hands. He gasped and analyzed the small thing from all angles very carefully, but his examination only confirmed what he already knew.


    The item he was currently holding was a dungeon core!


    There was no doubt about it. The fairy looked up at Liam in shock, wondering how this ordinary human being came in possession of such a treasure.


    While a dungeon core crystal was not abat-type treasure or enhancement-type treasure that was directly useful to the masses, it was, in a way, an even bigger precious item.


    This was because, with a dungeon crystal core, one would be able to obtain all the other treasures!


    To be more specific, a dungeon core crystal was a money-making machine!


    If one sessfully activated a dungeon crystal core, then one could farm a lot of resources with the help of the resulting dungeon. It was essentially an endless supply of money and resources.


    Aron''s eyes shone with desire as he greedily stared at the crystal in his hand. Such items were never sold in normal trades. They were only auctioned at special events, and that too only big shots had the opportunity to buy these things.


    Someone like him could never even dream of buying something like this. He was simply a middleman at best, forever cursed to remain a nobody and trade items to the end of his life.


    But now! Even he had the opportunity to obtain a treasure like this?!


    The fairy gulped as his gaze shifted from the crystal to the ignorant human being who had brought him such a priceless treasure.


    Ke Ke Ke! What an idiot! It was going to be child''s y to take this treasure out of this insect''s hand, like taking candy from a baby!


    The fairy quickly recovered from his stupor and then cleared his throat. "Hmmm¡­ so you obtained a dungeon crystal."


    "Okay. What do you want to do with this now? Trade here? Hmm¡­ I can exchange this for 10000 mana cores. That should be more than generous." The fairy scoffed at Liam as he indifferently replied.


    Inwardly, he was saying prayers to all of his n deities, hoping that he would get all the good luck and the human would fall for his trap.


    Liam, on the other hand, once again smiled. "10000 mana cores? Sure."


    Aron immediately became overjoyed. Bingo! An idiot was an idiot!


    He hurriedly opened his system interface and tapped something when suddenly Liam once again opened his mouth. "Actually, I think I will change my mind. I don''t want to sell it for such a low amount."


    "WHAT!" The fairy instantly became flustered. "WHY would you do that? You can''t do that! You already agreed! It''s a binding contract!"


    "Hmmm? I don''t think so." Liam sneered. He had already yed around with the magic shop system plenty to know these basics, so how could he fall for such tant lies?


    "I think I am free to back out of the trade until I leave the shop after the trade." Liam calmly replied.


    Aron''s face twitched. He wasfortable lying through his teeth earlier, but now that the human being firmly stated the rules, he could no longer lie in the same manner.


    Curses! Curses! A million curses! It had only been a few weeks since they arrived in this world, so which bitch gave away their rules so quickly!


    Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do now. He could only begrudgingly return the dungeon core crystal back to Liam with a constipated face.


    Liam, on the other hand, calmly epted the crystal and then gave another smile before starting to walk out of the shop.


    Curses! Curses! Curses! No! This cannot be happening!


    "Wait a minute!" The fairy snapped out of his hatred and chased after Liam. "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Let''s talk about this first. Don''t be hasty! If you think 10,000 mana cores is too low, then we can increase the amount."

 Chapter 886 Who Is Trying To Swindle Here?

    "Wait a minute!" The fairy snapped out of his hatred and chased after Liam. "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Let''s talk about this first. Don''t be hasty! If you think 10,000 mana cores is too low, then we can increase the amount."


    Liam grinned and stopped walking. With the way the fairy was acting at the moment, he immediately knew that he was correct. These crystals were very valuable, and there was a high probability that an actual dungeon could be set up once again using these crystals.


    Naturally, he was not nning to let this chance slip by, and there was no way he was going to ept the very first offer the fairy put forward.


    These beings were not their friends, and they never looked out for the well-being of humans. They were merely war profiteers.


    So¡­


    Let the negotiations begin!


    "What amount are you talking about?" Liam turned to ask with a smile.


    Aron had a bad feeling about this. He shakily put forth the next number. "Let me see what I can do." He gritted his teeth and mumbled. He then opened his system interface and started typing something. After a few seconds, he once again looked at Liam.


    "I can only go as high as this. I can offer you a hundred thousand mana cores."


    "Hmmm?" Liam remained calm and kept silent for a couple of seconds. He did not reply immediately.


    Seeing this, the fairy started sweating. Damned bastard! He cursed Liam in his mind and waited, but the other party continued to remain quiet. What the hell?!


    In the end, it was Aron who broke first. "Alright, I can make it a million mana cores, but that is really my limit."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam sighed. "That''s unfortunate." He casually shrugged his shoulders and then randomly started walking out of the shop again.


    "MR. LIAM! Please just stop and have a conversation!" The fairy was livid. "You are being too impatient. Fine. Tell me what you expect in return for this crystal. I will see if I can make it happen."


    Aron did not speak these words on a whim. Instead of him increasing the offer exponentially without any necessity, he decided that he would let the idiot take a shot at it. With his brain, the human might even ask less than what he intended to pay.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam paused once again and pretended as if he was thinking about something long and hard. "Honestly, the price you are offering is too low for me. I would only be taking a loss selling you this."


    The fairy''s heart sank. Wait, this guy was not an idiot? Did he, by chance, know the actual value of a dungeon crystal? Oh no!


    However, the next words made the guy sigh in relief.


    "Alright. Though I will be taking a loss¡­ since you seem to want it so badly, I have decided to sell it." Liam nodded magnanimously.


    Aron became overjoyed, and he also nodded his head in eptance.


    "Shall I name the price?"


    He once again nodded vigorously.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes. Yes," He nodded.


    "I am a simple man, so I will just ask for 100 billion low-grade mana cores in exchange for the dungeon crystal."


    "Yes. yes." The fairy once again nodded, but then he suddenly froze. Wait, what?


    Liam smiled. "So we have a deal? Quick, make the transfer. I have a lot of shopping to do." He tossed the crystal to the fairy as if it was no big deal.


    Aron as well nkly caught the crystal and then stared at the thing and back at Liam without any wordsing out of his mouth.


    What¡­


    What just happened¡­? Did he say a hundred million¡­?


    No¡­ Did he say a hundred billion low-grade mana cores?


    Fuucckkkk!


    Aron snapped out of his trance and shook his head the other way hurriedly. "No. Wait." He then paused, took a breath, and again slowly spoke. "Mr. Liam. Surely, you are joking?"


    "Huh? Was I?" Liam looked confused.


    Aron gnashed his teeth wanting to tear apart the human being in front of him.


    "It''s just a few billions of low-grade mana cores. Don''t tell me that is too much for a magic shop manager such as you. Come on, Mr. Aron. Now, who is joking? This is probably pocket change for someone like you." Liam sighed. "Please don''t try to swindle me."


    The fairy''s face twitched. Who was trying to swindle whom here? This bastard!


    The problem was not the price per se. Though it was a ridiculous number, the human wasn''t wrong. For a higher realm, this price was nothing.


    In fact, if auctioned, the crystal might go for several times above this price mark. The fairy was only going to benefit even if he agreed to this dastardly demand. However¡­


    They were not in a higher realm at the moment!


    They were in a sad, depressing, standing in line to get utterly destroyed, lowest tier realm. In a world like this, how could he possibly exchange anything for a whole hundred billion mana cores???


    Even if these were low-grade mana cores, it was simply too much for a world like this.


    It would be single-handedly changing the fate of the whole world!?


    How could he possibly dare to create a ripple like that?


    Wouldn''t he get caught and ughtered for manipting the grand design like this?


    Sure, he was willing to bend the norm a bit, but as a store manager of one of the shops assigned to this world, there were certain rules that he could cross and certain rules that he absolutely must not cross.


    If he did something like that, then it would be his own skin that would be up for grabs. He would die like a dog, not knowing why he even died in the first ce!


    But on the other hand¡­ an opportunity like this was once in a lifetime. If he were always confined by these horrid rules and regtions, he would never amount to anything in his life.


    This was his chance to metamorphize! Break from the mold that he was born to fit in! He could be rich beyond his dreams and live a life of luxury and debauchery!


    No. He absolutely cannot miss this.


    As the fairy''s logic and caution slowly got overtaken by greed, his brain spun, and he quickly thought of a counterproposal.


    "Mr. Liam, this conversation is going nowhere. We both have our own limitations, so instead of mana cores, how about we make this trade in terms of other things? Hmm? Would you be interested in some items or skills?" Aron shed a big smile and rubbed his hands in anticipation.

 Chapter 887 Fool

    "Mr. Liam, this conversation is going nowhere. We both have our own limitations, so instead of mana cores, how about we make this trade in terms of other things? Hmm? Would you be interested in some items or skills?" Aron shed a big smile and rubbed his hands in anticipation.


    The fairy watched Liam''s expression slowly change. A frown appeared on his face, and for a while, he appeared to be thinking about something deeply. This made the guy even more nervous.


    However, in the end, Liam nodded in agreement. "I can understand your predicament. I will take 10 skills and 10 items in exchange for the dungeon crystal core."


    "Ten?!" Aron gasped.


    "Of course, this is in addition to the guild registration fees. Even if you are not able to pay me low-grade mana cores, I am sure you can do that much?"


    Aron gritted his teeth. He was definitely getting this at a bargain, so he couldn''t possibly say no to this, but at the same time, he was not the one gaining the most in this deal. 10 skills? 10 items? The shop was definitely going to take a beating if he gave away so much for free.


    On the other hand, he couldn''t really care less about the shop''s bnce sheet. As long as he could get his hands on the dungeon crystal core, then it would all be worth it.


    As for the guild registration fees, waiving it or not-waiving it wouldn''t make that much of a difference. Since he was not handing out mana cores directly, there were a lot of excuses he could possibly use for this purpose.


    The fairy sighed after a while and then finally nodded. "Ok. I will agree to this. I will waive the guild registration fees immediately, but only one skill and one item can be redeemed at a time. You will have to wait for an entire month before selecting the next item and skill."


    Liam did not argue with him anymore and simply agreed.


    Phew! Aron loudly sighed and then quickly brought up a formal agreement with the system. As Liam signed the thing, he sneered inwardly.


    ''Fool! How many months do you think you will be able to survive in this apocalypse? You will be long dead before even you can get your filthy hands on the second item and skill. Hmph!''


    ''This is what you get for trying to reach beyond your limits!''


    Even though the deal was for 10 skills and 10 items, Aron was pretty sure that the human was probably capable of redeeming 3 or 4 of them at the most. After that, this world itself might not remain standing.


    There was also another reason why he had readily epted the offer, and this was because¡­ not everyone can ess every skill avable in the shop.


    Skills in the magic shop ranged from rank F to rank A. Above these skills, there were another tier of skills, S Rank skills. These were truly powerful and truly valuable skills.


    However, these were not avable for just anyone to purchase.


    Even if he wanted to, he could only unlock the preview of skills until A rank. After that, the system itself would not reveal anything. It did not matter if one had the resources or not.


    One needed to meet some special requirements, and low-tier realm inhabitants like this human would never be able to ess these skills.


    So no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to truly harm or make a dent in the shop''s bnce sheet. As for the small loss that he was going to incur, he would find other ways to make up for it.


    Ignoring whatever Liam was doing, Aron already started calcting how he would make up for everything.


    On the other hand, Liam chuckled inwardly. He knew exactly what the fairy was thinking and why he probably agreed so quickly.


    However, he couldn''t care less about it. At the moment, he had other things that needed his attention immediately.


    So he did not waste his time any longer and quickly walked off to a counter and started browsing through the skills and items as fast as he could.


    He already had in mind what he needed the most right now, but he had to find the best skill in that category which was going to take some time.


    Skills in the magic shop ranged from rank F to rank A, and among these were bothmon and umon skills.


    Skills like [Fireball], [Ice Spear], [Lightning Bolt], and [Sword sh] were all listed asmon skills of rank D while his [Inspect] skill came under umon rank D.


    The main difference betweenmon and umon skills is in the ability to learn these skills.


    While themon skills could most often be picked up by a person on their own with sufficient guidance and practice, the umon skills were almost impossible to be learned in such a fashion.


    The one Liam was searching for was also ''umon'' of sorts. To be more specific, he was currently cheating. He was searching for answers with the question paper in his hand.


    He needed the skill to counteract the exact weakness he faced when fighting against the vampire lord.


    He had no idea where these vampires suddenly came from, but he knew that he needed to take care of them as soon as possible before they became a problem that was too big for him to handle.


    A few minutester, while Liam continued to browse the catalog hurriedly, Aron casually walked over next to him and stood on the side in silence.


    The fairy looked quite gleeful for someone who was going to take a huge loss. ''Browse all you want, you fool! You will only find cheap skills!'' He sneered in contempt.


    Naturally, Liam did not miss this brimming, overflowing happiness from the cunning being. What was it now? He thought about it for a couple of seconds and then continued browsing.


    Soon, he came across something strange. There was a new tab that said <ss Specific Skills>

 Chapter 888 Class Specific Skills

    <ss Specific Skills>


    Something like this also existed?


    One was typically only able to browse the skills that one could afford, and thest time Liam had a million mana cores, he hadn''t seen something like this.


    Maybe all the skills here cost much more than a million?


    And now, since mana cores did not matter and he could basically select any one skill for free, he was able to see many more choices? He might even be able to see something unexpected!


    After all, he had two sses at the moment, even though only one was registered. Maybe there was a chance that some soulmancer skills were also avable!


    That would mean¡­ He hade here looking for gold, but he struck diamond instead!


    How could soulmancer skills bepared to ordinary skills? Each skill was extremely powerful and could boost his soul power by a lot.


    Although he was currently searching for something else, something simr to a curse-nullifying skill to fight against the third vampire lord, a soulmancer skill would still be the best choice as it would skyrocket his power and give him more clues about his ss.


    With his inheritance locked inside the tutorial world and his ss currently locked, this was his only way to gain more insight into the ss and grow himself further.


    Liam''s eyes gleamed with excitement as he hurriedly clicked on this list first. Seeing his expression, Aron''s face as well slightly changed. What the hell is this human so happy about? He as well leaned in to take a look.


    And the next second, the two of them opened their mouth at the same time and stared at the screen in front of them in utter shock!


    What the heck was this!!!


    However, it was for very different reasons¡­


    <ss Specific Skills>


    Bone Armor: F Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    Use the bones of the dead to forge an armor of your choice; Only your imagination is the limit; The strength of the armor depends on your abilities. Cooldown: 3 minutes.


    Summon Bone Warrior: E Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    Bestow life to the bones of the dead around you and summon an undead warrior from hell made of these bones to fight for you. The power of the undead warrior depends on the bones of the enemies around you. The effectsts for 1 minute. Cooldown: 5 minutes.


    Soul Splice: D Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    Command the souls of the undead under your control and temporarily absorb their strength as your own; The effectsts for 5 seconds; Cooldown: 1 hour.


    Curse of the Dead: C Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    Nobody is immune to death when ites to im their life. Death weakens life. As the ruler of the dead, your curse saps your opponent''s strength, defense, mana, and speed by 20%; Effectsts for 30 seconds; Cannot be stacked; Cool Down: 1 minute.


    Necrotic Decay: B Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    When afflicted with the curse of decay, the living cannot continue living. The soul, spirit, and life force of the enemy are constantly drained; The effect depends on your abilities and the enemy''s abilities. Cannot be stacked.


    Raise the Dead: A Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    The death god doesn''t want the dead to rest. Command the dead around you to stand up and serve you for all eternity. The number of undead you can wield depends on your abilities.


    Empower the Undead: S Rank (Umon); Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    As the ruler of death, you canmand your undead army to be stronger. Temporarily boosts the attack power of the undead army. The effectsts for 30 seconds. Cannot be stacked. Cool Down: 1 minute.


    ¡­


    As Liam''s gaze perused the list of avable skills, his pulsed started racing, and his heart was beating rapidly. However, the next second, he realized that he had been far too optimistic.


    Every single skill listed was a necromancer ss skill and not a soulmancer ss skill. How could life be so easy? It looked like he had first to unlock the ss in order to receive skill options from that ss.


    But the silver lining was that the necromancy skills listed weren''t all that bad. In fact, some of them were¡­


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock as he studied the listed skills more closely. There was one skill listed for each rank, and all of them were umon, which meant they were extremely difficult to learn on their own and hence very valuable.


    Liam did not think that the necromancer ss only held so many skills, but perhaps he was only allowed to view one choice per rank for now?


    This would be clear if he visited the magic shop next month for his second skill. For now, he paid more attention to the skills in front of him and their descriptions.


    Naturally, his eyes directly went to the top-tier S Rank skill as this was the most valuable and powerful among the bunch. And the skill listed was¡­


    "Empower the undead! Empower the undead!" Liam mumbled under his breath in excitement. This was exactly what he had wanted andcked sorely!


    Currently, he had an army of soul minions under him, but individually, they were quite weak. Their growth was a work in progress. The more they hunted down enemies, the stronger they grew. This required time.


    However, all of that would immediately change if he used this skill. His weak army, which was only growing and developing slowly, would get a significant power boost for a good 30 seconds.


    With this, they would be able to fight stronger beasts and increase their level faster. And if he once again empowered them, then they would be even stronger.


    Also, the cooldown was 1 minute which means he could, again and again, empower the army every single minute.


    This was way too overpowered and truly a skill worthy of being of S-Rank!

 Chapter 889 An S-Rank Skill?

    An S-Rank skill?


    An S-Rank skill?


    A goddamned S-Rank skill?


    Aron was speechless. The fairy stared at the list in disbelief as something like this was not supposed to happen. It was impossible. Why? Why? Why? The fairy felt as if his insides were burning in anger.


    What was an S- Ranked skill? An extremely precious resource, not just in this godforsaken random lower realm but even in the middle realms and higher realms.


    An S-Ranked skill was something that was sought after in the whole damned universe.


    And the cost of a single S-Ranked skill¡­


    The fairy clutched his chest in pain. He did not even want to think about it. This was a fucking nightmare. The thin fairy started sweating from top to bottom.


    Moreover, he saw Liam grinning like a maniac, and his fears became worse. The human being was definitely going to pick this. Even a foolish rat would know to pick this precious, invaluable skill, then why won''t this human pick this skill?!


    Finished! He was finished! He was totally finished! Completely fucked over! Doomed! His life was over!


    The cost of a single S-Ranked skill was a whopping 100 billion low-grade mana cores. For this, he could have simply handed over the same amount to the damned bastard in the first ce.


    Ah! Curses! Curses! Curses! What was he going to do now?


    While skills until the D-Rank cost only 1 million mana cores, irrespective of whether they weremon or umon, skills above that Rank were increasingly expensive.


    A C-Rankmon skill alone cost 10 million mana cores. An umon skill could go as high as 50 million mana cores. The same went for B-Rankmon and umon skills. They all ranged between 10 million to 50 million mana cores.


    Aron did not care about these skills or this meager amount of low-grade mana cores. He even did not care about A -Rankmon and umon skills that could range anywhere between 100 million to 1 billion mana cores.


    He was willing to lose that much but not the S-Rank skills. A single damned S-Rank skill cost several billions of mana cores, not just 1 or 2.


    ? How was this any different from him handing over the reins of this world to the human being in front of him?


    He was a nobody. In his entire life of three centuries, he only managed to procure two S-Rank skills in total. He did not have a power like this to change the fate of an entire realm, but all of a sudden, he was in the thick of things, and his neck was on the chopping board.


    Damn it! It was the system''s fault!


    The shop''s system had definitely gone haywire. It was bending over backward to help this guy.


    Aron was not sure if Liam knew about this or not, but the ss-specific skills were revealed to only those customers who had already achieved a high enough understanding of their ss.


    This was already a big enough anomaly. How was it possible for a lower realm being to possess such a high understanding of their ss? On top of that, he even unlocked S-Rank skills?


    No! No! No! This was not on him. This was on the system! The system screwed up! Not him!


    While Aron was silently panicking inside, with his whole world crumbling around him, Liam suddenly turned to look at him. The fairy''s heart further dropped. Did this guy make a decision already? Was it all over? He was dead, wasn''t he?


    However¡­ to his surprise¡­


    "Can I take a look at the items avable in the shop first?" Liam simply smiled and asked.


    The fairy nkly nodded. He looked as if his soul had already waved goodbye and left his body. "There." Aron showed him the next desk and followed Liam like a lost sheep.


    Liam did not pay any attention to him and started browsing the items avable. He was seriously searching for what he needed at the moment with hisplete attention on the task.


    Seeing this, the fairy''s face twitched. This human being had hit the jackpot already, and yet he is putting up all of this act to torture me further! His helplessness quickly turned into anger and hatred.


    The only problem was¡­ there was nothing he could do to Liam.


    He clenched his fists till his knuckles turned white and watched Liam with the hatred and enmity that belonged to someone who had harbored the anger for countless years.


    The fairy wasn''t all that worried about items per se. Unlike the skills fiasco, there was no possibility of anything going wrong when it came to items.


    The highest grades of items avable in the shop were only ''Rare'' and ''Unique'', no matter who was essing the list.


    Above this, there wasn''t anything avable, to begin with, and these cost a maximum of maybe 100 million mana cores or 500 million mana cores. That wouldn''t be too much of a ding in the shop''s bnce sheet.


    The main problem was¡­ Aron sighed as his mind spun at a dizzying rate. He wanted to find a solution to his predicament, but there was no way out.


    Soon, he watched the human being pick an item and select it. "This will do," Liam said. Aron nodded, and another fairy hurriedly packed the item and handed it over to Liam.


    Any chance he was already done? No. How could he be so lucky?


    Aron swallowed hard, feeling the lump in his throat as Liam smiled and looked at him once more. "I am ready to pick my skill."


    The fairy then half-listlessly and half-angrily followed Liam once again. His fate was hanging by a thread! What was going to happen?


    For the amount of anxiety he had, he wanted to chew out both his nails and fingers. He already knew that he was a dead man walking, so why was this guy dragging this out?


    Just pick the S-Rank skill, and fuck me already, you bastard!


    KILL ME ALREADY!


    Ten minutester¡­


    Liam walked out of the magic shop with a big smile on his face. Coincidentally, Aron, the store manager, was also equally, if not more, ecstatic.


    The fairy''sughter could be heard loudly echoing inside the shop, even though Liam had already stepped out.


    However, Liam did not care. He simply smiled and signaled Luna to start heading over back to the ce where they had previously run away from.


    Now, he was ready to face the vampire lord and whatever level 100-plus creature that crawled out of the earth.

 Chapter 890 Round 2!

    Aron couldn''t believe this unexpected, amazing stroke of good luck that he began celebrating by jumping up and down like a monkey.


    "Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha! What an idiot!"


    "This idiot actually had the chance to select an S-Ranked skill, and yet he didn''t!"


    "Ha ha ha ha! Phew! Ha ha ha! Foolish human!"


    "These humans are truly stupid! They have pig brains! Phew! Thank the gods! I am saved!"


    This continued on for a while as the fairy openlyuded his good luck and the other party''s feeble intelligence. He only calmed down after several minutes of dancing around in happiness.


    However, after that, Aron settled down,posed himself, and rubbed the distinctive pimple on his big protruding nose. Though his problems were temporarily solved, there was still a big threat looming around.


    The human being had failed to see the good thing one time, but there was no guarantee that he would behave in this same manner every single time.


    Perhaps for the second skill, he might really receive another S- Rank option, and he might even end up selecting it! Then once again, he would be screwed!


    No! That cannot happen! The fairy started chewing out his nails.


    "I just have to see to it that the idiot doesn''t ever again step foot in my shop. Level 80, huh? I know exactly what to do."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, a white fox floated high up in the sky as she snarled at the distant ruined building that was still somewhat standing despite thest battle that had taken ce there.


    Liam and Luna had arrived at the same spot once again.


    "Master!" Luna growled. She couldn''t wait for the next orders as she still wanted to rip that spider apart into two. However, Liam shook his head. "Stay back and onlye in when I order you to."


    Though these were the same words he had spoken before, this time, it was for a different reason. Leaving the white fox behind, Liam jumped onto the ground and dashed toward the familiar ce.


    At the same time, a pair of crimson eyes shed open on a distant ind. "This insect is back again? So soon? Is he foolish or what? Well, whatever."


    The little kid looked startled for a moment but then dove back into the magazine that was unfolded in front of him, showing no more interest in the new development he had sensed.


    After all, it was not like there was anything in this lower realm that could get his interest.


    Whenpared to the dazzling, tasteful art drawn in these magazines, an insignificant insect barging straight onto a wall and banging its head repeatedly to its death was pretty boring.


    And as for the said insect¡­


    Liam jumped straight down to the basement floor of the ruined building and then the hollow space beneath it. His opponents were already waiting for him.


    "Ke Ke Ke! I had a feeling that you would be back." Helikatos wagged his long tongue and skittered out with a big sneer on his face.


    Walking along with him was the vampire lord, except that this time, there was a new face on this vampire lord.


    Oh, so the previous one was already tossed away? Liam smirked.


    His arrogance ticked off the spider beast man, who expected Liam to once again shake in fear in his presence.


    "What are you smirking for? Fool, did you think that this Helikatos won''t be guarding the treasure today? You are a fly who got caught in my trap. You will not escape from here again! You will suffer and be my meal! Ke Ke Ke"


    The spider''s loudughter filled the room. The next second, one of his limbs moved, and from the tip of this limb, several thick ooey gooey stuff sted out like projectiles.


    These then expanded and unexpectedly covered the entire hollow gaping hole in which they were standing. Essentially, the whole ce was now sealed in a sort of spider.


    Helikatos grinned arrogantly and rubbed his metallic limbs together as if he was preparing to devour the meal in front of him. "All exits are sealed. There is nowhere for you to run today. Ke Ke Ke."


    Without any warning, the spider dashed forward toward Liam, and the vampire lord standing behind him once again started chanting something.


    The same blood-red sword materialized in his hand, and a blood-red aura seeped out of him.


    The whole affair went down exactly like how it had happened before.


    But this time¡­ Liam was calm.


    The mana in his body thrummed wildly, and the ck dragon sword in his hand danced without restraint as he blocked the moves of the spider perfectly.


    Metal screeched against metal, and the beast gnashed his fangs in anger.


    Liam''s movements were even better and more refined nowpared to before. It was just a day, and the difference was visible.


    Helikatos had no choice but to ept the superior abilities of the human being in front of him. He was developing at an incredible pace, and if he were not careful, he would end up bing a stepping stone to this human being.


    Soon, each and every swing of Liam''s sword started bing engulfed in a fiery aura. This made the spider even worse for the wear. It became more difficult to remain aggressive and hold his upper hand.


    Who was the aggressor here, and who was the defender here? It took less than a second for everything to be murky. The spider roared in anger and humiliation.


    Helikatos refused to believe that a mere human being could push him back, especially when he was blessed by the blood god.


    Roar! He pulled his head back to start attacking Liam even more aggressively.


    However, instead of getting overwhelmed, Liam only grinned. "I guess it''s time that I stopped messing around?"


    "What the hell are you talking about?"


    Just as Helikatos suddenly felt as if something were terribly wrong, Liam opened his mouth again and calmly muttered under his breath. "Come out."


    The next instant, he activated the newest skill he had obtained.

 Chapter 891 D-Rank Skill?

    [Soul Splice]


    Liam grinned as he activated the cheap insignificant D-Rank skill that he had selected from the list of avable skills back in the magic shop.


    However, the effect of the skill at the moment was in no way at the D-Rank level. The second Liam mentally willed for the skill to be active, the air around him changed drastically.


    Everything happened in a fraction of a second.


    First, several soul minions spilled into all the nooks and corners of the gaping hole in the earth, startling both the spider beast and the vampire.


    Though atleast one of them had seen these soul minions beforehand, this time the sheer number was enough to scare the bejesus out of the duo.


    All sorts of creatures popped out of thin air and stood threateningly waiting to tear them apart. The only constion was that these creatures were not nearly strong enough to take them out.


    Roar! The spider started maniacally waving his many limbs around, trying to take down these minions that were suffocating him.


    "You cannot win me with just these ants!" Helikatos shouted at the top of his lungs, but little did he know that Liam was not nearly done yet.


    Before the spider beast could attack and damage any of the soul minions, the numerous creatures started magically disappearing right under his nose.


    This made him even more vexed and confused. Just what the hell was this human up to?


    The spider''s gaze bounced all over the hollow space and finallynded on Liam as he growled and dashed forward again to finish the human being once and for all.


    However, unable to take another step forward, the spider froze on the spot. When his gaze fell on the human being, he was shell-shocked.


    For an instant, he felt his whole being tremble and cover. It was as if a god was standing in front of him. Fear gripped him from the inside out. He couldn''t even lift a muscle. It was as if he couldn''t breathe without the permission of the person in front of him.


    What the hell? What was happening?


    The spider gazed at Liam nkly, unable to get a grasp on himself. How did he suddenly be so strong?


    Liam, on the other hand, grinned. A maniacal look appeared on his face as a feeling of strength and power poured into him from all directions.


    Neither the pitiful spider nor the vampire was able to sense anything, but he could clearly sense every bit of change his body was undergoing at the moment.


    Hundreds and thousands of soul dots collecting around him, each of them attracted to him as if he was a ma.


    And these soul dots simply did not gather around him. They merged with his soul temporarily and filled him with strength, a bombastically exponential strength that boosted him¡­ Ten times? Twenty times? Hundred times? Thousand times?


    Liam could not tell. All he knew was that infinite strength was filling him up. The feeling of power was intoxicating! For the next 5 seconds, it was as if he was invincible!


    [Soul Splice], a Necromancer ss skill that was only supposed to be D-Rank, was currently giving him this sort of unimaginable power.


    When Liam first read the skill description for the skill, he already felt the endless possibilities this skill offered.


    [Soul Splice: Command the souls of the undead under your control and temporarily absorb their strength as your own; The effectsts for 5 seconds; Cooldown: 1 hour]


    Sure, this skill was indeed a D-Rank skill, but that was when a necromancer wielded it. Not for him.


    It did not take long for Liam to see what exactly happened here.


    Though he did not have much knowledge of necromancy per se, he had experimented with it one or two times back inside the game.


    Especially after he had acquired the soulmancer skill, he was able to get a couple of shallow insights into this ss.


    When a dead body was reanimated ording to the necromancy skill, it was an entirely different ball gamepared to his own ss soulmancer where the dead soul was called upon.


    There were a lot of differences and limitations in both of these sses and apletely different set of rules, but there was indeed a fraction ofmonality.


    Even if it was an undead reanimated by a necromancer, there was still a lick of a soul remnant in the dead body.


    Liam did not know if it was possible to bring the dead back only because of this lick of the remnant soul, but he quickly understood that it was only because of this that the skill was listed as D-Rank.


    For any other person, this necromancer skill wouldn''t boost their strength and power by that much. It would only remain a D-Rank skill.


    At most, they could get a 5 times burst buff. That, too, was only possible if the necromancer controlled hundreds of undead? How many licks of souls did one even need to form a whole soul?


    But he was the exception to this skill. While this skill was normally a D-Rank skill, in his hands, it became an S-Rank skill or perhaps even an SSS-Rank skill.


    After all, Liam simply did not control the flesh and bones of the undead. He controlled their souls!


    And if the skill really did what it was supposed to do, then he could possibly be tremendously powerful, at least for the next 5 seconds, by temporarily absorbing all of his soul minions.


    Not to mention he had about 1500 of them!


    Liam knew that he was gambling, and there was only a fifty-fifty possibility at most that this would work, but he had a strong hunch about it that he couldn''t ignore. His gut feeling told him to go for it.


    While ''Empower the undead'', thebeled S-Rank skill was the safe choice in this scenario, and he definitelycked a skill like this to mass buff his army, he needed to think about the enemies in front of him. It was not just the apocalypse that he was trying to survive.


    The divine temple, Crawford, and now these vampires¡­ his enemies were not on his same level or at a level where he could reach easily. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that they were a world apart.


    They were several times stronger than him and had powers that he did not know or understand. The world he was living in was also now a big unknown. Everything was changing, and everything was beyond his control.


    In these uncertain times, he needed a skill like this, a trump card that could make him feel invincible, even if it was for 5 seconds!


    And the moment Liam selected the skill, he knew that he had been right and his gamble had paid off big time!

 Chapter 892 Be Gone

    Sizzle Sizzle


    In the span of a second, Liam felt his strength surging to new heights, and a strange feeling of power welled up inside him. At this moment, it was as if he could do anything.


    His long unkempt hair whipped about as he casually walked forward toward the spider.


    Helikatos shuddered. He had no idea what was happening. He couldn''t see the tiny soul dots concentrated around Liam. he could only feel the inhumane auraing out from him.


    This aura crushed him and made him prostrate on the ground, begging for Liam''s forgiveness. However, the mere aftermath of Liam taking a step forward made him gasp for breath.


    The ground he was sprawled on sunk lower, and his entire being felt as if it was going to get ripped apart.


    Liam ignored the dread on the beast''s face and lifted his right leg. "Be gone." He then merely tapped on the spider, who was lying limp on the ground, wheezing, and twitching.


    It was only a slight tap, but as Liam lowered his leg before he could even touch the spider, a shockwave rippled in the air and sted the whole body into smithereens.


    Bits and pieces of blood, flesh, and the metallic limbs of the spider sttered everywhere like paste. Even the mana core of the being was nowhere to be found. It was ground into powder and dispersed in the air. Everything was pulverized like it was nothing.


    The level 100 plus spider beast man might as well be amon house spider that was easily crushed and tossed away.


    "Ah shucks. I wanted the body and the core." Liam sounded upset but wasn''t really. The infinite strength that filled him up was like a drug that made him feel arrogant and grin wildly.


    The next instant, he clutched the soul of the dead spider that was still hanging around, and to his surprise, the moment he touched it, the level 100 plus soul was forged to perfection with just his will.


    Grin. Liam then took another step to the side. Now it was the other party''s turn.


    Seeing what happened to the spider made the vampire stare at him in utter shock, but that did not help him at all.


    Liam sent another kick toward the all-powerful vampire lord, and the next instant, he shared the same fate as the dead spider.


    With the two insects squashed like they were nothing like they were ripe tomatoes or grapes and their souls forged to perfection, Liam then sent a punch to the ground.


    All theyers of rocks, sand, and mud densely packed together gave away, and in a single hit, another gaping hole was created, which directly revealed a deep hidden underground space.


    The entire ce rattled like a massive earthquake was iing. The little bit of ruined building that was still standing on the outside finally gave away and copsedpletely.


    Liam then was about to jump down, but all of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks. He felt his muscles prickle and start tearing apart.


    Liam shuddered as an unbearable pain rippled across his mind. His bones cried in agony, and his internal organs shook and trembled. His whole body became a mess. Blood trickled from his nose, eyes, and ears.


    "Luna," Liam called as his vision became blurry and his consciousness barely remained. With thest bit of willpower he could muster, he hurriedly opened his stats and saw an inhuman number right next to his strength.


    <Strength 54345>


    But it was only for a second before it disappeared and returned back to its previous level. "So the effect of the skill ended?"


    Liam smiled bitterly as hepletely copsed, unable to even stand anymore. However, just as his body swayed and was about to hit the ground, the white fox dashed towards him and caught him on her back.


    "Master!"


    "I am fine. I am fine." Liam weakly muttered. In reality, he had already expected a bacsh like this, but he just didn''t think that the effect would be so strong.


    It was probably because thebination of his ss and this skill was particrly imbnced and made him unnaturally powerful.


    Liam could still vividly remember the feeling. His strength stat had shot through the roof, but that was not the main thing. The major change he focussed on was something else, his soul strength.


    This was also the reason why his strength stat had increased in the first ce. As he absorbed the soul power of all of his soul minions, he could feel his soul bing stronger and stronger.


    It was very vague. Itsted only for a few seconds, and it was something he could not even begin to understand, but he definitely remembered the feeling.


    And when the soul became that strong, even if it was temporarily, his body, his mind, and even his mana core could not keep up. Hence, the severe bacsh.


    Just like the power of the skill, the aftermath was also equally deadly. This skill was meant to be used as ast and final resort!


    He couldn''t afford to be incapacitated like this in the middle of the battle. However, it was still worth it. Just the sheer state of the hollow gaping hole in the ground was proof of this.


    Liam sighed and tried to rotate and move the mana through his damaged body slowly.


    Everyone who had taken their first step towards evolution and reached Level 1 had the natural ability to regenerate. The only drawback was that the process was painfully slow, faster than the rate at which humans normally healed but still painfully slow.


    Liam took a couple of minutes to stabilize himself but then immediately urged the fox. "Luna, let''s get out of here." He still did not know if the enemy had prepared more surprises for him, so it was best not to linger in this area.


    But suddenly, he remembered something that he had almost forgotten. The vampire lord was guarding something!

 Chapter 893 Kill Him!

    Unbeknownst to Liam¡­ the moment he sted the vampire lord''s body, Elmis, the little boy suddenly shuddered. A wisp of thick, dark crimson blood appeared out of nowhere and swirled around him before entering his body and disappearing.


    "He is dead?" Elmis immediately stood up. His crimson eyes became so cold with anger that hepletely crumpled up the magazine that he had been diligently studying all day.


    "HOW!" He howled!


    "This cannot be happening!"


    Elmis then, without hesitance, closed his eyes and reached out to thest two of the five vampire lords he had created. "GO! Go to the area, and kill that damned weasel! I need him ughtered before he finds out about that."


    He still did not know how this weakling somehow wormed his way and killed all of his vessels, but he needed to die now!


    Otherwise, only more and more attention would be brought to the thing that he was trying to keep hidden.


    "KILL HIM! NOW!" Elmis howled.


    All the demons around him gulped in fear as they were quite familiar with the wrath of their young lord. Whoever it was who had angered him was definitely dead!


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam looked around at the ce where he was currently in.


    Unlike the other vampire lords, this vampire lord had always been confined to this particr spot without moving here or there. At least from the information he had gathered from the military base and also from what he had seen so far, this was the case.


    Based on this, the military general hade to the conclusion that the vampire lord was guarding something. Liam also couldn''t help but jump to the same conclusion. There wasn''t much else that could exin the odd behavior.


    So there was potentially a treasure somewhere around here. However, Liam was too tired to look for it at the moment. He felt too weak even to summon his soul minions.


    His intuition told him that he shouldn''t do this at the moment. All of his body, soul, mana core, and mind were still recovering.


    This left the white fox, who was still quite energetic.


    "Luna, can you run around and see if there is anything valuable around here?" Liam only barely finished asking when abruptly, another little thing as well popped out from within him.


    Violet showed up!


    Growl!


    And just like that, his request somehow turned into apetition as both the rabbit and the fox, who was still lugging around Liam wherever she went, started tearing the whole ce apart from top to bottom.


    But how could Luna keep up with the rabbit who might as well be an exclusive magical treasure-hunting maniac?!


    In a jiffy, Violet arrived at a small nook in the ce. The whole spot had several hollowyers one after the other, and the rabbit burrowed straight through it all and reached the main location of the ''treasure''.


    After that, she grabbed the thing and turned to run back to Liam when Luna growled, standing right behind her.


    The white fox was a bit angry. First, she was not able to help Liam with the fight, and now this rabbit had beaten her to find the treasure. This was a bad day!


    Growl! Luna threateningly lifted her paw at the rabbit, asking the little thing not to do anything to the treasure and to drop it and leave.


    Chik? The rabbit innocently cocked its head to the side and then dropped the thing in its mouth right next to Liam before once again disappearing into him like always.


    "Hmph! That''s right!" Luna scoffed.


    Liam was too tired to intervene in this affair and silently gazed at the small thing that was beside him.


    Hmmm? His forehead creased as he stared at it for a few seconds, but he had no idea what the thing was. He even used [Inspect] and got nothing.


    Well, something had to be there for him to get something in the first ce. The thing in front of him was more like a breadcrumb, just slightly bigger in size. Perhaps a half-eaten nut of some kind?


    Liam was puzzled, but he knew that this had to be the treasure here.


    There was no doubt about that. The little rabbit''s track record was spotless, and since she had shown up and picked this one, this had to be the treasure.


    While he was trying to figure out what he was dealing with, suddenly Luna started sniffing the stale air around them like a dog.


    She then unexpectedly revealed an excited grin as she pounced toward something andnded softly. "Master!" She even dropped Liam abruptly from her back.


    "Huh?" Liam was confused as to what was happening when his eyes fell upon a small puddle of water.


    "Master! Drink this! Kyuuuu!" Luna was also talking about the same thing as she nudged him closer to the puddle. She went as far as to scoop up some water with her paw and let it drip into Liam''s mouth.


    "Wait. Wait. I will drink it myself." Liam helplessly smiled as he licked the couple drops of the puddle water that was smeared on his lips and mouth.


    However, just as he did that¡­ his face immediately changed. He quickly sat up straight and scooped up some more of the puddle water by himself, and drank it in hurry.


    As soon as he did that, once again, his eyes widened in shock. His injuries were rapidly healing up!


    Every single bit of the liquid that went down his throat was warm and nourishing, and when it hit his stomach, it spread like hotva across his body, burning through everything.


    But after the pain came relief. His body started healing at an incredibly rapid rate!


    And it was not just his body. His mind, soul, and mana core also started feeling more stable.


    It was as if he was already back to his previous state, and all the side effects of using the overpowered skill hadpletely disappeared!

 Chapter 894 Divine Temple?

    After drinking the first mouthful, Liam did not dare to waste the liquid so carelessly. The effects of the puddle water were too good, almost as good as the pond water back in the Milky way gxy.


    Unfortunately, unlike that pond, this was just a small puddle, barely 2 liters in total volume, so he started scooping it up and storing it in one of the empty bottles he carried in the spatial artifact.


    For now, this was all that he could do. However, the question still remained. What the heck was this water, and how did it get here?


    Just as Liam was thinking about this, something suddenly caught his attention. A drop of water trickled from the crevice in the ground above him and dropped into the same space as the puddle.


    Huh? His gaze looked up to that spot, and he immediately tried to examine the ground more closely when he observed something strange. Or rather, nothing strange.


    The water that was trickling down seemed to be just the in old groundwater seepage through the multipleyers of the earth. In fact, it was not even that.


    When Liam climbed up to take a look, he noticed that the source was actually a leaking burst pipe from the building ruins that were once standing above the surface.


    Surely, this couldn''t be valuable. On a hunch, he collected some water from another puddle that had formed and drank it, and he was indeed correct.


    This one was just in old water, dirtied with sand at best.


    Cough. Cough. Liam spat it out and went back to the same spot where he had collected the first sample. Perhaps the soil here was magical?


    He took a long look at the soil and, in the end, collected that as well and stored it in the spatial artifact.


    Since nothing else was left, he then started jumping back up to leave the spot. Luna was already outside, searching for any other potential treasure in the area, but she also did note up with anything.


    So the two of them prepared to get the hell out of there. Liam took onest look at the sttered paste of the vampire lord and sighed. In the end, he did not even have to use the special item he had selected for this guy.


    Liam had gained a lot from this trip, but more importantly, he also now knew that his assumptions were correct.


    These ''vampire lords'' who had popped out of nowhere and were going crazy on their world were, in fact, using something that did not belong to them.


    Or rather, someone else was exploiting them, treating them as if they were ''use and throw'' vessels of power.


    Only this could exin what was happening.


    Earth had only now started to evolve along with the human beings inhabiting the. Then how could these vampire lords have a strength and power capable of matching him, a level 80 being?


    They were clearly using some sort of taboo method, and shortcuts like these always had a cost. Except that here Liam had a feeling that these ''vampire lords'' were unwillingly paying the price for their power.


    Even though human nature is to be greedy, there is always a bottom line, and this bottom line is mostly their self-safety. No human being in their right mind would choose eternal death for just 1 minute of extraordinary power.


    It just did not make sense. The only exnation was that these so-called vampire lords were puppets, and there was a puppet master behind all of this.


    However, the question was¡­ why were they doing this?


    Why are they here now when in hisst life, nothing of this sort had happened?


    At first, Liam assumed that this was the work of the divine temple priestess. She probably had the power and the ability to do something like this.


    However, weirdly enough, these ''vampire lords'' didn''t seem to be targeting him. Instead, he was the one hunting them down. The only connection between the two of them seemed to be their proximity.


    Other than the fact that this was all going down in territory 6, they were really not focused on Liam or Luna or even Crimson Abyss, for that matter.


    So it was highly unlikely that the divine temple was behind this, but then again, the fact that this event did not happen in hisst life and was happening now couldn''t be ignored.


    As far as this apocalypse was concerned, Liam was the only thing that had changed between the two timelines. So he refused to believe that this had nothing to do with him.


    No, perhaps he was correct in the first ce.


    When things are far tooplicated, sometimes the simplest exnation is also the correct exnation.


    The divine temple must be somehow behind this.


    Liam did not know how or why, but perhaps because they couldn''t siphon a lot of souls from the tutorial game, they were trying something else now?!


    Hmmm¡­ Liam silently clenched his fists as he thought about everything that had happened in thest parts of the game. He had almost lost everything. There was no way he was going to let that happen again.


    This time if they showed up, he would be ready for them.


    Liam let out a deep breath and snapped out of his thoughts. The divine temple can wait. For now, he had more pressing matters.


    He needed to find out if there were more ''vampire lords'' around running amok in his territory. However, he had no idea where to start searching for them.


    The next wave of apocalypse would also be starting soon, in a little over a week. So he had to hurry up and, if possible, finish this vampire business before then.


    Liam then remembered the military base and what that genius guy had told him about. He was still quite close to the base. Perhaps he needed to pay a visit to them before leaving?


    It would be a good idea to see just how much of the leadership was corrupt. If it was just the top one or three, then the whole thing was still salvageable.


    If he just took out the head, then maybe a better, more reasonable head could substitute, and the entire base could be easily straightened out.


    In any case, it was worth checking out before heading out to scour the vastnds for the next vampire lords.


    "Luna, let''s go back to that base."


    The duo quickly arrived at the spot in just a few minutes, and to Liam''s surprise, he saw something shocking and unexpected.


    The entire damn base was missing for some reason!

 Chapter 895 Unexpected Visitors?!

    Liam and Luna flew around for a couple of minutes, and Liam even summoned his soul minions to take a look in the area, but there was not even a fly or mosquito in the vicinity.


    The entire military base, along with their heavy-duty items, had simply vanished into thin air. Where did they all go?


    He turned around with a frown when unexpectedly, another shocking sight greeted him. In the distance, charging towards him, was an army!


    Their steps echoed like thunder as big and bulky men with crimson eyes and big horns on top of their heads rushed toward him like there was no tomorrow.


    Hooorrrraaaa! Roarrrrrr!! Attckkkk!!!


    Liam could clearly hear the war cries of the troops. They most definitely numbered in thousands.


    More importantly, they were all, without a doubt, buffed-up vampires, and they were clearlying to attack him.


    At the forefront of this army, Liam saw two bigger and stronger vampires with a particrly powerful aura and visible killing intent, charging forward at an even faster pace.


    The duo snarled and growled at him as they dashed toward him first with big blood red broad swords in their hands.


    "Vampire Lords?" Liam was shocked.


    What a coincidence! Here he was, wondering how to look for the next vampire lords when two of them were rushing right at him, thereby saving him a lot of time and effort.


    "BRING IT ON!" He shouted as he as well unleashed his troops.


    He did not know what powers these two vampire lords wielded, and his new ultimate skill still had a cooldown of about 40 minutes, so this was going to be an interesting battle that he potentially had to fight with his life on the line.


    However, Liam wasn''t all that worried as he charged forward confidently.


    After all, the two vampire lords did note alone. They brought thousands of souls along with them for his benefit. How nice of them! He needed to thank them properly for the party favors!


    Rumble¡­ Rumble¡­ Rumble¡­


    The battlefield immediately became chaotic as Liam unleashed all of his thousand five hundred soul minions without holding back.


    The two sides shed violently as the vampire lords as wellmanded the troops to attack first and stayed back.


    On the other side, Luna stayed back with Liam, but the other soul minions, even the wyverns and newly forged spider beast, Helikatos, rushed forward to take care of the horde.


    Perhaps to others, an army like this was a threat. However, to Liam, this was merely a leveling opportunity.


    "Eat your fill, everyone! Don''t hold back!" Hemanded arrogantly as several vampire heads started rolling down right off the bat.


    Helikatos was running wild, taking down dozens of vampires along with him, even with his internal struggle of how exactly he got here.


    The wyverns were doing their usual business and unleashing destruction on their part. The thousands of vampires suddenly looked like innocent sheep getting ughtered by a pack of wolves.


    Seeing this, the two vampire lords grunted in annoyance. The sight of their army being ughtered right in front of their eyes was not pleasant to watch and made them furious.


    More importantly, they knew very well that under no circumstance could they lose the current battle. Those were their orders.


    However, the massacre was only bing worse. There was no chance for aeback. Their advantage in numbers also proved to be useless. This battle looked like it was about to be over.


    And that could not happen!


    One of the two vampire lords hurriedly started waving his blood sword.


    Unlike the previous vampire lord, this one''s skill activation was quite fast, almost instantaneous.


    A red aura started spilling out on the battlefield, and all of a sudden, the vampires fighting against the soul minions started bing stronger and faster.


    Hmmm? Liam frowned. What skill was this?


    However, before he could act, the next instant, something else happened. He received a notification.


    <Ding. Wyvern 1 has been afflicted by the curse of the dead; All stats have been increased by 5%>


    <Ding. Wyvern 2 has been afflicted by the curse of the dead; All stats have been increased by 5%>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Wait. Increased? Not decreased?


    Liamughed at this unexpected development. It looked like one of the vampire lords had the skill to buff the other vampires, probably simr to ''empower the undead,'' but that backfired at the moment.


    The curse of the dead was utterly useless against the undead. This skill was the worst in a match-up against him, and this happened despite him having used the minions against other vampire lords.


    Liam was not exactly keeping his soul minions a secret.


    So why were they attacking him hastily without even thinking a little? What was the rush? Were theying after him this rabidly because he took the treasure?


    It did not matter. That was not his concern. Even if they were willinglying to die at his hands, he would only dly wee them with open arms and his ck dragon sword.


    While the two vampire lords made their preparations, Liam did not remain idle. Luna blurred through the army and arrived in front of the two just as the disaster of the undead buffs urred. They did not give them any time to think about the next step.


    The two vampire lords looked utterly shocked at this development and the beast''s speed, but they snapped out of it quickly and dashed towards Liam, waving their blood-red broad swords.


    It looked like, except for the sleezebag uncle, the other vampire lords were quite capable when it came to swordy.


    Liam did not know if they trained for it or if they received these skills through some shortcut as well, but when it came to swordy, they were not quite strong enough to stand against him just yet.


    Liam nimbly moved to avoid all the sword beams, and the ck dragon sword held its own against the blood swords. When the two sides shed, it was the blood-red swords that shook from the impact.

 Chapter 896 Blood Domination

    While Liam shed with the two vampire lords, Luna did not stand simply and pounced on one of the vampire lords, the one who cast the undead buff and rolled him over on the ground.


    Liam warned her to be careful, but ording to what he had seen, the vampire lord should probably only have the power to buff the undead, so he allowed her to go wild.


    Besides, as a beast, she wanted to fight, and he did not want to restrain her natural instincts too much. True to her nature, she as well relentlessly attacked the vampire.


    The vampire lord couldn''t hold up to her speed and strength, and the sword in his hands fell down in a matter of seconds.


    Growl! Growl! Growl! Growl!


    She began going crazy on the vampire lord and mauled him with her paws covered by her deadly mes. She roasted the vampire mercilessly.


    However, before she could finish him offpletely, the blood sword disappeared, and instead, the blood sphere manifested, protecting the poor vampire.


    Luna tirelessly scratched the blood barrier and spat out her mes on the thing repeatedly, wanting to break it down somehow.


    Growl! She roared angrily.


    When Luna was fighting with the blood barrier, Liam also triggered the other vampire lord''s blood barrier as he mmed him down again and again.


    Amidst the chaotic battlefield, these two blood spheres shone brilliantly as if they were imprable fortresses.


    This oue did not please the real vampire lord, who was now more closely paying attention to the fight.


    "Damn it! Did I send these idiots to turtle like this?" The little kid was livid with anger. "Stop messing around and finish this fight already!"


    He gnashed his teeth as it was simply too frustrating to see these two iling about in the midst of a battleground. It was way too embarrassing for him to be associated with this nonsense.


    In his eyes, these might as well be children fighting with each other, and it was irritating that the treasure he needed depended on this childish fight.


    However, there was nothing he could do about it. If he actually intervened, then¡­


    "Just finish the fight already, damn it!" He howled.


    Back on the battlefield, all of a sudden, the blood barrier began to shake and tremble.


    From Liam''s experience so far, he knew that the barrier would at leastst for another few seconds, but now it felt like the barrier was fading away.


    Hmmm? Liam''s instincts told him to be cautious, so he immediately retreated back several paces. Moreover, it looked like only his opponent''s blood barrier was fading, and Luna''s target''s barrier was still whole and intact.


    There was only one exnation for this. Was this guy finally ready to unleash his special skill?


    Every single vampire lord had some kind of unique, powerful skill. The moment the barrier went down, Liam knew that the person was gearing up for exactly this.


    Also¡­ 35 more minutes¡­


    There were still 35 more minutes left for his [Soul Splice] cool down.


    This was his ultimate closebat skill, and without the ability to activate this just yet, he decided to first go with long-range attack skills, at least until he knew what the vampire''s ability was.


    But that did not mean that he was going to hold back. This fight needed to be over ASAP!


    The first vampire lord''s skill somehow backfired on them, but there was no guarantee of what the second one''s skill could do. It could be a strong one.


    As soon as the blood barrier started to loosen up, Liam immediately switched to mage mode and started attacking the weakening barrier with thick raging spheres of fire.


    Taking the hint, Luna as well did the same as the two of them focussed their attack on the single vampire lord, ignoring the other one who was still turtling under the blood sphere.


    This strategy worked really well. The blood barrier sizzled and crackled under theirbined fire, unable to hold out.


    Especially because Luna was using the effect of the me fragment, her fire attacks were always more intense than Liam''s.


    Parts of the barrier even started visibly cracking and falling down like broken eggshells.


    Liam grinned at this sight, and Luna as well growled in excitement. The next instant, the remainder of the blood barrier also started cracking and falling apart, leaving the vampire lord inside weak and defenseless.


    It was time to kill him!


    But before they could actually do this and end the first vampire once and for all, suddenly, something else happened.


    The same time the entire blood barrier went down, and Liam and Luna prepared to cast their next attack, the vampire lord grunted loudly. "BLOOD DOMINATION!"


    Immediately, a wave of searing mental pain assaulted the two of them. There were no visible fireworks. There wasn''t a red aura. There wasn''t anything. It did not even look like any attack had been cast, and yet¡­


    Both the fox and the human were in tremendous pain. The pain was so unbearable that their entire being was arrested in ce.


    Liam did not have to wonder what this was.


    Mental Attack!


    The vampire actually cast a mental attack!


    Liam stopped in his tracks, unable to move a muscle. He couldn''t even stand and was brought down to his knees. He would have copsed if not for the fact that he leaned on the ck dragon sword for support.


    Next to him, Luna was not doing any better. The fox curled up and started twitching in pain and wailing in agony.


    As a celestial-grade beast, she naturally had a strong constitution, but she was rather young. She clearly did not have enough resistance for this sort of mental attack.


    Liam had never seen the proud fox like this before. She was in agony. His heart ached. He gritted his teeth and tried to move, but he was fully suppressed.


    Both of them werepletely incapacitated in an instant. This was the power of a mental attack.

 Chapter 897 RUMBLE!

    GRIN!


    With Liam and Luna struggling, the vampire lord, who was cowering in fear and hiding behind the barrier all this time, arrogantly lunged forward.


    The blood-red sword was back in his hands though this time it was a lot smaller, probably because most of its essence was consumed earlier.


    "DIE!" He dashed forward toward Liam, who was in his most vulnerable and weakest state at the moment.


    On the ind, the little kid''s face was also covered by a big vicious grin. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" He shouted and stamped his leg repeatedly on the ind, making the entirendmass tremble.


    It was as if he was the one who was about to ughter Liam and not the other guy. "KILL that insect now! How dare hey his hands on what is mine! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"


    Elmis''s crimson eyes glowed with a cold glint as he watched and waited for the annoying pest to disappear forever. How dare a lower realm human stand up against him!


    Back on the battleground, the ''vampire lord'' obediently followed themands of the boss like a loyalp dog and ran forward to sh down at Liam with the smaller blood sword.


    The sword thrummed with a strange power, and Liam was also incapacitated at the moment. There was nothing stopping him from ughtering the enemy.


    The blood sword gleamed as it came down on Liam''s neck at full speed in executioner''s style. The vampire lord licked his lips, and Elmis grinned like the devil.


    The next second¡­


    CLANG!


    Unexpectedly, a screeching metallic noise echoed loudly. Instead of flesh squelching and blood spurting out, the sword trembled.


    Right under the eyes of the real vampire lord and the fake vampire lord, the sword that came down with full force didn''t reach the neck of its target. Their faces froze as the sword stopped mid-air at thest minute.


    The vampire lord was speechless. Elmis looked stunned. Just what the hell was happening?


    Blocking the path of the blood-red sword was the ck dragon sword, and wielding it was Liam. The guy who was incapacitated and shaking at the knees was no longer down on the ground.


    With a single push, he blocked the sword and then forced the vampire lord back a few paces.


    And he did not stop there.


    Liam kept attacking the vampire lord without giving him time to execute another mental attack. His eyes were bloodshot, and his body was still shaking, but he did not stop attacking the vampire.


    Mental attacks were something that he did not understand. However, their effect was something that he understood quite well.


    After enduring the repeated assaults of the ck dragon sword every time he broke a seal, and the repeated assaults of his master, the elven old man, this mental attack of the vampire lord was not beyond him.


    He might have been suppressed in the beginning, but he was able to bear the pain and ovee it in a fraction of a second. Also¡­


    Liam sucked in a waft of soul energy rich air. This was his battleground. He was not going to get beaten or suppressed so easily.


    Weng! His sword made the blood-red sword shiver, and he shouted and went berserk on the opponent.


    Now that he knew what this vampire lord was capable of and also had the advantage of the element of surprise, he used the chance to finish the fight quickly.


    Wanting to put him down with a single mental attack? Dream on!


    Without giving time for another blood sphere shield to materialize, he executed consecutive fire shes using his abundant roiling mana reserves and sliced and diced the vampire lord.


    In front of his attacks, the other party could not even block effectively. He might have a sword in his hand, but he was useless against Liam''s attacks.


    In the end, without being able to cast another mental attack, the vampire lord crumbled and desated into skin and bone dust.


    Liam grinned. This was his victory. He looked at Luna, who seemed to be doing better now, and forged the dead vampire lord''s soul first.


    He then looked at the other vampire lord, who had still turtled himself under the blood sphere. Just as Liam began to think about how to break the barrier in front of him, once again, something unexpected happened.


    The blood barrier began to fade away and disappear all on its own. However, unlikest time, it did not seem to be the n of the vampire lord inside the barrier.


    In fact, the other party looked just as shocked as Liam did. He nkly stared around as if he did not expect his protectiveyer to disappear.


    Liam did not miss this chance. With a single move, he reached the second vampire lord as well and finished him off cleanly.


    As the man''s head rolled down, his body as well turned to dust and vanished. Liam once again forged the soul of the guy.


    Of course, there was also the abundant soul energy brimming on the battlefield. How could he let such a precious resource go to waste?


    He took a look at the condition of the battlefield, and clearly, there was nothing to worry about. There seemed to be about ten thousand or so vampires, but there was no threat to his soul minions.


    While the weaker ones seemed to be capable of handling only one vampire at a time, the stronger ones took down dozens at the same time.


    Seeing this, Liam rxed a little and steadied himself first. He reached into his spatial artifact to take out the stone tablet to harvest all the souls around him.


    He did not know if there were more vampire lordsing to assault him to reim the treasure, but for now, everything seemed to be over. Only the task of collecting the souls was now left.


    "Luna, are you feeling better now?" He asked the fox and grabbed the stone tablet when¡­


    RUMBLE!

 Chapter 898 L Need That At All Costs!

    "WHAT??? Are you kidding me right now?" On an ind far away, a certain little kid was beyond himself.


    "Weaklings! Weaklings! Weaklings!" He spat out in anger as he walked back and forth, rage welling up inside him. Everything he had nned was crumbling right in front of him, and there was nothing he could do.


    "No. I cannot give that up. I need that at all costs!" His face contorted in various angles.


    "Tch!" In a fit of rage, he bit his index finger, and bright crimson blood started flowing out. Seeing this, all the demons standing around him started trembling.


    "Sir Elmis¡­"


    "Master Elmis¡­"


    However, the little kid did not pay attention to any of them.


    Blood continued to drip out of his finger without stopping, but weirdly it did not drop on the ground. Instead, it formed a swirling mass of miasma that floated mid-air.


    The next second, the kid mumbled something, and this miasma vanished into thin air with a poof!


    The other demons looked even more shocked at this sight.


    "Master Elmis¡­ you can''t do this¡­" One of the demons boldly stepped forward, only to be immediately reprimanded by the little kid. "SHUT UP! I know what I am doing!"


    "But¡­" The demon still tried to reason with him as it was one of his duties.


    "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. So what if I am breaking the rules? I will just pay the price for it! Hmph!" The kid scoffed as if he couldn''t care less about what he was doing.


    "Blood Clone!" He shouted in anger.


    At the same time¡­ back on the maind¡­


    ? RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    A gigantic bolt of lightningnded on the exact spot where Liam was standing currently. Out of that, something huge and full of murderous intent stepped out.


    Everything happened so quickly that Liam wasn''t even able to see or react to this and was thrown back forcefully. Half of his health disappeared in an instant!


    Thud! As his bodynded on the ground, he tried to immediately shake it off and once again got back on his feet, all his senses on full alert.


    This was because Liam did not have to wonder.


    He already knew it.


    The fight was not over.


    In fact, the real fight might be starting just now.


    Whoever was behind the scenes leading these vampire lords had finallye out in the open. That had to be it. Otherwise, who was strong enough to take half of his health in a single hit? Perhaps it was not even a targeted attack?


    Liam gripped the ck dragon sword tightly as all of his senses screamed at him to run away. His opponent was strong. He was in danger! This was not a fight he could win! He needed to flee! NOW!


    But could he really run away?


    The person in front of him was probably as strong as the divine temple priestess for doing everything that he had done.


    And these were not existences that he could touch, let alone win, at least in his current condition.


    Liam''s mind spun as he quickly decided against running. That was not going to help. In fact, that was only going to make the situation worse.


    There was still a cooldown of 30 minutes on his [Soul Splice] skill.


    So his only skill that had a chance, rather a very small chance, of holding up against someone like the divine temple priestess was the [Soul Shield], and for that, he needed to be right here.


    Liam had no idea what this powerful person was even doing on earth in the first ce. In hisst life, none of this had happened.


    However, he did not have the time to think about ''how'' and ''why'' at the moment.


    He just had to face whatever was in front of him right now and survive!


    [Soul Shield]!


    Before anything, Liam instantlymanded the souls on the battlefield and formed a formidable barrier around himself.


    Just as he did that, the crackles of the lightning also subsided, and the enemy in front of him finally came into his view.


    But that did not do him any good. Liam gaped as he saw the astonishing sight.


    Standing in front of him was a giant body of blood. No, it was a person made of blood. He could faintly see a face that looked down on him as if he was nothing but a speck of insignificant dust in this vast universe.


    Liam shook his head. He realized that his thoughts were getting muddled just from the mere presence of this blood giant in front of him. He could no longer even make out the face.


    There was just red everywhere. He couldn''t see anything beyond it. What was he supposed to do now? What attack would even work against something like this?


    Liam gritted his teeth and conjured a massive fireball, sting it toward the blood effigy. However, the other party did not even react to it. They did not even move their hand or anything. They simply faced it head-on as if it was nothing.


    And the attack that sted forward at full speed became nothing and vanished into thin air as it came in contact with the blood statue. The thing only sizzled a bit in the end from one of Liam''s most efficient attacks.


    It didn''t do anything. Just what was this person''s level that he wasn''t even able to scratch with his attack?


    "Inspect," Liam mumbled hoarsely, even though he already knew that this wasn''t going to give anything, and just like he expected, it was useless.


    He could neither see who the opponent was nor their level. Liam stood in a trance as if he was facing his inevitable death.


    A strange sense of fear and pressure together enveloped him, muddling his senses. It was suffocating. It made him unable to think or even stand straight.


    But the next second, he once again shook himself and forcefully snapped out of his stupor. What was happening? Was this also some kind of mental attack?

 Chapter 899 Blood Domain!

    The blood effigy''s mental attack had to be far more powerful than the previous ones, so Liam knew that he couldn''t stand simply any longer. He needed to do something, and he needed to do it fast.


    Haaaaa! He shouted and rushed forward with his ck dragon sword in his hand.


    [Sword Dance]


    [Fire sh]


    [Spirit sh]


    [Lightning Sword]


    He erupted into his strongest form and attacked the blood effigy from all directions. His mana core thrummed wildly as he did not hold back and used everything in his capacity to fight.


    Blood sizzled and crackled with every attack Liamnded.


    Growl!


    On the other side, Luna snarled and rushed forward to tackle the blood effigy. She blurred left and right and unleashed sts of fire from all directions relentlessly.


    Growl! Growl! Growl! Growl!


    Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!


    However, the duo''sbined attack did little to nothing to the blood effigy. Only they were running out of mana and stamina. It was clear that unless they stepped it up, this fight would be over before it even began.


    Liam pumped his body with even more mana, churning his mana core dry of everyst bit of mana. He was also wildly pulling in mana from the air around him and pushed his limits as far as he possibly could.


    Then with everything he had, he attacked the blood statue in a frenzy, in the same spot repeatedly again and again, and finally, he managed tond an actual hit!


    When he brought down the ck dragon sword the next time, shing down at the blood effigy''s arm with a fully powered [Fire sh], it went through the defenses, and the hand ended up being severed altogether.


    A big blob of blood dropped onto the ground, sshing to form a puddle right next to the effigy.


    Liam was shocked. He quickly prepared to attack again, and this time aimed for the neck of the blood effigy. However, this small victory was short-lived.


    Before Liam could even raise his sword, the hand that was severed was regenerating and very rapidly at that. The blood puddle that was on the ground was also absorbed back into the effigy.


    Not just that, but the blood effigy finally stopped standing indifferently. It raised its leg and stomped onto the ground with a cold snort.


    The next instant, without any warning, several pools of blood erupted around the blood giant, and from within each one of these pools, a bloody figure materialized.


    Liam immediately had a bad feeling. He already knew what this attack was. It was something he had faced once before. It was the first vampire lord Jonathan''s skill.


    The blood giant was capable of regeneration which was the second vampire lord''s attack.


    This could only mean that the blood effigy in front of him was capable of executing all the attacks that the puppet vampire lords possessed.


    Liam''s pulse raced. Of course, this was the worst-case scenario, but for some reason, he knew that this was exactly what was going to happen. His gut instincts said so.


    He did not care too much about the other attacks per se. His main concern was the mental attack.


    If that vampire lord''s mental attack was so strong, then how strong would this blood effigy''s mental attack be? No, he needed to finish this fight right now.


    [Soul Splice] cooldown was still 27 mins, and he could not count on that skill. This only left him with one option.


    Liam immediately fortified his [Soul Shield]. Could his [Soul Shield] block an actual mental attack? Perhaps it would have little to no effect on the mental attack?


    But he had to press on and gamble. For the situation he was in at the moment, this was the only saving grace he had.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Not waiting for him, the ten bloody figures immediately started pelting Liam with crimson orbs containing rich blood essence. Each attack zoomed through the air, vibrating with immense power.


    Liam only barely managed to form the [Soul Shield] just in time to block the attacks. Even then, he could feel each and every single attack shaking the soul barrier he had erected.


    He had to keep repairing the barrier constantly. It was as if his barrier could break apart any second now. It just wasn''t strong enough to defend the attacks from the blood summons.


    However, the moment the barrier copsed, it would be game over for him.


    So he desperately applied and reapplied the soul shield and made multiple barriers of soul, siphoning everything that was being generated on the battlefield.


    But how could things remain so simple?


    All of a sudden, something else started happening. Liam did not know why, but he felt as if the blood effigy was suddenly sneering at him and his pathetic effects, almost like it was challenging him.


    When he looked up, he saw the huge figure stomping its leg once again. The entire ground shook. The air around them pulsed with power.


    The next instant, surprisingly, all the blood from the battlefield started rising up from the dead vampires that were squished like ripe tomatoes and flew towards the blood effigy.


    The soul essence was being inhaled by Liam, and now, the blood essence started being inhaled by the blood effigy.


    The entire battleground crackled. Liam had never seen anything like this before.


    It was almost as if the space around them was split into two zones or two domains, one made of soul and the other made of blood.


    And at the moment, the two domains seemed to be equally matched as both of them pushed and pulled at each other.


    Unfortunately for Liam, this was only for a split second.


    He might not have any idea what he was doing, but his opponent surely did.


    So the next instant, things changed, and the collective blood essence started thickening and solidifying. They coalesced to form a sort of huge dome that covered the blood effigy and the blood summons and their half of the battleground.

 Chapter 900 Where Is It?

    Liam waspletely lost. He nkly stared at the blood dome and had no idea what the hell was happening, but he knew that nothing good coulde from this. A powerful aura was seeping out of all the blood.


    The blood dome was quickly pushing back the makeshift diffuse soul space, which could hardly even be called that, as Liam had no intention or knowledge to create something like that. All he was doing was pulling all the souls toward himself.


    So in front of the perfectly crafted blood dome, the soul space was rapidly being shredded like it was nothing, and the blood dome started upying more and morend.


    If left unchecked, soon, it was going to envelop the whole battleground, along with Liam, Luna, and all of his soul minions. After that, Liam did not want to think about what would happen next.


    He gritted his teeth as he tried his best to hold it all together. Though he was able to manipte souls, his abilities were only so-so and had barely scratched the surface.


    On one side, the crimson blood essence roared in dominance. On the other side, the weak, about to break apart at any instant, soul essence faintly lingered around.


    What was he supposed to do now?


    Liam shook himself and snapped out of his daze. Everything might be beyond his control, but he could do only what he could do. So he tried not to get overwhelmed by the blood dome that was quickly spreading and continued fortifying his own soul barrier.


    He continuously strengthened it and forcefully made it hold up against the shearing force of the dominant blood space.


    It worked to a certain extent because he was only covering himself with the soul barrier, and everything was very concentrated as opposed to the blood dome, which was powerful yet spread out.


    But on the minus side, this continuous struggle ced a heavy burden on his body, soul, and mind. He was already over his limits. His almost empty mana core was also not helping too much.


    Luna growled loudly, feeling her master''s pain. But Liam strictly instructed her to stay back. He couldn''t hold on for much longer, let alone rescue her if something happened.


    He healed his overextended, injured soul repeatedly and kept going, pushing himself.


    At this time, there was nothing more he could do. All he could do was struggle and keep standing and somehow maintain this without gettingpletely shot to hell.


    However, this was simply a pipe dream. Even with Liam repeatedly repairing his own soul and absorbing mana from the surroundings like a maniac, he also had a limit.


    A mere couple of secondster, Liam''s entire body shuddered as he finally gave away like a stretched-out rubber band. He was simply not strong enough to face this opponent. They were on two entirely different nes.


    His mind reeled from the pain, and his body was drained of everything. He could no longer even erect another [Soul Shield].


    This was it. Now he was really done for. This was an utter andplete loss. He was like an ant in front of this enemy, and there was nothing he could do.


    Liam tried not to give up until the very end and kept inhaling the souls of the battlefield to keep himself sane and perhaps heal himself back up again, but this was doing nothing to hold back the inevitable.


    The feeble soul shields he managed to muster were also blown away like smoke in the wind. He was truly at the end. There was nothing else he could do. He had nothing left to keep on going.


    Was this the end? A frightening thought popped into his mind.


    Liam shuddered. He had struggled so hard and worked so much to survive the apocalypse, but in the end, he was going to die just like this? To a faceless enemy that he had no idea about?


    He smiled bitterly as he tried onest time to block the crimson spheresing for him. The bloody summons did not stop and continued attacking him.


    Liam''s weak soul shields blocked almost five of the attacks, but the other two sted him away, reducing his health to a mere quarter.


    Luna blurred next to him and tried to grab him and escape from the ce, but the white fox was also mercilessly bombarded with attacks, a single attack enough to toss her body away like garbage.


    Liam winced and looked up at the blood effigy one more time. Was there really nothing he could do?


    He inhaled, letting himself go and taking in all the souls that he could for erecting one final [Soul shield] around himself and around Luna, bearing the searing pain that threatened to rip him apart from the inside out.


    Seeing this, the blood effigy sneered in contempt as it personally walked over and lifted its leg to crush his efforts, shattering the weak and ineffective soul shield.


    Without anything to protect him, It kicked Liam away like a lifeless rag doll, his body flung aside and crashing against a nearby tree.


    Just as he rolled over on the ground, a childish voice rang loudly, echoing in all directions. "You should know your ce in this world and stay down! Idiot!"


    Even as hey half-dead on the ground, Liam couldn''t help but wince at this unexpected development. Was his opponent a child?


    The blood effigy then walked towards him, each of its steps thundering loudly. It then casually bent down to pick him up.


    Bloody arms wrapped around Liam and lifted him up, crushing his body and bones and yet somehow keeping him alive.


    "Where is it?" The childish voice asked him again.


    An invisible force made Liam forcibly look up, and for the first time, Liam could feel a pair of piercing eyes looking directly at him.


    He couldn''t see the eyes themselves or the face or anything for that matter. All he could still see was the blob of blood, and yet he could still clearly feel a gaze scanning him.


    Hmmm? Liam dazedly stared back. He did not know why, but there was something about this blood effigy that was familiar to him.

 Chapter 901 The Young Lord...

    Seeing that Liam was not responding, the childish voice rang out again in annoyance. "You took something that belongs to me! Where is it?"


    "What? You have some sort of space ring? Where is it? Where are you hiding it?"


    "Where the heck is my fucking world seed?"


    The blood effigy continued shouting and screaming at him, but Liam''s concentration was entirely on something else.


    As the invisible pair of eyes looked at Liam with cold, chilling murderous intent, he looked right back at them, and he finally realized what he was searching for and what he felt was familiar.


    There, at the center of the blood effigy''s head, was something small and shiny, something so feeble that one would definitely miss it if one did not pay any attention.


    And that was¡­ that was¡­ a soul? This blood giant had a soul?


    Liam suddenly felt like a lightning struck him as he jolted out of his almost-dead state, and his eyes sparkled with determination as he paid more attention to this anomaly.


    It was a soul. He was not wrong. It was definitely a soul. It was very small, almost insignificant, just a small fragment, but it was a soul!


    Liam gasped as he lunged forward and reached for that small soul fragment as if his life depended on it. No, his life really depended on it.


    This fight and this opponent were definitely beyond him, but if he was going to die right here and now, there was something else that he could try.


    A hail mary attempt.


    He had another trump card that could injure the enemy just as it could injure him. But since he was going to die, did that really matter?


    Gambling on thest bit of health and energy he had and his soul strength that was barely holding on, Liam reached for that small shiny soul fragment inside the blood effigy.


    He was only doing it mentally, but at this point, his physical actions mirrored his mental actions. So he reached forwards and grabbed the thing like he was grabbing thest straw of his life.


    Bingo! It worked!


    He was able to hold it. He was able to feel it. It was as if he could do anything with it.


    And as for the person behind the blood effigy¡­ it was his turn to freeze. Suddenly, a rippling pain assaulted him, and he was forced to snap his connection with the blood effigy.


    "What the hell?!" Elmis shouted as he stumbled back a few paces.


    However, on the other side, Liam grinned even as blood leaked out of the corners of his mouth. He did not know why he was not able to notice this before.


    Maybe his soul strength wasn''t strong enough then, and this battle and his desperate attempts to remain alive made him just strong enough to detect this tiny fragment of soul?


    He did not care why or how. He could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and he was not going to let this go. This was his chance to turn this whole thing around.


    The enemy was strong. He was powerful despite being a child. He was well-versed in blood magic and mental attacks. He was even able to fortify himself physically and cast magic beyond Liam''sprehension.


    However, that was all different.


    When it came to the soul, what was he really capable of doing? Who was the stronger one in this arena?


    This was going to determine everything! Who the victor was and who the loser was!


    Liam grunted as he used everyst ounce of energy he had left inside him, clutched the small shiny soul fragment, and pulled it toward him with all of his strength.


    He then did something which he had always tried his best not to do. He started ripping the soul apart.


    Throughout his dozens and dozens of soul forging, he had only ever tried to hold a soul together, but this time he was doing the opposite.


    That damned little soul fragment, the reason for all of his misery¡­ he wanted to shred it, st it, and send it to oblivion!


    Coincidentally, before he could even do that, the blood effigy already started vibrating and bing unstable. The moment the soul fragment was separated from the blood effigy, it was as if it had already lost its essence.


    It was just a blood golem now and might as well be a useless y doll.


    The gigantic mass of crimson blood flopped onto the ground forming a sea of blood. There was blood everywhere, but both the blood summons and the blood effigy were no longer there.


    Liam tiredly smiled. So he had won? Was everything over?


    He looked at his hand and noticed that he still held the soul that thrummed wildly, wanting to free itself.


    Should he still try to destroy this, or if he could somehow¡­ he tried to force the soul fragment again, first testing its integrity.


    And just as he did that¡­


    In a distantnd, somewhere far, far away, not even on the earth, a person shuddered in shock.


    "Where is my brother?" A tall and handsome man sitting on a throne stood up abruptly, making the several demons standing around him shiver and tremble.


    However, no one had any answer for him. They simply did not know and were not aware of anything.


    "The young lord¡­" One of the demons started to answer when the handsome and arrogant man stopped him mid-way.


    "Not now. Later. I first need to fix this. That idiot is in trouble again."


    He did not bother exining anything further and started drawing several runes in the air in front of him. A crimson essence leaked out of his finger as his moves rapidly drew something mysterious andplex.


    And the minute he connected the first rune with thest rune, immediately the whole thing thrummed alive and started pulling massive swirls of energy toward it.


    The entire courtroom watched this scene in shock and awe. Their lord manipting the void was always a sight to see.


    And at this exact same time¡­

 Chapter 902 Has Another Irregular Shown Up?

    The air around Liam changed once again.


    Just as he was about to experiment on the soul fragment in his hand to see if he could ess its memories or forge it to learn more about it, suddenly, the space in front of him started twisting.


    A wisp of blood seeped out of this anomaly, and the soul in his hand immediately flew toward this crimson essence. Wait, it was not just crimson, there were golden strands mixed in this crimson essence.


    Liam''s eyes went wide as his brain tried to rapidlyprehend what was happening and why the soul fragment flew away from him before he could do anything to it, but everything happened in a fraction of a second, too fast for him.


    And once again, all he could be was a mere spectator as he watched the crimson essence steal the soul fragment right from his hands and depart. This was his only clue to what was happening, and this was also¡­


    "NO!"


    Liam gritted his teeth in frustration and started pulling back the soul fragment toward himself. He was not going to lose this time around!


    When there was no time to think and in his current state, he simply acted instinctively, not thinking about the consequences or whom he could possibly be up against. He was just sick and tired of constantly being overpowered by these unknown forces.


    A tug of war unexpectedly ensued between his own soul and the golden crimson blood essence. While his entire being held onto the soul and pulled it, the other end merely had a small bit of essence. Surely, he could win this?


    And perhaps if he did, then all of his questions would be answered?!


    Liamtched onto the soul with every ounce of energy and power he had left and pulled it and pulled it and pulled it.


    This, in turn, made the being at the other end raise a brow in shock. "Interesting." The tall, handsome man smirked. "I didn''t expect someone like this in a ce like this."


    However, the next second¡­


    "Interesting, but no. Not enough. You want topete with me? Heh. You are just not strong enough yet."


    The man''s finger danced as he drew another rune, which tranted into one more yank that straight up pulled the soul out of Liam''s hands and into the twisted space.


    The golden crimson blood essence as well disappeared along with it, leaving Liam only with a searing pain in his mind.


    "Survive. I am sure we will meet again in the future." A strange voice echoed.


    When Liam tried to see who was talking, there was absolutely nothing in front of him any longer, not even the twisted space, shocking him to his core.


    Coincidentally, there was also someone else who was equally as shocked as him.


    When the blood clone went down and the soul fragment was captured, the little kid who was running wild suddenly froze.


    And just as his soul fragment was yanked at the other end, the crimson-golden blood essence appeared next to him as well, and he found himself being yanked out too.


    The space around him twisted and crumbled, bright runes shing here and there. He was being forcibly removed, and there was nothing he could do.


    Not just him but the entire ind on which he and the demons were standingpletely disappeared.


    In a second, there were no more traces of them on earth.


    However, they did reappear elsewhere. The kid found himself in a familiar grand throne room. He looked at the tall and handsome person in front of him and then looked around to see a full courtroom.


    His face immediately turned bright red. "Elias! You had no right to!" He shouted in anger and humiliation. "I did not need to be rescued!"


    "Oh? Is that so? But you were clearly going to lose, and even your soul was going to be damaged. Am I wrong?" The other party calmly chuckled.


    "NO! NO! NO!" Elmis was furious.


    "Stop throwing tantrums like a child."


    "You stepped on a lower realm! If someone had noticed it, there would have been consequences for it. Fine. Forget about that. What about your personal safety?"


    "Now, the fate of that realm has also been altered. Do you even understand the consequences of something like that? Do you really think that there would be no blowback from this?"


    "And for the bloody heaven''s sake, stop chasing those divine bimbos. Your addiction to those witches is going to ruin you!"


    Having gotten an earful, Elmis became even more embarrassed.


    This was his sore spot. Though he looked like a child and talked like a child, he was already several centuries old. It was just that his growth was a little stunted.


    "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I am not a fucking child!"


    No longer willing to remain in that ce, he angrily walked out of the throne room, throwing a nce at the golden crimson throne that stood out majestically in the courtroom crowd.


    Tch. His face turned unsightly. He might not hold the throne now, but one day this throne was going to be his. He red at everyone silently and then left the ce in a huff.


    Meanwhile, the other person simply chuckled and sat down. The courtroom as well returned to its former state as if absolutely nothing had happened.


    Elmis walking out like this was quite amon urrence, so no one paid any further attention to it.


    However, Elias, the vampire lord himself, seemed to be somewhat pensive, still thinking about the events.


    "What I want to know is, who was this in a lower realm capable of making my brother lose?" He mumbled under his breath. "Has another irregr shown up?"


    He then looked at the demon who was standing on his right side.


    "Find out from Elmis who sent him there. The person who did this definitely knew about this beforehand. I want to know their intentions. Why did they send him, knowing that he would be harmed?"


    "My Lord-" A demon tried to answer, but he quickly realized that the lord was talking to himself out loud and not to anyone else. So he quickly shut his mouth and listened.


    "Hmmm¡­ On second thoughts. No. Not needed." Elias continued.


    "I think I already know who is behind all of this. It has to be that divine bitch. I am sure of it. I haven''t seen a master strategist as good as her in a long while."


    "In fact¡­" He paused.


    "I don''t think her main target was my brother. Hmmm¡­" He chuckled. "She did not try to y my brother. She tried to y me. If something had happened to him, I would have had to make a move personally, and if I did, then that entire realm would disappear."


    "Was that her intention all along?"


    "Why? What is she trying to aplish? Why did she want me to act? Is she really trying to pit that nobody against me?"


    "Or¡­ perhaps she is trying to hide him from me?"


    "Irregrs might have the potential to be strong, but very few make it. So, no. That shouldn''t be it. There should be something else."


    "Is she perhaps trying to hide something else?"


    "Mmmm¡­" The vampire lord hummed.


    "Don''t ask Elmis about that divine bitch. He is infatuated with her, so he probably won''t give any details. Find out more details about that irregr, that human being. I want to know everything about him."


    "He should be the key to getting to the bottom of this whole issue."


    "Hmmm... Good. Good. Very good. Here I was getting bored, and something interesting has cropped up. He He." The vampire lord''sughter echoed in the huge throne room as no one else dared to make a sound.

 Chapter 903 World Seed

    Meanwhile¡­ back on earth¡­


    Liam looked around him, standing rooted to the same spot as if he was in a trance. What just happened?


    The events that had transpired in the past few seconds or, rather, the past few minutes were all nothing but a blur to him. So many things had happened, and he had even almost lost his life, but he still did not know why.


    All he knew was, somehow, he was here, still standing and alive.


    Kyuu¡­ Luna walked over to him tiredly and rested near his feet. Liam, too, couldn''t stand any longer and copsed on the ground.


    The two of them silently stared at the destruction and devastation around them. There was just blood and blood everywhere. They couldn''t see beyond that.


    The whole ce was just a bloody mess with puddles and puddles of rotting blood, the stench of death heavily lingering in the air around them.


    There was only blood. Nothing else was visible. The vampires were all dead. The soul minions were no longer there.


    Hmmm? Liam''s face changed as he quickly checked to make sure that the soul minions were still there. Did something happen to them?


    No. He could feel them. They were still there. Only after confirming this, he sighed in relief.


    Perhaps because his soul strength had drained so much during the fight, they had automatically been dismissed.


    He summoned them back again and sent everyone to patrol the area. It looked like this whole ce had really been cleared out. So everything was perhaps truly over?


    Liam was so tired and beaten up that he wanted to copse so badly. However, he couldn''t let himself rx just yet. Was he really out of danger? He couldn''t believe it. Maybe the enemy was still lurking around somewhere nearby?


    One second he was hunting down these vampire lords who had popped out of nowhere, and the next second, there was an insanely powerful figure crushing him down and even almost seeded in killing him.


    But now, none of them were there. Only a calm remained. He really couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation.


    Liam let out a deep breath and summoned the five vampire lord soul minions he had forged. Perhaps these five together might give him some idea of what exactly went down here.


    Immediately, the five lords, one after the other, appeared in front of him. They were calm and obedient without any sense of individuality, well, except for Jonathan Hofstadter.


    Liam tried to ess their memories, but there was nothing there. Not even the recollection of who they were or what skills they used.


    They also did not enough anything about the blood effigy or the childlike voice or the other voice that had spoken. In short, they werepletely and utterly useless puppets.


    Liam sighed in tiredness and dismissed them. He stared into the distance and took a few deep breaths when he realized that he had missed something rather important.


    These soul minions were not the only ones who knew about things and could potentially give him some information.


    There was also¡­ Helikatos, and if he was correct, unlike these vampires, the spider beast man should not have any memory loss.


    Liam hurriedly summoned the MVP of the hour.


    The soul minion appeared disgruntled, but he obediently bowed to Liam. "Master?"


    "Quick. What can you tell me about these vampires?"


    Helikatos stared at Liam nkly for a moment and then shook his head slowly. "Vampires? I am only aware of the weakling who was guarding the treasure with me, Master. Is he the vampire you are talking about?"


    Damn it. Again? Liam bitterly smiled. "I guess then you also have no idea about any of this."


    Every turn he was taking was somehow bing a dead end. How the hell was he supposed to find out more about these vampires?


    Wait¡­ Liam realized that he had been too focused on the vampires that he altogether forgot about the treasure.


    "You said you were guarding a treasure? What were you guarding?"


    And to his surprise, this time, Helikatos started talking.


    "Master, I was guarding the seed. I don''t know what this seed is and what will grow from the seed, but the water forming around the seed makes me stronger. It gave me the tough physical defense."


    Even as he said that, Helikatos looked around himself, or rather his new soul form as if he was wondering just how much of his previous physical strength remained.


    However, Liam did not care about this at the moment as he stared at the spider in shock. That was right. It was the seed. Everything had to do with the seed.


    This reminded him of the words of the blood effigy, especially the questions that it had asked him in that childish tone.


    He had been far too drained and tired that he hadpletely forgotten about this whole thing, but now it all came back, flooding his mind.


    Liam suddenly felt as if several pieces of the puzzle were clicking together.


    The spider was talking about some sort of seed, and the blood effigy had asked him about the same seed, except that he called it something¡­


    "World seed!" Liam mumbled in deep thought.


    He also remembered the effects of the water. He took the water bottle out and looked at it for a couple of seconds before taking a big mouthful of it.


    Immediately, a wave of warm, nourishing energy spread across his body, repairing all of his injuries and his bleeding and ruptured insides.


    He could physically feel the rapid healing as if he had just consumed a high-grade health potion. Some color also returned to his face, and he was able to think better.


    "So the only thing special about this water is that it was surrounding the world seed?" Liam looked at the bottle in puzzlement.


    Just how powerful was this thing if the mere water washing it was this potent?


    However, it looked like even this liquid had its limitations. A couple of minutes after he had drank the elixir, his physical injuries were somewhat healed, but he was still mentally tired and exhausted.


    There was also another vague, dull pain in the depth of his body that Liam could only associate with his soul.


    He hadn''t noticed this before when he used the [Soul Splice] skill, but now that he had knocked on death''s door and returned back, he was able to feel it more clearly.


    From these observations, this water itself was not as effective as the milky way pond water which healed everything from the inside out.


    Even so, Liam did not dare to dismiss the importance of the ''world seed.'' After all, a mysterious, powerful being or maybe two had almost killed him just for the sake of it.


    Also, one had to take into ount that it had merely been weeks since the apocalypse started, and perhaps this world seed formed, and even in these few weeks, the spider had been regrly consuming the liquid.


    What he had was just the remaining water, and this in itself was so potent in aiding the recovery. Perhaps if left longer, the water will have better effects, or forget the water, whatever grew out of the seed would definitely have better effects.


    Liam then took out the all-important seed from the spatial artifact and narrowed his eyes to study the object in detail. He tried using the skill [Inspect] on the seed, but it gave him nothing.


    "This is a seed?" He rubbed it between his fingers, trying to get a feel for the texture, or maybe he hoped something else would happen.


    Unfortunately, nothing did. The thing looked so ordinary, not even like a real seed. It looked as if some beast or creature had chewed it and spat it back out.


    Was this really what the whole fight was all about? It was almost unbelievable.


    Hmmm¡­ He sighed. No matter how unlikely it looked, he couldn''t ignore the truth.


    Even at the time he first encountered the spider beast, he had found it very odd that the beast was already at Level 110. To his knowledge, such a high-level beast shouldn''t have appeared now, at this point in the apocalypse!


    And yet, here Helikatos was.


    Moreover, the spider beast''s stats, skills, abilities, and everything were extraordinary. He was even a named monster which at least gave him an Elite status. His rate of evolution was exponential.


    All of this seemed extremely impossible, but if there was a catalyst driving this whole process, then suddenly, everything made sense.


    And if this catalyst was merely the water surrounding it, the world seed was definitely a top-grade treasure.


    Otherwise, the unknown vampiric enemy wouldn''t have been after it so desperately. He had orchestrated so many borate things and created so many ''vampire lords'' just for the sake of the seed.


    Just who the heck was this person? How did he know that something like this would exist? How did he even know where to find it?

 Chapter 904 Everything Is Changing

    Liam had so many questions and no answers. But he was sure of one thing. He doubted that this mysterious enemy was even from earth.


    The person was so tremendously strong, like the divine temple priestess which could only mean that he was from somewhere else, perhaps some other world?


    Did that world also have a world seed? How many worlds like this existed? Just how big of a treasure was this?


    Then perhaps the intention of that person was to find this treasure right from the beginning. He had only cared about the treasure and nothing else.


    No wonder he wasn''t interested in Liam or Luna or the Crimson Abyss guild. Maybe he did not even know Liam existed.


    None of the vampires were chasing after them until Liam touched that seed.


    Liam sighed as he was finally starting to understand everything.


    However, the thing was¡­ the mysterious vampire opponent might not have known about him before, but he definitely knew about him now, including the fact that he possessed this ''world seed'' currently.


    If he was not in it before¡­ he was definitely in it now.


    Sure, the vampires were not chasing him before, but what about now? He had grabbed the seed, after all. Did that mean more of them were going toe after him from here onward? Did he just make another powerful enemy?


    Liam shook his head helplessly. It did not matter. If they hadn''t shed now, then they would have shedter if the ''world seed'' was really such an important treasure.


    The only thing was that he currently had no idea how to use the damned seed.


    If he could at least somehow be stronger from actually taking advantage of this said ''world seed'', then everything would be worth it. But no. He absolutely had no idea what to do with this seed or even where to start.


    Just from the current situation, he was simply getting dinged in all directions without actually reaping any benefits. What the heck?!


    Liam gave a rueful smile as he clutched his head with his hands. A few secondster, something struck him. "Hmmm¡­ maybe I don''t have to worry about another attack from these vampires any time soon, or at least from that person who conjured the blood effigy."


    The more he thought about it, the more this seemed logical. From the fight, it was clear that the opponent was extremely powerful, but at the same time, he had a lot of limitations.


    For instance, he couldn''t simply appear before Liam, instantly kill him and take the ''world seed'' right off of his hands. Did he not want toe, or could he simply not do it?


    Maybe there were some rules and restrictions cockblocking him. If so, what were these rules and regtions? Could he use them to his advantage somehow? Who could he even ask about these things?


    A couple of faces quickly came to his mind, both fairies and both store managers. But Liam shook his head. He knew that they probably would not be of any use.


    Tilia might straight up reject him, while the other one, Aron, was a cunning bastard who would probably give him wrong information and send him somewhere dangerous just so that he did not have to fulfill their little deal.


    While Liam''s tired mind was circling these questions and mulling over what his next step should be, suddenly, drops of rain started falling from the sky.


    Hmmm? Liam slowly looked up as he was still very tired. The clouds up above in the sky started to turn into a weird shade of ck and purple.


    The angry clouds also started spitting out lightning bolts left and right. This quickly turned even worse.


    RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Massive lightning bolts, earth-shattering thunders, and not to mention the storm that was kicking up out of nowhere¡­


    Liam froze. In a second, his expression changed as he watched everything unravel around him. This scenario was something that was far too familiar for him.


    These were the signals that something terribly bad was going to happen!


    These were the exact signs that everyone in the post-apocalyptic world dreaded!


    This was the beginning of the next wave of the apocalypse!


    "No! Impossible!" Liam shook his head. There was still time before the next wave of the apocalypse started. How could it happen so soon?


    He refused to believe what he was seeing. This absolutely cannot be happening. This had to be a false rm.


    He waited and watched the roiling skies, wondering if they were ever going to calm the fuck back down, but everything around him was only getting worse and worse.


    It looked like there was no going back now.


    "Damn it!" Liam cursed out loud. He had a grim expression on his face as he hurriedly dismissed the soul minions and got on Luna''s back.


    ? "This is bad." He gritted his teeth in anger.


    "Master? What is happening?" Luna asked in worry.


    "Everything is changing," Liam answered.


    It was not the second wave of the apocalypse that he was worried about. Rather he was worried about the future.


    If the second wave could be pushed forward in this fashion, then what about the third wave and the fourth wave?


    Was everything going to ur ahead of the timeline?


    That would only give him even lesser time to prepare. In hisst life, they had a lot more time, but now everything was changing. What was happening?


    It was one thing for the tutorial to be fucked up and shut down sooner. It was in the hands of a single person or a group of people, but how could the events in the real world change like this?


    As he watched the weather go to shit, something suddenly struck him. Could this be because of the vampires or, rather, the guy behind them?


    Someone powerful had shown up in their world out of nowhere, someone who clearly did not belong here, and the minute they seemed to disappear, the next wave of the apocalypse started.


    The two events had urred way too close to be merely a coincidence! No, it could not be a coincidence!

 Chapter 905 Lmpossible!

    As the rain drenched Liampletely, making his hair stick to his body and clothes, his thoughts became muddled. Trying to understand everything that was unfolding was a fool''s errand.


    How could he possibly try to understand what was happening with so little information?


    He snapped out of it, took a few deep breaths, and calmed down. It did not matter. Right now, the why or how did not matter. Once again, only survival mattered. They need to somehow get through this.


    Liam waited and watched as everything around him worsened. The event that was going to happen next was not exactly new to him.


    In the first wave, there were portals from which weaker beasts charged out to their world, but now there were going to be literal rips in the air around them as hundreds and thousands of stronger beasts were going to emerge.


    Stronger for others but not so much for him. So he wasn''t particrly anxious about it. After thest fight, this would pretty much be hands-off. One could say even a good way to blow some steam.


    "I really need to farm experience points with this wave." Liam started thinking about what to do as he was past the initial shock of the event urring too early.


    Soon, everything turned more and more vtile, with the sky seeming as if it was going to break apart and shatterpletely.


    The pouring rain worsened, and all the blood from the battleground was slowly washed away, absorbed back into the earth.


    And Liam, as well, was waiting and keeping an eye out for things.


    However, before he could spot any beasts rampaging out of mid-air, he saw something else. Something that he did not expect.


    Even in the dastardly pouring rain, there was something shining brightly. It was small, almost insignificant, but clearly, it stood out as if it did not belong in the current world.


    "Is that blood?" Liam walked closer.


    While all the other blood seemed to have washed away, there was a single drop of blood mysteriously floating in the air as if it was above everything else.


    "This¡­" Liam''s eyes widened in shock. "Could this be rted to that powerful vampire?"


    After the blood effigy went down, things had devolved so quickly that perhaps something indeed got left behind?


    He quickly grabbed it, or at least tried to. The drop of blood stung his hands, so he had to use mana first to wrap it, and then he pulled it onto his palm.


    He was just about to examine it further when something rumbled loudly near him. The second wave was going to start any second now.


    "Hmmm. Now is not the time to be ying around with this." Liam quickly ced the drop of blood into the spatial artifact and turned toward the source of the disturbance.


    He also dismissed his soul minions who were wandering out and summoned them once again, bringing them all near him, ready for an all-out battle. The next second¡­


    RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Something started shaking loudly in the vicinity, and a shattering sound echoed.


    "There!" Liam patted Luna, pointing in the distance where there was a sign of disturbance, a tremor on the ground with the trees in the area falling down like bowling pins.


    Luna growled and immediately dashed toward that spot.


    However, when they arrived, Liam did not see the rip in the air that he expected. Instead, the ground underneath was quaking violently.


    Little cracks appeared, and the next second, the ground itself was splitting apart.


    "What?" Liam patted the fox, signaling her to move as this was clearly not supposed to be happening. He had personally witnessed the second wave, and this was not how it began.


    Luna immediately backed away and hovered in the air as the two of them observed the ground in front of them from a safe distance.


    Meanwhile, the earth continued to break. The cracks only became longer and wider, and then, right in front of their eyes, something even more unbelievable happened.


    A small protrusion jutted out of the ground from nowhere and started bursting out. At first, it was like a small pyramid, like a sand castle on a beach, but it continued rising up and up without showing any signs of stopping.


    Soon, it became a small hill and then a huge hill???


    "What is this?" Liam''s eyes widened in shock.


    He realized that the obvious answer was staring at him right in his face. Not only had the timing of the second wave of apocalypse changed, but what was going toe out had also changed.


    "No, that''s not possible."


    However, that was exactly what was happening. Right in front of his eyes, the huge hill shook a little, and from within started emerging a strange creature.


    The second wave of the apocalypse was here, and it was nothing like he had experienced before.


    ***


    ***


    ***


    Outside the Crimson Abyss guild territory¡­


    A group of people dressed in prim military attire arrived. Each and every one of them was armed with heavy weaponry. There was also a huge group of civilians along with them, armed as well.


    And it was not just them. Several armored trucks, fighter tanks, bigger supply trucks, cars, motorbikes, and so on lined up outside the guild territory.


    However, all of them were stationed right outside the guild territory, not a single unit taking another step forward or making a move.


    Only one man got down from one of the vehicles and walked forward. His gaze was cold and stern, and he looked at the peacefulnds ahead of them.


    There was not a single sign of disturbance. No mutant beasts, no mana zombies. If not for theplete absence of crowds and traffic choking the ce, one might even assume that they were still living in the old world.


    "They really did manage to bring everything under control, huh¡­" Zhu Huang mumbled to himself.


    If Liam had been here, he would have immediately recognized this man.


    He was the same military General who had negotiated a deal with him peacefully and had talked at length about the honor in serving their glorious nation.

 Chapter 906 Everyone Has A Weak Point

    While Zhu Huang looked around the area they were about to step into, two more military personnel, both division leaders, walked toward him. But unlike the military general, there were traces of doubts in their eyes, along with some amount of nervousness.


    "Sir, is this really ok?" One of them asked.


    "Hmmm¡­" The general did not reply anything to him.


    "What if he returns-" The other one started, but he was quickly cut short.


    "There is no chance of that happening. You saw the whole thing yourself. There should be at least ten thousand vampires in that horde. They are capable of destroying whole cities. How could they be so easy to deal with?"


    "We won''t get a better chance than this. Even if he is all-powerful, he is just one person. He is most probably still dealing with them or maybe just dead from the attack."


    Zhu Huang then paused as if he was thinking deeply about something. "Right, he has that beast. Maybe he is alive. But even if he is still alive, he should be heavily injured."


    "Sir, that is exactly what we are trying to say. As long as that person is alive-" The division leader started.


    "Fool. You still don''t understand. Do you know why exactly I am doing this? Hmm?" Zhu Huang cleared his throat. "I am not sure what is running in your heads, but I am not here trying to take over Crimson Abyss or wage a war against their guild."


    Huh? The two division leaders looked at each other in astonishment. Then why else were they here?


    "I am just here to take some hostages." Zhu Huang grinned.


    This made the two even more shocked. This was the first time they were listening to the full n of their leader.


    Everything had been packed and moved in such a hurry that they really did not stop to think or ask why. They had been simply following their orders.


    Their general had sessfully led their group until now, so they had their full faith and trust in him. Despite that, at this moment, they couldn''t help but question him. After all, they were standing at the mouth of a lion''s cave.


    "Listen carefully." Zhu Huang exined. "We might be strong. We might have a lot of firepower and powerful military weapons, but that kid Liam is an extraordinary fighter."


    "He is clearly more experienced in this new world. I do not care about this guild or these people. This entire guild is worthless without him. But¡­ they are useful for one thing."


    "Everyone has a weak point, and Liam''s weak point is this guild. As long as we manage to use this opportunity and take this whole guild hostage, I believe we can convince him to join us."


    "Well, we would be joining them, but what''s the difference? In the end, we would be the ones in charge, and we would be able to control him."


    "He might be powerful, but as long as we control him, we will be the ones at the top. Do you understand now?"


    "Yes¡­ Yes, Sir!" The two division leaders answered in unison.


    "Hmmm¡­ Don''t worry. I will never act rashly. Everything I do always has a reason behind it."


    "Yes, Sir."


    "Ok. That''s enough now. We have already wasted a lot of time. Let''s start our work." Zhu Huang grunted and started walking back to the armored vehicle.


    The two division leaders as well hurried back to their positions. Now that they had listened to the full exnation from the general himself, they were far more confident in their demeanor.


    They felt ashamed that they had even questioned him in the first ce. Naturally, there might be many casualties in this venture of theirs, mainly civilians, but that was unavoidable in a state of war.


    Sometimes, a few casualties are required for the greater good, and especially in a world like this, they were not naive enough to think that they could save everyone.


    So even if they were the military whose purpose was to serve the nation and its people, for now, they had to do this.


    A few secondster, the general gave the signal, and then the division leaders gave their signals to their respective divisions. Just like that, the entire military base started moving.


    They stealthily entered the Crimson Abyss guild premises, sending men in all directions. They nned to use the buildings and the wilderness to hide their presence.


    Their intention was topletely surround the area and take in as many hostages as possible in the shortest time, especially the civilians.


    This might be a hit below the belt, but only by using these weak and helpless civilians could they avoid a bigger massacre and a full-fledged war.


    "GO! FAST!"


    "LET''S MOVE!"


    "VICTORY SHOULD BE OURS!"


    "LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE!"


    "LONG LIVE OUR PROSPEROUS NATION!"


    Zhu Huang shouted. This was his version of a short rousing speech, and it made all the military men''s blood boil.


    Everyone quickly started to disperse with vigor and determination. They were doing this for their country. This would be their first step in retaking their nation and bringing the glorious government back. They had to win at all costs!


    Zhu Huang''s eyes shone with pride and arrogance as he watched his men fly. He as well cracked his neck and clenched his fists as he prepared to enter the battlefield personally.


    Unlike the other useless military leaders he hade across in his life, he was not a leader for simply namesake. He actually led by example, putting his life on the line as well. So naturally, he was also going to participate in this battle.


    Hrmm! He grunted and cleared his throat as he and his personal troops finally made their move.


    However, he had only barely taken a step forward when a voice sounded behind him.


    "He He He. Where are you off to in such a hurry? Do you need some directions?"

 Chapter 907 Shoot Them Down

    "He He He. Where are you off to in such a hurry? Do you need some directions?"


    Zhu Huang froze as if a lightning bolt had struck him. The group of men behind him as well stood rooted to the spot, all of them looking guilty and shocked.


    The next second, before any of them, could even turn around, a figure casually walked over to stand in front of them.


    It was a charming young man with a warm smile and a bow hanging behind him. "Wee. Wee. Wee to our humble guild. We always wee visitors with open hands, that too special VIPs like you." Rey smiled.


    Zhu Huang stared speechlessly, not knowing how to respond to this. They were nning a covert operation, but somehow this person and probably a couple of others had sniffed them out.


    However, that was not the problem. They could easily take out these fools in seconds. After all, they possessed guns and bombs that the other side would have never seen in their entire lives.


    Rather the main issue was the weapon on this young man''s back and the strength exuded by the young man himself.


    Zhu Huang had been fighting for several years and trained expertly inbat. Apocalypse or not, he was not an idiot not to recognize a warrior when he stood right in front of him.


    And his instincts told him that this person was not ordinary. Just like Liam, he was a strong fighter. Moreover, the weapon he was carrying was also¡­


    In this case, it would be a pity to gun down this person.


    If he could somehow buy some time to allow his n to take shape, then with a few hostages, a dozen Liams could be easily brought under control.


    Interrupting his thoughts, another person spoke. "Ignore his words. Actually, you are not wee here." This time it was a woman talking.


    Alex walked over from the back and let her shield touch the ground with a nging noise.


    The epic-grade weapon shone brilliantly in the afternoon sunlight, instantly capturing everyone''s attention. However, in a second, the men standing around were no longer looking at the shield.


    Instead, their eyes were on the woman who was wielding the shield.


    With her long silky hair whipping about in the wind, a stunning redhead with seductive and mouthwatering curves stood tall in front of them.


    The foreigner was beautiful beyond their imagination, but the thing that stood out the most about her was her aura. One look at her, and it was crystal clear that she was a fierce, powerful fighter who stood at the top.


    "I will not repeat my words. This is yourst and final warning. You are not wee here. I suggest you turn back and leave the same way you came from." Alex arrogantly said as she crossed her arms in front of her.


    "Tch. What a showoff." Rey spat out. His spotlight was already gone.


    However, everyone else had an entirely different reaction. There were only two people standing in front of them, and they dared to be this arrogant?


    Even Zhu Huang rolled his eyes. He acknowledged that these two were capable, but that was it. Sure, he wanted to keep talents like this, but it was only if that was not a hindrance to his main n.


    "Shoot them down." He indifferentlymanded. Why should he tolerate foreigners talking down to him like this?


    His heart was that of a hardened military general. The face and the body of the seductive foreigner in front of him were not enough to move him or make him show any mercy. Everything would simply be coteral damage.


    "Heh." Alex chuckled at this, not even showing the slightest bit of fear in her eyes. It was her turn tough at these fools. "You want to shoot? Go ahead."


    Before she could finish her words, Zhu Huang''s personal troops started firing at her with the heavy weaponry they were carrying in their arms.


    Da Da Da Da Da Da Da


    Da Da Da Da Da Da Da


    As the gun firing sounds and the smell of the gum powder filled the air, several bullets zoomed in the air and shot forward with the intent to kill.


    Moreover, they were tactically shot in a manner that the woman would not be able to avoid them, no matter how she moved. Some of them were also aimed at Rey, clearly wanting to take out both foreigners.


    The attack was perfectly executed.


    But there was only one problem. The woman in front of them was a¡­


    Clink!


    The first bullet fell down limp and lifeless. This was followed by¡­


    Clink! Clink! Clink!


    Clink! Clink! Clink!


    All the bullets fell down one after the other as they hit an invisible barrier. No, not entirely invisible, and it was not just the redhead.


    Both the American woman and the man shone with a golden brilliance as all the attacks proved to bepletely useless.


    "What the¡­" Zhu Huang was speechless.


    It looked like the weapons were useless. Then what about something stronger? He lunged forward as he flexed his muscles and swung his fist at Alex.


    Surprisingly, the other party was still calm. She scoffed in boredom and casually leaned back to evade the attack. Seeing this, a couple more men dashed forward toward her.


    Among the two, they assumed that the woman was weaker and hence targeted her, but that was the worst approach they could have taken.


    It only took the fiery redhead a second to send all the men packing. They did not even know what happened when they found their asses on the ground, their body hurting like hell everywhere.


    "So you didn''t take my warning, huh?" Alex sneered.


    "I told you, sis. These people don''t deserve a second chance. Bro already gave them a chance, and look what they did with that." Rey shook his head in disapproval.


    "Hmmm. You are right." Alex shrugged. "I guess it''s time to finish this off then."

 Chapter 908 You Are All Traitors!

    Hearing Alex''s words, Zhu Huang and the other men immediately became tense. It was now abundantly clear that they had underestimated the strength of the opponents by a lot.


    Ever since the apocalypse began, they had been fighting vicious beasts and sometimes even humans non-stop, and they had all increased their levels, but the truth was that the people in front of them were much stronger.


    This was no longer just an intuition. None of them were immune to bullets yet, and the opponent was. Just how high was their level to aplish something like that? Above 5? Above 10?


    That too, there were right now only 2 of them standing against them, and still, they were cornered. This was bad. Zhu Huan''s face changed, but he was not done yet. After all, he had one more trump card left.


    They might be weak, but the opponent also had weaklings amongst them. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and as long as these two tried to protect the others, the victory would be theirs because today, he was willing to go as far as it took.


    "Stop right there. Don''t you dare make another move! Otherwise, I will order my subordinates to ughter everyone!" Zhu Huang shouted in his hoarse voice as his entire body trembled. It was not out of anger but out of nervousness which he tried not to show outside.


    "By now, my men should have already infiltrated your base. One word from me and everyst one of your guild members will be ughtered. I don''t want to harm anyone. We are from the military, and our only intention is to protect people, so don''t force my hand!"


    "Oh really?" Alex sneered. It looked like the bombshell redhead was not in the least bothered by his words. "You mean these subordinates?"


    She pped her hands loudly, and the next second, a person walked over to them from around a corner, dragging a group of people in military uniforms.


    These people were clearly bound by something, but it was invisible to the eyes of Zhu Huang and the others, making them wary of the situation.


    The only thing that they could see was the bruises covering the bodies of their men, along with severe burn marks. Also, their so-called advantage and strength, their firearms, were missing.


    "Good work, Judah. I knew you would be the fastest." Alex smiled as she nodded at the tall guy dressed in a robe.


    But just as she finished saying that, another person also walked over. This time it was Lan Deming who had arrived.


    He was herding another group of men dressed in military attire, once again bruised and unarmed. And surprisingly, the number of men was even higher than the previous count.


    "Oh! Not bad." Alex praised again and turned to look at the fallen general who was yet to stand up or even get a chance to. The poor guy was reeling from shock after getting one hit after another.


    "You¡­ you¡­ aren''t you the son of¡­?" Zhu Huang seemed to recognize Lan Deming. However, the other party narrowed his eyes and did not even acknowledge his presence.


    Zhu Huang was not a fool. He might not have known that Lan Deming was also in this guild, but he had heard about the Crimson Abyss guild, and he also had gathered extensive intel about their guild members and how strong they were.


    So why did he still go along with this mission? This was because he had a n. He had, in fact, nned this operation only after taking everything into ount.


    The key was to operate covertly.


    After managing to gather information from a person on the inside, they waited for the main members to go for their usual dungeon runs and only then acted.


    Their n was to capture the base before the main strong members of the guild returned back. This was a good n. Especially without Liam, it was supposed to work 100%!


    But right now, each and every capable member was standing right in front of their eyes. How was this possible? It was almost as if they knew their ns beforehand!


    How did this happen? Did they also have a leak?


    "Are you thinking what went wrong?" Alexughed loudly, calling out the man''s thoughts. She then wolf-whistled like a street thug, giving the poor military general another shock.


    This was because the person who came out of hiding next was none other than Hao Yuze, the newest guild recruit.


    Zhu Huang''s heart instantly dropped.


    How!!! His body shook in rage and anger. Not because he did not know about Hao Yuze. The minute the dog had betrayed them, he already knew about it and even sent men to tail him.


    He knew everything, including his meeting with Liam and the fact that the other party rounded up some people and fled the military base without his permission.


    However, he had already taken all of this into ount.


    He still had some men tailing this group of deserters. They hadn''t yet reached the Crimson Abyss guild territory and were temporarily resting somewhere else. So there was no way for them to have arrived here.


    It was his calction that by the time they arrived at the base, they would once againe to face with the same military base they had fled from.


    He was even looking forward to this sweet moment when he would get to punish these deserters with what they rightfully deserved.


    But now¡­ But now¡­ everything had fallen apart! How?


    Zhu Huang became maddened with fear, anger, and confusion. He waspletely cornered now.


    Hao Yuze had somehow tricked them and passed on all the information to the Crimson Abyss members. That was the only exnation. This was why everything had gone wrong, and this was why they had failed so miserably!


    "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor! You are all traitors! You will pay for this act of treason! The government is not down yet, and when they find out what happened here, you will pay for everything!" He started to shout like a rabid dog.


    Ha Ha Ha Ha!


    Alexughed at the guy like a maniacal viin, enjoying the look of shock on his face.


    Rey watched her and took a step back as he felt a chill creeping up his spine. "Sis, you are starting to act more and more like big bro Liam!" He rolled his eyes and murmured, not daring to say it out loud.


    Alex ignored him and looked at Hao Yuze. "Go ahead. Tell him." She said with a big grin.


    Hao Yuze nodded. "I knew you were tailing me all along. I purposefully left the group back and traveled here alone to set this all up for you." He shrugged. Doing something like this was no big deal for someone like him. The other party wanted to y him, but he yed them instead.


    Zhu Huang trembled. Now that he understood everything, he was able to see what had blinded him. It looked like, right from the beginning, all of his calctions had been terribly wrong. He bitterly smiled as he had no doubt what was going to happen next.


    "I did note here with the intention to kill anyone." He sighed and exined, but Alex did not let him talk. She raised her hand and stopped him right there and then.


    "It''s toote now. I already gave you a warning and a chance to leave this ce with your life intact. It''s not my fault that you did not take the chance." She shrugged.


    Zhu Huang looked at the two ruthless foreigners, both of whom didn''t look like they were going to budge from their stance. He then sighed and turned towards his own countrymen, Lan Deming and Hao Yuze.


    "You both¡­ Don''t do this. They are outsiders, but I am still your leader, your own flesh and blood. This is treason. We have to keep the best interest of the country in our mind. You cannot let people from the outside run wild like this."


    Hao Yuze sneered. "You mean raping those women repeatedly was done in the best interest of our country?"


    "Don''t call yourself a leader. The smallest of power went straight to your head. All you did was abuse your power and use us for your own benefit. You are not a leader. You are a no one."


    Zhu Huang shook his head. "You are mistaking me. It was not my intention to torture those women."


    "Our soldiers are working very hard, putting their lives on the line day in and day out. So it is the duty of the women to serve them well."


    He sighed and continued righteously. "How could I be responsible if they did not understand this and pushed me to do things by force? This world... I am also trying to make sense of it, just like the rest of you. I am simply doing the best that I can."

 Chapter 909 The End Of The World!

    Alex''s face twitched. She couldn''t stand wasting one more second, watching this asshole justify his ridiculous actions. "Shut the hell up. That''s enough."


    She removed her sword from her back and swung the huge weapon down in an executioner style right in front of everyone.


    Zhu Huang jutted his chest out and closed his eyes like a martyr who was being wronged unfairly.


    ording to him, he did everything right, and from his heart, so there was no reason for him to fear death. So he willingly epted his death.


    At this point, only a miracle could save him.


    Even if the people in front of him did not agree, God knows everything that happened. In his final moment, he said a prayer and waited for the sword to strike him down.


    He really looked like a hero who was sacrificing himself. Alex scoffed at this and brought down her sword. However, the next instant¡­


    Rumble Rumble


    And to everyone''s surprise¡­ Alex''s sword had swung, and yet Zhu Huang was still alive. He was spared!


    Before anyone could process what had just happened¡­ all of a sudden, the earth underneath them started shaking violently, making Alex startled, lose her bnce and miss her target.


    Hmmm? She looked up to see that the sky had drastically changed.


    The winds started picking up speed out of nowhere. Lightning crackled everywhere, and deafening thunder resounded in her ears. As they were standing on an elevated hilly road, she could even see some distant tornadoes threatening to rip everything apart.


    Everyone was shocked.


    "What¡­" Alex nkly stared as this brought back memories of the very first day everything had gone down. Not just to her but also to everyone else.


    It was fairly obvious as things had gone from 0 to 100 in under a second. Something like this couldn''t be natural. What the hell was going on here?


    As everyone looked around, Alex was the first to understand. It took her a second, but she realized what was happening.


    The next wave of the apocalypse was here?!


    As if confirming her fears, the ground nearby started splitting apart. There were not just tremors, the thing was actually splitting into two or rather four? How could the ground itself shift like this?


    Alex struck the ground with her sword and held on tightly. Everyone else tried to stabilize themselves as well.


    While they were still in this shock, the world around them did not n on waiting for them. Everything continued to worsen, and the ground further split apart. A deep chasm emerged


    And from within this deep chasm, something small popped out.


    What the hell?


    In a matter of seconds, this small protrusion became bigger and bigger right in front of everyone''s eyes.


    It continued growing as if it did not intend to stop until the chasm was no longer visible, and instead, a huge hill stood tall. Everything had happened so fast that it felt as if the thing had simply appeared out of nowhere.


    Alex gulped. Rey, Judah, Lan Deming, and Hao Yuze were also equally shocked.


    On the other side, Zhu Huang snapped out of his trance first. Not because he had a fast response speed but because he had prayed for a miracle, and it looked like he had somehow actually received one?!


    He quickly got up to scurry away to safety, using this as a distraction. The other military men, tightly bound and captured, also followed his lead and attempted to do the same.


    Currently, they were on the roads, but behind the hill, there was a dense forest, and that would be their path of escape. He signaled his men, and everyone understood the n.


    They quickly began making their move and started running for their lives. For some reason, no one from the other team seemed to be intent on chasing them, but they did not care about it at the moment.


    They just wanted to get the hell out of here. Everything else could always be worked out at ater time. So even though they were badly beaten up and bruised, the group continued to give it their all and scattered like rats fleeing from their traps.


    Unfortunately for them¡­ the reality was not that kind. They had only barely taken a few steps when Zhu Huang suddenly stopped. He stood frozen, not moving anymore.


    Everyone turned to see what had happened and why their general was not running away along with them, but as soon as they turned around, they were met with a blood-curdling sight.


    Their military general no longer had a head!


    "I¡­ I¡­" Zhu Huang stammered. He couldn''t believe that he was dead. He did not want to ept it. Where was his miracle? Where was his mercy?


    His head slowly dropped down, cleanly severed from his body.


    It fell lifelessly on the ground as he stared at something vicious and unholy. Standing in front of him was a creature that was half his height but looked like something straight from hell.


    It had slit-like yellow eyes that scanned his dead body from top to bottom without any remorse. Six sharp wings that looked like metal scales glittered at the back of the insect, and there was a huge stinger at the back that was dripping with some sort of liquid.


    His eyesstlynded on the creature''s mouth, which had several weird structures, including two prominent pincers. His blood was dripping from these pincers.


    Just what in the name of hell was this creature?


    That was thest thought that crossed his mind as Zhu Huang couldn''t help but feel a sense of peace even in this death that he did not want.


    At least this was the worst he was seeing. He did not have to face what wasing next as everything seemed to be getting only worse and worse.


    However, as opposed to what he was feeling, the other military men turned pale. They were still alive after all, and they had a look of dread stered uniformly stered on all of their faces.


    While Zhu Huang had only seen one such creature before dying a gruesome death, these soldiers were witnessing something else entirely different.


    Just one creature?


    No, unfortunately, it did not stop there!


    Everyone gasped in shock and terror as they saw the impossible happening. There were dozens and dozens of these creatures lined up in front of them.


    And it did not stop even there.


    More were stilling out of the hill that looked more like a hill-shaped hive at the moment.


    As if this was not enough, one more unbelievable scene waited for them. Their military general, who had fallen, had several antennas stuck to his body.


    It looked like the creature that had killed him was not done with him yet. Like a mosquito sucking blood, this creature was sucking something from his body and his head.


    Everyone gulped in fear as they watched the insect, if they could even call it that. What the hell was happening?


    This was all too much to take in for them. They hade here to im a base but now, this¡­? How could everything change so quickly?


    Right in front of them, the dead man became a dry husk. It was as if he had once again suffered another death after his first death.


    However, no one had time to think or worry about it at the moment. They did not even have the time to say a prayer.


    The insect creatures not only looked ungodly, but they also were very fast. They shot forward in all directions. The few people who tried to run were all mercilessly sliced and diced.


    Another one then gathered this minced meat and once again started absorbing the juices or something from the flesh heap.


    Everyone was utterly terrified. Shouts started echoing everywhere. There was only chaos and confusion in the vicinity.


    Some soldiers who still had their firearms tried to use their firearms against these insects. Surprisingly, they managed to do some damage. They made holes in the wings, drew some blood, and even scared a few away with the sound of the bullets.


    However, they were far too disturbed to aim carefully. They were simply firing in all directions. They might as well be shooting with their eyes closed. Whatever damage they did was by fluke.


    So even if the firearms were able to do some damage to the creatures, it was useless. No one was in their right mind to properly attack and take down these creatures.


    The sheer number of these things pouring out of the hive hill was overwhelming and made them senseless. They were swarmed from all sides with no way out.


    Soldiers were falling to their deaths left and right. Heaps of human meat piled up everywhere.


    The situation was turning worse every second, and it looked like there was no way out of this hell. How could anyone survive this? This was the end of the world!

 Chapter 910 Stand Firm And Fight!

    In the midst of the fear, panic, and utter helplessness, one redhead roared loudly, her voice louder than the mass hysteria.


    "Stop running around like headless chickens. Stand firm and fight."


    Alex shouted at the top of her lungs, taking down three of the fuckers at the same time as she swung her shield and sword around.


    She blocked and parried the insects left and right while also culling them down by three or four every move. Her epic-grade items were not simply for show.


    She did not know what level these insects were, but they couldn''t hold up against the power of her attacks. Apart from Alex, a few others were also still standing. Not too surprisingly, these were all Crimson Abyss guild members.


    While the military units that were supposed to be well-trained and cohesive fell apart left and right in front of the unknown formidable enemy, the Crimson Abyss guild members stayed strong.


    Alex, Rey, Judah, and Lan Deming, who were present in the immediate vicinity of the hive hill, quickly came together and formed a small tight group, watching each other''s backs.


    Alex also pulled Hao Yuze and put him in the center. It only took her a couple of seconds to see that the guy was totally useless when it came to fighting and needed to be protected.


    As for the other men¡­ a few of the military guys, who still had their firearms, were shooting at the creatures in a blind frenzy. They could notprehend and wrap their minds around their current situation, and this was all they could do.


    Alex did not bother killing these idiots when something much bigger was going down at the moment. She also did not bother protecting them.


    She just ignored them for the time being.


    This was because she knew something that the others did not know yet. This event, the second wave of the apocalypse, was not supposed to happen right now.


    Liam had warned her about this, and he had even told her that he would most probably be back before then.


    However, the way he described things and the timeline waspletely different from what was happening at the moment.


    For starters, they were only supposed to be dealing with random beasts once again.


    Liam had said that the first wave and the second wave would not have much difference except that the beasts would be slightly stronger in the second wave, all being above Level 10.


    But these things in front of them¡­ were clearly no ordinary beasts. They were not even insects in a strict sense. They were random bizarre creatures that spilled out of the hive hill non-stop andpletely swarmed the region.


    What was happening? She couldn''t understand.


    The thing was, Liam always had these insights about the future, and he was seldom wrong. Even if he was wrong, it was never by such a huge margin. But now, both his timing and his predictions were wrong.


    What the hell was this?


    Moreover, there was another issue that had cropped up.


    At first, Alex was worried that these insects were too fast for them to control and would wreak havoc by escaping and spreading out in all directions, randomly massacring everyone in sight.


    At least they were able to somewhat defend against these creatures, but their weaker civilian guild members would bepletely helpless. They would end up dead before they even knew what killed them.


    However, this did not happen. The swarm was still here, and now she was facing an entirely different challenge.


    From the looks of it, these insects had no intentions of spreading themselves thin. They freaking stayed together and attacked them with vengeance!


    This meant that the few of them had to deal with the whole swarm on their own?


    Just how many swarms like this even existed? How many hills had randomly popped out of the earth? Was this the only one in the vicinity, or were there more?


    Though she had asked everyone to stay calm and think and act properly, it was bing increasingly difficult even for her to do the same.


    If she took down two of these suckers, then four more cropped up. They were endless.


    Every second, the situation was getting worse. The swarm seemed to be bing denser and denser. More and more insects flew out of the hill, and there was no end in sight.


    It was as if they were standing in a giant tornado of these insects.


    If one hit a bee hive with a bat, one would be swarmed by dozens of bees. Here it was, not dozens. It was hundreds or perhaps thousands, and these were not simple honey bees!


    They were deadly bizarre creatures that looked as if they were an amalgam of several insects. Was it an ant or a bee or a wasp or a spider or a scorpion, or a mosquito? Nope. None of these.


    The creature looked like someone had put all of these insects in a blender and created a quick mix, and then erged its size to make it a living, breathing, terrifying nightmare.


    How could something like this even exist? Just how many of these creatures were there?


    It was their bad luck that they had somehow ended up in such close proximity to the hive hill. So they were facing the full brunt of the attack.


    "DIVINE SHIELD!"


    "DIVINE SHIELD!"


    "DIVINE SHIELD!"


    Alex repeatedly shouted in desperation as she tried her best to keep their group safe and their attacks in line. However, this was easier said than done.


    As the golden shield flickered again and again, protecting her and the others around her, nothing she did was enough. Her mana was rapidly running out.


    If she took out three shing her sword down and bashing them with her shield, seven more popped up in the same spot, taking their ce.


    The others were also in simr situations, only barely holding on.


    Rey had run out of arrows a long time ago. He was trying to conjure mana arrows and aiming straight for the insect''s triangr head.


    He was a good shot, but the head was covered by some sort of glistening, reflecting carapace that made it difficult for a person to aim for it.


    The head was the weak point for many beasts and insects, but in this case, it was a fool''s errand to aim for it. In fact, one had a better chance of hitting the insect if the attack was aimed elsewhere.


    However, Rey did not have many options left. His mana arrow was just not strong enough to get at the other parts of the insect.


    His closebat skills were also not that good, so even though he was waving around a spear, every time his mana refreshed, he still aimed for the head and set an arrow flying.


    In the beginning, he was missing a lot, but slowly he began to get the hang of things.


    Instead of aiming for the head directly, he aimed for the space in between the two pincers, which appeared to be easier to prate and a lot less reflective.


    This required two mana arrows to take down the insect, but it did the job. He was shooting them down one after the other. The only problem was that there was no freaking end in sight!


    Unlike Rey, Lan Deming was fighting in a more straightforward manner. There was no space for him even to enter stealth. He simply used his daggers to sh at the enemy and take them down as they came.


    Just like Rey, he also figured out a few weak spots after killing dozens of these bastards, so with every insect he put down, his moves and his attack pattern became more and more fine-tuned.


    And as for Judah, Rey shared with him the info about the weak point in between the pincers of these bizarre creatures located right under their head.


    The mage nodded and exploited the same thing without holding back. Just like Rey, he also sent sharp ice spears and fire bursts aimed at the same spot.


    Unlike Rey, it took him three attacks to get one down, but his speed was faster, so in the end, he was almost taking down the same number of insects.


    While these four fought intensely, the other person at the center of this small group, Hao Yuze, snapped out of his trance. "I need to do something." He gritted his teeth with determination.


    Seeing the four people around him fight for their lives, hanging on by skin and teeth, he suddenly felt very useless.


    He knew that hisbat abilities were non-existent, but he did not want to be a burden like this. At least he did not want to die a useless death.


    His brain whirred as he thought about what they desperately needed at the moment. The biggest challenge they were facing was the number of these insects. If he could do something about this¡­

 Chapter 911 No End In Sight

    Hao Yuze looked around. The insects were everywhere.


    They were crawling and flying out of the hive hill without any end in sight and werepletely overwhelming them. They were shooting toward them like darts from all directions.Their buzzing sounds made everyone unable to think.


    If not for Alex''s divine shield protecting them and burning down these insects en masse every now and then, they would have been long dead by now.


    These things would have swarmed them and consumed them without even leaving behind their bones as proof of their existence. However, this protection was not going tost.


    Alex was already on the edge. She was on the verge of copsingpletely. Her mana was running low, and her shields were bing weaker and weaker because of mental exhaustion. They needed to act fast and do something about this.


    Hao Yuze knew very well that he was useless when it came to fighting, but he, at the least, wanted to do something to help everyone. He wanted to find some solution, any solution, but everywhere he turned, there was only death waiting for them in the form of these insects.


    "I need to calm down." He tried not to panic and looked around with his eyes narrowed as he tried to get a sense of what was there beyond the swarm.


    It took him a couple of seconds but bingo!


    His gaze finallynded on something that they could actually use!


    The heavy armored trucks!


    He did not know how long it wouldst, but at least it could give them a relief of 1 minute? This 1 minute could make all the difference between life and death!


    "Miss Alex!" Hao Yuze shouted as he inched closer to her and quickly filled her in on his n.


    Hmmm? Alex groaned in pain.


    Though she was extremely busy at the moment, barely having any time to think, she still could understand what the new guy meant and gave the ''yes'' signal. At this point, she was willing to try whatever.


    After she gave the nod, the group then slowly tried to move.


    While fighting against the swarm that was bing bigger and bigger by the second, they slowly shifted toward the heavy armored trucks that were parked right behind each other.


    On either side of the trucks, there were other vehicles as well parked.


    This made it extremely inconvenient for the insects to overcrowd them andpletely overwhelm them, and this was exactly what Hao Yuze wanted to achieve.


    Since the ess from the sides was almost blocked, the main attack could onlye from the top.


    And this was easily handled by the pdin and the epic-grade weapon she wielded.


    As soon as the group took cover at this junction, Alex was immediately able to take a breather. The others were also able to rx a little, and their mana supplies were quietly getting regenerated.


    They were finally able to sh down at the insects without getting overrun by them.


    However, the setup wasn''t going tost. Everyone could see how the number of insects was continuing to increase by the second, and their attacks were also rabid and relentless.


    But with this breather, the group was able to spare a person. Lan Deming hurriedly jumped into one of the trucks as he searched for any supplies that they could use.


    Hao Yuze told them about the several grenades that the military group possessed. This was their main goal.


    While Lan Deming looked around for these grenades, Rey provided cover to Hao Yuze as the both of them quickly moved to a nearby fighter tank.


    Hao Yuze knew that he was useless in directbat, but he was still able to use these army vehicles and knew all about their operation.


    The two of them coincidentally ran into some soldiers who seemed to have the same idea, but the previous enmity was no longer there in their eyes.


    They seemed pitiful, merely trying to survive. So Rey and Hao Yuze ignored them and went about their business.


    In the current condition, maybe the arrogant ones at the top would think of double-crossing and some petty scheme. However, the probability of hardworking soldiers betraying them was very small.


    So everyone went about their own business. It was not like they had time to think about these schemes anyways. Even a second slip-up meant death.


    In this way, soon, three tankers became active, firing rapidly at the swarm, and Lan Deming also managed to find five boxes full of grenades.


    Rey quickly returned back to the group, and Lan Deming did the same as well after moving all the grenades closer to them.


    Judah gave them cover as he cast ice element attacks repeatedly, not allowing any insect to get near them. Though many of these were only temporarily immobilized and not fully killed, for now, they focussed more on the control side.


    And once everyone was safely back in their respective positions, they then began their counterattack!


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The fighter tanks roared loudly. The few other soldiers were only barely functioning, but Hao Yuze had already calmed down his nerves and started aiming for the bloody insects and firing at them.


    The insects looked bizarre and had a lot of features to their advantage, like their incredible speed and their hard exoskeleton, which left little to no weakness, but they were still not immune to the attacks from these tanks.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Every single attack took at least one down!


    While the fighter tanks started attacking from one side, Rey and Lan Deming started tactically using the grenades they had found.


    They had initially hoped that these insects would be afraid of the fire because of how dark it was currently, but that was not the case. They did not seem to be bothered by the fire at all.


    The good news was that they were at least taking damage. The st effect of the grenade kicked up a storm of fire and dust that brought down dozens of these insects.


    "Try throwing some at the hive!" Alex reminded them.


    Rey and Lan Deming also had the same n, as they spared a few grenades for the hive hill. If they took down the source, then perhaps this would all be over.


    KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!


    Three grenades went off at the same time. The sts roared loudly as sparks, sand, metal, rocks, and dust erupted in the distance.


    Did it harm the hive?


    Everyone clenched their fists and held on, waiting to look at the result. However¡­ when the smoke and dust cleared, once again, only a dead end awaited them.


    The damned hill was still standing, and more insects were creeping out of it!


    While the grenades were effective against the insects, they did not even leave a scratch on the hive hill!


    "It''s fine! It''s fine! KEEP FIGHTING!" Alex shouted in a hoarse voice. "Keep fighting, and we will eventually pull through!"


    Everyone nodded and continued without losing hope. Though their attempt might have failed, they still held the upper hand in this fight temporarily.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    KABOOM! KABOOM!


    Attacks roared loudly. The insects dropped from the skies and scattered on the ground lifelessly. They might not have gotten the hive hill, but they did a number of the insects.


    With the group attacking at full strength, grenades being tossed left and right, and the tanks firing at the swarm, it finally looked like they were about to get everything under control.


    And just as they began to push down on this small advantage, suddenly, an ear-shattering, screeching sound came out of the hill, capturing everyone''s attention.


    The several gazes turned to look at the hive hill when a look of utter horror appeared in them. Right in front of their eyes, more insects shot out from inside!


    And this time, these insects were almost double the size of the previous ones!


    The swarm that had just started to thin down once again became unruly and endless!


    In just a second, everything instantly turned. With these bigger insects attacking from all sides, the trucks on either side of Alex and the others copsed immediately.


    The armored truck was now full of holes, and the cover they had temporarily arranged was no longer there.


    In fact, it was difficult to even see in this madness as there were only insects everywhere with no end in sight. The swarm had be so dense that every hitnded on an insect.


    At this point, it was impossible to avoid getting attacked. As if this was not enough, a few managed to slip through the defense, and Judah got stung by one of the insects.


    His movements immediately became slow and sluggish. "Fuck! These are poisonous!" Alex shouted, alerting everyone.


    But, it was unclear whether her voice was even heard or not. More and more insects poured in. It looked like soon, everyone would be in the same condition as Judah.

 Chapter 912 Get Lost, You Stupid Bugs!

    Dozens of bigger insects raided the small group of four, taking advantage of this situation. This time there was nowhere for the group to escape.


    Alex tried her best to use the divine shield to hold off, but the situation had gonepletely out of their control. They had finally lost it. Everyone was about to be fully and utterly demolished.


    She clenched her shield and her sword tightly in her hands as she stood firm, preparing to go all out on this next attack, no matter what the result was.


    Haaaa! She shouted at the top of her lungs and erected another divine shield barrier. However, to her surprise, instead of a weak barrier that barely held, something else popped out.


    A strong and resplendent one!


    Alex was shocked as she stared at her own skill with her mouth wide open. The next instant, a few more surprises popped out.


    Four bursts of attacks erupted on all four sides without any warning, four fire plumes rising high in the sky.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    These also came out of nowhere and instantly pushed away all the insects that were about to skewer the group. Insect parts rained from the sky, and green blood sttered everywhere.


    In the midst of thismotion, one voice loudly sounded.


    "Get lost, you stupid bugs!"


    Alex turned to see a little girl standing in the mess with her emerald crown gleaming despite the darkness, and behind her were other familiar faces. The rest of the group was finally here!


    Mei Mei, Shen Yue, Shin Soo, Lan Fen, and several others showed up one after the other. Just as everything was about to crumble, the other members of the crimson abyss guild all arrived, all forty of them!


    "You guys¡­" Alex was speechless.


    The truth was that Alex, Rey, Judah, and Lan Deming had unluckilynded right next to the hive hill when everything went down. So it was their fate that they had to fight this losing battle.


    However, these people did not have to do so. They could have waited for some rity, some sort of strategy, or at least for Liam to arrive.


    But instead, they had willingly walked into this swarm and thrown themselves right into the fire even though they didn''t have to. They hade here, risking their very lives all for the sake of four of them.


    Alex trembled as she felt a renewed strength surge in her body. At this moment, right now and right here, she felt proud to be a part of this guild and to fight alongside these people.


    Even if they died fighting here today, their lives amounting to nothing, it would still all be worth it.


    Haaaa! She shouted as she stomped her leg and sent out a st of divine radiance, blocking the dozens of insectsing for them.


    As soon as she was done, Lan Fen cast the next attack.


    "Ice Dome!" She shouted as the mana in the air danced to her tune and materialized a strong and sturdy wall of ice around them, enclosing the whole group.


    Huff. Huff. Huff. The slender woman panted as the single attack drained all of her energy, putting her out of breath, but her efforts did not go to waste.


    The chilling dome erected around the group protected them temporarily from the insects as numerous banging sounds could be heard.


    The swarm was tirelessly butting heads with the ice wall. It was breaking up little by little, but it definitely bought them a few seconds to breathe.


    "Alex! What is this? What is happening?" Shen Yue asked.


    "We don''t know, sis." Alex was too winded to speak, so Rey answered instead. "We were just dealing with the military group when suddenly shit hit the fan." He shrugged with a big sigh.


    "This should be the second wave of the apocalypse. Just like how the beasts had charged out of the portals, these insects also appeared out of nowhere." Alex exined further.


    "I am not sure how many are there. There could be stronger ones after this. Anything could happen at this point. We just have to keep fighting." She smiled tiredly.


    The others were also not better off. Everyone was tired and exhausted to their bones.


    They hurriedly drank mouthfuls of water and replenished themselves with some meat jerky and fluids as the sounds of the insects trying to shatter the ice dome became louder and louder.


    It was about to shatter anytime now, and once that happened, everyone knew that they again had to go all out and fight for their lives.


    This was probably the most difficult battle of their lives, and they had to seed no matter what.


    Thankfully, this time around, things were a lot different.


    With Mei Mei''s buff, everyone''s mana regeneration immediately surged.


    The number of capable tank-ss fighters was now two, and the number of long-range damage dealers and melee damage dealers had also increased, thereby pushing the total dps of the team to a bigger number.


    They also now had the option to rotate fighters, allowing others to catch their breaths for a moment. So perhaps this time wouldn''t be as bad.


    Everyone prepared themselves, and confidence and determination shone in their eyes. They had to do this! There was simply no other choice!


    "Attack the space in between the pincers!" Rey shouted as thest bits of the ice wall broke down, and their defenses shatteredpletely.


    Without wasting another second, the group of forty yers immediately went all out, charging forward at full speed. They formed a bigger tight-knit circle, and attacks flew out in all directions but in a coordinated fashion.


    The armored trucks they were using for cover had long since been damaged, so the swarm had full ess to the group. But that was where their advantage stopped.


    This time they couldn''t surround the group that easily. The fullbat strength of the guild was not something that could just be shrugged off.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 913 Not Enough?

    Forty was nowhere close to the full strength of the Crimson Abyss guild, but these people had been training together even before the apocalypse began, so their coordination andbat abilities were nothing to scoff at.


    And in front of these insects, they did not falter easily.


    The melee yers stood next to the tanks and made sure that they did not be overwhelmed.


    The long-range dps split into three groups, one recovering the mana and the other providing a backup for the tanks, and thest one taking out the insects one by one by aiming for their weak spot.


    Lan Fen and Lan Deming particrly stood out as their high mana affinity clearly showed in this battle.


    Lan Fen, especially, was taking out the insects left and right and pulling apart the swarm at a frightening speed.


    Lan Deming coordinated with Shin Soo and the two of them, along with Alex, kept the group from beingpletely surrounded in all directions.


    Other than these two, there were two more people who very obviously stood out. This was none other than Shen Yue and Mei Mei.


    At this time, the might of the two legendary items outshone everyone else, demonstrating just how overpowered they were.


    Merely equipping these items boosted the duo''s stats by ten levels at least, and thanks to their non-stop dungeon run in the past couple of days, their base level was also no longer 20.


    It was inching closer to 30, and with the legendary items equipped and their stat boosts, they were almost at Level 40!


    This might not be anywhere close to Liam''s power level at the moment, but taking out these insects was still within their limits.


    They were more than ready to y the numbers game of this swarm of weirdos that had shown up unexpectedly.


    With each stroke of the twin daggers, Shen yue was taking down at least five of the insects, sttering their green blood everywhere.


    Mei Mei''s attacks were like missiles that shot down the enemy, leaving no room for error. Whenever she cast her bigger, wider area range attacks, the insects fell by dozens.


    With these heavy punchers and everyone also pulling their weight in the group, the swarm quickly became tame, and their numbers were finally beginning to thin down.


    The dense, overwhelming bizarre tornado of insects was slowly starting to clear out.


    However, how could things be so easy?


    As the number of these insects started falling further, all of a sudden, a loud sound erupted from the hive hill.


    BOOM!


    A shockwave swept past everyone, bringing the guild''s attention to the hive hill. Everyone had a bad feeling, and just like they feared¡­ from within the hill, a second wave of insects started emerging.


    BZZT! BZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!


    A ringing noise jammed the entire space as more and more insects shot out from the hive hill, and the swarm once again became denser.


    As if this wasn''t enough, this time, weirdly, the insects seemed to be bigger in size!


    "What the hell are these?" Alex cursed out loud at thispletely unfair turn of events. Just when they thought that this evening was over, more bizarre creatures arrived.


    These insects were originally just half their size, and yet they were so difficult to manage thanks to their sheer numbers, but now things had suddenly gone from bad to worse.


    In this second wave, the insects were bigger in size, almost the same size as a human being or perhaps even bigger. But their speed was still the same.


    The bastards were quite fast and had cutting attacks that made it difficult for everyone to evade them. They were now also strong to boot and probably at a higher level.


    "We can do this! Group back up. Everyone, get together. Don''t break away. We can take care of this!" Alex shouted hoarsely. She did not want anyone to lose focus.


    She was going all out in tanking this second wave of insects. With Mei Mei and Shen Yue also standing firmly, she believed that the power of the legendary and the epic-grade items would stille through and help keep their advantage.


    The bigger insects were equally vulnerable to the twin serpentine daggers just like the smaller ones, and Shen Yue was easily taking down two to three at a time. Mei Mei''s attacks also hit hard, and the insects struggled to cope.


    After the initial surprise of the second second wave and the increase in the number of these insects, the group started slowly dealing with them all over again.


    Not to mention these insects were also a treasure trove of experience points.


    They did not have to run around. They did not have to farm for targets spending a lot of time. In the ce where they were standing, they werepletely surrounded by these insects.


    All they had to do was make sure that their every hit fell on an insect, and that wasn''t hard at all as they simply had to throw around their weapons blindly and would still hit something.


    The only catch was that they had to survive this terrifying nightmare somehow. If they did, then their growth would be tremendous.


    Experience points were raining down endlessly. Almost all of the guild members had leveled up twice, at least in just a span of a few minutes.


    From the looks of things, even killing these insects with grenades and guns gave away experience points.


    Hao Yuze was embarrassed to take advantage of this as everyone else was fighting outside with their lives on the line while he was sitting inside a fighter tank in a protective cocoon.


    Nevertheless, he did what he needed to do and took all the experience points that came his way by using the tanks non-stop.


    He was also providing cover for Alex whenever it became too difficult for her to handle the swarm in front of her, so he was being at least a little helpful.


    Lan Deming and Lan Fen had also leveled up three times.


    Everyone was bing stronger with each insect they put down, and because of the additional stat points they gained, fighting these nightmares was also bing easier.


    However, there was still a problem¡­ stamina!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 914 Fight To Death

    Stamina quickly became a huge issue.


    While everyone''s levels and stats were steadily increasing and making their lives easier, their stamina was only going down.


    It did not matter how many stat points they allocated to stamina, it was just not enough. The swarm was way too overwhelming.


    It''s already been 15 minutes since everything started, and thanks to the constant fighting, every single crimson abyss guild member was only barely hanging on.


    And at this time, the other dreadful advantage of these insects was slowly starting to rear its ugly head, the effect of their venom!


    Every single insect was capable of an attack that sprayed venom everywhere, and when they finally went down, their green blood also sshed in all directions.


    This seemed to be a defense mechanism of these insects which made sure to torment their enemies even after their death.


    While avoiding these poisonous fluids from one or two insects was doable, currently, everyone was being badgered by numerous insects from all directions.


    Even Alex''s tanking skills were only able to keep the numbers in check. She waspletely helpless when it came to preventing the horrid green sshes.


    It was proving to bepletely impossible to do anything about the venomous fluids that were spraying everywhere, and after the first few minutes, the effect of this started to show.


    Everyone''s movements became lethargic and started to slow down little by little.


    At first, this wasn''t obvious, but slowly the effects became pronounced.


    Their mental faculties, thinking abilities, the efficiency of their attacks, skill usage, and mana consumption, everything was gradually starting to deteriorate.


    While all the crimson abyss members were suffering from these symptoms, the weaker ones started to go down faster.


    And the two who suffered the most were Judah and Shin Soo. Though they were by no means weak, both of them were directly stung by these insects.


    Judah''s entire body had already begun to change color. He was one of the first to get attacked, and so he was currently in a bad state.


    Shin Soo was not doing any better as he had been stung more than once by these insects in his left arm. He was only still able to fight because he had just been stung.


    However, looking at Judah''s condition and how the damned terror was continuing to rain down without stopping, Shin Soo made a rash decision.


    He let out a raged howl as he bit his lips and, in one swift motion, chopped his own arm off to stop the spread of the poison.


    Alex froze when she saw this. Her reddened eyes became even more furious at these never-ending insects, and her heart clenched at her pathetic state.


    Liam had trusted her, but she was letting everyone down.


    Just when they managed to get a grip on things, stronger ones starteding out, and now once again, they were in hot water and only barely surviving.


    Not all of them might even survive when this was over. Heck, only a few of them might survive, if at all.


    The legendary items, the strong weapons, the skills that they brought over from within the game, none of it seemed to matter anymore.


    They had trained like maniacs in the dungeons and improved their skills. None of that mattered. In the end, it all came down to survival, and it did not look like they were going to.


    Everyone waspletely overpowered and on theirst straw. The advantage the insects had with their huge numbers was not something that could be easily handled.


    More and more people were getting stung and brought down by the poison.


    Not only Alex but everyone else also had bitter looks on their faces. They were all trying their best, but the situation was only getting out of their hands. They now understood the true horror of the apocalypse.


    When things first started, Liam was standing with them, and it did not seem so bad. However, now that he was not there, they could feel the real terror of this new world.


    Their own helplessness stared into their faces. There was nothing they could do, and nowhere they could run. They had to stand and face this new reality.


    At this time, no one could see past the swarm, but outside the whole mess, there was another group of people who had assembled.


    Lan Ganjie stood tall along with all the civilians of the Crimson Abyss guild.


    He observed everything with a heavy heart. He did not understand what was happening or where these bizarre insects had popped out from, but he knew one thing.


    They had to do something! They had to help their guild!


    He knew very well that most of the civilians were barely Level 5, and that was only because they had received assistance from others. Theirbat abilities, their experience, their knowledge, everything was a big fat zero.


    However, if they did not act now, then there would never be another chance to make up for this mistake. Even if it was simply running to their deaths, their best chance of survivaly in helping the main members of the guild right now.


    Perhaps with a little help, the bnce would shift. It might be wishful thinking, but it had to happen. With the main grouppletely destroyed, then there would be no chance whatsoever.


    Instead of waiting for their deaths, it was better to die fighting alongside their guild. So clenching his fists, Lan Ganjie gave thest and final order.


    Hemanded the civilians in the guild to step up and fight alongside everyone.


    They did not have the firearms or weapons required for everyone, so many directly jumped into the fight with roughmon weapons.


    They knew that this was most probably thest thing that they were going to do with their lives, but they still roared loudly and charged forward.


    It was their onest attempt to survive!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 915 We Fight Together, And We Die Together!

    As the civilians shouted loudly and rushed into the battlefield, things became a lot more chaotic.


    Gunfire sounded everywhere. Insects were getting cut down left and right. For a moment, there seemed to be more people on the battlefield whenpared to the insects.


    However, it was only for that moment.


    How could a handful of civilians make a difference in this nightmare?


    They only managed to take down a dozen or so insects here and there before starting to crumble and fall down.


    In just a couple of minutes, many people were badly injured, and several lost their hands and feet. Some casualties also started to pile up.


    And the insects did not stop there. As usual, they minced the dead bodies into meat paste and absorbed something from them.


    Watching their loved ones getting skewered like this into a meat pile and toyed around by these insects dealt a severe blow to morale. It was an unbearable sight to watch.


    The fact that a simr future awaited them also did not help with the situation. Everyone''s face turned deathly pale, and their actions faltered. The determination and courage they disyed at the beginning were no longer to be seen.


    When these insects could strike fear in the hearts of hardened fighters, how could these civilians stand any chance against them?


    The main force of the Crimson Abyss guild also saw this, and it pained their heart and soul. Right in front of them, their loved ones were willingly throwing themselves at death for them, and yet there was nothing they could do.


    They couldn''t save them, and they couldn''t even use this opportunity to give a blow to the insects. It was useless. Whatever they did waspletely useless.


    It was as if the moment they shed with this swarm head-on, they had already lost this battle. No one had any hope left anymore.


    "We fight together, and we die together!" Alex shouted at the top of her lungs as tears streamed from her eyes. She also wanted to give up, but as the leader here, she could not afford to do something like that.


    "We fight together, and we die together!"


    "We fight together, and we die together!"


    "We fight together, and we die together!"


    She kept shouting again and again like a maniac.


    She was also badly scratched in several ces, and several parts of her body were blue and purple because of the venomous attacks.


    It did not matter. If this was really their end, herst fight, then she was not going to fall just yet.


    However, the next second, four insects surrounded her and blitz-attacked her with the sole purpose of making her drop her shield.


    Rey tried to cover her, but he couldn''t evene close and failed. Several others near Alex as well could not step forward to help. Something was weird.


    Though the insects were only attacking randomly up until now, this time, they seemed to be cornering Alex on purpose.


    They cut off all her allies from all sides andpletely isted her. It was almost as if they knew who was the most dangerous threat at this moment. This was not a blind attack.


    "So they are also capable of critical thinking, huh?" Alex bitterly smiled as her final defense crumbled, and her shield dropped to the ground.


    Her stamina was close to zero, and her body was riddled with injuries. She simply couldn''t hold on any longer.


    Rey''s heart clenched. He knew he had to go to her no matter what. He rushed toward her by emptying out the mana he had and pushing himself beyond what he was capable of.


    Mana arrows scattered everywhere as he made his way through. However, he could onlyst for a few seconds. The insects zoomed toward him more and more,pletely freezing him in ce.


    It seemed as if they had made a collective decision to take care of Alex first, and they were targeting her more than others, using all of their strength.


    They did not even let her take a second break as one after the other bombarded her with attacks.


    "Bring it on!" Alex shouted and held on. If they wanted her, then they needed to do more!


    Alex was not ready to go down, but she was already well past her limit. No matter what she did, it was clear to her that she could only take it for 2 more seconds, and then¡­


    Tears streamed from her eyes. In the end, she failed again. She really was useless. They were all going to get annihted, and she could do nothing about it.


    She was simply not strong enough. She had tried her best, and yet it was nowhere close to being enough. For the first time, she felt true and utter helplessness.


    She had always been in the shadow of that man, and she did not realize how lucky she had been until today.


    Alex shivered. Thinking about Liam reminded her of the inevitable. When hees back and sees everything destroyed¡­ his sister¡­ Shen Yue¡­ she couldn''t even imagine the look on his face.


    And it would all be because she wasn''t good enough.


    If only he hadn''t gone¡­ if only he had been here today¡­ then none of this would have happened.


    Alex found herself thinking about that person again and again, and she felt utterly desperate.


    In the end, she did not even want him to rescue her from this misery. She just wished that she could see him one more time.


    How nice would it be if she could go back to that time when it all started back in the tutorial world¡­ when Mia, she, and Rey had watched the guy all day long perform some weird postures and make a fool out of himself.


    If only she could go back to that day, she would do so many things differently.


    "Don''t think about useless things when you are fighting."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 916 The Past Is Already The Past

    "Don''t think about useless things when you are fighting."


    Alex shuddered. She then smiled bitterly at her wishful thinking. This was not some rosy fairytale, this was the gory reality. There was no prince charminging to save her, let alone the devil.


    Had the poison already affected her so much that she was now starting to hallucinate?


    As her mind dulled, the familiar voice sounded again. "You did enough. I am here now."


    The next second, all she saw was a st of strong, violent mana, and instantly, screeching sounds of the insects filled the air as the space around her waspletely evacuated.


    Suddenly, there were no more insects?


    She felt a pair of warm hands hug her body and casually toss her somewhere furry and fluffy.


    Then some liquid trickled down her mouth that she quickly swallowed as she did not have the energy to spit it out, and also her throat was that parched.


    Surprisingly, as the liquid hit her stomach, a wave of warmth spread across her body, instantly relieving her of several aches and giving her a jolt of energy and stamina.


    "Huh?" Alex woke up to find herself on thep of the person who shouldn''t be here at the moment, and yet he was here.


    "You are here? But how? The others?" She looked around her in a panic to see that everyone else from Crimson Abyss was also standing safely near her.


    Ten wyvern soul minions stood around the group like ten immovable guards, not allowing even a single insect to enter their boundary.


    And as for the swarm that was big enough to engulf all of them¡­ they no longer had the advantage in numbers. Liam''s soul minions were already busy at work, ughtering their way through the swarm.


    Bright bursts of fire appeared here and there as Luna ran wild on the battlefield. The tiger and the lion were at it like always.


    Apart from the usual suspects, there was also a new soul minion that almost looked as bizarre as the insects as it had the upper body of a human being and the lower body of a spider.


    Alex became dazed as she watched this unbelievable scene.


    One second they were hopeless and near their deathbeds, but the next second, they werepletely overpowering their enemy and massacring them.


    The future did not look as bleak now.


    This was what real power and strength looked like.


    It was the ability to change the fates of hundreds in the blink of an eye. It was the utter domination of their enemies without lifting a finger.


    Alex smiled as she snuggled closer to the person holding her. A smile appeared on her lips which was a little sad and a little happy. "Thank you foring for us."


    Liam sighed and patted her. As soon as he saw the hive hill appear in the other area, he had a feeling that one could have appeared in their guild territory as well.


    So he immediately rushed here, and thankfully, he wasn''t toote.


    But the situation here was far worse than he had imagined.


    Originally, he had nned to let the guild take care of the second wave of the apocalypse by themselves in order to toughen them up a bit, but that was before he saw these bizarre insects that were not supposed to be here at the moment.


    With one look at the swarm that picked up speed around the hive hill, Liam knew he had to rush back to the guild instantly.


    Just like these people, he had alsoe in direct contact with another swarm, but with Luna as his ride, these insects could only dream of stopping him.


    The fox had really pushed herself to her limits and gotten back here, and luckily everyone was still standing. Liam did not want to think about what would have happened if he had been a few minuteste.


    Letting Alex rx a bit, he walked over to his sister and Shen Yue and hugged them both.


    "Brother, I am sorry." Mei Mei hugged him tightly and cried to her heart''s content, not at all caring that she was fully covered in greenish blood and nasty liquids.


    "Brother, I really tried my best. I fought very hard. I am so sorry. I am so sorry."


    Shen Yue also silently hugged Liam. Though she was not vocal like Mei Mei, her entire body was trembling.


    Just like Alex and Mei Mei, she also felt personally responsible for this failure. After all, she and Mei Mei were the only ones who possessed legendary items.


    Perhaps if Lan Deming had her daggers, he would have fared much better. She couldn''t shake this thought off her.


    Liam sighed and calmly consoled the both of them. He gently kissed the two girls, and after they settled down, he walked over to Rey, who was sitting silently on the side.


    "Are you also going to tell me that you are sorry?" Liam chuckled.


    And for the first time, it looked like the guy who was always smiling like the warm sunshine was not in any mood to smile orugh.


    "Liam¡­" Rey spoke seriously. "I need to do better. I will not let you down again."


    Liam shook his head helplessly. He could see that everyone was still in shock and hadn''t gotten over what had happened.


    This was normal. When someonees close to death, it would be an eye-opening experience and perhaps pave the way for a better future.


    However, this time things had really been too close.


    Liam never intended to put them in this kind of danger, especially without preparing them for it. If anything, this was a wake-up call for him as well.


    He should no longer be thinking of the past anymore. Everything was different now. The past was the past, and the present was the present.


    He had wanted to change himself, and now he sessfully did it. He changed himself so much that everything around him also changed drastically.


    If he still relied on the past to make decisions, then he would be a fool.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 917 Lsons

    Snapping out of his thoughts about the past, Liam used his [Inspect] skill to study the monstrous insects. It identified them as ''Isons''.


    <Ison, Level 25>


    <Ison, Level 31>


    <Ison, Level 23>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam eyed the several tags that popped out everywhere.


    "These guys are all level 20 and above. That''s why it was so difficult to deal with them." Liam exined everything to the rest of the group, partly to inform them and partly to not let them wallow in their helplessness any longer.


    Unlike him, they had no idea what they were even dealing with. He was able to see their levels thanks to his [Inspect] skill, but none one else possessed any skills like that.


    They did have a system just like everyone else on earth, but the system interface in the real world was nothing like the system interface back in the game world.


    The two systems were vastly different.


    While the one inside the game was extremely detailed, the one they had right now was a basic version, a very crude, almost useless one. With this, even the levels of the enemies were not visible.


    This was also why Liam had invested in the [Inspect] skill first and foremost. Now he was able to see what exactly they were up against.


    Hearing him talk about these nightmares, everyone else as well broke from their thoughts and silently nodded as they continued to listen to his analysis.


    Liam cleared his throat and exined the different advantages these so-called ''Ison'' creatures seemed to possess. This was not from the [Inspect] skill and rather from his own observations.


    He talked about their speed, dexterity, strength, agility, sharp physical structures, hard exoskeletons, acidic secretions, venomous secretions, the capability of absorbing something from corpses, and the intelligence to act together as a swarm.


    The list was long as he went on and on, talking about them.


    This was the first time Liam was also witnessing creatures like this.


    Just like the vampires, these guys had also popped out of nowhere, or rather from this strange hill-like structure, and with abilities he had almost no idea about.


    However, while he might be analyzing these insects in-depth, his soul minions were still ughtering them left and right as if they were nothing.


    Liam did not intervene and let his minions do the job while everyone else silently recovered from the safety of the sidelines.


    He also diluted some amount of the ''world seed'' water with regr water and distributed it in the group.


    They did not possess any antidote or healing spells at the moment that could help with the venom of these ''ison'' insects, but the diluted version of the ''world seed'' water itself was able to help most people.


    The only exception was Shin Soo who had lost his right hand in the fight.


    Liam looked at the guy and patted him on the back, not with pity but with pride. "Thank you. If you did not do this and continue to fight, there would have been more casualties. Maybe no one would have made it."


    Shin Soo shook his head helplessly. Who was thanking whom? Everyone here had to prostrate themselves to Liam and thank him, not the other way around.


    "Boss, I should be the one thanking you." He said, forcing a smile.


    In his heart, there was a small thought that he couldn''t shake off. With his current condition, perhaps this was thest time he could be of any real help to Liam.


    Liam once again patted him. He could read the guy''s mind clearly. "Mmm. Don''t worry. You won''t always be like this."


    Seeing his confident smile, Shin Soo couldn''t help but be hopeful. He was about to say something when their conversation was interrupted by a white fox who pranced toward them happily.


    This little thing¡­ couldn''t she read the mood here? Liam sighed.


    He stared at the naughty fox, who was grinning from ear to ear in glee. Moreover, her mouth was stuffed full of something.


    Hmmm? Liam raised his brow.


    The fox came closer, and she spat out the contents of her mouth, finally revealing the reason why she had been so happy!


    And this was because¡­


    She had actually spat out a mouthful of mana cores!


    Liam blinked as he saw the small heap of mana cores piled in front of him.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" He also couldn''t help but grin in excitement.


    His pulse raced rapidly as he picked up an ison''s corpse that was near him and broke its triangr carapace head.


    Immediately, green liquid spurted out. Inside the head, there was some sort of jelly-like brain, and¡­ along with it, a small shining crystal!


    This was undoubtedly a mana core!


    Did that mean¡­


    "Luna, do all of them have these mana cores?" Liam asked in a hurry.


    And just like he wanted, the fox also nodded, shaking her head up and down in a frenzy.


    "All of them have mana cores, master!" Luna proudly announced her finding.


    She jumped onto Liam for some well-deserved pats, and he helplessly grinned, spoiling her rotten.


    This was good. This was too good to be true. With disaster came opportunity!


    In his past life, in the original second wave of the apocalypse, only beasts emerged, and not all of them had mana cores. Only a small percentage had, and there was nothing they could do using that little amount.


    But looking at this swarm and the sheer numbers of these isons, the mana core haul was going to be very significant. Moreover, this was just one swarm.


    If, just like the portals, many of these hill hives had popped out all over the world, then their progress this time was going to be explosive.


    They could not only level up quicker using their swarms but also get enough mana cores to actually purchase something from the damned magic shops, which at this point, were useless shops just for show.


    If he wanted what happened today never to repeat again, these mana cores would be the key! Perhaps this swarm itself was the solution for that!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 6~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 918 Kick Them All Out!

    Liam pondered silently as he ignored the numerous experience points notifications he was receiving every second.


    This was definitely a good starting point for training everyone, maybe even better than the dungeons. There was no doubt about it.


    These insect levels were quite significant. He might be getting very few experience points thanks to his army of soul minions who were also sharing his pot, but the others would get boosted a lot.


    Not only that, but they would also get a bounty of mana cores along with the experience point chunks. If they get enough mana cores, then they could finally invest in valuable skills.


    "We should start with a healing skill." Liam thought out loud.


    Though he could probably use some other skills, a basic healing skill was necessary for a guild. It was time they started nurturing a group of healers. Otherwise, they would eventually fall behind.


    He thought about a few more things while the soul minions worked tirelessly to get rid of everyst one of the isons.


    <Ding> You have gained 1 experience point


    <Ding> You have gained 1 experience point


    <Ding> You have gained 1 experience point


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    With each ison that fell, experience points also steadily poured in. It was not much, but when hundreds and thousands of bugs were squished to their death, it was something.


    After all, Liam and his soul minions were hogging all the experience points to themselves, but no one had anyints about that.


    Everyone had already fought to their heart''s content. They had gained a lot and, at the same time, lost a lot in this dreadful fight. They did not have the strength to do anything more.


    Liam saw all the tired faces and decided to address them first. "Everyone should go back and rest for the day. You have survived. You have all done exceedingly well. I am very proud of you."


    "You have nothing to worry about now. I am here, and I will take care of everything. Just be vignt and let me know if you see something suspicious or unusual. Rest well!"


    All the gathered civilians looked at Liam with gratitude.


    Though some of them were rted to Crimson Abyss members back from the game and were already quite close to Liam, most of them were new people.


    After the apocalypse, they all had favorable opinions of this young person who had shown up out of nowhere and taken the initiative to lead them and protect them, but that was about it.


    They might be loyal to the guild, but it was out only of necessity and the fact that they had no other choice.


    However, all of that changed today.


    Aftering so close to death today and seeing something they had never even dreamt of in their wildest nightmare, each and every single person in the guild was beyond grateful to Liam.


    Though they all started dispersing silently after Liam finished his little speech, in most of their hearts, they were extremely thankful for having found a shelter like this in desperate times and, more importantly, having found a leader like this.


    Many even resolved to work harder in theing days to pay back for all of this kindness and generosity. They were also inspired to be stronger and be pirs of themunity, just like the main fighters of the guild.


    In this new world that did not make sense, this was the only way to live and the only way to survive!


    The crowd slowly returned back to their respective houses and other amodations, and along with them, some of thebat group also returned to make sure that there were no stray insects wandering about here and there.


    Only Alex, Rey, Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and a few others stayed back. The old chief Lan Ganjie was also waiting along with them.


    After overseeing everything, Lan Ganjie walked over to Liam with a tired smile. He had a look of gratitude on his face. He did not know how to express his thanks to the young man standing in front of him.


    He really thought that today was the end of it and also prepared himself to face the music, but he was saved yet again! It was all because of this one person standing in front of him.


    "Mr. Liam¡­" He started, but unexpectedly, Liam immediately waved at him. "Oh! I was looking for you! Did you happen to note down the people who fled the scene when they were called to fight?"


    Lan Ganjie was startled for a second, but then he slowly nodded with a bitter smile.


    Of course, saving everyone was a tremendous achievement for someone like him, but¡­ this person probably did not even break a sweat while doing this. It was business as usual for him. After all, he had not done any of this expecting their gratitude in return.


    "Yes, guild leader. I indeed remember a few names, but not all of them." Lan Ganjie smiled and replied.


    "Alright. That''s good enough. Now I need you to kick all of them out of the guild without any exceptions. They will not be allowed to enter the guild again."


    Lan Ganjie nodded. Though this might be very harsh because almost everyone was gripped with fear and had no control over how they acted, it was still necessary to do this.


    ? In fact, they were only able to survive because of those who overcame this fear and stood their ground and fought back, even if it was a little. Otherwise, everyone would have been wiped out.


    That too, after this incident, it became very clear that this was just the beginning. The peace that they had been enjoying for the past two weeks was just a dream.


    Lan Ganjie was not foolish enough to think that something like that was achievable. The world had permanently changed, and they also had to change ordingly in order to survive.


    In the future, there will definitely be more situations like this, and if someone did not want to give their all to the guild, then they truly had no ce here.

 Chapter 919 Mountain Of Gold

    A few minutester, the crowd cleared, and the swarm was also taken care ofpletely by the army of soul minions. The area that was only just now swirling with deadly creatures was suddenly silent and still as if it was a calm and serene pic area.


    This was if one ignored the numerous corpses that were littered around on the ground forming small hills, and the heavy pungent smell that hung in the air, showing no intentions of clearing up.


    The green blood of the insects was not only poisonous and acidic, but it also had a rotting smell that was enough to suffocate anyone.


    Luna''s face contorted in weird angles as the little fox couldn''t stand being in this stupid area for any moment longer.


    Liam patted her with a smile as he checked an old notification on his system interface.


    <Ding. You have leveled up>


    He hadn''t noticed it before as he had been jumping from one fire to another, but with all the vampires and this ison swarm, he had finally leveled up and was also decently progressing to the next level.


    "Hmmm¡­ Luna¡­ How many of these hills do you think popped out?" Liam grinned.


    If things go well, he just might be able to hit level 100 just farming these isons? At least from the ridiculous numbers of corpses, this seemed very much possible.


    Moreover, these corpses were not in the least ordinary, and so was the hive hill. They could potentially harvest a lot of precious materials just from these corpses.


    It looked like someone else also had the same opinion. Alex had already recovered and was starting to break apart these insects, patiently digging out mana cores from each one and examining the wings, limbs, and pincers.


    Seeing her take the initiative, others as well prepared to help a bit, but Liam immediately interrupted all of them.


    "Stop. that''s not necessary. We still don''t know what parts of these things are poisonous. Why don''t you guys also rest some more? The second wave has already begun, so the next few days are going to get busy."


    Alex instantly opened her mouth to retort something, but as she saw the numerous soul minions now scurrying around to process the corpses and remove the mana cores, she just stopped in her spot speechlessly.


    The numerous soul minions worked like well-oiled machines, all tuned to perfection. First, they killed everything in sight, and now they began dutifully harvesting the bounty, leaving no part go to waste.


    The wings, pincers, brain, limbs, tough exoskeleton, blood, stinger, and every single part was carefully harvested. Since they were soul minions, they also did not have to worry about the poisonous or acidic stuff sshing on them, so the entire process was very fast and efficient.


    "Alright." Liam dusted his hands and looked at Luna. Now that this task was proceeding smoothly, it was time to pay a visit to this mysterious structure in front of them.


    As he walked forward toward the huge hill, this time, Alex, Rey, Shen Yue, and a few others started apanying him.


    Liam once again wanted to ask them to stay back, but seeing the look of determination on their faces, he decided to allow it. They had to face these things by themselves sooner orter, so what was the point of babysitting them?


    He walked closer to the hill and examined it in detail. Immediately he received a surprise.


    "This¡­" Alex gasped. The others also revealed a simr shocked expression.


    This was because the hill in front of them was actually made of metal? Everyone checked it properly, and it was unmistakably made of metal.


    Though at first nce, it seemed to be made of mud and rocks, on closer look, it was just the outer coating. Once this outeryer was removed, the inside had a metallic gleam to it.


    "Inspect," Liam mumbled as he ran his hands over the strange golden metal. He did not expect actually to receive an answer, but to his surprise, the system''s answer dinged back immediately.


    <Ding. Orichalcum: A versatile metal with numerous properties. It is mainly known for its mana conductivity and its strength. It is one of the widely used materials in manufacturing magic weapons>


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock as he read through the description again and again whilst also looking at the gigantic hill in front of him.


    This entire thing was made of precious metal? This huge structure in front of him was full of usable raw material?


    Both the master''s and the fox''s eyes glittered with dor signs as they stared at the hive hill in awe. At this point, it might as well be a golden hill!


    "We need to tear this apart into bits and pieces!" Liam announced with a grin.


    Everyone nodded, and Alex, who was standing closest to him directly, went ahead to sh down the damn metallic hill near one of its hive openings.


    And just as she did that¡­ thud! She was flung aside on her butt!


    Grrrr!!! The redhead angrily red at the damned thing that almost killed them before and now had once again kicked her away. She wanted to tear it down if it was thest thing that she did.


    Liam couldn''t help himself and chuckled at her embarrassing disy. After Alex, Lan Deming prepared to take the next shot.


    "Wait. Wait. I think there should be some barrier of sorts covering this hill. I don''t think we will be able to enter or even touch the hill." Liam stepped forward and lifted his hand up, making a tight fist.


    Naturally, this was not going to be easy. This world was not that generous to give them a great leveling opportunity like this, plenty of mana cores and a huge chunk of precious metal on top of that.


    However, he was something that shouldn''t exist in the world right now, just like the hive hill, and his level was not something others couldpete with.


    Liam pulled his hand back and started churning his mana core. Threads of mana started wrapping around his fist, and in one swift motion, he sent a punch forward.

 Chapter 920 Lnside The Hive Hill

    Bang!


    Liam''s fist collided with the golden metallic structure, and the whole thing shuddered.


    Everyone took a step back as they saw a thin barrier light up. The thing covered the whole hill and was also quite strong. It looked like even Liam''s attack was not enough to break it.


    However, Liam was not done yet. After the first punch, he repeated the same thing and punched at the same spot over and over again and again.


    With his bloody clothes and his dirty hair sticking to his body,bined with the slime, the putrid blood from the vampires, and the green blood from the insects, he looked like a maniac.


    Haaa! Haaa! Haaa! Haaa!


    He sent about twenty punches, all aimed at the same spot as if he was taking out his frustration about something else on this barrier in front of him.


    The next second, he drew his ck dragon sword and doused it with fiery mana before repeatedly shing at the same spot.


    While just the strength of his punches was not nearly enough to shake the barrier, the attacks from the ck dragon sword seemed to be more than sufficient.


    sh! sh! sh!


    This time it only took him three attacks.


    When he shed down at the barrier for the third time, small cracks started appearing from the spot where the sword had cut the energy.


    "Got you!" Liam aimed for the same spot and sent a few more attacks until these small cracks started spreading, and finally, a whole chunk of the barrier copsed.


    This, in turn, led to more cracks appearing, which soon spread to the rest of the barrier as well, and the whole thing then ended uppletely shattering and disappearing.


    "Let''s get in first." Liam stepped forward and touched the naked metallic structure. Though no more insects wereing out, he did not want to take any chances.


    He had had enough of these surprisestely, so he decided first to make sure that the whole thing had already been emptied out from top to bottom and there was nothing more inside.


    Following Liam, Alex and the rest of the main group entered the golden pyramid-like structure one after the other.


    Since the isons varied in size and especially the second wave being almost the same height as them or perhaps even taller, no one had any issues entering the structure through the numerous holes.


    However, the moment they stepped inside, a rancid pungent smell assaulted them.


    The metallic exterior was clean and crisp, with just its golden luster shining brightly. The same couldn''t be said for the interior.


    Inside the pyramid-like structure, the entire space was like a maze with long corridors and turns everywhere. Not to mention, there was sticky greenish goo dripping from all ces.


    Kyuuuu!


    Suddenly Luna dashed forward and directly jumped into a cluster of something. Liam and the others hurried after her to see what it was, only to notice a bunch of cracked eggshells.


    The white fox grinned happily, greenish liquid sticking all over her.


    "Master, there were some eggs here. I destroyed everything!" She happily dered, not in the least bothered about the poisonous nature of the blood.


    Liam was concerned for a second, but then he remembered that one of the items the little glutton in front of him had swallowed was the poison me.


    In fact, he had never seen the fox affected by poison to date.


    He had always chalked this up to her superior physique as a celestial beast but now he was starting to wonder if she had a genuine poison immunity.


    Perhaps the fox was trying to assimte the second me?


    He quietly looked at her for a second and decided to talk to the fox about thister after finishing the task at hand first.


    "Insect eggs? So more could havee out, huh?" Liam returned his attention to the isons.


    He picked up one egg that was not particrly damaged and also took out a backpack from his storage space. He then ced the egg in his backpack carefully.


    Hmmm? Alex looked at him questioningly.


    "I need to find out if these things are worth anything." Liam shrugged.


    "..." Everyone was speechless.


    Here they were wondering what new terror was going to pop out from this random alien pyramid, but their guild leader was on an entirely different page. He might as well be a thief who hade in to rob the house of someone rich.


    Of course, Rey was immediately inspired and started collecting a few more eggs, handing them all over to Liam. "Bro, here''s some more."


    Alex rolled her eyes. "Look one is hatching." She yfully teased her brother, who immediately dropped the whole bunch of eggs.


    "Fuck!" Rey looked a little angry. "Sis! You are costing me money! This is not funny!"


    "Idiot. Stop trying to me your stupidity on me."


    "Cough. Cough. That''s enough." Liam quickly intervened before the brother and sister pair could go at it again.


    "No need to take more. We can first find out if this egg is valuable or not andter on collect them from other pyramids." He then proceeded to destroy another cluster of eggs that was right in front of them.


    Everyone watched in a daze as Liam''s words had only reminded them that there could be more than one of these terror-inducing swarms and if they also evolved at the speed at which the other beasts were evolving¡­ gasp!


    They could potentially be facing a swarm of Level 50 or perhaps even higher-level insects in just a few weeks'' time.


    Just the mere thought was blood-curdling!


    Everyone snapped out of it and continued forward in a rush without messing around any longer. Even Luna was serious as she went ahead of everyone and roasted all the eggs in sight.


    The group quickly walked through the pyramid, exploring all corners of the interior, which were mostly long passageways and sharp turns.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 921 More Eggs...

    The group quickly walked through the pyramid, exploring all corners of the interior, which were mostly long passageways and sharp turns.


    After a few minutes, they still did note across anything significant except for more of the unhatched eggs and the greenish goo sticky fluids.


    For all they knew, they could even be walking around in circles!


    "Alright. This is enough." Liam finally stopped. Without any warning, he once again pulled out the ck dragon sword and started shing it randomly around him.


    sh! sh! sh!


    sh! sh! sh!


    The fiery cuts of the ck dragon sword flew around, wreaking havoc in the enclosed space that was barely enough for two people to pass through at a time.


    Just like the barrier, the metallic interior also couldn''t hold up against the attacks from the ck dragon sword.


    Pieces of metallic bs rained down from all sides, nging as they hit the ground.


    "Liam¡­ Are you sure?" Alex hesitantly mumbled.


    The walls around them were literallying down. Not knowing anything about the inner structure of this pyramid, she was worried that the whole damn thing was simply going toe down and copse on them.


    Just in case, everyone inched closer to the fox, who was the only one who had the ability to fly amongst them.


    Luna, on the other hand, did not care about that. The little fox ran around here and there happily and quickly gathered all the metal pieces with a grin. She then meticulously piled up everything next to Liam, licking her lips.


    These two! Like master, like pet!


    Not only was Liam behaving like a looter, but the little one also had the same intentions.


    While the others trembled nervously, the duo continued acting together and pulling apart everything around them, breaking down the walls left and right.


    Soon the narrow passageway was no longer there.


    In fact, everything around them seemed to be taken down, with them currently standing on a very small tform supported by something somewhat stable.


    The thing even gently swayed.


    However, the most important part was the huge gaping hole in front of them.


    Unlike the small, maze-like exterior chambers of the pyramidal structure that were nothing more than corridors, the inner core was one big hollow room.


    It seemed to upy almost 50% or perhaps more of the entire pyramid''s volume.


    Hmmmm¡­ Liam immediately jumped down onto the floor or the base of this big chamber. Luna followed him close by, but the others couldn''t jump that height so casually.


    They looked around and saw various golden threads connecting the edges of the base with the different hive exits. In the corridor, or at least what was left of the corridor they were standing on, there were a couple of these threads as well.


    They jumped around a little and grabbed onto one of the threads, and slid their way to the bottom of the base.


    Alex went down first, and others followed her example. They would need to be daredevils to try something like this before, but now with their improved stats and abilities, it was not quite scary.


    Meanwhile, at the bottom of the inner chamber, or what appeared to be the core part of the pyramid, Liam and Luna were already walking around, taking a look at the scene around them.


    Once again, this area was also made of the same metal with the golden luster, Orichalcum. Surprisingly, there was nothing else noteworthy.


    Liam''s gaze then fell upon a few eggs piled on the side. When he observed closely, these eggs were slightly bigger than the eggs he had seen before. Their shells also seemed to be shinier.


    He picked up one of these eggs as well and stored it for analysis purposes. As an after thought, he picked up a few more and stored it into his spatial artifact as well.


    He looked around for a couple more minutes and did not really find anything else other than eggs and more eggs.


    "So I guess everything that hatched came out, and these are just the leftovers." There did not seem to be much else to this hive hill.


    "Ok. It''s time to harvest the metal and then get the hell out of here." He signaled to Luna and the rest of the group as well, who were just now looking around.


    Liam took a deep breath and summoned his army of soul minions, or rather the stronger half of them, leaving the other half to still work outside on the field where they were gathering mana cores and valuable parts from the isons.


    "Go and break everything in this pyramid. Collect all the metal bs and call me if there is something alive."


    He also left Luna behind to supervise the task force in case there was still a stronger enemy hiding somewhere in this messy ce.


    He then, along with the others, walked out through one of the exits of the hive hill. "I am going to the magic shop now. What are you guys nning to do?"


    Liam summoned his undead condor as his recement ride. He spoke as he walked over to collect all the glittering mana cores piled up nearby by his hard-working soul minions.


    "You guys want to tag along?" He turned to look at Alex and the others, but surprisingly everyone shook their heads. Even Shen Yue and Mei Mei did not want toe?


    Liam smiled. "Are you nning on taking some rest?" He teased them, knowing full well what they probably nned to do.


    However, no one seemed to be in the mood to joke. Alex shook her head again and gave a serious reply. "We will be training in the dungeon."


    "Ok. Good luck." Liam understood their thoughts very well and did not ask anything further. "Then we will all meet in about 5 to 6 hours?" Everyone agreed and went their separate ways.


    Liam hopped onto the undead condor that was not nearly asfortable to ride as the soft and fluffy white fox and soon arrived at the magic shop.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 922 Why Dont You Just Submit The Damn Quests?

    A couple of minutester¡­ Liam stood in front of the magic shop. He wondered if he was going to get the answers he needed today or, once again, the conversation would just be a polished no.


    "Sigh. Dealing with that cunning thief is a lot easier than dealing with this woman!"


    He scratched his head and walked into the shop. Surprisingly, the fairies inside seemed to be in some sort of hustle and bustle.


    The shop attendants were busy checking their system interface and running around here and there. It was as if the ce had been lit on fire, very different from the normalid back atmosphere.


    "Is something going on?" Liam walked in and went straight to one of the shop quest desks.


    Now that the second wave of the apocalypse was already here, he wanted to know if the quests given out by the shop had been updated to newer ones rting to these isons.


    He hurriedly opened the system interface and looked at the disyed quests. Bingo! Just like he had thought, there were indeed newer quests, but the only problem was that¡­


    "Why are most of these quests asking for the Orichalcum metal?" Liam frowned.


    There were a few quests that asked for the ison wings and so on, which he immediately submitted, but these were also quickly reced with newer quests asking for the Orichalcum metal.


    "What? You don''t have any Orichalcum with you?"


    "No. that''s not it." Liam answered absent-mindedly as he was deeply thinking about something.


    "Then what is the problem? Why don''t you just submit the damn quests?"


    "Hmmm¡­ I wonder if it is worth-" He suddenly stopped answering mid-way as he realized whom he was talking to.


    Liam looked up with a warm smile at the fairy who had arrived by his side when he was engrossed in the quest details.


    "Greetings, Miss Tilia. How are you doing this fine morning?"


    "Hmph!" The store manager unexpectedly gave him the cold shoulder as she scoffed at him and walked away, not even bothering to talk to him any longer.


    Liam''s face twitched. Here he was, hoping not to rile this one up today, but it seemed like she was already in a bad mood?


    "I wonder why she is upset." He pondered for a second and then looked at the quests again, all of which were now asking for the same Orichalcum metal.


    "Hmmm¡­" After thinking it over for a few more minutes, Liam decided to turn this one in at ater time.


    He definitely had plenty of the metal, which was not the problem, but from the few things he came to know about this new metal using his [Inspect] skill, he could tell that it was a very valuable metal with several potential uses.


    In this case, would it really be prudent to use it for simple shop reputation quests such as this? Liam couldn''t help but think that it would be a waste to do something like this. So, in the end, he decided to hold off on it.


    Observing his actions from the side, a certain fairy visibly became even more furious. "This bastard!" She muttered under her breath as she stared daggers at Liam.


    At this point, not just Liam but anyone could feel the clear murderous auraing from her. Liam waspletely speechless. Just what the hell was wrong with this woman?


    He shrugged it off and closed the system interface. He then walked over to the next task at hand, which was to add all the mana cores to his shop card and then take a look at the skills he wanted to purchase.


    He approached one of the fairies at the sales desk, away from the woman who apparently wanted to kill him, and started taking out the ison mana cores one after the other.


    "Can you put this on my store card?"


    "Sure, Mr. Liam. Give me a moment." The fairy gave a small nervous smile and immediately got to work. While she was busy, Liam gave one more nce at Tilia, only to find that she was still trying to make a hole in his back.


    ''Seriously, what is wrong with her?''


    Liam shook it off and paid attention to the fairy, who was now exining a few things to him.


    "Mr. Liam, these are top-quality mana cores and hence will be counted at the ratio of 1:1.5, which means every single mana core will be taken as one and a half instead of one. Are you still willing to exchange them?"


    "Yes, sure." Liam nodded. Mana cores might be valuable, but for now, he really needed to invest in some skill books for the guild.


    The fairy then busied herself, finalizing the numbers and ounting for all the mana cores Liam had heaped up in front of her.


    While she did that, Liam opened up the system interface once again to take a look at the avable skills. If he remembered it correctly, a basic healing spell was an F-rank or E-rank spell and was avable for everyone to see.


    "Its cost should be about¡­ 1 million mana cores," Liam murmured.


    The number of isons was definitely a lot, but he was not sure if he could scrape a million mana cores off of just those insects.


    "Were there really that many of them?" Liam wondered as his gaze fell upon the list of skills avable for purchase.


    First, all the F-Rank ones were listed, and as he went through the skill names one after the other, his eyes casually fell on their respective prices.


    Liam instantly froze, and he looked up with a shocked expression.


    The fairy in front of him was still busily working the numbers for him, so he couldn''t help but shift his gaze to the store manager, Tilia, standing in the corner and still silently fuming as if she wanted to murder him.


    However, now¡­ Liam understood the reason for that!


    All the skills in the shop were listed at a discount price!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 923 Your Taste Sucks, Just Like Your Face!

    Liam stopped staring at the angry fairy and once again looked at the prices. They were still the same. The discount was still there. He couldn''t believe it.


    It was one thing for the skills to be on offer or something simr and listed at a reduced price, just like every other retail store, but the discount here was¡­ an unbelievable 90%!


    All the skills were actually listed at 90% off!


    This meant that the 1 million mana core healing skill now only cost 100,000 mana cores.


    "What the hell is this?" Liamughed at the unexpected surprise.


    No wonder the store manager looked like she was ready to murder him! Anyone would be pissed off if they were forced to sell their stock for such huge discounts!


    "Hmmm¡­ that should indeed be the case."


    Liam was quite sure that it was not the fairy''s idea to do such a thing.


    Perhaps because the second wave was more difficult than it should have been, this new sale had popped up to provide some sort of help to everyone on earth?


    Well, he did not really care about the reason.


    Liam grinned. Since there was a sale going on, it was time to go on a shopping spree! He was going to utilize this unexpected surprise fully!


    He looked at the fairy in front of him and emptied all the mana cores he had in his spatial artifact, even the higher-grade ones that had an exchange rate of about 10000 per mana core.


    It took some more time, but in the end, the grand total came to a whopping total of 355,000. He could buy not one but 3 skill books with this!


    Liam''s gaze hurriedly ran through the big list of skills. From that, he quickly picked out three that were no-brainers.


    First was the [Lesser Heal] skill which he had already decided. Next was the [Lesser Cleanse] skill, as their next n of action would mainly need this skill, and for thest one, he selected a utility skill for himself, [Stealth].


    Just like [Inspect], it was also very hard to gain actual insight into [Steath] skill and learn it on one''s own efforts.


    In fact, all three [Lesser Heal], [Lesser Cleanse], and [Stealth] were even listed by the system as umon skills, thereby acknowledging the difficulty in learning them. So they were definitely worthwhile investments.


    "I will learn this one and take these two to go." Liam smiled at the fairy after confirming his choices.


    "Mr. Liam, are you sure? If you purchase the skills as skill books, then there is a chance that they could be stolen from you. Purchased skill books are not bound to the customers. It is better to learn them right away. I would strongly advise you to do that." The fairy quickly exined.


    Liam smiled, "That''s fine. I will keep an eye out for these robbers."


    "Confident, are we?"


    Liam turned to see Tilia once again walking over to him, and her mood hadn''t gotten any better. The other fairy meanwhile retrieved the two skill books and handed them over to Liam.


    "Are you not submitting any more quests?" Tilia asked him again. "It seems like you have a handle on everything and even managed to gather quite a lot of mana cores."


    The fairy''s eyes glittered as she gazed coldly at the two books in Liam''s hands. It was almost as if she did not want to let go of them.


    Liam ignored her and calmly ced the books in the backpack he was carrying.


    Tilia frowned at his actions for a moment, and her gaze met Liam''s. This time he did not break and continued staring at her, making the fairy quite uneasy.


    She quickly cleared her throat and came back to the main point. "As I was saying, shouldn''t you have some Orichalcum handy with you?"


    "Hmmm. I do have some." Liam calmly replied, making the woman''s face twitch.


    "And?" Tilia asked again.


    "I am just not interested in giving it up." Liam chuckled. He could see the fairy visibly bing angrier, but that couldn''t be helped. This only told him that his decision was correct.


    The metal was far more valuable than a simple shop reputation quest! There was no way he was going to submit it now!


    Instead, Liam took out another object from his backpack. "I am not selling any Orichalcum for now, but I do have these that I am looking to exchange. What will you offer?"


    Tilia bit her lips and looked at the object in Liam''s hand. Of course, it took her only one nce to recognize it. It was an ison egg.


    Immediately her frown deepened. "You want to trade this?" Her eyes twitched as she took the egg in her hands and returned it back to Liam. "This is just trash!" She coldly shot him down.


    Welp. Liam shrugged. He had another egg in his possession, so he took that one also out just to make sure both were useless.


    "What about this?" He asked the fairy, who for a moment looked as if she was shocked.


    However, the next second she cleared her throat and gave the same response. "Also useless. Get this trash out of here before that ugly thing hatches."


    "That''s too bad. I really thought these could at least be useful as some cooking ingredients." Liam chuckled and shook his head before putting away both of the eggs.


    "They are poisonous," Tilia grumbled before walking away. "Who the heck would eat something poisonous and stinky like this? Your taste sucks, just like your face."


    Not in the least bothered by it, Liamughed at her remark as he took the next item. He was not done yet.


    "What about this?" He showed the other object from his spatial artifact and asked the fairy.


    And this time¡­ as Tilia turned and nced at the thing in Liam''s hand, the stunning fairy stood frozen like a statue right in the middle of the shop!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 924 Are All The Fairies Swindling Sons Ofbitches?

    "This¡­ this¡­" The fairy was speechless.


    Her eyes glittered as she couldn''t take them off of the small insignificant looking oddity in Liam''s hand.


    This was¡­ she stared at him in disbelief.


    She was not sure if Liam had recognized it or not, but she knew exactly what it was, something that shouldn''t be out in the open just yet.


    This was because the small item he was holding was none other than the world seed, an undoubtedly priceless treasure.


    Just how did this ruffian get his hands on something like this so soon? The corners of her lips twitched in anger and hatred.


    People in this realm shouldn''t even know about the existence of this world seed so soon. At this time, barely the second wave of the apocalypse had started. So how on earth did this fellow sniff this out already?


    Perhaps he did not know anything about it and had simply fallen face down in this pile of luck?! Yes, that had to be it. Tilia was sure of it. Otherwise, it was impossible for something like this to happen.


    Tch. what an annoying person! Even luck was on his side! Tilia cursed Liam inwardly as she tried to keep a straight face.


    Meanwhile, Liam smiled again. "Can you give me an exchange rate for this as well? Wait, my bad. It can''t be that this is also useless, right? That would really be¡­"


    He watched the fairy''s face change into different colors as he continued bullshitting, but throughout the whole thing, she did not lose her cool even once. It was very impressive.


    "Ahem. No. You don''t have to worry about that. This particr item is indeed not useless." Tilia narrowed her eyes at Liam and then let out a sigh.


    "Ok, since you are the first person to register in our shop and have even made several purchases, including a guild registration, I will be generous with you."


    She paused for a moment before nodding as if she had reached a decision after a careful thought process.


    "You can trade that item with us for a million mana cores."


    "Oh? A million mana cores?" Liam made a surprised face.


    That''s right, you oaf! Come on, ept it! The fairy inwardly chided him.


    This single person in front of her had caused her shop a tremendous loss in just these few weeks since they opened up.


    He even refused to submit the Orchalcum metal bs, somehow finding out their true value. It was almost as if it was impossible to wrestle away profit from this hateful person''s hands.


    However¡­ all that would instantly change if she could just get her hands on this single item!


    After all, he had a world seed! The damned thug had a world seed!


    Tilia gulped lightly as she continued selling her offer, "Hmmm¡­ I wish I could go higher, but I am afraid it is not possible at the moment. You have seen the discounts at the shop."


    "But a million mana cores is a good payment. You can purchase 10 more skills with that amount which should put your strength at the top of this realm."


    "I can guarantee you that there is no one with 10 umon skills at the moment in your entire world."


    "Oh?" Liam once again looked shocked.


    "Then may I ask what this item is? I am curious to know what could be so valuable? I mean, getting 10 skills in exchange for this single thing¡­ must be something good?"


    Tilia''s right eye twitched, but she did not panic. Of course, he was going to suspect something. It was only natural to do so. That didn''t mean that she had lost her edge.


    Notying it on too thick, she just curtly answered him. "Ummm. Unfortunately, I am not able to divulge that information. I can only offer you a trade, I cannot exin anything else about the item."


    "Oh." Liam nodded. "That is indeed¡­ hmm¡­ then may I ask you one more doubt?"


    "I really cannot-" Tilia started, but Liam interrupted her with a crooked smile. "Don''t worry. Don''t worry. It''s not about this item. I just had a general doubt about the fairy race. Are all the fairies swindling sons of bitches?"


    "Mr. Liam!"


    "The other one wanted to pay me 10,000 mana cores for a dungeon crystal, and now you want to pay me a million mana cores for a world seed. You all must really think that human beings are fools, huh?"


    Tilia''s face changed from anger to being shocked as she had definitely not expected Liam to know about the world seed. Not only that, but he also possessed a dungeon crystal? Just where the heck did this guy hit this jackpot?


    This was bad. But wait¡­ did he know everything about it?


    Tilia tried to keep her calm and continued, "Hmmm. I am not sure about this other fairy you are talking about, Mr. Liam. But as far as I am concerned, I do believe that I offered you a very valid trade."


    "At this time, because of the discounts, one million mana cores is worth a lot in the shop. On the other hand, the world seed in your hand is pretty much worthless." Tilia shrugged.


    "Do you even know what it is, Mr. Liam? What can you do with a world seed? Don''t you think a million mana cores or five, which would be my best offer, is worth more to you at the moment than this strange thing that you know nothing about?"


    "Hmmm¡­ wise words that I should definitely think about. I will consider your offer and perhapse back at ater time." Liam chuckled and walked away.


    Tch. Tilia frowned, but she did not bother giving any more offers. It looked like he had already made up his mind if he couldn''t even be swayed slightly with 5 million mana cores.


    She could tell that his purpose ining here was never to sell the damn thing, to begin with. He most probably just wanted to collect some information about it. What a cunning person!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


    Please thank Exzistential for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 925 Take The Deal

    Seeing that Liam was about to walk away from the shop, Tilia clenched her fist and shouted after him in anger, "Take the offer, Mr. Liam. You need these skills."


    "If you think that you can easily hunt down the isons and get the same number of mana cores, then you are sorely mistaken. The isons are not so simple. If you underestimate them, you could even lose your life!"


    "Is that so? Thank you for the warning." Liam replied curtly and continued walking without even turning back to look at her.


    Tilia pursed her lips tightly and punched a desk near her. "Just wait, you bastard. Maybe you could have gotten the world seed by some shitty luck, but now that you have it, you are already doomed."


    "You should have listened to me and traded it for the million mana cores. Maybe then you could have kept your little life. Now you are done for. He He He."


    The fairy angrilyughed and then red at her underlings before turning back to her manager''s room. Now on top of the loss in the battleground, she also had to deal with this loss.


    Her only constion prize was the other magic shop in the territory that was almost doing as badly as her.


    "Was this the chump who paid his guild registration fees?" Tilia tapped her finger on her desk as she silently pondered with a smirk on her face.


    In fact, she would have been pissed at this situation also because she would have gained a lot more withte fees and other fees added to the guild registration than if the whole thing was paid in a single shot, but this sudden influx of cash had improved her standing a little among the other stores, so she wasn''t too bothered by it.


    "Maybe I should have a talk with Aron. That old fart should be a lot more pissed off at this bastard. He He He." The fairy grinned in silence as she stared at the nk wall in front of her, with numerous thoughts running through her mind.


    ***


    Outside the magic shop, Liam was already on his way back to the ison hill hive. Since he was not able to gather more information about the ''world seed'', he decided to deal with thatter.


    After all, the more pressing issue at hand was still these isons. The fact that the magic shops even began giving such massive discounts on their skill books and items was proof enough of how dangerous this new second wave of the apocalypse was.


    If one managed to survive this hurdle, then there were enormous gains to be had, including mana cores, precious materials, and a fast level-up, but the thing was¡­ surviving this wave was not that simple.


    Only because it was Liam was he able to take care of things because he managed to arrive at the spot on time. Without him, the rest of the Crimson Abyss was not at all able to cope with the swarm.


    And this was considering that the Crimson Abyss main team was present on the spot. They had epic-grade weapons, legendary items, experienced fighters, and mages and not to mention a decent number on their side.


    Yet, dealing with the swarm was next to impossible, thanks to the unbelievable number of insects and the array of poison attacks they had in their arsenal.


    The thing was, if Crimson Abyss faired so poorly in this second wave, then what about the others?


    Wouldn''t this single wave be enough to wipe out the rest of humanity and convert their world into a wastnd? What use were the advantages of this wave if no one survived to im them?


    Liam couldn''t help but shake the feeling as if he was missing something. They needed to visit another swarm to really understand this second wave. Also, it was time the guild had some decent training.


    After he arrived back at the base, he silently went to his designated residence. Everywhere around him, people were pretty much doing the same thing as the entire guild was exhausted from dealing with the swarm.


    There were also many casualties, and several people lost one or more of their limbs. So, on the whole, the atmosphere was very bleak. People were saying prayers for their loved ones, worrying about their own future and the uncertainties of their current life.


    Liam knew exactly how they felt because he was in their shoes once upon a time. However, he still had no answer or words of constion for them.


    If one wanted to survive, then one had to fight and be stronger. That was the only way. Even he was not above this rule.


    Maybe right now, everyone was too tired, worn out, and beaten down to realize this, but he was sure that at least some of them woulde to their senses after they had some time to think about things.


    He had also already had a chat with Lan Ganjie about this and gave permission for more people to step into the beginner''s dungeon for training. Unless anyone showed special promise, this was their starting point at the moment.


    As for the Crimson Abyss main team, Liam had ns of his own. "There are still three hours before the meeting time, I should take some rest."


    He walked into the residence and started rummaging through his spatial artifact for some food he had stored earlier when unexpectedly, three young and beautiful-looking women dressed in traditional maid uniforms came rushing towards him with small smiles on their faces.


    "Master, may I help you take a bath?"


    "Master, may I serve dinner for you?"


    "Master, may I remove all these soiled clothes?"


    Liam blinked and directly walked out of the residence to really make sure he was entering the right house. "Hmmm¡­ this does seem to be my house."


    Then what the hell was all this?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 926 Why Are You Plotting To Kill Me?

    Liam looked at the three young women in front of him, who seemed rather nervous. They were also clearly ufortable with what they were wearing, as the clothes were quite revealing in several ces.


    What was this new development? Was something going on in his own base without his knowledge?


    "Cough. Cough. Who are you all again?" Liam awkwardly asked the three maids.


    "So¡­ that''s what happened." He facepalmed after hearing the story from the three girls. Apparently, while all of Crimson Abyss was out training or doing something useful, there was a guy who took the time to do this task.


    "Why don''t one of you prepare something to eat for me?" Liam helplessly shook his head.


    "Here, you can just burn these clothes, and you, go and get Hao Yuze for me. And please change your clothes. If you really want to be maids, then it''s fine by me, but you don''t have to wear such degrading outfits."


    "Also, don''t think you will be receiving any special benefits just because you chose to be maids here in this house. It is better if you talk to the organizers and get other jobs. I am hardly here, and chances are that you won''t even get paid."


    After this small chat, the three women lingered around for some time before eventually deciding to leave and join another team with the excuse of wanting to be more helpful.


    Liam waved them away as he did not mind. He also did not hold this against them. In these uncertain times, it wasmon for people to want to be opportunistic. There was nothing wrong with that as long as they did not resort to backstabbing him or the guild.


    Shortly after they left, Hao Yuze came rushing to the residence. He looked rather excited to be summoned by Liam himself. However, when he arrived, he only saw a frown on the guild leader''s face.


    "Did I not help you? Why are you plotting to kill me?" Liam chuckled helplessly and shook his head. He was actually not joking. If Shen Yue had seen this, then¡­ Phew!


    "Ah¡­" Hao Yuze began sweating. "Are you talking about the maids, guild leader?" He asked, a little confused.


    "Of course. Wait, what else did you do?" Liam suddenly had a bad feeling.


    Hao Yuze immediately shook his head in nervousness. "No. No. Nothing. Nothing. Sorry, I only took the liberty to arrange some maids for you. Otherwise, I am only doing what we discussed before. I started working on the radiomunications channels and the electricity supply."


    "OK. All of that is good. Keep working hard and do what you arefortable doing. I know you don''t want to train inbat, I would suggest that you rethink that, but ultimately it is up to you. I will not interfere. There are many ways to earn contribution points in the guild. Just don''t go appointing maids for me again." Liam awkwardlyughed.


    "Our base is not like the military base. Here food andforts like residence and etc., are rationed based on contribution points, but there is no special treatment for anyone when ites to other things. No one will be forced to do something they don''t want, men or women."


    Hao Yuze nodded in embarrassment. He wanted to say that he actually did not force anyone, and several women had jumped at the chance to be personal maids for Liam all by themselves, but he kept quiet.


    Liam chatted with the guy a bit more before sending him away. He did not know how many more of these dealings were going around within the guild base.


    When there was no government and no organization, these sorts of things weremon, and people tried to seek out easier routes to earn food, shelter, and protection. While these dealings were eptable to some extent, they could easily turn into exploitation.


    Haaaa! Liam sighed in exasperation as he couldn''t believe that even his guild had problems like this. In hisst life, the Gu family''s guild was gued by issues like this. Just like the military base, most of the women there were prostitutes and ves.


    He did not want the same situation to repeat in his guild as well, but he was too tired to deal with these things. He decided to remind Lan Ganjieter about this issue, and for now, he let out a sigh and started using the hot water the maids had prepared for him to clean himself up.


    However, even this small task was tiring as he waspletely exhausted from thest fight or, rather, the constant tense state he was in for thest couple of days.


    Starting with the spider beast, the vampire lords, the blood effigy, the unknown golden crimson essence that was fighting with him for that soul fragment, andstly, these isons; this was the first break he had after dealing with everything.


    "Maybe the maids were not a bad idea¡­" Liam inwardly chuckled. Hested two more seconds before giving up and summoning the two vampire twins to his side.


    As usual, they were extremely eager to please him and started reaching for a particr muscle, but Liam immediately stopped them. "Nope. Just give me a normal massage and help me take a bath. Also, wake me up in 3 hours."


    He silently closed his eyes and rxed, immediately falling asleep in the tub itself. When he groggily opened his eyes again, he did not see the vampire twins, rather, a pair of mesmerizing eyes met him, eyes filled with worry.


    He was lying on a clean,fortable bed, and Shen Yue was lying down right beside him. It seemed as if she was watching him the whole time and waiting for him to wake up.


    Liam reached out his hand and touched the warm face silently.


    Shen Yue shuddered at his touch. "Liam, are you okay?" She asked, her voice dripping with love. He was there to save everyone in the nick of time, but only now was she noticing how tired he looked.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 927 Training Time

    "Don''t worry. I am fine." Liam chuckled and pulled the girl closer to nt a kiss on her glistening lips. He then got out of bed in a rush, "Is everyone else here already?"


    "Yes." Shen Yue nodded.


    "Good." Liam quickly threw some clothes on and headed down immediately. It was time to start training the guild and harvest some more orichalcum metal.


    He walked into the hall to find all the faces staring at him. "How was the dungeon run?" He asked with a smile, seeing the sincere expression on everyone''s face.


    It looked like the near-death experience had left a deep mark on everyone. "I hope no one tired yourself outpletely." He added.


    Huh? The assembled crimson abyss members stared at Liam, wondering what he was talking about. Some people even began worrying if there was another swarming their way.


    "Why are you guys looking at me like this? I didn''t call you all here for dinner." Liamughed. "We will now be starting our guild training."


    No one still understood what this meant, so they looked at each other faces to see if anyone else knew what Liam was talking about.


    Right at this time, another person made an entry. It was none other than the VIP of the guild, the white fox. She swished her three tails and entered the residence arrogantly.


    "Alright. Let''s start moving." Liam directly walked over to the fox and jumped on her back. He then signaled to Shen Yue and Mei Mei, calling them both over as well.


    "Ah. Brother. Where are we going?" Mei Mei immediately became very excited.


    When Liam had mentioned training, she thought that it would be more dungeon runs or some other drills, but she did not think that her brother would also be personally apanying them.


    Shen Yue was also equally excited as she never got to spend any time with Liam.


    Most of the group also suddenly became energetic, with smiles on their tired faces. If it was training with Liam, then they knew that it wasn''t going to be anything ordinary, so even though they were nervous, they were also very excited about it.


    And then Liam opened his mouth. "We are going to find another swarm."


    Instantly, everyone''s faces changed. The excitement was reced by fear and nervousness as the memory of that nightmare was still fresh in their minds. They hesitantly looked at their guild leader, only to find Liam grinning widely.


    "Last time, you guys got defeated. So we are going to do a re-do!" He gave a thumbs up.


    Everyone gulped, still clearly nervous, but they also heard what Liam said. That was right.


    Last time they had been unprepared and failed, but this time, under no circumstance would they allow the same thing to happen again! Many of them silently swore in their hearts that they would not go down so easily when facing those monsters again.


    Liam could see that talking about it here was only doing so much good, so he urged the group to start moving. Shen Yue and Mei Mei walked over to Luna first and hopped on top of the fox.


    As for the rest of the Crimson Abyss main team¡­


    Just as everyone was thinking about how they were going to travel, Liam summoned the ten wyvern soul minions in his possession.


    Ten draconic creatures appeared out of thin air and, without any warning, started lining up outside the residence one after the other, forming a queue on the street.


    It scared the one or two bystanders who were walking on that side. Some people living nearby heard themotion and stepped out to stare at this unbelievable scene.


    "Feel free to get on top of whichever one you prefer!" Liam announced.


    Gasp! All the Crimson Abyss members walked out and stared at the wyverns in shock. This was definitely not the first time for many people to see these magnificent creatures, but sitting on top of them? It felt a bit¡­


    However, not caring about any of this, Alex walked over first and climbed the three-headed leader without any fear. Following her, Rey and Shin Soo did the same.


    The injured tank had only one hand, but he was stilling to the training. Liam nodded and did notment anything.


    Seeing these three, others as well started moving. Each and every single one of the Crimson Abyss members started climbing onto the wyverns one after the other, feeling extremely nervous.


    If they were not anxious about this so-called training expedition before, they were definitely now in that state. The wyverns awkwardly snorted as they lowered their body for all the assembled guild members to climb easily.


    While everyone else was adjusting themselves, Liam suddenly called the redhead. "Oh! Right! Alex, get back down here for a second." He then took out two books and handed them both to her.


    "Lesser healing and cleansing skills. Here, learn them."


    The redhead''s eyes immediately widened in shock. "How did you manage to get two of them? Don''t they cost like a million mana cores?"


    "There is a discount." Liam chuckled. He then turned to the group and addressed them again. "Right, there is another announcement."


    "I am giving these two divine affinity skill books to Alex because right now, she has the bestprehension of divine affinity skills among everyone here. So she has a better chance of figuring out these two skills."


    "Other healers can approach Alex in her free time and learn from her how to use these two skills. Those who sessfully manage to learn the skill from her will have special rewards."


    "Also, in this training trip, those who grab the maximum amount of kills will also have special rewards. These could be more skill books or items, depending on what you want."


    "Each skill book in the magic shop costs only 100,000 mana cores at the moment. So it is up to you guys to make use of this opportunity to the best that you can!"


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


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 Chapter 928 How Many Dangers Were Looming Around Them?

    What? Each skill book now only costs 100,000 mana cores?


    The entire guild couldn''t believe what they were hearing. How many times had they gone inside the magic shop and looked at these skills, yearning to buy a few and power level themselves?


    But, 1 million mana cores was simply an astronomical amount that no one could afford. No matter how much they wanted, this was just a pipe dream.


    However, now¡­ 100,000 mana cores? Yes, it was still a huge amount, but it was no longer an unattainable goal!


    Everyone watched in envy as Alex quickly opened both the two books she had received and learned the skills.


    The knowledge of the skill was engraved in a rune that was inscribed on the inside of the book. When she opened the book, the rune disappeared, leaving behind just an empty parchment sheet that immediately disintegrated.


    Alex''s eyes widened in surprise as she could feel an instant change somewhere within her.


    "It''s your soul," Liam exined. "The skills directly get added to your soul. Now you should be able to use them freely. It''s an instant effect."


    "Ya, you are correct." She quickly tried out the healing spell on a scratch that was on her hand. Right in front of everyone''s eyes, divine energy gathered in her hand, and the wound was gone without a mark.


    Everyone watched in awe, and Liam used this chance to remind the guild.


    "I know that you have all suffered a lot fighting against these isons, and it happened only today, but if you can push yourself, then this is an opportunity that perhaps we will not get a second time."


    "Your levels, yourbat experience, your skills, there is a chance for everything to go up! Let''s use this and push for the top!"


    Liam''s words sounded loudly in the otherwise silent room as everyone stared at him in shock. After that, it did not take long for the realization to sink in as the guild collectively roared with vigor!


    Who did not want more skills and more strength and power?


    Especially after feeling so helpless just hours before, everyone''s blood boiled as they thought about fighting that damned nightmare one more time and reiming the victory that should have been theirs in the first ce!


    After Liam''s rousing speech, the morale of the guild was high.


    Liam immediately gave the signal to Luna to start the trip without any further dy. She nodded and made a move.


    One by one, all the wyverns also pped their wings and elegantly rose high up in the sky. These majestic draconic creatures struck fear and respect in the hearts of everyone who watched them from afar.


    All the civilians who were currently in their houses resting and recovering from the battle rushed out to watch this scene.


    Even in their pathetic wounded condition, they couldn''t help but feel a sense of pride that these creatures belonged to their guild, to their guild leader. Everyone stood silently as they watched the whole gang disappear further into the skies.


    However, the majestic procession did not go too far, as they made a quick stop at the hive hill before leaving the guild base zone.


    Here, Liam alone jumped down from Luna and collected everything that his soul minions had harvested so far.


    There were several impressive heaps of ison body parts, their poisonous body fluids, some unhatched eggs, and,stly, glittering pieces of orichalcum metal bs.


    On the side, there was also a pile of mana cores which was separately being guarded by a soul minion.


    All the guild members watched this scene with their mouths agape as Liam casually went from one pile to another, collecting everything in sight as if it was nothing.


    Something like this was possible only by him or, rather, the tirelessly working soul minions.


    In just a few hours, almost all of the isons had been harvested, with only the hive hill now remaining. This hill which was entirely made of precious metal, was also partly harvested.


    If not for the difficulty of breaking it apart and procuring the metal bs, this work would have also beenpleted by now.


    Now they understood the rewards Liam had mentioned. No wonder he was able to get two skill books so easily.


    With these many mana cores up for grabs, it was time to get as many skill books as possible and boost their overall strength and power levels.


    As for the golden hill¡­


    "It''s fine. We can get to thister." Liam rubbed his chin and made a decision.


    Surviving this second wave and preparing for the worst came first. They need to be stronger. The other things can wait.


    Leaving the half-mined metallic pyramid standing there just like that, the group once again took off. Since Liam already knew the location of another one of these hive hills, he directly asked Luna to go there.


    The white fox shot through the sky in that direction, and the ten wyverns followed her, struggling to keep up and only barely seeding.


    The entire journey took about two hours since Luna did not use her [Blur] skill, and finally, the group arrived near the area.


    The first thing that everyone noticed was how thend around them was charred and battered, with small craters here and there. The ces that were not destroyed were dyed red in color.


    This was blood?


    They could feel the thick stench of blood that still had not cleared out of the zone. The whole ce had an aura of death that nketed it from top to bottom.


    There were rotting corpses smeared everywhere, most of them decayed and desated beyond recognition. These were definitely the tell-tale signs of a huge battle that had gone down not that long ago.


    If the isons they were currently up against was one thing, then this was an entirely new kind of evil.


    After the entire guild observed the battleground in silence, they couldn''t help but look at Liam next.


    For some reason, without even any exnation, they could already tell that the reason for this bloody battleground was none other than their beloved guild leader.


    So when he had rushed over to help them back at the guild base, this was what Liam was fighting against? Just what all dangers were looming around them in this new world?


    Liam saw this andughed. "This is a long story. I will fill you guys in a bitter. How about we do some training first?"


    He then raised his hand and pointed at the golden pyramid-like structure in the distance.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 929 Ready, Get Set, Go!

    There it was! Standing tall in front of them was another hill hive!


    Luna zoomed towards the hill hive, followed by the ten wyverns pping their wings majestically.


    And as the group neared the hill hive, the second thing also came into their view, the hundreds and thousands of isons swarming around the hill hive!


    Each and every single one of these insect-like creatures was the same as they had faced before with their bizarre characteristics. The very sight of it was enough to shake everyone''s confidence.


    The entire guild tensed up as they knew that a tough battle was imminent.


    The sheer number of these things was enough to scare the living daylights out of the most experienced fighters. They were simply endless. Not to mention the wounds of thest battle were still fresh.


    Determination and resolve were one thing, but to actually ovee the fear and dive into the battle once again with their lives on the line was an entirely different thing.


    "Before we start, let me remind you all about something. This time I won''t intervene. So proceed at your own risk. If you guys don''t want to do this, we can turn back right here and now."


    Liam shrugged as his voice loudly resounded amidst the silence.


    From the looks of it, they also had some time to make a decision as the swarm seemed to be only swirling around the pyramid, not moving here and there, away from the structure.


    However, as soon as Liam spoke, a bold voice immediately shouted back. "Of course, we are going in." Alex jumped down from her wyvern first, followed by Rey, Lan Deming, and Shin Soo.


    After that, one by one, all the other guild members also started making their moves. They hardened their wavering resolve and charged toward the hive hill.


    Was Liam really not going to help? Though their guild leader had said something like this, no one was really surprised by this right now.


    After all, they were already familiar with Liam, and when he had talked about training and the swarm, they had already expected something like this.


    So everyone knew very well that they were stepping into the death zone at their own risk, and yet they charged forward with full vigor.


    After a certain point, if one did not adapt, one simply died!


    And it was time for them to adapt!


    Next to Liam, Shen Yue and Mei Mei also climbed down from Luna.


    Mei Mei already started casting all her buffs one after the other. The young girl who should have been attending school and happily enjoying her childhood right now instead had a serious look on her face as she fluently cast multiple mana spells.


    Liam''s heart tugged a little at this sight, but he was more proud than sad. When he wasn''t looking, his little sister was growing to be a capable and skilled fighter every day.


    Though this might look forced and pitiful, he would rather prefer that his sister was strong than how both of them had been helpless and insignificant in hisst life.


    No matter how much he was around to protect her, the self-confidence and peace of mind that came with one''s personal growth were irreceable.


    So instead of being a protected, sheltered little girl, he wanted her to shine on her own a little and work hard for herself.


    Liam''s gaze then shifted from his sister to other members of the group as everyone charged toward the swarm one after another.


    One important thing he immediately noticed right off the bat was the fact that the swarm did not disperse at all, not even to greet them.


    When they appeared near the hivehill, not a single one of the isons had moved away from the pyramid structure to greet them. It was only when the guild charged into the vicinity that the isons started fighting back.


    Also, their numbers seemed to be slightly less than the previous time.


    Judging from all of this, Liam couldn''t help but think of the obvious. Was this the whole group, or was this just a part of the swarm that hung around the pyramid to protect the structure?


    If so, what were these ones protecting?


    And what was the other half searching for?


    Liam silently pondered while standing back safely along with Luna. He did not know the answer to the first question, but he could roughly guess the answer to the second question.


    What was the objective of these creatures toe here, tond on earth?


    To kill and destroy and gather the resources from their. So the half of the swarm that was not here was probably out there doing this exact thing.


    As for why the other half was guarding this structure¡­ were they perhaps safe-keeping the eggs so that more could hatch? Or was something else present in the pyramid that was worth guarding?


    Hmmm¡­ Liam hummed as he had absolutely no idea. This was the first time he was also facing these mysterious creatures, so he tried not to be biased right from the get-go and kept his mind open.


    He leaned back and rxed as he thought about this. Right now, he did not know the answers to his questions, but that was okay. When the guild finished off the swarm, the answer to these questions would automatically be rified.


    "Well, let''s just wait then." He yawned as he was still quite tired and hadn''t recoveredpletely. Hezilyid next to Luna, who curled up on the ground to form afortable fluffy bed for him.


    Next to this duo, the ten wyverns also stood idly as they watched and waited without anything else to do. Their master hadn''t given any instructions to them whatsoever. So they copied Luna as each of the soul minions also curled up on the ground.


    The ten fearsome draconic beasts and the elegant, mysterious white fox, all lying on the ground side by side, was a dramatic scene to see and behold.


    And in the meantime, a few feet ahead of this chilling zone, a bloody battle was unfolding rather quickly.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 5~


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 Chapter 930 Clash

    It is often said that when someone was in the deepest of shit holes, they wouldn''t be able to differentiate if it was day or night. The current situation of Crimson Abyss was no different than this.


    The swarm might look small and manageable for Liam, who was calmly spectating everything from the outside, but for those standing inside and fighting against the nightmare, it was as deadly as ever, just like the first time they encountered these vicious insects.


    The moment the group entered the vicinity of the golden pyramid, they were immediately engulfed by a tide of these bizarre creatures.


    And once they were in, they werepletely overwhelmed in an instant.


    The number of isons swirling around them seemed infinite. No one could see anything past these monstrous insects.


    It was simr to entering the aggro range on a monster back in the game.


    The swarm, which paid no attention to Liam or any of the guild members while they were standing outside, was now fully engaged in eliminating this group of people.


    It was almost as if these insects were tasked to guard the hive hill. Dozens and dozens buzzed down to attack the group,pletely surrounding them from all directions in no time.


    "Don''t slow down! Keep charging forward! We can do it this time!" Alex shouted loudly.


    Unlike thest time, the situation right now waspletely different. For one, they weren''t exactly caught with their pants down.


    They hade here fully knowing and fully expecting whatever was going down at the moment, and they had a solid n of action.


    There were about 50 Crimson Abyss guild members in total standing in concentric circles formation with the long-range fighters at the center and the melee fighters and the tanks at the edges.


    Their coordination within the group was top-notch.


    While the melee fighters and the tanks kept the isons at bay, preventing them from suffocating the group andpletely drowning them, the long-range fighters concentrated on damage dealing and kept pulling the triggers without any other concern.


    Attack after attackmanded the mana in the air to cut down the never-ending tide of isons left and right.


    Especially with the constant buffs Mei Mei was repeatedly chanting, each magic attack was like a bomb that took down a cluster of these deviant creatures.


    While the center acted as the power hub, the sides were equally efficient in clearing the insects that came close to physically harming them.


    Alex was far more efficient this time as she only took on the role of the tank and erected divine shields at every possible interval, conserving her energy and mana otherwise.


    She demonstrated the full potential of her divine affinity and herprehension skills as a thinyer of golden dome appeared every now and then above the group.


    This golden dome was only like a wisp that appeared and disappeared in an instant, but it was lethal to the isons, cutting them down into halves and even burning some to a crisp.


    And while she recovered the mana from casting this attack, she used her pure physical strength and agility to butt heads against the insects and take down more of the isons.


    Standing next to her, Shin Soo wasn''t fairing too bad as well.


    With just one hand to support him, his face was full of determination as he blocked and parried with the isons, taking down almost as many insects as the other melee yers.


    The very sight of the muscr Korean fighter was an inspiration to everyone in the guild. It was almost as if this disability did not bother him even one bit.


    Even Alex, who was observing him from time to time to make sure that he did not fall or get injured severely, gave him a fully acknowledging nod.


    He might not be able to perform his role as a tank as well as before, but he was still standing on his own and pulling his weight.


    The only melee yers who clearly outshone him by several levels were Shen Yue and Lan Deming. Currently, the stats of these two yers were the highest among the group, same as Mei Mei and Lan Fen.


    And the impact of this evidently showed in the fight.


    Shen Yue alone unleashed utter devastation on the part of the swarm that was vainly trying to subdue her.


    Her eyes sparkled with anger as the memory of failing even with a legendary weapon in her hand haunted her badly.


    Her movements became much smoother and free as she danced without any restraint, each and every single swing of her dagger tearing apart the isons around her.


    Lan Deming also disyed an impressive killing spree, as he was onlygging behind Shen Yue at this point.


    His military training and his naturally skilled disposition put him head and shoulders above others, and slowly by slowly, he was beginning to stand out.


    These two single-handedly hogged most of the kills and, thereby, most of the experience points and were leveling up at lightning speed.


    The more they increased their levels and gained stats, the scarier their movements became, and theyid waste to the isons surrounding them.


    The same went for Lan Fen, Judah, Mei Mei, Rey, and the group of long-range fighters standing firmly and holding their ground.


    Lan Fen particrly boasted a higher casting speed, higher even than Mei Mei and Judah. It was as if the mana in the air was bending over backward to listen to hermands.


    Her growth was far more pronounced than Lan Deming''s as she repeatedly sent out several ice spears aiming for the weak points of the isons.


    Even if she missed her target, her attack still got the damned insect, thanks to the freezing effect of the ice spear that created ayer of frost on their hard exoskeleton, spreading slowly to the rest of the body as well, especially the wings.


    To make them suffer more, every single time, she aimed for this weak point near their wings, so most of the isons that took her blow ended up falling to the ground losing the use of their wings.


    This greatly affected their agility, ability to deal damage and made them vulnerable. Not to mention already iming a huge chunk of their health with the fall from the height.


    And after they fell, the melee yers immediately took care of these frozen isons and cut them down for easy experience points. This chain of events brought down dozens of isons every few seconds.


    The only limiting factor was the mana usage. If she had unlimited mana, then Lan Fen could repeatedly massacre these unsightly beings. Unfortunately, she was rationing her supply, so it reduced her overall speed a lot.


    From this fight, Lan Fen could clearly see the importance of items. If not for the epic-grade staff Liam had gifted her, she wouldn''t be able to perform this well at the moment.


    The staff increased her overall mana pool and also mana regeneration, because of which she was able to keep up with the demands of a battle like this.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 1~


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 Chapter 931 L Can Do Better

    "Not bad." Liam''s gaze wandered over the guild group that was working their asses off a few feet ahead of him.


    Naturally, he was still resting and did not show any inclination to act just yet. He was simply observing how the various members of the guild had improved and what was their current level.


    To his surprise, within seconds, he already found an unexpected development. There was a new person who had managed to rise above the group.


    The healer from the Korean group was shockingly pulling her weight in the fight.


    Kang Minah had improved a lot whenpared to her performance from before.


    After she had seen Alex learn the two divine skills, she immediately made sure to climb onto the same wyvern the redhead was traveling and discussed with her some of the doubts she had the entire time they had traveled here.


    The duo spammed healing spells on the bunch of people that were sitting next to them and were constantly discussing and trying to figure out the skills.


    Though Kang Minah was not a born genius like Mia, and she couldn''t pick up the healing skills so quickly, she did manage to refine some of her already existing divine-type attack skills, namely, [Divine Arrow], [Divine st] and [Divine Surge].


    Out of this, [Divine Arrow] was a single-target attack, while [Divine st] and [Divine Surge] were multi-target attacks.


    She also very strategically used these multi-target, area-of-effect attacks in coordination with Alex''s divine shield to deal a greater amount of damage.


    This single action brought her on par with the other damage toppers as her damage output soared tremendously. She was also racking kills and experience points at a frightening speed.


    The other Korean members of her old team, Chung Hee and Kim Hyun, couldn''t help but look at Kang Minah enviously as she was, without a doubt pulling ahead of them.


    The girl who had been silent and low-key all this time used this chance to take a step further and be an integral member of the group.


    Not just Kang Minah but several other silent members of the guild were slowly starting to shine in this fight to reim their honor. Liam nodded in approval as he observed everybody''s efforts.


    Snuggling her head close to him, Luna arrogantly scoffed at the hardworking group. "Master, I can do better." She chimed in with her trademark smug yet cute voice.


    As if agreeing with her, the wyverns all shook their heads one after another, raising their noses up to the sky and snorting arrogantly.


    Pffft¡­ Liam couldn''t control hisughter at this weird scene and ended upughing loudly. "Yes, yes. You guys are the best." He patted Luna as he shifted his attention back to the guild.


    In truth, the Crimson Abyss guild members right now were not performing any less than these monsters around him. They might not pull as much damage as Luna or the wyverns, but they were putting up quite a good fight and had already killed a huge number of isons.


    If his estimate was correct, they had brought down the swarm size to almost three-fourths of its original size. This was a considerable achievement, especially in this setting where they were clearly outnumbered.


    However, evenst time, they were able to perform this well. So why did they fail? It was because of this same overwhelming difference in numbers and the umtion of the poison attacks.


    Was that going to change this time around? Now that they had already been fighting for five minutes straight, the second major hurdle would slowly start to show once again!


    This was the stamina factor that was quickly depleted with every attack.


    "Hmmm¡­ How are you guys nning to get over this hurdle?" Liam silently watched the group while observing each and every single member''s actions.


    All of a sudden, he stiffened up as his gaze fell on someone unexpected, someone who should not have been here, Lily, Derek''s sister.


    "When did she get here?" Liam immediately became tense. Since he was upied by several thoughts, he did not pay attention earlier to every single person who had joined the training trip.


    However, now that he observed the group more carefully, especially the ones who weregging behind, he saw the woman who should not be here right now.


    "Damn it." Liam gritted his teeth. He already felt personally responsible for Derek''s mysterious disappearance from the PVP tower, and now another member of his family was also in danger.


    "No, this won''t do." He quickly stood up, preparing to barge into the crowd and take action, when he noticed that the young woman was really trying her best.


    She was panting and heaving, with her big chest rising up and down with every single one of her actions, and her tender pale face waspletely rosy with precipitation.


    ? Even more shocking was the fact that she seemed to have somehow learned to control mana in such a short amount of time. She was only doing small attacks, that too every now and then, but she was undoubtedly casting fireballs.


    For someone who had never stepped foot into the tutorial game, this was very impressive. Liam stopped himself and sat back down, deciding not to interfere.


    He wanted to protect her at all costs, just like he was protecting his own sister, but if she wanted to be stronger, then he would respect that as well.


    After all, if Derek had been here right now, then he would have done so much more for his family. The least Liam could do was to supervise her while she trained along with the guild.


    With a sigh, Liam once again continued observing everyone. Soon, the situation that he foresaw was slowly beginning to unfold in front of him.


    The guild''s momentum, which looked unstoppable as they brought down dozens after dozens of isons with every attack, was slowly starting to wane.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 2~


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 Chapter 932 Turtle Up

    One by one, the guild members who were fighting to the best of their abilities, giving their all, were beginning to slow down and be tired.


    After fighting for a few minutes against the overwhelming swarm of isons, their stamina was starting to drop hard and fast.


    And stamina recovery was not as easy as mana recovery.


    If they did not do anything at this point, then the same events of the previous fight were going to repeat all over again, and nothing would change.


    This was the tipping point. What was their n? Did they even prepare for one?


    As Liam intently watched the guild, Alex suddenly yelled something out loudly. "Switch!"


    Immediately, a big portion of the guild group stopped attacking with ferocity. Even the top damage dealers, Shen Yue and Lan Deming, also slowed down considerably, barely killing only one or two isons that came for them.


    It was as if the whole guild went into hibernation mode.


    They were aware of their shoring, and before the stamina situation could get any worse, they took the necessary action and nipped the problem right in the bud.


    Before anyone could be irreversibly tired and drained out, the group quickly stopped attacking preemptively and started strictly defending at the pace of the isons.


    With their perfect coordination, clear-minded thinking, and controlled actions, this time around, no one allowed themselves to get overwhelmed.


    Liam smiled at this sight. This was a good response, indeed. Even if they could get a two to three-minute break, they can somewhat recover and regain their momentum.


    In fact, this is how they should have acted previously as well.


    Even back then, it would have been easy to rely on the two legendary weapons to turtle up in this fashion, but thanks to everything happening far too suddenly, the group was unable to respond in a logical manner.


    Clearly, they needed a lot morebat practice, especially since things were only going to get more and more chaotic.


    But real progress took religious training, patience, and lots of practice. This swarm was definitely a blessing in disguise that the guild desperately needed at the moment.


    Liam nodded in approval. However, he knew that they were not out of the woods just yet. This was simply the second hurdle.


    If one looked at the situation more carefully, it was easy to see that there were more hurdles yet toe.


    The Crimson Abyss group controlled the flow of the fight for the next couple of minutes and started regaining their stamina back bit by bit.


    Some people could even be seen munching vigorously on elite beast meat jerky that they had specifically saved from the portal bosses from the first wave.


    This further sped up the process as their energy resources were getting replenished quickly.


    Liam''s special water could have done the deed a lot better, but that was far too valuable to be used in a simple training session that too against an enemy they knew beforehand they were going to be facing.


    Impressively, without the aid of the ''water'' or anything else precious, the guild group was performing exceedingly well today, much better than their previous time against the same insect swarm.


    The other thing was that these bastards had several venomous attacks in their repertoire, and their very blood was corrosive and poisonous, capable of taking down an enemy even in their death.


    This was also dealt smoothly by the guild this time around. Everyone wore adequate gear, fully covering every inch of their body. Despite the fact that this was restrictive to their movements, they still took this handicap because, in the long run, it did more good.


    With the guild members donning the above-average unique grade and higher-rank equipment from top to bottom, the sshes of the dead insects were kept at bay for the most part.


    It made the whole guild lookical and stuffed to the brim, but it did the job.


    Liam knew that, personally, he would have taken a different route and summoned a mana barrier around him to prevent the poisonous body fluids from sshing on him, but that required a higher skill level.


    Observing everything that was going on, he made a mental note to search for some more skill books in the magic shop, preferably the ones rted to mana regeneration, stamina regeneration, and mana barrier.


    These basic skills would definitely help the guild reach another level when it came to battles such as this.


    However, even otherwise, the guild group was performing exceedingly well, and their kill counts were slowly starting to stack up.


    At this moment, the size of the ison swarm was already down to half its original size when the fight first started.


    The only thing that could go wrong now was if the other part of the swarm that was not present here was suddenly called over.


    Liam already expected something like this to happen, so he narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the surroundings, waiting for this inevitable event to transpire.


    However, contrary to his expectation, something else suddenly happened.


    Just as the guild group was getting back on their feet and recovering their stamina, the next problem cropped up, and it was not the backup that Liam was looking out for.


    Instead, the hive hill started thrumming vigorously like a dormant volcano that hade alive all of a sudden.


    And before anyone could notice this change¡­ BOOOM!


    An explosive sound echoed loudly from the hive hill, and more isons began to shoot out from within. Liam was shocked as he watched bigger and faster insects creeping out of the hive hill.


    Alex and the others had experienced this before, but for him, this was the first time seeing this effect.


    When they had previously shed with the swarm, he simply assumed that isons of different sizes and levels attacked together haphazardly. In that cluster fuck, he wasn''t able to analyze things any further.


    But now, he could see that this was an entirely different wave altogether. Liam''s pitch-ck eyes glinted with a strange light as he inspected these stronger isons.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 3~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 933 Trap!

    <Level 35; Mutated Ison>


    <Level 40; Mutated Ison>


    <Level 38; Mutated Ison>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam inspected the new batch of isons, and every single one of these insects was unmistakably at a higher level.


    On the other side, the guild''s determination did not waver as Alex loudly shouted once again. "They are here! Switch back to attack mode! Focus on the bigger ones! GO! GO! GO!"


    Everyone was already mentally prepared for this event, so they quickly started using all of their saved-up energy.


    Mei Mei once again redid all the buffs, and everyone hurled out their best attacks aiming for the bigger bastards.


    The guild immediately went into full attack mode, and the entire area was lit up by the brilliant, dazzling disy of the multitude of magic attacks.


    As if this was not enough, something even more shocking started happening. The buzzing sound of the isons became higher and higher, the insects began screeching deafeningly.


    Everyone gritted their teeth as the sound was almost unbearable. Even Liam and Luna slightly flinched, though they were farther away from the battle area.


    "This is not good." Liam prepared to take action at any given second, as this looked like a sound attack. Something like this couldpletely disrupt the flow of the guild and shatter all of their coordination, instantly flipping the tide of the battle.


    However, the next second, these screeching sounds werepletely gone. No attack was executed, and everyone was able to focus once again.


    Liam was stunned. Huh? They did not attack with sound waves? Then¡­ were they justmunicating with each other? A thought popped up in his mind.


    But even if they did not attack with sound waves, it looked like the swarm had be a lot deadlier all of a sudden.


    The attacks had be more coordinated, and the mutated isons were packing higher damage numbers and speed.


    The guild members who were clearly dominating the isons just a second earlier were now slowly starting to struggle a little here and there, with the weaker members feeling the brunt of the pressure.


    "We can do this! We have to keep bing stronger! We have to kill these insects this time! We have to ughter every single one of them! Let''s go! Keep moving! Keep fighting!" Alex''s voice sounded loudly amidst the chaos that ensued with the second wave of isons.


    With the second wave of the isons now in the picture, the guild started to slow down, and the number of isons in the swarm had also instantly doubled, with the newer ones a lot more powerful and dangerous. This made the situation drastically escte.


    "Master, shall I go in?" Luna snarled at the disgusting, stinky insects showing off in front of her, but Liam quickly held her back. "Wait a moment."


    Though everything was going against their favor right now, for some reason, he felt as if Alex was still calm. It was as if she had some n to tackle this situation.


    At this exact moment, Rey suddenly shouted for the first time in the entire battle. "Watch out! I am triggering the bombs!"


    Hmmm? Liam frowned. He did not like this. He had not given them permission to use grenades or rely on other external help for clearing the swarm of insects. So this development was a bit unexpected.


    The next second¡­


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Several explosives immediately went off near the guild group, sting away the bigger ones that were beginning to crowd and overwhelm the weaker members of the formation.


    However¡­ when Liam observed closely, these were not the grenades that he had expected. It looked more like the trap skill of the hunters he was familiar with back inside the game.


    "Don''t tell me¡­" Liam''s gaze zeroed in on Rey, who was grinning wildly. Just one look at his face and Liam could tell that he was indeed right in his assumption.


    This guy had actually figured out how to use the ''Mana Trap'' skill without a skill book!


    This was no ordinary feet as [Mana Trap] was an umon skill and involved an extremely fine-tuned mana maniption technique that involvedpressing mana to a great extent and leaving it in a state of fragile equilibrium.


    Only in this state the slightest signal from the spell caster could trigger these mana traps leading to a chain of explosions like what was happening in front of him at the moment.


    He He He! Liam began to feel excited. He did not want the guild to be too reliant on him, especially because he himself had no idea what the future held for them.


    The next time something unexpected happened, there was no guarantee that he would be able to reach them on time. Staying with them 24-7 was also out of the question.


    But right now, watching everyone trying their best to ovee their shorings and excelling in various skills showed that he was worried about nothing.


    This challenge would definitely be their stepping stone!


    As Liam continued watching, the guild culled down the number of isons little by little. Even though the bigger ones posed a lot more threat, the guild patiently took them out one at a time.


    After they regained momentum with the mana traps, the fight once again came under their control.


    Time ticked by, and soon it would be fifteen minutes since the bigger ones showed up, and yet the guild was persevering quite well.


    Liam was prepared to intervene multiple times, but ultimately, he did not have to do anything.


    He only helped Lily a few times, silently from the sidelines. Otherwise, the guild managed to survive the endeavor all on their own.


    It was a long and drawn-out fight that almost took an entire hour, but thankfully at the end of it, the swarm was reduced to thest hundreds.


    Everyone was panting and heaving and only barely holding on, but their faces were rosy and full of smiles.


    This was because, just like the fatigue that had umted, their levels had also drastically changed just from this single fight.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 4~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 934 Who Is The Winner?

    Soon, thest hundred were also taken care of, and the entire guild copsed on the spot.


    They looked at the sky lifelessly as a sense of victory slowly overcame them. They were finally able to see the night sky and the stars and the moon without the presence of the constant slit-like eyes that wanted to devour them.


    There wasn''t a single ison left behind buzzing. They had taken down everyst one of the insects!


    "Fuuuukkkk!" Alex shouted loudly as she dropped down on the charred dirty ground and inhaled big mouthfuls of air.


    Several parts of her armor were already cracking. There were even some noticeable holes in her leather pants and leather shirt.


    However, she was one of the few who was slightly on the better side. As a metal te user, she did not suffer so much as Shen Yue and Mei Mei, whose items were even worse.


    But no one cared about these small things at the moment.


    They werepletely dead as they rested on the ground breathlessly, their eyes dazed and nked out and their head dizzy enough to see small birds circling them.


    Everyone continued toy still in that fashion for a few more minutes, no one willing to move an inch despite the unbearable stench of the ison corpses.


    What a training session!


    This was the hardest they had fought in a long time, and it had taken everyst ounce of strength and energy from their haggard bodies!


    Despite Liam being present right next to them, they were not new to the ruthlessness of their guild leader.


    So they were very aware that their life was in their own hands, and they could not rely on their guild leader to swoop in and save the day.


    If they had faltered in this training session, each and every single person was sure that there would have been casualties. So they had truly given it their all.


    However, everything was so worth it. They had been dancing on the edge of their lives for an entire hour, and every single minute of the struggle was absolutely worth it!


    This was because¡­


    "I am Level 40, bitches!" Rey shouted loudly.


    "Shut up, I am 42." Alex rolled her eyes.


    Not just them, but it looked like most of the elite members of the guild had reached Level 40 as, one by one, every single person started announcing their achievements loudly.


    And then the really gifted ones opened their mouths¡­


    "Shen Yue, you seem very silent. What is your current level?" Alex asked in a polite tone. Everyone immediately quieted down as the dynamic between these two women was always a little shaky.


    Although they had perfect coordination and behaved like true teammates during all the dungeon runs and important life-and-death moments like this fight, once the dust settled down, one could sense a small but definitely present frost in their rtionship.


    Most people also seemed to be aware of the reason behind this frostiness, though only Rey had the audacity to announce it openly once in a while.


    "I am at 45." Shen Yue curtly replied.


    "Hmmm?" Alex immediately somehow found the energy to jolt upright to a sitting position as she looked at the mesmerizingly beautiful face staring back at her. "You said 45?" She asked, her voice bing high-pitched.


    Several others also perked up their ears as they listened to the conversation with interest.


    "Yes." Shen Yue nodded calmly.


    This was followed by a pin-drop silence as no one dared to open their mouths. Only the sound of Liam''s minions starting to harvest all the isons could be heard in the background.


    Some people even looked away as they could sense some invisible daggers shooting between these two women, and they did not want to be caught in the crossfire.


    "It''s only because of the items." Shen Yue revealed her daggers, glinting maliciously under the moonlight.


    "True. True. You do have two legendary items. I can''tpare with you." Alex shrugged.


    At this time, Mei Mei also chimed in. "Sis Alex, I am also at Level 42!"


    "Good job, guys." Alex bitterly smiled.


    However, the train did not end there. As if on cue, Lan Fen also opened her mouth, eager to make friends with these big shots of the guild.


    "Sis, I am also Level 43!" She did not stop there and also looked at Lan Deming. "Deming, you said you were 42, right?"


    Fuck! Lan Deming swallowed nervously as he shook his head a little. This sister of his had absolutely no tact! Why did she even open her mouth right now?!


    He nervously looked at the fierce redheaded guild vice-leader and tried to see if she was going to go ballistic.


    Thankfully for him, she was really dead tired, so Alex just nodded and lowered her head to look down at the ground. However, the disappointment in her eyes was very clear.


    Some more deadly silence ensued after this.


    While fighting, it seemed like a struggle for their survival, but now that the hard part was over, it seemed more like apetition.


    And as always, like in anypetition, there were winners and losers. Here, clearly, Shen Yue had bagged that winner position as her level seemed to be the highest among everyone.


    Though outwardly, it seemed like this victory was only because of the pair of legendary grade daggers, everyone had fought side by side, so they knew that even she had given it her all.


    It would be foolish to say that her sess was solely because of the daggers.


    At this point, a burst ofughter rang out loudly, breaking the silence. "Aren''t you guys forgetting something important?" Liam walked over with a smile on his face.


    "In this setting, there is no group raid effect or party effect for experience points sharing. So those who tanked and did other support roles would have leveled up a lot less whenpared to the main damager dealers of the party."


    Ah¡­ Everyone immediately nodded in realization. His words specifically made a certain redhead smile a little, small blush creeping up her cheeks.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 5~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 935 Stronger?

    "Don''t worry. I will take everything into ount when I am calcting the rewards." Liam lightlyughed. "For now, I just want to say that you have all performed very well."


    He wanted to say a few more words encouraging to the guild, but before he could open his mouth, a loud buzzing sound echoed from the distance.


    Everyone immediately became tense as they stood up hurriedly, despite their tiredness. And when they took a better look¡­


    Fuck! The fight was not yet over!


    Another swarm of isons was heading straight for them,ing in at an impressive speed. Was this thing seriously not over yet? Just how many of these insects were present in a damn hive!


    "SHIT! Everyone get in formation, now!" Alex shouted as she licked her dry and chaffed lips and held up her shield with her sword trembling in her other hand.


    However, silently a figure appeared right next to her.


    Liam ced a hand on the redhead''s tensed shoulder and smiled. "Don''t worry. Your training is already over. So I will deal with this batch of bugs."


    Everyone stood still, and before they could process what they heard, the ten wyverns who were standing still all this time leaped into action.


    While the rest of the soul minions continued to process the dead isons busily, the ten wyverns alone charged at the second swarm as they ughtered and tore apart the fearsome bunch of insects into nothing.


    The whole process barely took a couple of minutes. In front of the wyverns, the isons were nothing but small houseflies who iled helplessly before eventually burning to their deaths.


    The entire guild stood still and watched this unbelievable scene with their mouths wide agape. Was this the same group of insects against whom they had struggled tirelessly, putting their life on the line? Was this the same nightmare they had just now been proud of defeating?


    Everyone silently gulped. Just a minute ago, they were allpeting with each other over their levels, but now all of that confidence was once again shattered.


    That was right. They could not afford to be happy with just this small progress. The true monsters were still infinitely more powerful than them, and one was standing right beside them.


    They all nced at Liam with awe, and the thing that resounded within them was that they still had a long way to go!


    Hmmm? Liam could feel all the eyes staring at him, but he simply smiled. "There. Now it''s over." He pped and dusted his hands.


    "Alright. My minions will take care of this mess. Alex, if you can, eat something and then start healing everyone. Take other healers, and don''t forget to demonstrate your skill to them. The more they observe, the better."


    "Ok. I will do that." Alex nodded.


    Making sure all the soul minions were assigned to their respective tasks and mana cores and other valuable items were getting harvested, Liam then proceeded to walk toward the golden hive hill, which was still standing tall.


    "Now it is time to tear this thing apart." He cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.


    As swirls of mana gathered around him, Liam unsheathed the ck dragon sword and shed down at the second golden pyramid structure just like how he had dealt with the first one.


    Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!


    Immediately, ayer of golden barrier became visible.


    Liam stilled for a moment, staring at this barrier. He was not sure, but for a second, it seemed as if a checked pattern flickered past the barrier, something that he had not seen in the pyramid structure before.


    He paused but soon resumed his sword attacks since he couldn''t sense the pattern again, no matter where he looked.


    The fiery ck dragon sword thrummed alive and repeatedly attacked the golden barrier. Liam aimed for the same spot and used the full power in his grasp to break and shatter the hurdle.


    A second passed, and then another two passed.


    Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!


    Every time the ck dragon sword shed against the barrier, bright sparks flew everywhere, and Liam''s hands trembled ever so slightly from the impact.


    But surprisingly, even after the 20th sh, nothing seemed to be happening.


    Liam frowned. Something was different this time. He could clearly feel it. The strength of the barrier was a notch higher than the one he had experienced before.


    However, he did not fret. Though it was stronger, it was still within his grasp. Liam continued assaulting the same spot a few more times and then some more.


    All the Crimson Abyss guild members standing nearby couldn''t help but stare at this scene dazedly, unable to look away or even blink.


    With every second that passed by, Liam''s movements became more and more fierce. His blows were barely visible andpletely indistinguishable to the naked eye.


    With his speed and agility, all everyone could see was a blur, and yet they could feel the powerful vibrations emanating from this battle.


    And finally, after a full ten minutes, there was some progress.


    Every time Liam struck, the entire barrier started trembling. Soon, these tremors became more pronounced before the barrier copsed wholly with a loud explosive noise.


    The impact was so big that for a moment, the very earth everyone was currently resting upon shook.


    Liam''s frown deepened as he gazed coldly at the now bare naked golden structure in front of him. He inspected the hive hill once again, only to see the same result.


    <Ding. Orichalcum: A versatile metal with numerous properties. It is mainly known for its mana conductivity and its strength. It is one of the widely used materials in manufacturing magic weapons>


    The isons were the same, the structure was the same, and even the material was the same. From a perspective, everything really looked the same, so why was this barrier so much more difficult to break apart?


    What was inside this hive hill that the previous one did not have?


    Liam silently pondered as he stepped into the golden pyramid structure along with Luna.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 6~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 936 Whats Inside?

    "This¡­ seems to be the same everywhere?" Liam and Luna walked into the maze-like corridors that twisted and turned just like the ones back inside the first hive hill.


    There were sticky, stinking goo-like fluids smeared here and there, and once again, there were a bunch of eggs huddled up in the corners. There really wasn''t any difference at all.


    "Ok. Let''s just take care of these eggs." Liam mumbled pensively as he bent down and collected a few for his own personal use and chucked them away in the spatial artifact.


    As for the other eggs, the little fox ran amok inside the hive hill and took care of everyst one of the unhatched isons.


    With her [Blur] skill, it did not take long for her to cover the entire structure from the top to bottom, and she smashed everything in sight without leaving a single egg out.


    While she was busy with that, Liam started hacking away at the Orichalcum walls of the hive hill to get to the big interior chamber of the pyramid.


    ? If this follows a simr structure to the other hive hill, then the exterior was simply a bunch of extensive corridorworks while the interior was a giant hollow chamber.


    tter tter


    A minuteter, a clean path was created, and Liam jumped down through the hole,nding at the bottom of the hive hill.


    However, the moment hended, he saw something strange. For the first time, something really was different between the two hive hills.


    The ground that was almost untouched in the first one had now, for some reason, sunken quite low. There was a huge crater at the center of the inner chamber of the hive hill.


    Moreover, the entire area was filled with giant fissures that spread everywhere, along with gaping holes in between these fissures.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam observed this, wondering what could have possibly caused something like this. He definitely hadn''t done anything, and neither had Luna.


    Perhaps the impact of the hive hill itself created these fissures when the structure first emerged?


    Just as he was thinking about this, suddenly, a slight cracking sound echoed behind him, and when Liam turned around to look, there were some more isons hatching out of the eggs.


    The shells of these eggs had a very visible silver pattern on them, and they were definitely from the other ordinary eggs.


    Liam had, in fact, collected a few of these eggs and stored them away back in the first pyramid. So now that they were actually hatching, he was quite curious to see just what sort of creature emerged from these eggs. "Inspect"


    Liam''s eyes widened in surprise as he observed these newly arrived creatures one after the other. Each one of these isons was almost twice his size, and their exoskeleton had a silver luster to it.


    Moreover, their speed¡­


    Whoosh!


    <Evolved Ison; Level 55>


    <Evolved Ison; Level 57>


    <Elite Ison; Level 65>


    <Elite Ison; Level 70>


    Before Liam could take a good look at these guys, one by one, the isons dashed toward him at an incredible speed and surrounded him from all sides. Their silver limbs glinted in the darkness of the inner core, and their vicious visages were neither too visible nor invisible.


    sh! sh! sh!


    The dozen isons moved at the same time, creating a hurricane of wind des with their sharpened silver limbs and their cutting wings. These creatures distinctively had ten wingspared to the normal six-winged isons.


    "So strong." Liam mouthed. However¡­


    Though he was piqued by how diverse these creatures were and how strong they were able to evolve, that was where everything ended.


    They still weren''t strong enough to pose an actual threat to him.


    As the wild hurricane moved toward Liam, wanting to swallow him whole, he calmly lifted his ck dragon sword.


    While the attack appeared to be a hurricane that a normal human being couldn''t possibly decipher or block or parry against, to Liam, everything was in slow motion.


    ng! ng! He casually blocked every single one of the attacks, and when the cold metal of the ck dragon sword struck the silver limbs, thetter waspletely shattered on impact.


    Green blood sshed everywhere as the isons were skewered left and right. Liam did not even have to use any special moves and simply relied on his pure physical skills to take care of these pests.


    The entire fight barelysted for a couple of seconds before the isons were all smeared on the ground, no different than their cracked eggshells.


    <Ding. You have gained one experience point>


    <Ding. You have gained one experience point>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam shook his head helplessly at the miserable numbers that popped up after the fight. Since all of his soul minions were outside busily working their menial tasks, the experience points were shared amongst everyone.


    He quickly swiped away the useless notifications and bent down to personally carve out the mana cores from the triangr heads of the isons.


    "That was interesting." He mumbled after pocketing all the cores.


    His gaze then darted across the rest of the inner chamber to see if there were more surprises waiting for him. But it looked like all of the eggs had nowpletely hatched, save for one that was still whole at the far north corner.


    Liam walked toward this one, and he could already see a faint golden luster on this particr egg. Not to mention the size of it was obviously bigger than the rest.


    "Now, what is there inside this one?"


    He was almost tempted to leave this one alone and wait for it to hatch just to see what came out of it. If he was not wrong¡­ then this one should have something simr to a boss elite or a <Queen Ison> in this setting.


    This was not his first rodeo, and Liam had faced several such insect monsters back in the tutorial world, and every single time these types of creatures had a Queen as their main head.

 Chapter 937 Any Survivors?

    "How long do you think this is going to take?"


    Kyuuu¡­ Luna cocked her head to the side and looked at the egg curiously while she and Liam patiently waited for it to hatch. Everything in the entire hive hill was taken care of except for this single special golden patterned egg.


    "I don''t know, master." The little fox answered in confusion.


    "It''s fine. It''s fine. It was a rhetorical question." Liam scratched his head and continued staring at the egg.


    He really wanted to know just what level this one would be when it hatched, but they had already been waiting here for about half an hour, and it did not look like it was going to happen any time soon.


    After a few more minutes, Liam gave up on the endeavor. "Ok. Let''s not waste any more time here. Better to pack up and go to the next one soon." He walked forward, picked up the egg, and, to Luna''s surprise, stored it in his spatial artifact.


    The two of them then proceeded to walk out of the hive hill. Outside, the soul minions were still busily harvesting mana cores, other materials from isons, and also the orichalcum metal bs from the hive hill.


    On the other side, Alex was moving around the group and busily healing the guild members one after the other. Kang Minah and another woman whom Liam was not familiar with were assisting her and trying to learn the healing skill from her second hand.


    Overall it looked like both groups would need another solid hour or two to finish up things here, even if they made the decision toe back for the Orichalcum metalter.


    But it was fine because Liam had ns of his own that he wanted to work on in the meantime. The first thing that he wanted to do was survey this area.


    Liam called forth a batch of his faster soul minions, including the wyverns and the higher-leveled ones like Crawford, Dimitri, the six-winged lion, the striped white tiger, and the elves and barbarians.


    He then sent them scattering in different directions to check out the general condition of this district. They were currently in one of the southern China districts, and Liam was pretty sure that the poption in the area had already been mostly wiped out.


    This unfortunate sector of the country had not only been targeted by the first wave of the apocalypse and the vampires but they were also assaulted by these isons.


    Unlike their guild base, Liam hadn''t arrived here immediately to take care of these creatures, and from what he had seen so far, very few people, if at all, should have the strength to defend against something like this swarm.


    They were strong, fast, agile, poisonous, and possessed sharp metallic limbs and wings that were capable ofying waste to most of mankind.


    Liam doubted if anyone disorganized and inexperienced would even be able to survive these creatures for a couple of minutes.


    Especially with the way they tended to strike together as a group, by now, they should haveid waste to the whole district and killed every living being in sight.


    And who knew just how many of these hive hills had popped up all over the world?


    At least in hisst life, humanity hadsted for another few months, but this time it looked like the entire world was going to be massacred with this single wave.


    This was the difference between the hard mode of the apocalypse and the nightmare mode of the apocalypse.


    Liam sighed and did not want to dwell too much on things that were beyond his control.


    What he wanted to do now was search if, by some random miracle, some survivors escaped this mass extinction event and perhaps offer the guild''s assistance to them.


    Of course, like everyone else, they would also have to pay the dues if they wanted to be part of the guild.


    While he was not heartless enough to leave these people stranded here, he also wasn''t a bleeding heart to just do all of this to help whatever was left of humanity.


    The second reason why he was sending out the soul minions was to check if there were more evolved beasts in the region and also if the isons branched out and perhaps started building a secondary hive somewhere else.


    To be best prepared against these bizarre insects, he first had to study their behavior and attack patterns in more detail.


    Taking these things into consideration, Liam sent out the soul minions with clear instructions. Now that his army was busy at work, he started the other thing that he was nning to do in these couple of hours.


    He walked over to the guild group. "There are two beginner dungeons in this area. Is anyone rested enough to want to try them out?" Liam smiled and announced, not caring to exin what happened to the third dungeon.


    Immediately the several ears listening to him perked up, and everyone looked at Liam with sparks in their eyes. They were still somewhat tired, but currently, the whole guild was in high spirits.


    Their levels had shot up, their adrenaline was still running rampantly, and the fact that they might have to face these insects once again and perhaps even more of the higher-leveled insects both terrified and excited them at the same time.


    At this time, running the beginner dungeons would be a piece of cake and not to mention an easy way to bump up their level a little bit more.


    That too, they might even be able to clear the entire dungeon from top to bottom in a single go and unlock the advanced version just like Liam had done!


    Several people immediately stood up, and their hands shot into the air.


    "Boss, I am ready to go!"


    "Guild leader, I can do it!"


    Almost all of the guild was ready to fight except for the few who were somewhat heavily injured and needed more rest.

 Chapter 938 I Am Totally Buying This!

    Liam grinned and nodded in approval. "Ok, you guys have three hours, so enjoy. We will be leaving this area after that."


    He quickly sent away the majority of the guild along with five of the wyverns whom he resummoned to help with the traveling. The others stayed next to the hive hill and continued to rest.


    Meanwhile, Liam hopped on top of Luna, and the duo also swiftly the area. They did not go too far and, within seconds, arrived at their destination, which was none other than the crafty fairy''s magic shop.


    "Would you look at that¡­" Liam grinned as Lunanded in front of the shop.


    Just a couple of days ago, this ce waspletely covered in the wilderness, but now it was visible for everyone to see.


    "I guess without the blood business, these guys are now open for actual human beings, huh?" Liam smirked and walked in.


    "Oh? You are back so soon? Mr. Liam?" Aron, the store manager, quickly rushed forward to greet him with a begrudging smile. "I don''t think it''s time for your monthly visits yet, Mr. Liam. It''s only been a day or two since yourst free bonus."


    "Free?" Liam''s grin widened. "Since when are trades called free? But you don''t have to fret. I just came here to make some purchases."


    "Oh?" Aron''s face twitched a little. "So you already know about the discount, huh?"


    "Of course." Liamughed at the guy''s misery. It seemed as if none of the fairies were a fan of this so-called discount sale. However, that was not his concern. He went directly to take a look at the quest board of the shop.


    Unlike back at Tilia''s shop, Liam was hoping that this one would have more options when it came to reputation quests.


    After all, the shop was pretty much in a dead zone, thanks to the vampires. For all he knew, he might be the only customering to this shop. So he had hopes that he could get away with submitting some insect parts and raking in big reputation gains.


    Liam opened up the system interface, and his gaze glossed over the avable quests one after the other. Almost immediately, it was clear that he had been correct in his assumption.


    <Quest: Need 100 pairs of Ison wings>


    <Quest: Need 50 units of Ison venom>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Starting with wings and venom, all sorts of Ison body parts, including their eggs, were listed as wanted.


    Haaa¡­ Liam sucked in a big breath of air and prepared to submit a whole bunch of quests. However, before he did that, his eyes casually drifted to the corner of the quest board where his current reputation was listed.


    And the spot where the term ''stranger'' should have been¡­ there was shockingly something else entirely unexpected written.


    He was now in a ''friendly'' status with the shop!


    Liam instantly froze.


    He looked up at Aron, and the fairy had an even more unsightly expression on his face, as if Liam had just found out something that he should not have known so soon.


    But this only made Liam smile wider.


    "Ha Ha Ha. What an unexpected surprise!" With his gaze still locked onto the fairy, Liam took out the store card from his pocket and fanned it teasingly in front of the guy.


    "I am guessing both purchases and submitting quests can increase one''s reputation in a shop?"


    The fairy gritted his teeth and half-heartedly nodded.


    "Well, I have some money. So let''s see what you have on sale, shall we?" Liam did not bother with the quest board any longer and immediately dashed toward the sales desk.


    He tapped his fingers in a hurry, and when the system interface popped open in front of him, there were now three tabs in total instead of two!


    Ba ha ha ha!


    Liam grinned from ear to ear. His decision to let go of the dungeon crystal had indeed been the right one.


    He might have given up on something very valuable, but the thing in front of him at the moment was even more valuable because, with this new reputation, he had finally unlocked the recipes tab!


    And these were not just any old recipes from back inside the tutorial game!


    These were actually recipes that were relevant to the world at the moment. He had heard about this back when the Gu family had managed to get their hands on one of these priced recipes.


    Naturally, he had no idea what that recipe was or how it was used since he was a mere ve or a meat shield at most, but now this essential piece of information told him just how invaluable these recipes were.


    "Ok, I guess I will start with the health potions?" Liam quickly scanned the list of avable recipes.


    The thing was, he had some health potions stashed away in the spatial artifact, which he had obtained from inside the game, and even some herbs that pertained to concocting the same.


    However, their quantities were very limited. He was eventually going to run out of them sooner orter, and if he used it for the guild, it would barely even suffice for one fight.


    So it was extremely important to get another health potion recipe only using the materials that were currently avable on earth.


    Especially with Dimitri here, they could instantly develop this further and improve the potion quality with no trouble at all. All he needed now was a started recipe.


    With several ns already unfolding in his head, Liam hurriedly searched through the list, only barely containing his excitement.


    The more excited he became, the more irritated the fairy became.


    Aron did not even care if it was one of the cardinal rules of the shop not to touch a customer physically. At this point, he simply wanted to punch the smile right off of the guy''s face!


    "I hope nothing useful shows up, you human trash!"


    Unfortunately for him, at that exact moment, Liam''s eyes widened twice their size, and in a rush, he even punched the desk at the counter.


    "FUCK! I am totally buying this!"

 Chapter 939 I Will Not Accept This

    "This! I am purchasing this!" Liam tapped away at the option on the interface like a lunatic and quickly finished the transaction.


    Aron couldn''t stand the stupidity of the human being and opened his own interface to see just what sort of nonsense the bastard had purchased to make him so deliriously happy.


    He already knew that all of this hype was because of the recipe books, but just like the skills, the recipes were also not that simple.


    Not anyone could purchase whatever they wanted even if they had a reputation in the shop and money in their hands. In a way, the recipes were even harder to obtain whenpared to skills.


    At least a person could purchase the skills if they had decentprehension ability in their respective ss.


    However, for recipe one needed a whole different kind of requirement, and this was¡­ they needed to be a registered or a system-acknowledged master of the field!


    While it was easy to master a profession to a certain extent, obtaining true insights into a crafting profession was much more difficult than obtaining insights into the skills of their respective ss.


    Especially when it came to the main crafting professions, this was true.


    This was because while one needed only time and a peaceful mind and, at times, certain fortuitous encounters to obtain certain skillprehensions, one also needed priceless materials and an environment that was rich in mana and other resources to gain insights into the various crafting theories.


    After a particr point, the cost of the raw materials simply skyrocketed, making it almost impossible to advance forward.


    And after all this, if one somehow managed to get their hands on these top-tier raw materials, there were always failures. So getting just a little bit would never be enough.


    One required tedious amounts of top-tier raw materials to get anywhere, and this cost an astronomical amount!


    This was why real crafting geniuses only appeared in higher realms where millennia of experience were already gathered by the big kingdoms and factions.


    Only these powerhouses had the ess to the necessary resources to nurture such talented individuals. Not only Aron, but every single person in this vast universe was also aware of this painful fact.


    And here this trash human being was being too gleeful for something so stupid and silly. What was basic bitch! He scoffed and even almost felt bad for how pathetic lower realms beings were.


    Nevertheless, his eyes nced with arrogance to see exactly what purchase the idiot had made. Perhaps just like how he chanced upon a dungeon crystal, this fellow somehow got lucky with a recipe?


    The fairy''s gaze arrived at thetest transaction, which was for¡­ wait 100 million mana cores?


    A vague panic immediately started to arise in his heart for unknown reasons.


    No¡­ No¡­ it can''t be this number¡­ 100 million mana cores was too big¡­ it was almost¡­ and then suddenly, the fairy''s face further paled.


    This 100 million mana cores was the cost of the recipe after the discount?!!!!


    No! No! No! This trash human being should not be able to purchase something at this level! He should not have the brain for it or the money for it!


    He¡­ just what did he buy?


    Aron was already feeling dizzy as his gaze hesitantly went down to read the rest of the details, and the first thing that he saw was the word¡­ Grandmaster.


    What the heck?!


    Seeing this, he actually clutched his heart with his right hand without even realizing what he was doing. This fucking human being was a god damned Grandmaster cksmith???


    A Grandmaster cksmith???!!!!


    "I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS!" Aron shouted out loud, rage building up inside him like a pressure cooker and bursting out when he couldn''t hold it in any longer.


    "Heh? What can you not ept?" Liam happilyughed.


    Right in front of the guy''s reddened eyes, from which there were definitely invisible tears and daggersing out at the same time, Liam opened the recipe book and immediately learned it.


    ? It was almost like he was worried that it would slip out of his hands if he let any more time pass by.


    And then¡­ only then, he lifted his head once again to look at the fairy with a big grin stered on his face.


    "Thank you. Thank you. This time I really have to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I did not expect such a huge surprise waiting for me."


    Aron''s face twisted and contorted into ugly shapes as he wordlessly looked at the rest of the details. No matter what, he did not want the human being standing in front of him to win. He was willing to pay any price for it.


    And the game was still not over!


    This lucky bastard might have somehow gotten acknowledged by the system as a Grandmaster cksmith and received ess to the recipe, somehow gotten the mana cores for it, and even managed to purchase and learn the recipe, but that was definitely not the end of it.


    There was still one more thing that was missing. This was¡­ the raw materials required!


    The higher the grade of the recipe the bastard purchased, the higher the grade of the corresponding raw materials needed.


    He might have gotten the recipe, but how was he going to get the raw materials for the same in this god-forsaken trash realm? Hmph!


    The materials he needed were perhaps hiding in some remote corner of this world which he was never ever going to get his hands on!


    Now the only thing left to do was to make sure that his store absolutely did not sell these raw materials!


    Aron hurriedly checked the actual recipe the bastard had purchased.


    <Ding. Golem Creation>


    <Ding. Unique Grade Crafting Recipe>


    Aron gulped. He did not want to admit it, but this was a good one. A rather useful one. But wait¡­ What is the material required? What is the material required?


    His greedy little eyes scanned the interface, only toe to a freezing halt the next instant.


    <Ding. Orichalcum>


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 1~


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 Chapter 940 You Are My Lucky Charm

    "Orichalcum? Orichalcum?" Aron''s eyes twitched in horror. Wasn''t this the worst thing that could have shown up at this moment? Why was it this damn Orichalcum?


    As a store manager, Aron was naturally aware of what was going on outside in the world at the moment, even if he did not step out of the store.


    So he knew that the one thing that was avable in excess right now was this damned Orichalcum!


    What was this insane luck? Why was this system always bending over backward to help this particr human being? This was so unfair! He should have simply been killed by the damn isons!


    Seeing the fairy turn various shades of red, Liamughed lightly. "You seem to be thinking about something serious, so I won''t disturb you. I will be leaving now. Ha Ha Ha."


    "See youter! Ha Ha Ha. But don''t worry. I wille here often. You, Mr. Aron, are definitely my lucky charm!"


    Liam''s voice rang loudly as heughed and walked out of the shop. He was distinctly aware that the fairy was staring daggers at him just like the other one, but he did not care.


    He knew very well that these fairies were bloodthirsty hounds, unlike their dainty appearances. They wanted human beings to suffer and lose to the apocalypse and die a miserable death.


    So he did not bother himself with how the fairy was reacting to his unexpected pot of luck.


    Liam continued to walk out of the shop, ignoring the raging fairy. Mirroring his emotions, the white fox also jumped out of Liam''s back and walked out of the shop, swishing her butt and her three tails in a mocking manner.


    The two of them then left the area in a hurry. "Luna, fast. I want to try this out immediately." Liam''s hands were terribly itching to start working on the golems as fast as he could.


    Back in the game, they had a pair of golems that were immensely helpful to the guild. However, he was not able to bring them outside. That was now going to be finally corrected!


    With these golems stationed in their bases, the guild members would have some much deserved freedom to train as they please without having to constantly worry about protecting others.


    And with the way things were progressing, his army of soul minions was also not enough to take care of some tasks. More minions were always a wee addition to delegate the workload.


    Andstly, it has been a while since he forged anything, and as a cksmith, he found himself really looking forward to this challenge.


    "Golem Creation skill¡­" Liam closed his eyes as he went over the details of the recipe that were now imprinted in his mind.


    Unlike the skill book, he didn''t feel anything in his soul when he learned the recipe book. While learning a skill basically imparted all the knowledge that was required to use the skill and even master the skill to a certain extent, it seemed that learning a recipe was a different process.


    In this case, Liam only knew the process and the various ratios and proportions butpletelycked the ability to tell whether the forging process would be sessful or not onpletion and what he could do to make it sessful.


    This was something he needed to practice and execute for himself. Only then he would be able to understand it fully.


    However, even if the system did not provide the help to one hundred percent master the crafting process and the recipe just from the recipe book, it did not mean that he wasgging behind.


    This was, in fact, the other reason Liam was excited.


    Crafting a golem might beplicated to others, but as a grandmaster cksmith who had forged several epic-grade items, this was nothing but child''s y to him.


    All he needed was Orichalcum!


    He grinned and patted the fox as the two of themnded next to the hive hill. The duo gazed at the mountain of Orichalcum metal in front of them with stars in their eyes.


    "Shall we get started?" Liam winked, and Luna snickered happily.


    The little white fox was very simple. She did not need any specific reason to be happy. If Liam was happy, she was happy. If Liam was sad, she was sad.


    On Liam''s say-so, she trotted forward and walked over to the piles of Orichalcum metal that the soul minions had managed to harvest so far. Liam then quickly tossed away everything into his spatial artifact.


    Just as the Crimson Abyss guild members sitting in the vicinity were wondering what was going on, the duo once again disappeared silently from the area.


    Liam had alreadymunicated with the soul minions to see if anyone hade across any industrial forges in the district, and there were about four of them.


    So the duo headed directly to the one that was currently the closest to them.


    It was a huge factory that seemed to manufacture nuts and bolts and other misceneous small metal items.


    Liam walked around the factory first to get an overall look at the various facilities and equipment avable. But unfortunately, most of it was not really helpful to him.


    The only thing that he could even remotely use was a huge sturdy metallic surface. He decided to substitute this for an anvil and then retrieved abat hammer to start the forging process.


    As for melting the metal and separating out pure orichalcum from the broken bs of the hive hill, there was always his trusty me thrower.


    "Luna, melt this pile for me." Liam guided the little fox slowly as the two of them together started isting pure orichalcum bit by bit.


    Liam monitored the purity of the molten metal while the fox continued breathing fire steadily. The entire process took about an hour when a small pool of molten Orichalcum had formed on the ground.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 2~


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 Chapter 941 Boooom!

    "This looks about right. I should now quickly start the forging process before the metal starts to cool down."


    One of the listed properties of Orichalcum was its fast cooling rate because of its ability to be infused with atmospheric mana. So Liam did not even have to quench the metal before he started the next step.


    He closed his eyes and zeroed his focus on the task at hand as she started his churning his mana core and infusing the metal with his personal mana.


    This was the most crucial step in the process, ording to the recipe. The more Liam infused the orichalcum metal with his mana and not the atmospheric mana, the more powerful the resulting golem would be.


    This was also why using Orichalchum for this purpose was a double-edged weapon.


    Thanks to its excellent mana conductivity, the golem would be able to self-replenish itself and perform at full capacity without any issues and without any stops, even when it was under attack or performing any other vigorous task.


    Only when the limit exceeded too much would an issue arise. Otherwise, the golem would be as resilient and powerful as the day it was created.


    However, the drawback to this was that the creation process in itself was that much more difficult. The metal was like a sponge for mana, so it was that much harder to prevent the external mana from leaking into it during the forging process.


    Liam realized this as soon as he started the work. "Some amount of warning about this would have been nice." He grumbled, but there was a big smile stered on his face, which clearly showed that he was enjoying the challenge.


    While he tirelessly brought down the hammer on the metal, pumping in his mana with every stroke, Luna continued to melt the second batch of metal bs they had gathered.


    The recipe demanded that the huge amounts of Orichalcum ore be brought down to the size of a small sphere, and each golem required six such spheres.


    This was quite a bit of work, so the duo was pretty much busy for the next hour, with both Liam and Luna expending most of their energy, though the fox had it rtively easypared to the human being, who was drenched in sweat from top to bottom.


    Finally, after another hour and a half, the six spheres were ready for use! They were stuffed so full and bursting with mana that they couldn''t even absorb a single more speck of it.


    Liam wiped the sweat off of his forehead and grinned. "Ok. What''s next?" He did not want to make more spheres before he tried these six out and created the first golem, taking things topletion.


    He cracked the joints in his neck, stretching a little bit, and then walked over to the outside of the industrial space to a clean stretch of uncementednd.


    He then bent down, and to Luna''s surprise, he started drawing things. She silently observed what he was doing without disturbing him.


    Liam first started by drawing a star-shaped symbol on the ground, followed by a circle that connected all the corners of this star. "Hmmm¡­ this looks about right."


    Luna as well nodded with a curious look on her face, agreeing with him.


    Liam then ced the 2-inch diameter Orichalcum spheres on each corner of this star.


    Compared with the chunk of metal they started with, these small spheres were heavy and dense. They also pulsed with a tremendous amount of mana that Liam had painstakingly infused.


    Soon everything was in position, but that was all. Nothing more seemed to be happening. The little fox couldn''t help but wonder if their work had be a failure.


    However, the very next instant, Liam silently sent a sliver of mana to the center of the formation, and all of a sudden, the whole thing lit up with mana pulsing everywhere.


    With a nudge and a little guidance from Liam, this mana quickly snaked through the entirety of the formation and started interconnecting all the orichalcum spheres.


    All of the six spheres, the star-shaped formation, and the circle connecting everything sizzled with mana currents.


    In the beginning, the formation looked very tame, and everything seemed to be working, but as a few seconds ticked by, Liam quickly realized that it was a pipe dream.


    The challenge in forging this golem was clearly not yet over.


    With every second that passed by, the formation started drawing in massive amounts of mana currents from the surroundings.


    As per the description, Liam had to make sure that these currents did not flow haphazardly and only flowed through the design drawn on the ground, following exactly those specific paths.


    While this was easy at the start, as the formation started gathering more mana, things were quickly getting out of hand, and the difficulty was exponentially increasing.


    "Come on!" Liam gritted his teeth and used all of his mental strength and physical strength to grab the mana on the field and take charge of the turbulent currents.


    Soon the dazzling energy of the formation became so intense that even Luna, who was standing so close by, could hardly see anything.


    This intense aura increased and increased, and a couple of minutester, it unexpectedly started taking the shape of a dome.


    From within this dome, Liam groaned loudly and shouted colorful words every now and then. The forging process was so damn painful that it was almost akin to him trying to forge another high-level draconian soul.


    At a certain point, the mana gathered became so powerful that air around them started whipping about, and the ground started cracking. Even Luna''s skin prickled because of the mana surge in the area.


    "Master¡­" She worriedly licked her lips.


    And the next instant, without any exnation¡­


    BOOOOOOOM!


    A loud explosion rang out, and both Luna and Liam were tossed away in opposite directions.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 3~


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 Chapter 942 Did It Fail?

    "Did it fail?" Liam clenched his fist and looked at the dust clearing after the explosion, but before that could happen¡­


    THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!


    Something huge and heavy sounded, followed by a rumbling metallic sound.


    And the next instant, right in front of his eyes, a giant structure started expanding. More importantly, this structure waspletely made of orichalcum through and through, with its metallic exterior emitting the signature golden glow.


    "Damn." Liam gulped as he watched the big lump of gold in awe. The six spheres of orichalcum that he had painstakinglypressed had expanded and were still continuing to expand.


    These six spheres that looked like lumps were also starting to change in nature, little by little. They started separating out whilst still being connected.


    Soon, the right two formed something akin to the right arm and right leg. The left two formed the left arm and left leg. The center one formed the torso, and finally, the top one formed the head.


    The big growing lump had finally taken the shape of a golem!


    And it did not stop there. The structure was still growing and expanding. It was now almost five times the size of Liam.


    More importantly, the individual parts of the golem had now be more pronounced, only the head remaining vague. It was pretty much just a blob just like the torso, whereas the hands and legs had some outlining of fingers and toes.


    While Liam was carefully observing this transformation, suddenly, something else caught his eye.


    At first nce, it looked like all the spheres had fused and be parts of the same golem, forming the head, limbs, and torso, but when he looked deeply, this did not seem to be the case.


    Though they had fused together, they were also separate at the same time. In each of these limbs, there was a small but distinct swirl of mana that almost looked like a mana core.


    When Liam tried to focus more on this swirl of mana, he noticed that the thing was constantly pulling in the mana from the atmosphere. It was at a very small rate, but it was definitely happening.


    "So this golem has 6 cores?" Liam mused out loud.


    As if answering him, a system notification popped out. At the same time, the golem also stopped expanding.


    <Ding. Forging Sessful>


    <Ding. Low-Grade Orichalcum Golem has been created>


    <Ding. Six Cores of the Golem have stabilized>


    <Ding. The grade of the Golem has been updated>


    <Ding. The purity of the Golem has reached the maximum>


    <Ding. The grade of the Golem has been updated>


    <Ding. The mana conductivity of the Golem has reached the maximum>


    <Ding. The grade of the Golem has been updated>


    Liam''s gaze followed the long list of notifications, and he finallynded on the one that mattered.


    <Ding. Low-Grade Orichalcum Golem has been created>


    <Ding. The Golem is now ready for binding>


    "Heh." Liam grinned as he tiredly walked over and raised his hand. He then nicked the tip of his finger with his teeth, drawing out a drop of blood.


    He then ced this drop of blood onto the right leg of the golem,manding the thing wholeheartedly. "From now onwards, you obey me."


    Immediately, Liam felt a rumbling sound in his mind. His eyes widened as he saw the drop of blood disappear, and a faint connection to the gold giant in front of him appeared in a corner of his mind.


    If he paid attention to it, he could feel the huge thing in front of him to some extent. "Go stand over there." Hemanded, and the golem immediately responded.


    "Pick up the fox." He gave anothermand, and once again, the golem walked over to Luna and swiftly picked up the little fox, making Luna giggle loudly.


    Kyuuu! She happily loosened herself from the grip of the golem and ran all around the giant, inspecting it from all angles as if the whole thing was meant to be her new ymate.


    Liam ignored the little fur ball and opened his system interface to check the main thing, the golem''s level!


    <Ding. Do you wish to name the golem?>


    "Golem 1," Liam quickly replied and swiped the screen away.


    Right after that, the next screen shed in front of him, and this had the full details of the golem, including the level of this golem which was a¡­


    "Level 100?"


    Liam blinked, unable to believe what he was seeing in front of him. He took a deep breath and looked over the details of the golem carefully from top to bottom.


    <Name: Golem 1>


    <Description: Six Core Orichalcum Golem created by an inexperienced Grandmaster>


    <Level: 100>


    <Health: 1000,000>


    <Mana: 1000,000>


    <Strength: 200>


    <Dexterity: 200>


    <Agility: 200>


    <Auto Skills: Punch, Kick, Toss, Stamp, Mad Rush, Stampede>


    <Status: Can be upgraded>


    Ha Ha Ha! Liam''s grin widened as he studied these unbelievable stats. "This is actually level 100, stronger than me!" He walked over to the giant and patted it proudly.


    "How did you learn all these skills, by the way?"


    The recipe did not particrly talk about any skills and only mentioned his mental connection and his mana signature. As long as he infused enough of his mana into the golem, he would be able tomand it freely.


    However, these listed skills were something new.


    Also, Liam couldn''t help but notice that they were somewhat simr to the skills of the golem he had owned back in the game.


    He thought about this some more, and the only possible exnation was something bizarre. While creating this golem, or rather infusing the mana, he had subconsciously thought about the two golems back in the game.


    Could that have resulted in these so-called auto skills?


    "Well, never mind. This should be easy enough to figure out once I make the next one and the next one and the one after that!" Liam grinned.


    And¡­ Growl! Luna roared in excitement.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 943 We Have Two Newcomers To The Guild

    A couple of hourster, all of the Crimson Abyss guild members had returned back from the beginner dungeons. Those who had stayed behind were also somewhat rested, and everyone was ready to face whatever wasing next.


    So the entire guild was waiting near the hive hill with anticipation for their guild leader to make an appearance.


    "Even in the apocalypse, this guy is never punctual," Alex grumbled.


    "Aren''t you tired, sis? Why are you being a bitch? Can''t you just use this time to rest while you can?" Rey rolled his eyes. He then immediately tensed up, realizing that he had spoken something that should not have been said in his tiredness.


    "Ha Ha Ha. Just kidding." He tried to salvage the mess, but he was toote. A painful hitnded on his back, sending him staggering to the front.


    Rey knew that more wasing, so he quickly ran away to the hive hill, where a few people were helping Liam''s soul minion army to harvest the Orichalcum from the pyramid while they were waiting.


    Overall everyone was in high spirits after the invigorating fight with the isons, and the dungeon runs right afterward. There wasn''t a single casualty, and every single person had also leveled up significantly. The day was a huge sess.


    So no oneined even though they had to wait idly for a while. They either ate and drank to rest their bodies, or they made themselves useful by harvesting Orichalcum.


    In this manner, another hour passed by when suddenly something loud sounded in the distance. The guild immediately became alert and turned to look in the direction where the disturbance wasing from.


    Shit! Everyone''s face paled.


    There in front of them were two golden giants that looked simr to the hive hill nearby. Each step these giants took reverberated loudly with strength and power.


    Unlike the isons that came at them in a huge swarm, there were just two of these giants, and yet no one who looked at them could muster the slightest confidence that they could face these monsters.


    Shit! Shit! Shit! Alex clutched the shield in her hand nervously. To fight or flee? That was the thought running through her brain. Liam was not there with them right now. So the burden of making this decision fell upon her.


    However, all of a sudden, Rey''s loud voice interrupted her thoughts.


    "Oh my god! Look! Bro is back!"


    "What?" Alex had no idea what the hell he was talking about. But when she looked at the two golden giants again, she saw the familiar white fox and the person sitting atop the fox. She finally understood what Rey was talking about.


    But there was still the question remaining. Why hadn''t Liam attacked the two giants yet? No, why were the two giants not attacking Liam or the fox?


    For a moment, Alex was confused, but seeing the big smile on Liam''s face, she thought of a frightening possibility. "No¡­ that''s not possible¡­" She gulped.


    She and the rest of the guild watched in a daze as Liam and Lunanded near them, with the two golden giants still walking right behind them,ing straight for the group.


    "So, how was the dungeon run?" Liam grinned. Seeing everybody''s stunned faces, he then added, "We have two neers to the guild." And he looked right at the golems when he said the words.


    Everyone dazedly nodded, not understanding what was going on.


    Alex smiled bitterly. Hadn''t they just gone for three or four hours? Just what the hell happened while they were running the dungeons? How did these roughly shed-down metal chunks lying next to them be these two giants?


    Everyone watched in awe as the two giant golems arrived near them and then further proceeded to walk toward the hive hill.


    Without any hesitation, the two immediately started tearing down the rest of the hive hill into smaller metal chunks, making a short work of the pyramid structure. Clearly, the efficiency of these two monsters was much higher than the smaller soul minions.


    Liam chuckled and dismissed all the soul minions. He quickly collected all the materials and then addressed the bbergasted guild. "Let''s return to the base first."


    Everyone wordlessly sat back on the wyverns as the group majestically marched back to their home base.


    Looking at the giant golden lumps, one would think that their agility wascking, but the two monsters proved them wrong. The return trip was only slightly slower than the previous trip.


    Though the golems couldn''tpare with the agility of the wyverns, they performed decently. Besides, Liam used this chance to investigate the surroundings some more. It was hard to believe, but he found some shocking truths because of this.


    The first being every single mutated beast in the vicinity was missing. The area waspletely wiped clean of all beasts, whether it was evolved or elite or boss type. Even their corpses were not left behind.


    The second thing that he found out was that these insects hadn''t yet touched the human settlements. One or two hideouts where people had taken refuge had been massacred, but there were a few untouched.


    This led him to think that maybe the isons were targeting the beast nests on earth first. Currently, these were the stronger and more powerful poptions whenpared to human beings.


    So maybe they were taking them out first? For now, this was just a conjecture, but Liam had a feeling that he was correct. Otherwise, it was impossible for these civilians to survive the ison swarm.


    Liam also separately sent Alex, Shen Yue, and Lan Deming to talk to these smaller groups using this time they were traveling. Originally, he had no ns of doing this sort of thing at the moment or any time in the future, but the situation had be way too dire.


    This was just the second wave, and things had already be so dangerous. Then what was going to happen during the third wave and the fourth wave? Wouldn''t the entire poption would be utterly annihted?


    Liam particrly did not care too much about this, except that with the ns he had in mind for the future, a little bit of manpower was required. There was simply no way around it.


    Otherwise, with their limited poption, there would be no hope of ever bringing back some resemnce of normalcy to the current world. The standard of living would always remain this bad.


    So if these people were willing to follow the guild rules and stay in line, he did not have any issues in providing them with shelter and a chance to survive, as long as the guild wasn''t expanding too much too fast.

 Chapter 944 Let The Madness Begin!

    As they arrived near the base, Liam first stopped and used the two golems to tear apart the other hive hill as well, harvesting every single piece of Orichalcum that he could get his hands on.


    The group then finally returned to the base, wearing their proud faces. Many family members and friends even rushed forward to give them a hero''s wee.


    Naturally, their gazes fell upon the two giant golems, and all sorts of rumors started spreading. Liam found it so amusing that he almost did not want to clear up the misunderstanding, but Alex started spreading the word and quieted the crowd.


    Lan Ganjie and a few other key personnel gathered around, and the various heads immediately started discussing some urgent issues and also about the neers who might be joining them.


    Meanwhile, on the other side, Liam was immediately bombarded by a million questions from Hao Yuze.


    The guy couldn''t take his eyes off the golems and waspletely transfixed by their strength and power. As someone who did not like to fight and personally get himself in the middle of the chaos, these golems were definitely must-haves.


    Liam scratched his head, not knowing what to do with him.


    If it were back in the game, he would have rmended Hao Yuze to learn cksmithing or some other crafting profession so that he could make something out of himself. But now it was toote. So all he could do was pat the guy and ask him to be patient.


    After that conversation, he was about to give some instructions to the golem and finally settle them with the guild when all of a sudden, a few familiar faces appeared in front of him. Liam hadn''t seen these faces in a while.


    "It looks like you guys are doing just fine. I was worried for nothing." Liam smiled.


    "We are indeed doing fine." An old granny replied back.


    Liam inspected the levels of the granny and her squad and was surprised to see that their levels had also shot up by quite a bit. They were all about Level 35 and were onlygging behind the other guild members a little bit.


    "So you also encountered a swarm?" Liam asked. That was the only exnation. Otherwise, this fast level-up was impossible.


    "Hmmm¡­ We have some matters to discuss." The old granny nodded. She then sent away the rest of her dojo group, with only her granddaughter Ning Xi and her direct student Ning Xuan following her to Liam''s residence.


    The group reached Liam''s ce, and Ning Xi immediately took it upon herself to serve some food to everyone. Though she was a high-leveled skilled fighter, inside here, she was the junior. So she did not mind serving the others.


    After a couple of minutes, when everyone got settled and was sipping their drinks calmly, the granny finally opened her mouth.


    "Guild leader Liam, I first want to thank you."


    "Hmmm?" Liam was surprised. The granny then actually stood up from her ce and bowed to him in a very formal manner.


    "This is all not required." He chuckled as he understood why she was doing this. He did not fail to notice that this group was missing when the ison swarm invaded the guild base.


    If they had been here, then the oue of the fight would have been very different. There was a chance that he need not even have interfered.


    But the granny solemnly shook her head and sat back. "I thought I realized how perilous this new world was¡­" She sighed. "And I was still wrong." She took a sip of her tea and continued, "This swarm you are talking about, we haven''t fought these insects just yet."


    "Oh?"


    "We were inside the advanced dungeons that you had unlocked for the past two days." The granny exined with a bitter smile.


    "You guys survived the advanced dungeons?" Now Liam understood why their levels had improved so much.


    "Yes, but we had absolutely no idea what was going on outside the dungeon. And while we were just training in the dungeon, our entire guild family was almost destroyed. For this, I wish to apologize to you sincerely."


    Liam nodded. "This is not your fault. This is the world right now. Anything can happen at any time. Even I did not expect this."


    The granny nodded. "Guild leader Liam, I do not wish to repeat my words again and waste your time. So please ept my gratitude and apology."


    She looked at the other two and all three of them, then once again stood and bowed in front of Liam in a very formal manner.


    "We heard that you were bringing along the guild members to fight these vicious insects, we also request you to join the training. Please allow us to make up for our errors."


    "Ok. Sounds good to me." Liam shrugged. He recruited the granny, promising her a certain amount of freedom, but if she wanted to join his training schedule willingly, then it was all the better.


    "We will be leaving again tomorrow, and this time, we probably won''t be returning to the guild at least for a couple of days or so, maybe even longer. Prepare ordingly. Inform the others too. Anyone who wants to join can join, but they will be joining at their own risk."


    The granny and the two Nings nodded in agreement, and the group then quickly left to make the necessary arrangements. News quickly spread, and soon the entire base started hustling around.


    On the other side, Liam also busied himself as he had big ns ahead of him for the rest of the night.


    When he had finished forging, he brought back all the crude items he had used back in the abandoned industry, and these were now neatly arranged in his backyard by the two golems.


    Luna was busy sorting all the Orichalcum metal bs, and everything was in order for Liam to start.


    He looked at the pile of golden metal stacked ready for use and cracked his knuckles. He grinned and walked toward the first pile to start making yet another golem. "Let the madness begin!"

 Chapter 945 Is The Guild Leader Single?

    After chaos descended into the world, the typical days were short, and nights were long. This was even more so for people working tirelessly, burning the midnight oil.


    On this particr day, a white fox was panting and heaving as she struggled to keep the molten metal pools around her at their ideal temperature.


    Since birth, this was the hardest she has worked. Thezy fox had never put so much effort even into her training, but now her beloved master had asked her to do this. Hence she had no other option. She had to do the work.


    After all, not too far away from her, her beloved master was equally working hard, pushing himself to his limits. Liam was currently on his sixth golem as he carefully manipted the mana to create links between the six cores.


    With each golem he made, he tried without fail to force his will onto the golem and somehow impart some mana skills into the golden giant, but this was easier said than done.


    While the concept itself was easy enough, it was not possible to consistently force his will and, at the same time, make sure to maintain his control over mana maniption.


    So far, he was unable to make a moreplicated golem and stray away from the main form. The only constion was that each and every single golem he made got the same upgrades the first one received and became Level 100.


    While this was not an improvement, this was also quite a good oue. The only problem was that it looked like he had now reached a barrier, and without breaking it and crossing over it, he might not be able to make any further advancements.


    Time slowly ticked by, and soon the first rays of the morning sunlight hit the row of golden giants standing outside Liam''s residence. Unbeknownst to the man and the fox, a small gallery had gathered to watch him create these magnificent fighting machines.


    "Does this guy always has to overachieve in every single thing?" Alex enviously bit her lips. Standing next to her, both Rey and Hao Yuze had worshipping looks in their eyes.


    In fact, most people in the crowd had the same type of eyes, all of them glued onto Liam, especially the women. This was the first time several of them had the chance to see him at work, that too with his upper bodypletely naked.


    Muscles pulsed and strained as he patiently forged each and every sphere and assembled them in formation with the utmost care.


    It was said that a woman found a hard-working man to be the most attractive. In this case, the man standing in front of everyone was not just hard-working but someone who held unspeakable power in his hands.


    Several women swooned at the sight, making Shen Yue and a certain someone extremely ufortable. While Shen Yue remained silent and just continued watching from the sidelines, the redhead was not so easygoing.


    "Damn it. I am just going to chase away these idiots. Don''t they have any work to do?"


    "Sis, aren''t you also just standing here?" Rey reminded her.


    "Cough. I am just standing here to make sure that no one dares to disturb that guy. I am just doing him a favor, that''s all. He better thank meter." She chewed her lips and walked away.


    Rey rolled his eyes and mumbled in pity. "This poor girl ispletely done for. She should just propose to him already and get it over with."


    "Hmmm? Is the guild leader single?"


    "Uh? Not really." Rey answered, and then he suddenly turned around to see who it was because he thought he heard a familiar voice.


    And it was indeed the same person, the granny or rather Master Ning as everyone called her. Wait, why did she ask if Liam was single or not?


    Don''t tell me¡­ Rey started sweating. Even she¡­


    Luckily, before his imagination could run wild, the granny scratched her chin and added. "Maybe I should ask my granddaughter to pursue the young man."


    "Good luck." Reyughed awkwardly and moved away. This crowd was way too dangerous for his self-esteem.


    Finally, a couple more hourster, Liam forged the tenth golem, and another giant golden structure became erect in front of everyone, standing tall next to the others.


    With this, he had continuously forged ten huge golems all in a single night. With the two from before, their guild actually had 12 total golems in their possession!


    Huff¡­ Liam tiredly sat down on the ground as the task he had nned was fully finished. He looked at the twelve golems and smiled in satisfaction.


    The thing was, even if he wanted to, he did not have any more Orichalcum to forge more golems.


    So it was time to move on to the next task at hand, which was to search for more of these hive hills. Who knew that the isons were a gift that kept on giving?!


    The person who had triggered this change in the timeline had really done a favor to them.


    "Are you fine, brother?" Mei Mei walked over with some food and water for the worn-out duo.


    Luna hurriedly grabbed the tray right from her hands and started gulping down the assorted roasted meat while Liam simply pinched her cheeks. "I will take a bath and then eatter. I am filthy."


    "He He. You do stink." Mei Mei giggled.


    She then quickly turned to look at Shen Yue, who was still standing on the side, not wanting to disturb Liam. "Sis Yue, aren''t you going to help brother take a bath?" She shouted in front of everyone, making the woman blush.


    Shen Yue became bright red with her cheeks and face heating up, but she still nodded and followed behind Liam, ignoring the envious eyes staring at her.


    Many women silently cursed their bad luck and left the area. It was not as if they couldpete with the beauty who just walked past them. So all they could do was me their bad luck.


    Only Mei Mei grinned shamelessly, giving Shen Yue a thumbs up. "Way to go, sis! This is how you have to y yourpetition!"


    Shen Yue heard this and became even more embarrassed. She quickened her footsteps to get the hell out of there.


    "Sis Yue is too innocent. I need to help her more." Mei Mei mumbled to Luna, but the fox couldn''t be bothered to care about anything at the moment except for the te of food in front of her. She gulped down the roasted meat like there was no tomorrow.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Existenzial for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 946 Too Fast

    After an hour, everyone became ready and prepared to leave the guild base. Liam first visited Lan Ganjie and notified him about the golems. Out of the 12 golems, he prepared to leave 10 of them back at the guild base.


    Lan Ganjie as well nodded and silently epted the help. The man had seen a lot in his life and knew when to keep his mouth shut and ept whatever was given to him.


    Everyone who was stepping out at the moment currently had family residing in the guild base. They were all about to once again embark into the dangerous world, searching for the nightmarish insects.


    They would be able to do their jobs better if they did not have to worry about their families constantly and had the small constion that everyone back home was safe and secure.


    While no one could truly give such a feeling in the atmosphere of the current world, these golems came very close to offering that sort of protection.


    Liam walked over to each of the ten golems and personally gave themmands to look after the guild territory and protect the guild members.


    After that, each golem marched to different corners of the territory and took their ce, standing guard vigntly.


    Now there were only two more golems left. Liam decided to bring these two along with him for mainly two reasons. One, he wanted to test out the efficiency of these golems in actual battles, and two, bringing these two Level 100 golems as a backup didn''t seem to be a bad idea.


    After all, they had no idea about where the other hive hills were located, and Liam did not want to make the same mistake of assuming that he knew everything about the world at the moment.


    There could very well be some dangers lurking in corners he had no idea about, and he wanted to be more than prepared for these dangers.


    In fact, he would have taken more golems with him, but the problem was their slow speed. After attempting twelve times, he was only able to increase the speed and agility of thesest two guys.


    They were still slower than Luna and the wyverns, but they had a [Sprint] skill that gave them a speed boost every minute. So these two wouldn''t hinder their journey too much.


    After settling things with Lan Ganjie and the golems, Liam then walked over to the seventy members of the guild, who had all assembled and were waiting for him. This time there was no one left behind, and this was the full Crimson Abyss attack force.


    Amidst the crowd, Liam''s eyes searched for one particr person and soon spotted her. Lily was standing in the back of the crowd as if she did not want to be noticed by anyone.


    As soon as Liam looked at her, she quickly bent her head down, looking guilty. She also seemed very nervous, almost as if she was afraid Liam wouldn''t let here.


    However, Liam sighed and decided to allow her to apany the group this time too. She had clearly already made a decision to enterbat, so he did not n on standing in her way.


    Besides, her level now was already 15, and she was no longer so weak that someone had to look over her constantly.


    As for the other things¡­ Liam cleared his throat and spoke loudly. "I am not sure when we will be returning, I hope you have all said your goodbyes."


    "I am also not sure how dangerous the next fight is going to be, so if you are here and if you areing with me, you are on your own. Your safety and your well-being is only in your hands. You areing at your own risk. Make sure that you understand this."


    Everyone nodded silently. Liam had actually expected at least one or two to change their minds, but surprisingly no one did anything like that. Were they thinking this would be a simple level-up session?


    He did not bother exining anything further. It was better for these people to witness everything themselves and face hardships. If they were always protected, then there would be no growth.


    After the small speech, he summoned all the wyverns, and everyone started climbing on top of the big draconian creatures. There were, in total, about seventy of them, but there was still enough space on the ten wyverns for all of them to get settledfortably.


    Liam, Shen Yue, and Mei Mei hopped onto Luna, and with the two golems already geared up to move, the entire group was ready and finally set out of the guild base.


    Together, the big procession was definitely a sight to behold. All the civilians and the family members couldn''t help but look at this majestic group with pride in their eyes.


    Inspired by the scene, more and more civilians silently resolved to enlist for the dungeon runs and be one among these core members of the guild.


    Their lives had changed so much in thest few weeks. They too were trying their best to change ording to the world.


    And for the first time, they were starting to feel like not all hope was lost. Perhaps they could also be strong and fight back.


    Soon, the wyverns in the sky disappeared from eyesight, and the golems sprinting along on the ground also vanished into the distance. Everyone returned back to their day and the tasks they had to finish to earn their daily meals.


    Only the ten golden golems still stood tall and proud, keeping a watch over the entire guild base. If one had enough mana affinity, they could clearly feel the massive pools of mana gathering around these golems.


    Even when they were idle, they were constantly revving up as if they were preparing to go into battle at any given instant.


    Naturally, such a big, eye-catching marvel did not escape the notice of a certain fairy inside the magic shop. "His growth is really too fast!" Tilia murmured in deep thought.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Existenzial for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 947 There Or Not There?

    After setting out from the guild base, Liam and the group started wandering around the vastndmass that now constituted territory 6. This region not only consisted of China but almost the entirety of Asia, leaving out only a few parts.


    This was a huge chunk ofnd they had to cover, but to start with, Liam decided to just stick with their country, China. They had already encountered two hive hills in the southern part of the country, so he was confident that there should be more in the vicinity.


    However, this confidence was quickly broken down. As the group moved through the various cities and districts at an impressive speed, they were yet toe across a single hive hill.


    This did not make sense because there were already two in such close proximity, so why was the third one so difficult to find? Unlike the portals that had popped up in every corner, it looked like the hive hills were rather rare.


    "Wait, those two better not be the only hive hills?" Liam even began suspecting something like this because he knew for a fact that only their southern zone was subjected to the whole vampire disaster. So just like that, probably only they were subjected to the hive hill too?


    He scratched his head in confusion, not knowing what to make of anything. Nevertheless, he continued with the search. Even if they hadn''t run into any hive hills yet, they had already run into plenty of other opportunities.


    On one side, Liam''s minions were sweeping thendmass and getting rid of any mutated beast that was roaming around.


    If there was a bigger nest, then he took a step back and let the guild battle with the beasts so that they could also gain more levels andbat experience.


    For the most part, the two golems and Luna remained idle and did not do anything. Liam was also just collecting the passive experience points, along with several portal crystals, by shutting down the portals, which were still open in some areas.


    In this way, they werebing through thendmass slowly and patiently, searching for the familiar golden pyramid and the nasty swarm that enveloped it.


    Coincidentally, the group also encountered a few survivor camps along the way, but there was no further interaction as they were too far from the guild base, and also, since they had only recently recruited more people, Liam did not want to dilute their base with more strangers.


    So while these people watched the wyverns flying in the sky with both fear and awe, the group silently continued moving.


    Other than this, they also encountered another magic shop which once again was surrounded by three dungeons in the nearby vicinity.


    Liam marked the location of the dungeons, and save for one, he quickly began extracting the dungeon crystals from the other two dungeons.


    He did not want topletely shut down the little chance others had to be stronger and survive the apocalypse. So, for now, he decided to let thest dungeon remain functioning.


    This continued as the group traveled for a few more hours. Soon, the hours turned into days, and finally, after two whole days, the group came across another hive hill!


    And just like before, there was a swarm lingering around this one as well.


    "There!" Liam pointed out. "Everyone get ready for battle."


    There was no point in dying things any longer as the guild had been pretty much waiting for this opportunity for two days.


    As soon as Liam gave themand, the ten wyverns immediately swooped down andnded next to the hive hill. The guild members jumped down and charged toward the swarm, and the other side also reacted instantly.


    Hundreds of thousands of insects immediately began to envelop the small guild group.


    In reality, having seventy seasonedbat fighters was anything but small for a guild, especially in these beginning stages of the apocalypse. However, in front of these insects, they only looked insignificant.


    The isons shot downward in droves and droves, aiming topletely ughter the enemies who had stepped foot in their territory. Their speed and strength were impressive as always, as they shed down at the human beings with their sharp venomous limbs.


    But unfortunately for them, they were not dealing with any random human beings this time around. They were dealing with Crimson Abyss.


    This was the third time for most people here to stand against these miserable creatures. There was not an ounce of fear in anyone''s eyes as they stood firm without getting overwhelmed by the insane numbers.


    As for the dojo members who were facing these insects for the first time, their faces only showed a small hesitation, that toosting for just a second, before they started going all out.


    Having been clearing far stronger monsters in the advanced dungeon, about twenty to thirty levels higher than them, these isons were pretty much mosquitoes for these people.


    Especially for the granny who stood at the center of the group, this was more so. Unlike the others, the old granny did not rely on any weapons or items and instead was fighting the insects with her bare hands.


    However, when one looked closely, one could see that these hands were, in fact, not that empty. There were swirls of mana wrapped around them. The granny was actually brawling with the isons with pure mana as her aid. She was the perfect example of a magic brawler.


    Liam was watching her in action after quite a while, and he was immediately surprised by her development. When he saw her, he couldn''t help but think of the obvious. Just like Lan Fen and Lan Deming, this granny was also a natural genius.


    But the thing was¡­ unlike Lan Fen and Lan Deming, she had also participated in the tutorial. So her growth now would be even more explosive.


    Liam checked her level, and she was already at 31, quickly gaining momentum. The other members of the dojo were also showing simr traits, though not as pronounced as the granny.


    The guild ranking board was once again going to get a massive makeover!


    But the next second, Liam realized that he had jumped to the conclusion too soon. The other members of the guild were also not to be underestimated.


    If the dojo members had morebat experience because of their extensive martial arts training from a young age, then these people had more life and death experience and were skilled in battle in their own way.


    So each and every single one of the seventy members were pulling their weight impressively. There was already a pile of dead insects beginning to umte.


    With all of the top-tier manpower of the guild fully in action, this time around, the group managed to get a handle on things much faster.


    However, the moment they got their feet firmly nted, the isons immediately retaliated.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Existenzial for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 948 Enter The Golem

    BOOOMMMM!


    The fight had only barely started, but the hive hill unexpectedly erupted like a volcano even before things could start heating up.


    "This is happening way too fast." Liam frowned.


    He was willing to bet that the second swarm that was about to show up wouldn''t be any less overwhelming than the first one. This time around, things were going to get a lot more difficult.


    The next second, another explosive noise sounded amidst the chaos and confusion, and more isons started crawling out of the hive hill. They shot forward to the group of humans with even more speed and vigor.


    "Yup, just like I thought." Liam inspected this new wave of isons and saw that they were all around Level 30 and some even crossing Level 35.


    This was mostly the same as before when they had faced the other two hive hills, but the numbers here were crippling.


    Luckily, the guild had already leveled up a round. Otherwise, they would have instantly been ughtered en masse. Not even their bones would have been left behind.


    At least this way¡­


    Liam watched as the guild members stumbled a little at first, but they were starting to gain their ground once again.


    It looked like they were first trying to take down as many of the weaker ones as they could to reduce the overall burden while at the same time holding off against the stronger isons.


    This was not a bad strategy but were their current levels enough for them to persevere through this?


    Because along with the hundreds of thousands of the mutated isons, there were still the hundreds of thousands of the normal isons.


    Liam observed the group for two seconds before he signaled one of the golems to join the fight. It was about time their actual efficiency inbat was tested.


    The huge golden monster thudded its way forward into the aggro range of the isons and then, with one single swift motion, jumped into the middle of the fray.


    Immediately the isons started pooling around it and attacking it from all directions, but they quickly figured out that, for once, they were out of their depth.


    The golem was a true monster that stood out amidst the chaos. With thousands of isons swarming around it, the hulking chunk of orichalcum did not falter.


    It waved around its huge limbs, pping down isons left and right. The level 100 golem did not care if it was your normal standard ison or the mutated version. It simply went ballistic, and to Liam''s surprise, he was even getting the entire pot of experience points.


    Unlike the undead, the golem had no growth potential whatsoever. While this had its own disadvantages, there were also several advantages, like the full experience point reward.


    Liam was receiving 50 exp for each kill, and this was very quickly adding up. Within a minute, the golem had cleared about a thousand of the isons building their very own graveyard.


    This gave the guild the much-required break, and they built on this momentum to once again gain a footing in this tornado of bizarre insects.


    With just the one golem, the extra isons on the battleground were no longer a threat. The fight was still going to be bloody and challenging, but at least they won''t directly sink now without even being able to put up a fight.


    "This should be good?" Liam leaned back on the white fox and observed the scene. Once he confirmed that the battle had stabilized, he paid more attention to the functioning of the golem.


    Mana swirls gathered around all six cores, keeping the killing machine going at its full capacity. Seeing this, Liam thought of an obvious way to improve these guys further.


    "What if I use more cores? Would that make them capable of using stronger skills, perhaps skills that required mana?"


    He was now thinking that this was maybe why he did not seed when he repeatedly attempted to impart mana-rted skills while forging the golems by forcing his will on them. The six cores were simply not enough.


    "Hmmm¡­" He thought back to the formation, wondering where to ce the newly forged cores. In a star-shaped formation, these six cores were perfectly bnced, so if he introduced any more moving parts, would that simply copse the whole structure?


    He rubbed his temples thinking about it, but he was unable to reach a conclusion one way or the another. With limited knowledge, there were only so many assumptions that he could make. He really needed to try things out to figure out what might work and what wouldn''t.


    And for that¡­ they first needed to clear this hive hill!


    Just as Liam gazed at the huge golden pyramid that was made of precious metal from top to bottom, something inside the hive hill stirred.


    Cracks started to form on the eggs in the corridors and also on the eggs in the inner chamber of the huge structure, the ones with the silver pattern on them.


    At the same time, Liam watched another swarm approaching the hive hill from the distance.


    These were probably the ones that had gone out in search of food, and these isons also joined the battlefield. However, there were some among them who did not join the battle and directly went inside the hive hill.


    Liam did not even have to guess what these ones were up to as each, and every single one of them looked chubby and plumped up.


    It was as if they were chalked full of stuff and were delivering whatever they had gathered back inside the hive hill.


    "This is new." Liam mused to himself. He had not witnessed this type of scene back in the other two hive hills. "Is this because they had two more days'' time to set all this up?"


    There was only one way to find answers to his question, so he unsheathed his ck dragon sword and dashed toward the hive hill directly to take a look inside.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 949 Another Wave Of Isons

    Liam tossed a few fireballs at the fattened-up isons flying toward the hive hill as he dashed forward in the same direction cutting right through the swarm that dutifully guarded the structure.


    Instantly, dozens of insects came at him and tried to block his path. However, it only took Liam one swing of his sword to clear this lower-level mob. His speed did not even slow down as he continued running forward and reached the hive hill.


    Bang! He sent a sword beam shing down at the hive hill, attacking the invisible barrier. The entire protectiveyer trembled from his attack, but the next second, something unexpected happened.


    Golden runes started flickering around the hive hill, covering the huge structure from top to bottom. Before Liam couldnd another attack, these runes appeared and formed one more barrier.


    Liam took a step back as he could physically feel the strong waves of mana emitted by this rune barrier. Again, this was something else new that he had not seen before.


    What were these runes? How was this barrier cast? Did this mean that the golden egg inside this hive hill had hatched?


    Liam had seen that patterned egg in thest hivehill as well, but there, it hadn''t hatched yet. Now that this one had two more days to grow and evolve, perhaps this one had hatched?


    And if this was the ison that cast this barrier, just how strong was it and how high was its level?


    "I need to break this down." He shed down at the barrier, but once again, the thing did not budge. The runes flickered brightly, and his attack waspletely nullified as if it did not even exist in the first ce.


    Liam''s gaze turned cold as he called forth the ten wyverns and also Luna. He asked everyone to prepare their strongest attacks and focus on a single point.


    He then paused for a moment and summoned Crawford, Dimitri, Hellikatos, and a few more of his elite minions. He also did not forget the two golems.


    "Let''s see just strong you are." Liam churned his mana core, creating a turbulent sphere of mana around him, and aimed for the barrier.


    "Now!" He shed right at the focal point, and at the same time, the ten wyverns opened their mouth, and beams of elemental attack shot forward at full throttle.


    Luna growled loudly and sent a st of intense scorching mes. Hellikatos, Crawford, Dimitri, and everyone joined in attacking the same spot with their best shot.


    Lastly, but not to be outdone, the two golems sent a massive punch at the barrier.


    With all of the attacksbined together, a massive wave of energy rippled forward and shed with the rune barrier.


    BOOOOM!


    An enormous explosion of unimaginable proportions rang out.


    The impact was so forceful that wind whipped about, and mana in the area became extremely violent. Huge fissures started forming in the ground nearby, and these extended radially outward to several miles.


    Sturdy trees, stubbornly clinging vines, everything was ripped apart. Even all the isons near the zone werepletely wiped out. The entire area was cleared out.


    Liam had already dismissed the soul minions, and both he and Luna, along with the golems, retreated hurriedly. But this alone was not enough.


    Liam also created a mana barrier that somewhat contained the explosion, at least in one zone. Otherwise, everyone, including the guild members who were standing at a distance, might have been severely injured.


    However, Liam''s concern at the moment was not that. His gaze was still fixated on the runic barrier. After all those attacks that nearlyid devastation to the whole ce, the thing only trembled ever so slightly.


    Liam''s face darkened. Just how strong was this runic barrier? He had expected the isons to be stronger in these couple of days, but he hadn''t expected this kind of growth.


    Would he even be able to break this thing at all?


    "No. I just need to keep trying." Liam clenched the sword in his hands and once again dashed forward, preparing to summon everyone back.


    However, before he could do that, the other side reacted first.


    The huge hive hill shook, and right in front of Liam''s eyes, the strong and imprable barrier flickered for a moment.


    "Hmmmm. Why?" Liam did not know, but this was his chance, and he immediately prepared to rush inside when all of a sudden, another wave of isons shot outward.


    And unlike the previous waves, this one was not big at all. It couldn''t even be called a swarm. There were simply twenty or so isons. The only catch was¡­


    "Level 80, Level 90, Level 85, Level 96¡­"


    Liam hurriedly observed the newly arrived enemies with his [Inspect] skill, and every single one of them was incredibly strong. All were above Level 80.


    Moreover, all of these guys were uniformly tagged as <Queen''s General>.


    His eyes widened in shock. So there really was a queen!


    Liam could clearly see the intelligence that glinted in these vicious creatures'' ssy eyes. As for the barrier that had momentarily disappeared¡­ it was once again closing back up!


    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    Liam refused to let it close so easily and dove forward at top speed. However, he was quickly blocked by the twenty newly arrived guards.


    Though they hadn''t had that much time to evolve and be stronger like him or the other human beings or the beasts for that matter, their levels didn''t seem to be just for show.


    True to their levels, their speed was formidable. They moved in the blink of an eye.


    Alex and the others couldn''t even follow their movements. It would only take an instant for these insects to ughter the entire group.


    However, the same couldn''t be said for Liam. He could clearly see these isons and each and every detail on their body. They might be strong, but that was whenpared to normal yers.


    "Queen''s Generals? No, I don''t think so. From today onwards, you twenty will be this King''s generals." He grinned and started the rumble.

 Chapter 950 The Kings Generals

    Liam shed his ck dragon sword and sprang forward. He could indeed shake these twenty Generals and get into the barrier before it closed up, but that wouldn''t be wise.


    He did not know the strength of the queen yet, who was probably still inside the hive hill. So he wanted to test the waters by dealing with these Generals first.


    Bang! He sent a st of fireball to his left and right and shed down at the five isons who were standing in front of him.


    These ones were bigger than Liam, almost twice his size, and they had a dozen or so razor-sharp wings on their back, which further boosted their speed.


    When Liam moved forward, the Ison Generals also sted ahead to meet him, not afraid to go face-to-face with the human being.


    The two sides shed, with the metallic limbs of the isons screeching against the ck dragon sword. Sparks flew everywhere, and both sides were pushed back, but the victor of the battle was already clear.


    The proof of this was the couple of severed metallic limbs that scattered on the ground.


    Purple blood spurted out of their wounds, and Liam grinned viciously. "We are just getting started." This single attack was more than enough for him to gauge the strength of these insects in front of him.


    So the next second, he called for his backup. He did not hold back and called his four reliable sidekicks who could truly stand against these Generals - Luna, the two golems, and Helikatos.


    Luna was more than capable of taking care of herself, and the other three were Level 100 minions. So now, the fight was five vs. twenty, and suddenly the Ison Generals didn''t seem to have that much of an advantage.


    However, the unshakeable confidence with which they had attacked Liam still did not waver as they came at him once more with everything they had.


    "Bring it on."


    The ison Generals were all Level 80 and above and technically should have the upper hand in this battle. However, their stats were nothing whenpared to Liam''s.


    Liam''s level might be 81, but his stats wereparable to that of a level 100 being. Not to mention, he had other advantages which the insects dared not dream about.


    After the first attack, the isons relentlessly attacked him from all sides with their several metallic limbs aimed at his throat and his other vital points.


    However, the moment they attacked him, a translucent white barrier showed up, which blocked every single one of their attacks.


    "You are not the only ones capable of making a barrier."


    Liam''s luck had been quite goodtely. Every enemy that he faced was also hellbent on bringing along with them an army to attack him. Unfortunately for them, this only worked in his favor.


    As all the other Crimson Abyss members continued ughtering the never-ending swarm of insects, Liam pulled all of their soul essences to his side.


    He never thought that he would need it here, but now that these big shots had shown up, it was time to go truly all out.


    Liam easily deflected their attacks and momentarily dispersed the soul energy around him.


    Now it was his turn. He pulled the mana in the air around him and sent out a huge whirlpool of concentrated mana that forced the Generals to fall back.


    And Luna and the other minions finally used this chance and were able to enter the battle. Everything was happening too quickly, but this attack gave them the fraction of the second they needed to get their footing.


    Luna roasted two of the Generals and kited them away.


    The two golems each handled two of the ison Generals, and finally, Helikatos was the most impressive as the spider beast man used his multitude of soul limbs to sh with the limbs of the ison Generals and kept three of them busy!


    This instantly reduced the number of opponents Liam had almost down to half.


    Liam churned his mana core and reached the depth of his ability to bring out his full potential. The ck dragon sword in his hand moved wildly as he blocked and parried the limbs and pincers of these monsters and evaded their venomous attacks.


    And every single time, he moved, he also managed to send an attack of his own in. He aimed right for the weak joints in their exoskeleton and unleashed terror on the isons.


    The vampires he had faced previously had strange powers beyond hisprehension. The blood effigy was an enemy that he couldn''t stand up against. However, these isons were different.


    Though they out-leveled him, they were still within his grasp. So hepletely let loose and moved his body nimbly, pushing himself to his limit.


    The fight was a bloody, hand-to-hand spar with both sides evenly matched but slowly by slowly, Liam was gaining the upper hand. On the other side, only injuries were piling up.


    If things continued like this, all Liam had to do was keep up with the attacks, and he was going to get an easy win.


    But at this point, suddenly, one of the ison Generals retreated back in a hurry. Naturally, this did not escape Liam attention. He sent a power-packed thick ball of fire at the General, only to find that the insect actually blocked his attack with a wind barrier.


    "So you are also capable of using mana for attacking?"


    Liam shed down at two of the Generals that were closest to him, putting them down for eternity. He then immediately brought back the soul barrier as he forged the two isons on the spot. Just like that, there were two more Level 80 plus minions standing on his side.


    "If you can fight dirty, then I can fight dirty too! Now let me see just how many of you are able to use mana!" Liam swung around and paid attention to the next two ison Generals who had taken the most damage.

 Chapter 951 Unbreakable Barrier?

    Liam was first shocked when he found that even these bizarre creatures had a soul, but because they had one, they had already fallen into his trap.


    From the outside, it might look like he was just randomly fighting against the newly arrived level 80 isons, and he was only barely keeping up, but the reality was far from it.


    Since the very beginning, he targeted two of them, and now those two were the first to fall and end up on his side as his loyal soul minions.


    Now there were only eighteen out of the twenty Queen''s Generals remaining on the battleground.


    The two newly arrived minions immediately picked off an ison from the remaining nine whom Liam was personally fighting against, reducing his load even more.


    "Heh. That''s more like it." Liam now found himself able to move more freely and easily and started pulling a vast amount of mana around him once more. He then released it all in one go, sending out a massive firestorm.


    Roar! Huge me serpents danced threateningly in all directions and instantly cleared the space around him, giving Liam much more leeway.


    The smile on his face widened as his cold, vicious gaze nownded on the next two targets. Liam evaded the dozen razor-sharp wind des that came for him and nimbly moved around the earthen spikes that aimed to impale him from the ground up.


    At the same time, he also avoided the cutting limbs of the Generals and shed with the two he had his eye on. A chaotic battle ensued, but soon, another two Generals fell down lifelessly.


    Liam did not hesitate and instantly summoned his soul barrier. He then forged the two new Generals as well.


    In fact, he now had enough time to confirm something else. These isons that he was forging though they seemed to possess souls, they had no memories within them whatsoever.


    This only further confirmed that they were just hatched and newly born. The frightening aspect was that they were already so strong!


    It had barely taken them two days to achieve this level. Just how much were they capable of growing if they were to have more time?


    Was this why the isons seemed to target the lesser intelligent beasts and avoid humans when they were out on a hunt?


    It almost looked like they were trying to stay under the radar to get enough time until they could be unshakeably strong and powerful.


    And once they be stronger than any living being on this, they would probably overtake thend and resources in their entirety.


    Liam shook his head. Wasn''t the world a little unfair? How was this supposed to be the second trial for the apocalypse? Its difficulty was simply off the charts.


    However, there was still a key toing out on top even in this desperate, hopeless situation, and that was to act in unison, something that human beings had proved time and again that they were incapable of doing.


    Liam decided to think about this after the fight. For now, he first needed to focus and take down the foe in front of him.


    After the first four Queen''s Generals fell, the rest of the fight quickly became one-sided. The isons could not stand against Liam''s heavy hits and started crumbling one after the other.


    Soon, only five remained, and those were also taken care of.


    And consequently, twenty new soul minions stood fiercely behind Liam, eyeing everything around them with distaste.


    The only feeling that these new guys gave off was contempt and hatred for everything around them. Besides that, these were just emotionless killing machines.


    While Liam was fighting with these stronger isons, the rest of the guild as well almost finished clearing the swarm with only a few thousand remaining.


    Liam let them deal with that and did not interfere. Instead, his attention was now focused once again on the imprable hive hill. Just what sort of a creature remained inside? How strong was it?


    However, to find this out, he would have to first break through the defensive runic barrier that still shed brightly, standing in the way between him and the hive hill.


    Liam took a deep breath and once again summoned all of his topbat soul minions, including the newly forged ones.


    He then signaled the guild members, who quickly retreated back, far away from the impact zone. This did not disturb their fight with the isons as the insects followed them even if they stepped out of the aggro zone.


    When everything was clear, Liam finally began his assault.


    BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!


    He relentlessly attacked the runic barrier with everything he had. Luna, the two golems, and the soul minions also dutifully performed their part.


    Bombarded with the full strength of him and his army, the runic barrier shivered and trembled every single time it was besieged.


    However, that was that. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Liam took a step back and tried targeting the same spot over and over again, the result was the same. The barrier held freakishly strong!


    The damned thing did not even budge a little, even when Liam''s attacksid waste to the whole area.


    BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!


    Everything in the vicinity was torn apart into shreds. Numerous craters were formed on the ground, and a multitude of fissures connected these craters.


    All the trees, nts, vegetation, and any signs of life werepletely wiped out from the area. Everything around the hive hill for a few miles was just cracked and barrennd, subject to scarring damage.


    However, even when the whole ce was utterly destroyed, the hive hill still stood tall. "This is bad." Liam did not like this one bit. He wanted topletely destroy this hive hill just like he had taken care of the previous ones.


    Because if these isons had even a couple more days to evolve, then they would quickly get out of control and far beyond his reach.


    "I guess I have no other choice except to try that?"

 Chapter 952 How Strong?

    Liam hurriedlymanded the two golems to assist the guild in their battle and then carry them away as far as possible from this area. He also sent Luna away to a safe distance and instructed her toe back here again if and only if he asked her to.


    Liam then took out the canister of water and drank a little of it.


    "Here goes nothing."


    The next instant, his entire soul army appeared in front of him. The presence of so many soul minions created a vague, ominous aura in the dead and destroyednd.


    "Soul Splice" Without hesitation, Liam suddenly activated his ultimate skill.


    BOOOOM!


    An explosive aura shot to the sky, and swirls of turbulent air and mana gathered around him.


    Instantly, one by one, all the soul minions disappeared, filling up Liam with an unimaginable amount of strength from top to bottom. His physical body was only barely able to contain this amount of power as his muscles bulged and groaned.


    As the soul power ran through his body, his bones became several times stronger, his blood pulsed with energy, and his mana core was overflowing with wild, rampant mana.


    ? The human being who was panting and heaving from attacking the hive hill just a few seconds ago was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a god-like monster standing rooted to the earth.


    The ce where his feet touched sank several inches, creating the biggest crater in the area.


    Even the sky above darkened and crackled with thunder and lightning as if the heavens themselves wanted to punish the being that did not belong in this realm.


    However, Liam ignored everything at the moment. This was because he very well knew that this inhumane extraordinary power did not belong to him. He merely had five seconds of it, and he was not nning to waste those precious five seconds.


    The truth was that this sudden move he had made was extremely risky. He absolutely had no idea what was inside the hive hill. He did not know just how many more enemies he had to face.


    He did not have all the information in his hands, and yet he had used his trump card. The worst part was that using this trump card left him absolutely haggard and vulnerable, helpless enough to deal with even a level 10 beast.


    But at the same time, this trump card also gave him the strength to deal with the runic barrier, whatever was there in the hive hill, and then some more. The only limitation he had was time!


    Liam could feel the overwhelming energy in his mana core that was an added bonus to his infinite strength, and using that, he moved at lightning speed, sending a meteoric punch to the runic barrier in front of him.


    KARAKA BOOM!


    Instantly, an even more violent explosion rang out, the impact of which even affected the two golems running away at top speed, miles away from the danger zone.


    Even Luna''s fur stood up in terror as sharp spikes, warning her about the iing danger, and the white fox instantly blurred in and out, retreating back in a hurry.


    As Liam''s fist collided with the runic barrier, the thing that was adamantly holding strong up until now suddenly crumbled and shattered.


    And it was not the only thing that shattered!


    Bits and pieces of Orichalcum flew everywhere as the entire hive hill was sted apart. After all, Liam''s strength had skyrocketed to an unthinkable level. The mere metallic structure couldn''t contain the aftermath of an impact like that.


    The runic barrier, the Orichalcum hive hill, including all of its twisting and turning corridors, and the inner chamberpletely exploded.


    Not that just. It seemed like there were several more eggs inside the hive hill and even some more isons, probably another wave that was yet to bust out.


    But now, all of those werepletely shattered into dust.


    Numerous notifications shed in front of Liam, but he did not pay attention to any of them. Now that he had used his trump card, he needed to make sure that nothing survived before his time ran out.


    And it was not like he could search for the enemy in the middle of all of this dust and rubble. Most importantly, he couldn''t allow the queen to somehow survive this, making use of the chaos.


    So he did not stop and did not give the isons any time.


    KARAKA BOOM!


    KARAKA BOOM!


    KARAKA BOOM!


    He sent several punches, one after the other, some aiming for the air in front of him and some aiming for the ground he was standing on.


    He was like a maniac hellbent on utterly destroying thend that he was standing on. The entire district shook.


    Many ces experienced powerful earthquakes. Layers of earth far below the surface were getting affected. Hissing sounds could be heard here and there where the underground water, andva from further below, made contact, and bursts of gases exploded.


    When thend itself suffered so much, humans were no exception. Thankfully, the area was already wiped out by the isons, so no one was there in the vicinity.


    Only the fleeing Crimson Abyss members were experiencing the horror. The two golems were sent flying. The guild members were also sent flying. On the other side, Luna panted, and she did not dare stop running away. The whole region became utterly chaotic.


    Previously, when Liam had used this skill, even though he used it to defeat a Level 100 plus enemy, he hadn''t really gone all out. There was no need to.


    But now everything was different. Along with using that insane skill, he was also pushing himself to the extreme andpletely going all out.


    He was using every ounce of power at his disposal to destroy the whole damn thing, and whatever was inside it. These five seconds were his golden seconds. He was extracting everyst bit out of them.


    And the result was simply utter devastation!

 Chapter 953 What Is Happening?

    Haaaa¡­ Liam panted hoarsely as he looked around thend he was standing upon. He could only barely recognize it. Everything around him was charred and barren.


    Fissures spread everywhere, creating several deep rifts here and there. There was no sign of the hive hill or anything living for that matter. The whole area was even sunken below the ground level.


    For that 5 seconds, everything that was unfortunate enough to taste Liam''s soul energy-packed punches or even the resulting waves of violent energy all dropped dead.


    Only after the 5 seconds ended did the chaos stop.


    Liam let out a big sigh and then he swayed slightly before copsing on the ground. Sensing the change even from a distance, Luna madly dashed toward him.


    "Master, Master, are you ok?"


    Liam flinched. He only had a sliver of consciousness left in him. Using thatst bit of energy, he slowly took out the water canister from the spatial artifact and drank a mouthful of the world seed water.


    This time Luna sighed in relief. The white fox knew that her master would be alright as he had taken the magic water. Liam as well tiredlyid back waiting for the water to work its wonders.


    However, the next instant, something that the two of them did not expect happened. A wave of crippling pain swept past Liam''s body along with an unbearable itch.


    Liam immediately knew that he was going to pay for this. The healing process this time wasn''t going to be that simple. He felt every pore in his body open up to suck in the mana around him and every cell tingling with the electric energy.


    "Ugh." Liam grunted in pain, but it was just the beginning. His face turned as pale as sheet as the mana in his body started doing the work.


    The first time around his body had healed considerably fast and though it was painful, it was still manageable.


    He bore with it and within minutes, he was back to a somewhat normal condition, perhaps a little weaker because of the mental exhaustion and soul exhaustion that needed time to recover.


    However, now things were different. Liam felt everything happening in his body. Even single inch of his body was screaming and crying in pain and his brain received the brunt of it.


    The recovery had started, but so did his personal hell.


    "Aaaargh!" Liam screamed as he writhed around on the ground like a worm.


    Meanwhile¡­


    The two golems continued running away at top speed, carrying all the guild members. Earlier when they had used wyvern soul minions as rides, several people had found it bizarre and couldn''t get used to it.


    But now, they were sitting ufortably on these giant chunks of metal and were clinging to their lives, holding onto the golem with everything they had so as not to get tossed away in the wind.


    For this madness, the wyverns were a hundred times better!


    However, no one dared toin because these two golems were the only reason they were even alive at the moment.


    The Crimson Abyss guild members turned back and looked at the area they had just left with fear etched in their hearts. The entire ce was now a trasnd. Everything was uprooted. It was as if a natural disaster of huge proportions had struck there.


    As if this wasn''t enough to make them apprehensive, there was also the other question lingering heavily in everyone''s minds. Just what was happening over there? What or who was responsible for this kind of destruction?


    Everyone had seen the bigger isons, the Queen''s Generals who had rounded up Liam. They had fully witnessed that fight along with Liam''s efforts to break through the hive hill''s barrier. So this left the obvious doubt in their minds.


    Did something step out of the hive hill that was responsible for all of this?


    While everyone in the guild uniformly wondered about this, the golems finally came to a stop 5 to 10 seconds after the disturbance had died down. The two then stopped moving as per Liam''smand.


    The others as well realized this as they saw that the ground underneath them was no longer shaking. The tremors had all stopped.


    This meant¡­ that the fight was over?


    "What the hell is happening over there?" Alex gritted her teeth in anger.


    She was raging inside that she was once again unable to provide any help to Liam and had to run away like this when things got serious.


    Her weakness in front of these truly strong beings felt like a tight p on her face. If every single time, all she could do was helplessly run and save her own skin like this, when was she ever going to stand next to him and fight for their survival?


    Just like her, Shen Yue and Mei Mei were also worry stricken. None of them knew about Liam''stest skill that he had acquired so they had all assumed the worst and were worried that an even more powerful Ison had appeared.


    If that Ison were really capable of mass destruction like this, then would Liam really be able to stand up against such a creature?


    Why did he sent them away? They should have all stood together and fought that monster as a group! Tears trickled down their eyes as they silently stared at the distance.


    If he did not survive this, then¡­ everyone remained deathly silent. No one wanted to think about this. They silently waited for some kind of signal or response from Liam or even the golems. They just wanted to know if he survived this.


    Seconds slowly ticked by and suddenly a voice chimed loudly, breaking this mournful atmosphere.


    "You guys are being stupid. I think that was big bro''s work." Rey shrugged casually. "Think about it. Big bro had sent us away at the right time. None of us got hurt. Everything was under his control. So this should also have been caused by him! I am sure of it."

 Chapter 954 I Found An Amazing Item!

    "You guys are being stupid. I think that was big bro''s work." Rey shrugged casually. "Think about it. Big bro had sent us away at the right time. None of us got hurt. Everything was under his control. So this should also have been caused by him! I am sure of it."


    Alex nced at him, but she was not in the mood to speak anything at the moment. However, she still couldn''t help but think of that small possibility. Is it really possible that he caused all of this?


    "We should go back and look," Rey spoke up again, but this time as soon as he opened his mouth, Alex shot him down strictly. "No." Liam had sent them away for a reason, and she did not want to mess things up.


    "I think it should be fine, sis. See. There are no more shockwaves. It should be over."


    "No. We are waiting here. And that is the end of the discussion." Alex clenched her hands in anger, but no matter how helpless she felt, she knew that at the moment, the best thing they could do was stay out of Liam''s way.


    Another hourter, Liam finally felt the unbearable pain recede a little. He sighed and sat down, still tired and exhausted, but at least now, the majority of it was over, and he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.


    His body which was still covered in blood from top to bottom, now felt strands of life and energy returning to it. His muscles twitched, and his pulse steadied. There were no more huge gaping wounds on his body.


    More importantly, his soul had also somewhat recovered.


    Liam let out a deep breath and summoned his soul minions once again. Standing among them, right there in the front, was the proof of his hard work, the new ison soul minions.


    "Go and bring me everything rted to the hive hill that you find in this ce." He ordered the army.


    Though his attacks had clearly decimated the whole area, the fact was that he had still not gonepletely all out. After the first direct punch, hended on the runic barrier, everything else was the result of the indirect shockwaves.


    Even though this in itself was extremely powerful thanks to the insane number to which his strength was temporarily boosted, some bits and pieces here and there still managed to survive.


    Many eggshells were scattered around. Orichalcum pieces from the hive hill were buried in the mud, andst but not the least, there were several shining mana cores embedded in the ground.


    The soul minions made themselves busy as theybed through the area from top to bottom. Slowly different piles started forming in front of Liam.


    The first one was of the orichalcum chunks. The second one consisted of ison body parts, and the third one was of small mana cores.


    Naturally, the yield this time was far lesser than the yield from the other two hive hills, but Liam did not care.


    When he couldn''t crack the barrier around the ison hive hill, he knew that he had no other choice but to eliminate the potential threat in front of him as soon as possible. Otherwise, things must quickly devolve out of his control.


    However, there was one thing that he still regretted, which was he had no idea what was inside the hive hill. Was there really a hive queen or not? If there was, just how strong had she been?


    "Hmmm¡­" He remained silent for a couple of seconds when his tired brain finally made sense of the obvious. "Heh. I could always check the records."


    He listlessly opened the system interface and started reading through the various notifications that he had received in the past hour.


    <Ding. You have received 1 experience point>


    <Ding. You have received 1 experience point>


    <Ding. You have received 1 experience point>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    And amidst these numerous insignificant details, just like Liam had hoped, there indeed was one particr notification that caught his eye.


    <Ding. You have received 50,000 experience points>


    Liam''s pulse raced as he immediately knew that he had been right.


    There was a strong ison within the hivehill, probably the one that had cast the runic barrier, and with his one-shot overpowered skill, he had sessfully managed to take it down!


    "50,000 experience points which mean that the strength of that ison should have been quite high." He rubbed his chin, trying to calcte an approximate level.


    However, this was a lot more difficult as the system usually took into consideration several factors when dolling out these experience points.


    He sighed and gave up, silently watching the minions around him do their work. Even if he did not know the exact power level of the ison, this was more than enough to prove that there was a stronger enemy waiting for him inside.


    The decision that he had taken had indeed been the right one.


    Now, the thing that was more important would be his next steps. In two days, the isons had leveled up to a frightening degree, what would happen if more days go by like this?


    Under no circumstance, something like this could happen!


    It was as if the devastating doomsday that was toe months down in the future and wipe away all of or at least most of humanity was already here!


    And it was only the damned second wave of the apocalypse!


    Liam''s gaze turned cold as he tried to think about what their options were right now. They did not have many, and their chances of survival were slim, but they still had some.


    "I need to do something fast." Liam made up his mind.


    Just as he was about to close his eyes and meditate to recover his mental state faster, suddenly, the white fox pounced on hisp, yelping in a high-pitched voice as if she was extremely excited and couldn''t contain her happiness.


    ? "Hmmmm? What happened now?" Liam smiled a little, patting her soft fur.


    "Master! I found an amazing item!" Luna spat out something big, bright, and shiny onto Liam''sp. Liam''s eyes widened in shock.

 Chapter 955 Mana Core?

    Liam stared at the crystalline object in his hand in utter shock. He had no doubt as to what it was because he could clearly feel the familiar cool and nourishing energy contained within it. However, he still couldn''t believe it.


    "Inspect." He narrowed his eyes and looked at the object.


    The next second, a system notification popped up and confirmed the obvious.


    <Ding. Mana Core>


    Now, Liam could no longer deny it. "So this is a mana core? But how could this be so big?" The mana core in his hands was definitely the biggest he had seen to date.


    Bigger was not always better, but in this case, he could tell that this was not the mana core of some ordinary beast. Not just the size but both the quantity and quality of mana contained within the core were remarkable.


    He was pretty sure that his own mana core hadn''t reached this level yet. But all of this begged another question? Whose mana core was it?


    Liam did not have to think to figure out the answer to this question. This mana core definitely had to belong to the queen!


    If the mana core alone was so impressive, then what was the level of this creature? It should be at least 100 or perhaps even more than that!


    And the worst part was that it had taken only 2 days for the isons to evolve to such a staggering degree. Was this their limit, or were they going to continue to rise further above?


    "No. I need to do something about this soon."


    Liam knew that this problem was dire, and if left unchecked, everything could quickly get out of his hands, but what he failed to think was¡­ what if it was already out of his hands?


    This mana core might very well belong to a creature of Level 150 or maybe Level 200. How could he possibly stand against something like this in his current state? He was simply not strong enough.


    No, in fact, it was worse. While it was taking him weeks to go up just a single level, the isons were evolving at an incredible pace!


    They were out-leveling him at a speed that he would never be able to catch up to. In fact, they were out-leveling him right now while he was still sitting like this and thinking about things.


    "Damn it." Liam clenched his fists. If everything really progressed in this manner¡­ then they were once again doomed! There was no way out of this mess.


    Things were not supposed to happen this way. They were supposed to have more time. He was supposed to have more time. Why did everything be hellish like this? Why did the timeline change so much?


    Liam gritted his teeth as he already knew the answer to this question as well. It was as clear as day. Only someone naive wouldn''t be able to see it, and he was not naive.


    The powerful enemy that he made inside the game, the one who had the ability to change the flow of the entire tutorial, was once more weaving all of their fates.


    The one and only person who could be responsible for all of this was definitely that divine temple priestess!


    This was definitely her work.


    If she was behind the vampire gue and orchestrated everything from the beginning, then this must have also been within her calctions. Perhaps because powerful beings started showing up on the earth, the second wave of the apocalypse changed ordingly.


    Instead of facing beasts that were hardly Level 30, they were up against something that only those powerful beings could fight.


    Liam silently stared at his soul minions while a plethora of thoughts swirled in his mind. He tried to think of ways out of this nightmare, but everything required time.


    And that was something he severelycked at the moment.


    Even if he were to personally visit every single hive hill on this, riding on top of Luna, and somehow take them all down, it would still be toote.


    Liam clutched his head with his hands as he tried to think through the fog that covered his mind. Every fiber in his being was exhausted, but he couldn''t afford to take any break at the moment.


    He had to do something, and he had to do something fast. His action right now could determine the course of an entire.


    But unlike that divine temple priestess, he was a nobody. She has the power to change the fate of his entire world at the snap of her finger. These millions and millions of lives were nothing to her.


    In front of someone like her, though Liam did not want to admit it, he was very much a nobody.


    He was an insect trapped in a jar. He could bang himself against the walls of the jar as much as he wanted, but that did not mean he was ever going to get out of it.


    His strength was just not enough.


    "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Liam punched the ground next to him vigorously for a few minutes. His recently healed hands once again cracked, and blood trickled down.


    However, Liam did not care about this little bit of pain as he stared down at the same spot with a nk look in his eyes.


    Luna worriedly snuggled up against him, but she could sense the mood of her master, shey silent without saying anything.


    The two of them sat like that for a few minutes as statues without moving an inch. Time slowly ticked by, and when almost an hour had passed, Liam suddenly moved.


    He stood up from the ground abruptly and looked at Luna. "Let''s go."


    Kyu? The fox cocked her head to the side, wondering where they were going now, and unexpectedly, Liam''s answer was¡­ "Let''s go back home."


    Huh? The fox''s eyes widened in surprise, but she did not question him. She immediately puffed up, and then the second Liam hopped on top of her, she began to race ahead at lightning speed.


    Liam did not even take the time to address the guild that was stranded in the middle of nowhere. As he crossed past them, he simply sent a soul minion to shout his message.


    "Get back to the base."


    As for the two golems, he mentallymanded them to collect all the remaining orichalcum and then do the same.


    Everyone waspletely bbergasted by this sudden development. What was happening?


    One second, they were out here searching hive hills for training and leveling up, and the next second, Liam was rushing back to the base? What was so urgent that he had to return right back?


    "Is brother really okay?" Mei Mei worriedly swallowed. Shen Yue shook her head. Something was not right. She could feel it. Otherwise, Liam would never leave his sister behind like this in and unknown.


    Alex also thought of the same thing, and her expression turned grave. She turned to see that the golems were once again moving back in the same direction that they had just now fled from. She couldn''t help but wonder just what Liam asked them to do.


    She took a minute and then decisively announced. "Let''s first take a detour and then go back to the base." Everyone else was also thinking about the same thing, so the entire guild agreed with her.


    The group quickly hopped onto the golems and rode on top of the golden giants to the location of the hive hill. At first, everyone was nervous, but even from a distance, they could clearly see that neither the swarm nor the hive hill was to be seen anymore.


    This was a good sign. So they continued riding on top of the golems and soon arrived at the location if it could even be called that.


    The moment the area entered the guild''s vision, each and every single one of them was stunned silly. Everywhere around them, there was only dead, barrennd filled with cracks and crevices. The whole ce had now be unrecognizable.


    The entirendscape had changed!


    Just what had happened here that caused so much destruction? Who was powerful enough to create something like this?


    Even if no one dared to speak this out loud, at this moment, every single member of the Crimson Abyss guild who was standing and staring at the dead zone knew the answer to this question.


    Who else could it be?


    When Rey first mentioned it, though everyone wanted it to be true, deep down, they did not dare believe it, but now it was no longer a theory or just hopeful thinking.


    There were no isons in their sight, and the hive hill was sted apart and shattered to smithereens. However, Liam was still alive and kicking and had even given them the next orders.


    So who was the victor here?


    The one who wasst standing, even amidst so much death and destruction, was none other than their guild leader! The more frightening thing was¡­ he might have even caused all of this single-handedly!

 Chapter 956 I Knew You Would Be Back!

    Huff. Huff. Huff. Luna panted and rushed at top speed. At first, she had been extremely excited that she found a big mana core. Personally, she would have loved to nibble on it and swallow the yummy thing.


    However, her master reacted differently. He was happy in the beginning, but slowly his expression changed into a bad one. Now he was sitting on top of her without uttering a single word.


    The little fox was very nervous. She could sense that something big was going to happen.


    Was her master going to make a move against the weird insects? She wondered what he was nning and flew forward without holding back as fast as she could.


    ***


    The journey to the third hive hill might have taken around a couple of days when they first arrived here, but the journey back was way shorter.


    Luna made sure of it. She pushed herself to the extreme and brought Liam back to the base before the next day dawned.


    Her figure blurred and shed at lightning speed non-stop, and in the end, she only used ten hours to get back to their guild''s territory.


    And the moment they entered the guild base, their first stop was none other than the magic shop. Liam rushed inside the familiar inconspicuous building that stood in front of him, from which a pir of light ascended to the sky.


    "Get me Tilia." He did not stand on ceremony and immediately ordered one of the fairies in the shop.


    Naturally, his arrival also did not go unnoticed. Without even the fairy taking a step inside, an ethereal being fluttered her wings casually and glided toward him.


    "Hello, Mr. Liam. My, my, what an impatient man you are¡­ Didn''t we just meet, and you are looking for me already? Couldn''t be without seeing me?" She coquettishlyughed and batted her long silvery eyshes at Liam.


    The fairy seemed to be in an extremely good mood today. Particrly, she seemed to enjoy the aura of hatred and desperationing out of Liam.


    The mirth in her eyes, the smirk on her lips, and the yful teasing her body exuded with every move she made, everything screamed a big ''I told you so!''


    Thest time they had met, Tilia had requested Liam several times to sell the world seed in his possession, but the arrogant man had ignored her. And now...


    ''I knew you would be back!''


    Tilia leaned forward on the desk andzily ced her palm on her cheeks, tilting her head to the side and revealing the top of her charming creamy white curves that seemed to sparkle every now and then magically.


    She was also wearing an alluring dress that clung to her body, entuating her figure and adding to her charm. Though she was not as seductive as Shen Yue or as burning hot as Alex, she had her own pure charm that could send countless men dizzy.


    However, at the moment, no matter what she did, Liam''s gaze remained cold and indifferent.


    Tilia pouted on seeing this and continued talking with a giggle. "What, Mr. Liam? Having some trouble, are we? You are not talkative like usual. You seem very serious today."


    Though she was asking him this, she already knew the answer to her question, after all, who wasn''t familiar with the isons in the myriad realms?


    They were nasty creatures that were a gue on any realm they invaded. They were tough and stubborn to get rid of, and if one failed to get rid of them, they had the ability to gobble up the entire realm.


    However, the true monstrosity of these isonsy in¡­


    Tilia smirked as she wondered if the human being in front of her had finally managed to discover their secret.


    "Tell me, Mr. Liam. What can I do for you today? Please feel free to speak your mind, and don''t hold back." She mockingly said.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam nodded, making up his mind. Naturally, he did not pay any attention to the vain efforts of the fairy to rile him up. He had far more important things on his mind.


    All through the journey here, he thought about various ways that he coulde out of this nightmarish doomsday that loomed over him and everyone he loved, but there really seemed to be only one path for him from here onward.


    It was an explosive option, but he decided to do it.


    Liam took a deep breath and calmly looked at the fairy. "Is there a teleportation portal in the magic shop that would allow me to go to another magic shop in a different territory?"


    "Hmmm¡­ Yes?"


    "What would it take for me to use that teleportation portal?"


    "Oh?" The fairy''s lips curved upward.


    Now she understood why this human being was here. "Wait. Wait. Mr. Liam. I only said that such a teleportation portal was avable. I didn''t say that you would be able to use it."


    Tilia giggled.


    "Unfortunately, it is only avable for store workers to use. We do make exceptions for our VIP customers. However, I am regretful to inform you that you are not yet our VIP customer."


    ''You want to solve your problem so easily? Dream on!'' Sheughed inwardly.


    Liam, however, remained unfazed as he had already expected something like this. "Is there any other teleportation portal that I could use?"


    "Of course. As I said, you could use the magic shop''s teleportation channels once you have enough reputation with our shop. Besides that, you could also use guild teleportation channels and move from one guild to another."


    "Guild teleportation channels?"


    Tilia shed a kind smile. She couldn''t wait to exin things to him. "Mmmm¡­ Unfortunately, Mr. Liam, I am afraid this option is also not possible. For a guild to have ess to its own teleportation channels, they first need to be upgraded to the maximum basic grade."


    "But at this moment, there is not a single guild in this world that satisfies this condition. So once again, no teleportation portals for you." The fairy clicked her tongue sympathetically and smirked.


    ''Come on! Come on! Beg me for it!'' She was pretty sure that the human being was desperate at the moment, so she really wanted to see him beg for her help.


    On the other hand, Liam, surprisingly, was still calm. With his cold gaze fixated on the cheerful fairy in front of him, he reached into his pockets to take something out.


    "I wish to make a trade."


    "Ho Ho? Trade? Are you finally ready to shell out some Orichalcum? But Mr. Liam, you would have to trade several tons of Orichalcum just to-"


    Tilia batted her eyshes and fully prepared to mock him, but the next second, she suddenly froze. She did not even finish her words as she stared unblinkingly at his hand.


    This was because¡­ the thing which Liam had taken out was not an Orichalcum metal chunk¡­ it was a dungeon crystal?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 957 What Is The Meaning Of This?

    "What?! Human! How the hell did you manage to get your hands on a dungeon crystal? How is this possible? How do you have something like this?" Tilia''s mouth opened up in shock.


    With her lips still parted, she stared at Liam and blinked in a daze, no longer in the mood to remain yful.


    "I don''t have a lot of time, Ms. Tilia. You know that. So let''s skip the history lesson. Do you wish to make a trade or not?" Liam once again indifferently asked her.


    "I¡­ I¡­" Tilia stammered as her small chest started rising and falling slowly. She knew very well that she had the upper hand at the moment, and yet, the man in front of her had flipped the table in an instant!


    A dungeon crystal? A damned dungeon crystal? How did this human being evere in possession of something like this?


    The fairy''s heart drummed loudly as she stared at the dungeon crystal and the human being who was holding it, one after the other.


    "Trade or not?" Liam urged her again. However, the woman still looked dazed, so he directly turned around and started walking out of the shop.


    Seeing this, Tilia immediately snapped out of her trance and ran behind him, with her feet actually touching the ground.


    "Hey! Hey! Wait for a second. Yes. Yes. I am willing to trade. What do you want in return?" She hurriedly appeared in front of him and blocked his path.


    Tilia hated this damned human being to the core and wanted to see him suffer and bleed, but as a merchant, she couldn''t possibly let this wondrous opportunity slip away from her hands.


    She had no idea how this bastard got his hands on something priceless like a dungeon crystal core. It did not matter. Now that she knew it was in his hands, she couldn''t afford to lose it!


    With this, everything would change! The dungeon core was a freaking money making machine!


    She could instantly recuperate all the losses that she had suffered so far. Her shop wouldn''t be tossing and turning at rock bottom anymore, and more importantly, the people who looked down on her wouldn''t be able to treat her as a joke anymore.


    She absolutely needed this! Her whole life could change because of this single trade!


    "Tell me quickly! What do you want in return?"


    She urged Liam without realizing that she had actually reached forward and grabbed onto his shoulder in a haste. Her slender hands were clutching his dirty clothes, not caring in the least about anything.


    Liam, on the other hand, was calm and steady. "I want a guild upgrade."


    "Ugh? Huh? A guild upgrade?" Tilia batted her eyes in surprise, a little taken aback by this unexpected ask. This was going to be far easier than she expected?


    "Yes, sure. I can do that." She immediately agreed, almost as if she was afraid that the damned human being was going to change his mind.


    But Liam had no intentions of doing something like that. Instead, he did borate on his terms and conditions a little. "I meant a guild upgrade that opened the option for teleportation."


    "A teleportation channel? To where?"


    Liam shook his head. "Wait. I meant that I want all the guilds registered in our world at the moment to be upgraded, opening up teleportation portals for everyone to every ce."


    Tilia froze. She stood still, not moving a muscle.


    Liam couldn''t tell if she had heard him properly or not, so he started to repeat his words. "I want all the guilds-"


    "Stop right there. I heard you, you crazy bastard." Tilia facepalmed.


    "You¡­ do you know that you are insane? You are utterly nuts! Do you even have a brain? How could something like this be possible? Do you even know how many mana cores one would need to aplish something like this? This is insane. How did you evene up with this idea? How did you think that you would be able to do this with one freaking dungeon crystal?"


    Tiliapletely lost it. She started shouting at Liam without stopping as she couldn''t fathom how one human being could be so infuriating!


    Upgrading one guild to such a level was doable, perhaps two, and if she was being very honest in making the trade and took a very little cut in the process, then maybe 20 or so, and that too she would be pushing it.


    But this guy wanted every single guild in this world? That would amount to hundreds!


    Especially because this was the beginning of the apocalypse, all the magic shops around the world would be currently peddling this guild membership like there was no tomorrow.


    This was their mostmonly used trading technique, or rather, scam, to reap the maximum benefits. But this bastard wanted every single guild to be upgraded to the top level?


    That would cost billions and billions of mana cores!


    Even though a dungeon crystal was valuable, it was not nearly enough to cover this much cost.


    However, before she could finish her lecture and open her mouth to teach the damned human being somemon sense, Liam once again reached inside his pocket and took another dungeon crystal.


    He ced the two crystals on the desk in front of him and asked again, "Do you think it''s possible now?"


    Tilia''s mouth hung half-open, her brain instantly nking out. She was about to say something, but she had already forgotten all about it. Only the glittering crystals were in her eyes at the moment.


    Two? He actually had two? She couldn''t believe it. She even rubbed her eyes and checked if these were really dungeon crystals or just mana cores or something else.


    However, no matter what she did, the proof was right in front of her. They were unmistakably dungeon crystals! There was no way she could deny that!


    "What is the meaning of this?" Tilia gaped in shock.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 958 Crazy Bastard!

    "How do you have two dungeon crystals in your possession?"


    "You¡­ are you a rune grandmaster by any chance? No. No. No. That is not possible. For someone born from a lower realm, it is impossible to learn the runic arts!"


    "Then did you find them somewhere on earth? But something like that also should not be possible?"


    Tilia started blurting out random things as her mind raced in a frenzy to somehow make sense of the impossible scenario in front of her. But no matter how much she tried, she just couldn''t digest it. The hateful guy in front of her was also not helping.


    "Can you, for once, just openly exin everything?"


    Without answering her, Liam, once again, reached into his pocket, and this time, he did not just take out another single dungeon crystal. Instead, he took out 10!


    "First, make the trade, and then we can talk leisurely. I am sure that this is more than enough payment for what I am asking." He calmly said.


    It might look like Liam had done this impulsively, but in truth, he had thought a lot about this. In fact, it was a no-brainer.


    Was he going overboard? Was he attracting a lot of attention to himself?


    Yes!


    But their entire was on the verge ofplete annihtion.


    In just a matter of days, the whole was going to be swarming with possibly Level 200s or Level 300s, monsters that would bepletely out of his reach.


    So it was time to take matters to the extreme. It was either go big or get ughtered!


    When pushed into a corner, even a nobody, especially a nobody who has nothing to lose, can be extremely dangerous. Liam wanted to teach the divine temple priestess this lesson.


    He might have been dealt a shitty hand of cards, but he still had his trump card left, and he was going to go all in with that trump card.


    The only problem was¡­ using this hand required him to get another turn, just one more turn, and then victory would be his!


    Liam coldly gazed at the fairy, wondering what her decision would be. Exactly for this reason, he went above and beyond and offered something that she couldn''t refuse.


    He could have possibly got this done with even five dungeon crystals, but that would be rolling a die and taking a chance. He did not have that luxury at the moment.


    He needed to make the y that was 100% going to win!


    Meanwhile, the other party looked like she actually suffered a minor heart attack. Tilia dazedly blinked, her gaze still on Liam''s hand.


    She watched him walk over to a nearby desk.


    He took out the ten whole dungeon crystals and ced them one after another on the desk.


    The fairy followed him as if she was hypnotized.


    "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten." Her trembling lips counted out loud each dungeon crystal, and her eyes nervously darted from start to finish, once again going back to the beginning all over again.


    She then started counting all over again.


    Her crystal blue eyes twinkled as she gazed at the precious items in front of her, even forgetting to take a breath. She had never seen so many precious items at the same time in her entire life.


    She did belong to a traditional merchant fairy n, but her status in her family was far from being able to ess so much wealth.


    Thanks to certain people, she was closer to being forgotten and pushed aside. It was also because of them that she was currently in this lower realm, doing something that was never going to amount to anything and only get her a bad name.


    However¡­ all of that was before today.


    Tilia gasped several times as she looked at the neatly lined dungeon cores that were going to blow up her lifepletely. It was yet to be seen whether this would be in a good way or a bad way.


    But no matter what, she was not going to let this opportunity slip by. This was once in a lifetime jackpot, and she was determined to grab onto it ande out on top.


    She stared at the dungeon cores for some more time as several ns formed in her head. She then looked up at Liam with a new light in her eyes.


    Tilia bit her trembling lips and opened her mouth. This was it. She made her decision. "I will make the trade happen." She said.


    The risk she was taking here was immense, and she probably would be subjected to severe scrutiny and a lot of unwanted attention, but in the end, it would all be worth it.


    The dungeon crystal cores alone wouldpensate for every damn thing.


    But it was not just that. Tilia''s gaze flickered as she studied the human being standing in front of her. This man was not ordinary.


    She already knew it in her heart.


    She knew it when he had stepped into the magic shop as a Level 80 evolved human with a fully formed mana core.


    She knew it when she had suffered an unreasonable loss in something asmon as a guild battle.


    She knew it when she had witnessed his special skill that could summon soul entities.


    If anything, today''s event was just another reminder of the same thing. This person standing in front of her was definitely not ordinary.


    This person could single-handedly change everything. The world that was doomed to be destroyed by this wave of isons might not end up with that fate.


    In a way, helping him right now might even be worth more than the dungeon crystals in the future.


    Thinking about these things, Tilia did not hesitate any longer. She confidently approved and signed the deal. "Good luck, you crazy bastard. You are going to need it."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 959 Everything Was Going To Change!

    The moment Tilia agreed to Liam''s terms and conditions, a wave of palpable energy spread across numerous ces in various corners of the.


    Liam could not feel it, but the fairy surely could. This was going to change everything. She had goosebumps all over her skin. This was the first time she was witnessing something like this, and that too in a lower realm.


    "I hope you know what you are doing." She mouthed softly as she looked at Liam. But unlike her, there was no trace of nervousness or hesitation on his face.


    There was only a big grin.


    Liam clenched his fists in excitement. He had already lost everything and now was once again close to losing everything all over again, but it was not fear that he felt.


    When one was at rock bottom, the only way to go was up!


    Perhaps that divine temple priestess had the power to change the fate of his entire world, obliterate him, his loved ones, and billions of others into nothingness. However, he also had the power to do the same, and now his turn was starting!


    "Ok. Now let me exin to you what features your upgrade entails. First, guilds across the world would now be able to demarcate and set up a safe zone. This provides up to one month of absolute protection."


    "This is the first and foremost important feature of this upgrade, especially in the current state of the world. However, only a safety zone is provided. The guild members have to take care of the rest, including food and other essentials."


    "The second important feature is¡­"


    Tilia continued to exin the details in the background, but Liam was not in the mood to pay attention to these things at the moment.


    He had just now thrown out the whole set of rules and blew the world wide open. However, the majority of the work was yet to be done.


    This was just the start. They were still not out of danger, and their grim reaper hadn''t gone anywhere. He needed to act fast and carry out the rest of his n.


    "I will listen to everything in detailter. Can you just tell me about the teleportation portals for now? When will they be ready, and when can I use them?"


    The fairy swallowed. She knew why Liam was in a rush, so she was hesitant to give him this bad news. "It will take at least 48 hours." She said with a bitter smile.


    And just like she thought, Liam''s face immediately changed. A lot could happen within 48 hours, especially when one was dealing with isons.


    However, Tilia quickly remembered something else and offered up a vital piece of information on her own.


    "Mr. Liam, you don''t have to worry about that. Now that you have made this unimaginably huge transaction, your reputation has already hit the maximum. You are our esteemed guest, and you are wee to use the teleportation portals from ourwork."


    "Ok." Liam nodded. His eyes narrowed to study the fairy, but this time she seemed to be genuinely helpful. Whether this was true or not or what could be the motive behind her actions, these things had to wait.


    For now, he had more pressing matters to attend to. The path forward had finally been cleared, and it was time to rampage through it!


    "Let''s go." He looked at Luna and then signaled for the fairy to lead the way.


    Tilia silently brought him over to the elevators of the magic shop, and then she took him to the fifth floor. There, on the floor, there was just a single huge hall to which the doors of the elevator opened up.


    "The teleportation circle is inside. Pleasee this way."


    Liam followed her and entered the hall. The first thing that appeared in front of him was a huge andplex pattern that was engraved on the center of the marble floor in ck ink.


    He looked around to find that this was, in fact, the only thing present in the huge hall.


    Tilia walked toward this engraving, and Liam followed her. Once they arrived closer, she opened her system interface and tapped away at something on her interface.


    "I modified the permissions. You should be able to use it now. Please go stand at the center of the formation."


    Liam followed her instructions, and the next second an interface opened up in front of him as well. There were several options listed on this interface, and every single one of them was magic shops in the various corners of the world.


    "So I just have to pick one, and I will be teleported there?"


    "Yes. That''s how it works."


    Liam looked at Luna, and he then pressed the first option on the screen, the magic shop that was located in the northern part of China.


    So far, they had cleared three hive hills, two in the south and one near the middle portion of the vast country. This led him to believe that the next ones might be in the northern part, where they hadn''t yet traveled to.


    They still probably had to search the area for a while, but this was as good a bet as any.


    Liam went ahead and selected the option, and the next second, the huge engraving on the floor lit up in threads of silver and gold. The world around him turned dark, and when he was able to see again, he was standing in an entirely different ce.


    He opened the system map to see that they were right outside the magic shop in the far north of the country!


    "Let''s go." Liam turned to look at the white fox, who immediately transformed her size. He jumped onto the fox, and without wasting any time, she sted away in one direction.


    The little fox once again used all of her energy as she blurred in and out, searching for any signs of a hive hill. Luckily, they did not have to look for long as they soon ran into their first ison.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 960 Complete Annihilation

    The single ison buzzing around by its lonesome was the same bizarre insect, but it was considerably thin and not in the least plumped up. Liam saw this and assumed that the ison was probablying from the hive hill in search of food and not the other way around.


    He patted Luna, and the two of them flew in the opposite direction, where they soon ran into several more isons. "It looks like we are in the right direction."


    Liam only barely closed his mouth when the hive hill in the distance came into their vision, glowing in its golden splendor. "Stop." He immediately got down from the white fox.


    Luna looked confused. She just assumed that her master was going to summon the soul army and take care of these ugly bugs, but Liam did not seem to have any intentions of doing that. Instead, he dashed forward into the wilderness all on his own.


    "Stay back and be prepared toe to me when I call for you."


    "Master!" Luna called after him, but he had already disappeared into the distance. The white fox pouted and spewed out her mes on a couple of isons near her to take out her frustration, but then a thought suddenly entered her mind.


    Her eyes widened, and the next second, she immediately started backing up a few more paces and lifted up even higher in the sky because she was pretty sure that in the next few seconds, this entire area was going to be utterly devastated.


    And just like she thought¡­ another secondter¡­


    BOOOOM!


    A loud explosion rang out, sending tremors and mana ripples in all directions. In just a moment, the area that had been tranquil and silent except for the buzzing sounds of the isons now looked like it was the site of a natural disaster.


    Heavy winds roared loudly, and the earth groaned. Trees and nts started tearing apart. The tectonic tes of the region started dancing, and fissures appeared like wrinkles on an old man''s face.


    "Kyu! Master has started!" The white fox''s ears quickly perked up. The first thing she did was looked around and inspect the damage. She cautiously judged the distance between her and the radius of impact and backed away some more paces.


    She did not want to be too far if Liam needed her, and at the same time, she did not want to be dodging things left and right like what had happened previously.


    Back then, she did not gauge the distance properly and had tobat a couple of massive lightning bolts that descended from the sky. No, she was not going to do the same mistake again!


    And soon¡­


    BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!


    After the first explosive wave came the second and then the third and then the fourth, and so on.


    While the white fox curiously looked at the things around her gettingpletely and utterly demolished, in the distance, the hive hill was no longer standing.


    It was as if it had never existed in the first ce. There were no traces of it left behind except for the Orichalcum bits and pieces scattered around.


    The same went for the entire zone. Giant waves of destruction swept the area, leaving nothing behind. Even the air was electric, charged to the max capacity, with mana turbulentlyshing out everywhere.


    This continued for an entirety of five seconds, after which everything quieted down abruptly.


    The moment this happened, Luna instantly knew that this was her cue. She growled and dashed forward at full speed before even Liam could give her the mentalmand.


    And when she arrived at the spot, just like she feared, her master was once again writhing on the ground in pain.


    The white fox dutifully stood beside her master while he took his time to recover slowly.


    Though he seemed to be in intense pain, Liam did not look in the least regretful of his actions. He only had a big maniacal grin on his face as he howled loudly, trying to withstand the aftermath of using his ultimate skill.


    Soul Splice!


    He had used it once again! That too in the span of a single day!


    He had directly rushed into the swarm of isons, and before the little things could crowd around him and pester him incessantly with their horrid numbers, he made the decisive move and went for the kill!


    He went straight for the hive hill and sent a fully power-packed punch, activating [Soul Splice]!


    With this single move, he demolished everything in sight, the small ones, the big ones, the normal isons, the mutated isons, the evolved isons, the elite isons, the ison generals, and even the damned queen if at all she existed in the first ce.


    He did not give any time for any of the damned insects to react and instantly pulverized the whole swarm, the eggs, and the hive, including whatever might be within.


    This was important because once the thing inside became alert and aware of his presence, then there was no telling how the fight would go. He might have an ultimate skill, but there he needed the opportunity to use it.


    And from the looks of it, the isons were not prepared for this kind of hell to be unleashed onto them without warning. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to get away with this as he did just now.


    But Liam did not care. As long as he was able to, he was going to do this again and again and again.


    Even though he was also paying a price for it, his current goal was to eliminate as many hive hills as possible in the shortest amount of time.


    Liam clenched his fist, bearing the inhumane torturous agony, and sucked in all the souls around him that were starting to dissipate.


    He slowly used these souls to strengthen and nourish his own injured soul that was left cracked and battered after using the illegally overpowered skill.


    He also gulped down another mouthful of the water from the world seed, and little by little, his body started repairing itself.


    "4 down¡­ how many more to go? Ha Ha Ha Ha!" He let out a burst of agonizedughter, howling in pain.

 Chapter 961 Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

    Liam''s soul was the first to recover, thanks to the numerous disintegrated soul specks floating around the area of massacre amidst the scattered pieces of isons and orichalcum.


    So he used this chance to summon his soul army and sent them to work at least until he was able to move again. His soul wasn''t yet a hundred percent recovered, but he was strong enough to do this much.


    Luna also joined the soul army and started searching for mana cores, especially the bigger ones. Soon, all the main cores were collected.


    Liam''s gaze was particrly fixated on the biggest core, which was very much simr to the one he had obtained in the previous hive hill.


    "A queen for each hive hill, huh?" He grunted and moved, pocketing all the gathered items so far, and then immediately took off with Luna.


    Unfortunately, they did not have the luxury of time. So they weren''t able to sit and collect everything at the site with patience.


    Liam grabbed whatever the soul army had managed to gather up until now, and the two returned back to the closest magic shop.


    This was the one in the north to which they had teleported.


    The fairies in the shop were all different faces, there was another store manager, and the whole setup had minor differences, but mostly everything was the same.


    Liam did not bother to strike up any conversations with this store manager and directly got into the business. Taking another teleportation portal, he arrived at a location that was east of the current magic shop.


    He was still dead tired, so he used the chance to rest up on Luna''s back while the fox dashed around here and there at top speed, searching around for any signs of the next hive hill.


    Althoughpared to the dungeons, magic shops, and portals, these hive hills seemed much rarer, Liam had no doubt that it was going to be a long day.


    This was because they had to make sure that they took out every single one of these hive hills without leaving behind a single one. Even a single missed hive could spell disaster for the whole world.


    Meanwhile¡­ in other parts of the world and Crimson Abyss guild base, a huge uproar was beginning to spread.


    The various guild leaders began to receivepletely unexpected, shocking system notifications.


    <Ding. Your guild registration fees have been paid in full. Your guild registration is nowplete>


    <Ding. Your guild is sessfully online>


    <Ding. Your guild has been upgraded to tier 1>


    <Ding. Your guild is now visible in the world ranking board>


    <Ding. Your guild has been upgraded to tier 2>


    <Ding. Your guild bank has been created>


    <Ding. Your guild has been upgraded to tier 3>


    <Ding. Your guild is now able to set up a safety zone>


    <Ding. Your guild is able to trade with other friendly guilds>


    <Ding. Your guild is now able to construct teleportation portals>


    <Ding. The Guildmunications channel is now open>


    Everyone dumbfoundedly stared at these notifications in a state of utter shock and disbelief.


    One second they were dreading how to pay such a huge amount of registration fees and were regretting their action of creating a guild in the first ce. And the next second¡­ everything was paid up?


    Not just that but out of nowhere, their guilds were getting upgraded???


    What the hell was happening in this crazy world now???


    There were the beasts, the bizarre insects, and now, these guild upgrades???


    At this point, some guild leaders even began to wonder if this was a good thing or a bad thing! Since the world was out to screw them from every which way, how could a pie like this simply fall down from the sky?


    It made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Surely, there at least needed to be some consequences for this?


    Maybe if this had been a few days before, it would have been fine, but now with these nightmare bugs running around everywhere and iming people''s lives, they simply did not have the strength to bear any more consequences.


    They had somehow survived up until now. However, this was their limit. They really couldn''t take any more. Everyone was just an inch away from breaking downpletely.


    In this kind of atmosphere, all the guild leaders raced to their local magic shop and crowded around the guild panels and the fairies to see what was going on.


    To their dismay, the fairies in the various magic shops also seemed to be equally busy and restless, bustling around here and there, barely having time to answer any questions.


    They were not in a mood even to disy their usual fake friendly attitudes.


    ? Some of the fairies were straight-up hostile, furious, and pissed off that their money-making scheme was thwarted, and now they had to give up actual benefits.


    Moreover, they were not even going to get interests and other cuts out of these gigantic transactions that cost several billions of mana cores. It was the absolute worst-case scenario!


    The attitudes of the store managers were particrly nasty.


    "Stop asking me idiotic questions. I don''t have time to sit around and answer, you stupid, foolish human being!"


    "A filthy trash from the lower realm should not even be allowed to step inside this shop!"


    "If you pester me with any more questions, then I willpletely revoke your guild registration!"


    "Why haven''t you yet been killed by the isons? Scram, you filthy human!"


    The various store managers were making huge losses in these transactions, and all of them were out for blood, sniffing around to find out who exactly was responsible for this fiasco!


    Which bastard had dared to sell them all out and collectively burn their profit margin? If only they could get their hands on this person! The fairies hurriedly went through the logs to check what exactly went down.


    And since no one was being helpful, it was the guildmunications channel that instantly blew up and went viral!

 Chapter 962 This Is An Official Government Message

    Doomsday Heroes (Territory 2): "Who is here? Anyone knows what is happening?"


    Gxy Guardians (Territory 1): Hello! Doomsday Heroes! I am d you guys are also alive! As for what is happening, I don''t know. Our guild was suddenly upgraded.


    Hardcore Survivors (Territory 4): Our guild was upgraded too!


    Survivor Camp1 (Territory 3): Oh my god! I am so relieved to see so many guilds active! Did you guys fight the weird insect yet? I thought the whole world was going to get wiped out. I am also not sure what is happening, but our guild is upgraded too!


    Team Earth (Territory 5): Wait, I think all our guilds are upgraded. Look at the ranking list of the guild. There is a separate ranking list for each territory, and there is also a global ranking list.


    Warriors of Change (Territory 1): Oh! You are correct! All the guilds have been somehow upgraded overnight! But why suddenly now? Didn''t we have to pay mana cores? What happened now?


    Hardcore Survivors (Territory 4): I am confused


    Praise the Lord (Territory 2): The Lord works in mysterious ways. Maybe they revoked the payment requirement?


    Hardcore Survivors (Territory 4): There are 135 guilds in total. They revoked the fees for everyone?


    Warriors of Change (Territory 1): "Wait. Guys. I think I found something. Open your guild rtions page and check. This page should show the guilds that we have cooperations and friendly rtions with, and currently, nothing should be there. But I see a name. Does anyone else also see this?


    Doomsday Heroes (Territory 2): I see it too! Crimson Abyss! Isn''t that the top S-Rank guild from the tutorial game?


    Hardcore Survivors (Territory 4): We have Crimson Abyss as a friend too!! What is happening?


    Survivor Camp1 (Territory 3): Yes. We see it too!


    Praise the Lord (Territory 2): Same here!


    Frozen Warriors (Territory 3): Me too!


    Saviors of the World (Territory 7): We see Crimson Abyss too


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Amidst this loud cacophony of various guild messages¡­ all of a sudden¡­ a series of messages unexpectedly popped out!


    United Nations Survivors Camp 1 (Territory 1): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone, please calm down and listen well. The world right now is extremely dangerous but fear not. The government has still not fallen. All the world governments have united together to stand firm in these tough times.


    In each territory, we have established a survivor camp. This is an official government guild where you will be provided with food and a safe ce to stay free of cost.


    Currently, we are mobilizing troops to rescue civilians stuck in different corners of the world. So if you are far away from the Survivor Camp, we suggest that you wait patiently to be rescued.


    If you are closer to the Survivor Camp, we suggest that you still wait patiently or, if possible, send some signal to the camp. Please be on the lookout for military troops on the streets and reach out to them if you can.


    Above all, please remain calm and courageous. These are difficult times, but we are still standing. Humanity will not fall so easily to these alien forces. We will emerge victoriously and im our world back!


    Please do your part and support the government. Let humanity win!


    Hell Fighters (Territory 6): What the hell is this now? Government?


    United Nations Survivors Camp 2 (Territory 2): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone¡­


    United Nations Survivors Camp 3 (Territory 3): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone¡­


    United Nations Survivors Camp 4 (Territory 4): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone¡­


    United Nations Survivors Camp 5 (Territory 5): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone¡­


    United Nations Survivors Camp 6 (Territory 6): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone¡­


    United Nations Survivors Camp 7 (Territory 7): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] Hello everyone¡­


    Doomsday Heroes (Territory 2): Holy mother of spam!


    Survivor Camp1 (Territory 3): Is this true? Is the government really back up? They are organizing this massive rally?


    Praise the Lord (Territory 2): Praise the Lord! Jesus hasn''t let us down! The government is still alive to save us all, thanks to his lord''s kindness!


    Saviors of the World (Territory 7): For anyone interested, I just messaged them, and now I have the coordinates. This seems to be legitimate. We going to try and travel to the survivor camp tomorrow. I will log in to confirm then!


    Justice League (Territory 4): Same here. Will confirm when we reach the camp. I am not sure what is up with Crimson Abyss, but it looks like the new United Nations government is responsible for our guild upgrades. This is good. We finally have some good news! Long Live the United Nations!


    Blood Brothers (Territory 5): Same here. I don''t know if we will join the survivor camp or not, but it is definitely worth checking out, especially because they helped us all out like this. This safety zone is a lifesaver. Did you guys try setting up one yet? I was never one to trust the government, but this definitely changes everything!


    Saviors of the World (Territory 7): Yes. Yes. It looks like we owe the government big this time around. I am just d we are finally fighting back.


    Doomsday Heroes (Territory 2): Guys, who would have thought that a game we were ying would be like this? Anyone have any theories about this?


    Hardcore Survivors (Territory 4): Who knows? But it looks like those who had the advantage back in the game still have the advantage in the real world out here. How else is Crimson Abyss already listed as friendly with all our guilds? Maybe they even got some special upgrades!


    Justice League (Territory 4): Government is responsible for these upgrades. I doubt they gave special preferences to Crimson Abyss.


    Doomsday Heroes (Territory 2): Those bastards might have still found some way to top us. The rich always keep getting richer, even in the apocalypse. Sigh.


    Chaos Knights (Territory 4): Hello, everyone! I suggest we talk about something more productive and more important. Has anyone fought these weird insects yet? Can we share some information?


    Kshatriyas (Territory 6): Hello from India! Chaos Knights, we also have this same question. Has anyone fought these weird insects yet? We have one of the hives near our guild, but unless our guild members go close to the thing, the insects do not seem to be attacking.


    Saviors of the World (Territory 7): You don''t have to worry about this too much. Now that the government is up and running. I am sure that they have a n. Justy low and wait to be rescued.


    Chaos Knights (Territory 4): Sorry, friend. I cannot agree with you on that. We need to do something from our end too. Otherwise, if they suddenly decide to attack, then we might be in trouble.


    Saviors of the World (Territory 7): Huh? They haven''t attacked so far. Why will they attack now? Speak with some logic. Wait, are you one of the Crimson Abyss wannabes? That''s why you are trying to divert the conversation.


    Ding. Chaos Knights (Territory 4) have left the conversation


    Hardcore Survivors (Territory 4): Pfft. That guy ran away. You hit the nail on the head! He is definitely one of the Crimson Abyss allies! I don''t think they are too happy that everyone now gets to enjoy their high status. Government upgrading all our guilds is a p for those elite snooty bitches!


    Blood Brothers (Territory 5): This is for our collective survival, and yet some people behave selfishly. Crimson Abyss hasn''t even bothered toe online yet! Aren''t they a top guild? Shouldn''t they be helping people and giving others some tips to be stronger or survive?


    Saviors of the World (Territory 7): Those guys have already participated in some guild war that too. What a pathetic group! Why fight against each other when we are all facing life-threatening danger?!


    Doomsday Heroes (Territory 2): I also don''t have a good impression of them.


    Praise the Lord (Territory 2): Lord will take care of these insects. We just need to pray.


    Survivor Camp1 (Territory 3): Even back in the game, Crimson Abyss never helped anyone. What a shitty guild! This is not how a top-rank guild should behave! Motherfuckers, even now, are ranked first in the leaderboard. This is some bs.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­ In Chaos Knights Guild headquarters¡­


    "We are wasting our time with the guild chat. They seemed to be more focused on chatting and gossiping about useless things rather than figuring out a solution to the problem."


    Doris Kellerman, Chaos Knights Guild Vice leader, punched the desk in front of her with anger and frustration.


    "These idiots don''t have a clue about what they are up against." Another person from the guild added.


    "I bet none of them have gone even near the hive. If they had, they wouldn''t be talking about useless things."


    The group of Chaos Knight guild members standing inside the magic shop were all riled up.


    They hade here hoping for some sort of help since suddenly, a major event like a guild upgrade had happened, but in the end, nothing was fruitful.


    The worst part was, unlike the others, they had a dire situation on their hands, and they knew very well that these insects and hive hill were definitely not good news!

 Chapter 963 United Nations Government?

    "I''m so tired. Are we there yet?" Liam slouched on Luna''s back while the white fox zoomed ahead at lightning speed, heading back to the magic shop they had teleported to an hour ago.


    They''d been at it for almost ten hours now, taking down a total of 5 hive hills. With the three from earlier, they''d managed to demolish 8 of those things all by themselves.


    In fact, by now, they were already out of the China maind. They were in other parts of the territory where the rest of Asia was mushed together haphazardly.


    Perhaps in a non-apocalyptic world, this would have been an amazing way of sightseeing, but now there were only overgrown trees and nts sprawled everywhere.


    The ces where once concrete jungles prevailed were nowpletely taken over by the unruly wilderness.


    And in the midst of this wilderness, the duo had picked off two hive hills from China, one from Mongolia, and two other hive hills from the southern parts of Russia.


    Things were proceeding smoothly so far. The pace was average, and they had gained a lot on these trips as well.


    When Liam arrived at a specific hive hill, he always followed the same technique. He activated his [Stealth] skill and dashed toward the hive hill, giving it his all with the single overpowered, colossal skill.


    His power-packed punches destroyed everything in sight, including both the powerful and the weaker isons. However, "weaker" was a rtive term. As the hours ticked by, even the weaker ones were touching Level 40 and Level 50 little by little.


    Though this was an rming evolution rate and something that he should be concerned about, for now, it was only helping him rue more and more experience points.


    Moreover, Liam was not sharing his experience points with any of his minions, except for Luna. She also received very little as she was quite far away from the scene of action to avoid the cmitous repercussions.


    Because of this, Liam was racking up huge amounts of experience points in a very short time. The first hive hill that they hunted gave him 20% experience points required to hit the next level, and since then, it has been steadily increasing.


    Thetest one even gave him a 50% boost in a single hit. This alone brought his current level to 83! He had actually leveled from 81 to 83 in the span of a few hours!


    Compared to his progress from before, this was a monstrous level-up speed. Naturally, he was also paying the price for it.


    Every single time Liam used the overpowered [Soul Splice] skill, he had to go through unimaginable torture, and repeating it so many times almost as soon as the cooldown wore off was slowly beginning to take a toll on him.


    Also, the isons evolving at an explosive speed, giving him this bountiful experience points was not exactly good news.


    Liam had no idea if his search was even exhaustive or not, but he was simply doing the best that he could. However, he was not foolish enough to start this madness without a backup n. He did have a n.


    In fact, he was counting on this n to take care of the rest of the hive hills. If everything went well, this should make his work a lot faster and easier, thereby preventing this disaster from worsening further.


    As long as the isons were not aware of what he was doing, then he could still make it work, even if only barely. But by chance, they had some method ofmunicating with each other¡­


    Liam didn''t want to think about the situation anymore. He closed his eyes and rested while Luna hurried towards the nearest magic shop.


    When they arrived, instead of rushing to the next teleportation stop, Liam walked over to a desk and pulled up the guild channelmunicationswork.


    "It''s been several hours already. These guys should have figured things out by now and started talking about the hive hills," he said as he looked expectantly at the chat.


    However, he found his eyes twitching the next instant.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me!" His jaw ticked and a malicious smile appeared on his face as he saw the Crimson Abyss guild name being smeared left and right on the guild chat.


    As if this wasn''t enough, a newwork of guilds had emerged.


    "United Nations Government?" Liam frowned. He had never heard of anything like this in his past life. They seemed to be a new guild but they already had a lot of branches and followers.


    They were doing righteous deeds such as gathering survivors, clearing beasts in the neighborhood, forming alliances, and even tackling some of the small groups of isons that were probably out on their gathering mission.


    However, the problem was they still seemed oblivious to the main issue at hand.


    All of the above tasks could even wait for a few weeks, actually a month to be precise, because every guild should have their safety zone set up soon. There was no rush in bringing all the survivors together, and so on.


    What was required at the moment was to deal with these hive hills, and to Liam''s annoyance, these guilds were not really doing that. They seemed to be staying put as if the isons would leave on their own whim one day.


    Moreover, the credit for upgrading all the guilds all throughout the world had somehow gone to this group?


    What was more amusing was that this United Nations Government acted as if they hadn''t heard anything. They neither confirmed nor denied the fact that they had nothing to do with these guild upgrades. This naturally led to everyone believing that they were responsible.


    However, Liam could not care less about this at the moment. The whole world was going to be wiped out, so how could he focus on such petty matters at this crucial moment?


    He decided to deal with these special government friends at ater date. In fact, when that timees, it would only be even more amusing when the truth was revealed.


    Liam chuckled as he flickered his gaze over the rest of the conversation, ignoring the bunch of idiots.


    And bingo! His n had worked!


    Just as he thought, he came across a few coordinates of hive hill locations that the group had shared amongst themselves.


    Although the useless idiots were mostly gossiping about irrelevant things and not understanding the emergency of every single human being''s current situation, they still managed to be somewhat useful and did this small part for the welfare of the entire Earth!


    Liam hurriedly jotted down the few coordinates and prepared to leave when he noticed another message shing in the corner of his system interface.

 Chapter 964 We Know The Truth

    Liam opened the messages and surprisingly saw that these were direct messages addressed to him personally rather than the guild leader of Crimson Abyss.


    "Hmmm?" He quickly opened the first message, and it was from Abraki, the leader of the Assassin''s Alliance guild.


    "Oh? These guys managed to form a guild outside of the game too?" Liam was impressed.


    But then again, the yers of this guild were long-time hardcore gamers who probably lived and worked in a gaming studio, so this would have provided them the advantage in handling the post-apocalyptic world.


    Together, it wouldn''t have been difficult for these skilled fighters to quickly level up and establish a footing in the new world. However, what about the isons? How would they fare against these deadly insects?


    Liam was curious about this, so he hurriedly looked through the message even though he was in a rush, and once again, he was surprised!


    <Mr. Liam, I am well aware that it is you who were behind this global guild upgrade event. I cannot begin to fathom how much time, effort, and resources this must have cost you.>


    <We, from the Assassin''s Alliance, want to thank you sincerely from the bottom of our hearts for this benevolence. We wish to one day repay you for this generosity, but right now, we want to ask your opinion about a more important matter.>


    <Mr. Liam, have you fought these insects yet?>


    Liam smiled. It was good to know that there were still guilds around that had a good head on their shoulders. At least this group had identified the danger that surrounded them. Not just that, they seemed to have done a little more than that!


    <Mr. Liam, these insects are bing stronger at an rming pace! We are currently located in territory 4, and we have managed to take down two hive hills, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Iran.>


    <But we were two dayste in dealing with the hive hill in Iran, and this cost our guild a huge loss. We have lost several members of our guild, and many of our key members are injured.>


    <Though this is not much, I hope this warning reaches you in time before Crimson Abyss suffers a simr loss. This is not much, but I hope this information can prove to be valuable and at leastpensate a little for the generosity you have shown to the rest of us.>


    Liam read through the entire message, and he was genuinely touched. He had always had a good impression of Abraki, even back in the game, and it looked like he was not wrong in this judgment.


    The only issue was¡­ this was all a bit toote!


    He quickly sent a return message to the Assassin''s Alliance guild leader and shared with them a few more details about the barrier and the swarm''s behavior. He also asked him to share this information with the rest of the guilds in the group chat.


    This might not lead to anything, as Liam doubted if anyone else were strong enough to face these insects at this point and time in the apocalypse, but at least he would be able to get more coordinates from the conversation.


    After sending that message, he looked over at the next message, which gave him another surprise. This message was from none other than the Crimson Abyss 2 guild, a branch of their guild that was located in North America.


    Unlike Alex, Mia, and Rey, most people were not able to easily convince their friends and families to uproot their lives and move to an Asian country all of a sudden. So instead, they had to form a temporary guild group in the USA.


    "Not bad." Liam nodded in approval looking at the messages from the guild. He honestly did not have any expectations from them, but the several core members of the guild had pulled through and withstood the jarring initial days of the apocalypse to somehow still remain standing.


    More importantly, these guys also had coordinates for him for a couple of hive hills. In total, he now had the location of seven new hive hills! It was time to get busy again!


    Liam signaled the little fox, and the two of them rushed into the teleportation room. They once again started their big grind.


    This time, their trips were much shorter as Luna did not have to fly around everywhere in search of the hive hill. They arrived directly at the coordinates that they had.


    The area was also cleared in advance as even the most idiotic people knew better than to go near the swarm of isons willingly.


    Of course, some of the areas were cleared by the isons themselves as they had ughtered everything in sight and sucked dry their dead bodies.


    The piles of rotting, unrecognizable rotting flesh left here, and there was a gory sight to see.


    Liam sighed at this development and hurried his pace. If he was not fast enough, then soon the entire world was going to be a wastnd of flesh heaps.


    He dashed toward the hive hill in front of him and activated the familiar skill again, instantly sending an earth-shattering punch at the tall golden structure.


    ***


    While Liam was busy dealing with the few hive hills, thanks to the Assassin''s Alliance, the rest of the world was slowly starting to pay attention to the isons.


    Things would have proceeded faster if Crimson Abyss 2 guild had also chimed in, but Liam had a feeling that this would only be counterproductive in this atmosphere where every Tom, Dick, and Harry was bashing their guild. So he asked them to stay silent for now.


    After all, his main target in getting this conversation going was not themon neighborhood guilds. The time at which these could have taken action and made a difference was already over.


    Now only the extremely powerful guilds could afford to act.


    And if anyone besides him could make a significant contribution to preventing theplete destruction of the world, it would be none other than his longtime friend, the Oracle.


    He wanted to bring this snake out of the shadows!

 Chapter 965 Crimson Abyss 2

    Aftermunicating with the Assassin''s Alliance and the Crimson Abyss 2 guilds, Liam first started with the hive hills in territory 6 and took down two more hive hills in Russia, for which the coordinates were shared.


    He then quickly used the teleportation portal from the nearest magic shop and arrived at the Crimson Abyss 2 guild base, which was currently located in New York. Immediately, a few friendly faces rushed forward to greet him.


    "Guild leader!" A tall African American man was the first to reach him, and the guy hugged Liam directly with his muscr hands. "Guild leader, we are still alive!" The guy actually started sobbing.


    It was extremely awkward to see a grown man crying, but Liam understood the feeling very well. He was also happy to see everyone doing well, and judging from their levels, they seemed to be thriving, in fact.


    All of them were at least Level 25 which was very impressive considering that they did not have the advantages that the main group had.


    "It''s ok, Mark. You did well. You did more than well. You have held down the fort for so long." Liam patted him.


    A couple of others also walked over to Liam and exchanged hugs. These few people were part of the guild''s core team back inside the game, so they had been with Liam and the guild for a really long time.


    That was why they behaved quite freely with Liam and did not even care for their appearances, as many of them openly shed tears and rejoiced in this joyous moment.


    The other members might not understand, but the core guild members knew very well that this was a major turning point in their lives. Liam was here. Now, they could actually dare to hope!


    "Ahem. Ahem." After the short emotional exchange, Mark quickly cleared his throat and began filling Liam in on the details.


    In the Crimson Abyss 2 branch guild, Mark, Anthony, and Chris were the three main guild members, managing the branch and giving out orders for everyone.


    These three originally belonged to Alex and Mia''s group and had stayed the longest with the guild. Other than them, there were about fifteen core members of the guild, and with their effortsbined together, they had managed to survive this ordeal so far.


    Liam greeted everyone he knew, but he quickly cut short the friendly meeting. After all, there was a lot of work to be done. This reunion had to wait until the isons were dealt with.


    "Yes, guild leader. We are prepared to leave at any time." Mark also nodded in agreement.


    Liam looked around and saw that everyone was indeed prepared to go to war. However, what they did not expect was¡­


    "I will actually be moving out on my own. I will exin the situationter, but I need to deal with the hive hill personally." Liam said.


    Mark was immediately shocked. Did that mean Liam had been taking care of all of these hive hills all throughout the world, all on his own?


    He had seen the messages in the guild channel about how some of the hive hills had mysteriously disappeared after they had shared the coordinates with the group! How could he possibly make the connection between that and Liam?


    And now that he knew the truth, he lookedpletely dumbfounded.


    Everyone else who heard the news was also equally shocked, but all they could do was watch as Liam and Luna took off from the guild base right in front of their eyes.


    "Mark, what is happening?" Chris walked over, his mouth wide open.


    "I also don''t know, but it is better that we still have everyone geared up and ready to go. Have them assemble in the big auditorium."


    Soon the whole guild began to hustle, and every able fighter assembled in the big auditorium. Everyone had heard a lot about Liam, so naturally, they were curious as to what was going to happen now.


    But unexpectedly, Mark opened his mouth and announced somethingpletely unheard of. "The guild leader will be taking care of the hive hill alone. In the meantime, we will be ready just in case."


    He only spoke two lines, but the effect of this was massive, sending the whole group into an uproar. Everyone here had faced the isons, and some people have even lost a few friends to the insects, so this news was very shocking to them.


    Especially the new members who had joined the guild after the apocalypse were very skeptical. Some of them began to grumble openly.


    "What is this, Mark? From the way you described the guild leader, we thought that he would be someone whom we could lean on, but this person just wants to do everything alone. Does he want to show off in these dangerous times? It just feels very irresponsible and fake."


    "Are you even sure that he is the one who did all the guild upgrades? Maybe it was the government after all?"


    "What the hell is this? This just feels like some scam. What does he even want from us?"


    Seeing this, all the main members of the guild immediately had an unsightly look on their faces. They were Crimson Abyss members for a long time and were very loyal to the guild, so they couldn''t obviously stand simply while watching these new members bad mouth Liam.


    They tried their best to calm down the crowd and asked them to trust Liam, but their words were not getting anywhere. The newer civilians became extremely chaotic to handle. Several people began toin loudly. Some even began to threaten to leave the guild.


    Among the three main branch guild leaders, Chris was a bit hot-headed, so he was the first one to gnash his teeth in anger and open his mouth to give a piece of his mind to these ungrateful people.


    However, Mark immediately stopped him.


    He calmly crossed his hands in front of his chest and asked the crowd. "Who here thinks that our guild leader is wrong and that the government is the one responsible for all of these changes?"


    He did not ask about the hive hill or the other issues and only addressed this particr matter. His voice also seemed very calm and casual, as if he was just asking a question.


    So, lulled into a false sense of security, a bunch of people raised their hands. This included the few from earlier who had bad-mouthed Liam.


    Mark observed them and then silently nodded. He gave the crowd another minute to make up their mind, and a few more as well raised their hands.


    At this point, it looked like he was simply taking a poll, so people were freely expressing their opinions.


    However, the next instant, Mark opened his mouth again and spoke sternly. "If you think so lowly of our guild and our guild leader, perhaps it is time for you to move out of the guild."


    He still appeared very calm and casual, so it took a moment for his words to really sink into the crowd.


    "Chris, Anthony, did you guys note down all the names?"


    "Of course." Chris grinned.


    "Yes. Yes." Anthony sighed.


    "Now kick them all out of the guild''s main roster." Mark decisively announced.

 Chapter 966 You Mean You Did Not Fail?

    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    "Hey! What is happening?"


    Everyone looked extremely confused. Only after Chris really collected a list and stepped out of the room the murmurs and whispers became louder, and the disgruntled group stoppedining amongst themselves and started shouting at Mark.


    "What is this, Mark? What are you doing?"


    "We have been fighting together all these days, and suddenly you are kicking us out for some stranger? Who stood beside you and fought all these days? Us or him? Who do you think is more important to the guild right now? You have got to be kidding me!"


    Mark heard their outrageous remarks and sneered, "This has to be the funniest thing I have heard."


    "You are saying you are an integral part of the guild while the person who asked me to set up the whole thing even before the apocalypse struck and made sure that we were not totally ughtered is a stranger? Don''t you find this ridiculous?" Markughed at them openly.


    The small group quickly stood up in anger. None of them had the mood to sit in the auditorium and listen to the condescending words any longer.


    "Fine. Why do you get to kick us out of the guild? We are leaving! We were nning to leave this ce and join the government guild. Now you only made our decision easier! Hmph!"


    "Compared to your guild and your fake guild leader, the government camp is definitely a hundred times better!"


    The group of people immediately started walking out. Mark saw this and simply shrugged his shoulders. He did not have anything to say to these people. He only had silence, a smile, and a wave.


    Coincidentally, when the group grumbled and started walking out of the big auditorium, a white fox elegantly zoomed down andnded on the stage. From her back, Liam tiredly rolled down. He looked beaten and battered, as if he had just survived a harsh tornado.


    Immediately everyone began to panic. Mark and Chris rushed to Liam to help him stand. They could see that outwardly he had no injuries, but yet, it was very clear that he was extremely weak at the moment.


    "Let''s go inside. Fast." Mark signaled Chris. Especially right now, when things were a bit chaotic in the guild, he did not want to show the world that Liam was weak.


    Unfortunately, it was toote. The people who walked out of the auditorium were at least Level 15, so they got a good look at Liam''s condition.


    "Is this your almighty guild leader?" The deserters sneered in contempt and started loudly discussing and ridiculing the guild, creating a ruckus near the entrance.


    Mark clenched his fist in embarrassment. He couldn''t care less about these people. He was far more concerned about letting down Liam by showing him such an unsightly disy.


    For the person who had done everything for him, he couldn''t even create and manage a branch guild properly? This was a huge p on the face.


    Mark felt his anger bubbling up. He wanted to charge at the bunch of ungrateful bastards right then and there and ughter them all, but before he could take any action, the white fox in front of him silently disappeared.


    When Luna reappeared, she was standing right in front of the group of idiots and snarled loudly at them. Viciousness glinted in her eyes, and she gave off a feral threatening aura. Her mere sight without the sound effects was enough to scare the living daylights out of these people.


    The group of people instantly scattered away, not even daring to look back. They no longer cared about mocking the guild or the guild leader. They simply wanted to get the hell out of there while they were still alive.


    Luckily for them, Luna was in no mood to chase after them and hunt them down. She returned back to Liam''s side shortly after which Mark and Chris escorted Liam to a morefortable ce for him to rest.


    Seeing this, the group that was running away slowed down and spat out in contempt. "Fucking hell! What do they think of themselves? These people are cowards. They can only show their strength to us civilians. Hmph. In the ce where it really counts, they are useless."


    "That guy who boasted that he was going to go all alone and take care of the insects, did you see his condition? He definitely ran for his life and returned back! The idiot!"


    "Even we know how dangerous these insects are. This idiot rashly went to a nest all on his own and now came back injured."


    "Tch. To support this idiot, that guy Mark is kicking us out! What a bastard! We contributed so much to this group from day 1, and yet we are kicked out like this!"


    "Fuck them. I am not letting this go just like that. First, let''s go to the government camp, and then we will prepare a return gift for these guys."


    "Ya! I also agree. These selfish assholes need to be taught a lesson! Just because the world changed, they think that they can do whatever they want!"


    The group of thirty people picked up their friends and family and begrudgingly left the guild territory.


    Meanwhile, in one of the apartmentplexes, Liam was resting tiredly on a soft luxurious bed. "Internal troubles?" He asked Mark, and the other party helplessly nodded.


    "It''s fine. It''s fine. Don''t beat yourself up too much about it. You are a born fighter, and you are good at it too. There is no need for you to be the best at everything."


    Mark still looked hesitant, but he was d that Liam did not seem to be disappointed in him.


    "Let me tell you another thing. Have you checked the features of the guild upgrade yet? Soon you should be able to use a teleportation portal that lets all the members travel from here to the main guild."


    "I suggest that everyone move to the main guild base as soon as that option is avable. I will still not be around for a while to protect you guys, but I have made some arrangements on my behalf. You will understand when you get there." Liam exined.


    Mark quickly nodded in happiness, his mood taking a turn for the better. "Of course. We will do that immediately. Right now!"


    Ever since the apocalypse began, this was one thing that they regretted the most. They had somehow survived so long, but it was not without incurring some casualties.


    So they were painfully aware of their biggest mistake of their lives, and that was not doing everything they could while they still had the chance!


    If only they had listened to Liam''s words and given that more importance, by now, they could have also been with the main guild group in China.


    But now, fortunately, they got a second chance to rectify this mistake. They were obviously not going to let this go again.


    Mark quickly attended to Liam and served him some piping hot food personally. He then immediately stood up to make preparations to leave the ce. The sooner they joined the main base, the better!


    Looking at his eagerness, Liamughed a little. "Don''t you want to know what happened to the hive hill?"


    Mark shook his head. "Guild leader. It''s fine. Don''t worry about it. I understand."


    "Heh? You think I failed?" Liam grinned.


    Mark stopped in his tracks,pletely shocked. He then turned to look at Liam with a nk expression. "You mean you did not fail?"


    "Of course, I didn''t fail!" Liam grinned. "I took care of that little bug problem."


    Mark stood utterly stunned. When he saw Liam''s condition, he had expected the worst, but this¡­ how could he believe this? Also, Liam was barely gone for an hour?


    The insects that he thought were going to wipe out the world were taken care of in a single hour?


    "Anyways, we are not out of danger just yet. So it''s too early to celebrate. I will exin everythingter. For now, you focus on the task at hand. Gather everyone and prepare to leave." Liam closed his eyes and rested.


    "Oh! And don''t disband the guild. Keep everything intact. When you leave, just change your territory to one that is right next to the main base. In this way, we can have two safety zones in case thingse down to it. This will give us some time to fight back."


    Mark nodded in a daze and left the room. He still could not believe the things that he had heard. Was it really possible for someone to take down the whole hive hill in just an hour?


    He had only been away from Liam ever since the apocalypse began, which was barely a few weeks after the game shut down.


    Just what sort of a monster had the guild leader be in this small span of time?

 Chapter 967 New Developments

    After the guild upgrades, Liam first started his grind by helping Crimson Abyss 2 because he wanted to check the situation and see just how much of the guild survived.


    Though he hadn''t taken many steps to help them so far since the day of the apocalypse, now that he had a way to do that, he did that immediately.


    There were also other Crimson Abyss members scattered in other parts of the world too, but no other guild branches popped up on the roster, so he put that matter aside for now and focussed more on taking out as many hive hills as possible.


    Unfortunately, this was the more pressing matter, and he still did not have a grasp on it.


    In 24 hours, he should logically be able to take out at least 24 or 23 hive hills since the cooldown of the skill was 1 hour, but the reality was far from it.


    He was only barely able to take care of 6 or 7 hive hills per day. That seemed to be his limit. The bacsh effect of the [Soul Splice] skill was simply too severe for him to take on.


    Liam considered the possibility of experimenting with the skill and only using a few of the soul minions at a time rather than all of his entire army, but he immediately rejected this idea as this was way too risky.


    Firstly, he did not want to give the stronger isons inside the hive hill any chance to fight back. If perhaps his weaker version of [Soul Splice] was not enough to take out the queen, then it would be game over.


    The chances of this happening were also quite high. With every single day, these creatures were evolving at an rming rate. Perhaps if the queen reached Level 500 or perhaps more, then his weaker [Soul Splice] might not be enough to deal with her.


    Not just that, there was a possibility that the queen or one of the generals could evolve a soul skill, particrly a defensive soul skill. This wouldpletely nullify his n and put him also in grave danger as he would be weakened after using the skill.


    Taking these things into consideration, Liam gritted his teeth and went all out every single time he faced a hive hill, bearing the severe bacsh. With this, he was also constantly healing and mending his soul using the souls of the dead isons.


    This was the same technique he had used back inside the tutorial to get a stronger soul, and this time, also he hoped that this exercise would be fruitful.


    The downside of this type of strategy was time. While his pace wasn''t too bad, it was also not enough.


    On the other side, the isons did their part and did not remain idle.


    At first, the insects were only focussing on the mutated and evolved beasts that had walked out of the portals from the first wave and were still lingering around in this world.


    But with every passing day, they were broadening their territory, and now they started hunting down human beings as well.


    Thankfully, the situation hadn''t yet be too dire because of the guildmunications channel where everyone was able to exchange information with each other.


    Most of the areas surrounding the hive hills were already evacuated, and people had started taking down the stragglers one by one as and when they saw these insects.


    However, the main problem still remained.


    The main swarm of isons around the hive hill was still intact.


    Even the big guilds did not dare to take on these massive numbers of insects on their own. Talks about cooperation slowly came up, and ns of one guild assisting another were being made.


    In this atmosphere, it was the government guilds that seemed to hold the maximum power as they possessed not just trained soldiers but also the necessary firepower, military-grade weapons, and ammunition.


    This became even more apparent when at the end of the second day, after the guild upgrades, teleportation from one guild to another became possible!


    With the help of the government-established guilds, small alliances were being made in a rush to take care of the swarm of insects surrounding the hive hill.


    While Liam was taking down the hive hills one after the other on one side, the government-established guilds joined forces andbined their military strength on the other side.


    With the help of thisbined strength, they attacked the swarm surrounding the hive hills en masse. The number of soldiers participating in this mission totaled a whopping half million, and each and every single one of them was armed!


    Among this army, there were also other evolvers who were able to use mana. In Particr, there were 20 of them who were exceedingly strong. These 20 evolvers were called Generals, and all of their levels were around 50.


    Though no one had formed a mana core yet, it was clear that these twenty people had a strength and power that was head and shoulders above everyone else.


    With the help of the massive armed military forces, these 20 Generals led the army to victory as they started taking down one hive hill after another.


    Even if it involved extensive use of grenades and stronger military-grade ammunition, they saw the job through from the beginning to the end.


    With the more evolved isons, it was difficult to eradicate them using just bombs and gunspletely, but they were still heavily injured as a result.


    These injured ones were then picked off by the 20 Generals and other people who were able to use mana. In doing so, they also racked up a huge number of experience points and also mana cores.


    The whole mission was extremely lucrative, and every one rejoiced as the nightmarish swarm waspletely culled down.


    However¡­ as for the hive hill itself¡­ no one had any clue what to do about it. They simply left it untouched. No one really cared about this, as it did not pose a major threat right at this moment.


    Everyone was more than satisfied, even with just the swarm around the hive hill taken care of. At least this way, they were not able to see the massive noose that hung over their heads.


    Some of the guilds even had a theory that the hive hills would disappear on their own if left untouched.


    They even used examples of the hive hills in their backyard to support this theory when in reality, there was a person behind the scenes reducing the number of hive hills one at a time.


    At this time, in the guildmunications channel, one of the guilds brought up a weird observation they had made.


    In Germany, Territory 4, a red hive hill had popped out!

 Chapter 968 A Genius Idea

    Chaos Knights Guild Base, Germany, Territory 4:


    "Gunter, I triedmunicating with the others in the guild channel, but once again, those idiots are simply ignoring me." Doris Kellerman, Chaos Knights Guild Vice leader, shook her head helplessly, informing the guild leader about the situation.


    "They simply don''t understand the problem. They think that putting a bandage on the wound would somehow make it magically go away!" Another guild member added.


    "They are just taking the shortcut."


    "Ya, it looks to me that the government is more interested in proving to everyone how helpful it is."


    "Hmph! They are simply harvesting all mana cores and using the swarm to level up. Nothing they are doing is helpful at all. They are also outrightly ignoring us when we talk about the damned red thing!"


    "Everywhere else, the hive hill is golden in color, why the heck is ours alone red in color? Who knows what is going to pop out of this thing? Shit! Shit! Shit! Why did this have to happen in our backyard?!"


    The few higher-ups of the guild who had gathered together to discuss their country''s dire situation started loudly cursing about the government camps in various colorful terms.


    And hearing the conversation devolve to something that was not particrly headed anywhere, Gunter Sklenofsky, the Chaos Knights guild leader, the top leveled pdin yer of the guild, and not to mention a literal knight in shining armor, raised his hand.


    Immediately, the entire room became silent. No one dared to say anything. They did not even dare to breathe loudly. In the Chaos Knights guild, the guild leader Gunter Sklenofsky had the ultimate authority!


    He had a grave expression on his face as he seriously looked at the guild members standing around him.


    "Everyone, this is a very chaotic time for us. When I say ''us,'' I mean the world as a whole together. So right now, it is not important to talk ill of ourrades."


    "If their actions are not honorable, it is only because they are desperate just like us! While our own situation is dire, we should also understand that others are also facing mortal danger. So let''s not be quick to judge anyone." Gunter calmly spoke.


    His words had the magic to calm down the entire room full of guild members who were severely disgruntled and distraught just a moment ago.


    Doris Kellerman smiled at the reliable person whom she could always count on. Gunter Sklenofsky was a knight of his own ss. He was not just a knight in fighting style, but he was a person who exemplified that ss in every single action he made.


    The overwhelming power that emanated off of his Level 45 aura, his broad shoulders, and his trustworthy nature made everyone look up to him and rely on him in times of need.


    After he spoke, the entire guild calmed down, and once again, the discussion became productive. Everyone genuinely shared their ideas about how to take down the hive hill.


    The thing was¡­ they actually had a good idea about how to deal with the hive hills. It was just that it was way too risky to try because the idea involved¡­


    "SIR!" Suddenly the door banged open in the midst of the meeting.


    Another guild member rushed in, not in the least bothered that he was interrupting the discussion among the top guild members and the guild leader. But others also did not seem to care because this person was also important.


    Gunter had appointed him always to keep an eye on the guildmunications channel, and right now, he stood in front of the group, heaving and panting.


    "Sir! Sir! Sir!" He wheezed.


    "Hmmm?" Gunter calmly stood up and handed over a ss of water to the guy. "First drink and then talk."


    The guy quickly took a gulp which helped him catch his breath. "Sir! Someone has leaked the idea we had in the guild chat room. Now all the guilds are talking about this and only this!"


    "What?" Dorris Kellerman jolted to stand up, pushing down her chair in the process. "What are you saying? Are you sure?" She asked, her eyes widening in anger.


    Unlike the benevolent guild leader, everyone knew that she had a temper, so the poor person slowly nodded his head and spoke in a meek voice. "I saw it with my own eyes and immediately rushed here."


    Dorris Kellerman shot daggers at the guy with her eyes, but she also knew that it was not his fault, so she simply punched the desk in front of her. "How did this get out? This was our idea. This was our right to share and not share. How the hell did this leak?"


    They also had ns to share the idea, but the only reason why they did not do it was that it was a bit too risky.


    Also, Dorris Kellerman had hoped to form some alliances with a few guilds while sharing this idea. She knew very well that Gunter wouldn''t agree to profiteer in this kind of situation, but she still wanted to try.


    After all, she couldn''t bring herself to be as idealistic as the guild leader. She looked up to him and respected him, which was why she was fine with taking care of the dirty side of things.


    But now, all her ns had been shatteredpletely! Dorris was furious. "I need a detailed investigation in this matter. We need to find out how our idea got leaked!"


    Everyone else agreed and murmured and whispered among themselves, quickly talking about how to go about this.


    However, once again, Gunter had a different thought. He stood up and shook his head with augh. "Dorris, no. Let''s forget about this issue right now and here."


    "But¡­"


    Gunter stopped her. "We need to focus on what is truly important. If our idea helps others, then it''s all for the best. My only concern is that it is too risky."


    "No, guild leader." Dorris shook her head. "Your idea is not risky. It is genius."


    "Building a safe zone around the hive hill and then deploying a nuclear bomb inside the safe zone to obliterate the hive hillpletely? Who can think of something like that? This is a stroke of genius, and you should have gotten the credits for it!"


    "Yes, guild leader. You should have gotten the credit for this. The world should know who their savior is."


    "These idiots are randomly praising some fake government bullshit while you are the true hero behind the scenes."


    The entire meeting room once again became chaotic. Seeing this, Gunter could only sigh. "You guys¡­" He smiled tiredly.


    "Let''s go to the guild chat room and see how things are going on. I want to warn everyone about the danger of this method. We still don''t know if the explosion will be contained or not. This could be extremely dangerous and risky if not executed right. Let''s go."


    Gunter left the room, and everyone else followed suit. However, one man and woman still remained in the room, not very keen to follow the rest of the guild.


    "Matthias¡­ you¡­ why are you still silent?" The woman turned to look at the thirty-year-old man and asked in a gentle tone. "You should have told everyone that it was your idea in the first ce. Gunter is acting as if he came up with it."


    To his wife''s concern, Matthias Schmidt only had a warm smile on his face. He shook his head and answered, "You don''t know Gunter as long as I have. Sure, the guy definitely has his ups and downs, but in the end, he means well."


    "If he is sooo good, then howe he did not give you the credit?"


    "Shush. That''s enough. Let''s leave first. Right now, it''s not important whose idea this was and who implements it. We all just need to survive. There has been enough death around us. Let''s not focus on these petty things."


    Matthias stood up and left the room. His wife Helena sighed and followed him.


    As far as she was concerned, this man right here was the true knight in shining armor, not the guy who was full of pretense and false bravado!


    But she also agreed with her husband that it was best to drop this matter right here and now. After all, they were just two ordinary guild members from a small guild in a corner of the world, and something like this really did not matter.

 Chapter 969 Up Is Down. Down Is Up.

    Meanwhile, the guildmunications channel waspletely blowing up.


    "Wow! This is a very smart move! I never thought of using a safety zone in this manner."


    "Yes, I went back to the magic shop and read the details too. Apparently, once a safety zone is established, nothing can go into it, and nothing cane out of it without the explicit permission of the guild leader."


    "It looks like the nuclear bomb would be well contained, and its effect will only remain within the safety zone."


    "Yes. Yes. These damned insects wouldn''t stand a fucking chance against us! Did they think that only they had technology? We also have the technology! Let them have a taste of our strongest weapons!"


    "You all are crazy!"


    "Nuclear weapons? Are you guys joking here? Do you want to kill these insects, or do you simply want to destroy the world before the insects do?"


    "The radiation will spread everywhere! It will kill us all!"


    "Ya, what about when the safety zones wear off after 30 days? Won''t the radiation then start spreading?"


    "Yes, it might even be worse because of mana. What if a whole territory gets destroyed? Who is going to take responsibility for it? There are people''s lives involved here!"


    "Then, should we just sit still and watch? The insects are soon going to kill us all! You guys are cowards. You don''t want to do anything. You also don''t want to let others do something. You just want to die, don''t you?"


    "The Lord will help us all."


    "This idiot¡­"


    "He might not be aplete idiot. These past couple of days, many of the hive hills are disappearing on their own. I scrolled back to read, and around 25 have disappeared so far. This is not a small number."


    "This is exactly what I am talking about. If we do not attack the hive hill, the stronger insects don''te out, and eventually, the hive hill itself seems to disappear. So instead of trying crazy shit like nuclear weapons, we should simply stay put and let the hive hills disappear on their own."


    "No, the government''s decision is the right decision! They have this whole thing under their control. Not only did they sessfully manage to upgrade all the guilds, and now they have a n for taking out the insects and their hive hills."


    "You are right. We just trust them and let them handle this. For our part, we can take care of the small groups of insects or beasts thate our way. I am afraid if we interfere more, this is only going to be counterproductive. Too many cooks spoil the broth."


    "Idiots, we are talking about survival here. Not making a fucking broth!"


    "You are the idiot. I was just quoting a proverb, you retard!"


    "Guys, stop behaving like petnt children. This whole discussion is pointless. In the end, all the power and control are in the government''s hands. They alone have the ess to nuclear weapons and probably will contact the guild closest to the hive hill to talk about this matter. If anyone hears anything, please inform us all."


    "Ya. Are any of the government camp guild leaders around? Please give us an upgrade!"


    "I don''t think the nuclear weapons strategy is a good one. I have a bad feeling."


    "Me too."


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "Anything useful, Alex?" Rey asked, curiously peering over to read the guild chat that his sister had been upied with for the past half an hour.


    After two days, the group, along with the two golems, had finally returned back to the guild base, but little did they know that such a huge shock was going to be waiting for them when they got back.


    Liam and Luna were nowhere to be seen, and the guild that they knew of also did not exist anymore. Everything had changed in just a couple of days!


    Perhaps the most astounding aspect of this whole ordeal was that Alex received all of this information not from Liam but from Tilia, the fairy who managed the magic shop.


    Since when did the fairy who hated Liam and his guts start helping the guild? This also seemed very way off for her. She did not have to fill in Alex on any details, and yet here she was, talking to her at length about everything that had transpired.


    At first, Alex scrunched her nose suspiciously, not trusting these bloody fairies even for a moment, but even she couldn''t find any fault in the way Tilia was helping them at the moment.


    From the looks of things, Liam must have left in a hurry. While Alex was wondering what happened, Tilia surprisingly filled her in on this as well. She talked about the teleportation portals and how Liam was currently using them to move from one magic shop to another.


    She also informed Alex about the guildmunication channel. When Alex checked the various conversations and connected with Crimson Abyss 2, she finally understood everything and had the whole picture.


    And after everything, the first thought that came to her mind was¡­ Liam had gonepletely crazy!


    The guy was single-handedly doing something unimaginable for the entire world. Of course, she knew that he was not a bleeding heart to sacrifice himself for everyone. The only reason he was going to such an extreme was definitely for them, his sister, and the guild.


    The others were simply benefiting from the sidelines. But these idiots did not even have the brain capacity to understand this.


    Alex was fuming when she saw how everything Liam did was automatically being taken credit for by the government camps. The assholes were spamming in the guild chat 24-7, but they did not take any initiative to clear up these misunderstandings.


    To make matters worse, now themon consensus was that the hive hills were disappearing on their own!


    Alex folded her shirt and was about to enter into a typing frenzy when Rey held her hand back and silently shook his head.


    "Bro must have a reason, sis. Don''t say anything for now in the guild chat. He probably doesn''t want anyone to interfere until he takes care of all the hive hills."


    "Hmmm." Alex paused. What Rey suggested also made sense, so she decided against taking any action at the moment.


    In a way, it was better to let these ignorant idiots assume that the hive hills were disappearing on their own. At least then, they won''t intervene and make things worse than they already were.


    Alex gulped at the thought of the isons rapidly multiplying, evolving, and spreading throughout the world. If that really happened, then their world would truly be doomed.


    At this point, all she could hope was no one interfered with Liam''s n.


    Besides, Alex had a feeling that these government-established guilds were not so simple. They definitely had something to do with the government-established guilds back in the tutorial world.


    And if her suspicion was correct, then the same person was behind both of these events.


    Because without his intervention, it waspletely impossible for the diverse governments in different parts of the world toe together this way.


    Politicians were one of the most greedy, power-hungry sectors of the poption. How could these peoplee to an agreement this quickly and operate in such a well-coordinated fashion?


    Something like this couldn''t have happened overnight. Someone had to be behind the whole thing, amon person whom everyone trusted, amon thread binding them all together, amon leader that everyone truly believed in.


    And this person couldn''t be just anyone. They had to be strong, someone like Liam, on whom people could blindly ce their trust.


    However, it was impossible for someone like this to exist. Among the human beings on the at the moment, Liam was the strongest right now. Period. Alex had no doubt about this.


    This was why she had her doubts. Because if there was one thing that people believed in that was more important than strength, it was superstition and luck.


    Alex was sure that the damned Oracle was behind all of these things. He had all the governments in his pockets, even back inside the tutorial, and nothing had changed now in the real world.


    He probably even helped the government level fast and procure some treasures or ess to dungeons, thereby cementing his position as the messiah of the new world.


    Perhaps after this world-altering event, he might even make this public ande out of the shadows. No matter what angle Alex thought, this seemed very usible.


    After all, a move like this was required to secure world peace, more importantly, thework of the established United Nations guilds.


    Alex let out a small sigh as she shook her head. There was no point in thinking about the future now. She cleared her mind and silently started working with Crimson Abyss 2 to arrange for everyone''s teleportation.


    Luckily, more fees were not required to use the teleportation portal between one guild to another, or rather, the store manager Tilia had waived these fees for them.


    Especially since Liam was not around, this was a huge help, and the guild moving process started smoothly.

 Chapter 970 Boom?

    While things appeared to be at a stand still on the surface and the government continued to remain silent¡­ in a remote corner of the world¡­ several United Nations guild officials had gathered, along with a few high-leveled fighters.


    All of the officials were at least Level 20, with the armed and equipped fighters at least Level 40.


    "This is going to be our first test. I hope everything goes well." One of the officials closed his eyes and silently said his prayers.


    They had chosen a hive hill in the remote part of Russia in the far north of territory 6 where there weren''t many humans left.


    For the purpose of this test, they had made adequate preparations and ensured that many wouldn''t be affected even if things go wrong.


    However, there was only so much preparation one could make in an event like this.


    Everyone standing in the area right now acknowledged this fact. They knew exactly how dangerous this was, but they couldn''t remain idle. They had to do something.


    The real threat of these hive hills was the stronger insects inside the hive that was yet toe out.


    While they did not share this information with the public to avoid a mass panic, all of them here were well aware of the emergency the world was currently facing.


    This was why they had decided to take on this risky nuclear option.


    As the group continued to wait patiently outside the magic shop for that zone, suddenly, a set of footsteps sounded, and two people walked out from within the magic shop, one was a well-built American, and the other was a Japanese.


    "We are here. Let''s start this." The tall and thin Japanese manmanded the group authoritatively.


    If Liam had been here, he would have instantly recognized this man. He was none other than Kouske, and the person standing next to him was Barrett, the berserker tank.


    The both of them had a gaze that was bold and unwavering, as if they couldn''t be bothered by the apocalypse that everyone else was dreading. However, no one found this irritating or med them for being over-confident.


    Instead, they found themselves subconsciously relieved at his sight. Their calm and rxed demeanor gave the group of government officials and politicians strength and hope.


    "Umm¡­ The oracle.. is he also inside?" One of the officials suddenly asked.


    Kouske stopped in his tracks. He immediately turned to look at the official and gave him a stern stare down. "Of course, he is here. Did you think that he wouldn''t stand behind his words? Hide somewhere else safe like a coward?"


    "No. No. Mr. Kouske, please. You are misunderstanding me." The official began to panic. "I only wanted to pay my respects. I didn''t mean any offense."


    Kouske still did not look convinced and was about to say something, but Barrett, who was standing next to him, intervened. "It''s fine. Let''s go inside first. There is no need to talk out here unnecessarily."


    All the government officials immediately nodded and followed the two.


    The politician who had spoken out earlier cursed his stupid mouth and tried to hide in the crowd by putting his head low. Luckily for him, this was an important asion, so no one paid attention to him anymore. The group simply went inside the magic shop.


    In reality, all the officials gathered here had more power and prestigepared to the two young men who stood in front of them, but that was before, back in the old world.


    In the new world, these two were at the top of the food chain, and the one that was above them¡­ was perhaps the person who was going to rule this whole world in the near future!


    Their very survival was dependent on this single person. So even though the gathered men were full of pride and testosterone, everyone tucked their attitudes and silently shuffled inside.


    The United Nations territory 6 camp leader then stepped forward and bowed slightly. He opened the system interface and started making the necessary arrangements to create a safe zone.


    Luckily, there was a guild in the zone that cooperated with them, so they were able to do everything freely without spending even a single mana core.


    Soon, the process was finished, and in an hour, a safety zone was almost ready to go live. However, it was not activated just yet, so the isons remained none the wiser.


    "Mr. Kouske, shall I give the signal?"


    Everyone looked at Kouske, but Kouske looked at the person who was sitting calmly in a corner. He then nodded with a yes. "Let''s start."


    The entire room gulped silently. This was a rather important moment in history. Their future depended on it. The fate of the world depended on it. An invisible pressure nketed the group as they forgot even to breathe, anticipating the oue.


    The next second, a call was ced, and minutester, a missile zoomed across the blood dyed sky of the apocalyptic world.


    Several people tracked the coordinates of the missile, and when this missile arrived closer to the hive hill¡­


    "NOW!" Kouske shouted, and the safety zone was instantly activated.


    A translucent crystalline blue dome appeared out of nowhere andpletely enshrouded the hive hill and the missile, and soon the collision urred¡­


    BOOM? For a second, everyone''s hearts leaped out of their chest as they fully expected even the magic shop to explode on their faces. Though they were given a lot of assurances that this was impossible to happen, they couldn''t help but fear something like this.


    However, the second came and went by. Time ticked as another minute passed in absolute silence and then some more. Everyone nervously stood inside the shop, awaiting the oue of the test, the nuclear test!


    Of course, there was no way for them to tell what happened from inside the shop, but who would dare to step outside the shop in this condition to check for the progress?


    For all they know, the entire territory could have been sted away into oblivion!


    In this situation, the only thing they could do was to look for the person still sitting quietly in the corner, the Oracle. Surprisingly, he had his eyes closed, which made the gathered group even more nervous.


    And in the midst of this tension filled silence, suddenly, a message pinged on the guild chat interface. The territory 6 camp leader who read the message had an unsightly look on his face as he turned to Kouske.


    "Mr. Kouske¡­ the missile¡­ it¡­ did not even get activated."

 Chapter 971 The Prediction Was Wrong?

    "What?"


    "What are you saying?"


    "Our nuclear weapons are not working anymore?"


    "How could it be possible?"


    "But if this is not working, then what are we going to do?"


    In a second, the dreadful dangers werepletely forgotten, and the entire group became chaotic and erupted into loud discussions.


    Even though they were worried about the side effects of using a nuclear weapon, they were only worried that the weapon would be too dangerous in this new world.


    No one had expected the weapon to justpletely not work at all!


    They werepletely unprepared for a situation like this. Now, what were they supposed to do? How were they going to deal with these insects that were evolving at an incredible pace?


    These monsters were soon going to gobble up the entire world, and no one would be able to do anything about it!


    "Oh god! We are doomed!" One official fainted on the spot, copsing on the floor.


    Another one rushed to a fairy nearby and started shaking the fairy''s shoulder. "Do something about it. Can''t you do something about this!"


    A couple more started praying loudly, closing their eyes. Only those who were somewhat calm rushed towards the man who was still sitting calmly in the corner.


    However, before they could reach him, two figures shed and appeared in between them, preventing them from taking another step.


    Shhh. Kouske threateningly silenced the bunch of politicians.


    But this time, panic gripped these people, and it slightly overpowered the fear they had for Kouske and Barrett or, more importantly, the man who was sitting silently.


    "What is happening? Didn''t he say that everything would work out? Didn''t he say that there was no danger?"


    "Yes! What does he have to say about this? Why didn''t it work?"


    "Come on! Say something! We have a right to know, damn it!"


    The group of politicians started demanding the answers that they deserved. They had done a lot for the three people standing in front of them, and they had also reaped a lot of benefits from the three.


    However, right now, all of that did not matter. Their life was in danger. Nothing else mattered.


    Kouske''s face turned cold. If it were up to him, he wouldn''t spare a single nce at the low-lives in front of him, but he also couldn''t ignore his big brother''s words.


    These politicians were the faces that everyone recognized and was used to, particrly the military. So it was easier to control the military and the local armed forces using these politicians.


    This was pretty much the only reason why these people even had a semnce of power or dignity at the moment. This was also why they were allowed to live a life of ease with various benefits and luxuries that others did not get.


    Each of them had big bungalows in posh districts that still remained pristine as if they were untouched by the apocalypse.


    They had highly nutritious meat delivered to their doorstep. They had numerous beautiful women serving them in various ways. They had respect and power wherever they went and even a set of high-leveled bodyguards protecting them and their families, even the mistresses.


    Kouske absolutely detested these parasites. He was only able to bear with them because he knew that soon things were going to change, and these parasites would no longer be able to enjoy the same privileges.


    This was where the 20 Generals came into the picture. They were the top yers of the only other S-Ranked guild back in the tutorial game, Battle Gods.


    Every single one of these Generals was personally vetted by Kouske, Barrett, and, more importantly, their big brother.


    And without the knowledge of these politicians, these Generals were slowly and steadily taking control of the whole guild little by little.


    Soon there would be no need for these parasites, and Kouske couldn''t wait for this day toe. He detested these kinds of people the most, vermin living out of others'' hard work and pretending as if they were better than everyone else.


    Well, there was also another person he hated more than these parasites¡­ Kouske subconsciously clenched his fists as the image of that person shed in his mind.


    Soon he would be able to deal with him as well as his guild Crimson Abyss. Only then would he truly be at peace in this new world!


    Apocalypse or not, he did not care too much about these things. As far as he was concerned, he liked the world right now more than he ever did the previous one. At least now, he felt alive.


    "Mr. Kouske! You cannot stand simply like a statue! We need answers!" Another politician''s loud voice sounded, snapping Kouske out of his thoughts.


    The lean and mean Japanese cleared his throat and coldly nced at the person raising his voice.


    "If I were you, I would wait a bit more patiently. The oracle promised that there wouldn''t be any danger from this test run. He did not say anything about the nuclear bomb actually working." Kouske nonchntly replied.


    Hearing this, the politician almostpletely lost it. There wouldn''t be any danger was not the same as the whole damn thing not even working in the first ce!


    His face twitched and contorted in anger, and his blood pressure quickly shot up. Here he was, worried about his fucking life, and this guy was talking about some weird childish semantics!


    "You!" The middle-aged man raised his voice when suddenly he froze. In fact, everyone in the roompletely froze, and all eyes were locked on one and only one single person.


    The man who was sitting in the corner had finally made a move!


    He stood up and walked over to one of the fairies in the magic shop,pletely ignoring everyone else.


    What was shocking was that even this fairy seemed to be apprehensive of him. Not even a second had passed when the store manager from inside the shop rushed out to greet him.


    "Mr. Caden! I am sorry to keep you waiting! Ahhh¡­ Please forgive me!"


    Everyone was shocked. Were these the same fairies that treated all human beings like filth? They couldn''t believe it.


    Even the store manager was bowing to the Oracle with a look of worship in his eyes!

 Chapter 972 Respected In All Realms

    "Mr. Caden!" The store manager opened his mouth as he gaped at the tall and thin man who was standing in front of him. "Please forgive me for keeping the great Oracle waiting." He bowed in respect and only dared to lift his head a couple of secondster.


    The fairy''s glittering eyes seemed to be mesmerized as he stared at the person with veneration. At this moment, it was as if his entire attention was focused on this person and only this person.


    And this was not just the store manager. Every single fairy in the hall, not to mention the human beings who were also present, everyone had eyes only for this single person.


    The moment he stood up and walked into the hall, he was the center of attention, and for all they knew, he was the center of their whole universe.


    The feeling they had for him had already crossed the boundary of respect and entered the realm ofplete and utter worship, so much so that it bordered on blind devotion.


    They had even forgotten the anger and worry they had about their future and the nightmarish insects. Everything was going to be okay as long as this person in front of them wished so. All they had to do was pray to him.


    The faith and belief they had in him perhaps even outssed the gods they had been worshiping all their lives.


    However, as opposed to the look in their eyes, there was nothing particrly special about this man.


    He was a young man, seemingly in his twenties to thirties. He had a tall and thin frame with an austere expression and wore extremely in and simple clothes, a in shirt, and pants.


    He was clean, he was calm, and his eyes which were as dark as the endless abyss, were framed by a pair of gold-rimmed sses. The only thing that was even remotely special about him was his silver hair which had a mysterious glow to it.


    Otherwise, he was not even memorable. He had a in face that was neither too handsome nor too ugly. If he were in a crowd, he wouldn''t stand out and rather blend in the background,pletely unnoticed by anyone.


    But at the same time, this exact face left an impression that was eversting and made countless powerful people worship him. It was almost as if he chose the effect he wanted to leave behind. To be forgotten or to be worshiped was his whim and wish.


    Even the politicians that stood transfixed at the moment were not an exception. Though they have all seen him countless times, none of them could ever remember how he looked.


    Just seconds after their meeting, they wouldn''t be able to recollect his face or any of his features or even his name. Only the feeling of respect remained, along with the faint memory of the pair of gold-rimmed sses.


    The most shocking aspect of this was¡­ no one had ever really thought to question why this was the case! Such a thought did not even appear in their head.


    The oracle, or rather Caden, calmly gazed at the store manager and adjusted his gold-rimmed sses. "Let''s go inside and talk."


    The fairy nodded his head like a dog and quickly obliged, leading the way for the two of them. They then disappeared somewhere inside the store right in front of everyone''s eyes.


    Only a couple of minutes after they left, the others came back to their senses. The politicians and government officials, who were cackling like a pack of hyenas before, had all suddenly calmed down.


    They inexplicably felt assured that everything would be taken care of, and that simmered them all down. Kouske, standing on the side, smirked at this sight.


    Naturally, he was different from these idiots. Unlike these brainless sheep, what he and the fairies had for the Oracle was not blind worship but a sense of respect firmly backed due to logical reasons.


    This was why Kouske also knew that his big brother already had everything under his control. He probably even predicted that the nuclear weapon wouldn''t be triggered in the first ce.


    Now the only thing that he wanted to know was¡­ what was his brother''s next course of action?


    Kouske did not have to wait long to see this because soon, the store manager and the Oracle returned from their private discussion.


    And this time, the Oracle was not empty-handed.


    On his right hand, he was holding a dozen small marbles, all of them a light blue shade in color. More importantly, they seemed to have some sort of mysterious marks etched on them.


    ? Everyone gaped at these mysterious marbles, wondering what they were.


    But the Oracle did not bother to exin his actions to the whole room. Instead, he looked at Kouske and Barrett, who quickly followed him back to the corner where he had been sitting all along.


    The three of them then discussed something. A few minutester, Kouske alone came forward and announced to everyone.


    "We will be dealing with these hive hills in a slightly different way. Those who want toe along with us and witness the event are wee. The others can leave and attend to their guild affairs."


    Kouske''s address was also quite short and did not give any exnation.


    Normally, someone would have questioned him or at least shown a bit of displeasure, but the bunch of government officials simply turned around to leave for their respective guilds.


    "Heh¡­ At least these puppets know how to behave when." Kouske sneered. He then, along with the 20 Generals, quickly moved. In his hand, there was only a single marble.


    After the two groups left, Barrett, who was still standing beside the Oracle, politely asked in a low voice. "Sir, will this really work?" Even though he also had unshakeable faith in the man next to him, there were still lines of worry on his face.


    However, the Oracle, on the other hand¡­ only smiled casually.


    There were no signs of anxiety or hesitation in his demeanor as he simply closed his eyes. The next second, a mysterious aura enshrouded him from top to bottom.


    Barrett''s eyes widened in shock as he took a step back subconsciously, and even the fairies in the shop suddenly quieted down.


    Everyone''s eyes were now fixated on the single person once again as they swallowed. The Oracle was making a prediction! What was it going to be?


    Only the store manager already knew the answer to this question. This time everything was going to work out!


    Of course, he knew this because he understood the situation quite well, and he also knew about the isons beforehand. But this did not stop him from feeling amazed at the powers of an Oracle.


    It was no wonder that these blessed beings were respected in all the myriad realms.

 Chapter 973 The Prediction Was Never Wrong

    In the far north of Russia, in the midst of a frozen wilderness, a golden pyramidal structure stood tall.


    This was a hive hill that had recently popped up in the world, just like several others. However, the difference was that this hive hill had a translucent blue dome covering itpletely.


    Not only that, but this blue dome also had a missile lying randomly on the frozen ground. No one knew whether this missile was a dead bird or simply one that was resting.


    But for the moment, the hive hill and the missile were both dormant, both sleeping soundly.


    In the midst of this situation, another new entity appeared. A lone undead made of rotting flesh and bones staggered inside.


    And in its hand was a light blue colored marble covered in various markings.


    Though the marble gave off a unique aura, the undead causally swung its arms carrying the thing and jogged closer to the hive hill without any care in the world.


    And when it finally arrived at the hive hill, its hollow gaze lingered on the golden structure for a moment before the undead lifted its hand and casually tossed the marble at the hive hill.


    Its action was as if it was throwing a random stone onto a random beehive, but as for the repercussions¡­


    BOOM!


    The moment the marble touched the hive hill, a runic barrier lit up, which was followed by a big explosion. Of course, this alone wasn''t enough to do any harm to the runic barrier or to the hive hill.


    But things did not stop there. After the first explosion, a series of even bigger explosions followed suit. It was as if the small marble falling into the runic barrier triggered a bunch of ripples that tranted into powerful earth-shaking explosions!


    BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOM!


    Each explosion was bigger than the previous one, and eventually, they began to tear apart everything in sight, including the carefree undead and the majestic hive hill.


    Cracking sounds echoed from the hive hill, along with several shrill noises that could only belong to the bizarre creatures inside, but before anything could pop out, the whole space exploded. The blue-colored dome quickly became bright golden in color!


    The entire situation snowballed out of hand in a second. All that was left was death and destruction.


    "Hmmm¡­ So this works¡­"


    Standing outside the dome, Kouske gazed at the wondrous sight in deep contemtion, his gaze reflecting the bright lights of the explosion.


    As far as he could see, everything was sted apart, so the hive hill and creatures inside should have also died.


    It was impossible for anything to survive this explosion, but they still needed to wait and get the confirmation.


    This took a while, and eventually, the fireworks came to a halt.


    "Fuck yes!" Kouske grinned. The 20 Generals standing beside him also had simr expressions, everyone reveling in the victory of their actions.


    "Big brother is big brother. He said that these runic bombs would take care of the problem perfectly, and just like he predicted, everything worked out to the T."


    Kouske walked toward the safety zone that was previously a frozenndmass but was now a smallke. He could see some body parts of isons floating, along with some mana cores and some metal chunks.


    He immediately closed his eyes and summoned his minions. The next second, a formidable army of hundred undead appeared in front of him.


    Each of them was at least level 20, and moreover, they were strong and sturdy.


    All the 20 Generals gulped at this sight. They then looked at Kouske as if they were seeing a monster.


    Kouske, however, did not really care. He was already used to this sort of treatment. In fact, every time he summoned his impressive army of minions, he got the same reaction.


    He arrogantly scoffed and sent his minions to work as they scrambled around and collected everything that was valuable.


    This took about an hour or so. The group then returned back to the magic shop victoriously. Kouske immediately rushed over to the Oracle to fill him in on all details. The man as well patiently listened to him.


    But unlike everyone else, he was neither happy nor sad. His face was as calm and indifferent as ever.


    "Runic bombs to cancel a runic barrier. Interesting. I wonder how we can obtain more knowledge about these runes. It would be to our advantage if we learn this art."


    "Yes, Sir." Kouske quickly nodded.


    Once again, he was impressed by his big brother. Here he was celebrating the small victory they had over some mere insects while his big brother was already thinking of other, more important things.


    This was why he religiously followed him. In this entire world, there wasn''t a single soul who could evene close to his big brother.


    Kouske exchanged looks with Barrett, and the two of them silently walked over to talk to the other 20 Generals.


    A few minutester, the whole group once again dispersed by using the guild-restricted teleportation portals. The magic shop at the remote corner of the world then returned to its previous empty and deserted state.


    Meanwhile, the same was not the case for the rest of the world.


    All of a sudden, the entire world was in a huge uproar!


    The nightmarish insects and the damned hive hills that were tormenting the entire human poption were suddenly disappearing from the backyards.


    The entire golden pyramid was simply gone without even a single insect left behind. Completely destroyed and shattered. Bulldozed from the ground up.


    Sure, the area around it was decimated, but it was a small price to pay for these abominations to be erased from the surface of the earth!


    The world, which was going to be doomed, was once again saved and brought back from the brink of the abyss!


    The that was just about to be taken over by these hideous insects now once again belonged to humanity!


    And the guild responsible for all of this was none other than the United Nations!

 Chapter 974 Even The Red One!

    The same day the guild chat once again blew up. The entire world was suddenly talking about hive hills disappearing all around.


    No one knew for sure who was responsible for this or how exactly things were going down, but the structure that was a symbol of a constant nightmare to them disappeared overnight.


    But this situation did notst for long. Somehow the news was leaked, and all of a sudden, all the guilds around the world were aware that it was the United Nations who were taking charge and destroying the hive hills.


    This further became confirmed when a safety message from the government pinged throughout the day, spamming every hour. This message asked everyone to clear out from the vicinity of the hive hill in order to avoid unexpected dangers.


    This all but said that they were the ones clearing out the hive hills. Seeing this, several guilds began to change their opinions about this joint government endeavor genuinely. The credibility of the United Nations guild shot through the roof.


    Many smaller guilds rushed to join the United Nations survivor camps. Some of the bigger guilds did not want to give up control totally, but this did not stop them from rushing to the United Nations to make various alliances and treaties with them.


    Apart from the guilds, several individuals also deserted their original guilds and quickly migrated to the government survivor camps.


    In the new world, though the situation in normal guilds was somewhat bearable, there were still several cases of exploitation and very taking ce under the rug.


    So the news of a government-based guild was a heaven-sent for these people, and they immediately made their escape to these safe houses in the hopes that at least now their lives would be different.


    The hive hills were being taken care of, and there were now safe ces in this new dangerous world. It looked like everything was suddenly working in the favor of humanity. The entire world was basking in this newfound peace.


    However, some people were still disgruntled.


    Abraki saw the guild chat, and a deep frown formed on his face.


    "These idiots don''t know what''s good for them. It will take Liam all of a second to crush these numbskullspletely. But they still dare to wag their tongues like this. Hmmm¡­ Are they purposefully trying to provoke him?"


    On the other side, a certain redhead was also absolutely furious.


    Alex was scouring the guild chat and the private chat, searching for some sort of news about Liam, but every time she opened it, she only wanted to bash something into pieces.


    She did not care where she was standing at the moment and cursed out to her heart''s content, the wordsing out of her mouth even making some of the fairies blush.


    "This fucking government assholes are taking things too far! This is all total bullshit! I am going to personally murder some motherfuckers!"


    "Sis, why are you getting so worked up over this? The truth is eventually going toe out, and in case there is some truth to these rumors, and the government camps are somehow taking care of the hive hills too, then don''t you think that it''s a good thing?"


    Rey sighed. "At least the burden on Liam''s shoulders would be reduced."


    Alex also sighed in response. "I really hope he is alright." She hated that all she could do was hope for simple things like this. When would she ever be able to stand beside that person and share his load? It''s been days since she even saw him. Was he really alright?


    Coincidentally, there was also one other party that was almost as unhappy as the other two groups. In the Chaos Knights guild headquarters, chaos andmotion were raging wild!


    "What the hell is this? Why is the government behaving in such a cheap manner?"


    "This isplete bullshit!"


    "All of this credit and praise should go to our guild leader, but instead, these dogs are iming glory for themselves! How can they do such underhand things and yet behave so loftily?"


    Dorris, the guild vice-leader, remained silent amidst all of this noise and stared at her system interface. After a few minutes, she slowly muttered. "They areing."


    "Huh? What?"


    "What did you say, Dorris?"


    "Who ising?"


    Dorris rubbed her temples uneasily. "The United Nations guild representatives. They areing here to take care of the red hive hill."


    Immediately, everyone quieted down and shut their mouths.


    Talking about credit, fame, and glory was one thing, but to actually deal with the hive hill, especially the one in their backyard, that too something that was different from the hive hills all over the world?


    The guild members quickly became nervous.


    "Wait, they are going to use a nuclear bomb near us?"


    "Huh¡­ ugh¡­ is this even working?"


    "Shit! Do we need to clear out our guild?"


    Dorris sighed. "Just stop it. Everything is fine. It''s not dangerous, alright. Stop making a show here and get to training."


    After the crowd cleared out, she also went to one of the high-rise buildings near the guild area. There she informed security about her arrival and waited patiently outside.


    Soon, a tall and well-built man with broad shoulders walked out. Gunter Sklenofsky, the guild leader of Chaos Knights, had a warm smile on his charming face as he stepped out in high spirits.


    "You came to find me so early in the morning, Dorris?"


    "Sir¡­" Dorris hesitated, but she knew that she had no choice here, so she quickly informed him about the situation.


    Thankfully, Gunter seemed to be unaffected by the news. "What? This is good news. Why are you telling me this so slowly?" The pdin smiled and patted her, urging her to quickly return back to the magic shop to greet everyone who was about to arrive.


    Dorris could only sigh gently after seeing this. This man here was the main reason why the whole world was going to survive, but still, he was so generous and broad-minded. This was their guild leader!


    She walked silently after the man she admired, and the two of them arrived at the magic shop. Inside the shop, a few other key members of the guild were already present.


    Together all of them waited for the representatives from the United Nations guild branch of their territory. Time ticked by slowly as the group waited in silence.


    To their surprise, the guests arrived promptly at the exact time they said they would. To be more precise, only a single guest arrived, and he was Japanese.


    Everyone was slightly taken aback by this because they expected at least a group of experts to be in charge of diffusing this dangerous situation, but there was only a single person?


    Gunter and Dorris remained patient. However, the other guild members did not react in the same way. Considering that they were already quite indignant about the credit part, this was enough to blow their fuse.


    "Are you taking us lightly?"


    "Didn''t you say that you were here to deal with the red hive hill? Now what, are you thinking about postponing?"


    "First, you im that this was all your idea, and now, you want us to keep begging for your help? When are the others going to get here? Are you showing your Asian mentality?"


    Both Gunter and Dorris immediately intervened to stop things from escting further. They naturally allowed their guild members to vent their anger somewhat but stepped forward when things were getting out of hand.


    What they didn''t know was that they were dealing with someone far above their cunningness.


    "Heh." Kouske sneered. "What? Are you guys putting on a show for me?"


    "Aha ha ha. Nothing like that, Mr. Kouske." Gunter shed a warm smile. "I will apologize on behalf of our guild members. We are just a bit stressed because of the red hive hill. It seems to be some sort of a special structure whenpared to the rest."


    "Hmmm? Is that so?" Kouske sneered. He definitely did not look convinced. "Well, let''s leave it at that, then."


    Kouske took two steps forward and then paused. "But let me be clear. No one here is iming anything. While we are busily dealing with something that could destroy this whole world, the least you can do is stay out of our way and let us do our job."


    Gunter and Dorris smiled. Everyone else begrudgingly nodded. Kouskeughed after seeing this sight. "It looks like you are still not convinced."


    "Just so you know, nuclear bombs no longer work in the current world. So if you continue to yelp out loud the same thing again and again, only you will look like fools."


    The guild members were instantly shocked. What was this guy talking about?


    Even Gunter and Dorris looked a little shaken after hearing this. Their faces changed slightly. "Then what?" Gunter asked.


    "Heh. That''s none of your business. The thing that we are using¡­ you cannot afford in your wildest dreams. So just step aside and let me do my job." Kouske scoffed arrogantly and walked out of the magic shop with long strides. "Lead me to the red hive hill."


    Though they were still shocked, everyone politely obliged, and the group escorted Kouske to the red hive hill. The safety zone had already been set up, and everything was readily prepared for him.


    ? The group then watched Kouske wave his hand. The next second an undead appeared in front of them. Kouske tossed something to the undead, and the skeleton walked staggeringly toward the safety zone.


    Just what the hell is happening? Everyone watched in a daze. Soon, the clear blue dome in front of their eyes became bright red in color, and all sorts of fireworks lit up!


    And¡­


    Lo and behold! When the fireworks disappeared, the red hive hill also disappeared without leaving behind a single trace!

 Chapter 975 No More Hive Hills?

    "This¡­ This¡­"


    "How did it¡­"


    "Oh my god! It really worked!"


    This time even Gunter and Dorris lost theirposure and revealed shocked expressions. The other guild members were alsopletely bbergasted. No one had expected their problem to be solved so smoothly.


    They had all been seeing the news shared on the guild chat group, but no one dared to believe the things up until now when they actually witnessed the whole event with their own eyes!


    Gunter was the first one to recover from his shock. "Mr. Kouske, thank you. Thank you so much!" The pdin graciously smiled and pped to express his gratitude.


    After him, Dorris also thanked Kouske, followed by all the guild members one after the other. Some of them even personally walked over to Kouske, apologized to him for their behavior beforehand, and then thanked him.


    Everyone was utterly terrified because this hive hill alone seemed to be different from everything else, but in the end, it was also easily taken care of by this expert. Perhaps their world was not doomed after all!


    The group then sent away Kouske with great pomp and show after treating him to avish meal. They were surprised at first that he epted their invitation, but things soon became ugly.


    Someone ended up spreading the whole affair in the guild chat, and soon every single guild in the world knew how the Chaos Knights were iming that they were responsible for something that they were not.


    Gunter''s face turned a different shade as he watched their guild''s reputation bepletely tarnished. He couldn''t help but nce at Kouske, who was still obliviously enjoying his meal with a smile on his face.


    Could this person have leaked the news? Such a thought entered Gunter''s mind, but he quickly shook it off. Surely, someone of his caliber couldn''t be so petty?


    He decided to think about thister and first gave a proper send-off to Kouske. Dorris and the guild members once again escorted the important person back to the magic shop.


    They had no expectations when this all began, but now that it had ended smoothly, everyone was somewhat relieved.


    As for the guild''s name being tarnished, such things were trivial in front of their survival. If a couple of days went by, no one would even remember this mishap. So the whole team sent Kouske away in high spirits.


    "Thank you, my friend. I hope we meet under better circumstances next time." Gunter smiled.


    Kouske nodded and smiled in return.


    However, just before heading back into the magic shop''s teleportation room, he paused and leaned toward Gunter, whispering in the man''s ears. "Next time, I won''t be so forgiving. Know when to shut your mouth and keep your head down."


    Gunter''s eyes widened in shock. He watched the man''s back disappear into the magic shop with his face turning ck in color. He had been right all along! This same person had leaked everything!


    Gunter quickly controlled his emotions as he returned back to the guild''s base city along with this group. All through the way, the guild members could not stop singing praises about Kouske and the United Nations guild. Even Dorris spoke highly of them.


    Gunter smiled and patiently listened to everything as he returned to his residence. However, once he was inside, his true face came out.


    "Damn it." He shouted loudly in frustration. A maid walked toward him to hand him a warm towel to refresh himself, but the guy harshly caught her by her hair and pped her without holding back.


    He did not bother controlling his strength, and he sent the poor woman tumbling down. Blood dripped from her lips.


    Hearing themotion, two more maids rushed outside. Gunter growled at them in anger and pushed both the women down, kicking them and pping them.


    He brashly tore away their clothes and made them kneel in front of him submissively before forcing himself on them again and again. All the three young maids became his prey for the next few hours on whom he vented out his anger to his heart''s content.


    In the end, the three of them died under his torture. On the surface, these women might be his maids, but in reality, they were always his sex ves, and these were not the first set of women the Gunter had disposed of.


    Without any remorse on his face, he sat back on the couch and opened up a beer can, finishing it in an instant and crushing it with his full might.


    "Damn it. I am still angry. This is all because of that damned useless bastard! Fucking Matthias, I thought that bastard was good for something, but he is just another useless dog! He will pay for this mistake!"


    Gunter tossed away the beer can at a wall making a significant mark, and then stormed inside. At the same time, the person to whom his anger was directed was busy with something else entirely.


    Matthias Schmidt did not have any vested interest in guild politics. He heard about the recent developments through the grapevine and was d that the hive hill problem was solved.


    However, a small part of him felt slightly uneasy. As a man who relied heavily on logic, he couldn''t easily bring himself to ept that the red hive hill was so easily destroyed. There wasn''t anything special about it? Something did not sit right with him.


    Unfortunately, he did not possess enough strength at the moment to worry about these things. Rather he was more concerned about another anomaly. Why did the nuclear bomb not work?


    As an electro physicist, he was very curious why the bomb did not go off. There could be several reasons for this, including the fact that all of this happened within a safety zone. Perhaps that affected the oue in some way.


    But Matthias had a strong hunch that the reason was something else entirely.


    He suspected that the presence of mana had fundamentally changed how everything worked, even the basicws of the world, such as thews of physics.


    Perhaps the world that they knew of before followed these rules. But now everything was different, and there was bound to be a new set of rules.


    He went to the building where his oldb was located and started setting up some basic experiments to test some theories.


    Meanwhile¡­


    The rest of the world finally breathed in relief and rested and rxed that night without any worries. The hive hills and the impending doom were out of their minds.


    With Liam taking care of half of the hive hills on one end and Kouske taking care of the rest of the hive hills, these alien structures were quickly disappearing from the face of the earth.


    In a single day, a majority of these structures were cleared out with nothing left behind.


    However, when this number came down to thest three still standing hive hills, somethingpletely unexpected happened.


    Without anyone''s intervention, thest three hive hills disintegrated on their own, and from within them, a swarm of unimaginable size emerged, heading out in different directions.

 Chapter 976 Three Red Zones!

    Deep within the verdant expanse of a South American forest, a majestic waterfall cascaded from great heights, its waters churning and frothing in a wild disy of natural power. However, a lone figure crashed into the chilling waters fearlessly.


    Liam smiled as he felt the tremendous pressure of the water pushing down on his body. It was rather soothing. He continued moving in further where the falls parted and revealed a concealed cave entrance.


    And inside this space, surprisingly, there was a concrete building.


    "What an odd location for a magic shop." Liam tiredly shook his head as he staggered inside along with a white fox who stuck close to him. He entered the shop and proceeded to walk toward one of the desks, opening the guildmunications channel directly.


    His pitch-ck eyes then scanned for the specific information that he wanted.


    Liam had already dealt with the set of coordinates he had taken from the group before and had destroyed the hive hills in those coordinates. Now it was time to fish for some more of these pyramidal structures.


    He tiredly went through the chat, which was full of utter nonsense, only toe across something that waspletely unexpected. It looked like he was not the only one taking out the hive hills!


    "So you are finally out of hiding, huh?" Liam grinned in amusement.


    He did not know how they were clearing the hive hills, but the news did not look fake. Not just that but thework of United Nations guilds and the momentum they had gathered so far using the threat that the isons posed.


    "Very impressive." He smiled. The only thing was¡­ they had done all of this at his expense.


    Liam sneered and moved on. It was not the time to deal with them just yet. He continued searching the chat for more coordinates, but it seemed like almost every single hive hill was already taken care of.


    There seems to have been a red hive hill as well, which to his surprise, was once again taken care of. "Hmmm¡­" Liam creased his brows and continued searching when suddenly he once again came across something unexpected.


    A hive hill burst open?


    Thetest chats were full of this news!


    At least in three different ces, the isons seem to havepletely hatched and taken over the entire zone with a swarm several times bigger than the typical swarm size.


    They were no longer hiding inside the hive hill. They were openly out and about and hunting in full swing. There were also several higher-level isons present in this swarm.


    Liam saw that some of the Level 30 and Level 35 people were facing difficulties in handling these isons, even in one-to-onebat.


    This meant that not just the normal isons had broken out of the hive, but perhaps also the evolved isons and the mutated isons.


    Liam then froze. What if the Generals and the Queen had also broken out? His expression became grave as he began to search for any news about these ultra-strong isons.


    However, no such information was shared.


    ? The guilds in the vicinity had quickly cleared out, so they perhaps did note across one. Or¡­ whoever came across these isons simply did not survive to tell the tale. Liam had a feeling that it was thetter.


    He had been clearing hive hills non-stop for the past couple of days. Although his current condition was extremely weak, and he was hanging on by a thread, he pushed himself only for one reason. That was to take these out before something like this happened.


    And now, the situation he dreaded was ying out right in front of him.


    Thest time he faced the Queen''s Generals, they were all around Level 70 and Level 80. After two days, what would be their current development state?


    More importantly, just how strong would the queen be?!


    It was one thing when they were all clustered together inside a hive hill which helped Liam take care of all of them at the same time without giving them any chance to retaliate, but now that they were spread out, it was an entirely different ball game.


    He might have to face several of the high-leveled isons one by one.


    The skill he had been relying on until now, the [Soul Splice] skill, only had a time limit of 5 seconds.


    Not to mention, it left himpletely crippled for the next couple of hours, unable to defend himself even against the weakest opponent. He wouldn''t even be able to summon his soul army. This essentially left him with very limited options.


    "This is bad." Liam''s gaze turned cold. He went through the chat logs and saw that this had only happened in three ces which meant that these three were probably thest of the ison swarms.


    Three might look like a small number, but three was more than enough to destroy everything that was on earth. How were they going to deal with these three outbreaks? They had to do something, and they had to do something fast.


    The death toll was quickly mounting up. Even in the time he was learning about those, the death toll was constantly increasing.


    "Why are they not setting up a safe zone?" This was the obvious method to stay alive, at least until something could be done about the isons, so Liam was perplexed why the guilds were not using it.


    The answer was quickly revealed when he saw some spam messages from the United Nations guildwork. The government had asked everyone not to use their safe zone feature just yet and even mentioned that this was extremely important to get rid of the isons.


    Liam''s face changed. He did not know why they were spreading this, but right now, this was causing a huge death toll. That aside, this was an issue that needed to be quickly dealt with.


    He closed the guildmunications channel as he pondered how to tackle this problem. Without personally taking a look at the situation, it was impossible to decide anything.


    Liam checked the chat logs, and the three outbreaks were located in Greend, Africa, and India. The one in Greend was in a remote ce, but the one in Africa and India was smack dab in the center of civilization.


    "Hmmm¡­ which one to pick?"


    Liam''s gaze shifted between the three red zones on the map, one after the other, as he finally made up his mind to pick the one that would give him the maximum freedom.

 Chapter 977 Brrrrr

    Liam used the teleportation portal, and when he stepped out of the magic shop, a freezing cold wind assaulted him on his face. Brrrrr¡­ Luna as well shook her body in difort.


    The two of them were currently standing in the middle of a frozen wastnd. Among the three red zones, Liam had picked the northernmost one, the outbreak in Greend.


    "Luna¡­ you know what to do." Liam first sent away the white three-tailed fox.


    She nodded her head, and her figure disappeared somewhere in the sky, hidden amidst the raging blizzard. The heavy snowfall and the cold windspletely clouded her presence.


    Liam then summoned his soul minions. However, he didn''t call for his entire army. Instead, he only summoned the ten wyverns, Helikatos, Crawford, Dimitri, and some of the stronger soul minions, including the twenty Queen''s Generals.


    "Ok. Let''s go."


    Liam made his move. He dashed right into the unforgiving snowstorm that was cold enough to freeze a human being alive from top to bottom. However, this biting, deathly cold only registered as a slight sting on his body.


    Thanks to his relentless hunting down of the hive hills, his collected experience points skyrocketed, and his current level was already at 91.


    So the frozen wilderness around him was not enough to cross his base physical defense and make a dent in his body that was forged in several ways.


    The same could not be said for others, especially the ones who are yet to form mana cores. They would receive severe debuffs just to step inside this zone.


    This was the main reason why Liam picked this ce as his first option to test the waters. This way, he would only need to n for the isons. The chances of him crossing paths with other human beings were very slim.


    Liam wandered through the endless snow-coveredndmass, and before long, he ran into the first ison. It was a Level 45 ison that was buzzing around here and there aimlessly.


    However, as soon as it sensed Liam''s presence, the insect instantly reacted. Unfortunately, it was toote. The ison''s body was severed into two halves that scattered on the clean snowy ground.


    "So even the normal isons are already at Level 45?" Liam assessed the situation. One of the minions rushed forward to collect the mana core, and the group continued moving.


    As it was snowing heavily and very windy, the vision was somewhat obscured, but even then, they did not have to wait long before running into the second ison.


    This one was also high-leveled, Level 48, to be more precise. Moreover, this ison was buzzing around by itself, just like the previous one.


    "Are these, by any chance scouting?" Liam had a doubt. If that was the case, then he made sure that the ison did not send back any information by finishing it off immediately.


    The same happened with the next few isons, and every single one of them was dispersed swiftly. If things continued this way, then perhaps even stronger isons could be managed.


    However, just as this thought entered Liam''s mind, suddenly, the pure white snow around him started turning darker. How could things be so easy?


    In the blink of an eye, Liam found himself facing a swarm of isons that was heading toward him at full speed.


    He did not need any special perceptive abilities to notice this one. The swarming for him was so dense that it stood out starkly in the snowy mountains.


    Moreover, it looked like every single one of these isons was above Level 40. They were bigger than the normal ones,parable to the evolved and the mutated isons, but these guys definitely did not have these prefixes in front of their names.


    So there were probably even stronger evolved and mutated isonsing behind these or lying in wait for him somewhere else. This was definitely just the beginning of what was about toe.


    However, it was not enough to pose a threat or challenge to Liam yet.


    "Here we go." He grinned in anticipation and summoned his entire army of soul minions without holding back. Even his weaker minions had already leveled up to 30 at the least and were no longer useless.


    Especially because he kept disposing of the weakest ones and added a few more isons along the way, the entirety of the army was now quite formidable.


    "Attack and don''t leave anything alive," Liam ordered his soul minions to charge first and stood back to observe the ughter.


    He had done this a few times before, so there wasn''t really any suspense about this oue. Or at least that''s what Liam thought.


    But to his surprise, this time, when his soul minions charged forward, the isons did not mindlessly do the same and fall into the trap. Instead, the swarm actually paused mid-air!


    The group of insects that was charging toward Liam at full speed all of a sudden halted!


    "Hmmm? This is new?" Liam narrowed his gaze as his pitch-ck eyes quickly scanned the swarm of isons,ing to a stop at a slightlyrger one that was intermingled in the crowd.


    For a second, Liam would have missed this bug and mistook it for some random ison, but his gut instincts made him inspect the one. Immediately he was shocked. His eyes couldn''t believe the details he was seeing.


    <Ding. Level 110; Queen''s General>


    This small ison that was even smaller than an evolved or a mutated ison was actually a Queen''s General? And it was already at Level 110! What a frightening rate of evolution!


    Without any warning, the ison opened its mouth and let out a loud screeching noise. Immediately the group of flying insects changed their trajectory.


    Instead of swooping down and attacking Liam and his soul minions on the ground, they zoomed right above him.


    And it did not stop there.


    These insectspletely ignored the soul minions and started raining down toxic and acidic globules of puss on Liam,ing straight for him, focusing all of their attacks on him!

 Chapter 978 You Are Strong But...

    "This is new." Liam immediately took cover. His reaction speed was faster than the isons, so he erected a mana barrier before any of the disgusting dark green stuff could touch him.


    However, the fact remained that these isons hadunched a coordinated attack on him rather than his soul minions.


    "Are you the one responsible for this?" Liam''s gaze drifted back to the Queen''s General, which was mixed in with the swarm. Since it made him a target, it was only fair that he did the same.


    Without hesitation, Liam aimed for the Level 110 Queen''s General and sent a surge of lightning towards the ison.


    Though fireball was still Liam''s strongest attack, this was his fastest attack, and considering that the enemy was several levels above him, he wanted to test the difference in their reaction speed and fighting abilities.


    In fact, Liam was counting on this to win the current battle. The isons had a clear advantage when it came to the rate at which they evolved, but merely gaining stats was not everything.


    One needed to be able to use it to their advantage and possess some skills that exploited these stats.


    ? Liam also wanted to know just how many stats they gained per level and exactly how much disparity was between their strengths. He wanted to find out just how big the 20 levels gap between them was.


    It was important to win this fight, but more than that, this was a chance for him to probe the enemy and find out more about these isons, particrly the stronger ones.


    Liam zapped the multi-winged Queen''s General that tilted its triangr caspase and looked at him. Since its location had been found out, it no longer bothered to remain inconspicuous by blending in with the other isons.


    Liam couldn''t tell what the reaction of the Queen''s General was because the thingcked a face or any kind of facial features except for the crystalline eyes embedded in the triangr head, but the way it reacted told him many things.


    The ison did not seem to be too affected by the lightning bolt and quickly zoomed back away from the swarm.


    At the same time, the rest of the swarm did not remain idle and continued raining down the toxic pus capsules on Liam. A portion of the swarm also zoomed down to attack him with their pincers ready to bite and mangle.


    In the midst of the frozen wilderness, this scene looked as if a big ck amoeba-like cloud was approaching Liam from all directions, aiming to engulf himpletely. The sheer number of these insects looked dreadful.


    Unfortunately for them, Liam was not alone. The soul minions on his side did not remain idle as they charged at the swarm of isons.


    The wyverns, the six-winged lion, and the undead isons, including the undead Queen''s Generals, all rushed up to meet the isons in the sky. Colorful magical attacks ughtered the swarm before it could make any move.


    Even though the isons seemed to have a clear order to target only Liam, it was impossible for them to do so with several huge draconic beasts watching his back.


    Liam easily evaded the small ones and once again focused on the single ison that really mattered.


    However, as soon as he dashed into a clearing, several wind des assaulted him one after the other. The Queen''s General was already waiting for him as if it anticipated his move.


    Liam instantly moved to evade the attacks, and for the ones that he couldn''t, he used the ck dragon sword to block. Each attack was heavy and powerful, sending ripples of strong, cutting winds, but it was still within his capacity to block them.


    The Queen''s General seemed to think otherwise.


    Its beady eyes were locked onto him as it continued to increase the attack speed and spun around in a weird fashion using the several wings on its back, sending out even more cutting wind des, capable of decapitating anything in their path.


    Liam continued to dodge the ison, and for a second, he seemed to be falling behind, having difficulty in blocking and parrying all of the attacks. One or two were about to hit him.


    However, at the exact same time, something shot up andnded directly on the Queen''s General. It was a cobweb spun by Helikatos. The strong mana-imbued threads bound the ison, and it waspletely caught off guard.


    Helikatos used this chance and shot out another few balls of cobwebs, all of them trapping the isonpletely. It hurriedly used its de-like limbs to cut out of the mess, but it was toote.


    The General, who was flying high so far, was already dropping down like a stone. To speed up things, Helikatos used one of the webs totch onto the ison and forcibly pulled him down, thrashing the damn thing on the snowy ground.


    The ison instantly tried to explode into a ball of acid and toxic pus to clear out the cobwebs, but it was already toote. As soon as the insectnded on the ground, Liam was already waiting for it with his [Fire sh].


    His sword brimmed with mana as he cut down the ison right at the center. Its strong metallic body groaned and screeched as it melted like butter under his assault.


    The Queen''s General screeched as it hurriedly called out all of the swarm to support it, but Liam was faster. He did not give the ison any more time as hended three more consecutive shes andpletely cracked open the insect.


    <Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points>


    Liam grinned as he leaned down to pick up the shiny mana core lodged in the split-open triangr head of the ison.


    What he guessed wasn''t wrong. Though the isons possessed the skill to evolve at a tremendous pace, they still did not have any special stat boosts and stat bonuses and only gained the basic stats per level.


    Compared to his stats at Level 91, the Queen''s General stats at Level 110 was stillcking. The thing could not even put up a fight once it was subjected to a direct confrontation that was impossible to evade.


    "So things are not out of hand just yet. Hmmm." Liam narrowed his eyes and observed the corpse when suddenly his face changed. He jolted up to stare at the distance, and it was unmistakable!


    There were three more isons rushing in his direction,ing toward him at full speed, and all of them were very powerful enemies.

 Chapter 979 1 Vs 3?

    Liam only needed to take one look at the three approaching isons, and he could immediately tell that the information had somehow spread. Or perhaps they had some sort of setup that made them aware of the intruder taking down the isons one after the other.


    He was pretty sure that they were also aware of his strength because three of the Generals wereing for him at the same time. These three were probably around the same Level 110 too.


    With these three now in the mix, this fight had essentially be a race. Liam knew that these Generals won''t be thest of the isons he would be facing. More isons were definitely en route. He needed to deal with everything here before that happened.


    He had the ability to deal with a swarm of Level 40 or even Level 50 or 60 isons, but what if he was assaulted by a swarm of Level 100 isons? Even if the swarm were small in size, he would still find this challenging, and the chance of himing out on top in the fight would be low.


    So he needed to clear out the isons around him as quickly as possible and not let himself be overwhelmed. This was their territory, and he still did not know what awaited him. It was best to y it as safely as possible.


    In a single swift motion, Liam hurriedly grabbed the soul of the Queen''s General he had just now cut down and immediately forged the damn ison.


    He had to disintegrate three of the vampire grunts in order to make space for the new minion, but it was definitely worth it because the new one was a Level 101 undead and should probably have somemander-type skills in addition to the wind de technique and maybe some other skills.


    Liam managed to finish it just in the nick of time when the three big shotsnded with a thud in front of him.


    <Queen''s General, Level 115>


    <Queen''s General, Level 108>


    <Queen''s General, Level 103>


    The three isons shifted their beady little eyes toward the newly forged and summoned soul minion that looked exactly like them. However, the next instant, they snapped out of it and focused their full attention on Liam.


    One of the Generals rushed toward Liam, and its speed was extremely high. Liam, who had been easily able to discern thest General''s movement, couldn''t do the same with this one. He only barely sensed the attack as he blocked it at thest moment.


    At the same time, the other two General''s also made their move. Balls of purple me emerged around one of the Generals, and the second one stood still whilst screeching loudly.


    Liam paused and made a quick decision.


    He only entered this fight because he had confirmed that these Generals were still within his range and were average at best, even though they were Level 110.


    But handling the three Generals at the same time was a bit risky, especially because he did not want to go all out at this stage. He was still only scratching the surface. He needed to conserve his energy.


    So he immediately called Helikatos to his side once again, and along with the newly forged ison, the two of them teamed up against the General, that excelled in speed.


    Liam then personally dealt with the other two as he churned his mana core and created a huge surge of energy. He then sted out this mana with full force, executing [Fire Storm].


    The remaining two isons were fully engulfed in mes, along with the few smaller isons that charged toward him. The balls of purple mespletely drowned in Liam''s attack, and the other ison that was screeching loudly also got swept up in the mes.


    Just like the weak physical defense, these Generals also did not possess much magic defense. However, this in itself was extremely impressive.


    For Liam to progress from Level 81 to 91, it had taken several weeks, and even now, it was only because of these isons that he was fast-leveling by exploiting their weakness.


    But for these Generals, it had barely taken them a couple of days to shoot up from the same Level 80 to Level 110. They also had mana cores and unique skills, from what Liam could see. If this was not frightening, then what was?


    Thankfully, it had just happened, so they did not seem to possess mastery in their skills just yet.


    Liam saw that the purple mes producing General had taken more damage, so temporarily, he ignored the other ison and started shing down at this one without giving the insect a chance to survive.


    He used mana to boost his agility and strength further andpletely overpowered the General in directbat. But how could the other one stay still after watching this?


    The third General started screeching extremely loudly. In fact, the sound was so loud that Liam couldn''t help but wince a little.


    However, in the end, it was still noise, so he continued pummeling down the first General that was closer to its death, when suddenly a huge force pushed him to the side.


    And that was not all, once again, another huge force assaulted him from the other direction and thrashed him to the ground.


    But when Liam looked around, there was nothing nearby. With a frown, he quickly moved to finish the first General when a loud screeching noise echoed again, and this time an abnormal force punched him down from the top.


    Liam narrowly evaded the attack. However, now he had a hunch about what was happening.


    He lifted his head up to see that there weren''t any enemies hovering over him, but a few feet away from him, the third General''s triangr head was opened up in a weird manner, and this time, a screeching noise even louder than the previous ones emerged.


    The next instant, enormous ripples of wind churned, locking down Liam on all four sides.

 Chapter 980 SCREEEEEEEE!

    Liam erected a mana barrier to block the attacks from all sides, but surprisingly the attacks were strong enough that the shearing force of the wind ripped apart his mana barrier.


    It looked like this particr General wasn''t as weak as the previous one. At least his mastery of the wind element was remarkable. However, Liam also had some experience in this element.


    He churned his mana core and created his own wind ripples to cancel the ison''s attack. The ison did not stop there, it started screeching loudly once again.


    "This damn thing!" Liam cursed the guy and immediately moved. The ison was using some sort of sound and windbination, using the sound waves to propel the attack.


    This was not really an issue, but it definitely made it difficult for Liam to predict where the next attack was going toe from.


    And since he was momentarily distracted by this ison General, the other one quickly got back up. It used this chance to shoot dozens of extremely fast purple arrows at Liam.


    While he evaded the first one''s attack, he fell right into the trap of the second one. The two isons were beginning to do some small amounts of damage here and there, which were quickly adding up.


    Liam noticed this and decided to put a stop to this fight immediately. While he did not want to go all out here, he also did not want to umte any injuries.


    The next second, his figure blurred as he used the mana in his core to enhance all of his basic abilities. He was stronger, faster, and his body became barely visible.


    Thissted for a moment, but then surprisingly, his body split apart into six! There were now not one but six Liams in the battleground!


    [Illusionary Sword]


    All six Liams dashed towards the two ison Generals from six different directions with a speed that was difficult for the insects to handle.


    The two Generals screeched loudly and started targeting all six versions of Liam. However, Liam was already in front of the one wielding purple mes and used the strongest attack in his arsenal, Fire sh.


    As the ck dragon sword danced around, the ison could not even sense the sword strikes to block the attack.


    All the insect could see was the ming aura engulfing itpletely. The General''s health was low to begin with from the previous injuries, so it could barelyst for a few seconds.


    After the futile fight it put up, the General screeched and fell down on the ground. Its body was shed and burnt to a crisp in several ces and twitched before bing limp and lifeless.


    <Ding. You have gained 10000 experience points>


    Liam bitterlyughed as he saw the pathetic amount of experience points gained, but it was not all for nothing.


    The soul minions who were sharing his experience points also shared his burden, and by the time he was done with the first ison General, three of the wyverns were freed up from dealing with the swarm.


    The swarm size was already down by more than half. The draconic beasts charged toward the remaining two ison Generals, two of them assisting Liam and one assisting Helikatos.


    With this, the fight now becamepletely one-sided.


    On the front, the Level 40 ison swarm was almost entirely ughtered, with the pure white snow now marred by their putrid, disgusting blood.


    On the other side, Helikatos and the undead General who had two-teamed against one of the Generals were now close to finishing their task.


    And finally, Liam had killed off one of the Generals and now dashed toward thest remaining General along with the two wyverns.


    The ison''s beady eyes flickered with a bright glow. The dire situation it was in did not escape its attention. It could see that its end was near. Its mysterious sound wave attacks were not going to work in a three to onebat where one of the opponents was already overpowered.


    Liam also knew that the insect wouldn''t probably go down so easily. It was definitely going to unleash some sort of powerful attack. He was fully prepared for it.


    And just as he thought, the ison once again opened its mouth, or rather¡­ it did so much more than that. This time the triangr head, its body, everything was wide open!


    It was almost as if the whole damn insect split apart on its own without Liam evenying a finger on it, and a loud, ungodly noise erupted from the creature.


    SCREEEEEEEE!


    For a second, every single living being on the battlefield stilled in response, including the isons. Even Liam winced in pain and couldn''t take a step forward.


    The effect of the horrid noise was too paralyzing, and his brain froze. But it was only for a moment or two, after which he was able to shake it off a little bit.


    "Hmmm. What is it up to now?" Liam frowned. The horrid noise had stopped, but that was just the beginning. He knew that the actual attack hadn''t started yet. It was always the noise first and the attack next.


    He could sense the huge ripples of mana being generated due to the General''s attack. What was the attack? Where was the attack going toe from?


    He hurriedly signaled the wyverns to attack the ison from a distance and then moved in a zig-zag manner so that his movements were unpredictable. He dashed toward the General at full speed.


    But in the meantime, his target also seemed to be moving.


    After letting out the ungodly scream, the General''s figure blurred, and for a moment, the ison appeared to be an illusion, just like Liam.


    The next second, unexpectedly, several clones of the same ison appeared all around the battlefield. In an instant, this number became a hundred!


    "What did it just do? Did it mimic my attack?" Liam shed down at one of the clones, and just like he thought, it was just an image, not a clone.


    If it were a clone, it would have been a lot more difficult to deal with. However, this was also not an easy situation. Everywhere he turned around, there was only this ison General.

 Chapter 981 There Is Nothing You Can Do

    Liam couldn''t believe it. There were more than a hundred illusionary images of the ison. What kind of skill was this?! The entire battlefield was suddenly upied by only this guy.


    Though currently, this was not hurting him, it was best to think a few steps ahead. No matter how he looked at it, this was not going to end well.


    What was it going to do? Was it finally going to attack him directly? Mere images shouldn''t be capable of doing more than that!?


    He tried to increase his speed and cut down as many images as possible, but before he could do anything, all of the isons or rather images of the same ison General suddenly opened their triangr heads.


    The hundred plus images all did the same thing!


    Their bodies split apart right down the middle, and an ungodly screeching sound of terrifying proportions echoed!


    SCREEE! SCREEEEEE! SCREEEEEE!


    Liam''s face paled. Blood started leaking out of his ears and eyes.


    This was a bit too much even for him. His head started spinning, and his bnce becamepletely off. His body swayed in response to the paralyzing effect of the sound.


    However, Liam''s mental strength was nothing to scoff at. He quickly gained control of his senses, at least enough to perceive the things around him.


    An attack of this proportion was still not enough to render himpletely defenseless. He forced himself to remain clear-headed and took a defensive stance. He was prepared for any sneak attack while he was in this disordered state.


    And just like he thought, an image rushed toward him, and Liam lifted his ck dragon sword to block it.


    His movements were wobbly, but he perfectly managed to block the attack. But the moment he did that, somethingpletely unexpected happened. He was tossed back like a weightless twig.


    How? Liam''s eyes widened in shock. How could a mere image possess such strength and power? Was he hallucinating?


    However¡­ that was not the case.


    The next second, a shrill voice sounded in Liam''s ears. "You are not too bad, human."


    Liam snapped himself out of it. What did he hear just now? Something was off.


    When he focussed, he could faintly sense the presence of a strong enemy, and the ison General he was fighting against was not strong enough for this.


    Liam instinctively erected a mana barrier around himself and willed his mind to focus more. The blurred vision in front of him quickly cleared up, and he could finally see.


    However, what he saw left him utterly shocked! He waspletely surrounded on all sides!


    His soul minions had just now cleared out the isons from the battlefield, but standing in front of him were hundreds and thousands of isons. Perhaps millions.


    And that was not his main concern¡­ At the forefront of these millions of isons, there were twenty powerful auras raging wildly.


    Amidst these powerful auras, one alone was particrly spectacr!


    The Queen!


    <Ding. Hive Queen; Level 210>


    "210?" Liam shuddered under the pressure exerted by the powerful creature. Unlike the Level 100 ison Generals, this ison was on apletely different level. It was in a ss of its own.


    There was no way he could possibly deal with this creature in his current state. Skills, stats, mana core, physique, the creature was better than him in everything.


    He could feel it with each step the Queen took as she walked toward him. Unlike the others, she had slit-like eyes that stared at him haughtily.


    "You alone managed to kill four of my Generals. Were you also the one who took out our hives?" Her shrill voice continued to vibrate, making Liam unable to think clearly.


    Can this thing talk? He did not expect it. It looked like the Queen was a lot more evolved than the other isons in all aspects.


    She was also asking him about something that he had done in the other hive hills. So there was a chance that everything was connected?


    On the side, he could see that the ison General he was fighting against had already died, sted away into several bits and pieces.


    "Yes. He died after summoning us here. However, I am disappointed. I expected a grave threat when we arrived, but you are just one human being."


    Liam''s gaze shifted back to the queen. While she continued speaking, his mind wearily tried to assess the situation in front of him.


    Perhaps the Queen sensed what he was doing, so her shrill voice once again probed him.


    "Where do you hail from, human? Your power shouldn''t belong to someone of this realm. Mana has just now started circting in this realm."


    "You are an anomaly. But even your strength is not enough. In the name of our brood mother, we will be iming this world. There is nothing you can do to stop us now."


    Liam could hear the creaking and groaning of the ison''s limbs as she continued talking in an animated manner. She was almost near him.


    His gaze once again wandered to the army behind her and the several powerful Generals standing at the forefront.


    Liam did not even have to inspect anyone''s levels, the mere sight of the whole swarm was fear-inducing.


    From whatever he had learned about these hive hills so far, this should be the full strength of a hive hill. Liam was sure of it.


    Since he had started taking down one General after another, the Queen must have sensed a threat and decided toe to pay a visit to the intruders along with the whole army.


    There were now only three of these red zones left. So these isons were probably desperate to defend whatever was left of them.


    In spite of the haughty wordsing out of the Queen at the moment, this was the truth, and Liam could see that they were afraid of gettingpletely wiped out from this.


    Otherwise, it didn''t make sense for the whole swarm to show up here.


    Perhaps they thought that a human army was also en route, and they were prepared to face whatever force assaulted them.


    Liam did not care. The reason did not matter. The moment the whole group decided to make an entrance, they were already doomed.


    His life had be difficult because thest three hive hills burst open. But now, these isons had gone out of their way to rectify that mistake.


    So now it was time for him to wipe out this red zone!


    "What are you looking at, human? Speak! Which realm are you from? And how many of you are here?" The Queen was starting to be impatient.


    Liam ignored her shrill voice and took a deep breath. He did not dare dy things any longer.


    Level 200 was a stage that he did not reach or even understand yet. He was once again dealing with someone who waspletely above his grade. So it was best to act fast.


    The next instant, before the Queen or any other ison, could make a move, he activated hisst resort skill. Let the mayhem begin!

 Chapter 982 You Are Faster Than Usual?

    While the Queen, the Generals, and the rest of the isons stared at Liam with their beady eyes, all of a sudden, the hundreds of soul minions from the battlefield disappeared without any warning. At the same time, an unfathomably powerful aura appeared around Liam.


    Immediately, the Queen and the Generals became alert that something was happening. The ison Hive Queen made a skittering sound as she appeared next to Liam the next instant. Her speed and movements were so fast that they almost looked instantaneous.


    The moment she felt that something was off, she arrived next to Liam and raised her limb to his throat to tear out his flesh and end this farce. However, it was already toote.


    The Queen''s movements might be just as fast as the skill activation, and [Soul Splice] still took a second to fully materialize as Liam''s soul wasn''t strong enough just yet to assimte all of the soul strength instantaneously, but Liam did not wait for everything to be perfect.


    He predicted that the Hive Queen would sense his move and rush forward to kill him, so as soon as he activated [Soul Splice], he immediately lifted his hand and sent a punch forward. Mana swirled around his fist as he punched the air in front of him.


    The Hive Queen was arrogant and a whole hundred levels stronger than him, so he didn''t think that she would stab him in the back or from the sides. He took a gamble and punched directly forward in the direction he was facing her, and it paid off.


    Even without the skill''splete activation, his strength was already boosted enough to send the Queen ison staggering back.


    The Queen''s eyes glowed with a strange light. Almost as if she sensed the threat that was about to fall upon her and her army, she personally dashed forward once again to stop Liam.


    This time thick swirls of mana gathered around her, propelling her forward with even more speed and power. This mana also appeared ckish-purple in color, carrying with it a dark corruptive aura.


    The ison Generals standing around were slower to react whenpared to the Queen. As they watched their leader in action, all the isons started making loud screeching noises.


    The Queen''s presence and the pressure exuded by her were debilitating for Liam, but for these isons, it was the exact opposite.


    The entire army was in very high spirits. They watched the Hive Queen st forward to end the enemy, and they cheered for her with awe and respect. Her corruptive aura also seemed to strengthen them further.


    The entire ce became chaotic and was instantly filled with a cacophony of noises, and in the midst of this, the Queen unleashed her full power to ughter the enemy.


    However, the next second¡­


    CLASH!


    Liam never nned to stop with that single attack. After that first punch, he threw the next one and the one after that, constantly sending out a flurry of mana-packed punches.


    And with every single punch, his strength stat was explosively increasing.


    With the first punch, he knocked back the Hive Queen, and when she came for him for the second time, his single punch cracked the powerful corruptive aura swirling around her.


    The hive Queen''s beady eyes glowed in shock as she felt the power of the next attack even before it was fully executed!


    SCREEEEEE!


    She screamed in pain and agony, feeling her bones cracking and her flesh tearing apart. All the other skittering and screeching sounds of the isons drowned in this scream. Her terrified voice howling in pain, was the only thing that could be currently heard.


    The battlefield that was just now filled with vigor and cheer all of a sudden became deathly sudden, and then it finally started!


    Liam''s skill was fully activated, and the next punch he threw forward sent a massive ripple across the battlefield.


    BOOOOM!


    All the isons stared in shock as their Queen was the first one to getpletely obliterated. The isons screeched in horror at the sight of their Queen''s body being torn into bits and pieces.


    However, they were put out of their misery soon enough as the shockwave from the single punch continued to move forward with an unstoppable force.


    Seeing the Queen sted apart, all the ison Generals rushed forward, but it waspletely useless. One by one, all of them only got dismantled and dismembered.


    With the [Soul Splice] skill fully activated, Liam''s strength skyrocketed to terrifying proportions, and his punch carrying the full effect of this strength was unshackled.


    The shockwave from the single punch rippled across the massive army of isons and sted away the insects wave after wave. The single punch was enough to tear apart and shred the entirety of the army into bits and pieces.


    And Liam did not stop there. To ensure that everything in his path was utterly demolished, he continued punching forth.


    His own bones and muscles cracked under the familiar pressure, and his body groaned in pain. Blood dripped from the various orifices, and his eyes became fully red.


    The bacsh from the skill was as strong as ever. Liam was only barely standing at the end of 5 seconds, but¡­ he was the only one standing.


    As if a God had descended from the heavens, Liam alone stood amidst the carnage.


    Before the strengthpletely left his body, he let out a deep breath and sucked in all the soul energy that was swirling around at the site of the massacre.


    Especially the strong soul energy from the Hive Queen and the ison Generals rushed into him, giving him a huge power boost. His weakened and battered soul was quickly healing just like he had done in all the previous times he used the skill.


    Liam let out a tired breath and knelt on the solid ground. All the snow in the area had already beenpletely pulverized and cleared out, leaving behind only the ground underneath, lined with several cracks.


    Fresh snow continued to pour down on him from the skies, slowly drenching his blood-soaked body and easing some of his pains.


    Liam took out the canister and drank some of the nourishing water. The world seed''s water was almost used up, but looking around at the carnage, it was definitely worth it, not to mention the three notifications he had received.


    <Ding. You have leveled up>


    <Ding. You have leveled up>


    <Ding. You have leveled up>


    Liam grinned even in his tiredness. The number of isons this time exceeded millions and billions, and the size of the army was truly terrifying, but thankfully, he was still able to deal with them all at the same time.


    His gaze darted here and there tond on the big shining mana core lodged in one of the cracks in front of him. The hive queen''s mana core! A level 200 plus mana core!


    Along with it, several other mana cores twinkled like stars in the night sky amidst the sted corpses of the isons.


    He had truly gained a lot this time, and the trip was a sess.


    Liam continued to rest on the ground with his gaze absent-mindedly, staring at the big chunk of mana core. Meanwhile, his body which was almost destroyed and ripped apart, just like the isons, was slowly starting to heal.


    Pain bubbled in every cell and structure that made his being, but after the fifteenth time, Liam was able to handle it without shouting out loud in agony. In these past couple of days, he had gone through this torturous, inhumane pain countless times.


    ? Even if he let slip in a moment of weakness, he wouldn''t be able to continue with this madness any longer. So he tried his best not to focus on the pain. Instead, he made his mind nk and yed around with the abundant soul energy swirling around him.


    Repairing his body was the fastest while nurturing his soul took a lot more time. He gathered all of the soul energy particles and slowly fed his own soul little by little.


    It was unfortunate that he was not able to create any soul minions at the moment, but Liam doubted if he would even be able to create a soul minion of a Level 200+ creature.


    Something like this might not be possible even if he was in his best condition, so he did not dwell too much on it.


    His mind was rather on the other two red zones that needed to be taken care of. Would he be able to mow them all down just like this?


    That would really be the best-case scenario. If he somehow managed to do that, then the danger the world was currently facing would fully disappear.


    Even if a couple of isons had escaped here and there, they could be easily taken care of by individuals. As long as the hive hills werepletely destroyed, the second wave should finallye to an end.


    Liam sighed and groaned in silence as various thoughts crossed his tired mind. This was currently his biggest problem. He was able to repair his body and soul to some extent, but because of the repeated use of the skill, his brain was close to exploding.


    "I need to take a long vacation after this." Liam tiredly lifted his palm to catch some of the snowkes falling to the ground. "I wonder if those guys have finished moving yet."


    He knew that his sister, Shen Yue, Alex, and the others would be anxious about his absence, but the iing members should at least keep them somewhat upied.


    "Heh. Who am I kidding? Those idiots are probably running all the dungeons in overdrive to catch up to me." Liam then paused as he thought about the ten dungeon crystals he had casually spent.


    When he had done it, it was in a state of emergency, but he still felt the pinch of losing so many valuable items. "I wonder if there are any dungeons around here."


    He was feeling a little better, so he contemted searching this area for dungeons while he was still resting and recuperating. He let out a yawn and stretched his hand as he tiredly called for the white fox.


    He had sent her away to prepare for any unexpected dangers, but it looked like that was no longer necessary. The ison''s strategy to attack the enemy in full force worked in his favor, and he took care of all of them in a single shot.


    "Get down here!" He called out for Luna.


    The next second, he felt a powerful force rushing toward him from a distance.


    "Huh? You are faster than usual. What are-"


    Even before Liam couldplete his sentence, he abruptly froze with his mouth hanging strangely in mid-air. It¡­ it was definitely not Luna who was charging toward him at the moment!

 Chapter 983 Who Was It?

    "Fuck!" Liam''s heart thumped. He could only vaguely sense the powerful aura that was hurtling toward him at full speed, but it was definitely not Luna.


    So it was an ison? The chance of any other living being present in this area was very slim, especially when a Level 200 hive queen was ruling the entire ce.


    But weren''t all the isons already dead?


    The Queen of the hive hill was fighting against him, so every single ison in this area at least should have been present here, and he had massacred everyst one of them.


    There was no way another ison was left out. Unless¡­


    Was there someone above the Queen? Or maybe the isons had a way of traveling from one ce to another, just like how the whole army had teleported in front of him?


    Liam found several thoughts sh across his mind. However, he snapped out of it.


    It did not matter what the creature was or who the creature was, it was definitely an enemy, a powerful enemy at that.


    And in his current condition, this was nothing short of a death sentence.


    This means that the worst thing that could happen was happening right now. Liam had already prepared for this scenario, so he did not hesitate and shouted. "Luna! Now!"


    Hearing the urgency in his voice, the white fox appeared next to him immediately and grabbed onto him as fast as she could. Her figure then blurred, sting forward at an incredible pace.


    The two of them ran right into the snowstorm toward the location of the magic shop. This was because Liam knew something that the other human being hadn''t figured out just yet.


    When in danger, one can always find shelter in the local magic shop.


    Of course, this was only temporary and for a very short period of time, but once one entered the vicinity of the magic shop, they would be safe from even a high-leveled enemy.


    In his past life, several people had run into nearby magic shops when they were chased by something powerful. At first, they were able to take cover, but a whileter, they were always kicked out.


    The fairies particrly took pleasure in kicking them out at opportune times. The group of bloodthirsty beings enjoyed the pain and misery of kicking someone out right when they needed help.


    However, in Liam''s case, it was different. If he could just reach the magic shop in time, then he would be able to use the teleportation portal to move to another location in any part of the world.


    The enemy chasing him wouldn''t be able to follow him inside, and also the fairies in the shop wouldn''t be able to kick him out.


    This was, in fact, the only reason why he came alone, even without his newly forged golems to probe this zone.


    This,bined with Luna''s ability to cross great distances in a short time, had always been his fallback n to return to safety.


    And now he just had to execute it¡­ This was easier said than done.


    "Damn it," Liam gritted his teeth and muttered as he could still sense the powerful presence approaching them at great speed, drawing nearer by the moment.


    Judging from its overall strength, it did not look like they were going to be able to outrun it sessfully. At best, it was going to be neck and neck.


    This meant that he had to fight it. There was simply no other way around it. "LUNA!" Liam shouted, and the fox growled as she bolted forward at top speed.


    She could also feel a monstrous aura right on their tail,ing up right behind them, waiting to gobble them up. So she pushed herself to her limits and used every ounce of energy she had.


    Responding to themand of the celestial beast, all the mana around her churned wildly, and she sucked everything in like a vortex. Luna pulled ahead even faster using this.


    However, this was still not enough. The enemy caught up to them easily, and Liam could finally see the outline of the figure chasing them.


    To his surprise, it was a familiar silhouette. It was an ison!


    And the ison in front of him looked exactly like the one he had faced not too long ago!


    "Inspect," Liam murmured, and his suspicions were immediately confirmed.


    <Ding. Hive Queen; Level 205>


    His eyes widened in shock as he saw that there was actually more than one hive queen? How was this possible?


    Liam quickly snapped out of it and did not dwell on this new information too much.


    To begin with, the isons were creatures that he had no prior knowledge about, so how could he search for reason in this madness?


    He simply had to face whoever stood in front of him, and currently, he was unable to do just this. He was in a half-dead state, and he had to face a Level 200 plus creature in this condition?


    This was a fool''s errand.


    No. He had to do something else.


    He had to focus on getting to the magic shop on time. He had to defend. But how could he defend against something that was a hundred levels stronger than him?


    Liam had a n. He quickly adjusted his position and steadied himself on the back of the fox. He then swirled the soul energy that was still revolving around him.


    Healing his injured soul had to wait. He needed to cast the soul barrier again.For now, this was his only defense against the hive queen.


    Even against the monstrous blood effigy, his soul barrier had held out for quite a while. So he was counting on it.


    Liam only barely managed to prepare himself when the Hive Queen made her move.


    From that distance, she screeched loudly, sending out a ball of corrosive, rotting energy straight for the white fox. The attack sizzled as it ripped through the air, sting toward the target.


    And then it began!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 984 Almost There?!

    Growl! Luna peeled away as fast as she could, disappearing and reappearing a few feet away, but the attack was faster than her.


    Mana coiled around the massive corrosive ball of energy that had picked up even more speed and momentum. The sheer intensity of the thing was terrifying.


    Luna moved zig-zag, up and down, trying to evade the attack, but it looked like it had some sort of a homingponent, and it chased her no matter what she did.


    As if this was not enough, the Hive Queen did not stop with that single attack.


    She did not wait and watch for the attack tond and observe its effect. Instead, in a mad rage, sent several corrosive power balls forward, all aimed at the white fox.


    The very air itself sizzled with a toxic aura in the presence of these attacks.


    Growl! Growl! Growl!


    Luna sprang forward at full speed. It had been a while since her Master relied on her, and that too, he was relying on her for a life and death situation. So under no circumstance, she wanted to fail.


    The little fox charged wildly, sucking in all the mana that she possibly could.


    She was extracting the full power of one of the mes she possessed as her tail glowed bright reddish orange, the aura spreading across her body as well.


    Surprisingly, this time another tail as well glowed faintly.


    Liam observed everything, but he knew that this was still not enough to evade the attacks. One hit and the both of them would be knocked out of their momentum, and it would be game over after that.


    They only had a chance to survive as long as they continued running away. Even a small pause would cost them dearly.


    "Keep running. Leave these attacks to me!" Liam gritted his teeth and started manipting the soul energy he had gathered, but he didn''t use it yet and continued waiting.


    Just as the first attack was about to strike the fox, he swiftly dispersed the soul energy in thest second to create a barrier just in time.


    Bang!


    The soul barrier was strong enough to block the attack of the hive queenpletely, and because Liam didn''t create a particrly strong one, the resulting collision even gave Luna more forward momentum as the fox blurred forward again with top speed.


    "One down¡­ ten more to go!"


    Liam immediately called back the soul energy that he used to create the first barrier.


    Unlike mana, soul dispersion took a lot longer, and if one''s maniption technique was good enough, the same soul energy could be used again and again.


    Liam was still far from reaching this stage, but he was able to recover at least 60% of the soul energy that he used.


    He then added more of the soul fragments to this ball of energy and once again materialized another barrier just as the second attack was about tond.


    Bang!


    Once more, the attack was sessfully blocked.


    The hive queen raged in anger and dashed forward at an incredible speed with her wings buzzing rapidly that they almost looked invisible.


    However, no matter how much she tried, she just couldn''t match the speed of the celestial beast.


    Liam had no idea what level Luna currently was and what her stats were. After a certain point of time, he waspletely unable to find out anything about her, even if she was his soul-bound pet.


    But he knew that the little fox was silently siphoning a portion of all of his experience points.


    Even in thest fight, if he received enough experience points to boost him three levels, then the fox must have received an equal amount, further boosting her level.


    And from the looks of it, her current agility stat,bined with her [Blur] skill activation, was good enough to outrun the hive queen marginally.


    The only problem was¡­ if the queen decided to use some sort of special technique.


    However, Liam was determined not to let this happen.


    He felt a dull stabbing ache in the depth of his body as he manipted the gathered soul energy one more time, creating yet another barrier to break the attack.


    Bang!


    In the distance, the outline of the magic shop was already starting to be visible. Luna growled loudly as she prepared tounch forward and cover thisst stretch.


    The hive queen finally noticed this. As if she understood the n of the two weaklings, she screeched loudly. She was livid with anger.


    A dark ck aura enveloped her as Liam felt a powerful surge of mana. This time he did not dare to ration the soul energy in his possession.


    He clenched his fist and prepared to cast another barrier, something a lot stronger than the previous ones.


    If things went well, then he needed just one more, and they would reach the safety zone.


    The tremendous amount of mana gathered like a vortex next to the ison, and from within it, a powerful spear-like structure materialized.


    Liam immediately had a bad feeling. He could feel his skin itch just from the mere presence of it. He turned to look, and Luna only needed a couple more seconds.


    But the hive queen did not wait for them and sent the attack, screaming at the top of her lungs.


    The spear cut the air, sending out waves of corrosive energy, and shot forward with an astonishing pace.


    Though there was still a good amount of distance between them, the spear crossed this distance in an instant.


    This was the power of a Level 205 attack? Just how much mana was imbued in the attack?


    Liam frantically tried to block the attack with his soul barrier, but he could tell that this time it was simply not enough.


    He gritted his teeth and tried to erect both a soul barrier and a mana barrier at the same time.


    Pain rippled through his body and mind. He was already recovering from the aftermath of [Soul Splice], and this was beyond his current capability.


    He pushed himself and conjured severalyers of barriers between the spear and them.


    However, oneyer after another started peeling away even before the spear reached the target.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 985 The Power Of A Queen!

    Liam''s muscles and bones that were only just now repaired and regenerated once again cracked and moaned as he squeezed out all of the juice he had.


    Luna''s tail glowed brighter than ever as she also burst forth with immense speed.


    However, theirbined efforts were still nothing in front of the power-packed attack conjured by the Level 205 Hive Queen.


    The spear crashed against theyers andyers of mana barriers and shattered everything into nothingness.


    The mana barriers couldn''t hold out even for a second against the attack. The corrosive energy decimated everything it touched.


    The spear then crashed against the verystyer that was in between it and its target, the soul barrier.


    As the spear and the soul barrier collided, it was the soul barrier that shuddered in the impact.


    Liam hoped that it would buy them thest second that they needed, but the soul barrier simply couldn''t withstand the attack. It did not have enough power.


    If he did not do anything, it was going to copse just like the mana barriers.


    No! He grunted in defiance and tried to forcibly hold the soul barrier together, actively manipting the soul energy from being dissipated because of the spear.


    As the hive queen''s attack bore through thestyer of the soul barrier, Liam held on, not letting it explode.


    His body felt the full impact of the attack. The excruciating pain sent his thoughts spiraling into chaos. He felt as if his very soul was tearing apart.


    Even when he had forcefully forged the draconian souls or faced the numerous souls trapped in the ck dragon sword, he hadn''t suffered this much. The aftermath of the [Soul Splice]bined with this [Soul Shield] left him utterly depleted.


    Luna could feel her master suffering. Tears leaked out of her eyes. She growled loudly andmanded the energy in her body to obey her. She blurred onest time to reach the magic shop.


    She hoped that this would give Liam the fraction of a second that he needed, but unfortunately, the attack seemed to have gathered as much momentum as they did.


    The spear as well crossed that same distance in the instant and continued to grind down the soul barrier.


    "Just one more second!" Liam shouted, reminding himself that he needed to hold on. He was stretched like a rubber band and so close to snapping altogether.


    In this single collision, every single entity was at its breaking point. Thest fraction of a second was going to determine everything.


    If Luna broke down first, then Liam and Luna were going to die. If Liam broke down first, then again, Liam and Luna were going to perish. Even if the spear gathered a bit more power, then it was once again going to be all over for the duo.


    However, in the end, Liam was barely holding on to the soul barrier. It almost looked like they were going to make it¡ªjust a bit more.


    At this time, unexpectedly, another loud sound reverberated. It was the Hive Queen!


    How could the Hive Queen remain idle while these two fought for their lives?


    Liam had been so focused on thest attack that he simply did not have the energy to observe that the damned ison hadunched another attack.


    This one was not nearly as powerful as thest one, but it was enough to topple the bnce.


    Just as the duo was about to reach the magic shop, several arrows appeared from the sides and started sting waves and waves of corrosive putrid energy.


    "Damn it." Liam howled in pain, stretching himself some more as he extended the soul energy barrier, but this time, Luna couldn''t react in time.


    The attack sent the white fox off bnce, and the two of them were blown away from the impact. Theynded on the hard ground with the spear right at their doorstep.


    Liam stared at the death that was on the cusp of iming his life. He made a vain attempt to take out the ck dragon sword and block the attack, but he already knew that this was the end.


    BOOOOOM!


    The spear collided, and there was nothing more to stop it.


    There was only¡­ death.


    Unable to bear the burden on his body and the pain any longer, Liam closed his eyes.


    This was not the first time he was experiencing death. He had already made his peace with it once before, but that did not mean that it was any easier this time around.


    Or at least that was thest thought that crossed Liam''s mind before he realized that something was amiss.


    He shed his eyes open and saw a bright golden barrier blinking in front of him. The spear that was about to crush him was on the other side of this barrier, still trying to burrow its way through.


    However, that seemed to be a lost cause as the barrier did not even flinch because of the attack. Liam didn''t have to think to know what barrier this was.


    There was only one thing right now that was capable of blocking the Level 205 creature''s attack, and it was the inherent barrier of the magic shop.


    But they did not reach it yet?


    Liam''s gaze shifted as he noticed that he indeed had missed the magic shop by a mere inch but not all of him. His hand was nted on the ground, and a single finger had made it to the steps in front of the magic shop building.


    "So even this counts?" Liam let out a burst of agonizedughter. He then froze as he realized something. Luna???


    Even in his almost dead tired state, he jolted to turn left and right to find the white fox. What if she did not make it?


    Kyuuu. Immediately a small sound came from his back where the white foxy lifelessly on the ground, her full body well within the barrier.


    She looked as worse as him, but both of them were still alive, and that was all that mattered.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 986 You Got Lucky

    Liam sighed in relief at this sight. They both had made it. He was now free to copse. He closed his eyes, but he did not copse just yet. He slowly inched back to enter the perimeter of the magic shop fully.


    Especially with the predator standing in front of him and eyeing him with hatred, he did not want to take his chance with just his single finger being inside the boundary.


    "You are lucky, Mr. Liam." A voice from inside the magic shop sounded. Liam saw the store manager standing at the doorstep of the magic shop and observing everything.


    The fairy observed the ison hive queen, who was outside the barrier, and Liam and Luna, who were inside it and chuckled in amusement at the disparity between both the parties.


    "You really got lucky today." The fairy shook his head andughed as if he was enjoying some sort of show.


    Liam did not respond.


    Luck? Only he knew that this had nothing to do with luck. His entire body was writhing in pain from top to bottom as he tried to squeeze dry a husk that was already squeezed to its limits.


    They had fought tooth and nail to arrive here. A single misstep could have resulted in their instant deaths. So how could this be luck?


    Liam did not have the strength nor the intent to exin this to the fairy who was ridiculing him from inside the shop.


    He only had enough strength to take another sip out of the canister as he tried to ease his pain somewhat and regain his body function.


    His gaze then shifted to the hive queen, who was still standing rooted in front of the shop as if she had no intention of leaving.


    Liam gave a rueful smile at the ison. "So there were always two queens, huh?" He let out a sigh and tried to recover a little. He also fed Luna some water so that the fox would feel better.


    The two of themy at the doorstep of the shop for a few minutes before they finally stood up. Liam looked onest time at the ison and stepped inside to use the teleportation portal.


    He was still dead inside and out and would have liked to rest a little bit more, but one could never tell when the fairy would kick them out.


    Even if the rules of the shop did not allow them to, sometimes these vicious creatures would somehow find a way. He would only be foolish to trust a fairy after all of this.


    So he did not take any chances and dragged himself and Luna into the shop the second he could gather some energy. He went straight into the teleportation portal room and selected the guild base as the destination.


    A warm glow enveloped the both of them as they found themselves in the familiar decor of the magic shop that was near their home base.


    Liam tumbled out of the teleportation room, heaving and panting. He was still in pain as his body, soul, and mind were currently being mended and regenerated.


    But he managed to drag himself all the way to the main hall of the magic shop, where a redhead stood transfixed with her eyes glued onto him.


    The store manager Tilia rushed to Liam''s aid, but Alex was faster. She reached him first and held him tightly.


    She saw the condition he was in and the way Luna was sprawled lifelessly on the ground next to him. Her heart shuddered.


    "Where did you go? What did you do?"


    Tears dripped from her usually feisty eyes as she held the fox close to her chest and supported Liam by putting his arm around her. She then slowly brought them out.


    Without putting them under extra stress, she barged into one of the renovated buildings right next to the magic shop and helped Liam and the fox rest on a clean bed.


    Alex then tiredly slumped on the side, her eyes fixated on the man in front of her. The person who always appeared invincible in front of them was lying today, just one step away from death.


    His entire body was bathed in blood and mangled in various ces. The flesh had peeled away, bones were sticking out. His breathing was haggard and uneven, and his eyebrows were creased in pain even though he was only barely conscious.


    Just what had happened to push him so much?


    Alex then suddenly realized something. "I am so stupid." She scolded herself.


    In shock, she almost forgot the healing skill she had learned recently. She quickly snapped out of it, wiped her tears, and knelt by the bed.


    She then slowly and patiently cast her healing skill, again and again, all over Liam''s body from top to bottom. Ever so often, he groaned in pain, but Alex patted him gently and continued healing.


    If someone else from the guild saw her at that moment, they would be stunned silly. No one would believe that their fearless guild vice-leader could even disy a face like this.


    Alex tried her best, but the injuries that she could heal currently were the most superficial. This was simply not enough. She saw that Liam was hurt so much more deeply than that.


    She clenched her fists in embarrassment. This person was working so hard for her, for the guild, for everyone and yet she was still standing in the same spot.


    She closed her eyes and focussed, and then summoning every single divine energy strand that she could assess, she ced her hand on his chest.


    This was [Healing Touch], a better healing skill.


    She knew about it from the game. She had personally never used it as she was a pdin, but she had seen Mia use it a lot of times inside the game.


    However, seeing it was different than actually executing it. She had previously tried using this same skill several times after learning the healing skill book, but every time she had failed.


    "Please let me seed this time." Alex wanted to get this right badly. She ced her hands gently on Liam''s chest and bit her lips, willing with all of her mind for this to work.


    And to her surprise¡­


    Almost immediately, a wave of nourishing energy swept across Liam''s body.


    Alex gasped, parting her lips in shock. It really worked!


    "It worked!" She grinned wildly as she used the faster healing skill to heal the person in front of her once again. With this, she could physically feel some of his wounds recovering at a visibly faster pace.


    In her excitement, she started mass-spamming the skill everywhere, soon making herself breathless. But Alex did not regret it. She could finally see the man''s eyebrows rx.


    Was he feeling better now? She stared at him for a bit, lost in her thoughts, and in an impulse, she leaned forward, bringing her face close to his.


    She then hesitated for a moment before pecking lightly on Liam''s lips.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 987 Did Something Happen?

    "There are two queens!" Liam abruptly sat up, shouting loudly as soon as he woke up from his sleep.


    Shockingly, he came face to face with about a dozen members of the Crimson Abyss main team. All of them were staring at him with odd expressions on their faces.


    "Brother, are you fine?" Mei Mei was the first one to rush toward Liam and give him a hug.


    Shen Yue silently walked up to him and gave him a set of fresh clothes as he was currently naked, with only a nket covering the lower half of his body.


    Seeing all the familiar faces, Liam was fully awake and became calm.


    "I will be out in a minute." He received the clothes from Shen Yue and nodded at the audience.


    Everyone got the hint and started walking out to give Liam some privacy. Now that he was awake, they were no longer worried about him. Mei Mei and Shen Yue also walked out along with the others.


    Only one person hung back, fidgeting ufortably. "How are you feeling? Are you fine? Does it still hurt anywhere?" Alex''s face matched her hair as she looked fully flushed from face to neck.


    Just one look at her and anyone could tell that she had done something that she shouldn''t have. Liam frowned as he noticed this odd development.


    "Did something happen?" He coincidentally rubbed his lips as he did so.


    Alex instantly became even more conscious and jumped back like a frightened cat. "What do you mean? What are you talking about? What would I do to you? I am just¡­ I just healed you. Fucking¡­ ungrateful¡­"


    She continued murmuring something inaudible and rushed out of the room before the other party could even say anything. Liam stared in a daze at the redhead''s new type of behavior.


    "What did I even say?" He was very much confused. He shook it off and got down from the bed, quickly dressing up. This crazy woman had to wait. There were more things he needed to take care of now.


    Liam nced at Luna, who was still sleeping very soundly, and then began to rush out of the room, already nning in his head what to do next.


    However, just as he took a step forward, he felt a sudden sharp pain somewhere in the depth of his body, which made him convulse and fall down.


    The pain was only transient, but just that Liam waspletely caught off guard by the sudden onset of the attack. He soon managed to get a grip on things and slowly stood up again.


    "What was that?" Liam took a deep breath and closed his eyes to probe the condition of his body.


    All the bloody bruises and ghastly injuries werepletely healed on the outside, but perhaps things were not quite that simple on the inside?


    Hmmm¡­ Liam stood silently in the same spot for a few good minutes, observing and analyzing his body. He rotated mana through his veins and tried to tease out where the pain came from.


    But to his surprise, nothing was yielding any result. He was still a bit exhausted, physically and mentally. However, that shouldn''t result in stabbing pain like this.


    He walked out thinking about this to meet everyone.


    "Brother! Are you hurt anywhere?"


    "Guild leader! How are you feeling now?"


    "Liam, you are not injured, right?"


    Liam abruptly stopped in his tracks. He blinked in confusion and then looked at himself from top to bottom.


    He took a minute and properly observed his body. But no matter where he checked, he really seemed to be fine. So why were these guys asking him these questions, that too so seriously?


    "I ampletely fine. Why are you guys worried?" He asked the crowd.


    Everyone remained oddly silent, and some even let out sighs of relief. Seeing this, Liam was even more confused.


    "How long was I sleeping for?"


    "Not too long. But there is something you should know." Alex stood up. "Let''s go to the magic shop. Everything will be clear then."


    "Ok."


    They were currently right next to the magic shop, so the group simply walked out and went into the building next door. Alex directly led Liam to the guild affairs desk, where she pulled open the guild interface for him to see.


    "See the stupid chat. Then you will understand."


    ? "Hmmm?"


    What the hell happened? Liam''s gaze hurriedly ran through the bunch of messages, and his eyes widened in shock the next second.


    ***


    "Crimson Abyss guild leader is injured!"


    "Ya, I heard it too. His name is Liam, it seems. Half-Asian and Half-White."


    "Damn! Serves him right! He totally got what he deserved!"


    "Right? Leave it to the Chinese to im credit for what doesn''t belong to them!"


    "Ba ha ha ha! This bitch is hrious! He thought that because Crimson Abyss was an S-Rank guild inside the game, the same would trante to the world too?"


    "Did you know back in the game he was the top-ranked yer, it seems!"


    "Whatever. He is now just an idiot who tried to bite more than he could chew. Isn''t the government systematically dealing with all these hives? All our guilds are sitting tight and observing from the sidelines, but this idiot wanted to show off and got what he was asking for!"


    "Ha Ha Ha! If you don''t seek death, you won''t find it!"


    "Common sense is too umon!"


    "I wonder what injury he received?"


    "I hope he got crippled! That bitch definitely deserves it! How difficult is it to just stay quiet and let others do their job? No, he had to interfere! The idiot!"


    "It''s working, isn''t it? Aren''t we all talking about Liam and Crimson Abyss right now?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! Right! Right! We are talking about them, and while we are doing that, who wants to challenge Crimson Abyss to a guild fight? Should be easy pickings without this bastard! Ha ha ha!"


    "It won''t be that easy. Aren''t the two goddesses still in that guild?"


    "Who knows, maybe they are also injured?"


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Daoistkeem for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 988 I Am Injured?

    "I am injured?"


    Liam''s face twitched as he read the messages one after the other. This was somethingpletely unexpected. In fact, he had no idea how this could have happened.


    Was he injured? Heck, even he was still not sure if this was true or not! How could others know about it and even talk about it so confidently?


    Wait, do they know what specific injury he suffered? Maybe that could save him some time from the self-analysis that awaited him. Liam smiled bitterly.


    He wanted to be more upset about this, but the thing was, none of these idiots knew about the true terror that awaited them. Only a bigger fool would waste time arguing with the ignorant.


    Actually, it would make his life a lot simpler if these dogs continued barking and sent him some guild challenges. Then he could put everyone in ce in 2 minutes without exerting any effort.


    "Yup. Continue talking louder and send some challenges our way."


    Liam sighed and ignored the group of messages, all talking about his ''injury.'' There wasn''t really any more useful information in that cluster of messages.


    What he now needed to know was what was happening in the other two red zones.


    He closed the guild chat and turned to look at his guild members. "Do you guys think that there could be two people at the top?" He asked a seemingly random question.


    "Huh? Why are you asking this, brother?" Mei Mei furrowed her brows.


    "I don''t think so, bro." Rey shook his head. "Is this about the two-queen thing that you mentioned when you woke up?"


    Liam nodded in silence.


    "If you are talking about the isons, they looked like insects. Bees, ants, wasps, they all have only single queens." Hao Yuze added.


    "No, I don''t think so." Alex shook her head. "First, we don''t know anything about these things. How can you just simply ssify them as insects? For all we know, they could have two queens, three queens, or even four queens."


    "Or maybe they have a king." Lan Deming slowly spoke up.


    Liam immediately narrowed his eyes. "You are right. If there are two queens, then there might be a King." He repeated his words.


    He had been thinking along the same lines and wondering if there was something that was even stronger than a queen. Now when Lan Deming suggested the same, everything seemed to fit perfectly.


    This would exin why all the forces did not attack him, and one Hive Queen stayed back. This would also exin why the Hive Queen herself came forward to deal with him, whom she barely considered a threat.


    "It could be a King, or it could also be¡­ brood mother or something else," Liam remembered that the Hive Queen mentioned something about a brood mother. Everyone quieted down, thinking about the same thing.


    A minuteter, Liam pped his hands and brought the attention back to him. "Alright. We can talk about thister. What have you all been doing while I was gone? Did anyone reach level 50 yet?"


    "I have been going from one hive hill to another, so I have a lot of mana cores with me at the moment. The person with the highest level would get a core formation skill book. Don''t forget the other rewards I mentioned. Also¡­"


    "When these hives and isons are taken care of once and for all, we are going to go on a war spree. If you all want to have some proper fun, then you might want to be sufficiently strong." Liam smirked.


    Everyone nodded in contemtion, some even revealing viinous smiles. The guild chat was seen by most people here, so they were all well aware of how much Crimson Abyss was bad-mouthed in the public.


    It looked like people keep forgetting about the power of an S-Rank guild. So it was time to shut up the world and show them Crimson Abyss is still an S-Rank guild, whether it was inside the game or not!


    Liam sent off the guild by walking with them to the magic shop entrance and chatted with his sister a bit. "Ok. I will see you guys soon. Let me summon something to take you all back to the dungeon?"


    "Yes," Alex replied. "We are now raiding the Level 50, upgraded dungeon."


    "Good." Liam gave another nod to Shen Yue and then silently called forth one of the wyverns. The next second, the huge draconic beast appeared in front of them.


    Everyone climbed on top of the soul minion and left the area to start their training. However, what they failed to see was the small sh of pain that appeared and disappeared on Liam''s face quietly.


    He stood frozen at the entrance of the magic shop as he finally realized he was indeed injured!


    When he summoned the wyvern, he discovered where that stabbing pain originated from and what part of him hadn''t exactly recovered just yet.


    It was his soul.


    He had only summoned a single minion, but the stabbing pain was back once again.


    What would happen if he summoned the whole army? Wait, would he even be able to summon it in the first ce?


    Liam frowned as he took a deep breath and immediately prepared to test this out.


    "Come out." He closed his eyes and called for his minions, focussing entirely on his body and every small change that might be urring within him.


    The next second, all of his thousand-plus minions silently appeared in front of him.


    Once again, a wave of pain rippled across his body, but it was only transient. He clenched his fist and bore with it, and soon it passed away.


    Liam then inspected his soul minions randomly and found that they were also quite normal, and nothing exactly was impacted.


    "So, except for the pain, everything else is fine?" He frowned. It didn''t add up.


    He then suddenly thought of something and opened his system interface. Immediately, his face changed.


    [Soul Splice]


    The familiar skill in Liam''s repertoire, the one and only overpowered skill that let him run wild these past few days, the skill that he counted on for destroying the isons, was nowpletely grayed out!


    Moreover, in the description, it was written that his soul was not strong enough to invoke the skill currently.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Daoistkeem for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 989 New Secretary

    "Motherfucker!"


    Liam clutched his head as he hurriedly checked all of his other skills. Nothing else was affected except for this one skill. However, this didn''t really make things any easier.


    While all of his other skills had considerable power, this was the skill he was counting on the most to take out the isons because of their unique ability to evolve at a monstrous pace.


    Without this skill, how was he going to handle the remaining two red zones and the King or the Brood Mother that might or might not show up?


    Liam remained still for a few seconds before he let out a deep breath. In reality, he should have already expected something like this to happen.


    What he did for the past few days was anything but normal. He bent and broke his body every few hours and repeated the same for days together without any stop.


    [Soul Splice] was a unique skill that gave him a tremendous insurmountable amount of strength, along with a bacsh that was equally deadly.


    Liam managed to ovee the negative drawback by forcefully using the world seed water to repair his body and using the massive number of dead souls to repair his soul.


    Without even counting the effect of repeatedly doing the same thing on his mind, it looked like the other two aspects were also never properly healed topletion.


    In this condition, the fight against the second Hive Queen had be thest straw that broke the camel''s back.


    Although Liam himself had expected something like this and was nning to recuperate once the threat of the isons was eradicatedpletely, he did not think that he would break even before that.


    He did consider the possibility, but what other backup n could he possiblye up with?


    This was why he hoped he could somehow push through until the wave was fully taken care of. But now there was a hitch in that n, a very, very big one at that.


    Liam continued to stand outside the magic shop and tried to gather his thoughts. His tired and exhausted mental state was also not helping him too much.


    In that state, what was going to be his next step?


    He walked back into the magic shop once again to take a look at the guild chat. Not that he wanted to read more about his injury, rather he was curious to see how the so-called government guilds were tackling the ison problem.


    However, this information proved difficult to obtain. He scrolled through the mess plenty of times and did not find anything useful.


    "They are using runic bombs."


    "Huh?"


    Liam turned to see his favorite fairy standing right next to him. Tilia shockingly gave him the answer that he had been searching for the past fifteen minutes.


    "Runic bombs?" He asked, not dwelling on the fact that the fairy had once againe over to him and helped him out of her own volition.


    "Yes," Tilia replied. "Since one of the magic shops decided to sell something like this to their VIP customer, the other shops are also authorized to do the same."


    As she exined, a system interface shed in front of Liam, along with an item description.


    <Runic Bomb: An inscribed rune that is capable of instilling chaos inmon runic arrays>


    <Cost: 10,000,000 mana cores>


    "Runic bombs to diffuse the runic barrier, huh?" Liam quietly pondered.


    This was indeed a good strategy, and he did not know how that particr shop fairy was convinced to sell this product, but this waspletely useless at the moment.


    Every single ison had already hatched and was outside the hive, at least in the red zone that he visited. So the runic bombs would be ineffective in tackling this situation.


    Liam looked up, and his gaze met the fairy who was still silently standing by his side. Tilia did not look away or respond with her usual flirtatious demeanor. She seemed to be looking back at him sincerely.


    Something had definitely shifted in their interaction dynamics. Liam decided to test this and asked, "Do you have any soul-healing medicine?"


    Tilia''s expression immediately changed, as a look of shock flitted past her delicate face, but the next second, sheposed herself and shook her head. "No. Unfortunately, nothing like that is avable at the moment."


    Liam couldn''t help but be a little disappointed, although he had already expected this type of response.


    Unexpectedly, the fairy opened her mouth once again, all on her own, and suggested. "You should check your messages."


    "Hmmm?" Liam was confused.


    He did check some of his messages, but they were all spam messages from Alex asking for his whereabouts. There were also some from his sister and Shen Yue. Did someone else perhaps send something?


    Huh? Were fairies able to ess all of the messages?


    As if reading his mind, Tilia exined, "We can only view things that are discussed in the guild interface, which is associated with the magic shop. The system-bound information is private."


    So she decided to be my secretary and look through everything?


    Liam did not say anything. Even if she did not mention this to him, he would have looked at it anyways, so it was not a huge deal.


    He silently pulled up his messages and took a look. The older messages were from familiar names, every single one belonging to the Crimson Abyss guild.


    His gaze then shifted to the list of newer messages which were mostly idiotic insults and death threats from strangers. It looked like these people confidently dared to contact him and taunt him after knowing that he had suffered a severe injury.


    What was this fairy talking about?


    He scanned from top to bottom and finally zeroed in on the bottom of the list, where there was a message from a familiar name that he hadn''te across in a while.


    The message was from Madan, the hunter from India and a past member of the Oracle''s personal team. "Mr. Liam, I need some help from you."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Daoistkeem for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 990 He Has Never Been The Same Since Then

    "This guy?" Liam raised his brow. It looked like Madan wanted some help. However, that was not all the message from the hunter. There were still some sentences below which he quickly read.


    To Liam''s surprise, the guy seemed to know things about him already.


    "Bro, I know about your injury. I also know that you are the one who has been clearing all the hives. If I am correct, then we can help each other out. Please, please, please message me!"


    Now Liam was curious. He immediately replied to Madan.


    And as if the other party was diligently waiting for him to answer, a reply quickly chimed in.


    "Bro, can you get to this magic shop? We discovered a special dungeon near here. It is aher affinity dungeon. With this, you should be able to heal yourself?" Madan sent over the coordinates.


    Liam stared at the message, but he did not respond immediately. "Aher affinity dungeon¡­" He pondered. This might or might not help him. However, there was another thing to consider.


    Could this be a trap?


    The dungeon was located in the northern part of India, while the red zone itself was located in the southern part. If there was any trap, it should probably not involve the isons.


    While he was still thinking, another message quickly came in.


    "Brother, please. Don''t think too much. I am not trying to cheat you. I am really desperate here. My family is in trouble, and you are the only person who can help."


    After a while, Liam decided to head to the magic shop to take a look. Even if he did not go to the dungeon, he could always go to the region and survey things first.


    Besides, he already had an idea of what he needed to do next. Giving Tilia a nod, Liam then took the teleportation portal and headed to the northern part of India.


    As soon as he stepped out of the teleportation hall and into the main space of the shop, Liam immediately ran into the person who had invited him, except that the person whom he had met in the game and the person in front of him were very different.


    The guy seemed to have lost all of his jovial senses and looked extremely serious at the moment. He was also physically injured in several ces and looked like he had gone through hell.


    But this was not something that was new. This was simply the ''apocalypse'' look.


    "How are you doing?" Liam gave a knowing smile.


    "I am barely surviving, brother." Madan smiled in return. However, his smile was only sad and lonely. The guy looked like he was really in trouble. Liam doubted if anyone could fake something like this.


    "Tell me everything."


    The two of them sat down and talked for a while. Madan exined how he had been surviving since the apocalypse started until now. He had gathered some of his friends and made his own group and had somehowe out on top after the first wave.


    It was when the second wave hit that everything had gonepletely out of their control. In the beginning, the group was apparently still managing things, but as the isons evolved, everything came crashing down.


    "Liam, I already lost my mother and my father. I only have my brother left. Right now, they are stuck somewhere near the red zone area. I have no way to contact him, and the insects are beginning to spread slowly."


    "I am sorry to ask this of you, but only you can rescue him. I am not asking you to fight the isons directly. If I am correct, my brother should be stuck in another beast''s territory, the Naga Lord."


    "This was why they had gone there in the first ce, to hunt down the Naga Lord. But the hive and the insects changed everything. Our huge party was split, and now I am here, and he is there."


    "Those idiots online do not have any brain. I know you are the one who is taking out all the hive hills. Only you are strong enough to do this. Please help me."


    Madan''s eyes reddened as he pleaded with Liam with everything he had. He also told him about the dungeon that they had discovered.


    "Brother, these are the dungeon coordinates. Some of the floors are undead, and some of the floors are demonic. There might be something inside that could help you."


    Madan then paused and added, "I¡­ please do not think that I was withholding this information just so that I could trade with you when I needed."


    "We only recently found this out when the guild was upgraded, and teleportation channels got open."


    Liam nodded. "I understand."


    "Ummm¡­ Also, brother, there is another reason why I said that the dungeon might help you."


    "Kouske is also looking for an undead dungeon in this area. He messaged me sometime before I messaged you and asked me if I knew of any such dungeon''s whereabouts."


    "I didn''t give him any answer. Right now, only I and a few others know about this dungeon, so the news is not yet leaked. You should go there fast before he gets there."


    "If Kouske is looking for it, then I am sure that there is something special about that dungeon."


    Liam once again nodded as he listened patiently. He then looked at Madan and asked, "Howe you did not ask him for help? Weren''t you guys teammates once? Wouldn''t he help you?"


    Madan immediately shook his head. "No, he won''t. In fact, I am pretty sure that the moment I step foot in front of him, he would kill me immediately without thinking twice."


    "Huh?"


    "Bro, they never forgave me for quitting that team, and I am pretty sure Anya is already dead or maybe worse."


    "Oh?" This was shocking for Liam as he did not know that the Oracle was this ruthless.


    But Madan immediately corrected him. "It''s not the Oracle, bro. It''s Kouske. After that day, when we followed you into the necromancer''s cave and we ambushed you, he started changing bit by bit."


    "He has never been the same since then."


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Daoistkeem for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 991 On A Whole Other Level!

    Madan might not know, but Liam knew very well what happened that day back in the tutorial game. It was the day he had died for the very first time, and it was also the day his life had changed irreversibly.


    He had stolen something that never belonged to him in the first ce.


    Considering that Kouske was with the Oracle, Liam wondered if he knew everything. Was he maddened by the fact that he had something that should have belonged to Kouske?


    Liam''s gaze remained indifferent. Was he supposed to feel bad for that person? That was never going to happen. These were the rules of the world. The strong take what they need, and the weak are left with nothing.


    And Kouske was no exception.


    Not wanting to waste time on the past anymore, Liam patted Madan on the shoulder. "I will leave then. Let me take a look at this dungeon and see if it can really help me."


    "Ummm¡­ bro¡­ so¡­ are you really hurt somewhere?" Madan hesitantly asked. The guy had heard about this from several sources, even directly from the lion''s mouth, but still, there was a part of him that did not believe itpletely.


    "Maybe. Who knows." Liam chuckled as he walked out of the magic shop into the sunny, sultry world outside.


    "Who knows, ah?" Madan gaped with his mouth wide open. He then hurried after Liam with whatever speed he could muster. "Bro. Wait. Let me also tag along with you."


    "Hmmm?" Liam paused and turned around. "Why? If you run a dungeon with me, then you won''t get any experience points if that''s what you want."


    "No. No. No." Madan shook his head vigorously. "It''s not like that, bro. If you don''t mind, I just want to watch your back. Kouske enquired about this dungeon to me, so I am just a little worried."


    "Alright. I don''t mind. You cane with me until you can keep up."


    After stepping outside the magic shop, Liam immediately summoned a wyvern without holding back.


    The huge draconic beast scared a bunch of human beings wandering about in the vicinity. Even Madan was awestruck at the sight of it. However, he only smiled bitterly and did not say anything.


    Unlike others, Madan was already well aware of the prowess of the person next to him. Sure, he might have put his faith in the Oracle at first.


    But the moment he met Liam, he knew who was the true leader and who was the false prophet. Nothing he could do was going to surprise him anymore.


    Madan silently climbed atop the wyvern and sat behind Liam. The wyvern then soared high into the sky and arrived at the dungeon''s coordinates in just five minutes.


    Thest time Madan hade to the same dungeon, it had taken him half a day to make the trip, and that too, they were dead tired by the time they reached the spot, thanks to the several mutated beasts and the untamed wilderness.


    However, this time¡­ the difference was simply too great even topare. As a hunter, this stung especially badly as he should have tamed a flying beast by now.


    Madan then suddenly remembered something and asked Liam, "Bro, how is Rey doing? Did he tame a beast yet?"


    "Oh, him? He is doing good, but no, he hasn''t been sessful in taming a beast yet."


    "I see. In that case, I think I have something that can help him."


    "Hmmm. When all of this is over, and your brother is back home safely, you cane to visit the guild and talk to Rey yourself."


    "Ok." Madan nodded.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The wyvern elegantly glided down andnded right in front of the dungeon entrance. Typically a dungeon entrance was green in color, both upgraded and the basic version, but this one was pitch-ck in color.


    "This is it," Madan said.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam hummed as he did not waste any time and directly stepped into the dungeon. He already had goosebumps all over his skin. It was as if the ce was calling for him.


    Madan as well quickly hurried behind him.


    The two of them entered the portal and stood at the entrance of the dungeon. Immediately, thick swirls ofher enveloped them without giving them a chance to adjust.


    Madan gritted his teeth and created a thin mana barrier.


    But as for the other person standing beside him¡­ Liam''s face instantly changed.


    His expression was calm,posed, and indifferent all this time, but now it seemed as if¡­ he was in heaven!


    He sucked in a big breath of air, taking in all theher that he possibly could.


    The aura of death was corruptive, corrosive, and harmful to all living beings, opposing the very essence of life itself. However, for Liam, it seemed like an elixir, intertwining with every fiber of his being.


    It refreshed and rejuvenated him, infusing a renewed sense of vitality into his body. It repaired the small minuscule gaps in his body that had previously been left untouched by the world seed''s water.


    Just a single breath was enough to make Liam feel as if he was floating in the air, back at his very peak!


    Every ounce of tiredness, frustration, and weakness that he felt melted away and disappearedpletely. In a single second, it was as if he was born anew.


    Though Liam had an affinity for both mana andher, just from this one second, he could already tell which of the two had a higher resonance with him.


    With a wild grin spreading across his face, he bared all his teeth, looking akin to a demon at that moment.


    And the mobs of the dungeon that had spawned the moment the duo stepped in were all prostrating themselves in front of this demon!


    "What¡­" Madan stood transfixed. He thought that he had seen everything and that nothing could surprise him anymore, but this was beyond his understanding.


    Just how strong was the person standing next to him?


    Kouske also had aher affinity, and Madan had seen him personally in action several times but Liam¡­ he was on a whole other level!


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 1~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 992 I Can Get Used To This

    Liam did not have a chance to look at the stupefied expression on Madan''s face. He was in a world of his own as he swam amidst the thickher aura that surrounded him from all sides.


    For others, this might be suffocating, but for him, it was as if he was in the womb of his mother. The energy gently caressed him and nourished him, forming a thick imprable protective aura around him.


    He did not even have to lift a finger. The swirls ofher automatically gathered around him like metal particles on a ma.


    Liam breathed in another lungful of theher-rich air, and with a sudden burst of energy, he propelled himself forward.


    As for the undead mobs that had risen in the dungeon to prevent these kinds of intruders from entering the dungeon, they all stood aside and made way for him.


    It was as if they recognized him as their master, their ruler, and they dared not to challenge his authority.


    Liam swam through the dark and twisting corridors of the dungeon, his senses heightened. The further he headed in, the more theher increased in concentration, and it felt even better.


    And the undead monsters that he left behind in his wake all started moving in the same direction.


    Meanwhile, Madan watched this scene and stood frozen on the spot. He was fully in a daze. He did not even know where to begin to understand what he just saw.


    Was this the same dungeon that he had previouslye to?


    The level 50 mobs that were deadly to anyone who stepped foot inside this dungeon were acting like hypnotized brain-dead fans and were following Liam blindly.


    The suffocatingher only seemed to give him a boost.


    All in all, this was not even a dungeon for that guy. This was some sort of luxury spa resort where he was currently vacationing!


    In this state, Madan thought back to how he had promised Liam that he would watch his back. Right now, those words sounded extremely stupid and silly.


    Madan stared at the distance where Liam had disappeared into and contemted following him, but he decided to give up on that idea.


    At this point, more than help, it would only be him prying on Liam for secrets, and he genuinely wanted to build a good rtionship with him.


    So after a couple of minutes, he simply sat down at the entrance of the dungeon and waited patiently for Liam to do his thing.


    At the other end, Liam had already reached the third floor of the dungeon.


    He simply raced through the ce and let loose without holding back anything. He felt free and liberated andpletely let go of all the other things that were weighing heavily on him.


    For now, he focused on one thing and only one thing, which was his current state.


    Earlier, it was not very obvious, but now that his soul was injured a little, Liam started to understand some things better and better.


    His body, his mind, and his soul werepletely off bnce. These three corners of his basic foundation were skewed at different angles.


    Perhaps this was why he had not yet awakenedpletely or even managed to step into the next tier in terms of his soul strength. Maybe this was also why his body was easily injured when he repeatedly used the [Soul Splice] skill.


    However, this was not a problem that Liam could address at the moment. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He needed more knowledge and more resources to align and center himself in the best state possible. Not to mention, there was also the matter of mana andher being unable to coexist together.


    Right now, with the threat of isons looming over him and the guild, starting to tackle this dead-end problem was definitely a bad choice, something that was going to make him lose.


    So Liam had a different n. He continued moving through the floors of the dungeon freely until he arrived at the fourth floor. Here there were demonic undead monsters whose level was around 85 to 95.


    And for the first time, the undead dared to stand up against Liam. They did not simply submit to him willingly.


    These undeads could see that the human being in front of them was extremely powerful, but their own power and strength were also not insignificant. So they couldn''t bring themselves to submit to him.


    However, this made very little difference to Liam.


    With just the flicker of his gaze, he materialized a huge scythe made of roilingher and sliced the mob of undeads with the weapon. Herds and herds of undead fell with each swing.


    It looked like the unique feature of an undead dungeon was the sheer number of mobs, but Liam did not even stop or pause to deal with them.


    He simplymanded the massive scythe to continue swinging in front of him as he bolted forward with more and more speed and power, umting kills and experience points as he did.


    At this point, the concentration ofher was so thick that he felt as if he could fly through the dungeon, manipting the energy around him.


    Liam grinned as he stopped and tried this.


    The thick, dense waves ofher obeyed hismand and lifted him up, and in a second, he was actually floating mid-air. It just came to him instinctively.


    "I can get used to this." His devious smile widened, and he shot forward with an even greater speed.


    Theher around him was so intoxicating that he couldn''t wait to reach thest floor where probably the density ofher was the highest.


    And all the minions standing in his way were only bing fodder for the giant scythe that seemed unstoppable.


    Experience points chimed in endlessly, and since there were no other minions present, not even Luna, for the first time, he was getting all of the points. It felt incredible.


    By the time he reached the fifth floor, he had actually leveled up twice!


    Level 95!


    Liam was so close to stepping onto the next stage of the world!


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 2~


    Please thank Steamed Arrow for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 993 A Bit Too Serendipitous?

    After crushing all the undead mobs in his path, Liam finally reached the final boss of the entire dungeon. This was the upgraded dungeon where the fifth floor, which was thest floor of the dungeon, had Level 95 to 100 monsters.


    However, unlike in the dungeons before, these did not pose any threat to Liam, thanks to the abundanther all around him.


    He steamrolled through the whole dungeon and was now even standing in front of the final boss, which looked like a huge armored undead warrior with a greatsword. It carried the greatsword in one hand and its missing head in its other hand, looking particrly threatening.


    Liam calmly inspected the boss.


    <Ding. Fourth General Duhan; Level 100>


    "Oh? Level 100?" He nodded indifferently andmanded his blood-soakedher scythe to move forward.


    Perhaps before, a Level 100 boss might have made him sweat, even if it was a little bit, but now, after facing the Level 205 Hive Queen, the aura of the undead in front of him was not even noteworthy.


    His own level was also no longer 81. He was now at a staggering 95.


    Struggling with the isons day in and day out and repeatedly injuring his soul only had this single advantage. He was leveling up at an incredible pace.


    But even more incredible was this dungeon. He had just sted through the whole dungeon in a matter of minutes and gained two whole levels!


    In the presence ofher, killing the numerous undeads of Level 90 and above was as easy as massacring an ison swarm of Level 40.


    Thanks to both of these factors, his stagnant level skyrocketed! Like a godsend, this dungeon had arrived at a perfect time, right when he needed it!


    Liam did not think too much about it and willed his scythe to sh against the final boss. The headless Duhan roared in rage, or more specifically, the head that it was carrying in its hand roared loudly.


    The greatsword shed with the scythe, and waves ofher rippled from the collision sending powerful destructive tremors throughout the entire dungeon. The whole ce was shaking.


    Madan sitting at the entrance, gulped. He did not know what Liam was doing, but he had a feeling that maybe he shouldn''t continue staying inside the dungeon. He had a hunch that this whole ce was going to be torn down.


    When a lower-level dungeon was fully cleared, an upgraded dungeon was revealed, but what if an upgraded dungeon was alsopletely emptied out? What would happen then?


    Madan licked his lips. Perhaps today, he was going to witness this event personally. He silently wished Liam good luck and stepped out of the dungeon through the portal.


    However, the moment he stepped out of the dungeon, he suddenly swung around and looked in a southerly direction. He did not know why but out of nowhere, he got a strong feeling as if he was being watched.


    When he looked, he did not find anyone, but Madan did not want to take any chances. If there was any danger, he at least needed to scout it out for Liam. He immediately activated [Stealth] and blended into the wilderness.


    Thanks to the massive discounts that were currently up and running in the magic shops, he was able to learn this useful skill. He also had a n for scouting.


    While Madan became invisible, at the same time, a small ck snake appeared in a tree nearby. The snake had a pair of bright emerald eyes, and it stared ahead toward the south. Soon the snake began slithering as if it had identified its target.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The little snake was very small,pletely inconspicuous in the untamed wilderness that was sprawled across the region, but its speed was extremely impressive.


    It crossed the huge distance between itself and its target in the span of a few seconds, its little head peeking here and there before finally showing up at the destination.


    When it did, surprisingly, its little slit-like eyes suddenly glowed with a golden hue. This was the special skill of the little snake, [Hunter''s eyes].


    Through these golden eyes, Madan was able to observe the scene in front of him. While this little pet might not be useful for a lot of things, it was the best when it came to scouting.


    Also, what he doubted was bang on point.


    There, a little distance away from the snake, a person was crouched, concealed amidst dense brambles. More importantly, Madan immediately recognized this person as soon as he saw him.


    This was because he was one of his trusted allies and friends from his guild, the Trimurtis. Coincidentally, this was also the person who had informed him of this very dungeon.


    Madan''s gaze turned cold. What was his friend doing here, observing the entrance of this dungeon? He was the one who informed him, so why was he spying here?


    He shifted his gaze between the dungeon and his friend when suddenly something clicked in his mind.


    "No. No. No. It can''t be." Madan''s face immediately became grave. He shivered as he couldn''t help but connect the obvious dots.


    A few days ago, their guild had magically discovered this dungeon out of nowhere, and suddenly his brother was trapped in a dangerous situation.


    But lo and behold, one of the powerhouses he knew also became injured in this same time span, and coincidentally, he, Madan, somehow had the key to help him out, thereby solving all the issues at the same time.


    Wasn''t all of this a bit too serendipitous? Did this all really happen by chance?


    No! How could it?


    Madan did not believe in luck. In life, it was hard work that paid off, not luck. So there was no way all of this happened on its own. The presence of his friend hiding in the bushes was more than proof enough for this.


    And since it did not ur by chance, who could have possibly made it happen or even had the power to orchestrate something so borate?


    Madan did not have to think twice to know the answer to this.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 3~


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 Chapter 994 Trapped

    "Damn it, Kouske. You went too far this time." Madan gritted his teeth and muttered.


    The whole world was losing sleep over the strange insects that had invaded the, but this guy alone was still fully upied with his obsession with Liam.


    If human beings started pulling each other down like crabs in a bottle even when powerful, world-ending enemies were present, then what was going to happen to humanity in the future?


    Madan was so frustrated that his stealth almost came off. If he had known about this before, he would have never invited Liam here in the first ce.


    Liam might be strong enough to face whoever stood in front of him, but he was currently injured. This changed everything. Madan had no idea about the extent of his injury, so he couldn''t afford to take any chances.


    This was because,e what may, he did not want to betray Liam. His brother''s life depended on it. The hunter chewed his nails and thought about the situation for a second.


    It had already been several minutes since they arrived here. If the news had somehow traveled to the other person, then it was already toote.


    But if it hadn''t, then he still had the time to make some preparations. It all depended on when Liam was going to step outside of the dungeon.


    Considering the strength he had demonstrated in the dungeon, this shouldn''t take long? It was not like he was going to tackle the entire dungeon. Even for Liam, that shouldn''t be possible at this stage?


    "No. I have to warn him before that. I have to enter the dungeon again and warn him." Madan made his decision and quickly hurried over to the dungeon portal after recalling his little snake.


    He continued maintaining his stealth, so the other party did not notice him doing this.


    However, once inside the dungeon, reaching Liam was easier said than done. Although all the mobs in the dungeon seemed absent, the thick waftingher in the air was enough to put a stop to his advance.


    Madan started wheezing before he could step onto the third floor, and when he forcefully did, his health started dropping.


    The concentration ofher at this point was so thick that he couldn''t handle even standing there for a couple of seconds. The energy that was pure magic for Liam was only poison for him.


    So without any choice, he once again climbed back down and reached the entrance of the dungeon. This n was a dead end. Now, what other choice did he have remaining?


    All he could do was wait and hope that Liam finished the fight inside the dungeon quickly and got the hell out of there fast.


    No matter how strong he was and irrespective of his affinity forher, surely he shouldn''t be able to cross the third floor of the dungeon, right?


    Madan reapplied his [Stealth] after stepping out of the dungeon and stayed still, hiding behind a nearby tree. "Come on, Liam. Get out of there soon." He sighed as he nervously waited.


    Unfortunately for Madan¡­ soon this n also proved to be a dead end. Minutes turned into hours as he continued waiting, but there was no sign of Liam.


    To add to his dismay, the other party also responded.


    Madan held out a small hope that the ''friend'' was not betraying him and that all of this was happening just by some bizarre coincidence. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, this was soon broken down as several people arrived in front of the dungeon. Madan did not recognize any of them, but their movement speed alone told him that these were all high-leveled yers. They were at least as fast as him, if not more.


    "Aiyo! It''s over. Everything is over." Madan shook his head in panic and copsed on the ground. He was not afraid of these guys. What he was afraid of was Liam''s reaction!


    By now, who hadn''t heard about the Crimson Abyss guild leader''s ruthlessness? Heck, he had firsthand experienced it, and he did not want to be on the wrong side of Liam.


    But now he waspletely trapped. He couldn''t leave this ce and return back to the magic shop to inform the rest of the guild about this ambush.


    Because if he did that, it would take him half a day to make the trip, and by then, Liam might be out. He would be caught all alone with a dozen people waiting to kill him.


    At the same time, he also couldn''t simply wait here while the other side madeplete preparations to cut down Liam once and for all.


    Madan''s anxiety only began to increase when he saw that the dozen quickly became thirty and then forty. It looked like this time, Kouske was really going all out to take down Liam once and for all.


    But what Madan did not understand was where was the main head? He had expected Kouske also to show up here along with the rest of the group.


    However, no matter how long he waited, there was no sign of Kouske or Barrett or the Oracle or anyone else he knew from that team.


    While this was good news in a way, as at least Liam did not have to worry about fighting these monsters, it did not make him feel any better. The bad feeling he had at the bottom of his heart only became worse and worse.


    What was that snake nning? Sweat trickled down Madan''s face as he sat in that cramped space, waiting for the inevitable. One second, everything was falling into ce, and the next second, he was in deep shit.


    His only way out of this was¡­ if Liam truly managed to find some sort of treasure inside the dungeon.


    But knowing that this was all a trap, Madan knew that the possibility of something like that happening was very, very low.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Meanwhile¡­ a new wave of chaos andmotion swept across the rest of the world. The various guilds across the world and the guild chat were abuzz with activity about a new development, a joint endeavor to take care of the isons.


    ***


    Mass Release chapter 4~


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 Chapter 995 In Or Out?

    Meanwhile¡­ a new wave of chaos andmotion swept across the rest of the world. The various guilds and the guild chat were abuzz with activity about a new development, a joint endeavor to take care of the isons.


    In the midst of the chaotic guild chatter, a series of official announcements chimed in, confirming everyone''s suspicions.


    United Nations Survivors Camp 1 (Territory 1): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] War Call! Every guild is requested to participate in the uing war against the insects that have invaded our. We have to stand firm and protect what is ours. Let''s fight together and win together. Please confirm your participation and please assemble at the red zone in Africa in 2 days'' time.


    United Nations Survivors Camp 2 (Territory 2): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] War Call¡­


    United Nations Survivors Camp 3 (Territory 3): [THIS IS AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT MESSAGE] War Call¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    For a few minutes, the usually noisy and ruckus-filled guild chat suddenly froze. No one dared to say anything. Unlike the normal gossip or discussion, this was different.


    Before, it was just the government taking out hive hills, but suddenly all the guilds were required to participate? This made people very ufortable, especially because of how strong the isons were.


    By now, everyone understood the seriousness of the situation and the threat that isons posed. However, it merely remained a conversation topic until today when the first concrete step towards it had been made.


    And now everything was suddenly real. This war effort was an actual war effort. If they participated in it, then there was really a chance for them to die inbat.


    Just like back in the old world, when not many people were willing to enlist in the military for their country voluntarily, right now as well, it was inevitable that everyone hesitated to jump in with both their feet, that too participate in a battle of this scale.


    But the old world was different from the new world. Now things were no longer optional. If they hesitated here right now, then they might all truly perish.


    Besides, after the first series of government messages, soon another series of messages chimed in.


    These mentioned that everyone''s teleportation costs would be covered, and every guild would receive generous rewards and skill books for participation. However, this was on a firste, first-serve basis since the resources were limited.


    Everyone understood that this was going to be a massive operation, so they were tempted to assume that maybe the risks involved wouldn''t be too great, and if the costs were also covered and additional rewards were provided, then it was definitely a win-win situation.


    But this was still not enough to make people take the leap. Though it was enough to make all the guilds contact the United Nations guilds privately. They messaged for more information and confirmed many things from the United Nation guilds.


    Apart from the reward, everyone heard that an elite group of thousand fighters, all Level 50, will be tasked with fighting the stronger isons.


    The various guilds participating only had to deal with clearing the weaker isons that were around Level 20. Since these Level 20 isons were too many in number, the army needed a simr number of fighters to face them.


    This was why the recruitment was being made in the first ce. If the other guilds helped deal with the pesky weaker isons, then the United Nations would be free to deal with the truly dangerous life-threatening threat.


    The guild representatives from the United Nations guilds patiently exined this to all the other guilds through both private and public channels. They also promised that the guilds could keep the mana cores from their kills.


    And after several negotiationster¡­


    Saviors of the World: We have to stand firm and protect what is ours. Fight together and win together! We, Saviors of the World, will participate with a thousand members!


    "The Justice League will participate with five thousand members! Fight together and win together!"


    "The Blood Brothers will participate with three thousand members! Fight together and win together!"


    "The Supreme Elites will participate with three thousand members! Fight together and win together!"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The first of the guilds started epting the war call, and soon this snowballed into several guildsing out of the woodwork to do the same.


    It almost took an entire day for this to happen, but once it started, everyone chucked away their reservations and gave into mob mentality.


    Some registered because of the rewards, some did because the other guilds were participating and they did not want to miss out, and there were also some guilds who genuinely believed in the cause and wanted to fight this thing together.


    After the first 24 hours, the atmosphere quickly changed, and most of the guilds were now participating in the war termed Great War I.


    And soon, those who did not participate were called out and shamed, and forced into participation. They were bombarded with guild war challenges until the other party relented and eventually joined thebined forces.


    The two days flew by in the blink of an eye. Only six more hours were left for the grand assembly, and everyone was making the appropriate preparations hurriedly.


    Last-minute dungeon runs were conducted. The drops from these runs were distributed among the various fighters. Water, food, first aid, and all the necessary supplies were gathered.


    And the various guilds'' higher-ups went a step above this and actually used all the mana cores they had been saving so far. It didn''t matter if it was the most basic skill book, they did not spare any effort and made themselves as strong as possible.


    Secretly, some guilds already received privatepensations from the United Nations guilds, which helped them buy some more skill books. Not just that, but these guilds also received equipment and military weapons, thereby enhancing their survival rate even more.


    If one looked closely, these guilds were the ones who had the loudest voice in the guild chat, and they were also the ones who sent out guild war challenges and forced everyone into submission.


    They made sure that every single guild registered with the shop was present for this grand event, the Great War!


    And their efforts were not in vain. In fact, they were extremelymendable.


    At this point, even powerful guilds that were not aligned with the government, like Assassin''s Alliance, Chaos Knights, and Gxy Guardians, had already joined the war effort.


    In a few hours, almost every single human being who was alive on the and had evolved using mana was going to assemble on the same battlefield!


    Anyone and everyone on the face of the earth who had leveled up, who could fight and use mana, was going to unite!


    This was a grand war for the survival of humanity!


    Fear turned into pride, and all the fighters were now brimmed with fighting spirit and a righteous determination to protect their world and their loved ones. The adrenaline rush and the excitement of the uing battle was palpable in the air.


    Of course, there was one exception. While most of the other guilds were busy in war preparations, there was one guild that still hadn''t made a single move, Crimson Abyss!


    Currently, the magic shop in the Crimson Abyss guild base was extremely crowded. After back-to-back dungeon runs, the main guild teams had all assembled in the magic shop after hearing about the shocking news.


    Along with them, the other main administrative heads of the guild were also present, as no one could ignore this world-changing event.


    "How many challenges do we have now?" Alex spat out in annoyance.


    "Ummm¡­ We have 23 guild war challenges so far, sis." Rey mumbled in response.


    "These bastards. They are all doing this because of that stupid rumor. Will these idiots never learn? How could Liam possibly be injured?!"


    "Ah¡­" Rey did not know what to say.


    The thing was¡­ he actually was of the opinion that Liam was indeed injured, not because of the rumors but because of adding up all of the recent events.


    The other guilds were probably just trying to take advantage of this fact and picking on them like vultures. But with this much smoke, he doubted that there wasn''t any fire to begin with.


    However, Rey didn''t dare to share his thoughts with his sister. She might really kill him in a fit of anger and worry if he said something preposterous like this.


    Thankfully for him, Granny Ning broke the silence. "Did you hear anything from him yet?" She asked with a pensive look on her face.


    "No, Master Ning. There hasn''t been any news from Liam for the past two days." Alex shook her head.


    "Ahhhh! Brother is the worst when keeping in touch!" Mei Mei sighed.


    "Ummm. That is not fair." A gentle voice sounded. "We don''t know what he is doing. The guild leader takes all of the burdens onto himself, so it is natural that he is upied with something or the other all of the time."


    Everyone immediately turned to look at the person talking from the back as all of Liam''s major supporters were lined up in the front of the group.


    Lily, Derek''s sister, cleared her throat awkwardly as she was not used to getting this much attention. "I mean, I just hope that the guild leader is not injured." She added in embarrassment.


    "Ugh. Huh. I guess that is true." Mei Mei nodded in contemtion.


    Alex narrowed her eyes and gave her an odd look while Shen Yue smiled politely at her concern.


    "Anyways¡­" Rey sighed and broke up the party. "Let''s talk about the elephant in the room. Are we going to participate in this thing or not?"

 Chapter 996 Fucked On All Sides

    With the war preparations going in full swing, soon, there were only a couple of hours left before the grand war began. This was deemed by everyone to be the war of the century, and the entirety of the human poption was immersed in it.


    However, this did not stop anyone from discussing the obvious behavior of one of the top guilds in the world. At this point, even the third-rate ones had joined the war efforts, so the public sentiment was quite hostile toward the one or two guilds that were yet to join.


    And especially for Crimson Abyss, this was worse.


    "Ptui! These guys call themselves an S-Rank guild, but when it really matters, they run and hide like sewer rats!"


    "Even the level 10s in my guild are participating, and these guys should be at least level 30, they still won''t contribute?"


    "This is why I never believed in the rumors that were spreading about Crimson Abyss. These selfish pricks couldn''t be bothered to contribute to war by fighting on the sidelines, then how could they have upgraded everyone''s guilds? Total bullshit!"


    "Ya, bring me the guy who said this. I promise I won''t kill him!"


    "If Crimson Abyss joins the war efforts, then I will eat shit! They are the worst of the worst. Just want to take advantage of everything and boost themselves through war profiteering."


    "They want to sitfortably in their homes like women while we go and fight with the enemy using our blood and sweat, putting our lives on the line. At some point, you need to have at least a little shame!"


    "We will do all the hard work, and they will reap all the rewards! What a bunch of assholes!"


    "After chasing these isons away, we need to band together and tear down this fucking guild. It has been an eyesore long enough!"


    "I agree!"


    "Me too!"


    "Let''s do it!"


    "Let''s make all those selfish, entitled pricks our ves!"


    "I want to say you went too far, but this crimson abyss, so I will keep my mouth shut. They deserve everythinging to them."


    "Yes! Yes! After this war, they really need to be taken care of!"


    "He He! I wouldn''t mind some of the beauties in that guild bing my ves, though."


    "Bah ha ha ha! Same here, man. Same here."


    "It looks like only degenerates are left here. The real men must be working."


    "Whatever, dude. I am fucking walking into war. I am not holding back my tongue!"


    "Noints here, dude. At least we are doing what we can. Goddesses or beauties or whatever, the minute you sit on your ass and let others do the dirty work, you are not worth shit in my eyes. Bros before hoes!"


    "Bro, they are probably reading this. You better watch what you say."


    "Fuck that shit! I am not afraid of anyone. Those cowards cane and see my white ass shaking at them. Come at me if you dare bitch. I am already level 35!"


    "35? Damn!"


    "Good work. We are counting on you to take down some of those fucking insects!"


    ***


    ***


    ***


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha!"


    "This is just too funny!"


    The sound of a man''sughter reverberated loudly throughout the vast hall. Among the group of men standing, he was the only one who wasughing.


    The others also wanted tough, but they were so shocked to see their leader let loose so much that they forgot tough.This was the first time anyone had seen Kouske so happy. In fact, these past few days, he had been in extremely high spirits.


    Taking advantage of his good mood, a few people immediately tried to kiss his ass. "Boss, your strategy worked brilliantly. Both Liam and that guild are now locked from all sides."


    "Ya. By now, they should be tearing out their hair. They have no choice but to join the war effort."


    "If they joined, then we can carry out our n, and if they did not join, then their reputation will bepletely tarnished. When this war is over, we can then peacefully deal with them."


    "Heck, we don''t even have to lift a finger. The other guilds will take care of them. ha ha ha"


    Kouske did not say too much and simply chuckled at thesements. This was because he knew something that these guys did not. There was another trap he had secretlyid out for Liam.


    In other words, Crimson Abyss was fucked on all sides, and if everything went as nned, this headache would be taken care of once and for all.


    "All right. That''s enough." Kouske calmly said, immediately quieting down the crowd.


    "Let''s not waste time here. We still have a lot to prepare for. The battle won''t be an easy one. Don''t forget that we have to fight with our lives on the line."


    "Taking down Crimson Abyss can wait. We need to focus on this first. If we can somehow take down the isons and get the treasure orb, then we can do whatever we want to those bitches."


    "Ugh¡­ so boss, should I still continue with the pressure tactic?" One person asked.


    "Of course. Continue doing that. Don''t stop. This is very important. Continue putting pressure on Crimson Abyss and forcing them to join, then only they wouldn''t suspect anything." Kouske confidently said.


    Only the person whom he spoke to looked confused. He remained silent until Kouske left the area and then whispered quietly to his friend. "I don''t understand. Do we want Crimson Abyss to participate in this fight or not?"


    "Because if they participate, then won''t there be morepetition for this treasure? Isn''t it better that they do not take part and just get a bad name? In this way, they will never be able to get up again."


    "I mean, if they participate, then we can always sabotage them on the war ground. So I guess that also works. AhhhhH! I am so confused! What is the best route of action here?"


    The other party also looked equally confused.


    "Don''t ask me. I don''t know anything. I am simply following my orders. Besides, I don''t think we should be wasting our time thinking about things like this. What God says, we follow. It''s better that way."


    "Hmmm¡­" The first person shrugged. He also couldn''t help but agree.


    "You are right. Only because we followed his words were we able to establish ourselves in the world so soon and so easily."


    "After this ison thing, we will basically be the Kings of this world. Can you imagine? That much power! I am getting goosebumps!"


    Meanwhile... in Crimson Abyss guild headquarters...


    "ves?" Alex silently fumed. Standing next to her, Rey was pretty sure that his sister did not look any different than a demon at the moment, and the guild chat wasn''t helping at all.


    The idiots seemed to havepletely forgotten about the huge war that was going to happen in a matter of few hours and instead focused on trash-talking Crimson Abyss? What the hell was this?


    Did these peoplepletelyck any kind ofmon sense?


    Surely, they couldn''t be that confident. After all, the isons were a threat that was above anything they had seen both in the real world and back inside the game. So how could anyone be confident when fighting against these insects?


    Even the most foolish idiots would know this much. This was why Rey was left speechless. He could understand all the other instances when Crimson Abyss was constantly bashed, but he couldn''t understand this.


    There was a fucking waring, for god''s sake! Can''t you talk about that?


    "Somebody is pulling strings." Hao Yuze suddenly said.


    "Oh?"


    Alex turned sharply to look at the guy. "You are right! This is just not natural. Why would someone be constantly bashing our guild at this crucial time? It just doesn''t add up. It is almost as if they want to provoke us."


    The other guild members gathered in the magic shop also nodded in agreement. Now that they thought about it, only this particr exnation seemed to make sense. They were definitely provoking them into joining the war.


    "These guys are surely nning something." Alex punched the desk in front of her, making the fairy sigh and shake her head. By now, even that fairy was used to Alex''s hot-headedness.


    "They must be nning some sort of underhanded strategy to sabotage us and attack us in the name of this war."


    Several others also chimed in, agreeing with her.


    "We should not get lured in just because these idiots are bad-mouthing us."


    "We should y it safe and stay away from this."


    However, amidst this, Rey alone pointed out something else. "Should we go and take a look at the magic shop in India where bro has gone? I think there might be something going on there."


    "Huh?"


    "I feel like these people are trying to divert our attention too much. What if they nned something with bro? What if they are waiting to ambush him or something? We are only thinking about the war, but the real target might be Liam!"


    Rey''s words rang loudly amidst an ufortable silence. At this point, no one knew for sure if Liam was injured or not, so no one also knew how to react to this.


    However, his point was also valid. There was a strong possibility for this to happen. In the end, this left the group only even more confused. This was because now they had three options.


    Should they participate in the war?


    Should they sit it out?


    Or should they sit it out and make a move as a guild to India in order to help Liam?


    The entire group became silent as no one seemed to be able toe to any decision logically. At this point, it simply felt like a coin toss. Even experienced old experts like Lan Ganjie and Granny Ning were at a loss for words.


    Moreover, there were now only a couple more hours left to make a decision. After that, everything would be out of their hands.


    At this tense moment, all of a sudden, Alex spoke up.


    "He He. It looks like we will be participating in this war after all."


    Her eyes brimmed with a sort of raging, fierce evil glee that made everyone in the room gulp silently, and in front of her, a new message was shing in their guild interface.

 Chapter 997 Entrance In Style

    Thest few hours left for the grand war passed by in a jiffy, and soon the guilds began to assemble one after the another in the designated area.


    All the participants gathered at a magic shop that was well outside the red danger zone, which was nowpletely taken over by the isons.


    In the beginning, this area was rather small, but now it was growing and expanding quite rapidly. One could see how this was soon going to be the fate of the rest of the world if something was not done about these isons.


    This was also the first time for many people to stand up against the isons and face them directly. So most of the guilds were very nervous and anxious and kept to themselves.


    The mood in the gathering was quite somber. Everyone mulled over these drastic changes just a few weeks had brought about after the apocalypse.


    If things were so difficult at this point, then what was going to happen in the future?


    Though quite a number of guilds had assembled, no one bothered socializing or anything of that sort.


    The groups mostly stuck to themselves. They murmured and whispered amongst themselves as they eyed everyone else from the other guilds.


    They were people of various nationalities, races, colors, and cultures assembled at the same spot, so it was interesting to see everyone''s attitude in general.


    More importantly, everyone also observed the gear and equipment donned by the neighboring groups. After all, when in danger, sometimes one only needed to outrun the person next to him in order to survive.


    Everyone was busily assessing the items and weapon condition and guessing their allies'' levels and sses. Some made very detailed guesses just from simple things like the speed at which someone walked or raised their hand to pick their noses.


    It was absurd, but this was a good chance to spy on thepetition. Though they had alle here to coborate, tomorrow, they would disperse once again and be simply acquaintances.


    Who knew who would throw down a guild war challenge and when? So it was best to assess and probe the various guilds while they had the chance.


    While fighting against isons was nerve-wracking in one way, everyone assembling together like this was also creating tension in its own way. The air was electric with this palpable mixture of both hostility andradery.


    Besides, the Grand War, dubbed the war of the century, was going to start any minute now. This added fuel to the fire as everyone was restless and walked around on eggshells.


    The gathering as well started bing bigger and bigger with each passing second.


    More and more guilds filtered in, and the ce started bing extremely crowded, with now more than 50,000 people gathered, all in the same area.


    When these many people had gathered, it was inevitable that some fights would break out as well. Things quickly started bing rowdy.


    However, before things could take a turn for the worse, a loudmanding shout reverberated in the air. With this, about twenty tall and armored fighters walked out of the magic shop.


    These twenty were none other than the twenty Generals of the various United Nations guilds. Their entry immediately caught the attention of everyone assembled as all of them emitted a strong aura.


    This aura was naturally different from the innate powerful aura the Hive Queen or the Divine Temple Priestess exuded. This aura was more rted to the eye-catching attire of these twenty Generals.


    From top to bottom, they were decked in glittering armor and several essories. They also had huge weapons, shining in their brilliance and making the countless gathered popce extremely envious.


    One look at these Generals, and one could see that their levels werepletely head and shoulders above the rest of them. They were superior to all others in every which way possible.


    Normally, this would have sparked insane jealousy, but right now, because of the imminent war, the presence of these powerful fighters only garnered awe and respect from the various guild members.


    With just a single notice, everyone immediately quieted down without any exception and stared at these twenty Generals with their eyes peeled open.


    Was the Grand War finally about to begin?


    Everyone''s heart hammered in nervousness as they waited eagerly for the next instructions to arrive. Their lives and the future of the depended on this!


    This seriousness quickly sunk in at the sight of the majestic twenty Generals.


    Of course, no one paid any attention to the other powerhouses who were mixed in with the crowd, even to the person who stood at the top above everyone else.


    Two Americans and One Japanese stood somewhere inconspicuously in the middle of the crowd. "Still no word from Crimson Abyss?" The Oracle, Caden asked indifferently.


    "No." Kouske shook his head. "I don''t think that they wille. That guy is still busy in the dungeon, and without his say-so, I don''t think the guild will act."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    Unsettled with the silence that he got as a reply, Kouske creased his eyebrows and asked again, "You don''t agree?"


    Barrett slightly winced at this question as he felt that Kouske''s usually polite tone was changing ever so slightly these days, and this time, he did not even show any respect.


    Or maybe he was overthinking things. He sighed and shook his head, once again paying attention to the conversation.


    But it looked like the Oracle was not in the mood to answer Kouske''s question. A golden radiance flickered in the man''s gaze every now and then as he seemed to be in deep thought.


    Finally, after a few minutes, he murmured. "Today¡­ What is meant to ur shalle to pass, as destiny shall im what is rightfully its own without any exemptions."


    "This¡­ This¡­" Barrett looked shocked.


    Kouske, however, cryptically remained silent. There was a look of determination on his face and a confidence that screamed he will not be outdone.


    The three of them then continued watching the crowd as they slowly began to sort themselves out under the guidance of the twenty Generals.


    The different guilds stood together as different units, and the members of each guild stood in an ordered square pattern with stronger members at the front and weaker ones at the back.


    However, there were too many people to count. So the Generals started splitting the gathered forces into six different armies. One General tookmand of each of these armies.


    This distribution and rearrangement took quite some time, and after about an hour, the different armies looked finally ready to depart.


    Now that all the preliminary arrangements werepleted, everyone silently looked at the Generals for the main event, the discussion of the battle strategy.


    How were they going to tackle the invincible isons? This was the question on everyone''s minds.


    And just as one of the Generals was about to open his mouth¡­ suddenly, another batch of people walked out from the magic shop.


    Of course, the various guilds had still not finished assembling, and people were continuing to walk out of the magic shop every second, so this was only normal, but this batch of people was too eye-catching to be ignored.


    They stood out from the rest of the plebeians as each and every one of them was donned in brilliant armor and equipment. Some of their items seemed to be even better than the ones the twenty Generals had on.


    This made theirst-minute entry specifically stand out. The moment they stepped out of the magic shop, theymanded everyone''s attention. Every single person turned to stare in that direction.


    In the midst of this silence, suddenly someone shouted. "Hey! Isn''t that the Crimson Abyss? That''s Alex Thornwood!"


    It was not until this person pointed out that realization dawned on the big army on the whole. Crimson Abyss was here!


    Compared to others, Alex was always a celebrity, so everyone immediately recognized her.


    The next second, a wave of uproar spread across the crowd,pletely recing the serious war atmosphere that was present just a second ago.


    The presence of the fiery redhead and the charming blonde prince standing next to her was simply too much of a shock!


    Not to mention they were decked from top to bottom in brilliant armor. The big broad sword in Alex''s hand instantly became the envy of countless men.


    But this was before the rest of the group arrived. Right behind Alex and Rey were Shen Yue and Mei Mei.


    While Shen Yue took the crowd''s breath with her mere presence, Mei Mei''s Emerald Crown shone and sparkled with a luster that could only belong to a legendary item!


    As if these three beauties were not enough, Lan Fen and Kang Minah also joined them, making everyone stare at the group wordlessly.


    The army that was chalked full of testosterone became frozen for a moment, with all the beauties lining up one after the other.


    And in the midst of this dumbfounded crowd, one person alone licked his lips viciously. "You were right all along, big brother. My prey is here."

 Chapter 998 Star Of The Show!

    Seeing all the attention Crimson Abyss was getting, the twenty Generals did not remain idle.


    "Silence," the leader of the battalion standing closest to the magic shop shouted in hismanding voice. He seemed to be of the warrior ss, as the way in which hismanding shout echoed definitely had mana infused in the sound waves.


    The General then turned toward Alex and spoke to her stiffly, "You arete."


    However, just as he said that, another group of people exited the magic shop and joined the crowd without any muss or fuss.


    Alex clicked her tongue and sarcastically nced at this sight. "So all these rules are just for our guild or for everyone else? I don''t see you questioning that guild?"


    "Hmph! They did not create this much disturbance!" The guy''s face twitched.


    "Oh? But I didn''t do anything? I am just standing here silently." Alex purposefully made a pitiful expression. It was clear that she was acting, but it was still enough to move the hearts of several of the assembled men.


    Besides, the row full of beauties standing in the front was enough to buy some brownie points for Crimson Abyss.


    "Shouldn''t it be fine? Everyone is just getting here." Someone loudlymented.


    "Yes. Yes. There is no need to waste time on this. They can join our battalion. There is some space here right next to me."


    "We all had a problem because Crimson Abyss stayed silent and did not participate in the war, but now they are here. So it''s all good. Let''s just invite the guild in."


    The few Generals standing in front of the crowd had ugly expressions on their faces.


    They especially knew how much effort was spent to bad mouth the guild these past few days, but now the mere presence of these few bitches was enough to overturn their efforts? This won''t do!


    The General inmand quickly raised his hand. "That''s enough. No one is criticizing anyone here. Since the guild registered at thest minute, we are having topromise our battle strategy and make adjustments."


    "This is a safety issue. This is a war, not a party get-together, toe in and leave as you please."


    "Ha Ha. You don''t have to worry too much about this, Mister. We are just one hundred and fifty in number. There are thousands of men assembled here. I am sure you can squeeze our little one fifty anywhere here."


    The General''s face twitched again. Just one hundred fifty? That was true, but each of them was equal to ten or twenty normal fighters. Was she forcing him to admit this openly?


    He was about to open his mouth and say something when another one of the Generals stepped forward and spoke on his behalf. "You are right, Miss Alex. Feel free to join any battalion as you wish."


    "What-" The other General couldn''t ept this, but the first one shook his head and signaled him not to speak. Instead, he once again spoke. "By the way, may I know where Miss Alex managed to get so many high-tier items?"


    "All your guild members are well-equipped. Perhaps if you could share this secret with all of us, then we would also be able to strengthen our ranks?" He smiled politely.


    "Come on. Can you not share with us even this small thing after creating such a scene at thest minute? Surely, you must have a secret way." His words rang loudly, especially thest part about having a secret method.


    Now it was Alex''s turn to wear an ugly expression. Hearing about the ''secret method,'' even those who were supporting them earlier now looked at them as if they hadmitted some sort of grave sin and murdered several children.


    "Yes, if you have some method like that, you should have shared it with others."


    "Do you know how much we have all suffered?"


    "How is your level so high?"


    With just a few words, the attention waspletely diverted, and Crimson Abyss was once again on the losing side of this conversation.


    However, Alex did not appear to be faltered because of this. She smiled calmly and shook her head.


    "What are you saying, Mister? What secret method? Just like you, we also purchased our items from the magic shop. Do you mean to say that you had some secret method to obtain items?"


    She was not losing out at all as she immediately tossed the ball right back into their court.


    Public opinion was undoubtedly divided after this as they were not blind. They could see that both sides had spectacr gear on them whenpared to the rest of the guilds, who might as well be beggars in this scenario.


    Alex grinned confidently as she stared back at the obnoxious man, but to her surprise, he did not continue this useless endeavor.


    "Alright. Let''s talk about thister. Currently, we need to focus on the war preparations." Another General stepped forward and ended the issue.


    "Please take your ce at the 6th battalion. Since you joined at thest minute and did not put any effort into training for this war, this is the only spot we can afford to assign you. Please leave."


    Alex gave the guy a stare, but she also did not dwell on this matter any further. She silently waved her hand and started walking to her assigned spot.


    The rest of the Crimson Abyss also followed her. Everyone took their positions and stood nonchntly.


    The General who oversaw this silently simmered inside. However, he also did not say anything. It was almost as if they had received orders not to provoke Crimson Abyss anymore.


    But they did not care. After all, this was just the assembly. The main event and the real fireworks were yet to begin. The victor and the loser would be decided then!


    The Generals did not pay any more attention to Crimson Abyss and went back to the assembly meeting.


    However, the star of the show was still Crimson Abyss as all of the hundred and fifty members walked over to stand in their respective positions.


    The nging sounds of their gear, their brilliantly shimmering attire, and the pride and aura exuded from each and every one of the hundred and fifty guild members was enough to arouse awe and envy from the thousands of gathered troops.


    If the sight of the Generals made them pay attention, the sight of these hundred and fifty Crimson Abyss guild members made everyone''s blood boil!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank PleaseDontLaugh for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 999 Carefully Made Plans...?

    After the initial shock and awe, Crimson Abyss quickly settled in the crowd. Even though they were still sticking out with all their glitter and mor, making other people nce at them every now and then, at least this did not create anyrge-scale disturbance.


    In the midst of this gathering, Rey quickly whispered to Alex. "Sis, they did not ask a single word about our legendary items."


    "Everything else can be purchased from the store, but even the dumbest of them should know that we somehow transferred the legendary items directly from the game."


    "If they really wanted to make us look bad, shouldn''t they have tried to rally everyone by talking about this?"


    "Hmmm¡­" Alex silently nodded.


    "This means that-" Rey began speaking, but Alex interrupted him.


    "This means that they are definitely plotting to get rid of us during this war." She spoke on his behalf, then unexpectedly broke into a smile.


    "But, isn''t that why we are here? Heh. In fact, I can''t wait for them to start. My hands are itching."


    "He He." Rey also chuckled and shook his head. He was usually more gentle than his sister, but in this particr matter, he absolutely agreed with her. Some people only learn when the lesson was taught the hard way.


    After Crimson Abyss settled themselves amidst the rest of the army, there was no more unnecessary loose talk. The Generals conducted themselves with a proper military attitude and stuck to the topics rted to the war.


    First, the discussion about the terrain began. The current red zone they were tackling was in Africa, in the middle of a dense wilderness.


    "Our scouting reports show that many of the nts here have be carnivorous, and we have to watch out for not only the insects but also these nts."


    "Unfortunately for us, the nts do not seem to want to consume these insects, so the two groups are not fighting with each other. This would have greatly reduced the burden for our army, but now we have to tackle both of these problems."


    "It is also important that the carnivorous nts have a huge weakness for fire-type attacks. Please make a note of this and act ordingly."


    "Apart from the nts, our scouts have also encountered dangerous Level 30 and above predators lurking in the area. These are postted to be mutated beasts from the violet gates that appeared on earth on the first day of the apocalypse."


    "They were weaker back then. However, now they have grown to be stronger and have evolved. Some of them are also capable of using magic attacks. So be prepared to face these beasts as well."


    "Along with these threats, please be on the lookout for evolved birds in the territory. High-level dangerous beasts with flying abilities have also been sighted in the region."


    "On the brighter side, the numbers of these beasts and carnivorous nts are manageable, and this is also why we have assigned enough fighters for each battalion so that no one would be caught off guard."


    "We have already thoroughly scouted the area, and apart from the dangers listed here, there should not be any other surprises. Despite this, if any battalion encountered an unexpectedly strong enemy, please immediately use the red res distributed to the group."


    "The Generalmanding the respective battalion would then take action and nullify the threat immediately."


    Heh. Alex chuckled quietly. "These people have really done some research. Or at least they are putting on a show that they have."


    "Everything so far looks legitimate." Lan Deming also added.


    As a person who had been training in military affairs for a long time now, he could see how everyone was handling things professionally, despite the small unnecessary outbreak at the beginning when they had first arrived here.


    "They still haven''t talked about the main strategy. Let''s decide after that." Alex shrugged. In her eyes, no matter what these fools do, her opinion of them was not going to change.


    The moment they decided to entangle their personal vendetta when they were fighting amon enemy, a very strong one at that, they had lost all respect.


    A true patriot would have set aside their differences and first focused on the enemy in front of them, especially if this enemy was capable of single-handedly destroying their.


    Hmph. Alex scoffed and continued to listen to the General who dawdled on the strategy the government had picked out.


    The strategy itself was not veryplicated. The entire army was already divided into six battalions, and each had their leaders assigned. Apart from this, there was also a central elite army that was prepared for the stronger isons.


    In the next hour, the six battalions would disperse and then reassemble at six positions surrounding the entire red zone.


    When everyone was in position, the battle drums would sound, and the elite army would charge first. The six battalions would then charge after giving them a head start.


    In this way, the elite army would be free to deal with the stronger isons, leaving behind the weaker ones for the other guilds to pick apart.


    Also, the entire terrain would be covered at the same time, not leaving a single zone unexplored. This would ensure that the isons do not all swarm together in the same spot.


    The big swarm that was overwhelming to deal with by any single guild would be easily split into six different parts and attacked simultaneously. Meanwhile, the elite army would deal with the bigger isons.


    When more and more of the army is freed up after taking care of the weaker ones and culling down their numbers, then more people would be able to assist the elite army from the sidelines and provide them some additional support.


    Moreover, these fighters would be stronger than their initial condition, so the support they provide would really make a difference.


    Other than this, there were also several items prepared beforehand for the grand war, such as antidotes, medicine, food, and poison gas masks.


    In terms of weapons, the United Nations guilds were once again quite generous in their distribution and had given away several military-grade weapons to various guilds.


    There was also a battalion of civilian soldiers who would be dispatched at the end to assist the battalion that was taking the maximum damage and to help clean up the weaker isons faster.


    Overall, the battle n sounded quite solid. However, only Alex knew that this was never going to work out.


    This was because she was pretty sure that thepetent scouts that the United Nations guild used would never in a million years have found out the real terror that was hiding amidst the swarm of isons.


    In fact, she herself had almost suffered a heart attack when she heard about this. Even she could have never guessed that the isons were this terrifying. If today went wrong, everyone here would be instantly wiped out. There was simply no way out.


    But despite everything, the only reason she was still standing here and risking her life and numerous other lives was that one person.


    This was also why she knew that today was going to be explosive, to say the least. History was going to be made, and things were going to change forever!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank PleaseDontLaugh for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1000 The Grand War Begins!

    The war strategy meeting continued for another hour, along with the distribution of items and weapons.


    Many guilds were severely under-geared andpletely unprepared for the war. They had almoste here with a free attitude, as if this was still a game. It was real life, and the consequences were life and death.


    And to everyone''s surprise, United Nations guilds were extremely generous in the item distribution and supplies distribution. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to call them altruistic at this point.


    Even those who did not hold any form of government in high regard couldn''t help but admit that right now, the government was truly functioning with the world''s well-being in mind. They were not holding back at all in their effort.


    "Heh¡­ Is the world truly going to end today?" Alex shook her head, clicking her tongue. She couldn''t believe what she was seeing. It was raining frogs.


    But at the same time, she also did not care. She was more curious to see where this show was heading toward.


    p¦Á§á?¦Á-no¦Í?1¡¤§ão§® While Alex continued rolling her eyes every other second, a familiar voice sounded next to her. "I also do not trust them." A few familiar faces appeared in the vicinity.


    Alex immediately recognized them, thanks to the in-game avatars being exactly the same as the real-world appearance.


    "Hello, Mr. Abraki." She nodded with a smile. Assassin''s Alliance and Crimson Abyss had always remained neutral with each other. It wouldn''t be a stretch even to call that guild an ally.


    However, Alex had heard some things which made her keep her reservations.


    Particrly, she had heard that the vice-guild leader of the Assassin''s Alliance wasn''t as supportive of Crimson Abyss as guild leader Abraki. Not to mention, that guy was standing right next to Abraki.


    "Hello, Miss Alex."


    "Hello."


    The two of them exchanged pleasantries. Elijah, the vice-guild leader, spoke up first, "So, Miss Alex, may I know what level you have currently reached?"


    Immediately, several faces, including Rey, turned to look in that direction, all with strange expressions on their faces.


    But before any of them could say anything, Abraki responded first. "Elijah! Stop! That''s a very intrusive question. Don''t you know how to act?" The man actually scolded his most trusted aide right in front of everyone.


    Alex smiled, seeing this. She did not care as she already knew about this dynamic. "That''s a secret." She yfully replied and lightened up the mood.


    However, the other party did not seem to get the cue as he once again probed, "Just like how you somehow managed to bring out your guild''s legendary weapons from the game to the real world?"


    "Who knows." Alex shrugged.


    They had already made the decision to put everything out in the open, so she did not bother hiding things now. This was the grand stage for their guild. There was no need to y it low-key anymore.


    "Elijah!" Abraki, on the other hand, was furious. He did not know why but his best friend of several years did not seem to understand one key concept.


    Do not go against Liam!


    In the end, he could only sigh and say a few more polite words to smooth things over before excusing himself from the group. He had originally gone over there to make their presence known and maybe fight together, but now it had all gone to waste.


    The group regretfully returned back. "You could have stayed silent, you know." Abraki sighed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What for?" Elijah scoffed. "You know, with today, everything ising to an end, right? There will be no more Crimson Abyss."


    Abraki looked at his friend and again let out a sigh. "You are saying this because of that Oracle?"


    "He can see the future, you know. Don''t you think he would have seen the oue already? Why else would you think he has everyone assembled here?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "What? You don''t have an argument?"


    Abraki silently smiled. After a while, he looked back at Alex with various thoughts in his mind. "Is the future really set in stone?" He mumbled under his breath in a low voice, only for himself to hear.


    No matter what, the answer would be revealed soon. For now, they just needed to do their best in this war and survive. After all, unlike that monster, he did not have the ability to worry about these things.


    Abraki quickly resumed discussing his guild members. On the side, the guild vice-leader Elijah alone continued to nce ever so often at Crimson Abyss, his eyes narrowed as if he was thinking deeply about something.


    But his actions did not go as unnoticed as he thought. "Sis, that guy is still staring at us." Reyughed and said. "They are also in the same battalion as us. Do you think that he is going to try something fishy?"


    "Hmmm¡­ I don''t know. Do you have a list of every guild in our battalion?" Alex looked over, surveying their team members.


    However, most of them seemed to be new faces, except for Abraki and the Assassin''s Alliance. There were also people from all sorts of races, countries, and backgrounds. It really did not look like there was any plot that was specifically brewing against Crimson Abyss.


    In reality, many other guilds also warily looked at their battalion mates, wondering the same thing. Though they were not as publicly hated as Crimson Abyss, it was natural to be on the lookout for anyst-minute coups.


    After all, everyone here did not know each other from Adam, and once this battle was over, they were not going to be allies anymore, justpetitors.


    Another hour passed by just like this, with everyone eying each other in vignce, if not praising the government guilds for their timely help and support.


    This continued for some more time when it was almost noon, and finally, it looked like the war preparations werepleted once and for all.


    A solemn mood nketed the huge army as the sounds of war started ringing loudly.


    With the different Generals releasing the war cry, the six battalions scattered in six different directions, moving quickly to surround the red zone! The Grand War had officially begun!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank PleaseDontLaugh for sponsoring this mass release!


    Also, the 1000th chapter!


    Thank you, everyone, for continuously supporting me and Re: Evolution Online! I appreciate all the kind words and constant encouragement I receive from you all every day. The journey has been tough, and couldn''t have made it here without you all!


    I hope everyone enjoys the mass releases this weekend!

 Chapter 1001 Tear The Bitches Apart!

    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    Ka ta Ka ta Ka ta


    Footsteps echoed in the previously silent wilderness as the troops began to disperse as fast as they could while still maintaining their stamina. Alex and the rest of the Crimson Abyss members stuck together as they as well made their move.


    The six battalions epassed the red zone from six different directions, splitting the entire region like a pizza pie.


    The advantage of this strategy was already visible as, one after the other, the numerous groups slowly began toe across isons in their path.


    These insects were far and few in between, very much scattered. Their strength was also nothing to fear.


    So as per the instructions, the troops began to dispose of these insects quietly and quickly. The main purpose of this was to prevent them from sending signals to the other isons.


    Especially, with the elite team at the forefront, this process went rather smoothly as several isons were put down with overwhelming brute strength.


    Seeing the corpses of these insects littered around here and there, the troops at the back became ted. Their pace was awe-inspiring, and the nervousness and anxiety of the battle were slowly being reced by a strong fighting spirit.


    "Let''s tear these bitches apart!"


    "They came at us in millions, and that''s why we were weak! Now let''s make them have a taste of their own medicine!"


    "Hear! Hear! Teach them a lesson!"


    "Fuck the cunts!"


    "Kill! Kill! Kill!"


    Alex winced at the loud chants that were spreading across the forest. She had to admit that the start was quite good, but it was just the beginning.


    "These people are getting too excited too fast. Sigh."


    Unlike them, she knew that these isons are nothing whenpared to what was waiting ahead of them. The true test for this army was yet to make an appearance.


    However, that was not their problem. Their instructions were clear. Stay in the outer perimeter!


    And Alex was nning to do just that!


    The Crimson Abyss guild members steadily advanced forward, but at the same time, they did not reveal their full abilities.


    The forest was full of eyes that were observing their each and every move. These people couldn''t help but click their tongues in disappointment when they realized what was happening.


    But at the same time, Crimson Abyss also did not remain idle. Soon, the group came across a territory of jungle pythons that were terrorizing the troops in front of them.


    The pythons hissed loudly and used the wilderness terrain to their advantage as they attacked all the men in sight.


    While some of these people were able to take out the one or two isons that came their way smoothly, like shooting down targets in the sky at a gun range, when it came to these pythons, the story was different.


    "They have to be at least Level 45." Alex instantly assessed the situation. She then looked at Rey and Lan Fen, who stood next to her. The two of them nodded, and immediately a slew of attacks shot forward.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the meantime, Shen Yue''s nimble body had already reached the spot, the daggers in her hand tearing apart all the pythons that came her way. The long-range attacks had her back and made sure she was well-supported.


    Alex also jumped into this fray, and soon the entire nest of pythons waspletely cleared out.


    The Crimson Abyss members in the back did not even have a chance to react as the front line itself absolutely decimated everything in sight, iming all the experience points and mana cores for themselves.


    With this, the strength of the guild was finally visible for others to see.


    While the other guild members surrounding the area were hesitant about diving in to clear the pythons, just a few members of Crimson Abyss members stepped in and casually dealt with the whole thing.


    Those who witnessed this scene couldn''t help but marvel at their prowess. They stopped and stared at the guild members in awe.


    However, Crimson Abyss continued moving forward as if this was nothing. They simply cleared any hindrance that appeared on their path without breaking a sweat.


    And with such a strong guild in their battalion, the troops at the front and the back started to push forward even more confidently. Even those who dared to bad mouth Crimson Abyss on the public forum were now secretly d that the guild was on their battalion.


    In this way, things proceeded smoothly, but not for long. Soon, as the troops advanced, the number of isons started steeply increasing. Moreover, their levels were also increasing. Now the stronger ones appeared frequently.


    This considerably reduced everyone''s speed as they did not see thising. Most of the troops were promised that they would only be dealing with Level 10 or, at most, Level 20 or 25 isons, but the isons which were starting to show up were all Level 40.


    Seeing this, most of the troops came to a standstill. A Level 40 ison at their stage was equivalent to a dungeon boss or perhaps an elite. So they couldn''t shoot it down casually.


    "And thus, the first block crumbles." Alex chuckled. She was totally enjoying this.


    However, Crimson Abyss still did not remain idle. Alex charged in the front as the rest of the group split into smaller groups and handled their respective prey.


    While others stood around in fear or haphazardly coordinated, Crimson Abyss excitedly charged forward, many even shouting or fighting for their share of isons.


    Watching their behavior in envy, slowly, the other guilds also started gaining courage and started raiding these powerful insects. The fighting spirit of the top-tier guild made them rx a little, and they began fighting better.


    p¦Á§á?¦Á-no¦Í?1¡¤§ão§® Not only in battalion six but in other battalions also, simr scenes started ying out. Everyone was still full of spirit, and though the appearance of the stronger isons caught them off guard a little, they were able to recover and raid the insects.


    After all, they outnumbered the isons several times, and just a little coordination was enough to get through this first hurdle.


    Soon their spirits began to soar again, and the sound of the war rang loudly amidst the wilderness with magic, weapons, and bombs disying a splendorous show.


    However, these troops at the back had little idea that the main elite team had already run into the next hurdle.


    Currently, the honored elite team of the army was standing in front of the next wave of mutated and evolved isons, almost all of them at Level 50 or 65, and among these isons, there were even two Level 150 Generals!


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank PleaseDontLaugh for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1002 Caged Insects

    "Level¡­ level 150?"


    All the elite team members looked shocked.


    There were about a hundred members in this elite team and all of them were equipped with above average gear.


    This was on an entirely different level than the ones that were distributed. Most of this gear was of magic grade and unique grade and even had a few special effects.


    However, even these people could only stand dumbfounded at the sight of the terrifying creatures.


    Not only were there about a hundred or more Level 50 to 60 isons, there were also two Level 150 isons leading this small swarm.


    The isons had evolved way faster than anyone had ever imagined!


    What were they supposed to do now? Everyone had prepared for this day, for this war, after making certain assumptions. Everything was carefully nned based on the scouts reports. Now everything was wrong?


    Several of the Elite team members shivered and trembled.


    The Grand War had only barely begun and they already faced a mass wipeout. What sort of a darkedy was this? They were mere ants in front of these isons. How could such a big mistake have happened? Who was responsible for this massive oversight?


    It did not make sense! This should not be happening! Was this world doomed after all?


    The entire elite team waspletely shaken. This was the first time for these people toe across a swarm of this size and strength. So their previous courage and arrogance vanished in a second.


    Some covered their faces with their hands and copsed on the ground. Some peed their pants and started inching backward. Some started praying. There were even a couple who had totally lost it andmitted suicide, no longer willing to live in this world that did not make sense.


    However, before the majority of them could take such drastic measures, something unexpected happened. Before the isons could reach the army and tear them apart into shreds, another group of men arrived from the wilderness.


    If one looked closely, these men were all impressively geared, some even better than the elite team. These men were previously standing hidden amidst the first battalion but now they had separated themselves from the troops and arrived next to the elite army.


    More importantly, the shocking thing about this group of men was the vague dark aura that swirled around the entirety of the group. It was not something anyone can pinpoint but the aura was definitely palpable.


    And in the middle of this group was none other than the man who was leading the entire war from the shadows, the Oracle and his right hand, the man who was feared by many and called the God of Death, Kouske.


    The moment they arrived, the elite army immediately recognized these two VIPs and looked at them in fear and dread.


    That was right. It was this man whom they had followed. It was this man whom they revered and trusted with their very life. It was because of this man that this entire war was happening.


    So how could he possibly go wrong?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    No. No. There was no way he could go wrong! He had to be correct. Otherwise, today the entire humanity would be wiped out.


    But no amount of blind faith was going to save them at this point. The swarm of isons was right in front of them. In a second, they were all going to be dead. What could someone like him even do?


    The next second before anyone could say anything Kouske reacted first. With a wave of his hand, a horde of about hundred undead appeared on the battleground. Immediately, a stench of death permeated the air.


    This group of undead firmly stood between the iing isons and the elite army. Moreover, every single one of these undeads were Level 50.


    Just like that, the swarm of isons did not seem as threatening anymore. With these terrifying undead on their side, there was still hope for victory!


    However, right at this time, the two ison Generals acted. Seeing the strength of the enemy undergo an explosive increase, the two Generals sted forward at top speed, covering the distance between them as if it was nothing.


    Not only was the level of these two isons considerably high but their capabilities also seemed to be no joke. This was clear from the way they moved. Their speed and agility was off the charts with anyone barely able to see them.


    Only after they arrived, the elite army realized the obvious. It looked like their fate was still sealed after all. Even a formidable army of undead was not enough to take down two monsters like this.


    If, by chance, these two insects were capable of unleashingrge-scale attacks, then their entire elite unit would be wiped out in a single move. Naturally, the others in the outer perimeter of the red zone would not be an exception. It would be their turn next.


    Oh, Lord! Why would there be such monsters on their which only weeks before waspletely different? How could such things grow so fast?


    The two Level 150 isons did not care about the thoughts of mere mortals, nor they intended to wait for them to ept their fate. The moment they arrived, their bodies started spinning wildly, and several small spears appeared around them.


    It was unclear what these spears were made of. However, a powerful electric current sizzled around these spears. The power radiated from these spears was so strong that even if one touched someone slightly, they might just st apart from the impact.


    So what was going to happen when these spears inevitably bombard the army gathered? Complete and utter decimation!


    p¦Á§á?¦Á-no¦Í?1¡¤§ão§® However, before something like this could happen, the man at the center of this whole affair chanted something under his breath and raised his hand.


    The next instant, two golden cages appeared and dropped onto the two isons,pletely arresting and imprisoning them on the spot.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1003 Let It All Burn!

    [Absolute Servitude]


    By now, Kouske had seen this skill hundreds of times, and yet he couldn''t help but be amazed every single time. Moreover, the sight he witnessed at the moment confirmed many things.


    The Oracle, Caden, had mastered the skill to such an extent that even a level 150 being was not immune to hismand. His mastery in this element had already crossed what normal people could achieve a long time ago.


    Even though Kouske worshiped this man, for some reason, this did not sit well with him. His gaze turned from indifference to hatred for a moment which then again quickly switched back to indifference.


    He knew that now was not the time to linger on this. As soon as the Oracle arrested the two ison Generals, Kouske immediately leaped into action.


    He activated two of his recently acquired skills that allowed him to buff his undead army. Instantly, small sparks of blue fire could be seen in the hollow eyes of the undead as they began charging forward, just in time to sh with the swarm of isons.


    "My undead will take care of these insects." Kouske''s voice sounded loud. "Don''t just stand there and support them. This swarm is nothing. Let''s wrap this up quickly before those two be loose."


    Ah! Everyone dumbfoundedly nodded. The elite army that had totally lost all of its honor and decorum as soon as they faced the aura of a Level 150 monster, now slowly started recovering. Their fighting spirit once again red, and the group proved worthy of their elite title.


    Equipped with high-quality weapons and weeks of intensive training both inside the game and outside, the game slowly became apparent as the group started putting down the isons skillfully.


    As soon as they overcame the fear of death, the tides started changing immediately.


    Surprisingly, the other unit that came along with Kouske and the Oracle did not even have this small hick-up. They stood firm and resolute as if they never faltered and never doubted anything, even after seeing the Level 150 isons.


    p¦Á§á?¦Á-no¦Í?1¡¤§ão§® Instead, the entire group started pelting the swarm of isons with fireballs one after the other. They all seemed to be long-range fighters at first nce, to be more specific mages.


    Their attacks were also big and chunky, and five of their strategically ced attacksbined together did enough damage to take down a Level 60 ison.


    Soon, there was fire everywhere, and the mes roared alive, making the entire battleground seem like hell. The entire wilderness was burning, even the sturdiest trees and nts.


    More and more isons died, and experience points rained down on the army.


    If anyone saw this, they wouldn''t believe that this was the same group who had choked in the beginning. Despite theirte start, they nowpletely owned the fight.


    "Good! Good! Let it all burn! This is how it should be! Ha Ha Ha!"


    Kouskeughed in satisfaction. His minions were the ones who were doing maximum damage in this fight, and he was also taking in a good chunk of experience points that brightened up his mood a lot.


    But there was another reason why his mood was this good. He looked at the Oracle, grinning maliciously. "Soon¡­"


    The Oracle, on the other hand, only simply smiled in response. Just like Kouske, he seemed to be having his own private thoughts upying his mind, and he was clearly not willing to share these even with Kouske.


    The Japanese stared at the man for a few seconds before turning back and focusing on the battleground. However, his jaw ticked, clearly showing that he was not pleased with what had just happened.


    But Kouske was determined not to let anything ruin his mood at the moment. This was because¡­ right about now¡­ his prey should have been cornered!


    At the exact same time, the fight in the outer perimeter of the unruly jungle was also heating up. The weaker isons were slowly getting ughtered by the various guilds.


    The levels of these isons were slowly starting to increase, but the sheer numbers of the troops were enough to overwhelm these insects.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When outnumbered, even the level 50 isons were less terrifying. To add to this, the mob mentality was also infectious as everyone knew that they were already here and they now had nothing to lose.


    So they charged forward with guns zing and mana crackling like there was no tomorrow. Die! Die! Die! Everyone fought with a never before seen craze.


    The more the isons died and the more experience points umted, this further added fuel to the fire and encouraged the troops to attack even more wildly.


    This scene was the same everywhere in every sector.


    After the slow start, things were now finally starting to heat up, and for once, it looked like humanity was going to win this war after all.


    In the midst of this raging battle¡­ in sector six alone¡­ suddenly, something unexpected happened.


    Rey''s movements slowed down as he noticed a few strange urrences. There were now a lot more footsteps echoing around himpared to the way things were when the battle started.


    Sometimes he was able to even see a few more people around him than usual, but as soon as his gaze fell on them, they would disperse. He also had a gut feeling that something was afoot.


    And Rey did not take his instincts lightly.


    Among the various Crimson Abyss members, his instincts were probably one of the best, right after Liam. In fact, this was also because of Liam.


    Once upon a time, Liam had sent several guilds after Rey, and he was hunted down by yers left and right and killed multiple times.


    Those days he was forced to be tangled in PVP day in and day out until he finally lost almost the entirety of his soul.


    Rey always had a rueful smile when he thought back to those days, but in reality, he was now somewhat thankful for it.


    This was because all of thosebat where he was hanging on for his dear life had sharpened all of his senses to a terrifying level.


    Now, these same senses were screaming at him that something was wrong.


    And it looked like it was not just him.


    Alex had suddenly fallen back, and her movements became slower. "Everyone group back up." She shouted in hermanding voice.


    All the Crimson Abyss members immediately obeyed her as soon as they heard the order. Though they were all fighting separately, they had always been within earshot of each other, and now they were able to fall back into the formation instantly.


    This happened just in time because the next second, several attacks started flying toward the guild members.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1004 I Died?

    "Bastards!" Shen Yue gritted her teeth. She and the rest of the guild group came to aplete halt as they suddenly found themselves fully surrounded by people on all sides.


    The weird part was that these people were quite well-geared whenpared to the rest of the troops of the sixth battalion.


    Just like other Crimson Abyss guild members, Shen Yue had also paid close attention to all the members of their battalion while they were still standing in the assembly gathering, so she recognized some of these faces.


    They did not belong to any single guild. Rather they were dispersed in various guilds, the onlymon link being that all these people had above-average fighting gear.


    However, a big portion of these people were from Assassin''s Alliance guild. Shen Yue immediately recognized the vice-leader Elijah who stood amidst the ck-clothed men.


    Even with their face covered, the man had a peculiar pair of daggers that were curved, which had caught her attention earlier.


    "So the Assassin''s Alliance is colluding with them." Shen Yue''s gaze turned cold. She knew this was one of the guilds Liam favored, which made her extra furious.


    Shen Yue was normally a kind andpassionate person who seldom had problems with others or held grudges, or even became angry. She believed in forgiving. Live and let live!


    However, right now, what these people were doing was absolutely unforgivable even for her.


    The fate of the entire world rested in this battle and the next one, which also needed to be inevitably fought to clear these red zones from the face of the earth. But what do these scum do?


    They, instead, focus on petty rivalries and personal vendettas. Instead of standing united and shooting down themon enemy, they use this chance to settle old scores.


    Shen Yue''s green-color ison blood-soaked daggers shone with a mysterious glint as her figure nimbly disappeared.


    Surprisingly, she had not activated [Stealth] or any skill that was simr to [Stealth]. Rather she had mastered the ability to push her agility to such an extent that she could appear invisible for a short period of time when needed.


    Of course, this also required the other party''s level to be appropriately low, which in this case, it was. After all, these past few days, Crimson Abyss had undergone hellish training, which these people absolutely had no idea about!


    Shen Yue''s figure disappeared, and the next second, she was standing behind the core member of the Assassin''s Alliance, Elijah, the guild vice-leader.


    The other party was also a closebat fighter with fast reflexes, but at this moment, neither his talent nor his item could hold a candle to Shen Yue.


    With the speed with which she reacted, the man waspletely unaware of her presence. Elijah was thoroughly enjoying himself, watching all the Crimson Abyss yers scramble to stand together.


    "He He He. No formation is going to save you bitches today!" He sneered in contempt, which clearly stemmed from jealousy.


    This was a grudge that he had nursed for a long time. Both Crimson Abyss and Assassin''s Alliance were guilds from the same kingdom, and yet while Crimson Abyss always soared high in the sky, they could only watch on from the depths of mediocrity.


    This was not eptable. Their guild was one of the top guilds in every single game that was released up until now. They were the top dogs, not this makeshift guild that came out of nowhere and relied on a single guy and a bunch of women.


    This was another sore point for Elijah. He had been single for most of his life, but the hateful guy who was used of handing out ve contracts to women had a bunch of beautiful women flocking towards him all the time.


    With all these small things and the way Liam had dicked around the guild and stolen the golems that belonged to them, everything slowly began to build up and formed a big scar in his heart that could never be healed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Unlike Abraki, who was a spineless coward, Elijah was not someone who was going to pull his pants down and disy his ass for Liam to screw over. He was going to pay back everything a hundredfold! A thousandfold!


    All the insults, all the failures, all the disappointments¡­ He wanted to make it all even right now and here. If he lets this chance slip, there would not be another chance like this.


    Already he had let things go too far. If he sits on his ass and takes no action, soon, just like back inside the game, Crimson Abyss might really be an Overlord in the real world as well.


    Elijah knew that he absolutely could never let that happen. His cold eyes searched for the perfect target to assassinate.


    There was Alex, the redhead vice-guild leader, but she was a star of the show. Several eyes were on her, which made her a bad target.


    There was Rey, her brother. There were some new talented yers, many juicy targets. But Elijah really wanted to hit Liam where it hurt.


    He wanted to make him a mere husk of the man he always pretended to be. He wanted to destroy himpletely, and for that, Elijah knew the perfect target.


    It was the young girl with the emerald crown!


    She not only had a legendary item on her person, but she was also rumored to be very close to Liam. Some even spected that they were siblings.


    Elijah licked his lips as he decided his target. Today he was going to take two things away from Liam. "You are going to be sorry that you did not show up today." He sneered and moved.


    He still did not have a [Stealth] skill, but his level was close to 30, and he had also put a lot of stats in agility. This, coupled with his natural physique that he had trained hard, made him apetent assassin, stealth or not.


    So he was quite confident in his ability to take down a person once he had them locked on, and now he had locked onto Mei Mei. With a vicious grin, Elijah made his move.


    He was like a viper in the jungle that leaped towards its meal. His movements were sharp and resolute.


    Or at least they should have been.


    However, Elijah found that, for some reason, his body today was sluggish. Very sluggish. It was not listening to him. He was not moving?


    The assassin''s cold gaze flickered in confusion as he found himself suddenly staring at the sky. No, not at the sky but a mesmerizingly beautiful face under the sky.


    His heart skipped a beat. As blood gushed out of his throat and his head rolled on the ground, all he could think about was that beautiful face as he let out hisst breath.


    I died?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1005 Ruthless Retaliation - The Power Of An S-Rank Guild!

    After the first head rolled on the ground, all hell broke loose. One by one, the ck-clothed figures in the group attacking the Crimson Abyss guild started dropping dead.


    The retaliation was painfully instant. It was almost as if the other party was expecting this to happen. By the time the attackers surrounded the Crimson Abyss guild and started their onught, their ranks were also under attack.


    More importantly, their side seemed to be the one who was suffering. Blood sttered everywhere as, one after the other, the ambushers started disappearing and hitting the ground.


    The result was so overwhelming that, for a second, everyone couldn''t help but be confused. Who orchestrated the ambush, and who was the one who was attacking here?


    Everything was happening in reverse.


    The initial volley of attacks was easily blocked by Alex using a divine shield to cover the guild, and those who were out of the area of coverage moved on their own to evade the attacks.


    But this was the one and only defensive y the Crimson Abyss guild performed. The moment after that, the tables were instantly turned.


    Rey''s arrows pierced a few throats. Lan Fan''s needle-sized ice spears blinded the enemy and passed right through the opening to stab them in their brains.


    Mei Mei busily cast all of her buffs to strengthen everybody. She also then started taking out all the men surrounding them one by one.


    The entire ce became aplete mess. Tossed into this chaos were also Master Ning and her disciples.


    The old granny wasgging behind Liam, but she was surely not second to anyone else. Her moves were also mysterious as they used both martial arts and mana enhancement techniques.


    She fought with the vigor of a young tigress as she charged toward the enemy surrounding them without any fear and tore through their ranks.


    No one was even able to block or evade her moves, let alone attack back. The level of the two sides was simply on a different scale.


    Aside from these fighters, there were also a few assassin-type yers who were already behind the enemy lines.


    Shen Yue, Lan Deming, and Ning Xi made their moves almost instantly.


    Shen Yue alone was an unstoppable force, but along with her Lan Deming and Ning Xi were also mixed in. Numerous throats were shed without any mercy.


    The most pitiful ones were the Assassin''s Alliance members. After they watched their guild vice-leader''s head roll down in horror, their bodies hesitated toply with the ambush.


    The thought of why they were even involved in this ambush in the first ce arose in their hearts and minds. However, it was already toote.


    From the retaliation so far, it was clear that Crimson Abyss had decided to take the brutal path. There was no room for forgiveness, and it was abundantly visible from their actions.


    Each and every attack was aimed at killing. Within minutes, the thousand-plus attackers who had ambushed the guild from the sidelines were reduced to hundreds.


    While dread and fear filled the faces of these attackers, the Crimson Abyss members seemed to enjoy the massacre.


    Everyone had taken a look at the guild chat and bore with all of the public shaming and unfair allegations that were thrust upon them all these days.


    But today, finally, they had a chance to vent out, and no one was willing to give it up!


    "Did you really think that we came here without preparations?" Alex shouted loudly, instilling fear in the hearts of the remaining people.


    Crimson Abyss fully let loose, and the power and strength of an actual S-Rank guild was on disy for everyone to witness.


    Abraki watched this horror from the sidelines. He had no idea any of this was about to happen and waspletely caught off guard, just like the Crimson Abyss members were supposed to have.


    However, nothing had gone ording to n, and now his guild members'' bodies were littered everywhere in the dense jungle. His heart pained as he walked from one corpse to another.


    Assassin''s Alliance guild members had worn ck clothing for this expedition as it was reported that the wilderness here was so thick that not even sunlight could sneak in.


    But right now, this dress code was only being used to identify his men who had been killed. These people had been his friends and family for years, and now they were lying dead without even any meaning.


    He finally came across a familiar face, and he could no longer muster the courage to move anymore. It was Elijah, and his head was severed from his body, and his eyes were still wide open.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Abraki squatted on the ground next to him, and with a sigh, he closed the man''s eyes. "Why did you do this? I told you countless times. I warned you again and again. Why did you do this, you idiot?"


    "You ruined the entire guild!"


    He copsed on the ground, his heart no longer having the strength to continue forward. He clutched his head and continued to stare at his dead friend and brother.


    He wanted to me him for everything. He wanted to make hime back alive and then kill him with his own hands.


    He was so furious, but in the end, Abraki knew that he had no one to me. It was only because of him that all of this had happened.


    If he had been more decisive right from the beginning and split the guild apart, taking with him his people, then perhaps Elijah would have seen the truth, and none of this would have happened.


    But now, it was toote for everything. Abraki''s heart ached as he felt endless regret filling him up. How was he going to face the rest of the guild? How was he going to face their families?


    The burden that weighed on his shoulders was not light. It made him spiral downward in an endless void. However, in the depths of this void, suddenly, he heard a voice.


    "Boss¡­"


    A few feet away from him, a feeble voice sounded. Someone was alive, and moreover, it was a familiar voice. Abraki snapped out of it and rushed forward to help his friend. Even if he could save one person¡­


    He hurriedly started searching the area, and amidst the corpses littered around, there was indeed a single person who was still alive. The person who had killed the guy did not finish the job.


    "Hey. Hey. I am here now. Hang on for a second. Please. I am here."


    Abraki rushed toward him at full speed. When he reached there, he saw that the person was brutally wounded and injured, but he was safe. None of his vital parts had been injured.


    "Abraki¡­ I am sorry. I should¡­ should have told you." The person winced in pain and tried to speak, but Abraki quickly shook his head.


    "Don''t talk now. We can talkter when we get back to the guild."


    "I begged you know¡­ I begged them not to kill me¡­ I used my unborn child to beg for my life."


    Abraki''s heart tightened, but what was he supposed to do? They were the ones who were in the wrong here. "Shhh¡­ it''s ok. We can talkter." He again consoled him.


    He looked around and saw a backpack with some supplies and opened it. There were a few bandages inside.


    Abraki used the bandages to wrap up some of the injuries and helped his friend drink some water. Tears rolled down his eyes. Why did it all have to be like this?


    He cursed his ipetence for letting thingse to this level. With a heavy heart, he silently continued administering first aid to hisrade.


    He knew that, once again, he was doing the wrong thing here. Right now, he was supposed to be fighting for the fate of the world, but here he was, tending to a single person.


    He felt like he was truly good for nothing, a failure in every single task. He let out a sigh and continued helping his friend when suddenly something happened.


    A ck mist appeared out of nowhere and swirled around his friend.


    "Huh?" Abraki''s eyes widened in shock. "What¡­"


    However, before he could understand anything, the person who was still alive and breathing suddenly started convulsing in pain. The next second, a pair of lifeless eyes stared at Abraki in terror.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank Dagorith for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1006 Who Gave You The Permission To Stop?

    "Irata.. Irata¡­" Abraki shouted with his hoarse voice. He even shook the man knowing that he was severely injured. However, there was absolutely no response at all. The person he was holding was definitely dead.


    "Why¡­" Abraki stuttered in desperation. His brain couldn''t understand what was happening. One second he was alive, and the next second he was dead? How could this be possible?


    After seeing so many corpses of his guild members, finding this one person alive was a spark that gave him hope, but now that was nipped in the bud itself.


    This was not fair. None of it was fair.


    He hugged the man''s body and let out a cry of despair. Naturally, in the middle of a war, this attracted a lot of attention.


    A couple of members of Crimson Abyss near the vicinity who were actively hunting down the guilds targeting them heard this noise and arrived at the spot.


    But before any of them couldnd an attack on Abraki, Shen Yue''s voice chimed in loudly. "Leave him be. He is not an enemy."


    A divine fragrance wafted past Abraki as a seductive and mesmerizing figure appeared in front of him. "How did he die?" Shen Yue asked.


    She saw that the man was only staring back at her listlessly, so she asked again. "How did he die? I was the one who left him alive. How is he dead?"


    Abraki snapped out of his trance after hearing this, but he still did not have an answer for her. "I¡­ don''t know¡­" He stuttered. "He was talking to me¡­ just now."


    Shen Yue narrowed her eyes. An uneasy feeling arose in her heart. This person should not have died. "Ok. Get up. Staying like this here is dangerous."


    She then disappeared again to hunt down the remaining men, who decided to stab them in the back using this chance.


    Coincidentally, she was not the only person who noticed that something was off.


    Alex stood stiff as the man she had intended to smack with her shield suddenly dropped dead all on his own.


    The same thing happened to the targets Rey had his eyes on.


    Old Master Ning was the first one to point out this anomaly as her voice thundered amidst the wilderness. "Don''t let your health drop!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.


    After she pointed this out, everyone started noticing the weird phenomenon urring all around them. The enemies whom they were fighting started suddenly dropping dead when their health became lower.


    They did not even have tond the finishing attack. All they had to do was bring down their health, and poof, the person died!


    "What the hell is happening?" Alex gritted her teeth. They hade here prepared for the ambush and the backstabbing, but this was a new twist that none of them had expected.


    "We need to group back up. Call everyone here. Right now. Healers at the center." She immediately gave the orders.


    When the Oracle was involved, she did not dare take anything lightly. In fact, even at the beginning of this expedition, she had this very same doubt.


    Was it really prudent to be so confident when that man was pulling strings from the shadows? He knew the future, after all. Wouldn''t it be better to stay out of this altogether?


    But then again, someone else had only recently reminded her.


    "Is possessing the knowledge of the future truly that remarkable? If the future is predetermined, our only course of action is to gain the strength necessary to mold it to our liking!"


    Alex smiled at the thought of the man''s arrogant words. Only he would be able to say something like that and mean it seriously.


    In the end, Liam had left the matter to her to do what she thought was right, and she had made the decision to enter this war despite knowing the risks.


    Alex did not make this decision lightly. She had thought about it a lot, and in the end, one main reason pushed her to do it.


    Sure, this move would show the world that Crimson Abyss was not a pushover.


    But that was not her main reason.


    From what Liam had said, Alex could tell that he was going to be here.


    He was going to once again stand against a red zone all on his own, and this time, the isons were not the only ones in the area. There were also these bloody bastards!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The ungrateful wretches were dying to bite the hand that fed them. They absolutely had no idea what all Liam had done for them so far. All they knew was some bullshit stories spun by the government guilds.


    Alex''s blood boiled just at the thought of those buffoons. However, they were not her concern right now. The only person who mattered was Liam!


    How would that one person possibly stand against both the isons and the humans at the same time? The isons were impossible enemies, and with these buffoons back-stabbing him, what if, by chance, he was cornered?


    That could not happen! The guild needed to support him at all costs!


    Especially because the Oracle was involved, she had made this decision. When pushes to shove, this was a move perhaps even that man had not predicted.


    She wanted to use that element of surprise to their advantage and maybe, just maybe, be ready to jump in if Liam needed their assistance.


    Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Strategizing was one thing, but executing the n was entirely another thing. There was a cost to pay the moment they decided to join this war, and now it was time to pay the piper.


    This war was their ultimate test!


    There was only so much the guild could expect from that one person again and again. It was time they stood on their own two legs. Otherwise, they would forever remain just a burden to him.


    This challenge, she was going to ept it ande out on top.


    "Come on. Come on. Faster. Let''s make sure none of us lose health." Alex shouted again.


    "Let''s move back a few paces. Only stick to the perimeter. Don''t enter the red zone."


    "Keep your eyes peeled. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, immediately inform the others."


    "We will win this time! Let''s show those fools what we are made of! We will not go down easily!"


    "Don''t let anyone''s health fall!"


    "Watch out for any stray grenades or weapons that might be firing our way! Look alive!"


    While Crimson Abyss regrouped and coordinated their efforts, the same scene could be seen everywhere else in other sectors as well.


    The troops who were finally advancing steadily, albeit the bumps and obstacles in their path, suddenly found themselves inexplicably thinning down.


    Anyone whose health had fallen below a certain threshold was dropping dead out of nowhere. Fear and panic filled the army as no one could even begin to understand this madness.


    What was happening? Who was killing them? Was this some sort of new magic unleashed by the bizarre insects?


    Already the insects they were up against were extremely overpowered, and now on top of that, this strange incident was enough to push the men into desperation.


    The battle almost came to a standstill as no one dared to take another step forward, afraid that they might also inexplicably drop dead.


    However, how could things be so easy?


    When the troops refused to move and stood transfixed, the two Generals leading the battalion finally made their moves!


    The two Level 50 experts snorted coldly and raised their weapons, but this time it was not against the isons. It was against their own men!


    "Who gave you the permission to stop? Continue moving forward or else¡­"


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1007 What New Hell Was This?

    Meanwhile¡­ The battle progressed smoothly for the elite team and the special team in the interior of the red zone.


    With the support from the undead unit and the imprisonment of the two level 150 isons, the rest of the isons in the swarm were taken care of rather quickly. Even though their levels were nothing to scoff at, the fight still ended without a single casualty.


    However, as thest of the insects from the swarm were cleared, everyone was beginning to notice the obvious problem. They still did not have any means to deal with the two Level 150 isons!


    They were sitting in their cages and hissing for now, but what about when the cooldown of the cages ran out? No one had any idea about this skill, so they couldn''t help but be apprehensive.


    But the person in charge did not seem to give any thought to these two deadly creatures. Instead, Kouske calmly ordered the troops to continue pushing forward.


    "The undead will take care of the remaining isons. Keep moving forward. Don''t stop." He issued themand, and the Generals carried out his orders.


    The two units shouted in unison and headed further into the interior of the red zone. To their surprise, the dense wilderness that was sprawled around without any restraint was suddenly starting to be thinner.


    Some of the trees and nts here seemed to be eaten clean. This was only more and more evident as the troops continued to move forward. This was not really an issue, except that their cover was gradually disappearing.


    But a few minutester, it became clear that there was no need to worry about this anymore.


    In the depth of the red zone, there wasn''t a single tree or nt left alive. Everything waspletely destroyed right to their roots. There were only rocks and barrennd around. Even the river that flowed in a segment was fully dried out.


    More importantly, in this zone where there was nothing to hide under, there were hundreds and thousands of isons flying around. The sky, the air, and thend were full of these insects. They swirled around endlessly as if the whole world was made for these insects.


    The troops felt like they were in the middle of a sandstorm, except that the sand here was these insects. There was no beginning and no end in sight. The very sight was too horrific to look at.


    There were no traces left anymore that showed that anything alive was present there. Not beasts, not humans, not trees, not nts, not even water. Everything waspletely exhausted by these insects who left behind nothing barrennd.


    This was clearly the fate that awaited the rest of the world as well!


    But what most of them did not know was that the real situation was much worse. Only a few Generals among the elite troops were sensitive enough to mana, and these men instantly figured this out.


    Every single one of them turned to look at Kouske and the Oracle, dread filling their hearts. This was because not just life was sucked out of this part of the earth but also mana!


    These isons had somehow depleted the mana in the area too. It was as if they had inhaled everything in sight without even leaving the bones out. They were simply creatures of mass destruction and eradication.


    Just how the hell did creatures like these step foot in their world? How were they supposed to fight against these monstrosities?


    The only constion was that the mana in the air hadn''t yet been fully depleted. For now, one could feel that the density here was much lower, but mana was still there.


    However, if things progressed in the same way, soon there won''t be a lick of mana left in the air or water ornd.


    And then humanity would truly be fucked as the one way for them to fight back would have also been eliminated!


    Unfortunately, in the current situation, no one had any time to think about the bleak future that awaited them.


    It only took a second for the countless isons swirling in the sky to notice the presence of new life, and these creatures swooped down in a frenzy to attack the living.


    "Don''t stand like statues! Use the grenades to create a diversion! Use the bazookas! Fire at full power and leave nothing alive!" Themander shouted.


    At the same time, the undead unit once again made its appearance. This time the army was even stronger after facing thest swarm.


    Moreover, the presence of these undead meant that the two level 150s were somehow taken care of!


    So everyone''s spirits red up as they started attacking with confidence and courage! The troops fought back with everything they had!


    Immediately, the entire area becameplete mayhem. Terror was raining down the skies, and the human beings who faced this terror stood tall and fought bravely.


    Each and every single one of these isons was level 50, so keeping them at bay required everything from their side.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Within seconds, the entirety of the elite troops and the special troops becamepletely overwhelmed. It was only a matter of time before this sandstorm of isons wholly devoured every one.


    However, the elite troops and the special troops did not falter in the slightest. They continued firing on all cylinders without a second to take a breather.


    They had, after all, faced and persevered in front of Level 150 isons, so they did not allow themselves to be scared by these puny lesser creatures.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The air crackled with mana and power as all sorts of attacks sted at the isons. The raw power was enough to st them apart. The only problem was that more and more were recing the dead insects.


    The swarm was endless.


    As seconds ticked by, even the most courageous of the Generals panted heavily without any stamina left to push further.


    As if this was not enough, a few more isons made their appearances, to be more specifically, Ison Generals. Each of them was Level 160 and above.


    Along with them, two more Ison Generals showed up. These two were Level 150, and the direction that they came from was slightly different from the others.


    To their surprise, it was the same direction they hade from!


    When everyone saw these two, they immediately understood what had happened. The previous two isons had never really been taken care of!


    Everyone was shocked at least the elite troops. This meant that they never really had any capacity to deal with these higher leveled monstrosities?


    Just what the hell were they even doing here? Wasn''t this simply a suicide mission?


    Then, right in front of their bewildered eyes, something even more shocking urred. A ck mist appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the whole area.


    What new hell was this? This was the question on everyone''s mind.


    However, shockingly, this ck mist seemed to do nothing to them. Though the aura was eerie and ominous, and clearly nothing good coulde out of it, it still did not do them any harm.


    But the same couldn''t be said for the isons.


    The moment the ck mist entered the space, the isons all started twitching and creaking.


    A deafening clicking sound filled the space as if every single one of the million insects in front of them were in absolute torturous pain!


    Just what was happening?


    Unable to understand anything, everyone could only dumbly turn to look at their leader for orders.


    Naturally, not all of them were confused by this sudden development. It looked like only the elite troops were kept out of the loop.


    The leading Generals and the special unit grinned confidently as, one by one, all the isons started fumbling about.


    "What are you looking at?! ATTACK! NOW!"


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1008 Unstoppable?

    "ATTACK! NOW!"


    As soon as the elite troops heard the orders, they began to act as if a whip was cracked on their backs. They didn''t dawdle and once again started firing using everything that they had.


    This time they put even more effort into it, full well knowing that their very lives depended on it. Unlike the swarm before, the danger in front of them was on an entirely different level.


    Unimaginable strong creatures stood in front of them, and there was absolutely no one between these creatures and them. They were free to rush forward and unleash true hell on the battleground.


    Thanks to their lucky stars, somehow, these isons were temporarily in a confused state. This was their chance! This was probably their only chance!


    They took a long look at the fearsome creatures and then mmed on the elerators, sending out every single attack in their arsenal. In a second, the area once again became aplete riot.


    Explosive sounds echoed in the air, and broken insect parts scattered here and there, along with the dark green blood that spewed out everywhere.


    It was raining isons from the sky!


    And those that fell down were mercilessly subjected to military-grade explosives.


    It took only one moment for the tides of the battle to change. As soon as the ck mist hit the space, everything became topsy-turvy.


    "ATTACK! CHARGE! KILL THE BASTARDS!"


    The army surged with fear and adrenaline. The attacks continued heating up, and more and more isons were ughtered.


    The experience pointsing from these stronger and higher-leveled isons was also very juicy. This encouraged the troops to attack with more gusto.


    However, suddenly something shifted. The ck mist was no longer to be visible, and the isons as well stopped twitching.


    Fuck! Several gasps could be collectively heard. Everyone''s heart sank as they could feel their window of opportunity slipping away right in front of them.


    More importantly, only five of the Level 150 plus isons were killed. There were still six more remaining. This number was more than enough to obliterate the rest of them!


    Everyone started attacking in a frenzy, but it was not nearly enough to take down the level 150 plus isons. The insects, which finally recovered their senses, were also not nning to stand still and take it any longer.


    Clicking sounds filled the air as the isons started finally retaliating. The six level 150-plus generals spun around at rapid speed and shot out myriad attacks that were too blinding to observe.


    The men on the front lines trembled in fear. This was it. They were done for!


    In the nick of time, they were also not seeing things clearly, so they did not notice anything odd about the attacks. Fear and panic clouded their judgments. This was, after all, probably the final moment before their death.


    The next second, the attacksnded, and the men winced in pain. However¡­ shockingly, they were all still standing?


    The elite army looked at the enemy ck-jawed. Though the isons were mostly expressionless and possessed an indifferent triangr carapace head with beady eyes, at the moment, their actions also gave a vibe as if they were confused.


    Coincidentally, both the parties realized the truth at the same time.


    The battle was still skewed on the side of the human beings!


    The isons might have stopped fumbling and snapped out of their disoriented state, but they were no longer the same insects that held disturbingly overwhelming power in their hands.


    In fact, they seemed far weaker than even a normal Level 50 ison.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At this time, someone with a [Inspect] skill shouted. "These insects are only Level 30!"


    Only now, realization dawned on everyone. The ck mist had mysteriously reduced the power level of the isons. Maybe they still had considerable health, but their attacks were not going to hit as hard.


    This battle was still within their grasp! They can still erase these ungodly existences and clinch victory bypletely cleaning out the red zone!


    "ATTACK! CHARGE!"


    The army once again jumped into action without any hesitation or fear. Though the danger had momentarily passed, they were now well aware that all of this could be temporary.


    So even if they had to enter the enemy lines, they charged with confidence and stepped forward to target and finish off the Level 150 plus isons first. These were bigger than the others, so it was easier to identify them.


    Naturally, the other isons stepped forward to protect these generals, but unfortunately for them, their attacks might as well be mosquito bites.


    When the Level 150 plus isons were reduced to mere Level 30 isons, the Level 50 isons became harmless house flies.


    The elite army scoffed arrogantly at these insects and crushed them without any mercy. They did not allow anything to stand in their path as they shed their way to the main leads.


    The men who cowered in fear before at these monstrosities now confidently aimed their attacks and sted the damned insects.


    One by one, the Generals started helplessly falling on the sidelines. If before the isons were crushed at an awe-inspiring rate, now they were simply massacred.


    The elite army might as well be stamping on them and squishing them with their feet. In a matter of seconds, the numbers dwindled, and everyone''s levels as well soared.


    Every single member of the army grinned in delight.


    At first, they had their doubts about joining this mission, but now it was proved once and for all that the United Nations were the new overlords of this world and perhaps this whole universe!


    Cheers rang out loudly as the sky was finally starting to clear up!


    Death to the insects!


    No more being afraid of these strange creatures! It was time to pay them back with interest! It was time to fight back and kill every single one of them!


    And right at this moment, when everything was in full swing, suddenly, a figure shed in the distance and appeared in front of the isons, standing in between the rest of the elite army and the army that had entered the enemy lines.


    Before anyone could react, a new different type of clicking sound emerged, and the newly arrived figure raised one of its limbs.


    The next instant, every single member of the elite troop standing behind the enemy lines died without knowing what hit them.


    They ally on the ground, their bodies limp and lifeless and their faces still full of joy and vigor, counting their unrealized victory.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1009 For The Good Of The World

    The elite troops stood frozen for a moment, their world suddenly twisted beyond recognition. None of them could react, stunned by the impossible reality thaty before them. But fortune favored them, as one man acted with lightning speed as if he had foreseen this all along.


    This man was none other than the legendary figure rumored to be the blessed son of the gods, gifted with the power to glimpse the future. And in that instant, a golden cage materialized out of thin air and plummeted towards the massive Ison that had just arrived, towering above its kin.


    The cage mmed down upon the beast with a deafening boom, the force of impact shaking the very ground beneath their feet. It was only then that the others snapped back to their senses, forced to confront the horrific reality thaty before them.


    The elite troops stood frozen in shock and terror, staring at the grotesque abomination before them. Amidst the shattered insect parts and pools of green bloody their fallenrades, adding to the gruesome scene. What manner of beast was this?


    Even the level 150 isons had been enough to strike fear into the hearts of these soldiers, but this creature was something far more sinister. It exuded an aura of malevolence and destruction, leaving the soldiers trembling in fear.


    "Level 300¡­ Hive Queen¡­" someone stuttered, but their voice was drowned out by the sudden movement of the special unit, who took center stage with their swift and decisive actions.


    The elite troops watched in awe as the group of men closed their eyes and chanted something. Their lips synced, suggesting that perhaps they were all activating the same skill.


    Meanwhile, Kouske swiftly withdrew his undead army from the battlefield, and the Oracle, stood silently watching, his presence that of a master puppeteer. He would not dirty his hands in the bloodshed but instead controlled the chaos from afar.


    The elite troops continued to stand like statues while the other isons were even more helpless. Some of them rushed towards the golden cage, trying to free their Queen, while others charged forward to attack.


    But their efforts were in vain, as the debuffs had sapped them of all strength. Even a mindless swing of a weapon was enough to kill these pests.


    The real threaty within the golden cage, and all eyes were fixed on the creature inside. The cage itself groaned and creaked, threatening to burst open at any moment. If that happened, it would be checkmate - there was no doubt about it.


    But those who had nned everything from beginning to end perhaps had a n for this creature as well.


    The remaining soldiers looked on listlessly, their hope resting solely on the special unit. At this moment, none of themined about being kept in the dark. All they could do was pray that the n would work.


    Fortunately for them, their prayers seemed to have been answered.


    The familiar ck mist seeped out once again, and this time everyone could see that it was the special unit''s doing. Clouds of ck mist emerged from each member, swirling together into a dense mass that hung ominously overhead - like the very embodiment of death itself.


    The ck mass, as dark and ominous as the Hive Queen''s sinister aura, shot toward her with lightning speed.


    In the next instant, the creature began writhing and screaming in agony. Horrid sounds emanated from her and the golden cage, causing everyone''s ears to bleed.


    Even though she had just ughtered their friends andrades, some of the soldiers couldn''t help but feel pity for the creature as she underwent unbearable suffering.


    The creature''s already grotesque figure was being twisted in a much more puzzling manner.


    Meanwhile, in other parts of the red zone, something even more inhumane was happening. Men and women were disappearing en masse. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And now, things had be much worse - anyone whose health was even slightly diminished below the 50% level was being consumed, their life force being squeezed out of their trembling bodies.


    As the bodies dwindled, the sacrifice did note to a halt. Instead, the powerful Generals turned on their own battalion and began attacking their unit members, deliberately reducing their health.


    Only a fool would fail to grasp what was urring at this point. However, no one had the power to retaliate. Even if they wished to and gave it their all, they quickly realized that it was a dead end.


    That was because the Generals were never alone. They were never truly alone. Some members of the battalion appeared to be in on this scheme as well, turning against the rest of the guilds and attacking their own side.


    "Why are you doing this?" Someone shouted in agony, and a reply came immediately. "For the good of the world."


    What did that even mean? The guilds were inplete shock and horror as they witnessed the chaos unfolding before their eyes.


    They had been fighting with all their might against the isons, making steady progress in ordance with their ns. Many had leveled up and collected an impressive number of mana cores, and the number of ison corpses left behind was a testament to their hard work.


    Yet, in the midst of their victory, the unthinkable urred. It was a betrayal beyond belief, and the guilds could only watch in despair as their ownrades fell to the treacherous attack.


    It was a nightmare scenario that no one could have anticipated.


    Questions raced through the minds of the guild members. Why were they being ughtered like this? Weren''t they just doing their jobs, fighting against the isons as they were supposed to?


    The confusion and pain were unbearable as they were forced to confront the terrifying truth that they were pawns in a deadly game they never even knew existed.


    The borate nning and coordination, the distribution of valuable items, the recruitment of all the guilds with the promise of wealth and rewards, all of it had been orchestrated with this endgame in mind. They were merely sheep being fattened up before the ughter.


    It was a sickening realization, but it was the truth. The so-called world saviors, the government guilds, had been using them as pawns all along, manipting them to their own twisted ends.


    And now, as the ughter continued and they saw theirrades fall around them, it was toote to turn back.


    They were trapped in this nightmare with no way out. All they could do was fight until the bitter end, knowing that their lives had been traded away for whatever reason.


    At least if they knew this reason, then maybe they could rest in peace, but they weren''t even given that small amount of mercy.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank JSwizz for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1010 Victory?

    The battle was in full swing, and the cries of the fallen soldiers and the roaring of the Hive Queen created a symphony of chaos that filled the air.


    One of the two masterminds behind it all, Kouske, was ted as he watched his n unfold.


    With glee, he sauntered around the golden cage containing the monstrous creature, shouting, "Level 300... Level 250... Level 225... Level 200... Level 175... Level 150... Keep going, don''t stop!"


    He knew that his decision to invest in the cursed skill books had paid off in spades.


    Despite the hundreds of lives that had been sacrificed to achieve his goal, he felt no remorse. To him, the end justified the means.


    Watching such a powerful creature squirm in front of him like an ant made him feel euphoric.


    The chaos around him did not faze him in the slightest. The pandemonium did not unnerve him.


    Instead, he felt a rush of excitement at what was toe.


    This was merely another step on the path to ultimate power and domination.


    Just thinking about the mana core and the experience points he was going to gain after this fight was enough to make him drool. Only after that, the real domination was going to start.


    In reality, his excitement for his ultimate goal of world domination paled inparison to his burning desire to find and hunt down a certain someone.


    "I aming for you," he muttered under his breath as his mind raced with thoughts of revenge.


    Kouske could never bring himself to shake the singr focus on finding and hunting down this one person.


    After all, this man had stolen everything from him. It was time he made him answer for his sins and payback for everything.


    Once this war was over, he knew exactly where his sights would be set. And then¡­ Kouske clenched his fist, reveling in his ns for the future. The grin on his face widened.


    As for the aftermath of this war¡­ The various guilds might be cursing him right now, but he knew they would ultimately fall in line.


    When everything ends, these same guilds would inevitably shut their mouths, collect their rewards and return home with their pockets full.


    These same guilds would also once again send their men to battle if more rewards were promised for the next red zone.


    Human beings were like that. They were quick to forget the pain in the face of a little pleasure. They would even be grateful for it.


    Kouske was well aware of the ugliness of the world, the greed, and the selfishness of human nature. He was no stranger to people like this even before the apocalypse descended.


    That was why he had no qualms about sacrificing these pigs to achieve his goals.


    Apocalypse or not, this was a dog-eat-dog world where it was every man for himself. He had no obligation to change that reality, at least not yet.


    For now, he was content to use the current state of affairs to his advantage. Maybeter on¡­


    While Kouske was not kind, he did not consider himself to be an evil viin either.


    Perhaps when the dust settled, and the world entered some sort of order, he would also consider the naive ideal several other heroes probably would.


    He would also try to make this world a better ce.


    However, all of that had to wait. First, he had to take care of these pesky insects without inflicting too much damage on the gathered guilds.


    "Is it done yet?" Kouske''s eyes glinted with anticipation as he watched the insect inside the golden cage squirm in agony. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Its level had dropped to the 100s, and he knew it wouldn''t be long before it waspletely drained of its power.


    The ck mist was steadily sucking away its life force and spirit, and with every passing second, the insect was bing weaker.


    While the rest of the elite troops continued clearing the isons as much as they could, Kouske''s focus remained solely on his prey.


    As he had already discussed with the Oracle prior to this, this kill would be his to im.


    He He. Chuckling to himself, Kouske thought back to Liam. It was thanks to him that Kouske had this opportunity to power up even more.


    All he had to do was remind the Oracle that Liam was a major threat and a hurdle in their path, and he was given free reign to eliminate him and even take this kill to prepare for that inevitable fight.


    Kouske couldn''t understand why the Oracle always seemed to hold Liam in such high regard. In his eyes, the guy was nothing but a nuisance that needed to be dealt with.


    If not for him getting lucky and stealing the inheritance that should have belonged to him, right now, the bitch would be nothing but a nobody.


    Hmph. Kouske breathed angrily and decided not to think about the past anymore.


    He wondered if his men outside theher dungeon had dealt with him by now. The moron had walked right into the trap heid out for him. This itself showed that he didn''t have any brain.


    Even when injured, he did not know how toy low! The perfect example of over-confidence and narcissism. Just how much was he going to continue to underestimate him?


    Kouske sneered. It was fine. The more the guy underestimated him, the sweeter would be his victory.


    "Don''t worry, Liam. The world will not forget you. I will make you my General. You will lead my army for years and years toe."


    Chuckling to himself, Kouske turned to face the Hive Queen, who was now finally ready for her afterlife.


    Naturally, he was not going to let go of this precious undead. Until Liam was ready, she was going to be his temporary General!


    The necromancer closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focussed on centering the mana around him. He then signaled the Oracle to remove the golden cage.


    Hive Queen - now only Level 30.


    Kouske grinned in satisfaction at the pathetic condition of the Hive Queen. "Come to Daddy." He muttered as the golden cage lifted up, and he stepped forward to ughter the ison.


    He raised his long sword that shone brilliantly even amidst the death and destruction which lingered in the battlefield, and as the Hive Queen screamed in denial, he brought down the sword.


    Crack!


    In a single hit, the hardened exoskeleton gave away, and the ison was actually cut down the middle, green blood sshing everywhere. The Hive Queen was dead.


    Immediately, the men around him rejoiced, and the remaining isons screamed in terror. The whole battleground erupted in chaos.


    This single act indicated that they had finally seeded, and the Grand War was officially over!


    Humanity had taken the first step toward victory and reiming their world from these horrendous insects!


    From henceforth, no matter what enemy came, they wouldn''t be so easily deterred. They would stand firm and fight, and Kouske would be at the top of this changed, new world.


    However, for some reason, this feeling did not seem to sink into the necromancer. Instead, he stood rooted to the spot, strangely staring at the dead queen''s corpse.

 Chapter 1011 Is Something Wrong?

    "Is something wrong?" Caden, the Oracle, walked over and asked him. He looked as calm andposed as ever.


    "I did not get as many experience points as I thought I would." Kouske clicked his tongue in response. "I only got a couple of thousands."


    One of the special unit members walked forward and joined the discussion.


    "That is impossible, sir. For the Ison Generals, we received a lot of experience points. Both health and experience points should not be affected by our curse."


    "To weaken the enemy, one must offer a sacrifice. The more formidable the enemy, the greater the sacrifice needed." The Oracle said some words without any care in the world.


    Kouske''s jaw ticked in anger. While he was very frustrated, this guy was talking in riddles. If there was someone whom he hated as much as Liam, then it was this man, the Oracle.


    "Well, whatever. At least the mana core and the corpse is still intact." He exhaled loudly and turned to the corpse.


    But to his surprise, all of a sudden, the damned corpse was missing!


    What the heck? Kouske''s eyes widened in shock and anger. What was this? Fucking amateur hour?


    "WHO TOOK THE DAMN CORPSE? WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!"


    All the men on the battlefield felt a shiver run down their spine as Kouske''s loud and angry shout reverberated amidst the clicking and screeching noises from the isons.


    However, no matter how much they were afraid, they couldn''t give him an answer because no one had seen anything. There was simply too much happening around them.


    The special troops were also busy chanting the curse. So they also hadn''t seen anything.


    "Are you freaking kidding me? How could anyone not notice a huge corpse disappearing right from the middle of the battlefield?" Kouske was livid.


    To add more fuel to the fire, a familiar voice sounded somewhere near him,ughing at him and mocking him. "I don''t think you have the time to worry about that."


    Before Kouske could pay attention to this familiar voice, something else caught his attention.


    It was not that the voice was not important, but right this second, all of his gut instincts screamed at him. Danger was iing!


    In the distance, something flickered, and the next second, he could feel a tremendous force cruising toward him.


    In the blink of an eye, another creature stood towering in front of them. This one was, in fact, identical to the monster they had just now in. It was another Hive Queen!


    Kouske stood dumbfounded. Just what was happening around him? There were two Queens? It did not make sense!


    In the hive hill, they had demolished when these insects had first shown up, there was only one queen. How could there be two now?


    And not just another Queen, standing around this Queen was her own personal army, a row of high-leveled Ison Generals!


    For the first time, Kouske''s face changed. Both the elite troops and the special troops alike stood in shock as, this time, no one had expected this to happen.


    The only person who did not seem to be perturbed by anything was the Oracle.


    The man calmly called for another golden cage thatnded around the newly arrived Hive Queen, instantly imprisoning her before she could do any damage.


    However, the problem was far from over. What about the other twenty or so isons? That too, these were not normal isons! They were level 150 plus Ison Generals!


    Just when everyone thought that the whole war was won and victory was theirs, suddenly, these reinforcements had arrived out of nowhere, and now they were somehow back again on square one.


    "What are you all waiting for? Attack! Fire! Do something, you idiots!"


    Kouskepletely lost it. He pulled out his undead army andid them in front of him, instantly putting a lot of distance between himself and the isons.


    The Oracle had the ability to imprison two or three isons at most. There was no way they had the ability to deal with so many. Their only hope was the special troops.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    More sacrifices were required, but Kouske did not care about that. Rather he was worried about the two seconds he needed to stall before the cursepletely took effect.


    These two were golden seconds. They could determine the difference between life and death and victory and defeat. More importantly, it was his life that was on the line!


    "Damn it. Did that man not foresee this, or did he foresee and decide not to tell me?" Kouske gritted his teeth. However, there was no point in thinking about this right now.


    "Useless! Useless!" He grumbled as he frantically started casting buffs on his undead. He had also mastered a few dark element skills that he immediately used.


    2 seconds! 2 seconds was all he needed!


    In the meantime, the special troops also did not dawdle and hurriedly started casting the curse skill. It was an A-Rank warlock ss curse skill that had as much power as the cost needed.


    To acquire such a high-rank skill for not one but thirty men at the same time was no simple task. Only because of the Oracle something like this was possible.


    He had divined a treasure and exchanged the priceless item for simple skills. Everyone knew about this very well, and they all worshiped him all the more for this selfless sacrifice.


    For the sake of the future of this world, he was doing everything that he could.


    They also knew that this skill was twisted, but sometimes there was no other way. Instead of the whole world bing a wastnd and the entirety of humanity getting wiped out, the hard truth was that this was a better way out.


    History might curse them and speak of them as traitors, but they did not care about it as long as there was still a world for history to exist!


    The special troops, the group of warlocks, all personally groomed by Kouske, started activating the skill as fast as they could.


    They focussed all of their energy on the mana around them and channeled the skill, hoping and praying that this was thest time they had to do it.


    The only thing was that they had to somehow hold on for 2 to 3 seconds, the casting time that was required for this skill.


    From the corner of their eyes, they could see Kouske desperately trying to buy them these few seconds, so everyone strengthened their hearts and steeled their nerves, and activated the skill with everything they had.


    One second passed.


    The isons screeched loudly in anger and fury. Their metallic wings became invisible as they fluttered violently.


    Half of the insects banged against the golden cage, trying to free their queen, while the other half unleashed hell on the undead army because only that could be seen everywhere.


    Thankfully, the entire ce was chaotic, and the spell was quick to take effect. So before there could be any casualties, the isons slowly started to fall into a disoriented state.


    The ck mist also started emerging.


    Seeing this, Kouske finally heaved a sigh of relief. Things had taken an unexpected turn, but somehow they were back on track.


    Moreover, he was calmer now, so he could even see the plus points of this situation.


    Since he inexplicably lost the experience points from the first Hive Queen, at least he could get everything he wanted from this one.


    The guy seriously continued making ns in his mind and gave the orders to his undead army to take down all of the Ison Generals, not leaving a single one behind.


    At the same time, in order to hog all the experience points and mana cores to himself, he gave the orders to other men to stand back and stay alert for any other surprises that might befall them.


    Everything was progressing perfectly. The undead charged against the isons, and Kouske could almost taste the experience points that were about to level him up once or twice.


    However, just as the two sides were going to sh, suddenly something else happened. A strong gale of wind appeared out of nowhere and disrupted the special troops, throwing the group of men off their rockers.


    And the curse skill that they were working on became iplete!

 Chapter 1012 Look At My Army!

    With the curse activation disrupted, the ck mist also started to thin out.


    And seeing the emerging ck mist disappear without any trace, everyone on the battlefield was dumbfounded.


    "Motherfucker!" Kouske screamed in anger. Nothing was going right! What the hell was this now? Why were the debuffs suddenly not working?


    "What are you all fumbling about? Quick! Get the fuck back up and activate the damn skill once again!"


    The warlock unit hurriedly scrambled and prepared to repeat the steps one more time when unexpectedly, once again, another gale of wind popped up and tossed them all on their asses.


    Kouske''s eyes widened in shock, witnessing this unbelievable scene.


    Was this the work of one of the Ison Generals? Was this the Hive Queen''s doing? Was the golden cage not working anymore?


    His face paled as he turned to look at the Oracle for some sort of exnation. However, when he did, the damned guy was nowhere to be seen!


    "FUCKING HELL!"


    Kouske clutched his head and started shouting out profanities in Japanese.


    "I knew I should not have trusted that fucking goddamned chatan. Now he has done it. Now he has finally screwed me over! Of all the people, he screwed me over!"


    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Ass eating bastard! Spineless piece of shit!"


    He then turned toward the warlock unit once again in desperation. What else could he do?


    "Cast it again! Cast it again!"


    Everything around him was unraveling, and he did not know what was going wrong. If this continued, he was really going to die!


    "Damn it. Do this fast! Do you want to die? Do you want to die?"


    The guy was shouting like a madman. If things continued this way, then before the isons ughter these troops, he might end up killing them.


    To add fuel to this fire, the same familiar voice sounded once again in the battleground.


    "Heh. You need to calm down. In tense situations, if you don''t, even the simplest and most obvious answers to your questions will elude you."


    Kouske stilled. It looked like the third time was the charm. The moment he heard the voice again, he instantly recognized it. How could he not?


    After all, it was that man''s voice, the person whom he hated the most, Liam!


    He was here!


    He was here?


    Was he still injured? How he managed to escape the trap outside the dungeon or how he managed to get here unscathed despite isons being everywhere could all wait.


    A million thoughts raced across his mind, but they were not important at the moment.


    The most important point was that this bastard was now going to be the death of him and everyone else here!


    "LIAM!" Kouske shivered in anger. "What are you ying at? Do you even know what is happening? There is a limit to how idiotic you can be!"


    "Oh? Is that so?" Liam''s voice sounded again, but this time he revealed himself by walking out to the center of the action. He stood smack dab in the middle of the chaos without any care in the world.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You are going to get us all killed! Look around! Let the warlocks do their job. We can settle our scorester once the insects are eradicated."


    Liam raised an eyebrow and let out a low hum. "That''s not going to cut it for me. I prefer to settle our little disagreement right here and right now."


    "BASTARD!" Kouske shouted with his veins throbbing and his nerves popping out.


    "LOOK HERE! This is what Crimson Abyss does! This is their guild leader! Instead of helping us, he wants to take advantage of the situation and attack us!"


    "Fine, I will give you what you want! You want to go up against me? Come! Today we can settle everything!"


    Kouske''s words conveniently made him sound like a hero, at the same time once again pulling down Crimson Abyss''s reputation.


    Liam, however, could only chuckle at his pettiness.


    In the midst of this hellscape, this guy was still scheming? Was this really the same man who was touted to be one of the saviors of humanity in hisst life?


    He shook his head in disappointment and once again sent an attack toward the group of warlocks who attempted to start chanting while his back was turned against them.


    "Let''s stop this. I think you have already sacrificed enough innocents."


    "Fuck you!" Kouske spat out.


    "What do you know? If we did not do this, then the whole world would have been lost. Now because of what I did, you still have some time left on this, moron."


    Liam remained silent and did not say anything. He did not want to waste his time exining things to someone who was going to die. Instead, he unsheathed his sword.


    Seeing the familiar sword in his hands even outside the game, Kouske sneered in contempt.


    "So it is true. You managed to find some way to bring out items from the game to the real world. No wonder Crimson Abyss was able to race ahead."


    "But you made a mistakeing here. Your inted ego is going to be your downfall. That sword in your hand and everything else you might have arepletely useless against my army of undead!"


    GROWL!


    The next second, the dozens of undead still remaining on the battlefield turned around to lock their gaze on Liam. Kouskeughed like a maniac as he could already taste and relish the sweet moments that were awaiting him.


    How long had he waited for this?!


    He then raised his hand and activated another skill. This summoned another group of undead, this time consisting of the isons that were just now killed on the battlefield.


    All of a sudden, the entire ce turned into a graveyard, with the deceased rising and stumbling everywhere.


    Strangely enough, they didn''t seem to be going after the Hive Queen in the cage, or the Ison Generals, who were currently dazed but focused solely on one individual: Liam.


    "Look at this! Look at my army! You little piece of shit. You can''t even touch me now. Are you shocked? You didn''t think that I would have gotten so strong, did you? It is time you-"


    Liam did not wait for the guy to finish his monologue. He had already had his fill of screen time, more than what he deserved.


    Besides, his main target was nowhere to be seen in the vicinity, so he decided to cut this meeting short and finish up things here once and for all.


    While Kouske was rejoicing in his imaginary victory, Liam let out a small sigh and summoned his own army.


    The next second, the entire ce transformed.

 Chapter 1013 You Idiot!

    The troops standing in the midst of the chaotic battleground were currently extremely confused. They were already exhausted and on the verge of death.


    To make matters worse, creatures of ridiculous power were right in front of their eyes, yet to be taken care of.


    However, in the middle of all of thismotion, what was this new problem that had suddenly cropped up?


    For a second, no one could understand anything, and finally, when Kouske started shouting like a madman mentioning Crimson Abyss several times, realization dawned on the group.


    Instantly, several of the men became furious. In their current state, it didn''t take a lot for them to get angry and crazed, especially at the guild, who chose the wrong time to mess with them.


    Here they were, fighting for their survival, and the damned idiots were taking advantage of the situation?


    But before they could be enraged and act upon it, Kouske reacted first. He shouted at the top of his lungs and unleashed his famed undead army.


    Dozens of undead appeared,pletely surrounding the single intruder. The aura of death hung heavily in the air.


    Every time anyone watched Kouske unleash this terrifying army, they couldn''t help but be awe-struck at the sight of the horror.


    If given enough time, this man in front of them had the potential to be even more sphemous than the isons. The only constion was that he stood with humanity and not against it.


    And as for the once famous Crimson Abyss guild leader¡­ the unlucky guy was now as good as dead.


    Perhaps under some other circumstances, these men would have felt pity for the pitiful person, but right now, they could only think that he absolutely deserved it!


    Based on today''s events, no one would be surprised if the higher-ups directly challenged the guild to a guild war and erased them from the face of the earth as punishment.


    To have the gall to make things difficult at such a crucial moment, Crimson Abyss was utterly rotten to the core! They deserved this and then some more!


    While everyone watched mercilessly as the ughter was about to begin, the very next second, something else happened.


    An even more ominous and sinister aura seeped onto the battlefield, and in the blink of an eye, strange creatures started making their appearance.


    If there was a slight aura of death before, now the entire ce reeked of it. It was almost suffocating. This was no ce for the living.


    And at the center of this, Liam silently stood as his entire soul army walked out into the battlefield. One by one, strong and powerful translucent whitish-blue creatures popped out.


    In front of these creatures, the bunch of undeads were clearly both outnumbered and outssed.


    While Kouske simply had dead human beings, a few beasts, and isons in his army, the other party had draconian beasts whose roar terrified the Jebesus out of the troops, monstrous lions, spiders and tigers, elves, barbarians, even isons, and it went on and on.


    The list was endless.


    Moreover, every single minion that had popped out exuded a powerful aura that made a person shudder if they stared at it for too long.


    Clearly, the levels of these minions were a lot more whenpared to them. Perhaps even Kouske.


    Forget matching the guild leader of the Crimson Abyss, Kouske might not even hold a candle to a single one of these minions!


    Everyone suddenly felt their headache, and their vision blurred. All of this was too much to take in. It was making them goddamn dizzy!


    Kouske was no different. He stared at Liam with an unsightly expression on his face, his features contorted in anger, envy, and disbelief.


    It was now all out in the open for him to see. Liam had taken more than weapons from inside the game. He had brought all of these from the game world into the real world!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    How else could one exin this unimaginable level of power? How many minions were even there? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands?


    That too, they were not simply numbers. There were all sorts of powerful beasts in the army, and his undead looked a lot different from Kouske''s undead.


    He couldn''t exactly put his finger on it, but the power that he felt from these undeads was not ordinary. His very soul tingled in fear.


    While Kouske and the rest of the troops gaped in fear and shock, Liam casually ordered the wyverns to take care of all the Ison Generals.


    It looked like they were still in that slightly disoriented state, and Liam did not want to let it go to waste. The soul minions immediately bombarded the nasty insects with heavy and chunky attacks, not letting go of even a single one.


    Rain of fire, Ice explosion, Lightning judgment, the wyverns unleashed terror on the Ison Generals. The entire battlefield trembled from the impact.


    Compared to the damage these minions were pulling, thebined attacks from the troops were absolutely nothing.


    Just what was the level of these minions?


    Kouske dumbfoundedly stared at everything in front of him, his brain unable to process any of it.


    It was as if things were happening in slow motion, and the scenes were burned into his eyeballs, and yet he couldn''t make sense of it.


    However, there was still something that he was able to think of.


    The Hive Queen!


    That''s right! There was still the Hive Queen!


    As long as that monster was alive, Liam was still doomed, just like the rest of them!


    A maniacal smile appeared on Kouske''s face as he tilted his head to the side and shouted loudly.


    "Ba ha ha ha! You idiot! You think you know everything? What are you going to do about that monster over there?"


    "The golden cage will disappear any second now, and then she will kill you with a single snap of her finger. Ba ha ha ha!"


    "You can kill me now, but what is the point? Ba ha ha ha! We are all going to be dead anyways! This whole world is going to die! Ba ha ha ha!"


    Kouske was delirious with happiness. Suddenly everything became fine. So what if Liam was stronger? They were all going to die anyway!


    Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!


    At least if he had intervened a few minutester, then he could have put on the same show, and there would have been no more isons left to handle, but no.


    He had to y the hero card and disrupt the sacrifice skill. Now there was a Hive Queen still left!


    Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!


    This fool had dug himself a hole and also jumped into it of his own volition!


    Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

 Chapter 1014 New Item?

    Liam raised his hand, ready to give the order to his minions to eliminate Kouske. However, he paused as he saw the smug smile on the guy''s face.


    A malicious glint shed in Liam''s eyes, contorting his features into a twisted expression.


    No, it wouldn''t be good to kill him just yet. The resulting soul minion might not be as strong.


    Happiness was a good emotion, but personally, he had seen better results so far when a person died with unfulfilled regrets. So he paused his actions and sneered at his self-proimed rival.


    "Did you really think I can''t deal with such a simple insect?" Liam then turned toward the golden cage with the Hive Queen captured within it.


    Kouske''s piercing re burned into Liam''s back while the Hive Queen''s eyes bore into him with venomous intensity from the front.


    Both beings had locked their gazes on Liam, waiting and watching for his next move. But despite the intense scrutiny, Liam remained nonchnt.


    His demeanor was as if he didn''t care about anything happening in that ce. His face showed an unusual coldness that was even more indifferent than his usual gaze.


    Dread crept over Kouske as a sudden premonition tugged at his heartstrings, stripping away the glee and confidence that had adorned his face.


    His eyes nervously followed Liam''s every move, and he watched as Liam''s hand darted to his neck, grabbing onto a small object.


    Huh? Kouske was noticing this only now. Was it a pendant? No, it was a tiny crystal ball, something that seemed to have a mesmerizing swirl within it.


    His eyes narrowed as he stared at the mysterious item in Liam''s hand. What in the world was it? Where had he obtained it?


    He had collected a lot of information about Liam, both personally and through their guild back in the game, but they had never heard of this item before.


    Suddenly, a thought struck Kouske. He need not have necessarily gotten this in-game.


    And since he felt a familiarity with the item, could it be possible that Liam had acquired the item in theher dungeon, the very trap that he had set for him?


    A strange feeling crept up in Kouske''s heart as he pondered over the possibility of having unknowingly assisted Liam.


    Could this be the reason behind his quick recovery and newfound strength? Was he foolish enough to have yed a role in his own defeat? The mere thought of it made him livid.


    Kouske''s mind began to spiral out of control as his emotions surged uncontrobly. His entire body quivered with rage.


    He red at the pendant with a mixture of anger and jealousy, hoping that it would malfunction or break into pieces. But to his dismay, nothing of that sort happened.


    In fact, a sudden jolt of electricity coursed through his body, causing him to wince in pain.


    What was happening? Was he not even worthy ofying his eyes on this object? What kind of item was this, anyway?


    Kouske clenched his teeth in frustration as he watched Liam gently caress the small crystal ball. In the next moment, the ball vanished, and something else appeared on Liam''s hand.


    Huh? What¡­ was this?


    Kouske waspletely bewildered, but he could discern that the energy was simr to the ghostly whitish-blue creatures swarming the battlefield.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, before he could make sense of it, Liam nonchntly raised his hand and mimicked a gun with his index and middle fingers, aiming directly at the Hive Queen.


    To Kouske''s astonishment, a projectile shot out from Liam''s finger gun, followed by an even more incredible event.


    Bang? No, the impact was rather silent but the after effect¡­


    As the Hive Queen inside the golden cage was hit by this bullet, the monstrous creature, in all of her glory and her untouched power level, started twitching and convulsing in untold pain.


    Her metallic wings buzzed violently, and her limbs contorted here and there. Coincidentally, the next second, the golden cage disappeared as well.


    Now there was no longer anything standing in the way of the Hive Queen from sting forward and ughtering them all.


    But the damned creature was still twitching in pain? Why was she not acting? Why was she not killing him?


    Kouske watched as Liam used this chance to dash forward and bring down the sword in his hand, aiming for the creature''s weak points.


    In a frenzy, he repeatedly shed at all of the ison''s joints until green blood spurted out of the creature from different sides like a fountain.


    And all the while, the creature only helplessly twitched in pain. She did not even block or parry or send a counterattack.


    She simply stood there screaming loudly, filling the space with horrendous clicking and screeching sounds, taking hits from Liam one after the other.


    Kouske could barely follow the action anymore. Liam''s movements were aplete blur as he relentlessly attacked the ison with his sword without giving the creature a single second. Each strike was executed with utmost precision.


    At this rate¡­


    Kouske''s heart dropped. The thing that he feared might really happen!


    And soon enough, it did happen. The ison''s body slumped to the ground, lifeless.


    Kouske could sense the incredible power that had once resided within the creature, now fading away. Its body parts were scattered about, now no longer threatening.


    He had done it! He had actually done it!


    Kouske couldn''t believe his eyes. How could the Hive Queen be defeated just like that? It was a level 305 creature!


    305!


    When a being reached Level 50, there were already so many changes both qualitatively and quantitatively to their power.


    Then how were things at Level 305? Just what sort of a power-up a creature of that level must have experienced, and yet it was also dead just like that?


    No. No. This was not possible.


    As if sensing Kouske''s confusion, Liam turned to him with a faint smile on his face, a smile that sent shivers down Kouske''s spine.

 Chapter 1015 This Is The Kind Of Soul That I Like

    Kouske trembled. They were supposed to be the overlords of this world after this war!


    They had nned so much. They had plotted so much. They had spent so much.


    They even lied to everyone and systematically lured them here for human sacrifice without their knowledge. They had nned everything to the t, and in the end¡­ this guy just casually killed the monster?


    Then what was everything they had painstakingly done worth?


    Just how strong was he?


    Then another thought floated in his mind. What if the weapon and the weird undead army was not the only thing he had obtained from the game?


    What if he had managed to take every single thing out and bring it to the real world along with him?


    Kouske felt his whole world darken. His reality was crumbling all around him. How could something like this be possible?


    That was just a tutorial. Something like that should not be possible. It was not fair. He had started from scratch.


    Even the man touted to be blessed by the heavens, the Oracle, was not this powerful. How could this nobody be so strong?


    Was this all because of that single inheritance he had lost back in that necromancer''s cave? If he did not lose it, then could he have also be this strong?


    Kouske''s heart, mind, and body were filled with bitterness like never before. He refused to ept this. In reality, right at this moment, he did not even care about any of this.


    What suffocated him the most was the fact that Liam was now going to live!


    While he was going to die, Liam was going to live!


    No. This could not happen.


    Then something else suddenly popped up in his mind. That''s right. There were still the warlocks! He hurriedly signaled them to start chanting the curses again, but this time he pointed at Liam.


    However, it was already toote. The very next second, he felt a slight pain, and along with it, his own life force slipped away. He died?


    In thatst moment, his eyes and heart were filled with regret as he refused to ept this defeat.


    He did not deserve this. He was not the one who was supposed to die here. That was not what should''ve happened. Then why?


    The Oracle''s prediction¡­ the power that should have been his¡­ all the thoughts of the past swirled in front of him as he took his final breath, filled with anguish and misery.


    "Now¡­ this is the kind of soul that I like¡­ ripe with negative emotions¡­" Liam grinned devilishly as he used his index finger to hook onto the dead soul and then forged it in an instant.


    After all was said and done, Kouske was just a Level 54 being without a mana core, so his soulplied willingly without putting up any fight.


    "Wee to the guild, Kouske." Liam did not bother summoning him as his attention immediately reverted to the other powerful souls in the vicinity.


    First, there were the souls of Ison Generals, which he quickly forged one after the other. Then there was the Hive Queen, the star jewel of today''s collection, the Level 305 monster.


    This creature''s soul was an entirely different thing. Liam still simply held onto it and did not dare forge it yet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Unfortunately, he was not yet at the level where he could casually forge a soul of a level 305 creature. Besides, the soul was no longer stable.


    Because the attack he had used just now made the soulpletely vtile and violent, not to mention it already belonged to a powerful creature who was beyond his current stage.


    As he was thinking about this, Liam suddenly felt a prickle on his skin.


    Hmmm? He snapped to look at the bunch of warlocks standing at a distance from him. "You guys¡­" Liam was speechless. Were they actually activating the skill one more time?!


    Liam sneered inwardly and then walked forward, stumbling slightly.


    Immediately many people in the warlock unit revealed rxed expressions as this was a sign that their curse was working.


    However, the very next second, these same people froze as Liam grinned in amusement. "Just kidding." He let out a loud maniacalughter.


    He dashed toward the warlock unit while lifting his hand and revealing a ck-colored bracelet.


    "Did you really think I would show myself without being prepared for you guys?" He shook his head andughed.


    "This trinket here¡­ do you know what it does¡­ it blocks this kind of curses, debuffs, and restrictions up to three times."


    "I specifically purchased this for someone else but didn''t end up using it. Who knew it woulde in handy now? Not bad. It''s a decent item. At least it did not go to waste."


    Three times? Naturally, everyone heard this key term in Liam''s words. Some of the warlocks even started chanting once again, hoping to use up all of the three times quickly.


    Liam noticed this and once again shook his head. "Tch. Tch. You really should not have done this. I told you to stop, and yet you dared to curse me even after I killed the hive queen?"


    "Heh. You guys are the true viins, aren''t you? I could understand your decision to follow this idiot and choose to sacrifice some humans to take down this thing here..."


    "But there is no exnation for your actions just now."


    Liam''s expression turned cold. "You attacked me, knowing there is one more red zone left. If you killed me, then you would have to follow this same method to take care of thest red zone."


    "And you didn''t care at all about all the lives you have to sacrifice once again to aplish that goal. Instead, you chose to attack me."


    "Sigh. Well, since you made your decision, don''t me me for being equally ruthless."


    "Kill them all!" Liam gave the order to his soul minions without any mercy.


    The minions instantly obeyed him as the ones closest to the warlock unit raced toward them, ughtering them all in a fraction of a second.


    Liam then casually forged their souls too without wasting a single one.


    ***


    Golden ticket bonus chapter~

 Chapter 1016 The One That Got Away?

    After Liam made his move, there was deathly silence all around. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle rustling of the wind as it weaved its way through the wreckage.


    The battlefield was now a site of utter destruction, with lifeless bodies and shattered debris scattered all around.


    The chaos and frenzy that had once filled the air was now reced with an eerie calmness. It was as if the entire world hade to a standstill, waiting with bated breath for what would happen next.


    The isons that had swarmed the area were all mercilessly in, their remains serving as a haunting reminder of the brutal battle that had just taken ce.


    The warlocks who had caused so much death and suffering were also in, their terror finallying to an end.


    In the midst of all of this, Liam stood resolute and unyielding, undeterred by the carnage around him. His icy stare was now fixed on the few remaining elite troops, who trembled in fear, uncertain of their fate.


    However, to their surprise, Liam merely cast them a nce before he ordered his minions to gather all the mana cores they could find.


    Without any hesitation, he then took in a certain direction, leaving behind the remnants of the battlefield and the trembling soldiers.


    The so-called Grand War may havee to a close, but Liam''s work was far from finished.


    There was still a target who was running around in this area, someone near and dear to him, someone who deserved an audience with him just as much as Kouske did if not more.


    It was time to settle all the old scores. Liam''s eyes shone with coldness as he picked up his pace and cut through the wilderness.


    Naturally, he was not making this move blind. He had already sent a minion to follow the mysterious, elusive person.


    Unlike Kouske, Liam had watched everything from a distance right from the beginning and had seen exactly when the Oracle made his move and disappeared from the battleground.


    He could have confronted him right then and there, but that would have been tricky considering the capability of the enemy, especially with the Hive Queen involved.


    It was best to first deal with the Hive Queen and Kouske without the Oracle present in the scene. At least this way, there wouldn''t be any surprises.


    After all, with a Level 305 creature, even a small surprise could be devastating.


    However, that did not mean he nned to allow the Oracle to escapepletely. As someone who could ''foresee'' things, perhaps the man was also aware of it, but Liam did not care.


    He was determined to catch the rat this time, even if it took all of his raw power to dominate the man''s special skill. He sped through the unruly jungle without wasting a single second.


    Liam tracked down his minion with ease, and the chase was definitely going to be short-lived. The guy was heading towards the magic shop, and he was already closing in.


    A cruel smile yed across his lips as he was getting closer and closer to the location. As he drew near, a twisted expression of madness contorted his face.


    "Here I am,ing for you~" Liam taunted with a crazedugh that echoed through the dense forest.


    But surprising him, the Oracle suddenly stopped. Liam could sense it because his minion as well stopped. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And a couple of secondster, Liam found himself face to face with the man!


    Was he not running anymore?


    Liam scrunched his nose and stared at the man with a strange expression, his head tilted to the side. Was he going to try to use his words again to get out of this? Or perhaps the golden cage?


    "You know your golden cage won''t work." He taunted him further. There was an unmistakable madness in his eyes that he took no effort to hide.


    However, the person on the other side stood still.


    The Oracle seemed solemn, but he was calm andposed nevertheless. There was no desperation on his face. He did not fear death or losing to Liam as Kouske had done.


    But that didn''t mean that Liam was going to let him be. In fact, unlike the way he had dealt with Kouske, he intended to finish this fight swiftly and immediately.


    While Kouske was merely a puppet who had lost his way, this man here was not to be underestimated. Liam was very clear on it.


    The very next instant, his figure blurred as he sent a sword sh at the person in front of him. He did not stop there and also sent another invisible attack, the same one he had used against the Hive Queen.


    However, before either of the two could touch the guy, a string of bells started chiming loudly.


    Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!


    The bells sounded heavenly and torturous at the same time. A golden aura started seeping in out of nowhere like a mist amidst the wilderness. It was a magical sight.


    Liam could see mesmerizing angels with kind faces descending from the heavens. Along with them, there were all sorts of beautiful creatures, like swans and small innocent birds.


    In a second, the wild, ugly wilderness transformed into something surreal. It was almost as if¡­ as if he was in heaven? That''s right. If there were a heaven, it would probably look like that.


    But as soon as this thought entered his mind, Liam snapped out of it. He already knew too well that there was no heaven in this world. There was only hell.


    And the only way to survive was to be king of this hell!


    "Your illusion will not work on me!" He shouted with a growl, sending out a burst of raw, fiery mana in all directions.


    The next second, the once beautiful angels, with their pure white wings and shining halos, now became twisted bird-like creatures with ck feathers and menacing talons. Their eyes gleamed with malice, and their voices took on a harsh, grating tone.


    Along with them, the small and innocent creatures also transformed into grotesque, maimed, ck-colored birds that somewhat resembled a crow.


    No longer did they hop and chirp merrily, but instead, they pped their ragged wings and croaked out a hoarse, mournful caw.

 Chapter 1017 It Is Time For You To Die

    <Cursed Corvus, Level 50>


    Harpies and Crow? Once Liam saw the true reality in front of him, he snorted coldly. "Do you really think a few ugly birds are enough to take me down?"


    He conjured a dozen massive fireballs at the same time and sent them flying toward the summoned creatures. Each fireball hit its target with extreme precision, not a single one losing out.


    However, things did not seem as simple as they looked. As soon as the fireballs hit the birds, the attack was instantly deflected. Even a feather on the bird-like creature was not burnt.


    Liam also noticed that the two attacks he had sent earlier toward the Oracle had also been deflected.


    Hmmm? He raised a brow as he assessed the situation he was in.


    But in the meantime, the ugly birds did not remain idle. With their sharp talons and beaks, they swooped towards Liam at lightning speed. Their movements were unpredictable and erratic.


    Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.


    They zigged and zagged like arrows, ready to tear him and pick him apart into shreds. They kicked up a flurry of soil, dust, and rocks, creating a thick cloud of sand that engulfed the area.


    One would have to squint just to make out anything in the haze, let alone decipher the birds'' line of attack.


    But the other side would not have this issue as the air cleared with the bird''s projectile-like attack, at least momentarily for the creature to be aware of exactly where it was heading to.


    The creature was also endowed with wind elemental buffs making its speed superior and attack moreplex.


    With the bell chimes still ringing in the background faintly as the creatures drilled their way to Liam, it was really the perfect all-around attack to finish him.


    However, when the dust cleared, Liam still stood calmly,pletely unaffected and unharmed.


    He was not yet able to touch any of the summoned creatures with his own attacks, but that did not mean that he was going to take damage from these pests.


    Seeing this, the Oracle''s eyes glittered with interest.


    "You seem to have a few tricks up your sleeve." Liam yawned loudly. "Not a bad barrier, but is your barrier and their barrier the one and the same?"


    The Oracle''s facade finally faltered a little because he knew that other than the barrier he had cast, he also had a few protective items that his summoned minions did not have.


    The next second, he looked even worse as Liam touched the small crystal item on his neck again.


    "Let''s test it out, shall we?"


    Without any warning, Liam gave a wicked smile, and almost invisible bullets emerged out of the pendant.


    Instantly, the entire bunch of ugly flying creatures dropped dead on the ground, their corpses disappearing into golden light specks.


    The Oracle''s body visibly trembled, "Mental attack? No, soul attack?" He gasped out loud, unable to contain his shock.


    Kouske might not have recognized the attack when he had seen it, but it only took a second for the Oracle to get a feel for the same.


    "Oh? So, even you have emotions?" Liam let out a maniacalugh. Obviously, he did not n on revealing anything about this attack or giving the man any sort of exnation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Instead, he continued to taunt him. "If I am correct, you should have an item with you? A protective item, hmmm? That''s why my attacks are not getting to you, but unfortunately for you¡­ today, I am in a mood."


    Liam whistled a tune and abruptly sat down on the ground.


    Then as if he was not satisfied with this, hezily yawned and stretched his body, shifting to a lying position, supporting his head on his palm, and giving a calm and crazed smile.


    "I have all day to kill. Let''s see how good your item is."


    Liam grinned, and immediately dozens of sharp and deadly ice spears materialized out of thin air, fully surrounding the Oracle.


    These ice spears were not standstill and seemed to have a life of their own as they continued to grate against the invisible barrier, trying to burrow their way to the target.


    The Oracle waspletely arrested in ce without any means to escape.


    Hmph. Liam chuckled lightly, satisfied with the man''s plight, but the other party did not seem to care. "You learned a soul attack." He repeated his earlier words.


    "No wonder the predictions changed. The lines of fate¡­ soul attacks are capable of altering even something like that?" The man went into some sort of rant, except that he was talking to himself.


    Liam chuckled again and shook his head. "Instead of worrying about that, you should worry about your own lines of fate. This day really does not look good for you."


    "What level are you now?" The Oracle suddenly asked.


    "High enough to kill you."


    "Is that why you were able to survive theher dungeon and the trap that Kouskey there for you?"


    "Heh. Are you talking about the guy you so willfully abandoned?" Liam pped his hands loudly, mocking the guy.


    "I have to give it to you. You really surprised me back there. Wasn''t that Japanese your right-hand man? I never thought you would leave him to die."


    "It just goes to show that nothing is ever set in stone."


    "You killed him already?" The Oracle''s eyes widened. "What about the hive queen?"


    "Done and done." Liam continuedughing. "For a famous Oracle, you seem to be performing poorly right this second."


    "Your guild, they are also in danger."


    "Nope. They are definitely not."


    Liam had long since taken care of that by sending a few of his soul minions in that direction.


    But it was unnecessary because the guild had already brought the sixth battalion under their control, taking care of the General of the unit and the special troops hidden within the battalion who were meant to create more chaos and death.


    He even sent his minions to shut down the massacre in other battalions. Overall, the situation in the area had pretty much stabilized.


    Knowing this, Liam sneered arrogantly at the Oracle and shook his head. "I already finished what you started. The war is over, and everything ended well. It is now time for you to die."

 Chapter 1018 I Am Not Interested

    "I already finished what you started. The war is over, and everything ended well. It is now time for you to die."


    The moment Liam finished talking, a few sparks starteding out of the tips of the ice spears as if they had almost seeded in taking down the barrier.


    Liam''s grin widened.


    As if unaware of the reality unfolding around him, the Oracle was still in his own world.


    "What about injury? How did you treat it? Are you no longer held back by it? Did this happen in theher dungeon? Is that soul trinket you are wearing around your neck also obtained from the same dungeon?"


    "Hmmm¡­ you are too nosy, aren''t you?"


    The sparks started buzzing louder, and the ice spears were inching closer.


    One of them snapped, and the Oracle finally came to his senses. He turned his head to his left and then to his right, realization of his current plight dawning on him.


    He looked a little agitated and even used the same summoning spell a couple more times, but unfortunately, it was in vain.


    The powerful illusion and the dark creatures were just as useless as the first time. Liam took care of the creatures in a jiffy without so much as lifting a finger.


    Seeing that nothing was working and his time was almost up, the Oracle then spoke with an urgency in his voice.


    "Listen to me. Do not act in haste. I am not your enemy. I am only trying to-"


    Unfortunately for him, before he could finish his words, Liam chuckled again and made a flicking motion with his fingers.


    "I am not interested."


    The ice spears that were struggling to enter the invisible barrier up until now all burrowed through at the same time, skewering the man at the center like a piece of meat.


    Liam then slowly stood up, giving a satisfied nod at the end result. This was finally over.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    At the exact same time¡­


    At a ce slightly far away from the battleground, a man silently appeared out of thin air. He shed his eyes open as he gasped, sucking in a big mouthful of air.


    Caden was alive once again!


    His body which was previously skewered and punctured in various ces, was mysteriously somehow put back together without a single injury on it.


    He was currently naked, but he was alive and whole.


    He was also no longer agitated. He was once again calm andposed. He stood up casually from the muddy ground and dusted himself. Sighing, he looked at his hand.


    His gazended on the ring on his middle finger.


    <Archangel''s Boon>


    <Item Effect: Restore life from the grips of death. Not even the reaper will be able to im your soul><novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The trinket no longer had the same splendor. The translucent gemstone at the center was cracked.


    The ring had done its job, and now it was gone. He had also been reborn from death, but with a slight drawback. He was back to Level 1 and had also lost all the skills he had painstakingly gathered.


    Caden chuckled slightly. This was a huge loss but not something he wouldn''t be able to ovee with a little effort. The important part was he was still alive!


    Of course, he wouldn''t have preferred to use this item unless it was absolutely required, but today was one such day. Today he simply had to die. There were no two ways about it.


    However, that didn''t mean he couldn''t die and still be alive. Where there was a will, there was a way. He had foreseen his death, and now he had survived. This was a victory.


    He sucked in another breath of air, wondering what was the situation outside. Too many things had happened.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t change much of it since the consequences would have been disastrous, so big that there would have been aary mass decimation.


    He had no other choice except to let it all y out. It was a weird feeling to know the future and yet not be the driving force behind it.


    Moreover, the losses today had been far too many to count. Could the United Nations guilds even recover from this?


    Perhaps he had to rebuild everything from scratch. It was not going to be easy, but now he had a lot more information on the man who was no less than a monster.


    Also, he had an upper hand above him. He was still alive!


    But Caden was not too pleased with it. The thing was¡­ having an upper hand over him had never really been the issue.


    The real problem was every single time he nned to use this advantage, it was he or his team that ended up in the negative.


    Liam always managed to find a way toe out on top. It was almost as if he too could predict the future.


    Caden sighed. His head hurt just thinking about that monster. He also still hadn''t made his decision about him.


    When Liam was concerned, he had two choices, to join him or to oppose him, and he hadn''t picked one yet. There were reasons to go either way, but there was something that was preventing him from making this decision.


    He did not know why. Especially when that man was concerned, he had always felt as if he was missing something big. His gut instinct told him that he did not have the whole picture.


    However, he also knew that he couldn''t postpone this decision much longer.


    Every time they shed, the lines of fate tangled up inexplicably. More importantly, the blows he was taking were also bing bigger and bigger.


    The next they met, he had a feeling that he might not escape alive, no matter what item or ability he managed to salvage.


    That man was a true monster. Caden couldn''t help but think back to the interaction they just had. His body trembled as he recollected the aura of death that clung to him.


    It was no wonder Kouske was never able to hold a candle to him. However, what about him? Could he really stand against someone like that?


    If he ever were to achieve this, then he needed the help of the fairies all the more. It was good that they epted his services.


    Hmmm¡­ Caden hummed in contemtion.


    Several strategies shed past his mind, and as he turned around to leave, engrossed in these thoughts, unexpectedly, a familiar face greeted him.


    "Leaving so soon?"


    Liam was once again standing right in front of Caden. The Oracle froze.

 Chapter 1019 You Are Changing!

    "What? You couldn''t predict this?" Liam sneered.


    For the first time, the Oracle looked dumbfounded, standing there with his jaw dropped on the ground.


    Though his ss was a special hidden ss and powerful beyond imagination, there were still some things that were even out of his reach.


    And one of them was death!


    He couldn''t see past his death, and since he had only just now died and technically been reborn, he definitely hadn''t expected Liam to sniff him out so soon.


    To make matters worse, he was buck-naked like a baby, both literally and figuratively. He was fucking Level 1, for god''s sake.


    Caden''s face twisted into an ugly smile. How could he have forgotten this?


    Sometimes fate was a real bitch!


    He had done so much, all to escape this one thing, and he was once again right back where he started!


    Also, now he no longer had any decision to make. The decision was, by default, already made for him, and that was to beg this madman in front of him to let him stay alive.


    Caden sighed with a rueful smile and then asked Liam, "How did you know I was not dead?"


    Liam shrugged.


    In reality, it was a simple matter for him to figure it out. After all, he made a living out of forging souls. How could he not notice when a soul was missing?


    After he had killed the damned annoying prick, naturally, he wanted to forge his soul and make him predict his fortune for all of eternity, but lo and behold, the guy''s soul was gone!


    It had simply vanished! Poof!


    The first thought that came to his mind was his special ss. He wondered if Oracles were so special that their souls couldn''t be captured.


    However, he quickly put that thought away.


    Even if Oracles were that special, this guy was a newbie just like he was. How could he have progressed so much in his ss?


    The chances were he was overthinking things and unnecessarilyplicating stuff. Once he arrived at that conclusion, the rest was child''s y.


    All he had to do was send out his minions to scan the area thoroughly. This way, he wouldn''t be able to escape him even if he had tried any sort of weird teleportation tricks or invisibility scams.


    But to his surprise, soon, the matter became even more simple. He was unexpectedly able to sense the guy''s soul!


    When the person had died, the soul was missing, but perhaps there was a brief moment where he had sensed it?


    And since he was within the limits of the reach of his soul minions sensing radius, he was once again able to sense the very same soul some distance away.


    Without wasting any time, Liam immediately rushed over here, and vo! He was staring at the same guy, wholly alive andpletely uninjured!


    However, this still did not make any difference. Liam was very clear on what to do with this person. He was to die today.


    He stepped forward, his ck eyes not hiding his intentions.


    Caden immediately became fearful.


    "Wait. Wait. Wait. I ampletely unarmed and vulnerable. Look, my Level is 1, and you can see I have nothing on me. You can kill me anytime you want. Don''t you want to hear me out first?"


    Liam shrugged again and took another step forward.


    "Please spare me a minute before you make your decision. You already killed me once. The karma between you and me is settled. This is a new cycle. Do you already want to taint it?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Caden became even more desperate.


    However, no matter what he said, Liam did not seem like he was going to listen.


    Thanks to his unique ss, Caden could already feel the strings of fate closing in on him. With every passing second, he was descending deeper and deeper into a pit from which there was no return.


    However, the man in front of him was only determined to push him into this pit. He was like a wild beast exuding raw, unfiltered killing intent, and all of it was directed at him.


    What could he say to him that would make him stop?


    Caden couldn''t help but shiver as he looked at Liam right now. Their meetings in person could be counted on a single hand, but today was definitely different.


    Was it because he was Level 1, or perhaps was it because of ¡­


    Caden already knew the answer to this question. In fact, wasn''t it because of this he decided to make a certain choice¡­


    He let out a sigh and looked at Liam anyways, despite the suffocating pressure that drowned himpletely.


    "Hear me out, Mr. Liam. Or I can guarantee that you will regret it. I have already foreseen your fate. You need to know some things."


    "Tch. Tch. You don''t give up, do you? Like I said, I am not interested."


    Liam''s hands reached for his crystal pendant one more time when the Oracle finally shrieked out loud, unable to bear it any longer. "HEYYYYY!"


    This was it. Hisst and final moment. It was now or never. His life and death would be determined by this single moment.


    His body trembled, and his eyes bulged out. He started shouting loudly as a final, desperatest-ditch attempt.


    "STOP!"


    "You have to listen to me."


    "Can''t you see it? You are already changing!"


    "Have you ever been this talkative in your entire life? Did you even notice your behavior today?"


    "I know you. We have not spoken with each other too many times, but I know you well. I have been keeping track of you for a long time now."


    Hmmm? Liam raised a brow.


    "You are a person who is calm and steady. You keep your head down, and you work hard toward your goal no matter what obstacle stands in your path."


    "At the same time, you never let your strength and power get to you. You have never once shown arrogance or blood lust."


    "But tell me¡­ is that the same person who is in front of me today? Can''t you see that you have changed? If you don''t see this today, do you know what kind of future awaits you?"


    The Oracle blurted out everything that was in his mind without taking a breath, and luckily for him¡­ this small outburst¡­ did, in fact, finally get Liam''s interest as he was talking about Liam.


    Liam stood still. His actions paused. His cold gaze bore into the shivering man as he actually tried to truly contemte the words that were spoken.


    Was he really that different today? Were his actions unusual?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1020 Goodbye

    With the cries of the war dying down in the distance, two men alone stood still, staring at each other, one naked and nervous and the other fully clothed in killing intent.


    After a few seconds of silence, which seemed like an eternity to the Oracle, Liam opened his mouth.


    "Fine. Go ahead and say what you want to say."


    Liam did not intend to trust this snake, but the words that he had spoken had enough merit to make him give these few minutes to the guy.


    On the other side, Caden gulped. He had made the monster agree to him, but the next part was going to be equally challenging as he knew well that Liam wouldn''t be too pleased to hear about it.


    Nevertheless, he had to do it.


    With a sigh, he started from the beginning. "When the game first started, the tutorial I mean, I received a special hidden ss that gave me the ability to predict certain things and look into the future to a small extent."


    "Many people, including you, must have figured this out by now. But what no one knows is that, along with the ss, I also received a single chance to nce at the real future, the future that awaits you and me and everyone else in this world."


    "I don''t know if you will believe me or not, but I am not a bad person. I am not interested in women or riches. I don''t even have any aim or ambition in life."


    "All the Oracles are, in fact, supposed to be intrinsically good and altruistic. This was why I got the quest for the ss in the first ce."


    "But the moment I saw that future that awaited our world, I couldn''t remain like that anymore."


    "Numerous monsters and creatures of untold origin descended on our. Countless lives were killed. There was death and destruction everywhere, but that was not the worst."


    "Our people were taken as ves. Our women and children were used for pleasure. Our resources were plundered without giving us any chance to fight back against this fate. Our entire world was going to beid to waste!"


    "Tell me, how could I stand still after witnessing something like this? So I started doing everything that I could to be stronger."


    "I still don''t know what my role is supposed to be in this predicted future. Am I supposed to let it all happen and be a bystander, observing from the sidelines? Or Am I supposed to do everything in my power to protect my home?"


    "In the end, I did not care about the rules anymore. I decided to protect my home, our world. I was working day and night, and I took every single action that I needed to for this purpose, some even questionable."


    "And finally, after a couple of months, I started to see some changes in the lines of fate." The Oracle sighed. "But¡­ just when I thought I could indeed make a difference¡­ I received another ss quest."


    "It was in this ss quest that I got the opportunity to see the future once again. It was also in this ss quest that I met you for the very first time."


    "Me?" Liam frowned.


    "Yes, and guess what? In this new future, it''s not the endless hordes of monsters and creatures that will lead to our demise, but it''s you who will bring about the destruction of this world!"


    "Can you see it now? Everything I''ve done, I''ve done for this world, for everyone''s sake. It was never my intention to make you my sole target."


    "Fate forced my hand, and I had to act ordingly. If you were in my shoes, what would you have done?" Caden shivered, his tone pleading with a hint of desperation, hoping to justify his actions to the one who stood before him.


    Liam also patiently listened to the whole story the man had to say. "So you are saying that I would bring about the destruction of this world?"


    "No." Caden shook his head. "I am saying we can prevent something like that from happening if we work together. If we couldbine our-"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Before he could utter another word, Liam erupted into a fit of uncontrobleughter, a sound so maniacal it could chill one''s very bones. His eyes sparkled with a malevolent gleam, revealing the depths of the cruelty he was capable of.


    Caden was at a loss for words. Everything seemed to be going well, so what happened? Why was he behaving like this suddenly?


    "You don''t trust me?" He probed.


    "No." Liam chuckled.


    "I do trust you. I trust that you have outdone yourself this time. You got rid of Kouske, and now you want me to rece him? Heh."


    "No. No. I didn''t-"


    "You want me to do your bidding for the sake of the good of this world?" Liam sneered in contempt.


    "Mr. Liam, I am not saying any of that." Caden hurriedly tried to exin, but Liam cut him short. "Then what are you saying?"


    Caden gulped. "I just want to help you."


    Liam twisted his lips and shook his head. "Nope. I am not interested, and I think we have talked enough."


    Seeing him go back to square one again, the Oracle became speechless. He did not know how to deal with this person in front of him.


    "Do you mean to say you don''t care about the future I saw? Are you willing to let this whole world burn? What about your sister? Your wife? All your loved ones? Your guild members? Are you fine with letting everyone pay the price for your actions?"


    Liam paused as if he was once again contemting things, but he only shrugged in the end. "If that is how it is meant to be."


    It was not that he did not care about these people, but rather than trusting a snake like this, he would rely on his own efforts to ovee this so-called future that was predicted.


    Nothing was set in stone. If he coulde back in time and receive a miraculous second chance to change what was meant to be, then he could change this too!


    Caden saw that Liam was indeed telling the truth. He was not beating around the bush. He was not fishing for anything more. He simply spoke what he truly believed.


    While countless men and even creatures from the other races held a person of his abilities in high regard, Liam simply did not care for him, and that was the hard truth.


    However, this meant that¡­ he was surely going to die today¡­ for the second time!


    "Goodbye." Liam grinned.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1021 Derek?

    No! No! No! Caden swore inwardly as he began to rack his brain for something.


    He needed some way to get out of this. He couldn''t die today, not like this, not without any purpose, and surely, not without doing anything that he set out to do.


    He then remembered something crucial about Liam. That was right. This man had trust issues.


    He had heard about the ve contracts that he had offered the two women and the sensation it had created back in the game.


    "Wait. Wait. Wait. What if I signed a ve contract?"


    "Huh?" Liam once again paused his actions. "You want to be my ve?" He raised a brow.


    "Yes. Yes. I will be your ve. So wait."


    "You are willing to go that far just to continue living? Some would say death is better than the life of a ve, you know?"


    Caden smiled ruefully. "You might not trust me, but I truly do believe in you. I know deep down you are not a bad person. You are just like me. You want to save everyone too."


    "Heh. No. I really don''t think so. Things like saving the world are too tedious for me. I am satisfied with saving just a handful. That is more than enough for me."


    Caden sighed. "Even so¡­ you will only benefit from having someone like me at your beck and call."


    "Meh. I don''t care." It was almost as if Liam was hellbent on being stubborn and sending him off today.


    "Fine. You might not want to heed my warning or trust my intentions, then let me talk in thenguage that someone like you will understand. Power!"


    "Give me your hand. I will use my skill for you and tell you how to be more powerful!"


    "If you are satisfied with my services, then in exchange, please consider allowing me to be your ve."


    Liam shook his head in amusement. "It seems you really are desperate. Fine. I will give you another chance. Go ahead."


    He extended his hand toward the Oracle, and the other party instantly grabbed it.


    This was his lifeline, so he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and used everything that he had learned so far to divine the bastard''s fate lines.


    To make things difficult, all his skills were also gone, so he had to relearn everything.


    Ding! Ding! Ding! A series of notifications continuously rang out as the Oracle used his mind to gather the divine energy in the vicinity.


    Unlike the elements of nature that were in abundance, the divine element was not that easy to gather. However, a small amount of divine energy was enough to rival the power of elements of nature.


    And it looked like Caden was well-versed in this.


    Liam could feel his skin prickle as he set to work. A frown appeared on his face. "Don''t bother trying anything. Even if I sense a small thing amiss, I will immediately send you off." He warned.


    However, it looked like the other party could not even hear him. He was in some sort of deep trance, and a couple of minutes passed by just like this. Finally, he shed his eyes open after ten whole minutes.


    "I have something for you!" Caden gasped for air, his chest heaving with each ragged breath.


    As the guy was quite skinny and also very naked, one could clearly see his ribcage and the bones that lined it. It seemed that the skill had really taken a lot out of him.


    But he did not seem to mind it at all. He let out a sigh of relief, his body trembling with the adrenaline of the close call.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He appeared very confident that what he had was enough to let him off the hook, and this made Liam extremely curious. "Speak." He said, his eyes shining with interest.


    "Yes, Mr. Liam. I indeed have something that is going to be extremely beneficial for you. What I am about to say is going to change your whole life."


    "Hmmm?"


    "I can lead you to an individual who will be your greatest ally, who will stand by your side until the very end and help you soar to new heights."


    "Ally?" Liam''s interest was definitely piqued. He tried to think of whom this person could be talking about, and nobody came to his mind except for one person.


    Derek? Could he be talking about Derek? Liam''s heart palpitated.


    "Yes. I can take you right now. In fact, we need to leave at once. Time is of the essence, for that person may not remain in one ce for long."


    "Okay." Liam agreed.


    He knew very well that there was a huge possibility that all of this could be a trap. He also knew that the person might be plotting just for the sake of escaping from him.


    But for Derek, he had to take this chance.


    He might or might not end up bing the cause of the destruction of this world. He could care less about it.


    What he cared about was Derek''s safety and bringing him back home. So even if there was a small chance that all of this was true, he had to take it.


    As if he could read Liam''s thoughts, Caden quickly added. "I swear upon the mana that flows through us. What I am telling you is the absolute truth. You can trust me."


    "Hmmm? We will see about that." Liam indifferently said.


    Caden knew better, so he did not bother wasting any more time in trying to convince him. Instead, he got straight to the point. "We need to go to Botswana. The person whom we are seeking is currently there." He said.


    "Botswana? You mean they are near us right now?" Liam was surprised. They were also in Africa at the moment, so he couldn''t believe that Derek could be so close to him!


    "Let''s go." He immediately pped his hands, and the next moment a white fox appeared out of nowhere.


    "Luna¡­" Caden gasped. This was the first time he was seeing this famed white fox in person, that too, this closeup.


    On the other hand, Luna had a big scowl on her face seeing the naked human being. "Ugly." She directlymented without holding back her tongue.


    Caden''s face twitched.


    Not that long ago, he was revered as a god by everyone he met with. Countless men and women were both attracted to him because of his purity and holiness, and now this fox wasmenting about his looks.


    His fate had really taken a turn for the worse.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1022 Inky, Pinky, Ponkey?

    A few minutester¡­


    The southern part of the African continent loomed ahead as two men rode a white fox, racing towards their destination.


    Funnily enough, one of them was still naked. The poor level 1 Oracle shivered in freezing cold as the fox sped through the distance, but Liam looked like he couldn''t care less about it.


    All of his focus was on finding Derek. He had a feeling that Derek might be in some sort of danger, so he was mentally resting and recuperating to take any action that might be needed.


    Landscapes appeared and disappeared beneath them, including several powerful beasts that were yet to be taken care of. However, the group continued moving until they reached their target destination.


    Soon, Luna circled the border of Botswana. They had finally arrived, which brought in the next problem, how were they going to approach the exact location without spooking whoever they were looking for?


    Liam, especially, was convinced that Derek had suffered some sort of memory loss.


    Otherwise, they wouldn''t have to go after him. He would have reached out to the guild all on his own, or at least he would have reached out to his family members.


    "Hmmm. Could you give me the exact coordinates?" Liam asked after contemtion.


    "Yes, Mr. Liam." The Oracle eagerly nodded and pointed him in the right direction.


    Immediately, Liam patted the white fox. "Ok. You know what to do. Go to this ce as fast as you can."


    Kyu! Luna bobbed her head, and the next second, she shot forward like a bullet. Somehow her speed had be even higher than the speed with which they had traveled here.


    Caden also noticed that two of her tails were glowing bright and raised his eyebrows in surprise.


    However, he did not dare ask for any details. He simply kept quiet and hoped that this endeavor was enough for him to buy his life back.


    And in the next couple of seconds, finally, this opportune moment arrived.


    The three of them reached the exact coordinates where this all-defying ally was supposed to be found, but to their surprise, the ce was rather questionable.


    Liam, Luna, and Caden found themselves at the entrance of some sort of deserted mining site. A diamond mine?


    The site was massive, with several buildings and awork of tunnels leading deep underground. There were all sorts of equipment and heavy machinery lying around, just left there haphazardly.


    There were also signs of struggle and numerous beast carcasses lying around. More specifically, there were bones and remains of beast carcasses. The meat waspletely stripped clean.


    Liam frowned, looking at everything. He suddenly had a bad premonition. "What is this? You brought me to this ce? Who is here?"


    He only barely closed his mouth when a familiar eerie voice whispered in his ears. "Well, hello there¡­ if it isn''t the petty thief who stole what belongs to me."


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. He did not have to think twice to know who this voice belonged to. He didn''t even have to see the person.


    He could identify this voice anywhere because he knew just how dangerous it was!


    Damn it. He gritted his teeth.


    But before he could make any moves, a figure casually walked out of one of the tunnels and appeared in front of the group. The danger was already here!


    It was almost as if the person had been waiting for him!


    Liam stared at the familiar malevolent eyes, and a shiver ran down his spine. Thest time he had seen this person, there was a set of bars between them and a very strong barrier.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But this time¡­ there was nothing there.


    There was him, and a few feet away, there was the¡­ dragon princess.


    The same woman who had once been behind bars, the same woman whom he had double-crossed and left there to rot.


    Liam instantly materialized a soul sphere around him, and Luna and the fox also moved back several paces.


    It was now clear to him that the damned Oracle had betrayed him. He had brought him here to get killed, but the thing was¡­ when Liam nced, he appeared to be just as shocked as him.


    Moreover, the Oracle did not even seem to recognize the woman. Did he really lie?


    Liam decided to think about thister. For now, he was in danger, perhaps even more so when he was facing some mere insects.


    The hive queen most definitely was not proficient in soul attacks, but Liam was sure that this dragon princess was extremely well-versed in attacks such as this.


    She was, after all, absorbing dragon souls when they had first met. The two were onpletely different levels. There was noparison. He needed to -


    Liam was about to send the soul bullet to test the waters when unexpectedly, the other party shouted.


    "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. You damned bastard. You almost killed me once. Don''t kill me again. I have no intention to go against you."


    Huh? Liam was dumbfounded. He paused his attack and opened his mouth to say something when suddenly, another voice sounded.


    "Ho Ho! What a gathering we have here!"


    A slightly short and chubby young man also walked out of one of the tunnels. He had his head cleanly shaved and wore simple clothing, a saffron-colored robe very simr to that of religious attire.


    More importantly, his face was the picture-perfect image of innocence. He was shing an innocent divine smile that only great saints probably possessed.


    One look at him, and anyone would want to trust him instinctively. It was not a quality that could be pinpointed. It was just a feeling that the monk emanated. He just had that good guy/ saint tag attached to him.


    "Blessings. Blessings. So many kind souls gathered here today. Would you all be interested in hearing about your future on this fine sunny day? It only costs 100 mana cores."


    Now it was everyone''s turn to be confused as they stared at the oblivious monk who couldn''t read the atmosphere in the room.


    Even Liam was utterly speechless at this development. He hade here fully expecting Derek to be in this set of coordinates.


    But instead, he was staring at the dragon witch, whom he had never expected to see again in this life, and a monk who appeared out of nowhere?


    What was happening?


    Of course, there was also the Oracle who had led him here in the first ce.


    If the prediction read that he would find his greatest ally here, then which one of these three was his true ally?


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


    Please thank KingRig for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1023 If You Are A Fortune Teller, Then Who Am I?

    As the temperature in the area dropped and the tension in the air became palpable, the Oracle was the first to break the weird silence.


    "What? Fortune telling? What nonsense! What the hell are you doing here?" He asked the weird monk who had popped out of nowhere.


    He had never seen this person before in his life or even heard of him, and yet somehow he had shown up here? Exactly in this location? Was this just a coincidence?


    It had to be!


    But would Liam believe that it was a simple coincidence?


    Seeing all of this hard word go down the drain, Caden was truly scared for his life. He had only just managed to convince Liam, but now everything was getting out of his hands once again.


    Especially seeing the big wide smile on the monk''s face, he felt as if he was going crazy.


    "Mr. Liam, I have no idea who this man is!" Caden immediately tried to reason with Liam.


    "What do you mean you have no idea, good sir?" The monk nonchntly replied. "I just introduced myself. I am but a humble fortune teller."


    Caden''s anger instantly shot up as the vein on his forehead throbbed. "If you are a fortune teller, then who am I?" He was usually a calm andposed person, but right now, he simply wanted to beat up this bastard in front of him until he could no longer smile again.


    "Ah¡­ Blessings. Blessings. Good sir, please calm down. By any chance, are you also a fortune teller? And why are you naked?"


    "Motherfucker!" Caden nowpletely lost it. "I am not some scamming piece of shit like you. I am an honorable Oracle!" He shouted in frustration.


    This was the one bargaining chip that he had for Liam, and now this bastard was taking this as well away from him.


    However, the monk remained as oblivious as ever. "Oh?" He made a curious O shape with his mouth and then smiled some more.


    "Blessings. Blessings. This is my first time meeting another man of our trade. Good sir, my good wishes and blessings are always with you."


    The monk made a customary action of blessing Caden, and on top of that, he also gave a knowing wink for some reason.


    Caden''s eyes widened in shock. Did he actually wink? Just who the heck was this jackass? Why was he casually signing his death warrant?


    Meanwhile, seeing these two yapping at each other, Liam''s face twitched in annoyance. He couldn''t care less about these idiots at the moment.


    The person that actually mattered here and the one who could potentially end his life, along with the lives of every single living thing on this, was the draconian princess!


    So Liam did not dare take his eyes off the woman in front of him.


    In fact, this was the first time he got a good look at her. She was nowpletely different from the vague prisoner he had met back in the game.


    While the prisoner was slender, lifeless, and more simr to a corpse, this woman was alive! <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She was full of life and energy. Not just that, she also had horns on her head and red eyes, with her teeth and fingernails unnaturally sharp and extended like that of a beast.


    Her figure, too, was not ordinary. She had an extremely seductive body with pronounced curves that could make any man want to stare at her for all eternity.


    The violet scales that barely hid anything shimmered under the colors of the dusk. Even her beastial features only made her look more enchanting. In a word, she was exquisite.


    As if realizing that Liam was staring at her, the draconian princess looked amused. The next second she snapped her fingers with a cunning little smile dancing on her lips.


    Her seemingly normal red eyes started glowing. Unfathomably deep golden slits appeared within them.


    Immediately, the two men who were bickering turned to look at her as if they were drawn by a strange force. They stared at her in a trance, not remembering the heads or tails of their current conversation.


    Seeing this, the draconian princess revealed a satisfied smirk. Her gaze then shifted to Liam. But unfortunately, the same couldn''t be said for him.


    The guy was still staring at her with hatred and animosity in his eyes, not in the least affected by her charms. "A tough one, aren''t you?" She frowned and clicked her tongue.


    Liam sneered in contempt. "Stop with this nonsense. What are you doing here? How did you escape that prison?"


    He He. The draconian princess smirked again. "Wouldn''t you like to know? After all, you made sure that there was no way I was getting out of there, right?"


    Liam''s gaze hardened, and he silently made sure that the soul shield he erected was still sturdy and effective.


    "Sigh. I already said that I don''t want to harm you. Why won''t you just trust me? You have some serious trust issues."


    As if agreeing with her, the Oracle also nodded his head while the third party simply looked from one person to another, not knowing what the heck was happening.


    Liam, on the other hand, still remained silent, not caring toment.


    It was clear that the conversation here had reached an impasse. Neither side was willing to take the leap, and neither side was willing to let their guard down.


    Naturally, this did not include the two dummies who were also present in the vicinity.


    A few more minutes of awkward silence passed by when the draconian princess finally took the first step. "Look here, brat. I will not beat around the bush anymore. I am here only for you."


    "Hmmm?" Liam scoffed.


    "Heh? You don''t believe me?" She smirked.


    "Did you really think that a pitiful human being, that too a snot-nosed brat like you, who has lived for less than a century, could outwit me? Brat, I have been ying you right from the beginning!"

 Chapter 1024 The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend!

    "Did you really think that a pitiful human being, that too a snot-nosed brat like you, who has lived for less than a century, could outwit me? Brat, I have been ying you right from the beginning!"


    The draconian princess sneered and continued, "Let me make it more clear." She walked forward with a skip and a hop and circled around Liam. "What did you think happened back in that prison they built for me?"


    Liam''s face slightly changed, but he still did notment anything.


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha! Who do you think was tricking who?"


    "You absorbed my wyverns because I allowed you to. You absorbed my precious draconian souls because I let you do so. You hand-delivered me all those tasty human souls and led the divine temple idiots right to my doorstep because I pushed you to do so!"


    "You simply yed your role in the drama that I staged to get my hands on those divine temple bastards. Do you understand now?"


    "From the beginning, you were always in the palm of my hands."


    Liam looked shocked, but then the next second, his expression changed into one of arrogance. "Bitch, do you think that I am an idiot to believe your words?" He snorted coldly.


    "You can continue talking like this, but it''s useless. Rather, I think this whole endeavor was useless. It''s time I just simply end all three of you, then deal with some small insects and take some much-deserved break." He even let out a yawn.


    Immediately, the Oracle and the Monk shivered, with the monk trying to signal really hard with his eyes and face to the Oracle, asking him what the hell was happening here.


    However, the main party still remained unfazed.


    "He He He. Good. Good. I am d you did not fall for that. If you did, then you wouldn''t be any fun now, would you?" She jutted her voluptuous chest forward and rubbed her two mounds together in a sensual manner.


    Her eyes still showed a hint of gold, and a long-forked tongue slipped out of her mouth and licked her ruby-red lips. "Fine." She said, "I admit that you caught me by surprise."


    "I did not expect a random target who my pet chose to be proficient in the soul arts. You threw mepletely off my original n and forced me to make a new one."


    "Thanks to you, I had to possess a little kid to get out of there, you know? Anyways, that''s enough about the past. Let''s talk about the present."


    "I am still telling the truth about the second part. I am here right now, only for you. I could have gone to any of the worlds, but I am here because of you."


    "Hmmm?" Liam narrowed his eyes and studied the woman.


    "You want me toy it out for you? I am here to help you, sorry, help each other get back at those divine temple whores." The draconian princess smirked.


    "The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"


    She stared at Liam, finally hoping to see some reaction on his face, but unfortunately for her, the man only continued to look indifferent.


    "You still don''t trust me?"


    Liam chuckled sarcastically. "Sure, I do. You came here to find me, and you want to help me in getting revenge against the divine temple. Everything makes sense."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And just as the draconian princess looked rxed, he then added, "Is that why you were waiting until my little problem with the isons waspletely dealt with?"


    The woman froze for a second. She then clicked her tongue and sighed in exasperation. "Tch. You are too mean. Treating a woman like this. Tch. Tch."


    Liam''s face twisted seeing the cute pout on the ''who knew how many centuries old'' draconian princess''s face. "Cut the shit." He nkly said.


    "Bastard! Escaping from that world was not easy, you know, I need some time to recuperate. I did intend to meet you soon enough, well, if you survive the isons, that is."


    Liam immediately gave an ''I knew it'' look.


    "Come on. You can''t expect me to do all the heavy lifting here. I first wanted to check if you were really worthy of my help or not."


    "You made your choice." Liam shrugged.


    Though he still was not 100% sure, right now, he was at least somewhat convinced that the woman in front of him was heavily weakened or injured in some manner.


    Otherwise, she wouldn''t be begging him like this. But that did not mean that everything she said was true. Out of the three in front of him, two were snakes, and thest one also very well might be.


    He would only be a fool to trust either of them.


    In fact, he never nned to trust any of them. Rather his issue was what was the best way to deal with them.


    As if she could read his thoughts, immediately, the draconian princess huffed in anger. "You still don''t trust me, do you? Are you silently plotting to kill all three of us here?" She pursed her lips.


    Hearing her, the other two as well started panicking.


    "Mr. Liam!" The Oracle gasped.


    "Good sir, maybe I should take my leave." The monk started sweating profusely and began to take a step back.


    However, before he could do anything, a golden cage trapped him. "Shut the fuck up and stay there." The Oracle was delirious.


    "Mr. Liam, you have to trust me. The prediction I drew for you is one hundred percent true! I already told you that I am willing to sign the ve contract. Please spare me."


    The draconian princess heard this and clicked her tongue again.


    "Oh? So that''s how you located me? Not bad. You got yourself one of these bastards. They are cunning, but they are very useful. Having him as a ve will only help you."


    Liam remained unmoved at her words.


    The woman sighed and added, "In that case, how about we sign a contract too?"

 Chapter 1025 You Will Explode~

    1025 You will explode~


    "Heh. You also want to be my ve?" Liam mockingly asked the draconian princess. "Sure, that can be arranged."


    The princess smiled mysteriously, amused by Liam''s actions. She could see that the man she had met back in the game was very different from the one standing in front of her at the moment.


    As for the reason why... Her gazended on the small crystal ball that was hanging by his neck. She stared at it for a second before she let out a sultryugh. "This is going to be interesting."


    "Hmmm?"


    The princess winked at Liam and shook her head. "l don''t mind being your ve, my liege, but in this case, I am talking about a different kind of soul contract."


    "Go on."


    "The contract would state that neither of us will harm the other. will help you and stand by your side until the divine temple high priestess is dealt with. In return, you will help me get my revenge and my original body back."


    "This is not your original body?" Liam did not expect this sort of agreement.


    "Brat, who do you think am? Do you think your world can even stand the presence of my original body? If I step here with my original body, then everything will perish, and your world will explode. Hmph."


    "Sounds very dangerous. Makes me rethink signing this contract. I think I will be more inclined to make you my ve."


    Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!


    This time after hearing Liam repeat the same words, the woman directly burst into a fit ofughter.


    "Brat, if you enve me, your soul will explode and perish. I am simr to a celestial-tier beast like the little baby fox behind you!"


    "If you still want to go ahead and try it, feel free to be my guest. The only problem is then I would have to search for a new ally. Ha ha ha!"


    Liam''s face twitched as he watched the dragon woman buckle down inughter.


    "Ha ha ha! You are taking too long to make a decision. You don''t seem to realize the power of my help. Do you know just how much someone like me can assist you?"


    "Without me, you stand no chance against that righteous whore, but with me, you can even enve her. Think about it. Weren''t you also searching for the limit-breaker fruit? I can give you everything you desire!"


    Liam''s eyes widened, but it was only for a second. Though he was tempted by this woman''s words inwardly, he tried to keep a calm facade.


    "Yes. Yes. You can give me this. You can give me that. am hearing a lot of promises, but everything feels very empty. You sound like an old hag trying to lure a kid."


    "Old hag?" The woman''s face changed, but she quickly brushed it aside. "Bah! If I wanted to lure you, you would already be on top of me, you arrogant punk! A brat born yesterday resisting my charms? Dream on!"


    "Oh?" Liam sneered. "Then it''s good you don''t have your original body. As it is, don''t think I have any problem resisting your ''charm''".<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The dragon princess scoffed. She couldn''t even say anything to this because she had only just now failed to tempt him. "Whatever." She rolled her eyes and then added. "This is taking too long, so let me start by giving you a freebie."


    Liam raised his brow.


    "l can tell you something that you have absolutely no idea about."


    The draconian princess continued circling him and casually hummed. "About your current world''s condition... Do you think that you have already managed to take care of the isons?"


    Huh?


    Liam''s interest was now piqued. He had taken care of the red zone in Greend a while back. He also had taken care of the red zone in India before leaving the country.


    And as for the red zone in Africa, he had just now personally gotten rid of it.


    As far as he knew, there wasn''t a single ison swarm around any longer. All the hives werepletely eradicated, and the red zones too.


    Even if something were left behind by mistake, then it would only take him a trip there to take care of it, so what was this woman talking about?


    "If you are talking about the two queens, then I already dealt with both of them," Liam replied, but the draconian princess cut him short and shook her head.


    "I am not talking about the queens, my liege. Ha Ha Ha. I am talking about the King!" Her voice boomed.


    "The isons have a King! He is your true enemy, and he is still alive and well. Even if you don''t go looking for him, he will definitelye looking for you."


    "As far as he is concerned, there can only be one King for this world, and that has to be him!"


    "King? What are you talking about?" Liam''s cold gaze studied the cunning woman. He couldn''t tell if she was bluffing or telling the truth.


    He had taken down dozens of hive hills so far, and he had also faced the red zones alone. In all of these swarms, he had nevere across a King. He did hear something about a brood mother but definitely nothing about a King.


    "What? You again don''t believe me?" The woman yfully pouted. "Well, this time it is really easy to check this. Let''s all go to the magic shop. We can be there at the destination in a minute."


    "Where?"


    "Obviously, to the King''s hive hill. Don''t tell me... you, humans, haven''t even figured this one out? What a helpless bunch! I am talking about the red-colored hive hill."


    "That one is already destroyed." The oracle answered first.


    The draconian princessughed at his eager reply. "No." She turned toward Liam and said. "lt is not yet destroyed. If you don''t take care of it soon enough, then these discussions are meaningless."

 Chapter 1026 Only One King Is Allowed!

    1026 Only one King is allowed!


    The red hive hill!


    Liam stilled for a second. Naturally, he had read something about this red hive hill in the guildmunications channel. He had also read that the other team had taken care of it.


    At first, he suspected that something was off, but he had personally visited that area and checked the hive hill. It was indeed destroyed, as it was mentioned on themunications channel.


    Because of this and because of the other pressing matters that upied his mind like the three zones where the hive hill hadpletely burst open, in the end he had forgotten about this red hive hill.


    At least it was not his top priority to check the same terrain again to make sure that it waspletely taken care of. However, now it was clear to him that he had overlooked something important.


    "Where was that hive?" Liam turned to look at the Oracle.


    "In Germany..." The other party mumbled.


    "I guess we are paying a visit to Germany then." Liam cracked his neck and prepared to leave. "You three bettere with me." He then paused and smirked. "Or would you prefer to be buried here for eternity?"


    His chilling voice made the Oracle and the Monk jump up and quickly stand next to him. As for the dragon princess, she silently smiled and walked over, humming a tune.


    Compared to the two, who were shaking and trembling, she looked like she was en route to a nice Sunday pic.


    "Say... just how strong is your soul maniption technique at the moment?" She walked closer to Liam and used her finger to touch the intangible shield that still covered him.


    "You have now been holding the shield for almost ten minutes continuously, it is really impressive." She let out a sultry moan. "To be able to do this, you must have a big, thick... soul, I mean." She snickered. 2


    Liam ignored her and then hopped onto Luna. As for the other three, he summoned a wyvern to act as a ride. Naturally, this evoked severalments from the group, but Liam did not pay attention to them.


    His entire focus was on this so-called King. Just how strong would this insect be?


    Soon the group arrived at the magic shop and teleported to their destination on Liam''s dime.


    It only took them a couple of minutes to arrive in Germany, and once they were here, the draconian princess again opened her mouth.


    There was also a mysterious new spring in her steps. She waltzed in front of Liam and stopped him by leaning on him with her voluptuous mounds pressed against his chest.


    "He He He! I can finally touch you, you little brat." She teased him with her forked tongue sticking out, heading straight for his lips.


    However, her gaze with the golden glint lingered around the strange crystal ball hanging on Liam''s neck, and her hand reached out to touch the thing.


    "Stop messing around," Liam muttered in annoyance and pushed the woman away.


    "Ahhh! You are so mean!"


    "And look who is suddenly so gutsy. Are you not scared of this big sister anymore? Is this because of the shop''s protection? Ha Ha Ha. So predictable."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even though she had stated the obvious, the other two suddenly gasped. Only now did they realize that they were also momentarily safe from Liam, and he couldn''t harm them inside the shop even if he wanted to.


    As if he could read their thoughts, Liam bluntly reminded them, pouring cold water on their ideas. "l can always hunt you down after you leave. In fact, I suggest you leave. I like hunting."


    Seeing the look on his face, the two of them shivered.


    "Mr. Liam, I am not nning to go anywhere. My ce from now onward is only next to you." The Oracle awkwardly cleared his throat and salvaged the situation.


    The other guy, however, was not as quick to ept his fate. "Good Sir, l am just a monk, a man of cloth, why would you-"


    Unfortunately for him, no one at the moment was paying any attention to him.


    Liam had already walked out, followed by the Oracle and the draconian princess. Sighing, the monk also could only follow them. Everyone remained silent, engrossed in their own thoughts.


    But the second Liam crossed the threshold of the magic shop, taking just a single step outside, the draconian princess all of a sudden startedughing like a lunatic.


    "Brat, now you are done for!" She shed Liam a wicked smile.


    "Hmmm? What do you mean?" Liam paused in his tracks.


    Naturally, he had already summoned a soul shield around him and Luna, so they at least had the time and the chance to head back to the shop for protection in the worst-case scenario.


    So what was this crazy bitchughing about?


    "What? You still don''t understand? The minute you stepped foot here, your fate was already sealed. Who did you think the Ison King was? Your usual immature insect?"


    "Brat, he is a level 500 King!"


    "Have you even touched Level 100 yet? What do you think someone like you can do to a Level 500 monster? And now that you have stepped foot here, he has already sensed you."


    "You can no longer run or hide. He will be after you like a rabid hound, not stopping until either you die or be his meal! Ha Ha Ha!"


    "And now you have no other choice except to sign a contract with me. Ha Ha Ha!"


    "Level 500? Impossible!" Liam''s face changed.


    Before he even thought about whether what the woman was spewing was the truth or not, he acted fast and first stepped back into the magic shop, entering the protective space.


    It was also right on time.


    The very next second, something shifted in the distance, and before anyone could even blink, a monstrous creature appeared in front of him, something that did not even resemble an ison anymore...

 Chapter 1027 Yes Or No?

    1027 Yes or No?


    Ding <Ison King, Level 500>


    Liam gaped at the 10 feet tall creature standing firmly just a few feet away from him.


    Perhaps because the draconian princess had already told him that the creature was Level 500, he was able to [Inspect] the details.


    But that was not of much use. Liam had never seen or fought against something like this before. It resembled none of the isons, including the Elite Generals and the Queens.


    Unlike the typical isons, this one did not have a weirdbination of limbs, pincers, and mandibles, and it also did not possess a mess of sharp metallic wings at the back.


    Instead, this creature looked more elegant and refined.


    It had a lean and muscr human-like physique, and it was made of flesh and bones, at least parts of it. It only had a single pair of sharp scaly wings at the back, and its limbs ended in sharp metallic ws. 2


    The creature was essentially a mix of human and ison structurally.


    As for the other things... they also seemed very human. The pair of eyes on the triangr carapace head were locked onto Liam, scanning him from top to bottom.


    A powerful undefined aura seeped out of this monstrosity that made even the fairies in the shop shiver.


    This was the next opponent he had to face? Liam clenched his fists. The other two standing by his side shivered and trembled at the sight of this unbeatable enemy.


    What were they supposed to do against something like this? Earth had only barely evolved, and they had had ess to mana for just a few weeks.


    In that small span of time, they had to be strong enough to face a creature like this? In what world was this considered fair?


    This was merely a death sentence handed to the human beings!


    Both the Oracle and the Monk inched towards Liam subconsciously, dread filling their faces.


    Thankfully they were still within the protective space of the magic shop, so even if death was staring right at their faces, they were momentarily safe, not that this provided much of a relief.


    If not today, then their turn was going toe tomorrow.


    However, thest member of the group was shockingly in high spirits. The draconian princess seemed to be thrilled at the sight of the unwee visitor.


    "LOOK. AT. HIM." Sheughed. "He is a Level 500 superviin."


    "Do you think you can take him on without my help? He He He."


    "You are doomed!"


    "Just give in and take my help. You are not capable of defeating him, but I can guide you to your victory."


    Liam was standing frozen, staring at the King, so she continued taunting him without holding back.


    "Trust me. In this situation, I am the only one who can help you."


    "We might have started on the wrong foot, but you will not regret this decision.


    Come on. What are you waiting for?"


    She snapped her fingers, and the next second, a system notification appeared in front of Liam, only that this notification was a bit unusual.


    The words on the notification were dancing. They looked alive. Liam had to blink twice just to make sure he was not seeing things.


    However, the content on the prompt looked fine. On it, all the conditions the draconian princess had mentioned were clearly written in bullet points.


    Liam''s gaze shifted from the monster to the contract as he went through the details one by one. It was indeed legitimate and did not contain any tricks.


    It was even clearly mentioned that the two of them would not harm each other in any way or bear any ill will toward one another. They would be allies for eternity.


    He also did not have to seed in helping her get revenge. He only needed to try his best and help her without holding back.


    Overall, except for the way the cunning draconian woman had forced this contract down his throat, there was nothing else that bothered him about the whole thing.


    ''Am I that easy to manipte?¡¯ Liam sneered inwardly.


    Taking advantage of his current condition, the woman was clearly trying to force his hand, but he wasn''t willing to agree to her just yet.


    His brain racked for any other possible way that he could get out of this alive.


    He had indeed made a breakthrough in his soul maniption skill recently, but would that be enough to bring this monster down?


    There were 400 levels of difference between the two of them! That was not a joking matter!


    As if she could read Liam''s thoughts, the draconian princess immediately taunted him again.


    "Wait. Don''t tell me you are counting on your soul maniption techniques?


    Surely, you couldn''t be that strong to affect the soul of a monster like this?"


    "It is simply impossible."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Don''t even think about trying. If you step out of the shop''s bounds, you will only die."


    Her words echoed in Liam''s mind, and he also knew that what she was saying made perfect sense. His hand went over to the ''yes'' option on the screen.


    That was his only way out, but... he then stopped.


    A thought popped up in his mind. Who was truly desperate here... was it him, or was it her?


    Liam had a feeling that this draconian princess needed him a lot more than he needed her. His gut instincts screamed at him to call her bluff.


    He quickly took back his finger and now pointed it at the ''reject'' option.


    And just like he thought, the woman''s face instantly contorted. "You brat! Get a hold of yourself! Stop acting so stubborn! Have you gonepletely insane?


    Just take what I am giving you!"


    "No!" Liam bluntly replied.


    And just as he was about to hit that ''reject'' option, he once again withdrew his finger back and unexpectedly pointed at the ''yes'' option.


    However, it was barely for a second. Before the princess could even look relieved, he once again changed his option.


    <Yes>


    <Reject>


    <Yes>


    <Reject>


    He started ying around with the two options as if he was now deciding his fate by ying Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. His action drove the poor princess crazy.


    "Damned brat! Stop it! What the hell are you doing? Why can''t you simply ept it? You are going to kill yourself!" The draconian princess shouted in exasperation.


    Why can''t anything ever be easy with this guy?


    She cursed her bad luck for hitching her wagon to this maniac, but the next second, once again, something unexpected happened, and Liam paused.


    Surprisingly, even a smile appeared on his face. He then all of a sudden epted the contract without doing anything else questionable!


    The draconian princess looked shocked for a moment and then let out a big loud sigh. It was finally over. This time it was real.


    She calmly walked over to Liam and started saying several words of encouragement.


    "This is good. You definitely won''t regret this decision. will not break your trust. We can be good allies and help each other out..."


    The princess continued talking, but she did not know that the person she was talking to was no longer paying attention to her.


    Liam was in his own world. He was busy reaching deep into himself to test something out.


    In fact, there was a reason why he had finally epted the contract.


    Just now, when he was messing around with the contract, he had noticed something, something that he had never expected.


    The soul contract had reacted to him!


    A soul contract was an agreement between two souls, and it was as strict as a contract could get. It was magic that would be engraved on both of their souls.


    But today, Liam felt something different.


    It was just a fleeting feeling, an inkling, but he could tell that he might one day be able to alter this contract. At least it was not impossible for him.


    After all, he did have the ability to manipte souls.


    Then wouldn''t it be possible for him to reach into his own soul and alter any trace of this contract, thereby making the whole thing null and void on his side?


    In the past, he had healed his injured and wounded soul several times in this exact same manner.


    So at least theoretically, something like this should be possible.


    While the draconian princess was going on and on, spewing nonsense on the side, he couldn''t help but attempt to do this.


    However, a few triester, it was clear that he needed more soul strength and more experience. His soul maniption technique was also rathercking to achieve something of this magnitude.


    Liam exhaled, temporarily setting this matter aside. For now, this can wait. He currently had other important pressing things to take care of first.


    He then turned toward the woman standing near him and shed a big smile.


    "Congrattions on getting what you wanted." He said. "Shall we now talk about how to defeat this Level 500 Ison King?"


    Liam brought the focus back to the predatory creature that was standing in front of them and ring right at them.

 Chapter 1028 You Maniac!

    1028 You maniac!


    "Ah... About that..."


    Liam watched as the dragon princess, for some reason, suddenly started backpedaling.


    "Hmmm?" He frowned. "I did my part. Now it''s your turn."


    "Yes. Yes. Of course, it''s my turn, but there is a small catch." She awkwardlyughed.


    Liam did not look pleased about the direction this conversation was headed, but more than that, the Oracle was the one who felt as if he was in the hot seat.


    If this woman did not help Liam at this moment, then his prediction of her being an ally wouldn''te true!


    And if that happens... Before this crazy monster killed him, Liam would definitely kill him first!


    Caden gulped and then bowed to the mysterious woman respectfully.


    "Miss... please don''t create any unnecessary trouble. Please just help. Our entire world is resting in your hands."


    The monk also vigorously nodded his head. He had no idea what was going on, but the thing in front of him was absolutely freakish. It needed to die ASAP!


    "All my blessings are with you, miss. Please help."


    Feeling the three pairs of using eyes on her, the draconian princess immediately cleared her throat. "What are you all hinting at? I am a proud woman of the dragon race. We do not go back on our words! Hmph!"


    "As for the method to kill this guy, first, I need some information from you."


    Liam''s face twitched. "What information?"


    "Just how far have you progressed in your soul maniption technique?"


    "Hmmm? What does that have to do with this? Didn''t you say that you will help me kill it?"


    "Ah... Right... About that... I meant that I will guide you." The womanughed awkwardly again. "You still have to do the work."


    "By work, you mean... risk my life and fight that thing which is more than 400 levels above me?"


    "Brat! Don''t put the me on me. Firstly, the isons are one of the easiest parasites to deal with. Only the really useless lower realms suffer from these kinds of stupid insects."


    "Do you even know how long they have existed and for how many centuries they have been trying to eat their way through the universe?"


    "In all those years, after so many invasions and struggles, I can count just a handful of Kings who have sessfully emerged from their propaganda."


    "Yes, it is true that they have the advantage of extreme evolution, but if they are dealt with within the first couple of days, then they are basically no different than a hive of harmless flies."


    "It is not my fault that your backward did not have even this basic information and allowed one of the most annoying parasites to develop to this extent."


    Liam looked at the woman, still remaining calm, and nkly said.


    "Just get to the point."


    He was not agitated in the least about the missed opportunity. It was pointless to worry about things beyond one control.


    It was also pointless to think about what could have been done.


    Right now, the only thing that mattered was the opponent in front of him.


    The draconian princess crossed her hands in front of her chest and then exhaled loudly. "You ungrateful brat. You are the one who is refusing to cooperate."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Look here. While the isons are easy to take out in the first couple of days, dealing with them even a weekter is an entirely different matter."


    "The power level of that beast standing in front of you should tell you that much. He has grown this big thanks to all the human essence the little ones have been feeding him."


    "This is also not the end of it."


    "He will continue to grow even bigger. It doesn''t matter if he has hatched or not, an ison King has the ability to devour your entire world."


    "And a King born from devouring a realm is a frightening opponent.


    The current Ison Kings roaming around in the myriad realms are also powerful beings."


    "So you have no other choice except to deal with him right now and here. This is why it is important that you tell me everything. How much have you progressed in your soul maniption technique?"


    "Besides, we have already signed a contract. What is the point of hiding things anymore? Is it such a big deal to reveal the extent of your ability to manipte souls?"


    Liam narrowed his eyes. He did not reply to her immediately and contemted the words the woman had spoken in silence.


    While he had pretty much figured out some things about these insects, he still did not know that the isons had such a background, and there were many Kings born even before this.


    It was not a bad idea to sign the contract after all.


    As a member of the draconian race, this woman could possess a lot of knowledge that could help him deal with the threats that stared at him from all different directions.


    "What do you want to know about my soul maniption?" Liam asked.


    "Dear Gessiyah! Why are you being so stingy with your words?" The draconian princess became impatient.


    She suddenly scoffed and walked closer to Liam, then unexpectedly reached forward and tugged at the crystal ball he was wearing like a pendant around his neck.


    "You are hanging your achievement for the entire world to see, and yet you try to be secretive?"


    "Huh?" Immediately the one Oracle and the one Monk looked at the scene in confusion. What was she talking about?


    The draconian princess shook her head helplessly. "What? You expect me to believe that this is a simple trinket like these two fools? Was I born yesterday?"


    She looked at Liam directly in his eyes and smirked. "Brat, my abilities are on an entirely different level whenpared to yours.


    So don''t even try to hide. This is a ball of souls."


    "This means that your soul strength and your soul maniption ability are high enough to control a ball of souls constantly!"


    Liam narrowed his eyes, coldly returning the gaze of the draconian princess. He then nodded. "Yes, it is a ball of souls." He did not attempt to hide anything.


    The princess smirked proudly as if she had unlocked an achievement. She continued ying around with the condensed ball of souls when she once again abruptly tugged at the crystal.


    "You maniac!" She shouted in shock. "What have you done? How many souls are within this ball?"


    "Oh?" Liam raised his brow. Could she sense even that?


    "Yes. I can sense it. Of course, I can sense it!" She sighed in exasperation, clearly reading Liam''s thoughts.


    She stared at him for a moment, thinking about something, and then the obvious dawned on her. "You! You have condensed a whole swarm into this ball, haven''t you?"


    Liam smiled. She was correct once again. To be more precise, an entire red zone was hanging around his neck!

 Chapter 1029 50-50

    1029 50-50


    While Liam was calmly smiling, the draconian princess went livid.


    "No. Don''t smile. This is foolishness. This is too hasty. You have done something without thinking."


    "This is apletely arrogant move even for you. If you control these many souls, do you know the stress this ces on your soul?"


    "Are you feeling the pain yet or not? Have you ever experienced a soul injury?! Someone like you won''t even be able to withstand it for one night. You will turn into a mindless lunatic before youpletely perish under the stress."


    The princess started going on a rant berating Liam, advising just how severe a soul injury was.


    However, Liam remained silent.


    The thing was he indeed knew the pain of a soul injury, but he was not about to openly admit to a woman he did not trust that this soul was already injured. So he continued to let her rant.


    The draconian princess only stopped talking after a couple of minutes, with a sigh. "Fine. We can deal with thister."


    "Let''s first finish the battle in front of us and then you should immediately disperse these souls. If your soul injury is big enough then you will only be useless to both me and yourself."


    "Ok." Liam agreed.


    This time it looked like the princess was serious and no longer in a yful mood. She directly came to the main point.


    "The method to defeat this monster is actually not tooplicated."


    She exined. ''"But I will be honest with you. You only have a 50% chance of winning."


    "50%?" Liam frowned. That was too less of a percentage to bet his life on.


    "Wait. Let me finish. It is only 50% but it can increase depending on just how strong your shielding ability is."


    "I am talking about the skill you have been demonstrating to me right from when we met, the barrier you create using souls."


    "This is a newly born Ison King. Even though his level is too high for you at the moment, his basic skills and his abilities shouldn''t have developed a lot."


    "For a King to fully mature, it should at least take a decade. Right now, all he should have is power-packed blunt offensive abilities. So you should be able to deal with him right now, provided you properly use that ability of yours to defend."


    Liam nodded. He understood what she meant. Basically, to win this fight, he would have to grind down the health of that monster while simultaneously preserving his own health.


    The n looked easy enough.


    "It won''t be that easy." The draconian princess shook her head.


    "Apart from very high offensive abilities, the Ison King should also possess innate defensive abilities. So you would have to always use your best attack to continuously weaken him."


    "Considering that you are also going to be casting your soul barrier, attacking him in this manner would deplete your mana reserves fast."


    "Not just that, but your stamina and mental strength are also going to get drained within seconds. The King should also have a monstrous health stat. This is the first thing that they usually evolve to ensure their survival. So this definitely will not go smoothly."


    "I suggest you exchange something in your possession to the magic shop for more potions and items and go at him with full strength. But I have to warn you..."


    "Even after doing all of this, you still only have a 50-50 chance of beating that monster. That is probably the highest odds you are ever going to get."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Understood." Liam nodded.


    The draconian princess only barely sighed in relief when all of a sudden Liam abruptly walked out of the barrier.


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!!"


    "LIAM!"


    "Ayo!!!"


    All three immediately shouted in shock.


    The draconian princess couldn''t believe what she was seeing. Even after she had warned him so much, this maniac was still acting arrogantly as he pleased.


    It was fine up until now but here even a single misstep could only mean death and yet he had dared to step out unprepared. This was no longer arrogance. It was simple foolishness.


    At this point, there was nothing anyone could do to help him. He waspletely done for.


    Her eyes narrowed in anger and a slit-like golden glint appeared within them. "When you die, don''t me me."


    She watched as the Ison King instantly reacted the moment Liam stepped outside. It was game over.


    A powerful wind current swept the ce as the King''s figure blurred.


    The draconian princess, the Oracle, and the Monk immediately felt their hearts drop.


    Bang!


    The next second, before anyone could react, Liam was sent flying backward once again into the magic shop''s protective barrier.


    And standing in front of them, the Ison King''s beady eyes calmly stared at them.


    It was as if he was challenging Liam to step out if he dared or even to stand up in the first ce after facing that head-on attack.


    The three turned toward Liam, dread filling their faces.


    However, the person who should have been lying on the ground, twitching and turning in pain with a few broken limbs.... was already missing?


    "NO! You foolish human!" The draconian princess shouted but it was already toote.


    Liam was once again gone. He had willingly stepped out of the magic shop''s protective barrier for a second time, directly facing the Level 500 monstrosity.


    But immediately, the woman''s face changed.


    Her eyes widened in shock, staring at the unbelievable sight in front of her. Not just her, but the two next to her as well stared at the same scene in utter shock.


    It was because this time when the Ison King once more arrived in front of Liam hitting him directly with his legs and the long predatory ws, the same situation did not repeat.


    Instead of flying away or being skewered, Liam stood still,pletely unaffected by the attack, and surrounding him was a thick white vapor -like substance mysteriously swirling around.

 Chapter 1030 [Soul Freeze]

    1030 [Soul Freeze]


    Liam licked his lips as he stared at the alien creature in front of him.


    On the other side, the draconian princess was busily hurling several words at him but her cries of panic and shouts of anger all aimed at him faded away into the background.


    Liam only focused on the opponent standing right before him.


    Yes, the n the draconian princess had suggested to him was solid and even had a reasonable 50-50 chance but that was not enough.


    Entering a fight with a 50% chance was not the best that he could do.


    He had a n of his own that had a much bigger chance of victory.


    Especially now that he knew the effectiveness of his soul shield, he sneered at the abnormal creature as he walked out of the protective barrier once again.


    "Is that all you had?" Unexpected words came out of his mouth. This was because [Soul Shield] was not the only soul skill he had in his repertoire.


    The next second, before the so-called King couldunch another attack at him, Liam reacted fast. He manipted the soul shield around him and instantly split the thick soul essence into two streams.


    The first one he used to surround himself and form the protective barrier but the second one, he sent directly at the grotesque creature, aiming right for its soul.


    The Ison King trembled at the impact, his figure freezing awkwardly mid-motion. The powerful level 500 creature was helpless against the attack. The creature stood like a statue in shock unable to do anything at all.


    The draconian princess, the oracle, and the monk who were watching this unblinkingly were also shocked silly.


    What just happened?


    Everything had progressed too fast and now all they could see was the Ison King standing weirdly, staring at nothing in particr. His eyes were also dazed as if he wasn''t even conscious at the moment.


    While the two humans had no clue what was going on, it didn''t take long for the draconian princess to figure things out.


    "A soul attack!" She eximed as horror filled her face. Yes, this was a good thing but how could a human being from a lower realm like this be capable of executing an attack like this?


    On the other hand, Liam did not seem surprised in the least.


    "Oh? So you are indeed stronger than your queens!" He casually remarked as if he had already done this a hundred times which wasn''t that far from the truth.


    This was indeed the same attack he had used earlier against the Ison Queens in front of Kouske. This was also the attack because of which he had confidently stepped foot here to face the so-called King.


    In fact, that was why he had evene to the Grand War in the first ce.


    When his soul became injured and his overpowered Soul Splice skill became locked, Liam suddenly found himself useless.


    Without a skill like that, he waspletely powerless against the isons, especially the evolved ones.


    Repairing his soul in this short time was also out of the question as he had no idea how to go about that or even to what extent his soul was injured.


    This wouldn''t have been that big of a problem since he still had his soul army and his other strong points to rely on including his ck dragon sword and his mana core.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, when it came to the isons, none of these were useful. He was only managing to eradicate them because of his Soul Splice skill.


    Without these... they were only going to be stronger and stronger as the days went by! Dealing with them after that would be next to impossible.


    But Liam was also notpletely clueless as to what to do next.


    Perhaps because of using Soul Splice so many times that his own soul was now bruised badly, he already had an idea about a new soul skill.


    Just like how soul splicebined the strength of several souls all at once, thereby damaging his soul, Liam wanted to use the same concept to shock and shatter another person''s soul by forcefully injecting considerable soul essence into their soul.


    This was what he was developing during the two days he spent inside theher dungeon.


    Thanks to the abundance ofher in the ce, it was the perfect ce for him to recover his mental strength, clear his mind and meditate on this.


    Though he wasn''t too sure how everything would pan out, at the end, he did manage to make a breakthrough.


    Even if it was not the skill he had in mind, he created a skill that partially resembled it - [Soul Freeze].


    Instead of trying topletely grip a soul and shatter it, he ended up using a smaller amount of soul strength to temporarily freeze the soul.


    This not only made the target unable to react for a few seconds but also ced them in severe pain and agony,pletely disrupting their bnce.


    And thus, apart from his [Soul Shield] which was a defensive soul technique, he acquired his first offensive soul technique [Soul Freeze].


    Starting with the human beings who were waiting outside theher dungeon to ambush him, this skill had worked wonders.


    Liam had even used the red zone in India to test this new technique.


    He only came to the battleground in Africa when he was sure of himself.


    As for the crystal ball that hung around his neck, he also knew that this ced tremendous stress on his soul, but he still did this for two reasons.


    One, it gave him the ability to wield souls whenever he wanted to and two, it was a sort of training to improve his control over souls.


    Since he was continuously carrying around these souls, and used a part of his mental energy to control them and manipte them, it slowly increased his mastery in this aspect.


    Especially, after experiencing the strength of soul techniques that helped him defend against monsters like the blood effigy and attack creatures like hive queens which were several levels above him, Liam was even more determined to improve his proficiency in manipting souls.


    The soul army that he controlled was barely scratching the surface of his ''Soulmancer'' legacy. He had a feeling that the true strength of his special ssy somewhere else.


    However, all of that can wait. For now, his goal was standing right in front of him, thest threat that remained, the monstrous Level 500 creature in front of him.


    Liam grunted as he felt the familiar searing pain every time he used a soul technique now. He was almost close to the finish line so he bore the pain and pushed forward.


    This second wave of the apocalypse, he was almost close topletely dominating it!

 Chapter 1031 Only One Outcome

    1031 Only one oue


    After seeing that the [Soul Freeze] attack had also worked on the Level 500 Ison King, Liam did not waste any time and immediately rushed forward tounch an all-out assault on the creature.


    Even though the skill was not as effective as it had been against the Ison Queens, it had still bought him a few good seconds.


    Right now the Ison King standing frozen was no different than a training dummy.


    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    Liam swung the ck dragon sword without holding back. Sparks flew as he pushed himself to the limit and struck down the ison using his most powerful attack again and again.


    He knew very well that he only had a little time before the creature was back to its full form so he went all out right from the beginning.


    Waves and waves of sword beams surrounded by the fiery mana engulfed the creature. The very sight looked marvelous.


    The three standing on the side stared at this scene with dumb looks on their faces.


    The draconian princess was still reeling from the shock that a human being from the lower realm had managed to acquire not one but two soul techniques.


    The oracle had his eyes closed as if he was trying to understand something.


    Only the monk was in high spirits. "Ho! Ho! Ho! I can see it! I am going to have terrible luck today! God bless us all!! We are saved! This good sir will definitely kill the beast and save the world!"


    "Terrible luck? What the hell are you bbering?" Caden turned to give a weird look at the chatan. He ignored the illogical words that hade out of the guy''s mouth and paid more attention to Liam.


    "I don''t know what you saw or did not see, but I don''t think that this fight will go that smoothly."


    And just as he murmured this, the Ison King immediately started stirring awake. It had awoken from its stupor.


    "No. That''s fine. He can execute the soul attack once again and -" The monk only barely opened his mouth when the next second, a powerful aura engulfed the Ison King.


    And just as Liam cast the subsequent [Soul Freeze] to once more lock it down, in the split second, all of its injuries started healing!


    "It regenerated?" The monk gasped.


    "It probably went back to full health again." Caden sighed.


    Though they were unable to see any specific details, from the looks of things, the creature almost fully recovered from the barrage of attacks Liam had thrown at it.


    Liam, along with the three of them, then watched as this scene yed out once again.


    Liam had used the [Soul Freeze] for a second time and even this time, the Ison King was able to recover.


    This meant that every time Liam used his [Soul Freeze] to lock the creature, it would also be able to recover from the damage again and again?


    Liam frowned. This was a setback that he did not expect. The defensive ability of the creature was already so high and on top of that it was able to recover?


    This was not good!


    This essentially made the fight a battle between his ability to cast [Soul Freeze] and the King''s ability to keep recovering.


    And considering that his soul was already injured, would he really be able toe on top?


    Liam grunted in pain and cast [Soul Freeze] one more time. He did not know what would be the oue of this battle but as far as he was concerned, there was only one path ahead of him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He needed to keep pushing on!


    There was simply no other alternative. If he gave up now, then the consequences might be disastrous and irreversible.


    Argghhhh!


    Liam shouted loudly letting out all of his frustrations and kept attacking the Ison King again and again. His entire body trembled in weakness and his head was close to exploding.


    The pain that he felt in his soul was also increasing every time he used the soul attack.


    Wooo! Wooo! From within the barrier, Luna whined, tears leaking out of her eyes. She wanted to go out badly and help Liam but he had strictly asked her not to step outside.


    Everyone else also had a simr expression. Though it wasn''t too long since the fight started, they could all clearly see that it was Liam who was going to lose out first.


    The Ison King stood like a towering mountain, unshaken and sturdy but Liam was already at his limits.


    Even though [Soul Freeze] was a powerful attack, an ant could still only bite a sleeping dragon. Doing any damage beyond that was impossible. This was the current situation.


    It was only a matter of time before Liam copsed.


    "No... this should not be happening. I divined terrible luck today. We should be winning this fight." The monk shivered.


    Caden shook his head. "I told you already. It is not going to be easy to win this."


    "Does that mean we are doomed? No! No! No! That''s impossible!"


    Caden did not answer. Instead, he silently looked at the draconian princess. "Come on. Come on." He muttered under his breath.


    He did not know how or why but right now this was the only person who can help Liam. He had not lied to Liam about thest part.


    He did not know where the monk hade from but this woman was most likely going to be Liam''s strongest ally.


    So right now, if anyone was going to help in this situation, then it was going to be her.


    Caden gulped as he watched the woman with a pleading look on his face. He prayed for her to take action and do something.


    She had to do something! That was the only way this was going to end in their favor!


    However, the woman simply stood still without any intention of doing anything. Instead, she continued to watch Liam with rapt attention, observing his each and every move.


    There was also a mysterious glint in her eyes and a pensive look on her face, making her look as if she was deeply engrossed in something.


    This made Caden wonder what she was thinking about. What could be more important right now in the middle of this bloody battle?!


    Thankfully, he did not have to drive himself crazy as the very next second, the woman unexpectedly opened her mouth.


    "Why are you not using your dragon roar skill? Why are you still saving it, you idiot?" The draconian princess shouted.


    "Huh?" Caden was confused. Liam had a skill like that he was saving?


    What was going on?


    And it looked like Liam was also equally confused as he stumbled slightly in his next attack, missing his target''s vital point.

 Chapter 1032 Dragon Roar?

    1032 Dragon roar?


    Dragon roar? What the heck was she talking about?


    Liam was already at his limits so he did not have the mental space to think about the random words of advice.


    He continued to push himself and used the full extent of his mana core and his soul to attack the frozen creature.


    On the other side, the draconian princess did not let up. She continued to shout at him the same thing over and over.


    "Don''t hold back now. This is dangerous. Finish the fight quickly. The Ison King might have some other dormant ability. Use your draconic breath. NOW!"


    "Foolish brat! Use your dragon breath!"


    "Just let it rip! What are you waiting for?"


    The woman was practically hissing in anger at this point and Liam continued to ignore her as he still had no idea what she was talking about.


    And then it happened.


    The two of them simultaneously realized something!


    What if he did not know he even possessed this ability in the first ce?


    The draconian princess gasped in shock. Not because something like this couldn''t happen but because this human being in front of her was able to acquire a skill as powerful as dragon breath without even realizing it.


    At the same time, Liam also stumbled once again. Hearing the same skill name over and over finally triggered something in his brain.


    Dragon breath? Where had he heard it before?


    Perhaps because he was so tired, and did not have any energy to actively think about anything, a few stray thoughts randomly popped up in his brain.


    The tutorial game...


    His two dragon soul minions...


    They had the skill dragon breath...


    At the final moment, when the game was about to shut down, he had sacrificed these two dragon soul minions, his only two dragon soul minions.


    He had used them to heal and strengthen his soul and break through to the next stage in soul strength.


    It was a huge price he had to pay but it was only because of this he was able to get out with everything intact and not start from scratch all over again.


    It was also these two soul minions that possessed this so-called dragon breath ability the princess was screaming about.


    In fact, she seemed so confident that he had these skills in his repertoire that Liam couldn''t help but feel that he was missing something.


    The problem was... even if he possessed these two abilities at the moment, how was he going to use them when he had no idea how to execute them?


    There were no system prompts avable to easily activate them. They were not his innate skills. They were not his trained skills. These were not engraved on his soul like the [Stealth] and the [Inspect] skills.


    So how on earth was he supposed to execute them?


    Liam''s brain twinged with pain as he was unable to think clearly any longer.


    With his foggy brain and unfocussed eyes, he continued to send out one attack after another at the Ison King while his mind still lingered back on the skill that he was supposed to have.


    [Soul Freeze]


    He sent the next attack, once again freezing the Ison King in the spot.


    He was about to bring down the ck dragon sword on the immobile Level 500 monster when suddenly a powerful aura burst out.


    The next instant, it was Liam''s turn to freeze!


    The damned Ison King had already undone his [Soul Freeze] attack!


    "Impossible!" Liam trembled. His soul attack was strong and technically the creature should not be able to withstand it, so how was this happening?


    Did he somehow be stronger?


    No. Liam exhaled sharply. He was bing weaker. He needed to finish this fight soon. Otherwise, there would be no way out for him.


    Maybe he had one or two more soul attacks left in him?


    But what about after that? He needed attack power. Something strong and powerful... like the dragon breath!<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The dragon breath! The dragon breath! He needed it!


    Right at this moment, the draconian princess''s voice boomed loudly once again.


    "Look into your soul!"


    "I could sense draconian runic mana seeping into your other attacks.


    If it was not intentional, then it only makes sense that the skill is engraved in your soul!"


    "Look into your soul!"


    Liam stilled.


    As he was about to attack the Ison King one more time with his [Soul Freeze], suddenly everything clicked in his mind and he remembered a skill that he possessed back in the game which he had never used.


    The [Soul Devour] skill!


    This was thest soul skill that he had in his skill list but from the moment he had received it, it had always been greyed out.


    He had been unable to activate it no matter how much he tried.


    Perhaps when he had finally broken through to the next level in his soul strength, he had unlocked this skill and acquired the dragon breath skill from the two dragon soul minions he had devoured?


    Numerous thoughts shed past Liam''s brain at lightning speed.


    However, none of these were important at the moment. The only thing that was important was how to use this skill right now, right this second.


    Liam clenched his fist and prepared for the worst.


    Using whatever remaining willpower and mental strength he had, he split the soul essence in his possession into three streams.


    For the next attack, he sent one of the streams toward the Ison King for [Soul Freeze], one for creating [Soul Shield], and using thest one, he tried sensing his own soul and searching and analyzing it from top to bottom.


    This was easier said than done because searching for something in one''s soul without being aware of it was like trying to navigate a foggy forest with a blindfold on.


    Moreover, Liam''s soul was not intact. As soon as he reached inside and fumbled around...


    Argggghhhh!


    The depth of the injury that already gued his soul once again gripped him, sending chills down his body and making him tremble in agony.


    It was an unbearable pain, worse than anything he had faced so far, and Liam could not hold on no matter how much he tried and no matter what the stakes were.


    It was simply impossible to do or feel anything past it. Even if he tried to do this for one more moment, he felt as if he was going to burst and split into nothingness.


    He had really reached his limit and all he hade across were the skills he already had in his possession.


    "FUCK!" Liam cursed out loud. He had to let go now.


    But right at that moment, he felt a small burst of energy and he suddenly felt something at thest minute he withdrew his consciousness from his soul.


    It was a small rune, something that looked weird. However, from within it, he could sense a lot of power pulsing.


    Even though he was not able to hold on, he had managed to sense it, the skill that was part of his soul, something that he did not even know existed in the first ce.


    Liam looked up in shock. He had done it?


    However, it was already toote. The Ison King summoned something that made a powerful aura envelop the creature once again. It was about to get out of the soul freeze.


    Liam knew that he had finally run out of time.


    This time he really did not hold back, and sent the most powerful [Soul Freeze] that he could muster.


    The impact of the skill made his own soul shudder. The Ison King at the receiving end also got the brunt of the attack.


    This time the creature even screeched in pain!


    "I got you bitch!" Liam shouted loudly.


    The next instant, he reached into his soul one more time, grabbed onto the skill that was etched on it, and...


    RRRROOOOOAAAARRRRR!

 Chapter 1033 Level 100

    1033 Level 100


    Liam''s entire body shivered and trembled as an ancient powerful aura enveloped him, pulling toward him all the mana from the surroundings.


    The wind whipped about and the solid ground quaked underneath. In the blink of an eye, so much mana had gathered that even the draconian princess had an awestruck look on her face.


    And out of this swirl of raw turbulent mana waves, something even more powerful emerged. A giant burst of icy mes shot out of Liam''s mouth.


    The icy mes were so powerful that the moment they doused the huge grotesque creature, the Ison King was once again frozen solid, and this time not just for a moment.


    The insect''s entire body was frozen from top to bottom. The area surrounding the insect was also frozen solid. In a second, the wholendscape changed into something else.


    Moreover, even after freezing him, the icy mes did not die out. They were burning the Ison King in the hellish cold mes from which there seemed to be no escape.


    Bright mysterious runes shone, circling around the dancing ice mes and the burst of pure icy mana left the afterimage of a dragon.


    "This is it! A dragon breath! A real dragon breath!" The draconian princess eximed in shock and excitement.


    Though she had expected Liam to possess the dragon breath skill, in reality, she thought that he would only have a derivative of that skill.


    But this right in front of her was the real deal. Just how did this human extract the true skill that could only belong to a dragon? Just how high was his soul maniption?


    Her gaze darted toward Liam who was now panting and heaving with his eyes fixed on the icy mes dancing wildly.


    The single attack had left himpletely drained and disoriented. If the soul attacks were draining, then this was equally tiresome though in an entirely different manner.


    This attack took its main toll on his body. Along with the stinging of the soul injury, he now felt his entire body burning.


    His mana vessels felt as if they had been crushed and broken. His bones and muscles ached from deep within. His stamina was non-existent. The single attack made him into a dry husk of his former self.


    However, that was not important at the moment.


    Liam held onto whatever willpower he had left in him and looked at the frozen ison king.


    Was it over?


    There was pin-drop silence all around, except for the wind whistling by. Everything hade to a standstill.


    The next second Liam''s eyes widened as if he realized something.


    With a smirk, he then casually walked forward and raised his ck dragon sword to bring it down on the frozen creature.


    BOOM!


    The Ison King''s body crumbled down into a mountain of ice chunks right in front of everyone''s eyes!


    The only thing that was remaining was the fist-sized mana core of the insect. Everything else was just gone.


    The others stared at the scene with their jaws dropped on the ground.


    The fight was really over? The level 500 creature that threatened their entire was dead?!


    At the same time, Liam also received several notifications.


    <Ding. New Skill Acquired - Ice Dragon Breath>


    <Ding. You have gained 5,000,000 experience points>


    <Ding. You have leveled up>


    <Ding. You have reached Level 100><novelsnext></novelsnext>


    <Ding. You are the first earth dweller to reach Level 100>


    <Ding. You have gained a new title "Earth''s First Elite Evolver" >


    Liam only looked at the number 100 as a wave of intense fatigue swept past him. He slumped down to sit on the heap of remains of the ison king.


    "Level 100! Level 100! Level 100!"


    Ba ha ha ha!


    He looked up and let out another roar, this time one filled with maniacalughter. He clutched his head as his body shook uncontrobly.


    "Tam Level 100 and the insect is dead!"


    Ba ha ha ha ha!


    The past life him had dreamt about this exact moment countless times and now he had actually achieved it!


    Not just that, but he had also managed topletely decimate the threat of the second wave of the apocalypse!


    It was aplete victory!


    Ba ha ha ha ha!


    Liam continuedughing wildly without any care in the world. His body, brain, and soul were hurting in a million ces but he continued to let loose all of his frustrations and worries.


    At this moment, he barely even looked human. There was madness within his eyes which was clearly disyed for everyone to see.


    However, no one cared about it at the moment because it takes a monster to kill another monster and their monster had sessfully saved their entire world!


    Unfortunately, this joy was short-lived as Liam all of a sudden stoppedughing and swung his head around to look at the two standing well within the protection of the magic shop.


    The oracle and the monk gulped. Liam''s cold intense re made the two of them wonder what the hell was going to happen now.


    The Ison King was taken care of... this meant that now it was their turn?


    They then felt the madman''s gaze shift from them to the draconian princess. However, unlike them, the woman was more than happy to receive all of the attention.


    "Marvellous! Marvellous!" She pped her hands and started running toward Liam without caring whether she was in the protective barrier or not.


    "Congrattions on reaching Level 100! Did I or did I not tell you that I was going to help you! Now are you d that we made the contract?


    This is just the beginning. I am going to take you to the top of this world!"


    The draconian princess beamed brightly and to her surprise, Liam also nodded. "Ok. I am looking forward to it."


    Huh? The princess was taken aback. She expected another kind of reply.


    But the very next second what she expected did indeed happen.


    Liam grinned wildly as he once again shifted his focus to the two human beings. "I only have one thing that I need to take care of for that to happen."


    ording to the prediction of the Oracle, that one person was bound to be his greatest ally. The problem was that there were three of them.


    However, if two of them suddenly ceased to exist, then this problem would no longer be there.


    Seeing the sinister smile on Liam''s face, the duo quickly understood his intentions. The guy was tying up loose ends and their turn had reallye!

 Chapter 1034 Kill Them Both, My Liege!

    1034 Kill them both, my liege!


    Liam perched on the mound of insect remains, a smirk ying on his lips. "This isn''t nearly enough," he taunted at the two anxious men.


    "Beg for your life. Open your mouth and beg me for it."


    The draconian princess heard him and cackled maniacally. "Ha ha ha!


    I love it! This is how a true king should behave!"


    With a sudden burst of energy, she lunged towards Liam, wrapping her both arms around his neck. "Kill them both, my liege!" she purred, her breath hot against his cheek.


    What the hell was happening? Was this woman crazy? Why was she suddenly after them that too for no reason?


    The second guy might not know anything about Liam, but Caden knew him somewhat, at least enough to tell that the Liam in front of him waspletely unrecognizable, like a different person altogether.


    After the fight, he had be that much worse.


    It was as if he had gone off the deep end and be a crazed maniac through and through. Negotiating with him had been difficult before, but how could he even begin to converse with this psycho now?


    Or perhaps this was all the woman''s doing? Was she now controlling Liam?


    As if Liam had heard the Oracle''s thoughts, he directed his indifferent gaze toward the Oracle.


    "Don''t worry. She''s just a ything to me, like you," he remarked.


    The dragon princess pouted at his words, but Liam ignored her and cast a cruel re at the two standing and shaking.


    "Am I to assume you''re not going to talk? You have nothing else to offer me?"


    Liam''s face twisted in malice. "This is not personal. I just need to make sure that the prediction woulde true one hundred percent."


    Hell no! Immediately, the monk squealed like a pig.


    "Wait! I can lead you to treasures! I know of precious herbs that will never fail you. With me at your side, the world - this world and all others - will be yours!"


    "Heh, is that so?" Liam sneered. "Hmmm... perhaps... useful?"


    He shifted his gaze to the second individual. "And what about you?"


    Unlike the monk, Caden looked defiantly at Liam.


    However, it was to no avail, as Liam could clearly sense the man''s barely contained nervousness and anxiety, seeing right through his facade.


    "Just speak." Liamughed at his face.


    Caden remained silent for a moment, but then quickly spoke up. He knew he couldn''t afford to test the monster''s patience.


    "I can lead you to Mia," Caden said solemnly.


    "Mia? Nope, pass. I know where she is. When I make that divine temple bitch pay, my ve will automatically return to me." Liam shrugged as if he couldn''t care less.


    Caden''s expression changed. He hadn''t expected this.


    He thought he could buy his way out of this situation with this offer, but Liam wasn''t budging. More like the current him didn''t care too much for Mia or anyone else for that matter.


    "I can also lead you to treasures--" Caden started to speak.


    "Pass. Already imed," Liam interrupted him with augh, pointing to the monk.


    Caden gritted his teeth. It seemed as if this guy was determined to kill him right then and there. He desperately searched his mind for something that could possibly change Liam''s mind.


    And then he remembered something. "I can show you where Derek is!" he blurted out quickly. His im about Mia had not worked so there was a possibility that this wouldn''t work either, but...<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the next moment, Liam''s expression changed. For the first time, a glimmer of humanity shed across his face.


    "If you lie...you know the consequences."


    Caden was relieved that the madman had finally listened to him. He shook his head frantically and denied any falsehood, "I''m not lying. I wouldn''t dare to lie in this situation."


    Silently, Liam rose to his feet and approached the Oracle. "Show me. Show me now."


    Caden could feel the weight of Liam''s presence bearing down on him.


    He knew that any wrong move could result in excruciating death or perhaps something worse than death.


    "I need some time. My level is now back to zero. I don''t have any skills. But I know what skill I have to use and how to get it. Please give me some time." He mumbled under his breath.


    He knew he was pushing his limits, but what could he do? All he could say was the truth.


    He hesitantly looked up at Liam to see what would be his reaction when he noticed the odd expression on the monster''s face. He no longer appeared to be focussed on him?


    Instead, he seemed to be looking up, his eyes staring at the clear sky above him, fixated on something unknown.


    Huh? Caden was confused.


    But the next second, his eyes widened in shock as the clear skies above him suddenly turned.


    They became dark, violent and turbulent as a massive storm cloud formed overhead, the atmosphere charged with electricity. The same thing could be seen happening everywhere.


    Monstrous lightning and thunder rattled the ground beneath their feet, and the entire sky was roiling like a stormy sea.


    Caden stumbled back in fear. Even he, who was known for beingposed, looked shaken.


    This was because he had already seen signs like this two times before now. How could he not recognize the same series of events when they were happening for a third time?


    But maybe he was mistaken?


    That small hope was also crushed when he noticed that Liam, too, appeared grave and serious.


    And then... it began...


    Dark, putrid pirs of energy emerged from the earth''s depths, appearing all around the world.


    Instead of exuding life, these pirs emanated death and decay.


    And a second after these pirs popped up, a horde of creatures began to emerge from within them, pouring out in countless numbers.


    These creatures, though in frenzy and in a madness to kill anything in their sight, werepletely void of any life force.


    They were undead.


    And with that, the third wave of apocalypse had begun!


    ***** END OF VOLUME *****


    Author''s Note: Hi everyone, thanks for your constant support and motivation. I hope you all enjoyed this volume. The next one should be even more exciting! Looking forward to share the rest of the story with you all!


    Discord Link for chatting with the author and character art:


    https://discord.gg/XS7gWScKn8


    For my new story and for special perks, please visit: /yolohy


    Follow the author on Instagram for other updates: yolohy_ webnovel

 Chapter 1035 The Undead Everywhere!

    1035 The Undead Everywhere!


    "We have thirty injured severely who need immediate attention, and fifteen slightly injured slightly who can recover on their own. We have ten casualties in total whose families need to bepensated."


    "Other than this, we have several weapons and equipment that have lost their durability and broken beyond repair. I have already prepared a detailed list of these items."


    Lan Deming read out aloud the report of the Grand War''s aftermath to a room full of Crimson Abyss core members.


    "Ten casualties... "" Master Ning sighed.


    "I agree. This is uneptable." Alex added.


    "All ten casualties are newly joined members. I reckon they did not have enoughbat experience. That''s the only way they could have died even with all the items we distributed."


    Lan Deming went through the list to double-check as he shared his observation with everyone.


    "Hmmm... You are correct. I think we need to implement a new rule."


    "Work dungeon runs into guild contribution points and then set a barrier of certain points for being considered for war missions like this in the future. We might also need to assign guild ranks from regr intra-guild sparring matches."


    Alex made a note in her book to flesh this outter. "Shall we move on to the next item on the agenda?" She then asked the room.


    This was the first guild meeting after the war so they had naturally looked at the oue of the war to start with.


    However, there were far more pressing matters. For example, the undead spilling out of the red pirs and the three new human beings who had suddenly popped up in the guild.


    And also Liam...


    "Did bro wake up yet? Can I go see him?" Rey raised his hand, asking the obvious question on many people''s minds.


    When Liam had returned back to the guild several hours ago, not only was he in a bad condition but he had also brought with him three new people, one of whom looked very questionable, or rather all three of them were questionable.


    Alex creased her brows especially when she thought about the lying piece of shit dressed in the saffron robe. The monk had given her the worst possible prediction back in the game.


    Not that she believed in these things but she absolutely detested scum like that and did not want him doing any business with the guild. He was the least trustworthy person she had evere across in her life.


    The woman also looked extremely weird. There was something about her that made the hair on Alex''s back stand up.


    Regarding the final individual, he appeared to be rather unassuming, yet his association with Liam and these two caused her to question whether he was truly as unremarkable as he seemed.


    Alex had no idea what she was supposed to do with these three.


    More than that, she was worried about Liam as he had been sleeping straight ever since he got here. She tried healing him but she could feel that it was not going anywhere.


    She let out a sigh and tiredly replied. "No. He is still resting. Let''s move on to the next topic of discussion. Which team is currently hunting down the undeads near the guild base?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Lan Fen and Ning Xi''s team." Lan Deming answered. "I have also received an update from them."


    "Ok." Alex nodded.


    "The undead seem to be fairly low-leveled. They are mostly humanoid skeletons with pieces of flesh hanging here and there."


    "None of them so far have any special abilities. They do not have any weapons. Taking them down is also proving to be rather easy."


    "Some of them are oozing with strange greenish liquid along with a putrid smell. The fighters are being careful with these ones so that they are not taking any hits or bites or scratches from these creatures."


    "This is also not that difficult because these creatures are extremely slow."


    "The only danger so far that we havee across is that these creatures seem to have strong regeneration ability and more speed and attack power when they are close to the pirs."


    "It looks like the red pirs of light or energy are strengthening them."


    "We are also not able to reach these pirs to take a closer look because the moment the undeads in the area are cleared, a new horde breaks out from the red pir."


    "Lan Fen''s theory is that for every undead put down, another undead pops out from the red pir. If we don''t kill anything then more of them don''te out."


    "So in other words..." Alex stood up, clicking her tongue. "The number of undead roaming about on ournd is the same no matter what we do."


    "Yes." Lan Deming nodded.


    Everyone in the room had shocked expressions after hearing this.


    For a second, it seemed like the undeads were going to be the easy ones after the first wave of frenzied beasts and the second wave of weird insects but now it looked like this third wave would also not be so simple.


    It was almost as if they were all waiting for something, a special trigger? A special leader?


    Right now the maximum they were doing was ying defense. So when their offense truly began, only then everyone would finally be able to see what new hell this wave of the apocalypse was going to unleash on them.


    And... just in case this one was going to be more difficult than thest one...


    Alex did not want to think about it. She shook her head and refused to let herself be brought down by the uncertainty of the future.


    Especially now that Liam was recovering she needed to stay strong.


    "Alright." She pped her hands loudly. "I don''t know what is going to happen tomorrow, but one thing is for sure. These damned undeads are a good way to get our levels up."


    "They are easy to hunt. They give us experience points and they are endless!"


    "Let''s go and get them! Let''s hunt them down again and again and again until we can''t move any more! Understood?! Go!"

 Chapter 1036 All Guilds Must Disband

    1036 All guilds must disband


    After the group meeting, the core members of the Crimson Abyss guild quickly dispersed and went back to their individual units.


    Since the opponent this time was low-leveled and easier to handle, word was passed around the guild members and many new people joined the training units in order to increase their level and improve theirbat ability while this easy mode stillsted.


    The entire guild was busily buzzing with activity.


    The same could be seen happening all around the world as several red pirs had popped up in all sorts of ces. While they were not as numerous at the beast portals, their frequency was definitely higher than the golden hills of the isons.


    Also, this time rather than seeing these pirs as threat, the various guilds started looking at them as resources.


    Crimson Abyss alone had two red pirs under their control as the guild now had an adjacent branch guild right next to them and had expanded their area of influence.


    Alex along with Lan Deming oversaw all of the training units for an hour or so and then Alex headed over to the magic shop to take a look at the situation worldwide.


    She was well aware that she was waiting for the other shoe to drop now so she did not want to miss out on any little detail no matter how insignificant it was.


    After the isons, everyone was cautious about new creatures. By now even the most idiotic person could see that the isons became a huge threat only because they were given time to evolve.


    So if a threat could be nipped in the bud, then it had to be done at all costs.


    But this was easier said than done.


    The undead creatures were extremely mysterious. No one knew how to destroy these red pirs of light which seemed to be portals of some kind or even what wasing next.


    Stronger undead? Commander type that can order these undead? It was anyone''s guess.


    Alex walked over to the magic shop to take a look at the guild chatter to make sure that she did not miss any important details. She was hoping that perhaps someone in some part of the world had a better idea of what these things were.


    However... when she opened the guild interface an entirely different disaster was ying out in front of her.


    [This is an official government message: The current disaster has been contained. Now the insects are no longer present in our world.They have all been eradicated.


    As an immediate action to prevent this from repeating again, all survivors are ordered to migrate to the nearest United Nations guild branch and register with the guild. The individual guilds are hereby ordered to disband. Those who fail to obey will be prosecuted harshly.]


    [This is an official government message: The current disaster has been contained. Now the insects are no longer present in our world.


    They have all been eradicated.....


    The entire guild chat was repeatedly flooded with the same message.


    "These fucking assholes!! Have they no shame?" Alex was furious.


    What was more surprising than this was the behavior of the other guilds.


    Oddly enough, the other guilds were rather silent even in this kind of situation. There was not a single word of discontent. It was almost as if they were afraid to speak up.


    Alex sneered as she had no doubt why this was the case. "What a bunch of pathetic cowards!" She spat out.


    She was pretty sure all of this was because of what happened in the grand war. None still understood what skill was used in that situation or even what went down there. So this kind of ignorance bred fear.


    On top of it, if the United Nations higher-ups contacted individual guilds and assured them with some sort of bullshit like their sacrifice had meaning or some other simr nonsense, it would exin why everyone remained silent about it.


    Besides, if someone did dare stand up, then they would only be a target. If the United Nations could get away with killing several people once, there was no stopping them from doing this kind of thing again.


    They could simply challenge anyone to guild war and wreak havoc at their whim. So when an order was issued, who would dare raise their voice against the so-called government guild?


    Moreover, it looked like the United Nations guild had already nned for something bigger, uniting all the human beings under one gpost.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Especially, in a situation like this, unless someone had a death wish, they could only follow the order and obey the powerful guild.


    "Damn it! This is too much!" Alex continued to repeatedly punch the desk in front of her.


    She still did not know the full details, well actually any details but she was pretty sure that Liam had a lot to do with the disappearance of isons, at least a lot more than these posers.


    And yet, she did not have any concrete proof that these assholes did not hold any actual power.


    At this time, all she could was damage the desk in front of her and probably type a few harsh words in the guild chat. Both were equally useless.


    "Hmmmm..." She stopped harming the poor wooden furniture and started chewing her lips wondering if there was anything she could do at the moment to stop these guilds from gaining any more power and influence.


    It was soon going to be 24 hours since the Grand War had taken ce and the announcements were already flooding the guild chat.


    At this point, there was no more time to waste. She had to act now.


    Otherwise, it might be toote. If the individual guilds lose their identity, then there was no going back.


    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." She cursed out loud in frustration. She racked her brain but nothing wasing to her mind. There was really nothing she could do.


    "Fuck it. Maybe I will just send a message." She decided in the end.


    Impact or no impact, this was all that she could do.


    She sucked in a big breath of air and started typing out how it was Crimson Abyss who had upgraded all the guilds, taken out most of the hive hills andstly even cleared the red zones.


    She also did not leave out the part about the human sacrifice that the United Nations guild had forced on everyone.


    "Under no circumstance will Crimson Abyss disband and join a useless and corrupt guild like this!" She clicked her tongue, typing thest sentence and finishing her message.


    Only she was hesitant to send it out because her words were basically meaningless without any concrete proof.


    Otherwise, instead of having the effect she wanted, her message would only bring more ridicule to Crimson Abyss.


    And when Liam woke up, he woulde to this and it would be all because of her. "No. No. No." Alex shook her head. It would be way too embarrassing for her.


    At the same time, she also had a duty....


    Hmmm... Just as she was mulling over whether to do it or not, unexpectedly a voice sounded near her.


    "I can help you with that."


    Alex looked up to see the store manager Tilia standing next to her.


    The fairy had silently arrived near her side without any warning.


    Huh? Alex was confused.


    "How can you help with that?"


    Tilia shed a smile. However, it was not the typical flirtatious smile that she offered Liam, this time it was a cunning mischievous smile.


    "I have prepared a surprise gift for your guild leader. Since he is not here, I will just give you the surprise."


    Huh? Alex was once again confused.


    She watched as the fairy opened the system interface and started tapping away at something. The next second...

 Chapter 1037 Owned

    1037 Owned


    The next second a new system interface opened up in front of Alex. Surprisingly, this was also a part of their guild system interface but it was something she had never seen before.


    And on it was written in big clear letters...


    [Properties owned by Crimson Abyss guild][1. Aaryan Guild][2. Abyss Guild]


    ...


    ...


    ...


    ...


    [United Nations Survivors Camp 1][United Nations Survivors Camp 2]


    ...


    ...


    ...


    "FUCK!" Alex eximed loudly as her eyes glittered with disbelief. She couldn''t process what she was seeing.


    She always knew that Liam had something do with this massive upgrade for all of the guilds around the world but what she did not know was that there was a catch like this behind the upgrade.


    "Are you serious?" She looked up at the fairy store manager to confirm again.


    "Yes." Tilia nodded casually. "It could be said that the entire upgrade was only nowpleted, so thisst part was added just now."


    "Bloody brilliant." Alex was shivering in excitement.


    How dare these idiots wag their tongues about Liam and Crimson Abyss! How dare they call them cowards! Now it was time to pay the piper bitches!


    Tilia chuckled. "However, I must warn you, Miss Alex. Along with this new addition, all the guilds would have also received another option."


    "They could either owe Crimson Abyss and pay a fee until they pay back the full cost of upgrade or if they wished they could also reject all the upgrades and thus, not owe anything."


    "That sounds fair." Alex sneered. She wanted to see who would have the heart to reject the upgrades especially after seeing options like the safety zone set up.


    They would have no other option to shut their damn mouths and obidiently tuck their tails between their legs! Ha Ha Ha Ha!


    More importantly, now the truth was right in front of the entire world for everyone to see!


    The so-called government guilds hadn''t done shit for this world!


    It was Liam who had helped everyone!


    She made some adjustments to the message that she was typing and then with a wicked smile, sheughed and hit send.


    And almost instantly, the entire world plunged into chaos!


    Alex herself did not expect her actions to have such a dramatic effect.


    She was just about to close the guild chat interface ande backter to watch the show but the bomb she lit, blew up instantly!


    As if everyone was lurking around the magic shops and the guild chat, the entire chat came alive after the single message.


    Those who did not dare to say anything before could no longer remain silent after seeing this ridiculous development.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What the fuck is happening? We owe millions of mana cores to Crimson Abyss? What kind of nonsense is this?"


    "What? Why should we pay for this? We did not ask for this in the first ce! Also, didn''t the government do this for all of us? Why is Crimson Abyss now taking credit?"


    "Goddess Alex! This is not fair! Crimson Abyss is trying to take advantage of the situation. Please quit that cheating guild and join ours."


    "Fucking Crimson Abyss! We just now escaped with our necks intact from the dreadful insects and they are already back at it, trying to cheat everyone. This guild should be burned to the ground."


    As Alex perused the messages one after the other, she almost went crazy. "These motherfuckers!"


    The proof was right in front of their faces and yet did not want to admit it?


    She opened the guild chat again and began typing a series of curse words when thankfully a logical person finally messaged in the group.


    To Alex''s surprise, it was Abraki, the Assassin''s Alliance guild leader.


    "''So everyone is conveniently ignoring the real issue here and talking shit about Crimson Abyss again?


    Aren''t you ashamed of yourself?"


    "United Nations guilds trapped us and used our men as human sacrifice to gain power! Are you willing to let this go just like that? Are we not going to stand up against this corrupt guild? Why are you all silent?"


    "While our men were forced to die, how many of the United Nations guild members did the same sacrifice?"


    "Wake up, idiots. They never helped us. It was Crimson Abyss who bankrolled everyone''s guild upgrades and it was Crimson Abyss who took care of more than half of the hive hills! So if you want to say something, thank them!"


    Alex paused. It looked like she did not have to say anything after all.


    After the first ball began rolling, one by one more guilds stepped out of the woodwork and started sharing their horrific experiences in the Grand War.


    Some guilds like Chaos Knights went as far as to ask everyone to band together just to challenge the United Nations guilds and make them pay for their sins.


    In the end, all of the truth came out in the wide open for everyone to see.


    The details of the final battle were not clear, and no one was aware of what went down, but all the guilds knew exactly how many men they had lost.


    Moreover, the fact that the almighty government guilds themselves were in debt to Crimson Abyss showed that their power was rathercking.


    This made many question the truth behind everything the government guilds had imed.


    If they had nothing to do with the guild upgrades, then they maybe had nothing to do with the eradication of the insects!


    Perhaps if the appropriate rewards andpensation had been distributed after the Grand War, the several guilds could have been silenced but now everyone was in all rage to make the United Nations pay for using such underhanded techniques. They were out for blood.


    In this kind of environment, they had also asked all other guilds to disband.


    One could only imagine what would happen if this actually became a reality. Maybe everyone would end up being used as cannon fodder for something.


    "We, the Saviors guild are not disbanding. Fuck you!"


    "+1. The dominators are not disanding. Screw the government. Go and die, you self-righteous pricks!"


    One by one all the guilds started sending strong messages. After the first few messages, even more guilds joined in and the United Nations guilds became aplete joke.


    In the midst of this ruckus, there were some guilds who also tried to shamelessly praise the Crimson Abyss guild and thanked them profusely for everything they had done.


    Of course, along with it, there was also a request to pardon the debt.


    Alex looked at these messages and sneered. "Ya. Good try. Keep dreaming!"

 Chapter 1038 Cana??T A Man Sleep In Peace?

    1038 Cana??t a man sleep in peace?


    Alex looked at the guild chat blowing up, and she knew that it was going to take a while for things to calm down and focus to return back to the third wave of the apocalypse.


    Until then, she did not n on standing here and wasting her time. She wrapped things up in the magic shop and looked for the fairy to thank her, but Tilia was nowhere to be seen.


    Alex did not know why the fairy helped them, but she had a feeling that it had nothing to do with her.


    It was definitely rted to Liam. She thought about it for a moment before she shrugged and walked out.


    As she came out of the magic shop, a group of people walked past her, all equipped to fight the undeads. Everyone waved at Alex, giving her a nod of respect.


    Alex also smiled. "I suppose it''s time for me to start training as well."


    The undead were easy prey for her, so she had already nned for a dungeon run along with a few other members of the guild.


    But before doing that, there was a stop she wanted to make.


    She made a left turn and walked over to the vi that was standing at the center of the guild base.


    This vi alone seemed pretty much deserted whenpared to the otherwise crowded area.


    However, instead of people, there were ten huge golems that stood surrounding this vi, tightly squeezed together, forming an imprable barrier. Any intruder that wanted to step foot here must face all of these ten powerful golems.


    Naturally, this was where Liam was currently resting.


    Alex entered the vi and went to the first floor of the building. Outside the huge master bedroom, there were five people currently seated.


    Weirdly, these five people were split into three groups. The first group consisted of two men who were sitting rather silently, simply staring at the ground in front of them.


    The second group consisted of Shen Yue and Mei Mei, who were chatting with each other about something. Andstly...


    The third group consisted of a single woman. Her crimson eyes were locked onto the bedroom door, and her gaze seemed as if she was looking at something beyond the door.


    Alex once again felt the familiar ufortable feeling churning at the bottom of her stomach as she stared at these strangers, especially the woman.


    Only if Liam woke up would there be an exnation for everything, but considering his current condition, was he going to be okay?


    He had taken down the entire second wave by himself. No matter how strong he was, this was bound to ce an enormous stress on him.


    Even Alex knew that something like this was not supposed to happen. They were perhaps supposed to perish and be insect food in a matter of days, but thanks to him, everyone was still alive.


    However, was he going to be okay?


    She sighed and worriedly looked at the door, forgetting to ask Shen Yue and Mei Mei the questions that she wanted to ask in the first ce.


    Lost in her thoughts, she stood still, staring at the same spot, when suddenly she sensed something, and Alex instinctively turned around to see the strange woman now standing right next to her.


    The freaking woman was so close to her that she could smell her unique scent that floated in the air!"What the hell?" Alex furrowed her brows and quickly stepped back.


    "He He He." The draconian princessughed lightly. "I like the color of your hair."


    "Huh?" Alex''s face twitched. In this kind of situation, this person wasmenting about her hair?


    Was she alright in the head?


    She stared at the strange woman who was still smiling casually at her. She couldn''t understand heads or tails about this person. So she cleared her throat awkwardly and hurriedly walked over to Shen Yue and Mei Mei.


    "How is he doing? Did he wake up at all?"


    "No." Shen Yue shook her head.


    "Okay. If you don''t mind, keep waiting here. I don''t trust any of these people, especially him." Alex threw a death re at the monk who had swindled her back in the game.


    The monk also obviously recognized her, but he did not dare show it.


    His eyes quickly darted to Alex and back to the ground in front of him as he nervously continued to stare at nothing in particr.


    Alex shook her head in disapproval. "Like I said, I don''t trust these three. Can you stay here?"


    Shen Yue also thought the same thing. So she nodded in agreement. "Yes. I n on doing that."


    Though if one looked closely, one could see that she was mildly annoyed.


    And it turns out that someone was indeed looking closely.


    In the midst of the awkward silence that filled the space, loudughter echoed, and the draconian princess unexpectedly hopped and skipped and arrived at the gathering of the three women.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Quite an interesting situation we have here. He He He."


    "A dark enchantress and a divine pdin. They are almost pr opposites. He He He."


    "And it looks like that brat has bedded the both of you but not informed either of you about the other one?"


    Seeing the two women looking utterly stunned and speechless, the draconian princessughed again and suggested one more possibility.


    "Oh? Perhaps both of you are in his harem and simply don''t want to co-exist anymore?"


    "Hmmm? You are still silent?"


    "Was I wrong again?"


    "Wait, both of you do not agree on another lover? Is it this girl? She looks rather young. Hmmm"


    Ah? Mei Mei silently scooted back as if she did not want to get involved in this.


    Seeing that the strange woman did not n to stop speaking anytime soon and that every word which came out of her mouth was only bing more and more ridiculous, both Alex and Shen Yue shouted at the same time. "Stop!"


    Alex even had her fists tightly clenched. "What the hell are you talking about? What harem? What nonsense? Shut up! Who the hell are you in the first ce?"


    Shen Yue, on the other hand, exined things more patiently. "Excuse me, Miss. Please don''t misunderstand things."


    "Yue! You don''t have to be polite to this woman! What a cheap person! How dare you make assumptions like this? Who bedded whom? Who did you think I was? Wait till Liam wakes up! The first I do will be to send you the hell out of our guild. All three of you!"


    The other two heard this and remained as expressionless as ever, but the draconian princess once againughed in amusement.


    "Ha Ha Ha Ha! Ha Ha Ha Ha! This is even more amusing! So the brat has only bedded the enchantress here, not you, huh? Considering how much in love you are with him, this must really be a sore topic for you. My bad, I am sorry. Ha Ha Ha."


    Alex''s temper instantly shot up. If she was a stormy sea before, now she was a bursting volcano. "You are crossing a line! You are- Hmph." She scoffed angrily and turned to Shen Yue to see if she would support her, but Shen Yue was also looking at her with a weird gaze.


    As if the draconian princess decided to add more oil to this fire, she did not stop and continued.


    "Look here, Miss Enchantress. You are too pitiful in your current state. For an enchantress, you severelyck any personality. At this rate, you would only remain in the background for that brat.


    This fiery redhead is going to steal him away in no time."


    "Men like women who take initiative in bed. You need to be more proactive. Test your limits on what an enchantress could do. Stop holding yourself back. Don''t be afraid to show your full sexuality."


    "Take this redhead, for example. I bet the minute she undresses, she bes a bombshell. You have to be bold and brave."


    Alex''s eyes went wide. She was shivering with anger. "Hey! You are going too far! If you don''t shut the hell up now, I am personally going to pummel you to the ground. I really don''t care who you are or what you are to Liam."


    "Oh! That''s easy. I am your King''s big sister. You need to speak to me more politely in the future, you little bitch."


    "What the fuck did you just say, you slut? Why don''t you first wear some clothes? You look like a wannabe porn prostitute!"


    "Che! How uncultured! You should really stop speaking. Your mouth is better served for making my King happy."


    This was thest straw. Alex waspletely out of it. "Bitch! I am going to-"


    She raised her broad sword without holding back and swung it forward. It not only had her full strength and power behind it, but she also used divine energy to strengthen the attack.


    Naturally, she did not n on connecting the attack, but she did not mind teaching this woman here a thing or two.


    However, before she could even control herself, suddenly, the woman in front of her moved, and the sword in her handnded with a loud ng on the floor.


    Alex stood in shock as she gawked at the wild woman. More importantly, her eyes were fixed on her finger. The woman''s one finger had blocked her attack just like that? Just how strong was she?


    The fighting spirit inside of her raged, and she started casting another skill, this time something even more powerful, in fact, her most powerful attack - Divine Judgement!


    Wisps of mana immediately started pooling around her, and the entire ce became touched with an aura of divinity. Golden threads weaved in the air as a huge golden sword image formed above the target''s head.


    "Let me see you block this one. Divine judgment!" Alex shouted.


    But before the whole skill could materialize, the huge door in front of the waiting room unexpectedly opened.


    "What is going on here? You guys are way too noisy. Can''t a man sleep in peace?" Liam scratched his head and walked out.


    Kyu...


    Right next to him, a small white fox alsozily rubbed her eyes as if she wasining about the same thing.

 Chapter 1039 Where Do You Want To Start?

    1039 Where do you want to start?


    When Liam walked outside, an unexpected scene was ying out in front of him. The red haired devil was about to throw down the golden haired dragon.


    The two women were at their throats and his sister and Shen Yue were standing next to them, looking as if they were unable to decide whether to stop the fight or let it happen.


    "Hmmm... What is going on here? You guys are way too noisy. Can''t a man sleep in peace?" Liam grumbled.


    He had not yetpletely recovered and his head was close to exploding, so he had no ns of letting this situation, no matter how entertaining, escte further.


    "Liam!"


    "Brother! How are you doing?"


    Immediately, Shen Yue and Mei Mei rushed toward him.


    "I am fine." Liam gave them a warm smile though it was difficult to do so.


    "He should be fine. Theher in the air is making me itch all over." Alexined but her anxious eyes surveying Liam from top to bottom for signs of injuries and weakness betrayed her.


    "Nether, huh?" Liam sighed and gave another smile. It was true thather was his strength but...


    "Brother, is something wrong?" Mei Mei asked again.


    Not just Alex, but it wasmon knowledge in Crimson Abyss that Liam had a high affinity withher. So everyone had a small hope that this time the enemy wouldn''t be too difficult or at least out of their hands like the isons situation.


    "Nothing. Nothing. I am still a little tired." Liam patted his sister''s head.


    After that, he called Alex over for a brief report on what was happening outside, which she was more than happy to provide, especially the part about the guild upgrades and the ownership terms.


    "Oh?" Liam raised his brow. This came as a surprise to him as well. When he had set this whole thing in motion, he had done it in a state of emergency. He did not discuss any details with the fairy and he did not expect her to act in his favor as well.


    Standing next to him, the draconian princess heard the whole thing too, a golden glimmer shing in her crimson eyes. She heard everything patiently and then gave a nod as if she had learned something extremely deep and profoud.


    "This is very interesting... If I am correct, that fairy is almost in your corner. You should stick it in her to seal the deal. Having one of those money bags on your side will do you good."


    Her unexpected words in the middle of a serious report shocked everyone. Alex was the first one to react. "What?" She swung her head around with her eyes wide.


    Shen Yue also had the same reaction as she shifted her gaze to the woman with her brows furrowed.


    Even the two guys who were staring at the ground for so long couldn''t keep a straight face after hearing this.


    Liam was also speechless.


    "Seriously, who the hell is this woman?" Alex never wanted to p someone so much in her entire life.


    Liam looked at everyone staring at him and shook his head helplessly. He did not have the energy for this. "Ignore her. Let''s meet back againter. I will exin everything." He dismissively waved his hand.


    "What about these three then?" Alex bit her lips. For some reason, she did not like leaving Liam alone with them, especially the woman. She was a... bad influence.


    Hmmm. Liam paused. Herment made him nce at the two guys who immediately shivered in response.


    He knew that Alex''s intuition to not trust these two was on point, but there was no longer any need to worry about that. At least for now.


    The necessary contracts were already signed and the specifics were taken care of. Otherwise, he would have never allowed them in the guild base to begin with.


    And as for the woman, Liam still did not trust her, but right now he just had to go with the flow.


    A more trusting individual might say that the woman had already helped him, that too had helped him with something so impossibly difficult but Liam knew better than to trust an opportunist and this draconian princess was nothing if not an opportunist.


    She might be helping him while their interests aligned, tomorrow if they did not walk on the same path, everything could be different.


    "Don''t worry about these three. They are with me and I have some work for them."


    Alex nodded with a frown. She wanted more details but she also did not want to stand here and demand for everything.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the end, she gave another menacing nce to the strange woman and left the vi. For now, it was good that Liam had somewhat recovered. It was what mattered the most.


    Following her example, Mei Mei and Shen Yue also did not linger. The two gave Liam a hug and left the vi as well, leaving him along with the three new addition to the guild.


    Liam let out a sigh as peace and quiet once again returned. He then first addressed the duo sitting dejectedly in the corner.


    "You both have time to sit simply?"


    Ah... the two lifted their heads in unison and stared at Liam with dumb looks.


    "I don''t want useless baggage in the guild. If you don''t "divine" anything soon, then your services will no longer be needed."


    Liam''s words sent a chill down the duo''s spines. The monk started mumbling something while the Oracle looked at Liam with a pensive gaze.


    His personality did not change even after resting? He wondered.


    "What are you looking at?"


    The Oracle quickly shook his head. "I will have something ready for you soon."


    "Hmmm." Liam then turned around to pay attention to thest party, the most problematic one of all, the draconian princess silently standing near him with a mischievous smirk on her lips.


    "Is it my turn now?" She shed a big smile.


    Liam felt a headacheing just looking at her. "Yes, it would be nice to know that you are good for something other than stirring up shit."


    He still did not know what she said to make Alex so mad, not that the fiery redhead needed much ammunition to go off in the first ce.


    "He He... your words are hurting me, my liege." The draconian princessughed at Liam''s usation.


    "Of course, my only purpose here is to guide you to greatness. Even a few minutes ago, I was merely doing this job." She shrugged.


    "Sure, you did."


    "Bah! Alright. Where do you want to start then?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "Let me see. You have a soul with potential but your body is far too weak to keep up with it. You have a mysterious sword but as far as I can see you are merely using it as a decoration."


    "Oh and how could I forget this." The draconian princess pointed at the little fox cutely sleep walking next to Liam.


    "You have a freaking celestial beast who you are using as a mount? Brat! Is your brain filled with stones?"


    Liam''s face twitched. He opened his mouth to say something but unfortunately, he had no excuses for any of the things that the dragon woman had pointed out.


    The thing was... he was also currently not in a position to address any of the three points. He neither knew how to strengthen his body further nor knew how to help Luna achieve her natural potential.


    As for the sword, his soul was currently not in the best shape for him to unleash thest seal and once again deal with the imprisoned ck dragons. Also, he did not have the gems that were required to do this.


    On top of all of this, there was also another trouble that was slowly but steadily brewing. This third wave of apocalypse...


    Liam could already feel theher in the air slowly bing denser and denser by the minute. It felt good. It made him feel fresh and rejuvenated after he had pushed himself to the limits.


    However, this was just the start.


    Surely, this wave did not happen to help him or give him a break.


    Even though it might look like it was tailormade just for him, and there was no way he could lose in this fight with this absolute perfect affinity toher, he alone knew the real truth behind this wave.


    And that was to...

 Chapter 1040 Just How High Is Your Affinity For Nether?

    "Hmmm? You are telling me that the divine temple is behind these attacks? They are orchestrating these waves of apocalypse just to get back at you?" The draconian princess stared at Liam with her eyes narrowed.


    Liam sighed and nodded. Of course, there were many things that he could start from but he decided to start with this.


    Mainly because this was a w in his very foundation that was eating him up from the inside and also because right now, in this current situation, this was the most urgent issue that had to be dealt with.


    Also, since he had already talked about this before with the dragondy, he did not have to worry about any other repercussions.


    "Myher affinity is high," Liam exined. "It is as high as my affinity for mana and I have no way to bnce the both of them."


    "Huh? If you can''t bnce them both if you do not have a method to bnce them both, then why go behind both of them in the first ce?"


    "As a human being, you cannot withstandher alone without mana so just give up on theher and grow your mana core. When it concernsher, you can simply keep using the basic skills if you please."


    Liam shook his head. "It''s not that simple. I needher."


    "Hmmm? Why? I have seen your party tricks. You don''t needher for that." The draconian princess was confused for a moment and then it dawned on her. "Do you mean that you don''t have a choice?"


    Liam remained silent.


    "Wait. Just how high is your affinity forher?"


    "It''s high."


    "Brat. Stop it. There is no point in hiding something so basic from me. What did you think about me? A royal princess with the draconian lineage can''t even figure out something like this?"


    "Even without you telling me-"


    With a contemptuous nce, she grabbed Liam''s hand abruptly, and the next moment the woman''s eyes widened in shock.


    "You have¡­ You have¡­ How is this possible?"


    Liam gave a rueful smile.


    Still staring at him, the dragon woman gasped in realization. "So this is why you were asking me about the limit breaker fruit! Without that fruit¡­ you would be as good as dead if you let this situation continue any further!"


    "Oh!" She then once again gasped.


    "Right now, there isher in this world along with mana which means¡­ you have already run out of time!"


    "Your soul strength is high enough, and your mana core is established. Now you only have to be in the presence ofher before it starts to take root in your body and slowly mold it ording to its will."


    "You will be strong and powerful with two main energy cores in your body but at your strongest point, you will also be weak as your body is not built to handle this!"


    "You will inevitably be a cripple and lose everything or worse, you will simply die."


    Liam nodded. That was pretty much his hypothesis as well. The two of them then became quiet, each engrossed in their own thoughts. A heavy silence filled the air.


    But a couple of minutester, the draconian princess clicked her tongue loudly, shaking her head. "No. It''s not possible. Even if all of this is valid, it is still not possible for that divine bitch to screw around with you so much."


    "Why?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "It''s because she is too visible. She cannot manipte something so huge, affecting the fate of an entire world."


    Liam did not look convinced.


    "Look here. I don''t think you even understand what is happening to your world at the moment. What did you call these? Trials of the apocalypse? Waves of the apocalypse?"


    "Yes?"


    "Hur. Hur. Brat. You are unnecessarilyplicating something simple." The draconian princessughed. "What did you think? There is a grand scheme to test your world or something like that?"


    "No! Who the heck do you think even has the time for that?" The woman continuedughing.


    "Everyone in these myriad realms has their own shit to deal with! Why would someone care about a backwater lower realm? The only idiots who would care are other lower realms. Do you understand it now?"


    Liam shook his head. All of this waspletely out of his depth.


    "Listen, brat. This big sister will make some basic things clear to you. When mana is infused into a lower realm for the first time, the entirety of that world will change."


    "This change will give birth to several treasures and also several powerhouses."


    "Mind you, these treasures and powerhouses are only something in the eyes of the lower realm dwellers. Even the lowest grade mid realm experts wouldn''t look at these insignificant things."


    "However, the lower realm dwellers wouldn''t be that casual about it. Every single lower realm would have their own powerhouses who are dying to reach the next stage."


    "These guys are the ones who want to gobble up your world and ess all the newly formed treasures."


    "And these waves or trials as you call them, are really invasions by these other lower realm dwellers wanting your resources."


    "Your world is actively being invaded!"


    Liam nodded. Even though he was shocked to see that there was this whole other perspective to how he or rather everyone in his previous life understood everything, he wasn''t too shaken up about it. After all, there were too many things that he did not understand.


    And for the first time, he had someone who could give him all the exnations. This was something that he sorely needed.


    Liam clenched his fist and asked, "Okay. In that case, couldn''t the divine temple high priestess be behind this invasion?"


    "No. That would be rather difficult. If I am correct, currently you are being invaded by one of theher type lower realms."


    "Nether type lower realms?"


    "Yes. Just like how your world is most attuned with mana and received mana infusion, some other worlds are attuned with other energies and are infused with their respective choice."


    "Among these are theher type worlds. And that bitch would never lower herself to take their help. She is a very proud cunt."


    "Oh?" Liam raised a brow. What she said was logical but she did not have the full story. "I think you are wrong. She already took the help of someone like that."


    "What do you mean?"


    Liam then told the draconian princess about his whole encounter with the vampires and about the blood effigy that had almost killed him.

 Chapter 1041 A Path Of Thorns

    "Ssssssss! I really can''t believe it! That divine bitch actually colluded with the blood rats? Those blood rats also worked with her? What the hell is happening with the world?"


    The draconian princess shook her head in confusion. "It looks like everything has turned upside down in the time that I was imprisoned!"


    Liam nodded. "So it is possible that she coordinated with some undead too?"


    "Hmmm¡­ I am not sure. Working together with the blood rats is one thing, but the undead¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "Argh. I forgot that you don''t know anything about any of the politics. Listen, brat. We don''t have the time right now for me to tell you the whole story. Let''s just say that the blood rats call themselves noble."


    "Okay¡­"


    "Yes. Yes. Those idiots im a lot of things¡­ ancient lineage¡­ noble bloodline¡­ first progenitor¡­ h di h¡­ So working together with these blood rats is one thing, but I am very sure that the divine bitch wouldn''t go as low as to collude with aher realm lowly creature. Unless¡­"


    "Unless?"


    "Unless the blood rats are still working with her, and they contacted the undead on her behalf." The draconian princess clicked her tongue and looked at Liam with a bright golden glint swimming in her crimson eyes. "Yup. Yup. This is what should have happened."


    Liam sucked in a breath and let theher-tinged air fill his lungs. He closed his eyes, feeling the weariness in his body wash away a little, and then spoke. "The thing is¡­ if she is behind it or not, it matters only a little."


    "Hmm¡­


    "This is something that I have to ovee one day or the other. I cannot move ahead without dealing with this."


    "I agree. This is a w in your foundation itself. You are not going anywhere without dealing with this, but you do understand that this won''t be so simple, right?"


    "Yes. You already said that. The limit breaker fruit is not that easy to find."


    The draconian princess shook her head. "Of course. That is one obstacle, but there are ces where you can get your hands on that fruit. The real problem will start once you consume the fruit. Do you even know what to do after that?"


    "I haven''t thought about that yet." Liam smiled bitterly. Knowledge was one thing he was severelycking.


    "Sigh. Brat, be prepared to walk on a path of thorns. If you had a choice, I would have asked you to forgo yourher cultivation, but you don''t have a choice."


    "Heavy is the head that wears the crown." The draconian princess hummed.


    There was a strange mncholic look on her face as she said it, which made Liam wonder who she was really talking about. However, the draconian princess continued on.


    "If you choose this path, it will either take you to great heights or you will entirely crumble. Even if you manage to seed somehow, others will not let you be."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You will only attract the ire of countless men. They will want to bring you down and constantly stand in your way. They will never let you be in peace. They will hunt you down and all of your loved ones."


    "By them, you mean?" Liam probed, but his voice startled the draconian princess, and she quickly snapped out of the trance-like state she was in.


    "Ahem. Nothing. I was just talking in general. As you grow more powerful, so will your enemies. That divine bitch won''t be the only one behind you."


    "I see."


    The two of them then remained silent for a while, after which the draconian princess suddenly let out a sigh and stood up.


    "Well, brat. It looks like you are incredibly lucky. Alone, you would have died nameless and formless. Somehow, you have me now. The path ahead is difficult, but this big sister will guide you through it."


    The woman then startedughing all on her own, giving off a very viinous vibe.


    "This is good! This is awesome! Our enemies are going to tremble! We are going to y everyone who has ever bothered us. I will help you, and in turn, you will be my sword!"


    "We both shall-"


    While the rant went on, Liam chuckled lightly, and his mind wandered to something else. He couldn''t help but think back to the new skill he had used back when he was fighting the Ison King.


    He had obviously gained the skill from the two dragon souls he had consumed, but he had no idea why or how it happened.


    Ever since the fight, this had been bugging him, especially because he currently possessed several powerful minions, including the six vampire generals, who each possessed a unique skill.


    While the Limit Breaker might be one way to get around his problem, Liam did not want to rule out other options, such as the powerful regeneration skill one of the vampires possessed.


    His mind was already going through the list of other minions in his possession who had valuable skills that he could steal for himself. This was something he needed to investigate further.


    Liam rubbed his chin and then let out another sigh as he heard the dragondy still rambling on. "Are you done yet?" He shook his head helplessly.


    The woman''s eyes went wide. "Brat, you need to learn to show some respect to your seniors!"


    "Okay. So you said there were some ces where we could get our hands on this Limit Breaker fruit? Where might that be?"


    "Heh? How would that be so easy? It''s a priceless treasure, you arrogant child. It''s not something that is avable in your world. We need to go somewhere else for that, and you are not strong enough for it just yet."


    "What do you mean?" Liam raised a brow.


    "I mean, you are not strong enough to survive a void teleportation skill. That is the only way we can realm jump and go to the ce we need to."

 Chapter 1042 A Whole New Arena

    "Realm jump? You mean we have to go to another world?"


    "Yes and for that you have to be a lot stronger. If a measly level 100 stepped out of their world, they would be swatted like a mosquito in no time."


    Liam chuckled.


    "That divine bitch clearly nned to make you stronger first and take you to new heights before pushing you into the depths of the abyss, so let''s use her n and her groundwork."


    "We have all of thisher around us. It would be a waste to miss out on them considering you have such a high affinity. Let''s use that and train some new skills."


    "In the meantime, your main task would be to improve your mana core. You cannot rely onher too much at the moment as you have already taken the first step in your mana cultivation and your body is also more suited for mana cultivation."


    "So for now you have to focus on improving your physical body and your mana core. Only this can buy you some time until you are ready for the Limit Breaker fruit."


    The draconian princess paused and contemted various things before giving Liam a thorough exnation of what needed to be done and what shouldn''t be done.


    Liam silently listened and made a note of everything.


    Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn''t help but feel a rush of excitement well up inside him. It was more than clear to him that the stage he was going to be fighting from now on was going to be apletely different one.


    The rules had changed, and the game was now about to be more cutthroat than ever before.


    Liam clenched his fists. He was ready for it.


    He reached for the spatial artifact and took out the Ison King''s mana core from within it. "I have this with me." He showed it to the draconian princess. "I take it to increase the strength of my mana core, I have to absorb more mana?"


    The draconian princess shook her head. "Yes and no."


    "Look here, brat. Let me teach you some of the very fundamental basics of mana core formation. There is no way someone like you has this knowledge and trying to cultivate mana without knowing anything about this is simply a waste of time."


    Liam''s face twitched as he heard the woman address him time and again as a brat, but he was in agreement with the rest of her words. So he did not say anything and continued listening.


    "The first step in mana cultivation is called awakening. In this, a living being is awakened to mana and is now either able to sense the presence of mana in the surroundings or not."


    "This is dependent on that person''s natural talent, bloodline, and so on. Of course, this is not something set in stone and can be changed using several methods."


    "The next step is to use your newly awakened senses to gather and collect the mana around you into your body."


    "There are a lot of ways to do this and also a lot of secret methods wherein the mana can be incorporated into your blood, bones, and so on."


    "The next stage is to flood your bodypletely with mana and condense it all to form a mana core."


    "This process is extremely troublesome and once again there are a lot of methods to do it. The strength of the mana core formed is dependent on the efficiency of the said method."


    "You have obviously crossed these three stages, so there is no need to discuss them right now. We cannot change the past. The only thing you can do is to focus on the next step, which is to refine and expand your mana core."


    Liam nodded, listening intently. This was something he already knew but what he did not know was the best method to do it. But unexpectedly¡­


    "This step is rather simple. There is not really a right or wrong way to do this step." The draconian princess said. "Gather and absorb as much mana as you possibly can until you feel that your mana core is ready to burst and explode."


    "That''s about it. However¡­"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "?"


    "The source of the mana is important!" The draconian princess grinned. "You have the right idea in using mana cores for cultivation because if one relied on the atmospheric mana it would take decades to just progress to the next step."


    "But at the same time, the quality of the mana core also matters. If you use a shitty Ison mana core to expand your mana pool, then it won''t matter if you have attained saturation or not, you will spend all eternity refining it."


    "Isons are trash. Their high evolution speed makes everything about them half-assed. Their bodies are gued with impurities."


    "Their mana core is also the same. Heck, even their soul strength is trash. Do you understand? So throw that mana core or better exchange it in the magic shop for something else."


    "Then which mana core do you suggest that I use?" Liam clicked his tongue. "There are not many options avable for me, you know. Our world has only barely started to evolve. So I probably have the highest level here."


    "Heh? Do you really think that? How arrogant!" The dragondy chuckled. "Didn''t I say before? When a world is bequeathed with mana, new treasures are born."


    "Along with them, world guardians are also born. In a way, these guardians are also a sort of treasure. For the mana cores that you need, we will be hunting these guardians one after the other."


    "Oh?" Liam had no idea about these things. In hisst life, he was barely trying to survive so how could he possibly know something like this?


    Treasures? Guardians?


    "So this is why we are getting invaded¡­" Liam mumbled to himself.


    "Yes, your world is currently naked. Just like how every man wants to ride a naked woman, everyone wants to take advantage of your world''s current situation."


    Liam cringed at the exnation but seeing that the other party was seriously talking, he remained silent.


    "When your world fully evolves, the will of your world will be able to erect a strong barrier that cannot be crossed by the likes of these lower realm trash."


    "So unless a mid-realm being takes interest in your world, which doesn''t happen often, you should be safe enough and the invasions will also stop."


    "How do you think these idiots are casually raiding your world?"


    "It''s because their own worlds havepleted evolving and are now safe and secure. They have nothing to worry about in the matter of defense. Hence they are going all out on offense."


    Liam nodded as he silently contemted everything that he had heard. He now understood many things.


    While he did not know if this newfound coboration was going to bring any good results, he was happy that at least he was able to get some understanding of what was happening.


    While he silently mulled over the memories from the past and the present to make sense of everything, the draconian princess continued talking.


    "Of course, there are ways to hasten the progress of the evolution of a world but that method is a pain in the ass. Finding that damned seed is a chore and even if we find it, we will be a target the moment that seed is in our hands."


    "Anything and everything in this world will start chasing us and hunting us relentlessly. Even the guardians will not let us be. Bah! It''s really not worth it!"


    The draconian princess grumbled, letting out an exasperated sigh. She then looked at Liam to ask him where he wanted to start hunting first but unexpectedly she found him staring at her with a weird expression.


    "Huh? What happened now?" She was confused.


    Liam gulped. "Are you by chance talking about the world seed?"

 Chapter 1043 This Will Do

    "Huh? Little rascal! How do you know about the world seed?" The draconian princess blinked, looking at Liam with her eyes dazed.


    The next second, seeing the smile on Liam''s face, her barely concealed chest started heaving up and down. "Don''t tell me¡­ you already have the world seed?"


    Liam wordlessly took out the small thing from his spatial artifact. He ced it on his palm and showed it to the draconian princess.


    "You¡­ how is this possible?"


    "The vampires were after this," Liam exined.


    "Brat, I don''t know if you have the worst luck or the best luck." The draconian princess looked stiff, not knowing whether to be happy about this or not.


    "Anyways, what you have here is a quarter of the world seed, a seed fragment. There should be three other fragments just like this. Once you have all four in your possession, you can immediately nt the world seed in this world."


    "After that, your world should quickly stabilize. Of course, this won''t do much for you, but this will definitely solve your invasion problem, and there shouldn''t be any more enemies showing up at your doorstep."


    "So even if you did not reap any benefits from this, you will be at peace knowing that your friends and families are safe."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam frowned as he looked at the seed fragment again. "Are you sure that I won''t reap any benefits?"


    From what he saw, the vampires were guarding it very carefully, pretty much with their lives on the line.


    In fact, when he took the world seed, the hidden party finally made a big move and summoned the blood effigy, even bing personally involved.


    The whole thing was definitely orchestrated around this one seed. Considering all of this, it did not seem like the world tree''s purpose was just to stabilize the world''s evolution.


    Heh. The dragon princess smirked. "Brat, your brain is not too bad."


    "Naturally, the world tree has other benefits. It is, after all, a treasure that factions fight over, but there is a reason why I am not telling you about that right now."


    "Trust me. It''s a tad bit too soon to be counting our rewards. We first need to nt the seed. Focus on getting there."


    Liam nodded. There was a lot of work to be done. Benefits or not, if nting the damn thing stops the invasions, then that in itself was a huge deal.


    "Do you have any methods to find the rest of the world seed fragments?"


    "Ugh? If I knew it before, then I would have gone after the world seed and taken it for myself." The draconian princessughed.


    But the next second, she caught the cold glint that shed past Liam''s eyes and abruptly stopped. "I am kidding. I am kidding. Since you agreed to help me, I will leave the world seed be. You can have it."


    Seeing that Liam was still not convinced and was continuing to look at her with narrowed eyes, she once againughed lightly. "Jeez. I really was joking. I am not going to take anything of yours."


    "..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I swear."


    "..."


    "Ahem. Coming back to our conversation, I don''t have any special methods to find the other seeds. You are all on your own."


    "Aren''t dragons supposed to be good at finding treasures?" Liam clicked his tongue.


    "What the heck? Fine. Let''s just say I am a defective dragon. Brat, get out of here and do some hardbor. Hmph!" The draconian princess pouted as if Liam had touched a sore spot.


    Liam, however,pletely ignored her. "What about the treasures and the guardians that you talked about?"


    "I don''t know where they are either, you little rascal! When you came to look for me, I was doing exactly that, trying to find some leads. Hmph."


    "Dragons are supposed to be good at finding treasures, it seems. Bah! What an asshole! Am I a living treasure map or what?" She even continued grumbling under her breath.


    "Why don''t you go out and do some hard work for a change? Do you expect everything to fall from the sky andnd into yourp, your arrogant prick!?"


    Seeing that this was not going anywhere, Liam scratched his head and started walking out of the vi. He had barely taken a few steps when he noticed that the draconian princess was following him.


    Hmmm? He waited for her to join him, but the princess looked like she was in a bad mood. She did not show any signs of wanting to walk next to him.


    "Okay." Liam raised a brow and then returned back to his task at hand. He had far too many things in his brain right now, and he was still sorting out everything.


    "To increase my strength¡­ to heal my soul¡­ to make my body stronger¡­ treasures¡­ guardians¡­ world seed." He repeated everything under his breath, trying to think what would be his best course of action at the moment.


    There were really too many things that he had to aplish and not much time. He inhaled one more deep breath, sucking in the slowly permeatingher.


    He could already feel theher entering the nook and cranny of his body. He did not have much time at all.


    In this situation, what was the right move to make? Just where was he supposed to start the herculean task thaty ahead of him?


    Liam''s gaze fell upon the red pir in the distance as he absent-mindedly pondered over everything. A grin then slowly appeared on his face.


    It was time to do some hard work, indeed!


    He started quickening his steps as he headed in the direction of the nearest red pir. As he came closer, he could already feel the increasing density of theher waves.


    And when he finally arrived at the spot, Liam saw the numerous undead creatures crawling around the area like roaches on a dirty floor.


    "This will do. Oh! This will do."

 Chapter 1044 Even After Death...

    Liam clicked his tongue as he surveyed the horde of undead creatures in front of him.


    With all theher swirling around him, it was an utter waste to let these undead creatures roam around in this haphazard manner without any aim in life.


    They were good experience points for newbies but they could be more, especially when he needed manpower tob through the entirety of the world for the world seed fragments and possibly other treasures and these so-called guardians.


    Also¡­ Liam decided that it was time he explored everything he could do.


    He had always been wanting to dabble in the other parts of his Soulmancer ss or rather the Necromancer ss which relied heavily onher andher affinity.


    Since there washer all around him right now and countless undeads at his disposal, this was as good a time as any to start doing so.


    To stand against the enemies in front of him, he needed to sharpen every single weapon in his possession. Otherwise, he would only be underestimating his opponents and that was a very foolish thing to do.


    Liam quickly tried to remember what he knew about the necromancer ss. The most important part of the ss was the basic skill ''Awaken''.


    This allowed the caster to reanimate the dead and bring them back alive. Liam had even personally used this skill a few times but he hadn''t exactly gained any particr insight into it.


    Also, since he did not have an understanding, he currently was unable to use this skill.


    "Hmmm¡­ Should I just go ahead and buy the skill book." Liam pondered. After all, he currently had a lot of mana cores in his possession, thanks to the near infinite isons.


    However, after a couple of seconds, he realized that he had something far better in his possession, a ve who already possessed the knowledge that he was seeking.


    Liam chuckled and summoned the poor soul whom he had enved for all eternity, after having stolen everything from him and having utterly decimated him.


    Liam watched the soul materialize into the familiar Japanese guy. The man who was a glorious battle general in one life was now reduced to his mere servant.


    "Kouske¡­"


    Huh? The soul minion dazedly blinked, trying toe out of its stupor. However, it couldn''t. It was as if something was preventing it from gaining full control of its body.


    In the end, it could only give up and lifted its head to look up at something or rather someone to whom it was drawn.


    Liam silently stood as the soul minion stared at him nkly.


    It took a moment but soon, there was a difference. Something stirred deep within the hollow non-existent eyes of the minion.


    "Liam!" The minion muttered as a wave of shock swept past its soul being. It looked like finally Kouske had regained consciousness.


    His eyes shed in anger and hatred before falling into confusion and then finally utter desperation.


    The soul minion stood frozen on the spot as he processed the fact that he had not only lost to his sworn rival but also that he was no longer alive.


    He waspletely and utterly defeated in every which way and now stood as a ve bound to the victor. How could he possibly stand something like this?


    Especially considering the way Liam had humiliated him and thrashed him around even at thest dying second, bitterness filled him to the brim.


    For a moment it looked as if his entire soul was burning with hatred, but the next second¡­<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Master, you summoned me?" Unexpected words came out of the minion''s mouth.


    Liam narrowed his eyes and nced at the new guy, remaining silent for a moment. He then chuckled and nodded.


    It looked like Kouske had an impressive, more than average consciousness after bing a soul minion.


    Not only was that guy hiding all of his emotions but he was also acting eager and obedient. Liam naturally knew the reason why he was doing all of this.


    The guy was waiting to backstab him the first chance he got. He was also plotting to get stronger by using Liam.


    Kouske''s reaction was something Liam had already predicted. What Kouske did not know was that Liam was already privy to each and every single one of his thoughts.


    However, Liam was not inclined to reprimand his little minion. Rather, he was curious to see just how far this small revenge plot was going to go. This was a good motivation for his minion to be stronger.


    "Tell me about your necromancy skills?" Liam pointed to the numerous undeads hanging out in front of them and asked the guy.


    Immediately, Kouske looked overjoyed. "Yes, Master. It would be my honor."


    The minion jutted out his chest and quickly stepped forward, waving his hand around. His acting was a bit over the line but the effect was on point.


    The next instant swirls ofher started condensing around the soul minion.


    "It''s good that your skills are still there," Liam observed. "How many of these undead can youmand?"


    Hearing the praise the guy became even more overjoyed and prepared to demonstrate. "I canmand everything here, Master!"


    Kouske then dispersed theher under hismand and small clouds ofher formed around many of the undeads.


    Visibly around a couple dozen of the creatures were affected and stood in ce.


    "I see." Liam nodded. He also did not just rely on Kouske''s demonstration or exnation. He went through the memories of the guy to get a deeper understanding of the skill.


    From what he could tell, the dead needed to be immersed inher after all of their life force got drained but before all of their soul strength evaporated. It was a very small time window.


    And based on how perfectly the skill was executed, the strength of the resulting undead would vary.


    Theher used to bind them was also a permanent addition to their current being. Instead of life force, these creatures were now running onher.


    Up to a certain point, they could act on their own but practically they need a constant infusion ofher to keep going. This seemed to be the basis of undead maniption.


    Liam contemted the other insights Kouske had gained while thetter in his current soul form was doing some hand motions to weave theher in the air to control the undead in front of him.


    The draconian princess walked over to the spot watching this scene. However, there was a visible smirk on her face.


    Liam noticed this and frowned. What was this woman up to now?

 Chapter 1045 Whats Wrong?

    Liam decided to ignore the smug dragondy for now and instead paid attention to his newest minion as he continued with his demonstration of creating an undead army.


    He was extremely curious to see if his undead could control other undeads. Because if that was the case, then he could increase the army under hismand by leaps and bounds.


    However, even after a few minutes had passed by, this still did not seem to be happening.


    "Hmmm¡­ what''s wrong?" Liam asked Kouske, who was wearing an unsightly expression on his face.


    "Something is not working," Kouske replied with bitterness. He was failing when he was alive, and now, even after death, he was still failing. It made him want to pull out his nonexistent hair.


    "I can see that. What exactly seems to be the problem?" Liam was losing his patience, and he directly went next to one of the undead creatures, bringing it back with him to the spot where Kouske stood still.


    "You cannot bring this under your control?"


    "I am trying. Master." The guy begrudgingly replied.


    On the side, the draconian princess had already startedughing.


    Liam sighed. He could tell that something was off the moment he saw that smug smile on the woman''s face. "Care to exin?"


    "Ba ha ha ha! I can''t! My stomach is going to burst!"


    Liam''s face twitched as he watched the woman buckle down andugh some more. In front of him, Kouske was still bitterly failing.


    Wondering what the hell was going on, Liam decided to jump into action. He already got an idea about the basics, so there was no need to waste time anymore.


    He raised his hand, and the next second¡­


    The red pir in the distance trembled, and waves and waves ofher started coalescing. The dense corroding energy gathered in the sky like ck clouds of an endless stormy day.


    For a moment, the entirendscape reeked of death and destitution. The density ofher in the air had shot up to such an rming level that even the dragon woman was forced to stopughing.


    She blinked and looked around with her mouth agape.


    The next instant, an even more glorious scene unfolded in front of her.


    Out of nowhere, ck rain started pouring from the ck clouds up above. This rain drenched the numerous undead creatures standing around,pletely enveloping them from top to bottom.


    If the hundreds of undeads in the area were puppets, then theher binding all of them shot back to Liam like threads to the master puppeteer.


    "Come on!" Liam bellowed as hemanded the entirety of theher in the area all at a time and willed the undeads to respond to his call.


    For a second, everything became still. A vague silence spilled and spread as all the undeads were frozen solid.


    The draconian princess trembled slightly as she watched on with gold swimming in her crimson eyes. Was he really going to do it?


    She could feel her heart thudding against her chest with excitement filling her up. Just how high was this human''sher affinity?


    How could he possibly achieve this feat without as much as lifting his finger, especially in his current condition?


    Even though Liam did not disclose it to her, she was well aware of just how injured he currently was. But even with the injury¡­ he was able to do this much?


    Then that could only mean¡­<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With an audible gasp that slipped out of her mouth without her realizing it, the draconian princess watched, wondering if the human being with whom her fate was inexplicably intertwined was really going to achieve the impossible.


    ck swirls continually encapsted and swirled around the undeads. Seconds ticked by as both Kouske and the draconian princess stared wide-eyed.


    However¡­ even after a couple of minutes¡­ nothing really changed.


    Tch. Liam clicked his tongue in disappointment, letting out a big breath of air. He had tried the best he could, but the undead creatures were absolutely unmovable.


    "Ok. I give up. You tell me what is happening." He turned around to ask the dragon woman, who no longer seemed to beughing or joking. To Liam''s surprise, she was staring back at him with an equally serious expression.


    Oh? He then realized what might have happened.


    "Well?" He shrugged. In all honesty, he didn''t want to publicize hisher affinity too much or, for that matter, any other specifics about him, but there was only so much he could hide.


    More than anything, he did not want topromise his growth just for the sake of this one person. After all, there were several equally monstrous individuals behind him.


    "Why are the undeads not responding to me?" Liam asked again, side-stepping the obvious.


    "You nasty brat! Why didn''t you tell me this before?"


    "...."


    "Fine." The draconian princess quickly surrendered as she was far too excited to fight with the stubborn man she was bound to. "I don''t mind sharing somemon sense."


    "It''s very pathetic to watch you and your minionmit mistakes that even children from the more respectable realms wouldn''t."


    Liam''s face darkened. "I am listening."


    "Someone has already ced their mark on these undead creatures, so not anyone with an affinity to theher couldmand these weaklings, not even if that person was you. Do you understand?"


    "Oh?" Liam''s interest was piqued. "A mark? By any chance, could you mean a literal mark?"


    He pulled the undead he had dragged earlier closer to him and examined the being from top to bottom, or rather its skeletal structure with small bits and pieces of flesh hanging here and there.


    Grunt. The creature gave a guttural noise as it tried to move away, only to waddle in the same spot uselessly.


    "Hmmm¡­ just a normal humanoid being¡­ perhaps an elf or some other simr creature¡­ back when it was still alive, that is¡­ there is nothing really special about it."


    Liam did not find anything significant until his eyesnded on a small cross mark at the bottom of the creature''s skull.


    This was only barely a mark and could be easily mistaken for a scratch considering that the creature was scratched up and banged up in a million ces, with certain parts even broken.


    However, once he honed in on that spot, he could tell for sure that this particr scar was an anomaly. He could even vaguely feel a different kind ofher pulsing from it.


    "So this is why I was not able to control these guys¡­ I understand now." Liam nodded.


    "Yup." The draconian princess also mumbled.


    And just as she thought that he was going to give up on this idea, all of a sudden, Liam once againmanded theher swirling around them.

 Chapter 1046 What Now?

    "Don''t tell me¡­ he is nning to still go after it?" The draconian princess widened her eyes, staring unblinkingly at the man in front of her. "This is crazy. You are already injured! Don''t push it too much!"


    However, Liam did not look like he was about to listen to her anytime soon.


    "Damn, this guy! Those divine cunts took half my soul. Now this crazy bastard is going to take the other half. Why the hell did I agree to guide him?" She clenched her fists tightly and watched the scene with bated breath.


    Swirls and swirls ofher once again condensed around them, and the entire area was doused in an aura of death. But this time, Liam did not disperse this thickher to all of the undead creatures in the vicinity.


    Instead¡­ He shot it all toward the one single undead that was staggering a couple of feet away from them.


    Swoosh! The entirety of the undead became pitch ck in color, and from top to bottom, it was drowning inher.


    A powerful aura shot out from the undead as it could feel the immenseher around it.


    The creature growled loudly, but when it tried tomand it, it quickly realized that none of theher belonged to it. The creature was simply enjoying the power from the mere presence of all theher.


    The next second, unexpectedly, all of thather disappeared, and the whole shot forward like an arrow towards one particr spot, more specifically toward the X mark at the base of the creature''s skull.


    The whole thing looked bizarre, like a scene straight out of a horror movie where a spirit plunges into an unsuspecting individual.


    "Unbelievable! Does this guy really think that he is capable of changing one of the basic rules of necromancy? What gall!" The draconian princess grumbled under her breath, but a part of her was excited and couldn''t wait to see Liam seed.


    However, how could this be so simple?


    Even after the huge injection ofher, nothing really changed. But Liam was not ready to give up just yet. He gritted his teeth and continued to st the single undead creature with all theher he could gather from the area.


    He sent wave after wave ofher crashing at the single undead repeatedly. At this point, even the undead quivered from his undivided attention.


    Two more seconds passed, and then the red pir itself started trembling because of the force with which Liam was draining the thingpletely.


    "Oh?" Liam then all of a sudden raised a brow as if he realized something. In the next moment, he abruptly stopped everything and released all theher under hismand.


    Huh? The draconian princess was shocked once again. "What happened? Why did you stop? Didn''t you almost¡­ I could feel it!"


    "Nope." Liam grinned. "Can''t you see? I didn''t seed. It''s too soon for me to seed." He cryptically answered.


    The draconian princess blinked at his weird exnation when her gaze naturally fell upon the red pir. She then understood what had happened.


    If Liam had seeded right now, then it would have definitely alerted the being controlling the undead from the other side, which in turn might speed up the events of the third wave.


    This couldn''t happen because they needed as much time as they could get at the moment.


    "What a cunning bastard!" The draconian princess inwardly praised him. The guy was probably saving this as a gift for whoever was going to show up next from the red pir.


    But this meant that Liam''s n of using all the undeads sprawled across the world to do his dirty work was not going to happen.


    "Now what?" She asked him.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam silently stared at the undead creatures and the red pir before turning back to the guild base.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ***


    "Hey! Hey! Good sir, I am talking to you!" A person dressed in simple, in saffron attire paced back and forth in a room, looking at the other person who was sitting calmly with his eyes closed.


    The Monk''s face was bing redder with each passing second.


    By now, he had tried to talk to Caden several times, but he hadn''t gotten any satisfactory response just yet. "Good sir, you are a man of the cloth. I am also a man of the cloth. It''s not good to behave so rudely to your closepatriot."


    The monk waited for a response, but once again, the other party did not even flinch. He had been at this for several hours now, and the result was the same.


    "Sigh." The monk slumped on a chair nearby. "Good sir, didn''t you say that Mr. Liam was not a bad person and that once he regained his consciousness and recovered a little, he would release us? But now¡­"


    He pulled the system interface to look at the time and thenmented. "One whole day. Almost one whole day and that person still has not released us!"


    "Ah¡­ Amitabha! Are we both doomed to live in very forever?"


    "This is not the right path for the man of the cloth!"


    "We are supposed to be free and untethered!"


    "Ah¡­ Amitabha!"


    The monk continuedmenting even though only the four walls were paying attention to him. The other person, the supposed ''Oracle,'' still had his eyes closed.


    "What in Lord Buddha''s name is this guy up to?"


    Hmmm¡­ He scrutinized the man from every angle but couldn''t tell what had captured his intense focus. His contorted expression only resembled that of someone suffering from constipation.


    Sigh. The monk let out another long breath of air when the door suddenly opened, and the person whom he had been dreading all this time now stood in front of him.


    Of course, with perfect timing, the Oracle, who was sitting like a corpse for the entire day, was also now wide awake.


    The monk couldn''t help but roll his eyes at this. He wanted to say something, but he was a man of the cloth, so he did not open his mouth.


    Also¡­ the monster was back! The monk gulped, looking at Liam rather fearfully.


    "Are you in the middle of something?" Liam''s gaze wandered around the room and saw that the two of them had clearly not been very busy.


    Seeing this, the monk gulped again. Shit! Wasn''t he supposed to be doing something? What was that again?


    He became so nervous that he couldn''t even remember it. He immediately started sweating, wondering how Liam was going to respond now.


    But unexpectedly, Liam did not seem to care at all.


    "Well, whatever. Juste with me." Liam signaled the two of them to follow him as he walked out of the building. Outside, a redhead and a fox were already waiting.


    "Okay. Now that we are all here, we can start."

 Chapter 1047 Danger Ahead!

    "Start? Where to?" Both Alex and the Monk blurted out at the same time. Alex then turned toward the monk to give him a stern re. "Liam, I told you before, and I am telling you now. I just don''t trust these two, and where is the other woman?"


    Liam nodded. "That''s fine. I also don''t trust them, but they have signed special contracts. So we don''t have to worry about that right now. And the woman¡­ she said she would join us when we have something for her."


    "Oh?" Alex''s eyes widened slightly. "Oooh!" She then opened her mouth again as her look of apprehension changed into one of amusement. "Special contracts, huh?" She sneered at the two.


    By now, the information had spread around the guild about exactly who these two were. "Oh, how the mighty Oracle has fallen!" Alex ridiculed the first guy.


    He did not do anything to her per see, but he had done a lot to Crimson Abyss and Liam, which she obviously was going to take personally. As for the other guy¡­


    "You! You owe me some money!" Alex scoffed at the second loser, the crook who called himself a monk.


    "Excuse me, miss. I am a man of the cloth. I have never borrowed anything from anyone or cheated anyone out of their possessions."


    "Oh really?"


    Liam watched the three in front of him go at it and scratched his head. Why was he doing this again? He sighed and shook his head helplessly. Unfortunately, sometimes when the odds were stacked against you, one had to rely on people like this.


    "That''s enough." He pped his hands and then walked over to Luna. With a single jump, he got up on the fox and sat down. "Are you threeing or not?"


    The Oracle silently walked over to the white fox and gave Liam aplex look before doing the same. Now only Alex and the Monk were left.


    "A monk, an oracle, a pdin, and a necromancer walked into a bar. Do you know what happens next?" Alex leaned forward and red threateningly at the monk, pointing her finger at the man''s chest.


    "Ah¡­ ughhh¡­" The monk stammered.


    "The monk died." With a hmph, Alex then walked over to the fox as well and sat down next to Liam, not bothering to give the guy another nce.


    "Do you not want toe?" Liam observed her actions, so he asked the obvious. "Considering the current circumstance, I thought it would be better to take a divine affinity type fighter along with me, just in case something unexpected pops out. But if you don''t want to-"


    "What? When did I say that?" Alex immediately became flustered. She did not even allow him to finish the sentence and hurriedly bobbed her head. "No. No. No. I aming. I mean I am happy toe. I mean, I am fine."


    "Ok." Liam gave her a look before turning around and patting Luna on the back. "Let''s go."


    "Ahem. By the way, where are we going?" Alexposed herself a little and asked.


    "I have no idea." Liam shrugged. "That will be up to these two." He pointed at the monk and the oracle.


    "These two?" Alex looked confused, but more than that, the other two were even more confused.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Why are you both staring at me like this?" Liam chuckled. "Didn''t you two beg for your lives, saying that you will lead me to treasures? Now it''s time to do that. I wish you good luck."


    Caden looked dazed, and the monk opened his mouth wide.


    "Huh? This? How can this be possible? I am not a human treasure finder!" The monk retorted back hurriedly.


    The next moment, the guy watched Liam''s face change ever so slightly, and he immediately did a double take.


    "Ha Ha Ha. I am joking. I am joking, good sir. I am more than happy to look at your fortune. What else is this life for? Amitabha! Amitabha! I will get right on it!"


    The guy then quickly closed his eyes as if he did not want to see anything anymore. Next to him, the Oracle also had already closed his eyes. The two were the picture of hard work.


    Alex, however, did not buy what they were selling. "Will this really work?"


    As if agreeing with her, Luna also made a small sound and gave the two a re before lifting off the ground. The white fox and the four people sitting atop her then started aimlessly floating around here and there.


    "Is this really the best use of our time?" Alex grimaced.


    A couple of hourster, even Liam began to doubt the same.


    However, the options were limited at the moment, and they had a lot of ground to cover. He did not even know where to start to look for the treasures or the beasts. So this was the best he coulde up with.


    Of course, while they were floating around, Liam also summoned his personal army to do some hardbor and look around here and there for anything that was out of the ordinary.


    In this way, the search continued for a couple of hours when suddenly the Monk shed his eyes open and shouted in excitement. "I got it! I got it! Good sir, there is danger ahead of us!"


    "Danger? Hmmm?" Liam was perplexed. What could possibly be dangerous here?


    They were still around their guild base, and he had been to this particr area several times, even once recently when he was dealing with the vampires, so he knew for a fact that there could be nothing dangerous here.


    "Can you be more specific?" Liam asked. Perhaps there was something dangerous hidden deep beneath the surface? That too, this close to their guild base?


    Liam''s heart rate quickened. This was indeed extremely dangerous. However, all of a sudden, breaking this tension in the air, Alexughed loudly.


    "Danger? Sure! Why don''t we go there right now and find out what is so dangerous about it?"

 Chapter 1048 Everything He Says Is A Lie!

    "Hmmm?" Liam raised his brow. He felt as if he was missing something here. He looked at Alex questioningly, and the redhead exined things with a scowl.


    "Liam, you didn''t know? None of the predictions from this bastard''s mouthe true. This is what I have been telling you from the beginning. This guy is not trustworthy at all."


    Alex then borated on what had happened back in the game and her encounter with the damned monk.


    "Is this true?" Liam asked the guy.


    The monk, who was sweating profusely by now, could onlyugh bitterly in response. "Good sir, I don''t lie or swindle. I only speak the truth from my divination. I am bound to speak the truth and nothing else. Miss here is giving me a little too much credit."


    Liam stared at the guy for a moment before looking back at Alex. "This piece of turd! Divinations? Oh please. You are just a lying swine wearing a saffron dress."


    "Miss, please watch your manners."


    Liam wordlessly looked at the two and felt a headacheing. Perhaps his decision to go this route was really a bad one.


    However, right at the moment, the fourth party, the guy who was silent all this while, the Oracle, suddenly opened his mouth.


    "Please pardon my intrusion. Miss Alex, if I may. I have a piece of information for you."


    "Huh? For me?"


    "The person who had been guing your life right from your birth is no longer alive. Actually, he is in a hell that is worse than death."


    Alex immediately stiffened. "Who? Who are you talking about?"


    "Ah¡­ that I am not too sure about. Unfortunately, my level is not that high right now. Also, what I do is very vague¡­ I am sorry I was not of more use." The Oracle shook his head.


    "Okay." Alex nodded as her mind immediately went to various ces.


    On the side, Liam knew exactly what the guy was talking about. He instantly realized that he had forgotten something important!


    "Ahem. Alex, we need to talk about something."


    Liam asked Luna tond temporarily on the terrace of a nearby building, where only he and Alex got down from the fox to talk about the matter personally.


    Alex had no idea what was happening, but her cheeks became a little red. "What¡­ what happened? Why suddenly?" She asked, a little flustered.


    With a sigh, Liam then summoned the sleazy uncle whom he had forgotten a long while ago. "I forgot to tell you something." Liam started.


    It took a while, but this was something Alex, Rey, and Mia deserved to know, so he began from the start and quickly told her everything that happened¡ªthe vampires, the guild war, and how he had made the uncle into his soul minion.


    Alex silently listened to the whole thing and then walked closer to the minion to look at the disappointment, rage, and unwillingness in her uncle or whatever was left of her uncle. She stood dazed there for a second.


    "I am sorry for not telling you about this sooner."


    Alex swallowed. As the wind whistled past her long red locks, her lonesome figure stood motionless, her body trembling ever so slightly.


    The sun was slowly clocking out for the day, painting the sky with enchanting hues of pink and orange that danced gracefully behind her.


    When she turned to look at Liam, something in her eyes caught him off guard. It was something other than her usual anger and hot-headedness, something he couldn''t quite put his finger on.


    Breaking the momentary silence, Alex mumbled, "Thank you." <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Liam stared at her for a couple of seconds, taking in the depth of her words. But then, he turned his head to the side and said, "We should go."


    It was not that he did not understand her feelings. How could they not be obvious when the woman cared so much about him so tantly? However, he was also not in a position to return them.


    Alex nodded. Liam then called for the white fox, and the group of four resumed their journey in silence.


    "So, are we going to check out that ce or not?"


    Alex felt awkward and broke the silence forcefully. The poor monk did not know why, but he could feel her sharp dagger-like stares cutting him everywhere.


    What happened on that terrace? Why was this woman angrier than before? The monk gulped and shook his head nervously.


    "I stand by my prediction. There is danger ahead."


    Liam ruffled his unkempt hair that had grown long and wild as he hadn''t paid any attention to personal upkeep recently. The beard on his face was also a reminder of the same.


    "Alright. Let''s just go and take a look. What direction?" He asked. "Can you give me the exact coordinates?"


    "Amitabha!" The monk sighed. "Good sir, I am not google maps."


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow threateningly. Immediately the monk once again changed his stance. "Good sir, the danger is roughly in that area. That is really all I can say."


    "Fine." Liam looked at the piece ofnd.


    It was the size of a small town. He closed his eyes and tried to get a sense of the space. He focussed for a few minutes, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t perceive anything at all.


    Was there really danger there? Perhaps it was a beast that was much stronger than him? Was that why he was not able to get a feel for it?


    One way or the other, Liam wanted to see it through. If there was a danger right next to their doorstep it was best to face it head on then leave it to fester.


    So the next second, he summoned his soul army. "Let''s see what exactly this danger is. Go and search." Even if his minions do not find this danger, their presence should at least trigger it.


    Liam watched as hundreds of his soul minions sprang forth and began to turn the area upside down. Standing by his side, Alex, the monk, and the oracle also watched the show in awe.


    "Amitabha!" The monk opened and closed his mouth speechlessly.


    Alex saw the few isons in the horde of soul minions, and her heartbeat quickened with excitement. Every time she saw this army, it was getting bigger and stronger. Soon¡­ she gasped.


    Simr expressions were visible on the monk''s and the oracle''s faces. Caden had no idea about the difference in power he was dealing with.


    Dragons? Elves? Barbarians? Isons? A bitter smile appeared on his face. Now he understood why Kouske was always losing. Now he understood why he was always losing. His opponent was simply too¡­


    While these three were standing in shock, unexpectedly, something else happened. A faint misty light dust appeared in front of them, and along with it, a small rabbit also popped out.


    "Huh?" Liam''s eyes widened as he watched the creature nce at him briefly before scurrying away into the distance.


    "What¡­"


    Barely a few seconds passed when the rabbit also magically returned back.


    And this time, she had something glittering in her mouth.

 Chapter 1049 Let’s Keep Going

    Pu!


    The little rabbit ambled over and casually spat out the small glittering object in her mouth. While everyone curiously peered over to see what it was, Liam alone raised his brows.


    With one look, he instantly knew what the object was.


    A lucky coin!


    Heck, he had another one that looked exactly the same. So how could there be any mistake?


    However, right at this moment, this object was not the object of his interest. Rather it was the person who had brought them all over here.


    Liam turned to nce at the monk standing beside him with a newfound respect for the jittery fellow with the shifty behavior. Anyone who saw the monk could tell that the guy was full of it.


    Starting from his smile, his words, his ass-kissing, everything screamed fake. But lo and behold, here they were.


    Liam bent down slowly as he picked up the coin from the ground. He held it in his hand and tossed it up in the air, catching it absent-mindedly the next instant, all the while ncing at the monk.


    The guy was now wearing an even bigger smile. "I told you! I told you!" He excitedlyughed as if he himself was surprised that some result came from this trip.


    Obviously, the rabbit was not an ordinary rabbit, and so was the coin it had brought from somewhere. So he was over the moon seeing his predictione true.


    But not everyone was happy. Alex didn''t let go of such a nice chance. "What ''I told you''? You said there would be danger here, remember?"


    "Ah¡­"


    "What? Tell me. What is the danger here?"


    "Um¡­"


    "The only danger here is this coin, but it is only dangerous for you because you just might choke on it!" Alex abruptly stepped forward and started tugging at the cor of the saffron robe the monk was wearing, thereby constricting his neck.


    "Haa¡­ Haaa¡­ Good Miss¡­ it''s not nice to use violence on a man of the cloth." The monk started gasping and choking, but his strength was not enough to break free from Alex''s grip.


    On the side, Caden was very much enjoying the show. Just like Alex, he also hated the damn bastard and firmly believed that everything happening here was due to sheer luck!


    Kill the bug! Kill the bug! He inwardly cheered for Alex.


    The monk saw the unobscured killing intenting off of the both of them and shivered. He then turned to the only person who could save him now.


    "Good Sir, please! I am only trying to help you here."


    Liam sighed. His patience was also wearing thin. He gave a stern stare towards the monk and asked him the same question Alex had asked him, that is, before she started choking him.


    "You said there was going to be danger here. That is the prediction you made. But there is no danger here. What happened and what you predicted arepletely-" Liam suddenly paused.


    It was theplete opposite. He finished the sentence in his mind.


    Liam now looked at the shifty monk in apletely new light. Could it all be a fluke, or maybe¡­


    And while he was thinking, Alex was happily torturing the guy.


    "Good Sir, please. Haa¡­ Haa¡­. Please¡­ Kinddy¡­ Lady! Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Stop choking me¡­. Ahhhh! I am telling the truth!!! Why are you all torturing a man of the cloth?"


    "It''s fine. Let him go." Liam nodded, making the two look at him curiously.


    "Let''s go back. If you want to redeem yourself, find another dangerous ce just like this. Otherwise¡­ I won''t do anything." Liam shrugged. "She will do whatever she wants with you."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hearing the threat, the monk felt his scalp go numb.


    He He. Alex grinned.


    "Don''t worry. I am sure you will get it correct." She let go of the guy and patted him on the back in a friendly manner. Only her friendly pat made the monk stagger forward and wince in pain.


    He looked around to see if anyone would protest about this injustice, but no one was paying attention to him. "Amitabha! Save me from these monsters."


    Shortly afterward, Luna picked up the pace again, and once more, the group started wandering aimlessly in the sky.


    Time ticked by as the group remained silent, with each engrossed in their own thoughts.


    Liam looked solemnly toward the sun, various thoughts racing across his mind. At times, he turned to nce at the monk, who was now profusely sweating.


    Liam wanted tough at this. Was he really that scary? In reality, his current confidence level was lower than ever before. There were too many moving parts and too many things out of his control.


    Ever since he received his second chance, he at least had an inkling of control over the course of his life, and now there were factors well beyond his scope.


    For instance, the draconian princess.


    He did not know anything about her. He had no idea what was running in her mind, what her intentions were, or even what she was doing at the moment.


    Why did she note with him on this trip? If her ns depend on him and he was an important part of her survival, shouldn''t she be right here with him, helping him in every way possible?


    However, she chose to stay back. What was the meaning behind it?


    Liam couldn''t help but feel as if the woman was constantly holding back her words. She was helping him, but perhaps just enough for him to be as strong as she needed him to be.


    On the other hand, perhaps he was overthinking things.


    Liam let out a long-suffering sigh as he stared at the hues of the sky that were as muddled as his thoughts. But like the stars in the sky that twinkled brightly despite this haze, he was clear about some things.


    He needed to heal himself. Somehow. That was his start. However, that heavily relied on¡­


    Interrupting his thoughts, the monk''s voice sounded again, a little too high-pitched for his liking.


    "Stop squealing like a pig." Alex barked.


    This time the monk outright ignored her and gave Liam a big salute. "Good sir! There is danger ahead!"


    Kyuu!


    More than Liam, the little fox was excited. She quickened up her pace, and a few secondster¡­


    The rabbit appeared once again, and Liam had another lucky coin in his hand.


    "He He He. Good sir, I told you I do not lie." The monk was grinning from ear to ear.


    "Again! You said there would be danger!" Alex purposefully argued, even though she could already see that the idiot indeed had a talent of some kind. It looked like he was not a scammer after all.


    Liam ignored the two. His focus was nowpletely on the three lucky coins in his possession. He tossed all three coins up into the air, catching them back at the same speed with a smile on his face.


    "Let''s keep going."


    Liam had a feeling that this day was about to be much more interesting.

 Chapter 1050 Are you useless?

    Chapter 1050 Are you useless?


    Three more hours passed by just like that as the group of four and the fox continued to roam all over China and the rest of the territory.


    And in these three hours, two more lucky coins surfaced!


    Liam looked at the five coins that were in his possession now with a discernible smile on his face. He really couldn''t believe it. They had spent only half a day, and yet he had five lucky coins!


    However, not everyone was happy with this development. Each time the damn monk got his prediction right, Alex only felt more and more angry and agitated with the guy.


    If he could predict this well, then why the hell was he telling the exact opposite?


    "That''s because I only speak the truth, ma''am." The monk exined.


    But how the hell did this exnation make sense? Alex wanted to bang her head somewhere. She had had enough of these specialty sses.


    Here she was working day and night to improve herself, but these specialty sses were taking the easier route. In just a day, if this guy could predict so much, then how strong was he really?


    It has now been a couple of months since the apocalypse began. Shouldn''t he have collected a lot of treasures all these days?


    Alex''s hands were itching to take the guy somewhere private and interrogate him in the right way to get the answer out of him.


    If only Liam did not hold the coins so important¡­


    "Are these coins really that important?" Alex gritted her teeth and asked, somehow squeezing out a smile.


    "Yes. They increase a person''s luck." Liam answered curtly.


    What was luck?


    Luck was the ability to survive when the heavens themselves want someone dead. How could Liam not know the power of luck? Wasn''t his second chance and his return back to the beginning some sort of luck too?


    And these lucky coins were exactly that.


    When someone was in possession of these coins, a new attribute, the luck attribute, popped up for them.


    Liam had no idea who created these coin artifacts and why they had this effect, but this was the result. Moreover, the lucky coins had a strange effect.


    Any other artifact would probably increase the luck attribute by only a fixed amount, but the lucky coins were different. The more coins one possessed, the more boost they received.


    For instance, with only one coin, the luck attribute increased by one but with two coins, this value became four times. If someone had three coins, the value would be nine times, and so on.


    And Liam right now had five coins in his possession. This meant that his luck attribute now had 25 points!


    Liam couldn''t help but wonder just how much effect a point in the luck attribute had? It was obviously not a normal attribute like strength or agility.


    So how many points did he need to observe a significant change? And just how big was this change going to be?


    Right now, everything was stacked against him, so he could definitely use a dollop of luck to smoothen the road ahead.


    Liam did not want to believe in luck or count on it for victory. He could fall ass-backward into victory nine times out of ten, but the tenth time he would be left stranded with nothing to stand on.


    However, that was different from using the five amazing coins that were now currently in his hand. While relying on only one''s luck was stupidity, it did not hurt to have a little luck on their side.


    "Are we really going to do this all day?" Alex sighed. She even looked genuinely half-displeased.


    Liam nodded with a smile. Whether it would be worth their effort or not, only time would tell. With that, the group once again resumed their journey and startedbing through the whole territory.


    Now that the monk had received Liam''s pat on the back, he had a lot more attitude and smugness on his face whilst he closed his eyes and did whatever he was doing.


    To Alex''s dismay, this seemed to be not ending any time soon as the monk ended up finding one other coin in the next couple of hours.


    However, after that, the poor chap was heaving with his breath extremely ragged, as if all of his energy had been sucked out of him. "Good Sir, I can only continue tomorrow. I need some rest."


    "Hmmm?" Liam gazed at the man coldly.


    "I mean, the skill needs downtime. My fortune is depleted. I cannot lie, sir. I am really telling the truth." The monk quickly exined.


    Liam continued to stare down at the man for a few more seconds before finally nodding. "Alright. We will continue this tomorrow. You can rest."


    The monk sighed in relief and stepped back, only to be rudely osted by Alex again. "So you can''t lie, and your fortune runs out, huh?" She sneered. "Soon, I will figure out everything about you."


    The monk gulped silently.


    Luckily for him, Liam''s next words turned everyone''s attention to thest person in the group, who had now been quiet for a long time.


    "I think it''s your turn."


    Caden nodded. He adjusted his clothes and his hair and spoke after clearing his throat with the air of a schr. "I do not have any parlor tricks like others. My skills take time."


    His nce furtivelynded on the monk before he looked at Liam. "I need more time."


    However, unfortunately for Caden, the performer in front of him had raised the bar a little too high. So when he asked for more time, Liam was not inclined to give it to him.


    "For someone who plotted to destroy me and take over the whole world, you suddenly seem so useless." Liam bluntly answered.


    Caden''s expression instantly changed, his face contorting into a shade of shame and angerbined together.


    "Fine. I will give you my reading as well. But don''t me me if it is not as specific as you would like."


    "Mmmm. I will be the judge of that."


    Caden frowned but nevertheless closed his eyes again, once more exuding a schrly aura. "Whispers of the shadows guide those who dare to offer a helping hand, unveiling mysteries beyond the veils of darkness."

 Chapter 1051 A special room

    Chapter 1051 A special room


    "This sounds like mere gibberish," the monk was quick to retort. "I coulde up with something better!"


    "I hate to admit it, but I agree with this idiot," Alex chimed in, unconvinced. "Are you just spouting nonsense to buy more time?"


    Caden winced at their skepticism. He couldn''t believe that his words were being doubted even by people like them.


    "Mr. Liam," he turned to address the leader directly, disregarding the underlings. "Do you also doubt my words?"


    Liam met his question with an indifferent gaze. He was more concerned about unraveling the meaning behind the cryptic statement. "Your wordsck rity."


    "I''ve already told you. I need more time."


    "I knew it!" Alex chimed in immediately. "You''re just saying random rubbish to buy yourself more time. It means nothing, Liam!"


    Standing beside her, the monk nodded vehemently. The two of them suddenly found themselves on the same side, relentlessly taunting the poor man who was outnumbered.


    Meanwhile, Liam ignored their remarks as he pondered the implications of Caden''s prediction. "Helping, huh? Could it mean that I have to assist others?"


    "Yes! Yes! That''s certainly one way to interpret it. I would also view it in the same light," the oracle hastily added, earning knowing nces from Alex and the monk.


    Fortunately, Liam came to his rescue and herded the group back onto the white fox. "Let''s return to the guild base."


    A few hourster, as Luna circled back to their home base, Liam made a trip to the magic shop after dismissing the other three.


    The Oracle''s words continued to weigh on his mind. However, he felt the need to attend to some urgent preparations, especially after witnessing the oue of their recent excursion.


    "May I have a look?" Liam approached one of the fairies manning the front desk.


    The fairy bowed respectfully, and in the next instant, a system interface appeared before Liam. Surprisingly, this interface did not disy a list of skills, items, or recipes. Instead, it presented a catalog of techniques.


    Liam had been eager to explore this catalog for some time now, and he was no longer willing to dy it any further. Besides, he now possessed a decent number of mana cores to invest in.


    Liam perused the list, carefully considering each avable option. There were fighting techniques, different body strengthening techniques, mana core formation techniques, and under it all¡­ there was what he was looking for.


    Mana pathway techniques.


    Liam hurriedly browsed the avable ones, and after much contemtion, he made his decision.


    "Hmm?" Liam''s choice even bewildered the fairy at the desk. "Are you certain, Mr. Liam?" The fairy blinked in surprise.


    Liam nodded andpleted the payment for three mana pathway techniques. Fortunately, the store was still offering a discount, leaving him with more to spend.


    The moment the transaction was finalized and the mana cores were deposited, Liam felt a surge of information flooding his mind.


    Typically, such an influx of knowledge would cause difort, but Liam remained indifferent, to the fairy''s surprise.


    "Your mental fortitude remains unwavering," another voice echoed the fairy''s thoughts. Tilia emerged from the manager''s room, her signature smile gracing her face as she greeted Liam.


    "It''s nothing much," Liam responded with a friendly nod. He was surprised to see that Tilia still maintained her amicable demeanor.


    "Your purchases are also quite intriguing," Tilia continued to smile. "However, instead of merely training these techniques in your bedroom, might I suggest something else?"


    Liam opened his mouth to respond when another individual abruptly interrupted their conversation. "I told you she was ready. You should put it in her already."


    Liam''s expression immediately darkened. He watched as the dragon woman barged in, standing beside him, inwardly hoping that Tilia hadn''t caught onto the true meaning behind her words.


    Liam understood all too well what the woman was implying.


    Suppressing his annoyance, he addressed the dragon woman with a stern gaze. "Did you find out anything?"


    The draconian princess, undeterred by Liam''s reaction, crossed her arms and smirked mischievously. "Nope. Nothing."


    Liam let out a long-suffering breath and turned his attention back to Tilia, determined to steer the conversation away from the dragon woman''s provocations. "What do you suggest, Tilia?"


    Tilia''s smile remained unchanged, her eyes glinting with a hint of intrigue as she looked between the two people standing. She then continued.


    "We have a special chamber that can enhance the assimtion of these techniques. It''s designed to elerate the learning process and optimize the absorption of mana."


    Liam chuckled. "You mean mana gathering array?"


    "Oh, so you already know about them. Of course. I should have expected this." Tilia smiled, guiding Liam toward the elevator. "Follow me, and I''ll show you the way."


    When Liam turned to say something to his partner in crime, he noticed that she was already tinkering with something on the purchase desk.


    Now what could be someone like her searching for?


    For a second, he felt the urge to walk over and take a look. But he decided against it as that was not even possible to begin with. Only the user and the store manager could probably see the system interface.


    Liam turned back to the fairy and followed her. The two of them got onto the elevator and stepped out onto the second floor. Tilia gestured toward arge, ornate door at the far end.


    "That''s the one you are looking for. But I do have to warn you. The price for essing that is very steep¡ª100,000 mana cores for 1 hour. Unfortunately, your reputation only gives you ess. I can''t authorize any discount from my end."


    "I understand," Liam answered.


    However, for some reason, he seemed to be in a very good mood. Tilia watched as he walked into the room without saying anything else. He even deposited the mana cores required and stepped in.


    "100,000 mana cores is nothing for him?" Tilia was perplexed.


    She knew that Liam was rich as he probably hoarded all the isons for himself. But he still shouldn''t be so pleased with this rate? Why was he this happy?

 Chapter 1052 The three techniques

    Chapter 1052 The three techniques


    Stepping into the room, Liam took a deep breath, his heart racing with anticipation. Immediately, he felt a surge of energy enveloping him as if the very air was charged with infinite mana.


    1


    His mana core thrummed energetically, and even without him meaning to, his core was naturally pulling in mana from the air, absorbing more onto itself. Every cell in his body ached for this energy.


    With a smile, Liam closed the door behind him, shutting out the outside world. He silently sat down, only barely containing his excitement.


    "I knew it. This ce is definitely better than that old crook''s mana rooms. With this, I should definitely be able to use the stone tablet again." He punched the palm of his hand.


    2


    However, he then paused and looked toward the door. Thest time he had used the stone tablet, he had drained the tower master dry, because of which the old man had fixated on him.


    3


    He had even organized a whole event just to deal with him and to steal the stone tablet from him. Liam did not want the same thing to repeat all over again.


    He was pretty sure that the fairies from the magic shop had an irond rule not to get involved with human beings or covet what treasures they might have. But rules like that probably worked only for the normal treasures.


    When it came to the stone tablet¡­ he would be surprised if these same fairies did not go above and beyond to rob him off of it.


    1


    Besides, the store manager Tilia had only now begun treating him same fairies did not go above and beyond to rob him off of it.


    Besides, the store manager Tilia had only now begun treating him better for some reason, and this magic shop was smack dab in the middle of the guild base.


    He did not want to wreck the good thing he had going on over here. So this was definitely not a good ce to take out the stone tablet. Don''t shit where you eat.


    2


    However, this was not a problem. Liam chuckled. He knew exactly where he had to go. And as for the risk of revealing his stone tablet, he simply had no other choice.


    What was a treasure good for if it is just not used at all? He had to take it out sometime and use it. Rather than fearing it might get stolen from him, he wanted to use it and be stronger.


    As for enemies targeting him because of the stone tablet, they can get in line along with the others. Surely, they were not going to be any less dangerous than the people who were already behind his life.


    This was the benefit when one was up against someone so powerful. They really had nothing to lose. The divine temple high priestess wasing for him, and he had nowhere to run or hide. So he was simply going to use everything in his possession to be as strong as he could.


    After settling his thoughts, Liam calmed down and put aside the matter of the stone tablet for now. He had, after all, paid for this hour, so he decided he might as well do some training.


    He closed his eyes and focussed on his newly acquired mana pathway techniques. These were not some groundbreaking or heaven-defying techniques. Rather these were very basic techniques.


    They simply described how to absorb mana and circte it within one''s body, something which Liam had already done before. But now, with these new techniques, he was going to do it again. More specifically, he was going to open multiple pathways.


    Back inside the tutorial game, the old elf had talked to him a little bit about this. However, he had only mentioned it as some ridicule andmented on how it was never going to be useful for him since he would never make it to Level 100.


    Liam felt a tug at the thought of the old elf. He immediately pushed the thoughts away and focussed on the present. He hadn''t forgotten about anyone, but he was also not in a position to think of the others just yet. For now, he had to be a selfish prick.


    1


    Liam closed his eyes and recollected the three techniques, going over all of them again.


    Phoenix Wings, the first technique, a technique that mirrors the mana cirction pathway of the legendary rank creature. The other two techniques were also simr¡ªthe second being from the legendary rank creature Frost Serpent and the third from the Thunder Nightmare.


    Liam would have never been able to afford these techniques if not for the discount in the magic shop. He doubted that these were the best avable techniques out there in the myriad realms, but these were good enough to be listed in the A grade. This had to suffice for now.


    In his current conditions, he had a feeling that he might need to rely more and more on his body and his mana core. So he decided to invest in these techniques to improve his foundation further.


    Liam had a feeling that this was only one of the many things he needed to learn. He needed to get out of the mindset that the tutorial world was all-epassing.


    The outside world was vast, and there were probably infinite things that he wasn''t aware of. So he needed to dig deeper and find out more. In the end, he only had himself to rely upon.


    Even the draconian princess was not to be fully trusted. When she had advised him to increase the size of his mana core earlier, he had waited for her to talk about these mana cirction pathways, but the woman hadn''t said anything at all. Not even a single word.


    Either she did not know, or she purposefully wanted him to have ws in his foundation. Liam doubted that it was the former reason. After all, unlike him, that woman clearly did not originate from a lower realm.


    But he also did not hold her in contempt for this. If he had been in her position, he would have probably done the same.


    Without dwelling much on these trivialities, Liam cleansed his mind of disturbing thoughts and started with the first technique.

 Chapter 1053 I look forward to working together

    Chapter 1053 I look forward to working together


    Liam took a deep breath, centering his focus on the first technique, Phoenix Wings. He visualized the legendary creature with its majestic wings spread wide, soaring through the sky with grace and power.


    1


    As he began the practice, Liam followed the instructions from the technique manual, imagining the flow of mana within his body mirroring the pathways of the Phoenix Wings. He felt the warmth of the phoenix''s fiery essence, the intense energy pulsating through its veins.


    He started by drawing in mana from the surrounding air, feeling it gather and umte in his mana core. With each inhtion, he envisioned the mana circting through his body, guided by the pathways he was creating. The energy surged through him, mimicking the fiery vitality of the phoenix.


    Liam focused on the sensation, allowing the mana to flow freely, unrestricted by his previous limitations. He felt the pathways expanding, opening up new channels for the mana to travel through.


    The once familiar process took on a new depth and intensity. He practiced diligently, repeating the technique and fine-tuning his understanding of their intricacies. As the hour drew to a close, Liam opened his eyes.


    The mana in the room had suddenly dropped, which broke him from his meditation. The hour was already up when it only felt like a second had passed. However, thanks to the abundant mana, he was able to make considerable progress.


    The price was steep, but it had definitely been worth it. Unfortunately, he wouldn''t be able to use such an extravagant setup every single time he meditated. "I wonder if I can purchase something like this for the guild?" Liam mused as he stood up and left the chamber.


    "On second thought, there are other things I have to purchase."


    With a grin, he walked directly to another desk manned by a fairy. With the mana cores in his hand, he might not be able to afford any fancy mana-gathering rooms, at least for the moment, but he could surely buy a few recipes and a list of herbs.


    The fairy pulled up the system interface for Liam, and the next second, the recipes he could ess popped up, and at the corner of the interface, Liam''s current status also blinked.


    Grandmaster Alchemist


    The fairy immediately gasped and looked at Tilia, who was eyeing Liam from another desk in the shop. Seeing how her underling''s eyes went wide, Tilia suspiciously opened the system interface to take a look, wondering what Liam was up to this time.


    He seemed to be only browsing through A-grade and B-grade recipes. There was nothing remarkable about it. However, her gaze then fell upon the words at the corner. The next moment, just like the other fairy, she as well gasped loudly.


    Who was a Grandmaster?


    Someone capable of concocting sought-after and treasured A-grade recipes and even S-grade recipes, a being revered by numerous ns both in the mid realms and in the higher realms and someone who should not exist in this unheard-of lower realm.


    However, the human being in front of her was not just a Grandmaster cksmith, but he was also a Grandmaster Alchemist? Just what the hell was happening?


    Every single time Tilia tried to measure the guy, he seemed to defy her expectations at each attempt. She seemed to be unable to get a grasp of his true strength and capabilities.


    How many more secrets were hidden? Just who was this person? Did he truly have no background at all? She had no answers.


    But one thing was clear. Liam was no ordinary customer, and his potential value to both the magic shop and her became even more apparent.


    At this moment, Tilia couldn''t help but feel a bit relieved. They might have started on the wrong foot, but at least now they were on better terms. Luckily she had corrected her mistake before things had gone too far.


    Suppressing her astonishment, Tilia approached Liam with aposed demeanor, concealing her inner thoughts.


    "I see you''re looking at some recipes, Mr. Liam. As the store manager, I can assist you in choosing the best ones ording to your needs. Is there something specific you''re looking for?"


    Liam nced at the fairy and replied in a calm and collected tone, "I''m interested in acquiring some A-grade and B-grade recipes rted to strengthening and cleansing my body and maybe my mana core?"


    "I see." Tilia nodded. She already knew the three purchases he had made beforehand, so she now had a whole picture of what he was attempting to do.


    "In that case, might I suggest these recipes?" She pulled up a much shorter list. "However, I must inform you that at your current level, these recipes probably would not be that helpful."


    "I know." Liam smiled. "I am not personally nning to use these."


    Tilia immediately understood what he meant. "I would be more than happy to purchase your products, Mr. Liam." She offered.


    Liam smiled in response. He had already expected this. Even the scoundrel from the other shop had offered to buy his golems. However, he couldn''t sell the golems because the raw material needed for creating the golems, orichalcum, was limited.


    But the same was not true for these alchemy potions. If everything went well in the stone tablet department, he could potentially concoct as many potions as he needed. Even so, Liam still hesitated.


    This was because the fairies were extremely stingy. He would have to perhaps sell five or ten potions for the price of one. "How much would you be willing to pay?" Liam asked gingerly, not having much hope.


    "Oh?" Tilia paused for a moment. She then smiled, understanding what Liam was getting at. "Mr. Liam, I am sure you will be more than happy with thepensation. I am willing to offer half of the selling price for each product."


    "Half?" Liam was surprised. Of course, half might not seem like much, but whenpared to how much the sell-back price was for other items, this was indeed very generous. Why was she being so generous?


    Liam couldn''t help but remember the words of the draconian princess. Were they really true?


    He then shook his head. What the hell was he thinking?


    The woman in front of him was a shrewd merchant. If she was being generous, it could only mean that she was eying even more profits down the line. In any case, he did not mind an alliance like this. So he happily epted the terms.


    "I look forward to working together."


    Liam then purchased a couple of recipes before he left the magic shop. The main work, after all, needed to be done in the next location.

 Chapter 1054 Finally a chance!

    Chapter 1054 Finally a chance!


    "Boss, you are really amazing. Even when that fellow did not want to, you somehow made him take such a big loan!"


    "Mmmm." Aron absent-mindedly nodded. "It''s nothing much. That human being''s foundation is not bad. He should be worth at least a million mana cores."


    "Ah? But wasn''t the purchase only for 100,000 mana cores?"


    "Hmph. By the time he pays it back it will be a million." Aron answered in annoyance to the young fairy who was pestering him with questions. "You still have a lot to learn!"


    Not that he didn''t. Aron sighed as he couldn''t help but think about the massive failure that was still haunting him.


    Since this was a lower realm, he had been very confident and assumed that he was going to rake in huge profits, but this single guy had crushed all of his hopes and dreams.


    "At least he won''t be back for another couple of weeks." Aron breathed out loud in relief. Before that, he absolutely had to find out some ways to make up for the losses.


    He had hoped that the fool wouldn''t survive the threat of the isons, but somehow that hope was also lost. Now he had to rely on the undeads.


    "Hmmm¡­ it is indeed very strange that this backwater is being targeted by powerful ns one after the other. Is there perhaps some celestial treasure hidden here?"


    His mind wandered as his gaze casuallynded on the entrance of the shop, and then he saw the person who was not supposed to show up for another couple of weeks. In fact, Aron would have preferred that he never saw the guy again.


    "Damn it." The fairy saw the smile on the human''s face, and for some reason, a very bad feeling started to well up within him. This day just took a turn for the worst!


    Without wasting any time, Aron quickly walked over to the lucky fool, only to gasp inwardly the next second. This guy was already at Level 100?


    "What can I help you with today, Mr. Liam?" He asked, swallowing his disappointment.


    Liam chuckled lightly. He could almost smell the fear on the fairy''s face. "I am here to use your mana gathering array chamber." He innocently answered.


    Almost immediately, the fairy''s face changed. Aron revealed a bright smile as he quickly stepped to the side. "This way, please, Mr. Liam."


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised his brow as he silently followed the fairy and entered a simr chamber on the fourth floor. The fairy was grinning so much that, for a moment, he was confused.


    However, he walked into the chamber, ignoring the guy. Why the fairy was happy or sad was not his concern. He had far more important things to focus on.


    Liam paid the required mana cores and entered the mana gathering chamber when the familiar thick mana swirls enveloped him.


    "This ce really is amazing." Liam took a few gulps of air and sat down, taking a small stone tablet out of his spatial artifact.


    He ced the tablet down, and almost immediately, the energy in the room shifted. Just as Liam expected, the stone tablet started to absorb the mana in the air.


    The next second, Liam was once again in the familiar world of the stone tablet, a lush green forest. There were his umted puddles of elemental essences and, along with it, a separate puddle of soul essence.


    As he saw this, Liam couldn''t help but feel a little regretful for having missed the strong souls of the ison King and the Queens he had defeated.


    Perhaps there was something in the magic shop he could buy to prevent this from urring in the future. Even if it was a soul he couldn''t handle at the moment, he could always save it forter.


    Liam made a mental note to do something about this and then proceeded to start with the main event. He took out a cauldron that he had purchased from the magic shop. As for the herbs¡­


    He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. Momentster, four patches of herbs started growing wildly on thend to his left side, the four sets of herbs that he needed for the first recipe.


    Liam plucked one of the herbs and smelled it. An amazing medicinal scent wafted from the nt. The herb was grown to perfection. If he brewed this potion, the resulting product would also be tempered to perfection.


    "He He. We are just getting started."


    Meanwhile¡­. Outside the mana gathering array chamber¡­


    Aron was grinning from ear to ear. The fairy seemed to be in an extremely good mood. In fact, this was the happiest he had been ever since the magic shop was initialized in this world.


    "Boss, did we get another huge purchase?" One of the underlings asked in confusion.


    Everyone knew that Liam was the human being that their boss dreaded the most, but for some reason, he was happy this time?


    "Hmmm¡­ The bad days for our shop are finally over. We are going to make a turnaround. Ke Ke Ke. Considering that the rat who got caught in my trap is a big fat one, I am going to be very rich. That fool walked into something that I did not even n for him! Ke Ke ke!"


    "Eh?"


    "The mana gathering array room. The idiot is using it. What? You still don''t understand?" Aronughed. "It''s fine. You don''t have to understand. Just do as I tell you."


    "Yes, sir." The fairy nodded, still confused.


    Aron grinned and opened the system interface to tap away. "Keep the array running even after the one hour mark."


    "That fool has no idea what kind of a money sink the mana gathering array is. With this, I am going to make him burn all of his credits."


    "Not only won''t I owe him anything¡­ ke ke ke¡­ I would also be able to make that fool forever indebted to me! It''s time for payback! Leave that room undisturbed!"


    "Oh?" The fairy gasped in awe.


    Aron nodded with a smug smile. "Ke Ke Ke! You guys still have a lot to run. The thing about running magic shops is one needs to know how to toe the line without crossing it. Got it? Now scram. Do some work."


    Aron then proceeded to retire to the manager''s room, where hefortably leaned back on the chair for a long nap, still wearing the big grin.


    When he woke up, everything would be different, and he would no longer be at the bottom of the ranking list!

 Chapter 1055 You really got me this time

    Chapter 1055 You really got me this time


    Inside the mana-gathering array chamber, Liam first started with the two new potion recipes that he had purchased.


    Though these werepletely new recipes that he had never attempted before, the instructions for creating the potion were rather borate, especially whenpared to the recipes avable inside the tutorial. So he was easily able to make a good batch on the first try itself.


    The efficacy of the potion increased with the second batch, and by the time he was done with the third batch, the potion was concocted to perfection.


    The first hour quickly passed by as Liam managed to finish about 5 batches of each potion which amounted to a total of 30 sets of each potion.


    In all honesty, he expected the fairy to bust open the chamber door right about now, but for some reason, that did not look like it was going to happen.


    Liam did not understand why. Perhaps the stone tablet did not consume as much because the herbs were rtively easier to obtain? He shrugged and continued with his task.


    Now that he had umted a decent number of these A-grade recipes, he moved on to the next potion that he had in his mind, which was none other than the body cleansing potion that he had concocted back inside the tutorial.


    "I wonder what rank this potion would be graded on." Liam pensively stared at the cauldron in front of him as he started the long process.


    Surprisingly, the whole thing was easier than thest time he had brewed the same potion, and he ended up finishing the first batch in under 5 minutes which was even faster than the A-grade potion.


    With no limit on the supply of the herb, Liam continued steadily, and just like that, another hour as well passed. However, since a bigger amount of potion was required for the body cleansing elixir, he was only able to make 6 of those.


    On the other hand, there was a high chance that this elixir would be graded at least a little higher than an A because this elixir was one of the top-grade elixirs avable in the entire tutorial.


    "He is still noting out?" Liam was utterly baffled. The third hour was going to start. At this point, he was already doubting if the stone tablet was even consuming that much mana in the first ce.


    He shrugged and kept going.


    Liam had started with the potions and elixirs because he was not sure how he would be able to perform now that he was outside the tutorial world.


    But thest two hours showed that his current condition was already more than enough to continue brewing these same potions even in the outside world with barely enough mana. He no longer needed to do that here.


    Instead, what he needed to do was¡­


    Liam took a deep breath and then started picturing a herb. The next second, a patch of that herb started growing nearby. He did not stop and kept going.


    One by one, several patches of herbs started growing here and there. Among these, there weremon herbs, rare herbs, and different elemental affinity herbs. Basically, for every single herb that Liam was aware of, he willed for the stone tablet to materialize.


    When he first started making the potions, he had already farmed several sets of herbs, particrly theher herb that had soul-healing properties. However, now he did not pull any stops and started going at full throttle.


    In a matter of minutes, the entire space around the stone tablet started looking like the farnd of an extremely wealthy alchemy family. Moreover, every single herb was grown to perfection.


    At this time, Liam possessed several overpowered items, but hands down, the stone tablet had to be the most bizarre of all those items. With it, he essentially had an endless supply of herbs required to make even the most valuable elixirs.


    However, he had a feeling that he was yet to scratch the true ceiling of the treasure. The profound aura that seeped out of the tablet was anything but ordinary.


    Liam sighed as he decided not to think about that right now. There were more pressing issues that he had to cross at his current level.


    "I wonder if there is a better herb manual avable at the magic shop." He hummed to himself and continued with his task. Just like that, another hour had also passed by.


    By now, Liam basically had enough herbs to make an endless supply of health potions and mana potions for the guild, along with multiple elixirs for everyone to improve their constitution.


    In fact, with all these herbs, he could create an elite army capable of dealing with any future threat. If the damned ison army decided to invade them again, this time, things would go a lot differently.


    Liam continued farming even more herbs. He wasn''t sure when exactly he would be kicked out, so he kept going. Another good couple of hours passed by when finally, the mana density in the chamber started to dwindle.


    Liam could feel the mana fluctuations even within the stone tablet world, and thest batch of herbs did not mature fully. "It looks like my time is up."


    With a big grin, he stood up and ced the stone tablet back into the spatial artifact. Almost immediately, the world around him changed once again, and he was back inside the ornate mana-gathering array chamber.


    Very calmly and casually, Liam walked over and opened the door of the chamber to step out. Naturally, he ran into the person he was looking for right then and there.


    Liam came face to face with the fairy, who was standing still in the corridor.


    p! p! p! Liam raised his hands and pped for the fairy, who currently looked dull and listless, as if all the life force had been drained out of his body.


    "You really got me this time." He grinned devilishly. "I only intended to use an hour inside the chamber, but you masterfully tricked me into using several hours."


    "Thanks to you, I ampletely bankrupt." Liam did not pull any punches as heughed loudly right in the face of the lost fairy.


    The poor guy was in no state to even respond to Liam''s taunts. He simply stood like a statue who had lost everything.


    Liam sneered at him. How could he not know the little scheme of the fairy?


    When the guy did note for him after the first hour like Tilia did, he doubted that this was the case, but the greedy guy took it too far and dug a deep hole for himself.


    Liam''sughter loudly reverberated in the empty corridor as he got back to the ground floor and walked out of the magic shop without turning back.

 Chapter 1056 The Lord will save you

    Chapter 1056 The Lord will save you


    Back at the guild base, Liam wasted no time and barricaded himself in his personal vi. He even assigned a couple of trusty golems to keep watch outside so that he was not disturbed. He then retrieved the stone tablet to take a look.


    Liam took a moment to steady his nerves before delving into the tablet''s pocket world. With a deep breath, he stepped into the otherworldly realm within.


    And once inside, his senses were instantly overwhelmed by a sight that left him awestruck. In front of him was a sanctuary of verdant life.


    The herbs, countless in number, stood tall and robust, their leaves glistening with vitality. The air was thick with the fragrance of untamed herbs, their vibrant colors dancing in the soft glow of ethereal light.


    Not a single nt had withered or decayed. It was as if they had been preserved in a perpetual state of freshness.


    Liam reached out and plucked a few herbs from their flourishing beds. He examined them carefully, his gaze scrutinizing every detail. Not a blemish or hint of deterioration could be found.


    Relief washed over him like a soothing wave. The value of these pristine herbs was immeasurable, and he had a lot of ns for them. Thankfully they were still intact.


    However, Liam did not want to take any chances. He immediately summoned his undead army or, rather, a part of his undead army, more specifically, the elven soldiers. The bunch went around and started harvesting the herbs one after the other, very slowly and carefully.


    Liam also summoned Dimitri, the dark elf who was proficient in alchemy. Together with the undead, he then started with the first potion he had chosen.


    It wasn''t anything fancy, just the staple high-grade health potion, which would probablynd somewhere between a B Rank and A Rank potion, but it provided solid support when it came to close battles. So Liam started with these.


    Both he and the undead spent the rest of the day immersed in making several batches of this high-grade health potion.


    Without the abundant mana that was present in the mana-gathering array chamber, the process was a lot slower, but nevertheless, each batch was brewed to perfection.


    After the health potion, it was the mana potion, then the stamina potion, strength potion, agility potion, and all the staples one by one were concocted, and almost an entire week passed by in this manner.


    In the meantime, Liam also took frequent breaks as the group of four continued with their search for fortune. With the help of the monk, another few lucky coins were discovered, which brought up the count to an even twenty.


    The entire process had been a slow grind as they had to search through one territory after another, but in the end, it was all worth it. Liam stared at the 400 number right next to his luck stat with a big grin on his face.


    First, it was the stone tablet, and now it was these lucky coins. Finally, some things were starting to go his way. However, this was still not enough. He was yet to make progress on the more important avenues, those that really mattered.


    "Well. I hope this much luck at least makes everything a bit faster?" Liam walked toward the magic shop after finishing with thest batch of potions.


    There were several things that he wanted to do today, but as soon as he entered he first searched for the familiar figure, the draconian princess. The woman had disappeared all ofst week and was nowhere to be found.


    Liam was curious, to say the least, about where she was and what she was doing. In the meantime, he walked over to the guild interface.


    These past few days, he had waited for the Oracle to make a better prediction, but that did not seem like it was happening. Especially considering how powerful the monk''s abilities were, he did not want to make light of the Oracle''s prediction.


    So Liam mulled over the issue and had a few ideas that he wanted to try. He decided to first start with the guild interface for this. If he was going to help others, then he might as well start helping the guilds to impact more people at once.


    To do this based on that single prediction seemed foolish, but there was nothing wrong in trying. In the worst case, he would probably create some allies for the guild.


    "Alright, one guild a day it is." Liam shook off his doubts and made up his mind before looking at the ever-bustling guild chat. He did not have to look for long as one message immediately caught his eye.


    Frost Lords, a guild in Canada, was currently having problems with a group of yetis. At least, that was their description of the monster. It was only a level 40 monster, but it looked like the guild simply did not have the manpower to deal with such a trivial problem.


    Also, their plight seemed a little bad as they were excessively begging other guilds in the guild chat, even offering the small number of mana cores they had saved up.


    However, the other guilds, no matter how concerned they were and how willing they were to give advice, did not necessarily volunteer to help them out.


    After the ison attack, everyone was still sorting out their bones. No one wanted to risk their safety and put their neck out for someone else.


    "Believe in the Lord. The Lord will save you?" Liam couldn''t help butugh as he read one of thements. However, he did not judge them.


    Though he now had power, the days when he would have also trembled when seeing this same monster were still deeply etched in his heart. These were not memories he could forget just like that.


    "Let''s go, Luna. Time to take care of some snow monkeys."


    Kyuuu! The white fox nodded and followed Liam to the teleportation portal.

 Chapter 1057 What the hell is going on here?

    Chapter 1057 What the hell is going on here?


    "What? You have the guild master''s permission to use the dungeon?" Alex opened her mouth in shock. She then shook her head, thinking that it couldn''t be possible. "I am the fucking guild master. Who the hell are you talking about?"


    "Miss Alex." The slightly bulky European cleared his throat awkwardly. He did not want to be in this position, but unfortunately, he was. "Mr. Liam gave us permission." He exined.


    "Pfft. Liam?" Alex simplyughed in his face. "Sure, are you going to tell me next that Luna smiled at you?"


    "Ummm? Luna? Ah¡­ Do you mean that white fox?"


    Huh? Alex''s face changed.


    "Yes? Maybe? The fox waved at us." The guy scratched his head and answered, not sure why the woman was talking about this now.


    Alex immediately knew that something was indeed wrong, but then again, she should have guessed this right from the beginning, as this no-name guild had daringly walked right into their main base.


    "You really got permission from Liam?" Alex swallowed and asked again.


    "Yes." The group of people all nodded collectively. Seeing their sincere expressions, she had no other choice but to sidestep them and let them all enter the upgraded dungeon.


    The other guild members all then one by one walked into the dungeon portal obediently. "Rey, do you know anything about this?" Alex turned to ask her brother, who also shook his head in confusion.


    The bunch of them, including some of the guild elites, had spent thest few days inside the dungeon going through some hardcore training, and when they hade out, they coincidentally ran into these strangers who had ended up smack dab in the middle of their territory.


    Just what had happened in the time they were inside the dungeon?


    Alex frowned as she stopped staring at the portal and started walking back toward the guild base.


    The rest of the guild group also looked confused, but they typically left these management matters to the top brass, so they weren''t too worried about it and simply took in the changes, observing everything silently.


    However, even these people couldn''t contain their shock as the group neared the main guild territory where all the settlements were. All of a sudden, a new shiny building had popped up in the middle of the old ones.


    "What the heck¡­"


    Everyone immediately walked over to take a look at this new construction when they noticed something even more astonishing. There were more other guild yers loitering around in the vicinity!


    "What is happening here?" Alex hurried to the familiar figure standing in front of the building.


    Old man Lan Ganji stood there and was even inviting the other guild people with a smile on his face, conversing with them in a very polite tone. In fact, Alex recognized one particr person right off the bat.


    "Hey! Weren''t you the motherfucker that called us spineless bitches?"


    The person immediately froze up.


    "That''s right. You are that Joel, aren''t you?" Alex stomped her way toward the trembling guy. "I am a red-haired Barbie, huh? Brainless bimbo?" She crossed her arms and gave the guy a long stare.


    "Ah¡­ Ah¡­" The poor guy started stammering. His face was filled with utter dread as he felt the demon''s re making his skin boil.


    Alex scoffed at the fool, no longer wanting to waste her time on him. "What the hell is happening here?" She turned to ask Lan Ganjie, wanting some answers. Everyone else as well looked at the old man for an exnation.


    Seeing the guild''s core experts all staring at him, Lan Ganjie smiled awkwardly.


    He knew that he had a reputable status within the guild, but all of these members, without a doubt, held a higher position, and their status was only going to improve with time as they became stronger and stronger.


    "Dad, really, what''s going on here?" Lan Deming stepped forward and asked. He had also been with Alex in the group that was grinding the higher-level dungeon floor.


    The old man revealed a proud smile on seeing his son progressing very well, but as for the issue at hand, he could only shake his head. "I also don''t have any idea." He pointed at the building behind him and exined, "This is the new guild warehouse."


    "Mr. Liam has ced several potions inside for everyone to use. Guild members have to pay with contribution points. Non-guild members have to pay with mana cores. Our prices are 50% less than the magic shop rates, so the sales have started to pick up."


    Lan Ganjie clearly exined everything, but for some reason, everyone only had more questions afterward. "Wait. Potions? Do we have potions now? You mean health potions and mana potions?" Alex furrowed her brows in disbelief.


    But then an even bigger question popped up in her head. "Wait, other guilds are able to afford health potions? They are blowing their mana cores on health potions?"


    Lan Ganjie shook his head. Before he could exin, another group walking past the gates answered. "There are also other potions for sale."


    The guy then suddenly shut up on seeing the red hair and recognizing Alex. He then saw the other Crimson Abyss elites and became silent, quickly running the hell away from there.


    "Seriously, what the hell is going on?"


    "They all have Mr. Liam''s permission." Lan Ganjie bitterly smiled. That was all the answer he had.


    Alex stared back in disbelief. She instinctively turned toward the general direction of Liam''s vi and saw that the golems were not there guarding the house. She then looked at the magic shop. If Liam was not there, then he was definitely there or perhaps somewhere outside.


    The rest of the guild members had gone inside the new warehouse to take a look at the potions. But Alex still gazed at the magic shop in deep thought. She then silently started walking toward the small building.


    And when she arrived there, she saw somethingpletely unbelievable. An elderly woman and a man were kowtowing and thanking Liam profusely, with tears streaming down their eyes.


    From the looks of it, the woman was too agitated to say something. Only the man was talking. "Mr. Liam, I have no words." The guy choked. "When everyone else¡­ when everyone else ignored us¡­ you¡­ son, we are forever indebted to you."


    Alex swallowed as she craned her head to see Liam''s reaction. Instantly, she was shocked to the core as she saw the most warm and humble smile on the man''s face that she had ever seen him wear.


    "It''s my pleasure," Liam replied warmly. Standing next to him, Luna was also smiling as if she was the most adorable and innocent creature in the whole world.


    "Seriously, what the hell is going on here?" Alex''s jaw was on the floor.


    She was seeing white as ck and ck as white. Did she hit her head hard somewhere, or had she perhaps somehow traveled to an alternate universe?


    Since when was this guy so kind and nice? That too, he even went out of his way to help some random people?


    "Oh!" She then remembered the Oracle''s words. "No way! He really went for it?"


    Alex couldn''t believe it. She quickly opened the guild chat, and immediately a flood of new messages arrived. The guild chat was currently busier than it had ever been.


    And coincidentally, all of them were talking good about Crimson Abyss?

 Chapter 1058 Lord Savior

    "Without Crimson Abyss, we would havepletely lost it. Mr. Liam cleared every single horned vulture near our guild base."


    "Crimson Abyss is amazing. Not only did they take care of the ison invasion, but they are also generously helping us stabilize after the whole disaster."


    "Ya. The government did shit all. They are only good for talking big, while Mr. Liam and Crimson Abyss silently helped everyone."


    "Hey, I heard that Liam even helped a single mother find her two missing kids."


    "He cleared the beasts from our zone."


    "I am one of the people who had spoken terribly about the guild and Liam. Now that I know the truth, I can see how wrong I was. If I get a chance to meet with the guild leader, I would love to apologize."


    "Asskisser. If you want his help, just ask. Mr. Liam is a very kind person. He doesn''t hold petty grudges."


    "Yup, I can attest too. But you should apologize anyway. Otherwise, you would have to answer to the Defenders Guild."


    "+1. If you don''t apologize to Mr. Liam, you have to face our Blood Guild."


    "Anyone who opposes Mr. Liam or Crimson Abyss has to go through our Earth Guild."


    "Mr. Liam is the savior sent by our Lord almighty. A simple apology is not enough. Kneel and pray to him. May the Lord bless us all! May our savior live long and prosper!"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Alex rubbed her eyes. Was she reading it right? She went through the guild chat again, but nothing changed. It was simply more of the same, everyone shamelessly singing exaggerated praises of the guild and, more specifically, Liam.


    He was the savior of this freaking world?


    For the first time ever, everyone was actually saying something positive about Crimson Abyss. Their public image was through the roof. People were practically worshiping Liam.


    Alex shook her head. She needed a moment to digest all of this.


    Kind and generous? Savior? This guy? Alex wanted to bang her head somewhere. Just how many people did Liam help already in order to brainwash the whole world like this?


    No, all of this was fine, but¡­ but¡­ What the hell?


    Something so stupid could lead them to a treasure or a guardian or that world tree seed thing? Does Liam seriously believe that? Alex stared at the guy from across the hall, letting out a sigh.


    He hadn''t steered them wrong until now, but still, she couldn''t help but wonder if he was correct this time around. Perhaps he was in over his head finally, and because of that, he was starting to make mistakes?


    As she was looking at him, all of a sudden, Liam turned to look right at her, making Alex blush a little, which was immediately followed up by a burst of anger for no reason.


    "Oh! Just the person I was looking for." Liam waved at Alex. "Let''s go for another trip."


    "You should have called me sooner." She scoffed. "Is it the Oracle this time or that Jim Crammer? Which nutcase are we listening to today?"


    "Jim Crammer?" Liam raised a brow.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I mean that stupid baldy who keeps predicting the opposite shit."


    Heh. Liam chuckled. "Both of them areing with us."


    Alex shook her head helplessly, and the four of them resumed their journey again,ing through thest of the territory, Australia, territory 7.


    However, this time around, Alex noticed that their trip went rather differently. In all their previous trips, it would take about half a day to stumble into something, but now, the monk was constantly jumping out of his seat as if his ass was on fire.


    The group was running into all sorts of good fortunes and bad fortunes.


    They were nothing life-changing, but at the end of the first half of the day, they had already harvested a dozen or so precious gems and a hundred or so herbs, and they had also run into powerful elites, which were quickly converted into mana cores.


    In addition to this, they discovered a few hidden dungeons that became dungeon crystals and also ran into ore deposits that were mined meticulously by the undead. All in all, the haul was tremendous.


    "Hot damn! I am on fire!" The monk grinned from ear to ear. His shenanigans were more unbearable than usual, making Alex cringe.


    Liam wanted to tell the guy that it was not entirely because of him that they were having this lucky streak, but he decided to let it go. He did not want to disclose any information about the lucky coins.


    Though he did not want to rely on these lucky coins, their effect was already startling, especially whenbined with the power of the monk.


    Just how many more of these coins were around?


    Liam silently stared at thend underneath them as they once again descended to pick up another herb.


    The group continued this for the rest of the day, and in the end, to Liam''s surprise, they managed to obtain another five lucky coins.


    This brought his total up to 25!


    "This means that my current luck attribute would be¡­ 625?"


    This would hands down be his biggest stat and also the first stat that was past the 500 mark! He wondered if there was any significance to that.


    As the others were busy fighting an elite spider, Liambined the five lucky coins with the other lucky coins to put everything together. The next second, unbeknownst to him, a wave of golden aura spread across him.


    Almost immediately, both the monk and the oracle turned to look at Liam. They stared at him with their mouths wide open as if they were seeing a naked beauty in person.


    "Huh? What are you both looking at?" Liam asked them, his own lips curving up to a smile.


    He was just about to inspect his stat screen and see when he could bring his other stats to this level when suddenly the Oracle suddenly stiffened up. His voice became hoarse as he started speaking with a nk face.


    "Behold, the encroaching tempest of darkness looms on the horizon, its ominous presence foreboding and relentless. Forces unseen gather in the shadows, their motives concealed beneath a veil of treachery."


    "With insatiable hunger, they covet power beyond measure, their thirst unquenchable, their determination unwavering. In their pursuit, they shall probe the depths of your resolve, challenging the very essence of your being."


    "As their malevolent winds blow, they seek to test the mettle of your soul, beckoning you to embrace the crucible of trials."


    "Fear not, for within these crucibles lies the forge of transformation, where your spirit shall be refined and strengthened."


    "Stand firm, for in the face of darkness, your light shall shine even brighter, illuminating the path towards triumph and unveiling the indomitable spirit that resides within."

 Chapter 1059 What? When? How?

    "What do you mean unseen forces? Who is going to attack us this time? When are they going to attack?"


    "Is it the divine temple? Is that bitching here?"


    "Are more vampiresing?"


    "Merciful heavens! Please do not tell me that more of those vile insects are descending upon us!"


    Kyu?!


    The group started bombarding the Oracle with all sorts of questions. Liam watched them for a while, and seeing that the guy was not close to giving any other details, he made the decision to turn back.


    "We are leaving."


    Without hesitation, the group hurriedly made their way to the nearest magic shop, utilizing a teleportation portal to return to their home base.


    However, the change in location did little to alleviate Caden''s frustration. The two tormentors continued their mockery, their words cutting deep.


    "Truly, you are nothing but a burden, utterly useless," they jeered.


    "By the grace of Amitabha, if you find yourself perplexed about your ss or skills, perhaps I can assist you, providing answers and dispelling your doubts. One servant of faith should aid another whenever possible," offered the sympathetic voice, extending a helping hand.


    Caden scowled, feeling as though he had reached the nadir of his existence. However, there was one crucial reason he endured the taunting and endured the challenges. Turning to Liam, he pleaded with earnestness.


    "Mr. Liam, I implore you to remember one thing above all else. No matter what maye, you must remain steadfast. Do not let the encroaching darkness gain control over you."


    Liam looked at the guy and gave him a nod. Normally he would have ignored him, but after the recent events, he understood what Caden had meant.


    Though he was still himself for the most part, he would be lying if he did not admit that he had indeed lost a little control of his emotions.


    Perhaps like Caden mentioned, this would be worse in the future. However, that was a bitter pill he simply had to swallow. There was no other way. Their survival came first. It was not possible to defeat these people by being a saint.


    While Liam was contemting this, with the petty bickering still loud in his background, the group walked from the portal room into the main hall of the magic shop, which was more crowded than usual.


    Hmmm? Liam paused as he noticed not one but three parties waiting to see him, two among them being familiar faces, Madan and Abraki!


    Liam had known both of them for a while and had a somewhat friendly rtionship with them, so he greeted them with a smile.


    "Bro! Hi. Hi. Hi!" Madan ran ahead and gave Liam a big bear hug. He knew that Liam was not fond of it, but he did not care. "Bro, I settled everything as I said. I am here."


    "Huh?"


    Liam looked confused.


    "BroooO! It took me an entire hour to convince you. Please don''t tell me that you forgot!"


    Liam scratched his head. In all honesty, he was focused on other things at that moment, so he really did forget. Madan also saw that and sighed a little.


    "Bro, please let me join the guild. I want to be on your team and fight for you. I owe you everything. I want to repay that by being your loyal soldier."


    "Hmmm." Liam was silent. Standing next to him, Alex was alsopletely taken aback by this sudden development. "Eh? You want to join our guild? Aren''t you the guild master of your guild?"


    "Yes, Miss Alex. It''s just that¡­" He paused and sighed again. Madan''s gaze fell on Alex, then Liam, and then Caden, his former teammate.


    As soon as he saw him, the hunter''s face turned serious. "Bro, trust me, this one time. I almost ended up being loyal to the wrong person, but this time I am sure. Even if I am wrong, I have made up my mind, and I will not regret my decision."


    Seeing that Liam was still looking at him silently, Madan clenched his fists, and then with a resolute look on his face, he dered. "Bro, if you don''t trust me, then I am ready to do anything. I will sign the ve contract."


    Madan said it so loud that even the fairies in the shop looked on with interest. Not many people would be this determined to be a ve willingly.


    Moreover, everyone could see that Madan was also not a normal human being. He was currently at Level 52, which was slightly higher than Alex herself, whose Level was only 50.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In all honesty, Alex''s level had taken a hit because of the time she had spent with Liam traveling around the world searching for treasures.


    But the other Crimson Abyss elites were also hovering around 53 or 54, which in itself showed that Madan''s hard work was not to be underestimated.


    However, would just a high level be enough to join Crimson Abyss?


    Madan knew that this was going to be difficult, and he had prepared for a really long monologue. He opened his mouth to deliver it, and surprisingly, Liam stopped him.


    "It''s fine. You don''t have to exin. You can join the guild."


    Alex looked shocked, but then she shrugged. She also had many dealings with Madan in the past, and the guy hadn''t let them down so far.


    "I am fine with this decision. But you won''t be given any special privileges. You would have to work your way from the bottom and get guild contribution points just like everyone else."


    "Yes! Yes! Definitely!" Madan was instantly overjoyed. The hunter beamed in delight and nodded his head vigorously. "Of course. I would expect nothing less!"


    "Okay." Alex smiled. "Wee to the guild." She shook hands with the guy.


    At this time, Abraki, who was silent all this while, suddenly spoke. "Ahem. Aha ha ha. Would it be too weird if I said I am here for the same reason?"


    The group turned their attention to Abraki, surprised by his unexpected remark. Liam''s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the situation.


    "You too, Abraki? Are you also here to join the guild?" Liam inquired, a mix of curiosity and skepticismcing his voice.


    Abraki smiled in response though his smile did not touch his eyes. "Our guild is not what it used to be, Liam."


    He did not hide anything and told Liam everything that had happened in the guild, beginning from the tutorial game to the recent events of the grand war.


    "This is all my fault. I have thought about doing this a hundred times, but every single time I had one or the other reason to back out. I was not decisive enough, and I have paid the price for that."


    Liam nodded.


    Abraki sighed and bent his head down in embarrassment. "Please, Liam. I know this is shameful. I did not help you build this guild back up in the real world. We did not stand by you for anything nor help you with anything. But now we are here."


    I am well aware that this is not fair. But please consider my request. Just like Madan, I also simply want a chance for me and my guild members to work from the bottom and prove our worth."


    "If not¡­ we are also-"


    "Stop." Liam intercepted him and then casually replied. "You can join the guild."


    Huh? Both Madan and Alex were shocked. Abraki was even more shocked. Liam agreed to his request just like that?


    "But¡­ I¡­" The Middle Eastern guy stammered, and Liam once again interrupted him. "It''s fine. This doesn''t really surprise me. I thought you would join me a lot sooner." Liam hurriedly spoke. "What I am really interested in is¡­ when did you make this decision?"


    Huh? Once again, everyone was shocked. What was happening here?


    Abraki also did not understand why Liam was asking him this question among others, but he answered honestly.


    "As you said, I have been thinking about this for a while now, but I only worked up my courage today or rather a few minutes back. I did not want to be indecisive anymore and decided to make the trip here no matter what the oue was."


    Liam grinned. Just like he expected-


    Before he could finish his thought, suddenly, a few guild members rushed inside the magic shop.


    "Guild leader!"


    "Vice-guild leader!"


    "Something strange is happening! The red pirs of light are bing bigger!"

 Chapter 1060 And Now It Begins...

    "It is indeed bigger than before." Liam sat atop Luna and observed the red pir of light that was close to their guild base. Beneath him, the restless undead stirred, their movements growing more agitated with each passing moment.


    Crimson Abyss had managed to maintain tenuous control over these creatures, keeping them confined within a strict border. But now, that order seemed to falter as the undead pressed against the boundaries, testing the limits of their captivity.


    The air itself carried an eerie aura, a palpable manifestation of the growingher energy. It pulsed with a dark power that seemed to feed the strength of the undead, making them more formidable adversaries.


    Liam could see that their guild fighters were struggling to maintain the order they had established, their efforts stretched thin against the rising tide of malevolence.


    However, he did not intervene. This was because these were still the first-level fighters of the guild, simply training with the undead.


    "Crimson Abyss is not so weak." Liam chuckled lightly. Not long after, several units of seasoned fighters arrived. This group of people was easily able to crush the undead despite their rising strength.


    Apart from them, soon, another group of people also arrived, the true elites of the Crimson Abyss guild. Shen Yue, Mei Mei, Rey, Alex, Madan, Lan Deming, Lan Fen, and everyone were present without the exception of any single person.


    On Liam''smand, thebat power of the entire guild had assembled near the pir to be ready and prepared for whatever was about to happen.


    For the worst-case scenario, the fifteen golems also stood guard to provide the final support for the guild.


    And if this was still not enough, Liam stood at the back of the chaos, waiting and watching everything that was unfolding. Unlike when the hive hills arrived and the isons descended upon themunity, this time, everything was a lot more organized.


    Every single person was aware that a war could break out at any second now, and they were all ready for it, willing to ce their lives on the line and fight for their survival.


    Time ticked by as the ground beneath their feet trembled, and the undead horde surged forward endlessly. Soon the first signs of chaos started appearing. The red pir of light started weirdly sputtering, sending out concentrated waves ofher energy outward.


    The ck ripples assaulted the world, and with each wave, the undead forces became stronger and faster. As the tenth ripple echoed, suddenly, from within the rift emerged a horde of abominable creatures, twisted and grotesque in form.


    Among them were hulking brutes with razor-sharp ws, agile and shadowy assassins that moved with unnatural speed, and sinister spellcasters who wielded dark magic with malevolent intent.


    The ground shook violently as the monstrosities poured forth, their eyes glowing with an unholy light. The atmosphere grew thick with the stench of decay, and the screams of the damned echoed in the air. It was a scene of pure chaos and devastation.


    Liam''s eyes narrowed as he surveyed the onught. "So now it begins¡­"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Noticing the shift in the battlefield, Alex immediatelymanded the elite team to take charge, and the entire group hurriedly switched their formation.


    Mei Mei cast a life-bloom buff spell that extended like a green wave, shing head-on with the ck ripples. The assassins, including Shen Yue and Lan Deming, moved to the forefront, mixing in with the darkness as they tried to scout out weaknesses in their new enemies.


    However, this was easier said than done, as all sorts of creatures had now popped out as if they wereing straight out of hell.


    Cloaked in tattered robes, there were undead spellcasters who channeled the corrupted energies of theher. With a wave of their skeletal hands, they unleashed bolts of dark magic that threatened to obliterate whoever stood against them.


    There were ethereal beings wreathed in wisps of dark energy. These spectral undead hovered above the ground, their malevolent gazes fixed on the living. With their chilling magic, their attack slowly drained the life force from their victims. If allowed to continue, only empty husks would be left behind.


    Towering over their lesser brethren, there were hulking undead monstrosities that possessed immense strength and resilience. Their bodies were a patchwork of decaying flesh, and their frenzied attacks could crush both bone and armor, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.


    There were also several ghouls mingled in with these. These ravenous creatures resembled emaciated corpses, their gnarled ws and serrated teeth designed for tearing into flesh. With their insatiable hunger, they charged forward with their sheer numbers and savage ferocity.


    Andstly, the most powerful among these emerged, the dark warriors.


    Once noble knights, now cursed with undeath, these armored warriors retained their martial prowess even in their twisted form. Wielding wickedly sharp des and d in darkened armor, theymanded the undead forces with strategic precision, their blows infused with necrotic power.


    While the first battalion had only consisted of zombies and skeletons, this time, the enemies were a lot stronger and far more skilled. The third wave of the apocalypse was finally showing its true color.


    The levels of these enemies were also not simple. While the undead mages and the undead specters ranged between Level 70 and Level 90, the rotting brutes and the bone-spike ghouls ranged between Level 50 and Level 110.


    Commanding this massive horde of undead, the death knights that stood at the top of the army were shockingly Level 150!


    At the same time, most guild members of the Crimson Abyss were still lingering around Level 40. Even the so-called elites of the guild were around Level 50 and were yet to form their mana core.


    Liam''s gaze hardened as he assessed the situation. However, he still did not interfere. This was because, just like the other side, Crimson Abyss had also made their own preparations.


    Faced with an enemy far stronger than their level, no one took a step back. Instead, a newly formed special task force stepped forward front and center, taking charge of the battle.

 Chapter 1061 Lets go

    1061 Let''s go


    The moment the third wave of the apocalypse started and a group of undead spilled out of the red pirs of light, Liam had already issued an order to the guild to make the necessary preparations.


    So along with the elites of the guild, Alex, Kang Minah, Lily and a group of 20 people also stepped forward taking charge of the battle. This newly groomed team had everyone who showed affinity for the divine element no matter how small.


    At the same time, another group of people also stepped forward. This group was led by Mei Mei and had everyone who had an affinity for the natural elements, especially those who could cast lifebloom, a skill that nourishes life force and heals but in this case deals damage to the undead.


    With these three teams taking charge of the assault, the battle quickly stabilized. The guild started raiding the newly arrived undead, attacking each one of the big guys with a raid mentality.


    When one side was around Level 100 and the other side was around Level 50, the fight waspletely skewed to start with but with the golems in picture, the three teams were able to focus on one big shot at a time and bring the undead elites down one after the other.


    While the golems held down the fort, almost the entirety of the guild focussed on one high-level undead at a time and bombarded it with all sorts of skills, quickly bringing down the health and sting the damned thing to bone dust and rubble.


    Especially the divine affinity group and the nature affinity group were pulling in huge damage numbers,pletely overpowering the undead.


    The only ones who could pose any real threat were the Level 150 death knights standing at the back of the army and observing everything. Weirdly, these monstrosities did not act. Instead, they stood around the red pirs, doing nothing.


    On the other side, Liam also calmly observed everything that was going on. He did not intervene just yet and only watched the progress of the battle, especially the death knights.


    "Are they guarding the red pirs?" He wondered, seeing the way the death knights stood still like statues, not even budging when their forces were being pummeled.


    Alex''s divine shield and divine st were taking out dozens of undead soldiers each time and severely injuring the undead elites like the rotting brutes and the necro mages.


    Her attacks were focused and precise, obliterating any undead unfortunate enough to cross her path. The power of the divine element flowed through her, purging the darkness and restoring bnce to the battlefield.


    Kang Minah, with her growing control over the divine element, unleashed beams of radiant energy that sliced through the horde.


    Lily, Derek''s sister was new to everything but after her encounter with the isons she was now a lot more skilled. It was clear that she had a hardworking personality just like her brother.


    Mei Mei''s emerald crown shone splendidly as the little girl proved to be deadly to the undead. The elements responded to hermand, striking down the undead with fierce gusts and electrifying bolts.


    Rey''s arrows pierced through the ranks of the undead, finding their mark with uncanny uracy. Each shot was imbued with the power of mana, causing the undead to explode, turning them into dust before they hit the ground.


    Not just these, but every single elite member of the guild was pushing their limits.


    Together, the three teams coordinated their efforts, targeting the most formidable enemies first. They unleashed a barrage of devastating attacks,bining their divine and elemental powers to overwhelm the undead forces.


    The battlefield became a spectacle of divine light and natural energy, as the undead crumbled under the onught. The fallen remained fallen, unable to once again rise and create havoc.


    However, more and more undead endlessly poured in from the red pirs. While the low-leveled undead barely gave any experience points, the higher leveled undead were a treasure trove of experience points.


    Because of their sheer numbers and difference in levels, everyone was leveling up in a frenzy. The only problem was stamina. Liam had already taken care of this part by brewing some stamina potions which were handed out to the elites of the guild.


    Slowly and steadily, the average level of the guild was increasing one by one. A couple of hours passed by in this manner but shockingly the death knights, still standing near the red pirs, showed no signs of movement.


    They exchanged nces, their glowing eyes filled with malice. It was as if they were waiting for something, amand or a signal.


    Liam''s gaze narrowed as he observed their behavior. The logical thing would be to let them be as is since each one of the death knights was Level 150 and there seemed to be three death knights at least.


    If they wanted to avoid confrontation and were willing to give them time to increase their strength, then it was best to take that time. However, Liam had a feeling that it would be a bad idea to do so.


    He could sense that there was more to these death knights than meets the eye. There was a purpose behind their presence, and it was tied to the red pirs of light.


    Though his current condition was far from ideal and he did not know what the oue of the battle was going to be, he had to go in now. He had observed everything as much as he could.


    Now the only thing that was left was to get into the battlefield in person and see what the hell was going on here one way or another.


    Without hesitation, Liam made his decision. "Let''s go." He nodded at Luna and charged forward, finally starting his move.


    Along with him, a new undead army appeared on the battlefield and this time the undead were fighting on the side of the living.


    Liam immediately felt a tug of pain in his soul but he ignored it, cracked his neck and approached the death knights, his presencemanding and his aura emanating power.

 Chapter 1062 Threat averted?

    1062 Threat averted?


    As Liam charged ahead, a horde of undead descended onto the battlefield as if a terrible storm had picked up out of nowhere. Soul soldiers appeared everywhere, and without warning, the momentum of the battlefield shifted.


    While the situation before seemed to be at a standstill with both sides fighting equally, endless hordes of undead on one end and the relentless elites of Crimson Abyss on the other, the current situationpletely became one-sided.


    The wyverns, the cowardly six-winged lion, the ison generals dominated the battlefield as the other undead scrambled to keep up.


    Gliding above the chaos of this war, Liam came to a stop a few meters away from the death knights, Luna standing steadfastly by his side. He took a moment to survey his surroundings, his gaze shifting between the death knights and the red pirs of light.


    The death knights, sensing Liam''s approach, turned their attention to him. Their eyes, filled with malice, locked onto his figure. The two sides sized each other up, and Liam saw that the death knights were still not attacking him.


    "So you won''t move even though your army is getting ughtered, huh?" Liam sneered. "Then it will be my move first." He raised his hand and started gathering the mana in the air around him.


    A powerful surge of energy enveloped his outstretched hand. The surrounding atmosphere crackled with anticipation as he channeled his mana core into a devastating attack.


    With a mighty thrust of his arm, Liam unleashed a torrent of raw energy toward the three Death Knights and the red pir near which they were standing.


    The st tore through the battlefield, obliterating scores of undead in its path. The shockwave created by the attack reverberated, momentarily halting the advance of the undead forces. A huge storm picked up the pace. Sizzling Tornado!


    It had been a while since Liam had used this attack, but all of his training and his steady improvement in mana control and mana maniption, along with his increased number of stats, clearly showed in the attack.


    The difference between thest time he had used this attack and this time he was using this attack was momentous. The current tornado was the size of a three-story building, and each lightning bolt that struck could decimate any being that did not put up a defense.


    The Sizzling Tornado, fueled by immense power and mana control, sted toward the three death knights with devastating force. Its fierce winds howled, and crackling lightning boltsshed out, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.


    Reacting quickly, the three undead elites raised their broad sword brandishing massive flickering blue fire shields to defend themselves against the onught.


    The tornado collided with the shields, unleashing a devastating explosion of energy. The shockwave rippled through the battlefield, shattering nearby structures and sending debris flying in all directions.


    The brunt of the attack and the resulting damage was also borne by the undead side as the death knights stood at the end of the army.


    Though the three death knights were not yet down, several undead perished from the impact. So much so that the force of the attack pushed back the undead forces, creating a momentary gap in their relentless advance. Liam''s experience bar increased by a whole 1% because of this.


    However, the death knights did not remain idle any longer. They immediately retaliated. They flew up in the air, charging toward Liam, and at the same time, the necro mages pouring out of the red pir all started targeting Liam and Luna.


    Liam did not let it happen. Right after the Sizzling Tornado, he conjured a Fire Storm. Using the technique he learned from the old elf, he constantly siphoned mana into the attack, letting the fire rage explosively.


    Once again, rows of undead perished under the impact of the attack, and even the three death knights couldn''t block the attackpletely. On the side, the wyverns were decimating the necro mages who were targeting Liam.


    And before the other side could recover from this, Luna dashed toward one of the death knights, and Liam lunged at the guy bringing him down to the ground, smashing the big armored skeletal warrior right into the ground, the attack forming a huge crater.


    When he was fighting against the isons, he was helpless against the Level 150 ison generals and had to rely on soul attacks, but his current condition was not the same. He no longer needed to rely on his soul strength for an enemy of this level.


    Liam continued to beat down the death knights one after the other while blocking the attacks from the other undead. The strange blue fire attacks of the death knights were not strong enough to break his mana barrier and affect him.


    On the other hand, his attacks went through explosively. The fightsted only for a couple of minutes. As the death knights fell one by one, their bodies crumbling into lifeless husks, chaos erupted within the ranks of the undead army. The absence of theirmanding elites left the remaining forces in disarray, and their coordination shattered.


    Luna seized the opportunity to press the advantage. She darted through the chaos, striking fear into the hearts of any undead that crossed her path. Her swift and deadly movements left a trail of destruction in her wake.


    The newly arrived reinforcements were just like thatpletely destroyed. After the death knights fell, the higher-leveled elite undead no longer stepped out of the red pir. Instead, only the lower-level undead once again poured out endlessly.


    Liam narrowed his eyes and observed the development from the corner of the battlefield. The red pirs were still glowing brightly and remained bigger, but only lower-level undead hordes emerged from within them.


    Just like before, the red pirs almost showed no activity except for this. While the rest of the Crimson Abyss cheered for their temporary victory in the battle and celebrated their gains, Liam couldn''t help but feel uneasy about the peculiar series of events.


    Though the threat was averted for now, he couldn''t shake the feeling that something was amiss. Clearly, something else was happening here.

 Chapter 1063 To become stronger?

    Chapter 1063 To be stronger?


    After the chaos of the battle settled down and the guild members settled their affairs, the entire zone finally calmed down.


    However, this was only the case in the red pir that had popped up right next to the Crimson Abyss base. In other areas, the undead were still pushing on and charging ahead.


    Leaving the golems to stand defense and other lower leveled members of the guild to deal with the non-threatening undead, the elite team and the other teams quickly mobilized to other zones across the world to aid in the battle.


    Though this was to help others, in reality, the undead horde was a treasure trove of experience points and Alex gave the order, not wanting to miss out on the chance to use this opportunity to the best that they could.


    Meanwhile, Liam retreated back to the vi to recuperate his condition. Perhaps because his soul was injured, repeatedly casting with his mana core was more draining than usual.


    "I need to take care of this soul injury soon. Else everything is going to go downhill."


    It was evident that if part of the machine were not working well, then soon everything else would follow suit.


    Liam contemted his options. There was also the issue of the red pirs.


    Now more than ever he was confident that this set of invasions were not random opportune efforts of war. Instead, they were all being coordinated by the divine temple high priestess.


    She was systematically destroying him even without knowing his current weakness.


    However, when it came to these red pirs, what was the end goal?


    Liam could not understand what was happening. If an invasion was the end goal, then why were hordes of lower level undead being sacrificed for no reason? Was it a distraction? If so, it was only making them stronger!


    Since the threat of the isons were averted, the person orchestrating should know that a Level 150 elite was not enough to seal his fate. That means that this was not the end and something much stronger was about to step out soon?


    After resting for a couple of hours and meditating to refill his mana core, Liam set out to deal with the other red pirs. Just like the isons, perhaps he would be able to get some clues by taking down more undead, especially the higher leveled ones.


    If not more clues, at least his currently stagnating level would increase.


    Coincidentally, the draconian princess was also missing at this critical moment. What was she doing at this crucial time?


    Liam clenched his fist and stepped out to the magic shop to teleport to the nearest red pir. Dealing with the draconian princess can wait. It was not like he did not expect this from her.


    He never nned on trusting that womanpletely. Everybody had an agenda of their own. It would be naive and foolish to think otherwise.


    Liam started with territory 6, the area where their zone was located and began systematically targeting all the red pirs. There were several red pirs in each territory but only about five to ten actually hadmander death knights standing guard next to them.


    The levels of these death knights also ranged between 140 and 160.


    If the red pirs of light were portals of some kind, which seemed to be the most usible exnation as undead were constantly emerging from within it, it almost seemed as if this was the current limit of the portal.


    Perhaps the reason why someone stronger hadn''t emerged was because the portals were just not ready to let someone powerful through.


    "I need to find a way to close these portals before that happens?" Liam pondered. But before that, he wanted to invest in a skill. He was now level 100. It would be a shame not to have this skill.


    He made the quick purchase, learned the skill then and there, and used the portals to arrive at the next magic shop. Walking out of there, he looked up and then closed his eyes, recollecting the skill that was now etched in his soul.


    The next second a surge of energy enveloped him, and his feet left the ground. Liam effortlessly hovered above the ground in the air. The feeling was fantastic. He had no regrets in paying to learn the skill.


    Once upon a time, back in the tutorial world, when he was blissfully ignorant about the apocalypse, he had wanted to fly badly. Back then, it was all about enjoying the fantasy world as the real world was dry and boring. However, now¡­


    Liam chuckled. In reality, the skill wasn''t too difficult, but since he hadn''t put any effort into wind magic, his wind elemental proficiency was not that great. But now that he had learned the skill, it felt so easy to execute it.


    This,bined with his already superior mana maniption technique, he was able to fly at a breakneck speed easily. This was good because he had asked Luna to assist his guild members today.


    Every single one of them was capable of handling themselves, but in case there were any unexpected surprises, he wanted them to have the little fox as the backup.


    With her help, they should definitely be able to defeat anyone except for the death knights. In the worst case, they would be able to escape without suffering too much damage.


    "They should be working hard right now. I should also do the same." Enjoying the sense of flying, Liam quickly lifted off and proceeded towards the pir in the distance.


    Unlike the hive hills, these were not too difficult to locate. They were not hidden or small, the red pirs shot to the sky as if they were a godsend warning of the impending apocalypse.


    Within minutes, Liam arrived at the spot, and just as he expected, the same events were unfolding in this zone as well.


    Thankfully this pir was not in any guild''s backyard, so it looked like the undead were yet to mobilize. The nearby guilds were still fighting, only the low-leveled undead that were near their base.


    Once again, Liam was confused by the approach. In order to achieve the maximum impact, the undead should have swarmed everyone by now, taking an aggressive approach just like the isons, but what was happening here was entirely different.


    It was as if they were purposefully feeding kills to all the human beings.


    Forcing him to epther, be stronger, and creating an imbnce in his body was one thing, but why were the undead hellbent on making everyone else strong as well?


    Did he underestimate the divine temple high priestess? All this time, he had thought that the woman was settling scores with him personally, but what if he was wrong? Was she once again plotting to swallow their world wholly? What was happening here?


    With each passing day, Liam only had more questions and no answers. But for now, all he could do was focus on the task at hand.


    If she was feeding him the good stuff, then he was going to take it and be stronger! It was not necessary that he had to useher. He was fully capable of handling this much without worsening his current state.


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air as he inhaled the mana in the air and filled himself with abundant energy before starting the fight with the three death knights in the zone.


    He focussed on the main three and released his soul army to handle the rest. Slowly and steadily, his army was also bing stronger and stronger.


    First, it was the isons, and now it was the undead army. Unfortunately, like the isons, the undead army did not give him any mana cores or something like theher cores. But they still gave plenty of experience points.


    This only further confirmed Liam''s doubts. Nether assimtion waspletely different from mana assimtion. Perhaps there wasn''t aher core like the mana core.


    Pondering over the nuances ofher cultivation, Liam massacred the undead army near the red pir before proceeding to move toward the next.


    He spent the rest of the day doing the same thing and grinding as many kills as possible. At the end of the day, he had managed even to level up twice.


    Surprisingly, the death knights gave more experience points whenpared to the isons he had killed at the same level. It looked like the system differentiated between different types of opponents when handing out the experience points.


    Things continued smoothly in this manner. Liam meditated, attacked, cleared the undead horde, and then rinsed and repeated. One more day as well passed by in this fashion. However, soon enough, Liam stopped as he started noticing something strange.


    The density ofher in the air was slowly and steadily increasing. Others might not have noticed it just yet, but his perceptivity when it came toher was second to none. He was able to sense even the smallest of changes, and this change was not that small.

 Chapter 1064 Death and decay

    Chapter 1064 Death and decay


    As soon as Liam noticed the peculiar urrence, his mind immediately fixated on the red pirs of light. While others might struggle to push through the relentless undead army, he possessed the power to break through their ranks and reach the pirs.


    With swift determination, he carved a path through the mountain of rotting skeletal corpses, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Even the formidable elites proved no match for his strength, sumbing to his mes and contributing to his growing pool of experience points.


    However, as Liam finally arrived at the red pir, his progress came to an abrupt halt. Before him stood an invisible barrier, imprable and unyielding, preventing him from advancing any further.


    "Damn it," Liam cursed, frustration seeping into his voice.


    In the past, he could have relied on his ability to utilize [Soul Splice] to break through such barriers, but now he found himself at a loss. He closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh, before a sudden realization struck him like a lightning bolt.


    Theher energy was not truly spilling out from the red pir.


    With renewed rity, Liam closed his eyes once more and delved into his senses. There was no mistaking it.


    Theher energy in the area was indeed elevated, but it was not emanating from the red pir. The undead were merely harnessing theher from the surrounding air, artificially raising its concentration and creating the illusion of it pouring out from the red pirs.


    The revtion left Liam in a state of shock. More importantly, if the excessher energy wasn''t originating from these red pirs or the portals, then where was it trulying from?


    Taking a step back from the chaos andmotion, Liam thought about what was happening. He carefully contemted the situation, searching for clues amidst the maelstrom of uncertainty.


    Gradually, a realization dawned upon him, and he decided to distance himself from the immediate vicinity of the red pir. With a calm and focused mind, he began sensing theher energy in the air, extending his perception far beyond the reach of the red portal.


    It didn''t take long for Liam''s heightened affinity with theher to guide him toward the source.


    Slowly and methodically, he took to the skies, meticulously tracking the elusive trail of leakingher energy. The distinct and pervasive aura of theher served as his guide, leading him closer to the origin.


    As he drew nearer to the location, Liam''s senses heightened, and he noticed yet another peculiar aspect of the area.


    Thend surrounding the leakingher was deste and lifeless. The ground appeared dry, cracked, and barren, devoid of any signs of vitality. The once majestic trees and vibrant foliage now stood withered, their barks and trunks decaying and rotting away.


    Liam''s heart raced as he observed the eerie sight. The connection between the undead invasion, the red pirs, and this destion was bing increasingly rming.


    As he ventured deeper into the barrenndscape, he noticed some movements, and it did not take long for him to recognize these new invaders.


    They had tall and sturdy bodies with dark red skin color, and many of them had protruding horns on their heads.


    "Demons?" Liam observed the group. He couldn''t understand how demons ended up in the middle of an undead invasion. What was happening here? There was only one sure-shot way to find out about this.


    Liam flew down directly to the middle of the small demon encampment who were enjoying a hearty meal and resting. Without hesitation, he then ughtered the entire group.


    From the looks of it, they had to be below level 50, as they couldn''t even withstand one single blow from him. They popped like blood-filled balloons.


    Liam furrowed his brows in deep thought. Perhaps these demons were remnants from the first wave of the apocalypse and entered the world along with the beast horde?


    Hmmm. He shook his head. There was no point trying to think about this anding up with an exnation. There was only one way to get to the bottom of it, and perhaps this might just tell him everything that he needed to know.


    Liam grabbed the souls of the dozen demons he had ughtered and forged them all at the same time. His soul was currently injured, but these demons were so weak that they did not provide any resistance to his actions.


    Liam only grunted in mild pain as he finished the process smoothly. However, when it came to inspecting them, once again, he found himself staring at a dead end.


    Liam interrogated each and every demon, only to find out that all of their memories and knowledge had beenpletely erased. He couldn''t ess even a single one of their thoughts or life story.


    They were all just nk tes, staring at him with dead eyes.


    Liam paused and looked at the death and decay all around him. He did not have a good feeling.


    The demons definitely had their own personalities and were very much alive and normal at the time he had killed them, but they became lifeless dolls with every memory erased the moment they were dead.


    It looked like somebody had purposefully taken care of this.


    However, Liam did not n on giving up just yet. He once again resumed his search and examined the surrounding areas. In just a few minutes, he ended up running into two more demon camps.


    This time he did not kill them directly. He first tried talking to them. He was familiar with some of the demon tongues that he had learned back in the tutorial world, and luckily the ones he had run into were able to understand that.


    But even that did not go well. The demons were not looking for negotiations.


    They did not look oblivious to Liam''s strength, and yet most of the demons were outright violent and refused to talk at all. They charged toward Liam with their weapons ready.


    There were indeed some in the group that decided to take the alternate route, but even the ones that looked cowardly and wanted to give in exploded before they could say anything of value.


    Liam did not have a good feeling. If he was not suspicious before, he was definitely suspicious now. It looked like dead or alive, he wouldn''t be able to get any information out of these demons.


    Could these demons be somehow rted to theher that was infiltrating the world? Liam contemted this as he moved around to search for more demon camps. Perhaps an elite team would have more information?


    He also summoned his soul army and sent them out to do the search to cover more area at the same time. A few minutes passed by like this without any results when all of a sudden, Liam came to a halt.


    He took a few steps back as he stared at the ground with a grave expression on his face.

 Chapter 1065 Darkness everywhere

    Chapter 1065 Darkness everywhere


    Liam stared at the ground with a grave expression. He had stopped because all of a sudden a burst ofher had enveloped him. When he retraced his steps and returned to the spot, he was indeed correct.


    The particr spot alone was different. Whileher was present to a certain degree everywhere else along with mana, this spot alone had pureher at such a high intensity that Liam felt as if someone gave him a vitamin tonic.


    There was barely even any mana here. Liam was very sure that this was 100%her through and through. This just confirmed all of his doubts. Something beyond the undead invasion was currently underway.


    He temporarily stopped his search for other demons and instead started looking for more of these spots. Weirdly, he did not find any in the vicinity. Only in that particr ce, there was the rich nodule ofher and everywhere else it was much lesser.


    Alsoher in that zone in general was a lot higher whenpared to the other ces, resulting in the dead and decayed part of the earth.


    Liam paused and contemted this new development. Considering everything, there was only one possibility that came to his mind. Could this be an array formation?


    The concept of array formations was not unfamiliar to him, but his knowledge in that particr field was limited. He couldn''t readily confirm this theory.


    Liam thought about it for a few minutes and first ordered his minions to find more spots like this. At first, they did note up with anything but as they almost reached the boundary of their limit, they finally picked up on two more spots.


    Liam confirmed this by sensing the area through his minions. Now there were three peculiar spots where the same phenomenon was urring. Nether was 100% while mana was 0%.


    This made his theory stronger but he was not really happy about this. Liam narrowed his eyes and thought about his next move.


    What was he supposed to do now? He had no knowledge about arrays so he did not know how to figure out if a formation did indeed exist. If all he could do was find more spots like this, what was he to do with all of these spots?


    Liam thought of something and took a deep breath. The next second, he tried to siphon out all theher from that spot. He closed his eyes and ced his whole focus on the job as he inhaled and inhaled and inhaled every single swirl ofher that he could.


    For a moment he was confident that this would work but the more he pulled out theher, the more kepting. Nether was simplying out of that spot endlessly as if there was no limit of supply of energy to that ce.


    "Hmmm. How much can you give?" Liam sneered.


    He might not be able to take out that muchher without ruining whatever was left of his bnce but that did not mean he had no means to put pressure.


    Liam took out the Stone tablet in his possession. The next second, the ground lightly quivered as a ck thread formed on top of the particr spot. This dancing thread immediately bent and stuck to the Stone Tablet. The siphoning then started.


    Liam waited and watched as the Stone Tablet started pulling in massive amounts ofher from the area. It was like a ck hole sucking inher endlessly.


    The ck thread connected to the tablet acted as a conduit, drawing in the potent energy with an insatiable hunger. It was a mesmerizing sight, witnessing the raw power of theher being consumed by the artifact.


    As theher continued to pour into the Stone Tablet, Liam could sense the intensity of the energy coursing through it. The tablet trembled slightly, its surface emanating an eerie ck aura that seemed to pulse with each influx ofher.


    A wry smile tugged at the corners of Liam''s lips. This was his way of exerting pressure on the mysterious array formation. While he couldn''t fullyprehend the intricacies of arrays, he knew that disrupting the flow of energy could potentially weaken or destabilize them.


    However, as the Stone Tablet absorbed more and moreher, Liam realized that the task at hand was far from easy.


    Despite the tablet''s voracious appetite forher, the flow from the spot showed no signs of abating. It was as if the supply of energy was limitless.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed under his breath. The surrounding air grew heavy with the absence ofher but that particr spot alone was unyielding.


    Minutes turned into hours as the relentless siphoning continued. This was not going the way he wanted.


    Liam had a feeling that the stone tablet was capable of absorbing so much more just as he knew that its potential was also a lot more but at his current level, only this was possible.


    fruit.


    Liam made a decision and ced the stone tablet back into his In either case this endeavor did not look like it was going to bear fruit.


    Liam made a decision and ced the stone tablet back into his spatial artifact. It looked like destabilizing this spot was a losing battle. He could now only try other methods.


    But first he needed to get a sense of the whole thing. Without that he felt as if he was missing several pieces of the puzzle and was perhaps not understanding the situation properly.


    Liam closed his eyes, focussing on the presence ofher around him. He ced his hand on the same spot whereher was seemingly limitless.


    He then tried to feel the energy, only that energy and nothing else.


    Liam frowned as he suddenly found himself in a dark space. He knew that he was still where he was, but at the same time, there was an endless darkness all around him, enveloping him from all sides. It was a strange feeling, but it was not enough. He needed more.


    Liam took a few deep breaths and steadied himself. He then tried to once again sense what was in this dark space. However, no matter what he did, there was only endless darkness. There was nothing else.


    Liam snapped out of it and tried once more. He failed again and tried again. This had to work. There was no other choice. Even the Stone Tablet couldn''t stop this so right now he could only count on his SSS affinity.


    After a few more minutes, nothing was working. He then decided to give it onest try but this time he did not hold back. He sucked in theher, fully epting the energy, letting it flow freely through his body and veins.


    Another wry chuckle escaped his lips. While he had to forcefully push mana through his body clearing specific pathways and attuning with it,her flowed freely without any inhibition.


    It formed millions and millions of tiny branches and stems through which it flowed back and forth and upied the entirety of his body.


    Thankfully before it came to his core and could break the cocoon of his growing mana core, Liam stopped and pushed all theher out in one single swift motion. This was because he could finally see it.


    Liam immediately snapped out of the trance and looked at thend in front of him,pletely shocked and frozen.


    Like a node in awork, he could sense the numerousher lines extending from the spot he had been focusing on. They crisscrossed and intertwined with each other, creating aplex web of energy that spanned far beyond his immediate surroundings.


    This was indeed an array formation, aplexwork of interwovenher energy. The spot he had been investigating was just one node in this vast array. He flew up instinctively, keeping his eye on the same spot. The further he flew, the more lines he could see or rather sense.


    The sight that unfolded before him was both breathtaking and unsettling.


    Theher lines stretched out in all directions, reaching far beyond what he had initially perceived. They extended across thendscape, connecting various points together in an intricate pattern.


    He stared at this inplete shock. An array of this magnitude? It was big enough to cover the entire territory!


    And then a frightening thought entered his mind. What if its not just the territory?


    He closed his mind and held onto a vague feeling as he pushed the boundary of what he could perceive. For a moment, he caught a glimpse of something. Something that should not exist.


    He saw the whole world covered in these dark pitch ckher lines. They extended all over the world, connecting every single point on the globe. There was no more life. There was only death and decay everywhere!

 Chapter 1066 Mana And Nether?

    Liam froze for a second as his figure trembled in shock. Just how big was this array and what was the purpose of such a powerful array formation. His mind raced as he thought about the possibilities.


    The next instant, the image he saw disappeared and only a few of theher lines were in ce. "So it has not yet happened?"


    He tried to perceive the nodes and lines of the array again but a searing pain interrupted him. Groaning, he stopped trying to get the full picture of the array.


    The array formation was a massivework, spanning the whole world. So instead of trying to forcefully sense everything, he simply sensed the nodes in ce in the territory he was currently standing.


    This was easier and he was immediately able to discern about twenty nodes.


    Eachher line connecting these nodes glowed with a distinct shade of ck, indicating different intensities and characteristics of theher energy they carried.


    Some lines were vibrant and robust, while others appeared dimmer and weaker. It was a mesmerizing disy of raw power andplexity. When connected some strange rune materialized.


    Liam did not recognize the rune. Was this rune evenpleted yet or not? He sighed in frustration. How was he supposed to figure out anything with this weird pattern?


    Even if he did, he still hadn''t figured out how to destroy it.


    The energy from the formation was directly seeping into the world, contaminating the air, water and soil. If he did not stop it, perhaps sooner orter, their whole world could be irreparably damaged?


    As he was pondering about the situation, he suddenly remembered something else, something that the draconic princess had told him about.


    She had said that out there in the multiverse, there were myriad worlds, some among them being made of pureher.


    Liam''s face turned grave as he had a stinking feeling about what was really happening here. From the looks of things, this rune or rather this array was unmistakably trying to addher to the world. This was probably what caused everything in the area to reek of death.


    Their world had mana and was attuned with mana. Nowher was being injected into their world. That too, a very significant amount, something that couldn''t even be absorbed by the stone tablet.


    Wouldn''t it contaminate and disrupt their world?


    Liam clenched his fists. He knew that he needed more information to make a decision and he couldn''t fully trust the draconic princess or what she said. He immediately turned to leave to return to the magic shop in the guild base.


    "Is your store manager avable?" Liam asked, not having the patience for pleasantries. In this situation, this was the only other person he could go to.


    Even if he did not trust both of these women at least he knew that they were not colluding with each other. If one of them was lying or both of them were lying, then their stories wouldn''t match up. Either way he needed more information.


    However, it looked like Liam''s worry was for naught. As soon as Tilia arrived, she looked at his face filled with concern and urgency. In fact, she had never seen him like this before even when the isons had invaded the world.


    After listening intently to his exnation of the situation and what was happening, Tilia nodded. Without wasting any time, she straightaway responded. "I see. This is indeed a grave matter."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    But she then shook her head with a sigh. "I cannot really help you. All I can do is confirm what you already told me. Your world is a mana attuned world. Infusingher is not possible."


    "Nether and mana cannot coexist in a world that easily. Perhaps in a higher grade world this is possible. But definitely not yours."


    "If someone is indeed forcingher in your world, then their goal would be topletely decimate and eradicate everything and that includes living beings. With enoughher the living would rot and be the dead."


    Liam then suddenly thought of something. "Could a world be converted from mana toher?"


    Hearing him, Tilia looked frozen for a second. "That is¡­ that is difficult." She answered, swallowing but Liam could already see that she definitely thought otherwise.


    If someone was going through all of this trouble, then¡­ this was the most possible exnation.


    Liam''s gaze became cold. After mulling over it again and again, he now had a better inkling as to what was happening. No, he was definitely sure that this was the case.


    This was because he had already stopped this same thing twice before. Once in the tutorial game and once in the real world.


    That''s why he was sure and that''s why he knew that all of this was about the souls!


    Back when the tutorial had stopped way too early, people did not lose as much of their souls as they had done back in his previous lifetime.


    Even in the guild battle in the real world, Liam had harvested the vampire souls instead of handing them over to Tilia. This in itself showed how important souls were.


    Just like mana core, perhaps they were also a currency and the divine temple''s end goal was probably to harvest souls from the trash-grade worlds that no one would pay attention to.


    Liam was sure of it. The divine temple high priestess was not only trying to destroy him but she was also plotting to reim all the souls lost from ending the tutorial too soon!


    She hasn''t given up on that yet. She wanted everything, not just him.


    Liam stared at the floor with a cold glint shing in his eyes. "Is there anything I can do to stop this?" Though he already knew the answer he was going to get.


    Tilia shook her head, the fairy''s eyes full of sympathy and pity. "I am afraid I cannot answer that."


    Liam did not care. "Can I stop it if I stabilize the world using the world tree?"


    The fairy paused briefly for a moment before shaking her head once again. "I am afraid I cannot answer that."

 Chapter 1067 You Need To Work Harder

    Seeing that his conversation with the fairy was not going anywhere, Liam hurriedly thanked the fairy and immediately headed to the portals once again. He decided to scour the whole world once more, but this time he was going to search for the demons.


    And he was going to go all out!


    Trying to disrupt even a single node of the array was taking a lot more time than he expected. So Liam quickly gave up on that idea. If he did not have the means to take out any of the nodes of the array, then he was going to stop them from forming altogether.


    The brute force way!


    He started his work systematically from territory 1 and then proceeded from there. Scanning the hugendmass from top to bottom, he unleashed his soul army and allowed them to run rampant.


    The group of minions culled down everything in their path that was not human. They massacred beasts, demons, mana zombies, every being that came their way without any bias.


    The only ones they did not attack were the endless low level undead pouring out of the red pirs, which by now Liam was sure was meant to act as a distraction and waste their time while the real invasion was urring in the shadows.


    However, Liam was sure that these lower level undead were not the only thing that were meant to be a distraction.


    Liam could clearly see that the person who had set up this whole thing had also set up several distractions and deterrents.


    The number of demons that they had found in just the first territory was a staggering amount. These demons were not easy to hunt.


    Theyy low in caves and crevices and did not aggressively initiate thebat. Some were not even close to anyher nodes.


    It was more like they were simply scattered around to once again distract and dy whoever came after them.


    The most shocking thing was that even though there were so many demons, demons literally raining down from the sky, he was still unable to read the thoughts of even a single one of them.


    What kind of magic was capable of erasing the minds of so many creatures? Just how high must their strength be?


    This was just like when he had dealt with the vampires. The person behind that attack was also unimaginably powerful, especially the one who had conjured the blood effigy.


    Just like the divine temple high priestess, these characters werepletely on a different ying field than he currently was. Liam did not even have the knowledge toprehend just how high this field was.


    Perhaps only someone like the draconic princess couldpare with them. At his level, all he could do was struggle and continue struggling until he couldn''t anymore.


    Liam clenched his fists with a grimace. He might be insignificant when it came to these powerhouses, but currently, the ball was in his court.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    For some reason, these powerhouses were unable to step into the world in person, and as long as they were not able to do that, he still had the time to grow and be stronger.


    He still had the ability to face whatever they threw at him. He was not done yet. He was going to break thisher array no matter what.


    While his minions continued hunting down the demons, Liam spent the time studying and analyzing the array pattern. However, this was easier said than done.


    The pattern did not make sense. It was like trying to understand the meaning of anguage that he had no clue about. This was not simple like the golem formation, where he could meddle with things that he did not understand. This was far moreplicated.


    He also used the stone tablet to siphon theher as much as he could at every single node that he had ess.


    Perhaps focussing on one node wasn''t the answer. He decided to try and destabilize many nodes by sucking in their energy with the stone tablet.


    However, no matter what Liam did, the array stood strong defiantly. The damned thing was so robust that neither culling down the demons nor harassing the array with the stone tablet yielded any result.


    The entire day was spent in this, and Liam even ended up leveling once from the relentless farming by all of his soul minions.


    As a bonus, they had also run into two mana ore mines in territory 1. Liam immediately contacted the guild and brought over some of the elite force and two of the golems to handle mining the deposits.


    Normally, this would have been a shocking, earth-shattering development as a mana ore mine meant that a lot more skills and recipes could be purchased from the magic shop, giving the entire guild fighting force an overall quality upgrade, but now, with this uncertain future, Liam did not know if it would even matter or not.


    While the others scrambled about to collect the rich deposits with excitement, he silently walked out. Leaving the task of collecting the mana ores to the guild, he resumed his efforts for the second day.


    He walked to the magic shop to move onto territory 3 when suddenly he stopped in his tracks. Standing in front of him was the person who had gone missing for the past few days.


    The draconian princess had the usual smile on her face as she yfully grinned at Liam. "Eh? You are heading towards the magic shop? Does this mean you are finally ready to seal the deal?"


    Liam stopped.


    "Ha Ha. Why are you silent, my liege? Did I touch a sensitive topic?" She giggled and walked closer. "Your harem is too small. You need to work harder."


    Seeing that Liam was still not responding, the woman''s face finally changed a little. She cleared her throat awkwardly and stood in front of Liam. "What are you nning to do about the array?"

 Chapter 1068 Too Late

    "What do you intend to do about the array?"


    Instead of answering her, Liam''s icy gaze pierced the woman, his eyes gleaming with a frigid determination. He halted, fixating on her with a chilling intensity. "Where did you disappear to?"


    Once more, the draconic princess offered an awkwardugh. "Heh. I didn''t anticipate that my absence would leave such an impression on you. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have gone."


    "You haven''t answered my question," Liam stated, his tone devoid of warmth.


    "Sigh. Alright, alright. Hold your horses. Don''t jump to conclusions just yet. I wasn''t out gallivanting. I was actually doing you a favor," her demeanor shifted, growing serious. "I was also investigating the demonic array."


    Liam sneered, his voice nonchnt but the air around him growing colder. "Investigating, were you? So tell me, how can I dismantle the array?"


    The draconic princess swallowed, her voice strained. "Destroying the array won''t be easy, Liam."


    "Are you certain?" Liam replied, hisposure undisturbed, yet the temperature plummeted even further.


    "It''s aplex array that spans the entire world. Only someone deeply knowledgeable about this specific array could assist us."


    "And a structure of this magnitude likely has numerous backup nodes. So even if I were to expend my energy demolishing a few, there''s no guarantee that the entire array would be ineffective."


    "What do you propose, then?" Liam asked, maintaining his calm demeanor.


    The draconic princess appeared startled, caught off guard by his response. She opened her mouth to exin, but Liam spoke before she could utter a word.


    "Perhaps I should do nothing. Maybe I should allow it to ur. If this world werepletely consumed byher, wouldn''t everything be easier?"


    "What are you suggesting?" she inquired, her confusion evident.


    "No. Everything would undoubtedly be simpler. Imagine if I relinquished the mana core and willingly lether consume me entirely. I wonder, would I be an undead?"


    Liam approached the woman, his voice steady. "I am uncertain of the oue for myself, but surely you know what would happen to my family and friends."


    Once again drawing nearer, he continued, "But that doesn''t matter, does it? Because if this entire world sumbs toher and all its inhabitants be undead, my power would skyrocket."


    "Liam, I..." the draconian princess attempted to interject.


    "I would lose everything, but it would be worth it. My sole purpose in this ursed existence would then be vengeance. I would bring down your enemy, regardless of the cost. What else do I have to lose? I would have already lost everything, right?"


    "I''m afraid I..." she struggled to reply.


    Liam sneered. "Princess, there''s no need for formalities any longer. Just admit it, why don''t you? To settle your affairs with the divine temple, you intended to sacrifice me. You wanted to use me as your weapon."


    "Why should you care about my fate or the fate of my family? All you require from me is that one thing. Perhaps I might even gain enough strength to assist you in reiming your kingdom or whatever it is you need from your people."


    Liam chuckled. "I''ve always pondered what caused your family to abandon you. The divine temple is formidable, but shouldn''t dragons be even more powerful? I sensed something amiss. Now I understand."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "That''s enough!" the draconian princess retorted, her patience waning. Liam''s words had struck a nerve, and she no longer wished to hear them. "You know nothing about me. I suggest you halt before crossing a line."


    "Cross a line? You must be joking!" Liam seized the woman''s throat, his grip tightening. "I am on the verge of losing everything. There''s no line I wouldn''t cross."


    An overwhelming force suddenly propelled Liam backward, pushing him several feet away. The draconian princess, however, appeared unfazed by his actions.


    "Ick my former strength at present. I couldn''t detect the array in time," she gritted her teeth and muttered. "Otherwise, I wouldn''t be here seeking your aid."


    "Very well. I will trust you. Just answer me this: what about the world tree? You mentioned that nting the world tree would stabilize the earth''s mana and create a potent barrier around the world. Could it halt this array as well?"


    Once again, the draconian princess froze, aware that this was not a simple question. This was the defiant human''s final chance.


    She couldn''t fault him for reacting this way. What he said held some truth. The thought had crossed her mind. If she did nothing at all, then things would go her way even then.


    But she had still made an effort. Not because of her pure intentions but because she knew this human would eventually unravel the truth.


    After all, she had already discovered his SSS affinity withher. However, she hadn''t expected him to deduce the extent of the array. Within the given timeframe, it shouldn''t have been possible, especially for someone unfamiliar with arrays.


    Could he sense the entire array, perhaps? No, that shouldn''t be possible. For that to happen, his affinity would need to surpass the SSS grade. It simply didn''t make sense.


    The draconic princess mustered a wistful smile, releasing a sigh as she slowly shook her head. She would have loved to exin everything to him, but it wouldn''t help.


    "It''s toote," she uttered, her voice measured. "Believe me or not, it''s my belief that this array was set up when the invasion began. It''s likely a... how should I exin it... a prearranged array of sorts."


    "What?"


    "The high priestess of the divine temple alone shouldn''t possess the power to execute something like this. Most likely, the vampire you mentioned before was involved once again."


    "If a powerful n lord desired it, they could have contacted one of theher realms under their control and orchestrated this."


    "The cost of such an endeavor is not trivial. They would have made significant sacrifices. What I don''t understand is why the vampire would go to such lengths."


    Liam interrupted her. "There''s no use discussing this now."


    The woman nodded. "Indeed. But talking is all we can do. The array is already in motion. Everything is irreversible. Perhaps, if we had the world tree, there might be a slim chance of dying it, but that''s all."


    Liam''s expression shifted immediately. Even if they couldn''t halt it entirely, dying the array might grant him time to take action. It was a preferable alternative to utter annihtion.


    Yet, in the next moment, the draconic princess shook her head once more. "I''m afraid even that is not possible. I''ve done my best, but I am unable to sense any trace of the world tree seed."


    "It''s toote now. This world has only a few months remaining before it bespletely attuned toher. Perhaps you can beseech the fairy to open a teleportation portal to one of the lower realms, allowing people to evacuate safely. Currently, that is your sole glimmer of hope."

 Chapter 1069 To Put An End To Everything

    "It is toote now. This world has only a few more months left before it bes fully attuned withher. Perhaps you can request that fairy to open a teleportation portal to one of the other lower realms to move the people safely. Right now, that is your only hope."


    Liam remained eerily still for a moment as if he was letting the words of the woman thoroughly sink into him. As the seconds silently ticked by, his head tilted down, staring at the ground.


    Then, unexpectedly, a burst of maniacalughter resounded loudly. Liam threw his head back and startedughing, hisughter a blend of bitterness and madness. It was augh that carried the weight of despair,ughter that revealed a mind teetering on the edge of sanity.


    The draconic princess watched him, her eyes widening with a mixture of concern. "What¡­ happened¡­"


    Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha! Liamughed again.


    "How are we back again at this same shit? Just a few weeks ago, this world was at the brink of ending, and once again, we are at this same damn thing."


    No matter what he did, they were again and again teetering on the brink of utter destruction. Then what was his second chance for, and what was all of his struggle for?


    "What''s the point?" he eximed, his voiceced with bitterness. "We''ve fought tooth and nail, risked everything, and for what? To end up right back where we started, facing the same damn thing all over again."


    Wasn''t invasions just supposed to be goddamn invasions?


    Liam clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white. Of course, invasions were just meant to be invasions, but the person who wanted to invade their world this time was not to be easily dealt with.


    It looked like she wanted this world, no matter what the cost might be. Every move that she made was a checkmate. How could they forever escape without getting caught in the woman''s web?


    Was this all because of him? Did he not think things through? Did he lose it all because he wanted strength and power at all costs?


    Perhaps if he did not stand out too much, then he could have avoided all of this, and the world wouldn''t be facing its end every other week?


    He hade so far, and yet there was nothing he could do right now. Liam found himself going in a downward spiral.


    When he had first noticed the strange urrence, he had thought perhaps a stronger creature was hiding amidst the wave or that the secret agenda was to disrupt his growth.


    But once again, he had underestimated the damned woman. Liam felt as if he was going crazy. The enemy he was facing was someone at the top of the world, while he had only just now reached level 100. How was he supposed to stand up against them?


    This one array formation they had casually set up was enough to annihte their entire world. How was this possible?


    The draconian princess sighed. She could clearly see how frustrated Liam was.


    "There is something at y here. I don''t understand why that bitch is hell-bent on destroying this world. It is almost as if she had decided that this needs to be the oue and she is ready to do anything to achieve it."


    Liam sneered as he closed his eyes. In hisst lifetime, this world wasn''t theirs. Was it all fated to repeat all over again? Just a different method but the same damn bad ending?


    No. He shed his eyes open. This was not over just yet. Now was not the time to give up and ept fate. He still had the ability to try, and he was going to do it.


    "I will head to the magic shop now and see what can be done." He looked at the dragon woman once before rushing in the direction of the shop.


    After reaching the store, Liam talked to Tilia about the situation. The fairy seemed like she had already seen thising. She was sympathetic to what was happening, but that did not change anything.


    "I am sorry. My hands are tied." She sighed.


    "Is that your final answer?" Liam asked, frustration clearlyced in his voice.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The fairy gulped. The fact was she knew what this world was going through at the moment. Earlier, she was a bit unsure, but now with what Liam told her, the doubts were all confirmed. Without her help, the people here were fated to die.


    However, that was exactly why she couldn''t help them. Her involvement at such a big level would not go unnoticed. The magic shop staff were absolutely forbidden to be involved in the matters of the newly anointed worlds.


    The punishment was too severe for such an offense. At the same time¡­ The person who was asking her for this help was also not an ordinary person.


    Tilia hesitantly kept refusing Liam a few times, but Liam did not give up. Exactly because he could sense the hesitation in her answer, he kept pushing her. In the end, the fairy gave in first and agreed.


    "You will not regret this."


    "Un." Tilia nodded.


    She then hurriedly left to make the required preparations. She had already danced over the line a few times for the sake of this human being. Now, she had also decided to cross itpletely.


    ''I really hope I don''t regret this.'' She sighed and started her work. Before that she also emptied some of her ounts from the shop as she was pretty sure that she might be jobless and even end up in a prison tomorrow.


    Meanwhile, Liam stood still with his eyes closed and his fists clenched. Though the fairy had agreed to help him. He couldn''t rx just yet.


    Firstly, he did not know if she could really make it happen. And secondly, doing this was the same as running away in fear. He was not one to shy away from doing something to protect himself and his family, but if there was something he could do¡­ just something¡­ anything¡­


    Liam''s mind raced as he tried to think of everything that had happened so far. This array was just a byproduct, just like the vampires and just like the isons. The main problem right now was these invasions.


    As long as the world was susceptible to invasions, no matter what he did, there was a new problem that was going to crop up tomorrow. The only way to stop all of this was that god damned world tree.


    Yes, the answer to all of his problems was this single thing. With the world tree, all the invasions would cease, and with the world tree, even this array could be stopped!


    But the problem was no one knew where the goddamn seed fragments were.


    Liam banged the table next to him with his fist. While the vampire had easily found the first fragment, he wasn''t able to find even just one more with all these days of searching and scouring through the world.


    Why? Why? Why? What the hell was he missing?


    He had even followed the oracle''s vague shit prediction and wasted his time helping others. However, nothing worked.


    Where was he supposed to go and search for those small seed fragments now? They could literally be anywhere. They could be buried in any corner of this world. How was he supposed to find them?


    Liam closed his eyes as his mind spun rapidly. He tried to think of any ce where such an important thing could be hidden.


    As various scenarios and locations shed past him, suddenly, a small thought came to his mind. That day when he hadbined the lucky coins and returned to the magic store, there were three people waiting there for him to meet with him.


    His luck attribute had just skyrocketed, and even the monk had wished him terrible luck. Everything lined up. Liam assumed that this was all linked to Madan and Abraki, two formidable leaders joining the guild but considering the situation they were in now, this did not make sense.


    Them joining or not joining did not mean anything in the grand scheme of things if the world was going to end soon!


    So perhaps he had overlooked something? Perhaps everything was about that third person who wanted to meet with him?

 Chapter 1070 What Is It?

    Liam did not know why, but once the idea surfaced in his mind, it took root, and he couldn''t shake it. Since he had no idea what else he could do at the moment, he swiftly decided to deal with this thought one way or the other.


    After enquiring with one of the guild members, he once again dashed into the magic shop and took a portal to the zone where Madan was currently fighting.


    The group of yers became rmed on seeing Liam, wondering if something big was going to go down. However, Liam unexpectedly just called the hunter to the side and asked him.


    Madan was even more confused. "Ah¡­ you mean that day when I got here? Bro, honestly, I am not sure. I have never seen that guy before, and I also did not pay much attention to him."


    "No. Think carefully. I need to know this." Liam stressed.


    Madan nodded solemnly, understanding the urgency of the situation. He racked his brain thinking about it and, in the end, remembered something.


    "The two or three people who were waiting for you were talking to Abraki in some Arabguage, bro. Sorry, that''s all I am able to remember."


    Liam''s eyes immediately brightened up. This was enough. He could now track down this guild. He once again dashed to the magic shop.


    "When did bro learn to fly?" Madan swallowed.


    Seeing him flying at top speed, everyone was in awe. In their eyes, right now, Liam might as well be wearing a cape and his underwear outside.


    However, only the Crimson Abyss elites had a different look on their faces. They could see that, once again, something was going on. In fact, every single one of them had a look of dread on their faces as they had never seen Liam so serious before.


    "Let''s finish this fast and head back to the guild," Alex murmured and continued fighting with a pensive look on her face.


    Meanwhile, Liam used the portal and arrived at the ce Abraki was currently fighting. And just like Madan had said, the man indeed remembered all the details Liam needed.


    "That''s the Pyramid guild." Abraki immediately gave the information that he knew. "That day, the Pyramid guild leader visited you to request assistance. Actually, the guild vice-leader."


    "I am not sure if you heard about that guild before, but back in the game, they were one of the top guilds. After the apocalypse, their standing has plummeted."


    "Their guild leader Asim is currently unwell. Have you heard of him?"


    Liam once again shook his head. He had heard about neither of them. Even if they were a huge guild, they did not amount to much because he hadn''t heard about them even in hisst life.


    "Liam, don''t underestimate Asim. How should I put it? His skill level is not normal. He could bepared to Lan Deming in our guild. No. He is definitely more capable than him, perhaps even as powerful as you."


    Hmmmm¡­ Liam raised a brow.


    Abraki sighed. "I am sorry. I just want to be honest and prepare you for the visit."


    Liam waved his hand, signaling him to continue. He was not someone who would get his ego bruised so easily.


    Abraki nodded and continued. "Asim''s real abilities started to shine only after the apocalypse began. We are both from the neighboring zones, so I have personally seen him fight on numerous asions."<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Both during the first wave of the apocalypse and when the isons had assaulted, he had fought in the frontlines. He alone almost took care of an entire swarm protecting his guild."


    Liam frowned. What he was hearing did not make sense. If someone was so powerful, then what was he doing when everything was going down?


    "But it''s not all good news. When the isons had invaded, he suddenly stopped fighting on the second day. He did not even show his face outside after that. No one knows what happened to him."


    "It was only the other day that they revealed that he is sick with something. I am not sure what happened to him."


    "Hmmm." Liam nodded. "Ok, thanks. I will contact them directly." He then returned to the magic shop shortly, finally taking a portal to the magic shop closest to the guild.


    He was not sure how the world seed fragment was rted to this guild leader Asim or the guild, but it did make sense that he would be strong if he kept consuming something rted to the seed fragment just like Helikatos, the spider with whom Liam had fought against.


    Before heading to the guild, he first scanned through his messages and the guild chat to get an idea about what was happening. This did not take very long as the Pyramid guild had been extensively messaging in the chat, asking for anyone''s and everyone''s help.


    From the looks of it, they were very desperate.


    From what Liam could see, the person probably ingested something rted to the world seed fragment and became quite powerful. Perhaps he himself did not even know about the world seed and kept consuming it, creating an adverse effect.


    This would exin his strength and his illness.


    Liam understood the situation in general and hoped that his hail mary assumption would actually be correct. Either way, there was only one thing he could do to find out about it. Go there and see for himself!


    Just as Liam prepared to leave, the draconian princess also hurriedly walked over to him. "I can help you find it."


    Liam paused, giving the woman a nk stare.


    "You can trust me." The draconian princess sighed. "Now is not the time to reject my help."


    Liam thought about it for a moment before nodding. He knew he couldn''t trust her, but the woman was not wrong. At this moment, he had to take every help he was offered. The two of them took the portal and arrived at the Pyramid guild.


    They were standing somewhere in the middle of Egypt. Just like Crimson Abyss, the guild was located not too far from the magic shop. The two of them quickly reached the main building.


    They barely took a step inside when the draconian princess suddenly stopped. She closed her eyes and took a deep whiff.


    Liam froze, looking at her expectantly. The next second, the woman shed her eyes open. "What is it?" Liam asked her expectantly.


    However¡­ the draconian princess only shook her head slowly.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I am sorry, Liam. But the world seed is definitely not here."

 Chapter 1071 What Sickness?

    "I am sorry, Liam. But the world seed is definitely not here."


    Liam stared at the draconian princess for a moment. He did notpletely trust this woman but at the same time, he also did not think that she was lying in this situation.


    However, he couldn''t deny the strong gut feeling he had. They were here already. So they might as well take a look at the situation, confirm everything and then leave.


    "Let''s go in." He decidedly said and stepped inside.


    The bungalow was quite crowded as all the guild members had gathered inside, awaiting Liam''s arrival. By now everyone had heard about the benevolent hero of the Crimson Abyss guild so they were extremely eager for what was about to happen.


    "Hello, Mr. Liam." The guild vice-leader, Birahi hurriedly walked forward and weed Liam. The man was extremely polite and weing but at the same time, he did not show any desperation.


    Until recently the pyramid guild was the reigning lord of this country. They had safely evacuated many cities and towns and had gathered quite a huge poption in their settlement, their total guild poption rivaling that of an entire country.


    The guild vice-leader of such a big establishment was akin to the leader of a country. The man did not show any weakness while also not exhibiting any arrogance. He was very diplomatic. The only thing was that Liam neither was in the mood nor had the time for such politics.


    "Where is your guild leader Asim?" He directly asked. "Can you exin to me in detail what exactly is wrong with him?"


    This was where Liam did not have much confidence. While he had knowledge about many alchemy recipes, especially since he had gained a lot more recipes after visiting the elves, he was not absolutely sure that he could cure anything.


    More importantly, if the illness was something rted to mana rejection then there was very little that he could do.


    Contemting the various possibilities that he might be facing, Liam followed Birahi as the man led him and the draconian princess inside.


    Naturally, everyone was curious about the mysterious beautiful woman with a wild, unyielding charm but no one dared to take a second look at her.


    These days it wasmon for anyone who had a little power to have a beauty by their side so no one found it out of ce. At least that was until¡­


    The moment Birahi led the group into the room, all of a sudden, the draconian princess abruptly stopped in her tracks and her brows knitted to fixate on the room in front of her. The cruel, slitted eyes darted here and there before she fixated on the pale, lifeless person lying on the bed.


    "Liam! Him! Him! He has it!" She started trembling with excitement.


    "Huh?" Liam snapped to look at her questioningly.


    "That man has the world seed fragment. No. That man is the world seed fragment!"


    Liam frowned. "Are you sure?" He couldn''t sense anything at all and just now this same person had told him that the world seed fragment wasn''t here.


    "No. No. Forget what I said before. He has it. If I am correct¡­" Ignoring everyone else present around them, she quickly ran ahead and used her palm to touch various parts of the sick person''s body.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Gradually she lowered her palm to the man''s abdomen where she stopped. "It''s in his mana core! Wow! Look at this! Come here. You can feel how big his mana core is. Even you do not have a mana core like this!"


    Liam''s eyes lit up as he also rushed forward and ced his hand on the sick guild leader''s abdomen. Unlike the draconian princess, he was still unable to feel the world seed but he could somewhat feel the intensity of the other person''s mana core.


    Could this be correct? Was the world seed actually in this man''s mana core?


    If that was indeed correct, then everything that Abraki had told him made sense. The man''s power, his inexplicable rise to the top, and his sudden sickness, everything made sense. That must have all been because of the world seed fragment lodged inside him.


    The seed must have nourished his body, mana core, mind, and soul.


    But just the effects of the water that was surrounding the world seed fragment was so potent, then how could the normal human body handle that much nourishment at the same time? No wonder this person looked pale and listless, his life force dwindling like amp in the wind.


    However, this man''s health was not Liam''s concern at the moment.


    Now that they knew where the next world seed fragment was¡­ Liam shifted his gaze to look at the guild vice leader who was standing at the doorstep.


    He had a strange expression on his face, a look of confusion and realization. The other guild members also seemed to realize that something was going on here.


    "What is going on, Mr. Liam?" Birahi frowned.


    Before Liam could say anything, the draconian princess quickly grabbed Liam''s hand and spoke first. "I can extract it out safely. The man won''t be harmed."


    Liam nodded. "That''s good."


    "But his mana core¡­ he will forever be crippled."


    Liam nodded once again. "Look Mr. Birahi. I can save your friend''s life but he won''t be able to fight again." Even before the other party could consent or understand what was going on, the draconian princess already started extracting the world seed fragment.


    She unceremoniously dug into the man''s flesh with two of her long sharp w-like fingernails and the next instant, right in front of everyone, dug out a small grain-sized particle.


    It was so small that normal people would probably have difficulty seeing it amidst the blood dripping but everyone in the room was at least Level 20 so they were able to see what was happening. However, neither she nor Liam cared about these things at the moment.


    The second world seed fragment was actually in their hands! It was unbelievable!


    "Quick. Join both the seed fragments." The draconian princess urged Liam.

 Chapter 1072 You Cannot Leave

    "Quick, join both the seed fragments," the draconian princess urgently urged Liam.


    Liam nodded, his movements quick and decisive as he retrieved the other world tree seed fragment he possessed. With haste, he brought the two fragments together, and a surge of brilliant energy pulsed through the air. The fragments resonated, drawn inexorably toward each other as if guided by a higher purpose.


    In a dazzling disy, a radiant glow enveloped the fragments, merging them into a single, unified entity.


    "Yes! You''ve almost obtained half of the world seed! Can you sense the presence of the remaining fragments now? You should be able to perceive their existence!" the draconian princess eximed, her eyes brimming with anticipation.


    Realization dawned upon her as she understood why she couldn''t sense the seed fragment before¡ªit had been concealed within a human being. This revtion implied that the other seed fragments might also reside within living beings.


    Having two seed fragments in their possession made their task considerably easier. These fragments possessed a maic attraction toward one another, facilitating the search for the remaining pieces when one fragment was already acquired.


    Liam closed his eyes, focusing his mind and attempting to attune himself to the essence of the World Tree seed fragment. He channeled mana through his body, seeking a connection with the seed''s energy.


    In the next moment, a flicker of something vast and indistinct passed through his consciousness. However, the sensation faded all too quickly, allowing him only a fleeting glimpse.


    Disappointed, Liam opened his eyes and shook his head. "Perhaps you can sense something?" he suggested, extending his palm to offer the world seed fragment to the draconian princess.


    Surprisingly, she shook her head. "It is better for this seed fragment to remain with you at all times, and for you alone to forge a connection. This way, there is a chance for the world tree to bond directly with you."


    Liam regarded her for a moment before retracting his hand. "Perhaps I''ll be able to sense another seed fragment if I''m closer to it?"


    Given that they had just obtained a seed fragment in this territory, the likelihood of finding the other fragments within the same vicinity was slim. It seemed more usible that the fragments were scattered across the world, necessitating their search in different regions.


    Reaching an unspoken understanding, Liam and the draconian princess turned to leave. However, their path was suddenly blocked by a group of individuals who swiftly moved in front of them, obstructing their way.


    "What? What is going on? What did you do?" Birahi shouted, his eyes filled with a mix of anger and confusion. The men standing beside him wore expressions of disbelief and concern.


    Liam paused, his gaze steady. "You have nothing to worry about. Your guild leader''s life is no longer in danger. Unfortunately, to save him, we had to break his mana core. But rest assured, everything is now fine."


    Birahi''s mouth opened to respond, but before he could speak, Liam interjected, his voice firm. "You don''t need to be rmed. There are numerous ways to repair a broken mana core and restore his body. I personally guarantee that he will be healed in due course. Now, move aside. We don''t have much time."


    However, despite Liam''s words, none of the men standing in their path showed any inclination to step aside. Liam''s gaze turned cold, a hint of frustration in his voice. "Hmmm?"<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Do you think we are all fools, Mr. Liam?" Birahi sneered, a smirk ying on his lips. "Or did you believe we are blind? It''s not just about Asim''s health. Why don''t you take a seat first, and then we can discuss what exactly you extracted from his body?"


    The surrounding men unsheathed their weapons, their eyes filled with greed as they stared at Liam and the draconian princess.


    It was clear that they no longer cared about the guy who was lying on the bed. Rather their gaze was fixated on something else, the small particle in Liam''s hand.


    "What? You''re unwilling to share the details with us?" Birahi clicked his tongue mockingly. "Too bad. I''m afraid I cannot allow you to take another step without an exnation."


    A tense silence enveloped the area as Liam silently locked eyes with the group before him. All of them seemed to be pretty determined to fight with him for the item.


    Liam chuckled lightly. He then lowered his head, closed his eyes, and let out a sigh.


    "It seems I''ve been too lenient as ofte."


    Raising his gaze once more, his face transformed into a mask of pure malevolence. A powerful aura emanated from him, causing everyone in the room to tremble.


    Birahi swallowed nervously. "Mr. Liam... That... Hear me out... It is not fair... you..."


    "Are you still not going to step aside?" Liam stepped forward, his re intense, but in the next moment, his expression changed. Simultaneously, the draconian princess''s demeanor also turned grave.


    Ignoring the insignificant individuals blocking their path, Liam and the draconian princess quickly dashed outside, only to freeze in their tracks at the sight that awaited them.


    In the distance, three colossal clouds of dust billowed into the sky, their magnitude and momentum hinting at an impending cataclysmic event.


    The ground beneath Liam''s feet trembled as the approaching dust clouds revealed their true nature. Massive figures emerged from within, towering over thendscape with an air of primal power. They exuded raw killing intent that made everyone in the vicinity tremble and shiver.


    "What the hell... are these...?" Liam''s eyes widened in disbelief. He subconsciously tightened his grip around the world seed fragment in his hand.


    "They must be the guardians," the draconian princess gasped, her voice filled with awe and trepidation. "They must have sensed the strong aura of the world seed fragment now that you havebined two of the seed fragments together."


    "Liam, we must leave immediately. You are not strong enough to face them in your current condition. We have to go. Now."

 Chapter 1073 Fight Or Flight?

    "They must have sensed the strong aura of the world seed fragment now that you havebined two of the seed fragments together."


    "Liam, we need to leave immediately. You are not strong enough to face them in your current condition. We have to go. Now."


    "Liam! Are you listening?"


    "We have to leave now! Before it''s toote! Don''t underestimate the guardians!"


    "Liam! Are you even listening?" Her words filled the air, desperate and filled with concern.


    Though he heard the warnings and pleas echoing beside him, Liam remained rooted to the spot, seemingly unyielding in his resolve.


    His gaze remained fixated on the three looming figures emerging from the swirling clouds of dust and smoke. A bitter smile tugged at his lips as he muttered under his breath, "And where would we flee to?"


    On one side, the very fabric of their teetered on the edge of ruin, consumed by the relentless encroachment of theher. On the other side, the guardians, who were meant to safeguard their world, now surfaced to im the world seed fragment.


    Why were these beings even bestowed with the title of "guardians"? Weren''t they meant to be the vanguard against such formidable adversaries, protecting the inhabitants of this realm?


    Yet, here they stood, daring to reveal themselves only now.


    "I am not going anywhere." Liam firmly said. "Even if I wanted to¡­ there is nowhere to run to. This is it. This needs to happen."


    The draconian princess looked at Liam with a mixture of concern and frustration.


    She understood the gravity of the situation, but she also knew that their chances of survival were slim if they stayed and fought against these awakened guardians, that too three at a time.


    Perhaps if Liam was not injured then he might have been able to handle these three easily but now at best it was going to be a neck and neck fight where anything could happen.


    "Liam, I know what you are thinking, but this is not the time for a futile stand. We need to regroup, find the other seed fragments, and gather the strength necessary to face these guardians," she implored, her voice tinged with urgency.


    "And how would that be possible when they are already out here looking for me?" Liam shook his head.


    Maybe there were ways to somehow do that but all those would take time and by then irreceable changes might already ur. It was way too risky to wait it out. This had to be a head on fight and this had to be now.


    As the dust settled in the distance, the colossal clouds dissipating, three monstrous figures loomed into view. A massive serpent slithered, its sinuous form adorned with wings unfurled in a daunting disy.


    To its right, a colossal crocodile bared its serrated jaws, exuding a menacing aura that sent shivers down the spines of all who beheld it. And on the left, a cunning frog, its slit-like eyes gleaming with an ominous cunning, emitted a foreboding croak.


    The most interesting part was that all three animals had dark brown scales, shimmering with an otherworldly glow, adorned with enigmatic runes etched upon their surfaces. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    Their crimson eyes, entuated by a sinister ck slit, locked onto Liam with unwavering intent, their aura left unmasked, exuding a palpable and unrestrained bloodlust.


    Witnessing these formidable beings sent a collective shudder rippling through those in the vicinity. As if the onught of theher and the emergence of the undead weren''t enough, now three colossal creatures materialized, instilling a sense of impending doom.


    It was akin to witnessing a live spectacle reminiscent of a colossal battle from a Godzi movie, except the roles had reversed, and they were the ones poised to be devoured.


    "Liam, are you sure about your decision?" The draconian princess persisted, her voice tinged with concern. "Even if you are fighting against guardians, you still have a chance because your world has only just now started to evolve but these three beasts are unique."


    "Look at their body. These three beasts seem to have received a simr blessing. They probably have synergy between their attacks that might make them extremely dangerous."


    "Your chances ofing out of this unscathed is very very low. You cannot face three guardians at the same time."


    Liam''s eyes narrowed as he studied the approaching guardians. He could sense their immense power, their life essence that seemed to vibrate with an otherworldly energy.


    It was clear that his current abilities were insufficient to challenge them head-on. However, that was when this world only had mana¡­


    Thanks to the divine temple high priestess he was a lot stronger now, at least for now. And the beasts in front of them were not that out of his reach¡­


    Level 250 Nagastra


    Level 300 Verdantix


    Level 300 Dreadmaw


    Even though Liam had toiled day and night, endured countless ordeals, and used both the tutorial and his knowledge about the future to be stronger, when it came to these beasts, his progress wasughable. They were easily two hundred levels above him.


    How could they evolve to such an extent in just a few months after the apocalypse? Then what would be their strength in a year or more? Was this the power of guardians?


    Liam did not understand these beasts. He did not know why they were so powerful or what gave them this authority. But right now, these were his enemies. Powerful or not he needed to face them right here and right now.


    And he did not n on losing.


    "You three are going to be my stepping stones." Liam''s fists clenched tightly, his grin tinged with a maddening intensity that glimmered in his eyes. He dashed forward like a bullet, colliding directly with the serpent who was the fastest among the three and also the weakest.


    BOOOM!


    A deafening explosion resonated through the air. The force of the impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, shaking the very ground beneath them.

 Chapter 1074 Run for your life

    1074 Run for your life


    "Ahhhhhh!"


    "What is happening?"


    "I cannot breathe!"


    The Pyramid guild members who were in the vicinity started to panic, some even unable to move their limbs, slumping down on the ground in fear.


    "Run¡­" The draconian princess saw the chaos and absentmindedly warned those around her. "Run for your life."


    Seeing the three monstrous creatures in the distance and the one human being standing up against them, her eyes narrowed and a golden aura glimmered in her slit-like pupils.


    "Dark times are ahead. If you still haven''t set up your safety zone. Do it now."


    Her gaze lingered on Liam, worry etched on her face. "Will you survive or not?" She did not even consider thinking about him winning this fight.


    Unlike the isons, these creatures were not something that evolved in the blink of an eye. Their souls were not weak and their bodies were not riddled with weaknesses.


    They were guardians of the world that evolved with the guidance and blessing of the world spirit. Even the world spirit of a lower-tier world couldn''t be ignored as they possess a tremendous amount of power.


    The draconian princess did not know how the human beings had angered the world spirit because if the world spirit had favored the humans who were the majority of the living beings in this world, then everything would have been different.


    However, that did not happen. It looked like the world spirit absolutely abhorred the human beings who thrived in this world. Judging from the destruction that had been unleashed on the before the integration began, the draconian princess could understand why too.


    However, what happened now was beyond her understanding. It was because this time the world itself was being destroyed and corrupted and yet the guardians were standing around and wasting time instead of destroying the array.


    If they indeed behaved like this¡­ then that could mean only one thing. That they were also somehow corrupted.


    This was why she hadn''t mentioned the array to Liam to begin with. He was in no position to stand against the guardians that too in his current condition. He was fighting a losing battle. He was only going to perish along with everyone else.


    If it was like this¡­ then she would have preferred that the entire world indeed became corrupted. The fall of the world would result in the rise of a monster and that monster was what she needed to achieve her goals.


    Even though it was cruel that was the only logical way in which Liam could possibly survive this cmity. But now¡­ She watched silently as everything was already beyond her control. Perhaps it was the fate of this world to be doomed.


    Meanwhile¡­.


    BOOOOOM!


    Both the serpentine beast and the human being were pushed back from the sh. Liam''s body shuddered from the impact, but he already expected this. He was after all facing a beast that was a whole hundred and fifty levels above him.


    However, levels did not mean much. The countless efforts he had taken to gain extra stats whenever possible finally paid off. He found himself only marginally weaker than the guardian beast in front of him.


    As the giant serpent that was about twenty times his size pulled its head back tounch an attack, he immediately sucked in a breath of air and startedmanding the mana in the air.


    Shing!


    A huge barrier appeared around him just in time. A torrent of poisonous spines shot out from the serpent''s maw, but they collided with the shimmering barrier, unable to breach its protective shell. The spines fell harmlessly to the ground, dissipating into noxious vapor upon impact.


    Liam knew that he had to act swiftly. He couldn''t afford to let the serpent regain its momentum. With a quick movement, he sliced the air with the ck dragon sword, his mana core churning violently.


    Crackling with energy, the sword beams imbued with elemental power rippled through the air. The sword beams crashed into the serpent, knocking it off bnce and forcing it to retreat momentarily.


    Seizing the opportunity, Liam charged forward, closing the distance between himself and the serpent in a matter of seconds. With lightning-fast strikes, he targeted the serpent''s vulnerable spots, aiming for its eyes, throat, and underbelly.


    However, not giving him the opportunity, the giant-sized frog took action. The beast suddenly gurgled loudly and became twice the size it previously was. All of its features disappeared and currently, it just looked like a massive ball.


    The next second, this giant ball without any warning deted with a loud bursting sound.


    BOOOM! Liam felt his eardrums bleed. But the attack did not end there. Numerous greenish-ck spheres appeared in the air around him, each of them thick and viscous with something dripping out but at the same time floating in the air.


    One appeared right in front of the serpentine beast too. As Liam dashed forward, he barely stopped himself from colliding with this sphere but it was still toote. The ck sphere reacted anyways.


    Just like the frog, the sphere quickly expanded twice its size and then¡­ exploded!


    Liam already side-stepped and dashed forward to strike the serpent with his sword but he had underestimated the area of effect of the attack.


    However, realizing what had happened, he quickly adapted himself and adjusted his position in such a manner that the st only added to his momentum.


    The explosion propelled Liam forward, his body hit by the force of the st. He used the opportunity to his advantage, closing the distance between himself and the serpent with incredible speed.


    With a series of fluid movements, Liam unleashed a flurry of strikes upon the serpent''s scaled body. His sword danced through the air, each swing delivering precise and powerful blows, imbued with the power of fire.


    The serpent writhed in pain, its enormous form quivering under the assault. But the guardian beast did not n on taking this lying down. Its vicious crimson eyes gleamed brightly and suddenly the


    dark, strong scales on its body dislodged.

 Chapter 1075 Attack!

    1075 Attack!


    ''Its level is not for nothing.'' Liam thought as he felt the hard scales block his repeated sword shes. He needed to kick things up a notch. Otherwise, this fight was not going anywhere.


    However, just as he was about to go in all out on a vital sh, suddenly the scales on the snake started shimmering and every single one of them dislodged!


    Before Liam could get his bearing, all the scales sped toward him like arrows. Only these arrows were brimming with immense power. They were also shooting at him with incredible speed. If a single one also managed to reach him, there was going to be blood.


    Liam immediately moved. He only barely managed to erect another mana barrier blocking the attack when the first one crumbled instantly.


    But the moment he focussed on the serpentpletely to block the attack. The frog once again spewed out its attack. As if this was not enough, the crocodile opened its maw and something vile seeped out of it, the entire area bing filled with a brown haze.


    In the midst of this brown gaze, twoser beams shot forward. Liam immediately moved to evade the attack. However, the other beast was still going strong. The serpent''s scales hurtled toward him like a storm of deadly projectiles.


    Dodging everything that wasing his way, Liam relied on his instincts and quick reflexes to evade the onught. He pumped his body full of mana as he pushed his agility to the limits. He darted and weaved, his movements swift and agile, narrowly avoiding the iing missiles.


    However, the onught was relentless, and Liam knew that evasion alone wouldn''t be enough to survive. He needed to take control of the battle and turn the tide in his favor.


    But first, he needed to separate the three damned guardians!


    Dealing with them individually would give him a better chance of victory. With the three beasts attacking Liam simultaneously, he was pretty much submerged in a sea of putrid poison, sharp metallic scale barrage, and fiery explosions.


    Even with his stamina and superior mana core, Liam was struggling to evade all of the attacks. He was blitzed non-stop by the three of them.


    And soon, Liam slightly slowed down. One attack hit him directly, sending him hurtling several meters backward.


    Grimacing in pain, Liam quickly regained his footing. But before he could react, the serpent came lunging at him with its jaws wide open, ready to deliver a crushing bite.


    With no time to spare, Liam shifted his focus and instinctively raised his sword to block the iing attack. The force of the serpent''s bite sent shockwaves through his body, causing him to once again stagger backward several meters.


    The serpent pushed him again and again and Liam kept falling back unable to stand up against it. The serpent''s eyes glowed viciously as it leaped to devour its prey.


    joined the fight and Liam intended to use these 2 seconds well.


    14:23


    However, when it lunged toward Liam for the tenth time all of a sudden he no longer wobbled and stood firm, with a grin stered on his face. "Hello!"


    Blood trickled down Liam''s lips as he unleashed the trump card he had been saving for so long. "Attack!" Hemanded and the next second, the entire area was filled with a white mist with hundreds of soul minions materializing out of nowhere.


    They probably had only a couple of seconds before the other two realized what was happening and joined the fight and Liam intended to use these 2 seconds well.


    Just like how the three guardian beasts bombarded him with attacks left and right, not giving him an opportunity to rx, now the tables turned and the hundreds of soul minions did the same.


    Though the undead portals and the undead attack were meant for distraction, they also served the purpose of strengthening the army of soul minions.


    And not just the undead. All the efforts of farming anything and everything ranging from demons to isons showed as several of the minions were now around Level 70.


    The wyverns especially were Level 75 and headed the onught by unleashing a torrent of various attacks.


    Now it was the serpent''s turn to grimace in pain. Though its exterior was hard and the beast overall had a high physical defense thanks to its scales, Liam previously had done a number of it when he shed the beast with his sword.


    Every time he had attacked the snake, he had chipped a little bit here and there. In front of thebined attack of the sea of soul warriors, the snake writhed and coiled in pain.


    But when it turned to attack the insects causing it so much agony, Liam did not let that happen. His soul attacks might have been sealed at the moment but he was still a mage.


    Not holding back, he used his mana core to the fullest extent possible and summoned several massive fireballs one after the other. He dashed up close and mmed these fireballs right onto the serpent''s face, not allowing it to dodge even one attack.


    He conjured a violent hungry firestorm swallowing the serpent wholly making the creature twitch, toss and turn, its entire being burnt alive. Liam continued to feed it with mana. He gave it more and more and more mana until he was sucking the ce dry.


    The intensity of his mes was so much that even the sand around them burned. The serpent hissed, unable to bear the attack.


    Caught off guard by the sudden onught, its defenses crumbled. It thrashed in agony, unable to retaliate effectively against the overwhelming force of Liam''s assaultbined with that of the soul army.


    However, this was still not enough. Before the beast could take critical damage, the frog and the crocodile wisened up and arrived at the site to provide backup.


    The draconian princess had been correct. The three beasts were attacking in coordination. The frog leaped and arrived while the crocodile slithered at an incredible speed treating the desert sand like water and once again filled the space with the brown haze.


    As if this was not enough, the frog shot something wet and slimy at the snake and right in front of Liam''s eyes some of the snake''s injuries were healing at a visible speed.


    And just like that, once more the guardian beasts took charge of the battle and Liam was being pushed back.


    "Move back!" Liam immediately ordered his soul minions to stay away from the area. Only the wyverns still dared to hover in the skies, attacking at opportune times.


    The other soul minions backed away, lest they be blown to smithereens by thebined force of the three guardian beasts.


    Without the soul army supporting him front and center, Liam''s sidecked a punch. The situation was not looking good.


    However, Liam only wore a smile on his face as he once again blocked and parried every attack thrown at him. "Just as I thought¡­" He mused before resorting to what needed to be done.

 Chapter 1076 Darkness everywhere

    Chapter 1076 Darkness everywhere


    The moment Liam entered this fight, he already knew that everything woulde down to this. Even after he had taken out all of his cards it was still not enough. After all, the opponents he was facing were not ordinary.


    However, Liam started this fight only because he was prepared to do whatever was necessary.


    If he lost here, then the divine temple high priestess would win. If he won here, then the divine temple high priestess would still win. There was no way for him toe out on top. So he might as well take the risky route and gamble everything on his own strength and ability.


    Liam flew up as he dodged the nextser attack from the crocodile and the simultaneous tail whip by the snake. He then sucked in a big breath of air andmanded the air around him.


    The next instant, hundreds of pitch ck arrows materialized around him and shot forward towards the three guardian beasts.


    Earlier when Liam had fallen back and taken a beating, his n was to not just separate the three guardian beasts but also to move the whole battle to a ce where theher array was active.


    Now they were no longer standing in the dry, arid desert region. They were standing on his domain. They were standing on death and decay. They were standing on thend corrupted withher.


    For the first time, the three guardian beasts fumbled as they did not expect countlessher arrows to rain on them. The attack was However, things did not change. While this attack might be enough to destroy an army of lesser beasts, these were guardian beasts endless. Liam effortlesslymanded the energy that was seeping into everything around them and conjured one batch of arrows after another.


    However, things did not change. While this attack might be enough to destroy an army of lesser beasts, these were guardian beasts with the blessings of the world spirit. A mere superficial attack was not enough to damage their defenses.


    "Come on." Liam took another deep breath. The air crackled with raw energy as hemanded theher around him to intensify. He channeledher through his body to manipte the energy to form dense and deadly arrows.


    This time he conjured another wave of pitch-ck arrows, but these were imbued with ten times more energy than the previous ones.


    The arrows materialized in the air, their sheer numbers creating a relentless barrage that rained down upon the guardian beasts. Just their mere presence was enough to make thend emanate a palpable aura of death and decay.


    As the second wave of pitch-ck arrows descended upon the guardian beasts, the very fabric of the surroundings seemed to shudder.


    The corruptive power of theher infused every arrow, amplifying their potency to unprecedented levels. The air crackled with a malevolent energy, and thend beneath trembled in response to the unleashed chaos.


    The serpent, frog, and crocodile found themselves trembling by the intensified assault. Their souls flickered momentarily, struggling to withstand the onught. Scales cracked and shattered, and the guardian beasts recoiled, their once-imposing forms temporarily destabilized.


    Liam seized the opportunity. With each breath, he drew in the ambienther, fueling his own power. His control over the energy became refined, allowing him to manipte it with unparalleled precision.


    He then unleashed a torrential storm ofher-infused arrows. They rained down upon the guardian beasts, tearing through their defenses and leaving trails of darkness in their wake. The very air seemed to vibrate with an ominous energy as the arrows sought their marks.


    This time the guardian beasts'' defenses could no longer hold up. As the arrows pierced them, the three beasts howled in agony. They erected their defensive maneuvers hurriedly.


    The snake covered itself with severalyers of shimmering scales. The frog entered into some sort of viscous bubble that blocked the arrows. The crocodile covered itself with a glowing brown barrier that prevented any damage to its body.


    But Liam was not done yet. Once he was in it, he might as well go all out. He had already decided to win this fight, no matter what the cost might be.


    He dug deeper and tapped into the depths of his own essence. Theher around him responded, swirling and coiling like a tempest of darkness.


    With an unbridled power consuming him, he channeled the concentratedher into his next attack. He unleashed a devastating wave of pure darkness.


    The wave crashed upon the guardian beasts with unrelenting force, enveloping them in an abyss of malevolent energy.


    Thend itself seemed to groan beneath the weight of the unleashed power. The guardian beasts thrashed and roared, their forms distorted by the consuming darkness.


    Liam heaved and panted as he watched this spectacle of destruction.


    With every passing moment, the three guardian beasts faltered, their once-indomitable strength waning. The corruption of theher gnawed at their very essence, sapping their very being and leaving them vulnerable.


    The serpent''s form convulsed, wracked with agonizing pain, before finally sumbing to the onught. Its life force burned. Its body disintegrated into a swirling mass of shadows, dissipating into nothingness.


    The frog''s bubble burst, its protective shield shattered, and it copsed, its visage twisting in anguish. Its huge body visibly decayed. The crocodile''s barrier flickered and failed, leaving it exposed and defenseless. Its soul wailed in agony as it sumbed to the overwhelming darkness.


    As thest remnants of the guardian beasts faded away, Liam stood amidst the aftermath of his unleashed power. The air was heavy with the remnants of theher, swirling and dancing around him like a sinister mist.


    The battlefield fell into an eerie silence, the oppressive aura of death and decay lifting from thend. Liam stood, his body battered and weary. He wobbled a little and then lost his bnce as he started rapidly plummeting to the ground.


    But before he could crash, one of the wyverns swooped down, catching Liam in its powerful ws. The wyvern''s wings beat the air as it gracefully carried him back to solid ground.


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bbd8eff010f97768a5de835e6f579e9f5c3f5013a975f2e1bd70247e6651d40a05

 Chapter 1077 Awaken

    1077 Awaken


    "It''s done?" Breathing heavily, Liam looked around, his voice filled with exhaustion. Everything around him seemed to echo his weariness. The once chaotic battlefield nowy in stillness, the remnants of the battle scattered across the scorched earth.


    Liam''s gaze shifted from the destendscape that bore the scars of their conflict to the defeated guardian beasts. There was barely anything left of their once imposing forms.


    The serpent had disintegrated into shadows, the frogy in a decaying heap, and the crocodile''s body was sttered here and there, devoid of the life force that once coursed through it.


    A profound silence enveloped the battlefield, broken only by Liam''sbored breathing. He was the sole survivor of the fight and even looked like he was teetering on the brink of sanity, his entire being wanting to copse.


    However, Liam did not give in just yet. He immediately looked toward the three guardians or whatever was the remnant of them and spotted the familiar translucent bead of energy, their souls!


    At his current level, it was not possible for him to forge their souls even if he was not injured but he did not want to let them go to waste. He had already made preparations for this exact moment.


    Liam coughed up some blood and took out three pearl white marbles. He had purchased these earlier in the magic shop. Apparently, soul energy was one of the more popr currencies in the myriad realms so these were not that hard to obtain. They were also not that expensive.


    However, there was a catch.


    Unlike the ck beads back in the tutorial, these white marbles did not easily absorb the souls. They were efficient in containing the souls and preserving them once they were inside but it still was up to the user whether they were able to chuck them in or not.


    Liam groaned in pain as the process was a bit more difficult than usual. Unlike the ison queen''s soul, these beasts'' souls were rather resilient.


    They still held a residual power, a faint echo of their former strength, and it made them resist Liam''s attempts to seal them within the white marbles.


    For a normal person, this would probably not be possible, but in the end, Liam was still able to get all three souls before they dissipated. Slowly and painstakingly he coaxed the three souls into the three marbles.


    And he did not stop with that.


    Liam still had the world seed fragment in his possession. These beasts were probably not thest ones that he had to confront.


    He did not know how many of such guardian beasts existed and when they would step out to im the seed fragment, but he needed to make more preparations.


    Steeling himself, he shook off his exhaustion. As he shoved thest of the souls into the white marble, he split apart a sliver from each of the three souls and sent it to their dead remains.


    He then finally used a skill that was basic to anyone who chose his ss, a necromancer.


    [Awaken]


    With the lick of soul and the dense richher swirling all around him, Liammanded the three dead guardian beasts to arise once again. The next second, a dark aura enveloped the remains of the guardian beasts, making them convulse and twitch.


    As the denseher swirled around him, the guardian beasts'' dismembered bodies underwent a horrifying transformation. Their limbs twisted at unnatural angles, flesh, and bones rearranging themselves into grotesque shapes.


    At first, these lifeless structures copsed but Liam again and again sent in waves ofher to forcefully make them stick together. Soon the transformation wasplete.


    The dark aura that enveloped them seemed to seep into every fiber of their being, imbuing them with an eerie, otherworldly presence. Once the convulsions ceased, the resurrected guardian beasts stood before Liam in their new forms.


    The serpent''s bony and scaly figure, devoid of any flesh, was coiled and slithered with a sinister grace, its eyes glowing with malevolence.


    The frog''s decayed body now emanated a sickly green aura, its bloated form pulsating with an unholy vitality.


    The crocodile, reassembled from its scattered remains, exuded an aura of primal strength, its razor-sharp teeth glistening with predatory hunger.


    These resurrected creatures were far from their former majestic selves, yet their newfound power was undeniable. More importantly, they were all now under Liam''smand.


    "Not bad." Liam chuckled, coughing up some more mouthfuls of blood. The next instant, he clutched his stomach and doubled over in pain.


    A wave of excruciating pain coursed through his body, his breathing in ragged gasps. The toll of the intense battle had finally caught up with him, and his injuries demanded attention.


    Blood continued to trickle from his mouth, staining his lips crimson. Liam knew he couldn''t afford to ignore his wounds any longer.


    Gritting his teeth, he reached into his bag and retrieved a small vial containing a healing potion. With trembling hands, he uncorked it and drank the contents in one swift motion.


    The healing potion surged through Liam''s veins, mending the numerous injuries peppered on his body. He felt a surge of vitality as his body responded to the potent concoction, knitting together torn flesh and soothing strained muscles.


    However, it did not alleviate the worst of the pain. Liam then drank some of the world seed fragment water. The water had potent healing properties, but that too could only help him to a certain extent.


    "You know nothing is going to work." A voice reminded Liam from behind. The draconian princess walked over, inspecting the scene of battle, a strange glint flickering in her eyes.


    Liam turned his head to face the draconian princess. Despite his injuries and exhaustion, he managed to muster a weak smile. "I suppose you''re right," he replied, his voice tinged with weariness.


    The princess crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on Liam. "I never thought that you were the self-sacrificing kind."

 Chapter 1078 Bad News

    The draconian princess crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on Liam. "I never thought that you were the self-sacrificing kind."


    "Am I?" Liam slightly smiled.


    The draconian princess raised an eyebrow, getting more and more annoyed. "Heh. You are acting arrogant now? You dare to act arrogant even after this? Or do you still not know the cost of this battle? Look into yourself! Then you will know!"


    Liam remained silent.


    "Half your mana pathways should already be gone! Are you even able to sense that? Or has your mind degraded too?"


    Liam clenched his fists but did not respond. The woman was not wrong. Half of his mana pathways have indeed been burnt and corrupted.


    The blue meridians were now pitch ck. Where once mana flowed like a brook,her now flowed like a gushing waterfall, the turbulent waves slowly nourishing him but at the same time also changing him.


    Liam could feel it. He was changing. Even though the same thing was probably happening before all of this, it was at an almost insignificant pace but now he had opened a door that he would never be able to close.


    Just like the priestess wanted, he took the bait. He had to do it.


    "Fetch the mana cores." Liam did not dwell on the matter anymore. What was done was done. Now he had to prepare for what wasing next.


    The draconian princess saw that once again she was being ignored and she sighed helplessly. "Alright. You now dealt with three of the guardian beasts. What are you going to do when the otherse for you?"


    Liam wordlessly looked at the three undeads lumbering in front of him without any specific aim.


    The draconian princess''s gaze scanned them for a second before she scoffed in annoyance. "Like hell these are going to help."


    She then saw the sizable mana cores that the wyvern dropped near Liam. She could clearly see where Liam was going to go with this. "They are also not going to help." She added and once again she was ignored.


    "Arrghhhh! Do you really not understand or are you acting as if you do not know? Half of your pathways are gone! They are no longer there! You will not be able to channel the same amount of mana anymore."


    "In this condition¡­ if you absorb more and make your mana core stronger then manipting it will be even more difficult. The imbnce would be too great!"


    "I understand." Liam nodded.


    "Damn it all! You insolent brat!" The draconian princesspletely lost her cool.


    Liam''s expression remained calm, his eyes meeting hers with a steely determination. "I am well aware of the risks, but I still have to do it." Without hesitation, he then started slowly absorbing the mana core. <novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "You are doing it right now? At least recuperate a bit first. You need to recover your mental strength."


    This time Liam no longer answered her patiently. "I do not have the time for it." His voice thundered, silencing the woman.


    The draconian princess could see that he was not going to trust her anymore. The human had made a decision and he was going to stick by it. No matter what she says it was only going to fall on deaf ears.


    "At the least go to the magic shop first and see if a portal could be arranged or not. Your fairy should have some answer for you by now." She then quietly went and stood on the side.


    Liam gave her a nce and nodded. He also intended to do the same but first, he wanted to try and use the mana cores to absorb mana for a bit. He wanted to know the full extent of the bacsh he had suffered.


    He spent the next few minutes getting familiar with the new, smaller mana pathways in his body and the fact that his cleansed physical body was now all sorts of mangled from the inside.


    He hadn''t expected things to progress to such an extent in just a single battle but now there was no going back. He meditated for a few minutes before cing the three mana cores of the guardian beasts inside his spatial artifact.


    He then proceeded to leave the battleground to return to the magic shop back in the guild base. Along with him, the draconian princess, and the three new additions to his undead army, the different kind of undead also returned.


    While he had lost a lot in this battle, Liam had also gained some things from this fight. He had defeated the three guardian beasts and was using them thoroughly, starting from their souls, their bodies, and even their mana cores.


    He had also gained 10 entire levels from the fight. Liam did not understand this part. He hadn''t gained as much when he fought against the isons and even the ison king but now he received a lump sum of experience points.


    The draconian princess said something about his soul being downgraded to first order or perhaps even zero order because of his injury. Liam took this information only with a grain of salt. But whatever the reason might be he was happy about this gain.


    Now if only the portal to the other world could work out¡­


    Liam hurriedly stepped out of the teleportation room and headed to the main floor where Tilia was present. His three undead monstrosities also stepped out with him, making the fairies in the shop flinch.


    However, Liam did not bother with them. He directly went inside searching for the store manager. The fact that she wasn''t eagerly waiting to greet him already made him worry. He had a bad feeling.


    And just like he feared¡­


    "I am sorry, Liam. I am afraid I have bad news for you." Tilia gulped and shook her head. "I really did try my best but this is something that I simply do not have the power or authority to aplish. I am just not that strong."


    "I understand." Liam''s gaze hardened but before he could say anything, the fairy interrupted him. "Wait. Hear me out. I have an alternate suggestion for you."

 Chapter 1079 More Time?

    Liam had already expected this reply from the fairy. How could it be so easy to teleport everyone and run away to another safe location? If such a thing was possible, wouldn''t someone have done it in his previous life and saved everyone?


    This was also why he did not count on her and started searching for the world seed.


    However, what the fairy next said was something that he did not seeing.


    "Wait. Hear me out. I have an alternate suggestion for you." Tilia opened up a system interface panel and quickly shared it with Liam, disying a whole new set of options.


    "Town building?" Liam knitted his brows as he hurriedly scanned through the details.


    "Yes, town building," Tilia exined. "Just like guild registration and guild base set up, there is also an option in the magic shop for a town building and city building."


    "It is just that we don''t usually present this option for a tra- ahem lower realm. I was not able to get the teleporting option sanctioned for you but with my ability, I was able to get the town module avable."


    "Wait. Before you ask me how this is going to help you now. Let me tell you. With a town structure, there is an avability of a 6-month long safety zone option."


    "This type of thing is usually used when another world is invading. An entire town can be made into a safe town where the opposite forces would not be allowed to enter."


    "It also preserves the condition of the town, thereby temporarily halting theher corruption and preventing any further destruction. It''s a powerful defensive measure that can buy you time and provide a safe haven for you and your allies."


    Liam''s eyes widened as he absorbed the information. 6 months was not a long time but if all else fails, that was at least enough time toe up with something else. "How does it work? What are the requirements and limitations?"


    Tilia continued. "To establish a safe town, you''ll need to gather resources and construct the necessary infrastructure. The town module provides blueprints for buildings, defenses, and various facilities. You''ll have to allocate resources strategically and manage the town''s development."


    She paused briefly before continuing, "The safety zonests for six months. During this time, the town will be shielded from external threats. However, the safety zone has a limited range, so it won''t protect the entire realm. It will be centered around the town itself."


    "Also¡­" Tilia paused.


    "Tell me. What is the catch?" Liam smiled bitterly. Nothing good was going toe for free.


    "That¡­ all of this is going to cost a lot." Tilia sighed. "Even though I have made this option avable, I still cannot hand it over to you without some sort of payment or at least assurance."


    "How much is all of this going to cost?"


    "Umm¡­ let''s not talk about that. It is impossible for¡­ let''s put that aside for now. What I wanted to know was whether you had any more of the dungeon crystals left?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "One of the blueprints for the town structures is of a training dungeon. It can be set up, provided you have the dungeon crystal for it."


    "If you can just do this, then the entire training dungeon would essentially be a money-making machine, essentially converting the mana around into mana cores."


    "Oh?" Liam now understood. "So you will be able to issue the town development using this as an assurance?"


    "Yes." Tilia nodded. "I don''t know if you have any more of the dungeon crystals but if you don''t we can always rescind some of the guild upgrades and I can try to use one of the crystals you previously gave me. It might be a bit tricky but-"


    "No need. I have another one." Liam fished out a dungeon crystal.


    "Of course." Tilia smiled. She knew that she should not have expected anything less from this guy. Only him in the whole myriad realms would be able to throw out dungeon cores like mana cores.


    After receiving the dungeon core, the fairy quickly set up everything in motion while Liam continued to select a few options for the town.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    The first thing he did was make sure that the size of the town was the biggest that he could select. If everyone was going to be holed up in there for 6 months, then they needed a lot of space, at least as much as they could get.


    The fairy said that he needed to select at least five structures and one of them had to be an auction house because of which the whole protection existed in the first ce.


    Liam, in fact, couldn''t believe what he was seeing. An auction house? A freaking auction house! Could they actually purchase something rare and valuable from this auction house?


    So the worlds that were richer in resources, the so-called higher realms, and the middle realms were able to afford such structures and pay for their resources.


    For them, these waves of apocalypse were probably nothing. The rich simply became richer and stronger and only these strong individuals survived.


    Liam clenched his fists in anger as he made his final selection. Including the magic shop and the auction house, he selected beast stables, a training dungeon, andstly a mine.


    "Huh? A mine?" Tilia raised her brow. Sure, a mine was extremely lucrative.


    In some ways, it was even more lucrative whenpared to a dungeon because normal civilians were able to ess the mine and dig out mana crystals which can be processed into mana cores.


    But in dungeons, only people who were willing to fight would enter and defeat the summons to obtain the same mana cores.


    If a settlement had more civilians thanbat-oriented people which was the case in most settlements, the mine would eventually be more lucrative. However, setting up a mine was not that simple.


    "I am sorry. But this requires a mana vein. It''s not poss-" Before the fairy could finish her words, Liam stopped her. "I have a mana vein."


    The fairy was visibly surprised but then again she knew that she should have expected this answer. Mentally pping herself, she continued with the setup. She was also very relieved because now there wouldn''t be any trouble.


    Since there was going to be a mine as well as a dungeon, her efforts to unlock the town aspect for Liam would not stand out at all. This was just a logical move for anyone who chose to man a magic shop.


    Seeing that everything was sorted out, the fairy quickly got to work and began setting up the town.


    Meanwhile, Liam did not n to wait around and watch while it all happened. He gave a nod to the fairy and once again proceeded to the chamber with the teleportation portals.


    "Liam!" The draconian princess called after him. "Where are you going?"


    "Where else?" Liam did not stop and continued walking.


    "Damn it. Don''t you have more time now? Why do you have to go just this very instant? You have to recover first! Or are you nning to fully destroy yourself?!!!"


    Hearing the woman''s exasperated words, Liam could only smile.


    "Heh. Do I really have more time?"


    Yes, the town had a safe zone and it would be protected but everything was temporary. One cannot put a bandaid on a bullet wound. It was only going to fester and get infected.


    When the safe zone period ended, everything would still be waiting for them. The array would beplete and the entire world would be consumed byher, sucking all the remaining life as well.


    Perhaps something might appear in the auction house that could help them, but it was not a guarantee. Even if it appears, they might not be able to afford it. It would be foolish to count on something like that.


    It was also impossible for Liam to recover his full strength when he was cooped up in this small safety zone. While he was wasting away on the inside, everything around him was only going to be stronger. He would simply stagnate and no problem would be solved.


    Instead of waiting for everything to worsen, Liam decided to take action now. There were still two more fragments left for the world seed and he needed to find them asap!

 Chapter 1080 The Next Fragment

    Against the staunch warnings of the draconian princess, Liam used the teleportation portals to first arrive at territory 1 and started from there.


    Clutching thebined word seed fragment, he once again started bouncing between one portal to another, trying to sense where the remaining fragments were.


    "I hope you understand the severity of what you are doing. Finding the remaining fragments is not the problem here. You have two in your hand now. You will definitely be able to sense the remaining fragments."


    "Sooner orter you will find them." The draconian princess sighed. "The real problem will start there. Would you have the strength to hold onto it once you find it?"


    Liam suddenly stopped. He had also thought about this particr issue. "What if they get it from me?"


    Ideally, no matter whether it was him or any of the guardian beasts, they should be trying to do the same thing. Every single one of them has skin in this game. So they too should be attempting to stop the spread ofher.


    However, from what Liam could see none of the beasts seem to have any intention of doing this. Even though it was already toote, they were taking their own sweet time.


    The draconian princess also did not have any exnations for this. She could only sigh in response. Everything was already beyond their control.


    Liam immediately started searching for the remaining world seed fragments using the one in his possession. He looked for the fragments in many of the zones but to no avail.


    Finally, he sensed a small pulse in the middle of nowhere in Russia.


    "This is¡­" The draconian princess shivered.


    The entire area was unusually cold. More surprisingly there was aher node in the vicinity but Liam could not sense anyher from the node at all except for a faint trace amount. It almost looked as if this particr node was nullified.


    Motivated by this observation, Liam hurriedly flew toward the particr spot from where he could feel the faint pulse. Perhaps the world seed fragment would really end all of this and would finally be able to get some protection.


    As he rushed forward suddenly he noticed something strange. Amidst the frozenndscape, Liam''s eyes widened as he spotted patches of vibrant greenery peeking through the icy terrain. It was an astonishing sight, a stark contrast to the surrounding destion.


    He hastened his steps, drawn towards the anomaly. This was where he felt the pulsing of the world seed fragment too.


    As he approached, the greenery became more pronounced. He found himself standing before a small grove,pletely untouched by the surroundings, as if it was protected from the encroaching cold by an invisible barrier.


    Within this grove, a majestic tree stood tall, its branchesden with blossoming flowers, radiating a gentle warmth.


    Liam''s gaze abruptly shifted to the center of the grove, where a figure was seated beneath the tree. It was a woman, her hair flowing like cascading emerald, and her eyes shimmering with a serene glow.


    But the next second, the woman was nowhere to be seen.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>


    "Huh? Where did she go?"


    "Who?" The draconian princess looked confused. "Who are you talking about?" She gave Liam a meaningful look and responded, "I didn''t see anyone. Are you sure you saw someone?"


    Liam silently nodded. He gazed at the same spot for a few seconds before snapping out of it and focusing on the main reason why he came here.


    He tightly clutched thebined word seed fragment and stepped into the grove, feeling the vibrant energy pulsating through the air.


    Perhaps because he was in such close proximity, it only took him a second to figure out where the fragment rested. His gaze shifted to the giant tree. The seed fragment was there.


    More specifically it was part of the tree. Liam took out his sword and shed at the tree, only to be instantly engulfed in a blinding burst of light. The force of the impact sent Liam stumbling backward, his sword ttering to the ground.


    As the light gradually subsided, Liam''s eyes widened in astonishment. The tree remained unscathed, not a single scratch marring its surface. It was as if his strike had never urred.


    Liam bitterly smiled. It was one thing to be defeated by giant monsters but he was not even stronger than a tree? This was fucking ridiculous.


    Not giving up, he tried attacking the tree a few more times but nothing worked. At the end of it, he wondered if the tree was even made of wood or some kind of special metal that seemed like wood.


    The worst part was he couldn''t even useher here. There was not even a lick ofher anywhere in the vicinity.


    "I have no other choice. I have to use that." Liam muttered, his cold gaze fixed on the tree.


    He did not want to use this attack here because even though the attack was mana based, every time he used it, he was extremely drained and utterly exhausted. However, he was too far in to stop now. He had no other choice but to use the trump card he was saving.


    Liam stepped back and started gathering as much mana as he could. While this cecked even a minuscule amount ofher, it was overflowing with mana.


    Turbulent swirls of mana gathered around him and coursed through his body. Usually, this soothed his body and empowered him but now a part of his body groaned in agony unable to withstand even the mere presence of mana.


    Liam had a feeling that this was going to happen. This was the effect of him burning through his mana pathways, but he did not stop and continued to cast the attack, the other powerful fatal attack that he possessed, [Dragon Breath].


    The turbulent swirls of mana around him intensified and the air crackled with power. With the attack fully powered up, he was ready to unleash hell on the giant tree which still casually stood like a statue, not even a leaf atop it moving.


    Arrrghhh! Liam roared, his shout echoing through the grove. However¡­ instead of unleashing the attack, he stopped it at thest moment.

 Chapter 1081 Gimme

    ?


    "What? Why did you do that?" The draconian princess looked at Liam in shock. Why go through all of that trouble and gather all the energy, only to disperse it?


    Liam raised his hand and signaled her to wait. He did not know how to exin it but he suddenly had a feeling that he was approaching this the wrong way.


    He stopped and took a deep breath and settled himself first. He knew he had to go with his guts in this one and his guts told him that attacking and fighting here, in this ce was unnecessary. Something was off.


    After Liam took a breath and patiently observed the things in front of him again. He could see it. The tree was not a hostile entity. It was a rather peaceful and calm one.


    Liam did not know what he was supposed to do now but definitely [Dragon Breath] was not the answer. He walked closer to the huge tree and after a second of hesitation gently ced his hand on it. He then started talking.


    "I am not sure if you are a sentient being or not, but I am not here to fight with you." He did not fully understand why he was doing this but his intuition told him to go ahead.


    "I know you have the world seed fragment in your possession. I am here for that. I need that to stop theher from spreading and to stop our world from getting destroyed."


    Liam waited to see if there was any response from the tree but the ce remained as tranquil as ever. With a small sigh, he continued.


    "Maybe you know what is happening right now. Maybe you don''t. But you don''t seem to be in a position to do anything about it. I can. I am asking you for your help."


    "If you do not give the world seed fragment to me now then tomorrow someone else woulde and im it. The difference is if you give it to me today, thend you are standing on will not be corrupted. Make your decision."


    Time seemed to stand still as Liam waited for a response, his hand still resting on the tree''s bark.


    And then, in a whisper of wind, he felt it¡ªa subtle pulse, a confirmation. The tree, in its own way, had acknowledged his plea.


    Liam withdrew his hand and stepped back. The next second, the trunk of the tree that had stood strong despite all of his attacks suddenly started unraveling, the wood parting like spools of thread.


    And as Liam watched, two of these wooden threads extended toward him, unfurling to reveal a small particle. The tree had willingly opened itself to him, offering the world seed fragment he sought.


    Liam smiled bitterly. He did not think that it would be this easy. It was good that he did not act rashly and attempt to fight this thing. He silently took the world seed fragment and observed, confirming that it was indeed what he wanted.


    This was fast but Liam knew that the real trouble only began now. He currently had three-quarters of the world seed in his possession. Only thest part was left.


    He looked around to check but there were no big clouds of dust or snow barrelling towards him this time around. Hmmm? By now he expected one or the other guardian beast to show up. However, that didn''t seem to be happening.


    Were they hesitant because he had defeated thest three?


    Liam chuckled lightly. They were probably waiting for him to collect all of the fragments so that they could obtain theplete world seed once and for all.


    The real trouble would probably begin then.


    Liam nced at the draconian princess and she remained silent, though her eyes screamed for him to stop what he was doing.


    Unfortunately, there was no stopping now. This had toe to an end one way or the other.


    He clenched his fist and took out the other part,bining all of the seed fragments together. A brilliant light radiated from the fragments, intertwining and merging together.


    And the next second, Liam felt a strong pull. He could feel something resonate with the iplete world seed in his hand. Even though it seemed to be in the other side of the world, he could clearly feel it.


    "I know where it is!"


    Thest part of the world seed was smack dab in the middle of the ocean in between all of the territories. "Let''s go." With his eyes full of determination, he started flying back to the magic shop along with the draconian princess.


    However, the two of them suddenly paused and turn around as they felt something shift.


    Liam watched in surprise as the entirety of the grove that they had just left suddenly started freezing up.


    The air turned frigid, and ayer of frost spread rapidly across the once lush vegetation of the grove. The ground crackled under the weight of the ice, and the tranquil atmosphere turned into an eerie stillness.


    And the huge tree that was at the center of all of this started wilting and withering.


    The changes were happening at a visible pace and in a few minutes, the small grove became indistinguishable from the rest of the frozenndscape.


    Unexpectedly, there was something else there or rather someone else. In the spot where the grove was present, there was now a woman who had copsed on the frozen ice. She seemed to be in a bad condition, barely breathing.


    Liam fully did not understand what was going on or who this woman was but he could see that she was somehow connected to the tree or the world seed fragment. Now that she had handed it over to him, perhaps she had be like this?


    In fact, this looked like the same woman whom he had briefly caught a glimpse of when he first arrived here.


    Unfortunately, he had no time to analyze this right at this moment. If he did not hurry, then the entire world was going to be in a condition far worse than this.


    At the same time, he did not have the heart to leave someone to die, especially someone who had simply handed over to him whatever he had asked.


    Without thinking much, he shot forward like an arrow and shoved the weak and unconscious woman into his spatial artifact.


    The draconian princess gave him a strange look but he ignored it and resumed flying to the magic shop.


    From there, he took another portal to a shop that was the closest to his destination and it was time to get thest world seed fragment andplete the whole damn thing.

 Chapter 1082 The Last Fragment

    ?


    Liam stood still upon the ocean''s surface, his resolute gaze fixed upon the boundless expanse of water that sprawled before him. The turbulent waters churned and seethed with a furious intensity, mirroring the tempestuous nature of the dark clouds gathering overhead.


    The once-clear sky nowy obscured, veiled by an ominous shroud. A distant rumble of thunder echoed through the air, its reverberations serving as a haunting prelude to the approaching storm''s imminent power.


    "It''s in there," Liam affirmed, his certainty unwavering as he sensed the final world seed fragment concealed within the depths of the ocean.


    Without a moment''s hesitation, he propelled himself into the tumultuous waters, leaving the draconian princess behind. He dived beneath the surface with a single, decisive stroke. The ocean embraced him, its currents wrapping around his determined form.


    Throughout both his past and present lives, the vast ocean had always held an air of mystery. Asndmasses shifted and changed, the interconnectedness of all the waters became evident. Yet, the depths of the ocean remained an enigma, harboring untold wonders and dangers.


    Aware of the potential perils lurking within, many had chosen to retreat from the shores, seeking refuge in the safety of ind settlements. In all seven territories, not a single coastalmunity remained, their inhabitants opting to distance themselves from the untamed reaches of the deep waters.


    Today Liam was finally going to see what was inside. He floated in the blue waters observing the space around him, with a mana barrier erected for oxygen. Surprisingly, the ocean was very empty.


    Liam had in fact expected to be fully swarmed by all sorts of beasts inside the ocean waters but until the distance he could see, there seemed to be nothing at all.


    As he descended deeper into the depths, the absence of life became increasingly apparent.


    It was a deste and eerily silent realm, devoid of the vibrant marine existence he had anticipated. The water around him remained still, disturbed only by the asional undtion of waves.


    An unsettling feeling crept over Liam as he pondered the unusual absence of creatures. Something felt off, as if an unseen presence lurked just beyond his perception.


    He remained vignt, his senses heightened, searching for any signs of movement or life beneath the tranquil surface.


    From what he knew already, the presence of a world seed fragment gave birth to a strong creature that evolved at an incredible pace.


    The huge tree might have simply handed over the world seed fragment to him but something like that couldn''t happen again. No creature would simply hand over something so powerful.


    As Liam continued his descent, the pressure mounting on him increased with each passing moment. The cold also slowly became unbearable.


    Even at his level and with his stats, he was finding it difficult to bear the conditions. At this rate, even without any monstrous creatures to stand in his way, the task of obtaining that seed fragment would be extremely hard.


    Thankfully, the waters around him were brimming with mana. Just like the ces before, this one as well waspletely overloaded with mana. Liam did not know where theher array extended over these waters as well but he couldn''t feel an ounce ofher in the vicinity.


    Because of this at least he was able to condition himself with mana every second as he descended deeper and deeper. At a certain point, he had to erect several mana barriers to just stop the freezing cold from invading his body.


    But this also did notst long. As if there was an invisible breaking point, after a certain depth, Liam could no longer hold off the cold. The pressure mounting on him shattered all of the barriers and the cold seeped deep inside his bones.


    A wave of agonizing pain assaulted him. Liam gritted his teeth and continued barrelling downward.


    The further he descended, the more unforgiving the ocean''s depths became.The water around him grew darker and denser, an inky ckness that swallowed the feeble light struggling to pierce its depths.


    Perhaps Liam could have faced this before but his current body was riddled with injuries from inside out. The searing pain coursing through his body became unbearable.


    Every movement became a struggle, every breath aborious effort. The weight of his injuriesbined with the crushing pressure of the deep sea threatened to crush his resolve.


    With each agonizing descent, he could feel his body growing weaker, his senses dulled by the overwhelming pain. Why couldn''t the seed fragment simplye bolting towards him all on its own?


    However, just as he could not hold on any longer, suddenly something unexpected happened. His body that was only just now groaning and moaning, teetering on the verge of giving out somehow became silent.


    Liam''s eyes widened in astonishment as he felt a small warmth enter his body amidst the freezing chill, revitalizing his weary muscles and numbing the pain that had consumed him.


    His crushed and grated veins, muscles, ligaments, bones started getting repaired on their own. The sweet taste of peace entered his mind.


    But it was only for a second. This newfound serenity shattered the next instant, once again reced by the all consuming pain and the cold.


    Fuck! Liam was truly at his limit. What was happening?


    Before he could begin to understand anything, once again the ridiculous cycle started.


    An unbearable pain assaulted him and each time he reached the brink of surrender, his body would be infused with that fleeting warmth, providing a momentary respite from the torment.


    Liam was about to lose his mind from this back and forth but thankfully before that could happen, the small conscious part of him realized something. Even though he was undergoing hellish pain, he could feel himself getting stronger.


    The endless cycle of torment was chiseling his body bit by bit. The pressure was transforming him from inside out. Even the concoction he painstakingly made to cleanse his body did not have such an effectpared to what was happening at the moment.

 Chapter 1083 Should I Spit On It?

    ?


    Liam did not understand what was happening but at this point he was ready to take whatever was thrown at him.


    His body was weak whenpared to his soul. Even his mana core, and his mind was stronger whenpared to his body.


    So no matter how small, this kind of strengthening was godsent to him for taking care of the imbnce. However, he knew that this was not all good news.


    It was the freezing cold and the pressure at the bottom of the ocean that was molding him a little by little. These same conditions would have probably done the same for any other creature that rested in these depths.


    Liam was just passing by and the effect was already this visible, then he couldn''t even begin to imagine what kind of monstrous beings might exist within the ocean''s depths.


    However, no matter what it was, he had no other option but to face it today.


    Enduring the torturous pain, Liam continued to head downward. His oxygen barrier had already cracked, so he did not have much time on his hands.


    He was able to survive for a while without the flow of air, thanks to his mana cirction but it wouldn''tst too long. It also weakened him considerably.


    As he descended further, the darkness became absolute, and the pressure reached its peak. Every minute felt like an eternity.


    Liam did not know exactly when but a whileter he could see something. Finally, his perseverance paid off, and he caught sight of a faint glimmer ahead.


    A soft glow emanated from a distance, drawing him closer.


    Liam immediately swam toward the source of light. He knew that this was thest seed fragment. He could feel the strong pulse of the iplete world seed in his hand, wanting tobine with thest fragment.


    This was unmistakably what he was looking for and there was nothing guarding it. Liam did not know if this was a temporary situation or a permanent situation but he needed to hurry up and get to the fragment before something showed up.


    As he neared, the water seemed to shimmer with a surreal luminescence. He extended his hand, gently reaching into the glow, and retrieved the object¡ªthe final world seed fragment.


    The moment he touched the world seed fragment, instantly a surge of energy coursed through his entire being. The better half of his physical and mental fatiguepletely evaporated as his whole body radiated with warmth.


    However, the next instant, Liam felt something else. A sudden shift in the waters surrounding him. A deep, rumbling growl echoed through the water.


    Liam''s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively knew that his time was running out. He had to escape the depths of the ocean before whatever lurked in the darkness found him. He turned and swam upward, propelling himself with all the strength he could muster.


    At the same time, he also took the other iplete world seed in his possession. He could feel the maic pull between thest fragment and this iplete world seed. He immediately fused the two together.


    The next second he could feel a strong wave of energy course through him. Even as he was sting upward at full force, he could feel his body bing lighter and all of his months and months of fatigue disappear.


    He could also feel his soul which was severely injured and close to being torn to shreds, heal a little. The energy brimmed him with life force and vitality and slowly started to mend everything that was broken.


    Liam did not expect this. Though he had used the water that was encasing the world seed fragment for healing himself, he did not think that theplete world seed would be so potent before it even began to sprout and grow into a tree.


    All the scars from battling continuously for days and days together, from jumping into one fire from another fire constantly, every single damage was healing a little.


    The most notable change was to his mind and his spirit. His entire being was brimming with hope and positivity even though the world around him was on the brink of destruction.


    If just a seed was so powerful then how much strength could an actual world tree provide?


    However, Liam did not have the time to think about all of that right now.


    At this moment, there was only one thought running in his mind. How to bind to this world seed that was in his possession?


    Wait, was it like a herb? Could something like this even be bound to?


    The draconian princess had said something about this so there was probably a way to do it.


    This was important because right now there were several beings after it, each one of them far more powerful than him.


    As he was barreling upwards, Liam raised his thumb finger to his teeth and nicked it with his teeth. He then let his blood drip generously onto the world seed, the crimson also diffusing into the vast oceanic waters. This was the mostmon way of binding things that he knew.


    Unfortunately¡­ the attempt did not feel sessful as he did not feel any change at all. He also did not get any notifications.


    Chucking this method aside, Liam did not give up and next tried the other method he knew of. He gripped thepleted world seed tightly and summoned every ounce of mana within him. He then sent the entirety of his mana into the world seed.


    The all-powerful seed only looked like a normal grain of rice but it immediately sucked in everything that was thrown its way, once again not giving any sort of response.


    Liam pushed through the waters, next trying to reach the world seed fragment with his soul. Since his soul was now healed a little, he was able to gently use it to probe the world seed.


    However¡­


    Once again, there was no response.


    What the hell? At this point, Liam was close to spitting on the damn thing to see if it would work. A secondter, he also tried that, but nothing seemed to work at all.


    Damn it. This was not good. Liam knew that this just made his situation a hundred times worse. If he was not able to bind this world seed, then protecting it was going to be a lot more difficult.


    As if reading his thoughts, the next moment Liam felt the waters around him suddenly start to churn. Out of nowhere, a violent force gripped him and he felt his body being pulled upward with incredible force.

 Chapter 1084 What Now?

    ?


    Liam struggled against the current, but it was futile. It was as if he was being yanked out of the ocean by an invisible hand.


    In the blink of an eye, his entire body was lifted out of the water, suspended in mid-air. He was hovering in between the stormy skies and the endless ocean below.


    Huuuuuu¡­ Liam sucked in a big gulp of air, his lungs automatically responding. However, he was not allowed to finish the breath.


    RUMBLE RUMBLE!


    ROAR!


    GROWL!


    The moment he was yanked out of the waters, several powerful auras assaulted him at the same time. Even for Liam, the pressure was overwhelming.


    The presence emanating from these auras was immense, dwarfing his own meager power. Liam gritted his teeth and shook his head as his vision quickly cleared.


    His eyes darted around, trying to make sense of the situation when he saw colossal figures moving within the storm clouds, their forms obscured by the darkness. Their growls and roars reverberated through the air, sending shivers down his spine.


    Not long after the first figure revealed itself. It was a huge manta ray that somehow seemed to be flying in the air, pping its giant wings. Its body was covered in shimmering scales, reflecting the lightning that crackled around it.


    The manta ray''s eyes glowed with otherworldly crimson light as it focused its gaze on Liam.


    While Liam was trying toprehend this beast, another one emerged from its right and yet another from its left.


    A massive vulture with wings spanning the width of a small ship stood before him. Its feathers were a dark shade of obsidian, and its beady eyes glimmered with a predatory crimson light. The bird let out a bone-chilling screech as if it was ready to devour him.


    On the left, the towering figure revealed itself to be an enormous Mantis. Its forelimbs were as thick as tree trunks, serrated with razor-sharp edges. Its body was armored with glistening exoskeleton tes, glinting with an eerie metallic sheen.


    The Mantis emitted a low, menacing hiss, its mandibles cking together in anticipation.


    Liam''s heart pounded in his chest as he faced the three colossal creatures. Theirbined presence was suffocating. What were the levels of these creatures?


    In front of these things, the snake, frog, and crocodile beasts seemed to be insignificant. Were these the real guardian beasts?


    Several questions raced through Liam''s mind as he hurriedly tried to think of how to deal with him. However, the next moment he felt something and snapped to turn around and look.


    Staring at him, face to face was a fierce and majestic wolf, its size surpassing any ordinary predator. Its fur was a mix of silver and midnight ck, shimmering with an ethereal glow.


    Its eyes, glowing like twin orbs of blood-red moonlight, held both intelligence and untamed ferocity.


    And it was not alone.


    On either side of the Wolf, two more colossal beasts stood, further amplifying the overwhelming presence in the air.


    To the left of the Wolf, a massive pr bear emerged, its snow-white fur standing in stark contrast to the dark stormy skies. Its muscr frame exuded strength and resilience, and its icy red eyes radiated a chilling rage.


    Opposite the pr bear, there was an enormous monkey. Its fur was a rich shade of chestnut brown, and its agile form was adorned with intricate patterns that seemed to shimmer with mystical energy. Its eyes sparkled like red rubies.


    Before this realization could hit Liam, suddenly two pairs of roars echoed from his right side. Standing side by side was a giant lion and a tiger.


    The lion, with its majestic mane of golden fur and regal presence, exuded amanding aura. Its amber eyes burned with a fierce determination, radiating power and authority.


    The tiger''s coat was adorned with bold stripes of ck and orange. Its sleek and agile body moved with a grace that belied its immense size. Every muscle in its body seemed coiled with potential energy, ready to unleash a devastating strike.


    At this point, Liam was clear about what was happening. He waspletely surrounded. Well, there was still his left side¡­ he instinctively turned to see if there was anything there and was not too shocked to see a deer standing gracefully amidst the chaos.


    But this was no ordinary deer. Its antlers stretched wide, branching out like intricate works of art. They were adorned with vibrant flowers and leaves as if the deer itself was a living embodiment of nature''s beauty.


    Its coat shimmered with a soft golden hue, and every part of its body exuded peace and warmth. However, when Liam met its pair of crimson eyes, he knew that the warmth was not true.


    As the storm raged on as a backdrop for what was about to happen, Liam was genuinely stumped for the first time. He was fully surrounded and cornered by a group of powerful beasts and every single one of them had their eyes on the world seed in his hand.


    How could he possibly fight against so many beasts at the same time? He couldn''t even see any of their levels! He was able to see that the Ison King was level 500. Did this mean that these beasts were further up than that?


    And why the heck was all of their eyes crimson? Was that their world''s blessing or whatever the draconian princess had mentioned?


    Liam already knew that the real struggle would only begin after he had fullypleted the world seed but he did not think that this would happen.


    Where were even all of these creatures when the waves of apocalypse descended on their? Were they sleeping? Silently powering up?


    If not for him, would they have really allowed everything to get destroyed by the isons or now thisher array? Where were they in hisst lifetime when all kinds of powerful beasts roamed the earth?


    He felt a rage bubbling inside him as the thoughts of his two lifetimes of suffering surged within him. No, these beasts did not have the right to call themselves guardians or whatever their title was.


    Liam clenched his fists and looked around. Which one among them was the weakest? That was his first thought. Since they had encircled him, he needed to attack swiftly to break out.


    Perhaps earlier hiding within a safe zone for 6 months was not the solution but now that he had theplete world seed, it seemed like a decent option.


    He could already feel the power seeping in from it. His soul was much better, his body was slowly getting strengthened and his mind was clearer than ever.


    If just the seed had such an effect then how powerful would the fully matured world tree be?


    Liam did not know how long the world tree would take topletely mature but he had the stone tablet with him so there was always a possibility he could quicken things.


    In the meantime, he needed to understand what exactly he would acquire from the world tree and how it was going to make him stronger.


    If he could resolve the limit of his body that prevented him from handling bothher and mana then he could easily obtain power that could rival the divine temple high priestess.


    He could then save Mia and find Derek and establish some sort of peace in this world where his family and his guild could thrive.


    However, all of that now seemed to be in the distant future. He couldn''t fathom how he was going to break out of this encirclement.


    "The deer!" Liam''s eyes shed. It had to be the weakest and it was all alone.


    All the beasts seemed to be at a standstill for now. If Liam had to guess, they were waiting for one of them to make the first move. Or perhaps strategizing in their brain how to obtain the world seed for themselves when other strong opponents were present.


    But Liam couldn''t let that happen. He needed to make the first move and it also had to be the strongest. This should pave the way for his escape.


    Not holding back, Liam decided to start the fight with his strongest attack, dragon breath!


    Normally, this would mean using theher in the air for his benefit but right now, the world seed in his hand was giving him a different option.


    Thick strands of mana swirled and gathered around him or more precisely the world seed. In a single decisive move, he inhaled everything that he could and he pumped his mana core with endless dense mana.


    Activating his mana core, he then sent his consciousness to his soul where two small runes were shimmering brightly. One was the rune for the icy dragon breath and the other was the rune for the lightning dragon breath.


    With the vast ocean sprawled around him and the stormy clouds gathered above him, Liam instantly made the decision and went with thetter option.

 Chapter 1085 Get Out!

    ?


    Liam channeled his mana into the rune for the Lightning Dragon Breath. Mana surged through his body, crackling with electric power. The storm clouds above crackled in response, as if resonating with his impending attack.


    Not hesitating anymore, with a burst of power, Liam unleashed a colossal st of lightning from his mouth. The electrifying torrent tore through the air, streaking towards the tiger and the lion.


    Liam originally nned to attack the deer as a way out of this trap but at thest moment, he felt a strange pressureing from the guardian beast. His mind was bing duller.


    In fact, if not for the world seed in his hand, he did not know if he would even be able to cast this attack in the first ce.


    Liam was not too sure if this mental pressure was indeeding from the deer but there needed to be a reason the beast was alone and others were wary of it.


    In this crucial moment, Liam did not have time to think deeply about these things. He went with his gut feeling and attacked the two guardian beasts who were currently out of their elements.


    Lightning bolts crackled and arced through the stormy skies, racing towards the tiger and lion with incredible speed. The raw power of the Dragon Breath surged forward, illuminating the darkened surroundings with its blinding brilliance.


    The tiger and lion, caught off guard by the sudden assault, attempted to evade the lightning, but their movements were hindered by the overwhelming force of the attack. The crackling bolts struck their massive forms, enveloping them in a searing cascade of electrifying energy.


    Not just the two guardian beasts. Every single guardian beast in the encirclement felt the brunt of the attack.


    Liam did not know if it was because of the stage where they were fighting or because of the world seed, the magnitude of the attack was even more devastating than he had anticipated.


    The lightning surged through the bodies of the guardian beasts, causing their colossal forms to convulse and writhe in agony.


    The thunderous roar of the lightning reverberated through the air, drowning out the growls of the guardian beasts. The electrified torrent coursed through their bodies, disorienting and staggering them as their fur stood on end.


    It was as if the heavens themselves were punishing the nine guardian beasts. However, it was just for a moment. The nine beasts immediately responded with their own attacks.


    The tiger and lion, despite their initial disorientation, swiftly recovered their footing. The tiger, with lightning-quick agility, lunged forward with its razor-sharp ws extended. The lion, on the other hand, let loose a bone-rattling roar that shook everyone on the battlefield, instilling a sort of fear into their very souls.


    The deer, whose strange aura had given Liam pause earlier, revealed its true power. With a graceful leap, it propelled itself into the air, its hooves crackling with an otherworldly energy. A dense barrier appeared around it, blocking everything. At the same time, a wave of dizzying energy spread across the battlefield.


    The wolf howled loudly, creating massive tornadoes around it. The manta ray sent out sts of water and windbined in all directions using the ocean beneath it.


    The pr bear also did the same and humongous meteor-like icebergs rained down on everyone.


    The monkey inexplicably became five times the size it was and easily received all the lightning bolts. The powerful attack only barely singed the fur on its body. The beast propelled itself forward ready to pummel whoever was in its path.


    In the midst of this crazed group of powerful terrifying beasts, Liam tried to use the momentary distraction he had created using the dragon roar to make his escape but this was easier said than done.


    Though the guardian beasts were wary of each other and hostile to each other, sting their attacks every which way, they did not forget about the main star of the show who currently had what they wanted in his possession.


    Before Liam could take a step forward, ten different attacksnded on him. Fighting off the dizzy spell that had suddenly fallen on him, he swiftly moved through the group creating illusions of himself.


    While he was still recovering from the after-effects of using dragon breath, he charged forward to break the formation. Though the world seed was miraculous in giving him support, it was not an answer to close the power gap.


    Ice and water prisons simultaneouslynded on his illusionary images in an attempt to arrest him. His real body narrowly evaded the attack, only to be almost wed into half by the tiger.


    Liam instantly conjured a tornado of his own to push the tiger away but the wolf shot forward like an arrow behind his back. On the side, the monkey pounded its chest as it jumped onto Liam, punching its fist from the side.


    Liam knew that erecting a mana barrier around himself to protect him from these attacks was useless. The mere aura of these attacks was enough to overwhelm and shatter his defenses. So instead he tried to deflect the attack with another one of his trump cards, [Spirit Wrath].


    The next instant, thousands of swords materialized in the air around him, each one powered with the fire elemental essence. The fiery des swung down on everyone to execute rightful judgment and cut down everything in their path.


    The attack even almost matched the attack of the guardian beasts but it was not enough to overwhelm them. However, it was barely enough to distract them one more time.


    As the swords crashed against the prisons and shattered everything that was holding him in ce, Liam used this chance to evade the monkey''s fist and st forward.


    His mind running at breakneck speed, Liam moved, evading everything that was in his way in order to remove himself from the ocean that was devoid of a single spec ofher. If he was somehow going to win he had to do this!


    However, at thest minute, a wall of wind blocked him, knocking him right back into the jumble of the terrifying guardians. Just as he prepared to cast another attack to get out, a familiar face appeared next to him.

 Chapter 1086 Lets Fight

    ?


    The nine beast guardians suddenly paused their actions and every single one of them snapped to look at Liam.


    Before this they did not really consider him as anything even though he was currently in possession of the world seed. After all, before their caliber of power and strength, what could a human like him possibly do?


    He wouldn''t even be able to survive for a minute under their assault, let alone flee with such an invaluable item. However, the moment the new party showed up in the battlefield everything changed.


    An earth shattering growl reverberated through the air.


    The nine guardian beasts stiffened up as an overwhelming aura descended upon the battlefield. This aura instinctively made them shiver and tremble even if it was for a second. All nine beasts felt fear. The monkey ended up kneeling down.


    However Liam alone was not in the least affected by the aura. He immediately grabbed onto the snow white paw as a magnificently beautiful fox blinked out of the space right in front of everyone''s reddened eyes.


    Luna!


    Liam couldn''t help but smile despite everything that was going on. He purposefully did not bring the little fox over because he could be facing several threatening opponents. The exact same reason why he did not bring the guild members with him.


    But it looked like the little fox hade here anyways and from the looks of it she was extremely angry.


    Liam had never seen Luna this angry before. She looked as if she was ready to rip apart everyone to shreds. He could also sense a powerful aura seeping out of her.


    It was almost as if she was close to a breakthrough. Perhaps the presence of all of these powerful beasts around her kindled something within the little fox.


    But how could escaping from these formidable guardian beasts be possible? Even with Luna''s arrival, the odds seemed insurmountable. In the blink of an eye the fox had already blinked away twice but the other beasts did not sit still.


    As Luna blinked the third time, the different beasts activated their movement techniques and especially the wolf that was the fastest among them all arrived right in front of Luna to st her away with a wind whip.


    Liam immediately blocked the attack with a thick mana barrier but their momentum was essentially halted.


    And they were still right on top of the ocean. Once again encircled by the frenzied guardian beasts.


    Liam knew that he had no other choice. Thanks to the world seed, he managed to pull out one rabbit from the hat. Now he had to do it for the second time.


    ''Luna, prepare to blink in exactly 5 seconds.''


    He mentallymanded the fox as he yet again rapidly charged his mana core, reaching for his soul to ignite the same rune. Dragon Breath!


    The skies rumbled and the ocean roared as one more time lightning started to crackle and surge through Liam''s body. The raw power of the Dragon Breath surged forward.


    "NOW, Luna!" Liam shouted, his voice resolute and determined.


    In perfect synchrony, Luna blinked out of existence just as Liam released the colossal st of lightning. The electrifying torrent tore through the air, streaking towards the guardian beasts with unyielding force.


    This set off a cascade of powerful lightning bolts to descend from the sky, enveloping the entire area in electricity. Though they had already faced this attack, the guardian beasts were unable to react in time.


    The lightning bolts struck their massive forms, binding them in a searing chain of electrifying energy.


    The thunderous roar of the lightning reverberated through the air, drowning out the growls of the guardian beasts. The electrified torrent coursed through their bodies, disorienting and staggering them as their fur stood on end.


    And this time, they were toote. Before the beasts could recover from the attack, Luna had already managed to blink several times and when the beasts managed to catch up to them again, Liam was standing on dry ground.


    More importantly, he was standing right on top of aher node.


    GROWL!


    Luna roared with a renewed ferocity, her eyes gleaming with hatred. The aura surrounding her intensified, emanating an energy that sent shivers down the spines of the guardian beasts.


    "Stand back." Liammanded her as his body slowly rose into the air and not with the help of mana. Thick swirls of pitch ckher coiled around him, automatically propelling him upward.


    Liam''s eyes narrowed and a sneer formed on his lips. Want to snatch the world seed from his hands? It would not be that easy! He was already prepared to go all out!


    With several pairs of crimson eyes staring violently at him, Liam calmly raised his hand to make his first move.


    The next second, nine thick pirs ofher shot upward from the ground. The pirs ofher soared towards the guardian beasts with tremendous force, aiming to bind and immobilize them.


    The dark energy crackled and sizzled as it wrapped around the colossal forms of the beasts, ensnaring them in its suffocating grip.


    Shocked by the power of the attack, the guardian beasts struggled against the powerful hold, roaring and thrashing in a desperate attempt to break free.


    But Liam''s control over theher was unyielding. As an endless stream ofher poured out of the node, the binds only tightened further, restricting their movements.


    The rotten energy, one that''s sole purpose was death and decay burned the thick hides of the beasts. Growling and writhing in pain, the guardian beasts each unleashed their attacks to free themselves from the grasp.


    But Liam was not done yet. He was just beginning. He cracked his neck and gritted his teeth, as he sent in the second wave of theher st.


    Even moreher erupted from the node, each pir assaulting the guardian beasts bing thicker and denser. The beasts becamepletely enshrouded in theher, imprisoned against their will.

 Chapter 1087 Thats enough

    Chapter 1087 That''s enough


    Liam did not have much experience usingher but at this moment it felt like his attack was still not enough. The guardian beasts were notpletely subdued just yet. Just like he suspected, they were beginning to break free from theher prison.


    However, Liam gritted his teeth, as he tried to maintain his control over them. Meanwhile,her raged in his body wreaking havoc at all ends. At this rate, even with the world seed''s aid, he would only be able tost for a couple more seconds.


    He could see that he needed to do more. With a loud grunt, he reached in for more.


    As he pushed himself to the limits, dark tendrils ofher appeared around the pirs and they began to intertwine with them. The additional surge of power created a sinister aura that intensified the grip on the guardian beasts.


    Even the strong life force of these powerful beasts felt the corrosive aura of the attack. The beasts roared and thrashed, their struggles growing more desperate as they fought against the increasingly oppressive hold of theher.


    Liam, on the other end, was not doing that much better. Dark ck lines started appearing on his body. His breathing grewbored and his body trembled under the strain.


    The dark ck lines on his skin pulsed and writhed, spreading across his body like intricate veins. Theher threatened to consume him, to turn him into a vessel of darkness.


    Liam did not know how long he could endure it. He also had a feeling that he was unnecessarily overusing the energy creating even more damage in his body than was needed.


    Despite being in the current precarious condition, his mind felt oddly calm, probably thanks to the world seed and he felt as if he was at the cusp of understanding something abouther.


    He tried to focus to get to this elusive thought in his mind as he desperately needed another trump card at the moment. However, before that could happen, suddenly a loud explosive sound reverberated in the distant ocean.


    Liam, including all the guardian beasts, even Luna this time, turned to stare dumbfoundedly in the same direction.


    However, the only thing that was visible was millions of droplets of water falling from the sky, creating a mesmerizing sight as they cascaded down in a torrential downpour.


    Liam''s eyes widened in surprise as he watched the spectacle unfold. As the water droplets fell, they began to gather and coalesce, forming a colossal figure amidst the chaos.


    It was a beingposed entirely of water, towering over the ocean''s surface with an imposing presence. The ocean from which it had emerged now only had a deep void within it.


    Liam''s face fell. Where the hell did this thinge from?


    The damn thing was colossal! Bigger than all of the guardian beasts put together!


    His control over the guardian beasts was already cracking and on top of that he was now supposed to fight this massive cmity?


    But then a thought entered Liam''s mind. Perhaps this was a water effigy just like the blood effigy with which he had battled earlier. Perhaps a stronger being who had restrictions had conjured this being.


    However, the moment the thought entered his mind, it was already shattered as the enormous water thing opened its eyes. Further, as if the water was simply a coating covering its body, the being now revealed a dark navy blue shiny coat.


    The blue coat glimmered under the reflection of the stormy skies, exuding an aura of power and dominance that sent a chill down Liam''s spine and he could finally see its full figure. It was a colossal whale-like creature.


    And as it opened its eyes, a pair of blood-red crimson orbs were revealed.


    Liam instantly knew that he was screwed. He did not have the time to think about these red eyes but the hostility in them was unmistakable. This meant that there was now yet another enemy he had to face and defend against to obtain possession of the world seed.


    His mind raced to find a strategy, but the overwhelming odds stacked against him made it difficult toe up with a n. All he wanted to do was survive and build a home where he and his family could live. Why was that so difficult?


    Ignited by the helplessness and frustration he felt, a rage bubbled inside him. Reflecting his mood, theher around him churned. At the same time, the mana around him also responded.


    With his body almost at the limit, Liam pushed forward. However, before he could do anything, unexpectedly a wave of warmth washed over him.


    "That''s enough, human." A strange voice sounded.


    Liam stilled as he could see the source of the voice. It wasing from the colossal whale. "I am not your enemy. Halt your actions. You are harming yourself."


    And the very next second, Liam shivered as a wave of agonizing pain washed over him. It looked like his physical body was truly at its limits controlling this amount ofher at once. However, he couldn''t let go just like that. If something were to happen-


    "Hmm. I see you are not one to easily listen to well-wishers."


    As soon as the beast finished talking, a loud rhythmic humming resounded in Liam''s ears. Without waiting for Liam to obey the orders, the beast made a move.


    But weirdly enough, Liam did not feel any pain after that. It was almost as if there was a healingponent in that melodious hum.


    "No. I haven''t healed you." The beast once again spoke as if it read his mind. "It''s an illusion that temporarily helps your mind to think calmly."


    "You can also release those idiots in your grasp. I have ced everyone under my illusionary spell. They will not stop you again. Do what is needed while I hold everyone back."


    "Don''t just stand there. When someone is helping you, ept it. Now go."

 Chapter 1088 The world seed

    Chapter 1088 The world seed


    Liam, still wary but sensing the sincerity in the colossal whale''s voice, hesitated for a moment before reluctantly releasing his hold on the guardian beasts just a little.


    As he did so, he felt the oppressive grip of theher prison dissipate, freeing the guardian beasts from their confinement momentarily.


    He could immediately see the beasts stand still as if they were lost in another world. Their crimson eyes were now pale white and they remained docile even if they were no longer under Liam''s control.


    "Now do you believe me?" The whale-like being spoke again. "I owe you an exnation but that can wait another time. I am sure you noticed it but these beasts are not themselves. They are corrupted. There is aplex magic at y here."


    "It took me this long to wash off the evil that gued me and my mind and I managed to do that only with the help of this world''s blessing and the world seed fragment in your hands."


    "I am afraid my fellow guardians did not have that advantage. They were consumed by corruption, their minds twisted and controlled by dark forces. It is a tragedy that they do not even realize they are standing against the very world they were created to protect."


    "I haven''t ovee it fully either but right this moment I have the rity to hold them back. So hurry it up. What are you waiting for?"


    Liam was at a loss for words. He could understand everything that was going on, at least the crux of it but there was still one question nagging him.


    "Do you know what to do with this seed?" He knew this was a silly question to ask at this critical juncture but¡­ what exactly was he supposed to do with the seed?


    It surely did note with a manual. With everything going on, he did not know if there was an borate way to do this or if he could just simply nt the damn thing anywhere he wished?


    The colossal whale let out an annoyed gurgle and then spoke with a hint of impatience in its voice. "You hold the world seed, and yet you still question its purpose? It is a simple matter of nting it anywhere you wish. Where the seed touches the ground, it bes a sacrednd."


    Liam nodded. He immediately shot down to the ground to do the deed. He had no idea whether what he was doing made sense but he did not see the draconian princess around and he had no time to do anything else.


    He knelt down, holding the world seed in his hands, and pressed it gently into the ground. Now what?


    As soon as the seed made contact with the earth, a soft glow emanated from its core, spreading outward in a radiant wave. He watched in awe as the ground beneath him transformed.


    Lush vegetation sprouted forth, vibrant flowers bloomed, and the air seemed to hum with new life. It was as if the very essence of the world responded to the presence of the seed, embracing its power and regenerating thend.


    The corrupted energy that had gued the surroundings began to recede, reced by a renewed vitality.


    The guardian beasts, still under the influence of the colossal whale''s spell, stood witness to this transformation, their pale white eyes filled with a mixture of confusion and relief.


    "If you want to, go ahead and dribble your blood onto it. Then it will bind with you forever."


    Liam stared at the magnificent creature for a moment.


    "What are you looking at, brat? I am not that selfless but I can feel the pain that you are sensing at the moment. For all you have done for this world, you deserve this. You deserve to be the lord of this world."


    Liam was taken aback by the colossal whale''s unexpected words, but the fox standing on his side vigorously nodded her head. Her master did indeed deserve to be the lord of the world! Her master was the best!


    Taking a deep breath, Liam extended his hand and allowed a small cut to form on his palm. A few drops of his blood fell onto the seed, mingling with its power.


    As the blood touched the seed, a surge of energy coursed through Liam''s body, intertwining his essence with that of the world seed. He could feel a connection forming, a bond that tied him to thend and its well-being.


    For a second, it felt as if an enormous cocoon of warmth enveloped him. It was as if he was teleported to an entirely different world. He did not know where he was, and what he was sensing. There was only an endless void and boundless power.


    But there was something beyond that which was within his grasp and just as Liam extended to grab it, suddenly everything was ck.


    Dark lines appeared on the cocoon and the shell of energy was starting to crack. Liam opened his eyes in shock. What was happening?


    This time the huge beast in front of him remained silent. It seemed it also did not have an answer to this question.


    Liam''s heart raced as he once again tried to probe his connection with the seed. However, he only watched the cracks in the cocoon of energy grow wider. Panic surged within him, and he frantically tried to understand what was happening.


    The colossal whale''s voice broke through the darkness. "This... this was not supposed to happen. The corruption, it has found its way even to the world seed."


    As the cracks in the cocoon continued to spread, a surge of dark energy burst forth. The corrupted essence seeped into the surroundings, twisting the newly formedndscape with its malevolence.


    Liam''s mind raced, trying toprehend the situation. He knew that this was happening because of theher array, but he did not know what he could do now?


    He had hoped the world seed would cleanse theher infected world and not the other way around. However, now it looked like theher array was also influencing the world seed.


    Had the divine temple high priestess already foreseen him obtaining the world seed? Had she already taken countermeasures even for this?


    Liam shuddered at that thought. If so then their world was truly doomed. What was he supposed to do now? His control of theher was near perfect so could he do something about this?


    He tried to reach into the seed or the cocoon once again and this time he forcibly willed for the ck lines to stop spreading.

 Chapter 1089 Boiling Point

    1089 Boiling Point


    Liam did not know if he would seed or not but at this point, he simply had to try anything and everything that he could. There were no guidelines for what he was doing. He was relying on purely intuition. Nevertheless, he needed to not lose here.


    He reached into the depth of the seed and started forcibly pulling out all of theher into himself. Considering his experience withher, a part of him expected this to be fairly easy but unfortunately, the day was not his.


    Though his affinity to theher was near perfect, trying to pull out theher from the world seed seemed almost impossible. It was an uphill climb and he was not even able to take a step forward.


    When Liam tried to force further, a searing pain coursed through his body. He was trying to dominate the energy but it was not willing.


    It was as if the seed had a higher affinity for theher whenpared to him. Liam frowned at the thought and tried again, only to fail.


    He was unwilling to ept defeat here and kept trying again and again. Every time he tried, the pain only became worse and the whale beast guardian stepped in to help him. It sent out another illusionary wave and just like that the pain Liam felt disappeared.


    Liam was fully aware that the injuries his body had umted so far were enough to destroy himpletely but he was at a stage where he couldn''t back out. He had to keep going. He had a feeling he could seed if he just tried a little bit more.


    Time ticked by as seconds turned into minutes. Liam was still failing but he was failing better. The ck veins covering his body now started to harden and theher from the world seed was trickling into his body one minuscule drop at a time.


    His body at the moment looked like a mosaic of mana andher, both in ces where they shouldn''t be. The two energies shed against each other, creating havoc in his being. They were ripping him apart from the inside out.


    However, like the silver lining that appeared after a storm, a realization suddenly dawned upon him. The tenth time Liam suffered from the bacsh of infusing the two opposing forces into his body, he had an epiphany.


    The next moment, he gritted his teeth and started consciously channeling the mana in his body. At the same time, he also channeled theher in his body.


    The two being opposite forces that repulsed each other helped a lot as he used the feeling to forcefully channel one half of his body with mana and the other half of the body withher.


    Liam''s face immediately lit up. It was working. He could now extract a lot moreher from the world seed. Perhaps because he did not ept the energypletely before, he couldn''t do it.


    But now, he was wholeheartedly pulling everything in his reach. Slowly but surely the world seed was being cleansed. Except that this came at a cost.


    Liam could feel theher half of his body slowly starting to corrode away and it was not just his physical body.


    It was his life force, his mind, his soul, and his body. He could feel everything slowly and slowly being eroded little by little. The very thing that made him strong was killing him.


    But it was just a little so Liam did not dare stop the process and continued purifying the world seed.


    One second passed. Two seconds passed. The pain coursing through his body became unbearable as with each passing second he was losing more and more.


    Liam continued to hold on and all of a sudden the world seed started shining brighter. Most of the ck lines were now removed and only a few were left. As if the seed reacted to Liam''s will, something else also started happening. The seed started cracking.


    At first, Liam became frozen. It seemed as if the seed was damaged. However, he turned out to be wrong. The very next second, the seed started sprouting.


    From the cracks in the world seed, a single sprout emerged, breaking through the surface of the earth. Liam''s eyes went wide. It worked. It actually worked. Now would everything halt?


    As if answering his question, suddenly something in the air shifted. Then Liam felt it. The enormous slumbering beast came alive!


    Theher array that spanned the entirety of the world burst forth with raw power. How? Liam shot up in the sky, only to see the red pirs of light turning pitch ck.


    He could feel the raw power emanating from these pirs imbuing life into theher array. And that implications of its words. He did not have the time for it.


    11:00


    In the split second before the so-called Lich kings could unleash the next wave of attacks, Liam did raw power was in the form of countless undeads!


    As if this was not enough, the space around him distorted and ten giant otherworldly creatures appeared around Liam and they were not alone.


    <Level 400, Lich King Demacus>


    <Level 450 Lich King Blittor>


    <Level 410 Lich King Cenor>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam''s eyes turned cold as he watched these ten lich kings along with their army of undead mages, all target the single small sprout. Countless sts of darkness assaulted the same target.


    Without hesitation, Liam took action. The energy crackled around him as he unleashed a powerful st, intercepting the dark assaults aimed at the sprout.


    Thick walls appeared around the small sprout and the dense pureher swallowed the attack. It was clear whose attack was superior.


    However, the condition of the two sides was not the same. Liam winced in pain as he was truly approaching his limit. The more he usedher, the more he was withering away.


    And with this condition, he had to face ten high-leveled beings whose abilities he had no idea about. He needed to finish this fight right now. Otherwise, everything would have been for naught.


    "You only need a few more seconds!" The whale-like beast guardian reminded him. The huge creature was still holding down the other beast guardians who seem to have be even more difficult to handle thanks to the burst power of theher array.


    Liam only barely registered the words of the beast. He neither understood the meaning nor the implications of its words. He did not have the time for it.


    In the split second before the so-called Lich kings could unleash the next wave of attacks, Liam did not hold back and used the final trump card he had been saving for so long.


    With another painful grunt, hemanded the endlessher roiling around him to shoot forward. Not towards the lich kings but towards the vast army of undead surrounding them.


    For a moment, everything stilled. Then the ten lich kings made their next move and sent one more attack towards the small sprout but unexpectedly this time their armies did not back up their attack. Instead, they attacked them.

 Chapter 1090 Crescendo

    ?


    The same time the Lich Kings attacked the sprout, the army of undead attacked the Lich Kings,pletely out of their control. These creatures were deemed to be the most powerful in their realm and held that position mainly because of their armies.


    But at the moment, their own army of faithful undeads was attacking them. Chaos andmotion erupted as the battlefield became a big mess.


    On this side, the other beast guardians slowly started slipping out and started attacking each other as if they had bepletely rabid.


    In the midst of this pandemonium, Liam held strong and stood his ground. Not letting a single attacknd on the small sprout, he erected barrier after barrier of thickher protecting the world seed and its sprout with everything he had.


    Perhaps because of the connection he had with the world seed, Liam somehow knew that the words of the whale guardian beast were true.


    He only needed some more time for the sprout to stabilize and once that happened, all of this was going to end.


    He gritted his teeth and held on. He could feel it. The sprout was getting stronger and stronger and the pulse beating inside it was also resonating with a significant power.


    With every second that passed by, a new root emerged, from which the life force of the small sprout and the life force of the entire itself was bing one.


    Liam could vaguely feel the resonation and it was like a st in his mind. He could feel infinite power, an endless void, several things that he could not bring himself toprehend.


    Sensing that the world seed was going to sessfully mature, theher beings around him became even more enraged, and countless attacks poured on the small sprout from all directions.


    The temporary control Liam held over the undead army had also dissipated and the lich kings and their army was once again back to targeting Liam and the world seed. A few of the guardian beasts also did the same.


    At this point, Liam didn''t even bother fighting back these enemies individually. Using the mana and theher that was swirling around him, he erected barrier after barrier.


    The world tree sprout was aiding him, pumping him up with mana. Nether was everywhere. So hecked neither and continued blocking all the attacksing his way in a mad rage.


    Liam was truly standing on thin ice. Nevertheless, he was still standing. A few more seconds was all he needed.


    But, at this crucial time, suddenly a familiar voice sounded and Liam froze. "Lad, do you think it''s so easy to take good things away from me? Twice?"


    Standing in front of Liam, amidst the vapors ofher was Crawford, the PVP tower master. Liam''s face fell as he had no idea how this crazy old guy had escaped from the game world.


    And what the hell was he doing in this world? The man might look weak and feeble but Liam knew that things were not that simple.


    Before his brain could register what was going on, the old man raised his hand and the next second a st of power assaulted him.


    CRACK!


    That was the final straw that was needed to break everything. Panic and dread filled Liam as he gave ast-ditch effort with everything he had to block the attack. He channeled mana andher furiously, but¡­


    Mayhem ensued.


    Everything became pitch-ck.


    Nether was everywhere.


    For a moment, every single living being present on the earth held their breath as death and decay knocked on their doorstep.


    But in the midst of this darkness, a small lightness sprouted. The world seed sprouted sessfully.


    Rings of mana, divinity, light, holiness, life, and nature rippled from the small sprout battling theher that was everywhere.


    One linked with another and the two energiesbusted consuming each other. Everything sparked. The very air was charged with energy.


    People who were below level 5 couldn''t handle it any longer. The air caused them to turn mad and they became frenzied zombies.


    People who were below level 10 then followed suit. Screams and cries echoed everywhere as one by one all the human beings started falling.


    However, the torture soon stopped. People who were level 20 and above were finally able to somehow survive. The air around them also cleared up a little.


    "What the hell is happening?" Alex shouted watching several people around her burn and wither away. "Liam!" She shivered as she felt the familiar sting ofher. She could see that something big was happening. Was Liam okay?


    Shen Yue and Mei Mei abruptly turned to look at her, taking in the gravity of her words. Rey, Lan Fen, Lan Deming, Abraki, Madan, everyone had grave looks on their faces.


    One second they were battling the undead and grinding experience points furiously and the next second everything changed.


    Only the oracle seemed indifferent. "One reaps what one sows." He mumbled to himself, not revealing anything to anyone and letting nature take its course.


    Meanwhile, back at the scene of the crime, a small barrier formed around the world tree sprout. This barrier had a special shade, a color that was both blue and ck.


    No one could near the small sprout any longer and no attack could touch it.


    The sprout was stable. The world tree had been sessfully initiated.


    And from this small thing, a pir of energy shot upward as the same kind of barrier emerged around the entire world,pletely sealing it and everything with it.


    At this moment, every single human being who was still alive in the world heard something in their ears, the resounding chime of a system notification.


    <Congrattions, Earthlings!>


    <Your world is now initiated to join the myriad realmswork>


    <Theplete integration will ur in a decade when your world tree fully matures>


    A wave of dead silence enveloped the entire world. All the human beings who were terrorized up until now by the sudden unexpected events froze and stared at the notification.


    In the midst of this confusion, one person alone chuckled as he limped forward and bent down. "So this is the new world''s world tree?" Crawford''s face twisted into an ugly grin.


    His beady eyes then looked around as if he was searching for something else.


    There were charred remains of huge monstrous beasts. There were heaps and heaps of bones and decayed flesh that was rotting.


    The red or rather the ck pirs of light were no longer there. Theher array was nowhere to be seen.


    There was mana everywhere but there was alsoher everywhere. Small explosions urred in the air when the swirls of the two energies shed.


    Everything was as he predicted. However¡­


    "Tch. Where is that little bastard''s corpse? I wanted to make him my puppet and enve him for all eternity. This is disappointing." Crawford spat out.


    "The spatial treasure is also missing. Where did it go? Did one of those undead bastards disappear with it? I need to talk to the priestess about this."


    "Rotten bastard. Even in his death, he had caused me loss! Hmph!"


    The old man cursed and spat a few more times to his heart''s content before retrieving a small golden token from his robe. He then held the token close to his mouth and mumbled.


    "That bastard is dead, priestess. I personally confirmed it."


    ***** END OF VOLUME *****


    Author''s Note: Hi everyone, thanks for your constant support and motivation. I hope you all enjoyed this volume. I would like to share some good news with you all. We have been blessed with a cute baby girl. She is a bundle of joy, spit and poop and she is taking all of my time which is why the release rate has been sporadic. This should soon settle down. Thank you for your patience and continued support. Looking forward to sharing the rest of the story with you all!


    Discord Link for chatting with the author and character art: https://discord.gg/XS7gWScKn8


    For my new story and for special perks, please visit: p.a.t.r.e.o.n/yolohy


    Follow the author on Instagram for other updates: yolohy_webnovel

 Chapter 1091 She is mine

    Chapter 1091 She is mine


    "Hmmm?" Liam shed his eyes open suddenly with a mix of anxiety and panic surging within him. As his thoughts and vision cleared he abruptly sat up and snapped out of it.


    What happened? Where was he? A million thoughts raced in his mind. However, before he could think about any of that, something even more pressing came up.


    Pain.


    Agonizing pain bore down on him from all sides without any warning as every inch of his body burned with an unimaginable torment.


    Liam clenched his teeth, his face contorting in agony as he struggled to endure the excruciating pain. It felt as if every nerve in his body was being seared with fire, pulsating with an intensity that threatened to consume him entirely.


    As he writhed in torment, he took deep breaths, trying to steady his racing heart and focus his scattered thoughts. With a surge of determination, he forced himself to look around him to grasp what was happening.


    Was he even alive at this point?


    Thest thing Liam remembered was seeing the face of that old bastard. He had somehow shown up at a critical time and screwed everything up.


    "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it." Liam punched the ground around him in frustration, not caring in the least that it was worsening his already existing torturous pain.


    He had tried everything he could and did everything he could, even at the expense of his own life and future and yet it was still not enough!


    When that higher existence wanted to crush him, in the end, he just became crushed like an insect.


    Damn it.


    Liam looked around, almost not wanting to see what was happening.


    This world they were living in was ruthless. It was unforgiving where the one who lost had no choice but death or if one still managed to escape death, something even worse awaited them.


    What awaited him?


    A sound interrupted him causing him to get out of his thoughts and focus on his surroundings when he instantly became shocked.


    Where he expected to find nothing except death, decay, and darkness, there was broad daylight and aforting cool breeze brushing against his skin. The sound that had gotten his attention was that of a bird chirping.


    Thendscape stretched out before him, lush with vibrant foliage and colorful flowers, a stark contrast to the image he had in his mind.


    Confusion mingled with relief as Liam took in his surroundings. He found himself in a serene meadow, surrounded by rolling hills and distant mountains that kissed the horizon. The sky above was a clear expanse of blue, adorned with wisps of fluffy white clouds.


    Bearing the all-consuming pain, he cautiously rose to his feet. He scanned the area for any signs of danger, but all he could see were the serene beauty and tranquility of the meadow. There were no immediate threats or hostile beings in sight.


    With a sense of trepidation, Liam took his first steps forward, his bare feet sinking into the soft, velvety grass. What happened?


    Did this mean he had won? The world tree had taken root? They had cleansed the world ofher?


    As if answering his question, a series of notifications shed in front of him.


    [Ding: Wee to the Myriad Realms Network]


    [Ding: Your system ess privileges are now upgraded]


    [Ding: Congrattions. You have obtained a new title - Earth''s first Realmhopper]


    [Ding: Congrattions. You have received 50 bonus stat points freely avable to allot to any of the attributes]


    Liam''s face paled. "Realmhopper¡­ Realmhopper¡­ " He mumbled in a daze.


    The weight of the words in the system notification slowly dawned on him. The fifty extra stat points which would have been a wee surprise any other time were now only a stark reminder of reality, the painful reality that he was now in another realm!


    Liam shuddered. He frantically tried to make sense of the situation. Where was he? How did he get here? How did he manage to get to an entirely different realm? More importantly, what happened to theher array?


    Every single person whom he loved was back there in that sinkhole. What was the point of him alone surviving if everyone else was lost?


    overwhelming emotions crashing over him.


    However, his thoughts were interrupted by amotion nearby.


    Tears welled up in Liam''s eyes as he fell to his knees, his body shaking with a mix of despair and confusion. The pain that had once consumed him now seemed trivial inparison to the overwhelming emotions crashing over him.


    However, his thoughts were interrupted by amotion nearby.


    Liam''s gaze lifelessly fell upon the small group gathered a few feet away from him. It was a group of short green-skinned creatures, looking somewhat akin to goblins but seemingly stronger and sharper than them.


    "She is mine." One of them shrieked.


    "Hands off, you bastard. She is mine."


    "Keep your stinking ass away. That woman is mine."


    Liam knew that he shouldn''t be able to understand these creatures but right now he could very clearly listen to their conversation.


    Not caring about why this was the case, his gaze lingered on the ground, where a person was lying unconscious. The goblins were precisely fighting over this person.


    Liam stiffened up as he immediately recognized the familiar face. The answer to why he ended up here was clear.


    The draconian princess had dragged him here and right now she was lying unconscious a few feet ahead of him.


    As he stood there silently and watched the bunch of cruel creatures lust over her and fight over her, suddenly the woman''s lips parted and a groan escaped. Her eyebrows moved and her eyes strained to open.


    Liam nkly walked over to her. The moment the goblins saw himing, the bunch of creatures quickly scattered away, disappearing with the wind.


    Right at that moment, Liam was covered in blood from top to bottom. Not to mention the aura seeping out of him was something the creatures couldn''t handle.


    And luckily for them, Liam''s attention waspletely on the draconian princess. He took out a high-grade healing potion from his spatial artifact and slowly emptied it into the woman''s mouth.

 Chapter 1092 Broken

    Chapter 1092 Broken


    With a face devoid of any emotions, Liam waited for the draconian princess to recover. Despite administering four healing potions, the effect seemed minimal at best. She continued to groan, a sign that she was still alive, but there was no indication that she would awaken anytime soon.


    A heavy sigh escaped Liam''s lips. He suspected that she was somehow responsible for bringing him to this ce, although he felt neither happiness nor gratitude towards her.


    Seating himself beside her, memories from both his lifetimes flooded his mind, each one causing him a piercing ache.


    The realization that, despite all his efforts, he had still failed stung like an open wound. In his desperate pursuit to alter his fate and that of his sister, he had even neglected to spend meaningful time with her during his second chance.


    He had toiled tirelessly, only to lose everything once again.


    Regret washed over him in waves as he silently contemted the sole survivor beside him. Time passed, and the excruciating pain coursing through his body forced him to confront the present. Closing his eyes, he focused on assessing his condition.


    But in the next instant, his eyes snapped open in shock. Tremors ran through his body as he struggled to believe what he had just experienced. Closing his eyes again, he attempted to replicate the sensation.


    This time, he was certain.


    Tears welled in his eyes as a faint, yet familiar connection to two distinct beings flooded his senses. One was the little fox, and astonishingly, the other was the world tree itself.


    If his connection to the world tree remained intact, there was a chance that theher array had been halted. Then, was everyone still alive?


    Liam''s demeanor shifted abruptly. There was no room for self-pity or despair when there was a glimmer of hope.


    And Luna!


    His connection to the world tree was extremely faint, but his mental connection with the little fox was much stronger. He could feel that she was alive.


    Determined, Liam steadied himself and delved into meditation once more, reaching out for her presence. This time, he felt it more clearly.


    She was nearby, right where he was, yet frustratingly out of his reach. He couldn''t contact her.


    A surge of emotions overwhelmed Liam. The realization that he hadn''t lost everyone after all rekindled his sense of purpose. While nothing had mattered when he believed he was alone, the connection to Luna triggered him.


    Anger surged within him, an overwhelming torrent that multiplied a hundredfold, a thousandfold. It consumed him, fueling a burning desire for revenge. The mere thought of being pushed into a corner, unable to protect his family and survive, ignited a primal fury within him.


    The woman was hell bent on using his momentary weakness to forever seal him and bury him. She closed off all the doors and hit him from every direction. But he was. Still alive.


    Liam clenched his fist.


    Do they know he survived? What happened to everyone? Where was Luna, and what was this ce? He had several questions in mind. There was a lot that needed to be done.


    But first, he needed to recover.


    He had taken some drastic measures, even going so far as to ruin himself in the process. He needed to assess the extent of the damage.


    Liam wasn''t sure if the priestess was aware of his survival, but if she wasn''t, then this was his chance. He needed to be stronger in the shadow, strong enough to take back everything.


    Time was running out. He did not know what condition Luna was in. Even if the world tree still remained, there was Crawford.


    Liam knew about that old man. He was extremely vengeful and petty. He wouldn''t let anyone who was close to him live.


    He trusted in the capability of his guild, but against Crawford, they might not be able to run and hide for long. He needed to hurry. If everyone was indeed alive, then he needed to get stronger as soon as possible.


    Liam steadied himself.


    Pain wrecked his body, and he was not able to thoroughly assess his condition. So he opened his status screen first. He wanted to see what the updated system looked like and what additional details it came with.


    ______________


    Name: Liam Chang


    Race: Human


    Level: 234


    ss: Necromancer [C]; Soulmancer [SSS] (Locked)


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Earth


    Titles: Earth''s First Evolver, Earth''s First Realmhopper


    Mana Core: Red, Awakened [Broken]


    Nether Core: Obsidian, Awakened [Broken]


    Soul: Second Order [Broken]


    Pathway: Dao seed of mana maniption; Dao seed ofher maniption


    ______________


    Vitality: 65 (410)


    Stamina: 25 (390)


    Strength: 87 (370)


    Intellect: 67 (420)


    Agility: 45 (395)


    Luck: 625


    Physical Defense: 5


    Mental Defense: 23


    Soul Defense: 5


    Free Stat Points: 200


    ______________


    After opening his system interface, the first thing that Liam saw was his level, and he couldn''t believe his eyes. Thest time he checked, he was somewhere around Level 100, and now he was at level 234?


    He quickly looked at his stats when an even more shocking result was disyed. All of his stats were utterly abysmal.


    Liam saw the number in the bracket and assumed that these were his real stats, and the stats that were disyed were probably because of his injuries, thereby disying his current condition.


    Just like his stats, his defense was also miserable. Those goblins that scattered upon seeing him could probably finish him off at the moment.


    The only saving grace was the 200 free stat points. This was probably the stat points he had gained from the extra levels he was seeing. But just when did he level up?


    Liam''s eyes once again went to his status screen, and he read it from top to bottom. Seeing it more patiently, he observed that there were several new details, such as alignment, his newly obtained titles, and then his eyes fell upon the four most important details.


    He now had a mana core and aher core!


    Before Liam could understand how this happened, he saw the thing written on the side. Broken and Broken.


    Not just these two but it looked like his soul as well received an upgrade, going from first order to second order and it also had the status of broken.


    Liam stared at the things with smoldering eyes as he grimaced. "So I gained a lot but it is all broken?"


    This was something he had already expected but still it was a blow to actually see it analyzed by the system. As for how to go about repairing these things, he had no clue.


    Taking a deep breath, he then paid attention to thest detail that was added. Dao seed of mana maniption and Dao seed ofher maniption.

 Chapter 1093 The trail of mana

    Chapter 1093 The trail of mana


    "Dao seed of mana maniption and Dao seed ofher maniption?" Liam pondered various things as he stared at these two little terms. What was dao? What does this mean?


    He fully did not understand the implications of these terms and their significance, but he could probably guess what happened. It should be because of his fight to protect the world tree sprout and his maniptingher and mana at the same time that this had popped out.


    To understand what really had happened and what exactly he had gained, Liam tried to go through the system notifications. Just like he expected, there was no notification of any experience gained.


    Instead, there were simply two notifications that had popped up about the dao seeds. Surprisingly, the level up notifications came immediately following these two notifications about the dao seed.


    Liam raised his brow, staring at this. He knew exactly how difficult it was to increase levels after 20 or 30, but he had gained about 100 levels at once, and it seemed like this was directly rted to these dao seeds.


    Perhaps this was the right way to increase one''s strength after a certain point? That did not sound right. One cannot improve withoutbat.


    Though Liam did not know what exactly this was, he could vaguely tell that it was rted to understanding mana andher better on a deeper level.


    But this understanding would note withoutbat. In fact, he wouldn''t have received these dao seeds without even knowing what they were if he weren''t in that life or death situation.


    The right way to go forward was definitely a mix of both.


    However, this brought up another question in Liam''s mind. What about his soul maniption?


    More than manipting mana or theher, Liam had spent more time manipting souls. He had a soul army to boot and had even sessfully managed to heal his soul several times.


    Then where was the dao seed of soul maniption?


    What was hecking?


    Liam took out a high-grade healing potion and drained it into his mouth.


    He had purposefully allowed the pain to run rampant in his body, as it was helping him wash away his guilt and anger, but now he needed to think and rebuild everything that was broken. He was not done yet.


    Liam felt a wave of warmth spread across his body. It repaired the small cuts and bruises that adorned his body, but it did not do anything to repair what was broken.


    Liam also did not expect this to happen. The healing potion did not alleviate any of his pain. All he got was a minuscule amount of relief. He then took out some of the world seed water and drank it in big gulps, followed by slowly chewing a high-grade beast''s meat.


    This gave him another minuscule amount of relief. The world seed water then started doing its work by slowly nourishing his body and repairing bits and pieces of it.


    Liam closed his eyes and used the momentary relief the world seed water provided here and there to examine his body more closely.


    His face darkened as he took a look at everything. Or rather, nothing.


    His body waspletely totaled. One half of his body was wrecked by mana, and the other half was wrecked byher.


    All of his mana pathways were burned to a crisp. Liam did not even haveher pathways to begin with. The energy had simply run rampant in his body, leaving damage and scars in its wake.


    Liam did not think that his body was damaged to this extent. At the moment, he could feel the dense swirls of mana present in the air. This world he was in was extremely rich in mana.


    However, inside his body, there was barely a trickle of mana flowing through, and that too after he had put in tremendous effort to do it.


    He tried to summon his soul minions but nothing was happening except for the searing pain in his soul ripping him a new one.


    This was not going to cut it. He was basically crippled, as he was now. He needed to repair his soul, body, and core. He was also mentally exhausted.


    The elixirs and recipes in his possession were not good enough. Perhaps something rted to the world tree would have worked, but all he had was world seed run off water. And that was not working.


    Liam sighed and stood up. He looked at the draconian princess, who was still lying unconscious. He swept her into his spatial artifact.


    Now it was time to find out just where the hell he was. Everything else had to wait after that.


    Liam looked around, trying to see if there was some clue as to where he was. The system notification also did not say anything about that.


    He briefly paused and studied his surroundings. He seemed to be in the middle of a forest, basically in the middle of nowhere. He started walking.


    Liam expected to find something, perhaps a beast or even the goblins from before so that he could get some idea, but to his luck, there was absolutely nothing that came his way.


    However, after walking for some time, he noticed a strange urrence. The mana in the air was not the same. It was very subtle, but he was walking in a mana gradient.


    The further he walked, the thinner the mana became. It was not very noticeable, but with Liam''s attunement, he could sense the small, minuscule shift.


    Liam stopped and then started walking in the other direction. This sort of mana gradient had to be caused by something, and now he was moving toward whatever was emitting that massive amount of mana.


    He continued drinking the world seed water in his possession, each sip nurturing him a little. His stats were slowly recovering, though they were not close to what they should be.


    Hours passed by and the mana in the air was starting to be thicker and thicker and soon enough, Liam arrived at the source of this immense amount of mana.

 Chapter 1094 Eldrin Silverthorn

    Chapter 1094 Eldrin Silverthorn


    "I am fucked," Eldrin Silverthorn heaved and panted, his breath ragged as he cast his gaze upward. Before him stood a towering mountain range, and at its center, an enormous sword stood upright, exuding an aura of power and majesty.


    The sword''s sheer size and imposing presence overwhelmed Eldrin. It was a weapon of immense proportions, far beyond anything he had ever encountered.


    Its gleaming de, reflecting the sunlight, seemed to mock his own insignificance. He could feel the weight of his own mortality as he stood before this colossal manifestation of strength.


    Doubt and fear crept into Eldrin''s mind. The task ahead of him felt insurmountable, and the odds seemed stacked against him and yet here he was standing in this world.


    Eldrin moved as fast as he could, faster than his usual speed, at least the one that he led others to believe was his. He was not pulling any punches at the moment. He needed to reach the trial grounds first. Otherwise, his chance of survival would further plummet.


    He activated the movement skill that he had purchased and practiced in secret, even achieving high proficiency, and used all of his energy reserves to cover the distance.


    He cut through the lush green forests, darted across meandering rivers, and ascended treacherous cliffs with unparalleled agility.


    The terrain grew more treacherous as he neared but he continued running forward irrespectively. Soon he was standing in front of the vast expanse of mountains.


    Huuuu¡­ Eldrin let out a deep breath as he stared at the sight in shock.


    The entire ce was foggy so he couldn''t quite catch the full view from the distance but now that he was nearer, the fog had magically disappeared.


    Stretching all the way to the horizon, an unfathomable expanse of mountains loomed before him. The towering peaks seemed to touch the heavens, their jagged edges veiled in mist.


    What struck him most, however, was not their sheer number, but the astonishing sight that unfolded.


    Eldrin''s eyes widened in awe as he beheld the sprawling panorama before him.


    The mountainscape was a symphony of architectural marvels, each structure telling a story of the people who once inhabited this world.


    The mountains stood like guardians, cradling within their rocky embrace a tapestry of dwellings.


    Towering pagodas with intricate rooftops reached for the sky, their elegant curves a testament to ancient craftsmanship. Grand pces, adorned with ornate carvings and gleaming golden ents, stood as proud reminders of bygone empires.


    Nestled among the imposing structures were humble huts, their thatched roofs blending harmoniously with the naturalndscape.


    Each dwelling, no matter its size or shape, bore the imprints of lives once lived, memories etched into their very foundations.


    marks of decay and battle scars.


    The ravages of time had taken their toll, leaving these awe-inspiring However, the once-majestic buildings now bore the unmistakable marks of decay and battle scars.


    The ravages of time had taken their toll, leaving these awe-inspiring creations in a state of disrepair. Crumbling facades and shattered walls told stories of ancient conflicts and the passage of countless years.


    The grandeur and splendor that once thrived in this realm nowy in ruins, a haunting reminder of the fragility of existence.


    And amidst the remnants of this ancient civilization, the colossal sword stood as a symbol of power and defiance, its de pointing towards the heavens as if challenging the very gods themselves.


    Eldrin''s heart pounded in his chest, his body weary from the arduous journey. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead as he contemted the enormity of the task ahead.


    He knew that to ovee this trial, he would need to summon every ounce of courage, strength, and resilience within him. The chances of him making out alive from this were spectacrly thin but he had to do it. Even if it was just to spite those who wanted him to die.


    Eldrin had done his best to make sure something like this would never happen. He had worked for decades to cultivate an image that would ensure that he wouldn''t get picked.


    Yes, he was a direct heir of one of the big families of the kingdom. But with his wastrel image and the amount of time he spent in brothels and taverns, one would think that these old geezers wouldn''t spare him any nce.


    However, he was sorely mistaken. They still picked him anyway.


    Of course, he knew very well why they had done so. Even though he was a wastrel, his ancestors had once been able to assimte the bloodline and be powerful pirs of the kingdom.


    His ancestor was one of the five because of whom this damned kingdom existed in the first ce and yet this was how they treated their family.


    His three big, beefy brothers were already toast, and now it looked like it was his turn to bite the dust. Even if he was a good-for-nothing, it seemed they were still determined not to let him go.


    He was pretty sure that those wily old geezers made all the necessary preparations. Otherwise, why would they have opened the mystic realm that was the royal family''s personal training ground to everyone else?


    Maybe they even arranged for specific royal guards to assassinate him. Eldrin wouldn''t put anything past them.


    But this was where they had gone wrong. Eldrin still had many aces hidden in his sleeves. Right in front of them, he had improved his strength to a sufficient level.


    He nced at the bracelet in his hand that hid his true power. It was a top treasure that had cost dearly and emptied more than half of his family''s coffers but it was worth it.


    Want to kill me in the ruins? I will grab the ultimate treasure and bitch p all of your faces!


    Unlike his idiotic family, he no longer had any attachments to his treacherous kingdom. Screw the kingdom and screw the so-called family legacy.


    Taking a moment to collect himself, Eldrin straightened his posture and focused his gaze on the distant peak where the sword stood. That was where the real treasure was.


    Determination burned in his eyes as he made his move.

 Chapter 1095 Fucked

    Chapter 1095 Fucked


    In the dim light of the ruined pagoda, a group of elves grumbled andined as they searched the premises for anything of value.


    "Ah! This isn''t fair! Our earlier generations had it so much easier, but we have to suffer. The concentration of the blood essence strings is so low that we haven''te across even one until now."


    "Shut up. This time the trip to ancient ruins is not about acquiring any treasures or even acquiring any of the blood essence strings. This time it is all about survival."


    "Meh. You are just being too cautious. Every decade when the gate to the ruins is opened, there is always bloody carnage in there. Of all the people who enter here, several die. This is nothing to be shocked about. It is expected."


    "No. No. I think you have not heard about the news yet. This time the ruins is going to be more crowded than ever. The Emperor has opened the gates of the ruins to many major kingdoms. Each Kingdom received 20 slots!"


    "Shit! Doesn''t the Empire have 100 slots? That too, all the big ns have ten slots. This is definitely going to be a bloodbath."


    "Aye! Not just that. The Emperor has also opened up the ruins for some C-grade worlds and D-grade worlds, giving some of our distant branch families some slots too. These guys coughed up quite a pretty penny for this purpose."


    "But why is he doing all this?"


    "Ok. This rumor might not be true but I heard that the inner veil of the ruins is being brought down this time. Apparently, the Emperor wants his prodigal son to attempt the impossible."


    "How did the crown prince allow that?"


    "Aye! It''s all timing! The third prince made a breakthrough and reached Level 1000."


    "Hot damn! He should be the youngest elf to achieve this feat."


    "Yup, and that''s why the Emperor is arranging for this trip. And that''s why heads are going to roll."


    "Ahhh¡­ politics¡­ a person can''t even trust their own kith and kin."


    "You bunch of idiots! Stop gossiping like little bitches and get to work. Your elven ass is not going to get shit if we don''t increase our pace."


    "Alright. Alright. Let''s move. We found the entrance to the ruins, so now we need to get inside. Maybe we can find one or two treasures?"


    "Hmph! You are aiming too low! I n to kill some soul blood beasts. I reached Level 700 already. I might not be some prodigal hot shot but this Loraethal is not that bad."


    The group of elves furiously searched the pagoda, only to step out empty-handed. But none of them seemed to be bothered by this. After all, they were still on the outskirts of the ruins and everything that was valuable in these ces was already stripped clean.


    The group then hunkered down to plot their next move and chose another target. This time they chose a target closer to the ground. Logically, this was a bad thing to do.


    In these mana rich mountains, it was best to target ces at the top of the mountains where the mana was most abundant. The civilization here was set up in that manner.


    However, this group chose to go for a small building at the bottom. This was because everyone who entered the ruins only had a limited time to search the ce for treasures and valuables.


    So most people would target the living abodes at the top of the mountains to obtain something valuable as most prominent people would have probably resided at the top.


    This group of elves decided to do the opposite and search the bottom areas in case there were any items overlooked by their predecessors. Perhaps the lower buildings were ignored thinking that they wouldn''t have something valuable.


    The elf named Loraethal suggested this idea and the others seemed to think that this was a good method. Being in the outer part of the ruins, maybe if they employed this strategy they coulde across a herb or two.


    A few minutes passed when they descended the mountain and entered the building. However, at thest minute, Loraethal stopped. "Hey. Look there. Is that a crevice? Don''t you guys think that it is quite big? Perhaps someone lived there?"


    The group immediately paused their descent and floated in the air. They might not be prodigies but they were elves born in a B-grade world. Their growth and potentials were nothing to be scoffed at.


    Moreover, each one of them was around Level 700 or so. They daringly stepped inside the crevice to explore opportunities. One of the elves summoned a faint flickering me that lit up their path ahead.


    The crevice pathway led them deeper and the next second, the bunch of elves gasped. Their pathway ended in a huge hollow space.


    They had actually stumbled into a huge cavern inside the mountain!


    The elves quickly activated their wind magic and descended down quietly, sticking to the wall of the cavern. It was pitch dark inside, filled with a very noxious miasma.


    However, the elves continued to descend. It would have been better if they knew where they were going but at the moment it was safer to stay in the dark. Otherwise, they might as well have a target on their back that said kill me.


    This was because the ancient ruins not only held infinite treasures and heaven-defying possibilities, but they also housed several dangerous beasts.


    And as long as they did not run into one of these beasts¡­


    The group of elves all said their silent prayer and prepared to explore the ce when suddenly the one with the highest perception among them began to shake in fear.


    Sitting a few feet away in front of them was none other than a freaking soul blood beast!


    The soul blood beast was a creature of nightmare and awe, a terrifying manifestation of ancient power and primal hunger.


    Its ethereal form towered over the elves, standing at an impressive height of nearly twelve feet, with a long, serpentine tail trailing behind it.


    Its body was covered in iridescent scales, shimmering with hues of deep crimson and dark purple. As it moved, its scales seemed to shift and change, giving the illusion that it wasposed of both light and shadow.


    The huge beast that was awakened by the sudden presence of fresh blood turned its menacing gaze toward the group of elves. Its crimson eyes glowed with a ferocious hunger, and its ethereal form emanated an eerie aura.


    They were fucked!


    But just as they stood frozen in fear, a ball of mes erupted and a short and chubby elf appeared out of the shadows, barreling the soul blood beast with a barrage of attacks.


    Eldrin Silverthorn did not n to miss out on such a god-sent opportunity!

 Chapter 1096 Huh?

    Chapter 1096 Huh?


    As soon as he stepped into the ruins, Eldrin prepared to immediately st forward towards the inner mountains. There was probably nothing worth it in the outer areas so he did not want to waste his time.


    Also, the people who were probably searching for him to finish him off would wander in the outer areas considering he hadn''t revealed his strength. Throwing sand in their eyes, Eldrin dashed ahead, flying as fast as he could.


    The gravity in the area was different so his movement was slightly sluggish. Nevertheless, he was making good time. But suddenly he came to a screeching halt as he sensed something abnormal.


    He could feel the fluctuations of something powerful in the vicinity. The perception that he had honed through countless battles told him that there were high-level beasts in the area. Their presence wasn''t too jarring so he could tell what beast it probably was.


    Jackpot!


    Eldrin''s eyes gleamed with a chilling glint. He knew that finding high-level beasts in the ruins could lead to either great rewards or perilous dangers. But he was willing to take the risk. After all, he was already prepared for it.


    Slowing down his pace, Eldrin skillfully maneuvered through the terrain, blending with the shadows as he approached the source of the powerful presence. He had learned from experience that drawing unnecessary attention in the ruins could be lethal.


    As he neared, he spotted a massive cavern entrance concealed by thick vegetation. He could sense the beast''s aura emanating from within. He dove down into the cavern, and in the depths was the creature that he came looking for.


    A soul blood beast!


    Eldrin licked his lips and hurriedly sent forth two massive frost swirls and another burst of blue mes. But he did not stop with that.


    The massive beast was a tough opponent for anyone. It was a beast born from festering in years and years of soul essence and blood essence. Instead of life force, these beasts were somehow running on these two essences and this ruins was full of soul blood beasts.


    More importantly, there was a chance for each beast to release a small amount of blood essence on death. Absorbing this essence could provide a tremendous boost to one''s power, directly helping them to step over their threshold.


    Eldrin fought with the vicious soul blood beast with everything he had. There were a bunch of elves standing on the side and shaking but he did not care about them. From the looks of it, they did not have the capability to be standing here.


    Eldrin continued throwing attack after attack at the soul blood beast, his movements fluid and calcted. He unleashed a relentless barrage of elemental attacks, weaving between ice swirls, searing mes, and gusts of wind.


    Each strike was aimed at the beast''s vital points, trying to weaken it before going for the kill, but that was a difficult thing to do considering that the soul blood beasts had a high magical defense and also high physical defense.


    Only mental attacks worked like a charm on the fuckers but Eldrin was fresh out of those. So instead he used his abundant mana to beat it down again and again repeatedly.


    The cavern echoed with the sounds of their intense battle¡ªa symphony of roars, hisses, and the crackling of elemental energy. Eldrin''s eyes were fixed on the beast, his focus unwavering.


    The soul blood beast fought back ferociously, its crimson eyes gleaming with fury. Itshed out with its razor-sharp ws, but Eldrin''s agile movements allowed him to dodge and counter with precision.


    Blood sh. Blood whip. Blood rapture.


    No matter what attack the beast threw at him, he was deftly dodging them. To Eldrin''s surprise, all of a sudden something else happened. Unexpectedly, one of the elves standing on the sidelines tossed an attack over to him.


    "Motherfuckers." Eldrin grimaced. Just as he was finishing off the soul blood beast, these elves were stirring the pot.


    "What are you idiots doing?" Eldrin shouted, irritation evident in his voice. "Stay out of this!"


    The other elves exchanged nces but continued to attack him. It seemed that they were hell bent on finishing him and going for the kill.


    However, Eldrin only loudly snorted. With a snap of his finger, an ice storm assaulted the bunch of them, arresting them in ce.


    Eldrin sneered in contempt. He then turned to finish off the damned cockroach that was just refusing to let go and die. He had no idea what a soul blood beast was doing this far in the outskirts of the ruins, but hey, this was a free kill and he was going to take it.


    He raised his hand,manding the thick mana in the air to cast thest attack that would finally drain its health when suddenly another attackunched at him.


    And this time, it was a blood swipe.


    Eldrin immediately stiffened up. A bad feeling welled up inside him as one after another several pairs of crimson eyes silently appeared in the cavern. The damned soul blood beast was not alone!


    He was fuckingpletely surrounded!


    Oh shit! I am super dead!


    Eldrin couldn''t help but wear a rueful smile. He had thought of everything and nned everything to survive in these ruins, but little did he imagine that he would actually run into a lucky encounter but die because of it!


    What the heck were these many soul blood beasts even doing in this ce? Just what the hell was happening?


    One attack after another fell on him as he desperately tried to erect thick mana barriers and get the hell out of the sted cavern. However, this was easier said than done.


    It appeared that some of the soul blood beasts had wings on their back, indicating that they were evolved beasts. These assholes were stronger, more powerful, and smarter and they wanted him dead.


    They flew up, blocking his path. This was it. He was done for.


    Eldrin did not know how long he couldst. He closed his eyes and continued erecting barrier after barrier as his whole life shed in front of him.


    He had lived and died a nobody. How pathetic.


    Seconds ticked by as he waited for the sweet release of death amidst the chaotic roar of the dozens and dozens of soul blood beasts.


    If only he had the proper backing of his family and the kingdom, he could have used this opportunity as a stepping stone and be a force to reckon with, perhaps even more powerful than that ancestor of his.


    However, he had neither of them. So now his story was over. What a goddamn waste!


    Eldrin took a deep breath, feeling the pungent miasma entering him as he prepared for hisst moment, except that¡­ it never came.


    Huh? He shed his eyes open in confusion, only to find someone with long white hair floating in the middle of the cavern.


    The numerous soul blood beasts that were gearing up to rip him apart were no longer paying any attention to him. Instead, they all seemed to be transfixed on that strange person, a human being?

 Chapter 1097 Wait

    1097 Wait


    The figure floated elegantly, his silver hair glinting in the dim light, almost luminescent. His eyes were closed, and an aura of pure serenity seemed to surround him.


    What''s more, he appeared to be emitting a powerful wave of energy that tamed the bloodthirsty beasts, their savage roars petering out into low growls.


    Eldrin''s heart pounded in his chest as he took in the sight. He had thought himself a goner, but the unexpected appearance of this individual had caused a surprising twist.


    He realized that the person wasn''t just a random human being. After all, no ordinary human being could ever enter this ce.


    The next second, the stranger''s eyes fluttered open, and they were a shade of obsidian, resembling the endless void. He stood in front of the multitude of soul blood beasts alone.


    What the hell? Was this guy a lunatic? How was he going to face so many soul blood beasts alone? This was suicide!


    And just like he thought, the beasts began to channel their power, a vibrant crimson light emanating from their body.


    Eldrin could only watch in stunned silence from his safe vantage point as the cavern was lit up by an explosion of magic.


    However, when the light faded, the stranger was alone. The soul blood beasts, so ferocious just moments before, were nowhere to be seen.


    The figure descended gracefully to the ground, turning his gaze to Eldrin finally.


    "Who are you?" Eldrin found his voice, staring at the stranger in disbelief.


    The stranger just smiled, not giving any answers. Instantly, several rm bells started going off in Eldrin''s brain.


    This was not good. He had a distinct feeling that if he said the wrong thing right now or didn''t say anything at all, he was going to regret it for the rest of his life.


    "Wait!" Eldrin called out, feeling a strange sense of desperation. "I am worth more to you alive than dead."


    To his surprise, the human being lowered his hand.


    The very fact that he was using his hand or rather gestures to cast magic meant that his level couldn''t be that high but still Eldrin felt an overwhelming sense of danger emanating from him.


    "Oh? Is that so?" the stranger asked, his eyes glinting with intrigue.


    ***


    The first thing that Liam noticed about this world was the rich dense mana that was sprawled everywhere. The density was almost ten times that of the earth''s. More importantly, he got a different feeling from the mana here, as if it was purer.


    Just where the hell was he?


    As he was wondering about this and moving toward the source of the mana, he finally arrived at some sort of miasmic area. Thick fog covered what looked like a sea of endless mountains.


    Although the fog itself appeared quite ordinary, Liam felt a stifling sense of danger from it. But he had to move forward. This was the only clue he had about this world so he had to move forward to find out where exactly he was.


    Liam cautiously entered the boundary after which the mana concentration in the air once again spiked. It was as if he had entered a different realm entirely.


    And it was not just mana¡­ it was¡­ soul energy!


    He could feel unbridled soul energy everywhere around him. Well, it was soul energy but it was also not soul energy. It was a bit different.


    Liam''s pulse quickened as this was exactly what he needed at the moment. If he could somehow repair his soul, even a little bit¡­


    He hurriedly barged in, trying to see what exactly he was dealing with.


    And he did not have to search long. The soul energy he was seeking was right in front of him in one of the mountains.


    However, it was in a peculiar form and when Liam entered the huge cavern inside the mountain, he understood why. The entire ce was filled with some type of beasts.


    These beasts did not have strong souls, rather they themselves were made of souls.


    These were soul beasts, entities constructed purely from the remnants of soul energy. They pulsed with an eerie crimson light, their forms fluctuating between the tangible and the ethereal.


    At the same time, they were also different from his own soul minions. These souls were alive. They were vibrant and full of life force. This was the first time Liam knew something like this could even exist.


    All this time he only associated his soul minions with death but they could also be alive?


    Liam''s thoughts were scrambled and he felt as if he did not make any sense. He was on the precipice of understanding something and yet it was too far away for him.


    Taking a deep breath, he observed them closely.


    Meanwhile, the beasts who were momentarily startled by his presence, began to stir, their luminescent eyes turning towards him. A chorus of low, mournful howls filled the cavern, an eerie melody that resonated with the remnants of his fractured soul.


    But they were not under his control.


    Liam''s gaze turned cold as the beasts prepared to attack him. He did not panic. He could intuitively feel the power that he held over these beasts.


    He raised his hand and felt the thick soul energy that was pulsing with life. He thenmanded it to copse.


    For a moment, everything was still. The beasts froze, their vibrant eyes locked onto Liam, their bodies tense with anticipation.


    And then, in a moment that seemed to stretch into an eternity, the soul energy responded to his call. As if a barrage of bullets rained on a cluster of balloons, all the beasts began to pop one after the other.


    The beasts roared in confusion and fear as the soul energy that formed their bodies started to dissipate, their corporeal forms fading away into the ethereal.


    <Ding! You have gained 100,000 experience points>


    <Ding! You have gained 100,000 experience points>


    <Ding! You have gained 100,000 experience points>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam closed all the notifications. Despite the chaos unfolding before him, he stood his ground. His eyes were focused, his hand held high as he continued to manipte the soul energy.


    As thest of the soul energy copsed, the roars of the beasts echoed through the cavern for the final time before fading into nothingness.


    The light gradually dimmed, the once vibrant cavern now eerily silent and still.


    In the aftermath of the copse, Liam lowered his hand, the remnants of the soul energy swirling around him. He could feel the life force within the energy, the vibrant essence that had once given form to the beasts.


    He couldn''t heal himself by absorbing the souls of the dead but perhaps he could heal himself with this type of soul energy?


    Liam immediately prepared to test out this theory, his heart racing wildly, when suddenly he felt another presence in the same cavern, someone far more powerful than he currently was.


    "Wait. I am worth more to you alive than dead." The chubby-looking elf called out.

 Chapter 1098 Elvarion

    1098 Elvarion


    "Hmm?" Liam''s action paused.


    It was apparent to him that the elf standing opposite held a power level far beyond his own. The aura that the elf exuded was not just strong, but it held a depth andplexity that suggested years of cultivation and mastery.


    Yet, here the elf was, asking him to wait, even going so far as to negotiate his own worth.


    Liam mulled over this scenario. He could glean a rough idea of the events that had transpired.


    Perhaps the elf had observed his control over the soul beasts, their eventual dissolution and made certain assumptions about his abilities. Maybe he had mistaken Liam''s power level.


    But there was a puzzle piece that didn''t fit. Shouldn''t the elf be able to determine his level of strength?


    If an individual held a much higher level than another, they could use the basic skill [Inspect] to view the other''s status. It was a fundamental function that allowed one to gauge the power and abilities of another.


    Given the elf''s evident power, his high-quality attire, and his location in this realm, it seemed highly probable that he would have ess to this basic skill. More so, Liam hypothesized, the elf may even possess an advanced version of [Inspect].


    But why then, did the elf not seem to know his power level? Why negotiate when he could easily overpower him?


    Taking it as apliment to his soul skills, Liam decided to go along with it and wordlessly descended down toward the elf, who took that as a silent eptance of peace.


    "Thank you, elder. Thank you." The chubby elf repeatedly bowed to Liam. He then looked hesitant as he added, "Please forgive this young one''s impudence, but aren''t you going to gather the blood essence."


    Elder? Blood essence?


    Liam did not know which thread to follow and he quickly turned around to see what the elf was pointing at.


    Behind him, at the spot where the soul blood beasts had disappeared, faint, crimson droplets hung in the air. This must be the ''blood essence'' the elf referred to.


    "Elder, those beasts were soul blood beasts. They are rare creatures born from the condensation of abundant soul energy and blood energy. Their blood essence is invaluable as it can boost one''s physique." The elf exined.


    "If I may ask, is the elder a guest of the elven Emperor? If so, I can use mymunication channel to notify the royal guards."


    Liam looked away from the blood essence which still hung around in the air without dispersing and shifted his gaze back to the chubby elf. Talk to the elven Emperor? That wouldn''t bode so well for him.


    However¡­


    "Domunication channels work within this world?" Liam raised a brow.


    Just now it felt like the elf was trying to probe him. It looked like he had started to get suspicious if Liam was really all that powerful. This person was cunning.


    "Yes," The elf replied, nodding fervently. "With amunication crystal, we can ry messages instantaneously. It''s a basic enchantment in our world."


    Liam absorbed this information, his mind working swiftly. While it was clear the elf had started to suspect him, he also had to be wary of alerting anyone who could potentially pose a threat.


    "I see," Liam said, his voice nonmittal. But before he could say anything else, the elf hurriedly opened his mouth again.


    "Please forgive this junior. If I may be so bold¡­ Does the elder perhaps need some tour guide in this mystic realm?"


    Liam''s face changed. He could see that the elf in front of him probably figured out everything. However, to his surprise, the chubby elf spoke again.


    "Ah¡­ the thing is¡­ this junior got separated from his group and I am very scared of these soul blood beasts. If the elder can protect this junior, then perhaps I can guide you to the sword scar?"


    "Hmm?" Liam paused once again, surprised by the elf''s audacious proposition.


    The elf had noticed his uncertain response to the blood essence and the question aboutmunication channels, quickly piecing together that he was a neer to this mystical realm.


    Instead of using this knowledge to his advantage, the elf offered his help. He wanted to serve as Liam''s guide in exchange for protection from the soul blood beasts.


    Liam took a moment to assess the situation. Was this an opportunity or a trap?


    The thing was he needed to ept the offer because if he refused then anything could happen. Besides, he did want to know where he was and what he was dealing with.


    He could either have the confrontation with this elf right now or he could go along and find another suitable time to slip away without consequences, perhaps the next time the soul blood beasts surround them.


    Until then¡­


    "Tell me more about this mystic realm. Does this belong to the elves?" Liam cautiously probed.


    "Indeed, elder. This mystic realm is known as the Elvarion, a hidden realm in the dominion of the Elven Emperor. It is a sacred ce, a sanctuary for our most prized treasures and secrets."


    "Many sacred beasts, like the soul blood beasts, inhabit this realm. Besides, the mystical energies here are dense, making it a prime location for cultivation."


    The elf continued, "This ancient ruins is under the direct protection of the Elven Emperor, guarded by formidable enchantments that only allow certain individuals to enter. For example, esteemed guests such as yourself."


    Liam''s face twitched as he could feel the elf hinting at something.


    "And as for the sword scar that I mentioned, it is an ancient artifact of our people. A remnant from a great battle fought long ago."


    The elf then paused, seemingly recalling a tale he had heard.


    "Legend says that the sword scar is actually a rift in reality itself, caused by a divine weapon wielded by one of our greatest warriors during an ancient war. Its energy is still palpable, even after countless generations."

 Chapter 1099 What do you think, senior?

    Chapter 1099 What do you think, senior?


    Liam patiently heard everything the elf was exining but he had a feeling that he was being given only half truth. As to why, he couldn''t exactly put a finger on it.


    The elf''s every move seemed as if he was trying to figure him out. Either he was extremely shrewd or extremely stupid.


    But exnations aside, he was currently in a big predicament. He had no idea what to do with the blood drops or whatever these were.


    He had already tried to store them inside his spatial artifact but that did not happen. It was as if these blood essences belonged here and they couldn''t be moved.


    "If the elder doesn''t mind, I can gather the blood essences for you." The chubby elf offered with another smile.


    Without Liam even giving him a green signal, he took out a crystal from his ring and the next second, all of the swirling blood essences gathered inside the crystal as if they were attracted to a ma.


    The chubby elf held the crystal up to show Liam. The crimson droplets swirled inside, their movements bizarrely hypnotic.


    "This crystal," the elf began, "is made of Starshard. It has the ability to store and stabilize energy such as these blood essences. It''s a rare material and, unfortunately, a rtively scarce one. Not many people are fortunate enough to possess it."


    He then held out the crystal to Liam.


    "I can give you this one, elder. Consider it a token of my gratitude for your help with the soul blood beasts."


    Liam looked at the crystal, then back at the elf. He was still on guard, but he took the crystal from the elf''s hand, feeling the smooth, cool surface beneath his fingers.


    He brought the crystal closer to his eyes to inspect it. The crystal, while seemingly ordinary in appearance, was filled with the swirling blood essence


    He kept the crystal in his own storage ring, He looked at the elf and said, "Let''s continue. Lead the way to the sword scar."


    Liam knew that things were not going well.


    The blood essences were the remnants of these mysterious beasts so why would the elf offer it willingly to him if not for the fact that he could take it back at any time he wants.


    He needed to run. He needed to run fast. Unlike earth, this ce had no limiters and probably it was an already evolved world so it had to be full of monsters.


    And right now, he was pretty sure that he was standing with one.


    Liam prepared to leave, but the elf abruptly stopped him. "Just a moment, elder. Don''t you find it a little unusual that there are so many soul blood beasts in this region? So far from the sword scar?"


    Liam paused. The elf was right. There had to be something here.


    While Liam was trying to get a sense of the cavern, the elf lit up a big old torch of fire that instantly illuminated the surrounding area.


    The light pierced through the mist, revealing hidden corners that the darkness had concealed. The elf waved the torch around, its fiery light casting long, looming shadows.


    Shockingly, this revealed a huge fissure or rather chasm that ran right through the solid ground underneath them.


    It was a yawning chasm, stretching out in a line that seemed to run endlessly into the darkness. Its depth was impossible to fathom, its breadth a terrifying spectacle to behold.


    In the flickering torchlight, it appeared like a monstrous maw ready to swallow anyone who dared toe too close.


    "This," the elf murmured, his voice echoing in the cavernous expanse, "is likely the cause of the soul blood beast activity. They''re attracted to ces with high energy concentrations, and this fissure is emanating a substantial amount of it."


    He stepped towards the edge of the chasm, the light from the torch dancing in his wide eyes. "It is possible that there is something inside," he said, turning back to look at Liam. "What do you think, senior?" There was a smug sarcastic smile tugging on his lips as he said that.


    Liam knew for sure that his time was up. The elf no longer needed him and there was something valuable within hand''s reach.


    The next moment, something huge emerged out of the chasm and Liam instantly made a split second decision.


    His heart pounded in his chest as he heard a deafening roar, the creature fully emerging from the chasm.


    The echoes bounced off the walls of the cavern, giving an illusion of multiple beasts roaring in unison. The sound was so intense, it felt like the very ground beneath him was shaking.


    The sight of the beast was even more terrifying. It was a monstrous figure, an amalgamation of shadows and scales, ws and teeth, massive wings pping, stirring up a gale. Its eyes were as red as the swirling blood essences, radiating malevolence.


    He had never seen anything like it, but the dreadful aura it emitted confirmed that it was much more powerful than the soul blood beasts he had faced earlier.


    Liam did not wait around to see where the beast started and ended. The moment the beast appeared, he used the chance to st out of the cavern.


    However, the very second, the elf''s voice rang loudly. "Don''t even think about it. You are not my equal. You are someone I could crush whenever I want so don''t push me."


    Liam had a feeling that the elf was not joking.


    More importantly, his eyes widened as he watched the elf materialize a spear in his hand. The elf moved and the spear dripped in blood.


    And just like that, the massive beast was dead.


    Liam couldn''t even follow the elf''s movement as everything was a blur. It only took a moment for the chubby elf to deal with the beast and in the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of Liam.


    "Look here, human. Let me propose a deal."

 Chapter 1100 Consider it my gift

    Chapter 1100 Consider it my gift


    Liam''s mind spun. He knew that he could probably run into more powerful beings out in this vast universe or multiverse or however many realms or worlds there were but he did not expect to run into one immediately.


    Interrupting his thoughts, the elf spoke again. "I am not going to harm you, human. So stop thinking of how to run."


    "And what are you even going to do after you run? With your depleted life force and crippled body, you would die before you take a few steps."


    "It is in fact quite surprising that you stayed alive until now. You must have gathered a good amount of luck. Perhaps that is why you ran into me." The elf shrugged.


    "Trust me. Of all the elves you could run into, I am your best bet. I absolutely abhor my people. But you¡­ you are interesting and you are someone I could use."


    "I have no idea how you wandered into this mystic realm without an invitation or without even ess to the gate but you seem to have a nifty skill. What is that? Some sort of soul technique you lucked into?"


    Liam''s face changed. He no longer looked panicked. Instead, he calmed down a little and asked the question the elf expected him to. "How can I trust you?"


    The elf smiled. "You just have to. You are still alive, aren''t you?"


    Liam watched as the smug and confident elf then glided down toward the corpse of the beast and shoved it somewhere, probably into his spatial artifact.


    The elf proceeded to examine the chasm more closely while Liam stayed behind. He had to navigate this situation very carefully. He needed to find out more details first and for that he needed to y along and appear very non-threatening to the elf.


    Also¡­ Liam lifted his hand up with a sigh. He had been so focussed on the inner injuries that he did not notice how he had be all shriveled up like a dried tomato. This was why the elf was sarcastically referring to him as an elder.


    He looked at his gnarled hands, their skin thin and transparent as parchment, veins protruding as if wanting to break free from the confinement of his fragile body. His hair was long and white. His life force looked drained.


    Liam looked at the elf who was busy searching the nook and corners of that chasm, wondering if that elf had any cure of sorts.


    Clearly, he needed his help to deal with the soul blood beasts. There had to be some way he could get the elf to cough up some healing item, better than the ones he had.


    He watched the elf keenly. He could tell that the elf was far from ordinary. His swift execution of the beast, the ease with which he-


    Suddenly something interrupted Liam''s thoughts.


    His gaze shifted to take a look, when from the corner of his eyes he noticed the thing that had grabbed his attention, something small and silvery, perhaps a wisp of energy.


    And it directly entered the sword in his other hand.


    Liam watched in silent astonishment as the silvery wisp of energy merged seamlessly with his sword.


    For a moment, the sword glowed softly, radiating a soothing aura that seemed to pacify the pain in his frail body. Then the glow dimmed, leaving behind just the sword.


    Liam did not intend on probing the sleeping dragons at the moment, especially when his soul was injured but without a doubt, he could tell that something significant had happened.


    The sword looked and felt different than before. The single wisp of silver was enough to do that?


    As if answering his question, the elf grumbled loudly. "Why the heck can''t a piece of sword essence or something else valuable be nudged here somewhere? God damn it. I am never ever lucky."


    The elf then appeared in front of Liam. "Are you ready to leave? We might possibly encounter more of those nasty fuckers. Your only job is to take them out." The chubby elf sighed.


    Liam nodded, his grip on the ck dragon sword tightening. It seemed that the elf didn''t sense the small essence that slipped into his sword.


    Or did he and he nned to take it from himter just like the blood essence? Well whatever his n was, he needed to be prepared.


    And while he was still ying the part¡­


    "What are those blood drops from the beasts?"


    Liam half expected to have touched a nerve but the elf casually shrugged. "Oh that? You can keep that. Consider it my gift."


    "Oh? That''s very generous of you."


    Unexpectedly, the elf startedughing. "Human, before you go and use it, let me warn you. That is not something that can cure your condition. That''s poison. That will rip apart and kill whatever is left of you."


    Liam looked confused. "I don''t follow."


    "It''s blood essence. It''s pure primordial blood essence."


    Liam''s eyes immediately lit up.


    "Yes. Yes. I know it''s very valuable and the Emperor has been trying for centuries to integrate with it but it''s kind of useless. Its essence is so powerful that it immediately kills anyone who tries to use it."


    "...."


    "What? You don''t trust me?"


    Liam smiled.


    "Come on. Why else would I give it to you?" The elf took out another crystal from somewhere and held it in his hand. It was a lot denser, with a lot more crimson threads swirling inside.


    "It is not that rare, at least for someone in the high society of the Empire like me."


    "And no one has ever found out how to use it?" Liam probed again.


    "Well, the Emperor dide close but a herb is required for that process, a Grade-S herb! A freaking herb found in an S- Ranked world! And even with that, the chances are quite slim. In fact, one would gain more from just consuming that herb."


    The elf clicked his tongue. "Alright, let''s stop wasting time and get moving."

 Chapter 1101 Whats your story?

    Chapter 1101 What''s your story?


    Liam nodded, tucking the crystal safely into his own spatial artifact. Despite the news he just received, he tried to remain calm and collected. He even regted his heart rate so that nothing about him had changed at all.


    He had no doubt that the elf next to him was several hundred above him in level, and any fluctuations in his demeanor might immediately alert the elf. However, despite his best efforts it seemed that the elf still sniffed out something.


    "You don''t have to be so nervous. I am really not a psychopath and you and I have no enmity." The elf reassured Liam. "By the way, my name is Eldrin. What are you called?"


    Liam nodded and tersely replied. "John e."


    "Is that spelled L-I-A-M?" The elf chuckled.


    Liam''s expression immediately stiffened up. "Like I said. You are way too insignificant for me to care. You don''t have to be so nervous. But I am interested in your story. How did you end up here of all the ces?"


    Liam shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea."


    The chubby elfughed again. Without saying anything else, he took out a pill from his possession and tossed it to Liam. "Eat this. Your life force will recover to a certain extent."


    Liam nodded and immediately ate the pill without questioning anything or even hesitating.


    The pill felt cool as it slipped down his throat, and almost instantly, a pleasant chill spread throughout his body.


    He could feel the life force within him stirring, as though awakened by a sudden rush of energy. He watched his gnarled hands regain some of their former vitality, the veins receding and the skin tightening to a more youthful state.


    Liam looked up at Eldrin with a touch of surprise in his eyes. He hadn''t expected the elf to hand him something so potent. In his experience, beings as powerful as Eldrin seldom did anything without expecting something in return.


    "Thank you," he said, sincerity coloring his words.


    Eldrin simply waved his hand dismissively, a smirk ying on his lips. "You don''t need to thank me. Just do your job and don''t drag me down."


    Liam nodded with a respectful expression as if he was following a teacher. So far everything was going ording to his n. He wanted to cultivate an image of weakness with the elf and he tried to use his actions to best depict that.


    The pill had been a gamble but if the elf wanted to hurt him, he would have already done so.


    Now, all Liam had to do was gather more information about this S-Ranked herb without arousing any suspicions from the elf. He also needed to find out more information about these so-called blood essence and sword essence.


    And this was easier to do if the elf considered Liam to be harmless.


    As such, Liam decided to maintain the persona of a weak, uninformed human, keen on survival but seeminglycking the knowledge or the means to improve his situation.


    A weakling, a non-threat, a pawn - that''s what he needed to be. At least, for the time being. The elf was a cunning one. Underestimating him was not going to end well.


    Stepping out of the mountain, the two of them continued to journey. Liam''s stats had somewhat recovered after the pill, but he was still a lot slower than the elf who did not seem to be minding this.


    As such they were not really racing in these mountains. They were searching for valuable items.


    Liam used this opportunity to subtly probe Eldrin for information. "Are there many more of these soul blood beasts in this realm?"


    "Most likely," Eldrin replied without even looking at him. "This ce is teeming with all sorts of nasty creatures. But the soul blood beasts are by far the most dangerous. One wrong step and it''s game over."


    "And these creatures... they all have some kind of essence?"


    "All living beings possess essence, human," Eldrin exined, his tone indicating that he found the question rather obvious. "It''s the very life force that defines them. But not all essence is created equal. Some are far more potent, far more valuable than others."


    "I see," Liam said, pretending to absorb the information. "And the sword essence... what exactly is that?"


    Eldrin nced at him for a moment before responding.


    "It''s a form of essence, but rather than being inherent to a creature, it is bound to an object. In this case, the sword. It''s the very essence that gives the sword its power, its uniqueness. But not just any sword can obtain its own essence."


    "And the blood essence?" Liam continued, not daring to linger too long on a topic, lest the elf grew suspicious of his line of questioning.


    "Arghhh. You are boring me. Didn''t I already exin it to you? This world was destroyed in a powerful battle that took ce between behemoths that you cannot begin toprehend."


    "The blood essence, the sword essence, or any other essence we could potentiallye across is their lingering remnants. That''s what makes this mystic realm so special."


    Eldrin nced at Liam, seemingly amused by his apparent ignorance. "Over the course of time, these essences have weakened, to the point where they can be utilized by us - provided you have the knowledge and the skill."


    "And the soul blood beasts?" Liam further probed.


    "Yup. These beasts are beings born from this lingering essence." The elf chuckled. Liam once again opened his mouth but before that the elf interrupted him.


    "I think it''s my turn now to ask the questions, human."


    Appearing somewhat nervous, Liam responded, "Of course. What would you like to know?"


    Eldrin paused for a moment, scrutinizing Liam. "Tell me. What''s your story?"


    Liam knew this was going toe, but it would not bode well for him to lie. He needed to reveal the truth partially. Otherwise, he might end up dead sooner orter.


    "Like I said. I am absolutely clueless. My world is undergoing its evolution and I suddenly found myself here."


    "Hmmm?" The elf''s gaze turned cold. "You don''t respect my goodwill? That is a tant disrespect in our culture."

 Chapter 1102 Treasure Hunting

    Chapter 1102 Treasure Hunting


    "Like I said. I am absolutely clueless. My world is undergoing its evolution and I suddenly found myself here." Liam exined nervously.


    "Hmmm?" The elf''s gaze turned cold. "You don''t respect my goodwill? That is a tant disrespect in our culture."


    Liam gave a rueful smile at this usation. "Even if you kill me, I really do not have anything else to say."


    "He He. Be careful. Don''t be too cocky. I might need you for those bastard soul blood beasts but I can make do without you just fine."


    Liam swallowed. His expression changed a little and he sighed. "I bonded with the world tree of our world." He exined. "But I couldn''t win the fight against the isons. Hence one of the guardians of our world sent me here at a great expense."


    The chubby elf looked at Liam with a puzzled gaze.


    "Again. I do not know what actually happened. This is just my conjecture."


    "Mmmm." Eldrin nodded. "You are probably not wrong. It is highly unlikely that your world tree matured so soon to aid you in anything. Your guardian must have possessed some sort of teleportation ability."


    "I am not entirely certain," Liam replied, carefully choosing his words. "I need to return immediately to prevent my world from getting destroyed."


    "Ya¡­. about that¡­ the isons are nasty little things. I wouldn''t hold out much hope."


    "But hey! On the brighter side, you havee out as a big fish in a little pond. You managed to secure the world tree of your world. It might not be much considering you are probably from a trash grade world, but it''s something."


    "With this, you can easily settle anywhere in the lower realms peacefully and can even be a king. You can even settle in the middle realms but it won''t be that easy."


    "Nevertheless, you have got a lot of options. Cooperate with me on this endeavor and I will also provide you with some benefits."


    Liam listened to the elf''s proposal with a grave expression on his face. "Thank you for your offer, Lord Eldrin," Liam began, but I can''t simply abandon my world, regardless of how insignificant it might seem in the grand scheme of things."


    "This isn''t just about power or status for me. It''s about the people who are depending on me. It''s about my family, my friends. I can''t just leave them there to die."


    Hearing him, the elf''s chubby face reflected a mix of amusement and surprise. "You lower realm dwellers... you always cling to such strange sentiments."


    "It''s not strange to value the lives of the ones you care about."


    Eldrin''s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn''t seem angered by Liam''s defiant response.


    "Very well," he finally said, a smirk ying on his lips. "I respect your determination, human. But remember this, your noble intentions won''t mean a thing if you don''t survive in this realm."


    "I''ll do whatever it takes to return to my world," Liam answered with evident desperation.


    Eldrin chuckled, pleased with his answer. "Good. Then we have an understanding. Now let''s focus on the task. We have a big day ahead of us. These soul blood beasts¡­ is there any chance that you can sense them?"


    Liam immediately nodded. "I think I can very vaguely sense them if I try hard?"


    This was exactly what he was waiting for. He needed the elf to ask this very question to put the rest of his n into motion.


    From what Liam had gathered so far, this elf was not the only one to enter this so-called mystic realm. The elf talked about an Empire but he himself did not seem to belong to royalty.


    This made Liam think that there were stronger elves present in this world right now and right here, elves who might not be that cordial to him or even this elf.


    And this would provide him with the perfect opportunity to create some conflict and make his escape.


    As the two of them set off, Liam closed his eyes and tried to feel for the presence of soul energy.


    Unlike in the outside world, the energy within this mystic realm was dense andplex. The sensation was simr to navigating a maze of fluctuating energy streams.


    The two of them headed inward in a random direction towards the giant sword scar and soon Liam came across the first signs of soul blood beasts.


    Eldrin spotted them too, a glint of determination in his eyes. "Good, we''ve found our first batch. But remember, these beasts are tricky. Don''t underestimate them."


    Liam closed his eyes and acted as if he was straining himself to his limit. Inwardly, he was more focused on the brimming soul energy that was gentle and nourishing.


    He once again was able to absorb a bit of it before the rest dissipated. Ideally, he would have liked to absorb this energy in his soul bead to research in detailter but he did not want to reveal too much in front of this elf. He first had to get out of his grasp.


    This entire ce was full of treasure that could potentially catapult his current state and level but for that, he needed to be alive.


    It would not be an exaggeration to say that currently, he was standing at the edge of a cliff at the threat of toppling over at any given instant. He had to tread carefully.


    After Liam dispatched the three soul blood beasts, heaving and panting, he nodded at the elf. The elf then hurriedly began to search the area, his eyes sparkling with excitement.


    They were currently standing in a tall building made of brick with several floors. The soul blood beasts were present on the lowermost floor so the elf started with this floor and began The elf tossed something at Liam which he caught. It was another empty crystal like the one he had given before. "This one has a thoroughly searching everywhere.


    Liam waited patiently in the same spot and not long after the elf returned to him with a face full of glee. "Mircona rocks! I actually obtained Mircona rocks! Human, you did an amazing job! Here, you deserve a raise!"


    The elf tossed something at Liam which he caught. It was another empty crystal like the one he had given before. "This one has a bigger capacity. Use this to collect all the blood essences. They are all yours!"


    "Thank you." Liam bowed respectfully and epted it. The elf had not only announced what haul he obtained, he even gave him something in return.


    Liam knew that the elf was being this carefree only because he did not consider him any threat but at the same time, he could see how the damned creature was manipting him by throwing him bread crumbs.


    This was probably to ensure that he would keep continuing in this manner without trying to pull anything funny. But this was exactly what Liam had nned to do!


    While the two of them were clearly trying to manipte each other, who was going to win in the end?


    "Let''s go. We have more ces to cover!" The elf licked his lips greedily and this time dragged Liam by his hand.

 Chapter 1103 RUN!

    Chapter 1103 RUN!


    After the Mircona rocks, it was a cluster of Blood Sun gemstones, followed by non-descript herbs.


    Liam assumed that the elf did not really care much about the herbs perhaps because he did not practice alchemy so he did not announce it like the other items. The elf was far more excited for minerals and gemstones.


    Not just this but the two of them also came across a few essences.


    While the elf didn''t seem to particrly care about any sort of blood essence, hepped up all of the elemental essences that he could get, once again absorbing these in a different crystal.


    Lastly, there was also another type of essence that they came into contact with in a couple of ces but this information was only privy to Liam as it was the ck dragon sword that had swallowed up this essence and not the elf.


    Including the first time, this had happened a total of three times, making Liam anxious if he would get discovered. Thankfully, the elf was more interested in collecting elemental essences and seemed oblivious to the ck dragon sword''s activities.


    Liam had no idea how the sword was able to absorb this essence. Was it because the sword was a soul weapon or was it because of the ck dragon souls imprisoned within it?


    Regardless, it was a fortunate urrence, as the sword seemed to be growing stronger with each absorption. Despite his anxiety, Liam had no intention of stopping the sword. He needed every advantage he could get right now.


    The two of them continued heading further and further inside the ancient ruins and the elf''s mood seemed to be getting a lot better. Their haul was getting bigger.


    Each time, the elf shamelessly praised Liam all the while shoving down the items into his spatial ring. Liam''s face twitched watching the chubby guy scurry around searching everywhere for more loot.


    From Eldrin''s words, it seemed like the elf had been inside the ancient ruins many times but from the way he acted, Liam doubted this was true.


    Things continued in this manner and soon, the chance Liam was waiting for arrived!


    In one of the mountains ahead of them, Liam sensed a huge hoard of soul blood beasts. More importantly, the beasts were currently inbat which meant that there were other beings right now inside the mountain.


    ''Let''s see what you are made of.'' Without any hesitation, Liam pointed to the mountain and the chubby elf grinned in delight. Just like Liam had expected, the elf was not able to sense the presence of others as the two of them once again raced toward the mountain.


    Perhaps outside this ce it might have been difficult to shake off the elf but Liam had a feeling that it was not impossible to do so here.


    The two of them rushed into the mountain at full speed when the elf suddenly halted, panic appearing on his face. "RUN!" The elf shouted and Liam smirked. He did not have to be told twice.


    "Go to the mountain where we first met. Don''t stop until you get there! Hide well!" The elf''s warning came toote as Liam was already dashing away from the mountain, but not in the direction that Eldrin suggested.


    However, the elf was too busy to notice that. With a shout he bolted downward to join the group of elves fighting the soul blood beasts. "Your highness, please allow me to protect you!"


    ***


    Liam did not stop running. He rushed to the east where the soul energy density seemed to be the lowest, indicating that nothing much was present in this part of the ruins. This should also be the ce where the chances of encountering others were the least.


    His n was toy low until his strength was somewhat recovered. He was not sure if this was feasible but he had to try.


    This ce was teeming with treasures and for the first time there was no evil witch nning to take him down from the shadows. He only had to look out for the elves.


    In reality, this was easier said than done because every single one of the bastards seemed to be high-leveled which Liam gathered had to be because of the grade of their world.


    Liam heard Eldrin mention that the elven world was a B-grade world. This was also why Liam did not want to openly antagonize the elf. If he could somehow enter the world, perhaps in disguise or stealth, then he would be able to gather far more information and resources.


    Currently he was not aware if the others knew where he was. Even if it was the high-priestess, it was not possible that her strength and power allowed her to scan the myriad realms for his presence.


    He had to use this chance to grow. This was the first break he received and he needed to use it properly. Liam had a n. The only question now was whether he was up for it or not.


    Everything would depend on the next couple of hours!


    Liam continued running and once he was at a safe distance away from the mor, he entered one of the buildings scattered on the mountain. He first looked around to see if anyone was present around him and then took out the stone tablet hurriedly.


    Once he entered the stone tablet world, others would not be able to sense him. Or at least that was his theory and he had confirmed it long back using Shen Yue and Alex.


    However, these elves couldn''t bepared to those two. Maybe the elves had a way of sensing something was amiss and there was a pocket world in front of them.


    Liam sighed. He could not afford to be worried about these things at the moment. He had to recover. That was his first and only priority. Otherwise, he would simply perish, his treasures lying around him for just anyone to im.

 Chapter 1104 Verdant Heartroot

    Chapter 1104 Verdant Heartroot


    Stepping into the stone tablet world, Liam inhaled deeply feeling the abundanther in the air. "What the hell¡­ even this is corrupted?" He could only give a rueful smile and sit down.


    Perhaps because he had tried to absorbher from theher array, the entire ce was filled with theher swirls. In this condition, Liam could only hope that the stone tablet could work like before.


    He sat down and steadied himself, meditating on the herb and the details regarding it. Verdant Heartroot, the miraculous S-Ranked herb.


    He was not sure if this would work considering how wily the elf had been. There was even a chance that the bastard gave him the wrong details. There were far too many variables at y here.


    But unexpectedly, the next second a small sapling sprouted.


    It was a tiny thing, no more than a couple of inches tall. Its slender stem was a vibrant shade of emerald, while its delicate leaves had a glossy sheen, twinkling with ethereal light.


    The sapling didn''t look like much, but Liam could feel an extraordinary aura emanating from it.


    He had cultivated various herbs before, but none had given off such an aura even in their full growth. This tiny sapling, despite its size, was undeniably special.


    The herb grew slower than the other herbs but soon it had grown into a substantial nt, its stem sturdy and its leaves spread out in a beautiful array of vibrant green.


    The herb even started to give off a faint, soothing scent that seemed to resonate with Liam''s spirit energy.


    As the scent wafted around him, he could feel his tired spirit being rejuvenated. It was an amazing sensation.


    Liam''s heart rate quickened. He could feel the abundant medicinal energy in the nt. Just its smell was better than any healing potion he had consumed.


    This was beyond his initial expectation. It was a treasure in the true sense.


    This was an S- Ranked herb! An S-Ranked herb!


    Liam immediately grabbed the herb and shoved it directly into his mouth. His whole body was craving for it.


    As soon as the herb hit his tongue, a burst of intense energy exploded within his body. The energy was so overwhelming that for a moment, he couldn''t move, his eyes bulging in shock and his body rigid.


    The powerful life energy within the herb began to circte within him. His body shivered under the sudden surge of energy and he could feel his damaged meridians start to rapidly heal under the herb''s influence.


    The healing process was so intense that he had to grit his teeth and clench his fists to bear it. The sensation was akin to having thousands of tiny needles poking at his internal organs, painful but also incredibly rejuvenating.


    As the herb''s potent life energy surged through his veins, it not only healed his damaged meridians but also began strengthening them, making them more resilient than before.


    It filled up his body with an overwhelming vitality that made him feel lighter than he had ever felt. The lethargy and fatigue that had been guing him disappeared, reced by an abundance of strength and vitality.


    After an hour of intense healing, Liam finally opened his eyes. His previously exhausted eyes were now filled with a bright gleam. He could feel the powerful life energy still coursing through his veins, slowly repairing every part of his body.


    More importantly, mana from the stone tablet''s world entered his body and started to bubble within him, surging like a raging river. His broken core was slowly getting repaired.


    Liam immediately became overjoyed. He continued meditating and tried his best to regte the process. However, the next second, a wave of immense pain washed over him, and he couldn''t help but scream out.


    His body convulsed, every nerve on fire as his mana core was repaired, only to be cracked immediately afterward. The pain was excruciating as if his soul was being torn apart and reassembled piece by piece.


    Nether had seeped too deep into his body and into his mana core. He simply couldn''t revert back to his former core any longer.


    As if this wasn''t enough,her from the stone tablet''s pocket world also started seeping into his body. Liam tried his best to keep it out but the two energies once again shed and wrecked his insides.


    The nourishing energy from the herb was like a calming medium trying to soothe both energies but it was not sessful. It got drowned in the chaos.


    Liam gritted his teeth, bearing everything and meditating until the pain eventually subsided. His condition at the moment was a lot better than before but as far as his mana core was concerned, he was still a cripple.


    Sighing tiredly, Liam took out the blood essence crystal from the spatial artifact. He never thought that this would be easy so he wasn''t disappointed. No matter what he had to keep moving forward.


    He lifted up the crystal and examined the blood essence inside carefully. He had nevere across anything like this before so he was not sure what to do with it.


    But suddenly, a frown appeared on his face. He observed the essence more closely. He did not know why but the essence inside seemed to be agitated and moving more rapidly than before as if they had a will of their own.


    The next second, something even more shocking urred. The essence started seeping out of the crystal. To Liam''s surprise, the escaping essence seemed to be attracted to the S- Ranked herb, slowly moving towards the small patch of herbs.


    Unsure of what was happening, Liam watched as the blood essence started to interact with the herb. The essence began to wrap itself around one of the herbs as if it was embracing it. The sight was as stunning as it was bewildering.


    He could see the blood essence gradually seeping into the herb, getting absorbed into its stem and leaves. The herb seemed to be thriving under the infusion of the blood essence. It grew in size, its leaves became more lustrous, and its stem more robust.

 Chapter 1105 Richer than the elves

    Chapter 1105 Richer than the elves


    Liam was both fascinated and concerned. He had never witnessed such a phenomenon before, and he couldn''t predict what the oue would be.


    However, the fact that the Verdant Heartroot was thriving under the influence of the blood essence was an undeniable sign that it could be beneficial.


    The air around the herb was shimmering, filled with an intense energy that was almost palpable. It was an oddbination of the fierce energy from the blood essence and the soothing aura of the herb, yet it somehow blended perfectly.


    After a while, the blood essencepletely melded with the Verdant Heartroot, and the intense energy around the herb subsided. What was left was a blood-red colored, majestic herb that was emanating an awe-inspiring aura.


    Looking at the transformed Verdant Heartroot, Liam felt an odd sense of anticipation. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he reached out to touch the nt.


    The moment his fingers brushed against the stem, a wave of energy coursed through him. It was stronger than before, but also smoother. It was as if the raw energy from the blood essence had been refined by the herb, turning it into a potent healing energy.


    He was impatient to consume the herb and see if it could further heal him, but he stopped. When he observed the herb closer, he could see that the herb was not yet satiated. There were still a few green spots on the herb.


    Perhaps this was enough but the elf had mentioned that the chances of using the blood essence even with the herb was low, so Liam did not want to take any chances.


    This ce was full of blood essence and he was walking into this blind. He might as well gather some more and then try to use the herb.


    Besides, he had no idea what he was expecting to happen here or what this was supposed to do. The elf was also vague about this. He talked about integrating the blood essence but what happens after integration was not clear to Liam.


    Does it improve his physique? His mana core? His mana cirction pathways? Or perhaps his soul?


    Considering that it was blood essence, his best guess would be his physique. This was why Liam daringly decided to consume the herb with the blood essence. But he still wanted to do this as best as he could.


    He ced the herb on the side and collected all the other herbs from the patch as well. He now possessed 20 stalks of the Verdant Heartroot herb. In other words, he possessed 20 stalks of an S-Ranked herb!


    While the energy in the stone tablet became palpably thinner, it was a good exchange for these 20 stalks.


    In an instant, he probably became richer than even these B-grade world elves. What a ridiculously overpowered item!


    Liam was finally able to use the treasure properly but he doubted if this was still the best use for the treasure.


    He packed away all of the herbs inside his spatial artifact, adjusted his stance and then quickly exited the pocket world.


    He had been less than a day in this new world but he had already managed to repair himself and recover from the intense damage his body had undergone. "Not bad, but there is still more."


    Liam hurried out of the random building. He paused for a moment before dashing to his right. Rather than diving straight into the core of the ruins, he lingered in the outskirts to see if there were any more spots with soul blood beasts that these elves had missed.


    Most of the elves should be gathered in the inner part of the ruins so Liam hoped that the outer regions should be rtively safe.


    Liam had no idea how he arrived here, in this world, but everything that he needed to recover was right here around him. This ce was full of precious items.


    No wonder the higher world beings were at a different level. If their world was full of treasures such as this, then their growth would be explosive.


    While Earth''s average level would probably stagnate around 60 to 80, the elves had the average level of above 500!


    Now he only needed to safely navigate this world and find the resources while avoiding the numerous high-leveled beings roaming about.


    If he could just do this, then he could reach new heights.


    Liam remained close to the rough surface of the mountains, hiding himself in the lush vegetation and the foggy miasmic cover. He moved cautiously as fast as he could but finding anything of value in the outskirts was like fishing in fountain water.


    It looked like himing across the huge herd of soul blood beasts was a one-time thing. He might really have to go inside to find more valuable items just like the elf had done.


    This was risky but he had to do it. What was the use of running around here without any purpose?


    Liam continued searching the ruins which seemed to extend indefinitely. Ever so often he spotted a few soul blood beasts here and there but nothing like the first big heard.


    But Liam did not hurry. He took his time and carefully examined these soul blood beasts.


    He studied the soul energy contained in them as much as he could before the beast turned rabid and attempted to kill him, at which point he simply disrupted the soul energy to finish off the beast.


    Each of them gave him good experience points but he did not expect to level up any time soon. These were just a drop in the bucket.


    Liam continued doing this and almost an entire day passed without any progress, both bad or good. It wasn''t until dusk fell that he made an interesting discovery.


    Nestled between two huge boulders was a narrow chasm. It was extremely narrow and almost impossible to spot if not for the faint aura emanating from it.


    "Could it be the same chasm extending all the way over here?"

 Chapter 1106 Baptism of blood

    Chapter 1106 Baptism of blood


    Surveying the sprawling ruins, Liam tried to situate himself amidst the chaos.


    The surrounding environment was a confounding maze of ancient, crumbling structures and wild overgrowth, making orientation challenging.


    However, he was able to vaguely discern his location and track his movements using some distinctivendmarks scattered throughout the ruins.


    As Liam roughly checked, his first assumption indeed turned out to be correct. The chasm was oriented in the same direction.


    He decided to head that way and indeed check if this was the same one. Because this would mean that there was one huge crack extending through the ruins.


    Something like that had to be significant?


    Since Liam was anyway fishing, he decided to fish along these lines. He flew along the chasm, observing the fissure as it widened and narrowed like a winding river.


    He even saw a few soul blood beasts along the way which further strengthened his conjecture.


    Liam continued searching through the night, thankfully not encountering any more elves as he was still in the outer region, and finally after a few hours, he once again noticed something odd.


    In most ces, the chasm that was too narrow became quite wide as it ran under a specific mountain.


    It was an imposing mountain, its towering peaks obscured by a veil of mist. The chasm beneath it, ordinarily a mere crack in the ground, broadened into a wide fissure, like the gaping mouth of some monstrous beast.


    It was an unusual sight, the mountain and the chasm appearing as if they were both integral parts of some grand design, meticulously nned and carefully executed.


    Looking closer, Liam could see that the chasm didn''t just randomly widen; it was as if the mountain itself was slowly but steadily sinking into the ground, causing the earth beneath to crack open and form therge fissure.


    Even the nature of the stone where the chasm widened was different.


    The rocks were darker, their surface slick and glossy, as if they had been polished. A faint, eerie glow emanated from the depths of the chasm, painting the dark rocks in shades of pale luminescence.


    Liam hovered at the edge of the chasm, peering into the inky ckness below. Despite the eerie glow that seemed to radiate from deep within, he could not discern anything beyond a few feet down.


    Liam decided to take a calcted risk. Throwing a cautious nce around, he ensured that no other creature, especially the elves, was in sight.


    With onest steadying breath, he then descended into the chasm.


    The only way to know what was inside was to go in and check it out for himself.


    The darkness closed in, and the world around him disappeared, leaving only the eerie luminescence of the chasm walls.


    Liam remained vignt as he delved deeper, and the glow from the chasm walls brightened. Oddly, it was warm to the touch, almostforting.


    The darkness around him was punctuated by streaks of crimson light, which he realized were the blood essence flowing within the rocks.


    Intrigued, Liam extended his hand and gently touched one of the glowing streaks. It was warm and thrummed with potent energy. With a sh of realization, he understood that the glow was from the blood essence itself.


    This chasm was not just a random fissure; it was a massive, natural reservoir of blood essence?


    A slow smile crept onto Liam''s face. This was better than he had hoped for.


    He continued his descent, his excitement growing with each passing moment. The farther down he went, the brighter the crimson light became. It was as if he was descending into a river of glowing blood essence, the pulsating energy feeling almost alive.


    Suddenly, his feet touched something solid, and he realized he had reached the bottom of the chasm. A small, uneven tform made of the same slick, dark rock served as the base of the chasm. Here, the glow from the blood essence was so intense that it almost felt like daylight.


    But what truly caught Liam''s attention were the formations scattered around the tform. They were massive crystal formations, each one pulsating with an intense glow. The crystals were of varying sizes, some norger than his hand, while others towered over him like monoliths.


    Crystals!


    His [Inspect] skill told as much. The skill had upgraded after he These were not ordinary crystals. They were Blood Essence Crystals!


    His [Inspect] skill told as much. The skill had upgraded after he followed around Eldrin for a while as the chubby elf collected various small herbs, gems, and essences. However, the elf''s haul couldn''te close to what was in front of Liam at the moment.


    Swallowing, Liam carefully observed the surroundings. It was clear that this was not an ordinary ce but with treasures, there were also dangers.


    And dangers here were beyond his means.


    There was no way he would be able to deal with beasts that were level 500 and above. Unlike the half-baked ones back on Earth, these were the real deal. He would be in trouble if he underestimated them.


    Liam looked around hoping that nothing would be there when suddenly a hoarse voice echoed in the space.


    "What do we have here? A filthy human being?" The voice reverberated off the walls of the chasm, filling the air with a palpable sense of menace.


    Liam stiffened, every instinct screaming at him to flee. But he forced himself to stay calm, to not panic. He could tell that sudden movements would possibly trigger an aggressive response from whatever owned that voice.


    The voice seemed to emanate from the very walls of the chasm itself, making it impossible to determine the direction it came from. Liam could only stand his ground, his hand subtly moving towards the hilt of his sword.


    He took a deep breath, then raised his voice. "I mean no harm," Liam said, his tone measured and respectful. "I stumbled upon this ce by ident and was in awe of its magnificence."


    The voice fell silent for a moment, then it echoed again, this time a little softer. "Heh? You just so happen to stumble upon an entire realm? How mighty powerful of you! Ha Ha Ha. Maybe I should signal my descendants to skewer you?"


    Liam''s face fell but before he could say anything the voiceughed again. "Don''t worry, human. I am merely jesting with you. It has been ages since Ist had a visitor in this forsaken ce."


    There was a hint of loneliness in the voice that resonated through the chasm. Liam paused for a moment, taken aback by the unexpected candidness. He cleared his throat, unsure of how to respond.


    "My ipetent descendants seem tock the ability to find this ce. So, it is refreshing to have somepany, even if it''s a human," the voice continued, the previous threat seemingly forgotten.


    "I will let you ess my inheritance. The path we walk might not be the same but I can see your soul burning with vengeance and determination. That is enough to make you fated."


    "In this deste myriad realms, I will lend you a hand to gain a foothold. With my help, you can wield a power sufficient enough to wreak havoc in the Tirnanog. Make the elven world burn!"


    "Huh?" Liam was taken aback. This voice clearly belonged to an elf but he spoke against them?


    "Yes, you heard right," the voice chuckled, echoing eerily through the chasm. "I am indeed an elf or was. Once proud, once free. But that was a long time ago. Now, I am but a mere echo of my former self."


    "But that doesn''t concern you. You seek power and I am willing to give it to you. Tirnanog needs a baptism of blood. You will be my means to teach myzy offspring a good lesson."


    Liam nodded and respectfully bowed. Though he fully did not understand why the elven ancestor or whoever this was, would do such a thing, he was not going to refuse the offer.


    But Liam was well aware that there was no such thing as free lunch in this world. Though this seems to be the mere remains of someone once powerful, he did not dare to look down on them.


    Perhaps the elf did not expect him to seed or perhaps the elf did not offer him the full inheritance. Perhaps the elder even expected him to get hunted down by the elves once he got out of there and thereby leading everyone to the inheritance spot finally.


    But whatever the reason was, Liam was prepared to ept the deal.


    This was an inheritance of a mystic realm linked to a B-Ranked world and too coveted by beings who were of Level 500 and above.


    He would be a fool to not take the risk.


    "I will do my best to not disappoint you, elder." He sped his hands and paid his respects. The next second a loud rumbling sound echoed and one of the solid rock walls began to move.

 Chapter 1107 Impossible!

    Chapter 1107 Impossible!


    The wall moved aside slowly, revealing an entrance. The newly exposed corridor was wide and tall, glowing with the same luminescent light as the rest of the chasm. Intricate symbols were etched into the walls, seeming to dance and pulse with the glow.


    The voice echoed again, nowing from deep within the newly revealed passage. "Enter, young human, and im your inheritance. May it serve you well in the decades toe."


    Liam swallowed, nerves buzzing with anticipation and excitement. He nced back at the entrance to the chasm, before stepping into the enclosed space.


    Just what sort of an inheritance was this? What was there inside? Did he need to pass some tests? Somehow prove himself to get the benefit? If so, what should he do about his current injured state?


    Several thoughts crossed his mind as he wondered whaty ahead.


    The corridor was cooler than the chasm, the blood crystals lining the walls, providing a soft,forting warmth. The further he walked, the more intense the warmth became. Suddenly, it red, bathing him in a harsh, crimson light.


    Before Liam could react, he became entranced in this strange atmosphere.


    The symbols on the walls pulsed in time with his heartbeat, and he could feel a strange connection forming between him and the ancient runes.


    It felt as though they weremunicating with him, touching his soul, bestowing upon him knowledge and wisdom.


    Liam closed his eyes and surrendered to the feeling, allowing the ancient power to seep into his very being. He could feel his consciousness drifting away from his body.


    He was in a new world. He was no longer gued by any burdens or memories. He felt free. He felt as if there was nothing in this world that could stand against him.


    Images shed before his eyes: ancient battles, powerful spells, wise elven sages, and a proud, noble figure who stood above them all, his aura radiating with strength and wisdom.


    Liam couldn''t make sense of any of it. He was seeing everything but at the same time, nothing was registering in his mind.


    All of a sudden, an elf appeared.


    The elf was tall, lofty, and ethereal, clothed in long robes that shimmered with an otherworldly light. His long silver hair flowed down his back and his eyes, a piercing blue, seemed to hold the wisdom of countless ages. An intricate silver circlet sat upon his brow, studded with a singrrge gem that pulsed with the same light as the blood crystals lining the walls.


    Then, the figure suddenly looked straight at Liam, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "So, you are my sessor, huh? Interesting. I can see why the old me chose you. You are different. Determined. Strong-willed. You have an insatiable thirst for power."


    The elf''s voice and his stoic face disappeared the next instant, Liam once again standing in the midst of an endless battlefield that sprawled as far as the eye could see.


    Wreckage and remnants of a war long past were scattered around him. The ground beneath his feet was drenched in the echo of spilled blood, and the once proud structures nowy in ruins.


    Liam felt a chill run down his spine, the palpable killing intent in the area making him shiver. Terrifying auras emerged from the shadows and he could sense six powerful auras among these that stood above all.


    Liam could vaguely feel that he was currently not in this ce and time. Yet, the pressure he felt from these figures was terrifying. He could only barely withstand them, his consciousness threatening to peel away from this memory at any given moment.


    Before he couldprehend what was happening, the six figures advanced, their forms blurring as they moved with speed that defied naturalws. Each one brandished a weapon that seemed to embody their respective domains.


    Liam''s brain was immediately ravaged by a splitting headache. He could tell that he was about to be kicked out of wherever this was.


    He grunted and tried to hold on but to no avail. His vision was quickly blurring and the image was starting to fade, now being reced by just darkness.


    However, in thatst moment, Liam managed to grasp something. He saw a sword sh!


    The sword seemed to tear through reality itself, the chill it radiated freezing everything in its vicinity. It was not just cold; it was the embodiment of absolute zero, a temperature where even time and space seemed toe to a standstill.


    The wielder of the sword was an imposing figure shrouded in frost and snow, a domain that defied the otherwise fiery and tumultuous surroundings of the battlefield.


    Their movements were precise and economical, each step taken experience.


    With the sword in hand, they moved like a winter storm, swift and with the weight of centuries of wisdom and battle-hardened experience.


    With the sword in hand, they moved like a winter storm, swift and relentless, freezing and shattering everything in their path. Their presence was like a towering iceberg in a turbulent sea of fire, unmoving and undeterred.


    The final swing of the sword that Liam observed was executed with such finesse and power that it seemed to cleave the very air, sending out a wave of frost that spread across the battlefield, turning everything it touched into ice.


    Just as he was about to be engulfed by this wave of icy energy, his consciousness started to recede, the throbbing pain in his head reaching its peak. But the image of the sword and its wielder, the frosty aura, and the chilling sh were deeply imprinted in his mind.


    When he opened his eyes, Liam was back in the corridor, his hand somehow on the hilt of his own sword. The runes on the walls pulsed with a soft glow as if acknowledging his return.


    His body was drenched in sweat, and his head throbbed from the remnants of the headache. But beneath the physical difort, Liam felt a strange sense of excitement.


    He clearly remembered the frosty sword sh and the overwhelming aura of the wielder.


    Still in that transfixed state, he slowly moved. He swung his own sword, trying to mimic the sh he had seen, his movements slow and clumsy inparison.


    But with each swing, he could feel a faint echo of the frosty aura he had observed, a chilling energy that seemed to flow from the de.


    Liam smiled through his exhaustion. When the elven elder had mentioned inheritance, he did not expect this. He had really gained a lot this time. It was as if he was a different person now. He couldn''t exactly pinpoint it.


    However, now was not the time to think about all this.


    Liam''s mind was still filled with the memory and the feeling of what he had just witnessed. It was only a millisecond of experience but it was deeply imprinted in his brain.


    He quickly closed his eyes and focused on this image. He had a feeling that if he missed this chance at the moment, he would never get it back. He was on the cusp of something and he had to grasp it right now and right here.


    A sense of tranquility washed over Liam as he focused his thoughts on the frosty sword sh. His heart rate steadied, his body rxed, and his mind became a calm pool of water, unmarred by any ripples of distraction. He was entirely absorbed in the sensation, his body acting out the movements unconsciously.


    There was an undeniable pull from the memory that he was immersed in. As if something were guiding his movements and shaping them to echo the frosty aura of the ancient figure.


    Again and again, he swung his sword, each time feeling a bit more of echoed, only barely audible. "For your kind, your mental strength is quite impressive. Now show me what you are capable of."


    the icy chill emanating from it. His breath condensed in the cool air, a tangible indication of the chilly energy his de now harbored.


    "Not bad, human. You did not disappoint me." The elven voice softly echoed, only barely audible. "For your kind, your mental strength is quite impressive. Now show me what you are capable of."


    If Liam had opened his eyes right this instant, he would have seen a face simr to the one in the images right next to him.


    The face was neither present nor absent, just a mere remnant left behind to manage the inheritance. It continued to absorb Liam as if admiring his capacity to adapt and learn.


    Hours seemed to pass as Liam tirelessly practiced the sh. He was entirely absorbed in the motion and the sense of frosty energy. His body moved without conscious thought, acting out the sequence as if it had been doing so for years.


    His movements became more precise, the angle and power of the shes matching more closely to the memory in his mind. The frigid energy of his de intensified, each sh leaving a visible trail of frosty air in its wake.


    Suddenly, the elf appeared shocked as a pulse of energy surged from Liam''s sword, flowing up his arm and spreading throughout his body.


    "Impossible!"

 Chapter 1108 Cleaned out

    Chapter 1108 Cleaned out


    The elven elder eximed, his ethereal form shimmering as if rocked by an invisible force. "You''ve gained an insight into the Frost Arcane sh in mere hours? That took me decades to aplish!"


    The ethereal form of the elf faded in and out as if struggling to stay visible. This was an unimaginable phenomenon, beyond his anticipation.


    He had assumed that the human would need at least a couple of years to evenprehend such a skill, fully digesting the image of what he saw.


    However, here was this young man, not even a few decades old, who had managed to not only replicate the sh but gain an insight into the essence of it in a fraction of the time.


    Just who was this human being? Perhaps he had underestimated him? Could he be some hidden powerhouse from an A-ranked world?


    Liam, entirely unaware of the elven elder''s shock, continued his relentless practice.


    His body was drenched in sweat, and his muscles screamed in protest, but he paid them no mind. His focus was solely on his movements and the sensation of icy power flowing through him.


    It was as if the frosty aura from the memory hade alive within him. He could feel it, not just in the sword but in his veins, coursing through him like a powerful undercurrent. With each movement, he felt more connected to the power, more in sync with it.


    Eventually, the power seemed to peak, the frosty aura around him ring up and then settling down. Liam felt a strange sensation of everything clicking together. He memorized this sensation.


    This continued for a few hours until he could no longer focus.


    When he opened his eyes, he saw the glowing runes on the walls had dimmed considerably. The chill in the air had dissipated and the blood crystals were once again providing a warm, soothing glow. He was back in the corridor, standing as if time had not passed.


    He looked at the sword in his hand, its de now shimmering with a faint aura as if the sword was pleased. He could feel the power coursing through it, waiting for hismand.


    Before he could wonder why, a few notifications sounded.


    A smile spread across Liam''s face.


    [Ding! You have learned a new skill Arcane Frost sh]


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Ice Element]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam couldn''t believe his eyes. In just a few hours, he had actually gained so much, a new skill along with a dao seed.


    Liam doubted if he actually learned the skill. It was probably an inferior version of the skill. He also still did not understand the significance of these dao seeds.


    However, he had leveled up 51 times which was a huge gain!


    Liam immediately opened his status screen to check the progress.


    ______________


    Name: Liam Chang


    Level: 285


    ss: Necromancer [C]; Soulmancer [SSS] (Locked)


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Earth


    Titles: Earth''s First Evolver, Earth''s First Realmhopper


    Mana Core: Red, Awakened [Broken]


    Nether Core: Obsidian, Awakened [Broken]


    Soul: Second Order [Broken]


    Pathway: Dao seed of Mana maniption; Dao seed of Nether maniption; Dao seed of Ice Elemental


    ______________


    Vitality: 350 (520)


    Stamina: 300 (530)


    Strength: 400 (515)


    Intellect: 380 (501)


    Agility: 450 (504)


    Luck: 625


    Physical Defense: 300


    Mental Defense: 800


    Soul Defense: 5


    Free Stat Points: 300


    ______________


    Liam saw that his stats had boosted quite impressively. He had also acquired more free stat points, thanks to his newly gained Dao seed.


    In his current perilous state, he did not dare to save his free stat points. Since at the moment, he was physically a lot weaker, he added the 300 points to his vitality.


    Liam took a deep breath and meditated, trying to sense the change in his constitution after adding so many stat points at once. However, seconds ticked by and he did not feel any different.


    Just like when he had leveled up so many times and gained a huge boost in his overall stat points, he once again did not feel anything of the shocked ethereal figure observing him from a corner. He had no clue about the great uproar he was causing in the ghostly change.


    Liam sighed. He already knew why this was the case. His body was currently extremely imbnced and fundamentally fucked up which was probably why he did not feel any noticeable difference in his strength.


    He had a long way to go, but for now, he was satisfied with his progress.


    Exhausted, Liam fell back,nding softly on the ground. He was too tired to move.


    He decided to take a short rest before continuing forward, unaware of the shocked ethereal figure observing him from a corner. He had no clue about the great uproar he was causing in the ghostly figure''s heart.


    The elf was left wondering just who this human was and how he managed to achieve such a feat in an unimaginably short span of time.


    The figure observed Liam silently, its face reflecting a blend of surprise, admiration, and a trace of worry.


    Earlier when the elven elder had mentioned baptism of blood he had simply spoken in a flow but now it looked like things might reallye to that.


    As the elf continued to ponder, his gaze fell onto Liam, who was resting peacefully on the cold, blood essence soaked rocky floor.


    The next second, the elf became even more shocked as he witnessed the human being do something unbelievably outrageous.


    Liam took out one of the Verdant Heartroot stalks.


    The elf''s eyes became round like saucers. "That''s! That''s! That''s the S-Ranked herb Vedant Heartroot!" Even a noble, lefty figure like him, trembled at the sight of the precious herb.


    The Verdant Heartroot was an extremely rare herb that grows only in the higher realms.


    It was a special herb that could aid in the healing of both physical and soul-rted injuries. It was known as the divine healer among herbs.


    But more importantly, it was not something that should be used lightly or casually, especially not by a lower being like the human in front of him.


    But there Liam was, holding the precious S-ranked herb as if it was amon trash herb.


    The next second, once again he was shocked when the herb started trembling. The aura from the herb began to throb and the herb started absorbing all the blood essence in the small enclosed space.


    The blood essence seeped deep into the rocks and the stones for decades after decades slowly started to drift off into the small herb which greedily absorbed everything in sight.


    The surrounding blood crystals dimmed visibly as the Verdant Heartroot sucked them dry.


    This time the herb was no longer the shade of red it was before. The herb that Liam held was a deep crimson, not even a single spot on the herb was left vacant. If it absorbed any more of the blood essence, it might even start dripping blood!


    Both Liam and the elven elder were shocked to see such a phenomenon.


    The elven elder gasped, his form wavering erratically as he watched the scene unfold.


    "This... this is impossible! A Verdant Heartroot consuming blood essence directly... and in such arge quantity! This... This¡­" He was unable to form any coherent sentences, lost in utter disbelief.


    "This herb has to be a supreme quality herb, at least aged a thousand years!" He gasped.


    Meanwhile, Liam, who held the crimson Heartroot, was just as shocked, but he was quick to recover. He had seen many unexpected things already. A herb turning blood red was just another addition to that list.


    He was far more interested in what this herb could do for him.


    Liam carefully held the Heartroot, his eyes reflecting the red glow. It was still absorbing the essence, the herb pulsating rhythmically, as if it was alive.


    A few minutester, the herb finally settled down. The crimson glow faded, and the Verdant Heartroot now appeared as if it was made of polished rubies, its surface glistening eerily.


    With the elven elder still watching in horror and disbelief, Liam didn''t hesitate as he plucked one of the leaves and started to chew on it.


    His eyes lit up at the sweet, rich taste, akin to the richest honey he''d ever had, with a hint of a frosty mint aftertaste.


    Almost immediately, he felt a warm sensation spreading through his body. It was as if he had taken a sip of a hot beverage on a cold day, warming him from the inside.


    He could feel his tired, aching muscles rxing, and a soothing coolness gradually recing the warmth.


    The elven elder''s eyes almost popped out of his ethereal head as he watched this scene unfold. What was going on? Who was this human being? How could this be possible?


    He looked at the weak and inconspicuous human who was chewing the treasured herb like it was nothing, even savoring the taste of the herb.


    Then he looked at the cave where he had set up his inheritance which was now barely red in color. Most of the blood essence had been sucked out!


    This weakling who had suddenly entered his final resting ce not only benefited from his inheritance but also cleaned out everything so that no one else would ever be able to ess it!


    Sure, the part of his soul that he had left in this ce would still be there but without the blood essence, his inheritance would not appear again.


    The elven elder had a bitter taste in his mouth as he watched the human being slowly assimte the effects of the Verdant Heartroot.

 Chapter 1109 Nooooooo

    Chapter 1109 Nooooooo


    While the elven elder continued to watch Liam with his mouth agape, Liam focused on the essence of the herb circting within him.


    He tried toprehend what was happening as there was both the warm nourishing effect of the herb and other than that, there was also a coolness that was spreading in his body.


    Soon his doubts were cleared as a few notifications began popping out.


    [Ding! Your Ice Element affinity has been upgraded]


    [Ding! Your Ice Element affinity has been upgraded]


    [Ding! Your Ice Element affinity has been upgraded]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    As the effect of the herb drenched in blood essence slowly seeped into him, unexpectedly his affinity for the element started increasing.


    "There is such a benefit to this?" Liam raised his brow.


    "What benefit?" The elven elder''s curiosity was also piqued. Since Liam was in his own world, unfortunately, the elder did not get any response.


    But as time ticked by the change was bing more and more obvious. The air around Liam became colder and an aura of frost lingered around him.


    "This is¡­" The elven elder found himself again and again lost for words. He silently continued to observe, but the progress did not stop.


    Liam''s affinity with the ice elemental was still increasing!


    And finally¡­


    [Ding! Your Ice Element affinity has been upgraded]


    [Ding! Your Ice Element affinity has reached S grade]


    [Ding! Your Ice Element attacks have 200% increased damage; Your Ice Element attacks consume 90% less mana]


    The elven elder trembled. Without even seeing the system notification, he could tell what was happening. But the problem was that this should not be happening.


    Liam''s frost aura had grown stronger and more distinct, and where once it had been a mere wisp of chill in the air, now it was a tangible force, wrapping him in a cocoon of shimmering ice crystals that danced around him like stars.


    The ground beneath him was zed over with a thinyer of ice, and frost patterns sprawled out from his feet in intricate designs.


    Especially because of the mana-rich nature of the mystic realm, this change was extremely obvious.


    Each breath Liam took now left behind a silvery mist, which seemed to hang in the air longer than it should have, before swirling around him.


    "Impossible!" The elven elder gasped. Clearly, the human being in front of him was gaining more and more affinity for the Ice Elemental and now it had reached an unbelievable grade.


    His own grade! He had an S-grade affinity for the Ice Elemental!


    How could this human being also possibly have the same talent? Only the elves were gifted with such heaven-blessed affinities!


    Elemental affinities weren''t easily influenced. They were foundational to a person''s essence, rooted deeply in their core, an elemental inclination that one was usually born with.


    But the blood-soaked Verdant Heartroot not only healed and nourished, but it also enhanced the human being''s basic ability?


    "It can''t be..." the elder murmured, wide-eyed. "To think that such a change in elemental affinity could be so... rapid. And just from consuming the herb!"


    And then it struck the elder. The herb couldn''t possibly be taking the essence of his bloodline and merging with the human being?


    Though it seemed extremely unlikely, it seemed to be the only exnation.


    He did not know much about the S-Ranked herb but just from its nature, he could see that it had nothing to do with the Ice Elemental.


    So the change had unmistakablye from his blood.


    The elven elder was an expert at the top of a B-Ranked world and yet he was still learning new things from this fledgling human being. This only goes to show that the heavens were vast.


    But how did this human being know of such a thing? This knowledge that the Verdant Heartroot could be used for something like this should not bemonce?


    No, in the first ce, just how did this human being even gain an herb like this?


    While the elven elder was still wondering about this, Liam calmly stood up.


    He felt as if he had gained everything he could for the time being. He wanted to meditate more on the images he had witnessed but for some reason he was unable to recollect them urately again.


    It simply did not give the same feeling. Without that, even if he thought about the same image thousands of times, there wouldn''t be too much of a development.


    Rather there was something else he wanted to do at the moment.


    "Respected Elder, you mentioned that this was your final resting ce. The battle from your memories, by chance did it take ce here?"


    The elven elder looked at him evenly and gave a nod. "Yes. It is our power and demise that broke this part of the world from the rest of it and sealed it for all eternity."


    "Then¡­ in that case¡­" Liam dawdled. "The other inheritances are also here?"


    The elven elder''s eyes narrowed for a moment as he evaluated the human in front of him once again. But his intentions¡­


    After a long pause, he snorted in contempt, "Yes, the others might also have left something simr here. However, if you think that you can swallow them all, you will only face your downfall!"


    "Heed my words, human. You are incredibly lucky to run into an S-Ranked herb and not just obtain my inheritance but also absorb my blood line essence, but don''t test your luck. It''s best if you leave this ce. You are no match for my descendants!"


    "The other inheritances are probably not as essible or as amodating as mine. They might not even be friendly to a human being. Some may test you, some may reject you, while others may even harm you. Don''t push your luck."


    Liam nodded thoughtfully, "I understand the risks. But wasn''t there someone among the six of you who was fighting with their bare fist?"


    The elven elder seemed taken aback for a moment. "I cannot say anything about that." The elder responded.


    "What about soul healing medicine? Can the elder provide any information about that?" Liam continued probing him.


    "Soul healing medicine? Damaging one''s soul is a grave matter and not to be taken lightly. I know of a few methods to heal a soul, but I cannot impart those methods to you."


    "Oh?" Liam nodded. He assumed as much.


    It looked like there was nothing else for him here. He once again paid respects to the elven elder and prepared to leave but his footsteps suddenly paused.


    He had been so focussed on the inheritance and his injury that he almost forgot something obvious.


    Liam turned around to look at the elven elder''s face that was still lingering around. His gaze met the elder''s gaze, both of them immersed in their own thoughts.


    Then a smile crept on Liam''s face.


    For some reason, the elder suddenly had a bad feeling.


    "Senior, on my way here, I met an elf who helped me a lot. Is it possible for him also to receive enlightenment from your inheritance?"


    "Hmmm?" The elder was confused.


    He did not expect the human being to talk in favor of an elf.


    After he had watched Liam, the elder wondered if he had made the wrong decision in letting the human being in but now he felt a bit relieved.


    "Unfortunately, that is no longer possible." He sighed as he looked at the emptied out blood crystals which were the ones strengthening his lingering soul sliver.


    "But if you wish so, you can impart the technique to other elves and spread my glory." The elder magnanimously suggested.


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam smiled cryptically again.


    He then stood at the same spot silently for a few minutes before he opened his mouth to respond. "You should perhaps do that yourself."


    Huh? The elven elder did not understand.


    While he tried to ponder the meaning of Liam''s words, all of a sudden the human being in front of him moved. Liam''s face contorted and twisted in several angles as if he was focussing on something extremely painful.


    "Why do you look constipateddddddd. Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!"


    Before he realized what was happening, the elven elder''s remains started shrieking loudly. Out of nowhere, the elven elder felt an unbearably strong pull tugging at his soul.


    What was happening?


    The elder tried to block whatever was happening with the meager power he had left but it was to no avail. His soul was no longer listening to him. It was no longer under his control.


    Why? Why was this happening? What could possibly cause something like this?


    The elder then looked at the human being in front of him.


    "Noooooooooo!"


    In a second, everything became clear to him. This person was the one torturing his soul. This human being was the one who was tearing apart whatever was left of him.


    No¡­ he was not tearing apart. Rather¡­


    The elven elder trembled as he felt invisible chains all around him or rather his consciousness.

 Chapter 1110 Unkillable Nettleroach

    Chapter 1110 Unkible Nettleroach


    Sitting atop a lustrous mineral mine, an old man sighed tiredly as he took out a crystal likemunication device from his robe. He looked at the device as if he was hesitant to use it but he knew that he had no other choice except to do so.


    Unfortunately, his time had run out and he had to make contact soon. Otherwise¡­ the old man swallowed. He was genuinely afraid of the consequences.


    He tapped themunication crystal gently, imbuing it with a little of mana, and then pressed his dried wrinkled lips on it. "Priestess, I am afraid I am still not able to locate the treasure."


    Crawford swallowed again before continuing, "I have searched everywhere, but the stone tablet is nowhere to be found. Is there a chance it could have slipped into some other realm?"


    Then feeling as if he was ashamed of his own suggestion, he quickly corrected it. "Perhaps one of the guardians got hold of it and is now hiding it. Give me some more time. I will get to the bottom of this."


    There was a brief silence. Crawford''s hand trembled slightly as he waited for a response. He wasn''t sure if he was going to get one at all.


    That damned bastard! Even in his death, he had made his life miserable!


    Suddenly, a gentle voice rang out from themunication device, almost scaring him. "Crawford, the Divine Temple has shown patience because we believe in you. But you also know the importance of the stone tablet. How long do you expect us to wait for you?"


    "Please forgive me, Priestess. I amcking my former strength. If not, I-"


    "Crawford, do you think that I have the time to listen to your excuses? It is best if you don''t make me wait any longer."


    "Yes, Priestess." Crawford replied, full of reverence but themunication device had already dimmed implying that the other side had broken the connection.


    "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!" The old man let out a frustrated shout.


    Why must his life be so difficult?!! If only he had his former strength! If only he had his tower, then he could have ruled this world and be the overlord that he was supposed to be!


    "Curse you, you damned brat! Curse you and your nine generations of ancestors!"


    "I am going to hunt down anyone rted to you and torture them slowly to death for centuries!"


    On the other side, the divine temple high priestess remained indifferent as she tossed the crystal in her hand in a random direction.


    "Lady Geneiva¡­" The pdin knight standing next to her called out in a low voice.


    The high priestess looked at him with her piercing golden eyes, her long golden hair cascading down her back. "Speak."


    "What if the treasure is still not found because its original owner has not yet perished?"


    The high priestess'' face instantly fell. She stood up from her throne with a grave expression on her face. "If that is indeed the case, then¡­ there might be a powerful enemy waiting for us in the future."


    "Priestess¡­ that is¡­"


    "What? You think that I am overestimating him?" The priestess looked out the window of her airship which floated high above the city, gazing at the intricate tapestry of lights and structures below. "No. I do not overestimate anyone."


    "That human is atleroach. He has already escaped six times from me. Killing him is proving to be more difficult than managing the entirety of the lower realms. I have even crossed the line several times. If he is still not dead¡­ No. That''s not possible. He has to be dead."


    "There is no way he could have tempered his body well enough to withstand bothher and mana. Even if everything else had failed, his own constitution should have killed him. He has no way out."


    "And if he still did not perish then¡­"


    "I am truly afraid to think of the consequences. Irrespective of whether that fool Crawford finds the treasure that he speaks of, we need to be prepared. In a few years, I am nning to use the heavenly array. That time he will no longer be able to escape."


    "Heavenly array?" The knight gasped.


    The heavenly array was one of the most expensive array formations they have in their possession. It was an array using which one could locate any treasure they sought or beings they sought after.


    In other words, once a heavenly array was used any being in the myriad realm no matter how powerful they were would be found out.


    Naturally, those who were beyond a certain power level would also realize that they had been subjected to such an array. So even if they were found out, there would be a price to pay for it.


    However, for a nobody like the human being, it was a perfect way to locate without the other person finding out. The only drawback was that it would put a huge dent in their coffers if they actually used it.


    But now¡­


    "Yes. Crawford is a mere tool spirit who is not even aware that he is a tool spirit. There is a limit to what that rabid lunatic is capable of. Time has made him a mindless old goat. He might be spewing out nonsense just to win our favor. It is best to be prepared."


    "No matter the costs I have to ensure that the human being has truly perished. Once the mana barrier surrounding his worldes down, his world will no longer have any protection."


    "Then it would only be a simple matter to decimate the whole damn thing which is already half-dead. Even if he slips out of the dying world, there won''t be a single ce in this myriad realms that he can hide from me."


    The priestess''s gaze turned cold as she pictured the human being resolutely fighting, back in the tutorial, and once again, the familiar unsettling feeling in her heart welled up. She did not like it. That human had to die.


    Ideally, she would have liked to use the array immediately to ensure that thetleroach hadn''t somehow slipped out of the world but unfortunately, that was an extravagance she couldn''t afford at the moment.


    She had other matters that needed her attention and her resources. Her moment of ascension was close now. At this time, she would be a fool to focus on something else.


    If she seeds, then perhaps she might not even need to use the heavenly array. She would finally be freely able to crush that insect with her very own hands.


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb181eac54bbabcee6b551c460f522c4ac93afe302abc5694337d166c120d5b5b1

 Chapter 1111 Don’t you have any conscience, human?

    Chapter 1111 Don¡¯t you have any conscience, human?


    Meanwhile¡­ back in the narrow passage¡­


    Liam panted hoarsely, fully drenched in sweat. However, the other party was in a much worse condition.


    In front of him, the elven elder wailed in agony. "Please let me go! Please let me go!"


    He was a lofty being who had once roamed the heavens freely but now he was reduced to this?!!! Even though his ego did not allow it, the small sliver of soul couldn''t stop itself from wailing and begging. The pain of one''s soul shredding was just that unbearable.


    "Why must you torture me like this? I let you in. I gave you the inheritance. Now you want my soul?!! Don''t you have any conscience, human?"


    "Conscience?" Liam''s voice was low, a deep rumble echoing through the passage. "You think I can afford to have something as useless as that? I am sorry but this is your own fault. You should not have revealed your weakness."


    The elder elf shook, his essence visibly trembling. "Then what? Why do you do this?! What do you even expect from capturing my soul?"


    The elven elder did not consider in his wildest dreams that this seemingly ordinary human being would have a soul technique to attack him and now he was screwed.


    Liam took a deep breath, and when he spoke, his words held a weight, a gravity that made the very walls of the passage seem to listen intently.


    "You higher world beings have always looked down upon us. Always treating us like inferior beings, when in reality we have just not been given the opportunities that you have. And now, I''m supposed to just take the scraps you give me and be thankful?"


    The elder elf tried to speak, but Liam silenced him with a wave of his hand. "This isn''t about fairness. You expect me to bow and scrape, to be grateful for the little you grant me while the rest of your world enjoys its abundance? It''s time to share."


    Liam did not let up.


    Even though in his current condition it would be impossible for him to forge the soul, he could still forcefully store the soul in the white marble he had purchased that was capable of storing souls and sealing it until he was ready to forge it.


    How could he leave behind such a good thing? If he could make six generals from the six powerhouses who died here, then his army would be even more powerful.


    Moreover, he would be able to ess their memories!


    Memories of six powerful beings who were at the same level¡­ No¡­ Liam had a feeling that these men were definitely much stronger than the divine temple high priestess.


    If he could somehow ess memories of such beings and learn of their strengths and secrets, then he could instantly skyrocket in power.


    If he was to survive, then he had to somehow achieve this. Right now, he was standing on a minefield. He couldn''t afford to be grateful to someone who helped him out on a whim.


    This same soul fragment could have finished him off if his mood had been a little off. Why should he feel gratitude for someone like that?


    That was a luxury he couldn''t afford when his family, his friends, and his guild were waiting for him. Who knew how their condition was? He had left them behind with Crawford.


    Even if his world somehow survived, they would still be doomed because of that damned old man.


    Liam''s heart ached. He was once again in the same ce where he was in hisst life. Helpless and powerless. But not for long.


    Mustering his willpower, he againmanded whatever was left of the soul fragment and forced it to submit and enter the white marble.


    He failed again and again, but he did not care because every time he failed he managed to chip away a little of the soul into the marble.


    By the time he was done, the elven elder would probably havepletely disintegrated but once again he did not care. Even if there was a small chance for him to ess the memories of the elder, he was going to take it.


    Liam rested for a while and then continued again. This continued on for several hours.


    And when he rested, he did not remain idle. He practiced his newly acquired sword technique, the arcane sword sh. He also practiced his fire sh, his spirit sh, and his spirit wrath techniques, hoping to gain something from the effort.


    To the elven elder''s dismay, Liam did end up gaining something.


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Sharpness]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam received another dao seed, the dao seed of sharpness. Unlike the dao seeds before, this time he only received 15 levels which meant that this was not as powerful as the dao seed of mana maniption orher maniption or the ice element.


    But it was still something as it pushed his levels by 15 which was a considerable development. It also gave him another 60 stat points for him to allocate freely.


    Liam did not hesitate as he immediately added this to his vitality as well, quickly bringing up his health. Right now he was using these stat points but he had a feeling that there was more to these so-called dao seeds than simple level bump and stat bump.


    As he wondered out loud what a dao seed was, the elven elder startedughing maniacally at this point.


    Who was this damned human being? How was he able to gain a dao seed from just practicing a few techniques inside a cave for some odd hours!


    Had he finally lost his mind? Perhaps this was all an illusion? How could someone like this exist in the lower realms?


    A few hours and several agonizing screamster¡­ Liam finally managed topletely suck the soul into the white marble. Now the location of the inheritance was truly empty.

 Chapter 1112 Dao Seed

    Chapter 1112 Dao Seed


    Liam slowly flew out of the chasm which was now silent and empty, even the glow of the blood essence considerably faded.


    He couldn''t believe what just happened. He knew he had pushed his luck quite a bit but there was no other way. For the first time, he was not under the thumb of anyone.


    Sure, there was danger all around him but at the same time, there were also opportunities and except for one elf, no one else knew that he was here. He had to use this chance.


    Liam exited the chasm and then gazed at the endless array of mountains surrounding him on all sides.


    On his right were the outer mountains of the ruins and on his left were the inner mountains of the ruins leading to the sword scar.


    So far he had been sticking to the outer mountains but now¡­ Liam turned to his left and then started flying toward the sword scar. It was time to head inside.


    In hisst few free moments, the elven elder had ended up screaming out the potential location of another inheritance and Liam wanted to check that out.


    It might very well be a lie or even a trap but hey it was as good as any other trap he could walk into at any moment. With the elves everywhere these ruins were dangerous no matter where he went.


    Liam kept his head low and continued heading inward when he suddenly stopped in front of a particrly tall mountain from which he could feel an abundance of mana.


    On top of this mountain, there was a simple pagoda-type building that seemed to be deserted. Liam slowly headed up there with caution.


    Since the mana concentration was so obviously high, he didn''t think that he would find any elves here. After all, if anything had been inside, it would have already been cleared out.


    Besides, this was not the location of the second inheritance. Before he headed over to that site, he wanted to make a pit stop to make some preparations and this seemed as good as any.


    Liam slowly checked out the building and sure enough, there was no one inside. He then selected a room on the top floor, which provided a clear vantage point of the surroundings. It was a simple room with a wooden floor and a low sitting table in the center.


    Sighing lightly, Liam steadied himself. He silently unsheathed the ck dragon sword and started practicing his sword techniques.


    Right now he was in the midst of enemy territory and he should probably be looking for more treasures that could power him up but something that the elder screamed out made Liam want to invest some time in his training.


    In hisst moments, the elven elder had desperately tried to sell Liam on how he could teach him several things and how he could improve his strength. More specifically, he talked about ''dao'' a lot.


    From his ramblings, Liam knew that getting a dao seed was not a simple thing. Furthermore, just getting it was not enough. Apparently, there was also a practicalponent to it. He had to fully integrate with it or something like that to bring out its full power.


    To test this out, Liam first decided to start with the sword technique.


    "Dao seed of sharpness." He pondered as he swung the sword repeatedly. He tried to feel the sharpness in each swing as this was the most obvious meaning of the term.


    Liam chose this dao seed to first understand because this one had given him a smaller bump in level whenpared to the other two. So probably this was easier to understand.


    However, soon Liam realized that he had vastly miscalcted the difficulty in this. Even after hours of practice, he couldn''t grasp anything significant.


    The sword sliced through the air smoothly, with unparalleled finesse and precision, but the essence of the dao seed remained elusive. The main problem was that he had no idea what this dao seed was or what he was even doing.


    Frustration bubbled within him, but he calmed down. He decided to meditate, allowing the sword to rest beside him. Closing his eyes, he delved deep into his body, trying to get a feel for this dao seed.


    But unlike his broken mana core and his broken partially formedher core, it seemed that this dao seed was not a physical entity.


    Liam then reached into his soul realm wondering if the dao seed resided there. Immediately, he felt a searing pain that almost made him snap out of the meditative state.


    The injury in his soul was still as worse as ever.


    However, it was better than before just a teeny tiny bit, at least enough for him to vaguely wander around the space which in itself was impossible before.


    Despite the sharp, jarring pain, Liam persisted, taking shallow breaths to stabilize himself and look inward. His consciousness was wandering in a foggy world where every direction he looked brought him cutting pain.


    But soon, he saw something, it was a shining rune. Sparks of lightning sizzled from the rune. Liam knew what this was, the rune for his dragon breath skill.


    Shortly afterward, he also came across the second one which immediately made him feel extremely cold. This rune undoubtedly belonged to the other dragon breath skill in his possession.


    Though the two runes both represented the same skill, they hadpletely different structures and designs just like they hadpletely different oues.


    However, there were still some vague underlying simrities between both.


    Liam couldn''t help but feel as if he was on the cusp of figuring something out.


    And then he realized. His mind was incredibly clear. He had essed his soul numerous times before this but right now, he felt the most focused and aware than he had ever been before.


    It was as if the sheer pressure and danger of his surroundings,bined with the urgency of understanding the dao seed, had pushed him into a heightened state of consciousness.


    Or perhaps it had something to do with the herb that he consumed. Come to think about it, he evenprehended the inheritance and received the two dao seeds after consuming the herb.


    Maybe this was another benefit of ingesting the S-Ranked herb.


    Liam decided to test thatter and continued to focus on his soul realm. As he wandered further, suddenly there were patches of darkness where his soul seemed to have ceased to exist.


    "These should be the tears in my soul."


    Liam focused and once again he was back in the foggy world. In this manner, he continued to dwell in that world for a while when he came across his few other skill runes like the Inspect skill and the Stealth skill.


    Finally, after what seemed like hours Liam came across something that he did not recognize. It was a small rune, pulsing softly.


    Liam couldn''t see it clearly like he saw the other skill runes, but he could tell that something simr to a rune was present in that space.


    This had to be one of the dao seeds. Liam was sure of it. When he focused on it, an intense feeling washed over him.


    Liam reached out mentally to this mysterious rune, trying to touch it with his consciousness. The moment he made contact, the rune seemed to respond, resonating with the frequency of his soul.


    Visions began to flood his mind.


    He saw vast snow-covered ins, towering icy mountains, and serene cialkes. The world before him was cold and still, yet breathtakingly beautiful.


    As he delved deeper into the vision, he began to see the underlying essence of ice.


    From the massive ciers moving slowly, carving valleys into the earth, to the delicate formation of ice crystals on a winter''s morning. Everything screamed of a calm, controlled, and unstoppable force.


    A sense of calmness spread inside him.


    meditate, fully immersing himself in his visions. His understanding Liam knew that this was the dao seed of ice elemental but the feeling he got from it waspletely unexpected. He continued to meditate, fully immersing himself in his visions. His understanding deepened and he felt more attuned to the element.


    Even though many of the concepts seemed already obvious, he now had a more profound understanding of the same.


    When Liam finally awoke from his meditation, he did not know how many hours had passed. There was no longer daylight in the world. But it was worth it because he felt transformed.


    For the first time since the tutorial and his training with the elf, he felt his skills undergo a significant change. If his mana core was not broken at the moment, Liam was confident that he could create a skill that might even rival the dragon''s breath.


    However, that had to wait.


    For now, he was only able to expend a little bit of mana, and with this little bit...


    Liam looked at his ck dragon sword. No, that little bit was enough. He lifted the sword and started to practice the swing that he had in his mind.


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 Chapter 1113 Level ???

    <h4>Chapter 1113 Level ???</h4>


    Liam did not train for too long. After a while, his progress had be stagnant so he exited the building and once again stepped out in the open.


    The night had fully enveloped the surroundings, and the moon hung high in the sky, casting its soft silvery glow over the vast expanse of the mountains.


    Liam gazed up at the night sky, allowing himself a brief moment of respite. He nced in the direction of the sword scar in the distance. Just in these outer mountains, he had gained so much, he couldn''t help but think of the benefits he could reap from reaching the sword scar.


    Liam was not a fool. He knew that something like that was impossible. An entire B-grade world had been trying to reach the sword scar for perhaps centuries, only to fail. So the chances of him iming that for himself were abysmally thin.


    However, the same could not be said for the inheritance site Liam had in mind. Steadying himself, he flew toward the direction in which the elven elder had screamed out. He still did not know if it was a trap but he had no other option except to check it out.


    He had to keep moving forward.


    Liam barely took a few steps forward when suddenly a loud roar resounded in his direction. The roar echoed throughout the mountains, causing the earth beneath him to tremble. A powerful aura emerged from behind him.


    Liam immediately went on high alert. His hand instinctively moved to the hilt of his sword, as he snapped to look behind him. Instantly, his face paled.


    From the shadows, a massive creature emerged, its eyes glowing a menacing red in the moonlight. Its scales shimmered with an eerie crimson luster, and its long tail thrashed wildly behind it.


    Its scales were deep crimson, almost maroon, giving it an appearance as if it was carved from coagted blood. Instead of the standard wing structure, its wings seem to be an amalgamation of membranous webbing and thick blood vessels, pulsing with every heartbeat.


    The beast resembled a dragon, but it was different from any dragon Liam had ever seen.


    [Level ???, Bloodforged Drake]


    The creature fixed its gaze on Liam, its nostrils ring as it let out a low growl. Liam could feel the creature''s immense aura pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe.


    He knew that he was fucked.


    Even though he had leveled up quite a bittely, this was not an opponent that he could face. As for outrunning it¡­


    "Damn it." Liam knew that it was only a matter of time. This ruins was full of things that could skewer him and shred him and he had finally run into one.


    The next instant the drake barreled forward without any warning. It looked like it had woken up from a deep slumber so it fumbled about.


    Even so, Liam was only barely able to dodge it as his body crashed against the rocky face of the mountain, his hand almost ripped off of his body.


    This was not good. He was just moments away from dying. The drake was already revving up to charge toward him for the second time. Everything happened in a split second.


    Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Liam''s mind raced as he instinctively unsheathed his ck dragon sword to block the attack.


    As the Bloodforged Drake lunged towards him, he raised the sword, positioning it to meet the beast''s charge with all the strength he could muster.


    BOOM!


    A massive collision ensued, creating a shockwave that resonated throughout the mountains. Pain rippled across Liam''s body as he felt the beast''s ws digging into his side. He had only managed to block half the attack.


    But to his astonishment, he was still alive. Fresh blood continued to spill as he gazed at the bloody drake that had momentarily retreated.


    And then Liam felt it.


    The ck dragon sword in his hand was awake. The sword that had been dormant all these days was thrumming alive with life, seething with anger that resonated with his own frustration.


    Liam quickly took out a healing potion, uncorking it with his teeth and gulping it down. The elixir coursed through his veins, stitching together torn flesh and mending broken bones.


    His vision blurred momentarily as immediate relief washed over him. Perhaps the drake decided not to fight with him?


    But he instantly realized that it was a fool''s dream as his actions seemingly triggered the beast that was in a trance staring at his sword.


    As Liam immediately shot back with all the speed that he could muster, the drake let out an enraged roar before it charged toward him once more.


    BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.


    Huge cracks formed on the surface of the mountain as the drake crashed and pped its bloody wings to follow after him with everything it had as if it had an endless animosity with him.


    For a moment, Liam had hoped that using the ck dragon sword would give him an advantage in this fight but it turned out that he was fucked after all. The sword only managed to further anger the beast.


    Liam flew blindly in a random direction to escape the damned thing but the beast was like a bloodhound not willing to let go of him. He saw that the drake was not that good in maneuvering with its big lumbering body so he weaved through rock formations and soaring peaks.


    However, whatever he did, it was all useless. The drake was quickly catching up to him.


    There was no other way. He had topromise on his escape speed to retaliate a little. Otherwise, it would be game over.


    While continuing to fly away, Liam shed his sword down, sending out arcs of sword beams. The drake snorted in contempt as itpletely ignored the attack of the insignificant human being.


    But just as the first sword beam touched its body, the beast trembled for a moment. A biting cold seeped into its scales, causing it to let out a painful roar. Ayer of frost covered its scales, resulting in unexpected cracks on the touch crimson metallic surface.


    Three of its scales were chipped away and fell down.


    The drake roared in anger. It was forced to evade the rest of the attacks. Even though the attacks were not powerful enough to be a threat to the beast, its pride did not allow it to let its scales get damaged from fighting with an insect.


    Liam''s grip on the sword tightened. He was not there yet but this was something. He continued to swing his sword at the enemy chasing behind him as he dashed forward at full speed.


    However, his mana core was not the same as before. He could barelyst for a few seconds before it gave out and his mana supply ran dry. The meager amount he was pulling in from the surroundings was not nearly enough for maintaining both his speed and his attack power.


    Liam felt as if he was putting up a futile fight with the beast. The divine temple high priestess might no longer be behind him but that did not mean that he was invincible. The world was filled with many dangers and now he was going to die at the hands of one of those dangers.


    What was even the use of fighting back against something so powerful? He had absolutely no chance. His sister was probably dead. The woman he loved was probably dead. Everyone he cared about was also dead.


    Perhaps this time he should really just let go¡­


    Liam snapped himself out of his thoughts as he felt that something was wrong. His thoughts were running wild and a hopeless destitute feeling was washing over him.


    At the distance, he saw the drake gaining speed with its wings pping madly. It had to be the drake. The beast finally yed its hand and was now feeding on his fear and despair using some sort of mental attack.


    The next second Liam felt a searing pain that made hime to an absolute standstill. He could no longer move. When he forced himself to see through the pain, he felt something restricting him and saw chains of blood wrapped around him.


    A rueful smile appeared on his face. He had done the exact same thing to the elven elder hours ago and now ironically he was also bound by some sort of chains.


    Wait. Liam once again forced himself to focus. He grunted and with a forceful push, he broke and shattered the chains binding him. This was just another mental attack.


    However, the fight was already over. Even though he managed toe out of the mental attack, the drake also evaded all of his sword beams filled with the power of his newly acquired dao seeds.


    Combining the power of his ice elemental dao seed and sharpness dao seed, he had used a modified version of the arcane frost sh, an attack that was his most powerful technique.


    But it was nowhere near enough to deter the Bloodforged Drake, and now, out of mana and exhausted, Liam was left defenseless.


    In ast-ditch effort, he put all of his remaining energy to flee as fast as he could when suddenly numerous roars echoed all around him.


    Another mental attack? Liam turned to look when he saw something that shuddered his very being. He waspletely surrounded on all sides. Dozens of soul-blood beasts appeared on the mountain face, blocking his every path of exit.


    And above them hovered the drake, with its menacing eyes locked onto Liam.

 Chapter 1114 YOU ARE MINE NOW

    Hopelessness. Despair. Destion.


    Liam felt himself fall into a pit of abyss as he stared at the impossible situation in front of him. To the extent his eyes could see there were monsters lying in wait to tear him apart and kill him.


    Perhaps if it was just the drake, he could have somehow fled. Perhaps if he was faced with just the soul-blood beasts then he could have controlled them like he did before.


    However, now¡­ he no longer had the energy to do anything. There was nothing left inside him.


    No matter where he went, or what he did, there was always death at every turn.


    It was as if he was cursed. Forever doomed to suffer and die a meaningless death.


    For the first time in both his lives, Liam felt tired. He did not want to struggle anymore. There was no point in anything he did.


    No matter how much he struggled, and how much pain he underwent, he was again and again going to end up at the same rock bottom. He was really tired.


    He wanted to close his eyes and sleep. Let go of everything. Perhaps in another life¡­ perhaps as someone else¡­ he would finally find peace. But for now, he was tired.


    As his mind was falling deeper and deeper into the pit of the abyss, Liam''s body felt weak and fragile. He was just a moment shy of truly letting go and plummeting from that height.


    However, there was another feeling that suddenly cropped up.


    Hunger.


    Hunger for everything that he never had.


    And a thirst for unleashing hell on those trying to suppress him.


    This feeling welled up inside him like a deluge andbined with the roar of the surrounding soul-blood beasts woke him up from his trance.


    Liam snapped out of the mental attack to look directly at the drake. The creature was looking down on him with obvious contempt in its eyes.


    The same contempt he had seen in the eyes of the strong creature that had decimated him in his first life. The same contempt he had seen in the eyes of the divine temple high priestess.


    He was tired of seeing this look.


    He had had enough.


    Liam clenched his fist as the tiredness, hopelessness, and despair that coursed through his veins were suddenly reced with rage, an unbridled fury.


    He had really had enough of it.


    "I will not be pushed around anymore!" He shouted, his voice reverberating amidst the roars of the soul-blood beasts.


    Liam''s eyes turned white. A powerful aura seeped out of him that made the drake tremble for a moment. The soul-blood beasts became silent. The sword in his hand hummed in delight.


    "I will not be pushed around anymore!" Liam shouted again as if he was giving a decree to the heavens themselves.


    He was a cornered beast with nothing to lose.


    And like any cornered beast, Liam''s next move was ferocious, a primal scream of defiance against the universe itself. He was tired of always being on the receiving end, tired of always facing insurmountable odds.


    Not giving a shit about his injured soul, Liam reached into himself andmanded whatever was left of his soul energy to get the hell out and do its bidding.


    Threads of radiant energy, each strand resembling the finest white silk, yet as powerful as the roaring waves of an ocean, erupted from Liam, shooting forth from his body toward the numerous soul-blood beasts surrounding him.


    "You... YOU ARE MINE NOW!"


    Liam shouted and the soul-blood beasts trembled.


    To the drake''s astonishment, the next second the several soul-blood beasts started roaring loudly in madness in frenzy.


    They moved erratically, no longer coordinated, their eyes clouding over with a crazed white glow, mirroring Liam''s own. Their ferocity, once directed at Liam, now turned towards the drake.


    The transformation was immediate and overpowering.


    These creatures, which once spelled certain doom for Liam, were now locked onto the drake with a predatory zeal.


    And though the drake was a formidable creature, with armored scales and powerful wings, the sheer number of soul-blood beasts lunging at it with unparalleled ferocity made it hard for it to retaliate effectively.


    Liam, his eyes still zing with endless anger, watched as the tables turned.


    Each beast that attacked the drake was under hismand, drawn to his unleashed soul energy, and following the impulses of his rage.


    The drake roared, a mixture of anger and panic, its majestic wings batting away a few beasts, its tail swiping others. But for each beast it fended off, more lunged onto it.


    Liam could see the fear in the drake''s eyes, the realization that its end was imminent. Unlike him, the soul-blood beasts were not low-leveled creatures.


    Just like the drake, these creatures had also undergone the endless trials of the mystic realm and stood firm bathed in blood essence, and soul power of the beings that perished here.


    Like wolves on a lion, these creatures pounced on the drake, wing and shing at it. Numerous blood spheres emerged all around the drake, exploding on its body and creating one injury after another.


    The scene was brutal. The drake''s roars became more desperate. It tried to take flight, to escape the relentless onught, but the weight of the soul-blood beasts and the injuries it sustained kept it imprisoned.


    Soon, the once proud and arrogant beast was reduced to a pile of flesh and bones and a notification chimed in.


    [Ding! You have gained 200,000,000 experience points!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    What was left of the drake''s body dropped down on the ground but Liam''s rage was yet to be quenched. He shoved the remains into his spatial artifact and stared at the numerous soul-blood beasts roaring and howling in front of him.


    He could feel them as if he could feel his own soul army.


    More importantly, with a simple tug, he knew he would be able to manipte the soul energy that they were made of.

 Chapter 1115 There is an intruder in the realm

    Chapter 1115 There is an intruder in the realm


    Liam had tried the same with his soul minions before but they were not able to heal his injury.


    However, he had a feeling that this time things would be difficult. This time he might be able to get everything back.


    He was on the cusp of getting it right even before but now he had broken through. He was sure of it.


    Liam did not know why he felt what he felt but the drake pushing him to a corner was the best thing that happened to him. It forced him to push his boundaries and go beyond his limitations.


    He inhaled, his eyes cold and indifferent, as he rapidly started absorbing one soul-blood beast after another.


    Thin streams of energy slowly started seeping into him and his body began absorbing them like a sponge soaking up water.


    Each strand of energy was like a thread, weaving and merging with his own soul, mending the tears and fortifying the weakened parts.


    [Ding! You have obtained the Dao seed of Soul Maniption]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Several system notifications popped up on the side but Liam did not pay attention to any of them.


    His mind was clear and still as he continued to patiently manipte the numerous swirls of soul energy that wereing his way and integrated them with his own soul.


    Seconds ticked by and his confidence grew. He gradually increased his pace and soon the process became akin to a ck hole drawing everything into its center.


    The soul-blood beasts, which were once wild and unpredictable, now found themselves inexorably pulled towards Liam.


    Their roars and howls, previously filled with madness and fury, turned into cries of despair as they were absorbed by Liam.


    Each absorption was apanied by a rush of energy and sensation. The fragmented memories, the raw power, and the lifetimes of experiences from the creatures coursed through him.


    It was overwhelming, but he remained focused, drawing on his sheer willpower and resolve to prevent himself from being lost amidst the deluge.


    One by one, the creatures vanished, their existence reduced to pure energy which Liam meticulously integrated into his core.


    The number of soul-blood beasts had already been reduced by half. Liam still felt unsatiated but he could feel his strength surging exponentially with each beast absorbed.


    He could feel the injury in his soul, once deep and irreversible, now mending. The power of the soul-blood beasts acted as a balm, sealing the cracks and rejuvenating his essence.


    Finally, as thest soul-blood beast was absorbed, Liam let out a breath he didn''t know he was holding. The rush of power settled down, and he could feel the significant changes in his being.


    He took a moment to stabilize himself, ensuring that all the energy was properly assimted.


    The once chaotic soul energy within him now flowed harmoniously, like rivers joining an ocean, making him an embodiment of soul essence.


    He slowly opened his eyes which were back to their former self.


    Liam took a deep breath. He then opened his mouth.


    "Army." He mouthed and the next second wisps of soul appeared all around him and his soul army which was blocked until now, stepped out into the open.


    Perhaps because of the abundant soul energy present all around the world, or perhaps because they reflected the mood of theirmander, the entire soul army growled in synergy, letting out an imposing aura that stood unyielding and indomitable.


    Liam nodded in approval and then dismissed everyone. His battle and movements just now for sure would have attracted too much attention. He needed to leave first and hide.


    No. He needed to go somewhere with more soul-blood beasts.


    After the entire ordeal, he felt more attuned with soul energy so he tried to sense if there was any abundant soul energy signature near him.


    However, it seemed he had overlooked something right near him.


    The drake''s soul was still lingering in the vicinity.


    A smile appeared on Liam''s face as he unceremoniously shoved the soul into a white marble. He tossed it back into his spatial artifact and immediately left the area.


    Not long after, several beams of light descended from the sky, each one carrying a powerful presence and attracted by the massive surge in soul energy.


    These were elite beings from various elven ns, some of them even wearing the royal sigil.


    The elves hurriedly scanned the area, trying to decipher what had urred. The remnants of the soul-blood beasts, the fluctuations of power, everything indicated that a major battle had taken ce.


    A middle-aged elf with sharp eyes, adorned in blue robes, squinted at the ground. "Something profound happened here. This isn''t just any ordinary battle."


    A younger woman, draped in silver, nodded in agreement. "The residual soul energy is dense."


    Another elf, with a long white beard and dressed in green, waved his hand, producing a crystal. After channeling a bit of his energy into it, he shook his head.


    "The one responsible is no longer in this vicinity. But¡­ the way the energy has been manipted and absorbed is unlike anything I''ve ever seen."


    "They''ve managed to absorb and integrate the soul-blood beasts." He added. "And not just a few. I can feel the abundance of newly freed up blood essence."


    "We''ve been studying these beasts for decades, and no one has achieved such a feat." Another elf eximed.


    "We must find this person. They should have gained something from the mystic realm, a powerful inheritance perhaps." the man in blue dered. "Such power can tip the bnce of power in our realm."


    The three of them, along with the other elves, began scanning the area, trying to pick up on any clues or trails left by the mysterious individual.


    Soon they all stared at a particr direction and it was the same direction Liam had headed off to.


    "The aura leads this way," said the elder elf, pointing in the direction with his staff. "And it''s not the aura of an elf. There is an intruder in the realm."

 Chapter 1116 Wait, what?

    Chapter 1116 Wait, what?


    Eldrin Silverthorn knew he had met his match when the human being had shoved him into a bunch of elves and soul-blood beasts and fled the scene. What a crafty little bastard? Wasn''t he afraid of dying?


    The little bitch was only level 100 something and still dared to y around with him! The audacity!


    Hmph! As if he would let him leave without even putting a marker on him!


    Eldrin was not in the least worried about the human slipping out of his hands. What he was worried about was surviving this ordeal.


    After the human cunningly trapped him with dozens of soul blood beasts along with some elves, he couldn''t run or hide. He had to painstakingly stand and fight alongside the damned elves and somehow finally made his escape.


    "Wait till I get my hands on him again!"


    Eldrin couldn''t possibly kill his golden goose but he could definitely give him a ck eye or two.


    "Where is that bastard now?" He closed his eyes to sense where the tracker was. Hmmm. He frowned as he couldn''t feel it very clearly but soon he found it.


    "Got you!" Eldrin made his move. Just as he thought the human was still hanging around the outskirts of the ruins, probably out of fear for his life. "As he should be."


    Losing that human had put a damper in his ns but now he was prepared to return to his former speed. He had already gained a lot and it was time to find some more treasures before he got the hell out of here and his world.


    He had had enough of the elven bullshit. He was ready to leave this goddamn ce, summer in the nymphnd and rx a little. The gods know that he deserves it!


    Eldrin moving swiftly through the ancient ruins suddenly noticed that something was off. There was an unusually high number of elves in the direction he was headed. Most of them did not even bother hiding their aura because of which he was able to sniff them out.


    Why¡­? What is happening? The elf was puzzled.


    The tracker he had ced on the human was a sophisticated piece of magic, nearly undetectable by those who didn''t know of its existence.


    Eldrin had secretly ced it on the human during one of their earlier encounters. So there shouldn''t be any problem with it.


    There was no chance for the human being to have discarded it, thereby leading him once again into some sort of a trap.


    No. Eldrin shook his head subconsciously as he thought about it again. There was indeed no chance of something like that happening. Then what was going on?


    When he reached closer, he could still sense the elves all around him. The human couldn''t possibly be connected to this, could he?


    Eldrin was nervous but he knew that he had to go and check out what was happening. The human was a walking treasure finder that he could not afford to miss.


    Besides, in the near vicinity of the human being there were currently no elves so the risk was slightly on the lower side? Alright. It was just his wishful thinking but Eldrin did not want to give up on the human being no matter what.


    The heavens had gifted the human being to him and it would be a pity to squander the opportunity. He needed to hit it big and get the fuck out of here. Forever.


    Soon, he reached a clearing. At the center, there was an old, dpidated shrine, which seemed to have some mystical inscriptions on it. There, he spotted the human, engrossed in studying something on the shrine.


    He was under a [Stealth] skill of some sort but Eldrin had the tracker so he did not have any trouble locating him.


    "Caught you, little rat." With a smirk, he muttered to himself. But what was this shrine? Could it be something important?


    Did the human perhaps spot some soul-blood beasts here which had drawn him to it? If that was true, then the shrine really had to be something amazing!


    "I need to go check it out."


    However, as Eldrin was about to step into the clearing, an arrow zipped past him, barely missing his ear. He immediately leaped back, taking cover behind arge boulder.


    From the trees emerged a group of elves, their royal sigils evident. Among them, the middle-aged elf in blue robes, who had previouslye to investigate the scene of the battle, stared coldly at Eldrin.


    "Eldrin Silverthorn, what do you think you''re doing here?" The elf demanded, his voice dripping with disdain.


    Eldrin grimaced. "I could ask you the same, Therion."


    Therion sneered, "Don''t y games, Eldrin. Why would someone like you even enter the ruins in the first ce? Shouldn''t you be lying on the floor of some tavern or brothel? What are you doing here?"


    "Ah¡­ Lord Therion, I am not sure what you are implying. The Emperor gave us all permission to enter. I, of course, had to respect the Emperor''s wishes," Eldrin retorted, a hint of mocking in his tone.


    Therion''s eyes shed with annoyance. "The Emperor''s orders are for those with noble intentions, not for rogues like you. You''re up to something, and I intend to find out."


    Eldrin rolled his eyes. "Always with the dramatics, Therion. I''m here for the same reason as everyone else. Treasures, exploration¡­ and perhaps a bit of fun."


    "Hmph." The elf snorted in contempt. "Well whatever may be the reason you are here, right now you need to leave. This area has already been imed by his highness."


    Eldrin raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. "By his highness? Do you mean the first Prince?"


    Therion sneered, "Who else? He has taken a special interest in this shrine. If he knew you were anywhere near here, you''d be in chains faster than you could blink."


    Eldrin weighed his options. The human had clearly found something of interest in this shrine, and the presence of the royal elven guards only confirmed its importance.


    But he also knew that crossing paths with the prince was a dangerous game.


    Still, the elf''s curiosity was insatiable. "What''s so special about this shrine? Why is the prince so interested in it?"


    Therion shot Eldrin a suspicious nce. "That''s not your concern. Now, be wise and leave while you still have the chance."


    Eldrin grumbled to himself. He knew that he had no other choice except to leave but before leaving he would at least make these bitches choose between the human being or the shrine.


    He couldn''t possibly lose both of them. Come on! It was only fair that he got one!


    Eldrin immediately unleashed his aura, making his presencepletely known.


    The sudden eruption of his aura shocked everyone in the vicinity. "Damn you, Eldrin!" Therion growled, unsheathing his elven sword, its de shimmering with an eerie light.


    However, the elf suddenly remembered something else and the group snapped to look at the human in front of them.


    The human being was now looking directly at them. They had been found out!


    Not that the elves were ever scared of a puny little creature. They were more curious than wary of this particr low-leveled human being.


    On orders of the prince they had been patiently waiting here but now everything was spoiled and their presence had been revealed, thanks to the wastrel.


    Giving Eldrin another re, Therion ordered, his face red with rage. "After him! We cannot let him escape!" The group of elves rushed towards the human being, having no intention of sparing him.


    However, to their shock, it seemed that the human being also had no intentions of leaving. Just as the group of elves arrived in front of the shrine, the human being mumbled something in a foreign tongue.


    It did not matter because all of them possessed the [Realm''s Tongue] skill that gave them the ability to understand and speak all thenguages in the myriad realms.


    And they heard him say¡­ Army. Only one word.


    "Army?"


    "What is the human talking about? What army? Is the human being not alone?"


    All the elves looked around in panic when suddenly, out of thin air, something emerged. No. not one but many!


    One after the other, familiar creatures started materializing.


    "SOUL-BLOOD BEASTS?" The elves'' eyes widened.


    All around the clearing, soul-blood beasts of varying shapes and sizes materialized, their eyes glowing with malevolent light.


    Their fearsome appearance and sheer numbers caused the elves to take a step back, rm evident on their faces. Every single one of these creatures was at least Level 800.


    Therion, now pale, pointed his sword at the human, his voice shaky but firm. "You... You can control these beasts?"


    The human smirked, his eyes cold and vicious. "Perhaps."


    Eldrin watched the scene from his hiding spot, his eyes wide with astonishment. Wait, what? What the hell just happened? Since when can he do this?

 Chapter 1117 You are not welcome here

    Chapter 1117 You are not wee here


    Eldrin couldn''t believe that the human being had changed so much since the time he hadst seen him.


    Not only had he physically recovered a lot but he also seemed to have achieved some sort of enlightenment as that was the only way to gain hundreds of levels in such a short time.


    "A soul technique master! This human being is a soul technique master!" Eldrin''s eyes lit up.


    If disintegrating and destroying the soul-blood beasts was one type of power, then controlling them to do his bidding was another power.


    From the looks of it, the human being had mastered both of them!


    From Eldrin''s viewpoint, the second one was even more difficult than the first one. Just how did this random human being manage to master something as profound as soul art?


    It was beyond his understanding!


    However, there was no point in thinking about this now. Right here, in this ce, this human being was bound to be more powerful than the elves.


    If he yed his cards right then this time his gain could be immense. But for that, he first needed to kiss some ass.


    [Liam! Run! These elves can be subdued by the soul-blood beasts but the first prince has several treasures. Some of these elves should also have some treasures. If they use these, then mere soul-blood beasts might not be enough to hold them back. Run! Now!]


    Eldrin started rapidly sending mental messages to Liam. However, he was still quite far away from the site of action.


    Eldrin preferred to remain this way but he had a feeling that the human being would not be moved by anything less than genuine effort.


    Tch. He clicked his tongue and made a move, picking a side in the battle.


    At the same time, the other royal elves as well seemingly recovered from their shock.


    So what if the human being can control a few measly soul-blood beasts? They had battled them before and they can battle them now!


    All the elves prepared to attack, determined to neutralize any and all threats before their prince arrived.


    Meanwhile¡­ Liam calmly stood.


    "You made me wait for so long. You couldn''t havee earlier?" He said with a strange glint in his eyes.


    Huh? The elves were shocked and Eldrin was even more shocked. Just what was happening? Why was the human being standing so confidently? Was he not afraid of getting killed?


    Before they could understand anything, suddenly, a low humming sound began to resonate from the shrine behind Liam.


    The mysterious inscriptions that once seemed dormant started to emit a bright golden light, illuminating the entire clearing. Eldrin squinted against the light, trying to see what was happening.


    The golden light morphed into a vortex, and the next second every single one of them got sucked into an unending darkness.


    When Eldrin regained his consciousness, he found himself in an entirely different realm. A mystic realm inside a mystic realm? He was confused.


    It was an expansive void, endless and suffocating, filled with floating inds of rock and what seemed like pathways made of stardust.


    The air was thick with mystic energy, its ethereal shimmer punctuated by pockets of silence. This ce was unlike anything he''d ever seen or felt before.


    Looking around, he saw the other elves, including the royal elites, scattered among the floating inds. They seemed as disoriented and shocked as he was.


    The soul-blood beasts, however, were nowhere to be seen.


    Then there was Liam, standing on one of the floating inds and he seemed to be aware of what was happening. What the hell? How was this possible?


    However, Eldrin did not have the time right now to think about this. The rock inds were extremely weird. They were only a few feet wide and yet were somehow floating.


    They seemed close but at the same time, they seemed distant.


    One of the elves hastily stood up and started attacking Liam, but the attack disappeared when it entered the space between the inds. It was as if they were frozen in the void in their own inds.


    Just what the hell was this ce?


    Soon, breaking the silence a loud voice boomed.


    "Rx young ones. The barriers around you are protective, preventing any form of harm," the male voice exined. "Here, physical attacks are meaningless, and your power is confined to the ind you''re on."


    Therion, one of the prominent royal elves, shouted, "Release us at once! You may have some tricks up your sleeve, but you won''t hold the might of Elvenkind at bay!"


    "Heh? Is that so?" The voiceughed. "Good to hear that the younger generations still have fire in their veins. But do calm down; this is not the time for brashness."


    Eldrin tried to discern the source of the voice but found no particr direction it came from. It was omnipresent, echoing from every corner of this realm.


    Liam, however, seemed to know exactly who it was. He bowed slightly, "Elder Moros."


    Ah! Eldrin''s heart skipped a beat. Moros? The legendary figure in elven lore? One of the mighty elven warriors who perished here?


    Now everything became clear to him and also to the other elves. They were all at the site of an inheritance!


    But it was not them who had found the inheritance. It was the human being who had found it first!


    The elves seethed as they came to this realization. It was a deep humiliation for them. It could even be said that they had let down their elders by allowing a human being to enter there.


    The human being was even the first one to address their ancestor! This was sphemy!


    Therion''s face turned a shade of red, embarrassment mixed with rage.


    Eldrin''s mind raced. He tried toprehend the gravity of the situation. This was bigger than what he had nned for before.


    He was actually standing on a freaking inheritance site! This was huge!


    This was farther than any elf who had ever stepped into this realm! This was the chance that he had been waiting for! He needed to obtain this inheritance no matter what!


    Therion might look angry but unlike him, the majority of the elves looked resolute.


    All of them sought power and this was the closest they hade to it. So every single one of the elves was determined to grab the inheritance for themselves!


    Only then their lives would change. Only then their status would change. If the prince had obtained this inheritance, they would have received a meager reward if at all.


    But now this was their chance to shine! If they could somehow obtain this inheritance then they could be a key figure in the world that even the Emperor respected.


    However, what of the human being? He somehow seems to hold an advantage? All the elves exchanged uncertain nces.


    Therion couldn''t bear it anymore and spoke up. "Elder Moros," he began, his voice calm but stern, "It is our right, as elves, to inherit your wisdom and power. This human has defiled our sacrednd and has no im over it."


    "Yes, Elder Moros. Please allow us to cleanse this filth."


    "Ancestor Moros, please let me serve you."


    "Yes, Elder Moros. Please allow us to cleanse this filth."


    "Ancestor Moros, please let me serve you."


    One by one several elves began talking in an attempt to curry favor with the elder.


    However¡­


    "SILENCE!" The voice boomed, clearly not happy with the noisy environment.


    The elves immediately quieted down with ugly expressions on their faces, but the next instant, the voice once again coldly boomed.


    "Human being, I did not allow you to enter my shrine, and yet you have forcefully awakened a path and entered my shrine. You have used my elven kind to open a door for you."


    The voice did not sound pleased. "You are not wee here. Leave at once."


    The elves immediately rejoiced. They celebrated Liam''s misery and looked toward him, eager to see him disappear.


    But a few seconds ticked by and nothing seemed to happen?


    The human being was still standing¡­?


    "YOU DARE DEFY ME?!!!" The voice boomed again, apparently even more irritated than the elves.


    Eldrin gulped. He now had a newfound respect for Liam. It was one thing to not fear him or the royal elves but this guy did not even n on showing respect to the legendary figure? Was he not afraid?


    And finally, Liam opened his mouth.


    "Esteemed elder, please forgive me. I would be gravely disrespecting you if I heeded your words and left now. My actions, though abrupt and uninvited, are driven by the profound respect I have for you."


    "The tales of Elder Moros are legends even among humans. It is my lifelong dream to walk the same paths and to glimpse even a fraction of your greatness."


    Therion scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain. "Honeyed words. Every thief knows how to sing praises when caught."


    Liam continued, undeterred by Therion''s mockery, "I didn''te here to steal ory im over something that doesn''t belong to me."


    "All I seek is one small chance topete for your inheritance. It would be my greatest honor to even just witness this miraculous process. If that is a crime, then I stand guilty. But I will not run away."


    Silence.


    All the elves scowled. Come on. Surely, the legendary ancestor would not be swayed by just empty words?


    However, the next second, what they feared came to fruition.


    The omnipresent voice of Elder Moros echoed throughout the void, softer this time, but still filled with authority.


    "Human, your words ring with sincerity. While your actions were indeed intrusive, your courage and respect for this ce have earned my attention. Very well. You shall have your chance."

 Chapter 1118 Trial begins

    Chapter 1118 Trial begins


    Liam sneered inwardly at the several elves who were all staring daggers at him. They were unable to digest the fact that he had somehow wormed his way in here. He could see the bloodthirst in their eyes, already plotting to kill him once they were able to leave this space.


    However, what they did not know was that Liam had only stepped into this ce after ample preparations.


    When he had first connected with the soul blood beasts, he could barely understand anything. However, after repeatedly connecting with them and attempting to control them, he was finally able to decipher a few things apart from their crazed roars.


    Unlike Liam or the elves, these beasts had roamed about this world for years and years, spanning centuries. They knew several ces in these ruins. For instance, even the inheritance site he was standing on, the shrine, was well known to the soul-blood beasts.


    The elven ancestor''s soul which Liam had packed away into a white marble had actually not given him the right location. It was these soul-blood beasts who had given him the correct location.


    They were also the ones who told him about the elven ancestor soul fragment that was managing this particr inheritance site. What elves. What humans. The elven ancestor had even allowed these soul-blood beasts to attempt the test!


    Suffering from acute boredom and no one to talk to, the soul fragment was not picky at all. If the ancestor had wanted, he could the numerous other beasts that roamed about here.


    Liam had a stinking suspicion that the drake who had attacked him have straight away blocked Liam from entering the trial site which is what he had done for these soul-blood beasts in the beginning.


    But as years went by slowly he started letting everyone in including the numerous other beasts that roamed about here.


    Liam had a stinking suspicion that the drake who had attacked him with the strong mental attack, making him feel hopelessness and despair,ing this close to defeating him without even lifting a finger, had actually visited one of these inheritance sites and gained that strong mental attack.


    However, he did not want to touch that soul just yet. Instead he had spent hoursmunicating with these soul-blood beasts and learning more about this hidden world. Thanks to that, he was able to learn many key aspects about this world, the first being...


    The elves had direct ess to this world because this world had originally belonged to their world and tore apart from that as a result of the intense battle between these supreme figures.


    However, that was not the only entrance and exit to this world. This space was apparently fractured in many ces and he could potentially escape to the elven B-Ranked world Tirnanog using any one of these fractures.


    The soul-blood beasts even had the information of where exactly one such fracture was.


    This gave Liam a lot of ideas. He now basically had a means to escape from here, noting into contact with the dangerous beasts or the elves who were all around him.


    But he was not nning on leaving just yet.


    Liam also did not n on looting all the inheritances. That would be greedy and ultimately result in his demise. Instead, he settled on something in between. He wanted to try and obtain just one other inheritance before leaving this ce for now.


    That was when he had obtained another crucial piece of information from the soul-blood beasts. Apart from giving him the location of the nearest inheritance site, they also informed Liam about another ce that he could use, a training center.


    Or more specifically, a training temple.


    Liam cautiously checked the ce out and indeed the information the soul-blood beasts provided was correct. Inside the building there was a time dtion training array that allowed him to train fifty times more efficiently.


    For every hour, he was able to train for fifty hours. This was an immense advantage that Liam couldn''t afford to pass up. He needed time more than anything now and he used this chance to do what was needed.


    Hemanded the soul-blood beasts to enter the training array with him and then he started. Thanks to his soul healing a decent amount for the time being, he began experimenting with the soul-blood beasts.


    Using his own soul army asparison, he was able to glean multiple insights by studying both of them together. His understanding of soul fragments and soul energy that had stagnated for quite a while, now improved by leaps and bounds.


    Combined with the time dtion array, he ended up making remarkable progress. He was first able to steadily control andmand a single soul-blood beast. Then he was able to control two and then three and finally he was able to hold about thirty five beasts under his control.


    This number might be much smaller than his soul army but every one of these beasts were Level 500 and above which made them a much bigger threat.


    After several attempts his control over the army increased to such an extent that he was actually able to summon them and dismiss them just like his soul army.


    Liam then attempted to defeat a few beasts that lumbered about near their location. The first two attempts were sessful, giving him and his soul army a generous boost in experience points.


    However, the third attempt became dangerous when the beast in question ignored all the soul minions and came directly for him.


    Liam immediately understood that he was gravely underestimating the beasts in the realm. They were just as dangerous as the elves. He decided to stop pushing his luck and take just one swing at the inheritance before fleeing to safer grounds.


    However, to his disappointment, the inheritance site was not opening up for him. To make matters worse, several elves had surrounded him. It was then that he hatched a new n and when everything was in motion, he acted as if he waspletely unaware of the elves.


    Now he was waiting for a disturbance to make his move when the first chubby elf he had met unexpectedly returned and created this disturbance.


    Everything worked out perfectly and they were all currently inside the inheritance space which was where the main trial took ce.


    Liam calmly settled himself and steadied his mind. Unfortunately, the soul-blood beasts could help him only until here. They had no memory of anything that happened inside the inheritance site.


    The elven ancestor probably never intended to hand over his inheritance to any of these beasts in the first ce. Just like how he would never give Liam this inheritance. That was why Liam''s main goal ining here was not to attain whatever was here but to grab the soul itself!


    As for the elves who were ready to decimate him once this space ceased to exist, he had another n for them.


    While Liam continued to observe the surroundings and probe to see how strong this particr elder''s soul was, the elder''s voice once again boomed loudly.


    "Prepare yourself. The trial begins now."


    The next second a huge monolith descended in the midst of the space. The monolith had glowing symbols etched on its surface which gave off a profound feeling.


    Liam frowned. This was bad. He did not understand thenguage of the elves which would immediately put him at a disadvantage.


    However, that did not seem to be the case. When he stared at the symbols, a strange feeling began to grip him and he started seeing or rather feeling an image.


    It was the image of a young elf who was bullied and beaten up. This elf was amoner with no backing or wealth. He also did not have a strong elemental affinity and physique. He was not blessed like the other elves.


    However, he had a strong spirit. He had a fire within him that burned brightly. As years passed, the elf slowly chiseled himself to be someone average. He was no longer looked down upon and he was no longer stepped on.


    But the elf was not satisfied with just this much. He craved more. He wanted to be someone dazzling and brilliant just like the elves whom he looked up to. He wanted to change more.


    This elf worked really hard to achieve his goals. He burned the midnight oil, never allowed himself to rx even for a moment and finally, he found out that he had talent in something.


    Liam''s eyes widened as he saw what the elf was talented in. It was smithing!


    When he had first entered this inheritance site, he assumed that this would also be simr to thest one and perhaps he would gain an understanding of another element.


    However, from what he had seen he could tell that this elder was more proud about his smithing than anything else.


    No wonder it was this skill that he decided to pass down as an inheritance using whatever bit of soul energy that he could spare.


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb228894a66b785eed6cb2b34f86e1aa41d018ee24aae69306a2df95936c5d1a35

 Chapter 1119 Who would have thought!

    Chapter 1119 Who would have thought!


    Liam watched in awe as the life of the elf shed past his eyes, some parts slow, some parts fast.


    He already knew that there was some sort of time dtion inside here.


    The soul-blood beasts mentioned to him that they were kicked out immediately after entering but at the same time their memory was also erased.


    From this he gathered that the elven elder probably showed them what he was showing right now and then erased everyone''s mind before sending them out.


    Or the other exnation was that he was somehow magically perceiving whatever the elder was showing in slow motion or at different speeds whatever pleased the elf.


    Liam did not pay attention to these things. What he focused on was what the elf was showing. He was fully focussed on the man''s forging journey that was not much different from his own.


    The elf had almost no talent in forging, his body condition was weak and every single factor was against him and not in his favor. Yet he preserved and slowly learned to ovee his obstacles bit by bit.


    He slogged day and night and earned enough to buy cleansing potion after cleansing potion and purified his body, finally developing a decent framework to begin training.


    He did not stop there and continued working every single day and night and slowly forged himself to be someone. He was finally able to build a bit of affinity for the fire elemental.


    He then attained Dao in forging even at such a young age with a level of just 45, with no mana core to boot.


    Liam''s respect for the elf grew tremendously as he continued watching the man who had nothing and was a nobody build himself up little by little.


    Every swing of the hammer, every bead of sweat that dripped from the young elf''s forehead, every glowing ember from the furnace; they all symbolized his unyielding spirit.


    The story continued, showing the young elf''s growth, his challenges, his failures, and his sesses. With every weapon or artifact he crafted, he didn''t just forge metal, but he also forged his destiny.


    However, at the moment, the speed of the images also tremendously increased. It was as if the elf did not care much about what happenedter in his life.


    Liam could tell that the elf''s proudest achievement was back then in his youth when he first attained the Dao seed for forging. He engraved the image into his mind, trying to feel what the elf had felt.


    Liam then suddenly realized something. Was this the test? Was this what he had to do to gain the acknowledgment of the elven ancestor?


    But how could gaining a dao seed be so easy?


    Liam already had plentiful experience when it came to forging and yet he had never gained any Dao seed in it. He doubted if he would be able to gain anything even if he watched the same scene repeatedly over and over again.


    Unlike the previous inheritance where he almost witnessed the attack along with its profoundness and aura, here all he was seeing was an image. So there was only so much he could glean from it.


    However, Liam still had some cards left. An idea struck him and he decided to invest in this inheritance. He took out another verdant heartroot herb.


    None of the six powerful figures who had their legacies sealed inside this world were ordinary beings. So he knew that it would be worth it to use a herb here.


    Under the watchful eyes of the elves surrounding him, he casually took an S-Ranked herb and started chewing on it as if it was nothing.


    At first, no one noticed it but suddenly one of the elves who specialized in alchemy pointed it out. "Verdant Heartroot! That human being is consuming a Verdant Heartroot!"


    "Impossible!" Therion red in anger.


    Eldrin snapped out of his trance and stared at Liam in shock. By then Liam had already swallowed the herb but if what he heard was indeed true, he could die of sheer humiliation!


    The elf gave a rueful smile as he remembered how he had gone on and on about all the glorious details and specifics of the herb as if it was the rarest treasure in the entire myriad realms. But to think that the human had one all along¡­


    However, what was even more unbelievable was that¡­


    A few minutes after Liam finished consuming the herb, he felt his mind once again attain a realm of rity where he was able to focus on the images in a much more profound way.


    The herb''s effect was instantaneous, expanding his cognitive abilities, sharpening his focus, and enhancing his understanding.


    Every single detail of the images became more vivid.


    He could now perceive the subtle nuances of the young elf''s movements, the intricate dance of his fingers, the rhythm of his hammer strikes, and the flow of his mana even without a core.


    Each ember seemed alive, carrying with it the young elf''s passion and unyielding spirit. It was as if he was right there with the elf observing him up close.


    This,bined with his already extensive experience in smithing, made everything seem a lot clearer.


    And before long¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Heaviness]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam entered a strange state of enlightenment, even receiving a dao seed. Unbeknownst to him, a white glow surrounded his body, making every single elf turn and look at him in shock and awe.


    At this time, the elven ancestor''s voice boomed!


    "Who would have thought! You younglings disappoint me! The human has attained the first achievement! Keep it up and he will be the one going home with the inheritance!"


    The elves gritted their teeth in anger. All of them were from decent backgrounds but even they did not possess a herb like Verdant Heartroot.


    Just how were they supposed topete with this strange human being? Where did he evene from?


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb8f963ad6cfd6ab3c8ece1157480e4445c1692eea150673be7af3aa61cbb51f79

 Chapter 1120 This isn’t fair!

    Chapter 1120 This isn¡¯t fair!


    Therion, his pride wounded, stepped forward, eyes zing with fury. "Ancestor, with all due respect, this human has used external aid to gain his enlightenment. We are pure in our intentions and have not relied on any enhancements."


    Following his example, the other elves also started grumbling one after the other, greed shining through their eyes.


    "Ancestor, we''ve dedicated our lives to our crafts and the elven legacy. How can an outsidere and surpass us so easily?"


    "Elder, if I had the herb I could have also attained a Dao seed."


    "I would have only needed half of that herb."


    "Yes. Yes. Any elf would have been more talented than that human being."


    "Elder, please force him to hand over all the herbs to us!"


    "Hear! Hear! Strip him and ask him to hand over all of his treasures!"


    Seeing his inheritance site getting rowdy, the elven ancestor grunted in annoyance. "SILENCE!" His shout cut through the noise and immediately quieted down all the elves.


    "Do you believe that the Verdant Heartroot granted him the Dao seed directly? It merely cleared his mind. His experience, understanding, and dedication did the rest. The herb only enhanced what was already present."


    "The Dao is attained not by chasing after it but by immersing oneself fully in one''s path."


    "I suggest that you do not disappoint me any further and stop this senseless bickering. My inheritance will go to the individual who receives the highest enlightenment!"


    A murmur spread among the elves, some nodding in agreement, while others looked unconvinced. However, no one dared to open their mouth any longer and waste their time.


    Unfortunately for the elves, before any of them could refocus, the glow surrounding Liam started to be even brighter.


    The elves gasped in shock, some even forgetting to breathe. But what they feared happened the very next second.


    The glow turned a bright yellow and Liam received his next series of notifications, once again bumping his level.


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Resilience]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam''s body trembled lightly, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of energy and knowledge. He felt as if he was in his peak condition, everything that he wanted right within his grasp.


    It was as if a barrier had been lifted. He was now free. No one was suppressing him any more. If it was within his reach, then he could attain it.


    His current level had already reached the 400s. He was getting there, slowly and steadily. He had once again gathered a huge chunk of stat points which he quickly added in vitality.


    Almost immediately, Liam could feel a tremendous life force gushing inside him. His heart pounded powerfully but calmly, circting a vitality that seemed boundless.


    When he had leveled up bit by bit and had his stats one or two at a time, he had never experienced this phenomenon but now that he added hundreds of stat points at the same time, he could clearly feel the increase in his power.


    And he was not done yet.


    Liam had worked hard tirelessly up until now. The fruits of hisbor were finally starting to show. It seemed all he needed was a little push and in this case a couple of the verdant heartroot herbs!


    Eldrin''s eyes widened in disbelief. "Two Dao seeds... in such quick session... How?"


    Therion''s face was ashen. But he wasn''t the only one feeling like this; all the elves were astonished.


    It was a feat they had never witnessed before.


    Most elves spend their entire lives trying to grasp just a single Dao seed, but Liam had done it twice in a matter of moments.


    "This is impossible!"


    "This isn''t fair! He''s just a human! How can he possess such capabilities?"


    The chasm between them and Liam was continuing to widen and there was nothing that they could do to stop it.


    Therion''s fury was palpable. He shot Liam a re that could have set a forest aze. "A human should not be able to surpass us in our own sacred ground," he spat.


    The atmosphere in the inheritance site grew tense as the elves, feeding off Therion''s anger, began murmuring their discontent louder.


    The previous aura of disbelief now mutated into one of hostility.


    "This is our birthright!" shouted another. "How dare a mere humane here and steal from us what is rightfully ours?"


    An elven warrior with a braided silver mane and tattoos covering his arms said, "He probably cheated! This is all because of the S-Ranked herb!"


    "He is gaining an advantage over us because of that single herb! Ancestor, you have to seek justice for us!"


    The crowd erupted in agreement, their anger rising like a tide. They mored for Liam''s expulsion, and some even went as far as demanding his execution.


    However, the elven ancestor''s voice did note through once again.


    After a while, a few of the elves stopped shouting at the monolith and turned to see Liam when they froze in their tracks with a look of utter shock engraved on their faces.


    The glow surrounding his body was once again changing. It shifted from a bright yellow to a lighter shade of orange.


    By now one thing was clear. Inside this trial dimension, the nature of the glow seemed to depict when a person gained enlightenment.


    They had actually learned this from watching the human being and now, that same despicable human being seemed to be on the cusp of another dao seed.


    One by one all the elves noticed this and they all held their breaths in utter astonishment. They no longer even had words to voice out their frustration.


    If this human being somehow managed to gain another fragment of the myriad daos, then their entire reality would be shattered.


    Please do not let that happen! Please do not let that happen! Subconsciously, the elves started praying to their gods that Liam wouldn''t seed because if he did¡­


    But unfortunately for them¡­


    The light orange glow around Liam slowly started to turn darker.


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bbe7091d1cbd1a5f849745091dda659e341cdd47fbef04627f3aea956e75776

 Chapter 1121 Kicked out

    Chapter 1121 Kicked out


    [Ding! You have obtained the Dao seed of Toughness]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    All eyes were on Liam, a mere human who had now aplished a seemingly impossible feat. Three Dao seeds in such rapid session; it was an unprecedented event.


    The elves, with all their lifetimes of experience, were overshadowed by a human in a few brief moments. None of them could believe what they were seeing.


    Therion, his jaw clenched so hard it might break, looked on with eyes filled with rage and disbelief. How could this be possible?


    But the evidence was right before him. The glow around Liam and the evident power emanating from him was undeniable. He was gaining more levels, bing stronger, right in front of their eyes!


    Even when many of them had grumbled,ined and voiced their anger before, they never seriously considered the human being a threat.


    At the bottom of their heart, they always thought that it would be one of them to go home with the inheritance, be someone the Emperor respected.


    But now¡­ the elves no longer had any words left. They were far too shocked by what was happening.


    And they were not from some trash grade wastnd. They were from a B-Rank world, from a world that was ranked above millions of trash worlds.


    However, none of them had ever seen anything like this before or even heard of. Even their histories did not record an event like this.


    In front of this human being, the elven royals who were hailed to be the most talented in the entirety of their Empire, would not even qualify to be footnotes.


    The elven crown prince touted to be the genius that the world hadn''t seen in centuries was nothing whenpared to him.


    Even the elven ancestor became silent. The deafening silence filled the space with only the rhythmic hammering sounds echoing from the monolith.


    And Liam alone was focused on this monolith. Not to mention, the aura around him was once again starting to change.


    "Impossible!" This time it was the elven ancestor''s voice that boomed loudly.


    The next second, suddenly the monolith started trembling and then itpletely disappeared.


    "What is happening?"


    "The inheritance?"


    "Is the trial over?"


    The elves gasped in shock, only to find themselves abruptly kicked out of the trial space without any exnation. They found themselves back in the mystic realm, standing in front of the shrine.


    However, nothing had changed. None of them had gained anything. The elves started looking around in a panic and to their dismay, the human being was nowhere to be found.


    Realization immediately dawned on them. All this time they had been asking their ancestor to kick out the human being from the inheritance but now they have been kicked out!


    The human being had not only overshadowed them, but he had, in a sense, hijacked the very trial that was supposed to be their birthright.


    Therion, trembling with fury and humiliation, tried to regain some semnce of control. "He''s stolen our inheritance! This is an act of war! We cannot let this stand! That human being has to be destroyed! His entire world has to pay for his sins!"


    As the elf turned around, his face further paled.


    The crown prince! The first prince! The third prince! Every single one of the royal family members was standing right behind them!


    All the elves immediately started sweating profusely. Their orders had clearly been to not disturb anything and wait for the higher ups to arrive.


    But they had done the exact opposite. They had not only triggered the trial, they had also allowed the human being to enter inside and now they had also gotten themselves kicked out.


    Therion''s arrogance immediately vanished and the leader of the royal guards humbly bowed in front of the royal family. He then started exining everything that happened in detail.


    The elf waspletely soaked in sweat from top to bottom as he inwardly trembled but he had no other choice. He had to tell the truth. Otherwise, the consequences would be even more dire.


    Of course, he did not forget to put the me on the famous wastrel Eldrin Silverthorn, bringing the whole Silverthorn family into this as he painted them to be a traitorous family in cahoots with another world.


    However, to his disappointment, no one seemed to care about that too much. In his haste, Therion realized that he had forgotten something important.


    He looked around to see that the wastrel was also missing!


    He was sure that all the elves had been kicked out which meant that the wastrel had fled the moment they arrived outside. He had somehow escaped!


    "That bastard!" Therion clenched his fists in anger, muttering under his breath.


    Making him even more nervous, all the other elves stared at him. Everyone''s eyes were on him as if he was the main culprit of whatever went down here.


    The elven crown prince finally broke the silence and stepped forward. "Move." The next second all the elves scattered away. A sword materialized in the hands of the prince as he shed down at the shrine without any warning.


    The shrine, an ancient structure that stood the test of time and housed the inheritance for centuries, was sliced clean in half by the prince''s sword. An immense wave of energy surged out from the rift created by his sword, causing the very fabric of space around to tremble.


    However, the trial grounds were not revealed.


    Grunting in annoyance, the prince once again sent out another sh, this time with elements of wind and ice rippling along with it, creating three distinct sword beams. The beams converged on the ruins of the shrine, unleashing an even greater force that threatened to tear apart everything.


    However, it was useless. The trial grounds still remained closed. It looked like forcing their way into the space would be impossible.


    But the crown prince narrowed his eyes in determination. Unwilling to let this go, he continued to m down at the spot with everything he had.

 Chapter 1122 Planting Dao seeds like its nothing

    Chapter 1122 nting Dao seeds like its nothing


    Meanwhile¡­ inside the trial space¡­


    Liam silently meditated pondering the insights he received. His mental rity at the moment was at its highest. The entire world had faded away leaving behind only the hammering sounds.


    It was as if everything in his mind was connecting. Since he never had formal training in smithing, he had learned everything on his own and now he was correcting all the errors here and there in his path.


    The monolith before him, which had previously trembled and vanished to the eyes of the elves, was still very much present in Liam''s perception.


    It stood tall and radiant, not as a physical structure, but as a series of intertwined concepts and principles of the Dao that he was slowly grasping one after the other.


    With the elf steadily making progress in his forging talent, Liam was obtaining all the benefits one after the other. It was as if the answer sheet was opened up in front of him.


    With each hammering sound, Liam''s understanding deepened.


    He realized that smithing wasn''t merely about shaping metal; it was about understanding the essence of materials, the flow of energy, and the rhythm of the universe.


    The Dao seeds he had obtained were not by chance, but results of his understanding, connections he made, and the ws he rectified within himself.


    Slowly, the hammering sounds started to morph into patterns, with rhythms and beats that spoke directly to his soul.


    Unbeknownst to him, he had already plucked out a soul minion of his, a werebarian and once again started forging the minion. This time he imbued more mana into the minion than he had before.


    He also packed the excess soul energy that was freely roaming about in the world. All the while, he waspletely meditating and did not break his focus even once.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The colliding of mana with mana reverberated loudly in the trial grounds. A frown formed on Liam''s face but soon this frown became a smile as the forging became sessful.


    The werebarian was once again reborn and this time the minion had 50 extra stats for the same level!


    This in fact made the minion even stronger than many of the guild members. The werebarian howled excitedly as it bowed toward Liam to express his gratitude.


    Liam still not breaking his focus, dismissed the minion and went on to the next minion. He did not want to miss this chance. While the feeling was fresh in his mind, he continued honing it and ingraining it into his brain.


    And while all this was happening, the elven ancestor gaped in shock, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. The reality of what was happening was slowly sinking into him.


    At first, he did not think that the human being in front of him would go far. Just like the other elves he assumed that Liam probably had some fortuitous encounter and obtained the S-Ranked herb and hence was achieving dao seeds one after the other.


    However, unlike those elves he did not look down on Liam for that. Luck was also a talent. And he was interested to see just how far he would go simply riding the coattails of one S-Ranked herb.


    Only after a few minutes did he realize that he was gravely mistaken. The human being in front of him was not remotely ordinary. The man was nting dao seeds left and right as if they were persimmon seeds.


    It was not luck. It was not the S-Ranked herb. It was all him.


    Moros continued watching him in awe. He was not against the elven n or his world but he was inclined to give this human being his inheritance.


    It was clear that the human being did not have any background just like him. Otherwise, a genius like this wouldn''t be suffering in such a ce.


    Rather than bing a trophy for some elf, he wanted this nobody to have his inheritance. In a way, it was karma. It was supposed to be like this.


    However, before he could finish his thoughts, something else happened. The human being suddenly took out a soul? A soul that was neither alive nor dead!


    He then watched dumbstruck as the human being started forging the very soul!


    What was this? Just how could this be possible?


    Among all the battle techniques and crafting techniques out there, soul techniques were the most mysterious. He knew this but to think that a soul technique like this could exist¡­ the elf was nowpletely shell-shocked.


    He now knew that he had once again misunderstood the human being. This was not a mere genius. He was a man born to be a god!


    He immediately waved his hand, making the monolith disappear. While gaining insights like this could be beneficial in the long run it would do more harm than good.


    Even if the human being was capable of it, dao seeds should not be nted one after another. It would be highly detrimental if the human being swallowed more than he could chew.


    Moros had already decided who his inheritor would be. More than that, he also made another decision. So he quickly waved everything off, now bringing Liam into the confines of a solitary space.


    "Human. Speak. Who are you? Do you have any background at all?"


    Liam stirred awake from his meditative state. Though he still felt as if he was right on the cusp of another breakthrough, he wouldn''t have been able to achieve it just yet. So he did not lose anything from this.


    He opened his eyes slowly and first settled himself. "I am a nobody from a trash-grade world." He exined with a rueful smile.


    The elder did not press him for more details. Instead, he warned Liam.


    "I was afraid of that. Do you know that there are geniuses in this world and there are irregrs?"


    "Hmmm?"


    "While geniuses are beings born with a talent that the heavens themselves are envious of, irregrs are beings born with a talent that the heavens despise!"


    "You are an irregr!"


    "Your ability transcends race and limits!"


    "Everything and everyone under the heavens will do their best and worst to crush you into nothingness!"


    "You are not meant to exist!"


    "They will not allow you to exist!"

 Chapter 1123 So you have made your decision...

    Chapter 1123 So you have made your decision...


    Liam heard the elven ancestor speak with so much passion but he could smile in return. He was not hearing anything that he already did not know.


    "Hmmm?" The elven ancestor paused, understanding Liam''s reactions. "So someone had already sniffed you out? Who?"


    This time Liam did not hesitate. He could tell that the elven ancestor was speaking with him earnestly. He already knew about his soul smithing so there was nothing left to hide. He decided to answer him.


    Besides, he thought that it was about time to start collecting intel about the opposite party.


    Even though there might be a chasm of difference between him and his enemy, he wanted to know just how wide this chasm was.


    "The divine temple." Liam exined.


    "The divine temple? Aren''t they human beings too? If I remember correctly, they should be from one of the S-Rank worlds. Why are they after you? Shouldn''t they be trying to recruit you?"


    Liam then exined what had happened back in the tutorial world, leaving out some details.


    "Ah." The elven ancestor grunted in understanding. "Now I see. You have aher affiliation. No wonder these bitches are after you. They will never recruit aher touched human."


    Huh? Liam raised a brow. Why was this ancestor pissed off at them? He was interested to know but he listened patiently to what the elder had to say first.


    "If I am correct, you are probably being targeted by one of the priestess cliques. There are several of them in the divinends."


    "While the main Empire is ruled by a more reasonable human God, these cliques are typically filled with bitches. I too crossed paths with one a long time ago and it did not end well. I had to pay a heavy price to settle the score."


    "However, the one that is after you sounds like a real pain in the behind. She won''t let you off, but you cannot directly go to war with her."


    "Trust me, you do not want the God of an S-Ranked world as your enemy. The only way to deal with her would be through something else or someone else."


    Liam listened patiently. It was not going to be today. It was not going to be tomorrow, but when the time came he was determined to pay back for everything with interest.


    The elven ancestor spoke in some detail about the divinends which were apparently an entire gxy from what Liam understood. An entire gxy blessed with abundant divine energy that in return gave birth to some of the strongest divine empires and ns.


    Liam had to continuously adjust his perspective about the world as he heard about just how vast the universe was. He now fully grasped what everyone meant by a trash-grade realm.


    The elven ancestor continued talking in length but most of it was just rants about how arrogant the divine ns typically were.


    After some time, he finally returned back to the main topic. "Regarding my inheritance¡­ I have decided not to allow you to view it anymore."


    "What?" Liam did not expect that.


    "Trust me,d. It is better this way. Your path is unwritten but if you ept my inheritance then it would be finite. While it may make you stronger in the short run, in the long run it would only serve to hurt you."


    Liam nodded. He definitely did not agree with the elven ancestor but for now he nodded. Making grand ns and thinking about the infinite future seemed foolish when his survival for the next day was in question.


    All of this sounded like the training n for a young master from a powerful n. Liam was many things but he was not blessed enough to be that.


    The elven ancestor once again went on a rant about the path of forging and how difficult it was. Liam listened patiently. Everything that he needed to gain from this ce was already his. Now there was only one decision left.


    And in his mind, Liam was trying to make this decision. This one was different. Unlike the other elven ancestor, he was kind and did not show any prejudice. He exined everything patiently to him even though he was a human being and the elf did not have any obligation to do so.


    While he did not have any morals and was willing to go to any lengths to gain the strength required, this elf had be something akin to a teacher to him.


    Liam hesitated. Whatever sanity was left inside him told him that he would be going a step too far if he forced this one to fight for him.


    However, he couldn''t afford to waste the weakened soul of a powerful being that was head and shoulders above his current minions inbat abilities. Just adding this single soul into the mix would tremendously boost the strength of his army.


    Not to mention the knowledge and the memories of the elder.


    Liam hesitated for a few moments but in the end, he made the hard decision. In reality, he never had any choice in the matter to begin with. He had to do what he had to do. There were people waiting for him. He wouldn''t mind bing a sinner again and again for their sake.


    Liam''s eyes filled with resolve as he stared into the vast space, trying to get a feel for the soul and probe where it was and exactly how strong it was.


    But unexpectedly, the next instant, he heard a loud boomingughter.


    "So you have made your decision¡­"


    Liam was once again shocked.


    "Don''t look so surprised, human. I can read you like a scroll. The moment I saw you forge that soul minion I already knew what you wanted the most from me was not my inheritance."


    "Ha Ha Ha!"


    "But I do have a surprise for you¡­"


    Liam became alert. He looked in all directions to see where an attack mighte from. He prepared to erect barriers if needed. However¡­ the elven ancestor''s voice once again boomed.


    "I will willingly be your General, human. No. I will willingly be your General, my king. Let''s go and take control of the entirety of the myriad realms!"


    A maniacalughter filled the vast expanse of the trial space. Liam, initially tense and defensive, was now left with his mouth agape, shocked beyond belief.


    "Why?" Liam finally managed to ask.


    The elven ancestor''s voice, still echoing with remnants of hisughter, responded, "Over the countless years, I''ve grown weary. Bored. Lonely. I want to have some fun now. It is as simple as that!"


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb959f7562a6d641fc0bf053d5eca30d17629b786e32b1487fdc1950bc3a7ba99412ff37a0cf86934ff3053e5bfd7b469d

 Chapter 1124 All is not lost

    Chapter 1124 All is not lost


    Liam blinked, trying to process the whirlwind of development. "So, you''ll really be my general?" He asked, unable to believe what was happening.


    "Yes," the elven ancestor replied with conviction. "Together, we can conquer realms, topple empires, and rewrite history. I sense a storm brewing in the myriad realms. And with me by your side, that storm will be one of our makings."


    Liam smiled, a broad grin spreading across his face.


    "Well then, let''s get started, shall we?" The elven ancestor''s voice boomed. "I assume you already have a way out of here?"


    Liam nodded. He had nned his exit strategy.


    But as for forging the soul, Liam did not want to risk it just yet. He did not want to forge a top-tier soul with a broken mana core.


    "Heh? What''s a broken mana core? You just need a pill to fix it. Once you head to the elven world, you can easily obtain the pill. Ours is a B-Ranked world that stood the test of time. You should be able to ess many such pills and cure whatever ails you."


    Liam also asked about the limit breaker fruit. Unfortunately, the general did not know anything about such a fruit.


    Before he could ask for a few more things, a slight tremor ran through the world. "I think the elves are already at the doorstep. You better get out of here in time."


    The trial space vibrated with energy as the next second everything cked out, save for a small condensed soul fragment that lingered in front of Liam.


    This shimmering fragment radiated a power that was unmistakably the essence of the elven ancestor. It hovered, flickering gently like a star, its glow reflecting in Liam''s eyes.


    Liam took a deep breath and then started. He extended his hand, palm open, allowing the soul fragment to drift towards him. He then directed the soul fragment into a white bead.


    And just as the next tremor ran through the world, the veil that separated the two worlds shattered and the trial world copsed with the soul of the elven ancestor no longer present to protect it.


    The entire world cracked open and for a second, Liam stood naked in front of hundreds of elves. It was Liam alone on one side and the elves on the other side, every single elf much more powerful than him.


    He stood in the epicenter of hundreds of piercing gazes, each one analyzing and assessing him. He was bare and exposed.


    Liam stared at the elves and the elves stared back at him.


    The hundred or so bloodthirsty elves all red at him, wanting some answers. Therion''s eyes widened in shock on seeing the culprit standing right in front of him.


    The royal prince standing at the forefront was the first to react as he unleashed another thunderous attack at Liam.


    However, it was toote. Before his attack could reach Liam, he had already disappeared. Right in front of the hundred elves, Liam vanished into nothingness.


    All the elves could only stare at the empty space dumbfoundedly.


    The royal prince''s attack, now without a target, surged forward in a wild, uncontrolled arc, colliding with the earth and sending dirt and debris flying into the air.


    "Search! Find him!" The prince yelled, his voice echoing through the now chaotic scene. Elves began scrambling in every direction, casting spells and using various detection techniques to locate the intruder.


    Therion, a highly respected and seasoned mage, waved his hand and sent a pulse of magic throughout the area, hoping to locate any residual trace of the human being''s energy. But it was as if he had vanished into thin air.


    "He can''t have gotten far!" one of the elvenmanders yelled, trying to rally his troops. But despite their best efforts, their search yielded no results.


    In the midst of themotion, a wise-looking elder elf stepped forward, his silver hair flowing gracefully behind him. He approached the prince with a calm demeanor, a stark contrast to the raging turmoil around them.


    "My prince," he began, addressing the prince with a tone of respect, "I believe we are dealing with someone who possesses advanced teleportation or concealment techniques. It''s not just any human who could escape from the clutches of a hundred of our kind."


    The elven prince, trying to mask his frustration, responded, "Who could he be? And how did he awaken our ancestor? Could he have gotten the inheritance?"


    The elder elf pondered for a moment. "I do not have those answers, my prince. But I believe we should prepare ourselves. If he has allied himself with the spirit of our ancestor, it''s only a matter of time before he returns."


    The elven prince frowned. "How did a human being even get here in the first ce? There has never been an intruder in our mystic realm! We regte the main portal with the strongest of our forces!"


    "Forgive me, my prince. Please give me some time to investigate. I will definitely return with answers. But for now, I think searching for that human being is futile. I have a feeling that he has already escaped from this world."


    "NO!" The prince''s voice thundered in response. "I cannot let this happen! Father will not be pleased!"


    The elder spoke again, "My prince, all is not lost. The only way out of this world is our world. If at all the human being manages to escape from here, he is bound to cross paths with us back in Tirnanog."


    "If he can flee from here, couldn''t he flee from our world as well?"


    "No, my prince. I have a feeling that the human being would stay in our world for a while."


    "Hmmm?"


    "My prince, that human''s mana core is broken. I could sense it. He is also corrupted by the vile energy of death. In his condition, especially with the power of the inheritance, there is a high chance that he wouldn''t leave Tirnanog without attempting to get ''that''."


    The elven prince raised his brows, seemingly agreeing with the elder. "Very well. Ensure that everyone is aware of this. If that human being dares to linger in Tirnanog, I want him captured immediately, at all costs."


    The elder nodded, "Understood, Your Highness."


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9d8ec4ad4e8c3c5baf0c66a8666374fd034e050b940a90a250101ebf52d982ec798d996f367c4bd1723f722b279c7468f3e45f2c2f2b58fcd2cfaff02238900cd

 Chapter 1125 An S Rank affinity is not too bad

    <h4>Chapter 1125 An S Rank affinity is not too bad</h4>


    Meanwhile, Liam arrived at another location, still within the same world of souls and blood. Just as he arrived, his soul minion, one of the elves disappeared, dissipating into nothingness.


    He had switched ces with his soul minion, escaping from everyone in the nick of time.


    Huuu. Liam sighed in relief. The technique worked out.


    This technique was precisely why Liam had confidently wandered about the ruins even after the huge disturbance with the drake that was sure to not go by unnoticed.


    In the time-dted training area, while trying to gain more insight and depth into healing his soul by absorbing the soul blood beasts and his soul minions, Liam stumbled onto this technique of switching ces with his soul minion.


    The technique was not perfect as he hadn''tpletely understood it but it was good enough to work 50% of the time. The only drawback was that it erased his minion out of existence.


    Liam could tell that he would be able to remove this w in the future, but for now, this was good enough for him to take some risks.


    He had stationed twelve minions just in case the technique did not work out. Luckily, it did work out and he was able to get out of the situation unscathed.


    At this point, he needed to take more risks. There was simply no other way.


    Liam dismissed all of his remaining soul minions and then stared at the swirling energy in front of him.


    The ce he had ''teleported'' to was looking a lot simr to a dungeon portal, except that this energy was a lot more violent.


    This was why he hade here, this small crack in the space that the soul blood beasts had told him about. They knew a lot more about the ruins and apparently, there were many exits from this world.


    Liam took a step forward and immediately gasped as he could feel the oppressive aura spill around him. Was it really ok to use this? He did not know.


    The energy seemed extremely turbulent and unpredictable. The swirling maelstrom was akin to a storm, threatening to swallow anyone foolish enough to approach.


    But Liam had no choice; the alternative was to face the wrath of an entire elven civilization that he had just offended. He only had a few seconds left until they sniffed him out once again and this was his ticket out of here.


    Liam took out a cloak and donned it in a fashion that covered his head and face. He then approached the crack in space. He reached out to the storm of energy, feeling it roiling and churning beneath his fingertips.


    A sharp pain shot through his hand, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on.


    The next second, the violent energy wrapped around him, pulling him into its depths. Everything around him became a blur, a whirlwind of colors and sensations that assaulted his senses.


    Time seemed to stretch and warp, the passage of moments bing meaningless. Liam felt himself being torn apart and then stitched back together, over and over again, as the turbulent energies had their way with him.


    Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. The storm ceased, and Liam found himself stumbling out of the crack,nding in apletely different ce.


    Liam had teleported inside the game several times and experienced Luna''s Blur skill, but this was an entirely different experience.


    He felt disoriented, dizzy, and overwhelmed. His very soul seemed to have been shaken by the violent journey. It took him a few seconds to regain his bearings and take in his surroundings.


    Instantly, he was shocked.


    A wave of intense mana pped him on his face.


    Thendscape was unfamiliar, filled with strange vegetation. It was untouched by the corruption and decay that seemed to gue the world of souls and blood. Everything was green.


    This was it, the world of the elves.


    Liam blinked and looked again.


    It was like standing in the heart of a primordial forest where nature ruled with an iron fist.


    The trees towered overhead, their branches twisting and winding, reaching out like the arms of ancient giants. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and blooming flowers, carrying a magical fragrance that seemed to prate deep into Liam''s very core.


    The energy here was different from anything he had experienced before. It was raw, wild, and full of life, resonating with a power that both beckoned and warned.


    As he moved through the dense undergrowth, Liam could feel the eyes of countless unseen creatures on him, watching and assessing. The forest was alive in a way he had never thought possible, each leaf and twig pulsing with a mysterious life force.


    But it was the mana that truly astounded him. The whole ce was saturated with it, so dense and potent. His tired body felt refreshed.


    And there was something else.


    Liam could feel a different energy, so distinct and vibrant that he couldn''t possibly miss it.


    Completely opposite to the corrosive energy filled with death and decay that he had seeped into half of his body, the energy around him was warm, nourishing, and full of life.


    "Nature element?" Liam pondered.


    He had a rather high affinity with the nature element but until now he had never experienced it like this. He was not even actively trying to feel out the energy but it was sitting right on his face.


    "An S Rank affinity is also not that bad!" Liam nodded in contemtion.


    He did not know if this development was because the nature element was overflowing in this world or because his own level had increased or perhaps it was another effect of the verdant heartroot herb.


    But whatever it was, Liam knew that he couldn''t ignore it.


    It was an intuitive feeling but he could tell that his body was craving this energy filled with lifeforce. Could it be to negate theher running in his veins?

 Chapter 1126 Let go of everything

    Chapter 1126 Let go of everything


    Liam let out a sigh, deciding to first take a breather, adjust his mind, and then think about the various things.


    When he had first arrived on the, he had been extremely cautious and alert just in case he ended up teleporting right in the middle of an elven city but from the looks of it, he was in a remote ce with no signs of elves or anything strong around him.


    He found himself nestled within a secluded de, the towering ancient trees creating a natural canopy that filtered the golden sunlight. The air was rich with the scent of damp earth, and the distant melody of a flowing stream reached his ears.


    After everything that happened, his body craved for a few simple joys. He silently walked over to the stream, observing everything around him.


    The stream was more like a gentle brook, its waters clear and sparkling, winding its way through the verdantndscape.


    Mossy rocks lined its banks, and Liam could see the delicate dance of fish beneath the surface. He reached down, allowing the cool water to flow over his hands, a simple sensation that grounded him in this new world.


    The sound of the water was soothing, a gentle music that resonated with his weary soul. Here, he felt a connection with nature that he hadn''t experienced in a long time. The energy of the forest seemed to wrap around him, weing and nurturing.


    Nearby, a small grove of vibrant flowers caught his eye, their petals glowing with a soft luminescence. A divine fragrance emanated out of them calming his heart and mind, helping him think more clearly.


    Liam undid his robes and dipped his bare body in the cool waters, letting go of all the worries and the fatigue.


    The water caressed his skin, washing away not just the physical dirt but also the turmoil and tension that had been building up within him. The worries of the past and the uncertainty of the future seemed to dissolve, leaving him in a state of pure, tranquil existence.


    He no longer cared about revenge or his past or anything else. A rtionship was just a burden. Instead, he wanted to be alone and free, bereft of everything that held him back.


    All that was him was now gone. The woman he loved, his sister, his friends, hisrades, the people who trusted him and were dependent on him, everyone was drifting away and he was fine with it.


    Liam snapped and shed his eyes open. His thoughts were not his! What was happening?


    Unexpectedly, the moment he opened his eyes, he came face to face with a pair of rather big oily yellow eyes that were staring at him right in his face.


    No, it was not just one pair of eyes. There were several pairs of eyes, at least a hundred staring right at him and Liam could feel a weird aura seeping out of them.


    "I need to move." His instincts kicked in, and he quickly stood up, backing away from the eyes, his mind working in overdrive as he assessed the situation.


    He was finally able to see the true reality around him which was not that much different whenpared to the illusion except for the dozens of creatures that had surrounded him.


    The eyes belonged to creatures that looked like mini-sized frogs, each one almost the size of a lemon, with glistening, slimy skin and a mix of earthy colors.


    Their mouths were agape, revealing rows of tiny, sharp teeth, and their long, webbed fingers twitched seeing that they had been found out.


    However, their size was deceiving because Liam could feel the probing sensation of their gaze, like tendrils reaching into his mind, trying to wrap around his thoughts and control them.


    Their psychic power was potent. If Liam had slipped up even a little, he might have beenpletely swayed by their influence.


    He did not waste any further time as he immediately unsheathed the ck dragon sword. Arcane Frost sh!


    A wave of chilling frost emanated from the de, forming an arcing sh that radiated outwards towards the creatures.


    The attack that contained the weight of the dao behind it emanated cold energy that froze the very air, and the ground was covered in ayer of frost as the sh approached the tiny frogs.


    The creatures reacted with surprising agility, leaping and scattering in all directions. However, they were not fast enough.


    Liam''s attack cut through the whole lot of them, freezing and shattering the small creatures with an overwhelming force. The de finally fell silent, save for the gentle sound of the stream and the rustling of the leaves. The croaking sounds that echoed everywhere stopped.


    Liam let out a breath, finally inspecting the enemy, and was A group of Level 40 beasts joined together and unleashed such a potent attack which almost made him stumble.


    shocked to see that the frogs were only Level 40.


    <Level 40, Murky Mindfrogs>


    A group of Level 40 beasts joined together and unleashed such a potent attack which almost made him stumble.


    Liam couldn''t shake off the chilling feeling that these creatures had almost manipted his mind, leading him into a false sense of security andcency. The very thought made him shiver.


    He realized now that he had let his guard down, lulled by the beauty and serenity of the forest. In this unknownnd, he couldn''t afford such mistakes. The world might seem enchanting and weing, but hidden dangers lurked in every corner.


    This was definitely not Earth. This was a B-ranked world. Even the weakest creatures could be dangerous.


    Liam swallowed and eyed his surroundings. He thenmanded the remaining soul energy of the dozens of frogs and directed them to enter the white marble.


    If the frogs could somehow retain their mental attack ability, then this set of minions had the potential to form a powerful unit of his soul army. Individually their attack might be weak but together it was strong.


    Considering everything this was not a bad start. But he needed more.


    And what he needed the most at the moment was a system shop. Does this ce even have one? He needed more information about this world and about everything. And he needed it now.

 Chapter 1127 My Lord, I am here to serve you

    Chapter 1127 My Lord, I am here to serve you


    While Liam was thinking about his next steps in this new world, he heard some noises nearby. He quickly pulled his hood forward covering his face as a few figures stumbled and walked out from behind a huge tree.


    "Ahh¡­ my head hurts¡­"


    "What happened?"


    It was a group of elves who looked dazed and disoriented. Finally one of them remembered what had happened.


    "It''s those dreadful frogs!"


    Their gaze fell on Liam who was standing amidst the bits and pieces of frog corpses and green blood scattered everywhere.


    The elves looked from Liam to the frogs, then back at him, visibly rxing when they saw the frog remains. "You did this?" asked one, his eyes widening.


    "I did," Liam nodded. "They were troublesome creatures."


    A collective sigh of relief seemed to pass through the group of elves. "Then we are in your debt, my lord," said another elf, who looked to be a leader among them.


    "I am Thingol, and these are members of my n. Those frogs have been guing us for weeks with their vile magic, causing all manner of chaos."


    "We came here to take care of these frogs but we failed and even got ourselves trapped in their illusion magic," continued Thingol, a tinge of embarrassment coloring his tone.


    "Please, my lord. Our n dwelling is nearby. You must allow us to repay your kindness in some way. We would be honored to have you as our guest," The elf offered, bowing his head slightly in deference.


    Liam considered the offer. The elves in front of him were no more than Level 300. While they might have been strong enough to intimidate him previously, currently they could only be seen as low-leveled. Not enough for him to take them as a threat.


    Also, they were clearly not even strong enough to detect that he was a human being. There was always a chance of them acting this way while already having figured out everything but the possibility of that was very low.


    Liam did not want to overthink and miss a good opportunity. He needed to know more about this world and for that, these elves could be very useful.


    "Very well, lead the way then," Liam agreed, still covering himself.


    As the group left, silently one of the lizardmen soul minions appeared behind in the de. If at any point, he sensed some strong opponent then he could disappear before they could get to him.


    The elves led Liam through the forest with a sense of ease and familiarity that only native inhabitants could possess.


    Their feet seemed to barely touch the ground, and their movements were fluid, as if they were extensions of the forest itself. Liam followed cautiously, his senses alert.


    Soon, they reached an elven settlement built into the trees, a blend of natural and magical architecture that was both beautiful and practical.


    Bridges made of interwoven vines connected the various tforms, and the air was filled with the soft glow of luminescent nts.


    It was a haven of peace and natural harmony, a stark contrast to the chaotic world Liam was used to. It was quite simr to the elven world back inside the tutorial.


    As they arrived, elven children curiously peered from behind their elders, who weed Liam with reserved but polite smiles. However, soon everything settled down as Liam was served with some fresh fruits inside one of the dwellings.


    Each of the fruits was ripe with mana and they could be considered treasures back on earth. But here he was being served these things in this random elven vige.


    The whole settlement was quite small and when Liam surveyed the surroundings he couldn''t find a single higher level elf. All of them were around 300, the highest being the n leader Thingol.


    Liam did not rush and slowly ate the fruits one after the other.


    [Ding! You have gained +2 Agility]


    [Ding! You have gained +2 Strength]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Though the effects were small, they were still gains at the end of the day. He remained calm and ate the fruits,pletely indifferent to all the top-ups he was receiving.


    Thingol, noticing Liam''s apparent satisfaction with the meal, couldn''t help but feel pleased. "These fruits are nurtured by our n, a small token of thend''s bounty. We are d you find them to your liking."


    "They are good," Liam replied without borating further. The elf respectfully nodded. Then after dinner, he took Liam for a tour of the settlement.


    Liam made sure to remain aloof while he observed all the details of the settlement. It was rather small just like the leader had informed him before. It was essentially a vige where a small elven n resided along with their n leader.


    They passed by a series of training grounds, markets, farms, and gardens, and finally arrived at the n leader''s residence.


    "My Lord, please do me the honor of staying in my humble abode during your visit." Thingol offered, gesturing toward a beautifully furnished chamber that overlooked the vige.


    The room was adorned with carved wooden designs, ethereal luminescent nts, and soft, elegant fabrics that exuded an air of tranquility.


    "Thank you, Thingol," Liam replied curtly, taking in the surroundings.


    "If there''s anything else you require, do not hesitate to ask," the elf leader added before excusing himself.


    Left alone in the chamber, Liam finally had a chance to breathe. He sat down and cradled his head in his arms, thinking about everything.


    So far his day had been a mixed one with both positive and negative oues.


    The positive being that he had sessfully entered an elven settlement and the negative being that the elven settlement had absolutely nothing to offer with respect to information that he needed the most.


    Shockingly, there was not even a system shop in the settlement. This was a huge setback because Liam had nned everything keeping in mind his ess to one.


    A poor world like Earth had several shops across thends, who would have thought that this B-ranked world, full of riches and resources would have just as few?


    While Liam was thinking about this huge issue that was nagging him and basically standing as the biggest obstacle in his path, an elf walked in carrying another tray of fruits, dishes made of various herbs and vegetables, and some wine.


    The elven woman looked extremely beautiful and was dressed elegantly. She politely nodded at Liam and bowed to him after serving the tray.


    "My Lord, I am here to serve you."


    Hmmm? Liam looked at the elf questioningly and understood her intentions.


    He did not think that the elven settlement would provide these kinds of services, but perhaps they were bending over backward for him unaware of his real strength.


    Irrespective, this was a good thing. Liam could use someone right about now.


    "I need you to do something for me first." He looked at the elven woman. "Show me everything."


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 Chapter 1128 My Queen...

    Chapter 1128 My Queen...


    Liam stared at the system prompt that shed in front of him disying the stats of the elven woman. "Level 250¡­ Inferior water element affinity¡­ inferior fire element affinity¡­ Not bad."


    The woman smiled shyly and nodded.


    Liam did not bother responding to her. What he was more interested in was the fact that these people had a system too. This confirmed it. Surely, they must have a system affiliated store?


    "I have a job for you." Liam locked eyes with the elf. "I need you to run to the nearest system shop and buy me a list of herbs."


    "My Lord?" The elf looked surprised.


    Liam''s heart instantly sped up. What happened? Did he say something wrong? Did he just give away his identity?


    "My Lord, it would take me ten fortnights to travel to the Pyronia Kingdom. I am also not confident in making the journey. Please forgive my ipetence."


    "If I may, shall I request the aid of someone stronger in our n?" The elf asked nervously, her eyes lowered as if worried she might offend him.


    Liam''s heart rate steadied. He had not given himself away; it was just the practicality of the journey that seemed to be the issue.


    "Pyronia Kingdom? That''s certainly far," Liam nodded. "Very well, you are excused from this task. Don''t worry about finding another person. I will get this done another way."


    The elf looked relieved but also somewhat disappointed, perhaps at not being able to fulfill his request. "Is there anything else you require, my Lord?"


    Liam remained silent for a moment before eyeing the elf again, this time in a more obvious manner. "Come. Sit next to me and give mepany while I eat some food."


    The woman gulped and sat down next to him. Liam then casually tossed his arm around her, pulling her closer and ying around with the robe that loosely covered her slender figure.


    He then picked up a fruit from the tray. "Tell me. Have you ever been to Pyronia?"


    Three hourster¡­


    As the elf finally left Liam''s chamber, he looked out the small settlement with a grave expression on his face. Thanks to the woman whose name he had already forgotten, he learned a lot about the ce he was in.


    But it was not good news.


    For starters the situation was much worse than he assumed it to be. It seems that he was mistaken. Here, in this world, the system shops were not just rare, they were super exclusive.


    Meaning, there was just one and only one system shop for the entire Empire.


    As for why this was the case, Liam did not understand. Perhaps the Emperor of this territory used it as a means to control power distribution, or maybe there were other limitations he wasn''t aware of yet.


    Either way, this was a significant problem for him. It restricted his ability to acquire resources, information, and advanced skills or abilities that could be critical for his progress.


    Not to mention he was probably being hunted by the elven royals. Liam had no idea how strong these elves were. The strongest of them could be at a level he wouldn''t dare face.


    Considering that they were a B-ranked world and their ns, kingdoms and empires had existed for centuries, there was no way they wouldn''t be able to locate an ant like him. He would be a fool to underestimate them.


    However, he had no other choice. He had to stay here. He did not know how to even exit this world.


    Besides, he was not going anywhere without Luna. Back in those ruins, he only felt her presence vaguely but here he could feel her presence more concretely.


    Even if he was not able to locate her, he could still feel that she was here. Somewhere here. He needed to find her first. He needed to find out what happened back home.


    Liam inhaled deeply the rich nourishing mana all around him. This would have been a wonderful ce to stay under different circumstances.


    As he was looking outside, he couldn''t help but wonder, was the elven empire really the strongest force here?


    Surely, there must be someone stronger than them? Did they have control of the entire world?


    Liam couldn''t ask the elven woman everything. Otherwise, they might grow suspicious of his ignorance. "I need to go outside tomorrow and see if I can purchase a map or perhaps some information."


    Liam sat back on the austere cot in the room and closed his eyes to meditate. It was nighttime and there was nothing much he could do today. He took in the abundance of the elemental essence around him and washed his body slowly with it.


    Though there were many obstacles in his path, there was still one rook in his corner, a chubby conniving rook. "Any day now¡­" Liam murmured as he continued meditating.


    ***


    Meanwhile¡­ in other parts of Tirnanog¡­


    In a densely wooded area, shadowed by the towering ancient trees, several elves gathered around a mysterious altar. Their faces were masked in a blend of reverence and caution as they stared at the figure atop the altar.


    "My Queen¡­" An elf stepped forward. He held a basket full of fruits and rare herbs, which he gently ced before the altar. "We have gathered the offerings you have requested."


    Unlike the ones Liam had eaten, these fruits were anything but ordinary. Each and every single one of the fruits and herbs were full of mana and elemental essence. They were top-grade treasures.


    Not just that, even the elves serving were anything but ordinary. All the elves were at least level 500 and above and they wore expensive elegant clothingced with the finest threads and expensive gems.


    However, when they stared at the figure atop the altar, they only had a look ofplete and utter reverence. They even seemed nervous if this assortment of treasures was enough to please the high and mighty figure.


    Thankfully, the queen seemed to be pleased.


    "That''s enough for now. Bring me more tomorrow." She said as she waved her three tails with azy yawn.


    The audience immediately broke into a mad fervor.


    The audience immediately broke into a mad fervor.


    "All hail Queen Luna!"


    "All hail Queen Luna!"


    "All hail Queen Luna!"


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb9df1869a64207977e5c1b72094f0ab0750ba388258173305239a5ef77fc67c13

 Chapter 1129 There will be a time for it

    Chapter 1129 There will be a time for it


    A couple more days passed by and Liam stayed in the same elven vige. He did not want to rush his next steps but he also did not want to stay at the same ce for too long. So he now had a new n.


    In the past couple of days, he familiarized himself with the small elven settlement and visited all the local vendors and stalls.


    He examined a few herbs, and learned more about new varieties of fruits and vegetables but he was unable to get any concrete information without giving himself away.


    Soon, a path opened up in front of him. On the third day, Liam noticed a crowd gathering behind the small vige. He walked over to the area, wondering what it could be when he saw a few elves caged in carriages.


    "ve trading market?"


    ve trading was an abhorrent practice and he did not think that an elven establishment would be supporting it.


    The elves in the cages looked exhausted and malnourished, their eyes vacant of hope or spirit. These were notbatants taken in battle, but clearly individuals who were being exploited, their freedom cruelly stolen.


    Liam''s fists clenched involuntarily as he had been in this same situation a long time ago. However, he immediately calmed down because this was not his priority right now.


    He couldn''t end the miseries in his own world, let alone worry about the miseries in these alien worlds. He prepared to turn away and leave when he felt something odd.


    Since Liam still hadn''t quite grasped his soulmancer ss, he made it a habit to always sense the souls around him or constantly tinker around with his own soul to delve deeper into the world.


    And right at this moment, he sensed an extremely strong soul.


    Liam frowned as he sensed this soul from the area where the cages were stacked. He walked over to the trading area to take a look and saw a disheveled elf in one of the far cages.


    She looked weak and malnourished, much like the others, but her eyes held a spark that wasn''t present in any of the other captives.


    When Liam looked closer, he noticed that this elf also had a short pair of horns on her head. Was this why she was being traded as a ve?


    Liam observed that every other crate also had an elf with one deformity or the other. However, this was not important to him. What he was interested in was the usually strong soul of the elven girl.


    Seeing that Liam was observing the ve market, Thingol, the leader of the elven n approached him. "Anything that catches your eyes, my Lord?"


    Liam''s eyes turned cold. "Yes. That one." He answered.


    Immediately, Thingol spoke with the traders and immediately made some arrangements. "My lord, this one is an impure elf with mixed lineage and her body is also riddled with injuries."


    "She won''t be of much use. How about that one? She has a strong lineage and has a very high fire affinity."


    Liam shook his head. "I just need a servant. I don''t care about their affinities. That crippled one would suffice."


    Liam wouldn''t have minded buying the other one too but there was a reason why he did not want to push things.


    Seeing that he was interested, Thingol did not try to convince him otherwise and went ahead to finish the deal.


    "What is the cost?" Liam enquired and immediately the n leader shook his head. "My Lord, this is the least we can do in return for your kindness."


    Liam nodded, epting the offer.


    This was precisely why he did not purchase more. He did not even know what currency was used in these parts and anything out of the line would immediately reveal his identity.


    "Young virgin of only 20 years." The ve trader remarked in a gruff voice before opening the cage and allowing the elf to step out.


    A system prompt opened up in front of Liam which transferred the rights of the ve to him.


    Apparently, the elf was under a strong mind-control spell that forced them to be obedient to their master no matter what. This was how they were able to enve even the stronger ones.


    Liam finished the transactions and then brought the elven girl away to the outskirts of the settlement into the forest area. He checked the system contract again, making sure there wasn''t any trickery involved.


    "Tell me everything you know about this world." He once again began collecting information. The elven girl looked at Liam for a moment before starting to talk.


    "Our world is¡­" She then paused. "You are a human being. Master." Her eyes widened in disbelief.


    "How could you tell?" Liam smiled as he removed his cloak. "Not that I am disguising it very well. Do you know if there is a better way to disguise?"


    The elven girl shook her head with a rueful smile. If she had known one then she wouldn''t have fallen to this state. However, she knew one thing for sure.


    If her state was as such then a human being''s state would be even worse. "You should leave this world as soon as possible, Master." She warned Liam.


    "I would like that too. But not now. There will be a time for it. And when that timees, I will bring you with me, that is if you want to. Otherwise, I will set you free. The choice is yours. Until then I hope we can help each other out."


    "Help?" The elven girl looked puzzled.


    "Come. Let''s go. We first have some things to buy. I guess you will want to freshen up first."


    Liam brought the elf back to his temporary residence. There she first washed up and wore a clean set of clothing that the n leader''s servants provided.


    When the elf walked out, Liam couldn''t help but be shocked. After cleaning up, the elf lookedpletely different, more beautiful than many women on earth.


    The elf smiled, showing more confidence now. "Thank you, Master. My name is Elira."


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb0c1f0f0036dd9bc93326b90e957b8504d4cd84211e40ce7acfc17a8ef8ffcd6d9f36443eaa90aaad51b0dcdcbd17c

 Chapter 1130 Time to leave

    Chapter 1130 Time to leave


    After Elira was ready, Liam brought the elf to a local healer who was also an alchemist.


    "What would it take for you to heal my ve?" Liam asked the guy authoritatively, still maintaining his image of an arrogant young lord.


    The alchemist politely nodded and started examining Elira''s condition.


    "Her mana veins are blocked. The tissue around the veins have be petrified and useless. It is impossible to cure herpletely."


    "No. I want her cured. I do not care how much it costs." Liam insisted.


    The alchemist immediately broke into a cold sweat. He became nervous because Liam''s tone was very serious.


    "My Lord, I am afraid I am really incapable of healing herpletely. Her condition is beyond what my skills and avable resources can address."


    "Hmph. Let me decide what you are capable of and not capable of. Show me all your medicinal scrolls." Liam shouted loudly that the alchemist instantly ran inside and brought out a bundle of parchments.


    Bingo!


    Liam took them all and scoffed, before turning and leaving the chamber in a huff. He then signaled to Elira.


    While Liam was unable to openly visit the individual shops and purchase the basics of mana channeling or any other essential books like that, he did not have any issues sending Elira out to do the same.


    Deciding that today marked the end of his stay in this elven n, they had to go all out. He gave a list to the elf of various items he had taken note of during thest few days.


    Of course, the elven kingdom seemed to be using a different token system as their currency with a yellow shade token, green shade token and a red shade token denoting the various levels of value, much like the copper, silver, and gold coins back in the tutorial world.


    Except these tokens had an elven face etched on them. It almost looked like a human being except for the long pointed ears and ethereal features that were distinctly elven.


    "Get whatever you can from this list," Liam instructed, "and tell them that I will pay for itter. Be discreet, and try not to draw too much attention to yourself."


    Elira nodded, the list. "I understand. I''ll do my best."


    Liam then proceeded to walk out of the settlement and after a few minutes, Elira returned, her hands filled with bags containing various items. "I''ve acquired most of what you requested," she said, setting the bags down on the ground.


    Liam tossed everything into his spatial artifact. "It''s time to leave." The two of them sped toward the forests that stretched beyond the settlement.


    "Where are we headed to?" Liam asked whilst gazing at the vague almost like a flower.


    At first, Liam thought that the elven Empire had managed to unite map Elira managed to acquire from one of the shops.


    Now that he saw it, this world, Tirnanog, was weirdly shaped, almost like a flower.


    At first, Liam thought that the elven Empire had managed to unite all the elves in the world, establishing some sort of iron d regime.


    But that did not seem to be the case.


    Instead, there were eight big empires, eachposed of various elven ns, and they were located around a central region, marked as a danger zone.


    "What is there in this area?" Liam immediately asked.


    "That''s the forbidden area!" Elira immediately eximed.


    "Hmmm?" An idea began to form in Liam''s head. "Why is it forbidden?"


    "That is the resting ce of our guardian. No one is allowed to create disturbance in the area."


    "Oh?"


    "Master, it ismon knowledge. Not even the strongest and mysterious Srae elven n meddle with the forbidden area."


    Liam nodded, remaining silent. He then changed his direction subtly. At first Elira did not notice but soon she realized where they were headed to and gasped in shock.


    "Master, you cannot be serious," Elira stammered, her eyes widening in disbelief. "We must not venture into the forbidden area! It is ourw!"


    Liam nced at her, his eyes glinting with a hint of audacity. "Rules andws are just constructs. Sometimes, to gain power, you have to break a few. Besides, there must be a reason that area is restricted, and I intend to find out what it is."


    "Master, I implore you to reconsider," Elira pleaded, her voice tinged with desperation.


    "The guardian is not just a legend; it''s a force of nature, ancient and powerful. Disturbing its rest could unleash cmities we can''t even fathom. Your life will be in danger if we enter that ce."


    Liam chuckled. "My life is already in danger."


    The two of them traveled in silence. Elira appeared nervous for a while but she then returned to her formal state, seemingly not caring about anything. She looked like a person who had epted her fate a long time ago.


    The journey was a long one, especially because they had to circumvent some regions where powerful auras seeped out. However, Liam continued moving at a steady pace, slowly covering the distance.


    To Elira''s surprise, her new master was stronger than he looked.


    At times when a strong beast intercepted their path, Liam did not avoid it. Instead, fought head on with the beast using the paltry mana supply that he had. He also did not forget to store the soul once he was done with the beast.


    asionally, he also took breaks where he studied the recipes he had obtained by threatening that small-time elven alchemist.


    The elf had the recipe for a high-grade health potion, high-grade mana potion, even potions to enhance elemental affinity and resistance. Over all, Liam gained a lot by studying the recipes and the scribbled descriptions of new herbs.


    However, from these descriptions, he could also see that these recipes were not the most optimal ones. It was almost as if they were purposefully downgraded from what they could have be.


    It seemed as if the elven royal family took several measures to make sure that they would never get overthrown or outpowered by their subjects.


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bb2b1f8bdf05a8650fb4cade8d1f5615493702dd277d3d105b51c3f1174a2d3936

 Chapter 1131 None of them came back alive

    Chapter 1131 None of them came back alive


    Tirnanog was a vast world several times bigger than earth. Liam could tell that because days went by and he was still continuing his journey to the center of this world, to the so-called forbidden area.


    It did not matter how many detours they had to take and how many near death experiences they had. Liam was persistent in his goal.


    If he could reach this so-called forbidden area, then there was a chance that he might even evade any scanning or detection type techniques of even higher-leveled elves.


    Soon, days became weeks and the two continued moving on their feet. The forests became denser and more dangerous as they approached their destination and their travel became even more slower.


    nts and animals took on increasingly surreal forms, glowing with arcane energy and vibrating with the hum of unfiltered mana. It was as if the essence of the world itself was bing more concentrated as they ventured deeper towards the forbidden area.


    Elira, too, understood more and more about her new master with every passing day. Any thoughts about escaping from the strange human being or betraying him to buy her own freedom disappeared.


    She was an elf who was born from ve breeding and right from her birth no one had treated her better than this human being. She could also see that this mysterious master of hers was extremely powerful.


    His level was quite high, despite his body showing several signs of weakness. And from the way he was experimenting with potions and pills, cursing and muttering while doing so, told her that he was searching for something. Perhaps a medicine to cure himself.


    She could only guess just how strong her master would be if he managed to find this pill or potion.


    However, more than all of this, there was something else which Elira respected.


    All her life she had heard tales about ve masters and how they treated their ves. But she had never heard about one concerned with the well being of their ve to the extent of wasting precious resources on her.


    Until now, Liam had given her many pills and potions which were slowly improving her body''s condition. Some of them gave her immense pain but some healed her body. She now was no longer the useless girl who couldn''t use mana.


    She could already cast some basic magic and this was also thanks to the human being who had taught her. This was thest straw that broke any reservations she had.


    It did not matter that she was his ve and he was her ve master. In all sense of the word, Elira started seeing this strange human being as her true master, a master who teaches one things and guides their path.


    This was also why she wore an expression of increasing concern.


    "Master, we are getting close," she warned one evening, as they set up camp in a clearing surrounded by ancient, towering trees. "We must be cautious."


    "Hmmm. I agree," Liam responded, looking towards the setting sun that took an unusually long time to give way to twilight in this world. Wondering if they would even continue to see this much sunlight, Liam gazed into the growing darkness of the forest.


    "The stories say that the guardian of the forbidden area is not just a being, but a manifestation of Tirnanog itself. To trespass its domain is to challenge the very world."


    Liam looked at her thoughtfully. "Do you believe these stories?"


    "I used to think they were just that¡ªstories. But now," she paused, "I am not so sure."


    That night, neither of them got much sleep. The next morning, they broke camp early and resumed their journey, each step taking them further into the thick forest.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they reached the edge of a dense cluster of trees. "Master, we are here." Elira stopped. "Master¡­ she hesitated."


    "Hmmm?" Liam asked absent-mindedly as he took a look around. He could feel that the mana in the air had suddenly be several times denser.


    "Master¡­ I have heard that some elves tried to enter the forbidden area hoping that there would be some treasures or opportunities here¡­" she paused.


    "What happened to these elves?"


    "None of them came back alive."


    Liam gave a rueful smile on hearing that. He could also vaguely feel several powerful auras ahead of them. However, he did not believe that simply stepping over a boundary could kill them.


    Or could it?


    While he was thinking about it, all of a sudden the elf next to him dashed forward.


    "Huh?" Liam was surprised because he could clearly see that the elf was scared, but still she dared to go ahead?


    Elira stopped only after heading several miles inward. She then turned back and ran toward Liam once again.


    "Master¡­" she panted. "I checked it myself. Nothing happens if we cross this boundary."


    Liam''s eyes widened as he now understood what she had done. She had poison tested thend for him. He chuckled and patted the young girl. "Thank you."


    Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he then personally stepped into the boundary, Elira following hesitantly behind him.


    She did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary but the moment Liam crossed the invisible boundary, he felt it¡ªan overwhelming presence.


    A heavy pressure bore down on him, halting him in his steps. The next second he felt a shiver. Someone was examining him.


    His very soul was scrutinized, every inch of him assessed and judged. However, surprisingly, the energy was not hostile.


    Liam stood still waiting for the check to get done. Since the elf was not subjected to it, this was probably because he was a human being. But he refused to believe that this would matter.


    He was probably an antpared to this being and people seldom were concerned about ants. Irrespective, this was a risk he had to take.


    Time ticked by and soon, the pressure pressing him downpletely disappeared. It looks like he was given permission to enter after all.

 Chapter 1132 I am not that weak

    Chapter 1132 I am not that weak


    "But how?" Elira blinked.


    She had panicked as soon as she saw Liam halt in his steps, a pained expression appearing on his face, but within seconds that disappeared and he was once again able to move freely.


    Was everything they were told about the forbidden forests just lies?


    As if answering her question, the next second something came hurtling towards them at high speed.


    Before Elira could even register what was happening, Liam had already raised his hand, and a protective barrier of swirling mana enveloped them.


    Bang! ROAR!


    A loud colliding sound echoed through the forest, immediately followed by a feral roar that seemed to shake the very air.


    The barrier had held, but the force of the impact had caused it to shimmer and waver momentarily.


    "It seems we''ve got the attention of someone or a few someones."


    Liam''s gaze fell on the pair of bloodthirsty eyes in front of him. Low growls echoed everywhere as more of the bloodthirsty eyes started to appear, circling them from the dark recesses of the forest.


    Liam counted at least fifty glowing eyes, lurking in the shadows just beyond the barrier of the forbidden area.


    "Master! We are surrounded!"


    "Yes. It looks like our stay in this forbidden forest won''t be as peaceful as I had hoped." Liam''s eyes turned cold.


    Perhaps because the elves were not allowed to enter the space, the entire forest should be teeming with powerful beasts.


    He studied the beasts circling him who very much looked like wolves but it was clear that they were not simple wolves.


    These were muchrger, and an unsettling aura of malevolence emanated from them. They had huge spikes protruding from their backs and the air trembled with a strange electric current.


    "Thunder wolves!" Elira gasped.


    Liam did not have any time to study them as a bunch of beasts instantly charged at them, electrifying the air with arcs of lightning from their fangs and spikes.


    "Master! It is impossible to survive against a thunder wolf pack! They are too strong when they are together! I will hold them off with my life on the line. Please run away while you still can!" Elira shouted loudly, running ahead to face the danger.


    After Liam somewhat cured her meridians, she had been practicing wind elemental magic and the elf was a pretty fast learner.


    Her speed was on par with Mia who was considered a true genius back on earth. Any human being would be envious of her raw talent and natural instincts.


    Liam guessed that this was because she was an elf and probably was a racial trait to be able to learn elemental magic so easily. However, they too had a limit.


    While they could easily learn to wield mana almost like learning to walk or talk, their progress was just as slow and difficult as everyone else. Otherwise, even the elves he had met back in that small settlement would have been just as powerful as the royal elves.


    He watched as the woman unleashed des of wind at the thunder wolves, wincing as every time an attacknded on her.


    Liam saw the sincere expression on the elf''s face and shook his head.


    "You shouldn''t throw away your life so easily and I am not that useless to let a bunch of wolves get the better of me. Come back, Elira!"


    He unsheathed his ck dragon sword and charged forward instead.


    [Arcane Frost sh]


    [Fire sh]


    [Wind sh]


    [Lightning sh]


    Liam let loose four sword attacks, each and every one of them charged with elemental essence.


    Even though this was not the best version of the respective attacks as his current mana flow wascking, to say the least, they were still powerful enough to cut through the wolves.


    [Thunder wolf, Level 110]


    "You are not strong enough to block my path!"


    The ck dragon sword roared as if it was alive and gleefully cut through the thick and sturdy flesh of the beasts.


    [Sword Dance]


    [Spirit sh]


    [Spirit Wrath]


    He moved his body with ease as he continued to unleash a flurry of sword techniques, seamlessly blending them together in a dance of death. His movements were fluid, with each step and sh calcted with surgical precision.


    Elira watched in awe as Liam cut through the beasts. The thunder wolves, though mighty and fearsome, seemed to hesitate under the onught. It was as if they sensed the indomitable will and deadly intent behind each of his strikes.


    Several wolves were already down, their bodies cut clean through, while others were nursing grievous wounds. They started to fall back, their natural instincts warning them that the human before them was not to be trifled with.


    The alpha wolf,rger and more menacing than the rest, eyed Liam with a mix of caution and curiosity. It growled, as ifmunicating with the pack, and then led a tactical retreat into the darker recesses of the forest.


    Liam, panting with exertion but clearly unbroken, turned back towards Elira. His sword gleamed in the dim light, its shining de tinged with a residual aura from the elemental attacks.


    "Are you alright?" he asked, his eyes scanning her for injuries.


    Elira shook her head in disbelief. "I... I''m fine, Master. That was... amazing."


    "Hmmm. These were not strong. We are still on the outskirts of the forest. So these should be the weaker beasts among the ones residing in this area."


    Elira nodded, her eyes still wide with awe. "I didn''t know you were so skilled with the sword, Master."


    Liam sheathed his sword, his eyes meeting hers. "There are many things you don''t know about me. But one thing you should know is that I will never abandon apanion."


    A blush crept up the elf''s cheeks, her heart pounding for a reason other than the adrenaline from the recent battle.


    "We should keep moving," Liam suggested, "Before they decide toe back with reinforcements. This forest is a dangerous ce, and we''ve just made a lot of noise."

 Chapter 1133 Please escape!

    Chapter 1133 Please escape!


    Liam stored the meat and the souls of the thunder wolves before proceeding to move away from the area. He ventured a mile further inside but after that, he did not proceed forward.


    "We will be setting up camp here," Liam informed Elira.


    The elven girl nodded in agreement.


    There was a small river not too far from them which provided a water source and the thick and dense trees all around them were more than enough to provide shelter for the two of them.


    "This ce should be rtively safer but don''t let your guard down. Stay close to me at all times." Liam warned the young girl.


    He then closed his eyes and started meditating, inhaling the abundant mana all around him.


    From the basic information Elira had gathered from here and there back in the small elven establishment, Liam learned a few ways to use the abundant nature essence all around them to heal his body little by little.


    Liam had never tried this before but it wasn''t that difficult toprehend. Whileher reeked of death and decay, nature essence reeked of life force.


    His senses pulsed in rhythm with the natural world, reaching out to tap into the life force that ebbed and flowed through the forest.


    His skin felt as if kissed by a warm, gentle breeze, his tired muscles rejuvenated and his broken body breathed with ease.


    The essence seemed to find his points of weakness, his injuries, and his drained energies, wrapping them in an almost maternal cocoon of vitality. It did not heal him in any way but it provided a momentary relief before the stinging pain returned.


    By now the pain of mana andher shing against each other in his body had already be something dull like background noise.


    Perhaps for someone else, it would have been an unbearable pain but thanks to the constant obstacles in his path, every single one of them breaking him down, Liam''s mental strength had evolved far beyond something a normal human being should possess.


    As Liam continued indulging himself in silent meditation, Elira sat next to him and watched him in awe. At times, she tried to imitate him but mostly she stayed awake to keep an eye on everything around him.


    Though Liam already informed her that it was not necessary for her to keep a watch, she still did it anyway.


    Time passed by just like this and soon hours became days.


    Liam continued to patiently meditate and Elira sat by his side enjoying the slow days.


    Well, it couldn''t entirely be called slow because there was the asional beast onught every now and then, but every single time Liam took care of it with rtive ease.


    It looked like his prediction was indeed correct. The outer areas were not that dangerous. Whatever came at them, they were able to handle it.


    However, as the days went by the strength of the beasts were also increasing. It was clear that they couldn''t camp out here forever even though it was still on the outskirts of the forbidden forests.


    "Master¡­" Elira tried to reason.


    But Liam only said. "Soon." He continued with his training afterward.


    Days continued to pass by and Elira only became more nervous. What was her master waiting for? Why were they camped out in this dangerous ce?


    Maybe right now it was just beasts but this could change in the blink of an eye. What if more powerful elven n members arrived here?


    Soon just like that two entire months flew by and then suddenly Elira''s worst fears came true. Another elf had sniffed them out and arrived in front of their doorstep.


    Elira shuddered as he stared at the enemy. His aura was strong and powerful. Even for someone like her, it was painfully obvious that the enemy was several times stronger than her master.


    "Master! I will hold him back with my life on the line! Please escape!"


    Liam shook his head helplessly and patted her. "Sigh. You need to learn to stay calm. First of all, how long do you think someone like you can hold him back?"


    Elira tensed up.


    "First think before you act." Liam chuckled and he slowly walked forward to wee the newly arrived guest. "And don''t worry. This one is not our enemy."


    "Hello again, Lord?" Liam smiled at the familiar face. Just like he had expected the elf had arrived at his doorstep. "You took your own sweet time? Did your tracker not work well in the forbidden area?"


    Eldrin Silverthorn winced. It looked like the human knew after all. "Hello, Liam Chang. I am happy that you are still alive and well."


    Eldrin bitterly smiled. "Yes. I also only half-expected to make this decision, but times are tough. I did not have much of an option left." "Mmmm. Likewise." Liam chuckled. "If I am being honest, I only half-expected you to arrive here."


    Eldrin bitterly smiled. "Yes. I also only half-expected to make this decision, but times are tough. I did not have much of an option left." He paused and added with a shrug, "When my own n members are after me, I cannot help but align with a human being."


    "Heh. Who said anything about forming an alliance?" Liam''s gaze was cold and indifferent. Though he was exchanging pleasantries with the elf as if they were old friends, he was already clear where each one of them stood.


    They were neither friends nor enemies. As for being allies?


    "Why are you here, my Lord? I am only a weak human being. I have nothing to offer you." Liam broached the main topic.


    "Ha Ha. You want to get straight to the business, huh? Fine by me, human." Eldrinughed.


    "I know that you are from a newly awakened world. Your knowledge about everything should be extremely limited and your skill set should be non-existent. I am proposing to help you in this aspect."


    "I can guide you through our world and whatever other worlds that you intend to visit as long as it is within my capacity." Eldrin Silverthorne stared Liam right into his eyes as he spoke, clearly implying that this time he meant business.

 Chapter 1134 A freak

    Chapter 1134 A freak


    "And in return?" Liam asked.


    Of course, the elf was not going to help him out of the kindness of his heart. Everything was a transaction and it was better this way. When there was an equal exchange, the chances of either party getting burnt were low, well that is in an ideal world.


    "Nothing much." The chubby elfughed lightly. "It really is nothing. Trust me."


    Seeing Liam frown, the elf cleared his throat awkwardly and got to the point. "The Ascension Spire," he said.


    "Hmmm?"


    "Right, you don''t know." The chubby elfughed again. "I keep forgetting that you are from a no-name world, you freak. The Ascension Spire is¡­"


    The elf took a deep breath and continued, "The Ascension Spire is in short a wondend, a ce filled with opportunities."


    "Mind you, I am not talking about the random opportunities here. I am talking about the real deal, ones that could help you transcend from a mere mortal to an immortal, a Sovereign, a Deity, a True God!"


    "Even if you forget about these fantasies, one can still im enough opportunities to at least break through to the Sage level."


    Liam''s eyes narrowed, assessing the chubby elf before him. "The Ascension Spire you speak of¡ªwhat''s the catch? ces of such opportunity are usually fraught with danger, aren''t they?"


    The elf grinned, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. "Ah, you''re not as naive as you look. Indeed, the Ascension Spire is perilous. It''s filled with trials, enchantments, and powerful guardians. Many have perished attempting its challenges."


    Liam sighed. It sounded about right. "So, what does that have to do with me helping you? What do you want in return? Don''t talk in riddles."


    "I am not talking in riddles, you freak!" The chubby elf sighed in exasperation.


    "This Spire that I told you about is not something that everyone can enter. One can only enter if they have the permission and this permission is granted to only freaks like you."


    Liam did not understand.


    "Like the heavenly punishment that descends on freaks like you after a certain level, this ce is a heavenly bestowment. It is a reward for being a freak. A genius. An irregr. Ah, right. That''s the term."


    Liam listened intently.


    "You have just now stepped onto the grand arena, leaving behind the confines of your small world. And look at you¡­ You have already exploded in strength!"


    "Trust me. It is only a matter of time. You will receive the Ascension Spire''s token. You can use the token to teleport to that wondend."


    Liam''s eyes widened. Was this true? Does something like this actually exist?


    As if reading his mind, the elfughed and nodded. "It does and a freak like you will get the invitation for sure. Every genius will get three chances to enter this spire in their lifetime."


    "And all I ask of you¡­ My liege¡­ is to bring this humble me along with you all three times." Eldrin once again revealed his pearly whites.


    "And before you say no, you can bring along with you five people. One. Two. Three. Four. Five." Eldrin unfurled his fingers one after the other. "See, there are five spots. All I am asking is for a single spot."


    Liam stared at the elf not knowing how to respond to this proposal. The elf''s insistence that Liam would eventually receive an invitation to the spire based on his innate abilities intrigued him.


    Soulmancer ss was indeed special. Perhaps he would get an invitation for such a ce, but this so-called Spire sounded dangerous. And the elf in front of him was¡­


    Liam''s gaze dragged on the elf. He was short and had a pot belly with chunky arms and feet. He wore clothes that could only belong to the nobility. He also seemed to be in possession of several expensive items.


    Did this mean that the elf was just a spoiled rich brat of some elven n?


    Not that Liam cared about who he was or what he was. It was just that this request would essentially mean that he would be carrying a dead weight along with him into this dangerous spire.


    Liam chuckled. He only hesitated for a moment before epting the proposal.


    There was really nothing to think about. All of this talk of the future did not concern him. Without his world, without his sister and his friends, there was really nothing left for him.


    He would deal with this Spire and him carrying this elf when the time came and if the time came. For now, all of his focus was on getting more information.


    He needed to know what happened.


    He needed to heal himself.


    And he needed to kill the person who was responsible for all of his agony.


    He needed to rip her apart limb from limb until nothing of her remained, until she could no longer touch him or his family, ever again.


    Liam''s eyes turned bloodshot as his blood boiled at the thought of the woman who had shattered his world and crushed him as if he were nothing.


    He felt his anger seethe beneath his skin, his soul eager for the chance at vengeance. But he pushed it down; now was not the time.


    "I agree." Liam nodded.


    There was another reason why he agreed to this. Liam had to admit. Even though this elf looked like a wastrel who had not trained a single day in his life, his brain was very sharp and cunning.


    This proposal was an apt way for them to form an alliance and work together.


    Even when the dragon woman proposed something like this to Liam, he had never trusted her for a moment, despite them signing a soul contract.


    However, the proposal that this elf put forth was something he could trust.


    This was because if indeed everything the elf imed was true, then the elf very much needed his help to survive in this Spire and get to these golden opportunities.


    Without him, the whole n falls apart. This made sure that the elf wouldn''t double-cross him, at least for now. At least until they entered the Ascension Spire together.

 Chapter 1135 Do you see where I am going with this?

    Chapter 1135 Do you see where I am going with this?


    Eldrin''s eyes lit up when Liam nodded. "Ah, wise choice! You won''t regret this, my liege. I assure you, when the timees, you''ll be d to have me by your side."


    "From freak to liege?" Liam looked into Eldrin''s eager eyes, searching for any traces of deceit. He found none. Either the elf was an exceptional liar or he was genuinely convinced of their mutual benefit in this arrangement.


    Irrespective, he had to take this risk right now. After all, he had bigger fish to fry and more importantly, he needed to find out what happened.


    Liam finally said, extending his hand for a shake, "Let''s make sure we both live to reap its benefits."


    Eldrin shook Liam''s hand vigorously, a broad smile forming on his chubby face. "Absolutely! You won''t regret this! Shall we celebrate this joyous asion? How about a drink?"


    Liam red at the elf. "It can wait. I first need you to do something. ess the system shop and find out what happened to my world. I also need you to find a few alchemy recipes for me and procure an item. If you don''t do this, then there is no point in our alliance."


    Eldrin''s enthusiastic smile faltered for a moment but then quickly returned, albeit a bit more subdued. "Ah, yes. Business before pleasure, I see. Very well, let''s get to work. See, everything that you just stated can be easily done."


    Hmmm? Liam was surprised.


    "But¡­ But¡­ the situation is tricky." Eldrin sighed. "To speak more clearly, right now it is near impossible."


    Liam''s gaze became cold.


    "Wait. Wait. Wait. Let me finish. I said it''s not possible right now, but it will be possible in three lunar cycles." Eldrin then began to exin, "As you may have figured it out by now, it is very difficult to ess a system nexus in our world."


    "Trades with the merchants, traveling to other worlds, obtaining items through auctions, new skills, new recipes, new pets, new anything is very difficult."


    "Every small transaction is monitored by the royal family and is only allowed under their supervision. There are strict rules put in ce for this."


    "Hmmm?" Liam then sneered. "Even so, I am sure you have the ability to bypass these rules?"


    Liam did not know much about this elf but he knew one thing. The damn guy was extremely crafty.


    He was not purely evil like the divine temple high-priestess but Liam knew very well that he would be making a mistake if he underestimated the cunningness of this elf.


    Also, Liam knew that this elf had a lot of enemies. He had observed the general dynamics back in the trial space of the elven ancestor. So he should have already done some preparations.


    "If essing the system shop here is difficult, then you should have some method to exit the world and go to some other world, maybe somewhere we can ess it? You should perhaps have some disguise otherwise?"


    Faced with Liam''s questions, the elf quickly became frazzled. "Geez. I am not that amazing okay. I had bribed someone to get out of this hell but now that guy probably would not work out."


    "But there is a way. There is a way for everything." The elf grinned. "First, we need to make some preparations. We need to find someone who is talented and train them. We have three lunar cycles so we have to use this time properly and groom a champion."


    "A champion?" Liam did not understand.


    "The elven royal family suppresses everyone around them. However, they do notpletely shut down all doors without leaving any opportunity. This would have led to revolts and resistance."


    "This is why they periodically organize recruitment events. Any elf from any part of the empire is free to participate in these events that take ce in the empire''s capital."


    "The recruitment event is apetitive gauntlet, designed to find the most talented and capable individuals in thend. Winners are promised great rewards and opportunities to rise through the ranks


    ¡ªeven to join the royal court itself."


    Liam started to see where this was going. "And you think if we groom a champion who wins thispetition, we''ll have an in with the royal family?"


    "Exactly!" Eldrin''s face was glowing with excitement. "Once we have someone on the inside, it would be easier to manipte certain events in our favor. We could gain ess to restricted areas, even the system nexus itself."


    "Sometimes there is a prize for these events and more often than not this prize is ess to the system nexus and perhaps enough tokens to purchase one skill book."


    "Of course, this is a risky gamble, but it''s the best shot we have."


    Liam leaned back, contemting the idea. It was risky and depended on a lot of uncertain factors. However, he was not convinced.


    "Why do all of this? Why not simply just go to another world which is easier to maneuver and which doesn''t know we exist? This is too dangerous."


    Eldrin nodded. "No. Trust me. There is a reason for me to suggest this. Currently, you are in the forbidden area. Great thinking. As long as you are here, you should be safe. The guardian does not approve of violence in the territory, except if it is for survival."


    "Do you know anything about this guardian?" Liam had a feeling as to what it was but he wanted to make sure.


    He expected Eldrin to make a big deal about it but the reply came immediately, even sooner than he had expected. "Huh? There is really nothing to know. It''s a tree. A giant big tree. Well, a giant big magic tree. That''s not the important part."


    Liam was confused.


    "It is a very generous and giving ancient tree. Every sr cycle, the tree bestows a blessing. The first person to connect with the tree will receive that blessing."


    "Right. World tree. World tree. That''s what it is called. Millenia ago when the first elven emperor bonded with the tree, the tree gave him its blessing. I don''t know what happened to him or what happened after that."


    "But now, it gives its blessing to whoever bows under it on the sacred day. Do you see where I am going with this?"

 Chapter 1136 If not me then you?

    Chapter 1136 If not me then you?


    Eldrin''s eyes sparkled as heid out his n, sensing that Liam was beginning to understand the gravity of what he was saying.


    "See, if we manage to get our champion to win the recruitment event, that would indeed grant us ess to the system nexus and some influence within the royal court."


    "But what if I told you we could also be the recipient of the World Tree''s blessing? Imagine the power and leverage that would provide us! I mean you! You!"


    Eldrin cleared his throat awkwardly and continued, "My liege, I do not want the ancient''s blessing. Honestly. It would make me powerful, yes but not by that much."


    "They say that the guardian gives us what we need the most as a blessing. One is allowed only one blessing and cannot once again invoke the blessing the next cycle."


    "Lord Liam-" Eldrin began to exin more.


    "Just Liam will do."


    "Ah. Right. Thanks. Liam, I know that you are injured. I can sense an extremely weak soul aura from you and forgive me for my ignorance, but perhaps someone dabbling in the soul arts should have a stronger soul? Or mana core for that matter?"


    Liam remained indifferent. He neither confirmed nor denied the elf''s words.


    "Heh." Eldrin smiled and decided to continue anyway. "What I am trying to say Liam is that this blessing can heal everything that needs healing. You can be more powerful than you previously were."


    "I don''t know why or how you arrived here but our world is one of the few worlds where the original soul bond with the guardian is gone and anyone can obtain the blessing."


    "I say we im this blessing. Then you will be ready for the tower of hell. That''s what they fondly call the Ascension Spire. We should not underestimate it."


    Liam became silent. He sat there for a moment, absorbing the elf''s words. The idea of gaining a blessing that could expedite his healing and fortify his soul was incredibly tempting. Yet, there was a big gaping hole.


    "Are you sure that someone who is not an elf will be able to im this blessing?"


    Eldrin smirked. "You don''t miss anything, do you?"


    "There is no need for ttery."


    The elf shrugged. "Well, you should be able to. Otherwise, you wouldn''t even be standing here in the first ce."


    Liam then understood. The elf had taken his sweet time ining here because of this very reason. He wanted to see if Liam would survive here or not. He had onlye here after confirming that.


    He also understood something else.


    "So if I am not able to take this blessing, then I assume you would step forward and take it instead? Very conveniently?"


    "Well, it would be a waste to let it go¡­ waste?"


    Liam sneered, seeing the sheepishly grinning elf.


    "I genuinely believe you''ll be able to receive the blessing. Your presence here, in this realm, already defies many of the rules we understand." Eldrin added quickly. "Hey. I am not nning anything behind your back. I have said it all. Now you can decide."


    Liam eyed Eldrin for a moment, a myriad of thoughts swimming in his head. "Isn''t there any other way to get out of this world?" He asked again.


    "Not that I know of. Going to another world is an extremely expensive affair and I have heard only the emperor and the crown prince and a few other royal elves have done this."


    Liam stared at the elf and the elf stared back at him. There was no way he was telling the truth, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.


    For now, he could only attempt the n the elf put forward and once he could ess the system shop¡­


    "So shall we pick a champion? I have many candidates in mind." Eldrin started, immediatelying to the point but Liam interrupted him."I already have someone in mind." He then turned to look at the young girl who was standing quietly all this time.


    Elira gasped as she saw the two intimidating men turn to look at her. "I¡­ I¡­" She stammered.


    "She?" Eldrin ignored her and shook his head. "She won''t do it. We need a more talented candidate. We only have one chance."


    Before the elf had a chance to list his candidates, Liam cut him off. "No. She will do. That is how it is going to be." It did not matter what her chances were, Liam needed someone that he trusted.


    Eldrin looked between Liam and the young girl, Elira, clearly weighing the situation in his mind. He pursed his lips and took a deep breath before speaking.


    "If you insist, then I''ll defer to your judgment," Eldrin finally said, "but understand the stakes. Winning the recruitment event is the key to everything else we''ve discussed and I know many elves who can definitely win it for us without any risk."


    Liam did not say anything.


    Elira''s eyes widened. Breaking the ufortable silence, she took a cautious step forward. "If Lord Liam believes in me, then I won''t disappoint him. I''ll give everything I have for this cause. I will fight with my life on the line."


    Eldrin saw the overeager elf and shook his head. "What level is she right now? Damn it, only 40? This is not going to end well. At least make the training rigorous."


    Liam nodded. "I n to."


    "Well, okay then. I will be around. Somewhere here. We canmunicate with one of these crystals and meet back when it''s time?" Eldrin tossed a crystal toward him.


    Liam knew that the elf was leaving them, probably because he was afraid to remain here. However, he did not say anything. The elf had a choice and he did not.


    Also, he weed all the souls that came to him willingly.


    "Blessing huh? What do I need the most?"


    Liam looked inward, towards the dense jam-packed trees. Perhaps from today, he needed to start moving further into the forbidden area.

 Chapter 1137 Shall we?

    Chapter 1137 Shall we?


    Elira watched as the chubby elf disappeared from the forest. She then turned to look at Liam who had a serious expression on his face as if he was contemting many things.


    "Master, I am ready." She said with determination. She wanted to be strong. All her life that was the only thing that she thought about.


    Born on a ve breeding farm, she had been suppressed and mistreated since the time she could remember.


    And thanks to the long lifespan that elves naturally possessed, her life was on track to be a long and miserable one.


    However, all of that suddenly changed when a human being unexpectedly purchased her. He had even promised to set her free.


    Elira found herself respecting this human being more and more every day and now he was going to be training her!


    Her heart pounded loudly as she eagerly awaited this training, a golden opportunity topletely change who she was.


    But the next second¡­


    BAM! Elira found herself t on the ground, face first.


    Little did she know that Liam had had no genuine teachers thus far and the one elf who had trained him for a short while had an entric personality and preferred a brutish teaching style.


    "Master¡­" Elira looked up, now fear mixed with determination in her eyes.


    And thus began her hellish training.


    ***


    A few monthster¡­


    "Tch. Why am I so nervous? This is not even my fight!" Eldrin paced back and forth as he waited for the damned ve. "What is he thinking? That madman! Why couldn''t he simply ept my offer? Was it that important to control this little thing? What am I going to do at worst?!"


    "Arrrghhh! Brute! Unrefined brute!"


    "Why do the brutes of the world get all the nice things!"


    "What a disgustingly lucky guy!"


    "He came here. Of all the elves, he met me. Now he will im the blessing. Are all these damn bastard irregrs this lucky? They should all be fucked with one big-"


    COUGH! COUGH!


    Snapping out of his thoughts, Eldrin turned around to see the elven girl he was expecting. Except she wasn''t the same girl whom he had seen a while back. Wait, no. Was she the same girl?


    Eldrin looked at the young ve girl who had changed from top to bottom in the few months he had not seen her.


    Her malnourished, sickly pale, stick figure was reced with a vivacious and elegant body at par with some of the most beautiful elves he had seen. More importantly¡­


    "Level 350?" Eldrin was shocked instantly. How could she be this powerful in the span of a few months?


    This was impossible! Thest time he saw her she was barely level 30 or 40. What was this insane leveling speed?


    Eldrin''s eyes widened, the rapid calctions in his head temporarily short-circuited by disbelief. "How did you manage this? Level 350 is¡­ It''s practically unheard of in such a short time. Even the most talented elven mages of our time took years to reach that level!"


    Elira shrugged, her eyes glowing with a chilling light. "I had a good teacher," she said, without revealing much.


    "You don''t have to be modest, mydy. I must have been blind to not see your talent the moment I met you. No wonder, he chose you." Eldrin slightly bowed and prepared to greet Elira in the royal fashion but the elf took a step back.


    Eldrin paused mid-gesture, noting her not so subtle withdrawal. A twinge of irritation red in him, but he suppressed it.


    "Very well. Formalities aside, I am impressed, to say the least. But I must ask, can you win us the recruitment event?"


    Elira''s eyes narrowed slightly, and her voice carried an edge. "I didn''t get this far just to lose. I am ready, and I intend to win."


    "Confidence, good. Arrogance, not so," Eldrin cautioned. "One''s level is not everything. There could very well be more powerful participants. I trust you realize what''s at stake here?"


    "Yes," Elira replied, her eyes unflinching. "But do you?"


    Eldrin looked at her for a long moment, parsing her statement for its deeper implications. Finally, he nodded.


    "I suppose I do, in as much as one can understand such things." He smiled and was about to say something when he stopped abruptly as he noticed the other person who had arrived to stand beside her.


    "Shall we?" Liam casually asked.


    Eldrin was once again shocked. It was not just the ve girl but the human being had also changed.


    Liam was wearing tattered pants, his upper body fully naked, and no shoes or guards or any item whatsoever. His hair was pitch ck, long, and disheveled.


    But it was not just the appearance. Something else about him had changed. He was stronger than before and when Eldrin tried to analyze his status, he knew why.


    The human being had leveled up again!


    What level was he now? Did heprehend another Dao or did he grow a Dao seed he already possessed?


    He had just not seen them for a few months. How could the two of them change so much? Is this forbidden area some kind of secret treasure area?


    Eldrin stared at the duo with his mouth wide open.


    Liam met Eldrin''s gaze with an inscrutable smile. "I trust you''ve been well, Eldrin," Liam spoke, his voice casual, as though the gravity of the uing event didn''t weigh on him at all. "Shall we leave?"


    Eldrin absent-mindedly nodded his head. He then stopped and snapped out of his trance. "Leave? What? No? What do you mean to leave? Are you alsoing?"


    "Hmmm. Of course." Liam nodded and Eldrin started frantically shaking his head. "Are you crazy? You areing to the Empire''s main territory? You are stepping into the capital city?"


    Liam only smiled.


    "You would instantly be found out! There are all sorts of old monsters roaming about in the capital. If they nce at you even once, they will be able to see your status clearly and identify you."


    "You cannot take that risk! Our n is foolproof but for it to actually work out, you need to be alive!"


    ***


    Author''s Note: Check out a fellow author''s novel ''Re: Apocalypse Online'', a dark, epic, and gripping fantasy full of depth and suspense!

 Chapter 1138 Stormshroud Empire

    Chapter 1138 Stormshroud Empire


    A few minutester¡­ two elves and one human being were speedily moving through the forest, the urgency of their pace marked by the wind that whistled past them.


    Eldrin led the way, still grumbling, while Elira and Liam closely followed behind. Liam, however, did not look like his usual self. Or rather he did not look human.


    He looked like his elven twin if he ever had one¡ªhis ears had elongated slightly, his features more gentle. There was a calm and lofty aura about him that only someone from an elven noble n could possess.


    "This disguise is very good." Liam admired his new form.


    "Of course, it is," Eldrin grumbled, not at all pleased with how things had gone down.


    The damned human being had been so stubborn about traveling to the Empire''s capital and risking his life that he had no choice except to fork over the disguise he had prepared for himself.


    Now, he was forced to waste this precious item on the human being.


    Liam chuckled. He did not n on telling the elf that he had several soul minions out in the forbidden forests and could have switched ces with them the moment he was in danger.


    This was why he had nned to step out of the forbidden area to the Empire in the first ce. He was simply probing the elf to see if he had any alternatives and did not expect that such a good one would pop out.


    The mask item currently Liam was using worked on all beings whose level was more or less the same as him or lower than him, effectively disguising his aura and appearance to match whichever race he wanted.


    The elf mentioned that it was even effective against stronger elves unless he stood out and they specifically paid attention to him. Given his level and capabilities, it was more than enough for what he nned to do.


    "Enough with the smirking," Eldrin snapped, noticing Liam''s amused expression. "If you think this is going to be some kind of holiday, you''re sorely mistaken."


    "Don''t worry," Liam calmly said. "I''m fully aware of the risks involved. That''s why I''ve prepared as thoroughly as I have."


    All the preparations were his. What was this human talking about? Eldrin rolled his eyes but said nothing.


    The group continued moving through the forests and since Eldrin was there this time to guide them, they avoided any unnecessary encounters and beast territories.


    Finally, after several days, the trio arrived at the outskirts of the Elven Empire''s capital. The massive city loomed in the distance, its towering spires and gleaming walls practically glowing in the soft light of the setting sun.


    "Here we are," Eldrin muttered, looking less than thrilled. "The heart of our Stormshroud Empire. As the name suggests most elves in the empire have a frighteningly high affinity for the lightning element."


    Liam looked at the sprawling expanse of the city, his eyes catching the hints of ethereal light that seemed to dance around the spires. "Spectacr." He marveled at the beautiful settlement.


    "Yes. Yes. Why wouldn''t it be beautiful?" Eldrin exined begrudgingly. "The Stormshroud Empire was founded on a powerful leyline nexus of lightning elementals."


    "This made the empire filthy rich as this is an invaluable training ground for anyone wishing to gain insights into the lightning element."


    "That''s why our mages are particrly adept at wielding lightning magic. But it also enriches thend, the vegetation, and even the air. The atmosphere itself is... electrifying, so to speak."


    "Do you also have a very high affinity for the lightning element?" Liam probed the elf. However, to his surprise, he only received a re and no answer.


    "I guess not." Liamughed.


    Eldrin ignored him and started taking out some things. He gave Liam and Elira a few elegant robes that had some enchantments on them such as self-cleaning and self-drying along with an impressive physical and magic defense.


    They were epic-grade ording to system ssification. Eldrin was not the generous kind and Liam understood why he had given them the clothes the moment they stepped into the city.


    The entire city was seemingly filled with the rich and the arrogant. Unlike the small elven settlement he had visited, this one exclusively had filthy rich nobles and aplished mages.


    Their attire was embroidered with magical sigils, and the weapons they carried were clearly top-tier artifacts.


    In a setting like this, one''s outfit was not just a matter of fashion but a clear statement of one''s abilities and social status. Wearing anything less than what Eldrin provided would have immediately gged them as outsiders.


    Liam, Eldrin, and Elira walked into the city side by side. Eldrin started briefing them on the essential customs and norms. "If questioned by anyone of authority, remember your cover story."


    "You''re both distant rtives from a minor n that pays allegiance to the Stormshroud family. Your presence here is for the recruitment event."


    "We will be heading straight to the arena so we should not have any issues."


    Eldrin navigated through the busy streets with a fluid ease that came from years of living in the city.


    As they walked, he pointed out variousndmarks, statues of past rulers, and magical constructs that performed a variety of functions from lighting the streets to keeping the atmosphere clean.


    "Ah, that there is the Library, thergest repository of magical knowledge in the empire. Admission is restricted to mages of considerable skill and of course, royal members." Eldrin said, pointing at a massive dome-shaped building that glowed with various arcane symbols.


    Liam couldn''t help but feel a sense of awe.


    The city was a living testament to what could be achieved when magic and civilization were in harmony. Particrly, the library should have centuries of consolidated information.


    Perhaps this was why the system shop wasn''t that amazing for them. Everything they needed they could ess from their own repository.


    In that case, the marketce should also have some decent items for sale, maybe even the healing potion that he required.


    As if reading his mind, Eldrin immediately stopped him. "You won''t find anything of value to you in the shops. Only the royal elves have ess to the good stuff."


    Soon enough, they found themselves standing before a grand structure with golden archways and bright lights glowing from within. It was the arena, the usual location for the recruitment event.


    "Right," Eldrin said, halting. "This is where we part ways temporarily. I have some matters to attend to. So I will be around here somewhere in the city. Elira, the guards at the entrance will guide you to the waiting area for neers. Liam, what is your n?"

 Chapter 1139 Bad luck

    Chapter 1139 Bad luck


    After Eldrin took off, his silhouette swallowed by the crowd, Liam looked at Elira. "Well, shall we?"


    Elira smiled, the weight of their mission pressing on her but not dimming her enthusiasm. "Yes, master. I am ready."


    They approached the gates of the arena and walked past the guards.


    For a while Liam was nervous. He wondered if the disguise would truly hold up or not. He even had a stinking suspicion that the elf had abandoned them for this very reason.


    But he did not care. No one would be able to touch them even if they managed to sense him.


    And thankfully, the guards had no idea. Liam walked past them and the few guards did not even flinch. They were around Level 500 while he was¡­


    Liam smiled. These past few weeks have been extremely rewarding. It was not just Elira who had gained a few levels. He had also gained quite a bit of stats and some levels.


    The forbidden area or rather this entire world felt like a training ground for someone like Liam who hade from a newly awakened world. The mana density and the elemental essence density was off the charts.


    The elven ancestor''s soul fragment had warned Liam that gaining rapid enlightenment was not good for progress and that he shouldn''t be using external aids such as the S-Ranked herb too often.


    However¡­ this time, without using any aids¡­


    After sending off Elira to the participants'' gathering, Liam walked into the arena''s huge spectator area, filled with elves disying all manner of luxurious and enchanted attire.


    It was a big space and it seemed that quite a big crowd was assembled for the event. All the elves also looked extremely invested in the event as many were engaged in loud and heavy discussions.


    A few secondster Liam understood why. There seemed to be some sort of betting going on.


    It was amon enough practice in various forms ofpetition, but given the magical prowess of those involved, it was evident that these bets went beyond mere money or valuables. Magical artifacts and rare ingredients were openly being discussed as wagers.


    Liam had a feeling that he would gain a lot if he ended up cing bets but he did not want to stand out just yet. While all of this might be valuable, what he needed the most was ess to the system shop.


    Liam walked around and found a seat that gave him a clear view of the arena while also letting him blend into the crowd.


    "...I wager fifty vials of Starlight Essence that young Eilish will clear the first three rounds effortlessly."


    "You underestimate Sariel''s progeny. If Aria steps in, it won''t be a cakewalk for anyone."


    "You speak as if we''re not aware of the Prism Shard that was recently acquired by the Arannis family. Whoever wields that in battle would be unstoppable!"


    The names and magical objects being discussed meant little to Liam, but he filed away the information for future reference.


    If anything, the discussion affirmed his suspicion that the resources avable to the elves were vast and mysterious, probably things that he had never heard of.


    His thoughts were interrupted by the loud, magical chime that signaled the start of the event. The announcer''s voice, amplified by a spell, filled the arena as the first duel was about to begin.


    The first round was between two elves dressed in mage robes and the moment the fight started, one sted the other off with a blinding lightning attack.


    The two opponents were so mismatched that the fight ended in just a single attack with the other elf flying off the arena stage and falling down with a loud thump for the entire arena to hear.


    The crowd immediately reacted with abination of gasps and cheers, clearly entertained by the dramatic start.


    The second fight also began in a simr fashion, with a strong lightning attack opening, and the stage buzzing with electricity. It looked like most of the elves in this area were attuned to the lightning element.


    But the second fight did not end that quickly. The defeated elf recovered, retaliating with a chain of magical barriers and counter-attacks that shifted the arena''s environment¡ªturning the ground to ice, then water, then a field of thorny vines in a matter of seconds.


    This elf had a lot more attacks up his sleeve but Liam could see that none of the non-lightning element attacks had a whoomp behind them, implying that the elf did not have a strong affinity for them.


    In fact, even in the subsequent fights, not many elves possessed a high affinity for multiple elements.


    Just because of the rank of their world, Liam assumed that they would be more attuned but that did not seem to be the case. Although every single elf who came down to participate was at least level 300.


    As more rounds went by, a pattern emerged. Most matches were lopsided, with onepetitor overpowering the other through superior skill, magical artifacts, or some mysterious edge. But a few were nail-biters, showcasing intricate spellwork and strategic brilliance.


    Finally, the announcer''s magically amplified voice bellowed, "Next up, Elira and Sariel."


    "Wasn''t this Sariel one of the more famous participants?" Liam leaned forward in his seat as he watched the two contenders step onto the tform. He had heard the name Sariel several times in the past couple of hours.


    And just like he suspected, once the elf showed up on the arena stage, many people started discussing him.


    "Is that a new participant? Woah, that girl looks stunning! But too bad, she is up against Sariel!"


    "It''s a no-brainer. Sariel is going to win this time! He was, after all, thest time recruitment tournament''s runner-up. I doubt anyone here is strong enough to win against him!"


    "Yes. Yes. Such bad luck for that girl. Sariel is definitely going to be a royal guard this time and better luck next time for her."


    "What a pity! Such a pretty elf!"

 Chapter 1140 You are not worth it

    Chapter 1140 You are not worth it


    Amidst the loud cheering of the crowd, an elf stepped onto the stage like a hero.


    Sariel, a striking elf with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, stepped into the arena with an air of utmost confidence. He wielded a finely crafted staff embedded with many sparkling gemstones, and intricate symbols carved on it.


    Elira got onto the stage as well but the young elven girl paled whenpared to her opponent. It was as if a rabbit was facing a lion. One look at the girl and anyone could tell that she was new tobat.


    However, thanks to her misfortune she had met with Sariel. Now the match oue was already decided. With the entire crowd wearing a pitiful expression, the bell rang and the match started.


    Gazing indifferently, Sariel raised his staff, locking eyes with Elira as if to say, "Prepare yourself."


    In contrast, Elira seemed almost still. She looked up at Sariel, her eyes meeting his briefly before she closed them. It was as if she was taking a moment to center herself. A soft glow emanated from her staff, but it wasn''t as shy or as dramatic as Sariel''s.


    "And begin!" announced the referee, his voice magically amplified.


    With a confident flick of his staff, Sariel summoned a torrent of me that raced towards Elira. The crowd gasped, already anticipating the quick defeat of the young elven girl.


    But just as the mes were about to reach her, Elira opened her eyes. The soft glow from her staff suddenly red up into a blinding light, forming a shield just in front of her. The mes met the shield and dissipated into harmless wisps of smoke.


    There was a brief moment of stunned silence from the crowd before a smattering of surprised cheers and gasps broke out. Elira had sessfully defended against Sariel''s opening attack.


    Sariel himself looked somewhat taken aback but quicklyposed himself. "Not bad," he said as if sizing her up for the first time.


    Elira''s eyes were no longer the eyes of a timid rabbit. They were focused, unwavering. "Thank you. Now it''s my turn," she said softly, her voice tinged with determination.


    Strong winds started to gather around Elira, swirling and dancing as if called upon by an invisible force. Leaves, soil, and debris on the arena floor were picked up by the wind, hovering as if waiting for hermand. Her staff glowed with an azure light.


    With a decisive gesture, Elira thrust her staff towards Sariel, and the swirling vortex of wind and debris shot forward like a spear.


    For a moment, it seemed like Sariel would effortlessly deflect it as he had done with the previous attacks. His staff radiated a golden light, forming a protective barrier.


    But the moment the wind spear hit the barrier, there was a loud crackling noise, and his shield shattered into fragments of light, allowing the wind to continue on its path and hit him squarely in the chest.


    The elf touted to win this year''s recruitment event was thrown off his feet, stumbling back several paces before regaining his bnce.


    The crowd went wild. Cheers, gasps, and exmations filled the air. No one had seen thising.


    "Sariel''s gold barrier couldn''t block the attack? What is happening? Isn''t his golden barrier extremely strong?"


    "That girl''s elemental affinity is not a joke. The intensity of the attack was high."


    "No, the attack was tightlypressed. So her control should be pretty good."


    Sariel finally stood up, wiping off his robes, his eyes no longer indifferent but full of curiosity and respect. "You''ve been holding back," he said, almost in a whisper audible only to Elira amidst the roar of the crowd.


    Elira nodded. "As have you," she responded, acknowledging that the battle was far from over.


    Sariel raised his staff, its gemstones glowing anew. "Well then, let''s make this a duel to remember," he dered.


    However, unexpectedly, Elira snubbed him. "You are not worth it and this is not a friendly match."


    She then, without warning, waved her staff to materialize a dozen wind spears simr to the ones she had previously cast. Her casting time was so fast that Sariel scrambled to react.


    Caught off guard by the sudden flurry of wind spears, Sariel managed to raise his staff just in time, conjuring a dome-shaped barrier around himself. This one was an even stronger barrierpared to before.


    But the speed and precision of Elira''s casting had left him with little time to perfect his defense.


    The wind spears struck his barrier in rapid session, each making a sharp crackling sound as they hit.


    The golden dome flickered and shimmered under the onught, its energy visibly draining. And then, with a final resonant sh, the barrier shattered.


    Sariel was propelled backward,nding with a thud at the edge of the arena. Another wind spear then made sure topletely push him off of the arena stage.


    Thud! Hended with a loud sound. The turbulent winds finally ceased as a wave of silence enveloped the whole arena.


    The referee raised his hand. "The winner is Elira!" The next second, a murmur swept through the crowd, tinged with disbelief and awe, followed by chaos. Many elves had ced bets on Sariel as he was the obvious contender, but all of that had now gone down the drain.


    As the crowd erupted into a mix of cheers, gasps, and reflective silence, Elira began to walk off the stage.


    She did not pay attention to anything happening around her. Her gaze brieflynded on one section of the audience before returning to the ground in front of her as she walked away from the stage.


    Liam, sitting among the spectators, allowed a smile to cross his lips.


    He continued watching the rest of the matches. The average strength of the elven recruits was not bad at all but he knew that this was not their real power.


    They would all undergo a significant burst in power once they officially joined the elven royal guards.

 Chapter 1141 Final round

    Chapter 1141 Final round


    After Elira''s match, there were a few more matches. Soon, the first round of the recruitment event ended without any suspense. Except for Elira, there were no other neers who had survived the second round.


    The whole event took only a few hours as there were five arena stages in total and since this was the preliminary selection around, many fights were happening simultaneously.


    After thest fight, the crowd started dispersing. Elira slipped out by covering her face and then met up with Liam in a local inn near the edge of the city.


    The atmosphere was quieter here, filled mostly with city people who hadn''t attended the fights. Liam smiled as he saw Elira hastily eating dinner. "You were amazing out there," he said, offering her a cup of wine and gesturing for her to slow down.


    "Thank you, but it''s far from over," Elira replied, taking a sip. "The real challenges are yet toe."


    "Indeed," Liam agreed. "But today you''ve proven that you''re more than capable. So you can ease up a little and rx. Otherwise, you will not be in the best mental state tomorrow."


    Elira nodded. The two of them then ate the rest of the food in silence. Eldrin had given enough tokens to them so they did not have to think about their expenses.


    After they finished eating, they paid for their meal and left the table. Liam walked Elira to the room where she was staying. Before they parted, he looked at her and said, "Get some rest. Tomorrow is another day, another battle. You''ll need all the strength you can muster."


    Elira nodded. "I will, thank you, master."


    With that, they both retired to their rooms, and Elira entered hers, with her mind full of thoughts about the day, and the battles ahead. Thanks to the human being, her master or rather her teacher, she was no longer miserable.


    However, there was one thing that bothered her. Her teacher''s eyes were always sad. It did not matter if he was training or fighting a beast or talking casually. He had a lot of sadness.


    "I cannot disappoint him." Elira clenched her fist. Even though she knew that she did not mean much to him, no one else had given her the chance he had given her. At least for that, she needed to repay him.


    But for now, she needed to rest. Rest was crucial. She closed the door behind her, took a deep breath, andid down to sleep for a while.


    The second day of the recruitment event was more tedious than the first day as each participant had to face several opponents. This was also thest and final day when the event ended.


    Apparently, because of a royal decree the recruitment event thatsted for five days typically ended only in two days this time. No one really cared about it as changes like this were quitemon.


    While Elira prepared for her uing fights, Liam once again sat amidst the audience, silently observing everything. The elf couldn''t help but notice this and felt nervous.


    Unlike the other elf who hadn''t shown up after he had dropped them off, her master was sitting in the audience to cheer for her. She was touched. She knew that she had to win this no matter what.


    The matches started one after the other in full swing and Elira''s turn quickly arrived.


    To her surprise, the opponents this time around were a lot weaker than her first day opponent. Defeating one elf after another, she cruised her way through the recruitment event.


    She also did not reveal any of her cards. She only used the same attack over and over again, winning all of her matches through sheer strength.


    If her opponents or anyone else watching thought she was a one-trick pony, so much the better. Keeping her other abilities a secret could give her an edge in future battles.


    By the end of the day, Elira became one of the ten finalists. Out of these ten, only one elf would be chosen as a famed royal guard and she knew that these ten would not be weak.


    At this point, the floating stage in the arena lit up and each match was individually conducted for everyone to see.


    The crowd''s excitement reached a fever pitch as the finalists took their positions. Even among the elite, Elira could sense that thepetition was on a whole different level. Could she really do it? No. She had to do it no matter what.


    The announcer''s voice echoed through the arena, announcing the first matchup. As luck would have it, Elira''s name was called first, pitting her against someone who looked seasoned, a scar running right across his face.


    Elira did not wait this time around and made her move first, immediately casting the strongest wind spears she could summon. However, the opponent easily dodged the attacks as he weaved his way through the arena, closing the gap between them in a second.


    The elf had a dagger in his hand and unleashed a series of quick shes with his weapon, forcing Elira to retreat. But she was not flustered as this was never herst stand.


    She sucked in a quick breath of air and once again waved her staff. Sizzling Tornado! The attack that her master had personally taught her!


    The arena was suddenly filled with the deafening sound of swirling winds, and the air around her staff began to spiral violently. A tornado that howled in hunger burst forth from the tip of her staff, racing toward her opponent.


    The elf''s eyes widened in surprise, clearly not expecting this level of magic. This was not something he could dodge but he wasn''t out of options. He immediately erected severalyers of mana barriers.


    The tornado was too fast and toorge but the barrier held strong. Elira frowned. She still remained calm as this also wasn''t her limit.


    With a guttural shout, Elira infused the tornado with an additional burst of mana, causing it to surge in size and power.


    Lightning bolts sizzled here and there, every single one of them extremely powerful and capable of smiting the recipient.


    This attack cost her a lot of mana but Elira persevered. No matter how agile the elf was he couldn''t predict the pattern of the lightning bolts that randomly surged here and there.


    Within seconds, a couple hit him directly and the mana barriers shattered like ss, unable to withstand the attack.


    Elira''s eyes immediately lit up. This was her win!


    She used this chance to send another barrage of wind spears to close the deal, but at thest moment¡­ the bracelet the elf wore shone bright golden in color.

 Chapter 1142 End of the road

    Chapter 1142 End of the road


    The elf muttered something under his breath as his bracelet emitted a bright glow. A magic circle appeared around him, emanating intense energy. The wind spears Elira had sent collided with the magic circle, dissipating as if they had hit an unyielding wall.


    What was that bracelet? Was her attack not strong enough? She knew that she had to act fast.


    Elira immediately started directing more lightning bolts toward the elf. Combined with this she sent out wind shes that were also imbued with electrical energy, aiming to break down the magic circle that had protected him.


    She poured her focus and remaining mana into these attacks, calcting each bolt and sh to be as efficient and effective as possible.


    From the moment the fight started she went all out and attacked relentlessly without giving the opponent any chance to fight back. She just needed to push back a little more.


    Elira used the active mana replenishing method that Liam had taught her. She quickly sucked in the surrounding mana, filling her reserves as best as possible while preparing to go all out in the next attack.


    However, her opponent was also not a noob. He conjured an explosive fireball, sending it straight towards Elira.


    Having expended a lot of her mana on the previous attacks, Elira knew dodging was her best option. She used a quick gust of wind to propel herself sideways, barely avoiding the fireball.


    But the elf was quick; another fireball was already on its way. One after the other the fireballs kepting behind her, chasing her no matter where she went.


    Elira''s eyes widened. The elf was not weak at all. He had purposefully made her empty her mana so that she would be cornered.


    The elf nned to use his superiorbat experience to defeat her. However, he did not know that for the past few months, she had been constantly sparring with a demon!


    Elira took out a sword from her personal inventory. Instead of her staff, she was now holding the sword.


    With a swift movement, she channeled what remained of her mana into the sword, infusing it with wind and electricity. The de shimmered, buzzing with elemental energy.


    Just as another fireball approached, Elira swung her sword, releasing a wave of electrical wind energy that shed with the fireball. There was an explosion of light and sound, and the fireball dissipated into a cloud of smoke and embers.


    Seizing the momentary distraction, Elira lunged forward. Her sword danced in the air, leaving streaks of electrically charged wind in its wake. Her opponent tried to parry and overwhelm her, but it was no use.


    No one expected the young elven girl to also be able to wield a sword this well. Now the match on the stage appeared to be at a standstill.


    Just as everyone began specting who would win and who had the upper hand, all of a sudden an earthen spike materialized on the ground, directly impaling the elf through a crack in his armor.


    The crowd gasped, their eyes widening in disbelief.


    The elf looked down, his eyes locking onto the spike protruding through his armor. In shock and pain, he crumpled to his knees, clutching the earthen spike.


    He looked up at Elira, unable to digest his defeat. Only now he understood. She was a tri-element user?! Not only was she able to use wind and lightning elements but she was also able to use the earth element.


    How could someone so powerful suddenly appear in the recruitment matches? No wonder she was able to easily beat everyone in her path.


    The elf did not n on fighting to death. He instead raised his hand and readily gave up. He knew that he had been bested. In fact, it was clear to him who this tournament cycle''s winner was going to be.


    As Elira walked down the stage, the entire crowd burst into a loud apuse. Tri-element mages were rare and most of them went on to be arch magus and grand magus.


    This young girl in front of them was soon going to be a fearsome figure in their empire, perhaps bing a cornerstone of the fighting force.


    The crowd cheered and apuded her as they wailed inwardly at their misfortune. This time the rookie that no one expected was going to take the gold and all of them had bet on the wrong person and lost their tokens.


    After Elira''s match, the other matches started but everyone could clearly see the difference in talent. Soon, only five elves remained. One of the five announced that he was giving up as he had received serious internal injuries that couldn''t be healed by simple healing potions.


    Now, there were only four elves remaining. After a break, Elira was once again pitted against a strong opponent but she used her superior sword mastery to beat him.


    The entire audience was shocked but Elira was indifferent. She knew that none of this was because of her. If any one of these elves had trained with her master, they too could have be as formidable as her.


    Finally, thest match started.


    A lean and tall elf walked over to stand in front of Elira. The entire crowd was chanting the young elven girl''s name but she was standing firm without any arrogance. This was her opponent for the final match, and she wouldn''t underestimate him.


    Just like before, she charged forward with everything she had but all of a sudden, she halted in her tracks as she saw pitch-ck tendrils appearing around her opponent.


    A dark mage!


    Her opponent was a dark mage!


    Elira had watched the same elf fight in other matches but he had only used fire element up until now. She did not expect him to suddenly reveal his dark element affinity.


    Without giving her a chance to prepare, the pitch-ck tentacles shot forward.


    Elira did not shy away. She clutched her sword tightly as she shed at the tentacles with razor-sharp wind cuts. However, it was of no use.


    Unexpectedly, the elf seemed to have an extremely high affinity for the dark element. The tentaclesing at her were endless. No matter how much she tried, she was simply unable to evade them.


    "No. I cannot lose here."


    Elira struggled, even as the tentacles started restraining her movements, wrapping around her arms and legs. She felt her mana also slowly being drained, making her unable to cast any elemental magic.


    Elira''s mind raced as she viciously cut down the tentacles one after the other. She needed to find an opening. She had to. She had no other choice. She would rather die than disappoint that person.


    However, only she was struggling. Everyone else could already see the ending of the fight. There was simply no way out for the superstar rookie. This was where her road ended.

 Chapter 1143 Dont get too cocky

    Chapter 1143 Don''t get too cocky


    Though dark element users were notmon, it was not a banned or a forbidden form of magic. In fact, it was even considered one of the more mysterious and powerful elements.


    Especially considering the fact that the elf in front of them seemed extremely fluent and proficient in his abilities, there was no more suspense left in the match.


    The elf smirked as he materialized a spinning disk of dark energy. As even more tentacles grabbed and tied down Elira, the elf prepared to throw the disk.


    The elven girl winced. She still hadn''t given up. She was trying her best. She couldn''t lose here. Tears fell out of her eyes.


    If she concedes here then she can ept the defeat and at least retain her life at the end of the match. However, she did not n on doing that.


    She already knew just how important winning this match was for Liam. She did not want to live after failing the mission. She was here with her life on the line.


    Seeing her behavior, the crowd alsomented in pity, many shouting for her to surrender the fight.


    However, the elf in front of her smirked. He could see that she was not going to concede and he did not n on waiting for her.


    His cruel eyes gleaming with delight, he aimed for her neck and released the attack when suddenly, out of nowhere, his mind nked out.


    Elira who was still struggling used this opening to sh through the weakened tentacles.


    All she needed was a second. Once she was able to get that, she gained her edge back and did not waste time sting away all of the tentacles.


    She directly dashed forward and shed down at the elf, blood sttering everywhere. Before she could deal another blow, the elf gave up and the match ended just like that.


    The entire crowd erupted into apuse.


    The cheers of the crowd reverberated through the arena, a collective gasp of disbelief shifting into a roar of approval.


    The young elven girl had done it. Despite staring down defeat, she had seized a miraculous moment and turned the tide of the battle.


    Her opponent''s face was a canvas of mixed emotions. He had been so close, just one throw away from victory. But that momentarypse, that inexplicable nking of his mind, had cost him the match.


    He still couldn''t understand what exactly happened, only that he was in too much pain to think about it right now. He silently grunted and let himself fall unconscious.


    Elira sheathed her sword and made her way to the center of the arena where she was crowned the champion. As she lifted the trophy high above her head, the cheers intensified, filling the air with palpable energy and hope.


    "Elira! Elira! Elira!" The chants filled the stadium.


    The recruitment event came to an end with an unexpected neer winning the trophy.


    "Gosh! What a nail-bitingpetition!"


    "I am telling you, she is definitely going to be one of the Generals!"


    "Why just a General? She is going to be one of the four Guardians!"


    "At such a young age, she is already so strong. She must hail from a good n. I wonder which n she is from?"


    "Fuck her and her n. What I care about is¡­ which bastard ced a bet on her?"


    "What? Someone did?"


    "Yes. Apparently, some lucky asshole did ce a huge bet on her and cleared up the pot. Must have made a fortune tonight!"


    While the crowd becamepletely chaotic, Elira remained calm as her real mission had only begun now. She had only crossed half the river, now there was another half left for her to cross and she needed to do it sessfully no matter what.


    Following the official tournament, there were several formalities that Elira calmly took care of. She gave the previously agreed upon fake details as her background and registered as a royal guard, epting the new position that was offered to her.


    She was then told that she would meet with a royal representative in a couple of days to im her reward for the recruitment tournament.


    After finishing some more formalities she then excused herself for the day, silently retiring to another inn at the border of the city covering herself up. The location was changed this time.


    She hurried into the inn and to her room, not bothering to even have any meal first. She knocked on the door.


    "Congrattions." The door opened and she saw the familiar face smiling at her. Only now Elira let out a sigh of relief.


    "Come in." Liam opened the door for the elf. "Are you injured anywhere?"


    "No. They gave me a high-grade health potion for healing." Elira shook her head.


    She searched her master''s eyes to see if he was any less sad now, but before she could find an answer to that, the door was barged open.


    "Ba ha ha ha! You guys really did it!" Eldrin burst into the room, a wide grin stretched across his face and an almost empty bottle of some strong-smelling liquor in his hand. "I knew you''d pull it off, Elira!"


    "What are you doing here?" Elira immediately asked, a bit of irritation shing in her eyes.


    "Me? I''m here to celebrate, of course! Our girl here is a champion!" Eldrin swaggered into the room, cing the bottle on a table and flopping down on a chair.


    "You are being too loud and too rude. You need to act more respectfully towards my master!" Elira reprimanded him, her eyes narrowing.


    "Hey, little elf. Be careful with your words. Don''t get too cocky." Eldrin was still grinning but there was a strange glint in his eyes. "You might have won the recruitment event, but you are still just a little fish in front of me."


    Elira was about to say something when the guy unexpectedly revealed his aura. Eldrin snorted coldly and added, "Besides¡­ did you really think that you won the match back there?"

 Chapter 1144 Have you seen elven women?

    Chapter 1144 Have you seen elven women?


    A tense atmosphere filled the room. "What are you implying?" Elira was not pleased.


    Eldrin smirked, the strange glint in his eyes growing brighter.


    Elira spoke, her grip tightening on the hilt of her sheathed sword. "Are you saying you had something to do with my win?"


    "Maybe. Maybe not." Eldrin shrugged, taking another swig from his bottle. "All I''m saying is, don''t get toofortable. You''re ying in the big leagues now. There are many who can change everything with just a flick of their finger."


    He also casually looked at Liam as he said it.


    Elira was about to say something when Liam finally interrupted. "That''s enough. You are both unnecessarily making a lot of noise." He then turned towards Elira and asked her to return to her room. "You have had a long day. You should go and rest."


    Only after hearing him, did the young elven girl quickly bow her head and leave for the night, closing the door behind her. However, not before she shot a re in the direction of the chubby elf.


    She did not like him. Not one bit.


    But Eldrin onlyughed at this behavior. "How naive. Ba ha ha ha!"


    "She is young. You should not mind her." Liam sat down on a chair, looking outside to the street through the window. The night was still lively as many engaged in boisterous activities.


    Eldrin as wellughed and sat down. But the next second, his expression became quite serious. "So how did you do it? How did you cast a confusion skill onto the guy that went past the barrier of the arena?"


    In all the years he had watched the recruitment tournament, he had never once witnessed anything like this.


    It was impossible to tamper with this tournament past the barrier that was present between the arena stage and the audience but Liam had effortlessly done the same anyways.


    Liam only smiled and did not say anything as he continued to watch outside.


    "You are a pretty impressive guy. You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve." Eldrin shrugged and gave up trying to pry the secret.


    "Not as impressive as you." Liam unexpectedly turned around and wiggled his brows with a smirk. "You should have won a fortune tonight. How much was the haul?"


    Eldrin looked shocked for a moment before bursting intoughter. "Boss, I have a feeling we will have a very productive partnership!"


    The two of them did not reveal their secrets but it was clear that they understood each other very well.


    Liam did not really care about these winnings. Sure, it was probably a big number but what he really cared about was¡­


    Continuing to look outside the window, he silently muttered under his breath. "Would she be able to ess the system store?"


    Eldrin could still hear it and he nodded. "Yes. You can trust me on this." With that, the elf did not linger around any longer and returned to his own amodation which was at a different inn.


    The night passed away eventlessly and the next morning as well everyone still awaited more information.


    But an hour past noon, Eldrin came rushing to the inn. "I have good news!" He then took a look at Elira and weirdly corrected his statement. "Well, I have news."


    Elira gave a stink eye to the chubby elf and refrained from responding.


    "What happened?" Liam asked.


    "I know who is going to be handing over our girl''s reward." Eldrinughed.


    "Hmmm?"


    "It seems like the elves who left for the mystic realm haven''t returned from their trip yet. They are probably still searching for you over there."


    "Oh?"


    Eldrin gave a mysterious smile and added, "So the person in charge of this recruitment event this time around is none other than Prince Aranthor himself."


    Liam''s eyes widened. "Is he someone very difficult to handle?"


    Eldrinughed and shook his head. "No. No. Absolutely not. He is extremely easy to handle. Of all the royal jerkfaces we might have had to face, this one is the easiest. We have here the best case scenario!"


    "But the only problem is¡­" Eldrin then sighed. "Your ve is not good looking enough."


    Hmmm? Liam frowned.


    "Right. You are not from this world. So, you don''t understand¡­ Liam." Eldrin paused. "Have you seen elven women yet? I mean have you seen the really beautiful ones?"


    "Let''s just say that Aranthor has a preference for aesthetics, a weakness that we can take advantage of but you ve definitely won''t make the cut."


    Liam stared at the elf, wondering what he was getting at. It was not like they could switch out the person now. After all, the whole arena has seen her.


    "He He. Don''t worry. I have a n!" Eldrin took out a small vial from his ring with a big grin on his face. Inside this vial, there was a single pill. "This is called the beauty pill!"


    Liam epted the vial and examined the pill.


    "Have your elf take it and there is a good chance that we will get good results tomorrow!" Eldrin gave a thumbs up and a knowing nod.


    Liam eyed the pill skeptically. "And what exactly does this ''beauty pill'' do? Any side effects I should know about?"


    Eldrin chuckled. "Ah, you''re cautious. Good, good. The beauty pill enhances the user''s physical appearance, making them more appealing to the eye."


    "It adjusts to the individual''s natural features, enhancing them rather than altering them. The effectsst for a day or so. As for side effects, there''s a slight fatigue as the body adjusts, but that''s about it. Tell that ugly thing to take this tomorrow. Or don''t. Up to you."


    "You must have won something good to be so generous?" Liam suddenly asked him.


    Eldrin stared at him for a moment beforeughing. "Who knows?" The elf shrugged and bid farewell. The main event was after all tomorrow and everyone needed their rest for the important day.

 Chapter 1145 A few improvements...

    Chapter 1145 A few improvements...


    The next morning, Eldrin quietly waited outside the inn as he sat in a nearby eatery and ordered some breakfast. However, despite waiting for an hour and a half, the person he was looking for did not look like she was going to walk out anytime soon.


    "Arrogant brat!" Eldrin grumbled as he decided to head upstairs personally and check what the dy was.


    As soon as he arrived at the first floor, he saw a hooded figure standing in the corridor. "You are still here? I know I said beauty is important but you cannot take all day to get ready. You-"


    Eldrin stopped his rant, noticing something weird. When he looked closer he saw that the elven girl standing in front of him still possessed the same figure as before.


    "Impossible! How are you still t-chested?"


    Elira snapped to look at him, ring in anger. "I am not t-chested!"


    "Hrm. I beg to differ." Eldrin argued without caring about the anger in her tone. "Did you take the pill or not? Fine. There is no point in talking to you. I will directly talk with your master." He sighed in exasperation as he prepared to knock on the door.


    But before he could do so, Elira quickly appeared in front of him and blocked his path. "You are not to disturb my master at the moment."


    "Huh? And who are you to say that?" Eldrin''s eyes became dangerously narrow. "A mere ve girl shouldn''t be so cheeky. You have no idea how important this is. You both are taking it far too lightly."


    "You! You are going too far. I am stopping you because of the master''s orders. I might be a ve but I am not your ve. I am not afraid of death or anything else for that matter. You cannot threaten me. You don''t scare me."


    Eldrin''s eyes immediately turned cold, his previous yful mannerismspletely disappearing. "I don''t scare you? That''s not good for you. You should be scared of me. I am a very dangerous person."


    He stared at the elven girl who also gazed back at him with an equal intensity. Neither of them was willing to back down. Thankfully, before things could devolve further, the door of the room barged open.


    "So noisy." Liam walked out. "Do you both n on stopping this bickering any time soon or are you waiting to get caught first? Hmm?"


    Bickering? The two elves stared at Liam with their mouths open. They were ready to kill each other but suddenly they looked as if they were two kids caught by the teacher.


    ''Damn it. I have the higher level here. Why am I being afraid?'' Eldrin quickly regained hisposure. "What happened to the pill I gave you?" He asked Liam, ignoring everything else.


    "I am not using that." Liam unexpectedly replied.


    Eldrin''s temper immediately red up. First, it was the ve girl. Now it was this human bastard. Did they take him for a fool?


    "Fine. This has nothing to do with me. I only offered the extra assistance because I intended to help you."


    Eldrin crossed his arms and turned to the other side. "Just let me know when you are ready to leave." He tossed amunication crystal to Liam. He then proceeded to walk away as if none of this had anything to do with him.


    He went back to the same eatery and ordered something stronger this time around. "Let me see what you are doing without my help." Eldrin snorted coldly as he watched the entrance of the inn.


    Another hourter, a hooded figure finally emerged out of the inn. It had to be that arrogant elven brat because naturally, he had ced a tracker on her too.


    More importantly, even from a distance, Eldrin could tell that she was now different. Her figure had be more appealing. He quickly stood up and appeared in front of the hooded figure.


    "So in the end, you did take my pill! Where did your pride go now?" Eldrin pulled one end of his lips upward as he contemptuously nced at the young girl after blocking her path.


    "Move out of the way." Elira lowered her hood a little as she red angrily at the guy.


    Eldrin was just about to say something when suddenly no words escaped his mouth. Standing in front of him was someone entirely different.


    Her features were still recognizable, but they were enhanced in a way that went beyond mere physical beauty. It was as though her very presence radiated a certain aura thatmanded attention and respect.


    He had seen many beautiful women so far. However, the woman in front of him was¡­ perfect? Was that the word he was looking for?


    She was spectacr in every way. She was a goddess transcended. She was a woman capable of toppling empires. She could step over anyone she wished to!


    What kind of transformation was this? How could this be possible? The beauty pill he gave should not be giving such a result!


    Stunned, Eldrin took a step back, his eyes widening. "What did you... How did you..."


    Elira smirked. "I didn''t take your pill. It turns out, I don''t need it. Master has his own ways."


    She brushed past him, her new aura leaving a lingering sense of awe in her wake. Eldrin was left staring, his mind racing to catch up with what had just transpired.


    For a long time, he stood there, unable to form a coherent thought. Finally, he snapped out of his trance and looked at the small inconspicuous room located on the first floor of the inn.


    Without wasting another second, he ran back to the same room.


    "Liam?" He barged into the room once again, only to find the entire ce filled with a medicinal aroma. Only then the obvious dawned on him. "You concocted your own pill?"


    "No." Liam shook his head. "I just made a few improvements to the pill that you provided."


    "A few improvements you say¡­" Eldrin gulped. Just what sort of a monster was this human being?

 Chapter 1146 Join my personal army

    Chapter 1146 Join my personal army


    Once inside the royal pce, Elira slowly made her way to the royal court, where Prince Aranthor would preside over the award ceremony.


    At first, she had been indignant about the beauty pill. She had not liked that her worth would be measured by something as trivial as appearance, but she had pushed it aside. This was not the time for pride; it was the time for pragmatism.


    And now she saw that Eldrin had been right.


    As Elira walked through the hall, she could see the change in the eyes that looked her way¡ªadmiration recing scrutiny, intrigue recing dismissal.


    In her entire life, Elira had never once thought that she would be stepping inside here. She was a ve, a nobody but now she was going to be dealing with the most powerful noble family in theirnds, the royal family.


    "I can do it." She mumbled to herself, trying to calm her nerves. She was not afraid of the consequences. Rather she was afraid of failing in her mission, which was not an option.


    "I can do it." She repeated again as she took a deep breath and finally arrived at the chamber where the ceremony was to be held.


    She looked up to see Prince Aranthor sitting on a throne-like chair at the far end of the room. A wave of nobles and other figures of significance filled the chamber, whispering among themselves.


    The prince was an ethereal figure, with golden hair and eyes like polished emeralds. Even though he was described as a pervert several times by Eldrin, just from the looks of it that didn''t seem to be the case.


    He gave a very lofty and noble aura and as she entered, those eyes met hers, and for a moment, the room seemed to fall silent.


    Elira gulped. She was very nervous. Did they figure everything out? To stand like this amidst total strangers, each one of them several folds more powerful than her was nerve-wracking, to say the least.


    She was only able to rx a little when Prince Aranthor smiled casually at her and waved his hand. Immediately, another elf stepped forward and announced the ceremony''smencement.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, we are gathered here to honor those who have demonstrated exemry skill and valor in the recent recruitment tournament."


    "This is a momentous asion, as it speaks not only to individual excellence but also to the strength and vitality of our kingdom."


    He continued with more ceremonial words, but Elira found her thoughts drifting back to Liam. Would everything really work out?


    Please. She prayed in her heart. She was not a believer as the gods had never answered her prayers before but now she once again desperately wanted them to.


    Finally, the time came for her to be awarded.


    Prince Aranthor announced her name, and as she stepped forward, she couldn''t help but feel a surge of anticipation. It was one thing to gain a prince''s attention and quite another to maintain it.


    The prince looked at her, then to the crowd. "Elira," he spoke, his voice rich and mellifluous, "You have shown exceptional skill and courage, and it is my honor to bestow upon you the title of the royal guard as well as the associated privileges and responsibilities thate with it."


    Elira bowed gracefully, epting the finely crafted medal and the ornate scroll that detailed her new status and privileges. "May your bravery continue to inspire us all," Prince Aranthor concluded, offering her a gracious nod.


    The apuse that followed was both enthusiastic and genuine. Right now Elira was no longer covering herself up in any cloaks. She was wearing an elegant robe that entuated her beauty and simple ornaments thatplimented her.


    She could feel the numerous stares that dragged on her. She tried to be as confident as possible matching how she looked. However, was all of this enough? Was the award ceremony already over? Perhaps something more detailed is given in that scroll?


    She did not know. She could only go outside and check. And if there was nothing, then she could only me her ipetence for failing the mission.


    Elira knew that she couldn''t stay here any longer without making it weird so she bowed and excused herself. She walked out of the royal court, her trembling hands starting to open the scroll in her hand when suddenly there was a tap on her shoulder.


    She turned to find the prince''s advisor, a tall, enigmatic elf with steel-gray eyes. "His Highness would like to speak with you, privately," the advisor said, his voice carrying an untraceable note of curiosity.


    "Of course," Elira replied, maintaining her poise. She followed him through a side door that led to a small, ornate chamber. She waited there for a while and soon the Prince himself arrived.


    Elira quickly stood up and bowed, her heart growing more hopeful. Did it work after all?


    "Ah, Elira, please, have a seat," the prince gestured to a chair opposite him, his emerald eyes observing her every move.


    She sat, doing her best to keep her emotions in check.


    "I must admit, you are full of surprises," the prince began. "Your performance in the tournament was remarkable. You have caught the attention of many, not just myself."


    Elira bowed her head slightly. "I''m honored, Your Highness."


    "Don''t be so modest," Prince Aranthor continued, his tone bing more serious. "I have an eye for talent, and you, Elira, have an untapped potential that I think could greatly explode under the right tutge and the right resources."


    The prince then extended his hand towards her as he held a golden medal in his palm. "This is my emblem, take it."


    Smiling, he added. "Go to the blessed space and take whatever you want. When youe back, I want you to be stronger, strong enough to be in my personal army. Do you ept the position?"


    Elira couldn''t help but widen her eyes in surprise. Her shocked expression was so natural that it very much pleased the prince.


    "Yes. Yes, your highness." She quickly excused herself after receiving the emblem and made her way out of the royal pce.


    Watching her scurry away like a rodent, the advisor with steely eyes addressed the prince again. "Your highness¡­" He began.


    "Hmmm. I know what you are going to say. Don''t worry. Even though I gave her my emblem, I doubt she would purchase anything in the system shop without meeting with you again. At that time, you should guide her appropriately."


    "But what if she-"


    "What if she what? Purchases something? What could she purchase? With her level and her background, at most she would have ess to D-Rank or C-Rank skills."


    "Even if she purchases a dozen of those, it won''t amount to that much. However, she won''t. How will she dare to?"


    "Instead, by doing this, I have not only gained her trust but also created a situation where she would forever be at my feet. I have many ns for someone like her."


    Aranthor licked his lips finally revealing his true desire.


    "When shees back to meet you, send her to my private chambers first. I cannot wait to taste her. She is more beautiful than all of my wives."

 Chapter 1147 Whatever I want

    Chapter 1147 Whatever I want


    Meanwhile, Elira, clutching the emblem tightly in her hand, felt a shiver run down her spine as she made her way through the royal pce.


    She had done it. She had really done it.


    A scenario even better than the one they expected had happened. With this, she should be able to retrieve every single thing her master needed.


    She had thought that this part would be a lot more difficult and would involve her doing some pretty disgusting things. However, none of that seemed to be needed.


    She had seeded just like that.


    In fact, Elira was prepared to go to any extent that was required. While her master told her to retreat if she was notfortable with something and if her life was in danger, she did not care.


    She was prepared to do anything and everything to achieve their goals and now it had all worked out without the slightest issue.


    All that was left now was for everything to just y out. Would they once again get lucky?


    By now she knew that it was not luck that had brought her here. Her master had tampered with her opponent during herst match and once again he had provided the pill that altered her appearance.


    Even the hateful opportunist had a role to y in it as Eldrin was the one to provide information regarding the weakness of the prince.


    However, now it all fell on her. This was the final phase and there were no more preparations that could help them. Victory or defeat would only be determined by fate!


    And if it was a defeat, she was already fully prepared to lose her life right here and now.


    Elira hurried as fast as she could and literally ran to the system shop. No one in the royal pce found her behavior to be odd as royal guards had several duties that required urgency.


    She only stopped when she finally arrived at the system shop that was smack dab in the middle of the royal pce.


    It was a heavily guarded area, considered extremely important to the empire. How could it be anywhere else? She already knew it but this only made her even more nervous.


    Elira gave a slight nod at the several guards standing in front of the system store, guarding it as if they were guarding the Emperor himself. She couldn''t see their levels so she did not know how strong they were.


    On the other hand, they all could clearly see her, her level, the emblem in her hand, and more importantly, her dazzling beauty. Thetter made them give her the benefit of the doubt.


    Elira also announced herself as the newly minted royal guard with a shy polite smile as she stepped into the store which proved to be more than enough for their approval.


    While many watched her back as she entered the small ornate building, they were only looking at a certain part of her and not really thinking clearly. Perhaps if they had inspected her closer, then everything would have been revealed. Thanks to her beauty, this situation did not arise.


    Doors closed as Elira stepped into the bright building. Inside, she saw for the first time creatures who looked shimmering and sparkling like fine cut gems. Fairies!


    This was the first time Elira saw such creatures. "I would like to talk to your store manager. Now." She hurriedly spat out.


    The fairies, glowing with an otherworldly luminescence, looked at each other in confusion because it''s been a while since an elf interacted with them in this manner but they were here to serve.


    One of them flew over to Elira. The creature''s tiny wings emitted a soft, pulsating glow, and its eyes were like two twinkling stars.


    "Of course, honored guest," the fairy spoke, its voice melodious but imbued with a sense of urgency that matched Elira''s own.


    It gestured for her to follow and led her through a maze of shelves filled with all manner of mystical and arcane items, toward a more secluded area at the back of the store.


    Soon, they arrived at a desk where another creature sat. It was a short balding male fairy wearing somewhat faded attire.


    There was also no razzle-dazzle around him as he appeared to be in a particrly bad mood. Elira''s pulse quickened. She could see that her appearance did very little to help with this bad mood.


    "You wish to speak with me? I am Miralen, the store manager," he said, examining her from top to bottom before finally looking up into her eyes.


    Unlike the other elves, this fairy didn''t seem to be fond of her beauty. The disgruntled look on his face did not change at all. Not one bit.


    Elira took a deep breath, maintaining her poise. "Yes, I have been granted permission by Prince Aranthor to obtain certain items from this shop. I wish to talk to you in private regarding that."


    Now the fairy looked a little confused. He raised a brow as he wondered why the elf needed a private audience.


    Naturally, he was not new to the recruitment event. This damned thing happened every few months and that was the only time any purchase was made from his shop. So how could he forget about it?


    What he was more curious about was this elf''s behavior. She seemed to be acting strangely. He couldn''t put his finger on it, but something about her urgency, her insistence on privacy, made him feel suspicious.


    "Well, alright. Private matters usually require a good reason. What is it that you can''t discuss openly?"


    Sending the other fairy away, Miralen waved a hand, and a soundproof magical barrier formed around them, isting their conversation from even the keen ears of the other fairies in the shop.


    Elira felt her pulse quicken again; she was acutely aware that this was the crux of her mission. Were they going to seed or fail?


    She took a deep breath and came to the point. "Prince Aranthor specifically mentioned that I could get whatever I needed from the system shop."


    "Whatever." She reiterated.

 Chapter 1148 Maybe this will help you make a decision?

    Chapter 1148 Maybe this will help you make a decision?


    Miralen closed his eyes as he silently contemted everything that had happened in the past few minutes.


    It was just another random day where the elf who won the recruitment event for the cycle was supposed to drop by his shop and purchase something.


    Naturally, he was well aware that this purchase wouldn''t be of anything significant, just like it had been for the past several decades and the decades before that and before that.


    When was even thest time something significant had been purchased from his shop? He couldn''t remember.


    His mood became worse as he thought about these things. He let out a deep sigh as he stared at the disastrously bad rank his system shop currently had.


    Heck, even shops from newly minted trash tier worlds were doing better than him.


    Thanks to the bastard elves his once prestigious family name had lost all of its meanings. They went from riches to rags, now literally standing on theirst legs.


    If this situation persisted for a few more decades then he would truly have nothing left and simply have to give up the lease that his family had had for generations and return to their world to start all over again.


    While this might have been possible when he was younger, something like this was onlyughable with the situation he was currently in.


    Miralen bitterly smiled. This was not something new. This was old news. He had been rambling about this for years and years. However, he also knew that nothing was going to change.


    The elven empire had effectively sealed him and his family. These bastardly dastardly pigshit pepper heads... Miralen let out another sigh.


    Countless he had wished for the damned elves to get destroyed, be massacred, and even for the entire world to get sted off into oblivion. But it was all useless.


    Every time he cursed them only his blood pressure was increasing and his mana went haywire. But everything was useless.


    The contract for a shop is permanent unless one forfeits everything and the elven empire also looked quite permanent. They had built an unshakeable foundation.


    No matter how much he willed for it the empire was not going to be shaken, not by anyone, and his shop and his n were also going to die just like that without ever seeing the light of the day.


    Every recruitment cycle came and went. Miralen had also watched eager young elves enter his shop one after the other, but nothing at all changed.


    At most there were one or two skill book purchases.


    The worst part was he was forced to be thankful for even these few purchases. Well, thankful was a big word. Would one rather prefer to die quickly or slowly bleed to death?


    Miralen was currently slowly bleeding to death and he was on hisst leg. He had very little patience for the elves at the moment and the elf standing in front of him seemed to have a bad sense of humor.


    "Listen, Miss Elira. There is a small problem with your n."


    "You are simply not qualified to ess anything high-leveled in the system shop. And with whatever you can ess currently, it would be a waste to attempt something this risky."


    "Your n makes no sense. So I suggest-"


    Elira interrupted the fairy. "You are correct. I don''t have ess to anything but my master does."


    "Master?" Miralen was surprised. "That means you are a ve?" The fairy was instantly shocked. How could someone this high-leveled be a ve?


    "So I can ess the system shop on behalf of my master?"


    Miralen immediately perked up. "Yes. Yes. That should be possible. I don''t see why not? Is it an official system-ve contract? And by the way, who is your master?"


    The fairy could only hope and pray that her so-called master was someone with backing. Otherwise, this sudden flickering hope in the sea of his doom would be extinguished without ever seeing the light of the day.


    Come on. Come on. Please don''t disappoint me. He muttered as his excitement grew every second. His day had begun like a normal day but now it looked like everything might change today.


    He quickly essed various system screens and opened up everything in front of Elira. Soon, the two of them became utterly shocked as they both stared at the qualifications of Elira''s so-called master with wide eyes.


    "Grandmaster¡­ Grandmaster cksmith?" The fairy gulped. His gaze then shifted down to see the next title which was¡­ equally shocking. "Grandmaster alchemist?"


    "How? How could this be possible?" Miralen couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "Who is your master?" The store manager can ess a customer''s details to some extent so he immediately pulled up everything that he could.


    "Liam Chang¡­ human being?" He became even more shocked.


    "Is your master from another world?" Miralen inquired, feeling a mix of disbelief and burgeoning hope.


    Elira nodded. "Yes, hees from the human world. He''s not bound by the prejudices of this ce, and he''s incredibly talented."


    Miralen''s eyes gleamed. This was more than he had dared to hope for. "But¡­ with just the token¡­"


    Now that everything was bing real too fast and too soon, the fairy started to think about everything else. He started to seriously weigh the pros and cons of the whole thing.


    The young elf has painted a pretty picture but was it really worth it for him? There could be some hidden consequences.


    Seeing that the fairy was hesitating, Elira quickly took out the other item. Her master had already foreseen something like this would happen, so he had given her a backup item.


    Elira carefully reached into the storage ring that she had borrowed from the hateful Eldrin and from within retrieved the small flimsy herb.


    "Maybe this will help you make a decision?" She eagerly asked, extending her palm to the fairy who was busy making some mental calctions. "I would like to sell this herb to your store."

 Chapter 1149 Something big is about to go down?

    Chapter 1149 Something big is about to go down?


    "This¡­ this¡­" Miralen trembled as he held the delicate herb in his hand.


    [Ding! Verdant Heartroot]


    His high-level inspection skill immediately told him what it was. However, even without that how could the fairy miss the golden aura that an S-Ranked herb carried?


    Just the mere presence of the herb caused a medicinal aroma to erupt in the vicinity and he could feel his tired and feeble body slowly being revitalized.


    His will which had withered and died thanks to being in a state akin to a ve was now slowly rekindled, nourished by the aura emanating from the Verdant Heartroot.


    Such an herb was exceedingly rare, even in the annals of the Elven Empire. Its properties were said to boost vitality, enhance mana, and even lengthen one''s lifespan if prepared correctly.


    Heck, he did not even know all the properties. This was a supreme treasure. In other words, it was the stuff of legends and dreams.


    And here it was, held within his palm, as real as the despair he had felt for so many years.


    "Where did you get this?" Miralen asked, his eyes wide with disbelief as he looked up at Elira.


    "My Master sent it. He thought it would be a good token of our potential partnership. He is very much interested in our smooth coboration and believes the Verdant Heartroot would be of particr interest to you. Of course, we expect proper payment." Elira exined.


    Miralen was speechless. This wasn''t just a token; it was a treasure beyond measure. A herb like this could single-handedly turn his shop''s fortunes around.


    And more importantly, a human being who could possess such a treasure was capable ofying waste to the elven empire that had been tormenting him for decades after decades.


    The apocalypse that Miralen had been hoping for and praying for had finally arrived and it came in the form of a human being!


    "Tell me! Tell me what you want! I will give you everything!" The fairy looked at Elira with eyes burning from excitement and hunger. Everything was going to change!


    ***


    An hourter¡­


    A few of the elven guards frowned as they turned repeatedly to watch the entrance of the system shop.


    "The new recruit has been inside for a while." One of them grumbled.


    "Yes, but it''s normal. The first time one visits the blessed space, they are always shocked. I remember when I became a recruit a long time ago, I didn''t step out of the shop for the whole day."


    "Mmm¡­ Same here. What to do? We are only allowed to enter once in a while and that too we need to fight for that chance tooth and nail. How could we not maximize the use for it? Just reading some of the skill books avable gave me many hints on how to develop my Dao seed."


    "Hmmm¡­ You sound like you areining? Should I say something to the General?"


    The elf who spoke earlier immediately became quiet, clearly angered and irritated by the remark.


    "What is your problem asshole? I was just making ament. If you think that I amining, it means you want toin. That''s why everyone else''sment sounds like aint to you!"


    "That is enough. Both of you stop bickering. Look there. That beauty ising out!"


    The elven royal guards instantly stopped chatting and every single one looked towards the system shop''s entrance to see the stunning elf emerging.


    "Looks like her visit was fruitful," one of the guards mumbled, but no one paid him much attention. All eyes were fixed on Elira, many thinking where this beautiful newly minted royal guard would be stationed.


    Elira, however, walked past the guards, not giving them a second nce, her eyes focused on the horizon, a small smile forming on her lips.


    She had a message to deliver and the anticipation of what was toe filled her with a sense of purpose and satisfaction.


    Miralen, still in his shop, couldn''t contain his exhration. He too was watching the entrance of the shop with great interest.


    He had already done his part and now everything depended on fate. He silently prayed to his God as he clenched his heart and waited. He hoped that the Gods wouldn''t be so cruel to finally give him a thread of hope, only to take everything away.


    But things were no longer in his hands. All he could do was wait and watch. Any time now¡­


    Observing his strange behavior, the other fairies in the shop also became curious. Their manager was smiling. No one could believe what they were seeing.


    Everyone knew that Miralen was simply a dead fairy walking, but right now he seemed to be very much alive and excited for some reason?


    The fairies couldn''t help but peek outside their counters to check out what was happening. What was special about today? Was something big going down?


    And right at this moment, under the watchful eyes of everyone, Elira walked out of the shop with a nervous smile on her face. She then took a deep breath. It was about to begin.


    The next second¡­


    RUN!


    Without wasting any time, Elira immediately used two of the skills that she had bought from the shop in the past hour.


    [Stealth]


    Her figure became invisible and before anyone could wonder what was happening, she activated the second skill [Blink].


    It was a very expensive short-range teleportation skill sold in the system shop but why would she care? She was not footing the bill for any of it.


    In the blink of an eye, she used the skill ten times, emptying her mana reserves andpletely disappearing from the area.


    She also did not stop there. She used another mana orb to quickly refill her reserves and continued casting the skill without stopping until she reached the outskirts of the city.


    She was panting from exhaustion and the continued teleportation that she was not used to, make her head dizzy and her vision blur, but she did not care because¡­


    She had done it! She reached where she was supposed to arrive!


    "MASTER!" Elira shouted as she looked at Liam''s blurry figure standing in front of her. Still out of breath, she extended her hand groggily, handing out a small pouch.


    The size of the pouch might be small but inside it, there were about a dozen spatial rings!


    But Elira knew very well that this was not what her Master wanted the most. These things were all priceless. However, the one that he yearned for the most was¡­


    "Master! Your world!" Elira gasped.


    2343AS3u45i of the Milky Way Gxy is still intact. It is currently undergoing aplete awakening and integration and is sealed from the myriad realms for the next ten years."

 Chapter 1150 Thank you

    Chapter 1150 Thank you


    "Master! Your world!" Elira gasped.


    2343AS3u45i of the Milky Way Gxy is still intact. It is currently undergoing aplete awakening and integration is sealed from the myriad realms for the next ten years."


    Liam stared at the elf in shock. Hearing the words that he had yearned for so long, he stood indifferently like a block of wood.


    But only he knew what was going on inside his heart and mind which were both basically a big jumbled mess.


    For the past several months his life had been nothing short of a living hell.


    Even though he tried his best to remain optimistic and focus on getting his revenge, his mental strength was not strong enough for him to not think about the worst case scenarios.


    shes of the few memories he had floated in his mind often. Thanks to him working day and night to prevent this exact scenario from happening, even these memories were far too few.


    However, he was helpless at the moment. All he could do was treasure these precious few memories. But what if all he had were only these precious memories?


    Liam did not want to think about it and all he could do was think about it. Without knowing one way or the other, his life was hell. This hurt a lot more than the painful injuries riddled in his body.


    When a God decides to trample on an ant, what else can an ant do but ept and submit to its fate? However, she was not a God and he was not an ant.


    He did not want to ept and submit to his fate.


    And now that he knew all hope was still not lost, with absolute proof, there was nothing holding him back anymore.


    As long as the divine temple high priestess was not able to intervene, he was confident that everyone would still be fine.


    The whale-like beast guardian would be enough to handle Crawford. There had to be at least some benefit to him binding with the world tree.


    Also, he had faith in everyone.


    Crawford was powerful. But Alex, Shen Yue, Rey, Abraki, Madan, Lan Fen, Lan Deming were all capable people in their own respect.


    They were much more talented than he ever was in his first life. So they should be able to survive.


    Even if they were holding on by tooth and nail, he had hope that somehow they would be able to make it and wait for him. They needed to. Liam did not want to consider the other possibility.


    His eyes turned cold and steely as the time for indecisiveness was over.


    Instead of wondering how things turned out, he now was determined to get back to where he belonged and take control of things once and for all.


    But would he be able to freely enter and exit Earth? Did the fact that he belonged there make any difference or was he also not permitted to enter the world?


    No. Liam did not care. Even if it was the case that he wouldn''t be able to enter, he was sure that there was some way he could bypass it.


    When there were rules, there were always exceptions.


    Why would only the divine temple high priestess be able to bend and break the rules as she pleased? He also should be able to do the same!


    He had many questions and now the answers were finally within his grasp.


    RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Breaking Liam''s thoughts, loud sounds rumbled in the distance.


    Powerful auras surged from all corners of the city, sending ripples through the atmosphere. The elves, the royal guards, the store fairies, everyone, felt it¡ªsomething big was happening.


    And Liam was not exactly nning to wait around to see what wasing.


    He was sure that by now the elves would have already caught up to their schemes even though it had only been minutes since Elira walked out of the system shop.


    The magnitude of what they had done was as such. The corresponding consequences also wouldn''t be small but Liam was already fully prepared for it.


    No matter how powerful the forces hunting him down were, there was no way they were going to get their hands on him.


    "Elira, you know what to do." He nodded at the young elven girl.


    "Yes, master."


    In a hurry, Elirapletely removed everything in her possession, including even her clothes and her underwear.


    She then wore a new set of simple clothes and popped in an authentic disguise pill, something she had purchased from the system shop.


    Lastly, she looked at Liam who gently smiled at her. The seal on the master-ve bondpletely broke apart.


    Elira was no longer a ve to anyone.


    "Thank you," Elira said, unable to believe that this was actually happening. She never thought that there would be a day when she would finally be free. Such a thing was unheard of.


    However, the human being who had made this possible was shaking his head. "No. I should be the one thanking you. I will always be grateful to you."


    Tears glistened in her eyes as she heard the heartful words from her master. She knew that he was really thanking her from the bottom of his heart.


    She also knew that this meant he was not expecting to see her again and that it would be okay if she wanted to live the rest of her life freely however she pleased.


    Elira''s heart felt heavy as she once again activated her skill [Blink] and disappeared. She was heading back to the city as they had nned previously.


    The best ce for her to hide was in in sight. As far as anyone was concerned, she had nothing to do with the whole thing.


    Elira took onest look at the man as she finally distanced herself enough from the location.


    She did not stop until she reached the heart of the city where she quietly mingled with all the other elves.


    As for Liam, he as well silently disappeared without leaving any trace.


    His soul minion that was inside the forbidden territory disintegrated into wisps of energy and vanished as he materialized in the same spot.

 Chapter 1151 A new notification

    Chapter 1151 A new notification


    On a bright sunny day that was no different than the rest of the days¡­


    "NOOOOOO!" A loud angry scream bellowed from deep within the elven royal pce. Hearing something like this, every single elf in the vicinity of the royal pce became shell-shocked as they stood rooted in the spot.


    What was happening?


    All the royal guards immediately became tense that perhaps an assassination attempt was happening on the royal family with one of the other empires finally taking the next step and attacking them.


    They immediately rushed to the area of disturbance, fully prepared to go to battle with their lives on the line, true to their oaths. However, when they arrived, they shockingly witnessed something elsepletely unexpected.


    Prince Aranthor was standing stiff in his bedroom, in his leisurely clothes, with his face deathly pale.


    He was staring at the space in front of him with the most desperate look on his face. He opened his mouth and closed his mouth again and again but no words wereing out of it.


    "Your highness¡­ what happened?" One of the royal guards finally mustered the courage to ask the prince. However, he did not get any reply.


    Like a person who lost his very soul, the elf simply stood petrified.


    Meanwhile, in other parts of the elven empire several key figures received notifications on their system interface at the same time.


    Even though a good portion of the royal family and the main force of the empire had gone into the mystic realm to search for the treasures and inheritances, a part of the main force remained back within the royal pce to deal with emergencies.


    And right now, every single elf who held a significant trusted position in the upper echelons received this notification.


    Not knowing what it was, they quickly opened it with visible excitement in their eyes because it was around this time a specific auction typically took ce and perhaps the dates for it had arrived sooner than they had expected.


    However, the moment they opened it, their eyes went wide.


    "D. E. B. T?"


    "How is this possible?"


    "All our credits arepletely maxed out? Our reserves are used up? Who made such a purchase? What the hell is happening?"


    Confusion and rage filled their eyes as they instantly arrived at the elf who was at the center of all of this madness.


    Prince Aranthor who was already akin to a corpse lifted his head lifelessly to see that all the big shots had arrived at his bedroom.


    The expressions on their faces ranged from disbelief to fury, every single one of the powerhouses eyeing him with unbridled killing intent.


    "Prince Aranthor, what is the meaning of this? Exin yourself immediately!" demanded one of the eldest council members, his voice echoing in the room, thick with incredulity and indignation.


    Aranthor looked at them all, his face still drained of color, and finally managed to speak, "I...I¡­ recruitment event¡­ elven girl¡­ but¡­"


    "But what, Prince? Did you purchase some sort of powerful artifact?" interrupted another council member, his eyes narrowing.


    "We are talking about the financial stability of the entire empire? Even if it was a powerful artifact, how could youmit such an act without consulting the council?"


    "What is the meaning of this?"


    "Open your mouth, Aranthor. Open your damned mouth and answer."


    "At least show us the artifact. What did you get?"


    Aranthor''s head became dizzy and his vision started blurring as he was unable to face any of these men. "I¡­ didn''t buy anything." He mumbled lifelessly.


    "Stop ying. This is extremely serious. It is clearly your token that has given the ess. How could you have not purchased something? Do note up with any excuses that your token was lost or stolen!"


    Aranthor still looked dazed and broken, seeing that all the elders finally realized that the situation was far worse than what they had imagined.


    "If you did not buy, then that means¡­"


    SLAP!


    Aranthor''s thin body flew across the room as it hit the wall, the collision shattering the entire thing.


    "OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND EXPLAIN EVERYTHING! NOW!"


    In the next few minutes, the prince and his trusty advisor both were subjected to unimaginable torture as they confessed to the entire thing starting from top to bottom, even all the times he had previously repeated this exact same thing.


    However, this only made the elders behave worse. "Are you saying that it is not your fault because all these days you did not face any consequences and today turned out differently?"


    Aranthor shivered. He knew that he was only alive because he was of royal blood. His advisor was already killed.


    After the investigation, all the royal guards who were standing outside the system shop were also mercilessly killed.


    The entire royal pce was drenched in a bloodbath.


    Meanwhile, most of the elven elders hurriedly unleashed their entire power to scour the whole empire for this so-called elven girl and the countless items and treasures she had absconded with.


    However, even after searching for hours and hours, this seemed to be a futile process as they had little to no information about this newly minted royal guard.


    With what details could they possibly search for her now and where would they even begin to do it? She was an insignificant insect and could be anywhere in the world by now!


    As for how this insignificant insect managed to ess these priceless items and treasures in the system shop¡­


    A few elders barged into the shop furiously to question the fairies but none of them knew anything. The elves had even bribed some fairies in the shop and even they couldn''t exin.


    The only person who could answer them, the store manager, Miralen, simply crossed his hands and shook his head saying that he could not answer and give out information.


    "Customer- Seller confidentiality." He simply answered.


    Rage bubbled like a volcano but the elven elders knew that they couldn''t touch the fairies in the shop. Unable to make heads or tails of this situation, the entire empire plunged intoplete and utter chaos and madness.


    Emptying out the system credit and their reserves meant that they were in a huge debt that they couldn''t possibly settle for centuries toe.


    Not only that, it also meant that their growth was effectively stunted.


    Even if they all were to make progress in their daos and be eligible for some skill purchase or a concept purchase, they wouldn''t be able to pay for it!


    How was this different from a death sentence to the entire empire? In a single day, they had be theughingstock of their whole world!


    Someone had massacred them mercilessly without taking a single life or shedding a single drop of blood!

 Chapter 1152 Rummaging through the spoils of war Part 1

    Chapter 1152 Rummaging through the spoils of war Part 1


    Meanwhile¡­


    Back in the forbidden territory, Liam settledfortably in a small space in between the dense lush trees. There was a steadiness in his action as he withdrew the first spatial ring from the pouch and examined it.


    The spatial ring was not bound to anyone. So all he had to do was ce a drop of blood and he was immediately able to bind the item and ess the things inside.


    Liam''s hand slightly trembled as he saw a stack of skill books in this first ring. To be able to freely acquire this many skill books from the system shop¡­ He held his breath as he took out all of the skill books one after the other.


    [Bone Stitching and Bone Repair] - F Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill Book


    When flesh fails, bones endure. This skill allows the necromancer to mend and fortify skeletal structures, both in themselves and their undead minions. When activated, fractures heal and bones grow tougher, granting increased resistance to physical damage. The effectiveness of this skill is dependent on the caster''s abilities.


    [Grave Mist] - E Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill Book


    Wherever death lingers, so does the fog of the grave. This skill allows the necromancer to summon a mist that obscures the vision of anyone who enters. The potency of the mist depends on the necromancer''s abilities.


    [Grim Harvest] - D Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill Book


    All enemies hit by your spells also suffer a passive bleeding effect. The duration of the bleed will depend on the caster''s attack power.


    [Necrotic Lance] - C Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill Book


    Harness the power of the dark arts to unleash a devastatingnce of necrotic energy. This ethereal bolt is capable of piercing through multiple enemies, draining the life force from each one it passes through. The power of thence and the amount of life force drained are dependent on the necromancer''s abilities. There is also a small chance for necrotic decay to trigger.


    [Necrotic Decay] - B Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    When afflicted with the curse of decay, the living cannot continue living. The soul, spirit, and life force of the enemy are constantly drained; The effect depends on your abilities and the enemy''s abilities. Cannot be stacked.


    [Raise the Dead] - A Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    The death god doesn''t want the dead to rest. Command the dead around you to stand up and serve you for all eternity. The number of undead you can wield depends on your abilities.


    [Fate Sever] - S Rank, Umon Skill, Necromancer ss Specific Skill


    The final word in necromantic arts, this skill severs the fragile thread of fate that binds the living to the world. For a brief moment, the target is suspended between life and death. The ultimate oue¡ªbe it instant death or a temporary lifeless state¡ªdepends on both the necromancer''s skill and the target''s resistance to dark magic.


    Liam closed his eyes, taking in everything that he saw. It looked like this batch of skill books was his registered ss-rted skill books. Since only one skill book would be disyed at a time for one rank, there were seven skill books in the pile.


    "That merchant gave me an S Rank skill book?" Naturally, this was the first thing Liam noticed. "Fate sever! What a powerful skill!"


    This was a necromancer ss-specific skill that had immense potential. If a necromancer was strong enough then he could control the temporarily dead being to fight for them.


    And if the being was a powerful expert, then they could exhibit the full power in this state which was neither dead nor living but also not undead.


    There were obviously many drawbacks and at its worst, it was a skill simr to stun with a very high cool down. However, Liam pondered along other lines.


    He couldn''t help but wonder how this skill affected one''s soul. Could it maybe make the soul vulnerable in some way? He mulled over this skill and its various nuances.


    "That fairy must be really desperate to see the elven empire destroyed."


    When Eldrin confirmed the system in ce for this world and how the shops were exceedingly rare, this was the first thing Liam had thought of.


    From the limited information he had about the fairies, he guessed that they shouldn''t be too pleased with this situation. He had in fact gambled a lot on this and it seems that he was right on point.


    Without holding back, the fairy had even given him an S Rank skill book.


    Liam calmly ced all of the skill books aside. He did not n on learning it just yet. Now that he knew his world still existed, he needed to meticulously n.


    He might have only one shot to enter his world. If he did, he had to face Crawford. There was no other way about it and this time, he had to win no matter what andpletely destroy him.


    If he could just take care of this one guy, then a decade was more than enough time for him to figure out some ways to deal with the divine temple high-priestess.


    Liam looked into the spatial ring and found a few more skill books.


    Some were general-type essential utility skill books such as [Blink] and some were even rarer skill books such as [Nether Tempest] and [Sr re] that involvedbining multiple elemental essences.


    These were powerful A Rank skills and Liam immediately had some insight on how to use them to his benefit and get the maximum damage output, perhaps even push them close to a S Rank skill.


    Ever since he stepped into this world, thanks to its abundant natural elements, he had been gaining a lot of insights and he was more attuned to the thriving nature around him.


    However, he was still far from reaching the pinnacle that he wanted and the main reason for this was his injuries. With this hopefully, he would be able to get an answer to that.


    Putting aside the ring with the skill books, Liam took out the next spatial ring to take a look at what was inside.

 Chapter 1153 Rummaging through the spoils of war Part 2

    Chapter 1153 Rummaging through the spoils of war Part 2


    "So this one is full of various mineral ores?" Liam eximed after examining the second spatial ring.


    It seems that Elira had ced various items in different spatial rings. Perhaps to save some if she got caught or if she had to give up on some? Irrespectively, she had done a good job and everything was segregated properly.


    Also, just like how the fairy did not skimp on the skill books, it looked like he also did not skimp on the ores. There were many precious materials stored inside the spatial ring.


    Liam ced the ring aside and checked out the next one which contained various gems. While ores were something that he needed, he needed these gems more because with this he would finally be able to fully unseal his sword and bring out the full power of the soul weapon.


    But not yet.


    Liam ced this ring aside as well and picked up the next one. His eyes immediately widened because the fourth spatial ring was full of recipe scrolls.


    Elira must have informed the fairy that he was somewhat of a magic swordsman build if one neglected the fact that he was also a soulmancer and a necromancer. So the fairy had given him a few item recipes.


    Liam counted 10. One for the head, one for the shoulders, one for the chest, one for the waist, a shirt, pants, leg guard, arm guard, gloves, and finally a pair of boots.


    Aside from these, there were a couple of recipes for a cloak and a robe. At most, there were about twenty-five recipes in total.


    This might seem awfully small considering the options avable in the system shop, but when Liam took a closer look, each one of the recipes was S-Rank. If equipped they would tremendously improve hisbat power.


    Until now Liam had never relied on items for improving his strength and power but now he was ying in a league that was much bigger and grander and with enemies who have had centuries ofbat experience than him.


    In front of enemies like this, he had to go all out. Otherwise, the chances of himing out on the top would be slim. Even for just surviving the fight he needed to make careful preparations.


    These old monsters had built an empire in a B-Ranked world and are still in power after countless years. It would be foolish to underestimate them. They would have harvested resources from this world for decades.


    Considering the type of empire they had established, they would have also used the poption of the world to their advantage, nurturing many outstanding individuals and others as talented manualborers.


    To stand against these many powerful beings was not a simple thing.


    To begin with, he was not sure if he wanted to do that. Eldrin''s n sounded good but now that he knew his world was still whole, he needed to get there as soon as he could.


    If he was correct, his current one and only enemy should be the PVP tower master Crawford. And Liam already knew how to gauge that person''s strength.


    As long as he was strong enough to beat him and then some more, he needed to get back ASAP!


    Determination flickered in his eyes like an immortal me as he ced this ring aside as well, picking up the next one.


    Where were the items that he needed the most?


    His eyes hungrily searched through. This ring had a pile of items that had some unique and useful features such as inbuilt defensive barriers and a few powerful attack skills.


    "Lightning festival?" One particr amulet caught Liam''s eye. It had a powerful skill inscribed on it. He wanted to test out how powerful this attack would be. It sounded cool.


    With a grin, he ced this ring aside too, and took the next one and finally, he found what he was looking for.


    Multiple scrolls of alchemy recipes!


    He hurriedly took out all of the scrolls andid them out in front of him. This was it. This was what he needed the most. He needed to heal everything that was broken inside of him. Otherwise, all of his ns would be for naught.


    He went through all of the recipe scrolls one after the other and found the specific ones that he needed.


    Mana Core Mending Pill.


    Soul Healing Pill.


    He took a look at both the recipes and started with the mana core mending pill. Maybe this will work?


    However, Liam''s gaze fell upon the rank of the recipe the next second. It was only an A-Rank recipe. Would this really be enough to heal him?


    He learned both the recipes and first spent several hours trying to understand the procedure from top to bottom.


    Thankfully, the fairy had already provided him with a few sets of the herbs required to make the pills. So he would be able to start right away.


    And that was not all.


    Liam had also asked Elira to get something else, a bunch of basic manuals. Liam searched through the remaining couple of spatial rings and quickly found what he was looking for.


    Inside, there were several stacks of books. The first stack was apendium of many known herbs found in the myriad realms.


    The second was simrly one of ores and the third was of gems.


    There were also books about mana cultivation basics, forging basics, alchemy basics, array formation basics, inscription basics, rune formation basics, sword mastery basics, and more.


    All the foundations he needed to be acquainted with not justbat, but also with the various other disciplines were right there in front of him.


    They only contained basic information and nothing advanced, but the basics were where masters started. Mastery of the basics was the key to advancing further. Liam knew that very well.


    If he had perhaps attended an academy, he would have had ess to all of this but considering that he never did, these books were priceless to him.


    At least with this knowledge, he would finally be able to get a solid foundation, something that he had been sorelycking just every other inhabitant of a newly integrated world.


    Before he started concocting the pills, he first decided to ess this basic theoretical information at least in the few things that he sorely needed.


    Mana core formation, mana pathways formation,her assimtion,her pathways formation, alchemy, and the various properties of the herbs that constituted the first recipe, the mana core mending pill recipe.


    Liam was surprised to find that the information regardingher cultivation was also not difficult to obtain but then again the fairy must have been just that desperate or else perhaps in the myriad realms beings who thrived onher were not really scarce.


    Either way, it was about time he began, his fight against the enemy who stands even above these old monstrous elves!

 Chapter 1154 Core formation

    Chapter 1154 Core formation


    Liam started going through one manual after another while sitting inside the stone tablet pocket world. He already attempted gathering more herbs using the stone tablet but he was only able to get A-grade herbs and below.


    Even though the B-Rank world''s mana density was extremely high, the natural mana density was still not enough to fuel the stone tablet to produce higher-grade herbs.


    There was also something else that happened.


    Liam had assigned a few of his soul minions to stand guard while he was inside the pocket world and these minions told him that there was a small mana swirl in the pocket world''s location or rather the location at which he had used the stone tablet.


    So if someone really powerful were to attack that spot, they perhaps would be able to break and get through to the pocket world and attack him when he was meditating and vulnerable.


    Liam thought about this for a while but there wasn''t much he could do. He had to take this risk. This entire world was unsafe for him. He had to train somewhere.


    He stationed more minions to patrol the area and sat down to start his work. Before doing anything, he picked up theher 101 book and went through it first.


    These books were somewhat simr to skill books where the copy of the book was consumed when willed and the entire information became avable in one''s mind in an instant.


    However, that was not quite the end. The information still had to be essed, processed, and digested. Otherwise, a person would never know the contentspletely.


    Liam breathed in and out and calmly analyzed all of the information that had flooded his mind. He only had to turn a few pages when he found the information he was looking for.


    He shook his head with a bitter smile on his face. As he went through the information several questions and confusions that had gued his mind immediately disappeared.


    Apparently,her could be cultivated in many ways. For that matter, it seems mana too could be cultivated in many ways.


    He opened up the mana cultivation manuals to take a look and indeed this was true.


    Some worlds used star maps to store mana. Some used runes to store mana. Storing mana in the form of a concentrated core was the most basic version of all the methods.


    However, interestingly, these different versions did not have much effect on the power generated.


    At the end of the day, all paths lead right back to the same spot. While the methods might be different it ultimately depended on the specific being to bring out the full potential of the mana stored in their body.


    The same applied toher too.


    Nether could be stored as fractals, branching all over the body. It could be stored as a ck hole swirl. It could also be stored as aher core.


    But there was indeed a small difference.


    Liam frowned as he saw that the most efficient way to storeher was as fractals that branched through the whole body. This way the corruption was wild and unfettered and gripped the whole being.


    go of and shed their mortal body and fullymitted to the undead way of life. These beings also hailed from aher world, to begin with.


    But he doubted if this would suit him. Maybe forming aher core was the path that would suit him the most.


    He then searched both manuals to see if anything had been mentioned about cultivating both mana andher.


    To his surprise, the only thing he found was a method mentioned in theher 101 book that talked about how to flush out mana from the body to prevent mana poisoning and instability.


    This was not really good news but he already knew that much.


    Liam did not stop and scoured all of the information that was in his possession.


    Inside the stone tablet, the atmosphere was also calm and tranquil so he was able to bring out the peak efficiency of his mental strength as he perused through all of the knowledge avable to him.


    A couple of hourster, he finally found the information he was looking for in the mana pathways manual.


    Once again, Liam couldn''t help but sigh at the content. The manual talked about how different types of energies that existed in this world were rarelypatible.


    Even simr types of energies such as demonic energy andher energy did not prefer co-existing. One always tried to dominate and swallow the other.


    This was the basicw of the myriad realms.


    This was also a significant hurdle in his path that he had to ovee.


    The manual only briefly mentioned that there were several methods to do this and many treasures that helped before moving on to other topics.


    He also saw that most beings who cultivatedher ultimately let Liam clicked his tongue in disappointment. A little bit more detail could have helped but then again this was the basic knowledge so he couldn''t expect too much.


    He spent the next few days going through each and every single book the fairy had acquired for him, searching for clues about harnessing multiple energies.


    He also tried to find out if anything about limit breaker fruit had been mentioned. However, after many hours this too did not yield any result.


    From the little information he gathered from the dragon woman, Liam had already tried to grow the limit breaker fruit a few times but it wasn''t sessful.


    It looked like one needed to have aplete understanding of the herb or nt in question for the stone tablet to be able to grow it.


    Liam then tossed aside everything and focussed on the main task at hand. It was time to make the mana core mending pill.


    After assimting the basics of various fields and fully digesting the knowledge at his disposal, he felt that his understanding of alchemy had grown leaps and bounds.


    He was ready to concoct the pill.

 Chapter 1155 You are really living it up here, aren’t you?

    Chapter 1155 You are really living it up here, aren¡¯t you?


    In the middle of nowhere, a small elven establishment where not even level 100 elves resided, there was a little farm with lush green nts growing on it.


    A young elven girl was carefully tending to this farm, with her gentle hands caressing each nt with love and warmth.


    However, if one looked closely one could see that there was also something else apart from the love and warmth, a gentle nourishing green glow that made the nts healthier.


    The nts were nothing special, just staple food. But the elven girl seemed very happy to use her potent magic for seemingly nothing.


    It was a very tranquil and enchanting atmosphere and her hair swayed in the wind as she continued doing the same thing in a very carefree and rxed manner.


    Some people might find it boring but she seemed peaceful and satisfied.


    Days passed by in the same manner when suddenly one day a hateful voice interrupted her tranquil life.


    "Wow! You are really living it up here, aren''t you?"


    The young woman turned around in shock as she stared in the direction of the mocking voice. For a moment she expected something but unfortunately for her, it was only that hateful person standing in front of her and not the one she wanted.


    Eldrinughed out loud at the innocent expression the young woman was making. Of course, he knew the reason why. "This is what you are doing with your newfound freedom? Truly pathetic!" He continued to mock her.


    "Who thought that the elven girl whom the whole empire is searching for is standing here and growing a bunch of useless nts."


    Elira narrowed her eyes in displeasure. This was thest person she wanted to see. It was clear that the elf was not nning to leave her without talking to her. "What brings you to my farm?"


    Eldrin chuckled and then nced dismissively at the rows of flourishing nts. "It baffles me that you waste your magic on these mundane nts. You could be honing your skills for something greater, you know."


    Elira red at the hateful elf but then she shook her head and went back to her work. She had nothing to say to him and she wanted nothing to do with him.


    Her master had warned her plenty of times to be wary of this guy. So she was already determined not to trust him under any circumstance.


    However, the next second¡­


    "Okay¡­ a little rude¡­ but I will let it slide. If you don''t want to talk to me or see me, I understand. I understand. I am leaving right now. Hey. You don''t have to tell me twice. I didn''t n on staying here for too long anyways."


    Eldrin then started walking away, casually shrugging his shoulders. "I was nning to go on a long journey. I guess no one wants to apany me. Hmmm¡­ Traveling to the forbidden territory will be so lonely. Sigh."


    "I wonder how long it will take me to get back to that human being. He should be extremely busy at the moment. I think he will be more than happy to get some help from me. Welp. At least I can guard him while he is busy trying to make pills or potions."


    Elira''s eyes suddenly sparked with interest. She was prepared to ignore the elf''s rant, but she realized that she had overlooked something obvious. Wouldn''t her master need her?


    Eldrin might not know but Elira knew very well that Liam was a grandmaster alchemist and a grandmaster forger. Such great beings typically needed servants to help them with menial tasks.


    How could she overlook something so obvious? Just because her master told her that she was free, it did not mean that he told her to stay away. If she was truly free, then she also had the freedom to go to him and follow him.


    As if a spark had been lit in her, Elira''s entire body trembled. She looked at the tranquil fields around her but she no longer felt any sense of peace or satisfaction.


    "If you''re heading towards where my master is, I would like to apany you." She picked up speed and immediately caught up to the chubby elf.


    Eldrinughed and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were happy with your ''freedom,'' tending to your garden and all."


    Elira ignored him which made the elfugh again."Obviously, I am not doing this out of the kindness of my heart. I just don''t like my investments to go to waste!"


    Elira froze for a moment before rxing. She still did not trust him but what he said seemed convincing enough. After all, this elf was a greedy bastard.


    The awkward atmosphere suddenly eased up and the two of them moved through the forests as fast as they could.


    It was a long journey even though she used blink to keep up with Eldrin''s speed. They also had to take roundabout routes in many ces because of the intense search that was going on for them.


    A few monthster, they finally arrived at their destination. Both Elira and Eldrin gulped as they entered the boundary. Thankfully, just like before no barrier activated and they were able to freely enter.


    However, they had barely taken a few steps when they came across the first monster in the forbidden territory.


    Eldrin prepared himself as his eyes slightly widened at the strange creature he was seeing.


    It looked like a huge orc but it had an elven head? It also seemed to possess somewhat spectral characteristics. Just what sort of strange creatures were lurking around in the forbidden territory?


    Luckily it was only level 220. He should be able to deal with it quite quickly. "I will handle this." He fleetingly nced at Elira when he noticed that the other party did not seem to care in the least.


    She only had a big smile on her face as she fearlessly ran towards the strange whitish-blue translucent creature.


    "Take me to him!"


    "Him?" Eldrin immediately understood and his face rxed to form a helpless smile.


    He thought that he had a sufficiently good understanding of his mysterious human partner but maybe he still did not know anything.

 Chapter 1156 Luna, the second

    Chapter 1156 Luna, the second


    Elira was nervous but it seemed that her master already informed his minions. They did not react violently to her. Instead, two stood next to her as if they were guarding her and brought her further inside the forbidden region.


    Eldrin was getting a different treatment. With a sigh, he silently followed the group.


    Soon, they arrived at a clearing, one that seemed unnatural. There were signs of battle everywhere. The clearing was obviously the result of a vicious battle between two powerful beings.


    Eldrin began to get excited. ''Come on. Don''t disappoint me, Liam. I haven''t seen you in months and after that big haul, you better be insanely overpowered right now!''


    Eldrin walked into the clearing and looked for Liam but all he saw was a swirl of mana as if it was getting sucked into a vortex of some sort.


    He no longer stood behind Elira and instead used his speed to arrive at the vortex. What was this? He was curious.


    However, before he could touch it or poke it, all of a sudden roots sprouted out of the ground and formed a barrier between him and the vortex.


    Eldrin took a step back.


    The entire vortex was now covered in a densework of intertwining roots and vines, creating an imprable shield around the swirling mana.


    "Hmmm. Your nature affinity is stronger than I expected." Eldrin raised a brow but as he turned to look at the elven girl, she seemed to be equally surprised.


    "It''s not me."


    The next instant right in front of the duo, another person walked over. But it was not Liam.


    A tall, slender woman walked in front of them, her body entirely wrapped in flowing garments that seemed to be made of leaves and vines.


    Her eyes were a deep shade of green, almost as if they contained the essence of the forest itself. With a staff made from a gnarled root in her hand, she exuded an aura of wisdom and tranquility.


    "Who dares intrude upon this sacred space?" Her voice, though melodious, carried an undertone of strict authority.


    Eldrin felt a chill run down his spine. "Are you a Dryad?" He asked with a slight stammering in his voice.


    The woman gave a nod. "Yes, I am Lunaria, the Guardian Dryad of master Liam."


    Eldrin''s eyes immediately lit up. "Liam, you dog! Now you have an elf and a dryad!" Heughed. "By the way, where is your master?"


    The dryad did not answer and looked at him with a stern expression, clearly unamused by his levity. "My duty is to protect and assist Master Liam in his endeavors. Your irreverence is out of ce."


    Ignoring Eldrin, Lunaria turned her gaze toward Elira. "You must be Elira, Master Liam''s friend. He spoke of you, and said you mighte seeking him."


    "He is currently in deep concentration, finishing aplex alchemical process. Your presence, he assured me, would not disturb him, as long as it''s kept at a respectful distance."


    Elira nodded gratefully, relief washing over her face. "Thank you, Lunaria. I am happy to meet you."


    "Good. As for you," Lunaria said, turning back to Eldrin, "I will tolerate your presence as long as you abide by the rules of this sacred space. Disturb Master Liam''s concentration, and you will answer to me."


    Eldrin rolled his eyes. "Understood. I''ll behave."


    Just a while ago, this guy was all alone, weak and helpless in a strange world and now he had somehow conned the entire empire and had an elf and a dryad to guard him.


    Eldrin let out a sigh. If he was a scoundrel, this person was an upgraded version! Just how is this human getting all the good things easily?! What a disgusting fellow!


    Along with the two other women, Eldrin patiently waited. Now he was even more curious to see just how much Liam had grown.


    A few hours passed by in silence just like that when suddenly a tremor swept past them. The ground underneath them and fissures started erupting everywhere.


    GROWL!


    Eldrin became startled as without any warning an enormous beast appeared at the distance. It had the head of a cow and was standing on two legs.


    The creature was enormous with a big head and two sharp horns protruding from the head. Moreover, these two horns were burning as if they were on fire.


    SNORT! SNORT!


    The beast let out a snort, exhaling plumes of fire and smoke from its nostrils as it red at the group.


    <Level 410, Minotaur>


    "This creature is aberrant, a monstrosity of magical corruption. It does not belong here." Lunaria''s staff glowed as she started chanting an incantation,


    "Minotaur?" Elira quickly tensed up.


    "Oh, you picked up an inspection skill from the system store, I see." Eldrin chuckled. Unlike the other two, he was rather calm. "Why don''t you twodies step back? Hmm. I can take care of this little pest without lifting a finger."


    Lunaria seemed skeptical but took a step back, keeping her staff ready. Elira followed suit.


    Eldrin cracked his knuckles, a smirk ying on his lips. His aura shifted, bing more intense. However, before he could do anything, another mighty roar sounded in the distance.


    The three of them only felt a gust of wind brush past them as an enormous beast suddenly stood in front of the minotaur. It was a wyvern!


    Wait, why does it look different?


    The creature was translucent, of the color whitish blue.


    "It''s a specter? This wyvern is a specter?" Eldrin was dumbfounded. Considering that the earlier specter belonged to Liam, could this also belong to him?


    Eldrin had already seen Liam manipte the soul-blood beasts back in the mystic realm. At that time, he assumed that it was probably a temporary control type of skill.


    However, what if he was mistaken?


    He watched as the wyvern fearlessly charged against the minotaur even though there was a hundred level gap between them.


    The wyvern seemed powerful enough but the minotaur was a strong, virulent beast. It was not going to submit easily.


    Just when he was thinking about the oue of the fight, another gust of wind brushed past him and another wyvern appeared standing on the other side of the minotaur.

 Chapter 1157 You boring bunch of assholes!

    Chapter 1157 You boring bunch of assholes!


    "Just how many of these does he have?" Eldrin looked shocked as he watched the two wyverns coordinate and take down the huge beast as if it were nothing.


    When they were done, they even started carefully tearing down the beast apart. They took out the mana core. They made different portion sizes of the beast meat. They cleaned out tendons, skin, and bones. They started storing the blood, fur, and horns.


    One of the wyverns was a water-type beast and it used a water gun to wash everything properly to remove all the stains.


    Eldrin''s face twitched. What sort of beasts were wyverns? Why were they doing this type of work?


    He was not weak and he did notck insight. He could sense the strong undead auraing from the beasts. It also seemed that these beasts still possessed their original intelligence from the way they attacked so ferociously.


    So how did they submit so easily, even doing such menial tasks?


    Eldrin simply couldn''t wrap his mind around it. Snapping him out of his thoughts a familiar voice sounded behind him.


    "You came? It''s been so many days that I was starting to doubt if you woulde or not?"


    Liam stood at the spot where there was previously the swirl of mana. He nodded at Elira, a little surprised that the elf chose toe back, though he had somewhat expected it.


    Eldrin, on the other hand¡­ to Liam, he was simply a wild card.


    Eldrin immediately took a step back his jaw falling on the ground. He looked at Liam dumbfoundedly and then searched around for the mana swirl. Clearly, it was no longer present.


    "You¡­ you¡­ have a pocket space?" He stammered in shock.


    As far as he knew, only a pocket space was able to produce a phenomenon like this. It was evolved space magic whenpared to a simple spatial ring.


    He hadn''t even digested mighty wyverns acting like goblin ves and now Liam had already dealt the next blow.


    Taking a few deep breaths, Eldrin finally sighed and shook his head helplessly. "You damn progenitors. You are always the luckiest ones." He knew that Liam would never reveal his secret so he did not ask about it any further.


    "Progenitors?" Liam raised a brow.


    "Progenitors are the first civilization on a new world that is granted the blessing of mana. Our current empires are also founded by guys like you. Every single one of them is a monster."


    Hearing him, everyone thought of the obvious thing. Elira''s face fell as she was the first one to ask, "Do we have to face them inside this forbidden territory?"


    A tense secondter¡­


    "Of course, not." Eldrin grinned. "Otherwise, I wouldn''t have suggested this n in the first ce. Come on. I am a young and charming elf. I don''t n tomit suicide."


    Elira rolled her eyes. Even the dryad Lunaria rolled her eyes.


    Only Liam remained indifferent as he stood there like an immovable rock.


    When the elf was concerned, this was what Liam nned to do. He neither trusted him nor doubted him. He was going to take everything as ites.


    "Inside the forbidden territory, when it is the season of blessings, only those below a certain level are allowed. This is to prevent the bnce of the world from toppling."


    "1000?"


    Eldrin shook his head. "It''s not that simple. Each time the level varies. It is decided by the ancient guardian depending on the harvest. Or at least that is the assumption."


    "Basically it depends on how much the barrier is loosened up."


    This meant that they could be facing anyone. Liam did not like this variable. If ites to that, he had already decided not to take risks.


    Lunaria and Elira were also deeply pondering Eldrin''s words. It looked like they would be pretty heavily relying on their luck.


    The group stood in silence when finally Eldrin spoke up again.


    "Alright. Why are we all standing here like this, awkwardly in the middle of nowhere? How about we have a feast to celebrate our sess so far and then discuss our future ns?" Heughed, trying to raise morale.


    "No need." Elira was the first to decline, followed by the dryad.


    Eldrin pitifully looked at Liam. "Boss, what do you think? Don''t you want to celebrate a little considering that your world is still whole and your family is doing well? You should have also gotten a huge haul from the system shop?"


    Liam did not say anything.


    "Ah! Come on! Do you know how seriously the entire empire is searching for you? You must have gotten several billions and zillions of tokens worth! At least give me a preview!"


    "...."


    "Did you heal your mana core?"


    "..."


    "I am not able to sense anything so most probably you did. What about your level? What level are you now?"


    "..."


    "Come on! We arerades. Friends. Fighting together. Shouldn''t you tell me at least this much? Where is the trust between friends?"


    Eldrin waited but it looked like he was not going to get any response after all. This guy! Why did he have to be so damn serious all the time!


    "Tch. Alright. Shall we make a move then?" Eldrin spoke with a scowl. "It is almost time for the forbidden territory to open up to everyone so we might as well get a head start."


    Naturally, everyone agreed to this.


    "You boring bunch of assholes!" Only he was in high spirits but now he also became serious. He shook his head and pointed his hand to the depth of the forbidden territory thaty deceptively silent.


    "Let''s go. It''s going to get more ridiculously dangerous from here onwards. So say your prayers first."


    As the group started moving, Eldrin scoffed inwardly as he looked at Liam.


    ''Just how long could you possibly hide your strength from me? Let''s see what you have been up to these past few months! Sooner orter I will know all your secrets and then I will decide if you are worthy or not!"

 Chapter 1158 Necromancer

    Chapter 1158 Necromancer


    The group of four quickly traversed through the forest at a cautious speed. Eldrin had already vetoed flying as an option since that would instantly make them a target of many hidden dangers that lurked in the forest.


    "It''s best to stay hidden and keep a low profile in the forest," Eldrin exined. "This is the time when the guardian gives its blessing. Every beast, elf or-" He paused as he looked at Liam and then continued, "whatever living being that lurks in this forest will fight with each other andpete for it."


    "It''s in our best interest to avoid the fights. I prefer letting others kill each other instead of getting my own hands dirty." Eldrin was very straightforward with his opinion.


    Elira and Lunaria instantly gave him a look but neither said anything. Liam, on the other hand, simply nodded, agreeing with the elf. He usually followed the same method so he did not have any problem with it.


    However, it seemed that it wouldn''t be so easy to avoid fights within the forbidden territory. Within a few minutes, they had already run into something troublesome.


    It was a group of wolves but this pack was a lot different than anything they had ever encountered. Every single one of the wolves was huge and it had monstrous bulging muscles.


    <Level 650, Titan Wolf>


    Eldrin''s eyes widened as he took in the information provided by his inspection skill. "Titan Wolves at Level 650... that''s far beyond the norm, even for this forest."


    "I thought that we still had some time but it has already begun!"


    "What do you mean?" Liam asked as he unsheathed his sword.


    "During this time the aura of the forbidden territory bes several times more powerful and this empowers the native beasts of this region." "This is also their chance to obtain the guardian''s blessing. The guardian is slightly more partial to them as these beasts live under the guardian''s shade."


    Liam clenched the sword in his hand tighter. This was an opponent he could face so he did not n to retreat.


    Before Eldrin could do anything, Liam inhaled deeply, and when he exhaled a whitish mist filled the area as even more ferocious beasts snarled and entered the scene.


    Eldrin watched in awe as one after the other soul blood beasts started stepping onto the battlefield standing between them and the pack of titan wolves.


    He had purposefully not made a move first so as to gauge Liam''s strength and his doubts were not unfounded. Liam could actually summon these dreadful soul blood beasts even outside of their empire''s mystic realm.


    Impossible! Eldrin shivered but the scene in front of him was continuing to unfold.


    There were in total fifty soul blood beasts in front of him and each and every single one of them was at least level 500. They charged straight at the titan wolves without fear and tore them apart using their vicious attacks.


    The titan wolves were known for their unyielding strength and ferocity, but faced with Liam''s soul blood beasts, they found themselves overwhelmed. It was a savage but quick battle, the mystical creatures diving in with a choreography that suggested deep coordination and control. Their ws and fangs were as deadly as any weapon, and they fought as though they felt neither pain nor fear.


    Finally, thest of the Titan Wolves let out a whimper, copsing to the ground, defeated but not dead. As the soul blood beasts stepped back, their forms dissipated into the mist from whence they hade, awaiting their next summoning.


    Eldrin gulped as he witnessed the unbelievable scene. Liam hadn''t lifted a finger but the entire pack had been utterly destroyed. This man was a walking arsenal!


    When he looked at him, there was only one thing that came to his mind. Necromancer! Eldrin had long since noticed the stench of death that hovered around Liam. He was an elf attuned deeply to nature. How could he not even tell this much?


    The stinging stench of death and decay was abundant around the human being. So he knew that Liam had to be a necromancer of some kind. The thing that threw him off was his ability to manipte the soul blood beasts which made him wonder if he was a type of summoner.


    But now, there was something else that stood out. Eldrin did not know for sure but these soul blood beasts were definitely not the soul blood beasts he had encountered back in the mystic realm.


    They were slightly different. The faint stench of death lingered over them as well which should technically be impossible as these beasts were very much alive.


    Just what sort of a monster was this man?


    Eldrin stood along with Elira and Lunaria and the three of them watched the scene of massacre. The pack of Titan wolves had definitely chosen the wrong opponents.


    As the beasts died, not even their corpses remained. Eldrin watched as every single beast was removed and stored inside some sort of spatial artifact. He stared at Liam''s fingers and was surprised to find that there were no rings. What sort of a spatial artifact was he using?


    Just then his attention had beenpletely on the soul blood beasts that he forgot to watch Liam and when he finally observed him, he found the human being busily focusing on something.


    Eldrin, unfortunately, did not manage to catch a glimpse of it as whatever was in Liam''s hand swiftly went into the spatial artifact just like the rest of the corpses.


    Tch. The chubby elf clicked his tongue.


    However, he didn''t care too much. This was just the beginning. They had so much more distance to cover. The forbidden forests were a vast territory after all.


    Even though he was currently nosy, in the end, Eldrin only hoped that this new partner of his had enough strength to carry him to the ce that he wanted to go.

 Chapter 1159 Map of the forbidden territory

    Chapter 1159 Map of the forbidden territory


    After the soul blood beasts gobbled up the titan wolves, the group continued to head deeper into the forests.


    "How long will it take to reach the guardian?" Liam asked curiously as he couldn''t help but be concerned about the vastness of this ce.


    "Who knows?" Eldrinughed casually. "It would take months if not years to traverse." He paused and then added, "If one did not know the way."


    Liam sighed at the antics of the elf. The damned guy was calctive no matter what the information was. He was also always feeding iplete information so that he would never be left out.


    It was irritating, but Liam had to admit that it was also smart, especially in a ce as unpredictable as this forbidden forest.


    Not long after, they ran into the next set of beasts or rather it would be more appropriate to call it a horde.


    The moment the quartet stepped into a region, without warning, hundreds and thousands of spiders started crawling out of the ground, out of every single nook and corner.


    Since it was dark in the forest because of the thick tree cover, the eyes of the spiders glowed bright yellow and it looked like the glowing yellow eyes were all around them, pouring in endlessly.


    Eldrin once again did not make any move as he simply watched Liam.


    Hmmm. Liam did not care. By now only an idiot would not understand what was going on. The other party wanted to gauge his strength and he wasn''t afraid to show it.


    Lifting off the ground, he summoned his minions. This time he did not hold back. He summoned the entirety of his soul minions to match the numbers of the spiders.


    He also summoned the soul blood beasts unit,pletely overwhelming the spiders.


    Each of the spiders was around level 200 and they were pretty good cannon fodder for his soul army. Besides he did not know if these spiders possessed some sort of unique venom so he did not take any chances.


    In an instant, the entire forest flooded with a bluish white fog as the soul minions marched forward menacingly. Several hundreds of creatures of varied shapes and sizes stepped out, ready for battle.


    Liam turned to look at Eldrin. "Is this what you wanted to see?"


    Eldrin stood stunned. He did not even hear Liam speak to him as he marveled at the scene that was unfolding in front of him.


    "So many¡­" He mumbled as he stared transfixed at the massacre that was taking ce. Greenish-brown blood spilled everywhere as the soul minions tore apart the spiders surrounding them.


    Even though the number of spiders was much more than the soul minions, it was clear which side held the upper hand.


    For each spider that lunged forward, a soul minion would retaliate, wielding swords, axes, or ethereal ws, making quick work of the enemy. The soul blood beasts, massive and intimidating, moved like disciplined soldiers, following unseen orders from Liam and tearing apart anything that got too close.


    "Incredible," Eldrin finally managed to speak, turning to face Liam, "I have never seen such an assembly of soul creatures, let alone control over them."


    The aura of death in the air was palpable and it was clear that these creatures were not the ordinary undeads. However, Eldrin already knew a bit about Liam''s capabilities so it was not difficult for him to analyze the true nature of these undeads.


    "Just how high is your ability to manipte souls?" He asked, almost afraid to know the answer.


    When he had first seen Liam deal with the soul blood beasts he assumed the nature of his skill was something simr to a temporary soul distortion attack. Perhaps it had a greater effect on the soul blood beasts because of their nature.


    But he had seen a lot more now. He would only be a fool if he still thought that Liam''s ability to manipte souls was superficial.


    For a moment, Eldrin subconsciously gulped as he wondered if he had behaved too cheekily to someone who might one day be able to seize and copse his soul at will.


    Was offending a person like this prudent?


    He then thought of something else. Was helping a person like this prudent?


    However, it was already toote. He was knee deep in the mire, he had to see his way through. He could only curse his bad luck for meeting a person like this in the first ce.


    Things were going to get far too troublesome now. He definitely did not possess the ability to kill him at the moment, thanks to the soul blood beasts. He could have killed him back then when they first met but that chance was already gone.


    And now, it didn''t matter if he helped him or not. This was a person who was only going to be stronger and stronger. If powerful necromancers were a headache to deal with, then this human being was going to be a nightmare.


    Eldrin let out a sigh and opened up the map of the world. He then zoomed into the forbidden territory and disyed the details to Liam.


    "Ahem. There is a chance that we might get separated in the future. So it''s best if you take a look at it."


    To Liam''s amusement, the elf started sharing the trajectory that they needed to be taking in order to reach the area where the guardian was located.


    At first sight, it looked like they had to arrive at the center of the forbidden territory but if one looked closer it was a lot moreplicated.


    For instance, a few sections of the map seemed to be constantly shifting around as if they were moving haphazardly. So the terrain was a lot moreplicated than Liam had assumed it was.


    "Dangerous beasts are not the only ones who are standing in our way." Eldrin pointed at the same spot and gave a rueful smile.

 Chapter 1160 Jinx

    Eldrin''s eyes locked onto Liam''s as he gestured at the map. "The forest itself is a living, breathingbyrinth of sorts. It changes itsyout to confound intruders. Many have ventured into this forest, only to get lost."


    "And there are ces... ces that even we dare not tread."


    Liam looked at the elf, taking in his sincerity and newfound openness. "So, what you''re saying is, even if we ovee the beasts, the forest itself may still devour us?"


    "Exactly," Eldrin nodded gravely. "The guardian isn''t just some powerful creature sitting at the center. It''s entwined with the forest itself."


    "It might have allowed you inside but everything now is a test set forth by the very guardian. So I doubt even you would get any special treatment."


    "The shifting terrains, the malevolent creatures¡ªeverything is part of arger system designed to test and only allow the true inheritor to arrive at the heart of this forest."


    Liam took a deep breath, absorbing the information. He nced at the map, now even more intrigued by the sections that seemed to be in constant flux.


    "And you can navigate us through this chaos?"


    Eldrin shrugged. "I can try."


    "The forest even defies the understanding of my people, but we have some clues, some paths that are less likely to shift. We''ve got as good a chance as anyone ever has."


    After exining the tricky terrain of the forbidden territory, Eldrin decided to give a brief description of theirpanions on this journey.


    "We will probably be meeting them soon so I will talk a bit about them." He started. "Our world has eight great empires."


    He looked at Elira and nodded, "She can also probably attest to this part."


    "There is our Stormshroud Empire, the home of the lightning element affinity elves, poprly referred to as the descendants of the sky or sky elves, whatever pleases you."


    Eldrin continued, "Then there are the Ice elves of the Frozen Empire, the dark elves of the Shadow Empire, earth elves from the Stonewall Empire, fire elves from the Emberw Empire, wind elves from the Galewind Empire, nature affinity high elves from the Verdant Empire andstly, the srae elves from the Sun Empire."


    "Each and every single one of these elven ns is powerful and they would all bepeting with us for clutching the blessing from the guardian."


    Liam nodded, digesting all the information.


    "Oh wait. Before I forget. Other than these major ns, there are also other elven ns who could be equally dangerous. The ones that we should be most wary of are the blood elves and another group of unique elves."


    "Well, why am I mincing my words? You are a human being, I don''t need to be careful around you. Listen, thisst elven n that I am going to tell you about might actually be the most powerful one of all in a way."


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow.


    "And they are not unique. They are just insane weirdos. Yup. That would be more urate! They are insane weirdo cultists!"


    "Huh?" Liam was confused.


    "They are a bunch of zealots who believe that a celestial divine being would one daye knocking at their doorstep to save them from the impending doom and apocalypse."


    "Every now and then they somehow infiltrate into other empires and gather people for their cause. They are very strong and slippery."


    "They have ransacked several treasuries of both small kingdoms and sometimes even the empires. They are very notorious. They answer to no one but their own deranged ideology. They may not have an empire, but they have amassed considerable resources and power"


    "Just pray that no matter whom we run into, we should never run into these bastards." Eldrin shook his head.


    After discussing the various nuances for a while, the group continued to head further inside. The good news was it looked like the spiders upied this territory and there was nothing else popping out of the woodwork.


    At the same time, the dense forest became richer in energy and the air tingled with a vibrant life force.


    The dryad Lunaria let out a big breath of relief. "It''s good that our journey is peaceful. We can finally breathe. This is how a forest should be, calm and nourishing."


    She couldn''t help butment because she was really enjoying herself at the moment in the presence of the abundant natural element. However, Eldrin''s face drastically changed.


    "NOOOOO! Why would you say that? Don''t you know it is a jinx to say things like that?" Eldrin almost shouted, his eyes widening with a mix of disbelief and concern.


    Lunaria looked puzzled, her leafy eyebrows arching upward. "A jinx?" The dryad did not understand what the elf was talking about.


    Liam understood but he did not want to get involved in this.


    The next second, almost as if on cue, the trio heard a distant, eerie howl reverberate through the forest, sending a shiver down each of their spines. The previously calm air seemed to thicken, the energy within it bing taut like a bowstring.


    "Fuck! I told you this was going to happen!" Eldrin took a deep, steadying breath, his hand instinctively moving to the hilt of his sword. "Prepare yourselves. Whatever it is, it''s powerful and it''s close."


    Lunaria looked genuinely apologetic now. All of them became alert.


    The forest around them seemed toe alive, its energy pulsating like the heartbeat of some gigantic creature. Shadows deepened, and the natural sounds of the forest fell eerily silent, making way for the rustle of unseen feet and the whisper of unspoken threats.


    Then they saw it, emerging from between the twisted trees¡ª a huge burst of mana appeared all of a sudden, a mana storm.


    It was a tornado of mana shooting from the ground up towards the heavens and it was moving at a speed that seemed almost impossible. The air around them vibrated, shaking leaves off trees and making the very ground tremble.


    More importantly, everything in its path disappeared, including three of the four in the group.

 Chapter 1161 I knew it

    Chapter 1161 I knew it


    The moment the torrent of mana engulfed him, Eldrin immediately knew what was happening but it was toote. When he opened his eyes he was already standing at a different spot and to make matters worse¡­ standing right there next to him were the two women¡­


    "What the¡­" He was utterly dumbfounded. "I knew it! I knew it! Damn it. I have the worst luck! That had to be a fucking mana storm and I had to get stuck with you two useless idiots!"


    Still disoriented, Elira and Lunaria tried to make sense of the elf''s words. "What mana storm? What are you talking about?"


    Eldrin sighed in exasperation. "What did we just go through? That''s called a fucking mana storm. It has teleported us here!"


    Elira finally grasped the situation and her eyes narrowed at Eldrin''s rudeness. "First of all, no need for the insults. Second, is this what the forest usually does? Teleport people around?"


    Eldrin pinched the bridge of his nose, visibly frustrated. "No, not usually. Mana storms are rare phenomena, unpredictable, and powerful. They have the ability to twist the fabric of space within the forest, relocating anything¡ªor anyone¡ªcaught in their path." "We''ve been relocated, but there''s no telling where. We could be miles from where we started, or closer to the guardian, or further away." As he thought about this, he hurriedly opened his map, only to see that they had actually been teleported right to the very edge of the forbidden territory. In fact, one could even say that they had been kicked out of the forests!


    "Ah shit! Shit! Shit! This is bad! All that work¡­ Arghhhh!" Eldrin couldn''t believe it. Not only were they kicked out of the forest, but he was also separated from Liam. Things couldn''t get any worse.


    However, just as he said it, he could faintly sense some movement in the distance. He looked around and the two women seemed oblivious to it.


    Pathetic weaklings! Eldrin cursed inwardly.


    Lunaria, now regaining her bearings, was also looking around calmly. "Well, there''s no point inmenting. We should try to figure out where we are and decide our next steps."


    "Just shut up." Eldrin cried as right at that moment a deafening noise sounded in the distance and it was approaching them at an incredibly fast pace.


    "Something probably sensed the disturbance and sniffed us out!" Elira said.


    "Yes. You are a genius." Eldrin sarcastically retorted in anger. His heart pounded as he unsheathed his sword and prepared for whatever was about to show up.


    He stared in the direction of the ruckus wondering what was about toe when the noise became louder and louder. Now that they could hear it more clearly, everyone could tell what it was. The pping of wings!


    "Birds? Most of them should be weak!" Eldrin saw a little hope in the darkness but the next second he saw the outline of the first bird and his heart stopped.


    The shape that emerged from the skies was no ordinary bird. It was enormous, with wings that blotted out the sky as it swooped down.


    "A Thunder Roc," Eldrin muttered, barely loud enough for Elira and Lunaria to hear. "It''s a magical beast. They are attracted to high concentrations of mana, like the residual energy from the mana storm."


    "And there are so many of them¡­ we are utterly andpletely screwed."


    Eldrin gave a fleeting nce to the two women. Level 300 something and level 100 something. Completely useless.


    Seeing as how they were currently being encircled by the thunder rocs from all directions, he would have preferred to use these two as bait and meat shield to save his skin and get the fuck out of here but¡­


    Fuck! There was no way he could do that!


    Otherwise, that monster would probably hunt him to the end of the world!


    "Get behind me." He muttered in disgruntment as he single-handedly prepared for the onught of an entire army of thunder rocs.


    The two women did not look confident at all. Elira took out her sword and Lunaria prepared to cast many spells. This only made Eldrin roll his eyes.


    "These are level 500 thunder rocs. The two of you don''t stand a chance. You will only end up irritating me if you stand in my way. Just get behind me and sit tight."


    When the two still did not look convinced, Eldrin sneered. Did they think that he was a weakling? Just because he did not want to get his hands dirty did not mean that he was not capable of dealing with these few birds.


    In the next instant, four elemental swirls materialized around him. As he moved forward to sh down at the first couple of thunder rocs that had reached them, the four swirls started shooting out big zing balls at the birds.


    Watch me and learn, bitches! Eldrin did not like to fight but he also did not mind putting these two in their ces so that the rest of their journey would be smooth.


    But then he suddenly realized something and the smugness on his face disappeared. This was because¡­ while he was harassed by these ugly birds here, he was pretty sure that his counterpart was having the time of his life right about now.


    ''I even gave him the route!'' Eldrin cursed inwardly. ''That lucky bastard must be strolling through the forests right about now without any worry or danger. I know it. I just know it. There is no one with better luck than him!''


    Thinking about this, Eldrin furiously started attacking the birds and taking out his anger on them.


    He moved with lethal grace, his sword a shining arc that sliced through the air, severing talons and wings. With each sh, a Thunder Roc fell, screeching itsst. His elemental swirls worked in tandem, providing both offense and defense, a harmonious dance of destruction that kept the onught at bay.


    Meanwhile¡­ at the depth of the forbidden forests¡­ the so-called lucky bastard was...

 Chapter 1162 State your purpose

    Chapter 1162 State your purpose


    Liam watched the empty space in front of him where three of his travelpanions had been standing just a few seconds ago. Now they had vanished without a trace.


    "So I guess this is also a thing in this forest?" Liam frowned. He had reacted as fast as he could but that was only enough to take care of him. He did not have the time to pull Lunaria and Elira out.


    But Liam was not worried. They had been staying here for many months now and the two of them knew how to handle themselves in the forest and keep their heads down. There was also Eldrin with them.


    Besides, right now he was in no position to worry about others.


    The moment the fluctuations from the mana storm vanished, Liam could already feel several auras approaching him from all directions.


    It looked like the mana storm had caught the interest of quite a few beasts. Their auras were also faint which told him that these were rather dangerous beasts since the beast most probably knew how to hide the aura. He was not naive to think that there would be such weak beasts in this thick of the forest.


    However, Liam did not n on moving. While Eldrin''s motive was for him to obtain the blessing of the guardian, he himself had other motives.


    He wanted to train in this forbidden forest. For months he had been sharpening himself and now it was time to test the results of his hard work. The time for him to go back home was also here.


    And when he did, he would have to undoubtedly face Crawford. These beasts in the forest would be a good stepping stone for him before he faced that old monster.


    Of course, if something truly powerful stepped out, he already had his escape route in ce.


    With all the preparationsplete, Liam unsheathed his sword and waited for the beasts to reach him. The auras came closer and closer and finally, a few figures emerged out of the dense foliage.


    But unlike Liam expected, these were not beasts. Standing in front of him were a dozen beings that looked like elves except their skin was pale blue in color and their eyes glowed a mystical silver.


    Liam did not even have to guess who they were as a palpable cold and frosty aura emanated from the group which they did not bother hiding.


    They were seated atop magnificent white tigers, each with silver horns that seemed to shimmer in the fading light.


    The elf in the lead, presumably their leader given the more borate markings on his armor, and the bigger tiger, regarded Liam with a stern expression. "You are a human, far from your kind''s world. What are you doing in this part of the Forbidden Forest? State your purpose!"


    Before the elf could finish his words, another set of fluctuations erupted in the distance and the next second, a new group of dark-skinned elves emerged from the woodwork, seated atop ck panther-like beasts, except these beasts had many tails.


    "Rastakhan, I knew it. You were colluding with evil forces!" An elf stepped forward, this one possessing a dark ck skin.


    "Funny, you should say that, Zylith," Rastakhan, the leader of the Frost Elves, retorted. "Because it''s the first time I''ve seen this human, and you show up just moments after him. Suspicious, don''t you think?" Zylith looked at Liam with piercing golden eyes and then went back to Rastakhan. "I don''t care for humans. My concern is you, Rastakhan, being this deep in the forest. You seem to be in vition of the treaty."


    "Cut the crap, my friend. Aren''t you here as well? Which means you have also vited the treaty."


    "Hmph. It doesn''t matter what tricks you use. This time our youngest prince will be the one to clinch the guardian''s blessing."


    The frost elf snorted coldly at this remark. "Our princess will be the chosen one."


    Liam''s face turned cold seeing the two groups of elves argue with each other,pletely ignoring him. However, he knew that things were not so simple.


    Even though they were staring daggers at one another, and their behavior was one of hostility, he doubted that the two would actually fight each other.


    It was clear that their enmity was not to that extent or perhaps they had the intention of forming allies with each other. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be wasting time with just words.


    This was bad news for him as he was hoping that the two would fight with each other and ignore him. But it was clear to him that the chances of that scenario happening now was pretty slim.


    They were also casually chatting without considering him any threat which could mean that they had a bigger backup somewhere nearby or that they simply did not consider him to be a threat.


    Liam''s mind spun fast, thinking of the various possible scenarios. He did not want to wait around to find out what the reason was. He needed to act now. There were two paths ahead of him and he would choose the one that presented itself before him. While the two were distracted, he silently entered stealth mode.


    But the next instant, a loud snort sounded as an icicle brushed past him, only narrowly missing his shoulder as he moved away at thest second.


    "Necromancer. Do not move. I haven''t allowed you to move, yet!" Amanding voice sounded from behind and it did note from the leader. Another elf jumped out of the group, the paws of the tiger he was riding gliding noiselessly on the forest floor. This one had an air of authority that even Rastakhan and Zylith seemed tock. His eyes were as cold as death, proud and imprable.


    "Your tricks will not work on me. You are not strong enough to defy me. So when I tell you to stay down, that is an order you must obey."


    The next moment a heavy frigid aura erupted from the frost elf spreading in all directions, silencing everyone present there.

 Chapter 1163 Cornered

    Chapter 1163 Cornered


    Liam gazed at the ice elf indifferently. The frigid aura that made the dark elves tense up did not bother him at all. There were two paths ahead of him and the elf just chose the second one.


    And the fact that the ice elf already knew he was a necromancer made things all the more interesting.


    "Come. You will be my first stepping stone."


    The next instant, the fifty soul blood beasts appeared on the battlefield. Before the ice elves or the dark elves could blink, the sole human being who was ''trapped'' in the midst of them suddenly became an army, an army that they couldn''t ignore.


    Each and every single one of the soul blood beasts was level 500 and above. Fifty of them together at the same time was not something one could handle easily.


    They charged in a frenzy in all directions and attacked both the group of elves rabidly.


    However, what Liam doubted was indeed correct. The ice elves were quick to react. As soon as the soul blood beasts were summoned they were utterly shocked but they were also quick to recover from that shock.


    It looked like they immediately called for backup.


    Just as the battleground became chaotic, a shimmering rift of icy light materialized behind the group of ice elves, and from it emerged a squadron of additional warriors, each mounted on simr white tigers with silver horns. They were led by another elf who wore a crown of ice crystals, her eyes a prating cial blue. The newly arrived elf, presumably a royal figure given her aura and garb, nced at the leader, and then at Liam.


    "Interesting," she murmured, "a human necromancer with quite the summoned army. It looks like we have run into the human who is rumored to have caused the downfall of the Stormshroud Empire."


    "And do you know¡­" The princess muttered with a vicious grin. "There is another rumor that he has managed to steal invaluable treasures from the system shop in the Stormshroud Empire."


    "Let''s go. We have to kill him at all costs."


    Seeing that Liam was running away after leaving the soul blood beasts to deal with the two elven units, the three ice elves immediately followed behind to chase after him.


    "Rastakhan and Valthorn." The princessmanded, looking to her left and right. She signaled for the two of them toe at Liam from the sides so that the three of them could corner him from multiple directions.


    "This is the forbidden forest. It is easy to lose sight of the target here. Let''s -" Unexpectedly, the princess stopped talking midway and stared straight ahead. The target was standing right in front of her.


    Both Rastakhan and Valthorn noticed this and stopped in their tracks. They looked at the human being but this time he was different. The human they had seen earlier only had a simple robe donned and looked like a traveler. But the one standing in front of them at the moment was decked from top to bottom in items.


    Liam stood still as swirls ofher started gathering around him. If one observed closely then one could see that this swirl ofher wasing from his earrings. A big ck blob on each ear.


    A cold smile spread across Liam''s lips as he gazed at the three elves who had him cornered. The swirls ofher energy emanating from his earrings intensified, filling the air with a palpable tension.


    "Stole from the system shop, did I? Well, some rumors do hold a grain of truth," Liam mused, his voice tinged with mockery.


    The princess looked visibly unsettled for the first time, eyeing the ominous earrings cautiously. "Those artifacts...they''re not from our world, are they?"


    "Very perceptive," Liam said, snapping his fingers. These were the first items he crafted right after secluding himself in these forests for the past month. Mana toher converting ear beads - Nether Dots. They converted the abundant mana in the air intoher. In a mana-rich area such as the Forbidden Forest, Liam thought that this was an absolute must.


    Under hismand, theher swirls coalesced into dark tendrils that surged forth, aiming for the elves. No matter how they dodged, the tendrils were relentless.


    A chilling frost aura erupted from the three ice elves as they counteracted with icy barriers in an attempt to neutralize the oing attack.


    Rastakhan and Valthorn unsheathed their swords, which glinted with ethereal icy light and took defensive stances. Meanwhile, the princess raised her hand, and a shimmering staff materialized, its tip crowned with an ice crystal that radiated frigid energy.


    Liam smiled. Though the earrings converted mana toher, their efficiency was only so much and Liam already achieved what he wanted. The usefulness of theseher dots was not too bad in the battle. However, they could be improved further. He made a mental note of that as he prepared his next move calmly. The princess frowned. She could tell that she would not leave her alive if she underestimated this human being in front of her. Before Liam could make any move, she struck her staff on the ground, this time chanting in an unknown tongue. A vortex of icy wind swirled around them, slowing down the tendrils ofher energy, making them sluggish and easier to evade. "Your dark magic may be formidable, but it''s not unbeatable," she dered, and the next instant her aura burst forth.


    Immediately, abundant frost energy radiated from her covering the entire area in a shroud of biting cold. The temperature plummeted, and even the tendrils ofher energy seemed to freeze in mid-air before dissipating into wisps of dark mist.


    Everything around them froze, fractals of ice forming over the trees, the ground, and even the air itself seemed to thicken with the cold. For a moment, the forest was transformed into a winter wondend, albeit one with a chilling atmosphere of impending doom.


    Yet Liam remained unfazed as if the plummeting temperature and the frigid aura had no effect on him. His gaze met the princess''s eyes.

 Chapter 1164 Ice Ice Ice

    Chapter 1164 Ice Ice Ice


    Princess Freliya did not like the look on the human''s face. "Eternal Blizzard!" She mouthed and the already freezingndscape became even colder. Massive vortexes of mana appeared in the sky above them and from within them sharp ice spears started shooting down at a rapid speed without any end in sight.


    At the same time, the two ice elves on either side burst into action. They swung their swords sending multiple frost sword beams and charged forward toward Liam.


    However, when their swords cut through him, he was no longer there. What remained there was just an illusion which disappeared with the attacks.


    The two ice elves gasped in shock and intuitively turned towards their princess. But it was already toote. Liam stood right behind the princess as he grabbed one of the ice spears and jammed it straight at her heart.


    The princess''s face changed as she did not expect the human being to bepletely unaffected by the frozennd they were currently in.


    However, that was still not enough to take her. Arghhh! She let out a guttural shout as a barrier appeared in front of her, clearly one that belonged to her armor. Using this split second, she moved away from the human being as fast as she could.


    She conjured another torrential downpour of ice spears but once again the human being disappeared. Her silver eyes searched for him in the blizzard but he seemed to appear and disappear at will.


    Liam''s images and afterimages were everywhere. Thanks to the illusionary sword skill in his possession, he was able Liam''s images and afterimages were everywhere. Thanks to the illusionary sword skill in his possession, he was able to create this skill by merging three different skills together. A movement skill, the illusion skill, andstly wind elemental enhancement, extreme speed.


    Seeing that the fight was not going the way they had expected, the three ice elves immediately exchanged nces, and the next instant several ice walls started falling from the sky.


    Though it appeared to be random, the ice walls eventually locked Liam into a small territory where he was standing face to face with the three of them.


    "Ice prison!" One of the elves shouted as the walls began to fortify. New walls emerged that divided them and now Liam waspletely enclosed in a small space with thick rigid ice walls.


    The ice walls were also further empowered by the current frozenndscape that the ice elves had created. Liam was locked in one space unable to move. Theher tendrils from before were unable to even scratch the walls, let alone break it.


    Seeing that he waspletely walled off, Rastakhan cast thest skill. "Ice Judgement." Multiple ice spears protruded out of the wall and the ground Liam was standing on at the same time.


    Ice Walls, Ice Prison, and Ice Judgement were pretty much impossible to beat once they were chained next to next and fortified with highly powerful ice elemental essence.


    In the past, the three of them had finished several of their enemies in this manner. Fire elves, earth elves, wind elves, everyone had tried to get out of this attack with respective counter skills from their repertoire but against the freezing frigid cold they had no choice but to get subdued and ughtered.


    These ice walls and ice spears were powerful enough that the earth couldn''t crack them, the fire couldn''t burn them and wind couldn''t slice them. So the ice elves were extremely confident in their attacks. This was also their ultimate attack in which they had expended most of their mana in.


    However, the ice elves did not even get the chance to fullyplete the attack when cracks started to appear on their imprable ice wall.


    A bad feeling welled up in their hearts. If a person was imprisoned in the ice casket, they were supposed to lose hope and get crushed. The chilly ice was enough to bore into the thickest of defenses.


    If one spear was not enough then the second one would aplish the task. If not, then the third one. If not, then the fourth one. This was precisely why they conjured a deadly number of hardened ice spears.


    But still, the walls were cracking. The three ice elves hurriedly fortified the wall with more ice elemental juice, except that their speed was not nearly enough.


    The cracks became bigger and bigger. Everything was happening too fast. One of the ice elves started shouting in panic. "You will not fight back. In the name of the royal family,y down and-"


    RUMBLE RUMBLE


    Before he could finish his words, the entire set up burst open with ice fragments flying everywhere. Thisbined with the blizzard that was already pouring from above without stopping, caused endless ice everywhere.


    However, in the midst of this white rain, sword arcs shed here and there as a clear path was carved in the chaos.


    The ice elves prepared to attack again but they did not get the chance.


    Arcane Frost sh!


    An immense amount of mana swirled around him as a giant sword materialized from the energy.


    With one swift motion, Liam unleashed the attack, and the massive sword arc of arcane energy sliced through the freezing air, breaking through the blizzard and hurtling toward the ice elves.


    Princess Freliya barely had time to raise another barrier, this one visibly strained and pulsing as it fought to withstand the arcane onught. Her apanying ice elves weren''t so lucky; one of them was too slow to react and was sted back, severely wounded, and knocked out of the fight. The other one was directly cut into two halves.


    Liam appeared next to the first one and finished off the job, blood sttering on the white icy field.


    "You think you cane into my realm and defy me?" Princess Freliya''s voice quivered with indignant fury. She was now visibly drained, the color leaving her face as she expended her magical reserves. But she was far from giving up. Her staff glowed once more, albeit dimmer this time. "cial Heart!"

 Chapter 1165 Scatter

    Chapter 1165 Scatter


    "cial Heart!"


    Arge crystal of ice materialized above her, its inner light throbbing like a heartbeat. It began to draw in the surrounding cold, intensifying the freeze to an almost unbearable level.


    Raw elemental ice essence began to gather at lightning speed. "Frost Nova!" The princessmanded and did not stop. "Absolute Freeze." "Ice Thorns." "Ice judgment." "cial Awakening." She muttered several things under her breath, one after the other, throwing all the caution to the wind.


    At the same time, several items on her person cracked loudly and fell down broken, showing that she had used all of her resources and everything that she had to cast this attack.


    She truly drained everything in her power. The icy aura this time was enough to seep into anyone''s bones and freeze them from head to toe, from core to soul.


    However, the next second, the only thing that froze were her eyes. She shivered and trembled in the cold as she couldn''t believe what she was seeing.


    "Impossible..." Princess Freliya whispered, her voice tinged with disbelief and a hint of dread. The power she had just unleashed was meant to freeze everything, down to the very essence of her enemies. It was supposed to be absolute. Yet here stood the human being,pletely unaffected.


    "Just how high is your affinity for the element? No. No. Even then¡­ do you have a dao seed of an elemental? You have a domain?"


    Liam smiled. "So what if I have one?"


    "No. No. That is not possible. How could a human being possess a dao seed of an elemental?" The princess no longer had any strength left in her body. She copsed on the ground, kneeling and hoarsely panting. "How can a human being have a dao seed of an elemental? You are a monster. What is a monster doing in a ce like this?"


    Liam looked at the fallen princess but there was no pity in his eyes. The woman looked up and their gaze met for a second. "I am a princess, you cannot-" she started but¡­


    Arcane Frost sh


    "You are weak. I don''t mind letting you free. Unfortunately, I need you to teach me the tricks you used this time. Training with only one skill is not giving me enough practice." Liam indifferently spoke as the woman''s head rolled on the ground.


    His hand then effortlessly captured the soul into a white bead. Coincidentally, there were already two other white blobs in his hand, the two souls belonging to the two other ice elves. He shoved all of it into the white bead and made his way back to the battlefield where his soul blood beasts were wreaking havoc.


    Liam had already inspected all of his enemies in the time they were greeting each other. Every single elf was level 500 or lower, slightly weaker than his soul blood beasts. So he was not worried about the beasts. It was the other side who had to worry.


    As Liam walked observing the battle, just like he had his minions were winning. The soul blood beasts also had a strong pack tendency which made them protect one another. This made sure that there weren''t any casualties.


    Overall, the first bump with the enemy was his win.


    Liam casually took out another white bead and gathered all the souls that he could scavenge from the battlefield.


    One of the dark elves who was still alive noticed what he was doing and his face covered in dread. "What are you doing? sphemy! You will be punished for this sphemy! The guardian will ughter you! Arghhhh!" A soul blood beast near him rammed straight into him and drained away thest bit of health as well.


    Liam only gave a nod and sucked away the elf''s soul along with the rest of them.


    Just like that, the chaotic battlefield once again became silent with only a sole human being standing amidst the carnage.


    Liam looked around him and let out a sigh. Near himher swirls were once again forming and as they gathered some mass, he looked at the corpses piled in front of him andmanded. "Stand up."


    The air shivered, crackling with dark energy as theher swirls enveloped the fallen elves. Slowly, the corpses stirred, rising to their feet as if pulled up by invisible strings. Their eyes glowed a dull blue, devoid of life but brimming with a strange, dark power.


    The newly-raised undead stood in formation, waiting for orders. No longer the proud ice and dark elves they had once been, they were now mere pawns under Liam''s control.


    Liam did not want to do this before because it would immediately alert the elves of his presence and essentially inform them of his n to attain the guardian''s blessings. Not just that but it would also be putting a target on his back. The elves might even trace his location using the scent of the undead.


    However, now he no longer had to think of these things. Liam was quite sure that this small skirmish would have already revealed his presence. So he freely raised the undead.


    As for these undead leading the enemies to his location, this was precisely why he had summoned them in the first ce. He was not nning on keeping these undead right next to him.


    Rather his n was to disperse these undead throughout the forests so that the elves would be confused and would not be able to pinpoint his location. They would have to spread their forces thin trying to hunt him down. While they were preupied, Liam could focus on his main objective.


    "Scatter," Liammanded. "Go in different directions and cause as much chaos as you can. Do not engage unless necessary. Only fight the enemy that you are able to. Your primary objective is to survive."


    The undead elves nodded, their soulless eyes glowing momentarily as they understood hismands. Then, like shadows disappearing into the twilight, they dispersed into the surrounding forest, each taking a different path.

 Chapter 1166 A solution?

    Chapter 1166 A solution?


    Liam watched the undead minions scatter around and he nodded in satisfaction. His skill level and proficiency in necromancy had improved a lot these past few months. Whenpared to increasing his proficiency in soulmancy, this was proving to be a lot easier. However, it would be foolish to underestimate the field, considering it easy. Perhaps he would be reaching a bottleneck soon in this as well.


    While the two fields were simr to some extent, they were also different. Liam already felt the several disadvantages he currently had when using the rudimentary necromancy skill in his possession.


    The raised undead were quite weak whenpared to their counterparts who were once alive. They were mere husks of the person they previously were. They never tired. They never hungered but they were also verycking.


    The other disadvantage was the fact that they couldn''t be housed in some sort of summon space just like his soul minions rested in his soul. After dealing with the soul minions for so long, Liam understood one thing. The soul minions were somewhat a part of his own soul. After attaining a higher understanding of soulmancy, he had a feeling that he should be able to incorporate them within his soul whenever he wanted and needed them without any bacsh, freely assembling them and disassembling them.


    However, it was apletely different story for the undeads. These were fleshy zombies and skeletal warriors that sometimes retained some skills of their previous selves. More importantly, once they were created, they were out in the real world and couldn''t be stored anywhere.


    If Liam did not have the PVP tower artifact then many of the corpses he had raised would have gone to waste. But luckily he managed to ovee this disadvantage using the vast storage space in his possession. Thanks to the artifact, he could store the minions and use them whenever he needed.


    After sending out the undead ice elves and dark elves, Liam did not linger around and immediately left the area as well, proceeding further into the thick forests.


    Both the mana storms and this fight would have definitely attracted a lot of interest and he did not want to stay back to find out who else was present in the forest.


    Liam wanted to use this opportunity to train himself but he had a few limitations. So he would rather have the majority of his enemies sh with each other and face the wounded victors.


    Unfortunately, he had to settle for this at the moment.


    A few secondster, a series of loud deafening roars reverberated in the distance, indicating that this decision had been the correct one. For the foreseeable future that ce was going to be a fighting ground for many beings in this forest as the chaos would only keep multiplying with time. He had managed to escape that for the time being.


    Liam continued to move forward away from the scene of the crime as fast as he possibly could. At the same time, he focused on recovering his mana as fast as he possibly could.


    While his minions and the undead could handle distractions and minor skirmishes, any major confrontation would demand his direct involvement.


    However, all of a sudden, Liam unexpectedly paused. A frown appeared on his face that quickly became a look of extreme pain.


    His steps faltered, and he gripped a nearby tree for support as a wave of agony surged through him. It felt like a searingnce thrust into his very soul.


    Taking deep breaths, Liam fought to maintain his focus as he quickly took out a couple of medicinal pills and a potion.


    If anyone watched him right now, they would be utterly shocked. The two pills radiated a unique aura, glowing faintly in his palm. One was a silver-colored pill while the other was a pitch-ck colored pill.


    The moment the both of them were taken out a strong medicinal aroma erupted from them, filling the air and causing even the vegetation around him to seem as if it quivered in response.


    Such a potent medicinal pill would be coveted even in a B-Rank world or an A-Rank world. But Liam did not care about that. He simply shoved both the pills into his mouth at the same time.


    Waves of pain crashed everywhere in his body as his muscles and bones were once again starting to tear apart under the stress.


    Residing in the depth of his body, one silver-blue mana core and one pitch-ckher core started to sh and grind against each other, tearing apart his body from the inside out.


    The two cores which appeared to be whole again started breaking apart.


    Liam''s face twisted in agony, his teeth gritted so hard he feared they might shatter. The world around him seemed to blur and twist as if mocking his plight. He knew he was treading a dangerous line but he had no other choice. This was the only solution he coulde up with at the moment with everything he had in his hand.


    Right when his body was on the verge of one again withering away, and the two cores had almost burst and exploded, the pills he had swallowed started working their magic.


    The healing effects of one pill enveloped the silver-blue core while the healing effects of the second pill converged on the pitch-ck core.


    As if recognizing their respective counterparts, the two pills seemed to disintegrate, releasing torrents of restorative energies that channeled directly into the shing cores. The pain in Liam''s body reached a crescendo, a peak of blinding, debilitating agony¡ªand then it began to subside. Rapidly.


    The fractured shards of his cores began to reassemble, drawn together by the potent medicinal energies. The silver-blue core absorbed the energy of the silver pill, its broken fragments knitting back together like shards of a shattered crystal. The pitch-ck core responded simrly, pulling its dispersed energies back into a cohesive whole under the influence of the ck pill.


    Liam then washed them down with the potion that he had prepared beforehand. The potion was light red in color, appearing simr to a healing potion except this one was so much more potent.

 Chapter 1167 Vicious Cycle

    Chapter 1167 Vicious Cycle


    Gulp. Liam swallowed the potion as a look of relief washed over his face. The red potion slowly healed all the wounds and the tears in his body that were drained of every juice inside, thanks to the mana core and theher core shing again.


    The entire process took about fifteen minutes but it might as well have been hours because it was fifteen minutes of pure agony. In that fifteen minutes, Liam felt debilitated for almost two entire minutes while the rest he was at least able to maintain some amount of sanity.


    This was extremely dangerous because, for those two minutes, he would bepletely vulnerable. However, this was already the best he could do.


    Healing a broken mana core was not hard. For that matter healing a brokenher core was not hard either. Perhaps for a low-tier world like Earth, these things were a death sentence but for higher worlds, it was as simple as curing a disease or regrowing a limb.


    But one still needed a good alchemist to achieve that. Or at least have enough wealth to afford the pill.


    Thankfully, the fairy had given him the recipes for it, along with several other recipes. It was by no means a walk in the park and after many many iterations of failed concoctions, Liam managed to prepare several pills for recovering both his mana core and hisher core.


    However, the big problem still remained. The two couldn''t co-exist and no matter how much Liam tried, he was back to square one again and again, every single time wiggling on the ground like a worm.


    Without this no matter what he tried Liam would only bepletely naked and vulnerable in this dangerous ce. Even if he returned home, he would be no match for Crawford, the PVP tower master, let alone the divine temple high priestess.


    It was a non-starter for him to continue being in this weak state. Instead of waiting for a limit breaker fruit to magically fall into hisp, Liam wanted to do something in the meantime that would help him even if it was a little bit.


    Keeping this in mind, he spent the past few months buried in the recipes he had learned so far and understood the field of alchemy from scratch. He went through every single herb that he had knowledge about and studied them from top to bottom.


    He studied why certain herbs were used for certain recipes and how they modified the final concoction. He even studied the way in which herbs were used as catalysts for smithing and other crafts.


    Sitting inside the stone tablet world he had spent days and days understanding every little thing about this field as fast as he could expending tremendous amounts of mental strength. He only stopped when he was utterly exhausted and even then he used a mental rejuvenation pill that he concocted to get right back up. Eventually, he stumbled onto something.


    It was not a perfect solution. In fact, it was far from a perfect solution but it was something he could work with and his gamble was based on a calcted risk that he already knew the oue of.


    Liam had survived so far with apletely broken down mana core and apletely broken downher core. Keeping this in mind, he thought of a bold idea. He wanted to try what if he healed his mana core andher core partially but notpletely?


    After diving into a couple more days of research he created a pill that would heal one''s core almostpletely but not 100%.


    With this ''cracked'' mana core, he also tried to create a ''cracked''her core. While a broken mana core and a brokenher core could co-exist, he wanted to see if a cracked mana core and crackedher core could co-exist.


    To Liam''s surprise, his wild idea had worked!


    However, it came with a price. When he actually executed the idea, the cracked cores did not really stay cracked for long. The cracks started widening and slowly the entire core eventually became broken down, thereby sapping away his powerpletely.


    And thus started the vicious cycle.


    If someone else learned about this they would have been shaken to their core and would have run away in the other direction but Liam was truly desperate. He needed to get stronger to get back and reim his home before something like that ceased to exist.


    So he sat down and created several modified mana core healing pills andher core healing pills. Every time he consumed them, his body would be healed and two powerful cores sat in the center of his body.


    However, in a matter of days, this started changing. The cores started deteriorating and eventually, they shed against each other andpletely broke down, in the process also tearing apart his body and bringing him right back to zero again.


    At this time, Liam consumed the pills again only to torture himself all over again. He had to continue the cycle if he had to regain at least some of his fighting ability. It was not his best but with the cracked core he was able to get 85% of his maximum capacity at the right time.


    For now, he had to work with this. It was at least better than nothing. To this mix, he also added a healing potion to replenish his body reserves. Each time the cores broke and reformed he was putting both his mind and his body through a lot.


    Liam knew that down the line he would have to pay a price for this too but for now, this patch-up job had to work. Especially because his main strength, his soul, was still in the repair phase. Unlike broken or cracked mana cores andher cores, healing one''s soul proved to be a lot more tricky.


    The soul healing recipe that he received from the fairy did not quite cut it. Even with him altering the pill as much as he could, he couldn''t seed. This meant that he would have to rely on his ''cracked'' cores to navigate through this stage. No matter what he was determined to make it work. Fate was not going to hand anything to him but he was going to survive nevertheless and w his way up from here.


    A few minutester the pain was reced with a cold indifferent look as Liam once again continued heading inside the forbidden territory. He had already gained a lot but there was a lot more left to gain.

 Chapter 1168 Loot

    <h4>Chapter 1168 Loot</h4>


    While Liam headed further into the forbidden territory, he took out the spatial rings and items he had gathered from the dead elves to take a look. Most of them were filled with decent quality materials but they were nothing mind-blowing.


    There were some herbs, some pills, potions, equipment, weapons, the normal items any person would have on them whening to a ce like this. While the average quality of the items was quite impressive, they still would only serve as recements for Liam.


    But seeing a certain item, Liam suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    [Lightning Scroll] - Summons a localized storm when the scroll is activated with mana, generating bolts of lightning in a designated area for a short period. Suitable for causing massive damage to enemies or environments. Difficult to control, a potential risk to the user.


    Now this was a consumable that he could use at the moment. Liam quickly ced this scroll separately into a new pile.


    He went through the rest of the loot and found twenty such scrolls, each for different types of attacks. The fairy had also given him some scrolls like this but one could have enough of such items.


    Liam continued searching until he finally came to the spatial ring worn by the princess. From what he knew the royal family should be quite prolific so he did not have much hope of finding something precious inside.


    However, when he opened the spatial ring, he was taken aback.


    He found scrolls inside the spatial ring of the princess as well but these were by no means ordinary spell scrolls.


    [Ice Cataclysm] - Unleashes a devastating blizzard over a wide area, freezing everything within its radius. Capable of halting entire armies and freezing fortified structures.


    It was a Rank S skill!


    While the fairy had given him a few of the moremon skill scrolls, he had not given him anything of this caliber. Not that Liamined. The fairy had already helped him a lot. The rest would have to be his own effort.


    Liam put the scroll aside carefully as he checked out the next one. Shockingly, this one was a Rank S skill too!


    [Sr Nova] - Creates a small sun that emits intense heat and light over a specific area, incinerating everything in its vicinity.


    [Void Tear] - Opens a temporary rift in the fabric of space, banishing anything caught within its pull into a pocket dimension. Usage can lead to the destabilization of local spatial energies.


    One after another, he found three powerful skill scrolls.


    Liam was awestruck. This was a goldmine. While these skill scrolls were not all-powerful and could be easily blocked or evaded, they were still extremely potent tools to have in his arsenal.


    Each one could be a game-changer in the right circumstances, allowing him to turn a desperate situation into an advantage.


    Even more so, these Rank S scrolls were undoubtedly worth a fortune, sought after by the most powerful figures in the magical world. He couldter exchange them in a system shop or hand them over to his guild, adding a trump card to their firepower.


    Liam ced all of the three scrolls onto a different pile. Looking at all the loot he had amassed in such a short period of time, he couldn''t help but think of the obvious.


    There could potentially be so many elves wandering about in this very same forest right now, all headed in the same direction he was.


    Sure, some of the elves could be monsters whom he would not be able to stand against. But some would surely be weaker.


    The elf had told him that the real powerhouses would only arriveter because of the restrictions ced on the forbidden territory and that too if they were permitted at all.


    The elves currently inside were most probably small fries such as the two groups he had faced earlier. There was no reason why he should let this chance slip by.


    He might or might not receive the guardian''s blessing but he could surely loot all of the resources from these small elven squads and search for valuable items.


    Naturally, he couldn''t just waltz in and take whatever he pleased. He needed to be careful and prepare several contingencies.


    Liam contemted the issue for a few minutes before he summoned his soul minions and sent them out in different directions just like he had done with his undead minions.


    This was going to be a bit taxing on his mind but it would be worth it.


    Besides, if Liam had learned anything in the past few months it was that his mind was capable of withstanding pain he had never even dreamt of.


    "This needs to be done," Liam muttered and closed his eyes. As he focused his mind, he began to link his consciousness with the soul minions he had just dispatched.


    Unlike simple undead, his soul minions possessed a fragment of his own awareness, granting them the ability to make moreplex decisions and ry more detailed information back to him.


    By now his proficiency in handling these minions had increased to such an extent that each one acted like an extension of his own senses if he focused on them.


    More importantly, he would be able to trade ces with them if needed. This was the crucial part.


    While he was also able to sense some things from the undead minions he raised as all of them also possessed a lick of soul. But that small amount was not enough for him to trade ces with the minion.


    Liam cracked his neck. As his minions ventured forth, he sat down in a concealed area. Then, with a deep breath, he focused his mind to perceive the world through his minions, sifting through them one after the other.


    Instantly, a kaleidoscope of sensory information flooded his consciousness. It was overwhelming at first, but then he started topartmentalize the information, parsing it in real time.


    His experiment was sessful because, within a couple of hours, one of his soul minions discovered another elven squad.

 Chapter 1169 What is yours is mine

    <h4>Chapter 1169 What is yours is mine</h4>


    Liam had a bitter taste in his mouth as the minion who had encountered the elven squad was a werewolf minion, one that had been with him for a long time.


    However, he couldn''t afford to get emotional here when there were a lot of people counting on him. The werewolf howled at the other end almost as if it could feel what wasing.


    The next second, without any hesitation, Liam took a deep breath and sacrificed the minion, his figure appearing in front of the elven squad instead of the werewolf.


    The abrupt translocation was apanied by a brief but intense disorientation, a side-effect of the skill he had used. But within a split-second, he was fully aware of his surroundings.


    Liam stared at the group of dark elves who were casually resting.


    The dark elves looked back at him in confusion. Where there was previously a weak monster, now a human being was standing. They couldn''t understand what just happened.


    And before they could react¡­ Liam swung his sword. Frostwave sh.


    The next instant numerous sword beams arced outwards in a semicircle moving at speeds that defied the eye. Each beam that emerged from his de was imbued with a frosty aura.


    As they struck the air, a chilling mist rapidly spread, and the sword beams expanded, engulfing the elves in an aura of freezing energy.


    The temperature around them plummeted dramatically, causing their movements to slow. The beams connected, leaving ayer of frost on armor, weapons, and even the vegetation around them.


    For a moment, the only sound was the chilling wind that seemed to have been summoned by his attack, howling through the trees like a pack of icy wolves.


    By the time the dark elves snapped out of their stunned state, the damage had already been done. The attacks cut deep, shing right through the armor of the dark elves and leaving frosted wounds that made any further movement painful and sluggish.


    Those who had taken the full brunt of the attack were struggling to move as ice crystallized around their limbs and joints.


    Blood sttered everywhere as the dark elves fell, some attempting to break the ice encasing them only to find their energy failing them.


    Liam stood in the midst of the chaos, his frosty de gleaming in the dim light that filtered through the canopy of trees. With a flick of his wrist, he sent another attack forward, finishing off the remaining elves.


    "So even at my best a single attack is not enough to take care of them." Liam let out a sigh.


    These past few months he had trained arduously in the sword technique Arcane Frost sh he had obtained from the inheritance.


    Though he had reached a sort of roadblock in that technique, he was able to decipher a few other techniques from that concept. However, they seemed to need more refinement.


    Sucking in all the souls of the dark elves, Liam summoned a few soul blood beasts to deal with the leftover loot. He then ced the bodies into the spatial artifact and proceeded to move from there.


    This part of the forbidden territory was different from the one he was previously in, a little further out, taking away a huge chunk of his progress but that did not matter.


    Another soul minion continued heading straight ahead and if he switched ces with that minion, he would get right back to where he previously was without missing a beat.


    This sort of jumping around was proving to be extremely convenient. Only the drawback was huge. Every time he used a teleport he would lose a minion.


    And at the moment, Liam was unable to forge any new minions.


    Or rather his forging efficiency was very bad. It could be even considered wasteful. Right now he was only able to forge one out of ten souls. The remaining tries ended up poorly.


    The ones that were forged were not that powerful either.


    At the maximum, they had a level of 400. Even if he forged a level 600 beast soul, it would only end up as level 400 or lower and its abilities were on the weaker side.


    However, it was still easier getting these level 400 minions than waiting for his lower-leveled minions to level up all the way to 400. That was extremely time-consuming.


    This was why Liam did not hesitate as he started sacrificing some of his minions and recing them with more powerful ones.


    The other thing he noticed was that some of his minions had more growth potential than others.


    For example, the three-headed chickens could not bepared to Helikatos who was a named elite when alive. There was also Kouske and a few other special minions.


    Liam made sure to keep these special minions.


    After breaking his head for the past few months over trying to heal his soul and to understand more about soul minions and forging, he felt as if he was close to achieving another breakthrough.


    At that time, perhaps he could give these special minions some sort of upgrade or at least reforge them bybining them with higher-level souls.


    This was simply a conjecture at this time. Unfortunately, Liam needed to wait until he could explore more.


    Liam took a breath as he focused back on the task at hand and finished going through the loot he had just gathered.


    The minion he had sacrificed hadted him a few more skill scrolls, some powerful stealth potions, camouge items, andstly, a few deadly poisons.


    Liam had nevere across such types of poisons in his life. The basic dossier on poisons that he received from the fairy also did not mention these special poisons.


    He added them to his growing pile of valuable consumables and kept going.


    A few minutester, another one of the soul minions ran into an elven camp. Putting aside the items in his hand, Liam immediately teleported to the second spot.

 Chapter 1170 Skinny dipping

    <h4>Chapter 1170 Skinny dipping</h4>


    The sky above roared ominously and bolts of lightning descended with fierce crackle, illuminating the area in shes of blinding light, burning to a crisp anything that did not have sufficient physical defense.


    "The effect of this lightning scroll is not bad at all." Liam gazed at the fading scroll in his hand, its arcane symbols dimming as it disintegrated into ash, its magic expended.


    The bolts of lightning had struck with lethal precision, scorching the earth and rendering the few elves incapacitated or stunned with heavy damage. Their once-proud formation was now a chaotic jumble of wounded elves struggling to regain their senses.


    Liam used a fire sh to end the misery of the elves.


    Roaring mes cloaked the de and zing arcs of fire swept over the wounded elves. Their bodies were consumed by the fiery wave, leaving behind only charred carcasses scattered across the scorched earth.


    Not paying attention to the smell of burnt flesh that filled the air, he summoned a few soul blood beasts to collect the loot.


    This was the seventh group he had ughtered today. Surprisingly, their skill levels were all almost the same. Their possessions were also nothing shocking.


    This told Liam two things. The different empires were only sending out weaker squads to the forbidden territory at the moment.


    The second thing was that these elves all remained outside a certain boundary. They did not step into the territory beyond that perimeter.


    This told Liam that the danger in this area could be potentially much higher than what he had encountered so far.


    He was half hoping that he mighte across some sort of unique technique or artifact from the elves that he might have to watch out for but until now, there were no surprises.


    In all honesty, these elves were not weak. They should have survived easily inside the forest, maybe as long as they stuck to this border.


    But it was their misfortune that there was an unexpected predator even on this side of the boundary.


    Liam sifted through the loot and ced everything in the spatial artifact. He then zoned in on the minions again.


    Another one of his minions had run into an elven squad but this time Liam decided not to pursue it.


    By now the elves might have signaled the other members of their party about him in one way or the other. He was not naive enough to think that this could not have happened.


    This was a B-Ranked world. They might even have some sort of method to keep track of everyone''s whereabouts. So before backup arrived, Liam decided to stop his random looting and instead head further inward.


    But just as he nned to teleport to the minion who was walking forward on his behalf, he caught the glimpse of another minion that had encountered an elven squad.


    This time it had actually run into a squad of srae elves.


    Based on the information he had gleaned from the dossier provided by the fairy, Liam understood that these elves were particrly skilled in harnessing the power of the light element.


    Liam paused. He was suddenly curious to take a look at the spatial rings of these elves. His gut feeling was telling him that they might contain some potential method to heal his body or his soul.


    More importantly, when he focused on the minion, he saw these elves diving into some kind of pond. This further piqued his curiosity.


    Without hesitation he immediately teleported to the spot, recing the minion.


    The next second, he approached the group using double [Blink] and sent out two consecutive arcane frost sh at the group of elves, summoning his full strength, intending to finish off the battle without giving any chance to the other side.


    Considering that the other party might have some life-saving skills to protect themselves, he did expect this to be executed perfectly but to his surprise, the sword skill was better than perfect.


    The chilling arcs of the arcane frost shes danced through the air, cutting with surgical precision across the elves who were caughtpletely off-guard.


    The frost shes wove a symphony of icy destruction that ended as abruptly as it began, leaving the srae elves frozen in shock and disbelief. Their radiant light had been dimmed, overwhelmed by the imcable ice.


    It only took Liam a second to notice that this was because of the small pond in the vicinity from which an icy aura emanated.


    Clearly, this was not just a simple pond; it had amplified the ice magic he had unleashed. The aura of ice elemental surrounding the pond was palpable.


    When he looked around, there were also some ice elves'' corpses next to the pond. It looked like the srae elves had hunted down some ice elves before he got here.


    Considering the enhancement it had given to his arcane frost shes, Liam felt convinced that the pond had properties worth exploring.


    He walked closer to examine it further but there was nothing else exceptional about its appearance. The pond looked almost mundane¡ªexcept for that powerful icy aura.


    "Do I have to go in blind?" Liam did not like it but this seemed to be an opportunity that he couldn''t afford to miss.


    Besides, he was not going to lose anything with a single try. If there was something powerful residing under it, then he either would have to face it or flee.


    He paused for a moment before plunging right into the freezing cold water body. The icy aura that had enveloped the pond now wrapped around him like a second skin. It stung him like a thousand needles.


    Liam''s body tensed as he sank deeper into the freezing pond, each drop of water prickling against his flesh like shards of ice. The deeper Liam went in the more the freezing chill permeated his body.


    However, he was hardly normal at the moment.


    He was no longer a mere mortal. His body had been tested by countless trials. He had mana running in parts of his body andher running in the other parts. He was able to withstand the cold easily.

 Chapter 1171 Dao seed of ice

    <h4>Chapter 1171 Dao seed of ice</h4>


    Liam continued to descend into the depths of the mysterious icy pond. The water grew darker as he sank further down, but his vision wasn''t hindered, courtesy of [Dark Sight]. However, the cold became worse.


    After a certain point, Liam could not hold on any longer. He circted mana in his body and tried to mitigate the biting cold, but it was like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a stick. It was a different level of cold, one that seemed to seep into his very soul.


    Just what was this ce?


    Liam could feel the ice elemental essence getting richer and more pure as he headed further down. At a certain point, it was almost impossible for him to hold on.


    However, he still had one more trick.


    Liam closed his eyes as he continued heading down, focusing inward. More specifically, he focussed on something that resembled a small shard of ice, one that was present inside his body but at the same time was not present.


    It was his dao seed of ice elemental. It was neither present in his soul nor present in his physical body like the mana core and theher core. Instead, it was present inside a different space, probably a mental space. At least this was Liam''s best guess.


    Ever since he had been getting these system notifications that informed him about the Daos he had gained, Liam was ufortable because he feltpletely out of his depth.


    It was as if he was staring at something like a child without any knowledge about it whatsoever but at the same time, he could tell that the very thing was about knowledge and understanding.


    Daos, the understanding of the world he was in or rather the myriad worlds that existed.


    Gaining a Dao seed was taking a first step toward this understanding. However, this was not merely the knowledge of it. There was also the physical manifestation of this understanding.


    Liam learned more about what he was dealing with thanks to the fairy''s mana theory 101. The knowledge the fairy had given him was still far from sufficient.


    In fact, it barely scratched the surface. Whenpared to the other things the fairy had provided him, this felt iplete. But Liam did not hold this against the fairy because he had a feeling that he knew the reason why.


    It should be the same reason the elven ancestor stopped the inheritance trial mid-way for his sake. It should be because the fairy did not want to harm his growth, thereby creating a future enemy for himself.


    Sometimes when something was shoved inside a person''s mind, it was more harmful than useful. If knowledge could be passed this way, then every single elf of the royal family should be atrociously powerful.


    There should definitely be some side-effects if everything was learned from someone else''s experience or worse simple words.


    Though experiencing everything on one''s own was also impossible, even gaining a little bit of insight on one''s own should be the right way to go.


    Liam had already stepped on this path. He had received several hints from the first inheritance and he mediated on the Dao of the ice elemental repeatedly.


    Hebined this meditation with repeated training of the arcane frost sh and every other ice elemental skill that he knew. It took him several days but he finally managed to grasp a bit about the manifestation aspect.


    And right now, the situation he was currently in was no doubt an opportunity for him to gain more foothold on this Dao and develop his Dao seed.


    He was currently hunting for opportunities to improve himself in this world and he was smackdab in the middle of one such opportunity. Liam understood this, and it was why he ventured into its icy depths in the first ce.


    He stopped descending further down into the depths and concentrated on the small shard of ice, his dao seed of ice elemental.


    A profound sense of connection washed over him. The Dao was a conceptual understanding, a foundational essence that could connect the practitioner to the veryws of the world.


    Though he was only at the initial stages ofprehending it, the shard-like seed within him resonated strongly with the icy aura of the pond.


    Drawing upon that resonance, Liam tried to will the dao seed to absorb the purer, richer elemental essence surrounding him.


    However, this was easier said than done. While he had seeded before in taking a part of the dao seed''s power andbining it with the execution of attacks, this was kind of the opposite.


    He was going to absorb something in or rather use it for defense. He couldn''t help but be confused. He did not really know what to do. The cold was also not helping it. It was a lot more than he could take on.


    At this point, Liam had two options. Leave it or go all in. These kinds of ces were difficult toe by and at least on earth nothing like this pretty much existed. So he had to go all in.


    He took out a Verdant Heartroot from the spatial artifact. He only had a few more of these herbs but he had a feeling that this circumstance warranted using one.


    Liam quickly munched on the wondrous cheat drug that essentially made the Dao examination easier. If only he had the limit breaker description and details.


    But how could hein? It was already good that he somehow managed to get his hands on a supreme herb like this.


    As the juices of the cheat drug filled his insides, Liam hurriedly focused on his dao seed of ice elemental and once again tried to absorb the biting cold inside or at least interact with the biting cold using the small shard of ice in his mental space.


    It was a risky maneuver; he was, in essence, inviting the overpowering cold to flood into his very being but this was what his intuition told him to do.

 Chapter 1172 Welcome Party

    <h4>Chapter 1172 Wee Party</h4>


    The result was instantaneous. Not only did the biting cold cease its painful invasion, but Liam also felt a surge of power fill him, revitalizing his weary body and calming his restless soul.


    The Verdant Heartroot went to work almost immediately, nourishing his body and mind from the inside out. He felt a ball of potent energy gathering in his body and could use it to bear the mind-numbing chill.


    He felt better than ever and he quickly began to gather the ice elemental essence that was lying all around him. The ice shard resonated with the essence and began to glow brighter.


    Liam continued pulling in as much as he could. At the same time, he started moving deeper into the abyss of the icy pond.


    His dao seed was glowing and pulsating. As he descended further, he felt more in tune with the essence around him, as if he were diving into an extension of his own being.


    The sheer purity of the ice elemental essence became overwhelming, and yet his dao seed absorbed it like a sponge soaking up water.


    The resonance was stronger than ever. It was as if his dao seed had be a beacon, drawing the essence toward him.


    As he delved deeper into the pond, the environment began to change subtly. The waters grew even darker, more frigid.


    Liam felt as if he was on the cusp of understanding something profound and making a breakthrough but before he could get there, he reached his next limit.


    His being truly couldn''t handle the cold anymore. Liam paused, wincing in pain. He had gained a bit but he was not satisfied. He did not want to leave just yet.


    He stopped diving deeper into the space and stood still, floating in the middle of the icy abyss. Minutes became hours and hours turned into days. Liam silently continued meditating.


    Finally, cracks started appearing on the small ice shard.


    With a tremor running through his body, Liam shed his eyes open. "Tch." He clicked his tongue in disappointment. He had tried so hard and yet something eluded him. He seemed to be missing the final piece of the puzzle.


    Even if he spent more time here, he doubted if he would gain anything. So he decided to stop this for now. He quickly opened his status screen and checked the date.


    Eldrin had pointed him to this feature earlier, adjusting the settings for date and time ording to the world he was currently in. Rather it was better to do all the calctions and gauge the cycles with respect to the universal date and time.


    Liam sighed in relief as he noticed that there was still time left for the guardian''s blessing. He might not be sure of his sess in this endeavor but he wanted to at least try for it.


    He began to swim upward from the depths of the icy pond. He once again paused and this time he took out the stone tablet.


    Liam had not done this before because he did not want to ruin a natural resource like this by mistake, but now that he was done with it, he wanted to try and take it for himself. He couldn''t let such a wondrous opportunity slip by.


    As the icy waters caressed the stone tablet, it trembled in his hands as if it were excited. The next second a small vortex formed near the stone tablet.


    Liam''s eyes widened. This was working. He knew from experience what was going to happen next. Streams of icy essence began to get sucked into the stone tablet.


    The swirling vortex became a miniature storm of elemental essence, drawn irresistibly toward the stone tablet as if heeding some ancient call.


    Each mote of essence that entered the tablet seemed to make the inscriptions on its surface glow brighter, humming in harmony. Liam could feel the essence around him slowly beginning to dim.


    As the final streams of icy essence were absorbed, the vortex shrank and finally dissipated, leaving the waters around Liam eerily still. The stone tablet ceased its trembling.


    Liam ced the stone tablet back inside and headed to the surface. There was nothing lurking around him, so he stepped out.


    "I am alreadyte. I need to catch up with the others." He stretched his limbs as he tried to get a sense of his soul minions.


    Since it had been a few days, he was not optimistic about the number of soul minions still remaining on the field. He had also given them themand to dismiss themselves in the presence of danger. He did not expect many to be still active.


    Liam closed his eyes and focused but immediately frowned. The minion whom he had asked to keep moving forward was not to be seen anymore. This was going to cost him time.


    He continued trying to sense his minions, only to find that most of them had indeed returned to his soul space.


    Coincidentally, there was still one left.


    Hmmm? Liam raised a brow. If he was not wrong then this one¡­


    He paused for a moment before he activated his soul swap skill. The next second, the werebarbarian soul shattered and Liam appeared in its ce.


    The moment he did, immediately several figures materialized around him, breaking their stealth. And this time it was not just one or two squadrons of elves.


    Liam found himself surrounded by almost an army of ice elves!


    Ice elves, d in armor that gleamed like polished sapphires, with eyes as cold and unfathomable as the abyss he had just emerged from.


    Longbows were already drawn, arrows notched and aimed squarely at him. Swords glimmered menacingly in the hands of some.


    Their leader, distinguishable from the rest because of his huge frame and eye-catching resplendent armor, stepped forward, eyes locking onto Liam.


    "Where is our princess human? Hand her over to us." His voice thundered.


    Liam grinned. Just like he had thought, a wee party was waiting for him.


    "Oh, you mean the one with the long hair?" He shrugged. "I am not sure who you are talking about. I have killed so many of you."

 Chapter 1173 I need more

    <h4>Chapter 1173 I need more</h4>


    The leader narrowed his eyes, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword. "Do not jest with matters of utmost importance, human. Your flippant attitude will not save you."


    Liam still did not seem to care. The leader''s face darkened. Anger bubbled inside him as he saw the human being''s behavior.


    "If you do not want to talk to me when you are alive, then you can talk to me after you are dead!" The leader shouted in anger as he unsheathed his sword and jumped from his tiger.


    "You read my mind." Liam cracked his neck. Staying in the same position and meditating had made his body very stiff. Besides, it was time he started forging souls again.


    The next instant a cold storm picked up as the leader angrily mmed down on the ground and swung his broadsword sending out a chilling cold wind that sliced the trees standing in its path.


    However, Liam did not even move as hepletely ignored the attack, facing it head-on. He even seemed as if he was trying to savor the attack and absorb it.


    This shocked the elven leader visibly. He was about to make the next move when Liam raised his sword. "Normally I try not to be excessive but unfortunately I need more at the moment."


    "What do you mean?" At this time, the elven leader felt a powerful aura surge from the human being in front of him.


    "I need you all to die."


    Liam sent out a freezing cold sword beam as soon as he finished speaking. The elf''s mouth gaped wide open as the powerful wave of sword beam descended on him.


    The sword beam cleaved him into two halves without giving him any chance to retaliate.


    Thendscape was suddenly stark, the icy wind howling through the emptiness that was left behind.


    Liam stood amidst the aftermath, his sword still glowing with the residual energy of his devastating attack.


    He sheathed his sword and closed his eyes for a moment, allowing the collected ice elemental essence to settle back into his dao seed.


    The time he had spent training in silence was definitely worth it. It had improved his power exponentially and he was closer to using his dao seed efficiently.


    The rest of the ice elves stared at Liam in shock. With their leader dead so suddenly, they did not know what to do. They couldn''t fathom the enemy in front of them.


    They also did not have the time to. Liam''s figure shed as he finished every single one of the elves. He used the same attack again and again, manipting his dao seed when he did.


    Using the power of the dao seed to finish off these opponents was akin to using a cannon to kill mosquitoes but he did not care. He wanted to train more and more.


    He was on the verge of a breakthrough. He was sure of it. He wanted to bulldoze it down and see what was on the other side.


    Liampletely finished off all the elves and then summoned his minions to collect the loot. He then did not bother going through the loot as he hurriedly started forging the elven souls he had gathered.


    The efficiency was bad but it couldn''t be helped. He wanted to learn more ice elemental skills and push himself.


    He quickly retrieved all the souls of the ice elves he had gathered so far and then started forging one after the other. At the same time, he also continued moving forward, heading deeper into the forbidden territory.


    He was now far away from the original path which Eldrin had advised him to take. In order to return to the path, he needed to move right. Liam moved diagonally on the right side to make up for lost time.


    He unleashed the soul blood beasts to guard him as he was forging the ice elf souls. The forging process was painful. He was losing souls left and right.


    After seeing that his efficiency hadn''t improved, he saved the leader''s soul, the princess''s soul, and the two elders'' souls for forging at ater time. He only focussed on the souls of the foot soldiers for the time being.


    In reality, these ice elves were all powerful and above level 500. Even though they were foot soldiers their skill level was nothing to scoff at.


    After a few hours, Liam managed to secure ten ice elves, their levels around 450. These powerful minions reced the weaker ones he had sacrificed to the Soul Swap skill.


    More importantly, he was able to go through the memories and glean knowledge from these ten ice elves and also from some of the failures which was an added bonus.


    Liam sat atop a soul blood beast as he calmly processed all the information that he had just gained. It was a surreal feeling to go through one''s memories, especially another being who was from a different world.


    Liam saw vast icynds, intricate elven architecture carved from ice and crystal, and the deeply ingrained customs and rituals of the ice elves. Memories of battles, diplomacy, and various ice elemental techniques unfurled in his mind like a film reel.


    Liam revisited these memories again and again and learned the skills one after the other from their experience.


    [Howling Winds]


    [Icicle Rain]


    [Ice Prison]


    [Song of Ice]


    [Dance of Ice]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam learned every skill that he possibly could, no matter how small they were. He repeatedly practiced the skills again and again and achieved as much mastery as he possibly could.


    What was that on the other side of the door?


    He wanted to know.


    He wanted to feel that power coursing through his hands.


    Would that finally be enough to return home and face the enemy that was waiting for him?


    Snapping him out of his thoughts, suddenly the ground under him shifted.


    Liam immediately jumped off the soul blood beast and flew in the air but it was of no use. It was as if the entire space he was in was distorted.

 Chapter 1174 Small fires

    <h4>Chapter 1174 Small fires</h4>


    "What the hell are you doing?" Elira watched as the chubby elf started rearranging the corpses of the few people they had just now killed in a weird manner.


    Actually, it was not urate to call him chubby anymore because the elf was bing more fit and agile daily.


    "Sssh. I will be done soon." Eldrin replied in annoyance. It sucked that he had to do all of this manualbor by himself. If he had minions like Liam, he would have of course been a lot faster.


    More annoying were the two who were constantly hounding to make it faster so that they could return to their goddamn master.


    "Don''t do anything unnecessary. We need to-"


    Eldrin interrupted the woman because he knew exactly what she was going to say. "I know. I know. Go find your master and help him?"


    He sighed and stood up, unable to bear this torture anymore. One would think it would be enjoyable to travel with two beautiful women but the truth was far from it!


    "By the way, what help do you think you are going to do when you get to him? Can someone weak like you even be helpful?"


    Elira stared back defiantly. "I will do my part no matter how little or big it needs to be."


    Eldrin scoffed at this response. "Shut up, you idiot. What I am doing right now is going to be more helpful to your master than you ever can be. Look around you carefully."


    Both Elira and Lunaria looked around them wondering what the elf was talking about.


    "What? Neither of you bird brains can understand?" Eldrin scoffed.


    "Look closely."


    The two women''s eyes widened in shock as they finally understood what the elf was talking about. The corpses of the dark elves were scattered around in a pattern.


    While it was not obvious, from the way he had arranged the corpses it seemed as if the dark elves and the ice elves were fighting with each other.


    And that was not all.


    There was also a wind elf corpse thrown into this mix, looking as if the wind elf was also in cahoots with the dark elves.


    Moreover, the arrangement was extremely clever. It was subtle and not obvious. It looked like the two factions had indeed fought each other. No one would suspect that this was staged.


    "Now do you understand?" Eldrinughed like an evil mastermind, giving the two women the creeps.


    "These small fires that I have set up will result in big explosions. And only if there are big explosions¡­" He exined with exaggerated hand movements.


    "Small fries like us can sneak in the midst of the chaotic battleground and steal the prize. At the least, there will be fewer enemies for your master to fight against. He He he."


    "You two are still naive. Young souls. What did you think about this forest? It is a ce of bloodshed! Carnage!"


    "Every year numerous elves lose their lives here. And we are close to the end game. It shouldn''t be long before the big shots arrive. We need to be smart about this." Eldrin exined with a smug expression.


    Even though it seemed like he was joking around, his strategy was extremely borate. The two women immediately became worried.


    While they couldn''t be of much help, in these past few days they havee to realize that the cunning chubby elf was not that weak. Perhaps if they had not split apart from Liam he could have helped more.


    As if reading their mind, Eldrin shook his head. "What you are thinking is not wrong, but if you ask me, worrying about your master is pointless. I have a feeling that the guardian has an eye on him. He should be good as long as he passes all the tests."


    "Guardian''s tests?"


    "Mmmm. I am not sure. There are many rumors circting around. For example, there is a part of the forest that brings out your worst fears and your deepest insecurities. Fighting at one''s best condition is not hard, fighting with this sort of setback is another thing."


    "At this point, I think your master is not in danger from these small fries. He needs to look at the forest around him. If he can survive this forest, then most probably he should reach the grand stage."


    "Alright. Now that our job is done here, we can leave. Let''s go. It''s time for the finale. For the real monsters to arrive. We should leave before it''s toote. We need to reach that grand stage too, don''t we?"


    Eldrin packed up the two and left the area. He couldn''t help but wonder what Liam was up to right at the moment. The blessing day was getting closer and closer. Was he really okay?


    ***


    Liam did not know what was happening but he mentally prepared himself.


    Thest time around Liam knew that he was walking into a trap but he still did it anyway because he needed more elven souls but this time he had no idea what was happening or where this was taking him¡­ whatever this was.


    "Am I getting teleported?"


    If he was indeed getting teleported, all he could do wasnd on both his feet.


    Soon, the distortion settled down and his vision cleared up. It only took about a second but it felt like several minutes.


    "Where am I?" Liam looked around when suddenly an intense feeling of dread and helplessness washed over him. His heart started palpitating, fear gripping him like the cold hands of death.


    Breathing heavily, he gripped his sword tightly, attempting to ward off the rising panic. There was danger around him. He was sure of it. A danger capable of taking his very life away.


    He did not have any escape route this time. This was it. This was the end of the road for him. He was going to lose. He was going to die.


    Srik! His mind wobbled. His heart ached. His face turned pale as buckets of sweat poured out of him. He couldn''t move even a muscle. He was fully paralyzed.

 Chapter 1175 Flee?

    <h4>Chapter 1175 Flee?</h4>


    The sensation of paralysis was agonizing. Everything around him started turning blurry and his heart was on the verge of exploding out of sheer fear and tension.


    However, itsted only for a moment. Liam managed to fish himself out of the brink of ultimate desperation in the next second.


    This trick might have worked on someone else but for him, rock bottom was not a new ce. He had visited this spot plenty of times that he no longer had the tourist status. He was regr. This much pain was nothing for him.


    Seeing that he couldn''t get a grasp of anything and was simply drowning in the overwhelming sense of danger, he allowed himself a breather and closed his eyes.


    The first breath then made the second breath easier and soon he calmed himself down. He was once again calm and collected as he looked around.


    Surprisingly, his surroundings were now a lot clearer and he was able to see everything. He was in the same lush forest region with towering trees and no end in sight.


    Liam frowned. What was happening? There was clearly no beast or elf near him and yet the danger he had felt was palpable. It was a mental attack of some kind. He had no doubt about it.


    But the question was¡­ whose attack was it?


    Before Liam could answer this, all of a sudden a white fog started seeping in around him.


    Liam''s senses sharpened as the fog enveloped the forest floor, crawling upwards like a living thing. He tightened his grip on his sword. Was this another attack?


    The fog thickened, reducing his visibility to mere feet. The silence was back, but this time it felt different¡ªoppressive, like a weight bearing down on him from all sides.


    But Liam stood his ground, trying to pierce the veil of fog with his eyes, straining his ears for any sound that might betray the presence of a hidden threat.


    Then he heard it¡ªa soft, haunting melody that seemed to emanate from the fog itself. The notes wove through the mist like ethereal threads, pulling at him, and drawing him into their hypnotic dance.


    He shook his head vigorously, breaking the momentary trance the melody had put him in. This was no ordinary fog, nor was the song a random urrence.


    Someone or something was manipting his senses, trying to lull him into a false sense of security or perhaps into madness.


    What was happening? Why was he suddenly facing a streak of mental attacks?


    He then suddenly remembered something Eldrin had mentioned to him. The elf told him that there were parts of this forest that one should not step into.


    The forest was not an ordinary forest. It had a life of its own. It could even be called an extension of the guardian itself. In that case¡­


    Liam had a frightening thought. Was he getting attacked by the guardian itself?


    In reality, whatever Eldrin told him, was all based on rumors and pure conjectures. So he couldn''t be sure about anything. The elf was very clear about that.


    So right now, Liam could only rely on these things to guide his path. If the information he had was correct then right now he should be facing his biggest fear?


    Or perhaps the enemy that he feared the most? The divine temple high priestess?


    Or thest thing that the elf told him about. The spirit of the powerful ancient elven ancestor who was the first to bind the world tree of this world?


    What was going to happen now?


    His heart rate spiked again as anxiety filled him. He knew that the enemy this time wouldn''tpare to the enemies he had faced until now.


    This one was going to be powerful.


    Beyond something that he could handle.


    For this fight, he definitely had to ce his life on the line.


    Liam already started tapping into his dao seed of ice elemental, prepared to attack with his strongest attack right from the get-go, surprising and taking the enemy by a storm before they had a chance to make their move.


    He probed the foggy areas extending his [Mana Sense], another skill that he had picked up from the basic tool kit that the fairy had provided him. This enabled him to get a more clear picture of the surroundings, in a way that was different from mere visibility.


    It took him a couple of seconds but then Liam saw it.


    Bingo! He was correct!


    His enemies were lying in wait for him!


    In fact, the entire forest was filled with numerous powerful creatures!


    What the hell was happening? He could perhaps fight and win against a single creature but these many?


    Should he flee already?


    Liam was not willing. He hadn''t even neared the world tree and he was already forced to flee for his life?


    "Come!" He dashed forward with determination. He wanted to defeat at least one of them.


    As he swung his sword down at the first enemy that was waiting for him, Liam caught a glimpse of the person before his sword met the flesh.


    sh!


    The person dropped dead in an instant and shock was stered on Liam''s face. The person he had killed was neither powerful nor an elf.


    It was a human being.


    It was Gu Change?


    Liam stumbled as he was utterly confused about what was happening. He paused for a moment before dashing towards the next being and the next and the next.


    sh. sh. sh.


    His sword danced around without any obstacle as he carved a path of blood in the midst of the fog. And the creatures that he thought were powerful, who had an aura as if they could end his life, were all dropping dead one after the other.


    More shockingly, each and every single one of these ''powerful'' figures was a member of the Gu family.


    Gu Change, Gu Yan, Gu Niye, Gu Hao, Gu Loshan¡­


    Liam had once ughtered these exact people and he did the same all over again.

 Chapter 1176 One after the other

    <h4>Chapter 1176 One after the other</h4>


    Liam wiped the blood off the sheath of his sword, almost feeling disgusted that the blood of these vermin had touched his ck dragon sword.


    Clearly, they were not normal living beings resurrected in some way because their souls were missing. In fact, Liam was still the owner of many of their souls.


    Then how were they alive? There was no beast nearby capable of doing something like this so the forest conjured them?


    Liam couldn''t tell. He also did not know why these people were brought in front of him. Painful memories? Enemies that he despised? It did not make sense.


    However, he did not have time to think about these things. The path in front of him cleared up as he once again started walking.


    Each step took him deeper into the forest, and every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig kept him on high alert.


    Liam soon came upon another clearing. The scene that greeted him made his skin crawl¡ªa circle of grotesque totems stood in the center, each one a nightmarish fusion of animal and humanoid forms, arranged in a way that suggested some kind of dark ritual.


    As he walked closer, a chill ran down his spine. He felt eyes on him, unseen but palpable.


    Suddenly, the ground beneath the totems began to quiver, and with a guttural growl, a figure emerged.


    This time it was not another one of those soulless beings. This one was different,rger, more menacing, and radiating an aura of malevolence that made the earlier ones seem almost benign.


    Liam tightened his grip on his ck dragon sword and prepared forbat. This creature, whatever it was, stood between him and the path forward.


    He narrowed his eyes and observed as the dust and the rubble cleared up, finally revealing the creature''s full form. It was a centipede of gigantic proportions, except unlike a normal beast this one was made of¡­ heads!


    Numerous heads and faces of human beings, beasts, demons, elves¡­ it was an amalgamation of many beings.


    More importantly, each and every single one of the heads turned to look at Liam, the eyes on their faces turned towards him and their eyeballs locking on him, rage and resentment clearly overflowing from them.


    Ahhhhh! Wail! Roaaaarrrrr!


    The creature''s amalgam of heads emitted a cacophony of shrieks, wails, and growls that reverberated through the clearing. Each face was a mask of agony or rage, and the sheer number of them made it all the more horrifying.


    The centipede-like monster lunged at Liam, its many heads snapping and snarling as if each had a mind of its own. He dodged just in time, flinching as the sight of the grotesque thing hit him squarely in the face.


    Its strength, agility, and other attributes did not seem to be exceptional, but the creature had a sort of demonic power, one that made Liam feel extreme pressure and weight. Moving around, and carrying this burden was bing very strenuous.


    However, it was difficult and not impossible.


    Liam persisted and eventually mmed down a few sword shes at the beast, taking it down personally. This time he did not use his dao, conserving his energy.


    Coincidentally when he struck down the beast he noticed several familiar faces. One that was strikingly standing out was Kouske''s face.


    Liam then realized. These were all the faces of the people whom he had killed. His eyes widened in shock for a moment before he shook it off and ended the grotesque creature.


    The centipede became dark mist and the path in front of him cleared up further.


    Liam immediately dashed ahead, only toe to a halting stop in front of what looked like a towering shrub. When he tried to go around it, he noticed something was off. He continued circling it.


    Surprisingly, the towering shrub seemed to extend like apound wall for quite some distance. Liam took a step back and curiosity flickered in his eyes. Perhaps he was standing in front of some sort of a giant maze at the moment?


    If this was some sort of series of tests, then this one should be the easiest.


    Liam immediately tried to fly up in the air to take a look at the whole maze from a bird''s eye point of view. However, the next second it became clear that this wouldn''t be possible.


    The gravity of the area was so inexplicably high that even Liam''s speed was reduced.


    Hmmm? Liam narrowed his eyes in contemtion. The maze was a challenge he was yet to ovee but now things were a bit more clear to him in general.


    It looked like the guardian on this territory or rather the world tree of this world was personally making him jump through a few hoops.


    No matter how Liam thought about it, this seemed to be the most usible exnation.


    "Interesting." He walked into the maze, a cold smile ying on his lips. If the world tree was personally testing him, then didn''t his chances of getting that blessing dramatically improve?


    Liam looked around, observing everything carefully. He wanted to see just where these tests were going to take him. As for this hedge maze, he didn''t care too much about it.


    After looking around for a moment he unleashed his soul minions. The army scattered in different directions finding a possible exit out of the maze.


    It took him a while, especially because there were a few surprises waiting at some turns for him but ultimately he was able to rule out many dead-end paths and find the exit of the maze in a couple of hours.


    He had to face a couple of beasts while inside but he was able to cut them down using his soul blood beasts.


    The soul blood beasts also handled some dangers on their own without even needing Liam''s intervention. He smoothly crossed the maze and exited out the other end.


    Liam was half-expecting some kind of a reward but it didn''t look like he was going to get any. He let out a sigh as the fog in front of him once again partially cleared, leading him further on.

 Chapter 1177 Imprisoned

    <h4>Chapter 1177 Imprisoned</h4>


    In other parts of the forbidden territory, three individuals were busy doing their work.


    Eldrin cut down thest remaining elf of the small squad they had intercepted.


    Elira and Lunaria helped him by growing some creepers nearby to cover the corpses making it seem as if the verdant elves had a hand in killing these elves.


    The group was by now used to this sort of thing as they had been doing this pretty often. So the execution was smooth and wless, almost to perfection.


    If left by themselves, they would soon be done with this squad and move on to the next squad, the same as they had been doing for the past several days.


    The trick was to always ce the me on different factions so that not even a single faction was left out of the rumble. Only then chaos will reign supreme and they can fish in muddy waters.


    The group used their usual tricks and tactics to achieve this and were almost done with the staging when¡­ all of a sudden, a volley of sizzling arrows rained down on the group.


    "Eldrin, you traitorous bastard! Stop where you are!" Amanding voice shouted.


    Prince Aranthor trembled in anger as he watched the elf scurry around like a rat, trying to escape from his grasp. But this time, there would be no lenience!


    Karaka Boom! Karaka Boom!


    The lightning whip in his handnded harshly on the three beings. All three, Eldrin, Elira, and Lunaria suffered grievous injuries as the elven prince without mercy whipped them to a near-death state.


    "Your Highness." Immediately, someone next to the prince whispered to him quietly.


    "Hmph. Yes. Yes. I remember." Aranthor answered with a grumble.


    He already knew that he could not kill the three maddening creatures in front of him no matter what. But when he thought about what had happened and how it had happened, it made his blood boil with embarrassment and humiliation. He simply couldn''t let it go.


    Karaka Boom! Karaka Boom!


    He sent out another couple of attacks, leaving the three just short of death in an extremely miserable state.


    "Someonee forward and heal them. Throw them into the cages!" He pped his hands and whipped the forest ground a few more times to vent his anger.


    The air crackled with electricity as Prince Aranthor''s wrath unfolded in the forbidden territory. Still simmering with anger, he took a step back, allowing his guards to close in.


    He remembered the counsel given to him ¨C he couldn''t kill them, not yet. Their lives were crucial to retrieve everything that their Empire had lost. At this point, these three were far more precious to him than any blessing that the guardian could potentially give out.


    A couple of secondster some other elves came forward to do the needful. Eldrin, Elira, and Lunaria, battered and bruised,y helplessly on the ground.


    The elves healed the three just enough to mend them a little but not so much that they would harbor any hopes of escaping. They then cuffed the three prisoners and left them tied to the war steeds.


    Aranthor, his face twisted in a grimace of fury and loathing, surveyed the scene with cold eyes. It was unfortunate that he couldn''t get his hands on that bitch who fooled him in the first ce but soon she too will fall into his grasp.


    And when he was done with them, these four would suffer a consequence that was far worse than death by his hands. Rage seethed within him as he gritted his teeth and thought about everything he had suffered in these past few months.


    He clenched his fists and shook off the thoughts, snapping back to reality. "Let''s move!" He ordered angrily. The group immediately started moving forward. The war steeds of the Stormshroud Empire buzzed with power as they charged forward into the forbidden forests.


    However, unbeknownst to anyone in the group, a small smile appeared on one of the prisoner''s faces.


    Eldrin silently sat on one of the three war steeds, fully chained and shackled. But his eyes were casually observing the surroundings as if he had no care in the world. He might as well be a tourist in this setup.


    Eldrin''s body ached from top to bottom and numerous grievous injuries lined his body.


    The soul weapon ''Lightning Thorn'' was as infamous in person as it was in the rumors. This weapon was one of the main artifacts the Empire possessed. Though he did not foresee this useless prince getting a hold of this weapon, everything else had gone ording to his n.


    For now, he had achieved what he wanted.


    No matter how powerful Eldrin was, this forest around him was no longer the same as it had been before. Vicious and powerful beasts were not the only ones he had to look out for anymore.


    The forest was now teeming with elves.


    Elves from all of the eight empires in their world were now pouring into this forbidden territory. The barrier around the territory was loosened and there was nothing holding these elves back.


    Sure, it was possible for Eldrin to survive for a few more days relying on his wit and instincts but he did not want to push it under any circumstance.


    This was because Eldrin knew himself very well. He knew his strong points and he knew his weak points. In all the years he had tried to paint himself as a useless wastrel, he had to unfortunately limit hisbat experience.


    And now this hade back to bite his ass as his biggest weakness.


    While he was confident about defeating this asshole who had thrashed him and many other assholes in the younger generation, he was not confident about dealing with entire armies.


    The small squads were nothing whenpared to the really powerful armies that were going to infiltrate these forests. Not to mention the powerful Generals who were going to descend onto this battlefield.


    Since he knew his shorings, it was only proper of him to n ordingly. So what if he was not strong enough? These fools who had imprisoned him were definitely strong enough to do that in his stead.

 Chapter 1178 Fight! Fight! Fight!

    <h4>Chapter 1178 Fight! Fight! Fight!</h4>


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Blood sttered everywhere and bodies were tossed left and right. The lush green forest was painted red as several elvesy dead, scattered around.


    War was brutal. Elira gasped inwardly as the real intensity of what she was in for was slowly sinking in.


    The metallic scent of blood mingled with the earthy aroma of the forest floor, creating a visceral reminder of the day''s horrors. Her senses, already heightened by the adrenaline coursing through her veins, picked up every minute detail with excruciating rity.


    The sounds of shing steel, the fiery sparks of magic, the shouts ofmanders, the cries of the wounded¡ªit was a cacophony that drowned out any thoughts of doubt she might have harbored.


    While Eldrin''s methods were unconventional, they sure did bring about the desired results. Right now five different groups were shing against each other but the three of them were rxedly sitting on a war steed in a corner and watching the show.


    There was even a strong general guarding them.


    In the beginning, his n was a little shaky because Prince Aranthor seemed more interested in handing them over to the elders of the family rather than staking his im for the guardian''s blessing. But eventually what Eldrin foretold came to pass.


    Greed won and Prince Aranthor''s battalion also decided to participate in the race for the blessing.


    "The elders will being in here anyways. I will hand over these wretched things when that happens. Besides, I might even find that fourth bitch." The prince had loudly dered, still not understanding that Elira was the same person who had met with him.


    Elira smirked slightly as she watched the disgusting elf fight with numerous injuries lining his body. It served him right!


    "Looks like even you know how to enjoy yourself?" Eldrinmented from her side. Elira''s smirk immediately disappeared as she continued watching the fight in silence.


    He He. Eldrinughed a little at her reaction. He too then continued watching the intense fight. "Now we have done our part. The rest depends on your master. Where the hell is he?" He sighed.


    Days continued passing by like this one after the other.


    And every single day there was one conflict or the other. Some days there were even multiple conflicts where the battalion barely won. The prince, baited by the prospect of a powerful blessing, had been drawnpletely into the fray,


    However, the three sat astride the war steed, a small ind of calm in the raging storm of battle. Well, technically this was only going tost until their side kept winning. But Eldrin had a n for that as well.


    The only thing that actually concerned him at the moment was that they still hadn''t run into Liam or even any of his soul minions for that matter. The day for the blessing was getting closer and closer and he hoped that the human being wouldn''t end up bing a disappointment.


    "What are you conniving now you little shit? Don''t think I don''t know what you are up to. You are somehow trying to snake your way to the guardian through me, aren''t you?"


    Prince Aranthor eyed Eldrin as he rested along with a few elves, the small group who still remained from the big battalion they had started with. Their numbers had dwindled so much over thest few days.


    Eldrin remained quiet. He did not say anything. He was not stupid enough to taunt a wounded snake even if his ego was hurt.


    The only people who cared about egos were those who were born to lose and Eldrin considered himself a winner. Words would never hurt him. He painted a look of weakness and dejection on his face as he remained still and silent.


    However, this only made Prince Aranthor even more furious. "Wait, you little shit. It is now only a matter of days. When the elders arrive, you will be ughtered on sight. Your brain will then be melted to get everything that we need to know."


    "You are not familiar with the torture techniques of the royal family, right?"


    Eldrin still did not show any reaction.


    "Of course, you won''t be. You are a nobody. A filth from a rotten kingdom that is going to be culled when I get back. Congrattions. Now your status is higher. You can die with pride knowing you are important enough to be personally dealt with by the royal high council."


    Eldrin continued to hear the tirade in silence. Most of the elf''s threats were nonsense and he couldn''t care less about them. However, there was something that still bugged him. Liam was still out of sight!


    In all honesty, by now he had hoped that he would catch up with the human being and get out of his chained and imprisoned status but that hasn''t happened yet.


    Prince Aranthor was not wrong. It was only a matter of days before the elders arrived. Eldrin had a n for that too but the very crucial part of that n was for Liam to have first rejoined their group.


    What was going to happen if the elders arrived first?


    That was something even Eldrin did not want to think about. A few minutester he let out a sigh wondering if it was time for him to start plotting their escape. He looked around and everyone was casually resting and recovering.


    Perhaps now was a good time.


    Eldrin''s mind spun as he thought about how he should proceed when suddenly a sound snapped him out of his scheming.


    Whoosh! KA BOOM!


    Out of nowhere, a huge rock fell in the middle of the encampment. An explosion followed this and dust and debris flew everywhere. It was starting again!


    Eldrin''s eyes widened. Was this his chance?


    Everything happened in an instant. A group of verdant elves charged in, the group first targeting Aranthor. "How dare you ce the me on our pious n when it is your men who caused so much bloodshed and killing?" Themander of the verdant elves bellowed.


    Eldrin couldn''t help but smirk. In thest attempt to cover the bodies he let slip a few lightning scars in hopes that this exact situation would happen and now it hade to pass.


    Meanwhile, Aranthor was confused. "ce the me?" He did not know what was going on.


    "Don''t spout random nonsense. We did not attack anyone. You are attacking us first. Biriol! It''s best you don''t make enemies with the Stormshroud Empire!" He sent an empty threat because currently, they were in no position to fight again.


    Unfortunately, the other party did not seem to care. "Hmph! Who do you think would still be afraid of you, you idiot? Stormshroud Empire is already done for. Men! Attack! Don''t leave anyone alive!"


    Not many words were exchanged as the opposite party could clearly see the condition of the group. Mana in the air began to churn as violence took hold. The chaos that erupted was instantaneous and intense.


    Eldrin''s heart pounded with anticipation as he watched the scene unfold. The opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived.


    The protective general who had been their guard was now fully engaged in the sudden melee as he was unable to neglect the attacks any longer.


    There were simply not enough forces left to be able to afford such luxury. His attention diverted from his charges to the pressing threat of the verdant elves.


    This was their moment. Eldrin gave Elira a significant look and subtly nodded towards the dense forest that ringed the clearing. He then tossed the three a pill.


    When they had been taken as hostages, Eldrin had clearly handed over his spatial ring but now he was bringing out one item after another from thin air.


    Lunaria did not understand but Elira did. This was the Subspace skill, one of the skill books that the fairy had given to her master.


    The pill seemed to be extremely quick acting as the three of them immediately recovered their strengths. "Go. Now." Eldrin urged the two. Of course, he himself was not nning on leaving just yet. He wanted his things.


    Waiting for an opportune moment in the fight, he shed down at the Prince, stabbing him from the back side while he was fighting a verdant elf in the front. The two of them were already severely wounded and it was perfect for Eldrin to take advantage of.


    Naturally, he never had any useful things in his spatial ring. He had already transferred anything remotely useful to his inventory space.


    Rather what he wanted was that lightning whip weapon!


    But how could the verdant elf let it go so easily? He also had his eye on the exact same item. The fight instantly became a chaotic rumble with the three elves shing against each other.


    At first nce, Eldrin had the upper hand. The verdant elf then made aeback. At some point, even the prince seemed as if he had regained his edge. It looked like anything could happen at any moment.


    But all of a sudden, throwing all three elves out of bnce, somethingpletely unexpected happened.


    A powerful beam of aura shot up in the distance making every single being currently in the forbidden territory turn their heads and look.

 Chapter 1179 Race to the finish line!

    <h4>Chapter 1179 Race to the finish line!</h4>


    A powerful beam of aura shot up in the distance making every single being currently in the forbidden territory turn their heads and look. For a moment, everything stood still frozen.


    It was as if time itself stood still as no one could believe what was happening. But the next second, a huge uproar erupted.


    "That''s the aura of the guardian!"


    "No! How could it be?


    "Impossible!"


    "That''s definitely the aura of the blessing. I am 100% sure of it!"


    "No way! How could the guardian be ready to hand over the blessing already?"


    "The barrier hasn''t even loosened up enough! None of the Emperors will be able toe in! This ispletely unheard of!"


    "Forget about the Emperors. Even the elders and the generals won''t be able to get through. This is way too soon! This has never happened before."


    "Shit! This means that we finally have a chance!"


    "This is our time. The younger generation can finally im what is ours. Every year these old nut heads hog all the treasures. This time we finally have a chance. Let''s goooooo!"


    "I need to get the blessing, no matter what!"


    "Fuck the royal family. Fuck the high council! I want the blessing!"


    Amidst the pandemonium that followed the sighting of the guardian''s aura, the air was thick with ambition and desperation.


    The beam of light acted as a beacon, drawing all like moths to a me, each with their own reason, each with their own hunger for the power that the guardian''s blessing represented.


    With crazed expressions in their eyes, every single elf turned towards the beam of light and started racing toward the guardian world tree.


    Not long after many came to a stop because there was another important factor to consider. If they failed to think about this particr issue, then they were only going to end up dead.


    This issue was none other than the beasts of the forbidden forest!


    The barrier around the forest made sure that the powerful monsters from outside did not enter the forbidden territory but what about the powerful monsters that were already inside the forest?


    The elves who were racing towards the center in a maddened craze, suddenly came to a freezing halt as this realization dawned upon them.


    As if on cue¡­


    ROARRRR! ROOAAARRR!


    GROWL!


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    Several terrifying sounds echoed in the distance. One could tell just from the guttural roars that these beasts were not remotely ordinary.


    Moreover, it was also clear that these beasts were further inside the forbidden territory than any squad of the eight elven empires.


    However, there was something off. The sharp and biting winds of the forbidden territory carried along with it a sense of unease.


    Soon everyone realized what was amiss. The beasts shockingly were not moving further in towards the Guardian.


    Rather they were moving away!


    The elves became dumbfounded by this new development. Logically these powerful monstrous beasts should be rushing in at a breakneck speed,peting with each other even more fiercely than them but they were instead moving out?


    What was happening in this time''s blessing ritual? Why were the beasts behaving this way?


    There could be only one answer. It was because the guardian had alreadymanded them to step down. The beasts living in the forest, especially the powerful ancient ones, were all almost an extension of the world tree itself.


    The guardian provided for them and nourished them. So if they had received themand to step down, they would have no other option but to do so.


    The elves, scattered throughout the forbidden territory, exchanged nces of bewilderment and anxiety. If they had any doubts remaining, this answered them.


    This time the guardian has, for some reason, decided to give the blessing to the younger generation or rather the weaklings.


    Gudang! Gudang! Everyone''s heart raced.


    This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the elves. Most of the royal family members hadn''t shown up yet because they preferred traveling with the elders for safety concerns.


    Though there were many squadrons loitering around in the forbidden territory at the moment, most of them were only high-level military personnel or distant branch family members. The main chief guests would only start after the barrier had loosened up.


    However, this time a unique opportunity had presented itself. While the rest of the main force hadn''t started yet, the several elves already inside the forest had a head start.


    And it looked like they were not even going to have to deal with the powerful beasts of the forest.


    No one wanted to lose such a golden chance.


    As if an inaudible gong rang loudly throughout the forest, the mad rush instantly began. Elves from every corner of the forbidden territory began to scurry towards the guardian and the aura of the blessing.


    Naturally, it wasn''t that easy. It turned out that the weaker beasts were still in the game so there was some resistance, but the crazed elves charged forward bulldozing everything in their path.


    Many of the elves who had first ventured into the forbidden territory for the blessing ritual were seasoned veterans. Their progress in their dao seeds was nothing to scoff at. They were easily able to overpower the beasts.


    There were probably very few beings who could stand in the way of these crazed treasure hunters.


    If one looked at the forbidden territory at the moment from a high enough point in the sky, one could see the different colored dots starting to pile up around the central area.


    The dots were all gathering together at a breakneck speed. Soon chaos was going to reach its peak. The entire area was going to be a vortex.


    At this moment, one person did witness this scene from such a height.


    Liam silently gazed at the theatrics happening down at the forbidden territory. Seeing so many souls strive for greatness and struggle against their inevitable fate, his own soul churned in response.


    However, he was not in a position to join them just yet. He did not even know if he would be able to join at all.


    He was currently in the middle of something extremely weird. He stared at the group of floating inds in front of him. Hopefully, something good weird.


    No, he was almost sure of it. All of this was going to lead somewhere.


    Either way, he was far too deep in to get out now. He could only see it through to the end.


    Liam''s robe billowed, tugging at his frame as he made his way towards the first floating ind.

 Chapter 1180 Floating Islands

    <h4>Chapter 1180 Floating Inds</h4>


    The floating inds seemed to hang in the air, defying gravity. The forests below were a maelstrom of activity, a hive of ants disturbed, but here above, there was a calm that bordered on disturbing.


    Liam stepped onto the first ind, feeling a solidness beneath his feet that belied its appearance. The next moment a loud roar reverberated.


    A huge behemoth came dashing towards Liam, its figure tearing the fog that covered the ind and its massive form casting a shadow that almost covered the entire ind.


    The behemoth''s eyes were aze with a ferocious light, fixated on Liam with predatory focus. Liam unsheathed the ck dragon sword.


    Finally, it was time for tests that directly tested hisbat ability.


    Though on second thought, considering the dull pain that was throbbing deep inside him, he did not know whether things would continue to proceed smoothly.


    But no matter what he was determined to persist until the very end. He needed every weapon he could get his hands on against the enemies waiting for him.


    Liam narrowed his eyes as he dashed forward to meet the behemoth head on. His sword let rip a powerful sh, intending to test if the big guy in front of him was as strong as he was big.


    The sh was titanic¡ªthe sound of metal on toughened hide echoed like a thunderp, reverberating through the misty expanse of the floating inds.


    Liam''s de met the thick skin of the behemoth, and to his satisfaction, it cut through, though not as deeply as he would have liked.


    The behemoth recoiled, a deep growl rumbling from its throat, eyes narrowing with a cunning that suggested intelligence beyond a mere beast''s.


    The next instant aura of earth erupted and Liam felt the ground underneath his feet rumble. Several huge earthen spikes started jutting out from earth, aiming to skewer him.


    With a swift leap, he vaulted over the iing spikes,nding gracefully several feet away. The behemoth, undeterred by the miss, thundered forward, its movements shaking the ground with each step.


    Liam had no choice but to keep moving. Unlike him the beast was gushing with mana and vitality so he had to make every single attack count.


    He also did not want to use his ultimate attacks because they drained him a lot. The opponents on the other inds were still waiting for him. He had to conserve his energy. Otherwise his run would end here.


    Liam continued dodging the spikes as he quickly assessed the situation. He then focused on another Dao seed that he had formed. The seed of sharpness.


    Though he did not possess any inheritance to help him with this Dao seed, his understanding of the Seed of Ice elemental helped him considerably to gain insight into this one as well. Both sharpness and pration was a significant part of his Arcane Frost sh.


    The Seed of sharpness was in the shape of a sword beam in his mind. Liam triggered the dao essence of sharpness for the next attack.


    He needed to slice through the behemoth''s thick hide and deliver a blow that would truly stagger the creature.


    As the behemoth lunged once more, Liam sidestepped and brought his sword down in a sweeping arc, aiming for the joints where the hide was thinner.


    The sword, now imbued with the essence of the Sharpness Dao, cut through the air with a hiss, finding its mark and drawing a deep gash along the behemoth''s nk.


    The behemoth bellowed in pain and rage, the earth responding to its call as spikes erupted all around. But Liam was already moving.


    He darted between the spikes, his focus absolute. He didn''t allow the behemoth a moment''s respite, pressing the attack, forcing the beast to defend rather than deliver more of its attacks.


    Thick earthen armor rose around it but with strike after strike, Liam chipped away at the behemoth''s defenses. With each blow enhanced by the Sharpness Dao, the behemoth''s movements grew sluggish, its roars less confident.


    Finally, sensing a lull in the behemoth''s defense, Liam gathered his strength and unleashed a flurry of blows. The behemoth staggered, its silhouette etched against the swirling mist, a colossus on the brink of copse.


    With a mighty roar that shook the floating inds, the behemoth fell, its form dissipating into the mist from whence it came, leaving behind only the echoes of its defeat. There was no corpse or soul left to harvest.


    Liam stood amidst the quiet aftermath, his chest heaving with the exertion of battle. If he did not want to expend mana then he had to expend his stamina. However, these fights were also constantly forging his body as an added benefit.


    It looked like there was nothing left on this ind. Just as he looked up to see how to reach the second ind, a swirl of mist lifted him up and brought him over to his next opponent.


    Almost as soon as hended, a pair of reddened eyes stared through the mist straight at him.


    Liam spent the next several hours moving from one ind to another. In reality, he did not have the chance to check the actual time yet as he had been constantly thrown into one situation after another.


    After his fight with the guardians back on earth, these past few hours had been the most grueling experience for him.


    Each beast he faced was more challenging than thest, each presenting a different test of his abilities, demanding adaptability, resilience, and unwavering focus. The trials were as much a mental challenge as they were a test of physical prowess.


    He also did not have any rest so he had to fight everything with the least amount of exertion.


    Liam continued moving from one ind to another until finally he arrived at thest one. At this point, he waspletely exhausted. At least he was already at thest ind that was his only saving grace.


    However, thest ind looked a little different whenpared to others.

 Chapter 1181 ???

    <h4>Chapter 1181 ???</h4>


    Every single ind thus far was some habitat. The first one had been a simple jungle type but the next ones had gotten stranger with toxds, fiery pits, icy hell, and even an underwater space.


    However, the ce which Liam was currently standing on was truly different. It was like he was in a ck and white movie. It was as if he was standing on the surface of the moon or some other like Mars.


    There were craters and barrenndscapes stretching out as far as the eye could see, with a sky that was a tapestry of unfamiliar constetions, hinting at the otherworldliness of this ce.


    Liam''s senses were on high alert. The quietness of this moon-like ind was unsettling, and theck of any visible creature made him wary.


    In all his previous encounters, the challenge had been straightforward ¡ª see the beast, fight the beast. But now, there was nothing and no one. Just silence and the feeling of being watched.


    He took cautious steps, aware that the terrain could hold hidden dangers. His sword was ready, and his body tensed for any sudden movements. He knew better than to let the silence lull him into a false sense of security.


    Minutes passed by silently. Then, without warning, the ground beneath him shuddered. Rocks and dust were thrown into the air as a familiar creature erupted from beneath the surface.


    At first nce, it seemed like a slime as it was distorted in a weird shape. More specifically an earth attribute slime considering the way it looked but the single shining core at the center of the creature gave away its identity.


    Liam knew he was correct because the system''s inspection skill also came to the same consensus.


    [Level ???, Voidling]


    The question marks before the creature''s name were disturbing but Liam knew that this was not because the voidling was at a higher level than him. It was probably because the system had no way of urately assessing the strength of these strange creatures.


    Voidlings were known to be elusive, their true strength hidden behind the enigmatic core that powered them. They were beings that could potentially manipte the very fabric of space, and Liam couldn''t afford to take any chances.


    And then there was the other annoying characteristic of the voidling. They were never alone. Before Liam could move a muscle to deal with the thing, three more popped up in the blink of an eye and the four voidlings instantly bound together to form a cluster.


    Liam knew it was only a matter of time before more joined these four. So he did not hesitate and immediately attacked the cluster while it was still on the weaker side.


    [Arctic Bind]


    Liam used a skill that he had learned recently from the ice elves. It froze the ground around the voidlings, attempting to encase them in a prison of ice. The cold tendrils snaked toward the creatures, aiming to immobilize them before they could merge further.


    The voidlings seemed to sense the danger, their movements bing frantic as they tried to avoid the creeping frost.


    However, Liam''s casting was precise, and the ice swiftly climbed up their forms, locking them in ce with a resounding crackle.


    This should have in fact taken care of thempletely but he had no idea if this was the case because they did not give experience points like the other creatures.


    They also did not have any presence which made it hard for anyone to sense them. These creatures bordered between the living and nonliving, making other rules obsolete when it came to them. They did not even have a soul for him to get a sense of.


    With the voidlings restrained and possibly dead, Liam took the opportunity to look around to check if there were more of these voidlings. Was this test about dealing with these pesky things? If so, it was going to be troublesome.


    Liam searched for other signs of the voidlings but nothing was popping out at the moment. He scanned the barrenndscape as he continued moving around. The test was not yet over as he was still standing here.


    The destendscape of this moon-like ind seemed to stretch into infinity, a monochrome world where the only color was the dull gray of the ground and the inky ckness of the sky above.


    Liam''s senses remained stretched to their limits, every nerve in his body tuned to pick up the faintest hint of movement, the smallest whiff of danger as he wandered the cratered terrain.


    Minutes turned to hours as hebed through thendscape, his vignce never waning. The silence of the ce was a heavy, tangible thing, pressing down on him from all sides. It was oppressive, almost suffocating.


    Then, he felt it¡­ a disturbance in the air, a vibration so subtle that it might have been missed by anyone who wasn''t as attuned to their environment as he was. It was a ripple, a wave of something that brushed against the very edges of his perception.


    Liam halted, casting his gaze around the barrenndscape. He turned around to see a few more voidlings show up. This time there were more than just a couple of them.


    The new wave of voidlings emerged from the starkndscape, their forms oozing from the craters and crevices like shadows given life.


    Liam immediately sent another attack to deal with them just like he had done before. However, all of a sudden, the voidlings glowed brightly. Before his attack could reach, they burst with power but did not attack him. They unexpectedly scattered away.


    Hmmm? Liam was confused.


    However, it was only for a second. The next moment he understood why the voidlings disappeared or rather what had caused them to run away in all directions.


    Right in front of him, a huge creature materialized.


    Towering and imposing, its body seemed to be carved from the very darkness of space around them. It was a hulking mass of shifting shadows, with eyes that glowed with an eerie, otherworldly light.


    [???]

 Chapter 1182 Cut off

    <h4>Chapter 1182 Cut off</h4>


    [???]


    The system''s inspection skill gave no level and also no name. Liam was startled a little because he hadn''te across anything like this in a long time.


    In fact, the creature in front of him was extremely peculiar. Its appearance was intimidating while its presence waspletely absent. He couldn''t fathom exactly how powerful the creature was.


    He had a bad feeling and his danger sensors were triggered. However, so far all the opponents he had faced were to train him and not tten him. The logical part of Liam''s brain told him to fight because this would also be one such training. But his instincts still screamed for him to run.


    Liam knew very well that he had survived so far only because of his instincts. He did not n on doubting himself now. To many beings, he was merely an ant and for some reason, he got a simr feeling staring at the creature in front of him.


    So without hesitation, he let go of whatever this was. Nothing was more precious than his life. He could always grab a hold of another opportunity like this.


    This was not a do or die situation. He did not want to die here without any reason. He decided to abruptly end the training session and immediately switched ces with one of his soul minions.


    Or rather tried to.


    "Damn it." Liam cursed as the unsettling feeling he had worsened. He was not able tomunicate with his soul minion. When he paid close attention he noticed that his soul minion had already been dismissed.


    In fact, every single one of his soul minions was dismissed. Not only that he had also lost his connection with the undead. How did he not feel anything?


    Panic started to set in when he immediately tried to summon them again, only to fail again. In fact, he couldn''t sense his soul at all.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the inky ck formless creature in front of him.


    He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his racing mind. Fear was a natural response, but it wouldn''t help him in this battle. He needed to be clear-headed and adaptive.


    Was he under some sort of mental attack? He did not know but he did not have the time to stand here and think about it.


    Without wasting another second, he dashed forward as he swung his sword down, sending out a beam of icy energy toward the creature.


    The Arcane Frost sh, imbued with his dao of ice, was his best bet under these circumstances. The beam whistled through the air, its cold frigid aura stark against the pitch-ck form of the creature.


    He went all out from the beginning, not nning to conserve much in this fight.


    But the next second, Liam faltered. To his shock, the attack seemed to phase through the creature, causing no visible reaction.


    No. In fact, there was no trace left of his attack. Instead of phasing, it was more like the creature had absorbed his attackpletely.


    Liam paused. He no longer dashed toward the creature that was inching in his direction bit by bit. It did not seem to be in any hurry. While he was running to it, it didn''t seem to care at all.


    Liam took a step back. Then another. He instantly started moving in the other direction as he put some distance between him and the creature.


    At the same time, he continued attacking the creature with all sorts of attacks ranging from sword dance to fire sh to his strongest attack.


    He had enough time so he mustered the strength, stamina, and mana to attack the damned thing repeatedly.


    However, no matter how many times he attacked, the result was still the same. Every single one of his attacks was eaten by the creature.


    Liam was truly at a loss for words or action. What was he supposed to do now? As he mulled over this question in his mind, suddenly something else happened.


    A few voidlings popped up in front of him, peeling off the surface of the barrenndscape. At first, it was a few but quickly the number began to explode exponentially.


    The voidlings were unique creatures that bordered on the living and the non-living. While humans or other living creatures might know fear, these things did not know any fear just like his undead.


    Soon the few voidlings quickly joined together to form a towering massive structure, the whole lot of them merging into a single unit.


    The sight was overwhelming, the towering mass of voidlings, a writhing, shifting amalgam of countless creatures, each with its gleaming core. They moved as one, a living tide that washed over the barrenndscape toward the creature.


    Liam immediately became thrilled. The two creatures in front of him were extremely formidable, both mysterious in their own ways. If they fought against each other, then he would definitely be able to get more clues on how to defeat them.


    He might even be able to finish one off if the other one ended up inflicting severe damage on it. This was surely a win-win situation for him.


    Liam gripped his sword tightly as he moved onto a strategic position, not too close and not too far from thebat zone. He then watched as the humongous amalgamation of voidlings started to show their hand.


    They surged towards the inky ck creature in a relentless wave. It was a surreal sight ¡ª two bizarre and powerful entities shing in a ce that seemed beyond the bounds of normal reality.


    The voidling mass roared and shrieked as it approached the creature, its many cores pulsing with an eerie light. Liam watched intently, his sword at the ready, waiting for the right moment to strike.


    To his amazement, the formless creature remained still, its inky ckness almost absorbing the cacophony of sounds emanating from the voidlings. As the voidlings collided with it, something unexpected happened.

 Chapter 1183 I can do it

    <h4>Chapter 1183 I can do it</h4>


    The mass of voidlings crackled with power, several orbs of brown swirls forming around them. It looked like the attack was about to pop off, producing explosive damage, perhaps to a considerable area of wherever this was.


    Liam fully prepared himself to face the aftermath. It was a mistake on the part of the strange creature. Voidlings needed to be taken care of ASAP. It had underestimated their strength and now it has to face the consequences.


    Even if it was a creature of unknown proportions and power, it was still bound to suffer.


    However, the next second, before Liam could finish his thought, everything sizzled into nothingness.


    Instead of engaging in what Liam expected to be a battle of colossal proportions, the voidlings were simply absorbed by the creature, their forms melding into its shadowy substance.


    Each voidling that touched the creature seemed to disappear, swallowed by the darkness as if they were nothing.


    Liam''s initial thrill turned to confusion.


    This creature was not just absorbing his attacks, but it was also absorbing the voidlings ¡ª entities that he had assumed were at least somewhat formidable, especially when they clumped together to form a giant mess.


    And it did it without batting an eye. If it even had one.


    At this point, Liam knew that he was dealing with something that was far beyond his level. He doubted if even the divine temple priestess could stand against this one.


    Running was his only option. It was crystal clear to him.


    But the problem was how the hell was he going to run from here?


    His one way out, the reason he was so confidently challenging his enemies one after the other was because of his Soul Swap skill but suddenly that seemed like a distant dream. So how was he supposed to get out of here?


    He clenched his sword and stood tight as he stared at the abomination that he could not understand. His mind wheels turned but it was no use.


    Perhaps the beast would ignore him? It could forget that someone lower-leveled stood some distance away from it? This was hisst bet.


    Unfortunately, those hopes were also dashed as the creature all of a sudden changed its trajectory, now heading toward Liam.


    "Fuck!"


    Liam started running.


    On the vast barrennd with nothing in sight, Liam continued to run and run. He ran as far as he could. But every time he turned around, he could always see the creature in sight. He then noticed something extremely weird.


    The space was warped. He was running in circles?


    He did not know if this was because of what the massive amalgamation of voidlings did or some sort of attack by this strange creature.


    Only one thing was certain. The creature approaching him was inevitable. He had to face it.


    Without giving up, Liam immediately started trying all sorts of attacks he had in his belt. This only worsened the situation because each and every single thing was getting absorbed by the damn thing.


    His frantic actions were not yielding any results. The creature was approaching him faster and faster.


    "Stop! I need to think." He decided to take the stone tablet out because other than that there was no other idea that would seem to work. This was hisst Hail Mary attempt. Perhaps the stone tablet would give him some sort of a way out.


    However¡­


    "Damn it!" Liam became dumbfounded. Not only was he unable to summon his soul minions but he was also unable to take out his stone tablet.


    As he tried to rake his brain for something, anything he could possibly do to get out of this situation, a wave of a unique aura engulfed him. It was an aura he had never felt before.


    It was also very weird because the aura felt friendly and not hostile.


    Before he could wrap his mind around this new development, something else happened, like a rift in space. The next instant the creature that was still at a distance appeared right in front of him.


    Everything was happening at a speed Liam could not even fathom. He merely stood like an immovable puppet manipted by threads of fate that were beyond hisprehension.


    As the creature appeared in front of him, fear gripped him like never before. He was feeling many things at the moment. Certain death. That was the biggest feeling.


    However, before the creature could do anything, the aura became even more intensified. In the end, Liam could not remain conscious any longer. He did not feel any pain. He felt something else.


    He was being yanked out of there.


    Meanwhile, back on solid ground¡­


    "Liam, where the hell are you?" Eldrin gaped in shock at the sight in front of him. He was now starting to be genuinely worried. The situation right now was extremely dire. The eight Empires had made their move.


    The small squads that were scattered around throughout the forbidden territory had all gathered together under their banner.


    Currently, eight different armies stood stall, shing against each other in an all-out war, vying for the guardian''s blessing. The sight was nothing short of apocalyptic ¨C elves of various factions, locked in a brutal battle for supremacy.


    Eldrin''s eyes darted around, searching for any sign of Liam amidst the chaos. The young human''s absence was more than worrying, especially considering the intensity of the situation.


    "Damn it, Liam," Eldrin muttered under his breath. "You better not have gotten yourself killed."


    The battlefield was a whirlwind of elemental attacks. Fireballs exploded in the sky, lighting up the forest like a bizarre, deadly fireworks show. Ice storms shed with gusts of wind, creating a maelstrom of chilling des. Earth warriors raised barriers and ramparts, trying to protect their own from the onught.


    Eldrin knew that Liam, with his unique skills and formidable power, could have turned the tide of this battle. But without him, the situation looked grim.


    Elira and Lunaria stood by Eldrin''s side, their expressions equally grim. They too had hoped that Liam would somehow reappear at the crucial moment.


    And this was the crucial moment.


    At the center of all of the chaos, there was a region that waspletely covered in mist. No one was able to see anything clearly except for the unfathomably thick trunk that spanned for several miles.


    Right now, there was a light glow covering this trunk. This glow was slowly and steadily intensifying with every second that ticked by.


    The time for the blessing ritual was nearing very quickly.


    Eldrin clenched his fists as he made a decision. He had thought that somehow or the other the human being would show up and steal the show.


    He did not know why he thought that but his instincts told him that this would happen. He did not really have any rational or logical exnation for it.


    However, now, perhaps it was time for him to take matters into his own hands.


    "I can do it." Eldrin psyched himself up. For once, maybe he could be the main character and grab the blessing for himself.


    Then he could also be a genius, a gifted individual of this myriad realms who countless others had to look up to.


    Coincidentally, before he could finish his thought, something else shot up nearby. A pir of mana?

 Chapter 1184 The chosen ones

    <h4>Chapter 1184 The chosen ones</h4>


    Eldrin''s eyes widened in shock. It couldn''t be right? How could mana storms show up here at the endpoint?


    Shit! He immediately became alert so as to not get caught up in one again. He did not want to have reached the endpoint only to be teleported to the beginning all over.


    But the next moment, Eldrin realized that he had made the wrong assumption. This mana storm was clearly different.


    Instead of acting like a typhoon and removing everything from sight, sting its way through thendscape, this mana storm was more stationary.


    Moreover, if one looked at it closely, then one could see something inside of this storm. Eldrin''s eyes further widened in shock as this unusual mana storm finally started clearing up.


    And from within a figure emerged.


    "Prince Gnar!" Immediately one of the elven factions shouted in rm.


    From within the mana storm, the elf emerged unscathed and glowing. He looked startled a bit but he quickly regained hisposure as a look of understanding crossed his face.


    But the show was not over.


    That was not the only pir that lit up. Almost immediately a few other pirs lit up.


    A total of eight pirs lit up in session for everyone to see.


    And just like the first one, from each of the mana pirs, elves emerged one after the other.


    A few did not understand what was going on. But every major figure including Eldrin instantly figured out the situation. The elves emerging out of these mana pirs were no ordinary elves. They were the heaven chosens!


    The revtion of the elves emerging from the mana pirs sent a ripple of excitement and awe through the gathered armies.


    These were the elves with royal bloodlines who excelled in their respective empires, the elite of the elite, each possessing skills and powers far beyond the average warrior.


    Their emergence signaled a turning point in the battle for the guardian''s blessing.


    Eldrin''s heart raced as he assessed the situation.


    The presence of these chosen ones drastically altered the dynamics of the battlefield. Each one of them was a powerhouse in their own right, capable of changing the course of the conflict with their unique abilities.


    Prince Gnar, having emerged from the first pir, stood tall and regal, his aura radiating power and confidence. He was the dark elf''s chosen one, handpicked by the guardian. His eyes scanned the battlefield, taking in the chaos and the various factions vying for control.


    Not too far from him was Prince Jian of the Verdant Empire emerging from another pir. His presence was like a force of nature, his aura suffused with the life force of the forest. He stood with a serene demeanor, yet his eyes betrayed a sharpness, a readiness for the battle thaty ahead.


    Then there was the ugly mug that Eldrin immediately recognized, Prince Thorazin of Stormshroud Empire. The guy was disgustingly talented. Why the hell was he here instead of being stuck back in the mystic realm?


    Eldrin gritted his teeth. This was bad.


    As each chosen one took their ce on the battlefield, the atmosphere became electric with anticipation. There was a moment of silence as everyone''s attention was drawn to these elves.


    These were not mere participants in the guardian''s trial. They were embodiments of their respective empires'' hopes and dreams, each vying for the ultimate prize, especially because the big shots were currently sitting out the fight.


    Eldrin quickly gathered his thoughts. "We need to be careful," he whispered to Elira and Lunaria. "These chosen ones are not to be underestimated. Each of them will have their own agenda, and their powers are formidable."


    Before he finished talking, Prince Thorazin acted first as bolts of lightning crackled around him, his eyes scanning the battlefield with a predator''s focus.


    With a swift motion, he unleashed a storm of unruly bolts, targeting a nearby group of elves, the ones standing between him and the guardian.


    The air buzzed with electricity, the scent of charred flesh filling the air. The battlefield momentarily lit up with the bright shes of his attack, causing severalbatants to momentarily stagger under the assault.


    Not long after the next attack followed, releasing several tornadoes that crackled with raw power. The body count immediately skyrocketed. The blood bath had already begun!


    Eldrin quickly moved out of the way. He did not n on bing part of this massacre. This was just the starting. The blessing ritual every year was pretty much a shit show of carnage and viscera.


    Just as he moved, another big shot unleashed his attacks. This time it was the wind elf chosen Kohim.


    The elf moved like a blur across the battlefield, his wind des slicing through the ranks with lethal precision. The sound of his attacks was like a howling storm, relentless and unforgiving.


    And unlike Thorazin, he did not show any interest inmitting mass murder. He directly raced towards the guardian''s trunk as fast as he could, only culling down those who stood in the path.


    The other chosens also did not stand still. Everyone started making their own moves. Each and every single one of them seemed extremely confident as they unleashed their attacks without holding back, each attack seeped rich with the power of Dao.


    Bodies continued to pile up one after the other. The armies could no longer handle the pressure given by the chosen ones. But this also did not continue for long. Soon, the eight arrived at the forefront of the battlefield, all eyeing each other.


    They were clearly each other''s biggestpetition. So there was no point wasting their time in crushing weaklings. The eight all sprang into action at the same time.


    And just like Eldrin predicted, at thest minute, three of them teamed up on one side, two teamed up on the other, leaving the remaining three all alone. Despite this situation, none of them looked nervous as if they had already expected something like this.


    Mana swirled in the air, ready for the final battle to ensue when suddenly another two pirs of mana emerged out of nowhere.

 Chapter 1185 The tenth pillar

    <h4>Chapter 1185 The tenth pir</h4>


    The sudden appearance of two additional mana pirs in the midst of an already chaotic and high-stakes battlefield shocked everyone. Mainly, the chosens from the eight empires stopped in their tracks to look at this strange development.


    Right in front of everyone''s eyes, a figure emerged from the first mana pir. The elves watched with their mouths agape en masse as a tall and charismatic elf stepped out of the pir. His body was blood red and his eyes glowed in a mysterious silver.


    Whispers and murmurs spread among the ranks of the armies. "Who is he?" "Is he one of the chosen?" "Look at his eyes!" The uncertainty was palpable, as no one seemed to recognize this enigmatic figure.


    However, the main characters of the event knew exactly who this was. The chosen one of the blood n. The guardian had actually chosen someone from the blood n too!


    Such a thing waspletely unheard of. The blood n was just that. Only a n. Not an empire. So how could a chosen appear from that n?


    Was there now going to be nine empires in this world? The guardian''s word was final and selecting this person was the same as giving the word.


    However, there was still one crucial matter left. This chosen had to live to tell the tale!


    The blood elves used forbidden magic to gain power at the expense of blood and life. All the other elven ns looked down on them. A trash like that should not be allowed to gain power at any cost.


    "Rindos, you snake. How did you do this?" Thorazin shouted as he started the attack first. "You seven. Let''s settle our differencester. We need to end him first."


    Rindos sneered. "You say things about me, but how are you any different, Thorazin? I heard your empire was burning viges to find out a rat that had infested yournds."


    "You and I both kill. So how am I the evil one?" A blood-red axe appeared in the air, hovering above, threatening to kill anyone who dared to step near him.


    Coincidentally, while the nine elves who had emerged from the mana pirs were busy assessing each other, thest forgotten pir shone resplendently as a figure emerged out of it as well.


    A hooded-robed figure appeared wearing no insignia of any faction whatsoever. If one observed closely, the person''s frame while simr to an elf did not particrly match that of an elf.


    Eldrin''s eyes widened as this time he was the first one to realize who this was! Liam! Damn it! He was finally here!


    Immediately he felt a joy that was bittersweet. "Fuck you, you disgusting bastard! How the hell did you get chosen by our world''s guardian?"


    Just like Eldrin, a few others also paid attention to the neer. Rindos and the eight chosen narrowed their eyes as they observed the mysterious hooded figure.


    Rindos, still sneering at Thorazin, nced at the new arrival. "Another chosen?" he mused aloud, his voiceced with suspicion. "Or perhaps a wildcard thrown into the mix?"


    At thisment, everyone became silent. Thanks to the intelligence gathered by their respective ns, everyone knew that the eight of them from the eight empires were the top-tier geniuses in the younger generation.


    Even Rindos appearing here was an anomaly. So who could the new guy be?


    The mysterious figure seemed to stand still, not reacting.


    At this point, the first one to make a move was the chosen from the Sun Empire. The elf took out a bell and rang it, sending out a wave of scorching heat and blinding light in all directions.


    The light and the heat did not seem to be that strong since almost everyone erected one or the other defense against the attack. Most of the armies gathered around suffered but not all were affected.


    However, the next instant the true colors of the attack showed. Every single elf in the army doubled back in pain as their head felt like it was about to burst. There was a hidden mental attackponent to the bell!


    The elven armies screamed in pain as they hurriedly retreated back, once again reminded that this was not their ce. Those who were able to stay conscious quickly moved a few paces.


    Even though they would have preferred to flee, they still needed to provide support to their champion if the need arose. Otherwise, they would be executed when they returned to their empire anyways.


    On the contrary, the chosen elves responded to the same attack in different ways. Not so shockingly, they remained calm andposed.


    As the searing wave approached them, Rindos merely waved his hand, and the blood-red axe spun rapidly, creating a barrier that absorbed the attack. His eyes glowed brighter, and heughed coldly, "Is this the best the Sun Empire can do?"


    Another chosen snorted as his armor glowed absorbing the attack. Verdant Empire, Wind Empire, Emberw Empire, all the chosens responded one after the other without lifting a finger.


    The only one who was affected seemed to be the scion of the Ice Empire, Erisol. Blood started dripping out of his orifices uncontrobly.


    Despite his immense strength, he staggered under the intensity of the mental attack, his face contorted in pain. Yet, even in his agony, he managed to raise a hand, and a frosty aura enveloped him, seemingly dulling the effect of the attack.


    Shockingly, another simr aura erupted at the same time. To everyone''s surprise, this aura came from the mysterious tenth figure.


    And this aura was also icy?


    Erisol widened his eyes at this strange development. How could there be another elf who was as adept as him in using ice elemental aura inside the forbidden territory, especially now?


    But there wasn''t enough time to get to the bottom of the mystery because the battlefield once again exploded into chaos.


    With the first attack lighting the fire, the chosen ones of the eight empires, along with Rindos leaped into action.

 Chapter 1186 Blood for blood

    <h4>Chapter 1186 Blood for blood</h4>


    After the first attack, things progressed extremely quickly with the nine chosens instantly engaging in an all-out assault.


    Eldrin might have sowed discord among the armies but petty tricks like that did not work with these geniuses. Right from the get-go the dark elf, the ice elf, and the wind elf joined forces and started attacking. The trio targeted Thorazin first.


    Seeing this, the others entered a tacit agreement and did not use their full power and simply sent some attacks for the namesake while observing the Stormshroud Empire''s chosen fight against his fate.


    Three powerful waves of attacks rippled at the single elf as he stood firmly with unwavering confidence. "Lightning Aegis" Thorazinmanded as a humongous bolt of lightning emerged from the skies above, the forest itself parting ways for him.


    This lightning bolt descended down as if it was carrying out the will of the heavens and morphed into a shield of sorts as it protected Thorazin against the threebined attacks.


    The dark elf, wielding shadows as if they were extensions of his own body,unched another wave of attacks.


    Simultaneously, the ice elf, with a flourish of his hand, summoned a flurry of razor-sharp icicles, imbibed with tremendous prating power, aiming them directly at Thorazin.


    The wind elf, Kohim, moved with unparalleled speed, his wind des slicing through the air, each aimed with precision. His control over the wind made him an elusive and dangerous opponent, his attacks nearly invisible to the naked eye.


    Yet, Thorazin''s Lightning Aegis held strong. The lightning shield absorbed and deflected each attack, illuminating the battlefield with intermittent shes of blinding light. The elf''s eyes zed with fierce determination, a clear sign that he was not one to be easily overpowered.


    Every other elf had to acknowledge his truly superiorbat prowess. This person might be the biggest threat. They needed to get rid of his first.


    Erisol and Kohim instantly turned to another one of the chosen to signal him to join their attacks when suddenly the two of them abruptly stopped in their tracks, both at the same time.


    The Verdant Empire''s chosen elf whom they were about to signal to, slid lifelessly to the ground, his head severed from his body.


    Everyone''s eyes turned toward the fallen elf, a mix of shock and realization dawning on their faces. The battlefield, a moment ago alive with the sounds of elemental magic and shing powers, fell into a stunned silence.


    Erisol and Kohim, their n to join forces abruptly halted, and exchanged wary nces.


    Thorazin, still within his Lightning Aegis, allowed himself a brief smirk. The unexpected turn of events worked in his favor, giving him a momentary respite from the relentless assault. His eyes darted around, searching for the assant.


    However, the next instant his face fell. He saw the assant''s figure a lot clearer now. It was a sted human being!


    And he did not have to look twice to know who exactly this human being was!


    Thorazin''s temper grew wild as he realized that the person responsible for the current plight of his entire family and centuries of legacy stood in front of him, brazen and bold.


    His anger boiled over as he red at Liam, the human who had upended the natural order of his world, challenging the supremacy of their empire and now daring to stand among the chosen.


    "Human!" Thorazin roared, his voice thundering across the battlefield. "You dare step into our sacred ritual? The guardian will ughter you and feed you to the beasts in here. Even your soul will not escape."


    As he spoke his words in anger, the elf couldn''t help but wince at the oddity that was in his own bluster. Why did the guardian not do anything yet? How could a human being be here?


    The same question was there in every other elf''s mind.


    However, Thorazin became extremely agitated. Even a genius like him couldn''t stomach what had happened and seeing the same human being appear in front of him like this caught him off guard.


    The elf rushed toward the human being to give him a quick death, not caring about anything else. His confidence shone in his eyes as he dashed ahead fully intending to utterly devastate the dastardly being.


    But before he could take a few steps, a blood-red axe descended down on the elf sending him sprawling back several steps. Rindos sneered. "Looks like the y just got more interesting," he muttered, his eyes gleaming with a mix of amusement and calction.


    "Move away. This is not your fight!" Thorazin got back up on his feet the very next instant, small, mysterious snake-like lightning bolts running across his back and already healing his injuries.


    "A human chosen by the guardian... what a peculiar turn of events." Rindos did not budge from his position. Instead, he waved his hand, and threads of blood started to envelop Thorazin, imprisoning himpletely from head to toe.


    The elf tried to struggle but it was of no use. He also adamantly attacked the blood barrier but that also did not yield any result. While he was continuing to resist, he was seamlessly drowned in a bubble of blood which appeared unbreakable.


    The next instant, the blood once again returned to Rindos effortlessly. It was almost as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that Thorazin had now disappeared.


    All the other chosens stared in shock at the frightening scene that transpired in front of them. Each and every single one of them was a genius and yet the blood elf in front of them was on apletely different level.


    Two of them immediately made the decision to flee but Rindosughed cruelly at their efforts.


    "For how many years have you all hunted us and killed us? You ughtered our children, our women, and everyst member of our n and now you want to run?"


    As his voice reverberated amidst the chaos, all of a sudden several blood elves appeared from the distance, a huge army closing in on the gathering around the world tree.

 Chapter 1187 You haven’t run yet?

    Chapter 1187 You haven¡¯t run yet?


    Liam watched the proceedings silently. It took a moment for him to snap back to reality from the horror he had just witnessed. But somehow he was back here on solid ground again.


    He did not know what exactly happened or what he even saw. Strangely, for some reason, his memory was bing vaguer and vaguer. It was as if he was in a stupor. A momentter, he couldn''t even recollect what happened.


    Liam froze. He only remembered the final ind back in the trials but he couldn''t recollect what happened after that. He knew that it was something crucial. He also knew that it was something that had left asting impact on him but for some reason, he just couldn''t remember.


    Liam shook it off. He did not have the time right now to think about that. Perhaps when he was more rested he would remember it automatically. There was no need to stress about it at the moment.


    He coldly gazed at his surroundings with his heart starting to beat faster. He couldn''t believe he was actually standing right next to the world tree. He knew that the trials were leading him somewhere but he did not expect to simply be uprooted, shoved through a bunch of hoops, and put back right on the finish line.


    Liam looked around, unsure of what his next move should be. He had no idea how powerful these elves surrounding him were. One wrong move could cost him everything.


    However, it looked like this was his lucky day. Just as he was wondering what he should do at the moment and who his enemies were, they themselves decided to demonstrate it for him.


    The armies stepped back and nine elves who stood out started fighting amongst themselves. Liam only needed two seconds to understand the strength of hispetition. The next second he decided he was going to go home with the guardian''s blessing. While these elves were strong, they were not quite close to the monsters that he was wary of.


    Liam prepared to use all of his cards to win here at any cost. He did not want to be overconfident in case the elves were hiding something, perhaps trump cards of their own.


    He activated the two barrier shields he had forged into his wrist bracers and looked for the weakest link in front of him.


    While the elves were busy fighting against each other, he attacked the one who looked to be imbnced and unfocused from the mental attack. He imbued ice elemental dao in his attack and swung his sword towards the staggering elf. His de, wreathed in a chilling aura, cut through the air with a sound like the whispering wind, aiming for a lethal blow.


    He was going to clear the path for the guardian''s blessing with everything he had. He hade too close and he was not nning to make this a fair fight.


    As his sword descended, the icy aura intensified, tendrils of frost spiraling off the de. The elf, despite his weakened state, sensed the iing danger. With a herculean effort, he managed to raise a barrier at thest moment, deflecting Liam''s attack. The collision of ice against crystal-like leaves that surrounded the elf resulted in a resounding sh, sending shards of frost scattering in all directions.


    The crystal leaves have protected the elf several times before, proving to be a formidable defense skill in which he had a lot of proficiency. But now in a single attack, it was all gone. He felt as if he was facing a monster.


    Liam didn''t hesitate; he immediately followed up with a series of swift, precise strikes, each augmented by his mastery over the ice elemental dao. The elf couldn''t react at all and by the sixth attack, he waspletely done for.


    Having exhausted all of his potions and artifacts just to get through the trials of the guardian, he had nothing left to help him. The elf fell down lifelessly as Liam swung his sword again, attacking the same weak spot.


    The first one was dead. Liam took a deep breath as he observed the situation around him.


    It was good that he had killed off one of hispetitors but now all the attention was on him. He did not care about it because this was going to happen sooner orter. What he did not want was for the more powerful elves to appear in the battleground. So he wanted to finish this fight as soon as possible.


    Liam noticed a Stormshroud Empire elf running at him to take revenge. It was time to go berserk.


    "Come out." He summoned his soul blood beast army that could stand toe to toe with these elves, especially with their numbers, but he suddenly stopped.


    This was because before he could go berserk, it looked like someone else decided to do the same. One of the elves, who was wearing blood red robes attacked the elf from the Stormshroud Empire and killed him off before Liam could even lift a finger.


    He then smirked at Liam casually as he started targeting the other elves as well.


    Liam stopped, looking at the scene of the massacre indifferently. He simply watched as the elf killed one after the other, not even letting off the soldiers in the eight armies who didn''t involve themselves in the fight between the chosen ones.


    While the blood elf himself was powerful, he was also augmented by the small group of blood elves who seemed to be casting some sort of supporting spell on him.


    Liam tried to observe what was going on.


    A few minutester, the blood elf cleanly finished off every singlepetition in sight. He then turned towards the one other person who was still standing.


    "You haven''t run yet?" Rindos narrowed his eyes as he stared at Liam viciously, his eyespletely bloodshot. Blood dripped from his eyes and mouth in a vulgar fashion as if he were a mindless frenzied beast devouring everything around him.

 Chapter 1188 Now die

    Chapter 1188 Now die


    Liam remained motionless, his eyes coldly appraising Rindos. The blood elf''s strength was formidable, but he wasn''t about to back down now, not when the guardian''s blessing was within his grasp.


    "No," Liam replied evenly, his voice devoid of fear.


    Rindosughed, a sound that was more a guttural snarl than anything resembling mirth. "You''re either brave or a fool." "The ughter that happened here has nothing to do with you. They deserved this. I am warning you again. I do not care if you are a human being or an elf. You have nothing to do with me. So run. Run before I ughter you too."


    His blood axe spun around him, threatening to once again unleash horror onto the world. However, Liam still remained unmoving.


    Rindosughed. "I guess it doesn''t matter. You''re thest one standing in my way. Now die."


    The air around Rindos seemed to thicken, a visible aura of blood magic swirling around him. Liam could feel the oppressive energy emanating from him, fueled by whatever skills the blood elves were using.


    This was the chance he was waiting for. He immediately summoned the soul blood beasts to tackle the army and swung his sword at the blood maniac who wasing for him.


    Si! Si! Si! Si!


    The ck dragon sword in Liam''s hand hummed with power. He felt invigorated at the moment, perhaps because he was in such close proximity to the world tree. He was currently in his best possible condition so he was not nning to lose this battle.


    At the same time, Liam could see that it was highly possible for the enemy in front of him to have several hidden tricks up his sleeve considering how he utterly massacred everyone else. So he did not start with his strongest attack going all out.


    The next moment, the red battle axe swerved to meet his sword shes, blocking each and every one of them, moving at a speed that rivaled Liam''s. The sh of metal echoed through the battlefield, each blow from Liam met with equal force by Rindos. As their weapons met, sparks and droplets of blood flew in every direction.


    The blood elf was not just powerful; he was fast and skilled. Driven by his bloodlust, he fought with a wild abandon. However, when Liam observed closer, it was almost as if two different people were in front of him.


    The one blocking him was calm and calcted, meeting each attack with precision while the other one was using an overwhelming pressure and power trying to devour him recklessly.


    After a few attacks, Liam even started feeling his ck dragon sword tremble in his hands, its aura yearning to be unleashedpletely and wanting to go head to head with the blood axe. This confirmed his doubts. The blood axe with the elf was possibly a soul weapon just like his own. But unlike his own, it seemed to be somehow capable of acting on its own. Perhaps the blood elf was not even this talented inbat and it was the axe that was fighting him.


    Liam did not want to make too many assumptions. For now, he decided to separate the two to test things out. He separated the blood elf from his army and now he was going to do the same with the soul weapon.


    He immediately increased his pace, slowly sending out two different sets of attacks. Just like he thought the blood elf was too riled up to notice the shift in his tactics.


    When he was not able to get near the blood elf before, he was finally able to close the distance between them. Liam also hadn''t used his full power yet. If everything proceeded ording to his n, then victory would be his in a few moves.


    However, it looked like the blood elf wasn''t all that ipetent. He soon noticed the anomaly. As Liam closed the gap, the blood elf''s eyes narrowed, a sinister grin stretching across his face.


    "Human, the reason why I am still standing here is because¡­ I havee here prepared. Did you really think I would be defeated so easily? I am avenging centuries of genocide! You dare stand before me and fight me? You should have run when you had the chance!"


    The blood elf screamed at the top of his lungs as suddenly blood started gushing out of him like a fountain, his entire being bing a vortex of swirling crimson. The aura around him grew more intense, a maelstrom of blood that threatened to engulf everything in its path.


    Liam braced himself, his instincts screaming of the imminent danger. He could feel the raw, unbridled power emanating from Rindos. He started casting [Freezing Domain] another ice elemental spell but the other side was faster than him.


    It only took a single second and Liam waspletely engulfed in a storm of blood. It was a swirling, chaotic bloodstorm. The world around him transformed into a blur of crimson, every drop of blood charged with potent magic and destructive intent. He couldn''t see anything. He was also not able to sense anything. It was as if he waspletely cut off. A figure then appeared in the midst of this mayhem.


    Rindos, standing at the heart of this storm, seemed more demon than elf, a figure of nightmarish power. He was wielding the blood axe at the moment and mmed it right down at Liam, chopping at him with tremendous power.


    For a second all Liam could see was that tremendous chopping beam that came at him with deadly intent. No armor on his body would be able to withstand this attack. Was this the full power of an unlocked soul weapon?


    Just as Liam prepared to meet the attack head-on, suddenly another figure appeared behind his back.


    Liam did not have to turn to see who it was. Eldrin stood right behind him, wielding his sword high, ready to swing down at him with full power.

 Chapter 1189 Liam! Watch out!

    Chapter 1189 Liam! Watch out!


    With two attacksing at him from both front and back, Liam did not falter and remained calm. [Sword Dance] He only used the basic move to block both the attacks, but he also added a little something to it.


    This move was seeped with the Ice elemental dao power. Each and every attack was executed to perfection with the utmost precision, demonstrating his mastery over the skill. When the de touched the blood-red chopping beam, the beam started freezing up, unable to hold up against the dao-imbued attack, its power instantly halving. While the original attack was powerful enough to make anyone shudder, this attack was nothing much.


    Meanwhile, Liam had already moved, meeting the other attack from Eldrin also in perfect rhythm. But he abruptly shifted his trajectory as he noticed that there were two swords behind his back, more specifically one sword and one axe.


    When Rindos had attacked him earlier, it turned out that he had sneaked in another chopping beam behind his back, trying to catch him off guard.


    Eldrin was not attacking him but was trying to block the chopping beam in his stead, only to miserably fail. Liam faced attack once again head-on and sent the second chopping beam scattering as well. Blood around him froze as nothing dared to touch even his armor.


    It did not matter that the second one was a stealth attack aimed at the rear. Liam casually dealt with both attacks. Eldrin gaped in shock as he was not that lucky. Just being in the vicinity of the attack made him grind his teeth in pain as the aura of the beam tossed him off bnce. Not to mention, the elf had voluntarily entered the blood storm. He was thrown out like a ragged doll the very next instant, suffering multiple injuries, only alive because of his items. "Liam! Watch out for his blood maniption. He can control the blood in your body and make you sluggish. He can make your thoughts and reaction speed sluggish!"


    Even at thest moment, Eldrin screamed as he was pushed out of the battle zone. Liam watched the guy with curiosity. It was not that his intervention had helped him because without him he would have noticed the other chop more clearly. As for the warning, his current defense wouldn''t be so difficult to break.


    However, the elf still tried his best to help him by unnecessarily injecting himself into a deadly situation. Liam acknowledged that. Seeing that the elf was just fine, he shifted his attention back to the blood elf.


    To Liam''s surprise, Eldrin''s presence seemed to have helped him in a very unexpected way. The blood elf''s reddened eyes were locked onto Eldrin. The guy scathingly growled at him even though he was currently on the floor, almost incapacitated and unconscious.


    "How are you still alive?" Rindos growled like a maniac, rushing towards Eldrin. Rage was evident in his every step, his eyes zing with a fury that seemed to burn even brighter at the sight of Eldrin''s battered form.


    It was more than anger or vengeance. He looked rabid, almost as if he had lost his mind. Was his technique something that consumed his sanity while making him powerful?


    Liam, seizing the opportunity, reacted swiftly. If that was truly the case then he needed to finish this fight as soon as possible. There was no longer a reason to wait. In the current condition even if the blood elf possessed some life-saving treasures he doubted if he would be able to use it. He might not even remember what all he had. His current condition was that bad.


    Using the opportunity that Eldrin had provided him, Liam started attacking aggressively. He did not need it but Eldrin had given the opportunity to him anyway. Liam did not n on wasting it.


    He channeled more of his ice elemental dao into each strike, causing the air to chill palpably with every swing of his de.


    The blood elf, sensing the imminent threat, whipped around, redirecting his blood-red axe to intercept Liam''s icy onught. The sh between ice and blood sent shockwaves across the field. The ground beneath them cracked, and the air sizzled with the collision of their powers.


    Rindos was still not an easy opponent. He continued to parry Liam''s attacks. Liam also pressed on without relenting. He was sure that the blood elf was also using some sort of dao power because their attacks evened out.


    However, Liam hadn''t yet brought his full power. As he pushed his ice elemental dao seed further and further, mana around him swirled turbulently. Rindos also did not yield. The crazed beast pushed more and more, now having lost all semnce of sanity. He was wild and unrestrained and he seemed to be a lot more dangerous in his current condition.


    Liam did not like it but after a few seconds, he relented and went all in. Using every bit of energy stored in the ice elemental dao seed, he sent out an arcane frost sh that almostpletely emptied out his mana.


    Si!


    The Arcane Frost sh cleaved through the air, a brilliant and terrifying spectacle of icy power. Liam also felt that there was something different this time. His shard of ice was much more solidified this time around, making the attack a lot more powerful than his previous tries. Rindos roared in defiance, swinging his blood axe with boundless fury. The axe also seemed to resonate with his sentiments.


    The axe collided with the frost sh, and for a moment, the world seemed to stand still, the sh of their powers creating a vortex of conflicting energies.


    Then, with a thunderous explosion, the ice and blood energies erupted, sending shockwaves in all directions. The ground cracked open, trees were uprooted, and the very air seemed to scream under the strain of their battle.


    However, quickly the ice storm overtook the blood storm and there was more white than red. In the eye of this storm stood Liam.

 Chapter 1190 Everything was falling apart

    Chapter 1190 Everything was falling apart


    Liam staggered, feeling the weight of his exhaustion, but a smile spread on his lips as he received the notification that gave him the unmistakable victory.


    [Ding! You have gained 1 million experience points]


    It was over.


    In all honesty, he had experienced more considering the strength of the opponent but he did not care it was over.


    Liam hurriedly grabbed the blood elf''s soul and stored it. He also ced his body and the axe into his spatial ring. While the soul and the corpse were extremely valuable as the opponent had been exceedingly strong, Liam had a feeling that the most important haul in the entire trip was perhaps this axe. He could feel the weapon''s palpable power even though its owner had already perished.


    Liam then looked around to check out the current situation. However, all he saw was an icy hell. Everything around him was frozen. The aftermath of the fight seemed as if a winter storm had passed through, leaving a chilling silence in its wake. The trees, once verdant, were now encased in thickyers of ice, their branches hanging heavy. The ground was covered in a nket of frost, sparkling under the faint light filtering through the frozen canopy.


    The bodies of the fallen elves, scattered across the battlefield, were frozen in their final moments.


    However, all of thissted only for a moment. The greenery once again drowned out the battle disturbance, the ce returning to a peaceful state as if nothing had happened here.


    Liam''s gaze then fell upon the world tree, standing tall and unscathed. He did not expect a battle of this proportion to have any effect on it. In fact, he couldn''tprehend what sort of a battle might affect an ancient towering monster like this.


    In the distance, the soul blood beasts were still battling the blood elf army. The sounds indicated that either side might be winning. Liam could even sense that some of his beasts had perished.


    However, he did not care about that at this moment. He saw the glow surrounding the world tree beginning to be brighter and brighter. He felt a pull towards that enormous being as if it was calling for him.


    Of course, there was one other person left.


    Liam turned to nce at Eldrin fleetingly but the elf only responded with a bitter smile. Sure he loved to hatch cunning ns but right at this moment, he was in no condition to contend with Liam for this opportunity.


    "The blessing is all yours, you disgustingly powerful bastard. You did it." The elf gave a rueful smile, along with a silent thumbs up. "You did it. No one is standing in your way. Go be even more stronger." He copsed onto the ground.


    Liam looked indifferently at the elf. He then took a step forward towards the world tree, entering the area that was glowing. Almost immediately his mana reserves recovered and surprisingly his stamina also recovered.


    A wave of healing energy washed over him, soothing his aches and revitalizing his fatigued body. The warmth wasforting, like basking in the morning sun after a long, cold night. Liam felt his muscles rx and his mind clear, the weariness of the trials and the battle fading away.


    Liam took a deep breath and took one more step forward to fully enter the barrier and connect with the world tree of this world but all of sudden, he felt his body yanked backward.


    "STOP RIGHT THERE, you filthy human being!" A voice shouted at the top of his lungs. Both Liam and Eldrin snapped to look at the unexpected intrusion when abruptly Liam froze in ce.


    Eldrin stared at Liam and then at the newly arrived elven army who were standing tall and proud in front of them. His expression turned grave.


    "FUCK!" He loudly swore. Bad luck! No. The worst luck!


    Seeing the army that had donned the familiar elven tabard, Eldrin was about topletely lose it. The zealots!


    How could they have such bad luck? Defying all the odds, Liam had somehow survived until this point and even managed to partially enter the world tree''s barrier but at thest minute a new opponent was here. This was unfair!


    Eldrin shot a death re at the world tree as if he expected it to personally rectify this situation. He whipped his head in a hurry to turn and observe Liam seeing if he needed any assistance to weather this storm.


    He had bet on the right horse and he did not n on losing now. These weird cultists might need some special method to deal with them. They had powerful resources and treasures and could not be underestimated.


    However, when he turned to Liam he was even more shocked and confused. Instead of preparing to attack, the human being was staring dumbly at the sight in front of him as if he hadpletely lost it.


    Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Everything was falling apart!


    "Liam! Focus! I will help you. We can defeat them!" Eldrin shouted, immediately taking out a bunch of pills and chewing on them like a cow grinding the fodder. He hastily tried to recover before the situation worsened.


    But s, the luck was simply not in their favor.


    Right in front of Eldrin''s eyes, a huge beast emerged from the army.


    "All hail the queen!"


    "All hail the queen!"


    The cultists started chanting loudly. The effect of the whole army repeating the same words, that too with some sort of vocal enhancement made the scene so much more eerie.


    Eldrin was gobsmacked. These weirdos have a new queen? Howe? He had never heard of anything like this before?


    Just as his tired brain was scrambling to understand the situation, the fog cleared and the figure revealed itself. It was a magnificent beast. It was a majestic and terrifying creature, the likes of which Eldrin had never seen before.


    Towering and draped in an aura of raw, unbridled power, it seemed tomand the very air around it. Its eyes, glowing with fierce intelligence, fixed upon Liam and only Liam.

 Chapter 1191 The Queen was acting weird???

    Chapter 1191 The Queen was acting weird???


    Seeing that the beast waspletely fixated on Liam, Eldrin''s face was etched in dread. He instinctively knew that this was not going to end well and turned to Liam and shouted. "RUN! RUN into the barrier! The guardian has chosen you and the guardian will protect you!"


    Right, this had to work. Please let it work. He prayed inside as the elf waved his hands like a maniac signaling for Liam to run for his life.


    But to his horror, the damned human being was still frozen solid. He was standing like a rock, transfixed on the beast. Fuck! Was it some sort of mental skill? Eldrin''s mind raced as he pondered how to save Liam from this situation.


    However, it was toote. The beast acted first. With a rabid, crazed look in its eyes, the beast charged toward Liam, its massive form moving with a speed that belied its size. The ground trembled under its steps, and a sense of impending doom filled the air.


    Before Eldrin could do anything, the beast was right on top of Liam, having pushed him down onto the ground like a rag doll. Eldrin''s heart sank as he witnessed the scene. He really couldn''t do anything. Everything happened too fast.


    A terrifying growl reverberated and the next second, the beast shook its head furiously before burying its sharp teeth into the air just inches away from Liam''s face. The sheer force of its jaws snapping shut sent a shockwave of terror through Eldrin, who was watching helplessly. It seemed as if time had slowed down, each second stretching into an eternity.


    The other elves, the cultists, were also enjoying this scene with passion burning in their eyes. They always liked to watch their queen ughter her way through. She had a kind of majestic beauty that was hard to describe. The way she killed was ruthless and mesmerizing. They could never get enough of it.


    "All hail the queen!"


    "All hail the queen!"


    Several elves started chanting mentally and out loud.


    However, what happened next left everyone in shock and awe. Instead of biting and tearing apart the trash''s throat as the queen had done so many times before, she dove in for the kill, except she did not kill? What¡­


    To everyone''s shock, the Queen, the huge majestic divine beast whom they were all fervently chanting for, stuck her tongue out of nowhere and then started licking?


    Licking?


    Their Heaven-blessed Queen who was born to rule all of the myriad realms was licking the face of a mere human being like a lowly hound?


    The scene turned from one of imminent horror to one of utter bewilderment.


    That too the Queen was licking the human filth with a rabid, crazed look in her eyes. And it did not stop with licking. She hugged, wrestled, and rolled around with the human, growling loudly all the while.


    The cultists, who had been eagerly anticipating a spectacle of violence, were now frozen in a state of utter disbelief. Their expressions shifted from anticipation to confusion, and then to horror as they watched their revered Queen rolling in the mud with a human being.


    Eldrin, still trying to process the surreal scene before him, looked at Liam, who was now being nuzzled affectionately by the giant fox. "Liam," he whispered, disbelief etching his voice, "what''s happening? How is this possible?"


    However, the two didn''t seem to care or notice as if they were in a world of their own. "Master!" Luna growled angrily. The next instant, the anger of the fox seemed to melt away at the sight of Liam''s reddened eyes as he embraced the massive creature. Liam, with tears streaming down his face, gently stroked the fur of the beast, whispering softly, "Luna... I can''t believe it''s you. I am sorry I did note looking for you. I am not good enough to be your master."


    Luna was startled for a moment because she had never seen her master this emotional. The beast was at a loss for how to react as she shyly nuzzled Liam once again, silentlyforting him like she knew how. A few seconds passed by and Liam continued to stroke her intently. Seeing him act in this manner, the fox became so embarrassed that she started blurting out things. "Master, I was really busy these past few months. I have be a lot stronger. I found a bunch of idiots who willingly brought a lot of food over to me."


    She then without warning swung around, pushing her ass up Liam''s face, literally sitting on top of his face. "Look. Look. Master. I have four tails now!"


    Liam tried to say something but his mouth was blocked. Heughed and even that was muffled. He silently fell back with a wave of relief washing over him, his hand still loosely wrapped around the beast.


    He did not pay attention to anything Luna was thering on at the moment, only taking in the fact that he at least did not lose her.


    But what about the others?


    Liam took a moment to let it all sink in. He then closed his eyes and let out a big breath.


    Finally, managing to wriggle out from under Luna, he sat up and looked at her with affection. "Four tails, huh? That''s impressive, Luna. You''ve grown so much." He smiled, his eyes brimming with pride and fondness.


    Luna, now a little moreposed, wagged her tails with pride. "Yes! And I''ve learned a lot too. I wanted to show you how strong I''ve be!" She jutted her chest out with a big cute grin.


    But interrupting the warm atmosphere, a suddenmotion arose from the cultists. Their leader, a tall elf with sharp features, stepped forward, his face a mask of controlled fury. "What is the meaning of this? How dare this human taint our Queen with his presence! Kill him! He has somehow used a mental attack on our Queen. We need to rescue our Queen. ATTACK!"


    Hearing his words, the other elves nodded fervently. They needed to save their Queen!

 Chapter 1192 Who is the young master?

    Chapter 1192 Who is the young master?


    As the entire elven n prepared to act, Luna finally couldn''t bear it any longer and snapped to turn her head towards them in annoyance. She red at them with a fury they hadn''t seen before.


    "IMBECILES!" She growled. "SCRAM!" The next instant a massive st of fire erupted from her mouth that almost engulfed the entire army. Even Liam was startled for a moment. Not only that but the fire was blue in color and he could feel some sort of familiarity with it.


    "Soul fire?" He murmured as he watched the elves scurry around in awe and terror. The intensity of the fire was not enough to harm them but it was good enough to scare them senseless.


    What the hell was happening here? Liam scratched his head. "Cultists" From the distance Eldrin mouthed to him, signaling how they could be potentially crazy using his finger to draw circles in the air. It looked like the signnguage for crazy was universal. Liam let out a small sigh.


    Just a few feet away from him the bright glow was still shining, beckoning him towards the guardian''s blessing.


    Liam wanted to take action but he hesitated for a moment. He did not think that the world tree of this world was a being that encouraged senseless violence, despite this whole "blessing" event. Perhaps he was also in a good mood so he decided to let these elves be.


    Besides, he did not want to get entangled in anything right now that he was just one step away from iming this blessing or whatever it was. They have also helped Luna to which he was grateful, no matter how disillusioned they were.


    Considering these things, he simply shook his head. "Luna. Let''s go and meet this guardian. Let them be."


    Since Liam had spoken, the fox snorted coldly and immediately stopped. She then turned to look at the bright glow too, her eyes bing curious. She silently followed Liam as the two of them walked inside the barrier.


    Seeing that things were finally back on track, Eldrin heaved a sigh of relief. He did not know what exactly was happening but he was happy that his original n had somehow worked.


    "Ah. Right." He quickly hurried over to enter the barrier too but unfortunately, the second he took a step inside, he was pushed out, falling on his ass.


    "Damn it." He got up with a grumble. He gritted his teeth and looked at the glow but clearly, there was no way to head inside. "Shit!" He then remembered something vital. The crazy cultists! They were all now free to deal with him as they saw fit.


    Eldrin gulped as he turned to the side. To his surprise, the elves did not look like they were nning to attack him anytime soon. One of them even walked towards him with a friendly smile.


    "Greetings friend." The tall and stern looking elf gave a polite bow with a friendly smile that only looked creepy. Eldrin felt his inner rm bells ring loudly. "Hmmm?" He cautiously returned the polite gesture.


    "Do you by any chance happen to know the esteemed young master?" The elf asked.


    "Huh?" Eldrin was shocked. This was unexpected. Young master? "Do you mean that human being?" He again asked for confirmation.


    The elf''s face changed a little. "Yes, young master." He repeated, stressing his words as if he were asking Eldrin to show some respect.


    Eldrin stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Just a few seconds before the bunch of idiots wanted to fight and now they hadpletely flipped sides.


    "Yes. Yes. He is a close friend of mine. Almost like a brother in fact." He shrugged. His hands had already started itching to see if he could perhaps milk something valuable from these crazy weirdos.


    "Friend of yours? Can you tell me more about the young master?" The elf rubbed his chin and probed.


    "Why? Why are you interested in him?"


    "Well. Ha Ha. Our Queen seems to care for the young master and also¡­ someone chosen by the guardian shouldn''t be ordinary." There was a flicker of mysterious glint in the elf''s eye that Eldrin managed to catch.


    "Mmmm. You are right. Her Highness is very close with my friend." Eldrin spoke, adjusting his posture. He stood like a lofty aloof warrior who knew a lot about the world and was tired of it.


    "My friend is also a fated being just like her Highness. Let me tell you some things about my friend and who he is."


    "He is the human being who single-handedly caused the downfall of the Stormshroud Empire, one of the eight big empires that have been ruling our world for years and years." He continued, ying along with the freaks.


    He knew what story to tell to make the freakspletely fall head over heels in love with Liam.


    And by the time he was done, the cultists did not know what hit them. The elf returned back to his group and the bunch of them stared at the glow in front of them with reverence in their faces. It was as if some sort of heavenly edict had dawned upon them.


    On the side, Eldrin was only barely containing himself from rolling on the floor andughing his guts out. These idiots! Well, it didn''t matter. He just managed to secure some underlings for that human being.


    That should please him?


    Hmmm? Eldrin paused for a moment before he looked at the bunch again. For a second, he was not sure but then he saw the bling on the group and decided to err on the side of profits.


    He then looked longingly at the glowing barrier that did not let him pass through. When will his chance evere?


    He wondered what the human being was doing inside.


    There was also that fox which did not look like an ordinary beast. Otherwise, these idiots would have never decided to worship the beast. How strong was that fox?


    Will the guardian bless the fox too? Eldrin sighed, shaking his head helplessly. If only he could also go inside¡­

 Chapter 1193 No treasure?

    <h4>Chapter 1193 No treasure?</h4>


    Liam gaped as he looked around him in shock. He was currently standing inplete and utter darkness.


    When they had entered the barrier both Luna and Liam had been side by side but now he was somehow separated from her. He did not feel like he had teleported somewhere so perhaps he was still standing at the same spot.


    Several theories came to his mind but Liam''s thoughts were interrupted by something else that was far more concerning. All of a sudden, a huge pressure descended upon him, almost suffocating in its intensity.


    The darkness around him felt oppressive, thick with an unseen weight that seemed to press down on his very soul.


    Liam tried to move, but it was as if he was rooted to the spot. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat echoing loudly in the silent void. He strained his senses, trying to grasp something. Anything.


    The next second, in the pitch-ck darkness, a faint glimmer of light finally appeared. It was a soft, pulsating glow, seemingly distant yet oddlyforting. Liam focused on the light, feeling a slight easing in the oppressive atmosphere as he did.


    The light slowly grew brighter, illuminating what appeared to be a pathway in the darkness. Liam felt the pressure around him lessen, giving him the mobility he needed. With cautious steps, he began to walk towards the light.


    As he moved, the path illuminated further, revealing its contours and twists. Liam did not know what he was walking toward but he could tell that he had to go there.


    Eventually, the path led Liam to arge, open area where the light converged into a brilliant, radiant glow. Standing in the midst of this light was a tree ¨C majestic and ethereal, its presence exuding an ancient and powerful aura.


    Liam had actually expected an elf to be standing there, the tree attaining some sort of an elvish form but the world tree was still a tree.


    As Liam stood staring at the tree transfixed, a voice boomed in his ears.?"You havee far, Liam." The voice, deep and resonant, seemed to emanate directly from the tree, vibrating through the very air around him. It was a woman''s voice.


    Liam waited for her to continue talking but there was nothing else. Soon, a warm radiant light enveloped him, a feeling that was deeply exhrating.


    Liam did not know what was happening but every part of his body was currently being healed. The warmth continued to seep into every fiber of his being, filling him with a sense of profound peace and vitality.


    It even corrected the small injuries he had acquired during the fight. But it was more than that. It was not just his physical injuries. It was as if his very essence was being healed.


    Ever since Liam was able to return in time he had been running constantly from one struggle to another. The problems were only umting with nothing ever resolved.


    Though he had faced everything with a steel heart and continued persisting despite the raging storm, parts of him were tired.


    The warmth from the guardian spread to even these parts making him rx a little. Liam felt his spirit or rather his will bing more stronger and sharper. He let out a sigh, taking everything in and enjoying the momentary respite.


    "You havee far, Liam." The voice again said. "But the path in front of you is long and arduous. Choose wisely the life that you want to lead and don''t forget your past."


    Liam was about to say something when suddenly the warmth and the glow he was feeling started disappearing. What was happening? This was the guardian''s blessing?


    Eldrin mentioned that there would be some sort of treasure that was granted, something that he desired the most.


    And right from the moment he had entered this space, Liam had been desiring one thing and only one thing. He wanted to return to his world somehow!


    But it looked like his wish wasn''t going to be granted. Feeling a sense of desperation wash over him, he hurriedly blurted out. "Can you help me return to my home?"


    However, the vision in front of him was already fading and he found himself standing near Luna once again. Liam''s face visibly paled when he heard the guardian''s voice again.


    "I have already helped you as much as I can, human. If I do anything further, then the threads of fate will link us both. Trust me. That will only do you more harm than good."


    "There are beings that you are not even capable ofprehending at the moment. You are not ready to stand in front of them. Goodbye, human. I hope there is a day when we meet again."


    Liam''s heart sank as thest words of the guardian echoed in his ears. The world around him solidified, and he found himself standing back in the lush greenery surrounding the World Tree, with Luna by his side.


    They too were kicked out by the world tree even though they did not fall on their asses like Eldrin did.


    "What? Why are you here already?" Eldrin appeared more shocked than anyone. The other cultist elves around him also blinked in a daze.


    Liam looked at the elf''s eager eyes searching for signs of treasure on his body and he could only wear a rueful smile. Perhaps Luna received something?


    He turned to examine the fox who appeared to be equally confused.


    Liam then stared at the glowing giant trunk of the world tree which seemed as if it neither had an end nor a beginning. The world tree perhaps decided to not give him anything? It did talk about some threads of fate¡­


    As he was silently pondering, suddenly, his face changed as he noticed something. His mana flow was different. It was very subtle but it was different.


    Giving Luna a look, Liam immediately closed his eyes and started meditating to see what exactly had changed in his body.

 Chapter 1194 A fruit?

    <h4>Chapter 1194 A fruit?</h4>


    The fox did not need any detailed information. Luna knew exactly what her master wanted her to do as she stood next to him with a watchful gaze. Her eyes stared daggers at the known and unknown enemies who might be present in the location.


    Her aura was alsopletely unleashed. This was not just any other ordinary aura, it was the aura of a divine beast.


    It did not affect Liam so he did not realize what was happening but the other elves standing in the vicinity could clearly feel the oppressive aura, something that could only belong to a divine beast.


    This was a skill Luna had unlocked when she first arrived in this world. This was also the skill which had helped her be the queen of the crazy fanatic elves in front of her.


    She did not know how she even unlocked it. For the first time since her birth, she was truly alone. She couldn''t even feel her master. She was scared that she would never be able to meet her master again.


    She didn''t have a mother or father or any other family. Her master was her everything and when she couldn''t sense him, she fell into a pit of despair.


    At that time, without her knowing she had apparently started exuding this aura. She only realized it after she watched many beasts and elves scurry away from her in fear.


    Luna unleashed the same aura at the moment, her killing intent stronger than ever, guarding the only person who mattered to her in the whole universe.


    Though she waspletely vignt, she couldn''t help but look at her master every so often and sigh in relief that they were finally back together again.


    Tears threatened to fall from her eyes again but she forcibly pushed them back in as she red at Eldrin. One look at the elf and she did not like him.


    Sitting beside her, Liam shifted ufortably. He was unable to concentrate with Luna''s thoughts ring loudly in his head. Since when did the little fox have so many emotions? He was thankful that the beast loved him as much as he loved the little thing.


    He pushed away her thoughts to the side and once again tried to focus. He first paid attention to his mana core to see what was happening. Was there any chance that the guardian''s blessing could have healed his opposing cores?


    But unexpectedly, there was nothing there.


    Liam stiffened as he was dumbfounded. He thought that his cores might have healed or merged or something like that but how could theypletely disappear? There was still the mana flow which made this all the more impossible.


    Perhaps he had to form a mana core all over again. Liam stopped getting anxious and continued examining the rest of his body. He tracked the mana flow and felt the rhythm of his body.


    But nothing. He couldn''t sense anything at all. It was just his blood that was pumping.


    Liam then sucked in a big breath as he filled his lungs with air and his body with mana, trying to form a mana core from scratch. He instantly noticed what had changed.


    The mana he had observed didn''t really gather at the core of his body where the mana core should typically reside. Instead, it was gathering in his heart!


    Liam shuddered in excitement as the moment he paid attention to his heart, everything became apparent. The world tree had indeed given him a gift. There sitting in the inside of his heart was something new.


    It was something small like a fruit? A fruit? That was the first thing that came to Liam''s mind. The thing hadpartments inside like that of an orange fruit, except this one had ninepartments.


    And inside one of thesepartments, the mana he had inhaled earlier was swirling like a wisp of blue smoke, dancing freely.


    Liam''s heart rate immediately sped up as he understood what this meant. If what he thought was true, then this was something far more valuable than a limit breaker fruit.


    To test things out, he quickly activated the function of his ear ring and a few secondster, ck miasma started gathering near him. Soon, they became threads of ck tendrils that seeped into him effortlessly.


    Liam hastily started trying to control them to avoid returning again to the situation that he was in before but to his surprise, he did not even have tomandeer theher wisps. They directly got sucked into the fruit just as they entered his body.


    Liam carefully observed as the ck wisps started bundling up in anotherpartment, a separate one from the mana wisps. They even started making thepartment their own by coloring it ck.


    At this point, Liam''s theory was all but confirmed. The guardian had actually changed the entire configuration of his body in the span of a few seconds.


    This fruit thing nestled inside his heart should be the container for his new mana core or rather multiple cores.


    He tentatively focused on thepartment with the ckher wisps, channeling them through his body. The energy flowed smoothly, without the discord he had previously experienced.


    Encouraged, he then tried to draw mana from thepartment with the blue wisps. Immediately he experienced the prickling pain again because the two energies shed with each other.


    However, this was no longer a concern because all it took Liam was a few seconds to push all the mana into the manapartment while retaining only theher in his body''s pathways. For someone experienced with mana control orher control this was a child''s y.


    At the same time, the reaction was adverse only because he tried to mix in two opposing energies. What would happen ifbined two simr orplementary energies? The power oue would be explosive.


    This transformation was far beyond a simple enhancement. It was aplete reimagining of his capabilities. It improved his potential by several folds.


    With separatepartments for different mana types, he could now experiment with various elements without the risk of the conflicting energies that had gued him before. He could store, mix, and utilize these energies in ways he had never been able to.


    As he stood there, absorbing the significance of this transformation, Liam began to understand the true extent of the World Tree''s blessing. It had not just healed him; it had remade him into something more, something that he should not be physically capable of considering his origin.


    More importantly, his problem of having highher affinity as a human being was now solved as far as he could see.


    He still needed to thoroughly analyze what fruit this was and how long it could hold but at least for now, he could go all out without worrying about theher corroding his body. He did not have to go through that crippling pain every few days when his cores shed andbusted.


    Liam clenched his fists in excitement. This was enough. This was more than enough. He had shed with Crawford before and he knew that he would be able to face him properly now. It was time to return home.

 Chapter 1195 Why so serious?

    <h4>Chapter 1195 Why so serious?</h4>


    Just as Liam got excited about returning to Earth and reiming it from Crawford, he immediately remembered that he still had no way to get back. Not that he med the guardian.


    The world tree had already helped him more than he could ever ask for. Liam even had a feeling that it wanted to help him more for whatever reason but it couldn''t because of the threads of fate it mentioned. He did not understand those things clearly yet.


    And he also did not n on worrying about them right now. From what he could tell they didn''t seem to be a problem that the current him needed to face. He had a lot more immediate threats that he needed to be concerned with.


    Thinking back to the issue of how to return to earth, Liam stopped meditating and stood up with a frown.


    "Master?" Luna cocked her head and looked at Liam worriedly. Before she could say anything else, Eldrin rushed forward and started eying Liam from top to bottom. "Did you not get anything?"


    His eyes darted here and there for a few seconds before his face became weird. "Why do I not sense any mana from you?" Eldrin squinted his expression a mix of confusion and concern. "Is everything alright? What happened inside the barrier?"


    "You are nosey! Scram!" Luna immediately pped him with her paw, sending him staggering to the side.


    Eldrin looked gobsmacked. Liam saw this and broke into a smile. It looked like the little fox had picked up an adorable attitude thanks to her zealot followers. He patted her lovingly.


    "Don''t treat the elf badly. He is our friend." Liam exined, sparing a nce at the elf. He needed to have a proper conversation with him.


    There were a lot of things he needed to do at the moment but this was the most important of all.


    Eldrin immediately gulped. He did not even mind the way the little fox pushed him around but Liam''s words made a chill run down his spine.


    To make matters worse, Liam started walking toward the elf, getting up close and personal with him in a threatening manner, not bothering to hide his emotions in the least.


    "Do you remember the conversation we had before? The one where you told me that I couldn''t return to my world?" He asked, his face turning cold and indifferent.


    "I¡­ I¡­" Eldrin stammered. His mind had been sopletely on the treasure that he had forgotten whates after the guardian''s blessing.


    That''s right. This lunatic never really cared about the guardian''s blessing so much. What he wanted was to get back to that backwater.


    Why? Only the heavens know. Couldn''t he just ditch the damn thing and go and unleash terror in the myriad realms with the power he held? Why is it always the hot-headed emotional nutbags who get the power and opportunities?


    "I¡­ the Ascension Tower token?" Eldrin started.


    But the elf began sweating as Liam narrowed his eyes and gave him an even stare.


    This was the reply he had prepared but now he was hesitant in speaking it out. He would only be sealing his fate if he lied now.


    This was all because of the damned idiots! Fucking cultists! From the look in their eyes, if they caught Eldrin uttering even the smallest of lies they would immediately give him away.


    Perhaps he shot himself in the foot by being over-eager and recruiting these nutbags. Eldrin gnashed his teeth at the cultists and quickly changed his response.


    "Lord Liam, you must be remembering the conversation wrong. I indeed have a way you can return to your world."


    Eldrin''s heart ached as he fished out a token of sorts. "This is a teleportation ticket. If you activate this, you can teleport to any D-grade or below world of your choice. The only problem is I have only one token. So only one of us-"


    As the elf was trying to point out the obvious w in this method as this meant that he would be left behind, Liam did not care for it and snatched the token from his hand with his eyes widened.


    "Of course, you are wee to take it," Eldrin mumbled with a bitter smile on his face. What else could he do?


    Liam scoffed. He knew it. The elf wanted to leave this world too so how could he not have prepared any contingencies? He lied to him earlier but now he couldn''t do the same and had coughed up the truth.


    Liam stared at the token feverishly before remembering a pretty important nugget of information. "Will this work even if the world is currently in the integration process?" He asked the dreaded question. He could only hope that the elf lied about this part too.


    Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. As if holding onto a liferaft in a storm, Eldrin''s eyes sparkled as he quickly doubled back on what he said earlier.


    "No, Lord Liam. The token doesn''t work like that. The world has to be fully integrated into the Myriad Realms Network for it to be essible. You can check it yourself. The world will not appear in the list of essible teleport locations." He exined with certainty.


    "Once your world is integrated, you can easily go there. At most, you just have to wait a few years. We can leave this ce and wait it out in another world. I have many candidates-" Eldrin continued talking but Liam''s face fell.


    The guardian, Eldrin, both of them became dead ends. He looked at the zealots hoping someone might say something but none of the elves opened their mouths.


    Liam sighed. He knew that it wouldn''t be so easy but he refused to believe that it would be impossible. Perhaps if he contacted one of the empires here and talked to someone more experienced. There had to be a way!


    "Master." Interrupting Liam''s thoughts, Luna called out. "Are you talking about going back home?" The fox then cocked her head to the side, giving a cute devilish smile. "I can easily take us back, master."


    "What?" Liam looked shocked.


    Luna blinked. She did not understand why her master was so stressed about this small thing. Why so serious?


    "I can easily take us there, master. I brought us here, didn''t I? I can take us back just the same."

 Chapter 1196 Dimensional Teleportation

    <h4>Chapter 1196 Dimensional Teleportation</h4>


    Liam''s eyes widened as he processed Luna''s words. It was her all along? He had thought that it was the draconian princess who had brought them here, saving them in the nick of time.


    But it was Luna? Was it her blur skill? Did it get upgraded? Then that meant that they could go back?


    "How?" Liam mumbled as he opened her status screen, trying to keep his excitement in check.


    <Ding> Status Screen


    ______________


    Name: Luna (Soulbound Pet)


    Level: 725


    Beast Type: Four-tailed fox (Evolution Possible)


    Grade: Celestial


    Alignment: Earth


    Titles: Even Beasts can Realmhop, Devourer of Treasures, Bottomless Stomach, Ready to Burst, I like to Evolve by Eating, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, I have a big Stomach, Faction leader


    Mana Core: Gold, wless Core


    Soul: Second Order


    Pathway: Dao seed of Fire Elemental, Dao Seed of Ice Fire Elemental, Dao Seed of Soul Fire Elemental, Dao seed of Green Fire


    ______________


    Vitality: 10000


    Stamina: 5000


    Strength: 4518


    Intellect: 3825


    Agility: 4450


    Physical Defense: 6870


    Mental Defense: 5678


    Soul Defense: 6545


    Luck: 1000


    Charisma: 4000


    ______________


    Active Skills: [Growl], [sh], [Maul], [Aura Death Grip], [Fire st], [Ice Fire st], [Soul Fire st], [Green Fire st], [Blur], [Lesser Teleport], [Greater Teleport], [Dimensional Teleport]


    Passive Skills: [Divine Aura], [Fire Maniption], [Ice Fire Maniption], [Soul Fire Maniption], [Green Fire Maniption], [Heightened Stamina], [Heightened Strength], [Heightened Agility], [Heightened Intellect], [Heightened Physical Defense], [Heightened Soul Defense], [Heightened Mental Defense], [Heightened Luck], [Heightened Charisma], [Divine Blessing], [Shapeshifting]


    ______________


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam''s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the status screen in front of him.


    In fact, this was the first time he was able to get a full grasp of her abilities which were not that many. The fox only had limited skills.


    However, each one of those skills was basic and straightforward whichbined with her raw power would give explosive results.


    And her raw power was nothing short of spectacr.


    Liam gaped at those unbelievable stats which even he couldn''tpare to. For level 725 which was somewhat simr to Eldrin, the little fox was essentially an unkible death machine.


    Was this the power of a celestial-grade beast? She even had heightened senses on top of already overpowered stats!


    There was also the newly added Green Fire. Liam had to assume that the little thing had somehow eaten another me fragment aftering to this world.


    His gaze shifted to the group of elves standing and watching him and Luna in reverence. Did these elves feed the me fragment to her or did the fox somehow swiped it away from them?


    It did not matter. For all purposes, the little fox now had four me fragments which she seemed capable ofpletely utilizing. This meant that she had sessfully integrated with all of them.


    Liam thought that this process would take a lot of resources but it looked like the fox was able to acquire all of the resources on this.


    Suddenly, Liam had a doubt. Were these zealots following the little fox because they were tricked out of all of their resources and now they had no other choice except to believe that she was the chosen one?


    He shook his head helplessly. He wanted to go in-depth and explore these new abilities of Luna, especially the soul fire me fragment. However, that could wait.


    Currently, the one and only skill that he cared about was the teleportation skill.


    Liam did not know how but the little fox seemed to have unlocked a series of teleportation skills. Starting with [Blur], she had [Lesser Teleportation], [Greater Teleportation], and even [Dimensional Teleportation].


    Liam had only fed Luna some skill books back in the game. These skills were all something the fox had learned innately, on her own. Perhaps the skills were in her genes and unlocked because of the dangerous situation they were in.


    Liam did not know. He needed to analyze this in detail too and maybe help her unlock more of her skills. For now, he hurriedly looked at the details of the [Dimensional Teleportation] skill.


    Dimensional Teleportation: S-Rank Skill, Allows the user to teleport across realms.


    The skill has a limited range based on the user''s level and the strength of their mana core. Requires significant energy and concentration. The uracy and distance of the teleportation are dependent on the user''s familiarity with the target location.


    Cooldown: Varies based on distance and dimension.


    This skill was exactly what they needed to return to Earth. The little fox had probably unlocked this skill out of sheer desperation to save him and somehow got the both of them out of the death door.


    Liam lovingly patted the fox and let out a sigh. So much had happened. The current cool-down was a year. Has it already been a year since he had arrived in this world? He had spent most of the time training and it had surely gone by fast.


    The same would not be the case for the people who were waiting for him.


    Liam''s heart ached as he thought about his sister, Shen Yue, Alex, and the other members of the guild. He was afraid to think about their current plight.


    Crawford was a petty person. He would surely not leave them alone. Even though they were not his enemy, the vengeful guy wouldn''t hesitate to take out his anger on anyone and everyone rted to Liam.


    Liam could only foolishly wish that somehow they were able to hold on and wait for him. He was finally able to settle the problem that had gued him. Now he could only wish that he wasn''t toote.


    There was also another move that Liam had already made to ensure the safety of his people. But the chances of this move actually working out was pretty slim.


    Considering everything, there were several possibilities. There was no point in ying a guessing game. Now that he had the strength to face Crawford, he needed to immediately get back home ASAP!


    "Luna, can you use this skill to take us back to Earth?"


    Luna nodded confidently. "Yes, Master."

 Chapter 1197 Tinkering with the fruit

    <h4>Chapter 1197 Tinkering with the fruit</h4>


    Seeing that the two of them were just about to walk into the sunset merrily with all of their problems solved, Eldrin started panicking. But luckily for him, Liam did not seem to be ready yet to leave.


    Liam nodded at Luna again, asking the little fox to stand guard. He then sat down in a cross-legged position and closed his eyes. Calming his mind and heart, he once more started from scratch, from the very beginning.


    He began sucking in mana, trying to form a mana core. When he had done this before, he had relied quite heavily on the stone tablet to get a good enough mana concentration to be able to form a good-quality core.


    However, now it was no longer needed. The world he was currently in naturally did that for him. Liam decided to first give it a go before summoning the big guns.


    He started gathering and absorbing all the mana that he could, bringing it in through all of his pores and orifices to increase the rate of uptake. This was a method he had read in the theory of basics.


    Just like he thought the mana density was so abundant that he was not required to use the stone tablet. Especially because he was sitting right next to the world tree of a B-ranked world, this effect was noticeable.


    Liam casually breathed in and out as he sucked all the mana from the surroundings. There was no nervousness or hesitation on his face. While he might have struggled to form a simr core the first time around, this time he had a feeling it should happen very naturally and easily.


    Not long after he started, Liam''s brows shot up and he was pleasantly surprised. It looked like his work here was going to be even easier than he had assumed. Without any effort from him, the fruit embedded in his heart started doing all the work for him.


    The fruit vibrated gently, resonating with the mana he was drawing in. The ambient mana consisted of multiple elemental essences. The fruit absorbed and converted all of the essences into pure mana seamlessly and filled thepartment Liam had already allocated for mana.


    Observing this, Liam attempted something. Instead of purifying all the essences, Liam tried to direct the ice elemental essence alone to anotherpartment.


    In the grand scheme of things, forming a pure mana core was rather easy whenpared to forming specialized elemental cores.


    Liam knew a little about this process from the hellish tutorial game and had also read a little about this from the basic manuals he had recently obtained.


    But it did not matter. With or without this knowledge, Liam had never nned on forming any elemental cores but now that a treasure like this was in his grasp he wanted to try at least forming one, the one that he had the mostpatibility with.


    This would have been fire elemental essence before, and now his preference had changed after receiving the elven inheritance. He was a lot morepatible with the ice elemental essence now and had also made significant progress on ice elemental dao seed.


    Since the mana core was naturally being generated at a steady fast enough pace, Liam started tinkering with the fruit also trying to form an ice elemental core simultaneously.


    This should boost his fighting power further, giving him one more weapon to go up against that crafty, foul person.


    Liam focused intently, channeling the ice elemental essence towards a separatepartment within the fruit in his heart. He could feel the essence, cold and crisp, flowing through his veins and converging towards the designatedpartment.


    To his delight, the fruit responded positively to his maniption. Thepartment dedicated to the ice elemental essence started to glow faintly, a cool blue light emanating from within.


    Liam could feel thepartment absorbing the essence, condensing and storing it. At the same time, the rest of the essence was smoothly converted to pure mana and stored in anotherpartment.


    However, problems started cropping up soon enough. While the speed of the mana core formation was quite remarkable, the same could not be said for the ice elemental core formation.


    Even this B-Rank world''s ambient conditions were not good enough for the job. Rather they were not good enough for the speed Liam wanted the process to ur.


    If he was actually able to sit here and spend a few months or, at the most a year perhaps he could achieve this because of the fruit. Unfortunately, he did not have that luxury.


    Hmmm. Liam stopped splitting the essence. Instead, he focusedpletely on first forming the mana core. This took a couple of hours, at the end of which he had a beautiful shining mana core sitting in his heart.


    Surprisingly, the core was even better than the one had formed before. Liam did not know this but after reading the basics he came to know that there were mana cores far more powerful than a Red-grade core.


    These mana cores were ranked Silver-grade, Gold-grade, Perfect-grade, wless-grade and Formless-grade. For example, the one Luna had formed was a wless-grade core.


    This was technically a difficult thing to aplish but being a heaven-blessed celestial beast, Luna had naturally formed such a superior core.


    Not to mention she had the amount of treasures she had eaten. Liam''s face twitched as he remembered all the treasure-eating-rted titles the little thing had gained. It was no wonder her natural ability was ster.


    And now he was finally catching up to her, thanks to the opportunities he had managed to grab. The fruit treasure inside his heart turned his red grade core into a perfect grade core!


    Even though he did not think that he would, Liam could feel the stark difference between both the mana cores. It was as if he had been riding a normal horse before but now had switched to a wild unruly beast like Luna. The difference was truly staggering.


    ***


    Author''s Note: Guys, some of thements gave me this idea. I see that you all have some creative suggestions for naming this guardian''s blessing treasured fruit. So let''s roll with it. Comment me your suggestions and I will pick the one with the most number of likes/ votes.

 Chapter 1198 Get out of my face?

    <h4>Chapter 1198 Get out of my face?</h4>


    Liam continued adding more mana to the mana core until the entire chamber was brimming full of mana. He could continue further but it wouldn''t make any difference to his strength so he stopped for the time being.


    He then tested out the mana core by conjuring a huge ball of swirling icy winds in his palm. Immediately a smile formed on his face as he could finally use his mana core freely without any pain or repercussion.


    The feeling of being able to operate at his full strength without the added pain was simply indescribable.


    Liam felt like a captive beast that managed to break away from all the shackles. Well, there was still his soul injury but for now, he was freely able to use mana andher and whatever else he wanted to his heart''s content!


    Leaving aside his mana core for the time being, Liam decided to again focus on the ice elemental core. Of course, he was also working on hisher core on the side as his earrings continuously generated more and moreher, slowly converting the ambient mana intoher.


    The earring''s speed was the rate-limiting factor in this process so there was only little Liam could do to speed this step. Instead, he focused on the ice elemental core again.


    Just because the ice elemental essence was taking longer to gather, he did not n on leaving it be. After all, the stone tablet had only just now eaten some sort of weird iceke. If he was a betting man he would bet on that ce for forming a peak grade ice elemental core.


    With these three cores in ce, he should be able to face Crawford.


    Liam took a deep breath and was about to whip out the stone tablet when he stopped abruptly remembering that he was not really alone. There was no way he was going to trust Eldrin or any of the other elves as he handled the stone tablet.


    The tablet when activated opened a pocket space and for all purposes should be rtively safe to use, despite there being an audience.


    But then again these elves were from a higher-ranked world and have lived for more years than he could ever imagine. So Liam did not n on taking any chances.


    "Luna, what is the deal with these guys?" Liam opened his eyes and gazed coldly at the small army of elves in front of him. Unlike the other army, this one wasn''t really that uniform. They were a motley group, each wearing different different sets of attire.


    The best option would still be to treat them the same way he had done with the other elven armies.


    However, Liam did not n on returning kindness with cruelty if he had a choice. Knowingly or unknowingly they had helped out Luna a lot. He did not want to kill them inhumanely.


    Liam thought about it a little and was just about to make his suggestion when the little fox chimed in her response with a cheerful glee. "Master, these guys? You don''t have to worry about them. They are all my ves. Cough. I mean my subjects."


    Luna revealed a naughty smile with a wink. "I have already gotten the system follower contract signed by each and every one. They have absolute obedience to me. They will do whatever I say."


    All the elves remained silent, some even bowing their heads. It indeed looked as if Luna was officially crowned as their Queen. Liam let out a sigh. "Alright then. Let them enter the tower space."


    "You heard my master. Come on. Get in line! Stand obediently and touch my master''s hand one after another in an orderly fashion to enter the waiting area. You guys cane outter." Luna barked orders to the poor elves without bothering to exin anything to them.


    The poor cultists without any questions asked, quickly scrambled into an orderly line, each taking their turn to touch Liam''s hand.


    The process was almost mechanical, a testament to the level of control and influence Luna wielded over them. Their expressions ranged from awe to reverence, each one seemingly honored to follow themands of their Queen and her master.


    Liam watched the process with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. The reality of the situation was both bizarre and fascinating. A few minutester thest one entered the spatial artifact and the area was now very empty, save for the few remaining souls.


    With the rest of the elves gone, Liam now turned to pay attention to Eldrin who had an unsightly look on his face as if he had just now bitten into something weird.


    Damn it! Eldrin cursed inwardly. He thought that it was him who had recruited these elves but it looked like the fox had beaten him to the punch and they had already been reeled in. This was so unfair. Can''t nothing go his way?!


    Not to mention, seeing the human being actually possess a space artifact that can house living beings was another blow to his morale. He gritted his teeth as he tried to squeeze out an awkward smile. What was going to happen to him now?


    Liamughed at the constipated elf. He unexpectedly walked forward and patted the guy in a friendly manner, making Eldrin look puzzled. "I didn''t think any of this would be possible. It would have definitely not been possible without you pointing me in the right direction."


    Eldrin shook his head. "That''s not true and you know it. With or without me, today you would be standing in this same spot. I pretty much didn''t help at all."


    "Well, you kept them safe." Liam smiled as he pointed to Lunaria and Elira who were standing silently on the side.


    Eldrin sighed. What did the lives of these two idiots even amount to? At least if he had recruited the cultists¡­ He knew when he had lost so he did not push it.


    "Thank you, Lord Liam." He humbly bowed and prepared for the ''get out of my face'' that was bound toe next.

 Chapter 1199 The frozen depths

    <h4>Chapter 1199 The frozen depths</h4>


    "Are you serious?" Eldrin stood in a daze.


    "Yes, I am. You wanted me to take you to the spire of ascension, right? Or something like that? I will take you there soon enough." Liamughed. "Why not?"


    Eldrin couldn''t believe it.


    "I have some things that I need to do before that though."


    "Sure. I don''t mind. I am willing to wait. Decades if you want." Eldrin quickly obliged. With that, this matter was also settled and Eldrin willingly walked into the spatial artifact as well.


    Normally, the elf wouldn''t take the risk of being shut in a random person''s pocket space but the circumstance calls for it. Letting out a sigh, he entered the space with his fingers crossed.


    Liam then turned to Lunaria and Elira. The two of them also followed the elf, though it was clear to them that their job was to keep the others in check. There were a lot of items inside the tower after all.


    Liam was not sure if anyone could ess anything else without his permission but it was better to err on the side of caution.


    With thest two entering the spatial artifact, Liam was alone with Luna and he took out the stone tablet.


    The next instant Liam appeared in the pocket world. It was the same serene world with no apparent change.


    Liam briefly wondered if the nature of the world would change because he had sent in an entire unknown mysteriouske inside it from a B-ranked world that too but nothing. It looks like this was still not enough to get a response from the stone tablet or uncover more about it.


    However, Liam did not care about these things at the moment. He only wanted the practical aspect of it which did not take long for him to find. A few miles ahead of himy theke that he was looking for. Ity still, as calm as ever.


    As Liam approached theke, the familiar chill once again assaulted him. "Perfect." Liam sucked in a big breath and dove into theke head first.


    Thankfully, unlike the previous time, it seemed that he didn''t have to go deep and freeze himself to near death. Ice elemental essence flooded his body and the fruit sucked in everything happily as if it was a ck hole.


    Surprisingly, the core formation this time was happening at an even faster rate whenpared to the mana core formation. Liam was overjoyed to see everything proceed smoothly for once but soon nuances started cropping up.


    The ice essence still flooded his body but the rate of the core formation slowed down. This was still something he could work with so he continued with it. But a few minutester, the progress came to a grinding halt.


    Liam frowned. He did not know much about ice elemental core and this was the first time he was attempting something like this, armed only with the basic knowledge. However, he still possessed a dao seed in the ice elemental and had a very high affinity with the elemental.


    So he could somewhat assess the core that was formed inside the thirdpartment of the fruit. It was only partially formed and needed a lot more essence.


    Liam was worried that there was some other problem but it turned out it just needed more essence, perhaps purer essence. This tranted to him sucking up and further going down, once again braving the freezing cold.


    There went his easy and quick shortcut, once again proving that there were no shortcuts on the long path to power.


    Liam did not care. In fact, he was motivated more than ever. This was his chance to improve himself as much as he could before facing that old monster. He did not want to return home unprepared and undo all of his hard work.


    He sucked it up and dove in further deep. Just like he expected, the fruit once again vibrated with the flow of the essence and the rate of the essence absorption increased tangibly. He was definitely on the right track.


    Time quickly slipped away as Liam slowly went deeper and deeper until he hit the same spot again. He activated his ice elemental dao seed to the fullest as he tried to resist the freezing cold and absorb the essence.


    While this was impossible before, this time there was one minor difference. He had a fully functioning top-tier mana core.


    Liam did not hesitate to push his mana core to the limit as he started physically enhancing himself with the mana pushing his defenses to the maximum.


    Thisbined with his activating the dao seed and filling it with ice elemental essence, he was brimming from top to bottom in frost power. It mingled with his aura and a bone-chilling killing intent seeped out.


    In Liam''s mind, there was only one man''s image and that person was helping him push his body and his mind to the extreme. "Crawford," Liam muttered. "I will not lose again."


    Firming his resolution he continued heading deeper. The icy depths of theke were treacherous, but Liam''s determination was unyielding.


    As he descended, the essence of ice around him became denser, purer. Each cell of his body absorbed the essence, and the fruit within his heart throbbed with energy, the ice elemental core steadily forming.


    Liam''s mind was singrly focused. This time he was not going to leave anything to chance. Since it was possible, he needed to get this done.


    He could have probably avoided all of this pain and trouble without pushing it so hard but he had no choice. He needed to go as fast as he possibly could.


    Hours turned into days as Liam remained submerged. The depths of theke seemed endless. But with each passing moment, his core grew stronger, and more stable.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Liam sensed a change. The core in his heart''spartment feltplete, resonating with a powerful icy aura.


    He could almost visualize it ¨C a shimmering, crystalline structure, pulsating with the coldest of mana.

 Chapter 1200 Homecoming

    <h4>Chapter 1200 Homing</h4>


    Seeing Liam step out of the stone tablet''s world, Luna growled cheerfully and pounced on him. Even though the fox knew that this time he was not going anywhere, she couldn''t help but feel anxious when they were separated.


    "I am here. I am here." Liamughed as he patted the little thing. "I am here and we are going home."


    Luna blinked as she looked at Liam. "Master, you formed a mana core so fast?"


    Liam nodded. In fact, he hadn''t formed one but three cores in total. By the time he had finished forming the ice core, theher core had already taken shape. There were now three condensed balls of immense energy simply hanging around near Liam''s heart.


    "I am not able to sense anything?" Luna curiously tried to sense the presence of mana in Liam''s body.


    Hmm? Liam pondered why that would be as he was currently not putting any effort into hiding his aura. Perhaps it was another function of the fruit embedded in his heart.


    But Liam did not care about these things at the moment.


    It was time to get back.


    His expression turned serious as he looked at the fox and said, "Luna, we need to go back. Can you activate your teleportation skill now?"


    Luna''s ears perked up, and she nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Master!" She also couldn''t wait to get back home. While this world was good, she was getting a bit homesick.


    Liam took a deep breath, his mind momentarily drifting to the countless things he had to face once back on Earth. But he couldn''t dy any longer; he had to confront Crawford and reim his world.


    "Let''s do it now, Luna. We''ve waited long enough," Liam said decisively.


    Luna''s tails swished in excitement as she began to focus. Her form shimmered with a mystical light, and a portal started to form in front of them. The air around them vibrated with severe mana fluctuations, pulling in mana from everywhere as the portal stabilized.


    Liam took onest look at the world he was leaving behind. This ce had truly been a stepping stone for him in every way.


    He had gained strength and allies, and he had finally managed to find the thing that he wascking the most. Now there was nothing to hold him back.


    He stepped into the portal, along with Luna as light engulfed thempletely.


    For a moment, there was a sensation of being nowhere and everywhere at once, a fleeting glimpse into the vastness of the cosmos.


    And then, just as suddenly, they were standing on solid ground.


    Liam opened his eyes, his heart beating rapidly. Not out of the joy of finally returning home but out of fear and nervousness. What if he was toote?


    He was powerful now. More powerful than he had ever been before but what if all of that meant nothing?


    He was almost afraid to see what was around him.


    Was the teleportation sessful? Did they get back to the right ce? Was everyone still alive? Were they well? Was his sister alright? Was Shen Yue suffering?


    So many thoughts bombarded his mind.


    However, when Liam opened his eyes, he was utterly shocked. So much so that he immediately opened his system interface to take a look.


    [Ding! Current Location: Earth, 2343AS3u45i]


    This confirmed that he was indeed back on Earth but how could this be? There was no relief or happiness on Liam''s face as a look of dread gripped him.


    As he took in the surroundings, it was as if his worst nightmare hade true.


    He was finally back where he belonged but it was no longer the same ce. It was dark, gloomy, reeking of corruption and desperation. It was filled withher.


    The once familiarndscape of Earth was now a twisted vista of despair.


    The sky, shrouded in a sickly hue of purples and cks, churned with clouds that seemed to absorb the light rather than reflect it.


    The air was thick, heavy with a sense of malevolence and decay. The very ground beneath Liam''s feet felt tainted, everything corrupted.


    "Master..." Luna''s voice was a mix of confusion and concern. She too saw the profound change that had befallen their world with her maw wide open.


    Liam''s fists clenched tightly. This was not the homing he had envisioned. His eyes darted around, searching for any sign of life, any hint of resistance against the darkness that had engulfed his world.


    "There''s so muchher energy," Liam whispered, his voice barely above a murmur.


    The realization hit him hard. This was not supposed to happen. He was anxious about so many things but this hadn''t been one of them.


    "How the hell did this happen?" Liam growled in anger. He had stopped them. He had stopped the array. He had protected the world tree. He had done everything. So why?


    Just as his mind and his emotions were about to run berserk, Liam all of a sudden felt a faint voice in his mind¡ªsomething called out to him.


    Liam froze. He stopped letting himself get consumed and properly focused. However, it was not the voice that caught his attention first. It was something else.


    Liam immediately sted off the ground, shooting into the sky like a rocket. Luna followed him and she stopped right next to him. The two of them hovered mid-air as they watched the scene in front of them in utter dread.


    What the hell? Their world had somehow be fat?


    Liam was now genuinely confused as he couldn''t help but feel the vastness of their world. Earth that should have been of a particr size was now several folds bigger as if it had somehow gotten bigger and coughed up morendmass and waterbodies out of thin air.


    More importantly, all of it was dripping with the rotting energy of death,her?


    Liam frowned. No. He could sense it. There was a boundary.


    Throwing all caution to the wind, he frantically flew eastward when finally he saw the proof with his very own eyes. There washer, but there was also life on the.

 Chapter 1201 A different type of world tree

    <h4>Chapter 1201 A different type of world tree</h4>


    Liam hovered in the air as he stared in shock, amazement, and disbelief as he saw a clear demarcation line that ran right down the middle withher abundant on one side and the other side devoid of any and all sorts of corruption.


    It was surreal, a stark contrast that defied naturalws. On one side of the demarcation line, theher''s corrupting influence painted a scene of destion. Dark, twistedndscapes, withering flora, and a sky that seemed to bleed shadows.


    On the other, the world was as he remembered it ¨C clear skies, fresh air, and the vibrant colors of life.


    This bizarre dichotomy made Liam''s mind reel with questions. How had Earth managed to resist theher''splete takeover and be like this? What force could have created such a clear boundary between corruption and purity?


    It had to be the world tree sapling that he was linked to!


    It meant that he had seeded and Crawford couldn''t do anything about it. Perhaps he did not fully seed in stopping theher invasion altogether but he stopped it enough for the world to be at least half-alive.


    This instantly gave Liam more hope about finding everyone else.


    He opened up the system interface map again in a hurry because the world as he knew it hadpletely changed. Maybe it was because he had only just now returned from the B-ranked world but being here almost felt the same as being back there in that high-ranked world.


    His senses were simply not enough to wrap around the vastness of the world. To get a bird''s eye view of everything, he might have to fly for months to get a good picture. The current world''s size was immeasurable.


    This made him wonder who or what exactly resided in the world at the moment. Where did all this excessndmasse from? Did it just pop out of nowhere?


    It didn''t matter. However, it happened, it was only good news for him.


    Perhaps it might have been difficult to hide in the previous small world. Now his friends and family should not have any trouble hiding. Their survival chances shot up exponentially. Even though they might be suffering they might at least still be alive.


    "I am here. I aming." Liam sucked in a big breath as he was about to shoot forward with maximum speed tob through the whole world for his family.


    As he started, he once again heard the faint voice in his mind, not really a voice but a small tug that called for him. Liam had forgotten about this because of the situation. Now that he thought about it, the faint connection he had should be the world tree sapling that was growing.


    "Hmmm." He was more inclined to search for his family first. However, there was a high chance that his family might even be hiding with the world tree sapling. So in the end, he decided to follow the pull and started flying in that direction.


    Luna silently followed behind him, the fox also utterly shocked by everything that was happening around them. She had never seen wonders like this in her entire life.


    As the two of them flew over the demarcation line going further up towards the north, Liam opened the system map again to see where exactly they were headed to.


    Seeing that the demarcation line was running through their new world right down the center, he would have also expected the world tree to be smack dab in the center of the world. Clearly, that was not the case.


    Navigating through the system map, Liam pinpointed their destination towards the northern hemisphere. The pull he felt was leading them towards a region that, in the old Earth, would have been frigid and inhospitable.


    Why the world tree had centered itself there was a mystery. The duo continued heading north. Thendscape below them gradually changed as they moved northward.


    The blightednds gave way to lush forests, thriving wildlife, and rivers teeming with life. It was a stark contrast to theher-ravagednds they had left behind. This was the world as it should be, as it fought to remain.


    Even some of the areas that should have beenher infested in the first ce, lying on the right side of the demarcation, were cleansed. At the same time, Liam felt the pull from the world tree getting stronger.


    "I guess we are here." Liam increased his speed as he could finally see a pir of light, green in color, shooting up into the sky. Correction, it was ck and greenish blue in color.


    Understanding what was happening little by little, Liam approached the unique world tree. Naturally, it was nowhere near the world tree of the elven world. This one was still a sapling or rather a medium-sized nt now.


    However, despite its rtively modest size, the nt exuded an aura of profound strength and resilience.


    The sapling''s trunk was thick and robust, its leaves shimmering with an ethereal glow, fluttering gently in the wind. The whole nt was partly ckish in color and partly greenish in color.


    The pattern of ck and green had even extended all the way to the trunk though the ground around it was lush and green. It also did not possess a huge imprable barrier like the elven world tree had.


    Instead, this one had a small flimsy translucent barrier. Liam touched it and he felt no resistance. He walked right into the barrier and reached out his hand to touch the nt instinctively.


    His hand gently brushed against the nt and a surge of warmth and energy flowed through him, a silentmunication between him and the nt.


    The small nt expressed its emotions a lot stronger as he was standing right in front of it now. It was apparently happy to see him. It even moved and swayed with the wind as if it was dancing with joy.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


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 Chapter 1202 Devastating Blow

    <h4>Chapter 1202 Devastating Blow</h4>


    While this small tree was nowhere as impressive as the elven world guardian world tree, Liam still preferred this one as it was his own bonded world tree. Though it was young at the moment, the things it was capable of when it grew were boundless.


    Liam had witnessed firsthand the strength of the mature version of the same thing. One day his tree might also be powerful enough to give one blessing a cycle.


    Rather than the blessing itself, Liam wanted to know just what exactly was a world tree and what this blessing business was. He had a feeling that this truth was far more valuable than any item the tree could spew out.


    Not just this but he had many many things that he wanted to talk to the tree about. There were a million confounding questions spiraling in his mind. However, the first question he asked was something else.


    "Where is my family?"


    Almost immediately, the world tree trembled slightly under Liam''s touch as if it was responding to him. What did this mean? Were they fine? Were they here?


    As Liam''s mind scrambled to understand the nt, another voice boomed in the distance, making it plenty clear for him.


    "Why bother talking with someone else when the person you are looking for is right here! They are all dead."


    Liam shuddered at that voice as it was not one that he wanted to hear. As he turned to confront the person whom he hade here prepared to face, all of a sudden a huge ss box fell from a height.


    Inside this box, neatlyid out like a corpse in a funeral was a familiar face that made Liam tremble. "Alex." His voice broke. Parts of her body were injured or missing. Shey inside like a disfigured doll, still, motionless, and lifeless.


    "You see, Liam, everything has a price." Crawford taunted. "Unfortunately, this was the only body I could preserve for you, everything else was simply consumed by the embers."


    "Really! Believe me! I tried my very best but your friends were just too weak. Tsk. Tsk. They couldn''t even hold on as corpses to give you a warm wee. What an unsightly bunch."


    Crawford''sughter echoed in the deadly silence that pervaded everywhere. Hisugh was cold and devoid of any humanity and it dealt a devastating blow.


    Liam''s eyes burned with unshed tears as he stared at the horrific sight before him. His hands clenched into fists, knuckles whitening. It did not take long for this shock to turn into rage.


    No! No! No! How could this be possible? Everything inside him crumbled. He always knew that there was a chance for this to happen. This thought had gued him every second he was away from here.


    But for everything toe true and his worst nightmare to y out¡­ he was not prepared for that.


    Liam snapped. All he saw was red. He had failed miserably and he had lost everything that mattered to him. Everything was pointless now. He had lost already. His grief morphed into a force of vengeance, each word from Crawford fueling his wrath.


    "What did you do to them?" Liam growled, his voice a mix of fury and pain. "You''ve taken everything from me!" He did not hold back and immediately rushed out of the translucent barrier, charging straight towards Crawford who was hovering in the air a few feet away.


    Both Luna and the world tree nt tried to reach out to him but they couldn''t reach him in his current state.


    "MASTER!" Luna growled as she charged alongside him.


    Crawford''s face twisted into a smirk, amused by their actions. "Boy, did you think that I was sleeping all these days that you went off gvanting to some rat hole? While you curled up and licked your wounds, I became someone whom you cannot touch!"


    The air trembled as enormous amounts of mana surged in the vicinity. The ground beneath them cracked and heaved as a maelstrom of dense energy gathered.


    Liam felt the force of it pressing against him, an almost tangible wall of power that seemed insurmountable. But his rage did not waver. He directly punched his fist forward and channeled all of his rage, sadness, and frustration into a single, devastating punch towards Crawford.


    In his primal state,her answered his call and formed a giant fist that mirrored his own.


    The giant fist surged forward, cutting through the dense mana Crawford had condensed around him. It did not give him any time to respond as theher fist collided with Crawford, sending him flying backward with an impact that resonated through the air.


    However, Crawford did not look serious in the least. He let out a loud burst ofughter as he flew up in the air again effortlessly. "That''s right. I heard this about you. You can manipteher easily, huh?"


    Crawford''sughter did not sober Liam up one bit. The turmoil inside him raged loudly as he attacked like a blind bull without caring about anything.


    Theher core in his heart churned violently and his body was flooded withher. The whole world hadher now, well at least half of it. He was notcking in anything!


    Liam repeatedlymanded all theher that he could ess and started violently attacking Crawford with everything he had.


    The air around them became a chaotic battlefield, charged with the raw energy ofher.


    Each strike Liamunched was more potent than thest, fueled by the depth of his grief and the power of theher core within him.


    Crawford, for all his arrogance and power, found himself on the defensive. He weaved through the air, dodging and deflecting the relentless barrage ofher-infused attacks.


    His expression slightly faltered but the smirk on his face still remained. "Bah! Useless trash. Know your ce." Crawford snorted. A ripple emerged from him that contained hints of divine energy and some other type of unique energy.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


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 Chapter 1203 Catharsis

    <h4>Chapter 1203 Catharsis</h4>


    Luna could sense that this attack was not normal. The fox also saw that her master was in no position to fight back. He was not thinking clearly. He looked broken and lost. How would he be able to face this powerful attack?


    She immediately blurred to stand before him but Liam''s voice thundered loudly, stopping her in her tracks. "LUNA! Stand down. This is my fight."


    The little fox growled in anger and sadness as she was unable to see her master like this but she did not dare disobey him. She stood aside as dense clouds ofher materialized around Liam. He waspletely submerged inher from all sides.


    Though Luna was scared, in the end, it looked like all her worries were for naught. The attack gotpletely doused in theher.


    Crawford frowned. For a second, it seemed as if Liam had be stronger. However, nothing changed. After the attack got eaten, Liam only continued to barrage him with weak attacks one after the other.


    These attacks were rife withher but theycked the intensity to hurt him. So even if he continued to receive several of these attacks, it would do absolutely nothing to him.


    Crawford continued to watch the show in amusement. The enemy that had shocked him by suddenly appearing out of nowhere was actually selfbusting on his own.


    He had thought that Liam had died and was in the process of trying to getplete control of the world tree but who would have guessed that this insect was alive?


    "Good. Good. It is more entertaining this way. I can personally squeeze the life out of your body." He smirked and continued enjoying himself.


    To his surprise, this show continued on for another entire hour when Liam growled like a madman and unleashed attack after attack in a blind rage.


    The man''s emotional state was also at rock bottom as he could clearly not understand something basic. None of his attack was going through and yet he was wasting his energy and throwing a tantrum.


    Finally, after an hour, Liam stopped. He panted hoarsely, his chest heaving with everybored breath as he stared at Crawford with unbridled bloodlust in his eyes.


    Crawford, still smirking, floated in the air with an air of superiority. "Is that all you have, Liam? Such a pitiful disy. I expected more from you."


    As the old man stared down at Liam, he did not know why but for some reason he felt an unsettling feeling welling up in the bottom of his heart.


    Why? Why was he unnecessarily getting scared?


    The guy was essentially a cripple. By now he had gathered a lot of information about Liam and knew all of his weaknesses.


    Theher that made him strong was the same that acted as a poison and drained him. Considering that he had spent thest hour unnecessarily dabbling inher, the current him should probably be just a husk.


    There was no need to be wary of him. He couldn''t even sense any mana from him. The thing that Crawford was rather wary of was the divine beast but thankfully the foolish human had ordered the beast to stand down.


    Everything waspletely under his control. Yet there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind, his well-honed instincts telling him that something was wrong. Why did he appear now after all this time? Where was he until now? Was he really holed up in some rat''s nest?


    Hmmm. Crawford frowned. He did not like the fact that this crippled fellow was still making him anxious. It was time to end this fight and package his corpse to that priestess to get his year-end bonus.


    Crawford, his frown deepening, prepared tounch a final, decisive attack to end the fight. He focused his mana, gathering a swirling mass of dark roiling energy around him that had a strange property.


    Hmph. He snorted. This insect should feel proud to receive his attack. This was his special move after he had gleaned an insight into the space element. The attack was so powerful that it would rip apart the entire space itself creating a void tear.


    The chances of this insect defending against such an attack were zero!


    Crawford''s eyes narrowed as he aimed at Liam, who still stood panting and seemingly defenseless and the st shot forward.


    "Enough is enough. I don''t want to waste my time watching your pathetic attacks. You had a good run, boy. Now you can rest in peace leaving all of your treasures with me. I will take good care of them. Heh."


    Crawford''s eyes gleamed with cruelty as he unleashed the attack but just as he did, something unexpected happened.


    Liam, who had appeared to be on the brink of copse, suddenly moved with a speed and precision that seemed impossible given his exhausted state. It was as if thest hour had been a ruse, a way to lull Crawford into a false sense of security.


    Liam''s movements were a blur, a dance of agility and power that defied his earlier disy of weakness. Crawford''s attack hit him but some sort of a barrier popped up and the attack was eaten away just like that.


    Not that just but he closed the distance between them in a heartbeat. Crawford''s eyes widened in surprise and a hint of fear - this was not the Liam he had been fighting. His eyes were like a predator that would not yield to anyone else.


    There was also no rage or desperation on his face any longer. There was only an eerie calm.


    Liam indifferently nced at the man in front of him who had caused him so much anguish over the past several months.


    His hour-long barrage, seemingly wild and uncontrolled, was an outpouring of rage and frustrations that he had bottled up for so long.


    It was a catharsis, a purging of the overwhelming emotions that had gued him for months. Now he was done venting. A bone-chilling aura erupted from him.


    ***


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 Chapter 1204 I will see you soon enough

    <h4>Chapter 1204 I will see you soon enough</h4>


    The aura that emanated from Liam was unlike anything Crawford or Luna had ever felt before. It was cold, calcting, and filled with a deadly calm that was far more terrifying than any disy of rage.


    Liam hadpletely shed the mantle of the grieving, enraged lunatic and had be something else entirely. Before Crawford could even react, Liam appeared in front of him with his sword unsheathed. He no longer usedher.


    Instead, the air around his sword crackled with a frigid energy.


    Crawford sensed the danger emanating from Liam''s sword. His eyes widened in shock. How is this insect wielding so much power?


    With a swift, fluid motion, Liam swung his sword in a graceful arc and Crawford blocked the attack instinctively.


    The de that moved through the air with an eerie silence faced a strong divine barrier that had activated from one of the artifacts in Crawford''s possession, clearly a handout from the higher-ups.


    For a moment, the attack seemed to falter and Crawford''s face lit up but the very next instant, the barrierpletely froze. Like a cheap sheet of ss, the barrier cracked and shattered into a million pieces.


    The shattered fragments of the barrier fell away, sparkling like diamonds in the air before dissipating into nothingness.


    Crawford, his face now etched with a mix of fear and disbelief, stumbled backward. He had never encountered such a power, one that could so effortlessly shatter a divine barrier.


    And the attack hadn''t even dispersed yet.


    The cold energy seeped into Crawford, freezing his entire being, his soul, his body, his mana core,pletely rendering him unable to move or counterattack.


    As the old man stood there, immobilized by the frost that he couldn''t break free from, he finally realized the strength of the monster in front of him.


    Crawford was not ignorant. He knew about the great Daos. Unfortunately, because he was imprisoned in the tutorial world, he couldn''t gain a dao seed himself. It was forbidden.


    But the moment he faced Liam''s attack he knew exactly who he was up against, someone who had taken a step on the path of the great Daos.


    But how was this possible? This person in front of him was almost a cripple. Thest they faced, he was not this powerful. He was pretty sure Liam did not even know about the great Daos. How could he be like this in the span of a year? It was unbelievable!


    Crawford couldn''t ept this. This person should have nevere back. This world was his. He was supposed to be the overlord of this marvelous world.


    Over the past several months Crawford had painstakingly gathered resources and nurtured the world tree sapling, all for it to be indebted to him and bond with him.


    And he was also about to seed. He was going to be the hegemon of a high-ranked world. A twisted expression appeared on his face fleetingly and disappeared.


    He then started unexpectedly begging.


    "Please. Please. Don''t kill me. I am sorry I lied to you. Your friends and family¡­ Cough. Cough. Cough." The guy spurted out mouthfuls of ck blood.


    "I lied. I didn''t do anything to them." He spoke with great difficulty.


    Liam''s eyes widened slightly. Seeing hope lit up in his eyes, Crawford''s tired demeanor suddenly changed. He unexpectedly burst into a bout ofughter. "I didn''t do anything to them because they all died before I could touch them."


    He roared maniacally as he continuedughing loudly and spewing out more blood.


    He did not seem to care in the least about his current condition or the injuries in his body. The fact that he was at death''s door did not seem to matter to him at all. The words he was speaking only made half-sense. The man seemed delirious.


    Seeing Liam''s expression change, he redoubled hisughter. "They are all dead! They are all dead! Ha ha ha ha!"


    Spatial tears started forming spontaneously and it was clear that Crawford had activated some sort of attack, perhaps one that was going to take down the both of them together.


    However, before hisughter could even fade, Liam returned to his cold indifferent state as he stared down at the man with unwavering eyes.


    "You are lying." He simply said.


    A look of shock appeared on Crawford''s face. "Why would I lie?" He angrily spat back.


    He wanted to rattle Liam so that his final attack could reach him and he could somehow buy himself a chance but unfortunately, such a thing looked impossible. The opponent was too calm.


    Liam''s face turned into a shade of sinister, a wicked smile etched on his lips.


    "Tell me, Crawford. Have you ever seen my army? Hmmm? What do you think they were doing while I was here fighting with you?"


    Crawford became lifeless as he realized what had happened. He was never this man''s match, to begin with.


    He should have run away when he had the chance instead of rushing to his doom all on his own. It was not Liam who had curled up in a rat hole and licked his injuries. It was him.


    With a chuckle, Liam squatted down next to the dying old man, his eyes sadistically gleaming as he watched the old man break down all over again right in front of him.


    The spatial tears he had conjured did not help at all as each one was inexplicably freezing over, the moment they were forming.


    Crawford''s face looked truly miserable as he was unwilling to ept this fate.


    The reality was painfully clear. He did not want to die. Not like this. He wanted to somehow survive. He wanted to once again be stronger and¡­


    "Please¡­ I can-" Crawfrod opened his mouth again, this time his eyes genuinely pleading for mercy but before he could finish his words, Liam ended his life with a wave of his hand.


    Several ice spears materialized at the same time and pierced the old man''s throat, freezing his head alongside his body, inside out in an extremely grotesque manner.


    A momentter, a feeble soul seeped out of his body that Liam did not fail to capture. "I will see you soon enough." Liam sneered at the remnant soul and shoved it into a soul-storage marble.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 4~


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 Chapter 1205 Life-preserving Array Box

    <h4>Chapter 1205 Life-preserving Array Box</h4>


    After dealing with Crawford, Liam immediately dove right down to the ground towards a bundle ofher that had wrapped itself around something. Since the entire ce was reeking ofher thanks to the battle, this bundle did not seem that out of ce.


    With a wave of his hand, Liam dispersed theher, revealing the ss box underneath. The thing was in fact not a simple ss box.


    [Ding! Life-preserving Array Box]


    His upgraded [Inspect] skill clearly gave him the description along with a small representation of the person inside it as a diagram with red being parts with injury, green being normal tissue, and yellow being slightly injured areas.


    Liam''s heart ached as he saw Alex''s body bright red in color in the diagram. Every single part of her body was riddled with injuries and numerous scars and wounds covered her body from head to toe.


    And it was not just injuries. Her right arm waspletely mangled and her left leg was missing a big chunk.


    How hard must she have fought to protect everyone in order to get injured in this manner¡­


    Liam''s eyes moistened to see the woman who was always full of energy lying down so still and frozen like this.


    He knew that she was alive.


    He had known that she was alive the moment Crawford brought out the box. The old man probably assumed that Liam wouldn''t know anything about the ss box but it was a simple matter of his upgraded skill giving him all the information that he needed.


    This was also the moment that Liam realized something. The person in front of him was weak. Crawford was once an enemy that he had feared and considered almost unbeatable, but now, he saw the truth.


    Only after stepping out of this world, could he understand the real difference between him and the powerhouses in the vast wide cosmos. In front of them¡­ in front of the divine temple high priestess Liam was still a nobody. However, that was not true for the level 230 Crawford.


    The moment Liam saw the level of the guy using the [Inspect] skill, rage roiled within him. He was finally strong enough to thrash the opponent in front of him but what was the price he paid for it¡­


    It was far too much for him to bear. Liam sighed. He let go of the anger that still lingered in his heart. Alex was still, though only barely. She was heavily injured and he needed to tend to her first.


    When it came to healing skills, Liam was not the best and he did not even have enough insights to confidently judge her condition. So he first called out Lunaria, the dryad, from the spatial artifact to use her nature healing skills.


    Unable to sit tight inside, Eldrin and Elira also popped out along with her.


    Seeing Eldrin, Liam was perplexed because there seemed to be some sort of restriction that prevented higher-level beings from stepping foot on Earth. Although the elf seemed to be just fine as he casually walked out and started looking around.


    Liam did not think about this any further, pushing the matter aside for the time being. For now, the first and the only thing he paid attention to was the woman in front of him.


    "Lunaria, see if you can do anything for her. Her injuries are beyond my skill to heal," Liam implored the dryad.


    The dryad, first shocked because of the ce where she was standing, took a second to admire the world nt. She bowed in reverence to the small nt and then approached the ss box with solemn grace.


    Her presence alone seemed to bring a sense of calm and life. She gently touched the ss, her hands glowing with a soft, verdant light. Immediately, the entire box began glowing green.


    "I will do my best," Lunaria said softly, her voice like a gentle breeze through leaves. She began to chant in a differentnguage, her words weaving a spell of healing and restoration.


    On the side, Liam prepared some other things, including healing potions, pills, and other medicinal items with healing properties.


    Everyone stood quietly watching as the dryad worked her magic. Only Luna mentally asked Liam, "Master, what about the others? Are they also somewhere imprisoned by this guy? Shall I look for them?"


    Liam shook his head. "Let''s wait." He couldn''t exin it properly but he had a feeling that the others were fine. This was precisely because Crawford had stuck Alex in a life-preserving chamber.


    Liam had a feeling that the petty old man was using Alex as bait to trap others and when it did not work he must have held on to her to use her as a pawnter on.


    Liam did not know for sure. Maybe it was all his wishful thinking but healing Alex would be the quickest way to find out about everything. He had already tried the system interface to reach the guild channel and thework but everything was offline.


    Every single name in his personal friend list was also grayed out. This had to be because everyone was in hiding.


    As numerous scenarios cropped up in his mind, Alex''s condition was slowly improving. The dryad was doing her best to heal her as the strain of her undertaking was visible on her face.


    Because of all the experiences she had amassed while she was back in Tirnanog with Liam and the hint of a dao seed she had gained, Lunaria''s current skill level was very different from when she had left Earth.


    She was able to utilize the natural energies around her with much more finesse and power. Her connection to the life force of nts and the earth itself had deepened, allowing her to channel healing energies more effectively.


    The glow around her hands intensified, and the air seemed to pulse with the life force she was channeling into Alex.


    After a while, Lunaria''s chant slowly came to an end, and the green glow began to fade. She stepped back, visibly exhausted but there was a frown on her face.

 Chapter 1206 I am here

    <h4>Chapter 1206 I am here</h4>


    "Did it not work?" Liam stepped forward to examine the woman in the box who was still lying peacefully. If not for the marks of blood and battle scars on her partially ripped attire, one would assume that she was simply taking a nap.


    Alex''s breathing was now steady, and the red in the diagram had significantly reduced, indicating that her condition had stabilized. But Liam could see what was still missing. He knew why the dryad had a frown on her face.


    "Lord Liam, her soul is¡­ injured. Her mind also seems to have gone through extreme trauma. The wounds of the body I can heal but the wounds of her mind and soul are something that I cannot change. It is one''s fate to bear such injuries." The dryad exined.


    "For now, if you release the woman from the box, she should still be able to live. The quality of her life probably would not amount to much."


    "Master¡­" Luna worriedly started licking Liam''s hand. The fox knew that the woman was very close to her master and that her condition would be difficult for Liam to digest.


    However, Liam''s face remained indifferent. He raised a hand and brought it down onto the box without saying anything.


    The ss shattered with a sound that seemed to echo the fragility of the situation. Yet, Liam''s movements were precise, ensuring that none of the sharp fragments came anywhere near Alex.


    He carefully lifted her out of the remains of the box, cradling her with a tenderness that betrayed his stoic exterior.


    Liam looked down at Alex, his eyes reflecting a mix of sorrow and anger.


    He waited silently for a few seconds when suddenly Alex''s body moved and her chest heaved upward in a sharp gasp, as if she was taking her first breath after being submerged underwater.


    Her eyes fluttered open, revealing a dazed and confused look.


    Alex''s eyes wandered around, taking in her surroundings with a bewildered gaze. Her focus finally settled on Liam, but there was ack of recognition in her eyes, a vacant stare that confirmed the dryad''s words about her soul and mind.


    "Where... am I?" Her voice was weak, barely above a whisper, her words slurred as if she was struggling to form them.


    Liam held her close, not letting her down even if she was struggling slightly to wiggle out of his grasp. "You are safe now. There is no need to fight anymore. Just rest."


    Alex instantly froze. Her eyes which were vacant up until now suddenly shed with life, puddles forming around them. Liam''s voice was like a trigger that brought up everything for her.


    "I knew it." She smiled, with the sweetest smile she had ever revealed. It was like a child smiling on seeing its mother, one born out of pure love. Liam''s heart clenched at the sight.


    "Everyone told me that you died but I knew it. I knew it." As she repeated the same words, Alex closed her eyes, seemingly in a lot of pain. She immediately pried them open again to make sure that what she saw wasn''t a mirage and let out a small sigh of relief.


    But rather than relief, it was as if she herself was fading away. As if she did not have to carry the weight on her shoulders anymore and could now let herself go of the life that she was barely clinging onto.


    Her struggles ceased, and she leaned into his embrace, her body still weak but no longer resisting.


    "Lord Liam! Her life force!" The dryad hurriedly activated a skill to once again inject a burst of healing energy into Alex. However, Liam stopped her.


    "No need." He lifted his hand and he pushed a small pill into her dry red lips.


    Eldrin who was watching everything silently up until now, suddenly became wide-eyed as he stole a nce at the pill with curiosity. He did not know for sure but the pill was very different from everything he hade across so far.


    More importantly, it had burnt marks on the surface which meant that it had survived the heavenly trials? This was not the time and ce to ask the human being about it. So he stayed silent.


    Meanwhile, Luna, Lunaria, and Elria watched as the pill disappeared into Alex''s mouth. After that, everything happened in an instant. The moment the pill was shoved inside, Alex shed her eyes open as if she was jolted awake by a bolt of electricity.


    Her eyes, which had been clouded with confusion and pain, now sparkled with a startling rity. It was as if the pill had ignited a fire within her, burning away the fog that had shrouded her mind. Her soul which had been severely injured was also slowly healing up.


    Alex stared into Liam''s eyes in shock as she could feel herself bing stronger and stronger. The pill that he had fed her reached even the parts that the conventional healing could not touch and made her feel alive again.


    Alex sat up abruptly, her breathing deep and steady. She looked around, her gaze no longer vacant but filled with recognition and awareness. She looked at Liam, and this time, anxiety and panic gripping her face.


    "Liam, you are here? You are fine?" Gazing at his face, tears started spilling out of her eyes as she stopped talking and tightly hugged Liam with everything she had.


    "I knew it. I knew you were alive. Everyone called me crazy to have such a hopeless belief, but I never stopped believing. I knew you''de back. I knew you wouldn''t leave me alone in this darkness," Alex sobbed into Liam''s chest.


    Liam wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, giving her the reassurance that she wanted. "I''m here, Alex. I''m not going anywhere. You''re not alone anymore."


    "Mmmm." Alex gently hummed. She had ended up drifting asleep right in Liam''s arms as if she was unwilling to disturb the sweet dream that she was dreaming.

 Chapter 1207 Scouting

    <h4>Chapter 1207 Scouting</h4>


    "Lord Liam, if it pleases you I could wait here with Lady Alex until she recovers and guard her." Elira offered her services seeing that Liam was still standing at the same spot, even extending her arms to carry thedy in his stead but Liam firmly shook his head.


    He wanted to hold her himself. He continued waiting for a few minutes, half an hour to be precise, and then took out another pristine pearl-like pill, pushing it into Alex''s lips and feeding her.


    Eldrin''s eyes widened again as this pill too seemed abnormal.


    He looked at Liam, at the weak ordinary girl in his arms whom he wouldn''t nce twice, the trash heap he called his world, and the weird world tree nt near them. What the hell was happening? He scratched his head in confusion and continued watching silently.


    A few minutester, the effect of the second pill also became evident.


    While the first pill seemed to rejuvenate Alex''s body and soul, healing her from the inside out, repairing everything that was torn or broken, the second one was chock-full of vitality and lifeforce and ignited her with energy.


    This coupled with Lunaria''s healing abilities was like a powerful catalyst, rapidly elerating Alex''s recovery. Her skin, once pale and lifeless, now glowed with health, and the vigor returned to her eyes.


    However, she continued sleeping for another hour and it looked like she would need more time topletely rest.


    Liam patiently waited for her. At the same time, he started summoning his armies one after the other. Though he was in a hurry to meet his family and everyone else, he still needed to take some cautionary steps and not blindly rush.


    Now that Crawford was dead, there was no real immediate danger to his family. He had also calmed down a lot after seeing Alex and was now thinking clearly.


    The most important thing right now was to find out the whereabouts of his sister but he had to do this without letting anyone know about his return. This was a necessity for their survival.


    Chances were slim that Crawford was the only person working for the divine temple high priestess. She could potentially have other spies imnted in their midst, perhaps willingly or even unwillingly.


    And he did not want her to know that he was still alive under any circumstances.


    This was one of the few advantages he had at the moment. Instead of constantly being hunted, he finally had a chance to set up a territory that could safeguard his family and guild.


    If the news leaked to the divine temple high-priestess that he had returned and be stronger, he would not even have to guess what would happen.


    The woman would once again use everything in her means to unleash one cmity after another in their world until she was fully satisfied. He had a feeling that she wouldn''t miss this time.


    Though the world was closed up for now because of the integration, that did not ease his concerns one bit. Luna was easily able to teleport in and maybe there were other methods of entering a closed-up world that he was not aware of.


    Liam did not want to take anything lightly. Now he understood something important. The tutorial game and the apocalypse were truly only the beginning of the end.


    Their world was now part of a muchrger and moreplex cosmos, filled with powers and beings beyond their previous understanding. The stakes were higher, and the dangers more profound.


    Liam realized that his actions needed to be strategic and well-thought-out. Even his smallest action could have great repercussions.


    He was back on Earth now and he did not want to squander this precious opportunity he had. Though he was emotional about his family, this was something he needed to force himself to do and remain calm.


    For instance, the elves he had just pilfered from could find a loophole and decide to pay him and his a visit to even out the score. The enemies were countless and the dangers were never-ending.


    Liam took a look at the special world tree that their world was nurturing. He was sure that this was also going to bring in its share of troubles.


    But no matter how many different doors and windows enemiese knocking from, the only answer to all of them is to get stronger. And he needed toy low while he did this.


    Liam closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and eyed the three armies standing in front of him.


    The first was his thirty odd soul blood beasts who had survived the fight with thebined elven armies.


    Second was his soul minion army which was pretty weak considering that they were all very low-leveled. There were, in fact, some strong minions here, namely the ice elves who were thetest recruitment.


    But he had to sacrifice a lot of these minions and in the end, only five hundred minions remained.


    The three-headed wyvern was still alive and kicking and reared its head proudly, taking everything in. Liam did have to give up one of the other wyverns thanks to the teleportation skill, Soul Swap.


    Thest army was the fleshy undead army that Liam raised using his necromancer abilities.


    This army shockingly took the first ce at the moment as he had recently amassed several high-level corpses from the chaos in the forbidden territory. He had also collected souls from these corpses which he was yet to refine.


    The total number of the undead army actually touched a hundred thousand, within which almost 90% of the soldiers were above level 500 which was very impressive.


    Liam did not want to take them out here in the first ce but seeing that Eldrin was just fine, he assumed that his summons would also be fine.


    He then stalled for a couple of minutes to take stock of his entire strength before starting to give orders to the three armies.


    The orders were pretty simple and straightforward.


    Liam asked the experienced ice elf generals to arrange all three of his armies into several different efficient and powerful squads and send them all out into theher half of the world.


    He unleashed all three of his army without holding back. He wanted to know what was there in this new world that had changed and evolved so much in just a year.


    And if he was going to start anywhere, it was going to be theher half of the world.


    Liam took some time and made all the arrangements carefully, making sure that there were no oversights.


    He did not know exactly how big this current world was. His minions should cover a significant portion of the world without his presence as his control over them had now increased tremendously.


    As he watched his minions scurry off, he started preparing for his next course of action, the world of the living. This was going to be more tedious as the undead would starkly stand out here.


    But Liam did not n on doing anything about this for now. While the undead kept themselves busy, he simply nned to wait for Alex to recover.


    Knowing the efficacy of the pills he had concocted personally, at most she would rest for a day or two and he did not mind waiting for her while she took her time.


    The group settled in the area with Liam still carrying Alex in his own arms.


    Eldrin was quite surprised to see the heartless fiend, who had murdered countless beings andmanded undead souls full of resentment, act in such a manner and roll his eyes at the scene every now and then.


    Was he really going to stand like this in the same spot for hours together?


    As if answering the elf''s question, Liam''s eyes suddenly lit up. Shockingly, an odd notification shed in his system interface.


    [Ding! FLASH SALE!]

 Chapter 1208 Uwaaaaa!

    <h4>Chapter 1208 Uwaaaaa!</h4>


    [Ding! FLASH SALE!]


    [Ding! Announcement: System Shop 133 is currently holding a sh sale! 50% off on all goods and services]


    [Ding! Announcement: System Shop 133 urges you toe quickly and take advantage of the unprecedented discounts]


    Liam trembled as he opened the system interface to once again look at the map. Just as he thought, this time there was a beacon of light marked on the map, the position of the particr shop that had made the advertisement and announcement just now.


    His eyes moistened as he stared at the marking.


    Eldrin could not understand. Why was this fellow getting so emotional over a damned sale?


    He knew in fact that these sales were basically scams where the sellers jacked up the prices purposefully and then gave a discount on the same, making it seem as if they were cheap but in reality, some products were sold at a higher price than usual. It was all lies and scams!


    "Lord Liam¡­ uh¡­" Eldrin wanted to give his sound counsel but the next second, Liam started talking in a hurry. "Here, take this." He handed out pills to Eldrin, Elira, and Lunaria. "These are disguise pills and you should appear human to anyone below level 1000."


    "Oh?" Eldrin was startled but he epted the pill. Were they already going under disguise? Did this mean he had found his family? He did not understand how things went from zero to 100 after a single system notification.


    Nevertheless, he quietly consumed the pill. As did the other two. The effects of the pill did not take long to materialize.


    Within moments of consuming the pills, Eldrin, Elira, and Lunaria underwent a remarkable transformation. Their appearances shifted, seamlessly blending into human forms.


    Eldrin, still trying to piece together Liam''s n, asked quietly. "Lord Liam. But why this sudden move? What''s at this shop? Do we need to prepare to assist you inbat?"


    Liam shook his head. For others, this might be just an announcement but to see this announcement now of all the times, he was sure of it. This had to be Tilia!


    He had hoped that the fairy would step in and help their guild when worse came to worse. Of course, there was no guarantee that this was going to happen and he did not dare to ce too high hopes on it.


    But now seeing this announcement, his gut feeling told him that the fairy had indeed stepped in. She did not go back on their arrangement and remained an ally even in uncertain times.


    Liam clenched his fists as he tried to remain calm. He was failing. He took a few moments to settle down and examined the human figures around him. They looked convincing enough. However, his gaze then fell upon Luna.


    Liam sighed. What was the point of disguising everyone? One look at this fox and everyone would know that he was back. This was not going to work.


    After thinking for a while about the pillposition and the various restrictions, he nodded in silent contemtion. The pill he had should technically work for her too.


    "Luna, try eating this pill?" Liam walked over and extended his palm which had the same disguise pill he had given the elves.


    Liam waited for the fox to eat as he wondered how the transformation was going to be. Unexpectedly, the little fox did not show any signs of eating the pill.


    She actually took a step back as if she really did not want to do that. The fox even looked away guilty, not wanting to see him.


    Liam frowned. He did not understand the behavior of this little fox. Up until now, she had always jumped on the chance to help him and never questioned him. This was the first time she was doing this.


    "I am sorry, Luna. This is not negotiable. You know why I am doing this." Liam tried to reason. He then stopped talking and looked at her silently.


    Luna slowly looked up, taking a few peeks. The little thing saw that her master was not budging on the issue. A few minutes passed by just like this in a silent staring contest. In the end, it was the little fox who relented and bit the bullet.


    She licked Liam''s hand, sulking before reluctantly taking the pill from his palm. But surprisingly, she did not eat the pill. She spat it down onto the ground with a vehement disgust.


    "Luna?" Liam was shocked. "Are you really going to-"


    Before he could finish his words, a bright glow surrounded the fox, fully covering her beast form from top to bottom. It looked like she was undergoing some transformation, but she did not take the pill?


    Liam suddenly remembered something. That was right! The fox had some skill, didn''t she?


    [Shapeshifting]


    At first nce, he simply assumed that this skill was just about her changing her size, but now a thought entered his mind. Perhaps¡­ it was more than that. Maybe Luna had the ability to change her formpletely, not just in size but also in appearance.


    As the light faded, standing before Liam and the others was no longer a fox, but a young girl child simr to a human toddler of about three or four years old with features reminiscent of Luna''s fox form.


    She had sleek, silver hair that flowed like moonlight, and her eyes retained the same intelligent, keen gaze she had as a fox. They were sparkling blue and the most beautiful pair of eyes anyone could have ever seen.


    And in between those eyes were four diamond-shaped marks, each one of a different color, colors that coincided with the type of me fragments Luna possessed.


    Liam was speechless. He had never expected something like this. Was this her natural form as she progressed through her evolution stages?


    And why was she still sulking? Did the transformation hurt too much?


    Liam sighed in consideration. Even though he was in a hurry, he took the time to say a few words offort to the little fox.


    "I am sorry you have to go through this. You don''t have to switch back and forth. From now on, you can stay like this if you want. Actually, that would be for the best. You look really pretty, Luna." Liam patted her on her head with a small smile.


    But unexpectedly, his words offort only ended up doing more damage than good as the little child burst into tears, rubbing her eyes. "Master is so mean! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! I don''t want to look like a baby! Uwaaaaaaaa!"

 Chapter 1209 You are back!

    <h4>Chapter 1209 You are back!</h4>


    A few minutester, a group of human beings were flying over the north-eastern part of the new world.


    The small group was quite odd because the group leader looked like a small child, a toddler who looked extremely adorable and cute from one angle and elegant and angelic from the other angle.


    The little girl wore a simple white robe that was made of fur and looked eye-catching under the moonlight. There was some baby fat still left on her face which would make anyone looking at her want to pinch those soft white cheeks until they became red like tomatoes.


    This was none other than Luna who was curiously looking around. "We are almost here, Mas-" She almost blurted out but stopped herself from saying the word Master.


    From here onwards, she was going to y the part of an esteemed youngdy from a mysterious faction in the myriad realms and Liam was going to be her personal guard who apanied her everywhere.


    Liam waspletely covered in a ck robe and his face was hidden under a hood, giving him a mysterious and formidable presence. The rest of the group followed suit, with Eldrin, Elira, and Lunaria adopting servant roles for the esteemed youngdy.


    As they flew, the terrain beneath them changed, revealing the diverse beauty of this part of the new world. Lush green forests gave way to rolling hills and then to rocky teaus, eachndscape holding its own unique charm and mystery.


    It didn''t take long for them toe here since Luna used her teleportation skill on a loop. Since most forces had one teleportation skill or the other, Liam allowed her to use it as it wasn''t likely to raise any suspicion.


    Finally, they reached their destination, a secluded valley nestled between towering mountains. The unmistakable signature pir of light from the system shop shot up into the heavens from the depths.


    The valley itself was bathed in the soft glow of the moon, its beauty both serene and enchanting but there was something wrong.


    Strong gusts of poisonous winds gathered in the air. While these poisonous winds did not seem to be harmful to the vegetation in the area, it was clearly a potent poison for beasts and humans alike as there was no sign of any other life in the vicinity.


    "Be careful, the air here is filled with poison. It''s subtle but potent." Eldrin eximed.


    "This is not a big deal." Luna snorted. The next second, she sucked in a big breath of air, removing all the poisonous winds in the area temporarily. The group then casually entered the area, directly heading to the system shop.


    Liam immediately shuddered as he recognized the same inconspicuous small red brick building that once upon a time resided in their guild base. And now it was tossed aside to a nameless ce in a corner of the world like it was nothing.


    Liam knew that nothing was a coincidence but he did not care about that at the moment. He saw the "sh Sale" banners hanging outside the shop and stepped in, barely containing his emotions.


    As they entered the shop, the interior revealed a stark contrast to its outside appearance.


    Shelves lined with a variety of items, some glowing with magical auras, others seemingly mundane but undoubtedly holding hidden properties, filled the space. The air inside was free of the poisonous winds, a safe haven in the midst of the valley''s dangers.


    A fairy nced up from behind the counter. His eyes briefly showed surprise at the sight of the group, especially Luna in her child-like form, but he quickly regained hisposure and greeted them with a practiced smile.


    "Wee to System Shop 133. Take advantage of our sh sale! Everything is 50% off."


    Liam did not open his mouth. Instead, it was Eldrin who took charge and made the request. "Buzz off. Can''t you see who we are? We don''t deal with the likes of you. Get your manager here at once."


    The fairy frowned but did not say anything. He silently bowed and went inside to fetch their store manager. His day was turning out to be quite bad. First, it was a bunch of arrogant assholes from who knew where.


    Now, they were asking for the manager. He really did not want to face their manager at the moment. Thanks to the current situation of the shop, the woman literally chewed the person''s head off if they dared disturb her.


    He approached the manager''s room and knocked on the door when shockingly the manager herself barged out the door like a beast let loose.


    The store clerk could only see fairy dust as the woman disappeared and appeared in front of the newly arrived customers.


    For a second there was a look of shock and disbelief on the manager''s face, but it quickly transformed into a mask of professional courtesy. "Wee to System Shop 133. I''m Tilia, the manager here. How may I assist you?" she asked, her tone firm yet polite.


    Her gaze flitted across the group before settling on the ck-hooded figure in the back and finally returning to the small child who looked ethereal.


    Eldrin once again acted as the liaison as he passed a card to the fairy''s hand. "We are here to make some transactions. We are in need of some raw materials. Check your stock and tell if you have these materials."


    As soon as she saw the card, Tilia''s eyes widened, her figure trembling from top to bottom even though she tried her best to remain calm. "Pleasee this way. We can discuss the matter in private."


    She brought the group over silently to the tenth floor of the shop which was exclusively only meant for the VVVVIPS. The few fairies working in the shop all paid attention to the group as they passed by the store.


    However, once they arrived on the tenth floor, where the elevator opened up to a private hall, there were no other eyes except for the manager, Tilia.


    To everyone''s shock, the manager fairy who was extremely professional up until now suddenly turned around and jumped on Liam. "You are back!"

 Chapter 1210 Home sweet home

    <h4>Chapter 1210 Home sweet home</h4>


    Liam, taken aback by the more than warm wee from Tilia, hesitated for a moment before awkwardly embracing her in return. The rest of the group watched in surprise, not having expected such a personal reaction from the manager.


    "I missed you so much! Where have you been? Why didn''t you contact us?" Tilia''s voice was a mix of relief and reprimand, her concern for Liam evident in her tone.


    Liam, still under his hood, gently pushed Tilia back to look at her. "I''m sorry. Things wereplicated. I was¡­" He paused and then added, "not here."


    He did not want to get into any details at the moment. He had waited long enough and now he needed to know where his sister was and Shen Yue was. "Let''s talk about thatter. I have something important to discuss with you."


    Tiliaposed herself and nodded. "Of course." She knew exactly what Liam was going to ask her and before even the question came out, she responded with a big smile.


    "They are right here!"


    "Do you know where they are?"


    Liam shuddered as he did not dare believe what he was hearing. "They are here? You were able to protect them?" Though he had a feeling that the fairy might step in and act, he couldn''t bepletely sure.


    Tilia smirked. "How could I not follow the orders of Emperor Liam?" She was about to continue when her face changed slightly. "Ah. Actually, please forgive me. I was able to protect everyone except for one person."


    "Before I could intervene, she fell for his provocation and dashed out of the barrier to fight. I can''t really me her too. That old bastard was too conniving. He threw a ragged body on the ground and imed that you were dead."


    "I knew it was an illusion but the others were not in the right mindset and fell for it. Before I could warn them, Alex rushed out. Your sister copsed on the ground and your girlfriend was utterly shocked and frozen so I was able to rescue both of them."


    "I-"


    "It''s ok." Liam interrupted her. "I have Alex. I got her back."


    Tilia''s eyes lit up and the smile on her face returned. She had been extremely worried about how to break this bad news to Liam when he inevitably returned but now the burden was finally off her shoulders.


    "Ok. I don''t want to make you wait any longer. Let''s go."


    Liam nodded and silently followed her. The rest of the group walked in tow.


    Tilia led them through the shop, moving with an urgency that matched Liam''s own. She took them to a back area, where a hidden door opened up to reveal a portal. The portal shimmered with a soft light.


    "This portal will take us to them," Tilia exined. "This is a high-level training area that can be assessed from the system shop. Don''t worry. They''re in a safe ce, hidden and protected."


    Liam stepped forward, his heart pounding with anticipation and a mix of emotions. After months of separation and uncertainty, the thought of being reunited with his sister and Shen Yue was overwhelming.


    As he stepped into the portal, he felt a rush of energy envelop him. The world around him blurred for a moment before resolving into a new environment. He found himself in a serene garden, surrounded by lush greenery and the sound of a gently flowing stream.


    There, under arge, flowering tree, sat his sister and Shen Yue.


    Mei Mei was seated in a meditative pose with her eyes closed. Around her petals of flowers and leaves danced in a jumbled fashion as if some sort of mysterious power was controlling them.


    Not too far away from her, Shen Yue was also sitting in a meditative pose, pondering about something seriously.


    Though both of them seemed whole and intact, there was a sadness about them. They had visibly thinned down and their figures looked pale and listless.


    Though the atmosphere they were currently in seemed to be some sort of special natural sanctuary, the aura around them was bleak and gloomy.


    Liam paused, his eyes bing moist and red. A warm smile appeared on his face as he clutched Tilia''s hand, making the fairye to a halt. "I don''t know how to thank you."


    The fairy looked a little startled but then she gave a cute childish giggle. "You can pay me, of course. This training area is not cheap, you know. You have been conned." She gave a cheeky smile.


    Liam let out a smallugh. "I''ll make sure to settle the bill," he promised, his gaze returning to Mei Mei and Shen Yue.


    Taking a deep breath, he walked towards them, his steps slow and measured. As he approached, Mei Mei''s eyes fluttered open all of a sudden, and she turned towards him. Her expression, initially one of confusion, transformed into one of shock and disbelief.


    "Brother?" Mei Mei''s voice was a whisper. The fourteen year old girl looked worse for the wear as big blobs of tears started dripping from her eyes.


    Shen Yue''s meditation broke, and she too turned, her eyes widening as she saw Liam. For a moment, there wasplete silence, the kind that hangs in the air when reality shifts unexpectedly.


    Liam stood still in front of them, his eyes locking with theirs. "It''s me," he said softly, reaching out his hands to them.


    In an instant, the disbelief in Mei Mei and Shen Yue''s eyes gave way to tears of joy. Mei Mei lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Liam in a tight embrace. "I knew you''de back. I just knew it!"


    Shen Yue sobbing uncontrobly joined the embrace. "I thought I had lost you forever," she said, her voice choked with emotion.


    They stayed like that for a moment, holding onto each other, as if confirming the reality of their reunion.


    Liam hugged the both of them tightly, only now feeling as if he was once again alive. He let out a big breath of relief that he had been holding on for a long time now. He was finally home.

 Chapter 1211 Crawford is dead

    <h4>Chapter 1211 Crawford is dead</h4>


    The heartwarming family hug broke apart randomly when a fourth party joined the group hug from the back.


    "Ah?" Mei Mei became startled as she lifted her head to look at this neer. It was a toddler? She then nced at the three human beings standing next to Tilia and the baby girl. Who the hell were these people?


    "It''s a long story," Liam answered her silent question. He gently kissed his sister and Shen Yue on the forehead one after the other as he parted with the two of them. "Oh, by the way, this is Luna."


    "Eh? Luna???" Mei Mei''s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the defiant toddler. Looking at the little girl ready to burst into tears at any moment, she couldn''t help but quickly jump to her and pinch her wless white cheeks.


    "Oh my god. You are so cute." Mei Meiughed, forgetting herself and it was clear that this was the first time she had been happy in a long while.


    However, Luna did not care about that. She simply did not want to be touched, especially in her cheeks. She wriggled ufortably under Mei Mei''s affectionate pinches and gave Liam a look that screamed ''rescue me''.


    Liamughed and shrugged. Surely, a divine beast could handle a few pinches. He did not n on intervening. Shen Yue leaned on Liam''s chest and smiled gently.


    "Yue, where are the others?" Liam stroked her head and asked.


    "The others are out hunting. They should be back any time now." Shen Yue hugged him again, refusing to leave his embrace as she exined. Liam did not mind her clingy behavior one bit. He had missed her this past year.


    Even though he did not spend much time with Shen Yue or his sister, he only realizedst year just how much he needed them.


    It did not matter that they met each other and spent time with each other so sparingly. Such was the situation they were in, but even these asional meetings meant a lot to him.


    "Hunt?"


    Shen Yue nodded. "This ce is a special training area designed for training the younger generations from rich families. All the beasts here are friendly and nice."


    "They will not harm us unless we decide to attack them and if we stop attacking them for a few seconds, they will go back to being friendly."


    "Huh?" Liam looked at Tilia with a confused expression.


    Tilia gave a bitter smile. Her options were limited and this was the best that she could do.


    Looking at her Liam understood the implied reasoning and nodded at her gratefully. It did not matter that these were not the best nurturing conditions, he was simply d that everyone was fine.


    "How is everyone doing?" Liam asked.


    "They''ve been worried. We all were. Knowing you''re safe and back with us will mean a lot to them. At first, we thought that you had died but Miss Tilia here assured us that you were fine."


    "Hmmm?" Liam once again shot a look at the fairy. "How did you know?"


    Tilia became embarrassed. "It''s not what you think. I don''t have some godly tracking skills or monitoring skills. I also did not put any tracker on you. It is your credit card."


    "It lets us know that you are still alive and owe us the debt. Don''t worry. Only the store manager has ess to this information. So only I know that you are still alive."


    Liam was dumbfounded. He hadpletely forgotten about this card.


    While they were discussing, a few footsteps sounded and it looked like the rest of the group was finally back.


    Rey was leading the group and he had a few fresh open wounds covering his body.


    It was clear that he did not rest orze around even though the whole training world seemed designed forzy young masters from rich families.


    Shen Yue waved her hand and as soon as she saw Rey, she remembered the blood and all the pain they had endured for the past year.


    In the happiness of seeing Liam, she hadpletely forgotten about Alex.


    "Liam¡­" She started, not knowing how to convey the news when unexpectedly Liam smiled and patted her. "I know. I already took care of it." The next second, he disappeared and appeared next to Rey who stood frozen in the distance.


    "Liam¡­" His voice croaked as he saw his friend and leader standing before him, alive and well. Rey''s eyes, filled with disbelief and relief, quickly turned misty.


    "Rey, it''s good to see you," Liam said, pping him on the shoulder. "You''ve done well in my absence."


    Rey, still processing the reality of Liam''s return, managed a shaky smile. "I thought you were... We all thought..."


    He couldn''t finish his sentence, the emotions too overwhelming. In the end, he wiped his eyes and managed to get the words out. "I am d at least you are okay."


    Liam smiled. He knew why the guy was miserable. Anyone would be if they had lost all their family. "I have someone I think you would like to meet." He patted him and then pulled out Alex from the spatial artifact.


    Rey stood dumbfounded as he watched his sister''s body emerge out of thin air andnd softly on the grassy in they were standing on.


    However, unlike how he had seen her thest time, she was no longer covered in bloody scars with her hands and feet missing. She was now alive and whole. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, her chest heaving up and down in a calm rhythm.


    Rey fell on his knees, bawling out like a child as he saw his sister, whom he believed was lost forever, lying there, alive and well. He crawled over to her and gently touched her hand as if to reassure himself that she was real.


    "Alex..." he whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I am so sorry¡­ I am so sorry I am useless. I couldn''t evene for you. I am weak. I deserve to die. Not you. I deserve to die."


    Alex, stirred by the familiar voice, slowly opened her eyes. The moment she saw Rey, a weak smile appeared on her lips. "Rey... you''re okay¡­ Liam is alive. Liam, where¡­"


    Reyughed like an idiot. "He is right here, you stupid girl. He is right here."


    "I am here," Liam reassured her but Alex quickly sat up and only sighed in relief after confirming with her very own eyes.


    Her gaze moved from Liam to Rey, Mei Mei, Shen Yue, and all the other members of the guild. It looked like everyone had made it. She closed her eyes, smiling, tears streaming down.


    She was not alone. On seeing Liam and Alex finally return, the rest of the guild also became teary-eyed.


    Thanks to Crawford, they had lost everything they had. Their friends and family were all stuck outside.


    Countless times they had wanted to rush outside and fight for them but the fairy had patiently reminded them time and again that it was best to show that there was no connection between them and their family. Otherwise, it would only have the opposite effect.


    The old man who had proimed himself as the ruler of the new world held a grudge against Liam and their guild. He was ready to go to any lengths to get revenge.


    Understanding their painful reality, everyone had silently suffered while they continued to function lifelessly inside without everyone they loved. They could not even know if these people were still alive.


    Without taking a break, they engaged in constant battles from dusk to dawn every single day to be stronger, faster but how could they be strong enough to face a monster like Crawford?


    Despite that, no one gave up and continued to struggle without any end in sight. And today finally, they could see the light at the end of the darkness.


    Even though they knew that it was shameful to ce all of their burdens on one single person, they couldn''t help but hope that everything would change now.


    Liam stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over each member of the guild. "I know the past year has been tough on all of you," he began, his voice steady and reassuring. "I know that many of you have lost a lot."


    "But it will be different now. Crawford is dead. It is time for us to reim our world."


    "The road will not be easy but we have each other. We have faced darkness and despair, but now it''s time to rise from the ashes and rebuild. We''ll take back what we''ve lost and ensure that this does not happen ever again."


    Everyone looked shocked after hearing Liam''s words.


    They had all thought that they were going to gear up for an intense battle against the man who had single-handedly made their lives a living hell, but the guild leader already took care of him?


    As the sun set on the serene garden, the guild members of Crimson Abyss silently bowed their heads in respect and gratitude towards Liam, something that they couldn''t possibly express in words.

 Chapter 1212 Evelynthea Alarastre

    <h4>Chapter 1212 Evelynthea rastre</h4>


    Liam was not eloquent and not really good at giving speeches so he cut his short and jumped to the next stage, the action part. After all, a lot of work was left to be done to bring order to this seemingly vast and humongous world before things got out of hand.


    The first thing he did was brief everyone about the new young mistress in town. He informed everyone of his n of staying low while allowing Luna to take the lead for the time being and her new identity as a scion of a mysterious faction.


    Including Tilia, Liam trusted everyone in the room at the moment. He still had some reservations about the fairy manager but considering what she had done for him, he had to give her the benefit of the doubt.


    Besides, she already knew that he was alive. So he had no concerns about revealing his n to this group. At the same time, he stressed enough that this information should not leave this group. Their survival and their family''s survival depended on it.


    None of the Crimson Abyss guild members were idiots. Apart from the fact that they had signed a soul-binding contract, each and every single one of them had experienced the tutorial and the apocalypse together.


    After dealing with Crawford, no one doubted the capabilities of the divine temple high priestess and her capabilities. The new world they were living in waspletely beyond their understanding.


    All they could do at the moment was keep their head low and be stronger. No one needed to tell them twice about remaining low-profile and secretive.


    The cover story was that Evelynthea rastre from the rastre n, somethingpletely made up, had decided to make Earth her pet and holiday resort. The little tyrant had essentially imed this world for herself.


    The first thing she did was to kill the annoying old man who stood in her path and hijacked the previously top power of the world, the Crimson Abyss guild, using all of the guild members as her personal troops for this world.


    With this story as the cover, the entire guild was set to operate.


    "But what about the undead?" Alex clicked her tongue, questioning the obvious w in the n. However, Liam nodded with confidence. "I have something nned for that half of the world."


    While everyone else was confused, he summoned a familiar face in front of the guild, Kouske. The only thing was that he was no longer alive and was currently a soul minion, belonging to Liam''s army.


    "He will be the face of the undead legion." Kouske snorted arrogantly as he heard Liam''s n. It was indeed fitting for someone like him.


    Considering Kouske''s previous actions, many of the guild members did not like this development one bit but Liam reassured them that this was the way to go.


    Kouske''s high talent in necromancy was one factor in his decision but the main reason was something else. Almost the entire world was aware of how Kouske had fought against the Crimson Abyss and lost. No one would suspect that he was aiding Liam.


    If Kouske acted independent enough, then it would be believable to some extent that he found a loophole along the way and somehow resurrected as an undead.


    This woulde in handy if some enemies popped up on their silently and looked for allies against Crimson Abyss or Liam or even against Evelynthea rastre.


    Though none of this was hundred percent foolproof, Liam decided to still take some precautionary measures, at least to the extent that he could.


    Naturally, Kouske was just an intermediate figurehead. Once Liam refined the soul of the elven ancestor who willingly epted the position of his General, he would immediately rece Kouske.


    With all of these main issues squared away, Liam dismissed everyone. The guild had just returned from a hunting trip, so he gave them a few hours to rest and recuperate. Not that they needed the rest.


    Everyone was ready to get out of the training pocket world and head to the real world. However, Liam thought it was best there was some distance between their two groups for the time being.


    It would be best to first take stock of the situation in the outside world before bringing the guild back together again.


    This meant that Mei Mei and Shen Yue once again had to part with Liam and the two were very unwilling. They had just been reunited with Liam, and the thought of parting again so soon was heart-wrenching.


    However, they understood the gravity of the situation and the importance of Liam remaining dead. This time the separation would also be for a few weeks at the most. So they relented.


    With final nods to everyone, Liam, apanied by Tilia and the transformed Luna, stepped through the portal back to the main world.


    The portal closed behind them, leaving Mei Mei and Shen Yue, and everyone else in the serene garden, watching the space where he had disappeared.


    Once back in the main world, Liam''s demeanor changed. He went back to the silent hooded figure that stood at the back while Luna took charge. "I need aprehensive information packet about the current guilds in the world and the human poption."


    Not everyone from the OG Crimson Abyss was able to get into the magic shop. For some, it was a matter of bad timing and missed opportunity but for others, it was a choice.


    To begin with, the shady monk and the oracle had both disappeared. Liam couldn''t get a hold of their soul contracts too as they had somehow managed to wiggle out of the system''s iron-d agreement.


    Liam refused to believe that these two did this on their own.


    Their disappearance and broken contracts implied that there might be other forces at y, ones that he had not anticipated or ounted for. But this was a problem for tomorrow. There was nothing he could do about this at the moment.


    Instead, the two people he was more concerned about were the Lan siblings. Both of them were missing and from what he could see they were not in any danger or hiding.


    The two were thriving as the guild leaders of the current top guild of their world, the Crown''s Shield.

 Chapter 1213 Once a traitor, always a traitor

    <h4>Chapter 1213 Once a traitor, always a traitor</h4>


    "Lan Fen, your sector is once again short on revenue." A tall muscr man snorted coldly as he twirled his mustache. "In front of the Lord, you talked a big game but your performance has been repeatedlycking."


    "At least your useless brother is meeting his quota every month." Another manughed loudly, hisment making the rest of the people sitting at the conference table alsough. Their derision filled the room, only Lan Fen and Lan Deming not participating.


    Lan Fen''s face remained impassive, but her eyes betrayed a flicker of anger. Despite theughter and mocking tones, she maintained herposure.


    "I assure you, the shortfall is temporary," she said, her voice steady. "My strategies are long-term, and the results will be evident soon."


    The muscr man leaned back in his chair, his expression one of skepticism. "Long-term? We need results now, Lan Fen. This is not a charity. Every sector is expected to contribute equally. Your excuses are wearing thin."


    After him, a woman with sharp features, chimed in. "And let''s not forget the rumors about your... sympathies. People say you''re too lenient with the local popce. Remember, our goal is profit, not poprity. Lord Crawford was very clear about this."


    Lan Fen clenched her fists under the table, feeling the weight of their usations. "My methods might differ, but my loyalty to our objectives remains unwavering. I will address the revenue issue."


    "Very well. You have one month to turn things around. If there''s no improvement, we''ll have to reconsider your position and I might have to clue in Lord Crawford about these things." The muscr man gave a mysterious smile and stopped talking.


    However, the woman did not seem satisfied. "Hmph. Favoritism."


    "If I had my way, you wouldn''t even be here in the first ce. I don''t like traitors very much. Just like how you betrayed that loser Liam, you would definitely not hesitate to throw us under the bus tomorrow. People like you should be executed on the spot."


    "Nina!" Lan Deming who was silent up until now suddenly spoke up. "Don''t push things too far." Dark shadows yed around him, ready to tear apart anyone whom he despised. And right now, he clearly despised the woman in front of him.


    But before things could get out of hand, the mustache man intervened. "That''s enough. Settle down. We are all elites here. Our world has chosen us and Lord Crawford has anointed us. There is no reason for us to fight with each other."


    "Lan Fen, please make sure to turn in the deficit next time. Lan Deming, you are free to help her. Instead of creating a scene here perhaps you should do that."


    After the heated exchange, the meeting ended and the room slowly emptied, leaving Lan Fen and Lan Deming alone with their thoughts.


    Lan Deming''s expression softened as he turned to his sister. "Don''t let Nina''s words get to you. She''s always been bitter and power-hungry. We need to focus on our n."


    Lan Fen sighed, her gaze distant. "I know, but the pressure is mounting. We can''t afford to make any mistakes now. Crawford''s regime is ruthless. We need to tread carefully."


    Lan Deming ced a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We''ve survived worse, Fen."


    "Remember, our ultimate goal isn''t just to meet quotas. We''re gathering strength, allies, and resources. When the time is right, we''ll make our move against Crawford and rescue the rest of our friends."


    Lan Fen nodded, a determined glint in her eyes. "I haven''t forgotten. And I haven''t forgotten Liam''s sacrifice either. We owe it to him to fight back."


    The siblings shared a knowing look, their resolve unwavering. They were ying a dangerous game, but the stakes were too high to back down now.


    They needed to be smart, patient, and most importantly, united in their secret rebellion against Crawford''s tyrannical rule. The guy was far too strong for them to let their guard down.


    The two of them silently walked in tow after the other members as they exited the main building.


    Thankfully, Crawford seemed to be someone who believed in power. As people who were naturally blessed by mana, it was easy for them to convince him that they did not really care about Liam all that much.


    The old man had weed them under his authority with open hands. All they had to do was¡­


    Lan Fen did not want to think about that.


    It was only because she had stood next to Crawford when he tossed a random body as Liam''s body, Alex was quick to believe him.


    She had betrayed Alex, Liam, and everyone in the guild but she had to. Otherwise, the man would have simply wiped out all the families. What was she supposed to do?


    In some situations, the life of one was worth more than the lives of many but in some situations, the lives of many were worth more than the life of one.


    But she hadn''t given up yet. She knew that the petty man had Alex alive somewhere in the castle. She would rescue her one day or the other. Otherwise, she wouldn''t be able to rest in peace even after her death.


    Lan Fen silently walked out of the castle gates, several thoughts swirling in her head. Lan Deming too silently walked by her side.


    The two siblings had managed to level up at an astounding pace, even making the other mana-blessed geniuses burn in envy. But only they knew that the burden on their shoulders was that heavy.


    As they left the castle grounds and ventured into the streets of the city, they could see the effects of Crawford''s regime everywhere. Oppression, fear, and despair hung heavily in the air.


    Many pairs of eyes fell on them but people everywhere looked down on them in disdain.


    People whispered about the Crimson Abyss, about how they had stood up against Crawford and fought bravely. When they did, they did not forget to talk about the two traitors Lan Fen and Lan Deming.

 Chapter 1214 You have no choice

    Chapter 1214 You have no choice


    Lan Fen and Lan Deming were walking on the street with deep thoughts about their uncertain future. But before long, loud sirens started ring off back in the castle.


    The sudden noise jarred Lan Fen and Lan Deming from their thoughts, their heads snapping towards the direction of the castle.


    The loud, piercing sound echoed through the streets, causing a stir among the citizens. People started to murmur and specte, fear and curiosity mixing in their eyes.


    Lan Fen''s heart raced. Sirens in the castle typically signified a major incident or a high-level alert.


    She exchanged a quick, concerned nce with Lan Deming. The siblings immediately knew that this was no ordinary event; something significant must have happened.


    Without a word, they both quickened their pace back towards the castle, their minds racing with possibilities. Could it be an attack? Could some powerful creature that even Crawford couldn''t handle have invaded the territory?


    As they neared the castle, the chaos became more apparent. Guards were rushing about, orders were being shouted, and the general atmosphere was one of panic and confusion.


    Lan Fen and Lan Deming blended into the chaos, trying to gather information from the snippets of conversation they overheard.


    They managed to catch bits and pieces - something about an intruder, a breach in security, and the possibility of a high-value target. The details were sketchy, but it was enough to put them on high alert.


    Lan Deming''s expression hardened. "This could be our chance," he murmured to his sister, his voice barely audible over the din. "If Crawford is distracted, we might be able to find Alex or even gather more allies."


    Lan Fen nodded, her mind working quickly. "Let''s split up," she suggested. "You try to find out more about this intruder and the situation inside. I''ll head to the lower dungeons. Alex should be there mostly."


    However, the two had barely moved when suddenly they heard another rumor that was spreading wildly.


    Crawford was dead?!!!


    The rumor hit Lan Fen and Lan Deming like a thunderbolt. They froze in their tracks, exchanging nces that betrayed their emotions. The news seemed impossible, yet the sheer urgency and panic around them lent the rumor a frightening credibility.


    "Crawford dead?" Lan Deming whispered, his voice a mix of shock and skepticism. "But who... how?"


    Lan Fen''s mind was racing. If the rumor was true, it would change everything. The power dynamics within the castle would be thrown into chaos. It could be the opportunity they needed to turn things around ¨C or it could plunge them into even greater danger.


    "We need to confirm this," Lan Fen said decisively. "And we need to act quickly. If Crawford is truly gone, there will be a power vacuum. We can''t let someone even worse take his ce."


    Lan Deming nodded, his strategist''s mind already considering the implications. "I''ll head to themand center," he said. "If there''s any truth to this, that''s where the information will be, and the responses will be coordinated from there."


    "Wait, Deming." Lan Fen suddenly said. "What if something tyrannical had killed Crawford? How are we going to survive something like that if it was powerful enough to kill Crawford?"


    Lan Deming looked nkly as if he hadn''t considered this. Ever since the world''s integration process started, nts, beasts, and wildlife have been evolving at a terrifying pace.


    Every single day their stronghold was struggling to guard against the constant assaults from these evolved monsters.


    At first, they had thought that with the apocalypse over, everything would perhaps be more powerful, perhaps their world even returning to how it was before.


    Maybe. Just maybe if they could survive Crawford and makepromises in such a way that no one else gets hurt, they could eventually find a way to live. But now¡­


    At that moment, loud disturbances erupted from the teleportation building that was within the castle grounds. This was Crawford''s private teleportation station that was previously closed to the public. Even if he was dead, shouldn''t it be closed¡­? Unless¡­


    The two siblings rushed to the teleportation station in haste. A few other guild leaders including the mustache man and the woman with the pointed nose arrived from the other direction. Other guards and guild members also rushed to the same spot.


    However, it seemed that all of them were a stepte. No one could prevent the newly arrived intruders from stepping onto the castle grounds.


    Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.


    A strong gust of wind rippled in the area, pushing everyone away several feet, unceremoniously tossing them like rag dolls.


    These men and women were no ordinary folks. They were some of the highest-levelbatants on the and yet they were pushed away as if they were nothing.


    Everyone was stunned as they stared at the entrance of the teleportation building with apprehension.


    As the dust settled, figures emerged from the teleportation station, their presencemanding and powerful. The crowd gasped, some in awe, others in fear.


    Leading the group was a figure cloaked in a ck robe, the hood obscuring their face, yet exuding an aura of authority that demanded respect.


    Beside them stood a child, who seemed as if she had just walked out of the moon, so luminescent and ethereal. Her beauty and elegance couldn''t bepared to anything they had ever seen, her proud and arrogant eyes only adding to the enigma.


    Lan Fen and Lan Deming exchanged a nce, a silent understanding passing between them. These were no ordinary adversaries; they had an air of mystery and power that surpassed even Crawford''s. Perhaps it was finally time for their freedom.


    However, the small hope was instantly dashed as one of the men standing next to the cloaked figure and the little girl stepped forward, his voice echoing through the courtyard.


    "I am here to im this castle in the name of Evelynthea rastre. Everyone in this territory will submit to us from this moment onward. Any who oppose us will face our wrath."


    The crowd murmured, confusion and fear mingling. The name ''Evelynthea rastre'' was unfamiliar, yet it carried a weight that could not be ignored.


    As everyone hesitated, unsure of how to react, the woman with the pointed nose stepped forward, her voice sharp. "Who are you to make such demands? Youe uninvited and expect us to bow to you?"


    Both Lan Fen and Lan Deming immediately gawked at her. It seems that this woman had no brains whatsoever. She wasn''t rude and nasty just to them but apparently to everyone?


    The next instant, the child beside the cloaked figure giggled, a sound that sent shivers down everyone''s spine.


    "We do not expect you to understand, but soon, you will have no choice. The rastre n does not ask for submission; we take it."


    The arrogant words of the child were enough to provoke even some of the calmer men. Everyone here had survived through the apocalypse and be stronger. How could some stranger suddenly barge in and ask them to submit?


    A few people were ready to draw their weapons when suddenly a powerful aura rippled from the small child. "Enough of this nonsense. I am tired. I wish to take a look around my new castle and rest. Don''t stand in my path."


    Luna clearly had no reservations about ying the role of an entitled young miss. She waved her hand and pointed to three people, the mustache man, another tall guard, andstly Lan Deming.


    "You three will apany me and fill me in on the details."


    Lan Deming exchanged a quick look with Lan Fen, a silentmunication passing between them. This was an unexpected development that could potentially work in their favor.


    He nodded subtly to his sister, signaling his understanding and agreement to go along with them for now.


    The mustache man and the tall guard hesitated for a moment, exchanging uncertain nces. The sudden turn of events and the disy of power from the child had thrown them off bnce.


    However, recognizing the futility of resistance and perhaps sensing an opportunity to gain favor with the new power, they cautiously approached the neers.


    Luna, nked by her unexpected escorts, walked with an air of confidence and authority. Her gaze swept over the castle, taking in everything with amusement.


    The little fox was thoroughly enjoying herself as she put on a show. The cloaked figure remained silent, a silent guardian shadowing her every step.


    As they walked, the mustache man tried to engage Luna in conversation, offering information about the castle and its operations. Lan Deming remained mostly silent, observing Luna and the cloaked figure closely, trying to gauge their intentions and strength.


    Luna listened, her expression one of bored indifference, asionally asking a question or making ament, most of which were ryed to her through Liam''s mentalmands.


    The tour continued, with Luna inspecting various parts of the castle, especially the treasuries.


    Finally, they reached the private chambers that were once Crawford''s. Luna entered, and with a wave of her hand, she dismissed everyone, except for her bodyguard who remained with her.

 Chapter 1215 Can I ask you something?

    <h4>Chapter 1215 Can I ask you something?</h4>


    For the next few days, Luna made it a point to do rounds in the territory in an overbearing fashion.


    Several people got pped hard and several people were whipped mercilessly at her whim, perfectly portraying her tyrannical image, even though most of the people deserved what wasing to them.


    Taking things a bit further, on the third day, Luna alone stepped out of the castle and the guild territory, and when she returned, she brought back five beast carcasses that were freshly killed and dripping blood.


    These beasts were not just ordinary beasts. They were elite-grade beasts who had been harassing the raid squads who entered their territory.


    And Luna quickly solved this issue by taking out these beasts all on her own, even ordering the guild to prepare a grand feast for everyone using the beast''s meat.


    Just when everyone enjoyed the feast and began to rx, Luna unexpectedly ughtered three of the ten guild leaders right in front of the entire territory.


    She looked like a demon spawned from hell as her eyes glittered in the moonlight while she proimed, "This is the fate of those who defy the rastre n. Let this be a lesson to all."


    The sudden and brutal disy of power sent shockwaves throughout the territory.


    The Crown''s Shield guild had a total of ten guild leaders and these three were the worst of the ten as they dabbled in ve trading and forced women to prostitute themselves.


    The elimination of these three corrupt guild leaders by Luna served as a powerful statement, instilling a sense of justice and order that had beencking under their reign.


    The remaining guild leaders of the Crown''s Shield, now acutely aware of Luna''s zero-tolerance policy for such malpractices, swiftly adjusted their behavior and operations.


    Fear and respect for Luna, the supposed scion of the mysterious rastre n, solidified in the hearts of the people. Her actions, although harsh, established her as a formidable and unchallengeable leader.


    Meanwhile, Lan Fen brought up the topic of not having enough manpower at the right moment.


    Still unaware of Luna''s identity, she tried to plead the case of Crimson Abyss guild members saying that Crawford had unfairly banished them for no fault of their own.


    A couple of days of investigationster, Luna casually gave the order to reinstate these Crimson Abyss guild members.


    The decision was met with mixed reactions. Some were wary of bringing back those who had been associated with the previous regime, but Lan Fen''s arguments about their usefulness in the current situation swayed many, especially the little tyrant.


    And so¡­ a couple more dayster, a group of people entered the territory using the teleportation station.


    Lan Fen and Lan Deming stood at the entrance, patiently waiting to greet them all. The two bowed to beg for forgiveness for their actions that led to Alex''s miserable plight and swore that they would rescue her no matter what.


    The next instant they saw that Alex was standing alive and well right in front of them. The duo became speechless.


    The two were dumbfounded, unable to understand how this was possible. Alexughed and brought the two alone to finally fill them in on the details of who the new ruler was.


    The two siblings almost cried in happiness and relief when they learned that the new ruler was none other than Liam, operating behind the scenes and that the intimidating young mistress was, in fact, Luna.


    Though there were still some grievances left, no one could hold a grudge against the siblings when they saw all of their families rush towards them with tears in their eyes.


    The two siblings had managed to secure everyone without the loss of even a single life. The entire guild broke down as they never thought that such a day woulde.


    Boisterousughter and celebratory cheers filled the air as the reunited members of the Crimson Abyss guild embraced each other, their eyes brimming with tears of joy and relief.


    That night no one slept as everyone stayed up and enjoyed the reunion. A huge bonfire crackled in the middle of the street with several people dancing and singing to their heart''s content. Avish feast was cooked and barrels and barrels of ales and wines were emptied.


    Everyone shared stories, reminisced about their struggles, and celebrated their guild''s officialeback. The air was thick with emotions ¨C relief, happiness, and a sense of camaraderie that only those who had faced the brink of despair together could truly understand.


    Inside one of the houses, Liam also sat down along with Luna, Mei Mei, and Shen Yue and enjoyed a simple home-cooked dinner that they had all prepared together.


    Liam used one of the superior beast''s meat that he had hunted down back in Tirnanog. The beast meat was very nutritious and delicious, making for an exquisite meal.


    As they dined, the mood was light, the conversation filled withughter and fond teasing. Thanks to Mei Mei''s persistence, Liam relented and ended up talking about his time in the elven world, shocking both women.


    In the quiet of the early morning, as the first light of day crept through the windows, the storytelling finally ended with Mei Mei passing out with loud snores.


    It was clear that she was sleeping like this freely and peacefully after a long time. Liam did not want to disturb her and signaled Shen Yue to quietly stand up.


    The two of them retired to one of the adjoining rooms, leaving Mei Mei to her restful slumber. In the privacy of the room, Liam and Shen Yue shared a quiet moment, looking at each other.


    "I still can''t believe that you are here." Shen Yue sighed.


    "I am not the best boyfriend, am I." Liamughed.


    He, usually soposed, showed a hint of vulnerability in his smile. "The outside world is not as simple as I thought. I don''t know how long this peace willst."


    He gazed out the window, where the first rays of dawn were painting the sky in hues of pink and orange.


    "It''s fine. Whateveres, we will face it together." Shen Yue leaned in closer to nt a kiss on Liam''s cheeks.


    Liam smiled, wrapping his arms around her and taking her lips in a tender kiss. The room was filled with aforting silence, broken only by the distant sounds of celebration outside.


    Liam picked up the woman next to him and gently ced her on the bed. As he did so, he whispered, "Rest now, we''ve both earned it."


    Shen Yue shook her head. She nestled into the bed, her gaze never leaving Liam''s. "Stay with me," she murmured, her voice a soft plea.


    Liam smiled tenderly and nodded. He tried to give her space and hugged her gently while closing his eyes but he could feel that the woman was not satisfied with just this.


    With a chuckle, he then started getting busy in earnest. Undoing the dress she was wearing, his hands roamed over her body, gently feeling her and teasing her. Soon things started heating up and the room was filled with various sounds.


    The room, bathed in the soft glow of dawn, echoed with the quiet, intimateughter. The twoy close together, wrapped in thefort of each other''s presence.


    In this tranquil space, the chaos of the outside world seemed distant, almost irrelevant. However, suddenly Shen Yue broke this pleasant silence and spoke.


    "Liam, can I ask you something?" She paused and then corrected herself. "Two things." She unfurled her fingers, showing her index finger and her middle finger.


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow. Shen Yue had never asked him for anything up until now, so he was a little startled. Also¡­ the timing she chose to ask¡­


    "Of course, ask away," he encouraged, his curiosity piqued.


    Shen Yue took a deep breath, her gaze meeting Liam''s with a mixture of seriousness and vulnerability. "First," she began, holding up her index finger, "I want a child."


    Liam''s eyes widened. But before he could say anything, Shen Yue ced her fingers on his lips. "Let me finish. This past year I have thought about many things, many regrets, and many memories. But the one thing that I regretted the most was not having a family with you."


    "I know that the world right now is chaotic and I am probably selfish to want to bring a child into this world. But I will love that child with all my heart. The next few years are all we have. I want a¡­"


    Shen Yue''s voice trailed off, her eyes searching Liam''s for understanding. "I want a piece of us, something that''s ours, something that symbolizes our love andmitment, even in these uncertain times," she whispered.


    "I want you to be there with me even when you are not there by my side. Do you understand?"


    Liam remained silent for a moment, absorbing the weight of her words. He then gently removed her hand from his lips, holding it in his own. "Shen Yue," he began softly, "I understand your desire, and it''s not selfish. Can I have some time to think about it?"


    Shen Yue nodded, her eyes moistening. "I know, and I don''t expect this to happen immediately. But it''s something I''ve been thinking about, and I wanted to share it with you."


    Liam squeezed her hand reassuringly. "And the second thing?" He prompted gently, noticing she still had another finger raised.


    Shen Yue smiled faintly. "The second thing is simpler. I want you to marry me and I also want you to marry Alex."

 Chapter 1216 Welcome to the family, sister

    <h4>Chapter 1216 Wee to the family, sister</h4>


    Liam grinned at Shen Yue, scratching his head awkwardly. "Did I not propose to you yet? I have been meaning to do that." But the next second, he froze as the rest of the words dawned on him. "Wait. What?"


    He almost choked on his saliva as he sat up straight, looking at Shen Yue with wide eyes. "Marry... both of you?" Liam stammered, clearly taken aback by the suggestion.


    Shen Yue nodded, her expression serious.


    "Do you even understand what you are saying? Why would you be willing to do that?"


    "It''s because she loves you a lot. You should have seen her when she heard that you were dead and Crawford was ying around with a corpse, iming that it was you who had died."


    "She is a good friend¡­" His voice trailed off.


    Shen Yue shook her head. "You know it''s more than that. Don''t be like this. Even you cannot be that dense."


    Liam sighed. "Alright. I know but¡­"


    "There is no but. She loves you so much and she is someone who can stand by your side. I am¡­" Shen Yue paused. "I don''t have that kind of strength."


    "What are you talking about?" Seeing her bend her head down, Liam gently lifted Shen Yue''s chin, urging her to meet his gaze.


    "I am not strong, Liam. I¡­ Lately, I feel like I have stagnated. I have still not been able to unlock the ss I used back in the tutorial. I am not feeling any connection with the ss."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "I think that I am unfit to be an enchantress. No matter how much I try, it''s just not matching my personality. I am useless." Tears started to well up in Shen Yue''s eyes, but Liam quickly wrapped his arms around her, offeringfort.


    "You''re not useless, Yue. You are too loving. Your strength isn''t just measured by your ss or abilities in battle. It''s in yourpassion, your intelligence, and your ability to see what''s truly important. That''s what makes you strong," Liam reassured her, his voice gentle.


    "If you feel like you have hit a roadblock in your progress, then start from scratch all over again. Rediscover who you are and what suits you best. I will support you the best that I can."


    Shen Yue wiped away her tears, a small smile forming on her lips. "You always know what to say, don''t you?"


    Liam chuckled. "I try. And about marrying Alex¡­ Let''s not talk about that for now."


    Unexpectedly, Shen Yue shook her head, pretty firmly. "No, Liam. Life is too short. Please ept her. Can you honestly tell me that you do not have any feelings for her after all this time?"


    Liam took a deep breath, considering her words carefully.


    "Yue, it''s not that simple," Liam began slowly. "My feelings for Alex... they areplex. Yes, I care about her deeply, more than I initially realized. But this... marrying both of you... it''s not a decision I can make lightly."


    He paused, searching for the right words. "I respect and cherish both of you immensely. And if this is something that both you and Alex truly want, I won''t dismiss it out of hand."


    "But it''s not like she confessed to me. We have never discussed something like this. Why would you be the first to bring something like this up?"


    Shen Yue shook her head. "Mmm." She gave a mysterious smile. "I have a feeling that it is going to happen soon."


    "What?"


    "Alex is going to confess to you."


    Liam was speechless.


    "And when she does, please ept her confession." Shen Yue continued smiling.


    "Stop smiling like an idiot. No, you are an idiot. Which woman would.."


    Liam''s words trailed off as he looked at Shen Yue''s unwavering smile. He was torn between bewilderment and admiration for her incredible selflessness. He pulled her close, once again climbing on top of her.


    "Ahhhh! I am still sore!" Shen Yue yfullyined but Liam did not let her go. "Didn''t you want a baby? We need to start putting in the effort."


    It was Shen Yue''s turn to be shocked. "You... you''re serious?" She stammered. Liam''s face softened into a tender smile. "I think any child would be lucky to be loved by you."


    Shen Yue''s eyes sparkled with unshed tears of joy. "Thank you, Liam. That''s all I needed to hear."


    Sunlight began to filter through the curtains, casting a warm glow over the room. The two of them remained silent for a while, simply enjoying each other''s presence.


    Finally, Shen Yue spoke up, "We should probably get up. Mei Mei will be searching for you."


    Liam agreed, and they both started getting ready for the day, each lost in their thoughts about the future.


    As they stepped out of the room, hand in hand, they were greeted by the sounds ofughter and chatter from the guild members outside. It looked like a group was waiting to meet with Liam.


    And the moment they climbed down the stairs, the first person to stand in front of them was¡­


    "I still can''t believe that you are real." Alex beamed at Liam, her eyes lighting up with unmistakable joy. She quickly nced at Shen Yue, giving her a brief nod, before returning her attention to Liam.


    "Hey, Alex," Liam greeted, a bit awkwardly as the conversation he had upstairs with Shen Yue was still fresh in his mind. To make matters worse, this girl appeared at his doorstep not even an hour after Shen Yue told her that she would.


    "How are you feeling now?" Liam asked as he walked to the living room.


    "Oh, that. I am fine." Alex then awkwardly fidgeted with her hands before taking a deep breath and opening her mouth again. "I need to talk to you about something important."


    "Huh? What happened?" Liam gulped. Shen Yue''s prediction was proving more and more urate by the second.


    Alex awkwardly tucked a few errant strands of her hair, before shooting a re in the direction of other guild members.


    Shen Yue couldn''t control herughter and almost burst outughing. She then felt bad and helped out the poor girl by ushering everyone out of the house.


    Now only Alex and Liam remained inside.


    "Ummm¡­ Ummm¡­" Alex suddenly lost her nerve as she started to stammer, her confidence wavering under Liam''s attentive gaze. "I... It''s just that... I''ve been thinking a lottely and..."


    Liam, sensing her difort, gently urged, "It''s okay. Take your time." He then quickly added, "Do you need help with some dungeon?" He wanted to see if he could change the awkward subject.


    Alex took another deep breath, summoning her courage. "Liam, I''ve known you for a long time, and I¡­ My feelings for you have changed. I... When I heard that you were dead, I¡­ Liam. I love you."


    The confession hung in the air, and Liam''s heart skipped a beat. Shen Yue''s words echoed in his mind. He hesitated, not knowing what to say.


    "I am sorry. I know that you have Shen Yue. I just¡­ I just needed to tell you how you feel. I will regret it for the rest of my life if I let go of another day without telling you how I feel."


    Even though Alex was hesitant initially, once she spilled it out, her words started to flow and she poured out everything in her heart.


    Liam remained silent, fully hearing her out.


    Once Alex finished, a silence enveloped the room. Liam looked at her and smiled calmly. "Alex, thank you. I''m touched by your feelings. It means a lot to me that you care so deeply," he finally said. "You are one of my closest friends and someone whom I care for deeply too."


    Alex stared at him for a moment before bending her head down in defeat. She clenched her fists as her eyes started to moisten.


    She already knew that this was the response she was going to get. What else did she expect? She just wanted to be done with this so that she did not have to regret it ever again.


    Alex managed a small smile. "Thank you, Liam. That means a lot." Not wanting to break down in front of him, she hurriedly turned around to leave when she abruptly bumped into someone.


    "Shen Yue¡­" Alex''s face changed as she felt extremely guilty and disgusted with herself for falling in love with someone who was alreadymitted. That too, she betrayed someone kind like Shen Yue. She had no excuses for her behavior.


    "I am sorry." Feeling a sinking stone in her stomach, she hurriedly began to get out when Shen Yue gripped her hand tightly, not letting her take another step outside.


    "Liam, you are hopeless!" Shen Yue sighed in exasperation.


    "No. No. It''s not his fault. It''s all my fault." She hurriedly tried to exin, not wanting to implicate Liam in anything.


    Unexpectedly, Shen Yue offered a gentle, understanding smile. "It''s okay. You don''t have to feel guilty about your feelings," she said softly, her toneforting.


    Alex''s eyes widened, surprised by Shen Yue''s calm demeanor. "But, I... I confessed to Liam. I shouldn''t have..." Her voice faltered, filled with regret.


    Shen Yue stepped forward, cing a reassuring hand on Alex''s shoulder. "And I will respond to your confession. He loves you too. He told me so himself."


    Alex was confused. Before she could understand what was going on, Shen Yue tossed one more bomb in her direction. "He agreed to marry both of us. Wee to the family, sister."


    Alex wordlessly turned from Shen Yue to look at Liam. She had no idea what was going on and had never expected her day to take a turn like this.


    Meanwhile, Liam, "..."


    ***** END OF VOLUME *****


    Author''s Note: Hi everyone, thanks for your constant support and motivation, especially with the slow release rate. I hope you all enjoyed this volume. Looking forward to sharing the rest of the story with you all!


    Discord Link for chatting with the author and character art: https://discord.gg/XS7gWScKn8


    For my new story and for special perks, please visit: /yolohy


    Follow the author on Instagram for other updates: yolohy_panda-novel

 Chapter 1217 One or two?

    <h4>Chapter 1217 One or two?</h4>


    If anyone said one is better than two, Liam would choke that person and thrash him until his soul is automatically refined into an undead. Two is never better than one.


    And he had learned it the hard way.


    Liam yawned as he was extremely tired and exhausted. These past two months hadpletely drained him. Even his long arduous days of mana cultivation could note close to what he was experiencing at the moment.


    Exhausted, Liam leaned back, his mind drifting back to the tumultuous events of the past days. Everything started in a good way with him wanting to take a break for once.


    He needed this downtime to unclog his brain and mind and for his sanity. He had been running non-stop ever since the tutorial ended the first time around and he desperately needed to take a small breather and take his mind off of everything.


    He felt as if he did not do this and get a grip of himself, he might regret it in the long run. So he temporarily put a pause to all of his works in progress and decided to enjoy family time or at least that''s how it all began.


    A beautiful wedding inside one of the forest-type dungeons nearby. Once all of the reptiles that upied the dungeon were cleared out, it was truly not a bad ce for a wedding.


    The towering trees, lush greenery, and the soft glow of mana-infused flowers created an almost otherworldly setting, providing a serene backdrop for the ceremony.


    Liam had stood with Shen Yue and Alex amidst their closest friends and guild members, and they had exchanged vows in a simple yet heartfelt ceremony.


    There was a bit of awkwardness as he was marrying two women at the same time but Rey had made sure that the entire thing was a big st of fun and joy.


    The reception had been a lively affair, filled withughter, music, and dancing. The guild members, who had be more like a family, celebrated with unrestrained joy.


    It was a day of festivity, a rare asion where the harshness of their reality was momentarily forgotten.


    However, the day had to end and night had to eventually set in.


    Liam had stood facing his two brides not knowing what to do next. He had a lot of love and respect for these women and did not want to do anything to offend them. After all, this sort of polygamy was new for all of them.


    But to his surprise, the two women had made everything easy.


    Shen Yue stepped aside with a teasing smile saying that they had had their wedding night a long time back and that she had wanted to gift her new sister Alex the first night with their husband.


    Alex, the woman who was always headstrong and bold, had be speechless after that. She had be so shy that Liam had to take his time with her and even began wondering if she really wanted all of this or not.


    But soon one thing led to another and Alexy sprawled underneath him, gasping for breath and with a shy smile on her face.


    Liam was amused to see that the bold pdin was a shy little minx in the bed.


    He had never really thought about loving more than one woman as there were more pressing matters to attend to but now that he had, loving Alex came naturally after everything they had gone through.


    He gave her everything that she had been yearning for and smiled at how she looked as if she was intoxicated and deliriously happy. He couldn''t help but fall more in love with that woman.


    Just like Shen Yue, she was loving and also fiercely loyal. More importantly, Liam found that her body was extremelypatible with his, making him feel just as intoxicated as they entwined with each other.


    Liam had only heard about something like this in his previous life that bodies with opposite affinities made perfect life partners and now he had experienced it firsthand.


    The divine energy coursing through Alex''s body made hisher core more sharper and condensed. It seemed to refine and condense his energy, even if the change was subtle.


    In the following days, Liam had spent his time experimenting with this newfound discovery. He couldn''t help himself and fell back into old patterns as he pinned Alex down and tried everything he wanted with the woman.


    And thus began the storm that had rocked his happy marriage.


    While the two women might have behaved like sisters in the beginning, things took a turn for the worse after the first few days after Liam and Alex had remained locked in the room together for the entire time.


    Some silentpetition ensued and Liam suddenly found himself drowning in pussy for theck of a better word.


    This honeymoon phase where he worked double timested for two entire months after which Liam excused himself that he had struck an epiphany and that he needed to test something out immediately.


    And now that he had sessfully escaped, he let out a sigh of relief and burst out inughter. Thest two months had really been a pleasant escape but now it was time to get back to reality.


    Liam moved out of the small territory that Crawford had sketched out for himself and sat in the distant borders as he opened up his system interface.


    The current map of the world was truly huge. Even the undead that he had sent for scouting were only able to cover so much distance and in that small area, they had encountered powerful beasts, some even around level 100 to 200.


    Before the integration, only the guardians of the world had terrifying levels like this and now the other beasts had also started to evolve at a rapid rate. However, beasts of this level were not really a threat to him any longer.


    Liam stared at the map, wondering what his next step should be.

 Chapter 1218 You seem to be a bit too interested

    Chapter 1218 You seem to be a bit too interested


    After thinking about it for a while, Liam decided to visit the system shop first. Back in the elven world he did not have ess to one when he desperately needed it but now there was one right at his doorstep and there was no one stopping him from taking full advantage of it.


    Moreover, the rtionship between him and Tilia was also quite good at the moment and he would be losing out if he did not use this to ess more knowledge and information about the world they were living in.


    This was something he needed to do as soon as possible since there was so much still unknown about the world they inhabited. The mysteries and dangers thaty beyond their current knowledge could be pivotal in shaping their future, and the system shop might hold some of the keys to unraveling solutions to his current problems.


    He was a Soulmancer for god sake and his soul was still injured. What was he supposed to aplish in this condition? Besides, to progress to the next step he had to heal his soul. Otherwise, he was locked in this state.


    Now that the issue about his conflicting cores had been resolved, this was the next thing he needed to focus on. He needed to learn and understand more about his soul and find a way to heal it.


    From the limited knowledge he had frombing through several of the manuals provided by the other fairy, he so far had managed to concoct a pill that heals and nourishes the soul.


    For Alex, this pill had done wonders. It was this same pill he had used to heal her a few days back and shepletely recovered with her soul stronger than ever.


    However, it did little to nothing for him.


    Liam did not know the exact reason for this but he could tell it had something to do with the strength of the soul. Alex was still in first order with respect to soul strength and when her soul was injured, it was healed easily. He had, in fact, done the same for Rey back inside the tutorial world. At that time, it was even easier to heal his soul because it hadn''t even touched the first order yet.


    But he was currently in the second order and his soul was not merely injured. Thanks to his intense shrinking it and buffing it in a non-stop cycle to take out all the isons, it was almost ripped to shreds and was now only barely being held by strings and threads.


    After consuming multiple S-ranked herbs, the condition is a bit better at the moment but the real effect of the supreme treasure herb could only be brought out with the appropriate recipe which he sorelycked.


    A system shop could be his one stop solution for all of his problems so Liam took a trip there first. Upon entering the shop, Liam was greeted by the familiar sight of shelves lined with various items, books, and artifacts.


    The fairy Tilia immediately waltzed to the entrance in high spirits to greet him. "Are you finally done with honeymooning?" She asked with a big smile on her face, barely keeping down her giggle.


    Liam''s face changed but the fairy did not stop teasing him. "The conquests of the esteemed guild leader and the overlord of the new world have spread far and wide. Congrattions on your SSS-Rank stamina."


    Liam''s face twitched. "You seem to be a bit too interested in my stamina. I have no problem in adding one more to the mix if that''s what you are hinting at." He smirked with a grin, instantly making the fairy blush.


    "Oh my. I was just teasing you. It looks like you are really interested, hmmm? Is this why you rescued everyone?"


    Tilia rolled her eyes at the smug smile but it was good to see the guy in a different mood for once rather than his trademark subzero attitude. "Oh please, not all women are dying to be your wife. Shall we get down to business."


    As she mentioned business, the fairy revealed a mysterious, teasing smile that made Liam''s gut feelings tingle. Why was this woman acting as if she had one-upped him in some way? Was he missing something?


    "Here is your updated and upgraded credit card." Tilia quickly took out something glittering. It was a pitch-ck card with silver etchings on the side.


    Liam had a bad feeling as he gulped and epted the card. He immediately checked it with the system interface, only to have his jaw drop on the ground the next instant.


    "What the hell is this?" He needed a second to really digest the number of zeros that were cozily settled in his debt numbers. "10000 trillion? Am I reading this right?"


    Tilia ruthlessly giggled at the shocked expression. "Oh, yes, you''re reading it right."


    Liam let out a breath as he tried to process this enormous figure. "How am I supposed to pay this off? This is absurd!"


    Tilia waved a hand dismissively. "You''re one of the future top experts in this myriad realms. I''m sure you''ll figure it out."


    The key word was future and his future looked pretty bleak with several powerful figures waiting to ughter him. Liam shook his head helplessly.


    "What did you think? Your entire guild vacationed in a high-level training area for a year. How will the cost be cheap?" "Besides, it''s just low-grade mana cores. 10,000 trillion low-grade mana cores is just 100 trillion mid-grade mana cores. And 100 trillion mid-grade mana cores is simply-"


    Liam raised his hand to stop the fairy. He did not need a math lesson at the moment. He looked at the fairy who was still grinning ear to ear and rolled his eyes.


    The damn woman had conned him good but he couldn''t ever bring himself to be mad at her. After all, she had protected what mattered most to him and it did not matter if she charged him a few mana cores in exchange.

 Chapter 1219 New skills?

    Chapter 1219 New skills?


    Liam took one more look at his massive debt before he pushed it aside and moved on to other important things. He opened his system interface, hurriedly going through the items avable for purchase in the shop.


    "Do you have any recipes or weapons or armor or skill rted to soul?" He asked the fairy since it was a daunting task to go through the multitude of stuff that was avable inside the shop.


    Unexpectedly the fairy gave him an instant reply, except that it was not the one that he was looking for. "Nothing like that is currently avable." Tilia tersely replied.


    "Huh? Are you sure? It doesn''t matter even if it is a minor healing technique. I am looking for anything even remotely rted to soul at this point."


    Tilia shook her head giving a bitter smile. "Lord Liam, do you think it is easy toe across artifacts and skills rted to soul? Manipting one''s soul is one of the most sought after paths that many want to step on. It is not that easy."


    "There are of course some skills that vaguely mention soul. You can take a look at those. These are nothing special so you don''t even have to pay for these."


    Liam snorted. This woman. She was acting like she was doing him a favor but in reality, the cost of these was probably just a drop in the bucket whenpared to his debt.


    "Okay. Thank you?" Liam responded, giving the fairy a knowing look.


    Tilia giggled. "Ha Ha Ha. I am just messing with you, Lord Liam. Of course, you have to pay for these as well."


    Liam''s face twitched but the woman was not all evil. When he looked at the skill books she had shared with him, his eyes widened in surprise. There were a few that genuinely piqued his interest. Although they were not directly rted to soul maniption or healing, they contained techniques and knowledge that could indirectly aid his quest to understand and heal his soul.


    One book was titled "Astral Echoes," a skill that seemed to involve using one''s soul energy to sense and interpret subtle changes in the environment, potentially useful for detecting hidden dangers or tracking elusive entities.


    This was a particrly rare skill book that belonged to the ss Astral Mage, apparently a ss that could not even be unlocked by the human race.


    However, Liam thoroughly checked the skill description, making sure that he wouldn''t have any problem using the skill book.


    The next one he had his eye on "Nature Resonance," a shaman skill. This detailed a method to harmonize one''s soul energy with natural forces, potentially allowing for more efficient use of mana and a deeper connection with the world around him.


    The skill''s potential to create a deeper bond with the natural world could provide insights into the fundamental connections between soul energy and the environment. Such knowledge might be key to understanding how to repair and fortify his soul.


    Thest one was a skill book "Soul Weaving," a hunter skill. It was essentially a stronger contract bond forming skill that made the connection between a tamed pet and a beast hunter deeper, even for themon-grade beasts.


    This essentially allowed them to share equal experience points, instead of the meager percentage that the system automatically allocated for the weaker beasts.


    While all three skills had a soulponent, they were nothing close to the direct soul healing or maniption techniques Liam was initially seeking. Yet, each held potential value in his unique situation.


    It was not often that one woulde across a technique like Soul Splice that instantly sky-rocketed their power level. Nevertheless, Liam nodded with a thank you. He already started making a training n in his mind with these new skills in his repertoire.


    Tilia looked at him enthusiastically learning all the books one after the other and her gaze narrowed in seriousness. "Liam, by now you should know something. Not all system shops are the same."


    "Hmmm?"


    "You said that you were stranded in a B ranked elven world, right?" Tilia asked.


    "Yes."


    "The goods and skill books a shop like that can offer you are far different from what you find here. We just don''t have that many quality goods that could make an expert like you interested. That is the unfortunate truth."


    Liam gave a rueful smile. When a higher-level system shop was avable, he did not have ess to it. But now that he had ess to a system shop, its level was not high enough.


    "That''s why you shouldn''t be too disappointed if you don''t find exactly what you''re looking for immediately. The inventory here is constantly being updated, and who knows, something more directly beneficial for your soul might appear in the future," Tilia added with a wink.


    Liam paused as he knew what exactly the fairy was hinting at. "So you also think that this world has the potential to be a higher rank world?"


    Tilia grinned. "I don''t think or guess. I know. A unique world like yours is guaranteed to be a C rank at the least and has a high chance to be a B rank."


    "Who knows if you feed the tree the right things, it might even end up upgrading this world to an A ranker."


    Liam''s eyes lit up. A higher-ranked world meant ess to better resources, skills, and perhaps the key to healing his soul.


    "That''s encouraging to hear. But what does it take for a world to rise in rank?" he asked, his mind already calcting the implications.


    "It''s not just about the strength of its inhabitants," Tilia exined. "It''s also about the richness of its resources, the diversity andplexity of its ecosystems, and the level of its overall development."


    "More importantly, it is about what the tree eats."


    "Do you know what materials are needed to achieve something like this and where I can get them?"


    "Bah!" Someone loudly snorted and Liam and Tilia turned to see Eldrin approaching them. "You can''t even manage to find a soul-healing pill that works for you on this backwater. How are you going to find a treasure to upgrade a world tree?"


    "Well, don''t look at me like that. Sure, your world is going to be all strong and fancy in a few years but until then, it is still a baby."


    "And the resources in a baby are extremely limited. At most, you will find what our ancestors found when our world first got newly integrated."


    "Don''t get me wrong. This should be some pretty powerful stuff and could probably sky-rocket your power and abilities tremendously but it won''t help you against your feud with the holy bitch."


    Before Liam could say anything, Eldrin quickly added. "Yes. Yes. I know all about your grudge with the stuck-up divine assholes and the whole tutorial scam they tried to pull on you. Just buy a few drinks to any of the civilians and this is all they talk about."


    "Their great leader Liam and his vendetta against the holy cows." Eldrinughed. "Don''t worry. Those guys are pretty much assholes to everyone in our sector. They have an uppity attitude that the golden rod in their asses bring out."


    "If you run across a few of them, you will know that the priestess who messed with you is not the only intolerable one."


    "Anyway, this brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about today." Eldrin clicked his tongue. "You guys dumped all of the administrative work on me and left me to rot but it is my duty to remind you."


    Ever since Liam checked out for his honeymoon, Eldrin somehow became a go-to guy for several issues as his experience in dealing withrge sects and guilds was vast. He was also a young master of a famous family thriving gloriously for centuries.


    The issues that a lower, newly developing world like this was facing were essentially nothing new to him. It was even included in the formal education that he received back in his world when he was younger.


    How could a little fox know about all of these intricacies? The little fox did nothing other than eat and sleep or go around on a rampage.


    And with Alex tied up on the bed, all of this somehow fell on Eldrin. Unfortunately for him, even the Lan siblings had no interest in helping him as they were busy clearing out the beasts in the vicinity with the other guild members.


    Liam''s current strength was a wake-up call for everyone as they could finally see what a vast difference was there between them. Even mana-blessed individuals like Lan Deming and Lan Fen couldn''t begin topete with a monster like him.


    Thatbined with the recent incidents where they had been pretty much suppressed for an entire year led to everyone training constantly day and night as if they were on steroids.


    This pretty much left all the boring work to Eldrin who was close to having a mental breakdown.

 Chapter 1220 Dripping in nether

    <h4>Chapter 1220 Dripping inher</h4>


    "Going to the Spire of Ascension right now is pretty much likemitting suicide. No. You should absolutely not do that." Tilia stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest and firmly rejected the idea as she stared daggers at the elf.


    However, Eldrin only scoffed at this response. "If you stay cooped up here then you won''t get anywhere. Your time will run out and after your world integration, your girlfriend will personallye to visit you."


    "Actually no. Considering all the trouble you have caused her, she might just end up sting away this entire world without bothering to look for you first. I mean she is probably going to do that even if you are alive or dead." Eldrin shrugged.


    "That''s just how higher beings think and act. If there is even the slightest chance of their shady business getting exposed, they will erase the whole world and me it on a failed integration. That''s one way to settle scores and also clean the te."


    "I am not even joking. Why don''t you ask your fairy here?" Eldrin pointed his eyes at her. "I think she hates you secretly or something. She is guiding you in the wrong direction."


    Tilia''s brows raised in anger at the words of the arrogant elf. "Are you dumb? Why would I guide him in the wrong direction?"


    She turned to Liam and spoke to him directly. "This guy is a lunatic. Only a higher being has the power to eliminate entire worlds and I don''t think the priestess you have crossed paths with is a higher being. Otherwise¡­" Tilia hesitated. "You would already be¡­"


    "Hmmm." Liam nodded.


    "You get my point. Even if that was not the case, you should still leave for the Spire a few yearster. Your world is rapidly exploding at the moment and would no doubt give birth to powerful treasures. iming these for yourself would give you a huge boost in strength."


    "That too you are bonded with the world tree. I have no doubt that your haul would be amazing. It''s best if you im these treasures and then head over to the Spire to reach the next stage."


    Eldrin let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "Yes. Sure. Keep searching for worthless things and get massacred by the big girl in one shot. That''s a very intelligent thing to do. Let me correct my words. This woman is not your enemy. She is just dumb."


    "Also, during integration, after some point the barrier starts to weaken. So it is not a guarantee that your enemy will wait for you until your world ispletely evolved and integrated."


    Tilia quickly refuted him. "That''s not true. There is only a chance of something like that happening. It is not always possible and even then maybe only after half the integration ispleted."


    Listening to both of them, Liam felt a headacheing. "Ok. That''s enough. Stop bickering. I agree with both of you. Everything you said is a valid point. Now let me think for a moment."


    Eldrin immediately reminded him. "Well, thinking is good and all, but what is the point of thinking? You need to first receive the invitation token for the spire from the system. Without that, all of this discussion is just a waste of time."


    He only barely finished talking when Tilia frowned and came to Liam''s rescue. "Sure, he will. Why won''t he? Liam, how many dao seeds have you formed? What is your current level? Typically at Level 999, the system gifts the token."


    "Provided he has enough progress in his dao path." Eldrin again reminded.


    Liam blocked out the two of them and sat back with his eyes closed for a moment. "Level 999¡­" He mumbled as he considered his options.


    He wasn''t too far from the level but his current progress had already slowed down. Gaining new dao seeds at this point is not awarding him with that many levels anymore.


    It looked like he needed to make real progress in his dao path just like the elf had reminded him. He had also gained a lot in the recent battles and he had fully recovered from all of the encounters except for his soul.


    This was a good time for him to first consolidate his gains and carefully assimte them.


    Liam remained seated in the same position for a while before he abruptly stood up. Turning to Tilia, he asked, "How long do we have before the integration process reaches a critical point where the barrier begins to weaken?"


    Tilia calcted for a moment. "Given the current rate of integration and the unique characteristics of your world, I''d estimate you have around two to three years before the situation bes precarious."


    Liam nodded, a n forming in his mind. "Then that''s my window. I''ll use this time to prepare, gather resources, and strengthen myself. Once I''ve maximized my potential here, I''ll head to the Spire."


    Eldrin seemed to reluctantly ept thispromise. "Fine, but don''t waste time. Every day counts. And remember, the Spire is not the only ce you can gain strength. Keep your eyes open for other opportunities."


    "I will see you both in a year." He decided.


    After forming a mana core or for that matter even dabbling with mana for the first time changes a human being. Essentially when a person starts leveling up and gradually bes higher leveled, their physiology also changes and along with it their lifespan.


    When a living being first touches Level 50, their lifespan is closer to 500 years than 100 years. It further increases when the level keeps getting bigger.


    It is also not really proportional. When a living being touches level 100 and above they can technically stay alive for several 1000 to 10,000 years, some even touching 50,000 with the help of some treasures.


    A year is not that much whenpared to this sort of increased lifespan. At the same time, in their current condition, Liam felt that a year was all that he could spare.


    Perhaps Eldrin was motivated by his own selfish benefits but a year''s preparation is what he could allocate before trying to attempt this Spire of Ascension.


    And within this year, he had to reach Level 999.


    After setting this goal for himself, Liam hurried out of the magic shop. Maybe his decision was not the right one but he could only do the best that he can. He could not afford to start doubting and double-guessing his every move now.


    If allowed the fact that the fate of an entire world resides on his shoulders, he would only make the wrong decision.


    Heading outside the shop, he first called for Luna and headed over to theher region. After his ''special meetings'' with Alex, he felt as if he was close to a breakthrough withher maniption.


    Although his progress in Dao Seed of Ice Elemental is currently the best, Liam doubted if it would remain the same. After all, he had a lot more experience using soul energy and a natural affinity forher which felt as if he was using an extension of his body part.


    Besides, Liam felt that he had stayed enough among the living. It was about time he stepped into aher-filled world and experienced the true corruption of the energy to fully understand it.


    Luna activated her teleportation skills and the duo arrived at the other half of the world in minutes. Just like he expected, the entire region was chalked full ofher.


    Thendscape was eerie and deste, a stark contrast to the vibrant and life-filled areas he was ustomed to.


    The air was thick with the oppressive, cold energy ofher, almost fully devoid of mana, making every breath feel different. The sky was a perpetual twilight, casting long, haunting shadows across the barrennd.


    Liam stood there for a moment, taking in the surroundings. He felt an odd sense of familiarity with theher energy, as if it resonated with something deep within him. This was a dangerous ce, yet it felt strangely likeing home.


    He began to focus, allowing his senses to extend and feel theher energy around him. As he closed his eyes, he could sense the ebb and flow of the dark energy, its intricate patterns, and its chaotic nature. It was like a turbulent sea, unpredictable yet full of potential.


    Hisher core inside his heart started churning wildly. This was it. He needed toe here.


    Without taking another step forward, he sat down and started meditating right at the border between the two worlds as he felt a rush of insights seeping into his mind. More and moreher rushed towards him as he sat there still and silent.


    Before long, he became a ck vortex, sucking in all theher from the air around him. Liam smiled. It felt good. It felt so suffocatingly good.

 Chapter 1221 Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

    <h4>Chapter 1221 Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!</h4>


    Liam was enjoying the feeling of drowning inher so he decided to stay right on the border for a couple of days. He had a year and staying here for a few days wouldn''t cost him too much. At the same time, he had a feeling that he would gain many things in this ce.


    Liam''s mind was swirling with various thoughts as he sat down and focused. He meditated in theher-rich spot for a couple of hours before shifting to the other side of the border and once again meditating in the mana-rich region.


    The contrasting atmospheres of the two regions, coupled with the rich energy of the world that was gently swirling, provided a unique opportunity.


    Thanks to the stark distinct features Liam was able to quickly solidify some of the thoughts he had been mulling over for quite some time now. The various specs of ideas he had suddenly became clear and crystallized.


    The one day he gave himself wasn''t even fully consumed when suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a series of notifications.


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Control]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Flow]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Corruption]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Toxicity]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Fury]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Storm]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Chains]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Pulse]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Tendrils]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam calmly closed his eyes and continued meditating. He was yet to fully consolidate his thoughts and instincts so he did not want to get distracted just yet.


    While he struggled to understand many things about the ice elemental and grasp its nature, dealing with theher was entirely different. The wisps ofher let themselves willingly drawn towards him and revealed their secrets all on their own.


    However, it was only a door. They had opened a door for him but it was up to him to walk through it and find out what was there behind the door.


    Liam continued doing the same kind of back and forth, engrossed in his world.


    Meanwhile, Luna stood next to him and gawked at Master in shock. Back in the elven world, the crazy elves had been worshipping her and falling at her, calling her a Queen and Goddess.


    Every time she made a breakthrough, the crazies fell harder into their delusions and praised her to the high heavens.


    And she was nothing whenpared to her master.


    How would they even react to her master gaining one enlightenment after another in the span of a few hours?


    How was her master better at grasping Daos whenpared to a divine beast such as herself? Shouldn''t she be the one with the upper hand in this scenario?


    The little fox glued her eyes onto Liam in admiration and adoration as she continued watching him in awe.


    "My master is the bestest."


    Liam only opened his eyes after two entire days when he first summoned his system interface to take a look at his recent gains.


    ***


    [Dao Seed of Nether Maniption] Fingers dance in death''s y, bendingher to one''s sway.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Control] In the realm of darkened will,her bends, calm and still.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Flow] Like a river, dark and deep,her flows where blood and bodies seep.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Corruption] Whispers taint the purest heart, mind, body, and soul,her''s corruption, a dark art.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Toxicity] Poisonous breath, a lethal shroud, inher''s toxicity, death is vowed.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Storm] In the tempest''s heart, dark chaos whirls, a maelstrom ofher''s fury unfurls.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Chains] Shackles woven from night''s embrace, binding foes in an ethereal chase.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Pulse] Rhythms of the abyss, a pulse that shakes, disrupting order that theher quakes.


    [Dao Seed of Nether Tendrils] Slender threads of night, reaching, grasping, a gentle, deadly might.


    ***


    Liam went over the list in silence. Except for the very first one, [Dao Seed of Nether Maniption], every other dao seed was the result of the past two day''s efforts.


    He had gained a lot, beyond what he could have expected. Was this even normal?


    Liam let out a deep breath as he couldn''t help but remember the words of the elven ancestor when he advised him against gaining so many dao seeds.


    However, this was not intentional and there was nothing he could do to stop them. They simply rolled in one after the other as if a damn had broken apart.


    Was this because this was the first time he was truly standing in aher rich area? But he had been in simr ces back in the tutorial. He had never gained any dao seeds back then.


    Unless there was something in the tutorial that blocked anyone from gaining any Dao seeds and thus progressing forward.


    This would exin why even the grandmasters residing inside the tutorial world were not that high-leveled, despite staying there for who knew how long and with plenty of opportunities to level.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 1~


    Please thank Fros for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1222 Risk and reward

    Chapter 1222 Risk and reward


    Liam contemted for a while but then he stopped. There was only one sure way of finding out what was happening and how things worked. He also needed a lot of answers regarding other things that expired back in the tutorial world, starting with Mia and Derek.


    If there was one person who could answer everything, it was Crawford and he finally had the guy''splete soul in his possession.


    However, Liam did not immediately take out his soul and try to question him. This was because the old man possessed some expertise in soul maniption.


    This was evident from the manner he had torn his soul into two and sent a part to take part in the PVP tower fight, back in the tutorial.


    The chances of the old man potentially harming him were slim but there was always a possibility that he could self-destruct and Liam could lose the only way of finding out what could have happened to two people whom he was indebted to.


    Liam did not want to open up this can of worms when his soul was still injured. On the other hand, processing and going through the memories of some of these stronger souls could hold the answer for his broken soul.


    While he did not want to lose them, he might be losing a valuable source of information just because he did not use it soon enough.


    Perhaps he needed to attempt to forge one of the two elven ancestors? This should give him more idea about the Spire of Ascension and the many paths thaty ahead of him.


    While Liam was thinking about this, all of a sudden he felt a tug in his mind and soul.


    Liam''s eyes widened for a moment before they turnedpletely pitch-ck. The next second dense swirls ofher started seeping into him at an unprecedented rate as if he had be a ck hole.


    At the same time, his mind was flooded with various images and impressions.


    Liam winced as the sudden surge of events overwhelmed him without any warning. In his mind, all sorts of images shed.


    One second he was seated in a meditative pose on the ground. The next second he was standing atop a roiling sea in the middle of a huge storm.


    The storm was so fierce that the sky and the ocean seemed to merge into a singr maelstrom of chaos. Lightning forked across the darkened sky, illuminating the turbulent waters below.


    Liam could feel the violent brash nature of the storm, feeling everysh the turbulent waters gave him.


    With his enhanced physique handling this much shouldn''t be a problem for him but for some reason, it was very difficult for him to hold on.


    He was getting lost in the turbid waters, not getting a foothold to stabilize himself. The salty waters were testing his limits without holding back.


    It was as if he was a mere sailor on the sea. Nothing more. Nothing less.


    The scene then changed abruptly. He was once again standing or rather floating on a sea but this time it was a sea of corpses. The smell of the rotting flesh was overpowering, and the sight was ghastly.


    Bodies, as far as the eye could see, floated in a macabre dance on the dark, still waters. The sky above was a dull grey, adding to the sense of despair and hopelessness that pervaded the atmosphere.


    Liam felt a pang of sorrow and revulsion, but there was also a strange sense of familiarity as if he had witnessed this scene before.


    The corpses seemed to whisper to him, their voices a cacophony of pain, regret, and unfulfilled desires. Each body had its own story, its connection to theher that now enveloped Liam.


    Liam could unexpectedly feel a resonance with each one of the corpses. ck tendrils arose from the corpses and connected to him.


    All of a sudden he had a shovel in his hand. The next instant he unexpectedly found himself digging the ground with the shovel.


    Liam did not intend to do this but he somehow found himself doing this. His body moved on its own as he first finished digging the hole in the ground and then started pulling one of the endless corpses into this grave.


    He then started covering up the corpse once again, essentially burying the body.


    And he did not stop there. After burying the first body, he then started digging a hole again for the next corpse.


    Liam knew that this task was a hopeless one as the number of corpses was simply endless. However, he continued with the task anyway.


    One after the other he buried the bodies that floated in front of him. With each one he buried, he felt the connection between himself and the corpse grow stronger.


    He continued doing this for god knows how long. He had lost the sense of time somewhere along the line. Finally, after what felt like a dull, boring eternity, the scenery shifted again.


    Liam found himself in a vast, barrenndscape, under a starless sky. The ground was cracked and devoid of life, a deste expanse stretching into infinity. Here, theher''s presence was oppressive, weighing heavily on Liam''s soul.


    But as he looked closer, he noticed something remarkable. Within the cracks of the barren ground, tiny sprouts of life were emerging, defiant in their existence against the backdrop of destion.


    How could it be so easy to survive? Death''s oppressive pressure weighed down on the small sprouts. The small sprouts disintegrated andbusted as soon as they appeared on the surface. Death overpowered them.


    However, death couldn''t stop them froming back again and again. No matter how strong the oppression ofher was, the sprouts were relentless.


    Liam stood there, watching the sprouts in a transfixed manner. It onlysted for a couple of moments before he too became a sprout and started experiencing the same cycle of life and death again and again.


    His heart shook as this was an experience he had already felt once before, permanently leaving a mark on his heart.


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 2~


    Please thank Fros for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1223 Black Sun

    Chapter 1223 ck Sun


    Liam shuddered as the horrific process did not stop. He kept getting pushed into one scenario after another without any end in sight.


    After the life and death cycle, it was a taste of utter corruption and gue. He was a beast and all the beasts including him were withering away slowly from disease and corruption.


    He got a clear and vivid experience of slow and painful death, something that he wouldn''t have minded not experiencing in his lifetime.


    Without giving him a chance to catch a break, he was again thrown into another scenario.


    Liam''s consciousness struggled to keep afloat amidst this deluge ofher and fragmented memories, each image and sensation colliding with the next in a chaotic symphony.


    It was never-ending. Though at first Liam was able to hold on to his sense of self and somehow make do, he felt himself slipping a little with each scenario.


    The pain he was feeling at the moment was nothing whenpared to some of the excruciating moments in his own life and yet he found himself slipping away.


    It was as if he was living a new life and dying with each cycle.


    As the experiences continued to wash over him, he felt his identity beginning to fray at the edges, the constant barrage of lives and deaths blurring the lines of his self.


    Finally, the onught began to ebb, thest vision leaving him right back where he was.


    Liam gasped for breath, feeling as if he had been submerged underwater for an eternity. He was back in his own body, his reality, but it took a few minutes for him toe back to his senses.


    Liam stared dumbfoundedly at his own hands and body in a state of shock. He remained motionless, his mind reeling from the myriad of experiences he had just lived through.


    As he slowly regained his bearings, he became acutely aware of the profound change within him.


    The barrage of lives and emotions had not just been a torment; they had been a crucible, forging him anew. They had given him plentiful insights.


    He felt an enhanced connection to theher, a deeper understanding of the energy.


    His breath steadied, and he closed his eyes, focusing inward. Earlier when he had formed the multitude of dao seeds rting to theher, he could sense each of the dao seeds dangling in his mental space as if they were wisps of ck smoke.


    But now they werepletely different. No, the difference was subtle but Liam could sense the huge change between the two times.


    While both times the dao seeds merely lingered as wisps of smoke, this time it felt as if he only needed to focus a little tobine them.


    Liam shuddered a little. What would happen if hebined them? Could hebine them?


    Liam had a feeling that he could. A wave of excitement arose in his heart.


    The insights that the torment had given him were not one or two. He needed to capture and solidify them all in his heart before they slipped out of his hand.


    Liam immediately got back into his meditative stance again. With Luna staring him at the side with her eyes wide, he closed his eyes and tried to recollect each and every dreadful experience he had just lived through.


    He sank deeper into his meditative stance, his consciousness delving into thebyrinth of the torments.


    The experiences, though harrowing, were not just random shes of pain and confusion. Each carried a thread of understanding, a piece of the intricate puzzle ofher energy and its multifaceted nature.


    As he focused, the fragmented memories began to coalesce, forming a clearer picture in his mind. The life-and-death cycles, the corruption, the gues ¨C they all painted a vivid portrait of theher''s raw and unbridled essence.


    This was not a punishment. This was a gift that was given to imbue him with a profound understanding of theher''s capabilities and limits.


    Liam was sure of it, but how did he receive such a gift? He did not think about that right now.


    He took each memory, each sensation, and began to examine it with a detached curiosity. The feelings of despair, the sensations of decay, and the moments of fleeting joy ¨C he dissected them, seeking the underlying principles that governed these experiences.


    Luna watched silently, her eyes reflecting a mix of concern and awe. She could sense the tumultuous energy swirling around Liam, but also the steely determination that underpinned his efforts. She hummed in admiration.


    As Liam continued his introspection, the dao seeds in his mind''s eye began to respond. They no longer floated aimlessly; instead, they started to orbit around each other, drawn by an invisible force.


    The dao seeds ofher that he had formed ¨C each a distinct aspect ofher energy ¨C began to interact, their energies mingling and fusing.


    Soon Liam''s breath became rhythmic, matching the pulsations of the dao seeds. With each breath, he felt his control over theher growing, his understanding deepening.


    Hours passed, and the fusion of the dao seeds reached a critical point. They converged into a singr, more potent form, a new dao seed that encapsted all the aspects ofher energy he had experienced but it was also so much more.


    As this new dao seed took root in his soul, Liam felt a surge of power, an unshakable sense ofpleteness.


    Opening his eyes, they sparkled with a rity born from enduring the storm. He had faced theher''s abyss and emerged not just unscathed, but empowered.


    The small ck wisps of smoke had already disappeared from his mental space. Instead of them, now a small ck sun was floating in the same space, radiating potent and powerful energy.


    Liam grinned a few notifications popped up in front of him.


    [Ding! You have obtained the Dao seed of Nether]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ***


    Mass Release Chapter 3~


    Please thank Fros for sponsoring this mass release!

 Chapter 1224 Dao of the Nether

    Chapter 1224 Dao of the Nether


    "Dao of theher!" Liam was ecstatic. He had yet again obtained another one of the foundational dao seeds. However, this time it was different. He had obtained it with his efforts rather than relying on someone else''s experiences and inheritance.


    This difference was especially evident when it came to the grasp and control he had over the dao seed.


    Liam had a feeling that the power level of the two was also vastly different. His hands were itching to try it out but he wasn''t done just yet.


    Afterbining theher wisps into the ckher sun, he felt that he had gained even more insights. He craved to integrate them too and make them a part of his arsenal.


    Liam kept going as he pushed his mental strength to new limits and continued to tap into his potential and his newly formed Dao seed.


    Invigorated by his recent breakthrough, he delved deeper into the realms of his mind, exploring the vast expanse of his newfound insights.


    As he concentrated, he felt the Dao Seed pulsating within him, each beat resonating with the core of his being. He embraced this connection, allowing the seed''s energy to flow through him, guiding him in unraveling theplexities of theher.


    His mind, sharpened and expanded by the integration of the Dao Seed, moved with unprecedented agility and rity. He navigated through the intricate web of his insights, each a piece of the puzzle that made up the vast and mysterious domain of theher.


    The insights were not just abstract concepts; they were living, breathing entities within his mind, each holding a key to unlocking deeper aspects of theher. With the Dao Seed as his anchor, Liam began the intricate process of weaving these insights into the fabric of his consciousness.


    He felt himself bing one with theher, understanding its flow, its essence, and its infinite possibilities. The energy was not just something he wielded; it was something he became. Every pulse of the Dao Seed brought new revtions, each more profound than thest.


    Soon, new notifications started flowing in once again.


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Construct]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Vortex]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Binding]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Echoes]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Mists]


    ¡­


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether Fortress]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam felt his progress but he did not stop.


    Hours passed, unnoticed by him, as he waspletely absorbed in this transformative process. The world around him faded into insignificance as he journeyed through the depths of his own soul and the mysteries of theher.


    Finally, when he emerged from his deep meditation, Liam felt a profound change within him. He had not just gained new insights; he had evolved in a way that he had not grasped just yet. His connection with theher was much stronger than before, beyond having an extremely high affinity to the energy.


    He stood up, feeling a surge of energy coursing through him, more potent and refined than ever before.


    Liam looked at his hands, flexing them as he felt the raw power of theher at his fingertips. He knew he was ready to test the limits of his new abilities, to see the full extent of the power he now wielded.


    He had already sent off his army in different directions to do some scouting for him and one among them had encountered a suitable enemy, well not as strong as he would like but still strong enough.


    He prepared himself, feeling the pulsating energy of theher coursing through his veins, a tangible force that he was now attuned to in a way he had never been before.


    "Let''s go, Luna!" He called the little fox who excitedly sprang into action. She was also restless to see just how far her master had grown once again. She could sense a profound shift in Liam, an aura of power that was both exhrating and a bit intimidating. Luna''s eyes sparkled with pride and anticipation as she prepared to apany her master.


    Together, they teleported to the location where the enemy was spotted within seconds.


    The opponent was a giant being of titanic proportions that had waves ofhering out its body along with its aura that exuded pure power. It was almost simr to a golem, except that this creature had a single big eye on its otherwise featureless face, a sort ofher version of Cyclops monster.


    Liam examined the creature and a system prompt immediately appeared.


    [Ding! One-eyed Behemoth, Elite grade, Level 450]


    Liam had to give it to the creature. How powerful and how lucky! Their world had only now started to shift and evolve but the creature had already be so powerful. Its potential had exploded within this limited time.


    "Luck aside, this monster should have definitely grasped some concepts of Dao for it to be so strong this soon. Maybe even have a dao seed or two."


    Liam mused, his eyes narrowing as he assessed the One-eyed Behemoth. The creature stood like a colossus, its massive form overshadowing the surroundings, theher energy swirling around it like a living cloak. Sensing the new presence, it''s eye locked onto Liam and Luna, ready to st them into nothingness.


    **

 Chapter 1225 The black sun rises

    Chapter 1225 The ck sun rises


    "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Liam grinned, giving a nod to Luna, asking her to stand down.


    The One-eyed Behemoth made the first move, unleashing a torrent ofher energy towards them. Liam, with a wave of his hand, summoned a barrier ofher, effortlessly deflecting the attack. The barrier shimmered in the air, its dark energy absorbing and neutralizing the behemoth''s assault.


    Liam then countered as he started conjuring a massive prison of sorts. He called upon the Dao Seed of Nether Fortress, creating an immense structure of dark, swirlingher energy that enveloped the One-eyed Behemoth. The fortress-like prison was a masterpiece ofher constructs, its walls thick and impregnable, trapping the behemoth within its confines.


    The creature roared and pounded against the walls of its prison, but theher energy only absorbed the impacts, growing denser and more resilient with each strike. Liam watched calmly, his control over theher energy evident in the precision and stability of the construct.


    Taking advantage of the behemoth''s confinement, he prepared his next move. He tapped into the dao seed of Nether Binding, summoning chains of condensedher energy that snaked through the fortress, binding the behemoth''s limbs and restricting its movements even further.


    The behemoth''s roars grew more desperate, but it was firmly caught in Liam''s trap. The flow of the battle was in his favor so he was calmly experimenting with his dao seeds.


    A powerful vortex ofher energy formed inside the fortress, swirling around the behemoth, creating a maelstrom that sapped its strength and disoriented it further.


    Luna, observing from a safe distance, marveled at the disy of power. She had always known her master was strong, but witnessing the sheer dominance of hisher abilities filled her with a sense of awe and pride.


    Liam slowly took his time and tried the various concepts one after the other. The poor creature almost went through what he had gone through when he received the myriad dao illusions. Except that this time it was a punishment and not a gift.


    As the behemothy on the scarred ground, panting and ck blood seeping out of its mouth, Liam finally put an end to its misery as he choked the beast using spinyher tendrils.


    They wrapped around the behemoth with relentless precision, tightening their grip. The creature''s struggles weakened as the life was systematically drained from it. Liam observed this with a detached focus.


    The behemoth''s massive form shuddered in its final moments, its eye dimming as the life faded from it. With onest surge ofher energy, Liam delivered the finishing blow, the behemoth gasped in relief as it closed its reddened eye.


    A small chunk of experience points popped up on the system interface. Liam ignored it as he quickly harvested the soul and the body of the monster and once again started meditating to consolidate some of the concepts.


    "Master, we never got to see what dao the behemoth had figured out." Luna reminded him but Liam only faintly nodded as he continued his meditation. He could always ask the soul about itter on. Now he had more important things to do.


    Liam had a feeling as if he was on the cusp of something crucial. He did not want to miss out on this golden opportunity.


    As he meditated, the ck sun in his daopartment started rotating and radiating with even more energy.


    Correspondingly, a ck sun formed in front of Liam. At first, it looked like it was simply an image, but it was far from it.


    The ck sun slowly rotated, exuding waves of darkher energy that seemed to warp the very air around it.


    Luna watched with her mouth agape. She had never seen anything like this before.


    And it looked like the spectacle wasn''t over.


    A few minutester, the ck sun started expanding and bing bigger and bigger. Then, all of a sudden, without any warning, the sun exploded.


    The ck sun burst, releasing a cascade ofher energy that enveloped the area in a disy of dark, mesmerizing beauty. The energy flowed like a river of shadows, filling the air with a palpable sense of power and awe.


    Liam remained at the center of this maelstrom, his figure silhouetted against the swirling darkness. His eyes were closed, his expression serene, as if he was one with the storm of energy around him. The explosion of the ck sun seemed to have been a catalyst, unlocking even deeperyers of his connection with theher.


    As theher energy swirled around him, Liam''s body absorbed it, each strand of dark energy merging with his own aura. His presence became even more formidable.


    Gradually, the swirlingher began to recede, drawing back into Liam as if he were a conduit for its energy. The air around him crackled with residual power, and when he finally opened his eyes, they glowed with an otherworldly light, reflecting the depths of theher he had just harnessed.


    Standing up, Liam took a moment to steady himself, feeling the rush of energy and power coursing through him. Just as he steadied himself, a new notification popped up.


    [Ding! You have obtained Dao seed of Nether mes]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    [Ding! You have leveled up!]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Liam checked it and swiped it away when suddenly another notification chimed in, making him freeze in spot, his eyes almost popping out.


    [Ding! Congrattions. You have reached level 999]


    [Ding! You are the first to arrive at this milestone. You have received the title ''Pioneer of the Realm'']


    [Ding! You have been granted ess to the Spire of Ascension Invitation Token]


    He nced at the token that materialized in his hand. It was a small, intricately designed object, pulsating with a powerful aura.


    "This is the¡­ Spire token?" Liam was gobsmacked. This meant that he had really reached level 999? He couldn''t believe it. He had given himself a year to achieve this and he was already done?

 Chapter 1226 999

    Chapter 1226 999


    Liam stared at the Spire of Ascension Invitation Token in his hand in astonishment. There was also the level 999 notification that was shing in front of him.


    He had only just now set out for training and set his goal of reaching level 999 in a year but he was already done with everything in a little over a week?


    Liam did not know what to think of this. The elf had made this out to be a huge deal but here he was already at the finish line. He needed a lot more information on everything. Unfortunately, there was only so much information that Tilia could provide him since the world was yet to be integrated.


    Liam frowned. The elf was correct. He needed to step outside of this world to truly understand everything. However, not to some world where the system shops were restricted. He should go to a ce that would allow him to move freely and get everything that he required without arousing any suspicions.


    Something like this would be dangerous for sure. There was no other way. He simply could not afford to remain a frog in a well if he was to go up against the likes of the divine temple high-priestess.


    Liam put away the thoughts in his mind as he first opened up his status screen.


    ______________


    Name: Liam Chang


    Level: 999


    ss: Necromancer [C]; Soulmancer [SSS] (Locked)


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Earth


    Titles: Earth''s First Evolver, Earth''s First Realmhopper, Pioneer of the Realm


    Mana Core: Gold, Perfect Core


    Nether Core: Obsidian, Perfect Core


    Elemental Core: Ice, White


    Soul: Second Order [Broken]


    Pathway: Dao seed of Mana Maniption; Dao seed of Nether; Dao seed of Ice Elemental; Dao seed of Soul Maniption; Dao seed of Sharpness; Dao seed of Heaviness; Dao seed of Resilience; Dao seed of Toughness


    ______________


    Vitality: 10000


    Stamina: 10000


    Strength: 10000


    Intellect: 10000


    Agility: 10000


    Physical Defense: 10000


    Mental Defense: 20000


    Soul Defense: 100


    Luck: 625


    ______________


    After seeing his status screen the first thought that entered Liam''s mind was confusion. All his stats looked very weirdly rounded up to a nice big number. Sure, he was satisfied with his progress. These numbers were quite good even whenpared to the stats of a divine beast like Luna. But the numbers felt very weird and suspicious. Was it a good thing? Did he gain a lot of stats? Gaining insights into the various Dao seeds had given him levels and stats. He had never bothered to check how many levels or stats each upgrade had given him. Now that he checked it out, it was slightly more than 10 stat per attribute per level. This was ridiculous because his tutorial gain had been the best so far, at least until level 100 and that had been a stat gain of 3 per attribute per level.


    Between then and now, he had somehow racked up these 7000 extra stats on each attribute even getting all of his attributes bnced and evened out.


    Liam had never aimed to target strength or agility or intelligence for that matter to better his mana control because he was a versatile fighter who relied on many techniques.


    While this made him all-rounded, this also made him less powerful in a way. He thought that he had made up for this drawback by consuming some of stat bestowing fruits and herbs but in the end, he had gathered an insane number of stat points.


    Considering that most of his levels came from his dao seeds, most of his stat gains were probably gifted by the same dao seeds. Liam did not need to ess an information packet to guess this much.


    What he was curious to find out was if there was some limit on how many stats he could gain?


    As he studied the stat panel again and again, he couldn''t help but think that he had reached some sort of limiter. Otherwise, how could his stats be so evened out?


    In that case, did he also miss out on some stat rewards? Perhaps his multitude of dao seeds had given him a lot more than 10000 strength but he simply couldn''t get it because he reached some sort of imaginary limit?


    If so how to get past this limit?


    Now that he had crossed the chasm between level 100 and level 1000, he once again had a lot of doubts and unanswered questions. Heck, he still had several doubts in his current level.


    For instance, how did the stat reward by the dao seeds work exactly? He seemed to have gotten a lot more stats from theher rted dao seeds. Was it because he hadprehended them individually and thenbined them all together?


    Then what about the ice elemental dao seed? Could he gain more if he bes more attuned to the dao seed and understands it as a sum of its individualponents?


    Liam patiently meditated for a bit as he thought about the various things but it was clear that his knowledge was limited and he could only go so far in this manner.


    He stared at the vast expanse ofher-fillednds all around him. With a bitter smile, he shook his head. This would have to wait. He needed to ess the system shop once again.


    This was not a big deal as Luna helped him get there in a few seconds. With her teleportation skill in y, it did not matter if he had toe back to the shop every single day.


    But it would be more convenient if this shop was online on the system interface. Liam wondered if such a feature would be avable after the integration was sessful.


    Or perhaps he needed to upgrade their settlement further. He knew that he had been quitex in this department, concentrating only on his personal growth. This was also something that he needed to rectify, though he did not have any good ideas as to how to help the others. Whatever he did would ultimately result in him babysitting them which he definitely did not n on doing.


    Contemting his options, Liam entered the magic shop when Tilia almost banged right into him as she flew


    towards him at an astonishing speed.

 Chapter 1227 I got it!

    Chapter 1227 I got it!


    Liam instinctively stepped back, avoiding a collision with Tilia, who seemed to be in a state of excitement or urgency.


    "What''s going on? You seem... agitated?" Liam raised a brow calmly.


    Tilia, catching her breath, looked up at him with wide eyes. "What''s going on? You are asking me this? I should be the one asking you this!!! What did you do? How are you so different all of a sudden?"


    The fairy then realized something and quickly asked. "What level are you now?" She asked with some trepidation.


    Liam looked around. The fairy had already erected some sort of barrier around them and Luna was also in her human form so they wouldn''t have any issues discussing the various things right here.


    "I am at 999." Liam indifferently answered her.


    Tilia, on the other hand, stood utterly dumbfounded. Even before he answered the question, she kind of already could guess but she did not dare do so lightly.


    "999¡­ 999¡­ 9¡­9¡­9¡­" She repeated in a haze. "How could this be possible?"


    "Yes. It happened a little quicker than I anticipated but¡­"


    "But?" Tilia gulped as she nervously tried to wrap around his exnation. Quicker than expected? Was it really that simple?


    "Do I have some sort of limit? Or rather is there some sort of limit in general when someone reaches level 999?"


    "Limit? What do you mean?" Tilia sobered up, trying to understand what Liam was asking her. Her respect for the human being in front of her grew once again and she did not want to disappoint him.


    Liam paused, wondering if he really wanted to share specific details. He then decided to keep it general but only somewhat. "I am talking about stats. Is there a limit to how many stats a person can gain?"


    "Hmmm?" Tilia shook. "That shouldn''t be the case." Her eyes then suddenly went wide as she snapped to ask the obvious. "Did you actually hit the race limit for stats?"


    "Race limit?"


    Tilia let out a sigh. "Of course, you did." She then started exining with a bitter smile. "It is too bad that you were born in a world that has not yet been integrated. These kinds of things are so basic that every powerful n would have information about it."


    What she did not say was that not many people would in reality need to exercise this information.


    "Let''s see¡­ a normal human being belonging to a previously F-grade world with no mana or any other attuned energy¡­ hmmm¡­ If I am not wrong, your limit should be around 7000."


    Tilia saw that Liam''s face changed so she quickly exined. "Don''t get disheartened. 7000 is an overly high estimate that I did. Something like 7000 would only be possible after consuming so many elixirs."


    "In a way it is not really healthy to consume that many things. You would umte a lot of impurities."


    "Since your body is probably designed only to handle 5000 or so strength, anything more would just be a strain eventually. Unless-"


    Liam interrupted the fairy''s monologue as she was getting further and further off the track. He did not bother to correct her but he asked the really important question.


    "What happens to the excess stats?"


    "Excess stats?" Tilia shook her head. "Well, if the container gets full, then everything else flows out. If someone tries to shove more into the container than what it can handle, it would only get pressurized and strained and there are even chances for it to burst open."


    Liam nodded in understanding. He then broached the next topic. "So¡­ I also got the token for the Spire."


    Tilia looked a little startled but the fairy quickly regained herposure this time around. "You have progressed incredibly fast on the dao paths that you have chosen. It is no wonder that you have been invited to the Spire."


    As the fairy spoke of the tower, a look of longing and regret shed on her face which was hard to miss.


    "Have you been there?" Liam asked.


    Tilia sighed. "No. I am not gifted enough to be there." She gave a rueful smile. "If I was gifted enough to be there, why would I be stuck in a newly integrating F-grade world like this¡­ no offense."


    Liam shook his head with a smile. "None taken. I am d you are here."


    Tilia awkwardly smiled in response, caught off guard by the honest words, and then cleared her throat. "I do have a lot of stories about the spire that I could share with you, though it will all be pretty much useless. Everyone''s experience in the spire is pretty unique as far as I know. It is tailor-made to you and your group."


    "And how many people can be there in a group? How many people can this token teleport?"


    "Ah.." Tilia thought for a while before answering. "I think you would know that only after you activate. Everyone''s token is also unique."


    Liam then chatted with the fairy for a while asking several questions about the Spire of Ascension. The fairy also answered them very patiently. Meanwhile, Luna silently leaned on Liam as she listened to the conversation.


    They continued talking for several minutes when Tilia out of nowhere flinched. "Your leech is here." She said with a scowl.


    Huh? Liam''s raised brows rxed when he saw the barrier go down and the fairy allowed a third person to walk in on their conversation. Eldrin was here.


    The elf was unexpectedly grinning ear to ear, panting and gasping out of breath, with a crazy rabid expression on his face that was fully flushed. "I got it. I got it, Lord Liam. Ha Ha Ha. You are going to thank me a hundred times!"


    Taking a look at the elf''s delirious condition, Liam''s curiosity was piqued. "What did you get?"


    "Huff. Huff. Huff. I finally received my teleportation token to Nymphomania!" Eldrin beamed.


    Hmmm?


    Seeing that Liam''s face was indifferent, the elf shook his head helplessly. "Nymphomania, Lord Liam! The world that every man desires to vacation in!"

 Chapter 1228 Lets go!

    Chapter 1228 Let''s go!


    "Nymphomania, Lord Liam! The world that every man desires to vacation in! I have a token and it just became activated which means we can teleport there." Eldrin eximed again, only to find the same indifferent expression on Liam''s face. The man was still in deep thought even after the mention of the godly world?! Eldrin sighed in exasperation. Why does he even have two wives? This human being truly tested his patience sometimes.


    "Lord Liam, it is a ce where you can ess system shops." He exined in words that Liam might understand. He then paused to nce briefly at the fairy standing next to them and added. "Better ones."


    "Yes. I get it." Liam nodded, still looking skeptical. The name of the world and the short description provided by the elf were not weing. He did not want to get teleported to a random world, especially when Luna''s teleportation skill was on cool down. This was another reason why he had decided to wait a year but Liam also did not want to miss out on the opportunity that had presented itself. "First, tell me more about this world."


    Eldrin''s excitement seemed to bubble over as he began to exin, "Nymphomania, Lord Liam, is a world unlike any other in the multiverse." "It is a paradise where the art of pleasure is elevated to its highest form, a ce where the most enchanting nymphs from across realms reside. It''s a world centered around beauty, desire, and the fulfillment of every conceivable pleasure."


    Tilia, who had been watching the exchange with a hint of disdain, interjected, "It''s a world infamous for its indulgence and excess. A ce where beings from all over the multiverse visit. In other words, an extremely dangerous ce for you, Lord Liam."


    "It is not good to stand out in the myriad realms without a proper backup, Lord Liam. I suggest that you please think twice before visiting a world like this."


    "Especially because your world is in a remote sector in the myriad realms."


    Eldrin snorted. "If you think like that, then you cannot ever step out of your world. A man must take risks."


    "Besides, we will keep our heads down, have some fun, and get the information that is needed. What could possibly go wrong?"


    Tilia clenched her fists in irritation. "Not all worlds arewless like these cheap areas."


    Eldrin rolled his eyes. "What do you mean cheap? Excuse me, Nymphomania is a pretty expensive world where only the elites get to enjoy the luxuries. It is a cluster of luxury inds Miss Fairy. Have you ever even been there to make all thesements?"


    "Have you been there?" Tilia immediately shot him down.


    Seeing the two of them re at each other, Liam shook his head. "How many can we take through the teleportation token? Is there a limit? And what kind of information can we expect to find there?" he inquired, his tone indicating he was still considering the option.


    Eldrin''s eyes lit up. "Everything, Lord Liam! The system shops there are renowned for their rare collections, including artifacts, tomes, and information packets that you won''t find anywhere else." "The diversity of visitors also means that thetest news and rumors from across the multiverse are always circting."


    "Five people at most can use this token to teleport together."


    Tilia added reluctantly, "He''s not wrong about the information part." "Nymphomania is like a crossroads of the multiverse. You could gain insights into advanced magic, rare resources, and even potential allies. But it''s a double-edged sword. You can gain a lot, but you could also attract unwanted attention."


    Liam pondered for a moment, then made his decision. "Alright. We will go there and check things out."


    Eldrin beamed with excitement, while Tilia still seemed apprehensive. "You will need to prepare thoroughly," she said. "Disguises, fake identities, and understanding the customs andws of Nymphomania are essential. You can''t afford any slip-ups."


    "Yes, mother." Eldrin snickered.


    Liam, however, silently nodded in agreement. "We''ll take all necessary precautions. Let''s start preparing and gather all the information we can about Nymphomania before we depart."


    "Yes, Lord Liam." Eldrin beamed and bolted out of the magic shop, unable to contain his excitement. But unexpectedly, he returned the very next second with the same speed.


    He stood dumbly staring at Liam with his jaw dropped on the ground. "You are¡­ you are¡­ Lord Liam¡­ what level are you?"


    "Hmph. Only now you realized." Tilia sneered.


    However, the elf was simply too shocked to pay attention to her as he kept staring at Liam in a daze. "You monster."


    Liam chuckled but did not say anything. He simply patted the elf before leaving the magic shop. There was something else on his mind that he was deeply thinking about.


    "Hmmm¡­ Now, who should we take with us?"


    The little fox yed her part as thezy spoilt young mistress and Liam walked behind her with his figure shrouded in a ck robe. The two of them returned to the guild territory in silence and teleported within the Crimson Abyss sector without anyone noticing.


    Once they were inside, Shen Yue immediately rushed to greet Liam with big open arms, cing a few kisses on his face.


    Liamughed and hugged her close. "Do you know where Alex and Rey are?"


    Shen Yue''s face changed a little but she could tell that Liam wanted to talk about something serious. So she quickly responded. "I think they are out on some hunt."


    She then quickly sent out a few messages from her system interface, asking a bunch of people to meet up.


    A couple of hourster, everyone assembled in the main house where Liam currently resided. Shen Yue, Mei Mei, and Alex stood close to Liam, looking at him with puzzled expressions on their faces, wondering what was going on.


    On the other side, Lan Deming, Lan Fen, Rey, Madan, and Shin Soo stood, all staring at one another in confusion. Everyone assembled here belonged to the core team of the guild and were some of the most talented fighters in the guild so the best guess at the moment was that Liam was perhaps assembling an A-squad to tackle a dungeon or raid an elite?


    Liam surveyed the room, noting the anticipation and curiosity on the faces of those present. He cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the room. "Thank you all foring on such short notice. I have something important to discuss, and it involves a unique opportunity for us."


    He paused for a moment, ensuring he had everyone''s undivided attention. "There is a chance for us to visit a world known as Nymphomania."


    The room immediately revealed shocked expressions. "Liam, do you mean another world? As in another world?" Alex asked.


    Before Liam could answer, Rey overtook him and rushed forward with a face full of glee. "Sis, how dumb can you be? Yes, of course, it is a different world. Just from the name can''t you tell?"


    Alex frowned and by the second, the frown was deepening.


    Rey''s grin widened as he inched closer to Liam. "Brother, you are taking me right?"


    Liam let out a sigh. It looked like this guy had figured it out first. "Yes, that''s why I called you all here. There are three slots avable so I can take three of you."


    "Me! Me!" Mei Mei immediately jumped up and down, running to Liam, even pushing Rey out of the way.


    Liam grabbed the little girl and patted her head. "Not so fast. Let me finish. At this time, I am unable to take any women with me." He clearly said.


    The looks of the women in their group were not ordinary and bringing them to such a ce probably would not result in anything good. In fact, Liam wouldn''t befortable bringing any woman to that ce. There were always some rich idiots waiting to cause trouble.


    "It''s a shady ce," Liam exined as he could see many disappointed faces in the room, including his two wives.


    "You are leaving me again?" Alex''s face became small. Though Shen Yue did not voice it out, she also looked crestfallen.


    "It''s fine. You don''t have to worry. This time we are not going on any dangerous mission. We are simply going there to ess the system shop and see what the world has to offer."


    "Even though it is a shady ce, that world is still a lot more developed than ours. The ce has been essentially up and running for centuries and centuries. We need to go there and learn some things about our situation and if possible about our enemies."


    Liam talked a bit about the world, essentially repeating the same details that Tilia and Eldrin had told him. After making sure everyone understood the risks and benefits, he came to the main point.


    "I can take three people with me. Decide among yourself who I should bring along and let me know." Dropping the bomb, Liam then casually retired to his room upstairs.


    ***

 Chapter 1229 Hello ladies

    Chapter 1229 Hellodies


    The next day morning, four individuals were seated inside one of the VIP rooms in the magic shop. All four of them had sombre expressions as if they were thinking deeply and preparing themselves for war. It was not exactly a vacation they were taking and everyone understood the implications clearly.


    However, the fifth person alone seemed to be in a different mood. Eldrin happily barged inside, excitement gleaming in his eyes. He pped his hands together and looked around at the group with a wide grin.


    "Alright, everyone! Today is the day we venture into heaven!" he dered enthusiastically.


    Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming exchanged nces. Liam calmly stood up. "Let''s start up." He did not say much.


    Eldrin let out a sigh and took out the teleportation token. But before he cracked the token, he suddenly remembered something and turned to Liam.


    "Ummm¡­ Miss Luna¡­?" He respectfully asked.


    Immediately, a little head popped out from behind Liam''s neck, revealing herself. The fox had transformed herself back into her cute little form.


    Eldrin stared at the creature for a moment. Why would a divine beast want to stay in this lowly form? What was this weird fetish of¡­ acting cute? He had firsthand witnessed the power of this beast so he couldn''t stomach this domestic little pet like creature in front of him. However, he didn''t dare voice his thoughts out loud.


    Luna sensed his stare. She tilted her head, looking at Eldrin with an expression that seemed to say, ''Is there a problem?''


    Eldrin gulped and quickly nodded. While he had no problem speaking his mind to the fairy, he did not want to mess with this fox. Not today. Not ever. The little girl was very scary and ruthless.


    Eldrin quickly got back to the task at hand. He cleared his throat and mumbled, "If everyone activates their disguise rune, we can make a move."


    One by one quickly crushed the rune and glittering particles swirled around them, transforming their appearances. Each member of the group now looked distinctly different, their features altered to avoid any recognition.


    Liam''s new appearance was that of a rugged, unremarkable traveler, with a cloak that obscured most of his features. Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming also adopted disguises that made them blend in more with the average crowd.


    Eldrin, however, chose a slightly more mboyant disguise, with borate clothing and a confident air about him, as if he belonged to a rich noble n.


    Luna, in her small fox form, didn''t need a disguise. Her innocent appearance was the perfect camouge in itself.


    Satisfied with their preparations, Eldrin held up the teleportation token, which started to glow with a soft, pulsating light. "This is it. Ready everyone?"


    There were nods of agreement all around, and with a decisive gesture, Eldrin activated the token. A swirling portal appeared, emanating a bright light and a faint hum of energy.


    They stepped through the portal one by one, entering the unknown. The familiar surroundings of the magic shop gave way to a burst of colors and a brief sensation of weightlessness.


    The next second, the group became utterly shocked as a marvelous sight unfold in front of them.


    They found themselves standing at the edge of a breathtakingly beautiful city. Even Liam who had already experienced something like this was shocked.


    The city in front of him was even more amazing than the elven Empire capital he had been to. The architecture was a blend of elegant and exotic designs, with buildings that curved and spiraled in elegant ways. The streets were clean and neat, not a speck of dust lying around.


    Even themon streets looked golden with mesmerizing gardens surrounding them, filled with exotic flowers and nts that seemed to emit a soft glow, casting an ethereal atmosphere. The air was filled with a sweet and intoxicating fragrance that rxed the mind and tantalized the senses.


    Above, the sky was a brilliant azure, with the asional floating ind driftingzily by, some adorned with magnificent pces or lush gardens that seemed like a paradise unto themselves.


    Except Eldrin who was full of glee, the others observed the ce in shock. After they had received the briefing about the world, Rey, Madan and Lan Deming, even Liam had assumed that the world would be some sort of red-light district, filled with seedy taverns and questionable establishments. Instead, they found themselves in a ce that seemed more like a utopia of beauty and elegance than a den of vice and indulgence.


    The beings that walked the streets were as diverse as they were fascinating, ranging from elegantly dressed individuals to those adorned invish costumes, each moving about their business or pleasure with an air of sophistication and grace.


    The city was alive with vibrant colors and sounds, with the melodious tunes of stringed instruments floating through the air, mingling with theughter and chatter of the city''s inhabitants.


    In the distance, they could even see grand theaters and opulent bathhouses, gardens with sparkling fountains, and marketces filled with exotic goods from across the multiverse.


    The anxiety and apprehension they had felt about visiting Nymphomania began to fade, reced by curiosity and excitement.


    "See, I told you it won''t be bad. What is life worth if you can''t evene here?" Eldrin rubbed his hands vigorously as he started ogling at the passerbys.


    Beautiful nymphs moved gracefully among the crowds, theirughter like music and their movements like a dance. There were all sorts of nymphs around them. Some of them noticed the neers, offering them curious nces or inviting smiles.


    Eldrin''s heart rate sped up and it looked like the elf couldn''t hold it in anymore. "Lord Liam, please feel free to explore the ce a little on your own¡­ ahem¡­ I do not wish to restrain you."


    The shameless guy then disappeared in an instant after walking away in another direction. Now only Liam, Rey, Madan and Lan Deming were left behind staring at the


    strange ce.

 Chapter 1230 When in Rome...

    Chapter 1230 When in Rome...


    "Sis, what are you thinking?" Mei Mei approached Alex with a sad, pouty face. She still couldn''t believe that her brother ditched her and went on a space adventure. Perhaps she was being spoilt but she missed her brother. A lot. Would there be a day when all of this constant struggle would end and she would be able to spend some actual time with her family?


    Alex hummed absent-mindedly but she then quickly cheered up after seeing the forlorn expression on the little girl''s face.


    "I am thinking what that idiot is doing now?" Alex pped her forehead.


    "He He. Is my brother''s new pet name idiot?" Mei Mei giggled.


    "What? No. I am talking about my brother, the idiot. I don''t like the fact that he has clung onto Liam and ran away to another world. I hope he acts with sense." Alex sighed.


    "Ha Ha Ha. I am sure, Rey will be fine. He only went because Shin Soo''s hand is not healed yet."


    Alex did not say anything. The dryad had healed Shin Soo''s hand, actually regrowing his limb from the stump. It was understandable that Shin Soo needed some time to familiarize himself with his new hand and train a little to make sure that everything ran smoothly.


    But she still did not like the fact that her brother ran away. He was her only remaining family so she couldn''t help but be nervous.


    She also did not like that Liam was away from her once again. Overall, she was having a bad day and it sucked.


    "Do you want to head to a dungeon, Mei Mei?" She suddenly turned around to ask. A bad day was a perfect time to pummel some beasts.


    Mei Mei understood her sentiments very well and the little girl grinned in response.


    ***


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam sighed at the disappearing figure of the elf. He still couldn''t decide if this elf was a dependable character or not. He watched him turn a couple of times and shuffle onto some street and shook his head helplessly. He then let it go. After all, the elf hade in clutch and delivered a teleportation token to another world when he needed it, that too a world that was quite interesting. Liam looked around and observed calmly. This ce was entirely different from the elven world Tirnanog that was full of wilderness. The streets bustled with activity and all sorts of beings wandered around mixing with each other without any bias. The liquor probably helped as it was clear that most of the poption was intoxicated, at least in the city they were currently in.


    "Let''s be careful." Liam again reminded the group as they slowly started walking around. Sure, a guide would have been helpful but no one seemed to care that they had just now teleported in and no one paid any attention to them. This was convenient as they could move around freely.


    "Bro, we should head to a tavern or something. We can get some information first." Rey suggested.


    Liam nodded. They walked around somemore and soon noticed a big ring problem. There was something else about this world that had failed to consider. Money.


    This world, apparently, only weed the rich. Every single ce was expensive as hell costing millions of mana cores, some even dealing only with high-grade mana cores.


    Considering the beauty of the women who paraded around and the general atmosphere of the ce, this didn''te as a shock, but it was still hard to circumvent.


    The group loitered around for a while and finally found a crowded ce that seemed like a suitable tavern. It was a grand establishment with a fa?ade adorned with intricate carvings and glowingnterns that cast a warm, inviting light. The sound ofughter and music spilled out from its open doors, along with the rich aroma of food and drink.


    This was the only one that looked even remotely affordable. Fortunately, it was also crowded and lively which should make it somewhat easier to get information.


    "Boss Liam, leave this to me." Rey immediately took the initiative to navigate the tavern. He disappeared in the crowd, before returning in a few minutes.


    "Wait time is about an hour for a table but I got us some free drinks on the house." The guy whistled as he juggled four big mugs full of ale.


    Hmmm? Liam raised a brow to which Rey gave a sheepish smile. "I used my charm bro. I didn''t create any trouble, I swear."


    As the evening time rolled in, the tavern became even livelier with performers giving a spectacr dance show. Later on, surprisingly, the nymphs who had danced were auctioned off to the highest bidders for the night.


    This reminded Liam and the rest exactly what kind of a ce this was. Under all the finer things, there was a dark undertone. Was everything happening here consensual?


    Not just Liam, everyone else felt ufortable too as they weren''t used to these things but they were in no position to act in a ce like this.


    Several powerful auras popped up now and then. Clearly, all sorts of beings wandered here in the city.


    As per Eldrin''s guidelines, no one had used [Inspect] or any other scanning skills on anyone around them. This was considered rude and often resulted in disputes. So the elf had warned them plenty of times to not get curious.


    A couple of hourster, the group finally managed to snag a table.


    A sultry dryad approached them, offering them some drinks and a menu. She seemed extra attentive to Rey, solving the question of how he managed to snag them free drinks.


    "Just give thempliments." Rey proudly instructed his cluelesspanions. Liam and Lan Deming did not react to his antics and remained stone-faced but the jiggly hunter grinned.


    "Heh." Madanughed. "Bro, watch and learn." He then swiftly left the table and disappeared into the crowd.


    "Hey, wait for me." Rey quickly followed him.


    Watching the two run away, Liam felt a headacheing. Were these two going to behave?

 Chapter 1231 Scouting

    Chapter 1231 Scouting


    The rest of the evening passed by silently and contrary to what Liam thought, neither Madan nor Rey created any issues. The two harmlessly flirted with the nymphs working in the tavern which many of the other customers also did.


    Meanwhile, Liam and Lan Deming continued to sit in the corner table paying attention to the general chatter inside the shop.


    The cost of drinks in the tavern weren''t that high but the cost of food was a bit on the steeper side. Nevertheless, Liam ordered some food so that they would be able to continue upying the table without arousing any suspicions.


    A few minutester, a nymph brought over a tray filled with food. "Here you go. Spiced Firefruit Skewers."


    "These are fruits from a mysterious fire tree that only grows in the Vortex sector, known for their intense vors. They have been skewered and roasted over an open me, basted with a ze of honey and a mixture of local spices." The nymph introduced.


    She then ced the next dish which was equally tantalizing.


    "Grilled Zephyr Wings"


    "A delicacy made from the tender wings of a small, bird-like creature native to one of our floating inds. The wings were marinated in a blend of aromatic herbs and citrus juices, then grilled to perfection."


    "Please enjoy your food, handsome." She gave a wink at Lan Deming specifically before she flitted off to another table.


    The usually calm Lan Deming became flustered a little at the attention, especially because the two experts stared at him with knowing smiles.


    Liam sighed and did not say anything. The antics of the two made sure no one would ever suspect them or give them a second nce.


    Liam also carried a lot of guilt for basically letting everyone stranded on their own for over a year. So he did not care if anyone wanted to indulge themselves.


    He had amassed a lot of mana cores during his time in the forbidden territory with his army constantly grinding all sorts of beasts. He had no idea why the guardian had given him almost a free reign but he had used it well.


    Not just that, he had also looted plenty of elves. Most of them were the proud elites of the elven empires and they were notcking money. Now all of that wealth was in Liam''s possession.


    With the amount he carried, he could have even easily paid off the debt he owed the fairy, but he held off for the moment.


    However, there was no need to hold off right now. Interrupting Rey''s and Madan''s intense discussion, he handed one pouch to each of them.


    "What is this bro?" Rey recognizing that the pouch was a spatial artifact quickly bound with it and checked it out. The next second he froze and stared at Liam with his mouth wide open.


    "What¡­ what is this?" He stammered.


    "It''s for you to do information gathering." Liam tly replied.


    "Bro¡­" Rey opened and closed his mouth dumbly. "I cannot. This is too much."


    "This is a lot guild leader." Madan was also shocked.


    "So your information better be good." Liam casually added. He then looked at Madan and told him the same thing. "The same goes for you. Get back with some good results."


    The two guys looked at Liam dumbfoundedly, their eyes even beginning to tear up. Liam had done for them what no one would ever do for them.


    "Bro, until my death, I am your bro." Rey sentimentally wiped his eyes.


    "Bro, I am so d I decided to follow you." Madan looked equally emotional.


    But the next second, the two guys disappeared from their seats with such speed that it almost looked like they teleported from their seats.


    Lan Deming was speechless. "Are they going to¡­?" He looked at Liam who calmly took another one of the wings and savored the meat while continuing to stare at nothing in particr.


    "Guild leader, is it okay for them to spend this much?"


    "Hmmm. It''s fine. Do you also want to gather information?"


    Uhhh¡­ Gather information? That''s what this was called? Lan Deming shook his head with a bitter smile. "I have a wife, guild leader."


    "Congrattions on the wedding." Liam continued to savor the dish.


    Time ticked by and the two group members who had disappeared only returned in the wee hours of the night as if they had decided beforehand on the time.


    Both of them were fully flushed and grinning ear to ear.


    "Bro! Big news!" Rey and Madan burst through the crowd and sat down on their chairs, panting.


    Liam chuckled lightly. "So what did you guys find out?"


    "Guild leader, we were right toe here. It is worth all the risk." Madan exined. "While on the surface Nymphomania is mainly for pleasure, apparently several ck market auctions take ce here. That is the main attraction behind the scenes."


    "Most of the goods auctioned here are either stolen from others, alive or dead." "Many people don''t want their target''s families and ns toe after them for revenge so they prefer to sell those goods here rather than through the system''s official channels," Rey added, his eyes shining.


    "And there''s one happening soon," he continued, "this very same night! It''s an exclusive event, invitation only. But with the resources you provided, we managed to secure a spot for us."


    Liam raised an eyebrow, interested. "And what kind of items are we talking about?"


    "The rarest of the rare," Madan said. "Artifacts, forbidden tomes, rare beast cores, even information and secrets that you won''t find anywhere else. It''s all under the table, and the bidders are the heavyweights from various worlds."


    "Hmmm." Liam nodded. He thought about it for a while. Most of the information these guys had brought over was pretty much the same as he had overheard during his time here.


    He had also heard about the auction that was taking ce tonight.


    "Ok. Let''s go to the auction and check it out." Liam decided.


    "Ok, bro."


    "Ok, guild leader."


    Both Rey and Madan nodded their heads vigorously. Rey then quickly spoke up. "Oh, one more thing." "The system shops here are good. We can go there and purchase whatever we want. There should be no restrictions. The only drawback is that the shops here are overpriced. Almost 50% overpriced."


    Madan also nodded. "I heard this too."


    Hmmm. Liam nodded. He had heard this too. This was unfortunate but it couldn''t be helped. As long as the system store did not have any restrictions, it was all good. That was all he could ask for. In a ce like this, it was understandable for the greedy fairies to milk as much money as they possibly could.


    "Alright, let''s prepare for the auction then," Liam said, standing up from the table. "Make sure you''re all ready. This could be a valuable opportunity for us, but it could also be dangerous. Stay alert, and don''t let your guard down for a second."


    With that, the group finished their meal and left the tavern, blending back into the crowd as they made their way to the ce of auction. The auction was supposedly happening in a grand theatre and seating was limited.


    The group walked around and noticed that the streets were more crowded than usual. The auction was probably not one of the best-kept secrets of the ce from the looks of it.


    They soon arrived at the grand theatre which was a huge building structure, constructed simr to some sort of mega indoor arena capable of housing thousands of beings.


    It was a luxurious establishment run by the nymphs and even the ticket counter had a nymph processing the attendants. Rey handed over the ticket and thankfully, they were able to enter without any issues. The ticket itself had cost them 100 high-grade cores and the poor guy sighed in relief that everything was going smoothly.


    They walked around the arena seats and it did not take long for them to find their specific location. Since it was a ck market auction, the proceedings were very different from a system-sanctioned auction.


    Even the method of cing bids was very different. One had to speak out their bid in the crystal they were handed over at the ticket counter and the bid would only be announced if it was high enough to drown out the others, avoiding all the mor andmotion that a normal auction house entailed.


    The nymphs also helped the bidders remain anonymous which was a big factor in their auction.


    Several alluring nymphs waltzed about here and there officially inaugurating the auction. A wave of excitement spread throughout the huge arena.


    Everyone was looking forward to the items up for auction. Rey and Madan started discussing if any beast evolution rted items would show up. Lan Deming wanted some rare skill books.


    However, as soon as the auction started, the group was in for a shock. The nymph unexpectedly ushered over another nymph who was d in chains and subdued. The first item was another... nymph?


    Only then everyone understood that this was a ve auction. They had been scammed into buying a ticket for a ve auction rather than an item auction.

 Chapter 1232 My friends!

    Chapter 1232 My friends!


    A couple of hourster, Liam and the rest of the group walked out of the arena with long faces. The auction turned out to be better than expected as several nymphs were traded not just sex ves, some even extremely powerful and offered as temporary dao partners for rich scions.


    However, something else also became abundantly clear. No amount of money would be enough for this ce. It was a sinkhole for resources. Unlike the ve trading market Liam had attended back in the elven world, this one was on a different level. Some of the nymphs had gone for billions of mid-grade mana cores.


    "Bro, maybe you can auction off one of us?" Reymented in exasperation. Clearly, they did not have the money to buy anything even if they hadn''t been scammed and this had been a real auction.


    "You want to be auctioned off to the nymphs?" Madan teased him.


    "He He. I definitely wouldn''t mind that." Reyughed as the two once again cheered up. Their mood became better surprisingly fast.


    Liam ignored the two and checked on Lan Deming who looked a bit agitated. But before he could say anything, another voice sounded near them.


    "It''s pretty gruesome, isn''t it?" A lizardman popped up next to Lan Deming. "Hi, my name is Gary!" The lizardman was talking in a differentnguage but everyone could clearly understand because of the system''s trantion.


    Ignoring everyone''s nk stares, Gary continued. "This world is like that." "I''ve been around here long enough to see the ugliness that lurks beneath the surface. It''s not all glitz and mour, as some might think."


    "A gruesome, bloodthirsty world painted by the heavenly brushes. But s, what can we do. As mortals we suffer the injustice ofpromise."


    "We see the wed society crumbling around us and yet we walk the vast cosmos without sparing a nce. Oh! Goddess Ahvanthe! Oh! Goddess Ahvanthe! Such is life and such is fate!"


    Gary unexpectedly started singing his heart out right in the middle of the street. Liam''s face twitched. He did not like this unwanted attention.


    As the singing lizard started to put on a show, more and more crowd gathered to listen to him. Some stayed and pped while some left immediately after ncing.


    Naturally, Liam did not n on waiting around for the lizardman to finish his song. He started mingling in the crowd and walking away. The others also quietly followed.


    But to their shock and horror, the damn lizard did not look like he was going to let them off anytime soon. He simply started walking along with them wherever they went.


    Even getting into one of the taverns lying around did not help. Finally, Liam had to enter a pretty luxurious restaurant just to get away from the damned lizard.


    None of them could understand what was wrong with the guy and why suddenly he was so interested in them. Out of nowhere, he started behaving weirdly.


    "What a turd." Rey muttered in annoyance as he picked up the menu. The others also seemed relieved that the lizard hadn''t followed them in here.


    "This might not be ourst weird experience." Madan drank some water as he looked around the restaurant.


    Only Liam seemed to be still on alert. The reason for that became clear when suddenly the lizardman barged right into the restaurant without holding back.


    "Hello! Hello! Hello! My friends! I missed you there!"


    "Fuck!" All four of them snapped to turn around, only to find the damn guy standing right at the restuarent entrance with a big cheesy smile.


    The lizardman''s sudden reappearance in the restaurant caught everyone off guard, his loud greeting turning heads throughout the establishment. The group''s attempt at a quiet exit from the chaotic scene outside had clearly failed, leaving them to deal with Gary''s unexpected and unwee persistence.


    Liam, who had been somewhat on edge since the singing episode, looked at the lizardman carefully. Why was this creature so intent on following them? Was it mere coincidence, or was there something more to his actions?


    Liam did not like this. He had wanted to maintain a low-profile and yet somehow this person had sniffed them out and was now sticking to them like glue.


    Was this because of theck of presence of Rey, Madan and Deming? He knew that this was a risk when starting the journey but he was willing to take the risk because he wanted the three to have some exposure.


    This kind of exposure to another world would greatly enhance their field of vision and maybe even put them on a path to their respective Daos. The benefits greatly outweighed the risks.


    However, now Liam had no doubt that they were in deep shit. The only thing that was yet to reveal itself was¡­ exactly what kind of a shit they were in.


    Gary, seemingly oblivious to the difort and attention he was causing, sauntered over to their table with an exaggerated swagger.


    The lizardman was dressed in colorful, mismatched garments that made him stand out even more in the upscale setting of the restaurant. The man walked directly to them and abruptly pulled a chair and sat right next to them without missing a beat.


    Gary''s eyes gleamed with a strange excitement as he addressed the group, "Ah, my newrades in this bizarre and fascinating world! Aren''t you curious about the songs of fate and fortune that y out in the streets of Nymphomania?"


    "Why do you all look like you have swallowed something unsavory?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Seeing the nk stares all around him, Gary chortled. "Ah ha ha. Is it me? Is it me? Ah ha ha. Don''t mind me! I am just a pushy salesman!" The lizard startedughing loudly.


    Liam did not intend on letting this continue any longer. It seemed like it was only going to worsen with time so he decided to take charge of the situation.


    "Hello, Mr. Gary. I am Lucien. Nice to meet you."

 Chapter 1233 The twenty first island

    Chapter 1233 The twenty first ind


    Before they had arrived here, the group had already decided on fake names for them for situations like this. "Hello, Mr. Gary. I am Lucien. Nice to meet you." Liam introduced himself.


    However, only the names were fake. Their appearances were only slightly altered and their race was unchanged.


    Both Eldrin and Tilia had warned them that many beings could sniff out an altered race in a heartbeat as each race carried some sort of unique signature. So it was best to not change it.


    Of course, in a ce like this many people would have disguised everything about themselves. Their actions probably wouldn''t stand out too much. Nevertheless, it was just a precaution.


    Liam extended his hand to greet the lizardman who returned the greeting in kind. But instead of introducing himself, Gary gave a big wink andughed. "You guys are new here, aren''t you? First timers? Hmmm? Hmmm?" His face broke into an even wider grin, and he shook Liam''s hand vigorously.


    "He He. Don''t even bother to deny it. I can smell the prude on you! You guys are far too stiff to be on Nymphomania! Come on! Let loose and live a little!"


    Liam shifted his cold demeanor to an awkward expression and threw a friendly smile along with it. "Ha Ha. You are a wise man, Mr. Gary! You found us out right away. Yes, this is our first time visiting this ce indeed."


    Without giving the lizard any chance to continue with his nonsense, Liam quickly came to the point. "You mentioned that you were a salesman. May I know what wares you might be selling?"


    Gary''s eyes twinkled with mischief. "Ah, you''re direct, Lucien! I like that!" He leaned in, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. "I deal in information, my friend. The most valuablemodity in Nymphomania, more precious than the rarest nymph or the most devastating beauty."


    He nced around the restaurant, ensuring no one was eavesdropping, and then continued, "I can provide you with insights about this ce, tips on where to find what you seek, and how to avoid the pitfalls that ensnare many neers." "Of course, my servicese at a price, but I assure you, it''s a small fee for the wealth of knowledge I offer."


    Hmmm? Liam was pleasantly surprised. A tour guide of sorts was not the worst opponent to run into. He might even be useful. He did not n on lowering his guard anytime soon as the lizard could simply be faking it and trying to lure them into a trap.


    "Alright, Gary. Suppose we''re interested in your services. What kind of information can you provide right now as a show of good faith?"


    Gary''s grin widened. "A free sample, eh? Very well!" He nced at each member of the group before settling his gaze back on Liam. "Judging from the fact that you four attended an auction just an hour ago, I am assuming you are interested in the ck market trades of Nymphomania."


    "Just not the one you attended, right?"


    Liam did not say anything.


    "He He. Just one look at you and I can tell that you are all business and not the sensual one." Gary winked at Liam. "But sorry to disappoint you, this particr ind of the world probably doesn''t have what you seek."


    "Some might try to sell to you. However, they are all probably defective wares. You need to be very wary of swindlers in these parts."


    Liam barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the lizard''s words. "Then who should I buy from?" Liam could now see what exactly the lizard was up to. The guy was probably from one of these so-called swindlerworks, trying to get him to buy something expensive and shitty.


    Garyughed. "No one from here. That''s for sure. We first need to go to a different ce, a different ind."


    "By now you should have found out that Nymphomania is a pretty small world with twenty floating inds. Well, my friends! That''s not exactly true."


    "There is a twenty-first ind!"


    Gary leaned closer, his voice dropping to an almost conspiratorial whisper. "The twenty-first ind, my friends, is where the real treasures of Nymphomania are hidden. It''s not a ce that just anyone can stroll into. It''s exclusive, secretive, and heavily guarded." "The items you find there aren''t the scraps and defective wares you see in themon markets. No, they''re the cr¨¨me de cr¨¨me, the top of the line, the things that powerful beings from all over the cosmos would kill to get their hands on."


    Liam, Madan, Rey, and Lan Deming exchanged quick nces. If what Gary was saying was true, then this could be a significant opportunity. But if something seemed too good to be true then it probably was. "How do we get to this ind?" Liam asked.


    Gary''s smile widened, and he sat back, looking pleased with the interest he had garnered. "Ah, now that''s where Ie in. I know a way to get there, a sort of... back door if you will." "But as you can imagine, such information isn''t cheap. However, for the right price, I could take you there, guide you through its perils, and ensure you have a chance to acquire what you''re truly after."


    Liam mulled over the proposal. It was worth checking out, but perhaps not right now. "Alright. We can meet again in a week and we will be ready to take you up on your offer." This should give them enough time to look around for themselves and confirm some things.


    Gary stood up, pping his hands together with glee. "Splendid! Then prepare yourselves, my friends. We''re about to embark on a journey to Nymphomania''s best-kept secret. I will see you all in a week then."


    "Where should we find you?" Rey asked, immediately regretting it.


    And just like he feared, a creepy response came in.


    "Don''t worry. I will find you! Until then, enjoy what our little paradise has to offer!" With that, Gary sauntered off out of the restaurant, blending into the crowd with a ir that left the group wondering if they''d just encountered a madman.

 Chapter 1234 System Shop

    Chapter 1234 System Shop


    "What the hell just happened?" Rey stared at the exit unblinking as if he was scared of Gary popping up in front of their face again.


    "Fuck. Whatever that was. Good riddance. I hope we don''t see that bastard again." Madan swore.


    "That guy is definitely not upto anything good." Lan Deming agreed.


    Liam only smiled a little. "Unfortunately¡­ we will see him again. I am willing to bet everything we have on that."


    "Ah? Bro? Why are you saying that?" Rey rubbed his temples.


    Liam''s smile faded as he turned to face hispanions. "Because, Rey, characters like Gary don''t just appear out of nowhere and make offers like that." "He''s clearly connected and knows things about this ce that we don''t. Moreover, he has marked us. Ignoring him will probably be useless. He wille after us no matter what."


    "Shall we just use the teleportation token then?" Rey suggested with worry.


    Liam shook his head. "If we do that, then we will be the ones losing out. Let''s first pay a visit to the system shop and see what we can get from there."


    Everyone nodded and the group quickly left the restaurant after ordering and swallowing one of the cheapest avable delicacies.


    The system shop was located in the heart of the ind that was much more grander and opulent than most of the streets they had seen so far. The crowd on the streets thinned out and very few people were walking by.


    But the shop itself wasn''t as deserted as Liam expected it to be. It was quite lively and bustling. Liam, Rey, Madan and Lan Deming entered the shop, their eyes glued onto the people around them.


    The shop was very different from the inconspicuous little thing back on Earth. This shop was a huge tall, towering building that was at least ten stories high, with each floor dedicated to different categories of items. The ground floor alone was a vast expanse filled with general supplies, basic weapons, andmon artifacts, while the upper levels housed rarer and more powerful items.


    The interior was sleek and modern, with holographic disys and floating shelves presenting the goods in the most enticing way possible. Various beings from different races and worlds browsed the aisles, their expressions ranging from excitement to deep concentration as they assessed the wares.


    Liam and his team decided to split up to cover more ground. He directed each member to focus on different sections based on their expertise and needs.


    Liam then navigated through the crowd, his eyes scanning for anything that might catch his attention. The prices were as high as they had been warned, with some items costing an astronomical amount of mana cores.


    Despite the shock of the prices, the quality of the items was undeniable. Some artifacts had abilities and enchantments he had never seen before including rebirth attribute, offering incredible potential. It was one such item that the oracle had used to escape death the first time he had killed him.


    And such a godly item was avable for sale without any pomp and show. Naturally, it cost an insane number of mana core but it showed how much the newly integrated worlds werecking.


    Liam made a mental note of these items, considering which ones might be worth the investment. However, his main priority was still any soul healing pill or recipe or perhaps even item that could improve the condition of his soul.


    Liam had hoped that essing a higher grade shop would solve his problem but it looked like he was wrong. Unfortunately, nothing in the shop was was rted to soul healing, leaving him slightly disheartened. He had hoped to find something, anything, that could aid in the recovery of his soul, but it seemed that such items were exceedingly rare, even in a ce as rich and diverse as this.


    The skill books rted to soul were also the ones Tilia had given him already. On the whole, the ground floor waspletely useless and he might as well be essing the one back on earth.


    However, this was not the only floor of the shop.


    Liam''s gaze shifted as he looked up at the staircase that was winding toward the first floor. Perhaps there was better stuff there. He began to walk towards the staircase when a fairy quickly flitted over to stop him.


    "Excuse me, do you have the medallion of the shop? You cannot ess the higher floors without the medallion."


    Liam paused, looking at the fairy with a raised eyebrow. "Medallion?"


    The fairy fluttered in ce, her wings casting a slight shimmer in the air. "The medallion is a proof of membership, sir. Only those with enough status and wealth can ess the upper floors." "It''s where we keep our most valuable and rare items. You must have a medallion or be apanied by a member to proceed."


    "Alright, how does one obtain this medallion?" Liam asked, his voice calm and measured.


    The fairy exined that the medallion was typically awarded to individuals who had spent a significant amount of mana cores in the shop or those who came from prominent backgrounds and had their status verified. Alternatively, Liam could be nominated by an existing member and would also qualify if his reputation in the shop was high enough.


    "Thank you for the information," Liam said, nodding to the fairy. He almost forgot that reputation was a thing in these shops and it looked like his reputation from back on earth did not carry over.


    He then remembered something else. "Would being a grandmaster help?"


    "No, I am sorry, sir. That-" The fairy began to respond, annoyance flickering on her face but she suddenly stopped talking. "What did you say? Grandmaster?"


    Liam nodded, maintaining a calm facade. "Yes, I''m a Grandmaster Alchemist. Would that qualify me for the medallion or at least some ess?"


    The fairy''s demeanor shifted almost instantly, her annoyance giving way to a mix of surprise and respect. She gulped hoping that she did not inadvertently offend some big shot.

 Chapter 1235 Buy! Buy! Buy!

    Chapter 1235 Buy! Buy! Buy!


    The fairy quickly changed her behavior. "My apologies for my earlier tone, sir. That is indeed a significant title. Please, allow me to verify your status."


    Liam watched as she pulled out a small, intricate device, gesturing for him to ce his hand on it. As he did so, the device emitted a soft light, scanning his credentials, and going past his disguise.


    Liam did not mind as the system shop attendants were typically bound by confidentiality oaths. This also worked in his favor as he did not have to reveal his status screen. After a moment, the scanner beeped affirmatively, and the fairy''s eyes widened.


    "Grandmaster Liam, it''s an honor to have you in our establishment. Your status as a Grandmaster certainly grants you ess to the upper floors. I will personally escort you and yourpanions there."


    Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming gathered around, all eager to take a look at the higher floors too. The group followed the fairy as they climbed the staircase.


    The first floor was markedly different from the ground level. It was quieter, the crowd thinner but more distinguished. The beings here moved with purpose, their attire and demeanor speaking of wealth and status.


    Liam looked around the items avable on the first floor for a while but nothing stood out to him. He still ended up buying a few rare skill books, one for him, and a couple for Lan Deming, Rey, and Madan.


    Since the beginning Liam did not really invest anything in his guild members, letting them struggle for themselves. However, now situation was different. They had struggled more than he wanted and it was time for them to take a couple of shortcuts and handouts.


    Liam purchased the shadow element skill book, a dark element variant, [Meld with the Shadows] for himself. The skill offered stealth and maneuverability and one couldn''t have too many of these skills in one''s repertoire. It wasn''t a soul-healing technique, but it would certainly bolster his defensive capabilities, which was crucial given the unknown dangers they might face.


    Besides, he also felt some resonance with the dark element attacks when he faced the dark elves back in Tirnanog. He had also used some dark element attacks in the tutorial and he did not want to let that connection slip away.


    He purchased the same book for Lan Deming as well since the skill was invaluable for an assassin. He also purchased one additional copy for Abraki and Ning Xi.


    Other than that, he purchased beast rearing rted skill books for Madan and Rey and one more skill book that was unique [Spectral Scout] which allowed hunters to project their senses outward, essentially scouting areas with their spirit.


    Liam added a couple more to this pile that Rey wanted including [Wind Whisperer] and [Arrow''s Arcana]. Madan hadn''t specifically asked for Liam but seeing the look on the guy''s face, Liam purchased the same for him too.


    Apart from that he purchased a few more skill books that caught his eye for the elites of the guild, quickly racking up the bill. Each skill book cost in millions and billions and they were not cheap. However, there was nothing Liam could do. To nurture a few elites, this much investment was needed.


    Without a good grasp of the skills, the future paths of the guild members would essentially stagnate a lot. Only if they familiarize themselves with the skills and gain more proficiency and deeper insight into them, they would be able to decipher the dao seed behind it.


    After that Liam held back a little because the higher floors were still there. The first floor also had some pills, potions, recipes, raw materials, artifacts, and items but nothing really stood out and there was nothing he couldn''t forge himself.


    Liam nodded at the fairy indicating that they were done with this floor. The fairy quickly escorted them to the next one.


    Liam ended up buying some more skill books on this floor as well since he spotted some pretty good ones. He purchased [Mirror of the Ice Queen] for Lan Fen and also for himself as it offered mastery over reflective ice surfaces, teaching mages how to use them for scrying,munication, and creating bewildering illusions.


    He purchased a few more ice element rted skills but mostly for Lan Fen. He did not need those as the elves he had captured were good alternatives to skill books.


    Lan Deming profusely thanked Liam for keeping his sister in mind but Liam waved it away. He continued purchasing more for the guild. [Last Stand] for Alex, [Spectral Stalker] and [Mark of the Predator] for Rey and Madan, and [Nature''s Wrath] for Mei Mei.


    Lastly, he purchased [Phantom''s Veil] skill book for himself and Lan Deming. This skill book offered advanced cloaking techniques, allowing an assassin to be virtually invisible even in in sight. It also taught how to mask one''s presence from magical detection.


    With that, Liam was just about done with this floor when he noticed something different about the corner section. It stated ''Bloodline Upgrades''.


    Liam had read about this back in Tirnanog. The basic study materials that the other fairy had provided him mentioned about this.


    ''Bloodline Upgrade'' was somethingmonly done in the Myriad Realms to improve one''s basic body constitution and to awaken a dormant bloodline in a body that would otherwise go undetermined.


    The shelves in front of him were selling the items that weremonly used to awaken a person''s bloodline. These items were quite rare but since they were on the first floor, it also meant that their efficiency wasn''t all that top-tier.


    Nevertheless, Liam splurged a little and purchased some of the items from the shelf. He was curious about the process and wanted to test some things out. These were also items used in alchemy so he wouldn''t lose out one way or the other.


    With this, the first floor was done and the fairy respectfully escorted them to the second floor.

 Chapter 1236 Elysium of Nymphs

    Chapter 1236 Elysium of Nymphs


    The fairy was d that the grandmaster and the group did not look offended by her actions but there was a big question on her mind.


    Why was this group purchasing items from the ground floor and the first floor with so much gusto when everything here was overpriced?


    Only country bumpkins would do something like that. Could these people be stupid by any chance? If so it was a perfect opportunity for her to make some connections!


    "Esteemed Grandmaster, if I may be so bold, please allow me to say something. Beware that the prices here are much higher than the typical prices of a system shop, goods being sold at a huge profit margin."


    Hmmm. Liam paused. He wondered why the fairy attendant was being polite but he did not care about it too much. "Thank you for the information." He replied and continued walking.


    The fairy seemed a lot more talkative, giving him all sorts of information about the rare goods in the shop which made Liam think of something else. "Tell me more about this world." He asked the attendant.


    "Ah." The fairy became excited and started talking about Nymphomania. Even though she was a woman herself she did not have any problems talking explicitly about the pleasure pces in Nymphomania and which establishments were famous and had high-quality women.


    She also had no qualms talking about ve auctions and mentioned that the fifth ind had the best ves in the whole market.


    Liam let her continue talking and finally, after she finished her introduction, he probed about this so-called twenty-first ind.


    The fairy appeared a little startled but then her expression rxed. Perhaps she assumed that it was natural for someone who had a Grandmaster title to have extensive connections and hence know these things.


    "Esteemed Grandmaster, the twenty-first ind is the continent where the nymphs reside. It is said to be their homnd. They do not allow any outsiders to trespass in the region."


    "But there is a section of the twenty-first ind which is indeed open to a select few. This section is known as ''Elysium of Nymphs,'' and it''s a ce of incredible beauty and even more incredible treasures." "It''s where the rarest auctions are held, and items of unimaginable power and rarity are traded."


    "However, gaining ess is not merely a matter of wealth or status. You must be invited by the Nymphs themselves or someone of equivalent influence in Nymphomania. The invitations are rare, and the criteria for selection remain a mystery to most."


    Liam listened intently, processing the information. It aligned with what Gary had mentioned, adding ayer of credibility to the lizardman''s ims. "And how does one attract the attention of the Nymphs or earn such an invitation?" he inquired, curious about the protocol.


    "Grandmaster Liam, if you are considering seeking an invitation, I would rmend establishing connections with influential figures here. Your status will certainly open doors." "Unfortunately, I am unable to help you more in this regard." The fairy then added with some hesitation. "I am only an attendant here. I hope that you are not offended by my inadequacy."


    Liam nodded with a terse reply. "I appreciate your honesty and the information you''ve provided. It has been very helpful."


    He then silently contemted the newly acquired information just like the three walking behind him. No one had thought that there could potentially be some truth to what the crazy lizard spewed out but it turns out that not everything he said was bullshit.


    This changed a lot of things. Liam suddenly found himself very interested in attending this exclusive auction.


    The fairy then brought them over to the next floor which predominantly consisted of items. There were a lot of Rare-grade and Epic-grade items with powerful attributes and effects. Just one look at these made everyone drool but at the same time, their cost prices were enough to give heart attacks.


    Liam did not bother buying anything from this level as he had already amassed a lot of items from the elves. His haul was better than the collection here on this floor.


    The third floor also had a mix of raw materials and items and Liam did not find anything interesting enough to make a purchase.


    The fourth floor was entirely devoted to alchemy and Liam''s eyes gleamed as they entered the fourth floor. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and the essence of countless potions. Shelves and disy cases were lined with vials and bottles of every shape and size, filled with liquids that shimmered, bubbled, and glowed and pills that inconspicuously sat.


    The room buzzed with the energy of magical concoctions and rare ingredients and this floor was once again quite crowded. Alchemists, both amateur and experienced, milled about, examining the goods with keen interest. Some haggled with the attendants, while others whispered excitedly about their finds.


    Liam moved among them, his eyes scanning thebels and descriptions. The fairy exined that each item here was of rare grade or higher and that many were one-of-a-kind. The prices were astronomical, reflecting their rarity and power.


    Liam examined each item closely, noting their properties and effects. While many were impressive, offering immense boosts in strength, speed, and magical ability, none specifically targeted soul healing.


    Liam then had an idea and turned to the attendant. "What about custom orders?" He inquired about custom orders or the possibility of acquiring such an item through the shop''s connections.


    The fairy hesitated a bit before shaking her head helplessly. "Please forgive me, esteemed Grandmaster. Our shop does not ept any custom orders."


    However, it looked like it was not all bad news. "If you would like services such as this, perhaps you could visit the Pikachu Pill House."


    Liam was seriously paying attention to the fairy''s words when his expression abruptly changed and he almost stumbled forward. "Pikachu? Did you just say Pikachu?"


    The fairy blinked her eyes innocently. "Yes, esteemed Grandmaster. Do you perhaps know of them beforehand? They are quite famous in Nymphomania."


    ***

 Chapter 1237 Anger

    Chapter 1237 Anger


    Liam refrained from asking anything more about the special alchemy shop which was no doubt set up by someone who hailed from Earth unless there were other worlds in the myriad realms that also enjoyed the famous cartoon.


    Liam had many theories but he did not want to make any assumptions just yet. This was a mystery he had to solve by paying a visit to the shop in person. For the time being, he shifted his attention back to the alchemy floor of the system shop.


    Liam searched for some more time, only finding some weak soul-strengthening potions which he did not bother buying. After all, his personally concocted versions were better than them.


    He did end up buying some recipes for concocting bloodline purification baths. He also purchased some more potions regarding the same. Since he wanted to understand more about this process, he invested some resources into it.


    After visiting the alchemy floor of the system shop, Liam became aware of something painfully obvious. While he was an ''Alchemy Grandmaster'' his experience and expertise in the actual field were shockingly small. He was probably a Grandmaster only in namesake. He doubted why the system even awarded the title to him. His best guess would be that he had made more progress doubted why the system even awarded the title to him. His best guess would be that he had made more progress in concocting soul-rted potions and pills whenpared to the others. Now that he had seen what was avable in the market and what wasn''t, he was more sure of this assumption.


    Perhaps his understanding of the field was high and now all he needed to do was invest some time practicing and creating new potions and pills to stabilize his foundation. Hisck of a dao seed in the field also told him that much. However, he could only put this on the back burner for now as he was hard-pressed for time. The same went for his forging skill.


    Liam walked along with the fairy and arrived at the next floor which was coincidentally an exclusive floor dedicated to forging.


    The fairy led Liam and hispanions through rows of shelvesden with raw materials ranging frommon metals to rare ores pulsating with magical energy. Alongside these were tools and equipment designed for master smiths, everything a forger could dream of having in their workshop.


    Liam purchased a set of upgraded tools and was taking a look at the raw materials lined up in front of him when he suddenly felt a small pull from something, tugging at the fringe of his mind.


    He paused and tried to figure out what it was. Surprisingly, it was his ck dragon sword. Liam still hadn''t unlocked the swordpletely because he was worried about the bacsh the several dragon souls might have on his injured soul, especially in his current wounded state.


    The sword also seemed to have given up on him since it never bothered tomunicate with him or interact with him. The both of them had arrived at an impasse.


    But now suddenly the sword or rather the souls inside were trying to reach him, with whatever weak connection they had between them.


    Liam drew the sword out and the next second the reaction was even bigger. The sword was thrumming and vibrating as if the souls inside were extremely excited and couldn''t hold back. The sword was visibly shaking. He had never seen the ck dragon sword this excited.


    Why was it behaving like this?


    Liam had no idea. His gaze randomly shifted to the object in front of him when the obvious exnation dawned on him. Was the sword or rather the dragon souls attracted to this metal?


    The metal in question was an exquisite, dark ore with a lustrous sheen and an almost imperceptible pulsation as if it contained a life force of its own. It was no doubt a high-grade material.


    Thebel identified it as ''Drakeheart Ore,'' a rare metal said to resonate with the essence of dragonkind. Intrigued, Liam picked up the ore, and the sword vibrated more intensely, confirming his suspicion. Seeing Liam examining the ore intently, the fairy quickly started to exin. "Drakeheart Ore is one of the rarest and most powerful materials known to us." "It is said to be formed from the crystallized blood of dragons, containing their might and essence. It can only be found in areas where dragon blood had been spilled." "Forgers who use this ore can craft items of immense power."


    "How much for this ore?" Liam inquired, mentally preparing himself for the steep price.


    The fairy quoted an amount that made even Liam, with all his resources, take a deep breath. It was a fortune, but for something as unique as Drakeheart Ore, it was justified.


    However, Liam did not understand something. Despite all of its uniqueness, the ore was still listed as A grade. He had personally fed the sword a lot of materials ranging from F grade to S grade so it was rather shocking for him to see the thing lust after something that was only A grade, considering how high maintenance it was and how many materials it had consumed already.


    But that was a problem to solve for another day. After a moment of contemtion, Liam decided to purchase the ore. He did not n on feeding the dragons the ore anytime soon but he decided to buy it and store it for the future.


    After he healed his soul, he would finally sit down and have it out with the sword and the dragons inside and fully upgrade the damn thing.


    A weapon was something that could make up almost half of a person''s power and Liam currentlycked a good weapon that he could use. While he was here, perhaps it was time to look for another one.


    Did this floor have any soul weapons? Liam curiously looked around when once again the sword in his hand started to act weird. It was as if it was angry and agitated?


    Liam did not understand why. He already ordered and purchased a chunk of that metal so why was it behaving in this manner?


    ***

 Chapter 1238 Reality

    Chapter 1238 Reality


    Liam stood silently for a while trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. Was the sword simply impatient to swallow the material or perhaps it could feel that he did not n on giving it the material immediately?


    That seemed to be the most usible exnation but Liam could intuitively feel that he was wrong in this assumption. His connection to the sword or his gut feeling told him that it was something else.


    After thinking for a bit, Liam decided to do something. He brought the sword close to the material he had just purchased.


    And vo, just like he thought, there was no response from the sword. He then brought the sword closer to the material that was stored in the showcase and coincidentally the sword started going crazy once again. Liam sighed. He now understood what the sword was trying tomunicate with him so desperately. It did not want just any Drakeheart ore. It wanted the one that was in the disy case.


    As for how it was different than the one he had purchased right now, he had no clue.


    Liam examined the Drakeheart Ore in the disy case more closely, trying to discern what made it specialpared to the one he had just bought. It was no use. He really couldn''t find any difference.


    He gave up and tried enquiring the fairy. "Could I buy the one that is disyed here instead?"


    The fairy was taken aback by his unusual request. "Give me a minute, esteemed Grandmaster." The fairy hurriedly left to check with her superiors. After a few moments, she returned with a slightly apologetic expression. "Esteemed Grandmaster, I apologize for the inconvenience. The Drakeheart Ore in the disy is not for sale as it''s a part of our private collection." "It''s meant to showcase the variety and quality of materials avable. However, I can assure you that the ore you purchased is of the highest quality avable for sale."


    "Understood. Thank you for checking," Liam replied, masking his disappointment. He turned his attention back to the ore he had purchased, considering his next steps.


    Well, there was nothing he could do.


    For now, he decided to focus on what he could control. He would continue his search for items and materials that could aid him, and keep an eye out for any leads on simr materials.


    He returned the sword to its ce even though it was not ready to be put away and continued with his trip. He took a look around the floor and found many interesting items and materials.


    However, there was nothing that made him want to splurge. He had obtained several recipes from the other fairy which he had used to forge items that ranged from earrings to boots.


    He did not have the time to perfectly forge them but he had forged them well enough for pragmatic usage.


    Liam decided to hold back on spending on this floor for the moment before he checked out the rest of the system shop. Just as he and the other three prepared to take a look at the next floor, the fairy quickly called out to them.


    "Esteemed Grandmaster, please allow me to apologize. Unfortunately, I am unable to apany you to the higher floors. They are the private floors of the Manager and only a selected few have ess to the floors."


    Liam frowned. Even being a Grandmaster doesn''t give him ess to the whole building? That was unfortunate and once again there was nothing he could do about it.


    Liam nodded at the fairy and silently exited the system shop for the time being. He needed to do some thinking before taking any further steps. He stepped out of the shop with a pensive look The others also looked very serious. Coming to this system shop and tailing Liam and the fairy had been eye-opening for the three of them.


    They had seen items and materials they never knew existed, encountered prices that made them dizzy, and realized just how vast andplex the world they had stepped into was. The trip to the system shop hadn''t just been a shopping excursion; it was a stark lesson in the realities of the wider cosmos.


    As they walked away from the shop, the group''s conversation was subdued. Each was lost in their thoughts about what they had seen and learned.


    Liam felt that his mind was also a bit chaotic. He stopped and addressed the gang. "Let''s get a room and rest for a while." They did not dare rent a room anywhere in the area near the system shop and walked for a while toe back to the outskirts before deciding on an affordable inn.


    Soon after everyone checked into their rooms, they received a surprise when a nymph waltzed into each of their rooms. Apparently, along with room and board, there was also a nymph added to the deal.


    Liam only needed to nce once at the nymph who hurriedly apologized and ran away. He did not care about what the rest were up to but he needed the time to go over some things. His mind was not in the mood for frivolity. Besides, with two wives he already had had enough in this department.


    Liam sat on the edge of the bed and took out all the skill books he had purchased for himself. He then allowed Luna to pop out. The little fox stretched her limbs and yawned. She had wanted to go out and y badly. It sucked to stay cooped up, nestled cozily against her master. Yawn. On second thought, it was not so bad. The little thing once again dove into Liam''s robe and went back to sleep.


    By now, Liam was used to her small figure clinging to him. So he did not care. He continued going over the skill books he had purchased. One by one he activated them and started learning them.


    ***

 Chapter 1239 The Grandmaster is a busy man

    Chapter 1239 The Grandmaster is a busy man


    Liam ended up spending quite a few hours going over the skill books, studying and analyzing every little bit of knowledge that he gained from them. His mental energy had tremendously increased after the ordeal he had been through and he was able to grasp far more things that he would have previously looked over.


    He was only finished with thest skill book just as the first rays of sun pierced through the curtains of his room.


    Liam immediately stood up and prepared to leave. Every day in Nymphomania had 28 hours and he had ns for the next 28 hours, starting with paying a visit to the mysterious, famous pill house, Pikachu.


    As Liam zipped through the alleys of the first ind, the city was just rubbing its eyes awake. Stalls were throwing open their shutters, and the smell of fresh bread and exotic spices started to tickle the air, the kind of smell that wrapped around one like a warm nket on a cold morning.


    As he darted down one street and up another, Liam couldn''t help but smirk. He was getting the hang of this new skill, a shadowy dance of sorts, making him as elusive as a whisper in the wind.


    Finally, there it was, Pikachu Pill House, looking all mysterious and inviting with its ancient wooden sign swinging in the gentle morning breeze. Liam did not know what to think when he saw the cartoon name written with such profound strokes.


    He shook his head helplessly as he walked into the shop. He did not bother going about this in a round about fashion as whoever it was had named the shop, clearly they wanted others to find it out.


    Liam stepped in, looking around. The shop size was moderate but the interior was well organized to contain several wares. The walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of colorful vials, jars filled with swirling mists, and boxes that had multi-colored liquid bottles.


    "First time at Pikachu, eh?" The shopkeeper, a wiry old man with a twinkle in his eye, peered at Liam from behind a counter cluttered with various books.


    Liam was a little shocked as he did not expect someone old like this. "Greetings, sir. Are you perhaps the owner of this pill house?"


    The old manughed, like he had heard the question a thousand times and it still amused him every time. "Maye I am. Maybe I am not."


    "And who might you be, young man, toe seeking the wonders of Pikachu so early in the morning?"


    Liam stepped forward, extending a hand. "My name is Ash. I am honored to meet you. I have heard a lot about this ce."


    The shopkeeper shook his hand, his grip surprisingly firm. "Well, Ash, you''vee to the right ce if it''s wonders you''re after. This shop has potions and pills for just about anything you can imagine, and some things you probably can''t."


    "This here is a bottle of pill that can enhance your performance ten times." The old guy started pointing out some popr items on the shelves and began introducing them.


    Liam listened patiently but he knew that the person he was looking for was probably not this guy. He did not even reveal a slight hint of recognition when he had used the fake name.


    After a while, Liam probed again. "Senior, who named this establishment? It is very catchy." He yed with a vial that had the same name written on it. Every item in the shop had the same shop name written on it. This person was clearly a hard core fan and it was not this old man.


    "Oh ha ha. Indeed. Indeed. It''s a bit of a story, that one. Our Grandmaster is quite the character, a bit of an entric. He loves that little rat of his and has named the shop after it."


    Bingo! Liam eyes widened. This was good news. He did not know how or why but this Grandmaster was definitely someone from Earth or rted to Earth and perhaps he would be able to use that connection to ce a custom order or at least get some information from him.


    "Is it possible for me to meet this Grandmaster, senior?"


    The old man regarded Liam for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly as if trying to read the young man''s intentions. "Meet the Grandmaster, eh?" he murmured, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "He''s a busy man, travels a lot, collecting rare ingredients and studying ancient texts." "But," he paused, giving Liam a scrutinizing look, "if you have the right stuff, he could be persuaded for a meeting."


    Liam understood what the guy was getting at. He quickly took out something he had prepared just for this purpose, one of the high-tiered soul healing pill that he had concocted. This was the same one he had used for healing Alex and from what he could gather, the pill should be worth quite a bit, especially considering theck of soul healing materials.


    Just as he suspected, the old man''s eyes immediately widened upon seeing the pill. "How did you manage to get your hands on something like this?"


    "I have my ways," Liam said with a hint of mystery. "This pill is just a sample of what I can bring to the table."


    The old man leaned forward, his initial casual demeanor shifting to one of keen interest. "That''s no ordinary concoction, young man. Such a pill is rare indeed. The Grandmaster himself would be intrigued by this."


    Liam nodded. "I was hoping it might earn me a moment of his time."


    The shopkeeper studied the pill for a moment longer, then looked up at Liam with a new respect. "I will send word to the Grandmaster. A pill of this caliber is a good conversation starter, to say the least."


    He carefully took the pill from Liam, cing it into a small, secure box. "Wait here, I will send a word to Grandmaster Dante" he instructed before disappearing into the back of the shop.


    Huh? Dante? Liam stood bbergasted as this was thest name he had expected to hear.

 Chapter 1240 A potential windfall

    Chapter 1240 A potential windfall


    Sandwiched between four nymphs, a young man winced as he heard themunication crystal on his nightstand blow up. Startled from his slumber, the young man groggily reached out, fumbling for the crystal.


    The four creatures of beauty and grace, stirred around him, all of them naked and exhausted from no doubt the previous night''s activities. The young man also looked equally exhausted and did not have any mood to get out of thefortable heaven, snuggled between soft luscious mounds.


    However, the crystal continued to re without mercy, its light piercing the dim tranquility of the room with urgent shes.


    Finally, his fingers sped the cool, smooth surface of themunication crystal. He lifted it, the light casting strange, dancing shadows across the room. With a deep breath to steady his nerves and clear the fog of sleep, he activated the device.


    Dante knew that it had to be important because only the managers of his multiple pill houses had ess to thismunication crystal.


    "Report," he said, his voice still thick with sleep but underlined with an authority that suggested his slumberingpanions were more than mere happenstance.


    The voice that crackled from the crystal was tense and urgent. "Esteemed Grandmaster, we''ve encountered a pill on your list. Your guidance is needed immediately."


    "Hmmm? What pill?" Dante replied with disinterest.


    "A soul-healing pill."


    Dante''s demeanor shifted instantly at the mention of a soul-healing pill. His posture straightened, the fog of sleepiness disappearing as if it had never been.


    "Which house?" He stood up in shock.


    Dante licked his lips in anxiety as he had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. Thanks to the damned tutorial from hell, he was now badly wounded and damaged. He had somehow escaped the godforsaken apocalypse and ran away to this distant corner of the myriad realms, thanks to the teleportation token he had obtained to this heaven. Sure, it was a pit of sin and indulgence. So what?


    He had a cushy life here. He loved it. He had made himself a small nest in this wondrous heaven and spent every single day living the best life he could ever ask for. Everything was just fine and dandy. However, he had a big problem. His soul was so weak that it was about topletely disappear. He needed a soul-healing pill badly. Any soul-healing pill would do.


    He had been searching for the damn thing for weeks and months and now it has almost been two years and yet he hadn''t found even a whisper of one until this moment.


    Dante had even begun to think that all of this was karmic retribution for his abandoning his world and fleeing to save his skin. Even his soul was further weakened because he had used a teleportation token in his condition to move between two worlds.


    But now¡­ finally¡­ there was light at the end of the tunnel! With the urgency of the situation propelling him, Dante quickly dressed, his movements sharp and decisive. The nymphs, sensing the shift in his demeanor, quietly retreated, their presence fading into the background as Dante''s focus narrowed to the task at hand.


    "Keep the seller there, I''m on my way. And ensure discretion, this matter is not to leave the walls of that pill house," Dante instructed firmly into the crystal before deactivating it. He couldn''t afford any leaks or rumors; soul-healing pills were sought after by many, and he needed to get his hands on this no matter what. His life depended on it.


    Dante''s cloak swirled around him as he strode out of the room, his mind a whirl of thoughts and strategies. As he moved through the corridors of hisvish residence, every servant and guard he passed bowed to him in respect.


    His transport was readily waiting for him. Dante climbed aboard, nodding to the driver to proceed with haste. The streets blurred past as they made their way to the designated teleportation station.


    From there it was only a matter of time before he arrived at the first ind, which was infamously called the beginner''s ind. Only prudes and newly arrived wastrels wandered about on this ind.


    The truly notorious and devious beings ventured further into the heart of Nymphomania, where the realms of indulgence and power twisted together in aplex dance of desire and danger.


    This was what made Dante extremely excited. If everything happened in his favor, he could potentially strike it big today.


    Not only would he finally be able to get his hands on a soul-healing pill but he would also be able to get it cheap from some dumb naive country bumpkin of a third-grade world who came here to get his balls wet.


    Dante''s thoughts were interrupted by the bustling activity of the first ind as many deviants swirled around him. He stepped out, his presencemanding immediate attention and respect.


    However, he did not pay attention to anything as he headed straight for the pill house.


    The pill house where the soul-healing pill awaited him was nestled in a quieter part of the ind, a ce where elites stood out from the more frivolous citizens of Nymphomania. As he approached the small building of his booming business, the guards recognized him instantly, parting to allow him entry without a word.


    The old man hurried over to him with a respectful bow, not showing any of his former attitude. "Where is he?"


    "He is in the back, esteemed Grandmaster."


    "Has it been verified?" Dante asked immediately to which the old man nodded. "I was only able to confirm it somewhat with my limited knowledge. I did not inform anyone else."


    "You did good."


    Without waiting Dante hurried inside. He opened the door of the VIP room and saw the ck-robed figure, inconspicuously sitting alone. His heart sped up in anticipation. This was it.


    Please. Please. Please. Let it be real. He prayed inwardly and announced his arrival, only barely masking his desperation. "Hello there, Ash."


    Wait Ash? Dante had been so busy and preupied with finally finding the pill that he did not pay attention to the name of the person.


    Suddenly he felt a prickling sensation that something was wrong and at the same time, the ck-robed figure lifted his head and smiled at him.

 Chapter 1241 Why was he here?

    Chapter 1241 Why was he here?


    Dante stood frozen on the spot. His mind broke as if he had just been struck by lightning. "I¡­ you¡­ huh¡­" He stuttered unable to digest the sight in front of him. He simply couldn''t believe what he was seeing. His brain short-circuited. How was this even possible? Of all the people in this vast wide myriad realms, why was this asshole sitting in front of him? Why was he even alive? Arrrghhhhh! A scream erupted inside his brain but nothing came out of his mouth. Dante simply stood like a statue dumbly staring at the familiar face in front of him.


    The figure before him, the one who had brought the soul-healing pill, was someone Dante had never expected to see again ¡ª someone from his past, a ghost from the life he had fled, a person he believed to be long dead.


    WHY WAS HE HERE???


    The next second, a small fox jumped out andnded on the table. Dante''s eyes widened even more on seeing the familiar little beast. It had more tails now but it was the same damned thing.


    If he had any doubt before, now it was all gone. This was him. This was him and the damned fox. Somehow, they had crossed several worlds ande here. To this same world he was in? What the fucking hell was going on? Why wasn''t he dead?


    Liam.


    If he had any doubt before, now it was all gone. This was him. This was him and the damned fox. Somehow, they had crossed several worlds ande here. To this same world he was in? What the fucking hell was going on? Why wasn''t he dead?


    Liam.


    The one and only person he utterly despised. The guy who had time and again defeated him and made him feel like a worthless pile of shit. The cold and ruthless viin.


    Dante''s mind waspletely nk for a moment, every thought eclipsed by the sheer impossibility of the situation. Liam, his arch-nemesis, was here, in front of him, with that damned fox of his. It was too much to take in, too surreal to be true.


    Liam, meanwhile, just sat there, watching Dante with an unreadable expression. There was no gloating, no triumphant smirk, just a calm observation that was somehow more unnerving.


    Breaking his thoughts, a cold voice sounded in the small room.


    "Dante... it''s been a long time." Liam slowly spoke, a mock smile appearing on his face. "You look well, considering everything. I must say, I didn''t expect to find you in a ce like this."


    The next instant, Dante whirred into action. It did not matter what this person had, a soul-healing pill or even some sort of heavenly soul-mending elixir. It did not matter.


    This was because Dante knew that nothing good could evere from this devil''s visit.


    Dante quickly acted to tear up a talisman. He wasn''t going to take any chances, not with Liam. The talisman burst into a blinding light, a protective shield meant to keep any immediate harm at bay while he prepared for what was toe.


    Liam''s expression didn''t change, even as the room filled with the light from the talisman. He simply watched, the same unnerving smile ying at the corners of his mouth.


    Dante was not done. He was no longer the same weak idiot he was back in the game when he had relied on an impotent guild to protect him. This time he was better. He had worked hard in the real world. He had escaped the apocalyptic world ande here to a new world. In this new ce, using his talent and hard work he had built a business empire from scratch. He had a monumental amount of funds at his disposal, not to mention extremely capable bodyguards. His level was also notcking.


    There was no way he would let Liam, or anyone from his past, threaten what he had built here. His hand moved to another talisman, this one designed to unleash hell upon his opponent. At the same time, he also opened his mouth to shout at the top of his lungs.


    However, the next second, he was frozen once again.


    Dante nkly stared as his offensive talisman did nothing to the bastard in front of him. He was alsopletely unable to move, think, or even breathe. What the hell was happening? He couldn''t understand.


    Meanwhile, Liam casually stood up with a sigh. "Dante. Dante. Dante. All I wanted was a simple conversation. Why must you react in this manner? I am very deeply offended." Liam clicked his tongue. "A fellow citizen of earth and yet you want to attack me. After everything that happened, why must you be so hostile?"


    Dante''s mind raced. He was unable to move, unable to speak, his bodypletely under Liam''s control. How had Liam be so powerful? What level was he at the moment? No, he couldn''t have progressed more than he had. After all, he had escaped from that godforsaken ce while Liam had been stuck on the same backwater. So how could he be possibly more powerful than him?


    Liam walked around the room, the fox following at his heels. "You know, Dante. It was not nice of you to leave our burning world and run and hide here like a little rat. You should have stayed back."


    "With your brain and alchemy talent, we could have staved off threats and more people could have been alive. You have let down a lot of people. All for what? This?"


    Liam shook his head. "Alright. Let''s forget about that. You ran away to this little spot. imed a spot for yourself and made a life. Good for you. I am very impressed. But why the hell were you stupid enough to select this particr name?"


    Dante wanted to cry. Even he was cursing his stupidity right now.


    He did not think about all of this because he simply didn''t consider anyone would remain alive after all the disasters that were unloaded onto their world one after the other.


    "Well, you dug your grave and now I am here. Let''s not talk about the past. After all, there is so much to discuss about the future." Liam grinned. Mimicking him, Luna also revealed an evil but cute smile.


    **

 Chapter 1242 Trapped

    Chapter 1242 Trapped


    ?


    A hundred thoughts were racing in Liam''s mind as he pondered how to deal with the person. In all honestly, he did not know Dante that much. The guy wasn''t that memorable and he didn''t have any particr grudges with him.


    Except for the few times they had shed, mainly in the field of alchemy, they didn''t have any specific interactions. Of course, this was only if he was being generous.


    Liam naturally remembered the many times when the guy had issued a ban on Crimson Abyss guild preventing them from buying and selling herbs and potions from his distributors.


    He had also contributed the most in a guild war against their guild when he brewed attribute-boosting potions en masse and offered them to a rival guild.


    Liam only did not hold any grudge because Crimson Abyss had already settled all the tabs with him right then and there by dealing him crushing blows one after the other.


    In the end, he did achieve a small victory by bing the first alchemy grandmaster in the tutorial.


    Liam had never stopped to think about this guy specifically but it looked like he had achieved far more than a Grandmaster title. He had somehow gained a token to another world.


    Even he hadn''t achieved such a feat back in the tutorial. Liam suddenly remembered the Milky Way auction house token.


    His eyes widened as he considered a frightening possibility. Could he have perhaps used that token to head over to that ce if he still had it?


    Liam then shook his head. It was pointless to think about ifs and buts. He had lost most of the stuff in his inventory so that token was probably back in the tutorial world along with the rest of the items. So there was no point in thinking about that.


    While he had missed that opportunity, there was a big opportunity right in front of him that he did not want to miss at any cost. But will it go over smoothly?


    Liam thought about Dante and the interactions they had in the past. What were the chances of him helping them out willingly?


    Zero.


    Liam knew that the guy would be here soon so he tried to rack his brain to see how to go through with this. No matter how he thought about it he was drawing a nk.


    Dante had gotten out of earth before any of the shit hit the fan. He had been here in this prosperous world for a long time now and he has amassed a lot of wealth and resources.


    Even someone without talent could use all of this and be stronger. Not to mention Dante was a talented alchemist. He would have be tremendously stronger now. Perhaps rivaling his strength.


    Liam clenched his fists as he mentally prepared himself to go all out. With the assistance of his soul-blood beasts, he was confident enough to at least buy enough time to escape from here.


    While Liam was contemting his options, all of a sudden the door of the room creaked open and a familiar figure showed up.


    And just like he thought, the guy wasn''t all that pleased to see him. Liam could tell that much just from the way his face was bing constipated.


    At the same time, Liam also noticed something else. His soul¡­ was on the verge of disintegration. The guy in front of him was barely level 143.


    In other words, he was no match for him.


    This was not very shocking as it was very difficult to progress with such a weak soul. Liam was impressed that he had leveled up so much.


    If he was not wrong, the guy should be possessing a Dao seed rted to alchemy. That was the only way this was possible.


    Just as Dante''s face became ugly, Liam''s lips curled up into a smile. Finally, he had opened a door into this world.


    "Dante... it''s been a long time." Liam slowly spoke, a mock smile appearing on his face. "You look well, considering everything. I must say, I didn''t expect to find you in a ce like this."


    Liam reacted fast as the next several seconds were a blur.


    Dante tried to get the hell out as soon as he realized who he was facing but Liam did not give him a chance.


    While his soul may be heavily injured, handling the guy''s almost fully disintegrated soul was nothing for Liam. If he couldn''t even do this much then his progress in Soulmancer ss would be for nothing.


    Liam gripped the guy''s soul tightly as Dante stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, his face contorted in shock and pain. "Don''t fight it, Dante. It''s pointless," Liam''s voice was calm and cold.


    Dante stood frozen, a look of utter dread appearing on his face. What was going to happen now?


    "I don''t want to harm you, Dante. I''vee for your help," Liam continued. "All I need is your help a few days and then I will be out of your hair leaving you and your paradise alone."


    As Dante stood unblinkingly a system soul contract shed in front of him. It was a contract of servitude for a period of 10 years.


    "Yes. Yes. I mentioned only a few days but the actual contract is for ten years." Liam smiled. "I have to take a few precautions you know."


    "What if you backstab me the moment I turn my back and the contract ispleted?"


    This way, we can ensure smooth cooperation. And don''t worry, I won''t keep you for the whole time if things go well. Consider it an insurance policy. Enough time for me to get some things in motion."


    Dante''s mind was a whirlwind of fear, anger, and desperation. He was trapped, and he knew it. Liam held all the cards, his soul in his grasp, and the contract was his only way out.


    Reluctantly, Dante gave his mental eptance. The soul contract red with a light, signifying his agreement, and then faded away.

 Chapter 1243 What do you want from me, you damn bastard?

    Chapter 1243 What do you want from me, you damn bastard?


    Dante felt a weight lift off of his being as the soul contract vanished into nothingness. Immediately, a feeling of dread overcame him. What just happened? Did he just sign away ten years of his life for nothing?


    His mind raced as he grappled with the reality of the situation. He did not know how but whatever Liam did made him fall into a sort of trance that urged him to obey the order. But how could something like that be possible?


    He shook his head in disbelief, trying to snap back to reality. "What did you do? What did you do?" The guy started panicking.


    Liam only smiled calmly. "Rx. Like I said I just need a few days of your time. Now let''s sit and talk." He sat down on the luxurious chair opposite Dante, gesturing for him to do the same.


    Dante did not want to ept it. He remained standing, his body tense, not ready to lower his guard. "Talk? After you just forced me into a contract? You expect me to just sit and chat?"


    Liam nodded, his expression unchanging. Unfortunately, the system did not care how the contract was signed and this resulted in exploitation.


    "Don''t try to weasel your way out of this one. Your soul is way too weak for you to do anything about it. Your best option is to work with me." Liam''s smile finally faded, reced by a more serious look.


    Dante was struggling to process everything. His instinct was tosh out, attack Liam, and force him to release the contract. But he was also acutely aware of his vulnerable position. If Liam had the power to impose a contract like that, a direct confrontation could be disastrous.


    "What do you want from me, Liam?" Dante finally asked, indignance clearly written all over his face.


    Liam knew that his gamble had paid off. There were two types of people, the stubborn type and the type who was willing topromise.


    Perhaps someone else would have chosen to fight and rebel instead of simply submit, and in the process drag him down also with them but Dante was someone who valued his life.


    Liam was 90% sure he would end up relenting and things yed out just like he calcted. He narrowed his eyes and once again gestured for the guy to sit. "Let''s first talk about Nymphomania."


    Dante barked back. "What do you want to know? What are you even doing here?"


    Liam shook his head. "No. I will be the one to ask the questions."


    Dante red at the person in front of him. He hated him and utterly despised him. "Ok. ok. What do you want to know? This ce is just a pit of prostitution. What else is there?" He scowled.


    Hmmm. Liam nodded. "That much I can see. I don''t need you for that. What else is there in this ce? Remember. If your answer is not satisfactory means I don''t need you. You should think before you speak."


    The next second Dante opened his mouth to say something but before he could say it, he winced in pain as if an invisible current zapped him from inside out. He lifted his head up and looked at Liam in rm.


    However, Liam only chuckled at his plight. "You really thought that you could lie? Tch. tch. Tch. Amateur." He added oil to the fire.


    Gritting his teeth against the pain and humiliation, Dante spat out. "This ce is just ass and tits. If you want more than that, then there is only the auction that takes ce once a month."


    Finally! Liam''s eyes lit up. This was exactly what he wanted to know. Apart from the system shop, this auction seemed extremely promising.


    "The one in the twenty-first ind?" He probed.


    "Huh? Twenty-first ind?" Dante looked surprised. "Who told you about that?" The guy then made an o-shape with his mouth, understanding what had happened. He couldn''t help but p his head in frustration.


    "That''s the body collection unit." Dante sighed. "Those bastards target the weaklings who waltz in here, the kind that has no connections to any of the big families in the Myriad Realms, essentially the kind who has no one to look out for them."


    "Which idiot targeted you though?" Dante shook his head. In fact, he did not care that they targeted him, but the damn bastards did not finish the job properly. If they had only done that, he wouldn''t be in this predicament right now.


    Hmmm. Liam frowned. "How could it be a lie? I confirmed it with many sources."


    "Yes. Yes. Almost everyone thinks that it is true. Only the inner circle knows about the real truth. Think about it. Who really visits this pit? Do you think the elites of this sector even step into this pathetic world?"


    "It''s only a newly integrated world like ours. Idiots and sleazebags from trash third-grade worlds. Most of them will never see the light of the day again. They onlye in. They never get out."


    "The auction that I am talking about is another event. It takes ce on the fifth ind and the next one should be in about 2 weeks." Dante then red at Liam and gingerly added. "You can leave after you attend the event. There is really nothing here for you besides that auction."


    Liam waited for a few seconds and asked the same question in several different ways making sure that Dante was not using any loopholes to hide anything from him.


    But it seemed that he was indeed telling the truth. This world was just a simple little world. All it had was some ass, tits, a little bit of auction action, and a lot of ve trafficking.


    Liam nodded in silence. He then returned to the main topic. "What about the system shop? Do you have any pull there?"


    "I do-" Dante once again twitched like a mosquito that got caught in a zapper bat. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He spat out in annoyance and then added. "I do. I do." "What do you want with the shop? It''s not like you have any money to spend." Dante looked absolutely furious. "Are you going to ask for my money?"


    Liam looked calm and indifferent like a stone staring back at the flustered guy. A secondter, his face broke into an ugly grin. "I didn''t think of that, but now that you mention it¡­"


    Dante grimaced, the reality of his situation sinking in deeper. The damn bastard had knifed him and was now twisting and turning the knife to give more pain.


    "Fine. I''ll get you what you need. But once this is over, you''ll leave me and my world alone, right? That''s the deal?"


    Liam shrugged. "I have a lot of work. I am not going to be sitting here andzing around. As long as you don''t betray me¡­ that is¡­"


    "Yes. Yes. Yes." Dante hurriedly nodded.


    "So what do you want to do now? Meet back in 2 weeks for the auction?"


    "Heh. Did you forget so soon? We need to pay a visit to the system shop."


    Dante''s face turned ugly as the two of them stepped out of the room one after the other. Dante looked insufferable as he stormed out of the pill house and Liam followed him silently in tow.


    When they arrived at the system shop, Dante spoke to the fairy at one of the counters, a hint of reluctance in his tone. He was a known figure here, a regr with significant influence, but today he was a man on a leash.


    The fairy was surprised at first but after he recognized Dante, the surprise turned into shock as he quickly called for an assistant. The whole shop was almost in a frenzy as the fairies hurried over to wait on Dante''s hand and foot.


    Liam smiled. From all the respect and services Danted was getting from the fairies, it seemed that he had indeed made the right decision and captured a good scapegoat.


    The fairies started escorting them to the next floor when Liam quickly whispered something in Dante''s ears. Dante then conveyed it to the fairies. "Give me a minute. I have some other friends who are also arriving."


    Liam did not want to exclude the others as the very reason he brought them here was to give them some exposure and visiting the restricted floors of the system shop would definitely give some exposure.


    Dante grumbled under his breath but didn''t protest further. He knew better than to argue with Liam at this point, especially with the contract looming over him like a dark cloud. He informed the fairy, who nodded and gestured for them to wait in a nearby lounge area.


    Soon, the others arrived one after the other. Lan Deming looked confused as to why they were here again but Rey and Madan were utterly shocked to see the familiar face staring at them, the face they hadn''t seen in such a long time.


    "Dante?"

 Chapter 1244 Why is she so stupid?

    Chapter 1244 Why is she so stupid?


    "What the hell? Did no one from this wretched die?" Dante was speechless. Never in his wildest dreams, had he thought that he would be having a reunion right now, not even with his friends but his enemies.


    "What happened to that high priestess? Didn''t she kill you all? Why is she so stupid that she can''t even handle the likes of you?"


    Liamughed. "The guy is saying hello." He patted Dante on the back not caring at all about how pissed he looked.


    Rey was at first startled but he quickly understood what might have happened. "Wow. What a surprise meeting you here!" He smiled.


    Seeing everything, Madan nodded in understanding. He too chimed in with a friendly hello. All the interactions only infuriate the guy even more. Dante clenched his fists and spat out. "Yes. Yes. Seeing me here is all one big coincidence. Can we go now or do you want to waste more time?"


    Liam shrugged and gestured for them to proceed. "No need to be sour. Let''s move on and get what we came for," he said, leading the way towards the system shop''s exclusive sections.


    Dante gave a stiff nod, leading them through the shop with a grimace. Two fairies escorted them, both beautiful females and both clinging very close to Dante, pressing their assets against him. When Dante did not return their greetings like he usually did, the two quietly distanced themselves away from him understanding the situation.


    "I assume you want to start from the seventh floor? Your Grandmaster title should have given you ess until the sixth floor." He mumbled.


    To his surprise, Liam shook his head. "Let''s start from the sixth floor."


    Dante gnashed his teeth. Why was this bastard asking him to start from the sixth floor? Only when they entered, he understood the reason.


    Liam pointed to the block of Drakeheart Ore in the disy case. "Buy this for me."


    Dante mumbled something under his breath butplied, signaling a fairy who quickly noted the request. Just as the fairy was about to leave to make the purchase, Liam reminded them that what he wanted was that exact chunk of ore and not something else.


    Dante''s face twitched. What the hell? Why was this bastard nitpicking like this? Was he purposefully trying to make his life more difficult?


    The fairy hesitated but Dante nodded at her. The woman then flitted off to the inside of the shop just like before, emerging after a couple of minutes.


    However, this time she did not deny the request. Instead, with a pleasant smile she parceled the chunk and handed it to Liam right away.


    Liam''s lips tugged upwards. This day was beginning to pick up pace.


    After that, the group headed up. Liam had a few more items on his mind but he knew that Dante''s funds were not endless either and the upper floors should logically be more expensive and contain better stuff. It was better to save the purchases until after he finished taking a look at everything.


    As the group tried to guess what the next floor was, they were shocked to see that the next one was something that resembled a food court.


    Instead of the normal wares, the stalls on the floor offered a variety of exotic and aromatic foods, each more enticing than thest. The air was filled with the scents of spices and sweets, mingling together in a tantalizing dance.


    Liam raised an eyebrow. "Interesting," he murmured, taking in the sights and smells around him.


    Dante, still begrudgingly acting as their guide, exined with a hint of pride in his voice despite his earlier irritation. "This is the Gourmet Floor. It''s where the finest chefs and bakers in Nymphomania present their culinary masterpieces. Some of the ingredients used here are as rare as the items sold on the lower floors."


    "You would have never been allowed here if not for me."


    Unfortunately, there was no one around to listen to the tail end of his rant. Rey, Madan, and even Lan Deming and Liam had wandered away to take a look at all the stalls.


    It was already lunchtime and the group hadn''t eaten anything so Liam gave the go signal to eat whatever they wanted without going overboard.


    Dante watched indignantly as the group scattered among the stalls, sampling the diverse offerings of the Gourmet Floor. Rey was the first to dive in, choosing a dish that looked like it was made of the finest b of meat they had ever seen. Madan selected a pastry that emitted a soft, golden glow. The thing melted in his mouth when he took a bite. Even Lan Deming, usually so reserved, couldn''t resist the lure of a delicacy wrapped in leaves that smelled so aromatic when he ced it in his mouth.


    Liam was also stuffing something in his mouth his eyes quickly scanning all the shops and the ingredients used.


    As they ate, their expressions ranged from delighted surprise to blissful satisfaction, each bite revealing newyers of taste and craftsmanship. The fairies fluttered around them, offering suggestions and exining the origins and effects of each dish.


    Dante, left standing alone, couldn''t help but feel a pang of envy at the scene. These were once his privileges, his pleasures to enjoy. Fuck. He had never dared to eat like this in this ce! It was not fair that these beggars enjoyed his hard-earned money!


    "Damn it. I am going to eat too!" He finally stomped towards one of the stalls when Liam exactly arrived next to him at the same time.


    "No time. You can eatter. We still need to visit the other floors." Liam grinned.


    Dante''s face twitched. This bastard was torturing him on purpose. He watched the group walking to him with all of their mouths stuffed full and he raged inside. Bunch of useless weasels eating away his wealth.


    As if Liam read his mind, he chuckled and reminded him. "I did you a favor by not inviting another person to eat. If she starts eating you will truly go broke!"


    He did not bother exining anything to him further as the group moved to the next floor, the eighth floor. This floor sold all sorts of offensive and defensive items.


    These items were a grade higher than the ones they had seen before as all of them had some sort of runes inscribed onto them. When Liam asked around, he found that these runes made the effect bigger.


    Liam recognized some of the offensive scrolls simr to the ones he had looted from the elves. Hepared some and these were surprisingly not as good as the ones he had looted.


    However, he did see a few rare items that he quickly snatched up.


    Dante''s frustration peaked as he watched Liam select items one after the other, his hard-earned money being used up by the second. His heart ached and he was internally crying tears of blood.


    As they continued to move through the eighth floor, Liam''s selections became more deliberate. He seemed particrly interested in a set of armor that was said to adapt to the wearer''s fighting style, enhancing their natural strengths. After a brief negotiation, which Dante observed with a clenched jaw, Liam acquired the armor. But he did not buy just one. He bought ten sets of the same!


    This bastard was gearing up the entire guild on his bank ount! Wasn''t this going a bit overboard?


    Dante''s expression was a mixture of disbelief and anger as he watched Liam make therge purchase. How much was the total even? His blood pressure was through the roof as he tried to mentally calcte. But halfway through he was forced to give up when Liam snapped in front of him, indicating that he was ready to go to the next floor.


    Dante looked as if he had just cooked his leg and ate it. Liam, however, seemed unperturbed.


    "Do you even realize how much you''re spending? This is not a game, Liam. These resources took years to umte!"


    Liam turned to him, his expression serious. "And you will be alive to do it all over again after I leave. Consider it as your donation for the you abandoned."


    Dante''s face turned a deeper shade of red. He clenched his fists, barely controlling the urge tosh out at Liam.


    The fairies could also tell that something was wrong by now. Everyone silently climbed up to the next floor, the ninth floor.


    Liam had expected something else but he was shocked to find out that this floor was wholly dedicated to items and not just any items. In front of him, neatly organized on many many shelves were items that emitted a soft elegant golden glow, something that only items of the Legendary Rank were capable of emitting.


    Dante watched with dread as the group stood still,pletely frozen, staring at the dozens of shelves with their mouths wide open. His mind was in turmoil, trying to calcte the potential cost of even a single item from this floor.

 Chapter 1245 Bastard… listen to me...

    Chapter 1245 Bastard¡­ listen to me...


    Liam was like a kid in a candy store. His gaze swept over the items, his eyes shining with wonder. He moved through the aisles, touching nothing but taking in everything.


    Dante, meanwhile, felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice. Each step Liam took among those shelves was a step closer to theplete annihtion of his wealth. The enormity of the potential expenditure made his previous purchases seem trivial inparison. He wanted to scream, to run, to do anything to stop this madness, but he was helpless.


    Dante could only watch nkly as Liam went around checking out one weapon after another. However, his high spirit was quickly doused as he saw that these legendary items were not as good as the ones he had gotten from the tutorial.


    Seeing Liam frown, Dante quickly interjected. "See I told you. They are bad. It''s not worth it. They don''t even give that many additional attributes. Just some special trait."


    "Sure, they will be better with upgrades but the materials are costly and rare. They are money sinks. Why do you think the person who crafted them sold them in the first ce?"


    Liam ignored Dante''s rant and checked out the details of the few items that caught his eye.


    [Sword of the Phoenix]


    Level 0 (Can be upgraded)


    Type: Weapon (Sword)


    Damage: 75 - 90


    Attributes:


    Phoenix''s Wrath: On hit, 10% chance to cast a me that engulfs the enemy, dealing 150 fire damage over 10 seconds.


    Rebirth: When the wielder''s health falls below 10%, fully restore health once per day.


    me Guard: Increase resistance to fire by 50%.


    Durability: 200/200


    Special Ability: Every kill increases the sword''s damage by 1, stacking up to 50 additional damage.


    [Mantle of the Star Seer]


    Level 0 (Can be upgraded)


    Type: Armor (Cloak)


    Defense: 55


    Attributes:


    Star Gaze: Increases the wearer''s magic uracy and critical hit chance by 15%.


    Astral Projection: Once per day, allows the wearer to be ethereal, avoiding all physical damage for 10 seconds.


    Celestial Guidance: Increases mana regeneration by 20%.


    Durability: 150/150


    Special Ability: Casting a spell has a 5% chance of not consuming mana.


    Aegis of the Five Realms:


    Level 0 (Can be upgraded)


    Type: Armor (Shield)


    Defense: 120


    Attributes:


    Realm''s Barrier: Absorbs 500 points of damage before needing to recharge (recharges fully in 24 hours).


    Elemental Harmony: Grants 25% resistance to fire, ice, lightning, earth, and wind damage.


    Guardian''s Echo: Reflects 10% of melee damage back to the attacker.


    Durability: 250/250


    Special Ability: When health drops below 15%, create a protective dome that reduces iing damage by 50% for 15 seconds (once per day).


    Gauntlets of the Titan:


    Level 0 (Can be upgraded)


    Type: Armor (Gloves)


    Defense: 70


    Attributes:


    Titan''s Strength: Doubles the wearer''s physical strength.


    Unbreakable Grip: Increases the chance to disarm opponents or break objects.


    Shockwave p: pping hands together unleashes a shockwave that stuns nearby enemies.


    Durability: 220/220


    Special Ability: Once per hour, the wearer can grow to twice their size, gaining additional strength and health for 2 minutes.


    ***


    Liam sighed. They were indeed not that good and did not offer extra attributes but their effects were quite powerful. If they were upgraded, they might have potential.


    Besides, there was another reason why he wanted to buy these items. He wanted to reverse engineer them and improve his forging expertise.


    More than Legendary items, the recipe for crafting a legendary item was rarer. Even more so was the recipe for crafting a soul weapon. Soul weapons were exceedingly rare and exceedingly powerful, often bing the defining asset of the elites of the myriad realms. They grow with their owner, bing more potent as the wielder''s strength increases. Understanding the crafting of Legendary items could pave the way to understanding and maybe even creating soul weapons.


    Liam knew this was an opportunity he couldn''t pass up. The insights he could gain from these Legendary items could catapult his own crafting abilities to new heights.


    "Bastard¡­ listen to me." Dante interrupted Liam''s thoughts.


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow, not pleased.


    "I mean, bro. No, guild leader. No, Grandmaster. Please listen to me." Dante stammered hurriedly. "Before you decide to go all in on this floor and empty my bank ount, there are some training facilities on the top most floor. You should first use them."


    "Oh?"


    Dante became excited that the bastard was actually listening to him. He started selling his idea even more vigorously. "These training facilities are top-notch. There is even a time-dtion array facility." "If you train there, you can train for a longer time. Its a 5:1 ratio that too. The ambiance is also very ideal. There is a painting treasure hung on the wall that sometimes reveals insights into the truth of the universe."


    "You should train and meditate on your insights there. I am sure you have one or two dao seeds by now. You can improve them tremendously."


    Liam nodded, patiently listening to him. Everything seemed to make sense so he stepped back from the legendary items he had his eye on. He wanted to use the training facility first ande back hereter.


    Dante started celebrating inwardly. Obviously, he was not doing all of this for shits and giggles. Considering how much of a training maniac Liam was, or at least from what he had heard about him, he was sure that Liam would be engrossed in training for days together which should give him enough time to think of something to get out of this shit show.


    As Dante quickly escorted everyone to the top most floor of the system shop, Liam suddenly paused. "Hmmm? What is there on the tenth floor?"


    Dante started sweating. "Nothing. Nothing. It''s just another food court. You can pay a visit to thatter after training. You would be hungry-" Before he could finish his words, he once again shuddered like a fly on an electric bat.


    "You are lying?" Liam''s lips tugged upward. Just what was there on the tenth floor? He walked towards the floor. Naturally, he was not going to leave one floor out of the eleven floors unchecked when he specifically came here to ess the system shop.


    This floor was surprisingly a little crowded. There was sort of a drunken haze on the floor simr to a gambling den and when Liam took a closer look, the whole thing was indeed a gambling den.


    "It''s just gambling. It''s just gambling. I was only trying to warn you." Dante started but he did not continue talking as he winced again in pain.


    "You do know that your soul gets weaker and weaker every time you lie to me and try to break the contract?" Dante shuddered and thenpletely zipped up his mouth.


    Liam, Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming walked around the floor, taking a look at everything in front of them. There were all sorts of gambling options on the floor from games of chance to high-stakes battles where powerful tamed creatures were pitted against each other. There were also arenas where people could bet on their own fights, a risky venture that promised huge rewards for the victors.


    Each section was bustling with activity, the air filled with shouts of victory and groans of defeat. Beings of different races and worlds freely intermingled and interacted with each other. Liquor flowed and beautiful nymphs swayed their bodies covered scantily, trying to please everyone.


    Liam walked past all of this ruckus as he looked around the floor some more. Was there something else here? Why would Dante react so much just for some gambling? It did not make sense.


    As he wandered around, he finally came across a few shop counters at the end of the floor that did not seem to be rted to gambling. Liam walked over to check them out.


    "This is an information desk, Grandmaster." The fairy politely exined to Liam.


    "Information desk?" Liam''s interest was piqued.


    "Here you can pay mana cores and find out about anything and everything." Seeing that Liam did not look impressed, the fairy started exining further. "We work with the wandering gaze faction. They run the top informationwork in our sector. All our information missives are directly obtained from their main branch. So you can rest assured. These are 100% urate."


    Liam did not reveal it but his heart was thumping loudly at the moment. Until now he was fighting against an invisible enemy, an enemy that he knew nothing about.


    And now he finally had a chance to obtain some legitimate information, information that he sorelycked.


    However, he did not want to get too excited as there could always be some hidden issues. He remained calm and asked the fairy. "What about the next counter? What do they sell?"


    "Oh?" The fairy batter her long eyshes and replied with a smile. "They sell teleportation tokens, Grandmaster."


    "They sell teleportation tokens to many worlds in the myriad realms. Not just our sector, esteemed Grandmaster. It is a golden opportunity that you would not want to miss."

 Chapter 1246 Just like that?!

    Chapter 1246 Just like that?!


    Liam''s heart thumped. Information packets¡­ and teleportation tokens¡­


    Weren''t these the two things that he needed the most at the moment? The upgraded system shop actually provided both of those. He was utterly shocked as he had expected many things from the system shop but did not think something like this would exist, a perfect solution to his problems.


    This was too good.


    Wait, wasn''t this too good?


    Liam suddenly felt that something was amiss. If he purchased an information packet about the divine temple n, then would they get some sort of notification?


    In the myriad realms, information was as much a currency as any precious metal or mana core. It was power, and power came with risks and consequences.


    The thought that the divine temple n, or any other powerful entity for that matter, could be alerted when someone sought information about them was not far-fetched. Many organizations would go to great lengths to monitor who was prying into their affairs, and the system shop could potentially be a tool for them to track such inquiries.


    Liam also knew that the system shop was confidential. Otherwise, he would have never stepped inside personally. He could have simply sent in Rey or Madan or Lan Deming.


    However, he still had a lingering doubt, an unsettling feeling of sorts so he decided to ask the fairy for rification.


    "Tell me," Liam began, his voice measured, "how does the information transaction work? Is the buyer''s identity kept confidential? And is there any chance that the subjects of these inquiries are notified?"


    The fairy replied with a professional tone. "Grandmaster, all transactions in the system shop are encrypted and secure. The identities of our buyers are of utmost importance, and we ensure that their confidentiality is maintained." "As for your other concern, it is our policy not to notify the subjects of inquiries. However, we cannot control what external factions might do with their own monitoring methods."


    "Hmmm?"


    The fairy exined further, "Only some information packets are avable from us directly." "The rest of the information packets are sold by the n and we simply act as the middleman. Purchasing these exclusive information packets might or might not trigger a notification. I am unable to confirm that."


    Liam''s face twitched. Of course, something like this was going to be there. It looked like this information center was indeed too good to be true.


    "What about the teleportation tokens? Would my purchase be confidential?"


    The fairy quickly nodded. "Yes, Grandmaster. The purchase and use of teleportation tokens arepletely confidential. We ensure the privacy and security of all our customers'' transactions."


    Seeing that Liam was still unsure, she quickly added. "Please do not mistake us. Even the fact that you entered the system shop today ispletely confidential." "No fairy working in the shop would divulge any information regarding you. Our magic ensures strict confidentiality and security."


    Liam nodded. He was not naive enough to blindly believe the fairy as nothing in this world truly had a 100% guarantee.


    But the fact was that they needed information badly. He scrolled through what was avable on the system screen and then selected a few options. These were not targeted at any specific force or n or kingdom or family. They were rather some general information about the world they had suddenly plunged into. As far as Liam could tell, getting this much should not raise any rm gs. These were also sold by the system shop itself and not from any third party source. Because these were very generic, they weren''t all that expensive which was an additional perk. He quickly made the purchase and then proceeded to move on to the next counter.


    Information was only half the power. He needed actual power too in order to face his enemies. For that, he needed to go somewhere, and do something. Liam did not know exactly what path he should take, but the teleportation tokens offered a myriad of possibilities. They were gateways to new worlds, new resources, and potentially, new allies and he first wanted to see what options were avable to him.


    Watching him, Dante gritted his teeth in anger. "You can only teleport in this sector with your soul strength. Anything beyond this sector needs a higher soul strength."


    Liam turned to give him a nce. The guy seemed fine which meant that he was not lying. "Is that why you are stuck here?" He asked.


    "Obviously. Otherwise, why would I stay in this rotten ce." Dante spat. "No offense." He added to the fairy standing at the counter.


    "None taken, Grandmaster." The fairy respectfully nodded.


    Both Madan and Rey immediately rolled their eyes. Considering how well the guy had integrated with this small world, even going as far as to set up a big business enterprise, who would believe his words?


    Liam ignored his rant and checked the list of avable options. At the same time, he couldn''t help but be nervous. His soul strength was definitely better than Danter''s. However, it was nowhere near what he would have liked. Would he also be facing a simr issue?


    As Liam perused the options, the list was indeed impressive. Each token wasbeled with the name of the destination, a brief description of the environment, the dominant powers, and the known hazards. It was clear that these tokens weren''t just random chances but carefully curated paths to specific worlds, each with its own set of opportunities and dangers.


    "The teleportation token would take you to a private chamber inside one of the system shops in the respective world and from there you would be able to purchase one of our local teleportation tokens." The fairy exined how the system worked. He knew that most first-time users mainly worried about how and where they would be teleported.


    "Of course, you also have the option to return to your home shop in case you change your mind or whenever you please. You can choose your default home system shop from this menu."

 Chapter 1247 Home sweet home

    Chapter 1247 Home sweet home


    The fairy pointed to a set of teleportation tokens that simply read "Return Home" and a system screen shed in front of Liam with the option to choose his default home.


    Liam stared at the screen, his eyes wide. "If a is currently still in the process of integration, I can still select it as home?" He asked the fairy as he contemted his various options.


    "Ah. Integration essentially hides the and offers a protection barrier from outside forces. So this won''t be possible unless you have at least the status of a Lord in the world and you have lived in the world for a considerable period of time." The fairy rubbed his chin and exined. "Also, in this case, you might be randomly teleported to somewhere inside the world and not exactly the system shop. That is the best we can do."


    Liam grinned. This was enough! This was more than enough for him!


    He quickly tried to select his default home as Earth and lo and behold it actually worked.


    Liam sucked in a big breath of air and let it out. It felt good to catch a break once in a while. Of course, the big number next to the option made his heart ache a little.


    He needed 1 trillion middle-grade mana cores as payment each time he availed of this return home teleportation token from the system shop.


    Besides, from what Dante continued ranting, teleportation between two worlds had an immense effect on one''s soul and he simply wouldn''t be able to jump willy-nilly from one world to another. These were big decisions that needed to be made carefully. At least it was good to know that he had this option avable to him.


    Liam signaled to the others and had them also select their default return points. Dante watched the group enviously. "How did that damn priestess let you off?" He scoffed.


    "You want to know?" Liam walked closer to Dante. His face was serious as if he was going to reveal some deep-rooted secret that he had buried in his heart for a long time. He then opened his mouth. "It''s because I am handsome."


    The next second everyone became silent in shock. After that second ofplete silence, Rey and Madan immediately broke intoughter,ughing so loudly that their saliva was spewing out everywhere. Lan Deming also couldn''t control himself and ended upughing with the two. Dante''s face turned ugly.


    "Bro, you seem to be in a good mood today." Rey wiped the tears on his face and put his arm around Liam, giving him a head bump.


    "Mmmm. I am indeed." Liam hummed. Though it was expensive, finally some things were starting to work in their favor.


    With a smile, he then silently returned to the teleportation tokens screen and started reading through the descriptions of what options were avable to them.


    Frostfell Depths: An icy world of harsh, unforgiving tundra and deep, dark oceans. The dominant inhabitants are a hardy race of frost giants, renowned for their crafting and battle prowess. The sea is said to hide underwater cities filled with treasures and ancient magic. The dangers are the extreme cold, ice beasts, and the ever-looming threat of giant war parties.


    (Code Red, Highly Dangerous)


    Ceravat Empire: One of the ten Empires that control more than one world in the Xicta sector of the Myriad Realms. The Empire is ruled by the Ceravat family and even though many races co-exist in the worlds under the Empire, the dominant powers are beastkin.


    The environment ranges from bustling metropolitan cities to serene magical academies situated in tranquil environments to warring borders. Visitors are advised to be aware of the political tensions and the Empire''s strictws and customs.


    Travelers are warned to respect localws and authorities and to avoid unwittingly getting involved in local disputes or power struggles.


    (Code Orange, Neutral)


    Twilight''s End: One of the ten Empires that control more than one world in the Xicta sector of the Myriad Realms. The Empire is ruled by Emperor Binam. The only residing race is undead but the Empire wees all races with open arms.


    The Empire is also connected to the other Undead Empires in other sectors of the Myriad realms which provides a wonderful opportunity for inter-sector travel. (Code Red, Highly Dangerous)


    Liam''s face twitched. Wonderful opportunity? More like a death wish! If one looked closer at their description, it pretty much stated that everyone who stepped foot in that world lost their soul and was instantly converted into an undead!


    Was this a joke? Why would anyone want to go there?


    More importantly, he did not think that the undead had such a strong presence in the Myriad realms, going as far as having their own Empire and control of worlds. It was no wonder that they tried to invade their world too and erected an array capable of turning their whole world into aher oriented world.


    Pass. Liam did not n on visiting this one any time soon. He was indeed curious about the undead Empire and he was pretty sure he would be immune to their usual conversion if he ever decided to go. However, he did not n on being at odds with the Undead Empire and the Divine Empire at the same time. He would be d if he was not already on the radar of the big shots of this ce.


    The fact that this Empire was connected to the other undead Empires in other sectors was enough of a red g for him to avoid this ce for the time being.


    Liam''s previous happy mood waspletely gone when he once again realized the real depth of the shit they were in.


    He pped himself on the forehead as he realized something obvious. The divine temple high-priestess need not even lift her finger to take action.


    If she simply happened to let slip information about him to the entire myriad realms...

 Chapter 1248 The last floor

    Chapter 1248 Thest floor


    What was the full power ofher? What was the extent of a necromancer''s abilities? How would a truly powerful Lich King fight?


    More importantly, what happened when one continued progressing on the path ofher? Would they be as powerful as the god of death, able to crush lives and souls at their will? Could they unravel the very fabric of life and soul and alter the cycle of reincarnation?


    Liam shuddered as his mind wandered to distant ces. He felt as if stepping into the undead world would open a brand new path for him, a door into a vault that he currently did not have ess to.


    Despite the risks and the other pressing concerns that weighed heavily on his mind, a part of him couldn''t help but want to step into that world and see what the undead empire had to offer.


    He had faced a few lich kings when the undead tried to invade their, but Liam had a feeling that the lich kings of the undead empire''s main force would bepletely different opponents.


    They were beings who lived and breathed inher for countless years, something his lifespan wouldn''te close to. Just how terrifying would those powerful entities be?


    Liam''s heart sped up as his mind swirled with numerous questions. He took a deep breath and set them aside to clear his mind. However, the next second, once again insecurities gued his thoughts.


    What if the key to him bing truly strong and unlocking the full power and potential of his soulmancer ss and necromancer ssy in him stepping feet on the undead empire and theher rich worlds?


    Liam closed his eyes and stood on the spot as he found himself unable to make any decision. There were too many uncertainties for him to make any concrete ns.


    After a while, he sighed and decided to drop the matter for the time being. It was too risky. Liam had already purchased an information packet on the major forces of the Xicta sector, the sector their world apparently belonged to. It would be better to make any decision after going through that information packet carefully.


    Liam skimmed through the rest of the teleportation locations and then closed the screen. The first thing he had learned from this visit was that he had some options for tempering himself, not too many but also not too few.


    The second thing was that these opportunities came at a great cost and were also extremely risky. He would have to put his life on the line if he were to teleport to any of these locations.


    Liam closed the system interface, nodded at the fairy, and then prepared to head to thest floor. He would have toe back here after having thought out his future ns carefully.


    As the group was walking back through the floor, Liam paused and looked at his group. "You three should stay here for some time and train. There are fighting arenas, tamed beast battle arenas, and some other things like that. You should fight and get some exposure."


    The good thing was that these arenas allowed two parties to duke it out without the risk of death. Naturally, injuries were still a concern but one cannot improve if they were afraid of a few injuries.


    Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming nodded. Aftering here to this new world and seeing everything in the system shop and experiencing how truly insignificant they were, the three were already restless. Liam''s words were enough to fuel their determination as they clenched their fists resolutely.


    This was a godsent opportunity for them to train and improve, not to mention make some much needed money. For the past year, the three of them have made a lot of progress but still they felt as if they were up against an invisible barrier that they couldn''t break.


    This was their chance to ovee that barrier.


    Another thing that was abundantly clear was just how poor they were. Liam transferred some funds for the three of them to start with and he had also purchased a lot of items for them but it was nowhere close to what the system shop offered for their growth.


    But if they yed their cards right, they would be able to earn a lot in this floor.


    Rey and Madan especially were locked onto the tamed beast fights. Since they were both beast hunters, this was a unique opportunity for them. Lan Deming was more interested in the PVP battle to hone his skills.


    However, to everyone''s surprise Liam did not participate. "Bro with Luna¡­" Rey started but Liam shook his head. "You guys go ahead first. I want to check out thest floor and train for a bit before Ie back here." He then left alongside Dante and the fairy.


    Dante gave a disdainful look at the three as he walked away. What could three country bumpkins possibly do in a ce like this?


    He walked along with Liam as they reached the top most floor of the system shop. Liam paused as a system screen sprang up in front of him giving him a list of options.


    Dao Array


    Dao Array with time dtion


    Mana Array


    Mana Array with time dtion


    Fire Elemental Array


    Fire Array with time dtion


    Ice Elemental Array


    Ice Array with time dtion


    Earth Elemental Array


    Earth Elemental Array with time dtion


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Elemental Paradise Array


    Elemental Paradise Array with time dtion


    Weapon Forging Array


    Weapon Forging Array with time dtion


    Alchemy Herbal Array


    Alchemy Herbal Array with time dtion


    Beast Soul Array


    Beast Soul Array with time dtion


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Nether Gathering Array


    Nether Gathering Array with time dtion


    Demonic Energy Gathering Array


    Demonic Energy Gathering Array with time dtion


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The list went on, detailing arrays for almost every conceivable type of training and cultivation. Each one was designed to enhance and focus particr skills or elements, from the fundamental to the highly specialized.

 Chapter 1249 Can you become a God?

    Chapter 1249 Can you be a God?


    Liam gaped in awe. When he was preparing to take such a big risk toe to an entirely different world just for the sake of the system shop, he was not sure if it would be worth it but now he was thoroughly convinced.


    The system shop was beyond anything he had ever imagined. The resources and opportunities here could catapult him to new heights of power and understanding. With ess to such amazing facilities, the older previously integrated worlds were only going to be more and more powerful. The younger worlds such as theirs almost had no chance to catch up to them unless something monumental happened.


    It was no wonder that there were only a few empires in the entire sector that controlled multiple worlds. These empires would continue to conquer more worlds and be even more powerful. If anyone above the norms popped up in one of the news, then they would either be forced to submit to the ruling family or squashed before bing significant.


    The imbnce of power was staggering. The rich would get richer, and the powerful would grow stronger, all while worlds like his would struggle to even glimpse the threshold of such might. It was a sobering thought, one that ignited a me within him.


    He needed to be stronger. Knowingly or unknowingly, he had already abandoned his guild once. He couldn''t let them fall behind once again. Before their world gets conquered, subjugated, or worse, obliterated in the grand scheme of these celestial giants, he needed to be strong enough.


    Liam''s eyes hardened with resolve. Seeing him, Dante scoffed in exasperation. "You are reacting the same way, I reacted a year ago." He shrugged. "Do you now understand the vastness of this universe?"


    "Or I should say myriad realms." Dante scowled as he casually yed with his system interface. "We can''t do anything against these big shots. They have been here for centuries. Millennials. God knows how long. We cannot fight against them." "Our world is going to be taken captive and since it''s a F-rank world, our men are going to be sold as mining ves and women are going to be sold as prostitutes." "This is if we are lucky. Most B-rank forces would simply use us as fodder for some experiments or some other form of body bag. Our worth is only that much." "How am I supposed to single-handedly change all that? I couldn''t even make it in a freaking game, how am I supposed to fight against these powerhouses of the myriad realms?" Dante sighed. "I was here in the exact same position you are now. I made a life for myself in this new world and I was livingfortably, slowly gaining power. This was the best I could do. You might think that I am selfish but I am simply not altruistic." "I am not some hero who is willing to die a useless death. My death won''t do anyone any good. So I ran away. I do not think that deserves this sort of punishment." "You took my money and you got your ess so now could you please void that agreement? Trust me. I will not do anything to backstab you or our people. You are doing what I am not able to do. I will not spoil it."


    Liam turned to see that the guy was genuinely pleading with him, a hint of desperation in his eyes. It was a look Liam understood all too well. It was the look of someone who had faced their own insignificance in the vastness of the universe and had been crushed by it. It was the look of someone who had given up.


    "No," Liam said simply, his voice firm. Dante''s face fell. "Do you think that you are better than me? Do you think you can save them all? We are all ants in front of these people! Only a God can save our world. Do you know a God? Or maybe you think that you can be a God?" He spat in contempt.


    But Liam calmly answered him. "I will void the contract after 10 years as the agreement says. Too much is riding on this for me to blindly trust your words."


    Dante''s gaze was seething but Liam shifted his attention back to the array panel. He had been running for as long as he could remember and now it was finally time for him to sit down and train. He needed to be stronger faster. The time dtion array here was a good start. He was not going to miss this opportunity.


    Liam looked at the list of avable options. He decided to first start withher. This was for two different reasons. One he wanted to see how exactly the setup was. The second was to gauge theher concentration here versus theher concentration back in his world.


    Was their world truly a F-grade world? Both he and Tilia thought differently and perhaps now he would personally see some proof for that hypothesis.


    He selected theher gathering array and also picked the time dtion option.


    The fairy, noticing his choice, nodded and gestured him towards a designated area. "The Nether Gathering Array with time dtion is ready for you, Grandmaster Liam. Please follow me."


    The fairy led him to one of the chambers and gave him a crystal etched in archaic runes. "This is the key to the array. Please use this to activate the array."


    Liam nodded and opened the door. Inside, there was a simple tform surrounded by intricate patterns on the floor that seemed to pulse with dark energy.


    "You can sit anywhere on the tform and simply cing the crystal on the tform would activate it." The fairy exined.


    "Does this have a no-disturbance barrier or anything like that?"


    The fairy paused for a second, trying to understand his question, and then quickly nodded. "Of course, Grandmaster." "The entire tform will be shrouded in a barrier after the array activates. As a secondary measure, the chamber will also be locked. You will not be disturbed or in any danger."

 Chapter 1250 Decillion

    Chapter 1250 Decillion


    After a thorough check, Liam ced Dante under Luna''s supervision and also provided the fox somepensation, a food item he had packed for her from the food court floor. He then stepped onto the tform to start his work.


    As soon as he stepped inside, a ck colored barrier immediately popped up around him. Inside this cocoon of darkness, theher felt even more pronounced.


    Liam sat down in a meditative position, putting aside all the thoughts that gued him. He let theher wash over his body and mind, instantly feeling refreshed. Only after a few seconds, he opened his eyes and let out a breath of relief, focusing on the present.


    "This should be the lowest setting of the tform." Liam pondered. He observed the array markings on the tform he was sitting on. The fairy had exined to him that the tform could be adjusted to get four different levels. F, E, D, and C.


    Not so surprisingly, F-grade corresponds to theher density on a F-grade. E-grade corresponds to theher density on an E-grade and so on.


    This was one of the reasons why Liam wanted to start with theher array.


    And now that he had firsthand experience, Liam was sure that their world was indeed no longer a simple F-grade world.


    He took the crystal on the side and moved it on the array markings to crank up the tform to the next level.


    The moment the tform shifted to E-grade, theher concentration around him intensified dramatically. It was thicker, almost tangible, like a heavy mist clinging to every part of him. The energy was richer, filled with a deeper, moreplex essence.


    Liam closed his eyes and took a big breath of the refreshing energy. This was good but it was stillcking whenpared to the density ofher he had experienced back on earth.


    He spent a couple of seconds in this setting and then cranked up the tform one more time, taking it to the next level, the D-grade. Naturally, it was more expensive to spend time in the array as the level increased but he did not care about that at the moment.


    The moment he changed the settings, immediately theher''s presence became overwhelming, a force so dense and powerful that Liam felt as if he just took multiple shots of expresso. It was as if he had stepped into a different realm altogether.


    Liam embraced the intensity, allowing theher to permeate his being. He could feel it seeping into every fiber of his body, strengthening him, challenging him to control and harness its might.


    However, one more thing was also clear to him. Theher around him at the moment was almost the same quality as theher he had experienced back home. This meant that their world was evolving into a D-grade world?


    Liam frowned. This was good news but he had expected at least a bit more, perhaps turning into a C-grade world would have given them more opportunities. But maybe this was also for the best. Bing a C-grade world or a B-grade world would have given them more opportunities but it would have also brought them a lot more attention, something they might not be able to handle if Liam was not there.


    Either way, this was this. At the end of the day, all of this was conjecture so Liam decided to wait for the actual integration to see what sort of a world theirs would evolve to be.


    Keeping this matter aside, Liam started opening the information packets one after the other to read a little. The store manager fairy from Tirnanog had given him all the manuals about basic mana cultivation and various other things, but he hadn''t given Liam anything about the ruling forces of the myriad realms.


    Perhaps he had assumed that Liam already knew these things or perhaps he did not think that such information was necessary for him at that time.


    However, it was high time that he understood the world he was living in better.


    Liam opened up the general information first and dove in. Instantly, he was shocked to his core. The things that he readpletely blew up his mind.


    "This is¡­ " He waspletely dumbfounded and shuddered in shock. The world he was living in was bigger than he thought. Much Much bigger!


    Previously when he had read the information about the ten empires ruling their sector, Liam assumed that there were probably a few other sectors like his.


    He wasn''t particrly a star student in the ss nor did he have the time to stare at the sky and wonder about the stars peppered around the vast cosmos.


    So now that he finally focussed on the grand scheme of things, reality hit him like a thunderp.


    There were apparently decillions of gxies scattered around in the myriad realms and among them, there were about a billion gxies already integrated within the myriad realms system.


    "Decillion¡­" Liam let out a big breath. How many zeros were there in this number?


    Moreover, each of these gxies had several star systems and a sector was essentially some of these star systems clubbed together with each other. Most often these star systems were clubbed together because of their proximity by the system itself.


    Of course, the other reason was conquest. The powerful sectors wanted to conquer the other smaller star systems for themselves.


    Liam found it very unsettling that their gxy essentially had only four sectors, and that was because the fourth sector was extremely prolific and had been busy conquering the other sectors.


    The four sectors of their gxy were Xicta, Salia, Gloe, and Alea.


    The report in his hand mentioned an event that happened several millennia ago where the fourth sector, Alea, known for its aggressive expansion and powerful ruling entities, suddenly stopped its massive conquest campaign and no longer tried to annex the neighboring sectors. This event reshaped the power dynamics within their gxy, leading to a four-sector division and a precarious bnce of power thatsted until the present day.

 Chapter 1251 Impossible

    Chapter 1251 Impossible


    It took a while for Liam to truly digest everything that he was reading. His understanding of his world and its ce in the broader cosmos was shifting rapidly as he absorbed the enormity of the information before him. The fact that there were decillions of gxies, with his being just one among them, was mind-boggling. It wasn''t just the scale but the implications of such a structure that staggered him. The myriad realms were a vast, intricate web of power, conflict, and history far beyond anything he had ever imagined.


    He was just a small fish in the grand scheme of things. A small insect that anyone could crush if they wanted. The only grace period that they received from this so-called system, moremonly known as the administrator to survive was these 10 years!


    Liam felt anger and frustration bubbling up inside him as he could see how truly fucked they were. A 10-year grace period was nothing. Their world was never supposed to thrive and stand alone. The system never even gave them a chance.


    These ten years were rather given to the other factions so that they would be able to make ample preparations to conquer them or contest with other factions who wanted to conquer them.


    Their fate simply depended on the ruling parties of their sector and how they decided to treat their world.


    Dante was on point when he described how the low-grade worlds were treated as farming worlds and the high-grade worlds were piged and plundered until nothing was left.


    There was simply no way out for them. Unless¡­


    Liam''s eyes shed as he looked at thest information packet. The one about the Spire of Ascension, a mysterious and ancient structure rumored to exist at the nexus of the myriad realms. ording to legend, the Spire of Ascension offered unimaginable power and knowledge to those who could reach its summit. It was said to be a ce where one could transcend the ordinary limits of existence and ascend to a higher state of being.


    The packet described the Spire as a near-mythical artifact of a bygone era, a relic from a time when the myriad realms were young and the fabric of reality was still malleable. It was a ce of trial, challenge, and transformation, attracting the most ambitious and powerful beings from across the cosmos. It was the single thing that was shared between millions and zillions of gxies.


    As Liam read about the Spire, a wild, desperate n began to form in his mind. If he could find and ascend the Spire, he might gain the power and knowledge he needed to protect his world. It was a long shot, the longest of shots, but in their desperate situation, even the slimmest chance was worth pursuing.


    The peak figures of this sector they were in, the Xicta sector, were around Level 50,000. Liam gulped as this was another number that was beyond his understanding.


    However, if he could somehow use the Spire to attain this unattainable goal, he would be able to somewhat deter the forces from bothering his world.


    At least ording to thetest currents of their sector, the ten great empires only seemed to focus on the weaker worlds and ignored the stronger worlds, seemingly avoiding an all-out war.


    As Liam sat in the same position on theher array tform and poured over the information for hours and hours, this was the only out he could see.


    It was either this or him finding a backup of someone who was level 50,000.


    Liam sighed. Every single time he read the phrase level 50,000 his head hurt. How powerful would someone of that level be?


    ording to the system, someone of this level was given the title ''Lord of the Daos.'' Anyone from level 0 to level 99 was considered mortal and from level 100 to 999 was called awakened. For Liam, the next step would be to cross the level 1000 hurdle and be a transcendent.


    This in itself was currently a question mark for him. Liam found himselfpletely overwhelmed as he thought of the distance between level 999 to level 50,000.


    His mind wavered and anxiety gued him so he immediately set aside the information packets and started meditating. The future was wrought with uncertainties and overwhelming challenges, but he knew that losing hisposure would solve nothing. He needed to be calm, focused, and strategic.


    As Liam meditated, he tried to let the overwhelming scale of the universe and the daunting path ahead of him wash over him without breaking his spirit. Being inher helped.


    He focused on his breathing, on the here and now, grounding himself in the present while acknowledging the long journey ahead.


    He understood that reaching the level of a Lord of the Daos was an almost mythical goal, but he also knew that every journey began with a single step. Right now, his immediate task was to be a transcendent, to cross that first threshold into the higher echelons of power.


    Once he had settled his mind and took some more time to meditate and regain hisposure, Liam once again turned toward the information packets.


    These had been extremely expensive depleting almost a fifth of Dante''s resources, but they werepletely worth it. At least he now knew the true depth of the ocean he was trying to get to the bottom of.


    Liam set aside all the political information packets for the time being as these were not really that helpful for him at the moment.


    Reading about how insignificant he and their world truly was lit a fire in him and he was burning with a desire to immediately take that step to cross from level 999 to 1000.


    So what if the path ahead was almost impossible?


    Liam clenched his fists as his gaze turned icy cold with determination. He started from nothing and got here facing so many odds and he could do it once again. He had to. There was simply no other chance.

 Chapter 1252 He is just going to fight continuously?

    Chapter 1252 He is just going to fight continuously?


    Liam furiously searched the information packets he had in his possession to understand the steps to power. However, the many documents in his possession only vaguely described the process.


    From the looks of it, the path of an immortal was only simr in the very beginning stages when a person is mortal or awakened. Once they crossed the transcendent stage, the path was described as extremely unique to oneself.


    This meant there was no set roadmap, no surefire steps to follow to guarantee sess. Liam already knew that gaining levels after a certain point was no longer about killing other living things. It looked like ultimately everything came down to the dao seeds.


    Liam felt a little hopeful at this point because if it was dao seeds, he had them aplenty.


    All he had to do to cross the 999 threshold and be a transcendent was to nurture one of these dao seeds into a dao fragment.


    Liam controlled his urge to immediately dive into the path to obtain more power and continued perusing the information packets in his possession. He wanted to do it right.


    His patience was immediately rewarded.


    As Liam went through some information regarding the Spire of Ascension, he saw that the ce had several rigorous rules and restrictions set in ce. The one that first caught his eye was how a person could only enter once per stage. The Spire itself was essible only after someone was awakened and between the awakened and transcendent stage, only one use was possible.


    Liam frowned at the thought of how Eldrin had conveniently failed to tell him this crucial bit of information.


    While he still would have been able to enter the Spire, he would have already used the chance that was avable after bing a Transcendent and missed his first chance. But the elf would have still kept his two chances and entered the Spire twice.


    Liam sighed and decided to let this go. The elf had after all done more than enough by bringing him here. He always knew that the crafty guy couldn''t be trustedpletely and this did note as a total shock.


    Liam put away all of his information packet scrolls and quickly removed the crystal from the array edges, immediately turning off the tform. The barrier turned off and he stepped out.


    Liam did not waste any time in getting rid of theher gathering formation as he did not trust the insane affinityher had with his body. Who knew if he spent a few more minutes in the array, he might just make another breakthrough and get over to the Transcendent stage.


    Liam smiled ruefully as he shook his head. His current position was rather precarious. He contemted his next step when Dante and Luna stared at him with weird expressions.


    "You are done?" Dante asked.


    Liam did not answer him and instead looked at the system prompt that shed in front of him. It once again disyed the several different cultivation chambers avable at his disposal.


    The feast was allid out in front of him and yet he did not dare take a bite. On one side, there was the danger of crossing level 1000 by ident and on the other side, he did not want to gain too many dao seeds as the elven ancestor had warned him against it.


    "This is problematic¡­" Liam mumbled.


    Dante revealed a smug smile at the sight of Liam''s big frown. Little did he know that if he became aware of Liam''s problems, he would die of a brain stroke.


    Liam stood silently for a while before he finally sighed and stepped out of thest floor. This facility was a system standard edition facility so there was no point in him rushing to use this. It would be more beneficial if he waited until after he visited the Spire of Ascension first and then used it to step to the next stage.


    Just when he was thinking about what to do next, Rey''s message chimed in saying that Lan Deming was severely injured and if he had any stronger healing pills or potions that he could spare.


    Hmmm¡­ Liam stared at the message.


    "Isn''t there some days left before the auction officially starts?" He mumbled.


    "Yes?" Dante hesitantly replied, wondering what was going on.


    However, Liam did not say anything else. He silently started walking along the corridor and before any fairy could appear to escort them, he descended to the previous floor.


    "What are you doing?" Dante frowned.


    "Just nning to kill some time." Liam cracked his neck as a smile appeared on his face. As if she understood what he meant, a little fox peered her head behind his neck, mirroring the smile on his face.


    Dante started sweating. He did not know why but he did not have a good feeling about what was going to happen. But everything was already out of his control and the water had reached his head. He could only stare dumbfoundedly at Liam casually walking over to the fighting pits counter.


    "Oh? He is just going to fight continuously?" Dante slightly rxed. It made sense. He had heard rumors about Liam being a hardworking freak who fought continuously, working non-stop day and night. He was probably going to do the same with the fighting pits.


    "He He. This is better than the training room." Dante let out a sigh of relief.


    If Liam had been in training rooms, a significant portion of his funds would have disappeared but now that he was going to fight day and night, nothing would be spent and he would still have the time to plot something.


    Dante''s mind began to spin thinking of all sorts of strategies when suddenly he noticed that Liam''s figure was no longer at the fighting pits.


    "What? Where are you going?"


    The alchemy grandmaster opened his mouth wide open as his gazended on the familiar figure now standing at the beast egg counter.


    "What the fuck? What is he doing there?" Dante gulped.

 Chapter 1253 What a pity...

    Chapter 1253 What a pity...


    Liam handed over one of the top-tier healing pills in his possession to Lan Deming without asking any questions. He could see the fire in the man''s eye. Though he had gotten hurt pretty nastily with several deep gashes making the floor of the shop bloody and his guts almost spilling out, it was clear that he had also gained a lot from the experience.


    Sometimes one needed life and death experience to make any real progress. This was the reason why Liam had brought these guys here and he was d that the team was using the opportunity well and not squandering it.


    But after giving the pill, Liam moved away. He did not n on visiting the fighting pits just yet. This was not only a good opportunity to learn but also a good opportunity to make money.


    And knowing exactly how poor he was in the grand scheme of things, he wanted to start first with the making money part.


    Liam first visited the counter of the system shop that sold a variety of beast eggs. This was because when he had crossed this ce earlier, he had noticed something weird. Now he once again noticed the same urrence.


    Ever since hended on this, Liam had tried a secret experiment on his own. The experiment was whether he could sense the soul strength of the people around him to roughly gauge their strength.


    Since using a skill like [Inspect] would trigger the recipient, he thought that simply sensing the soul, not scanning or trying to manipte it, only sensing the soul might not trigger anything like that.


    Of course, he immediately killed this experiment as he was sorely mistaken. He had tried it on a nymph and she instantly noticed it. Thankfully, she couldn''t understand what it was or pinpoint it to him. This coupled with Madan''s and Rey''s open ogling, it was easy for Liam to hide the probe under their drool-filled rug.


    This was also the main reason why Liam had targeted a nymph but it turned out even the women here shouldn''t be underestimated. The nymph ultimately let the incident slide and went back to her business and after that experience, Liam no longer continued such tests.


    But when he crossed the colorful assortment of eggs, Liam did not care about any such nuances. He freely tried to probe the soul strength of the eggs disyed on the counter.


    As expected, some of them were strong and some of them were weak but surprisingly this range was quite big. Liam had a strong feeling about something on the counter and his curiosity was piqued. He had decided toe back hereter but now was as good a time as any. He was not training so he might as well gamble!


    Liam walked over to the counter and returned the polite smile of the fairy. "Are you looking for anything, in particr, Grandmaster?" The fairy bowed in respect and attended to him.


    "Can you exin to me how this works?"


    The fairy nodded. "All the eggs here cost the same, Sir. 1 million high-grade mana cores each. Of course, we have no idea what sort of a beast you will get from these eggs. The process is quite random." "Some beasts are moremon, while others are rare and potentially more powerful. The eggs are sourced from various realms and contain a vast array of possible creatures. This is a system-designed gambling counter that is free from any bias."


    "The system has also ced special restrictions which preclude the usage of special skills to identify the beasts and only individuals who are below the transcendent realm can participate in this gamble."


    Hmmm. Liam nodded. It looked like he was just barely within the limit for this feature too. This made him wonder what he missed at the Awakened stage. There was no point in thinking about that now, so he quickly put it aside and focused on the disy case.


    "Please allow me, Grandmaster." The fairy hurriedly started removing one tray after another and presented them before Liam for his perusal. Each tray contained a small collection of eggs, their surfaces shimmering with an array of colors and patterns, each unique and mysterious.


    Liam leaned in, his senses extended, trying to feel the resonance or pull from any of the eggs. While he couldn''t use skills to directly inspect them, his innate intuition and connection to the soul gave him an edge. Now that these eggs were outside of the disy case, he could sense the strength of their soul even more clearly.


    Liam remained indifferent as he slowly tried to gauge the soul strength of each egg one after the other. One million high-grade mana cores might not be much for many bigwigs of the myriad realms but to them, it was a huge amount. Of course, if the egg was above a certain grade, then it would instantly give him a huge profit.


    Liam looked at the tray of eggs but he immediately did not make any decision. He needed some samples first. He hadn''t worked with beast eggs recently. He quickly descended further down to the lower floors and first took a look at the normal eggs.


    The system shop sold beast eggs frommon grade to epic grade. Surprisingly, there weren''t any legendary-grade or higher-rank beast eggs avable. Liam assumed that these were either not sold or probably snatched up by someone else as soon as they popped in the store. But he did not care. This was good enough. He once again made his way back to the tenth floor and to the beast egg counter.


    The fairy manning the counter gave him a knowing smile before his expression returned to the same old politeness. What strategy hadn''t he seen already? What trick hadn''t he seen already? In all his life working in this counter, he had only seen tears and angers in this counter. Of course, there were a few lucky encounters but the system was brutal. The rate of sess was truly abysmal.


    And now this young Grandmaster was going to fall for the same old trap¡­ what a pity¡­ the fairy sighed.

 Chapter 1254 Stop. I will be buying everything.

    Chapter 1254 Stop. I will be buying everything.


    Liam ignored the pitying nces from the fairy manning the counter and the angry res from Dante who kept cursing him under his breath for nning to gamble away his hard-earned money. His only attention was on the eggs as he examined them carefully, gauging the soul strength of each to the best of his ability. Though the system restriction of not being able to use any skills like Inspection did not seem to apply to his soul-sensing ability, he could still only somewhat sense them. However, this was more than enough.


    After a while, Liam paused his examination and asked, "Can I sell the beast egg back to your shop? What is the buyback price for Rare-grade and Epic-grade?"


    "Uhhh?" The fairy was slightly stumped but answered anyway. "Unfortunately, our buyback price will not match your cost price, Grandmaster." "1 million high-grade mana cores is too expensive for a rare-grade or epic-grade beast egg. The system shop selling price for such items is at most 1 million mid-grade mana cores. That too, only for special beasts that have dual affinities or other unique features."


    "The rest would barely fetch 10,000 to 100,000 mid-grade mana cores." The fairy then quickly added, "Of course, we sell these at such a high price because there is a big chance of getting Legendary-grade and higher beast cubs. Someone has even gotten a mythic-grade beast youngling in the past. There are several such examples of lucky winners."


    "I am sure Grandmaster''s luck would also be excellent. I wish you the very best."


    Liam chuckled. The fairy was not wrong. His luck was indeed quite good but it was not his luck that he was relying on at the moment. He didn''t need any luck when he could read these eggs like open books.


    Liam finished with the tray of beast eggs and shook his head. There were a couple of eggs in this collection that caught his eye but they were only epic-grade at most and he did not have the funds to waste on them just yet.


    He moved onto the next tray of eggs. This was a more promising one, or at least that''s what Liam felt at a cursory nce. The eggs all looked the same, with vibrant colors and intricate patterns, and some even sporting different varieties of shells ranging from soft to extra hard.


    However, two particr eggs in this batch had exceptional soul strength. Liam was sure of it. "Give me these two." He immediately purchased the two.


    "What? Why? Look at the charcoal grey color. That''s a cheap-ass demon beast egg. The demons use them for mounts. I have seen it before." Dante hurriedly spat out.


    But just like all the other times, he was once again ignored, making the guy grit his teeth in frustration. He could only watch as Liam continued inspecting the next tray full of eggs. The bastard was going to use everyst bit of his funds.


    "Yes. Yes. I am not wasting your money." Liam remained focused on the task at hand, tuning out Dante''s protests. The faint pulsations of soul strength he sensed were not something he could ignore. They were indicative of potential, of something beyond the ordinary. He continued examining one tray after another. Five more trayster, he once again sensed a strong soul strength from another couple of eggs.


    "I¡­ I would like to buy these two also?" Liam spoke but this time he was also hesitant. What were the odds that Legendary rank or higher-grade beasts were there in four eggs at once? That was not really in line with the principle of gambling.


    If some rich guy waltzed in and purchased the entire batch, then he would make a killing. Scenarios like that happening often would make the gambling den so popr that he would have had to queue up just to enter this ce.


    There was no free lunch in this world and get-rich-quickly schemes like this shouldn''t exist. But at the same time, Liam was very sure about the soul strength of these beasts.


    In the end, he decided to stick with his gut feeling. After all, the proof was right there in front of him and he couldn''t deny that.


    Liam purchased all of the four eggs and continued looking, adding to Dante''s dismay. There were a total of ten trays of beast eggs and Liam had already examined seven of them. There were only three more trays left.


    Liam did not think that anything good would be there in thest three trays. It was already too much that he found 4 potential good eggs. He simply wanted to check everything for the sake ofpletion. He was even already nning in his head about what to do next.


    However, just as his eyesnded on thest tray of eggs, he shivered. At the center of the tray, a small white eggy inconspicuously. It was a small egg like that of a chicken. It didn''t have any intricate carvings or patterns and wasn''t even colored.


    But the soul strength emanating from it was unlike anything Liam had felt before. It was potent, pure, and incredibly refined, almost as if it was calling out to him, resonating with something deep within his being.


    For a moment, Liam was stunned, his mind racing with the possibilities. This small, unassuming egg held a soul strength that suggested a beast of extraordinary potential.


    He reached out, almost involuntarily, his hand hovering over the egg. Dante''s eyes went wide. Everyone including Dante, Rey, and Madan could see that the egg was a very ordinary one.


    "Grandmaster¡­ are you sure?" Even the fairy gave him a pitiful look and tried to subtly give Liam another chance to refuse.


    Dante, on the other hand, was not that subtle. "You have got to be kidding me!" The man was raging from top to bottom as his entire body trembled and shivered in anger.


    But none of it meant anything to Liam as he immediately instructed the fairy. "I will buy this one too."


    "You bastard!" Dante yelled.


    Coincidentally, another voice also sounded at the same time. "Stop. I will be buying all the eggs. Pack it up for me."

 Chapter 1255 What seems to be the problem here?

    Chapter 1255 What seems to be the problem here?


    "No. I will be buying all the eggs. Pack it up for me."


    "Hmmm?" Everybody turned to look at the new voice. The crowd that had gathered around the egg counter had parted and a new figure waltzed in exuding an air of confidence and authority. The neer was a tall young man with two ivory horns, dressed in fine garments, suggesting someone of wealth and status. Several items on his person also suggested an extremely high grade, perhaps even surpassing the Legendary grade.


    Moreover, the fact that he was casually buying every single egg lined up on the system shop counter meant that his funds were unimaginable to themon folk. His background was definitely not simple.


    The young man''s gaze was fixed on the tray of eggs, but there was a particr intensity when he looked at the small white egg Liam had just chosen.


    The fairy, recognizing the potential for conflict, looked nervously between Liam and the neer. "Esteemed guests, please, there''s no need for any dispute. We have plenty of eggs for everyone."


    "Yes, and I am buying all of it." The tall young man pped his hands and two other men with simr types of horns on their heads rushed forward to finish the transaction as they began talking about specifics with the fairy.


    The fairy quickly obliged as he started packing everything. Liam silently stood on the side and watched the whole show. Meanwhile, the five eggs he had selected including thest one were neatly packaged by another fairy. The woman then handed them to Liam.


    "I hope your experience this time was satisfactory, Grandmaster." The fairy bowed and handed the eggs to Liam.


    But before he could ept them, one of the attendants rushed to Liam. "Hey butterfly, what are you doing? Didn''t young master already tell you that he would be buying everything? What are you doing with these five eggs? Pack them all up. Do you understand?"


    The fairy immediately became anxious and started stammering. "I¡­ I¡­ Grandmaster has already paid for these¡­ it is not possible for me to¡­"


    "Pfft! Grandmaster? If he is a Grandmaster, then even my uncle is a Grandmaster. Stop wasting our time. You heard the young master. He wants all the eggs. Are you going to refuse him for the sake of this one person?"


    The fairy, clearly in a difficult position, looked helplessly between Liam and the attendant. Before the situation could escte further, the tall young man, presumably the ''young master,'' turned his attention towards themotion.


    "What? You are still not obeying me? Do you want to refuse the direct orders of the Horned tribe?"


    The fairy immediately started trembling. "I am sorry¡­ I¡­ I cannot.. I am.."


    "What seems to be the problem here?" he asked, calmly walking towards the counter.


    The attendant quickly exined the situation. "This man has already bought these five eggs, and he refuses to sell them to you, young master."


    Seeing that the guy was unfairly cing all the me on Liam, the fairy tried to mediate but it was of no use.


    The young man looked at Liam and the eggs with interest. "Is that so?" His gaze dragged on Liam from top to bottom. "I am Kael from the Horned Tribe. May I know why are you so keen on keeping these eggs?"


    "I have my reasons, as I''m sure you do for wanting to purchase the entire collection," Liam replied calmly.


    However, not missing this opportunity, Dante gnashed his teeth and quickly added fuel to the fire, taking advantage of the situation. "You should really consider who you''re trying to bully. You might have your status, but that doesn''t give you the right to trample over others'' decisions."


    Kael''s eyes flickered with a hint of malice, and then his expression softened into a smile. "My intention wasn''t to bully anyone. I simply didn''t expect anyone to have made a selection before me."


    Shockingly, he even signaled his attendant to stand down. "We respect others ims. If these eggs are already his, then we have no right over them."


    The attendant who had been so aggressive earlier seemed taken aback, and a murmur went through the crowd. It was clear that nothing was resolved. Only the fairy sighed in relief. She was going to ask Liam to take everything but she was a little startled to see that he had already done so. While everyone was busy talking back and forth, the eggs were quietly pocketed without muss or fuss. The fairy could only give a small awkward smile and bowed. "Thank you for your understanding, Grandmaster Liam. I hope these beasts will serve you well. Ah. We also have an inspection feature that would allow you to discern the details of the egg if you choose."


    Liam paused for a moment and then nodded. This could be extremely helpful. Otherwise, he might have to wait a long while to find out what type of beast egg he had purchased. Also, after reading some of the basic knowledge he knew that each beast egg is unique and more so as their grade increases. Most of them require very specific environments or raw materials to mature and hatch. Luna herself had gobbled up several me fragments and countless medicinal herbs before she hatched, well for the second time.


    "Ummm¡­" The fairy continued looking hesitant even though Liam gave the nod. "Unfortunately, I am afraid this feature will reveal the content of your egg publicly to the current customers in the shop." She added with reluctance.


    Liam frowned. He did not want to create any unnecessary conflict and clearly, he was already on the cusp of one, perhaps deep in it. This was only going to further worsen the situation.


    Before Liam could say anything, the fairy quickly added. "This is a special feature of the gambling den, Grandmaster. It is to encourage more of our customers to gamble. So the feature is only avable for the next hour and only at this specific counter."

 Chapter 1256 Youve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

    Chapter 1256 You''ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette


    Liam was speechless. No matter how he thought about it, this seemed like a scheme purposefully cooked up by the system shop set up to create conflict.


    Seeing him hesitating, the fairy once again added. "Ummm¡­ there is also another bonus for revealing your beast eggs." "If Grandmaster turns out to be a lucky winner and if your egg is revealed to be a Legendary Rank or higher beast type, then the system shop would personally provide all the materials for hatching the egg, along with the use of the special beast incubator to immediately hatch the beast egg.


    Liam froze. Analysis was one thing but he did not think that the feature would also include immediately acquiring all the materials for hatching the egg and even getting the egg hatched right here and now.


    No matter how he thought about it, this was a huge deal for him to pass up. Sure, he might attract some unwanted attention at the moment but that was anyways going to happen with what he had nned next.


    Within the system shop, it was impossible for anyone to nt trackers on him or for his information to get leaked and if he directly teleported from the system shop, then he could simply disappear from these prying eyes around him.


    With this everything would be taken care of¡­ except for¡­ Liam''s gaze briefly flickered to Dante before it returned to the fairy at the counter.


    "Let''s do it." Liam said.


    Fuck! Rey, and Madan immediately turned to look at Liam in shock. This was definitely not going to end well. With this their n of staying low-profile was aplete bust.


    Liam smiled at them bitterly. The situation was not in their favor but powering up right now was more important. If he was too cautious at all times, he might as well lock his door and stay inside a weakling all his life, in the end dying a miserable death.


    Only Dante had a big ugly grin on his face. That''s right motherfucker! Burn in hell! The guy''s face almost split apart as he was grinning from ear to ear, enjoying the group''s misery. They might not know the Horned tribe well enough but he knew everything! The Horned tribe was famous throughout the Xicta sector. Nothing good was going toe from messing with bigshots who trampled on worlds for fun.


    "Serves you right, you little bitch!" Dante cursed the guy, only to immediately receive another electric shock. "Bloody fucker! What? I can''t even curse this bitch?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As he was dancing from the soul contract punishments, Liam took a deep breath and handed over the first egg to the fairy at the counter.


    The crowd around the beast egg counter looked on with curiosity and hushed whispers. Rey quickly moved closer to Liam and filled him in. "Bro, bad news. That guy is from some hot shot family. Everyone is talking about it. He is apparently from an ancient beastn that has dragon lineage. They are a powerful family, fully shrouded in mystery it seems."


    "They typically keep to themselves but when someone messes with them, they would not even hesitate toy waste to millions. They are one of the top ten families who control the ten Empires in our sector. Are you sure you want to do this?"


    Liam''s expression turned grave.He already knew that he was going to ruffle someone who had power and influence but he did not know that he would be dealing with someone this huge, one out of the top ten.


    He only just now stepped out into the vast wide world and he was already crossing paths with someone like this? Wasn''t his luck supposed to be good?


    Liam remained silent for a moment before he shook his head. If it was just Legendary rank beasts, perhaps he would have not gone forward with this, but he was sure that one of the beast eggs was definitely more powerful than that. He simply couldn''t let this chance slip.


    Nurturing a powerful beast like Luna could mean an additionalbat partner to watch his back or fight by his side or perhaps handle something unexpected. It could even mean someone to look after Earth and stand by his family and friends to protect them when he was not with them.


    He could not depend on Tilia to clean his shit up every time. He needed someone to take his ce when he was not there. He was not willing to repeat the same mistake again. If he lost what was important to him in the struggle to be stronger, then what he bing stronger for? Why was he living this life of never-ending struggle?


    It was impossible to walk the path of power without making a few enemies and using them as stepping stones.


    Liam''s gaze wandered around as he spotted the entourage from before. They had already finished the transaction and moved along to the next counter. From the looks of it, they had not opted for the public analysis and hatching. This made sense as they were neither poor like him nor from an abject world like him.


    Also, it only took Liam one look to notice something obvious. Young master Kael was definitely ticked off with him. Though they had outwardly moved on, he could sense the two attendants throwing him hateful res every now and then. They were definitely still hung up on this issue, but there was nothing he could do now. Everything was already in motion.


    Liam looked at the fairy and nodded again. "Go ahead."


    The fairy, with a mixture of excitement and nervousness, took the first egg from Liam and ced it into a device that looked like a sophisticated scanner. The crowd hushed as the machine whirred to life, scanning the egg with an array of lights and sounds.


    Momentster, the results were disyed. The letters shed brightly on the big gaudy disy screen at the beast egg counter. A collective gasp went through the crowd as the egg''s rank was revealed.


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 Chapter 1257 There are still two left

    Chapter 1257 There are still two left


    Legendary!


    And it was not over yet. Right next to the word legendary, the small phrase ''can be evolved'' was mentioned. Everyone became dumbfounded in shock. What the heck? The first egg was already Legendary rank? Since when did the beast egg counter possess such godly eggs?!!


    The fairy was the first to break out of her stupor as she checked the readings on the scanner and turned to Liam, astonishment in her voice. "Grandmaster Liam, congrattions. The beast within this egg is of Legendary rank. And not just any Legendary beast. It''s a..."


    She paused, her eyes wide with disbelief, then continued, "It''s a Phoenix. A creature of rebirth and fire, extremely rare and powerful. The system shop will provide all necessary materials for its nurturing as promised."


    A Phoenix ¡ª a legendary creature known for its immense powers, its ability to be reborn from its ashes, and its rarity.


    Liam was shocked. Though he knew that the beast egg was going to be a good one, he didn''t expect to hit such a jackpot. Madan and Rey, who previously looked as if they were awaiting death sentences, nowpletely forgot about everything and were jumping up and down in excitement. A phoenix? A freaking phoenix? As beast hunters, the two were drooling at the egg, their hands itching crazily.


    On the other side, Dante''s eyes went wide. He couldn''t believe the shitty bastard''s luck. He watched in horror at the unbelievable result in front of him.


    He was not alone. The entire crowd erupted into a mixture of awe, hatred and jealousy, the news of a Phoenix being revealed spreading like wildfire. The one thing gamblers hated more than losing was others winning.


    Meanwhile, the fairy carefully ced the egg on the counter. "Grandmaster, would you like me to proceed with the analysis of the rest of the eggs or would you like me to start the hatching process for the Phoenix immediately?" She nervously asked.


    "Let''s proceed with analyzing the rest of the eggs first," Liam decided. "I want to know what we''re dealing with before we move forward with the hatching."


    The fairy nodded and began the process of scanning the next egg. The crowd, though still abuzz with the news of the Phoenix, watched with renewed interest as the next egg was ced into the scanner.


    Though everyone had their eyes glued onto the gaudy sh screen, no one really expected anything amazing. Sure, a person could be lucky once but that was that. There was no way the next egg would be anything good.


    However¡­


    LEGENDARY!


    The same words once again shed on the big screen. The only constion was that this time there was no ''can be evolved'' tag right next to it.


    The fairy, her hands trembling slightly with the magnitude of what had just urred, turned to Liam. "Grandmaster Liam, this is unprecedented. Your luck and judgment are truly exceptional. This egg¡­ this egg contains a Golden Thunderhawk! A terrifyingly powerful creature!"


    Liam calmly nodded, satisfied with the result.


    On the other hand, the rest of the room was about to go crazy. Murmurs turned into loud discussions, and eyes that held envy now looked at Liam with a mix of awe and fear. Where the heck did this guye from? He selected only five eggs and two out of the five were freaking legendary rank beasts? How was this possible? They simply couldn''t wrap their heads around what was happening and watched on with horror on their faces. This guy was simply way too lucky!


    Even the previously distant and aloof youngmaster from the Horned-tribe now turned to Liam and paid attention to him.


    The fairy gulped and asked again, "Shall I proceed with the next egg?"


    Liam nodded.


    At this point, no one could think anything as they silently watched on. The next egg was carefully ced on the scanner and within seconds, the results whirred into life.


    LEGENDARY!


    A collective uproar erupted, sweeping through the crowd. The entire room was in disbelief. Three legendary beasts out of five eggs? It was unheard of, unimaginable, and yet, it was happening right in front of them. The third egg contained a creature known as an Azure Serpent, a being of water and wisdom, revered for its healing capabilities and mystical powers.


    The fairy, shaking slightly with excitement and awe, turned to Liam, her voice barely above a whisper. "Grandmaster, this...this is a miraculous selection. The Azure Serpent..."


    The young master from the Horned-tribe, who had maintained aposed demeanor until now, finally showed a hint of interest, his gaze fixed on Liam with a new intensity.


    The fairy was now too shocked to say anything and stood still staring at the three legendary eggs in front of her. She didn''t want to drop any egg because of her trembling hands, not that she was capable of harming a legendary rank egg.


    Thankfully for her, the system shop store manager had made his way through the crowd. He too looked extremely agitated. These three eggs were extremely valuable eggs that they could have potentially sold off for a huge profit margin and yet someone had purchased it from them for so cheap!


    Themotion around the egg counter grew louder as the store manager approached, his eyes locked on the eggs and then on Liam. Everyone was wondering how he would react to such an unprecedented event.


    "Grandmaster Liam, this is indeed a momentous asion. To have three Legendary beasts, and one with the potential to evolve, is extraordinary. The system shop is honored to witness such a rare event."


    The manager continued, "With your permission, we would like to proceed with the hatching of these Legendary beasts. Congrattions on your sess!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Liam responded with a polite smile. However, he did not give the go ahead. He only reminded the guy casually. "There are still two more eggs left. Let''s first finish scanning them."


    "..." The store manager blinked. It took him a moment to understand the true meaning of the words he had just heard.

 Chapter 1258 Name your price

    Chapter 1258 Name your price


    The store manager gulped and looked at Liam as if he were seeing a monster, but he quickly regained hisposure and nodded, motioning to the fairy to continue with the scanning. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation and disbelief. If three out of five eggs were legendary, what marvels might thest two hold?


    The fourth egg was ced into the scanner, and the crowd held its breath. The machine whirred and beeped, and then the result was disyed.


    Epic!


    A collective sigh of relief and a murmur of conversation rippled through the crowd. An epic-grade beast was still a significant find, but it seemed the world had returned to some semnce of normalcy.


    Unfortunately, the happiness was short-lived as everyone noticed that they had jumped to the conclusion too soon. Right next to the Epic rank, a ''can be evolved'' tag lit up.


    Moreover, the type of beast egg this time made everyone gasp because it was anything but ordinary.


    Star Gazer, an astral affinity beast!


    "This¡­ this¡­" The store manager stammered in shock. "What an unbelievably rare Epic-rank beast egg. Grandmaster, you have the God''s eyes!"


    A Star Gazer wasn''t just any epic-grade beast. Known for its connection to the cosmos and its ability to tap into astral powers, it was a creature that many would spend lifetimes searching for and never find.


    Its special ability to conjure illusions and trap its enemy was well known throughout the myriad realms and many who sought after the dao of illusion wanted to bind it as apanion and obtain enlightenment from observing the beast.


    Star Gazer Beast Eggs was one hundred percent one of the auction house hot cakes, many going even for billions of high-grade mana cores.


    And just like that one such beast egg had appeared in a random system shop gambling counter. That too, one that could evolve! Everyone became speechless. The fairy, with a trembling hand, tagged the egg ordingly and then hesitantly moved to ce the final egg into the scanner. The crowd, once again, held its collective breath. What more could this day bring?


    The scanner beeped and whirred, a long moment passing in which the only sound was the machine''s operation. Then, the result shed up on the screen.


    LEGENDARY!


    At this point, no one had any more strength left in their brain to feel shocked. They could only feel numb to the atrocious scene unfolding in front of them.


    Even more so when the tag ''can be evolved'' once again lit up.


    Just what the heck was going on? The room fell into a stunned silence. The final egg contained a creature known as the Frost Wyrm, a dragon-like being with control over ice and cold, a terror in its own right, and now potentially even more so with the ability to evolve. This could potentially purify its draconian bloodline further.


    The improbable had happened, four out of five eggs were of Legendary rank, with the fifth being an epic-grade beast with the potential to evolve. Some of the legendary rank beasts also had the potential to evolve.


    The store manager, having run out of words, simply stared at the results, his mind struggling toprehend the luck and judgment of the man before him. Liam, for his part, remained calm, though a hint of satisfaction flickered in his eyes.


    The fairy, still visibly shaking, turned to Liam. "Grandmaster, this is... this is unprecedented. The Frost Wyrm, like the others, will be provided with all necessary materials for its nurturing. The system shop extends its deepest congrattions on your extraordinary sess." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The crowd, now buzzing with excitement and disbelief, watched as the preparations for hatching began. On the other side, the Horned-tribe young scion Kael suddenly looked agitated, veins on his forehead ready to burst.


    A wyrm? A wyrm!


    He had just narrowly missed a Legendary rank wyrm!


    Pure Draconian lineage beasts were very rare in the myriad realms and this did not include some stray wyrms and drakes. Pureblood dragons! They were the key to unlimited power and potential, especially for their family.


    And to think that he had missed out on an evolvable wyrm¡­ Kael felt his insides churn. With this single egg, his position in his n would skyrocket and his growth would be tremendous. He might even be able to extract part of a pure draconian bloodline from the beast and integrate it with his own, making him exponentially more powerful.


    The frustration was evident on his face. He hade here on a whim, hoping for a stroke of luck, but instead, he had witnessed someone else''s unbelievable fortune.


    His attendants stood by, uneasy and uncertain, knowing well the vtile nature of their young master. They exchanged nces, silentlymunicating their concerns and preparing for any outburst.


    The group once again walked over towards the beast egg counter, this time with a lot more urgency and anger.


    The store manager, noticing Kael''s agitation, cautiously approached. "Young Master Kael, please understand that the selection process is entirely random and fair. We at the system shop uphold the highest standards of integrity and impartiality."


    Kael''s gaze was icy as he turned to the manager. "I understand how your system works," he said coldly. "I am not here to talk with you."


    He directly turned to Liam and spat out. "Sell that beast egg to me. You can name your price."


    Liam, unfazed by the pressure and intensity emanating from the person in front of him, met his gaze evenly. "Young Master Kael, I appreciate your offer, but as I mentioned earlier, these beast eggs are not for sale. I need them for my personal use."


    Kael''s eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint appearing in them. "Do you know what you''re refusing? I am offering you wealth and resources beyond your imagination. The kind that could set you up for life in the myriad realms. I can also offer you this."


    A token shed in his hand and Kael extended his arm, intending to pass it to Liam.

 Chapter 1259 Wait

    Chapter 1259 Wait


    "This is a teleportation token to our world''s trade city, Gathara. This is a ce where only the true elites can step in and not something that the likes of you can dream about. Here. Take it. With this, you will get the opportunity to procure extremely rare items and elixirs."


    Kael saw that the person was still unmoving. He scathingly added. "I am not in a good mood today. I will not make this offer again."


    Liam chuckled. "I am sorry, but I am afraid my answer is still no. Now if you will excuse me¡­"


    Liam turned to the store manager and signaled for him to start the hatching process. Sure, the teleportation token to an exclusive trading city sounded good but what was he going to do there with little to no money and not even having stepped out of the Awakened stage?


    Wasn''t it simply courting death?


    Instead of gaining something, he might directly fall under the scrutinizing gaze of some old monster and even lose whatever he currently possessed like the stone tablet and the spatial artifact. And there was also Luna.


    There was a time to branch out and make allies and forge alliances with friendly factions but Liam had a feeling that this was not it.


    Liam could feel the burning gaze of the young master on his back but he stood firm, focusing on the first egg that was being ced on the incubator.


    There was a time to branch out and make allies and forge alliances with friendly factions but Liam had a feeling that this was not it.


    Liam could feel the burning gaze of the young master on his back but he stood firm, focusing on the first egg that was being ced on the incubator.


    Kael''s eyes, cold and calcting, lingered on Liam for a moment longer before he let out a huff of disdain and turned away. "Your loss," he muttered under his breath as he and his entourage made their way out of the shop, leaving a trail of unease in their wake.


    The store manager, relieved at the de-esction of the situation, focused on the task at hand. He carefully ced the first egg, the Phoenix, into a specially designed incubator that began humming softly as it worked its magic.


    The incubator seemed to be something that was issued just for this gambling section as no one could see what was happening inside it. The store manager also did not seem to be providing any raw materials to it. The whole thing was automatic.


    Liam was curious about the process but when he enquired about it, the fairy quickly responded that he was not able to divulge any information regarding it.


    Nodding, Liam could only watch the process.


    A few minutes passed by in silence and soon, the egg, under the nurturing warmth and energy of the incubator, started to show signs of life. Tiny cracks appeared on its surface, and a faint, warm glow emanated from within.


    The anticipation in the room was palpable as everyone''s eyes were fixed on the incubator. Though no one wanted to ept what was going down here, the system shop''s rules were irond. Not even the supreme beings would dare to defy the rules of the system in the premises of the official system-dered neutral zones. So they could only silently watch. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The store manager and the fairy stood at a respectful distance, aware of the significance of the moment. The birth of a Phoenix, a creature of legends and myths, was a rare event, one that most would never witness in their lifetimes.


    The cracks on the egg''s surface grewrger. The glow from within intensified, casting a warm, fiery light that filled the room. Whispers and murmurs filled the air, the crowd unable to contain their awe and excitement.


    And then, with a final, gentle crack, the egg opened, revealing the newborn Phoenix. It was a small, delicate creature, not that much different from a feeble chicken youngling. However, it was clear that this was no helpless chicken. Its feathers glowed with a fiery hue that seemed to dance and flicker like mes. The Phoenix let out a soft, melodious cry, as the creature weakly blinked its eyes open. The first person it saw was Liam and its gaze held an intelligence and awareness that was beyond its apparent youth.


    The room fell silent, everyone holding their breath as they witnessed the first moments of this legendary being. The Phoenix stretched its wings, still weak and fragile, and let out another soft cry. It was a sound that seemed to resonate with something deep within those present, touching their souls with its purity and beauty.


    Liam stepped forward, his hand reaching out towards the emerging creature. The Phoenix, seemingly recognizing him, nuzzled against his palm, a bond instantly forming between them.


    [Ding! The beast has initiated a soul bound contract with you. Are you willing to ept it? Yes/ No]


    Liam didn''t hesitate. He selected ''Yes''.


    A warm, golden light enveloped his hand and the Phoenix, signifying thepletion of the bond. The creature let out a contented chirp, snuggling closer to Liam, acknowledging him as itspanion and protector.


    The crowd watched in awe and envy. Naturally, there was one another creature who watched the whole thing go down with crazy eyes, but the little creature quietly remained tucked down and did not lift her head up.


    The store manager let out a tired sigh as he walked over to the incubator and shed a store card. Instantly, a huge chunk of his store funds evaporated as the incubator charged up again.


    There were still four more hatchings left!


    The process for each egg was simr yet unique. The incubator hummed and vibrated differently, attuning itself to the specific needs of the creature within. As each egg hatched, the room was filled with a sense of wonder and anticipation.


    The Golden Thunderhawk emerged next, its feathers shimmering with a metallic sheen that caught the light beautifully. It let out a sharp,manding cry, its eyes scanning the room with an intelligence and ferocity that belied its young age.


    The Azure Serpent was third, slithering gracefully out of its shell. Its scales were a mesmerizing shade of blue, and it moved with a fluidity and grace that was captivating. As it coiled around Liam''s arm, a sense of calm and wisdom seemed to emanate from it, soothing the onlookers and even calming the frenzied atmosphere for a moment.


    "Wait." Liam stopped the store manager before he could ce the next egg.

 Chapter 1260 Violet?

    Chapter 1260 Violet?


    Up next was the hatching process of the star gazer but all of a sudden Liam reached out and stopped the store manager.


    "Is it possible for me to obtain the materials you are using to hatch this egg?" He hurriedly asked. "You do not have to go through with the actual hatching."


    "Huh?" The fairy looked confused. He hesitated for a moment but then firmly shook his head. "Even if I wanted to help you out Grandmaster, unfortunately, my hands are tied. As far as I am concerned this is a ck box for me. All I do is power it up and power it down."


    "Understood," Liam replied. "In that case, please proceed with the hatching of the Star Gazer." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The store manager nodded and, with a swipe of his card, initiated the process. The incubator, already warm from the previous hatchings, hummed back to life, its lights flickering in a rhythm that seemed almost otherworldly.


    Liam calmly watched but he was a little disappointed. This was a windfall but there was something on his mind weighing heavily. It was his second tamed beast, Violet. The little rabbit hadpletely disappeared. She neither randomly appeared nor answered his summon any longer. Liam''s best guess was that she was tired or injured and was currently recuperating. Having suddenlye into contact with another astral beast, he couldn''t help but wonder if the precious items required by the beast egg would also help Violet recover.


    Liam''s best guess was that she was tired or injured and was currently recuperating. Having suddenlye into contact with another astral beast, he couldn''t help but wonder if the precious items required by the beast egg would also help Violet recover.


    If he could have simply taken those items and handed them over to her, that would have been for the best. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be possible. Materials required for nurturing a beast were also notmon knowledge, especially one as rare as Violet or for that matter even this Star Gazer.


    It looked like he had no choice except to continue ignoring his second tamed beast for some more time until he found a suitable solution.


    This was a pity because he really missed the little rabbit popping out every now and again. Partly because it was literally a treasure finding machine but also because he had ignored the little thing for most parts and felt a bit guilty.


    Liam smiled bitterly. He simply did not have the luxury to think about these things. His gazended on the three younglings cutely lounging on the beast egg gambling counter table, their big eyes wandering everywhere and observing everything. He was probably going to have to ignore them too and leave them back in the guild for a period of time until they have grown to some extent.


    While Liam''s mind was wandering, the next egg cracked and all of a sudden, somethingpletely unexpected happened. A ripple of energy spread out from the egg.


    Liam and also many in the crowd acted fast and tried to erect a mana barrier in defense but the next second, the system shop in-built protocols interfered, making all of their efforts unnecessary. The cracked egg was engulfed in a blinding light and when the light dimmed after a second, a small cocoon now rested in the ce of the egg. It pulsed with a soft, otherworldly glow, radiating an energy that was both calming and powerful. The Star Gazer, it seemed, had entered a state of metamorphosis, something that was rare and unheard of for a creature so young and newly hatched.


    The store manager, his face a mix of astonishment and concern, turned to Liam. "This...this is extraordinary. I''ve never seen anything like this." "The Star Gazer has entered a cocoon stage, possibly to adapt and gather the astral energy it needs. This is a self-preservation mechanism, but it''s incredibly rare."


    This was both a good sign and a bad one. Good because the Star Gazer was alive and fighting to adapt, but bad because it indicated just how critical its condition was. "How long will this stagest?" Liam asked. "Is there anything I can do to help?"


    "It''s difficult to say, Grandmaster," the store manager replied. "It could be hours, days, or even longer. The Star Gazer will emerge when it''s ready and not a moment sooner. All we can do is wait and ensure it''s not disturbed."


    "You could perhaps bring it to a ce filled with astral energy. I am afraid I am unable to say anything more than that."


    Liam nodded. He collected the cocooned egg and ced it inside the spatial artifact. A few pairs of eyes in the crowd widened in surprise because it required a high-tier spatial artifact at least of a Legendary grade to store something that was alive, but Liam did not care.


    He had pretty much demonstrated everything in public and was now hanging out with three legendary beasts out in the open and one divine beast hidden in the folds of his robe. Why be shy about a high-tier spatial artifact of the same legendary grade?


    Instead, he turned his attention to thest egg and signaled for the fairy to continue the hatching process. The store manager let out a deep breath and once again prepared the incubator. His face paled as the final chunk of his funds left his card and the incubar whirred to life.


    There were no more anomalies or surprises waiting this time around and the egg smoothly hatched after a couple of minutes.


    Thest egg revealed another breathtaking creature, the Frost Wyrm. As the shell cracked and fell away, a small, serpentine form emerged, its scales shimmering with an icy sheen. The creature''s eyes opened, revealing a deep, icy blue that seemed to hold the very essence of winter. It let out a soft hiss, a mist of cold air apanying its breath. It moved with grace and fluidity, its gaze fixed on Liam.


    Liam approached the Frost Wyrm, extending his hand. The creature hesitated for a moment before moving closer, epting the silent offer ofpanionship.


    Once again a system prompt appeared in front of Liam and he selected ''Yes.''

 Chapter 1261 Lucky or Unlucky?

    Chapter 1261 Lucky or Unlucky?


    With thest of the hatching out of the way, the fairy store manager approached Liam with a look of respect on his face. "Grandmaster, your selection today has been nothing short of miraculous. The system shop is honored to have been a part of this event. If there''s anything further we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to ask."


    Liam was now a proud owner of a Phoenix, a Golden Thunderhawk, an Azure Serpent, a Star Gazer, and a Frost Wyrm. A person had actually gambled at the beast egg counter and won five impossible beast eggs! What a heaven-defying luck!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    With this the transaction wasplete and Liam was swept aside by the crowd almost immediately. "Move aside! Move aside! The Baruga n is buying the eggs!"


    "Move it bitch! I was here first!"


    "Hey butterfly, have you forgotten what young master asked you? Pack up all the eggs."


    All sorts ofmotion erupted asplete chaos ensued in the area. Everyone was pushing each other to reach the beast egg counter. The ce that no one bothered to visit and was generally considered one big scam, suddenly became so popr that every single person wanted to make multiple purchases.


    Everyone wanted a piece of the miraculous luck he had just disyed, hoping to replicate his sess.


    The fairy store manager and his staff were overwhelmed, trying to maintain order among the moring masses. The once quiet and almost deste corner of the shop was now the center of attention, with individuals from various backgrounds and powers vying for their chance at obtaining a legendary beast.


    But how could things progress smoothly? While Liam had popped one legendary beast after another, the rest did not turn out be as lucky. The few people at the front who eagerly opted for the egg scanning and waited for the result with bated breaths were utterly disappointed when their beast egg hatched into a big fat nothing.


    All sorts ofmon and rare beasts started popping out including dire wolf and mountain lion. Paying one million high grade mana cores for such trash was akin to burning up their money for fun, aka gambling.


    "Why is none of my beast eggs legendary?"


    "You have got to be kidding me! I did not even get an epic ranked beast?"


    "This isplete bullshit! You are cheating obviously! I demand my money back!"


    The discontent escted rapidly, voices of anger and frustration filling the space. The once eager faces now twisted in disappointment and rage. usations flew, directed at the store staff, the system shop, and at times, even at Liam, who had unknowingly sparked this frenzy.


    The store manager, a look of distress clear on his face, tried to calm the crowd. "Please understand, the nature of gambling means that not everyone can win. The results are entirely random, and the system shop does not influence them in any way."


    But his words were like oil to fire, inciting further uproar. Security guards struggled to maintain a semnce of order as individuals, blinded by their losses, refused to listen to reason.


    And then it happened. All of a sudden, a loud thunder p reverberated in the shop, instantly silencing the rowdy crowd. Sparks of purple lightning shed on the store ceiling and three customers who had gone overboard and dared to attack the staff were instantly zapped.


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    RUMBLE! RUMBLE!


    Everyone became dumbfounded. In a frenzy many had forgotten about the system''s punishment for going overboard on neutral areas. The system was ruthless. When the punishmentnded, their family background and world details did not matter as they were mercilessly zapped to a near death state.


    Everyone quickly backed away as even the spill over from the attack was extremely vicious. The chaos andmotionpletely died down and now three bodies groaned and moaned on the floor, no one daring to go near them.


    They were maimed so badly that no one could even see what race they belonged to or who they were. Their bodies were riddled with numerous injuried and if they were not treated immediately, they were likely to die.


    After the moment of shock, thepanions of the three bodies shrieked and ran over to them, dumping several healing items and trying to revive them. The others pitifully watched the scene.


    Slowly order resumed. People once again rushed to the beast egg counter to make purchases, though this time in an orderly fashion.


    Liam could see the twockeys of the Horned-tribe young mastere back to the counter to make another big batch of egg purchases. They were also testing all the eggs on the scanner, only to find out that results were absolutely horrible.


    The scion of the Horned-tribe apparently had enough resources to buy several batches of beast eggs one after the other, non-stop. Liam curiously eyed the newly arrived eggs but he could see that none of them had any decent soul strength like the first batch he had seen.


    A couple of eggs were epic-grade and other than that, there was nothing extraordinary. Young maser Kael''s face turned ugly as he suddenly looked like a fool who had sunk loads and loads of mana cores and got nothing in return.


    Several people snickered at his plight, taking joy in his misery. Liam was also not an exception. Several onlookers mocked him too, wondering where he was going to find resources to nurture not one but five legendary beasts.


    Many guessed that he was most probably going to be hunted down because of these very same beasts. So in the end, they called him unlucky and not lucky. Some even openly dered to take away the beasts right from his hand before he even left Nymphomania.


    Rey, Lan Deming and Madan looked uneasy, cold sweat dripping down their backs. Liam, however, remained calm. He did not mind the threats so much but the question of where he was going to find resources to nurture five legendary beasts and one Luna did indeed linger heavily in his mind.

 Chapter 1262 Filling it up

    Chapter 1262 Filling it up


    Seeing themotion, Liam decided to pay the counter another visit when things were rtively calmer and he walked away. After all, he was not done with this ce yet.


    Apart from the beast eggs, three other counters were selling questionable things. The first was a mineral ore selling counter. Big rocks were being sold for a fixed price and the content inside solely depended on the luck of the customer.


    The process was risky, with no guarantee of what might be revealed once the rock was split open. Yet, the allure of uncovering a hidden treasure drove many to invest heavily in these mystery ores.


    The second counter was simr to the mineral ore selling counter but specialized in rough, uncut gemstones. These gemstones, wrapped in mystery and potential, attracted those who hoped to unveil rare and valuable jewels within their unassuming exteriors. The prospect of finding a gem that could be worth many times the purchase price was a tantalizing gamble, one that many found hard to resist. The excitement of possibly uncovering a precious stone, hidden for ages within a in rock, was a strong allure. However, like the ore counter, there was no certainty in whaty inside these rough stones. The risk of disappointment was as high as the thrill of discovery.


    08:06


    The third counter offered something entirely different. It was a magical artifact counter, disying a variety of items. These were mysterious broken and dpidated items that were the remains of battlefields found across the myriad realms.


    The artifacts ranged from broken weapons and armor to unidentified magical objects, each with scars and marks that spoke of the intense conflicts they had witnessed.


    With minor repairs, some might be useful again while others might require a major overhaul. Irrespectively, several priceless items could be gained from this section. The repaired items could be superior grade and if unable to fix, the item can be melted and perhaps rare materials could be extracted from it. There was also a chance that these items could reveal secrets about ancient techniques, long-lost magic, or forgotten historical events.


    The challenge was in restoring and identifying these items, a task that required considerable skill and knowledge.


    Liam nned to target these counters next but he changed his n and once again made a trip to the topmost floor. He had only visited theher gathering facility until now. After hatching the pets, he had gotten the idea to visit one another facility, the astral energy gathering array. Perhaps Violet simply needed some astral energy to recuperate?


    Unfortunately, his idea did not quite pan out. He spent several hours in the room, even cranking up the array to a high dose. However, he did not get any results or rather he didn''t get the result that he wanted.


    Unexpectedly, small amounts of astral energy started circting in his body and gathering in the fruit lodged in his heart which Liam quickly started expelling. The space in the fruit was limited and he still hadn''t thought out what energies to cram it with.


    He had chosen mana,her, and ice so far, mostly out of necessity and urgency but he wanted to put some thought into the rest of theposition. An astral core was not really at the top of his list as he had no connection with it yet.


    However, now that he was bonded with not one but two astral pets, Liam decided to once again add it to the mix. This ce was an amazing opportunity toy the foundation of his nine-chamber fruit as he could easily absorb energies of different affinities into the different chambers simply by paying some mana cores.


    He might not be able to form the respective core as he would have to visit a ce with an even higher intensity of the respective energy but he could at least gather some condensed firepower and store it for emergency use.


    For instance,bining pure ice elemental energy with mana while casting an attack resulted in a much stronger magnified attack powerpared to just using mana or pure ice elemental energy. The same went forher and ice.


    As long as hebined twoplimentary energies, the resulting fusion seemed to amplify the inherent powers of each, opening up a plethora of strategic options for Liam inbat.


    After some thought and some experimenting, Liam decided to let go of the astral energy for now. He had never used it and was not proficient in it. So there was no point in wasting a chamber.


    He quickly exited the astral array room, immediately jumping into a fire elemental array room. In there, he did not hold back and gobbled up as much fire elemental energy as the fruit chamber could possibly contain.


    The array tform, aze with flickering mes and intense heat, was an ideal ce for Liam to meditate. He felt the fiery energy coursing through him, a stark contrast to the cold, freezing ice and the dark corruptingher energy he was ustomed to.


    After the fire, he next switched to the dark elemental room and then the earth elemental room, followed by the wind and the lightning elemental room. This only left him with one other temporary open space. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam decided to go with demonic energy for this one as he had used that particr one more than the others. He had an S-grade affinity for both nature element and demonic element but he had never used nature element before and he had a feeling that the demonic element would further boost hisher type attacks.


    Either way, this was a temporary decision as he could always empty the chamber by using up all of the energy gathered inside. Without a core, the replenishment wouldn''t be as fast especially if he was not in an attuned-energy world.


    With this, Liam finished his preparations for the next half of his n and stepped out of thest floor to go back into the gambling den once again.


    The store manager saw him once again wander around the floor and the fairy''s heart started thumping anxiously. What was this person going to do now?

 Chapter 1263 We are not going to get out of here alive

    Chapter 1263 We are not going to get out of here alive


    Dante gnashed his teeth in anger as he watched Liam jump from one gathering array to another without proper focus for the past several hours. He clearly was not doing anything useful as he had not even been in any room for enough time to train properly. All the guy was doing was wasting his money left and right. Now he was once again back to the gambling den. Dante''s emotions rose to the peak as he was once again reminded of the windfall the damn bastard had fallen ass first into.


    If he had this kind of luck¡­


    As he was daydreaming, Liam first walked towards the mineral ore counter. His first n was to use Violet to make some decent money in this department and amass as many rare materials as possible but now that was not going to happen.


    However, Liam still decided to give it a go. Even if Violet was not there, he was still a proud partner of four other legendary rank beasts and one Luna. Surely, these guys might be able to sniff something out?


    And thus it began. Liam did not hold back and let out all of his newly acquired beasts one after another. The group sprawled on the counter, some chirping and some slithering. Along with them, a tiny little fox also made its appearance.


    The entire counter suddenly became a spectacle. After the beast egg counter, was it now the turn of the other counters? Onlookers gathered around, their eyes wide with wonder and envy. Whispers and murmurs filled the air. Even the store manager had the same question as he hurriedly walked over to the counter, sweating profusely. "Grandmaster, you are still here? Ha Ha Ha." The fairyughed nervously.


    "Yes, I would like to make some purchases. Show me what you have."


    The store manager had a bad premonition. He pushed aside the fairy typically manning the counter and personally started showing Liam the wares. Ten huge mineral boulders appeared on the countertop the next second.


    Liam waited for a second to see if any of the beasts would respond but none did. So he shook his head. "Next."


    The store manager, now understanding what was going on became even more anxious. Though the system bans all kinds of inspection methods, some beasts still possessed an innate ability to sense materials they were attuned to.


    He had had things like this happen before and every time he had made a huge loss. Not to mention, his store had already made a huge loss. He was still walking around at the moment thanks to the fact that the loss was partly recovered from the mad rush to buy all of the eggs. But this did not mean that he was ready to take another huge loss.


    Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do. Wait, could he? The store manager once again called back the fairy who was previously manning the counter to attend to Liam and started tapping away at his system interface.


    Seeing the serious expression on the man''s face, Liam knew that something was going to happen. So he hurried along with this selection. One after other rows of mineral chunks were sniffed, poked, and prodded by his beasts, and finally on the sixth disy, Luna pointed to a boulder with her eyes shining as brightly as stars.


    [Master, I want to eat this!]


    "Got it!" Liam nodded and immediately purchased it. He went through the rest of the disy as well with the phoenix and the wyrm making their own choices. The crowd loudly booed Liam and everyone shouted that this was cheating. Though no one knew what these mineral boulders might possibly contain, these were still items selected by legendary beasts so how could it be simple?


    Unfortunately, it seemed that Liam was not in vition of any system rules. The store manager already knew this. He was not the first person to use this loophole and he wouldn''t be thest. It was just that anyone who was rich enough to bond with a legendary beast generally did not waste their time on the gambling floor. So there was no reason for him to do anything about it.


    Of course, except for this entric Grandmaster who acted as an exception. The store manager did not know what this sort of a person was still doing in a system shop or at least in his shop.


    He sighed and continued working on something to put a stop once and for all to loopholes like this. He was going to apply to the system to change the very rules of the gambling den! N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Meanwhile, Liam had already made his selections. With the help of the little baby monsters, he selected ten boulders and paid the money for them. Naturally, there was a public reveal feature for this counter too and Liam once again made the crowd bleed in envy as one S-rank material after another was revealed when the boulders were split apart in the system refiner.


    There was even an SS-rank material in the mix, the one that Luna wanted to devour. Right in front of everyone''s eyes, the little fox directly jumped onto the piping hot semi-liquid processed metal chunk and directly gulped down the whole thing.


    The others were more obedient and waited for Liam''s instructions. Liam casually tossed everyone back into his spatial artifact along with the processed materials and asked them to do whatever they wanted inside.


    Every single person in the crowd stared daggers at Liam. If there was someone on the floor who did not hate Liam, now even that person seethed in anger and envy.


    "Bro¡­ we are not going to get out of here alive¡­" Rey inched closer to Liam afraid that one of these angry brutes would lose it and take it out on them. There were several bloodshot eyes staring at them with open hatred.


    However, Liam remained calm. "It doesn''t matter. We will never step out of the system shop."

 Chapter 1264 Payback time

    Chapter 1264 Payback time


    "Are you sure, bro? There won''t be any other problems?" Rey was still nervous. Even though Liam''s n seemed to be pretty straightforward, who knew what these hundreds of bloodthirsty eyes ring at them were thinking at the moment, what vicious ns were they concocting¡­


    "Don''t worry. I have also nned a surprise in case someone is thinking of doing something funny." Liam nodded. He did not waste time. After finishing up with the mineral boulder counter, he immediately walked over to the gemstone counter and essentially repeated the same thing.


    The parade of eye-catching legendary beasts sniffed out some decent haul as the group aroused mass discontent, anger, and envy among the crowd. He even brought out his sword again which helped him make some more lucky guesses.


    The ck dragon sword''sst seal was not broken yet. And the thing that was needed to break this seal was nothing but gemstones, a lot of them. So on this counter, the sword turned out to be much more helpful than the legendary beasts.


    The prideful dragons only responded to the top-quality merchandise that they wanted to devour and Liam without any dy bundled up everything and immediately purchased them, using almost all of the funds he and Dante had.


    By the time he was done theirbined reserves ran dry but he did not care about that. He had gained a lot on this trip. The same couldn''t be said for Dante who was shedding tears of blood. If his bank ount being emptied was the first blow to his groin, then watching this tyrant grab one windfall after another was the second blow that twisted his balls.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The only entity that was more angered than Dante was coincidentally the ck dragon sword. The truth was Liam never nned to feed the required gemstones to the sword. He long since had the required amount of gemstones to unlock thest seal as the quality did not matter to a certain extent for this. However, he will never survive the sh against the numerous ck dragon souls in his current condition.


    The opening of thest seal would have to wait until he gained his soul strength back. Liam tossed the sword back into the hilt after the use.


    With a nod to the store manager fairy, Liam turned to leave. As the final selection was made at the gemstone counter, he turned his attention to thest counter, the artifact counter.


    The store manager who was close to losing it, gritted his teeth and jogged on over.


    In the beginning, he had been very cordial to Liam but now he couldn''t wait for the damned guy to get out of his shop. Unfortunately for him, Liam did not look like he was going to stop any time soon.


    Liam did not take out the ck dragon sword now as he knew that the sword wouldn''t cooperate. He could only rely on his legendary beasts once again to make some choices though they were also not that reliable in this department.


    In the end, he did not buy anything from the first few disys. Liam reluctantly decided to leave this one empty-handed when thest tray full of artifacts was disyed for him, and his eyes suddenly lit up. A soul! He actually sensed a soul from one of the items in front of him!


    Liam''s gaze hurriedly scanned the items, to quicklynd on something that looked like a broken bell.


    The bell was small and unassuming, its surface marred with cracks and battle scars, but to Liam, it was the most intriguing object on the tray. He observed it carefully and without a mistake it had a lick of soul still desperately clinging onto it.


    "I will buy this." He immediately made the purchase. This time, however, there was no inspection facility or public reveal option avable. So he had to figure out the rest on his own.


    Liam did not mind. In fact, he preferred to analyze this particr one on his own. If he could somehow capture this lick of soul sticking to the artifact, the knowledge that he could recover could potentially outweigh anything he had gained up until now.


    The soul was definitely something dpidated, at least centuries old. He could feel how it was so close to getting destroyed and was worn and torn by the wheels of time. He carefully ced the item in the spatial artifact.


    He let out a sigh as with this, the second part of his n was fullypleted. He no longer paid any attention to the gambling counters. The store manager also sighed in relief but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Liam walking towards the fighting pits.


    The fighting pits, known for their brutal and high-stakes battles, were a popr attraction for those seeking both entertainment and a chance to prove their strength.


    Liam approached the registration desk, his legendary beasts trailing behind him, drawing stares and whispers from the crowd. The staff at the desk looked up, their expressions changing from surprise to shock as they eyed one legendary beast after another.


    "Grandmaster, you are going to fight with these tamed pets?" The fairy gulped and nervously asked.


    But Liam firmly shook his head. "No. They are just babies."


    "Ah." The fairy realized that in her shock she overlooked something so obvious and quickly apologized. However, the next second, a small cute fox popped up in front of her.


    "I will be registering this one." The fairy becamepletely speechless. She silently finished the process, wondering what the person was up to taking one of the baby beasts to battle in the pits.


    On the other hand, the rest of the crowd on the floor was in an uproar. What they were eagerly waiting for had finally happened! Liam was finally registering in the fighting pits!


    It would have been even better if he had registered personally but his tamed beast had to do for now. Many beings were captured by the looks of the cute adorable fox. Unfortunately, the son had to pay for the father''s sins.

 Chapter 1265 I am just a cute little fox

    Chapter 1265 I am just a cute little fox


    A huge wave ofmotion erupted on the gambling floor. Many beings were utterly vexed and frustrated with Liam.


    The hard-core gamblers of Nymphomania especially wore ugly faces as they watched him win one rare material after another, grabbing every single good thing on the floor. While they were drowning in debts and bad luck, this bitch was having a lucky streak and anything he touched was gold. But now his lucky streak was going to end. They were going to end it. This was a perfect opportunity to take it all out on him.


    In a second almost a stampede urred as many beings rushed towards the fighting pits to register their tamed beasts for battle. They were finally going to get back for everything that they had lost!


    "I will be first!"


    "My firehound will pummel that little thing! I am going up first."


    "Bastard, don''t stand in my way. I won''t be able to sleep tonight if I don''t thrash that annoying asshole into a pile of dough and bake him into a hot bun."


    Soon, the first match was arranged. The fighting pits of the system shop typically ran on a unique set of rules. Only one-on-one battles were allowed, with no interference from the outside. The beasts had to fight within their own power, without any external aid from their owners. This rule ensured a fair and square fight, testing the true mettle of the creatures involved.


    The fights were arranged in the order that the participants registered.


    Andstly, the opponent was chosen at random!


    It looked like the owner of a massive, burly creature with scales like armor and eyes filled with malice was the lucky winner. The humongous thing that somewhat resembled a golem walked onto the battle area with heavy thudded steps. Every step it took echoed like thunder sending shivers down the onlookers'' spines. The creature clearly excelled at strength and endurance and this type of a beast was a strong opponent.


    The behemoth of raw power and durability, positioned itself in the arena, its eyes ring fiercely towards the other entry gate. Its owner, a burly being with a confident smirk, watched with smug satisfaction, certain of his beast''s impending victory.


    The crowd''s gaze also shifted to the other entry gate, awaiting the opponent. Whispers and bets circted rapidly, with many doubting the small creature''s ability to stand against such a formidable opponent. Some even spected that Liam might somehow cheat at thest second.


    Then, the gate opened, and the fox emerged, its fur shimmering under the bright lights of the arena. It was small, especially inparison to its hulking adversary. She trotted over happily to stand in front of the huge thing, not a speck of fear in her eyes.


    The two beasts red at each other silently. The battle itself took ce in a special restricted area where both the beasts would be shortly teleported to. The system also ensured an even battle style where the levels of the tamed beasts were restricted and their stats were forcibly adjusted to a particr degree. This made sure that both of the beasts had a fighting chance irrespective of how old they were and how long they had been trained.


    Soon the system initialized the teleportation, and a hush fell over the crowd. The teleportation waspleted, and the beasts found themselves in a vast arena, simted to mimic a natural battlefield with nothing on the ground. Everyone pped in glee at the lucky bastard''s misery as now his fox did not even have a chance to hide behind anything andunch a surprise attack. Everything wasid bare out in the open.


    The golem, with its formidable size and strength, took the initiative, charging toward the fox with thunderous steps. Its owner watched eagerly, confident in its beast''s brute force. He wanted an immediate and undisputable victory.


    However, to everyone''s shock, the fox did not even bother moving. She only let out a yawn, stretching her bodyzily. The attitude on the little thing was akin to a young master from a heaven-blessed family as she arrogantly eyed the big brute.


    Something was definitely wrong. And the instant the huge fist of the golemnded on the fox, everyone understood that this was not going to progress in the way that they wanted.


    As the heavy fistnded with an impressive speed, almost creating a crater on the spot it had hit, the little fox''s figure vanished and appeared in another ce. "You are stupid!" Luna growled.


    The beast snorted, rage and anger building up inside it. Its malice-filled eyes locked onto the fox, wanting to tear the thing apart but Luna continued to casually toy with the thing.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Come and catch me."


    "Come and catch me."


    "I am here."


    "I am there."


    The big brute was no match for the little fox as she made him runps around the battlefield. Outside, the beast tamer was livid with anger. He turned to Liam and started shouting. "If you are looking for a battle of attrition, then you are going to be very disappointed! My beast will show you the difference between heaven and earth!"


    Liam sighed as he rubbed his temples. The thoughts running in his mind werepletely different. The little fox was bing more and more naughty. Was this her rebellious childhood phase? Why was she unnecessarily dragging the fight?


    Though he was nervous about the multitude of beasts that spanned the entirety of the myriad realms, he was not in the least worried about the current one. The beast did not even know how to hide its aura while Luna perfectly hid hers.


    Judging from the speed and strength of the first hit, the oue of the fight was already clear to Liam. The only thing that he did not know was why his little girl was acting out!


    Liam''s face twitched as the little fox ran rampant on the battleground, shaking and wiggling her butt at the massive grotesque golem.

 Chapter 1266 A scary little fox

    Chapter 1266 A scary little fox


    Utterly humiliated, and fueled by rage and frustration, the golem charged with reckless abandon, its movements growing more erratic and less calcted. Meanwhile, Luna continued her yful antics, dodging with ease and even asionally pausing to mock the golem, much to the crowd''s amusement and the owner''s chagrin.


    The audience who were rooting against the little fox was now thoroughly entertained by the spectacle. Cheers andughter echoed through the arena, as the once fearsome golem became the butt of the joke, clumsily trying to catch the cute little fox.


    "Look at that thing go! It''s like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands!" someone shouted from the crowd, eliciting moreughter.


    "That brute better not catch that cute fur ball!" Another one shot a re at the owner.


    Liam, still rubbing his temples, couldn''t help but feel amazed at Luna''s talent. As a divine beast, her charm was not something to be underestimated. But¡­ she was still ying around.


    Sigh. Liam shook his head. He knew she was capable of ending the fight quickly, but it seemed she was having too much fun toying with her opponent.


    Finally, after several minutes of the one-sided chase, Luna seemed to grow bored. With a swift movement, almost too fast for the eye to see, she darted behind the golem and struck it at a critical point. The impact was light, but the precision was impable.


    The golem staggered, a momentary look of confusion crossing its features before it copsed to the ground, knocked out and defeated. The arena erupted in cheers and apuse, many people converted into fans of the naughty little fox.


    The match ended just like that and the two beasts were teleported back to the gambling floor fighting pits. Luna trotted back towards Liam, her tail wagging happily as she received a round of apuse and admiration from the crowd.


    Liam bent down to pat her head, his lips curving up in amusement. "Well done, Luna," he said softly, "though you really didn''t have to drag it out that long."


    Luna simply looked up at him and gave a sheepish grin, her eyes gleaming with mischief and satisfaction.


    Many peopleughed at this heartwarming interaction. It took them a minute toe back to reality when they remembered just how much they hated this damned person!


    Naturally, not everyone was frivolous enough to forget about their grudge. The golem-type beast might have lost considering how it seemed like aplete idiot but not everyone raised idiots as beasts.


    Watching Liam walk over to register once again, many others jumped to register again topete against the lucky guy.


    He could feel the weight of many eyes on him, some filled with begrudging respect, others with undisguised hostility. Liam did not mind. The more the merrier. The betting was off the charts and the odds against him were pretty high, making him richer every time he won, lining his pockets heavily.


    Soon, it was time for the next fight and this time a man with a scar running along the side of his face walked to the desk. His beast, a hulking lupine creature with scales that shimmered like moltenva, stood beside him, exuding an aura of raw power.


    The two beasts entered the fighting pits and soon after were teleported into the battle arena which was a dense forest this time.


    The dense forest arena presented a starkly different challenge from the open, unobstructed space of the previous battles. The thick foliage and shadowy underbrush offered ample hiding spots and opportunities for an ambush, a setting that could benefit or hinder either beast depending on their skills and strategies.


    As the battlemenced, the wolf did not waste any time and acted first. It used its powerful legs to leap into the dense underbrush, disappearing from view. The next second rustling sounds and snapping of twigs started emerging from here and there. It was clear that the wolf was moving at an incredible speed but the creature was almost impossible to locate.


    This sort of speed was way beyond just higher stats and was only possible if the beast was using the power of a Dao seed. "Dao seed of lightness¡­" Liam made a guess.


    To make matters worse, the wolf quickly had Luna cornered as it started running around her in circles. Its high speed and agility made its movements appear like a blur around her. But the real danger next arrived.


    All of a sudden, the beast extended its paw and sent out a powerful attack towards the center. A burst of energy in the form of a w emanated from the beast''s paw, shooting towards Luna with astonishing speed and precision.


    Luna moved and the w missed her but it struck a nearby tree, cutting it down in half, fire licking the edges of the broken trunk. The wolf did not care that its attack was dodged. Instead, the beast continued running around Luna as it sent multiple w attacks in the same fashion, each causing significant damage to the surrounding forest. Trees were sliced, the underbrush was shredded, and the ground was torn apart. The wolf''s relentless assault created a chaotic environment, turning the once dense and serene forest into a battleground of destruction.


    Moreover, all of this happened in an instant. The crowd held their breath as they couldn''t help but worry about the little fox caught amid the ferocious onught.


    The fox, however, was seemingly very calm. She only made little moves to evade the attacks, making it seem as if she almost did not move at all.


    But before long, she finally made her move. The little fox let out a yawn as she suddenly vanished from the spot she was sprawled on. Everyone peeled their eyes to see where she was when someone pointed out that she was flying.


    The next second, her little mouth opened, and from within emerged¡­ a sea of mes.


    Everyone gasped. The attacks and firepower they had witnessed up until now were nothing in front of the magnificent sea of mes that engulfed the arena. How could something so terrifying emerge from that little mouth?


    This fox was not cute at all. It was a scary beast from hell!


    The match ended instantly, a system-created barrier blocking the attack and protecting the wolf. Otherwise, the poor beast would have been burnt to a crisp.


    The two beasts were immediately teleported back to the fighting pits, and the crowd stood dumbfounded. The cute fox was extremely deadly. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    After the second match, everyone started looking at the lucky Grandmaster and his fox in a different light. A few others still registered to battle it out against Liam but nothing changed. Luna continued to thrash one beast after another, mercilessly burning herpetition and dominating the arena.


    However, when twenty matches werepleted, the fairy manning the registration desk shook her head with a bitter smile. "I am sorry. You have met the maximum number of matches allowed for one participant in a single day," she informed Liam.


    Liam, understanding the rules, nodded in eptance. He looked down at Luna, who seemed disappointed that their string of battles wasing to an end for the day. "You know what to do." He chuckled helplessly at the little furball who quietly disappeared within his robe.


    Though this little endeavor had been a headache, they had managed to gain a decent chunk of mana cores, enough to buy one legendary item from the lower floor. Unfortunately, after the first two victories, the odds were skewed and they did not gain much from winning. No one was willing to bet against them.


    There was also the other thing that Liam observed. They were no longer on Earth but in Nymphomania, an entirely different world but their opponents weren''t really all that strong. It was clear that the popce visiting this ce wasn''t particrly exceptional. The truly strong were perhaps busy improving themselves in better ces. Thinking about this Liam''s heartbeat quickened. If they were able to gain so much from a ce like this, then how much would they advance in an actual treasurednd?


    He had already had one such encounter when he was unknowingly stranded in the elven world. One more opportunity like that was all he needed topletely mend himself and return to the peak of his power.


    Liam''s mind raced to the teleportation tokens that were avable to the different worlds. Maybe that day wouldn''t be too far.


    Liam''s gaze shifted to the next counter he had in his mind, the real fighting pits. He calmly walked over to it and registered his name. Once again, there was a loud uproar on the floor. Many with bloodshot eyes walked over to also register for the fights. This time the bastard was going to personally pay for all the heartache that he had caused.


    These people had already witnessed the strength of Liam''s tamed beast but they did not seem to care. When his first match started, Liam understood why. The opponent standing in front of him was definitely a Transcendent, someone a whole rank above him. Someone who had already crossed the 1000 level.

 Chapter 1267 A coward

    Chapter 1267 A coward


    The air in the fighting pits was thick with tension as Liam faced off against the first opponent. The crowd''s excitement was palpable; some were eager to witness a fierce battle, while others yearned for Liam''s downfall.


    Standing across from his formidable opponent, Liam''s expression remained serene, a stark contrast to the tempestuous atmosphere.


    Liam instantly knew that the person in front of him was a rank above him because the person did not bother to restrain his aura, emitting a rich intense aura, rife with killing intent. His [Inspect] skill also did not work. The rules of the arena made sure that thebatant''s identity and name were not revealed but it was still possible to gauge the other person''s level. So if he was not able to scan the level of the opponent using his skill, it could only mean that he was at least a stage above his rank.


    However, Liam was not worried. This was exactly why he was here. Within the safety of the fighting ring and the death protection by the system, he would be able to fight and gain experience against an opponent much stronger than him.


    And of course, get some money while doing so.


    As Liam was gauging his opponent, the towering figure with an air of confidence, smirked at him. "You''re brave for stepping up against someone like me," he taunted, his voice echoing through the arena. "But your luck ends here." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''Luck? That same word again.'' Liamughed internally. Since when had he been lucky? The bell rang and the fight started. Immediately somethingpletely unexpected happened.


    Liam''s field of vision blurred as several things started rapidly moving around him. Towering spikes started jutting out from the ground and in the blink of an eye, he found himself standing in the midst of what looked like a forest of spikes.


    However, when he looked closely, each of these were not simple spikes, they were spears!


    Hmmm. Liam frowned. He had never encountered anything like this before.


    These were not ordinary spears. They were manifestations of his opponent''s power, likely infused with some kind of energy or magic. He could feel intense power emanating from each of the spears. Each spear bristled with a dangerous aura, and he could tell that even the slightest touch would be catastrophic.


    It only took him a second and Liam''s eyes widened in realization. Was this the manifestation of the opponent''s dao field? This was the obvious exnation as this was the main thing that separated an awakened from a transcendent.


    Liam''s brain whirred as he observed the scenery around him and many things clicked into ce. Observing another person''s skill was an opportunity and Liam was quick to seize it. He started moving, dodging the spears with fluidity and grace, quickly getting out of the area of their effect.


    And then to the opponent''s surprise, he disappeared into thin air, clearly activating a stealth-type skill. Instead, in his ce, a small fox appeared.


    Liam let out a sigh, his figure remaining hidden. He could sense the disappointment of the opponent. He too was disappointed.


    In reality, Liam wanted to fight against the guy badly. This was the first time after a long while that he was facing an opponent without the threat of death looming on his neck. He wanted to fight freely and experience the thrill of the battle. Unfortunately, making a single move at this point or perhaps even taking his sword out would prove fatal to his long-term ns.


    Liam could feel it. He was only an inch away from breaking through to the Transcendent rank, crossing the 1000 barrier. This was a risk he was not willing to take.


    He came here well aware of the risk and his original n was to simply forfeit if this kind of situation arose but Luna yelped mentally like a rabid little animal, wanting to fight on his behalf. The furball did not want to be left behind in the awakened rank when he crossed the threshold to the next stage. She was working extremely hard and Liam did not want to stand in her way.


    As Liam''s figurepletely vanished, the little fox barred her teeth and sprang forward. The audience saw this incredulous sight and loudly booed Liam. He was going to send a tamed beast to fight in his stead? What a coward!


    But things were finally clear to everyone now. The mysterious lucky Grandmaster wasn''t anything to begin with. He was simply a figurehead with a bunch of powerful beasts. Sneers appeared on many faces as it wasmon knowledge what happened to men like this who did not have any personal strength. Their ending was already fixed.


    Sooner orter, they would only be ughtered and their prized possessions stripped from them.


    Only Rey and Madan exchanged bitter nces as they knew how ridiculous these people sounded. If Liam was a person who relied on his beasts, then what were they?


    Back in the arena, Luna nimbly moved as she evaded the pulsing power radiating from the numerous spears. Her teleportation skill wasn''t working for some reason so she was physically speeding through the battlefield.


    She also couldn''t fly freely as the spears were a lot more congested at the top, making it more convenient for her to move on the ground than fly. However, the other party was not done yet.


    Before Luna could reach him or even get in his vicinity, the spears started emitting disorienting vibrations. The next second, countless spear attacks started raining over Luna from all directions. They were both vertical and horizontal and soon they started appearing from random directions making it extremely hard to dodge.


    Attacks were being emitted from the materialized dao spears and each one of them held significant power. This move was on apletely different level than all the previous opponents they had faced. Even Liam was worried if the little fox would be fine in such a state.


    Though the arena provided him with a protection bubble in case his health bottomed out, the same did not apply to Luna. So Liam was prepared to call it any time now. He was also ready to step in and erect protection barriers in case things took a sudden turn.


    Only Luna was adamant about her stance. She shouted mentally that she was not done yet and kept going. Numerous spears targeted her from all sides, each one a deadly threat. Luna''s movements, while impressive, were pushed to their limits. She darted, ducked, and weaved through the storm of spears. But her small body was hit left and right as she was unable to evade all of them.


    Or rather any of them. In a second, she waspletely skewered by these spears in all directions. The opponent did not intend to show any mercy and was going all out.


    But the next Instant, a powerful aura erupted from her small body making the forest of spears rattle and tremble.


    Luna once again opened her little mouth and from within emerged a sea of mes. The raw power and intensity of the mes shed against the iing spears, grinding down their power.


    The arena was engulfed in a whirlwind of energy, the mes and the spears shing in a spectacr disy. Each spear that tried to pierce through was either melted or deflected by the sheer force of Luna''s fiery breath.


    The audience, initially shocked by Luna''s precarious situation, now watched in awe as the tiny fox held her own against the overwhelming onught. The mes she emitted weren''t just any ordinary fire; they were imbued with a powerful energy that burnt the dao born spear images to a crisp.


    In the midst of the chaos, the tall robed man, realizing that his attack was being neutralized, attempted to intensify the assault. The spears began to move faster, their vibrations growing more erratic and unpredictable. But Luna was undeterred. Her eyes gleamed with a determined light, and her movements became more fluid and adaptive. Though her energy reserves seemed to be getting depleted at a fast rate, she somehow held on, panting and heaving.


    She was not even close to giving up.


    However, her opponent this time was not a wolf whose enlightenment in the Dao was lesser than her. This man''s spear mastery was high. The fox guessed that his mastery was probably several times higher than her master''s sword mastery.


    But she had other cards in her arsenal. Luna''s eyes lit up as a purple gleam appeared within them along with the fiery red burning mes. She opened her mouth once again and another sea of mes erupted. This time, the mes had a purple tint to them.


    The poisonous mes did little to nothing to the dao spears surrounding her but the swaths of poisonous smoke that emerged from the attack was enough to corrupt the air around them.


    The man howled in pain, his concentration broken. The forest of spears dissipated as his control faltered. He staggered, trying to shake off the fox, but it was toote. The venom was swift, his movements slowing, his vision blurring.


    With a final effort, he tried tounch a counterattack, but his strength was sapped, his movements sluggish. Luna easily evaded, her eyes gleaming triumphantly. The moment the dao field weakened, she immediately activated blur and teleported right behind the robed man. Even before the spear in his hand could speak, she tackled him and mauled him in a frenzy, feasting savagely on the blood of the high-ranked transcendent.


    c71241599ffa2342522e9fa0e93245a9b77279a7b89d8342071b2e9f762bbd76743764a3b0075ee961d83801d2020f144cec167bc7f3b34a95a5b958420a3

 Chapter 1268 We are leaving

    Chapter 1268 We are leaving


    Blood sttered everywhere and finally, the person who was revealed as a beastkin was saved by the system when a shining golden bubble covered him, protecting him from the rabid fox.


    Many among the crowd gulped subconsciously as they stared at the vicious little creature who was under the hide of the cute furball. Just what the hell was this fox? A mutant variant of the firefox?


    Under the eyes of the many, Liam and Luna walked out of the fighting pits unscathed. A huge sum of money was instantly deposited in their ount. To everyone''s surprise, instead of registering for another match like he had done previously, Liam walked right out of the area, seemingly done with fighting.


    "Bro? You are not going to go again?" Rey asked.


    "No." Liam nodded. "I have a reason but you three should continue to queue up and gain more experience." He handed him a ring filled with all sorts of healing items. "Let me know if you need more."


    "Can I also have some?" A familiar voice interrupted their conversation and a sheepishly smiling elf waltzed towards them.


    Liam indifferently watched Eldrin walk over without any expression on his face. But the elf was shameless enough to ignore his stare. "He He. I knew you guys were here. I heard that someone new was stirring things up in the system shop. See. I knew I could find you guys easily. We did not even have to set up some sort of meeting point or time."


    Hearing him, Rey and Madan rolled their eyes but they remained silent. More importantly, the group paid attention to the two figures standing behind him. From their looks they seemed to be nymphs. However, their faces were covered.


    "My new ves. My new ves." Eldrin quickly exined.


    Rey and Madan immediately widened their eyes as they stared at the elf. Not only did he abandon them when he wanted and show up when he wanted but he was also boasting in front of them now?


    But there was a small movement from the two nymphs as soon as Eldrin introduced them as ves and it did not escape Liam''s eyes. He observed them from top to bottom and their figure exuded grace and elegance, and their bodies perfectly proportioned and seductive enough to tantalize many men. He couldn''t sense any auraing from them. They might as well be mortals which only made them more suspicious.


    More importantly, they were associated with the crafty elf. Liam knew better than to think of the elf as a frivolous wastrel. When he had abandoned them earlier, he wondered what was going on but now he was sure. The elf''s disappearance had something to do with these two. These two nymphs were definitely not ordinary.


    But that was not his concern at the moment. Perhaps a future headache. Right now he had more pressing matters at hand.


    All of a sudden he stopped ignoring the elf and stepped forward to give him a hug. "You came at a good time. We need to talk about the auction. I have a lot of new materials gathered up."


    "Huh?" Eldrin was confused.


    "Let''s not talk here." Liam pulled the guy along as the two of them started walking out of the floor, leaving behind a dumbfounded Rey, Madan and Dante.


    Liam then turned to look at Dante. "You are noting?"


    "Ah¡­" Dante stammered and shuffled his feet to quickly catch up to the group. They continued walking to one of the private meeting rooms where Liam silently sat down without exining anything.


    "So we are not attending the auction?" Eldrin grinned as he casuallyid back on the chair. Liam''s single action told him everything that he needed to know. "But don''t you think that your strategy is too obvious? They are definitely going to make a n for it."


    "Hmmm." Liam slightly hummed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You have a n for that too, I presume."


    "Let''s see."


    Eldrin sighed. He had already hitched his wagon to this lunatic and now there was no other choice. If Liam went up, he would also go up. If he went down, then¡­ of course, he had some of his own ns to not go down along with him.


    The next few days went by uneventfully. Each day Liam spent some time browsing through the system shop andbing through various departments. He then visited the appraisal counter to get a few items examined. Lastly, he visited the gambling den and checked out all the counters, ending his day with pet battles. Apart from one or two purchases, he did not make any big moves either.


    It was clear that he was simply gathering funds at the moment and trying to amass as much as he could from the system shop. Even his action of getting many many items appraised proved that he was definitely attending the auction.


    By now his fame or rather his infamy had also spread so much that many local powerhouses even tried to arrange meeting with him within the system shop itself. They offered to buy out all of his goods at premium rate.


    Liam politely refused these people under the premises that he needed a lot of resources at the moment and would prefer auctioning the items than selling them. This angered a few powerhouses further but also drove in the point that he was definitely attending the auction house.


    Days passed by in a simr fashion when three days before the auction, Liam sent messages to Rey, Madan and Lan Deming. The three hurried over to find Liam and Dante already waiting for them on the teleportation portals floor.


    "We are leaving." Liam abruptly said. Everyone nodded, understanding the n. The group walked over when a set of rushed footsteps approached them. "He he. My lord, don''t leave without me. I can pay for my own teleportation fees." It was Eldrin who hurriedly jogged over. Following him were the two nymphs, their faces covered yet again.

 Chapter 1269 Checkmate

    Chapter 1269 Checkmate


    Liam did not say anything and continued walking. They soon arrived at the specific room and saw that there were four fairies at the entrance as opposed to the one stationed outside previously.


    Everyone''s face changed as they could instantly feel that something was amiss. When they opened the door and entered inside, the proof was staring right at their faces.


    Inside the teleportation portals room, a group of beastkin stood with hostile expressions on their faces as if they were waiting to skewer anyone who entered.


    Liam''s gaze swept over the group. Two of them were even busy tapping away at their system interfaces and whispering something in hushed tones, clearly sending messages.


    Ignoring them, Liam directly approached the fairy in charge of the teleportation portals though he could guess what was going to happen.


    "I am sorry for the inconvenience, Grandmaster. The teleportation portals are currently upied and cannot be used."


    "How is that possible? Aren''t the teleportation portals a system shop''s main feature?"


    "I-" The fairy began to exin when suddenly a loud rm sounded and a red screen shed in front of everyone.


    [Ding! System Shop Maintenance Initiated. Please use the nearest exit to vacate the system shop]


    [Ding! System Shop Maintenance Initiated. Please use the nearest exit to vacate the system shop]


    [Ding! System Shop Maintenance Initiated. Please use the nearest exit to vacate the system shop]


    [Ding! System Shop Maintenance Initiated. Please use the nearest exit to vacate the system shop]


    Liam swiped the notification away but it kept popping up again and again. Not just that but all of a sudden the fairies started escorting everyone out of the respective floors onto the ground floor and then out of the main exit.


    It looked like the other party had finally made their move!


    Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming started panicking. Eldrin had a big frown on his face and even the two nymphs standing behind him were visibly nervous. Only Dante had a big old smile on his face.


    "Who asked you to mess with big shots and show off? You should have kept your balls inside your panties and silently ran back to the shit hole where you came from." Dante loudlyughed. Nothing he was saying was actually wrong so the system contract did not even punish him.


    Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming stared at him seethingly. "Bro, how can they do this? What maintenance bullshit? They are doing all of this just to corner us!" Rey was furious. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "With this, we cannot use the teleportation portals and we also have to exit the system shop. We will be left vulnerable on the streets where anyone can attack us. They got us." Madan frowned.


    "Theypletely blocked all of our exits." Lan Deming shook his head.


    However, Eldrin alone did not agree. "You are wrong. We still have a way. I am sure your guild leader is nning to use that."


    Liam nodded. "Let''s go. The system is asking us to get out so we need to leave before this ce triggers some sort of offensive arrays."


    "And once we are outside. Stick close to me. Very close to me."


    As Liam, Rey, Madan, Lan Deming, Dante, Eldrin, and the two nymphs climbed down the many floors of the system shop, the reality of their situation was hitting them harder and harder with each floor, the closer they got to the main exit.


    Several other beings descended alongside them, all of them either casting knowing sneers or pitiful nces at the group. It was almost as if everyone couldn''t wait to get out of the shop and im the first-row seat to the fantastical show that was about to go down.


    As the group reached the ground floor, several fairies had gathered around, sending everyone out. Liam''s gaze brieflynded on the fairy store manager. The man looked apologetic. Under the weight of Liam''s gaze, he stammered slightly. "I am sorry for the inconvenience. This is a routine system maintenance evacuation. My hands are tied."


    "Sure." Liam chuckled. He still looked calm andposed. He knew things would eventually boil down to this one way or the other. The fairies in the system shop were bound to some rules but they also had some leeway to pull hailmarys out of their asses just like this one.


    Hadn''t Tilia done something simr for him? So how could Liam not factor in this particr variable? He, in fact, did and was also prepared for it.


    The group stood at the entrance of the system shop. As they peered out, they could already see the dense crowd standing around in the street. The previously quiet street was now upied like a festival, teeming with people of various races and backgrounds, all eager to witness the unfolding drama.


    Each and every single one of them was a vulture waiting to feast on the meat of their dead bodies, hoping to pick out something tasty before the bigger predator snatched everything for itself.


    "We are fucked." Rey craned his neck and yet he couldn''t see where the crowd ended.


    Madan already started summoning all of his pets. The past few days of training in the fighting pits had helped him make tremendous progress in his path.


    Even though it seemed like they were all screwed, he was determined not to go down without at least taking some of them down with him.


    It was one thing to fight against insect swarms when they werepletely outnumbered but these were all not mere insects. They were seasoned veteranbatants, probably with a lot more experience whenpared to them.


    How could they possibly fight their way out of this mess?


    As if reading everyone''s thoughts, Liam fished out something from his robe. "We won''t be doing any fighting. Like I said before, stick close to me when we step out. Don''t do anything. Just stick close to me and I will take care of everything."


    The others did not understand what was happening but Eldrin''s eyes shed with glee. "You prepared an instantaneous teleportation token. Thank you, my Lord."


    Eldrin knew that these were expensive as hell and one would have to blow out a huge crater in their funds to purchase one. But on the plus side, all these bugs waiting to dig into their blood would only have to watch while they teleport away easily.


    Liam had indeed thought of everything. With this, their safe trip was all but guaranteed.


    Liam took a step outside and the group followed. The next second, the token in his hand glowed brightly. Eldrin grinned. Dante gaped in shock.


    However... nothing happened.


    Absolutely nothing at all happened.

 Chapter 1270 No way out?

    Chapter 1270 No way out?


    "The token is not working?" Eldrin''s face instantly changed. After Liam, he was the fastest to catch on and his face paled as he stared at the humongous unruly crowd, waiting to devour them wholly.


    "This... this is impossible," he muttered, hisposure finally cracking. Liam inspected the token closely, but it was clear ¨C the token was activated, yet they remained firmly rooted in ce. Something was wrong. Something that he hadn''t taken into ount before.


    He froze for a moment before he quickly regained his calm as he started churning the energies gathered inside his heart fruit. A dozen attacks flew at them but Liam was faster, as he erected one barrier after another, swiftly blocking most attacks.


    By now most of the crowd realized what had happened and everyone geared up to take their shot. Rey, Madan and Lan Deming did not stand still and they too started assisting Liam in blocking the attacks being hurled at them.


    But how could a mere five party team and Dante and two mortal nymphs defend against the slew of attacks aimed at them by numerous powerful beings? Most of them were awakened but clearly some of them were a step higher at the transcendent stage. They werepletely surrounded on all sides, except for their backs that was still against the system shop.


    When someone exited the system shop they had four seconds of immunity exactly for this kind of reason and their time had already run out. Every second now was only making their situation more and more perilious.


    Rey, still in shock, mumbled, "How can this be? They blocked the teleportation token too?"


    Madan nodded solemnly. "It seems they''ve thought of everything. We''re dealing with someone who doesn''t want us to escape at any cost."


    Eldrin stepped closer to Liam. "Any other tricks up your sleeve?"


    "You guys are utterly screwed." Dante jeered.


    Eldrin snorted at him. "What do you think is going to happen to you when we go down?"


    Dante''s face changed. He would have tried to run away if not for the fact that the hungry monsters in front of them would instantly devour him without caring whether he was rted to these lunatics or not. He had been roaming around with them for the past few days and that was enough to make himplicit.


    "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. We are going to get fucking sted to the moon!" He clutched his head, wondering why he was sucked into this mess for no reason.


    Not just Dante, but panic started to set in among the rest of the group. They were standing in the open, exposed and vulnerable, with a sea of hostile faces surrounding them. A barrage of attacks were falling on them with Liam alone fending them off single-handedly. However, he did not have infinite mana supply.


    Liam turned to quickly shove a few trinkets to the elf standing near him. "Quick. Equip them and activate the defense barriers." Eldrin gasped at Liam''s collection of items, recognising the workmanship. These were clearly looted from his own world. They were powerful enough to buy them a few seconds but long could they possibly hold on by relying on mana barriers and trinkets?


    Eldrin''s gaze shifted to the little fox who was busy erecting fire walls that mmed down on the crowd closest to them. The fire was clearly imbued with the greater dao of the fire elemental as it held tremendous power and sted away anyone who was not prepared to handle the aftermath.


    But her actions did not give him any respite. Why was this beast not conjuring another portal? Whny was she fighting? He then remembered the two talking about some sort of cool down.


    Fuck! Are we really screwed? His gaze darted to the monster living in human hide once again. Surely, Liam had some sort of a n?


    However, to his dismay, Liam only seemed to be interested in erecting mana barriers and trying to activate the same teleportation token again and again. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Eldrin''s eyes went wide. The elf''s shifty eyes darted here and there in themotion, searching for something, anything when he finally spotted a thick b of metal monolith.


    "There! They are using a spatial distortion blocker! We will not be able to use any teleportation tokens!" He shouted in horror.


    He could see that Liam was waiting out and checking to see if the teleportation token would work or not but in this case, that was only a waste of time, time that was extremely precious at the moment.


    Liam turned to see in the direction that the elf pointed. It looked like what he was doing was really pointless. He did n for a lot of moving parameters but he did not even know something like this monolith existed.


    But he was still not done yet. His lips curved upwards as his gaze locked onto the young master of the Horned tribe who had brought down this disaster on them. He then took out thest item that he knew for sure would not miss its mark.


    Liam did not want to use hisst resort, especially after discovering so many new things in the system shop. However, it really did not look like there was any other option. Before things took a turn for the worse, he made his decision and activated the other token in his possession.


    "I just told you! Spatial distortion has been blocked. No tokens will work!" Eldrin shouted but Liam remained calm. This monolith in front of him might prevent some paltry teleportation tokens to malfunction but could it really block the token that he was activating at the moment?


    Eldrin''s eyes widened along with the rest of the crowd as an unexpected ancient aura suddenly burst forth. The next second right in front of everyone''s eyes the group of targets huddled in front of the system shop disappeared amidst shining runes.


    Liam had crushed the token to the Spire of Ascension!

 Chapter 1271 True sovereignty begins with conquering the inner self

    Chapter 1271 True sovereignty begins with conquering the inner self


    Liam shuddered asplete darkness enveloped him. Not just his vision but everything else felt dark too as if he was submerged in nothingness. He couldn''t even feel anything. Itsted for a few minutes, longer than he would have liked but eventually, the darkness dissipated.


    Actually, he was still engulfed in darkness but Liam found himself standing on a hard surface. "Luna?" He called out, but the little fox did not appear. He was also not able to ess his spatial artifact or summon his system screen. He tried to churn his mana core and to his surprise, even that did not seem to exist. His expression changed and his brows furrowed. How could his mana core not exist?


    It was a part of his very existence and it changed without his notice?


    No. His mana core was still there. Probably his heart fruit was also intact. All of this could only mean that a part of him had been forcibly sealed. Something that only an existence far more powerful than him could aplish.


    This realization sent a chill down Liam''s spine. He was not just in a ce of darkness; he was in a domain where his very essence had been tampered with, restrained in ways he couldn''t fathom.


    It looked like he was indeed standing inside the Spire of Ascension.


    He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing thoughts. "Focus," he muttered to himself. Liam knew panicking wouldn''t help. He had to analyze the situation logically.


    First, he assessed his surroundings. The darkness was soplete that it seemed to swallow even the faintest hint of light. But the fact that he was standing on something solid was a clue.


    This wasn''t a void; it was a space created with a purpose. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam took a few breaths and tried to adjust his mental state. He looked around trying to gauge where he was. He took a step forward when suddenly a path in front of him lit up.


    Liam paused. He hadn''t nned to step inside the Spire just yet, circumstances had forced his hand and he had to use the token sooner than he wanted. Though everything happened in haste, he still had browsed through the information missives he had about the Spire of Ascension.


    This ce was essentially a series of trials one after the other that one had to undergo. The Spire had many floors, with the difficult level higher in the upper floors. Liam was pretty sure that he was currently standing on one such floor.


    Knowing this, he tried to be cautious of his next move. He only had one shot inside the Spire. Just like everyone else, if he missed his shot, then he would be teleported out of the Spire immediately.


    Liam stood still for a moment before he took another step forward in the path that was lit up.


    As he stepped forward, the path illuminated further, stretching out into the enveloping darkness. It was as if his decision to move forward triggered the path to reveal itself, a guiding light in the shadowy expanse.


    Liam''s mind raced, considering the possibilities. What form would his trial take? A battle? A puzzle? A test of will? The Spire was known for its unpredictability. There were several scenarios mentioned in the information packet but he hadn''t gone through everything.


    Liam continued walking and the path too continued lighting up. So far he seemed to be on the right track. He turned back to see that the path behind him was already dark. He had a stinking feeling that if he tried to walk back, he might not find anything tond his feet on. Besides, there was no point in walking back. He continued moving forward silently when finally he saw something different.


    A road sign had popped up in front of him.


    [True sovereignty begins with conquering the inner self.]


    Liam stared at the sign for a few moments. It was just a simple sign and nothing else happened. He let out a breath before proceeding to walk on the path that lit up in front of him.


    [Ding! You have gained the title ''Spire of Ascension Trial Taker'']


    Spire of Ascension Trial Taker: Gain 1% boost to all your attributes


    Liam now understood what was happening. This ce was probably like an entry test for everyone who wished to enter the Spire. He probably passed the test already but it looked like there was still some more left to achieve.


    What would happen if he continued walking down this path?


    Liam did not think too much and took another step forward. That was all that he needed to do. Take one step after another and move forward.


    This time he continued walking for almost an hour and still nothing popped out. Not even another road sign. He let out a sigh and kept walking. He couldn''t really use mana to boost his speed. His attributes also did not seem to matter as at the moment he was simply walking like a mortal. He could maybe run? But when he increased his speed to a brisk pace, he noticed that he was about to step into the darkness and his gut feeling told him that this would be a mistake so he fell back to hisn casual leisurely walking pace.


    This continued on for some more time and his thoughts started to wander. He couldn''t help but think back to the chaotic situation he had only narrowly escaped from.


    Now that he was in the presence of nothingness, his brain went over the event again in detail and Liam frowned as he realized the enormity of what had transpired.


    Faced with such an adversity he had acted extremely confident and bold but the truth was that he had put himself and the others in a very risky situation.


    The gamble with the teleportation token, the reliance on his own strength and strategies, it all seemed so audacious now in retrospect.

 Chapter 1272 Conviction is the steel upon which the sword of purpose is forged

    Chapter 1272 Conviction is the steel upon which the sword of purpose is forged


    What would have happened if someone who was actually powerful, some old monster was present in Nymphomania and came to the system shop to personally take Liam out?


    What would have happened if all of the trinkets he had proved useless in the presence of true power?


    Just like they had blocked out his teleportation tokens, they could have also nullified his protection barriers using some method that he wasn''t aware of?


    Liam''s brain was bombarded with hundreds of what-ifs and for a moment his expression faltered. But he quickly regained hisposure.


    Though it might feel like he had taken a huge risk, in truth he had made this move only after thoroughly analyzing and confirming many things.


    In the past few days, he had taken several meetings with several big shots of the world who had wanted to buy out everything in his possession. He did not take these meetings for fun. He used them to probe for information. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He had confirmed through multiple avenues that most of the beings who walked the streets of Nymphomania were only awakened. And perhaps there were a few transcendents. That too thetter was very rare.


    He had also confirmed this fact by hanging around in the system shop day in and day out. Moreover, he had examined and prepared all the trinkets beforehand, ensuring that they had the proper ability to withstand powerful attacks.


    He also had thest option, the token to the Spire of Ascension at his disposal and made sure that thisst resort wouldn''t be so easily blocked.


    Only then he had dared to act boldly, facing numerous unknown beings at the same time. He was willing to admit that a part of this action was risky but he had made enough preparations to mitigate at least 50% of the risk.


    Besides, how could one walk on the path to power without taking risk? His very action ofing to this new world was risky! Could he have avoided it? If had done so or remained inconspicuous, could he have gained anything?


    No. Liam regained hisposure as he forcibly controlled his mind and his thoughts that were running amok. He was not going to waste his time by second-guessing his every move.


    As he reined in his wandering mind, he couldn''t help but notice that the second road sign had popped up a few feet ahead of him.


    [Conviction is the steel upon which the sword of purpose is forged.]


    [Ding! Your title has been upgraded]


    [Ding! You have received the title ''Spire of Ascension Elite Trial Taker'']


    Spire of Ascension Elite Trial Taker: Gain a 2% boost to all your attributes


    Liam stared at the system screen which briefly shed in front of him before disappearing once again, leaving him and him alone in his lonesome path.


    Liam let out another sigh. This time his doubts were confirmed. This trial probably tested him for his mental strength or willpower or perhaps both and as he continued to walk the path it would be harder for him to remain focused. At this point, maybe he would be teleported to the actual Spire?


    The only way to find out was to keep moving forward.


    However, this was easier said than done. The next section seemed to be even longer as Liam continued walking and walking without any end in sight.


    The silence around him was absolute, a stark contrast to the chaotic noise of the world he had left behind. In this void, he had no other choice except to confront his own thoughts, doubts, and fears.


    No matter how much he tried to avoid thinking about things and pondering over the past, present, or future, he couldn''t control his mind. It seemed to have a penchant for wandering, especially in this ce.


    Liam was stumped. This waspletely different from any mental attacks he had experienced so far. This was something else entirely.


    At a certain point, his thoughts had be so chaotic that he forcibly tried to shut down his mind and take back his control but immediately a tremendous pressure enveloped him, arresting him in ce.


    He could tell that if he did not let go, he wouldn''t be able to progress further and his time inside this ce woulde to an end. He should still be able to ess the main part of the trials inside the Spire but his path here woulde to an end.


    Liam did not really n to strive for perfection in this ce. He also did not want to leave abruptly when he knew that he could walk further. He immediately relinquished control once again and willingly let his mind delve into the chaos.


    This time too the pressure on him increased and it felt difficult to take steps forward with his mind in this condition but he could still move.


    Without any other options in front of him, Liam focused on his breathing and tried to sort out his thoughts. The next moment, it felt as if he was being sucked into a never-ending abyss of his own psyche. The chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind were like a torrential storm, each one colliding with the other, creating a cacophony that threatened to overwhelm him.


    Ever since the tutorial game hadunched in his first life, he had been running non-stop. He had faced one hardship after another that had made him numb to violence and bloodlust.


    It was as if he was not even living and simply jumping from one hell to another. He was running away from his impending doom. He was running away from the divine temple high priestess. He was running away from the monsters of the apocalypse. He was running away from the elves of the Tirnanog. Even now, he had entered this ce while running from someone else.


    Constantly facing one dangerous situation after another had made him strong but also weak. There were plenty of scars left behind.


    **

 Chapter 1273 End of the road

    Chapter 1273 End of the road


    In the silence of the Spire, Liam did not have anywhere to run. He was forced to process the thoughts in his mind instead of shelving them away like he usually did. Constantly facing one dangerous situation after another had made him strong but also weak. There were plenty of scars left behind. Scars that were not just physical, but mental and emotional. These scars had shaped his decisions, his actions, and his very way of being. They were reminders of his struggles, his losses, and his perseverance. But they were also barriers, preventing him from truly understanding himself and his purpose.


    He had received a second chance at life but he had spent very little of it with people who mattered. Instead, all of it was spent on battle and carnage and yet he was nowhere near bing an actual threat to his enemies.


    Even when he had read about the highest power in the sector being a Dao Lord, someone who could crush him in an instant, he had not been afraid or nervous and rather jumped right away to make that his next goal.


    Was this courage? Determination? Or was this foolishness? Did he consider everything that he would have to do and aplish to reach such a stage? Was he mentally prepared to undergo such an ordeal? Was he willing to once again remain secluded and far from his family and loved ones? Did nothing affect him at all? Or perhaps was he already at a stage where he did not need anyone?


    Liam''s mind was filled with all sorts of self-doubts, worries, questions, and uncertainties. Each question led to another, revealingyers of unexplored emotions and thoughts. He realized that his path to power had been driven not just by necessity and dangers that awaited them, but also by a deep-seated need to prove himself, to ovee his past failures and fears.


    Liam let out a long sigh. The Spire was forcing him toe to terms with himself and he saw no other way except to do it. Otherwise, he might have to be satisfied with the title he currently had. While that was not a bad one, he was very curious to see what the upgraded title would entail.


    Liam dove in and he did not question his decision after he took the first step. He closed his eyes and started keeping one foot in front of the other without looking back or forward. He did not need to. He knew that at this pace, the spot in front of him would be automatically lit up. There was no need for him to see anything.


    Liam felt a serenity, a sense of surrender, a release from the constant need to control and predict every aspect of his life. He embraced the past, and the present, allowing his thoughts and emotions to flow freely, no longer resisting or suppressing them.


    As he walked, his mind gradually cleared, and his heart lightened. The questions and doubts that had once seemed so overwhelming began to lose their grip. Each thought and memory lingered for a moment before passing him by like a fleeting cloud. He did not try to forget them or pin them away. He digested the memory and let it be a part of him.


    He continued walking just like this until nothing was bothering him anymore. He felt a strange peace and tranquility as he came to terms with his life, no matter how unbelievable it had turned out to be.


    He continued walking and walking,pletely losing track of time. He walked for what felt like an eternity when suddenly a huge pressure gripped him, making hime to a halt.


    Liam shed his eyes open. There was no more light illuminating the path ahead of him. It looked like he was at a dead end or rather end of the road with thest road sign erect in front of him.


    [In the still waters of contemtion, the depths of oneself are revealed]


    [Ding! Your title has been upgraded]


    [Ding! You have received the title ''Spire of Ascension Ranked Trial Taker''] n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Spire of Ascension Ranked Trial Taker: Gain a 10% boost to all your attributes


    Liam stared at the system screen which briefly shed in front of him before disappearing once again, leaving him alone inplete and utter darkness.


    Before he could wonder what was going to happen next, a strange feeling assaulted him and he found himself teleported to what looked like a dense forest.


    Hmmm. Liam''s brow furrowed but he immediately rxed as a familiar figure jumped on him.


    "Master!" The little fox had tears in her eyes as she looked at him with love and adoration. She clung to him like a baby clung to her mother, not wanting to let go of him even for a second.


    Not only had Luna returned but his mana core and his heart fruit were once again within his reach and with a cursory look he could feel that his body had pretty much returned to the former state.


    Liam let out a small sigh of relief. He then quickly tried to ess his system screen and his spatial treasure but surprisingly those two were still not avable for him to use.


    Just as he was about to verify a few other things, something rustled near them. Liam and Luna turned to see the group walking towards them,pletely unharmed.


    Rey, Madan, Lan Deming, and even Eldrin all had arrived in one piece. Last but not least, there was also Dante standing there though the guy did not look pleased at all.


    Not so surprisingly, the guy started blurting out as soon as he saw Liam, the veins on his forehead popping off. "What the hell did you do? Why did you drag me here? Didn''t you say that you would leave me alone as soon as you got what you wanted?"


    Liam did not bother with him and only paid attention to the others. "Is everyone okay?"

 Chapter 1274 The climb starts

    Chapter 1274 The climb starts


    After a brief exchange, it was clear that the entire group had experienced a simr trial where they had to walk on the dimly lit path, facing their own insecurities and fears, their weakness pushed up against their faces.


    Liam was not surprised to learn that Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming had all performed above average in the trial earning a ''Spire of Ascension Elite Trial Taker'' title. This might not be as good as his but considering their levels when they had aplished it, the title was more than impressive.


    Liam also checked with Eldrin but the elf only sheepishly smiled and shook his head, implying that he only got the normal title.


    Liam snorted at his response. He knew better than to believe the shifty elf. For someone like him even getting the same title as him was not impossible.


    And that left¡­ Dante.


    "So did you get any title?" Liam asked.


    Dante''s face turned uglier than it already was. Liam did not know the guy from Adam but considering how he had abandoned his own world, perhaps even his friends and family to run to a new ce and start a new life, the mental demons he housed shouldn''t be just a few.


    It would be a surprise if the person even went past Elite. And just like he expected Dante grit his teeth and mumbled. "I only managed to cross the first road sign." He then quickly added, "It is all your fault." "You forced me into a shitty contract and took away all my money and now you also fucked me up by bringing me to the Spire and wasting my chance!"


    "If I hade here after I healed my soul then I could have bagged the best title. You took another thing away from me. Bastard."


    "Wasn''t that trial based on your mental strength or something like that?" Rey gave the guy a stink eye, making him shut up in indignation.


    "Hmph. Would you have evene here in the first ce? Not everyone gets a token you know?" Madan scoffed.


    "Wait. Wait." Seeing everyone gang up on the guy, Eldrin clicked his tongue and intervened. "I don''t know who this guy is and what is going on here but I have to agree with him. Come here right now without any preparations was a mistake."


    "Wait. Let me finish." He spoke quickly before any of the other three came for Liam''s defense. "Gaining multiple legendarypanions is not a bad exchange but it is going to take a lot of resources for them to be actually useful."


    "Otherwise, they will simply be dead weight. Lucky for you, we are in a ce where the resources are plenty. As you guys should have noticed, we cannot use our spatial treasures or other items here."


    "Everything going down here is purely on our merit. All the items that we acquire in the Spire are also only temporary." "We can use them while we are here but we cannot really take them away. So let''s not waste time bickering. We should get going and be as strong as we possibly can."


    Eldrin then looked at Liam and bowed. "My Lord, I hope you are aware of the rules and regtions of the Spire. I want to remind you of the main point. The time here flows differently whenpared to the time outside."


    "We have 99 days to spend inside the Spire and then we will be teleported back to thest location which is that same damn ce where we just ran away from."


    "And 99 days here is nothing but a second on the outside. So we will be returning to the same mayhem. We need to be prepared. A spatial distortion monolithsts for about 1 hour which means we cannot teleport anywhere until the hour ends or until the monolith is destroyed."


    After Eldrin exined their precarious situation, everyone tensed up. Liam observed carefully and it indeed seemed like all of his items were missing. However, his sword still remained.


    "Is that a soul weapon?" Eldrin asked, his eyes glinting with obvious greed. "That exins why you still have it. The system should have considered it in the same category as a bonded pet."


    "Having a soul weapon is a huge cheat. Even though our preparations might not be adequate, this is a really good start." The elf exined with glee.


    After Eldrin gave the basic introduction, Rey and the others thoroughly checked everything out.


    Their clothes had also been switched out for something simpler and no one had any weapon of any sort except for Liam. Standing behind Luna were the other newly hatched beasts except for the one that did not hatch yet. Liam was surprised to see the young ones out even though they were inside the spatial artifact but that was a good thing. Also, it looked like Luna and the other beasts were not subjected to any trials and were directly teleported here. They were considered a part of Liam by the system.


    Likewise, Madan and Rey also had their beasts summoned. Rey had four tamed beasts, all of them being simple umon beasts. However, their levels were shockingly high and they seemed experienced in fighting as if they had undergone severe training.


    Madan''s situation was slightly better. He had five tamed beasts in total and three of them belonged were rare-grade beasts. Their levels were also nothing to scoff at.


    While individually these two might have stood proud with their beastpanions, in front of Liam''s parade of eye-catching legendary beasts and Luna, they smiled bitterly in embarrassment. Liam shook his head. "We all had different starting points. Don''tpare yourself with me. You have seen these past few days how truly vast this world is. This is your chance. Inside this Spire, there are millions of chances. Don''t let it go to waste."


    The two nodded, clenching their fists in determination. On the other hand, Lan Deming, Eldrin, and Dante simply stood gawking at the beasts as they did not have ess to even that. They were essentially naked, starting with nothing. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Dante apparently had some tamed beasts but he was unable to summon them as his soul was extremely weakened.


    The group took a few seconds to adjust their conditions and then everyone was ready to start.


    "Bro, now what?" Rey asked. He scratched his head looking at the forest surrounding them. They did not have any weapons or armor and also did not have any pills or potions. What were they supposed to do now? Where should they even start?


    Eldrin stepped forward. "Let me, my Lord." He cleared his throat. "If no one minds, I would like to be the tour guide for the first few levels of the Spire. I think I can save us all some time. I have extensively researched this ce and I know a few tips and tricks."


    Liam nodded. Others also nodded.


    "Usually, the first ten levels are extremely easy. We can just blow through them. So we don''t have to be cautious and do this slowly. If we just start walking, we should encounter something. It would either be a situation that we have to resolve or a monster that we have to kill."


    "Sometimes there would be more than one way to deal with things."


    Hearing him, the group started walking. "If it''s easy, should we split up?" Madan asked.


    Eldrin shook his head with a polite smile. "I am sorry. When I meant easy, I was referring to Lord Liam. It will be easy for him. Beings whose levels are too low have no ce being here and without a doubt will be culled very soon."


    Madan stared at the elf but did not respond anything, only listening to his warning.


    "Just try to keep up and don''t drag others down." Eldrin added. "My Lord¡­ If I may suggest¡­" He turned to Liam but he saw that the person was no longer standing in the spot.


    Eldrin''s eyes became wide like saucers. Where did he go? He was just here? What the hell?


    He only sighed inwardly when he saw that the terrifying fox was still in the vicinity. "Everyone be alert. This ce can be extremely dangerous." The elf barely closed his mouth and a low growl echoed from nearby.


    To make matters worse, the growl was apanied by several other growls. The group instinctively formed a circle, backs to each other, as they scanned the surrounding underbrush for any sign of movement.


    From the shadows emerged a pack of creatures, their eyes glinting menacingly in the dim light. They wererge, green-skinned creatures with matted fur and bared fangs, clearly ready for a fight.


    "Goblins?" Dante shrieked.


    "Goblins on fucking steroids." Madan swore.


    While the creatures in front of them might vaguely resemble goblins, they were in no way mere goblins as each and every one of them emitted a strong bloodthirsty aura.

 Chapter 1275 Blasting through

    Chapter 1275 sting through


    Eldrin''s heart skipped a beat as he gaped at the humongous goblins but the next second everything was red. Fire! The entire forest was burning!


    The beast from hell in the hide of a cute fox opened her mouth and watched in amusement as the world around them burnt to a husk.


    Eldrin wasn''t sure before but now after experiencing these mes in person he was sure of it. The beast definitely possessed a me fragment of at least high grade.


    He couldn''t help but gaze at the four tails swishing behind her back and then another crazy thought crossed his mind. Perhaps more than one me fragment?


    No. That was impossible. He quickly put the thought away.


    The fight was over before it even began and the goblins were no match to the notorious fox.


    "Sweet Jesus holy mother of exp!" Immediately, a shriek sounded. Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming stood wide-eyed as an unbelievable amount of experience points rained on them. Clearly, there was no experience points suppression system in this Spire. Normally, when a group partied together for dungeon runs or boss raids, if the levels of the party members were lopsided then the experience points distribution would be abysmal. It was a sort of punishment for riding on the coattails of the strong.


    But here theplete opposite was happening. They were being rewarded for being leeches?!!


    "Don''t get too used to it!" Eldrin snorted. "It is not always a group trial. Just like the first one, we will all have to face our own demons eventually. So enjoy your luck while you can."


    Despite the elf''s shitty attitude, everyone was in high spirits as Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming had all finally crossed their level 100 bottleneck in one fell swoop. They had been stuck here forever and now they were able to make progress.


    Even the tamed beasts enjoyed the rich experience points distribution. All the beasts were leveling up left and right.


    Naturally, Luna and Eldrin did not gain anything from these kills and from the looks of it Dante had also not gained anything as the guy wore a disgusted expression. Luna sent the guy a growl which immediately made him shrivel up. The fox did not pay him any further attention. She licked her paws as if she were saying ''You are wee'' and her eyes darted around here and there.


    Rey hurried over and collected all the loot from the goblins.


    "Let''s keep moving." Eldrin reminded them. This was not the time to really examine their loot as they were standing in the middle of a dense forest. More importantly, the guy they were relying on had gone poof.


    The group started moving and they had taken only a few steps when they noticed something very weird. The forest around them suddenly seemed different. It looked like it was ransacked?! On top of that, they were also receiving more and more experience points continuously.


    "What the hell?" Eldring opened and closed his mouth when a gust of wind assaulted them and Liam was back just like that.


    Not even a second passed after he appeared and one by one several spectral figures emerged from the woodwork.


    "Of course." Eldrin bitterly smiled.


    "I confirmed it. I am able to summon my army here." Liam exined. The group then watched as one by one many minions started appearing and more importantly, each one of them held one thing or the other.


    Some held goblin corpses. Some held other loot from the fallen goblins. Some held herbs, fruits, and flowers. Some even held rocks and pebbles.


    The minions dumped all of their finds at Liam''s feet who then casually instructed his newly acquired beastpanions. "Eat whatever you want."


    Everyone gaped in shock at the sight of small, cute little snakes and chicks wobbling over to the mound.


    "We don''t have time-" Eldrin started but he quickly shut up as the scene in front of him waspletely terrifying.


    The cuteness was just a deception. These baby beasts were monsters and they proved it as they started gobbling up one thing after another in quick session.


    The sight was surreal. The small, seemingly adorable creatures transformed into ravenous devourers, consuming everything from goblin remains to natural resources with startling speed and efficiency.


    Liam chuckled. Only he was not surprised as he was already used to Luna gobbling up one precious item after another non-stop. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "You guys can also help yourself." He looked at Rey and Madan who nodded and started nudging their beasts also to partake. But how could ordinary beasts interrupt the mealtime of legendary monsters?


    They could only politely look on from the side. After a few minutes, when the legendary beasts seemed to have finished having their stomach filled, the other beasts hobbled over and rummaged through the remains.


    On the other side, a separate heap of items was formed. On closer inspection, these appeared to be consumables for enhancing all sorts of attributes. However, they were weaker treasures that worked only on newly awakened or barely awakened beings.


    While these were useless to Liam, Luna, and Eldrin, the others gasped at the sight of the precious items. "There is no time. Just eat whatever you can and absorb whatever you can." Liam grabbed one of the fruits and tossed it to Rey.


    He did not need to say twice as everyone jumped to dig in shamelessly, even Dante. Looking at all of these precious herbs and fruits literally made them mouthwatering. Their bodies were craving for it.


    These were the lowest of the low materials but they had all been stuck in one way or the other up until now. So this was a feast they did not dare refuse.


    Even if a fruit gave half an attribute point, they still gorged down on it. Meanwhile, Liam busied himself as he channeled through all of his soul minions and gave them orders. He also scanned through everything at lightning speed to make sure that they were not missing anything of value. Naturally, he was on the lookout for anything that could heal his soul but how could something like this be obtained on the very first floor so easily?


    "Ummm¡­ We still need to finish the quest?" Eldrin reminded, interrupting his mental processing.


    "It''s fine. We can leave in another couple of minutes. The quest is about clearing the trade route in the forest and it is almost done."


    Huh? Eldrin was once again shocked.


    And just like Liam said, two minutester a glow covered all of them. Darkness followed as the familiar feeling of teleportation assaulted the group.


    The group then disappeared from the forests as if they had never existed in the first ce, leaving behind only a big heap of natural resources, half-eaten and half-left behind.


    Since their time inside the Spire was limited, they couldn''t afford to spend anything more than the bare minimum time required. Moreover, the higher floors would have better quality items which they would be missing out on if they spent too much time on the lower floors.


    The next floor was simrly straightforward. The group was teleported to the middle of a vige that was being ransacked by a group of bandits.


    Liam immediately summoned his soul army that quickly took care of not just the bandits fighting in the vige but also those who were staying hidden in a cave nearby, clearing out the entire gang.


    At the same time, they too ransacked the vige and the neighboring ces searching for anything and everything that was valuable and edible.


    And when they were just about done, Luna appeared to show off her might. It looked like the little fox had made her own calctions after observing the first floor. So just before the quest was done, she simply walked over and gobbled up all the gathered edible resources.


    When stared at by Liam, the fox sheepishly grinned. "We should not waste food, master."


    Liam chuckled at the glutton as the group was once again covered by a golden glow, darkness following as they were teleported to their destination.


    The next floor was of a simr level. This time they were teleported to a beast nest and they had to sessfully escape from the nest.


    This took less than a second as the soul army destroyed, plundered, and piged the ce, the group leaving just as quickly as they dropped in.


    Eldrin was sweating. What the hell was going on? This was the Spire of Ascension, not a random training field to be sting through at this pace!


    All his life he had heard about the Spire and had prepared for the Spire but never had he read one report of something like this happening! These people treated the floors of the Spire like some sort of ''all you can eat'' festival.


    Just the mere thought of this monstrous speed made him want to shit his pants. This was cheating, right? This was definitely cheating? It had to be!


    His body was trembling. Both from fear and excitement. What has he gotten himself into?

 Chapter 1276 Let me use you to relieve some of my pent-up juices!

    Chapter 1276 Let me use you to relieve some of my pent-up juices!


    Everyone, even Liam watched in awe as the little creature opened her mouth and an incredible suctional force emerged from within, something like a ck hole. The force started moving everything from the heaped-up pile of potential treasures into the small mouth, sucking away everything like a vacuum.


    And for the tenth time, Luna casually consumed everything that was leftover, licking her lips. Yet, no one was anywhere close to getting used to such a scene.


    Even Liam found it hard to believe. Shouldn''t a divine beast be more selective and elegant? But knowing this little glutton, elegance, and pride came after food. Stomach first. Restter.


    The fox''s bulging stomach, the satisfied intoxicated expression on her face, and the loud burp that followed were enough to put anyone to tears, tears fromughing hard. However, the group at the moment was in no mood tough.


    In the blink of an eye or what felt like a blink of an eye, the group had smashed through ten floors of the spire. Everyone had gained a lot including the beastpanions and Dante. But now it was truth time.


    The eleventh floor was going to be an individual challenge and not a group one. This meant that everyone had to prove their worth to keep continuing their climb in the Spire.


    "Do your best." Liam did not say much as the golden glow started covering everyone. This was as much a test from him as it was from the Spire.


    He needed to know if he could rely on any of them in the long run. He needed to know if these past few days of intense training in the fighting pits had amounted to anything. Until now Liam had done most of the things by himself as it was quicker that way but he had already realized his mistake. While it was easier and faster to do everything by himself, he could not be in ten ces at the same time. His soul minions were not yet as independent as he would like them to be. In this situation, he needed able people back in the guild who could hold their own and face stronger opponents at least to a certain degree. Otherwise, every time he left the guild, they would be sitting ducks and it would be open season for hunting.


    The world was ruthless and vast and he had more enemies than he could count. It was better to groom some more reliable pirs for the guild. In the past, he barely spent any time or resources to groom the guild but now it was going to be different. This Spire was a good starting point. The many teleportation tokens he had purchased from the system shop were also full of opportunities.


    While he did not n on babysitting the guild members, he at least wanted to open a door for them to break out of their boundaries. But first, they needed to show that they had what it takes. Otherwise, his resources would be better spent on grooming tamed beasts instead. This might sound harsh but the reality was also harsh.


    Liam watched as a brilliant golden glow shrouded everyone and he silently wished them good luck. The next second he appeared in a huge cave. He was once again alone, not even the soul sword by his side.


    However, this time the test did not seem to be something roundabout. Liam looked around and immediately found a huge slumbering beast farther inside the cave.


    Just as he noticed the beast, the beast also noticed his presence. The slumbering sounds came to a halt and a pair of vicious eyes turned towards him, locking on him.


    Liam indifferently stared at the huge figure. From his angle, it looked like a bear, but its body was muscr and beefy without any bby parts. More importantly, the bear seemed to be well-versed in earthen element.


    Instantaneously, several earthen spikes jutted out of the ground, blocking the only exit to the cave and caging Liam in ce. Surprisingly, no spear sprang up under his foot in an effort to impale him.


    It looked like the bear was more interested in caging him than killing him.


    "Human¡­ I am bored¡­ you have arrived at a good time. Let me use you to relieve some of my pent-up juices! ROAR!" The bear''s arrogant voice echoed in the small cave as a huge boner suddenly popped in between its legs. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam''s face twitched. He stared dumbfoundedly at the huge talking bear whose head was scraping the top of the cave. Its boner was equally impressive.


    The monster approached Liam keeping one huge paw in front of another and slowly circling him. It eyed him from top to bottom as it slurped in a perverted manner.


    "You seem strong. I hope youst for more than a round." The bear did not want to talk anymore. It let out a huge growl as it directly pounced on Liam.


    Liam shivered at the thought. What the heck was this trial? He looked at the deviant bear and shook his head as he prepared himself. He too had something pent up for a while now. He was at the precipice of achieving a breakthrough and any move from him should instantly trigger it. It was an itch that he could scratch for the past few days and it had been a torment of sorts to hold it in for so long.


    A thick mana barrier appeared around Liam, instantly blocking the rabid horny beast and it only served to anger it further. As powerful swipes and earthen spikes assaulted him, Liam centered himself and activated hisher core. The bear froze momentarily at the sudden surge of energy emanating from Liam. The air around them crackled with power as Liam''sher core, a deep well of energy within him, awakened fully. He felt the energy coursing through his veins, a sensation that was exhrating.


    With one swift push, he sted all of thather outward, forming a denseher field all around him.

 Chapter 1277 FUBAR

    Rey clutched his elbows as he couldn''t stop his body from shaking. Anxiety was written all over his face and a part of him hoped that the darkness around him wouldn''t dissipate just yet and the teleportation wouldn''t bepleted, giving him some time to stall.


    However, the Spire was ruthless.


    Soon, the darkness began to fade, revealing Rey''s new surroundings. He found himself standing in an open space, an even ground without any shrub or tree in sight.


    This was vastly different from the group setting he was ustomed to. The solitude was immediate and heavy, a stark contrast to the camaraderie and support he had just moments ago.


    Rey took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. The anxiety gnawing at him was palpable, but he knew he couldn''t let it overpower him. This was his moment to prove himself, to show that he was more than just a member of Liam''s team - he was a capable individual in his own right.


    The Spire''s individual challenge was designed to test not just physical strength orbat skills, but also mental resilience and adaptability.


    And Rey hoped that this test would be thetter rather than the former, something he couldplete with sheer will power.


    However, once again his wish was not granted. Heavy footsteps thudded in the distance and Rey''s heart sank as he realized that his challenge was not going to be a simple test of willpower. The thudding grew louder and more distinct, indicating that somethingrge was approaching. Rey braced himself, trying to calm his racing heart.


    As the creature came into view, Rey saw that it was a giant, towering over him with an imposing presence. Its eyes glinted with a predatory gleam, and its massive form exuded raw, physical power. Rey knew he was at a distinct disadvantage in terms of strength and size. Perhaps if he could use it against the giant? Was there a way for him to somehow cause damage to the humongous creature?


    Rey''s mind worked overtime, trying to think of something. He looked around hurriedly, seeking anything in the environment that could be used to his advantage. But the open space was brutal. It offered little in terms of cover or weapons. He needed more time to think. More time toy a trap. That''s it perhaps he couldy a trap and wait? How much time did he have?


    Rey nced at the giant again to gauge the distance between them and make some sort of n when his heartpletely stopped for a moment.


    As he stared at the giant, the giant was staring right back at him!


    The huge fiend knew of his presence!


    Rey did not know for sure. There was no way for him to know for sure but he could definitely tell that the damn giant''s eyesight was good enough for him to notice if a trap wasid right in front of him.


    How was he even supposed toy a trap with the opponent watching him like a hawk?


    This was it. He waspletely screwed. Rey could not move. He could not breathe. Under the suffocating re of the giant, he found himself frozen on the spot. Sweat dripped down his face and every footstep of the giant rammed against him like an invisible hammer plunging him deeper and deeper in despair.


    This was it. He was done for. Death was closing in at an incredible speed. In about two seconds, he was going to die or rather get teleported out of the Spire.


    Someone like him surely deserved to die a million times over by now but once again his pathetic life was going to be given to him like a charity. The thought filled him with crushing humiliation.


    Rey clenched his fist as he could not bear it anymore. How much longer was he going to be weak and helpless? It was because he was weak and helpless that he had everything taken away from him. His sister was kidnapped by someone. His other sister was also kidnapped and captured by someone. He even lost his own soul because of his powerlessness.


    Why was he even alive at this point? Was there any meaning in living this kind of wretched life?


    No. Rey managed to squeeze out a breath. Even if everything looked dismal and he was without a doubt fucked up, he was not going to stand here like a fucking doormat and take whatever falls on his head.


    Liam would not do that. If his bro had been in the same situation as him, he definitely would not have given up and stood helplessly like this. Why couldn''t he do the same?


    Amidst his despair, a flicker of defiance sparked within him. Rey''s eyes hardened. He might be outmatched, but he wasn''t going to just give up and wait for his end.


    He took another deep breath, trying to steady his trembling limbs. He had to move, to act, even if his chances were slim.


    Rey was definitely not in his best condition but he had calmed down enough to notice that the giant wascking in the speed department. Maybe there was a chance for him after all.


    He immediately summoned his beastpanions and watched the giant, trying to observe every small detail that he possibly could.


    However, the next second, his face once again paled. His beasts?! What the hell happened to his beasts?? Why was he not able to summon them? What was he even supposed to do now?


    He was a beast master and he was supposed to fight without his beasts or his bow? How was this fair? N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Motherfucker! Was this the final nail in his coffin?


    Rey looked up at the giant who had already closed the distance between them. There was a bitter smile on his face that was drenched in sweat. The end was here but he was not willing.


    The giant grinned viciously as it brought its hand up, along with the big ass club it was holding. The next second, the giant club and the hand came crashing down at Rey.

 Chapter 1278 They all failed?

    Chapter 1278 They all failed?


    Liam kicked the dead body of the perverted beast with a frown on his face. The damned bear was dead but he was no closer to breaking through to the Transcendent rank. Was producing aher field simply not enough? Perhaps he had underestimated the difficulty of the rank?


    As he pondered the implications, a golden glow shrouded him, indicating that he was out of time and was currently being teleported. It did not matter. He hadn''t taken the next step on this floor but he was surely going to take it on the next floor or the floor after. Liam could feel it in his blood. He was close.


    The darkness faded and he was once again in what seemed to be a lush forest. Liam looked around, only to find Luna . The fox instantly pounced on him. He let out a wry chuckle and peeled her off of him. The other legendary beasts were standing on the side in a line, all looking at the little fox in awe and admiration. It almost seemed that a silent understanding had been reached among the group to take the little fox as the leader of the gang. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Thezy fox was definitely not a role model. All she did was eat and sleep but she became strong nevertheless. If the other beasts follow in her footsteps then they might be legendary only for namesake.


    Liam felt a headache ining. However, this was a problem for the future. Right now he had more pressing matters. The beasts were fine but what about the human beings and the elf?


    He waited for a few seconds but still no one appeared around him.


    "Master, they failed?" Luna asked as she ran around here and there to check.


    Could they all have really failed?


    Liam did not expect them to climb that high considering what their levels were but he also did not expect them to fall so fast. However, the Spire was brutal. On top of that, their luck was also a factor.


    If they really did fail, then it wouldn''t be too shocking either. It just meant that he needed to pour more resources into nurturing the guild members, perhaps open up the inner circle to see if there were more talented people in themon pool.


    Liam absent-mindedly gazed at the forest around him when he remembered something. In the information packet regarding the Spire, it was mentioned that on some floors the group might not be teleported together.


    Could that have happened? They might all be on this floor, simply split apart from each other which could also be a sort of test for survival by the Spire.


    The Spire was known for its unpredictable and often cruel challenges, and it wouldn''t be surprising if it had separated them to test their individual capabilities and survival skills in an unfamiliar environment.


    Just as Liam was mulling over this, suddenly a huge explosion boomed in the distance. A plume of fire and smoke rose up in the sky and the birds and the smaller beasts in the region scattered in a frenzy.


    Liam looked up. What were the chances that this event was random?


    Zero.


    It was either rted to the floor or perhaps someone was sending him a signal. "Come on. Let''s go." Liam''s figure immediately blurred as he raced towards the source of the explosion, with Luna and the other legendary beasts swiftly following.


    As they approached, the forest became denser, and the air grew thick with the smell of smoke and burnt foliage. The explosion had clearly caused significant damage.


    Breaking through thest line of trees, they came upon a scene of destruction. Trees were uprooted, the ground was scorched, and at the center of it all was a crater, still smoldering.


    Near the edge of the crater, Liam spotted Eldrin fighting against something huge and vicious. The thing burrowed inside before he could take a good look leaving the elf panting and heaving.


    Several huge holes were scattered on the ground and the entire area trembled and quaked. Liam was not that adept with the earth element but he could still sense that something was running wild under the ground. The elf was also not in a good condition. Eldrin''s entire body was covered with numerous wounds and he was bleeding left and right. His terrified eyes darted around here and there and he gripped a sword that crackled and sizzled, a sword that was conjured out of pure lightning.


    Liam could sense the powerful aura of the sword and his eyes lit up. The elf was quite skilled.


    But clearly the opponent was even more vicious. The next second, loud rumbles echoed and all of a sudden, the ground burst open revealing a giant metallic head. It was a huge metallic centipede of sorts and it possessed an incredible strength and agility.


    The centipede''s body shimmered with a metallic sheen, its segments moving with fluid, mechanical precision. Each segment was lined with sharp, delike protrusions, and its eyes glowed with an eerie red light. It was a fearsome sight, one that would strike terror in the heart of any warrior.


    Eldrin, despite his injuries, moved at a fast pace trying to avoid the damn thing''s circle of reach but he was struggling given the extent of his wounds.


    Hmmm. Liam gauged the situation and proceeded to blur once again arriving right in between the elf and the metallic creature.


    "You arete, my lord." Eldrin grinned.


    Liam rolled his eyes only to see that the elf had already fainted. He signaled Luna to pick up the elf''s body and attend to him.


    Meanwhile, his attention shifted to the metallic creature in front of him. This was a perfect target for him to try and finally reach the next stage.


    Liam churned hisher core that was already a quarter depleted. He had three more tries left until his core was fully dry. Technically, two more tries because he needed someher to operate his undead army.


    "Let''s do this." He focused and immediatelyher energy began to swirl around him, forming a dark, swirling vortex that emanated an aura of death and decay. The centipede, sensing a powerful threat, reared up, its metallic body nking and echoing in the still air of the forest. However, it did not retreat. It charged forward to sh against the deathly aura.

 Chapter 1279 I got my ass handed to me

    Liam stared impassively at the corpse of the metallic centepede sprawled in front of him, minced into several chunks, bits and pieces frozen here and there. Its blood was a weird green in color and the beast possessed a deviant metal element core, wedged in between its pale flesh.


    The creature had put up a good fight but ultimately it wasn''t a match when Liam used [Arcane Frost sh]. The only issue was this time as well Liam failed to conjure a properher field, good enough for him to achieve a breakthrough.


    Liam wanted to analyze his mistake and see what went wrong. However, one of his soul minions already ran into a group member.


    Liam''s face turned grave. He sensed through the minion that it was Madan and he did not look good. Liam, Luna and the rest hurried to the location where the hunter was currently hiding.


    Madan had used a Stealth skill but it was not enough to hide from the prying eyes of the ice elf soul minion who was well over level 500.


    It took a few seconds but the group swiftly arrived at the spot. Liam immediately summoned a few of his soul minions who were capable of healing. Not so surprisingly these were all elves. Most of his army wasposed of elves at this point or elves fused with some other creatures and he was yet to process many of souls he had captured in his trip to Tirnanog.


    The elven minions got to work but Madan''s condition did not look good. His body was covered in deep gashes and bruises, evidence of a brutal battle. His breathing wasbored, and his face was pale, a stark contrast to his normally vibrant demeanor.


    Liam watched closely as the elven soul minions gently tended to Madan''s wounds, their hands glowing with a soft, healing light. Despite their skilled ministrations, the process was slow, and it was clear that the hunter had sustained serious injuries.


    "What happened?" Liam asked.


    Madan coughed, wincing in pain, but managed to speak. "I got my ass handed to me." The hunter then unexpectedly shed a big smile. "But I am still here."


    "Yes. I can see that." Liam smiled. It looked like the hunter''s gains were bigger than his wounds as after a few minutes, the guy pushed himself to sit in a meditative pose and started going over his previous fight.


    This was precisely what Liam hoped for when he brought his team into the Spire - growth through adversity.


    Liam did not disturb him. His soul minions were still rummaging the forests, trying to make sense of this floor and what was the main objective that they had to clear.


    As far as Liam could tell, to get back to his group, he could either find them one by one or simply finish the objective and hopefully the next time around they would be ced closer together.


    Liam scanned the environment, his keen senses attuned to any clues or irregrities. The lush forest, with its dense canopy and vibrant undergrowth, seemed almost too serene, belying the dangers they had already encountered.


    He knew that the key to progressing in the Spire ofteny in understanding the nature of each floor''s challenge. Was it a battle of endurance? A test of cunning? Or perhaps a puzzle that needed to be unraveled?


    But he did not have to think hard. Not even a few seconds after theynded another metallic centipede appeared, bursting out from under the ground.


    Liam swiftly killed the thing as he didn''t want Madan to be disturbed but he did not like this development. Because this development probably meant that the quest on the floor had something to do with these creatures.


    These metallic centipedes were bad news. They had sturdy bodies that someone weak couldn''t easily damage and they had excellent sensing abilities as they could sniff out their position easily. They also seemed to be all over the forest.


    Chances were that the others probably encountered the centipedes too and Liam did not have a good feeling about their chance of survival. Even if they had somehow survived the previous floor, their future was doomed because of these creatures.


    "We need to move faster." Liam did not want his group to unnecessarily lose out on this opportunity. If Madan was alive then the chance of others surviving was also very high. They needed to clear this objective. Now.


    Liam paused for a moment and looked around, wondering which was a good direction to explore. However, this gaze then fell onto the huge hole on the ground from which the centipede had popped out of.


    The next second he directly jumped into the hole.


    And just like he thought there was a vastwork of underground tunnels stretching in every direction, abyrinthine maze that seemed to have been created by the centipedes themselves. The walls of the tunnels were lined with the same metallic sheen as the creatures'' bodies, and the air was thick with an earthy, metallic scent.


    The key to solving this floor''s challenge likelyy within these tunnels. If the centipedes were the main threat of this level, then there had to be something controlling them, or a central nest from which they were all emerging.


    With Luna and the legendary beasts in tow, Liam began to navigate the tunnels. As they ventured deeper, the tunnels became moreplex and intertwined, like a giant underground web. It was easy to get lost in these tunnels. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    But the group did not have any issues as Liam instantly dismissed his soul minions and summoned them all in the undergroundwork. After that, it was only a matter of minutes to figure out theyout of the tunnels.


    One of his weaker minions even managed to stumble upon a part of the tunnelwork that was teeming with an abnormallyrge number of centipedes.


    Liam did not hesitate and switched ces with the minion, instantly destroying it. Now it was not the minion, it was him staring at the messy bundle of metallic monstrosities.

 Chapter 1280 A worthy opponent?

    Chapter 1280 A worthy opponent?


    In the dim light of the tunnel, the mass of writhing, metallic centipedes presented a nightmarish sight. Their bodies intertwined and coiled around each other, creating a wall of moving metal and sharp appendages. The sound of their movement was like the ttering of a thousand swords, a cacophony that echoed through the tunnels.


    Liam assessed the situation with a cool head. The sheer number of centipedes meant that this was likely the heart of the nest, the central point from which they were all controlled or originated. It was also possible that the boss monster or, the central figure controlling these creatures, was nearby. He would have to defeat that probably to get out of this floor.


    Since the individual centipedes themselves did not present much threat, he left Luna to handle the other matters and stepped into the nest with his sword drawn out.


    As soon as he moved, the crawling centipedes noticed his presence. They let out a cacophony of screeching noises that was extremely disorienting even for Liam that he was forced to use a mana barrier to block out the ruckus.


    Surprisingly, there was still a loud thrumming noise and this one came from his sword. "You have be more noisytely." Liam nced at the thing. He could sense that the sword badly wanted something from this cave.


    But this presented a problem. When the sword wanted something back in the system shop, he purchased the item and saved it forter use. The same couldn''t be done here. If the sword wanted something from here, then there was no other choice except to let it consume the material right here and now.


    And this¡­ could only spell trouble. Liam frowned as he couldn''t decide what was the best course of action. But first he had to kill everything that stood in his path.


    An icy aura enveloped his rabid sword. Liam moved with precision, his sword arcs slicing through the air, cutting through the centipedes with each swing. The sh of metal on metal resounded in the tunnel, echoing the intensity of the battle.


    As he delved deeper into the nest, the centipedes became more aggressive, their attacks coordinated and relentless. He weaved through their assaults, countering with swift, lethal strikes.


    The centipedes simply couldn''t hold out against the power of the attack that cut through them like butter. A single sword beam shed across several centipedes slicing multiple creatures at the same time.


    Finally, at the heart of the nest, Liam encountered it. A colossal centipede, dwarfing its kin in size and menace, its body shimmering with a dark, metallic sheen. Its eyes burned with a malevolent intelligence, focusing intently on Liam.


    Liam dashed forward as he needed to finish this fight as soon as possible but his steps instantly came to an halt as he felt the gravity of the cave suddenly shift.


    The sudden shift in gravity caught Liam off guard, but he quickly adjusted his stance, anchoring himself with his profound strength. The colossal centipede, evidently the source of this gravitational maniption, seemed to be using this as a defensive mechanism. He had finally encountered the first opponent with the ability to use a Dao seed. Their easy runs were going toe to an end as the difficulty had picked up with this floor. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Liam tried to move again, only to find himself unable to take another step forward. It was as if a dense invisible barrier prevented him from getting near the centipede. At the same time, walls started closing in.


    All sorts of metallic spikes in weird angles started jutting out of the walls, making the confined space even more treacherous. He was going to be skewered from all directions.


    "Hmph." Liam snorted. This was not enough to bar his path. He only needed to swing his sword a few times to instantly clear out the spikes threatening him but there was another problem. The space inside the tunnel was limited. It was only a matter of time before the space waspletely filled with metal, broken or otherwise.


    However, Liam did not feel pressured. Rather he was excited because this was a good chance for him to once again attempt to create aher field.


    He stopped using his mana core and instead activated hisher core. His pathways burned a little at the sudden switch between energies but the pain was nothing that he couldn''t handle.


    Nether essence coursed through his body and in one swift push, Liam propelled all of it outward creating a sphere ofher around him.


    Immediately, he could feel just how weak hisher field was. Pushed up against the gravitational field of the centipede, his inferiorher field couldn''t hold on. It was getting suppressed.


    But Liam was not done yet. This was simply his outward projection ofher. A dao field was more involved than simply pushing the energy out. It was an extension of one''s own dao, a manifestation of their understanding of the universe.


    Liam centered his focus inward, connecting more deeply with theher core. Theher essence, dark and potent, swirled within him, resonating with his own life force. He could feel every fiber of his being vibrating in harmony with this primal energy.


    The ck sun in his daopartment started rotating and radiating with energy. Correspondingly, a ck sun formed in front of Liam, slowly rotating, and exuding waves of darkher energy that seemed to warp the very air around it.


    This ck sun formed the core of the dao field. It started powering his dao field and slowly his sphere of death and decay started overpowering the gravitation field of the centipede.


    Shockingly, the dao field of the centipede was extremely sturdy. Liam had already charged his field with 25% of his dao seed''s essence but it was still not enough.


    "This guy should bebining two dao seeds. Metal and gravity?" While the centipede was definitely talented in grasping the dao, it had to be in the early stages. Otherwise, Liam would have already been pushed to a dire state.


    The fact that he was able to experiment in this manner meant that the creature was simply not strong enough.


    Liam would have loved to test some more things but he had to take the time into consideration both for his sake and the sake of his group mates. He needed to finish this fight as fast as possible.


    Seeing that his technique was proceeding smoothly, Liam started injecting more of his dao seed essence and this was precisely where the problem began.


    At this step the whole field became too much for him to control and everything blew up in his face. However, this time it was different. Liam could sense it. Perhaps because there was a strong opposing force pushing him, he was able to get better control of his dao field. The opposing force of the centipede''s gravity dao field created a necessary tension, a counterbnce that sharpened his focus and understanding of his own power.


    As theher energy raged around him, Liam''s mind was calm, analyzing and adapting. He gradually began to reign in the wild energy, channeling it into a more stable form. The ck sun in his daopartment, which had been erratic and unstable, began to rotate with a steady rhythm. The waves of dark energy around him started to flow in a controlled manner, no longershing out wildly. And this control gave power.


    The centipede, sensing the change, started panicking. It intensified its gravitational field, trying to crush Liam with the sheer force of its dao. However, it could no longer suppress his dao field. Moreover, Liam''s dao field was steadily increasing.


    The centipede could guess the ending of the movie and it began to wildly attack, sending out more and more metal spikes. It was filling up the entire tunnel with metal as if it was trying to bury him in ce.


    But this too reached a dead end. The metal spikes could not even near him as the dao fieldpletely blocked them out. The metal sizzled when it came in contact with the corrosiveher. A small hint of decay could be seen on the surface.


    The centipede became desperate. Its attacks grew more frenzied as Liam''s dao field expanded, pushing back against the barrage of metal.


    The colossal centipede, now trapped in its ownir, had nowhere to go. It thrashed and writhed, but its movements were sluggish under the oppressive weight of Liam''s dao field. The gravitational field it once wielded with such authority was now being suppressed by the overwhelming power of decay.


    And then everything snapped. Liam''s dao field all of a suddenpletely copsed as the other side copsed too. It looked like the centipede had fully exhausted itself and could no longer put up any fight.


    Liam grunted in annoyance. He was so close! But the damned beast had screwed him at thest minute!


    ***

 Chapter 1281 Go for it or not?

    "Damn it!" Liam was peeved but this wasn''t the time to think about his progress as the gate to this world was about to close up any second now. Before his dao field snapped, it had managed to kill the centipede, therefore closing the gates of this world.


    And thanks to that, he was on the spot. He had to make a snap decision. The sword in his hand was going crazy and he had to decide if he was going to allow it to eat or not.


    Heck, he didn''t even know where the special material was. The entire room was aplete mess with metal spikes and bits and pieces sticking out everywhere.


    While he was thinking about it, the golden glow already started enveloping him. This was it. He had to decide now or perhaps it was alreadyte.


    The ck dragon sword was a weapon that housed numerous dragon souls. Its creator clearly had lofty goals for the weapon but how could a weapon destined to be that powerful be easy to forge?


    Moreover, Liam only had the knowledge about the first seven seals, knowledge that he obtained from the description of the weapon given out by the tutorial. He had no idea how to break open thest two seals. He also did not know whether the sword at the end of all the seals would be theplete weapon or the iplete weapon. The path ahead was full of uncertainties just like every other path in front of him. Perhaps he might never end up finishing the weapon. This was a distinct probability but one that he did not have to worry about now. The problem right now was whether to take this material in the tunnel or leave it.


    "Motherfucker!" Liam decided to go for it. It was not like this single material would instantly break the sword and power it up explosively. He would also note across materials for the sword on every single floor of the Spire. The chances ofing across something like this were very low. Unlike the system shop, he couldn''t store the materials for future use. He simply had to take this now or leave it behind.


    Considering these things Liam decided to go for it. He connected with the sword, probing it a little with his wounded soul, ready to back out in case he was attacked. Even the little action sent a wave of pain across his body but ultimately it was worth it.


    Just like he expected the dragons did not fight back this time and stayed obedient. It was clear that they needed this badly. He was starving them and they knew better than to attack him.


    Liam also had a distinct feeling that the dragon souls were nning something huge. They finally had a master who was strong enough to get the materials they needed but had a weakened soul which they could pick apart whenever they wanted.


    Didn''t this mean they currently had the upper hand? They could simply use him until they became strong and leave when they possessed enough power. This was a simple strategy and surely not something that slipped the mind of a powerful being like a dragon.


    So Liam ultimately let them have their meal. His soul probe gave him instant results and the dragons pointed in the direction of the material that they craved. A st of power emerged from the sword instantaneously dragging his body to a corner of the tunnel.


    From there, Liam did not even have to move a muscle as the sword once again pulled his arm to the wall of dirt and metallic debris. Of course, this was because Liam had given it free rein to do whatever it wanted due to the time crunch.


    The sword, vibrating intensely with an almost desperate hunger, resonated towards a specific point in the wall. Liam followed its guidance, reached out, and brushed awayyers of dirt and fragmented metal. There, partially obscured by the debris,y a lustrous, strange-looking ore, emitting a faint glow.


    At first nce, it seemed extremely ordinary but the way the dragons reacted he knew that it was anything but. It was no surprise that his [Inspection] skill too did not yield any results.


    The golden glow around him intensified, signaling the imminent closure of the gate. Time was of the essence now. Heck, he did not even have the time to mine the damn thing.


    With the fraction of the second he had, Liam simply pierced the sword into the chunk of ore. Or at least tried to. To his shock, his sword simply did not have the power to pierce through.


    The numerous dragon soulsshed out in rage at this failure. The sword vibrated violently against his hand.


    Liam''s eyes widened. Without hesitation, he churned his mana core using the full extent of his core strength and further channeling the dao of sharpness into the attack and once more struck the same thing.


    With a swift, decisive movement, he plunged the sword into the ore. However, it still met with resistance. Unexpectedly, another wave of power erupted from the sword and Liam felt a tremendous aura seeping out. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    CRACK!


    Finally, the ore chunk was unable to withstand the pressure any longer and it started to crack and crumble. An intense energy emerged from within the sword andpletely enveloped the ore.


    Liam could feel a dense archaic soul st forth and his own soul shivered from the mere presence of it. His already weakened soul couldn''t bear such an overwhelming aura and he felt as if he was going to get ripped apart.


    Liam''s face turned grave. Even if the dragon souls did not personally attack him, the sheer intensity of the power unleashed was more than enough to threaten his already fragile soul state. This was a mistake.


    However, just as his soul was about to get ripped to oblivion, the golden glow enveloped him entirely and he was whisked away from the tunnel.


    An enraged roar appeared from the ck dragon sword and Liam could feel the dragons fighting against the very essence of the Spire itself. But the victor was clear as the next second he found himself in the middle of a marketce.


    ***

 Chapter 1282 On the frontline

    Chapter 1282 On the frontline


    Liam looked at the sword in his hands as he was unsure what had happened. He had no idea if the ore chunk actually got absorbed or not. Maybe they ran out of time? He took another look at the sword and noticed that a certain rune had lit up in the sword. His knowledge in rune forging was next to nothing but even a fool could see that the sword had at least managed to partially absorb something.


    "Well, that''s that." Liam did not want to linger on it and stood up, taking a look at the surroundings. Once again, he was all alone and no one else was near him. This time even Luna and the other beasts were missing. However, the sword in his hand remained.


    He wanted to think that the ck dragon sword did something and entered the floor using a cheat method but the reality was probably the Spire allowed a weapon on this floor. Either way, to help his team, he needed to clear the floor as quickly as possible. That still remained the main goal.


    Liam looked around the bustling marketce. He was in either a city or town from the looks of it. He scanned the marketce, taking in the sights and sounds of the environment. The atmosphere was lively, with vendors calling out to attract customers and the chatter of people negotiating deals. The air was filled with the smells of spices, cooking food, and the asional whiff of herbs and flowers.


    Liam felt that something was amiss and the moment he smelled the herbs he knew what it was. This ce waspletely devoid of mana or for that matter any other energy. It was just like Earth when the apocalypse hadn''t started.


    He observed the people around him; they seemed like ordinary cityfolk, going about their daily business. However, he knew that in the Spire, appearances could be deceiving.


    He began to navigate through the marketce, his senses alert for any clues or signs of what the challenge might entail. Once again no one else had been teleported with him.


    He approached a nearby stall, casually ncing at the items disyed. He struck up a conversation with the vendor, trying to gather information about the city and any unusual happenings or challenges that might be relevant to the Spire''s test.


    He also kept an eye out for any signs of his team members. However, nothing seemed to be off. The city was having a festival soon because of the city Lord''s son''s birthday. Other than that, there was nothing special going on.


    "Hmmm?" Liam pondered silently. This was also good. This would give them some time to regroup. He had only just finished thinking about it when suddenly loud sirens started ring throughout the city, causing a stir among the city folk. The lively atmosphere of the marketce quickly shifted to one of confusion and concern. The vendors and customers started looking around, trying to understand the source of the rm. As the sirens red, a crier hurried through the marketce, shouting an announcement that immediately caught Liam''s attention: "Emergency! Emergency! All able-bodied individuals are to report to the city square immediately! The city is under threat!"


    This was definitely the challenge he was looking for. Without hesitation, he followed the flow of the crowd toward the city square. The entire area was bustling with activity.


    Guards were organizing the people into groups, handing out basic weapons like swords and spears to those who could wield them. It was clear that the city was preparing for some kind of imminent threat.


    The crowd that had gathered was also enormous. Apart from the general public who was practically being forced to participate, the army the city could muster at a moment''s notice was quite impressive. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In this huge mess, without mana or any of his enhanced senses, it was nigh impossible to locate the others. The only constion was that Liam had his cheat ck dragon sword in his possession to get through any potential curve balls the Spire might throw at him. With that advantage, he could try to end the trial sooner rather thanter.


    If he continued clearing the floors like this, on one floor or the other the Spire had to regroup them for some challenge. If not, then he was simply doing his best and gaining as much as he could in the limited amount of days he had.


    After all, inside a ce like this, there was only so much Liam could do to help out. He approached one of the guards, inquiring about the situation. "What''s happening? Why the sudden call to arms?"


    The guard, looking harried but determined, quickly briefed him. "The enemy has been spotted heading towards the city. They''reing fast. We need every fighter we can get to defend the city."


    Liam nodded and stepped back. He had already expected something like this. He had no mana or magic. Only his weapon so this trial was something rted to fighting in an actual war.


    The city''s preparations continued, with barricades being set up and archers taking positions on rooftops. Liam positioned himself at the front lines. With his sword, he wanted to take out as many enemies as possible and end this thing fast.


    This was a bit risky, considering that he did not know the strength of the so-called enemy but seeing the strength of the city''s army, he could vaguely make a guess. There shouldn''t be anything like an atom bomb or nuclear bomb to cause him concern. Nevertheless, he stood a little at the back, leaving some cannon fodder in front of him in case something unexpected happened.


    And then, the first wave of enemy soldiers appeared on the horizon, moving towards the city with rming speed. Except that, these were no soldiers. They were creatures or more specifically demons!


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock. The enemy army consisted of demons? Now this was something he hadn''t expected. How was a human army without mana going to fare against demons?

 Chapter 1283 Culling the demons

    Chapter 1283 Culling the demons


    Liam stared at the horde of demons fast approaching them. How could he not recognize the familiar reddish brown skin and the horns that many of the beings disyed on their heads? This was definitely a demon tribe that was attacking the city. In this mana less world, where did this bunch of demonse from?


    From the looks of it, he was not the only one who was shocked. The cityfolk and the guards alike were taken aback by the appearance of the demon horde, their expressions turning from determination to fear. It was clear that they had also not expected such an otherworldly threat.


    Moreover, they did not have the means to deal with such a threat.


    Liam had inspected some of their weapons and it was barely abovemon-grade, basically trash tier equipment. Their armor too was nothing to write home about. The end result of this battle was already clear.


    At this point, Liam even had a doubt about the true goal of the floor. Was it really to fight in the battle? Or perhaps it was some sort of survival quest?


    He had already faced an opponent in the previous floor who was able to use dao seed. The difficulty of this floor shouldn''t be any lesser than that.


    Liam''s mind conjured several possibilities but at the end of the day, he did not care. Maybe this was a meticulously designed test by the Spire to check something but he had his own solution to the problem.


    He swung his ck dragon sword and the next moment a fierce aura sted out in all directions. The men around him shivered in terror as he alone stepped forward. His heart fruit and magic was sealed but he still had his sword.


    And the ck dragon sword was more than happy to unleash terror on the demon horde. It was definitely not happy being suppressed left and right by the Spire.


    The sword''s intense, dark aura seemed to hunger for the battle, its thirst for blood palpable in the charged air.


    With a fluid, powerful motion, Liam charged forward, the ck Dragon Sword slicing through the air with deadly precision. Each swing was a dance of destruction, cutting down demon after demon in swift, clean strokes.


    The army looked dumbfounded. The people who were frozen on the spot because of the bloodthirsty appearance of the demons came to their senses and roared with fighting spirit.


    Bolstered by Liam''s fearless advance, rallied behind him. Despite their inferior weapons and armor, they fought with the courage of those defending their home.


    Unfortunately, their strength was in no wayparable to Liam''s. Soldiers were quickly falling apart, blood and body parts sttering everywhere.


    It became increasingly clear that the city''s defenders were outmatched. The demons, relentless and savage, were overpowering the guards and people with their sheer ferocity and numbers. Despite their bravery, the cityfolk were untrained for such a brutal confrontation. However, they somehow held on. The archers and throwers on the wall continued to rain down arrows and projectiles, providing much-needed support to the beleaguered front line. Liam noticed their efforts, nodding in approval. Their coordinated volleys provided a small respite, slowing down the demon advance.


    Meanwhile, Liam did not remain idle. He didn''t concern himself with the problems of the city''s people. When a demon siege like this urred the loss of life was inevitable. His goal was not to be a hero to save everyone. Instead, he continued to head deeper into the demon horde. He was a whirlwind of destruction as he cut through the army and massacred the demons in his path.


    He found himself at the center of the fray, the demons recognizing him as the biggest threat. They swarmed him, trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers.


    But Liam was undeterred. The demons simply did not have the strength to tie him down. Having led assaults himself, Liam could tell that these were weaker forces meant for lower level assaults.


    He could now tell what sort of test the Spire had fashioned for this floor. However, he was not really ying by the rules. Using his overpowered sword, he was simply cutting through to the main stars of the show.


    Naturally, Liam did not n on ying every single demon in the army. The main big shots were the demon generals and he massacred his way to them. The generals, powerful and fearsome, were the linchpins of the demonic forces. If he could take them down, the rest of the horde would copse into chaos.


    As he forged his path towards the demon generals, the intensity of the battle escted. The generals, sensing the threat Liam posed, directed their strongest warriors to intercept him. But they were no match for the might of the ck Dragon Sword.


    Finally, Liam reached the demon generals. They were formidable foes, each exuding a menacing aura of power. That is for mere mortals. These demon generals were level 50 at best. They shuddered in the presence of the sword''s aura.


    There were a total of five demon generals and a golden aura started enshrouding Liam as soon as he took out three of them. When he looked in the distance, he could see a familiar scene of bloodshed and ughter. Someone else had also made it to the epicenter of the battle. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    And perhaps even two of them. Each one taking out one of the Generals. If Liam were a betting man, he would ce his bets on the wily elf and maybe Lan Deming. Unlike the others, Lan Deming was a military trained fighter. His abilities were further honed after the apocalypse. He was someone who should thrive in this kind of trial despite theck of cosmic energies.


    It turned out that Liam''s guess was correct as two floorster, a figure materialized right next to him in the middle of a heated battle.


    "Guild leader!" Lan Deming reported and Liam could see that the man had gone through a lot.

 Chapter 1284 Something soft and wet

    Chapter 1284 Something soft and wet


    The next few floors were a blur to everyone in the group as Liam essentially speed ran through the Spire trials one after the other. After he met with Lan Deming on the floor where humans were battling against a demon horde, he had picked up his pace further. Lan Deming had mentioned that he narrowly escaped with his life because of the trialpletion and this was enough to know that their strategy was working.


    Liam continued in this fashion sting through one trial ground after another until the next reward and achievement chimed in.


    [Ding! Congrattions! You have sessfully crossed the first segment of the Spire]


    [Ding! Congrattions! You have received the title ''Spire of Ascension First Segment Trial Taker'']


    Spire of Ascension First Segment Trial Taker: Gain 1% boost to all your attributes


    This was exactly what Liam had been waiting for. If he simply continued to speed run through the trials then no one would gain anything or rather he would be the only one to gain something.


    However, after the end of the first segment, the Spire rewarded a new title. The title was a 1% boost to attributes which was a significant bump in power. But along with it, there was also another reward. This was the main reason why Liam had run through the levels.


    Liam looked at the piece of armor lying on the ground in front of him. He picked it up with a bright gleam in his eyes.


    [Ding! Congrattions! You have received the Vntis White Armor]


    Liam examined the armor closely. It was an exquisitely crafted metal armor, white in color. The armor felt surprisingly light in his hands, yet he could sense the immense durability and power it contained. It was an above average item but it was nowhere close to a legendary grade item. Yet many people who entered the Spire hoped to finish at least the first segment because of this very same item.


    This was because Vntis White Armor was a soul armor!


    Liam wondered if the ck dragon sword in his hand would have any reaction because of this armor but the sword remained absolutely indifferent as if it couldn''t care less.


    Of course, the reward given by the Spire was not as good as the ck dragon sword. But it was still an item that could make many big shots empty their wallets in the auction house. Even the weakest soul forged item was better than a normal item and with the right upgrades perhaps even a legendary grade item. Besides, these kinds of items were not easily obtainable. Only a guild that had a cksmith capable of crafting soul items could enjoy privileges like this. And only a powerhouse capable of nurturing soul items can bring out their full strength.


    With a grin, Liam equipped the armor without hesitation. It looked like the soul inside the armor was a beast-type soul as he heard a low growl when he bound it and equipped it.


    Liam waspletely awestruck. He was also a cksmith but he was still not at the level of forging an item like this. He ran his hand over the metallic armor and wondered what it was made of. The description of the item only gave its stat bonus and there wasn''t even a special effect mentioned.


    This was understandable as right now the armor was at its lowest level. Its true power would shine when it was upgraded with the required materials. This was a tricky part as some amount of research was required to gauge what materials would be helpful and what could harm the soul armor.


    In some way, it was almost like Liam had gained one additional tamed beast. Except that this tamed beast was in the form of a soul armor.


    Liam also noted another thing. The Spire had rewarded him with an armor which meant that this was something he needed sorely at the moment.


    In fact, it was mentioned in the information packets that all the items, techniques and misceneous rewards given out by the Spire were tailor-made to the trail takers.


    And the thing that made Liam currently the most vulnerable was his soul which was supposed to be his strong point. This made him think if the armor had aponent to strengthen his soul or perhaps something rted to soul defense.


    "Vntis¡­" Liam had no idea what that term meant. He needed to find out more about the armor when he got out of the Spire.


    But for now, he had gained the first item from the first checkpoint of the Spire. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The rules of the Spire state that the Spire rewarded items would not be taken away no matter what floor the trial was on. This, of course, would be a good thing except for the fact that the trials henceforth would be even more difficult.


    One step at a time. Liam let out a sigh. He would at least no longer feel naked without any armor. The five minute break he had to check out the reward ran out and the next second, he found himself in a dimly lit room.


    Coincidentally, he really was naked this time around.


    Liam found himself lying down on a silk bed with nothing except his armor on. Surrounding him were four subi, dressed in enticing attire. Three of them pushed him down and the fourth one climbed on top of him with her mouth opened wide.


    "My lord, please allow me to serve you."


    Liam''s eyes widened as he felt something soft and wet touch him down there. Without wasting any second, he immediately used both of his legs to push the woman away, at the same time somersaulting out of the bed.


    "My lord¡­"


    The four subi looked at him with confusion in their eyes.


    "My lord¡­ please forgive us if we were not up to your expectations¡­" One of the subi walked forward and Liam immediately felt an immense pressure weighing down on him.

 Chapter 1285 What a heavenly trial, my Lord!

    Chapter 1285 What a heavenly trial, my Lord!


    All sorts of mental images shed past Liam trying to drown him in unadulterated intoxication. Rather than mental images it was as if he was submerged in glimpses of what his life could be or was currently. Everything was blurry and it was difficult to differentiate reality and illusion.


    Liam saw beautiful women all around him, wearing only the bare minimal clothing which was somehow more enticing than if they had been utterly naked. These women begged him, yearned for him and threw themselves at him in all sorts of ways.


    Liam tried to block the visions and rushed out of the room, only to be further besieged by other beautiful vixens carrying aromatic wine and delicious meat. These women around him were from all races and lineages and each one of them was indescribably attractive, enough to captivate any man and enamour him for days if not years. Even Nymphomania couldn''te close to this kind of pleasure pce.


    Liam found himself getting carried away quite a few times as he fondled the slender waists and juicy melons that blocked his path. However, he snapped out of it instantly, pushing the women away.


    The white intoxicating haze that was lingering in the air also did not help. It was as if he was walking in a dreand that countless men wished to enter.


    Liam''s instincts screamed that this was danger and he needed to be out of here as soon as possible. Every moment that he dyed, the pressure on his mind only worsened. He was getting more and more pulled into the fantasy, even going as far as to disrobe a demoness who was particrly alluring.


    At thest second, he grit his teeth and once again broke out of the entrapment. It wouldn''t take long for him to dash out of this ce but he did not do so. This was because while surviving in this pleasure pce was difficult with one''s intellect intact, this was also one of the easier floors he had run into. The difficulty in the second segment of the Spire was sure to skyrocket. If possible he wanted to gather the rest of the group and check how everyone else has fared. Ultimately, this was still a race to the top but Liam was willing to spare a few hours if it would help them recuperate and increase their chance of survival. Besides, not all of them had healing skills and he could definitely help them in that department.


    It took a few minutes but Liam finally managed to navigate through the maze and get a grip on himself. He was now in firm control of his senses and was no longer affected by the enticing illusions and temptations that the floor threw at him.


    While the mental illusions of the floor weren''t that strong, Liam suspected that their effect was so pronounced because of the drugged atmosphere in the pce. But now that he was somewhat used to the muddle-headed feeling, he ran through the corridors and opened the doors in the pce to search for familiar faces. Every now and then he fondled a few women, acting as if he was still under the influence of the drug. It was still not time to alert the big boss of this ce. Liam had a strong feeling that if he was found out or if he stepped out of this ce or if he killed the person in charge of this establishment then the trial would swiftlye to an end.


    So he tried to be as subtle as possible in his search. As he meandered through the opulent halls, he kept his senses sharp, filtering through the haze and noise to detect any hint of his team members. He wandered from room to room, feigning indulgence in the pleasures offered.


    As he moved deeper into the pce, the debauchery grew more intense, but Liam remained focused. Not so surprisingly, the first person he came across was Eldrin. The elf was also out of his private chamber.


    However, he showed no inclinations of doing anything. He simply walked aimlessly, groping all women around him to his heart''s content. As he pinched a lion girl''s nipple and poked another woman''s belly button, the elf''s gaze finallynded on Liam.


    The shameless guy instantly revealed a big grin. "What a heavenly trial, my Lord."


    Liam chuckled helplessly. Seeing the elf''s behavior, he couldn''t help but wonder for a second if the elf had fallen for the illusions. It turned out that he was fine after all.


    "Have you seen anyone else?" N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Ah.." Eldrin shook his head. "I assumed you were going to close this trial just like you did with the other floors. So¡­ Cough. Cough. I was simply trying to make the best of it."


    "Careful. There is something in the air. You might fall without even realizing that you are not in control anymore."


    Eldrin quickly nodded his head in obedience. "Of course, my Lord. I would be a fool to underestimate any trial in the Spire."


    Liam frowned. Though the elf''s mouth was moving, he did not look believable at all. Either way, the guy had proven himself capable until now so he continued moving.


    Liam cleared all of the first floor and was yet toe across anyone else. He now stood before a set of stairs with a choice in front of him, up or down. In this kind of setup, he felt that perhaps going down would lead to the big boss so he decided to head upward.


    However, the moment he stepped on the stair, a loud explosion rang in the bottom floor. Liam instantly rushed over to find that parts of the building''s wall had been ripped open.


    At the same time, another person as well arrived next to him. "Guild leader." Once again, Lan Deming greeted him.


    Liam saw that the assassin style fighter now possessed a brand new pair of daggers which should have been his reward for clearing the first segment. This was good because his ss mainly relied on the weapon and a good weapon can go a long way in increasing his strength.

 Chapter 1286 When all else doesnt work...

    Chapter 1286 When all else doesn''t work...


    "Did you meet anyone else?" Liam only finished talking when another loud bang resounded, followed by what seemed like the crumbling of walls. Liam and Lan Deming peered through the broken structure to see a short guy heaving and panting.


    Madan grinned at the two of them, his face fully flushed and the hunter sweating profusely. "Sorry, boss. I knew you hadn''t cleared this immediately for some reason but I tried to hold out as long as I could." He spoke with a sheepish tone, clearly embarrassed by his situation.


    Liam couldn''t help but chuckle at the sight. "Well, at least you made it out. That''s what matters."


    Madan nodded, still trying to catch his breath. "Yeah, it was... intense."


    Turning back to Lan Deming, Liam reiterated his question. "Did you see Rey?"


    Lan Deming shook his head. "No, I didn''t see anyone else. This ce... it''s a maze. Easy to get lost and... distracted."


    "It doesn''t matter, my Lord. Sooner orter, we will all meet on the special floor. Let''s just hope it''ster rather than sooner." Eldrin as well walked out of the ruins. He gave a slight bow to Liam adding, "I am sure nothing happened to your subordinate. They are all very talented." The elf gave a gentlemanly smile to everyone.


    Liam snorted as he did not care for the half-hearted ttering words of the elf. More than anyone, he knew Rey''s situation and how his soul was almost torn apart and put back together. The guy had truly gone through a lot in his life and if he did not make it, then there would be more opportunities. Liam was willing to give him more than one chance to prove himself. Rather, he wanted to ask what special floor the elf was talking about but a towering aura appeared the next moment, leaving them no time to talk further.


    BOOM!


    An intense shockwave spread out and it contained more than just physical attack. Immediately Lan Deming and Madan dropped to their knees, blood seeping out of their pores. Only the elf was still standing, although it was clear that he was also having difort.


    Liam frowned as he saw that he could not dy this fight any longer. Otherwise, he would risk the disqualification of two more of his team mates. Also, he had a feeling that this fight wasn''t going to be easy.


    Before another shockwave came out, Liam''s figure blurred as he headed inward towards the nucleus of the attack.


    He closed in on the source of the shockwave and the environment around him became increasingly warped and distorted, a clear sign of the immense power at the heart of this disturbance.


    He navigated through the chaos with agility and precision, his ck Dragon Sword at the ready. Finally, he arrived at the center of the turmoil.


    Considering his opponents before, Liam expected to find an enormous creature or monster at the center of these events. Perhaps one that had a leg into a dao path rted to the mind. However, he met with something else entirely.


    An array formation? Liam blinked. In front of him was a mess of various talismans and gems, like insects caught in an borate spider web. This was nothing like the array formations of the system shop he had used before or any other array that he hade across until now. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His experience with arrays might have been limited, but he could tell that this setup was unorthodox, almost like it was put together by someone with raw talent butcking refined skills. This was why it was so shocking that the array was so damn powerful.


    Hopefully, destroying it wouldn''t be that hard?


    Liam had read a little bit about the basis of array formation from the information manuals in his possession. Destroying an array wasn''t a simple matter. There were typically many traps iid.


    He approached cautiously as a direct attack might trigger a bacsh or even strengthen the array. The array''s crude nature made it unpredictable. Liam tried to gauge the focal points of the messy web but the talismans and gems scattered around seemed to serve as both focal points and energy sources, creating a chaotic yet potent field of energy.


    There seemed to be no effective way to sus out what was important and what was not important. The clock was ticking as Liam could sense the presence of another attack building up.


    Of course, there were always two methods to break open an array. One method was the sophisticated method and could be performed by someone who knew how to. The second method¡­


    Simple brute force.


    If it was not enough, then apply more brute force, enough to overwhelm whatever traps there might be.


    Liam decided to go with the dao seed of ice as he activated the ice shard and churned the energy it contained. He mixed it in with the mana that he was automatically gathering on the side.


    Together, the two created a dense aura and Liam shaped it in the form of an icence. He would have typically gone with an ice sword but after many trial and errors he knew that the prative power of his attack was higher in this form.


    As the spear came into fruition, Liam did not hesitate and threw it with all his might towards the center of the array or rather the center of the room.


    The icence cut through the air with a chilling intensity. It collided with the arraywork and there was a momentary silence before a massive explosion of energy erupted. The talismans and gems that formed the array''s core were overwhelmed by the sheer force of the attack. They shattered, sending shards of energy and fragments of the array in all directions.


    Liam shielded himself with a quick mana barrier, deflecting the flying debris. The shockwave from the array''s destruction rippled throughout the space, causing the very air to tremble.


    Liam blocked the shockwave adding more and moreyers of mana barriers, trying to contain the attack within the room but he was only able to block the physical attack. The mental attack still managed to ripple through.


    Thankfully, the array must have already gotten destabilized when the wave rang out so the mental attack was just a shadow of its former self.


    As the debris cleared, it also became evident that his brute force approach had worked. The array, the source of the oppressive energy and shockwaves, everything waspletely dismantled.


    And the golden glow also started enveloping him without wasting any time.


    Liam let out a sigh of relief as he instantly used his movement skill to arrive next to the group. "Good luck." He mouthed and he was once again plunged into darkness. This floor had been close but everyone had made it except for Dante and Rey. It was an oue better than what he could have asked for.


    Maybe if they did not arrive on the special floor that the elf mentioned, they could keep going on like this and even cross the second segment? Liam wondered what could be the rewards for the next segment. The Spire kept changing the rewards so it was unclear what they might get but whatever it may be, it was bound to be really good and tailor-made for them.


    As his mind began to wander, the next floor materialized and Liam''s eyes widened. All good things muste to an end.

 Chapter 1287 Fuck me and my accursed mouth!

    Chapter 1287 Fuck me and my ursed mouth!


    When the elf had talked about special floors, Liam thought of many scenarios but this was one thing that he did not consider. Standing around him on this special floor were not numerous monsters but other people. If he was not wrong, other trial takers!


    They had been whisked away from that creepy floor directly to a PVP round!


    More importantly, deaths in this round can mean real deaths and not fake deaths like on the rest of the floors of the Spire. This was one of the more brutal trials of the Spire.


    "Why are we here now?" Liam frowned. This kind of trial was only supposed to happen after the fifth segment which was considered the first major hurdle of the Spire. This was also why he never thought that they would be encountering a PVP floor any time soon.


    Liam had never wanted anyone in his group to participate in this death trap. He was confident that none of them would cross the fifth segment so he did not worry about a situation like this or n for it.


    Until now a small part of him hoped that Rey would still be somehow hanging on but now he genuinely hoped that he had flunked out on one of the previous floors.


    "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Me and my ursed mouth." Standing next to him, Eldrin was chewing on his nails like there was no tomorrow. He had only jokingly mentioned that they would be fine as long as they didn''t have a PVP trial but to his dismay, his words had immediatelye true.


    The elf''sment made Liam frown further. The only constion was that Madan and Lan Deming had also appeared right next to him. However, Rey and Dante were still missing.


    "Boss bro, what the hell is that elf talking about?" Madan had a bad feeling as he looked around nervously. Lan Deming was also on high alert. Everyone could instantly feel that something was amiss. The environment around them right now was simply too different. It was almost as if they were standing in the middle of a battleground.


    To further solidify this feeling, an intense danger rm nketed the group. It was killing intent pouring onto them from all directions.


    Sensing that even a moment of weakness could mean death sentence for the group, Liam acted quickly. His first reaction was to check his mana pathways and his heart fruit. The core was not locked for this floor.


    This could be good or bad.


    Liam continued investigating. Luna and the other tamed beasts were absent. So was his spatial ring. Thankfully, his weapon and the soul armor he had gained at the first checkpoint was still present.


    Liam knew that their chances could have been better if all the items he had in his possession were currently avable to them for use. But then again, that meant the others would have ess to the same things. This sort of handicap might actually be a good thing for them.


    Who entered the Spire?


    Talented awakened beings from different parts of the myriad realms entered the Spire to push themselves and hone their foundation and skills. Just because they were beggars, hailing from a newly integrated world, did not mean that everyone else here was also in the same boat.


    Many of the groups could be from established empires and aristocratic ancient families and ns who possessed millions of years of backing or perhaps even more. The items these people might possess could be at apletely different level whenpared to what they have ess to. Even in Tirnanog, Liam was only able to loot the insignificant elven guards who had entered the forbidden territory to scout ahead along with a few elites from the branch families. He still hadn''t butted heads with any actual elites of these powerful families from the myriad realms and he had no intention of doing that any time soon. However, things were already set on a collision course and it was no longer in his hands to avoid conflict. They were already running out of time. Liam''s mind raced as a dense fog started enveloping the area, obscuring their vision. The fog thickened rapidly, almost unnaturally. It was clear that this was not an effect of the environment. The trial had begun and someone had already targeted them!


    "Stay close and be ready for anything," Liam instructed his group, his eyes scanning the fog for any signs of movement or danger. The eerie silence was unsettling, and he knew better than to let his guard down.


    The next second a sort of weakness engulfed everyone. Several cuts even appeared on Madan''s and Lan Deming''s bodies.


    "Our health is draining!" Eldrin swore as he looked around. He also unleashed several attacks to clear the fog but it was of no use. The fog was ever present and more dot damage started appearing on the group members.


    "Damn it. My health is quickly draining. Why couldn''t one of you be a healer?" Eldrin hurriedly tried to cast some sort of healing spell on himself and when everyone stared at him, he started casting the same spell on others as well.


    But the problem was far from resolved. The dot damage was very concerning.


    However, when the group looked at their leader, he still remained unmoving. Liam found himself wondering if he should even make a move or not. This was because while the fog might be worrying, there were other more troubling matters at y.


    They had all been teleported to a densely packed battleground. Making unnecessary shy moves might attract more attention to themselves. If he had understood it correctly, this floor of the Spire was a trial by elimination. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This meant that they didn''t have to win anything. They did not even have to do anything. All they needed to do was survive. Survive until the required number of participants dies and they might just be able to walk off scot free.

 Chapter 1288 Time to start the slaughter

    Chapter 1288 Time to start the ughter


    While the group was getting nervous about the fog, Liam''s mind quickly strategized a n. When the defensive talismans and items were not included, this fog could actually be used as a good cover for the whole group.


    He waited for a couple of seconds to observe if the effects of the small damages were worsening with time. Proving his theory, the damage was actually quite consistent. This fog was clearly set up by someone who was skilled in wind elemental magic. There were wind des hidden in the fog that cut through once in a while. But there was also something else. A little bit of poison in the air. A weakening or perhaps paralyzing poison. Depending on what it was it might be dangerous to let this go on unchecked for too long.


    Liam had no ns of doing that. While he did not drive away the fog immediately, he sent out his minions into the battleground along with the fog. He chose the soul blood beasts for this task because they were much stronger than the others.


    More importantly, these beasts could also blend in with the fog and look almost inseparable just like his other soul minions. In this kind of haphazard environment, Liam decided to add his own chaos into the mix and watch the show.


    The soul blood minions silently dispersed. Unlike his soul minions, these minions were not at the level where they could act as his eyes and ears but they were still able to ry some information.


    The first thing they confirmed was how pervasive the fog was. Surprisingly, the next thing that they confirmed was how everyone in that area was avoiding their group. Apparently, there was a wide berth around them and the other trial takers in the area chose someone else to target rather than their group.


    This was probably because it would be more difficult to take out an entire group. However, it was only a matter of time before someone sniffed out the real strength of their group.


    The group waited, tense and alert. The moments stretched on, the oppressive silence only broken by the asional whisper of the wind des in the fog. Then, just as Liam sensed a shift in the air signaling an approaching enemy, a shadowy figure emerged from the fog, lunging towards the group, more specifically Madan. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam was already ready for this as a soul blood minion intercepted the attack and pounced on the attacker. However, the other party was also not done yet. Just as the first attack was blocked, multiple figures appeared, every single one of them proficient in wielding weapons.


    The person did not seem to be thrown at all by the presence of the soul blood minion. One additional figure appeared to deal with the extra soul blood minion.


    But the next second, more soul blood minions started popping out left and right. Each one of them acted as a tank to the group and took on the damage.


    The more figures emerged from the fog, the more soul blood minions appeared to meet them. At a certain point, two soul blood minions started popping for each figure, as they tried to drown out the attacker.


    The other party did not give up and was viciously attacking the beasts.


    And Liam did not wait around to see who was going to win this crazy war of numbers. He finally made his move. He unsheathed the ck dragon sword and shed down the nearest figure which he assumed was some sort of clone.


    The fog worked well to hide most details but it did not look like this person controlled the fog. He was probably an assassin type fighter simply aiming to take advantage of the fog.


    The sword shed with the dagger which surprisingly was very much corporeal. Moreover, the dagger moved at an extremely fast unpredictable pace, the person clearly talented in fighting with the dagger.


    For a moment, Liam found it extremely hard to match with the speed of the attacker. But he quickly used his mana core to flood his pathways and enhanced his agility and dexterity further. Only now he was able to match the attacker.


    Liam couldn''t help but be amazed by the technique exhibited by the person. He had entered the Spire at the very edge of breaking through to the next rank and his attributes werepletely maxed out. Yet this person was able to push him to use his mana enhancement. This showed that he could not underestimate anyone here.


    Before things got out of hand, Liam stopped messing around and started to empower each of his attacks with ice elemental dao seed. Each attack from his sword was met by a dagger swing but finally, the attacks could no longer hold out. The shadowy figure was getting pushed back.


    With each and every sh, Liam was slowly starting to dominate the exchange. At the same time, more soul blood beasts started popping out and these beasts hurled blood spheres left and right, which rippled with massive damage power.


    The fight quickly turned one-sided and the attacker definitely noticed. This was because the next moment, every single shadowy figure in the vicinity all of a sudden disappeared into the dense fog without leaving behind anything.


    The fighters disappeared just as fast as they had appeared, leaving everyonepletely stunned.


    "Intelligent bastard! He knows when to bow out!" Eldrin chuckled nervously, the elf fully dripping in sweat.


    Liam also agreed with him. As soon as the person realized that he was out of hisfort zone, he ran away. This was not a bad tactic. He must have targeted them, sensing their collective levels were low and seeing that the truth was far from it, quickly retreated to target someone else.


    And if one person made this mistake, then the chances are that many were bound to do the same.


    Liam grinned. "This could actually be good for us. Time to start the ughter."

 Chapter 1289 Who will be the last one?

    Chapter 1289 Who will be thest one?


    "That''s already the fourth one!" Eldrin heaved a sigh of relief, watching Liam effortlessly finish off yet another person. "I didn''t think that our baits would be so effective." The elf nodded, drawing res from both Madan and Lan Deming. Both of them had gained a few levels in the floors so far but it was far from enough for them to be actually useful inbat. Power-leveling in the Awakened Rank was pretty much useless considering any meaningful level jump only happened after gaining insights into the Dao paths. There was no chance of this happening either since Liam was essentially running through the floors at breakneck speed.


    Of course, the two of them still had the chance to make tremendous improvements and im their own Spire tokens when the time was right. This was why most people simply aimed for a couple of segments of the Spire to get the quick and easy rewards and then bow out.


    Liam''s n was also to do exactly the same, except that they were thrown a curve ball and pushed into a PVP zone this early in the Spire. However, so far everything was progressing smoothly and there was no one who came their way whom they couldn''t handle.


    Since the trial urred at the lower floors of the Spire, it was impossible that the selection criteria would be brutal. Perhaps 50% would be the cut off or maybe even better than that.


    So Liam was optimistic that the trial should be cleared anytime now. There also weren''t any exceptional powerful aura fluctuations near them which implied that they weren''t dealing with any hidden monsters.


    With some luck, they should be able to get out of herepletely unscathed.


    The next couple of minutes passed by tensely and Liam kept his senses on high alert for potential dangers. But much to his surprise, the battles urring here and there on the battleground died out quietly without making any big waves.


    From the beginning to the end, there hadn''t been a single powerful aura that stood out. This was good news. This meant that the trial was essentially over.


    "Fuck! I thought we were going to get screwed for sure. Thank the heavens. At least some luck is on our side." Eldrin sighed in relief. Everyone in the group was also slightly rxed. Even the fog that surrounded them was slowly starting to thin itself out.


    Liam was inclined to agree with them too but there was one thing that did not add up. The battles had ceased. The fog was cleared and many around them had fallen but the trial was still up and running?


    Something did not add up.


    Liam''s gut instincts told him that perhaps this floor was not done just yet and the next moment, his fears came true. Just as thest of the dust settled, a terrifying aura rippled across the battleground.


    And along with it, a sweet melodious voice rang out. "Uh oh. We are not done yet?"


    It was a sweet female voice that in no way could be rted to power like that and yet it reverberated to all corners of the battlefield as it shuddered the remaining beings still standing on their feet.


    And the woman was not done talking yet.


    "It looks like we need one more sacrifice before we can move on. I will wait for 2 seconds. Decide amongst yourself. Otherwise, I would have to personally make a move and I am feeling toozy today. Yawn."


    Everyone trembled once again.


    The woman was clearly arrogant and seemed to im things that should be impossible. However, there was no one in their right mind who would doubt her words.


    All eyes instantly shot towards the source of the voice, unable to resist themand.


    Liam felt a throbbing pain in his head as he too turned to look in that direction. Though it was not because ofpulsion but because he wanted to see what was going on.


    And it was a good thing that he did because the sight that awaited him was truly unbelievable. A little distance away from him was a hovering ball of blood. Correction. A huge enormous hovering ball of blood that seemed to blot out the very sun in the sky, sitting atop the battleground like a round shaped mountain that had popped out of nowhere.


    On top of this mountain was a figure. It was the same woman or rather young girl who should have spoken but her figure waspletely shrouded in a red fog. This fog was an entirely different level whenpared to the white fog that had spread everywhere earlier in the battleground. In fact, the two couldn''t even bepared.


    Liam''s heart raced as he tried to think of something. They really had ended up with the shittiest of luck this time around. Not only had they stumbled onto this ughter trial but they had also run into some sort of monster. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Especially after reading the information briefs about the various powerhouses in just their sector, Liam was not idiotic enough to want to butt heads with unknown powerhouses. He had enough enemies as it was.


    Things did not work as nned in Nymphomania and he had to stick out like a sore thumb to cash out on a few profits but now it was different. There was nothing to gain from grabbing the attention of this powerful girl. It was best to remain invisible.


    Going by what she said, they just needed only one more death and then the trial should be over. Until then¡­ Liam let out a deep breath and tried to calm down. He needed to be prepared for all possible oues. This was a crucial moment that could potentially determine life or death for one or all of them.


    Most probably there wouldn''t be anything that he had to do. Someone would kill someone and the trial would be over. This was not going to be his problem and this was definitely not going to fall on his head.


    His mind raced as his gaze shifted to various targets whom he could take out easily if push came to shove. But before he could zero in on a candidate, a pair of red eyes unexpectedly appeared right in front of him.


    "You are interesting¡­" The same melodious voice sounded again.


    And this time it was as if the person was standing right next to him and whispering in his ears.

 Chapter 1290 Thats cheating

    Chapter 1290 That''s cheating


    Liam instantly stiffened up, his entire body freezing. Yes, he had a slight fear of the aura that this woman had unleashed, an aura possessing a hint of something primordial. But that was not it. That was not what made him freeze. It was that voice again.


    The mere voice had made him freeze up as if it was a skill effect. It had a domineering presence like an Emperor that did not allow him to move.


    Liam''s face turned grave. This was not good. Why was this woman suddenly targeting him? Come near him and his group? They were all going to die right here and now?


    For some reason, the white fog once again picked up as it started covering the entire battlefield, almost as if it was helping them but it did not matter. The very next moment, the white fog cleared out as if it was nothing.


    In front of such an imperial presence, everything was nothing. They were all going to die right here and now if he did not do anything. Maybe he should sacrifice someone from his group. The elf. He was nothing but trouble and deep down Liam knew it. That''s right. If he sacrificed him, then all his problems would be solved.


    No. What was he thinking?


    Liam''s head felt as if it was going to burst. Even his thoughts were bing sluggish and blurred. It was as if someone was toying with his head, with his thoughts. No. He could not allow things to continue in this manner. Summoning a jolt from somewhere deep inside his being, forcing it purely out of his will power, he snapped himself out of the stupor. His body that was frozen until now shuddered.


    The domineering aura can go fuck itself for all he cared. He did not know why but he vaguely recollected something even more sinister, something a lot more iprehensible. In front of that, nothing else was relevant. That was true death, destruction and oblivion.


    Liam suddenly felt his head once again throb as hepletely lost track of his thoughts and memory. He had no idea what he was thinking about just now. But it did not matter. All that mattered was survival.


    It only took him a second. Without thinking about anything else, without making anyplicated calctions, he acted right then and there. He swung his sword shoving the entirety of his dao seed of ice into the attack like a heathen not wasting any time.


    The attack was overtly bombastic. It did not have the elegance that his attacks typically possessed. It was extremely crude and was bursting in it seems but it was enough to do the job.


    Of course, Liam had no intentions of attacking this freakishly strong girl. Instead, he attacked the person that was closest to him on the right side.A hunched up guy with a weird basket on his back. Something slithered out of his back as if the person had sensed that Liam was about to attack him but it was not nearly fast enough. The Arcane Sword sh bounded forward like a wolf howling in rage and it imed its victim, devouring himpletely.


    Shockingly, a red wave also rippled forward almost at the same time. However, that attack was slightly dyed too.


    "Tee hee¡­ that was not fair, Mr. White." The voice spoke again. "You yed dirty. Do you know what happens to cheaters?"


    The next second Liam felt an enormous pressure douse him from all sides, a pressure even greater than the first one. If the first one had a hint of primordial aura, then this was primordial aura itself and it wanted to crush him into nothingness. The air around him thickened, bing almost solid, pressing against his skin like a physical force. His breath caught in his chest, and for a moment, it felt as if he was standing in front of the raw essence of unbridled power.


    But the next second, everything crumbled. His vision turned dark and he was whisked out of that hell into somewhere soothing.


    Liam only let out a deep breath when he saw the familiar face of his fox pressed up against him. "Master!" Luna licked his face. "Master, did I miss out on some fun again?" The little fox mischievously asked, making Liam get goosebumps all over his body. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "One second." He took a few more breaths and only then he was able to steady himself. He looked around to make sure everyone else was fine, and thankfully, the entire group seemed to be intact. Well, except for the dazed, horror filled look in their faces.


    Liam knew that they would take some time to recuperate so he summoned a few elven soul minions who had the ability to heal and make the environment a little more nourishing. They currently seem to havended on some sort of arid basin with no immediate danger in the vicinity.


    The other good news was that the entire group was together which made their lives a little easier.


    Just as Liam was processing everything around him, he all of a sudden froze as his gaze shifted to the one other body lying on the ground right next to Madan, Lan Deming and Eldrin. It was a familiar face with a warm smile stered on it.


    Rey was happily lying on the ground with a content expression on his face.


    "Heh." Liam chuckled. "I have greatly underestimated you. You are just like your sister, aren''t you? Talented and with an iron will. Your smile is also the same."


    "Thank you, big bro." Rey grinned, shing his eyes open. "Did I do good?" He sat up straight, being the first one to recover from the aftereffects of thest trial. "I made sure that our group was well hidden and even made a few target other specific beings. He He."


    Liam nodded. He had already figured it out. The guy who was shrouded in mist and the person who had been good enough to cast a wide spanning the width of the entire battleground was none other than Rey.

 Chapter 1291 Dont tell me...

    Chapter 1291 Don''t tell me...


    "Huh? So that was you at the back?" Eldrin stirred awake next. Or maybe he was pretending to be recuperating. Only the elf knew what he was up to. "You damaged us quite a bit you know?"


    Hearing the elf''s usation, Rey immediately became flustered and tried to exin. "No. No. No. It was not like that. I didn''t mean to hide it or anything. I only did it to help you guys. Do you know what was happening in that damned battleground?"


    Liam raised a brow.


    "Bloodsuckers!" Rey shook his head. "I don''t think it was possible for you to have seen, bro. There was some kind of barrier that blocked them. I was on the other side and hence I was able to see."


    "Half that battlefield was filled with bloodsuckers. They all had the trademark red eyes and pale skin."


    "Impossible." Eldrin rolled his eyes. "You must have been under some sort of illusion."


    "Nope. I am very confident. I saw it only for an instant but I was fully surrounded by several pairs of red eyes. If I had been even a secondte in using my movement skill I would have already been killed."


    "Look here, chap. Everyone climbing the Spire gets randomly pitted against when ites to ughter trials such as this. It should be impossible for so many members of the same race to gather together in a single trial." "Otherwise, the Spire wouldn''t be so challenging. It wouldn''t be so famous in the myriad realms. Everyone from all corners of the myriad realms enter this ce. Do you even understand how vast and endless the myriad realms are?"


    Rey suddenly felt unsure. He knew what he saw but at the same time, now that the elfid it all out, it also sounded extremely ridiculous. "What if a whole lot of them entered the Spire at the same time? Isn''t it possible for many to be in a single trial at the same time?" He hesitantly tried to exin.


    "Hmph! Do you even know how many of them would have to enter the Spire at the same time for something like that to happen?" Eldrin scoffed. "And the Spire is not some random marketce. Elites, chap. Only the true Elites would even get a token to this ce and each Elite can only bring a fixed number of beings inside."


    "For that many vampires, especially young elites from the main families to enter the Spire at the same time, it would have to be a sector wide war preparation! Don''t be ridiculous!"


    "Alright, that''s enough." Liam stopped the two from going further down this road. "We have all survived the trial and that''s all that matters. Let''s put this discussion aside. It doesn''t matter whether that many vampires entered the Spire or not. It does not concern us."


    "Uh? What about Dante?" Rey looked around, making sure that the guy was not in some shrub nearby, lying unconscious.


    Liam shrugged. What happened to that guy wasn''t probably a big mystery. He should have most likely been kicked out in the very beginning considering his weak soul. That was good because he would have never survived thest ughter floor.


    The group waited around for some time and the others recovered within a few minutes. After all, it was just aura and killing intent they were exposed to. There wasn''t anysting damage or loss of limb that needed to be fixed.


    Meanwhile, Liam also explored the surrounding areas with his soul minions. There didn''t seem to be anything worthwhile in the area and the arid basin itself extended for a good amount of distance.


    From another point of view, it could be considered as a giant crater.


    "Maybe something is there at the center of the crater?" Eldrin suggested.


    It took a few more minutes and one of the soul minions arrived at what could be considered as the center of the crater. Immediately, Liam''s eyes widened. As he sensed the ce through the eyes of his soul minions, the elf''s guess was spot on.


    There was indeed something at the center of the crater!


    Unfortunately, the soul minion who found the spot was not an indispensable one, so Liam did not intend to instantly teleport to the ce by switching over. He also did not n on decimating his soul army left and right without any reservations when there was no danger around. Especially because he was temporarily unable to broaden his army inside the Spire. The Spire did not allow him to harvest any souls.


    Instead, the usual flying couch Luna helped everyone by teleporting them a bunch of times until they arrived at the center of the crater. Even during this trip, it was weird to see that there weren''t any other living beings in the area besides them.


    Liam''s soul minions were still continuing to wander around to see if they would eventually run into some sort of vige or town settlement but so far there was simply nothing and no one.


    Even past the barren crater, there simply seemed to be nothing at all.


    "What sort of trial is this?" Liam jumped down from the fox, sending a wave of his mana into the ground to sense the surroundings. The mana spread out like ripples on water, probing the earth to see if there were any beasts under the ground like on the other trial floors they had seen so far. Yet, it returned without bringing any hint of life or magic that could indicate the presence of other beings or a hidden mechanism that would trigger the next phase of the trial.


    "This ce..." Eldrin mused aloud, "it feels abandoned, but deliberately so. As if everything has been cleared out to leave this crater as the sole point of interest."


    "Don''t tell me¡­"


    "Could this be one of the fabled nonbat trial grounds?" N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Huh? What the hell is that?" Rey frowned. They had already experienced one bad trial and now they had one more lined up the very next turn?


    However, the elf unexpectedly shed a sly grin. "No. This should be a good one."

 Chapter 1292 Praise the benevolent heaves!

    "What are you talking about? How are nonbat floors any better thanbat floors?" Madan sighed as he felt a headacheing. In every single nonbat floor so far like the one with the subi, it was him who had suffered the most. If this one was simply another variation of that with higher difficulty, he was pretty much screwed.


    As everyone looked around, wondering what was going to pop out when, Liam walked over to the center to analyze the object or rather the anomaly. At first, he thought that it was an object or some sort of item buried inside but it turned out that he was wrong.


    It was nothing. The center of the giant crater alone was somewhat sluggish and muddy as opposed to the barrennd all around, like some sort of y. Maybe magic y that can retain water? If one could even call that a treasure? N?v(el)B\\jnn


    And it was not like he had his spatial artifact to store this y for future use so ultimately Liam decided to ignore it and focussed on sensing through his soul minions to see if he could find anything else.


    Time quickly started slipping by and minutes became hours. Yet there seemed to be nothing. Absolutely nothing in the whole damn ce. Everyone had already started meditating and trying to recover from the after effects of the previous floors leaving the matter of figuring out this floor to Liam. Even Eldrin who scoffed at this behavior found himself helpless after a while unable to figure out heads or tails of the situation.


    Finally, the small azure serpent who was ying in the muddy waters cracked the floor. The little guy who was casually murking about in the mud all of a sudden got a +1 boost to his strength out of nowhere.


    The little azure serpent, seemingly oblivious to the significance of its discovery, continued to frolic in the mud, its body glowing faintly with a newfound vigor.


    "Did that little snake just get stronger by ying in the mud?" Liam, intrigued, approached the center of the crater again, this time focusing his attention on the seemingly mundane mud. This was definitely not some ordinary mud.


    He then thought of something frightening. What if this mud had sucked all of the lifeforce and vitality from this entire region making everything elsepletely barren and empty? That would mean that this mess contained incredible properties, perhaps even capable of giving them benefits. Maybe the purpose of this trial was something rted to this?


    "Rey. Come here." Liam called the guy, breaking him from his meditation. "Apply this thing on your body."


    Rey was puzzled about Liam''s sudden request and his gaze fell on the small azure serpent, still gleefully immersing itself in the mud, its scales shimmering with a bright glow.


    He did not know why Liam was asking him to do this but he did not care. "I got it, bro."


    He immediately scooped up a handful of the mud, its texture surprisingly smooth and cool to the touch. With a deep breath, he smeared the mud across his arms, feeling a slight tingling sensation as he did so. The effect was immediate and profound.


    Rey''s eyes widened in astonishment as he felt a surge of vitality coursing through him, akin to a stream of pure energy revitalizing his very essence. The fatigue and weariness from the previous trials began to dissipate, reced by a rejuvenating warmth that seemed to invigorate his muscles and bones.


    "This... This feels amazing," Rey eximed, ted by the undeniable boost in his strength and vitality.


    Encouraged by Rey''s reaction, the rest of the group eagerly followed suit. They applied the mud to their skin, each member experiencing the same remarkable rejuvenation.


    And it was not just strength and vitality, their agility was also getting a boost. It was as if the physical structure of their body was getting a huge upgrade.


    From the looks of it, it was not just the human beings who were experiencing this change. Eldrin was grinning from ear to ear as he started to ther himself with more and more y. "Praise the benevolent heaves! Praise the benevolent heavens! The heavens are indeed just!" The elf loudlyughed.


    "My Lord, since we went through a ughter trial so early in the climb, the Spire is now trying to bnce out by giving us this glorious reward!" The elf happily continued applying more and more y, not holding back at all.


    "After everything that we have been through, finally something nice and easy."


    The others gave an even stare at the elf, wondering what exactly he had to go through. Among everyone the elf had it the easiest. However, everyone was too busy to care and they continued pping wads of y on their body.


    The amount of y was not the issue. There was more than enough for everyone including their beastpanions. Liam as well started applying though he did not feel like it would have much effect on him. He had already consumed several attribute boosting treasures and moreover, from his status screen he had a feeling that he was already at his limit cap.


    This was something that he still needed to figure out. He had to essentially upgrade his body. Otherwise, he might continue losing out more stats. In fact, this was currently a big problem for him since he was at the cusp of going to the next rank.


    However, he was inside the Spire and Liam had long since decided not to fuss too much about achieving everything perfectly. Sure, this was feasible back in the tutorial when he had prior knowledge about everything but still hanging onto it now would only be foolishness.


    Just as Liam was thinking about this issue, suddenly a shrill cry emerged. "What the heck is that smell?" It was Eldrin and his face had bepletely unsightly.


    Liam could also smell it. There was a waft of something horrendous brewing near them.


    At the same time, a notification also popped up in front of him.


    [Ding! You have gained +1 Strength]

 Chapter 1293 You all still stink?

    Chapter 1293 You all still stink?


    Liam wanted to ignore the ramblings of the elf and look at the new notification that had popped up in front of him but the thing was he couldn''t really ignore the smell. The elf was right. There was a horrendous smell slowly enveloping them.


    In fact, to call it horrendous wouldn''t be doing any justice.


    It was as if tentacles of something abysmal were crawling out of the mud they had thered themselves with and slowly choking them.


    Liam''s eyes widened. Everything happened too quickly. Once the smell seeped out it explosively proliferated throughout the air, wrapping around them with an intensity that was nearly palpable. The initial allure of the mud''s miraculous properties quickly soured as the group realized the dire consequences of their actions.


    The mud that had once seemed like a blessing now felt like a curse. The energy and vitality it had imbued them with were overshadowed by the overwhelming stench that clung to their skin, refusing to dissipate. It was a smell that seemed to prate deep into their pores, an odor so vile that it felt like a physical entity assaulting their senses.


    "What the hell is this? How do we get out of this?" Rey screamed.


    "Fuck me. I knew these nonbat floors were mind fucks." Madan''s face was pale and the hunter was shivering.


    "Ruthless heavens! Ruthless heavens!" Eldrin screamed, taking back his earlier judgment that was clearly made in haste.


    This definitely had something to do with the y and they wanted to get out of the shit asap. But unfortunately¡­ they just couldn''t.


    [Ding! You have gained +1 Strength]


    [Ding! You have gained +1 Vitality]


    [Ding! You have gained +1 Agility]


    [Ding! You have gained +1 Endurance]


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    The notifications did not stop and kepting.


    Even though they felt as if they were being burnt alive in hell at the moment, none of them could bear to part with the damned mud. They were barely scraping by as is in the Spire. They could get kicked out any second now. This kind of stat boost could increase their chance of sess even a little. Even if it didn''t, how could they not utilize something like thispletely. This was a treasure, damn it. It might stink like a god damn decaying buthole plugged with the worst smelling shit but it was still a treasure that improved their physique.


    Heck, it might even be doing something better than simply raising their stats.


    "Don''t move. Continue immersing yourself in the mud." Liam ordered, as he told the group about his thoughts. Since Eldrin was there he did not divulge about his personal stat cap but he vaguely mentioned that the y might be evolving their physique at a deeper level. Something like this was even more valuable than simple stat gain. In the Spire, where every advantage could mean the difference between life and death, the opportunity presented by the mud, no matter how repulsive, was too significant to ignore. They steeled themselves, trying to focus on the potential benefits rather than the immediate torment.


    As the notifications continued to flood in, a mixture of despair and determination settled over them. The physical difort was extreme, but the prospect of gaining even the slightest edge spurred them on.


    This insight gave the group a new perspective on their suffering. It wasn''t merely a physical trial but a transformative process, one that might imbue them with abilities or resilience they hadn''t possessed before. The thought was a smallfort in the face of their current misery but afort nheless.


    "If we''re going through hell, might as welle out the other side as demons," Madan grunted. Despite his efforts, the quiver in his voice betrayed the effort it took to remain immersed in the mud.


    "If this is what it takes to survive here, then so be it," Rey looked up as if he was dering his will to the heavens, his voice steady despite the tears caused by the smell. "We''ve faced worse. We can handle a little smell."


    Everyone vented as the group settled into a grim silence, focusing on enduring the process. Time seemed to stretch endlessly as they remained in the mud, each notification ding a small beacon of progress in their torturous ordeal. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Finally, when it seemed they could bear no more, the stench began to lessen. The notifications slowed, then stopped. The group looked at Liam expectantly but Liam shook his head. It was better to wait for some more time to really confirm things.


    All the faces immediately drooped, even the stoic Lan Deming''s face but they couldn''t disobey Liam and continued with the torment. Thankfully, at least the smell was a lot better now. It didn''t help much because the memory of the torture was still fresh in their minds but it helped a little.


    After a while, a golden sheen started appearing around everyone, indicating that the trial had ended. Soon, darkness descended and the whole group once again arrived together on the new floor, except for Dante who was still missing.


    Not so surprisingly, the first thing that everyone checked when they opened their eyes was if that goddamned smell was still lingering. They even mentally prepared themselves, bracing for the smell to assault them anew. Fortunately, the smell had almost vanished. There was noeback for that alien smell meant to eradicate all of the living. There was only a little bit of the faint odor left, which was just barely manageable. Everyone tried to take their minds away from it as they quickly took in their new surroundings.


    The environment they found themselves in now was drastically different from the arid crater they had left behind. They stood in what appeared to be a lush forest, the air fresh and clean, filled with the sounds of nature. It was as if they had been transported to another world entirely.


    "You all still stink?" Luna snorted from the side, grinning ear to ear, apparently enjoying the misery. Apparently, the legendary grade beasts and Luna were not affected by the smell almost as if the smell test was only for the lesser mortals.


    And hence, the cheeky smile of the little fox. Everyone wanted to pound on the fox but they could all only give her a weak smile in return.

 Chapter 1294 Training

    Chapter 1294 Training


    The horrid smell aside, thest floor left everyone with wide smiles. It had been a true test of their will to endure the torture but the results were equally impressive. Rey, Madan and Lan Deming had gained the most among everyone as their start was very bad. Each of them had gained a whopping 50 stats distributed in various attributes which was equivalent to almost gaining 20 free levels.


    In the grand scheme of things this might not seem like much but every single boost keeps adding up and eventually bes a huge tidal wave that cannot be ignored.


    Besides, that was not the only thing that the y did. Rey, Madan and Lan Deming could all feel their mana flow inside their body now smoother and faster. It was as if their mana pathways had been widened and stabilized.


    It was not just them. The elf also noticed some difference.


    Eldrin was from a B-Ranked world originally and even though the resources had been monopolized by the eight Empires, the elf still had plenty of opportunities pop up in his path. Heck, even just being born as a citizen of such a world where generations of elves had gone through the baptism of being born in a high-grade world was enough to give him superior stats.


    But he still experienced benefits from the stinky mud, both qualitatively and quantitatively.


    Andstly, there was Liam. Since he was already at some sort of cap for attributes, he hadn''t expected much to begin with. However, the results were anything but expected.


    Liam did not know what exactly changed but something like a dam should have broken down in his body. This was because he received a whole boatload of stats. And not in the two digits like the others.


    Liam had received a whopping of 500 stat points overall! This was almost 150 levels worth of extra stat points even calcted very liberally!


    However, his progress couldn''t bepared with the others since he had a feeling that his extra boost was not just from using the y. If Liam had to guess, he would ce bets on the system releasing his previously acquired stat points from his dao seeds as soon as the bottleneck his physical body suffered from was pushed forward a little.


    This further confirmed one more thing. If Liam did not find more ways to improve his basic body constitution, then he was going to lose out on a lot of stat points. There was no use of his soul and his mind being strong, if his body was not simply strong enough to handle the power.


    Liam decided to make some changes to his climbing pattern. While he was sting through the floors until now, he decided to slow down his pace just a little.


    If the puddle of magic mud on the previous floor taught him anything, it was that there could be precious materials on these floors, materials that could significantly affect him.


    Until now he did not find anything noteworthy so he only did a customary sweep with his minions but now he was going to put a little more effort into it.


    Also, this would be a chance for Rey, Madan and Lan Deming to undergo some training. If he continued to st through the floors of the Spire soon the next watershed level would appear. Considering how they had all barely scraped by the previous one, their chances of passing the second one sessfully wasn''t all that high.


    Liam did not want to be negative but at the same time, he had to look at it in a practical manner. Sure, they were clumped together for a couple of floors but this segment of the Spire might realistically be thest one the group experienced. It would be best to make this one count. If they went home after taking the second segment reward too, then that would be the best oue he could hope for.


    Liam looked around the lush forest. In the distance, one of his minions had already spotted the monster whom they had to defeat. However, he did not act on it just yet.


    "We will be here for an hour. You guys should use this opportunity to train with Luna and Eldrin." He announced to the group. "There are some beast nests to the right. Approach with caution." Leaving the fox and the elf to stay back as guardians for the group, Liam hurried into the forest in another direction. He also let one of his soul minions stay back just in case they encountered extreme danger and needed his assistance instantly.


    With this set up in ce, he continued with his work without any worry. He also checked in a couple of times to see how much the group had truly grown and Liam was impressed.


    Rey gaining a dao seed was not just a namesake. The very first attack he unleashed was a volley of wind arrows that cut across a giant anteater type beast into multiple shreds, each arrow possessing astounding prative power.


    And from the looks of it, Madan and Lan Deming were also close to something significant. Lan Deming''s attacks also contained a depth that bordered on dao imbibement and Madan''s attacks were fast and confident. It looked like everyone had a direction in mind for their progress. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Liam nodded in satisfaction and headed further into the forest. While it was good that his minions were doing a sweep, it was better for him to personally get into the game. He took a direction that he felt would be productive and sted into the forest, letting his mana sense run amok. The mud that they had encountered was pretty much inert before they used it but many treasures emit a strong energy signature. As an addedpass, he had the small legendary beast babies in his pant pockets. The babies performed above expectations almost immediately identifying a few herbs that his minions would have most likely overlooked.

 Chapter 1295 So far so good?

    Chapter 1295 So far so good?


    "Lord, are you again setting out?" Eldrin asked, almost a scowl forming on his face. Clearly, the elf was not a fan of baby sitting but he did not dare voice out his opinion. After all, he was getting carried in the first ce.


    Liam shrugged and his figure disappeared behind the rocky boulders that littered this terrain. Thankfully, thest few floors had been much less hectic and their group had teleported together every single time. This made everyone''s life a lot easier.


    While others continued with their training, Liam was also in the middle of a training of his own.


    Sniffing out buried treasures was an acquired skill that needed to be trained and sharpened. Liam found this out only afterbing through a few floors of the Spire. But this did not mean that he waspletelycking in this department.


    Contrary to what he thought, it seemed he actually had a knack for this thing. Or perhaps it was because of his luck attribute. Liam did not know. All he knew was if he found himself in the vicinity of something good, he often got a gut feeling to look around some more. And when he did, he most often found something valuable. Sure, it was a hit and miss when it came to how valuable the thing was but the was always a big payout.


    Liam grinned as he wiggled a weird berry like fruit out of the dense bramble. The brambles werepletely poisonous, even going as far as to dripping venom in multiple spots but the berry itself was a valuable item for making potions. Liam knew it because he had read about it in thependium. The fruit, known among seasoned adventurers as the "Duskberry," was rare and sought after for its unique properties. It was a paradoxical nature; nestled within a nest of deadly poison, the berry thrived, absorbing the venom and converting it into a potent essence that, when properly processed, could enhance a potion''s efficacy or even create antidotes powerful enough to neutralize the deadliest of toxins.


    There were also other uses listed in thependium, some iming that the berry could also be useful in improving the basic structure of the muscles in the body.


    Liam looked at the fruit for a second before tossing it into his mouth without any care. The berry might have several uses in several potions but what did he care about these things? It was not like he could take anything out of these floors. The only thing that stayed was what was consumed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The berry surprisingly tasted very ordinary like just another berry would taste, slightly sweet and slightly sour. The initial taste was underwhelming given the berry''s valuable status, but Liam was not eating it for its vor. As the Duskberry dissolved in his mouth, he braced himself for the effects. Not for the effects the berry might potentially have but for something else.


    And right on time, there it was. Almost immediately, Liam felt a tingling sensation coursing through his body. The essence of the berry seeped out of his stomach and spread throughout his body. Normally, this should have simply dissipated as he wasn''t injured at the moment or practicing any special techniques to harvest this said essence.


    In fact, he should not even be sensing the essence in the first ce as he had never experienced anything like this before.


    And yet it happened. This was an unexpected development that he hade across in thest couple of floors of the Spire. As Liam was tossing one valuable herb or flower or leaf or root or fruit in his mouth, suddenly something new urred.


    A tingling sensation spread in his body, and it eventually got rerouted into his heart. Once might be a weird anomaly and twice might be a coincidence but it continued to happen every single time. So much so that Liam decided to spend some extra time on a floor to figure this out.


    Finally, he got a clue about this when he crammed a whole bunch of valuable herbs in his mouth in one single go. This time a thick stream of energy flowed into his body and the cold chilly stream actually ended up in his heart just like all the other times.


    However, Liam noticed its real final destination this time around which was not his heart, but rather the treasure fruit nestled inside his heart. The energy was shockingly gathering in one of the empty chambers.


    Liam had already used up the gathered concentrated fire elemental essence and the chamber was currently empty. All the unused herbal essence from his body was rerouted to this empty chamber.


    Liam had never heard of anything like this before. He had extracted the essence of the herbs several times before but this was the first time he was storing it in this fashion. Observing the phenomenon for the twentieth time, Liam couldn''t help but wonder what other surprises this fruit had in store for him. He still did not know what he could use this potent essence for but he was excited to test it out. Though he did not want to touch the essence just yet. He first wanted to understand it by absorbing it before he wasted any of it.


    Numerous valuable items have gone into creating this essence using his own body as a furnace. So he did not want to use it lightly.


    Liam wandered around the area some more time before the time limit he had set for himself ran out and his gaze shifted toward the direction where the boss of this floor was waiting for him.


    This was it. Just a couple more floors and the second segment of the Spire would also be smoothlypleted. If the entire group could im the rewards of the second segment then the strength of the guild would tremendously improve.


    As for his personal progress, Liam did not quite find what he was looking for in this segment too. Before his dao fieldpletely materialized, the opponent typically crumbled. He needed much more challenging opponents to push himself further, perhaps something in the third segment of the Spire.


    As heid his eyes on the gigantic rock golem in front of him, assessing the monstrosity from top to bottom, he knew that once again he was in the same spot. Liam unsheathed his ck dragon sword and sent out a sh just like he had done in the previous floors. It took about a couple of attacks but the rock golem quickly crumbled under the weight of the assault. A golden glow covered him and just like that another floor was conquered.


    Everything had gone perfectly. Now only thest floor was left before the second segment''s main test. Liam silently wished others good luck when suddenly a feeling of unease gripped his heart.

 Chapter 1296 This has to be a mistake

    Chapter 1296 This has to be a mistake


    "What in the world is this¡­" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Everyone gaped at the unbelievable scene in front of them. Rey rubbed his eyes as if he was trying to see if the image would clear out. Lan Deming gripped his newly acquired daggers tightly. Madan was frozen in shock.


    Only the elf wasmenting loudly, unwillingness written all over his face.


    "No. No. This cannot happen."


    "This has to be a mistake."


    "There is no way." "There simply cannot be two ughter trials in a single segment. It is unheard of!"


    Eldrin shook his head, his eyes wide at the sight in front of him. There was a huge pyramid glittering in gold, except that it was no treasure. The ominous thing might glitter like a treasure but it was steeped in rich killing intent. An ancient aura wafted out of the structure giving off tremendous pressure on the surroundings.


    The entire pyramid was floating mid-air surrounded by a vast expanse of emptiness, as if it was suspended in a void. Below it, a myriad of tforms hovered at different heights just like the one they were currently standing on.


    But that was not the worst part. The worst part was the other trail takers visible on the multitude of tforms which were shifting here and there, floating about in the void. They were definitely not alone and this was definitely not just one of the other floors.


    This had to be a ughter trial floor!


    And from the looks of it, those who managed to reach the damned pyramid hanging in the sky would cross over to the next level.


    At first sight, it seemed simple enough but how could the Spire be so kind? Just as the group was taking in the surroundings like the numerous others who got teleported into something unexpected, one of the tforms floating in the distance started shaking violently.


    After shaking for a few seconds, the tform out of nowhere exploded into a cascade of shimmering dust, the remnants of its existence scattering into the void. The group on that tform, caughtpletely off guard, plummeted towards the abyss, their screams fading into silence. The sudden violence of the event sent a chilling message to all the onlookers: mistakes were fatal here.


    The realization that the tforms were not safe havens but potential death traps changed the dynamics of the trial. Everyone snapped into action. Powerful auras erupted on numerous tforms as the trial takers immediately started taking action. The distance between the pyramid and everyone''s starting position was quite significant so it was not like they could reach the pyramid in a couple of jumps.


    Liam, absorbing the scene, muttered under his breath, "So, it begins." He turned to his group, his expression grim. "This trial is as much about survival as it is about strategy. Those tforms are rigged to eliminate groups at random, or perhaps based on certain triggers we are yet to understand. We need to get to that pyramid, but we need to do so carefully."


    Madan, shaking off his initial shock, clenched his fists. "So, staying put isn''t an option. We move, but how do we avoid bing like them?" he asked, gesturing towards the spot where the tform had been.


    Liam scanned the floating tforms and the pyramid, his mind racing for answers. "We observe and we adapt." "Those tforms might have traps or triggers for elimination. Let''s keep a close eye on the movements of the others and the pyramid''s reactions. There may be patterns or safe paths to follow."


    "And¡­ we just need to keep moving. As long as we keep moving, maybe we will be fine." This is all he could conclude right now.


    Eldrin, recovering hisposure, added, "Perhaps the pyramid itself offers clues. Ancient constructs like these often follow a set of rules or logic, even in their traps."


    Rey nodded. "Then let''s not waste any time. The sooner we figure this out, the better."


    The group cautiously moved forward, testing the stability of their tform before daring to leap towards the next. They watched as some groups rushed forward with reckless abandon, only to trigger their tforms to shake violently, a clear sign of impending doom.


    Thankfully, it was not unhinged utter madness. After a few seconds of observation, there indeed seemed to be some method to this madness. Not all tforms were the same. The tforms emitting a dull soft aura seemed stable, while those that flickered ominously were often the ones that were on the verge of copsing. The only thing was these auras were extremely fickle in the presence of the overpowering aura of the pyramid and also the presence of the other trial takers. Rich sanguine aura doused many of the tforms which made it impossible to discern the state of the adjacent tforms. This meant that only the tform clusters that did not have many upied tforms adjacent to them could be analyzed.


    Also, this type of blood-red aura was not rare. Corroborating Rey''s observation from the previous battleground, dense sanguine auras lit up left and right. Once again, they seemed to be in a ughter trial in which the majority of the participants were vampires.


    "I told you I wasn''t seeing some illusion." Rey sucked in a big breath.


    This time the elf was out of exnations as he too could only dumbfoundedly nod. "How can there be so many bloodsuckers in a single trial? This is impossible!"


    "Maybe they are indeed preparing for some sort of war..."


    "Ok. That''s enough. Let''s focus on crossing over to the pyramid first," Liam cut in, silencing the growing discussion among the group. "Spections won''t help us survive this trial. Right now, our priority is to navigate through these tforms safely."


    His voice snapped back everyone to reality, preventing them from getting swept up in the overwhelming flow of the surroundings. It was easy to simply stand dazed in this ce as the ancient aura emanating from the pyramid had that sort of effect on everyone.


    "There!" Liam pointed to a tform on their right. "That should be our next step."

 Chapter 1297 The fickle platforms

    Chapter 1297 The fickle tforms


    Taking into consideration the intensity of the auras that enveloped the tforms around them, Liam quickly sussed out a preliminary path for them. He was not sure if this was going to work but it was something to start with.


    The group immediately prepared to move. No one doubted Liam''s judgment and seconds could mean the difference between life and death here.


    However, when the first person tried to jump across the tforms, something unexpected happened. Madan was sent right back, repelled by some kind of invisible barrier.


    "No. That''s not a barrier." Liam reached his hand out, feeling the palpable energy in his hand. It was very close to something he was familiar with and he instantly knew what to do. "This should be some sort of energy field. To cross, we have to use our dao fields."


    Clearly, the Spire was not satisfied with simply pitting one trial taker against another, creating a massive ughter trial. It also wanted to test out the qualifications of the survivors. Only those who were able to conjure an energy field strong enough to resist the energy that was sprawled around them would be qualified to survive.


    Liam had no idea what this energy was. He hadn''te across this before but it was strong enough to make even him unable to simply st through the gap.


    "Is it space-attuned energy or perhaps¡­" Liam''s mind wandered but he did not dare dwell on it for too long as the tforms around them were getting consumed left and right. Everyone was trying to race to the pyramid.


    Liam immediately used the semi-formed dao field that he had been ying around with for the past few floors. Perhaps this would be the opportunity he needed to finally make a breakthrough? For now, he did not worry about that and tried to step through the energy barrier using his own protection bubble. He used an ice-attuned barrier for this purpose as hisher reserves were limited. Technically, his mana reserves were also limited as this ce seemed to be weirdly low on all energies but the mana concentration was still higher thanher concentration. So recharging his mana batteries would be faster. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    As Liam stepped forward, enveloped in his ice-attuned barrier, the energy field surrounding the tforms reacted. Unlike before, when Madan was repelled, Liam passed through seamlessly. The ice-attuned barrier shimmered brightly as it came into contact with the invisible energy, creating a small pathway for him.


    But the difficulty did not end there. Just like how the other energy field seemed to be imprable for others, Liam''s dao field was equally deadly and it did not differentiate between friend or foe. Only him standing at the eye of the dao field was able to enjoy a friendlier environment. If others wanted to share this safety zone with him, then he needed to be equally skilled in not only creating a dao field but also in controlling individual zones of it.


    Thankfully for the others, Liam was able to do this, focussing the worst of the frigid energy at the very edge of the dao field so that it was able to effectively cut through the barrier. Inwardly gaping at the intricacies of the skill, everyone immediately stepped into the protective bubble and finally, they were able to leave their original tform heading to the second one. They were now one step closer to the golden pyramid.


    But there was still a long way to go and it looked like their troubles were only just now beginning. As if the challenges they already had were not enough, the tforms started moving randomly every few seconds and the path they had plotted becamepletely useless.


    Every step they took forward led them nowhere. One second they would be closer to the pyramid and the next second they would be somehow brought back to the very ce they started.


    Many hurled out screams of anger and frustration at the difficulty level of the trial and this was real with all their lives on the line.


    As if this was not enough, there was another misfortune that had suddenly cropped up. To everyone''s utter shock and dismay, some of the trial takers were going out of their way to destroy the tforms around them, leaving behind only a scant few for their personal use.


    "Fucking bloodsuckers!" Eldrin gnashed his teeth. The number of tforms was already dwindling at a frightening pace and on top of this, the vampires seemed to be hell-bent on destroying everything that they could.


    "What the hell are these lunatics doing? Bloody asseaters! I bet the Spire is throwing out these ridiculous trials because of these bastards! They are purposefully doing something shady!" Rey red at the group of vampires closest to them. Not one of them seemed nervous about surviving this trial which ticked him off further. However, Eldrin suddenly froze as if he heard something odd. The elf realized something. The human youngling was not wrong. It was almost as if the Spire was making the run extra difficult on purpose. While surviving right now might seem like a dire predicament, the rewards that awaited them would most probably make them drool.


    Was this good luck or bad luck? And was this because of the army of vampire elites who seemed to be running through the Spire at the same time as them or perhaps was it because of a single person who was treating a Spire like a local dungeon and speed running through it?


    The elf couldn''t help but nce at Liam again who was once more adeptly conjuring another dao field like it was nothing. Did he have infinite reserves of energy pool? His efficiency in conjuring the damn thing was through the roof! What a monster!


    Ignoring the elf''s pointed look, Liam continued to weave through the tforms one after the other. If one crumpled he chose another and continued to push forward. He was used to working with low amounts of mana so it wasn''t too tiring for him to use the least amount of energy to create the weakest dao fields and keep pushing forward. But¡­ Rumble¡­ Rumble¡­


    Their path was once again shifted and this time the Spire had brought them right next to a vampire group!


    From the looks of it both the groups had their paths cut off and now only one can progress forward!

 Chapter 1298 I am going to get you soon

    Chapter 1298 I am going to get you soon


    "Shit!" Both Eldrin and Rey screamed at the same time as the entire group stood frozen because of the unexpected development. Not only had their tform somehow suddenly shifted to a new position but they were also right next to a group of five blood sucking lunatics.


    Grrrrr¡­ The five vampires looked equally shocked but they were quick to recover and snarled loudly at the sight of new prey. Almost instantly, their auras burst forth as tremendous power swirled around them.


    It was not really a secret what they had been doing so far and from the looks of it they had no ns to hide it either. Within seconds, ten ominously swirling balls of blood materialized around them and hovered as they gathered momentum and palpable power.


    The vampires were fast but Liam was faster. After all, this was not the first time he was fighting with them. Liam only needed one look to see that these vampires were feral bottom feeders just like the many he had fought back on earth in the beginning of the apocalypse. At the same time, there was something different about them so he did not want to underestimate them.


    Before the blood balls could get anywhere near their group, Liam erected an ice-attuned dao field enclosing everyone inside it. "Move now!" Instead of fighting with the vampires like many other groups opted to do, he unexpectedly dashed forward to the next tform.


    Yes, he was nning to minimize the amount of contact he had with the elites of the myriad realms in these so-called ughter trials so as to not garner any more unnecessary enmity than what he already had but this was not the reason for his peaceful approach this time around.


    As the blood balls hit the barrier and fizzled out, unable to break through, the group hurriedly sted through the tform.


    Everyone ran as fast as they could, and jumped from their current tform to the next tform. They couldn''t help but immediately turn and see what happened to the vampires when they noticed that the group had actuallygged back.


    The bunch of red-eyed humanoids stood frozen, staring daggers at them,pletely unable to do anything else. They had evenunched a few blood balls from the looks of bloody splotches on their previous tform, with more ready to go.


    But Liam firmly shook his head. "Don''t engage with them." He immediately spotted another essible tform in front of them. "Let''s go." He continued channeling the dao field as the group ran towards the next tform.


    Only now the vampires were finally making their move. They too had dropped the idea of attacking them and instead focusing on creating their own dao field. However, the difference between the dao field Liam had erected and the one the vampires were conjuring was like night and day. While Liam''s ice-attuned dao field shimmered with a frigid yet stable aura, protecting his group with an almost serene assurance, the vampires'' field radiated a vtile, blood-red energy, pulsating feebly. It looked like it was about to give out at any moment.


    Moreover, by the time the vampires had finished erecting the dao field, Liam''s group was already en route to jumping onto the next tform.


    "Those should be the weaker ones," Liam exined. "I think there are various ranks of vampires participating in this trial. Not all are elites. It will only be a waste of our time to fight with them. It is better to ignore them and keep going ahead."


    Everyone nodded in acknowledgment. Liam''s assessment was definitely not wrong as within a couple of minutes, they had easily managed to put a good distance between themselves and the vampire group.


    However, not all problems were easily solved. They were still very far away from the main goal which was the pyramid floating in the distance.


    Though Liam''s speed of setting up the dao field was impressive and his ability to manipte it and maintain it was also equally superior, there was still a ring problem. The speed of the group on the whole was considerablycking. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Liam already had his hands full with the dao field and deciphering which tform to jump next. Constantly maintaining a dao field was not a joke. It was tremendously draining. So he couldn''t do anything to help others increase their speed. If anything he would have to literally carry them.


    Rey quickly stepped in and tried to improve the situation. Though his control wasn''t as good, seeing Liam constantly manipte and stabilize a dao field firsthand gave him a pretty good idea and he tried to create his own weak field and increase everyone''s speed.


    Ultimately, this was not a huge deal and something Liam was already prepared to deal with when they first began climbing the Spire. This was perhaps why the vampire elites dropped all the heavyweights to do their own tasks so that they did not get dragged down.


    However, Liam did not n on doing that. This was probably thest segment the group was going to run and he was determined to bring everyone to the other side in one piece.


    But this was easier said than done. Speed seemed to be the least of their problems as a bloody aura once again erupted not too far away from them. It was the same group of vampires as before. For some reason, they seemed to be intent on following the same path as Liam''s group.


    As Liam''s group kept advancing, the group of vampires followed them right on their tail,gging sometimes and quickly catching up when the distance became too big. The aura fluctuations were also extremely erratic.


    And for some reason, the leader of the small group seemed extremely confident as he red at Liam with animosity, even going as far as to taunt him. "You are not going tost long like this. I am going to get you soon, human."


    Liam felt the power fluctuations once again spike up as the group''s speed visibly increased.

 Chapter 1299 Up for grab

    Chapter 1299 Up for grab


    Liam did not understand what made the vampire grunts so confident but their n became evident in the next few seconds. The moment they jumped over to the next tform, the tforms began shifting. Just when everyone thought that their vampire problem was over, they suddenly found themselves surrounded on all sides in the new spot. That too, the group that had been chasing them was one of the four groups surrounding them.


    "You have got to be kidding me!" Eldrin''s eyes went wide like saucers.


    "What the hell!" Rey shouted in exasperation.


    Liam did not have anything to tell them because even he did not understand how this could be possible. Figuring out which tform was about to copse was already teetering on the impossible and these vampires somehow figured out the pattern of the whole damn thing?


    How else would it be possible for them to corner them from all sides using the tform shifting as a springboard? This absolutely made no sense. Unless someone had a bird''s eye point of view of the entire thing, this cannot happen.


    And in a ce like this, there was no vantage position that gave such a good advantage. Unless¡­


    Liam''s eyes trailed to the golden pyramid in the distance. Something like that would only be possible if someone had already reached the pyramid and was now looking down at them like a God from the heavens. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Even then¡­ there was the matter ofmunication. Could they have some sort of mental connection that allowed them tomunicate with each other? Did all vampires have a racial advantage like that?


    Liam couldn''t help but think about that woman. Maybe not all vampires. Maybe only someone like her. Then was it the same woman standing on the pyramid right now and making moves against him? It seemed too much of a coincidence. Could something like that happen in the Spire?


    Liam shook it off. There was no point in trying to figure this thing out right now and right here. They first had to survive and from the looks of it, these vampires seemed to be hellbent on preventing that from happening. If they did not act fast then things might really get out of control.


    He saw the numerous blood balls hovering in the air, all juicing up to target them. A sneer formed on his face. It was time to get some blood on his hands. He wanted to ignore the unnecessary bloodshed and forming unwanted enmity and stick to hisne but it was clear that the vampires did not get his memo. Now there was no point in hesitating. If they had to survive by stepping over a few corpses then that was exactly what he was going to do.


    Still maintaining his dao field, Liam unsheathed his sword and shed it down at the seven vampires standing on the tform ahead of him.


    The sword, imbued with the frosty essence of his ice-attuned dao field, cleaved through the air, sending a wave of icy death toward the vampires. The temperature around them plummeted, frost forming on the edge of the tform as the wave approached the group of bloodsuckers.


    The vampires, sensing the imminent threat, tried to counteract with their own abilities. Theyunched the blood balls, hoping to intercept or at least mitigate the iing attack. However, it was not enough. Blood froze and the sword beams continued on their path to ughter unhindered.


    But Liam knew that this fight wasn''t going to be that simple. He had a feeling that he was going to be up against something familiar and the next second he was proved correct.


    All of the blood balls failed but a wave of blood emerged blocking the path of the icy sword beams once again.


    And this time, the sword beams were swallowed entirely, leaving behind just a weak attack, a mere shadow of the previous one. The strength was not even enough to make a scratch on the vampires.


    Seeing the result of the first sh, all the vampires became energetic, preparing to assault with renewed vigor. However, Liam only grinned. His guess was bang on. His attack might have been easily dealt with but the price they had paid for it was not cheap. The vampire standing at the back had visibly aged.


    Liam did not miss this as he had been observing very carefully for something of this sort. He already had a feeling that these guys would possess some technique that allowed them to temporarily transcend their power by burning their life force.


    He had learned this little nugget from his previous experience in fighting the vampires. Even back on earth, the vampires burned their life force left and right to get a leg up on him. It was a ruthless unorthodox method that clearly made them pay a heavy price and yet they did it.


    However, the thing that Liam found odd was something else. The vampires he had faced back then were nobodies. They were mere grunts and pawns created just for the sole purpose of doing the bidding, almost like puppets being forced to sacrifice themselves.


    But even vampires who were brought to the Spire had the same fate? No one would willingly do this kind of thing, closing off their future and their potential which made him think that they were under some sort of contract or perhaps even mind control.


    The only thing was that this required some insane amount of power. This sort of mind control was perhaps easier when the targets were lower leveled but these ones were anything but ordinary. The vampires standing in front of him were at least above 500. How could they be so easily controlled and manipted to burn up their life force? Was this a basic hierarchy of the vampire families?


    There were too many things Liam did not understand and information on such sensitive matters was not avable in the System shop. He had already enquired about it.


    Well, some information was avable but that was through the privatework and not the system shop. If he purchased this, then he would have to reveal himself too.


    Liam did not want to do this. Especially when he had an easier way to deal with things. The vampires who were alive might be under some sort of bound oath but the dead were under no suchpulsions. Well, except for his, of course.


    Liam''s grin widened. The other floors of the Spire were different from this floor. He might not be able to harvest any souls from the other floors of the Spire but he had already tested it on thest floor and now he had once again tested. On this particr floor, the ughter trial floor, all the souls were up for grabs and he would finally be able to get some answers he needed about the vampires!


    Liam once again swung his sword, this time sending out an even more powerful attack. The one he had usedst time was just for testing the waters but this one was the real deal.


    And if his calctions were correct, the vampire would have tobust his life force to block this attackpletely. When he did, Liam would be ready for the soul!

 Chapter 1300 Got it!

    Chapter 1300 Got it!


    Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!


    The visibility in the battlefield wasn''t all that great to begin with and now it was at its all-time low because of the constant bombardment of all sorts of attacks. Powerful auras and explosive attacks surged forth here and there making everyone''s hair stand erect but even after several seconds not a single one of them breached the barrier.


    Just how strong was the dao field protecting them? All eyes were on Liam as he single-handedly dealt with the red-eyed lunatics who just wouldn''t stop targeting them.


    Eldrin''s back was fully drenched with sweat. He had heard many tales about the Spire and some mentioned that the opportunity was both a disaster and a blessing. He now knew what that meant. There was no way he could have dealt with something like this on his own.


    Eldrin''s thoughts were abruptly cut short as a new wave of attackers surged forward, their eyes gleaming with the same crimson malevolent light.


    But this time something was different. One of the attacks actually managed to crack the dao field, almost reaching the group. The elf quickly acted, blocking the attack. He then turned to look at Liam to see what was wrong, only to find the guy grinning like a mad man.


    The next second another dao field went up like nothing had happened. Eldrin gulped as he watched Liam look up at the same time. "Got it!"


    "Huh?" The elf was confused but Liam did not bother exining. It took about twenty of the vampires and he had finally managed to insta forge one of the souls.


    What a waste! If only he had his storage ring, he would have been able to store all the souls and extract so much more information from them. Now he had to make do with his sess rate of 1 in 20. Not that he wasining. This was already a better result than he expected.


    Considering that these vampires were quite high-leveled, the current condition of his soul and not to mention that he was inbat at the moment, he was happy that he even managed to forge one sessfully.


    But not everything was a loss either. Though he did not manage to forge those souls, he still acquired snippets of information when trying to process all of the souls and he found out some things here and there.


    The most important piece of information being¡­ that girl was not in here. This alone made Liam breathe out in relief. He was not ready to face that kind of a being. Perhaps he would never be able to get there.


    The young girl was much stronger than the divine temple high priestess or perhaps the elven ancestor even. He couldn''t see the depths of her strength at all. The worst part was that she was supposed to be in the same bracket he was as they had been pitted against each other in the Spire trial. How could that even be possible?


    Liam snapped out of it. He did not want to break his head over this problem at the moment. That vampire girl was none of his concern and hopefully they would never meet again.


    As for the vampire who was currently giving him a headache, he was someone named Gorendth. He was a bright young scion of some family called Blood Tear. And the reason why he was getting targeted at the moment was also pretty straightforward. It was not because of some personal vendetta. Thank god. The vampires simply had a standing order from above to kill all the other elites theye across in the Spire. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In fact, they were even authorized to sacrifice as many foot soldiers as they needed to get this done. This made Liam think that something else was going on.


    If the vampires were indeed preparing for some sort of grand war, then they wouldn''t be sacrificing the grunts left and right like this. But that was also a problem for another time. Maybe he could learn more if he captured more souls.


    Liam grunted as he channeled the dark energy he had saved in one of the chambers of the heart fruit. There was no special reason he picked this energy this time. Constantly maintaining a dao field was extremely straining and draining. It was good that he had stored himself full of all sorts of energy, fully utilizing the heart fruit. Now he was draining all the chambers one after the other while slowly trying to fill them back up. Without this advantage, he would have been hard pressed to constantly fight against these high-leveled grunts one after the other. Liam could not even fathom the power of a faction that would freely use such high-leveled beings as expendables. This was a harsh reminder that he was no longer back on earth or in the tutorial world. He was now in the vast wide cosmos where there were myriad realms and myriad powers.


    Liam continued shing down the vampires and gathering as many souls as he could. Soon, they finally arrived at the inner section of the golden pyramid. Now they only had to cross over less than five tforms to arrive at the end point, the golden pyramid.


    He had assumed that the vampires would finally give up on their chase now but they were still hot on their trail. It was extremely unsettling to watch one vampire after another aging to be a dry husk as theybusted themselves to fight back.


    But Liam knew that they were not doing this for fun. They were doing it purposefully and it was to tire him out before someone stronger arrived.


    Liam was right on money as the next second a group of vampires descended down on a couple of tforms away from him. He instantly knew that this was going to be different because these ones hadn''t followed them here. These ones had clearly jumped off the golden pyramid back onto the tforms.

 Chapter 1301 Dark mountain

    Chapter 1301 Dark mountain


    If it wasn''t clear before, it was crystal clear now. The vampires wanted Liam and his group dead no matter what the cost was. From the looks of it, they were even willing to sacrifice higher-level elite soldiers for this purpose.


    Liam could immediately tell that this fight was not going to be easy. Apart from the vampires, he also had the golden pyramid to deal with. The pressure at the moment was suffocating and without a dao field, Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming, perhaps even Eldrin would instantly die.


    This meant that the dao field couldn''t be down even for a second and this was a huge problem. A problem that was not going anywhere as the vampires squarelynded on the tform right next to Liam''s and distributed themselves in such a manner that they at least upied four of the six surrounding tforms.


    But it did not matter because the next second, the eight vampires intensified their dao fields as they charged forward all at once, leaping onto the same tform as Liam and the group were currently standing on.


    While no sane person would wantonly expose themselves in such a manner, there was no rule against many groups upying the same tform.


    The vampires did not stop there as each one unsheathed a Scimitar and swung down at the dark energy dao field that Liam had erected. Their attacks were enhanced by a strange glow and the moment their weapons touched the barrier, swirling blood whirlpools erupted on the spot burrowing into the dao field. Liam''s eyes widened. The strength of their attacks was extremely overpowering. All of them seemed like they had undergone the same sort of training as their attacks might as well be photocopies of one another.


    More importantly, if he did not do something soon then there was even a chance for them to break his barrier. To be able to attack with this much energy whilst maintaining a dao field of their own was astonishing. The chances were that these vampires might be burning a tremendous amount of their life force but Liam wouldn''t count on them turning into husks anytime soon. He learned from the souls he had processed that the vampires possessed many lifeforce replenishing treasures to go along with their taboo method. He had also picked up on some method to cultivate life force which was something unheard of in whatever basic knowledge he had picked up so far. So instead of waiting for them to burn out, he needed to act first.


    Liam immediately decided to switch to earthen essence. Earthen essence was better at defending whenpared to dark essence at least from the limited understanding that he possessed.


    The next moment earthen barriers erupted at the eight spots where the blood whirlpools had taken root. The impact sent tremors through the tform and Liam was heaving as he had essentially erected two dao fields at the same time.


    Even though they were weak ones, it left himpletely drained, gasping for breath under the strain of dual dao fields. The earthen barriers, fortified with the essence of the earth, managed to halt the advance of the blood whirlpools, creating a temporary stalemate on the battlefield.


    The vampires, momentarily thwarted, regrouped with ferocity. Their eyes, alight with a predatory gleam, focused on Liam, who stood at the center of the storm he had conjured. It was clear that they were targeting him.


    The next moment strange runes shed above their heads as a dense dark energy started gathering. Liam could tell from this distance that the dark ball of energy was nothing good. It contained a hint of soul energy with a lot of resentment and anger. It was as if someone had captured boiling emotions and weaponized them.


    Despite the exhaustion that wed at his limbs, Liam knew that he had to act soon and finish this once and for all. The vampires did not look like they were going to stop any time soon. He had a clone from which he could siphon information and for now, this simply had to be enough. Things were getting a little too risky for his taste.


    In a single move, he had to somehow end this. But first, he had to stop whatever attack these lunatics were casting.


    With gritted teeth, Liam expanded the earthen essence, reinforcing the barriers and extending spikes from their base, turning the defensive structures into offensive weapons. The next instant, spikes, imbued with the raw power of the earth,nced toward the vampires with unerring precision, aiming to disrupt their formation and force them on the defensive. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    However, it looked like they were already expecting something like this and immediately blocked the attacks with waves of bloodshing out at the spikes.


    The dark energy hovering above started condensing rapidly in the form of a mountain, more specifically an inverted mountain and it was hanging right on top of Liam''s head ominously.


    Liam gulped. It would be a mistake to underestimate this thing. They probably knew about his strength from his fight up until now and had only engaged him being confident in their abilities to deal with him. This attack was likely too strong for him to handle. But he needed one more second. He clenched his fist and stayed put taking the gamble and the mountain became even bigger, its shadow almost covering the entire group. Some of the vile energy even started seeping through the dao field.


    Then suddenly the mountain started descending down. Liam was running out of time. At the same time, something else happened. A ripple spread from the golden pyramid.


    Liam''s grip on his sword tightened. This was exactly what he was waiting for. He was done with ying games with these vampires. In a single swift move, he churned his ice elemental dao seed and his ck sun, theher dao seed at the same time.


    Just as the mountain of dark vile energy descended, the earthen dao field flickered and in its ce, a frigid ck wall stood tall.

 Chapter 1302 Touch Down

    Chapter 1302 Touch Down


    With the ripple from the golden pyramid, the pressure surrounding the tforms once more increased making all the trial takers falter slightly. Liam used this chance to bring out his trump card.


    The improper earthen barrier, only barely holding on and definitely incapable of withstanding the dark mountain all of a sudden disappeared, and in its ce huge strong walls were erected.


    These walls were pitch ck in color and emitted a frigid aura that was capable of freezing anyone who neared it without sufficient protection.


    Moreover, the walls looked sturdy, tall, and imposing like that of an unbreachable fortress. Instead of the earthen barrier, the dark mountain descended onto this fortress like an insurmountable being, its might aimed to obliterate any who dared stand against it. But the moment it collided with the pitch-ck walls, an unexpected event urred. The dark mountain, a mass of concentrated malevolence and destructive power, began to slow, its momentum stunted by the frigid aura exuding from the walls. The sight was surreal, as if the very essence of darkness was being sapped away, and sealed into the fortress.


    Liam grinned. The first part of his n had worked.


    Thanks to the endless assault of the suicide vampires, Liam''s ability to form his own personal dao field had progressed by leaps and bounds in this single trial. He found out what he wascking and he also knew how to implement it. However, throughout the whole thing, he had made sure not to reveal his true cards and his real strength.


    As the dark mountain descended onto the frigid walls, it was entirely swallowed, and the chance that he was waiting for appeared. This was it. He needed to finish this right here and right now before even more reinforcements arrived or before the golden pyramid threw out another curve ball.


    As soon as the fortress stabilized, Liam quickly dashed forward and grabbed Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming with his hands. Despite the serious situation, it was an extremelyical scene where Liam looked like an idiot carrying multiple bags awkwardly.


    He then cast a fleeting nce at the elf before starting to bolt forward at full speed. Eldrin gulped. No one needed to tell him twice about what this meant. It was go time.


    With only a couple of jumps left, Liam was going all out.


    Liam''s mind reeled from the pain and his entire body felt exhausted, wrung dry as he squeezed everything he had from every single pore in his body. Even the heart fruit was running empty, with some of the chambers bingpletely bone dry. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    But Liam did not care. He was really going all out here. Forming the imprable fortress was one thing but moving it around and literally carrying it along with him was an entirely different thing.


    However, Liam did just that. He took everything he had and moved at an incredibly fast pace, bulldozing down the three vampires standing in front of him.


    The elite vampires swung their scimitars at the fortress but it was useless. They were tossed aside by the sheer force exuded by the fortress. It was as if nothing could stand in the path of that fortress.


    And before anyone could do anything, right in front of all the pairs of crimson eyes locked onto the fortress, the entire thing jumped from one tform to another.


    It did not stop there. The fortress continued moving all the way until it reached the edge of the tform and then made one more leap. Unfortunately, the multiple tforms started shaking at the moment, indicating the beginning of another shuffle.


    The vampires grinned. But when the shuffle ended, no one was able to see the fortress again. The many pairs of crimson eyes all trailed to look at the golden pyramid where a new group had already arrived.


    Safe and sound.


    Liam dropped onto the surface of the golden pyramid which was surprisingly not a slope but a t surface. He neither had the energy nor the mental capacity to think and understand what that meant right now.


    All he knew was that the monstrous pressure waspletely gone and all of them were safe now.


    Thankfully, he wasn''t able to move an inch on the golden pyramid. Not because he was exhausted but because he simply couldn''t. This clearly prevented one party from fighting with another party while on the pyramid, perhaps a small gift from the Spire to those who had reached here with difficulty.


    The vampires clearly did not like it as Liam could still feel several eyes on him, eyes full of hostility.


    Liam did not care. This worked in their favor and that''s all that mattered. He and the rest of the group nkly looked at the mayhem in front of them. Many vampires and even a few other trial takers somehow managed to make it to the pyramid. However, almost 60% of the participants were cleared out, several plummeting to their deaths and some dying inbat.


    Liam was even relieved a little to see the bloodsucking lunatics continue to rabidly target some other folks.


    Finally, it took a few more minutes when the darkness descended. The golden pyramid and the goddamn tformspletely disappeared from the vicinity as Liam found himself in a lush forestwn. The trial was officially over and they had survived.


    Rey, Madan, Lan Deming, and even Eldrin all collectively gasped, letting out a breath they did not realize they were holding. They had finally crossed the nightmarish trial and with that almost all of the second segment. This should be thest floor, thest challenge floor of the second segment before they receive the big reward.


    "Shouldn''t this be an individual thing? Or at leastst time it was an individual thing¡­" Eldrin murmured as the elf hurriedly looked around for things that could potentially bash them up, slice them up, or straight up obliterate them.


    Usually, a group challenge would have been a good thing but when Liam was involved, the elf knew better than to make any guesses.


    However, even after waiting for several seconds, nothing dangerous popped out.


    Wait, it couldn''t be? Did they directly get the rewards?

 Chapter 1303 Risk and reward

    Chapter 1303 Risk and reward


    It took a few minutes but everyone looked around, including Liam''s soul army and it seemed like they were once again in a very simr situation like before. There was absolutely no living thing for the foreseeable distance and this time there wasn''t any magic y either.


    Just as everyone was wondering what the hell was happening, all of a sudden the ground quaked, hissing and sputtering. From the quivering ground, a mist began to rise, thick and pervasive, obscuring their vision with its swirling tendrils.


    Everyone immediately became alert as something like this could be poisonous. Except that the mist was anything but poisonous. No one knew what this mist was and how it was being produced but the moment the mist touched their bodies, it started getting greedily absorbed. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It was as if every single cell in the body became a tiny vortex that started greedily sucking in the mist. This was definitely a good thing. No one had any doubts about it anymore.


    As for what it did, it was still unclear. Of course, the first thing that everyone noticed was the healing effect of the mist. It did not heal any physical wounds. Rather it healed all the mental exhaustion and the anxiety everyone suffered from the ughter trial.


    The mist had an extremely calming effect on the mind, washing away the tension and fear that had umted likeyers of dust over their consciousness. This unexpected boon seemed to rejuvenate their spirits, infusing them with a renewed sense of purpose and rity. The mental fog that clouded their thoughts dissipated, leaving behind a sharpness and focus that was essential for the trials ahead.


    Liam immediately sat down cross-legged and started meditating. He had umted a lot of thoughts and ideas in his mind after continuously setting up one dao field after another and he needed to integrate everything with what he already understood.


    He did not know what particr benefits this floor was supposed to give but he would take things as they came.


    Seeing Liam, others as well quickly got down to business. They had all gained a lot in one way or another after leaving earth and right now it felt as if everything they learned had somehow started to crystallize in their brain. Things could not be clearer and the truths behind the various skills felt within their grasp and perhaps even something more profound than the skill mechanisms.


    This moment of rity and introspection was a rare gift within the relentless pace of their path so far. The profound effect of the mist facilitated a deep internal dialogue, allowing them to sift through their umted experiences, knowledge, and the essence of the trials they had faced.


    Liam, in his meditative state, found himself delving into the intricate details of the dao fields he had been manipting. Each setup, each deployment was reyed in his mind''s eye with vivid rity, allowing him to perceive nuances he had previously overlooked. This reflective process enabled him to integrate these insights into his broader understanding of magic andbat, enhancing his mastery over the dao fields.


    The others, too, found themselves on the cusp of significant breakthroughs. This period of meditation and introspection was more than just a pause for rest; it was a crucible for growth. The insights gained during this time were like pieces of a puzzle falling into ce, revealing a greater picture not just of their individual capabilities but of the interconnectedness of all things. The skills they honed, the magic they wielded, and the battles they fought were all part of arger tapestry of existence, a tapestry they were only beginning toprehend.


    A few minutes passed by when suddenly some of the mist started gathering around Rey. Everyone could feel the change in the concentration as they briefly nced at him with envy.


    He was clearly the first to make a breakthrough. Rey had already gained one dao seed after entering the Spire and now he was gaining another one. Though both the dao seeds were closely rted to each other, he still ended up gaining a chunk of levels and stats.


    After Rey, it was Lan Deming''s and Madan''s turn with both the assassin ss yer and the hunter making headway in gaining their own dao seeds.


    Mist swirled around them as they did, the two of them consuming a great deal of the nourishing mist, visibly growing stronger.


    Unfortunately, Eldrin was nowhere close to gaining anything from this particr floor and he only had himself to me. The elf had barely pushed himself ever since he met Liam and it was showing in his results. But there was still time and he might be on cusp of something.


    As the four of them once again dove for a second round of meditation, suddenly something stirred. There was some movement near Liam who had been sitting like a stone ever since they arrived on the floor.


    Just as they wondered if something else was going on, even the mist started behaving strangely. Without any warning all of the mist started converging towards Liam, swirling and coalescing into a dense, almost tangible mass of energy around him.


    The air around Liam vibrated with power, the mist enveloping himpletely, hiding his form from view. The others watched in silence, a mix of awe and curiosity in their eyes, wondering what transformation or breakthrough Liam was about to experience.


    The next second something even more ridiculous happened. The situation actually became worse. Every wisp of the mystical mist started rushing towards Liam. The guy had be a ck hole absorbing everything in sight.


    More and more mist seeped out of the ground and soon even that changed. Dense swaths of mists appeared from the ground almost as if they were pulled out forcefully and everything swirled around Liam, encasing him in something like a cocoon.


    "What the hell?" Eldrin was speechless. Rey gulped while Lan Deming and Madan looked at Liam with admiration in their eyes. Anything their guild leader did was out of the ordinary. While they had barely absorbed a little of the mist, the very ground they were on started cracking and fissuring as Liam sucked everything in sight and underneath them.

 Chapter 1304 Reached the limit

    Chapter 1304 Reached the limit


    Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. Finally, after ten hours, the cocoon enveloping Liam silently dissipated and vanished into nothingness revealing the person sitting inside. Liam shed his eyes open.


    For a moment everyone was confused as they had expected something earth-shattering to happen after seeing the behavior of the mist but it almost seemed as if Liam hadn''t changed at all.


    Before anyone could open their mouths and ask him about this, a golden glow started spreading and darkness descended as the group was whisked away from the trial floor.


    Unexpectedly, the very next second they were dropped off in another forest. Everyone''s face immediately changed as this should not have happened.


    This was the part where they should have been given some tailor-made reward but instead, they were already on the next floor?


    Confirming their suspicions, notifications chimed in front of them.


    [Ding! Congrattions! You have sessfully crossed the second segment of the Spire]


    [Ding! Congrattions! You have received the title ''Spire of Ascension Second Segment Trial Taker'']


    Spire of Ascension Second Segment Trial Taker: Gain a 2% boost to all your attributes


    Everyone immediately checked if their former title was still avable and one look confirmed that they had all the titles they received from the Spire. This meant that the previous 1% and this 2% stacked, instead of the new one recing the old one.


    Everyone gaped in shock as this was a huge boost to their basic stats. That too they had a percentage increase and not a single t increase. This meant that when their stats increased the boost would also ordingly increase.


    "Tch. I guess there is no reward for us this time." Liam clicked his tongue. He had expected something at least so that the strength of the guild could be improved but this was a bit disappointing.


    Hearing him, the elf threw a nasty look in his direction. "You want more reward? Do you know how rare what we experienced on thest floor was? It was a mist that made us conducive to enlightenment! People would kill for an opportunity like this." The elf then added begrudgingly. "My lord."


    Liam did not say anything. Naturally, he knew how rare the opportunity was because he had gained a lot from it but still, what the guild needed right now was different. "Alright. Let''s see what this floor is about." Liam stood up.


    "Brother." Rey interrupted him first. "I am sorry but I want to explore this ce by myself." He mumbled.


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow, surprised a little.


    "Ahem. Guild leader, I would also like to explore the ce by myself." Madan too surprisingly said the same thing.


    Not even a second after he spoke up, Lan Deming stepped forward. "I would also-"


    "Alright. That''s enough." Liam shook his head helplessly. "What happened? Are you guys afraid?"


    "It''s not like we will be pushed into another ughter trial any time soon." Eldrin said, making everyone immediately turn towards the elf and give him a death re. Now that the elf had jinxed it, chances were that they might be entering another ughter trial on the very next floor.


    But that was not the issue. It was time they left the Spire and they all knew it.


    "Bro, if I stayed here any longer and if you got hurt because of me, then my sister would kill me." Rey resolutely shook his head. "Nope. I know my limit and thest segment was it. Thanks for the carry but now I think I should do my own thing."


    "Ya. You had to go out of your way and struggle so much because we were dead weights. If you were on thatst floor with the pyramid by yourself would you have struggled so much against those lunatic bloodsuckers?" Madan also refused to budge.


    "We have gained a lot and now it is time for us to go. I am confident we will be able to enter this marvelous ce once more before we step onto the next level. We will fight harder then. We will rely on our own strength and conquer one segment after another." Lan Deming clenched his fists. The man''s eyes shone with determination. All three of them looked stubborn in their resolve to part ways and forge their own paths, at least for now. They had been through trials that not only tested their strength and will but also deepened their understanding of their own limits and potential. The journey through the Spire had transformed them, and they felt the need to explore their newfound strengths independently, to grow in ways that might not be possible under Liam''s shadow.


    Leaving right now was the same asmitting suicide and getting kicked out of the Spire but the three did not seem afraid of it. After some contemtion, Liam nodded. "Alright. Good luck."


    If perhaps their Spire run was a normal run, Liam might have risked it with the group staying on for another segment but with these vampires popping out everywhere, he did not want to unnecessarily push things too far.


    This was real life after all. There was no second chance. It was better for them to die on a non-ughter trial floor and get kicked out of the Spire.


    Besides, no matter when they get kicked out all of them would essentially exit the Spire at the same time so there was no danger of them facing the mayhem back on Nymphomania alone by themselves. So Liam confidently let them leave.


    The three walked away in three different directions, not even sticking close to one another. Liam observed them until their figures disappeared into the forest, blending into the background. He then let out a sigh and focused on his own path.


    They would all get another chance but this was his only chance at this stage and he wanted to take advantage of it the best he could. He summoned his soul minions to do the customary scan of the floor just like always when his gaze fell on the other person who was still standing near him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Ahem. My lord.." Eldrin awkwardly smiled.

 Chapter 1305 Ready, Set, Go

    Chapter 1305 Ready, Set, Go


    Liam shed down at the weird raptor that looked more like a dinosaur than a raptor. The beast was definitely stronger than the vampires and had entered his dao field barging its way in. It had also put up quite a fight but it simply couldn''t withstand the pressure exuded by the frigid ice field. All its movements were sluggish and eventually, it sumbed to the attacks.


    It let out a final cry before copsing, its vitality extinguished. The air around it seemed to crystallize, the residual energy from the dao field causing frost to form on the nearby foliage and the ground itself.


    It was clear that Liam''s execution of the frigid ice dao field had improved tremendously. At the same time, the difficulty of the Spire trials had also spiked up quite a bit in the third segment.


    While in the first two segments, the floor bosses couldn''t even touch Liam''s dao field, the first boss of this segment was already able to crash into it even though it had some difficulties. Things were soon going to get serious.


    "My Lord, you were amazing." The elf hurried over with flowery words. Liam gave him an even stare when the golden glow covered the both of them, moving them onto the next floor.


    With the rest of the group now deciding to bow out of the Spire run, Liam no longer held back. He allowed the elf to tag along for the time being but it was implied that he would not be making any special concessions or going out of his way for him.


    He was mostly just keeping his word to the shifty elf from their agreement before. However, if a life-threatening situation arose, Liam had already made it clear that he wouldn''t risk his life to save the elf.


    Sure, if he could he would save him but on the very next floor, the elf had to get out of the Spire. This was the running agreement between the both of them and of course, this also came with the use that the elf had to pull his own weight from now on and couldn''t simply sightsee.


    Liam was straightforward with the elf about how things would be from now onwards. After the first two segments, he now had 85 days left in the Spire and he nned to make full use of it.


    The Spire was one of the top opportunities in the myriad realms avable to everyone, regardless of their family background or where they came from. Only talent mattered here. This was one of the few ces where even a beggar could be a star.


    In the information packets, more opportunities like this were mentioned but many of those were under specific factions and kingdoms with extremely tight control over who was allowed inside.


    One prime example of this was the B-rank world Eldrin hade from. The world was B-rank only for namesake. The elves from that world were suffering just like other trash-grades because the ruling factions were controlling all the resources.


    Though elves like Eldrin in general were higher leveled whenpared to anyone on earth, that was the end of it. The only benefit that everyone seemed to enjoy was this rtively high level because of the energy-rich nature of the world.


    Beyond that, all the important resources were controlled by the eight empires such as the mystic realm Liam had barged into. Liam had somehow survived in the elven world and even returned with a plentiful bounty but he could not count on something like this every time. His 600 luck stat would only help him so much. Right now all he had was this Spire and he needed to make full use of it.


    However, that did not mean he expected himself to be a God when he stepped out of the Spire. Maybe that was possible? But the limiting factor was time. The Spire was infinite and the climb to the top endless. Those at the awakened stage entered somewhere at the bottom. So realistically he did not know how far he would be able to go, especially considering that some floors forced the trial takers to use up their time.


    Liam thought a bit about this and decided on one realistic goal that he wanted to achieve no matter what. He wanted to heal his soul.


    The Spire might grant him several benefits and countless treasured items but the thing that he sorely needed at the moment was a way to fix his soul. So he needed to focus on this. If there was any ce, he was going to find a solution to this problem, it would be in the Spire. After all, it even granted tailor-made rewards for the trial takers.


    With this goal in mind, Liam restarted his climb and this time he was going to go at max speed. He was clearing each floor as fast as he possibly could while keeping a lookout for anything rted to the soul.


    This was his main strength and only by honing his strength, he would be able to face the enemies waiting for him. The atmosphere in the Spire had not made him forget the threat looming over his neck.


    Time was suspended here and it was easy to forget the outside world but all the mayhem outside was still waiting for him. His enemies were not going anywhere anytime soon. Liam clenched his hands in determination. He had been weak for long enough. He was only going to leave this ce with his soul healed.


    With this in mind, he sted through the next three floors in just a couple of hours beforeing to a halt on the fourth floor. Liam couldn''t believe what he was seeing.


    "What the hell¡­" Eldrin rubbed his eyes, the elf close to shedding actual tears. How the heck were they once again in another ughter trial after just a couple of floors? This wasplete bullshit!


    "I am being punished. I knew it!" Eldrin was close to prostrating on the ground and groveling to the deities of the Spire if such beings even existed.


    However, this time around everything was different.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1306 Secrets of the vampires

    Chapter 1306 Secrets of the vampires


    Eldrin shivered at the sight of blood all around him. When the ughter trial started he had a feeling that this time things were going to be different but not in his wildest dreams did he think that it would end up like this.


    Total massacre. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That''s what this was. The monster he partnered with went wild the moment the trial started and only stopped when the golden glow surrounded them and forcefully whisked them away, signaling the end of the trial.


    Eldrin gazed at the maniacal look on Liam''s face with fear and he once again shuddered. This same person had been logical and tolerant up until now but all of a sudden he hadpletely let loose.


    Liam did not hold back at all. In thest ughter trial, the vampires had forced him to constantly keep up his dao field and in this ughter trial he did exactly just that.


    After absorbing the weird mist, thest bits of issues he had with his dao field were naturally resolved and he was now able to form aplete one, a strong and stable one. He was confident that beings even on the same level as him would have difficulty in dealing with it.


    He had tested this theory in the ughter trial and the results were off the charts. He was able to cut down whoever stood in his path easily. This time it was not the vampires who targeted him but the other way around.


    His only misgiving was that the trial had ended too soon. This one seemed to have a straightforward cut-off and after he killed about twenty vampires in the span of a couple of minutes they were already out of the trial.


    On the plus side, he had gathered some more souls. In total, he had three new vampire minions added to his soul army. Not that it did him any good. The vampire souls were simply too weak. Perhaps it was because of the specific technique they followed but their souls were extremely feeble. Apparently, burning their life force repeatedly and replenishing it could have this effect on their souls, making them brittle and easier to shatter.


    But Liam was not convinced. Their souls were far too weak for a mere side effect. It was impossible for them to have been so strong when they were alive with souls like this. And if they are not strong then what was the point of a mind-controlled army?


    There was also the other issue that he noticed. These vampires had very bad memories. When Liam usually processed a soul, forging it into his personal minion he hadplete control of the soul in every sense. This meant that he had ess to all of the memories and experiences of the dead soul.


    Liam was counting on this to extract some more information about the myriad realms, information that he could not get from the system shop. However, that proved to be a dead end because the souls of these vampires had big gaping holes with respect to their memory.


    Large chunks of their memories were missing, and it was not on just one of them. All of them had the same issue. It was as if someone had forcibly tried to tamper with their memories or perhaps there was some mind-control technique that automatically tried to erase their memories when they died. This could also exin the unusually weak souls.


    Considering the ancient history of these vampires and that they had an established hierarchy probably dating back to a time so old that perhaps even the system hadn''t popped out yet, Liam felt it was very possible that they had put so many precautions in ce.


    But it also told him something else. Not everyone was able to meddle with souls. The work done by these guys was a patch-up job at most. He was still able to get many nuggets of information from the souls and his fully forged minions. If only he had his previous soul strength he was confident he would have been able to get even more. However, there was no point in thinking about that now. Liam closed his eyes gathering his thoughts from the various souls he had rummaged through and quickly summarized some things. He had been a bit short sighted but thanks to these vampires he was able to correct it. It turns out that there were a few other things that he had to keep on lookout for apart from healing his soul. It was his race evolution and his bloodline evolution.


    Liam already knew about these things but he did not prioritize them because he needed to start from scratch searching for these things and reading about them and figuring out what was best for him. Healing his soul would be the quickest way to be stronger.


    However, the vampires had a different viewpoint. Apparently, they gave more importance to bloodline evolution. In fact, many did not even step into the transcendent rank without taking care of their bloodline.


    Liam was only able to drag this information out of the souls because this had been on the mind of almost every single soul he had processed. Perhaps this had been their personal big goal in tagging along with their ''Master'' to the Spire.


    Also, there was only so much he could learn from these grunts. He needed to get an elite vampire soon, someone who would definitely know more things and perhaps wouldn''t be subjected to the same kind of soul erasing tactics.


    It was only a matter of time before they stepped into another ughter trial so Liam did not sweat it. Instead, he started paying close attention to the current floor they were on.


    Based on how things had gone so far, this floor should have been a reward floor but it certainly did not look like it. Liam could already hear the roar of a beast in the distance. Something powerful.


    And so the grind yet again starts.

 Chapter 1307 Kill them all

    Chapter 1307 Kill them all


    For the next couple of days, Liam continued racing from one floor to another while also giving a small amount of time for each floor to look around and search for anything valuable that he could use.


    However, the only floor that was remotely useful was the one where he had to work as an herb picker and harvest the herbs grown in the mountain to the noble lord who was his employer.


    In fact, he had to use a viinous back-handed attack even to get that advantage. Liam had first submitted the herbs to the noble who seemed decent enough but by the time the golden glow managed to envelop him and teleport him, he had already killed him and tossed some of the valuable herbs in his mouth.


    The fruit embedded in his heart took care of the rest and quickly absorbed the essence of the herbs and stored it away in the same chamber.


    Liam still did not know how exactly this worked. He did feel some amount of essence absorbed by his body so he guessed that the abundant overflowing essence gets tucked away in the fruit.


    This was something that he had to figure outter. In the meantime, he continuedbing through the floors. It took ten more floors when Liam finally stumbled across something that could be beneficial.


    Or on second thought perhaps not.


    Liam frowned when he saw the setup in front of him. He was currently standing in the ruins of some sort of temple and around him were the dead bodies of the dozens of men he had ughtered.


    While they were weak individually, they had put up quite a fight against him using some sort of group attack.


    It should have been difficult for any group to achieve that sort of synergy but looking at the clothes these guys were wearing Liam understood things immediately.


    They were all wearing the same type of robe with the same weird symbols. They had to belong to a cult of some kind which would also exin their coordination and group attack.


    He was still in the outer part of the ruins so there should be more of these cultists in the main building that seemed to be located under the ground. Depending on the number of cultists in there, things could potentially get extremely dangerous.


    However, Liam''s concern at the moment was something else.


    He looked at the three figures on the ground who were staring back at him anxiously and nervously. Of course, there was the fourth person who seemed to be neither afraid of him nor interested in the proceedings, choosing instead to examine a piece of rock on the ground with an intensity that suggested he found it more intriguing than the current situation.


    The three anxious figures were apparently prisoners of the cultists, bound by some sort of energy shackles that dampened their abilities. Liam could see the remnants of fear and exhaustion on their faces, but there was also a flicker of hope now that he had arrived.


    The fourth individual, however, was an enigma. His indifference to the chaos around him suggested he was either extremely brave, foolish, or powerful.


    "My Lord, please hear us out. The cultists have something extremely valuable. Every full moon, they pray to their god and perform their rituals, even sacrificing other living beings to obtain the blessed flower." Hatred was etched on the man''s face as he continued. "We are thest batch of sacrifice. They had already killed many men before. They have been doing this sincest night." "So you don''t need us. Instead, if you kill them all, you will be able to get the blessed flower. I am sure someone like you would be able to extract many benefits from the flower." "We have heard rumors that these wandering cultists belong to an immensely powerful group. This flower is definitely how they are gaining their power."


    "Tell me more about this flower. What does it look like? And where is it kept?" Liam asked, his interest piqued.


    The man hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering to hispanions before returning to Liam. "The flower is said to bloom only under the light of the full moon, emitting a soft, ethereal glow. It''s a rare sight, one that''s deeply revered by the cultists. As for its location, it''s kept in the innermost chamber of the temple, heavily guarded and sealed with powerful magic."


    And this was what was bothering Liam. "You seem to know a lot about this?" He asked the talkative guy. Chances are that there was no such flower and these guys were probably sending him on an errand to finish off the rest of the cultists either for revenge or to eradicate the group who were probably harassing their vige or town on a regr basis.


    If this was the case then he did not mind being used. But on the other hand, if this guy was a nt of some sort to keep the other prisoners in check and he was essentially leading him to a trap, then shit would hit the fan real soon.


    While Liam was confident in dealing with some of these cultists, a whole slew of them would be difficult for him. Well, that is if he did not bring out his soul army. If he let his soul blood beasts run amok then things would be a lot easier. Maybe. Things were heating up now that he was in the third segment and he did not want to underestimate anyone. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Alright. I will go down and check it out." Liam started walking further into the ruins. Trap or not he had to check this out. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to clear the floor. At the same time, two of his minions silently materialized and hid behind a broken wall to keep an eye on the prisoners. Liam also hadn''t freed any of them yet so there was that additional safety measure. Apart from this, the elf was also stationed outside along with another soul minion in case there was any emergency. Keeping his eyes open, he headed downstairs deeper into the ruins.

 Chapter 1308 Another way?

    Chapter 1308 Another way?


    As Liam descended into the depths of the temple ruins, the air grew colder and the atmosphere denser with a palpable sense of dread. The dimly lit passageways twisted and turned, leading him deeper into the heart of darkness.


    When Liam entered the ruins, he had expected a lot of fights from the cultists, or at least to encounter one or two along the way but the entire path was deserted. Everywhere he turned out, it waspletely empty.


    The path eventually opened into arge underground chamber, the center of the cultists'' domain. Torches flickered along the walls, casting eerie shadows and illuminating the room with a ghostly glow. At the far end of the chamber stood an altar but there was no sign of any more cultists.


    "Was that thest of them?" Liam frowned feeling that something was amiss. He did not have to wait too long to find out what because the moment he entered the main hall of the ruins, a bolt of lightning zapped him, making his entire figure shudder in pain.


    "Fuck!" Liam immediately retreated, setting up several mana barriers around him to protect him. The bolt of lightning had popped up out of nowhere, catching himpletely off guard.


    The next instant it was as if a veil in front of him had been lifted off. Out of thin air one cultist after another started making their appearance.


    The chamber, once seemingly empty, was now teeming with cultists emerging from hidden recesses and shadows as if the very walls themselves were birthing them. Each cultist bore the same emblematic robes, their faces obscured.


    As the cultists closed in, forming a semicircle around him, a figure stepped forward from their ranks. This figure was draped in more ornate robes, indicating a higher status within the cult. The person halted a few paces away from Liam, raising a hand to halt the advance of the others.


    "You tread on sacred ground, outsider," the figure spoke, their voice echoing ominously through the chamber. But the person was clearly not interested in any conversation as purple lightning sizzled in the air around them.


    "Do you know what is the punishment for spilling unauthorized blood on sacred ground? Death!" The man''s voice rumbled.


    Immediately, the entire chamber became brightly lit. Streams and streams of purple current appeared on the ceiling, writhing like serpents as they coalesced into a massive, crackling web above Liam. The air was electric, charged with an intensity that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The cultists had formed a protective circle around their leader, their chants rising in a cacophony, fueling the impending storm with their fervor.


    Liam immediately jumped into action. Without allowing any of the errant bolts of lightning to attack him, he unleashed hisher domain. Thankfully, the Spire had thrown him into all sorts of ces so he was able to replenish his reserves ofher easily.


    Once the fortress sprang forth, the lightning bolts found it difficult to snake their way inside.


    The cult leader, seeing this, smiled coldly. With a sharp downward gesture, the purple lightning converged into a singr, devastating bolt aimed directly at Liam. The chamber echoed with the sound of thunder as the bolt struck, a blinding sh illuminating every corner of the room.


    The collision between the bolt and Liam''s domain was cataclysmic. The fortress vibrated violently under the impact,her walls flickering as they absorbed and dissipated the energy. For a moment, it seemed as if the shield would hold, but the relentless power of the bolt bore down, cracks forming across the surface of the fortress.


    In the face of this overwhelming force, Liam focused, channeling more of his power into the fortress, reinforcing the weakening points, and stabilizing the structure. The fortress held, the bolt disintegrating into harmless sparks that rained down around him, fading into the stone floor.


    However, he was not nearly out of the woods because the very next second another attack was readily charged waiting to strike him down. Whatever these guys were using to fight against him, their strength was not a joke. Defense was clearly useless. Liam''s sword blurred as he swung down to attack the leader which immediately proved useless as an invisible barrier sprang up to block the attack.


    But that was not all. He had sent sword shes towards some of the underlings, hoping that they wouldn''t be as protected as the leader. That also proved to be wrong as all of his attacks were easily blocked.


    Liam''s frown deepened. The problem was that he was facing these cultists in their home base. They had that advantage over him, utilizing the temple''s inherent magical structures and their own prepared defenses. They had probably fortified this ce with countless arrays and magical formations, specifically designed to counter any external threats. He needed to bring in more strength in order to achieve anything. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    However, there was also another way he could sessfully clear this floor. Having already cleared multiple trials of the Spire, Liam had by now a good knowledge of how the trials of the Spire worked.


    Often there were violent solutions and also non-violent solutions. Perhaps he could also solve this without dealing with this big group of cultists.


    Liam quickly sent a mental message to the soul minions who were standing guard on the outside. The soul minions got to work and they broke the shackles of the hostages back on the surface. They were the only remaining live beings in the area and there was a 50% chance that this trial would end when they were released.


    And just like he expected, as soon as the bindings were removed, the hostages did not care about him or the cultists. Even the guy who was extremely talkative before giving away all the details of the ce dashed out of the ruins like a frightened deer.


    Unfortunately for Liam, that did not seem to help him at all. He immediately had to focus his attention back on the task at hand as no golden glow enveloped him just yet.

 Chapter 1309 You are weak

    Chapter 1309 You are weak


    Liam, realizing his earlier attempt had failed, shifted his focus. He needed a new strategy, and fast. His eyes darted around the chamber, searching for any sign of weakness or something that he could break and make the array weaker and his life easier.


    But this time too he ended with a nk. It looked like going in with full strength was the only solution here which did not bode well for the other floors. "Damn it." Liam cursed. With this, he would have used up all the trump cards he had in his sleeve. What was he going to do on the subsequent floors? Was his climb alreadying to an end in the third segment? Had he reached his limit?


    However, this was not the time to worry about these things. He first had to clear this floor. Facing this sort of group attack was new for him. Even though their individual strength was not impressive, they somehow became the toughest opponents he had faced so far by pure coordination efforts. This was in a way eye-opening for Liam. If Crimson Abyss could have a few units such as this then their power could also increase several folds.


    But nothing can be without a weakness, especially an overpowered technique like this. Sooner orter a ring weakness should pop out.


    And if not he was determined to make one himself through sheer force.


    "Come on!" Liam grunted and started adding more fuel and power to his impregnableher fortress. He had experimented with this back in the ughter trials and this was currently his strongest attack and defense.


    Immediately, the tall and sturdyher fortress walls started emitting a frigid aura. The strong walls that bore the relentless barrage of lightning bolts became several folds stronger.


    Liam knew that to break through their defenses, he needed not only brute force but also precision. He focused the frigid energy, channeling it into a single, concentrated point on theher fortress''s wall.


    Then, with a roar that echoed through the chamber, he unleashed a torrent ofher energy and icy cold energy, not outward but inward,pressing it to its limit before letting it all explode into one big shockwave.


    Rays ofher and icebined together pelted on the enemy group with a ferocity far greater than that of the lightning bolts. The shockwave, infused with both the destructiveness ofher energy and the piercing chill of ice, was unlike anything the attackers had faced before. It tore through their coordinated defense as if it were paper, disrupting their formation and breaking their concentration.


    The cultists, caught off guard by the sudden counterattack, scrambled to maintain their spells and incantations, but the cohesion was lost. The icyher shockwave didn''t just disrupt their physical positions; it seeped into some of their magical constructs, freezing and shattering the links that bound their collective power.


    With their group technique broken, the cultists were exposed. Liam didn''t hesitate. He surged forward, his sword a blur of motion as he capitalized on their disarray. Each strike was precise, aimed at incapacitating or eliminating his foes with minimal effort. The once formidable group was quickly being whittled down under his relentless assault.


    However, the good times did notst long. The cultists seemed to have their own backup because another purple lightning shield sprang up in no time and Liam couldn''t get to the center of the formation in time.


    Well, in reality, he did not know if the figurative center of the formation was the true center of the formation. He could only go with the position of the leader, assuming that to be the center. But before he could reach this point and cull down the cultists at the location, he was once again forced back thanks to the newly erected shield. A bolt of energy came in from somewhere in the corner and gave another life to the shield. It crackled aggressively with purple lightning arcs, actively seeking to repel or harm anyone who dared toe close. Liam recoiled from the intensity of the shield''s energy. However, he was not fazed. He knew what he had to do. Thest time he had taken down some of the cultists and the next time he needed to take down some more. This was a fight of attrition and he had to slowly whittle down the cultists. Even if he couldn''t figure out the array or the backups as long as he took down all of the cultists, it was going to be his win.


    Liam''s resolve hardened as he prepared for the next wave of his assault. He once again charged his attack ofher and icebined and set up his dao field. Another shockwave erupted and the cultists struggled to withstand the brunt of his attack. The array had considerably weakened since the first time he had faced. It was only going to be easier and easier now.


    However, going at his full strength repeatedly, summoning two dao fields at their strongest, while superimposing them was also not an easy task. Liam was panting and heaving as he felt his body tremble from the impact.


    His reserves were running low and he would soon be depleted in a couple more tries. He needed to finish this fast right here and now. He had to make this attack count.


    Liam charged forward ruthlessly and attacked everyone like a rampaging monster. His sword danced at a pace he had never done before. He was pushing himself to the limit. The fruits of hisbor were soon evident as the cultists'' ranks began to thin out.


    Finally, with a thunderous cry that seemed to shake the very foundations of the ruins, Liamunched a final, desperate attack directly at the heart of the shield. Thebined forces of ice andher energy converged into a single, devastating blow.


    The shield shattered with a sound like the world breaking apart, its fragments of purple lightning dissipating into nothingness.


    Now Liam could clearly see what was in front of him. A few leftover cultists and a weird statue. He did not know what it was but it couldn''t be anything good.


    The statue was no match for Liam''s next strike. As his sword connected, the statue exploded in a burst of dark energy, rendering the cultists''st line of defense useless.


    In the aftermath, silence fell over the chamber. His assumption had been correct. The statue was somehow empowering the cultists. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The cultists, leaderless and broken, were quickly subdued and ughtered. Everyst one of them was taken care of. The entire ce wasid to waste.


    Liam stood amidst the chaos, his chest heaving with exertion, but his eyes burned with victory. He had done it. The array was dismantled, the cultists defeated, and the path forward was clear. The golden glow also started to envelop him but right at this time, a voice sounded.


    "That was a pathetic disy. You are weak."

 Chapter 1310 Heaven’s secrets are not that easily stolen

    Chapter 1310 Heaven¡¯s secrets are not that easily stolen


    "That was a pathetic disy. You are really weak."


    Liam spun around to see the fourth guy standing silently at the entrance of the chamber. He did not know when the person had been standing there. He couldn''t sense him at all. Only after he had spoken did Liam even realize that someone was there.


    The surprise did not stop there. Before Liam could react, the person waved his hand and the golden glow that was enveloping Liam abruptly stopped.


    Liam''s eyes immediately widened in shock. The person in front of him had actually seeded in stopping something that the Spire started?


    Liam couldn''t believe it. What was the Spire? An ancient symbol of the myriad realms that has been standing for countless years. It was a ce even the top ns and families did not dare covet. However, this random person had casually stopped the golden glow?


    Liam''s heart rate sped up and his body froze. A bead of sweat formed on his head as he stared at the seemingly normal man casually leaning on the wall.


    The man was middle-aged. He wore simple clothing and there was nothing about him that screamed power or strength and yet¡­ Liam knew that it would mean instant death if he even took a wrong breath at the moment. This was different from his meeting with the divine temple priestess. No, if what he thought was correct, then the two couldn''t even bepared. Call it his intuition but he knew that this would be a life-defining moment for him.


    "No need to think so much. I am just a person who is passing by." The man smiled. "But you young man¡­ aren''t you a greedy one?"


    Huh? Liam was confused. He could only hope the mysterious person was not talking about the obvious bloodshed around them, with the bodies and blood scattered everywhere.


    Thankfully that didn''t seem to be the case. "I am talking about heaven''s secrets." The man continued though what he said did not clear up anything further. The guy chuckled.


    "Young mortal, don''t try to chew more than you can eat."


    It was don''t try to bite, more than you can chew but Liam did not particrly n on correcting the person. He silently listened. Something about the person made him want to listen and give respect. Liam was only able to barely keep hisposure but the very next words made him lose all of it.


    "Do you think you are unique? One of a kind? Someone possessing a lofty inheritance that even the heavens would be jealous of? Ha Ha Ha!"


    "Young mortal, don''t kid yourself. You might be rare but plenty have already tread on the path that you so desperately want to walk on."


    "What makes you think that you can seed where all of them failed?"


    Liam''s eyes widened even further. No. It couldn''t be. Was this person talking about his soulmancer inheritance? No. He was probably talking about one of the inheritances he had acquired from the elven mystic realm?


    "Ha Ha Ha. Heaven''s secrets are not that easily stolen." The man let out a sigh and then abruptly turned and started walking away as if he was done talking. Liam wanted to call out to him but words did note out of his mouth.


    "Our meeting can be considered fate so I will leave you with something. If you want to take a step forward, then you have to grow all your seeds."


    "Dao seeds¡­" Liam whispered but the man''s figure had already disappeared.


    "Don''t forget to search this ce thoroughly. While you might be weak and pathetic, there is something hidden in your bloodline. Perhaps¡­ maybe perhaps¡­ you will walk a little farther than the others. That is if you actually manage to bring out that monster hidden within you."


    Thest few words were only barely audible and with this the man and everything about himpletely vanished.


    Liam silently stood for a few seconds before he bowed a little. "Thank you."


    The chamber felt eerily silent after the mysterious man''s departure, leaving Liam alone with his thoughts and the heavy weight of the words that had been spoken. The sudden encounter had shaken him to his core, not just because of the unexpected interruption of the Spire''s process, but because of the truths and hints about his path that had beenid bare before him.


    Liam''s mind raced as he tried to digest the implications of the man''s words. "Grow all your seeds." The advice echoed in his head, a clear reference to his dao seeds, the very foundation of his strength and potential.


    The mention of his bloodline was another curveball that he did not expect. What was hidden within his lineage that even a being as powerful as that man would take note?


    Wasn''t he just an ordinary person born to an ordinary family? The only thing that was special about him was his mysterious return back to the time when the tutorial began. With the little knowledge he had, he somehow wed his way until here. So what was this person talking about?


    Taking a deep breath, Liam refocused his attention on the present. The man had advised him to search the ce thoroughly, and Liam intended to do just that. Considering that the person had already disappeared, he needed to do this quickly before he got forcefully booted out of this ce. The other things can wait until he gets on a new floor.


    He began to carefullyb through the ruins. He also summoned some of his soul minions to see if they could find something. However, it was all useless since almost the entire ce was destroyed because of the purple lightning and hisher ice mix.


    Still, the group thoroughly searched the ce, leaving no rubble unturned. A couple of minutes passed and Liam finally stumbled onto something. There were two cauldrons on one of the side chambers that were only partly destroyed. Rather there seemed to be some special formation which had prevented it from getting kaboomed.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 1311 No pain No gain

    Chapter 1311 No pain No gain


    Liam approached the cauldrons with caution, his senses heightened for any traps that might have been left untouched by the devastation around them.


    The first cauldron was rtively small, its surface etched with intricate patterns that seemed to dance and shift under Liam''s gaze. The second wasrger, with a more imposing presence, its designs moreplex and imbued with a sense of depth that suggestedyers of hidden meaning.


    As for what it contained¡­ Liam let out a sigh looking at the contents. It was a red colored liquid. Probably blood from the sacrifices if he had to make a guess. There was no sign of any flower of any sort like the other guy mentioned. Maybe the flower was already added to the mix? Just what the hell was this thing?


    Liam touched the blood like liquid to examine it. But the moment his finger touched the liquid, the thing burnt him and his skin sizzled. He immediately recoiled, pulling his hand back as a sharp pain shot through his finger. The brief contact had left a small but noticeable burn on his skin, a testament to the liquid''s potent and dangerous nature.


    Liam frowned, staring at the bubbling red liquid with a mix of wariness and intrigue. The reaction was immediate and violent, indicating that whatever this liquid was, it wasn''t ordinary blood. It had properties that were clearly harmful, if not outright lethal, to those who weren''t prepared to handle it. Was this really the same thing that man was talking about?


    It had to be because there was nothing else left in the entire ruins. It was all ruined, to say the least.


    Liam wondered if he should try again, this time maybe circting some of his mana. However, before he put his finger inside, another thought popped into his mind. What if this was a trap?


    He paused a moment to think about it and the more he thought the more he was inclined to believe it. What if this was another kind of mental attack? A test by the Spire? Who did not want power? The lure for power was more effective than anything else. Even those who might not flinch in the face of danger, are likely to do something for power. For all he knew, this thing could be extremely deadly for him. Was this a test by the Spire to see if he would foolishly dunk himself into the toxic liquid?


    Not that many things could hurt him. At his level and for his stats, it would take an insanely toxic red liquid to do any serious damage but this was the third segment of the Spire and could potentially have such a high-level item.


    On the other hand, if he somehow found this bloody liquid beneficial then that meant whatever the random stranger had said was true and his intention was in fact to help him.


    Liam groaned. He knew he was unnecessarily overplicating things. Perhaps it was the effect of meeting that strange person, a sort of lingering fear or some anxiety that made his thoughts very confused.


    He stared at the red liquid with aplicated expression. Just as he was wondering what might be the right approach here¡­ enter the elf. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "My Lord¡­ what happened? I sensed a golden glow but it suddenly faded? Did you encounter some unexpected trouble? I am here to lend you a hand. Please let me know how I can be of service!" Eldrin rushed over, panting.


    Liam gave the elf a stare with a knowing look on his face. Obviously, the elf had arrived here after confirming that everything and everyone was deader than dead and was now putting on an act as if he was ready to leap into battle at a moment''s notice.


    But this was good too.


    A smile appeared on Liam''s face. A sinister smile. He was just thinking about how to test this stuff and a scapegoat had arrived right on time. There were two cauldrons here. He was probably only going to need one of them. It was not as if he could take the leftovers with him to the outside world. On the off chance that he needed the liquid from both the cauldron, then he could at least waste some of it on the elf.


    "Unexpected trouble? Not quite," Liam said, his voice carrying a hint of amusement.


    The elf''s shifty eyes had already spotted the cauldron and he was now looking at it with curiosity. "Eldrin, since you''re so eager to help, I have the perfect task for you," Liam continued, the amusement in his voice growing stronger as he gestured toward the cauldrons. "These cauldrons contain a liquid that''s... intriguing. I need you to help me analyze it."


    "Analyze, my lord? How exactly do you wish for me to proceed?" The greed in his eyes was not even hidden. "Is this some sort of good stuff?"


    Liam pointed at the smaller cauldron. "Start with this one. All you need to do is get inside and maybe try to use your mana?"


    Eldrin slightly hesitated. He threw Liam a look wondering why the guy was suddenly so generous. Something was off.


    He extended a trembling hand towards the liquid, touching the surface of the liquid. The moment Eldrin''s finger made contact, he yelped, pulling back as if bitten. "Hot! It burns!" he eximed, nursing his finger.


    "It''s fine. Get in. No pain no gain." Liam shrugged.


    "My Lord¡­" The elf did not look convinced. He looked at the suspicious red liquid and then back at Liam who did not look like he was going to change his mind any time soon.


    Fuck! The elf cursed his bad luck and gritted his teeth. He knew that questioning Liam''s instructions out loud might not end well for him, especially considering the situation they were in. With a resigned nod, he steeled himself for what was toe.


    "I will do anything for you, my Lord!" Eldrin muttered under his breath, not forgetting to make full use of the opportunity. "Here goes nothing."

 Chapter 1312 For your trouble

    Chapter 1312 For your trouble


    Eldrin said his prayers inwardly and prepared to immerse himself into the cauldron, previously owned by unknown, possibly lunatic cultists. Before doing so, he circted his mana, creating a thinyer of protective energy around himself, hoping it would mitigate whatever adverse effects the liquid might have. Then, with onest nce at Liam, he stepped into the cauldron.


    The moment his feet touched the liquid, Eldrin let out a sharp cry. All the protection he had prepared was aplete waste as his mana barrier and also lightning barrier was ground to dust by the suspicious bloody liquid. Instead, the liquid itself formed ayer around him.


    Eldrin gulped. He had a bad feeling. He was almost naked sitting in god knows what god knows where. How did his lifee to this? A feeling of utter dread welled up inside him.


    He was right to be anxious because the very next second all hell broke loose. Eldrin screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt an unspeakable pain. The elf was not even acting which he nned to do to extract some sympathy points from Liam. But now, he was screaming for real. Eldrin felt every inch of his skin sizzling and burning as the red liquid around him gurgled wickedly. It should be noted that he was not a weakling. He was a level 700 plus awakened elf who has faced quite a few ordeals in his life. However, this same person was at the moment bawling his eyes out like a child. The bloody liquid around him sloshed and stirred as it tried to burn him alive. Eldrin would have long since jumped out of the cauldron if he could. Unfortunately, he couldn''t even move an inch. It was as if he was paralyzed. Was this how he was going to die? In an unknown ce, inside a lunatic''s cauldron? The legend of the great Eldrin couldn''te to an end like this! With a renewed vigor he screamed some more.


    The bloody liquid, however, was not relenting. Instead, the liquid switched its tactics. The thing that was slowly burning his skin and flesh away suddenly started burrowing into his body. The liquid began to sort of curdle and form worm-like structures that wriggled into his flesh, seeking deeper ingress. Eldrin''s pain escted to a level he hadn''t known possible, his screams piercing the still air of the ruins.


    And then it stopped. All the pain suddenly stopped and a shocked expression appeared on the elf''s face as he felt all of his body''s structural fundamental units begin to respond with an ache that stemmed from his very core.


    He wanted it. He needed it. His body craved it. He could not imagine another second or moment without this liquid energy seeping into his existence.


    But the next second, the pleasure that came after the pain also abruptly stopped?


    "WHAT?" Eldrin growled in anger with blood shot eyes only to find himself sitting on the rubbles and broken stones of the temple ruins. A soul minion was indifferently standing next to him, handing him a health potion bottle. "For your troubles." The minion spoke.


    "What?" Anger seethed inside the elf as he looked at the health potion that was propped in front of his face. It was a decent health potion but it might as well be shit whenpared to the godly liquid in the cauldron. He wanted that. He needed that. He whipped his head to look at the cauldron when he once again froze seeing that someone else had now upied his ce. Well, not exactly his ce but the second cauldron.


    The second cauldron had even more liquid than the first and was now boiling with a richer color. Once more his heart started yearning but then his eyes fell on the figure now sitting in the cauldron, fully immersed in the liquid. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Eldrin nkly stared for a couple of minutes beforeposing himself and turning to the soul minion still holding the health potion. "Can I use the other one? I won''t disturb Lord Liam."


    Unfortunately for the elf, the soul minion strictly shook his head. "The Lord has asked you to wait until he is finished."


    With a low grumble, Eldrin silently sat down. He did not dare defy the person who was carrying him so he swallowed his blue balls and observed the ''Lord'' in the second cauldron, trying to understand what was happening and what exactly this liquid was. He watched as the liquid began to bubble and froth around Liam who, unlike him, was calm and serene as if the pain did not affect him in the least. He might as well be undergoing a peaceful meditation rather than enduring the torturous process Eldrin had just experienced. The only thing that gave it all away was the unmistakable smell of flesh burning.


    Eldrin shuddered as he finally witnessed what was happening to him. The red liquid bubbled furiously and formed numerous tiny vortices around Liam, all of them trying to burrow into the depths of his body.


    Seconds ticked by as the process intensified and a sanguine sheen formed around Liam''s body. The elf gulped. This was exactly when the pain stopped and the pleasure started.


    Even Liam''s face noticeably changed as the liquid started slowly seeping into his body. The depths of his body screamed in hunger as the liquid was gobbled up bit by bit, spreading into all corners of his skin, flesh, bones and muscles. Each partpeted with the other, craving the liquid for themselves.


    Eldrin couldn''t help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the sight.


    After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few more minutes, the liquid in Liam''s cauldron began to visibly reduce. Soon the entire cauldron was finished up and it was dry as a bone.


    Eldrin had a bad feeling. "No. No. No. Please." He prayed, biting his nails but s¡­ The moment the red liquid ran dry, the liquid from the other cauldron was magically transferred and the process continued as Liam''s body began to suck in more and more of the liquid.

 Chapter 1313 Red river

    Chapter 1313 Red river


    Eldrin blinked in shock and confusion as he did not know cauldrons could even function in this manner by pulling in liquid from another cauldron. Honestly, something like that had to be illegal and banned by the system at all costs. The elf grimaced.


    But the weird phenomenon did not stop there. Just as the blood vortices drilled into Liam''s body like hundreds of tiny little worms wanting to enter his flesh and bones, all of a sudden these painful things disappearedpletely.


    Instead of slowly burrowing into his body like it had happened for Eldrin it was as if these things had been sucked in instantly. In one swift motion, Liam''s body had pulled in the whole thing.


    And it did not stop there.


    Liam shuddered and then something happened. Something invisible and vaguely tangible swept past Eldrin. The elf felt goosebumps on his currently healing skin. "Wait¡­ what?" He opened his mouth. He stared at Liam who was still sitting with his eyes closed in meditation and then at the surroundings. Everything seemed absolutely still. Suspiciously so. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The next second ground cracked and fissures began spreading everywhere. The entire ruins began crumbling.


    "Oh shit!" Eldrin hurriedly started erecting some mana barriers around himself and Liam. But all of a sudden, the fissures stopped and a brief moment of silence ensued which was very confusing.


    Then it happened. Streams of rich red liquid started flowing out of the fissures in the ground. That was not the only cauldron? Were there more of these cauldrons?


    Eldrin''s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched the red liquid pool around Liam, all of the liquid trying to enter his body almost as if the liquid molecules were fighting with each other. What the hell was happening here?


    The elf could only continue to watch in disbelief as the whole process took almost a day. Finally, all of the madness subsided and there were no more red streamsing out of the ground or the heavens.


    The blood red cocoon around Liam had also disappeared. Everything was dry around them and Liam was silently seated in meditation. Was it still not over? The elf pondered as he had expected something spectacr to happen after everything. However, the familiar golden glow arrived indicating the end and the two of them were teleported to the next floor just like that.


    Groan. Liam stood up, his entire body aching. There were still several not so small injuries on his body, some even so worse that his bones were exposed. However, that was not the issue at the moment as his body was mending at a rapid pace.


    Rather Liam''s focus was on something else altogether. When the golden glow covered his body, he felt disappointment. After everything he had expected at least something to happen, especially considering that the mysterious guy was the one who had pointed him towards this blood and the cauldron.


    Even Liam had been shocked when numerous more blood streams entered his body. But the thing was he did not feel any different at the end of it at all. In fact, he wouldn''t even know if all of it was real or not if not for the small system prompt now shing in front of him.


    Ding! [Congrattions! You have received the title Bloodline Progenitor!]


    But the notification did not end there.


    Ding! [Warning! Bloodline has been corrupted!]


    Ding! [Warning! Bloodline Awakening has failed!]


    Liam let out a sigh. In the end, it looked like it had all been for nothing after all. Well, not entirely nothing. He did get a sweet title out of the whole thing.


    Bloodline Progenitor: You have be the origin point of a new bloodline, a rare and unique lineage that only belongs to you. As a bloodline progenitor you now may have automatic ess to system-sanctioned events.


    Liam did not know any system-sanctioned events yet but if it''s anything like this Spire then he would definitely benefit a lot from such things. Moreover, he had to imagine that there had to be at least hundreds or even thousands of such events if the entire myriad realms were considered. He could only imagine the huge amount of opportunities waiting for him. There was also a possibility that he would be able to go from one gxy to another even, not confined to their own sector like the system shop sanctioned teleportation service.


    But Liam did have one thing that bothered him. There was the word ''may'' in the title. What did it mean when it said, ''he may have ess''? Would he not have ess to all the events?


    Well, it did not matter. Though he did not end up awakening his bloodline or even unearthing what bloodline he had, this little trip had alreadyted him a bountiful profit. This title alone was a gift that was going to keep on giving.


    Apart from the title, he also did receive another constion gift. It looked like his body''s internal screws had been loosened up once more. As soon as hended on the new floor, Liam received a slew of stats points that he could only assume were queued by the system until his body was ready. That too, he had gained an incredible amount of stats points this time, almost equivalent to that of a whopping 500 levels!


    Liam couldn''t help but grin widely at this. He was still at the awakened stage and hadn''t stepped into the transcendent ranks and yet he was already around level 2000 give or take a few levels. Coming here to the Spire had been a great decision that was opening many doors for him.


    "You did good." Liam patted Eldrin''s back as it was the elf who had ''coerced him'' to go through this whole ordeal.


    "Thank you?" Eldrin did not know why the guy was thanking him but he had to choke down the feeling of wanting to puke on seeing the disgusting smile on Liam''s smile. The elf couldn''t help but wonder just what the hell he had gained to make the serious guy smile like a rotten child?

 Chapter 1314 Kicked out

    Chapter 1314 Kicked out


    "My Lord, do you think that red elixir was brewed from the sacrifices the vigers were talking about? It must have taken quite a number of sacrifices to brew something like that. I hope there is no leftover resentment or pesky issues for you to deal with." Eldrin mouthed his concern, sneering inwardly.


    Much to his chagrin, Liam did not seem to care too much about it. "Yes. It should be something like that." He casually remarked as his mind wandered to other things, more specifically the conversation he had with the mysterious person.


    Now that he had actual results in his hand, he no longer had any reason to doubt the intentions of the guy. This means that everything else he mentioned was also valid.


    But Liam did not understand. Why would he talk to him as if he had a bad impression of him? He even mentioned him stealing heaven''s secrets. Was it stealing when he had worked so hard for everything?


    Mulling over everything the mysterious man had told him, Liam looked around to see what floor they were currently standing on. Once again there were no beasts pouncing on them from the get-go.


    However, this time they found a small town in the distance. On closer inspection, the town actually turned out to be an academy. It was an academy in the middle of nowhere but it was not an ordinary one. Even the guards stationed outside the academy to patrol the area emitted a strong aura. Something told Liam that he was perhaps not meant to fight with them.


    Signaling Eldrin to keep quiet, Liam walked forward as the two of them casually approached the gate. It merely looked as if two travelers were arriving at the academy.


    "Halt. What business do you have here?" One of the guards, a burly man with a presence that seemed to make the air around him denser, stepped forward, eyeing Liam and Eldrin from top to bottom.


    Liam, maintaining a calm andposed demeanor, responded with an equally measured tone. "We are travelers who have heard of the renowned academy situated here. We wish to learn more about it and, if possible, talk to someone who works here."


    The guard scrutinized them for a moment longer, his gaze lingering on Liam as if trying to gauge his sincerity or perhaps sensing something more beneath the surface. Finally, he nodded slightly, stepping aside to allow them passage. "Very well. But know that the academy does not tolerate any form of mischief or malevolence. You will be closely watched during your stay."


    Liam and Eldrin were just about to enter when another voice sounded from the distance. "Hmmm. Where do you think you both are going? Not anyone can enter this ce. Goftar, do you not think twice before youmit foolish acts such as this? Do you want to be fired?" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The guard''s face immediately changed as he quickly apologized and moved back to his station with his head bowed. Another man walked towards Liam and Eldrin, this one clearly a lot more powerful than the guard.


    "This academy is a ce of knowledge but not all who wish to enter are granted the privilege. Do you have a letter of rmendation? Do you have an identity medallion?"


    Both Liam and Eldrin shook their heads.


    "Then I am afraid you have to go back. Your arrival is unusual, and your timing more so. The academy is currently not open to outsiders. Just being an Awakened doesn''t guarantee you a spot in the academy." The man sneered in disdain and turned to leave, shaking his head. "Country bumpkins. The number of pests have increasedtely. Must be because we helped in dealing with that beast tide."


    Liam waited until the man had left and then turned to the guard with an apologetic look. "I am sorry. Because of me you might have gotten into trouble."


    The guard shook his head. "It is fine. I¡­" He opened his mouth to say something but quickly changed his words. "The instructor is not wrong. The academy is indeed closed at the moment for applicants."


    Naturally, Liam was not nning to give up just yet. But before he could say anything the elf took the initiative. Heughed awkwardly and the next second pped Liam''s shoulder. "What did I tell you brother? Superiors everywhere suck. I think they all have a stick up their arses. That guy was an academy instructor?"


    Hmmm? Liam raised a brow but did not intervene, allowing the elf to continue.


    "The thing is¡­ Sir Goftar." Eldrin smiled. "Is there any way we can still enter? We have traveled a long distance to learn from the masters of this academy. Surely, there must be some way to prove our worth or earn entry."


    The guard, Goftar, seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, his duty conflicting with the empathy he felt for Liam and Eldrin''s earnest request. Finally, he sighed, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Look, officially, I can''t let you in without a rmendation or an identity medallion. However, the academy does have a way for exceptional individuals to prove their worth."


    Liam''s interest was immediately piqued. "What way is that?"


    "It''s called the Trial of Dao. It''s designed for those whoe uninvited but believe they have something special to offer." "It''s not easy, mind you. Many try, and almost none seed." "But those who do are granted ess to the academy, no medallion or rmendation needed. I have heard of someone joining the academy through the trial a decade ago," Goftar exined, his eyes scanning the area to ensure they weren''t overheard.


    "Yes. That. We will do that!" Eldrin grinned.


    The guard looked a little uncertain.


    "Don''t worry. We won''t mention your name if someone asks us how we learnt about the trial."


    With Eldrin''s assurance, he ended up relenting and started escorting them back inside once again.


    Unbeknownst to them, a figure stood high atop one of the towers in the academy building and gazed at the three walking toward the main center. If Liam had seen this person he would have instantly recognized him as this was the same man whom he had met on thest floor.

 Chapter 1315 Consequences

    Chapter 1315 Consequences


    "Hmmm¡­ That mortal is here again¡­ His time flows differently than mine and yet we meet with each other once again. This should not be possible unless the warden intervened. But why is the warden forcing a karmic link between me and him?" The man''s gaze only left Liam when he was out of eyesight as he disappeared inside the academy building. Slowly, the uncertainty that was visible on his face morphed into one of annoyance.


    "You dare drag me into this mess? Since when did I be someone who could be coerced into doing things? She should know that forcing me would have consequences." He did not mind the first meeting as that could be taken as fate. As for the second, things were going to be different this time around. There was a reason he decided to stay away from the Myriad Realms and the games of the gods but now the warden was trying to tie him back in after hundreds of years. He did not like this. If he lets this continue, then this will not be the only urrence.


    Unless he destroys one or two of these arrogant chosens, he might be constantly disturbed in the future to act as a guide which he had no intention of doing. It was just too bad that the person he had to make an example out of walked a cursed path that was slightly interesting. Even though he already knew the end, it would have been entertaining to see how far the mortal could walk that path before he fell. But now that path is going toe to an end in this remote ce with no witness. A heaven''s chosen silently fallen. This should teach that woman not to interfere with his peace and quiet anymore.


    ***


    Liam looked at the big hall in front of him. It waspletely deserted and pretty much empty save for a single stage in the middle of the huge room. On top of that stage, there was a golem standing still and lifeless.


    "Ahem. I can only escort you both up to this point," Goftar said, halting a few steps behind Liam outside the room. "If you want to start the trial, then step onto the stage. Everything will be initiated automatically."


    "Thanks for your help." Liam nodded.


    "Yes, buddy. Thanks a lot!" Eldrin smiled and gave the guard a thumbs up. "You will not regret this." The elf then quickly turned towards Liam and gave another wily smile. "Boss, should I walk on up first and test this little thing out for you? I am at your service, Lord. Please use me."


    Liam rolled his eyes. Naturally, he did not n to do that. He did not indulge the elf''s flowery words and walked ahead to directly get onto the stage.


    Immediately just like the guard had mentioned the golem whirred into life.


    Its previously dull eyes ignited with a vibrant glow, casting an imposing presence across the hall. The golem''s voice boomed through the chamber, echoing off the walls with a resonance that seemed to vibrate through the very air. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Wee, challenger. The Dao Trialmences now. Demonstrate your path, your understanding, your conviction, and your mastery over the Dao you''ve chosen to follow. Fail, and you shall not pass. Seed, and the gates of the academy will be open to you."


    Without further preamble, the golem moved into action, its massive stone form surprisingly agile as it initiated the attack. It was a ten feet stone construct which Liam was pretty sure weremonly avable stones. There was nothing unique about them. The way the golem moved was also nothing special. If this was all it had then the fight was simply going toe down to the bare basics which were stats and this was something he had plenty of.


    The golem moved first and attacked which Liam used his sword to block. The attack packed a punch sure but it was well within his limit. Unexpectedly, the next second a rune lit up on the head of the golem.


    At the same time, a voice boomed in the background. "Did you really think that the fight was going to be easy? That just anyone can pass the trial?" It was the same instructor who had kicked them out earlier. "Who allowed you both to step inside the gates of the academy?"


    The instructor turned to give a death re to the guard but Eldrin quickly intervened. "Who should allow us? We demanded an entry because we are entitled to one. Doesn''t the academy''s protocol say so?"


    "How would you know?" The instructor sneered in disdain. "Heh. It doesn''t matter. If you want to die, then go ahead and die." "Do you see those blood stains on the stage? They are from the era when the trial was newly introduced and every fool wanted to show off! Take a guess what happened to all of them!" The guyughed with a malicious glint in his eye but Eldrin could only chuckle in response. The poor guy was voluntarilying again and again in their path to get pped without knowing what sort of a monster he wasmenting about. But the guy did have good luck since this was not a straightforward kill-everyone trial floor. Otherwise¡­


    The instructor was further ticked off by Eldrin''sughter and he snorted in contempt. "Arrogance? Only the strong can be arrogant, you fool!"


    The next second, a resounding boom reverberated through the hall as Liam and the golem stood locked into a stalemate once more and this time three runes had lit up in its head.


    Looking at this, the instructor''s sneer fadedpletely. Instead, his eyes bulged out as he watched the scene in front of him with awe.


    "Three runes? You have activated three runes?"


    Now it was Eldrin''s turn to let his mouth run loose. "Ke Ke Ke. What did you say? We don''t belong here? Are you sure you don''t want to change your mind?" The elf grinned as he too observed the fight closely.

 Chapter 1316 Mana manipulation

    Chapter 1316 Mana maniption


    Liam knew something was going on off-stage but he did not care. All his focus at the moment was on the golem in front of him. Clearly, this fight was not going to be just about stats. Like its name suggested, it was a trial of Dao and it looked like the golem had enough stats to implement it. Liam''s advantage in terms of stats was definitely not going to help him here.


    With every second, the golem''s movements intensified, its attacks bing faster and more ferocious, obviously empowered by the runes that glowed ominously on its forehead. It was not at its limit yet.


    However, Liam was not worried. If this was a trial of Dao then he was confident in winning it one way or the other. He might not have officially stepped into the Transcendent rank yet but he was pretty sure he had at least pushed his Dao seed of Nether to its limit in the Awakened stage.


    Also, in these few exchanges of blows another thing became obviously clear. The stage had one more special function. It was going to give him whatever he needed. This meant that if he choseher as his Dao seed that he wanted to demonstrate then it was going to help him keep hisher reserves replenished. Liam could already feel the slowly increasing concentration ofher on the stage. As soon as he activates his actual Dao seed in an attack, this energy would be locked in and he would have to test with this.


    Perhaps after a fight was over, be it sess or failure, he might be able to change his testing Dao seed again. It would have been better if someone had actually exined the rules of the trial to him. But this was fine too. He did not mind figuring out things on the go.


    Liam continued to engage the golem and in the next couple of seconds, two more runes lit up making the thing explosively more powerful. However, Liam did not get into the trench pit just yet and crank the fight to max level because he was currently deciding on something else.


    Liam couldn''t help but think of the words of that person. He had told him that to truly advance he needed to take all of his dao seeds forward. This line with what the elven ancestor had warned him about back when he was taking the inheritance test. Condensing more dao seeds was dangerous. It made sense because to take a step forward he had to make progress in every one of the dao seeds.


    This information sounded fundamental and unfortunately, Liam stillcked many fundamental instructions like this that were not clearly specified in the basic manuals and information packets sold in the system shop. This was the problem with having no backing. That''s why he couldn''t let this opportunity in front of him slip by. This Spire was his chance at grabbing a foothold in the myriad realms.


    Blocking the attack of the golem once more, Liam made a decision. He was going to use this golem and try to push his Dao seed of mana maniption forward.


    Activating his Dao seed of mana maniption, Liam felt the stage respond to his choice. The ambient mana concentration around him began to increase, feeding into his reserves and enhancing his ability to control and manipte the energy. This immediate response from the stage confirmed his theory about its function and further fueled his determination.


    With a newfound focus, Liam began to weave intricate patterns of mana, directing them with precise control against the golem. This was not brute force but a sophisticated application of his understanding of mana, turning the energy around him into a weapon more effective than any physical de could be.


    The golem, for its part, adapted to this new challenge. No further runes appeared on its head but the runes on its forehead glowed brighter, and it began to counter Liam''s mana attacks with its own, creating a dazzling disy of magical power and counterpower. The battle between them was no longer just physical but had all of a sudden moved into the realm of pure magical maniption. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Liam''s training and experience in mana maniption came to the forefront. Each movement, each spell cast, was a testament to his deep understanding and innovative application of mana. He began to push the golem, testing its limits and his own, exploring the boundaries of what was possible when one truly mastered their Dao.


    All sorts of attacks flew at the big thing. Every single attack he sent forth was one of pure mana charged explosively. While mana that was aligned with an affinity tended to have a stronger effect, pure mana was lethal in its own right.


    After the initial warm-up, Liam started the main course with a mana bolt, a fundamental attack where one condenses mana into a projectile of pure energy. However, unlike a fundamental attack, his mana bolt was condensed to a frightening degree that the attack made the golem light up another rune.


    The golem blocked the attack but Liam did not stop with that. After the jam-packed mana bolt, he sent out a mana wave, by releasing a surge of pure mana at the huge stone golem. The golem waspletely unprepared for the speed and intensity of the mana wave and the different chunks of the golem started to vibrate ominously. Once again it was forced to use another rune.


    Liam grinned. He was feeling good with his mana maniption today and this fight was just beginning. After the mana bolt and the mana wave, he next sent out mana burst, mana surge, and mana storm.


    He kept sending one attack after another with speed and precision, not giving the golem a single breath of respite. The thing did not even have a chance tounch its own attacks as it was constantly forced to defend itself.


    The fight continued in this same manner until suddenly the golem let out a deafening noise. The next second, Liam''s eyes widened in shock. The golem lit up like a god-damn Christmas tree!

 Chapter 1317 Clash

    Chapter 1317 sh


    After being pummeled with one attack after another the golem unexpectedly wentpletely dark but it was only for a moment before one by one more and more runes started lighting up on its head.


    In fact, in the blink of an eye, its head waspletely covered!


    It did not stop there. After the head, it was the torso and then the hands and the legs. In a second every single rune on the damn thing had lit up.


    Liam tensed up as this clearly couldn''t be anything good. Before he could finish his thought a st of power hit him in the face.


    The force of the st knocked Liam backward, his feet skidding across the stage to stabilize himself. This surge of power from the golem was unlike anything it had exhibited before; the runes covering its body not only amplified its strength but seemingly granted it new abilities that Liam hadn''t anticipated.


    Liam quickly regained hisposure, narrowing his eyes as he assessed the golem. The entire construct now pulsed with pure unadulterated mana and the real attack hadn''t even beenunched yet.


    This trial had escted to a level far beyond a simple demonstration of Dao mastery. At this point, Liam could only gauge things by a ballpark and his instincts told him that he needed to go on full power even to end this in a stalemate. There was no way for him to escape using another dao seed either. He had already tried it and for some reason, his other dao seeds were blocked. Liam did not know if it was Spire intervening to do this or if the Dao trial itself possessed such a feature. If thetter was true, then this academy was truly a frightening ce. To manipte another person''s inherent ability was not something that could be done lightly. Even the divine temple high priestess would not be able to do these things.


    However, Liam did not have time to think about this at the moment. He needed to push himself right here and now. Otherwise, the results were going to be dire.


    He tried to calm himself down as much as he could and his brain started spinning. What was hecking? He began to go through his recent improvements in the dao ofher and the dao of ice one after the other. Perhaps most of it could be applied to mana as well?


    The first thing that he noticed hecked was a proper consolidated dao seed. Hisher dao seed had the shape of a small sun and it was perpetually shining within him. His ice dao seed was in the shape of a sharp shard emitting a chill that threatened to freeze everything around it. But his dao seed of mana maniption did not have anything like that. It was just a vague presence inside him. If the foundation itself was so weak, then how would he ever be able to bring out the full power of the dao seed?


    Liam hurriedly started consolidating every bit of knowledge he had acquired so far. Even though he was not in a true life-death situation considering that this was not a ughter trial and failure would mean that he would at most be kicked out of the Spire, he still felt the pressure of the time crunch.


    He definitely did not want to get kicked out just yet. So his mind worked as fast as it could. He only had time until the golem finished casting its attack. Perhaps a couple of seconds. Would he truly be able to bring out much in this meager amount of time?


    Liam had a small nagging self-doubt in the back of his mind but the next instant he surprised himself. It was as if a dam had broken down somewhere within him. As soon as he willed it, insights and inspirations started shing across his mind.


    Everything that he had learned so far, even his lessons from the elf back in the tutorial, every single concept he had pondered over suddenly clicked together and he was able to ess even more than he had expected.


    In that crucial moment, with the golem charging its potentially devastating attack, Liam''s understanding of mana maniption deepened exponentially.


    Drawing on this epiphany, Liam shifted his stance, closing his eyes for a moment to fully attune himself to the mana around him. He could feel the energy from the stage, pulsating with power, waiting to be harnessed. Instead of drawing it forcefully, Liam let the manae to him, merging with his own energy. He immediately grasped the chance and consolidated everything in his mind. Quickly a new dao seed started materializing within him.


    This dao seed was a little different. It was vague and spindly like bunched-up spider web threads but each of these threads was made of extremely condensed mana and they contained tremendous power.


    The formation of this new dao seed was like the ignition of a star within him, a burst of insight and power that radiated through his very being. The threads of condensed mana wove themselves into aplex, ever-shifting pattern, symbolizing his mastery and deep understanding of mana maniption. It was as though Liam had discovered a newnguage, one that spoke directly to the essence of mana itself.


    As he tapped into the dao seed, the ambient mana on the stage, which had been a subtle aid, now felt like a roaring river, eager to follow hismand. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Liam raised his hands, and the mana responded, swirling around him in a mesmerizing dance. He directed this flow towards the golem, not as individual attacks but as a continuous stream of force, guided by the intricate patterns of his new dao seed.


    It was a turbulent, destructive stream of pure energy and for the first time the defense erected by the golem cracked. As mana crashed into the golem unimpededly, the construct shuddered and let out the attack it had been preparing until now.

 Chapter 1318 Catastrophe

    Chapter 1318 Catastrophe


    Outside the stage, both Eldrin and the instructors looked gobsmacked as various shades of emotions swept past their faces. The instructor especially looked as if he had taken a bitter pill, his face unsightly from the miscalction he had made. Every time he saw Liam unleash another powerful attack, he felt his ego and pride take another hit and his face turned redder.


    However, all of it changed when the golem stopped and the runes disappeared before the whole thing lit up from top to bottom.


    The instructor instantly became dumbfounded. He knew that he had to do something immediately and intervene somehow. This was no longer about his pride and ego. This was about the genius standing atop the stage!


    That''s right. The man on the stage at the moment was a genius!


    To make the golempletely activate all the runes was unheard of!


    Even hecked such capabilities. Only the entric academy head who founded this ce centuries ago possessed such a deep understanding of the dao. But it did not matter. The young man in front of him was clearly not the powerful founder. There was no way he would survive this ordeal. The golem would ughter him and the barrier prevented him from interfering in any way.


    There was only one way this was going to end and it was tragedy! It would be a waste of a one in a million genius to die like this! Why did the golem even activatepletely? Something like this was not supposed to happen!


    Panic appeared on the instructor''s face as he hurriedly tried to activate some sort of talisman. Eldrin, on the other hand, not understanding the seriousness of the situation let his tongue run some more.


    "Woot! Woot! Look at that. My Lord has made your entire golem glow like a doll. I wonder what is going to happen next! Does your academy have another substitute in case this one blows up? Hmmmm? I hope it is not too expensive to create one of these dolls?"


    Eldrin''s taunting words hung in the air, his tone light and mocking, unaware of the gravity of the situation unfolding before them. The instructor, hands trembling as he fumbled with the talisman, barely registered Eldrin''s jibes. His focus was entirely on the stage, where the fully activated golem stood as a beacon of impending doom.


    The fully lit golem was not a sight of victory; it was a prelude to catastrophe.


    Suddenly, the talisman in the instructor''s hand glowed, signaling his desperate attempt to contact higher authorities within the academy for immediate intervention. Shocking Eldrinpletely, the guy started screaming at the top of his voice.


    "How did all the runes activate? Get the golem''s main controller now! Shut it down! Shut it down! This is an emergency! Emergency!"


    However, before anyone could react, the golem began its final attack. A pulse of energy so vast and consuming radiated from it, threatening to obliterate everything in its path. The protective barrier around the stage shimmered violently, straining under the force of the unleashed power.


    Seeing this for the first time Eldrin couldn''t remain so confident in Liam''s abilities. Fear was apparent on his face as he could feel the rattle of the tremendous power in full disy in front of him, despite being controlled by the stage defensive mechanism.


    There was no way Liam would be able to handle this! Was this really going to be theirst run? Oh fuck! They were going to get kicked out of the Spire for sure!


    Meanwhile, on the stage, Liam''s face waspletely pale. He was not unaware of what was happening. The moment his attack crashed through the defensive barrier of the golem and still failed to stop its attack, he knew this was going to be difficult. Probably the toughest opponent he had faced yet.


    Moreover, the circumstances were also unique. He was extremely limited in his repertoire that he could actually use to attack the golem. The best attack he summoned did not yield result and now it was the golem''s turn. Liam clenched his fist. He had to block. He had tried everything he had to attack and it was not enough and now he had to block. He needed to do better. But, there was no time now. There was no time to think about anything. There was no time to improve or strategize. There was simply no time to do anything. This was the end of his Spire run. Liam knew he was staring at death and this was not the first time he was doing that. Even though this death might not be a real death, something deep inside him ignited and with all of his soul, body and mind, he did not want to die.


    He did not want to be nothing. He did not want his path to end.


    In a final burst of effort, Liam extended his arms forward, palms out, as if to physically block the iing wave of destruction. Waves after waves of mana congealed in front of him forming one barrier after another. But none of it was enough.


    The golem''s attack was simple but it was the truth. No barrier he erected could stop something like that. It was as if the attack had a will of its own.


    His mind raced through every piece of knowledge, every technique he had ever learned, searching for a way to transcend his current limits. The barriers he erected became stronger and stronger but it was simply not enough.


    The attack was crashing through faster than he could block it. He was merely a fraction of a second away from utter annihtion. He was desperate. However, desperation was not enough to block an attack of that caliber.


    He was going to die. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    With a grunt and a final push, Liam brought out the full power he could muster and the next second¡­


    BOOOM!


    An explosion bellowed out,pletely enveloping the stage in blinding light and a shockwave that reverberated through the entire auditorium.

 Chapter 1319 Warden

    Chapter 1319 Warden


    The entire chamber felt the ripple of the impact. The protective barrier that enveloped the stage trembled under the strain, distorting as if it might shatter at any moment. The instructor and Eldrin watched in horror, expecting the worst. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    And there, at the center, stood Liam, unharmed. A giant hammer hovered in front of him, havingpletely blocked the golem''s attack. The remnant energy of the attack spilled around him and meaninglessly hit the barrier just like the rest of the attack.


    On the other side, the golem now stoodpletely powerless, all of the runes dimmed back to zero. The golem itself was decorated with many cracks and fissures. Everything stood still for a moment before the entire golem copsed and crumbled into dust.


    "He¡­ actually¡­ did¡­ it¡­" Eldrin opened and closed his mouth.


    "Marvelous!" The instructor looked bbergasted, his earlier panic reced by a mix of admiration and disbelief.


    As the dust settled, literally and metaphorically, the instructor approached Liam, hurriedly, almost fumbling in his steps. His face looked deliriously happy as he started shouting praises.


    "Young master, that was a disy of power and control the likes of which we have rarely seen within these walls. You''ve passed the trial with flying colors!" "You are a genius!" "You are a one in a billion talent!" "Young master your future is limitless!" "It would be the honor of our academy to have you as a part of our esteemed institution. Pleasee with me. I can personally escort you and finish all the essential trivialities."


    Eldrin, nowpletely over his initial shock, beamed with pride and puffed his chest out. "Did you hear that, my Lord? A genius! But of course, I always knew that. The academy is lucky to have you."


    The instructor gave him a look but did not say anything. He only smiled a little with a polite nod.


    Eldrin immediately became overjoyed. "Anyway. What do we do now? I would also like to test but your dummy is¡­" He clicked his tongue.


    The instructor''s face twitched. He wanted to say ''You can spar with me instead'' but he tactfully did not respond, once again giving a polite smile and a nod.


    "Does that mean-" Eldrin opened his mouth again with a big grin when suddenly the elf froze in the spot, unable to finish with words, even unable to breathe freely.


    Even the instructor became pale-faced as the two of them stood like statues. Only the person who was standing still on the stage up until now turned his head towards the entrance of the room.


    Liam''s eyes widened in shock as he watched the familiar figure walking in. This was the very same man he had met on thest floor. He had spoken briefly and then departed in a mysterious way but now he was once again standing in front of him?


    "How is this¡­" Words got stuck in his throat as an enormous amount of pressure fell on him, gripping him from head to toe.


    "You have no idea how narrowly you have avoided death." The man''s voice boomed.


    Liam shivered. He had no idea why but the atmosphere had definitely changed. The previous time it was a friendly casual meeting, one where the person even gave him some pointers and helped him.


    But now the same person was standing in front of him and he was filled with killing intent. Liam could feel the massive unbridled bloodlust in the man''s words. He could tell that the person actually did not want to kill him. Otherwise, he would have definitely been dead by now. Yet, his anger alone radiated so much bloodlust to make him feel suffocated and breathless.


    What did he do wrong? Why was this person angry with him?


    "Rejoice, young chickling. I do not intend to kill you today. My employee has after all epted you as a member of the academy. As a founder, I cannot go around killing my own students." The manughed and Liam felt a cold shiver run down his spine. This person was definitely not joking. He meant what he said. Feeling the pressure enveloping him lower a little, Liam quickly used this chance to thank him.


    "Thanks to master''s advice, I was able to make progress in my bloodline and sessfully ovee the trial." He managed to say, despite the overwhelming aura emanating from the man. "Your guidance was invaluable. It helped me see my path more clearly."


    A moment of silence followed, during which the man seemed to be pondering something deeply. His face then broke into a vicious smile. "Who is your master? Don''t try to pucker up to me, young chickling. I want nothing to do with you. Just because the warden is pushing you on my head doesn''t mean I will obey her. Do you understand?"


    "Warden?" Liam was confused.


    "You probably know her by the name ''system''."


    Liam''s eyes widened. Was the system helping him? So far he had never stopped to think about the system or anything rted to the system for that matter. He had just taken it all as it came. Now he was shocked. Snapping him out of his thoughts, the man''s voice cut through again. "Enough about that. You have cleared the Dao trial so you are now officially part of the academy. Use this opportunity however you want. You might even find what you are looking for here. We will not meet again. We are not fated and we have no karma between us."


    Liam stood dazed for a moment. He did not understand what happened as the next second the room was once again empty save for Eldrin and the instructor. That person had once again vanished. Everything was back to normal and the overwhelming pressure hadpletely disappeared. But his mind was a jumbled mess. Liam stood still for a few minutes before he turned to the instructor. "Do you have any techniques or skill books or a library for the students to use? Or perhaps a pill house? I am looking for anything rted to soul healing."

 Chapter 1320 A common mistake

    Chapter 1320 Amon mistake


    Normally after getting admission to the academy, there were several procedures that needed to be taken care of but the instructor could see that this was a special situation as the founder himself had made an appearance. He did not dally around too much and brought the two newly arrived individuals to the library right away just as the young man demanded. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "This is themon public skillpendium room." The instructor exined as the three of them entered a huge building with numerous tall bookshelves, each filled to the brim with scrolls, books, and various other forms of knowledge. The shelves seemed to stretch endlessly, withdders and magical tforms facilitating ess to even the highest reaches.


    "The knowledge contained within these walls is vast and varied, umted over centuries by the academy''s schrs, adventurers, and mages from across the myriad realms," the instructor continued, his voice echoing slightly in the grand space.


    He led them through rows of shelves, each categorized by different disciplines of magic, martial arts, alchemy, and more esoteric studies that defied simple ssification. "While this is but a fraction of the academy''s total archives, it is more than enough to aid most in their studies and research."


    Liam looked around with keen interest, his eyes scanning titles and subjects, each more intriguing than thest. Eldrin, too, appeared captivated by the sheer amount of knowledge present.


    "Feel free to explore at your leisure," the instructor said, gesturing broadly to the room. "Everything here is pretty standard. Feel free to look into whatever you want. You can ask the librarians for help to locate a specific item."


    Both Liam and Eldrin continued staring at the giant disy dumbfoundedly. "My Lord, you will definitely find what you are looking for here. How could all of this not contain a single hint about soul healing?"


    Before Liam could respond, the instructor quickly interrupted. "I am sorry. I am afraid matters of the soul are not that simple."


    "If an inferior method is used, then instead of healing, it would only harm the recipient. Of course, this also depends on whatyer of the soul is injured. Outeryer injuries are easier to cure."


    The instructor then raised his hand to point to a section at the back. "If your injury is merely on the outeryer of your soul, then what you are looking for should be there."


    Both the instructor and Eldrin stared at Liam only to receive a shake of his head. "I knew it. If it was an outeryer injury, you wouldn''t havee so far to a remote corner of this remote world." The instructor sighed. "But fret not. The heavens have not forsaken you. This is not the only room in this building. We have more scrolls for the higher-tier students"


    "If you don''t mind, can you tell me what exactly happened?"


    Liam stared at the instructor who had now taken aplete 180 and be very helpful, a straight opposite to the arrogant personality he had met. He seemed like a good person at least to those who he favored.


    However, Liam was not ready toy bare all his secrets to a stranger. Although he wondered if his secrets were even secrets anymore considering how the ''founder'' seemed to just know everything.


    "I got my soul injured when I tried to use a skill that was too powerful for me," Liam exined without going into the details.


    "I see. Amon mistake." The instructor then unexpectedly revealed his hands which had a few veins ckened. "It is moremon than you think." Heughed lightly. As they were chatting, the group arrived at the next room that was on the inside, called the ''inner room''.


    Liam''s eyes immediately fell on a shelf that wasbeled sword techniques. He could see several scrolls, some even emanating a sort of power despite being simple dormant skill scrolls.


    Liam immediately felt a pang of yearning. His hand was itching to go through all of these scrolls and the corresponding guides that were next to them, further exining the technique. Though he had been using a sword for as long as he could remember he was still rathercking in the department. With these, he could make tremendous progress in his fighting abilities department.


    But as if the guy could read his mind, the instructor quickly reminded him. "I am sorry, the inner rooms are a little different than the outer rooms. You can only peruse one scroll a year from this room. The founder has ced a limit."


    Liam''s excitement slightly faltered on hearing this but it was fine. As long as he could heal his soul he could be stronger and try to obtain a sword technique somewhere else.


    "Is there a specific section that deals with soul injuries or healing practices?" Liam asked, turning his attention back to the instructor.


    "Not here. We need to go further in." The instructor gave a mysterious smile.


    Liam''s face twitched as they spent the next hour going from one room to another, each bing smaller and smaller and of course more exclusive. All sorts of good things were present in these rooms and it only got better and better.


    However, they still hadn''t arrived at what he wanted. It was one thing if he could pick everything that he wanted but to simply be shown and taken away, it all felt like one big tease. Finally, they arrived at what felt like thest room.


    It looked like his assumption was correct because the instructor showed a lot of reverence when entering the room. "This is the founder''s treasury. Only the most powerful skill scrolls are stored inside. Since you defeated the golem when it was the most powerful, you are eligible to im one skill scroll from inside." The instructor smiled and added. "And I know there is a soul cultivation skill inside. While this is not a soul healing technique, cultivating your soul would also cure what ails you."


    Liam''s heart rate sped up. Was he finally going to get his hands on something that could heal him?

 Chapter 1321 Myriad Constellations Technique

    Chapter 1321 Myriad Constetions Technique


    "Young Lord, I might have led you here right away but don''t think that just anyone cane into this room." The instructor jutted his chest out and proudly said. "The founder is a renowned figure across many worlds. Many peoplee here just to have a chance at meeting him from a distance hoping that they would catch his eye."


    "You seem to have a special rtionship with the founder. Only because of this, you are even able to step into this room. Even if you are a one in a million genius, this wouldn''t have been possible otherwise."


    "I say this to urge you not to waste your opportunity. I hope you will be sincere in your pursuit."


    Liam did not understand what he was talking about. He continued to silently listen to the instructor.


    "In front of you are the hundred supreme techniques of the academy. These hundred are priceless treasures that anyone would kill to possess or even acquire a copy of."


    "There. The soul cultivation technique should be on that shelf."


    Liam gave a small nod and quickly walked over to take a look at the small inconspicuous scroll on the golden shelf. It was just an ordinary looking scroll without any special aura or glow emanating off of it like the others.


    But there was something about it that made Liam''s hands tremble.


    Liam gulped and reached for the scroll when he stopped and turned to look at the instructor. "Are you sure that this is the soul cultivation scroll? I apologize if I am too brazen in my questioning. I don''t want to identally take something else and use my quota."


    The instructorughed. "Yes. Yes. I have been working here for many years. I know every inch of this academy. This is what you are looking for and this is also our only soul cultivation technique." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I do warn you beforehand that this path will not be easy. Do not make the selection until you are sure that you canmit. Soul cultivation is the most difficult of all dao paths. It is an endless path that takes years and years of hard work."


    "There are other alternatives if what you seek is power." The instructor pointed to a few scrolls to his right which clearly emitted an oppressive aura. One look at them and Liam had no doubt that they were superior top-notch offensive skills. These would definitely give him a power up but that was not what he was looking for at the moment.


    "I am sure." Liam let out a breath, strengthening his resolve and picked up the scroll. The next moment he received a weird screen prompt.


    [Ding! You have received the chance to inherit the legacy of the Soul Lord. Do you wish to ept?]


    Liam paused for a moment. Was this in some way connected to his Soulmancer inheritance? Who the heck was this Soul Lord?


    He couldn''t help but think of the ''founder''s'' words where he mentioned how many had already walked in the path that he wanted to walk. Was this one such person?


    Eitherway, he was only going to gain from any knowledge regarding the soul. He had nothing to lose. "Yes, I ept," Liam affirmed, his voice steady with conviction.


    The scroll in his hands began to glow faintly, the light not dazzling but deep and profound. It felt as if the knowledge contained within was syncing with the very core of his soul, intertwining with his essence.


    [Ding! You have obtained the Myriad Constetions Technique Part-1]


    [Ding! Please obtain mastery in the Myriad Constetions Technique Part-1 to continue the trial for the Soul Lord legacy. Time Limit: 10 years]


    Liam''s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. Wait. Don''t tell me¡­


    "Do I have to be present in the academy to fully obtain the knowledge?"


    Thankfully, the instructor nodded with a smile. "Don''t be silly. How could there be such a trivial condition? You should be more worried about the time limit for mastery. There have been many before you who attempted the legacy and failed because they failed to master the first part in time."


    Liam sighed in relief. He was not really worried about that part. He was pretty sure that he was different from the rest when it came to the matters of soul.


    "Before I forget. Here. You also receive this because you have passed the trial." The instructor handed Liam a token. "This is a one time use pass for a meditation chamber that you can use to absorb and assimte the knowledge."


    Liam took the token, turning it over in his hands. It was a simple object, yet he could feel the dense concentration of energy within it, suggesting its connection to some powerful spatial magic. "Thank you," he said, nodding to the instructor. His mind was already racing with ns on how to utilize this meditation chamber to its fullest extent.


    The instructor seemed to notice Liam''s thoughtful expression and added, "Use it wisely. Those chambers are designed to enhance your focus andprehension abilities, making it easier for you to grasp and assimteplex knowledge. They are a precious resource within the academy."


    Liam pocketed the token carefully, feeling the weight of the opportunity it represented. "I''ll make sure to use it at the right moment. My first priority is to delve into the Myriad Constetions Technique and understand its foundation."


    "As you should," the instructor agreed. "Remember, the path of soul cultivation is fraught with dangers, but the rewards are unparalleled. Mastery over one''s soul can lead to breakthroughs in power and understanding that few can even dream of."


    Liam nodded.


    Breaking this solemn atmosphere, someone cleared his throat in the background. "Any chance I could also take one of these bad boys?" Eldrin spoke up with an awkward smile.


    The next second the duo found themselves escorted out to themon public part of the library by the instructor where the guy bid them farewell with a polite smile on his face.

 Chapter 1322 The first constellation

    Chapter 1322 The first constetion


    "Tch. Such a stingy academy! Isn''t knowledge meant for sharing?" Ignoring the ranting elf on his side, Liam gazed at the token in his hand. He did not want to waste it. He looked around the public space and selected a peaceful location in the corner first where he wouldn''t be disturbed.


    Since he already had the technique in his hand, he did not n on staying in this ce for long. He would first do some basic research on the technique he had acquired, see if he needed anything further forpleting the technique and then check out the token area.


    If everything worked out well, then he wouldn''t have to stay long on this floor. This Spire was a treasure trove that kept on giving and he wanted to push more and more. Starting with this Soul cultivation technique he was going to conquer everything.


    With firm determination, Liam settled in a meditative position and closed his eyes. He focused on the abundant information he had received about the new technique.


    It took him a few minutes but he was able to quickly summarize the heart of the Myriad Constetions Technique. The whole thing revolved around storing one''s soul energy in specific patterns that mimicked the alignment of stars and constetions in the cosmos.


    As Liam delved into the technique, the first verse of the Myriad Constetions Technique unfolded before his mind''s eye.


    "In the vast expanse of the boundless sky, where stars weave the tales of time, align thy soul with the celestial array, and harness the cosmos'' sublime rhyme."


    Liam wondered if he had to pick a constetion and then mirror his soul ording to it. This would be a problem because he had no idea what constetions there were. He had never read anything about this. He also did not understand how this was rted to the soul.


    Thankfully, it looked like he was wrong because he didn''t have to do anything of that sort. Apparently, each soul already had a natural alignment and all one had to do was make the stars and they would automatically, maically get fixed in the respective pattern.


    The process seemed simple enough. Liam started working on it immediately. It was weird how little he knew about the soul considering that he had spent a lot of time forging them and meddling with them. Well, in all honesty his ''lot of time'' wasn''t even a drop in the bucket whenpared to the general lifespan of beings in the myriad realms. So he did not dare have any egotistical ims about being experienced in this field.


    However, he did feel confident in aplishing at least the first constetion within a day or two. That much was still possible for him.


    Liam focused his mind and slowly started gathering his soul energy or rather what was left of it. The initial stage of the Myriad Constetions Technique was akin toying down the foundation for a grand structure that would be built gradually, piece by piece, star by star.


    His injury instantly inflicted a mind-numbing pain on him but it was nothing he wasn''t used to. He pushed himself and slowly started pulling in all the tiny little fragments or wisps floating around in his soul space.


    This was something he had already tried before and failed. The difference was that now he tried to align these fragments in a specific manner or rather a specific rune. The symbol was called a rune of power and was the very foundation of the Myriad Constetions Technique.


    Liam was anxious if this meant he needed to have a deeper understanding of the runes for this method to be sessful but it turned out that the skill scroll that imparted the technique to him had already helped him in this aspect.


    As he gathered his first minuscule barely stable blob of soul energy, unlike before it did not explode on his face and disperse. Instead, it started circting along the rune of power. Like current flowing through a circuit, the small piece of his soul started looping on the rune. The energy moved smoothly, with no resistance or leakage. This was the first sign that he was on the right path, a small but significant victory in his journey towards mastering the Myriad Constetions Technique. Liam sucked in a deep breath. He was now more confident than ever. He was going to do this. He was going to achieve this first constetion within a single day or two.


    Encouraged by this sess, he continued with renewed focus. The pain caused by his soul injury served as a constant reminder of the stakes, and fueled his determination. Everypleted circuit of energy within the rune of power seemed to soothe the pain a bit, as if the process of alignment and stabilization was inherently healing.


    The technique required him to build multiple runes of power and then connect them in a way that they did not repel each other. Each of these runes formed a star in the array and in the end, the entire array would be stabilized.


    It was a huge undertaking and Liam was dealing with it one step at a time. This required not just concentration but a deep, intuitive understanding of the soul''s nature. It was as if he was drawing a map of the stars within his very soul, each rune a beacon of light in the darkness.


    Hours passed as he meticulously worked on forming the runes, his soul space gradually transforming. The once chaotic and fragmented energy began to show signs of order and harmony. The pain from his injury lessened with each sessful alignment, reced by a sense of wholeness he hadn''t felt since before his injury. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He was definitely weaker. Sure. The injured parts of his soul were yet to heal but at least now they were not floating around like shredded waste. They were slowly starting to tie together. He was forcefully stitching them together by bringing them to the rune of power.

 Chapter 1323 It is time

    Chapter 1323 It is time


    Eventually, Liampleted the first rune of power. About one-tenth of his soul strength was contained in this rune. This meant that he would in total perhaps only manage to create ten or so runes.


    Anything less than a hundred for the firstyer of the soul was deemed as inferior talent but it didn''t matter. This was the start. Once the firstyer is formed, Liam would be able to make theyer stronger.


    Without losing focus, he quickly started working on the second rune. Time continued to slip by and soon a few hourster, Liam was already on thest rune. He almost had the whole first constetion down pat. Ten years time limit? What a load of bullshit!


    With a final push, he managed to form thest rune as well when all the eleven runes suddenly started vibrating strongly. Then without any warning, a crippling pain assaulted him as all the runes of power exploded in his face or rather in his soul space.


    Liam shuddered from the pain. Blood trickled down his lips and his face turned ashen. He opened his eyes wide in disbelief. He couldn''t understand what had happened. He should have seeded.


    However, he did not dwell too much on the failure. This was only his first try after all. He was definitely going to seed the second time.


    Liam once again dove into deep focus as he started gathering all of his broken and torn apart soul wisps. It was not apparent at first but clearly his soul was a little more damaged now whenpared to before. It seemed that failing in the technique had a negative effect which made him weaker each time even if it was by a small amount.


    ''Isn''t that just perfect?'' Liam grumbled and continued with the second try. If the technique was not effective, he would have already let go of it but he could clearly feel it. The technique was working. It would work once he had it all in ce.


    Liam once again started gathering bits and pieces of his soul again right from the scratch. The soul wasposed of differentyers and he tried to visualize his outeryer particles to be yellowish white in color to make the process easier.


    He tugged bits and pieces and again dragged them along a rune of power. Once again, pain assaulted him. With every bit of focus and willpower, he meticulously moved the soul fragments, mindful of the explosive failure from his first attempt.


    As he worked, Liam couldn''t help but consider the possible reasons for his initial failure. Was it an issue with the alignment of the runes, or perhaps the amount of soul energy he was trying to contain within each rune was too much for his current state?


    With these thoughts in mind, he proceeded more cautiously, paying extra attention to the bnce and harmony between the runes. He made sure that each rune was equally saturated.


    A few more hours passed by and this time his progress was definitely faster than before. He soon weaved together all eleven of the runes. He was so close to finishing the first constetion.


    Close but it was not enough. Once again everything exploded.


    This time Liam keeled over in pain, unable to withstand the bacsh.


    With a shaky breath, Liam forced himself to sit up. He wiped the blood from his lips and closed his eyes, not to retreat into despair, but to seek the calm center of his being where his resolvey unbroken. Naturally, he was going to try again.


    Third attempt.


    Another failure.


    Fourth attempt.


    Another failure.


    Liam barely had any strength left in him anymore but he couldn''t stop now. He could feel it. He was so close and yet he wascking something. He just needed one small push and he would arrive at his destination.


    Fifth attempt.


    Yet another failure.


    This time Liam could not handle the bacsh anymore and was forced to stop his meditation. A small smile yed on his lips despite the pain that wrecked his body. This was a good day''s work. Tomorrow he would be better.


    Liam did not even bother moving to another ce. He simplyid back down on the same spot to rest his mind, his soul and his body. Every failed attempt affected every part of him somehow even though he was only practicing a soul technique.


    As he tried to shut off his mind, numerous theories about how this could be possible swirled in his mind but he quickly drowned all of them to get some well deserved rest. Just a few hours. That was all he needed.


    On his side, Liam could faintly hear Eldrin saying something but he did not care. The elf''sints could wait for a while. He briefly closed his eyes. A couple of hours passed by when suddenly something tugged him awake.


    This damned elf! Liam woke up with a jolt when he felt a bright golden glow enveloping him.


    "Hmmm? How is this possible?" Liam did not understand. He hadn''t done anything to trigger them getting kicked out of this floor. He was just sleeping for a couple of hours for god''s sake. What was happening? Did he miss something else?


    His head snapped to turn and look at Eldrin who had a bitter smile on his face. "You don''t know, do you?" The elf said. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I don''t know what?" Liam checked and even the token was still in his possession. Seriously, what the heck could have triggered this?


    "My Lord, it is time for us to leave the Spire." The elfughed bitterly.


    "Huh? How? Did we die?" Liam hurriedly checked to see if someone had dared to kill him in his sleep. Wasn''t this a library of a famous academy run by that monstrous ''founder''? How could it be possible for someone to kill him?


    But to his surprise, there was no bloodshed or signs of any fight. The elf was also rather calm, albeit a little annoyed. The elf then exined. "My Lord, you spent all the remaining days sitting on the same spot and meditating!"

 Chapter 1324 Escaped?

    Chapter 1324 Escaped?


    Liam was speechless. "You mean I slept for so many days?"


    Eldrin shook his head. "No, my Lord. You slept for a few hours but your meditation session went on for quite a while. You must have made significant progress huh? Is your soul injury cured?" The elf asked with a bitter smile.


    Liam''s face changed. The elf''s words were shoving daggers deeper into his wounds and twisting them. No. He hadn''t made any progress at all. In fact, he had failed in every single attempt. However, he was pretty sure he hadn''t spent that much time. What was happening? Did he lose track of time while practicing the technique? Did he underestimate the difficulty of the technique? When the instructor warned him that the technique would be extremely difficult, he didn''t think too much about it but now he understood the ten years time limit. Maybe there was even a real chance of failing toprehend the technique in ten years?!!


    No. He couldn''t let that happen under any circumstance.


    Before he could make sense of the situation, the golden glow fully enveloped them, followed by utter darkness. The darkness jolted him from his stupor. Liam quickly snapped out of it. No matter what had happened in the Spire he would have to think about itter. Now there were far more pressing concerns. He was being shoved back into the real world and that meant he would be facing a whole slew of attacks, all aimed to ughter him. He would return to the same time point in Nymphomania and they hadn''t left on a good note. They had run away from an army of angry beings in Nymphomania and now they would all be right where he left them.


    But now there wasn''t much holding him back. Liam''s anger and frustration surged from getting kicked out of the Spire so unceremoniously. He had wanted to climb more and gain more and he was already done. Had he been too weak for the Spire? Was his strength notparable to the other elites of the myriad realms?


    The strongest of the myriad realms had managed to reach all the way up to tenth segment and eleventh segment but he couldn''t even cross the fifth segment. This was his limit?


    Liam felt a surge of energy as everything returned to him including his spatial artifact and all the items he was wearing before he entered. He could feel Luna''s presence and his other newly contracted beasts presence and the next instant, he could also feel the presence of the overwhelming oppressive energy all around him.


    He could feel the tremendous pressure exerted by thebined attacks waiting to explode his body. This was it. They were going to be put back right in the midst of the chaos andmotion.


    Just like that thest tendrils of the barrier between himself and the surroundings broke off and Liam, and everyone else materialized in the same spot as before.


    In front of a violent mob who couldn''t wait to rip him to shreds. The draconian family young master was still there in front of the system shop, bombarding him with attacks along with many others. An unnecessaryplication he neither needed nor wanted.


    Also, all of them werepletely unaware of what had happened in thest 99 days.


    Liam had crushed the Spire token while some barriers were still active so the few attacksnded on the barriers and broke them apart. Now the group was standing helpless and vulnerable unprotected. There was nothing between them and the angry mob. At least in the eyes of others.


    A vicious smirk appeared on the draconian family young master as his murderous gaze locked onto Liam. For a moment he felt as if something was different, something had changed but he immediately shook it off. Today he was going to destroy this arrogant fool. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    However, the next second, a ripple of intense energy spread out. Young master Kael shuddered as he felt a domineering presence gaze down on him. It was suffocating. He could feel the blood lust that wrapped him around and tried to snuff him out.


    Liam''s gaze met his and at the same time spikes ofher and ice struck the monolithe he was using to block all spatial distortions.


    "Impossible!" Kael''s face turned grave, but he couldn''t prevent what was happening next. In front of the system shop, Liam easily activated a teleportation token to return back to his home world right in front of his eyes. Kael hurriedly tried to mobilize a few more spatial destabilizers when unexpectedly none of his methods seemed to work. A pitch-ck fortress appeared around Liam and nothing he did was able to pass through that fortress.


    "He¡­ He erected a domain?" Kael''s eyes went wide.


    "What the heck? How is his domain so strong?" Kael was not able to understand. What was happening? One second he was winning and the next second everything waspletely upside down. How could there be such a sudden power surge? At this rate¡­ the arrogant fool was definitely going to escape and he wouldn''t be able to do a single thing.


    On the other side, Liam strengthened the domain further. He might have failed in climbing the Spire higher but he was not going to lose here. He imbued his domain more and more with his two dao seeds, thebined effect further amplified by his recent progress and increase in stats. Every single one of the attacks falling on the group sizzled and fizzed out as the fortress formed an impregnable barrier.


    Right in front of everyone''s eyes the teleportation token fully activated and the figures standing in the midst of the chaos disappeared one after the other. Right up till thest moment, Kael did not give up and tried to use some sort of artifact but it was already toote. The spot in front of the system shop waspletely deserted. The entire group was gone. They had all escaped.


    "Arrrghhh!" The young master trembled in rage and humiliation. He turned to grab the person standing next to him. "You said I was going to capture him. You said I was going to win! Did your mana mirror lie?! Or have you be ipetent. Tell me." "Because I can help you with both of these. If your divination mirror is no longer useful, I will break it for you. If you are no longer able to divine then I will break you. Perhaps in your rebirth you will be more useful!"


    The poor guy shivered. "My Lord, please have mercy. My divination is not wrong. They will get captured. They cannot return home. They will be held prisoners. I am sure of it, my lord. They cannot leave Nymphomania today. I am not lying."


    Kael snorted in contempt as he waved a few of his bodyguards to deal with the raving lunatic. He then crushed a token and teleported from the world. This time around the trip had been aplete waste. This was why he never listened to these mirror diviners. They were all a bunch of scammers. His grandfather was merely foolish to trust the words of these liars.


    As for that person¡­ Kael clenched his fists. Sooner orter, he would find out his identity and when he did that arrogant fool was going to pay.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Liam opened his eyes. His face changed immediately because he knew something was wrong. He couldn''t sense Luna at all. He couldn''t sense any of his contracted beasts. This had nothing to do with the Spire because his spatial artifact and his other possessions were intact.


    He turned to the side to see Rey, Madan and Lan Deming standing with him, looking equally puzzled. Coincidentally both Eldrin and Dante were missing. Liam was pretty sure the both of them had been right next to him back in Nymphomania but now they were somehow missing.


    What was happening? Was the teleportation sessful? Was there some sort of malfunction in the teleportation token?


    Just as his mind raced to think about what he might have potentially missed, a familiar voice sounded behind him.


    "Hello. Hello. Hello. Monsieur. Wee to the wondend. We are so d to have you all. Please allow this humble bard to sing a song in your praise and make this stay asfortable as possible."

 Chapter 1325 Paradise

    Chapter 1325 Paradise


    "Hello. Hello. Hello. Monsieur. Wee to the wondend. We are so d to have you all. Please allow this humble bard to sing a song in your praise and make this stay asfortable as possible."


    The moment the voice sounded, everyone snapped their heads to look at the person, only to be utterly shocked.


    "What? Why are you all looking at me like that? Have you forgotten me already? I am your friendly neighborhood lizard buddy, Gary."


    Liam immediately took another teleportation token and crushed it. But it was not working. He took out yet another one and tried it, only to end up failing again.


    "Hey! Hey! Hey! Come on now. Don''t waste money like this. Teleportation tokens are not going to work here. What are you guys? Space travel noobs? "There are many ces in the myriad realms that teleportation tokens don''t work and you bet your ass that this wondend is one of them." "The barriers here are too strong, designed to keep everything inside... and everything outside, well, outside. You''re stuck here with me, Gary, your guide and protector in this fantastical domain."


    Gary''s scales shimmered in the light as he gave them a toothy grin, his tail flicking back and forth with an air of nonchnce.


    Liam did not like where this was going. There was also something else that bothered him. He did not know why but he felt as if he was isted all of a sudden. His dao seeds that typically absorbed ambient energy from the surroundings were acting a little weird. They were slowing down to almost a crawl. At this rate, if he used his dao seeds in an attack then he would have to wait for weeks perhaps or even months to replenish that amount of energy. What the hell was going on now? How did they even get teleported here?


    Liam''s mind raced to figure out some sort of clue as to what was going on. The others also looked at him with slightly panicked expressions. One second they were all going home and the next second this lizard was standing in front of them.


    "Ohe on. Why do all the neers act in the same manner? Look around you? Tra." Gary whistled and twirled. "This is paradise, brothers. Green green grass, tall trees, fresh air, clean water and wholesome beasts for satiating your taste buds."


    "Take it all in. My dear friends, you can stop worrying now. You can stop all the unnecessary negative emotions that corrupt our souls." "Rest assured. You are all taken care of for the rest of your lives! You can live freely and happily. There is nothing and no one who will be able to get to you here and hurt you. You are all in God''s territory now!"


    PAK!


    Interrupting the lizard''s speech or song, whatever it was, a big stonended squarely on the back of his head.


    "O! That hurt! Friend, you know the cardinal rules of paradise. You are not supposed to hurt anyone!" PAK!


    PAK!


    Two more stones or rather rocks came flying towards the lizard, followed by an angry voice. "Get the hell out, you annoying pest. Otherwise, I just might kill you today." Unexpectedly, the lizard''s face slightly faltered. "Lord Romba. Please forgive me. I am sorry to disturb you but I have neers here and I need ten more minutes to finish the orientation."


    Immediately, a loud disgruntled snort sounded. "You? Finishing in just 10 more minutes? I doubt it. Get the hell out of here before I kill everyone."


    Sigh. Gary let out a breath, shaking his head. "Sorry, my friends. You have a troublesome neighbor so it''s best we move a little before continuing. Follow me. So where was I?"


    "Paradise¡­ tra... Dum di dum dum" Cutting the lizard short another loud snorting sound echoed. "You are still here?"


    "My lord, it''s not even been a second. Give me some time at least!" Gary was visibly sweating.


    "Then shut your trap."


    To everyone''s surprise, the lizard begrudgingly stopped singing. "Let''s first walk away from here and then talk." He managed to squeeze out an ugly smile.


    Rey, Madan and Lan Deming looked at Liam who signaled them to remain calm. It was clear that they weren''t in an actual paradise and they had gotten themselves into some weird shit. The question was how deep were they in?


    "Where are my otherpanions? Did you do something to them?" Liam probed. "Oh? Them?" Gary unexpectedly answered even though Liam had never expected a straight answer. "Unfortunately when I tagged you four they were not there with you and hence I was not able to bring them to paradise. Forget them, my friend. Their loss. Your gain!" The lizard gave a big beaming smile which made Liam''s hands itch. Despite knowing that they were in some sort of problem, he couldn''t help but want to punch the living daylights out of this person.


    "So how long will we get to stay here?" Liam controlled his urges and asked.


    "As long as you wish my friend." Gary answered.


    "Oh does that mean we can leave when we want?" Rey immediately asked.


    "Of course." Gary answered and then added with a wink. "That is if you have the power to."


    The lizardughed lightly and exined. "See, my friend. It is not our aim to constrain you this way but people often tend to stray away from the good things in life. When everything is handed over to you on a silver tter what more do you-"


    BOOM!


    A shockwave assaulted the lizard, making the guy fly for some distance before mming his sorry figure into the ground. "Get the fuck out of my territory, you annoying pest!" The same voice echoed and the next second, the lizard smiled bitterly and crushed a token.


    "I think your neighbor is in a bad mood today, my friends. Let''s talkter. After all, we have an eternity to spend together." With these words, the lizard disappeared from the spot.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 1326 A prison?

    Chapter 1326 A prison?


    "What the fuck!?? What the actual fuck? Bro, where the hell are we? Eternity? What is that bitch bbering about?" Madan started freaking out.


    "Bro, what is happening?" Rey also couldn''t remain calm. Everything that was going on seemed bizarre. Only a few minutes ago, they had gotten out of the Spire and were facing an angry mob throwing all sorts of attacks at them. Though this was a dire situation, it was fine. This was something they had all expected to face and they survived thanks to Liam taking care of everything just like he had always done. Now they were supposed to go home but suddenly they were staring at this lizard asshole who was talking about paradise and eternity? Just what the hell was going on?


    After a few seconds of silence, Lan Deming solemnly spoke up. "I think we are in some sort of prison."


    Rey and Madan could figure out as much on their own but when they heard it from someone else, it was that much worse. Everyone turned to look at Liam who could only nod his head.


    "I did not think too much about this person after confirming that whatever he told us was bullshit. Now that mistake hase to bite us. We''re caught in a scenario far beyond our normalprehension," Liam''s voice was steady, but the frustration was evident.


    "What the hell? But how did he interfere with our teleportation?"


    Liam shook his head. "I don''t know."


    "It could be rted to the mark he mentioned." Lan Deming suggested.


    "It could be." Liam nodded.


    "Fine. It doesn''t matter how we got here. How the hell are we going to get out of this ce?" Madan looked around and only saw lush greenery and a peaceful serene environment no matter where he looked but this only made him that much more frustrated because the truth was they might as well be bound and shackled with chains and cors at the moment.


    However, Liam could only shake his head again. "I don''t know."


    "Bro, do you at least have some idea where we are at the moment?" Rey picked up some grass and mud and they seemed very real. As real as it could be.


    Liam again shook his head. "I don''t know." He then turned to look in a particr direction. "But I have a good idea where to find out more information about this ce."


    Immediately, Rey, Madan and Lan Deming, all turned to look in the same direction. The troublesome neighbor.


    "Are you sure he will help us?"


    "I don''t know but it is a good ce to start." Liam started walking back to the ce where they had firstnded. There was a fifty percent chance that this was a stupid idea and they were probably going to get screwed but how did it matter. They were already screwed.


    Liam led the way, his mind racing to piece together the puzzle. The idea that they might be in some sort of prison wasn''t far-fetched, considering the powers at y in the myriad realms. But why? And more importantly, by whom?


    Approaching the area where they had encountered the neighbor''s wrath, they slowed down, their senses heightened for any signs of hostility or warning.


    "Hello? Is anyone there?" Liam called out, projecting his voice into the serenendscape. For a few seconds there was no reply but the next moment, a powerful aura suddenly descended on the group. Everyone except Liam was affected by the raw killing intent and were crushed by the pressure as if a mountain was ced on their shoulders.


    "Not bad. One newbie with some potential." The voice boomed again. Liam froze as he could clearly feel someone scanning him from head to toe. "Not bad at all. Interesting. Very interesting. Alright. You can alle over but keep your traps shut. I don''t like too much yapping."


    Liam signaled and everyone remained quiet. The group silently started walking towards the direction of the voice. There were only forests as far as the eye could see and the distance seemed to grow as they continued walking.


    After a few minutes, the scenery slowly started changing. The green forests started showing signs of corruption as decay and disease seemed to have spread everywhere. nts were wilting, trees were hollow and ckened, and the air was thick with a foul stench. The beauty that had initially surrounded them was now reced by andscape of despair and decay. It was as if life itself was being sucked out of thend, leaving behind a dying world.


    "Nether!" Liam felt the unmistakable presence of death energy in the air.


    "Yes. Nether. So that''s why you are here in my territory." The voice this time was very close and everyone snapped their heads to see who the person was. The next second shock appeared on all faces as they saw a grisly sight.


    In front of them was a pile of ck and rotting roots or something that looked like roots. However, unlike normal roots these were not attached to a tree. Instead, on top of this pile of mess was a head. A talking head.


    "Fuck!" Madan and Rey both shouted out loud, recoiling in horror at the grotesque sight before them.


    The head, however, seemed unfazed by their reactions. Its eyes, glowing with a deep, dark light, surveyed them with an air of indifference. "Yes, scream, flinch, react as all neers do. But remember, your fear, like everything else here, is subject to my will."


    Liam stepped forward, his expression calm despite the unsettling scene. "You''re the one controlling this area? What do you want from us?"


    The head''s lips curled into a semnce of a smile, revealing rows of sharp, decayed teeth. "Controlling this area? Boy, are you still not aware? I am not controlling anything. I am just like you, another prisoner. You are currently inside a giant beast called the Geliza Smander. We are all inside the same damned beast and there is no way out of this hell."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 1327 You have been scammed

    Chapter 1327 You have been scammed


    "What? That''s impossible!" Rey blurted out.


    "You are lying!" Madan shook his head. "I agree with them." Lan Deming nodded. "We are definitely in a pocket world. Also, it is not possible for any space to bepletely locked. Given enough time we can find a way out of here."


    Hearing the three, the head startedughing loudly. "Ba ha ha ha! Ba ha ha ha! If this is what you think, then there is no point for us to meet right now. We can meet again in ten years when you are still unable toe to terms with your fate."


    Madan was about to say something to the damned head but Liam raised his hand. "What is this beast? Why are we here? Can you tell us more about this ce?"


    The head snorted in disdain. "Do I look like a damn tour guide to you?"


    An ufortable silence ensued as the head turned towards the other side but after a few seconds, the head once again turned to face them. "There isn''t much to say. Besides, what is the point? You cannot escape from here."


    "Even so¡­ we would like to know." Liam politely bowed. "It will be very difficult to live without knowing what happened and why we ended up here."


    The head gazed at him impassively for a couple of minutes making everyone ufortable before it let out a bored sigh. "Alright. I got the time anyway. What happened to you is really not a mystery. You were sort of kidnapped and brought here. As for why¡­"


    The head suddenly smirked giving a knowing look. "Which world did you boys visit? Nymphoholic? Nymphs-for-live? Nympho Palooza?"


    "Nymphomania." Liam answered with a straight face.


    Looking at theck of embarrassment or regret on his face, the head gave another nod. "Oh. So you must be from the second category."


    "Hmmm?"


    "Are you from a newly integrated world?"


    "How did you know?"


    "Fools. You have been scammed." The headughed heartily. "Think about it. A nice sweet little world without any danger or blood, tokens so easy to obtain, beautiful women waiting to serve you day and night, auctions you can attend to and buy valuable treasures, a high-tier system shop, all served in one big tter."


    "Come on. Didn''t any of it raise any red gs? Did you think life was just that nice? These myriad worlds are full of conniving snakes and boys, you just got bit by a huge one. This whole thing is a scam."


    "Do you still not get it? There are multiple predators lurking in these pleasure worlds and you have fallen into the trap of a particrly nasty one."


    "Geliza Smander is a leech. A leech that loves to slowly consume its prisoners by keeping them inside its body for thousands of years or whatever your pitiful life span is. It has been doing this for countless years and it will continue to do this even after you die."


    Everyone stood frozen, utterly shocked by what they were hearing.


    "We should have nevere here."


    "That fucking elf. He is the reason we are in this mess!"


    "I knew that bastard wouldnd us in something big. He was a cunning motherfucker. After trapping us, he somehow escaped. He is not even here with us. How the hell did he alone not get caught?"


    The head seemed amused at their outrage. "He must have been intelligent enough to not get tagged. Not stupid like you."


    Everyone stared at the head with hatred. Wasn''t he in the same boat? No one said anything. Clearly, the person was deriving pleasure from their misfortune but the information he was giving out was invaluable.


    The head continued. "Or maybe he wasn''t a nobody like you. They only take people without any backing you know."


    Liam clenched his fist but tried to remain calm. "May I ask how do you know all of this?"


    "Well, I am not really a youngblood like you guys. I am actually quite powerful. I once tried fighting with that damned thing and almost won." The head grated his teeth as he recollected. "Almost but not quite."


    "The end result is me reduced to this state but that bastard still did not kill me. He gave me the punishment of continuing to be his battery source until the day I die."


    "On that note, if any of you are intending to fight the damn beast then make sure you do it with 100% certainty. Otherwise, you will end up just like me."


    The group exchanged uneasy nces, absorbing the gravity of the head''s warning. The reality of their situation was far worse than any of them could have imagined, trapped not just in a prison but within the very being of a monstrous entity that viewed them as nothing more than a source of sustenance. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Liam, regaining hisposure, asked, "Is there really no way to escape? Has no one ever managed to break free from this world?"


    The head let out a dry, humorlessugh. "Escape? Many have tried, and all have failed. This creature, this prison, is not just a physical space¡ªit''s a manifestation of the Smander''s power, constantly adapting and countering any attempts to breach its defenses."


    But," the head paused, a flicker of something that might have been hope in its dead eyes, "there might be a way."


    Everyone leaned in, despite the despair, clinging to any thread of possibility.


    "You see, the Smander''s strength lies in its ability to consume and assimte. But every predator has its weaknesses, and its strength is also its greatest vulnerability. It''s a part of a cycle, a bnce that must be maintained."


    "Are any of you seeking the dao of poison or perhaps the dao of space?"


    Everyone remained silent for a moment before shaking their heads. "Are you sure?" The head asked again, seemingly unwilling to ept it. "Are you really sure?"


    Once again everyone shook their heads.


    "Bah! Then what good are you all? Get lost." Without any warning, the head suddenly got hostile and a strong pressure enveloped everyone, almost choking them. "Get the hell out of here!"

 Chapter 1328 Thats rude

    Chapter 1328 That''s rude


    The next few days went by very fast with Liam, Madan, Rey, and Lan Deming busy traveling everywhere to thoroughly explore the ce they were in. While they did not make any spectacr headway, they still managed to stumble upon something quite shocking.


    In front of them was what one could only describe as a town or a city. Seeing how the past few days they had note across anyone else they almost assumed that the ce was deserted but the truth couldn''t be farther from that.


    The city they stumbled upon was unlike anything they had anticipated finding in what they had believed to be a monstrous prison. Its streets were bustling with activity, inhabitants of various races and origins going about their daily lives.


    The group stood at the city''s edge, disbelief etched into their features. "How is this even possible?" Rey murmured, his eyes scanning the lively market square where creatures of all shapes and sizes bartered goods with a familiarity that suggested long-term residence. "Were they just pulling our legs? How could we be inside a beast?"


    "Oh, you are most definitely inside the smander and you are most definitely fucked." A voice sounded from behind. A tall humanoid figure walked over to stand beside them. "Wee to the 43rd district. Did you four just arrive?"


    Rey opened his mouth to answer but he immediately blurted out at the sight of the person. "Undead?" The man who had greeted them, if he could even be called a man, had rotting flesh and exposed bones in several ces. More disturbing were his eyes which werepletely cked out with a very small almost invisible white eyeball. Yet, despite his weird appearance, the man''s demeanor was friendly, almost casual.


    The undead nodded, a grin spreading across his decayed face. "Yes, I suppose I am what you''d call ''undead''. But that''s a pretty rude word to use. You should call creatures like me ''risen'' for future reference. We are not mindless maniacs, you know."


    Everyone was even more perplexed by the guy''s words, Liam more so. Was this a new type of undead? It looked like they really had a lot to learn about the myriad realms.


    "I am Shayen. Where are you all from? Bluemoon Empire?" Everyone shook their heads. "I ask because a recent batch of humans arrived from that ce. Poor guys got kidnapped en masse. Ha Ha Ha." The undead really seemed to have a very casual attitude about the whole thing.


    "Shayen, howe you are-" Madan started but the undeadughed him off. "I know what you are going to ask. Every neer asks the same thing. Why am I so happy? Carefree? It''s really simple. Just stop fighting. ept your fate and be happy." The undead shrugged. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Madan''s frustration was palpable. "ept our fate? Just like that? You expect us to just give up and live in this... this prison?"


    Shayen''s expression softened slightly, his gaze bing more reflective. "I understand your anger and your desire to fight. Believe me, I was the same when I first arrived here. But over time, you''ll see that anger and desperation only drain you. There''s a certain freedom in eptance, in making the best of the situation you''re in."


    "You''ve been here for a long time, then. Have you never tried to escape? To find a way out?"


    Shayen let out a hollowugh, the sound echoing strangely from his skeletal form. "Tried? Oh, I''ve tried more times than I can count. I''ve plotted, I''ve fought, I''ve schemed with others. But the truth is, this ce, this ''prison,'' is moreplex and powerful than you can imagine. The Geliza Smander''s magic binds us here in ways that are difficult toprehend, let alone ovee."


    Rey, still trying to process everything, asked, "So, what? We just live out our days here? Make peace with never seeing our homes again?"


    Shayen shrugged. "Give it time. You will be fine. And when you make peace with it, you can see the true beauty of this ce, he pointed to a group of nymphs walking in front of them. They were young seductive women dressed in fine clothes.


    Now that they observed this city sort of establishment for a while they could see many nymphs walking around, some with men and some without. The overall atmosphere was boisterous with many drinking liquor openly and enjoying thepany of others. It was a lively scene, almost the same as any street of Nymphomania, except that this city was a bit less ssy and more openly profane.


    "Come. Let me give you guys a tour of the ce. It''s been a while since I spoke to a new face. Ba ha ha!"


    The group silently followed around the undead and really the ce was just like any other town or city. There were restaurants, sparring regions, brothels, smithies, and the list went on. However, the ring fact stood out soon enough. Everyone here was pretty low-level. Almost all of them belong to the awakened category. There were even a few unawakened ones with levels less than 100 but most were well into the 500s.


    Of course, there was also another ring fact. Everyone here was a nobody. Liam observed a few fights in the sparring arena and they were nothing to write home about. The whole ce reeked of mediocrity.


    The undead continued introducing them to various ces and apparently, the world inside the beast even had special areas that had rich elemental affinity or other kinds of affinity.


    "All in all this is not a bad ce to live. I will let you guys have some privacy. Come find me in the three mugs tavern if you have more questions." Shayen waved them goodbye and left.


    Almost immediately, Rey and Madan, even Lan Deming turned to look at Liam with dread in their eyes. "Please bro, tell me you have a way to get the hell out of this ce. Can you do something to this guy''s soul? Did you get something useful from the Spire that you can use?"


    Liam remained silent for a while and then sighed. "Maybe."

 Chapter 1329 Where is my master?

    Chapter 1329 Where is my master?


    Liam did not linger around in the city anymore. After Shayen left, Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming split up to gather more information and meanwhile, Liam started heading back to a particr spot he hade across, one that was rtively rich inher.


    It was a small cave inside a mountain and the weird part was both outside the mountain and in the surrounding area there was simply noher in the air. The energy-rich pocket was unnaturally present in just that single spot.


    Liam''s mind wandered as to why this could be but he quickly refocussed. While he had a lot of questions and confusions in his head, starting with why the hell were they in this big mess, he knew that there was really only one thing that truly bugged him.


    His failure with the Myriad Constetions Technique.


    Perhaps if he said this out loud to Rey, Madan, or Lan Deming, they might want to kill him but right at this moment, he couldn''t care less about being imprisoned in this weird creature. He was still hung up on his abrupt departure from the Spire. He did not expect to be kicked out like this.


    Liam settled in the cave cross-legged and cleared his mind. He just needed a quiet ce to train and this ce was just as good as anything else. For now. He then started with the technique, taking it from the top, and attempting the whole thing all over again.


    ***


    "Ah. we are here. Back home again. But¡­ I have to tell you my Lord, I am already starting to miss Nymphomania. There is something in the air in that ce that makes it so special. Maybe we should make this a yearly tradition, us five men heading over and rxing a bit, what do you-" Eldrin suddenly stopped talking. "Huh?" He turned around to see that for some reason he was standing all alone by himself. Wait, no that''s not right. He could detect¡­ He looked down to see an angry fox face ring at him. "Where is my master?"


    "Ummm¡­"


    "I am asking you, you long-eared leech."


    "Ah¡­" Eldrin was speechless. He looked at the angry fox and the other three legendary beasts which had silently popped up near him. However, there was no sign of any human being. What the hell was going on?


    Wait, even the two nymphs whom he had brought here were missing. Fuck! Where did they all go? If something happened to them, then why was he alone fine? Fuck! Fuck! He had a feeling he was going to be in deep shit real soon.


    "I don''t know! I really don''t know!" Eldrin threw his hands up in the air and started exining in a panic. "We all teleported here together. I didn''t do anything. I swear. They should be here. I can''t think of any reason why they are not. Maybe they were teleported somewhere closeby?"


    Eldrin''s mind raced as he tried to make sense of the situation, his heart pounding in his chest. The legendary beasts stared at him, their gazes varying from confused to outright threatening. He knew he had to act fast or risk bing the target of their frustration and anger.


    "Listen, I... I''ll try to locate them. Maybe there''s some interference or... or something went wrong with the teleportation. It''s unusual, but not unheard of in the myriad realms," Eldrin stuttered, trying to sound confident despite the fear gnawing at him.


    The fox, still ring, finally spoke, "Do it quickly. If harm hase to my master because of your ipetence, I will make you regret being born."


    Eldrin nodded hastily, sweat beading on his forehead. He quickly started to cast a series of detection spells. Obviously, it was only natural for him to have stuck several markers of the group. Of course, for the safety of the group and now it was going to be put to good use.


    However, no matter how much he tried, nothing was working. "I am trying. I am trying my very best." The elf shouted pitifully but it was clear that he was failing. Luna snapped at him with a low growl and then approached him in an exceedingly obvious threatening manner.


    "Where is my master?" She asked again and the elf could only look on helplessly. His usual bag of tricks and smooth talk seemed worthless in the face of the genuine distress and danger he now faced. Eldrin had always prided himself on his ability to navigate through tricky situations with ease, but this was something entirely different.


    "I... I really don''t know," Eldrin admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. "But I promise, I will find out. I''ll do whatever it takes."


    The next second the fox blurred and she was no longer there. Along with her, the other legendary beasts were all gone, leaving behind only Eldrin in the middle of nowhere.


    "Hey, wait." The elf called out but it was useless. The fox had already teleported. "Fuck. I was going to say I could still faintly feel one of the others¡­" He scratched his head and then hurriedly ran in the direction where he felt the marker. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Dante was it? The alchemy ve?" Eldrin knew that this was in no way going to help the situation but there was nothing else he could do. The fact that none of his tags worked meant that Liam and the others never got teleported in the first ce.


    Moreover, the two nymphs were also missing. They had promised him big things if he got them out of that world and now they were also gone. What the hell was happening?


    Eldrin felt cold sweat drench his back as he thought about all the people he had to answer. Especially the two wives. Fuck. They were going to skin him alive and then kill him, that is if the fox did not kill him first. Why did all bad things have to happen to him?


    Eldrin smiled bitterly. The worst part was that¡­ he was pretty sure wherever that bastard was he was lucking it out right this instance. "Liam, where the hell are you?"

 Chapter 1330 Something in the air

    Chapter 1330 Something in the air


    Liam inhaled and let out a deep breath. Another failure but that was okay. His gaze flickered to the big space sprawled in front of him. There, thousands of soul minions were seated in a simr meditative pose with eyes closed, every single one of them giving full concentration to their task at hand. AKA to strengthen their souls.


    Liam had to admit. He had kind of cheated in this test of sorts but he did not regret it. The Myriad Constetions Technique was a behemothian beast that he had underestimated greatly. To think that he could master it in a mere day was foolish. It did not matter if he was a soulmancer or how much experience he had with souls, he simply couldn''t make decent progress in the technique fast enough. It was too hard. Of course, that was not all the tricks he had up his sleeves.


    Liam had been breaking his head over how to crack the technique when he decided he needed more heads breaking over this problem. That was when he involved his soul minions. Obviously, they wouldn''t be able to seed where he failed but they made copious mistakes. Mistakes that he learned plenty from. And within just a few days, the collective hard work yielded bountiful results.


    Liam smiled in satisfaction as he closed his eyes and looked at the five shimmering runes that nowy stably in his soul space. About half of his dispersed and shredded soul energy was already tied back together in the form of runes of power and they now once again were under his control.


    Liam felt a lot better as the pain that had been guing him ever since he injured his soul was finally starting to subside. As an added bonus his mental energy was full and brimming thanks to this. He felt rejuvenated and replenished and his capacity to control his soul wisps further increased because of this. This in turn bumped up his speed as he worked to form the next rune of power. He could feel it. Soon he would be able to get the first constetion in his grasp.


    However, he was not in a rush to reach that goal. This was because while practicing the soul-strengthening technique, he finally managed to get a hint on the soul-healing method he was personally tinkering with.


    This was how he had healed his soul back in the tutorial and now after some adjustments, he was very close to further healing and replenishing his soul energy that was vastly depleted.


    He was not quite there yet but hey, he had many many souls that he could experiment with and a high-tier soul cultivation technique in his hand. This was just the first constetion technique after all perhaps the deeper he went he would gain further understanding of the method.


    Unfortunately, he simply couldn''t do as he pleased and continued to forever perfect everything in his soul space. The clock was ticking. Not just forpletely mastering the first stage of the technique but also for the earth''splete integration.


    Within the next five years, he had to return to his full strength and then some more to truly feel confident about their prospects. Of course, there was also the matter of getting out of the beast they were currently stuck inside.


    A vicious smile appeared on Liam''s face which carried all of his hatred and frustration that he had bottled up within him. He knew who they were, all the enemies who wanted him dead or as a ve. Starting with this god-damn beast he was going to take care of each and every one of them. He was going to use this beast as a stepping stone and be even stronger. It invited him into its body and now it had to pay the price.


    He did not let the others know just yet but he could feel it. He could clearly sense the unfathomably powerful soul of the beast they were currently residing within.


    In fact, he was pretty sure that this whole world was a space created within the soul pocket of the beast as he could sense the threads of soul energy swirling around, knitting the very fabric of their environment.


    How powerful would a beast need to be in order to have a soul such as this? He had no intentions of fighting such a thing or even confronting it at least directly. That would be a fool''s errand. Instead, he had other ns.


    He needed to somehow corrupt or at least freeze the soul of this monstrosity of a beast in order to escape. That was if he only needed to escape but why not take something when leaving?


    While this beast was powerful it was in no way an overpowered being like that strange man he had met in the Spire. Heck, it was a coward who only ate awakened beings without any background.


    Chances were that if he managed to get out of here, it was not going toe after him. Even if it wanted to, it could get in the long queue of everyone else who wanted him dead first.


    Liam knew he was probably once again going to be biting more than he could chew but how could he let this golden opportunity slip by? There was soul energy floating all around him. He was definitely going to get himself a good helping of the meal.


    Right now he could at most make ten runes of power in his current state which would make for a pitiful first constetion. But if he could somehow siphon the soul energy and bump this up to a hundred runes of power which is what an average elite of the myriad realms would possess, then his strength would skyrocket, catapulting him into the realms of power he had only dared to dream of before.


    And this was just the first constetion. The technique hinted that there were more constetions that harnessed the deeperyers of the soul.


    Liam''s n was ambitious, to say the least. The beast''s soul was a vast, dangerous expanse, filled with energy so potent it could obliterate him with a mere flicker. Yet, within this perily an unprecedented opportunity for growth and strength. If he could harness even a fraction of this power, the benefits would be immense.


    To achieve this, Liam needed to extend the scope of his soul maniption abilities. He would have to delve deeper into the study of soul energy, exploring new methods and techniques that could allow him to carefully extract and assimte the beast''s soul energy without alerting it to his actions. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He definitely had his work cut out for him and for the next five years, he was going to be really busy. Letting out a deep breath, he took out a soul-capturing bead. It was time to start forging again.

 Chapter 1331 Its been a while

    Chapter 1331 It''s been a while


    Liam yawnedzily as he walked out of the cave. "How long was I asleep this time?" He chuckled. Seeing him finally exit his closed-door meditation, two women rushed towards him. "My Lord, you have been asleep for an entire month." One of the women answered. These two women were the same nymphs who had teleported with the group back in Nymphomania, Eldrin''s acquaintances. When Rey and Madan had run into them in a questionable part of the city, they brought them back here after paying a hefty sum.


    Apparently, the two of them were bred for prostitution and were already marked to be taken to one of the many pleasure pces back in Nymphomania. But they had tried to escape that fate and fell into an even worse one.


    Rey and the others simply rescued them out of sheer boredom and also a little curiosity about why the crafty elf was involved with them. However, Liam did not care.


    Liam nodded at the two as he continued walking deeper into the forest. Not long after he came across a pond and he immediately dove into it, letting out a rxed deep breath. He was finally done.


    He had a goal and he had finally achieved it. The past five years had gone by in a blur, but it was all worth it. Though he took a really big detour on the way to his goal, he had arrived there in one piece.


    He was now done with the first constetion of the Myriad Constetions Technique, a feat that initially seemed insurmountable. The relief and satisfaction that coursed through him were indescribable. His soul was finally whole again. How long had it been since he felt like this?


    The strength aplete soul gives to a person was simply unparalleled. The fragmented, weakened state he had endured for so long had been a constant drain, a reminder of his vulnerabilities. But now, with the first constetion of the Myriad Constetions Technique firmly established within him, Liam felt as if a heavy shackle had been unlocked and thrown away. His soul now thrummed with a vitality that resonated with the very essence of his being, infusing him with a sense of power and potential he had almost forgotten was possible.


    After all, he hadn''t formed the first constetion with just ten runes of power. Liam closed his eyes to focus on his soul space one more time. Immediately, a bright glow emanated from within, illuminating the very essence of his being. There, in the heart of his soul space, sat his first constetion dazzlingly and dozens of runes brightly shone within this constetion, each rune pulsating with a strength that far exceeded his expectations.


    In total, there were about three hundred fifty three runes, a number that far surpassed what even the elite geniuses of the myriad realms who had tried to master this technique before Liam had achieved.


    In the beginning, Liam only intended to push himself to fifty runes from his measly ten runes but as he started siphoning the soul energy little by little from the giant lizard creature, it was extremely addicting and he couldn''t stop it.


    His broken, shredded, and injured soul acted like a certain greedy little fox and continued inhaling all of the energy that it could get its hands on. The giant beast also didn''t seem to notice anything amiss. Perhaps because it was just a minute fraction of the total soul energy it was harvesting, it did not care? Nevertheless, Liam continued pushing his limits and continued to siphon little by little until he reached his very limit.


    At that point, he simply knew it. If he pushed things even a little more the entire thing would copse. As it was, he was already straining his mind to the maximum. Thest thing he wanted to do was break himself mentally.


    So he relented at three hundred fifty three and pulled all the runes together, activating the technique to stitch them all into a constetion. The process was arduous, requiring immense concentration and willpower to withstand the pressure it exerted on the soul. Each rune had to be perfectly aligned and synchronized with the others, creating a harmonious flow of soul energy throughout the constetion.


    The moment the constetion was fully formed, a profound sense ofpletion had washed over Liam. Liam was surprised to see that his first constetion was the symbol of infinity. Well, it could also be the number eight. He had yet to figure out what was the meaning behind it and its significance. However, the power that he felt was real.


    Not only did it heal the lingering damage to his soul, but it also enhanced his overall capabilities. His senses were sharper, his mind clearer, and his control over his dao seeds and mana had improved dramatically.


    Liam took his time and rxed in the pond giving himself a much-deserved break. He only emerged from the pond several hourster, ready for the next step. He had aplished what he set out for and now it was time to go home. But before that, there was one small matter he had to take care of that he had been putting away for a long time now. However, he no longer felt the need to postpone it anymore as his soul was whole again. Not to mention his soul strength explosively higher than it had ever been before.


    Liam took another deep breath before dismissing all the soul minions he had stationed in different areas spread out all around him. For what he was about to do, he needed his full strength.


    He then took out a soul bead that he had specially saved until now. Without further dy, Liam willed for the soul inside to seep out.


    "Crawford, it''s been a while," Liam muttered as he gripped the ball of soul in his hand. It was a powerful soul that tried tosh out against him but all of its struggles were for naught as the soul was no match for the current him.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 1332 I win

    Chapter 1332 I win


    Liam closed his eyes, immediately processing the many many thoughts and images that flooded his mind without any warning. Even though he has already processed several souls until now, this flooding of his mind with the imprint of another person''s entire life was something that was difficult to get used to.


    That too it was not mere memories that he had to embrace. There were also strong emotions involved. More often than not these emotions involved rage, regret, desire, vengeance, anger, sadness, and an unfathomably deep longing for the final moments of the soul to be false, hoping for just one more chance at life.


    Liam was not a stranger to these emotions. He epted them and set them aside while starting tob through the other memories as much as he could. At the same time, he also held the soul together, trying his very best to maintain its integrity or whatever was left of it. Crawford''s soul was damaged in a very different way than his own soul.


    The old man''s soul was split into two, something that he had willingly done to mess with him and it backfired on him big time.


    Liam already had the other half but the problem was that the other half was more like a clone which did not have much information. Its fighting abilities were passable but even in that department, the clone paled inparison to the original. He needed the whole soul. There was simply no other way. Especially this soul. He needed it badly. Crawford alone held the answers to many of his questions. More importantly, this man definitely knew where Derek was at the moment.


    If he seeds in forging this soul or at least essing all of its memories, he would surely be able to find a breadcrumb rted to Derek and finally take concrete steps in bringing back the man whose loyalty was second to none.


    So among all the forging he had done so far, this one was the most important by far.


    Liam steadied his breathing and continued processing the soul. He had a feeling that this was going to be difficult which was why he waited in the first ce and his intuition did not betray him. Theplexity of Crawford''s soul was unlike anything he had encountered before. The split had caused a sort of fragmentation in the memories and emotions, intertwining them in a chaotic mesh that was difficult to untangle.


    The soul itself was very different from anything he hade across. While a normal person''s soul was jam packed with memories and emotions, this soul was mostly empty. Almost 99.9% of the soul had absolutely nothing except for that small 0.1%. The problem was that the 0.1% was all spread out and hence difficult to grasppletely. If Liam was not careful he could easily lose something important.


    Liam used his entire focus to gather everything but it was difficult considering that there was a lot of it which was once again weird considering that the guy wasn''t all that powerful. He soon learned the answer as to why this was. Crawford''s soul was somehow repetitive. His memories were repetitive. There was something very wrong with his soul.


    Liam let go of the bizarre stuff. He couldn''t care less about Crawford''s soul getting further damaged or if he even managed to get a fully forged soul minion. All he really needed was that small nugget of information.


    Seconds ticked by as Liam held the soul andbed it from top to bottom. The first time around he did not get it. The second time was a miss too. But how could he give up now? He continued to try when he finally got the specific part of the memory he had been searching all over for. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Derek¡­ Primeval Armament Realm?" Liam''s eyes lit up with excitement. He had finally gotten a clue and he was pretty damn sure Crawford knew more about this. He dove back in tob through the soul one more time.


    He had to dig a bit deep but he soon got the information he was looking for. Unfortunately, it was not much. It looked like Crawford knew very little about the particr world. The Primeval Armament Realm was just that. It was one of the rare Primeval realms that had been explored by some powerful faction of the myriad realms. Crawford did not know which faction it was. Liam could only guess that the faction had something to do with the divine temple. Otherwise, the old man wouldn''t have known about it in the first ce.


    Liam was about to scour the soul one more time when he suddenly stopped. The soul was ready.


    Even better. Once the soul was forged then he did not have to go through everything like this. He could ask the old man personally.


    Liamposed himself and once again manipted the mana around him, this time even pouring in some of the saved up juices from his dao seed of mana maniption. A few more seconds passed by when the soul in his grasp quivered before bing fullypressed and stable. Liam did not waste time and immediately summoned the other half of the old man that he already possessed. With one final push, hebined both the soul beads together and watched as they fused into one. The process was delicate, requiring a finesse that Liam had honed over countless hours of soul maniption. As the two halves merged, a bright light enveloped them, signifying the sessful unification of Crawford''s soul.


    The moment the light dimmed, standing before Liam was a fully formed soul minion without any ws. "Wee back, Crawford."


    The old man gasped as he took in his surroundings, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Where... Where am I?" His voice was shaky, reflecting the disorientation and confusion he felt.


    "You''re with me," Liam replied calmly, his gaze steady on the newly formed soul minion. "Do you still remember me?"


    Crawford''s face instantly shifted from confusion to shock and then an unmistakable glee. "You bastard! I finally got you! I win! Ha Ha!"

 Chapter 1333 Complete control?

    Chapter 1333 Complete control?


    Crawford shouted in glee. "You bastard! I finally got you! I win! Ha Ha! Did you think I was like your other souls? I am special! You should have never tried to resurrect me! No. I knew you would! I nned all of this from the very beginning."


    Liam frowned. He was already used to this by this point. He knew that all souls go through something like this at the beginning before they eventually ept their new reality but this person was annoying and he was not particrly in a mood to listen to this guy droning on all day long.


    "You made a terrible mistake by resummoning me. You should have let me stay dead. You cannot control me. Watch me while I wreck you from the inside out-"


    "Stop." Liam tightened the control on Crawford''s soul, instantly making the guye to a screeching halt. Not that he did not think the man''s monologue wasn''t important. No. On the contrary, he was extremely interested in hearing what he had to say.


    He of all the people knew many secrets that Liam desperately needed but not in this way. He needed to hear it straight from the horse''s mouth in a more reliable way.


    As soon as he gripped the man''s soul, Crawford became rigid and silent like an obedient little puppet ought to be.


    "Now. Let''s start from the beginning. What is this you are talking about? Why do you win?"


    The soul minion stared at Liam with no longer any defiance in its eyes. "I am a nascent tool spirit." Crawford spoke without any bluster. "My soul is special. It is impossible to control me because I am already bound to someone."


    "Hmmm¡­" Liam''s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the soul minion. So many things suddenly made sense. However¡­


    "No. You are under my control."


    Crawford was definitely telling the truth because he was forged by Liam. His soul was now bound to him and Liam was damn sure he waspletely under his control. Then what was this about being bound to someone else? Perhaps a previous owner of the spatial artifact?


    This too turned out to be false as Crawford gave a resounding no as a response.


    "I am free and unfettered. I am not bound to anyone. I am only bound to my master who forged me."


    "Forged you?" Liam''s eyes further widened. Someone powerful enough to forge a spatial artifact such as the PVP tower was definitely not a simple person. He had to be some sort of bigshot or someone from a really powerful family. Knowing more about this owner might open a lot of doors for Liam.


    "Tell me more about this person who forged you."


    The moment Liam closed his mouth, immediately something unexpected happened. A white mist starteding out of Crawford and the soul minion started screaming as if he was in tremendous pain.


    Liam also vaguely felt that something was off. His control over the soul was still absolute but the forged bead was showing signs of corruption. Parts of it were starting to corrode and fade into nothingness. This was not good.


    "Stop. You don''t have to tell me that." Liam quickly interjected.


    And just like that Crawford''s soul stopped twitching. It looked like the guy was not wrong after all. There seemed to be some sort of restriction on him, something that Liam was not able to undo just yet.


    But details on the creator of this tool spirit could wait. There were other burning questions in his mind.


    "Tell me more about the tutorial world. Who is the divine temple high priestess? Is she the one organizing the whole thing?"


    Crawford nodded. "Yes, her excellence is the one in charge of the tutorial." "Tasks of overseeing insignificant worlds being integrated into the myriad realms are auctioned off periodically by the system and her excellence managed to grasp this chance for herself. Her aim was to create a treasure using the ritual of - ahhh¡­ ahhhh¡­. AHHHHHHH!"


    The soul minion started screaming once again in the middle of answering Liam''s question. Not so surprisingly, wisps of soul energy were rapidly dissipating yet again from the forged soul bead.


    "Alright. Stop. Stop."


    Crawford immediately rxed, the strain on his soul no longer present.


    "This is bullshit." Liam''s face twitched. This was the first minion he hade across with these many restrictions already ced on it. What was even the point of him being in control of it if everything that was of value was hidden behind a vault.


    For the next few minutes, Liam busied himself as he tried to delve deeper into the soul to find out things without explicitly asking the soul minion and triggering some sort of soul trap.


    However, everything was foolproof. He simply couldn''te near anything rted to the divine temple high-priestess. All he could find out was that the tool spirit Crawford had entered into some sort of a system contract with the priestess which was something far more intricate than what Liam could handle at his current level. He even tried reforging the soul but to no use.


    In the end, Liam was about to give up when he suddenly tried asking about the tutorial world itself, rather than anything about the high-priestess.


    "Is there any way I can return to the tutorial world? Do you know if there is any portal or any secretpartment in the spatial artifact that I don''t have ess to but you might?


    Crawford listlessly nodded. "Of course. I am the tool spirit. I haveplete control of my artifact."


    Liam''s eyes instantly lit up. A lot of ns started forming in his head when the soul minion once again opened its mouth. "But there is no portal." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Liam froze. A bitter smile appeared on his face. "Of course. You arepletely useless, aren''t you?"


    Not quite caring about his tone or his remark, the soul minion soullessly answered. "I am not useless. I am able to unlock all the sections of my artifact and I sense that I have in my possession some items from the tutorial world previously owned by you. If that interests you."

 Chapter 1334 Prison break

    Chapter 1334 Prison break


    "What do you mean?" Liam couldn''t remain calm. If he had ess to his old inventory that would change many things.


    "Since the artifact was bound to you when you exited the tutorial, your inventory items were naturally transferred to the artifact." "I tried to ess them but ording to the rules that I am bound by I am unable to do this. While I do not know the exact contents of your inventory, I am aware that they are indeed present."


    "If you allow me I can immediately bind with my artifact again and grant youplete ess."


    A moment of silence ensued after which Liam nodded. "Ok. But not now." While he couldn''t wait to see what could be salvaged, he couldn''t risk taking out something so extraordinary when he was still inside this creature.


    So far he had sessfully managed to stay under the radar and progress all the way to repairing his soul fully. Now he was on the cusp of getting the hell out of here. There was no need to risk things anymore.


    He swiftly dismissed Crawford and then stepped out to meet the two nymphs. "Go and call everybody. It is time to go home."


    "Yes, my lord." The two nymphs bowed and took their leave. Since everyone had been restless and wanting to get the hell out of here for a long while now, the gathering did not take any time at all. Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming practically ran over at the maximum speed they could muster. The two nymphs also assembled quickly. They hade here with nothing and there was nothing much to take away.


    Liam nodded at the whole gang and then once again steadied himself and meditated for a few minutes to make sure that he was in peak condition.


    "Here we go again." Liam started activating the same overpowered skill once again. The same skill that had shredded and torn open his soul and had made him crippled for years now. The same skill that was also capable of giving him strength several times what he could possibly handle.


    [Soul Splice]


    Liam steeled himself for what was about toe. He had already experienced this skill beforehand and he knew how dangerous it was but this time around the danger level was going to be even worse.


    The next second, the entire area suddenly became still. Deathly still.


    Fog rolled around. Except it was not fog. Wisps of soul floated everywhere as one by one the army of soul minions started to emerge. Soon, the number crossed a hundred and then five hundred, then a thousand, and then five thousand.


    However, it did not stop.


    The two nymphs, Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming all gaped in shock as they turned to look at Liam. Every single one of them had worked to their bones these past five years in this so-called prison. They had also made a lot of progress but clearly Liam had been busier than them.


    Five thousand quickly became ten thousand and the minions did not show any signs of stopping any time soon. The army of soul minions continued to emerge like an unstoppable tide. The air thrummed with the energy of the countless souls.


    As the numbers continued to climb, surpassing ten thousand, the sheer scale of Liam''s ridiculous power became apparent. Not to mention almost 99% of the soul minions were now in the awakened rankings, most of them clearly a lot more powerful than Rey, Madan, or Lan Deming. Some were even more powerful than the three of thembined together.


    How could something like this be possible? It waspletely broken and ridiculous. Saving what was left of their sanity, the minions'' count finally stopped somewhere around 40,000.


    Liam, on the other hand, smiled in satisfaction. It felt good to see his cumtive hard work in this state.


    This was because, on top of finishing the first constetion, tying together bits and pieces of his soul, he also managed to tremendously strengthen his soul. This tranted to him now being capable of wielding many many soul minions.


    Liam had forged a total of 39,978 soul minions when he finally hit a limit. Compared to his previously paltry number of 5000 soul minions, this was a staggering increase. The forest around them that had once been empty was now filled with the menacing army of soul minions or rather elven souls.


    Liam had amassed a great many top-tier elven souls back in thest intergctic trip he had taken and now he had put them all to good use. He even had some souls still left for future use when his limit once again loosened up. All in all, it was an extremely good haul.


    However, the difficult part was yet toe. Assembling the army was merely the first step. Now that the army was assembled, they were all going to¡­


    Liam only had a moment to prepare himself when all of the gathered forty thousand soul minions disappeared into him. They flooded him with power, integrating seamlessly into his soul space. But things quickly escted as they were expected to.


    The influx of soul energy was immense, threatening to overwhelm him, but Liam had already prepared for this moment. He channeled the energy, directing it to reinforce his soul, to weave through the constructs of his Myriad Constetions Technique, and to bolster every aspect of his being.


    The process was excruciating, pushing Liam to the brink of his limits, but he endured. The pain was a small price to pay for the power that coursed through him, reshaping him not just as a stronger being, but as a nexus of souls.


    But no matter how much he had prepared for this, the sheer power amplified by the skill was simply beyond him. At a moment''s notice, the bnce that he had desperately tried to forge was broken and shattered like a mirror and unbridled power danced around him.


    Liam gritted his teeth. Blood trickled down his eyes, ears, and nose. He couldn''t hold on for much longer. The pain was ripping him apart. Body, soul, and mind, he felt as if every part of him was about to fall apart,pletely into nothingness.


    At the same time, he was holding it down because power surged within him. Power like he had never experienced before. With a wave of his hand devastation woulde forth. With a step of his feet, mountains would crumble. If he willed the entire world might quake and crack from inside out.


    He was a God at the moment. A being with unimaginable power at his fingertips. Yet, this power was a double-edged sword, threatening to consume him as much as it obeyed his will. Liam knew he had to act fast, to channel this power towards a purpose before it tore him apart.


    The pain did not subside, but Liam''s focus shifted. With every ounce of willpower, Liam began to channel the tumultuous energy, focusing on the Myriad Constetions Technique as his anchor. He visualized the constetion, the patterns of power that he had been meticulously crafting within his soul space. Each rune began to pulsate with the iing energy, absorbing it, and bing more defined and potent.


    However, there was simply too much raw power and energy to control. It was a good thing that he simply did not have to control it. All he needed to do was to let go and that was easy enough. If unleashing all of this power was going to make the very world they were standing on copse andbust from the inside out, then that was exactly what he wanted.


    Liam shouted in arrogance and agony, power and pain, as he clutched the bright shiny distance star with a firm grasp. This bright shiny distant star that he had been observing for the past five years was none other than the very beast they were currently sitting in.


    Then in one swift motion, he yanked it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1335 Found you

    Chapter 1335 Found you


    A bright and sunny day. A peaceful world filled with abundant mana. Everyone gets a harem with beautiful nymphs. Nothing dangerous on the horizon and yet there was enough thrill to satiate many. A perfect idyllic life. But all of a sudden¡­


    HOWLLLLLLLLL!


    An ear-piercing scream of monstrous proportions echoed throughout the world. A stone was thrown in the seemingly tranquil world and now the ripples of the action affected the entirety of this serene existence. Birds scattered into the sky, their peaceful chirping reced by frantic cries as they sought refuge from the sudden disturbance. The calm air became charged with tension, and the gentle breeze that once carried the scent of blooming flowers now bore a hint of impending doom.


    The inhabitants of this world, who had been lounging in the warmth of the sun or enjoying thepany of theirpanions, froze in ce. The beautiful nymphs clutched each other in fear, their eyes wide with terror. The tranquility that had defined their existence was shattered in an instant.


    As the echo of the howl faded, a heavy silence settled over thend. It was as if the world itself was holding its breath, waiting for what woulde next. Then, the ground began to tremble, gently at first but growing in intensity with each passing second. Trees swayed violently, their roots straining to maintain their hold on the earth. Beasts and men scampered away in a desperate bid for safety.


    However, everyone knew that it was useless because there was absolutely nowhere to run. They were all prisoners after all. They have all been here forever and were pretty much stuck in this world for the rest of their lives. Nothing was going to change. They had long since epted this. It wouldn''t right?


    The thing was until just a moment ago everyone had been damn sure about that. But not now. Something had changed and everyone could feel it or rather see it. That''s right. The very fabric of their reality was ripping apart right in front of their eyes. The world that had been stable like a rock until now was suddenly starting to disintegrate. Multi-colored lights covered the sky. Spatial tears started appearing left and right. Something was definitely happening to their world and probably the beast inside which this world resided.


    However, this was not all good news. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Because the world around them falling apart could mean many things, some that might result in them staying alive and some that might result in them dying. No one wanted to stay back and see which one it was.


    As soon as the tremors and the unusual natural disasters appeared every single inhabitant of the prison world reached for their spatial rings, spatial nes, pretty much any trinket in their possession that contained a teleportation token.


    This was their chance and no one was foolish enough to let it slip through their fingers.


    And just like they thought, something was really wrong with the beast because for the first time in forever, the teleportation tokens were not useless talismans. One by one all the teleportation tokens started lighting up.


    At this moment something even more disastrous happened. A huge tornado popped up out of nowhere and it looked as if it was sucking in the very sky they were standing beneath. The world was crumbling.


    However, no one had time to care and activated their teleportation tokens as fast as they could to get the hell out of there. After all, mana inside was also bound to be limited. They did not want to get left behind. Several spatial rifts appeared in numerous ces and within seconds the prison world emptied out.


    Meanwhile, at the other end of the strange tornado, one of thest parties also finally started activating their teleportation tokens.


    "Lord Liam, you really do have a penchant for ying with fire." One of the nymphs bitterly said as she clutched onto the token and hurriedly activated it. Instead of leaving as soon as the upheaval began, the group had only begun to teleport now because their leader, the person responsible for all of this was also only teleporting now.


    Liam only gave a smile in response to the nymph. He tucked away the stone tablet which was the cause of the strange tornado. He also would have preferred to leave immediately but it wouldn''t be right not to fish in muddy waters and let all of this good stuff go to waste just like that. This was way too much loose soul energy for him to ignore. He would have told the nymphs that if they did not use every advantage they had they would never get anywhere in life but he was tired. Soul Splice''s bacsh was quickly dawning on him and it was about time they left as well.


    Even with Soul Splice the injury he had managed to cause to the beast''s soul was insignificant at best. The result was this good only because of the surprise factor and the fact that the beast was not aware of his identity, his strength, and his limit.


    And he did not n on staying here when the beast found everything out.


    Zing! Liam''s teleportation token also activated and the group of four humans and two nymphs quickly teleported out of the crumbling world just like the others.


    HOWLLLLLLLLL! HOWLLLLLLLLL! HOWLLLLLLLLL!


    The beast thrashed wildly, its cries of pain and fury resonating across the crumbling expanse of its own soul space. The once-pristine world housed within the creature was now a scene of devastation.


    In the wake of the group''s departure, the remaining structures andndscapes continued to disintegrate, falling into the void left by the torn fabric of this soul-created reality. The beast, a formidable entity in the myriad realms, found itself reeling from an assault it had never anticipated.


    The spatial tears through which the prisoners had made their escape started to close slowly, sealing off the world from the outside once more. However, the damage done was irreversible. The beast''s inner world, a realm of its own making, was now scarred and broken, a shadow of its former glory.


    For the first time in countless cycles, the beast felt fear. Not of death, for it was far too powerful for such an end toe easily, but of the unknown. Who was this being that had managed to breach its defenses and cause such havoc? What did they want, and where had theye from?


    A golden glow appeared around the beast''s eyes and the next second its vision changed. Numerous golden threads appeared in front of it. Well, all of them were mostly silver but the beast''s eyes widened as it quickly spotted one odd thread.


    This thread alone was golden in color. It was just a thin thread but it was unmistakably golden. "No wonder¡­" The beast grumbled. It then suddenly reached out with its humongous scaly paw and grabbed onto this thread of gold, forever imprinting its body with the thread.


    The karma had already been sowed so there was no point in running away from it. Rather it was best to keep track of it and make sure that the connection doesn''t ever get stronger. Even better would be to locate the thread and erase the existence that was on the other side of it to solve any potential future problem. As far as the beast was concerned that was the only true way to sever karma.

 Chapter 1336 Welcome back

    Chapter 1336 Wee back


    Liam opened his eyes and a wave of weakness hit him. He ignored it and first checked the status screen. Earth. Phew. They were really back on their home ground. He let out a sigh of relief and shook his head. The world outside or rather the worlds outside were truly dangerous. The next time he needed to prepare more before setting out.


    It looked like the same thing was on everyone''s mind as Rey opened his mouth. "Bro, the next time-"


    "The next time?" An angry voice sounded. Everyone turned to see a fiery goddess ring at them. To be precise, there were two women and one fox staring daggers at the group.


    "Ah¡­ sis¡­ listen. Wait. Why am I exining? Dude, we areing from a damn prison. Can''t you wee us in a better way?" Rey sighed in exasperation, immediately regretting his words.


    Alex raised her brows on hearing the word prison but her facial expression remained unchanged. "Shut it." She snapped at Rey and continued ring at Liam.


    Liam awkwardlyughed ruffling his hair. He was going to do some exining when an elf crashed near them at high speed. "My Lord, you have safely arrived back home. I am relieved. Thank the heavens. I knew my Lord woulde back safely. What happened? My Lord, please, you have to believe me. I had nothing to do with this."


    Eldrin did not care one bit about who was staring daggers at whom. All he cared about was if Liam would believe him or not. This time he really did not have anything to do with what happened. He had no idea how he alone had arrived safely when Liam and the others mysteriously disappeared. The poor elf looked absolutely miserable as he cried out loud hoping Liam would believe him. It was as if he had dered the same thing many times when others tortured him about it. Liam looked at the elf but didn''t quite absolve him just yet. He never thought that Eldrin would have sold him out like that. However, that didn''t mean the elf knew nothing about it. Perhaps it ''slipped'' his mind to warn him about this sort of a thing happening in the underbelly of Nymphomania.


    As for what he was going to do about him¡­ Liam''s thoughts were interrupted when he felt a faint familiar pull. He knew who it was from so he allowed it. The next second the world around him darkened and he found himself standing in a weird mist-covered space. Except this was no mist.


    And it was not him. Well, sort of.


    It was like a part of him had been pulled into this world while his main body and perhaps a majority of his soul still resided in his body which he could feel very well.


    "Am I currently in your soul space, Luna?" Liam asked.


    He did not get any response back. Clearly, the other party was mad at him.


    "I am sorry, Luna. Everything that happened was beyond my control. I couldn''t help it. Someone ced some sort of mark on me and at that time my soul was very weak and I was not even able to detect that. I-"


    [Ding. Your pet Luna has shared a new skill with you]


    [Ding. Soul Space Bound]


    [Ding. Allows the user to deepen the bond with their soul pet. The soul pet can now be stored in one''s soul and summoned and dismissed when needed.]


    [Ding. Do you wish to ept the skill? Yes/ No]


    "Master, please ept." Luna''s nasally voice sounded. A little fox walked over from within the mist and stood next to Liam, the beast''s eyes reddened and tears continued to spill out of the little eyes.


    Liam sighed. "I missed you too. But you know I was working very hard the whole time. I probably wouldn''t have had any time to pay attention to you even if you were there. Trust me. You did not miss anything."


    "I¡­ Sniff. Sniff. protect you." Luna mumbled something inaudible. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam let out another sigh. He knew what the fox meant. Either way, there was no point in continuing to talk about what had happened. In the grand scheme of things, especially with their current lifespan, five years might as well be five seconds. He tapped on the system interface and epted the skill. "There you go. I guess now we will never be separated again." Liamughed. "Yes, Master!" The fox replied with her voice full of glee.


    And just like that the frown turned upside down. Her mood took aplete 180 turn and now the cute little thing was happily rubbing her head against Liam''s neck, perched in her favorite pose.


    "By the way, how did you find this skill in the system shop? Seems like a very rare skill!" Liam checked out the skill again and wondered.


    To his surprise, the little fox simply purred. "I didn''t buy it anywhere. I just learned it myself."


    Liam''s eyes widened. "Just like you learned the teleportation skill?"


    "Back then I wanted to save you badly and wanted to teleport you to somece where there was no danger and I suddenly had new skills. Now I don''t want to be away from you ever again and I have one more new skill."


    "Kyuuuu¡­" The fox bobbed her head up and down before continuing to nuzzle up to Liam. "Alright. Thanks for the exnation. Now I understand more about your skills." Liam smiled bitterly. What else was he expecting from a celestial-grade beast like Luna? She was a monster through and through.


    He then dismissed the fox into his soul space which he assumed she wanted at least for a little bit before pushing his consciousness back into the real world again.


    He could still feel the little fox happily andzily sprawled about in some sort of space within him. It wasn''t his soul space directly but some sort of pocket space.


    "Not bad." Liam smiled. "I guess that is one way to wee me back."

 Chapter 1337 Dead

    1337 Dead


    After the initial death stare exchange, the two women suddenly changed their attitude when Liam winced a little from a mixture of pain and tiredness. After all, he had only just now used [Soul Splice] and the bacsh wasn''t going to disappear anytime soon.


    And the moment he showed weakness both Alex and Shen Yue forgot everything else and came to his side and started fussing over him. Alex gently supported him on one side while Shen Yue did the same on the other side.


    Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming saw this sight, and their eyes hurt from the PDA. They too had returned from a huge ordeal and yet there was no one waiting for them.


    Everyone silently climbed onto the now happy fox who teleported the whole group in a jiffy to the guild base. Speaking of which, Liam was pleasantly surprised to see that the guild base had undergone a tremendous transformation.


    Actually, it was not just the guild. Now that he had a moment to observe and take in everything around him, the entire world seemed to have undergone a monstrous transformation.


    "Five years is a long time. There is a lot that has happened." Alex smiled.


    "Five years, huh?" Liam chuckled. It still did not feel like five years for him. While he was practicing the soul technique time flew by in what seemed like mere moments for him, but the physical world clearly did not pause."So what happened here while we were away?"


    Knowing him, Alex started with Mei Mei first. "Your sister is doing good. She is currently upied with something important which is why I did not want to disturb her yet."


    Liam nodded. "Thanks." Of course, he had already checked up about her with Luna and the fox had also assured him that his sister was doing great.


    This time around everything was different. There was no Crawford and no other threat looming over their heads and there was also Eldrin to take care of anything that the others couldn''t handle.


    So just like Liam hoped everyone was doing well and it was only good news all around. It was even better because Alex and Shen Yue were clearly at a higher level than when he had previously seen them.


    Alex was at level 230 and Shen Yue was at level 150. This was amazing considering how they had never stepped out of the. Just as Liam was about to talk to them about it, Alex suddenly told him something unexpected.


    "The guild disbanded." She blurted out. "Well, sort of." She then pointed to Eldrin and added. "He is responsible for it. He also announced that you were dead."


    "I am dead?" Liam raised a brow.


    The elf immediately trembled a little. "Alex! I mean mydy Alex, you are leaving out a few important details."


    Liam rubbed the bridge of his nose. Now, what did these two do to his guild?


    "My Lord, please. We need to go somewhere private immediately. There is a lot I need to talk to you about."


    Liam wanted to visit his sister first but he decided to take the meeting with the elf as he needed to know everything that happened in thest five years and more importantly, everything that was rted to integration that they were currently going through.


    Their world was going to open up to the myriad realms any day now. The first five peaceful years were already gone and it would be foolish to believe that the few years that they had left would be equally peaceful.


    Eldrin took Liam to a secluded cave in one of the mountains on the outskirts of the guild home base. Clearly, several enchantments had been ced on the cave and the barrier strength was nothing to scoff at. It was a very respectable secret spot. Of course, Liam would have no trouble obliterating it.


    "This is our usual meeting ce," Eldrin exined. He then gulped and added. "Just as Lady Alex was quick to inform you, I was the one responsible for your guild to break up. Please sit down. Let me give you the specifics."


    Eldrin pped his hands and a couple of women rushed over to serve everyone some refreshments. Liam took a sip of the drink served, something simr to coffee but clearly not coffee. However, the taste and the effect it had were eptable, to say the least. The moment the liquid entered his system, his mind cleared up a bit giving him a refreshed feeling. It was not too much of an effect, almost negligible but it was definitely there.


    "Someone made this?" Liam enquired and the elf nodded with some pride. "Yes. I will exin everything to you now, my Lord." The elf began.


    "As you know, I was extremely anxious when I teleported alone and all of you were missing."


    "For many days I scrambled to find your whereabouts and attempted to reach out to you but unfortunately I was not good enough to aplish that. I failed every single time. Please forgive me for my ipetence."


    "Go on." Liam nodded, taking another sip.


    "Since there was nothing I could do to help you out, I decided to take over the administration of your world and try my best to secure and protect everything in your empire. By doing this, I was hoping to beg for your mercy when you eventually returned home."


    "However, only after talking to some of your guild officials, did Ie to know the full details of your feud with the divine temple and the divine temple high-priestess."


    "Taking everything into consideration, I thought that perhaps your absence was a good way to separate your world and you into two different entities so that maybe the enmity between you and the divine temple wouldn''t extend to your world."


    "We are going to be a C Rank or perhaps even a B Rank world. And if we take the divine temple out of the equation, we can very well seek the protection of one of the ten great empires."


    "We can also not do that. It is entirely up to you." Eldrin quickly exined.


    "With this, I decided to split up your guild into multiple smaller empires. I followed our elven tradition and created an atmosphere wherepetition would forge progress and power."


    "Matriarch Ning has moved out with her disciples to the south to create a path for themselves."


    Eldrin then turned to Lan Deming. "Your sister and your father, along with other Asian high-level rankers moved to the East. A few notable names would be Shin-Soo, Kang Minah, and Hiyun."


    "The westerners have moved to the west with a part of the guild force, leaving behind a paltry force in the north, a mere fragment of the previously glorious Crimson Abyss."


    "Apart from these many independent factions have also started emerging."


    Liam frowned. He could understand why Eldrin had done this but at the same time, the world was evolving at a rapid rate. Was it really wise to split up the entire strength of whatever poption they had left?


    Liam had already sensed several strong auras of beasts around the settlement. They were quite far away but he could still detect their presence with his massive field of perception. Even if one of these beasts decided to take a walk, it was enough to crush the entire settlement. It looked like he would have to do some cleanup first. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "My Lord, I understand what you are thinking but this is necessary. Because of my actions, we have already received an acknowledgment from the system. The elites of your world have been invited to a system-rted event, a pre-integration training session."


    "Hmmm?" Liam raised a brow. He did not expect this. "Tell me more."


    "Well, it''s sort of a system-sanctioned treasure hunt. Something that urs in many of the newly integrated worlds. The prerequisite is that these worlds must have enough system-recognizedpeting factions which we recently managed to satisfy."


    "No one knows the details yet. The treasure hunt is set to ur in 6 months time and my guess is that we would receive the details as we get closer to the date."


    Liam pensively nodded. 6 months was good because right now he had other important matters he needed to focus on. He finally knew where Derek was and he needed to figure out how to get him back. Treasure hunt or no treasure hunt, this took the most priority.

 Chapter 1338 You are famous

    Chapter 1338 You are famous


    Eldrin continued talking about the ns he had for the settlement including a detailed point system that would motivate the poption to level up faster and pursue excellence. Most of it was just policies adopted by their n and Liam did not argue with him because his ideas were sound and currently their settlement was a lot smaller than Eldrin''s n.


    Besides, he had never been interested in dealing with the administration side of the guild. That part was always Alex''s forte and his wife seemed to be currently silent regarding everything.


    "Hmmm?" Liam looked at her and wordlessly raised a brow, signaling if she was okay with everything that was happening.


    Alex instantly became flustered and her cheeks reddened from the attention. She then quickly nodded. "I think these are good ideas too." She blurted out loudly.


    Everyone turned to give her an odd look which turned up the nozzle from embarrassment to anger. She shot back with deathly res and the group quickly paid attention to the elf again.


    Eldrin awkwardly cleared his throat. "As I was saying, the system is a pretty tricky well, system. Things have to be organized in a certain way for the system god to throw more events and treasures our way."


    "Apart from the treasures that our world.. Ahem¡­ I mean your world would give birth naturally, these additional treasures would go a long way in creating powerhouses."


    "Alright. Continue what you are doing then." Liam gave the green signal to the elf who let out a sigh of relief. He was about to get up and leave when the elf quickly spoke up again.


    "My Lord, there is also another thing. The more important thing. There is a reason why I started spreading rumors that you were dead. Your enemy has started making moves in your absence." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Eldrin suddenly pulled out a few information crystals from his spatial ring. "These are some intelligence reports that I gathered. Though not directly from the high priestess or even the divine temple itself, several inquiries have been made about you in thesest five years."


    Eldrin then hesitated and coughed up another interesting nugget of information. "My Lord, you are quite famous."


    "At least three different factions are hunting for you actively and many other factions have shown a lot of interest in you. Ahem. The elves are also among these interested parties."


    Before Liam could say anything Eldrin quickly added. "But worry not my Lord, almost everyone thinks you are dead at the moment."


    "Huh?" Liam had already expected the first part but he was confused about the second part.


    "Apparently the ''prison'' you were locked up in also cut off your presence, your aura, your mana signature, your karmic threads, everything about you, almost like you were really dead."


    "I have also been keeping track of any information about you personally, not leaving any of the informationworks and they all im you have died in Nymphomania."


    "They also im that it is all one big plot by me, your faithful loyal servant. Ha ha ha. Idiots. As if I could ever betray you."


    Liam stared at the elf who awkwardly chuckled and closed the topic. "My Lord, I have filled you in on everything. I will take my leave now and not disturb you any further." Without looking back, the guy quickly scurried away.


    Liam continued staring at the disappearing figure when Alex sighed and came over to sit next to him. "He looks shifty and everything he does seems to have some sort of ulterior motive but he has been good to us and the guild so far."


    "Ya. I know." Liam nodded. Ever since he first met him, the damn elf had always been this way. He was cunning to the core and yet he came through at clutch times and gave enough reason for Liam to keep him around.


    Liam let out a sigh and then turned to Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming. "What do you guys n on doing? I am assuming you are nning to return to your sister and father?"


    Unexpectedly, Lan Deming immediately shook his head. "No. I will be staying here with you. If that is okay. I will also bring my sister back."


    "Hmmm?" Liam was taken aback but he didn''t say anything. He then turned to Rey who gave him a big grin. "I am obviously staying here, bro."


    "Same goes for me too." Madan nodded.


    "Okay." Liam casually replied. He did not care about these things in the first ce. He had bigger fish to fry. Alex, on the other hand, looked ecstatic. "With Madan and Deming staying, our main team roster has filled out perfectly. Liam, the next time you leave there won''t be any need for you to go by yourself."


    "Abraki stayed back saying something about not wanting to be a leader anymore. Lily, your friend Derek''s sister, has made huge progress in healing and filled the role of Kang Minah." "And Mei Mei, your little sis has alsopletely changed. You are going to be very surprised when you see how much everyone has changed. I myself am close to another breakthrough. What level are you currently at?" Alex eagerly asked.


    "Sis! Come on, can''t you say something romantic? Is this the first question you ask your husband who came back after five years? Also, you totally forgot about me. He He. Want to guess my level?"


    Alexpletely ignored her brother and looked at Liam bright-eyed. "I am also still in the Awakened stage," Liam answered her, not wanting to demotivate her too much.


    Alex, however, instantly understood and looked speechless. "Are you at level 900 or something?" Sheughed, only to see the guy give a warm smile. Just like that once again she was so far away from the man she loved making all of her hard work seem like a huge waste.


    But she shook it off and quickly came to the next important point. "Liam, I know what can help you make a breakthrough. There is a reason why we were able to make so much progress in such little time." Alex proffered as she stood up. "Come, I will take you to a ce."

 Chapter 1339 I am sorry

    Chapter 1339 I am sorry


    "The world tree? This is where you were bringing us? You know you could have acted less mysterious, sis. Everyone already knows about this tree, don''t they?" Rey teased his sister with a grin. "You just wanted some attention, didn''t you?"


    "Idiot. Shut up. You were gone for five years. What do you know?" Alex gave him a re before turning to Liam.


    The group had only just arrived at the world tree, at the demarcation between the living and the dead, and she was pretty sure no one knew just how much everything had changed and most of all this tree.


    Deciding to pay back for the earlier foolish words, Alex pushed her brother forward. "Go try to enter that thing." She pushed Rey right into the barrier that was shimmering in front of them, making the treepletely invisible.


    Argh! The next second Rey was instantly thrown back out,nding on his ass. It was not really painful but it was funny enough to get a chuckle from everyone. "What the fuck, sis? I aming from a prison you know!"


    Lan Deming silently rolled his eyes because only he and Madan knew what Rey had been up to in their so-called prison in his leisure time but he did not say anything.


    "Alright. My bad. The tree only allows those who are on the verge of some sort of breakthrough into the barrier. I figured you were on the cusp of one." Alex shrugged and chuckled. "Well, long story short. The world tree has grown a lot. It has also be a lot more sentient. It will only allow certain people toe near it. What''s so special about going near it? It''s fucking amazing is what it is."


    "There is some sort of weird atmosphere around the world tree which makes everything so much clearer. Your skills improve. Your insights improve. I gained my first dao seed by training near the world tree."


    "Maybe this is the real purpose of a world tree. To help the mortal civilians progress in their path and have a fighting chance when this world ispletely opened up. Liam, check it out for yourself." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam nodded and stepped inside. Everyone watched as Liam casually entered the world tree barrier without any problem. Following him, Luna stepped into the barrier easily too.


    "Make way plebeians." The fox strutted forward.


    "Huh?" Rey raised a brow and Alex''s face twitched. "Don''t ask. Too many things changed in thesest five years. I think she is in her teenage years or maybe going through puberty. Who the heck knows what happens with a fox? I just steer clear of her highness."


    If Liam was asked to choose between his wives or his fox, Alex honestly did not know who Liam would pick. But she knew enough to not want to y that game.


    While the rest of the group casually chatted, Liam entered the barrier along with Luna. "Master, this atmosphere is indeed very helpful. I have also made some breakthroughs."


    Liam nodded at the fox as he stared dazedly at the tall nt in front of him. It still had the mosaic pattern of green and ck, representing the collision of life and death.


    Even growth-wise there wasn''t much difference between thest time he had seen the nt and now but its presence on the other hand waspletely different.


    It exuded an ancient aura which was the same type of aura he had experienced from the other world tree from the elven world. The intensity of the aura was naturally different considering the age gap between the two trees but the feeling was unmistakably there. It was as if Liam was gazing into something profound and mysterious, something that was fated to elude all the living beings.


    In a single nce, he waspletely enamored by the feeling when a searing pain jolted him awake. He instantly snapped out of it and hurriedly stepped out of the barrier of his own volition.


    "Master, what happened?" Luna worriedly ran behind him.


    "Nothing. I am just tired is all." Liam gave her a smile and patted her head. He first needed to recover from the bacsh of using Soul Splice before the wound became any worse. He was not going to repeat his mistake again.


    He again took a look at the shimmering barrier and the clear divide that split thend into two, one with life and another teeming with death energy. It looked like there was really a lot he needed to catch up on.


    Now that his soul was healed it was high time he turned his focus on the many urgent things that he needed to pay attention to. One of which was this world tree and the stability of their world.


    "I wille back hereter. If you want you three can stay here or do whatever you want. Luna and I will be going back to the guild base. Alex, take me to my sister."


    "Right." Alex nodded. She then awkwardly threw a nce at Shen Yue and excused herself. "Yue will take you to your sister if you don''t mind. I will stay here with these guys and see if they need any help."


    "What? No need? We can all return with Luna. How else are we going to-" Alex shushed Rey and unceremoniously and even pushed him into the barrier once again to make him shut up.


    "This is so not cool, sis."


    Liam ignored the bickering siblings and climbed on Luna, letting out a sigh. He nced at Shen Yue who had been weirdly silent all this time and only now realized that something was probably going on with her.


    "Yue,e here." He called her over and Shen Yue silently walked towards him. Shen Yue was a very beautiful woman and after the body cleansing her looks had be even more enthralling, giving a dangerous seductive vibe that would be hard to not submit to. However, today, her beauty was different. It was gentle and kind but there was also sadness. Something was off and Liam could feel it. Without wasting any more time, he brought her somewhere alone to talk to. "What happened?"


    "I am sorry." Shen Yue opened her mouth and then tears started falling from her eyes.

 Chapter 1340 On the loose

    Chapter 1340 On the loose


    Liam was taken aback by Shen Yue''s sudden emotional outburst. Her usualposure was absent, reced by a vulnerability that he had rarely seen in her. He guided her to sit on a nearby rock, his expression softening as he prepared to listen.


    "Talk to me, Yue. What''s wrong?" His voice was gentle, encouraging her to open up about her distress.


    Shen Yue took a deep breath, her hands trembling slightly as she tried topose herself. "I¡­ I made a mistake. I summoned a demon¡­ a hell demon."


    Liam''s eyes widened. "A hell demon? What the hell is that?" At the same time, he also felt a little relieved. Looking at Shen Yue in tears his mind had instantly gone to many dark ces but thankfully it was just about some demon.


    Shen Yue nodded miserably, unable to meet his gaze. "I was trying to change my path and improve my skills and Tilia suggested that I try my hand at summoning. I also thought it was a good idea and that I would be able to control the demon I summoned using my enchantress skills."


    "Sure. Once you form a contract then the demon can serve you permanently and you do not have to rely on your enchantress skills so much and can use your summons instead." Liampleted her words. "It does sound like a good idea."


    "Except I made a big mistake. As soon as I summoned one, it ran away. I don''t know what happened. Everything derailed too quickly. I thought I could control it, harness its power, but it was too strong, and now it''s on the loose."


    Luna who was silent until now interjected. "It''s not on the loose, master. That demon bastard immediately ran away to theher half of the world. I tried to chase after him but he is hiding in the innermost area where theher is extremely concentrated. I was not able to get there. Only you or your undeads should be able to go there."


    "I am sorry, Liam. Please don''t be mad at me." Shen Yue continued, her eyes brimming with tears. "I know the burden you already carry on your shoulders and yet I made everything worse."


    Liam sighed, his face softening as he watched the distress consuming her. "Yue, I''m not mad at you," he reassured her, cing aforting hand on her shoulder. "These things happen when dealing with powerful skills. This is just a small hup. Don''t worry too much about it. I am here now and I will take care of it for you in a second."


    Shen Yue still looked miserable. "Liam, please don''t underestimate him. I don''t know why but I feel very uneasy whenever I try to probe the small connection I have with the demon." "He is doing something I think. As soon as I summoned him, he blinked for a moment and then he looked extremely ecstatic as if he had found exactly what he was looking for. Like some sort of a loophole or something. Then he escaped before I could establish any real control." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam furrowed his brows as he thought about it for a moment. Shen Yue''s heart sped up. "Yes. That does sound bad. You have done something unforgivable. I need to punish you."


    Luna cocked her head wondering what her master was talking about. The fox then instantly scowled in disgust as she watched Liam suddenly grab the woman in front of him and kiss her. "You will pay for your mistake." Liamughed and teased her, making Shen Yue blush and smile through her tears. Luna, on the side, snarled in annoyance, made a face as if she was retching and then the fox disappeared. Liamughed at the antics of the fox. "That little idiot is growing up, huh?" Heughed, pulling Shen Yue closer and giving her a big hug. "I missed you all."


    "I missed you too," she murmured, allowing herself to rx fully for the first time since the incident. "I wanted to somehow be strong enough to stand next to you, and I only ended up-"


    "Shhh. It''s okay. I will deal with this demon thing today itself. But first, let''s go back to the guild base. I want to see what my other troublemaker is up to."


    Shen Yue blushed in embarrassment and again started to apologize when Liam abruptly grabbed her and started flying back to the guild base at top speed.


    "Wait, I have these talismans." Shen Yue took out a wad of small paper sheets with some runes marked on it. "They are minor teleportation talismans and they can take us right back to the guild base."


    "I see. This is very useful." Liam smiled as he examined it. It seemed that the system shop wasing along just fine even in their world. He tore one and activated it, immediately teleporting him and Shen Yue back to the guild base.


    The two of them now stood in front of a huge building built in the style of an ancient pce, with soaring spires and intricate carvings depicting various mythical beasts. The guild base had evolved significantly.


    "One of the sculptors of our guild was inspired by the¡­ ahem¡­ new pets and he upgraded his skills and built this."


    "It looks good." Liam nodded.


    Though the guild was now split apart, it still looked like the total poption did not take too much of a hit. The streets were a flurry of activity with a lot of people going in and out of the main guild base. Many of these people were even at level 80 and higher and he could hear them discussing guild quests and strategizing about taking down beasts in and around the area. Their gear was also quite decent.


    "That elf was not lying. He has done his best." Liam mused to himself. "Mei Mei should still be in the spirit temple." Shen Yue pointed to a building in the distance.

 Chapter 1341 I made friends

    Chapter 1341 I made friends


    Liam and Shen Yue walked over to the spirit temple where a white-robed man informed them that Mei Mei had only just left the building and that they had narrowly missed her. As they were walking out a couple more white-robed men and women crossed them by.


    "Did my sister join some sort of cult?"


    Pfft. Shen Yueughed. "No, this is the shaman ss hall. Sort of. Inside the game, they were never this extreme but all of a sudden they started following this sort of fashion trend after the temple construction."


    "Mei Mei told me it''s because the spirits like the white color. Most of them."


    "Spirits?" Liam raised a brow. Was his sister also joining the family business now? He was curious to see what the little idiot had been up to and wanted to meet her ASAP. "So where is she?"


    "I am not sure." Shen Yue shook her head. "She told me that she was contacting the spirits to make her third binding summon. If she is not here then she should either be resting or maybe training with her new summon?"


    Liam grinned as he instantly knew which one it would be. "I will be back." His figure blurred and he disappeared.


    "Wait. Let me tell you where her usual training spot is." Shen Yue called after him but Liam was gone.


    "No need," Liam mumbled and smiled just as he arrived at an isted spot on the outskirts of the guild base. He knew where his sister was. The little azure serpent whom he had recently bound to was with her and the snake contacted him after sensing his presence.


    He blurred a couple more times and within a few seconds reached a dense swamp. In a corner of the area, there was a small cave and several powerful auras surged within the cave clearly indicating that a fight was going on.


    Liam approached the cave and the sounds ofbat grew louder as he neared the entrance. Peering inside, he saw Mei Mei in the midst of a heated battle with what appeared to be a huge smander with some horns and scales tacked on here and there.


    However, despite its funny appearance the smander was quite powerful. It was a level 150 beast, probably the elite of the area.


    And thest time he had seen Mei Mei she had not even crossed level 80.


    Normally, Liam would have intervened on the spot in a situation like this but the sight in front of him made him patiently stand back and watch. The first detail that caught his eye was the little legendary beast.


    The little azure serpent was coiled on the ground near Mei Mei, barely even visible, but the protection barrier it had erected around Mei Mei and itself was more than visible. The barrier casually tanked all the iing attacks from the smander, much to the dismay of the beast.


    As if this was not enough, there were two other participants in the fight. One was a woman or at least its upper half resembled a woman, with the lower half missing. She had an icy body with ice spikes actually sticking out of her in many ces. She shot forth powerful icy beams at the smander forcing it to constantly block and protect itself from her attacks.


    The other being was kind of simr to this one except it had both an upper body and a lower body. But this one was almostpletely made of rocks. He or it was very close to bing a golem if not for the creepy hair and the eyes on the rock face.


    While the icedy relentlessly attacked the smander with her icy beams, the rock man leaped closer to the beast and pounded and pummeled the poor thing. No matter from what angle one looked at it the poor beast was simply undergoing torture.


    The other being was kind of simr to this one except it had both an upper body and a lower body. But this one was almostpletely made of rocks. He or it was very close to bing a golem if not for the creepy hair and the eyes on the rock face.


    While the icedy relentlessly attacked the smander with her icy beams, the rock man leaped closer to the beast and pounded and pummeled the poor thing. No matter from what angle one looked at it the poor beast was simply undergoing torture.


    "Are these two contracted spirits?" Liam mused to himself. This was his first time seeing one and he felt quite proud that his sister achieved something like this without any help from him. He patiently waited for the fight to finish, the ending not really a surprise to anyone.


    "Oof. Good work, Hiltha, and Draum." Mei Mei gave the two a small nod and shed a tired smile. The next second the two beings disappeared from the spot. The little azure serpent then sent a jolt to Mei Mei which visibly refreshed and rejuvenated her.


    "Thanks, girlie." Mei Mei smiled and threw the serpent a treat which the beast instantly gobbled with great interest. Liam chuckled lightly. This solved the mystery of how his little sister lured his legendary beast pet to part-time for her. He continued to patiently wait when the girl''s gaze finallynded on him.


    Mei Mei froze. "Liam!" Mei Mei''s surprise turned into delight as she darted forward, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace. Her expression was a mix of shock and overwhelming joy. "I can''t believe you''re here! When did you get back?"


    "Just now," Liam said with a warm smile, returning her hug. "I had to see how my little sister was managing without her big brother around."


    Pulling back slightly, Mei Mei quickly inspected him from top to bottom and let out a breath of relief. "You are okay and you are back. I was so worried." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Liamughed, ruffling her hair affectionately. "I was worried too. But honestly, it seems I didn''t need to worry at all. You''re handling things just fine on your own."


    Her cheeks flushed with pride. "Did you see that brother? Did you see that?"


    Liamughed. "Yes. Yes. I saw everything and I am very impressed."


    "Did you seedy Hiltha? Isn''t she strong? Because of her my elemental magic is improving leaps and bounds. Brother, did you check out my current level? I am already at 210 and I have a dao seed. Wait. Let me show you something."


    Liam smiled. "You must have worked very hard huh¡­" He was not even sure the little girl heard him as she continued talking. She might have longer hair now and grown a bit taller but to him she would always still be the same little girl who tended to his wounds with tears in her eyes.


    "Come. Let''s go back home first and then you can tell me everything in detail."

 Chapter 1342 Free at last

    Chapter 1342 Free atst


    After a huge celebratory dinner, Liam rxed with everyone for the next couple of days. The only person absent from these festivities was Eldrin and the two nymphs. Many guessed that the elf was off having the time of his life but Liam, Rey, Madan and Lan Deming knew the truth.


    Immediately after that Liam excused himself and once again dove straight into the business. He was still recovering from his wound and he did not n on rushing it. However, that did not mean he couldn''t do some housekeeping in the meantime.


    He had given himself a couple of months to fully restore his soul strength and he had big ns for the entire duration. Liam teleported a few times, arriving swiftly at the boundary between the living and the dead, the huge demarcation that ran right through the middle of their new world. It was convenient that their guild base was located somewhat closer to this demarcation considering that the distance was constantly increasing as if the world was expanding little by little. He had no idea how long this was going tost. At this point, it was anyone''s guess how big the final evolved world would be. A lot was going to change and they needed to be prepared for it. After all, the world was not the only thing that was evolving.


    He could already sense many powerful auras as he crossed over to the boundary line. These beasts were definitely a threat to the human poption which was now barely a fraction in the new world. If left unchecked the beasts would overrun the human poption andpletely eradicate everyone. But at the same time they were also excellent fodder for training the guild members. The only problem was that some checks and bnces needed to be made.


    Liam was currently nning to do exactly this. He did not wander too much from the boundary as he found a rotting tree and sat down under it. He then summoned his soul army which was now the size of a real army.


    Whoosh¡­ A silent wind swept by as dense soul energy roiled in the vicinity. The next second one after another all the forty thousand minions emerged from within the soul fog.


    Roar! Howl! Chatter! Chatter!


    The soul minions let out primal guttural sounds as they enjoyed the denseher in the atmosphere. All of them seemed to be extra energetic and bloodthirsty as they took in the air filled with death and decay.


    Liam stared at his army which was impressive no matter what angle one looked at it from. However, he was not satisfied. This army was simply not enough. The strength of his troops paled inparison to the actual forces in the myriad realms.


    It did not matter if it was the elves or the vampires. They were all a lot more organized and their numbers were countless. His mere forty thousand was nothing whenpared to them. Not to mention his army was weak and without much of a future.


    Sure, most of his soul minions were in the awakened stage thanks to the massacre back in the elven world. However, their growth stopped there and this was precisely what made them weak.


    There were times when Liam had thought about how to upgrade his soul army but he mostly tried to solve the problem using his forging. He tried to forge the souls better. He tried to retain more of their memories and their personality thinking that it would help in their growth.


    But only after his visit to the special prison did he realize he waspletely off the mark. While his forging technique indeed mattered, there was a limit to how much perfection he could achieve. Even if they were near perfect, they would never be the same as the real thing.


    Then what was the solution to his little problem?


    Easy. Make them the real thing.


    Actually, breathe new life into them and make them into the real deal.


    Liam gave a toothy grin as he continued staring at his army. It was high time they all got the upgrade they deserved. His gaze fell on the newly minted Crawford who stood on the frontlines.


    "Let him out."


    Crawford nodded and the next second a person appeared on the ground in front of Liam, teleported from the spatial artifact.


    It was a tall humanoid figure with one missing ear and several missing chunks of flesh from his body. There was an unmistakable rotting smell wafting from his body, something that could only seep out of a corpse but the man blinked and opened his pitch-ck eyes perfectly well and functional.


    "What? What? Where am I?" Shayen turned around a few times like a dog chasing his tail, trying to orient himself as he snapped out of his stupor.


    His eyes then fell on Liam, a familiar face. At first, the man felt relieved but he quickly tensed up. "You did something to me! You kidnapped me! You put me in that prison!"


    Liam chuckled. "I got you out of that prison. That is not called kidnapping. That is called freeing you."


    Shayen rolled his eyes. "You just moved me from one prison to another. What is the big deal? Did you actually expect me to be grateful or -" The undead then suddenly stopped in his tracks as the news fully dawned on him.


    "Wait. What did you say? Did you bring me out of the prison? We are no longer inside that lizard bastard?"


    Liam calmly nodded.


    For the next few seconds, the undead''s expressions changed from shock to delight to fear to shock to delight again as he hurriedly opened his system interface and started pulling up everything he could. Only when he finally confirmed that he was truly out of that hell, did he let out a sigh of relief.


    He looked at Liam, almost about to break into tears, andughed heartily. "You mad bastard! You really did it! How the hell did you manage to break out of that damned beast! Ha ha ha!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "And thank you. Thank you so much for bringing me with you. I don''t know why you decided to do it. But I am very very grateful." "Was it because I helped you guys by giving some introduction to that ce? That was just a small silly thing. And yet you thought of this nobody when breaking out of that hellhole. Ho Ho How am I ever going to repay you!"


    As he continued to listen to the undead ramble on, Liam silently smiled. Sprawled on the ground next to him, a little fox also smiled as she stared at the undead curiously.


    Unfortunately for Shayen he was too overwhelmed with his emotions at the moment to notice the same type of crooked smile on both faces.

 Chapter 1343 You stink like a corpse

    Chapter 1343 You stink like a corpse


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ck blood spurted out as Liam used a small knife to cut open a small wound on the undead''s skin. Not that hecked open wounds on his body to begin with but Liam wanted to find out if only the exposed blood was tainted or if simply everything was tainted.


    Turns out that it was all of the blood that was ck in color and smelled rotten to the core.


    "Ow. Ow. Ow." Shayen cried in agony. "This is torture! You are a monster! Monster! What did I ever do to you?"


    "Shut it. It''s just a small cut. Why are you being so dramatic? And yuck! You stink like a corpse!" Luna growled at the poor guy, making him snap shut his mouth out of fear.


    "I guess you are a corpse so it''s only natural you stink like one." The fox continued to snarl at him as she circled him with evil eyes. "Stupid zombie. Shut up and don''t disturb my master''s research with your stink breath!"


    "Who are you calling a zombie? I am a risen! A RISEN!" Shayen shouted back, unable to take this kind of humiliation with his mouth closed.


    Luna sneered, clearly happy that her words had touched a nerve. She doubled back on it. "Ugly zombie. Bow down to this princess. How dare you raise your voice?" A fiery aura started gathering around her paws.


    Liam sighed, breaking out the fight between the two.


    "Liam" Shayen started but quickly corrected himself as the fox let out a low growl. "My lord, listen to me. It is impossible for you to create a Risen by yourself." "First of all you need to be inside the undead empire. You need one of the risen creation arrays. Then there are some materials. Creating a Risen is an art form. Just anyone cannot casually dabble in it."


    Liam patiently listened. The undead or rather the risen Shayen was happy to talk about the glories of the Undead Empire and Liam continued listening.


    After a few minutes, Liam had a basic idea of what he was undertaking. Granted Shayen did not have the full details of everything he needed to know but the man''s rant was enough to get a jist of it. Apparently, the method was quite popr and there were several versions of it, all to promote the glory of the Undead Empire. For the simplest version, even Shayen could do it. The only problem was that a Risen awakened in this manner wouldn''t evenst until the end of the day.


    As theplexity of the ritual increased, the durability of the risen also increased. Add in the bloodlines and other expensive arrayworks, and a fully functional undead is born, a being at par with a living being, except for distinct physical properties and makeup.


    Liam had also already prepared some things from the system store. Tilia had helped him procure a few techniques through the back channels. These techniques had either been spread by the undead empire itself or taken from scouring the spatial artifacts of the fallen undead.


    Liam did not specifically care about how the methods were obtained. He paid a good amount of money and immediately purchased them. He had big ns for his soul army and it all started with these techniques.


    Leaving the disgruntled undead under Luna''s supervision, Liam then dove into all the materials he had procured. Ever since he had met Shayen, he had a gut feeling that this was his next step in truly forging his soul minions. He knew he was close and he did not want to give up.


    Even though the process was borate with arrayworks, rituals, and expensive consumables, the essence of it was still simple. Truly only one thing mattered and Liam could tell that he would be able to do it.


    After spending several hours immersed in the reading materials, Liam decided to not dy anymore and dive right into the thick of it. It was time he gained some practical knowledge.


    He took out a random corpse from his spatial artifact and first started with one of the oldest minions he had ever forged. A five headed chicken soul minion. The corpse was that of a chicken-like bird he had killed back in the elven world. He had never bothered to forge this one so he decided to use this as a training experiment to see how much bodypatibility mattered.


    Also, this was his typical practice summon that he usually tinkered with before moving to a more valuable soul minion, and he instinctively grabbed the same guy.


    Bok bok boko boko boko bok bok!


    The five-headed chicken proudly jutted around when Liam in one swift motion dragged the soul into the corpse. He did not use any fancy technique and simply tried to nudge the soul into the body if that was the word for it.


    It was an indescribable feeling to him and he sure as hell did not know what he was doing. He was blind in there and forcefully held the soul inside the body or at least in the same space until he could see something snap in.


    Seconds ticked by when he loosened his control a little bit and the next second the five-head chicken casually walked out of the corpse like it was nothing, body and soul separate.


    Bok bok?


    Liam sighed. This was going to take a lot of time. He once again grabbed the chicken and shoved him into the corpse, this time condensing him back into the soul bead form and forging it whilst holding the bead inside the corpse.

 Chapter 1344 Rebirth

    Chapter 1344 Rebirth


    BOKOOOO!


    The screams of a five-headed chicken echoed through the gued forests as Liam grabbed the soul for the umpteenth time trying to push it inside a body and more importantly keep it there.


    He had been at this for hours now and he had tried all sorts of things but every single attempt to conjure a ''Risen'' only ended in failure.


    In the end, he tried one of the cheap methods to confirm something like this actually existed at all, and that try worked. The only problem was that the bird he resurrected dropped dead by the end of the day.


    Also, the growth potential of the bird was worse than his soul minions which made the whole endeavor pretty pointless. After some time Liam ended up summoning someone who could possibly be much more talented than him in necromancy.


    Kouske stood in the gued forests staring at the mess in front of him. Liam gave the minion the materials he had procured and Kouske curiously went through everything.


    "What do you think?" Liam asked the guy.


    Kouske grunted in response, shooting back an unwilling look at Liam. The guy definitely did not want to help him at all. However, he had no other choice. "It is impossible to conjure a ''Risen'' without an array set up." He gave his verdict.


    Liam sighed. He thought this would be the case too. While it was easy to get these materials in the market, it was difficult to obtain any array formations because the thing was a monster.


    Usually, these types of arrays were etched in special ces with the ability to naturally gatherher, and the undead paid to ess these ces in their worlds. It was not a simple array that any Tom, Dick, and Harry could construct at the snap of the finger.


    Liam stared at theher swirling in the air around him as he mulled over what to do next as his current attempts were at a dead end. On his side, Kouske continued rambling about how Liam had finally reached his limit and his soul army had now be obsolete. "There is no future for us. Earth is doomed and your growth has reached its pinnacle. I might be your ve but it is time for you to be someone else''s ve. Maybe if the master begs another powerful being, he will let us all live."


    Kouske continued rambling with a sneer on his face. Clearly, the soul minion was enjoying Liam''s multiple failures at his attempt to conjure a ''Risen''.


    Luna was nowhere in the vicinity having gone to do some hunting on her own to find more prey and practice subjects for Liam so Kouske continued running his mouth without holding back.


    After a few minutes, the guy''s ramblings became so worse that it forced Liam to snap out of his thoughts and stare at Kouske. Liam couldn''t help but gaze at the unmasked anger and resentment on the minion''s face. Even though he had already forged the soul, the person underneath was still the same, waiting to break out of the bindings. He instantly knew what he was doing wrong.


    The man standing in front of him was very different from Shayen, the undead. While Kouske harbored enmity towards Liam, Shayen couldn''t be bothered to think about who created him or revenge against that person for that matter. He was a whole new person in all aspects.


    This was the sh of inspiration he was waiting for. He ignored the annoying guy and grabbed the five-head chicken from the side one more time. He made a small cut on his finger and drew a small drop of blood to use as a catalyst.


    He then focused on the soul bead,pletely unraveling it from the inside out. This was the point where the blood came into y. He used his blood as a stabilizer and prevented the soul frompletely dispersing.


    Liam did not stop with this. In many techniques, they had described using runes of power to make the soul submit. He initially did not n on doing this because he never had any issues making the soul submit to him. But now he wondered what if the purpose of the rune was something more than that.


    He decided to go all in with this try as he started inscribing a rune of power he was familiar with and had lots of practice forming. An infinity symbol started slowly appearing at the center of the soul bead while he reforged the entirety of the soul.


    Nether hammers surrounded the small soul bead fully engulfing it in a cascade of dark energy. Liam''s hands moved with deft precision, each stroke of the rune carving deeper into the very essence of the soul bead, intertwining it irrevocably with his own blood.


    As the infinity symbolpleted, a deep hum vibrated through the air. Nether in the air coalesced around the soul bead at a visible rate and plunged into the lifeless corpse. Huge amounts ofher was sucked into the corpse and Liam felt the pressure on his mind increasing.


    But he did not care. He held on strong. He had a feeling this try was going to be a sess. He could feel the swaths ofher condensing under his grasp forming thick ck blood, the lifeblood of the undead.


    The blood flow that had long since ceased on the death of the beast was once again restarted. ck blood pulsed through the corpse and Liam could feel the distinct absence of a heartbeat.


    In a sudden surge, the five-headed chicken twitched violently, its new body spasming as if shocked by the very essence of life itself. Then, almost as quickly, it stilled, settling into a new form of existence.


    Kouske''s rambling ceased as he watched the transformation, his expression shifting from disdain to awe. "How... how did you¡­" His voice trailed off, unable to fully grasp the implications of what he had just witnessed. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Liam''s focus was absolute, his brow furrowed in concentration, aware that any misstep could unravel the delicate bnce he had achieved. He continued forging the soul to perfection. He could feel that the more he forged the soul the more it integrated with the body.

 Chapter 1345 Kouske 2.0

    Chapter 1345 Kouske 2.0


    Finally, with a sharp intake of breath, Liampleted the ritual. The soul bead red with a brilliant, dark light, then dimmed, settling into a new, stable form. The chicken stirred, lifting his head. The beast shed his eyes open, his eyes nowpletely pitch ck with a faint red dot in the center for a pupil.


    This was slightly different from how Shayen''s eyes looked but the result was still eptable. "It worked," Liam grinned, patting Kouske on his back. "I was correct. You helped me achieve a breakthrough."


    Kouske''s face turned unsightly but he could no longer open his mouth. His eyes were still on the chicken. Liam had indeed seeded in something he couldn''t even fathom.


    Slowly, the chicken rose to its feet, its movements now fluid and assured, a stark contrast to its previous erratic spasms. It tilted its head staring at Liam and stretched its wings wide. It then unexpectedly knelt on the floor.


    [Master] n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Liam nodded in satisfaction. He could feel the soul pulsing strongly within the beast, except that it was of a different vor. It had something more now. It couldn''t be life force but it was something simr, perhaps a will. He needed to understand more and for that he now needed to forge something that was more intelligent with a much stronger soul.


    Liam''s attention turned to the soul minion who was standing right beside him. It was time for Kouske to be more useful. He could currently feel it. The soul he forged had submitted to him and yet it hadn''t submitted to him. Kouske''s performance always left somethingcking. He even underperformed whenpared to the vampire grunts he had forged. This was a travesty because in hisst life this same person shone brighter than many others with his talent shining in the spotlight.


    But all of this problem would now be solved with the reforging.


    Liam couldn''t help but wonder how Kouske would be when he was born anew just like the chicken. Would he finally have another strong general for his army?


    With a grin Liam approached the dumbfounded soul minion who clearly was unwilling and hesitant. His eyes hadn''t given up hope on revenge and overthrowing Liam just yet.


    However, without giving him any chance for any kind of mutiny Liam grabbed the soul in one swift motion and started working on it from the beginning. This time around his movements flowed more easily and his rune formed without a glitch.


    Though the difficulty was a lot higher with a more evolved soul with its own nuances, in a little over an hour, Liam was finally done.


    Standing in front of him was a human being in an elven corpse. Liam could already sense that there would be some difficulties down the road because of this mis-match but he would leave it to Kouske to deal with his own problems.


    As a talented necromancer, if the man couldn''t deal with even this small thing then there was no point in forging him into a ''Risen''.


    Liam waited patiently and a few minutester Kouske shed his eyes open. Coincidentally, his eyes were also simr to that of the chicken, pitch ck except for the red dot at the center.


    The new Kouske stared silently into the distance for a few seconds before he suddenly bowed to Liam, his pitch-ck eyes gazing at him for a moment as he submitted to him.


    "Master. Your wish is mymand." Kouske mumbled.


    Liam hummed and inspected the guy for a moment. He was beyond thrilled with the results but he first needed to confirm some things. "Do you know who you are?" Liam asked.


    "I am your soldier." Kouske''s reply immediately arrived.


    "My soldier? Then how are you different from this bird?" Liam pointed to the chicken, purposefully taking a demeaning tone.


    However, unlike the Kouske before this one did not show any emotions. He remained calm and submissive as he answered without any ego. "At the moment there is indeed not much difference between me and the bird but if my master wills it, I can be a lot stronger. I am confident in being able to serve my master a lot better than that bird."


    The chicken immediately swiveled its head to give the guy a look as if it was saying the race is on. Kouske also did not back down and gave a hard stare to the chicken.


    Liam cleared his throat snapping the two out of their private staring contest. "What about love? Do you think you will fall in love with another woman? Would you betray me or your orders for that woman?"


    Kouske shook his head. "If Master wills it, I will be happy to take a woman but she will always be second to my master. My master is my will, my god and everything to me."


    Liam nodded. He continued asking all sorts of questions but the answers only ended up making him feel a little awkward. While he freelymanded his soul minions without any remorse or conscience, doing the same with these ''Risen'' was a little difficult.


    But at the same time, he was not chilling and passing his time here ying God. His purpose was to create soldiers, strong and powerful soldiers who will stand in the front lines and fight for him and his family without hesitation.


    Liam looked at the man in front of him who was familiar and unfamiliar to him at the same time. "Go. Live freely. Be stronger. Be very powerful. Strive to be even more powerful than me. Go and conquer this half of our world. Build your empire. Expand into the myriad realms. Make a name for yourself in this vast cosmos. The sky is the limit. Fight to your heart''s content."


    "But remember. Always be ready to serve me and my family at a moment''s notice. You will answer me when I call for you no matter what. Go. The next time we meet you should be strong enough to serve as my right hand."

 Chapter 1346 Expanding the army

    Chapter 1346 Expanding the army


    "But remember. Always be ready to serve me and my family at a moment''s notice. You will answer me when I call for you no matter what. Go. The next time we meet you should be strong enough to serve as my right hand." Liam finished ordering a tall ice elf standing in front of him, the elf now looking very different from how he was before. His skin was a darker shade, his eyes pitch-ck and even his aura had undergone tremendous change. However, the ice affinity he innately possessed remained intact. Matching the right body with the right soul gave tremendous benefits from the looks of it.


    Of course, that did not mean this one was any special. Liam gave the same speech to a bunch of newly Risen to provide them with some inspiration and direction. Since these beings were pretty much alive and living and had their own will and wishes, he assumed something like this would help them find a purpose in their life. Or rather he wanted this to be their purpose to truly hone their development.


    For now, he was just experimenting but his n was to meet with them often and make some changes as they progressed. Only with time, the truly talented would stand out and he would nurture them more.


    After Liam finished fully resurrecting the thousandth elf, he let out a sigh of tiredness. Unlike creating soul minions this process was still a bit tiring. But, it was worth the effort because standing in front of him were a thousand elves, every single one of them seemingly fully alive.


    And this was all in a week''s work. He still had given himself a few more weeks of rest so there was a lot left to be done.


    ***


    Time quickly passed by and in the blink of an eye, the three months disappeared without any trace, except for the fact that numerous undead now inhabited the northern parts of theher half of the earth.


    Shayen gasped in shock as his gazended on a few Risen roaming about in a vast gued in. These particrly caught his eyes because of their gigantic size and the fact that these Risen were already at a Transcendent rank.


    "What is happening? I thought your world was a newly integrated one? How could Transcendent rank Risen be here?" He looked up at the fox in dread who was currently carrying him around like excess baggage hogtied by mana strings.


    Luna snorted at the floating undead, not sparing him another nce. Instead, she gaped in awe at the gigantic wolf who lifted his head to meet her gaze. Though Luna herself hadn''t stepped into the transcendent rank so far, the wolf''s aura did little to make her ufortable.


    Also, this was not the first time she had met this wolf. This majestic beast sprawled in front of her was one of the earth''s guardians who had be corrupted and fought against them back when things had been chaotic.


    At that time, her master had defeated every single one of these guardians except for a giant whale-like creature. And now her master had once again brought these creatures back to life in the same world that had given birth to them.


    "Amazing!" Luna''s eyes twinkled like stars as she witnessed the prowess of her Master. She quickened her pace to meet back with him and congratte him on his sess.


    This resulted in Shayen screaming for the next few minutes but soon the fox and her prisoner appeared in front of Liam. "Master! Congrattions!" Luna tossed the undead unceremoniously on the ground and ran over to give Liam a big hug.


    Liam chuckled and let the fox down slowly. "I need a few more minutes and then we can return home." In front of him was surprisingly an army of about a hundred demons. If Shen Yue were here at the moment she would have instantly recognized the leader of the small horde, the demon she had personally summoned. The demon had insidiously plotted to open a portal and summon a demon army to the earth behind the shadows. It had a backdoor opened on a newly integrated and it did not want to miss this opportunity. Conquering a newly integrated would merit a lot of good things from its higher-ups.


    Of course, it did not expect that the was already home to a monster it could never beat.


    Liam finished creating thest Risen he had nned to forge for the time being and then nodded at Luna. He was finally done. Except for the dragon souls he had forged every single soul minion in his possession into a brand new Risen.


    This experiment was also a roaring sess as many of the Risen had already started making drastic progress. The Risen Guardians would be the prime example of this. Each of the guardians chose a big chunk ofnd as their territory and devoured everything in there. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This skyrocketed their growth. Along with their natural born affinity for the elements, they stepped into the Transcendent rank in no time. Liam himself hadn''t touched that stage yet but in a mere three month''s time, he had undead under hismand who were extremely powerful than all of the humans currently residing in the world.


    Liam had no doubt about the elves and the newly forged vampire souls he had collected from the tower. Every single one of them was a talented individual handpicked from their world. They only needed a few more years to show their full potential.


    Now that thest batch of Risen was alsopleted, Liam felt more at ease and satisfied about leaving the unguarded one more time. His original n was to leave Luna behind but the little fox had vehemently opposed the idea.


    Thankfully the transcendent rank Guardians were ready to take her ce and protect the family and guild in his absence. The protection of the system was also still holding true. Liam did not know how long this peace was going tost so this trip would have to be quick and surgical. It was time to bring Derek back.

 Chapter 1347 Here we go again

    Chapter 1347 Here we go again


    After letting the undead loose on the territory, Liam returned back to the guild base along with Luna. Another advantage of awakening a Risen was that there was no longer any distance limitation between himself and his army. This was something he could take full advantage of.


    Now that Liam thought about it, awakening a Risen was advantageous in every which way whenpared to maintaining a soul army. However, he did not care about this too much as by now he already knew the strength of his ssy somewhere else.


    The ability to manipte souls directly. That was the true strength of his ss and he had only scratched the surface of it so far.


    "What are you thinking about?" Shen Yue drew circles on Liam''s chest as her mesmerizing eyes studied his face curiously.


    Liam let out a sigh and smiled as he patted her head. "Thinking about the next trip."


    "To the Primeval Armament realm? Are you sure you can''t somehow use the legendary daggers to get there?" Shen Yue asked again.


    "No. It is not that easy."


    For the past several days Liam had thought about this issue a lot and had finally made some sort of a n. He did not know how feasible this was and whether he was going to be sessful or not but this was definitely the best bet he had. Tilia and Eldrin had also agreed with him.


    His first step in reaching Derek was heading to the Ceravat Empire''s purple world.


    Purple world was a world that many sword users visited. Even the name of the world originated from the giant purple scar left behind by an unknown sword master. It was also the house of the main branch of the Eternal Sword Pce, an academy or sect of sorts focusing on sword training.


    They actively recruit people from misceneous backgrounds and they ept them based on pure talent without any other hidden considerations. Their members were also revered in the entire sector in the same way a person of a royal lineage would be.


    Liam figured these people would probably have some information about an armament-rted mystic realm. Also, this would give him an in with the Ceravat Empire from where he could ess many worlds in the sector with ease without arousing any suspicions.


    The Ceravat Empire was one of the ten Empires that controlled more than one world in the Xicta sector. They almost had three star systems under their belt with thest one under contest.


    The Empire was ruled by the Ceravat family and even though many races co-exist in the worlds under the Empire, the dominant powers were beastkin, humans finishing at a close second. The main royal family had a mix of both with the current crown rumored to be of beastkin origin.


    More importantly, the Emperor''s power level was unimaginable. The report did not specify at exactly what power level he was. There was also a mysterious ancestor in the Ceravat family who had already attained demi-godhood.


    As one of the top ten families, the Ceravat family was definitely in an unshakeable position.


    Unlike Nymphomania this time Liam truly intended to keep a low profile as this was definitely not a ce he could afford to stand out and mess around.


    Liam spent a couple more days with his family and then bid farewell to everyone before once again heading to a remote location. He was now well-rested and his soul had fully recovered. He was in prime condition. But there was still something that he had to do before leaving.


    Liam steadied himself before probing into the spatial artifact that he had bound to from the tutorial game, more famously known to others as the PVP tower. Back then no one would have guessed that the tower master Crawford was actually a tool spirit of this spatial artifact.


    Liam summoned Crawford whom he hadn''t yet forged into a Risen. This was because if possible he wanted to restore the tool spirit to the spatial artifact which would be ideal.


    "Hmph! You are still alive!" Crawford sneered. Liam immediately tightened his grasp on the damn guy making him shut up real fast. "Get me ess to my inventory items."


    "No can do."


    Liam''s face twitched. He tightened his grasp further making the soul minion scream in pain. "Wait! Wait! Wait! I meant that you need to try and bind my soul with the artifact again. Without it, I will not be able to ess the full artifact. There is also a sliver of my soul still left in the artifact. I need to beplete to be able to help you."


    Liam frowned. "Do you need to beplete to ess my inventory items?" He asked again just to make sure.


    Immediately, Crawford''s face turned unsightly. "No." He answered truthfully without any other way.


    Liam sighed. "Then go ahead and do that." He knew that the old guy was never going to let up getting the better of him unless and until he made him into a Risen. Every time he interacted with him, this headache was going to continue. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Liam forcefully shoved the old man''s soul back into the artifact having no idea how he was going to bind the soul again. Of course, the brute force method did not work. It was never going to be that simple.


    He next tried to sense the small sliver of soul within the artifact. This was easier said than done. Sensing a soul bound to an artifact was very different from sensing a soul bound to a living being.


    The fact thatplex securities were in ce to protect thisst bit of soul did not help at all. The person who had crafted this spatial artifact was undoubtedly very talented.


    Liam continued fiddling with the artifact for a while when he finally decided to give up and deal with thister. He dismissed both Crawford and the artifact and took out the teleportation token for the Purple world.


    "Here we go again." Taking a deep breath he activated the token and the next instant he disappeared from Earth once again.

 Chapter 1348 First time in Purple World?

    Chapter 1348 First time in Purple World?


    As Liam activated the teleportation token, he felt the familiar tug of spatial discement, a sensation that was always followed by mind-bending distortion. Just as he felt like his soul was about to be ripped apart, the world around him blurred into a vortex of colors before snapping back into focus, revealing the vastly differentndscape of the Purple world. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Liam stared at the purple sky that spread endlessly above, dotted with swirling patterns of darker violet and asional streaks of pink, a stunning phenomenon native to this unique world. He was standing in front of a giant window that overlooked a vast and bustling city below. As Liam''s gaze shifted from the skies above to thend below, his brow once again arched in shock and awe.


    The city sprawled in front of him was unlike anything he had ever seen. Even though he seemed to be standing atop a lofty towering building and his post-mana enhanced vision capable of observing details a ridiculous distance away, the city''s end still escaped his sight. If a single city was this big, then what was the size of this world? Liam stared in a daze at the endless urban expanse stretching beyond the horizon. The buildings varied in style from towering spires that seemed to pierce the sky to massive domed structures that glowed with an ethereal light, hinting at the powerful enchantments embedded within their walls.


    Below, the streets teemed with life. Creatures of various races and attire moved through the city with purpose and leisure alike; some hovered above the ground on discs of light, others dashed through the air with wings of me or shadow.


    "Ahem. You can step away from the teleporter and then enjoy the sight in leisure." A voice spoke, breaking Liam''s thoughts.


    Liam turned to see a fairy who was busily tapping away on the system screen. He gave the fairy a nod and proceeded to walk away. All around him shes of light were constantly blinking on and off with the entire teleportation room buzzing like a hive of activity. It was no wonder he was being shooed away to make room for the others.


    Not just that but the entities who arrived were also not that simple. Liam couldn''t even sense what power level most were in. Just a few seconds were enough to see howpletely different this ce was whenpared to Nymphomania.


    "First time in Purple World, isn''t it? Are you here for testing at the academy?" As Liam walked out, one of the fairies fluttered over to him and enquired. It was a little surprising to see a system shop fairy work for academy recruitment. Simr events were urring all around him as many seem to have arrived in the world with the same idea. Nevertheless, all of this made Liam''s life easier as he did not have to go anywhere else to gather information.


    "Yes, I am here for the academy. Could you direct me there and briefly introduce me to what the procedures are?"


    The fairy nodded enthusiastically, its wings flickering rapidly. "Certainly! You''ll want to head towards the central district. The Eternal Sword Pce is hard to miss. It''s a grand structure with silver and gold des crossing over the entrance. It''s quite a sight!" The fairy''s eyes sparkled with pride as it spoke of thendmark.


    "Thank you," Liam replied.


    "As for the procedures, it''s very simple and straightforward. You just have to submit this token and participate in the entrance exam." Before the fairy zipped away to assist another neer, it added, "Just follow the main avenue and keep an eye out for the de Arch. It''s a favorite meeting point for new aspirants. Safe travels!"


    "Simple and straightforward, huh?" Liam chuckled lightly. Even after all these years, if he believed these words, then he might as well be brain-dead. Sure, the information packet said the same thing but there was no way things were one hundred percent as described in the paper! He calmly started walking to the elevator of the system shop which only had the option exit avable for him. Apparently, to use this particr system shop he first needed to register with the Eternal Sword Pce. He need not necessarily even pass the entrance test, just a registration worked. Deciding to check out the wares at the system shop a littleter, he walked out of the system shop onto the streets calmly.


    He was immediately swept away by a tide of misceneous beings with all sorts of size, shapes, and color. Though he had expected this ce to be extremely popr only now he saw that he had totally underestimated the scale of it.


    Killing intent and raw battle thirst were palpable in the street with so many seasoned warriors roaming about the streets, every single one of them undoubtedly walking a path of ughter and carnage.


    Liam''s journey through the crowd was uneventful until a particrly burly figure bumped into him, the force of the encounter nearly knocking him off his feet. The figure, a towering beastkin with horns curling from his forehead and eyes that gleamed with a fierce,petitive spark, grunted an apology without slowing his pace.


    "Watch where you''re going!" someone shouted after the beastkin, who ignored thement and continued on his way.


    Liam too ignored the encounter and walked toward the main Sword Pce Entrance without bothering to visit the de Arc or whatever. He briefly nced at the spot as he walked by and saw that many had gathered there, busilyworking and talking to each other but Liam decided not to involve himself in such things. His main goal was right in front of him.


    Liam entered the impressive imposing structure and surprisingly it was all empty except for a couple of guards and a scaled beastkin meditating near a pir. This was a stark contrast to the crowd milling about on the outside.


    The next second Liam understood why when the token in his possession vibrated before a teleportation circle appeared around him and he found himself whisked away to another location.


    When Liam opened his eyes, he coincidentally found himself in front of the same burly beastkin he had bumped into earlier.

 Chapter 1349 Why?

    Chapter 1349 Why?


    Liam already knew a little about the recruitment procedures of the Eternal Sword Pce so he wasn''tpletely caught off guard when he was teleported to a random ce, a random foe standing in front of him. Although he was indeed a little surprised to see the person in front of him, it seemed like a weird coincidence.


    However, the next second he knew it couldn''t be a coincidence after seeing the very noticeable smirk on the opponent''s face. Clearly, the other party was not in the least surprised.


    Grin. The beastkin licked his lips, wiping off some blood. "Another easy fight."


    Before Liam could react, the big hulking beastkin charged ahead with an imposing broadsword. A strong violent aura rippled off of the beastkin as he madly swung his broadsword toward Liam, the ground itself seeming to tremble with each heavy step he took.


    Liam did not even get a full grasp of where they were currently standing but the ground underneath them gave away as fissures spread in every direction. The rippling power was binding him,pletely arresting him, and making him unable to move.


    However, the next second Liam mmed his feet down even if there was nothing underneath him. Hisher domain was on full disy and it effortlessly smashed the violent bloodlust trying to bind him down. The deathly aura spread out without any inhibition, taking over the area. The huge beastkin let out a grunt not in the least bothered by the domain effect. His attack was overbearing and unstoppable.


    With a swift sidestep, Liam dodged the initial onught, his own sword drawn in a fluid, effortless motion. He had faced many strong opponents before in the tower, and this beastkin, while formidable, did not intimidate him. The beastkin also did not intend to back off. The attacks continued to pile on with the hulking beastkin disying a surprising amount of agility despite his build. Without relenting he stood his ground and swung his sword repeatedly with devastating power, each strike aimed to end the fight with a single blow. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The air hummed as Liam''s de sliced through it, countering the aggressive attacks with precision but he soon found himself pushed back. Liam immediately kicked up his attack power a notch andbined hisher domain and icy domain.


    The fortress that was beingpletely ignored now became even stronger and icy fretters appeared on the wall. On top of this ice spikes rained down from the top as Liam''s mana core surged and he went all out.


    The beastskin finally felt the pressure and his movement speed drastically reduced. Thebined domain infused with the dao seeds was too much for him to handle.


    For the first time, Liam had a chance to stop being defensive andnded a critical blow to the beastskin, a huge gash appearing on the chest of the beastkin, who staggered back, his face twisted in pain and surprise. Blood, dark and viscous, began to seep from the wound, staining the ground beneath his feet if it could even be called that.


    For a moment, the beastkin''s violent aura dimmed, but the very next second the ugly thick set of lips with protruding teeth broke into a vicious grin. Unexpectedly the being''s aura red up twice as it was before, forcing Liam to immediately retreat.


    Liam frowned. ''He should have some sort of berserker skill.'' The onught of attacks instantly increased as the beastkin charged through his domain with a sheer force that seemed capable of making the literal space around them tear up.


    Liam''s eyes widened at the drastic power up but he did not give up just yet. The opponent definitely had a top-tier berserker skill but there was always a problem with all berserker skills. They died down pretty quickly. Now all he needed to was wait it out until the beastkin ran out of energy. The only problem was doing even that seemed impossible.


    Liam gritted his teeth as he barely blocked the next attack. One after the other the attacks were raining down on him and he continued blocking and evading but the moment he was waiting for never arrived.


    Just as he wondered if he had made some sort of miscalction, the beastskin all of a sudden stopped, gripping his chest, his heavy sword no longer held firmly in grasp.


    Liam did not stop and used this chance tond a blow which not so surprisingly fell upon a golden barrier that had sprung around the beastkin. This round was already over.


    Liam took a deep breath and quickly tried to recover because he was not sure if the next round would immediately start or not.


    "Why?" A hoarse voice sounded. It was the beastkin who popped some sort of marble into his mouth and mumbled with difficulty. "I saw your pitiful karma threads. You are a nobody. You are not supposed to be this strong. I would have never targeted you otherwise." The beastkin coughed vigorously.


    Liam raised a brow. Karma thread? He was under the impression only people like that weird monk dude or the oracle could use something like that. The beastkin in front of him showed no indication of any such dao and yet he was able to dabble in it. Not to mention the beastkin''s incredible fighting talent.


    Liam would be lying if he said he was not impressed. He naturally did not bother exining to him anything but he did nod at the guy as a courtesy and a sign of respect to him. He was a good opponent to fight against and if this sword pce entrance test had more opponents like him, then Liam had a feeling he might just be able to make another breakthrough.


    Steadying his mind he prepared for the next battle, not in the least underestimating his opponent. He was no longer on earth or on nymphomania. This was the myriad realms and he was now in the thick of it.


    The world around him twisted once again as darkness flooded before Liam once again appeared on another battleground.


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